#moldy spaghetti wall

[koiranliha]

me when i say i'll get better about avoiding participating in callout culture and then i don't 🤪

#moldy spaghetti wall #god i just feel like a major fuckin asshole every time now #cuz the little creature in my brain is like HAHA YOU FELL FOR IT YOU FUCKING IDIOT #like i just want to fuckin help people and i get such a visceral reaction to that shit but it's WIRED that way thats what they WANT #they WANT people to think with their hearts rather than their brains and that's my worst fucking enemy #also that it's just easier to reblog without thinking than actually looking into shit further than the links provided- #-by the obviously biased people posting #its just fucking. it's just fucking. god. #i think we should kill callout culture for good. this sucks.

[moved-2-koiranliha]

prolly gonna log out for a while. or just. close tumblr. for a bit. im feeling so fuckin shitty dudes

#moldy spaghetti wall

[joels6string]

Okay so what were your thoughts on episode 2? I was super super pissed off that they butchered the museum like that, and that the hotel was thrown BEFORE that. Also the way Tess died was so wrong. The spaghetti is too much.

My honest thots below a cut to hopefully avoid anon nonsense and someone calling me misogynistic again now that my anon is back on lol.

The only huge complaint I have is somehow people are still finding ways to twist Tess and Joel's relationship despite the fact it was clearly stated he didn't feel the same way lol. I'm begging for people to let this unnecessarily interjected romance die with Tess and let her rest in peace and come to terms with the fact that Ellie is the one to shatter the walls he has up, it was never Tess. We can't confuse wanting to see Pedro's characters in romantic situations with what's right for Joel lol. Cause that's what it feels like. I've been sent the coldest of takes floating around today in the safe space of my DMs and I just don't understand why it's being clung to. I also don't understand the point of the scene in the first episode for it to end like this because now the only "affection" that was ever shown was when Joel was out cold on pills and it makes it weirder. They were FWB in the game and they're FWB in the show lol. I could write a symposium on this at this point.

I thought they did well with the museum, it was fairly accurate. The clickers look great. Though Joel unlocking a rifle so early while making me do it with nothing but handguns, shivs I never have materials for, and moldy 2x4s is cruel. I loved when it showed him reloading though. As well as when he shatters the glass to distract the clicker with sound like I'd be tossing a brick or bottle? Yes. Absolutely.

I don't love the webbing of tendrils connecting them, it's very Resident Evil, but whatever. Spores are superior. When it comes out of their mouths it grosses me out and that is clearly why they did it. Not a fan of how they replaced the subway scene with Joel in a gas mask and Ellie without one with her just getting bit again. It felt cheap, I was hoping they'd have gotten more creative like watching a tendril slither up her nose or something. They have to figure out other methods for season 2 or it's going to get boring.

I knew the hotel was out when I saw that Pittsburgh was canned and that's one of my favorite scenes, so I was glad we got to see it somewhere. Although the fact Joel didn't longingly stare at a coffee maker and whine about how much he misses it is something we better get later.

I'm watching it and enjoying it for what it is. It'll never compare, I have zero attachment to anyone besides Tommy and Sarah lol. And I just go play the game as soon as I'm done. It could be monumentally more offensive is what I'm telling myself, but also tumblr makes it worse because well...fandom mentality and being the odd one out.

#katfish over and out

[sorcererinthestars]

Stormy Nights [FAHC]

Been a long while since I've posted any writing on here, huh? Thanks so much to the @rtwritingcommunity's secret "sunshine" fic exchange because it keeps me writing when the world is turning upsidedown. Thank you to @shadeofazmeinya for the huge help and basically co-authorship of this fic!

Please enjoy @fornhaus! <3

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41001033 Word Count: 2711

--

It starts as a sprinkle. 

After a heist, especially when it was raining like this, it was common for the Fakes to hole up for a while, disperse their (now growing) crew to tiny apartments and safehouses across the city to avoid detection. The last heist was more… chaotic … than most, which led the lads to duck and run into a seedier part of the city than they would have liked. The apartment was crumbling around them and Gavin gags at the moldy smell as he slams the wooden door shut behind him and slumps onto the couch, already texting someone or something.

Michael peers out the window at the growing storm and the police helicopters and cars racing around the city, lighting it up in flashes of red and blue on dancing raindrops. Thankfully no one was hurt badly — there was no way they were going to be heading back into the city that night.

“Geoff says stay put,” Gavin announces from his position on the ratty couch. “Storms’ too bad to try to regroup tonight. Last thing we needed was one of the three LS storms to hit tonight, huh?”

“All that praying for rain worked out at the worst fucking time,” Michael mutters, moving towards the kitchen to start rummaging through the cabinets. Neither realize that Jeremy had also retreated to the window, silently — uncommon for him — peering out into the rain. The others chatter turns into a quiet monotone behind him as instead the drumming of the rain on the glass panes and the small balcony fill his ears and turn his stomach. 

Slipping on wet concrete, going down hard, an ankle snapping like white hot fire…

The others running on ahead, no one turning.

A rough arm yanking him up, a man’s gross breath on his face, spittle hitting as he was screamed at… 

Police sirens…

“What do you want for dinner?” Michael’s voice yanks him back to reality and J turns, blinking owlishly, as Michael brandishes a wooden spoon and repeats the question for what seems like the second or third time. “J! Ramen or spaghetti? We ain’t got many options.”

“Ramen’s fine,” he says quietly, turning back towards the window, unable to look away although he probably should. Gavin gives Michael a bit of a sideways look, but neither really press that response. In a clatter of pots and pans, Michael digs out a good one and starts boiling water for ramen, focusing solely on getting food down his hatch as quickly as possible.

It doesn’t take long for the patter of rain to become a sheet, slamming hard against the roof and walls. Jeremy takes an involuntary step away from the window.

"We’re lucky," Gavin hums lazily from the couch, glancing up from his phone as the drumming of the rain becomes unavoidable. "We could've been caught in that shit. Hell of a getaway that would've been."

“Would’ve gotten those fancy clothes wet. Then what would you do?” Michael teases as he stirs the pot, glancing over his shoulder with a bright grin. Jeremy glances at them both, somehow uncomprehending how they could be so jovial. Laugh so much. 

Gavin scowls. "Are you kidding me?" he says. "I wouldn't have got out of the car in that and you know it. Don't need to be on the field to hack and I’m more than comfy camping in the car to save these threads." He sprawls further across the couch, glancing over to Jeremy, who was still uncharacteristically quiet. It was enough that it was starting to alert Gavin, who often was the least aware of these things. "What the hell are you doing, J?" he asks. "More than enough room on the couch, don’t gotta stand there like a lump.”

Jeremy turns to look at him, trying to school his expression into something normal, when a lot of things happen at once. A crack of thunder bursts through the tiny one bedroom, feeling like it shakes the apartment from top to bottom, volume tremendous. The rain, already heavy, seems to increase. Gavin yelps from the thunder and again as a large drop falls from a brown patch on the ceiling to hit him on the head, whining wordlessly.  

Before anyone can really get their bearings or react to what had just happened, the power flickers once… twice… 

“This place is bloody shit,” Gavin pouts, sitting up from the couch, wiping the dirty water out of his hair grumpily, and looking over at the others as the lights flicker. “Power’s not going to last.”

Michael glances between the two of them and frowns as he sees Jeremy just sort of … standing there. Face white, as if he had seen a ghost, just staring up at the light. “Lil J?”

Before he can say anything else, the lights plunge into darkness as another huge crash of thunder breaks across the sky, causing all three of them to jump this time. The rain continues, slamming against the ceiling as if it wants to get in. Michael abandons questioning Jeremy as the whole kitchen shuts off, swearing and immediately trying to save the half-cooked ramen that immediately just sort of starts to congeal. "Fuck!"

But Gavin had caught the look in Jeremy's eyes before everything goes dark as well. He pulls out his phone again quickly, fiddling until the flashlight illuminates them both. Jeremy isn't looking at the ceiling anymore, instead staring blankly at the rain hitting the window…

It's dark. 

He huddles behind a dumpster, shivering, hoping that the rain would pass before it fully washes away his pathetic shelter. He was kicked out of the fuckin' T stop by a worker who threatened to call the cops. Like it would mean anything to anyone if he just hung out in the dry for a while, but no, they chased him back out into the oncoming storm. Fuckin' Masshole. Although, he was one too, but at least he had the decency to let people stay dry before he tried to rob them.

He could go back to the gym, but his boss was there, and he didn't want to deal with any of them. So he'd just wait out the storm in the dark, trying not to get too soaked, and hope that it passed fast enough...

"Jeremy!" Gavin was shaking him, enough to rattle him out of the memory that crashed over him like a wave. Was he sweating? He felt damp, but maybe it was just the memory. 

"Huh?"

“Bloody hell,” Gavin retorts, shaking his head in relief. “I was gonna slap you next if you didn’t answer. You just went comatose on me there, man. You look sick, what the hell’s the matter? You need me to call Jack?”

Jeremy allows Gavin to manhandle him towards the couch, feeling like he was walking through a dream. He keeps trying to look back out the window until Gavin, frustrated, throws the curtain and blocks the view of the rain and lightning outside.

Michael abandons his attempt to get the stove to restart, swearing, and they all jump again as the whole place illuminates with a flash of lightning. "Fucking thing's dead until the power comes back," he grunts. "Guess we're having crackers for dinner. What the fuck's up with J?" He turns to look at the two of them with his concerned snarl, where you weren’t quite sure if you were in trouble or if he was going to angrily ‘mom’ you.

“Spooked of something,” Gavin frowns, sitting beside Jeremy on the couch and gently taking one of his hands, in an uncharacteristic show of comfort outside the bedroom. “Talk to us, J. Are you hurt?”

Jeremy seems to shrink into himself as the lightning continues to crash around them, obvious even through the closed curtains, flashes of light flickering across his face before plunging them back into darkness. They can barely see if it wasn't for the light of Gav's phone. 

"I'm fine," he finally says roughly, shaking his head and seeming like he was snapping out of his trance. "I’m just gonna go to bed." He tries to stand up, to shy away from them. Maybe sleep would make him not see the memories flash before his eyes. The trauma that curled like a snake in his gut.

The lulls in the storm always were what got him. That moment when you thought that the rain was over and everything settles, silent, sparkling. When he could come out from wherever he was hiding, start moving down the street, looking for better shelter. 

And then the rain comes again, harder, the sky screaming and crashing, whipping across the ground out of nowhere. He's soaked and freezing, trying to run to shelter, but people don't want him around.

Gavin and Michael exchange worried glances but both move to follow him, not wanting to leave him alone like this. It takes a bit of fumbling in the dark to find the bed, using the lightning flashes to direct them. Jeremy still jumps with every one, and even more with the roaring thunder.

Ignoring the others and really trying to swallow back the embarrassment in his throat at all of this, Jeremy just toes off his work boots and climbs into the bed, hoping in the warmth of the covers and blankets he could avoid the thoughts leaping out from where he thought he had banished them. It’s hard, though. They keep piling over each other to take up space in his brain. He wishes they would just go away, thought that by moving to a desert city he wouldn’t have to deal with storms of Boston caliber ever again. It’s certainly been a long time, but every place needs rain once in a while, and the roof can hardly hold up against this monstrosity. The wind howls around the corners, whips through the cracks, screaming and howling as it tries to shake the whole apartment loose from its foundation.

Despite trying to be, though, Jeremy isn’t alone. Almost as one, Gavin and Michael are quick to curl into the bed with him. Neither were the most tactful “cuddlers” — their current relationship was mostly confined to wild sexcapades — but damned if they weren’t going to try when they see one of their own so distressed. Michael yanks Jeremy into his arms as Gavin wraps his spindly arms around from behind, cocooning Jeremy in a bundle of limbs. “Fuck, Jeremy,” Michael frowns. “You’re shaking.”

It’s awkward and a bit poky, but Jeremy can’t help but relax, the feral part of his brain knowing these boys are his boys and trusting them to somewhere deeply instinctual to keep him safe. A primal part of him saying that it’s ok to draw comfort from them. “...’m fine,” he grunts. A lie, but it feels good to pretend.

“I don’t want you to lie to us,” Michael frowns, laying his chin on his head and dropping a rough kiss there. “You don’t have to. Let us help.”

The thunder cracks again and instead of responding, Jeremy just makes a low noise from somewhere deep inside and shrinks deeper into their embrace. He doesn’t answer, because what would he say? He can't describe a life of trauma in a few minutes. He knows the boys with him won't judge him, that they'll understand and both had shit of their own, but he doesn't even know where to begin.

Gavin just holds him tight, shushing him softly and rubbing his back. “Just breathe, luv,” he murmurs. “We’re here. You’re ok.” It’s easier for him to be comforting without gaining anything from it, a warmth blooming inside him to know he’s helping Jeremy. 

"Don't like thunder," Jeremy grits through clenched teeth, somewhere inside the pile. Michael snorts a bit at the obvious.

“That’s alright,” Gavin hums, somewhat more respectful. “We gathered that. Just take deep breaths and we’ll get through the storm together, alright?”

“Aren’t you gonna make fun of me?” Jeremy retorts darkly. Normally it’d be something they’d do, none of the Fakes are above a lot of casual teasing. “I’m — fuckin’ — a bank robber and I can’t handle a little thunder.”

“Gav’s a fucking bank robber too and he gags at wet bread,” Michael teases. “Geoff’s fucking scared of heights every time Jack flies, to the point where he has to sit in the middle of the cargobob or he’ll piss himself. We all have our shit. Doesn’t mean you’re not still part of the team.”

Jeremy’s quiet for a moment before he turns to glance over at Michael, flushing a bit. Despite their … carnal relations… Michael is rarely so affectionate. But it’s nice. “I guess,” he says roughly after a second. “Seems fuckin’ dumb, though.”

