#tour guides were talking about it and one of them took a video of the exact spot so we'd know where it was

[flourescencia]

terrible pictures but we found a Bocaracá after 4 days of looking for her :-)

[sarawayne0510]

Girl Dinner

pairing: George russell x kpop idol! reader

summary: In the fast-paced world of Formula 1, George Russell finds an unexpected escape in Y/N, a Le Sserafim member known for her captivating food vlogs

word count: idk

Genre: SMAU/Fluff

Inspired by my fav youtuber doobydobap <3

George sighed as he sank into the soft cushions of his living room couch, finally able to relax after a long day at the track. His phone buzzed in his hand—another meme from Lando, something about who’s the better driver this week. George rolled his eyes and swiped it away. He was tired of the constant comparisons, the endless questions. Every interview felt like another round of “Who’s better at this or that?” Sometimes, he just needed a break from it all.

He opened YouTube, aimlessly scrolling for something different. His eyes landed on a video thumbnail of a table filled with delicious-looking food, and a girl grinning beside it. The title caught his attention: My Guide to the BEST Street Food in Seoul.

“Why not,” George muttered to himself, tapping on the video.

The screen came to life with vibrant shots of Seoul’s bustling street food scene. Y/N was walking through the streets, introducing various foods with a bright, excited energy. George was immediately hooked. There was something about the way she talked—effortless, funny, and completely herself.

She picked up a small snack, inspecting it before taking a bite. "They’re much smaller than the big ones that are filled with roe," she said, holding up the dish with a mischievous smile, "but just because it's small doesn’t mean it ain’t tasty—and that applies to many things." She winked at the camera, making George choke on his water mid-sip.

He sat up straighter, a grin forming on his face. “What did I just stumble into?”

The video continued with her taking massive bites, describing each dish with vivid details that somehow made George’s mouth water, even though he wasn’t usually into food videos. But it wasn’t just the food—it was her personality. She had this way of making everything seem light and fun, as if the whole world was just a giant playground of flavors.

George leaned back, a smile tugging at his lips. For the first time in a while, he wasn’t thinking about racing or interviews. Just food... and her.

Y/N’s POV

The cameras were rolling, capturing every moment as Y/N and Yunjin stood in front of a colorful street food stall. Today’s challenge for Le Sserafim’s YouTube channel was a mix of dares and foodie adventures, and Yunjin was ready to dive in.

“Welcome back, everyone!” Y/N cheered into the camera. “Today, Yunjin and I are taking on the ultimate street food dare. We’ve got some spicy dishes and a few random dares to complete. Ready, Yunjin?”

Yunjin grinned, nervously holding a skewer of spicy tteokbokki. “Ready as I’ll ever be!”

The first dare popped up on Y/N’s phone: Talk about something you’re passionate about while eating something spicy.

Y/N took a large bite of the tteokbokki, her eyes widening at the heat. “Alright, here we go. So, I’ve got this major passion for cars. I’m fascinated by everything from the sleek designs to the roar of the engines. If I weren’t doing food vlogs and idol stuff, I’d probably be somewhere working with cars. I love the speed, the engineering—just the whole vibe of it.”

Yunjin laughed, struggling to keep her composure as the spice hit her. “You and your cars! I’ve seen you talk about them all the time. And speaking of busy, we’ve got a lot to do before our next tour. Packing, rehearsals... it’s going to be a whirlwind.”

Y/N nodded, wiping her forehead. “Yeah, it’s going to be hectic, but it’s worth it. And who knows, maybe I’ll get a chance to drive something amazing before we head out.”

The challenge continued with both of them trying various spicy dishes and completing their dares, their laughter and camaraderie shining through. The video wrapped up with Y/N and Yunjin excitedly discussing their upcoming tour and the busy schedule ahead.

George’s POV

George was sprawled on the couch in his hotel room, catching a break after the Suzuka GP. His phone buzzed with new content, and he opened one of Y/N’s food vlogs out of curiosity. He was halfway through when Yuki Tsunoda burst into the room with a couple of drinks and a big grin.

“Hey, George!” Yuki exclaimed. “Mind if I join you for a bit?”

“Of course not,” George replied, gesturing to the couch. “I was just watching this food vlogger. She’s really something.”

Yuki flopped down next to him and glanced at the screen. His eyes widened as he recognized Y/N. “Wait, is that Y/N? The food vlogger?”

George nodded, still engrossed in the video. “Yeah, she’s got this great style. I didn’t expect her to be so... engaging.”

Yuki’s expression shifted to one of excitement. “You know, I’ve got to tell you something. You might find this interesting.”

George looked up, curious. “Oh? What’s up?”

Yuki leaned in, a mischievous smile on his face. “So, Y/N... she’s actually a member of a famous K-pop group.”

George blinked in surprise. “What? Are you serious?”

Yuki nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, she’s in Le Sserafim. I didn’t realize you didn’t know. She’s huge worldwide”

George’s eyes widened. “No way. I had no idea. She’s just been this really cool food vlogger to me.”

Yuki chuckled. “Yeah, she’s got this whole other side to her. You should see their music videos. They’re amazing.”

George was intrigued. “You know what, let’s watch some of their stuff.”

Yuki grinned and pulled out his laptop, navigating to Le Sserafim’s music videos. They started with a recent MV, and as the vibrant visuals and catchy beats filled the room, George found himself captivated. Y/N’s stage presence was magnetic, and he was surprised by how much he enjoyed it.

As they moved through the videos, George’s initial surprise turned into admiration. “Wow, I had no idea she was such a star. She’s incredible.”

Yuki nodded. “Yeah, she really is. And she’s so down-to-earth. I think you might be more into her now, huh?”

George laughed, a little embarrassed. “You could say that. She’s definitely caught my attention in a whole new way.”

They spent the next hour watching various clips, George becoming more engrossed in Y/N’s multifaceted talent. By the end of their impromptu viewing session, he was thoroughly impressed and even more intrigued by her.

When the viewing session ended, George picked up his phone and hesitated for a moment before searching for Y/N’s Instagram account. With a smile, he hit the follow button, feeling a newfound connection to the talented and intriguing woman behind the food vlogs.

@georgerussell63

Liked by yukitsunoda0511,alex_albon,pierregassly and others

@georgerussell63 I'm mess in distress but still the best dressed

Thank u @yukitsunoda0511 for the pics🐥

Comments

@alex_albon you went to THE le sserafim consert without me!? Here I thought we were friends

@yukitsunoda0511 😼

@user119 george in his oppa era?🧐

@pierregasly ofc yuki took the pictures u could never take aesthetic picture like that

@user143 wait george be looking extra scrumdelicious lately

@user66 why know one told me george listens to le sserafim 🫢 because that's my mother in 2nd slide

@(your_username)

Liked by @georgerussell63,Calvinklein,jenaissante,le_sserafim and others

@(your_username) Feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with @CalvinKlein. Thank you for letting me be a part of your incredible collection

George POV

George was in the paddock, taking a moment to relax and scroll through Instagram on his phone. The usual buzz of activity surrounded him as teams prepared for the next race, but George was lost in his own world, scrolling through his feed.

He stumbled across a post from Calvin Klein featuring Y/N in their latest campaign. The photos were stunning—Y/N looked absolutely breathtaking , modern outfits. George’s eyes widened in awe as he saw the images of her effortlessly posing and exuding confidence.

Unable to contain his excitement, George let out an involuntary shout. “Oh my—”

A few of the other drivers, including Yuki, glanced over at him, intrigued by his reaction. Yuki’s lips curled into a knowing smile as he watched George’s enthusiastic response. He had seen George’s interest in Y/N grow over time and found the situation amusing.

Yuki chuckled softly, catching George’s eye. “Looks like someone’s having a fanboy moment,” he teased, fully aware of the reason behind George’s excitement.

George barely registered Yuki’s comment. His mind was racing, and Without a moment's hesitation, His excitement grew as he remembered that Calvin Klein had invited him to their upcoming party. This was the perfect opportunity to get involved, especially with the new collection making waves.

He couldn’t wait any longer. George bolted to his manager’s office, bursting through the door with so much energy that his manager nearly jumped out of his chair.

“H-Hey, George!” his manager stammered, wide-eyed, visibly startled by the sudden entrance. “What’s—what’s happening?”

“I just saw the Calvin Klein collection!” George blurted out, barely able to contain himself. “And we need to say yes to that party invite. Now!”

His manager, still trying to gather himself, blinked rapidly, stumbling over his words. “O-O-Okay! Y-Yes, right away! I’ll...I’ll handle it, no problem.”

George’s enthusiasm didn’t waver as he grinned. “Good! Make it happen!”

The Calvin Klein party was buzzing with energy, fashion icons and celebrities filling the room. George, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness, casually sipped his drink as he scanned the room. But then, he saw her—Y/N, effortlessly stunning, standing near a group of people, laughing and engaging in conversation.

It felt as though time had slowed down. The music faded into the background, the buzz of the party muffled, as his gaze locked onto her. Something about the way she carried herself, the confidence and grace, left him frozen in place. His heart pounded in his chest, and he knew he had to talk to her. Gathering every ounce of courage, he walked over.

“Hi,” George said, voice surprisingly steady despite the excitement coursing through him.

Y/N turned, her eyes meeting his, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The intensity of their connection hit both of them like a tidal wave. She smiled warmly, and it was as if the world shrunk down to just the two of them.

“Hey, George Russell, right?” Y/N asked, her tone light but with a sparkle of recognition in her eyes.

He grinned, nodding. “Yeah, that’s me. I... uh... saw your Calvin Klein shoot. You absolutely killed it.”

“Thank you!” she laughed softly, clearly flattered. “I’ve actually been getting into Formula 1 recently, so it’s crazy to meet you here.”

His heart skipped a beat. “No way, really? You’ve been watching the races?”

“Yeah,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “It’s fascinating—especially seeing how everything works behind the scenes. The adrenaline, the speed, it’s so intense.”

George felt the connection deepening. They fell into easy conversation, bouncing between their mutual love for fashion, traveling, and fast cars. Every word she spoke made George feel as if he had known her forever. They shared so many of the same interests, and the more they talked, the more captivated he became. Time flew by without them even noticing.

As the party began to wind down, George hesitated for a brief moment but decided to go for it. “I’ve really enjoyed talking with you tonight. Would you—uh, if you’re free, want to come to the Austrian Grand Prix? I think you’d really love it. Maybe I could show you around the paddock?”

Y/N’s eyes lit up, a soft smile playing on her lips. “I’d love that.”

@(your_username) Posted a story!

"What a wonderful night @georgerussell63"

After the Calvin Klein party, George and Y/N stayed in touch almost every day. At first, it was casual—sharing memes, discussing travel plans, and talking about their busy schedules.

George and Y/N always seemed to do a quick call between meetings, or FaceTime sessions whenever they could. Most often, Y/N would call him while she was cooking, her love for food shining through in every dish she made.

“Guess what I’m making tonight,” Y/N teased one evening, the sound of pots and pans clinking in the background as her camera showed her busy kitchen.

George leaned back in his chair, a smile tugging at his lips. “Let me guess…something delicious?”

Y/N laughed, giving the camera a little wink. “You know it. But you’ll have to wait and see. Maybe I’ll send you a plate.”

He couldn’t help but admire how much passion she had for cooking. He’d watch as she diced vegetables or stirred sauces, completely in her element. The sight of her in the kitchen, focused and happy, made his heart swell.

Sometimes, he’d even join her. They’d both be in their own kitchens, cooking the same meal during their FaceTime calls. George wasn’t the best cook, but with her guidance, he managed to whip up a few decent dishes.

“You’re doing great,” Y/N would encourage, laughing as he fumbled with a pan. “Maybe next time, you’ll cook for me in person.”

“That’s a deal,” George replied with a grin, his eyes never leaving hers on the screen.

Somewhere along the way, admiration had quietly morphed into something deeper. Something that felt a lot like love.

George’s POV

The Austrian GP was finally here, and George couldn’t shake the nervous excitement he felt knowing Y/N would be watching him live from the paddock. He had invited her to the race weeks ago, and now it was happening. After arriving at the circuit, George quickly texted her:

George: Hey! You here? I’ll come get you.

A few moments later, he spotted her in the paddock, looking effortlessly chic in her Mercedes team pass, smiling when she saw him. He guided her through the chaos of the paddock and into the serene comfort of the Mercedes hospitality suite.

“Welcome to my world,” George said with a grin.

Y/N beamed back. “This is insane! Everything looks so different in person.”

They spent the pre-race together, George showing her around, explaining the details of what went on behind the scenes, and making sure she was comfortable.

“Good luck out there,” Y/N whispered, as he headed to his car. She didn’t realize how much she truly cared for him until she saw the determination in his eyes. The feelings that had slowly bloomed over the weeks felt undeniably real now.

The lights went out, and the Austrian GP was underway. George drove like a man possessed—each lap faster, smoother, more precise. Y/N watched from the Mercedes suite, her heart pounding with every corner he took. It was a fierce race, with George battling for the top spot. And then, in a thrilling final lap, he overtook his rival, crossing the finish line first.

Cheers erupted around the track, but George’s eyes immediately searched for her. As the podium celebrations began, champagne spraying everywhere, he stood at the top, a wide grin on his face. His gaze never left Y/N. In that moment, he wasn’t just celebrating the win—he was sharing it with her.

The celebration was in full swing. Music pulsed through the club, and George couldn’t keep his eyes off her—not that he even tried. They had been glued to each other since the moment they stepped inside. With every beat of the music, every sway of her body next to his, George felt the tension between them build.

Y/N was radiant, her energy infectious as they danced together, their movements synced as if they had done this a hundred times before. There were other people around them, fellow drivers, friends, and fans, but to George, the room had blurred into a haze. It was just them. Every laugh, every smile, every brush of her skin against his sent a jolt through him.

At one point, she leaned into his ear to say something, her breath warm against his skin. He couldn’t even remember what she said, just the way her voice made his heart race. They moved together on the dance floor, effortlessly, like they had done this all their lives.

As the night wore on, neither could bear to leave the other’s side. They were locked in this invisible pull, their bodies close, their hands occasionally brushing. It felt like the world outside didn’t exist—just the two of them, wrapped up in the magic of the night.

On their way back to George’s condo, the car ride was quiet, but the air between them buzzed with unspoken words. Y/N glanced at him every now and then, a soft smile playing on her lips, and George couldn’t help but grin back.

As the car pulled up to his place and Y/N reached for the door handle, George, feeling the weight of the moment, decided to take a leap. He cleared his throat and with a small, mischievous grin, said, “Ramyeon meokgo gallae?” in his best, slightly awkward, British-accented Korean.

Y/N froze for a second, her hand pausing on the door, before she burst into laughter. “Did you just…?”

He chuckled, his face warm. “Yeah, I thought I’d give it a try.”

She shook her head, still laughing softly. “You’re adorable.”

The tension that had been building all night finally cracked, and as Y/N smiled at him, George knew that whatever happened next would change everything. She stepped back inside the car, shutting the door behind her, and leaned closer to him, her eyes sparkling.

And from there, the rest was history.

