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#but the one that keeps rearing up is compulsive cleaning

juvinile · 3 years

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* HALEY LU RICHARDSON , CIS FEMALE + SHE / HER | you know EDEN ROMANOV , right ? they’re TWENTY - THREE , and they’ve lived in irving for , like , ON AND OFF THEIR WHOLE LIFE ? well , their spotify wrapped says they listened to SAFE PLACES BY CASSIDY KING like , a million times this year , which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole LACING YOUR MARY JANES SO TIGHTLY THEY LEAVE MARKS , WIND BLOWN SILK OVERSHIRTS , STRANDS OF FRESH CUT HAIR LEFT ABANDONED IN THE SINK TO WILT thing going on . i just checked and their birthday is SEPTEMBER 16TH , so they’re a VIRGO , which is unsurprising , all things considered .

TW INCLUDE internalized homophobia tw, homophobia tw.

AESTHETICS :

lacing your mary janes so tightly they leave marks, wind blown silk overshirts, strands of fresh cut hair left abandoned in the sink to wilt, light academia compulsions, using pressed petals with the thorns left sharp as bookmarks, falling apart inside the safety of your own room, putting yourself back together in a broken mirror, tight ponytails and tighter features, stretching yourself thin as elastic, bittersweet pomegranate, strawberry chapstick layered over clear lipgloss, reading the wrong script, world domination.

CHARACTER INSPO :

hermione granger (harry potter), cameron post (the miseducation of cameron post), the white rabbit (alice in wonderland), martha gellhorn (hemingway and gellhorn), dolores abernathy (westworld), nina sayers (black swan), emily dickinson (dickinson), caitlin park (the infinite noise), margaery tyrell (game of thrones)

GENERAL STATISTICS :

full name : eden anastasia romanov

age / dob : twenty threee / september 16th

gender : cis female

pronouns : she / her

faceclaim : haley lu richardson

orientation : homosexual / lesbian

residence : port apartments

occupation : intern in the mayor’s office

pinterest : HERE !

BIOGRAPHY :

eden anastasia romanov. born and raised in irving (though at times it felt like the romanovs lived in behind the walls of their own private castle, operated a few steps ahead of everyone else. eden ate it up), eden was one of the younger romanov’s. her father, vaughn romanov, was a senator who recently decided to run for town mayor and her mother, adelaide romanov, was a philanthropist.

she always always always looked up to her eldest sibling, cain. it seems this was a common thread for the romanov siblings see abel. (played by james and bri blows a kiss)

very much born with a silver spoon so far up her rear, she was always her father’s precious angel. very much her father’s daughter. she knew cain was the one with all of the pressure but this only drove her to crave success more. she was determined to make her parents proud, even if the weight on her shoulders was completely self imposed. all her parents wanted from her career wise was to marry well and look pretty. more on this trauma later.

her and her siblings were expected to be more than involved in school and their community. she was a cheerleader and a gymnast, top of her class, president of the debate team, sang in the church choir. she was a perfect smiling face for her mother’s philanthropy events and stood next to her siblings at all of her father’s rallies. she played two instruments and spoke as many languages. she made it look easy.

there wasn’t very much time for eden to make friends. she only had a handful, girls she’d grown up with in the gymnastics gym, and she knew people that gravitated towards her really only had their eyes on her family’s money. (erm. maybe thats just ur weird trust issues eden but idk im not a therapist) because of this, she was exceptionally reliant on her siblings. they were the only ones who understood what it was like to be spread so thin you snapped.

(homophobia tw) she was the first of her family to spark controversy, though it never got out, when her mother caught her kissing a girl from her cheer squad in her car parked in front of their house. though her parents didn’t fully mind, this news would be bad for her father’s campaign so eden wasn’t given a say. the romanov’s would make it go away. she still had to appeal to the wealthy sons of her parent’s aristocratic friends. you couldn’t really do that with your tongue down a girl’s throat, now, could you e?

her father bribed the girl’s mother to take her daughter off the cheer team. this was also the day eden decided she would be a politician. there was no question. she couldn’t feel helpless anymore. was it equal parts about besting her father for making her best friend go away? perhaps. eden wouldn’t admit that. she wouldn’t admit a lot of things.

deeply liberal. a stark contrast to the republican (centrist. but still.) values of her parents. a rift was drawn between her and her parents. she was no longer her father’s little girl. she wasn’t the romanov that could do no wrong. she was yet another family black sheep, who had a lot of making up to do if she wanted back in wealth’s good graces. she felt abandoned by her parents, an issue that she would grapple with for the rest of her life. (end of tw)

her grades dropped after this. she considered running away but in the end she graduated high school. she wasn’t valedictorian like she had always hoped, but salutatorian still looked good on college apps. eden was never known for giving up, but she wasn’t usually known for coming in second place either.

it was really hard for her when cain left to.. wherever it was they went off to. (she’s still afraid to ask) she was in college, pursuing a political science degree, and she suffered more than she would ever let on. she didn’t sleep much at all, the entire year. she accomplished very little, focused solely on keeping up the image she’d worked so hard to craft. if she could survive this she could survive anything.

screech (the sound of tires coming to a halt). cain came back. conveniently, eden made the decision to take a gap year and come back for a second senior year at university. it wasn’t related. she did this for herself. (she didn’t)

cain didn’t remember her when they came back. nothing hurt worse than this.

she’s going through a lot right now. she’ll b fine.

don’t know where to fit this in but she owns a cat named lady d named after her role model princess diana. she’s mean and bites people a lot but eden thinks it’s endearing.

PERSONALITY :

determined. type a. organized. studious. go getter. tenacious. shrill. hot tempered. prone to fantasy. escapist. withdrawn. tightly wound. deeply in need of catching a break. ankle biter energy. ruthless and bloodthirsty, can and will destroy anything that gets in her way? stuck in her head. strives so hard for perfection, low self esteem. unforgiving with mistakes. especially her own. thinks she doesn’t need anyone else. really really needs someone else. indulgent. likes luxury and doesn’t apologize for it, but isn’t loud about it either. princess locked in a tower waiting for her knight in shining armor energy. does this make sense.

WANTED CONNECTIONS :

other irving hs students her age that were also really hard workers in school. the people she competed with and also competed alongside.

other members of the cheer team. first girl kiss anyone? first girl kiss?

siobhan is her ex girlfriend from college that she broke up with because of all the internalized homophobia. does this spark any connections? lmk.

a boy she’s dating to appease her parents. not sure if she’s doing it to get them off her backs or because she really wants to prove herself to them. probably both.

hi hookups anyone? she might be pretending to date a guy but that doesn’t mean she’s a sadist. let’s have fun.

ok who sells her weed. god knows she needs it.

anyone who grew up going to her mother’s events. suffering through stuffy socializing together. eden was really good at it it was probably annoying.

does anyone need a roommate in port? she’s really clean and keeps to herself but her cat does bite. warning. her cat does bite.

anything else i can’t think of but. i’m sure there’s more.

#ˏˋ ◟ * EDEN ROMANOV ／ BIOGRAPHY. ˎˊ #irvingintro #homophobia tw #internalized homophobia tw #hiiiiiiii everyone #forgive me for her<3

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girldraki · 3 years

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So sorry for your loss. Sending my condolences. Please take care of yourselves, alright?

I have some questions about to take your mind off it, if that's okay!

1. Brennedy lore?

2. Domestic GearsBerg? Who cooks, cleans, organises? Who has the better (or worse) fashion sense? Their tastes in music?

there is literally more brennedy lore than anyone outside of the server could possibly imagine and this is not anyone’s fault but the servers but here’s a tidbit: we’ve collectively hypothetically optioned it as a five-story epic loosely based on the kubler ross stages of grief (for mikells humanity as an o5 council member). brennedy proper is obviously denial and bargaining comes up when mikell tells gears about his decisions at some kind of function and because this largely parallels his own personal background and gears is accepting by default for other reasons he is the very first person to hear about this and be completely sympathetic. naturally, mikell falls wildly in love with him based on that conversation alone. (and then there’s some fallout because gears is. well. his coworker’s son very small, and it all falls apart because mikell isn’t properly communicating to gears that he staked his whole personhood on this relationship, and then we move on to anger and all, but that’s not important right now.)

bringing all this up bc the latest idea we dropped in the server thus far is that wrath of the termite king burn pygmalion scans very well as a council perspective on these events. we’d quote relevant lyrics but it’s literally…. 90% of the damn song. the important thing is his vengeful parasite is rearing its head again </3

gearberg…. uhhh gears’s place was so fucking empty before iceberg moved in that he functionally didnt clean at all but it turns out iceberg has lots and lots of shit and their apartment now seems almost like someone lives there. iceberg is kind of Mess Blindness but gears sort of compulsively picks things up so they’re like…. clean enough i guess. iceberg does all their laundry though his brain is aligned just so that he LOVES laundry (the fact that it comes out of the dryer so soft and warm doesn’t hurt)

gears’s wardrobe has since the age of relative-sixteen been designed entirely in accordance with lab safety procedure because he’s autistic and a fucking nerd. he also does not own anything in any colors other than white, black, grey, or earth tones (with the occasional teal now that he has a boyfriend) and therefore, despite the fact that iceberg is a man in his 40s who is so meticulous about keeping his roots dyed that his hair is brittle as fuck and who wears a labcoat to bed, he automatically wins on the fashion front.

hmmm gears’s musical base is probably uh. (1) incredibly archaic mekhanite music that functionally does not exist outside of his and his fathers knowledge base anymore (2) whatever tammy had stuck in faer head when fae was around him and (3) ~17-800s era french popular music from his Teenage Rebellion phase (did not stick). so i guess probably a weird amount of abba? iceberg on the other hand listens to (1) emo indie edgy bitch shit, (2) so much carly rae jepsen, adn (3) to much less of his shame than it really should be, musical soundtracks but specifically the not good ones. he is not allowed the aux on road trips with other staff members.

#ask #anonymous #long post

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yogaadvise · 3 years

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A Yin Yoga Sequence To Balance and Align The Chakras

There are countless chakras on your body as well as in your power area, but the majority of people recognize with the 7 primary chakras that originate from your sacrum to the top of your head. In English, the Sanskrit word 'chakra' suggests 'wheel.' Each chakra resembles a rotating wheel of energy that represents a different element of life as well as being. When all 7 chakras are in equilibrium, you will certainly feel essential, secure, passionate, and listened to your natural possibility. If your chakras run out equilibrium, it can materialize in different means depending upon which power center needs interest. Balancing and also aligning your chakras should be a day-to-day method, as every day brings new difficulties and possibilities for growth.

Working with the chakras can be very enjoyable and also relaxing, and it can bring a new feeling of function to your objectives, partnerships, visions, as well as fantasizes. Among the very best methods to work with the chakras is with gentle yin yoga exercise, reflection, and pranayama. Below is a personalized yin yoga sequence that will assist balance and also straighten your chakras.

Wearing A Blindfold and Other Useful Yin Yoga Exercise Props

One of the very best things you can do prior to practicing yin yoga is gather your yoga props. Postures in yin yoga are held for a longer duration so that you can penetrate the present emotionally as well as literally and experience a deep release. It is practical to practice in a peaceful space that really feels risk-free and also comfy. Some individuals like to put on gentle songs to start the technique, but overall it is better to exercise in silent so the music does not steer your space psychologically or creatively. The tranquility will certainly enable quelched ideas and also feelings to arise so they can be released.

At a minimum you will certainly require 2 thick folded blankets and 2 yoga obstructs for this practice. You may likewise want a yoga band, bolster, and also blindfold. Treatment your eyes with an eye pillow behaves, but it taxes your eye outlets, which can avoid the body from going into remainder and also leisure fully. One trick from restorative yoga is to take an ace plaster or silk fabric as well as wrap it over your head. This way, you can lift it up and also down quickly while transitioning in between presents, as well as still get the relaxing darkness in all of the poses.

Constructive Rest

Begin your yoga method in constructive rest. This present centers your mind and brings a gentle leisure to your body. Positive rest is cooling and softens the organs in the reduced tummy as well as abdomen, which is a remarkable means to begin any kind of practice.

To enter the posture, lie on your yoga floor covering on your back. Bend your knees to a 45-degree angle as well as maintain your feet within the frame of your body. Stroll your feet out a little and also prop your knees together. Close your eyes as well as position your hands delicately at hand or palm-down on your lower belly. Take a breath efficiently as well as at your natural rhythm. Take 10 breaths prior to exiting the position and also concerning a seated position.

Alternate Nostril Breathing Pranayama

Alternate nostril breathing is by much among the very best ways to open and get rid of the power pathways in your body. In Sankrit, this technique of breath job is called 'Nadi Shodhana,' which translate to 'refined power cleaning breathing method.' Scientifically, alternative nostril breathing triggers and balances the left and appropriate sides of the mind and also clears debris like plant pollen, dust, and also microscopic contaminants from the lungs. Emotionally, this type of breath job distributes the life pressure energy (prana) that stays in the breath all throughout your body. What a remarkable method to activate the chakras!

To method alternate nostril breathing, rest with your hips boosted above your knees, you can utilize a blanket, yoga exercise block, or meditation pillow to prop yourself up. Take your dominant hand and fold your center finger and forefinger down. Close one nostril with your thumb, then inhale deeply through the nose. Squeeze both nostrils shut utilizing your thumb and various other 2 fingers. Keep the breath for a count of 3, after that release the thumb and exhale completely. Repeat this for as much as 5 minutes if needed.

Paschimottanasana-- Caterpillar Pose

For caterpillar posture, you will require a yoga exercise block as well as two folded up coverings, among the coverings is rolled and goes under your knees and the other is folded as well as goes under your sit bones. The block will be pushed up against all-time low of your feet or if you are a little less flexible, place the block between your calves as well as rest your head on it. When exercising this present, the goal is not to reach your head to your knees and even to extend the legs really deeply. Rather, you wish to concentrate on opening up the power facility at the end of the spinal column. This location is called the origin chakra.

Supta Baddha Konasana-- Reclining Bound Angle Pose

There is a reason that Reclining Bound Angle Pose is suggested for pregnant women! This posture carefully opens up and nestles the pelvic bowl, which concurrently boosting as well as triggering the sacral chakra. This position can be held for as long as 30 minutes when the ideal props are made use of. While it can be alluring to push yourself to stretch the inner thighs deeply here, bear in mind that the objective is not to really feel a stretch, however rather to promote an energised release. When exercising this pose, you ought to lie back on a reinforce and make use of two coverings to prop up your bent knees. You can anchor your feet by looping a strap around your delay and under your feet, or place a medium weight sand bag on your ankle joints. For this position, make certain your body is comfy and also cozy, and cover your eyes with an eye mask or blindfold.

Supta Matsyendrasana-- Reclined Twist

Once you come out of Reclining Bound Angle Pose, you will currently feel a change in your astral body. You may likewise really feel like you remain in a dream-like as well as innovative state. As you relocate the power upwards, there will certainly be a feeling of re-invigoration.

You can start the procedure by triggering the 3rd chakra, which is your sun center and seat of power, confidence, and also food digestion. The perfect posture to trigger this chakra is the Reclined Spin. This twist gently squeezes the body organs like a sponge and also wrings out old, stale blood from them. As you launch the twist, the location might really feel a little warmer as new members is swamped right into the reduced stomach. While twisting, it is useful to literally touch the front and also rear of your torso and also picture this procedure happening.

Salamba Bhujangasana-- Sustained Sphynx Pose

Ready to open your heart and throat chakras? For this position, you will certainly roll onto your tummy as well as area a yoga reinforce or thick folded covering at the center or top of the rib cage, whichever feels much more comfortable.

Ground your joints into the yoga mat and raise your heart and throat up and also out. Keep the tops of your upper legs active and also press the top of your feet onto the floor, this action protects your reduced back as well as enables your to hold the posture for longer. You can have the legs close with each other or in a wide V-shape.

Using the boost or blanket enables you to hold this present for a lot longer than you could in a Vinyasa yoga sequence. Do not hesitate to remain right here for 5-6 breaths if your reduced back really feels comfortable.

Supta Virasana-- Reclined Hero Pose

Believe it or not, your chakras can in fact come to be as well open. When your power centers allow as well as bursting, you can leakage energy and get the opposite effect that you are going with. In some cases this can show up as stress and anxiety, overzealousness, over activity, or obsessive-compulsive actions. Some chakras might be bigger than others as well as take power away from various other power centers in the body. As an example, if the third chakra is too big, it can deteriorate the heart chakra as well as you might become afraid of susceptability. Or, if the heart chakra is also big, you may shrink the throat chakra as well as avoid saying what you really indicate out of a desire to please people.

Either method, when you are dealing with the chakras in yin yoga exercise, you desire to end your practice with an asana like Reclined Hero's Pose to concentrate as well as ground your energy. Exercise the pose laying back on a yoga exercise boost with a strap around your knees to keep them from playing out, if you don't have a yoga exercise bolster, practice it sitting up with a yoga exercise block under your sacrum in between your legs. While in the position, place your hands palm-up on the tops of the thighs.

Savasana-- Final Resting Pose

Even if you aren't practicing strenuous yoga exercise, you always intend to end with savasana to make sure that your body has an opportunity to incorporate the knowledge of the positions. Savasana aids to focus as well as relax the energy in your body, and also activates the pineal eye as well as crown chakras. To practice this pose in the yin yoga exercise tradition, position a blanket on the floor so your entire yoga exercise floor covering is covered. Area a reinforce under your knees. If it's great in the space, place a covering over your body. You can also place a thinly folded up blanket under your head if needed.

Be sure to lay in this posture for a minimum of 10 mins. As you penetrate the present, think of each chakra. As you relocate via each of the 7 chakras, imagine the color and also strength of each power. Think of that every one is perfectly balanced and also thriving. After the meditation, come out of the pose slowly and take your time incorporating back right into the day.

Yin yoga exercise is exceptionally cleaning to the internal organs, lymphatic system, as well as spine fluid, so be certain to consume alcohol great deals of water to help your body integrate the practice!

#asana #ashtanga yoga #iyengar yoga #kundalini yoga #meditation #pranayama #prenatal yoga #restorative yoga #types of yoga #vinyasa yoga #yin yoga #yoga #yoga alliance #yoga music

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buildingrelationshipsinanarchy · 4 years

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QIM Model | Dekoship Series | Phadship Series | Seroship Series

*As per uze, you dont have to read anything beneath the infographic itself, but I’m gonna try to add some theory to explain why this one excites me the most in the model*

So some significant people in my life and I have been discussing Anarchist theory lately with all of the uprisings and discussions of abolishing police. And while blogs like @queeranarchism and @hater-of-terfs are so much better read and have better takes on anarchism, direct action, current events, and politics in general, than I could hope to provide, its by those blogs and others that I’m inspired in the ways I am.

Mudships are just affinity groups you built to do some direct action. What is direct action? The link is to CrimethInc’s work Recipes For Disaster, and its intro is a good primer on it. To paraphrase it (who doesn’t like blockquotes?):

Practicing direct action means acting directly to meet needs, rather than relying on representatives or choosing from prescribed options ... it most properly describes actions that cut out the middleman entirely to solve problems without mediation.

Need some examples? You can give money to a charity organization, or you can start your own chapter of Food Not Bombs and feed yourself and other hungry people at once. You can write an angry letter to the editor of a magazine that doesn't provide good 72 coverage of the subjects you consider important, or you can start your own magazine. You can vote for a mayor who promises to start a new program to help the homeless, or you can squat unused buildings and open them up as free housing for anyone in need.

...

The opposite of direct action is representation.

While things can get intense the more confident you get practicing direct action, my purposes here are in regards to relationship building and mutual aid. In the ABC’s of Anarchism, Berkman has this beautiful little quote (you ready for another one?):

If your object is to secure liberty, you must learn to do without authority and compulsion. If you intend to live in peace and harmony with your fellow-men, you and they should cultivate brotherhood and respect for each other. If you want to work together with them for your mutual benefit, you must practice coöperation.

The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight. It is a spirit to be cultivated, to be nurtured and reared, as the most delicate flower is, for indeed it is the flower of a new and beautiful existence.

So when I talk about monogamy and capitalism, it isn’t to shit on people who do monogamy, its discuss how the cultural institution of monogamy is a social relationship. It’s to discuss not that practicing monogamy is the problem (although you’re not gonna catch me doing it), its to discuss how our culture perceives doing monogamy correctly and how that makes it worth critiquing if we were to imagine building a different society and attempt to make any meaningful steps toward it.

If doing monogamy ‘correctly’ is ‘investing’ time, money, emotional intimacy and sexual attention into one person, its obvious that it leaves so many people out of our lives that could add depth, joy, fulfillment, challenge, and transformative growth and change for us. Margaret Thatcher has a terrible quote: “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families.” I bring up this trashcan quote by this woman with dumpster politics to critique the idea of Family as well. Monogamy leads to nuclear families, not all of the time, but enough of the time for most of us to have that experience.

But what is Family? Blood ties to people and access to their material resources? That’s how inheritance works, which has torn a part families by fighting over the resources by who gets what. Familiy also has colloquially meant familiarity with certain human beings thats developed or long periods of connection and time. How many of us have found people in our lives who have loved us deeper than our parents and siblings (if you still have, or ever had those)? My father passed a few years ago, and I’m virtually estranged with my mother and younger sister. Family in my life has been the partners and friends through the years who’ve had the patience, grace, and concern for my joy & well-being, it is them who has shared their time, energy, labor, money, food with me when circumstance would steal the ground beneath my feet. To discuss monogamy and family from the lens I’ve constructed is to talk directly about which social relationships become culturally validated and socially encouraged, and with it who gets access to what materials and why we watch others refuse to share it.

I talk about mudships as being relationships built around Mutual Aid and Solidarity, that whatever little circles we’ve built around ourselves don’t interrupt the ability to be charitable and generous with people outside of it. The individualism that’s reinforced by capitalism affects us by separating people from their communities, by leveraging human need against human values, by turning the world outside of our homes into a place ‘full of people who will take advantage of your naivete or good heart.’ This isn’t just some ideological or abstract concept, this word encapsulates why I have the current over my head that I do. It every much discusses how I’ve been able to keep an old roommate afloat after he was laid off of his job and couldn’t claim unemployment; and that was before COVID and its Lockdowns & Quarantines erased a huge chunk of the economy.

I don’t just say this to just encourage sharing. I say this as part of a larger conversation about how we’ve been encultured & propagandized to believe that some people don’t deserve access to healthcare, addiction therapy, housing, food, clean water, this list goes on. I want to start a conversation about building the social relationships that allow us to trust the people we’re sharing money, material resources, and labor with, in our own lives and to inspire the desire to get excited about helping those you may know are in need.

We have so much need and so many stoked, yet unfulfilled desires that capitalism fuels and feeds off of, but does that mean we can do nothing about it? Does that mean we have to hope another Bernie Sanders shows up? I don’t want the quality of my time on this earth to be suffering in ways I can actively resolve or prevent. But I can’t do that alone, trying to do so is impossible. It isn’t a moral failing to not be powerful in a world separates you from the source of connection, inspiration, and depth, all of which exists in the hearts and potential of others.

Don’t let yourself forget that we always better connected than alienated.

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jeks-tgs · 4 years

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Don't Lose Your Head AU - Part 7

To say things weren't going well right now was a bit of an understatement.

Frankenstein, true to her word, had immediately taken to charming Robert's grandmother, and much to his horror, the two seemed to be hitting it off. This had sparked an overprotective outburst from the surgeon, who was now bickering the resurrectionist for flirting with his grandmother, the old woman watching the two with amusement. Creature was subjected to staying close by to keep his creator under control, and Henry decided that he should take Robert's advice and go get some fresh air. Alone. Far, far away from all this chaos and tense atmosphere. Maybe he should go explore every acre of the property afterall.

Much to Edward's delight and Henry's chagrin, part of the property was an expansive wetland, where the doctor had to tread carefully or risk getting his foot caught in the murk.

"Isn't this fun, Henry?" His other chirped from inside his chest, and the Scot rolled his eyes. Of course the blond would find tramping through treacherous terrain entertaining.

"About as fun as trying not to drown in mud usually is," He quipped back, only to immediately trip on something. He stumbled, barely managing to catch himself before he fell face first into the cloudy water. For once, his stilts masquerading as legs came in handy; usually, his gangly limbs only made his falls worse. He turned to see what he had struck his foot on, expecting a branch or a root, only to jump a little. "Oh.. poor thing.."

It was the skeleton of a stag, a young one by the looks of it. It was old enough to be picked clean, but not so old it was covered in moss or any other signs of weathering. It must have gotten stuck in the marsh and either died of exhaustion or fallen prey to the elements. A sudden compulsion seized hold of him, and the next thing he knew he was grabbing the spine of the animal and pulling. Surprisingly, it popped free easily, no ribs or chunks attached. It was unusually flexible, hanging down almost like a whip. It felt.. right, to be holding this. Other than being a tad damp, it fit comfortably in his slender grasp, the part he was holding feeling almost like a handle. At Edward's urging, he flicked it, almost dropping it, startled at the satisfying 'crack!' it made in the chilly air. An odd buzzing feeling tickled his skin, a sense of pride entering his chest at the simple action of snapping the spine like a whip.

It was at that moment he heard a panicked whinny.

Henry snapped his head up, looking about as that feeling from earlier in the coach clenched at his insides once more. There. A young mare with fur as black as tar, likely the one that had spooked the coach horses earlier, was struggling, her hooves caught in the mud. If she kept this up, she would exhaust herself and only get stuck worse. Henry quickly made up his mind to help if he could, hurrying over.

"Easy, easy!" He tried to calm the animal as he tucked the hilt of the deer's spine into his belt. The mare calmed, but only enough to stop thrashing, still obviously skittish. Henry smiled softly, standing next to her now. She was massive, her side reaching just above Henry's eyes. He reached out to stroke her neck soothingly, murmuring, "See? I'm not going to hurt—"

His hand stuck to the dark fur like glue. The mare immediately stopped shivering, turning her head, and there was something terrifying in the way she looked at him. She removed her hooves from the mud with little to no effort. Edward barely had time to shriek, "Kelpie!!", before the creature bolted, dragging Henry, forcing him to run alongside her. He held onto his head, terrified of losing it in such a flooded area, only to feel a spike of fear course through him as he saw the large lake up ahead. The kelpie was going to drown him.

Just as this thought entered his mind, the feeling in his gut shifted. As if on autopilot, he let go of his own hair to tangle his fingers into the kelpie's mane. He swung himself up onto its back with ease, though predictably the movement knocked his head loose. He wrenched his stuck hand free, startling the kelpie with this unexpected turn of events, and grabbed hold of his head by the hair. He held it tight to his abdomen, yanking the kelpie's mane, causing the mare to stop, rearing back. She was trying to knock him loose, bucking and rearing, but somehow he stayed on effortlessly, as if made to ride a wild beast like herself. He dug in with his knees to keep himself seated, grabbed the spine still lodged in his belt, and whipped it up into the air.

As the crack rung out the kelpie reared one final time, front legs kicking as she whinnied. Her hooves slammed down into the mud, just on the edge of the lake. Henry was breathing just as hard as she was, heart pounding, green flame roaring from his neck. The fire slowly died down as Edward began to calm. Something inside of Henry slid into place, as if he was finally whole. The whip, the kelpie, and Edward blazing from his neck made him feel complete. An almost euphoric sensation washed over him, and a grin spread across his face, still nestled comfortably in his lap. The grin seemed to stretch from ear to ear, showing off the oddly sharp canines and molars he possessed.

