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euphoricdumpsterfire · 3 years

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It Was Enchanting To Meet You (Edmund Pevensie x Mutant! Fem Reader)

Chapter VI: Winter Strikes

Summary: Agatha Harkness reveals more about Y/N's past, and snow starts falling in the middle of summer which brings a huge concern for the Narnians.

Masterlist

Word Count: 1323

Warnings: I don’t think there’s any real warnings except for maybe an animal turning into an inanimate object. However if I’m forgetting anything, feel free to let me know.

A/N: I’m sorry I couldn’t upload last week, I had a bunch of school work to do and I still do lol. This will be the only chapter for this week, and the next one will be uploaded next week. Enjoy! :)

"Wha- How?!"

"I'll explain everything once you and your prince charming come in." Agatha said, moving out of the doorway to make room.

"It's king." Edmund said,

"I'm sorry?" Agatha raised an eyebrow,

"I'm not a prince. I'm a king." He replied,

Agatha cackled once more, "My apologies... Your highness. But please do come in, I have a lot of explaining to do." She said. Edmund turned his head to look at Y/N, she nods as a go sign and the both of them went inside.

The cottage was dark, the purple wallpaper was worn out and pieces of it were sticking out. Then there was a small table with a purple tablecloth over it and what sat on top was a crystal ball. “So how exactly do you know me?” Y/N asked,

“Well," Agatha grabbed two teacups and poured hot tea, "I had always looked after you ever since you were a young child. I even had to pretend to be a babysitter so I can watch you up close until you were three years old!" She chuckled as she served the tea to Y/N and Edmund.

“Then how come I don’t remember you?” Y/N asked, not accepting the tea,

“Your parents grew suspicious of me so I had to do a little spell to make them forget everything, including you. Now drink up, you two must’ve been exhausted fighting off those mermaids.” Agatha gestured her hand towards the tea, Edmund hesitantly took a sip however Y/N still refused and continued to ask her more questions.

“Why did you do all of that in the first place?” She asked. Agatha sighed and sat down on a purple velvet chair that matched her dress.

“Aslan isn’t the only one who knows all of the prophecies.” She said, she flicked her wrist and a purple light lingered across the room and summoned a book.

“How’d you know about Aslan?” Edmund asked,

“I know every single magical person across the multiverse. Thanks to this book.” Agatha replied and pointed at the book that seemed to glow with orange light. “This…” She paused to open up the book, “Is the Darkhold. It contains every spell, charm, and prophecy beyond every normal witch or wizard’s knowledge.” She explained as she flipped through the pages. “One prophecy stated that a young witch capable of great power will travel across different worlds to take down an evil witch.”

“The White Witch..” Y/N muttered, her eyebrows furrowed and looked back at Agatha, “Great power sounds like it’s over exaggerated.” She said,

“Oh, but it’s not,” Agatha stood up and walked towards Y/N, “You are a nexus being Y/N.”

"What's that?" Y/N asked

"A being capable of seeing and traveling into other realities. Each world has their own nexus being, and if there's two in one world," Agatha scoffed, "Well that's a problem."

"Then who's the nexus being in our world?" Edmund asked,

"Look at you prince charming! Asking the right questions,"

"It's king." Edmund repeated, but Agatha simply rolled her eyes.

"As I was about to explain... Jadis or the White Witch is the nexus being of this world,and the moment she rises again she’ll come back stronger than ever so you must prepare.” Agatha warned,

“But how? I literally don’t know magic or spells! I just know how to move things with my mind and attack without touching a person!” Y/N exclaimed, now realizing how much bigger this prophecy was.

“That’s why I’m here dear!” Agatha said as she tucked a loose hair behind Y/N’s ear, “I’m here to help you hone this great power you’re destined to have.” She smiled, Y/N smiled back now convinced that Agatha seemed to have good intentions. The moment was interrupted by a gust of cold wind that came from the window. Edmund stood up and went to the window as he stuck his hand out, snow fell to his fingertips and his face shriveled in worry.

He looked up at the two ladies and said, “It’s snowing…”

“Wait, I thought it was currently summer?” Y/N questioned, Agatha’s face was now covered in fear.

“She’s almost here.” Agatha said.

Y/N’s eyes widened, Agatha’s statement shook her to the core. The White Witch was coming, and soon enough, she’ll have to face her biggest nightmare.

“We need to go back to the castle and inform everyone.” Edmund said, Y/N stood up and was ready to leave.

“Agatha you should come with us.” She said, Agatha slightly shook her head,

“I can’t. The White Witch must not find out about me.” She answered,

“But I thought you’re supposed to help me? She could be looking for me now and I’m still not prepared!” Y/N’s voice was shaking in fear, she wished this was only a dream, another terrible nightmare.

“I might not be physically with you to help but,” Agatha grabbed a book from the bookshelf and handed it to her, “This grimoire will help you learn everything that you need to learn.” Y/N ran her fingers across the cover and looked back up to Agatha,

“Will I ever see you again?” She asked,

“Only time will tell, now go.” Agatha said. Edmund and Y/N made their way out of the cottage, but before she could leave, Y/N looked back and mouthed ‘thank you’. The two of them ran quickly to find their horses and rode back to the castle as Agatha’s cottage slowly faded away into purple dust.

Once they had arrived at the castle, the two ran to the throne room and saw Susan having a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver.

“Ed, Y/N, any news about the cottage?” She asked,

“Forget the cottage, it started snowing.” Edmund replied, still panting and trying to catch his breath. Susan stood up, confused with what her brother had said, she looked at Y/N.

“It’s true, she’s coming.” Y/N said. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver gasped, seconds later Mrs. Beaver fainted due to shock and fear. Susan immediately ordered someone to aid Mrs. Beaver, and asked another guard to spread an announcement for the people of Narnia.

“Tell the people to stock up on food and resources, after that, tell them to not get out of their homes until the winter is gone for good.” The guard immediately did Susan’s orders while Lucy eventually caught up with everything that had happened so far.

“We should all rest right now, tomorrow we start preparing.” Susan said and everyone went to their own chambers to get rest.

Later that night, Y/N sat on her bed flipping through the grimoire and practicing spells. While she was reading, a ladybug crawling on the canopy curtain caught her eye. She looked back on the page and then back again at the ladybug that was now staying still. With a twirl of her fingers, blue light swirled around the air as it approached the ladybug. Suddenly, it turned into a red feather, with black spots resembling the ladybug. Y/N let it fall to the ground as she continued to learn more spells.

Time passed by, and Y/N’s eyes felt heavier and heavier. She yawned and read through one more paragraph before she closed the book and wrapped herself up in her blanket and closed her eyes. She then heard a faint voice humming the lullaby that she always sung, a smile formed on her lips knowing who it was and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, deep into the forest, everything was already covered in snow. A mist of cold air danced into the night sky and formed a large castle made of ice. Inside, by the throne made of ice, there stood a woman dressed in white fur and flurries of snow formed into a crown on her head. The white witch was finally back.

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inventors-fair · 3 years

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Animal Planet - Full Commentary

Like I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of great entries this week. Full commentary below the cut. - @teaxch

@bread-into-toast - Indomitable Tardigrade

Tardigrades are famous for their ability to live through anything, and indestructible plus protection from everything covers almost every effect in the game that might remove a creature, with only non-targeted non-destruction removal getting through. I also like temporarily gaining indestructible on a tardigrade more than I like it on some other creatures that have gotten it as a replacement for regeneration (Drudge Sentinel, Icehide Troll), because Tardigrades really do become indestructible, rather than just putting themselves back together.

@deg99 - Anikole-Watusi

The flavor text is doing a lot of work on this card, helping justify an ability that otherwise would be a bit incongruous. With a reasonable statline at base rate, the card is less reliant on the second ability than the similar Stormwild Capridor, and it’s also threatening enough that preventing it from being bolted or fighted to death is valuable even if you have no ways to trigger it yourself.

