#Eagle Scout Projects | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fierycavalier · 4 months

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Intro to Scouting for Nancy Drew Fans

i love to see Ace's Eagle Scout status come up in fics. Although it was almost a throw-away line, I think it informs Ace's character and fleshes out his backstory well, beyond just knowing knots and navigating the woods. But I see a lot of awkward phrasing, and I see a lot of missed opportunities to bring it up, and it got me wondering if a little primer would be helpful.

Things Ace could say: "I learned this in Boy Scouts." "My troop leader took us out here all the time." "This trail didn't go this way back when I was in Scouts." "Don't worry, they love me here--my eagle project was to clean up this beach." "Don't talk to me about Jared Spriggs-- I'll never forgive him for what he did to my derby car when I was 14."

Eagle Scout is a rank and an honor that he achieved, not a program he was in. The program is Boy Scouts of America (BSA). People familiar with the program will just say Boy Scouts or Scouts. After 100 years of only allowing boys to participate, the program became co-ed in 2019, so it's now called Scouts BSA, not Boy Scouts. Ace would have grown up in the program before then since he turned 18 in 2016.

If Ace started in scouting before he was 11, he would have been in Cub Scouts. At 11, he could move up to the scouting troop. There are ranks in scouting, tied to the number of merit badges you've earned. Eagle Scout is the top rank and must be achieved before the age of 18. It involves a certain number of merit badges, hours of volunteer work, and a main Eagle Scout Service Project that they must plan and execute themselves (with assistance from scout leaders and parents).

I think it highly likely that the Captain was a troop leader or otherwise involved in scouting, especially before his accident. I can see his mom stepping in as well- if I remember right, women could be pack leaders even before 2016.

Although most people work toward Eagle as 16-17 year olds, it's possible to achieve it earlier, especially if you're smart and committed like Ace. So his pot-smoking days could come after he earned Eagle and lost interest in Scouts, or they could coexist. Your call.

Although people assume scouting is about wilderness preparedness, the program's goal is to create well-rounded, responsible citizens. Ace would have the Oath and Law memorized.

Scout Oath

On my honor I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country

and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong,

mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law

A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent

As you can guess, being Jewish might have been tricky for Ace in a program that's culturally Christian as many 20th century American institutions are. That'd also depend on what his troop was like--was there one troop for the whole town, or maybe his synagogue hosted a troop?

There's a Sea Scouts program. Where I'm from is landlocked so I don't know anything about it, but Horseshoe Bay or a nearby bigger town would definitely have Sea Scouting!

Lastly, here are the current Merit Badge categories: it covers a lot more than knots! Ace often gets into hacking in pre-series fics by hanging out at the library with his mom after school. But what if he was introduced to programming in Scouts? And I'm sure Florence helped him complete many merit badges.

Automotive Maintenance

Backpacking

Bird Study

Camping

Canoeing

Chemistry

Coin Collecting

Cooking

Digital Technology

Engineering

Fire Safety

First Aid

Fly-Fishing

Golf

Indian Lore

Insect Study

Journalism

Law

Mining in Society

Nuclear Science

Photography

Plant Science

Programming

Radio

Safety

Scouting Heritage

Skating (I know we never see him on a skateboard but come on)

Surveying

Sustainability

Swimming (the way Ace is built heavier in top looks like a competitive swimming shape in my experience!)

#nancy drew #cw nancy drew #ace hardy #nace #scouting #source: my dad was a scoutmaster for a long time

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infinite-orangepeel · 1 year

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EAGLE SCOUT STEVE CHAPTER 1 HAS BEEN POSTED 🦅 AHH IM SO EXCITED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK !!! I SPENT TWO MONTHS ON THIS BABBBYYYY

tags: @shrimply-a-menace @stedward-munton @grimmfitzz @gay-little-bitch @asbealthgn @jjoesjonas @the-redthread @malachitedevil @stevesbipanic