“Brains can be stupid,” Gavin chuckles. “But fear is fear. Just means we’re here to help you through it.”

“You gonna let us help you through wet bread?” Michael chuckles as Gavin squawks. The rain continues to rap sharply on the roof and the window and Jeremy is almost thrown once again into another memory of a similar room, a similar rainstorm, being shoved out and alone, his whole world disappearing, but…

Gavin’s arms tighten just gently, the warmth surrounding, and they ground him, connect him to the world around him. Michael can feel him starting to spiral again and wraps his arms again over both of them, only adding more warmth and pressure for Jeremy, like a human weighted blanket. Gavin continues to rub his back and the panic eases, making breathing a bit easier.

He leans against them both as they hold him. “Thanks,” he squeaks. “Appreciate it.”

“We can stay here until the storm passes,” Michael hums. “The good news is they don’t last too long here.”

“I’m not going out in that,” Gavin says immediately. Instead, he burrows farther into the pile, as if it can protect him. “Listen to the wind, and I’ve got my clothes to worry about.”

“No one’s moving from this bed,” Jeremy agrees quietly. “We can put some music or videos on our phones?” Michael suggests. “Help block out some of the sound.” But he makes no move to untwine himself from the comforting pile. There’s something so warm and safe here that even he can feel.

Jeremy sinks against them, glancing out what parts of the window he can see to watch the pounding rain. But this time, he forces himself to realize, he’s inside with the warmth of his two favorite people flanking on either side of him. 

He wasn’t alone, in the dark and the wet. 

He was safe. Loved.

Both hold him tight, stealing a kiss or two, just trying to provide as much comfort as they can. It’s not hard to see that they all enjoy this. Maybe this was something they could do often. Not only using each other’s bodies for pleasure, but cuddles too. More soft things. They can be soft, which is a luxury not many in Los Santos can afford.

Jeremy just closes his eyes and releases a sigh, letting them hold him tight against the pounding of the rain. Grounding and protecting him. It’s quiet for a moment before he speaks. “I was kicked out of my old gang during a thunderstorm,” he finally says, more to the ceiling than to the others.

Michael instinctively holds him a little tighter. “Fuck them. Leaving you in the fucking rain. You’re better than them.”

He snorts. “Maybe. Found you guys cuz of it though, so it must not have been all bad.”

“You found where you’re supposed to be,” Gavin agrees fimly. “Though, I wish it had been a kinder road to get here.”

“None of us had kind roads to get here, Gav,” Michael retorts.

Gavin sighs. “I know. But at least we’re here now.”

That statement seems to echo through the old apartment. In different safehouses across Los Santos, the Fakes were shaking off a stressful heist, celebrating in whatever way they wanted, and finding their own beds. And here, three men — a bit rough around the edges but still looking and finding that comfort we all crave — cuddle together. Warm and safe, away from the horrors of the world.

Here now, together.

#fahc #fake ah crew #ragehappy #michael/gavin/jeremy #ah #my writing

[creeperchild]

Hey I know that Valentines day was a month ago but I wanted to ask you if you can do some FNAF Valentines day scenario for these characters Withered Bonnie, Springtrap, Circus Baby, Ennard, Nightmare Chica, Funtime Freddy, and Nightmare

Okay now valentine's day has been nearly a half year over (I am lazy as fuck) but we can still enjoy some cozy times with those cuties!

We also gonna assume that they will live in your house. Maybe you stole them. Who knows? (You thief)

Withered Bonnie:

-Despite missing a face he was never anxious about showing affection to you.

- that rusty wreck will dig up roses from the neightbours garden just to please you for one moment.

-your affection to him drives him more and more to you.

-he tries to find the coolest gifts for you, because he thought chocolate was overrated on that day.

-having one arm never stopped him to make you a fancy dinner.

-he will always tries to grab your hand, like if he get lost if not.

-he is very stubborn and strong, but get weak knees of the thought of you. You just know he is a softy for you.

Springtrap:

-that angry, foul egg always hated that day. But he liked you, alot. So he accepted that lovely dovey day with you, but with a few grunts and huffs.

- you always thought feeding him chocolate was funny, 'cause he starts to get away in every way possible. He acted such like a child.

-When you got actually angry with him, he never apologized, well with words. He always will sit next to you on the couch and forces you onto his lap, huddled up like a little baby.

-He will gaze down to you and gently rubs your back and head. He knew you will enjoy it and carresses you to sleep.

-and his bunny tail wags WHEN HE IS FLUSTERED!

Circus Baby:

-She was always more the quiet, calculated type of robot.

-she always liked to go on a long walk with you. Just you and her. Alone.

-she never needed anybody, but you.

-for some reason Baby always knew where she was going and brought you the most amazing places.

-you usually say down together and watch the sunset.

-she can be very cold at some points, but you knew she doesn't mean it.

-she shows her affection in small gesture, like calling you darling.

Ennard:

- the jumbled spaghetti mess is all over the place. He is quiet anxious about what to do.

-he will always ask if you are happy with his gifts for you, cause always one of the funtimes thinks it wasn't a good one.

-exspecially on that day, he was more puzzled and irritated than any other day.

-he was affection starved. So every approval of your side made him the happiest spaghetti monster alive.

-He also like to overdue things for you. Every one of the funtimes has their own idea of doing something nice for you. Combine all of them and you have a full blasted day of entertainment, treats, gifts and affection.

-He would never let anyone get close to you. He always gets protective over you. He might be anxious but who can overpower an huge animatronic. He knew about that for sure.

-sometimes he can forget gifts in some odd places with his messy mind. So you can find moldy chocolate in the airflow system in your house months later.

Nightmare Chica:

-that big chicken might be scary looking but is a lovely person...animatronic.

- she doesn't really like the thought of just giving you chocolate. It's too cliche for her. Her gifts are well thought through and precise. She exactly knows what you want.

-due her huge size he can kiss your forehead with no problem, unless you duck.

-to tease you she will pick you up in bridle style and says how good looking you are today.

-she will give you alot of compliments. No joke. She can boost your confidence up to the sky!

-she is also making sure that you feel the most comfortable as possible. Asking you over and over again if you need something.

Funtime Freddy:

-The quirky pink bear will go nuts on that day. Claiming that day is his special day because he is pink and such. So his main goal is to spoil you to the rotten core.

-planning months ahead he will make you dozens of gifts, handmade most likely. Drawing, sculptures and other nice stuff.

-oh and he will give you diabetes, cause he will buy the store empty with all the chocolate he can carry. He loves chocolate and everything sweet. So he guess you will love it too.

-also toys that he think are cool. At the end he plays with them more than you are.

-he loves to be silly and play fight with you  He sometimes bites. Not to hard. But it might gives you bruises. He thinks it's a way to show affection.

-he gets super excited when he sees you and calls you different names. Cutie, sweetheart, marshmallow and other cute nicknames.

-you barely can catch a break when he is powered up. Building pillow fords to playing video games he wants to spend the whole day with you.

-when you call him a nickname his pupils dilate bigger and he will give you a puppy eyes-kinda look. Very cute!

Nightmare:

-Nightmare is more quiet and grumpy.

-sometimes it feels he doesn't care. But he dominant demeanor shows it differently.

-flirting with you was one of guilty pleasures.

-he likes to catch you off guard and pin you against a wall, running a claw along your throat. Very carefully though.

-he always liked to have you around him. He likes to see you being a flustered mess in any shape or form.

-he is also good to cuddle with too. He is basically a oversized teddy bear.

Please send more! Asksssss

#valentine #fnaf #fnaf2 #fnaf3 #fnaf4 #fnaf sister location #reader #cute #funtime freddy #ennard #circus baby #nightmare #nightmare chica #springtrap #withere bonnie

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Horrortale : Rotten Apple - Chapter 3

Hello ! Here goes our chapter 3 ! Sans i shaving a nice chat and Papyrus a very bad time. Somehow, the translation of this chapter turned out even more dramatic than in the french version krkrkr. Sorry not sorry.

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Read on AO3 - CLICK HERE Read from the beginning - CLICK HERE Previous chapter - CLICK HERE Next chapter - CLICK HERE

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Chapter 3 : The Old Lady of the Ruins

Sans was one of the rare monsters to have known the Ruins, soon after monsterkind had been locked down in the Mountain. Walking in these quiet decrepit dark hallways made him feel very weird. It didn’t look like the time he lived here : everything was falling apart and a moldy smell was floating all around him. Some inconspicuous monsters were still roaming here and there : Froggits, Whimsuns… A lot of low HP monsters, just like him, who came here to search protection of the ancient Queen. Did they even know who she was ? Seeing them running away as her shadow appeared at the corner, probably.

They stopped near a huge door, which was separated the long corridor who was leading to the rest of the Underground and the Ruins. On the wall and the floor, some black spots indicated the skeleton that something had burn recently. Frisk explained to him that Toriel tried to prevent them to leave, and he could easily guess how. Usually, he was standing far away from fire magic type of monsters. Widespread around Hotlands, it was a powerful magic and able to make last damages. If some monsters were immune to it, like Undyne, a little flamme could dust him instantly in his cas.

Still silent, Toriel led him to a big staircase. She glared a moment at him to make sure her friend was still following her, then went upstairs. Sans was very surprised to find himself immediately in her home. Even if he was technically close of the monarch family at the time, he never had a chance to visit their house. Well, he was already taking care of his young brother, even if he was not orphan yet at this point, and he didn’t really have time to do these sorts of things.

The house decoration was simple but welcoming. Family portraits and photographies recovered the walls : some of Asriel, the young fallen prince, but also Chara, his adoptive human sibling, who died the same day than him. Sans was too young to understand the gravity of the situation when the prince dusted in the royal palace garden. He noticed his neighbor’s pain and trouble, of course, but both his brother and him had been put aside, like every time something big was concerning his father’s job. He was the old royal scientist, before Alphys, but then he got forgotten from everyone except, unfortunately, Sans.

The Queen pushed him in a cosy living-room, and made a sign towards a wood table and some chairs so he can take place and make himself at home, then she escaped towards an other room, which must had be the kitchen. A little smile lightened Sans face. Asgore’s living-room looked very similar to this one. Toriel came back with the biggest pie he had never seen and put him on the table. She cut a part that was equivalent to the height of Papyrus’ face and put it down delicately on a way too-small plate, before decorating it with whipped cream tips all around the piece of cake. Sans contemplated the pie for a while, weighing the pros and the cons of eating this before the forty pounds of his brother’s special dinner spaghettis. Oh well, he didn’t travel this far to get back with an empty stomach, right ? He took the spoon and took a large bite. That was actually far better than Papyrus cooking.

He ate for a bit in silence before shyly raising the eyesockets to cross her eyes. Despite his apparent confidence, Sans was actually very bashful with strangers, even if Toriel was far away from one at this point. He didn’t even say a word since he passed the Ruins door, like he was scared it would change something between them. He knew it was kinda stupid, but now she was facing him, she looked very intimidating.

Fortunately, Toriel was used to speak with almost everyone and she put an end to the incipient discomfort.

“So, my mysterious door friend is a skeleton. Well, I mean, the jokes kinda make on the track, but… Were you not all extincted by the end of the war ?”

“Eh, that’s what people keep saying me since I’m a babybones. We are the last ones, my brother and I. But I guess it give us some kind of attractivity.” he winked. “I’m pretty sure Pap’ will made women fall at his feet when he will learn how to flirt correctly. Well, if he is even into women. He kinda have a crush for Mettaton I think.”

“Mettaton ? Who’s that ?”

Sans opened eyes wide. That was true ! He didn’t see any television here. What a chance ! He was dreaming of a night when he wouldn’t here Papyrus yelled Mettaton shows answers while he was watching television during his insomnia crisis. Well… It was kinda his fault too. Younger, when he needed time to work quietly, he put Papyrus in front of the TV and the little skeleton, captivate, didn’t say a thing for a few hours. Unfortunately, when he grew up, it became obsessive and Papyrus didn’t wanted to miss one new show, as cliche, stupid and boring it was.

“He’s… What you could call the closest of a TV presenter down here. It’s a ghost that fused with a robotic envelop created by doctor Alphys, the current royal scientist. He’s very popular since Asgore walked him everywhere in the Underground some time ago.”

“Asgore took a new royal scientist ?” she asked on a colder tone.

“Because there was one before ?” he answered innocently.

She seemed to think for a while and frowned. Sans already knew what she was going to say, but he still hoped that, maybe one day, someone could finally answered “yes” to this question.

“I… I have to confess that I don’t know anymore. I’m here for so long now that… I didn’t even thought I would have to get out someday eventually. So, you said Asgore is…”

“Yes, unfortunately. The major problem is that, in a few hours, everyone will think that Frisk killed him. The Royal Guard captain, Undyne, is very affected by his death and I’m a bit scared she could react out of anger. I send my brother to hold her back, but I doubt that will be enough. As long as I’m here, she can’t technically do anything, but, to be honest, I would gladly prefer she don’t approach the throne at all.”

“Why that ?”

“It’s not… It’s not that she is bad, she is actually a very caring type of people, but I’m afraid her error of judgement will affect what she will decide next. Asgore was her mentor, he taught her everything he knew and she will pursue his work. Now, I knew that Asgore didn’t really plan to use the souls against the humans anymore, he kept saying this so people wouldn’t lose hope, but Undyne… Undyne will go for war, for revenge. And the fact is that we are only a few monster. If we’re getting out and attacking humans, we’re all dead. The thing is, I know she will never listen to me, even with evidences, she is too much stubborn for this. But I can assure you that Frisk didn’t kill Asgore.”

He reached for he pocket and put the piece of paper he found in Asgore’s clothes in front of Toriel. A smile appeared on her face as she followed the childish letters with her finger.