@(your_username)

Liked by yukitsunoda0511, alex_albon, georgerussell63, @jenaissante

@(your_username) girl dinner ✨️

Comments has been limited

@alex_albon really the person who burned the water

@jenaissante this girl is down bad

@lilymhe u are coming to williams garage next time and that's final

THANK YOU FOR READING <3

[ericshoney]

Day at the zoo ~ Brothers!Sturniolo Triplets

Summary: You join your brothers for the trip to the zoo

Warnings: probably swearing, nicknames, fluff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When your brothers talked about doing a special video for their channel about going to the zoo, you instantly wanted to go with them. You begged and begged and begged, until they caved and spoke with your parents.

"She'll be your responsibility, she's only five so she will be distracted and want to see all the animals." Your dad said.

"We want to see all the animals too, dad." Nick said, making him laugh.

"She really wants to go, we'll look after her, promise." Matt said.

Your parents agreed and it was settled you'd go with them to the zoo. When the time came, you slept in the car the whole way there, wanting to save your energy for the zoo, plus the drive was quite long.

"Hey petal, we're here." Matt called softly, waking you up when they arrived.

You woke up slowly, smiling at the middle triplet. He smiled back and helped you out the car, as Nick and Chris got all your bags out. They started filming and explained how you joined them along for the special video. As they did, you just looked around.

After their intro, you all went to the front and talked to reception about booking in. You just stood next to Matt the whole time. After all that, the first stop after putting your bags away, was the zip line. As you were only five, you didn't meet the height requirements to go on, but you stood with a very nice lady who talked about all the different animals as you waited for your brothers.

"Don't worry kiddo, you'll be able to do that one day." Chris said as he reached where you were waiting.

You smiled and were now ready for the tour. You sat next to Chris on the ride around, looking at all the different animals.

"Zebras!" You exclaimed, as the car came to a stop. The guys smiled at you.

"That's right, sweetheart." Nick said.

You giggled and then continued on, the guys listened to the guide talk, whilst you just looked at the animals in amazement. It soon came to the giraffes which you loved. The guys took a few pictures, but mostly of your amazed face and smiles.

When the tour was over, it was time for food. You followed Nick this time, him filling a plate up for you as he spoke to the camera. You pointed at a few things you wanted.

"Go sit down, bub." He then said.

You ran and sat down next to Chris, who was already eating and chatting with Matt. Nick placed your food down in front of you as they continued filming a bit more, talking about how amazing it was to have a zoo to yourself.

"Thanks for letting me come." You said.

"Of course, petal. It's been a great experience." Matt said.

You smiled and knew this wouldn't be a time to be forgotten.

[salamander-spark]

My first fanfic! I'm proud of it even if it's a little rushed. I barely managed to get it out within the day. Tomorrow's prompt might just be a drawing.

Day 1:

Hug/Cabin 7/Shapeshifter

Fic below:

TW: very brief depiction of a panic attack, description of nightmare.

It had been a month since Vee's mom and sister came back from the boiling isles.

The stress Vee felt the few days it took for the return was immeasurable. A worry for her family took root in the back of her mind, it made sleep nearly impossible, and gave her nightmares.

Waiting for months, no contact, no words, no way of knowing if they are alive. No magic. She'd be found out, spreding herself too thin with Camila and Luz's responsibilities, inevitably slipping up. People from the town gazing upon her demonic form. The eyes of Belos's monsterous form looming behind everyone. her family, Luz's friends all dead they couldn't stop him THEY COULDN'T COME HOME THEY WERE DEAD HE KILLED THE —

In the present, Vee shook her head to dispel the images her imagination made. She remembers the dreams vividly, still occasionally seeing them in her sleep.

The week following their return, she found the pamphet Masha handed her. Blushing (But NOT because she remembers making a fool of herself in front of them), she decided it was time to take up their offer. 

And it turned out AMAZING, Masha's gradoise flair really fitting the tour guide gig. It was just like back at Cabin seven when They waxed poeticly about the many pagen dieties and what they did. 

Vee kept up with Masha's narration, interjecting questions when she thought of them, keeping the conversation flowing. Vee told Masha about herself, and Masha shared stories about their friends. An aching Vee didn’t realize she had in her heart began to fade talking to her friend after so long, but only slightly.

Masha didn't know that she knew them. For all they knew, they were talking to a complete stranger. The person they talked to couldn't possibly be the shy, anxious girl they shared a cabin with. She couldn't be the friend they helped bring out of her shell, who looked at all things mundane with innocent wonder. She wasn't Luz Noceda.

The insecurity persisted, became even bigger after Masha invited Vee to hang out with their friends. Diego, the tall, relaxed boy who let his hair fall onto his face and probably had a million zits on his forhead. Samantha; or rather Sam, who had a love for video games and anime, and rambled about them to the captivated audience of her friends. 

Neither of them knew her as Vee either. It was awkward, but managable, getting to know them a second time. She noticed that they were each more comfortable in conversation than when they were back at camp. They were all less reluctant to share the information about themselves that took them weeks to share at camp. Vee supposed she was also more confident, staying in a cabin with each other must have been to thank for that.

She didn't know how long she could keep lying to them, for her own sanity.

"Say," Masha began, "What about those kids you were hanging out with? They're your other friends, right?" 

Vee, lying belly down looked up from the Cosmic frontier book she was reading. "Huh? She got so invested in the plot it took her brain a while to process Masha's question. 

"Y'know, at the historical society, right before Halloween," Masha clarified. "You guys asked me about that rebus remember? That one kid was going on like, 'Grahh chop off my ear' or something," Masha giggled. 

Oh. Luz's friends. Vee knew the witches also considered her part of the group, but it was easier thinking of them as her sister's friend group.

Wait... They didn't have a proper cover story! Vee was terrible at lying on the fly, but she needed to start talking now!

"O- OH YEAH, that was Gus. H-hes pretty fun. Then theres uhhh, Amity with the pink hair, Willow had glasses, and... oh yeah Hunter too but he was at our home that day." Vee needed to stall so she could come up with something.

"Is he The Blond cosmic frontier fan?" Masha asked, which confused Vee.

"When did you see him? I don't remember him going to your job after we left."

"No, I actually saw them at the haunted hayride! oh, I guess I only told you two-" Masha points two fingers at Sam and Diego respectively "-about that since you weren't hanging out with us back then. Whoops~"

Suddenly, Diego piped up. "Wait, you said 'Our' Home. So they like, live at your place or something"  

CRAP!

"Uhhhh well... you see." Think of something Vee, just spit it out. "Foreign excange students?" she thought out loud. "-From out of state not another country!" she amended in a panic.

"O–kay?" Sam raised her eyebrow "I've never seen them at school before, and you know I watch people like a hawk." It was true, back at camp, Sam compiled a list of the campers from other cabins activities in order to know who to watch out for. 

It wasn't a skill she thought would be used agsinst her.

"Well, There are other schools in the area you know? I think they went to, yknow..." She didn't know the names of any other high schools. "...Not Gravesfield high?" She finished with a shrug. And also, they went back to their own rea-" DONT SAY REALM "TOWN like, right after Halloween, so yeah, that's why you've never seen 'em" She finished with a shrug and a manic chuckle.

How did she keep this up for thee months straight? She must've lost her touch. Then again, she considered not having to lie as a good thing.

"Sure, I'll accept that." Sam relented.

"Hold up, am I missing something, or does that like. Not make sense." Diego once again came in with his terribly timed questions. "Cause like, you said they lived in your house, why wouldn't they go to the same school?" How is he so perceptive!? It must be because he doesn't devote much energy into responding so he can listen better.

Masha put a hand on her shoulder "Hey, sorry about him Vee, if theres something you don't want to tell us, you don't have to." assured Masha. "We didn't mean to push so far." Masha turns toward the offender, "Diego." They enunciate.

Vee didn't her most of what Masha said. Where Masha tried to reassure her, Vee only heard an accusation. 'something you don't want to tell us' sounded more like 'You're hiding something, aren't you Vee.' And what did that last part mean? Could they tell she was panicking? WHY DID THEY SOUND ANGRY?

They'reGoingToForce AnswersOutOfmeNobodyTrustsMe-

Everything turned blurry, she was hyper aware of all the sounds of the room closing in on her. Her heartbeat was in her ears, everyones voices blended into a cocophony She needed to get away She's clammy and very sweaty-

It's queit, what changed, is there still danger?

She heard breathing, not her own, someone elses, not her own, and it makes her realize how quick she's breathing. She tries to slow down, matching the pace of the other person. 

When she finally steadied herself (it felt like several minutes but also less than one) She opened her eyes (They were closed?) and sees Masha sitting on her knees on the bed in front of her (She doesn't remember getting into this corner). They continued to demonstrate the breathing exercise, which they also did with their hands.

Vee thinks she remembers something like this happening at camp, but isn't sure right now. Masha gestured their hands out wide, clearly asking if it was okay if they could give a hug. 

You don't deserve one, her brain tells her. No, she shakes her hehead.

Masha sits with her, and they both breath. Such a simple act, filled with so much understanding. You doesn't deserve Masha. 

She's now aware enough to know how mean she's being to herself. She spots her other friends sitting in the middle of the room, Dego on the floor while Samantha sits in the desk chair. She gives a meek wave and they wave back without keeping eye contact. They look ashamed, Masha must've given them a talking to.

"Hi guys, sorry you had to see that," she knew she shouldn't be apologizing, but this whole situation never would've happened if she was truthful from the beginning. 

"No Vee, this wasn't your fault." Says Masha

Sam adds in "We're sorry. Diego said he should've realised before he asked that. And I'm sorry for getting so uptight about answers." Sam makes eye contact at the end, though it almost looks like she's scrutinizing Vee's face-

-She spins to look at the mirror and sees a splotchy mess of skin on her face. One could confuse it for vitiligo -a skin condition she learned some humans have- if not for the fact her face was previously a single solid shade of brown. 

Her hair is now completely blue, and a bit shorter, exposing her ears in their full glory. They must've been flapping like crazy during her panic attack.

Her sclera was blue, and took on the glossy sheen of an amphibious creature. 

None of those are human traits.

Her head snaps back towards Masha, cringing while waiting for a reaction.

"So..." They began. "I um. I like your ears?" They clerly want to say more, but refrains to be polite. "Once again, I don't wanna force you to answer. I've just got a lotta theories in my noggin right now and I would like to know the truth. But again, no pressure. Whetever the truth is, I'll try not to react badly." They finished by putting their hands up and smiling. 

Both looked at their friends who nodded. "Hey I'm cool with you being a shape-changing spirit, or some cryptid, or whatever you are. Again, I'm sorry." Sam smiles.

Diego nods and says "Ditto, what she said."

"And if you're not ready right now, we trust you. We just want you to be comfortable with us. You can talk later

Now was the time to come clean to her friends. It wasn't because she was backed into a corner. They let her keep her secrets if she really needed too.

Her eyes tear up, and the tears wetted her cheek. They trust her.

Hopefully they stayed true to their words. Here goes nothing.

"Um, Let me tell you about a place called the Boiling Isles"

She shapeshifts into her true skin for the first time in their presence.

Sam fellbackwards off her chair while Diego simply said "woah." After squeaking in a high pitch, Masha just stared, taking in the details of her true for  from her tail to her hair.

She could’ve eased the group in better, could've given them a better idea of what to expect. But flowery speeches were Luz’s deal, and Vee wanted to rip off the bandaid.

She hoped they  would share Mom and Luz's opinions on how non-threatening she looked. Masha looked far from disgusted at least, but she had no idea what was on Diego's mind.

Sam lifted her chair to defend herself, before realizing how it looked and set it down. Vee only now remembered Sam has a fear of snakes, Ophidiophobia if she's correct. 

She considered apologizing, but decided against it, given this whole thing was mostly Sam's fault. She could be petty, she deserves it. She's definitely getting around to it later though.

they let her explain herself in full, with no interruptions. She told them about the titan, demon and witches. She wasn't quite ready to tell them how she was born, but she told them she pretended to be Luz for the summer.

Everyone's eyes grew wide at the admission, and it looked like they had something to say. Then they looked in her eyes and she gave a look that said she never wanted to hurt them.

She didn't expect them to start joking around so quickly after several earth shattering revelations, but she could tell that they wanted to lighten the mood before discussing them.

They were also being super frustrating about the cute comments.

“I'm not cute. Luz calls everything cute, like. Possums, for one.” She scrunches her face, “and she didn't even bat an eye at a bunch of talking rats!” 

“Your face looks like a cat,” says Diego, his mouth curved in an uncharacteristicly mischievous grin. “But like, a bald cat that fell in a can of green paint.” He teases. 

"Hey, you up for that hug yet, Vee?" Masha smiled that pretty gap toothed smile, and Vee felt her resolve shatter. 

"Y'know what? yeah. I could use one." Vee agreed.

"Want to make it four?" They asked, to which Vee nodded.

Vee tightly hugged Masha, and they embraced. With Vees hace in the crook of their neck, she wrapped her tail around Diego who had moved behind her. "Sweet" he simply remarked.

Masha looked at where Sam sat crisscrosed, hand hovering over Vee's tail hesitsntly. "Hey, you know she's not slimy, right?" Masha indignantly asked. "She's also warmer than I expected, she barely even feels like a snake. More like what I imagine a dragon would be like." Masha blinked "Can you turn into a dragon?" Masha almost shouted.

Vee shrugged, Sam insisted "But do I have to?"

"Yeah, get over here dummy!" Vee wrapps the end of her tail around Sam's midsection. Vee thinks she looks a bit pale.

"Geez it must be 'everybody bully Sam hour' today! Really, I'm still sorry," Sam defends. 

"You were a jerk, you owe me something expensive!"

Diego and Masha laughed at Sams expression, Vee leans deeper into Masha's hug. 

"You okay Vee-Vee?" masha softly asks.

"Yeah," Vee looks around at her friends. getting an idea.

"Cabin seven!"

"HOO HAA HAA!" chorused four voices

"I love you guys." whispered the shapeshifter amongst her closest friends.

[poly-alt-partner]

Hide and Seek - Colby Brock X Fem!Reader - Part 1

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Summary: You join Sam, Colby, and The Boys on an investigation of Geelong Gaol in Australia. After the intro of the video, Sam and Colby set up their first 'challenge' of the night - Hide and Seek! What happens when Colby finds you first?

Info: I did write a few parts that happened in the video (especially the beginning). Hopefully it's not a spoiler to anyone who hasn't watched the latest upload!

Warnings: Dark rooms, cussing, some spicy interactions with Colby😉(will be in part 2)

____________________________________________________________

While you weren't new to ghost hunting and investigating haunted locations, you had never been to a haunted prison like Geelong Gaol. With an estimated 500+ deaths on the grounds, it was no wonder that there would be activity in the once active cells and hallways. Although you were joined by more people than usual there was still an uneasy feeling in your gut.

Before going on tour with the guides and learning more about the history everyone met in the main hallway. For the introduction you and Colby followed Sam around the corner while Juicy, Narrator, Mully, Eddie, and Josh stayed by the stairs.

"Not only did we bring (y/n) to Australia with us..." Sam pointed the camera towards you as the three of you walked back down the hall. You smiled and waved quickly before Sam turned back towards the corridor.

"We are also here with The Boys!" You watched as the group leaned in close to one another and shouted in excitement. Despite being in such a creepy location everyone was hyped up and happy to be together. Seeing how everyone interacted and got along was comforting at least.

Sam pointed out that everyone (including you) were wearing black while he was in a bright orange jumper. After a few more minutes of talking and plugging the merch, Colby took the camera from Sam. Sam got a little more serious and turned towards the bigger group.

"Alright, who's the believer of the group?" Sam inquired towards the five men.