#I WAS GONNA TAG THE REST OF U BUT TUMBLR WONT LET ME FOR SOME REASON IM SORRY #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #fruity four #steddie brainrot #steddie fic #steddie fic recs #steddie ao3 #steddie fanfiction #steddie fanfic #steddie fic writers #steddie writers #steddie my beloved #steddie angst #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #steve harrington/eddie munson #eddie munson/steve harrington

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apollos-olives · 1 month

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hello, I am a high schooler who's involved in scouts and my eagle project is coming up, I want to dedicate it to Palestine if I can and I just wanted to ask if you had any recommendations for projects, for example i am considering leading an effort to paint a mural somewhere, hope this makes sense sorry for the kind of long message 😅 have a nice day!!

i don't really know the requirements for your project but a mural sounds lovely!! i'd also recommend looking into making a club or social group or creating a space to share resources about palestine and getting educated. if i knew more about your project requirements then i'd totally help you out more, but i hope these ideas help for now 🫶

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foundress0fnothing · 1 year

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Meet Me in the Woods Tonight

Forced to partner together during their company's annual team building event in the Illyrian forest, Azriel Moreno and Eris Vanserra find themselves an unlikely duo. When Eris suggests straying off the marked paths through the forest to beat the other competitors, Azriel reluctantly agrees. Eris was an eagle scout after all---what's the worst that could happen?

This is a collaborative project organized by @azrielshadowssing, so make sure you check out their masterlist for the continuation of this story! You can expect part 2 on April 9th and part 3 on April 23rd!

Part 1 (2.3k words, SFW, rated M--rating may change as story continues)

Read on AO3!

Part 1:

Azriel was not particularly religious, but he was pretty certain that hell, at least, was real.

“Az? It’s your turn.” He heard Feyre prompt him gently.

Yes, hell was definitely real, Azriel thought, turning his attention to the circle of his coworkers, their eyes squinting in the bright afternoon sun as they waited for him to offer up his two truths and a lie in what Azriel could only hope was the final exercise in the misery that was Velaris Technology’s company-wide team building day.

Come head the IT department at Vel Tech for me, Az, he thought, mimicking the offer Rhys had made to him almost six months ago after Azriel had finally burnt himself out freelancing. Normal hours, good pay, great people, no corporate bullshit.

Three of the four of those, Azriel had come to realize, were complete lies. Yes, the pay was good—better than good, if he was being honest. But the rest? Today certainly dispelled any lingering illusions he had that Vel Tech was above “corporate bullshit,” despite Rhys’ best intentions. All it took was an email from Rhys’ old college friend—Helion something—offering Vel Tech a discount on his new team building course set in the forested Illyrian steppes outside of the city and suddenly the entire office was being ushered onto buses and driven out to the woods for a day of mandatory fun.

And the hours were long, far longer than he had ever pulled as a freelancer. For a tech company, Vel Tech seemed barely able to hold itself together, and, to keep himself sane, Azriel had finally stopped counting the number of times Rhys or Feyre or Mor called him at 2 a.m. to “put out a fire, just this once.”

Which left the people. He loved five of them fiercely, even if they were the ones to call him in the middle of the night—Rhys’ inner circle, which he supposed he was officially a part of now. Rhys and his cousin Mor started the business five years ago with the money from Rhys’ inheritance, bringing Cassian along to head security and Amren, whom Azriel was still scared of, along to run the financial side of the business. When Feyre started dating Rhys two years ago, he brought her on board as well, the two of them quickly becoming the very definition of a power couple. Azriel, had he wanted it, could have had a job at Vel Tech since the beginning. While he didn’t regret that it was where he ended up—the six of them in the inner circle were a family of sorts, close-knit and comfortable—he was still glad he didn’t jump on board right away.

As for the other employees who staffed Vel Tech? They were fine, he supposed, but certainly not great: technologically incompetent and bland, but almost universally inoffensive.

All except fucking Eris Vanserra, Vel Tech’s company lawyer. Tall, cunning, and always impeccably dressed, even for a day out in the woods, Eris Vanserra was far too competent, entirely too interesting, and gleefully offensive.

Case in point: “Yes, Az,” the asshole in question called from his place in the circle, emphasizing Azriel’s nickname in a way that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Do share. I’m sure what you have to say will be fascinating.”