@demimonde-semigoddess - Beetle Colony

The design of this card is interesting in that it is both a card that you don’t want to play in a deck with no forests, but also has incidental added value if your opponent is playing forests. (You could play the card in a deck with no forests, with the intent of only ever using the last ability, but that’s pretty far below rate, so I don’t think it makes the cut if you’re on that plan.)

The big boundary-push on the card is that it’s an aura that taps, and one that goes on a card type that people often tap pretty casually. Tapping enchantments appeared in Future Sight as a thing that Magic hadn’t done yet, but otherwise haven’t appeared. I’m not sure that this card crosses the threshold of what it would take to be worth breaking that rule on its own (as opposed to being an additional upkeep trigger or something), but it would be reasonable in a set that included other tapping enchantments.

@dimestoretajic - Bara, Friend to All

This is a strong tech piece; a fair number decks across a range of formats have few, if any ways to deal with a card like this mainboard. It’s fast enough that it’s not practical to go under it, it requires specific pieces of removal to handle, and even if it is handled eventually it can often put an aggressive deck effectively out of the game. (That said, most decks do have answers for something like this in the board, although not reliably great ones.) This might be safe in a product that skips standard, but it’s not totally clear whether this is something that would make it in a commander-focused product. (It’s not too powerful for Commander as a format, but it’s not something that all commander-product decks have many good ways to deal with.) I’m also not sure whether this could go in a product meant to be drafted. If this was introduced into certain non-rotating formats, it could certainly be an interesting role-player.

@fractured-infinity - Cunning Cuttlefish

There’s currently no shapeshifters in Magic that use this technology in quite as straightforward a way as this - Cryptoplasm might come the closest, with Dimir Doppelganger also playing in that space. This was one of a few Cuttlefish entries this week, and shapeshifting with controlled size is a pretty clever way to implement a Cuttlefish’s abilities. This card also allows for some shenanigans if you control an evasive creature and a creature with a saboteur effect. I wasn’t initially sure whether this should only last until the end of the turn, but precedent suggests that it’s fine for it to persist.

@ghoulcaclulator64 - Snake-Head Larva

Morph and saboteur abilities go together naturally, enough so that Headhunter, Silent Specter, and Haunted Cadaver all play in this space. For its morph cost, this card has a fairly brutal saboteur effect, and it’s appropriate to put it at rare for that reason. That said, as long as it only connects once, it’s pretty fair, and if the other morph cards in the set obey the KTK-forward soft rules about the size of creatures with cheap morph costs, then it can at least be blocked safely.

@gollumni - Zhalfiran Zebra

This card homages two existing cards, Master Decoy and Zhalfiran Decoy, rather than alluding directly to something that the animal is known for outside of Magic, which is a novel twist on the prompt. The card entering the battlefield tapped presumably references those two cards needing to tap to use their abilities. It reads a little oddly in a vacuum, as it’s not a drawback that appears often on white cards, but the connection to the second ability helps to to feel part of a piece. I do think that there’s room to push this card a bit - even at common, sorcery-speed tapping for one turn isn’t worth a huge amount.

@grornt - Nude Defenders

Surprisingly one of three cards this week that made use of the Skulk mechanic, Nude Defenders is a spin on Rat Colony that’s more insular and that has less power, but gains the aforementioned mechanic. I’m not sure whether Skulk plays well into the fantasy offered by the rest of the card of building up a large group of creatures that are themselves individually large, however. It still has some utility in that it can help get a last few points of damage in and generally prevent very large creatures from blocking (the Defenders in many circumstances will at least trade, rather than just getting eaten), but the two parts read as negative tension.

@helloijustreadyourpost - Clever Octopus

The second of the skulk entries this week. It’s clear what this card is doing - it steals small objects when it attacks (including things like food and treasure, which octopuses value) - but executing that ends up requiring a lot of text. I see the value in keeping your opponent from sacrificing whatever it is you target with the ability by preventing sacrifices of artifacts entirely, but most card just accept the fact that sacrificing a permanent is an answer to abilities that would steal it. I think that the extra text may be worth it here because the set of things that the octopus can steal includes a lot of things that can easily be sacrificed, but it’s on the line.

@hypexion - Abyssal Angler

I really like this design overall. “Creature that can force a creature to attack, but also must block the attacker” is a combination of abilities that I was a little surprised doesn’t already exist on a creature, given the very clear story it tells. I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not I like the subtle drawback of the ability being mandatory; if your opponent has only a 4/4, you must commit your Angler to blocking that creature if it’s untapped, which is a missable but relevant interaction. It does tell an interesting story of an Anglerfish in over its head, however.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes - Battle-Ready Emu

It’s hard to do a card with a single short line of rules text that’s both novel and a complete and understandable reference to a real-world phenomenon (or event, in this case), and I think this card pulls it off. In many environments, the Protection is largely trinket text, but as evergreen colored artifacts allow Wizards to print more and better equipment at lower rarities, it’s something that has a growing chance of mattering.

@jsands84 - Eclipse of Moths

Cards that allow your opponent to escape part of their effect by paying a certain color of mana aren’t common, but I like this more than Quenchable Fire for two reasons. First, the hybrid cost to buy out of the effect means that more, but not all, decks have the option to do so. Second, the repeatability of the effect means that the cost can legitimately add up over time. There are shades of the not-so-popular Rhystic mechanic, but I think in small volumes it’s fine, especially when tied to clear flavor, as this is.

@juggernaut-is-a-metalhead - Decaying Waverider

I wasn’t completely sure what to make of this card; the card mostly holds together, except for the art (although the dog is very cute), and doesn’t seem to be a top-down representation of the animal depicted, unless I’m missing something. Skulk and the ability to destroy cheap things on ETB is an interesting combination, as depending on your opponent’s curve, this might remove the only creature that can block it.

@loreholdlesbian - Coveted Rabbit

This is a strong design for a card that goes in a deck with spells that target your own creatures, specifically because it itself is a creature. The simplest execution of the mechanics of this card would be to just make the foot itself an equipment card, but this implementation allows you to up the creature count in an aura- or combat-trick-heavy deck by being a creature itself.

@misterstingyjack - Beaver Dam

The bulk of the power of this card is vested in its last ability. Being able to pitch lands for business is worth a lot in the late game, and the defensive nature of the card as a whole helps support a longer-game plan. The rest of the card tells a nice and flavorful story as well. +0/+1 counters aren’t a tool that’s used any longer, and I’m not sure if this card crosses the threshold for making it worth bringing them back; the card could use another counter type and scale with the number of those counters, if +0/+1 counters weren’t being used.

@nicolbolas96 - Protective Mother Boar

I’m not sure if there are any “mom will fight you if you hurt one of the other ones” cards that represent the mother creature itself rather than the baby, which is an interesting point of novelty. This card represents potentially quite a lot of face damage, but cleverly uses the Crested Sunmare trick of tying a powerful effect to a tribe that tends to be used for limited filler rather than for serious constructed shots. (Although the number of Constructed-interesting boars has gradually crept up over time.)

@nine-effing-hells - Aposematic Display

Menace and Deathtouch as a combination mean that blocking the creature is very costly, so there’s some synergy there - your opponent will generally treat the creature as unblockable. (Which is completely fair for the card’s cost - in blue, auras that make creatures unblockable can cost a single mana.) What I mostly want to talk about is the interaction between menace and the last ability. Because of the nonobvious way those abilities interact (if your opponent has only one creature that can block the enchanted creature, they don’t have to block it, but if they have two or more, then the targeted creature and another creature both have to block the enchanted creature), putting the two abilities on the same card is probably a complexity flag, but the card is uncommon. The specific combination has the interesting (but not necessarily desirable) effect of making Menace a drawback a significant fraction of the time, as the second ability is nullified entirely as long as your opponent doesn’t leave up two or more blockers.

@reaperfromtheabyss - Sandfish Skink

I didn’t think much of the ability at first, but the more I thought about it, the more impressed I was with its flexibility. It spoils a range of combat tricks, it lets the Skink block a large creature and then swap to a small one, and it allows the Skink to block things it wouldn’t normally be able to block. There’s a lot packed into a simple ability, which makes for an impressive design.