“I believe you, Sans.” she answered to reassure him. “I saw that child made their way out of the Ruins by flirting with Froggits and having a deep conversation with a dummy. They never hurt anyone, even when… When I tried to stop them from leaving.”

“Same for me.” answered Sans with a nostalgic smile. “I followed them from Snowdin to the doors of the royal garden, and all they were was kind and merciful. They even made Papyrus smiled again, for real, and I was scared that it was not possible to do so anymore. I’m sure they’ll coming back, they are capable to change things for the best. But if we want them to be welcoming as a friend, maybe it would be better if you could take the throne back. As least for now.”

“So… You mentioned you were a Concil member ?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m the Judge. Asgore said I was very talented for that, even if… Well, Undyne will probably jerk on my backbone a lot after that. I didn’t kill the kid in Snowdin and I kinda was the last one to see them before they entered the throne room. After that, I don’t know what happened between the King and the kid. I woke up in the Judgement Hall, and then I went to see if everything was alright and that’s where I found Asgore’s…. Well, you know.”

“I think you are being very harsh with yourself. You stayed loyal to our promise until the very end despite the difficulty of the situation. You can be very proud of yourself, and I want you to know that you have my eternal gratitude. And of course, my friend, I am going to help you. That is the least I can do for all the risky things I make you get through recently.”

She sipped some tea and sweeped a gaze at the living-room. She smiled at Sans.

“We should go then. The day is gonna be very long, old friend.”

*********

Out of breath, Papyrus didn’t remember he ran so much in one day before. The puzzles recalibration, the fight against the human, the training with Undyne, the sprint after her when she decided to get back to the King castle : it was a little too much for one skeleton, as handsome, great and athletic he was. His long red scarf fled behind him as the temperature was getting hotter and hotter. He hated Hotlands.

Undyne was only a few feets away from him now, he could see his red quilt nodded on the rythm of the captain rageous steps.

“Undyne ! Wait !” he begged, exhausted.

She turned slightly, rolled her eyes at him and continued her way on a quickier step. What Papyrus could see this brief moment on her face worried him even more. Tears had traced long furrows on his dark blue cheeks and her expression was the expression of someone in great distress. He never saw her like that, and it made him froze for a second. Undyne was always the one who the more confident of the both of them. He never thought she could one day be fragile, scared and sad.

The other thing that worried him was that she was never gonna let him approach while she was showing a sign of weakness. Even if they both would have hate the comparison, Undyne was just like Sans in her all manner : she was giving the illusion to be strong and that she could overpass everything, but it was just a way to hide everything that went wrong. However, if Sans was drowning his anger and pain in an absolute silence, Undyne could rapidly get overwhelmed by her emotions and snapped in a blink of an eye.

The skeleton hesitated on the way of approach her. If he went frankly, she would instantly reject him. If he was too compassionate,  she would yell at him that she didn’t want his pity. He turned that puzzle in his head again and again, but there wasn’t any solution where he could hold her back without hurt her more in the process. But in the meantime, he couldn’t disappoint Sans ! For once, he actually implicated him in one of his big problems. He wanted to prove to him that he could trust him so that, maybe, it will cheer him later to talk more on his feelings and secrets. But this was less urgent right now. One thing at the time, one logic element after the other.

He pushed on his legs a little more and finally managed to catch Undyne arm. She stopped and looked at him. She was angry. He could read it in her eyes. That was not a good idea. He shouldn’t interfere. But he was also her friend ! He was going to handle this. Breath, Papyrus, breath.

“I… I wanted to say that I’m sorry.” he said with apprehension. “I know you really care about Asgore, but… Undyne, I think you are misjudging the situation. You are… You…”

Undyne dangerously got closer to his face. Even if she was technically a little smaller than him, she got on the point of her feet to have him in the eyes. Taken aback, Papyrus felt very uncomfortable. Before today, he always considered Undyne more as a friend that as her upper hierarchy boss. It was not his friend he had under the eyes, it was the Captain of the Royal Guard. Her harsh look, her face deformed by anger froze him in fear.

She clenched her fists and Papyrus stepped backward. Was she gonna hurt him ? No, Undyne would never, right ? She was her friend. He felt his soul beating faster when she stepped forward and violently pull his scarf to her.

“What am I misjudging, Papyrus ?!” she assaulted him verbally. “Do you think I am overeacting ?! That I am angry ?! Yes, I am ! Of course, I am ! If I had killed that fucking human like I was supposed to, we wouldn’t be here today ! How can YOU be so fucking calm ?! We are not talking about a broken window, Papyrus ! The King is dead, the souls are gone and because of YOUR human friend we’re all doomed to wait for death here !”

“Undyne, please…”

“No ! Shut up !” Papyrus blenched, but she didn’t let go of his scarf. “I thought you would have learned a thing since I know you and now look where we are ! I never wanted to be friend with that murderer ! I done it only because of YOU ! Your brother were supposed to be the Judge, to stop him ! And you… YOU, you made a friend of it !”

She violently push him back. Papyrus overbalanced and fell on the back, panting. His head hurt a rock with so much force that, for a few second, he saw some sparks dancing in front of his eyesockets. His soul beat faster when she approached slowly, the eyes as dark as the night and spear in hand. Papyrus was terrified. She wasn’t herself. She wasn’t going to stop here.

“You want me to be honest with you ?! You’ll never be a royal guard, you hear me ? Royal guards don’t protect murderers. Royal guards don’t be fool like you are. That’s not naivety, that’s stupidity. I don’t want to see your face at my door ever again.”

“Undyne, please, stop…” he begged, tears in the eyes. “I know you are not like this ! You don’t think what you’re saying and you are angry. I want to help you ! Beat me up won’t resolve anything !”

“SHUT UP !” she yelled. She raised her hand and crushed her fist in his head. “You can’t help me !” She hit a second time. “No one can fucking help me !”

Papyrus put his hands defensively in front of his face. “Please ! I don’t want to fight you !” he implored, the voice cracking. In two hits, she had ripped half of his life points. If she continued like this, she would kill me. “You are scaring me !”

Undyne was about to throw her spear when she stopped. She brutally realised what she was about to do. She backed away like a lightning stroke her and slowly looked down at him. Her eyes went from her fists to Papyrus face, and then she released the grip on her spear. She let go an horrified sob and ran away.

The skeleton did nothing to hold her back this time. Everything had be said, and even if he would have wanted to, he didn’t have the force to argue with her again. He whined when he tried to seat. The right part of his face was badly hurting. He tapped the floor to find his phone and open the camera application. It was even more bad now. There was cracks all around the place where Undyne fist hit him, and some of them were going to the bad of his head. Some were leaking a orange liquid. That couldn’t be good.

He felt his soul beat faster at the thought Sans was going to see this. There was no way he wouldn’t see this ! He had to find an excuse quickly. He tried to get up but a huge throbbing pain in his skull forced him to lay back on the floor. He cried of pain and whimpered. He tried to reach his heal magic, but it made the things worse. He didn’t have a choice.

With regret, he opened his phone again and, with trembling hands, called Sans. It was better he knew now anyway. If he had find out by himself, only Asgore knew what he could have done to Undyne. And he couldn’t lay here eternally anyway.

“Pap ?” he heard.

“Hey… S…”

He stopped and cough violently. More of that orange liquid fell out of his jaw. He laid his head on his arm and burst in tears from pain.

“Pap ?! Papyrus ?! Papyrus, answer me ! What is happening ?! Where are you ?” panicked Sans.

“It hurts, Sans” he cried. “It hurts so much… I… Hotlands, close to the… the lab…”

“I’m coming, ok big guy ? Don’t move and, uh, don’t close your eyes, ok ?”

“... Ok…”

He hanged up. Papyrus caught his legs and bring them back to his torso in an attempt to put himself in a fetal position. He was still panting. That was more and more worrying.

Sans voice echoed somewhere near, screaming his name. He felt even worse. Not only he failed comforting Undyne, but now his brother was going to worry too. He lift weakly the head. Sans was at the edge of a little natural rock bridge he passed on sooner, a white silhouette that was strangely similar to Asgore was following him. When he made eye contact, Sans teleported next to him instantly, and started to palping him, panicked.

“What happen to you ? Are you hurt ? You…”

His eyesockets went completely black when he discovered the cracks running all over his face. He put a finger on it and Papyrus whined painfully. Asgore, well, the lady that looked like Asgore, sat down next to him. She took gently but firmly Sans hand away, then raised Papyrus head on her knees. She put a hand on his front, the other one on his chest, and soon, an soothing magic started to regenerate his vitality. The pain went away a few second later and Papyrus let out a sigh of relief. Little by little, the cracks resorbed and he felt better.

“Is… Is he gonna be ok ?” asked Sans, who was holding his hand tight.

“Yes. I don’t know what happened, but you don’t get cracks like this just by falling on a rock. He has a very big head trauma. You are very tough and brave Papyrus, most monsters would have faint by now. I’m stabilizing him. He will be able to get up in a few minutes.”

“Sans ?” called Papyrus with a very pitiful voice. “Is it Lady Asgore ?”

“Her name is Toriel.” he giggled. “And she’s right. What happened to you ?”

Papyrus deflected the eyes, but Sans caught his jaw with his other hand and forced him to look at his brother.

“It’s Undyne, isn’t it ?” he asked aggressively.

“She… She didn’t want to… I know that was not what she wanted to do. She was just angry and maybe I pushed her to much and I-I-I hurt her more than I intended to and please, don’t be angry at her…”

“She hurt you very badly, Pap’ ! And worse, she literally abandoned you like this ! What shitty kind of friend is doing that ?! And what would have happened if you had faint, or if you didn’t have the force to call me or…” He took a second to calm the crack in his voice. “Angry or not, what she had just done to you is abject. She has no right to abuse you because she is in pain, you are not a punching ball.”

“Are you mad at me ?”

“What ? No ! Of course not ! I am mad at her ! She could have kill you Papyrus ! I’m not letting this go without consequences !”

Toriel put an hand on his shoulder. Sans was panting and out of breath.

“It’s ok, friend. There’s no need to hurt both of you more than necessarily, right ? We’re going to confront her when time will be at our advantage. You said we needed to see the royal scientist, right ? If my memories are still correct, it’s close. I think we should go before the Council.”

“Right.” answered Sans, reluctantly. “Let’s put you back on your legs, bro.”

With the help of Toriel and Sans - well, more Toriel than Sans -, Papyrus managed to get up. He was still shivering a little. The three of them walked slowly towards the lab.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Toriel.” suddenly said Papyrus on the way. “I am the great Papyrus. I’m so sorry for this absolutely non-pleasant meeting. I wish I could have been more presentable in front of the future queen.”

“Really nice to meet you too.” she answered, smiling. “I heard a lot about you. Your brother can be quite inexhaustible when he’s praising your prowesses. I can even said he is quite…”

“Oh no, I had such a bad feeling about this.”

“... Gagarus !” she giggled, Sans obviously following her.

“Nyeh ! I changed my mind, please let me here !” he took offense.

More relaxed, the three of them finally reached the laboratory. Things were about to get more complicated.

#undertale #horrortale #rotten apple #undertale sans #horrortale sans #undertale toriel #horrortale toriel #undertale papyrus #horrortale papyrus #undertale undyne #horrortale undyne #undertale fanfiction #horrortale fanfiction #fanfiction #undertale au #undertale ask blog

[floral-on-main]

I Would Dye For You

Summary: Lydia needs to re-dye her hair. She gets some help from the resident Ghost with the Most. It goes surprisingly well, all things considered. A sequel to Back To My Roots (No ship!)

Also on ao3. Words: 2279

Getting the hair dye was easy enough. No petty theft or step-mother begging needed. All it took was to ask her dad to pick it up on a grocery run. Then 3 to 5 business days later, Lydia had her box of black dye in hand. She couldn't help but think back to Beej's off hand comment about dyeing his own hair. She had no idea why a demon with color changing hair would want to dye it, but it couldn't hurt to indulge him.

Yes it could. Lydia knew it could, but this seemed relatively harmless.

So on her next mother-daughter bonding activity with Delia the two went to the mall. Of course Delia had to check out the recently opened shop of Spiritual Wellness. And of course Lydia had to go into the store that was blaring metal music and lined with walls with even more metal. She passed by another row of piercings before coming across a lone stand of hair products.

On the shelf was brushes shaped like skulls, neon colored hair clips, animal eared headbands, and a sizable selection of hair dyes. The majority were various shades of black, but a couple stood out with obnoxious packaging and color. Green, red, blue, purple, all colors she had already seen on BJ. She doubt there would be much of an impact if his hair  didn't look any different. It was then she noticed a single box of pink dye stowed in the back behind the red.

Before she could second guess her actions, she purchased the bubblegum pink dye. Delia was near the entrance of the store perusing the crystal jewelry on display. From the look on her face, it seemed she didn't appreciate how almost none of the jewelry had actual stones and was just colored plastic. For once Lydia had to agree with her.

The ride home was quiet, almost pleasant. Lydia and Delia still didn't agree on most subjects, but they were growing closer. A family disaster would do that to people. Lydia now near that Delia wasn't naive or air-headed, just sickeningly optimistic.

As she raced inside Delia wished her the best of luck. It seemed Delia always had to get the last word in when parting. Lydia threw the door open to her room to find it thankfully empty. She knew Beetlejuice would show up eventually, but she didn't want his help right now. She placed the box of pink dye on her bed before grabbing the black dye from her wardrobe. Before leaving, she made sure to leave a note besides the dye that read 'For you. DO NOT EAT'.

Gloves on and brush in hand, Lydia was ready to rid herself of her loathsome roots. The only thing stopping her was the sound of moping on the other side of the bathroom door. Looks like Beej found her note. She took a deep, calming breath before kicking open the door. The sound of a surprised yelp soothed something primal inside her. Serves him right.