Ignoring Eris’ goading, Azriel dispassionately rattled off the three statements that had gotten him through many similar icebreakers during college: “Azriel Moreno. I like computers. I have two half-siblings. I’ve broken two bones.” Three safe, completely unremarkable facts that allowed him to nominally participate until the group moved on.

There was a beat of silence. To no one’s surprise, Cassian was the one to break it: “Congratulations, Az. Those are boring as shit.”

Rhys and Mor snorted, and Azriel laughed along with them, knowing Cassian had a point. “Look,” he sighed, tired of this, tired of the day—the morning had started at 9 a.m. with a three-legged race of all things, as if that nonsense ever helped with “team building.” “It’s not like anyone even listens to anyone else’s facts in these icebreakers. Much less cares about them.”

It was the most he had said all day, and he knew the moment it left his mouth that it had been entirely the wrong thing to voice in the large group. Everyone was quiet, suddenly uncomfortable. Fuck. He should have saved it for drinks at Rita’s after the godforsaken day was over and it was just the people who already knew him, who already knew what he was like. Rhys, Cassian, and Amren would have laughed—hell, would have agreed, probably—and Feyre and Mor would have fondly rolled their eyes before teasing him about his antisocial behavior.

Not now though, not with twenty-odd other employees gathered in the circle. He saw Feyre cast a glance at Rhys, his mouth cast in a stern line, and then started saying, “Look, Azriel, I get that this isn’t really your thing, and, don’t get me wrong, we’re glad you’ve joined in today—”

“Oh, come on, Feyre,” Eris interrupted, any teasing in his voice having evaporated. “You can’t seriously be letting that slide.”

Without giving anyone else a chance to weigh in, he started working through the circle methodically. “Kallias grew up in Alaska, once rode on a reindeer to get supplies when the town was snowed in, and met Vivian, his wife, not online but at a bar in town. Nephelle has not yet completed a full marathon although she hopes to do so, is allergic to sesame, builds terrariums in her free time. Tarquin won five amateur surfing competitions as a kid, does not particularly enjoy tiki cocktails ever since his 21st birthday, and is working on getting his boating license. Do I need to keep going?”

Azriel was silent, simultaneously embarrassed that it was Eris of all people who called him out on his bullshit and in awe of the feat of memory he had just displayed. Azriel hadn’t meant to be rude, not really—he was just…done with the day and figured others would be too.

Rhys cleared his throat and, letting his cool CEO mask smooth over his previous irritation, said, “Thank you for that demonstration, Eris.”

Eris nodded at Rhys and then looked over to Azriel, a question in his eyes. Azriel didn’t meet his gaze, didn’t say anything, didn’t know what the right next step was. Misreading his continued silence as a challenge, Eris’ gaze shifted into a glare, annoyance evident, and continued, “Moreno, if you can name a single thing someone else has said during this game, I will quit my job at Vel Tech right now. Otherwise—”

“I’m sorry.” Azriel said curtly but sincerely, interrupting whatever tirade Eris was about to start in on, deciding that a quick apology, at least, was better than doing nothing and letting Eris continue. “I’m tired, but that’s no excuse for my rudeness. I didn’t mean to offend.” He looked around at his coworkers in the circle, hoping they would read the regret on his face even if his apology itself was a bit brusque.

Feyre smiled brightly, easily appeased. “Thanks, Az. Apology accepted.” She turned her bright eyes to the woman from HR seated next to Azriel on the grass, “Diedre, why don’t you go and start us up again?”

Relieved that the group’s attention had shifted, Azriel closed his eyes briefly and took a breath, trying to gather himself, trying to stop his heart from racing after the scene he had just caused.

When he opened his eyes a moment later, he found Eris watching him. Azriel held his gaze, neither of them breaking eye contact until Eris, deciding something, slightly inclined his head. Azriel took that to mean, apology accepted. Eris’ eyes then narrowed, and he glanced pointedly at Deidre, which Azriel realized meant, fucking pay attention, idiot.

