#but it feels so odd to be *called* remmis

[mrsfrecklesmarauders]

Part of The Marauders

Being James Potter's friend was an honor, Remus thought. James was not only the most fun person to be around, he made Remus feel special. James had created the concept of being a Marauder to be the most cool experience in life. They had codes. They had rules. They had rituals. They had pranks. They had nicknames. And most importantly they had each other. The Marauders weren't nothing more than four idiots playing to be cool. But James made them believe they were nothing but special. And that gave them confidence to actually be one of the coolest groups at school.

But not only that. James Potter made his friends feel safe. He made sure each one of them was okay. He made sure to make them feel protected and loved. It was like having a father. The Marauders felt like a family. Sirius was so lucky to have this little family, since his real blood one sucked. And Remus perhaps did as well. Remus had never felt so lucky in his life.

The thing was that everytime James was around, Remus wanted to impress him. It was so embarrassing. But Remus had never wanted to like someone this much. Remus had been perfectly fine being invisible. But James Potter had a force in him that made Remus think: "Hey! I am here. Notice me". Remus knew he was not nearly as important to James. Sirius was his jewel. His favorite. And Peter was his baby to protect. Sometimes Remus liked to pretend he was special for James too. Be he knew that was impossible. He was just an intruder in the Marauders' perfect world. They just put up with it because Sirius said so.

When James walked slowly towards Remus' bed that night, Remus froze because that never happened. They were all alone. Sirius was taking one of his long nocturne showers. And Peter was delayed with homework so he was finishing it in the Library.

James took a seat on Remus' bed and Remus put down his book. It felt like when his father used to do that when he wanted to talk about something serious. But this time it was funnier, because James pouted and sighed.

"Hey..."

"Hey" Remus smiled.

James laid down on Remus' bed, hands behind his head.

"Can I help you with something, James?"

"Can't I just lay on your bed, Moony?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. Sirius was the only one that called him Moony. It was their thing since they were kids. It was weird to hear James say it. He noticed it too because he added:

"Sorry! I don't know why I called you that, I guess I hear Sirius being 'Moony Moony' all the time that it just stuck" he giggled afterwards.

Remus blushed. He liked that Sirius called him Moony. It differentiated him from any girl he had ever been with. As if Remus was Sirius' property. It sounded like when couples called each other 'Love or babe'. Remus liked to believe Sirius felt the same way he did. Beyond the occasional snogging.

"It's okay" Remus said "You can call me Moony if you like"

"Nah..." James shrugged "It's a Sirius thing"

"Sirius thing" Remus teased.

"Plus he would hate that" James added "You're his Moony, no one else's"

Remus wondered if he knew about him and Sirius. Sirius wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. Especially James. He apreciated his opinion more than anyone else's.

"Buuut... All of us Marauders have nicknames..." James added "You ought to have one too. It is boring calling Remus all the time"

Remus was so happy when James included him within the Marauders. But Remus always reminded himself he just did that to be polite. Because Remus was Sirius' friend.

"How about Rem? Or Remmy?"

"I think I prefer Moony" Remus chuckled.

James smiled "I'll check on Sirius to see if we can use it"

"Okay..." Remus couldn't hide his excitement.

James was silent after that. Which was odd in him.

"You want to talk about Lily, don't you?"

"Can I?" James sat up excitedly.

Remus smiled amused.

Lily was the only thing that Remus and James had in common. Well, Sirius was their common too. But it was easier talking about Lily. Remus was Lily's friend and that had helped James to know more about her through Remus. He was their mediator. James didn't mind Remus being friends with Lily, it was actually useful for him. But Remus noticed that he did mind how close Remus and Sirius were. He was kind of jealous even. Sirius was James' and no one could take him away. So they avoided talking about Sirius because it was awkward.

Remus tried not to laugh as he nodded.

"It's just Sirius doesn't particularly like Lily" James said.

"He likes her. He is just jealous"

James shrugged.

"And Peter gets annoyed about the subject" James added "You're the only one that gets me because you like Lily too"

"Yes I like her" Remus nodded "She is the first girl I feel close to"

James sighed.

"I cannot stop thinking about her" he laid down in bed again "It is driving me crazy. Because all I want to do is snog her face out, hug her, touch her. But I am stuck in the friend zone"

"The friend zone sucks" Remus commented under his breath.

James raised an eyebrow at him.

"So I've heard" Remus added embarrassed.

James sighed again "And I would fuck it up, you know? By asking her out... She doesn't want that. We've been getting so close lately, everything is perfect, we haven't even bickered in a long time..."

Remus smiled

"I don't want to lose her, Remus" James added "I prefer a hundred of times to be her friend and have her forever than being something more and lose her. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah"

Sounded similar to what Remus felt for Sirius. But at least Lily was clear with her feelings and what she wanted. Sirius was so confusing. Sometimes it felt that he really wanted Remus and others that he only liked him as a mate.

"Lily is... different" Remus explained "It is not that she doesn't like you, she just wants the perfect kind of love"

James' mouth twisted.

"Do you think I could make her happy?"

"Of course you can"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Remus now sounded like a true Marauder. Praising James like he was a God. Sirius and Peter were constantly doing that. Remus sighed. Perhaps James wasn't perfect. He had flaws.

"Just stop thinking about yourself and what you want...."

James looked at him.

"Maybe?" Remus added, nervously

"What do you mean?"

Friends told each other the truth, right? James would consider Remus his friend if he told the truth, right? Remus didn't need to put James in a pedestal in order for him to like him.

"Being Lily's friend is amazing. And I know you want more. You want to jump off to be with Lily physically and emotionally. But that's not what she wants...." Remus said "She wants another kind of relationship. A long term one, with lots of building up in between, with a real connection... Don't think about the negatives of being Lily's friend. Think that you're building something with her. If she sees that, I am sure she would fall for you..."

James was looking at the ceiling, thinking about Remus' words.

"And you're so close, James. Really... Lily likes you a lot. She speaks a lot about when you are not around"

James smirked "Really?"

Remus nodded "Lily just needs a bit more time to fall for you. But she is getting there"

"Having Lily this close is worth it" James said "At least she doesn't hate me anymore"

Remus smiled.

"Yeah..." he said "I could infiltrate within the girls and find out more about Lily's opinion about you. If she is ready to be more..."

"That would be lovely, Remus" James grinned "Thank you. You're a true mate"

Remus blushed with the compliment. He felt his heart warm up.

Then James sat up and cleared his throat.

"And about the thing you said the other day..." he rubbed his neck embarrassed.

"What thing?" Remus asked "I say a lot of things all the time"

James smiled "You barely speak"

Remus snorted "What thing?"

"Remember when you got out in a date with Emmeline? And then we asked you how did it go?"

"Yeah..."

James swallowed.

"And then you said that it was okay but you didn't fancy her because.... you know..."

Were James' ears getting red?

"Kicked a conversion for the other team"

Remus laughed.

"In English please? I don't understand rugby"

"You know... You fancy boys and and all" James said quickly and looked down embarrassed.

"You mean the fact that I am gay?" Remus asked amused.

"Yeah right..." James nodded "The very same thing..."

Remus chuckled. James wasn't particularly homophobic. It was just that Remus was sure he knew little about the subject. Even if he joked about Sirius being his lover all the time.

"You know it is okay, right?"

Remus smiled.

"We don't care that you are gay, Rem" James added

"Rem..." Remus frowned.

"I know we talk a lot about girls. But you are allowed to talk about boys as well if you want"

Remus was overwhelmed. It had been an awkward reaction from the lads when Remus came out. The girls were very happy about it. But the boys were awkward. They said it was okay and moved on with their lives. But Remus appreciated these words now. Remus never expected them or demanded them but it felt nice.

"Cheers James"

"Uuuh!" James gasped and Remus jumped "Do you fancy a boy at Hogwarts? We can help you with him just like we are helping Peter with Mary"

James was smirking so genuinely that Remus knew he had no clue about his thing with Sirius. And Remus felt sorry for him. He wanted to tell him, he really did. But James was Sirius' best friend. It was Sirius' secret to tell.

So Remus just shook his head.

"Come on... You have to fancy someone..." James raised an eyebrow "Is it me? And you don't want to tell me?"

Remus laughed.

"Yes James, I am utterly in love with you" Remus joked.

"Damn, I knew it" James joked too "I am too irresistible" he winked.

"Yeah" Remus nodded.

"Honestly Moony," he said it again, Moony. Remus was so happy "If it wasn't for the love I have for Lily, I would totally give you a chance"

Remus smiled "We both know that if you were to give a chance to someone that isn't Lily, that would be Sirius"

James chuckled.

"So true!" he said "But you are my second choice. Don't tell Peter about it"

"I feel honored"

James smiled and rubbed Remus' hair affectionately.

"Don't touch my hair!" Remus protested.

"Come here, Moony!" James tried to rub it again.

Remus laughed trying to cover himself.

"Not with your sweaty hands!"

"Sweaty hands??"

They both were laughing now. Remus was genuinely happy. James liked him. He truly did. Was it possible?

"Ehem..."

Sirius had opened the bathroom door and was looking at James and Remus with eyes of jealousy and confusion.

And God, he was only using a towel, looking so delicious with water dripping from his hair through his chest and down... Remus almost drooled.

"Am I interrupting something?"

James and Remus smiled at each other.

"It is just a Remus and I thing" James shrugged.

"Oh I see..." Sirius frowned and walked towards his bed.

"Are you jealous?" James teased.

Sirius snorted "Hardly"

He sounded so jealous, it was adorable.

"I didn't know you two were so close, that's all" Sirius shrugged.

"I am considering calling Remus Moony from now on"

"Don't you dare! That's my nickname for him!" Sirius snapped furiously "Moony is mine!"

Remus' heart started beating up fast. Then Sirius blushed profoundly.

"The nickname I mean!" he corrected.

But James was off Remus' bed and all over Sirius, trying to tickle him.

"You're such a jealous bastard, my love" James teased "Don't worry Pads, I only have eyes for this gorgeous body if yours!"

James gave Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek and then pulled his towel away, revealing Sirius' naked body. Sirius went purple. Unfortunately, he covered himself quickly before Remus could enjoy the view.

"I swear to God, James Potter! I am going to kill you!!"

James was laughing his ass off, rolling over his bed. Remus laughed as well. Sirius put on his boxers quickly, he grabbed his pillow. Climbed on top of James and started hitting him with it.

"You fucking wanker!"

"Oh kiss me, Sirius!" James said, with a girly voice "Kiss me!!"

"You're an asshole, Potter!!" Sirius exclaimed, hitting James once more.

Remus couldn't stop laughing. He was part of this. He was part of this amazing mess. The Marauders were the coolest people alive and Remus was lucky to even know them, better yet be considered their friend. Did he actually deserve this?

"What the hell is going on here?" Peter asked, tiredly as he crossed the door.

His eyes on Sirius and James. Sirius was on top of James in his underwear and it did look like a compromising situation. Which was even funnier.

"You know, Peter" Remus explained with a smile "James and Sirius being gay for each other"

"You just interrupted our snogging session" James said, making kissing noises.

Sirius covered James' face with the pillow and rolled his eyes. His cheeks were still adorably pink.

"Normal night at The Marauders dorm then" Peter said as he closed the door and walked to his bed.

Remus and Sirius crossed eyes for a second and they smiled at each other in secrecy. Remus was looking forward to be alone with him, kiss that beautiful mouth of his, and tell him he was so happy. So happy to actually be part of The Marauders.

#marauders #maraudersera #muggleau #marauders muggle au #remus lupin #james potter #sirius black #wolfstar #peter pettigrew #jily

[leishadowdreams]

Remus tells o/c about Lily, James and Sirius

So, I sometimes get ideas of like mini scenes and stuff and I saw this tiktok that made me come up with this scene and it made me really sad so I wanted to share it.

Also, I really don't know what I'm doing so I apologize in advance if it's shit but in my head, my main character is Cassie, she's married to Sirius and they have twin babies, just for some background.

I'm just sort of interested to see what people think :)

Cassie is sitting in the living room, anxiety coursing through her body.

Sirius didn’t tell her anything but when he got that call, his entire face drained of blood, and he looked both heartbroken and furious before he disappeared.

What scared her the most was Sirius’s last words before he left.

“I love you. I’m sorry.” And then he disapparated.

Cassie’s leg is bouncing up and down as she keeps glancing at the clock.

One of the babies starts crying and she rushes into their room to get them.

Neither of them will go back to sleep, it’s like they can sense her nerves, so she takes them downstairs and puts on some kids TV show.

Finally, the phone rings and Cassie trips over a toy in her haste to get to it.

Cassie picks up.

“Sirius?” She asks and hopes to Merlin that it’s him.

“It’s me.” Remus’s voice comes through.

“Remmy!” Cassie exclaims. “Sirius got a call and he left, and I haven’t seen him in a few hours and I’m really worried because he looked really odd and he said sorry before he left, I can’t stop thinking and the babies won’t go to sleep and they’re crying and please tell me you know something?”

Cassie is rambling and she feels tears leak from the corner of her eyes.

“Cassie.” Remus says and something in the tone of his voice makes her stop.

There’s a moment of silence, only broken by Cassie’s hiccups.

“Cassie, there’s something I need to tell you. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and I are coming over.”

“Remus, what’s going on?” Cassie asks, her heart pumping loudly.

“This isn’t something I can say over the phone. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

The receiver clicks and Cassie stares into nothing as she replaces the phone.

A couple of minutes later, there are three pops outside and then a knock on her door.

Cassie checks who it is but before she opens it, she remembers the codes.

“What was the name of the book I was reading when Remus threw me in the Black Lake?”

“Watership Down. You yelled at me for ruining the book and then started crying because they had just died.”

There’s a catch in his throat when he says ‘died’ but she doesn’t question it.

Cassie flings open the door and leaps into Remus’s arms.

She slides down and then the babies start crying again.

“Let me get them, come in.” Cassie is shaking as she leads them through the house as Dumbledore looks very somber, McGonagall looks like she’s in shock and Remus looks as white as a ghost and like he’s trying not to cry.

Cassie picks up the babies and places one on each hip.

“You know, I’d like to meet these children, if that’s alright with you Mrs. Black. The Professor and I will take them into the kitchen.” Dumbledore says.

“I think Mr. Lupin is the one best equipped to tell you.”

Cassie barely moves as Dumbledore and McGonagall gently lift her children from her arms.

Once they’re out of the room, Remus closes the door behind them, and Cassie can properly see the odd look of grief on his face.

“Remus, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.” Cassie’s voice trembles. “Where’s Sirius? Is everyone okay?”

“Cassie…” Remus says, his voice cracking. “Maybe we should sit down.”

Her heart drops but she stubbornly shakes her head as Remus sits on her couch.

“I’m not doing anything until you tell me why the three of you are here in my house in the middle of the night.”

“He found them, Cassie.” Remus says, his voice heavy with emotion.

“What?” Cassie doesn’t understand but her heart is already breaking.

“Voldemort. He found Lily and James. Cassie, they’re gone.” He says, tears now falling.

Cassie raises a shaking hand to her face but then a bolt of fear shoots through her.

“What about Harry? Where’s Harry? Is he okay?”

“Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid took him to Lily’s sister. He’s alive.”

“That bitch? She hated Lily and James. No, I’m his godmother, I’ll take him. He’s only a year older than the twins, they already love him- ”

“Cassie, Dumbledore thinks it would be better for him to grow up without magic. Somewhere he isn’t constantly stared at and questioned for surviving Voldemort.”

“But- ”

“Cassie, there’s more.” Remus says.

“What, Remus?” She asks.

“I’m so sorry.” He says. “I called a few hours ago, to tell you what happened, and Sirius picked up. All he said was, ‘I’ll kill him’ and then he hung up.”

“He got a call just before he left. That was you? What did he do?”

Remus doesn’t answer, working up the nerve.

“Remus, where’s my husband? Is Sirius alive?” Her voice has gone up an octave and she’s shaking all over now.

“Cassie, he killed Peter.” Remus says. “He’s been sent to Azkaban.”

Cassie stares at him before slowly sinking to her knees, her hands over her mouth.

Remus stands up from the sofa and carefully approaches her before an agonized scream rips itself from her soul, echoing through the house.

Cassie breaks down into heavy sobs and Remus slumps on the floor next to her, wrapping his arms around her as they cry together.

Cassie keeps whispering ‘No’ and Remus just replies with ‘I’m sorry’ as they hold onto each other, terrified that after all they’ve lost tonight, they’ll lose each other too.

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

if anyone reads this, i hope you like it :)

#sirius black #remus lupin #oc #dumbledore #mcgonagall #maraurders #sad #idrk #lily evans #james potter #harry potter

[xmooncanary]

someone called me remmis today and i was like no no im not remmis this is remmis, im remmy it’s v different

#remmy draws #not actually #my screenname is remmis on most places but i prefer remmy or rem #but it feels so odd to be *called* remmis #but also i get why ppl call me that #since its my username!! #but every time someone does im legally obligated to draw remmis #bc i dont draw her as much as i should #me: takes any excuse to draw remmis or the pocket kids #also me: could just........ draw them #me: no i need an excuse clearly #side note i brought up her colour ref and like #im so happy w/ how much personality i can give her now #as opposed to when i first started properly drawing her #ANYWAY YEAH HI HAVE SOME ART TUMBLR #i need to... remember to post stuff here skdjhfjksdf #but i also havent drawn properly in a while so hAVE A DOODLE

[multifandomrandomgirl]

I Thought You Were Dead - Lupin!reader x Sirius Black

"Avada Kedavra!" Rodolphus Lestrange shot the killing curse at me, I narrowly missed it, the spell passing my arm, I collapsed to the floor, pretending to be dead. I heard the Death Eaters leave the street, that's when I decided that I'd disappear for a while, just until things calmed down.

I was on my way to Godric's Hollow that evening to meet James and Lily's son for the first time when Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy had attacked me. I was meeting my brother there as well, then I was due to stay at his.

I thought about it hard and then I felt the change, I had turned into my Animagi form, I was unregistered so the Ministry couldn't figure anything out. I spread my wings out and flew as far away from the West of England as I could get before my wings ached.

I found a tree and looked around. Welcome to Abergavenny. A sign read, even in my Little Owl form I could read the sign. I was in Wales.

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

For the next fifteen years, I lived in trees around Abergavenny. I found a copy of The Daily Prophet lying around saying that Sirius Black's name had finally been cleared. Cleared from what? I don't know, this was the first Wizarding paper I had seen since that night fifteen years ago when the Death Eaters attacked me.

Apparently Black had got his old family home back again, which gave me an idea, maybe I could fly across and see if he is there or not.

I found a mouse to eat before setting off on the journey to London, to find Sirius. On the flight across, I wondered how my brother, Remus, was. I hadn't seen him since the month before the attack, he had no clue what had happened unless The Daily Prophet had covered it.

I felt bad, I could have at least sent him a letter in my animagus form, to let him know that I was alive and okay.

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

Once I reached the Black Residence, I pecked on the door as hard as I could, I could hear footsteps getting closer and closer and then it opened, Molly, a girl who was in my brothers year at Hogwarts opened the door. "Come in little owl! You must be cold and wet!" She exclaims, letting me fly in, the rain had not long started.

"Who is it, Molly?" Sirius asks, poking his head around the door. "An owl, it's odd though, it's carrying a copy of The Daily Prophet from three days ago." I perch on her arm as she takes to through to the kitchen. I hadn't told anyone about being an animagus so no one would recognise me.

"Where'd the owl come from?" A boy who looked a lot like James Potter asked Molly. " I don't know." She says, I spot my brother and immediately fly over to him and land on his arm, giving him a peck on his hand for affection. "It seems to like you though Remus." Bill grins.

I hoot a little as Remus strokes over my feathers, god I'd missed him. "Where are you going little owl?" He asks as I hop off of him and onto the floor. I thought about my true appearance, my human form and for the first time in fifteen years, I was human again.

"Lola? I thought you were dead!" Remus jumps out of his chair and pulls me into a hug. "I know, I'm sorry. I had to disappear though, it was my only option then." I cry into my older brothers shoulder.

"What really happened? The Ministry said that you were killed by Death Eaters and then they hid your body." Remus pulls an extra chair out and sat me down. "Well, I was on the way to Godric's Hollow to visit James and Lily, like we all were to visit their new child, and on the way, I was stopped by Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, they all started firing killing curses at me after I refused to tell them where the Potter's were hiding." I start.

"Then Rodolphus fired another, it barely missed my arm but I faked being dead, so they left. Then as I'm an unregistered animagi, I switched forms and then have lived in Abergavenny ever since. This is the first time I've been in human form since that night." I sigh. "I'm so sorry Lola. How'd you know that we were here?" Remus puts a hand on my shoulder.

I pointed at the copy of The Daily Prophet that I had brought with me. "That, someone had dropped it. It felt good seeing one again, I hadn't seen a copy of it lying around since, well, since when I left. Speaking of which Sirius, what does it mean by you finally got your name cleared? I've had no news at all for fifteen years." I turn to look at the other man.

"Well, the year after you died- I mean disappeared, Peter Pettigrew sold the Potter's out to the Dark Lord, their hiding place and everything. The Dark Lord then killed the Potter's, but their son, Harry, survived. I apparated across as soon as I heard the news, Pettigrew killed twelve muggles with a single curse and then cut his own finger off and ran off, in his animagi form. I then got arrested for it and spent the next twelve years in Azkaban." Sirius explains the whole story.

"Wow. I'm so sorry about your parents." I turn to the boy who looked just like James. He gives me a small smile. "Oh, you don't know who I am, do you? Remus! I'd have thought that you would have at least told the boy about me!" I joke before introducing myself to him.

"I seriously thought you were dead Lola please don't ever do that to me again." My brother says, hugging me again. "I know, I apologise. I was going to write and send it using my animagi form but it was too dangerous, I didn't know what the Ministry had said about me and if word got out to the Death Eaters then I would have been gone for good. And I didn't know where you were living at the time so..." I trail off.

"Don't worry about that. All that matters is that I have you back now and I won't let you out of my sight." I study Remus' face, there were tears rolling down it. I use my now way to small cloak to wipe his tears away. "We need to get you new cloaks and probably a wand as well." He says.

"I don't need it," I say. "Why not?"

"It's probably best if I live as an owl, for now, considering that Sirius said that the Death Eaters and you know who is on the rise again. I don't want to risk anything, it isn't worth it." I smile weakly at my brother. "You can live here with us!" Sirius offers. "Thank you, Pads, that means sometimes I can be human again." I grin.

"I can't believe I wasn't with you that night, I-I could have fought them off." He blabbers, I stop him. "They'd have killed you too. They took my wand and snapped it so I couldn't fight back." I sigh.

I catch Dumbledore whispering something to Severus and him nodding in agreement. "Well, I'll get dinner started! I'm sure you all, especially Lola must be hungry!" Molly stands up, Professor McGonagall and what looks like Molly's daughter go and help her.

"Definitely, I've lived off of rodents, beetles and other small mammals for the past fifteen years, I can't remember what real food tastes like." I laugh, it was a dry, raspy laugh as I hadn't used my voice for fifteen years.

"Ew!" Another boy, who looked like Molly and Arthur, exclaims. "How about we make you live off of that diet Ron?" Two identical twins giggle. "Can you tell me who everyone is, I only recognise Bill Weasley out of the younger people, I've not seen Molly since he was born," I whispered to Remus.

He points everyone out, including people I already knew, just to refresh my memory. "Thank you, big brother." I smile, not too long later, Molly and the other two are done cooking dinner, which was mashed potato and chicken.

"Thank you, this is amazing. It's so nice to eat proper food again." I wolf done my plate. "You're welcome." Molly smiles. "Lola, slow down, you're going to-" I cut my brother off by coughing violently. "-choke." He finishes, helping me out.

"Thanks, Remmy." I grin, wiping my mouth. "Don't call me that and calm down yeah? No need to eat so damn quickly." Remus shakes his head. "Wouldn't you be excited though to finally eat proper food and not rodents and beetles and stuff?" I ask him. "I know where you're coming from. Azkaban doesn't feed you well and when I escaped and before I got my name cleared, I was living in my animagi form, eating whatever I could find."

"Thank you, Sirius!" I exclaimed, happy that someone got my point. He smiles up at me before I turn back to Remus. "See my point Remmy, human food is much nicer than the food I've lived off of for fifteen years."

"Okay okay! Just stop calling me Remmy." He groans. "What about Rem?" I ask. "No!"

"What can I give you as a nickname then?" I giggle. "You can use his nickname from school. Moony!" Sirius suggests. "Great idea! Thank you!" I grin. "So Moony, you see my point now?" I stuff the last mouthful of food into my mouth.

"I'll go wash up, once you're done, bring your plates through!" I stand up and head towards the sink."Lola, don't, I'll do it." Molly says. "Nope, you, Ginny and Professor McGonagall cooked, I'll clean."

"Lola, it's Minerva to you now, I'm no longer your teacher." McGonagall laughs. "Sorry Professor- I mean Minerva!" I start to run a sink full of water. After I'd finished washing everyone's plates and the pots up, I sit back down next to my brother.

"So, owl life eh?" Moody asks me. "Yeah," I reply. "How was it?" He asks. "It was decent until the male owls took some uh interest into me." I roll my eyes at the thought. "Haha, that must have sucked."

"Yep."

"So Lola, you'll be sharing a room with your brother, for now. You may join the Order if you wish, but stay undercover as an owl." Professor Dumbledore smiles at me. "Alright. I will join the Order, considering this time I am old enough." I say. "Good. We'll have you spying on people because you are unregistered, right?" I nod. "And if we need to reach Harry or anyone in or out of Hogwarts, we'll rely on you to deliver messages as an owl, it's less risky than using one of our own, no one will know who you belong to."

"Great!" I say I feel Remus wrap an arm around me protectively. "Don't worry dear brother, I won't get myself hurt or anything," I say. "I know. I'm just worried after the accident fifteen years ago. I really don't want to lose you again."

"I know, I'll be fine though. I'm thirty-five now, that's only a year younger than you." I reassure him. "You're still my little sister though." He says. "Yes I know, I'll always be your little sister, I can't really change that." I pat him on the back.

"Well, it looks like it's time for me to turn back into an owl," I say after half an hour of discussing things that I have missed in the past decade and a half. "I love you, Lola." Remus mumbles. "I love you too."

Then I transformed back into an owl. "We'll go and get some mealworms tomorrow for you," Hermione says. I flap my wings and sit on Remus's knee. It made me happy to finally see him again. He cups me in his hands and holds me close to his chest, stroking my feathers gently.

Remus was overprotective of me at Hogwarts when we were younger, goodness knows how protective he'll be now, now he knows what really happened.

I gently pecked his face, as if I was kissing it. "Hey man, can I hold her? I want to tell her something." Sirius says, Remus nods and hands me over to him.

"Hey, avoid the other owls, the male ones are a little... "He couldn't finish his sentence because an owl swoops down and starts to rub himself against me. "Pigwidgeon! No!" Ginny showed the owl away.

"Just be careful, yeah?" Sirius sniggers, I peck his hand hard out of annoyance. " Ouch, Moony! Your sister pecked me. "I can see why she'd do it, if I were an owl then I'd peck your eyes out."

"Don't give her ideas!" Sirius squeaks. I give a weird sounding hoot, which was meant to be a laugh but oh well, Remus gave me a weird look. "What's it like having an owl for a sister?" Sirius joked. "Well, I also have a dog for a best friend so you know." Remus laughs, taking me back off of Sirius.

Sirius transforms into a dog and barks at me, I hoot back loudly. He tries to lick me so I peck his ear. "Ouch, Moony, your sister's a bully." Sirius whines, turning back into his human form and rubbing his ear. I give a little-satisfied hoot before settling myself onto Remus' shoulder and snuggling into his neck.

"Isn't it a bit weird though? Having her living as an owl." Ron asks. "Ronald! It's for her safety." Molly whacks him over the head with a tea towel. I jump off of my brother and switch forms. "That's rich coming from you, you slept with Peter Pettigrew every night for years." I snort.

"So?" He glares. "It's no different, he's an animagus as well. And he slept in your bed with you." Remus pulls me down. "Idiot, it's not like I knew he was an animagus whereas Remus now does know you're an animagus. Wanker, coming in and ruining stuff." Ron mumbles. "Excuse me, what was that?" I gasp. "I SAID YOU RUINED EVERYTHING, NOW GET OUT." He yells.

I transform back into an owl and fly out of an open window. I hovered by it to hear the argument that raged on inside.

"RONALD! THAT WASN'T VERY NICE!" Molly screams. "Mum calm down, I'll go and find her." Bill stands up, Charlie and a girl called Nymphadora follow him out of the door. I fly higher up so I don't get seen. "What if I never see her again? I don't want to lose her again." My brother cries.

"They'll get her back, don't worry Moony." Sirius comforts him. "I hope so Padfoot. Fifteen years was long enough without her. I failed mum and dad, I promised to protect her, then I lost her." He Sobs. "You haven't failed anyone."

You never failed me or mum or dad don't worry Remus. You were a great big brother. I think. "Ron, apologise to Remus. You're the reason his sister is gone." Arthur snaps. "Well she shouldn't have interfered should have she?"

"I'm going to bed." Remus sighs. I looked down at the ground, I could see the Weasley brothers and Tonks below me. "Have you found her?" Sirius asks, coming out and joining them. I silently fluttered to directly above him and pooed into his hair.

"Accio Owl." Charlie sniggers, I land into his arms. "LOLA LUPIN! YOU RUINED MY AMAZING HAIR!" Sirius screams once we got inside. "Scream again and I'll shit in your hair again." I giggle, turning back into my owl form. "Oh no, you won't." Sirius uses magic to get rid of the poo before turning into a dog and chasing me upstairs into the room that Remus was staying in.

My wings began to ache so I landed on the bed, Sirius jumped up on top of me and barked. "Sirius, shut up." Remus groans. The dog licks my face, he goes to lick me again but I get there first and peck his nose. He whines a little and I hoot happily.

I transform back into my human form, Sirius still on top of me. He licks my face again before transforming into human form as well. "Well Miss Lupin, have you learnt your lesson?" He straddles me, moving his face closer to mine and whispering.

"I guess I have Mister Black," I smirk up at him, he leans down and kisses me, moving to my neck and starting to take off my top. I moan slightly when he hits a certain place on my neck, he smirks at me and continues to suck that part of my neck.

"Lola quit moaning, I want to go to sle-." Remus got off of his bed. "Sirius Orion Black, get the fuck off of my sister, now!" He yells, Sirius scampers out of the room and my brother comes to sit next to me. "Did he hurt you? What happened? Why was he on top of you? Are you oka-" My brother starts. "Yeah, I'm fine," I say.

"Sirius was on top of you- he was making out with you," Remus says. "So? What if I liked it?" I grin. "You little shit. First, you disappear for fifteen years and now you're practically having sex with my best mate. I'm disgusted in you. Get out."

I will myself into owl form and fly as quickly as I can, out of the room, bumping into Charlie on the way. "You okay?" He asks. I turn back into my human form. "Yeah, Remus kicked me out of the room because of stuff." I say.

"Lola, I still can't believe you." I hear Remus' voice getting closer. "Sleeping with Sirius, what were you thinking?" Charlie glances at me, Sirius runs up the stairs and grabs my arm.

"My wardrobe, owl form quick." I switch and he puts me on his arm, covering me with his cloak. "There you go." Sirius places me into his wardrobe. I hoot a thank you to him before he closes the doors on me.

"Hey Padfoot, have you seen my sister?" Remus asks. "No." Sirius answers. "Shit."

"Why do you need her?" Please don't speak. "I need to speak to her regarding something. I'm not impressed with her."

"Or you for that matter." Remus mutters. "What was that?" Sirius asks. "I'm not impressed with the fact that you were on top of my baby sister and kissing her, Black." Remus says, "Why ever not Moony?" I can practically hear Sirius smirk. "It's wrong!" Remus says.

"Well, Remus, when two people-" Sirius begins. "Yes, I fucking know, just why my sister? No one has seen her in fifteen years and the moment she reappears, you take that opportunity to sleep with her!" There was a door slam, and then silence. The wardrobe door opened and Sirius picked me up and placed me gently on his bed. "I'm sorry." He mumbles.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I put my hand on his shoulder. "But I-" Sirius begins. "What if I liked it?" I wink and leave Sirius alone in his room.