"Edward," He found himself saying, red eyes sparkling. It was quickly growing dark out, not unexpected with the cold weather, and the stars felt as if they were shining extra bright for the occasion. "I must be going crazy.. because all I want to do right now is—"

"Ride as fast we can throughout the countryside?"

"....God, yes."

A crack rung out once more, and they were off. The kelpie's hooves thundered along, and when they reached a stone path, the force of them striking the ground caused sparks to flare up. Edward's green inferno roared back into a frenzy, as wild and untamed as the mare Henry was sat upon. A gate came up ahead, but where Henry would normally feel the need to stop to avoid a nasty impact, he instead smirked, cracking the whip in the air once more, urging his newfound mount to increase in speed. The kelpie happily abliged, seeming just as pleased with her unexpected rider as he was with her. As they neared the gate, it burst open without being touched, as if frightened into parting at the mere sight of the duo (trio, if one knew the flames were actually a seperate entity named Edward Hyde).

Looking back, riding through a town at late dusk when there were likely still people awake was the worst thing he could have done, but in the moment the sound of the kelpie's hooves hitting the cobblestone drowned out any common sense he could have had. It was an adrenaline rush like no other, and when he reached a bronze statue of a man riding atop a rearing horse, he couldn't help but halt his steed, laughing with pure joy as she reared back, mimicking the shiny gold-brown figures in the middle of the town. When her hooves touched back down, he raised his whip, ready to strike the air and take off once more, only to freeze. The smile slowly slid off his face as he finally got a good look at the metal rider, replaced with stunned shock.

The rider was headless, a snarling head tucked under one arm, the other raised in the air with a menacing whip that looked disturbingly like a human spine. He stared, nudging the kelpie to walk closer. Edward's flames grew brighter with awe. He tucked the hilt of the spine into his belt, reaching out with a trembling hand. He pressed his palm to the cool metal, red eyes wide.

---

Abigail Smith was by no means the adventerous type. No, she preferred to spend her days safely tucked away in her father's shop, hammering glowing hot metals into tools and weapons and other useful things. The young blacksmith would then end her day at dusk, head inside, wash up, eat supper, and then go to bed so she could wake up early and get back to doing what she loved. Sadly, a rather snooty old nobleman had barged into the shop, demanding a complicated order finished by tomorrow, and they were the only traditional blacksmith shop left that he knew of, and he wanted the novelty of a traditionally smithed item, and blah blah blah. So, poor Abigail didn't get done working until the sky was already dark and filled with stars. She was just about to head off to bed, maybe not even bother washing up, when she heard a faint cracking sound like a whip, and thunderous, rumbling hoofbeats.

Now, again, Abigail Smith was not the adventurous type, but when the cracking and hoofbeats grew louder, the tragic phenomenon known as 'human curiosity' gripped hold of her, and she couldn't help but step out of her shop. She turned the corner into the town center and nearly fainted at the sight of a headless rider on a black horse, cackling and cracking what she could only assume was a human spine like a whip. She watched as he suddenly paused, tucking his whip away and reaching out to touch the statue that commemorated that time long ago when the townsfolk rallied together and hunted down the last Dullahan nearby, killing the demon right in the middle of the town's center, right where the statue now stood. The green flame from his neck brightened with rage, and it finally clicked in her head that there was a Dullahan right in front of her.

Another well-known fact about Abigail smith was that she had a voice that could make the gods pause in their discussions to listen to what she had to say. As such, she had a scream that could wake the dead, no matter how long ago they were laid to rest. So, when she saw the murderous, beheading demon in front of her, what else was she to do but succumb to fear and scream?

Within seconds, the wicked spirit was surrounded on all sides by angry townsfolk, and it was then and only then that Abigail saw the young face on that severed head, and her stomach began to sink as she recognized the expression on his face;

Pure terror.

#don't lose your head au #tgs #tgs au #dullahan!jekyll #Mod Jeks

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edenromanov · 4 years

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『 HALEY LU RICHARDSON ❙ CIS FEMALE 』 ⟿ looks like EDEN ROMANOV is here for HER SOPHOMORE year as a POLITICAL SCIENCE student. SHE is 20 years old & known to be AMBITIOUS, SELF POSSESSED, DOGMATIC & COMPULSIVE. They’re living in NOLAND, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ alli. 20. cst. she/her.

come one come all to my third muse .. mizz eden. @cainfm ‘s sister connection and overall here to ruin ur day! she’s not here fr it! she doesn’t care! ( no she doesn’t yes she does <3 ) more on her below ..

tw: homophobia tw, drugs tw, trauma tw a little bit

𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘 .

eden anastasia romanov. born and raised in connecticut, eden was one of the younger romanov’s. her father, vaughn romanov, was a senator and her mother, adelaide romanov, was a philanthropist.

she always always always looked up to her eldest sibling, cain. ( played by james blows a kiss )

very much born with a silver spoon so far up her rear, she was always her father’s precious angel. very much her father’s daughter. she knew cain was the one with all of the expectation but this only drove her to crave success more. she was determined to make her parents proud.

there wasn’t very much time for eden to make friends. she only had a handful, girls she’d grown up with in the gymnastics gym, and she knew people that gravitated towards her really only had their eyes on her family’s money. because of this, she was exceptionally reliant on her siblings. they were the only ones who understood what it was like to be spread so thin you snapped.

[HOMOPHOBIA TW] she was the first of her family to spark controversy, though it never got out, when her mother caught her kissing a girl from her cheer squad in her car parked in front of their house. though her parents didn’t fully mind, this news would be bad for her father’s campaign so eden wasn’t given a say. the romanov’s would make it go away.

her father bribed the girl’s mother to transfer schools. this was the day she decided she would be a politician. there was no question. she couldn’t feel helpless anymore.

her grades dropped after this. she considered running away but in the end she came out stronger. eden was never known for giving up.

it was really hard for her when cain left. she didn’t sleep much at all, the entire year. she accomplished very little, focused solely on keeping up the image she’d worked so hard to craft. if she could survive this she could survive anything.

cain didn’t remember her when they came back. nothing hurt worse than this.

she’s going through a lot right now. she’ll b fine.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 .

ankle biter energy. ruthless and bloodthirsty at times. can and will destroy anyone in her way?

at the same time she has a lot of abandonment issues, never feels like she’s good enough, strives for perfection with so much energy it may kill her. outwardly the romanov’s were trained to be at their very best at all times but they were never given tools to help with anything that’s inside ??

she stopped caring about her image when she got to college and finally got away from her parent’s watchful eyes. she loves them but the pressure they put on her was too much and she knows that now.

loves her family more than anything. has trouble making friends because she’s so dependent on them. always has this feeling that she doesn’t need anyone else ?? but she really does.

perfectionist. doesn’t try to be mean but she can be really standoffish. uses people to achieve what she wants sometimes without realizing it. do unto others what you would do unto yourself or whatever that quote is

she doesn’t party often but she isn’t opposed to it either. when she can fit the time in she goes buck wild. just needs like one good night a month and she’s refueled.

smokes a lot ( cigarettes and weed ) to cope with stress.

she’s bisexual but is still kind of grappling with that. it doesn’t eat her up but she was never allowed to express it. she’s not sure if she’s allowed to identify this way and feels guilt over it. it’s quite sad honestly .. will proudly tell u this though. bi rights.

indulges in the finer things because she has the money for it so why not ?? lavish clothes, expensive champagne, jewelry. she likes other people to think she’s put together and doing better than she actually is.

always 5 seconds away from falling apart at the scenes, especially with cain back. how much weight can a girl bear ??? ( let’s find out said like the owl from the tootsie pop commercials )

owns a cat named lady diana after her role model princess diana. lady d is mean and bites her a lot but she thinks it’s endearing.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 .

other student’s whose parents are politicians or philanthropists or socialites that her parents might have known. maybe they grew up together at stuffy parties and just get what the romanov’s life was like growing up

people she’s pining for / over. she has issues with emotional attachment usually she’s too much too fast and then she burns up like a star. poetic ..

an ex that ended really badly, maybe they broke up when cain returned and it was really messy. they hate each other. eden has a hard time letting go though. she’s probably a wreck about it.

people she uses to get what she wants. answers in class. connections to other people. friends of theirs she’s interested in. she doesn’t feel bad about it because she’s really blind to this habit of hers but perhaps someone could call her out on it. they should.

friends that got her through cain’s disappearance ?? i’m sure she had a few people. she was probably hardly ever vulnerable around them but they mean a lot to her. her second family.

she volunteers at the animal shelter. does anyone else.

a roommate ?? in noland. she’s extremely clean if you’re okay with her cat.

anything else ... ideas ?? ideas ?? banging a tin can on all of ur heads

#radintro #bio.#homophobia tw #drugs tw #trauma tw #ok here she is ...#pls come to me fr plots im feral #(much like edens cat)

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shackledsculs-remade · 4 years

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The Songbirds

Serina sighed as she brushed some of her hair from her face. She never liked dealing with such problems, but still, her girls were her first priority. No matter how much money they could make, if they felt sufficiently threatened, they were allowed to refuse a client. Normally, they had people who would assist them if they were close enough, they usually waited in a room over, but tonight, one of the new girls hadn’t had that protection. Apparently, he saw fit to go and grab drinks. She would deal with him later, right now, she had other things to deal with, namely, protecting her investment.

It wasn’t hard to find the room they were in, with the shouting so easily heard. Serina normally would’ve calmly knocked on a door, but tonight, her patience ran thin. So she instead planted one foot and then lashed the other out in a kick that knocked it down. The woman strode into the room, the client’s hand had been reared back, preparing to strike the cowering woman in front of him, and instead he looked at her, shock on his face.

“What the fuck? Who the fuck are-”

Whatever else he had to say was quickly cut off when Serina’s hand lashed out in a backhanded slap, sending him onto the bed, reeling. Serina turned to face the girl, looking at the bruises on her face and fingerprints that were forming on her wrist and arm. Said girl was shaking, at least until she saw Serina offer a hand. She slowly took it, and was brought to her feet.

“I-I’m sorry Miss Serina, I tried getting away, but-”

Serina placed a finger on her lips, a frown on her face. She shook her head, the fault wasn’t hers, she had done what she was supposed to. The fault laid purely on the guard who was supposed to be doing his job protecting her girls. He had failed, and as a consequence, she had a girl who would likely be afraid of coming back out for a bit. No matter, there were other jobs she could do. One that wouldn’t put her into risk until she decided she wanted otherwise.

“What’s your name, darling?”

“Joanna, ma’am.”

“Joanna...That’s a very beautiful name. Go on and wait in the car outside. They’ll keep you safe. I must take care of business here. With both your guard and this...Scum.”

Joanna nervously nodded, and walked out, careful to avoid the man slumped over, who had begun to come to his senses. Perhaps Serina hadn’t smacked hard enough. How irritating, no matter, she would correct her mistake soon. She calmly took a seat on the bed in front of him, crossing one leg over the other as she watched him stumble to his feet, rubbing his jaw. She smirked as she saw the bruise already forming on the spot, and simply looked up at him. Watching as his features twisted into a snarl.

“You bitch, who do you think you are?! Do you know what I could do to you? Who I know? Do you know who I am?!”

She continued to look at him, uncaring even as spittle flew into her face. How disgusting, another big fish in a small pond who didn’t know when he was in the face of an apex predator. She was content to let him scream, dealing with angry men was common in her profession. Either way, it wasn’t like he’d be angry for long. After all, he would have to pay for what he did. Nobody put their hands on her girls.

How funny, she became a madam as a means of gaining more money for herself. She took a cut of the profits the girls made, and put it towards her own goals. Somewhere along the way, she supposed that she had begun to feel for the girls, after all, they were women in the same business as she was. Serina had seen them at their lowest, shared in their grief, either some got pregnant while on the job and had to give the babies away, or she comforted the ones who weren’t so lucky in their final moments. She shared in their joy, a particularly good paying John could feed them for a while, or had extra cash to save for a rainy day. In the end, her songbirds were the closest thing she had to family.

“Are you listening to me?!”

Ah, right. She still needed to deal with the problem at hand. She sighed and placed a hand on her chin. How boring, having to sit here and listen to some spoiled brat of a man rant and rave to her. Demanding her respect when he had no power here. She watched as he reared his hand back, and before he could react, or strike her, she caught his wrist and held it there.

“Unfortunately...Yes, I am. I’m here wasting my time with a child who’s used to getting his way, and frankly, I have better things to do. I would’ve been perfectly fine with reimbursing you, had you not placed your hands on Joanna.”

Serina watched as his look of rage was replaced with a wince, as she began to apply more pressure to his wrist. She stood, the bored look slowly giving way to growing irritation, and she leaned close, getting in his face.

“I know everything about you. I know that you have a wife, and three children at home, that you’re some rich CEO. Oh, I even know the things you use your daddy’s money to cover up. You’ve been a very bad boy. So now it falls to me to punish you.”

She continued to apply pressure, watching as he tried to pull away. Instead, she used her free hand to grab him by the chin. Forcing him to look into her eyes. As she smiled, something seemed wrong, as if the smile was too wide...Too sweet, his brain had been sounding alarms and yet he couldn’t get away. How was this woman so strong? He worked out, could take down guys his size, yet here she was, holding him like a parent would hold an unruly child.

He felt small, as if he were a child again, staring down an angry father. Though his father couldn’t kill him, but this...this thing in the shape of a woman could.

“You should be happy. I’m giving you a death that’s better than you deserve.”

Her voice was low, sultry as she leaned in, pressing their lips together. His eyes widened, under normal circumstances, he’d have gladly kissed back, but this woman had shown herself to have nothing but malicious intent for him. Something was wrong, why wasn’t his body obeying him? He wanted to pull away, yet, he couldn’t move, why couldn’t he move?

Serina hummed into the kiss, waiting for his mouth to open once the involuntary moan sounded. That didn’t take long, and her tongue slid into his mouth, tasting him, the lingering traces of alcohol and cigarettes were there. This was common for her, after all, what better way to take someone’s soul? He’d live, but as a part of her, among the thousands of screaming souls within her. A fate worse than death to most. She hummed softly as she turned them, moving so that his body would hit the bed, and she could work in peace.

He felt cold, colder than he had ever felt in his life. What was she doing to him? Why did it feel as if something was being ripped away? He wanted to scream for help, for someone, anyone to discover them. To stop her, to save him. He would do anything, he’d stop cheating on his wife, he would stop harassing the women at work, he’d become an honest, god-fearing man like his father had been, just someone, anyone save him!

Serina hummed as her hands cupped his cheeks, and she continued her work, pulling back ever so slightly as a wisps of light began to leave his body and enter through her mouth. He belonged to her now, whether he wanted it or not. Gradually, she felt the struggle lessen, and his body slowly went limp in her arms. She climbed off of him, wiping her lips with the back of her sleeve. Clinically, it’d look as if he had a heart attack and died, well...If they found the body. It was second nature for her to summon a bit of the void to consume the body. It could chew on that for a while. Sighing, she adjusted her jacket, humming softly as she stared at the open door...Noticing the next target of her ire.

“Ah, good, you saved me the trouble of finding you. I pay you to protect my girls from rowdy Johns, and you decided to go off and drink. Come here.”

Under normal circumstances, he would’ve ran, after all, he just watched this woman kill a man by kissing him. What kind of person could do that? Yet, his body felt a compulsion to obey, as if her voice was the sweetest thing he had ever heard. A voice that had been low, dangerous, yet alluring all the same. His body moved against his will, and he stood in front of her, wanting to run, the sweat beading across his forehead becoming more obvious.

“Consider yourself...Relieved of duty. Why don’t you take a walk? Right off the balcony. I’m sure you can use the fresh air to cool down.”

His mind raced, yet his body moved, and he opened the door to the balcony, and kept walking, until his body fell over the edge. Serina listened to the screams, though they didn’t last too long, and judging by the sound of a car alarm going off, he must have landed on some poor bastard’s roof. Oh well, it wasn’t her issue anymore. For now, she would make sure Joanna got home safely, and help her clean up.

Nobody hurt her girls, and if they did? Well...Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

#I'm Feeling Bored Inside This Shell (IC; Serina)#drabble tag #violence cw #suicide cw #tagging just in case

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boogiewrites · 5 years

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Choking On Sapphires 80

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Genevieve (OFC)

Title & Song: 505

Summary: Genevieve comes home from the hospital. The journey to her recovery begins, but there are so many more things besides bruises and broken bones to worry about healing. Alfie tries to push back his own trauma from the event he's in denial over, and the whole house has to watch as things get worse before they get better. Song is 505 by The Arctic Monkeys.

Warnings/Tags: Language. Canon typical violence. References to assault and violence. Near death experiences. PTSD. Suffering/Physical Pain. Fluff.

Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.) Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!

Alfie had kept his word so far. Every time Genevieve would open her eyes to escape the mixture of horror and fantasy that kept circling in her subconscious in her sleep he would be there.

When the memories of what had happened would become less fuzzy, would creep into her dreams, he’d be there holding her hands as she fought out of the drug-induced slumber she felt held prisoner in to keep her from hurting herself. She’d make unsettling noises during her fits. Feet kicking and arms twitching and flailing as her face pained and winced, eyes rolling under their purple lids in the misshaped sockets for the violence she was reliving.

Sometimes the dreams would be pleasant though. An escape to another timeline where none of this had happened. She’d make hums of approval in her sleep, nuzzling into her pillow and it would make Alfie sigh with relief. She deserved some respite from this reality he thought, and he was happy she could find it. If she stirred his hand would always find hers. Even on the rare occasion, he’d be able to fall asleep, back aching and twisted in the chair by her bed he’d keep hold of her as if someone could steal her away without him knowing again. When she would wake from her pleasant dreams he’d be there with his ruffled hair and haggard face, a soft glance she’d meet as he’d stroke her swollen hands. She liked to touch his face in these tender moments they shared. The back of her hand, the knuckle of a finger lightly against his scaled features and wiry beard. She’d give him an affectionate smile, one he’d seen in the mornings before her eyes would close again, him placing her hand back onto the bed as it started to slowly lower when she fell back into her peaceful distraction.

Within a few days with no seizures or signs of internal bleeding, she’s given the go-ahead to be released. Instructions for her care are given to each Alfie, Claire, and Aggie as they were life-threateningly important. She was out of immediate harm from some things, but plenty could still go wrong. Alfie schedules home visits with the doctor ahead of time and even has Ollie hear the orders for her medicine. He was taking no chances at anyone that would be near her not knowing what the fuck they were doing.

With the state of her still being so very fragile, still multicolored from injuries and barely breathing without pain, although the morphine did help that part, she couldn’t exactly walk out on crutches for her twisted ankle. Alfie commandingly insists on being the one to handle her. She did admittedly respond best to him. He has her taken out of the hospital by a back entrance via wheelchair. He wanted all the details of her situation to remain a secret for now. No one that didn’t already know, needed to know how bad it was. He didn’t want word getting out to the community they were a part of, her students, here children at the home. He wanted to keep that ideal version of her alive and well, as he still had faith she would return to it one day.

Despite the fog she found herself in, she tried to keep her head up as they drove out of town. There was a distinct smell to the air and as they were on their way out of the city, the swirls of smoke could be seen in the rear view mirror.

He sees her focusing, her nose twitching like a rabbit. She raises her hand, a single finger pointed behind them with a subtle tilt of her head in question as she could still not speak.

“The smoke?” He asks.

She moves the pointed finger up and down as an indicator for her answer of yes so she didn’t have to nod.

“That was me, love.” He says with a noisy exhale, turning her head from it gently. “I had everything he owned burnt down and everyone in it killed.” He has no remorse and a fling of hunger for the day left in his eyes. “Seems me 'n Tommy’s men burnt down near half of fuckin London. For you, love. No one is gonna mess wif a Solomons. ‘Bout time us Jews started remindin’ these goyim what we’re capable of. Didn’t survive this fuckin long through slavery and oppression to lay down on the cusp of birth of fuckin' Nazi’s.” He shakes his head, brow low and lips tight as his mind only thinks of more things to worry about. He closes his eyes before turning back to her and kisses her forehead. “I’d set the whole fuckin' world ablaze for ya love. If I had to have ya live on a fuckin' island somewhere to escape the flames yeah? Nuffin else but you and ours matters now, eh? Now you lay your head down darlin' and have ya little lie down and I’ll keep ya steady 'til we get ya home, yeah?” He offers, having her place her head on his shoulder, his large hand cradling it and her hip like a baby in his arms. He rests his cheek against her hair and breaths her in, keeping his lips to her when he’d inevitably get emotional with her in his arms all small and helpless now. With the lack of sleep and the strain of the events of the past few days, he’d been a mess. He’d been moody, even more so than usual. He'd neglected himself entirely. Not eating or sleeping of his own doing, always thinking, always worrying. It was starting to take more of a toll on him than he would admit to himself. But he was blinded by his compulsion to protect his love. Following the advice to be delicate with her the best he could.

Her home wasn’t exactly wheelchair friendly, but Alfie certainly didn’t mind carrying her back into the house, the chair brought in behind them as he keeps his eyes on her in his arms, anyone else not existing as far as he was concerned when she was within his eyesight. He has pillows brought and piled high on the bed for her, a little bell for her convince on her nightstand. He leaves his cane by the bed to aid her when she would inevitably need to use the loo.

The time spent with her unconscious he’d spent wisely with Ollie. Preparations of his own taken for the business to keep moving along without him. Despite the always nervous young man’s suggestion to keep his affairs as usual to keep up appearances, he was met only with a smack to the face as he was reminded he needed to understand that Alfie's word was rule and the rules would be changing now. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his business, the tracks, the money, he still very much did. But for now, there would be a noticeable lack of Solomons around. He’d had his close call and it wasn’t going to take another one to make him see where he was needed. Ollie was a big boy and had been his second for years now. Ollie could handle it. At least until the threat against Gen’s well being was passed. But as the doctor had said, it was one day at a time.

The first step was to get her comfortable again. The bath proves difficult for both of them. He wanted her to feel clean, to smell like she had before the hospital, flowers instead of sterile. Neither of them spoke, Genevieve still having much difficulty doing so, and Alfie not wanting to say the wrong thing. His usual approach with humor to serious situations with her wouldn’t work his time and he didn't want to confuse the poor dear. As it turned out it was very easy to do in her currently still unstable state. She only makes sounds of pain when he touched her and his hurt shows on his face. She doesn’t meet his expression as she feels varied, swinging emotions as she’s faced with her naked body for the first time since being rescued. The bath water helps distort it, but she can tell even with her blurry eyes that there was plenty of distortion without the filter of waves from the water. Her swollen joints and skin that held reminders of the events that were still hazy to her, they were both left with undeniable proof that even if they didn’t know exactly what happened, that it had clearly been worse than either knew. For the first time in their relationship, they sat alone together in a heavy, uncomfortable silence. The things unsaid about the events that had unfolded sat like an invisible barrier between them, neither wanting to share how it truly made them feel. For the first time there was a disconnect between them, even Gen in her hazy mindset knew he looked at her differently, just as she was looking at herself. With a confusing mixture of pity and guilt.

Alfie does his best as the gentle touch she needs doesn’t come first nature to him. He brings her one of her favorite gowns, all silk and lace and slight enough to be able to keep watch on her injuries. But she makes a small sad noise and pushes it away when he brings it to her. She would’ve said she didn’t want something so lovely on this body, that it would only remind her of how she was before, but she couldn’t, and Alfie's expression remained puzzled. She didn’t need to try to be who she was before just yet. That version of herself was so far away, possibly even unobtainable now she felt. She wanted simple, to keep her mind calm. She needed comfort to offset the pain. She tugs on his shirt, damp from carrying her to bed. His intuition has never been such a highly valued skill to him as he retrieves one of his shirts from a chest of drawers and puts it on her gingerly, limb by limb. It smelled like him, it felt like him rubbing against her skin and let her chest bindings breathe. This is what she needed, not her silk and frills. Alfie sees a calmness take over her face as she strokes the fabric over her thighs. His darling needed him, needed comfort now. He had to attempt to let go of trying to do things his way. But that was never his strong suit.

After getting her set up in bed, she falls asleep quickly from the full day she’d already had in comparison to barely moving in the hospital. She sleeps soundly, seemingly heavy as she lies in a nest of pillows like a little bird.

He’s called from the bed, a phone call from Ollie already. He’s hesitant to leave her, but he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He’d had the phone removed from her room to make sure her rest wasn’t interrupted by it. He wanted her in quiet and calm with nothing that could disrupt or startle her. So he agrees to leave for only a moment.

When he returns, trying to shed his annoyance for Ollie’s tendency to panic and over question his own decisions he finds the bed empty and panics. Flashes of the night she disappeared come to him, his heart in his throat as all the hairs stand up on his skin, an anxiety attack on the verge of blooming like a boy after the war. He had his own issues from the abduction to deal with it seemed.

He hears a pained sound, something like a hurt animal, and as he approaches swiftly he finds just that. His little kitten on the floor and struggling to breathe, the cane by her side. Her arms shook and failed time and time again to hold herself up as she cried with croaked grunts from her bruised neck.

He calls her name over and over, she keeps her eyes screwed shut, teeth clenched in pain as her hands cling desperately to his forearms. “Gen you stubborn thing.” he sighs. He shushes and coos, pulling her up against his chest and setting her back on the bed. His big warm hands on her face and hair, wiping away tears and he instructs her to slow her breathing. “That’s it love breathe slow. It’s only pain. Don’t let it make you afraid.” He says in a kind tone, a hand to her wrist to feel her pulse.

At last she opens her eyes, her breathing wheezy and her posture slumped from the pain in her ribs. She opens her mouth and tries to speak and he shakes his head, putting his thumbs over the rough, broken skin.

“Don’t try to talk.” He instructs sternly. “Catch your breath and I’ll fetch the paper after. No rush now is there?”

She gulps and continues moaning with every exhale, feeling overwhelmed. Her hand reaches out and points to the bathroom as her head spins.

“You were trying to get in there, eh?” He asks, brushing her hair out of her face and she wiggles her finger to indicate he was correct. “I had a call and left for just a moment, thought you were deep asleep. You know better than to try to walk yourself in your condition.” He voice grows weaker with his pushing back of his frustrations, feeling another wave of guilt wash over him. “You wait for me to help you, yeah? Don’t go tryin’ so hard alone. We’re not there yet.” He plants a kiss to her forehead, lingering there as her hands move to his forearms. He feels her breathing steady, her hands stop trembling and her rest her weight against him. “That’s a good girl, yeah?” He says with an affectionate and very light stroke to her back. “Ya needed to take a wee love?” He says with a more playful tone, holding her chin up as she answers with her eyes looking to the bathroom doorway. “Well, we can manage that now can’t we? Right. Let’s get ya up. Ya ready for your Alfie to carry you?”

She mouths yes and raises her arms slowly to around his neck. The soft nuzzle into him as he grunts and lifts her, babying her the entire way makes her feel better in the moment. He was there. He was staying through every ugly bit of it and she didn’t need to worry about him right now, only herself. Whoever that was presently. She felt like a different person or no one at all at times. The mix of head injury and medicine leaving her confused, disoriented, bewildered and to say the least, spacey most of the time.