And Azriel tried, really—three dogs or something, wanted to be a ballet dancer or was a ballet dancer, read…romances, maybe?...disguised as other books during her high school days—but he could barely focus. His heart was still racing, but this time with something he couldn’t quite place, something like … anticipation? Pleasure? He didn’t know, and didn’t know if he really wanted to know anyway.

“You never told us what the lie was.”

Azriel choked on the water he was drinking, surprised to hear Eris’ voice behind him. He knew Rhys and Feyre and all weren’t really mad about what happened during the game, but still, he had walked away from the picnic tables in the clearing and to the forest’s edge, wanting to be alone to get himself together before the end of the day. Just for a minute. And, of course, Eris refused to let him have even that.

“Why?” Azriel challenged, irritated that his brooding had been interrupted. “Want to know all my secrets?”

Eris’ only looked perversely delighted, amber eyes glinting with mischief. “Of course, Moreno. I want to know everything about you.”

Azriel huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. “Look, Vanserra—” he began, not really sure where he was going with his reply.

But before he could figure it out, a whistle called them back together, and Azriel was forced to sullenly follow a smirking Eris back to the main clearing.

As they neared the larger group, they found Helion, architect of hell, midway through a closing speech. “ … and what a delight it has been to help Vel Tech grow closer as a team!” Ever the showman, he paused for cheers which Cassian and Mor exuberantly led. He continued, “There have been highs, and there have been lows. You have seen each other’s strengths; you now know each other’s weaknesses. And you, Vel Tech, are better for it! Ready to return to Velaris as a stronger, more unified group of … dare I say family?”

Azriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“But now, tragically, we have reached the final activity for today. Drumroll, please!” He glanced at Cassian, who gleefully indulged him by smacking his hands on his thighs.

Azriel waited. Please be something quick, please be something quick, please be something quick—

“The final team building activity for Vel Tech is…capture the flag!” Helion gestured to the forest that surrounded the clearing. “But you’re not just playing against each other—you’ll be playing against me as well. In the forest behind me, I have hidden three flags marked with Vel Tech’s trademark mountain and stars logo. Your job will be to bravely venture forth into the forest, find the flags before your coworkers do, return to claim your prize, and bring glory to your name!”

Laughing good-naturedly at Helion’s dramatics, the Vel Tech employees began eyeing the forest, some blanching a bit at the sheer size of it. Sensing their hesitation, Helion clarified. “All flags are set just off of some of the main trails at strategic lookout points, and we’ve provided you all with maps. You shouldn’t have to deviate too far from the marked paths to find my flags—the trick is choosing the right paths and getting to the flags before anyone else does. Questions?

As Helion paused, Azriel idly wondered what, if any, actual team building could be done by treating them like middle school kids at a summer camp. None at all, he decided, figuring he’d run into the forest with everyone else and then peel away from the group to take a nap against a tree while everyone else made fools of themselves.

“And you’ll be working in teams of two! So grab someone nearby and start talking strategy.”

Azriel glanced around. Rhys and Feyre were already deep in conversation, arguing over the map in front of them. Mor and Cassian had a map but didn’t look at it, clearly determined that sheer enthusiasm and willpower would win the day for them. Even Amren had already partnered up with Varian from marketing, the two looking more bloodthirsty than Azriel thought was possible for real humans. With a sinking feeling, he turned to look at Eris, who was already grinning at him wolfishly. So much for that nap.

“Hello, partner. I hope you’re better at scavenger hunts than you are at two truths and a lie.”

Azriel glowered. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Humming noncommittally, Eris only replied, “We’ll see.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth the effort of lobbing insults back and forth, Azriel only said, “Strategy?”

“No witty banter for me? Shame. Well, even if you are shit at this too, I have it covered.”

Azriel quirked an eyebrow.

With a long suffering sigh, Eris explained. “Had you been paying attention during Helion’s wonderful little game, you would have learned that I was an eagle scout in high school. These are my woods,” he said theatrically, throwing his arms open to encompass the forest around them. “I know every inch of them—the trails, of course, but also the unmarked paths that’ll get us to Helion’s lookout points without having to deal with everyone else bumbling about together. Are you ready for a hike, partner?”