I go and sit in the kitchen. "You good?" Charlie asks me. I nod. "Yeah, I think Remus is out to murder Sirius though." I giggle. "Ah."

"Lola." Remus appears in the doorway. "Remus." I stare at him. "I-" We both try to speak. "You first." I say, Remus sits down next to me.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just scared something bad's going to happen to you again. I'm scared of losing you." He says. "I understand, I went off the radar completely and then began to get comfy with someone I haven't seen for fifteen years, I'm sorry." We both go to hug each other.

"Aww, the Lupin's are back to being happy siblings again." Sirius coos. "Shut it Black."

"What even happened in the first place?" Kingsley asks, settling down in his chair, readying himself for the tale. Sirius grins and opens his mouth. "Well, after Lola and I played 'chase', I may have kissed her and some stuff and Remus lowkey flipped about it."

He explained some more of the story in detail, Charlie and Kingsley snigger at points of the story, particularly when it got to the part about him straddling me on the bed and then hiding in his wardrobe to hide from Remus.

"Sirius! Did you have to go into that much detail?" I screech when he said something inappropriate, he shrugs at me, a smirk forming on his face. I switch to my animagus form and fly at him, trying to peck his face. Sirius switched form too and I flew after him. "LOLA, SIRIUS, STOP!" Remus sighs, rubbing his hand over his face before chasing after us.

I see blood dripping down the side of Sirius' face. "Lola, what did you do to him?" My brother grabs my wing, I try to peck his hand to try and free myself from his grasp. "Petrificus Totalus." Remus points his wand at me. "Remus, you did not just petrify your sister, did you?" Molly gasps in horror as Remus holds my stiff owl body in his hand.

"Ah, whatever. She'll be fine." He waves it off as if it was no big deal, the little shit. "Pads, I need you to transform back." Remus orders Sirius, tossing my on the sideboard as if I was an inanimate object. Sirius does as he is told and Remus Padfoot's ear, wiping the drying blood off of it. "Lola, you've taken a small chunk of his ear off." Oops, well. He deserved it.

"I'll take care of Sirius, Remus. Don't worry." Molly shuffles past my brother, picking up Sirius. "Thank you, Molly."

Remus POV

I pick the owl up from the sideboard and carry her upstairs into the room we're sharing. "Finite." I mumble, she becomes unstuck and quickly transforms back into a human. "Lola, you took out a chunk of his ear." I glare at her. "I know, I'm sorry." She glances at the floor, I feel slight guilt for petrifying her, but she deserved it.

"You need to think about what you have done Lola, otherwise I might petrify you again." I giggle, I glance at the girl once more before exiting the room and going downstairs.

Lola POV

I lay on my bed and pull my duvet over my eyes, wanting to go to sleep after the long, eventful day I had had. After laying in silence for ages, the bedroom door opens and in walks my brother and Tonks. I roll my eyes under my duvet and try to go to sleep.

The pair mess around in bed, I hear moaning and Tonks mumbling Remus' name over and over again, I get up, snatching the pillow and blanket off of my bed and go downstairs, reaching the kitchen, I place my pillow and duvet on the dining table and climb up, snuggling back under my duvet hoping to fall asleep. I close my eyes, but all that happened was a massive twinge of guilt as I realised that over the past 15 years, I could have gone and tried to find Remus at any time that I wanted, I could have tried to make contact with him, but I didn't. Why?

"Why are you lying on the table?" I sit up quickly and see Arthur standing by the table. I explain the situation to him, Arthur laughs. "Loud were they? Must have put a silencing charm on so the people outside couldn't hear. Unlucky you."

"They were VERY loud." I shake my head. "Well, we can't have you sleeping on a table, can't be good for your back. Come, there's a spare bed in the room that Fred and George are sharing." Arthur beckons me to follow him.

"Boys?" He knocks on their door. "Yeah?" Voices reply. "Can we come in?" The door swings open and the two identical twins stand on the other side. "What would you like Dear Father?" George, or was it, Fred? I don't know, giggles.

"Can Lola use your spare bed? Please." Arthur shoots them a stern look. "Of course, come in Lola." The twin on the left side of the door grabs my wrist, pulling me in before shutting the door on their dad.

"Thank you." I smile at the boys, pulling my other pillow and duvet on top of the ones that were already on the spare bed. "Not a problem. How come you need the spare bed?"

"My brother and Nymphadora are very loud in bed, let's just leave it at that." I sigh. "Oh damn. Well, you're very welcome to move into this room. Even when we're here, you can still have that bed."

"Thank you," I say again. "Not a problem, now, we'd best be off to sleep. Got planning to do. Don't tell Mum though. Last time she found out, she burnt all the order forms."

"I won't tell her, don't worry." I say, pulling the duvet over my shoulders and closing my eyes.

------------------time skip--------------

"Wakey wakey." My eyes shoot open, the Weasley twins are stood over me, a jug of water floating mid-air. "Ah, you're awake. If you had have slept for thirty seconds longer, that would have gone over your head." George smirks. "Oh, by the way, Remus is looking for you." Fred adds.

"What the Merlin does he want?" I groan, exiting the twins' room.

"Lola, where were you last night?" Remus says, pulling me into a hug the moment he spots me. "In the twins' room." I say. "Why?"

"Did you and Tonks have fun last night?" I raise an eyebrow. "Is that why you left the room?"  Remus smirks. I nod. "Ah, sorry about that, lowkey forgot you were there during the moment, you snuck away quietly." My brother says.

"Lolaaaa!" Sirius runs at me at full speed, nearly knocking me over and hugs me. "Sirius!" I whine, hugging him back. "What?" He smirks down at me. "You nearly knocked me over." I say. He kisses my cheek and grins at me.

"Are you flirting with my sister?" Remus asks. "Possibly Moony." Sirius places his hands on either side of my cheeks and pulls me in for a kiss. I kiss him back, the kiss deepens.

"Can you two please stop kissing? It's weird!" Remus sighs in the background, Sirius chooses to ignore him, I put my arms around Sirius' neck and he picks me up and pushes me against a wall in the room.

"Padfoot! Get off  my sister!" I hear a coffee cup slam down. "Remus, leave them to it." Albus' voice sounds through the kitchen. I hear the two of them leave. "My room?" Sirius murmurs, I nod. The older man carries me upstairs, his lips never leaving mine.

"Silencio." Sirius lazily waves his wand at his door before turning his attention back to me.

"Ready?"

#Sirius Black #Remus Lupin #Harry Potter #Sirius Black x reader #Marauders #Molly Weasley #Hogwarts #Hermione Granger #ron weasley #Ginny Weasley #Albus Dumbledore #Minerva McGonagall #Arthur Weasley #nymphadora tonks #charlie weasley #fred weasley #george weasley #bellatrix lestrange #bill weasley #padfoot #moony #rodolphus lestrange #lucius malfoy #books

[buckysmischief]

what’s up danger? - 1

sunflower, part 1

Peter Parker x reader

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: language, sexual innuendos

AN: @perpetually-tuned-out helped me write a piece of this & it’s bolded, Amanda you’re amazing & I cannot thank you enough!

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

🕷🕸

Peter’s POV

Peter was watching TV alone in his apartment one day and got back-to-back phone calls from Fury and Tony about a new villain they wanted to recruit. The problem was that no one knew where she was currently due to her ability to change reality, which is why they needed Peter. After the whole ordeal with Mysterio, Peter and Tony began working on a piece of tech that would detect any false realities.

Once arriving at the SHIELD NY office, Peter was welcomed by Maria and escorted to the debriefing room where Fury and Tony were waiting. On the table was a new Spider-Man suit, which meant Tony had added new tech that he would be needing for his mission.

“So, kid, do you remember a thing called the reality stone?” Peter was well into his 20s but Tony has never stopped calling him ‘kid’, which he was fine with. As long as it came from Tony, from anyone else felt like an insult.

“Um yeah, sort of. The stones were destroyed by Thanos after the snap though, weren’t they?” puzzled Peter, “Is something happening? Is he back? Do we-”

“Woah there, slow down.” Tony interrupted, “Back in 2013 the stone, or Aether, was in London. There was this thing called the Convergence happening, I’m not getting into it right now so ask Thor if you’re curious. Basically, as a young girl YN YLN, was in London in 2013 on a class trip, got caught up in an anomaly, and she absorbed the powers of the aether.”

“Like Jane?”

“No. We’re not sure why, all we know is that she uses it how Thanos did.”

“Back to the point,” Fury interjects, “It’s damn near impossible to catch a person who can alter reality, so Tony updated the tracking abilities in your suit.”

“I ran tests on all the stones when we had them, good thing too or we never would have had the technology to find her.” Tony boasts. “Took some time to figure out, though. We need you to test it out, see if you can find her when the radar detects a location.”

Peter nods, taking in all the new information presented to him. “Okay, but why me? Not that I’m complaining, I just don’t understand why I’m her assigned Avenger.”

“It’s simple,” Maria starts, “Beck did something similar and, once you finally figured it out, you handled the situation extremely well.”

“She’s also your neighbor,” Fury laughs, “we call her Rem.”

Peter was shocked. His quiet, shy, and probably overly nervous neighbor was a villain? They had been neighbors for two years, how did he not notice? Did she know that he’s Spider-Man? Well, at least he knew her name now.

“Okay, what do you want me to do?”

“Try and recruit her.”

Your POV

For the past year Spider-Man has been on your ass every move you made, and not because you lived right beside him. After the first two times he found you attempting to rob a bank, you figured he must have found a way to track your powers. You had to stop using your powers at home, which wasn’t a huge deal. The last thing you needed was Peter Parker invading your personal life.

It wasn’t hard to find out who he was, the fact that his girlfriend was always yelling “Why can’t you just stop being Spider-Man?” helped a lot. They fought a lot, actually. It was none of your business, so you weren’t worried about why, but you did know she wanted him to retire the suit.

“Oh Spidey, still comin’ back I see. You don’t have a girlfriend to keep you busy?” he hadn’t even made himself known yet, but you knew he was there.

“Not really, we broke up. Again. We’ve kinda been in the cycle of.. Wait, stop distracting me!” webs flew from his suit and entangled your hands.

“C’mon Spidey, you know how I feel about being tied up.” you say with a smirk.

“Yeah, but something tells me you like it.” Peter smirked under his mask, “Otherwise you wouldn’t have made it so easy.”

Peter had slowly been getting closer, and you were suddenly pressed against the wall. And if the eyes on his mask were anything to go by, he was squinting. It’s like this is a different Spider-Man. Usually if you get a little flirty, he would get flustered, flirt back a little, but you always got away before he got to your hands. However, this time, the lack of witty banter had thrown you off, this time he was really flirting. Peter had noticed the slight twitch of your eyes as he considered his next few words.

“I could just make this the easiest job and have you suspended from the air, but something tells me you’ll beg me to tighten the restraints.” Your pupils dilate at his crude comment and your natural instinct was to lash out with your hands.

As your arms buckled and fists clenched in the webbing Peter realized that he’d mobilized your strongest asset. Until you could free yourself, you were trapped under Spider-Man’s gaze.

“So Remmy,” how you loathed that nickname, “why are you in the weapons vault, at SHIELD of all places?”

“Heard some rumors Cap had extra shields, got bored and thought I’d have a look.” While that was true, you failed to mention what one would go for if any existed.

Peter scoffed, “Come on Rem, just meet with him once. You don’t have to be a thief forev-”

“I am not meeting Nick Fury or Tony Stark.”

Peter closed the remaining distance between you and removed the webbing from your hands, holding them in his. He bent down and whispered in your ear, “Then stay for me.”

You don’t know when your feelings for Peter, and Spider-Man, changed. It started out as a typical hero-villian dynamic, but slowly you developed something for the masked hero.

“I’ll think about it.” one moment you are kissing his cheek, and the next he is watching you disappear behind a door that never existed before.

What the hell was that? So what Peter and his girlfriend broke up, that’s not anything new. You could count on one hand the amount of time she’s slammed the door at 2 in the morning after Peter had come back from patrolling the city just this month. Flirting wasn’t anything new, just a way to try and distract the other. No, you had just never had Peter, Spider-Man, act on his flirtations.

-

You walked out of the door you created and immediately blended in with foot traffic, deciding that you were going to pick up Chinese food and head home for the night.

You should have went with Italian. Of course Peter would be there. He was putting his card back in his wallet when he spotted you. “Yn? Hey, Peter. I mean I’m Peter, we’re neighbors.”

Never in the three years of living next to this man have you two ever said more than a, “Hey, they put your mail in my box again by mistake” to each other. What the hell had possessed both of his identities to change things? “Yeah. I mean, I know who you are.”

“You going home after this? We could walk together, if that’s fine with you I mean.” he was nervous. Not even an hour ago he had you pinned against a wall and now he’s suddenly shy?

You thought about your next words, and the fact that you weren’t supposed to know he was single. “And how would your girlfriend feel about that?”

“MJ? She left, again. I told her to not come back anymore, it’s a long story. Not important anymore. But it’s fine if you don’t want to!”

You really should say no, “No, I want to! I mean, why not, ya know?”

After paying for your food the two of you walk back to Peter’s apartment, he had just bought a new TV and suggested movie with dinner. As the night went on you both gravitated toward each other, your legs had ended up stretched out across his lap while his hand was gripping your thigh.

It was odd, knowing how he spends half of his life and then learning how he spends his other. Your favorite was finding the fiction in the story of his real life. He didn’t develop tech for Tony Stark, he developed teach with Tony Stark. He tested it. You also found out that he was a giant nerd and a total sweetheart.

But after all you learned about Peter that night, he didn’t tell you that you were apart of the reason MJ left.

It started out with him coming home hurt after fighting a random bank robber, a bullet grazed his shoulder and he acted like it was nothing. That’s when MJ started asking Peter to stay in the lab more and out of the field, but Peter couldn’t do that.

Then you became his mission. MJ noticed how obsessed he was with catching you and showing you the perks of being a hero. Every night he found you he came home and it was all he could talk about. “MJ I know she’s technically a villain-”

“-she is literally a villain-”

“-but you should have seen the way she changed everything. We were in Central Park and suddenly we were inside an abandoned building, it was amazing!”

No, Peter wasn’t going to mention that. He just wanted to do this. They could figure out her being a professional thief, and him being a fucking Avenger later. Right?

🕷🕸

Permanent tags: @sociallyeneptbarnes @valkyriesryde @buckysdumbmetalarm @rogvewitch @infj-slytherclaw @whimsicalatbest @readeity @nea90sweetie @aestheticrelated @pinknerdpanda @justabitoverobsessed @imsoft-barnes @actualdpshuri @goalexis123 @https-bucky @stuckyandsciencebros @moli1497 @agentpeggybarnesfanfics @justmebeingtheweirdmeiam @screaming-fridge @geeksareunique @rhymesmenagerie @brokenthelovely @ivoryhazlewood @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @mushyjellybeans @sebbbystaaan @rayche776 @buggy-blogs @estillion14 @perpetually-tuned-out @stuckonjbbarnes @sandyclaws

Series tags: @stateoflovinged

#peter parker x reader #Peter Parker x villain reader #peter parker imagine #Tony stark #nick fury #Maria hill #mj #Michelle jones #reader insert #marvel #mcu fanfic #whats up danger?

[mor-beck-more-problems]

Friendship Fail || Morgan & Luce

TIMING: Current

LOCATION: Downtown

PARTIES: @divineluce & @mor-beck-more-problems

SUMMARY: Morgan isn’t leveled up enough to access Luce’s backstory.

“I’m heading out for the night. See you tomorrow, Ulf.” Luce said as she locked up her workspace and headed out the backdoor of Ink Inc. Her wrist was killing her from the extra hours she’d put in today, but whatever. The bills were piling up and she needed to get a handle on them before she was drowning in debt. That was the bitch of life in White Crest, wasn’t it? Knowing that there were forces beyond your control, that there were people trying to murder and torture and control other people at every turn, that ghosts were out here possessing people, that love potions were fucking people up and on top of it all? She had goddamn hospital bills to pay.

“Fuck.” She muttered, rubbing the back of her neck as she stepped out of Ink Inc and began to head towards Soul. This had been her routine for the past few weeks-- extra hours and long days at Ink Inc followed by drinks at Soul followed by crashing for whatever sleep she could snag. Wash, rinse, repeat. Throw in some sleepless nights, a cat trying to smother her in her sleep, and researching how to get ghosts to fuck off… it made for a great time. Luce caught a glimpse of herself in the windows of one of the storefronts and winced. She looked like shit. “Christ.” She sighed. As she continued down the sidewalk, she noticed a small familiar figure walking across the other side-- Fuck.

Morgan was desperate to get back into the swing of things. Deirdre was back to being herself, the semester was underway, and even if the fairy rings wouldn’t be gone for two more months, the broken pieces of her life were starting to hold together. Enough so that Morgan even delighted in late night runs downtown for forgotten goods. Normal, manageable levels of chaos. That is, until she saw Luce coming out of Ink Inc, looking more sour-faced than she had even at Bea’s birthday party.

“Luce...?” She called. “Hey!” She waved her down and jogged quickly across the street to catch up to her. “How’s it going?” She asked. “Are you doing okay?”

Luce did her best to try and hurry away without looking like she was outright running away, but fuck. For fuck’s sake. After the conversation she’d had with Morgan online, she didn’t want to deal with the woman at all. She didn’t want her pity, didn’t want her weird invasive questions, didn’t want to have to deal with any of that. She was doing just fine on her own, no matter what other people thought. She was fine. Or at least, she would be with a drink in her hand. “I was.” She growled, her tone testy as she continued down the street. The bar was only a few blocks further, but fuck, it had never felt so far away. Casting a withering look at the woman, Luce made an offhand gesture to try and get the woman to just fucking… go, “Leave me alone, Morgan.”

Morgan slowed down. She didn’t know what Luce was running from or what was weighing on her so bad, but she could feel the ugliness of it rolling off her. “Sorry I happen to give a shit and be concerned,” she said, stopping short as the witch rebuffed her. “What is your deal? Why are you--” Like this, she wanted to say. She stopped herself frowning, and asked instead, “Did I...do something piss you off that I’m not aware of?”

“Yeah, sure did.” Luce replied brusquely, though the words were a lie. Morgan hadn’t done anything, not really. She was just being her weird… fucking good vibes, hippy bullshit self. And yeah, Luce knew that wasn’t all there was to the former witch. She knew some of the baggage the woman carried with her, remembered that jarring lack of sensation, had felt the pain of existing as a soul stuck in the husk of a body that had once been hers. But, Morgan was determined. And, worse, Morgan knew Remmy. Cared about Remmy. Wanted nothing but the best for Remmy. And for some fucked up reason, thought that Luce could be that for them. “I just got done with a 6 hour session and was trying to go the bar. Instead of that, you’re here, bothering me. Do I really need more of a reason to get annoyed with that?” She replied.

It only took Morgan a few seconds to consider this. “Yes. Yes, I do,” she said. “Because all of this--” She gestured vaguely at Luce, “Is a little disproportionate to everything we have going on here. And I get it, if you’re looking for an outlet and need an easy target, you’ve had the shittiest time and none of it’s fair, but a head’s up might be nice. Or, you know, cut a dead girl a break and pick someone else or, I don’t know, actually say what it is that’s actually got you so upset!” She held her arms out, gesturing to all the nothing that Luce acting like an angry time bomb was helping. “This might be wild, but there are people here for you. I’m here for you, Luce. Or I would be if you let me.”

If she let people be there for her. Luce let out a derisive snort and shook her head. That was what had gotten her into this mess, wasn’t it? She’d tried to help Bea, tried to protect Nell, tried to rescue Remmy, tried to save Nadia, had done so much to be there for people that she’d forgotten why she’d cut herself off from her family in the first place. It never made things better. Doing things, helping people, it only made things worse. It dug a deeper hole, one where people thought that asking about your feelings would suddenly make everything better. “I don’t want your help. Go help Remmy. Or, better yet, stay in your own lane and worry about your own shit.” Luce growled, all venom.

“Then what do you want, Luce?” Morgan asked, softer now. “And I don’t mean your angry teenager nonsense, I mean, really. What is it that you want? Because the last time we talked, it seemed like it wasn’t all that hard to get. You just have to ask for it and believe that you’re worth more than whatever your mom or whoever else told you. You...you can just say, Luce. The world’s not gonna fall down or turn its back on you or mock you or whatever else you think is gonna happen. And, you know, even if it did, then fuck the world! Try again anyway! We have one pathetic life here, so why not?” She held her gaze, exasperated in all her sympathy. She’d tried this whole routine a few times before and it always fell apart. She wasn’t the kind of person who could commit to giving up or walking away unless someone made her. But she didn’t think that made much of a difference. Shutting your life away when you were hurt only made you lose more than you already had, and Morgan didn’t want that for Luce.

“I want you to leave me alone, Morgan.” Luce insisted as she continued down the street. She didn’t like hearing this, didn’t like being forced in a situation where she couldn’t just delete her words, or go offline. Having Morgan here, talking to her, yelling at her in her face? It was too fucking real and she didn’t want that. At the mention of her mother, though, Luce’s blood froze and she whirled around, anger in her eyes. “Don’t talk about my mother.” She warned the woman. She didn’t want to fucking think about her mom. What she’d done, to her, to her sisters. What the entire fucking coven had done to them. The night she’d been cast out-- yes, she’d been prepared for it, had known that the consequences for what they’d done were coming. But, it still felt like she’d lost a limb, like she’d lost a piece of herself. The coven had mattered to her. Beyond Ink Inc., it one of the few places that she felt as though she was contributing to something that mattered. And now she didn’t even have that. “What I want doesn’t fucking matter-- there’s shit that needs to get done.”

“I’m sorry,” Morgan sighed. It looked like she had guessed right about at least one of the things bothering Luce, but of course it was a sore spot. She held up her hands in a half-hearted truce. She wouldn’t go there; not explicitly, anyway. “But what you want does matter. Of course it matters. You matter, Luce. You matter as much as anyone.” She risked a tentative step forward. “And whatever you need to get done--” And stars, she had no idea what that Luce needed to get done. She’d never done half the things the Vural girls had done, had no idea how to move forward from the kinds of losses and twisted paybacks they’d faced. She’d never had enough family or love to need to. But she’d been tired before, and desperate, and angry. She had woken up mornings to see nothing but the endless, screwed up grind against odds she couldn’t beat and people who didn’t care. For all she knew those times were only a fraction of what Luce had to deal with; how could she not feel for her? “You don’t have to be alone. And I don’t believe you really want to be. People want to be here, they want to listen. I want to listen, because you’re my friend and I care about you. But if you won’t talk to me, at least...pick someone? Trust someone. You’re worth it, okay?”

Irritation and anger burning hotly in her veins, Luce glared at the woman, crossing her arms and holding her ground as Morgan took a step towards her. “Cut the fucking “you’re valid” special snowflake bullshit.” She growled. Morgan was patronizing her and she didn’t fucking need it. Or want it. “You think I don’t want to be alone? Well, joke’s on you because that’s exactly what I want. I want to be alone, in my cabin, away from all of this shit.” She said before moving forward, attempting to brush past the other woman. But, as she pushed forward, her shoulder collided with Morgan’s unyielding, solid arm. “Christ!” Luce swore, shaking her already sore arm out. Fucking zombies. “Fuck off. You’re not my fucking friend. Go find someone else to play bleeding heart with.”

“First of all, if you really wanted to be alone, you wouldn’t have so many friends to lose in the first place,” Morgan said, putting out a hand for Luce to keep her distance, lest she hurt herself or rip off the last of Morgan’s patience. “Second of all: you can be as pissed as you like for as many shitty reasons as you like, but you do not get to look me in the face and tell me I’m full of shit. You don’t know my whole story either, Luce, and you do not get to decide that I’m playing some game or lying to you just because what I’m saying makes you uncomfortable. Just because I don’t cope with my suffering like you do, doesn’t mean I’m not for real.” Morgan didn’t raise her voice. She had a fist around her temper and was determined to keep it steady. But Luce had finally succeeded in making her angry and Morgan couldn’t swallow it down. “And I am your friend. Maybe you’re not mine, I can live with that, but you’re not going to re-narrate my feelings for me to fit your forever-alone scheme. Because you’re not. You’re just not. What on the mother’s earth is so awful or scary about that?”

“I don’t have friends-- I’ve just got,” Luce paused, not sure how to explain her situation. Her sisters, they were blood, they were family. That much made sense in her mind. But, Remmy, Nadia, Ulf, Ariana, hell, even Erin? They weren’t friends. “Obligations.” She muttered. Yeah. Obligations was the best way she could put it. They were all people who didn’t deserve the hand they’d been dealt and she had a way to try and make things right. But, had she even done that? The situation with Remmy was weirder than ever, Nadia was still… not Nadia, Ulf had been distant, Ariana had still lost her sister, and she’d burned all her bridges with Erin. Because that’s what she did. She burned her bridges while she was still on them. Christ. “Fine, you’re for real with this. Whatever. Doesn’t mean I have to listen to you.” Rubbing her shoulder, Luce glared at the woman. “It’s not scary, I just don’t fucking want people.”

“If that’s really so true,” Morgan said, as evenly as she could, “Then why do you bother with people in the first place? Why is there even anyone to push away, Luce? If you really didn’t give a shit about anyone, I don’t see why you’d give anyone the time of day, especially Remmy. So, what is it? Why do you think you shouldn’t get to have people? What’s the worst you think is going to happen? Because whatever it is… Stars, Luce, you’re not a bad person.” Morgan deflated, shaking her head at Luce. “You get to have people, no matter how bad things get. Why is that so hard to believe?”

Because she was fucking stupid, that’s why. She’d left the comfortable isolation of work and her home and somehow, she’d managed to get wrapped up in all of this bullshit of people and obligations and other people’s fucking feelings. Luce swallowed and shook her head. “Fuck off. I know I’m not a bad person, but I’m not a fucking good one either. And I don’t--” She clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. “Fuck off with this shit. Get out of my way, Morgan.” She said, knowing that there was no real way she could get the woman out of her path. The zombie had undead strength on her side and Luce couldn’t do much about that.

“You don’t have to be good to deserve people who care about you, Luce,” Morgan said, as if it were obvious. “No one does. There’s no good enough coupon that unlocks the magic friend-having door or the ‘no bad things happening to you anymore’ door. You just...you already do.” She shouldn’t have been surprised at this.She had struggled to explain it to Remmy and Deirdre enough times before. But Luce… she had so much love around her just waiting to be taken, a whole cosmic abundance, Morgan couldn’t get her head around why on earth she’d turn her back on it so stubbornly.

“What the fuck do I have to say to get you off my goddamn back?” Luce growled, her irritation and a strange, creeping sense of… fear? Was that fear that she felt? Christ. Why was she afraid? Because Morgan was here? Because she was asking these questions that Luce didn’t even ask herself? “You know what comes with “friends” and people who want “relationships” from you?” She said, making aggressive air quotes with her hands. “A whole lot of bullshit that involves this. People trying to get into my head, trying to figure out why I do what I do, trying to make me open up. And I don’t fucking want that. I don’t want people to fucking--” Luce paused and shook her head again. “I spent five years perfectly happy and away from everyone else. And that’s what I’m going to do once all this shit with Nadia and Erin and Remmy is taken care of.”

Morgan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Well, yeah,” she said simply. “Of course that’s what it leads to. That’s what relationships are all about. That’s just how it is being a person. But it’s not a bad thing for someone to know you. I mean, what’s the point if no one ever does?” She tried to find Luce’s gaze, some signal of what fear she was clinging so desperately to. “What are you afraid of happening if someone actually understands something about you? Those people you mentioned aren’t going to run or turn you away. There’s no reason why you would be anything less than accepted, Luce. There just isn’t, okay…? Tell me you at least know that, huh?”

Luce glared at the woman, lips pressed tightly together. It’s not a bad thing for people to know her? Oh fuck off with that. If people knew her, if people understood what was going on in her head, what she thought, how she felt, how fucking… confused and scared and absolutely out of her depth she was, they’d know exactly why she pushed them away. If people saw the full measure of who she was, they’d know exactly how inadequate she was. And that was the scariest part: someone knowing her, knowing her completely? If they left, that worked just fine for her. But, if they didn’t? That’s what fucked her up the most. “I’m not afraid of what they’d do. And if they left, hell, that’d be even better.” She retorted. “I don’t give a shit if people accept me.” Because they wouldn’t. They couldn’t.

It took Morgan a few moments to figure out what Luce was really saying. It was so antithetical to everything she’d spent her life craving and against every desire she’d stupidly nurtured headlong into disaster. Luce wasn’t afraid of rejection, she was afraid of...acceptance? Was that so foreign to her that she wouldn’t know what to do with it? Morgan’s face fell as she considered this. “Luce…” She breathed her name gently. “It’s not a bad thing if they do. The world won’t collapse if you’re loved for who you are. It’s okay. You can let them. And if it really doesn’t matter that much to you--” She shrugged, knowing that for whatever reason, it did, it had to, “Why not? What the hell, right?”

The way Morgan said her name pissed her off, like she’d figured something out. Luce’s eyes narrowed. “Get the fuck out of my way, right now.” She said, her hands growing hot with barely restrained flames. Her hands closed into fists at her sides, smothering the blue flames that had begun to lap at the skin of her palms. Not here, but not to Morgan either. As much as the other woman was pissing her off, she couldn’t just light her problems on fire. She’d learned that the hard way. “You think you can bait me into telling you shit? Not happening. Not fucking happening.” She snarled. Morgan didn’t get to know her. No one did.

Morgan could tell that she wasn’t getting through to Luce. Maybe she was the wrong person to be saying this to her. Maybe Luce was so scared, she really did conduct her life to make sure that no one got close enough to convince her. Something wasn’t adding up, but maybe Morgan didn’t have enough variables to make it work. “I’m not baiting you, Luce,” she said. “I don’t know who lied to you for so long that you think everyone who gives a shit about you is running a con, or lying, or doesn’t understand what they’re in for, but that’s just...not how it is. Stars, Luce, you should at least know me enough to figure that part out.”

“Get out of my face.” Luce repeated. She didn’t want to hear about whatever the fuck Morgan was trying to say. “I don’t care how you see the world or what you think I should do. I do what I want. And right now, I want you to leave me alone, I want to get a drink, and I want to pretend like I don’t have to deal with all the fucking bullshit in this town.” She said shaking her head. Because she did. She had to fix shit before she could get back to her cabin, go back to trying to figure out how to harness the strange magic that brewed within her, and go back to being alone. That was all she wanted.

Morgan watched Luce walk away. Her name rose up from her stomach, burned the roof of her mouth, itching to be called out. But if Luce couldn’t understand her five seconds ago, she wouldn’t understand her now. Morgan would have to give her the night to herself before she could even try talking again. She let her go, deflating  and turning back toward her car. Sooner or later someone had to get through to Luce. They had to. Right?

#friendship fail #wr luce #wr chatzy #wr luce chatzy #wickedswriting

[corpse--diem]

Dirty Outs | Luce & Erin

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @divineluce​ & @corpse–diem SUMMARY: Erin bumps into Luce at Stacked Deck looking for information. Unfortunately, nobody wins.

Erin found out very quickly there was only so much couch wallowing that could be done at a time like this. It was unproductive. Didn’t soothe her mind or make her arm feel better, either. And from the moment she stepped foot inside, the Stacked Deck seemed exactly like the kind of place Felix would haunt. He was the one that had given her the tip-off, after all. Cigar smoke lingered in the air and an icy chill filled her chest. Her mind flashed back to the fire. To Roy. To the gray smoke curling around his fingers as those black eyes found hers. She shoved the fear down, put it somewhere it could be useful for now. She started to move casually through the small seedy bar and ordered a whiskey, neat. Her eyes flickered up from her drink, back down, then up again. The double-take only verified just how familiar that face she’d just landed on was. “Luce?” she blurted out.