One small note - it should probably be limited to targeting attacking creatures that are attacking you or a creature you control. While I believe the game rules can handle the circumstance where you target one of your own attacking creatures, the Skink itself, or a creature attacking another player in a multiplayer game, it’s probably better to sidestep that entirely by limiting the legal targets.

@snugz - Bombardier Beetle

This is an interesting design, and another in the category of cards that seem like they should already exist. The big question with this card is: Is it green? Almost all similar effects (with a fixed amount of damage) are red, and in practical terms the ability functions a lot like Double Strike, but only against creatures. Not every card needs to be in the color that’s number one in something, but this ability feels borderline in Green, which doesn’t have a long history of creatures being able to one-sided fight nonfliers without external help. (That said, I guess the fact that it’s blocked or blocking is sort of like it’s fighting?)

@starch255 - The White Whale

This is a wrath attached to a large body, with a bit of a twist that players o-ring one creature each instead. Putting a card that some players will interpret as a Whale tribal card in a color with no Whales might disappoint some players slightly, but it’s a pretty on-flavor way to keep the card from affecting itself or other copies of itself. This is currently one of the easiest to cheat out/reanimate/blink wraths in the game - it’s pretty standard for creatures that wrath on ETB to only get that effect when cast from hand, or to require some additional investment or action.

@typical-davinci-impersonator - Leyline Cuttlefish

This is already a bear, so the card is basically serviceable in limited even if the ability doesn’t end up mattering, but I’m assuming that this exists in an environment where color matters. Depending on the way that color-matters is implemented, there’s an argument that this could maybe cost 1 instead, but given that 2/2 for 2 isn’t a statline that colorless gets much, the ability can be pretty marginal and this is still an interesting card. Being directly tied into what Cuttlefish can do in a very literal way limits the environments where it makes sense as a card, but makes it quite resonant if there were a reason to print it.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path - Blue Glaucus

I had to look this one up - for the benefit of anybody who’s in the same boat, this is a slug that preys on jellyfish-like creatures and actually stores their stinging cells in its own body for defense. It’s also immune to the stings of some such creatures.

The card has a lot going on, and a lot of it is novel, although most of the text directly references the abilities of the actual organism. The third ability is interesting in that it can be proactively built around, although Deathtouch creatures more often die on your opponent’s turn than on yours, making the mana potentially more difficult to use.

I’m not totally sure that the creature needs morph, but morph + deathtouch is a good combo, so it’s reasonably justified if the set it appears in already has morph.

@wolkemesser - Magical Hat

If I had done Honorable Mentions this week, this would definitely have made the cut. It’s super rare that such a clear and clever story can be told with just one relatively straightforward line of rules text. I respect the decision to leave off flavor text even though cards with three lines of rules text almost always have it; the card doesn’t need any help explaining what’s going on. I had a hard time gauging the rate on this card, but I think it’s within the band of fair.

#Inventor's Fair #if-animal planet #commentary #MtG #custom card

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metalheadcowboy · 3 years

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Billy saying Steve’s name as a tic in bed with a girl? 👀

OOP PIDWFEJDIVHWF 👀👀👀

Billy doesn’t usually tic during sex, he’s usually so focus on the act itself that he finds a way to get himself lost in it. But it’s a bad tic day and it’s with some girl he could care less about, one he’s only fucking for looks to cover up what he and Steve have. So, holding back his tics are hard, nearly impossible.

She knew from the beginning that he might say something weird, but that his tics weren’t as active when he was focusing on something so they were probably okay. She was really sweet about it, telling him that it would be okay, or maybe she just wanted his body so bad she was willing to look past a big part of him for it, whatever.

He was about to slide one hand up under her bra when suddenly-

“Nice knockers!” He could feel his face heating up, but felt a slight relief when he earned laughter and not a rude comment. That fact alone loosened him back up and put him back into focus.

And everything was going great again, perfect, even, until he was about to slide his condom clad dick inside of her-

“Stever the beaver” he ticced, head tilting to the side as his nerves rose.

“What?” the girl asked, looking up at him from her spot on the bed with a confused look. He didn’t even know what to say, thankfully his Tourette’s had just the right words for him.

“Dick! I like Dick!” He he exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth afterwards, trying to shut himself up.

“Excuse me?” she did not look happy as she propped herself up onto her elbows.

“I’m sorry I- I really can’t control it,” he tried to explain, following the statement up with a mouth pop, head ticcing to the side again.

“Well you didn’t just get the idea of ‘liking dick‘ out of nowhere,” she argued, Billy feeling trapped into a metaphorical corner. He could feel his stress and anxiety level rising, the telltale feeling in his stomach and tingling bone deep that a tic attack could be in his future.

“I can’t- I just-”

“Get out!” she yelled and Billy didn’t have to be told twice, stripping the unused condom off and getting dressed again.

When he got to his car he needed to cool off, try to expel the stress from his body. He couldn't help when his fist rammed itself into the console or when he yelled “Play for me piano man!” into the emptiness of his car as he tried his best to hold back tears from the whole situation.

Send me hc’s 💛💛

#Billy Hargrove #Steve Harrington #Harringrove #Stranger Things

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dropoutparty · 3 years

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ngc ramblings part 3- chapter 5

here we are at part 3!!! sorry this one took so long, i originally was gonna make this post include entropy and extus (along with finally talking about face in depth) but it was so fuckin long that im splitting it into 2 different posts! the next part isnt done yet but im like almost halfway done so it shouldnt be too much longer until its out! also before we get into this one:

tw for: death, animal death, and suicide. pls take care of urself and don't read this if those things are triggering for u <3

ok lets get on with the post

at the start of entropy zach doesnt waste any time getting right to the point. this place is bigger than the other planets so far, and zach says the music this time around is a melody that “started out normal but then got distorted” played by a violin sounding instrument. even tho i do sometimes forget that this is supposed to be a creepypasta im not surprised that he said it made him feel depressed and unnerved lmao. anyways, this planet has all new level types in it!! no reused ones!! ok now this is epic. the bosses this time around are megalon, battra, and mechagodzilla, but itll be a good while before we get to those guys because this chapter is long as hell holy shit?? buckle up babez <33 now, before i get into the meat of things as usual im gonna talk abt the planet name! entropy basically means “a lack of order/predictability or a gradual decline into disorder” and that's very accurate to this part of the story. at this point, red is pissed off and is getting desperate, which means from here on out things are going to be getting more intense and more unstable. this world is the turning point in the overall story, basically.

now with that out of the way, zach first goes to the worlds quiz level as usual! this time something was different. usually, in the quiz levels there would be goofy ass music playin in the bg (specifically the GH1D0RA cheat music, if you wanna like listen to it ig?) but from here on out its been replaced by the music from the games password screen, which zach called creepy earlier on in the pasta. im gonna glaze over the quiz again this time, but when we get to the next planet ill talk about all of the quizzes in depth all at once. basically all you need to know for now abt what happens here is face asks “do you like mothra?” and when zach picks no (after going on a tangent abt how mothra sucks lmao,, bro i swear im good at the game my controllers just messed up /s), face enters bastard mode and goes “TOO BAD!” and boom now zach cant play as anyone but mothra. zach is pissed for now but little does he know this is just going to become an even more epic gamer bc of this,, youll never get better at something if you never try and all that.

after that, zach moves on to the first level type- the forest. immediately zach gets an eerie feeling from this level bc he has some kinda fear involving forests at night (i can think of a reason why but ill have to talk abt that later just to be sure). hes also not feelin great about being forced to play as mothra, so the pressure of it all is def starting to get to him by now. the music in the forest is woodwinds followed by slow, rhythmic drums and chiming bells. must have been some ominous woodwinds and bells bc it made him feel like he was intruding somewhere he shouldnt be (oh rlly?? u dont say,, everything up until now has been fine /s). getting into the level itself, eventually zach comes across some weird deer-like monsters just vibing and scares them away when he gets close. later in the level he finds more of these weird deer along with a sloth-like creature on some of the trees and some raptor dudes killing some of the deer. zach shoots one of the raptors but thats about it. nothing really happened in this level but zach noted that he didnt feel like he was playing a video game, but instead it felt more like he was exploring a forest in another dimension. thats interesting for reasons ill ~get to later~ (yall must be so tired of hearing that by now omg,, i know im tired of saying it at least. i was gonna wait until after replay to talk about things but i severely underestimated how long this whole project would be, so i might make a post for the “more on that later” stuff before i get into replay. let me know what u think i should do).

