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my-creepypasta-story · 4 years

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Found a Missing Tape

“Okay, okay! Are you ready for the big adventure Fred?” he looked at his friend with excitement, his body jittered with joy, as he was like bouncing off the walls.

“Yes! Now can we need to hurry up Ben, I don’t want it to be too late” his friend rolled his eyes as he got a cam recorder in his hand.

Both guys were excited to film their first YouTube video. It was 2009 and Youtube only started to become popular They packed their rucksaks with food, extra batteries , torches, lights that’s attached to the recorder and tripods to take epic pictures. Even tho it was middle of Winter in January, they were still rearing to go. For a while they had their own Facebook page to take abandoned photos of builds, the eerie lifeless of buildings, gave it a creepy surprise. Like it was from a zombie movie. Both guys were best friends since highschool and they do everything together. Fred was tall and skinny, at least 6.2ft, his hair was brown but curly and he hardly brushed it, everyone called him ‘bush’ but since leaving school he like his own name, he had a skater style along with Ben. Ben was Chinese but he spoke English fluently and could only say a few Chinese words to pick up women, even tho it never worked. Ben was 5.8ft, an average looking guy, but love to wear black, even tho had the skater heart. Brown hair, brown eyes, with a tan too match, compared to Fred, he was a pastey white boy. They were still best friends without a doubt.

“Okay I’m all set” as they got into Ben’s car, stopped by the gas station before they hit to their destination. “Heyy Fred, Do you think it’s still abandoned? I’ve heard stories about that place man? I don’t think we should go?”

Fred ran back and jumped into the car, shouting out through the window “dude! It’s going to be awesome! We are going to take wicked sick videos and pictures. And anyways, our friends been there before you know, that big party they had but we were sick. It should be okay”. Ben just nodded as he finishing up the tank and paying it on his card. They drove into the distance, early hours in the morning.

Hours went by, soon as they came across the building, they parked up and hiked to the place where they were going to film. Fred and Ben were infront of the camera “heyy guys! It’s me Fred and Ben! Coming to you, to this abaoned location. Now this place is so old and so creepy, we had to see it! It’s an asylum but was going turn into a hotel. But now abandoned! Ain’t that cool!”

Ben smiled and using hand gestures “dude it’s going to be fucking cool! So I looked into the buildings history! We are in Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. This place was said to be haunted! Cool right! Apparently they tested on their own patients and did lobotomies, where the doctors used an ice pick and went through your brain, from your eye. Dude that’s creepy”

Fred interrupted “and and and, local people are still saying, the patients who died here along with doctors and nurses, are still here. Spooookkyy!”

Bed interrupted “so we are here! Going inside and look around! Ain’t that cool dude?”

“So cool” replied Fred, with extreme anticipation.

Ben was holding the camera will Fred was looking around, both followed into the dark rooms and the light lead them the way. Each find of a wheelchair, an operation table was well documented. The paint was peeling off and the green mould was growing in the corners of some of the rooms. Each of them had this sadness that they couldn’t wait to be here. Fred insisted Ben to hold the camera while Ben was doing the entertaining and giving out more history stories.

“So, this room I bet is where they did the lobotomies...” then suddenly they both got interrupted by a sound near by. They both went quiet and tip toed to the noise.

11 years later.

“Omg I cannot believe you found this place” Bailey flirtatiously teasing her boyfriend John, their friend Ivan couldn’t wait to leave. Bailey a typical girl with died red hair, black shorts with a grey tank top and John wearing his jeans with a graphic tee that had on ‘Rick and Morty’. Ivan was wearing something similar to John since they were friends. All three in college and a few YouTubers visited the asylum too; then all went to this Building in Virginia because they all went to college near by. They all got bored during summer break and before they head back home, they wanted to do some exploring. Searching on the web, Bailey wanted to go to an Asylum to cross off her bucket list.

After a few minutes of guessing on google maps, they finally found it. All derelict and no one around, the only sounds are the birds cheeping in the distance. It felt peaceful, they tried to go inside the asylum. The doors were falling off and the black mould growing up the walls in the hallway. As they approached a dead end since the building was falling apart, they decided to head home. As they were walking, Bailey shouted “wait a minute guys, I think I see a cam recorder” John grabbed Ivan and they both followed Bailey. The room was an old office and nothing haven’t been touched for decades. The papers were still there along with documation of the patients that stayed. John grabbed them and Ivan followed, he went into the filing cabinets and took as much information as they could. Bailey put the cam recorder in her bag and all of them headed to the car.

Driving back to the college, she said “most of this tape is fried and slightly damp. Do you think Paris can take a look for us?”

Ivan replied as he was driving on the highway “I don’t see why not. What do you think is in there?”

Bailey handed over the cam recorder to John “whatever is inside, it’s been there along time. Strange that something like this is in there”

They all headed to Paris, who was the head at the media department. For a teacher, she had piercings on her lips and ears, tattoos all over her body. For a 42 year old, she looked 10 years younger. “Wow I haven’t seen something like this in 11 years! Back then, this was state of the art! Still working just the tape is a bit damp. Maybe tomorrow it will be finished. Where did you guys find it?”

Bailey shrugged and was nervous to talk “we found it at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum”

“You fucking what! That place is bad news! How did you even go there?” Screamed Paris as she folded her arms looking at John and Ivan. They both shrugged and looked down with disappointment.

“Do you know what... fine I will do it. Only because I’m curious myself” Paris held the cam recorder and took out the tape which was slightly damaged. The three of them walked out and closed the door behind them.

3am the next morning

*Ring, ring ring* “ugh... hey babe, can you get that” muttered John as he woke up Bailey. She muttered, picked up the phone from the bed night stand “yeahh, this is John’s phone. What the fuck do you want at this... yeahh. Wait now?! .... Do I have... okay... yes we getting dressed.... fine I will get Ivan too.... yes we will be there.... okay, bye” she poked John till he got up. She put on a black dress with her blue sparkley converse on. “John get up” as she took the covers off him “we need to get up now. Get ivan, he needs to come too”

John still in his pjs, he went next door to his dorm and got Ivan. Ivan was in his sweat pants and no top on, luckily he worked out and had a six pack to show off. All half asleep expect for Bailey, she was anxious and her nerves were running high. They both got into Paris’s office and she had beer cans all over her desk; including empty beer cans in the trash that was piling over ready to burst at any moment. Her room was dark and musky, the blinds drawn as you can see the sunrise appearing through at any moment. She got spair chairs from another class room and the three of them sat down, huddled over the computer. “Okay this is fucking creepy and I’ve already called the cops, they are coming in the morning. But you need to see this” as she opened up another beer can, Ivan felt uncomfortable as her breath stank of stale beer. She pressed play as she saw two guys in the video.

Fred and Ben were having a blast, recording everything they could find, even the old theatre. Suddenly they both screamed as the door flew open and a bird flew past them. The guys were laughing their heads off. A few more minutes in, they saw something in the hallway, they ran after it “omg do you think someone else is here” Fred panting to Ben.

“Well whatever it is, it’s fucking cool” then they both stopped. A gastly apparition was following them back, they started to scream. Ben dropped the camera and Paris, John, Ivan and Bailey saw a black face starring into the camera with red eyes. Then black. Suddenly the cam recorder was switched on, Ivan, Paris, John and Bailey all held each other close tight, as they saw something carrying the camera. The background noise was heavy breathing, walking around the asylum as if nothing happened.

Paris pressed stop “that was was fucking freaky”

John was built well and had a deep voice, but it cracked “what the fuck”.

“What was even is that?” Bailey looked over at Ivan as he was in a fetal position, rocking back and forth.

“It doesn’t stop there. 4 years ago when the building was going to change into a hotel like everyone had been promised for fucking years. The builders found the mummified remains of the boys in the basement. It was all over the news, apparently they were missing for years!”

“Omg I remember that... but how did they die?” John asked as he was biting his fingers.

“No one knows, but maybe this video will help” as Paris brought up the screen again with the black face starring at them on the computer screen.

#creepypasta #creepy pasta #horror story #short horror story #horror stories #horror #little horror story #story #little horror stories

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incarnateirony · 5 years

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So anyway, life updates on what I’ve talked about good, bad, and vagueblog.

But I introduce you to Betty White, or the Millennium Falcon, name pending.

Most of yall know that I’m on disability, dealing with some massively janky medical issues that Alabama’s bottom-ranked health care system doesn’t even know how to cover, and my wifey blew a disc in her neck at work, essentially debilitating her, too, but also earning a small settlement. In scale of it, 25K -- 21 after lawyer fees -- isn’t really much to do anything with.

So we had already known we had to fix up and sell the house and thought, hey, the land value went up substantially out here, we can pocket and flip it and be hella good.

Until her father finally came out here and in long story short, found out that the inspector that ran through this house when my wife first bought it (during our breakup period YEARS ago) didn’t do his job and it’d be 20-30K worth of repairs to even sell this place at the value her loan is for, meaning we pretty much have to short sell it to get out from under it. I mean bad shit. Fire hazard wiring and rotting roof and siding element under shiny things that hid it that have clearly been deteriorating since long before the house got a lipstick job.

So we went and found an RV, because it’s time to go. We have to GO. We have to get out of this state. There’s nothing for us here. There’s no medical care, there’s no worker protections, being LGBT women we’re extra up a creek in the area, it’s just bad. So RV it was! But finding one in the now suddenly cramped budget with the house turning up bunk entirely was FUN.

But like a stroke of providence I happened to find a listing the day it was upgraded on what has been jokingly referred to by my friends as the Millennium Falcon of RVs.

It came from an older couple, almost 60, that had been RVing for a few years, and the thing was already used when they bought it. It’s a friggin 1994. It’s old, it’s Chonk. But it was a project RV they decided to start on and while it has a solid AF 454 engine in it,

they’ve over a few years put in just about New Everything. New transmission, new air brakes, new air bags, new radiator, new septic lines, new alternator, new battery, new steering and suspension, new new new new new. Modified backup camera that tracks engine temp/tire pressure/etc like modern dashes and stays on constantly instead of just when backing up. It has its little hijinks with the in-n-out stairs being funky and the generator is a funny little bit because they didn’t want to spend 8K+ on a generator for an old RV so they got one that’s an external mount, which I imagine is why it was having a hard time selling.

Atop that inside the wife went bananas and got rid of the shitty old wallpaper and painted it bright colors different on every wall, removed the space consuming fold out couch since they didn’t need an extra bed and installed an armoire-storage-couch-thing that takes up half the outter floor space, stuff like that.

This was their baby and they intended to keep this baby and did great work on this baby, and the second I saw it in the advert, I knew it, because the images weren’t all spit cleaned sales stuff, it was vacation images with their shit still hanging inside it and their party lawn with their sports teams and stuff and the shiny lights they added on it to make it a party bus like

So anyway it turned out they basically got conned into getting a newer shinier one and just wanted to get the fuck OUT of Alabama but because of the generator and age it wasn’t selling at market value which was about 15K even as old as it is, and had price gouged it down to *8500*

Thought it was too good to be true, got our old construction and mechanic friend go out out there and go over it with a fine toothed comb and this thing, as he put it “goddamn if I had the money, I’d buy it myself, what the hell, you ain’t gonna get anything better for that price, hell, you ain’t gonna get anything as good for the price” THEY JUST WANTED TO GET OUT OF ALABAMA. And I mean, MOOD, BIG MOOD.

In fact the money they were asking for was basically to pay off loans and costs on all the New Stuff they put into it to begin with.

Because of them basically gouging their asking price in half an old lady had come to see it same day and at first the husband was like WHOEVER GETS US THE MONEY FIRST but talking to us the wife was like HELL NO THAT OLD LADY COULD BARELY GET IN THE THING SHES JUST GONNA DRIVE IT DOWN TO FLORIDA AND LET IT ROT THIS IS OUR BABY THESE GIRLS NEED TO TAKE CARE OF IT AND THEY WILL and she ran interference through the weekend until our mechanic friend could go check it out.

You might ask “if you have a buttload of money why an RV” but in trying to get out of Alabama and all the way back to Oregon where I literally KNOW I can make it work out in life for us, for reasons that are a whole story unto themselves, the moving costs cross country alone for a uhaul would be expensive AF. Downpayments. Finding pet friendly apartments. And then whether it was portland or somewhere else we could get STUCK. And we’re tired of getting stuck. So we’re packing up our own FUCKING house that we FUCKING own outright that fucking NOBODY can take away from us and with NO payment obligations and FUCK THE SYSTEM.

So anyway this big fuckin honker the wife was like WHY ARE YOU SO COMFORTABLE DRIVING THIS to Shea, but Shea worked for both Uhaul and Hertz so like hauling bigassed trucks around was kinda her thing and she also worked horses so giant ass horse trailers, you name it. So she just got up in there like she belonged and next thing you know we’re doing 65 down the bendy ass mountain freeways of central alabama like we been doing it for years

PS when you are in a literal fucking house 65 feels like 90, I’m just letting you know that now.

We’re still at our house cuz we gotta get this properly under our own tag/insurance and get a tow for the car. It was funny though cuz experienced or not knowing it was OUR LITERAL HOUSE Shea started like GOTTA BE CAREFUL GOTTA BE CAUTIOUS GOTTA MAKE SURE NOBODY DUMB and it turned into GET OUT THE WAY FUCKERS I’LL WIN within the 120 mile haul back home. Like BITCH I’LL TAKE MY FOOT OFF THE GAS BUT I AINT GONNA TRY TO JACK RABBIT STOP THIS FUCKER SO YOU BETTER GET SOME GIDDYUP IF YOU GONNA MERGE YOU FRIGGIN HONDA

This beast only has 65K miles on it. And that sounds like a lot but for an RV that isnt S H I T. People are like, if you can find a used one under 100K you’re doing okay. Half of those miles are just taking it out for a jog because you’re supposed to drive it once every couple weeks to keep it from rusting out basically. They just safely drove it in like a tristateish area down here for a few years as you can see on the cabinet stickers and moved around to sports games and shit and had fun.

The bedroom is purple. The kitchen is blue and yellow. KJSDKJFSjk she was like “Fuck the 1990 floral wallpaper we updating, there’s extra paint in one of the storage bins if you wanna touch any of it up”

So that’s it. We’re gonna do some work with said mechanic friend on the AC and a few tweaky details and as said, gotta tag/insurance/tow but once we get that worked out, that’s it, that’s home starting in a few weeks.

We’re heading to Independence, Missouri first to touch base with my internet momma then swinging in Salt Lake City to meet old media friends like the folks at Arrowstorm and stopping to enjoy their stuff at Evermore Park before hitting Portland which, reasonably, I’ll guestimate we’ll be at like a week or two before Halloween but maybe we’ll make better time. If you’re en route to those destinations and wanna meet up, lemme know, we’re still gonna have fun on the way and try to record shit.