Groaning internally, Azriel resigned himself to not only missing out on a nap but also having to actually try. He studied Eris, who, despite appearing absurdly elegant in a close-fitting green quarter-zip that brought out the color of his eyes, his hair artfully windswept in a way that Azriel refused to believe was totally natural, looked actually ready for a hike through the Illyrian forest. Asshole.

“Assuming, of course, that you can keep up, that is.” Eris smirked at him, studying Azriel—who was wearing all black, of course—in his turn.

“Lead the way,” was all Azriel said in reply, refusing to be outdone by Eris fucking Vanserra and his too-manicured appearance. “But if you get us lost, Vanserra—”

“Please, Moreno,” Eris cut in with a withering glare at Azriel as the two reached the forest’s edge. “Impossible. It’ll be fun.”

#azris #azris fanfiction #modern au #acotarwritingcircle #azriel x eris #azriel shadowsinger #eris vanserra #acotar fanfiction #acotar writing circle

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unafearless · 3 months

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The atmosphere in the quaint live music bar was as stuffy as a poorly ventilated attic, thick with the kind of smoke that makes you wonder if there’s a fog machine hidden somewhere. Armitage Hux, a fixture in this dimly lit scene, was perched in his favorite corner spot, an eagle eyeing his territory. His mission? Scouting for the next big thing. Tonight, his company was a glass of Irish scotch and a cigarette, the latter contributing its share to the atmospheric haze.

After a 3 year long writer slump I finally managed to write a Kylux AU short story. It's a beginning, in hopes that the Kylux fandom isn't dead yet. Follow the link if you want to check it out.

#kylux #armitage hux #kylo ren #fluff #ao3 writer #ao3 #ao3fanfic

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c-kiddo · 8 months

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oh ye, thats good. i jus try be polite since its harder to read tone on the internet and also people can get defensive about music. im vry much the kind of person who doesnt care if people dont like my music (because i like it sm) so i like talking about what i dont like too. fun to analyse and talk about, but its hard to describe what im looking for because idk technical terms much lol .

fave musician for me rn is mount eerie/the microphones (same guy just different projects) super obsessed rn with his stuff. like sm. one of my main over-and-over songs at the moment is a 44 min autobiography song he did and i love it sm. apart from that i kinda go through a bunch of songs over and over but uuuuh lemme think. on repeat recently is: the barrel - aldous harding, woman king EP - iron & wine, black wooden - mount eerie, shivers - julia jacklin (this makes me go craaaazy), pua - dengue dengue dengue, UFOF & not - big thief, microphones in 2020 - the microphones, volcanologie - karl blau & geneviève castrée, huge fire - mount eerie. . bunch of stuff i dont remember

frightened rabbit, aldous harding, ô paon, diane cluck, sóley, múm, mariee sioux are all good. frightened rabbit's been a fave since i was 12. also meaning to listen to more black belt eagle scout because i like some of her songs ive heard so far + she's touring w mount eerie

#replies #yeehoooooooooooo #i lliek a lot of music its hard to remember for a list

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iepurasdepraf · 6 months

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Here's that part 2. More to come. Ok, I love you. Part 3 soon. Bye bye.

“Oh, come on…” You were standing on the rusted out running board of the truck, fighting with your oversized and overfilled rucksack that was a challenge to get around on it’s own, but now it was also tangled up in the content’s of the truck bed. Ropes, burlap, several unsealed first aid kits, one had blood on it, some old moldy moving boxes, tarps. hoses, beat to hell tool boxes, what looked like some kind of pump- you didn’t want to think about it. You closed your eyes to force yourself to stop taking inventory and focus.

Finally, it came loose from whatever it was stuck on and you gasped, opening your eyes and trying to maintain your balance on the untrustworthy running board only to choke on your own spit seeing Crane on the other side of the truck, leaning down on his forearms. It was at that moment you realized how tall he was. The very top of the side panel only came up to his low chest. He was standing flat footed on the ground and could not just see, but see in just fine, but could probably reach the middle of the bed and then some with those long arms. He could probably grab you from there if he was in the mood to try. When had he gotten out of the cab? You couldn’t remember hearing him get out?

