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vincentspork · 2 years

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Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure for the DS rather infamously had content cut from its English versions. The most well-known cuts were of two larger additions to the story - adaptations of chapters from the Japan-only PS2 sequel, Angel’s Present, which would have slightly lengthened Cornet’s adventure and given players a chance to follow Cherie’s story in a few hours of postgame content. However, smaller scenes were also cut, which are wholly exclusive to Rhapsody’s DS port; while these aren’t as vital as what was mentioned above, it’s still kind of irritating that NISA dodged translating even the smaller interactions between the characters.

I have screenshots of all of these sequences, and I figured I might as well provide some rough translations of them. These are computer translated, and while I’m pretty confident that the overall meaning of these are intact, there’s bound to be some smaller jokes that get lost, some wording might be a little “off“ from the original, what have you. These also aren’t going to be in any particular order - especially since a few of them are dependent on when the player unlocks certain locales ingame, meaning there’s no “proper“ order to begin with. Half of them follow Etoile and her bodyguards investigating towns before Cornet gets to them, while the other half follow Marjoly’s cronies or Seglinde and Karl.

This happens....before Cornet sets out on her journey, I think.

ETOILE: Father!

MR ROSENQUEEN: What is it, Etoile?

ETOILE: I'm leaving on my own.

MR ROSENQUEEN: What's this nonsense?

ETOILE: The Marjoly family crashed the party...

ETOILE: So, I'll crash Beauty Castle.

MR ROSENQUEEN: Ah...because the Prince is there...

ETOILE: Most likely.

MR ROSENQUEEN: But what will you do?

MR ROSENQUEEN: The Queen's guards are already all over the Kingdom looking for him.

ETOILE: Father!

ETOILE: Don't try to stop me.

MR ROSENQUEEN: Why? Why go through all this risk.....

ETOILE: I already told you. Don't try to stop me.

ETOILE: I was already defeated by Marjoly once.

ETOILE: I will not be humiliated again!

MR ROSENQUEEN: ...

MR ROSENQUEEN: (Good grief...so that's how it's going to be...)

MR ROSENQUEEN: (I wonder where she picked up this competitive streak...)

ETOILE: ? What's wrong, father?

MR ROSENQUEEN: ...It's nothing.

ETOILE: Anyways!

ETOILE: I have already made my decision.

MR ROSENQUEEN: Well, good. There's no use living in the past.

ETOILE: We're off.

MR ROSENQUEEN: Good luck.

MR ROSENQUEEN: And remember, if you're ever tired, I'll be here waiting for you.

ETOILE: ....Y-yeah, sure.

(Etoile walks out)

MR ROSENQUEEN: Momie, Hammer.

MOMIE & HAMMER: Sir!

MR ROSENQUEEN: I ask that you accompany her.

MOMIE & HAMMER: Of course!

(Momie and Hammer leave)

MR ROSENQUEEN: (Go on, Etoile...)

When Oasis is unlocked as a location, the following cutscene happens in the Oasis underground (where the tunnels and the Worm connect).

MOMIE: We've arrived, Young Lady.

ETOILE: Nice work.

ETOILE: To think such a place is buried under the town...

MOMIE: I've heard it said that this was a facility built by the Ancient ones.

MOMIE: Even this train was their doing.

ETOILE: That's right...

ETOILE: But I’m surprised.

ETOILE: You seem to know a lot about this.

MOMIE: I have an interest in Ancient civilizations.

ETOILE: That's good. As my subordinate, you have to work and study hard.

MOMIE: Yes, milady!

(Etoile walks up to the train)

ETOILE: I'll have to investigate this area myself once this incident is taken care of.

HAMMER: But if this was a facility used by the Ancients, won’t it be dangerous?

ETOILE: OH-HOHOHO!

ETOILE: Did you forget, Hammer?

ETOILE: I am Etoile Rosenqueen.

ETOILE: No matter how dire the problem may seem, I'll show you the solution!

HAMMER: Yes!

ETOILE: Then let us press onward.

ETOILE: We'll rescue the missing inhabitants of the island.

HAMMER & MOMIE: Roger!

(Etoile, Hammer, and Momie are walking through the green tunnel)

HAMMER: Young Lady...!

ETOILE: What's up, Hammer?

HAMMER: For some time now, I've been hearing a strange noise...

ETOILE: Strange noise?

HAMMER: Yes...I feel as though something is approaching.

ETOILE: ...Well...

ETOILE: ....Let's hope that it's just your imagination...

HAMMER: Quiet down! I think it's getting closer!

ETOILE: I hear it now.....it's....

MOMIE: Is this what the villagers were warning us of earlier!?

HAMMER: Young Lady! We must evacuate the area!

ETOILE: I get it, I get it, I'm going!

(The worm finds them)

(DIFFERENT SCENE that plays when Whitesnow unlocks)

MOMIE: Miss, we have arrived at Whitesnow.

ETOILE: I am F-REEZING!!!

MOMIE: ...

ETOILE: Cold!! COLD!! I! AM! COLD!!

ETOILE: Is there anywhere else we can go to look for the Stone?

HAMMER: Well...all villages in the Northern regions will be like this....

ETOILE: Alright, alright! Are you sure the Thunderstone will even be here?!

MOMIE: It's located in the Tower of Ninetail nearby.

HAMMER: But here, the Ninetail are considered sacred, and the Tower a holy site.

HAMMER: We must approach it with utmost respect.

MOMIE: But conversely, to get the Thunderstone, it is necessary to defeat the Mountain God of Ninetail Tower.

ETOILE: I see...this is a dilemma.

MOMIE: Correct.

MOMIE: It is said that this village will all but disappear if the Mountain God is killed.

ETOILE: ...

ETOILE: We have to kill the Mountain God, the protector of the village, to find the stone...

ETOILE: Hm....

ETOILE: I think we'd better leave this decision to Cornet.

ETOILE: Let's look somewhere else.

HAMMER: Isn't that something...

ETOILE: Hm?

ETOILE: What are you on about?

HAMMER: I think it's wonderful that you're trusting your friend.

ETOILE: Th-that's-! Don't put words in my mouth!!

ETOILE: Good grief!! We shouldn't stick around here any longer!!

ETOILE: See, this weather must be affecting you!! You've started saying a whole lot of stuff you can't take back!

HAMMER & MOMIE: (laugh)

ETOILE: ...

ETOILE (Geeze...)

#marl #this is just the first half btw

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dobercorgis · 8 months

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overall I don’t think I liked mask girl as much as others did but I did get invested in the end. momi did nothing wrong

#it just took me a long time to get interested (ep 4 out of 7)#it got a lot more interesting after we see more relationships getting established #I still haven’t watched the glory yet… I need to extend my attention span it somehow ended up getting too short #misu.txt

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cluelesslychosen · 3 years

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✜The Lost Spark✜

✜AU EVENT✜

“Mum said her shipment is going to take a while.” Momi turns to her younger siblings and pulls out her wallet. “She’s giving you guys ¥2000 each for lunch and other stuff. Don’t spend it all at once, okay?” Dani gives her sister a silent nod and takes her share of the allowance. Riley swipes the remaining money. “What about you?” He asks “You’re not coming with us for lunch?” “I wish, I’m going to help Mum carry the resin supplies. She’s got a deadline and needs to get the sculpt and prototypes done fast.” Momi replies, tucking away her wallet and adjusting her bag. “You two are big kids.” She tells him “Besides, Dani’s with you and you guys know Shibuya station. We’ll meet by the konbini when we’re done, okay?” “But it’s so crowded,” Dani whines to them both “Can’t we stay with you guys?” she pleads. “I don’t like the noise.” “I mean you could,” Momi replies “But you’ll have to wait until we get on the train to get a meal.” Riley rolls his eyes at both his sisters. “I don’t want to babysit Dani.” he groans, “I always have to babysit her when we go to Shibuya!” “You’re not babysitting her! The both of you are looking out for each other.” Momi asserts herself, crossing her arms. “The two of you wanted to come so don’t be giving each other grief, okay?” Dani shrinks herself and glances her eyes away from their sister. Riley scowls, shoving his hands in his sweater pockets. Momi takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Guys, please.” She begs, “It's only for a little while. Please, keep an eye out for each other. I’ll make it up to you guys when we get home, okay? We’ll text you when we’re done.” “... Whatever.” Riley scoffs before immediately turning away and walking down the hall. Dani stands beside Momi in silence before speaking up. Dani whimpers to her sister, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Dani.” Momi sighs, patting her head and ruffling a bit, “You didn’t. He’s… frustrated at a lot of things right now.” Momi then puts her hand on Dani’s back and pushes her forwards, “Go on, get something to eat. Mum and I will see you guys in a bit, okay?”

Ten minutes and ¥500 poorer, Riley sits down at a bench and looks at his food. Beef Omurice. Typical of him, being a picky eater he thinks to himself. He watches his older sister across from his seating. He could tell from here she was having trouble with speaking and asking questions.

Whatever, she could do it herself. She’s not a baby, he tells himself as he shuffles his bag onto his lap to put away his wallet. Only to open it and see the round, white form of Calumon sleeping unaware in his backpack. Oh no. Not here!

“Hey!” He whispers and shakes his bag a little to stir the creature up. “Psst! No free rides!” The Calumon opens their enormous eyes and yawns before turning and giving Riley a small wave. If this were a cat, he’d find this adorable. But this was a digimon so-

He grabs onto the creature and pulls it out of his bag by the nape of their neck and glares at them. “Why do you keep bothering me?!” he hisses at them. They simply just tilt their head with a “Luu...”

He rolls his eyes with a scoff. before he can do anything the creature immediately escapes his grip and darts for his bento. Eyes hungry. “Oh no you don’t!” He holds their head in one hand while keeping his meal in the other. “I’m not letting you steal another bite of food!”

He pauses when he feels the eyes of the crowd peering in his direction. Riley can feel the judgement radiating from them as they stared. Pressing down on him like a weight while he feels his heartbeat quicken.

Too many eyes, he can feel their thoughts. He needs to go. He has to go. He needs air. Disregarding Calumon he shoves his meal in his bag and begins running from the bench and down the hall. Confused at his quick exit, Calumon floats on the spot before chasing after the boy, concerned. “Psst-” Dani pauses from her purchasing process, about to pay for her lunch when Kain whispers. In his Kyaromon form he fits in his partner’s backpack without others noticing. “Dani!” he whispers, “Dani, Riley's running off!” Uh-oh. Dani gives an apologetic bow to the cashier and places her meal down. “I’m so sorry, I’m not hungry anymore. Have a good day-” She turns and launches after her brother in the ever noisy crowd. The noise made her vision buzz but she pushed past that as fast as she could. Losing her brother in Shibuya would be a nightmare. She couldn’t let her parent’s down again. Riley runs. He ran past the crowds, not paying attention to where he was going. Soon enough, the sounds of people faded and the sounds of his footsteps echoed off the corridors. He takes his deep breaths in the cool air and as he recollects he realizes where he is. A corridor that was in preparation for a remodel. This hall was open but no one was using it. He rubs his face and leans against the plywood wall. Finally… Calm. “Caluu!!” Or not. The little digimon toddles over and rests on Riley’s shoulder. He scoffs trying to pull them off but their tiny claws cling onto his sweater. They let out a rather defiant “No!” in response and he lets go. Huh? They’ve never… spoke before and that caught Riley off guard. The digimon clung on with determination, fear and… concern? Why was he picking up concern? He stares at the little creature for a moment before replying. “Did you… talk-” Riley’s eyes widen for a moment when that familiar tell-tale feeling returns. Pins and needles shot up his legs and then his spine. The pressure building in his head as he grabs onto it. Calumon clutches onto the boy. They make concerned noises for Riley as he tries to steady himself. The lights in the corridor all begin to flicker in intervals. He squeezes his eyes shut. The wind inside dies to a whisper and the temperature plunges. Not freezing but it feels cold and wet like a late autumn rainstorm. There's silence. “No-No, just breathe, breathe-” Riley mutters as he tries to ignore everything. Until the sound of rushing water hits his ears and eyes snap open. Water rushes out from the other side of the tunnel, freezing cold, dark water. The warm lights turn a sterile white. His breath is visible as he tries to calm himself down but finds himself failing in every aspect. The episodes before were bad but never like this. This was different. Completely different! “W-What the hell is going on--” “Child… Oh, Child...” The voice creeps into his ears like a squirming worm. The word carried on a struggling breath. Lungs water-locked and gurgling. It paralyzes him, legs refusing to move as he feels his stomach churn. He knows he needs to run but that voice- He turns his head towards the rushing water.

Three, large red eyes pierce through the darkness ahead. Before the rest of it begins to slither out the darkness. Sharp teeth glimmer in the lifeless light in a grin full of malice. His voice hitches in his throat. Body frozen, terror overriding every function. Before finally, finally he-

Dani’s digivice begins beeping in her sidepack as she runs down the hall. Kain pops his head out and jumps from Dani’s backpack, digivolving into his Impmon stage. “I got a bad feeling about this Dani!” He calls out as he runs beside her. They both round a corner and see the unfinished corridor. A terrified scream sounds from the corridor. A scream they both knew well enough by now. “That’s Riley!-” Dani charges into the tunnel with little hesitation. Kain hesitates but follows, Evolving once more into his Wizardmon state. They run through the hall as fast as their legs can go. The lights flickered, hurting Dani’s eyes. With each flicker the lights grew cold, the corridor grew longer. Space warping. Shoes splashing into rising water. The current makes it harder to traverse.