Portland is the city I know how to work to and from the bone. I can turn any quarter into at least a dollar there, quite literally; I know how to eat eight times a day for free if need be. I reasonably think we can stay WELLLLLLLL above the line of needing that kind of assistance but because Shea is very anxiety driven to know we outright have a promised home and have promised food if worst case scenarios happen really made her go, you know what, fuck it, sure, Portland, you loved Portland, the wages are good in Portland, let’s do Portland.

If we start with dry camping at locations with free plug ups even still paying for Shea’s car and insurance, once major gas costs GETTING there are done, we’ll be running about 500 a month, and again, that’s including insurance for both vehicles and paying off her car note. Depending on the lot we land at, 700-900 a month. I can float that on my casual residual income. Everything after that is profit. Everything after that is success. I refuse to let Shea be anything less than Okay, but most of all, weird and nonconformative as it is, everything after this is scales of success. Hell minus the car note we’d be under 600/mo on the pricy end. We got dis.

No more of my wife being convinced she needs to performatively pull loans on her livelihood and shelter for the illusion of a 3/2 middle class life with a picket fence and a job she hates in a place she hates that she doesn’t know how to get away from. Hell, if she ends up hating Oregon? WE CAN PICK UP OUR HOUSE AND MOVE.

QUEER CULTURE IS HAVING THE MILLENNIUM FALCON OF RVS RAINBOW PAINTED INTERNALLY TO HAUL ASS TO PORTLAND OREGON AND AINT SHIT YOU CAN DO TO STOP US, FUCKERS.

It’s literally parked in our yard right now awaiting our voyage.

You bet your ass we’re getting an aux cord and blaring classic rock on surround sound the whole goddamn way

Also gonna get a CB radio to roll with some of the better trucker herds out there. Trust me, solid investment for a multitude of reasons. And entertaining.

If you don’t know what Smokie In The Woods is on a CB radio, you don’t know the road.

It also comes with a lot of gadgets you usually have to buy, like converters for USB chargers in older vehicles and the cable antenna and an extra tent and hell they left two bikes on it like YALL WANT EM YOU CAN HAVE EM, SURE

So buying the RV, paying the friend for the loss of a work day, the necessary gas to get out there, and the tow all in all is gonna run us about 12,000 bucks total, which isn’t a bad deal for bringing your own house with you.

We already burned a few thousand of our settlement trying to fix this house before the bad news and/or upkeeping bills but now it’s time to burn it and walk. By the time we roll I’m expecting us to have about 4K over costs in the bank, which is... enough. It’s more of a nest egg than we’d have if we stayed here that’s for sure, covers emergencies on the way there and gives us a few months to get our shit together. Even the part-iest part time job out in Portland will float any overhead on bills much less if shea can fall in with all the media and digital work out there with her graphic design and art, we’re eyeing the portland saturday market to sell her stuff at in season too. SCREW THE SYSTEM YALL

#not spn #me #the road so far

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agent-yolk-writes · 5 years

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Friends Like You and Us - Venom!Reader - Ch. 5

Successfully (hopefully) queued at the stroke of midnight to bring you the latest chapter of some spider shenanigans. Fresh off the back of AO3!

In this episode: The gang throws spaghetti at the wall until something sticks, Noir enjoys playing with the remote, you have a breakdown for five minutes, and your aunt really needs to get her shit together for important business trips.

I also made a master list! Anyone new who wants to start or the veterans who want to revisit that one part in that one chapter!

AO3 Version | Masterlist

”Welcome to the first, and hopefully only, Spider-Persons conference. First off, I would like to thank (First Name) for hosting us and fixing up drinks with what they had to work with. Our main objective tonight: get everyone back to their proper universes before we don’t feel so good anymore…” Ham eccentrically led the charge of the brainstorm session. He managed to clap the lights off and pulled down a projector screen out of nowhere, the screen flashing crude images of the four of you finding a potential solution with lines and circles everywhere. It almost looked like what football coaches had to look at. Staring down on all of you squeezed on the couch he added, ”...any ideas?” Before clapping the lights back on, shooting the screen back from where it came.

Not risking what damage you might’ve inflicted on your phone, you pursued what you were looking for on your laptop while being squished to the side of the couch. It’s loading speeds left something to be desired, but it’s still functional and you can’t complain. Venom does about the heat, but that’s out of your control.

Over the horizon of your screen, you could see Peni, seated in the middle, pulling a projection of your New York out of nowhere and zoomed in on your current location. You weren’t really paying attention to what she was saying as she played around with the map. You were internally arguing with your backseat navigator on where you say the post last, only to find out the mods did indeed removed it from the search bar. Now you’re left in a predicament.

Try finding news archives.

Oh...Oh yea...No wonder I keep you around.

Where was he when you had to take the SATs?

He was right. Spider-Man’s death was the national news! There were so many news choppers around that it almost risked the two of you being forced apart by sound alone. Because of that, as well as the risk of you getting caught, you didn’t feel it was safe enough to investigate it yourself. Thanks to the media, you didn’t have to do the heavy lifting.

“You thinking it could be Osbird?” You heard Ham ask.

“Osbird? Ain’t it supposed to be Osborn?” Noir questioned.

“(First Name)!” Peni calls to you. “Does the Green Goblin exist in this universe?”

Didn’t he...

Died with Spider-Man.

“...Exist

. I think he got killed in the same explosion.” You mentally high fives your companion for being a database for most things super. Good thing your universes are very similar.

Still, that doesn’t help your allies as your enhanced ears heard Ham cursing under his breath.

To alleviate some of the pain you added, “...If it helps, I think he was working for this guy named Wilson Fisk.”

“Kingpin…” Everyone else said at the same time. “What in the Sam hell is he scheming?” Noir grimly added. Glancing at the Wikipedia page for him, apparently he has more money than god. Of course he would be living in NYC. That’s where all the corrupt billionaires live!

You wouldn't happen to know him, right?

Never met him.

Well, there goes your first potential lead. The first news article that pops up is Fisk sending his condolences to the aunt of Spider-Man, May Parker, as well as his wife Mary Jane. He released a sympathetic statement relating what it’s like to lose someone close. A jump to his Wiki states that he had a wife and son that were killed during a high-speed car crash. There were rumors for a while about the wife being the one in the speeding car, but all whispers were quickly squashed before the sun could rise the next day. Money really is an effective superpower these days.

Another article tells you that he’s been heavily involved in Alchemax, a business he acquired a few years ago. His main advisor and the one who looks after the company while he’s away is Doctor Olivia Octavius, a woman with the frizziest hair ever. You vaguely recall watching a documentary she was the main star in during your science class, but you didn’t really absorb what she was saying.

Your fingers rubbed your eyes to relieve some strain. It felt like listening to Hannah yapping non-stop about any villain Spider-man even looked at during lunch. Ever since this whole series of wacky events dragged you into this mess, you have just the right about of knowledge on at least the most popular, infamous really, supervillains.

“Welcome back to Inside Edition-” The new voice almost triggered your fight or flight responses if you didn’t look up and see that the television was on playing tonight’s Inside Edition. Wait, you didn’t turn it on. Looking to your left, you realized it was the only other person left on the couch with you and, thus, the closest one to the table with the remotes.

Squinting at Noir with tired eyes, you asked, “What are you doing?”

The monochrome detective was fixated on gripping the device in various locations. “Interesting...it doesn’t have wires, and yet it calls the huge black mirror to awake. It doesn’t run on steam or heat, not to mention it’s so tiny.” Surely they had batteries back then, right?

“Yea. That’s what remotes are.” You commented. “They were made so we don’t have to get up every time to change the channel. You can even change the volume to hear better...the long ones with the plus and minus on it.”

“And please do.” Ham waved his hand to get both of your attention. “I think something important is coming up.” You didn’t even have to question him as the television had the collapsed remnants of Spider-Man’s final stand being narrated by a blonde woman you can’t piece the name of.

“While the world still mourns the loss of Spider-Man, many are still trying to pick up the pieces of his final moments to paint a picture. Tonight, Insider Edition has gained exclusive footage from one of the first helicopters on sight of the explosion. What you’re about to see is graphic and may upset some viewers. Take a look-”

The camera switched to a shaky camera arriving on the scene. For a few seconds, you could see the East River and the Williamsburg Bridge that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn before it forces the viewers to focus on a trail of smoke coming from a crater.

“What used to be one of Wilson Fisk’s many investments is now up in smoke. There’s no word yet if there are any other casualties in the explosion. It is rumored that this building was used to hold scientific research and experimentations in the medical field. We tried contacting Fisk for a comment, but he has yet to respond.”

It cuts to another angle, and you could see a blur hiding away something red and blue. The original cameraman holding it let out a gasp and said something expletive. “We censored this for the viewers at home, but it was here that the camera crew noticed the body of Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man, unmoving-”

The feeling in your stomach only got worse as the newsreel goes on. You felt upset to point of nausea. You wanted to tear your eyes away from all this sad news but at the same time, you don’t. You were there when the news broke out, you were at his funeral hiding behind one of the church’s spirals as his widow encouraged others wearing his mask that they too can be a hero. You could still remember the bile burning your throat that night, muttering ‘what-ifs’ to yourself as if you were the cause of his death.

You’ve only paid attention to him because he was your solstice to your new powers, but he’s now gone, leaving the two of you in the dark. You should be over this, but for some reason, you’re not.

“I-We’re going to bed. Goodnight.” With a slam of your laptop, you didn’t give them time to react before you slammed the door to your room shut and placing your desk chair under the knob as a security measure. You needed to be alone right now.

If it wasn’t for your companion supporting your body, you would’ve slammed your head on the bed frame. You were that much of a wreck that Venom had to assume control to get you safely on the bed.

“Talk to me, (First Name).” He rarely calls you by your name.

“I-I…” You got distracted with the tears streaming down your face. “I’m scared. It...It’s all coming crashing down on m-me now.” You grabbed the nearest pillow and stuffed your face in it. While anyone else couldn’t comprehend the muffled wailing through the pillow, Venom could hear you perfectly. “I don’t wanna do this! I never did!” After sobbing in silence for what could’ve been minutes, you let go of it to hug your knees. “Last month I thought about pursuing a career in journalism. How can I do that now? Now that I have a bugged alien in my system tearing me apart with him! Explain that to me, Venom!” You’re trying so hard not to alarm your compatriots outside your door, but you’re too exhausted emotionally at this point to properly check yourself at this point.

You could feel Venom’s tendrils wiping away your tears. His inky forehead bumps into yours like a cat. “(First Name), look at us. Breathe.” His voice rumbles something comforting in your chest. You couldn’t help but close your eyes and breathe alongside him. “That’s it…”

The room was quiet except for your synced breathing and the occasional sniffling. More minutes have passed and already you feel better than earlier.

“I...I’m sorry, Vee.” You whispered. “Everything just...happened, all at once. You, the other Spiders...I think this is what they call ‘imposter syndrome’ kicking in, I dunno.” Forcing out a laugh to ease the tension, you continued. “I just...felt out of place, having to put wool over our eyes to believe we’re sheep too. I hope we don’t have to suffer any longer. If everything works out, I don’t think anyone would have a clue about you...about us.”

Your symbiote friend curled himself around the pillow you were still latching onto. While it doesn’t feel like a genuine embrace, it’s the best thing you can work with.

“Do...Do you think tomorrow will be a better day?” You whisper.

“...I don’t know.” You’re not surprised at that answer. “We’re in a deep bond, we can’t lie to you even if we tried.”

“Do...Do you think it’ll affect whenever we find a way back to your home? The whole bonding thing?”

“...”

“...Vee?” You remembered him explaining about bonding briefly, when you had nightmares from his previous hosts. Symbiotes don’t really exist in this universe, so there’s no real documentation or even a tabloid piece about it.

“It's hard to say for certain. At this rate, we might die if this ’Kingpin’ lead gives us nothing to work on.”

”Yeah...That’s true.” You agreed, letting out a deep sigh. “But he has influence all over the place. He could hide anything if he waves enough money under someone’s nose.”

“Then we’ll eat them. Simple as that.” Venmo’s enthusiasm made you chuckle a bit.

“Well try not to eat their hands if there’s a fingerprint lock.”

“No promises. Now sleep.”

“Yeah yeah…” You snuggled deeper into your hugging pillow. “Night, Vee. Tomorrow’s gonna be better, I hope.”

“Goodnight, (First Name).” With that, you closed your eyes. If you went to sleep any later, you would’ve caught a conversation of two certain spiders from outside and something about a goober.

Outside of your room, the others were fixated on what came on after seeing the remnants of the explosion.

“Social media is blowing up over this mystery figure seen all across Manhattan. Blink and you’ll miss it, but it looks like there’s already someone taking the shape of Spider-Man!” It was a set of shaky pictures and so-called ‘tweets’ of people freaking out.

“On person tweeted quote, “Some nightmare version of Spider-Man just passed my window, i think that’s my sleep paralysis demon #fml.” Another reported saying quote, “I think I saw it ate the local drug dealer whole. gross. to think i had to witness vore at four in the morning. stay classy, nyc.””

“Our sources at PDNY say that this mysterious person, if it even is a person, is not believed to be involved in Spider-Man’s death. However, they are a person of interest in multiple disappearance cases involving convicted felons that have been released from prison ranging from drug dealers to serial killers.”

“PDNY reminds everyone that if they see something, say something.”

The trio looked at each other, an unspoken question is trying to be answered. Ham was the only one who looked at the door where you entered for the night before passing air through his lips.

“Pfft, there’s no way.” He says to Peni and Noir. “I mean, what are the chances? They’re too nice and they’re housing us. If they were harboring a murderous symbiote, they would’ve told by now...right? Right?”

A surprise pair of glitching and convulsions woke you up earlier that day. Not wanting to feel sick by getting up immediately, you just lied there and drifted up for two hours or so before a series of knocks jolted your sleep away.

“Rise and shine, kid!” Noir yelled.

“We got a mission!” Peni added enthusiastically. A mission? This early? A glance on your phone, however, says it’s almost 10 in the morning. So much for going to school.

You pushed your upper body off the bed with a groan. Venom pushes himself back under your body and into your ‘pajamas’.

“Mmmf...it’s too early for hero stuff..” You grumble, wiping off any remnants of sleep. “Don’t heroes have...unions, or whatever?” Was among the other incoherent grumbles as you washed up and got ready for the day.

Finishing your wakeup routine in the bathroom, you were immediately greeted with your three inter-dimensional companions bustling around as much as they can in such a small apartment. SP//dr’s hanging out on the fire escape ladder, but his visor is lighting up inside so you can barely make out Peni hard at work with something. Noir’s holding the remote, continuously surfing channels and not really stopping at all even at the channels that play classic black and white film. Ham is...stacking a tower from whatever he can find on the fridge. You pray he didn’t see the unopened package of black forest ham you know that’s in there.