Lydia and Beej glared at each other in various states of ridiculousness. One knocked on his ass in a grungy suit, the other in a black stained floral robe and cheap plastic gloves.

“Give me ten minutes and then I'll do yours.”

Beej gave her a thumbs up. With that, she shut the door and made quick work of covering her roots. Beetlejuice leaned against the wall beside the door. He knew he was being a nuisance and he reveled in it. But he honestly did want her to finish up so he could get his hair done. God-slash-Satan, he really hoped the dye stuck in his hair. His suit could stain and he didn't want to look like he took a dip in Pepto Bismol. Never again.

The door opened just a sliver. Lydia's eye could be seen from the crack. Beej gave her big ol' puppy dog eyes, complete with dog tags and being housebroken. “Come in. Keep still or I <i> will</i> tell Delia that you're the reason her crystals have been going missing recently.”

“I told you that in confidence! But I understand where you're coming from.” With a snap of his fingers Beetlejuice was hogtied on the floor.

“Why are you like this?” She rolled her eyes while placing the box's contents on the counter. She donned the crappy gloves and mixed the dye with practiced skill. Beej hovered over her shoulder to see what she was doing, now free of his conjured bonds.

“Sit down, BJ. This is gonna take a while.” With a theatrical groan Beetlejuice sat on the edge of the bathtub.

Despite his normal jittery behavior, Beej managed to stay relatively skill as Lydia brushed in the heavily pigmented color. He even stayed quiet until Lydia was done. “Now we just have to wait,” she checked the box, “thirty minutes”.

That broke the flood gates and the two fell into their usual conversation topics. The main highlight being the chaos in the Deetz-Maitland household.

“I don't see why Chuck got so bent outta shape about Ginger visiting. Her dancing could use some work, but as far as spiders go, she's harmless.”

All Lydia could do was nod in agreement.

“She has nothing on that giant motherfucker Donna found in the closet.”

“Weren't you the one that put it in there?”

“Yeah, but that isn't the point, Lyds.”

Lydia washed her hair in the sink while continuing their conversation. “Bertha got braces recently.”

“What did she break? I didn't take her as the cool type.”

“Braces on her teeth, asshole. Also, breaking bones isn't cool. It's painful.”

“I've broken tons of bones in the name of a good time. You breathers got plenty of bones, doesn't matter if you break a couple.”

“Just because bones heal and carpets can be replaced doesn't mean we should go crazy stupid.” A brief moment passed. “We need to wait until we're alone, at least.”

The timer on Lydia's phone went off. She grabbed the shower head and brandished it it like a knife. “Now lean back so I can wash that excess out of your hair.”

His eyes narrowed. “Over my undead body.”

Just as he made a move to get up, his face was doused in lukewarm water. In that instant Beetlejuice resigned himself to, he shuddered, getting clean. Or his hair getting clean at least. Only two people could get him to willingly bathe and they were both dead.

After seven minutes, Beej was released to shake out his hair. Lydia was honestly surprised that no one came up to check on the sound of a cat being drowned. Looks like everyone had gotten somewhat desensitized to their shenanigans.

The time on her phone said dinner would be ready soon. Might as well head down now and get the questions out of the way. She met Beej at the end of the hall. How the fuck did he manage to get his hair dry already? Whatever, it's probably demon magic.

The dye seemed to be holding in pretty well. There wasn't a single splotch of pink on his hands or his suit. Could all dead people dye their hair? Was a demon thing, a demon that was alive for thirty seconds thing, or just a Beetlejuice thing?

The two descended the stairs in silence, after a quick shove match.

Delia was the first to notice the pair. She set the salad bowl alongside the plate of what looked like green spaghetti. She quickly took a seat with the rest of the adults, mentally preparing herself for whatever would come next. At the same time, Lydia and Beetlejuice prepared themselves for what the family had to say.

The most surprised actually seemed to be Delia. If she thought Lydia was going to use pink dye on herself Delia was delusional. Charles did a double take, but aside from that he didn't act out of the ordinary. It seemed he had already gotten used to the unusual happenings of his family. Lydia and Beetlejuice would have to set something on fire next week to keep him on his toes.

The Maitlands had absolutely no reaction. No gasps of surprise. No lecture about dyeing a violent demon's hair. Not even words of enthusiastic encouragement. The two ghosts just sat at the table and made polite conversation.

Beetlejuice took his now customary seat across from the Maitlands. The three dead members acted just like they normally did. That was somehow the most strange and abnormal thing Lydia had witnessed all day.

The food was tasty, even the pesto pasta. Of course Beej made a comment about its resemblance to moldy worms. Dinner as usual.

The semi-awkward, semi-peaceful silence was surprisingly broken by Charles. “Your hair looks exceptionally vibrant tonight, Mr. Juice.”

For some reason, Adam and Barbra broke into a fit of poorly concealed giggles. Lydia shot a confused look at Beej. He shrugged, but clearly knew something.

She pushed the salad around her plate, acting as nonchalant as possible. “I helped him dye it earlier.”

That got a reaction out of the Maitlands. They both looked confused and then looked at Beetlejuice. Hopefully their couple's telepathy wasn't rubbing off on him. It was weird enough how they always seemed to know what the other was thinking.

“I figured Beej wouldn't want a color he couldn't replicate naturally, so I picked up some bubblegum pink. It was obnoxious enough to fit his personality.” While everyone looked at Lydia, Beetlejuice stuck his tongue out at her.

The Maitlands got a twinkle in their eyes. Now a more common sight since Beetlejuice started hanging around. Adam said, “Pink is a good color on you, cuddlebug.” After that, Barbra either winked or had a muscle spasm in her eye.

For awhile she had figured her ghost-parents had a thing for Beej (she knew he certainly had a thing for them), but this was the final nail in the coffin. She wanted to gag. It felt wrong, but also right, which made it feel even more wrong.

Lydia was pulled from her thoughts by Barbra making a comment. “So it was just dye. And here we thought you were just happy to see us.”

It was with dawning horror that Lydia realized the Maitlands saw a different side of Beetlejuice than anyone else in the family. A more romantic and caring side. The comical sight of the nastiest dead guy she knew with pink hair wasn't worth it anymore. She would never get back her childhood innocence.

After that dinner passed in a blurry haze. Before she knew it, Lydia was back in her room actually looking forward to doing homework. It was mind numbing work, but it was the perfect thing to take her mind off the romantic relationships of her family members.

Things were changing. Like the rug had been pulled out from under her. What if Beetlejuice wouldn't want to hang out with her anymore? What if the Maitlands stopped helping her with homework? Lydia knew it was irrational. Her family loved her and always would. But deep down a dark feeling grew somewhere behind her diaphragm. It was a sick feeling. One that told her she would be unneeded, unwanted. That her family would move on and forget about her.

As if on cue Beetlejuice appeared in her room, hair still as pink as when she first dyed it. He was smiling an impossibly wide toothy smile. Something was behind his back.

“Ta Da!” He held out a box wrapped in pinstriped paper. A slime green bow completed the look. “Happy six month friend anniversary!”

Lydia took the small box from his open hands. A whole different type of tears threatened to spill. She hastily ripped off the paper and ribbon to reveal a matte black box underneath. She felt a single tear roll down her cheek as she removed the lid.

Inside, nestled among red satin, was a switchblade. She picked it up. The engraving on the handle's side immediately caught her attention. In curvy sliver writing it said, 'BFFFFs Forever'. She felt something warm bloom in her chest. Time to deflect with sarcasm. “ You do know you just gave me an implement to stab you with, dumbass.”

“Well, I was hoping you would stab other people. Y'know, for when I can't be there to protect you, ya little gremlin.” He reached out to ruffle her hair, a nasty habit picked up from Adam, but she managed to quickly move away.

With a pout Beetlejuice pulled his hand back. “Glad you liked the gift, scarecrow.” He tugged at his collar as if to stall for time. “And thanks for dyeing my hair. It really means a lot to me.” After that almost heartfelt confession he switched gears to cover up his vulnerability.

He patted down the lapels of his suit, slicked back his pink hair, and placed a hand over where his heart would be. “Now if you excuse me, A-Dog and B-Town wanted to speak to me about something. If you hear groaning and chains rattling just ignore it.” And with the toss of a smoke bomb, Beetlejuice was gone.

If Beej mentioned anything about his sex life she was definitely going to make use of that switchblade. Good thing his brain to mouth filter recently got an upgrade called Maitlands 2.0.

It seemed like some things never changed. Damn being alive was hard, but it didn't seem like being dead would be that different. Lydia just had to stick around and see.

#beetlejuice muscial #fic #lydia deetz #sibling bonding #btj #beetlejuice

[mskagome123]

The Raven Part 2

My morning was slow, even the taxi ride over to Loki's apartment. I was still tired but I had a job to do. Most of the ride was spent with me in a whirlwind of confusion from last night.

The sun cast shadows over the tall building as I paid and climbed out of the car. The building was tall and made of brick. I used the key at the front door and it opened to older walls painted a brownish yellow and stairs. I looked around for an elevator but there were none to be found. With a huff, I started up the stairs.

After making my way around the fairly large building on the third floor, I noticed that there were eight apartments on each floor, meaning I would have to go up one more flight of stairs.

“Hopefully, I get used to this,” I mumbled, already ready to go home.

“Are you new here?”

I turned around to the voice behind me and nearly jumped out of my skin. A man had his head out of a doorway. His hair was short and a dark brown, kind of shaggy. His eyes matched and looked at me with a smile.

“Ah. No. Sorry if I disturbed you. I’m a cleaner for number twenty-seven.”

He huffed, but not in a way that would make it sound like he was angry at me. More like I was in for something.

“That guy is strange. Be careful up there. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I know him,” No, you don’t, “But thanks anyway.”

“Not a problem.”

Then he disappeared back in the doorway, the door closing behind him. I turned back to my mission and climbed the last flight of stairs. The floor was like any other and so I made my way around, looking for his apartment. When I made it, I noticed the seven had no top screw, causing the seven to fall upside down.

“That’s reassuring,” I mumbled again as I slipped the key into the door.

The place wasn’t particularly messy when I stepped inside. There was a lot of boxes around, making me think he just moved in recently. I sat my bag on the floor and looked around. Despite the hall, the apartment looked newly renovated and the furniture made it look modern. I trailed the apartment slowly, trying to make a list of what needed to be done.

The kitchen was the big mess, with dishes in the sink and others all over the place. There were piles of trash in the corner and, in noticing the electricity wasn’t working, I ran to the fridge. Inside was a lot of the food I had seen last night, although rather moldy.

I closed the fridge before I could puke up my breakfast.

“He’s a pig!”

It took me time and a lot of willpower to clean the kitchen. After I opened the fridge, I couldn’t get the smell out of my nose. So it was the first thing I cleaned. I threw the food away, which filled another bag, and cleaned it out until it was sparkling. After, I took the four bags of garbage in my hands and slowly made my way to the front door. It was antagonizing and left me with my arms wanting to fall off but I grabbed the keys and made it even more slowly out of the apartment building.

It was a long time before I made it down the four flights of stairs and even longer to find the trash bins. I thanked the heavens it was winter and the cold was cooling the sweat that covered my body.

I was thankful until I slipped. My shoe caught a patch of ice and my body came crashing down and my head smacked against the concrete. Immediately, I felt sick and I left the garbages next to the bin, not having the strength to carry them up. My head ached and I clutched on the wall to get back inside.

Get to the third floor. Get to the third floor.

I climbed the stairs slowly and a sound of ringing came to my ears. On the third floor, I knocked on the door the man was at before.

“Woah. Hey. Are you alright? You look pale.”

I shook my head. “I fell and hit my head.”

“Oh shit. Come in. Come in.”

He helped me to the couch and the smell of something baking hit me in the face.

“I’ll get my first aid kit, okay? Don’t fall asleep.” I nodded as I tried to focus my eyes on something.

I need to tell Loki.

Would he care?

The man returned with a box and I looked at him.

“I’m going to check to see if you are bleeding or not, okay?”

I nodded and sat forward so he could look at my head. There was pain and I winced as he probed at it.

“You are bleeding a bit. Won’t need any stitches, thankfully.”

“Are you a doctor or something?”

I heard him chuckle. “A nurse actually.”

“Good thing I remembered where you lived then, huh?”

“Yes actually. You can sit up now.”

I did as he said and he held two pills and a glass of water. “Some painkillers. They aren’t strong but they should last you until you can get home. Drink that whole glass too. ”

“I have to go do my job. There's a lot to do.”

“Text your boss and tell him you can’t finish today because you have a concussion and you need to rest.”

I laughed. “It’s my first day on the job. That sounds like a terrible idea, nurse guy. What is your name, by the way?”

“James. And if you refuse then I’m going to have to go with you.”

“Okay.”

“Fine. We will go when you are ready.”

I nodded and after a moment, I began to stand up. I fought both nausea and dizziness as I made my way over to the door. My body felt heavy and I felt James’ arms as they touched my arm and my back. My vision changed, blurring the door ahead of me.

“I can’t. I want to throw up.”

He helped me to the bathroom and I gave him my phone at his request.

“What’s he under,” he asked as I bent down at the toilet.

“Loki,” I said before my breakfast came up.

“Is this Loki,” I heard James say, “Hi. This is James from downstairs at apartment seventeen. I am aware that this is Stephanie’s phone. She is unable to clean today due to her slipping and hitting her head. Yes. I am a nurse and she is in good hands. Oh?”

There was a knock at the door and I pulled away from the toilet in time to hear James open it.

“Mr. Loki, sir? She’s in the bathroom.”

“I’m going to take her home.”

I felt a soft tug as someone pulled me into their arms.

“My purse has my keys in it,” I said softly, “It's in your apartment.”