“Riley?!” Dani called out through the tunnel. Pause. A Scream. Running faster, filled with trepidation they move. As fast as their bodies can through the raging current. The scream gets louder. A blinking of lights, they reach the scene. Almost frame by frame. Riley is trying to dodge the digital monster’s limbs, splashing around in a panic. Calumon hides in his hood and cries out in fear. Claws grip onto his waist and he screams again. His eyes catch onto Dani’s, reflecting the fear and terror back. Kain moves without thinking, pulling his staff from his cape. A large fireball crashes into the squidlike demon. It roars in agony, clutching onto it’s face as fire takes it. Seeing this opening Riley bolts, trying to use the current to gain any semblance of speed. It feels as if a few feet are miles. His legs can’t seem to take a proper stride and he fumbles hard through the knee deep waters. “Riley!” Dani shouts at the top of her lungs, out stretching both her arms to him. She runs forward to him, not caring if Kain screams at her to stay back. Only keeping her brother safe mattered to her. Riley stumbles forward, water in his eyes and head pounding. He sees Dani running towards him. He forgets his resentment, his anger, his fear in this moment and he cries out for his big sister. Arms reaching for her. “Dani!”

So close.

But they don’t reach. A tendril shoots from the darkness and wraps itself around Riley. Both Riley and Calumon are wretched backwards. Riley’s goggles sent flying. Dani helplessly watches as her brother gets pulled away into the darkness. What she thought was darkness. What was a darkened tunnel was in actuality a rift of some kind. Seeing this, Riley struggles hard against his captor. As hard as he thrashes it’s not enough, only getting one arm free. He continues to reach for Dani in desperation.

“Dani! Help me! Dani!” He begs with tears forming in his eyes. The darkness consumes both the digimon and Riley. They disappear. Dani stands there, arms outstretched to nothing, water disappearing and air returning. But in her shock Kain jumps forwards. He holds out his hands and yells out, in rage. “Give him back, you Monster!”

Magic sparks from his hands and he pulls his hands apart. The closing rift jerks with resistance. The Wizardmon struggles to hold the portal open. “Go Dani! I’ll follow you!” He yells back at his partner, still frozen. “Go! Now!” His words break Dani out of her paralysis. Her eyes drift to her brother’s goggles. With a nod she steels herself, takes a deep breath. Dani grabs onto Riley’s goggles. She had to get Riley back! She shouts in her mind and runs full speed and jumps through the rift. The moment Dani leaps through, Kain releases the portal and runs right behind her.

It feels like static, cold static. It’s hard to move limbs, hard to see. Hard to breathe. Riley feels the void around him getting more and more cold. The humanoid creature continues dragging him and Calumon down. He swears he hears it laughing at him. Speaking in a language he doesn’t quite understand but he can tell what it’s thinking. It’s in the throes of victory. He has a child, he’s won. His master will praise him. Like hell he will!

He uses his free arm to hit the tendril as hard as he can. He didn’t care if the impact would shoot pins and needles down his arm “Let go of me!” He screams into the dark, hitting as hard as he can. Calumon clings to Riley before they hop off and begins to try and remove the tendril’s grip around Riley. A futile effort as the squid like monster snatches Calumon in his oversized arm. “PEST!” it shouts as it’s claws start crushing the little digimon. Calumon in turn cries out in pain from the bigger digimon’s grip. Hearing the tiny digimon cry out in pain seemed to awaken something in Riley. Something he can’t understand but he runs on instinct.

“Don’t--” Something feels like it’s burning in him. “You--” Something that he let go from deep within. “Hurt--” At this moment he didn’t care about the need to hold back. “Her!” There was no one else here. It was do or die.

His fist hits the digimon, burning white light sears the digital flesh of their captor. He screams out again in agony. Holding this child was like holding a glowing hot stone. They try to bite through the pain but it's too much. The white light completely overwhelmed his body. Like a star in the dark and as intense. Grappling onto the sea demon’s arm he screams out one last time. “Let us go!”

The light radiating off of him almost becomes flame like. White hot and incinerates the limb of the digimon. Data disperses as the light burns it’s arms away, running up and burning the left side. The digimon screams in complete agony to the point it rather drop its prey or die. It chooses self preservation. It darts away into the digital sea. It sounds like it’s screaming for forgiveness from someone but Riley can't make a word of it. His vision is going blurry.

Calumon, now retreats to the boy. They cling onto his hoodie and cry out to him but he’s fading. Both in a literal and figurative sense. His eyes glaze over as the light begins to fade away. Calumon knew they had to do something. Riley saved them. They had to save him back. They can’t last here, Riley definitely can’t last here. They close their eyes and the gem on their forehead glows. Calumon doesn’t know what they’re doing but all they do know is that they had to save Riley. Bring him somewhere safe. The remains of Riley’s light merges with Calumon’s. A force pushes them upwards. Away from the darkness.

There's a brief resistance the closer they get to the light. Before it feels like they shattered through a glass wall. The small white digimon opens their bleary eyes. and sees now they are in the digital stream, the current of a network. Calumon feels relief before they lay themselves on the now unconscious Riley's body. They too needed rest. Unaware of what their power had done.

Wherever they drift too, it was better than the darkness they escaped.

#Character✜Event #Lost Spark✜Riley #I'll reblog this again when i wake up in the morning SURPRISE

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atiny-piratequeen · 4 years

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Is it wrong that I dont like guys/girls being subs? Like idk I just cant get on board with people being subs. Like Id never want someone to call me momy or ask me to dom them except if I did it to tease them so they dominate me? Is it bad? Is it because Im a sub? Like I dont hate it, I just dont feel anything about it. Im sorry Im just confused like I wanna be on board I just...I feel nothing. Im sorry if Im bothering you I just feel like maybe Im doing something wrong...

In a way, you are wrong, but not in the way you think.

You're wrong in this mentality bc you're trying to force yourself into bdsm culture when you're clearly not for it. Just because there's a recent interest in BDSM culture in fics (mostly bc of 50 shades and i fucking despise that thats what it took for people to have an interest in BDSM bc 50 shades is fucking garbage trash and not a proper rep for us in the BDSM community at all) doesnt mean you HAVE to be a dom or a sub or like the idea.

Theres a myriad of reasons why BDSM doesnt work for some people. But its important to remember, just because you *see* other people all for BDSM culture doesn't mean you have to enjoy or partake in it.

You dont need someone in a relationship to be the 'dominant' or 'submissive' one.

Not everyone is a 'sub' or 'dom'. Some people are just. People. Having sex. And thsts fine too.

But remember, just as its completely valid to not like bdsm culture, its just as valid for people to like it.

If you dont like it, thats fine, there's a blacklist/mute word button for a reason, use it if it makes you that uncomfortable. Dont force yourself to read into bdsm culture and media if it puts you off, but also respect that other people have their own preferences.

#asks #anontiny

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mamawizecooken · 4 years

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HAPPY HEALTHY BLESSED BIRTHDAY, MOMY!! (That’s how she spells it! 🤣) She was happy to hear my voice and her grand and great grand children today!!! 🎉🎉🎉 . Monumental year 87!! This woman tirelessly fed, nurtured, raised, loved, supported, built up, inspired, taught, home trained, handcrafted for, instructed and empowered many people besides her relatives. Some didn’t listen and paid the price. Always listen to Momy, I always say… . She believes in people, she has faith in The Most High and she let me evolve, spiritually. She attended every one of my graduations and my Suns graduation from Oberlin College. She’s always been about education. I remember she took me to her college classes when she attended NY Tech, downtown Brooklyn. We lived in Laurelton at the time. . I can proudly say I shared her best and most vibrant years with her; going to Broadway plays, eating out, going to her alumni dinners, watching TV together, and attending her book readings. She’s a self published author of three books, that are dope. . My mother’s name is Constance and she is just that - a constant source of love, strength, support and inspiration. She made me want to prove the statistics wrong when I graduated Brooklyn Technical HS 6 weeks pregnant. She knew I could do it and I’ve kept her light inside of me. My children have her light and they too, let nothing stop their greatness. . THANK YOU, MOMY, for your unconditional love and encouragement. I couldn’t have accomplished half the things I did without you!!  . THANK YOU, QUEEN!! I’ll always love my Momy, cause she’s my favorite girl! I got one of the best! Shukran Allah 💜🙏🏾 https://www.instagram.com/p/CFiaP5ygGIy/?igshid=1vyjk20lygfl3

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the-voice-of-hell · 3 years

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Rent is Theft, part 25

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here. Note: My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not. If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

***

I felt a chill. My body was too beaten to react with a shiver, but there was a chill, like my most exposed flesh was draining of blood, stung by the air with pain. But low key. My eyes stung with the salt of dried sweat as I opened them, and my nostrils burned with lingering smoke.

I forced myself to a sitting position, feeling almost too lightweight and airy, a dried piece of driftwood. My limbs were very stiff. It took a while to figure out what time of day it was - early morning, the light gray and dim, glowing like cathode ray tubes where it peeked through the windows. Smoke hung in the air from the day of burning, but I sensed that nothing was currently in flames. How much of that had I imagined? The apartment hadn’t melted completely into a coal-black abyss, so the worst of it had surely been in my head.

Leimomi. I jolted awake and staggered around the apartment, trying to call to her, my throat too dry to make a sound. She was on the bathroom floor, at first only visible to me as a sprawled mass of dark mangled hair, in parts sunk to deeper black, smoking. How had she gotten in there?

I pulled her head and shoulders up onto my lap. She was easy to slide across the floor because the sweat underneath her body didn’t dry the way it had on top. Something alarmed me badly. As I pulled, her hair was coming out in dramatic clumps. It felt like I was killing her. I gasped, the choke finally bringing enough saliva to my throat to start making sounds again. I used my voice to hyperventilate and make incoherent plaintive noises. I know what they meant. She woke up crying as well, which was a massive relief.

I kissed her mangled salty forehead, pressed my cheek there, tamped down my panic enough to make soothing noises.

“What happened to us? What’s... Am I... Where is..?”

I took the questions seriously, looking over her head and body for answers. “Your hair… You’re OK, you really are, but your hair is burned... Don’t worry, it’s OK.”

She cried and I held her, though my body ached and cramped so badly I almost spasmed with the pain. At last she calmed enough that I felt bold enough to do something, to say something beyond my soothing.

“Hey, when I say your hair is burned, I mean just your hair. It’ll grow back, your head is fine. But we should get this gross stuff off of you, honey. I’m going to run you a bath, OK? You get in and wait for me.” I choked. “I’ll geh- water too.”

I helped her into the bathtub, and she sloughed off almost all of the mass of her hair at once, leaving flimsy thin strands half glued all around her face, head, and neck. Her forehead was knotted from crying and I kissed it, wishing I could smooth it out.

Just as I was leaving to get our water, she cried, “Oh no! It’s your hair too!”

I turned to look at her and felt up my head. Some of my hair was coming loose, and I quick stepped to the mirror in panic. Please don’t be male pattern. It wasn’t as bad as hers, wasn’t bald in the front at all. Tears streaked my face again, this time in relief.

But then I felt it. Just below the crown, there was a bald area, the flesh warped and numb from a burn.

“Courtney, it’s gone. The mouth! And my hair.”

She was right. Our curses had been burned out of us. And the bald spot was low enough I could probably work with it, if it ended up as a permanent thing. “That’s good, I mean... That’s good.” I peeled myself from the mirror and smiled at her one time before going for the water again.

The grey light was already more fully formed than when I first woke, though still weak. Maybe it was an overcast morning out there. I remembered using warm saltwater to gargle when sick, and added some table salt to the first glass I poured. I gargled it, I swallowed some. As my voice healed under the effort, I spoke to Momi through the rooms. “We’re doing good, baby. We got through the worst of it! It’s good...” I trailed off, unsure if she could hear me over running water, realizing I was talking to myself more than her.

I cut off two slices of cheese and tossed them in a bowl with some chips, poured Momi a tall luke-warm glass of water, and went back to the bathroom. She turned off the water as I came in, looked at me with her big eyebrows scrunched up. As long as she still had those, I was in love. I smiled much more easily then, and sat beside the tub.

“Drink this. Kinda gargle it a little too.”

She did. “Bleh. Gross.”

“I think warm water goes down easier when you’re dehydrated like this. At least I didn’t add salt to yours.”

“Ew.”

“Heh.” I gobbled up my share of the cheese and chips, then smiled at her again.

“Why are you smiling at me so much?”

“I’m just so glad we’re done with the curses, that we’re alive. I swear, I’m gonna get more interviews, get something going. If we have to move to Kalamazoo and flip burgers, we’re going to be OK.” I wanted to help wipe away the rest of the loose hairs, but she was eating the food, drinking the water. “When you’re done I just wanna take a super quick shower before we check in on everyone else.”

“Oh god, I hope Marcie is OK.” She hugged herself.

“You can bet she is.” What could possibly be wrong with the world right then?

My gaze drifted through the smoke, took in some details as the weak sun revealed them. There were blisters and warps in every surface. The mirror’s backing was badly oxidized into rusty splotches and speckles. What the hell?

I helped wipe away Momi’s burned hairs and wrapped a scarf around her head, cancer patient style. Then I hopped into the shower and rinsed the salty crud off my bones. I heard voices in my apartment, towel-dried and put on a bathrobe as quick as I could.

There was no bedroom door to obscure me as I hopped around, trying to get ready. Methadone Mike and Deandre glanced at me a few times. At last I slouched against the door frame like Mae West. “Hey boys. How’s everybody doing today?” Momi looked embarrassed.

Deandre said, “Fit to get eaten. We just got slow roasted las’ night.”