Of course, Ham was the first one to notice you staring at him. “What? I’m a growing pig.” Before you could even answer that, he slides the leaning tower of breakfast into his mouth in a single bite. You couldn’t help but be impressed yet slightly jealous.

The mech’s visor slides open and out pops out Peni. “Good morning! Sorry we didn’t wake you up earlier, but the phone rang.” She explains.

“Did you...answer it?” You asked with an eyebrow popped up.

“Well…” She looks down, pushing her pointer fingers together like she’s hiding something she broke. “We tried, buuut...we couldn’t figure out how to actually answer it.”

You looked over at the home phone. It wasn’t anything special, just a wireless phone that you had to press a button in order to answer an incoming call. “...You don’t have cordless phones in your home universe?”

“Everything’s at my fingertips, so I don’t need one at home.” Was her defense.

“Mine has a sleek new design that looks like a candlestick.” Noir turned his head to add in.

You looked over at Ham. “And what’s your excuse?”

“...In my defense, we have cans with a string between them. Reception’s a hit or miss these days.” You shouldn’t be surprised at his answer, but it still doesn’t stop the double facepalm you gave yourself. Peering back to the phone, you noticed that there’s a blinking light indicating someone left a voice message. As you walked over to play it, part of you prayed it wasn’t the school asking for your unexcused whereabouts.

“You have, one, new message.” Don’t be school, don’t be school... “Hi, sweetie! It’s your aunt!” Oh, thank god. “I hope you’re doing okay on your own, but I need your help with something. I...accidentally forgot to send out a file on my work computer, and I need it for an important meeting tomorrow. Would you be a dear and head over to my office? There should be like multiple post-it notes with the file name as a reminder for me to send it.” Mary laughed as her own forgetfulness. “Your visitor pass should still be working, so use that to get in. I’m sure the guards will enjoy seeing your lovely face again. Try not to stumble onto Alchemax’s floor this time. Call back soon, love you~”

“End of message. To delete the message…”

You look back over at the trio sheepishly. “Oh, yea...forgot my aunt works in a pharmaceutical building that neighbors an Alchemax branch...Hahaaa, that’s soo weird…Now what?”

You could hear Venom sighing inside your head. Funny how things seem to go together right when you need it.

#spiderverse #spidersona #x reader #spiderman into the spiderverse #spiderman into the spiderverse & reader #spiderman into the spiderverse x reader #spiderverse x reader #venom x reader #venom & reader #venom symbiote x reader #venom symbiote & reader #venom/reader #venom symbiote/reader #reader insert #my writing #friends like you and us

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thepageofa1000worlds · 5 years

Text

Pairing: James Conrad x reader Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3 · Part 4 · Part 5 · Part 6 ·

Synopsis: After having left thing uncompleted and unresolved with James Conrad 3 years ago, you two find yourself again in the kong island. What happened three years ago with you two? How is it that you got to make part of an expeditionary mission?

Song: Ólafur Arnalds- So Far

Warnings: it’s a six part mini-series, this is part to and also its a slow burn.

A/N: btw viktor ( in the gift the one in light blue) is a mood if I were ever stranded on an island.

Words: 3338

“ What about your helicopter? “ Asked Brooks, you sighted.

“ Scatter in pieces along the island “

“ Have you found anyone else?” Questioned Slivko next.

“ Only you six, although my coms did picked someone else, but the battery died before I could ask who”

“It is best if we keep moving” interrupted James. “ We are out in the open and we’re running out of daylight”

He was right as always, the more terrain you all walked in daylight was better and just as you expected he took the lead.

Seeing him made you remember when both of you used to walk around your father’s property while hiding your brother Christmas gifts.

“ So you didn’t catch who it was on the other side of the radio? “ Asked Slivko at your side.

“ For all, I know it could’ve been you,” You said sadly. He sighed.

You were glad that walking wasn’t as painful as you thought it would be, because even if the group had organized itself to match your steps, they were still walking pretty fast.

You were right behind James who after analyzing your wound came to the conclusion that you wouldn’t be able to shot a weapon the size that he had, so instead, you showed him your gun which agreed that it was better than nothing.

Being the only one in the entire group that was wounded noticeably, it was better to keep you in the middle where if anything were to happened people could aid you.

Conrad couldn’t avoid looking occasionally behind him to know that you were right there, the times you catch him you would smile sweetly and he would once again look ahead.

You were looking at the floor to avoid tripping over branches when you felt him stop suddenly, stopping right before crashing with him. Looking around you understood why he had stopped, this part of the jungle lead to something else. James right arm found your waist, making you stay behind his much bigger frame. You didn’t minded, as he had a bigger gun. He slowly moved to examine the place and you followed close by.

You were looking at Mason taking the photograph when her sudden gasp made you look directly to the wall, instantly backing away, movement from behind you made you turn sharply. Seeing those people make the air leave your lungs and you could fell you body popping adrenaline ready to fight.

“ Conrad” you heard Mason said.

“ Stay calm” advice him while raising his gun.

Many of the people in the group had too, all of them raising their guns and making the circle smaller until you could feel all their backs.

“ Guys” you murmured, but to no effect

Mason was now close to you in the middle of the circle that the group had formed. She was the only one that gratefully moved a little not to hurt you. Taking your gun you pointed it to the small space in which Mason was, as she didn’t have a gun herself. The pain that shot through your left arm while raising it reminded you of the wound on your arm.

“ Don’t shot” keep repeating James.

“ Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said someone from the entrance of the strange place. Moments later a man with a long beard and an old military uniform appeared. You exchanged worried looks with Mason through his entire presentation. Hank Marlow, he presented himself, he had been on the island for 28 years, literally your life span. However, the most amazing thing was James’ face as the man was explaining how he had landed in there.

“ You don’t want to be out here at night,” said Marlow.

“ Nether at day,” You said while following, the chuckle that came from James made you look at him strangely.

“ What?” He asked

“ You just chuckled,” You said plainly.

“ Not even in a life or death situation you lose your sense of humour,” he said while offering you a side smile, then his face went back to its original — not so smiley— position. “ Your bleeding”

You examine your bandages and found an even bigger blood spot. You sighed.

“ Tell me something I don’t know”

After finding out that kong wasn’t the biggest nor the scariest monster out there, the idea of there being a way out of the island was like a dream come true, until Conrad was presented with the grey fox.

“ Lovely,” he said with on an elevated level of sarcasm.

“ Damn right,” said Hank at his side.

Conrad could hear your not so silent laughter at his side.

“ Those this thing even floats?” Asked Slivko at your side, you were still laughing.

You kneeled down between Slivko and Conrad, enjoying the story of how Hank and his friend had built the boat out of airplane parts.

“ you’ve gotta be kidding me, this thing looks like its made out of tetanus”

Conrad could hear you laughing, which made him smile too. He had forgotten, how you laughed and the level of sarcasm you handled; He found himself remembering what it was to be with you. How it would be late at night when both of you were near the fireplace, always talking about anything and everything that came. How you two had fallen asleep, you in the sofa and him on the floor near it, while waiting for your brother who swore would not take to long to arrive.

He remembered how Dave had arrived in the morning and try to make both of you move to your rooms, for you to only pull the covers over your head. From the floor, Conrad looked at your form on the edge of the sofa and could only think of how adorable you looked.

After accepting to work on the grey fox he at least got his hopes up on getting off the island.

“ Ok, so we got 48 hrs. To make it to the North shore” He said while looking at Slivko who was meddling with some cables. “ Are you sure you know what you doing?”

“ If I don’t fix this, he’ll disown me,” Said him referring to his dad.

Hearing Conrad explain the Cold War to hank, was one of the most amazing things in the world. He was by no means a teacher nor a historian.

“ Hold the phone there Churchill, Russia was our ally now you're saying we’re at war with them? “

“ It more of a cold war “ Replied James.

“ Like they take the summers off? “ You were at Hanks side and looking at the confusion and disbelieve on James’ face, you cursed that Mason was away with the camera. His eyes locked with yours as if asking if this man was serious.

“ Oh my lord” you expressed still looking at him. A smile spread on your face while trying not burst out laughing once again, as you learned that laughing too much made the wound sting.

It had stopped bleeding but you now had to make sure that it wasn’t infected and that meant, removing the bandages.

It took you some time to clean the wound and the help of Mason to put the bandages back on.

“ Did you take photographs ?” You asked between greeted teeth, because of the pain

“ As many as I could take,” She said while finishing a small knot. “ are you sure this is not dangerous?”

“ It had stopped bleeding not long after you all found me, but in the middle of the panic of being surrounded by them” You made moved your head towards the people “ I raised my gun and my shoulder didn’t like I was trying to keep my self alive”

“ You shouldn’t move it too much” she pointed out.

“ I know” you sighted “ Sadly that's a luxury I can't give myself, everything her seems to try to kill us “

Mason and you walked around the camp, as you accompany her to take more photographs.

“ So, what do you do? “ she asked, “ I mean, how are you in here?”

You were behind her looking at the people gathering for the photo, even if they didn’t talk you could see that they did understand signals.

“ I work for monarch” you explained “ formerly a doctor, I was ascended a couple of years ago” Mason’s face showed how surprised she was of your answer.

“ I didn’t paint you as a doctor, I mean” she stopped to take another photo of a cabin. “ you were the pilot of one of the helicopters and you know how to handle a gun”

“ I was trained,” you said “ Packard was the one who toughs me how to fly and helicopter” both of you start walking back to the place you would be staying, as the sun was setting down. “ He’s my dad’s friend and one time I wake up to see that out of the blue and gonna learn to be a pilot” You both laugh.

“ Out of nowhere?” Asked Mason, with surprise on her voice.

“ The summer before I had thrown the idea but I didn’t though my father would have taken it so literally” She raised her eyebrows.

“ And the shooting?”

“ Oh, that my brother and at the time captain Conrad’s idea”

Mason was observing you, you were maybe two or three years younger than her. Your British accent not as pronounced but still linger in the way you talked. She had seen you on the ship and even presented herself to you while you were on your pilot gear, You’ve been cutting Chapman’s hair while joking of how close was he of turning into sheep. You seem to know the team, but now and then one would ask where had you been.

“ So he toughs you to shoot “ She confirmed.

“ Well, they were both a common occurrence” you looked behind, to the gigantic wall that separated this small village with the rest of the island. “ They would finish a mission and if they had time would come over, once they got into this big competition of who was better at shooting,” You said smiling at the memory. “ My dad made part of it too, and I was a judge” looking at the place you would be staying the night it wasn’t so bad, a little rusty but it serves its purpose.

“ So?” She asked after you went to silence for a little too long. You looked at her and smile.

“ My father won, but I think it was because James respected him too much. After that, they said I could try”

“How was it?” She asked

“ The first time I almost shot my brother as he was explaining about the safety catch” Of how much you laughed you felt the sting on your left shoulder, deciding to watch the sunset you seated near the hole on the wall.

Looking up at the night sky, you felt relaxed for the first time In the day. The Northern lights had appeared and were a spectacle to watch. You could hear people inside the small room talk, yet, your thoughts were raising from one event to the next one. You were seated in the floor looking through the hole on the wall, while Mason put up her equipment.

“ Beautiful isn’t,” She said

“ yes” You whispered.

“ Those it hurt ?” she signalled to the wound

“ Now it doesn’t” You inform

“ I mean we all got out without more than a scratch and you were stab,” she said looking down at you.

“ My luck” you smiled causing her to laugh. After cleaning it up and washing the bandages, you had gotten to the conclusion that it wasn’t infected.

You saw Mason meddling with her camera, but you didn’t hear the small ‘ click ‘ that came when she took a picture. Mason looked at you and raised a small metal tube on her hand.

“ My flashlight broke”

Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw James approach both of you.

“ Isn’t it odd, the most dangerous places are always the most beautiful “

He hadn’t changed much. You had kept him out of your head and heart for so long that when you saw him today at the lake, you didn’t even know how to feel; now with the silence of the night, your thoughts took force.

Three years ago you both had parted ways, but before that, you knew him for years. Your brother had also been SAS, After a hard mission, you brother offered he who back then was Captain James Conrad a stay in your house as they both thought about what had happened.

When arriving home later the same week, you got home from school and found your brother, father and a man you didn’t know, enjoying themselves before the chimney.

You’ve been introduced to you brother’s S.A.S Captain. That had been the first time but not the last, it was strange for Dave to bring things like work at home, as he had decided to keep the family away from danger.

Some months later during the family plus James meeting, they told your dad what had happened during a mission to rescue a small child, illegitimate daughter of a Malaysian woman and British embassy worker, and how everything seemed to have been arranged for them to fail.

Both your father and you had told how they were possibly right about the setup, an illegitimate child would make it to the news if England wanted something it was done. So they possibly wanted to say they had sent S.A.S soldiers but that the mission had taken a sour turn and ended in the death of more than one individual.

Both he and your brother had stayed a couple of weeks, who had gladly lined up with winter break. During his time there, you three would do everything and everything to keep the boredom away.

Returning from memory lane, you notice that Mason had gotten to take her picture with the help of James.

“ I suppose no man comes home from war, not really” You heard James said. you remember how the story of his dad and how he left and never come home.

“ No, they don’t “ You whispered still looking directly at the sky.

Mason didn’t need to be a mind reader to see how Conrad's eyes fixed on you after he heard you. She had also remembered watching how his face went black after he found you on the lake, but his eyes, they showed something else. Deciding that as none of you would take the lead, she would, thanking Conrad she walked to the back of the room to see if you two could at least talk whatever had happened and was still going on.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Mason leave and you turned your head towards her form with a questioning look, she had left so sudden; the look she gave you back was that of someone not amuse, but you couldn’t comprehend what she wanted.

Conrads moved and sat next to you, he had understood the little stun that Mason had played. Giving you space so you could talk.

“ and you, how did you get on all of this ? “ he asked you

You remembered that they say something about people eyes not changing and they were right, looking at his eyes, they hadn’t change a bit in so long.

“ Am part of the team” You said avoiding his eyes.

“ Of whose team? “ There were some things he just couldn’t understand, how had you ended up as a pilot of an all-male team adding to the million questions piling up. He was trying to make eye contact, which you avoided like the plague.

“ Monarch,” said Brooks behind both of you. You turned to see him in the back, offering a thankful smile as he had answered. You rearranged your seating position so that you could face the room, as it seemed they all had questions regarding you.

“ Monarch” repeated James incredulously. He frowned while mirroring your position and facing the room, the northern lights long forgot.

“ Yes, she’s our mission supervisor,” Said San.

“ Mission supervisor“ repeated Conrad at your side

“ Are you okay? “ you asked faking worry, everyone looked at you questionable.

“ Yes, why?”

“ I was thinking you had a concussion, I mean your slower today at processing information” Everyone on the room let out a laugh, even James himself.

“ I just thought you wanted something else” Something about the way he looked at you, made your heart clench inside. You were studying to be a doctor and you remember telling him, the smile that spread through his face, which gave you the courage you needed to really go for it.