Trying to choke those rattling nerves down with the most pleasantly chirped “Were you an eagle scout? You look prepared for anything short of the apocalypse!” only to receive a hum and him looking away from you for the first time since he’d gotten out of the truck so he could look down into the bed. You chose to take that as him agreeing with your observation. In the past few hours of in person interaction, you’d mostly been talking at him while he gave you the Kubrick stare. The way people talked about him online you thought he’d have been enjoying the sound of his own voice. Then again, what did true crime people actually know? It gave you hope. Maybe they were wrong about him in a few ways, in enough ways for it to matter.

You hupped and lifted the rucksack up and let it do a, partially, controlled fall to the gravel parking spot that was more mud than anything which made you groan because it was brand new, but really that was it’s purpose, wasn’t it? Bound to get dirty sometime. Out of breath, you got that heavy pack to the patio and thunk thunk thunk’ed it up the too tall diy project steps onto the patio. Old paint crunching under your shoes and then the rucksack when you dragged it across the planks to the door. The owner had said the hide a key was in the plant pot by the door, but you couldn’t see anything that looked out of place in the odd sort of tiny pine tree’s cracked fancy pot.

“Do you see a-” You looked beside you thinking he'd be standing there, but he wasn't, which somehow made you jump harder than if he'd been there. Your first instinct after that was to look behind you, he wasn't there either. "Dr. Crane?" you whispered. Where did he go? Looking around you eventually found him. Lurking at the bottom of the steps to the porch. You couldn't even really see him, just the corduroy pants covering his knees down to the struggling to stay together old work boots on his feet in the lowlight of the dim porch lamp. Finding him made you jump harder than him just not being where you thought he was. "Jesus Christ!" "Mm?" The vaguely questioning sound he produced made you realize he'd not heard you or had and just hadn't answered. You couldn't tell. Maybe he thought it was funny. “What are you doing down there?” No answer. “Can you help me find the hide a key?” Again, nothing, he did join you on the porch however. Stepping over the steps you’d had to climb.

It only took him a second. Seemingly finding it at a glance among the perfectly similar riverstone rocks scattered in the pot. After fishing it out, he used the ragged hem of his faded olive colored sweater to wipe the dirt off before handing it to you. That was sweet of him. You made sure to say thank you.He smiled slightly, you caught it out of the corner of your eye. The door was finicky. You thought the key was going to snap before you managed to get it right where it wanted to be to unlock the door, but the moment that lock clicked the door was yanked from your hand. Swinging violently open to crash into whatever was behind it. Rattling the glass window in the door itself so hard that you were shocked it didn’t shatter.

You froze, struggling to breathe. You managed to look to Crane. For what you weren’t sure. He was playing with a lock of his hair, making it curl around his finger. He looked like his favorite tv show was on rather than disturbed.

“A draft.” He offered. “Yeah,” You looked into the house then after you just couldn’t look into the abyss anymore you looked back to him. “A draft.” When you didn’t move he took the initiative. Walking into the house like he owned it, taking your rucksack with him. Making you do a double take when he picked it up without strain singlehanded. All the way to the other side of the living room to the dining room where he sat the bag down on the table and thoughtfully turned on the overhead light. It flickered before slowly easing to it’s full brightness that only illuminated the table itself and maybe a foot around it making it an island in a inky sea of nothing, but vague shadow.

You should have gone with him. You should have, but you didn’t and now there was an insidious moat between you and him. All you had to do was join him. Go through that not so narrow unlit area. There was nothing there. Maybe a rug. One of those weird floor sockets for lamps. Crane stood patiently watching you stickbug in the doorframe trying to psych yourself up to go inside. You’d ridden out into the middle of nowhere with one of the most dangerous men in Gotham on a Friday night to some guy you’d found on Craig’s list house to find a ghost because he’d told you his grandpa died there in a hunting accident or some shit. The man watching you oscillate just got out of an insane asylum. Just go in the house. Why are you afraid of the dark?