Eddie chimed in first. "I started off as a nonbeliever and I'm the biggest bitch in the whole group."

You couldn't help but laugh and nod to yourself. There were definitely times that you would have preferred to bounce from a location when things got serious. But in all honesty, who didn't have moments like that?

"I am very skeptical," Mully started. "But I also leave places being like 'How do we explain this?'"

So far Mully has definitely been the type to be spooked by any clear evidence. He also has a habit of telling things to 'f*ck off' when it's getting too real. You can't really blame him, though. It's still hard to believe some of the things you've experienced through the years.

"Before we get into any of the history, we do have a little challenge for you guys." Upon hearing this you glance over at Colby curiously, having not heard of this prior.

"So we're all gonna split up."

"Already?" Mully's voice pitches a little higher than normal.

"Before we know anything, everyone needs to isolate themselves and we are gonna play hide and seek."

Excuse me? I did not sign up for this. You exchange glances with Juicy and Narrator. They can also tell you didn't know about this. In spite of the new information Mully and Eddie started cracking jokes. However you weren't entirely confident with running around in such an unfamiliar place.

Sam continues to explain the challenge. "Winner of hide and seek gets to choose one person to do the first investigation in solitary confinement." The Boys groan and you can't help but agree with them. If I can't win, I hope the winner doesn't choose me to investigate alone.

"(Y/n) you can either do rock, paper, scissors to be a seeker or you can opt out to be someone that hides," Colby says, noticing how tense you seemed. You should honestly be used to challenges like these by now.

"I'll just hide so one of you two have to find me."

You see Colby smirk a little before turning back to Sam to see who would be seeking. As far as you knew, Colby always lost when they did rock, paper, scissors. But you noticed the glint in his eye and wondered if his losing streak would continue.

Initially Colby had won, meaning Sam would be seeker. However, he decided he wanted to try again to see if Colby would lose. Lo and behold, Colby lost again and was now designated seeker. Your heart raced a little at the thought of hiding alone in the dark and you kind of hoped to lose quickly. Losing the game was better than being alone for more than a few minutes.

As soon as everyone had their own cameras it was time to split up. Everyone started running to find the best hiding spot, including you. Eddie and Juicy seem to be shaking hands as you run past them and some of the display cases. You duck into a small room not far from them and crouch behind the door.

"Everyone ran ahead of me," You whisper to the camera. "If I'm lucky, Colby will just run past to investigate the cells." You glance around the small room at some text but decide that reading isn't a good idea right now. You decide to zoom in with the camera in case it's needed for the footage.

"Who's gonna be fucking found first?!" Colby's voice echoes around the building, causing you to cover your mouth and turn the camera back to you. You stifle a laugh as you hear Colby walking around, being a goofball. Honestly you wouldn't mind being found first but obviously you weren't going to give up that easily.

Listening intently you hear Colby getting closer, saying he heard laughter. You realize that he must have heard you laughing. You look into the camera with wide eyes and think about holding your breath. Somehow you just feel giddy and excited about playing this game, almost forgetting that you're in Geelong Gaol.

Too scared to talk and expose your hiding spot you put a finger to your lips and shake your head. There's no way I'm going to make it that easy on him.

It's almost impossible to not laugh as you hear Colby begin sniffing around audibly like a dog sniffing a trail. Luckily you hardly ever wear perfume so he wouldn't be able to actually 'sniff you out.'

The camera in your hand is still focused on you. You hold your breath as you hear his footsteps inching closer and closer.

______________________________________________________________

Aaaaand, that's part 1! I wanted to break it up because it was getting a little long. Let me know how it is so far!

[hornyfor-redacted-onmain]

Late Night Reunions

Pieces of My Heart - Chapter 11 Stray Kids OT8 x reader, Soulmate AU

Masterlist | Next Part

You were feeling proud of yourself.

The words on the screens looked familiar to you now, and you were able to understand enough of the foreign language that you found your way through customs without having to ask for help. You pointedly avoided reading the English translations right below the Korean. It felt like cheating.

The sudden change to online classes had left you with an unexpected amount of free time since you didn’t have to show up to your university physically. It meant that in between classes you could do short Korean lessons, you could watch kdrama’s while you ate, and you had the hour that would normally be spent on public transport to do nothing more than practice. You advanced so quickly that the conversations around you as you walked through the airport made sense, and you actually felt bad for eavesdropping on strangers.

It had only been a month.

The boys had finished their tour a week ago and were now on a short term break in between comebacks. You remembered the tired but satisfied looks on their faces when they finished their last show, the live notification that had popped up on your phone. You watched them spend an hour with Stay, only to get the added benefit of a video call immediately after, while they got ready for bed. They had spent most of the call talking about how much they missed you, wishing you were there for their concert, completely unaware of the plan you had put into motion.

Only Chan had been aware at the moment that you already had your soulmate visa.

When you originally brought up the plan to him, he had mentioned saving the information until you were sure of the time frame, to avoid getting them excited only for the plan to not pan out. It was notoriously difficult to get a soulmate visa, since you needed proof of your soulmate connection, and neither you nor Chan had a physical soulmark. You were worried you would need to talk to someone or argue your case to demonstrate your connection.

But all it took was a written statement from Chris and just like that, you had your soulmate connection officially and legally confirmed. It was almost laughably easy.

You trailed behind a group of people, your suitcase rattling as you dragged it next to you. The crowds around the airport made it hard for you to get a clear look on who you were looking for, so you paused next to a pillar for a second to glance down at your red string in hopes of it guiding you, only to notice that seven of the strings were all focused in the same location, with the eighth one not in front of you.

Hands pressed against your eyes from behind.

“Guess who.”

You laughed. “Chris!”

You abandoned your suitcase and spun around, throwing yourself into the arms of the man behind you. He caught you with a grunt, spinning you around with a laugh when you let out a squeak at the sudden movement. You refused to let go of him, even when your feet touched the ground once again.

“Hi,” You rested your chin against his chest so you could look into his eyes.

He was wearing a mask, but you could see his smile from the curve in his eyes. “Hi.”

“I missed you.”

“Hmm, I missed you too, sweetheart.”

You were tempted to pull down his mask and kiss him right there, but you were still in a public location and Chris was still a famous idol. So instead, you settled for staying in his arms, letting him rock you two back and forth while humming something under his breath.

“Where are the others?”

“Ah, I told them we were having movie night. It was the easiest way to get all of them together without it being suspicious,” He said.

I blinked. “And they weren’t curious about where you were going so late at night?”

“I told them I forgot something at the company building. I think I have maybe 10 minutes before they start to get suspicious.”

“Doesn’t the drive back to your dorm take at least 30 minutes?”

“Guess we’ll have to come up with something.”

Coming up with something apparently meant sending them a text from Chris’s phone that he was going to get snacks, which then turned into actually having to get snacks when Felix asked for some cookies. Chris kept his mask on, slinking around the store aisles as quickly as he could, and you kept your distance just in case he was somehow recognized.

When you got back to the car, he held out your favorite candy towards you. “I remember you mentioning you liked these. You should hide them, otherwise the other’s will get to them first.”

You grabbed the candy gently, giving him a confused look. “What?”

“Oh, do you not like them?” He also shared a confused look.

“No, I love these,” You reassured, looking down at the candy and then back at Chris. “But I mentioned it once … in a text message. Weeks ago.”

“… And?”

“And you remembered that?” You wondered.

“Of course.”

You grabbed his arm as he reached to turn the car back on, pulling him away from the steering wheel and towards you. He let out a noise of surprise, but was quick to react when you pressed your lips against his, hand reaching out to steady you as you practically threw yourself towards him. He let out a chuckle, but you quieted him with another kiss, your eyes welling up with emotions. You heart was pounding so loud in your ears you wondered if he could hear it.

His hand was firm against your waist, thumb rubbing soft circles against your skin. His other hand reached up to pull your hair away from your face, palm cupping your cheek and engulfing you in warmth. You breathed in his essence, the cologne, the smell of his laundry detergent. His tongue tasted like peppermint. Your chest began to ache.

You let out a breathy whine when he pulled away.

“Hey, hey sweetheart. Are you okay?”

The tears in your eyes had slipped down your cheeks, and you immediately reached up to wipe them away. You nodded your head, unsure if you could speak, throat heavy with emotion. Chris stared at you for a second before a soft smile pulled at his lips.

“I missed you too.”

-0-0-

Sneaking you into the dorm was surprisingly easy. Chris had led you to the door, giving you the universal sign for ‘be quite’ with a finger to his lips, and you followed behind him quietly. The layout to the dorm room placed the entrance right in between the common area and the bedrooms, which meant that as Chris headed towards the right, you had the perfect opportunity to sneak to the left. You entered the first door to the right, just like he told you, and put down your suitcase as quietly as you could.

You then peeked your head out of the door, but all you could see was the hallway that led to the living room and kitchen, voices bouncing off the walls. You slowly pulled the door closed, pulling out your phone to wait for Chris to text you. He wanted to surprise the boys, and would let you know when they were all settled.

As you waited, you sent out a message to your parents letting them know you had arrived to the dorms and were with your soulmates again. Your mother responded immediately, telling you how happy she was.

After your realization, the fear of being pushed away and left behind, you had a serious conversation with your parents, but mostly with your mother. Your father was quick to reassure you that you had to live your own life, and that you weren’t leaving them behind since they would still be there for you if you needed them. He also wanted to make sure you weren’t staying away from your soulmates for his benefit, and you both had a good cry when you realized how guilty he had felt thinking he was holding you back.

Your talk with your mom went much about the same way. After shed tears and long hugs, She reassured you that she loved you and would always love you, but she wanted what was best for you. And she wanted you to be happy.

She helped you realize just how much the boys made you happy.

Even now, being so close to your soulmates, your heart was beating hard in your chest and your skin felt alight with excitement. You were minutes away from seeing them again. So close to them, so close to holding them in your arms.

Your phone buzzed in your hands.

Chris Ready? Y/N *thumbs up* Chan Nobody should be looking, come out whenever you want ;)

[dani-says-stuff]

Two Skeptics And A Believer Walk Into A Haunted Room...

❥ Back to the Control Center

❥ I'm so so so sorry for the shitty and abrupt ending on this one, I just got bored and kiiinda ran out of ideas on where to take the last 20 or so minutes of the video... who knows I might make a pt. 2 and finish the video at some point if I can think of something to add

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Tommyinnit x fem!reader

Summary: Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? But, it just so happens to be a very accurate description of you, Tommy, and Jack entering the Ram Inn for your guest appearance on the Sam and Colby youtube channel

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: creepy stuff, hauntings, demons, language, probably an inaccurate spirit box session, inconsistent capitalization, shitty writing.. this is definately not one of my better ones

Dialogue Key:

Y/N

Tommy

Jack

Sam

Colby

James, the tour guide

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

The group of you began in a courtyard of the Ram Inn, Jack to your right and Tommy to your left while Sam and Colby stood before you.

Tom had originally just asked Jack to come with him for the video, assuming you'd want nothing to do with it after how annoyed you seemed during the entire 'uncle nasty' situation. He quickly realized his mistake when you followed him around the apartment for an hour begging him to ask Sam and Colby if you could come along. 

"And what about you?" Sam asked, eyes trained on you.

Jack had finished telling the story of his experience on stream and Tom declared his adamancy that ghosts aren't real, but you'd yet to speak. 

"Oh I believe 100%" you spoke with a smile, completely ignoring your boyfriend perched beside you staring at you as if you were insane, "I've always wanted to try something like this, I just couldn't justify spending all the money on equipment."

"Yeah" Sam drawled out scratching the back of his neck, "it does get a bit expensive." 

"Exactly!" you chirped, gesturing to the two older boys before you, "but since you already have it... now I get to do it free of charge!"

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You quickly noticed, that despite his insistence that everything was fine, Tom was starting to get jumpier than normal inside the building.

Usually, whenever a camera is around, your boyfriend became a hyper-sugar-high-nighmare that would be bouncing off the walls and jumping all over the place. Now, however, it seemed he barely registered the camera being on at all.

Instead, he seemed dazed, taking special care to analyze every corner of the room and register every individual item placed in the general area. If you didn't know about the demons that were said to call this place their home, you'd say the scariest thing was the way Tom was acting. 

The guide soon gathered the group in the center of the room to begin the tour, "There's two main demons, One's an incubus and one's a succubus. John, who owned the building, he was attacked by them quite a lot."

You closed your eyes, lowering your head slightly in embarrassment for what was to come. You'd been dating Tom long enough to know exactly where his mind was at.

"So was he like... into demon..." 

You didn't expect that though. 

"Why would you ask that?" you hissed slapping his shoulder, before looking back to your guide, "was he though? I am kinda curious now."

Jack mumbled, shaking his head similar to that of a parent watching their kids doing something they shouldn't, "Children."

"No." James responded, drawing out his answer as if deliberating in his mind, "No, no-no."

Tommy looked down at you right as you looked up at him. The both of you stared at each other for all of two seconds before nodding in conclusion. 

"Yeah-"

"-he definitely did."

As the rest of the group continued talking over the specifics of the demons in the Inn, it took all of your strength to keep from laughing at your boyfriend.

"So like" Tommy cut off the guide, "what are the boundaries sexually? like I'm not trying to be immature... this is just like really freaking me out-"

"Tom!" you gasped through laughter, "it's a demon! Love, I dont think it has boundaries."

The rest of the group began laughing, everyone but Tommy. 

"Well what about my boundaries!" he complained hands splayed across his chest, only making you laugh harder "Don't laugh at me! I'm being serious!"

James, the tour guide entered the conversation, "No, is not no."

Toms's facial expression dropped, one hand going for your wrist while the other continued gesturing out before him as he spoke, "I- Well, mate that's not how that works!"

By now, you were practically on the floor with laughter, the only thing keeping you up was your arm raised high above you in Tommy's grip. 

"They're a demon, I don't think they care."

"Well, I care!"

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

"This room by far is the most... decorated?" you spoke, looking around at all the creepy items placed around the room. 

"Yeah, it's like theyre trying to make this place scary" Sam agreed, looking down at a dusty mirror desplaying the words 'help me' at the back wall of the room. 

Jack took the singular chair in the room, while the rest of the group stayed standing, listening as the tour continued. 

Well, continued for all of a few minutes when a candle fell from the table behind where Jack sat. 

You jumped, grabbing onto Tommy, "I didn't like-"

You were swiftly cut off by a girl's voice coming from the window, "Nope. I really didn't like that."

The group began freaking out, Sam moving closer to investigate the noise and Tommy tugging your arm behind him, shuffling in front of you. Creating as much space from that general area and you as he could. 

"Hello?" he shouted, one arm holding you behind him and the other holding the Minecraft sword before him, "Hello? Can you check the window?"

Everyone began deliberating what was going on, trying to figure out an explanation for what was going on. By now, you were burrowing yourself into Tom's side, one of his arms securely wrapped around you, swinging the sword before the both of you as he tried to get the group to go check outside. 

Sam tried to bring up the candle, but Tommy had his mind set on figuring out what was going on. The candle could wait, but if there were people waiting outside messing with you all, they could easily leave at any second. 

However, after checking around several times, it became obvious that whatever you heard wasn't outside the hotel.

It had to have been inside.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You all decided to cut the tour short and begin the investigation due to the amount of stuff you all seemed to be experiencing.

So, you all began the night in the witch's room with the spirit box.

"Is there anything here that wants to talk to us?"