Mike said, “That’s ta say, like, why are you in such a good mood?”

I slapped the back of my head with both hands. “Only one mouth today.”

Deandre grabbed his body and started patting himself down. “Huh.”

“I did ask you a question. You talked to anyone else yet?”

Mike said, “Uh, just to check in. Everybody’s alive except... Graeme ain’t answerin’ his door.”

I was startled, then thought better. “Sometimes in crunch time programmers’ll work overnight. Bet he isn’t even home yet. Stayed out on purpose just to beat the heat.”

“Well shit, you think everybody is cured?”

I shrugged.

“Except Graeme,” Mike added.

“Alright,” said Deandre, “Let’s find out. But look at this shit.” He gestured around the place. Every surface was blistered or warped from the heat. The air was hazy from old smoke with no way to vent. “We gotta get out of here. We’re lucky to be alive.”

I nodded eagerly and swept Momi along with us as we stepped into the hall. “This is our chance. We got through it, guys. We can walk away...”

In the hall, the lights were all dim and irregular - the light somehow blotchy. Glancing up, it looked like they had little bubbles in the glass of the fixtures. Heat damage? We went to Olivia and Knobby’s door and knocked.

Suddenly, the elevator softly chimed its presence on the floor. I glanced that way over Momi’s shoulder, expecting Grime to step out of the door looking like a semi-pleasant zombie. Instead, before the door fully slid open, a horrible animal’s head ripped free, thrashing and tossing spittle.

We all leapt at the noise. It was surging, slamming to get into the hall. The scrape and bustle coming from inside the elevator - meaty flanks beating the sides of the box, impatient hooves scratching. It was a wild boar with a head the size of my torso. The bug-sniffing pig?

“No!” I shouted, “You’re supposed to have an appointment!”

Momi dragged me out of the hall as it came in, slamming against a wall in its mad scramble. I was in an apartment, it was out of sight, but I could still hear it, still feel it in the floor - an ogre, a giant. Olivia and Knobby were bedraggled and terrified, looking like twelve year olds in their sweaty underclothes. Deandre was shoving at them, yelling something.

I found Momi’s eyes and hardly had a moment to catch my reeling mind before she was thrown against me. She had been blocking the door, and one bash from the beast sent her crashing. We scrambled to push the door back into place as the monster wound up for another attack.

Momi cried, “We need a gun!”

Deandre might have said something about that, but the pig crashed into the door again like thunder. The door was knocked off the hinges, Momi and I were mashed together under it as the monster barreled past us into the room.

My head was spinning, ears ringing, when I heard the voice of that fucking bug man out in the hall. “What’s that boy? You smell somethin’ good? Get ’em boy, get ’em!”

I tried to tell him to fuck off and die, but couldn’t breathe. I struggled to stand, slipping against the wall. To one side, the boar rampaged through Olivia and Knobby’s apartment. Right in front of me, Momi was pushing the door out into the hall like a massive shield. She smashed it against the wall and I saw a spindly white man’s arm flap behind it like a spider in death throes.

I caught my breath and she was lifting me up by an arm. We faced the living room. The boar had already annihilated the coffee table and upended every piece of furniture that remained. The children were hiding, Deandre and Methadone Mike facing it from either side, armed with stools.

“Hey!” I yelled at the thing. “We didn’t call for you!”

It whipped around to look at me, and the guys charged in. It looked mildly surprised to be stabbed from both sides, and spun in place again. This time, the power of its movement sent the guys down. Deandre was shoved back by his own stool, losing his grip and going end over end. Mike’s stool flipped away and exploded on the ceiling. His body went ragdoll to the floor and bounced.

Before I could even blink, it reached a leg over - with almost no effort at all - and drove it down onto Mike’s back with a horrible noise. He spasmed one time and fell still. It wasn’t even looking at him. It was staring at me.

The thing was so full of power, its barest movement made things explode. I knew if it touched me I’d die badly. The kitchen had a window to the living room and I tried to dive through that, hoping Momi would take the opportunity to shut herself in one of the bedrooms.

I only got my upper body through, snagging my thigh on the wall. My legs were hanging out, wagging as I scrambled to get in. The pig was so fast. I felt it crash into me, into the wall.

I think it had tried to bite my leg but missed, then when it pulled back to bite me again, its tusks flipped me the rest of the way into the kitchen. Lucky, but it still felt like taking a baseball bat to the thighs. I was on a high counter trying to get my balance when sharp hooves kicked me onto the floor - it had reared up to attack me.

Fortunately it knocked me out of its own reach. I yelled, “Momi, hide!” and hoped she’d do the smart thing. I heard it hit the floor again and scrape hooves to come get me. I jumped up on the counter again, planning to go through the kitchen window back to the living room as soon as it got close.

The kitchen had a clear view of the apartment door and as the beast rounded the corner, I saw Richie stepping into the apartment behind it.

“No! Run! It killed Mike!” I screamed.

It whipped around again, crashing into every wall as it went. I tried going through the window, but again got tripped up, falling out headfirst and landing like a pile of bowling pins. I blacked out.

Deandre was pulling me to my feet, Olivia and Knobby were behind him. They were waving for us to come join them in the bedroom, in safety. Deandre looked very frustrated. “Just ’cause I’m gangster doesn’t mean I have a gun.”

My head bobbled in shock. “Uh-huh, hm - fuck. Where’s Leimomi?”

“I’ll go help her. You get in there with the kids, dammit.”

My heart sank and I almost collapsed again, sliding out of his arms. Then I shook my head and steeled myself. “Where did she go?”

He shook his head. “Out there.”

Pretty quickly, we were both out in the hall. Knobby gave me his aluminum bat and Deandre got a knife. I heard the pig in one of the other apartments, heard movement from others as well, heard voices. Olivia and Knobby’s door was where Momi had left it - on top of some unmoving fucko who was dead for all I cared. The pig had also knocked the doors off of Methadone Mike’s apartment and Leimomi’s. I heard a buzzing overhead like moths around an electric lamp. I glanced up and saw the light fixtures were actually full of eyeballs, which obscured the light and bobbed around each other like they were boiling.

Patrick and Marcie came out of Patrick and Perry’s apartment, both carrying short spears made from halves of the same broken mop handle. Marcie said, “Where’s my boy?”

We exchanged very emotional looks in that moment, but the sound of the pig thrashing in Momi’s apartment drew our attention. We all hustled to that broken door, gathered outside it in the hall. I said, “Hey, pig! Suey!”

In response, I heard it wreck some more furniture before storming back into our line of sight. It surged toward us, toward the hall, and we all stepped to the sides of the door. Patrick and Marcie were on one side, Deandre and I on the other. As it came into the hall thrashing - a grey-brown tornado of bristling hair and gleaming tusk - we all did our best to attack it.

Hitting it with the baseball bat was like hitting leather-covered steel. The shock and its thrashing threw me to the ground again. It stomped Deandre’s leg and he collapsed, though he barely managed to escape another stomp by lurching out of the way. His face was completely unrecognizable from the pain, doubled in on itself like a baseball cover.

It jerked back into the apartment, leaving the four of us in the hall, splashed with blood. Another calm before another storm - it would surely come attack us again in less than a minute. Deandre couldn’t get up, Marcie had lost her spear, Patrick’s face was purple and swollen.

To Marcie I said, “Help Deandre get to Olivia and Knobby! I’ll help Richie.”

She shook her head, grabbed Patrick’s spear, and went after the thing in Momi’s apartment. I looked at Patrick in desperation, he shook his head. I knew he had to get back to Perry.

I grabbed Deandre’s shoulders to drag him, but he pushed me away. “Don’t! Find your girl!”

“That thing’ll stomp you dead!”

“Go!” Blood spewed from his leg in time with his pulse.

I took the permission and ran into the apartment.

Richie was dodging it over by the window, bouncing around like a too-tall marionette on a string. The pig had a spear and a knife sticking out of its flanks, but wasn’t slowing at all. Marcie was throwing a stool at it, again to no effect. Where the Hell is Leimomi?

“Come on!,” Marcie yelled. “Suey suey!,” I yelled. That’s a thing they say on farms, right?

The boar was obsessed with Richie in that moment, ignoring anything we threw at it. He was more agile than the thing, like a cowboy at an unusually sadistic rodeo event, but it was so much faster. It whacked him in the shin with its tusks and flipped him off its head. He spiraled in the air like a starfish before hitting the ground.

The beast came rushing at him, and Marcie blocked it with a cushy chair. When it failed to flick the furniture aside quickly enough, it decided to burrow its way through, sending a snow of stuffing and wood chips flying. As it dug, its weight had Marcie and Richie sliding tangled across the carpet.

I pushed a couch upside down, covering the pig and the chair, and I jumped on top. I waved for Marcie and Richie to get away from the chair, and they did. Just in time, the monster ripped out through the chair, out from under the couch. I bucked loose and the couch rolled over me.

When I got loose, I saw it headbutting Marcie full force in the guts, then spinning to face Richie. He kicked it but it just lurched into the foot, pushing the boy on his ass again. Marcie was too winded to help, I was still getting to my feet, and the horrible thing’s massive jaws were perfectly poised to start devouring Richie’s softest parts.

Momi came into the room with a long flat metal rectangle, gripped in two places with rags. She slapped the wall to get its attention. “Hey! Hey!” She waved the metal closer to its face, swooping dangerously close to Richie’s head to do so.

The pig lost interest in Richie and nipped at Momi’s clumsy weapon. Unfortunately for Richie, it was stomping all over him to get to her. He was bloody in a split second. I found my footing and charged in.

I grabbed its tail, jerked with all my strength. It really hated that, bellowed and turned to face me, trampling Richie again. I lost my grip on the tail. It was facing me almost instantly. This was it. Deranged animal fury, blood and bristles, gleaming tusks - and me completely without a weapon.

It hit me with its face, a battering ram of bone and enamel. We went to the floor together, prey and predator, jerking and screaming. I pulled myself out from under it.

Leimomi was coming to help me, Marcie to Richie. The boar was on its side, twitching. Momi had stabbed it from behind with the metal, and deep. She pulled me into her big arms. I gasped as my diaphragm started working again.

“Where did you get that… spear?”

“Bottom of Mikey’s bed. Are you OK?”

“Uh… I think so.” I sat up. “Deandre. Mike. What the fuck is happening here?”

Marcie had Richie sitting up again. “We got it?”

I pulled myself up to my feet on Momi’s shoulders. “Checking for bed bugs. We gotta get Deandre to a hospital. And you.”

“Huh?”

Marcie said, “Hush up, baby. Let’s get you walking, OK?”

I went into the hall. Deandre was gone, a trail of blood leading back to Olivia and Knobby’s place, past the corpse of the bug man. Overhead, the eyeballs in the lighting fixtures were seething, angry.

Momi came into the hall behind me. “What should we do?”

“Get everyone together, down there. Fucking... Hell, I don’t want Marcie to see... Mike like that.”

“Should I tell her..?”

“We should all go down there. Get Patrick and Perry.” I yelled to Marcie, “Hey, we’re going to Olivia and Knobby’s apartment first, OK?” She made some kind of noise back, then we went to work.

***

Read next chapter here.

#Rent is Theft #part 25 #nanowrimo july 2021

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savingtheunderworldofficial · 3 years

Text

Supernatural

For SUPERNATURAL STORIES THE SHOW ON CW KIE IS ON THAT HIDDEN

KIE CRYING GAMES

Yesterday stories and todays kie cring games

Supernaral sceanes in the movie so true events from born true

Yesterday night

I dissided to talk to dean out of hell

Then i brought him some stuff to smoke

I forgot to pay off the store out their angels warn dean about catagrismic of smoking

About stealing and eating

Then angels got mad demons agreed not they have to feed

Then kie ask satan to take him again

Then kie took demons and agenles and bringing them back to ocean bay city

Wait now on that new bugging boring city nothing but boring outsiders and goobers and gobber's signs up sign down to distract the non livers here fuck that take the island f u all this is shit town

Today stories is erales saving kie

She didnt know on how he got here

Well long time ago

The storie of kie

He almost killed himself

On a roof top in brooklyn ny

First hd writing many stories

Then he got paanoad

Then smoke came threw the mist

Saw his fellow comrad effect him

Saw that then he didnt smoke

Teteta

Smoked in the demons venasa house he saw it and wanted to know

Smoked from the demonz

Blood of dawn

Then more movie were brought

Andy beat up fake shit

Kie said not my prob

Left

Then another guy was called

Kie said take her

Then venesa started new blood

Kie started to win and loose all the time

Movie came between brooklyn

The fight of war

Bring back before i go foward

Supernatural started in the 70for dad and mom

Mom desided to take bare of her stomack

She stated this kidd is smArt but hon weektheld the babie secrete of him

Carlos and kie bagan to play fight new moves kie got kicked and hit theheat meeter past out with a bruse slash on his eye ..jonathsn shegod

The son of kie a demond took him. And both of them showed them thir future past and present real shit

It felt kie cried for the devils and christ

Both desided tk give him something a saving mission for kie so kie laged on the crown and said devil

If u take me and give kie everything

So movies after movies started

Kie over whelmed with marijuana

So he deside to take a jorney

Back to the worlds of worlds

Kie first lost jonathan at home threw his movue

Then kie started a show

Then kie fir got cuase kie

First was on a mission of

To forget knowing not why

He began to expectations expirence

Ladies came gone

Kie got mixed up woth real and daydreaming still to this day daydreaming and night dreaming

Some dream came threw

Black calm dreams of tottal blackness

Rest came hs becomes immortal in his future --- back to the begining

Greedy krueger came and lie got taking

Unrissitable to the lives of all shegods

And freedy and lie became best kids friends to save kids and give the kids all the dreams they had but soon cops got in the way and thought they where stealing but the kids where still becoming strong and the freedy kids and lie kids became a well of pals on an on saving the Miss treated kids.