After settling her back into bed, he can tell she’s hurting badly, little whines with every exhale as he settles in next to her. He gives her another small dose of medicine to take the edge off. He couldn’t stand seeing her in pain and knew inside her was nothing but. It was only the first day of her being home, of the official start to the road of recovery and he knew it was going to be harder than he had initially imagined. But what he hadn’t expected was for it to be far worse before it got better.

Sleeps takes her quickly. She’s sucked into a dark undertow and deep into a very vivid dream. She comes to with a blink, as if she had been plunked into this new place. The first thing she notices is that there is no pain. A warm sun hits her skin which after inspection looked to be blemish free, her hands only wearing a wedding band and diamond ring and no bandages.

“Papa!” She hears, her head quickly turning towards the sound and having no dizziness from it. She’s surrounded by large green hedges that are dotted with flowers. They rise too tall for her to see over, but she can clearly hear the laughter of children beyond them. With fingertips dragging on the surface of the thick bushes as she walks, she follows the path before her and hears the laughter, sprinkled with the sound of birds throughout it. “Mama!” She hears called out, and she somehow knows the happy sound is for her. Her bare feet move quickly over the well-kept paths, a sense of happiness, of joy as she moves to a jog, her dress soft against her legs as she moves.

She emerges from the maze to a wide open garden of grass, trees and ivy wrapped lattice, bird baths and statues along the space that was nestled in the valley of a yellow-green rolling hillside the tall grass swaying in the distance. A young child runs in front of her, catching her attention.

She quickly hitched up her dress and chases after, running through the garden. One child disappears behind a corner, to reveal two as she rounds it as well.

“Mum!” She hears an older girl laugh, her long dark hair swishing and a crown of flowers atop of her head as she moves with the small child. Another corner, another child, all seeming to be different. All in their own little clothes, varying heights, hair colors, and styles. She chases around the hedge maze until there are five of them, then they move as a small herd, the older ones helping the younger as they fall and squeal.

She calls out for them in her pursuit. But their faces stay hidden from her. Even she stumbles, the soft, dark auburn hair of a little boy in shorts moving just out of reach. She comes back into the clearing, a white house now at the other end of the stretch of grass and an easily recognizable man standing with his little glasses on his nose, cane in hand, and a lovely booming voice calling out for her.

———

“Genevieve!” Alfie shouts as Aggie rushes out of the room and to the phone. “Wake up love, come now, stay with me.” His voice breaks as he holds her in his arms, his panic pulsing through his exhausted body.

He’d noticed her fall so still, not resting himself as her little tumble earlier had shaken him up. As the night went on she grew far too still for his liking, he could no longer see her chest moving up and down and that had sent the shouting and panic throughout the house that they sat in now. Her pulse was there but weak, his eyes wild and voice so angry as Aggie told him the doctor was on his way.

————

“Chanah!” Alfie's warm voice calls out to her. A sense of rightness, of contentment, follow as the small herd of children also hear him and let out their various sounds of approval as they head towards him ahead of her.

“Ari!” She calls out with a beaming smile.

“Papa!” One of the boys responds as he stumbles on his still young legs towards the inviting outstretched embrace of Alfie.

————-

“Ari.” Genevieve’s voice is a whisper, if he hadn’t been holding her head to his he would’ve missed it. He chokes back tears as he kisses her face and holds her hand, once again not thinking about having to let her go once the doctor arrived.

———-

The five children like broken stair steps range from an older girl, probably a teenager to a young boy and girl who looked to be barely even 6. The girls had bows and flowers in their hair and the boys had grass stains on their pants and messy hair. They looked a portrait of perfect to her. They kept moving just out of reach of Genevieve’s hands, the dreamscape making the run to meet Alfie go on for so long, and her frustration grew. She began feeling desperate to touch them, to feel them and know they were real, to see their faces and tell them sweet, loving things. But they kept out of her reach and she kept stumbling towards them with now filthy feet from the ground.

With the edge of the back porch of the house reached by the kids, Alfie ruffles their hair and looks a picture of a proud father. A little girl in his strong arms, her face buried in his neck as he laughs at another small boy wrapping his little arms around his leg. For a moment the thought crosses Genevieve’s mind that this might be heaven.

With the thought the oldest turns, her face coming into view now. She was strikingly beautiful. With dark hair dotted with flowers, the same Genevieve had been chasing earlier, and similarly, as the girl just a touch shorter than her who stood next to her, face still toward her father.

“Mum.” The girl says with a sweet voice that came from lips that looked like Alfies, Gen’s large eyes looked back in their mirrored image over the same rounded nose with Alfie's stormy blue pupils looking back at her.

“Yes, cheri?” Genevieve responds with a fluttering of her heart in her chest as the girl steps closer.

“I’m sorry.” She says with a kind smile.

Genevieve is confused, their hands reaching out, just a hair's width from touching.

“Chanah!” She hears Alfie shout, her head whipping fast to him as he motions her to come towards him, children still swarming him.

She gives a nod and a smile and moves to turn back to the girl but as fast as she’d turned her head, she was gone. She could almost feel the heat from her hand when it had almost slid into her own. She looks around, startled and upset, wondering where the lovely girl had gone.

“She’ll be alright, love.” Alfie says, motioning her towards him, he's missing his usual assortment of jewelry. Only a gold wedding band on his aged hand with it's faded crown tattoos. The little girl in his arms puts her own around his neck and squeezes. “Not time to meet her yet.” He says with an almost cheerful disposition. “You’ve still got to meet the others.” He says, turning and bouncing the girl, the boy now sitting on Alfie's foot as he walks with a waddle. The older girl that was left now walks with the older boy under her arm, rubbing his back affectionately as they move toward the house. Gen turns to look around the garden, still worried about the girl who disappeared. “Chanah!” Alfie calls out and she ignores it, feeling her heart race and her breath shorten. “Chanah love, come back to me!” His voice sounds different now. More demanding. “Chanah!” He shouts again with anger and she turns to look his way, a sharp dizziness taking her over as it feels like an omniscient hand yanks her from where she stands.

Her eyes open back into the reality Alfie had been dealing with while she was having her most curious experience.

“Chanah! Fuckin ‘ell girl ya gonna kill me wif 'is.” He says bending over her body on the bed.

She tries to say his name and only gets out “Ah-“ as is standard.

“Shhhh catch your breathing up love. Ya medicine put ya a bit too far under. Had to pull ya out of it dinnit I?” He holds her like a child as her eyes with their mixed pupil sizes loll around in her head.

“W-wuh-“ She grunts out.

“Hand us the paper there Agatha.” Alfie instructs, holding the ice water they’d been applying to her skin for past few minutes. “Ya need somethin'?” He asks, putting the pen gently into her hand.

“Ch-chi-“ She stutters and rasps, writing ‘children?’ On the pad.

“What are you on about love? There’s no children.” He doesn’t hide the confusion on his face as he turns to the doctor for answers.

“She’s most likely having trouble distinguishing real life with dreams as she comes out of it. Fairly common occurrence.” He says with a flat delivery.

“There’s no children, love.” Alfie whispers softly.

She whimpers, writing ‘where are the children?’ again as Aggie starts to cry at the state her lovely Genevieve was in. She thought of her as her own and seeing her suffer in any way, especially in a way she could not help hurt her deep down into her soul.

“There’s no children, love.” Alfie says with a more stern delivery, as she sweats and groans in his arms, wanting to struggle to get back to that lovely place but she’s so weak. Each toss of her head sends nausea flooding over her, her eyes showing white as the room spins. Nausea gives over to actual vomiting as Alfie leans her over the side of the bed where a bucket sat just for such an occasion. He shoots another questioning glance to the doctor.

“Also very common.” He nods. “Could be her stomach rejecting the excess medication, could be from the head injuries. Severe dizziness is common in cases such as these. It will pass.” His bedside manner wasn’t the best, but his reputation was and Alfie could easily forgo a sugar-coated delivery for fast facts.

“Let it out, love.” He says softly, rubbing her back and keeping her hair out of her face. This was worse than any other time he’d seen her sick whether from drink or violence. The sounds that escaped her were gruesome and churned his stomach just as much as hers was.

But the sounds faded, she passes out again, limp in his arms like a classical painting of tragic lovers. He holds her close, keeping her warm as she chills, speaking to her as she groans and shifts in her unrest. All this was reminding him of the war. The constant feeling the other shoe was going to drop at any moment, the tension and paranoia. He couldn’t sleep, he could barely allow himself to blink, lest she take a turn for the worst. Deep sleep and shallow breathing were part of the new medication she was on. He could’ve been told that one hundred more times but it didn’t make the terror that shot through his core when he thought her dead any easier to handle. Or the frustration he felt at the strong rise and fall of his own emotions he was not accustomed to.

She sleeps, but it is not peaceful. Her mind trying to rewire and heal, skipping and making missed connections, leaving her in a disturbing mix of memory and dream inside her own head. He stays up, swearing to himself she would not fail because of him. He kept watch like an ancient guardian relic over her. A slumped and bent, red-eyed and scaled skin gargoyle over her in the dark of the room, the fire casting them in uncanny low light. The sight of them was frightening, and only Agatha and Claire dare enter the room.

The two women, shunned by Alfie in his slow descent into madness it seemed watched on helplessly. Claire was by far the most optimistic of them all. She recalled Gen’s brother after the war and knew things like this happened. Setbacks were all part of the road to progress.

“Although you might think it insensitive of me to say so, I can’t help but look upon this scene as she would if she were us right now.”

“What do you mean dear?” Aggie says with a wrinkled nose.

“The lighting, the love, the tragedy. She’d be a big enthusiast of this would she not? The drama and aesthetic. I only wish I could capture it for her.”

“Why on earth would you want to recall this hellish night?” Aggie’s confusion clear in her voice.

“Because I know she’d think it would make a lovely painting,” Claire replies with a sigh, an almost happy look on her face as she watched on from the darkened hallway. “Gen would find the beauty in this madness. Since she can’t...we must.” She says confidently with a nod.

“That’s a beautiful point dear. We would all be best to keep it in mind the coming days. I fear this is not the end of the ugliness of recovery.”

“It is not. And we will. We will tell her of this when she’s better. And she will be. But healing from this will be unpleasant. She’s strong but not inhuman. We know what those men did to her, and when she remembers I don’t know how she’ll respond. We could be looking at another wave of rebellion again like last time.” Claire’s lips pursed.

Agatha sighs and slumps. “I hope for everyone’s sake you’re wrong.”

“Oui. So do I.”

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agentdagonet · 6 years

Text

The Demon Lo

Tagging @elletromil and @insanereddragon

Find it here on AO3

Am I really going to summon a fucking demon to get Harry back?

Yes I fucking am.

Eggsy’d spaced out the purchases of supplies, as if things like planks of wood and paint and candles were somehow illicit. He looked down at the Book, the one reptilian eye gazing back from the cover, and then glanced around the room. The windows were fully covered, the wood barely visible in the candlelight; the carpet pulled up to reveal the wood beneath, upon which the Circle was painted- an inverted pentagram, surrounded by a snake eating its own tail, and outside of that six tall white candles placed equidistant from each other. There were other things drawn in the spaces between pentacle and snake, the small can of paint, and a paintbrush. The property damage would probably cost him his life’s savings and then some, but it would be worth it.

Harry was worth everything.

Eggsy sat himself in the middle of the Circle, and took a deep breath before opening the Book. Counting to himself, he glanced back and forth from the floor, making sure that each thing was perfect. He turned the page, and cursed to himself before scrambling up from the floor and dashing into the kitchen, knocking a candle over in his haste.

Can’t summon a demon without blood, after all.

Reseating himself, Eggsy stared blankly into the distance. Am I really going to summon a fucking demon to get Harry back? He looked longingly at the front door, imagining for a moment that Harry would simply stroll through as if he hadn’t been gone for nearly half a year. He couldn’t imagine continuing on as if he had never existed, since no one else seemed to think it was a big deal that he’d gone missing. Maybe he just got tired of you, Eggsy, it ain’t like you’re anythin’ special. Ryan had said, knocking one shoulder with his own and laughing. He and Jamal had tried a lot of shit to cheer him up, but Eggsy couldn’t forget him.

His chestnut hair, the little wrinkles at the edges of his eyes and mouth, his penchant for soft-yet-ugly cardigans and bitter tea… his dark sense of humour, the earnest way he offered to run someone through for insulting him, the glint in his eye just before he did something he ought not to and managed to pass the blame on to some hapless passerby. Harry had been gone for just about as long as Eggsy had known him, and yet he couldn’t remember what his life was like before he stumbled into it.

Yes I fucking am.

He pushed the Book off to one side, revealing a painted eye, and took a sharp breath as he dragged the blade across his left palm. He compulsively closed his hand as the blood welled up, as if pressure alone could seal the wound, but didn’t move it from above the eye. This was important, so Eggsy lifted the book into one hand, leaving his blood dripping into the eye from the other, and began to chant.

‘Bin tu Skamp Li

Bin Ramé freey Li

Crem list skamp Li

Fige grest ramé tu

Fige whuhd solk

Bin Crame cramé ot

Lo!’

He paused, looking about wide-eyed at the empty apartment, but nothing had changed. No one was there. Not like he knew what a demon would look like, anyway, but still. Eggsy put down the book, running one finger over the words written there. Had he pronounced them wrong? Maybe google wasn’t the best way to check pronunciation of words he did not know the language of, but it’s not as if he could walk into a bookshop and ask how to pronounce this demon summoning ritual because that’s something that would easily raise a few eyebrows, and likely get his head examined. He turned the page, wondering if there was more he had not seen, and instead came across visual instructions.

‘Stab the bloody eye? Alrigh’ I guess.’ Grabbing the knife he had set aside earlier firmly in his uninjured hand, Eggsy stabbed it firmly into the floor. Of course it did not stick- for all the sharpness of the blade, the tip was dull. Kitchenware. But the candles went out in a gust of wind that simply was not possible from within his sealed apartment, and he knew he had accomplished something- whether it was the desired result remained to be seen.

‘The fuck’s my lighter?’ Eggsy patted down his pockets, eventually pulling free a small lighter and relit the candles. In the dim light, Eggsy was not sure what was coming toward him- only that something was, close to the ground, accompanied by a sound not unlike a Jurassic Park raptor for whatever reason. It had slow, wet, footsteps, followed by something not unlike dragging a bag across dead leaves. The closer it got the more distinct the dinosaur noises became.

Moaning. Pained, inhuman, moaning getting nearer with every passing moment.

The candles showed an increasingly disturbing image- the torso of a man, skin waxy and grey like a corpse, whose arms were covered in a stringy mould. Its bald head had no back, instead gaping open grotesquely, and when the creature finally looked up the eyes were sunken in and the lipless mouth idly dripped blood. It had no nose, and its skin reminded Eggsy of the infected people from Waters of Mars- and Eggsy would have chuckled if he had not been desperately gasping for breath in a bid not to pass out from sheer panic.

He had actually managed to summon a demon, and now he had to finish it- or die trying.

It’s for Harry he repeated to himself like a mantra is it got closer at the end of all this you will have Harry back and you will live happily ever after. Realistically, Eggsy knew that that was unlikely- even his friendships had bad times- but he needed to see this through.

The creature leaned forward, far too close for comfort, and laughed slowly. It reverberated as if in a cavern, tri-toned and ominous, as his rancid breath hit Eggsy’s face.

‘A-a-a-are you th-the demon Lo? You the demon Lo?’

‘I. Am. That.’ The voice was hoarse, rumbling, and his breath was no better than it was a second before.

‘You-you have. Great power?’

‘This. I. Know.’ He lifted one webbed hand for a moment, summoning for itself a small green creature, rat-like but not a rat, and slowly closed his fist. The rat-thing curled in on itself, squealing, before the skull popped with a wet noise. Lo opened his hand, blew across the palm, and his eyes seemed to light up for a moment. ‘This, I know.’ He laughed again, the vastness of the room slowly fading, and Eggsy felt lightheaded from trying not to gag.

‘Now clean the shit from your trousers and tell me what you want.’ Lo propped himself on his elbows, hands clasped together, and tilted his head to one side. Remarkably like a girl at a sleepover, or chatting on the phone, in a film.

‘A- a man.’

‘You summoned me for love ?’

‘Yes.’ As if there were anything else worth risking a soul for. Lo lifted himself onto his hands, leaning close to the Circle but not crossing it, and glared harshly at Eggsy.

‘You would utilise my great power over such… human trivialities?’

‘You- you have to do what I say. That’s what the Book said.’

‘Oh, look at you pretending to be brave. What’s your name?’

‘Eg-Gary. Gary.’ Names had power, in all the old faerie stories, and panic was no excuse to give a demon the name he felt was his own. He doubted it would mean much- he was protected, inside the Circle, after all- but still. It would help keep him focused on getting Harry back.

‘Well that’s an awful name, far too breakfast-y. Doesn't suit your inevitable future at all! Allow me to fit you in something more bespoke ... Dinner.’ Lo’s head tilted at an angle that made his gaping mouth almost seem to smirk, one hand gesturing in his general direction. Eggsy swallowed thickly.

‘It's Gary.’

‘Dinner, you have to let go of the past-’ Lo pointed with one thick finger, looking for all the world like one of those Uncle Sam posters he had seen on Tumblr.

‘I summoned you, yeah? You gotta do what I say- obey my charge or whatever the book said.’ Shoulders back, neck straight, meet their eyes- everything Harry had told him about talking with someone he was intimidated by. Someone he thought better than himself for whatever fucking reason- or, he guessed, someone he was absolutely scared shitless of.

‘While that may technically true, but that does not mean that I have to respect you- and if given the opportunity I would wholeheartedly make your new name a prophecy fulfilled.’

‘I-I am no’ afraid of you.’ Maybe it was a stupid idea to deny the obvious to a powerful demon, Eggsy thought to himself as Lo reared back. The room shook, and Eggsy had a split second thought to his neighbours banging on his door demanding an explanation for all the racket.

‘Yes. You are.’

‘Well it would be fucking stupid not to be, yeah? You’s a demon and I'm not even just a person but an estates kid without any connections or silver spoons to beg from. But I've got the Book, and I've got this Circle, and you just said you got to do what I say so stop goin’ on your fuckin’ power trip and listen to me.’ Eggsy took a deep breath, instantly regretting it when he could taste the demon rot in the air, and glared defiantly at Lo.

Who summarily ignored his statements and was blandly looking about the room.

‘Where the fuck am I?’

‘My flat. The estates.’

‘Oooooooh, dramatic!’ Lo waved one hand about flamboyantly, looking back to Eggsy with the skin above one eye socket raised. A parody of a raised brow, mouth pulled up to one side, he tilted his head. ‘Mind if I make a few… changes?’ He did not give Eggsy a chance to respond before flicking his wrist and looking up to the ceiling, a pale blue spotlight landing on him with an angelic choir backing his dramatic turn back to Eggsy. ‘Where’d a kid like you get a book like that, exactly?’

‘I ain’t a kid- and… it ain’t mine.’

‘No, really? And here I had you pegged for a proper Warlock.’

‘It belonged to ‘im.’ Eggsy was back on task, and pulled a photo from the back cover of the Book. Harry, smiling widely and failing to hide that smile behind a coffee mug, taken their first morning together. The first time Eggsy’d realised there was a hole in his life that had just been filled.

‘I could say he was handsome, but I would be lying- it's not a very good picture, is it?’

‘Do you know ‘im?’ Ask questions plainly, demand plain answers in return. Harry’s words echoed in his mind. But Lo shook his head, looking off to one side and refusing to make eye contact.

‘No.’

‘You’re lying!’

‘I warn you, Dinner- trying to get a read on a demon is a thorny game; we don’t play by your human rules.’

‘You took him.’ Confidence is key; don’t flounder in the face of what you don’t understand.

‘I took him?’

‘Well, maybe not you specifically but you fucking demons did. Your People, or whatever the fuck you call yourselves.’

‘I knew you were racist-’

‘Look, Harry was taken by some… some thing and I’ve got the scars to prove it.’ Eggsy angrily pulled off his shirt, balling it in his fist. There were deep red scars across his torso, reminiscent of the tears through canvas in Beauty and the Beast. They’ve seemingly healed, but still had the angry tinge of infection- and the stiff way Eggsy was sitting is suddenly attributed to more than nerves.

‘You sure it wasn’t a wolf? A bear? Perhaps a particularly angry thorned bush?’

‘I’m not a fucking idiot- I may be a speck on this planet, a bit of dust you’re gonna outlive and watch decay, but I’m not dumb enough to summon a fucking demon if I weren’t sure that’s what took him. It took him, and I was dying, but I woke up and Harry was still gone.’

‘It took him, it took him, my Harry's gone,’ Lo mocked, voice high pitched and hand waving about aimlessly, ‘look, I’ll give you some free advice: page 303. Close this ridiculous venture before I get hungry. Give up, and move on.’

Eggsy kept eye contact with the hideous creature, and instead of turning the pages as instructed he instead pulled the photo from the book and shut it. Eggsy tapped the cover with two fingers, almost glaring at Lo, and spoke softly, ‘I’m not leaving here without him.’

It was an eternity later that Lo shook his head, breaking their eye contact and sighing sadly.

‘Look, Dinner, I’m only going to say this once more- if what you’re saying’s true, and I’m sure it is, then you’re fucked. Raw and hard. You don’t just get out of Hell.’

‘Then I want to see him, and we’ll figure out the rest together.’

‘Well it’s not as if I know the man-’

‘His name’s Harry, he’s-’

‘Yes, yes, I know- he’s the moon and stars in the sky, the wind beneath your wings, and the rain that brings the flowers. Look, I am positive that you two had a deep and pure emotional connection,’ Lo sneered, ‘but Hell isn’t a park or some small town isolated from the rest of creation. It’s a large place, with more within than you could count in your lifetime, that’s been around since the dawn of your pathetic species. And we don’t keep records.’

‘Then I’ll wait.’

‘What?’ Lo looked at him incredulously.

‘I’ll stay right here while you go and look for ‘im. He’s worth it, and he’d’ve done the same for me.’

‘For how long? Until your need to piss and shit drives you to close the circle because of your human sensibilities? Until your body gives out, and you faint from malnutrition and inevitably cross the paltry protection you’ve painted? And let us not forget my own schedule, it’s not as if demons sit idly.’ Lo turned his face away, and began making as if to leave.

‘I’m in charge here, ain’t I?’ Lo grunted, but continued to pull himself away from Eggsy. ‘Oi, I’m not talkin’ to the air here- I’m the master and you’ve got to do as I say!’

‘The thing you ask for is IMPOSSIBLE!’ Lo growled, glaring at Eggsy as he twisted impossibly backward to address him. He would have shuddered, if he hadn’t been so determined to not show weakness.

‘An’ yet I’m still askin’ for it. So you’ve got to at least try. ’ Lo froze, growled low in his throat and then roared at Eggsy. The circle only protected him from physical threats, and the smell of rancid meat washed over him like an unfortunate rainstorm. He closed his eyes, waited for the ringing in his ears to stop, and determinedly stared Lo down. ‘I’m waiting.’

‘Frightened children ought not play with pentagrams; weren’t you ever warned against Ouija boards?’

‘Mighta been, but once impossible shit started happening I threw those rules out the window.’

‘If you so much as scrape the edge of your circle with your toes I will swallow you whole and you will have the pleasure of enduring a 90 year digestion. The acids in my stomach are unforgiving, and an idiotic specimen like yourself will likely cause some indigestion, but I am willing to make that sacrifice.’ Lo rears back, snake-like, twisting his head from side to side as if deciding from which angle to strike. Eggsy lifted the picture once again, as if his first instructions to the demon were simply forgotten as opposed to rebelled against.

Lo rolled himself partially onto his back and cursed at the ceiling before turning back to Eggsy. He smiled, or as close as he could get without lips or teeth. ‘Harry!’ There was obviously an exasperated air to the exclamation, but Eggsy couldn’t hope for better than that from this arsehole of a demon.

‘Harry. Hart.’

‘Like that thing that keeps your soul in you and outside of Hell?’

‘Like a deer, actually.’

‘Well that’s a stupid name for a human- why name someone after physical traits and animals?’ Lo muttered seemingly to himself, though it was just loud enough for Eggsy to hear. ‘Tell me about him.’ He propped his head on his hands, blinking innocently, and Eggsy was struck by the image of teens gossiping.

‘Just find him, what do you need me talkin’ about him for?’

‘I’m simply trying to fulfil your request, master. The better versed I am in your arthurian knight, the better equipped I’ll be in parsing out which he is amongst the trillions of bits of dark matter that float about in eternal torment.’

‘Oh.’ Eggsy didn’t want to think about what Harry must be enduring, what horrors he must have been facing since he’d been taken, but the reminder did nothing if not motivate him into sharing.

‘Precisely. Oh.’

‘What d’you need to know, then?’

‘Details. Emotional ones, a full dossier, as much as you can pull from your miniscule brain. I want to feel as you do; I need to feel the pain that’s driven you to me.’

‘Uh, well, he’s nearly 2 metres, mid fifties, light brown hair with silver at the edges-’

‘STOP.’ Eggsy’s mouth clicked shut, teeth grinding against one another as he did his best not to panic. ‘For fuck’s sake, Dinner, how dim can you get? I said emotional details. I want to know how you met, how you ate, how you fought and kissed, fucked and spoke and insulted and loved.’ Lo spat the last word like a curse. ‘I’m not casting a film, I don’t need his resume- what I need is everything.’

‘So… you want details .’ Eggsy stuttered, simultaneously disgusted by having to share his desires with a demon and relieved that what he asked for was so simple to share. It wasn’t like he was comfortable with it, but there were worse things than reminiscing about the man he loved with a Demon. He assumed.

‘Yes,’ Lo pointed at Eggsy, ‘thank you for joining the rest of the class.’

‘You want to know how we first met?’

‘By George, I think he’s got it!’

‘Don’t you quote My Fair Lady at me- anyway, I was on break at the Prince-’ There’s a great whooshing sound, and Lo’s attention is drawn to a spot behind Eggsy. Turning around, there’s a projection on the wall matching Eggsy’s memory. The dim lighting, the quiet bustle of the pub, and there- Eggsy, sat alone in a booth, staring out the window with a dish of chips on the table. Eggsy, sat in the circle, looked toward Lo in question, one brow raised.

‘It’s flashback time!’ Lo lifted one arm from the ground, giving some jazz hands in a manner Eggsy could only describe as sarcastic. ‘Ta-da!’

‘That’s me? But I haven’t told you anythin’ yet!’

‘No, that’s me and my phenomenal cosmic powers pulling the thoughts from your brain and projecting them onto that wall.’ Eggsy looked at Lo in horror- he could pull the thoughts from his mind? He could read his mind this whole time? ‘I know, right?’ Lo seemingly misinterpreted his silence for awe, pulling a bowl of popcorn from seemingly nowhere. ‘Now keep your mouth shut, and your eyes open- and let’s see what happens.’