“ Well, it seems I will have my personal doctor” he joked that day.

Conrad’s visits in the following years, to your house, increased. With time you got used to calling him James, not long after your brother and he came the first time. You shortly became friends and it surprised you when you were the first he had told his idea of leaving the S.A.S.

“ I finished meds school and got a job not long after on Monarch” you explained “ I got assigned to multiple things and in three years they turned me into the mission supervisor” you shrugged.

“ So you are the one who accepted me into this mission?” Asked Mason, you had omitted that part on your talk earlier today.

“ I liked your job” you smiled at her “ Other than you and my team, I trusted Randa to know what he had to do, he gave me the list of names of people in the mission, I just looked over it but did not read between the lines”

“ Oh, thank you,” Said an offended Victor.

“ I mean” You tried explaining “ I got into a plane so I could get to the departure place and I swear I was too tired”

“ What about me?” Asked Conrad

“ Randa told me he got this guy, a tracker somewhere on Saigon and I just” You shrugged, Conrad frown.

“ You didn’t even know I was coming”

“ In her defence, Randa told me he got the name from a fellow comrade” Said Brook.

“ A fellow comrade ?” You repeated, your brain processing

“ Now whose the slow at the processing of information?” Said James mockingly

“ Still you” you responded seriously, everyone burst out laughing “ Of course, let me guess,” you said, going back to the original topic.

“ Yes,” Said brooks before you finished “ It was Dave”

You remember Dave telling you of Conrad's missions the following years after you said goodbye, he was always the one who wanted you both together the most, after him, your dad was a close contender.

“ Well, I think we better sleep, we should wake up early in hopes to get in time” Said Marlow from where he was.

You followed James to another room, much like the one you had just come from but with more space on the floor and a smaller hole on the wall. You opened your bag and took out your jacket, folding it to make the best made up pillow ever. James sat down right next to you as the rest of the team find their spot in the ground.

“ Thanks” you whispered after a while, so it didn’t bother the rest of the people there, some who were already sleeping.

“ For what?” He was still sitting while you were lying with your head on your jacket.

“ For keeping them save” You singles towards the rest of the team.

“ That's for what you paid me”

“ Still, the circumstances are not what you expected” you offered an apologetic smile. Unable to find sleep, you saw how Conrad lay down, though, he too seemed unable to sleep. You were laying over your Right arm, where you could see James laying on his back.

“ What?” He asked, noticing that you were looking at him.

“ Do you think we’re really getting out of here?” You asked but to the end of the question, your voice was a mere whisper.

Something about the way you had asked let Conrad, to really see how afraid you really were.

“ We will” he whispered.

You stayed awake a little longer, enough to hear when his breathing became even; and somehow knowing he was there lower your anxiousness and let you finally fall asleep.

Masterlist

#james conrad #james conrad x reader #tom hiddleston #imagine #reader #kong skull island #kon #captain James conrad #fluff

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maknaes-and-hyungs · 6 years

Text

Embarrased Ghost

Pairing: Lin Yanjun x Reader

Group: Idol Producer

AU: Soulmate!AU {I didn’t see you wanted a soulmate one until my friend read the request, but luckily my plan I already had could easily fit!}

Genre: Fluff

Note: I’m sorry this took so long, but I went to NYC over the last weekend then my keyboard died cause I use a wireless one (mine on my laptop is broke) and I only just got batteries. Anyways let me say I fell in love with Yanjun these last episodes too and especially during this prank cause he was so adorable. Anyways I hope you enjoy!~Rin

P.S. I’m making this the first thing he said to you rather than are you hungry cause I like this better so keep that in mind.

Request: Hi, I love your idol producer writings and am so glad to see you taking requests!! Would you mind writing a soulmate au for Lin Yanjun? I fell in love with him after these last few episodes and especially the firewalking stage

“That’s the first time I’ve seen a ghost that’s so disappointed.” Yanjun laughed at you fully displaying his dimples as you slinked back behind the curtain,“Disappointed”. In reality you were trying really hard to process what you had just heard come out of the silver haired boy’s mouth. Luckily he was the last trainee and you were allowed to get out of your costume and make up.

You threw off the fake bloodied sheet that you wore and pulled up the sleeve of the shirt that you had on beneath it. The words that ran the length of your forearm were no longer black, but now a shimmering gold that had you mesmerized. In reality you thought that they would never change, because in what situation would your soulmate ever say

“That’s the first time I’ve seen a ghost that’s so disappointed."

. You were sure it was a cruel joke played on you by the universe for something that you had done in a previous incarnation, not that you believed in those but maybe.

If someone were to ask if you were happy you might not say yes, because it seemed like Yanjun didn’t like you at all. After being his make up artist for three months those were the first words you ever heard him speak. Everyone else always chatted extensively with their make up artist and those around them, but Yanjun always seemed to go quiet the second he stepped into the make up room. Even if you heard him laughing about with the other trainees as they came down the hallway, it seemed that when he crossed the threshold and saw you he was drained of all joy.

However, here you were running your hand over the gilded words in wonderment that the cold boy was your one and only soulmate. Maybe he had already figured out that you were his and he was upset by the idea. But then you weren’t all that talkative in general and you were sure that you would never be the first to speak up, especially to someone as stunning as Yanjun. You were also sure that you had never even told him to close his eyes, because he was the perfect client and always did everything exactly the way you wanted him to without a word spoken.

“Y/N! Go get that face paint washed off and go to the make up room. The boys wanted to have an artist copy a picture of a look on one trainee while another trainee does it to yet another.” Your boss pushed you towards the bathroom where you cleaned up before heading off to find the three trainees.

“Oh look she’s here now we can get started. Do you know what we are doing?” Bu Fan turned to you as you entered the room and you noticed both Fan Chengcheng, and to your luck, Lin Yanjun sitting in the make up chairs. After internally groaning you gave a nod to Bu Fan making sure not to speak in front of Yanjun.

Bu Fan handed you a picture of a woman in very complicated make up and you studied it closely before handing it back. Now that the cameras were rolling you had no time to worry about your soulmate sitting five feet away from you. Instead you switched into work mode in order to deliver the most exquisite display you could in order to shame Bu Fan.

“Since you usually do Yanjun you are going to do Chengcheng this time to maybe give me a leg up. Of course this is Chengcheng telling me this and I’m not sure if he’s just trying to avoid my amazing skills.”

“It’s actually not usually it’s always. I like how she works so I always wait until I can get her.” Upon hearing this you turned to the vanity to see what supplies they had given you or so they couldn’t see the blush that rose up. You didn’t know if they noticed or if they were being nice, but no one mentioned anything and the challenge finally started.

The whole time Chengcheng was his usual meme self and joked excessively with you. You tried to keep your composure between Yanjun being so close and all the things that Chengcheng was throwing at you to get you to break. You had made it five minutes before you burst out laughing. Whatever he had said made you drop to the ground clutching your stomach which was quite unprofessional, but you absolutely couldn’t help it.

You only stopped when you saw Yanjun give you a look that was devoid of emotion. Getting up you wiped your eyes and continued on silently although you got teased by the other boys from then on.

Nothing really excited happened until you went over to Bu Fan’s vanity to grab a brush that you didn’t seem to have. You held your breath as you brushed against Yanjun’s chair and you planned to do so until you left, but that’s when you saw them. The sleeve of his sweatshirt had ridden up and on his forearm you could see the words that were written there in black script.

Dracula muffins on a Friday

“The hell does that mean.” Everyone looked at you wide eyed and you instantly felt your face burst into flames. You bowed and began to apologize profusely at your language. Bu Fan and Chengcheng just laughed and let you off the hook while Yanjun hastily pulled his sleeve down a little embarrassed.

You were mortified as you went back to doing your job not really thinking about what had truly happened. It wasn’t till you were back at home that night that you really thought about it. You had said something different to what was on his arm and you had no clue what that would do.

Would you no longer be soulmates? Had you just messed everything up for the both of you? Had this ever happened before and if so what happened? Curious you spent all night researching, but came up empty handed. All you had was a deep gnawing fear in the pit of your stomach that you had ruined it all.

That fear only grew when you went into work the next day and Yanjun said nothing to you as usual. You presumed that nothing had changed on his arm and that you were doomed to be to soulmates who came close enough to touch but in the end went rocketing by each other. You tried to ignore it, but a weight began to crush the life out of you.

Weeks went by and Yanjun never said a word to you. Instead of love growing between you two there was only sadness flourishing within your chest. When people took note you just brushed them off and tried to get to the end of the show. Only then would you be able to truly wallow and hopefully get past this whole thing.

Except when that day came you found yourself on the verge of tears the entire day. You managed to hold it together even as you did Yanjun’s make up for what would be the last time. Stupidly, however, you couldn’t hold in your words like you could hold in your tears.

“Yanjun I just wanted to apologize for commenting on your soulmate words those weeks ago. It was ridiculously rude of me to say what I did and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t make any bad blood between us.”

“No it’s fine. I know that they are really weird words and it would’ve been hard not to comment on them I suppose.” He gave you a small smile and your heart panged as you bowed to him and he left to go on stage. You silently cleaned up your station and gathered your personal belongings without conversing with your colleagues who seemed thrilled at the successful production.

Grabbing you bag you trudged out of the building and into the parking lot. Everyone else was staying to see the final performances and the results, but your heart couldn’t hold out anymore. You thought it could’ve done better than it did though as you found yourself sliding down the building sobbing.

You curled into a ball and pulled your knees into your chest. Tears became endless as your body heaved and your world finally came crashing down. You were sobbing so loudly that you didn’t happen to hear the door next to you fling open and strike the metal wall behind it.

“Y/N!” Before you knew it your head was pulled up and you found your face held between Lin Yanjun’s soft hands. You tried to stop sobbing so he could tell you what he needed, but he only made things worse. It wasn’t until he completely caught you off guard that you were able to calm down. Yanjun pulled you into his chest and started rubbing your back slowly.

“Wha-What are you doing?”

“Y/N you’re my soulmate. After what you said I felt the need to look at my arm and the words are different. They are what you said when you saw what the had been.” How had he not noticed then when he was getting changed all this time? “You may be confused as to how I didn’t notice. The word length is the exact same as before and I’ve seen these words everyday of my life so it’s easy to ignore them.”

“So... they did change?” You pushed out of his chest and looked into his eyes hoping that you weren’t dreaming.

“Wait... did you know you were my soulmate?” He grabbed your wrist and pushed up your sleeve to see the gold that was written there. The instant he read the phrase the words burned brightly before disappearing. You could see light shining through his shirt where you knew his words were. You two were really soulmates.

“I knew since the ghost prank, but when I saw the words on your wrist and said something different I thought we weren’t soulmates anymore. Anyways we’ve known each other for months and you never speak to me and always seem annoyed to see me.”

“I wasn’t annoyed to see you I was nervous. I thought you were so captivating and I didn’t want to speak in case I said the wrong thing and turned out to not be your soulmate. I mean how do I even get you to say Dracula muffins on Friday?” You laughed at his incredulous tone and could understand his apprehension.

“Well I guess it was more up to me so I’m the one to blame I here. What now though?”

“I take you out on a date after this whole thing is over. For now though you can come inside and watch me kill it.” Yanjun pulled out his killer dimples and pulled you up without resistance. If someone asked you if you were happy now you might not have said yes. You might’ve said you were ecstatic.

#idol producer #banana entertainment #lin yanjun #yanjun fluff #lin yanjun fluff #idol producer writing #idol producer scenario #idol producer fluff #soulmate au #soulmate

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ghibli-collector · 7 years

Photo

Day 21 (12/10/2017) GHIBLI MUSEUM!: so on my final full day in Japan I went to the ghibli museum again :D again it was a beautiful sunny day and I started out in the shops because I was saving myself till my 4th and final visit on the holiday to buy all the things I’d been eyeing up :) I spent just under £500 (aprox $660us) but mostly on museum exclusive items and I’m only there once and last time was a few years ago so I can justify spending that much. I bought a lot of the book store and gift shop getting items like museum exclusive enamel pin badges, ghibli short film sound tracks, black mini totoro plush, museum guide books, books on the exhibits (the nut cracker I was at in 2014), 1 of every post card literally!! Lol. The enamel pin badges for the short films are so cute! Il have to take a picture of everything! Of course I bought another Ghibli Museum hand painted cel reproduction this time of Kiki near the start of the film in her different coloured dress running through her mothers magical supplies larder. I then went outside and took a lot of pictures with my D-slr camera until the battery died and my back up battery has seemingly stopped holding charge :S il have to upload those pictures at home! In the restaurant I had Ponyo’s “noodles and ham on a stormy night” :D and I managed to photograph the entire ghibli cafe menu :P (not sure if il post it though!) the noodles with ham were delicious and as always everything in the cafe is made from the freshest ingredients and the staff are always so nice and friendly and accommodating. Recently someone said to me they were told not to take photos in the cafe but in the past I’d photographed food right in front of staff every time with no objections but this time I was taking photos of things on the walls and around the cafe and one of the ladies working there asked me to please only photograph things on the table and not around the cafe itself which is fair enough because I think they want to keep the views and atmosphere inside secret for the visitors to discover for themselves which is reasonable enough and why they don’t let photos inside the museums main building either! But I’ve sneaked in a little picture of a wall for you ;) Afterwards I had the Straw Hat’s parfait which is so nice and indulgent but also has lots of real fruit, bananas, strawberries and kiwi’s! On top it has a big kompeito which I always save for the end when I’m walking out :D Oh and I had the blue sky ice cream soda :D which has a scoop of ice cream in it! After lunch I wrote some personal post cards and a competition one at a table outside the cafe and enjoyed the views and beautiful day in the shade of the massive trees in the museums grounds. Sometimes I get tiny flashes of jealousy sitting about in the museum because people are outside looking at their film strip tickets and everyone seems to get really cool character ones from spirited away and I got one of a fountain from tales of earth sea hahahaha soo much suck! But in a weird way if someone walked up to me and said hey do you want to swap tickets for my sweet haku ticket? I’d not do it because it’s my personal ticket and il enjoy it even though I lost at the lottery of tickets il hold on to my losing ticket and im so lucky to be at the museum in the first place so I can’t complain hahaha. Il post a pic of all 4 tickets from this trip. Octobers short film at the museum was Koro’s big walk a story about the adventures of a cute puppy and is about 16 mins long featuring the art style of Ponyo. I’m not sure when il be back to the museum, maybe if I don’t eat or go out with my friends for a year I can save to go again next summer along with my friend Rena.