Then kie started to pay off with the mission if the gods and the guardians of the heavens door verizon and all wifi mofted with tv.ma netflix to certify and certify and fda approved most still pending lie netflix under lulygeo netflix and kie verizon ai come to get her for once to save the underworlds of kids

Kie kept going back to see gods in heaven

Then kie started to fade

The kie started

To make a ruetine with the family

That came later still in the movue

Kie still in school college hofstra .audio research .meds school. He died as a homie pig back at it again Ginnie pic for most meds ..wats that certifying most meds seeing wats new invega keep him dead in the movies like dead walking movie robot to the future robots kept him

Calos when kie got hit the gods took both of us robots did

Im not sure what happen when i got kicked and steemed

Mom came with her man thought

Kie thought it was dad mistake

Thoght it was mom too

Both of them feel out

Kie sent down to family cuase kie didnt finish

Cuasin came from padros and nito family

Drugs came kie was to small for biz

Gif small time gangster if candy sweet candy games for kids all hollween candy

Mom use to give him his favorite candy corn

1800

1900

Kie started to sees that to guy cry and run over by the ppl of god fa

ther

Kie still playing with his god father

Went to have better days with godparents

Went out to places with them unreal family love that he missed

STARTED TO LOVE HIS 5 YEAR OLD LIFE

kie started to eat alot of evetything godparent gave him to this day

Then ice truck cames

Jimmies ice truck kie loved that giving and resiving ice

That girl from that huse ppl where still living there

Kie ramiged to closets having fun and making a mess

Then the

Jerking cames kie started to jerk to the movies but loosing his sperm so

Hi desided to grow up get a girl

Kie guvkef gor his first time in weldon

But she was hairy so he didnt like it

So kie stated

About the lock

Kie mother went to work kie broks the doir again becuse he left the kie inside

Mother that took him left everymornin

He didnt havd a phone

Wat to do i shouldve waitef but ppl

Where still movies

Didnt have anyone but david and joshawa

The wroked constinlately

Kie stupind broke the door becuase for noresson hd just was scred of seeing the family leave so he told they left him without keys

I broke the door and found rooms closed his room was still there

Ghost home

No brother monfamily

None

He fell asleep in that house with ghost

Kie and john in the movie they where showing him kie died dereck died john and kie rapef and abused

Kie dont remember of that but images of waht papa saids no so i stoped

Then continualed with gods mission

Saved john

Saved dereck saved carlos irving and suhey coco and all of the family

Kie speacial boygirl

Kie kept smoking finding out this boy just smoked everything

From bleach to deroritns

Secrets he put on from that took showers with one smoke

Kie left desided to go to god

Kie got birnt in his room alive what a murder for kie

Then fifty camehim and fifty

Something eles

Kie shot him self with a gun fifty jumped and died

Kie alond with his shadows becames stronger smoked wih them but didnt know he was with them

Luz came in thats fity ppl

Kie here with ppl on top of him kie

Watching is movie unvale

Luz started to take care ofge came back luz was here is that lucy

Kie didnt know

Gorge started to love wachother inba family way

Themove second in the 2000

1980

Kie was piss broke so lucy got him in the syic kie stated to be a ginnie pig for the hospitals still is falles asleep after ever drug doss still the young doctor wanted to help

So wifi and all wifi bacame outside and inside kie desided to do contruction fir borroughs the kid got scared and said to everybody leave the water is coming

Kie started to ebsorb plans

Ameeb cam after sandy

Kie ysed it saved everybody everytume after weasther

Kidd alla doing it wring kie

Said stop u doing it wrong kie said the weatger we in ths black hole dont wroory about the weather

Aquamen put us uderwater on the world island saved us if was anazing she just saved us water all around in the clouds

I knew she wilk saved

Stop doing that kidd alla ameen

He stoped kie stop abd just called rhe supervilluns and superheros

Soon kie get swiped by this all the time

All his stuff that goes to the movie and music goes out all the time

Jumpers came.

Rapits gods that wore rapits saw his future

Kie desided that was a fare deal

Lucy kept getting swipped looking for kie wgwn they moved here

Kie started to go to programs and movie and music

So kie started to creat the phone with metro pcs

Swipper was still at work ppl shoyld play play with that for tv and for ppl but ppl gst convused it does take time u have pay with ur phone uf all have unlimmited verizon started to say kei work

So i wirk with all wifi-$

Money little

Kie cry more money kie cry kie got

Kie got bomb shehe loves that

A relive cane he serches fir that

That its hapoyndss us coming to a bigning

Thwn bigie and teo pack past in the 1900

Then kie broght back twopack and biggie

Gorge got a job

Shehe still gwts swipped for leaving

But kie savs shehe all over i call him that becise she hears the sound of shegods he goes beserk kie too

Boobs and tits got to get out

Momie backing looking like fools mmey lier u git beutiful and kie see u louching

Rich as fuck and dont give a fuck money yes

2000

Metrotron jailed kie

For hitting a cop then kie desided

Ti become a cop then the love stories became for àtill as a 4 year old he atill does good and legit and some dont know they get tricked by the other cops

Hehehehhehheheehehahahha

All Fun and games

Kie cried

2001

Kie moved over here

With crookes and. Murders and inzane in thek kie membrain

Ppl loved kie fight lived kie

Kie started with muaic kept getting swipped messed upcant issis came2002

Kie cryed

2002

Kie astarted with saint jons

Work came

2020

Movies

Came prat

Fifffty came

Fity got shit

Jokes cames

That mother fuckder always loves to asmoke awoke and a dick wide he ia

Fight comes to movies

2020

Follow them i want some issis coochie

Gangster mother fucker no call me mother fucker oooooo i want some kie dick swippped kie fucking shit chinesses food came a black humain soulder super soulder dilvered his no smokes and just food kie is alive he been getting his stuff and dillivering it to ocean bay i

2020

Astill in the study room where I made all my rhymes for all the rhymers for black people latinos and all artistitas..still making

#supernatural #cw shows #cw supernatural

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i-growl-growl-growl · 7 years

Note

Hi I loved your reactions about little EXO ageplay! Can you do one ,where EXO is crying (bc of smth) and their mommy comforts them? Can you make it super fluffy?😘

I’m not so good with fluff so I apologize if this sucks.

~Savie

———————————————————————————————————–

Lay: It had been a long day for Lay. He had been scolded by the SM staff for going backstage to talk with Luhan and they threatened to end his contract. After the meeting he was sent home without being allowed to inform the other EXO members. He was clearly upset but it all didn’t settle in until he officially stepped foot in your shared home, you were still at work so he had a few hours to be by himself which didn’t help the situation because all he could think about was blaming himself for doing something so stupid.

By the time your work had ended and you arrived home, Lay was still sitting on the couch crying. He was holding one of his tiny blankets up to him, covering his face with it as he sobbed uncontrollably. “what’s wrong baby? What happened?” he heard you asked with concern laced in your tone of voice. “mommy/daddy” he’d cry out childishly “work beoble be mean do me. Dey say yikyik did bad thing and send me home afder.” He’d stiffen as he talked about this and hold the blanket closer to his face. At first you’d wonder why he was talking about the situation while in his baby persona but then you’d remember that both of you had set rules or desires and one of yours had been for him to act like a baby when you got home unless you said to stop. “what did yikyik do?” he heard you ask. between sobs he’d respond “yikyik jusd wand do dalk with LuLu. YikYik didn’d mean do be bad boy.”

Yixing would hear you shhh-ing him in a calming, caring tone as he felt your arm wrap around him lovingly, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “Yikyik isn’t a bad boy” he’d hear “you just wanted to talk with your friend and there’s nothing wrong with that.” “Den why yikyik ged in drouble?” “because the bad work people are angry that lulu isn’t part of the company and doesn’t work with you anymore but you and lulu did nothing wrong so don’t worry about whatever it is that they said to you ok? You’ll be ok. Just be careful when you’re around lulu ok?” “oday!”

He’d let you pull the blanket away from his face and look into your eyes with his blurry vision. “I love you Yixing. You’re a good boy.”He’d have a faltering smile on his face as he continued to cry in your arms “I lobe you doo mommy/daddy.” He’d hug you and continue to cry while you calmed him until he fell asleep in your arms then you’d fall asleep on the couch, both still hugging each other.

Baekhyun: He had called you over to come and have a movie night with him but you could tell something was up as he hung up the phone so you hurried over to see what was wrong. “Babe?!” you’d call out when you walked through his front door without any reply “babe?!”

As you set down your stuff a weeping baekhyun came out of nowhere and nearly tackled you to the floor as he hugged you tightly and wept against our shoulder. “What’s wrong honey? What happened?” baekhyun was curled up against you in a fetal position so you knew his baby persona had kicked in because he only did that when he was a baby. “Mommy/daddy” he’d weep brokenly, he wouldn’t say anything more though as he just curled up against you even more and nearly squeezed you to death with his tight grip “babe!” you’d wheeze, “I can’t breathe.” He’d loosen his hold around you just slightly but would continue to be silent “baby boy, I need you to tell mommy/daddy what’s wrong or I can’t help you.

Awhile would pass before Baekhyun made any noise other than the uncontrollable sobs that were escaping from him. “Andi’s (anti) andi’s say yikyik should leave. Dey say yikyik don’d belong widh exo. dey say he will leabe. I don’t wand yikyik to leave! I wand yikyik do sday! I wand andi’s do be nice and sdop saying dhose mean things!”

“Oh baby, it’s ok” he’d hear you say as you hugged him closer to you despite your previous statement about not being able to breath. Yixing won’t leave” he’d hear you reassure him “Yixing love EXO more than anything. The anti’s are just saying that because they’re mean and jealous. Don’t pay attention to them, that’s all they want, attention. Don’t worry baby boy…” He’d wonder why you paused until he felt you begin to stand up slowly, still holding him tightly, while one hand rubbed through his hair lovingly, gently pulling him up to his feet to. He’d feel you begin to walk towards the living room and he’d shuffle his feet along until you reached the couch where you’d sit down first then gently pull him down until he was laying over your lap then you’d put a soft blanket over him while continuing to rub your finger through his hair with one hand while caressing his covered arm with the other before speaking again “don’t worry baby boy, everything will be ok. Yixing is going to stay with exo. Don’t worry about the rumors, that’s all that they are, rumors. ok?” “Oday!”

Once baekhyun had calmed down you’d both be tired but still awake. One thing that helped calm him was allowing him to caress your chin and jaw line as he still laid on your lap. “Do you feel better sweetheart?” “yes mommy/daddy, baby Baekie fell much bedder now.”

Chen: Chen had been stressed over many things: his members were stressed which was causing him to stress, there were a plethora of rumors about EXO going around that were bothering him, anti’s were becoming harder and harder to ignore, and- despite everything- he was worried that he wasn’t doing good enough during promotions for Power.

“babe, please tell me what’s going on” he heard you plead once more as he barely touched his food for the third night in a row. Chen just remained silent, staring off into space until you came around to shake him out of his tranced state “Baby! What’s going on?” Chen would stare at you blankly until his face suddenly contorted into one of pure sadness and he began to cry as he held out his hands to be hugged by you. He’d hear you ask him again what was wrong but his sobs would just grow louder “Chennie… eberything is going wrong! EXO is sad and sdwessed, andi’s being more mean, rumors go around aboud exo and me and Chennie nod doing good ad work” he’d cry out as his chest heaved against yours due to the intensity of his sobs. “what do you mean you’re not doing good at work?” he hears you ask as you hug him back, rubbing his back to sooth him. “ChenChen nod sing good or dance good because of sdwess.”

he’d feel you rubbing his back more intensely as you hushed him. “No no baby!” you’d said “you’re doing such a great job. Everyone can only imagine what you have to go through and they admire you so much! You’re all doing so well. There’s nothing much that you can do about the anti’s other than to tell them off or ignore them and you can always ask the others what’s bothering them, even if they only get to talk about it, it’s still a good way to relieve some of the stress and you can just issue statements that put down the rumors that are going around. It’s ok, you can get through this” you comfort him.

His sobs begin to dwindle so you let go and walk back toward your chair but as you sit down he comes up behind you and hugs you “mommy/daddy, you’ll always lobe me will you?” he sniffles “of course I will” he hears you confirm “you’re my baby, I will always love you.” “I lobe you momy/daddy, I really lobe you!” he says as he hugs you tighter.

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#exo reaction #exo reactions #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo imagine #exo imagines

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tiedby-fate-blog · 7 years

Text

“ So, you’re Sacilia’s friend Terrel? She’s been saying wonderful things about you. “

“ Sacilia tells us that you’re really good with Pokemon? She said you could calm down any Pokemon, no matter how aggravated they were! “

“ Sacilia says you like soup, so I made you some coconut curry soup. You better say it’s the best you’ve eaten or you’re gonna need a silver spoon. “

“ Uh-huh... Does she now...? “ This could all have been a very normal and friendly conversation. The family and newly added family were all sitting at the supper table after a long day and having a cheery conversation. This was Terrel’s first time meeting the Hondas himself. But as much as he wanted to at least try to have a pleasant evening, there was one bothersome detail here.

“ ... Pardon me. But is that... an accent? “

“ Is what an accent? “ Madoka clarified, though he had a pretty sneaky suspicion as to what Terrel was referring to.