There was something inherently fascinating about seeing himself from the outside. Eggsy hadn’t realised how depressed he’d looked, staring idly out the window and running a finger along the rim of his pint, completely ignoring his chips. From the edge of the projection, Harry walked into view, stunning in his suit and carrying a briefcase the way one would carry an explosive- with great care.

‘Hello.’ Harry was staring intently at the chips on the table, but his eyes flickered toward Eggsy every few moments.

‘Uhm, hi?’ Eggsy looked briefly from the window, visibly doing a double take when he actually bothered to take in the man before him.

‘Are those any good, here?’

‘I guess?’ In truth Eggsy hadn’t even touched them, though he liked them plenty on the regular, and he wished he could remember what he’d been looking at before the man stood before him.

‘Would it be terribly impolite of me to try one?’ Eggsy could only stare dumbfounded at the man, whose suit easily displayed the differences in their lifestyles, ‘your silence says yes, sorry about that-

‘Wait!’ Eggsy blurted, mouth obviously ahead of his brain by the shock in his eyes, ‘You can try some, if you want.’

‘That sounds lovely.’ Harry tucked himself gracefully into the bench across from Eggsy, setting the brief beside him before reaching deftly toward the plate. The first chip seemed to bring Harry to life, as he closed his eyes and nearly moaned. ‘ Shit this is divine!’ Harry’s mouth was still full, but Eggsy couldn’t find it in himself to be disgusted. Harry reached again, this time taking several, and shoved them into his mouth like a toddler.

‘Would you like some fresh?’ There was something entrancing about seeing a man so wholly enjoy something so simple. Eggsy couldn’t look away, and even cracked a grin at the way the man’s head nodded enthusiastically. He called over to the bar, gesturing for another round, and turned back to watch Harry eat. The man was so focused on the flavours in his mouth, eyes closed, and Eggsy couldn’t help but drink him in.

‘I thought you was eating alone, Eggy?’ Rottie dropped the plate the last couple inches to the table, causing a couple chips to fall off.

‘I am- or, well, I was- that a problem?’ Rottie rolled his eyes, looked at Harry like he was a particularly fascinating bit of shit on the ground, and walked off. Eggsy looked back to Harry, eyes wide when he realised how much of the cold chips he’d devoured in the course of that small conversation. Harry noticed his look, and seemed to come back to himself.

‘Oh, shit, I do apologise. I didn’t mean to-’

‘Don’t sweat it, honest. I wasn’t all that hungry anyway. I did order some more, though, so feel free to stick around.’ Eggsy lightly pushed the warm dish in his direction.

‘I don’t remember to eat very often, much more important things to me done- though I’m trying to break that habit.’ Harry shovelled the last of the cold chips into his mouth, but not before looking toward the door.

‘Mate, are you avoiding summat?’

‘Well, I’m on the run, if that’s what you’re asking- but nothing to worry about.’ Eggsy gaped at the man, mouth open to offer a listening ear if nothing else, when the man began to chuckle. ‘No, dear boy, I’m not in any kind of trouble- I simply admired the way you were holding yourself. Stunning- though I will admit, I was spurred to action by the chips sitting ignored in front of you.’

Eggsy laughed nervously, looked about the pub as if searching for some hidden camera, before asking, ‘well, how was I holding myself, then?’

The man across from him was still for a moment, and then slouched slightly; he turned his head slightly toward the window, allowed his lips to turn slightly upward, and seemed to soften his eyes somehow. The light hit him at such an angle that the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were simultaneously highlighted and breathtaking, the shadow of his glasses somehow highlighting his cheekbones.

Eggsy forgot to breathe.

The man straightened himself back up, the world restarted, and Eggsy giggled.

‘You’re laughing at yourself?’

‘Well I doubt I looked half as elegant as you, but yeah. This whole moment’s a bit funny to me-’

‘How so?’

‘You’ve got to be at least twenty years older than me, never seen you ‘round here before so you’re new, you took notice of a pleb like me and just started talkin’, and then you act as if you’ve never has chips before-’

‘I haven’t, until today- I must say I enjoy them far better hot than cool.’ Harry looked so earnest, it was hard not to laugh- so he huffed a breath instead.

‘See, that! That right there is ridiculous how can anyone not’ve had chips before?’ Instead of seeming hurt, the man seemed pleased, and leant forward a fraction.

‘I had a rather… secluded upbringing. My family was very particular in what was what, and until this morning I had never thought to try the things they’d forbidden me. So this,’ Harry grabbed a chip, and smiled, ‘is my rebellion.’

‘You’re a bit old for rebellion- ain’t that a teenager thing?’

‘And yet you don’t strike me as very conforming yourself- and that’s… oddly wonderful.’

‘I can about guarantee there ain’t anythin’ wonderful about me- but I don’t like rules much.’ Eggsy smiled, ran one hand up the back of his head before suddenly remembering himself and offering his hand. ‘I’m Eggsy, by the way.’

‘Eggy?’

‘Nah, mate, with an s. Eggsy.’

‘Eggsy… Eggsy …’ Harry seemed to be rolling the name about his mouth like posh folk tasted wine- and he seemed poshh enough so maybe he was. ‘Peculiar. I like it.’

‘Thanks- and you are...?’

‘I am what?’ The man blinks, doe eyed, and Eggsy can’t help the laugh bubbling out of him again.

‘Your name, can’t keep calling you chips-man in my head.’ Eggsy joked, and Harry’s eyes widened for a moment before he began muttering to himself; though Eggsy of the present, sat in the circle, could hear him plain as day.

‘Eyesearsmouthnosehair- Harry.’ Only the last was said loud enough for Eggsy-at-the-table to hear, and they shook hands.

‘STOP!’ Lo roared, and the memory froze. Lo had one hand raised and was waving it about not unlike Hermione Granger. ‘Oh! Ohh pick me, pick me! Dinner, pick me, I have a question!’ Eggsy looked over to the demon, and raised an eyebrow. ‘Did your sugar daddy just make up his name?’

Eggsy looked down, unable to really dispute Lo with the given facts, but remembered suddenly- demon. ‘He weren't no sugar daddy, and you’re trying to trick me. Get me to go along with whatever it is you think about him so I’ll just let you go!’ Lo scoffed.

‘Tricking you? If that were my intention it would be far plainer- for example,’ Lo flicked his wrist, and the figures from the memory began to move again. Harry leant over the table fully, grabbed at the front of Eggsy’s shirt and pulled him across the table and slammed their mouths together. Eggsy flailed for a moment before draping his arm over Harry’s shoulders and giving all his weight to the older man.

‘Stop. Just- stop.’

‘What? Things not going according to plan?’

‘Play the scene right, or don’t do it at all. I thought you needed to know him like I did?’

‘That’s your responsibility, not mine. And you need to be open to seeing things a bit… differently. Experiencing your life in the moment is far different from remembering it.’ Lo gestured toward the memory, reset to the two men shaking hands above the tabletop.

‘Great to meet you, Harry- I’m gonna go settle my tab and head out. Got to get back to work.’

‘Why? That sounds tedious.’ Harry cocked his head to one side, as if genuinely confused by the notion of working, and it set Eggsy snapped.

‘Not everyone gets shit on a silver platter, Harry. We have to fucking work for it, and keep going when it look like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel because people are bloody counting on us. If people in their ivory towers,’ Eggsy mocked, ‘knew even a fraction of what us regular people do to get by, if they really got it, this place,’ he swung his arm, gesturing aimlessly, ‘would be so much better.’

‘The protection of one’s own is, of course, invaluable- I apologise for causing offense.’ Harry pulled the briefcase closer to himself, scooting to the end of the table as if to leave, and Eggsy deflated.

‘No, no I’m sorry. I didn’ mean to go off on you like that. I forgot myself for a moment there;’ Eggsy hunched in on himself, both hands in pockets, ‘what’s in the case? Sorry, not my place-’

‘A collection of sheets with writing on them- terribly boring, I assure you.’

‘What, classified or somethin’?’

‘Or something.’ Harry smiled with closed lips, and something imperceptible changed. He could feel it. In the kitchen, a glass shattered, and Harry practically leapt to his feet. Eggsy flinched, took a step back, and Harry seemed to come to himself- though he still kept a tight grip on the briefcase. ‘I- I’m sorry…’ Harry fell back into the booth, head hung low, case tucked betwixt his legs, and sighed deeply. Eggsy looked torn, glancing between the door and the man he’d so strangely befriended several times before shaking his head, stepping forward.

‘You okay?’

‘Weird man.’ Lo spoke up from behind him, and Eggsy turned.

‘Well, yeah, he’s different- but tha’s part of why I fell arse over tit for him so quick. There ain’t nothing else like him.’

‘Fell? Humanity’s always so dramatic- you talk of love as if it’s a ten story drop. No wonder it always ends in tears- or,’ Lo paused, ‘in lost souls.’ He lifted a hand, and something in the air jerked Eggsy’s head to one side, which brought him face-to-cover with an old book. A familiar, old, book. The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. Being held up by two long, green, fingers.

The book lowered, and Eggsy jumped back- only by chance does he not leave the circle- the green hands belong to a bald, scaled man, with horns like a dinosaur and a short beak, whose eyes seem to be backward. The bits that should hold them inside of his head were dangling down his face, scraping the edge of his jaw, and Eggsy can’t bring himself to breathe for fear or retching.

‘What’re you gasping about? Oh, the face; you humans are always so disgusted by shit you don’t understand. Have you ever actually read this book, lad?’ The demon (for what else could he be?) tapped the front cover with a clawed finger, ‘It’s actually a comedy, if you read it right.’ He extended the hand that had been on the book, stopping just before the circle. ‘Pleasure.’

Eggsy glanced at the hand before forcing himself to make back-of-eye contact with the demon, and shook his head.

‘So there’s a brain hidden behind the stupid face, well done.’ The hand pulled back, and the demon reached for the strands of innards that hung from his face before tugging on them sharply. There was a pop and Eggsy gagged, somehow unable to look away from the horrifying image of eyeballs being swung back and forth with nary a care before being shoved back into the scaled man’s head. He paused, looked pointedly at Eggsy, and sighed. ‘I put all this effort into my face and you can’t even pay me a compliment? And I had such hopes for our grand reunion.’

‘You-’

‘Correct; I’m the one who came ‘round and scooped your man from your arms and dragged him all. The. Way. Down.’

‘You’re the one that tried to kill me!’ Eggsy lifted his shirt, once again revealing the angry red across his torso, and the new demon examined it like a fine painting.

‘It’s Merlin to you- and It’s a pity you survived; that’s good work put to waste.’ Merlin gestured at Eggsy vaguely, ‘Your blood was like a fine brandy- something I needed to savour. ’ He lifted a hand, scraping fingers across his lip as if remembering the feel of flesh upon flesh.

‘You took Harry.’

‘I don’t enjoy repeating myself, lad, but yes. I did. And I was rewarded for it… handsomely.’ Merlin tapped a spot on his chest, and Eggsy was surprised to find a military uniform- a decorated one, with a series of medals he couldn’t figure out the meanings of if he tried. A green hand fingered a medal fondly, pink and gold with a V in the centre, as if to show Eggsy that this one was what he was given for dragging Harry into Hell.

‘Bring him back!’

‘I don’t think I will.’

‘Please!’

‘Not the kind of begging I’m after. You summoned Lo, not I, and I’m not at all inclined to do as you ask.’

‘Then I’ll-’ Eggsy pulled the Book from behind him, ‘I’ll summon you!’

‘And it seems the brain has leaked from between your ears- you can’t summon more than one demon at once! It would be like trying to save two people with one parachute- messy, improbable, but impressive if successful.’

‘Well, the fuck’re you here then if I ain’t your master?’

‘As if I would relinquish the chance to meet a celebrity- you’re the mortal that tamed the beast!’

‘What’re you on about?’

‘Don’t deny the facts, boy, you know what I mean.’ Merlin knelt closer, one clawed hand scraping the floor just beside the circle, ‘you know.

‘I’ve passed by and through and touched more humans than you could imagine- I’ve even held emotions for them. Disgust, pity, maybe a healthy bit of hunger;’ Merlin turned away, seemingly speaking into the abyss, ‘but the one thing I’ve never come close to feeling for a human is love. Oh, there were certainly a handful of physically attractive ones but they never survived long enough to enjoy ;’ He spat the last word, pointing at Eggsy accusingly, ‘that’s why it’s so strange.’

‘What’s strange?’

‘That it fell in love with you. ’

‘It?’

‘The thing you call Harry.’

‘Harry ain’t an it!’

‘Don’t interject without the facts, lad, it makes you look dumber than you already do. Foolhardy and ignorant- childish.’ Merlin smirked, or as close to an approximation of a smirk that a partially-beaked green scaled demon could accomplish. ‘I’m going to tell you a story, and maybe by the end of it you’ll have some brains.

‘Once upon a time, long before you lot made the stunning discovery that the world wasn’t flat, there was a war. It wasn’t the kind of war you’d keep histories of, there were few if any survivors and it was before recording events even became commonplace, but it was brutal. It was beautiful, and a demon wandering the remains stumbled upon one survivor- and stuffed his heart into a rock.

‘Demons are born from hatred, from suffering, from a desire to see retribution; that lone human was angry enough to spit fire- so the rock did. The man died, buried in the rubble, and his rage lived on- Harry lived on.’ Merlin paused, and somehow Eggsy was grateful for that- everything he knew told him to ignore everything the demon said, and yet… he spoke with such authority. Maybe it was only half true- maybe the story was true, but he was trying to make Eggsy believe it was Harry to make him let Lo go.

That had to be it.

‘What left the battlefield that day became the gold standard for demons- Harry rewrote the rule book and set every record. He was a legend, still is in some circles, known for having no mercy and the highest soul count. He was born from a dying soldier’s lust for revenge, and had no use for the rest of the organ he’d been born from.

‘Until you.’

‘If Harry had no heart, no love, no mercy, then the fuck was he doing wandering about with this Book in a suitcase?’ Eggsy lifted the Book in one hand and glared accusingly at Merlin, who rolled his eyes (would they pop back out?) and knelt back to the ground.

‘At some point or another, something changed. He started caring,’ Merlin spat, and Eggsy wiped at his face, ‘he started trying to curtail visits topside. Tried to use what weight his name carried to change things, things that didn’t need changing, and he grew frustrated when no one wanted to follow him.’ Merlin shrugged with one shoulder, and looked away. ‘So he left, grabbed the Book and the case and ran as quietly as he could.

‘Had he not been the best, we’d have caught him before he made it topside; but he made it out, and we were left scrambling after him.’

‘The fuck’d you care that he didn’t want to do that shit anymore? Ain’t that his business?’ Eggsy forwent arguing that the demon was trying to trick him, that was a demon’s prime directive. What purpose was there in arguing that?

‘He has a purpose, a job to do, and he’s necessary even if his... heart... isn’t in it anymore.’ Merlin looked at Eggsy from the corner of one eye, and winked.

In a blink Merlin was gone and Lo in his place, his enthusiastic clapping coming back threefold from the abyss.

‘Oh, bravo, Merlin- encore! What a... lovely... story-’ Lo cut himself off with a laugh, deep and gravelly and inhuman.

‘Stop playing with me!’ Eggsy bit out, the hand that he’d drawn blood from earlier clutched to himself. It throbbed, reminding Eggsy that maybe there were better places to draw blood from than the palm of your hand because it was going to hurt for ages.

‘I don’t play with my food, Dinner.’

‘I ain’t listenin’ anymore- you’re trying to confuse me; trying to get me to give up and let you go and I’m not leaving without Harry.’

‘I bring you the demon who literally took your love from your arms, and you bring into question my motives?’ Lo lifted one hand to his chest, lidless eyes somehow sad, and for a fragment of a moment Eggsy considered apologising, but-

‘I thought you said you didn’t know him?’

‘Surprise! I lied; demon, remember?’

‘You disgust me. You’re fucking disgusting.’

‘I didn’t think you cared so little for Harry.’ Lo quipped, looking idly at his hand- Eggsy would say he was admiring his nail polish but the thick, pale, slimy appendages simply curved into an end. No nails in sight.

‘What?’

‘Well to call me disgusting is to call him disgusting- we do, after all, share a species. In case you missed it from that story, demons- all ,’ Lo paused, looking pointedly at Eggsy, ‘demons will torture, slaughter, and rape. It’s part and parcel to our existence.’

Eggsy was confused, and angry, and more than a bit frightened- but who wouldn’t be in this kind of a situation? It wasn’t as if there were other people to ask about their experiences summoning demons or books he could check facts against. But he knew Harry. He loved Harry, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that he was worth it all.

‘I guess I’ll just reach into the arse of Hell and bring him to you, then.’ Lo laughed, and Eggsy was struck by how it reminded him of the old Mario game, when you fucked up and Bowser laughed at you. Deep and tri-toned and echoing.

‘If Harry’s everythin’ you’re saying he is, then where do I fit in?’ It’s quiet, something Eggsy is reluctant to say out loud and especially reluctant to say to a demon, but there weren’t many choices in circumstances like this.

‘You … What about you? It’s kind of funny, actually- that heart Harry was born from, it was fickle. Jumped from rage to lust to disappointment in a flash- and, I guess-’

‘He loved me.’

‘Perhaps- but that doesn’t change the nature of things. The facts are Harry gets restless, gets frustrated with the stagnation of everyone else, calls at all hours I don’t understand- why do I get like this when no one else does!’ Lo mimed holding a telephone, Harry’s voice fell from his lips, and Eggsy’s heart stuttered. ‘And what am I supposed to tell him- it’s not as if I’ve ever felt that way, and one moment he’s a killer- the best- and the next he’s a mess!’ Lo sounds like a frustrated spouse, Eggsy nearly chuckled at the absurdity of it all, and then the demon looked away in a huff, the candles highlighting the downward curve of his lipless mouth.

‘You were his friend.’ It’s a statement, not something he had to ask, because no one can talk that emotionally about another being and not be attached in some way, but the way Lo avoided eye contact after said more than words could.

Lo roared, like rocks tumbling off a mountain.

‘No.’

Eggsy was tired of talking in circles. He was the one in charge here, and maybe he just had to trick him into doing shit on his own. Like Aladdin with Genie.

‘You can’t even get him, can you?’ He goaded, leant back on his hands where he sat in the circle. ‘You ain’t strong enough to get the job done.’

‘I don’t have the strength?’ Lo glared, and raised himself on his arms until he somehow towered over him.

‘You can’t even walk, you fucking cripple-’ Eggsy gagged, his throat closed up with nothing but a twitch of Lo’s hand. Shit. He’d forgotten; demon magic wasn’t stopped by the circle, only their bodies. Only their ability to kill outright- the rest was fair game.

He’d gone too far.

‘Can you feel that?’ It’s said nonchalantly, like asking about the weather, and Eggsy’s eyes bugged open, one hand scrabbling at his neck as if to dislodge his attacker. ‘The essence of my hand ripping through your barrier and crushing your larynx? Maybe I can’t kill you from here, but I can certainly make my displeasure in your living known.

‘The sooner I get your lover-demon, the sooner your stench will leave my mouth.’ Lo spat, and shoved himself away from Eggsy; and the moment the hand stopped metaphysically crushing his windpipe he gagged. He spluttered and choked and spat up a bit, wiped the back of a hand across his mouth, and looked up into emptiness.

‘Lo? Lo? Lo?! Fuck,’ Eggsy ran a hand through his hair, uncaring of the spittle, and looked about as if he could suddenly see through the pitch-darkness of the In-Between. ‘God damn it. Shit. Fuck. Fuck!’ He was delirious, cursing to himself and pulling at his own hair, on the verge of tears.

Would this work? Would it be worth it? What kind of a question was that, for Harry it was worth everything, but would Harry think so? If he really was a demon, would that change anything for Eggsy? Could they make something new from the pieces left after all this? Would Harry still want him after he didn’t need to hide anymore?

Fucking hell… Eggsy’s mouth hadn’t moved, but the words echoed about the space. Shit- who said that? Who is it? I just thought that. Eggsy’s eyes widened.

It’s saying what I’m thinking- is it reading my mind? Is it in my mind? My thoughts are outside my head what the fuck is going on saysomethingoutloud-

‘Fuuuuuuu-’ The sound gave out, choking to a halt, and Eggsy began to panic. Did I just make sounds instead of talking? The fuck was that sound- say a sentence. Come on, Eggsy, say a fucking sentence. ‘ You can go fuck yourself.’ There, that’s a sentence.

Shit, that’s still in my head.

Fuck.

Okay, let’s figure this out, yeah? Why am I hearing my voice outside of my head? Where is it coming from? Eggsy writhed in place, neck cramped, and pulled at his hair with both hands. Ow! Eggsy pulled his hand from his head, looked down, and gaped at the cut from earlier.

Did that get bigger? The skin opened and closed in time with his thoughts, and Eggsy sucked in a breath through his teeth. His hand was talking to him- his hand was exposing his thoughts to the demons and whatever else was around- his hand was reading his mind and then saying it out loud. Ignore the hand, clear your mind. Like fucking Snape just clear your mind and stop bloody thinking!

…

This is weird. No luck with ignoring it, so may as well just run with it. Don’t focus on the hand. Let’s figure this shit out.

Harry’s a demon… he’s always been a demon. Does that mean he didn’t love me? Doesn’t love me? Did he- did he make me love him? Eggsy glared at his hand, pointing angrily with the other.

‘That’s fucking ridiculous- I know he loved me. He didn’ say it much but actions are louder than words, yeah? He fucking loved me. And I love him, even with him gone I love him.’

And yet we’re here, in the middle of hell knows where, trying to strike a deal with a fucking demon after getting told bedtime stories of him killing people for shits and giggles. Innocent people, even.

‘That’s the point, tho- stories. They’re stories told by fucking demons to get me to give up. Like them warning stones in Labyrinth; Lo admitted he was lying!’

And the Book?

‘Shit. That’s right. The Book.’

A human wouldn’t have a book like that- and where’d it come from? Where could he have gotten it from- certainly not Waterstones.

‘Hell.’ Eggsy signed, resigned.

Yeah, Hell. Harry’s from Hell. But does that really change anythin’? He’s obviously the same man, we just got to see his shit in a different light.

‘He loved me.’ Whispered, slightly doubtful, as Eggsy stared at one of the candles. Maybe if he just focused on something, anything, else it would stop.

Did he? Could he? What if you were just the only one dumb enough not to ask questions. Who’d look for a man like that with a pleb like you? He was usin’ you just like Dean used to.

‘ That dick!’ It explodes from Eggsy’s lips, unbidden, and he looked around the vacuum his Circle was surrounded by, as if someone would pop out of the woodwork to correct him for being too loud.

I KNOW!

‘ I- I’m talking to myself… through my-’

‘Did you miss me?’

‘Shut UP. Just- just shut up, brain!’

‘As amusing as watching you yell at yourself is, not quite.’ Lo was back, cigarette in hand, the smoke curling far past where his ceiling should be. More unpleasant reminders that Eggsy wasn’t really on Earth anymore.

Eggsy heaved in a breath, and glanced back and forth from his hand- which had gone silent and the cut had shrunk back to regular size- to Lo.

‘Where’d you run off to, then?’

‘Needed to ease a little tension.’ Lo waved it about, and Eggsy’s eyes continued to trail the smoke.

‘Demons smoke?’

‘When will you get it through your thick skull that demons do whatever we damn well please? Besides,’ Lo took a drag, ‘it’s cool.’

Eggsy was distracted, flexing his fingers and curling his fist as if to try and tease his hand back into talking to him. He couldn’t figure out why he was doing it, outside of an intense desire to not be looking at Lo. Not to be thinking about everything he’d been told.

‘The circle’s closing in on you- magic has to draw from somewhere and the longer you sit there the more your brain’s leaking out. Stay there long enough and there won’t be enough left of you to go back; but, as a faint silver lining, I got something for you.’

‘Harry?’ Eggsy perked up, his whole body leant forward, and Lo chuckled.

‘No. He’s in some high-security lockup and it’ll take more time- but I did bring you some souls to speak in his place!’ A pair of came up against the wall, and kept coming toward them- until they hit a barrier, filmy and red and Eggsy did not want to think about what it was made of. ‘I thought you’d want to know what Harry was going through- so you can help him later, of course.’ Screams echoed, like nails on a chalkboard, and Eggsy held himself as stiff as he could. Barely wanting to look at the humanoid points of darkness against the illuminated flesh- red of the barrier.

Demons lie. No matter what they said it wasn’t necessarily true. Though, Eggsy knew, all the best lies were built around grains of truth. So what was the truth, here?

But, as Eggsy listened to the litany of screams and begging, he grew more and more worried for Harry. Cheese graters? Drawn and quartered? Papercuts and lemon juice? Head, still alive, being thrown into a blender? Venom and sleep deprivation and waterboarding- some of these things sounded so mundane, so run-of-the-mill. Eggsy reasoned to himself that it was probably like Prometheus and the bird- beyond painful every time, and just familiar enough to keep you wondering how they’d make it worse this time. Repetitive and horrifying.

‘Why are you showing this to me?’ The shadows froze as he spoke, and red dripped where their supposed-bodies pressed against the barrier. As one they cocked their heads to one side, turning toward Lo as if they wondered much the same as he had.

‘You want me to find Harry? You want me to give you Harry? Well I want you to know what you’re getting into. What Harry is. He was the best there was- until you.’

‘Get rid of them. Send them back.’ It’s a feeble order, and Lo knew it.

‘Do it yourself, master.’ Eggsy turned to the shadows, who were pressed eagerly against the barrier as if through will alone they could escape their confines.

‘Go back to hell; leave me the fuck alone!’ Eggsy bit out, on the edge of breakdown but with a job left to do.

‘You know it’s funny- just think about every time you wished someone to go to hell, and here you are actively witnessing what you’ve wished upon them.’ Lo twirled the end of his cigarette, and the smoke became a set of claws before fading from view. ‘And then you just turned them away- they needed your help, Eggsy.’

‘Just shut it and get Harry already.’

‘I can’t. And not because I’m a cripple. You want to know why my legs drag behind me like a snake?’ Lo sounded like the Joker in those Dark Knight movies, pleasant and conversational but obviously intending to give a story whether you asked for it or not. ‘I assure you, there are legs back there- and this won’t be a long drawn out sob story like the one Merlin gave you.’

‘...I don’t care.’ Eggsy felt empty; at once terrified for Harry, scared of what Harry may well be, and a bone-deep tired he couldn’t quite push through.

‘Harry,’ Lo nodded once, looked Eggsy in the eyes, and looked away, ‘my legs were crushed when he was returned. Fitting retribution.’

‘...You helped him get out?’ What kind of a relationship did the two of them have, anyway? Calls in the night, an assist in escape, and yet Lo wouldn’t bring Harry to him now?

‘A demon, Eggsy, heart or heartless, shouldn’t entertain the idea that love will be the answer to any of its questions. Harry’s home now, where he belongs, but he’s no longer free. He’s trapped by guilt and the sharpest pains in the deepest of the pits- if you could call anyone trapped, it’s him.’ Lo took a breath and looked away. ‘Would you even want to see him again, with everything you’ve seen? Everything you’ve been told? Would you really want to bring him back with you, after all of this?’

‘I can’t tell the difference between trick or truth with you, bruv.’

‘You weren’t meant to. But the question remains- do you want to see Harry again? If so, all you have to do is… remember.’ Lo gestured back toward the wall, and a new memory began.