Luce glanced over the rim of her glass, staring down the man who sat across the poker table from her. She knew her hand, knew what she’d been dealt. And, she had a decent idea of what he had. His tells were shit. He got twitchy, fiddly. He messed around with the zipper of his shitty hoodie when his cards were bad, rubbed the back of his neck when his cards were good in an attempt to make them seem like they weren’t. He was real fucking shit. As the man threw in a couple of 20 dollar chips, Luce cast him a level gaze before pushing her sizeable stack of chips in. All in. As the dealer signalled to the man, asking if he wanted to continue, he threw his cards away in disgust. With a grin, Luce tossed her cards-- a complete garbage hand-- and cashed out with her winnings in a handful of $100 chips. She’d gotten at least $750 from the table, possibly more. Getting up from the table, she turned to the bar, but froze. Shit. First Morgan, now Erin? Just another person she didn’t want to fucking deal with. Squaring her shoulders, Luce made her way to the bar. “Erin.” She replied before gesturing to the bartender, “Whiskey on the rocks. Put it on his tab.” She said, jerking her thumb over to the bald pit boss who’d spent most of the night hiding from her.

Erin tried to reign in some of the shock in her eyes but she could tell from Luce’s expression that she’d already obliterated that poker face. Great. She worked her jaw, shifting in her seat a bit. “Wouldn’t have pictured you as the gambling type,” she said with a curt smile, remembering how well their last conversation had gone. Not well. Pretty poorly, one could even say. “The Vural sisters are full of surprises though, aren’t you?” A wider smile crossed her lips this time, more genuine than before. She took a sip of the whiskey, a longer one than she’d usually go for, but she had a feeling she’d need it. Her eyes scanned the crowd briefly, not only to look for any familiar faces but to see if any eyes were burning holes into her back just yet. Didn’t seem like anyone recognized her, which was a good start. “So, uh… what’s your game?” she asked, turning back to Luce quickly, then to the pit boss she’d gestured to. “Does that mean you’re kicking ass?”

Rolling her eyes at the woman’s attempt at small talk, Luce accepted the drink from the bartender with a nod and lifted it to her lips. “Shows how little you know about us.” She replied. Both she and Bea had been born in Vegas, the family tradition every holiday had been to play some kind of table game, where their mother and father taught them how to count cards, how to hide their tells, how to turn the odds in their favor. The memory was bitter and she took a long drink from her glass. “I’m decent at any of them.” Not as good as Bea, though, the thought came to her and she grinned wryly to suppress that particular train of thought. “And it means that I’ve got an unwilling friend here. I can clean this place out and he can’t get mad at me for it.” She said before casting a sidelong look at Erin. “Why are you here? You going to try and blow this place up too?”

Erin raised a brow. “You’ve got me there,” she answered. It felt like one by one, the Vurals had barged their way into her life. Nell, especially, and quite literally. They’d blown in and out of each other’s lives since she’d met Nell way back at the beginning of the year. Felt like a lifetime ago at this point. “Good for you,” she smiled coyly at her. If she was good at it and could make some money, what was the harm? But she couldn’t help the eye roll that came when she turned back to Luce. Yep. There it was. “No,” she grumbled, before taking another slow sip of her drink. Straightened her back as she glanced around them, waiting for the bartender to move to the opposite side of the bar. “Trust me, trouble’s the last thing I want right now. I’m just here for information,” she said quietly as she swirled the whiskey around in her glass. “Feel free to just--do your thing and continue to ignore me. Won’t be offended.” It’d probably make her job a little easier at this point, honestly.

Luce stared at the ice floating around in her glass, watched it spin in the amber liquid. She poked her finger at the ice cube, stirring it for a moment before taking another sip from the glass. “Yep. Good for me.” She said, the chips in her rubbing together. She’d made a decent chunk of money and she really couldn’t afford to lose at the tables. It was in her best interest to leave while the going was good. But, she couldn’t help her… interest was the wrong word. Curiosity? Yeah, curiosity. Erin had been on a warpath, literally. And like any war, there were innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Donuts. She’d only talked to the man once, when he’d caught her out in the middle of a thunderstorm, but she hadn’t had a problem with him. Another person gone too soon in this bitch of a town. “Information, huh? And you think you can get that here?” She said, gesturing to the Stacked Deck’s patrons. “I don’t know if you realized this, but the people here don’t just go around running their mouth.”

Erin felt the burn of eyes from her seat when the door to the Stacked Deck opened again. She didn’t look immediately, concentrating instead on Luce’s question. “A friend of mine is a regular here. Most of these guys are harmless but there’s a few to watch out for,” she said with a nod, taking another small sip of her drink. Lowered her voice even more as she turned to face Luce more squarely. “There’s something I need and someone here knows where it is. Hopefully I’ll be out of your hair soon enough,” she smiled, lips tight against her teeth. Her eyes drifted to the man walking past them at the bar, settling into a table not far from them at all. There was a smile on his face that could easily have passed for a sneer and it was hard to tell if it was just general male-creepiness or criminal-creepiness oozing from every inch of him. She crinkled her nose, glancing back to Luce. “He a friend of yours?”

“Uh huh.” Luce said with an unimpressed nod. A friend of hers. Who exactly was Erin friends with that spent time here? Then again, she took another drink from her glass, she didn’t really care, did she? Erin had helped her family, she’d blown up a building for her, they were even. And, she’d hurt Adam, Nell, and Remmy in the process. So fucking even. “Well, the sooner the fucking better.” She muttered. Noticing the way that the other woman shifted to face her, Luce followed her gaze. The man was definitely staring at them, a discomforting grin on his face. He wasn’t leering at them, he was just… staring. “Never seen him before in my life.” Luce said, scowling before turning back to the bar. Waving a hand, she moved to flag down the bartender, “Another, please.”

Comforting. Erin tightened her jaw, letting her eyes bounce around the room instead of staring at the set that kept finding their way over to the two of them. It seemed like he eventually got the hint though, and his eyes dipped down to the game of blackjack that was starting in front of him. Whatever his deal was, it didn’t sit right, and she couldn’t shrug the uneasy feeling from her shoulders. “I don’t like the look of him. I’d keep my distance,” she muttered offhandedly. There was no doubt Luce could hold her own, that wasn’t something Erin was afraid of. But she had good reason to be paranoid, especially after the fire. The burn on her arm twinged with a phantom pain and she pulled her sleeve up higher over her wrist. Glanced back again. He was on his cellphone now, sparing glances their way and getting scorned by the dealer for interrupting the game with his call. Whatever his deal was, he was brazen, and not all that concerned if they knew he’d been spotted in turn. Something didn’t feel right. “You should leave,” she almost whispered out as the bartender was pouring Luce’s next glass, real concern filling her eyes as she looked towards Luce.

Tracing shapes on the bartop with her fingertips, Luce scowled at the wood grain. “Got any other nuggets of wisdom rattling around in there?” She asked mockingly. Keep her distance. She was literally just here to make some money, have a drink, and pretend like things were fucking… normal. Whatever that meant. Erin shifted nervously next to her, looking back at him, messing with the sleeve of her shirt. Fidgeting. Accepting the drink with a nod, Luce cast another scornful look. “I don’t think so. I’m fine right here.” She said. Whatever was going on was Erin’s problem. If shit went south, she’d happily watch it go down and let the woman deal with her issues on her own. As Luce was about to take a sip from her cup, she noticed the door to the bar open once more, a tall man pushing the doors open. Even from here, she could see bright, shiny burn scars coiled around his throat. Like snakes. “Oh fuck.”

Fuck. How had this gone downhill so fast? She’d been here--what? Fifteen, twenty minutes? Whatever information Erin thought she was getting tonight was, apparently, going to have to wait. “You sure about that?” Erin asked, following Luce’s stare to the tall guy who just entered the room, walking right towards the smaller burlier one at the blackjack table. Fuck. Fuck. His hand moved to rub his neck, practically making a show of the scars there. This guy sure as hell knew them. Time to go. Another guy entered not long after the last one, joining the other two. Yep. This had been a mistake. The sound of chips and cards and light chatter was still prevalent, like a white noise, but altogether the room seemed to grow… quiet. Unmistakably tense. Erin quickly finished her drink, tossing some cash onto the counter. Slid off the stool and leaned into Luce. “You can stay as long as you’d like, but if you know another way out of here, I’d appreciate the tip,” she asked, the knife hidden against her leg hot and ready to strike if necessary.

Luce could feel the tall man’s eyes scanning the room-- somehow, he hadn’t noticed her, hadn’t recognized her. But, she had a feeling that would change pretty fucking quick. And as the man settled in next to the guy who’d been eyeing Erin… Christ. Muttering a few choice words in Turkish, Luce gripped her glass tightly in her hand. The room was on edge-- it felt like one of those scenes from a shitty western movie. The showdown in the bar, where all the patrons would nervously fidget with their glasses, while the white hat and the black hat would stare each other down. “I do, but it’s not an easy way out. Stay close.” Luce said, pushing away from the bar. As she stood up, she noticed the men rise from the blackjack table, the taller one going for something in his jacket. “Well, fuck that.” Throwing her glass of whiskey on the ground, Luce waved her hand and blue flames leaped onto the liquor. The alcohol soaked into the carpet, sending acrid plumes of smoke into the air as it burned.

Erin tried not to think about what would have happened if Luce hadn’t coincidentally been here to save their asses. Well--there might have been one less angry, charred tall guy coming towards them, that much would be true. But they were coming all the same. “Jesus, really--” Erin flinched as smoke filled the room. Was there anywhere she could go without the place going up in flames and smoke these days? It was like her life was some predictable action flick she usually fell asleep trying to watch. Either way, it was real, and it was happening and the only thing left to do was run. The smoke and singe distracted the goons but gunshots lit up the air. Erin ducked and followed Luce, the veil of the smoke keeping them just hidden enough for the bullets to miss but only barely. Fuck. Her heart pounded in her ears and she grabbed her knife, keeping it at the ready. A commotion rose up in their wake as the bouncer and some of the patrons were trying to calm the chaos, and for a moment, she thought they’d get out of there relatively unscathed. “Watch it!” Erin shouted suddenly, a figure running through the smoke towards Luce. The tall guy with the coiled burns around his throat. Erin reached for the closest thing to her, tossing one of the wooden stools at him just as another bullet shot from his gun.

As Erin swore, Luce rolled her eyes, ducking low to avoid the smoke. Beggars couldn’t be fucking choosers when it came to their escape routes.  A gunshot rang through the room, a bottle of alcohol shattering behind the bar, followed by a barrage of gunshots. Luce flinched, the sound an explosion in her ears. Pressing her hands to her ears, the witch darted across the room as quickly as she could, hoping that Erin was following behind her. At the other woman’s words, Luce was startled to see the man with his gun trained on her. She stared down the barrel of the gun but, before he could pull the trigger, a stool caught him in the stomach. His hand with the gun flew up in the air, the bullet shooting into the roof of the bar. “Thanks.” Luce breathed, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. “Let’s fucking go.” She said and bolted for the back door tucked away down the hallway that led to the bathrooms. Shoving the door open, Luce waited for Erin to run out of the building. Meanwhile, her eyes focused on the growing blue flames that had begun to consume the bar. With a growl of concentration, Luce tamped down the flames, letting them die down to nothing but smoldering embers. Just enough to keep smoking, but not enough to destroy the bar. At least, she hoped not.

Erin didn’t need to be told twice--or even once, for that matter--and ran out after Luce. The guy was already starting to stand back up by the time they spilled out into the alley. Coughing hard, freshly-healed lungs irritated by the smoke. “Luce,” Erin insisted, dragging her feet as she started down the alley. She didn’t give a shit if this place burned down too, not with the commotion behind the door growing louder. It wouldn’t have looked good for her but it was better than a bullet to the head for their efforts. She stood upright, waited another moment for Luce, before she couldn’t wait anymore. Booked it down the alley as the door flew open, smacking against the brick behind it. First the tall man, then the others. There were too many of them to fight. So Erin ran, as hard and as fast as she could, until the sounds of gunshots were far enough away for her to feel comfortable to slow. And when they stopped altogether, so did she. Heaving breaths, she turned, hoping to find Luce behind her still. “Fuck--are you okay?” she asked, crouching down behind a tall stack of crates, trying to figure out where they’d landed themselves.

Once Erin had darted out the door, Luce slammed the exit shut and let the magic flow through her hands. A ball of bright blue flames ignited in her palm and she pressed it against the door knob. She could feel the metal begin to heat under her hand, the steel slowly beginning to become malleable to the touch. On the other side of the door, she could hear feet pounding against the floor of the bar. The men. Gritting her teeth, she poured more magic into the handle until the metal had fused the door shut. She heard a howl of pain and smelled sizzling flesh-- one of them must have tried the door. Backing away, Luce grinned as she looked at her handiwork. For a brief moment, she was triumphant only for the sharp sound of a bullet ricocheting off the door and a sharp slice of pain to send her running. “Shit!” She yelped, hand pressed against her cheek as she ran. She was more aware of the trickle of warmth that ran down her face than she was of the pain-- hopefully that meant it wasn’t that bad. Taking off after Erin, she skidded to a halt next to the woman. “I think I’m okay. They shot the door. Nicked me?” She said, pulling her hand back. It wasn’t that much blood. Just a scratch? Whatever, she could deal with it later.

Erin’s eyes jumped to the blood. Thankfully, it wasn’t much. Looked like it would heal pretty quickly and painlessly, for the most part. But it wasn’t ideal and she was all too aware of how much worse this could have gone down. Nodding, she took a deep breath. “Seems pretty shallow.” Her feet kept moving, not wanting to be anywhere near the Stacked Deck right now, glancing over her shoulder periodically as she did so. “Chicks dig scars, anyway, right?” She tried to smile, but it was brief, and only a half-hearted chuckle wheezed out of her. She coughed again, trying to shake off the terror chilling her bones. Focused just on getting towards the main road. It was just then she realized how quiet it was. No fire engines screaming in the distance. “What did you do back there?” she asked, narrowing her eyes curiously. “Can you turn the fire on and off again? Like a faucet or something?” She felt stupid for asking but the magical realm was something she was still trying to properly wrap her head around. With the adrenaline still coursing through her, talking about anything at all was better than stifling it all back down again.

Luce’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, adrenaline still pumping through her, but she could feel exhaustion starting to creep around the edges. Using that much magic was fucking hard, particularly when she was already tired as hell. When was the last time she’d slept through the night? She couldn’t remember. Following after Erin, Luce rolled her eyes at the comment. “Yeah, because a fucked up face is the sign of a real winner.” She growled, though the words lacked the bite they would have held before. “What did I do? Magic.” Luce said sarcastically, wiggling her fingers. “It’s not a goddamn faucet. I can start fires real easy, but putting them out is harder. Think dominos. It’s easy to get things going, but hard to get it to stop until it’s run its course. It’s fucking tiring.” She explained as they two ducked into an alleyway that would get them further from the Stacked Deck.

It was Erin’s turn to roll her eyes. For a moment she thought that maybe almost getting shot out for a second could keep the peace between them even temporarily. Seemed she was wrong. “I know it was fucking magic,” she grumbled, biting back her own tone, but listened to her explanation with real interest. “Dominoes. Huh,” she mused, furrowing her eyebrows, picturing it for herself. So that meant she had stopped it? That was a relief, at least. Another look at the younger woman emphasized that exhaustion and Erin slowed down. Running a hand down her cheek, she stopped altogether. The alley opened up to a busier road--Main Street, it looked like. They’d gone farther than she realized and only then did Erin let out a long, relieved breath. “Why don’t you sit down?” she asked, gesturing towards a bench not far from them. “Just for a minute. I think the coast is clear, anyway.” For now.

“I’m fucking with you.” Luce said dryly as she glanced over her shoulder. The blood was still dripping down the side of her face, but she was more preoccupied with making sure that fucking dude with the gun wasn’t coming after her. Magic was all well and good, but it couldn’t stop a goddamn bullet. As they made their way out to Main Street, Luce’s shoulder relaxed a bit. At the very least, if the dude came after them, there would be witnesses. As Erin gestured to a nearby bench, Luce let out a deep breath and nodded. Fuck, she was tired. “Yeah.” She said, practically slumping into the bench. “You good?” She asked, realizing she hadn’t actually checked in to see if Erin was okay.

Erin didn’t know if it was because she wasn’t used to someone as sarcastic as Luce or if the bitterness in her tone was more personally directed but it was starting to get under her skin regardless. Took more of her strength to bite her tongue but she couldn’t hold back the side-eye that she gave her. “I’m fine,” she said quickly. At some points, she’d bumped her arm on the way out, causing the healing nerves under the bandage on her arm to scream at her. Otherwise she was fine. Because of Luce, she was fine. Working her jaw, she settled in reluctantly beside Luce, watching the crowd around them for any suspicious faces. “Do you want me to call anyone? Nell? Bea?” She glanced over at her, watching the blood drip from her cheek.

If Erin said she was fine, Luce was going to take her at her word. She was a grown ass adult who’d already been responsible for the deaths of others. Luce settled back into the bench, trying to catch her breath. She really needed to get more fucking sleep if this was how drained that bit of magic had made her. She hadn’t done anything much and yet, exhaustion had hit her like a fucking freight train. Watching the way the woman kept an eye on the crowd, she tilted her head. Erin had the expression of someone who was being hunted. And, given what they’d just been through, she couldn’t blame her. “No, I’m good. I’ll just crash at Ink for the night. There’s a couch in the back.” She said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “What the fuck have you gotten yourself into, Erin?”

Erin rested her elbow on her knees, nodding at Luce’s words. She knew the place wasn’t far from here. Luce would be fine. Good. One less thing she had to worry about tonight. But Luce’s next question was a fair one, and despite herself, a dry, hard laugh shook her shoulders. There was nothing funny about what she was doing--not the act of it. But a funeral director trying to take down a small town mob boss? It was the most ludicrous thing she could think of. “Maybe when I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Preferably over a few rounds. I probably owe you that much.” If Luce was willing. If Erin made it that far, even. The thought brought on another small, dark chuckle. It wasn’t funny, she knew that, but the adrenaline from the night was still coursing through her. With her own prolonged state of exhaustion was slowly but surely wearing away at her. “Probably not there, though,” she grinned again, gesturing towards the alley from where they had run from.

Raising an eyebrow at the other woman’s laugh, Luce sat up a bit on her own, some of her energy returning. She’d be able to get to Ink, it might just be a slow walk there. “Well, that’s good enough for me.” She nodded. And you know what? It was. Luce wasn’t sure if she was okay with Erin, not when the woman couldn’t give her a clear picture of what she’d gotten herself into. But, at the very least, she could hear her out over a couple of beers at Soul or Dell’s or wherever the fuck. “Yeah, no. I’m probably banned for life now. Which,” She reached into her pocket, pulling out the uncashed chips she still had on her. “Is a real kick in the dick for me. Whatever.” Luce said, standing up with a tired groan. “Shit seems to go south real quick with you, so… stay safe.”

“Sorry about that,” Erin said with a slight wince, but she meant it. Whatever reason Luce had been here, it was obvious she needed the money. It was probably why anyone would wind up at a place like that. She’d gone there for information herself and nothing came from it. It was hard to tell how Luce felt about her, especially given the tumultuous hour they’d just spent together, but she hadn’t blown up at her over any lingering grudges from what had occurred at the ring. So that was… progress? Sure. That’s what she’d call it for now. She pulled herself up, half a smile pulling up her lips. That was fair. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll do my best. You too, Luce.”

#gun use tw #chatzy #chatzy: luce #dirty outs #wickedswriting

[yankyo]

Commission by @witchyrem-ains

No warnings here, just pure fluff and some Beej pining

        Falling in love for the first time was never easy - especially when you were a millenia old demon with a strenuous relationship with the phenomena known as emotions to begin with. But here lay Beetlejuice, completely and uncontrollably twitterpated with no real clue of what he was supposed to be doing here. He knew how to scare breathers, hell he was a straight up genius when it came to making breathers run for the hills, but he didn’t want her to run from him. He wanted her laughter, not her screams, her smile instead of her shrieks. Fuck, he really had it bad for this human. The last time he made her laugh at one of his stupid jokes, he damn near melted into a happy, pink puddle at her side. Remington. The name was enough to get his hair turning pink these days, enough to make his unbeating heart all but leap out of his chest. The demon groaned aloud, rolling from his place up on the roof to instead slither back into the house - he could and has spent hours out here staring at the stars and imagining what it would be like to call her his. To run his fingers through her long, soft hair, to kiss her full lips, to feel her body against his…. hearing her calling him Lawrence. Fuck. Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, he didn’t need another problem that would result in him curling up with the odd pieces of clothing she had left behind, or those odd pieces he had swiped from her home to stuff in the slowly growing nest in his room… he really had a problem here, didn’t he? 

       It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to keep his infatuation a secret. He flirted up a storm whenever he was in her direct vicinity, but her responses were always playful, never taking his propositions seriously - but fuck she was so cute that he couldn’t even be frustrated with her, not when she would turn to him with those pretty eyes of hers shining with mirth, her cheeks pink with laughter and his innards would do somersaults and his brain would just straight up shut down. And she would head home, not knowing that she was leaving with his heart in her hands. But what was he supposed to do? He flirted, he left little gifts for her - sure usually he was leaving rats and the odd bug he personally found interesting, but they were gifts nonetheless, and he knew she enjoyed his company too. At least, he was pretty sure she did…Barbra insisted the real reason Rem kept coming around was for him after all and Barbra couldn’t lie to save her ass. That and Barbra had to know something about relationships, despite how utterly boring it was, she and Adam had been in a pretty happy relationship for a good stretch of time. Beetlejuice usually saw couples dissolve after death, unable to handle the strain the change caused, but the Maitlands were still going strong and everyone was uncomfortably aware of just how enamored the Deetz couple were with one another. He had played creepy voyeur to the Maitlands for years, but even he hadn’t been prepared to turn a corner and spy Charles with his tongue halfway down Delia’s throat and his hand obviously going up er dress. And how many times did he have to whirl around and protect the young Lydia from such a scarring sight? They certainly had to know what they were doing here, right? For someone as emotionally constipated as Charles to be so clearly happy with his new wife meant he had to be doing something right, right? And Rem got along quite well with both couples, didn’t she? 

       Beetlejuice’s stomach twisted at the thought, but he crept through the house anyways, quickly finding himself idling by the stairs up to the attic, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his suit. How was he supposed to ask for their help? Yeah, their relationship had come a long way, but was he relationship advice close?

       “Hey BJ, do ya need something?” The voice from behind him made him jolt and whirl around, coming face to face with Adam himself. They were getting pretty good with their scares and while he would usually be proud to be taken by surprise, or would immediately be all over the other man, but this time Beetlejuice just stood there, fumbling over his words as he tried to find the best way to phrase this question. “Beetlejuice?” Adam stepped forwards, placing a hand on his shoulder with a concerned look. 

       “Howdoyouaskoutagirl?” The question left him in one breath, his entire body a light, embarrassed pink. Adam blinked, surprised, but a slow smile spread across his face as the words registered.

       “You’re finally going to ask out Remmy?” His voice was far too loud, but before Beetlejuice could even attempt to try and shush him, Babra stuck her head through the door, 

       “He’s asking her out?” She exclaimed, quickly phasing through the door to rush down the stairs. “I told you it was going to happen, Adam was beginning to fear you weren’t going to!” She took his hands in hers, her eyes glittering in excitement. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get you all done up for Remmy!” before he could even think to respond, she was dragging him down the hall, calling for Delia, Adam at his side with an encouraging look. 

       Beetlejuice found himself awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, fidgeting with his fingers as Delia and Barbra fussed over him. 

       “We need to do his hair,” Delia brushed her nails through his hair as if trying to find the right style, 

       “Perhaps get him a nice new suit? Oh one of Adam’s old shirts would look nice, right?” Barbra was examining his old suit as if trying to guess his size. 

       “A bath would probably be a great first step. We should take him to the porch and hose em down.” A sardonic voice spoke up from the doorway. Lydia gave him an amused look as she strolled into the room. “Dad, you owe me twenty bucks. I told you he’d come for help.“ 

       “You made bets?” Beetlejuice watched in shock as Chuck presented his daughter with a crisp twenty dollar bill, the girl taking it with a smug smile and a shrug.

       “Everyone saw the little song and dance Rem and you have been doing around one another, we all wondered who was gonna figure it out first and how it would go down. I bet you would realize it and get frustrated enough with Rem’s obliviousness to come asking for help. Delia bet you wouldn’t realize and Rem would get tired of you messing around and would pounce.” The idea wasn’t the worst, though he definitely couldn’t see Rem pinning him down… that was a thought to enjoy later in his nest. 

       “You all seem pretty certain she likes me, she could just see me as a dead guy she hangs out with.” The looks every single person in that room gave him seemed to be a varying degree of ‘are you joking’, only for each to see just how serious Beetlejuice was and sigh. 

       “We’ve certainly got our work cut out for us.” Delia gave an anxious laugh, to break the awkward silence. “Come on, let’s see what clothing we can get for you." 

----------

       "Are yall sure about this?” Beetlejuice gave his appearance a skeptical look. After a good few hours of prepping, in which Lydia made good on the comment of hosing him down and Barbra found clothing that somewhat fit him, Beetlejuice looked… well he looked like a bloated rat that was half drowned and was dressed by an old, depressed farmhand. 

       “Now, remember, you want to give her flowers when she comes.” Delia had been coaching him the entire time, bouncing off of Barbra as the two women instructed him on how to talk to women. No inappropriate compliments, no coarse language, no dirty jokes, no gross humor, no taking off his head, no eating bugs, no oversharing. Listen to her, compliment her nicely, ask her about her day. He had summoned some pretty flowers to give to her, soft yellow flowers he had often seen blooming outside just beyond his reach. He assumed it was a good choice, when he had shown them off no one had said they weren’t good, in fact they had given him the look one would give an especially endearing kitten. That was probably a good sign, right? 

       Lydia had been tasked with calling up Remmy, inviting her over for dinner and as the hour drew nearer, Beetlejuice found himself pacing the floor nervously. After his last disastrous attempt at cooking, he had been permanently banned from the kitchen, so dinner had been prepared by Barbra and Adam while Delia had set up his room nicely for the ‘date’. Beetlejuice had hidden away the trinkets he kept of Remmy’s and had made sure his treasures were well away from the garbage can as he helped Delia clean up and light some nice candles - the basement was looking quite good if he did say so himself, a nice little table set up already for them. Everything was ready, everything was prepared, but when there came a knock at the door, Beetlejuice was just about ready to hurl himself headfirst into the mouth of the nearest sandworm. Instead, he hid behind a wall as Lydia answered the door and gave her halfhearted line of:

       “Oh dear, a friend of mine from school needs help with whatever, gotta jet.” On her way out the door. Behind her was Charles and Delia, their excuses for why they had to leave something about work and Barbra and Adam had already hopped out into the Netherworld, leaving the house empty save for Beetlejuice and Remington. 

       “H… hey.” Beetlejuice greeted, already sweating buckets as he held out a fistful of dandelions. “Dinner is… it’s ready and downstairs.” Remmy gave the flowers a look, a soft, amused smile spreading across her face as she took him in. 

       “Are you wearing Adam’s old clothing?” She asked with a soft laugh. “It looks like the buttons are about to go flying." 

       "They probably are.” The demon replied, with a glance down. His belly was quite a bit rounder than Adam’s were and he commended the old shirt for it’s attempt at wrapping around his midsection. He led the way downstairs, going over his instructions in his head over and over again. 

       “I’ve never been down here, I didn’t know they made it your room.” Remington commented, glancing around interestedly. “Is that… is that a coffin?” She asked, her eyes shimmering with interest. 

       “Yeah. It’s my bed.” She gave him another look, but instead of the judgement he was expecting, she looked rather excited instead. 

       “Really? You actually sleep in it?” Her excitement made him chuckle, following after her as she made her way through the room. All this time doing up the room and she focused on the coffin, satan or god, whoever is listening, I love this girl. He followed after, unable to help the fond look on his face. 

       “I don’t exactly sleep no, but I do lay in it at nights sometimes. It’s pretty comfortable.” He pulled open the lid, revealing the black and white striped plush lining and an array of stuffed animals he had collected through the years. 

       “Can… can I lay down inside?” She asked and Beetlejuice couldn’t help the shiver that crept down his spine at the question. 

“Be my guest.” She… she would lay in his coffin. It would smell like her. He almost vibrated with excitement as she settled down inside, stretching out comfortably  before she glanced up at him, a soft smile on her face,

       “Come join me.” Beetlejuice almost choked, but stumbled forwards, unable to deny her. Her body was too close, her scent enveloping him as he stiffly laid down next to her. Unfortunately, or rather thankfully she didn’t seem to notice his growing problem and she scooted forwards to lay her head on his chest. “Hey Beetlejuice?” He grunted softly in response, not trusting himself to try and speak. “Is… is this a date?” Her voice was soft, disbelieving. “Lydia said something but… I don’t want to just expect anything without actually…. you know." 

       "I was… well, I was hoping it would be. If, uh, if you aren’t ok with that, I mean, it could just be a dinner..” His voice was a soft, embarrassing squeak, his entire body practically glowing pink. She lifted her head, hazel eyes meeting green, so close he could swear if he leaned in just a hair he could kiss her. 

       “I… I’m ok with it being a date.” Her cheeks were a soft, pretty pink. So beautiful he couldn’t help but raise a hand and cup her cheek, his thumb brushing over the warm skin. 

       “You’re ok with… me?” He knew he didn’t have to explain what he meant, he knew exactly what he was. For such a pretty breather to actually have interest in him and want him as he was was a fantasy he didn’t typically indulge in. Remmy leaned in, her hands coming up to cup his cheeks as she gave him a soft kiss. 

       “What’s not to be ok with?” The smile she gave him would have stopped his heart if it hadn’t already stopped beating so many years ago. “You’re perfect.” Beetlejuice all but melted, leaning in to kiss her this time, the kiss soft and lingering. He knew the dinner was getting cold at the table, but he couldn’t give it another thought. Not with his girl in his arms. He’d steal some take out later and give her a real Beetlejuice date. As soon as he could reassemble the liquidated remains of his brains and pull himself away from her welcoming arms. 

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice x self insert #beetlejuice musical #betelgeuse #commisionwork #yan's first comission #Yan writes #fluff

[rocket-remmy]

The Cake Is A Lie||Lydia and Remmy

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @inspirationdivine and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: Lydia catches Remmy in the act of....thinking about baking. 

The bruises from last night had healed by the time Remmy decided to get out of the bed and head into the house. Lydia had said they were free to use the kitchen, to treat the home as their own, but Remmy was still tentative as they headed into the kitchen, glancing around. It was far fancier than anything they’d ever been inside of, including the old kitchen at the haunted mansion. Their insides crawled a little, skin vibrating. They just wanted to relax for a little bit, do something to take their mind off the shit that the world was pulling them through, and their go to had always been baking. It had always helped calm them down and they felt as if nothing else would even come close right now. But standing, alone, in Lydia’s giant kitchen, they weren’t sure what to do. After a moment, they turned to leave, deciding maybe just staying in their room would be enough. They could read or watch a movie or just bury their head in pillows and pretend like their life wasn’t falling apart before their very eyes. But instead they nearly ran headlong into Lydia, and they jerked, freezing. “S-sorry!” they said, backing away. “Sorry, I didn’t see you...there... I was just, um-- I was thinking about maybe baking something, but then I…” but they didn’t finish the statement, because there wasn’t a point to. There wasn’t a point to a lot nowadays for them.

Remmy roamed her home much like a skittish cat. Occasionally coming in for a cuddle, but equally sneaking around at night and hiding things. Lydia didn’t mind this so much, not when she was prone to the same. A quiet rendezvous with Marley here, a trip out there. She made sure to be around as often as possible, especially now she’d had to tarp up not one, not two, but four windows while she waited for the glazing company to prepare replacements. This was the problem with custom glass: it needed to be made before it could be replaced. She wandered idly into the kitchen, cardigan wrapped tight around her when Remmy bumped right into her. “Darling,” Lydia said with a smile, with the same cadence as if she’d said it’s okay. “That sounds tempting. What sort of thing were you intending to bake?”