anyways, the next thing zach checks out is the first tv screen level so far. these levels just play an animation with some music in the background, and theres a different animation per level. this time around the animation is of a kid with a beaver(?) head licking a lollipop and the music is the GH1D0RA music that the quiz levels used to use. the only thing of note here is that zach says he had a shirt that looked just like that when he was a kid. after that, were off to some of the weirdest fuckin levels in this whole thing imo- the hourglass levels. these levels have an entirely brown color palette, with grandfather clocks standing in the background (the level appears to be in like a hallway or something) and various time measuring things floating in the air. the music is the same as the board (ig cosby just didnt feel like thinking of what theme this place would have lol). after a little bit zach was rlly happy to see actual enemies from the normal game show up! these are basically like aircraft, tanks, etc. thats not the main attraction here tho, bc this level has its own unique mechanic! this mechanic is the colored hourglass items you can pick up. there are three of them, a blue one that slows time down and makes enemies from the past appear, a red one that speeds up time and makes enemies from the future appear, and a green one that made the time flow normally and spawned enemies from the normal game. zach found the blue one first, which caused a bunch of prehistoric enemies based on real animals to show up. after that he found a green one and fought normal enemies again, and then he found a red hourglass. the future enemies here look like aliens to me, and zach says that one enemy reminds him of something he saw in a book once. eventually, a special future creature showed up and zach was suddenly in a boss battle! or a mini boss battle? that description is probably more accurate. this guy doesnt have a face, and he can only attack by shooting a beam from his face, it sure does look cool! after zach beat it tho, he was off to the next level type, which is basically a toxic waste dump.

zach called it grungy and inhospitable, with the music being a synth ambient loop that made him feel dizzy while he listened to it. this is important because this is the first instance of the game making zach feel something *physically*, not just psychologically. all of the enemies here are mutated to some degree, with him first seeing green mummies with bird skulls coming out from vats of toxic slutch and a brownish cow skeleton monster with spider legs. later zach comes across a deer from the woods, drinking some toxic slutch (delinchous). zach got close to it to try making it stopped but suddenly some enemies came out of nowhere and scared it into running right off a ledge and into the slutch. rip :pensive:. after that zach found more mutated enemies (i.e some things with tentacles and some other deformed thing with human teeth) before he finally gets to the end of the level, where theres another miniboss waiting for him!! this ones a toxic sludge monster with a whale skull who attacks with a mouth projectile and by charging into you. the monster sank into the slutch and thats all for this level babeyy!

the next level is another forest, but this time its winter! its still at night, but this time zach doesnt feel off put, which he mostly attributes to the music. he describes it as a gentle, calm song that almost sounded romantic. the entire first segment of this level had no enemies in it, but dw this level is interesting i swear. the next segment starts out just as empty as the last one, but this time its silent. that is, until the music from “unforgiving cold” starts playing. yaa you remember that place!! i think i said it was less interesting than i remembered but its interesting again now bc it was foreshadowing these levels!! anyways soon after the music started up, zach started to come across tons of frozen bodies of the deer from earlier. some were mutilated, some werent, but they were all frozen and covered in snow. eventually zach does come across something living though, a sloth creature from earlier! its just vibing when suddenly the winter versions of the raptors from earlier rush in and fuckin obliterate the sloth thing. those things just blindly try killing everything in sight, and even start fighting themselves before zach finally gets to the last part of the level.

now this is where shit starts to get crayzay. this part opens up to a big empty field with a full moon and the nice music from earlier back. despite the nice music tho, zach immediately starts feeling dread and eventually he finds a lake. the lake comes down from the sky and starts to crack like an egg, a humanoid figure curled up in the fetus position dropping into the lake below and the moon halves disintegrated. this spawned the moon beast, the hardest challenge zachs had to deal with so far. after he finally defeats it, the screen goes to black and the name “melissa” is on screen, written in red. after that, the screen then says kys. the word kill then fills up the screen, layering over itself until it forms a picture of reds face. its now that we finally get to hear abt the whole melissa thing (which makes it sound like shes been mentioned in the pasta before this but thats not what i mean lmao). to summarize, zach had a middle school gf named melissa (also bro middle school?? wadda hell) who often went into “episodes” where she would stare off, expressionless, before trembling and putting her face in her hands. she and zach hung out in a field at night a lot but one night she just stared at the moon the whole time before running into traffic and dying.

NOW its finally later!!! were not done with entropy yet, but this is the end of part one of entropy so i wanna just take a little break to talk about things so far. this planet is FULL of symbolism and foreshadowing. to start off, i think a lot of the questions face asks at the beginning foreshadow things that happen. some examples are “is time slipping though your fingers?” which could allude to the time levels, “do you have any regrets?” which i think obviously foreshadows the whole melissa thing, “is it safe to go out at night?” and “do you find it hard to sleep at night?” both follow the same kinda theme, which i think relates to how the melissa incident happened at night, specifically out at night. i dont think the forest levels have anything too important in them, other than to introduce the presence of an innocent, harmless creature that doesnt deserve what happens to it later (aka the deer things) which might symbolize melissa. more evidence for this symbolizing melissa comes from the encounter with the deer in the toxic dump and the winter forest, where in the former zach tries to stop it from hurting itself but is too late, being forced to watch it die, and in the latter the same innocent thing from earlier is found dead close to where the real incident took place. the two big themes to keep in mind here are death and time, more specifically the past. most of the enemies here are either made from bones or kill other enemies, there's a dedicated time level referencing things that zach remembers seeing at one point (aka that one alien zach recognized), the beaver head had the same shirt as child zach did, it all connects to zachs past and the death of melissa. as for the moon beast, its the most obvious reference for reasons ive already explained. i dont really know what the moon cracking open and dropping a curled up human into the lake could mean other than some other thing melissa related, but i *do* think that the fact that the moon beast is the most difficult thing zach has faced so far is symbolic of the fact that the trauma from this event has followed him throughout his entire life, and its something he struggles with daily. it could even be the reason why he said no when face asked if he could sleep easily at night. the moon beast also has some black fur around its neck, which i think is meant to represent a tire track, referencing and/or mocking the way melissa died.

its so cool how this entire part of the story builds up to and foreshadows the bomb it drops at the end of the part, giving people something to look back on. a lot of ppl say that as soon as the melissa stuff gets introduced the story goes down in quality, and i do somewhat agree with that sentiment, especially if they want the story to actually be scary, but i think the direction the story goes from this point on is so unique and cool. it does follow the whole “theres a ghost in the game” troupe (even tho it was probably seen as a spin on that originally) but it doesnt do the same cliches as so many other gaming creepypastas do and it really takes the concept and makes it its own. i just think its neat,,,

anyways im done gushing abt this story, lets get on with part 2 of extus!! basically zach has a fuckin panic attack and, after taking a few minutes to calm himself down when its over, he decides that he has to finish the game now because if he doesnt its just going to haunt him for the rest of his life. zach has now realized that the game is “alive” and can somehow see his thoughts and memories, so understandably hes pretty freaked out by it at this point. when he keeps playing, the first thing he does is check out another tv screen level. this time, the animation is of a fish dude just kinda standing there with his mouth flapping open and closed and the music is the neptune board music from the original game. the only reason i can think of for why this is here is maybe the game is mocking zach for the panic attack he just had (bc when u have a panic attack you feel like you can barely breathe, if ur lucky enough to have never had one before and u dont know) but thats abt it. its probably just a random goofy thing cosby threw in there.