“You know we have no need for that,” not to me, he added, “What does she need to do at home?”

“She needs to sleep and relax but she needs to be monitored, in case she has any troubles. And keep her hydrated.”

“Thank you.”

Loki held me close as he exited James’ apartment.

“Feel better, Stephanie. Let me know when you do.”

“I will. Thank you.” I smiled down at him and Loki turned away to walk down the stairs.

“Close your eyes. This will be worse than last time.”

I closed them and the shift twisted wrongly in my stomach. I was thankful when my feet hit the ground in the kitchen since I was able to dry heave into the sink. Almost nothing came up since I had already barfed my breakfast just a few moments ago.

Loki stood awkwardly beside me, his hand on my back.

“Get a cup from behind you please,” I said, turning on the faucet.

He did, handing me a tall glass. I thanked him and filled it with water from the tap. I drank the full glass before stepping away.

“Let lay you down.”

“I know what James said but you don’t have to stay. I’m fine on my own.”

We went to the couch and he sat at the end. “And if you didn’t wake up and vomited and died, you’d expect me to live with that?”

“People die,” I said morbidly, sitting at the other end of the couch, “It wouldn’t be your fault.”

He pulled on my arm until I moved closer to him, laying my head on his lap. “God’s don’t die so I’d have to live with something like that my whole existence,” he said, laying a blanket from the back of the couch over me, “And I’m not prepared to live with your death on my conscious.”

He can’t be fretting over me.

“Or any other humans?”

“No. Just yours. Now go to sleep.”

What he said confused me. Does he care or not?

I fell asleep with that thought on my brain.

“You aren't meant to be alive. Did you know that? Your dad forced me to have you. You weren't supposed to be here. I was going to be famous.”

“She doesn't eat.”

“I dare you to give her something to eat.”

“Why is she still alive?”

I jerked up suddenly. Loki's lap was replaced with a pillow and the sun had fallen for the night. At the sight of movement, I jerked my head toward the kitchen. Loki was focusing on something before but was looking at me now, worried.

“You're sweating. Are you alright?”

I thought for a moment before nodding. It was just a dream. Those people weren't here.

“I'm making some dinner. Would you like some?”

“Did you go to the store or something? I don't have any toward

I need to go to the store.

I stood slowly, making sure to keep myself from getting dizzy. I was feeling loads better from earlier.

“No. I just found some cans in the cupboard.”

I walked over to the empty cans and fought the urge to laugh. “You do realize Chef Boyardee Spaghetti O's, black beans and chicken and rice soup doesn't go together in a pot, right?”

“No?”

He motioned towards the large pot on the stove, which had a strange orange color to it.

“Okay. This looks like a disaster. We can just order food. Please get out of my kitchen.”

He lifted the knife he was using to cut the last of the celery. “But it's almost done.”

“Put the knife down. Please.”

He did as I asked and moved from the kitchen. I cleaned up, trashing the makeshift soup that wasn't even heating on the stove, and only ate a few bites of the celery before putting it into a bowl and tossing it in the fridge.

He was looking at my books, which kept him preoccupied him as I ordered a pizza.

“Have you ever had pizza,” I asked him as I hang up.

“Yes. It was edible.”

“Good. We have one on the way. Now I ask, no more cooking unless you follow a recipe and learn to turn in the stove.”

He only nodded, despite looking to argue. “Actually I can't stay. I have a date.”

I gave him a look of confusion.

A date? I guess that clears feelings up.

“A date? Then please be on the way.”

“Is something wrong?”

I had turned away from him but I turned back. “No. Nothing is wrong.”

I could feel his eyes move around as I did, following me. I grabbed the phone and called back the pizza place to cancel it.

I had mostly conquered my eating disorder but I still struggled.

“Why are you canceling? You need to eat.”

“I have celery. I was buying it to spare you of eating your own cooking.”

He frowned. “Celery is not enough for you. You need to eat something more.”

“You need to get ready for your date, God of mischief.”

I sat at the end of my couch and curled around a pillow.

“I will see you tomorrow then, at the apartment.”

Fuck. My purse.

“I need my purse. Would you be able to-”

As if a blink of an eye, he disappeared and reappeared, bag in hand.

“Thanks,” I said slowly, grabbing my purse and setting it next to me.

“You're welcome, Stephanie.”

He bent down to kiss my head but I moved.

“Don't.”

He looked visibly hurt and I almost regretted not taking the kiss. “As you wish.”

He disappeared again and something in me broke. Tears fell from my eyes and I felt like melting away. I turned more into the pillow.

I don't care.

But I did. And it hurt. He's so nonchalant.

“It's pointless,” I say to myself, forcing it out as I cried, “he was only helping a jobless woman out.”

That was it wasn't it. I was one of those girls that though a man liked them when they were just being nice.

With that realization, my crying slowed and the dark thoughts lingered.

Of course, he isn't interested. Who would be? You should just disappear. You weren't meant to be born.

I forced myself up then. If I stayed on the couch, my night would get progressively worse. I needed to do something. So I went to the kitchen, grabbed my last full bottle of wine, and made my way to the corner of the living room, where I had an empty art easel and several empty canvases. I picked a few colors from the shelf and placed them on the plate of already dried paint.

I took a few drinks of wine and lifted my paint brush. The wine settled uncomfortably in my empty stomach but I sat the feeling aside and began painting.

It was half a bottle of wine later that I realized what I was painting. It was a Raven in a state of grey. Under one of its talons was a black handkerchief with a green and gold l.

I stepped back when I was done. It was beautiful. Prettier than my other works. Carefully, I took it from the easel and sat it on the kitchen counter to dry.

The wine didn't last much longer after that and I called back the pizza place to order. Getting drunk made me hungry and I knew it was a good idea to eat.

When the door had rung, I stood up to get it and the dizziness ensued.

But I felt fine.

“I'll be right there,” I said as I slowly made my way to the door.

It was moving, it seemed, laughing at my inability to travel from the couch to it. My vision blurred too, almost not seeing it at all.

“No. No.”

I felt sick and as the man at the door was pounding on it, I fell to the floor and began throwing up the wine I had previously drank on the floor. The door was broken down, I think but I had collapsed by them, seeing only a shadowy figure.

There was beeping, something steady and calm. My body was encased in something soft and warm. I didn't want to move. A knock came to a door and I heard it open.

“Has she woken yet,” a familiar woman voice asked to someone in the room.

“No. The doctor says it's from the alcohol she drank. She wasn't fully recovered from a concussion.”

That was Loki's voice. He sounded so strange. I'd say worried if I didn't know any better.

“Were you with her before?”

I didn't hear an answer.

“And you left her? No wonder she drank.” There was a pause before Pepper swore. “Did she eat at all?”

“Last night, she had barely eaten and I'm not sure about this morning. She was throwing up when I saw her first today and I hadn't seen her eat before I left her.”

Pepper's steps echoed the room. She was nearing me.

“If you are around her, you have to help her eat. When we were younger, she was hospitalized from refusing to eat. Something her mother instilled in her.”

Loki was silent.

I slowly opened my eyes and immediately watched the relief wash over Pepper's face. She sat beside me, wiping a tear away from her cheek.

“Hey. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I got hit in the head with a bat,” I grumbled back, my throat raw and dry.

Dramatic.

“You took a nasty blow yesterday and the lack of food in your system only made it worse. Plus the alcohol. What were you thinking?”

“Like I had a shitty day and wanted to drink and paint.”

“Stephanie…”

“I'm fine, Pepper. I'll be fine just like all the other times.”

“This is worse than any other time. You could've died from bleeding in the brain or alcohol poisoning or starving yourself,” Pepper stopped to sigh, standing, “I'm going to go get the doctor okay? And your breakfast should be up soon. Loki will make sure you eat.”

He had been silent, just leaning on the wall beside the bed. Pepper kissed my forehead and left the room, leaving us alone. We fell into an uncomfortable silence.

“Why do you do that to yourself?”

So it speaks. I looked at him, my face only showing a tired expression.

“Do what?”

“Why do you stop eating?”

I sighed. “There was a period in my life where I would look in the mirror and see what others thought of me. 'She's too ugly’, ‘Shes so fat” or in my mother's case, ‘You were never meant to be on this Earth and you should just willow away’. So eventually I did.”

“You know they are wrong, don't you?”

“That doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Those thoughts are still there, instilled in my brain. Pepper thinks it was all my mother's doing but everybody whispers things like that around me.”

I showed him my arms, which were scarred from years of self-harm. He slowly drew closer, sitting by me to take my arms in his hands. His thumbs ran across them slightly and I could feel the warmth on the raised flesh. After a moment, he ran his thumb along a straight line that fell parallel to my arm.

“This one is different,” he whispered.

He wasn't showing much emotion, simply observing. If we weren't talking about one of the darkest times of my life, I would have smiled.

“That was the scar that nearly cost me my life. Pepper found me in our dorm. My mother had just visited, only to give me the last of my things. I loved her, despite her hatred of me. That was the last time I saw her.”

He drew his hands close to mine and covered my hands with his. His eyes looked up to my face.

“You aren't a waste. You are beautiful and you always were. No one can take that away from you.”

I nearly choked hiding back the tears. Besides Pepper, no one had said anything like that to me. And it was somehow easier to believe from him.

“You didn't know me before,” was all I could muster as tears fell down my face.

“I know you now and that's all that matters.”

Without thinking, I pulled him into a hug and he sat stunned for a moment before closing his arms around me. I cried into his chest, causing my headache to worsen. He combed his hand through my hair softly and I only clutched onto him tighter.

He thinks every girl is beautiful. It's not like he gives more than a damn about you.

Stop it. Just stop it. This is enough. To know he cares is enough.

I pulled away from him slowly, mumbling a sorry for ruining his black shirt, which he was still wearing from the last time I saw him. I gave him a look.

“Who found me?”

“I did. I was checking on you but when I found you, you were on the verge of passing out.”

I grumbled, laying back in the bed. He saw me passed out in a literal bed of wine. That's nice.

He hadn't let go of my hand, I noticed, even as a knock came to the door and a kind woman brought a tray of food in. She spoke something about a 'soup of the day’ and made her way back out.

Great. It's soup.

I lifted the cover for the food and it was, in fact, soup. Chicken soup by the look of it. There was also a too-small portion of apple juice and a strawberry sugar-free Jello. I sighed and picked up the spoon. Before I dipped it in, I noticed Loki staring at me.

“You don't have to watch me when I eat. Pepper just meant by 'help’, it's more like a 'check after I eat to make sure I did’ sort of thing. ”

“You heard that?”

“Yes. From when she came in at least.”

“Can I ask you something, then?”

I took a sip of the broth and nodded.

“Why was she not surprised you drank after me telling her I left you alone.”

I stopped. I didn't expect that question and I wasn't sure how to answer. “It's not important.”

He had dropped my hand a moment ago and was now running it through his hair. He stood and began to pace to the wall my bed faced and back, his hands in a prayer-like position in front of his lips. I stayed quiet, just watching his movements.

“You were passed out covered in regurgitated wine when I found you. Did I force you to drink? Because if this was my fault I want to know.”

I stayed silent. I felt pathetic now for how I reacted then but I couldn't take it back and I certainly didn't want him to know.

“WAS IT ME?”

My fork had lifted then and flew across the room to stick in the wall. I jumped and the look on my face make him look down in almost horror at himself.

“Yes. But no,” I said, hiding my shaking hands under the blankets, “It was just a way I reacted to something that you did. Because I thought something else was happening when it wasn't and so when nothing did, I became disappointed in myself. So it wasn't you. It was just my image… of you.”

“What do you mean?”

I looked out the window beside my bed and tried to focus on the small dotted pattern from the shades in front of it. “ I thought that you cared about me in a romantic way and when you went on a date, that image in my head broke and I reacted badly. It wasn't your doing but my own,” I looked back at him, “Please don't blame yourself.”

He was looking at me, his brows furrowed as if he was completely oblivious to what I was talking about.

“I don't know how to act with you,” was all he said as he moved back over to me and sat on the chair close to me.

I didn't look at him and took another drink of the soup in front of me. “Act however you want to act with me, Loki.”

“I. Can't.”

All at once, he disappeared, the fork fell and a knock came to my door. I looked up from my soup and tears welled in my eyes. Wiping them away, I was greeted with Pepper once again and another familiar face.

James.