"Please just say Hi or something" Tommy spoke bouncing anxiously on his feet, "I'm really just not having a good time-"

Ooh

Sam pointed down at the box, a smile growing on his face "Was that just a hello?"

Jack, on the other hand, wasnt as easily convinced, "Eh... it was a very faint something."

"Can you tell us a name? or who you might be?"

After a few moments of silence, Tommy and Jack made up an impromptu rap for the ghosts, and despite a few other unintelligible noises, nothing else seemed to happen in the room. 

However, before leaving the room, you set up the REM pod on the bed just in case. 

"I just remembered something" Sam spoke up when the REM pod began to go off in response to Jack, "The witch only likes respect..."

"Oh, thats right!" Colby shouted, "That's why we got the offerings-" 

You whipped around, facing the tall raven-haired man behind you, eyebrows raised high, "I'm sorry... the what?"

"Yeah! The witch will only talk to people if she wants to. because like, if you're being disrespectful or too stupid she's like 'I don't wanna talk'"

You turned back, clicking your tongue and shrugging with fake sympathy as you faced Tommy. "You hear that?" you sighed, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Looks like we're gonna have to kick you out of this investigation."

Tommy sputtered looking around, "Wha- Why?" 

Jack stepped forward, knowing where you were going with this, "Yeah mate," he added shaking his head sorrowfully, "You may have to wait outside for this one."

 You and Jack looked at each other with a smirk, 

"Ya know," you continued, "to keep you from acting-"

"-too stupid"

"-Too stupid" 

Tommy looked at the both of you, mouth agape. "Common now, that was just mean."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

For the first Estes method run of the night, Tommy volunteered to go under as you all investigated the first floor. The rest of you now stood huddled around him as he sat in the rocking chair with the headphones on. 

"Is there anybody here with us? you were just making the REM pod go off earlier"  

Get Down.

"Were we being disrespectful upstairs?"

Me and You. 

"Is anyone upstairs?"

I need you.

You furrowed your brows at that. Both Sam and Colby brought up the succubus, but neither directly asked the question, so you decided you would. 

"Like the succubus? O-or Incubus I guess? I dunno one of the demons?"

silence.

"You said you needed something? What do you need?" you asked again, but still received no response. 

You laughed a little to yourself, "Welp I guess it doesn't like me then." your eyes widened, "Actually, uh, ghosts, please do not confirm or deny that statement... I think I'd rather you be silent on that one, I don't really want to know." 

The rest of the group, except for Tommy obviously, laughed a little under their breath at your words before continuing the investigation. 

"Is there something evil here? something that's keeping you here?"

Going on. 

"Something evil going on"

"That makes sense" you agreed, "It's the most haunted place in England right?" you asked looking between the two, "It has to have had something evil going on at some point"

"Yeah" Colby nodded, "this place has had "Evil" for around 5,000 years." 

"We hear there's demons here, is that true?"

Earth Under.

"Like... buried?" you asked.

Jack nodded at your words, adding another question for the two boys, "Yeah, because a lot of shit was like, dug up here as well, right-"

Tunnel to the left.

"oh my god," you breathed out, "Isn't that where they dug up that grave?"

"Oh yeah!" Sam exclaimed running over into the next room, "this is where they found the tunnel that used to be a grave, which would've been-"

"-to my left."

The three of you scurried back into the room where Tommy and Colby stayed to continue talking to the ghosts.

"Are you talking about the tunnel in the other room? where did that lead to?"

no response. 

Just as you were about to ask a question, Tom yelped, quickly grabbing the headphones and ripping them off due to a low, loud, and deep voice suddenly coming through the speakers. 

next under, was Jack. 

"What's your purpose here ghost? What do you want?"

The child

You and Tommy both began freaking out at that while Sam and Colby stood to the side somewhat confused. 

"Everyone used to call me the child!" he yelled, a vice-like grip on your arm as he spoke to the other two and the camera, "Everyone would call me the child!"

"Woah... whats even weirder" Sam explained, "was the bones they found underneath here were a child's."

"Well, uh, that's good" your voice shook slightly, "that means it might not be referring to you then." 

"Do- do you mean tunnel child or- or Tom child?" 

no answer.

"ya know," you spoke nervously, "I kinda wanted to try, but now I'm not too sure." 

Yes. 

"oh no." you laughed, "I-uh, I didn't like that at all."

"Are you sure you do not want to try?" Sam asked, laughter in his tone, "I think they want you to"

Yes.

"Well..." you drawled, "I don't really uh, I don't really know... we seem to be getting a lot here without me doing that.."

"We are going back to the witch's room next to give her an offering" Colby mentioned, "you could do it there if you'd like. We didn't get much activity up there."

"True" you trailed off, thinking it over, "Yeah sure, I'll do it there."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Not too long later, you were now sat in a different chair up in the witch's room, getting ready for the Estes method after giving the witch her new Minecraft creeper and scrub-daddy offerings. 

"Nah" you spoke, waving Tom over near you, "You sit right there and give me your hand" you demanded pointing to the floorboards to your side. 

"Why?"

"Because I know how you are. No way I'm letting you float around this room to scare me and tap on my shoulders and shit- sit down."

And with that, Tommy sat on the floor, hand folded in yours as you put the headphones on and pulled down the blindfold. 

"Is anyone here with us?" 

Nothing.

"Elspeth, are you here with us?"

You jumped in your chair, not quite ready to hear anything come through the headphones.

Yes.

"Have you found us disrespectful?"

One.

"One of us was disrespectful?"

"Probably fucking Tom." Jack scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"AY! Why'd you say that!"

"Oh I don't know, you're the one that has been yelling at her!"

"Have not!" 

"you just were like two seconds-"

you squeezed Tom's hand, unknowingly cutting off Jack and Tommy's argument as you spoke,  "I don't know what it just said, but it sounded like laughing at the end."

Colby tilted his head, eyes furrowing, "laughing? why would she be laughing?"

'm not. 

"What do you mean you're not?" Tom pestered, "You just did so-"

Him. 

Toms's brow crinkled further, confusion settling into his expression.

"Him?" Sam asked, "Do you mean it's not Elspeth anymore?"

"Yeah, are we talking to someone else?" 

your head quirked to the side, confused at the noise coming through the headphones, "It's like a bell?" you spoke, "Yeah like I hear a bell ringing."

"Oh!" Sam yelled, "Like ding ding, that's right!"

"Maybe"

"Who are you then? who are we speaking to?"

Bad.

"You're bad? Or is something here bad?"

Evil. 

"What do you mean evil?"

The next. 

Colby turned to Sam, realization dancing in his eyes, "The bishop's room. Thats our next stop, known to be a center for the demon-"

You yelped, tearing off the headphones when loud, evil laughter flooded your ears. You squeezed Tom's hand, yanking his arm to get a semi-awkward positioned hug from the boy. 

"That sucked" you spoke, voice muffled by his sweatshirt. 

"What happened?" he asked you, eyes wide and gaze quickly moving to each of the older guys in the group, attempting to calm you the best he can while freaking out himself. 

"There was loud laughter." you explained, gesturing around our head, "it was like thousands of people all laughing all around my head."

Once again.... so very sorry for the shitty ending- I couldn't think of anything else to put...

[multiversefanfics]

Miss me?

Colby Brock x fmedium!reader Summary: Sam and Colby met you in one of the many haunted locations they've explored, but he didn't expect you two, to meet up again. IF YOU ARE NOT OKAY WITH THE PARANORMAL PLEASE DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER!!

warning: paranormal, cussing, mention of death, finding out you were a medium, slight possession, fluff A/N: This is based on the crescent hotel video with Celina and Kris, because I really like that video.

"What's up guys, it's Sam and Colby" Just as Colby finished the sentence the bell tower rang everyone freaked out laughing "You're Jesus" Kris said while still laughing. They go on to talk about the history of the hotel walking around waiting for their tour guide. You were at the front desk asking for a new key because your key wasn't working "I'm sorry but we don't have any extra keys." You sighed and leaned on the desk "Is there another room that you can give me?" The man at the desk sighed and shook his head "Again, I'm so sorry but we're completely booked up." You nodded and fixed the bag on your shoulder "It's okay, I understand" You set your bag down to get your wallet out so the man can issue you a refund for the misunderstanding, soon you heard a familiar voice behind you. You looked over your shoulder and saw, Sam, Colby, Celina, and Kris. You turned your attention to the manager and took your card back "Thank you, is it okay if I wait here for my ride?" He nodded and you took a seat in one of the chairs in the lobby. "Hey, wait we know you." You looked up and saw Sam approaching, you smiled and stood up giving him a hug "How are you?" Soon the rest of the group came over "Oh, Y/N, this is Kris and Celina, guys this is Y/N. We met her at the Conjuring house." You smiled at them and exchanged hellos "Where's Colby?" You asked looking around "He was just here." Sam shrugged and looked around as well. "So, what are you doing here?" You adjusted your bag on your shoulder and pulled your hair back into a bun. "I'm here visiting family and they live close to this lovely haunted hotel so I decided to stay here, but my key doesn't work and they don't have any other rooms, so I'm waiting for my sister to come pick me up." Colby jogged over out of breath "I didn't notice you guys stopped" You looked over as a wide smile spread across your face when you saw Colby but you quickly dropped it when you saw Sam staring at you "Colby, you remember Y/N right?" He looked over at you smiling just as wide as you were before "Yeah, hey how are you?" He pulls you into a hug and it lingers for a bit until Sam cleared his throat you both pulled back and looked at Sam. "Y/N why don't you tag along with us, we have two rooms." You shrugged and nodded “Sure, should be fun, let me call my sister and let her know” You walk away from the group to call your sister and tell her your change of plans. Kris looked at Colby and smirked “I think Colby has a little crush” He chuckled nervously and shook his head “I do not” Everyone exchanged looks “Dude, you totally have a crush on her” Sam said elbowing him a bit, Colby's cheeks turned red as Sam continued to tease him about his crush on you.

You all met up with the tour guide walking around as he's explaining the things you didn't already know about the hotel and its history. You kind of trailed behind still listening to the guide, but at the same time not. You felt like you were being guided somewhere, and even though you didn't want to pull too far from the group you couldn't shake the feeling. You found yourself stopping and, looking at one picture, it was of the hotel being built. "That picture was taken before Michael fell, he's right here." The guide pointed to a very handsome young man that you felt like you'd seen before, you stared at the picture for a minute "I feel like I've seen him before." Celina looked at you and smiled "You're a medium, I knew it the second I saw you." You scrunched your face and looked at her "A medium? There's no way." You smiled and you all continued on the tour, you guys got to the grand ballroom "I read somewhere that if you dance to a specific song you can see their apparitions." Everyone exchanged looks "Would anyone like to dance?" Colby said holding his hand out for someone to grab it, Sam and Colby end up dancing while Sam holds the camera "You're probably just showing my fucking mouth" Colby gritted through his teeth while Sam laughed "It's a wide-angle" The cat ball went off and Sam started freaking out. Colby put on a different song, it was upbeat "This is not- This isn't right" Kris exclaimed giggling a bit "It's an ad!" Colby screamed while laughing, you sat down because you couldn't concentrate on anything, and your head felt heavy. You rubbed your temple trying to get your eyes to focus, but the background noise seemed to fade and you felt almost as if you were in a trance “You should relax dear, don’t let this place overwhelm you." You looked up and saw a misty young woman sitting in front of you, you looked around to see if anyone else noticed her but everyone else was caught up dancing and laughing “What do you mean?" She smiled sweetly and looked around the room "This was my favorite room in the entire hotel, the music was beautiful and I flowed through the room like I was walking on air" You listened intently as she explained the feeling of dancing and just having fun, she started humming along to the song as if she knew it, then disappeared. You finally snapped back and looked over at the group Celina was right you thought to yourself, you've always felt a little special but not like this. Colby noticed you looked a little pale and walked over to you “Y/N.. You okay?” You nodded and got up to dance with them, just then the tour guide came in saying you were being too loud, you cut the music off and went to a different part in the hotel.

You went to the basement where the meat locker is, Kris was talking about how Colby wanted her to go into the meat locker while they shut the door, you all played “nose goes” and Celina lost so she went in first she asked if anyone was in there and if they could make a sound there was a tapping noise and she asked if someone outside the door did it, Colby said no and then you all went in to see what she was talking about. They stood in silence for a bit but you, something was messing with you and you couldn’t shake it. Finally you guys left and went to sit on the floor to use the planchette, you all sat in a circle with your hands on it. Colby noticed that you were zoning out a bit and asked if you were okay, you tried to focus your eyes on him but you couldn’t help but feel dizzy, and your head was pounding. Your shoulders slumped and when you lifted your head your eyes turned a different shade of Y/E/C and you just stared ahead of you “You’re playing a dangerous game.” You gritted through your teeth, balling up your fists “Y/N what are you talking about?” A devilish smile spread across your face as you turned to look at Colby “You shouldn’t be in here.” It was still your voice but they can tell that you were not there, everyone exchanged looks and Colby reached for your hand “Y/N..” You snatched your hand away and growled at Colby “Don’t you dare touch me!” You screamed staring deep into his eyes. Everyone backed away “Celina, I know you saw me earlier and your friend was so gracious to let me use her body, she made it so easy” The smile on your face started to fade and your eyes started to roll, they can tell you were trying to fight whatever it was that was attacking you but it wasn’t gonna go away that easily. Celina remembered she actually brought holy water with her and started splashing it on you, Colby took off his cross necklace playing it around your neck, gently but also in a hurry your body started seizing and whatever it was left and you had the biggest headache you’ve ever had. “Y/N!” Sam screamed looking at your face “We need to get her out of here” Colby picked you up and carried you outside sitting on the front steps. You put you hand on your head groaning softly “What happened?” You could barely mutter, feeling the cool air wash over you “You-You got possessed.” Colby still hasn’t taken his hands off of you, making sure you were okay, you rubbed your eyes looking over at Sam “I am so sorry you guys.” They all shook their head, Sam came over rubbing your back “It’s okay, and it’s okay if you don’t want to continue, we definitely understand” You shook your head “I want to continue” you fixed your shirt and tried to stand up, that’s when you noticed Colby’s arms are still wrapped around you.

“I want to do the estes method.”

Masterlist

A/N: I hope you guys like it

[blacknwhitemood]

Depeche Mode - Condemnation / finding video's location "near God"

It was only 3 days after the Memento Mori concert in March, when I learned that Condemnation video was made in Hungary, not far from Budapest, near Göd, in a small village's border, Göd-Újtelep. When I wrote about it to @mijamija1234, she suggested that what if I visited its location? I liked the idea, I've started to make a research. Later I found some colored photos on Göd-Újtelep's website (under this text) and I posted them with words "Condemnation’s video was made near Göd". @mftm1987's reblog tag was hilarious: #well sure it was made near god. I felt love with the concept, so this is my "project's" name: Near God.

The only screenshot from the video (1st pic above) that I can use for finding the location is not very helpful, considering that it happened more than 30 years ago. 31 exactly. In 28th of July, 1993 the band and Corbijn went "into the f---ing woods" early in the morning after the day of they Devotional Tour concert in Budapest. Dave talked about it the gig's night in NME, while Gavin Martin was making his long interview:

I won’t even sleep tonight. I’ve got to get up and go and do some… I’ve got to go off with (Anton) Corbijn into the f---ing woods and do the ‘Condemnation’ bit. But, really, I have fun with doing that. It’s just the eight o’clock morning, you gotta get over it.