It was Christmas, him and Harry sat on the floor like children, and Eggsy had his hands hidden behind his back. He presented the gift to Harry, who took it looking vaguely confused. Within was a small stack of tattered books, Cendrillon and Pygmalion and The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. Harry set the stack between them, hands in his lap as he looked earnestly at Eggsy.

‘They’re for you.’

‘Books?’

‘Have you read this one?’ Eggsy gestured to Faustus, a small smile on his face.

‘No.’

‘Well it’s good- I figured rare books would be up your alley, what with you keeping that one in your case, and all. They’re not really old, but they’re older than me and I figure that’s something.’

‘You thought I’d enjoy enjoy these, so you got them for me?’ Harry sounded as if it was an entirely foreign concept. He was so confused all the time, it was a wonder that he’d made it this far in life without Eggsy around.

‘Well, it’s Christmas- it’s what you do.’ Eggsy shrugged, hiding his anxiety in a gentle smile. ‘Do you like ‘em?’

‘I think I do- I’ve not read many books outside of my own before. Schooling aside, of course.’ Harry added quickly, eyes doe-like and blinking slowly, so Eggsy let it go. Harry would tell him when he was ready. ‘What’s it about?’ Relationships were all about compromise- his curiosity could wait.

‘Well this bloke sells his soul for knowledge and power-’ Harry snorted, interrupting him.

‘How foolish. There’s no knowledge worth that much pain at the end of the road.’

‘What, you been there or so-’

‘Never!’ Harry interrupted Eggsy, whose smile ran from his face. Harry was so sensitive to the strangest things. He added “joking about hell” to his ongoing list of Harry’s Touchy Subjects.

‘You’re the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me.’ Eggsy chuckled,smiling softly, and sat expectantly. ‘Well?’

‘Well… what?’

‘D’you have somethin’ for me?’ Eggsy didn’t much like being rude, or pushy, but he’d learned that beating around the bush didn’t work with Harry- it was speak plainly, or not at all. It was something that’d rubbed him the wrong way at first, but when Harry reminded him that he’d had a very secluded upbringing Eggsy would feel like a tit all over again. So being a little uncomfortable was worth it- one day at a time.

‘Oh,’ Harry’s eyes widened, and he smiled sheepishly. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know that was custom.’

‘That’s alright, Harry- I’m just happy to be spending the holiday with you.’ Eggsy was honest; sure he was a little disappointed, but there was never any accounting for what Harry did and did not know. It made Eggsy feel purposed when Harry asked him things, or tried something new just on his recommendation- this was just one of the downsides to being that person. Life’s tiny disappointments.

‘I’m so sorry, Eggsy… do you hate me?’ Insecurities be damned, Eggsy couldn’t help but giggle at the look on Harry’s face. The man had to be in his late forties but he looked like a child whose lolly had fallen into the dirt; someone who had had something wonderful and managed to tarnish it without meaning to.

‘Course not. Actually,’ Eggsy rubbed at the back of his head, ‘I think I might be- just a little- bit more in love with you than I was before. It’s weird, but you bein’ honest just…’ Eggsy shrugged.

‘I’ve told you, I’m a man out of time with strange hobbies,’ Harry gestured to the wall behind them, where a few shadow boxes of butterflies were hanging. ‘But I will never lie to you, if I can help it.’ They kissed, more of a press of lips than anything heated, when suddenly Harry sprung to his feet and dashed from the room, his words echoing back behind him. ‘I do have something for you!’ He was laughing- what a sudden change from the melancholy man who’d kissed him.

‘You can’t wrap somethin’ that’s mine, that’s not how it works!’ Eggsy called after him, allowing himself to fall back against the leg of the sofa.

Harry returned with the briefcase tucked against his chest, the one from the day they’d met, which had been hidden in the back of a closet since he’d moved in. He unlocked it swiftly and pulled out the Book, the one reptilian eye gazing from the cover, looking at if briefly with a calculated gaze before handing it to Eggsy.

‘You’re giving me your “or something” book?’

‘It’s only fitting, after you’ve gifted me with books.’ Harry looked so at ease, and Eggsy couldn’t help but feel honoured. Harry trusted him with this, with what had to be his most treasured (if not only) possession.

‘Touche.’ Eggsy lifted the book, fingering the cover, before Harry’s hand covered his own. Harry used his other hand the lift Eggsy’s chin, and locked eyes with him.

‘You must not do that.’

‘Read it?’ What use was a book if you didn’t read it? The cover was creepy and definitely not something Eggsy wanted sitting on a shelf where anyone could see it.

‘Promise me. Eggsy, promise you will never read that book. Keep it safe, and one day when I’m not around you burn it.’ Harry’s hands framed Eggsy’s face, large and warm and safe. Eggsy gulped.

‘What is it?’ It’s asked softly, but Eggsy knew that Harry wouldn’t lie to him. He’d given his word.

‘My past- and don’t ever ask that of me again. Just. Please, for me, burn it. Don’t read it, let me be judged for who I am rather than who I have been.’ Harry’s eyes were earnest, and Eggsy couldn’t help but give in. As curious as he was, he loved the man that Harry was now . Yeah, it took a lot to get here, everyone’s made up of their past after all, but Harry would tell him when he was ready.

What did he need a book for, anyway?

‘Promise.’

‘~Demon~’ Lo sang beneath his breath, head held up in the hand not holding a cigarette.

Why wasn’t he honest with you? And now the hand was back. Great. He obviously didn’t trust you- not enough.

‘He was ashamed-’

Or he had a plan, and knew what he buttons he had to push to see it through. He could convince you of anything.

‘No-’

You know you couldn’t say no to him- should have been a willow for all you bent to his whims. You’ve been distant with everyone- would your friends even notice if something was wrong? Who would check on you? Harry was everything to you- and he knew it.

‘ No- we worked because we were different. We fit. Different puzzles made in the same shape.’

Because he designed it that way. You were nothing but a disguise. A ruse.

‘Just STOP!’ Eggsy closed the sliced-open hand, dug his nails into the wound, and felt tears forming despite himself.

‘~The circle’s closing in on you~’ Lo mocked, humming under his breath when Eggsy shot him a glare.

‘I’ll manage on my own, thanks.’

‘If you had any idea of what your brain was actually doing up there- pah.’ Lo laughed, no less horrifying than before, and Eggsy stared as Lo swirled his finger around his temple in the universal sign for insanity. ‘Idiot.’

A blink, and suddenly there was a man in front of him; older, balding, and laughing sinisterly, a small tray in his hands.

‘True on so many levels, Lo. We have, almost always, seen eye-to-eye on these matters.’ The man came to a stop in front of Eggsy, Lo nowhere to be found, with a crystal decanter filled with amber liquid and a glass.

‘I know you-’

‘I doubt that significantly. Would you like a drink?’ He held up the glass, gestured with the other hand to the decanter.

‘What? No.’ Who in their right fucking mind would drink something a demon handed them? Where’d it even come from, anyway?

‘Are you positive? I can assure you that this is the finest napoleonic brandy.’

‘I bet it is, mate, but I just want Harry. I’m not thirsty.’

‘It will be the best thing your uncultured mouth will have ever tasted.’

‘I just told you I don’t want a drink- I just want Harry, thanks.’

‘Well call it Harry, then,’ the man poured two fingers worth into the glass, ‘and enjoy.’

‘I just said I don’t want a fucking drink!’

‘It’s not poison.’ Lo reappeared, speaking from behind Eggsy, as the balding man used a crystal rod to push the filled glass across the circle. ‘It weakens the link between your body and soul- I can’t bring Harry to you, you see- you have to go to him.’ Lo’s head twists, snakelike, ‘it’s the only way.’

‘You want me to go into hell, outside of this circle, and find Harry on my own?’

‘Yes, I do! You’ll be relatively,’ Lo waved a hand in a so-so gesture, ‘unharmed by the fires and woes of Hell by consuming that drink. It’s the only way a living man can pass through, a closely guarded secret; so,’ Lo paused, head cocked to one side, ‘is your sugar daddy worth the risk?’

Eggsy turned away from Lo, back to the glass, and took a deep breath. Was Harry worth the risk? ‘You think I’ve got anythin’ to lose?’ Eggsy muttered just loud enough for Lo to hear, unintentionally, before picking up the glass and swallowing it in one gulp.

‘Fucker lied, that tasted like shit.’ There was a great whooshing sound, and suddenly Lo began to cackle. Like the hyenas in Lion King, Lo rolled upon the floor, and laughter echoed from the rest of the room. The man who had poured the drink, Merlin, the shadows... ‘Why’re you all laughing.’

‘I lied. It was poison.’

‘I can’t believe you fell for the whole “drink this, and you can walk through hell” bit- thought you had a bit more brains than that.’ Merlin had his arms crossed, and his horned head shook disapprovingly, but his chest shook with laughter. The medals glistened in the candlelight.

‘Just. Bring Lo back.’

‘I’m not his keeper, I’m not his master.’ Merlin scoffed, but somehow looked disappointed.

‘Am I really dying, then?’

‘Oh, yes- but slowly. You have time to think, bargain, get desperate… we demons like to watch you twitch.’

‘Can I do anything about the dying thing?’ As if a demon would-

‘Break the circle. Leave. Get your arse to a hospital and get it pumped out before it’s been too long.’ Merlin implored, surprisingly earnest for a demon who had just earlier said he’d been disappointed that Eggsy had survived their last encounter.

‘I thought you heard me when I said I ain’t leaving without him. I don’ see any ears, but you answer everythin’ else just fine.’

‘Don’t be cheeky, and stop calling it “he” that’s a prison of human design- demons aren’t defined by something as paltry as what’s between our legs. If we have them.’ There was a pause, Merlin looked away briefly and then turned back to Eggsy. ‘This whole “love” thing,’ he made quotations with his fingers, ‘can you explain it to me?’

‘I’m not that great with words, I dunno what to tell you.’ Eggsy was resigned to his fate at this point, death was inevitable because he was an idiot who took what was offered- wasn’t that like rule one of magic? Or was that just faeries?

But, maybe if he died in hell, he’d be reunited with Harry after all. Well worth all the pain at the end of the road.

‘I once tortured a man who said love was like something lodged in your throat you can’t swallow; another like continuously falling from a great height- both sounded unpleasant. Something to be avoided.’

‘Those are way too simple, mate,’ This is what’s left of my life now, explaining love to demons, ‘there’s no real way to define it. I mean, all the words in the world ain’t gonna help if you have nothing to base it on. Or something close to it, and you lot already told me that demons don’t love.’’

‘Demons can do whatever they want.’ It was defensive, and Eggsy had to breathe out a laugh.

‘Yeah, so you’ve said- but then none of you want to love, or you’d’ve figured it out already. You wouldn’t be asking me.’

‘Maybe we just want to give all our secrets away.’

‘Are you lot secretly five? That’s the logic my little sister uses to pretend she’s cleaned her mess when she’s just tucked it under the rug.’

‘Well, fine, maybe we can’t- but it’s a good thing. A blessing, if I can use the word. I mean, look at yourself,’ Merlin gestured vaguely at Eggsy, hunched over in the circle, ‘you’re dying, slowly, in a painted circle in the middle of your apartment- because you loved someone. You’re dying and still you sit here waiting to see him again instead of get yourself to a doctor. At least at the end of this I’m still around- why put yourself through that?’

‘Well that’s my secret, then. Takin’ it to my grave- close as it is.’

‘Why not just close the circle and be done with it? Get to a hospital, live your life?’

‘I’d rather be with Harry, thanks.’ Merlin scoffed, and walked back into the abyss, leaving Eggsy alone with his thoughts. Scattered, but his own.

Eggsy took a moment to look down at the Book, ran one hand across the incredibly creepy cover, and smiled sadly. Sure, maybe he hadn’t been able to see Harry before he died- but he’d get to see him after. He’d come here with a mission, and he’d never been the type of person to leave a job undone- and what kind of life would be waiting for him without Harry, anyway? The months without him had been empty and faded- who could blame Eggsy for not wanting to go back to that?

‘I don’t want to die,’ Eggsy said to the emptiness, ‘but I don’t want to go back, neither. I don’t want to live without him.'

You had to say it out loud. Eggsy refused to acknowledge the hand this time- if he were dying, he’d do it on his terms and not looking like a nutter yelling at his own hand. You know I can’t leave you alone.

‘And you’re exposing my thoughts to everyone!’

Who? There’s no one here!

‘But there will be, you need to stop or- or I’ll- I’ll cut you off!’ Eggsy brandished the knife from the beginning, blood crusted along the edge, and placed it against his wrist. ‘So stop.’

‘Are you trying to die more quickly, or is this some pathetic attempt to rid yourself of the poison?’ Lo blinked innocently up at him from his place on the ground, and Eggsy dropped the knife- his hand wasn’t talking anymore.

‘You poisoned me.’

‘No, Chester did.’

‘The fuck’s it matter who poisoned me, the end is the same. Fucking demon poison- but I wanna know: why? Why’d Harry have your page marked? So many bloody demons to choose from, feels like, and you’re the one marked off- why?’ Eggsy would deny he’d begged until his last breath (and that was far too close to contemplate) but he had to know. He needed to know.

‘Maybe he found me attractive,’ Lo framed his face between his mottled hands, blinking as if to flutter nonexistent eyelashes, ‘or maybe he just threw a marker into the Book in a rush and it was a simple coincidence.’ He shrugged, shoulders shifting against the ground as he lay on his back, and Eggsy growled. Maybe the circle was getting to him, maybe it was the poison, but either way he was at the end of his fucking rope.

‘You’re never going to give me a straight answer, are you? I’m a fucking dying human, you already won, why are you so scared of me?’

‘Your false sense of security derived from a painted circle on the ground has given you quite the ego.’

‘I just don’ give a fuck anymore; I’m dying, why bother playin’ nice? Why’d you help him escape?

‘I don’t see how that’s any of your business-’

‘They crushed your body!’

'With good reason! I deserved it, I paid my price, and even dead you have no business in demon affairs.’ Eggsy keeled over, clutched desperately to his stomach and groaned in pain. ‘You’re not built for Hell, Eggsy. Trust me.’

‘I’m dead chuffed that a demon would care so much for my well being-’

‘You can’t even do anything for Harry by staying here- he broke a sacred law, he’s a vile creature who will never again see the light of day!’

‘Well, maybe I don’ care about all that!

‘You should-’

‘I don’t give a fuck about should or shouldn’t. I love him, and the shit you’ve spewed at me is a different Harry. Who he was here,’ Eggsy threw his hands about the circle, careful even now not to cross the barrier despite his pain, ‘isn’t the man I know. Everyone changes over time- even demons!’

‘Oh, and you’re the authority on that subject now?’

‘On Harry, yes.’ Eggsy was determined, lips firm, eyes hard, and looked at Lo like he would a spot of dirt on a freshly-cleaned floor. He turned, and lifted a hand like Lo had earlier, focusing entirely on the memory of he and Harry’s last night together. The night that changed everything.

They were asleep together, the too-large bed covered in pillows and blankets, when suddenly Harry shot straight up, screaming at a decibel Eggsy was only now able to fully comprehend. Eggsy rolled over, sat up, and threw an arm across Harry’s shoulders before pulling him back down. They stayed there, Harry curled surprisingly small upon Eggsy’s chest, until Harry stopped shaking.

‘You wanna talk about it?’ Eggsy whispered, lips barely brushing Harry’s temple.

‘It’s just a dream- everyone has them.’ Harry evaded the question, keeping his face turned from Eggsy’s. ‘Just a dream.’

‘Not like that they don’t. You’ve been talkin’ in your sleep, y’know- apologising-’

‘Shhh.’ Harry placed one finger on Eggsy’s lips, suddenly on alert; body shifted at an angle and ear turned toward the door. ‘Tell me you don’t smell anything.’

‘... Now that you’ve mentioned it, smells like sulfur. You leave somethin’ on?’

‘... Shit.’ A now familiar green, scaled, hand grasped Harry by the scalp and threw him bodily from the bed, and Eggsy could only watch in horror as the horned demon walked fully into the room. Merlin lifted a hand, freezing Eggsy’s bid to move toward him, and then shoved him backward with a flick of his wrist. Demon magic had worked in the real world, that night.

Harry got back to his feet, eyes pale and face discoloured, and walked up to Merlin. He held himself like Wolverine, body tilted forward and hands extended at his sides as if ready to swipe and cut as opposed to punch.

‘Really, him?’ Merlin asked Harry, gesturing with his head to the unconscious Eggsy on the bed. ‘What makes him worth all this fuss?’

‘Merlin.’

‘Nice costume, sugar daddy.’

‘Go back.’

‘I plan to- but not without you.’

‘I’m stronger than you-’

‘But you’re long since out of practise.’ They fought, never touching but still managing to hurt one another, until Merlin managed to grab Harry by the throat. Literally. The sound of Harry choking managed to stir Eggsy, who sat up in bed and scrambled forward on the sheets. Merlin flicked his other wrist, and long, deep, gashes appeared on Eggsy’s chest. Harry heard Eggsy gasp in pain and fall back to the bed, and it rejuvenated him- he fought Merlin with renewed vigour to get to Eggsy’s side.

‘Eggsy!’ Harry breathed, but Eggsy couldn’t breathe. Harry was lying across his legs, torsos barely touching, trying to gauge the damage, and Eggsy couldn’t breathe. ‘He’s dying-’

‘I should hope so- I don’t scratch.’

‘Let me help him, and I’ll go with you. No more fighting, just… let me save him.’ Harry whispered, and Merlin simply gestured him forward with a wave of his hand. Harry crawled back upon the bed, carefully avoiding Eggsy’s mutilated chest, and kissed him softly. ‘I have to leave.’

‘H-H-Harry-’

‘Shhh,’ Harry lifted a hand, holding it over his torso with a look of pure determination, and a moment later Eggsy’s breathing evened out. ‘I’m sorry, Eggsy. I love you.’

Together, Harry and Merlin walked from the room, briefcase in hand.

‘You came here for love- you know, you’re no better than Faust.’ Lo remarked after the scene faded, Eggsy’s heavy breathing still hovering throughout the room. Whether it was from now or then was impossible to tell.

‘Faust wanted power, and knowledge-’

‘Which is exactly what you want as well- you promised Harry that you would destroy that Book. If you’d truly loved him, you would have done as he’d asked. Only a mortal can harm that book- you betrayed your love just by coming here.’ Eggsy turned to Lo, far beyond done with this merry-go-round. ‘Do you think your Harry will forgive you?’

‘I’m only human, ain’t I?’ Eggsy said, determined to make Lo understand even if he died trying, ‘we’re allowed to make mistakes, we’re expected to make mistakes and maybe loving Harry means I couldn’t do what he made me promise but don’t,’ Eggsy gritted out, ‘accuse me of betraying him, when all I’ve wanted was for him to be back where he belonged. Back home. With me.’

Lo laughed. ‘If you say so, kid.’ Eggsy saw red- this close to dying, why hold back?

‘Demon Lo I am you master, you disgusting thing, I summoned you and all your power. I say roll over- since you can’t jump and all- and you do it.’ Eggsy breathed sharply through his teeth, ‘You’ve been showing me all sorts of shit I don’ care about to get me to leave. I. WON’T.

‘I’m not leaving here without Harry, and I command you Demon Lo to get him and bring him right in front of me and then get the fuck out of my sight.’ Lo looked at Eggsy with wide eyes, but said nothing more before dragging himself away, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. Eggsy couldn’t bring himself to be sorry for cutting off Lo’s fun, slow-acting or not he was dying and he only had one real chance at this now.

It could have been a moment, it could have been a year (who knew how slow demon poisons were, anyway) but between one breath and the next Harry was there. Beautiful, perfect, Harry with his hair and suit pristine and his glasses clear, a small sad smile on his lips. He was propped on his elbows, eye level with the collapsed Eggsy, cheekbones highlighted in the candlelight. All that fuss, and Lo had managed it at last.

‘Hello, Eggsy.’ There was something sad in his voice, but Eggsy couldn’t bring himself to do more than shrug a shoulder.

‘Hello, Harry.’

‘Strange place for a date.’ Harry’s mouth quirked on one side, barely showing his teeth.

‘Yeah, but the only man worth datin’ was down here.’ A long silence stretched between them. Sad, broke only by laboured breathing, but not awkward.

‘... You kept the Book.’

‘I tried to burn it- I did- but I just- just,’ Eggsy sighed, pained, ‘I just couldn’t, and I dunno why. Swear down I tried-’

‘It’s okay.' Harry interrupted, a small glittering in his eyes. 'You know they weren’t happy when they found Faust in the case- thank you, it was a comedic moment in what was a very dark period. Your gift has been-’

‘I’m here to take you home, Harry.’ Eggsy couldn’t let him continue on, talking of his time in Hell like a poorly-envisioned vacation. They had somewhere to be; they had a home to get back to.

‘I know. I’m doing cartwheels, can’t you see them?’

‘Don’t you Parks and Rec me, Harry- I need you to tell me what page I need to read to get us both back home, Harry.’

‘You still want me- after everything you’ve heard? Hell’s gold standard reaper?’

‘But I know that’s not the Harry Hart I know-’

‘But it is.’ It’s stated simply, but it makes Eggsy’s head spin. But, he’d come this far, and he wasn’t leaving without him. They’d work through everything a bit at a time- every relationship had its problems.

‘Well, you swear you won’t eat me and I’ll marry you. You, me, my shitty flat and all the butterflies you can fit inside. May even let you get a dog like you always wanted.’

‘You love me?’ It was whispered to himself, as if Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he looked back at Eggsy with fire in his eyes. ‘Page 1108,’ Eggsy flipped through the pages as quickly as his debilitated body could manage. Eventually he found the page, but Eggsy couldn’t bring himself to do more than drink in the sight of Harry by candlelight

‘Tiana.’ Harry started, tongue caressing the words much the way he had Eggsy’s name that first day. He stared for a moment before realising that he was supposed to repeat what Harry said- why open the book at all, if Harry could just recite it all?

‘Tiana.’

‘Fate Simae.’

‘Nevt Tiana Simae.’

‘Tan Corse Si.’

Harry reached across the circle like there was no barrier, as if there was nothing but open floor between them, and kissed Eggsy deeply. Softly. The opposite of their circumstances, what with being in hell and all. Eggsy felt like something was finally settling back into place, like the colour was bleeding back into the world; like he’d finally stopped being more spirit than self.

Harry pulled back, and grasped the empty glass in one hand before spitting the poisoned brandy back inside.

‘I can’t go with you, Eggsy.’ It’s sad, but stated as fact, and Eggsy won’t stand for it.

‘The fuck do you mean you can’t- we’ll hide, change our names, they won’t find us-’

‘They will, Eggsy- and next time, I won’t be able to save you. I’m afraid I used that bargaining chip, already. They find us up there, let alone together, and we’re both finished.’

‘Then let me stay here with you- I can adapt I’ll figure it-’

‘No! No, no…’ Harry looked back into Eggsy’s eyes, frantic, ‘this is not where I will have you spend eternity. You get no say in this, you have so much left to experience Eggsy and I will not have you giving that up to be with me. Much as it hurts me to let you go, you belong up there- you’ll figure it out.’

‘What have I got to live for up there without you?’

‘I’m not a man, Eggsy,’ Harry’s voice reverberates around the room, haunting and clear, ‘I’m not even human.’

‘But you love me, yeah?’ The poison was gone, but his body was too weak to protest too harshly. Eggsy wished he could clear the guilt from Harry’s eyes.

‘Sometimes, Eggsy, love is not enough.’ Harry began to lean back out of the circle. ‘Please, burn the book- it’s not fair. To either of us.’ He paused and lifted a hand, and something in the air changed. ‘You’re going home, Eggsy. And I’m going to stay in this place to make sure of it.’ Harry turned away, and began to lean himself back into the abyss.

‘Harry-’ He turned back, heartbreak etched in every glorious crease, and Eggsy felt a traitorous tear slide down his face. He blinked, trying to clear his eyes, and froze.

Lo met Eggsy’s gaze, half covered in shadow. He looked away, breaking the fragile moment between them, and finished dragging himself away.

Eggsy came to in his apartment, drooling on the floor and face planted on a small puddle of dried blood. Disgusting.

He got up, slowly, and dusted himself off- surprised to find the cut still there, having thought it all a fantastical dream. But no, the Book was there, the blood was there, and his apartment was still boarded up to he- boarded up inside.

He scraped off the paint as best he could, used some thinner, and then gave up and put the carpet back over it. Someone would make an unpleasant discovery someday, but that wasn’t a problem for today. He pulled down the boards from the windows, the light nearly blinding him, and started cleaning up.

He used a hammer to break some of the wood down, gathered up some old newsprint, and shoved it all into a metal bin before he put out on the sil.

He put the Book atop the pile, and dropped a match.

#dagonet writes #kingsman #kingsman fic #demon summoning au #demon lo fic

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silverstarsheep · 7 years

Text

So after seeing these posts by @owldart for @doodledrawsthings‘ Hell’s Studio Au, I realized I needed to write something for it! Because I am a HUGE sucker for body swap stories. This was a lot of fun to write, but it came out... Quite a lot larger than I had anticipated! I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 8,489

The feeling of ink-covered hair on his own head was a surreal one. To the point where Bendy had a hard time grasping what exactly he was touching. On top of that, his hand felt weird. Why was that? Having gallons of ink dumped on him was something that he didn't want to admit he was used to, but this time seemed to have messed with his senses something fierce. If Sammy hadn't turned back into an ink monster, had Bendy gone off model again? Gracious, he hoped not.

"Aw man, what a trip..." he moaned. Was there ink in his ears, or did he sound a little different? He rubbed his hand along his head, shuddering slightly as the stringy texture passed between his fingers, "Hey Sammy, am I meltin' or just--" he stopped when he reached the top of his head. Where he would have normally found the dip between his horns, he didn't feel... Well, anything. Just more head.

"Drippin'?" he croaked. At that point he realized that the voice he was using was certainly not his. He couldn't pin whose it was, but it did sound familiar... His eyes popped open, and he was met with a pale, five-fingered hand.

Sammy was quickly catching on himself. He had kept his eyes closed for a while now, a surge of dread washing over him like a devastating tidal wave. He didn't feel like himself; he felt cold and unnatural. Defined in shape, but able to melt and sink into the surrounding ink at any moment--and he knew that only meant one thing: he was an ink monster yet again. He grit his teeth and dared himself to open his eyes as Bendy spoke, though... Wait a moment. That was his voice that he was hearing. Why was he hearing his own voice, and with Bendy's accent of all things?

Eyes fluttering open, he gingerly lowered his arms and cast a slow glance to the person beside him... Only to find his own face, staring wide-eyed at his hand. Bendy's eyes then flicked upwards, a frown etching deeper and deeper into his features; seemed as though he was having just as much trouble comprehending the situation as the music director. All of the sudden, Sammy's entire body felt numb, not sure what to do with the fact that he was now staring at his own face, but without the help of a mirror. He then looked to his own hands--if they even were his own--and found that he was shy a finger on each hand, and was now wearing gloves.

Bendy and Sammy had locked eyes, and the realization finally hit the both of them with ten times the force of the ink that had just fallen on them prior. There was barely a beat before the studio halls were filled with their panicked screams, broken up only on occasion by a colorful swear from Sammy, or a coughing fit from Bendy.