anyways, the next actual level is the first labyrinth level. this time around, its a gold labyrinth specifically. the music in these levels is a slow, ominous drum beat with female vocals occasionally coming in and (basically from here on out) the monster zach plays as is now half the size it used to be. i think this shows how zachs feeling at this point, like this whole thing isnt just being a big strong monster and beating up enemies any more, he feels small and scared and helpless in the face of something potentially dangerous that he doesnt understand maybe his confusion about the game is the reason *why* theres so many labyrinth levels here in the first place. anyways im getting ahead of myself. personally, i think the aesthetic of the gold labyrinth is very similar to the green temples back on trance. while trance had a more circular and soft theme to it's architecture and sculpture, entropys is much more square or rectangle oriented. despite this, i think that the golden mazes at least are another religious kind of building, and the architecture is just different because theyre two different cultures who just happen to worship the same spiritual figure (aka melissa. did i say that earlier? i think i did,, if i didnt well the religions worship melissa, not knowing she's a dead human or anything. probably).

moving on, zach notes how the gold labyrinth would probably have been impossible to navigate as any of the other monsters, so turns out face being an asshole was a blessing in disguise after all huh? anyways this place is full of weird gold monsters, lava/fire traps, and stone faces (both in more of an easter island head style and in the regular feminine headshot weve seen so far). zach comes across two feminine heads, one that is more adult looking and pure gold, and another one that looks much younger and whos eyes have red irises and blue scleras. this statue apparently looks a lot like melissa did on the night she died, so zach leaves it pretty quickly. i *think* this is the first time we see the color blue associated with melissa? if it isnt sorry abt that, its been a couple days since i worked on ngcr so ive forgotten some of the smaller or more subtle things by now. GOD i keep getting side tracked ANYWAYS eventually zach finds a non-gold enemy and sees it get picked up by like an arcade crane claw. hes curious so he follows the claw, only to see the monster be put in a big gold cauldron and walk out the side of it as a gold monster.

gonna be honest, no idea what the hell this could mean. like? theres been no themes of corruption or good things becoming evil so far so this just kinda. exists,, yea idk lol. im not part of like any discord servers or anything so all this theorizing and analysis has just been me, maybe getting some small ideas from like random youtube comments or something, so if something ive said so far has been unanimously disagreed with somewhere i dont know about it. thats also why this isnt really a definitive or comprehensive analysis (even tho im trying to be as comprehensive as i can).

anyways zach finds the exit soon after and hes on to the next level type (there's so fucking many of them ik dont worry weve almost gotten to all of them now), the indigo cliffs. the background of these levels is similar to the blue mountains from trance, but now the moon and clouds from the toxic dump background is also here (and colored indigo to match). the music here is just a deep rumbling noise. the first “enemies” he sees here are just a bunch of multicolored little guys coming out of a hole in the ground and jumping off a cliff. were continuing the death theme yall!! anyways zach continues, flying over some more weird creatures (tho some of them just look like dinosaurs lol) before he sees a bunch more of the multicolored guys out and about but this time theyre getting grabbed by birds!! wadda heel!!! zach comments on how the multicolored dudes seem eager to die and thinks maybe the moon has something to do with it (like melissa dude wat!!!! that's crazy /s). at the end of the level there were some more multicolored dudes just walking into a creatures mouth so zach attacked the thing and killed it and the levels over yay!

now its time for the bosses babeyy!!! first zach fights battra (basically an evil moth kaiju), the music is varans theme. battra starts off in his larvae form, where he basically just fought by running into you and shooting stuff at you. while fighting this form, zach noticed that the game buffed mothra because his gamer skillz were too cringe lmaoo. he beats the larvae form and battra goes into his second form, where hes basically a stronger clone of mothra (misogyny). zach fights battra and has fun doing it (for once,, good for him) and he wins yay! next hes fighting megalon (a big beetle/bug kaiju), whos music was gigans theme. im tired when im writing this so ill just give you zachs description of how he fought: “strong, persistent, but dumb”. after this, zach checks out the last tv screen of entropy. this time, it shows a big buff guy with a sack over his head hit a womans head with a sledgehammer while shes tied to a table or something. the music for it was the password theme. i think this is probably here because red is getting angrier? like this guy is still here after i triggered his ptsd?? what the hell!!!

anyways before we get to the last boss we have one last level type to get through- the shadow labyrinth. at this point, zach starts to feel drained because no shit sherlock you just had a panic attack and youve been playing this game for fuckin several hours at this point of course youre fuckin drained. anyways zach enters the shadow labyrinth, which is a black recolor of the gold labyrinth. the music is “evil ambience” similar to unforgiving colds music but distinctly different apparently. there werent any enemies so zach just kinda wandered for a while until the lights turned off, darkening the whole screen and (secretly) spawning tons of spooky enemies thatll chase and hit mothra in the dark. eventually the lights came back on and zach started scrambling to the exit. when the lights turned back off, zach was able to find one of the melissa looking statues and stood next to it. it warded off the monsters while the lights were off, so zach was safe. i think this shows 2 things: 1) its a little more validation for my “religion in this world worships melissa” theory and 2) it foreshadows the way melissa wants to protect zach at the end of the game. zach beat the shadow labyrinth a lot faster than the gold one so were done with all the stages now!! now theres only the last boss and red and were done with entropy!

the last boss is mechagodzilla, but when zach starts the level, normal godzilla is there instead!! its whatever tho bc soon the disguise is gone and its just pretty much the normal mechagodzilla fight (but now hes got a gay beam). at about half health tho, mechagodzillas sprite breaks into pieces like gezoras did way back on earth and reforms into not-mechagodzilla. even tho it looks uncanny (and the usage of the face statue on the front is probably there to further mock zach bc melissa) zach beats it p easily and now its time for the chase. ba dum ba dum thats the sound of a chase.

as usual tho, before i get to the red chase its time to talk about entropy as a planet!! i think the best way to describe the layout is “a big forest with a toxic waste dump in it takes up half the planet while the other half is a large religious temple/labyrinth with a dangerous underbelly”. there doesnt seem to be any intelligent life there now (its all dead by now probably) but there was at some point at least because imean the huge labyrinth is there dude!!! i dont have much to say for this section tbh bc i feel like i've already said everything i wanted to, so its time for the chase ig!!

basically the chase with red here takes place in a labyrinth level bc of course it does. this labyrinth, however, seems to be made of some kind of organic matter. is it flesh? organs? nondescript viscera? idk but it's pulsating and bloody. also this time red has wings too!! anyways, basically zach avoids red throughout the maze, red breaks through one of the walls with his big alien tongue, and zach gets to the end of the maze. nothing crazy happens at the end of this chapter (i think it was crazy enough as is) so thats the end of that and now its time for the penultimate planet- extus.

#ngc ramblings #nes godzilla creepypasta #godzilla nes creepypasta #godzilla nes

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howlingday · 4 years

Text

Salem: (Breathing heavily, On the ground) Congratulations... you've done it.

Hazel: Salem...

Salem: Kill me. End my life, like you fought so hard to do now. And with my final breath, so too will the Grimm perish.

Oscar: (As Ozma) Why does it have to end like this?

Salem: Ozma... When you died, I wanted nothing more than for you to come back. I scorned the Brothers, just to be held in your arms once more. But when they scorned me, I sought to destroy everything they loved, just so they could see how it felt. A world where every touch was cold, where every breath was bleak, and every step without love was agony. When I realized it wouldn't work, I decided to attack their creations. Tear down everything they worked so hard for, that they loved and cherished. I wanted them to feel the same agony I felt.

Oscar: (Kneels down, As Ozpin) But we're all still here. We never left.

Salem: (Shakes her head) It's too late. The witch, Salem, has destroyed too much already. Too many lives lost. Too many cities in ruins. Too much heartbreak everywhere. (Smiles at Oscar) Just knowing you're alive, living a happy life that was taken from you too soon, is more than enough for me. I will perish soon, and in doing so, I learn my lesson.