I quoted from this article first time here, my updated daves-first-tattoo post (scroll to the middle). Another source, Daryl Bamonte, Devotional Tour Diary, Bong magazine, 1994:

It was a long trek from Belgium yesterday, and we had to drive out into the Hungarian countryside today for Anton to shoot the “CONDEMNATION” video. Dave seemed to spend most of the day being dragged around by Sam and Hildia. He wasn’t complaining though. It could have been the other way round…

Near God

It's not easy to find a DM video's location (except Strangelove), Corbijn preferred countryside for his videos and the nature mostly in different countries in Europe (e.g. Belgium, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Scotland) or in the U.S. Hungary is famous for its "puszta", which is similar to prairie. Before the single's releasing he could shoot the clip during the tour. They stayed 3 days in Hungary, I read somewhere that Corbijn choosed Göd's area for the reason being very close to the capital. On imdb.com it is simply Göd.

I was searching for those dirt roads from the screenshot with the Google relief map, impossible task. 31 years. I googled many times a day if I got some new inspiration, suddenly I found a person on facebook who commented Göd's page' photo of the day: she was there in her 14 years, "half of Göd was there". I wrote to her, 3 days later she answered that she would help. Wow.

We met today and spent only 40 minutes together. She and her husband took me from the railwaystation on a truck to the location that she remembered - and of course that become famous in the village. She told me the short story: "My friend's sister was a big fan. We didn't have phones that time, someone brought the news by bike, no one believed that. Later many cars went to the place with 50-80 fans. We were hanging on the fence, like the children in the video. There were huge reflectors, the shooting took until the evening. Now there is a big battery factory in the fields."

When we arrived, we walked to a small road but it didn't resemble to the video's for the first sight. In fact it is a huge field with woods around, at the end of the road there was the factory, "It was built on that hill on the picture" she told. She was sure, so we took some funny photos with the printed screenshot (at the background with their truck), I wanted to walk more to find a better view but it was a very hot Summar day and my guide didn't have much time. To the right on this map I marked the point where we took the photos:

I think the trip was worth it. All this area from the village to the woods down was the location of the video making. 31 years later the fence with the small cabin and the sunflower field disappeared but there still have straw bales, dirt roads and habitants who remember.

The single released 6 weeks later, on 13 September 2013. Although MTV played the clip on time, its DVD version released much later in 2002 on Depeche Mode - Videos 86>98+ (I ordered the very last piece of it from Antal). This DVD originally released in 1999 but without the clip, you can find a live version instead of (I have the 2000 edition), because - it is said - Corbijn wasn't quite satisfied with the final result, the band seemed too tired in the video, especially Dave.

I love this song. Not my favourite, but it's in my DM top 20. One of its reasons that the video was shooted in Hungary and Dave loves it. He has frequently mentioned Condemnation as one of his favourite songs. In this interview from 2006 you can hear directly from him at 00:37. As fandom.com wrote, Dave still gets goosebumps when he recalls recording the song:

I immediately knew the song. It wasn't necessarily completely accurate to the way Martin wrote the melody line or the phrasing or the timing. I just sang it, and [after] I sang it, the tape stopped rolling and it went on quiet. I've got my headphones on and I hear [producer] Flood's voice go, 'Yeah, I mean, you could do another one. But I think we got it.' / 2021, Exclaim!

Well, at Memento Mori Tour they sang to us twice in Budapest, in 28 July, 2023 (yes, this day <3) together with 50000 people and in 26 March, 2024 to 16000 happy fans. Honestly, I like Waiting For The Night much better, I really wanted to hear it live, I hoped that they don't sing the same song at the same city as first encore duett, Condemnation is difficult to sing, they've sung Waiting For much often at this tour... but I was wrong. I was confused with my feelings, I was disappointed. I was looking for the answers of they decision, and later I understood that somehow Hungary might mean Condemnation to them. They gifted us with Dave's favourite song. Twice.

[devourers-of-god]

Hi I was wondering if you could do Sal fisher who’s gf has pet rats? Like 2-3 and like one day reader and Sal for over to readers house to hang out for the visit time there and Sal sees this big ass cage and he’s like “what in here?” And readers like “oh those are my baby’s! :D” and Sal’s just shocked (bonus points if he gets to hold them 😚)

Hi !! Its been a while i am sorry! Lots happened in my personal life but I think ill be able to write sometimes anyways, of course I'll do that :3!

Type: Oneshot

Warnings: none its mostly fluff :P

One shot Sal x reader (very bad sorry)

Sal and you have been going out for a while now, 3 months to be exact even tho it already feels like its been longer than that. He's been mostly inviting you over to his apartment so Sal has never really seen how your place looked like. But one day you decided it was time to show him the real you. You had a lot of things in your room, it basically represented what you like, your personality and how messy you truly are. The reality was that you had rats, adorable clumsy rats. There's a big cage well maintained with your fluffy babies, toys and food. You were kinda shy about showing Sal because even tho you knew he liked stuff like that, you were still scared of his reaction, but what stressed you the most was that in all of your past relationships they were all disgusted and thought that you were so weird. But aside from all of your anxiety, you invited him over for the evening.

The time had come, you tidied up your room just so it doesn't look like hell. Sal arrived on time, his dad decided to lift him so he didn't have to walk. You opened the door for him, '' Hey Sal!'' you smiled wildly at your boyfriend. ''Hi y/n, happy to see you'' you could see his eyes filled with excitement as he walked in. You immediately guided him to your room, in the mean time you did a small tour of the place. Your parents were away for the evening so it was a perfect day. Arrived to your room Sal's eyes widen at the first look of your room. ''Wow this is so cool!'' he walked slowly, taking care of not destroying anything, then he walked past this gigantic cage in the corner ''oh my god what's in there!'' He was In fact very excited of finding out what's hiding. ''Oh those are my babies! my rats! here let me show you:)'' You opened the small door to allow your arm in the cage, you took one of your furry friends and handed him to your boyfriend. ''Im so happy that you have rats, they're my favourite!!'' he smiled widely while petting your rat, ''Whats his name?'' he asked, '' Marco'' you replied, with a small smile and a tinted blush on your cheeks. Sal looked at you admiring your personality and beauty. In reality, Sal admired you and he never thought a cute and gentle girl like you had so many rats.

He was very happy you invited him over, after that you two had a great time playing video games and talking for hours, obviously you guys had to have a sleepover. Sal was so interested on everything you showed him, he really realized how much he loves you and you thought he was the sweetest guy ever.

Lets just say Sal now comes over a lot.

OKKKKK EW sorry this is SO bad, I havent been writing in a hottttt minute, ermmmm I got into a car crash and shit (im ok ! just a broken bone) and I've been recovering blah blah blah, school blah blah blah and work yk how life goes. anyways, now that im not doing anything for a good 6 weeks, I thought it'll be a good time to try and start writing again. so please excuse me if the first few are bad ! You can't judge and even if you do, just write it yourself :) ANYWAYS THNAK YOU FOR YOUR ASK ILY

REQUESTS: ALWAYS OPEN

[enhypenet]

ㅤWhether you've been a K-pop fan for a shorter or longer time, you may be acquainted and familiar with fansites. They are well-known and common within fandom spaces, especially (but not solely) of Korean idols, and mindfulness when consuming content originating from them is something that we have already brought up a year ago, when ENHYPEN started to actually see a bigger influx of accounts actively dedicated to sharing HD content of them — be it for a specific member or the whole group — as they started their first overseas tour.

ㅤOur concerns back then were brought up because we wanted ENGENEs to be mainly aware of fansites that had malicious intentions — also known as sasaeng fans, or simply sasaengs. And being wary of the content we consume and who we engage with is important. ENHYPEN, through the short course of their 3 years of activity as a group, has already had to deal with several uncomfortable situations involving mobbing in places such as airports, stalking, selling of private flight and personal contact informations, and general innapropriate behavior towards them. In the most recent event, which took place on a Weverse live, Heeseung expressed discomfort towards unknown numbers — potentially sasaengs — constantly calling him as he talked to fans.

ㅤWith the strong sense of belief that we, as fans, play a big part on making sure the artists we wholeheartedly support don't have their privacy and personal space disrespected, ENHYPENET has curated a list with names and Twitter / X handles of fansites who we deem unsafe — fansites who have, in one way or another, disrespected the artists' boundaries. We have created a spreadsheet and a mobile-friendly list on our site, with the spreadsheet having more details about the users — from the basic information such as their names and handles, to specific details such as activity status, the member they are focused on, their watermark for easier identifying, to the most important: the reason why you should not consume their content.

ㅤThe list was created in mind mainly with our gifmakers in mind, as a guide to refer to when you decide to gif videos originating from fansites, but this list goes to and should be read by all fans, as we encourage. Our network will strictly not queue content that comes from the fansites we have listed, and our decision is final — meaning we won't be removing any names from there, nor will we entertain any conversation or messages in defense of any fansite we named.

SPREADSHEET (better viewed on desktop) ⁕ MOBILE FRIENDLY LIST

[fictional-letters]

Wish (2023) Rewrite

Disclaimer: I’ve never watched the movie, just the rewrite videos on youtube and thought I’d have a go at it

asha apprentices under magnifico & still does tour guides w extra dash of magic

questions necessity of collecting wishes/granting so few

in the past, wish ceremony used to be more frequent & involved more ppl

magnifico explodes on her & nearly terminates apprenticeship

amaya passes by & calms him down, sending asha home for the day

has her disney princess moment & makes a wish to the stars

leaves disappointed when nothing happens, not noticing a bright light that descends from sky

goes about next day like normal, but notices she has a hooded stalker following her

corners them & demands answer/magically floats objects threateningly

pikachu face when stalker reveals that he can do some magic too

surprise, it’s star boy

yada, yada, lore dump

tldr: supposed to watch over rosas but hasn’t come down from the sky in a long time bc no one called upon them & they don’t have their wishes anymore

asha: wait, so you were all alone the whole time?

star boy (messed up from that but doesn’t realize it): yeah!

asha: let’s get you some healthy socialization, buddy

eventually start to bond 

star bc he hasn’t talked to anyone in ages & is also magically bound to asha bc of wish

asha bc despite spending time w loads of ppl everyday, doesn’t have close relationships outside of family

love for rosas is what keeps her going on her tour guide job

yada, yada, romance development: at all costs animatic

cut to magnifico & amaya

yada, yada, backstory dump

magnifico used to be an actually good, well-meaning ruler before all the wishes took a toll on him

still in his last moments, only had his kingdom in mind

accidentally made a wish on a shooting star

thing about “shooting stars” is that they’re not as invested in granting good wishes as “guardian stars” (like star boy) are

shooting star named comet descends from sky & merges w magnifico, becoming ruler of rosas himself to grant magnifico’s wish of “keeping the kingdom happy”

in actuality, he turns the wish ceremony into something twisted, devouring most of the wishes to fuel his own power

amaya knows her husband was corrupted by comet, but has grudge against ppl of rosas bc magnifico had to die for them

obviously doesn’t like comet very much either

star boy finds out & tells asha, which leads to a small rebellion

final fight: asha vs comet & star boy vs amaya 

amaya’s mad as hell that star boy came down for asha but not magnifico 

he couldn’t bc wishes have to be made at a specific time every few years | amaya does not care

asha defeats comet & basically exorcises him from magnifico’s body

only a sliver of life left in him, but calls out to his wife 1 last time

it’s enough to make amaya stop fighting & give up 

power of love bb

remaining wishes return to rosas, & amaya exiles herself

asha becomes new queen & star boy returns to sky

asha still talks to him every night, knowing he can hear her even if they can’t see each other again

bam! there you go

[cnco4ever]

How about a story with Christopher. Something with a situationship turning serious however, the girl moves to Japan for a job wants to end situation but Christopher wants to be serious and he's leaving for a tour.

Thank you so much for your input! I hope you like it!

Sorry for the wait though!

_______________________________________

Leaving.

A Christopher Velez one shot

Warning: none

_________________________________

We weren't serious, so it shouldn't be a big deal, right?

I saw Christopher for some time while working together. We met while on a set for a music video. I was just hired by management and had to work with CNCO as a part of their crew. Christopher was easy to work with. He knew what he wanted and there was no discussing it.

I'm a stylist and we immediately hit it off. Mutual interests made it easy to start a conversation and then one thing took the other and we formed a friendship. One night the whole crew went out to dinner. I was sat opposite Christopher. CNCO was kicking off again after COVID and the last details regarding the upcoming tour had to be finalised. People were talking around the table. I had Zabdiel on my left and my co stylist on my right. This was the dinner that Zabdiel and i really got into talking about his new interests in alien themes. I was right with him on it. If that is what he wanted, that is what he got.

But i could feel a pair of eyes on me constantly. Christopher watched me with his big, brown eyes across the restaurant table and the look in them were much more intense than usual. His smile was not his goofy smile that night either. He was sort of smirking at me. I wasn't used to that sort of attention, and especially not from such a good looking guy as him. I was instantly flushed all over and my foundation did little to hide it. I suppose playing with the hem of my dress, didn't help either. Erick confirmed that when he asked if i was alright or if i was feeling too hot. Christopher leaned his elbows on the table and looked me straight in the eye and said "you do look quite hot tonight", i got the double meaning, but i didn't say anything. All i could do was to shrug my shoulders as i looked down at my pasta with a small smile.

After that particular dinner, the majority of us went to a club. Christopher had smiled, engaged in smalltalk with me while being handsy as usual. I was starting to think that i had imagined it all, until i felt his hands on my hips and his chest against my back. I looked up at him over my shoulder with way more insecurity than i would have liked. "Mi amor, please be mine tonight" my eyes got wide. His gaze didn't leave mine and he had a serious expression on his face. I could tell eventhough he was mere inches away from me face. He had never spoken to me like that before. His hands grabbed me tighter and pulled me even closer, so that he could guide my hips to the music that was blasting. It felt way more sensuel than it probably was. I let myself be swept off of my feet. Literally as we stumbled onto his hotel bed that night. His lips were burning on my skin and the noises i heard from him, was pure bliss. It was a memorable night for sure. The morning after he was his goofy, charming self again. Zero awkwardness. It suited me well and eventhough we didn't talk about it, it was left in the air that it would be a one time thing.

But it wasn't. In the beginning we only hooked up when we were drunk, which we often were at the time, but then it turned into when we were horny yet sober and before we knew it, we were hooking up on a regular basis. It seemed like we were on the same page about keeping it casual for a while, but i could feel Christopher starting to become more romantic. He bought me little gifts, kissed me on the cheek or my shoulder wherever whenever. I reminded him that we were casual only. I couldn't fall for him. Not with all these girls around the globe fighting for his attention and affection. I don't have the confidence to compete with that. He smiled at me, his beautiful gentle smile and promised no strings attached. "But what does it matter bebesita?. We're together all the time and we're leaving for tour in a few weeks. We'll be together anyway baby" he laughed. But that was the thing. We wouldn't be leaving for tour together. He would be leaving without me.