“Oh, um,” Remmy stuttered. They hadn’t actually thought about what they’d bake. Whatever came to them when they opened the cabinets, probably. Cakes and cupcakes were easy, simple. “I didn’t really have anything concrete in mind. Probably something...simple but like, you know, distracting? Maybe cupcakes. Those are fun to decorate,” they rambled quietly, backing away enough to look at Lydia. They didn’t really question the broken windows, just as they knew Lydia wasn’t questioning where they went at night, something they were all the more grateful for here. There was an amount of discretion Lydia afforded them that Remmy wasn’t entirely sure roommates like Blanche and Ham would grant. Not that that made them bad roommates, but if Blanche followed Remmy to the Ring again and saw what was going on...Remmy shook the thought from their head. “Probably red velvet, i-if you have stuff for that. It’s my favorite-- er, was my favorite-- flavor.”

“Cupcakes? Sounds darling.” Lydia smiled softly at Remmy as they backed away. “I might. If I’m honest I do not bake often, but we may have some ingredients lying around from Simon’s entry into the pie contest.” She walked over to the cupboards, and began pulling out a motley arrangement of things. She hadn’t been completely honest. The cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla essence had each last been touched not by her nor Simon, but Anneliese, who had sworn that baking was one of the best things in life. It had kept her happy, and in turn Chloe and Sammy, so Lydia had bought her what she wanted, and left them there after her death. Flour, eggs, food colouring, instant yeast and other baking goodies were unveiled one by one. “Do you see what you’re looking for here?”

Remmy watched Lydia pulling out the ingredients and started formulating something in their mind. There was nothing to make red velvet, but there was enough for some lemon vanilla  cupcakes. There was even ingredients to whip up a meringue frosting, if they were feeling it. “Uh, yeah, actually,” they said, taking the ingredients they needed and separating them from everything else Lydia had begun setting out. “You’ve sure got a lot for someone who doesn’t bake,” they said idly, “I don’t even have this much stuff and I used to try and make stuff regularly. It was the only way my roommate-- Blanche-- would eat something other than microwave dinners and candy.” A small pang, as they thought about Blanche, perhaps all alone now, too, in that giant house. They wished they could go back, but they knew this was for the better. Jax knew about Blanche and he had already threatened her once-- they couldn’t let that happen again. “Um-- do you wanna help? I usually let Blanche do all the mixing.”

As they began sorting through the ingredients, Lydia took a long look at the collar resting on Remmy’s neck. She’d never been one to keep track of fast fashion, nor anything that wouldn’t sit in her very feminine wardrobe with intricate structures and figure hugging cuts. Quite far from what Remmy wore anyway, so she’d assumed it was some modern fashion piece. Morgan’s messages had revealed something else, something dangerous. Her gaze flicked away long before Remmy was done. Her smile was as lightweight as her footsteps as she pulled out a mixing bowl and weighing scales, as well as aprons. One of which was bubblegum pink, the other a deep navy with embroidered detailing on the bottom. She handed the navy one to Remmy. “Well, much of it is shelf stable for quite a long time,” Lydia replied with a smile. “Yes darling, I’d love to help. So, what are we making?”

Lydia always had such a calming presence. Remmy didn’t know quite how to thank her for that, but maybe one day they’d be able to find the words. As they gathered up the stuff and started organizing the mixing bowls, they looked over at Lydia with as much of a tired smile as they could muster. “I’m thinking lemon vanilla cupcakes. Nice and light, and there’s enough here for a meringue icing, I think.” Started separating the ingredients, then, into dry and wet and what they needed for the batter and for the icing. “I hope that, um...sounds good,” they paused, unsure of a lot more nowadays than they had been before. They knew Lydia had said they were okay to treat this home as their own, but when their own home felt foreign and wrong, what did that mean for here? They scratched absently at the collar, before they started pouring out some of the dry ingredients, pulling up a simple recipe on their phone. 

Cleaning her hands, Lydia looked back at them and nodded. She was not altogether too fond of lemon cakes, but then, she wouldn’t eat much in any case. As much as she cooked in the evenings, she rarely ate herself unless it was to indulge in a rich new treat. Just not too rich. “It does.” She pat their shoulder as she came to stand by their side, peering around Remmy’s shoulder to look at their phone. Gaze flicking to their collar once more. They looked so somber, so uncertain. There was almost nothing Remmy couldn’t heal from, but god did they look scared. The corner of Lydia’s lip twisted into a smile, playfully. “Now, I mightn’t be able to remember how this all works. We start with the flour, don’t we?” She reached for the bag of flour, but instead of pulling it towards her, she scooped up some flour from inside the bag, and did the most unexpected, and thus the most fae thing: she flicked it playfully, right at Remmy’s face. 

Of all the things Remmy had expected Lydia to do, that had not been one of them. Though she was soft and compassionate and kind to them, someone who was playful and perhaps a bit devious wasn’t who Remmy had ever pegged her for. Blinking, they stared at her for a moment, flour now on their cheek and nose. Slowly, they reached over and picked up the baking powder can. “Actually,” they said, “I like to start with the baking powder,” and flicked some back at Lydia in kind, a sort of whimsical playfulness now on their face.

“That sounds-ack!” Lydia scrunched her face up as she got the baking powder in her mouth, recoiling, but when she opened her eyes, they glowed blue with bright enthusiasm, as she ran round to the other side of the island counter. This time, she took a handful of flour, hurling it all at Remmy’s face, before ducking under the counter.

Remmy couldn’t help but laugh. That was until a fistful of flour hit them directly in the face and they coughed a little, shaking their head. “Hey!” they exclaimed, brushing the flour from their hair. This might’ve been odd in any other circumstance, but Remmy was grateful for the reprieve. They scooped up a handful of flour themself and tossed it at the counter where Lydia had ducked. “That’s cheating!” 

Instead of ensuring that Lydia didn’t get hit, all ducking did was ensuring that she got flour all over her elytra and wings, and her blouse underneath. “Alright, peace!” She called playfully, before standing back up, hands raised. Flour drifted down her clothes to the floor. “I did cheat, and I accept any reasonable punishment you give me.” She laughed, sliding the flour back to where they were baking. 

Remmy was smiling by the time Lydia surrendered, something they hadn’t done in a very long time. It felt nice. They grabbed the flour and pulled it back over to the other ingredients, pointing to the bowls. “Your punishment is having to mix the wet ingredients in, that’s always the worst part,” they said, still smiling as they pulled up the recipe and started measuring out the dry ingredients. After a moment they paused, then looked over at Lydia. “Thank you,” they murmured, “for everything.”

“I accept my punishment entirely,” Lydia chuckled, a tiny promise binding herself into place, not that it was an issue for this, leaning against the counter as she watched Remmy starting to set up. “You are most welcome,” She replied softly, reaching over to touch their shoulder reassuringly. “Has the danger eased, yet?”

Remmy always relaxed under Lydia’s touch, it was one of the things about her that they most liked. There was a certain softness to her that made them almost melt. As if under her gaze, everything was okay. Even the collar around their neck. They measured out a few more ingredients before passing along the bowl to Lydia. “I-- it’s...complicated,” they muttered. Trying to find the words. “I sort of...I can’t talk about it,” they went on, “I sort of promised I wouldn’t.”

“I see, and I would never ask you to break a promise.” Lydia replied, searchingly. She looked away from Remmy as she tidied away the ingredients Remmy was finished with, before peeking around their shoulder, and turning the oven to the right temperature. “I have a more general question. See, no other species is quite so particular with their wording as we are, so I feel the need to clarify. Generally speaking, Remmy, when you use the word can’t, do you mean won’t by choice, or that there is a more physical limitation on a situation?”

“Not all promises are good promises…” Remmy mumbled, starting on the mixture and picking out which pan they wanted to use for the cupcakes. Started mixing ingredients for the frosting, a methodic sort of motion. Relaxing. Enough so for them to let down their guard just a bit, release the tension in their shoulders just a bit. “I can’t. I-- I didn’t know at first, but it’s-- the second one.” paused, waiting to see if they’d get sick, but it seemed as if Jax’s wording didn’t extend to someone guessing it and Remmy affirming it. They sighed with relief. Continued mixing again, slowly at first, as if unsure they should go on, peeking at Lydia from the corner of their vision. “I’m sorry. I-- I should’ve said something. I just-- I wasn’t sure I could. O-or should.” 

“No, but that doesn’t change their value as a promise,” Lydia replied mildly. Her eyes were still heavy with exhaustion from the day she’d spent upholding her own promise to the Vural witch, that had threatened to consume her whole every time she’d dared to nap. Owing a debt or a promise to the wrong person was a terrible thing indeed. That didn’t mean they weren’t important to keep, until they ended.  “That’s all you need to say,” replied Lydia. “Don’t make yourself sick. Anyway, I believe it’s time for me to add the wet ingredients.” She raised her arm, and gestured for the bowl. They didn’t need to discuss this anymore now. It was time for Lydia to find out where Remmy was going each week. 

Remmy was relieved when Lydia didn’t press further. They didn’t want to get sick but they also didn’t want to lie to Lydia. Honesty was important to her, and therefore it was important to Remmy to be honest to her. They usually tried to be honest, anyway, but it mattered much more with Lydia. She’d never wrong them or lied to them. They owed her that much. “Here,” they said, measuring out the milk and oil, “add that first and stir, then we’ll add the eggs.” As they handed the stuff over, they thought that, perhaps, Lydia needed this reprieve just as much as they did. And maybe things didn’t always need to be sad or serious. Sometimes it was okay to put that aside and bake something simple with someone you cared about. The thought made Remmy smile, and they grabbed the next bowl. Maybe that was what their uncle had meant when he’d said their mother was peaceful to be around. Maybe she’d found the right balance of life and baking. “Thanks,” they said again, “for doing this with me.” And maybe that was something Remmy wanted, too.

#chatzy #wickedswriting #chatzy: lydia #the cake is a lie #lydia

[fairyjeff]

Lost In The Woods || Lydia, Remmy, Dewey, Mercy, Jeff

Not all who wander are lost.... Except they’re seriously lost. Super fucking lost. 

@inspirationdivine, @whatsin-yourhead, @deweythedew, @cryxmercy

Jeff was certain he’d gone this way before. All he wanted to do was toss his fucking coin in the river and go for a walk in the woods to clear his head before his shift… Except, he was still on the walk, and his shift had started a half hour ago. He checked his phone again, once again trying to load google maps to try  and get him back to his car. The fucking stump he kept passing somehow was starting to piss him off. He even walked straight away from it at least twice. Maybe once. Actually, he didn’t really know where he was going. He had just tried to call his boss (of course, no fucking service), when he heard others and he swore on relief. “Fucking finally. You guys know how to get back to the road? I’m fuckin’ lost here.”

Lydia hadn’t had much of a plan for the evening other than a quiet stroll and a conversation with some pixies, but it hadn’t been long before she’d spotted a familiar figure - Remmy the zombie. “Remmy! How are you doing?” She asked, waltzing over, footsteps silent on the gravel of the path. But moments later, another approached them, callous and swearing and - oh, no, this was that fae Deirdre had told her about. She recognised him from his profile pictures. “Yes, of course, it’s this way…”

After the third time meeting the same stump, Mercy realized something was going on. The fact that it had taken three passes for her to realize it was only mildly less irritating than the stump itself. Her first thought was that this rang of fairy bullshit. There was no use in going around again. It would just bring her back here. So Mercy found a different stump and sat down. Someone else would be along eventually.

Remmy was just out on their usual route with Moose, taking him for his evening walk. They’d wandered a bit off the path this time, enjoying the nice night. A familiar voice reached their ears and they perked up, glancing around. One squint through the darkness later and they spotted Lydia approaching them. “Lydia!” They waved, glancing around. “What’re you doing out here--” they started, but someone else’s voice interrupted them. A man, huffing about being lost. “Oh, yeah, we just came from--” they turned to point the path out, but then realized the path was….not there anymore. Instead, it was a different path, and a different stump. Moose whined. “Um….Lydia?” They looked at her. “Where’d the path go?”

An evening stroll was rather typical for one of Dewey’s days off. It offered at least a momentary break from the weekly monotony, and he generally enjoyed the time to himself. What he didn’t enjoy, however, was losing his bearings. He had lived in White Crest long enough to know which paths led where, what areas he frequented often and those which were new. But that stump - hadn’t he passed it at least twice now? And then he picked up on a sudden chatter ahead of him, slowly approaching the small group with a level of caution, listening. “Seems we’re all in a bit of misplacement,”

“Out for a wander, to meet some friends,” Lydia replied with a mildly concerned smile. However, as she turned, she realised Remmy was right. The path wasn’t there anymore. As someone else approached her eyes narrowed at him, although he looked cautious as well. “Indeed. Honeyblossom!” She turned and called into the night sky. “Honeyblossom, I know your pranks. You’ve had your fun now. Stop this at once!” Honeyblossom, however, didn’t reply That wasn’t too surprising - this didn’t feel like fae magic, least of all that of the pixies she’d come to see. Instead, her eyes settled on a figure watching them from afar. “Is this your doing?” She called out to Mercy.

The Fury had sat on her log, watching the others as they had accumulated in a small, slightly uncertain-looking group. She vaguely recognized a few of them from around town, but didn’t know their names. She wondered just how many of them whatever was messing around out here would need for… whatever it was doing. Apparently this was her answer. A motley looking group, but she’d seen worse. When one of the group noticed her and called out, Mercy tossed aside the stick she’d been holding and stood. She moved closer, still eyeing the small group curiously before her eyes settled on the one who’d called out to her. “If it was my doing you wouldn’t know I was here. But no. I don’t have this kind of magic.”

“But the fuckin’ path wasn’t there, it was - oh. Hey!” Jeff made a face  where he pointed to where his path was supposed to be. Something about the woman with Remmy felt weird, but he stopped focusing on that the second he saw the dog. “Oh! I know that dog!” Jeff said, pointing at Moose, before looking at Remmy. “We talked online, I have a dog too. Remmy, right? My dog is Lett-” Jeff didn’t get a chance to continue telling Remmy about Lettie, because things were happening. People were here. And they were talking about fucking honeypots and and magic. Jeff looked between all of them a moment. “Hold on one fuckin’ second,” he said, holding his hands up, confused. “Why’re we talking about magic?” He looked at Remmy, as if they would know. “Does this have anything to do with fuckin’ fairies?”

Honeypot? Remmy blinked, looking from Lydia, to the guy walking up, to the woman far away. Moose was still calm by their legs, so there was no reason to panic, but there were more people here than Remmy was really comfortable being around, especially since they didn’t know too many of them. Only Lydia. Shrinking behind her slightly, Remmy glance at the even newer, new comer, a pale, tall man, who looked just as confused as they did. “Oh, umm-- I, I don’t think you’re supposed to call them that,” they pointed out to Jeff, wincing at the word ‘fairy’. “Wait, magic? Like curse magic? Like, the chest and the-the beach stuff?”

And just before Dewey could bring up a reasoning for their sudden topographic confusion, an explanation - a rather… far reaching one - was brought up, and he immediately felt his jaw tighten. Magic, curses, true he believed in all of it, but even in a town like White Crest, those weren’t always the reasons for something a bit odd happening. “Now, perhaps we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions before we’ve assessed the situation,” He interjected, keeping his tone even and calm. For now the group seemed to have their heads, but that could change in the blink of an eye. “Perhaps there’s been some… newer trails added in the last few weeks? It isn’t unheard of for such changes to take place. Or, one of us might be lost, while the other could be on the right path?”

Lydia had to freeze her face in place to not glare literal daggers into Jeff’s back. Human raised gancanagh or not, there was no excuse for that behaviour. Not the priority, Lydia, not the priority. The woman who had lingered had some kind of magic, but she was right - Lydia’s skin didn’t ring like bell chimes to look at her, not the way Jeff did. She stood with Remmy, comfortable to let the more nervous zombie hide behind her. But it was the other man who spoke sense. “I’d agree, if there was any path. But we won’t find our way standing here. We’re to the west of the town, we can just about see Polaris there,” she pointed to the north star in the sky, “So if we keep it to our left we’ll find the path quickly enough. As we’re all walking together, I’m Lydia.” She introduced herself, and promptly began walking.

Mercy raised an eyebrow at the flippant use of the word ‘fairy.’ She hadn’t known that many fae over her lifetime, but the few she had known would’ve rankled. Thankfully, someone else pointed it out. Mercy didn’t know their name, but she spoke to them anyway, glancing at the first man who’d spoken as well. “Not necessarily,” she said of the magic being a curse. Or it being magic at all. The other man spoke after that, and Mercy crossed her arms, listening to what he had to say. It was logical enough, and she told him so. But she also agreed with the woman that called herself Lydia. There was no path. So they would have to make their own it seemed. Mercy glanced up at the sky as Lydia started walking, gesturing that the others should go ahead of her if they wished. “I’m Mercy. I’ll bring up the rear.”

“Fuck,” Jeff said, “I forgot again.” Deirdre wasn’t going to be happy with him, but at least there was no one here that cared that he said fairy. “Faerie. Fae. My bad, my fucking bad, I know - wait, hold on, I’m confused,” Jeff said, following after Lydia. “There was a path, all I was doing was throwing my coin in some water like I was told, and then going for a walk. Oh. I’m Jeff, by the way,” he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I’ve been out here for over a fuckin’ hour, and I’m late to work because every fucking time I end up back at that stupid fucking stump. I’m still on the magic thing - are we all the same fucking page with that bullshit?”

Remmy didn’t like anything going on, and Moose could tell. He whined softly and pressed his body against their legs, letting them know he was there for support. Remmy held his lead tightly, moving quickly when Lydia started to head off. Who were all these people? “Jeff? Oh, yeah--” they started, stumbling in the dark a little, “that’s why you know Moose. I’m Remmy.” They looked back at the other two, Mercy and whoever that other guy was. He seemed like a reasonable man. “Okay, but like...I walk this path almost every morning with Moose. Or, um-- I walk the path I came in on. Since we’re not on that path anymore…” they looked down as they walked, as if staring into the dirt would give them the answer, before looking back up. “If it isn’t magic, what is it?”

Dewey wasn’t quite sure if his hypothesis was entirely correct, or even viable at this point. But it felt better to know that they would at least start moving again - hopefully towards a solution, and not unintentionally losing themselves further into the wood. “Dewey Foster,” He added after everyone else had introduced themselves, idly shoving a hand inside of his pocket. He sighed, a bit of frustration etching into his thoughtful features. “I certainly don’t… completely rule out the possibility of something otherworldly. But I truly don’t believe that’s what we’re dealing with. Ah, Jeff, was it?” He motioned towards the blonde, “You said you’ve been walking for about an hour now. Perhaps it really is just a case of being lost? It’s not unheard of for people to wind up running into others with the same predicament. It could be a simple case of misdirection,” En masse. Mm.

“I’d only been in the park a few minutes before we wandered astray, we can’t be that far from the town.” Lydia was confident in this, at least. But the woods weren’t always kind. Lydia knew by heart many of the kinds of tricksters that lived here at night, and while she could exclude some - this was no Wisp - others she was less sure about. But she kept her eyes on Polaris as they walked, ensuring it kept them all in line, walking in the right direction. She could almost hear the town in the distance. They were so clo- Lydia yelped as she tripped and began to fall, catching herself on a tree branch at the last second. “Wha-” It was the stump. The same stump, Lydia was sure of it. Her eyes flashed up to Polaris again, and it hadn’t moved. It was still on her left. But behind her was the stump, and to the right the branch her and Remmy had been stood under just as Dewey had joined them. There, a little further, where Mercy had been watching them from afar. “How on earth are we back here?”

“I am,” Mercy said to Jeff as they walked. About being on the same page in regards to magic. “Have you seen anything else? Besides the stump and all of us?” She glanced at the woman walking the dog - Remmy, she noted to herself - and wondered if perhaps the canine could sense something none of them could. Animals were clever like that. A way out of all this perhaps? But it - Moose, that is - stayed closed to Remmy, and didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. And Remmy looked nervous, so Mercy didn’t even bring the suggestion up. She was a fan of turmoil, but even she had her limits. “It could be something completely benign-” Not that she really believed that. “- as Mr. Foster suggested.” But when they came full circle, quite literally, again… and Mercy looked up into the sky just as Lydia did, to see Polaris as it had always been… unease crept along her spine. She left her spot at the back of the line and moved to stand beside Lydia. Mercy never took her eyes from the sky. “The stars don’t lie,” she murmured pointedly to the other woman. Not because she was trying to be secretive, but simply because it felt dangerous to speak too loudly.

Remmy reached out quickly to try and help Lydia when she stumbled, but the woman caught herself with ease. Moose seemed more tense now, as well, and Remmy moved to the opposite side of Lydia that the woman who said her name was Mercy came up to, unintentionally shielding themself. Another low whine from Moose and Remmy reached down to pat him. “I don’t wanna like...interrupt or anything, but I’ve got a really bad feeling about all of this.” And Remmy’s feelings were usually right, especially when coupled with the way Moose was acting. They looked over at Lydia then back to Jeff and the other man-- Dewey-- before joining their gaze at the stars. “Maybe...it’s like...not there? Or, um...we were going the wrong way. I-I don’t really know how magic works. If that’s even...if this is even…” But what else could it be?

“The stars don’t lie, but those may not be stars,” Lydia replied. She turned and looked sympathetically at Remmy and Moose. “I do too, darling. It might be magic, which works in many ways. I’m not sure.” But as she followed their gaze, she heard something behind them, rustling in the bushes. “Did anyone hear that? I can’t see far in the dark.”

“I’m with the dog,” Jeff said flatly, nodding to Moose as he whined. He “I don’t like this at fuckin’ all. That’s the same fucking stump I’ve been seeing this entire fucking time.” Jeff said, exasperated. “No matter what I do, I end back here. It’s not - See what now?” Jeff asked, finally paying attention to Lydia. He looked back over at the rustling bushes, pushed his sleeves up and stepped forward. If this were Boston, it was probably some drunk idiot. “Hey!” He snapped. “If anyone’s in there, you come out right now! Don’t make me fucking come back there!” He forgot, for a moment, that this wasn’t Boston.

For a brief moment, Dewey had thought they might be able to escape whatever this predicament was by banding together. Five brains versus one sounded like far better odds. Although, there could be potential downsides - he didn’t want to delve into them, however. No, he remained cautiously optimistic. Up until the very moment Lydia took a tumble, immediately stepping a bit closer. When he noticed the stump, he had to stifle a huff of frustration, fingers running through his hair anxiously. “This  doesn’t make any sense,” He murmured, more to himself than anyone else. Well, if they weren’t stars, then what exactly were they? Though he indeed heard the rustling, head twitching towards the area it originated from. Seeing Jeff seemingly preparing himself for a rumble, the doctor reached out and pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder. “Not just yet. We don’t want to potentially aggravate whoever… or whatever it is,” His voice lowered, eyes narrowing as he peered into the darkness, searching for something, anything identifiable. He really didn’t like the idea of fighting something they may know nothing about - but if worse came to worse, he would do what was necessary.

“So do I,” Mercy agreed with Remmy. She continued to look at the sky, willing whatever was at work to show itself. She vaguely registered that Lydia stumbled, but the other woman righted herself on her own, so Mercy didn’t react. It wasn’t until Remmy said something else - that maybe the star wasn’t really there - and Lydia followed up with the idea that maybe it wasn’t a star at all, that Mercy finally glanced back at the group. She was about to ask a question when she heard the noise too, and turned towards the trees. But the guy named Jeff was already rolling up his sleeves. Shit. “I wouldn’t do that-” Mercy said, glancing between Jeff and the rustling. Dewey spoke up after that, and while Mercy heard him, and wholeheartedly agreed, she was far too concentrated on the rising sense of foreboding that crept over her skin. This felt achingly familiar. More familiar than the stump that they were being led to over and over and ove- OH. Oh no. “It’s a trap.” The words came softly, but with a tone that suggested she wasn’t playing around. “We’re being led into a trap.”

Remmy stuck close by Lydia, unhooking Moose’s lead in case they needed to bolt. Neither of them would do any good chained together. The rustling was getting closer, and it rang louder in Remmy’s ears than they were sure was normal. Senses suddenly heightened and tense as Jeff started yelling, and Dewey was whispering and Lydia was squinting into the darkness. And now Mercy was speaking-- a trap. It was a trap. Hair on the back of Remmy’s neck bristled. Their whole body went taught. It was happening again. They’d walked into a trap. It happened in an instance. They blinked and they were back in that bunker. Voices outside. Gunshots. Remmy’s whole face went pale and Moose began whining again. Remmy lunged, reached out for Jeff-- Anderson-- Jeff? Hand pulling back on him. “Don’t go out there!” they cried out in a hushed whisper. “Don’t go out there!”

Jeff’s eyes rolled into the back of his head when Dewey put his hand on his shoulder, looking back at him. “I’m not about to let some fuckin’ asshole hide in the bushes and watch us. Fucking creepy, especially if it’s a fucking trap. Fuck that,” Jeff said, shaking him off. He went to go forward again until Remmy the Dog Friend lunged for him, yanking him back. Remmy was surprisingly stronger than they looked. Jeff’s eyes widened and he turned to look at them, “Hey! Don’t tug, Remmy - oh. Hey. Are you okay?” Jeff forgot about attacking the increasingly rustling bush, looking down at Remmy. He lowered his voice, leaning down slightly. “Do you know what’s in the bush? Why are we whispering?”

A trap? Dewey’s already present frown only deepened at the claim Mercy made, gaze never leaving the spot where he could have sworn he’d seen something. Though his mounting nerves weren’t the only ones of the group, and he could already see the situation devolving into panic rather quickly. And as fortified as Jeff appeared, he assumed the other was still prone to injury just as easily as any other human. With nothing else to go on concerning the other three, and Remmy obviously startled by something in particular, he glanced back at the group before beginning to step forward. “Everyone just stay together, I’m checking this out for myself,” Despite the unknowns and potential for something supernaturally dangerous, he felt more assured in his own strength than leaving anyone else to deal head-on with… whatever this was. And though his anxiety pulsed, rising gravely similar to a quickening heartbeat, he didn’t hesitate.

Mercy wasn’t sure what this was, but she certainly didn’t think this was just some creeper watching them from the bushes. Thankfully, Remmy stepped forwards and kept Jeff from doing anything foolish. The Fury had no idea what the others were, but it seemed they were all aware of the existence of magic and the supernatural. In an umbrella sense at least. She listened aside as Jeff asked if Remmy knew what was out there, but didn’t hear if they answered as Dewey stepped forwards. Mercy knew that whatever was out there was unlikely to harm her enough to actually kill her, but that didn’t mean there was no danger. She could still be injured. As could the others. She glanced again at the others before raising a hand that suggested staying put for the moment, and moved after Dewey. “I hope you’re something that doesn’t die easily…” Mercy said quietly as they slowly walked towards the treeline. “Truly.”

Lydia was, true to the stereotype, a lover, not a fighter. She owned a small pistol she carried only for hunters, not for whatever being was responsible for this. She hovered by Remmy, watching them carefully. “Remmy. Remington. Stay with us. Those two will sort whatever this is.” Although Lydia’s voice was high pitched, her wings thrumming under her glamour.  The air was beginning to taste like cigars and burning hair. It crouched, watching as the group splintered. Rubbing its ears with its knees, it bared its teeth as the two approached. Standing, it’s joints clicked and cracked, before it charged. These woods belonged to it, and it would protect the woods.

Mercy had seen many creatures that existed outside the scope of most human knowledge. Creatures that were harmless as well as those that were not. She’d seen creatures older than herself, creatures as ancient as the myths that told their stories and then turned them into fairytales. The Fury had even hunted some of them for awhile, ages ago. So this horror was not entirely unfamiliar, it’s appearance buzzing at the edge of her memory, but still unnameable. Was it what had been leading them in circles? Was it the cause of the illusions? Whatever it was, and whatever power it had, right now it was focused on running her and Dewey down. It’s long, bony limbs stretched out over the grassy space between the forests edge and the spot where the two of them stood. Impossibly fast, impossibly long, impossibly horrible as flat white teeth bared in a scream of rage that was both wholly monstrous and yet still vaguely human. Mercy barely had time to duck as a thick, skeletal limb tried to stomp her into the ground. But where the front one missed, the back one clipped the Valkyrie, and she was knocked to the ground. The hoof found a violent purchase against her back, and she grunted in pain as she felt something snap in her rib cage. But the creature was still moving, reaching and screaming for its next victims. “MOVE!” Mercy wheezed at the others, grimacing at the pain in her side as she stumbled to her feet.

It was happening all over again. Remmy wanted to hang on to the present moment, but they just couldn’t. They were all in danger. Alarms blared in their head. Get out, get out, get out. Remmy heard screams and tore past Jeff, away from Lydia. They couldn’t let them die again. Not again. They plowed through bushes, brush, a tree, something pulling in them, heightened senses alert, eyes narrowing in on whatever was moving towards them. The group. Their friends. The forest before them turned into rubble. Into decrepit houses. Into a battlefield. They looked down and saw boots, uniformed pants. Their rifle, dangling by their side as someone dragged them along. We have to get inside! No, not inside. “No! Not inside! We have to keep going! They’ll trap us! It’s an ambush!” They couldn’t let it happen again. Remmy’s hand found someone on the ground, hoisting them up with a strength unfound in humans or other. Eyes flashing red, angry. Shoving themself between the figure in front of them and the fallen soldier. Fists flying. Something connected, cracked-- not their fist, never their fist, bones bending instead. A heavy weight pressed against their chest, launching them back. The rubbled flickered for a moment back to the woods. “We have to…” they stood up, a concave hole in their chest. No pain registered across their face. “Keep moving.”

A horse. That was the first thought that flickered into Dewey’s mind when the creature had first emerged. A feral, nightmarish amalgamation of horse and… a faint semblance of human, yet something entirely not. Though he wasn’t breathing hard, or at all, he felt his chest tighten with a stifled gasp as it charged towards them. The fight-or-flight response had urged him to dart out of it’s path, just barely managing to escape the brute force of a hoof to the chest. He was immediately fixated on Mercy, just barely able to make it upright. And then, of all people he hadn’t expected, Remmy flinging themselves into the foray. Right, no use just standing there. Rearing back a few steps, he took a running start before slamming his body into the creature, attempting to knock it off balance - and he did at least manage that. At the very least when it staggered back onto it’s feet, it would hopefully go for him in it’s tunnel vision rage. “Over here!” He baited it, crouched in wait as he tried to detect the horrors next move.

It did not go for Dewey, Lydia realised with the slow horror of someone who was fit, but wasn’t a runner. Her toned muscle was aesthetically pleasing, not functional. When it, with teeth like daggers and eyes flashing in the dark, turned its wild eyes to her, Lydia knew it was troubled. Screaming, with no grace whatsoever, Lydia turned and ran, but it was on her leg, its teeth scraping through her jeans and skin. Lydia screamed, the glamour dropping from her firebug wings, which spread and beat to drag its grip off her. Eventually it released, turning its wild eyes to a new target, as Lydia hovered, grimacing as her blood trickled down her leg. “How do we kill it?” She yelled - but by we, she mean anyone but her.

Things happened really quickly. One second he was leaning down to ask Remmy if they were okay and the next everyone and their fucking mother was trying to attack the ugly beast. “Jesus fucking Christ, can we -” Jeff never got to finish his sentence, becasue Dewey’s bait went straight for the woman that made him fee tingly - in a flash Lydia’s glamour dropped. Holy fucking shit, she had fucking wings - holy shit, Lydia was a fucking fairy!! Fae. Oh shit. Jeff cursed loudly as the stipid thing came charging after him. Jeff went charging right back. Except, as he got closer, the thing reared back, a horrible noise coming from it. “Get fucking back here you piece of shit -” Jeff swore at it, before getting close enough to smash his fist into it’s face. The beast scrambled and Jeff chased after it, not ready for the fight to be over yet. However, the stupid thing ended up faster than him, and as he stopped panting, he realized two things. “I found the fucking path!” Jeff shouted over his shoulder to the others. The second thing was that he’d put his fucking shirt on inside out. Fucking whoops. Jeff turned back, jogging back towards the injured Lydia, “Hey, you alright? Is everyone alright? I found the path!”