“ The, uh... Way you’re saying her name. You’re saying ‘Sah-silly-ah,’ but it’s Sa-see-lee-ah. “ Terrel started slowly. The family broke out into a round of warm laughter (minus Momi, she just scowled and growled.)

“ That’s how she introduced herself, so we’ve just been going along with it. I haven’t heard it pronounced that way before myself, but I like unique names. “ Laughed the family’s mother, Nadeshiko. “ Have we been saying it wrong? “

“ I-Is it not pronounced like that, RooRoo? “ ‘RooRoo’ almost slammed his head to the table. Here they were, trying to cover up her real identity with a safe life... and the cute little idiot couldn’t even pronounce her own fake name.

“ Oh Arceus... Keeping you safe is going to be harder than I expected. “

“ Huh? RooRoooooo, what do you mean? Am I saying it wrong? “

“ Oh, give it up. It’s obvious that you two are just lying and cheating your way into a free meal and room. You don’t have to try so hard if you’re gonna suck at it-- “

Kaname, the eldest sister, elbowed Momi in the side. Smiling pleasantly, she covered in a kind voice;

“ We’ll call you whatever you two want. I know Silly said it was Terrel, but it sounds like RooRoo is your preferred name? “

“ Ugh. “ Terrel didn’t want to argue and get them kicked out. “ Call me what you want. “

“ T-Terrel... ehehe.... S-Sorry... Did I um.. mess up already? “

“ No... You’re fine. “ Terrel groaned. It was obvious that the family had already caught on to them lying. Then again, they were pretty suspicious. A pair of kids wash up on the beach with a strange Pokemon, a massive leg injury, and insisting that they not go to the hospital? Things had been going wrong before Satou failed to manage a secret identity. At least it sounded like she had been consistent in her mispronunciation, but...

“ You’re not going to turn us in, are you? “

“ What? No way. We’re not a bunch of scum. We’re a family. “ Momi shrugged, “ Geez, give it a rest with that suspicious act of yours. And eat some soup. You kids have enough on your plate to eat without adding paranoia to it. “

“ What Momi means is that you have nothing to worry about here. We won’t ask any questions. “

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the-voice-of-hell · 3 years

Text

Rent is Theft, part 17

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here. Note: My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not. If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

***

I held her hand on the way out. Despite every outer wall of the place being mostly glass, it was much darker inside than out. The sun hurt our eyes and we put on cheap sunglasses. The city was bright and cold, like it often was in the morning. It looked generally clean, but a few scraps torn paper and other trash twirled in the wind like flakes in a fishbowl.

“Breakfast sucked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“We could get something to eat before we get on that bus. This place over here has mondo cinnamon rolls with this thick, rich frosting. Probably enough food for a week if you pace yourself, heh.” I gestured to a chichi breakfast place that catered to fancy business people. The gilt and tinted glass face made the patrons look like they were wading through dark beer.

“No, they’ll tell us to leave.”

I considered protesting. I’d been there several times before. But in my reflection, I saw that poverty and misfortune had taken a toll on my presentation. Maybe we would catch grief. I turned away and we kept walking. “There’s a Subway tucked into the grubby basement level of a less fancy building a block over. One time I ordered a BLT there but didn’t bother to specify the toppings, and the lady gave me a piece of bread with nothing but bacon on it. C’mon.”

“Heyheyhey yeah, wassup girls?” A familiar raspy voice assaulted us from an alley. We both turned to face him, sure we were about to get physically assaulted as well. It was Walter, still tugging up his dingy trunks from a bit of public urination.

But the strangest thing was his expression - none of the drama of the incident that sent everybody to the police station, just the pervy simmering he’d give to any sexy stranger. “Just wanted to say, like, dyamn. Just checkin’ your form. Ya both priddy, ya know? I wouldn’ mind a sex sandwich. Not that I’m gonna do nothin’ cuz I’m a gennleman an’ shit. Unless you wanted to, cuz like...”

As thick as his skull was, he noticed we were both paralyzed in shock, but he guessed the wrong reason. “HEY! I said I’m a gentleman, bitches! Fuck you anyway. Bitches.” He turned away and started tromping down the alley.

Momi went after him. I shook in horror, mind reeling. Was she going back to him and leaving me? Why would I have thought that for even a second? Was she going to confront him and get herself killed? I was shaking like a toy on a string, unable to step forward, to speak.

“Walter! Walter!” I’d never heard her voice that loud. It was unfamiliar, high but resonant.

He turned around with eyes half-lidded in an expression of sleazy hope, etched sloppy into a potato-like face. “I don’t know how you know me but--”

She stopped four feet from him, rooted to the concrete, fists at her sides. “Why don’t you know me? I was the only one, Walter! I was your Momi.”

“My mommy?” He looked deeply confused and a little scared.

I got back enough control to take shambolic halting steps down the alley, felt like I was too far away. I had already figured out this was another effect of our weird state of trespass, even if I didn’t know what to make of it. But I was surprised she was bothered. It seemed very convenient for this monster to forget her. Just take it and leave, baby.

She did not. “Lei. Mo. Mi. You don’t own me, you don’t treat me like that and jus’ forget me! Fuck you, Walter!”

“‘Ey hol’ up, bitch!”

She answered with fists. I was shook again, paralyzed as she beat the creep. Would he kill her? But she had a slight advantage of reach and height. He was punching back but couldn’t get his full power behind it, couldn’t connect with her face.

He’d always seemed indestructible to me, like he was made out of solid leather. Some kind of substance with no internal organs to disrupt, no fragile calcium-based bones to break. But he reeled for a moment, stunned - evidence of a nervous system, at least. She took advantage of the moment to throw a big punch that knocked him down. Concrete did the rest of the job as his head bounced, and he was unconscious. She started kicking him.

“Leimomi! Stop!” I scooted my feet closer, careful not to get in range of those fists and feet, in case her rage was blind. “We gotta get out of here before you get arrested!”

“AUGH!” She kicked him hard one last time then stepped away, gripped a chain link fence and seethed. “Ooh I’m so mad. I’m so mad!”

“It’s cool baby. You got him! That’s great. We gotta--”

She wheeled to face me, face his body. “We gotta hide the evidence.” She reached down and hauled his dead weight off the ground, very awkwardly.

“No, if we just get out of here... What are you doing?”

Momi leaned Walter against a trash compactor, pinning him there with one arm while she opened the door of it with the other. “Get rid of the evidence!”

“Baby, no. He’ll get compacted! Squished up. That’s no way to die.”

She looked at me sadly, still holding the dog man against the hard metal with no visible effort. “I just want to hide him.”

I looked to the ends of the alley frantically. Both were wide open to the street, with cars driving by every few seconds. No one walking by at just that moment. “Fine, like, use the dumpster. The dumpster!”

She nodded in agreement and smiled as she dragged him to the dumpster. I was glad this alley still had one. The city had cut a deal with some weird shady contractor to do an “eco-friendly” garbage service that involved leaving proprietary bags straight on the ground for pick up, and did away with most dumpsters. But the bags were getting torn open by rats, so the dumpsters would surely return. They just hadn’t cut the deals for that yet, leaving most alleys a grimy mess.

I held up the wobbly grey plastic lid and she hoisted her ex-boyfriend up and in. One of his feet kicked her in the side of the face as he flipped inside. I was alarmed for her, but quickly distracted by the loud sound of him hitting the bottom. The thing was nearly empty, giving Walter’s body a five foot drop onto hard steel. Fucker could have broken his neck just then.

I moved to take her in my arms, pull her away, but was arrested by the eyes of a pedestrian down the way. The man glanced at us, then kept looking. But he didn’t stop walking until he was out of sight. Maybe he didn’t see the legs go into the dumpster. I imagined he’d have a more extreme reaction. But I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I grabbed Momi’s hand and tugged her away from the scene of the crime.

Normally when I walked hand in hand with Leimomi our fingers would interlace. On the way home, I was just holding her wrist or the outside of her fist. She was too tense, too high on the violence of our misadventure. We got up to her apartment and I walked her inside. She started pacing the wall like a caged cougar. I went into the kitchenette, wringing my hands, stopped at the counter to watch her go.

“Baby, do you need to work this out on like, a punching bag?”

“God! I don’t know. Maybe. God!” She kept stomping.

“Hey, you could try the ottoman there. I don’t think anyone is living downstairs still, so...”

“OK… AUGH!” She attacked the furniture like a crazed white boy, falling to her knees and beating on it with both fists.

I just stood there, worrying, sweating. At last she was done, and slumped forward over the cushion. “Hey honey, you need some water? I could use some water.”

“Mmhm.”

She didn’t move until I brought over a red cup of water, at which she just sat up, still on the floor, one arm resting on the ottoman as she accepted. I drank a cup of my own and sat on a chair close by.

“When you’re ready, you should take a shower. And we can find out how bad you got beat up.”

“I didn’t get beat up! I beat his ass! I beat Walter’s ass!” She didn’t look mad at me, but she was suddenly getting ramped up again so I tried to sound soothing, take her down a notch.

“I just mean to see, like, if there are any cuts or broken bones. Because he did hit you a few times.”

She crumpled up her mouth but said nothing this time, and finished her water.

“Come on, Rocky. Let’s hit the showers, OK?” I walked her to the bathroom and she took off everything except her bra and panties for me. I turned on all the lights, took a wet rag, and started prodding the livid patches on her body. “Does this hurt? How about here?”

“Just a little. It’s not that bad.”

“It’s gonna get dark before it gets better. Maybe all of them. You’re gonna be a walking bruise.”

She stepped back, folding her arms over her breasts. “Oh no.”

“Don’t be shy, baby. It’s no big deal, as long as you're OK.” I hugged her but she didn’t unfold her arms. “You’re adorable. Hey, I’ll let you be alone so you can take a shower, and whatever. We’ll have fun, take it easy today, huh?”

“I won’t be too ugly?”

“Of course not. It just looks sad when somebody is hurt, it doesn’t look ugly.”

She finally unfolded her arms. “OK,” she ran a finger on my forehead, “but you need a shower too.”

“Do I?” I took my shirt off, trying to do it in one slick move, but it snagged on my head wrap. “These scarves don’t help. Ugh.”

She giggled and reached around, clumsily undoing my bra. I took hers off more easily. We were all sweaty and gross, but I was feeling almost high. We kicked off the last of our clothes and stepped into the shower.

***

I gathered the ingredients for more wizard shit, which took a few days. Knobby and Olivia were still nowhere to be found and another werewolf sighting happened. Last time I solved the allergy problem with a potion, it was pure improvisation. This time I had a rulebook, but felt like there should be at least some leeway for doing it my way. I also wondered if I should be heartbroken and drunk like the first time, to make sure it worked. I settled on drunk, drinking a few full wine bottles as I prepared my ritual components and potion.

I saved the potion for last because it was complicated. After preparing my little pots of olive oil, making one fancy wand with red tape and three kinds of wood,, and drinking a full bottle of wine, I considered that starting with the most complicated part would have been a better idea.

You know when you’re wasted and you try to just focus really strongly on what you’re doing, like if you do it slow enough you are somehow going to make that line straight? That’s how I was working. I got the water up to a boil while putting each ingredient into a shot glass or small cup, intending to throw them all in at the end, hoping not to create something so toxic I dropped dead on the spot.

The sulphur I had gotten in ointment form and the camphor as Vap-O-Rub from a drugstore, as well as an ammonia-based cleaner. The “castoreum” - some kind of beaver ass gland exudate - was apparently a “natural ingredient” used in fake vanilla, so I got a bottle of that. The opium was the most expensive ingredient by far - it would have been a bit shy of five thousand bucks - so I figured I could get away with a smaller amount if I used heroin. I scored a hundred dollars worth with Deandre’s help which according to my math was about right. I wasn’t about to boil a live animal but I got some dehydrated snakes and frogs from a witch store, along with some mandrake root. To make up for the fact the snake wasn’t alive, I decided to add some of my blood to the mix. I stole the asafoetida, some mushrooms, and St. John’s wort from an expensive grocery store and I was good to go.

The water reached a boil and I drank deep from the wine one more time. Part of me was convinced the only way I could do magic was by shutting off my higher brain functions. I gripped the edge of the stove with one hand for balance and started dropping my ingredients in the pot.

Vanilla camphor ammonia vinegar nightmare vapor hit me this way and that. My lungs started to burn so I pulled a scarf down from my head to cover my mouth and nose. I made sure I was nowhere near the stove and counter in case I drunkenly knocked something over, but I had forgotten why the scarf was on my head in the first place. Reverse Courtney.

“HOOOOooo baby! Courtney girl, I can’t believe you thought you could get by without me. Here you are, trying to stay where you don’t belong, I mean, do you even have a conscience? Guess what? It’s me. You can’t shut me up forever. I swear, even if all I can do is hum the words through a gag, you’re gonna hear me. You got that bitch?”

“Damn, that was a mouthful. Listen, I’m only toleratin’ you because I need this… gag. I’m borrowin’ it--”

“HEY! You forgot your blood. Haha. Try getting that in the pot in your current state.”

“Hey yerself!” I was slurred from the scarf as much as from the vino. “How come you’re not drunk if I’m drunk?” I tried to remember which drawer had my silverware in it.

“I am drunk. I’m just very loquacious. It’s the last one to the right, genius.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t cut your hand off don’t cut your hand off don’t cut your hand off EEEEEEE I can’t look!”

“Guh. Fuck off.” I held my hand over the boiling pot, put a paring knife to the skin of my palm.

“Steady now-AAAAAA!”

She startled me and the knife slipped. Fortunately it was pretty dull and I only had a little cut, but it fell out of my hand into the boiling pot. I reflexively reached in to grab it.