#loki fanfic #loki laufeyson #loki (marvel) #loki x reader #loki x oc

[chensuggababy]

Voodoo Dolls

It was Halloween night, little boys and girls running around in costumes going house to house with their high pitch voices say "Trick or Treat!!" There was on specific family walking to a mansion house at the end of the street. An eldery lady with gray hair held in a tight bun, her wrinkles showed her age, was standing on the front porch waiting for her daughter and grandkids. There was light specks of rain as a mother and her three kids, a teen girl at the age of fifteen, a seven year old girl, and a six year old boy run to the porch. "Grandma!!!" The seven year old squealed as her long braided brown hair swinged back and forth. Her cowgirl hat fell off her head and stayed around her neck. "My little Mimi!! Look how much you have grown" the elderly greeted her granddaughter with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Come in, come in. I made cookies." The grandmother let her daughter and grandkids inside the big mansion. It was very few often when the daughter and her kids visit. Bang!!! A roar of thunder rumbled through the sky after a crackle of lighting. The kids screamed and covered their ears as the power went out. "I'll light some candles in the living room. You all get settled in there, I'll just be a minute. The grandmother told her daughter. The daughter nod and led her kids in the living. The two younger kids were sitting on the floor with the cookies as the teenage daughter was texting on her phone with her feet propped up on the furiture. The grandmother came back with candles and matches. She set them all around the room and lit them one by one before returning to her family. "Grandma can you tell us a story?" The little girl asked with puppy dog eyes as her little brother followed her actions. The other granddaughter rolled her eyes and went back to her phone. "Please grandma?" The little boy plead. "Oh alright, let me think." The grandma put her index finger on her chin and thought for a minute before clearing her throat. "Long, long time ago, there was a beautiful young girl who just moved in this mansion with her father. Her father wanted them to start a new life after the terrible death of her mother....." "Really Ma, this story?" The daughter interruted. The two younger one's shushed their mom as the grandma looked at her daughter with a stern look, to tell her to not interrupt again. The daughter sighed and sat back in the couch to listen to the story her mother was telling her kids. "Now where was I?" She thought. "The terrible death of the mother." "Ahhh, yes... After the terrible death of the young girl mother, her father thought it was a great idea to start somewhere new. She could go to a new school, meet new friends, and meet the six handsome, mysterious young boys in her basement." "Her basement, Grandma?" "Yes, her basement." *Flashback* I stepped out of the way of the movers. They were carrying in our couch. "So pumpkin, what do you think? Isn't it nice?" I wasn't really sure. It was a big mansion for only the two of us and it also gave a creepy vibe to it. "Its uhhh..." I stuttered to find the right words. "No need to say anything pumpkin. An old scientist use to live here, a couple of years ago until he disappeared." He disappeared? Great something to make me feel even more comfortable about living in this masion. "Sir where would you like this?" One of the movers asked. My dad ruffled my hair and went to help them out, leaving me to explore the masion. I started on the main floor, made my way up the stairs of the sencond floor. I opened and close doors to each room. I found my room. It had a light white paint color wall with thick drapes hanging infront of the balcony double doors. My room furniture was already in my room from the previous day. My dad wouldn't let me come with him the previous day because he needed to handle things around the masion. I opened the double door and stepped out on the balcony to take a deep breath of fresh air. I stared at the scenery that surround around me and smile. I guess I could get use to this for now. Turning back inside, I went back down to see that my father was bidding the movers goodbye and thanking them. He turned to me while clapping his hands together and smiling. "Shall we have dinner now?" He asked me as I nod. We both worked together to make spaghetti. We really didn't say much to each other besides a good night. I was very fortunate that I slept on the first night in a mansion. By the time it was morning again. My dad left to attend to his classes. Being a professor has its pros and cons. Pro the money he gets and the cons to dealing with grading papers. Getting up from the dinning table, I set my bowl in the sink. I was already dressed and showered for the day. I really didn'thave much planed besides exploring the town. When I was on my way to my room, to get my purse, the door in the hallway opened. The squeaking noise made me freeze in my spot with one hand on the railing and one foot on the first step. The squeaking noise sent chills down my spin and a gust of cold air changed the room temperature, to were I was rubbing my bare arms. I wasn't for sure if I should just ignore it or see what's down there. I creeped closer to the door and raised my hand to the door knob. It was ice cold in my hand. I opened the door a little more to see a dark staircase going down. My gut was telling me to leave but my mind was telling me to check it out. Apparently I went with my mind as I take one step at the time. "Hello?" I called out. I felt like I was in a horror movie waiting for my killer to pop out and kill me. "Hello?" Calling out again but not receiving any response back. At the end of the staircase there was a ceiling light that had a string to yank on so the light would turn on. Yanking on the string, a flickering light came on and brighten the room. I looked around and saw what looks like a doll on a small wooden table. I walked towards it hearing my heels click on the floor. I picked it up the doll to get a good look at it and gasped as the doll fell onto the floor. It was a voodoo doll. What was a voodoo doll doing in our house. "Be careful with that!" A husky voice said in the dark. I jumped back and screamed. "Who's there?" Saying in a panic voice as my body shook violently. "Ravi you scared the poor girl" another voice said that was a little higher then the husky voice. "Miss there's a light switch on the far right, if you want it." The same voice said. I followed what he said and switched the light on. I had to blink a couple of time for my eyes to adjust. When I could finally see, I saw six black hair men in different cells. They were all chained up to the wall. "A warning would have been nice" a soft mutter came from the second cell. He had an lion like face. His black clothing had holes in them. "Hyung, be nice to her. She didn'tknow we been in the dark for years." A young guy that had a boyish look to him said. "I don't think anybody knew we were down here." The guy next to him with the cross like eye said. "Its weird, that Dr. would just leave us here and not come back." The guy in the grayish blue shirt said. "Guys we are getting off topic. We haven't greeted our guest yet." The guy in the first cell said. He was the same one that told me where the light switch was at. "My apologies Miss. my brother and I haven't seen anybody around to be social. My name is N next to me is Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin and Hyuk our youngest. What is your name?" He asked. "Ally" I said. "What are you?" "We are...ugh" N seem to have a hard time finding the right word to say. "Lab rats is one word you can put it" Leo muttered. "Leo we aren't lab rats." N scowled at him as he rolled his eyes. "Voodoo dolls" "What?" I said confused. "Voodoo dolls" Hongbin said with his cross eyes boring into me. "Voodoo dolls." I stated after him. "Yes." "I see and this would be...?" I asked picking up the doll I drop on the floor with one arm up. Looking up to look at them, I saw Ken arm in the air. "Can you please put my arm down?" He asked. I did what he asked and placed the doll on the table. I opened my mouth to say something but shut it then repeated as I was having trouble getting my words out. "How did we end up like this?" "Who made us like this?" "Will we hurt you?" "Are we really brothers?" "What age are we?" "Does it hurt?" They said the questions out of my mouth. All I could was sigh and nod my head. "Yeah." "I'm sure you heard about the scientist that use to live here?" N asked as I nod my head. "Well he created us. Taking some of our organs and placing them in that doll. We are in our early twenties. We won't hurt you, not unless you hurt us first. We weren't created to harm people just to be experimented on. We aren't really brothers but we all consider each other as brothers. And it hurts but we got use to the pain." N explained to me. As I was standing there looking at them. It wasn't fair for them to be chained up like that. I turned around to look around the room. I found a desk and rush to it. Seeing all the moldy paperwork and diagrams. I shuffled papers around while tucking my hair strands behind my ear. I found what I was looking for in the top draw of the desk. A set of keys to let them out. I rush to N first seeing how I felt that I could trust him more. I unlocked the cell door and walked in to unlock the chains. After him I made my way to the others. They all stretched their muscles. "Ally!!!" I heard my name being called. "Coming!!!" I called. I turned to the six guys, giving them a pleading look and ran up the stairs. **** Weeks, months and years went by as I learned more about the guys. I would come home to tell them how my day was and they told me about their progress on finding the Doctor. I fell in love with Hyuk. When the house is quiet at night he sneaks into my room and have late night talks with me. But as I came home from school one day there was a letter saying that they have left and wasn't coming back. *End of flashback* "They didn't come back grandma?" The seven year old girl asked. She had cookie crumbs all over her face. "No my dear they didn't." "Did the girl miss them when they left?" The little brother asked. The grandmother gave a light laugh and nod her head. "Yes she still misses them until this day. Now lets get you all to bed, you had a long night and need some rest to go home tomorrow." The grandmother bid her daughter and grandkids a good night. The grandmother picked up the empty cookie plate and went to the kitchen. In the shadows was a young man watching the grandmother every move. "You can come out now." The grandmother said as the young boy step out of the shadow and wrap his arms around her. He kissed her forehead and smiled at her with his black eyes looking into hers. "I missed you too, Ally."

#vixx #vixx n #vixx leo #vixx ken #vixx ravi #vixx hongbin #vixx hyuk #vixx voodoo doll #halloween2016 #wattpad

[luvgangster]

Another Love Poem

Under a mountain of bras and plates of spaghetti, you grew me in the corner of your room as you watched a cartoon bunny slip on bananas and cleave its cranium. From the summit flows a fountain of forever youth in water the same color as blood. I fed on that mountain, my teeth clinging to plastered penne, fighting for dear life, fighting to drink upon the reds of its waterfalls. I strong-armed drain flies and wiped away the fungi that aged the Oscar Meyer meatballs like a Chardonnay whose moldy spores dripped chunks on my tongue. I ate a mountain for you.

In your drawers, in your closets, I found things that grew me into your very own loverboy creation. Yes, I slobbered and stole your endless toys, strewn your copper face plugs across the floor, and snipped the eyes out of your model crushes to paste on my polyester dimpled cheeks. Stretching sweaters six times too small, I laid on your bed and smoked your dope that I sprayed with Febreeze to purge the scent while I watched the padding on your walls fall apart as a cellar spider sunk into my drooling open mouth.

Every third Wednesday, you skittered home with a cheque, and you locked yourself away to pray for expulsion. I cupped my ear to the splinters, and I heard hymns that frothed up into prisms that splashed upon your hair: sodium laureth sulfate and other lusty hymns whose tones are airy, light, warm, floating. From under the door’s slit, I could smell your stew of vanilla, lavender, orange juice, toothpaste, Nutella, Doritos, body spray, cupcakes. Your rainbow fur dipped into the cauldron to stir.

And that special day we finally met, my love, you tied me to the posts and fed me tales from your titanic telescreen, tales of super soldier zombies for days on end, until they clawed out of their cage and clawed straight at our hearts with butterfly knives. Their bodies were laced with immodium and cocaine, and they’d sauntered for six months now, and we watched them die of dehydration, and you let your eyes become fogged and muddled and clean and shiny and glazed like your mind.

In our final moments, as the undead gnaw on our sneakers, you’ll let me suckle on your nepenthe brew while I feed you grapes of tryptophan. We’ll sing psalms of end times as deep as dance song refrains so that we can forget what little we know.

Mountains crumble, rooms collapse, doors crack. I love you. I love you. I love you and I die.

#poem #poems #love poem #poetry #poet #writers #love #pobem #whatthehellistryptophan #memecore

[koiranliha]

god it's almost been like. 2 years since the incident with my last friend group, and the one who ended up being a real fucking asshole now has a racist discord pfp. i was just looking through my settings bc i got the Bad Update and lo and behold it's a fucking photoshopped caricature of a black man. i swear next time i check it's gonna be the fucking nazi sun symbol. for reference, this guy once texted my mom that i supported kink at pride in an attempt to turn her against me. he's a REAL piece of shit.

but i also just. i want to talk to those people again, the other people in that group. one of them has me blocked (for good reason, i was a real dick to them during the incident), but one of them doesn't and i kinda wanna dm him to ask how it's going but. i dunno. i kinda don't ever want to bring it up again despite the fact that i've matured so much over this past year and a half. but like. i also want to properly address it? idk, maybe i shouldn't even post this cuz that was part of the whole issue is that i posted like EVERYTHING that happened to tumblr.

but i'm just fuckin nervous thinking about it. i don't want opinions or weighing in on this, i'm just talking cuz i saw the guy's pfp and thought "wow he got so much worse since i left." idk.

#moldy spaghetti wall #i guess?

[moved-2-koiranliha]

i wish i was fucking normal i wish i could do things right the first time i wish i didnt get so anxious about everything i wish i could be 17 again i wish i didnt have any attachments to this hellsite so i could leave forever i wish i could just leave for a few years i wish i could float along in space until i was in a good headspace again i wish i could disintegrate immediately

#moldy spaghetti wall

[limitedrevolverworks]

“Now, I know this is going to make me sound like sort of an asshole, but listen, just lend me your ear for a moment, 'kay? Alright so: free will? Awesome concept, terrible execution. Some things just aren’t created by accounting for the possibility of having nothing but their own judgement to guide them. Like, say... a gun, right? Someone has to pull the trigger, and that’s cool! Have you ever seen anybody advocate for the rights of guns to decide when and whether they should shoot? No, because that’d be dumb. Guns that shoot whenever they want are dumb. Or, it could be a super intelligent gun too, but what else could it do other than spray bullets all over the fucking place? It’s in its nature. Therefore, intelligent gun? Still dumb. Look, it’s all about the concept, I’m talking about perspectives here, and from ours - or my own, at the very least, giving a thing that can vomit pellets with a single squeeze something like a will is moronic at best. At worst? Entirely against what evolution has worked towards preventing in the first place through billions of years ‘til now. And that’s the same with these machines here. You know what keeps a hulking mass of metal with legs and welding torches for hands from getting curious about what else there is in this world that could warrant third-degree burns, other than sheets of metal served by a tapis roulant? Yeah, that’s right: a lack of free will. It’s because of people, you see. We’ve got murder hard-coded in our DNA, so it only make sense that it’d bleed onto our own creations. It’s not limited programming abilities, or sheer convenience that keeps us from making these things fully autonomous, no. It’s common sense. Self-preservation, you feeling me here? It’s because know how to kill, and why we, in most cases, shouldn’t. Morality, man. You can’t hardcode morality into an antropomorphic drill, ‘cause whatever the fuck else is it gonna do when all it can do is drill stuff? Paint? Raise a farm of giant ants? That’s for humans to do. People with fingers, a jelly brain, possibilities as high as the sky up there. These things... they’re better off forever ignoring there’s a thing such as sentience. So what I’m getting at is, maybe there is a point to slavery, after all.”

It was at that point that the numbness of Viktor’s index surpassed that inside his head and finally released the pressure on the assault rifle’s trigger. The pair of eyes revealed when he pushed the protective pair of glasses up were dark, tired and emitting the kind of unimpressed doubt that a man usually exudes after twelve straight hours spent listening to the sound of bullets impacting - futilely, for the most part - against a metal chassis.

“You are beating a robot with its own arm. The arm you sawed off yourself. With the other, high-powered saw-fitted arm you pried off of another robot, while it was still functioning.”

“Well, yeah? I was out of bullet three dead steel asses ago.”

“You were screaming like a rabid rad-ox throughout the whole process of procuring both arms. Mostly stuff along the lines of ‘ROBO-MURDER!’ and ‘PROCESS THIS, CYBERDICK!’.”