Heavy footfalls accompanied their cries as a handful of people rushed to the scene. Bendy had fallen all but silent, coughing into his fist and clenching his stomach. Yikes, did that hurt! Sammy meanwhile was starting to melt, hands on either side of his newly obtained horns as he paced back and forth in the knee-deep ink. He muttered feverishly under his breath, trying desperately to make sense of the situation. It had to be some kind of dream, it just HAD to!

Wally was the first to arrive, still picking feathers and honey off of his uniform. He shot glances between Sammy and Bendy, finding himself terribly confused, but also sadistically satisfied to see that his boss had gotten his comeuppance for the little "prank" he had pulled earlier. Though he clearly had no idea what was going on.

Susie was soon to follow suit just as Wally opened his mouth to speak, "What's going on?" she asked through heavy breaths.

"I was 'bout to ask that myself!" Wally shrugged. He leaned one arm against the halway's door frame, scratching at his cheek, "Hey uh, boss? Everythin' okay?"

"Does it LOOK like everythin's okay, Franks?" Bendy hissed. Though to Wally, it just seemed as though Sammy had replied.

"Uh, didn't ask ya, Sammy," Wally continued, "But yeah, guess that was a dumb question..." he gave Susie a quizzical glance, and she merely shrugged at him in reply. They were just covered in ink. Aside from that, what was the problem?

"Uh, Sammy?" Susie spoke up. Sammy's head spun around so quickly that his body couldn't keep up with it. He stumbled and grabbed hold of his head before plopping rear-first into the ink with a significant splash. He had... Forgotten that Bendy's head floated. Placing a hand over her mouth, Susie tried to not laugh at her boss--though Wally was a little less successful as he snorted loudly.

"What?" Sammy snapped, "Don't you laugh, Franks!" he pointed bitterly, scattering ink everywhere as he threw his arm into the air, "If you can't tell, we're having a bit of an issue here!"

"Ya got that right." Wally muttered. He received a sharp elbow to the ribs for that from Susie.

Holding out her hands in a placating way, she gave a simple and sympathetic nod, "I can see that, Bendy. Let's get the both of you out of the ink first. Maybe get you two a nice cup of coffee to calm down!" she looked to Wally and used her eyes to motion over her shoulder, "Get some rags, please." she added.

Wally huffed, but complied without another word. At least Sammy hadn't turned into an ink monster again, but he'd still have yet another set of inky footprints to clean up after all of this. Along the way he passed a concerned-looking Boris and Alice.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Boris asked.

"Beats me," Wally grunted, "Sammy n' Bendy are in a real sore mood. Talkin' a bit funny too."

Alice rose an eyebrow to this, but when Wally continued on his way she merely sighed and strode to where Susie stood, Boris at her heels. She peered around the corner and found both of her friends wading around in the ink in a clumsy fashion, Sammy still muttering bitterly about the situation. Susie lent a hand to who she had no reason to believe wasn't the music director.

Bendy took Susie's hand, "Thanks, Campbell," he sighed. He hadn't realized how weird it was to talk with a human mouth until now. The weird way that his tongue didn't fit quite right in his mouth, the way his teeth clicked together, and how it felt more natural to frown than to smile. There was an odd ringing in his ears too; it wasn't terribly loud, but it was noticeable and a little annoying.

After hoisting himself to his feet, Bendy found it a bit harder to find his sense of balance. Boy was Sammy TALL! As he tried to take a step it felt as though he was made entirely of leg, and he put more weight onto Susie's arm than he originally intended. Her foot slipped into the ink, but Boris had acted quickly enough to grab her free arm and keep her upright.

"You alright, Sammy?" Susie squeaked, shaking her foot off.

"Uh," Bendy's voice still hurt from the screaming, "Yikes, how do I put this...?" he had the sudden compulsion to run his hand through his hair, which he only questioned after doing the motion.

Sammy had stood up again and was dusting the ink from his clothes as if it were dirt, "Like this: I'm Sammy." he thrust a thumb at his chest, "That's Bendy." he pointed to what was supposed to be his body.

Silence hung in the air, and the confusion between the others was almost palpable. The stupefied quiet was broken by Wally's footsteps, holding a wad of clean rags in one hand, and pushing a mop bucket along with his other.

Blinking, Boris tilted his head to one side, "What're ya talkin' about, pal?" he asked, "Got another weird prank for us?"

Alice smiled, though she folded her arms over her chest, "I'd expect something a little more extravagant out of him if that were the case."

"It ain't a prank!" Beny blurted suddenly, "Do ya really think I could convince Sammy to participate in onna my pranks?" he motioned to Sammy, "This well, at that? You know he couldn't do my accent!"

Sammy rolled his eyes and shook his head, choosing to ignore that remark for now. Alice snapped her fingers, "Yeah, you have a point there." she stated.

There was a few more moments of silence, before it hit everyone what exactly was going on. Wally had missed an important detail, so when the others all shouted in surprise and dismay, he stumbled back first-into the wall with wide eyes and a loud cry of shock.

"What the heck?!" he cried.

"You're?!" Susie slipped her hand out of Bendy's, pointing at him with the other, "He's?!?" she looked to Sammy with fretful eyes.

"That's not possible!" Alice squawked, "It's not possible, right?" she looked between Bendy and Boris as if she could find an answer, "Ink can't do that can it?!"

"What's goin' on?!" Wally demanded, trying to raise his voice enough to compete.

Boris shook his head briskly, his ears flopping this way and that, "No? I don't know! How'd this even happen?!"

"Heck if I know!" Bendy cut in, "I was tryin' to stop Sammy from gettin' covered in ink again," he explained as he pointed to the ceiling, "When a pipe burst over us, and then...?" he made a distressed sound and motioned between himself and Sammy, who was positively fuming once again, swearing under his breath... Though that just resulted in numerous sound-effects seeping through his grit teeth.

"Wait, wait," Wally huffed, "D'ya mean to tell me they... What, switched bodies or somethin'?"

"That would be the case, Franks," Sammy groaned, "Now make yourself useful and go get Joey!"

The others looked to him expectantly, and therefore the custodian had no choice. He pushed the rags into Sammy's--or rather--Bendy's hands and stormed off while muttering under his breath. Boris could catch a low, "or I'm outta here," before Wally vanished up the stairs.

While they waited, Sammy had dragged himself out of the ink, still muttering bitterly under his breath. His words were growing in both anger and volume as he looked himself over, "If it's not one thing it's another," he grumbled, "If Joey doesn't fix the problem with these pipes I'm going to follow after Wally's stupid catchphrase!"

"Ah, I'm sure he can figure out a way to fix this!" Susie piped, though her words went completely ignored by the musician.

Bendy was trying to make do in the meantime, attempting to get used to his now rather lanky legs. He had to use the wall for support, but he eventually got the hang of it, "Yikes, I gotta learn how to walk all over again!" he chortled, "Hey Sammy, how do ya walk with these twigs? I'm gonna call ya beanpole from now on!" he joked. He knew he should've been taking this situation a little more seriously, but... A joke or two couldn't hurt!

Sammy's head spun around again, though this time his body had an easier time keeping up with it, "You will NOT!" he screeched, "You'd better not get comfortable in there!" the musician hissed.

Throwing his arms up, Bendy grinned and rolled his eyes, "Nah nah! Wouldn't dream of it!" he put his hands on his hips and leaned over, "You'd better not get comfortable in there either, Lawrence! Don't get to thinkin' ya can't do work just 'cause you're in my body!" he teased.

"Wouldn't. Dream. Of. It." Sammy snarled through his teeth. His fists were clenched tight enough for them to shake, "I don't plan on staying that long."

"If it's not weird hearing Bendy's accent with Sammy's voice," Alice giggled lightly, "It's even stranger seeing Bendy's smile on that face!" when Sammy groaned, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Come on, you know I'm just teasing. That smile looks good on you!"

Shrugging her hand off of his shoulder, Sammy threw his arms into the air and walked away, "Can't you toons take this a little more seriously?!" he snapped, "I didn't want to go through anything like this again anytime soon, and yet look at this! Look at US!" he spun back around and pointed to Bendy, "YOU need to get Joey's act together, and have him fix this &@#$ place!"

After stifling laughter over Sammy's censor, Bendy took an a more dire expression, though traces of a smile could still be seen on his lips, "I AM takin' this seriously, Lawrence," he insisted, "Over the years I've learned to internalize most of my strife. Sometimes laughter is all we got, y'know?"

"No."

"Makes sense that he wouldn't get it," Wally's voice came down the hall, "He don't know how to laugh!"

"Shut your MOUTH, Franks!" Sammy snapped shrilly. He really didn’t appreciate how everyone was having a good time at his expense, "Keep going and you're out of here!"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah..." he mumbled. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he leaned against the wall to let Joey and Henry squeeze past.

Book in hand, Joey scurried between Sammy and Bendy, casting concerned glances between the two of them. He scratched at his stubble while flipping the book open over his arm. He was eerily quiet as he leafed through the pages, his brow furrowing further with each turn.

Henry stood beside Susie, who was fiddling with her skirts. He leaned over and whispered, "Did they... Really switch?"

"Yeah."

"How did that happen?"

"We don't know! But I'm hoping Joey can fix it..."

Henry inhaled softly, watching the director search. He had his doubts, he he also had his hopes, "I'm sure he can."

Getting tired of waiting, Bendy strode to Joey's side and peered over his shoulder, "C'mon, Joey," he egged the other on, "Ya gotta have somethin' in that big book o' rituals!"

"Uh, well..." Joey's voice was barely audible as he started, only speaking up when Bendy gave him a nudge, "At first glance, I'm having a hard time coming across anything that's relevant to the situation..."

"Well look again!" Sammy barked. Ink was seeping over his eyes, but he hadn't bothered to do anything about it yet.

Joey wordlessly continued his search, pausing now and again to run his finger across the page, only to shake his head and continue looking. He flipped from cover to cover at least three times before he finally gave up and snapped the book shut.

Sammy glared, "Well?" his arms were folded, his fingers tapping impatiently against the opposite arm.

"Well..." Joey inhaled sharply through his teeth, rubbing the back of his head, "I can't say that the book... Which is to say, I don't think anything in here... Uh... There's nothing on this in the book. Not a single thing. At least about switching bodies," he adjusted his glasses, "Just allowing a demon to take control over yours while you're still somewhat aware of your surroundings. You don't get the demon's body, or anything!"

"You've gotta be kiddin' me, Jo." Bendy remarked flatly. With a swift movement he snatched the book from the other's hands and started to flip through it himself with great determination.

Sammy was quiet. He had finally pushed the ink out of his face, the toothy frown he had bearing deeper and deeper into his features as the realization was starting to sink in. Did that mean that Joey didn't cause this? Then what did? He jumped when he felt a hand take hold of his arm and an arm wrap around his shoulder. It was Alice, who was giving him a sweet, though very concerned smile.

"Hey, don't melt on us now! Keep it together, okay?" she cooed, "It's going to be alright."

Placing a hand over her's, Sammy nodded slowly. He trusted Alice, at least a lot more than he trusted Joey...

Joey's gaze had gone distant, staring at the ceiling as he tapped the tips of his fingers together pensively. His brow creased, a light "hm," coming from him when he placed a hand over his mouth. The gears were obviously turning in his head, and the others had taken notice.

"Ya got somethin' in mind, Jo?" asked Boris.

Instead of responding Joey walked away, pulling the book from Bendy's hands as he passed by. Hand on his chin he brushed past Henry and Susie, then proceeded to walk over Wally's freshly mopped floor. The custodian shouted in frustration, though his and everyone else's calls had gone completely unnoticed by the director, especially as he opened the book once more and started up the stairs.

"DREW!!" Sammy screeched. Alice immediately backpedaled away, "GET YOUR @$$ BACK HERE AND FIX THIS!" he darted after him, though stopped short, clenching his fists and breathing in a ragged way.

"Hey, hey!" Henry cut in, "He's probably going to look for more references! Or... Something!" he continued in a hopeful way. He backed off when Sammy shot him a glare, flecks of ink flying off of his horns as he turned his head, "Hey," he added, "It's going to be okay. Just keep your head level."

"And don't let it float away!" Bendy jeered.

Sammy merely groaned, but his eyes widened as the idea settled in his mind. Could it do that? Could it really float away? He subconsciously put a hand between his horns, pushing his head closer to his shoulders. The guffaw that followed suit quickly told him that Bendy was merely messing with him, "Hah." he grunted.

"Alright, alright," Bendy shifted gears, "Joey's gonna work on that, but for now," he instinctively looked at his wrist, though he didn't find a watch there, "Oh." he gave a wave to the others, "Well, we gotta get back to work. That deadline's gettin' on us fast, and I don't wanna be blindsided by it!"

"Hah, you got it, boss!" Henry sighed. He gave a little salute and sauntered off to his desk. Susie followed his lead, returning to the recording booth. She was in the middle of recording something when she heard the screams.

Boris and Alice dawdled a bit, shifting in a concerted manner for the whole affair. They shared glances, Alice biting her lower lip, and Boris scratching the back of his head. After the whole fiasco where Sammy turned into ink, they knew this was only going to be trouble for him. With Bendy involved in this whole thing, they knew he'd be just as affected!

"Huh, are ya gonna just... Let everyone know what's goin' on?" Boris asked, "I mean, it's sure gonna be weird havin', y'know, Bendy directin' the band!"

Bendy stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged, "Yeah," he replied, "It'll be more trouble than it's worth to keep THIS a secret!" he threw a thumb at Sammy, "'Sides, I don't think he'd be able to keep the act up!"

"Not as if I'd want to." Sammy added bitterly. He wasn't even going to humor the idea of a challenge.

Bendy placed a hand to his chest, "And me? Actin' like Sammy Lawrence the entire day?" he continued in an offended way, "I'm an actor, not a miracle worker!"

"Yeah, probably for the better!" Boris mused.

Alice twirled a finger in her hair, "Hey, are you going to be alright, Sammy?" she asked with a soothing tone, "I can keep you company for a bit, if you need it!"

Brusquely shaking his head, Sammy heaved a sigh, "No," his reply was short, "I think I'm going to look over my sheet music and get to recording." without another word, he stomped off. Oh, he was going to be a real pill today, wasn't he?

Alice merely sighed through her nose, folding her hands together. She eventually started down the hall herself, waving to Bendy and Boris, "See you in the band room, Boris!"

The wolf smiled and waved in return, though quickly turned back to Bendy, "Hey pal," he spoke, "What about you? You gonna be alright?"

Bendy shot the other a grin, jumping to give Boris some reassurance. He nodded and waved in a dismissive manner, "Sure, sure!" he squawked, clearing his throat, "The most I gotta get used to is these lanky limbs Sammy's got." he winked, "But hey! Sure is nice bein' able to look ya right in the eye!"

Boris laughed at the comment, "Yeah, you got a point there!" he scratched the base of his ears, "But hey, if ya need me, I'm where I always am!" he added.

With a wordless nod, Bendy rolled up his sleeves and made his way to his room. His smile faltered however, worried thoughts flooding his mind with the force of a thunderous downpour. His shoulders slumped. Did Joey know how to fix this? COULD they fix this? He closed the door behind him and puffed out a long sigh, pressing his back against the door and sliding closer to the round ever so slightly. He had to push that thought out of his mind. His hand impulsively ran through his hair as if to push ink out of his face, though when the strange and stringy sensation was too much for him he tried to pull his hand out--only for his fingers to get tangled in the ink-matted mess.

Once he managed to free his digits Bendy searched his room for a bowtie, as well as a pair of gloves. It took a bit of searching but he did eventually find a pair with five fingers; they hadn't yet been modded to fit his toon hands. Comfortable four-fingered gloves simply didn't exist, so if he wanted to wear real ones he had to either make, or modify them. Sadly, none of his other clothes would have fit Sammy's proportions, but he found small comforts in the silky smooth fabric of the gloves, and the embrace of a tie around his neck.

Well. That was going to be as good as he'd get for now. No sense putting it off any further! Pushing his feet into motion Bendy started his rounds. There were a few revisions to be made, and he needed to discuss that with his employees before they got too much further into their work. The first to inform was usually Laura Nelson, a mousy little woman that could whip up sketches so fast that even Bendy had a hard time keeping up with her. He rasped gently on her door before stepping inside.

"Yes? O-oh hello, Mr. Lawrence...!" she stuttered. Eyes wide, she looked him over and was quickly taken aback by the large grin that had graced his usually frowning lips. She smiled nervously, drumming the end of her pencil against the desk.

"Mornin', Laura!" Bendy chimed. This only seemed to make her more uncomfortable, "Meet me in the boardroom in ten... I'll uh, explain it all there!" he started to slip out the door, "If ya see anyone on the way, tell 'em!" he could just barely hear her squeak in reply.

The more he called to the meeting, the more he was met with the same sort of response. Everyone was positively floored by the stark change in disposition that, for all intensive purposes, Sammy Lawrence suddenly had. Of course it certainly didn't help that they were all confused as to why Sammy was calling them to a meeting rather than Bendy. Did the music director suddenly get more jurisdiction, or something? It took everything in Bendy to not just explain the situation to each individual he came across, but he did NOT want to repeat the entire spiel countless times, when he could get it all out at the meeting.

There was a certain relief when he finally came to Henry, who gave Bendy a warm smile. What a nice change of pace it was, to not be greeted by confusion and alarm.

"You're looking a bit frazzled," the man remarked.

Bendy puffed, "That obvious?"

"Your hair's a mess!"

"It's any wonder Sammy can keep this mop in order!" Bendy chuckled. He pushed his hair back, "Anyway, I'm callin' a meeting. Really lookin' forward to tryin' to explain this hot mess to everyone..." his voice seethed with sarcasm--it only seemed fitting for a voice belonging to Sammy Lawrence.

When they entered the boardroom, any confusion the employees had was immediately amplified when it looked as though Sammy had taken Bendy's seat at the head of the table.

"Uh, Sammy?" someone piped, "The boss isn't going to appreciate you sitting there..."

"Yeah, about that..." Bendy started, "So, today's been a bit freaky, only fittin' I guess, seein' it's Friday. But we always gotta top the last weird ink-based event, don't we?" he sighed. The animators exchanged glances as Bendy continued, "Somehow, Sammy and I got switched. Dunno how, dunno why! We're workin' on fixing it, but--"

"You SWITCHED?!" exclaimed one writer

"Freaky's right!" shouted another.

"Oh, is that all? Thank goodness, I thought Sammy was going mad..." Laura cried.

"I... I don't think that's possible...?" an animator muttered.

"Is it though? I mean, there's no way that Sammy would go around smiling like that!" a writer replied.

"It ain't permanent, is it? Don't think I could EVER get used'ta seein' Sammy Lawrence smile." one writer chortled.

A light smile returning, Bendy's shoulders seemed to relax a bit. They certainly took that well, a lot better than he had expected...!

"Nah, I don't think it is! Joey's workin' hard to find a way to reverse it." Bendy replied.

"So how's it like for ya bein’ on the human side of life?” someone teased with a giggle.

“I’ll letcha know after two cups of coffee,” Bendy chuckled.

The meeting quickly devolved into everyone discussing the logistics and the probability of something like that happening, or if it could even happen again. Though the general consensus was that they hoped it could be reversed, and that the issue with pipes bursting really needed to be remedied, and fast. Bendy allowed them a few moments to get it all out. The less distractions they had the better… Glancing at the clock on the opposite end of the room, he heaved a sigh.

"Alright, alright. Let's get this meeting in order! We've got a lot to cover today!" Bendy called. It took a few seconds for everyone’s chattering to subside, but they were soon all listening attentively to their boss… Though a few couldn’t get over the fact that they were listening to Sammy Lawrence for the duration of the meeting...

After the meeting had concluded Bendy found himself exhausted, and with a strange pang in his stomach. He could only assume that was hunger, unless his nerves were somehow starting to get to him. Henry offered to take him out to lunch, and despite how much work he needed to get done Bendy jumped onto the opportunity. The chance to go outside without some sort of ridiculous outfit? Yes, please!

Though he bumped his head against the door frame of Henry's car (Sammy was honestly too tall...), Bendy had a wonderful time out and about town. Though they didn't see much with only a half hour to spare, they got sandwiches at a nearby shop and had a pleasant conversation. After such a stressful morning it was positively a blessing to have such a calm lunch...

Though they still had to return to the studio. As much as Bendy wanted to stay out and relax, he was itching to get back to work and get to animating.

__________

Meanwhile, Sammy was having a difficult time convincing himself to get to work. He knew it had to get done, and he knew that he'd have Bendy on his case if he didn't get to directing the band. But did he REALLY want to deal with the strange stares and odd questions for why Bendy of all people decided to take on directing the music? No. Gloved hand gripping the door handle, Sammy's fiery inner war on made him clench his teeth and gave him a frightful headache.

Flinging the door open he decided to drop the news on them all at once, and hopefully get right into work. But knowing the band, they'd get stuck in a stupor, unable to get past the idea. Or perhaps they wouldn’t even believe him. At that point, was there any real reason to try, other than to prevent a few annoying questions? Though trying to explain would only result in more. Today was going to be awful, wasn't it?

Bursting into the room, the band fell into a dead silence--one that was far quieter than anything they had done for Sammy when he was in his own body. Taking the director's stand he lowered it to his now low level and dumped his papers onto it. There was a beat, before Sammy gave the group a long, hard stare. They stared back, shifting uncomfortably in their seats and scratching at their ears in confusion. A few of them were starting to look a little worried… Bendy looked like he was in a sour mood, and it was starting to seem as if they were going to get chewed out for something.

In hopes to distract him from this, the banjo player tentatively held up his hand, "Excuse me, sir?" he squeaked, "Is Sammy out sick...?"

"No, that's--" Boris started.

"Couldn't be! I saw him clock in!" the drummer interjected.

"He's--" Boris attempted again.

"I thought I heard him screaming earlier. I wonder if he blew his voice out?" the bassist added.

The silence had been shattered like a pane of glass and the band members were now talking amongst themselves, leaving Sammy to rub where the bridge of his nose normally would have been. Boris couldn't compete with the growing volume, and had given up entirely.

"Alright!" Sammy suddenly bellowed, throwing a fist onto the stand, "That's enough!" boy was he glad that Bendy's voice held as much presence as his own, as the room fell silent once again. Adjusting his shirt collar Sammy stood tall and addressed the band once more, "Due to..." he sneered, "Unfortunate events, you'll all have to take instructions from me while I'm... In this state."

A few members looked to one another in confusion. Sammy's head fell back, his eyes glancing at the ceiling in utter frustration, "This may be difficult to believe, but I am not Bendy. Joey somehow managed--at least I'm certain this is Joey's fault--to get the two of us switched. For now we have no way to switch back, so if you would all kindly ignore the fact that I look like the mischievous little imp and get to work," he gave a strained smile, "I would greatly appreciate it." he hissed.

Sammy was surprised with how well the band had taken it... But then again, nobody could say "no" to Bendy, now did they? Though judging by their faces, he didn't feel they were entirely convinced. In fact it looked as though they were keen on asking questions, but the only thing that held them back was the potential of Sammy’s rage coming out of Bendy’s body. A few of them muttered between each other that it was probably some kind of prank, or Bendy just wanted to mess around for a day. But was that really in character for him when they had such a close deadline? At any rate they seemed to fear their boss' wrath more than anything, so they took great haste to comply to his wishes.

Otherwise, the recording session had gone far smoother than Sammy had expected. Whether it was because they felt the pressure of their "boss" looking over them, or if they were simply having a good day Sammy couldn't tell... Though his pessimistic nature went with the former.

Once everyone was dismissed for their lunch break, Sammy shuffled gloomily back to his office. It was as if a dark cloud was hovering over him, and it was slowly spreading about the rest of the floor. Any distance he was given was only doubled today. Alice was quick to notice this, and when no one was looking she had swiped a bottle of ink and was soon falling behind Sammy's footsteps. She knocked lightly on the door, only to hear a despondent "What?" come through.

Cracking it open, Alice smiled gently and called, "Hey, Sammy. Can I come in?"

His head had fallen into both of his hands, his elbows awkwardly propped against the edge of the desk as his chair was too low for him to reach. He didn't vocalise a reply, though he did raise a hand and gave the angel a pathetic wave. The toon took that as enough of a welcome and entered.

"Got you some yellow ink," she said. Sammy looked up, his eyes darting between the bottle in her hands, and her face.

"I can't believe you're encouraging this." Sammy mused. A light smile had cracked through his dour expression as he sat up.

Alice shrugged, "Well you wanted to try it when you were an ink creature," she said, "I figured it could help you get your mind off things... And it was Boris' idea, anyhow." she added keenly. Placing the large bottle of ink on the desk, she pulled over a stool and took a seat.

Sammy took the bottle and downed it with little hesitation, a little hiccup slipping through his teeth as a tingling sensation overcame him. It was like a warm blanket had wrapped around his shoulders, his troubles rolling off his back like droplets of ink. A yellow hue started to take over the black that covered his body, and a smile was slowly spreading over Sammy's face. He slid down in his chair, cooing in an odd manner.

"Got any more?" he asked, giggling lightly.

Alice shifted and shook her head, "No, I..." she chuckled, "I didn't expect you to go through that bottle so quickly!"

"Why don't you get some more? We can both drink our worries away." he continued as he rubbed at his face. He stooped however, "Oh, you don't drink the stuff do you?" Alice shook her head. Instead, Sammy slipped off his chair, teetering slightly, "Alright, how about we play some music? Suddenly got in the mood."

The angel's face lit up, her shoulders perking, "Sure!" she sang, "It's been a long time since we played together!"

The pair made their way to the recording studio, and played for the remainder of their lunch break. Boris heard the music and came running, eager to play along with them. The effects of the ink hadn't yet worn off on Sammy, even after the band had returned--it certainly made the rest of the afternoon much easier for the lot of them.

__________

The meetings were done, he had gotten his keys finished, and all that was left for Bendy was paperwork. Paperwork, paperwork. Even in a human body it was just as tedious and boring as ever. But like the cartoons, they had a deadline of their own and needed to be completed. He had his fun for the day, and much to his disappointment Joey still hadn't quite figured out how to get Bendy and Sammy back into their respective bodies. Bendy was lucky if he could even get in the man's office! But he could hear Joey call, "Working on it! I've almost got a breakthrough!" whatever that meant.

After clicking on the radio in hopes to block out the ringing in his ears, Bendy lowered his chair (significantly, at that,) and dove into the stack of papers he had on one side of his desk. Endless paragraphs to read, countless pages to sign. Certainly the least fun of all of his work.

As he was getting into a rhythm, Bendy was hit with a strange craving. It wasn't hunger, it wasn't thirst. The body he inhabited wanted SOMETHING, but he couldn't quite pin what. He propped his arms against the desk and leaned against his hands, quietly mulling over the sensation to try and figure it out. But nothing came to mind. Pen back to the paper he attempted to push past it, but the more he tried the less he could focus. His writing had ceased, the ink having long dried as his body started to feel antsy. Bendy sat back and bounced his leg impatiently. As his nose grew closer to his clothing, he caught the scent of... What was that, cigars? It was a potent smell, but the faint remnants of it seemed to hit all the right notes as a small bit of satisfaction came to his senses.