#ghibli #studio ghibli #ghibli museum #Japan

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sadbirder · 3 years

Photo

“Second right, second right, first left, repeat.” I took these instructions straight from an article Maisie Ridgway wrote about psychogeography for The Double Negative. I wanted to go for a truly aimless walk. I thought the best way for me to achieve this would be to follow directions that had no relation to my location and to do so without knowing what I’ll pass or where I’ll end up. Honestly, I thought that because these instructions were part of an article about psychogeography, they therefore must be part of the official rules of aimless walking. Rules I had not heard of but naively believed to exist.

I chose what must have been one of the gnarliest days of weather this entire winter to embark on my activity. Why? Well, that’s because when I get an impulse to do something, barely anything else in the world exists to me beyond that impulse. That’s probably a problem, but let’s not unpack that here. I loaded a small shoulder bag with a point-and-shoot 35mm camera, a handmade A6 sketchbook, some pens, and begrudgingly, my iPhone. I put on two jackets, left my house and began following my instructions. I was met with incredibly strong winds and sideways snowfall. It was -7 degrees celsius that day.

At first, I was quite pleased with how my instructions were working for me. I quickly came to a street very near to my home which I had never walked on before. The next turn took me to an alley on that same street, some stairs led to what looked like a house or a church. There was a gate at the top of the stairs which said something about private property and CCTV. I got paranoid and returned the way I came. It was at this point my mood began to shift. I started to focus my attention on the threat the security camera presented.

Allan Gardner explores this in a piece writing for his Expanding And Contracting Barriers residency. He explains that CCTV cameras fitted with bird spikes make no effort to hide the violence they imply and that this type of disembodied threat presents itself as above dialogue. In this writing, he reflects that the people around him were noticeably in discomfort when they saw him photographing the security cameras and fences, yet were comfortable with the presence of cameras that did not have humans attached to them. I often think of these observations by Gardner when I am walking and I encounter any security measures decisively suggesting threat. On this walk, I considered how this implied violence is generally accepted and although it does not hide itself, it remains unseen.

I hate snow. As my mood deteriorated, I remembered I had heard somewhere that snow was used in traditional painting to symbolise a masked ugliness. This became pertinent to the moment as I noticed people sledging and having snowball fights. Enjoying themselves a little bit, having spent winter in a lockdown due to the pandemic. I felt like their enjoyment of the snow was masking the ugliness of what it is to experience a lockdown. There is certainly a truth to this however, I am going to admit that it was me who was the ugliness in that moment. I was feeling extremely bitter and I was projecting those feelings onto the people I saw because I am far too invested in my hatred for snow.

I think my bitterness came from the fact that the instructions I was following began to feel like an objective. My walk wasn’t aimless at all. I was busy counting rights and lefts trying to make sure I stuck to the plan. I was sore from other physical exertion that week and fatigued from a month or so of not sleeping well. I needed rest. Instead I walked 10km in a blizzard. The instructions became frustrating, so I did away with them.

As I walked without any plan, my camera battery kept freezing due to the cold. I turned my attention to the small sketchbook I brought with me. I wrote a poem while still moving.

It was shit.

I received a phone call from my mother. I was happy to hear from her and felt glad that I had decided to bring my phone with me. We haven’t seen each other for a year and two months because of this stupid virus. I complained about my walking task not going well and she empathised. She was worried that her food supplies would not arrive in time because of the snow affecting the roads. I empathised. By the time the call was over, my walk had taken me to a path in Seaton Park that I knew well.

I really, really needed to pee.

It’s much harder to pee in public during the winter, the trees and bushes provide minimal cover because they have dropped their leaves. Every time I get in this situation, I think about how we’ve constructed a society where it is difficult to be well-hydrated. Basic needs are somewhat secondary to politeness. I understand that the laws on public urination are intended to protect people but it does not stop the practicality being a problem. It is forbidden to urinate anywhere other than a toilet, but all the public toilets are closed and no one is allowed to enter anyone’s home. An adult needs to drink 3 litres of water a day to maintain adequate hydration, more if they are moving a lot. When someone drinks this much (what could be considered the normal amount) they will need to urinate roughly once every hour. My walk was 2 hours and 7 minutes, you do the math. The implication is; do not pee if you cannot access a toilet. The solution is; do not drink enough water. So-called advanced civilisation is deeply flawed if the uncontrollable bodily function of expelling the contents of one’s bladder is prohibited and the means for obedience is to be dehydrated. Basic human needs are not, truly, being met.

I peed in a bush.

I walked under a tree that had fallen across the path. I walk under it often, it’s been a bridge over the path for some years now. It does not fit with the city’s general molestation of natural space to present itself as tidy and for this reason, I have always wondered why it has not been cleared away. I noticed something new about the tree on this walk. This tree, that I had always assumed to be a single tree, was actually two trees. The lower tree had naturally grown across the path in this way, still firmly rooted on the other side of the fence, on the steep bank of the River Don. The upper tree was the fallen tree. It has fallen in such a way that it landed across the tree that grows over the path. The lower, rooted tree now supports the upper, fallen tree and miraculously, this prevents the fallen tree from sliding down the embankment into the Don. The unlikeliness of this scenario is what makes it beautiful. Perhaps the person responsible for keeping Seaton Park’s natural assets tidy also noticed this and felt the same way. I am thankful that the trees have been left as they are.

Evening was approaching and the air had become still. Often the wind dies off completely at dusk in Aberdeen, a weather phenomenon known as temperature inversion. It was silent, I could not hear any birds. I did not notice any for the duration of my walk. Do they also hate the snow? Towards the end of my walk my mood began to improve again. I considered that a key principle of psychogeography is unknowing in order to facilitate discovery, within even the most familiar environments. I found the instructions I chose to follow an inhibiting factor to my aimless walk, although they did lead to some discovery. It was only when I abandoned my plan and followed an unconscious path that I was able to find a flow and an aimlessness in my walk. How could there possibly be a rulebook for this type of activity? I was foolish to think so.

#art #psychogeography #35mm #photography #analogue #drawing #scotland

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quicksilversquared · 7 years

Text

The Haunted House

The class is thrilled to be able to use an abandoned house in Paris as the set for their next class film- or, rather, they're thrilled at first. Once they arrive at the house, they're bombarded with one strange occurrence after another, making them wonder-

Is the set of their film actually haunted?

(very minor and very vague reference to a S2 spoiler near the end)

(FF.net) (AO3)

No one knew for certain why the house stood abandoned. It was certainly an oddity in metropolitan Paris, where space was valued and used so conservatively to fit in the most people possible. The city owned the house now, since the previous owner was so long gone that no one quite knew who they had been or what had happened to them, and while there had been more than a few efforts made to sell off the house either to private buyers or companies that would either renovate the house or raze it to the ground in favor of building apartments, or maybe a store or townhouse, every single one of the efforts had fallen through. Sometimes it was because the prospective owner suddenly went bankrupt or got a job offer elsewhere; sometimes the paperwork just got misplaced and forgotten. After a while, the city just straight-up forgot about the house and stopped actively trying to sell it off.

Either way, it was enough to give the house a bit of a reputation. There were whispers about the house being haunted- why else would an otherwise nice house stand empty and unused for so long?- even though there were no reports of anything strange happening there. There were no weird noises, no flickering lights, no ghostly figures wandering the halls or standing in the windows, but a sense of mystery clung to the place like spiderwebs.

"It looks haunted," Alix commented as the class stood in front of the building. Not everyone was there, of course- Chloe and Sabrina had managed to get a different project to work on, since neither of them had any interest in doing any filming in an old house that was no doubt buried in dust and cobwebs, and Mylene and Rose had both decided to contribute to the project by bringing over snacks mid-day and assisting Nathaniel with his set-painting in his family's apartment, far from the creepy building. Much to everyone's surprise, Adrien had been allowed to come and had eagerly bounded up to the set of their next class project film dressed in old clothes. Everyone suspected that his father probably didn't know where he was. "Why are we here again?"

"Scared already, Alix?" Kim taunted, though he had just been giving the house a few uneasy glances of his own. "I'm not surprised. A ghost could come pick you up and carry you off without a problem, you're so small. See, I actually have muscles to fight off any ghosts."

"I'm not so sure that muscles would do anything against a ghost," Adrien murmured in a low voice to Marinette, Nino, and Alya. "If ghosts were even real."

"Careful, you're gonna tick off some ghost enthusiast and make a ghost-raising akuma," Nino joked. "And believe me, this house does not need any help looking creepy."

"We're here to shoot our film," Marinette reminded everyone before the conversation could devolve too much into a discussion of how creepy the place looked. "It's a much better location than shooting at school and trying to pretend that we were in an abandoned house. It was..." Here she grimaced, knowing full well that she was- well, not lying, but exaggerating slightly. "It was very kind of the mayor to offer to let us use this house for our project."

Alix snorted. "Yeah, it was kind of him all right. Are we already forgetting that part of the deal was that we have to do a bit of cleaning once we're done? He's taking advantage of our free labor to try to fix up this mess so that he can sell it and the city can stop having to pay for taking care of it."

"We don't need to do a super-deep cleaning. It won't be that bad," Alya pointed out. The reporter had been looking forward to getting in the house ever since Marinette had presented the opportunity to the class. "And think about it! Maybe we can figure out why this place has such a reputation. I know I want to take a ton of photos for my blog."

Kim frowned at her, looking puzzled. "The Ladyblog? Why would you want pictures of a haunted house on the Ladyblog?"

Alix elbowed him and rolled her eyes. "She meant her personal blog, idiot. Not the Ladyblog."

"But speaking of the Ladyblog, does anyone have Ladybug and Chat Noir on speed dial in case something weird happens?" Nino asked, half-joking, half-serious. "Because, like, I don't want for our scary film to actually turn into a horror film or something. We'll get disqualified for the film being 'not believable enough' again."

"It'll be fine," Alya said confidently, pulling the keys out of her pocket and striding forward. "After all, how creepy can one house possibly be?"

The answer was, in fact, very creepy.

While there had been someone coming in monthly to do cleanups when the house initially was on the market, they hadn't visited in quite a while. Cobwebs stretched across the ceilings and doors, and dust covered every surface. Adding to the creepy factor was the fact that all of the furniture that had been brought in for staging had been left behind, some pieces covered with once-white dust sheets.

The class stuck very close together as they cautiously explored the house.

"Ooh, the roof definitely has a leak," Alya said in disgust as soon as they reached the second floor and peered into one of the bedrooms. The ceiling had a large, dark stain and the room smelled decidedly musty. "We should probably tell the mayor about that. They won't be able to sell the house if it's got a ton of water damage."

"I think the water damage is the least of their worries," Nino said darkly as he inspected the room. "This is creepy."

"It's rad," Juleka said happily as she floated around the room. "...oh, I think there's some mice in here."

"Okay, we are not using this room," Alix said with a disgusted shudder. "And dibs on not being the person who has to clean this room once we're done filming."

Kim perked up and smirked at her. "What, are you scared, Kubdel? Scared of a couple miceies?"

"It's not exactly very hygienic," Marinette said before Alix could respond and slow them all down with another argument. She stepped into the room and gently steered Juleka away from the squeaking cushion on the couch. "So it's probably better if we don't use this room very much. I'll text the mayor- well, his secretary, at least- and see if we can get a professional out here to take care of the mice. But then let's get started filming, okay?"

Much like the city's attempts to sell the house, their film project seemed cursed.

Camera batteries died. Pages of the script went missing. Doors slammed on their own and filming had to pause while everyone went to investigate. The water faucet started dripping on its own, despite the fact that water to the house had been turned off for ages. The light from the sun randomly faded and came back throughout the day, even though there were no clouds outside. The battery-powered lights they had brought in for filming flickered. Props went misplaced and showed up in strange places.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Ivan said as soon as they finally finished a scene. "This place is weird."

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation," Marinette insisted, though she hadn't let Tikki wander from her jacket pocket at all. She told herself that it was so Tikki would be available in case there was an akuma attack, but in reality the kwami provided at least a little sense of security. She was doing the best she could to keep everyone calm so that filming wouldn't be delayed even more than it already had been. "Maybe we're just being more jumpy than usual because this place looks creepy. A placebo effect, you know?"

Ivan didn't look convinced. Neither did anyone else. Kim and Alix had taken to glancing around the room nervously every few seconds.

"At this rate, we're going to have to come back for two more days to complete filming the house scenes, and then several more for cleaning," Max announced from the folding chair that he had brought back after he ran home to print off several more copies of the script. He insisted that it was just because he didn't want to sit in a chair that was possibly moldy or infested with mice or bugs, but more than a few others suspected that he didn't want to sit in something that was possibly cursed. "And then we still have the outdoor scenes to do, and we haven't even explored the backyard to see if it is suitable for out outdoor scene yet."

"We also haven't looked in the basement," Marinette added, flipping through the script. She hadn't let go of it since Max handed it to her since the previous time she had set a script down, she picked it back up to find that the back half of the pages were missing. "That's the set for another scene."

Alya froze. "Nuh-uh. Nope, no way, we are not going into this place's basement. You can't make me."

"Adrien, do you think we could borrow your bodyguard for a day or two?" Alix asked. She didn't look like she was kidding. "Because there is no way I am going in that basement. Nope, nuh-uh, not happening."

"I'll ask." Adrien looked just as unnerved as the others. "I'm sure he'd be willing to come. He's not really doing much anything when I'm at school or over here."

"But for now, let's get back to filming," Alya announced. She pointed to Adrien and Ivan. "Back on set, you two. You'll be coming out of the kitchen door. Marinette, adjust the curtains. And Alix, are you ready with the sound effects?"

"Speakers are plugged in and ready to go!" Alix announced. "Ready when you are!"

"All right! Take one, the agents take shelter. Three, two, one, go!"

There was a pause, and then the kitchen door opened and Ivan and Adrien came in, both in raincoats that Juleka had just spritzed with water. Adrien carried a similarly wet umbrella.

"This place looks like it should be a good shelter!" Adrien announced, setting his umbrella down. He glanced around, like he was seeing the place for the first time. "It looks like it's been abandoned-"

"CUT!" Nino called. "Guys, I can see the kitchen from here. It's obvious that you haven't just come in from outdoors, so I need to move to a different angle. And Alix, I just changed my mind on when you need to start playing the rain sounds. It would make more sense to have them going from the start of the scene, since Adrien and Ivan are already wet when they come in."

"You got it, boss," Alix said cheerfully.

"Back in position for take two!" Nino instructed. He had to wait for Juleka to do her spritzing again. "All right, take two. Three, two, one-"

CRASH!

Everyone jumped at the sound of the thunder rumbling out through the speakers on full volume. The lights flickered, then steadied as the thunder tapered off and was replaced by deafening rain. Alix scrambled to turn the volume down to a more reasonable level.

"I thought that was just a rain track," Nino said a bit weakly from the chair he had fallen back into. A cloud of dust had poofed up and surrounded him the second he had sat. He coughed a few times to get the dust out of his throat. "And I thought we had done a volume check earlier. Holy cow."

"I do like the thunder, though," Marinette chimed in as another rumble echoed out from the speakers. "It adds atmosphere. And if we could get a flash of light, too, like lightning..."