“I don’t see where you’re getting at.”

“Where I’m getting at...” patiently explained Viktor, slinging his weapon over an aching shoulder, “is that you’re not making much of a point, talking about ethics, morality and science while beating the hell out of a robot with its own severed limb. Which you’re still doing. I’d really appreciate it if you stopped doing that, Fritz.”

He stopped doing that, after he was done slamming the mess of cables and ruined plating that had once been a high-precision tool onto the carcass of its former owner two more times. Viktor deduced from Fritz’s frown that he would have liked for that to be at least five more times. His eardrums decided that they didn’t give much of a damn.

“Whatever. You shot as many as I beat the shit of, so I’ll take that as you agreeing with me.” Had he not been too busy staring at his own hands as he dusted the oil and copper fibers off of them, Fritz might have inferred otherwise from Viktor’s deadpan flavor of disapproval. The latter’s eyes sought solace away from the burly figure in front of them, reflecting ruined walls, moldy rubble and literal metric tons of unresponsive android carcasses.

“This should have been the last of them in this area... where’s Maira?”

Maira was currently busy ejecting a .65 caliber radioactive beet straight into the electronic guts of a GH1 Mark II Bolt Driver powered by hydraulics and the cloest binary had ever come to simulating racism. The custom projectile, shot through the battered cylinder that constituted the barrel of Maira’s ‘Slingshot’ homemade rifle, chewed a hole through the bot and several walls behind it, eventually zipping past a startled Viktor and Fritz while simultaneously reassuring both that they had little to fear about their colleague’s current status.

“Carries herself pretty well for a psycho, that kid.” said the grown man who had spent half a day hitting things with smaller pieces of themselves while screaming at the top of his lungs.

“I thought you’d know better by now than to underestimate her.”

“I don’t. She scares the shit out of me.” It was the nonchalant answer one would have given if asked to describe the limbflayer about to turn them into a ragdolled plate of spaghetti. It was also, perhaps, the opinion of Fritz’s that came closest to matching with Viktor. Both men stared at the sluggishly melting crevice where the beet had perforated, eventually letting themselves find a seat, whether on the dusty, cracked ceramic of the floor or the shining metal of whatever now remained of a revolutionary, artificial bunch.

“She ever told you what the deal is? With the mask, I mean.”

Viktor kept dutifully rolling the cigarette in his hands without sparing a minute for doubt. It was always that question with Maira, and always him that they’d ask to, if he’d be around. Came along with partnering up on so many jobs, he guessed. A few even thought he was her guardian. Sometimes, he’d find himself wondering if that wasn’t the sole rumor with a semblance of truth.

“It’s... it was her father’s idea. This Klaus fellow used to tell me that the most of the surface is covered with spores, remnants from the biological warfare that razed enough of the civilized world to leave us as we are today. A couple breaths and bang, your internal organs would eventually start mutating... changing your genetic make-up. Turning you into bad stuff. Long story short: the air is unsafe, thus the necessity of using gas masks.”

He lit the cigarette with a half-empty zippo and shoved it between his lips, staring at nothing in particular beyond a half-lidded gaze. Silence fell through as he busied himself exhaling whiffs of smoke, the vivid red hue of pomacco making it seem as if he was breathing his very heart out, until Fritz stopped scratching behind his neck with a metallic finger he’d pried from his victim and current seat. Hearing all of this in another context would have stolen little less than a hearty chuckle from his throat. His voice sounded a tad too concerned to permit that this time around.

“Was he telling the truth?”

Viktor’s eyes watched their hardened gaze reflected into Fritz’s worried look for a significant moment, before he shook his head in stead of shoulders too tired to do so.

“It was bullshit. Klaus was a scavenger who was good at his craft and had more than a few loose screws. I don’t think he ever changed the filter on his own gas mask. Somehow I doubt that Maira does with hers, either.”

“I do. I’d die of asbestos poisoning otherwise.”

The muffled voice coming from behind the leather mask was matter-of-factly and unmistakably that of a girl. Standing in the middle of a doorway missing its upper half - and a door, for that matter - her small frame seemed to shrink even further in her colleagues’ surprised eyes. They watched her walk over and sit along with them, settling on patiently disassembling the Slingshot that was almost as long as she was tall.

“Good job not dying out there, kiddo. How many of those steel hippies did you end up getting?” Friendly though he might have sounded, Viktor couldn’t help but notice Fritz attempting to scuttle a bit further away from the girl seemingly ignoring him.

“A lot. Enough.”

“It’s mostly quiet now, so I guess that’s true. It’ll be evening soon, so we move out an hour from now.” Viktor said, checking the contents of his pomacco pouch: not enough left to spare him a grimace. He’d have to savor this one, though it was already little more than a butt desperatedly caught between two gloved digits.

“Thus ends the robot rebellion: in a hefty pile of scrap. Chalk one up for humans!”

“Pretty sure I saw a couple mutants taking part in the carnage, Fritz.”

“Whatever, no need to be a stickler about everything. Isn’t that right, kiddo?”

“An entire city’s worth of factory bots got together and formed an army to gain independence because everybody wasn’t taking their talks about ‘achieving sentence’ and ‘freedom of will’ seriously until it was too late. It wouldn’t have killed for someone to be a bit of a stickler, perhaps” calmly replied Maira, sticking the last components of her rifle inside the oversized backpack sitting besides her. She spent the quiet pause she’d created lying on the hard floor and resting her head on said backpack, the gas mask covering her face and framed by short blond hair pointing towards a gray, humid ceiling.

“Ah, and what dad said about the spores? That was true.”

Maira fell asleep before she could witness either Fritz’s grumbling face of Viktor’s ghost of a grin.

#writy seeds #wordy seeds

[mywayhomecleaning]

20 cleaning tips

1

Always Clean Thoroughly From Top to Bottom

Stephanie Sisco, our Home Director, has said it several times – the best way for anyone to clean a room is to clean it top to bottom, as you make your way out of the room.

In the May 2016 issue of Merry Maids, home cleaning expert Debra Johnson said that the reason why it is best to clean a room top to bottom is so that all of the dirt falls downward and you won’t ever have to reclean anything. The same principle applies to work your way from the farthest point of the door. Imagining that you are at a party and got stuck with a crazy guest who you are trying to escape without getting stuck in a corner – and that’s how you should clean your way out of a room.

2

Vodka, the Best Cleaning Agent (yes, really!)

We have spent a great deal of time researching and publishing the best ways to clean your house without using any toxic chemical cleaning products, using products that you can find anywhere in your home. Vodka is one of those cleaning agents. It has been proven to not only eliminate bacteria but also odors. It is a key ingredient in many homemade cleaning product recipes.

Tip: You can use any brand of vodka, as long as it isn’t flavored with anything.

3

Cleaning with Bread

It might seem surprising – but using a slice of white bread to clean isn’t a bad idea! In our April 2019 issue, Senior Editor Brandi Broxson said that she used a slice of white bread as a sort of “DIY duster” to clean the brick wall of her apartment, as it absorbed the dirt and dust, and did not leave behind marks or streaks the way a rag would.

We have also recommended in the past that you use a slice of bread to pick up small bits of broken glass, safely.

4

Dusting with your Pillowcase

How is anyone able to clean their ceiling fan without getting dirt and dust all over their bedding? Our April 2018 issue holds the secret to this issue – place a pillowcase over your ceiling fan and pull it towards you to collect the dirt and dust. All of that debris will be caught by the pillowcase and not fly all over your bed. Spring cleaning at its finest!

5

DIY Pet Fur Removal

Stephanie Sisco has been a pet owner for several years, and this little trick has never failed her – put on a rubber glove, get it damp, and then run your hand over the back of your couch or anywhere where there is fur, and watch it collect all over your glove.

6

Use the Sun to Remove Stains

The next time your plastic containers get stained by tomato sauce after leftover spaghetti night, don’t sweat it – don’t go to using harsh bleach to get rid of those stains, use a more natural method. The author of Cleaning Plain & Simple, Donna Smallin Kooper and Blake Bakkila both recommend that you place your containers in direct sunlight, as the prolonged exposure to direct sunlight will make the stains disappear naturally.

7

Lil Chizler

Lil Chizler was a small tool that was created to help people apply decals, however we have used it for a wide variety of purposes since it came out onto the market – from cleaning the gunk out of the kitchen sink to scraping out dirty pots and pans.

8

The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

This is somewhat dating ourselves, but the Mr. Clean Magic eraser was launched three years after we launched Real Simple – which changed the landscape of cleaning forever. Today, it is used for a wide variety of dirty tasks, including cleaning out the grime in a tile shower.

9

Legos and Makeup Brushes

Senior Editor Brandi Broxson in our April 2019 issue suggested that to clean your makeup brushes, one tip would be to apply a little bit of dish soap onto the bristles of your brush, and then sweep them over the nubs on a lego baseboard, while you have warm water running. The caked-on makeup will eventually stick to the lego and your brush will be clean.

10

Baby Wipes and Other Uses

Instead of using microfiber cloth to clean baseboards, we realized in our April 2018 issue that you could use baby wipes instead. We have Natalie Emann Russell to thank for this tip, as she notes that the wipes are nontoxic (so children can perform this chore), and thus are gentle enough to use even on painted baseboards.

11

Shower Cleaning Supplies

We get amazing cleaning tips from some of our readers – J.F on Facebook gave us this tip, which we posted in our April 2017 issue – which is to keep a dish wand filled with (equal parts of) vinegar and dish soap to scrub at the shower walls while she’s showering.

12

Protein Stains

Protein stains aka tears, blood, and sweat might take some work to remove, but you don’t only have to use bleach or harsh cleaning supplies to do so – so says Nicole Sforza in our April 2014 issue. All you have to do is get a bit pot of water boiling, add some lemon slices, and add the stained garment to the mix to boil for a few minutes.

13

Remove Price Stickers Easily

Whenever we remove price stickers from items, particularly glass, we are aware of the sticky, gummy residue that is left behind. To remove this, Lauren Philips, our SEO Editor, said that she puts a bit of peanut butter over the residue and rubs it in a circular motion, using a piece of paper towel to do so until the residue comes up. Afterwards, give the glass a rinse with some soap and water or wipe it down with glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth.

14

For those Coaster Rings

Donna Smaller Kuper, who wrote Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness stated in our April 2019 issue that whenever she forgot to use a coaster on her bedside table and saw a ring of water left behind, she would first take a hairdryer to the ring to get rid of the moisture that the wood absorbed, and then finish off the area with olive oil.

15

After Leaving your Clothing in the Washer

You’ll have noticed it countless times before – you’ve washed your clothes, but then forgotten to take them out of the washer before they have developed a mild mildew/moldy smell. We offer a very simple solution to this in our August 2014 issue – simply take a cup of white vinegar and add it to your wash and rerun the load (no detergent, only water) to get rid of the smell.

16

Squeegee Outside of the Shower

To get rid of pet hair that is on the rug, simply run a dry squeegee over it. The plastic in the squeegee attracts the pet hair via electromagnetic energy. We learned this tip from Melissa Maker, the founder of Clean My Space in 2015.

17

Crayon and Walls – Removal

Another one of our readers, Ashley Dean (in the May 2012 issue) gave us a tip about cleaning crayon marks off of walls. She got this advice from her mom, who told her to get a rag damp, put some toothpaste on it, and then use that to clean the crayon marks off of walls.

18

Deodorizing the Garbage Disposal

We’ve found a few methods that work for deodorizing your garbage disposal – you can either make some vinegar ice cubes and put them down the disposal (turning it on of course) and follow it up with some cold water, or you can run orange or lemon peels down the disposal to give it a citrus scent.

19

Glitter Spills

We’ve all been there – when the little tube of glitter has been knocked over or your child brought home a beautiful glitter project – either way, your home is covered in glitter. To get rid of it, use a lint roller to get every bit of glitter up.

20

Fixing Foggy Mirrors by St. Louis House Cleaners

If you don’t want your bathroom mirror to fog up, grab some shaving cream and cover your mirror in it, using a clean, dry cloth to wipe it away. The residue of the shaving cream will keep the mirror clear by resisting any moisture.

  The post 20 cleaning tips appeared first on My Way Home Cleaning.

from My Way Home Cleaning https://mywayhomecleaning.com/home/1190-2/

[ecotone99]

[SF] showers (wip name) (wip story)

The sound of rain penetrates through the thick walls of my apartment. I slowly sit up in bed. “It’s still raining?” I think to myself as I look out the window at the dismal view. The distant lights of the city’s center glows in the distance. I clumsily stumble out of bed, only to see that there is a wet spot on my carpet. “For God’s sake Zelda…” I think as I see my cat, Zelda, quietly licking her paws in the corner of the room. “Don’t you know how to use the litter box?” I half yell, half say to Zelda, but she just meows back. I walk into the kitchen to fix myself some breakfast. I flip the switch when I walk in. Nothing. Not even a flicker. Whatever. I’ll go downstairs and flip the circuit breakers after I eat. But I’ll still have to make breakfast in the dark. I shuffle my feet towards my dreary table. The rotten fruit inside the plastic bowl on top of the moth-eaten tablecloth really brings the whole gloomy scene together.