He lifted the cuff of his shirt and took a whiff. He got the smell down, but it wasn't nearly enough as the craving only grew stronger at that point. Now on his feet, he leaned over his desk and contemplated going to Sammy's office to grab a cigar. Well, it was almost quitting time... And it wasn't as if working overtime was anything new to him.

As he passed through the music department, he said his good-byes to the musicians he passed by. Most of them got mixed up by calling him Sammy or Mr. Lawrence, but they quickly corrected themselves with more apologies than necessary. Bendy waved them off with a smile. It was hardly a problem, but he hoped that it was one that wasn't going to persist. Though he hadn't had this many people staring at him like this since he was first brought to life... Such a big smile on Sammy's face was absolutely alien to the employees, especially to those that worked under him!

Down the hallway and making his way to Sammy's office, even from the end of the hall Bendy could tell that the musician had reserved himself to his fate of having to stay overnight again. The infirmary cot had been moved to his room once more and was pushed to the opposite wall of the room. The effects of the colored ink had long since worn out, and despite negative feelings washing over him again Sammy had managed to get himself to be productive. He was hunched over his desk and working furiously, using a stack of folders and books to comfortably reach the top.

Rasping lightly against the window Sammy immediately shot a glare, though his tension seemed to calm when he saw who it was. He stared for a moment before rolling his eyes and motioning for Bendy to enter. He slipped inside with a grin.

"At least I can work like this," Sammy remarked distantly, "Your body's a lot less messy than mine when..." he grunted instead of finishing.

"The gloves help!" Bendy piped. He hovered over Sammy for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth over the man's work, "Hey, got a smoke?" he asked rather quickly, leaning against the desk.

"You got to that fast." Sammy drawled. He pushed Bendy out of the way to pull open a drawer, where a sizable wooden box sat. He flipped the lid up and pulled out two cigars, passing one to the other before grabbing a lighter and jumping down from his seat.

"I'd rather ya didn't smoke in my body," Bendy sighed.

"Don't think I could. You don't have lungs, do you?" Sammy asked.

Bendy merely shrugged, "Don't under-estimate toon logic, pal!"

"Whatever. I'm just going to light it. The smell is good."

They both plopped down into the cot. Sammy lit his cigar first, then held the lighter out to Bendy. Sammy rested his elbow against his knee, resting his chin in his hand as the cigar burned away. The pungent aroma filled the room quickly, and it didn't take long for smoke to start pooling at the ceiling. Watching it for a moment, Bendy looked to the lit cigar in his hand.

Though he had never really smoked before, Bendy had picked up on the motion by watching Sammy and a few other workers around the studio. He stuck the cigar between his lips and took in a long drag, filling his lungs too quickly and sending him into a fit of coughs. Smoke billowed from his mouth and nose, and if it were possible he would have expected it to come from his ears, too. He could have sworn he heard a snicker from Sammy.

"You don't have to smoke it all at once, Bendy."

"Yeah," Bendy sputtered, "Yeah!"

His body seemed to be satisfied however, as the antsy feelings started to melt away. He sat back and puffed away at the cigar, his mind wandering off as he wondered if Joey finally figured anything out, or if he'd have to stay like this for a while. He could handle it of course, but he knew that Sammy's productivity would take a serious blow for it... He blew out more smoke, trying to get the billows to make rings, but he couldn't quite get it.

"Hey, Sammy?"

"What?" he shook some ashes onto the floor.

"Do you know how to make smoke rings?" it'd probably be easier if he were a toon!

"Not a clue. Never really tried, I guess." Sammy sighed. His eyes drifted to Bendy as he continued to try, to little luck. His attention was drawn to the window however, as he saw Joey flagging them down from the end of the hallway, "Oh, looks like Drew might have figured something out." he announced as he sat up.

"Huh?" Bendy flicked ashes off of his cigar, "Oh, great!" he was the first on his feet, though last to extinguish his cigar. In no time at all however, they were both out the door and down the hall.

"Alright, I've been testing around with the ink, and I may have come with a conclusion!" Joey chimed joyfully when they were within earshot.

"Lay it on me, Jo!" Bendy hummed. He had tucked his hands into his pockets in an almost casual fashion, though he was eager to hear what he hoped would be good news.

"Well, I was just thinking... If it wasn't due to a ritual, which I've been very good about recently mind you!" Joey added quickly, with an accusing point at Bendy. "Then perhaps the ink has... Well, taken on special properties."

Bendy cocked his eyebrows, "Ya think?" his voice was flat. Sammy said nothing. They knew. Everyone knew, and therefore gave the ink as much berth as they could. If they could.

"Well, I do have an idea, regarding the situation. It's a bit," Joey paused to inhale through his teeth, "Well, maybe a lot not to your liking, but it's all I've got to run with!"

Eyes narrowing, Sammy stared Joey down. His face was beyond incredulous at this point, but the fact that he had kept silent was enough to let Joey know that he was going to listen. Or at least he was going to try. Bendy motioned for him to continue.

Joey coughed lightly into his fist, his eyes darting away, "What if we," he cleared his throat and spoke rather quickly, "Try to replicate the event?"

"What?" Bendy shot Joey a look.

"I know it sounds stupid, but..." Joey held up his hands and shook his head, "Listen, when I say the book doesn't have anything, it just... Doesn't have anything! My hands are tied! The only thing I can think of is to try covering you both in ink at the same time again!"

Bendy grunted, "He's right about the book," he started with a huff, "Ain't nothin' in there. I dunno about you Lawrence, but I'm MORE than ready to get my marketable face back. We'll just... Have to try it!"

Closing his eyes, Sammy took in a deep breath before letting out a long, drawn out sigh. He stood rigid and eventually gave a nod. There wasn't much else that could be done. While he could have imagined hundreds of ways for that to make the situation worse, he chose to shelve those worries and try to not fret about it. One afternoon in this gremlin's body was more than enough for him.

"How are we gonna do it?" Bendy wondered, "I ain't waitin' until another one bursts naturally... I've had more than my fair share in this body!"

Joey placed a hand on his chin, "Well... Maybe we could force a pipe to burst." he looked over to Wally, who was sweeping, "Hey, Wally?" the custodian looked up, "How would we force a pipe to burst?"

It was clear that he hadn't been listening very attentively, or at all for that matter, as Wally's face scrunched up in disgust, "Why would'ja wanna do THAT?!"

"To try and get us back to normal, Franks!" Bendy snipped.

"Right, right..." Wally muttered. He pushed his cap back and scratched at his scalp in thought, "Well, I guess ya could close off the other pipes, then increase the ink flow in the one still open. That oughta do it without makin' too big a mess..." he still didn't like the idea of having another pipe to fix...

"Get to it then!" Sammy and Bendy ordered in unison.

The custodian grimaced, "Ain't there another way to do it? We already got one pipe to fix! I swear, Joey! One more'a these this week and I'm OUTTA here!"

“Then you’re lucky it’s Friday!” Bendy replied.

Joey ignored Wally's threat and instead considered the first idea, "Well, no. I don't think so. The ink seems to lose most properties after leaving the pipes... Well, perhaps we could open a pipe, instead! Have those two stand beside it. It... Should work!"

"You sound uncertain." remarked Bendy.

"Well...!" Joey started, "I'm just thinking it would be better to replicate it in it's entirety!" he glanced back to Bendy and Sammy, "What do you two think?

"Honestly, I don't care how it's done. Just so long as it's done." came Sammy's dry response.

"Yeah, we'd better be safe than sorry," Bendy sighed, "Sorry, Franks! Tell ya what: me n' Boris'll help ya tonight. Okay?"

Rubbing a hand over his face, Wally groaned. He stared hard at the ceiling for a moment before dropping his hand to his side and propping his broom against the wall. He pointed to an adjacent hallway, which still had a protruding pipe in it, "We'll use the one in there. I'll letcha know when it's ready..." and he stormed off.

It took a few minutes before they got the all-clear from Wally. Sammy and Bendy were standing anxiously underneath the pipe, while Joey stood a reasonable distance away. He seemed eager--perhaps a bit too eager about this. Sammy fiddled with his gloves, trying to keep himself distracted and failing. Bendy had slipped his hands into his pockets, and was rolling from his heels to his toes absent-mindedly.

"Gosh y'know? Human bodies are real weird," Bendy commented out of nowhere.

"Well, it's not as if having a body comprised entirely of ink is a walk in the park either," Sammy responded bitterly.

"I mean, ya gotta breathe," Bendy prattled on, "Blink now 'n again, not to mention ya get hungry and thirsty real fast!"

"M-hm." it was clear that Sammy simply did NOT care.

"It's a good thing the body does most'a that stuff automatically," he continued. Though he was going to say more, there was sudden banging and shouting in the floor above.

It was difficult to make out, but Bendy could just hear Wally's voice seep through, "Shoot, shoot SHOOT!! INCOMING!!" there was loud thumping, as if the custodian was stomping his foot on the ground to get their attention. Yeesh, he had some pipes in him!

Without another moment to spare, the pipe above the duo creaked and groaned as a massive amount of ink was being forced through it. But without anywhere else to go it quickly buckled under the pressure and burst, showering them in ink. It flowed for a moment before it suddenly stopped--Wally must have turned the machine off.

Sputtering and coughing, Sammy instinctively put his hands to his face to wipe the ink away. He felt the sensation of fabric rubbing against his cheek bones and over his sunken-in eyes. His eyes flew open when he felt ink drip from his hair onto his nose, and he felt a wave of relief overtake him. A small smile cracked his lips as he looked over his hands, wiggling all five of his fingers. Thank GOODNESS. His head fell as he heaved a sigh of great relief.

"Alright, back to bein' good ol' me!" Bendy sang. He hopped from one foot to the other, adjusting his bowtie and shaking out his sleeves.

"Thank goodness!" came Joey's cry. He approached them, clapping his hands together and grinning from ear to ear under his mustache, "I was hoping for a bit more of a display, but..." he admitted lowly, "It looks like the problem is fixed! You two feeling alright?"

Bendy was the first to reply, "Right as rain!"

"Fine." Sammy replied. He ripped the gloves off of his hands and undid the bowtie that Bendy had put on earlier. After passing them back to the toon he closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, running his fingers through his hair, "I'm going home." he declared firmly.

"Hah, right," Bendy nodded, "Get some rest, Sammy. See ya Monday!"

Sammy didn't really respond, he merely walked away. Bendy and Joey stood in silence for a moment, before the ink demon turned to the other.

"Say, you'd better get home yourself!"

"Oh, no!" Joey puttered, "I've got a few things to catch up on before I do that... An entire day surrounded by ink with my nose in a book makes your day surprisingly unproductive!" he continued.

Bendy shrugged, "Alright. I should probably get to helpin' Wally out, then. Be sure to tell me goodnight before ya head out, Jo!"

"Will do, Bendy!"

Now on his own, Bendy heaved a sigh and allowed his shoulders to slump. What a LONG day it had been…! Certainly not his best of days, but he was glad that the worst of it was finally all over. Picking himself back up he figured he should at least tell Boris and Alice the good news… Then he’d have to help Wally clean up a little. His day was far from over, but he could deal. The fatigue his limbs felt could easily be pushed back by a cup of ink and coffee or two! After a quick stretch, the demon went off to find his toon companions.

#doodledrawsthings #hell's studio au #Bendy and the Ink Machine #hells studio au #owldart #I had to fix the tags because one of them was stopping this from showing up for some reason!#it works now though #I had a blast writing this #and it was a great diversion for what was otherwise a stressful and terrible week #so thanks to the both of you for creating such a great concept to work with!

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bluboothalassophile · 7 years

Text

Give Me Back My Mind!

Abracadabra! Alakazam!? Bib-Bidi-Bop-Bidi-Boo?

“I don’t know how to feel about letting him so close to that demon,” Zatanna admitted as she walked the Watch Tower’s halls with Dr. Fate; he was currently possessing her father’s body, and talking to Fate, while not the same thing as talking to her father, did make her feel closer to her father.

“The Gem of Scath is growing in power,” Dr. Fate observed.

“Yes, and I understand how people are deceived by the Gem into thinking she’s good, but it’s only a matter of time, and then what? I just… Zachary is the only family I have left, and I don’t want him to be anywhere near the Gem,” Zatanna admitted.

“I understand, I do not want the Gem in this realm any more than you, however the Gem is not like others of her kind, she is human which binds her to both realms, and both natures,” Fate pointed out.

“Yes, but I thought with the destruction of Azarath by her hand that it would prove she can’t be trusted,” Zatanna growled lowly. She really wanted to keep Zachary safe, safe and sound and though he hated her guts, it was better he be alive to do that rather than dead.

“The actions of a child should not reflect on the adult, but I agree, she’s very powerful and still growing. Perhaps having Zachary around her to monitor her would be beneficial for us,” Fate suggested.

“But he couldn’t handle her if she…”

“We would come.”

~~~*~*~*~~~

“Hello, my brethren, I present to you, the last artifact of Azarath,” the hired sorcerer announced as he placed the book with a thud on the table. “And within it, the key to destroying the Order, reshaping the world, and the powers of a god.”

“And what’s inside?” a different sorcerer asked, and he sighed.

“The Nevermore, the last Nevermore ever created,” Klarion chuckled as he appeared stroking his familiar in his arms. “The last known Azarath Nevermore, to the mind of the Gem of Scath!”

“You mean…” another sorcerer started with interest.

“Yes, the prophecy was never fulfilled, it is time for the Gem of Scath to truly preform her purpose,” he smiled then. “And in bringing about a new world order, we will be gods, ruling at the side of Trigon! For only the worthy shall survive the judgement passed!”

“Well he destroy the Order?” the fourth magician asked.

“He will destroy all who stand in his way,” he assured the sorcerers and watched the Lord of Chaos smile.

“This is going to be so much fun!” Klarion giggled.

“And how do we get the Nevermore out of the book?”

“That is why I have sought your help,” he admitted. “Azarath’s magic and ways are long gone, however, Klarion has suggested by channeling your powers together in a spell it might break the seal on the book.”

The sorcerers looked thoughtful and he smiled. It was almost time, Lord Trigon would rise again and save this world.

~~~*~*~*~~~

If Raven was at all shocked with Jason’s change in costume she didn’t reveal it. No, when Jason came swaggering out in a red helmet, leather jacket, grey and black Kevlar, black gloves, cargo pants, complete with shin guards, knee pads, and combat boots, armed to the teeth with guns, magazines of bullets, knives and even two swords, Raven didn’t bat an eye. He did because he could only think that this persona of Jason’s was far more dangerous than the Red X persona. Honestly, Damian thought the man kind of looked like one of his grandfather’s minions.

“Think you have enough weapons?” he asked dryly.

“Probably not, but I can’t fit the C4 in these pockets, weighs me down,” Jason replied sweetly. Damian couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

“You know the plan, find the book, and get out, we stay together, we don’t know what magic is in the house,” Raven appeared then, her cloak was black and her eyes were serious. Damian just nodded in acknowledgement. He would cut Jason down the moment he made a move against Raven, but until then Damian was reluctant to acknowledge that he’d be working with Jason.

“So what do we call you?” Damian asked.

“Depends on who’s asking,” Jason cheekily replied, Damian frowned.

“Robin, this is Red Hood, Jason’s other insane half,” Raven answered.

“I think you mean awesome half,” he countered.

“Neither Red X or Red Hood are awesome, they’ve landed us in this mess,” Raven snapped.

“And you’re a woman with a plan to get us out of this mess, and I go on my merry way,” Jason replied.

“Does it matter what persona you are called?”

“Call me Hood,” Jason shrugged.

“Does Batman know about this…” Damian gestured to Jason then.

“More than likely,” Jason conceded.

“Alright, let’s go retrieve my book,” Raven held up her hand. “I’ve casted protective enchantments on both of you so most magic will not be able to harm you. However, beware of traps, I am certain that Zatanna would not leave her family home unprotected.”

“Very well,” Damian acknowledged.

“I didn’t think you’d care so much, sunshine,” Jason teased.

“I don’t, but since you’re the only person who can tell me exactly who has my book I need you,” Raven dryly remarked as an inky blackness slid from the tips of her fingers. Damian stepped closer to Raven and Jason when the chill raced up his spine and the shadows enveloped him. He was not overly fond of the darkness Raven wielded with ease. There was a gust of energy and Damian looked around as the darkness melt into the night and he found himself standing before an old mansion and it’s gates.

Jason let out a low whistle then.

“Nifty trick, love,” he mused.

“Don’t call me that, and stand back,” Raven ordered as she stepped back, she took a stance and Jason drew his weapon. Damian drew his sword and took a steadying breath.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Jason had been pleased to don his Red Hood again, and have the arsenal which came with it, but he was not pleased to be doing it and facing magic. He’d seen the after math of New Castle and a few other of Constantine’s jobs, it was not something he ever wanted to see again. However, he watched the demoness closely as she threw up her hands, and her black energy flowed out with such a power he hadn’t felt before it stole his breath away.

The words she spoke were not of any language he knew, then she flew up. The black energy condensed into a single point at her hands before it came slamming down on a barrier in the form of a raven. There was a blinding blast of light before he looked up as a shimmering gold barrier dissolved. Raven landed and then waved her hand, the gates sprung away from her and he and Damian followed. Jason didn’t like following the smaller woman, she was usually in the back of whatever team he saw her on but this time she marched head first to the door.

“Let me,” Jason smiled maliciously behind his hood as he felt the excitement of the unknown fill him and his mind clear at the coming possibility of danger.

“Do not do something rash,” Raven said as she stepped back.

“But that’s all the fun, sunshine,” he promised as he then kicked the door open and rushed the house. Armor came to life, and Jason leapt up as one swung a broadsword at him. Twisting in the air he laughed a bit as he holstered his guns and pulled his own swords. He caught blade for blade as he rolled and then he was up on his feet as he slashed a blade between helmet and armor.

“Let’s not lose our heads here! I’m here to talk to the woman of the house!” he cackled a bit as he evaded another suit of armor.

“You’re too reckless!” the demon spawn announced, Jason growled when the kid used him as a springboard to leapt into the air.

“I’m not the one running around without daddy Bat’s permission!” Jason countered as he slammed into a suit of armor, stabbing his own blade through a weak spot.

“I need no one’s permission!” Damian roared as he viciously attacked another suit, Jason rolled out of the way of a battle axe about to cleave him in two and drew his gun then. coming up he was firing, the arm collapsed and he drew a knife as he spun on his feet and hurtled it at the armor going for the brat’s back.

“Sure you don’t baby bird!” Jason laughed as he grabbed his sword from the armor and slashed up in a controlled matter, the coming armor collapsed in half and he leapt back, twisting to land on his feet then as he evaded a mace swung for his chest. Going low Jason came up on the inside of the armor’s space and slashed of the arm before kicking it in the stomach, dropping it to it’s knees and slashing the helmet off.

“I am NOT a child!” Damian lunged for him, Jason ducked as the bat brat crashed into armor, Jason pulled a gun and fired a single shot, center of the head, at the coming armor, collapsing it.

“Have you looked in the mirror lately? Or are you a real vampire bat and have no reflection?” Jason demanded as he dove out of the way of another broadsword swung at his head. He felt the swish of air where he had been as he picked up the discarded mace and heaved it up, knocking the helmet clean off.

“I don’t drink blood!” Damian growled.

“Could have fooled me baby bird,” Jason decided as he rolled low, pulled a knife and slashed the ankles out of the last armor, dropping it. The armor was lifeless now, and Jason frowned as he looked around suspiciously, that was too easy.

“All clear little bird,” Jason called out uncertainly. Raven floated in, her cloak swirling and then she threw out her hands, the armor clattered again and nothing moved.

“It was enchanted to reassemble,” Raven said as she landed in front of him and paused at the stairs.

“This would be a lot faster if we split up,” Jason pointed out.

“Hood has a point,” Damian growled.

“We stay together, come on,” Raven said as she slowly started making her way up the stair case. Jason hurried up to be in front of her slightly, and Damian took the rear. Raven moved cautiously, which had Jason drawing his gun as he looked around the eerie decorations. However, something shiny caught his eye and he stopped as he reached for it. A hand grabbed his wrist breaking his compulsion to just grab the very thing calling his name.

“Do not touch anything,” Raven hissed. “It’s enchanted, it’s bewitching you Red,” Raven said lowly.

“It’s…” he started.

“Come on, the sooner we find the book the sooner we’re out of here,” she muttered, her hood still firmly up. Jason let her pull him along because she was also doing the same to the demon spawn. There was something spooky here, Jason could swear they were being watched. And it was unsettling.

“Little bird, I think we have eyes on us,” Jason murmured when a particular shadow caught his eyes.

“We do,” she admitted.

“Agh!” a shout came behind them as the drapes suddenly sprung to life.

“Shitfuck!” Jason blurted out as he had a gun out and shot at the offending, slithering clothe. Damian was struggling against the clothe wrapped around him and Raven lifted a hand.

“Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos,” she whispered and Damian was ripped from the curtain and Raven pulled her arms around him. Jason stepped between the kid and Raven and whatever coming threat was coming.

“He’s a Zatara, a magician,” Raven murmured to him. Damian had his sword drawn again.

“Show yourself or I start shooting.” Jason growled.

“Well that’s rude since you broke into my home,” the new voice growled.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Zachary stepped out of the shadows and his eyes were on the woman. She looked around his age, and though he could only see wisps of midnight hair from her hood and a set of full lips he thought her to be rather impressive. The woman radiated dark magic though, and she moved like the shadows. However, her company was interesting as Zachary assessed the group; neither boy possessed a drop of magic in them.

The smaller boy was Robin, he had seen enough Gotham news to know a Robin when he saw one.

But the man before the Robin and the woman was a different matter. Zachary couldn’t ever remember seeing a red helmet, gun toting, sword wielding vigilant anywhere on television. The man was clearly dangerous though, as was the Robin. But the only real threat to Zachary’s person was standing in the shadows, holding Robin back.

“I must say I am impressed, no one gets by Z’s armor defense,” Zachary admitted.

“It was a parlor trick,” the red one replied cheekily. “Now where’s the lying, double-crossing bitch?”

“You clearly don’t know Z if that’s how you feel about her,” Zachary muttered. True his cousin was the best, and she was a bitch, and she was arrogant, self-righteous, and perfect, but she wasn’t a liar and she wasn’t a double-crossing sort of woman. She hadn’t even been able to double cross Constantine when that moment came.

“She stole a book of mine, I’m here to take it back,” the woman spoke in a perfect monotone as she stepped forward to stand beside the red one. She was tiny, Zachary smirked.

“Now I know you have the wrong woman,” Zachary smugly stated. “Z would never break a single rule, she’s on the righteous path. Won’t break a single rule to keep her soul in the clear.”

“I doubt we have the wrong woman, I never forget who hires me,” the red one snarled lowly.

“Well, whatever book you seek it isn’t here, there are no new artifacts here,” Zachary grounded out. “Espalloc!” he shouted as he pointed his wand at the shelves. The girl moved then, her cloak flying out as it surged around the boys then they were gone in the shadows.

“That was rude!” the red one shouted as he came flying from the ceiling. Zachary ducked as the red one hit the ground and rolled to his feet.

“Dnib!” he pointed at the curtains as they sprung to life again. The red one evade as he came at him. Terror filled Zachary as he shouted off spells, summoning objects to try to slow the red one, but the man was relentless. Suddenly there was an eerie chill behind him and he spun around as the woman came out of the shadows, her eyes glowing white beneath her hood as her hand reached out for him.

Oh Good God! She was a demon!

~~~*~*~*~~~

“Thgil!” the boy shouted and a blinding flash of light filled the hall, Damian moved then as he dove to tackle boy. Raven’s shadows wrapped around him and tossed the magician up on the ceiling then. Damian started falling when a shadow wrapped around him and pulled him to safety.

“Z will hear about this!” the boy shouted.

“Well done sunshine, though next time the twerp is the distraction,” Jason said as he walked up to them, rolling his shoulder.

“I am not a pawn to be sacrificed,” Damian hissed. There were times he really hated Jason, but right now it was irrelevant.

“The Book of Azarath, where is it!?” Raven growled. The air was chilling and Damian frowned as she dragged the trapped boy down.

“Book of Azarath? There is nothing from Azarath here!” the boy shouted.

“Bullshit, she hired me,” Jason snapped.

“Look, a book of Azarath is useless unless one can actually Azarathian, the only person known to that is Raven of the Titans, and I’m guessing you’re her,” the boy sounded nervous and Damian rolled his eyes. Honestly, Raven was far from the scary Titan, everyone should fear the Tameranian, she was scary when pissed. Not that she scared Damian, but he had a healthy dose of respect for Kori and her temper.

“I am,” Raven stated flatly.

“Then you know that no one could use the book, no one can read it!”

“I am not worried about someone reading it, I need it back,” Raven stated. “Now, where is it?”

“Not here!”

“Hey, little bird, is it normal for there to be flying light coming towards us?” Jason asked and Damian looked out the window. His eyes widened, Raven tackled them as the shadows wrapped around the four of them and they vanished into nothing. Damian felt like he couldn’t breath and then they landed in the forest.

“I really fucking hate magic,” Jason growled when they hit the grass, Raven was standing and she threw out a black shield when there was a bolt of light coming at them.

“Stay here Robin, keep him here,” Raven ordered. “Red, come on.”

“Wait!” Damian protested but Jason was running, and Raven flew already. The boy smirked, Damian snarled then.

“So you’re the new Robin, you’re shorter than on TV.”

“I will disembowel you and feed you to scavengers,” Damian growled as he held his sword at the boy’s face.

“You’re no match for me,” the boy smugly stated. Damian sneered.

“You are beneath me,” Damian stated flatly. The boy’s eyes narrowed on him and Damian knew his words had hit their mark as he smugly held his ground and waited.

“You will regret that brat,” the boy growled.

Damian clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Senots,” the boy snarled, stones came flying and Damian dove out of the projectiles way as he then wove through them. He’d beat this pathetic, entitled, snotty brat; this boy reminded him of the kids at school and he hated those kids!

~~~*~*~*~~~

“I see you’re just proving to the League I was right about you,” Zatanna spoke when Raven walked into the clearing, Jason beside her. “And teaming up with murdering criminals in the process. Batman will love this.”

“Bats won’t believe you,” Jason said in a sing song tale. “Dead men tell no tales.”

“I would not be here if you hadn’t stolen something which does not belong to you. I am only here to take it back,” Raven stated lowly, her powers sizzling at the tips of her fingers. Her barely contained Rage was just clawing to get out, to destroy Zatanna as Zatanna had threated to do to her.

“And what makes you think I have stolen anything?”

“Don’t lie, it’s unbecoming of a lady,” Jason snorted.

“I would have no reason to steal anything, especially not from a demon,” Zatanna snarled.

“We have a contract which says differently, and you double crossed me,” Jason snarled lowly. Raven could feel his rage pulsing off him as the Lazarus Pit’s nature started taking over him. However every emotion she felt off of Zatanna was just as genuine as Jason’s.

“I would never!” Zatanna shouted.

“Enough, return the book of Azarath and I will return your cousin to you,” Raven decided. If Zatanna wanted to play dirty then Raven could play dirty as well. Besides, Raven would sooner trust the wayward bird than Zatanna.