I had been offered a job in Japan for a TV station. It's a once in a life time opportunity. I have to go. Christopher got furious when i told him. He was hurt. He suddenly spilled his feelings at a record speed. He had wanted a serious relationship. He had fallen in love with me. He had told me to decline the job offer and accept his commitment offer instead. I hadn't said a word while he was pacing back and forth in front of me. I just sat on his bed with my hands in my lap. When i realised that he had stopped moving and was looking at me, i lifted my gaze and met his eyes. I shouldn't have. Christopher was looking at me, waiting. Wanting to hear me say, that i would stay with him. He dropped to his knees on the floor, in front of me, taking my hands into his. "Stay. Don't leave. Please" he begged. It broke my heart, when i had told him that i couldn't. I wanted to be with him. So badly, but i couldn't let this job go either. It was a huge opportunity for me and my career.

I'm now sitting in my seat on the plane. I feel empty. I can't turn this opportunity down. Not for a man, not even for Christopher. I have to put myself first in this situation. Just as i'm about to put my phone on airplane mode, a text comes in. Christopher's name is spread across my screen. Being too curious, i open it immediately. "We'll figure it out, mi amore. I want you. I want us".

[stargazer-sims]

Postscript (Journal Entry #61)

Journal Entry #60 // STORY INDEX

Yuri

Hello everyone! Guess where we are!

If you guessed Sulani, then you'd be correct. I suppose the golden sand and gorgeous blue ocean behind me were a giveaway, weren't they? I couldn't resist recording my final entry out here on the deck of our rented beach house. It seems fitting somehow to end our journal in the place that inspired the creation of it; beautiful, magical Sulani.

Victor and I talked about whether or not we wanted to continue documenting our lives once we relocated to Willow Creek, and we agreed that it's time to close the curtain on this particular show. Our journal has served us well. It’s allowed us to work through some very difficult thoughts and feelings, and I believe it's helped us grow, or at least helped us to mark our growth. But, we both feel we've moved beyond it now. We want to focus on new and different things.

Still, I had to make one last video, just to tell you about my big reward. Yes, our adventure in this tropical paradise is indeed the thing I hinted about in my previous entry.

Of course you know we were planning to travel here anyway, but Victor came up with the plan that we should go as soon as we could after I completed my sixty consecutive days of being formula-free. He pitched the idea to my parents, who are paying for the trip, and they thought it was brilliant. I successfully made it to my sixtieth day on October first, and we left Willow Creek on the fourth.

The timing turned out to be excellent, as our first wedding anniversary was yesterday, the eighth of October. I couldn't have asked for a more fitting way to celebrate it.

Yesterday morning, Victor woke me up early so we could watch the sunrise together. Then, we packed a picnic breakfast and walked along the beach until we found the perfect spot to enjoy it.

Later in the morning, we went on an ocean sightseeing tour. I'd never been in a boat bigger than a dinghy or canoe before, and I'd never been out on the ocean. At first I was nervous, but it didn't take me long to relax, and I discovered that I quite like boats.

Our tour guide said that we might see merpeople. I wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but Victor seemed convinced. He still swears he met a real merman when he was here last time.

I probably don't need to tell you that we didn't actually see merpeople, but that didn't diminish the tour in any way. In one place, we sailed past an inactive volcano, and in another place the water was so clear that we were able to look over the side of the boat and see a coral garden and dozens of brightly-coloured fish. We saw dolphins too, and they didn't seem afraid of humans. They swam right up to the boat, nearly close enough to touch.

I'll admit I kind of fell in love with them. Last night, Victor got online and found a place where people can swim with dolphins. We're going there tomorrow afternoon, and I can hardly wait.

After our boat tour, we explored some of the little souvenir stands and food stalls along the waterfront in town, where we bought postcards, snacks, and matching t-shirts. Then we boarded a decrepit old bus that took us to our afternoon excursion to a community garden where we could pick fruit.

That was one of the activities I'd really been looking forward to, and I was absolutely delighted that we were able to harvest our own pineapples as well as some other tropical delicacies. Pineapple was the thing I'd most wanted to try, and I wanted my first taste of it to be freshly picked.

If you've never handled a pineapple before, here's a bit of advice. Don't hug them, even if you're excited. They're very thorny.

I let Victor have the honour of cutting up our pineapple when we got back to our rental. He joked that it was a lot like me, prickly and difficult to hug, but bright and sweet on the inside. As much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn't say he was wrong. I'm wary of strangers, and being hugged really isn't my thing unless Victor is the one who's hugging me. When we’d first started living together, I didn't even like letting him do it, but eventually he worked his way past the thorns and got down to the sweet part.

The inside of the pineapple was vibrant yellow, and the aroma coming from it was divine. Once Victor was done cutting it, he put all the pieces in a big blue plastic bowl we found in one of the cabinets, and carried it outside to the deck. I followed him, my mouth watering in anticipation.

I was momentarily startled when I realized the mere thought of eating the tropical fruit we'd picked was making me salivate. It was an utterly foreign sensation, but not unwelcome. Something like that had never happened to me before, and I wondered briefly how I'd managed to live for twenty-six years and never experience firsthand what 'mouth-watering' really meant. Slightly embarrassed, I swallowed several times.

Victor gave me a quizzical look. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I said, as I sat across from him at the small patio table. The bowl of pineapple was between us, and I gave it a small nod. "I just... really want to eat that and I was, ah... I was literally drooling over it a little."

Victor laughed. "Is this gonna be like that first strawberry after you got your G-tube?"

"It's going to be better," I said.

"Well then, let's see." He picked up a spear of pineapple and extended his arm toward me. "Here, I'll hold it for you."

"No." I shook my head. "I want to do it myself."

"Okay." Victor pulled his hand back, still grasping the fruit he'd taken from the bowl, but he didn't bite into it. Clearly, he was waiting for me to go first. He smiled encouragingly. "You got this."

I selected a piece that I judged to be as big as the one Victor had chosen. The fruit was sticky with juice and pleasantly warm from the sun shining on it, and if I'd thought the scent was heavenly while the pineapple was still in the bowl, it was positively transcendent up close. I took a deep breath, just savouring it for a moment until my mouth started watering again.

I wasn't shy about my first bite. The old me would've nibbled tentatively, too afraid to get a proper mouthful, but not this version of me. The new, brave Yuri fit as much of the pineapple spear into his mouth as seemed reasonable, and bit with confidence. Pineapple juice ran down my chin, and more trickled over my hand from the piece I was still holding, and I didn't care.

It was as if a thousand tiny explosions of pleasure went off simultaneously inside my mouth. The flavour of the pineapple was both tart and sweet, and the texture was firm but not difficult to chew. It was amazing, the best thing I'd ever tasted, and the peak of sensual gratification was so intense that I think my brain might've switched itself off for a second or two.

I opened my eyes to discover Victor staring at me. He still held his untouched piece of pineapple, and I think he must've been watching me the entire time.

"Wow," was all he said.

I looked around for a napkin or paper towel. Belatedly remembering we hadn't brought any outside with us, I wiped my sticky face with the back of my hand instead. All that accomplished was to make more of a mess, but I resolved not to worry about it. I could always wash up later.

I licked some juice off my thumb. "What?"

"The look on your face… I guess I don't need to ask if it's good."

"It's..." I struggled to find a sufficient word to describe it, but then quickly decided a single word would not be enough. "It tastes like joy. Like dreams come true, and new beginnings, and the promise of wonderful things."

"Wow," Victor said again. "All that from pineapple?"

I smiled. "Have you ever experienced a feeling like you know you're exactly where you're supposed to be in life? That you've got everything you'd ever wanted up to that point?"

"I'm not sure," he confessed. "There are still a few things I want. But if you're asking whether or not I'm happy, don't worry. I am."

"It makes me happy to know you're happy, but that's not quite what I meant," I said. "For the longest time, I didn't even know what being happy would feel like. I didn't let myself have dreams, and I was scared to make plans or set goals because I didn't think I could ever achieve anything and I didn't want to have to cope with the pain when I failed."

"But, you've done loads of awesome stuff this year," Victor said. "You've been totally crushing your goals."

"Because I finally saw that I'd never understand what happiness felt like if I didn't start trying," I said. "Eating that first strawberry after my surgery... taking the first step felt so good. I knew I wanted to keep on feeling like that."

"And now you do?"

"Yes. Now I do."

This has been a year of change for me, a year of learning, and perhaps the most important lesson I've learned is that I'm responsible for my own happiness. I've also discovered that happiness is a journey. The road isn't always smooth, but setbacks and challenges aren't a sign of failure. They're opportunities to try again, several times over if necessary, and now I see that neither my success nor my worth as a person are defined by how many attempts I have to make.

My newfound understanding has been nothing short of empowering for me. It's allowed me to take charge of my life in ways I'd never done before, and to make choices for myself that support my well-being and place less accountability on the people around me. And do you know what? It feels good. Until recently, I never would've imagined that taking on so much responsibility would make me feel so free and strong.

It's fitting for a love story to end with 'they lived happily ever after', and I don't think mine should be an exception. The story I’ve been telling through our journal is my love story after all, not just with my beautiful Victor, but with myself. I'm proud of the person I'm becoming, and I love his courage and resilience and his newly-opened mind that's ready to be filled with amazing possibilities.

Now that I know what happiness feels like, I can say with confidence, I will live happily ever after.

[curatoroffiction]

The Curse of Alice: Chapter 1

This is the first chapter of a new series for the Ikemen: Villains series. In it, the reader is gender-neutral and accidentally wanders back in time due to having a curse of their own. (Really, it's more an excuse for me to play around with time-difference shenanigans.) ----- Also Tumblr deleted half my Content Warnings in the tags, so please let me know if I'm missing any -----

Content for this series is likely to include;

Canon-typical violence (For any of my readers who are more familiar with my Twisted Wonderland and Obey Me writings, please note that "Ikemen: Villains" is SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VIOLENT AND DARK than those two combined.)

Canon-typical trauma triggers (Again, this series is so much darker than the other ones I write for, please, please, PLEASE pay attention to the content warnings for this series as I write it. I'll be doing my best to thoroughly tag)

Spicy romance scenes (These will also be thoroughly tagged so my romance-averse/touch-averse readers can avoid them.) I might later have some specific single stories that address AFAB player content in this same AU, but those will be separated from this series (You will not find AFAB-specific content in any chapters from "The Curse of Alice", but if you're seeking that content out, you might check out other stuff I've posted for this fandom)

----- Content warnings for this chapter;

Suicide mention

Suicide/Forced Suicide (It's a background character, but it's still DARK and vivid.)

MURDER

Blood touches the reader

Abduction

----- You aren't fond of tours.

You never feel like they really show you what you want to see on a tour. At least, nothing you couldn't learn from a written tour guide. Those usually have more information in them, anyways. Tours are always focused on showing you exactly what you're meant to see, and your heart calls to see what people don't want you to see. You yearn to see things that people keep secret.

If it weren't for the fact that you'd heard that this mansion had a particularly intriguing piano from the 19th century, cursed by the soul of a man who committed suicide in front of it, you'd have never even come here. A story like that is stoked with tragedy. You heard that the man had a long list of sins that came out after his death, which made you curious about the story, because it made it dark. Did he kill himself because he felt guilty? Did he kill himself because his sins were going to come to light? Did those sins only come to light because of his suicide?

If anything, it would make for a fascinating story study.

You're an aspiring writer who likes to test your mettle against darker plotlines, so you're attracted to learning stories that touch the macabre.

Unfortunately, the mansion only allows guests to go along with a guide. So you're trapped in a night tour. The mansion's corridors are lit up only where the tour guide leads everyone. There's many more corridors darkened by the night's ambiance, giving an eerie sense to the experience.

You bought a tour book, but out of respect to the guide, you aren't reading it. It's stashed away inside your backpack.

Most of the information the guide is giving is about how people used to work in this building, showcasing some of the old art of the time from around when the suicide took place. What intrigues you is that they don't really mention the artists of the architecture that much. They make some over-all claims about the designers and architects, but they can't tell you exactly who designed or crafted the banisters of the stairwells, or the tiles of the floor. You take several pictures of these fixtures, especially some of the more run-down areas.

When the tour reaches the room with the famed piano, you take a video of the instrument as the tour guide talks about the stories of the night that the man killed himself. Some passerbys that night had faintly heard the sound of piano music on the night of the incident. Particularly, a postwoman had a haunting account of the song being played. She couldn't place it, but she remembered it sounding mesmerizing, like it would have drawn her in, had the front door not been locked.

You take diligent notes, writing small comments to yourself about things to research as you do.

The hallways of the mansion are a veritable labyrinth. So when your tour continues, you find your eyes drawn to the hallways you're not allowed to go down. You look down a particularly dark hallway and see a small, white bunny rabbit on the ground, you pause and blink. "...." You look back to your tour guide group, but something calls to you about the rabbit. The tour group is already moving on, but surely.. They won't notice you missing from the group, right?

The white rabbit sees you and darts down a hallway, and you turn to follow it, separating from your group. The hallway it turns into is outside the grasp of the light from the hallway you came from.

It's almost as though there's a threshold here. In your heart, you feel like if you walk past this point, you'll be walking into the night itself. An impenetrable darkness.

Impenetrable by all except that little white rabbit, which you can see at the end of the hall, staring at you.

You feel.. Compelled to follow it.

You were so bored, and this is so interesting and exciting and it feels like you're actually chasing a story. Getting to see something the tour guides won't show you. There was no mention of rabbits. Does someone keep a collection of them here?

It feels like everything you were seeking would be found if you follow this rabbit, which is such a strange and foreign experience that you just.. Follow it.

It's hard not to, when it feels so right.

Corridor after corridor, you find yourself following the rabbit through the halls, until the rabbit disappears entirely. No matter how much you look, you can't find it. You must have scared it. What was a rabbit doing in this place anyways? You have so many questions, none of which are getting answered.

Looking around, you have no idea where you are. There's a room number on a nearby room plaque though, so you decide to try to figure out how to get back to your tour group by checking out the map. By the light of your cellphone, you figure out where you are and begin to head towards the main entrance. You'll get in trouble, but that's fine. You're used to getting in trouble for straying from groups, ever-curious.

As you're walking through a hall that you swore was lit earlier, you begin to wonder if the tour closed down early. You couldn't have been gone from the group for THAT long, could you? What if it's closed down already? You're walking into the darkened main foyer when you hear a hauntingly delicate tone drifting through the halls of the mansion.

The sound of the piano.

Ah, the tour must have ended, and someone was now playing the piano to make sure it was operational. You'll just have to explain yourself to whoever is in there that you got yourself separated from your tour group and apologize.

Phone blasting light, you open the door to the room that the music is coming from, only to get hit with a splash of something warm.

Something dark.

Something red.

You see the body of the man in front of you on the floor first. The last breath escapes the man who has obviously killed himself by stabbing himself in the neck with a knife, in the light of your phone's flashlight. A shiver goes down your spine as you're going to be sick. You're covered in a dead man's blood. Your phone has no signal.

The piano playing stops and you look up, your phone light illuminating 8 figures in the dark.

Is this.. Some kind of sick after-tour live action retelling of the suicide? "... I uh.." Your eyes keep traveling down to the man at your feet. It's so convincing. You're visibly disgusted. "... Sorry, I got separated from my tour group. ..." Your eyes watch the man on the ground. He doesn't look like he's acting. He doesn't look like he's breathing anymore. His body went limp, even with your interruption. Too convincing to be just an act. The wound looks too realistic, too. Blood pooling out from under him in a growing pool that makes you step back. Maybe it's a convincing mannequin? Your mind wants to make sense of this in a way that doesn't focus on reality. .... Whatever it is, your stomach is churning. Those special effects have to be really good, if they're special effects.