Mercy didn’t know what the hell had just happened. One second she was being trampled, and the next she was being snatched bodily to her feet and another figure - Remmy, she noted - was putting themselves between the Valkyrie and the raging onslaught of teeth and hooves. “Holy shit, are you-” out of your mind, Mercy tried to ask as she pulled in a painful breath against her busted rib. But she never got the chance. A powerful hoof connected with Remmy’s chest - a wet crunching sound accompanying it - and they went flying backwards. Mercy reached out reflexively to try and snag them, but it was too late. Or… holy shit. Mercy watched Remmy get to their feet, the indention in their chest one that should’ve been fatal. But they didn’t even seem to notice. They just… got right back up. But there was little time to think on it as Dewey started to yell at the creature, and even tried to knock it off it’s feet. But it wasn’t deterred. It turned for the others. For Lydia the star-reader, and Jeff. Mercy looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, unable to answer Lydia’s question, but there was nothing. Not even a pointy stick. But as she was about to turn and simply throw herself back into the fray, Jeff started yelling… and then he… he punched it in the face. It made a horrible sound before turning tail and fleeing back towards the forest. Good fucking riddance, she thought, raising a hand to let Jeff know that she was alright before looking to the others.

When the thing charged for Mulberry-- Lydia?-- Remmy staggered after it, their head spinning. Someone was shouting, fists flying. This wasn’t right. As Remmy took another step, missing the root on the ground, they tumbled forward and the dessert gave way to jungle again. Ears ringing, Remmy looked up. Blood. Lydia was bleeding. It smelled funny. Remmy’s nose crinkled as they pushed themself back up, stumbling over to her. “Are you--” okay? No, she was bleeding. Jeff was yelling and chasing something. Footsteps. Remmy, dizzy, turned quickly. But it was just Jeff again. Somehow winded, Remmy collapsed next to Lydia. The others started showing up. Remmy looked up at Jeff, squinting through the darkness. “The path? You found it? We can leave?” Thank god, because Remmy had no idea what had just happened. And, somehow, their head was killing them.

“I just need to get home and rest,” Lydia replied, using her wings and good leg to hop through the woods. Jeff had chased it away. How had Jeff chased it away? Lydia wined as her hurt leg brushed against the undergrowth. Soon she’d hide her wings again, but the damage was already done. “We can leave.” Lydia looked to Remmy, and softly murmured, “Make sure you eat when you get home.” Lydia needed to as well. She looked around at the ragtag group of survivors. There was no doubt in her mind that fate had thrown them together, and would again some other time.

#para #para lydia #para remmy #para dewey #para mercy #lydia #remmy #dewey #mercy #lost in the woods #that was a time lmfaooo #panic attack tw

[theskyeandsea]

Tangled Weeb of Lies || Orion, Winston, and Skylar

Location: Skylar’s Apartment

Trigger Warning: Chronic illness symptom mentions

Backdated: Friday, February 28th

Glancing around her apartment, Skylar let out a sigh. Everything looked good. She’d cleaned up a little bit, gotten some snacks ready to go in case Winston and Rio wanted to eat something while they watched, and had a large mug full of fresh coffee. Swiping her forehead, she glanced at her hand with a grimace before wiping the slight sheen of slime against her jeans. Nope, she wasn’t going to deal with this right now. She was going to have fun anime night with her friends and it was going to be fun and she wasn’t going to even think about the pelt that was draped over the chair in her room. Nope. Totally not going to think about it. Hearing a knock at the door, Skylar hurried across her apartment and smiled, hoping she didn’t look too exhausted. “Hey! I’m glad you could make it, come in.” She said.

Winston stepped through the front door as Skylar let them in and rummaged in their rucksack for the snacks and soda that they had brought as their own donation to the anime night snack fund. They looked at Skylar and was pleased to discover that she looked relatively healthy all things considered. They didn’t know exactly how long it had been since she’d last changed but she was definitely running down the clock on it again. “Hey! Thanks for having me,” they grinned and had to admit that they were a little excited, it had been a while since they’d just hung out with friends and enjoyed some anime, “am I the first person here? I didn’t know what snacks to bring so I got a selection…” they didn’t know if they were at the stage with things were hugging Skylar was appropriate so they didn’t even try it, just kind of awkwardly waved. 

“Of course,” Skylar said, though her eyebrows scrunched together at their slightly odd wave. Brushing it off, she continued, “Mhm. But, it’s a small group. Just you, me, and Rio. Orion-- do you know him? He’s really sweet.” She was honestly glad that it was a small group. She wasn’t totally sure she could handle hanging around many people, her nerves were a little fried after everything she’d been through. The past two months had been hard enough, but the onslaught of magical garbage affecting her life had hit a fever pitch last Friday. She’d just wanted to go on a quiet date. And now poor Shiloh had been roped into things too. Ugh. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she nodded, “And please, don’t even worry about the snacks. I’m not going to be eating any.” Before she could say anything more, she heard another knock at the door. “Ah, sorry. That must be him.” She said and headed to the door, “Hi! Welcome in.”

Orion stood near the door awkwardly trying to convince himself to go up and knock on it. Of course, the idea of having an anime night with people he didn’t know well was scary enough in itself, but the underlying meeting was just as terrifying. Rio had never purposely tested someone before to figure out if they were a species other than human. In all other cases, he had been with his family and praying that the tests would fail, refusing to do them himself. But tonight had been a special case. If Skylar was a Fae or werewolf or anything, Rio would have to come up with a plan b to keep her protected. But one thing at a time. Rio had snuck into his sisters room, stealing a silver ring as well as an iron ring, to cover both bases. He had slipped them onto his right index and ring finger and grabbed ahold of his bag of snacks and ran out of the house before his parents or sister had the chance to ask where he was going. Rio finally decided that it was now or never, so he took a deep breath and went to knock at the door. When they answered, he lit up with a genuine smile, “Hey! Skylar! So nice to meet you in person! I’m Rio. Or Orion. I don’t know if you’re a hand shaker or a high fiver?” Rio asked curiously, holding his hand out, rings exposed and ready to test the waters. From the doorway, Rio could see who he assumed was Winston. “Hey there! Nice to meet you!” He might as well test both, just to be safe.

“Nice to meet you too, in person.” Skylar said with a smile before opening the door to let him inside. Tilting her head a little bit in confusion, she blinked. “Um, hand shake, I guess? Do you prefer Rio or Orion?” She asked as she shook his hand quickly, hoping that her hand didn’t feel too slick in his. Shutting the door behind him, Skylar gesture over to Winston and the small offering of snacks she’d set up for the get together. “I’ve got some snacks over there, popcorn and some chips and things. There’s also Mountain Dew in the fridge, so help yourself to that. There’s also beer in the fridge for you, Winston.” She nodded in their direction, “Or help yourself to anything on the bar cart. It’s all fair game.” She really hoped that she was making a good impression on Rio-- he seemed really nice and she could honestly use some nice, nerdy friends.

Winston made their way over to Rio and gripped their hand firmly but politely. They hate it when the cops in the station would crush your hand in a hand shake. “Hey, I’m Winston, it is nice to get to meet a fellow weeb.” They laughed at their own joke before heading back towards the couch. “I’ve also brought some stuff,” Winston said and nodded for Orion to help themselves. “Thanks Skye thats sweet of you, can I get anyone else a drink while I’m at it?” They headed towards the fridge, the thought of an ice cold beer playing fresh on their mind. “Are you a big anime fan?” 

Orion shook both of their hands! Without either of them burning! “Wooh!” Orion exclaimed excitedly after successfully acquainting with his new friends. “Uh sorry... just excited to be here.” He laughed nervously, scratching at the back of his neck and holding up the assorted bag of little Debbie snacks that he had brought along, “These are open to anyone. Uh thanks for inviting me! I’m super excited to meet you both and have some people to watch anime with! People call me both, but most people outside my family go with Rio.” He was clearly nervous and rambling. Winston had called Skylar, Skye. Should Rio do the same? Too much overthinking. “Oh! I’m a big anime fan! But I’ve never really had anyone to watch it with. I’ll take a Mountain Dew while you’re in there. Thanks!” He needed to calm his nerves if he had any chance of being invited back for another anime night. “So what are we watching?”

Eyebrows scrunching together in mild confusion, Skylar stared at Rio for a moment, but her expression quickly shifted back to normal after his apology. He was probably just a little nervous. She’d known her fair share of introverted people in college and there were always a few people who sort of overcompensated when they wound up meeting people. Poor guy. With a welcoming smile, Skylar nodded, “Rio it is. And thanks! I accidentally ate a large lunch so I’m not that hungry.” She said as she took a sip from her coffee mug. “I’m glad you two could make it, I haven’t watched things with people like this in a long time. Um… I know we talked about Haikyuu, but I’m also open to pretty much anything. Maybe nothing super gorey or gross?” She said, “Do you have any preferences, Winston?”

“Sure, I’ll stick with Rio if that is what you prefer,” Winston replied as they inclined their head gently, “So how did you too meet? I thought that after I met Skye I would know all the nerds in town but it is always a blessing to add another one of us to the hive mind.” They hadn’t been able to say something like that in a while, too much hanging out with people because they knew stuff about the supernatural world and not enough hanging out with people so they could play D&D together. Winston shrugged. Before grabbing some Mountain Dew for Orion and a beer for themselves. Skylar seemed set with her mug of coffee. “I’ve never watched Haikyuu and I’ve never really given any sports anime a go, but I am down to try something new. If we get bored we could always try something new. I don’t really have a preference it’s just cool to meet some new people and find some new anime to watch. Could always do with new recommendations if possible.” 

“Oh, we met online and started talking about anime and stuff like that. Then we decided to try to meet up and have a little anime night. So here we are!” Orion explained, noting Skylar’s mention of not being hungry. One of the tests for supernatural creatures was diet. Many species had specific dietary restrictions that hunters could use to exploit and expose the creature’s secrets. Was that what this was? Or was she just truly not hungry? But Orion laughed at Winston’s comment, “Hive mind. I like that!”  He grabbed the Mountain Dew from Winston and popped the tab open, taking a long drink. “Thank you! I really enjoy a lot of sports anime! It’s actually been around a really long time too. There was a Japanese animated short film back in 1928 called Animal Olympic Games! Most critics credit that as the first sports anime.” Orion mumbled off the top of his head, not sure why he thought that would be important information for either of them to know. “But I’m, among the few that I have seen I would say that Haikyuu is my favorite. It’s just really cute. But exciting.” Oh boy, they needed to start quickly so Rio could shut up apparently.

Rio seemed a little bit more excitable than Skylar had expected; or maybe she was just feeling more out of it than she had thought. It had been a little over two weeks since… Ricky and Remmy had forced her to change. She should be fine. She should still be okay. But the way she was feeling, it was worse than normal. “Mhm! It’s really neat that White Crest has a system for people to connect like this. It’s been really nice as someone who’s not super extroverted.” She said as she walked over to the TV and connected her laptop to the HDMI cord. Listening as the other two hashed out the details, Skylar waited for her computer to boot up. “Really? That’s neat, I didn’t know that!” Tilting her head at Winston, she spoke up, “If you want, we could start from the beginning of the show, so you have an idea of what’s going on? It’s totally your call, I’m not up to date.”

Raising an eyebrow, Winston passed the can of Mountain Dew over despite the fact that they couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Orion had a bit too much energy already. “Are you guys both relatively new to White Crest then?” Winston had been using the messaging boards since they could type and had been as such benefiting directly from there. Orion however seemed to really know their stuff about anime and Winston was starting to wonder if they might not be the most nerdy person in the room. They would obviously have to work harder to establish themselves as the apex nerd. “Sure, we can start from the beginning or you can throw me in at the deep end and I can tell you if I start drowning. Whatever you guys want.” They were starting to wonder if they needed to have someone here to help them make decisions since they all seemed to nice to do that.

Orion was talking too much. He knew that. But he figured it was either talk too much or cower back into his shell and not talk at all. Honestly he couldn’t be sure which one they would prefer. His nerves about the Fae testing hadn’t helped either. “I’ve actually lived here my whole life.” Orion shrugged at Winston, “But um... I didn’t get out much when I was younger. So.” Orion took another drink from his can, shaking it absent-mindedly to find that it was already more than halfway gone. “I’m fine with starting at the beginning. I think it’s important for context.” Orion eyed the hallway that he assumed led down to the bathroom and bedrooms. He tapped on his soda can idly and considered his options. Was he the kind of person to try to rummage through somebody’s personal possessions? Was it justifiable if it was to try to protect said person? “We should definitely get started before I start boring you guys with the history of Japanese volleyball.”

“I moved here back in August, so I’m the only newbie here.” Skylar said with a small smile before taking another sip from her coffee mug. Winston’s off-hand metaphor made her wince slightly at the thought of swimming, of having to-- nope. No, she wasn’t going to think about that right now. This was all about nerdy, normal people things. Not crazy, magic seal things. “Sounds great to me!” She said pulling up the first episode of Haikyuu before pausing. “You guys don’t have a problem with subs, right? It’s just easier for me.” She said, brushing her hair as casually as she could so Rio could see her hearing aids. It was a bit more subtle than saying “hey I can’t understand what’s going on because lip reading doesn’t work on cartoons” and tended to work. “And hey, I’m a fan of random trivia. I’d be happy to hear all about that.” She nodded.

“Oh, I guess we must have missed each other at high school or something,” Winston felt somewhat guilty for just assuming that Rio was brand new to town, but they seemed to have gotten away with it to some extent. “I am more then happy to have subtitles on,” Winston honestly was kind of lazy at paying attention to everything that they were watching, and as a result they often had subtitles on so they could back read anything they didn’t quite hear.” They popped their beer open and drank a mouthful, before settling into a sofa. “Is volleyball a big thing in Japan or something?” they asked casually, feeling themselves grow slightly hot under the collar as they felt somewhat embarrassed by their apparent awkwardness.

“Probably, I was pretty quiet in school. Mostly kept to myself.” Not everyone could be as outgoing as his sister, but Orion hadn’t thought much about it since high school. It hadn’t been a very fun four years of his life anyways; he’d rather just forget it ever happened. “Subs are perfect. I prefer them actually.” Orion agreed, catching a glimpse at the hearing aids that Skylar was wearing. He remembered her mentioning it online when they talked about ASL. “Sports in general are really popular in Japan,” Orion began, surprisingly thankful that the two didn’t seem annoyed by his random bursts of nerdy knowledge, “About 85% of kids in Japan are involved in some type of sport at school, it’s a little less nichey than sports in America tend to be. There’s even a national Holiday in japan specifically dedicated to sports.” Taiiku no hi. Orion decided against saying the name in case that was a bit too far on the nerdiness scale. “But volleyball has been around in Japan since the 1920’s. The debut of Volleyball in the Olympics was even in Tokyo. The women’s Japanese team took home gold.” He felt bad that he seemed to be monopolizing the conversation and decided to settle down into an open spot near the television. “Okay, sorry. We can get started now. I’m done I swear.” Orion laughed nervously and hoped that someone would put him out of his awkward misery.

Taking a seat on the sofa farthest away from Winston so as not to crowd them, Skylar hummed in amusement-- strange, how White Crest could feel like such a small town with so many coincidences, and yet stuff like this happened. Two people who had similar interests, had grown up here their entire lives, had never crossed paths. Well, she was happy to bring the two nerds in touch, she was happy to have more dorky friends who were into the same things she was. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She said with a smile as she settled into the couch, tucking her legs underneath her. Oh wow, Rio really knew his stuff. And Skylar liked to think she was a bit of a trivia dork, but she had nothing on him. The most she knew was silly random fun facts about… bananas and things about sign language. “You’re all good, really. The more you know, you know?” She said, jokingly making the sign for rainbow, mimicking the meme. With a laugh, she started the first episode and watched as the animated characters appeared on-screen.

Orion could calm down long enough to enjoy a few hours of solitude and nerdy company, right? He couldn’t control his outright laugh at Skylar signing rainbow to reference the meme. “Clever” Orion laughed, settling back into his seat when she hit play so they could jump into the first episode. Orion quietly sang along to the opening theme song, hoping that he wasn’t too loud to disturb the other two from watching. Once they had gotten into the groove of the show, Orion could feel his anxiety finally start to calm down. But he kept catching himself eyeing the hallway. Against his better judgement, he couldn’t stop thinking about what more he could do to make sure he could keep Athena away from his new friends. Eventually after a couple of episodes of distraction, Orion couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey uh – Sorry. Could I use your bathroom really quick?” Orion asked, waiting for the permission to be granted before hopping up from his seat. “Please don’t pause it for me! I have seen this episode a hundred times. I can jump right back in! Be back in a minute!” Then he ran off down the hallway and towards the bedroom doors.

Skylar grinned, quietly pleased that Orion had understood her joke. It was kinda nice to have someone around who understood ASL more than the generic alphabet and question words. As they got into the show, she noticed that he had relaxed a little, something that honestly made her feel better about her hosting ability. Rio had seemed so nervous being here and she really didn’t want him to feel that way. He was super sweet, in person as well. As they made their way through the episodes, Skylar just felt… off. No matter how often she tried to focus on the anime in front of them, her mind drifted, cycling through worries. What did Shiloh really think of her? Would Remmy be okay? How was Nadia doing with her post-possession situation? Why was Nic out killing vampires? Was it really okay for her to take Alain’s self help books, what if he needed them? Why was Evelyn asking her all those questions? What about Blanche, was her magic nightmare situation still going on? How was poor Morgan dealing with her curse, did she need someone to talk to? Was Ricky ever going to forgive her? Would he even want to? All the questions weighed heavily in her mind, and her shoulders slumped deeper into the couch. The Karkinoids, the giant lobster boy, the eyeball that she still saw when she closed her eyes-- what were they? Why had they appeared? What had she gotten herself into, what had she gotten Shiloh into? It was-- It was too much. Dimly aware that Rio was saying something, she glanced over to where he’d been sitting and realized he was no longer in that seat. The episode they’d been watching had long ended. How much time had passed..? “Um, okay! I’ll just keep it going.” She said with a slight shrug at Winston. Where had Rio said he was going?

Though they were ignorant of this, unlike the other two, Winston was completely engrossed in the anime. They were drawn in by the detail, the art style, the tone. It was a difference from what they had previously been involved in in terms of their anime viewing experience but variety was the spice of life and honestly it was nice to do something that didn’t involve Ghouls, Fairies or Magic. Glancing over at Skye, they noticed the glazed look in their eyes and sat up gently as Orion left the room in search of their bathroom. “Hey,” they whispered, “you doing okay? You look like you’re a million miles away…” they gave her a reassuring smile before leaning back in their seat and placing a few kernels of popcorn into their mouth and chewing thoughtfully on the snack, “Orion seems like a cool dude.” 

Orion rushed as quietly as he could into the hallway and gently pushed open the first bedroom door, peaking inside. Upon inspection, he wasn’t convinced that that was Skylar’s room. And pulled the door shut as quietly as he could and moved past it, eyeing the bathroom and then moving for the other door. He eased it open, noting the blue walls which stood out from the rest of the place. Against one wall stood a bookshelf that held stacks of comic books and manga along with a few pop figures. Bingo. Orion squeezer through the small opening and suddenly found himself standing in the middle of Skylar’s room. This was wrong. He knew how wrong this was. Maybe he didn’t deserve friends in the first place, if this was what he would have to do. But it was too late in this case, so he pushed himself forward, forcing himself to inspect the bookshelf and then the closet. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but figured he would know if he found something. Ingredients for a spell, a pool of blood, being a Fae for dummies, anything. He moved to the bed and found nothing before finally inspecting the desk. He searched through the drawers, trying to be thorough in his search while also maintaining some level  of privacy. He was ready to give up his search on account of not finding anything until he bumped into the desk chair. Clothes were tossed over the back of the chair, a detail Orion had completely ignored until he was up close and the bottom of the pile caught his eye. He carefully lifted the other clothes on top and his eyes widened at the discovery. Skin. He moved his hand to touch it and felt the leathery surface. Finally, all the pieces seemed to finally click together. Skylar was a selkie.

What if there was nothing she could do about all of this? What if Ricky was right, what if she had to confront-- Skylar forced herself back into the present and realized that Winston had said something to her. “I-- Sorry. I’m fine. Just a little tired, that’s all.” She said with a shake of her head before bringing her coffee mug to her lips. She’d refilled it twice over the course of the episodes, which would usually be enough to bring her energy levels up to normal at this time of the month. But… it wasn’t working. She still felt drained, the coffee wasn’t helping, and she couldn’t get out of her head. “Rio seems really nice, mhm. I’m glad he had this idea. Maybe if we could make this a regular thing.” She said before glancing down the hallway. Wait… “Didn’t he say he was looking for the bathroom?” Skylar asked, her expression shifting to one of confusion. “Why’s the bathroom door open?”

Raising an eyebrow at Skylar’s response, Winston counted backwards in their head to the date that Ricky and Remmy had forced Skylar to change. “You sure?” they asked with a frown, not willing to push the issue considering that it was obviously an issue for Skylar, but they wanted their friend to be safe and well. They forced themselves to take a long breath and watch the anime. Skylar was her own person and she had her own level of autonomy. She had her own life and she could make all her own decisions without Winston’s help. Rising from their chair, Winston made their way over to the living room door and looked around. “Why is the bathroom door open?” they asked in agreement, “Maybe Orion just went the wrong way or something?” 

The news couldn’t have been any more relieving, and Orion had to physically force himself from cheering aloud or prancing around like an idiot. Skylar was a selkie! A selkie! Sure,  being human was the safest bet for Skylar, but this was better, no, safer than the alternatives. The only thing Orion could think of to test a Selkie would be their dietary restrictions, and that would be easy enough to work around. Plus, Orion had befriended a selkie! How cool was that? He placed the clothing back on top of the skin and made his way back towards the door. When he slid back out into the hallway he looked over to realize that both Skylar and Winston had apparently realized that Rio had not just gone to the bathroom. “Uh- wrong door” he laughed awkwardly, semi thankful that he had been an awkward disaster the entire evening so that he had that excuse going for him. Without another word he made his way into the bathroom, splashing his face with some water from the sink. He would sit in there for a few minutes, try to calm himself down. He hadn’t done anything wrong per say. Technically he had, but for the right reasons. This was totally forgivable, right? This was good. Maybe now that he had learned the truth he could finally just enjoy the anime night with his friends. The stress of dealing with his sister would have to wait another day. But just to be safe he was going to spend another minute or two in the bathroom practicing some breathing techniques.

“I’m sure,” Skylar said with a rather forced smile on her face, ignoring the way that her body was starting to ache in that familiar, ever-present way. The way that followed her around, day after day, no matter how much she rested or slept. The way that shouldn’t be happening right now. She should have had more time, she’d needed more time to just be normal. Why couldn’t she just be normal? Reluctantly, Skylar shifted from her place on the couch and followed after Winston to peer down the hallway. But, even as she looked over, she saw Rio scurry into the bathroom door with an awkward laugh, shutting the door behind him. He’d been awkward all evening, poor guy. “I don’t know how he could have gone into the wrong door-- it’s just our rooms and the bathroom down the hall.” She blinked with a shake of her head. Rio wasn’t some kind of pervert was he..? Had she made a mistake inviting him here?

Raising an eyebrow as Winston spotted Orion leaving Skylars room and promptly making a beeline for the bathroom. “I mean maybe check your room to see if anything has gone missing,” though they had to admit that Orion wasn’t exactly the type that seemed suspicious and this may well have just been an extension of their awkwardness but Winston didn’t want to take the risk that there was something more going on there. It seemed unlikely that someone like Orion was not human or was even aware of the supernatural, but then again Winston hadn’t known about it. “I can try and keep him distracted if you want, it was probably just an honest mistake though…” Pausing Winston looked to Skylar to see what she wanted to do, this was her place after all. Her call.

Grimacing, Skylar nodded. Winston had a point, there was an easy enough way of dealing with this. “Thank you. If he comes out before I do, just try and distract him somehow?” She asked before hurrying down the hallway. She slipped inside her room and glanced around-- her bookshelf looked normal, her sheets was still haphazardly tossed in an attempt at making the bed, and her chair. Eyes widening, she hurried over to her chair. Her skin. Her pelt. Shit. How could she have been so stupid to just leave it lying out? Had he found it? Had he taken it? Was he going to sell it on the black market like Ricky had said people did? Oh god. But, there it was. Under the clothes she’d hidden it under. Letting out a small sigh, she relaxed a little. Hang on. That still didn’t answer the question-- why had he been in her room? Oh no, he wasn’t actually a pervert, was he?

Footsteps down the hall made Orion’s heartbeat even faster. His hands were shaking and he could feel sweat collecting on them. He flushed the toilet, never bothering actually using it. He washed his hands and wiped them dry on the hand towel. He pushed back out into the hallway, glancing back quickly at the bedroom door. Skylar wasn’t in the living room anymore, she must have gone into the bedroom. Orion felt light headed from the guilt and his stomach began hurting. He wasn’t going to throw up in Skylar’s home, right? No... he needed to remain calm. Or as calm as possible for him. “Hey!” Orion muttered casually as he walked back into the living room and reclaimed his original spot. “Is Skylar okay? She looked a little out of it earlier.”

As Skylar left, Winston quickly came up with a lie. They weren’t sure why they had decided to suggest that they lie to Orion because they were perhaps the worlds very worst liar. They hoped that everything was in order. “Hey!” they replied jumping a little as Orion appeared once more, “I think she’s doing okay,” they replied their brain doing their best to churn out a lie that was plausible, “she just went to get changed, she was sat here and there was a … a …” their brain was blank, “a spider!” They paused for a sharp intake of breath because Skylar didn’t seem the type to be bothered by arachnids. “Anyway, there was this … uh spider and I hate spiders they give me the skeeves and so I spot this … spider and I kinda jumped and that made Skylar jump and as she jumped she was about to drink some of her coffee so it was in her hand and I think some of it spilled on her and she went to sort that, probably just cleaning up now or maybe she’s getting changed… i don’t know because I’m here with you and not out there with … her.” 

With one final, troubled look around her room, Skylar grabbed one of the sports mangas from her bookshelf and walked back out to the living room, holding it up at her guests as she returned to the living room. Rio was back in his spot and Winston seemed… a little out of sorts? What had they said? “I… remembered that Haikyuu is kinda similar to Koroko No Basket and decided to grab the book my room, in case you wanted to borrow it?” She said, holding the book out to Rio to look through. But, her eyes were trained on Winston. Did her story match with theirs..? What had they said to Rio to distract him? Oh god. They should have lined their stories up before she’d gone into her room. Her stomach churned slightly, she hated lying, she hated making things up so much. Particularly when it was over something that could be easily found out. Dammit.

Orion followed along with Winston’s story to the best of his ability. Admittedly, it seemed pretty obvious that they were lying to Orion. “Oh... uh I get it though, spiders scare me too.” That wasn’t a lie, Orion was terrified of the things. Though he was terrified of a lot of things so spiders didn’t necessarily make the top of the list. “Yeah, that makes sense. I hope she’s good. Is the spider gone?” He confirmed that it was a lie when Skylar came out giving a completely different excuse wearing the same clothes. Orion laughed nervously. They all knew each other was lying, but how did Orion explain to the two that he had a (semi) legit reasoning for glancing through the room? Especially in front of Winston; who knew what they knew about Skylar? Orion wasn’t willing to out her just to save his own skin. “Oh! I haven’t read that yet!” Orion smiled as wide as he could and tried to sound casual. Did his voice just crack? Jesus. “Thank you! I really appreciate it. I can get this back to you soon, I promise. Uh-“ he motioned to change the subject, “are you doing alright? You look a little out of it.” Why did he have to ruin every good thing that happened to him?

Winston’s eyes went wide as they realised that Skylar hadn’t changed. “Hey, you managed to … get the stain out already, you really must give me that recipe you know to do that. I spill … stuff on me … all the time.” They really needed to get better at lying, this was not going to work out if they were going to continue putting themselves in these situations. Glancing up at Skylar, Winston frowned as they realised that Skylar didn’t really look herself. She didn’t look ill per se, more that there was something off about the way she viewed the room. A weird sheen in her eyes. “Do you want to come and sit down, maybe you should have a drink or something?” they looked at Orion and hoped that their lies would be forgotten. They wondered what was really going on here, was it possible that they were in danger. Winston would’ve normally written it off as simple miscommunication and misunderstanding, but suddenly they were so sure. After everything that had happened maybe they were getting a little paranoid. 

Struggling to not just blink at the two of them in confusion, Skylar nodded slowly, “Uh huh… it was just a little spill-- not a huge deal. And I got distracted by the book because it was on the shelf next to me. Mhm!” Nailed it. Before she could say anything else that could make things weird, Skyar nodded and sat down on the couch, taking her spot once more. As the two of them asked her if there was something wrong, she frowned at them. What was going on? Was it that obvious that she wasn’t feeling her best? Glancing down at her hands, she saw that a thin film of slime had developed on her palms, but she did her best to hide that by folding her arms across her stomach. “I’m fine, really. Just a little tired, but that’s nothing super uncommon. Um… Are we still going to watch?” She asked, gesturing to the anime boys that were running around on her tv screen. The sooner they just dropped the question, the better. She didn’t want them asking her questions she couldn’t really answer.

Orion wasn’t convinced that Skylar was alright like she claimed, but it was hardly Orion’s business. There must have been some reason why she was trying to convince them that she was fine. Maybe she was just tired. Orion shrugged towards Winston as if to say, I hope she’s fine. Then at least, Skylar offered to continue watching the show. Things couldn’t be too messed up if they were going to be jumping back into the tv show, right? Orion let out a sigh of relief, falling back into the chair and trying to force himself to relax. Everything was going to be fine. Orion was going to befriend both of them despite the awkwardness of tonight. He needed some friends like this. “Yeah we should jump right back in. Sorry for holding things up.” He welcomed anything to change the subject from their obvious lies and hopefully give some room for the three to forget everything and bond over anime like they had been doing before. 

Winston knew that they were all aware that there wasn’t something quite right here. But apparently all of them were way too awkward to confront it. Winston’s tenous grasp over their magic was not something that they wanted to test now. So they sat there, and watched several more hours of this anime. In doing so, they had to admit that they really came to enjoy Orion’s company, despite the weird situation that was hanging over them. When it eventually got to the later hours of the night, Winston realised that they had work in the morning. Stiffling a yawn at the end of their current episode, they forced themselves from the couch. “Look, guys, I’ve got to go home,” they said as they pulled their glasses off an rubbed their eyes, “I’ve got to be at work in a few hours and I need to get some sleep, but … yeah I had a great time.” 

The next few hours of anime passed Skylar by in a slightly listless haze. She was aware of what was going on, but the tiredness was getting to her in a way that her normal methods of just weren’t handling. But, she did her best to seem as engaged as possible. She laughed when the other two did, she nodded along to the opening music, she tried to just be normal. When what she was going through was anything but. And, to top it all off, there was the matter of Rio… poking around in her room. As Winston stood up to walk out the door, Skylar nodded. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it’d gotten that late. Thanks so much for coming by.” She said, walking them to the door. Fingers twitching at her side nervously, she glanced back at the couch. Mmmmmm. She really had to know why he’d been in her room and this was as good of an opportunity as she was going to get. Speaking as casually as she could, Skylar asked, “Since they have to get to work tomorrow, Rio… do you mind helping me clean up a little?”

Orion was able to settle down enough to enjoy the anime for a few hours. He usually used anime when he was stressed out as a distraction. It got his mind off of reality and gave him some time to unwind and relax. That actually seemed to be working, despite the awkwardness of the night. After a while, Winston mentioned it getting late and began to pack their things. Orion hadn’t even noticed all the time that had passed. “It was super nice meeting you. I’m glad we got a chance to do this.” He smiled at Winston, nervously fumbling with the rings he had stolen from his sister. His little ploy had been so stupid. He should have just come for the anime night and left it at that. “Oh yeah of course. I’d love to help.” Orion agreed nervously.

Yawning, Winston collected the remainder of the snacks that they had brought with them, stuffing them into a rucksack and pulling their jacket on. Rubbing a finger behind the lense of their glasses, they nodded and smiled at Orion. Despite all of the weirdness earlier, Orion seemed cool. “Hey, dude, you too, we should definitely make sure that we do this stuff again, maybe on a weekend or when I’m not working.” With that they double checked that they had the last of their belongings and headed out into the night. 