Oscar: (Holds her hand, As Oscar) But we're finally together again.

Hazel: WATCH OUT! (Stands in front of Salem and Oscar, Skewered by a purple scorpion tail)

Salem: HAZEL!

???: (Laughing) Foolish human! Taking the brunt of my attack is a sweet, but ultimately futile gesture. And I was about to give her the death she had been craving for thousands of years.

Ruby: Tyrian?! You're alive?!

Tyrian: Well, yes... and no. I was Tyrian, but then I realized who I really am.

Salem: (Growling) You...

???: Yes? Come on, say it!

Salem: You're not Tyrian. I should have seen it, because there's only one thing with more bloodlust and a greater craving for destruction than any living thing on this planet.

???: Yes, yes! All true, but you still haven't answered my question! What's my name? Who am I? (Sighs) You never were any good at listening to me.

Oscar: You're the Brother of Darkness, aren't you?

Brother of Darkness: Correct! Of course, I needed help, since this mortal flesh is still so weak. Really, I must thank you, all of you, for doing all the hard work. I feel I should gift you all for all the trials you overwent and undercame!

Ruby: What are you talking about?!

Brother of Darkness: I'm saying you all fulfilled your purposes. Well, all but one of you. Oh, Captain J? Would you please step forward?

Ruby: Captain J? The weirdo from the Wasteland?

Weiss: He's here? Where is he?

Brother of Darkness: Why, he's right behind you!

Jaune: (Steps forward, Struggling to speak) I... AM... CAP...TAIN... J... MY... LOR...D... WHA...T... IS... YOUR... BID...DIN...G?

Ruby: JAUNE?!

Weiss: What did you do to him?!

Brother of Darkness: When I battled Jaune, I implanted a piece of myself into his Aura. Now that Aura has become a beautiful ingredient for my latest decoction. (Looks to Jaune) Captain J, go stand over there for now. I have a little surprise waiting for you.

Jaune: YES... MY... LOR...D... (Walks over, A gargantuan Grimm erupts from the ground and roars behind him)

Penny: Biggest...

Winter: Beaver...

Brother of Darkness: But that's not all! (Jaune climbs Biggest Beaver and sinks into it's fur until only his face is showing, He and the Grimm's eyes shine a blinding, purple light) Isn't it glorious? The most self-destructive human fused with the most destructive creature. But it's missing a key ingredient: the fusion of the most destructive faunus and the most destructive entity!

Oscar: You can't-!

Salem: Stop this madness!

Brother of Darkness: (Sends out a wave, Blasts Oscar, Salem, and Hazel flying out the window) Salem! You looked so ugly and broken, I almost forgot about you! I'll finish you three off later. Just wait outside for now. Okay? Great.

The reformed Brother of Darkness walks over to and touches the Grimm-Jaune abomination. He fuses into a massive humanoid of purple energy and towers over the throne room with blue eyes, a scorpion tail, and a pair of curved horns, and is holding a longsword with a white handle and a black blade.

Brother of Darkness: NOW THE WORLD IS ALL MINE! I WILL DESTROY ALL LIFE ON THIS WORLD AND CREATE A NEW WORLD, WHERE DARKNESS REIGNS OVER THE LIGHT! (Looks down at Team RWBY and their allies) AND I THINK I KNOW JUST HOW TO START MY CELEBRATION.

#rwby #jaune arc #ruby rose #salem #oscar pine #ozma #tyrian callows #brother of darkness #super paper mario #ozpin #penny polendina #winter schnee

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bluepenguinstories · 3 years

Text

Remoras Full Intermission I: Keeping Up With the Olympians

We met up at a coffee shop in a little known place where few have entered: Idaho. I had arrived via one of my private helicopters. Angelos, one of my private chauffeurs landed the helicopter in the parking lot of a hardware store. According to my calculations, which I had made none, I was right across the street from the coffee shop.

“Most appreciated, my dear daughter,” I thanked Angelos, as I made it a habit to show gratitude to anyone I associated with.

“Not your daughter, but not a problem,” Angelos smiled and I could tell she gave me a wink even through her pitch-dark sunglasses. Her short, brown hair was slicked back, and she always made sure to wear a tuxedo when flying me first-class anywhere I wanted to go. I leaned over and kissed her hand.

“Please wait for me while I pick up my other daughter,” I beseeched her, then strolled off to the coffee shop. Traffic be damned, I strutted my stuff and caused a pile-up. Just as a refined lady should, of course. If beauty didn’t cause a calamity, what use was there for it?

Our meeting place was but a humble coffee shop, some kitsch place called Espresso Self.

I gave a fanciful chuckle as I wiped my shoes against the mat outside the entrance, then I stepped inside to the arid atmosphere of such a chic location: everyone looked to be in disco outfits, some clown costumes, others wore scuba gear. However, one person who stood out among them all was one seated at a table in the far back: a young woman in a violet hoodie with the hood up. She had short, blonde hair and...wait, blonde?

I must bring this up at once.

As I approached her, I slammed my hands down at the table and leaned over.

“What happened to your precious green?!” I demanded, the ferocity in full force.

Rather than shocked or scared out of her seat, she gave me a dull expression, then took a sip from her cup of coffee.

“I washed out the dye,” she stated, deadpan.

“I don’t approve,” I gave a disgusted look.

“Bite me.”

At first, I was shocked by such a disrespectful remark. But then I looked deep within her eyes and saw a raging fire which I hadn’t seen before. Well, it might not have been a literal raging fire, it may have been a reflection of something behind me that was orange. Always hard to tell with those things.

“You’ve taken a life, haven’t you?” I implored, no longer a voice of disgust, but instead discovery.

“Yes, and I hated it.”

“Eh. It’s an acquired taste. But never mind that, what are you drinking?” I pointed to her cup.

“Triple-shot espresso, I reckon. Also an acquired taste, and one which I have not acquired.”

“So why are you drinking it, then?”

She shrugged.

“I told the barista: ‘just fuck me up’, so she did.”

Ah, easy mistake to make. I’ve been there once or twice.

“Will you be all right?” I asked, just to make sure.

“Probably. Just gonna be a little jittery, is all,” she spied the room and shifted her gaze from side to side, “can we get this show on the road, or what?”

“Eager to put your detective hat on?” I pondered and turned to a toothy grin, the excitement of seeing her in a deerstalker was quite the fantasy.

“More or less. I’m going to want the details so I know what I’m working with. Once this is all settled, you’ll hold up your end, yes?”

Ugh, that was the problem with the younger folks: they didn’t know that in order to have a good mystery, you needed to drag things out as long as possible.

“Of course, of course, dear! But once we’re at my place, yes?” I clapped my hands.

She let out a dramatic sigh, then got up and tossed her drink in the trash.

“I just know I’m going to have a heart attack later,” she grumbled, then headed out the door.

“Wait up! So impatient!” I chased after her. Such a shame, too: I never got the chance to order anything.

She was much more cheery over the phone. What gives? Hell, I’d say we were on opposite ends of the mood axis: I was in a slump and she seemed cheerful as a beaver in a lumberyard. Of course, once she knew the details of my predicament, she too would be in a foul mood. Well...if she wasn’t already. No, I didn’t want to make her mood foul!

I remember calling her, distraught and in tatters.

“Demetria! I need your help!” I bawled into the phone.

“Would you look at that? Perfect timing. Been a while, hasn’t it, Hera?” She rasped but I could feel the joy foam out from her mouth.

“Yes it has, and I do apologize! I’m sure you’ve had countless sleepless nights just thinking about me! But fret no more, I am here now and I need you to come over! It’s an urgent matter!”

“Oh my. You want me to come over? Gee, I’d love to do that but I don’t have any way to get there. I don’t have...how do I put it...the coin,” she spoke with a sly rascal voice which would have made the sly rascal in me proud. However, money should not have been an issue for someone of her caliber. Well...any old fool would have thought it was about money, but not me, no: I knew better.