"Well, well..! I wasn't expecting a guest." You hear a voice from deeper in the room, which is dark. Too dark for an after-tour play. In the dim lighting illuminating the room, you can see seven figures all standing around in the dark. The man speaking to you, however, is stepping away from the piano, making eight people total. When he sees you in the light, he cocks his head to the side with a soft, excited grin. "Hmmn.. I'm not familiar with you."

"Hrm.. That's a bit troublesome. What should we do with them?" A man with rose-pink hair and a soft, milky-smooth voice asks, looking in your direction. "And what is that light?" He asks, his curiosity piqued at your phone.

"Sorry to spook you, but this is just a rehearsal for a play." A very easy-going man with a cocky grin looks up to you in the dim light.

"..." You look down to the body in front of you. "... It uh.. It looks pretty real. ... What kinds of special effects are you using?"

"It's a secret."

"...." Your face tells them everything, that you're not convinced.

"... Y'know, it really would've been better if you had at least pretended to believe it." His smirk is palpable. Like you just walked into a trap. It drops as he looks to the guy who'd been playing the piano; "What should we do, Will?"

"We should take them with is, of course - To the Palace's Reaper."

There's a click of a tongue and one of the men to the side is visibly scowling as he mutters; "That's why I toldja to lock the damn door!" a particularly gruff man says, audibly scowling.

Another man chuckles. "Well, I didn't think we'd have a tresspasser! You're a naughty little thing, aren't you?" He smiles to you, and you think you can make out a rifle on his back.

They're all so non-chalant as they stand around. The body on the ground has stopped sputtering, and has released its last vestiges of air. You know this isn't fake. They've killed this man and made it look like a suicide. Why? And why here, in this room?

"Why don't you come over here? There's no escape at this point anyway." The gentle tone of a dark-haired man beckons you deeper into the room.

Every part of your spine is tingling with danger. You have to leave. You need to leave. You've followed the rabbit into something horrific and now you're ready to go home.

As though he could sense your growing panic, the man from the piano looks to you with crimson eyes and a smile that's much too warm and inviting; "Come here, pitiful one." The words feel so much heavier than anything else said tonight.

Your legs begin moving on their own. You're visibly startled. What is this?? Why are you moving? You're moving against your will, and you want to run, but you can't. They only stop when you're standing in front of the man.

"Pardon me." He says, tugging you in closer so he can see your face better in the illumination of your phone's light. Your light also shows you his eyes in a way that showcases their vibrancy and deep crimson - Like the blood you can see splattered on your own clothes, it looks too real to be fake. You've seen red contacts before. These don't look like contacts. He reaches up and wipes the blood from your face with his thumb, and he grins. ".. There." releasing you from his touch and his control. "Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. My name is William. William Rex. I'd like to invite you to have dinner with us tonight. What is your name?"

Your knees buckle as you're released from his verbal commands, and you drop tot he ground, barely able to stand. You're visibly dazed. The pink-haired man comes alongside you, looking at the device in your hand, peering over your shoulder. "And what IS that thing?" he motions to your phone.

"...." You slowly look to him, and give him a questioning look. His question is so outrageous it's ripping you out of your mental shock. "... It's a phone..?"

"Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen.." The even-toned, deep-voiced man with the rifle expresses, curiously.

"You'll have to tell us more over dinner." William kneels beside you, holding a hand out to you. He doesn't command you. He's practically asking you to come along, like you didn't just witness something horrific and somehow magically had your body controlled against your will.

When you stare at him in quiet shock, visibly perturbed by the idea of taking his outstretched hand, eyes darting between his eyes and his bloodstained glove, your heart sinks.

You're surrounded, and there's no getting out of this.

William can sense your hesitation, and he he begins to ask questions about you, redirecting your attention to talking about yourself. You're wary and not wanting to comply, but he doesn't force you like he did to make you come into the room. They stand around, patiently waiting for you to get your story out as William calms you down. It's like they have all the time in the world.

At your own pace, you explain your circumstance to the men, and how you got here. As they hear your story, William's eyes can't help but to light up as he watches you. But all of the men appear to be surprised, and intrigued.

"I promise, if you just help me find my way out of here, I didn't see anything-"

"Ooh, it's much too late for that now." William smiles, almost apologetically. "There's someone who will want to meet you."

Despite your protests, you're brought along and taken to their base of operations.

---

You didn't expect the horse-drawn carriage. Or for the block to look so... Different than it did when you came out of the mansion. It's the first clue that you're not where you're meant to be. The city in the distance looks completely different too. This isn't the city you've been exploring all day, this is something older. The buildings look different, both newer and older. There used to be a building with lots of windows out front, but now it's just.. Small shops?

Except that doesn't make sense. One moment, you were taking a tour, then you were following a white rabbit, and now the world is different around you. None of this makes any sense. You wrack your head as you stare out the window of the carriage. Did you bump your head? Have you gone crazy? Are you in a dream?

It's too vivid to be a dream.

Maybe you're crazy. It'd be easier to swallow if you'd gone mad. Maybe they'll let you go if they think you're crazy too.

What's weird is that they didn't take your phone from you. Kidnappers would take your phone, right? You look to it repeatedly, and you've gotten zero bars this entire ordeal. And now you're going further into what looks like the countryside. You're even being allowed to see the entire route to get out here. Why wouldn't captors take your phone? Wouldn't they cover your head to keep you from knowing where they work and how to get back?

One of the men in the carriage is eyeing you as you peruse your phone. It's a touch-screen. "... What a curious device."

You glance up to see a man with dark hair and a weary smile on his face. Like he's tired. Too tired. He smiles warmly to you. There's a blonde man sitting at his side who looks almost picturesque. Like someone hand-crafted his face. You look back to your phone. "...."

The dark-haired man taps the windowsill of the carriage, causing you to look up again, and he motions to the castle coming up in the view. "We've arrived. This could be the place where your life ends, the root of all evil - Or rather, our base." He's still smiling as he says this.

You look up to see the castle and it's astounding how beautiful and dark it looks in this lighting.

You knew you made a mistake following them into the carriage. You were just so thrown off by how the whole street looked different from when you arrived, that your brain went into auto-pilot, and you let these strangers cart you away.

Now you might die here. The word 'Might' is pulling a lot of weight in giving you a sliver of hope in this whole ordeal.

".. Is this real?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's neither a dream, nor an illusion. It's what you may call the harsh, inescapable reality." His words ring out in your mind. This is not a dream, this is reality. Something tickles at your mind and you harshly find yourself rejecting it.

"This can't be real." Your answer causes him to chuckle, but you can see sadness in his eyes as he does.

"If you want to believe in a sweet dream, who am I to deny it?"

---

As you walk up to the castle, the curious pink-haired man comes up alongside you, asking a million questions about your phone. You show him the device, explaining it to him, confused. It really is like he's never seen one in his life before. When he sees that moving pictures can show up on the screen, and that you can interact with it by touch, he wants to learn everything he can about it.

You're hesitant to hand him your phone, as it's the only contact with the outside world that you might have, wherever you're going - But you do choose to open up a game on your phone to show him what it looks like. He's practically glued to your side as he watches you play, learning about this game. He's overflowing with excitement to get to see something so novel to him.

But you don't understand why he's so enthralled. Everyone here should know that phones exist, shouldn't they?

One look around at the prying eyes stealing glances at your phone tells you that they likely don't. While the pink-haired man is the most curious, the gruff man with black and white hair also keeps stealing looks towards your device.

---

A bright, excited, celebratory man's voice calls out as you and the men enter into what looks like a dining room, and there's the distinct popping sound of a party popper. You blink, confused. Is this how assassins typically celebrate their kills? His eyes rest on you. "Oh..? Who is this?"

"This is ___. They just happened to be at the target's mansion." William explains. "They appear to have technology that's strange and different, and the story they told us was quite interesting."

"Wow! What a.. Fateful coincidence!" The dining room man with dark, long hair looks to you curiously.

"You don't even know the half of it." William chuckles, then looking to you. "___, this is Victor. He serves as Her Majesty's personal aide."

..... What?

You stare in complete shock, not sure what to do. Surely, these guys are just fucking with you at this point, right? Your mind refuses to believe any of this could be real. It has to be some kind of twisted dream mashing up everything you'd interacted with that day. You must have bonked your head without realizing it, and will be waking up any moment in a hospital or something.

This can't be real.

Victor walks you through your experiences with the group, and asks questions about how you came to find them.

When you explain that you were on a tour group for the building and then you followed a rabbit down a hallway and found yourself lost, his expression shifts to earnest surprise as he only has one question; "What color was the rabbit?"

".. White?"

"...." Victor glances to the group, who all appear to have the same thought as there's nods all around. He looks back to you. "Do you have anything from the tour?"

You nod and rifle through your backpack, producing the tour guide - And your notes from the tour. "This was the tour I was on, and those were my notes."

He begins reading through the tour guide, intrigued. The dates and comments in it are intriguing him the most. Accompanied by the quality of the paper and the print on it. He's never seen anything like this, or any machines that can produce this quality of work. When he gets to your notes, however, he's even more impressed. "... And what year would you say this is?"

"----...?" you say the year you came from, visibly confused.

"......." Victor looks to the cocky guy from before who has been staring at your eyes as you speak. He gives Victor a nod. "... Fascinating. Well, ___, I think this might have actually been an incident of fate."

"...?" You look to him questioningly.

Victor reaches into his jacket pocket and produces another party popper, which he'd stashed just in case the first one failed, and he pulls the popper, letting out a loud sound and spraying confetti at you with a bright smile; "You're cursed!"

You stare at him in exhausted silence.

He coughs and straightens up to explain; "You see, we all here are cursed. You're familiar with fairytales, yes?"

"... Yeah?"

"Fairytales, stories, they all hold some tokens of truth to them, I would say. We each are cursed with a fairytale curse, which binds our destinies to a dark and turbulent path. I think you've got the curse of 'Alice'!"

"....." You look even more exhausted than before. Are they going to kill you, or induct you? Is this a cult? Have you been abducted by a death-cult?

"... I see you must have many questions. Please, feel free to ask away."

".. What is this 'Curse of Alice'..?"

"It's a term I just came up with right now!" Victor beams proudly. "I've never heard of someone with a curse like yours. Jumping through time to completely different realms.. Hahh.. That must be such a fascinating experience!"

".. Jumping through time?"

"The year at this time is 1886."

"......" You shake your head. "Nah. I don't believe that. Nope. That's just not true. Look, I know you guys murdered someone tonight, if you could skip the mind games and just kill me, that'd be appreciated."

Victor laughs, shaking his head. "Oh no, no. We can't kill you, we'll need to study you."

"Oh, absolutely not."

You hear a voice behind you, the gentle voice; "Should we kill them then?" You peer back and lock eyes with the gentle expression of Ellis. The dark-haired guy who told you that you couldn't escape and coaxed you deeper into the room where the murder happened. He stares at you in almost.. a vacant kind of way. "I don't think it would make them happy, but if you ask me to, I will." He seems to be addressing Victor as he says this.

"..." You turn your attention back to Victor. "So uh, what kinds of experiments are we talking about here?" wanting to avoid the outcome that points at death.

"We'll need to thoroughly understand your curse, which means we'll have to keep you under surveillance. And you'll have to work with our resident medical professional, Roger."

You follow Victor's motion to meet Roger. Your voice is completely disturbed as you flatly say; "... Nice to meet you, Doc."

"Oh, I'm not a doctor. My license was revoked." He gives you a big smirk.

You immediately look back to Victor; "... Please kill me instead."

"Is that what you truly want?" William asks, eyeing you with interest. Something deep inside him is intrigued by how his curse reacts to yours. He wants to guide you. He wants to know you. He wants to watch you come apart.

"...." You grimace as you realize they're taking your jokes literally. "... No. I'm just frustrated. And I don't want to be experimented on."

"Might be more careful about voicing such false desires." William motions behind you and you turn to see Ellis has gotten right up behind you without you noticing. You visibly startle at how close he is, and the soft-spoken man just smiles warmly to you with his dark purple eyes.

You feel a shudder run down your spine as you feel like your body just narrowly escaped death in this moment. You turn back to William. "... I'll keep that in mind."

Victor takes charge again; "You must have a lot of questions about us. Go ahead and ask away."

"... The thing is, you've read that guidebook now, so even if I asked if this was the murder of 1886, you'd know that you could say 'yes' to cover it up. I don't know if you're on a power trip and you're just messing with my head because you can, or if you're actually telling the truth. It's impossible for me to know." You explain everything. "And honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I'm not just crazy. That'd explain this whole thing so much more. I'm going to wake up in a hospital bed and discover I slipped and fell on those old tiles or something. I just know it."

The cocky man from before smiles as you speak. He likes how little you trust them. It's a good sign that you'll make a good partner in their line of work.

"Patient exhibits delusions of fantasy." Roger is already making notes. You shoot him an annoyed look. He grins to you.

You look back to Victor. "None of this seems real. Can you somehow prove that it's real?"

"You experienced a curse firsthand tonight." Roger motions to William.

The gruff man with the annoyed expression scowls at Roger, admonishing him for spilling 'state secrets'.

William just smiles to you and nods. "Yes, cursed people have special abilities, and you experienced mine earlier tonight. I can command people to do anything I want them to, just with my voice."

You're reminded of when your body moved on its own at his command. That feels real, but you're still not sure. "... Do it to me again."

William raises an eyebrow at you, curious. His lips wear a smile, but he's interested to help you believe that this is reality. So he holds his hands upwards, as though beckoning you into his arms. "Dance with me."

Your body moves on its own once more. You're pulled into his arms, taking up the position as the lead in a dance you've never learned before. You're visibly shocked and surprised. William dances with you around the room, amidst the circle of onlookers, before he releases you from his control.

You can feel that heaviness from before overtake you once again, except this time it's much less intense. You were a willing participant in this command. The more he has to overwrite your will, the more energy it must take to control you. You're still lightheaded though, as you spin out of the dance, visibly dazed. ".... Okay. I'll believe that. If that's the case though, then what's MY power?"

"Well, isn't that the question of the hour." Victor grins to you again. "It seems you can travel through time, though not at your own choice, which is a fascinating problem. Might be quite the handful keeping an eye on you. Just don't go following any white rabbits while you're here, alright?"

"Where IS here?"

"This is the headquarters of Crown, the root of all evil in England. Where we fight evil with evil. The cursed carve a path for goodness to survive in this world, and we learn more about the curses as we do." Victor begins to explain to you about Crown's operational code.

".. Evil?" Your tone is audibly skeptical.

Liam, the pink-haired man, speaks up now; "Yes, cursed people are doomed to commit evil and meet a tragic end." He smiles warmly to you. Much too warmly for the subject matter. "For example, when someone has the Cat's Curse, they can't suppress their curiosity. Ever heard of 'Curiosity killed the cat'?"

"But satisfaction brought him back - Yeah, I'm familiar."

Liam is pleased that you're familiar, but his eyes get a little sad as he looks to the side; "Well.. Satisfaction doesn't always bring the cat back. I have the Cat's Curse at this time. According to the records, the person who received the Cat's Curse before me dabbled in all sorts of horrific things. Arson, robbery, self-mutilation, adultery.. All to satisfy his own curiosity. He was tortured and had his limbs torn off, but still, he laughed through the tears and screams escaping him to laugh "This is a great new first for me!" before throwing himself into a bath of sulfuric acid."