Adrien nodded in agreement, then grinned. "We could use that big flashlight Kim brought for the flash! Where did you leave it, Kim?"

Kim looked up from where he had been inspecting the microphone he had been holding, making sure he hadn't damaged it when he startled at the thunder. "Oh, the flashlight? It's behind that couch, I think."

"All right then, scene from the top again," Nino said as Marinette went and got the flashlight. "Alix, rewind to the start of the recording. And Adrien, Ivan- wait until the thunder goes for several seconds before you come in, okay?"

Both boys nodded and left the living room again. Nino checked his angle, then counted them down again. Thunder boomed, flashlight-powered lightning flashed, and two soaked agents entered the room and started discussing the case they were investigating. This time the take went perfectly, though the thunder and "lightning" flashes were sometimes a little off, since Marinette wasn't entirely positive when the thunder was going to roll. No one would notice, though. Probably.

"That's a wrap for this scene!" Nino called, grinning. "And it's almost dinnertime, so let's pack up and get out of here. Can we meet back here at the same time tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded as they rushed around, collecting the things they had left sitting on the covered couches and tables. More than a few people looked relieved as they filed out the front door into the sun.

"That was super-strange," Marinette said as she and Alya locked up the house and headed for the Dupain-Cheng bakery. "I could have sworn the rain track Alix had was just rain sounds earlier."

"I think you were right earlier, about the atmosphere of the house making us overthink everything," Alya said with a laugh, but she didn't look entirely convinced. "But I do hope Adrien's bodyguard is there tomorrow for the basement scenes. He'd probably counteract all of the creepy vibes the house is giving off."

"If he doesn't tell Mr. Agreste and get Adrien banned from doing the project," Marinette pointed out. "Hopefully he wouldn't, though. He seems nice enough."

"Yeah." The two of them fell into silence for a few minutes as they strolled down the sidewalk. It was nice being out on the bustling street after hours of being in the creepy, closed-off house. "You know, I know we were all disappointed that Mylene didn't want to be lead actress again, but it's probably for the better. She would have been too spooked to film."

Marinette shuddered thinking about it. If filming Agent Smith and Agent Jones had taken forever just because of Ivan's monster costume, their current film probably would have taken at least three times as long. Alya was right; it was probably better for Mylene to help out with the film by assisting Rose with snack delivery.

"Tomorrow will probably be loads better now that we've gotten used to filming again and have new batteries and whatnot in everything," Marinette said, trying to sound more reassuring than she felt. She had been positive that Max and Kim had said that they had gotten all of the equipment ready before they started filming anything. "It will be fine."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"It's just water damage," Marinette insisted through clenched teeth as the rest of the class stared nervously at the dark stain on the basement wall. Adrien's bodyguard stood at the back of the group, looking as unconcerned as ever. Unless he was worried, she refused to freak out. "Look, the window has a huge crack in it. I bet the water just got in through there."

"Marinette is right. I can see some mold on the wood." Adrien had been the only person brave enough to venture closer to the stain, but even he wouldn't touch it. Instead, he took several careful steps back, turned around, and flashed a slightly forced smile at the rest of the group. "So, are we going to set up?"

"I brought extras of everything today," Max announced, pointing at his overlarge backpack that had clearly been stuffed near bursting. "We should be good for batteries today, but just in case..."

Everyone nodded. It was best to be overprepared today, so they wouldn't have to stop filming to go run home and grab more supplies. That had been a huge time drain the day before, and they were already going to be spending their entire three-day weekend at the creepy house. They didn't want to have to come over after school as well to get the project done on time.

"Alix, you set up your speakers while Alya and I get the other props in place," Marinette instructed as she started unpacking her own bag. "And remember that the rain would be quieter from downstairs."

"On it." Alix was already digging through her own bag, though she kept glancing back up at the stain on the wall and she made sure to set up as far away from it as she could without getting in the way of where they would be filming. Kim and Max set up next to her, assembling the sound equipment and getting the camera tripods unpacked.

"Juleka, can you make sure that Adrien and Ivan are all ready?" Marinette called as she moved a small table into place. "We'll be ready to start in a few minutes." She glanced over at Alya, who was arranging a small braided rug on the floor. "So far, so good!"

"Shh! You'll jinx it!" Alya hissed, reaching out to knock on the table leg. She glanced over to where the Gorilla was watching the proceedings with something resembling interest. "It definitely helps that he's here, though. It's nice to have another set of eyes."

It didn't take long before the cameras were rolling again. Adrien and Kim had apparently both memorized quite a few of their lines the previous night, which meant that they didn't need to pause as often to check on what they were meant to be saying. Everyone relaxed as the filming went smoothly, which meant that no one was ready for the huge BANG! from the stairwell, followed by their lights flickering and almost going out.

"No one move," the Gorilla ordered over the sounds of their screams, and then he was jogging up the staircase to investigate. He didn't have to go far, though, before he found the source of the noise: a shutter that had come loose and was waving in the breeze. It had apparently banged shut rather hard. They all waited for several tense, nervous minutes as the Gorilla headed outside to fasten the shutter again.

"I'm gonna have a heart attack before this is all over," Alya whispered to Marinette as they waited. Then she frowned. "Isn't it kinda odd that the shutter would come loose now? No one has been to this place for ages, which means that it's been latched for months without a problem, and it's not even that windy outside."

Marinette frowned as well. That was odd. Her hand went to her purse, just to make sure Tikki was still there. "Maybe it has come loose before and the neighbors have come over to shut it. They probably don't want to listen to it banging around all the time."

Alya didn't look convinced. Marinette didn't blame her. She wasn't entirely convinced herself.

"Do we need to restart the scene, Nino?" Adrien asked, looking simultaneously tired and nervous. Ivan had grabbed onto his arm when they heard the crash and he had apparently forgotten to let go. "Or can we salvage some of it?"

Nino frowned and rewound his camera so he could watch what he had. After a few seconds, though, the frown cleared off of his face. "Actually...I like this. I'll just erase the screaming right after the bang. You two, ad-lib a little bit and then get back on the script. I'll change the camera angle so you can't tell that you guys moved at all."

Alya laughed. "You're just rolling with the punches, aren't you?"

Nino shrugged. "Say what you will about how creepy this house and all the weird things that happen in it are, but it sure does add more atmosphere to our movie." He checked the cameras to make sure they were set up right. "...but I won't lie, I will be super-glad when we finish up here."

"As long as we keep going, we should be able to finish up all of the indoors scenes today, and then we can move outside tomorrow," Marinette said, consulting her script. She had been checking off the scenes as they were recorded, so they wouldn't miss anything. "And it's supposed to be a bit rainy tomorrow, which is perfect. We'll just need to remember umbrellas for the equipment."

"And hopefully we can persuade some of the others to come join us for that one," Alya added. "I think Rose said that she'd be fine with coming as long as she didn't have to go inside."

"Same for Mylene," Ivan added.

"So that's decided! We'll be outside tomorrow if it's rainy, regardless of whether or not we finish up in here," Marinette said, making a note to text Rose, Mylene, and Nathaniel to let them know. "Are we almost rea-"

She was cut off by the sound of loud, thumping footsteps from overhead. Everyone froze and their eyes turned to the stairs as the heavy steps drew closer, closer, closer-

-and then the Gorilla appeared, looking very, very puzzled about why they were all staring at him.

Everyone burst into laughter. They were too wound up if they had all forgotten that the Gorilla was in the house. There was no reason to be paranoid.

"I am so glad that we're done filming inside," Alya sighed as she and Marinette rounded the old house. True to prediction, it was raining lightly and the rain was predicted to continue for the rest of the day. They wouldn't need the entire day for filming, thankfully- there were only two scenes that they needed to do, and then their film would be complete- but in case anything weird happened...

Marinette shivered.

The second day of filming had gone better than the first, for sure- they averaged only two retakes per scene- but weird stuff still happened. Lights went out all at once, leaving them in the pitch dark until Kim yanked out his flashlight and went to work replacing batteries. Alix's speakers cut out several times. They all swore up and down that the floorboards upstairs were creaking, even though all of them were in the same spot. They all freaked out as one when the man that the mayor had sent to take care of the mice arrived and knocked on the front door. The strung-out, nervous expressions that Adrien and Ivan wore as they acted were only partially faked. If it hadn't been for the presence of the Gorilla, Marinette doubted that people would have stuck around to finish filming.

She could only hope that the Gorilla would be able to come next weekend, when they had to clean.

"Hey, everyone's already here," Alya commented as they rounded the corner. Sure enough, set-up had already started, though it was slower than usual since things had to be covered by an umbrella and couldn't be set down on the grass. Mylene and Rose were each holding a giant umbrella as Kim, Max, and Nino got tripods set up and the sound equipment adjusted.

"Ooh, poor Nathaniel's backdrop is going to get ruined," Marinette said mournfully as she watched Adrien and Nathaniel attach the painted sheets to the fence. The sheets all depicted a rainy countryside, with farmhouses dotted off in the distance. They all would have preferred shooting in the actual countryside, of course, but it would have been too much work to get all of them out there and find a good location to shoot. The slightly cramped backyard of the maybe-possibly-haunted house would have to do.

"Well, he knew that we were going to be filming in the rain," Alya said with a shrug. "That's why he used the old bedsheets. They'll dry out."

"Yeah, but..." Marinette watched as the boys nailed the last sheet on and then started working on attaching the sides and bottom so that the sheets wouldn't flap around too much. "There's just so many of them. I don't think his family's apartment is big enough to dry everything at once."

"Problems for another time," Alya said cheerfully, and then they joined Juleka, who was making sure that the long black raincoats that Adrien and Ivan would wear were in good shape and ready to be switched out for the boys' normal raincoats.

"This movie is gonna be rad," Juleka said cheerfully as she stepped away from the coats. They looked a little wrinkly, just like what one would expect secret agents' coats to look like after they had been on the run for several days. Whether or not that was intentional or a happy accident wasn't entirely clear.

Alix nodded in agreement. "Yeah. But I don't wanna come back to this house again after this is all over." Her eyes flicked up to the house, which looked even more imposing and haunted than usual in the gloom. "Too much weird stuff happening. I'm surprised that Adrien is still able to come, what with everything that's been happening."

Marinette was surprised, too. The Gorilla had looked rather relieved to leave the previous day, which she had seen as a bad sign. But maybe he had figured that things would be more normal outside, or maybe he would just feel bad about pulling Adrien out of the project that late in filming.

Marinette briefly wondered what they would have done if Adrien hadn't been allowed to come for that last day of filming. They wouldn't reshoot all of the scenes, of course- they would have to be completely desperate to do that- but maybe they would have Juleka or Nino fill in as a body double and just hide their face with the collar of the rain jacket and a brimmed hat, and then record Adrien's voice and add his lines in later. It would have been hard, probably, and it probably would have taken a ton of takes to make sure that they didn't accidentally have any of Adrien's body double's features showing.

Yeah, it was definitely a good thing that Adrien's bodyguard apparently hadn't told Mr. Agreste about any of the strangeness that was going on.

"I had to get new recordings to play for today," Alix announced, waving her ipod at them. "Less of the rain itself, since we already have that, and more thunder and some wind."

"Great! I wouldn't have thought about that, Alix. Good job." Marinette glanced up at the sky. The rain was steady but not heavy, which made filming more pleasant. She frowned as she realized that the rain was making a loud pitter-pattering noise against the fabric of the umbrellas. The microphones would definitely pick that up, and it was just a bit too loud to pass off as rain against tree leaves. Still, they didn't want to get their equipment wet. They would just have to deal with the slightly out-of-place noise.

"Okay, I think we're ready to start once Adrien and Ivan get their coats!" Nino called, getting everyone's attention. "Places, everyone, and make sure that everything is under an umbrella!"

As it turned out, filming outside was much harder than filming inside. It wasn't the rain that was the problem, though none of them were particularly happy about standing out in the damp cold. No, the problem was with the amount of outside noise that they were getting. It was less than what they might get on a normal day- people were staying inside more than usual because of the rain, of course- but sometimes they would get partway through a shot only for a dog to bark loudly, or for a woman to loudly call a greeting to a friend on the sidewalk in front, or for a car to go zipping past with the radio blaring. Each time, Nino would roll his eyes with exasperation and call for a cut.

"Professional movie makers don't have to deal with this nonsense," Nino muttered grouchily as they set up take fifteen. "These are ridiculous working conditions."

"Professional movie makers also don't work out of random abandoned houses' backyards," Marinette pointed out as she headed over to help Nathaniel re-attach one of his background sheets. They were coming loose at a ridiculous rate, probably because the wood of the fence was so rotted. "They cordon off areas so that they can have closed sets."

"I don't even want to know how much cleaning we would have to do if we wanted to ask the mayor to do something like that," Kim said, grimacing. "I already don't want to do any of it, but I guess we promised and all."

"Yeah, we definitely couldn't afford it." Nino adjusted his camera carefully and then ducked over to the other camera to make sure it was still running. The storage cards were getting worryingly full, but he had brought his last set of backups just in case.

He was going to have to do one hell of a lot of picking through video and editing when all of this was done. Nino didn't normally consider himself superstitious, but he hadn't wanted to bring along the half-filled cards that he had used the other days, just in case.

"From the top again!" Nino called, stepping back from the camera. Really, he was starting to think that they should just piece together several takes of the scene and get on with it, but it wouldn't have the same effect and he would have to jump between cameras crazy often.

This time, the run went perfectly. Nino breathed a sigh of relief as he signaled the end of the take. Alix paused her ipod and set it aside, looking relieved. Finishing that scene meant that they were halfway done for the day.

"I could use a bit of help with the backdrops!" Nathaniel called as he wrestled another set of sheets forward. In seconds, Kim and Max were by his side, trying to hold the sheets in place. Adrien looked like he was considering helping for a few moments, but then Ivan pulled him towards the relative dryness of the umbrellas.

"You look like a drowned rat, dude," Nino informed his friend with a laugh as Adrien towel-dried his hair. Really, it was a good thing that the hat Adrien was wearing hid his hair from the camera so well, because otherwise it would look strange if Adrien's character had hair plastered to his scalp in the first scenes and then it magically dried and re-styled itself as soon as he set foot indoors.

"Thank you, I do my best," Adrien said dryly. He shoved his bangs back out of his face. "So, how much longer-"

CRASH!

Everyone jumped and spun around in time to see a dead branch from the tree in the backyard sliding off of the roof and onto the ground, dragging a handful of shingles in its wake. It wasn't large, thankfully, and the roof didn't look too damaged, at least from where they stood. Kim and Max had had to move quickly to keep from getting hit by the branch as it tumbled to the ground.

"Wow," Juleka breathed, approaching it cautiously. "Cool!"