“Never mind the ferryman! I’ll come get you, myself! Just tell me the place and I’ll be over in a heartbeat! Maybe two heartbeats, depending on traffic!”

“Wait. You’ll come get me? Well this changes everything. Okay. Hold on. Slow down. I’ll meet you in Caldwell, Idaho. You can probably find me at a coffee shop. Thanks so much,. Bye.”

I knew of no such place (Idaho. Or Caldwell, Idaho. Coffee shops, I have heard of), but that didn’t matter in the name of familial love. I’d do anything for a daughter of mine.

It didn’t take long for Angelos to drop us off at my place. As soon as we landed, Demetria and I began to walk up to the musical steps which lead to the paradise of Olympia: my house.

“You sounded much more cheerful on the phone,” I remarked, glancing off to the side so she could get my good side. Of course, all of my sides were good, even the sides of me that weren’t good.

“Well yeah. Over the phone I was all eager to get back to Olympia, but then once I sat at the coffee shop, I got to thinking about the ordeal I had to go through last time with you and then I was like ‘just endure it, Demetria. Remember your goal.’ But I just know I ought to prepare for trouble, and hell, make it double.”

“Yes, my dear, these are troubled times indeed,” I grabbed a handful of skittles from out of my pocket and shoved them into my mouth. “Troubled times.”

Once inside, I lit a few candles, as in my misery, I had trouble flicking light switches.

“Just as gloomy as I remembered it,” Demetria commented as she looked around.

“I know, right? Absolute beauty, right here!” I showed off my collection of vintage plates, but in her straightforward fiery eyes, she paid no mind.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“Okay, but once you hear me out, you might shed a few tears, so get ready,” I drew in a deep breath, “Zeus has gone missing!”

Rather than weep, Demetria just let out a yawn.

“So you want me to find him?”

“Yes! I’m willing to pay you anything as a reward! Money is no object!”

She nodded, then let her eyes wander to the ceiling.

“Indeed, but objects are objects.”

I put my finger on my chin and pondered that one.

“I suppose...I haven’t considered that one before…”

“You know what I mean, surely,” Demetria slammed her fist into her other palm. “I want a weapon constructed, and I know that will cost me a great deal.”

Ah, just like before. When she rejected that million dollars in favor of a pretty looking knife and some throwing knives. Their value wasn’t even equal, but...I mustn't question the logic of a brilliant detective like my soon to be daughter.

“Why certainly, deary! If that is what you desire, so be it.”

“Sweet. I’ll get on this case right away!” She just about jumped for joy. Now there was my precious daughter I (barely) knew and loved.

“Great, but before we get started on the details, I must say,” I shook my head in lament, “I miss the green.”

“You know what? So do I.”

I was filled with a gross sensation of elation. My eyes widened and so too did my smile and I ran up to her, got down on my knees, and begged.

“You must let me dye your hair!” I took her hands and pressed my forehead against them.

“Oh? You’d do that?” “I would be delighted to! Now tell me, what shade would you like?”

“I was thinking of a darker shade of green, actually. Like, maybe seaweed green.”

“Say no more! Come with me, to the grand bathroom, also known as my personal salon!” I dragged her away as I ran through my halls and down a flight of stairs, then a little off to the right, and bam! A shiny silver room with many sinks and a golden, leather adjustable seat.

“Sit! Please!” She plopped down into the chair and spun it around.

“Don’t get too giddy. You’ll need to lean back into the sink, okay?”

She gave a single nod, and then I spun her around a bit until her back faced the sink. Yes, the marvelous sink made of marble and copper, not just porcelain, but the finest of fine materials.

I let the sink run and I opened up the cabinet above her where a mirror rest. Within the cabinet contained many dyes, bleaches, shampoos, and conditioners. You know, for when you’re having one of those days. Her head leaned back and soaked up the shimmering sink water. After she was thoroughly soaked, I turned the water off and lathered in the dye while massaging her scalp.

“Ah, this feels so nice,” she let out a sigh of pleasure, “I could get used to this. It’s like all the negative energy I’ve had is being released.”

“We are our worst critics, dear,” I comforted her, both with my words and the magic of my massaging hands.

“Ugh, yeah, I hate that critic. I hate myself. Oh, there’s that negative energy again, welcome back,” she turned glum just as fast and she lost her glum.

“No, no, no. Love your critic. She’s there for you when you need her, always looking for the best in you.”

“Huh, I never looked at it that way.”

“Yes. My inner critic tells me that Zeus is always cheating on me, and she always turns out to be right.”

“Ugh. Why do I listen to you?”

“Because half of the things I say have a kernel of wisdom to them,” I answered her as I continued to massage her scalp. “Also because it’s okay that he’s always cheating because I’ve slept around too and I don’t need him, I can have any man I want. Woman, too. I don’t see why I need to be picky.”

“Aah – this is nice. So, what’s the deets with the mish?”

‘Mish’. In all my years, that was a word I’ve never heard before. Perhaps it meant, like, mish-mash, or Misha, if she knew of any Mishas. For the record, I did not, and I didn’t see how a ‘mish’ could be related to the task at hand, but no matter, I’d tell her all I knew.

Oh dear. Am I really prepared to be so intimate with the details?

“Well, you see, dear, there’s been…” I felt a lump in my throat. Perhaps the other day I swallowed an Adam’s apple and had forgotten about it. Whatever the case, I knew I had to continue.

“You must know that both Zeus and I are something of ‘swingers’. ‘Libertines’, if you will. ‘Sluts’, if you’re feeling fancy. There is no shame in enjoying life’s greater pleasures, so I feel no need to mince words.”

“Fair enough, but it sure sounds funny the way you put it,” she remarked. “Also, I think I already knew all that.”

“Okay, well, lately I’ve been thinking, this whole sleeping around hobby, it was great and all, and I don’t regret anything, but at the same time, it just hasn’t brought me the same enjoyment as it used to. Throughout our escapades, I always considered Zeus to be my number one, and he always said the same about me. But now I think I want him to be my only one, you know? Monogamy, as the stuffy ones call it. Yes, I can imagine you find the word boring just by hearing it.”

“Not really. One person, many people, whatever. You do you.”

Wow, I have such a supportive daughter. That settles it. I am going to spoil the hell out of her.

“Well, it’s always been monogamy, I suppose, but there’s always been side dishes, even when Zeus was the main course. Now, I think I just want the main course and nothing on the side. A full platter of man, if you will. Besides, what with us both growing older, I figured he’d want to settle down, too, and when I spoke to him about it, he agreed, and he told me it would be just the two of us from here on out.”

“Oh, okay. So he’s cheating on you,” she concluded without so much as a second thought. No evaluation whatsoever.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s not jump to conclusions!” I cautioned her. “Yes, he probably is, but he might not be, and I’d like to leave room for doubt. Besides, he agreed. I’m tired of sleeping around and I’m sure he feels the same.”

“Yeah, but if I find him and he’s off with another woman…”

Really? A whole other woman when I’m right here? No, unfathomable. Yes, he would do such a thing, but what woman could be as great as me, Hera? If that happens to be the case, there can be no other conclusion than that he was tricked somehow…

“Then I’ll kill her,” I had my answer ready in my arsenal.

“I get why you’d be mad, but don’t you think you’d be directing your anger at the wrong person when he’d be the one cheating?”

She raised a fair point, but he promised. That should be worth something, right?

“What makes you think it’s his fault? Are you in league with her?” I went on the defensive.

“No? I don’t even know who ‘her’ is, if it even is a her. I’m on your side, remember? I’m just saying, him cheating is a possibility, and not even all that unlikely.”

“Yeah...you’re right…” I conceded. “I just don’t want to accept it as a possibility, is all.”

Just the idea made me want to weep.

“I get that, I do. You’re a little kooky, I admit, and I don’t always get what you say or do, but I imagine how I’d feel in your position, and if it comes true that that’s what he’s up to, just know that it’s not any fault of yours, and you’re plenty great on your own. You two talked about it and had a deal, and if he can’t respect that, then he should’ve just left.”