If someone in a neighboring building was Hitchcock peeping on my unit, they would see a mad woman running back and forth, completely amok. By the time I had Reverse Courtney gagged, my hand loosely wrapped in another scarf, and pulled the potion off the stove, the stuff had reduced to a fairly thick pudding. The smell had somehow averaged out to something like vanilla mint plastic. I just put the pot straight in the refrigerator, nearly spilling it twice.

I finished the second bottle and went to bed, whimpering myself to sleep.

***

The next day I woke up to a loud manly knock at the door. I almost screamed at the pain from my burns as I jolted out of bed to answer, but composed myself enough to receive him. Grime.

“What the hell do you need Graeme? Sorry if I’m curt but I’m in some pain.”

“Ah, it’s probably nothing but if you go in or out, be aware the pest control company is supposed to be coming and going today. Could be trouble if we blunder into somebody at the wrong moment.”

“Mm, yeah, thanks man.”

He ran a red hand to the back of his neck nervously. “How are you? Just hung over, or..?”

“It’s medical too. Don’t bother yourself. Just leave alone, if you don’t mind.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, Court. Take care.”

He left me to tend my wounds.

I cleaned myself up very carefully. The burns were only first degree, as horrible as they felt, and could be covered by keeping my right hand in a pocket or otherwise out of sight. I happened to have some reasonable ointments for protecting and soothing the skin, so it didn’t take long to get myself back in order. But as I went to check on the fruit of my magical deeds, the phone rang.

Unfamiliar number. “Hello?”

“Um, is there a Courtney Marquez there?”

“This is she. What do you need?”

“Yes, well, you applied for the tech position at our firm, Selman Design Group, and we liked your qualifications. We were wondering if you could interview today?”

I almost dropped the phone, hustled to the bathroom mirror, and tried to suss out the damage. Could I be made presentable?

“Hello? Are you there?”

“Yes. How soon?”

“Preferably no later than one thirty PM?”

“I can do one thirty, thank you.” No you can’t.

“Sure. Putting you down for one thirty. Thank you, Courtney.”

“I look forward to it.”

I did not look forward to it.

Shortly there was another knock at my door. Leimomi. She was dressed in her black kimono-ish robe with her hair freshly-rebundled in tiers of scarves, and had done her makeup.

“Momi, hon, how’s it going?” I opened the door wide but didn’t step out of the way.

“Mm,” she leaned in and pulled me close, “I was thinkin’ maybe you and me,” she kissed me, “could do some stuff?”

The worst timing in the world. I wanted her like this - ready to go, not feeling bad about herself. Was that a bruise from where Walter accidentally kicked her?

I kissed her back and rubbed her up and down for a moment. Grr. “Baby I wish I could so much, but I got too much going on.” She was about to open her mouth to say something and I cut her off again. “Tonight too, it suuucks. I’m gonna try to get the exorcism going, if we can catch Knobby.”

She stepped back and looked down miserably. “What if we still can’t find him?”

“Right. If we can’t find Knobby by… ten PM, let’s get together and go fucking nuts.” I grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “I love you so much, Momi. I will see you later, OK?”

“Yeah.”

True to Grime’s word, there were exterminator trucks in the alley, but I didn’t see any men around. I chose to hustle past that, and set out for the job interview. I didn’t have to worry about Walter recognizing me on a bus so the trip was less tense than usual.

I could have a job. We could have an out. This could work.

I wished I didn’t still need to wrap my head so tightly. Unlike Leimomi, I wasn’t trying to hide every hair, and could let a crown out to accentuate my femininity. But the scarf had to be tight over the back, so it looked goofy. I’m no rockabilly or riveting Rosie.

The building was one of those hundred year old three to six story brick jobs (four stories in this one) that dominated the art district. Many had wholly renovated interiors and this was no exception. I doubted anything remained of the original except the outermost walls and support structures. When buzzed in, I found an interior of frosted glass walls and richly stained yellow wood floors, flawlessly waxed and shining. The lights were blown glass UFOs on long thin poles emitting a perfectly white light. As you passed directly beneath them you could see they achieved that with inner rings of purple and green light that somehow added up to a wholly neutral bleach glow.

I couldn’t help but look up. The glass walls offered nothing but a twisting gleaming corridor to weave through, the UFOs the only real feature to look at. I must’ve looked like a babe in the woods. One of the glass doors opened inward and a tiny woman walked out, dark brown hair in a middle part and pale skin, dressed in black, like baby Christina Ricci aged into Edith Head. She gave me the sleepy nod of a clinically depressed person who can’t smile for politesse and walked away without a word.

It arrested me. Where was I going? If I kept following that white rabbit, I’d end up in a breakroom or bathroom where I didn’t belong. Like the apartment building where I don’t belong... What weirdness would befall me in there?

***

Read next chapter here.

#Rent is Theft #part 17 #nanowrimo july 2021

0 notes

the-voice-of-hell · 6 years

Text

Rent is Theft, part 5

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here.

Note: My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not. If you have any advice or feedback about that or anything else, hit me up.

***

R1206- Marcie Tanner and Richie Cox.

northwest corner, 1 bdr.

The key to trespassing is always, always move with the confidence of a person that belongs. You almost can’t have too much swagger, but obviously subtlety is better than hamming it up. Grime moved himself in like a pro. He also helped us hook up modems to where we could get illegal internet service. His white boy confidence helped him exchange words with the neighbors from floors up, get to know them a bit better. I thought to myself that could be useful, but wasn’t at all curious to find anything out yet.

The worst was being around Grime after we boned. Even the best of men feel entitled to women’s bodies in a way they hardly notice. He felt like he could flirt with me now, like that would be the way we interact all the time. I did my best to not have him and Momi in the room at the same time, but it wasn’t always avoidable. Fortunately, he still had to haul his ass to work.

And when he went to work, Momi and I went to town, scrounging for food, clothing, toiletries, whatever we could get from the scant social services and cash available to us. The second day of Grime was a nice one, because we had his two hundred dollars burning a hole in our collective pockets.

We decided to go to the Value Village in North Seattle, because if we took the right buses, we’d be unlikely to run into Walter along the way. We weren’t out of the woods while we were still downtown, so we were incognito. Big sunglasses, big coats. I had gotten a new one for her, but it was an ill-fitting lightly stained trenchcoat, and I was hoping to do better.

We stood at the first bus stop of our journey, out in bright sun, looking up and down the street for the man’s shambolic gait. Sometimes while rubbernecking I’d find myself blinded by the back of Momi’s head and all that big black hair, and I had to smile.

We had her in a gauzy red head scarf, but it couldn’t restrain the beast. Her hair puffed relentlessly against its translucent confines. I kinda wanted to kiss her on the side of the head. Aside from the transgression of the act, it seemed likely to cause a hairsplosion. My lips were in check.

The streets were mercifully light on traffic - pedestrian or otherwise - so our vigilance wasn’t horribly stressful. It was getting hot in the sun though, and I hoped the bus had air conditioning, but wasn’t counting on it. The moment of truth came.

The bus lurched down the street and we braced ourselves. The routine was that I get on the bus first and look across the chairs for Walter, while Momi blocked the door from shutting, with one foot on the bottom step. If it was clear, I went down the aisle and she boarded. This time, it was clear.

There was nobody on the bus except one weathered-looking Native American woman, sitting near the back on the left. I staked out a seat for us nearer the front on the right. There was a sense of relief in this. As the bus got out of downtown, it was extremely unlikely he’d board it, to Momi’s thinking. He went to other neighborhoods, and even if he was looking for her farther afield, he’d be unlikely to choose the exact right neighborhood in the sprawling metropolis.

I stood quickly to usher her into the window seat, then slouched in beside her. We held hands then, mutually, easily. This life was an adventure with a very crappy monster in the hills (an ogre?), and it forged a bond. Her palm was sweaty but I didn’t care.

“Hey, Momi,” I said.

“Mm?” She was distracted by the street view, the slight possibility of an ogre sighting.

I wanted to distract her from that. Hell, she’d be less likely recognized if she wasn’t looking out the window. I said, “So, uh… What do you like to eat?”

“I eat too much.” She was still looking out.

“I call bullshit, kiddo. I’ve been with you every time you’ve eaten for the last week. Anyhow, what’s fun to eat? You like rich stuff like hamburgers, or sweet stuff like desserts?”

“Mm, dessert.”

It was a blow off, but I chose to ignore that. “Good, good. What’s a nice dessert? Pie? Ice cream? Cake? Candy?” I worked my hand around to where I could bounce hers on her thigh. Annoying, but hopefully distracting.

“Ugh.” She wrestled my hand into a less silly position and squeezed, locking me there. “What are you talking about?” She finally glanced at me, then back to the road.

“Dessert. What’s a nice dessert?”

“Coconut creme pie.”

“That’s not bad. You want one today?”

“Uh, no, it’s stupid. We should just get me the clothing.”

“Hey, we have enough. Don’t worry so much. We’re cool criminals. If we need something bad enough, we can steal it.”

She finally looked at me without looking away, her cute face fuming away. “Don’t say that. The more crimes you do, the more you get arrested. And I don’t need dessert, obviously.”

I pouted. “Not even once? Just today, while we’re rich?”

She headbutted me on the shoulder. “No!”

I blew an exaggerated sigh. “Pssh, I guess, I can take no for an answer. But if you wanna be little miss healthy pants, at the least I’m gonna buy you a hot turkey sandwich.”

Momi glared. “If you gotta.”

“With melty cheese.”

“Ugh.”

“And fire-roasted tomatoes.”

She headbutted me again, still not letting go of my hand. The hairsplosion happened.

“Ow, that really hurts!” It really hurt.

She looked proud of herself, through narrowed eyes and a jungle of big dark hair. “Good.”

“Hey, let me do something with that.” I let go of her hand and touched the Hawaiian girl’s puffy tresses, bouncing them with upturned palms. “It’s gone all crazy.”

“Yeah, OK. Just get the scarf on again, OK?”

She turned toward the window and I started gathering in the soft pleasant mess, the scarf across one of my palms as I worked. A sob startled me and I whipped my head about, noticing the native woman was having some kind of emotional crisis. “Jesus” escaped my lips, thankfully quiet.

“What was that?,” Momi asked.

“Nothing, sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just...” I spoke quietly at the side of her head, “The woman back there, she’s crying. Just startled me is all.”

Momi turned to face me, ruining my progress. “Courtney, you have to help her.”

“What? No. No, why? Maybe she just wants to be left alone. I wouldn’t want anyone talking to me if I was crying.”

Her look was so judgmental. “Why wouldn’t you? You can’t just help one person and don’t help somebody else. It isn’t fair.”

I gave her a shady look. Come on, young lady. “I don’t think that’s how fair works. If I help someone, then someone is supposed to help me. If I help two people, then two people are supposed to help me, or one person can help me twice. I’m not choosy.”

She shook her head. “No, see, I don’t know, maybe it isn’t fair for you, but, like, between me and her it isn’t fair. If I’m helped somebody else should be helped. Should I help her?”

She looked down and away, so serious. I thought it was adorable, but I could tell she wanted this to happen and was too shy to do it herself. It was time to use my big-ass big head again.

“No, I’ll do it.”

The way she looked at me made it worthwhile, but I still wasn’t looking forward to stepping into another stranger’s misery. I tried to bask in that feeling as long as possible - barely a second and the sweet expression was cross-fading into “why aren’t you moving yet?” I got up while the bus was still in motion, carefully moving to the back.

The woman looked up at me in a social panic, face crumpling in the confusion of emotions. I had guessed right - she wasn’t crying for help. I instinctively tried to play down the heavy feelings with a hand gesture, palm down, like I was patting something away. Casual face, so casual.

“Hey, how far are you riding?”

“Whu-- Northgate. Wh-?” Still confused. That could work to my advantage.

“I don’t want to pry, but I also want to take the edge off your troubles.” I sat down sideways on the seat in front of hers, and looked as easy-going as possible. Oh yeah, take off your sunglasses. One, it helped me communicate with the eyes. Two, another chance to look cool.

She sniffed. “I don’t need that. I don’t.”

“No one cries when all their needs are met. You might be surprised what I have to offer, if you’ll accept it. You need food? Somebody giving you trouble?”

“I… that’s weird to say to a stranger. What… are you about?”

“I don’t need personal details to help, necessarily. Just say whatever you feel comfortable saying, OK? What do you have to lose, except some crying time between here and the transit center?” I smiled. So confident.

She looked around for an escape as she talked. “There’s nothing any-- You don’t need to-- It’s just the usual kind of shit. They pulled my disability again, this time I just can’t… I’m gonna be out on my ass.”

I tried to restrain my excitement. A sheisty solution to homelessness was pretty much the only thing I had to offer anyone. I nodded as I listened. “Out on your ass, indeed. Go on.”

She finally locked eyes with me. “Stop messing with me.”

“I’m for real. Momi over there, she’s with me on this deal, and we’re for real.”

“Momi? I heard someone was asking around for a Momi.”

“Horrible guy? He’ll never get her, because we’re cool criminals. Don’t worry about her, tell me about you. Have you never been homeless before? Does it have you feeling like it’s the end of the world? Or is it something else about the situation?”

“...Yeah, my last boy, Richie. My other boys are all gone, somewhere, but he’s still with me. Or his dad Frank. I mean, I don’t know why I’m crying, Richie can live with his dad, doesn’t have to be--.”

“Is Frank a jerk?”

“He hates Frank.”

I nodded sagely. “I have a place you could live - both of you - where you’d only have to pay as much as you can, even if that’s nothing. You might not like it, though.”