"Thank goodness all of our interruptions today are just normal stuff," Nino said with a somewhat shaky laugh. "I don't kno-"

CLANG! Chk-chk-chk-

There were several muffled screams as the sound of rattling chains filled the air, and everyone swiveled around to try to pinpoint the source of the sound. Adrien jumped a foot into the air and ended up clinging to Marinette as his eyes scanned the yard. Alya backed up quickly and nearly ran into Nathaniel, who was holding out his hammer in defense as he swiveled back and forth nervously. Mylene had completely frozen up under the umbrella she was holding.

Chk-chk-chk-chk-CHK-

"Is that- is that the speakers?" Marinette asked from the safety of Adrien's arms. She had turned more than a little pink from the contact but had otherwise managed to remain (somewhat) calm. "Alix?"

"No, it's not-" Alix started defensively, and then she inched a little closer and frowned. "Oh. Wait. Yes, it is, but I don't have anything like that on my ipod and I paused it earlier, I swear!" She knelt down by the speakers and cautiously reached a hand out to grab her ipod. She paused it, and the spooky sounds came to an abrupt stop. As everyone untangled themselves (Adrien startled slightly when he realized that he still had his arms wrapped around Marinette and he backed off promptly, apologizing nonstop while Marinette turned an even darker shade of red), she glanced at her ipod screen and then frowned. "Hang on- I don't remember ever uploading this! I don't have anything in my iTunes library that is called 'chains'."

There was dead silence for a few moments, only broken up by the sound of the rain falling heavier now, almost at a downpour.

"Let's just...keep filming," Nino said, looking slightly freaked out. "Last scene, and then we can get the hell out of here."

Saying that no one wanted to go back to the house the next weekend was the understatement of the century.

"Can we just pay the mayor for the use of the house and be done with it?" Kim asked as the group stood in front of the building. He and Alix had long since come to a mutual (and silent) agreement that neither of them was to tease the other about the house making them nervous. "Seriously. I will put my entire allowance for the month towards something like that."

"I think the going rate for house rentals is perhaps a bit more than any of us can afford," Max said, though he didn't look happy about it. "And so would the rate for hiring professional cleaners."

They all fell silent again for a bit, staring at the house (did a curtain just move, or did they just imagine it?) until Adrien broke the silence with a sigh.

"How about we all just work in pairs?" he suggested. "And then have several pairs per room. Then no one is working by themselves or has the chance to accidentally sneak up on anyone else. Cleaning is more fun with a friend, anyway."

"Groups didn't exactly stop the creepy before," Alix grumbled, and more than a few people exchanged glances. But there was no real argument, and so people started to pair off and ever. so. slowly. head for the door.

And thus began one long day of work.

It didn't help that everyone was jumpy. Squeaky floorboards would make people freeze, thumps as people occasionally dropped things resulted in muffled screeches, and the windows rattling as the wind blew against them made people sit up and stare. The groups of two more often than not became groups of four as they forged on, gathering dust covers to shake clean outside and sweeping dirt and dust alike into piles and then scattering it again accidentally when a creaking door made the sweeper jump. Brooms and mops propped up against the wall toppled over for no apparent reason, and windows blew open after being locked shut for years.

"Okay, seriously, who's the one messing around with the windows?" Marinette called once it happened for the fifth time. "I can appreciate the fresh air and all, but it's blowing our dust piles around and we're gonna have to remember to close everything once we're done."

Silence.

"The practical side of me says that someone's just playing a prank and doesn't want to admit it," Adrien said, reaching around Marinette to pull the window shut again. He checked the latch twice before stepping back. "There's no other reasonable explanation. But I don't think anyone in our class is that good at acting. Unfortunately."

Marinette frowned. "You don't really think the house is haunted, do you?"

Adrien looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm a firm believer in science...but it can't explain everything. Ladybug and Chat Noir exist, so why not ghosts? Or some sort of imp or something. You know, like a leprechaun, but not," he tried to explain when Marinette only looked puzzled. "Something playing tricks on us. Nothing that's happened really had a threatening feel to it, more just...impish." He had had to check more than a few times to make sure that Plagg hadn't left his jacket to run amok through the house. His kwami had owed up to messing with the batteries for the lights once, but he had claimed that anything else would have been too much work. Adrien believed him; after all, Plagg had been safely napping in his coat pocket during most of the other oddness that had happened. Plagg had also refused to say what had been causing the strange noises, though he had a distinctly mischievous look to his face while he reused to talk. That alone made Adrien suspect that there was probably something magical at work, though not at all dangerous. Plagg would have said something if it were.

Or at least Adrien hoped so. Plagg enjoyed watching situations get messy, but only when they weren't inherently dangerous. Watching Adrien embarrass himself seemed to be one of Plagg's favorite hobbies (besides eating cheese, of course). Watching Adrien get hurt...well, Plagg didn't like that so much. He always scolded Adrien for stupid blunders during fights that could have gotten him badly injured if it weren't for the powers of the Miraculous protecting him. Surely he would say something if there was a malevolent spirit flitting around the house.

Marinette chewed on her lip and, for some reason, glanced down at the purse that hung at her hip before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, maybe you're right. That doesn't make it any less weird, though," she added as she reached for a broom that had toppled over even though the handle had been firmly wedged between the wall and the ancient fridge. Somehow it had fallen straight outwards into the rest of the room. "I'm glad that we're almost done. It's not the greatest cleaning job ever, but it'll do. Especially since I doubt the mayor will remember about this place for more than five minutes after I give the key back to him."

Adrien smothered a snort. That sounded very like the mayor. It was very likely that the longest the mayor had spent thinking about the old house was when Chloe was throwing a fit about not wanting to go into the house because it was gross and spooky. From what he had heard, Mr. Bourgeois had gone into the principal's office to wrangle a separate project for Chloe (and Sabrina, because Chloe can't work alone that would be punishing her for her sensibilities and allergies to dust and mold-!) and had ended up coming back to Chloe with the "great news" that she and Sabrina would simply get to do their "very own film project!"

Chloe hadn't been thrilled by that- neither she nor Sabrina were particularly good with coming up with a good storyline, acting, or doing basically anything else that making a film would require- but she either had to do it or accept a zero on an assignment. Adrien had gotten more than a few furious texts from her complaining about problems that had popped up with her own project. He hadn't told her anything in return about the creepy stuff happening to the rest of the class.

"Hey, d'you want to hear about some of the texts I got from Chloe?" Adrien offered as Nino and Alya entered the room again, empty dustpans in hand. It would make the time go faster and maybe take their minds off of the increasingly weird house for the few hours they had left to work. "She's freaking out about having to do the project with just herself and Sabrina."

Nino snorted. "Of course she is. She didn't want to do any work at all." Then he paused. "Aw, heck, I won't even try to pretend that I don't want to hear about how much trouble she's having. Let's hear it."

The tales of Chloe's misery got them through the last two hours of banging doors, creaking floorboards, windows flying open, buckets mysteriously overturning, and even the light from the sun outside mysteriously flickering and getting darker, even without clouds in the sky overhead. They snickered at the truly terrible plot Chloe (or, more likely, Sabrina) had come up with as thunder rumbled through a sunny, cloudless sky and muffled giggles at a tale of editing failure while several doors slammed throughout the house. They were still giggling when a very disgruntled Alix (flanked by a very on-edge Kim and Max) came in to inform them that green goo had started dripping out of the kitchen sink down below.

"If our class president and vice-president have any suggestions, let us know," Alix finished through gritted teeth. "Because I am not cleaning up creepy green goop."

"Uh, just ignore it for now, maybe?" Marinette suggested after sharing a frantic glance with Alya. When Miss Bustier had told her what she was expected to do as class president, dealing with a potentially haunted house was not on the list. "Uh, how much is left to do?"

"Are we doing the basement?"

"No," Marinette decided. That room creeped people out the most, and it wasn't that bad anyway. There was no furniture in there to collect dust and there was nothing they could feasibly do about the water stain. "That and the room with mice in it we aren't doing."

"Then we're almost done," Alix reported. "We just have the counters left to wipe down- but I'm not gonna go anywhere near the green stuff."

"Just leave the green stuff be," Marinette said with a sigh. She couldn't even begin to guess what kind of gunk the house was churning out now, and she really didn't want to know. "I'll go check on the other groups."

Alix grumbled something that might have been assent before she thundered back down the stairs, Kim and Max on her heels. Marinette sighed and set her broom aside. Their group had honestly been cleaning the same section for ages, which really wasn't a good example to be setting, but they had all gotten a little distracted. "I'm going to go check on the other groups. Alya, want to join me?"

"I'll send Adrien with you instead," Alya said with a grin, ignoring the surprised look Adrien sent her way. "We need to finish up here and I don't trust him around the cleaning supplies."

"I resent that-" Adrien started, only to be cut off by Alya's laugh.

"Adrien, you didn't know how to sweep correctly when you got here," she pointed out, hands planted on her hips. "You got dust everywhere. And you didn't know how to wash windows, and you just admitted ten minutes ago that you've never done laundry before. So excuse me if I don't trust you and Nino to not make a mess of this room if we leave you unsupervised for ten minutes." She pointed towards the door. "Go help Marinette check on the other groups. Shoo."

They shooed.

A quick ten-minute run through the house found that all of the groups were cleaning up, and most of them had done a relatively good job cleaning.

Well. Kind of.

"We're not going near that corner," Ivan told Marinette as Juleka nodded her agreement from behind the larger boy. "Whenever we do, the floorboards scream. And then the light from the windows flickers. It can stay dirty."

"I'm still not going near the sink," Alix told Adrien several minutes later as another glob of green goo dripped from the faucet. "I don't care if it's just algae or something that's suddenly decided now is a great time to spurt from the sink. It's weird."

"The chains rattle," Rose told them as they checked on the progress of the group cleaning the front porch and weeding the yard. "On the swing, I mean. And there's no wind. It just swings on its own and makes weird noises. None of us want to sweep that part of the porch. The swing might decide to try to hit us or something."

"That's fine, Rose," Marinette told her, patting her shoulder to try to calm the wide-eyed girl down. "It's probably not all that dusty out here, since there's the wind anyway. You guys can start cleaning up."

"Oh thank god," Nathaniel said fervently, and Mylene nodded in agreement. "I thought we were going to be stuck here all day."

"It has been pretty much all day," Adrien pointed out as he and Marinette turned to head back into the house. "It's nearly four-thirty, and by the time everyone cleans up, it'll be nearly-"

He stopped dead. There, in the front room, everyone was waiting. Buckets had been emptied and piled up and then stuffed into the large box to carry. Brooms were lined up along the front wall, ready to be carried back to their normal houses. Rags had been wrung out and stuffed into a bucket. Soaps were stuffed into another bucket, all ready to be carried away. Trash bags were tied tightly and piled near the front door.

"-time to go," Adrien finished weakly.

"Never underestimate the power of a creepy house to make people move quickly," Marinette muttered back, equally taken aback. She had thought that it would be another fifteen minutes at least before people were ready to go, but apparently not. Fear really was a great motivator. Her eyes swept over the group and yep, everyone was all there and accounted for, minus the group still finishing up outdoors.

A clattering interrupted her thoughts, and Marinette turned around to see the trio that had been outdoors all standing on the porch, all packed up and ready to go.

"Okay then," Marinette managed, blinking at them in bemusement for a moment before shaking herself out of it. "Right. That's everyone, then. Ready to get out of here?"

Kim let out a short whoop, a grin finally spreading across his face as he led the charge for the door. "Finally. I was starting to think you would never say that. C'mon everyone, let's go!"

As the group left the house for the last time, no one noticed a small orange head poke out of a bag and peer around. The mischievous kwami glanced back at the house she had caused so much havoc in, unable to help the smirk that slid across her face. It had been too much fun to mess around with the group by making funny noises and messing with their equipment. After being asleep in her Miraculous for so long, it was just too much to resist.

Ah, pranks. They really were the best thing since the invention of chocolate-covered strawberries. Trixx could already tell that she was going to have so much fun this time around.

Ladybug and Chat Noir could wait a few more weeks to meet their new teammate, Trixx decided as she sunk back into the depths of her Chosen's bag. They were doing well enough on their own right now, and she still had a good few pranks she wanted to pull on her new Chosen before she revealed herself properly.

She could barely wait.

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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fakesurprise · 7 years

Text

Bends in the Road

I give it ten more minutes before I check in on Noah. He’s sitting in the one bed cross-legged. Probably meditating. I leave him to that and knock on Wilbur’s door.

“It’s open,” he says, and I push it and enter. He’s sitting on the bed, shoes off, stretching his legs out a little.

I close the door after I enter. His room is entirely the same as mine, which isn’t much of surprise. One wall does have a different shade of floral wallpaper. “Noah is meditating, the TV is crap. Thought I’d see how you’re doing?”

“Fine. Stretching.” He sits up. “I can help with your neck, if you’d like?”

I sit, and he runs his hands over my neck, gently kneading muscles. “I felt your pain, when I was reaching for this town. Noah’s I’m used to. Yours has got worse.” Wilbur says nothing, just kneading muscles. “You want to talk about it?”

“No.”

He adds nothing else. I don’t press him, relaxing a little as the soreness ebbs somewhat. “No one has come to ask us questions yet.”

“They should once we start walking around.” Wilbur chuckles. “Noah and I can keep everyone occupied if need be.”

“Point. Only you have a better chance of figuring out what is going on than I do. Get your shoes on; I’ll snag Noah.”

I stand and leave, knocking on the door to Noah’s room. He opened his eyes after a few seconds, slips off the bed and opens the door.

“We’re going to get stories straight. Figure out our spin, all of that.”

Noah nods, locks the door and follows me into Wilbur’s room. Wilbur has put one shoe on by the time we get in, and starts as the second flicks onto his foot. He straightens, looking at Noah. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Noah stops. “What?” he asks.

“They might have cameras here; the last thing we want to do is confuse them.”

“Cameras?” I repeat.

“Probably not good onces, but if you have a hotel set nowhere, who is going to use it if not people you could blackmail for more money?” Wilbur shrugs. “It’s not outside the realms of normal possibility.” He moves back onto the bed, back to the wall, and Noah and I sit on the other side.

“School trip,” I offer. “Report on the town, smaller towns, making people in Rivercomb feel like our town is pretty large.”

Noah shakes his head. “Not with me?”

“Pardon?”

“Would you go somewhere where – where no one knows you, if you looked like me? Unless you had no choice?” he asks.

“Strangers aren’t likely to believe you would,” I say slowly. “That was the best plan I had, cover wise.”

“Aram must have given you a different one?” Wilbur says dryly.

Noah nods. “I brought a video camera? Lia and Aram have used it, to get video of Sam when she was born, all of that. He showed me how to use it.”

“So we do a photo shoot for something. That could work,” I say. “You’re the camera guy, and people will assume part of that is using it to hide. Which is fine. Magicians see things others don’t, so that would help with directing?”