Skylar smiled as Winston said their goodbyes and shut the door behind them. Just the effort of getting up and going to the door was draining, but she hid it as well as she could. She had no idea why she was feeling so awful. She'd been trying her best to take care of herself, reading the self-help books, and doing whatever she could to ease some of the stress that had been thrust upon her. This was part of why she'd wanted to have anime night-- it was meant to be something fun and normal and cool, but her body was just... ruining it for her. Letting out a sigh, she did her best to offer a genuine smile as she turned around to face Rio. "Thanks again for offering to help clean up, I really appreciate it." She said with a nod, putting a chip clip on one of the open bags. "Um... did you have a good time?"

Winston left for the night which just left Orion and Skylar alone in her place. Despite a few hiccups, Orion had enjoyed himself and hoped that the other two had as well. He was in the kitchen, throwing out the cans and bottles from the night and trying to organize the array of snacks that they had brought over. Orion couldn’t help but wonder what was on Skylar’s mind. His fingers drummed against the countertop nervously. “Hey, yeah of course it’s my pleasure.” He answered suddenly, realizing that he had spaced out for a moment. “I had a great time! It was really cool to have people to talk to about the shows I like to watch. Thanks again for inviting me over.” Were they going to talk about the bedroom incident? He didn’t want to, but he was afraid things would be worse if they didn’t. What would Orion even say? What excuse did he have, really? Aside from the truth, which was completely out of the question.

Skylar blinked at Rio's answer, a little confused by his body language. He'd been a little antsy all night, but there was something else about him. Why was he being so... odd? He almost seemed like he wasn't fully present, if that made any sense. But... she couldn't really judge. She hadn't been feeling like herself in a long time. "I'm glad that you had fun. I'm really hoping to make this a more regular thing." She said with a nod. But... she still wasn't a hundred percent sure how she felt about Rio. There was just something... off. Grimacing, she stared at the stovetop of the kitchen before turning around to face Rio. Looking him directly in the eyes, Skylar spoke up, "Um. Do you mind if I ask you something?" She could feel the sweat trickling down the side of her face; or, at least, she hoped it was just sweat. Either way, she really just wanted to ask him and get it over with. "Why were you snooping around in my room?"

Skylar did not look great, but Orion wasn’t sure that it was his place to make a comment on it. She had been lethargic the entire night and had looked a bit out of it, but Orion had hoped it was just exhaustion. But now, standing up with her in the kitchen instead of glancing from a chair, he could see that it was more than just Skylar being tired. It didn’t help that tension sunk between the two, both thinking about the same incident without either saying anything about it. But then finally, Skylar asked the question. What had Orion been doing in her room? All night, he had convinced himself that it was justifiable. That he had a good reason for doing what he had. But was it truly necessary? He was so stupid. “I- uh wasn’t snooping.” He began, but it didn’t feel right coming off his lips. They tasted bitter, “Sorry that’s not right- I didn’t mean to snoop.” That was closer to the truth. Sure, he had walked into that room on purpose, but he had never wanted to do it in the first place. “I walked in and I should have left immediately but I-“ He couldn’t explain to her the truth, not without explaining his family to her. “I saw the skin.” He finally settled on. That was what this entire night had boiled down to and it was a conversation the two would have to have eventually. He just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. “I didn’t know what it was at first, so I went in because I wanted to know what it was.” He shut his eyes tight, not wanting to see her facial reaction just yet. “Which was wrong. And I shouldn’t have done that and I’m really sorry.”

The tiredness Skylar had felt all night had sunk into her bones as she listened to Rio. Folding her arms across her chest, her fingers gripped at the sides of her shirt, as though she could just physically hold herself together. If she could just keep it together, she would be okay. But, the second he mentioned skin... Her blood ran cold. What? He'd seen her skin, had he gone in there purposefully? But, it was still there, it was still there. Wait. Her eyes widened as she realized that he'd said skin, not pelt. Not something that... a normal person who saw a seal pelt would say. "You... you went into my room, and you saw my skin. And you don't think that's snooping?" Her voice shaking with both anger and fear. What was he going to do now? Why did he know. "How, how do you know what it is? Rio, why were you looking for things in my room? Why... why are you here?"

This wasn’t going well. Understandably, Skylar didn’t seem to take the news that Orion found the skin very well. “No, no. You’re right I’m sorry. It was snooping. But.. I didn’t want to snoop. ” Orion couldn’t seem to find the right words to say. Were there any right words to say? “Listen, there are some bad people in this town.” How did he tell her the truth without telling her the truth? “They want to hurt people that are… different.” His mouth was dry, but his palms were sweating and he wiped them against his jeans. He didn’t feel like he could make eye contact. He may start crying on the spot. God, that would be embarrassing. “I’m here for the anime night! I swear. But while I was here… I needed to know. So I could make sure you were safe. I- I don’t care that you’re a Selkie. I just don’t want others to find out and hurt you.”

Skylar shook her head slowly from side to side, as though that would make any of this situation less real. No, no, no. She'd been so careless, so stupid. She'd sent back the safe to Ricky and now she only had herself to blame for this. If she'd just kept the safe, then Rio would have never known that she was a Selkie. "Why did you need to know? Why couldn't you have asked me? If-- if you'd asked me, if you'd said that you were trying to help me, I would have told you." She said, trembling. "Who are these people? How do you know about them, and who-- who are they? If you're trying to help me, I need to know. I deserve to know if someone tries to hurt me for being something-- something I don't even want to be!" Her voice broke and tears began to streak down her face as she stared at Rio, still trying to comprehend what he had told her.

“I couldn’t just ask.” Orion whined, not proud of the emotion slipping into his voice. He hated crying. He definitely didn’t cry in front of people. “I didn’t- I couldn’t know if you were going to tell the truth. It’s why I wore these stupid rings.” He held his hand up as evidence. “There are hunters!” He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the whole truth. Knowing about his family would only put her in more danger. Not to mention himself. If he were to over tell them the truth about him then… well that might be his family’s final straw. “I’ve seen the awful things they can do and when we became friends I just- I just wanted to keep you safe.” But then Skylar broke Orion’s heart. She hated being a Selkie? All she was trying to do was live her life. Orion was the one that should hate what he was. He did hate what he was. “Skylar… There is nothing wrong with wha- with who you are. You deserve better than that.” Dang it. He wiped at his eyes with his forearm. This was definitely the worst.

Blinking through the tears, Skylar sucked in a deep breath and attempted to calm herself down. But, the more Rio kept talking, the more questions came to mind. What was he talking about? Hunters? His rings? What did he mean by this? What did any of this mean? "Are you a hunter? What are the rings, what are they?" She asked, trying to work through the thoughts racing through her mind. There was just so much that she couldn't even begin to understand with what he'd just said. "I--" She held up her hand, signing for him to stop. She didn't need someone who had just... outed her to try and reassure about what she was as a person. "Don't. Don't tell me that, I don't want to hear that. What I need to know," Skylar took in another shaky breath, "Is are they going to attack me? Are you going to hurt me?"

The words hurt Orion. They weren’t even accusatory, more questioning than anything. But it didn’t make the question hurt any less. Was he a hunter? “No. God no. I’m not a hunter.” That wasn’t a lie. Genetically, maybe he was but he would never become his family. He refused to accept that title as one of his own no matter what his family tried to force upon him. “I don’t- It doesn’t sound good. But I want to be honest here. The rings are silver and iron. It’s a way to test if a person is a werewolf or Fae.” He wanted to try to explain more to her, to try to make her understand or at the very least make her less afraid. But he had ruined it. He stopped talking immediately after she signed at him, freezing in his tracks. “Ok. I’m sorry.” He held his hands up in surrender and crossed them back over his chest. “No! No! No. I would never hurt you. Or anybody. I don’t want anybody to get hurt. Nobody is going to hurt you.” He was going to make sure of that. Whether Skylar could forgive him or not. Whether she ever spoke to him again. She would make sure that his sister stayed away from her.

Swallowing through the lump that had formed in the back of her throat, Skylar nodded. Okay. He wasn’t a hunter. But he knew about this? He knew about werewolves and fae and how to tell what they were? He knew about Selkies? How could he… Rubbing her fingers together, she shook her head again before unhooking her hearing aids from her ears, shoving them into the pockets of her jeans. She didn’t want to hear any more of this, she really didn’t. She couldn’t handle finding out about all of this. Focusing on reading his lips to compensate for her lack of hearing, Skylar’s hands clenched at her sides. “How do you know that no one is going to hurt me? I need you to leave. Right now. I can’t deal with this right now.” Skylar signed, pointing at the door.

Maybe Orion had still kept some hope alive. Maybe, despite the tears and the anger and the fear, Orion still wondered if a friendship was salvageable. Maybe, just maybe, Orion had deluded himself to believe that he did deserve friendship. But Skylar took out her hearing aids, and Orion knew that the conversation was over. The door had closed and Orion was locked out. At least the one benefit was that Skylar probably couldn’t hear his sniffling any longer. At least she was safe, and Orion knew that Athena’s initial tests wouldn’t show anything.”Yeah, of course. I get it.” He signed back at Skylar. He thought about leaving the bag of snacks on the counter for Skylar, but remembered that her diet wouldn’t exactly allow for that. So he grabbed onto the bag and made his way towards the door. He held onto the knob for a long moment before turning around to sign at her again. “Thanks for inviting me. I’m really sorry. Again.” Then he was gone.

#p: twol #p: winston dane #p: orion quinn #chronic illness cw

[fatandnerdy30]

The Little Princess Chapter 5

They officially meet! But, it doesn’t go as planned....

The tea was steeping in the porcelain pot on the table, the smell already easing Remondin's aching head. He'd drank more than he would in a lifetime in under a week. The news of Michelle's passing had hit him hard, and his heart still ached. For the past three days he'd been blaming himself for not fighting harder to get to her, to see her again.

Even in his worst nightmares he never thought this would happen. Now he had nothing else. His finger brushed against the ring on his middle finger and his eyes went to it. In the light a tiny pendant shone inside the amber setting, the last present Michelle had given him before he had to leave. Remondin's chest tightened as he stared at it, jumping when the teapot crossed his vision, Trevor filling his cup.

"Remondin?" Trevor's voice was soft as he filled the man's cup before doing the same with his own, then his wife's. "Are you all right?"

Out of habit Remondin nodded, but he was far from it. He'd just lost the love of his life for the second time. What was worse, she'd been gone for the last three years. Shouldn't he have felt something was wrong? Maybe he had, but was just too busy. There was so much there that needed to be done. Now he regretted every moment he was away from her.

A noise caught his attention. It was coming from the guest room. Did Susan have a visitor? It sounded again and he sat up straight. It sounded like a scream, a tiny and terrified scream. He partially stood, stopping when a hand grabbed his arm.

"Rem, I wouldn't go in there right now," Trevor stood to block the other man's way, but he was moved with a powerful arm, Remondin stepping past him.

"What in the bloody hell is going on in here?" He pushed the partially open door, expecting to see Susan holding some kind of injured animal, but what he saw was much worse.

The tiny girl almost blended in with the pillow, she was so small. Her hair was platinum blonde and long, fanning around her as she scurried to get away from Susan. From his position he couldn't see her face clearly, but assumed it was twisted in horror. Remondin stepped further into the room and felt his heart stop. She was terrified, but her face was so familiar.

Stepping closer still he felt the color drain away from his face. The slight body, her heart shaped face, sea-green eyes, so much like his own, but she looked like..."Michelle?" he asked, hope ringing in his voice. No, this couldn't be her. She looked more like...

When he spoke the girl flinched, a whimper coming from her. "N-no," she stuttered. She was pressed into the pillow, half hiding herself, half staring up at him. "That's my mother's name."

Remondin could have sworn his heart went through the floor, and checked just to make sure there wasn't a hole in between his feet. This was Michelle's child? Had she gotten over him and married another?

"Remmy, this isn't what you think," Susan began but stopped at a glare from him.

"Not what I think?" he seethed. "You bring Michelle's child here to me, after what you told me just three days ago? When it's obvious she met another...I didn't know you were a sadist, Susan." He turned his back on them. "Return her to her family and allow me to grieve in peace." His hand was on the knob when he heard a tiny voice call from the bed.

"Wait," Hannah called, her body trembling. When the man turned his head to look at her, she squeaked and held herself tighter. Why am I speaking?

It was obvious this man wanted nothing from her, but he looked like he was in so much pain. "My mother never met another man. At least not while I've been alive. It was always her and me." She uncurled a little from her position, keeping an eye on the three giant people all the while, not trusting them. "She told me about my dad a lot, though. She said she loved him more than life itself, but he had to leave before I was born. She always said I had his eyes, eyes that always reminded her of the sea."

She took a deep breath when the man fully turned, a simple action seeming so much larger to her. But, when she looked into his face, recognition dawned on her. The picture! Sitting up, she squinted her eyes a little. He was older, his hair was gray in some areas, but...this was the man in the picture with his mother. This was her father.

She got to her feet in a single shot, shock overtaking her fears. She looked up at Susan, the woman's face holding a smile as she nodded then turned to the man.

"Remondin, meet your daughter."

The world stopped turning in a matter of three words. Remondin's gaze slowly left his sister's to target on the girl standing on the bed. His daughter? No, it was impossible. Michelle would have told him...unless...she hadn't even known when he left. Could she have found out later on after he left?

And he never went back to even check on her. He left her alone to raise their supposed child alone while he ruled a country, fighting off lady courtiers. Anger bubbled from his stomach for one person in particular. Susan. How could she have done this to him?

He turned his glare on his sister, pleased when she took a step back, her hand going to her throat. "You tell me Michelle died three years ago, and then behind my back bring her child, whom you claim was forged from our love here? And from the looks of it, not preparing her for what was in store?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl had gone back to hiding in the pillow, but he couldn't control himself now. He'd waited too long to let this anger out.

"Look at her!" Remondin pointed a finger toward the bed. "She could have been killed in the portal! You know that!"

Hannah felt her heart about to give out from watching the man rant at Susan. His voice was so loud, it hurt her ears. But, in a way she was glad the woman was getting scolded, since she drugged her, and could have killed her apparently. But, she also felt bad. The man was scary when he was angry. Suddenly his gaze was on her and she froze, feeling like a mouse in the sights of a hawk. He moved and she nearly wet herself when he stomped up to her on the bed, his knees towering over her.

"When were you born?" Remondin asked the girl. He tried softening his voice, but it was obvious when he failed, the girl flinching back and curling into a ball.

"O-October twelfth..nineteen-ninety-nine." Her voice quivered, strained from both fear and the held back tears that shone in her eyes when she tried to look up at the man. Was he mad at her now for something? But she was the victim who'd been drugged and dragged through some portal!

"Nineteen..." Remondin voice trailed off as he counted the years since he'd left the human realm, digging up the numbers in his head. That day was sixteen years and nine months to the day he'd been called back. His legs buckled and he turned to sit on the bed, not missing the shriek when the girl was thrown off the pillow.

Hannah wasn't expecting the man to flop down next to her, so when she went flying through the air she couldn't hide her terror. She hit the bed again with a small 'oof' and rolled, not stopping until she hit a warm cloth wall, knowing automatically what it was. She struggled to get away from the man's leg, but she was suddenly pinned down by something rough and leathery to the touch. She clenched her eyes shut, her body rigid.

"Were you planning on hiding her from me?" Remondin bit out. He felt the girl stiff under his hand and felt a twinge of regret. "How long would you keep her away from me? Would you even have allowed her to speak to me?" He shook his head when Susan opened her mouth to speak. "No. No more, Susan. I can't even look at you."

Before the woman could even raise her voice, Remondin closed his hand around the girl pressed to his thigh, ignoring her screams when he raised her up. If he were in a better frame of mind he never would have done this, but he was just too angry and hurt. And the thought that girl was might be the last link left between him and Michelle, that she was something he and the love of his life created, it was too much to get his head around.

He got up from the bed and made his way out of the room, sending Susan a glare when she stepped forward. In his palm he felt the girl squirming, the feeling all too odd for him, and he deposited her into his pants pocket before leaving the home.

Susan had snapped out of her stupor when she saw her brother's actions and ran toward the front door, but she was too late. The door was slammed shut and by the time she'd gotten to it, her brother was already at the carriage waiting to take him home. "Hannah..." she whispered. She'd failed her, and her brother.

#The Little Princess #Original Work #father/daughter #g/t #g/t community

[danetobelieve]

Baywatch || Blanche and Winston

With the amount of people telling her not to go back to the beach along with the amount of people she was telling not to even go near the beach, Blanche was pretty sure this wasn’t the greatest idea. Someone had to do it, though. Someone needed to get close enough to the chest. Blanche desperately wanted to know what was in it like everyone else, but she, thankfully, knew better. Just get the pictures, and then get the fuck out of there. Maybe fight a killer lobster or two. Blanche pulled up to the address Winston gave her, self-consciously patting her pocket with the mace Cece had graciously let her keep. First thing she did was put a nice sticker of, ironically, a crab on it when she got home so she wouldn’t mix it up with a can of actual mace. Her back seat had other makeshift weapons. Hairspray and one of those large candle lighters, a baseball bat, and a can of RAID. She glanced to the back seat, frowning. Maybe she over did it. She looked rolled down the window when she saw Winston approaching, leaning looking out the window. “I think this is where I’m supposed to call you a loser and make a mean girl’s reference.”

Honestly, moments ago Winston had been stood looking at what they had decided to call their survival pack. They were certain that they would need more then this. But they had ‘borrowed’ one of Ricky’s axes that they used to cut firewood and they had also grabbed a first aid kit, water, some food (just in case) and a few other essentials. This after everything that had happened to their house with Skylar and Ricky, well Winston wasn’t entirely sure that they were sane anymore. But Blanche was cool, in a way that not many people were and she was funny too. Winston didn’t want anything to happen to her and so they were going to go with her. Even if it meant lying to Remmy. Something that Winston felt immensely guilty about. This was a really bad idea. They hadn’t even bothered to tell Ricky what they were doing. “Probably, but it would’ve fallen on deaf ears because that is one film that I have never watched,” they chuckled nervously and then realised what they were doing and tried to make it sound natural except it probably just made it sound even more anxious then before, “we should probably get this over with.”

“That’s got to be a cardinal sin or something.” Not having seen Mean Girls wasn’t important. They were more nervous than she was, and that was saying something. Blanche wondered if she should call the whole thing off - probably - especially if Winston was anxious about it. But, in her heart of hearts, she knew she wasn’t going to do that because at the end of the day she knew she was just going to go anyway and if she went without Winston they were going to get mad at her and she didn’t want that. She liked Winston, and she wanted them to be her friend because… Well, she needed those, and also they were funny enough that almost dying in the middle of the woods via hedgehound (moose?) was a little less terrible. So that had to count for something, right? Blanche glanced over at them, glancing them over - “Is that - Is that an axe?” Blanche gapped. Red axe for red lobsters, she guessed. A giggle came out of her, mostly because she was trying to imagine Winston swinging that thing at a giant lobster - Karkinoid, really. Snickering, she shook her head. “Christ. Toss it in the back with the rest of my makeshift weapons. The good news is -” Blanche said, checking her blind spot before she pulled back out onto the road. “- that someone offered a ‘small finders fee’ for any parts of crab - er, Karkinoid we kill. So that’s cool. How’s your housemate?”

“Well if not seeing Mean Girls doesn’t send me to hell for my sins then I am sure Rick or Remmy will after they find out what I have agreed to here.” Winston was a person full of regrets as they reached over towards the back seat and deposited their axe there. “Uh, yes, it is an axe, Ricky had a whole tool shed off of his studio that is just fool of odd tools and this looked like it would be the best option,” they weren’t sure why Ricky had an actual fire axe but in a time of need like the one that they found themselves in, Winston wasn’t about to ask a bunch of questions about a good thing. “You really … came prepared.” Winston wondered if perhaps they really should invest in a gun. They weren’t sure that their morals would allow them to honestly. After watching their dad work at the WCPD for many years, they had become convinced that they weren’t the sort of thing that everyday people should just have access to. “Ricky?” they asked quietly, “Yeah he’s fine, a little banged up but he’ll do ok.” Winston was glad that the back porch was at the back of the house and not the front. They would hate for Blanche to see the mess that the karkinoids had made.

“How about this: You deal with Ricky, and I deal with Remmy once we’re back,” Blanche said. “Or, actually, send them both after me. This is my fault anyway,” she shrugged slightly. If the shoe fit, she would deal with both the wrath of Remmy and Ricky once it came down to it. Now, maybe her morality was slightly corrupted now that she also fully had a plan of killing one of the Karkinoids so she could show Regan - though, she wasn’t quite sure how that was going to work. Maybe if she just took it’s head or it’s giant claw or something… She didn’t get a chance to dwell on it though because there was something in Winston’s quiet tone that sobered her up a little. “Good,” Blanche said, glancing at them. Not good. People were getting hurt because of this. “Even better, there’s a clear forecast. I didn’t get hit with a single salmon or carp on my way here.” She made the turn off to get to the beach. “Alright, so, you know what the plan is right? No touching or trying to open the stupid thing. Just pictures of it.”

“Or we can just not tell them about any of this,” Winston replied, “we’re just getting in and out and nothing is going to go wrong so there won’t be anything to tell them.” Winston knew that they were kidding themselves. This was something so big that there was no way that they were going to be able to hide it from their friends. “I’ve got your back,” they said with a shrug, “you’re not forcing me to come.” They knew that they didn’t have to do this, the truth was that they really didn’t want to, but they wouldn’t let Blanche do this on their own. Helping people over come adversity was the name of the game, this was just different from forensics. But after everything that had happened at their own home the other night, Winston wasn’t sure that they could just sit back and let nothing happen. “This may be the first time that I’ve ever used fish as a descriptor for the weather and I have to be honest, if a large fish never misses me narrowly as I walk to work then it’ll be too soon.” They nodded calmly, pulling out their inhaler and taking a quick preventative breath of it before flashing Blanche a quick smile. “No touching, in and out.”

“Mmm, well you should know that I'm a notoriously bad liar,” Blanche grimaced, remembering all the bullshit with Regan. Her so called jenga tower of lies was only staying up with pieces of string, duct tape, and chewing gum. “If they ask, it’s not worth it to even try.” She glanced to them, feeling a little touched that they had her back. Was this what friendship was? Blanche was bad at that - gauging just what type of level she was on with people. “I have your back too,” Blanche said, truthfully. If anyone was going to get hurt on this mission impossible/investigative bullshit, it should be her and absolutely not Winston. “Ugh, you should have seen the size of the salmon that almost knocked me off my bike - and the bruise to prove it.” She glanced at them, grinning. “In, out, might mace a few lobsters here and there. Sounds like my ideal beach day, to be honest.” She made the last turn, and carefully pulled her car up where she had the last time with Remmy and Moose. Blanche undid her seatbelt. “Alright - pick your poison from our weapons cabin. I’m taking the mace -” she held up her acid mace. “Because this shit could probably melt through steel.”

“Me too,” Winston admitted, “I don’t know why but I always forget that I’ve told a lie to set up the lie I’m telling, and then after that my preceding lies begin to contradict each other and then I get confused and slip up.” They didn’t often try to lie because of it. “If they ask we come clean and I’ll hide with my parents until Ricky inevitably tells them what I did.” They laughed mutely at their own joke. It was reassuring to know that Blanche was there to help them should things go south. It was nice to know that there were other people who got this. Ricky had always known about this and it wasn’t exactly the same. “I saw a swordfish go straight through an awning and almost impale an old woman named Gertrude.” They raised an eyebrow at the idea of the upcoming activity. “Where did you get lobster mace from?” They paused for a moment longer before scratching behind their ears and fidgetting a bit. They could never sit still when something big was coming up. “I’ll take the axe then, I guess, unless there’s something better you think I should take instead?” This felt like the weirdest walking dead cosplay ever.

The good part about being cut off from her parents is no one could tell her to do anything anymore. What was Remmy going to do, call up her mom and tell her what she had done? That would result in a mad voicemail she wouldn’t even listen too because it wasn’t like she answered her mother’s calls anyway. She winced at their description of a woman named Gertrude almost turning into a shish kabob via swordfish. What was it, Regan said? Weather patterns her ass. “Um -” Blanche took her keys out of the ignition and stuffed them in her jacket pocket. “A friend. One of my friends that I can’t tell you about,” she added, and hopefully that would put an end to that. She did not want Cece to go all memory-wipe on her ass. Raising an eyebrow as she got out of the car. “You want the axe? I mean…” It wasn’t that she doubted they could use the axe to their advantage, it was just a little more close for comfort if they did get into some crabby trouble. “That should be fine. I want to take a chunk out of one of’em anyway.” She glanced down the rocks, to the beach, spotting the chest. Blanche pointed. “There she is. Stupid thing.”

Grabbing the axe, Winston paused for a second before scooping up the hair spray and some candlelighters too. Y’know. Just in case. Fire seemed to work fine, though Winston wasn’t sure that they really wanted a repeat display of the other night. They’d felt exhausted for hours afterwards before sleeping for 12 hours. “I’m hoping that we don’t even need this,” Winston replied, praying to whatever gods actually existed that there wasn’t about to be some vicious crustaceans that were going to make their lives a misery. Stepping away from the car, Winston made sure that they only had the absolutely necessary things with them. Phone, inhaler, axe, hair spray, candle lighters, y’know the essentials. “How do you want to do this?” Winston asked as they slowly crept towards the rocks that overlooked the beach, hoping to get a better view. For the moment everything seemed relatively clear, but there was a lot that they still couldn’t see. “You’ve got a plan right?”

Blanche relaxed half a bit when Winston grabbed the candlelighters and her can of hairspray. Shit was cheap, that could set anything on fire. She glanced out at the chest before glancing at them when they asked her what her plan was. Somehow, she didn’t think would would be helpful to tell them that she was just going to be like Nike and just do it. Just get down, rush to the chest, snap her photos, kill a lobster when the inevitably came to try and chop their limbs off…. She just needed to make it sound more formulaic than that. That would make Winston feel better. “Um.” Which all would have been fine and good if she could think of a better way to do it. “Well….” She squinted down at the sand and could itty bits of remains of lobster from the last time she’d been here. The acid, plus the other Karkinoid feasting on each other, there wasn’t much left. She patted her pockets. Mace in one, cell phone in the other. Shivering slightly,  “All that’s left is to just do it now. There’s a bathroom over that way on the beach where we can run and hide if it’s too much.” Blanche shrugged, before carefully sitting down on the edge and pushing herself off so she could carefully climb. “Careful, the rocks are slippery, it’s a miracle I didn’t break something the last time I flew down them at top speed.”

Pausing, Winston moved through the rocks as carefully as they possibly could. “Ok, just … just do it.” Winston felt their heart race. They felt blood surge around their body. They felt adrenaline roar. They could feel everything tense as they moved down towards the beach. A can of hair spray in one hand and a fire axe in the other. This was perhaps the bizarrest they had ever picture themselves. A nervous bead of sweat trickled down their left temple and rolled off their jawline. “Just do it. Just do it.” They weren’t sure why they were repeating that. Honestly it wasn’t making this much better. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything else to my ankle unless I can absolutely see no other option.” They were joking of course. “There doesn’t seem like there’s anything around, let’s just get in and out.” They moved off from their hiding spot, slipping down the beach as silently as they could. Unaware of anything else there as of yet. They hoped that wasn’t just about to change. “How close do you want to get?” they asked Blanche, adjusting their glasses to sit more comfortably on their face.

“As god as my witness, if you hurt your ankle again, I will - “ Blanche was going to say kill you but that somehow didn’t seem appropriate. She dropped down onto the frozen sand and looked at them. “ - I’ll - don’t hurt your ankle again, I can’t pick you up and then I’ll have to call 9-1-1 and then the police and firemen are going to show up and it’s going to really not end well.” Or maybe she was getting ahead of herself and needed to chill out. Blanche’s palms were were starting to get sweaty, and she rubbed them on her thighs anxiously, glancing out at the chest. “I dunno, 10 feet, maybe? You think that’s too close? My iphone has a great camera and can zoom.” Maybe, after all this was over, she should invest in an actual camera. Funnily enough, it was going to be easier to get a gun rather than get a camera. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with - you’ll hear the clicking.” Blanche glanced at them, before patting them on the shoulder and strode forward. Cece had let her lead the way, and she did, so she was going to just… just do it again! Perfect.

“I promise that I will do everything that I possibly can to avoid injuring my ankle again, because I don’t want to be hobbling around on a busted leg when giant crustaceans called Karkinoids try and cut me in two.” Maybe Winston was being dramatic, but they didn’t feel like they were being dramatic. “At least we’ll probably have some signal here, after all, this is a beach right. Why wouldn’t you get signal at the beach?” Winston was almost too afraid to look at their phone at this point. They considered how close too close really was. Honestly, Winston thought that they were too close right now, but they weren’t about to chicken out in front of Blanche after they had been the one that had insisted that she couldn’t possibly go on her own. “I can deal with ten feet I think,” Winston replied after chewing their cheeks for a second, “let’s go,” they agreed as they set off again across the beach. They followed after Blanche, craning their neck for crabs or lobsters or anything with claws.

Blanche snorted. After this was over, she was going to have to tell Winston they were funny. Because they were - especially in the face of danger. That had to count for something. Maybe a merit badge for facing adversity. “We have signal, I looked before I jumped down here,” Blanche assured them. At least, she had signal. She wouldn’t know about their stupid andriod phone. They moved down the beach, inching closer and closer to the chest. Her heart was pounding hard in her ears, but she decided that she didn’t care. She wasn’t afraid of anything! If she wasn’t afraid of anything than some stupid lobster wasn’t going to prevent her from doing what she wanted. Fuck that! It was easier to go on a tangent in her head than it was to actually follow it. Surprisingly enough, they’d gotten pretty far before the fucking clicking started and she went rigid on the spot. Blanche cursed quietly, stuffing her hand in her pocket and pulling out her phone, shoving it to Winston. “Take the photos, I’ll spray the stupid things and see if it gets them to back off. They like to eat each other once one is dead,” Blanche said, quickly - she didn’t know if anything she said had come out clearly because she was talking very, very quickly. Low and behold, there were the crabs. Lobsters. Karkinoids. Whatevers. There was only a couple, thank god. But who knew where the others were. Blanche had her mace out and had it pointed in the right direction and sprayed. Better melt them now before they got too close. The unfortunately familiar smell of burning burning lobster filled her nose. “Don’t forget to focus the camera!” She called, eyes darting around the beach for more crustaceans.

“Ok, good, because although I’m not sure what a cop would do against a massive armoured crab, I do know that I’ll feel much better risking my life if there’s someone to yeet me out if you get my meaning.” Winston wondered how many cops had seen these things, why was it that none of these things were ever discussed? Why had they never realised how dangerous a place they were living in until now. If none of the last few weeks had happened, would they have continued living in denial indefinitely? As they crept closer and closer, they couldn’t help but keep their ears pricked. They could hear the clicking as they got close. They were about to complain that they were the one taking the photos when they realised that this meant that they weren’t going to have to be dealing with the crab things. Winston fumbled with their phone, pulling up the camera that they knew was supposed to be superior to an iPhone camera although at this moment it was taking way too long to focus. Sprinting closer, they tried to be quick, they didn’t want Blanche to get hurt because they were too slow. Their hand shaking, Winston tried to take a deep breath, before snapping several shots of the chest. “How many of these do you want?” they shouted Blanche’s way.

Ewwww. She’d been right in saying that they would eat each other because now that’s exactly what the other one was doing. Blanche wrinkled her nose, keeping careful watch as she turned her head to check on Winston briefly. “Take pictures of each side of the chest. And one from above, too! And don’t touch it!” Blanche didn’t think the warning to Winston was completely needed at all, but it never hurt. She crept closer to the crab that was still alive and clicking, before it’s head snapped up to look at her and she sprayed it in the face. Blanche realized she was certainly not fucking around. The thing twitched and wailed slightly before falling down dead. “Gross, gross, gross!” She mumbled, making a face before looking for more of its brethren that she could take out. Figuring Winston was done with the photos, she called out to them. “Alright, c’mere. Before the rest of the Krusty Krew get here. I need the axe, I want a claw.” she nudged one of them with her foot. Onces face had completely dissolved because of Cece’s acid, but the other one… It might work.