“What’s the catch?”

“It’s illegal. You could get arrested, if something goes wrong.”

She didn’t seemed surprised, and was actually considering it.

While she was quiet, I filled in more explanation. “I got all the keys to a floor in one of those new empty apartments downtown. They’re never renting those units in this economy. We could be there for months, even years before anyone moves in and blows the deal. All we have to do is keep our heads low, act like we belong there whenever someone sees us.”

She took what I was saying wrong. “You don’t have to justify yourself, girl. I’ll do it. I can kick in a hundred dollars when this new round of bullshit settles down.”

“Ah, well. That was easy.” I couldn’t help smiling. “Where are you going today?”

“The disability people got this office in a college for some reason? Three buses. All day shit.”

“I’m sorry. Do you have a phone?”

“No. Where’s a good place and time to meet?”

“There’s a restaurant a block away. Just a Subway, so not likely to bounce anyone. Say when.”

“I could get anywhere down there by like, ten o’clock tonight.”

“It’s a date. What’s your name?”

“Marcie Tanner.”

“Courtney Marquez.” I reached out to shake her hand. She accepted. “To criminal trespass.”

“To criminal trespass.” She smiled, grey yellow and gold. Her kind, worn eyes were tinted grey beneath large transition glasses.

I left her with another smile and returned to Momi.

“How did it go? Is she OK?” Momi couldn’t make herself look back.

“I’ll be handing out more keys.”

She put her hands over her face and made a funny high noise. “Oh god, I hope we don’t get arrested. I’ll feel terrible.”

I slid into the seat and put a leg up on the one in front. “If it comes to that, blame it on me.”

***

Momi and I had a good time finding her new clothes. It looked a lot less hobo, which would be important to keeping up this con. I got her to eat a small slice of coconut cake with half of a grocery store turkey melt.

We got home pretty late, moving quick through the streets with our heads on swivels. In distraction at the Walter watchout, I almost walked us in front of a garbage truck. At the apartments, Momi refused to go see Marcie at the Subway - too shy - so I left her behind and got the keys from my place. I didn’t have a lot of time until ten, but it was at least enough to change into a track suit and windbreaker. It was similar to the clothes I was wearing the first time I met Walter, but I was starting to doubt I’d see him, and it was the most comfortable thing I had aside from pajamas and bathrobes.

Grime stopped me in the hall.

“Courtney, would it be presumptuous of me to invite some guys to move in?”

A machine in my mind ground to a halt, then pistons started to rise, ever so slowly.

“Well… Think about it, really hard. Do you trust them to not mess up, even by accident?”

He answered too quickly. “Sure. It’s this janitor at work. See, the rent on his place went--”

“I have to go meet someone. I’ll come by your apartment tonight, OK?”

I didn’t like his smile, “Sure thing, baby,” but I couldn’t stop the reflex to smile back. I walked.

The city was dark shades of grey green and blue, with occasional stripes of pinkish and amber from the few remaining old-fashioned light sources. The transition to energy efficient lighting had left the world at night a more chilly-looking place.

The Subway sandwich joint I was headed to still had high-powered yellow-white ceiling lights, which combined with the tall wide windows made the place gleam like a well-lit aquarium in a dark room, like that painting with the people at the diner. I thought, a passing creep could see me in there quite well, even from a bus seat. Better keep my back to the world.

She was in there, a short brown-skinned lady with oversized worn-out denim jacket. Marcie’s glasses reflected the lights, her hair lay flat and out of sight in a ponytail, her skin covered in lines and spots of age. I was certainly closer to her age than Momi’s, and wondered how long it would be before I looked like that. It didn’t bother me too much.

I came through the door, and noticing that she hadn’t purchased anything, I went to the counter to pick something up. I didn’t want us to be bothered by an employee with too little to do. I settled on three M&M cookies and two cokes - one diet and one regular.

I settled down at her table, very close because of the angle I needed to keep my back to the windows. She scooted her chair to a more comfortable distance. I said, “This is diet and this is regular.”

She took the regular. “Wow, this is it, huh? How does this work?”

I leaned back and took a bite of a cookie. “We go back to the building, you pick a place, and I give you a key. It’ll come with a little dongle thing to beep your way in the doors. I’ll have to show you around because if you get lost, it’ll be suspicious. And when you’re in there, doing your best to look well-off is a good idea. Just, make sure as soon as you can that you have at least a little bit of clothing with no holes or stains, something that can look bougie at a glance.”

“That’s tough.” She looked at the cookies without a move and sipped her drink.

“A long coat might help. Get a pretty good-looking one, some costume jewelry, and throw that stuff in a plastic bag when you’re out doing stuff, so they don’t get messed up. I bet a hat would help you look more like a fancy lady.”

“What does that look like? More white?” She smiled sideways.

“Maybe, heh. But no, I’m thinking, like, don’t church ladies usually have hats? Go for a church lady thing, might help distract people from noticing, like, class clues.”

“Huh.” She took another sip and contemplated. “I must be getting pretty old to have to do that kind of disguise.”

“Aww, don’t think anything of it. I’ll be there in a hot minute.” I sipped the diet coke. Worse than I remembered. I’d need more of that cookie. “So maybe we should know each other better. What do you think?”

“Are you trying to..?”

“What? No. Not that you aren’t-- nevermind. I just mean, so it feels less weird to be in on this conspiracy together. What do you think?”

She folded her hands on the table. “Conspiracy? Could they charge us with that too? Maybe the less we know about each other, the better - like if we get interrogated by the pigs.”

At the mention of pigs, my lip curled in a snicker. I straightened it out. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Anyhow, I’m Courtney, you can probably tell I didn’t always have that name, I’d rather not talk about that. I used to be a coder over there, got fired, decided I didn’t want to give up my home - such as it is. That’s how this all started. Momi is like you - just someone who was in a jam, I got her an apartment up there. Don’t let anyone know where she is, OK?”

She listened with little nods.

“So… Is there anything else you want to know about us? About me?”

“I guess… She’s hawaiian, are you?”

“Pinay. My family was pretty well off, so sometimes it could feel like I was honorary white. But men always end up reminding me, somehow. Nevermind that. What’s your boy like?”

“Richie is the only one. Clark died and the other two, I don’t even know where they are,” she looked at her hands to avoid me on those sad notes, “But Richie is the real thing. He’s a very good boy. Healthy too. He used to be so small and skinny. Well, he’s still skinny, but he got so tall, and he plays basketball.”

“I love it. Do you think he’ll move in too?”

“Oh, I’d hate to… get him arrested but...”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know, he’s a big boy now. He can make his own decisions. I will tell him about it… You know, he’ll probably say yes.”

“Why do you think that? Is it just because the alternative is Frank?”

“No, he’s an anarchist. With the black bandanas and protest stuff. Freakin’ kids.”

“Aw, I’m sure he’s swell. There’s a guy on our floor already who’s a socialist.”

“There’s other people?” She looked a bit startled.

“Sorry I forgot to tell you about him. He still has his job coding, where I used to work. He’s cool though, he thinks rent sucks, wants to make this work.”

“Huh...” She considered the ramifications. “How many of us will there be? Will it make us more likely to get caught?”

I couldn’t stop myself from telling the truth. “I don’t know. If we all just act like nothing’s wrong, like we belong there, I just… have no idea how long we can get away with this.”

We were both quiet for a time, then she picked up a cookie. “That’s OK.”

I walked her to the apartments and let her in. It felt official to me, like there was just zero turning back. Marcie was in. On the floor proper she seemed nervous like Momi had been, but less emotionally fragile. I gave her a blanket from my room and we picked out an apartment for her. She went with 1206, the one bedroom at the northwest corner of the building. Unlike the two-bedroom Grime had taken up next door, its windows only faced one direction - west. She got the key, she got to try to sleep.

I couldn’t imagine she’d succeed on this, the first night of her life of crime. But there seemed to be a constant low rumble on that end of the floor that night, and I supposed it might lull her to sleep.

I steeled myself and went to see Grime. As I went I noticed the walls in the hall held an odd sheen, like snails had crawled all over them, someone washed afterward and it didn’t come completely clean. I touched the wall with a finger and it ran along smooth as I walked. Maybe it was just my eyes.

It only took a moment for him to answer the door, and he showed me into his living room. It looked similar to my place, but with a lot nicer technology. Still, it annoyed me that my living space was so similar to that of a manly man.

I sat at one of the bar stools. His unit also had a kitchenette separated from the living room by a simple island bar, pre-furnished with three stools.

He stood opposite the counter from me, arms wide. “Would the mademoiselle care for a refreshment?”

I steepled my forearms and laced my fingers together, looked across the table imperious. “This flirtation should stop, Graeme. I don’t want this situation to get messed up because of personal stuff.”

His face fell and he stood back. “OK, sure, you have my word. I mean, for me this is real important. A kind of direct action against the system. Nothing to do with making time. For real. Now you want a drink, Miss Marquez?”

I rolled my eyes and slouched. “Yeeess, what do you have?”

“I don’t drink much so I have a selection for guests. If cold matters, all I’ve got in the fridge is pabst, grey goose, and box wine. Other than that, some fireball and jim beam.”

“Box wine it is, big spender.”

He eased up and smiled as he went for the drink and a glass. “So you wanted to talk about my prospects?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s what this was about. My mind is garbage. And today wasn’t even all that hard. Yes, tell me about these prospects.”

He passed me the drink and I half downed it while he spoke. “A janitor at work, kind of an old guy, I overheard him saying his rent had gone up a ton several months ago. And because he couldn’t find a good place to move to within that first month of increase, whatever savings he could scrounge started getting drained out by the higher rent. So basically, he’s completely fucked. On top of that, his husband is starting to have problems with dementia and the neighbors are criminals.”

“Oh? Damn, that really sucks. I mean, moving here they’d be criminals themselves, but... I think you’re right, Graeme. Sounds like a good prospect. I don’t know why I doubted that.”

He grinned wolf-like. “Everyone knows I am the best. Now I’m busy at work and you aren’t, so I thought maybe you could help them move?”

“What? God. You’re the worst. Give me all of your alcohol and I’ll think about it.”

“Damn. Is this what the post-capitalist economy will look like?”

“I hope so, nerd.” I shot him with a finger gun, this one significantly less sexy than the one from the night of our tryst.

He clutched his chest. “Estoy perdido, pero ¡viva la revolución!”

“No me gusta, dude.”

***

Read the next chapter here.

#Rent is Theft #part 05 #nanowrimo april 2018

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the-voice-of-hell · 6 years

Text

Rent is Theft, part 13

Unlucky number 13! This is as far as I’ve gotten the story (aside from a little outlining and writing ahead), so it may be a while before more updates come in.

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here.

Note: My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not. If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

***

I needed to be alone, but it wasn’t in the cards. When the elevator door opened on my floor, a single eyeball rolled in from the hall. I freaked out badly, jamming the door open with both arms, scooting the thing toward the crack between elevator and floor.

The big metal box tensed. It wanted to close the doors, was pushing back. I hopped and came down on the thing with more force, popping it into the crack, the elevator shaft, and who knows where? I shuddered at the disgusting experience, crashed against the elevator door, let it shove me until I slipped out into the hall and fell down.

Leimomi’s voice. “Are you OK?”

“Nope. I’m not. Don’t worry about it.” I avoided her eyes, but looked all over the carpet before I stood up - looking for more of those eyes. Nothing in sight except Momi feet, I clambered to my feet.

“Are you sure?” She wasn’t moving.

“I need to do this thing.” Did I? I didn’t want to. “Just...” I made it clear I needed to get into my place and she got out of the way. I opened and closed the door in a hurry, headed toward the living room.

That’s when I heard, “Ow! Oh!” from out in the hallway.

I dragged myself back to the door in a hurry and opened it. She practically stumbled into me. “What the hell, Momi?”

“My hair was caught in the door.” She looked too sad.

I couldn’t take it, not anything. “Just step back. Further.” I closed the door on her and went to the living room.

I connected my phone to the wifi and looked it up. Courtney Love racist. The ugly words came back. Stereotypes. Shitting on black people to their faces. Trying to get her audience to chant the N word like a fucking Klan rally. “GOD!,” I said, “Why do you have to be such a creepy fucking BITCH?” Ugly words of my own. She made me do it, I thought, but then, that’s what lots of misogynists say, isn’t it?

Fuck absolutely everything. I felt like my own skin had betrayed me. I should never have named myself after someone. What a fool. I grabbed my hair, grabbed my back, thrashed around on the couch. The world was pure evil and I wanted to scratch myself, pull myself, drag myself out of it.

I stopped my thrashing and curled there, face down, balled fists pushing into my eye sockets. I could see stars wriggling vermiform in the darkness. You creepy old lady. And who am I? A creepy old lady. Was there some nasty prejudice I was sitting on, waiting to come out? What was I really like when drunk? What was anybody capable of? What are courtneys specifically capable of, since that’s what I was? A self-made courtney. The thing I chose to be.

I finally got the will to stand up, remembering I still had a few posters left among the debris, posters that needed defacing. I kicked the couch over and punched myself in the forehead three times before marching to the bedroom.

In the bedroom I looked around. First one. Back wall. Posed to look like a big victim. Maybe she was. Fuck her anyways. I ripped it down and tore it up in my hands. I accidentally scratched myself up with fingernails and rings, but I didn’t care.

Another one. Fancy lady, got some work done. Ain’t you a queen? I ripped the poster down. Half of it clung to the wall and I snatched that two, then ripped it up. I felt stings where the scratches on my hands were being rubbed the wrong way. Didn’t care.