“You don’t want me acting?” Wilbur flings a hand to his forehead.

“We’d need a wider lens.”

He lowers his hand with a grin. “We can actually use that. I push at you to be better, we squabble. You do most of that, and Noah and I can sense what we can sense. If anyone asks, this is our first attempt at any kind of film and we figured a smaller town made more sense?”

“Okay. We’re good?”

Wilbur nods; Noah heads to the car. I follow as he opens one of the three bags he brought with him. He pulls out a camera, tripod, microphone, battery, lenses and a couple of lights. Definitely enough for us to fake that we’re filming something. I know the second duffel bag contained his clothes; the third is a locked hard shell case. He doesn’t touch it.

“Stuff Aram asked you to bring?”

He nods. “Tools.” I stare at him. “Weapons,” he mumbles. “In case we need them.”

I stare at Noah as Wilbur comes out of his room behind us. “You are powerful enough to hurt a magician in their own city. I can do things with pain I’ve never tried to find the limits to. Wilbur is a genuine – if weird – magician. What kind of weapons did Aram think we’d need?”

“The kind that aren’t legal.” Noah licks his lips. “The – the kind humans without talents use to deal with Outsiders.”

I take a step back from the case as Wilbur joins us beside the car. “Something wrong?” he asks.

“Weapons. Aram.”

“Ah.” He doesn’t get closer, eyes the duffel bag and supplies. “Want me to carry the bag?”

Noah nods, taking just the camera and putting it up to his shoulder as we make the third second walk from the motel into the town proper. I don’t know much about the kind of weapons Aram must have used as a very secret agent type, but I’ve watched enough action movies that I can’t get the phrase backpack nuke out of my head. This should at least make it easier to act afraid.

Oscars Bend had been a semi-permanent logging camp for Hoster Logging for almost thirty years. That much was in the public record. When the company folded, the town remained: a crossroads dreaming of other things, a sadness etched into the world. Four homes, a motel, a small store, all off any major road. Only a drunk satnav gets you you here but somehow it felt like it would be sadder if everything was gone. People had remained, despite everything. I wasn’t sure if that was admirable or not, but I was sure I had no basis for judgement. Every house was run-down. Even the shadows seemed made of different shades.

You can’t have horror here, because there was nothing left to be taken away. And yet despite the thought, here we were. I look about again, then at the other two. “Where first?”

“The newest house?” Wilbur offers.

Noah offers up nothing, so I lead the way toward the closest house. Nice lawn, compared to the house with the wheelchair ramp. Single storey affair, like the oldest house it’s kitty-corner to, having a mix of four different types of siding and varied cans of paint on each windowsill. Work had gone into rebuilding the house, but also in making sure it didn’t fit in with other homes. No car in the driveway, a few steps leading to a front door that looked in better shape than several of the walls. If we were actually doing a video, I’m not sure what we’d use this house for except as a warning to other houses. I knock on the front door, finding no doorbell. Wait. Knock again. I’m considering turning away when the door is yanked open.

“I was sleeping,” is growled out. The voice is low, beard a five o’clock shadow contrasting with hair in a bun, a dress in eye watering pastels and high heels.

Definitely not something I expected in a town of about twenty. It takes me a few seconds. “Hello. We’re students from Rivercomb and we’re doing a video, so we wondered if it was all right to include exterior shots of your home?”

“No.” The word comes out like a shot.

“We don’t mean to be any trouble, miss –?”

“Smith. Jennifer Smith. And you already are.”

I step back, and the door is closing when Jennifer freezes for a moment. Pain runs through her. My talent is to cause pain, but I can feel it as well as times. I step back, wincing at a headache that isn’t mine as Jennifer stumbles back, clutching the door.

“No.” Her voice is a whisper, not as deep. Somehow more real, though I don’t know why I think that. “The sun learns to do more than burn. Fire in the darkness, a wall upon the air.” And she steps back harder, slams the door so hard the frame rattles for moments after.

I turn slowly, and find myself looking at the focus of her gaze. Noah just holds the camera and looks baffled. I pull out my phone, write down what she said and walk back, repeating it. “You didn’t do anything, I imagine?”

“Anya,” Wilbur says as Noah just shakes his head wordlessly.

“She had some kind of headache and saw – something. Which means –?”

Wilbur shrugs. “She might have a talent, or some psychic skill. Or it could be the result of this creature from Outside being here. She looked scared enough that I don’t think she’s going to open the door again, or talk to us at all.”

“Right. You’re not picking the next house.” He chuckles at that. “Noah?”

Noah nods to the one with the wheelchair ramp across the road.

“Because?” He looks back at me. “You have a talent; is that part of why?”

“The yard isn’t maintained. The wheelchair ramp is solid; the second floor of the house isn’t used, the porch the ramp connects to in danger of collapse even from a distance. If it is falling apart on the outside, how bad is the inside?” he asks softly, not looking back at the house. “I’m worried for the people inside?”

“And not the houses across the road?” Wilbur asks.

“Their lawns are in better shape. The large house makes sense, the oldest probably kept neat because they’ve lived here the longest. But exteriors matter. Not – not always, in a strict sense, but if the house and lawn are in bad shape that might reflect on the owners.”

“And you’re not just saying that because Aram checks the lawn with a ruler after he mows it?” I ask. Noah blinks, then shakes his head. “Wait. You mean he does do that?”

It wins one of Noah’s quick grins.

“Jerk. After that house, I’m not about to check the pain in any of the other ones. Anything, Wilbur?”

“There was a ghost at the house with the wheelchair. Someone died here months ago, but the ghost has been gone for months. I can get some information from the memories left behind, if you and Noah want to talk to the occupants?”

#writing #prose #magician series #Bends In The Road #this is a queue; I am not really here

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stone-man-warrior · 5 years

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September 5, 2018: 11:03 am:

September 5, 2018: 10:59 am:<br><br>I just received a call from Dan associate... StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 11:03:58-0700 - Updated: 2018-09-05 11:03:58-0700

September 5, 2018: 10:59 am: I just received a call from Dan associated with the Pacific Power Corp tree maintenance crew. They are here to trim the trees in the easement. After the call came in, I went outside and was greeted by an enormous Erickson AirCrane helicopter flying slow and low over my head and my house. I will post a photo of it later after the tree trimmers are gone. Hopefully no one will get hurt or killed in my driveway today. As you recall, nine terrorists died in my driveway last time I had a call from associates of Pacific Power Corporation. Stay tuned.

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StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 11:40:46-0700

September 5, 2018: 11:31 am: So it's been about a half an hour since I received a call from Dan associated with Pacific Power Corporation's easement tree service who said he was on my street and approaching to do work on the easements. I see nothing except that big ass helicopter from Erickson AirCrane terrorist air-force known as "Air Support" locally. Other than that I heard a small gas motor start for a moment from the Chartrand impostor police and StingRay location two houses down the street at 376 "MyStreet". There was only a brief sound of a small gas motor and I could hear or see no one, and I see no truck. There are a lot of trees marked to take down. I don't hear the sound of men working with chainsaws anywhere nearby or far from here. I saw the "Priestess", Lorena Chapman driveby with a horse trailer that was making a lot of weird noise. She took a picture of me as she went past. Lorena is the head terrorist associated with Grants Pass Community Church and she lives next door at 3701 Russel Road, 97526. I'll go out again now and see if there really is work to be done, or if it's going to be another day of dead mother-fuckers in my driveway.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 12:31:04-0700

September 5, 2018: 12:13 pm: The Pacific Power Corporation Easement tree maintenance crew is here. They have a boom truck with a man-lift and service boxes, it's white with graphics that say Wright's Tree Service. They have a small red trailer with hoses on it, maybe an air-compressor. The tree service guys have a wicked circular saw that is pneumatically operated. It's about a 10 inch circular saw blade with no guard on it on a pole that is about 6 feet long or more. I have not seen theirs yet, I have seen them before though and the saw is amazing see in action. I assume the compressor trailer is for the saw. There are about 4 large standing dead trees at 434 "MyStreet" and one standing dead on my property that will be cut. These standing dead trees are about 16 to 20 inches diameter at the base and about one-hundred feet tall. There are two bigger standing dead trees on "MyStreet" they are about to fall right now. There are also about twenty-five small trees underneath the power line that will be cut out near my driveway. It looks like it's time for lunch right now, so they will get started with that in a few minutes. These are the quietest tree service guys I have ever seen. They do "Stealth Tree Maintenance". I am afraid to open my gate for them. It is apparent that Chapman terrorist cell and Chartrand terrorist cell are waiting for an opportunity to attack me today. Chartrand was making small noises but was not seen, and there were bird calls coming from 434 just a little while ago. I think the noises I heard from Chapmans trailer earlier might have been a wounded terrorist that was launched. The noises were sort of other-worldly and unusual for a horse trailer. I have not heard those kinds of noises from a trailer before, but I have heard those kinds of noises from terrorists who are bursting from a ruptured, rectally holstered Nitrous Oxide tank. That is what it sound like, a farting sort of a moaning kind of exhaust sound from within Chapman's horse trailer. I wish there was some law enforcement. Ok, I'm going back out there now and will open the gate when the tree guys are ready to enter my driveway, but not before they are ready. Stay tuned. I'll take a few pictures if the battery stays good on the phone.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 13:51:14-0700

September 5, 2018: 1:31 pm: The Pacific Power easement tree maintenance guys are not going to come into my yard today. They have to stop using internal combustion engine powered equipment such as chainsaws two hours before they leave during fire season, and they have to stay nearby the work area where internal combustion powered equipment was used for two hours before they leave. Those are the rules for any kind of service people that use internal combustion engines outdoors in the summer months. So, tomorrow at 8:00 am they will start their day here with the trees on my driveway and take down a few big dead trees and some small ones from under the power line. I talked to Dan a few minutes ago. He is a Seventh Day Adventist terrorist soldier. He did not say he was, but it's obvious once you know what to look and listen for. The terrorists cannot hide a lifetime of training, the training shows through. Dan is about the same age as I am, maybe a bit older, I will guess that Dan is 60 years old and soft spoken, pleasant to talk to. That is one of the signs to look for when considering if a person is a Seventh Day Adventist terrorist. Also, he has a "double speak" hidden communication going on with the other Wrights Tree Service pacific Power Corporation terrorist soldier he is working with. I have not met with Dan's fellow soldier yet. And yes, I am an American who is having a conversation with a terrorist soldier. All the while he is looking at how to bring me down quietly and without my knowledge of his plan of attack. And, I am looking at his gestures, listening to his words and double speak, and looking out for who is hiding in the nearby bushes or in the trees. These guys are professional arborists, so they are climbers of trees and have equipment to climb with. It is not uncommon to be attacked by a terrorist soldier who is way up in a tall pine tree... maybe up above one hundred feet using climbing gear. I have been attacked more than once by soldiers in a tree armed with Nitrous Oxide mixed with Versed airborne gas and a crossbow, but not today. So they will be here for another two hours doing clean up and using hand saws to finish the day while on their two hour, mandatory "fire watch"

.StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 14:00:18-0700

September 5, 2018: 1:53 pm: The photo below was taken a few moments after I received the call from Dan of Wrights tree maintenance and Pacific Power Corporation. I went outside to meet with Dan, and this helicopter from Erickson Aircrane was moving slow and low across and above my home and my head. The photo is not very good because I only have a old flip-phone camera. All of my good cameras were broken intentionally by Seventh Day Adventist terrorists. So this view of this helicopter is directly straight up at twelve o'clock. It is a very big helicopter and was working in association to the Chapman Brassil Seventh Day Adventist terrorist cell at 3701 Russel Road.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 17:18:57-0700

September 5, 2018: 5:15 pm: This is a photo I took this morning once the Wrights Tree Service showed up to do maintenance work in for Pacific Power Corporation. This photo shows one of the Seventh Day Adventist terrorist tree service workers in action in the easement on "MyStreet".

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 17:23:09-0700

September 5, 2018: 5:19 pm: This is a photo of the head terrorist in the area associated with the Grants Pass Community Church on Russel Road. The owners of this car is Micheal Brassil and Lorena Chapman. Ms. Chapman is an extremely dangerous person. She is known as "The Priestess" and is the leader of the local terrorist "Flock".

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 17:35:49-0700

September 5, 2018: 5:23 pm: This is another vehicle that is owned and operated by Lorena Chapman, "The Priestess". These pictures were taken today at the same time as the Pacific Power Wrights Tree Service easement Seventh Day Adventist terrorist soldiers were working on the trees within the easement on "MyStreet". Ms. Chapman, Mr. Brassil, Mr. Chartrand terrorist soldiers were working in association with the Wrights tree service and Erickson AirCrane today in an attempt to attack and kill me, and remove this page of information. I believe that more than one terrorist soldier "launched", or "bursted" today resultant of the ignition of their Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne poison gas pressurized tanks when those tanks were lit up with the use of a Bic Lighter to fight terrorism. When Nitrous Oxide is released into the ambient air, the gas is extremely volatile and will ignite with just a small spark from a Bic Lighter. Even over a distance as far as a hundred feet away the gas will ignite if there is a breeze carrying it. The gas gets lit, and a very quick bolt of what appears to be lightning will follow the gas to it's source, ignite that source, and send the terrorist who has the rectally holstered tank into the air. Terrorists ignited this way have been known to launch a great distance... up to more than a mile away depending on the size of tank and the amount of gas within it.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 17:45:26-0700

September 5, 2018: 5:36 pm: This photo shows an example of the trees that were marked by Robert Corey on Tuesday, the 28 of August. The spots of orange paint was put onto the trees under the power lines in the easement by Mr. Corey so that when the Wrights Tree Service came by later, they will know which trees were agreed to be removed, as per the homeowner, and cut completely down rather than just trimmed away from the Pacific Power Corporation Power lines. The power lines are not visible here but they are directly above the tops of he trees in this area. If the Wright Tree Service comes back tomorrow like they said, then these small trees will be gone by noon tomorrow. There are about twenty small trees here, and a few more in other parts of the yard. There is also four big "standing dead" trees in the neighbors yard adjacent to this area here. Those bigger trees will be challenging to remove. I will try and get some pictures, but I do not want to get near the terrorist Wrights Tree Service soldiers.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 18:41:48-0700

September 5, 2018: 6:39 pm: Tree Service was here all day, they made these two cuts and another two cuts on a small oak tree with three inch branches. The two cuts are at the top of the two trees that have the red ribbon around them.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-09-05 18:46:12-0700

September 5, 2018: 6:42 pm: I am no expert, bu it seems that if the Wrights Tree Service really was here today for the purpose of doing easement maintenance for pacific Power Corporation, then they could have finished the job of taking down the two trees with the ribbon around them. The dead tree there in the middle is still tall enough that when it falls over, it could easily get hung-up on the power lines. The tree was left standing way taller than the nearby lines and the crew was there all day.

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