“Return Zachary,” Zatanna screamed and Raven felt the other woman’s magic surge out of control. There was a shout of a spell and Raven flicked her wrist as she summoned a shield and stood there unruffled. Jason rushed her, bullets flying, and Raven flew up as she threw her arms out, her cloak flying back as Raven channeled all her powers to match Zatanna blow for blow. The woman cried out when Jason got a bullet to hit her, then she turned her attacks on Jason. Raven flew low, her powers grabbing the rocks as she formed a shield around Jason, a barrier between spells and him.

An errant spell came smashing into Raven chest which had her tossed aside as she hit the ground hard. Gasping for air she slowly rolled herself on her hands and knees and saw Zatanna’s glowing white eyes as her power cackled around her.

The witch smiled as she formed a giant s sword and swung it down at Raven’s head. The shadows wrapped around her then as she surged forward, flying through the spell as her soul-self wrapped around Zatanna and they went plummeting into the ground as hard and as fast as Raven could make them.

“Little bird, you alright?” Jason asked as he jogged to her.

“Ow,” she moaned as he grabbed her and lifted her out of the crater.

Zatanna was down on the ground, out cold and Raven swatted Jason’s hands away when he sat her on a boulder to check her head.

“Little bird, you’re bleeding, let me check it,” Jason murmured.

“Demon, I’ll be fine,” she reminded him.

“Give up!” Damian roared as he and the other magician came crashing out of the trees, Damian clearly won the match and Raven smirked a bit, as Jason laughed.

“Do me a favor, tie and gag her, same with him,” Raven asked as she hugged her ribs which were aching from that spell. Jason just did as he was asked tying up both Zataras with Damian’s help. Raven just sat there glaring over at the Zataras because if she went near either of them right now she’d probably lose her temper at them. Her rage pulsing dangerously close to the surface after everything and especially at Zatanna but she sensed that the magician had been telling the truth. Something which was infuriating to Raven because had just wanted to collect her book and go home.

“What do we do with them now?” Jason asked as he joined her.

“I sensed they were telling the truth,” Raven said. “However, you were also telling the truth.”

“Huh?”

“She didn’t hire you to steal the book, but you were hired by her to steal the book. Someone impersonated a League member to hire you to get my book,” Raven concluded.

“But why?” Damian asked. “If no one can read the book why take it. It seems pointless to obtain something you can’t use.”

“Agreed, what aren’t you telling us, sunshine?” Jason asked softly.

“It’s what’s in the book that’s important, reading it is useless unless you know Azarathian, but I didn’t really use the book for the magic, I was using it to store an artifact, several artifacts, I need those back,” Raven admitted reluctantly.

“You were using the book to store things?” Jason asked.

“Yes, I live with a bunch of nosey teenagers usually lead around by a Bat kid, and these artifacts are very powerful and dangerous, and idiots like the Bats would learn that curiosity truly kills the cat,” she snarled. “Yes I was using the book for storage!”

“Alright then, time to find out what the witch and warlock know about their enemies and who’d have use for a demon’s book filled with magical artifacts,” Jason decided. “They’d know who’d hate them enough to do that right?”

“I don’t know,” Raven admitted as she stood and walked with Jason to the tied up people. Raven felt Damian’s frustration and curiosity rolling off him in equal waves.

“Bat brat, care to do the honors?” Jason asked as they approached. Damian smiled malicious as he cracked his knuckles.

“I’m not going to kill them,” Damian promised and Raven chuckled. He was so eager to please his father and obey the rules, she wondered if Bruce even knew how hard Damian tried. No matter, right now it wasn’t important.

“He might not kill you, but I might,” Jason snarled as he circled the two. “One word, one twitchy move I don’t like and I’ll end you. Got it?”

They nodded and Jason ripped the gags off.

“The book of Azarath, who would want it, and who would impersonate you to get it?” Raven asked coldly as she pulled her hood back and stared down on them with her four eyes glowing.

~~~*~*~*~~~

“Think Dick will help with Damian?” his lover yawned as she lay in the bed.

“I think so,” Bruce admitted. Honestly, he didn’t know how his youngest would take to being a big brother. It wasn’t like Damian was the best with children, and Talia had raised him believing he was the sole heir of his and would remain that way. Bruce feared a poor reaction from the boy. Dick and Tim would be thrilled, Dick loved kids, and Tim also liked kids.

“Stop frowning,” Selina ordered.

Bruce smirked and then there was a signal from the League’s communicator which had his eyes narrowing as he picked it up and sat up.

“There’s been an attack,” he said as he stood.

“Go, I’m just going to nap, you kid is exhausting,” Selina waved off as she continued to lay in the bed. He just nodded as he was up and walking to the cave.

With everything going on Bruce just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something very bad just looming on the horizon. Especially when he sat at the computer and started working, pulling up the footage of the attack, and his eyes widened. It was Deathstroke.

Bruce immediately started sealing this off and away from Dick’s access as he watched the assault.

~~~*~*~*~~~

The spell exploded harmlessly off the book and ricocheted towards him. He dove out of the way just as the Lord of Chaos screamed in frustration.

“No fair! No fair! No fair! She tricked the book!” he cried out.

“We are not done,” the sorcerer snapped.

“I know that, but at this rate we’ll never get to the Nevermore, and I want to know what goes on in the Gem’s mind,” Klarion smiled. There was something in him which wanted to know as well, since his Lord had said it would take the Nevermore to free him and to have the Gem fulfilling her prophecy. It was time for Raven to do her duty to her father and to the world.

He would have the Nevermore.

“A Pentagram,” the fourth magician suggested.

“That might work,” Klarion agreed. “Let’s set it up!”

He just sat back and watched.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Talia found him, not with ease, but as she sent Deathstroke off on a wild goose chase to distract the Bats, she walked off the plane in Newark. She cringed in disgust and guessed she should have known that Jason would pick a hellhole for a safe house. No one would come looking for him, or so he thought. Looking at the shuttle the hotel had set her she frowned.

Jason could try to hide.

But she was better at this game and she’d kill him yet. Besides, he was a deserter of the League, and a failure. His second death was long overdue.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Dick frowned as he looked over the computer with Victor.

“I don’t get it, it’s not like they can just vanish! And I know Damian doesn’t have hidden funds, neither does Raven,” Dick growled as he dragged a hand through his hair.

“I get that you’re worried, man, I am too, but do you really think Raven; daughter of Trigon, savior of all things mortal, would or will let the Assassins have your baby brother?” Victor pointed out.

“I’m worried that she’ll be killed Victor,” Dick admitted. Raven would protect those she loved with everything she had and then some, however, the Assassins though… they would figure out how to kill her and then there’d be no bringing her back. At all.

“Keep looking,” Dick pleaded.

“I will, but you’ll have to take over training Raven and I’s team while I look. I can’t do both.”

“Fine, Wally and I will handle it,” Dick conceded.

“Thanks, I’ll find them,” Cyborg assured him.

“I’m just… fuck, I don’t know,” Dick sighed. “You know, he’s a lot like Jason, so headstrong, loner, angry, thinks he can take on the world without help. It scares me because that’s what got Jason killed and though I was a shitty brother to him, I can’t lose another brother, Cy. I can’t.”

“Hey, I get it, and we’ll find them. For now though, trust that Raven is with him and she’ll keep him safe,” Vic said.

“I’m trying, but I’m scared,” Dick admitted.

~~~*~*~*~~~

“I see, well, I don’t really know of anyone who would want Azarathian relics, no one knows how to use them,” Zatanna begrudgingly admitted forty minutes later after they had called a truce.

“Fuck, back to square one,” Jason growled.

“And you’re certain it was me who hired you?” Zatanna asked.

“At first glance, hell yes, but now, not so sure,” Jason admitted.

“Perhaps we could have a look at the memories?” Zachary suggested as he rubbed his wrists.

“How?” Damian spat out, he was still very unhappy, Raven just sighed feeling his hostility towards the magicians. He and Jason though were standing as shields between her and the other magicians for some reason, and she dismissed it as them being Bats.

“Who would have a relic to access memories?” Raven asked then.

“You are not poking around my head sunshine,” Jason growled.

“Me or someone who’s not going to keep your secret,” Raven said darkly.

“Fine,” Jason surrendered. “No one else though, I don’t want you in my head.”

“Deal, now a relic Zatanna?” Raven asked.

“Constantine would probably have something, but no one can get a hold of him.”

“Fuck,” Jason muttered. “Let me make a call.”

“You have Constantine’s number?” Zatanna, and Zachary demanded.

“Unwillingly, well, thanks for the information, we’ll be going, I’ll make that call then,” Jason decided. “Sunshine care to give us a lift back to the house?”

“Wait! I want to come!” Zachary shouted.

“What!? No!” his cousin shouted.

“Yes, if you won’t let me join the Titans then I’m going with them because this might be important, and I’m seventeen, you’re not in charge of me!” Zachary shouted.

“I forbid it!” Zatanna shouted.

“Come on, let’s go before they notice we’re gone,” Damian muttered to her. Raven agreed with Damian as she created the shadows.

“Wait!” she heard as the shadows enveloped her and somethings came smashing into her as they were pulled into the shadows.

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coreshorts · 7 years

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The Trial of Flame

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Soaring, gliding through the sky, she gazed down at the world below and felt at peace. Everything felt so small, insignificant for just that moment in time. It was a memory that was cherished, but not, she felt, by her. The memory she felt came from elsewhere. As soon as she realised this, however, she awoke.

She was in Gridania yet, in the inn room she had rented out for the night before she sought out the men in blue again. On the night table, secured to the shade of a lamp, the divining crystal pulsed, tugging again. She knew the direction, this time: south, back toward Thanalan.

“Of course,” Hali muttered to herself as she slipped from the covers, an oversized nightshirt and undergarments all that covered her while she remained in private, “Of course the bloody Flame trial is in the desert.”

The pain still lingered, giving her pause. It was faint, but her body ached - far more noticeably than usual. Digging through her backpack, she brought out a small, airtight container and small sheets of paper. Moko cigarettes were something she hardly did in public for fear of judgement. But, while some smoked them for the high, they helped her concentrate and calm her mind from its usual storm of chaos, and they dulled the constant aches and pains she felt. Perhaps they would help this one.

Rolling three of the things and tying them off at either end, she left them on her night table while she cleaned and prepared to leave. It had been so long since she was in the Shroud, and it was nice to be able to pick up more of the herb that often helped her get through the most stressful of days, keeping her from devolving into a sobbing, non-verbal mess. As she left, she slipped them into a pouch at her waist with the couple potions she kept on her for emergencies. One would be half-smoked by the time she even reached the airship, tucked away again so as not to offend those around her.

The airship from the Carline Canopy took her back to Ul’dah, where the crystal immediately pointed her south toward the Sagolii Desert. It was a place she would never have gone, even in a million years, of her own volition, and the thought of heading out there in the blazing sun was enough to make her reconsider the entire journey. However, she remained determined, and pressed on.

The trek through Thanalan itself was not a particular problem, given her tendency to travel at night and the cool, crisp nights in the barren wastes. She stopped outside of Little Ala Mhigo as the sun rose, seeking shelter there for the day, and though she was not truly welcomed, she was permitted rest, the caves keeping her cool and allowing her to sleep the day away before resuming her trek toward the Forgotten Springs at night.

However, when she neared the territory of the U tribe, the divining crystal went silent and still, its pull absent until the sun began to rise. This was disconcerting. Not only was she to undertake a trial while she was meant to be sleeping, but it would be in the light of day, under the harsh, unforgiving desert sun - a trial of fire, indeed.

Her knowledge of conjury and a set of white, breathable clothes helped to get her through the desert, but it was a horrible trek that felt as though it would press on forever. Dehydrated, she got what little water she could from her canteen, refilling it with what moisture she could conjure from the air. Every step brought her nearer to heat stroke, only pushed away again by a conjuration of swirling air that did little to add to her comfort, merely pushing the hot air around as the sun heated every surface made available to it.

When she finally arrived at what looked to be an abandoned excavation site, she was soaked in sweat and breathing heavily. However, determined to put forth everything she could, she would not beg the land for succor again. Now was the time of the trial, and she could not falter.

The man awaiting her held out a canteen full of what she could only imagine to be crisp, clear water, and it drew her thoughts to her own, now completely empty and her mouth dry as the sands beneath her. She was tempted to take it, but she shook her head.

“No. I will not show weakness here. I know you expect it, but I won’t,” she said, her breath coming dry and hot, making her yearn for that water all the more. She resisted, though, and all the same, the canteen was tipped over, water spilling out onto the sands below them.

“Good,” the man said, “The flames would not care for it anyway.” He put the canteen away as a rumbling began from somewhere behind them.

Hali turned to see a mound of sand rushing for them, from which emerged a massive, aetherically-charged sandworm. It reared back to spray them with a buffeting blast of sand, and suddenly, Hali was overcome by compulsion again. She gathered that feeling she had within her, that of soaring, lifting into the air, and focused herself. It was weak at first, and she only managed to create enough of a gust as she rose and fell to part the sands.

The sandworm, meanwhile, burrowed deep beneath the ground again. With a frown, Hali reacted by reaching out and feeling the aether of its enhanced natural ability. She could feel its presence as it burrowed down, then up, right under her, intending to devour her from beneath the sands.

The compulsion struck her again. Lift up. Soar. She did so. She felt the aether gather around her, in her, and with a leap, she drifted up, yalms above the sands. As she rose, she gazed down at the world below, and the visions returned, visions not her own, showing her the world from high above, soaring. It was peaceful. It was happy... and it was not her.

Think.

As she came to, her mind righting itself, she felt the sting of caustic fluid, the heat of the sun, and the euphoria, much like before, of a creature’s essence drawing into her. The worm was naught but spalltered gore around her, the stone revealed from the sand by her landing cracked and upturned in places from the force of her Bombardment. She marvelled at it all, she laughed, and she steeled herself. For a time, the pain didn’t come.

And then, it did. It was as though she’d never felt it before, wracking her very soul, threatening to tear her apart from the inside out. She screamed, again, cursing and gasping for breath, struggling to stay on her hands and knees, fingers being rubbed raw and bloody by coarse stone as she dug into it, barely keeping above the mess of gore and worm-fluid so as not to drown in the puddle in which she suffered.

“The Gale awaits you,” one of the two now present said, though she never noticed the second arrive, and both vanished, leaving her to struggle in vain against the soul-rending agony that made her feel as though she could die then and there - the agony that made a part of her almost wish for death, despite her determination to see it all through to the end, no matter the cost.

It was some time before she recovered and began her trek back to the Forgotten Springs. It was not one she even remembered, however, the pain blinding her, dehydration robbing her further of her wits, and heat stroke eventually claiming her consciousness within sight of the springs.

She awoke in the nearby inn, a cool, damp rag over her forehead. A huntress of the U tribe had been taking care of her, and offered her water, which she readily accepted, despite her body’s weakness and the screaming of the pain still lingering. Her things sat in a corner - her backpack, grimoire, and sweat-soaked clothes, though they had been washed and dried - awaiting her when she was ready to press on again. She would need a day or two, however, to be recovered enough to travel again.

The Gale awaited, and she would not keep it waiting overlong, no matter the protestations of her mind, body, or even soul.

#hali naras #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #balmung #rp #roleplay #aegir hlerson #zheng diremite #im blUE DABADEE

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rishtafoods1 · 4 years

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Kollam: Here is an ideal destination for a quiet retreat. An appealing piece of planet earth cordoned by lofty hills, this plot is lush green rich in vegetation and oxygen, located in a remote, picturesque village, Pattazhi, in Kollam District, Kerala. Mr. Syam Kumar, a Fire and Safety expert needs to be commended for converting a barren plot into a dazzling destination decked with rare medicinal herbs and a host of rare indigenous cow breeds. Syam has aptly named this property “Ambadi Goshala,” reminiscent of Lord Krishna, known for his incomparable affection to cows and cattle.

It is rare someone quitting a cozy career to take up cultivation and cattle rearing. Syam renounced his lucrative job abroad and took to a much less remunerative organic farming. The soft-spoken technocrat is excited to describe paths traversed and hurdles encountered to accomplish his long cherished dream, Ambadi Goshala. “It was not due to any compulsion but due to sheer inner urge to build an ideal organic farm and a model shelter for native breads of cows I left my well paid job. Of course initially I had to meet with severe oppositions from within my own family. Friends and relatives used to make mockery of my plan. My resolve was firm and surged ahead.”

The Goshala has over 40 desi (indigenous) cows of different native breeds. Syam, who fancies to be called a Gopalan (guardian of cows) reaches the Goshala by 6 am and spends couple of hours pampering every single Gaumata. “The company of these innocent creatures gives me immense solace. I can feel their love and affection. They return me more than what I give them. Unlike our fellow humans these animals are with no prejudice, no bigotry and with no evils within them.

“A native cow at home will keep you and family healthy,” says Syam and adds that he has been trying to inspire his friends, near and dear on the significance of having a native cow at home. In the Goshala Syam has been working out innovative procedures to boost the crop growing using various cow based products. “For me Goshala is a laboratory to experiment on native cow centric agriculture economy. One single cow can boost your health and economy alike in an amazing pace.” According to Syam “products from a desi cow like its dung and urine make the land toxin free, healthy and increasingly fertile”. “The vegetable we grow there will naturally be nutritious. Thus we can ward off many of the knowingly acquired illness. A native cow can change your life for better.”

The Goshala manufactures over a dozen cow based products like plant nutrients, pesticides, floor cleaning lotions for common consumption and agriculture use. His native cow manure high demand among the organic farmers.

Organic farming is also part of his mission. “Apart from vegetables we grow over hundred plus medicinal and fruit plants. Many of these medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction and we want to protect these rare plants with high curative properties for the good of the society. “

In his sprawling 10, 000 square meters Goshala, Syam has a 1000 square meter natural pond with “water in abundance all the seasons”. It’s an alluring sight, about half a dozen Bourbon Goose (Oie du Bourbonnais) swimming in it, making some funny sounds that their caring Master can only decode.

Syam now nourishes a dream to develop the Goshala into an inimitable health retreat. Of course, the location of the Goshala is exceptionally enchanting. Surrounded by seven lofty hills, the plot has an alluring atmosphere. The misty lush green Sahyadri (Western Ghats) is hardly 45 minutes away. Jatayu Earth’s Center, also known as Jatayu Nature Park (Jatayu Rock), by now a world famous tourism centre at Chadayamangalam, is just an hour away from the Goshala.

Syam has a grand plan to develop his Goshala into a model mission for health and agriculture. Explaining the importance of health in human life he says “आरोग्यं परमं भाग्यं स्वास्थ्यं सर्वार्थसाधनम् (Good health is the greatest blessing. Health is means of everything). The quality of your intake-air, water and food decides the quality of your health, hence Quality Life. And that is the mission of Ambadi Goshala”.

(Contacts of Syam Kumar: [email protected], mobile:+9195398 02133)

#rishtafoods #onlinebatter

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cutshawsnidowoa · 4 years

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10 Cat Skin Problems and How to Handle Them

The post 10 Cat Skin Problems and How to Handle Them by Catster HQ appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Cat skin problems are, unfortunately, pretty common. Parasites such as fleas or mites, fungal or bacterial infections, allergies, stress, injury or, more rarely, hormonal imbalances cause cat skin problems. Here are 10 common cat skin problems and how to handle each:

Abscesses are one of many common cat skin problems. Photography by Daniel Rajszczak / Shutterstock.

1. Abscess:

Abscesses are one of many common cat skin problems. An abscess is a painful collection of pus at the site of a bite or puncture wound. Abscesses form a firm swelling that becomes soft with time and can rupture and spill out purulent discharge. Although most cat fight-related abscesses are found on a cat’s forequarters or abdomen, they can sometimes appear near the tail if a cat gets bitten while trying to flee. The best way to prevent abscesses is to keep your cat indoors.

2. Ear Mites:

If your cat is tilting and shaking her head, scratching at her ears, and has excessive brown or waxy material in her ear canal, she may have ear mites. This condition causes tremendous itching and irritation, and if left untreated, can lead to bacterial infection. Ear mites in cats are treated by applying ear drops that contain a mite-killing chemical and cleaning the ears with a cotton ball.

3. Contact Dermatitis:

Cat skin problems sometimes show up as red, itchy bumps. With contact dermatitis, you’ll see those red, itchy bumps and inflamed skin at the site of contact with a chemical or other irritant. Rubber or plastic food dishes can also cause contact dermatitis. The best way to prevent contact dermatitis is to keep cats away from areas where you use any chemicals and to feed your cats with glass, stainless steel or lead-free ceramic bowls or dishes.

4. Feline Acne:

In feline acne, comedones (also known as blackheads) form on the underside of the chin and edges of the lips. Plastic or rubber food and water dishes may cause cat acne. In severe cases of this skin condition, antiseborrheic shampoos, such as those containing benzoyl peroxide (at a concentration of 3% or less) or benzoyl peroxide gels, work to break down the excess oils. Supplementation with Omega-3 or Omega-6 fatty acids may be beneficial, but check with your vet first.

5. Flea Allergy Dermatitis:

Some cat skin problems, like flea allergy dermatitis, manifest as itchy, pimple-like bumps that form over the base of the tail, back of the rear legs and inner thighs. Although many cats can get fleas and not have any reaction, in sensitive cats it can take just one flea bite to cause hours or days of symptoms. The best way to prevent flea allergy dermatitis is with good flea control. “Spot-on” treatments sold at veterinarians’ offices and reputable online outlets are typically the most effective, but there are a number of chemical-free methods that can be effective when used properly.

Read about all the types of cat dermatitis right here >>

6. Food Allergy Dermatitis:

Some cats are very sensitive to certain ingredients or preservatives in their food. This sensitivity can result in severe itching over the head, neck and back, and swelling of the eyelids. It is often complicated by hair loss and oozing sores from constant scratching and biting. Treatment for cat skin problems like this typically involves an elimination diet to see what ingredient(s) the cat is reacting to. Some vets may give steroid shots to ease the swelling and itching and give the skin a chance to heal from any damage.

Get our best tips for dealing with seasonal skin allergies in cats right here >>

7. Psychogenic Alopecia:

This is the thinning of the fur in a stripe down the back or on the abdomen caused by compulsive self-grooming. Stress often causes compulsive grooming, so treatment involves minimizing the affected cat’s stress level through use of feline pheromone diffusers, creating a calm environment, and redirecting the cat’s nervous energy through play. In severe cases of hair loss in cats, vets may recommend a short course of anti-anxiety medication.

8. Ringworm:

Ringworm is a fungal infection that is highly contagious to other animals and to humans. Symptoms of this skin condition include round patches that show central hair loss with a red ring at the periphery. In some cats, it only shows as broken hairs around the face and ears. Ringworm requires veterinary treatment with antifungal medications and extensive cleaning and sterilizing of the home.

9. Stud Tail:

Glands near the tail that excrete excessive oils cause stud tail in cats. The result is a greasy, rancid-smelling waxy brown material at the top of the tail near the base. This condition is most often often found in un-neutered toms, but fixed males and females can get it, too. Treatment of stud tail in cats involves neutering if needed, and twice-daily washes with an antiseborrheic shampoo to break down excess oils.

10. Sunburn:

Yes, sun exposure makes the list for cat skin problems, too! Cats with light-colored fur and hairless breeds such as the Sphynx are very prone to sunburn and should be kept out of direct sunlight between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to reduce the risk of sunburn and minimize the long-term risk of developing skin cancers such as melanoma.

The bottom line on cat skin problems

If you suspect your cat has one of these common cat skin problems, examine the affected area, take note of the symptoms you see and contact your vet. Any of these cat skin problems, as well as unexplained nodules, bumps or open sores or scabs on your cat, should get checked by your veterinarian for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Tell us: What cat skin problems has your kitty experienced? How did you remedy them?

This piece was originally published in 2017.

Read Next: How to Keep Your Hairless Cats Safe in the Summer Sun

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riverdamien · 5 years

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Journey on the Edge

Journey on the Edge I Corinthians 6:13—“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Yesterday I had lunch with an attorney friend, who works in private practice, cares less about his popularity, he works with those with whom no one else will touch. I met him in 1998 when people were coming at me with false accusations, and he said to me, which I doubt if he remembers, "You journey on the edge, and with it comes risks, you hang with the one's no one else wants to hang with;" and a counselor friend, my first year here, sent me the photo of the "counselor' shown, with the note: "You will be standing in the middle of a railroad track with twenty three trains coming at you, but you will find much pain, but also joy." Last night at 3 in the morning a twenty year old came to my door with an infected leg; he had tried to stab me sometime ago, being high, and I had knocked him on his ass, and he said, as I was cleaning his abscess, "You never mention what I did," and I replied, "What did you do?" and smiled. There are three things learned in these past years, and I am still shooting my arrow at the target and missing the bulls eye, but come close. First: Jesus is the One, to whom all loyalty is given, it is in him, that one finds strength, and hope. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, "Put trust in no man," but only in God, and all will be well. He is absolutely correct. "People come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers speak and work for a season, and then fall silent and impotent. Christ abides. They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and, therefore, sooner or later quenched; but He is the true light from which they draw all their brightness, and He shines for evermore." Alexander MacLaren Secondly: To forgive. At three junctures in my life there have been bitterness, anger, and sometimes hatred, and at some point Christ knocks on the door of my heart , and tells me in the words of Henri Nouwen: "Maybe the reason it seems hard for me to forgive others is that I do not fully believe that I am a forgiven person. If I could fully accept the truth that I am forgiven and do not have to live in guilt or shame, I would really be free. My freedom would allow me to forgive others seventy times seven times. By not forgiving, I chain myself to a desire to get even, thereby losing my freedom. A forgiven person forgives. This is what we proclaim when we pray “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.This lifelong struggle lies at the heart of the Christian life. Fr. Henri Nouwen" It is a struggle minute by minute, but in that struggle one fines peace. To hold grudges, and old memories is the most destructive habit we can practice. It eats us up. Political parties, candidates, and all the divisions we place on one another ultimately come and go, all that will remain are the cisterns of our lives--and we either work to keep them whole, or find ourselves broken, and miserable. There was a comment on Face book about a study which describes the failure of all pattern of child rearing--we all end up broken, and miserable it concludes. Personally I do not believe its conclusions, what we believe is our choices determine our happiness and joy in life. And the choice the Gospel calls us to is forgiveness. And finally Nouwen and Almquist gives a reminder why living on the edge is so much fun, filled with both pain and joy: "When we truly love God and share in his glory, our relationships lose their compulsive character. We reach out to people not just to receive their affirmations but also to allow them to participate in the love we have come to know through Jesus. Thus true friendship becomes an expression of a greater love. It is hard work to remind each other constantly of the truth, but it is worth the effort. Constant mutual forgiveness and a continual openness to the love of God are the disciplines that allow us to grow together in friendship.Fr. Henri Nouwen" "Savor and be grateful for the gift of your life. Jesus said that "you are salt," something which is of inestimable worth. You are salt, created to give a distinctive flavor to life, you like none other. By your presence, your witness, your gifts, you help others "taste and see that the Lord is good." -Br. Curtis Almquis And so today we invite you to move out in the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the words of Paul: I Corinthians 6:13—“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 www.temenos.org 415-305-2124

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