One left. One surviving courtney, up on the ceiling. I glared at her. “How could you?! What is wrong with you?” I jumped, trying to catch the edge of it with my fingers, rip it down without need for a step stool. No contact. I tried again. I am not going through the effort of getting a ladder for this bullshit. I nicked the edge, but she was up there safe, smug.

Was that look smug? Or vacant? What was behind those eyes? Anything at all? For years she’d been acting like some kind of mindless, twisted animal. I avoided the rumors but they kept coming at me, adding up. She was a terrible person.

I gave up, and kicked over my sleeping couch in frustration. I kicked it again and again.

At last I went back into the living room. The little whistle was there to greet me, blowing through my ghost. I flopped on the hard floor and crawled under the upended couch. It’s a home for turtles. That’s what was next for me. Turtledom.

There was a knock at the door. Go away. I’m just a corpse. It persisted, in nervous little passes.

At last I heaved myself up to feet, shoved the couch off of me. It clattered loudly, landing upright and gouging a couple of thick chunks out of the wall. I answered the door.

It was Momi. “Courtney, what’s going on? I know you said… I know you don’t wanna say, but...”

I held up a hand to quiet her. “I still don’t. Bad time. I should be--”

“Why are you bleeding?”

I looked at my hand. The scratches were worse than I’d thought. The skin was ragged around them, blood thick and red all over them, brighter where it had smeared over the rest of my hand.

Then I looked past the hand at the Hawaiian lady. She was looking at me in shock and sadness, tears welling in her eyes. I put my hands behind my back in shame. “It was just a silly accident, hon. I’ll be fine, I’ll be OK, don’t worry.”

“Really?” Her voice cracked and she fanned herself. What an odd, cute gesture. She was so miserable though, it was getting to me.

I pushed the door farther shut with my shoulders, just my head poking out. The apartment was my turtle shell. “Really. Hon, this thing that’s got me just now? It’ll pass. Don’t worry about it.” Sometimes I try to regulate my expression. This time I knew I didn’t have to. I could feel my face melting into sad, kind warmth.

It seemed to work. She laughed at her emotional display nervously and stepped back, wiping her face. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m weird.”

It’s time. I knew it was. It felt weird doing this as a floating severed head, but there couldn’t be a better time. “You aren’t weird. Listen, there is something you can help me with.”

“You need help with your hands?”

“No.” I looked both ways. Hall empty. “I need you in my life. I sorted out my shit. I haven’t touched that dude and I never will again. I don’t know what I was thinking, I just gotta take it back, anything I did. If I can. If you will. I think I love you, Momi.”

She straightened up, a little taller than me, and looked like someone had punched her in the chest. Breathless. Her lips did a mad little dance. Her eyes looked like they were about to cry, then didn’t.

“I don’t think I love you. I do love you.” My head was threatening to turn upside down like something from the exorcist as it strained to look pleading without the benefit of any other body language. “It’s fine if you don’t. I’ll try to--”

She folded her arms angrily and looked down at me. “I love you too, but this is too much. I can’t do stuff right now.” She looked away.

“Wait. Right now? Like, we can do stuff some other time? Like, a week? A month? A year?”

“Mmm… A week. Maybe. Let’s see how we feel in a week, OK?” She could barely bring herself to look at me, then she left me hanging there, and disappeared into her apartment.

I retreated into my turtle house and resisted the urge to do a crazy dance. I staggered out to the living room again and flopped in a chair. “What did I do to myself?” I couldn’t resist crazy dance time anymore.

I twisted out of the chair and flopped onto the floor, rolling one way and then the other, squealing like a child. I stopped, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, and slammed my head on the floor. Stars again. I had nearly knocked myself out.

I was finally still, relaxing after my ridiculous scene. My hands stung. My head hurt kind of badly. That’s no way to give yourself a concussion. I went to take a bath. Hopefully, no passing out and drowning would happen. I had something to look forward to in a week.

***

There was definitely a welt across the back of my head. I could feel it out with my fingers. Maybe an inch below the crown, a smooth scar almost like a burn, sensitive like a bruise. It was remarkably straight - a horizontal line like a cut. At least the oddness of it held at bay any worries I had about getting a bald spot.

The next day I set to work in my apartment, getting the scraps off the walls, picking up the collapsed things on floors. I took down ceiling Courtney with more dignity than I could muster the previous day. Who was to say how I’d feel about the racist asshole in a week? She was rolled and tucked away.

But as the maneuvers went on, I started to accrue a list of missing requisites. I didn’t have enough household cleaners, I needed something to fill the gouges on the wall. I wanted more allergy meds to wax into my living room, see if I could stop the whistle once and for all.

So at about two in the afternoon, I showered up and dressed summery for an outdoor jaunt. I had a dress and a large summer hat with a floppy brim. Contact lenses let me rock giant black sunglasses that would shine in the sun. Violet red lipstick. Smack my lips. Time to go.

Out in the hall, Methadone Mike was using a bristle broom to grind powdered allergy medicine into the carpet. He looked green. I took off the shades and hung them in the front of my dress. He still looked olive green. Jaundice pairing weirdly with his sun-abused skin? Bad lighting? I still smiled at the green man and went about my way.

At the elevator I pushed the call button. It instantly opened up. Sharon.

“Sharon! Hiii, Maria, remember me?” I walked in like a queen, arms in the air.

She was looking past me to Methadone Mike. “Mm, yeah, what’s that? We didn’t have a cleaner up he--”

“He just wanted to clean up after himself, spilled a trashbag. G’byee!” She was trying to hold the door but I hedged her out by waving at Mike like a theater kid. The door sealed us in, and we went up.

“Maria, what’s going on? You seem jumpy today.” She looked suspicious for sure.

I just couldn’t care. No way you get the juice to figure this out, lady. And if you did? I smiled maniacally. “Maybe it’s just the weather. A chance to wear this dress? I’m pumped up and I don’t even know why.”

Her mouth shrank to a pin prick, her eyelids lowered, her eyebrows tried to jump up into her hairline. She opened her mouth to say something, and the elevator reached her floor.

“See ya ’round, Sharon!”

I was rid of her, I had a week until Momi time, and I was bouncing. Then a random pain in the back of my head snapped me to reality. I realized there’d been a buzzing sensation in my head that had just gone mute, that there was a strange feeling at the back of my head which ended with that twinge.

What was it? I touched the back of my head. Pain like a bruise. Then the elevator popped open on twelve. The programming on those things left something to be desired. I looked around to see if Methadone Mike was still around, but he wasn’t. The broom was laying in the hall and his apartment door was open. I almost went to investigate, but thought better of it. I had my own life to lead and that guy had plenty of experience looking out for himself.

I wore high heel sandals and it was pretty much impossible to walk sensibly in those things. It was strut or gangle, nothing in between. I was strutting on the way to the store. It was a large urban drug store, so it tried to be everything to everyone, have whatever one might need. But it didn’t have my spackle, so I had to try a paint store. I found one within longish walking distance on my phone, but that walk quickly turned into a gangle.

The gangle took me back close to the apartment, but just far enough away that I had to make a decision of it. Divert for sensible shoes, or keep walking straight. I made the wrong decision, and the gangle grew painful.

There it was again - a sensation on the back of my head. I paid attention to it this time. But in doing so, was I imagining things, or noticing things? Was that shifting sensation something legitimately happening in the muscles or other tissues? Or was it my imagination I felt like the back of my head had been replaced with a plastic puzzle ball, and it was threatening to fall apart.

There was a humming sound. I couldn’t tell whether it was just in my head. Sometimes it felt like I was making it happen, compulsively humming just loud enough that it couldn’t quite be heard above traffic - just felt. Why couldn’t I stop it? Why did it usually feel like I was even doing anything?

Stepping through the door the omnipresent traffic noise burst like ears popping, and I could - for just a moment - hear the hum clear as a bell. Then it was gone. I looked around nervously until someone came in behind, forcing me out of the way.

I timidly went about my shopping and realized I was already sad. I had really good reason to feel happy, but it wasn’t enough. Something was wrong with the world. It was right on top of me. I went to the counter to ring up my goods, and the puzzle ball shifted. The humming began, quietly but clearly.

“Here.” I put my spackle and a cheap palette knife on the counter. I smiled weakly.

The clerk took little notice and rang it up. “Eight dollars and eighty-six cents after tax.”

“My card.”

“Just swipe it on the...”

The damned hum.

“Thank you,” I said as I entered my PIN.

“Thank you,” he said.

The gangle home was taking me down restaurant row. The tech giant I used to work for basically created a neighborhood, and the restaurants to serve it lined the main street, along with a few odd banks and such. I’d been on this street before, looking for lunch, watching the money fly out of my account every day at the expensive places, knowing I could save a lot of money by packing lunch, never ever getting up the will to make that happen.

It was a miserable time. Back when I could imagine I belonged there, I came to recognize lots of random people on the street. But more buildings had opened since then, more people had transferred or been laid off or got burned out, and the turnover had led to a completely unfamiliar street scene.

Who were these people? Some had a vague optimism - the new lights of the tech industry. Most were just hustling to get from point A to point B to appease the capital fascist order of the place. Minimize your human needs to maximize your hustle. Install an office app on your smartphone so you can work on spreadsheets while you take shits.

“Hey!” I didn’t recognize them, but somebody recognized me. I turned to face them, and the hum grew again.

It was Grime. He had some kind of mess on his hands, maybe sloppy eating, but he quickly tucked those things into his pockets. Cargo shorts, yuck. “What brings you back, Court? Think it’s time to go legit again?” He looked hopeful. Going legit in a hurry was the only way the apartment situation didn’t end in shackles.

“No, I can’t. Just shopping.”

He noticed my mood. “Hey, don’t think anything of it. There’s lots of shit you can do, or nothing at all. You need something to eat? You look weak.”

“Mm, yeah, OK, but remember where we’re at.”

“I’m the whore and you’re done with that, roger. Get a bite in you, baby.”

“Alright.”

I followed him back inside. He’d seen me passing a restaurant and come out of it - hence the surprise attack. As he sat at the table, I saw his hands again. The splotches were discoloration on the skin, like port-wine stain. I didn’t know much about that condition except it usually happened at birth. Could it develop in an adult?

He noticed my look, waggled his fingers, and shrugged. “Whatever. It doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s good to hear. Man… I hit my head yesterday and it feels hella fucked up now.”

“Aww, that’s terrible. How about symptoms? Dizziness? Disorientation?”

“Not those. Just like… a buzzing. Pain. Weird sensations. It’s bruised, for sure.”

“That sucks a lot.”

A waiter came and he had them bring a bacon and egg ciabatta sandwich and tall rum and coke for me. He remembered what I liked from a lunch long past.

“Thanks, Graeme.”

“Think nothing of it, Courtney. So talk to me. Anything else bothering you? Just a hard walk on those shoes?”

“You don’t miss a thing, do you? It’s almost creepy.”

“Hey. Guys like me get that word sometimes whether we deserve it or not. Take it easy on me. It’s cordial, associate.”

“Cordial it is, sorry buddy. Hooo, yeah, it’s a weird one. I have a good reason to be in a damn good mood, but it just isn’t taking. Maybe the head thing is the problem, maybe the inconvenience of the walk. But I’m almost… scared for no reason?”

“They say head injuries can cause symptoms of depression. I wish we could figure out how to get that looked at. Until then, maybe try not to exercise so much. Let somebody take care of you, OK?”

“Mm, I’d like that.”

Maybe the feeling had receded some, because I started to feel passably well for a minute. The drink came and I said thank you without thinking, hardly moved my lips. My voice was uncharacteristically clear and feminine, and I half wondered if I’d even said it, or just imagined it. Better get that drink in you quick, girl.

“Wanna talk about anything else for a bit? Work’s a bitch.”

“No. I mean yes, let’s talk about something, but not work.”

“OK, who’s got you feeling like you should be in a good mood, Courtney?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, alright, sorry.” He rolled his eyes around behind those raccoon-like glasses, looking for a subject. “I got it. Cordial associates on the Illegal Building Association. Want the low down on the building?”

I was very much not interested, but it could work to pass the time. “Why not? Hit me.”

“OK, where to begin? Sharon’s gone.”

“Bullshit, I just saw her.”

“She told me she’s leaving. I guess she isn’t out the door yet?”

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t get any more snoopy at the last minute.”

“Let’s. She seemed pretty sharp, so tentatively, I think her leaving is good news.”

“Good news.”

“OK, that wasn’t very interesting. Oh, we might have a problem down the road. You know how all the buildings in Seattle just started getting bedbugs again a few years ago? Neighbor on thirteen says she feels itchy all the time. She blames allergies, thinks there’s a problem with the building’s AC, but she knows bedbugs are a possibility.”

“Did you say thirteen?”

“Yeah, so if it’s bedbugs, they don’t have far to go.”

“Yeah, but that isn’t what gets me. I didn’t know we had any upstairs neighbors. A few floors up, maybe. But I thought for sure thirteen was empty.”

“Maybe you were wrong, maybe she moved in more recently than all that. Her name is Laura. Think you’ve seen her? Maybe walking the Pomeranian?”

“Thankfully, no. I have not.”

I couldn’t bring myself to eat the thick bread at the moment, and kinda sucked the egg out of the sandwich absentmindedly. Fortunately, Grime didn’t make any off color jokes about it.

He said, “That’s cool, but she’s one to watch out for. She doesn’t work at all, so she’s around a lot.”

“What does she look like?”

“Like money and talcum powder had a baby that grew up to be a mummy.”

“Marvy.”

***