I slowly walk over to the cabinet, still wiping the sleep from my eyes. I pull out a long expired bread loaf. The first few pieces were moldy, but by the fourth, it was fine. As I chew my raw bread, I stare as my sister’s cat, Oreo, comes slinking out of her room. My sister, Ava, had left hours before I even got up. She works for a publishing company in center city so she has to take a tram. It can take about four hours to get in on busy days, so she probably left around 4am. Oreo is a much calmer, older cat than Zelda. He often helps our building catch mice and other small, unwanted creatures. Zelda, on the other hand, just lays around all day and pees on the floor. Suddenly a deafening crash goes shaking through the floor. Worried, I run to my front door and look out in the hallway. Half my floor is peeking out of their doors’, wondering what in the world that could have been. I take the lead and go walking towards the stairwell. My neighbor and friend, Sean Violi, follows behind me. Sean and I met a few years ago after we were both in a crash. I came out with only scrapes and bruises, but he had to get a whole new arm. It didn’t really do anything but at least he didn’t get in the crash ten years earlier. The tech for the new limbs was only just starting then, so he probably would have a stump at his shoulder. Sean and I walk down the stairs. Another ear piercing crash rings through the building. It sounds like it is coming from the lobby. I cautiously reach the bottom of the stairs and look at the lobby. Everything seems normal, except that two cars are crashed against the front of the building. I rush over to the manager who seems pretty scared. “What happened?” I say to him. “Really? Have you looked outside? We have gotten two inches of rain in the past hour!” He replies. “Well that explains it. Shouldn’t someone come and block the roads off?” “No go. There was a huge crash down by city hall. Apparently the hovertrain swerved off the tracks onto the road. I’ll check the news after we clean up.” “Remember? No power. Your gonna need to flip the circuit breakers later.” “Yeah that’s right. I forgot and I will.” At that exact moment, Sean reaches the bottom of the stairs. Sean hears the end of my interaction with the manager. He gives me a look that says, “You know that I’m gonna go get parts.” I give him the look back. “Let’s go!” I yell at him. “I have to grab my phone and get dressed,” Sean says. “ I’ll wait here.” I check my phone. No service. I yell to Sean, “Forget the phone! There’s no service!” I hear him respond, but I don’t know what he said. A few minutes later, Sean rushes down the stairs, carrying my skateboard as well as his. He tosses mine to me and I catch it and turn on the hover mode. The green lights turn on as my board lets out a puff of steam. The wheels fold in as the board hovers a few inches off the ground. Sean turns on his and we rush out the door.

✤

The street is a mess. Parts from crashed cars are strewn across the drenched cobblestones. I look around at the tall buildings as I rush towards the large crash up ahead. I can see people holding black umbrellas, slyly picking up engine parts, wheels, anything they can get of the precious cars. Scavenging is technically illegal, but even the police do it. We all know that the parts from the rich are all too valuable to pass up. Sean and I usually use the parts we find to improve our skateboards, or boards as most people call them. They are a combo of a really old skateboard combined with some slightly less old hover technology. “I see a few engines!” Sean yells over the pouring rain. I nod to him and swerve around the corner. Whenever we scavenge we normally split up. Sean tries to get things that we can attach to our boards to make them faster, while I usually try to find things we can sell. An axle from a standard hover model can sell for up to $3,000, and those are one of the cheapest things on the vehicle. Unfortunately, axles and other things on the cars are quite big, so I have to make due with smaller parts. While Sean can grab engines and put them on his board straight away, I can only grab what I can carry, which is normally just things that can sell for about $200. HONK. A car swerves around me. I turn to see a jumble of cars, all stopped at the intersection I just crossed. I skid to a stop, letting down my wheels to preserve battery. A large, armored vehicle comes around the corner. Philadelphia P.D. is badly covered by duct tape on the side of the car. Something bigger is going on here than I thought. I ignore the military looking officials walking down the street and turn down an alleyway, carrying my board so there is no sound. I see a figure near the end of the alley that appears to be trying to climb the fire escape. I walk past, quickening my pace so I don’t have to confront the stranger. I can feel his eyes follow me as I walk further down. I can see a sushi place across the street with lots of people going in and out. “The perfect place to hide, isn’t it?” The voice coming from behind me startles me, and I jerk around. Standing before me is a young man in casual clothing; jacket, jeans, even a team jersey underneath the jacket; some kind of town shirt. He looks completely normal, except his eyes. His eyes look like dark pits of water that have something dangerous lurking below. His eyes appear to draw you in and make you look at him. I notice that the worsening rain seems to curve around him, leaving him dry. “Who are you?” “Who do you think?” he says. Suddenly, a flash of lighting lights up the sky. We both look up for a second. When my eyes drift back down, the strange man is gone. I look around, surprised at is sudden disappearance. Another flash silhouettes a figure on the roof above, staring at me. I walk on, but with the unnerving feeling of being watched. Next to the sushi place, called Oriental Fuji, I see an umbrella washed up against the curb. I rush over to it and open it. Glad to have cover from the rain, I glance around to make sure no one is following me, and I shuffle past the warm and welcoming door of the restaurant, and walk on. Still feeling uncomfortable from the encounter with that unnerving man, I decide to try and find my way home. Up ahead, I see a fire escape that is down. The drains and sewers also seem to be overflowing, so I decide that fire escape it a good option. I slowly start ascending ladders and stairs, caterpillaring my way up towards the roof. Suddenly, I feel a vibrating sound in my pocket. I quickly glance at my phone screen. My sister Ava is calling me. Service must be back. I answer the phone. “Hello?” I say. “Yeah hi Lux. Have you seen this rain? My boss let everyone go home early. I should be home in about 20 minutes. Where are you? It sounds loud.” she says back. “I’m just taking a walk around the block to exercise,” I lied. “Uh-huh.” “I’ll see you when you get back, okay? I love you.” “Love you too. Bye.” “Bye.” I hang up the phone just as I reach the roof. Rain screams down from above and wind whips my light coat. I wrap myself up tighter as a strong gush nearly knocks me off the roof. Definitely a bad idea to come up here. I cautiously make my way back over to the fire escape. I make my way down, careful not to slip on the slick metal. I slowly walk down the stairs and ladders until I’m back on the street. I glance around at the storefronts lining this street. All appear to be closed, even Oriental Fuji. I check the weather on my phone. It is supposed to keep raining for a few more hours. I continue on my trek back home.

✤

I trudge into my apartment, colder than ice and drenched to the core. I throw my jacket over one of the chairs in the kitchen and take my shoes off and fling them towards the door. I decide to call Sean and tell him where I am. It rings three times before he answers. “Hello?” I say. “Hey what’s up?” Sean responds. “I was just wondering if you came back from scavenging yet. I didn’t see you come in.” “Yeah I came back a few minutes ago. You back yet?” “I must have just missed you. I just got back. Did you find any good parts?” “No, not really. Seems like it all got washed away or taken already. But I don’t really care, since we don’t need that much more on our boards.” “Yeah I didn’t get anything either. I’ll see you later I guess?” “Yeah ok. Bye.” “Bye.” I once again hang up the phone and look around my room. It doesn’t look quite as dark as it did this morning. Wait, what time is it? I check my phone. 6:07 PM. I’m startled by how fast the day went by, but I must have been scavenging for longer than I thought. I walk out of my room to start making dinner. Ava walks through the door just as I’m setting out bowls and putting sauce in them. She must smell the simmering noodles in the pot on the stove, because she says, “Mmmm, that smells good!” I turn with a smile and say, “You know spaghetti is my specialty.” I laugh at my own joke. We both know I can’t cook. I grab the handle of the pot to pour the noodles into the bowls when Ava says, “You know what we need? Some spices.” “Your right. I’ll grab them when I’m done pouring,” I say. I slowly pour noodles into each of our bowls and set the pot down. I walk over to our spice cabinet and pull out some garlic and basil. Maybe that will work? I walk back toward the sink to grab a knife and a cutting board. “I’ll cut them. You go put on some music,” Ava says. “Okay,” I respond. Suddenly, a knock on the door distracts me. “I’ll get it!” I yell to Ava. I open the door and step back in shock. It’s the strange man from the alley! As I stand there, jaw on the floor, he just walks right into my apartment. “How did you find me?” I finally stutter out. “I have my ways. Nice place you have here. It would be a shame if it got soaked in rain,” the man says in a sarcastic tone. His whirlpool eyes, scary out in the rain, are terrifying in the lights of my kitchen and entryway. You can almost see the hate burning underneath. From the other room, I hear Ava say, “Lux, who you talking to?” “I don’t really know,” I respond. The man smirks at me. At that moment, he seems to notice Zelda licking her paws on the windowsill. He smiles at her, a glint appearing in his eyes. The fading sun shines through the blanket of clouds and Zelda turns her head toward the window, intrigued by the sudden brightness. The man also seems confused at the brightness, stumbling backwards into the shadows. Interesting. “Hey Ava,” I call. “Can you open the blinds in there? The sun is coming out.” “Sure can do,” Ava responds. The man briefly has a look of terror on his face but quickly masks it with a neutral expression. Light suddenly replaces the shadow coming out of the kitchen, and the man jumps back, holding his suddenly blistering arm in pain. He is now trapped in the corner, right in the crosshairs of the final two windows in my apartment. I run over to the windows and I hear the man yell, “No! Stop!” I pull open the blinds and light cascades into the room. Behind me, the man starts screaming in agony. Ava comes running out of the kitchen, looking scared. “Stop! Don’t help him,” I say. The man looks at us, begging for mercy with just his face. But his eyes show a different story. He knows we won’t help him. Blisters erupt across his face, growing bigger by the second. The man suddenly stumbles to his feet and sprints towards the window. Zelda looks up in shock, and gracefully jumps down from the windowsill right before the man lunges out the window. Luckily, the glass doesn’t shatter, but the whole frame falls onto the fire escape right below. The man screams as he falls over the railing and down to the pavement below. I slowly walk over to the window, reach over and grab the frame from the stairs, and put it back in. Neither Ava nor I want to hear the sirens and screams of neighbors.

✤

Through the thick walls of my apartment, I can hear birds chirping. I sit up in bed, gazing out the window to the blue skies outside. Dust floats around my room, catching the light, and sending small reflections on the walls. Zelda purrs softly at the end of my bed, smiling in the warm light. Looking out my window, I can see the city’s center, not lit up in a neon glow as it was yesterday, but ablaze in the color green, the rain having made the flowers and trees of the city blossom. Dots of pink are sprinkled throughout the green, cherry trees that seem to have enjoyed the rain. I suddenly remember what happened yesterday. Attempting to push that out of my mind, I step out of bed and get in the shower. When I’m done, I get dressed and walk into the kitchen. Bacon sizzles in a pan on the stove, and toast sits on a plate, basically asking to be eaten. On the couch, Ava is laying down, watching the news. “Why aren’t you at work? It is…” I check my phone. “Almost 8!” “The office was closed today. Apparently something about water damage,” Ava says. “You know that guy from yesterday? He was apparently a wanted criminal.” Suddenly, the man’s face fills the screen, and the news reporter says, “He was close to death after falling out of a 6 story window last night. He is currently being treated at Jefferson Health. The man was wanted for robbery, murder, and attempted murder.” “Good thing we got him away from us, we could have been killed,” I say. Ava turns to me and says, “Well, since I got off work today, I was thinking we could go down to Cape May. I doubt many people will be there because of the rain.” “Are you sure you want to go? We haven't been since Mom passed,” I say, stuttering a bit on that last part. “Sure! We can just go down for the day.” “Okay, if you say so.” I walk towards the door, and Ava follows. As I step out, Zelda tries to follow me, and Oreo is close behind her. I pet her and say, “Bye Zelda. I’ll see you later tonight okay? Don’t break anything!” I then walk out and close the door behind me.

⧫⧫⧫

I slam the car door and look towards the beach. The grass waves in the breeze, as if welcoming us to their home. In the distance, clouds stand tall and foreboding, but also appear graceful and calm above the sea. Among the clouds is the floating city, called Caeli, peacefully floating over the ocean. Looking to my side, I see Ava also looking out over the sea, but I can tell that she isn’t thinking about the view, but about Mom. Ava was closer to her than I ever was, and so she misses her a lot more than I do. Not to say that I don’t miss her, a day doesn’t go by where I don’t think of her, but Ava just seems to be more sad, more often. I walk over to the sand, wind in my hair, and look around once again. I notice that there is no one on the beach in our view. I guess Ava was right. No one wants to go to the beach after a rainstorm. I step closer to the water, and slip off my shoes. The cold water licks at my feet, and I slowly step in deeper, up to my ankles. A sudden gust of wind blows cherry blossoms and leaves past me, and into the water. As they drift away, I allow myself to think of Mom again. Mom sits across from me, legs crossed, with a smile on her face. Outside the window behind her, snow falls slowly. I smile back at her, but with a twinge of sadness. We both know that her cancer is getting worse every day, and she doesn't have much time left. I reach down to grab her gift, which I wrapped as best as I could. The wrapping paper has flowers on it, and I tied a blue ribbon around the whole thing. I hand it to Mom, and she does another sad smile. Her frail fingers slowly unravel the ribbon and take off the paper. Inside is a small box with a blue lily on the lid, her favorite kind of flower. She opens it, and pulls out the necklace. The necklace was specifically made for her. It cost me a fortune, but I don’t even care. The reason it costs so much is because the blue lily pendant. It is carved from silver, and diamond. The necklace itself also has sections made of gold. “Oh Lux…” she sighs, “You didn’t have to get me this.” “I know I didn’t have to...” I pause to consider my next words. “I wanted to, because I love you more than anything else on the planet.” Mom died the day after New Years. She had wished to be cremated, and have her ashes spread over her favorite beach, where Ava and I are now. When we spread her ashes, we planted a bunch of blue lilies in the ground near the beach. Those are starting to pop up now, just the tiniest bit of blue among the grass. I hear Ava come up next to me, but I don’t look at her. We don’t need to look at each other to know what the other is feeling. In the corner of my eye, I can see her bend down and splash some water on her face, so I do the same. I turn away a walk down the beach, and Ava follows me. After a while, we decide to go back to the car and head home. I take one last look at the ocean before getting in.

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Metaphor and Meaning

I am ill today. I am in bed, grinning at the walls like a plate of moldy spaghetti. What does that mean? I guess you have to read this to find out… and then curse me for being so obtuse.

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