Winston sprung into action, circling around the chest taking photos from each side. They could thank their lucky stars that they were relatively tall and therefore easily able to lean over and take photos of the chest. It occurred to them in that very moment that they could’ve simply placed a camera on one of the drones that they had back at the house and done this with that. Apparently they were an idiot. Not allowing themselves to have time to regret their foolishness however, Winston dashed away from the chest a few moments after snapping their final photos. “I think I’ve got enough,” they said, slightly out of breath but surprised that their fitness had improved a little, maybe running for their life would actually have some long term benefits. As they arrived by Blanche’s side, they raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you joking?” they asked, knowing full well that she wasn’t. They gave her a look, before sighing and handing them the axe. “Fine, just hurry up before more of them find us.”

Blanche hoped they were right, but knew that she had to trust them. They definitely knew how to take photos on an iphone. Maybe she was just nervous. Blanche shook her worry off and shot them an equally withering look until they handed her the axe. “I need proof for Regan,” she said flatly. She did make it snappy, though. Deciding last moment that a claw was going to be too much of a bitch and a half to carry back (and heavy), Blanche went for the head. Or well, she stopped before she swung the axe, looking back at Winston. “... Don’t watch me chop off its head.” She mumbled, before waiting a moment, and swinging the axe. Gross. Gross. Gross. Her stomach churned, “ Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew.” Blanche shuddered slightly, before handing the axe back, before unzipping her jacket, shrugging it off, and collecting the now fallen head in it. Glad she had worn a sweater, she stood, looking up and down the beach. “Do you want to make a run for it back?” Blanche asked, flatly. “Before more of them decide to pop up and try to snap us in half?”

Winston had to admit that the last thing they expected was for all of this to go this well. Though they had been unfortunate enough as to run into Karkinoids, it seemed as if Blanche had been able to deal with them and as they handed their axe over, Winston had to admit there was a gentle sense of awe. “I don’t know who that is but if you need proof then this is probably a pretty sure fire way, although y’know, the denial can be strong. They were watching eagerly when Blanche protested, and with a groan of protest turned their back on the butchery that was taking place. Once Blanche was ready, they nodded. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” They set off towards the car, glad that this had gone so well. Things could be worse. 

“If she doesn’t believe me after me bringing her a giant Karkinoid head, I’m projectiling myself off the first cliff I see.” Blanche said, absolutely being dramatic. No one was dead, and they had a lobster head. Hah, Blanche thought, that rhymed. Pleased with the outcome of events, Blanche took off after Winston, trying not to slip and slide on the frozen sand. After all this was over and winter left, Blanche was going to spend a nice day on the beach, alone, and get a tan. No lobsters, no crabs, just one normal day in the fucking - was that more clicking? Blanche glanced over her shoulder. More crab,s but more interested in the caracusses of their fallen friends than them, for the moment. “Gogogo! Before they notice us and King Louis’ head!” Blanche hissed. They slid up to the rocks. “Do you need a boost?” Blanche asked, kindly, as Remmy had done the same for her and Cece the last time they were here. 

“Ah yes suicide, the only rational answer to irrational morons who refuse to see the truth.” Winston was sore, sweaty and out of breath. They had been far too close to lobsters for their liking and now they were in the presence of one of their heads. This day was truly turning out to be memorable. As more crabs arrived, Winston moved faster to the rocks and shook their head. “I think I’m tall enough to reach up on my own, I’ll boost you first and then you can help pull me up.” They didn’t give her anytime to argue, they weren’t about to start messing about with those lobsters again and they needed to get out of their quickly before the smell of one of the karkinoids dead brethren attracted some foes.

With no time to argue or say anything sarcastic - because she would have. Probably something giraffe related - Blanche let Winston help boost her up and once again scrambled to the safety of the small cliff. Dumping the head wrapped in her jacket onto the ground, she turned and reached a hand down to help them up. Once the both of them were safely away from where any Karkinoid could get them, Blanche let out a giant sigh of relief. “Holy shit -” She looked at Winston. “- That just worked! We did it! No one lost a limb! Or rolled an ankle!” Blanche pointed to their ankle, maybe a little too excited over the fact that neither of them died or got maimed. She bent, scooped up the lobster head and grabbed her keys to unlock her car and dump the head in the trunk. “Karkinoids my ass.”

#p: blanche #para #wickedswriting #suicide cw #baywatch

[purplefirekitty1]

A Game of Love and Unexpected Turns

It was an average night in the Sanders house hold Patton having a conversation with deceit and Remy with Logan overseeing the conversation, while Virgil snuggled up to Roman wanting to sleep on him before Roman smiles and announce to the outher's that he would like to play a game of truth or dare. To why do you want to play Truth or Dare all of a suddenly Virgil asked, looking up at Roman questionly. I just thought it would be fun also I don't know that much about Remy and I would like to fix that. Ok kiddo but why truth or dare and not something like 20 questions Patton asked knowing there was a deeper reason as to why truth or dare specifically. I just thought it would be more fun for everyone else to play Truth or Dare Roman said quickly as if he had prepared a response before hand.ok then I have no objection as long as we try to remain a tad bit kosher Logan said knowing that if he didn't we would have someone playing 7 minutes in heaven though they probably change that to be 30 I can speak for myself when I say I'm going to keep it as kosher as possible, teach Roman said confidently. I'm down to play Remy said a small jet loving smile plastered on his face. Deceit was the next to respond saying that he would be down to play but wanted to get sum hot cocoa mixed with coffee first. What an odd combination of drinks deceit thought if you don't mind I would love a cup of Coco as well Logan said as he turned to face the snake like side. No problem Logan, anyone else want anything deceit called from the kitchen. After about 20 minutes everyone had there drinks most had hot Coco except for Virgil,Deceit and Remy, Remy decided that he was going to get coffee while Virgil got a cup of tea with Passionflower, chamomile, lavender and catnip in it which he said helped him relax so no one minded the catnip. So who wants to start Roman asked eagerly. “I will,”Logan said to Roman's shock; he normally never goes first when they play truth or dare. ok that's new Roman said. I wanted to be a tad bit adventures so deceit truth or dare Logan said slyly. Truth I guess deceit said not knowing what to expect from the logical side. Ok then you've chosen wisely your truth is to tell us your sexuality Logan said with a smirk and turns to face Patton how was smiling his bright smile that makes Logan's heart melt. Ok that's not that bad I'm gay deceit states looking at Remy to see his reaction and to decets delight he was smiling. Ok my turn to ask humm how about Patton the cunning side smiled at his thought.I guess I'll pick dare the fatherly side said shaking a bit though not enough for anyone else to note. "Good choice my friend,I dare you to sing a Demi Lovato song to the group." The side of duality said eyes sparkling with happiness Can I sing this as a duet Patton said laced with fear. "You can, there's no problem" deceit said. Ok thanks Logan baby would you sing with me Patton said directing his attention to Logan. I will gladly sing with you me amor what song Logan said to Patton making microphones color coded for the two of them. I was thinking of the song Heart attack. Patton pulled out his phone and started the backing track. The boys Harmonized perfectly as if they had done this before. They hit the chorus when Patton got startled by two pairs of eyes staring at him from the hall and they weren't ones he recognized. Patton stood still trembling at what he sall.”Pops are you alright you trembling”. Roman says concerned , laced in his voice. Patton could bring himself to speak so he just pointed to the hall. Logan looks down the hall to see the eyes and he happens to recognize one of them. “Amy is that you,” Logan says, kinda shocked. “ Yes Logan it's me, it's been awhile since I saw you. You need to come visit more often,” Amy said coming into the room with a girl that looked like a demon. She had purple horns and splotches of purple all over her body. “Um do you two know each other?”Roman said looking at the two girls “Yes actually Logan and I met when he came to the psyche to see  the balance of  Thomas’s soul, im Amy by the way i'm Thomas’s femininity and this lovely lady is Lucia Thomas’s lust and i'm sorry if we scared you.” Amy said with an apologetic look on her face. “ It's no problem, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Patton. Would you like to join are game of truth or dare.” patton said excitedly. “I'm down, how about you Lucia? “ Amy said looking at Lucia ``I'm down to play but can I fix a cup of tea.” “ That's no problem, what kind of tea do you want? Virgil got up to go fix it.`` '' A Chamomile tea please and thank you.” Lucia smiled, she had finally found more people that accepted her and how she looked. “ Lucia her you go i'm virgil by the way” sh said handing her the cup of tea and smiling at her “ thank you virgil”  she smiled “ so it was patton's turn to ask in correct right” roman said “ Yep kido and i'm going to ask Lucia, truth or dare.” “Truth i suppose” Lucia said looking at Pattion “ ok where did you get the purple splotches that liter your body and by the way i think they're cute like decets snake scales.”patton states trying not to be rude or insensitive “ I was born with these splotches i think there meant to represent how lust can scare a person though i do areg with you they make me look bad ass” lucia looks down at her arm and smiles remembering her purpose and all that she is ment to do “wow that's deep.” virgil said “ ok let's move on deceit was it truth or dare” Lucia said look at defeat “ truth i guess” he turned to face Lucia roman got up and walked over to Lucia and whispered “ ask him who he has a crush on” “ ok decit how do you have a crush on'' Lucia ask with an innocent smile plastered on her face” i change my mind i pick dare” decit says he face a bright face “Ok i dare you to tell us how your crush is or you can kiss him if you want.” Lucia says her smile changing from innocent to a conniving smerck” ugg fin i will tell you i like remy there roman truth or dare.” deceit says very read and very defeatedly. Remmy looks at deceit with a look that says meet min in my room when this is over.“ I will pick dare.” roman says “ I dare you to play seven minutes in heaven with Virgil.” deceit says as he condjers up a closet for them to use “ ok roman grabs virgil and enters the closet. As shone as the door closed Roma grabbed Virgil and kissed him passionately causing Virgil to moan in pleasure. Roman bit Virgil's liyp asking for entrance which Virgil gladly gave him access as Roman explored Virgil's mouth they heard the door open slightly and Roman saw Lucia peeping into the closet Roman pulled away and exited with a rosie red blush dusting his face. "Did you too have fun." Lucia says  with a big smile on her face " we did and truth or dare Amy" Roman said a blush forming on his face." Dare" Amy said confidently "ok I dare you to sing something for us" Roman said snuggling up to vigil on the couch " that's nothing" she starts to sing "Call me the end of your world,Call me your genocide,Cause I’m a venomous girl,Just like a spider bite,I’m a relentless machine with no,emergency brake,To stop me,I’ll start by crawling inside,Like a parasite,You’ll feel your heart skip a beat,Just a couple times,You’ll think that you’ve found the one but,it’s your mind coming undone,Ripping slowly,Although I’m beautiful,Like a perfect dream,Inside my soul,There is a murder scene,I’m a creature who’s up to no good I’ll love you like, love you like a vampire would,I’ve been fang-using,Heart-bruising,It feels so good,To love you like, love you like a vampire would,I’ve been pray before, now I’m predator and I’m cold inside,Like a vampire,He was an animal with such a mad disease,They said to stay away, but damn he wanted me,And that was the day that my blood became infected,And I learnt it was kill or be killed again,Although I’m beautiful,Like a perfect dream,Inside my soul,There is a murder scene,I’m a creature who’s up to no good I’ll love you like, love you like a vampire would,I’ve been fang-using,Heart-bruising,It feels so good,To love you like, love you like a vampire would,I’ve been pray before, now I’m predator and I’m cold inside,Like a freezer door was left wide open Frostbite crept into my veins Crippled by a life so tragic can never love again Run away ‘cause I’m contagious You know that I can’t control this Instinct to feed,The hunter in me,I’m a creature who’s up to no good I’ll love you like, love you like a vampire would,,I’ve been ,fang-using,Heart-bruising,It feels so good To love you like, love you like a vampire would,I’ve been pray before, now I’m predator and I’m cold inside Like a vampire" she stops and everyone starts to clap "that's guys Remy truth or dare" Amy says with a small smile on her face "dare" Remy says sleepily "I dare you to kiss deceit" "ok" remy walks over a kisses Deiceit both bays are a blushing mess. "Lucia truth or dare" rem says trying to avoid deceit's gase  "dare"Lucia says"How about you sing something for us." Remy said hoping that it will help defuse the tension in the room "ok" Lucia says and starts to sing "I love you all but sometimes,You boys are way too much,Been gone too long and this place,Could use a female touch,Oh you've been waiting for me,Oh gosh you make me blush,Let the show begin,1 2 3 and 4,I got the taste for stardom and a set of horns,And then a 5 6 7 8,Give me the beat a mic and then get off the stage,And I will take it from here,So don't you have any fear,Your glowing darling angel star has,appeared,Yeah I'm the hand to your glove,Headlining act to your love,The little gift the devil sent from above,The show,Goes all night,Halo,Shines so bright,I'm your starlet,Brought to life,And summoned from the page,I crave,The limelight,Give me,The spotlight,'Cause you know,That they're all here to see,The angel of the stage,The angel of the stage,The angel of the stage." There you go, truth or dare Logan." Dare I guess" Logan says looking at Lucia then at Patton "I dare you to kiss Patton" Lucia says smiling "ok"Logan says and mumbles "for you pat" Logan walks up to Patton and french kisses him, her pulled away and says " how did you like that" "I greatly enjoyed it lo" Patton said to Logan a light blush appearing on his face. "Well as fun as this is me and Lucia need to head back to are Posts and y'all probably should get back to your jobs" Amy said grabbing Lucia and heading out. "See you two later, I will be taking Logan and heading to my room." Patton says "I think I will be doing the same" both Roman and deceit says looking at Virgil and Remy respectively.

#sander sides #roman x virgil #logan x patton

[kyloren]

«you have witchcraft in your lips» —famous!Bughead

When Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper were cast as leads for HBO’s Harry Potter prequel show Magic is Might, they thought they did not know each other. They were wrong.

note: this is a collaborative work between myself and @lilibug--xx. I wrote Jughead’s POV and she Betty’s. Be warned, we are each other’s betas, too. 

read it on ao3. 

“A dress made of air and webs and you,

The wet dreams evaporate as they come true.

To anyone else just endless blue,

An invisible kite string connects me to you.”

— Pieces of Sky by Beth Orton.

CHAPTER ONE: mr jones and me, we’re gonna be big stars…

@Variety: HBO picks up four pilot episodes, including Toni Topaz’s Harry Potter prequel project.

@Deadline: Up-and-coming musical director Kevin Keller branches off from theatre and confirms working on Harry Potter prequel series with HBO — Magic is Might.

@EntertainmentNews: BREAKING NEWS: Disney darling Veronica Lodge officially casted as one of the leads in Kevin Keller’s upcoming Marauders Era project — Magic is Might.

@Buzzfeed: You will not believe who was just confirmed to be cast in Magic is Might! 

@CherryBombshell: To all my loyal, beautiful followers: Of course, I got the part. How could they not cast moi?

@NZHerald: Singer-songwriter Archie Andrews is rumoured to be involved with HBO’s Magic is Might.

@Deadline: Magic is Might Harry Potter prequel series finds its Sirius Black: “He walked in right off the street and I knew — that is our Sirius Black,” says showrunner, Kevin Keller.

@EntertainmentNews: HBO’s Magic is Might just cast its Remus Lupin, and it’s a very interesting choice.

@Buzzfeed: Magic is Might’s Remus Lupin is now — Remmy Lupin?!

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THE WAYWARD PRINCE:

The thing about Jughead Jones — he was weird, and he liked to be weird.

Jughead Jones was the following things: adroit wordsmith, razor-sharp, and a smart-mouthed asshole. He was not, however, the sort a teenage girl’s dreams were made of. He was a little too tall and a little too angular with a face that was a little too fond of scowling to be conventionally attractive. He had two girlfriends in the span of his entire life, and first one he’d acquired when he was nine for the span of two days. He was akin to a scalpel — sharp-edged, clinical, and very good at cutting people out of his life.

Except, Sabrina.

Never Sabrina.

And because of Sabrina — he was here, regretting everything.

“This,” Jughead grumbled for the nth time, “is all your fault.”

“Yes,” Sabrina agreed, throwing a dusky-blue button-down at him with a glare that clearly conveyed wear this or else, “it is my fault that you’ve landed the biggest television role of this year. I apologise for being magnificent.”

Jughead snorted. “Potter is the lead.”

“Who cares? Sirius is obviously meant to be the hot one. That makes his role the bigger fish. And you,” Sabrina said, tilting his head sideways and inspecting the carelessly casual style she arranged his hair in (read: brushed once and let it air-dry), “cousin-german, will soon be smiling from a poster on every pubescent girl’s wall and be the main feature in their dreams.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Jughead’s scowl grew deeper, a feat he had not imagined was achievable before he’d done it. “I’d rather not.” 

Two hours later, two thirds of which were spent navigating L.A.’s atrocious traffic, Jughead found himself lounging in a deceptively comfortable egg chair in a Hollywood studio, waiting to proceed with the first script reading session with the rest of Magic is Might cast. Sabrina, primly perched to his right, was scanning the others over the brim of her rapidly cooling coffee cup with shrewd, pale-grey eyes, as Jughead lazily thumbed through the script.

“Stop eyeing them like you want to wear their faces as a mask, Ree,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“I am so not. I’m eyeing them like I want to make a fashionable skin suit, obviously. Get your facts straight, Jones.”

Here was the thing; — Jughead firmly believed that if you did something, you better put your best foot forward from the start; to do your very best at everything you undertook and not half-ass it simply because it required effort. (Life required effort, Jughead often reminded himself, if it didn’t it wouldn’t be so damn difficult.)

This stance seemed at odds with his disaffected and cynical slacker persona, but what could Jughead say — he was contrary like that. He could remain apathetic and be a pedantic perfectionist at heart; he had layers, like a lasagna.

But precisely that sort of attitude had landed him the lead role in Magic is Might as Sirius Black.

It had happened nine days ago, when Jughead had accompanied Sabrina to her second audition for Magic is Might — she had failed to get Lily Evans’s role and was trying out for Narcissa Black. Jughead was there for emotional support, for the sort of get your shit together, you walking waste of space pep-talks Sabrina and he excelled at. He was there to permit his hand to be crushed in a vice grip as she waited for her name to be called, and to take her to Wildflower Café by their apartment to gorge on breakfast foods and stuff their faces with toasted marshmallow milkshakes in the face of another disappointment.

Jughead Jones was, by profession, a screenwriter; he wrote seven plays, one of which had been actually made into a film. He was not an actor. The universe disagreed, however. Kevin fucking Keller disagreed, too, apparently, because the moment Jughead had walked up to a dumbfounded-looking Sabrina after her audition — handkerchief at the ready, just in case — he’d been spotted by Kevin fucking Keller’s eagle-eyed stare. Kevin fucking Keller who’d taken one look at Jughead, pointed his finger at him and with eyedrum piercing snap, barked out, “You, there — in here, now.” and Sabrina, that fucking traitor, had pushed him forward into the audition room.

It was serendipitous he knew the script like the back of his hand, having practiced with Sabrina until they were blue in the face, it was also fortuitous his reaction in the face of sheer audacity was to fall back on his most defining traits — sarcasm and generally all-around fuck-you attitude.

Both, as it had turned out, were great characteristics for one Sirius Black.

So here he was, Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third, newly minted actor extraordinaire with no education about the craft and enough talent, according to Keller, to fill the Pacific ocean and then some — out of his depth, and feeling utterly displaced.

It was a peculiar feeling, foreign and unwelcome — Jughead hated it with the blazing ebullition of pure abhorrence.

“Hey,” Sabrina called, soft as a whisper, placing her hand on his knee, stilling it. Jughead hadn’t realised his left leg had been bouncing. “Relax, bro-bro.”

Jughead opened his mouth to reply something along the lines of Shut it, hambone, but was interrupted when a tall shadow of a small person fell across his lap.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mad Max himself,” commented a small, red-headed girl on berry-red charged murder-weapons on the lam from the law and thus posing as women’s footwear. “So, tall, dark, and inexperienced, how does it feel to finally be in the real show biz?”

There was a refractory set to Jughead’s clenched jaw, so Sabrina answered in his stead, snickering, “I don’t know Big Red, you tell us?”

The girl’s exceedingly red mouth was reset out of its perpetually sullen pout into a grimace of distaste. “For a virtual nobody, you sure have a mouth on you, Emily Strange.”

There were four rules Jughead Jones instinctively followed whenever he chose to speak: Was he being rational? Was he being truthful? Were his words necessary? Were they kind? Often times, if he had not met all of his criteria, Jughead would settle on keeping his silence a while longer.

This, was not such a time.

“Is that all you can do,” Jughead found himself rasping out, “try your utmost to diss people with painfully obvious references? You’re not doing a very good job, are you?”

“You’re a pretty cool customer, huh?”

“I hide my inner pain underneath a stoic visage,” Jughead quipped. Cheryl Blossom looked like would like nothing more than to dig her red-tipped claws into Jughead’s stoic visage.

“Hey, guys,” said a guy in corduroy slacks and a blue-yellow varsity jacket of all things; he was average-height, but with a Heroic Build identifying him as James Potter material. There was a hint of admonishment in his tone, but not enough to reign anyone in. “We’re supposed to be getting along…”

Jughead was utterly unsurprised when he was promptly ignored.

Big Red sneered down on them and with a snazzy flip of gloriously red hair, pointedly perched on the corner of the oval table. Then, she extended a bedazzled with a shape of a cherry phone Jughead didn’t realise she held in front of her on a selfie-stick, and with that godawful pout, began, “See, my lovely cherries, when presented with a choice between either Tim Burton Junior and his blonde Fran Bow or a ginger Kelly Clarkson, Cheryl Bombshell has no choice but to choose herself. I certainly hope their acting is better than their personalities because those are as parched as a dry spell.”

“Oi, Cherry Bomb!” a female producer barked sharply, the one with pink-striped hair and a punk attitude, “don’t fucking live blog a closed script reading, you imbecile!”

“Don’t call me that!” Cheryl Blossom snarled, teeth unnaturally white against the vivid red of her mouth. “How are my cherries supposed to know what I’m doing at any given moment if I don’t blog about it?”

“I don’t know,” Jughead grumbled, too low to be heard by anyone but Sabrina, who promptly elbowed him in the ribs, “maybe try not to seek validation from a faceless mass of people online?” said the kettle to the pot, he mentally added.

The woman with the pink hair was even shorter than Cheryl, but when she stood up, she cut an impressively intimidating figure nonetheless. “This,” she growled, “is what we get for casting a bloody Instagram starlet.”

“She’s a solid choice, Toni,” Keller admonished, softly, gingerly prying away her fingers off his bicep, “she can act and her hair is iconic. What more could we ask for?”

“A fucking professional attitude for one. And maybe,” Topaz, that was her name, Jughead finally remembered, pointedly shouted in red-head’s direction, “not to always pout like she’s about to suck dick.”

Cheryl Blossom looked up from the highly-focused examination of her razor-sharp talons she’d been performing and pouted. “I don’t suck dick on sheer principle, you grotsky little byotch.”

Varsity Jacket raised his hands in placation. “Okay, seriously, maybe you should—”

“Toni, go smoke a fag and find your chill,” cut in Keller, and her hand immediately shot up, giving him the middle finger, but she left the room nonetheless. “And Cheryl, take it down a notch. I’m serious, you hear me?”

Cheryl turned away from him with a huff, but she hadn’t said anything. Instead, she began typing away furiously on her phone.

Huh, thought Jughead.

Kevin Keller was not a tough guy, he noticed, he did not have a commanding presence. Even Varsity Jacket drew more attention to himself with his ridiculous floppy hair, freckled face, and All-American attitude. But, Jughead decided, Kevin Keller understood women. With that in mind, Jughead settled back in his chair, reading over the script yet again.

It was fifteen minutes later when Toni Topaz strode into the room, her combat boots practically abusing the dotted, grey linoleum with the force of her steps, not looking an iota less stressed. “Fuck it,” she announced, “if we wait anymore for those two, we’ll get behind schedule.”

“All right, then,” Keller said, clapping his hands, “places, everyone.”

Like the asshole she was, Sabrina took the seat assigned to him, next to Varsity Jacket, and switched their name planks with a wink. Jughead had neither the inclination nor the naiveté to question her choices, so he dragged the chair he had been sitting for the last half-an-hour towards the table by its back, and positioned himself on Sabrina’s left, straightening the SIRIUS BLACK plaque so it was uniformly aligned with all the others.

The plague before a lounging Cheryl Blossom did not read BITCH FROM HELL, much to Jughead’s surprise, instead, it said — LILY EVANS.

A thought streaked across the forefront of his mind: We are all royally fucked.

Varsity Jacket’s named turned out to be Archie Andrews. Jughead knew that now because the first words out of that kid’s mouth were, quite literally, “Hey, there. I’m Archie Andrews, I’m eighteen, you may know me from last year’s 16 Birthday Wishes, and I look forward to working with ya all.”

Jughead could not have conjured this kid up had he even tried. He shared a concerned glance with Sabrina who mouthed, is he for real? and Jughead only had the energy to shrug. Yeah, he decided, he could see this Archie Andrews as one James Potter. If he squinted.

Cheryl Blossom did not introduce herself. She scowled at all of them, even poor golden retriever puppy personified Andrews, called them philistines, and proceeded with reading her lines. Interesting development: she could act. Expected conclusion: she packed too much malice into her lines and came of as passive aggressive. Keller had to intermediately correct her. That was, however, a correctable quality she could redeem herself from with enough effort; or so Sabrina had said, Jughead’s inescapable, little-devil-on-the-shoulder-type expert on all things acting™.  

When it was his turn to read, Jughead did what he had always done when he read out loud his scripts during editing: tried his damndest not to stutter, keeping his voice smooth and even, and detached himself from the situation, rendering himself utterly impervious to nerves and apprehension. It was not Jughead Jones who had been reciting the script from memory as the lines printed on paper streamed before his eyes in a confusing, maddening swirl — it had been Sirius Black doing all those things; teasing his friend James, flirting with prim and proper Lily, arguing with Narcissa.

Disassociating might have kept Jughead’s anxiety at bay, but it made Sirius Black come alive.

So, of course, once Jughead had gotten into the swing of things, the universe rained on his parade: the door slammed open, revealing two girls standing on the other side of its frame.

“Oooops,” said the shorter one, her dark hair reflecting light attractively as she stode in the room. She had not sounded particularly sorry, Jughead noticed. “Apologies, hadn’t meant to barge in quite so—”

“Veronica,” Toni cut in, as bitingly as a wolf, “you were supposed to be here half-an-hour ago!”

“That late, huh,” muttered Veronica assumingly Lodge, flipping her wrist to check the slim, diamond-encrusted watch on her left hand. “Apologies, Toni, darling, but L.A. traffic is simply odious, as you well know. Got held up.”

“By what — appearance of abominable snowman in the middle of Franklin Avenue?”

“Not quite,” Veronica replied, a sly not-quite smile settling on her face, “Betty and I—”

“Of course, you had hamstrung Cooper, too.” Toni cast a dirty look over Veronica’s shoulder at a willowy, nervous-looking blonde still hesitating in the doorway. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you there, princess.”

“Well, as I was saying, Betty and I,” continued Veronica Lodge, bulldozing over Toni completely and out of the corner of his eye, Jughead could see Call Me Archie Andrews’s jaw unhinge a little, “were late completely by accident, but it was all my fault. Let’s just say, a Lodge doesn’t always land on their feet.

“Still, I had to amend such an insufferable grievance,” Veronica smiled, charmingly, still sly as a fox. “Imagine how tickled pink I was to learn we are not only headed into the same building, but for the same script reading—”

“To which you are late; both of you,” grumbled Toni, but she seemed to have lost most of her heat. Kevin was rubbing her shoulders soothingly as she massaged her temples. Momentarily, Jughead wondered if she was prematurely grey beneath all that pink dye.

“—long story, short: Betty here,” Veronica said, stepping back and drawing the taller girl into her side. “Is my new BFF and I love her to pieces.”

“From a five minute meeting,” Kevin asked, corner of his mouth twitching.

“Boo, you whore,” teased Veronica, earning an unexpect snort from Sabrina, “it’s love at first sight. Don’t judge.” Then:

“You there,” Veronica snapped her fingers in the direction of a fish-eyed assistant Jughead took care to ignore — she’d been making moon-eyes at him, according to Sabrina, and there were times to be wary of his cousin’s advice, but not in instances such as this one. “Fetch me a skinny venti white mocha, one shot, with two pumps of sugarfree vanilla, no whip — pronto. I can’t think clearly without my daily recommended injection of sugar and caffeine.”

Immediately, the situation dissolved into absolute bedlam as everyone clamoured for Ginger’s attention to place their coffee order, too. She’s a sly one, Jughead thought for the third time, smart, too.

Here was the thing about Jughead Jones: he was an objective observer of life, not an active participator. An introvert and a borderline misanthrope, he regarded the world from a safe distance of cool, clinical detachment — he watched and he recorded and he understood because he noticed enough to pay attention in the first place; he was perceptive, and he used this to his advantage. 

And as if enticed by a magnetic pull, Jughead’s eyes drifted towards the leggy blonde to his right. The first thing he noticed her was this — she was uncomfortable. The second was that she was seemed nervous, displaced; and third — well, she was making her way towards him.

This girl, however, was totally throwing him for a loop.

She was dressed in a diaphanous, intricately embroidered, sapphire-coloured blouse, and when she shifted to pull out her chair, Jughead could see her laced brassiere through the silk material. Unexpectedly, she sat next to him, across from a plaque reading REMMY LUPIN. She had a striking look — blue-eyed and golden-haired with a face like a porcelain doll’s; wide-eyed, lovely, and haunting in its stillness. I met a lady on a moor, Jughead though, aureate hair, refulgent eyes; a dancing, starry sprite.

“Hi,” she greeted, turning to him, face splitting into a blooming, honeyed smile, white teeth gleaming, the streaming sunlight from the window behind them set her braid into a molten blaze, “I’m Betty.”

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THE DREAMER:

“Three creams, two splenda, please.”

Betty Cooper was already running (hopefully, fashionably) late; not exactly a good first impression. She had woken up behind schedule (she had sort of fallen into the black hole that was Tumblr, recently, and had taken to staying up late); her cat, Caramel, had thrown up all over the kitchen floor. One side of her hair had dried flatter than the other — she was never going to bed straight from the shower ever again. And her uber had been running behind. Fantastic, she had uttered when finally arriving at the address given. The time on her phone alerting her that she should would have been inside already, had her morning gone accordingly, sipping on her coffee without a care in the world.

Well, that last bit was a stretch. If you asked anyone who knew her, they would say without a doubt that, Betty Cooper cared too much, about everything.

It was kind of her thing, though. Betty had a profound sense of perseverance and applied it to anyone in need of help that she came across. Polly (her older sister and recently, albeit somewhat regrettably, her manager) akined it to her being like a new mother, babying her fresh-faced ducklings. It often impeded her own desires and well-thought out plans.

Betty was a goner for a schedule. She could plan her day like nobody’s business — rarely did it ever actually go according to plan though. She would describe herself as being meticulous bordering the edge of perfectionist — Betty actually detested that word. Being in control of the situation, however, gave her life.

This was all new to her though, at least, fairly. Acting, that is.

She had been on edge of booking a flight back to San Francisco for what seemed like months. With only $200 to her name, and a can of cold soup sitting like a rock in her belly, Betty had auditioned for a role in Magic is Might. She had been failing auditions for months, her savings account was gone, and she was exhausted from working two menial jobs in order to have money to even go to auditions.

So, by all accounts, Betty figured an extra boost of caffeine was in order to make it through the whirlwind day that had been plotted ahead. A table read with her cast mates of Magic is Might, who she had yet to meet, was slotted for the whole day. As well as some promotional pictures of the group. The whole thing came together rather quickly for an HBO show, as she understood. Betty would be forever grateful that they hadn’t found anyone for the part of Remus Lupin yet.

Somehow, her name had been misspelled (she wanted to glare at Polly) and they thought it had said Elizander, on her papers. Whoever had been manning the audition hadn’t done a thorough look-through at the time and had barely looked up at her, just shooed her through the door. They seemed desperate.