So you closed your eyes tight and ran. Into the house, through the dark moat around the kitchen, and right into Crane. He stumbled back slightly when you two collided with him and offered a steadying hand on your shoulder. “Sssorry.” You eek out peaking up at him. All you got was a scoff of a laugh from him. The look on his face felt it was saying it was fine. You were quick to give him his space, but he didn’t come across as particularly opposed to you being close to him and that meant a lot to you because from the moment you met him he’d made it absolutely clear he did not want anyone to touch him, look at him, even be near him. To the point where he’d refused to approach when someone had tried to be polite and hold a door open for him at the diner earlier. You’d expected him to move away or move you away. Maybe not being shoved off of him was a reward for facing your fear. Maybe you’d watched too many Youtube videos and overthought everything always.

You metaphorically grab yourself by the back of the head and forced you to fight the straps to get in your bag so you could start unpacking. After setting your flashlights and your recorder you realized you were fucking up. Pay attention, explain things to him. Show him there’s a process. So, um, a…well,” You cleared your throat “So it’s a kind of some now and some later kind of thing.” “Mhm.” Oh, you actually had his attention. “Because while we can, hopefully get some responses in the moment, there will be some things we’ll have to go over in the recordings for. Like recorded voices we couldn’t hear or, ah, you know.” He tilted his head slightly, not knowing in the slightest. “Shadow people or apparitions. Things like that.” A soft snort. “Don’t laugh!” A little poorly suppressed jack-o-lantern-esque cracked his thin lips. He was somehow more and less creepy when he smiled at the same time. It was like he really didn’t know how. A spidery hand came up quickly to cover his mouth with his fingers, apparently conscious of this. “I’m not.” He rasped in assurance unconvincingly.

After cutting him with a side eye, you went back to unpacking. Apparently, feeling a little more silly, he moved to hover behind you to see over your shoulder. Curious. Picking up the K2 meter and turning it over in his hand then jumping a little when he turned it on and it beeped loudly once before he turned it back off. “We can’t use that in the kitchen.” You say making sure all three of the flashlights had batteries in them. “It detects electromagnetic fields. It’ll give a false positive in a spot with a lot of electricity running through it.”

He made no comment, but he did turn it back on and test that for himself. Waltzing around the kitchen to see what and where set it off and what didn’t while you make sure your video camera had nothing embarrassing on it in case he got curious. It seemed like mostly old videos of your cat and that was just fine for him to see. You turned to say something and jumped. He’d at some point moved to stand beside you, but you couldn’t even give what you were going to say a second try because a loud crunch sent a shiver down your spine and an echo cascading out into the otherwise silent house. It had come from Crane. Which didn’t make it less ominous, but he’d found a bag of Goldfish crackers somewhere and was munching away like he’d not just eaten a big supper an hour or so ago.

“You can’t just eat that.” You protested. “It’s not…” Then you saw the date on the bag. 03/17/2014. “Oh my God.” He had to have seen that. You know he saw that.The look on his face when he realized you’d seen it told you he had. At the very least they had to be incredibly stale, at the worst they’d gone bad. “Jonathan.” His eyebrows shot up. First name? Bold, very bold. “Stop!” Another handful. “They’ll make you sick!” He rolled his eyes in a bored way and that’s when he noticed the camera. Side stepping quickly so he’d be out of the shot. If it was so no one saw him eating decade old Goldfish or for some other reason you weren’t sure.

He didn’t want to be recorded? That was fine with you. You turned it so you were the focus. “It’s not recording, don’t worry.” “Mm.” To ease his concern you held it out to him. “Here, this way you won’t have to worry.” An incredulous glance, but after a moment or two of you not changing your mind he finished his last handful of Goldfish, dusted the crumbs off on his pants, and took the camera. He was so careful when he did. Like he was worried your hand would snap off like a porcelain doll’s if he was too rough. After sussing out how it worked, he had it focused on you with the red light on, recording already.

At least he couldn’t eat the Goldfish anymore.