You shudder at his story. It would make a great scary story to tell around a campfire.

Roger speaks up now, looking to you in the eyes. "If you truly do have a curse, which I think you do, then the safest place for you will be right here, with experts who know how to deal with such things, who can understand if you begin to do evil things."

"... I haven't had any evil impulses."

"Really?" Alfons, the man with the tired eyes, smirks to you. "Trespassing.. Leaving your tour group behind to follow a little rabbit into places you knew were off-limits.. The need to tell people when you think they're wrong even if it makes things worse.. Following a group of strangers into a vehicle to an undisclosed location.. Do you think these are the actions of someone who wants to be a law-abiding citizen?"

"......." The curse definitely would explain a lot of your behavior today. Though you've always followed things that catch your eye. "... If that's true though, then why now? Why did this happen now, instead of when I was a kid?"

"It's possible that it did happen to you when you were young, and you just didn't know." Victor explains, looking to you empathetically. It's not every day that someone finds out they're cursed and doomed to tragedy.

"..." Your nose scrunches up as you think through your memories. You did wander a lot as a kid. You still wander a lot. It would definitely explain some things. "... Don't like that."

"Not many people do. I'm sorry we had to be the ones to tell you."

"So what's this about fighting evil with evil?"

"You saw that in action tonight as well. We killed that man."

You think back on how the man died. It looked like a suicide. Your eyes meet William's, and he just gives you a warm, knowing smile and a soft nod. You shudder. ".... Why?"

They explain how the man was a key figure in some horrific underground organizations. The list of his 'sins' as dictated in your notes wasn't even half of the things he actually was 'sentenced' for, and the list was already pretty bad.

They go on to explain that cursed people are often regarded as dangerous and evil, but England is, at this time, the only place which has organized and nationally recognized them and their potential. That 'Crown' is an organization of cursed individuals, and everyone in this room is cursed. They go into the hearts of the most evil places in this country where police and military cannot touch, to wreak havoc and disrupt evil.

Victor explains that, because the nature of cursed people is to commit evil acts, this organization is meant to allow them to do that without fear of punishment, so long as their evils benefit the country.

And now, as a cursed individual who has seen this organization and knows what it's capable of, they have to make a decision about how to deal with you.

"We'll need to study you, that's certain.. But hmm.." Victor wonders out loud. His mind returns to your notes. They were very well taken. "... Do you like writing, perchance?"

".... Yeah."

"Then I think I have a solution~! While you're stuck in this time period, you shall be our fairytale keeper!" He's very pleased with himself. "You had wonderful prose and writing in your notes from what I saw, so I have every belief that you can write something worthy of using as our reports to Her Majesty. You'll write all the evil deeds committed by the people here, including yourself, and write them as fairytales. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a fake job."

"I just designed it right now, isn't that exciting?" Victor's eyes dance with excitement.

- "It feels like you're just trying to avoid doing more paperwork.." The cocky man gives Victor a sideways glance.

His insinuation isn't stopping Victor's excitement train. "Well, what do you say, ___?"

".. If I say no, are you gonna keep me against my will anyway?"

"Naturally. You know too much and will still need constant supervision."

"And will saying 'yes' and doing this job for you at least give me some kind of freedom in this arrangement, and a chance to earn your trust that I won't go spilling your secrets?"

"Of course."

"Then I guess I'm on-board."

Victor claps his hands excitedly. "This calls for a celebration! Our cursed little family just got a little bigger tonight~! Now, let's get you acquainted with your new home. This calls for a tour!"

...

You really hate tours. -----

End

-----

Next Chapter ----- If you like this chapter, you can stay easily updated when more chapters come out via AO3;Link All of my other random off-shoots for this fandom will also be posted there under "The Curse of Alice - A Collection" series. Thank you for reading!

[pbandjesse]

Some of the best news happened at the end of the day today. Because when I came home from work I've had the mice and when I pick them up a second time one of their eyes had opened! The other ones are still closed but one of the mice is at the eye open stage! They're doing so well and I'm so excited.

And really today was a good day. My energy level is kind of been all over the place and I felt very much like I was having a lot of interior thoughts and feelings. Just not feeling the best. Emotionally. But it was a good day.

I slept a lot better last night and I woke up not thrilled to be awake but I felt okay. I got up and I got washed and dressed. Honestly I should have worn tights today I was so cold for most of it. I think I should start wearing a jacket in the morning because it's a good 5 to 10° cooler at camp than it is down here and I was very cold by the time I got there. Before I left though James walked down with me and gave me a big smooch before they left to bike to the museum and I drove to camp.

When I got there I made a couple stops. The first up to the art building to get my paint brush and the other stuff I would need for painting museum doors. I changed into my little coverall. And then I drove over to the watch to get to work.

I was fully expecting this to take longer than it did. I think I worked for maybe 45 minutes total. I had a video going and I set up plastic under the door so I wouldn't get drips anywhere and I think I did a good job. It's kind of a latexy paint so Joe thought it would fill in all the scratchy mark. And if I go in on Tuesday and it doesn't look as good as I hoped I'll do a second coat. But for now I'm pretty happy. And it was nice having this task. Wasn't particularly physically demanding. It had a clear start and end. Clean up was easy. A good thing to check off the list.

Once I finish cleaning up there I drove back up to the art building to return supplies. I stopped at Joe's shed to leave the gallon of paint. And then I went down to the office to start working on some stuff there.

Everyone came in very late today. And left early. Fridays seem to be kind of chill day. Which is fine with me. After yesterday we all kind of needed it.

But because everyone was coming in late I was alone for a lot longer than I expected. I would come down to the office around 9:30 expecting people to be there and they weren't. So I just got to work on my lesson stuff and was poking around online doing research. I would be in there for a while just doing those little tasks that I needed to get done. And eventually Elizabeth and Heather showed up.

They had two tours today that they had to do. But only one of them they knew was an actual guided walkthrough. And they couldn't decide who was going to do what because they were both being polite and just kept saying well whichever one you want. I finally just said I'm going to decide for you when I assigned them which one they were going to do. Which I thought was hilarious. And we talked about the storm.

A hurricane is coming in. And with the way the weather has been this year we're all kind of expecting it to be pretty bad. I'm shocked that the farmers market is not canceled. It is going to close early and a lot of vendors have pulled out. Including me. Because I just am exhausted already and dealing with the wind makes me more exhausted. I hope that it is fine down there but I am a little nervous. And I'm also nervous about camp. So I asked Heather if there was anything I could do to kind of get us prepped for it. Move anything inside or whatever.

So we made a little list. My first task was to go to the pool and put all the lifeguard chairs down and move all the deck chairs under yawning. Elizabeth seemed really worried about me moving the lifeguard chairs by myself because they are very happy. But I was able to kind of use gravity and leaning to use my body weight to get them to lay down on the ground. Moving the chairs took me a while. I could only pick up two or three at a time because some of them are very heavy. And so good in the sun and I was enjoying the video that I was listening to so it was nice to have that task. It honestly was beautiful today. I was a little too cold at times but it was really nice. I think tomorrow since now I'm not going to go to the market I'm going to go through my closet and try it some fall outfits. Love wearing layers and things so very much excited about this.

I took my shoes off a lot today. I was wearing my birks and socks. But I don't like how the office floor sounds when you walk on it so I was taking my shoes off to kind of control how loud it was. And then I just ended up being in my socks at the pool the whole time I was moving the chairs. I love being in bare feet so it was not a problem I just thought it was funny how often I was just walking around in my socks in the office.

After I finish the chairs I took a few minute break and got back to my research. I'm still trying to figure out where to buy wooden hoops for my hoop and stick a game. I will make them if I have to but everywhere I'm finding things are just too thick or they're just embroidery hoops and it just isn't correct. I'm working on it but I don't know why finding wooden hoops is so difficult.

My next big cast was to walk over to woodlands and make sure all the windows were closed. It was a nice little walk even though I hate that one stretch of very thick gravel. It's just so hard to walk on! The rocks are not compact enough and it is tripping hazard. But I'm sure it's helping with erosion.

I also walked around just looking for interesting nature. When I had been over by the lodge this morning to paint the museum doors I had found all these amazing little teeny tiny mushrooms on the stairs. And I just wanted to find more things but it wasn't a great day for it anywhere else. It's not damp enough. So I guess after this week's storms maybe it will be.

Open the art building I would lay out the canvas I got at home Depot yesterday and cut it in half. I drew out a silly banner for the project for the kindergarteners on Tuesday. It just says better together and then it has flowers all over it. Not super inspired but I looked at The group's website and that's kind of their mission statement. Not in those words but it's like the vibe. So I think they'll like it.

I took a break after that. Jess had sent me the document I had started yesterday but she reformatted and made it much better. For our Disney trip. And I did some research that I could ask some questions and she had put some more stuff on there that she liked and wanted and so I got to look into those things. I'm so excited for our trip.

The afternoon was slow in ways. Mostly research sometimes I would pop out so up to the heart building and do something. I spent a little time stretching up there which was really nice. After the tours were over Heather and Elizabeth were back in the office. Alexi was there too. And I would spend a really long time sorting the lost and found items on the porch. I didn't want to see everything get thrown away if I didn't need to be because so much of it I felt like could be donated. And so I spent like 2 hours sorting and then once I pulled out everything that I thought was salvageable I found all the pairs for all the shoes and I rubber band them together. And then I sorted those into type of shoe. We have a bag of sneakers and a bag of boots two bags of sandals and one bag of swim shoes. I even found a few things that I could keep. I got three pairs of Crocs. I'll probably only actually keep one of them. But I brought three home to clean. I got two pairs of swimming shoes that fit me really well actually. And are basically brand new. And just a couple small items. Keychains. One of those over the door hanging organizers. I don't know where I'm going to use it for but nice to have. And it was just really nice having like these tasks today I love a task. And I feel three trash bags. The porch looks so nice. And we're going to hopefully get all that stuff out to some donation center next week. For now at least it won't get ruined in the rain like some of the stuff that had been on the side did. I had to throw away a couple things that will moldy it was disgusting.

Around 3, after Alexi had left for her family beach trip, All of a sudden Elizabeth starts freaking out because one of her teeth fell out. It turned out it was actually a crown but still all of a sudden she's freaking out. And this was after she had freaked out about wedding photos earlier. So I didn't know what was going on and I was like what is happening what is are you okay. And she was very upset obviously. I would also be very upset and I have been very upset when I broken teeth. So it was kind of decided then that we were all just going to go home early. Heather and me stayed a couple more minutes. I finished up the Amazon list from my lesson plans. The whole thing. I'm very proud of myself. And then Heather said that she was going to leave and that I could too.

So I took my bag of lost and found goodies up to the art building. I double checked that the building was locked for the weekend. And then I went home.

The change James's hours, they changed the hours of the museum, so they are going to be getting home closer to 5:00 now. But they apparently had a pretty quick closing so even though I got home before 4:00 I wasn't alone very long.

When I got back here I brought all my stuff inside and I went and checked on the mice. They weren't super warm anymore because the heating pad is only on a 2-hour timer. But once I got the cage one backed up they were good. I fed them. And then had to clean them off because they are all crispy. And left a low bowl of some of the formula mixed with water in there and they drink it because it was gone. But they were all crispy. So I think they were standing in it while they were drinking it. So I clean them off with cotton balls and warm water. Which I've had to do two more times since then. But at least they were warm.

I would chill on the couch until James came home. They looked a little sad when they got back here. They're dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress right now. But they keep saying they don't want to burden me which I don't think is fair. But I understand having those ups and downs. Can be hard. But once they cooled off they said that whenever I was ready we could walk over to check out what was going on with artscape. The original plan was to go tomorrow but now it's been canceled because of the hurricane. So today was our chance.

I wasn't feeling 100% my best. Just kind of a little vaguely uncomfortable. But I really wanted to spend the time with James and we haven't been to artscape since the last one in 2019 so I was excited. I was knitting and wanted to finish that square and James said that we could leave after that.

I want to go check on the mice after I finished the square and I picked them up and one of them had their eyes open! And I like squealed with delight. Because that means we're basically out of the woods all things considered. hopefully the other one opens their eyes soon too. He's much more active now he wants to walk all over my hand and up my arm. He's seeing everything for the first time and that must be so exciting. I will probably start researching when I can start giving them different foods. I assume that this wouldn't be around the time when they would start eating other stuff. But I don't want to hurt them so I want to make sure I give them the right stuff. And Heather said that if I want to start setting up some kind of nature-inspired tank since they are a native creature it would be nice to have in the nature building. So I don't want to put the cart before the horse but if that works out it would be so cool to have a mouse tank in the nature lodge. I watched someone on TikTok who set up a nature inspired tank for her mice and it was mostly tunnels and I just thought it was the coolest thing. So like grasses and tunnels and things that resemble what a field mouse like these would actually be with. I think that would be amazing.

After I wash my hands. Because you really need to wash your hands after you hold the mice. Me and James would walk over to Micah and start walking through artscape.

It wasn't very busy over there yet. It would be more busy on Charles. But I enjoyed looking at everything. But I also wasn't feeling great. My legs were rubbing together in a very unpleasant way. And I was warmer from the walk that I expected. And I was trying to be okay but I was not having a great time on the inside. We didn't buy anything. We did get three business cards from places that I would like to revisit. But I was a little overwhelmed. We stopped at theater projects or James could drop their bike off and use the bathroom. I sat outside and I felt okay for a few minutes while I sat there but once we were in the big groups I was kind of feeling weird. And my legs were hurting real bad. So after we made it to North avenue. After seeing some really cool installations. I asked if we could go home. James didn't have to be back at the theater till 7:00 so even though it wasn't the original plan for them to walk me back to the apartment they did. And we smooched outside and I went in.

When I came upstairs I checked on the mice again. I fed them a little. I went outside and I secured the plants out on the fire escape for the wind. And then I cleaned the fish tank and the frog tank. Just vacuumed the bottom and took out some of the dead leaves. And after I hugged on sweetp for a little bit, I took a shower.

I would also play with my new hot brush that I got in the mail today. It doesn't get as hot as quickly as I was expecting. I was a little spoiled by my last two. But the brush part made my hair look really nice and after kind of having a low emotional day that was really nice. Maybe me feel good.

The shower helped me feel a lot more normal too. And once I was clean and back in a sweatshirt and feeling cozy I would get the oven to turn on right away and made mozzarella sticks and fries for dinner. Which work right. I tried some of the hot honey that we got and even though James cut it 50% with regular honey it is still basically unedible it is so spicy. It doesn't even taste like anything it's just so spicy. We will not make that mistake again. I had to text James cuz it was so funny I was like I can't eat this. Thankfully I did not pour it on anything and had just tried to dip things in it.

And now I'm just chilling in bed. James will be home around 11:00. I've been texting people and watching videos. Sweetp and me were having a cuddle. I think I might go and have a snack. Check on the mice again. I closed the windows because It has gotten very windy. The storm is supposed to start soon. I was hoping James would make it home before it does but it's not the radar is to be I don't know if they're going to come home completely dry. But the bed will be warm and I will just be happy to see them.

Tomorrow since I am not going to market my plan is to knit as much as I can. I only have seven squares left of this project. And then go through my closet like I said and make some fall outfits. And I was just texting my dad and he asked if we could talk on the phone just to catch up. And I think that's going to be really nice.

I hope you all sleep well. Let's hope that both of my mice have their eyes open tomorrow. Sleep well my friends. I love you all