To be fair, she hadn’t realized that the part of Remus was male. Of course, she had read the Harry Potter books, who hasn’t? But Polly had simply implored her to get her ass to this audition, without much else to go on.

Everyone had stared at her when she entered the room, but the guy in the middle of the group seated before her had stood up, planting his hands on the table with a loud smack.

“Excuse me, this isn’t —”

“No, excuse me, but that was incredibly rude.” A blush bloomed across her chest, streaking upwards, despite her outward display of confidence. “I’m here to audition, so let me audition before turning me away.”

It turns out that the man was Kevin Keller, one of the showrunners. Betty had desperately wanted to curl into a ball from mortification when she found out, but instead she had been engulfed in a hug while he had exclaimed “Such fire!”, and had let her do the audition.  

They had complimented her afterwards. Apparently she had an inner voice that matched Remus’s suppressed darkness à la werewolf unequivocally. They were going to change the character and rework the script for her. Betty was unperturbed usually, but she had been floored by their sentiments.

Now, granted, they had done the same thing for the character of Snape, but that was for Veronica Lodge — ex-disney starlet who had bowed out of the limelight for several years only to return and turn everyone’s heads when she demanded the part of Severus Snape.

Betty mussed her life was going to be very different from here on out (assuming the show gets picked up after the contingent episodes), but she was looking forward to not cringing every time they ran her card through a register. She loved food, and coffee was a vice she wasn’t willing to give up.

In L.A. there seemed to be a Starbucks on just about every godforsaken block, so she had been thankful there was one conveniently close to the building she was now ardently walking toward. Betty was practically jogging as she took a sip of her drink, the mouthful of cold coffee was sweet and creamy. It was really refreshing — had she not just spilled it all over her shirt when someone plowed into her shoulder, jarring the cup from her hand.

Betty had stood frozen in place, her muscles turning tense as she panicked. Of course she had worn her favorite outfit today. Her pale pink sweater was now sticking to her skin uncomfortably, but thankfully there were only a few drops on her jeans — the dark color of them would prevent a stain from being noticeable, but her sweater…

“Oh my god, fuck, I am so sorry.”

Betty looked up from where she was still staring at her coffee soaked front, hand crushing the now empty cup. She blinked owlishly at the girl who had spoken. A dark haired girl with an equally empty cup, however stain free clothes — impeccable, by the way, in front of her. Small hands covered in white lace gloves (really? The urge to roll her eyes was strong) were reaching out for her and grabbing hold of her arm, gently albeit forcefully. Betty had no choice but to be tugged along and out of the path of the ravenous L.A. goers on the sidewalk.

“It’s… fine, really,” Betty hadn’t wanted to use the word, but there wasn’t anything else on the tip of her tongue. “I’m running late to my read through anyway, I should —”

Veronica interrupted her, raising her impeccably arched brows even higher. “Read through? As in, script?”

Nodding, Betty looked up to the tall glass front building they were almost in front of. She had been so close…

“Well, I think we’re headed to the same place then. Veronica Lodge,” the raven haired girl extended her glove covered hand and Betty raised her hand that wasn’t a sticky mess to shake it. Veronica continued, “pleasure to meet you…” she trailed off and Betty interjected.

“Betty Cooper.”

“Betty, allow me to offer you a new blouse, I simply can’t let you in there like that.”

Betty had started to shake her head, fingers itching to reach up and tighten her ponytail, but alas, she realized, she had worn her hair in a loose braid that brushed the edges of her collarbone. “No, that’s okay, you don’t have to do that.” she waved a hand, tossing her empty cup into the trash bin they had stopped by.

“I insist. Come,” it wasn’t up for debate anymore, that white glove grabbing Betty’s wrist again and pulling her toward a sleek black car that was parked some spaces down. “Don’t worry about being late, if we both are then they really can’t do anything about it."

Betty was surprised that the words didn’t sound pretentious coming from the other girls mouth, but humble. Veronica had pulled her inside the car, instructing her to pull the door closed. She hesitated before doing so, the door shutting with a soft click. She never thought being in a car alone with Veronica Lodge would ever be on her agenda, but here she was, with a collection of delicate tops spread over their laps that were distinctly not at all Betty’s style.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Her green-blue eyes examined the choices carefully, taking in the price tags still dangling from them. Her throat was dry, her swallow surely audible. Everything was more-than-her-rent expensive. Plucking the one with the smallest numbers up, a transparent (okay maybe she had made a mistake here…) sapphire-blue blouse with colorful embroidered flowers, “This one is great,” she smiled at Veronica.

“Oh, excellent choice. Can’t go wrong with Derek Lam 10.”

She scrunched her nose up, fingering the material. Veronica had leant back against the seat, arms crossed expectantly. Betty glanced around to the car windows. “You want me to change here?”

“I expect you, too, yes.”

Betty sucked in a breath of courage and peeled off the stained sweater. Thankfully, her white (unlucky, she had decided) lacy bralette would be suitable underneath the barely-considered-a-shirt. She felt Veronica’s dark eyes on her, watching as she slipped the garment on over her head. Betty tugged it down gently, it only hit the top waist of her jeans.

Veronica reached out a hand to snap the price tag off, tossing it into the empty front seat. “There, oh you have to keep it, it looks perfect on you.”

The blonde smoothed a hand down her somewhat exposed stomach, wishing she were thinner or more toned. “Sure. Thanks, Veronica.”

“You’re quite welcome, darling. Nothing bores friendship quicker than the sharing of clothes and gossiping over boys. So one down, one to go.”

Betty couldn’t help the smile blooming across her face at Veronica’s words. She could use a friend. L.A. had been a lonely place the past two years, which did nothing to help her anxiety.

“Of course, I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be spending a lot of time together after all.”

The other girl smiled back, tucking glossy black hair behind her ear. “Indeed, we might as well make the best of it.” she paused, checking the fancy was fastened around her delicate wrist. “We are incredibly late now, darling. We had better hurry along before Toni sinks her teeth into us.”

Betty nodded, climbing out the car door as gracefully as she could with shaking hands. Veronica had saddled up to her side, linking their arms together as they walked. Feeling a burst of adoration for the girl Betty felt she had wrongly judged in the past (she grew up watching Disney channel, after all) she vowed not to judge any of the other actors based on the same principle.

The ease of being by Veronica’s side made her nerves calm until they were in front of the appropriate conference room door. A wicked smirk graced the raven-haired girl’s features and she disentangled their arms. A dainty platform heeled foot kicked the door in with surprising force for such a small girl.

It had Betty stepping back, hiding away from the doorframe a ways, eyes darting around the room and taking in the scene. It looks like they had already started the read through, and the ball of nerves in her stomach started to grow again.

She did not think it would ever leave her.

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tbc.

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note: Title comes from Shakespeare’s Henry V: “You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate. There is more eloquence in a sweet touch of them than in the tongues of the whole French council.” Chapter title comes from Mr. Jones by Counting Crows. 

#bughead #bughead fanfiction #otp: bathed in sunlight; drenched in shadows #character: jughead jones #character: betty cooper #pairing: jughead x betty #tv: riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #in this tag resides fanfiction #♔: victrix #stark writes #series: roseblood #a song of smol bean and tol bean #series: famous bughead #*

[lilibug--xx]

》you have witchcraft in your lips《

—famous!Bughead

When Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper were cast as leads for HBO’s Harry Potter prequel show Magic is Might, they thought they did not know each other. They were wrong.

note: this is a collaborative work between myself and @strix. I wrote Betty's’s POV and she Jughead’s. Be warned, we are each other’s betas, too. 

read it on ao3. 

“ A dress made of air and webs and you,

The wet dreams evaporate as they come true.

To anyone else just endless blue,

An invisible kite string connects me to you.”

— Pieces of Sky by Beth Orton.

CHAPTER ONE: mr jones and me, we’re gonna be big stars…

 @Variety: HBO picks up four pilot episodes, including Toni Topaz’s Harry Potter prequel project.

@Deadline: Up-and-coming musical director Kevin Keller branches off from theatre and confirms working on Harry Potter prequel series with HBO — Magic is Might.

@EntertainmentNews: BREAKING NEWS: Disney darling Veronica Lodge officially casted as one of the leads in Kevin Keller’s upcoming Marauders Era project — Magic is Might.

@Buzzfeed: You will not believe who was just confirmed to be cast in Magic is Might!

@CherryBombshell: To all my loyal, beautiful followers: Of course, I got the part. How could they not cast moi?

@NZHerald: Singer-songwriter Archie Andrews is rumoured to be involved with HBO’s Magic is Might.

@Deadline: Magic is Might Harry Potter prequel series finds its Sirius Black: “He walked in right off the street and I knew — that is our Sirius Black,” says showrunner, Kevin Keller.

@EntertainmentNews: HBO’s Magic is Might just cast its Remus Lupin, and it’s a very interesting choice.

@Buzzfeed: Magic is Might’s Remus Lupin is now — Remmy Lupin?!

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THE WAYWARD PRINCE:

The thing about Jughead Jones — he was weird, and he liked to be weird.

Jughead Jones was the following things: adroit wordsmith, razor-sharp, and a smart-mouthed asshole. He was not, however, the sort a teenage girl’s dreams were made of. He was a little too tall and a little too angular with a face that was a little too fond of scowling to be conventionally attractive. He had two girlfriends in the span of his entire life, and first one he’d acquired when he was nine for the span of two days. He was akin to a scalpel — sharp-edged, clinical, and very good at cutting people out of his life.

Except, Sabrina.

Never Sabrina.

And because of Sabrina — he was here, regretting everything.

“This,” Jughead grumbled for the nth time, “is all your fault.”

“Yes,” Sabrina agreed, throwing a dusky-blue button-down at him with a glare that clearly conveyed wear this or else, “it is my fault that you’ve landed the biggest television role of this year. I apologise for being magnificent.”

Jughead snorted. “Potter is the lead.”

“Who cares? Sirius is obviously meant to be the hot one. That makes his role the bigger fish. And you,” Sabrina said, tilting his head sideways and inspecting the carelessly casual style she arranged his hair in (read: brushed once and let it air-dry), “cousin-german, will soon be smiling from a poster on every pubescent girl’s wall and be the main feature in their dreams.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Jughead’s scowl grew deeper, a feat he had not imagined was achievable before he’d done it. “I’d rather not.”

Two hours later, two thirds of which were spent navigating L.A.’s atrocious traffic, Jughead found himself lounging in a deceptively comfortable egg chair in a Hollywood studio, waiting to proceed with the first script reading session with the rest of Magic is Might cast. Sabrina, primly perched to his right, was scanning the others over the brim of her rapidly cooling coffee cup with shrewd, pale-grey eyes, as Jughead lazily thumbed through the script.

“Stop eyeing them like you want to wear their faces as a mask, Ree,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“I am so not. I��m eyeing them like I want to make a fashionable skin suit, obviously. Get your facts straight, Jones.”

Here was the thing; — Jughead firmly believed that if you did something, you better put your best foot forward from the start; to do your very best at everything you undertook and not half-ass it simply because it required effort. (Life required effort, Jughead often reminded himself, if it didn’t it wouldn’t be so damn difficult.)

This stance seemed at odds with his disaffected and cynical slacker persona, but what could Jughead say — he was contrary like that. He could remain apathetic and be a pedantic perfectionist at heart; he had layers, like a lasagna.

But precisely that sort of attitude had landed him the lead role in Magic is Might as Sirius Black.

It had happened nine days ago, when Jughead had accompanied Sabrina to her second audition for Magic is Might — she had failed to get Lily Evans’s role and was trying out for Narcissa Black. Jughead was there for emotional support, for the sort of get your shit together, you walking waste of space pep-talks Sabrina and he excelled at. He was there to permit his hand to be crushed in a vice grip as she waited for her name to be called, and to take her to Wildflower Café by their apartment to gorge on breakfast foods and stuff their faces with toasted marshmallow milkshakes in the face of another disappointment.

Jughead Jones was, by profession, a screenwriter; he wrote seven plays, one of which had been actually made into a film. He was not an actor. The universe disagreed, however. Kevin fucking Keller disagreed, too, apparently, because the moment Jughead had walked up to a dumbfounded-looking Sabrina after her audition — handkerchief at the ready, just in case — he’d been spotted by Kevin fucking Keller’s eagle-eyed stare. Kevin fucking Keller who’d taken one look at Jughead, pointed his finger at him and with eyedrum piercing snap, barked out, “You, there — in here, now.” and Sabrina, that fucking traitor, had pushed him forward into the audition room.

It was serendipitous he knew the script like the back of his hand, having practiced with Sabrina until they were blue in the face, it was also fortuitous his reaction in the face of sheer audacity was to fall back on his most defining traits — sarcasm and generally all-around fuck-you attitude.

Both, as it had turned out, were great characteristics for one Sirius Black.

So here he was, Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third, newly minted actor extraordinaire with no education about the craft and enough talent, according to Keller, to fill the Pacific ocean and then some — out of his depth, and feeling utterly displaced.

It was a peculiar feeling, foreign and unwelcome — Jughead hated it with the blazing ebullition of pure abhorrence.

“Hey,” Sabrina called, soft as a whisper, placing her hand on his knee, stilling it. Jughead hadn’t realised his left leg had been bouncing. “Relax, bro-bro.”

Jughead opened his mouth to reply something along the lines of Shut it, hambone, but was interrupted when a tall shadow of a small person fell across his lap.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mad Max himself,” commented a small, red-headed girl on berry-red charged murder-weapons on the lam from the law and thus posing as women’s footwear. “So, tall, dark, and inexperienced, how does it feel to finally be in the real show biz?”

There was a refractory set to Jughead’s clenched jaw, so Sabrina answered in his stead, snickering, “I don’t know Big Red, you tell us?”

The girl’s exceedingly red mouth was reset out of its perpetually sullen pout into a grimace of distaste. “For a virtual nobody, you sure have a mouth on you, Emily Strange.”

There were four rules Jughead Jones instinctively followed whenever he chose to speak: Was he being rational? Was he being truthful? Were his words necessary? Were they kind? Often times, if he had not met all of his criteria, Jughead would settle on keeping his silence a while longer.

This, was not such a time.

“Is that all you can do,” Jughead found himself rasping out, “try your utmost to diss people with painfully obvious references? You’re not doing a very good job, are you?”

“You’re a pretty cool customer, huh?”

“I hide my inner pain underneath a stoic visage,” Jughead quipped. Cheryl Blossom looked like would like nothing more than to dig her claws red-tipped into Jughead’s stoic visage.

“Hey, guys,” said a guy in corduroy slacks and a blue-yellow varsity jacket of all things; he was average-height, but with a Heroic Build identifying him as James Potter material. There was a hint of admonishment in his tone, but not enough to reign anyone in. “We’re supposed to be getting along…”

Jughead was utterly unsurprised when he was promptly ignored.

Big Red sneered down on them and with a snazzy flip of gloriously red hair, pointedly perched on the corner of the oval table. Then, she extended a bedazzled with a shape of a cherry phone Jughead didn’t realise she held in front of her on a selfie-stick, and with that godawful pout, began, “See, my lovely cherries, when presented with a choice between either Tim Burton Junior and his blonde Fran Bow or a ginger Kelly Clarkson, Cheryl Bombshell has no choice but to choose herself. I certainly hope their acting is better than their personalities because those are as parched as a dry spell.”

“Oi, Cherry Bomb!” a female producer barked sharply, the one with pink-striped hair and a punk attitude, “don’t fucking live blog a closed script reading, you imbecile!”

“Don’t call me that!” Cheryl Blossom snarled, teeth unnaturally white against the vivid red of her mouth. “How are my cherries supposed to know what I’m doing at any given moment if I don’t blog about it?”

“I don’t know,” Jughead grumbled, too low to be heard by anyone but Sabrina, who promptly elbowed him in the ribs, “maybe try not to seek validation from a faceless mass of people online?” said the kettle to the pot, he mentally added.

The woman with the pink hair was even shorter than Cheryl, but when she stood up, she cut an impressively intimidating figure nonetheless. “This,” she growled, “is what we get for casting a bloody Instagram starlet.”

“She’s a solid choice, Toni,” Keller admonished, softly, gingerly prying away her fingers off his bicep, “she can act and her hair is iconic. What more could we ask for?”

“A fucking professional attitude for one. And maybe,” Topaz, that was her name, Jughead finally remembered, pointedly shouted in red-head’s direction, “not to always pout like she’s about to suck dick.”

Cheryl Blossom looked up from the highly-focused examination of her razor-sharp talons she’d been performing and pouted. “I don’t suck dick on sheer principle, you grotsky little byotch.”

Varsity Jacket raised his hands in placation. “Okay, seriously, maybe you should—”

“Toni, go smoke a fag and find your chill,” cut in Keller, and her hand immediately shot up, giving him the middle finger, but she left the room nonetheless. “And Cheryl, take it down a notch. I’m serious, you hear me?”

Cheryl turned away from him with a huff, but she hadn’t said anything. Instead, she began typing away furiously on her phone.

Huh, thought Jughead.

Kevin Keller was not a tough guy, he noticed, he did not have a commanding presence. Even Varsity Jacket drew more attention to himself with his ridiculous floppy hair, freckled face, and All-American attitude. But, Jughead decided, Kevin Keller understood women. With that in mind, Jughead settled back in his chair, reading over the script yet again.

It was fifteen minutes later when Toni Topaz strode into the room, her combat boots practically abusing the dotted, grey linoleum with the force of her steps, not looking an iota less stressed. “Fuck it,” she announced, “if we wait anymore for those two, we’ll get behind schedule.”

“All right, then,” Keller said, clapping his hands, “places, everyone.”

Like the asshole she was, Sabrina took the seat assigned to him, next to Varsity Jacket, and switched their name planks with a wink. Jughead had neither the inclination nor the naiveté to question her choices, so he dragged the chair he had been sitting for the last half-an-hour towards the table by its back, and positioned himself on Sabrina’s left, straightening the SIRIUS BLACK plaque so it was uniformly aligned with all the others.

The plague before a lounging Cheryl Blossom did not read BITCH FROM HELL, much to Jughead’s surprise, instead, it said — LILY EVANS.

A thought streaked across the forefront of his mind: We are all royally fucked.

Varsity Jacket’s named turned out to be Archie Andrews. Jughead knew that now because the first words out of that kid’s mouth were, quite literally, “Hey, there. I’m Archie Andrews, I’m eighteen, you may know me from last year’s 16 Birthday Wishes, and I look forward to working with ya all.”

Jughead could not have conjured this kid up had he even tried. He shared a concerned glance with Sabrina who mouthed, is he for real? and Jughead only had the energy to shrug. Yeah, he decided, he could see this Archie Andrews as one James Potter. If he squinted.

Cheryl Blossom did not introduce herself. She scowled at all of them, even poor golden retriever puppy personified Andrews, called them philistines, and proceeded with reading her lines. Interesting development: she could act. Expected conclusion: she packed too much malice into her lines and came of ass passive aggressive. Keller had to intermediately correct her. That was, however, a correctable quality she could redeem herself from with enough effort; or so Sabrina had said, Jughead’s inescapable, little-devil-on-the-shoulder-type expert on all things acting™.  

When it was his turn to read, Jughead did what he always did when he read out loud his scripts during editing: tried his damndest not to stutter, keeping his voice smooth and even, and detached himself from the situation, rendering himself utterly impervious to nerves and apprehension. It was not Jughead Jones who had been reciting the script from memory as the lines printed on paper streamed before his eyes in a confusing, maddening swirl — it had been Sirius Black doing all those things; teasing his friend James, flirting with prim and proper Lily, arguing with Narcissa.

Disassociating might have kept Jughead’s anxiety at bay, but it made Sirius Black come alive.

So, of course, once Jughead had gotten into the swing of things, the universe rained on his parade: the door slammed open, revealing two girls standing on the other side of its frame.

“Oooops,” said the shorter one, her dark hair reflecting light attractively as she stode in the room. She had not sounded particularly sorry, Jughead noticed. “Apologies, hadn’t meant to barge in quite so—”

“Veronica,” Toni cut in, as bitingly as a wolf, “you were supposed to be here half-an-hour ago!”

“That late, huh,” muttered Veronica assumingly Lodge, flipping her wrist to check the slim, diamond-encrusted watch on her left hand. “Apologies, Toni, darling, but L.A. traffic is simply odious, as you well know. Got held up.”

“By what — appearance of abominable snowman in the middle of Franklin Avenue?”

“Not quite,” Veronica replied, a sly not-quite smile settling on her face, “Betty and I—”

“Of course, you had hamstrung Cooper, too.” Toni cast a dirty look over Veronica’s shoulder at a willowy, nervous-looking blonde still hesitating in the doorway. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you there, princess.”

“Well, as I was saying, Betty and I,” continued Veronica Lodge, bulldozing over Toni completely and out of the corner of his eye, Jughead could see Call Me, Archie Andrews’s jaw unhinge a little, “were late completely by accident, but it was all my fault. Let’s just say, a Lodge doesn’t always land on their feet.

“Still, I had to amend such an insufferable grievance,” Veronica smiled, charmingly, still sly as a fox. “Imagine how tickled pink I was to learn we are not only headed into the same building, but for the same script reading—”

“To which you are late; both of you,” grumbled Toni, but she seemed to have lost most of her heat. Kevin was rubbing her shoulders soothingly as she massaged her temples. Momentarily, Jughead wondered if she was prematurely grey beneath all that pink dye.

“—long story, short: Betty here,” Veronica said, stepping back and drawing the taller girl into her side. “Is my new BFF and I love her to pieces.”

“From a five minute meeting,” Kevin asked, corner of his mouth twitching.

“Boo, you whore,” teased Veronica, earning an unexpect snort from Sabrina, “it’s love at first sight. Don’t judge.” Then:

“You there,” Veronica snapped her fingers in the direction of a fish-eyed assistant Jughead took care to ignore — she’d been making moon-eyes at him, according to Sabrina, and there were times to be wary of his cousin’s advice, but not in instances such as this one. “Fetch me a skinny venti white mocha, one shot, with two pumps of sugarfree vanilla, no whip — pronto. I can’t think clearly without my daily recommended injection of sugar and caffeine.”

Immediately, the situation dissolved into absolute bedlam as everyone clamoured for Ginger’s attention to place their coffee order, too. She’s a sly one, Jughead thought for the third time, smart, too.

Here was the thing about Jughead Jones: he was an objective observer of life, not an active participator. An introvert and a borderline misanthrope, he regarded the world from a safe distance of cool, clinical detachment — he watched and he recorded and he understood because he noticed enough to pay attention in the first place; he was perceptive, and he used this to his advantage. 

This girl, however, totally threw him for a loop.

And as if enticed by a magnetic pull, Jughead’s eyes drifted towards the leggy blonde to his right. The first thing he noticed her was this — she was uncomfortable. The second was that she was seemed nervous, displaced; and third — well, she was making her way towards him.

The girl was dressed in a diaphanous, intricately embroidered, sapphire-coloured blouse, and when she shifted to pull out her chair, Jughead could see her laced brassiere through the silk material. Unexpectedly, she sat next to him, across from a plaque reading REMMY LUPIN. She had a striking look — blue-eyed and golden-haired with a face like a porcelain doll’s; wide-eyed, lovely, and haunting in its stillness. I met a lady on a moore, Jughead though, aureate hair, refulgent eyes; a dancing, starry sprite.

“Hi,” she greeted, turning to him, face splitting into a blooming, honeyed smile, white teeth gleaming, the streaming sunlight from the window behind them set her braid into a molten blaze, “I’m Betty.”

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THE DREAMER:

“Three creams, two splenda, please.”

Betty Cooper was already running (hopefully, fashionably) late; not exactly a good first impression. She had woken up behind schedule (she had sort of fallen into the black hole that was Tumblr, recently, and had taken to staying up late); her cat, Caramel, had thrown up all over the kitchen floor. One side of her hair had dried flatter than the other — she was never going to bed straight from the shower ever again. And her uber had been running behind. Fantastic, she had uttered when finally arriving at the address given. The time on her phone alerting her that she should would have been inside already, had her morning gone accordingly, sipping on her coffee without a care in the world.

Well, that last bit was a stretch. If you asked anyone who knew her, they would say without a doubt that, Betty Cooper cared too much, about everything.

It was kind of her thing, though. Betty had a profound sense of perseverance and applied it to anyone in need of help that she came across. Polly (her older sister and recently, albeit somewhat regrettably, her manager) akined it to her being like a new mother, babying her fresh-faced ducklings. It often impeded her own desires and well-thought out plans.

Betty was a goner for a schedule. She could plan her day like nobody’s business — rarely did it ever actually go according to plan though. She would describe herself as being meticulous bordering the edge of perfectionist — Betty actually detested that word. Being in control of the situation, however, gave her life.

This was all new to her though, at least, fairly. Acting, that is.

She had been on edge of booking a flight back to San Francisco for what seemed like months. With only $200 to her name, and a can of cold soup sitting like a rock in her belly, Betty had auditioned for a role in Magic is Might. She had been failing auditions for months, her savings account was gone, and she was exhausted from working two menial jobs in order to have money to even go to auditions.

So, by all accounts, Betty figured an extra boost of caffeine was in order to make it through the whirlwind day that had been plotted ahead. A table read with her cast mates of Magic is Might, who she had yet to meet, was slotted for the whole day. As well as some promotional pictures of the group. The whole thing came together rather quickly for an HBO show, as she understood. Betty would be forever grateful that they hadn’t found anyone for the part of Remus Lupin yet.

Somehow, her name had been misspelled (she wanted to glare at Polly) and they thought it had said Elizander, on her papers. Whoever had been manning the audition hadn’t done a thorough look-through at the time and had barely looked up at her, just shooed her through the door. They seemed desperate.

To be fair, she hadn’t realized that the part of Remus was male. Of course, she had read the Harry Potter books, who hasn’t? But Polly had simply implored her to get her ass to this audition, without much else to go on.

Everyone had stared at her when she entered the room, but the guy in the middle of the group seated before her had stood up, planting his hands on the table with a loud smack.

“Excuse me, this isn’t —”

“No, excuse me, but that was incredibly rude.” A blush bloomed across her chest, streaking upwards, despite her outward display of confidence. “I’m here to audition, so let me audition before turning me away.”

It turns out that the man was Kevin Keller, one of the showrunners. Betty had desperately wanted to curl into a ball from mortification when she found out, but instead she had been engulfed in a hug while he had exclaimed “Such fire!”, and had let her do the audition.  

They had complimented her afterwards. Apparently she had an inner voice that matched Remus’s suppressed darkness à la werewolf unequivocally. They were going to change the character and rework the script for her. Betty was unperturbed usually, but she had been floored by their sentiments.

Now, granted, they had done the same thing for the character of Snape, but that was for Veronica Lodge — ex-disney starlet who had bowed out of the limelight for several years only to return and turn everyone’s heads when she demanded the part of Severus Snape.

Betty mussed her life was going to be very different from here on out (assuming the show gets picked up after the contingent episodes), but she was looking forward to not cringing every time they ran her card through a register. She loved food, and coffee was a vice she wasn’t willing to give up.

In L.A. there seemed to be a Starbucks on just about every godforsaken block, so she had been thankful there was one conveniently close to the building she was now ardently walking toward. Betty was practically jogging as she took a sip of her drink, the mouthful of cold coffee was sweet and creamy. It was really refreshing — had she not just spilled it all over her shirt when someone plowed into her shoulder, jarring the cup from her hand.

Betty had stood frozen in place, her muscles turning tense as she panicked. Of course she had worn her favorite outfit today. Her pale pink sweater was now sticking to her skin uncomfortably, but thankfully there were only a few drops on her jeans — the dark color of them would prevent a stain from being noticeable, but her sweater…

“Oh my god, fuck, I am so sorry.”

Betty looked up from where she was still staring at her coffee soaked front, hand crushing the now empty cup. She blinked owlishly at the girl who had spoken. A dark haired girl with an equally empty cup, however stain free clothes — impeccable, by the way, in front of her. Small hands covered in white lace gloves (really? The urge to roll her eyes was strong) were reaching out for her and grabbing hold of her arm, gently albeit forcefully. Betty had no choice but to be tugged along and out of the path of the ravenous L.A. goers on the sidewalk.

“It’s… fine, really,” Betty hadn’t wanted to use the word, but there wasn’t anything else on the tip of her tongue. “I’m running late to my read through anyway, I should —”

Veronica interrupted her, raising her impeccably arched brows even higher. “Read through? As in, script?”

Nodding, Betty looked up to the tall glass front building they were almost in front of. She had been so close…

“Well, I think we’re headed to the same place then. Veronica Lodge,” the raven haired girl extended her glove covered hand and Betty raised her hand that wasn’t a sticky mess to shake it. Veronica continued, “pleasure to meet you…” she trailed off and Betty interjected.

“Betty Cooper.”

“Betty, allow me to offer you a new blouse, I simply can’t let you in there like that.”

Betty had started to shake her head, fingers itching to reach up and tighten her ponytail, but alas, she realized, she had worn her hair in a loose braid that brushed the edges of her collarbone. “No, that’s okay, you don’t have to do that.” she waved a hand, tossing her empty cup into the trash bin they had stopped by.

“I insist. Come,” it wasn’t up for debate anymore, that white glove grabbing Betty’s wrist again and pulling her toward a sleek black car that was parked some spaces down. “Don’t worry about being late, if we both are then they really can’t do anything about it.“

Betty was surprised that the words didn’t sound pretentious coming from the other girls mouth, but humble. Veronica had pulled her inside the car, instructing her to pull the door closed. She hesitated before doing so, the door shutting with a soft click. She never thought being in a car alone with Veronica Lodge would ever be on her agenda, but here she was, with a collection of delicate tops spread over their laps that were distinctly not at all Betty’s style.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Her green-blue eyes examined the choices carefully, taking in the price tags still dangling from them. Her throat was dry, her swallow surely audible. Everything was more-than-her-rent expensive. Plucking the one with the smallest numbers up, a transparent (okay maybe she had made a mistake here…) sapphire-blue blouse with colorful embroidered flowers, “This one is great,” she smiled at Veronica.

“Oh, excellent choice. Can’t go wrong with Derek Lam 10.”

She scrunched her nose up, fingering the material. Veronica had leant back against the seat, arms crossed expectantly. Betty glanced around to the car windows. “You want me to change here?”

“I expect you too, yes.”

Betty sucked in a breath of courage and peeled off the stained sweater. Thankfully, her white (unlucky, she had decided) lacy bralette would be suitable underneath the barely-considered-a-shirt. She felt Veronica’s dark eyes on her, watching as she slipped the garment on over her head. Betty tugged it down gently, it only hit the top waist of her jeans.

Veronica reached out a hand to snap the price tag off, tossing it into the empty front seat. “There, oh you have to keep it, it looks perfect on you.”

The blonde smoothed a hand down her somewhat exposed stomach, wishing she were thinner or more toned. “Sure. Thanks, Veronica.”

“You’re quite welcome, darling. Nothing bores friendship quicker than the sharing of clothes and gossiping over boys. So one down, one to go.”

Betty couldn’t help the smile blooming across her face at Veronica’s words. She could use a friend. L.A. had been a lonely place the past two years, which did nothing to help her anxiety.

“Of course, I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be spending a lot of time together after all.”

The other girl smiled back, tucking glossy black hair behind her ear. “Indeed, we might as well make the best of it.” she paused, checking the fancy was fastened around her delicate wrist. “We are incredibly late now, darling. We had better hurry along before Toni sinks her teeth into us.”

Betty nodded, climbing out the car door as gracefully as she could with shaking hands. Veronica had saddled up to her side, linking their arms together as they walked. Feeling a burst of adoration for the girl Betty felt she had wrongly judged in the past (she grew up watching Disney channel, after all) she vowed not to judge any of the other actors based on the same principle.

The ease of being by Veronica’s side made her nerves calm until they were in front of the appropriate conference room door. A wicked smirk graced the raven-haired girl’s features and she disentangled their arms. A dainty platform heeled foot kicked the door in with surprising force for such a small girl.

It had Betty stepping back, hiding away from the doorframe a ways, eyes darting around the room and taking in the scene. It looks like they had already started the read through, and the ball of nerves in her stomach started to grow again.

She did not think it would ever leave her.

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tbc.

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