You smiled at the camera, at him. Holding up one of the flashlights you presented to him “Uv light.” then another “Infralight.” then the last one “This is just a mag light, but!” You lightly tapped the camera once you’d sat the flashlight down next to the bag of Goldfish that would haunt your nightmares. “That’s a full spectrum camera! So hopefully it’ll get anything-” “And where,” “We might…” “Did you get all of this?” You were struck dumb. That was the longest sentence he’d ever said to you in person. It hadn’t been half a day of knowing him in person so that wasn’t really saying much, but still/ Unfortunately you knew your answer wasn’t a winning one the moment you went to answer it. “Am…” His eyebrow arched “Amazon?” You managed to get out with all the authority of a parrot saying “Bottle.”

He looked away, sucked on his bottom lip then let it go with a loud pop while moving his now free hand to touch his chest then only looked back at you after letting out a long breath that would have been some kind of prolonged stress sigh if he was more annoyed. He wasn’t annoyed though, but you also couldn’t tell exactly what emotion was. Looked back at you, but ultimately returned to his silence even though for a moment it seemed like he wanted to say something. At least he didn’t laugh. Just slow blinked at you like your cat did sometimes.

“What?” He shook his head “I know you want to.” That made him give you an amused look. You decided to take it as him being tickled you claimed you could tell. “I’m just admiring your…resourcefulness.” You, not believing that for a minute, threw a side eye at his head, but ultimately decided to go back to unpacking anyway. If only out of spite at the moment. “You could be a little more grateful, you know? I spent a lot of money on this stuff for us.I know you think it’s silly, but-” It was money you didn’t really have either, not for this at least.“You didn’t already have this?” “No?” His good humor hit the floor like a lead balloon. “Why?” “Because I promised you I would?” He threw his hand up. You were a little shocked he didn’t accidentally fling the camera from how quick and instinctual the gesture was “But the cost?” He didn’t raise his voice even in spite of the clear agitation or at least disgruntled confusion. Still nearly whispering which made the fact that you’d bothered him in some way a lot less terrifying than it probably should have been. You kinda felt like a librarian that told him he couldn’t check out any more books until he paid his late fees.

“I don’t care about that.” You laughed a little saying that and it did nothing to soothe his consternation. “You don’t care?” “Why would I care about that?” It was a genuine question that he seemed completely boggled by “None of this,” He waved the camera to give an example “Could have been cheap. Pumpkin, you got scammed. You know-” “No.” You quickly put a finger up and to his credit he took being interrupted like a champ. Just going quiet again with a soft huff. “If you think, genuinely think, that this is entirely about proving ghosts are real to you then maybe that sweater is a little too tight in the neck.” It wasn’t, it was so loose at this point you could see his adams apple and where his clavicals started. “You wouldn’t chastise me for buying a badminton net, would you? That’s all this is.” You got the feeling he would have chastised you for that too, but maybe that was just his generally miserly vibe. He nearly seemed like he was buffering on that statement until you added “It is a bonus though. Proving ghosts are real, I mean.” “Even if you do find something, no one will believe you.” Crane actually frowned a little then you heard why “Not with me here.”

“Well,” You put a hand on your hip and puffed yourself up “I’d rather have you here than anyone believe me anyway.” That sent him into an odd state of awed confusion apparently. “Besides, you’re the only person I care about believing me. It’s not like I’m doing this for anyone else. It’s just us here.” There was a split second where he looked like he was about to throw up, but he choked whatever emotion that was bubbling up with a forced cough before holding the camera back up with that unreadable expression right back up where it was before. He didn’t argue, weirdly. He loved arguing. Maybe you’d won for once? He’d stopped fussing that’s what mattered.

You’d forgotten what you were doing during that. You must have looked lost because he motioned at the rucksack and all the stuff on the table. “Oh! Right, right, right. Anyway, that’s a full spectrum camera. So it should be able to pick up anything we miss. I wanted to get a thermal camera, but I ran out of money. Aahahaa-” He didn’t laugh, but he did smile a little.

Maybe those little smiles made this whole goofy adventure worth it in the end? They did to you at least.

#you x jonathan crane #jonathan crane x reader #you x scarecrow #scarecrow x reader

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