“No! No way!” I stamped my foot.

She looked up.

“Or you should just leave, too,” she suggested an alternative. Now that was much better.

“Yes,” I sniffled. I wasn’t crying or anything, I was just really congested due to living near the sea. “Thank you, deary.”

“No prob. For the record, I’m not about to be a relationship counselor or anything. Just common sense, really,” she sounded like she was trying to backpedal, something I found both cute and endearing of a little daughter of mine.

“We’re almost done. You’ll have to let it sit for a bit, but then I’d love to see the amazing seaweed girl that you are,” I informed her.

“Why do I have to be a seaweed girl?”

I let out a grand chuckle and continued working on her scalp. Once we were all done, and I rinsed it all out, I wrapped a down feathered towel around her head and headed out.

“Come see me in an hour, dear, or whenever it’s dried! I’ll be waiting,” I waved and winked as I headed to who knows where. I first thought to enter my bedroom and slip into a nightgown, but then I decided it wasn’t late enough in the night for that, so then I thought to enter the other bathroom and do some light contemplation, but I didn’t even know what that meant, so at last, I decided to do the reasonable thing and lay off to the side on my armchair, my legs dangling off of one end and my head rested against the arm of the chair. Now if only I had a glass of wine or a bottle of perfume, I’d be the definition of exquisite.

My eyelids began to grow heavy and I thought I would take a little nap or nod off, but before I managed to do that, out walked my precious daughter, Demetria, with the towel over her head, and as soon as I looked up, she released the towel and let down her shoulder-length, wavy dark green hair.

“So? What do you think?”

I clapped like an elephant seal.

“Amazing! Ten out of ten! Your hair looks like a fresh bag of spoiled lettuce!”

She slumped over and gave a disgusted look.

“Did you have to make that comparison?”

I failed to see the problem with that, but at her behest, I tried a different one.

“I could put rice on your head and a cut piece of salmon and roll your hair, then eat it all up!”

“Please don’t eat my hair.”

“I’m not saying I would, dear, just that I could.”

“Well, could you not?”

I closed my eyes and smiled.

“Very well, dear.”

Our night was still young, ripe time for the two of us to hit the streets – which meant that she had requested me follow her to Hephaestus’ forge. Ah, my estranged son. He was a bit on the reserved side, but I knew our love for each other was unparalleled.

“It’s so strange stepping in…” I muttered as I opened the wooden door to his weapons shop.

“Why’s that?”

I scratched my cheek and gave an awkward smile.

“Well, you see...he generally doesn’t like it when I visit. He says he doesn’t like to see me.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” She gasped.

“Honey, as the self-proclaimed matriarch of Olympia, I’d say I know my fair share of everyone.”

“Oh. Huh. For some reason, I’m not all that surprised,” she remarked. At that, I gave the door a gentle push with my palm, and the two of us entered.

“Hephaestus!” I bellowed. “My beloved not-yet daughter wishes to have a weapon forged for her!”

“Excuse me?” Demetria looked up. “Not-yet daughter?”

“All in due time, my dear.”

In the beginning, there was nothing. Then thunderous footsteps made shockwaves and little weapons hung on the wall moved in place, some danced along, and a few looked like they were about to fall. On the third footstep entered the bulky frame of Hephaestus, equal measure dispassionate as he was passionate about his craft.

“What are you going on about now, Hera?” He demanded in his bored tone. I knew deep down, he cared with a deep aching. Even if that care had to do with the weapons he forged, and nothing to do with me.

“Hey, remember me?” Demetria stepped up.

Hephaestus squinted, then leaned in. Once he stood back up, he clutched his belly and let out a hearty laugh.

“It’s the friend of the troublemaker, Sunny! Oho, what a surprise! How’s your yakutian knife working out for you? I hope you’ve been treating her well.”

“I have, but I think I’m ready for something new,” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. “I’ve written up the schematics for a brand new weapon. Think you’re up to the task.”

His eyes darted around the page of the sheet of paper and I couldn’t get a single view of what was on it.

“Hmm...Hmm…” he mumbled while looking it over, then at last declared, “your drawings leave a lot to be desired.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not exactly meant to be an artist. But you are, yes?”

“How would I go about making this?” He asked in response, something which baffled me. Wasn’t he the one who could craft any weapon he wanted, and there he was asking such a ridiculous thing?

Demetria set down her backpack and pulled out a bunch of shiny rocks which seemed to move in place. Except they didn’t. I wasn’t really sure, I might have been on acid.

“I’d like you to forge it with this, along with the finest steel you have.”

“What kind of material is this? Is it corrosive, because let me tell you, I will not deal with such toxic metals.”

Demetria shrugged.

“Dunno, but should be fine if you’re wearing gloves. So, what do you say?”

“Girl, even if I am able to make this to your liking, it will cost you dear –”

I interrupted.

“I’ll be paying for all of it,” I informed Hephaestus and I could see sparks fly in Demetria’s eyes, “so the cost won’t even be an issue. Just make this for my soon-to-be-daughter, will you?”

“Hera…” He growled. Not one more word directed my way. Such a shame, but such is life. He instead turned back to Demetria. “I’ll make your weapon. It may take me a while. I can’t give you an estimate as I’ve never worked with such material. Just know that when all is said and done, I’ll be wringing Hera dry.”

“Fine by me,” Demetria replied with a shrug. “By the way, what’s with this ‘daughter’ crap?”

“It’s a Hera thing,” he stated.

“But she’s not my mom,” Demetria argued. It broke my poor little heart to hear such words.

“Not yet. Trust me, girl, she’ll find a way,” he grumbled.

“Well...I’m just not going to pay it any mind and get to work on the task at hand! See you two later!” Demetria ran off out of the store, leaving Hephaestus and I to stare into each other’s eyes with a pronounced longing. Well, his was a longing which said, ‘get out of my sight right now’ as well as a longing to return to his work. Mine was a longing for longing’s sake.

“Why do you insist on trying to adopt every person you deem adorable like they’re a lost puppy?” He spoke at last, breaking the familial tension. Or adding new tension. Either way, they were words.

“It worked out for you, didn’t it?”

“Only because I was already an adult and was living on my own by the time it was revealed I was your son!”

“You have to understand, dear, that mommy was very young and reckless and I employed the surefire method of dropping you off on someone else’s doorstep. Also, for your information, technically speaking, Demetria and I are already related.”

“Oh? Do tell. Wait, never mind. Don’t.”

Too late. He shouldn’t have indulged me.

“You remember Aphrodite, don’t you?” I asked with a Cheshire cat grin spreading across my face.

“Don’t remind me. I’m glad I finally have some space. I was never really into her anyway.”

“Yes, but you did marry her for a short time.”

“Only to shut her up. She kept trying to interrupt my craft.”

“Yes, but you did marry her.”

“Okay, okay! What’s your point?”

“Well,” I leaned up to the glass casing of the counter and folded my hands together, “she was my daughter-in-law, due to you two being married, and now she’s in a relationship with Demetria’s older sister. Check-mate, dear son.”

“I think you’re stretching the definition of being related. And how do you know that?”

If my smile grew any wider, my face would split in two, but I couldn’t help myself.

“See, a while back ago when she first visited, Zeus and I decided to do some sleuthing into Demetria’s family.”

“So in other words, stalking.”

“Oh, but stalking has such a negative connotation. I prefer sleuthing. Anyway, we found out that her eldest sibling, Hestia, was quite beautiful, and single. Which meant she was fair game for either one of us to try to pursue. However, Aphrodite overheard our plans and intercepted us, and somehow managed to woo her.”

“You really are horrible, you know that?”

I waved him off. Children could be so disrespectful.

“Anyway, Hestia is old enough to be one of my daughters, so I think I found a better prize.”

“You don’t mean –”

“Yes. I’m going to pursue Demetria’s mom.”

“What about Zeus?”

Oh shit. I totally forgot about him. He was missing and could be in danger and there I was thinking about romantic conquests. We were still married, after all.

“Never mind that, then. Maybe I’ll keep that plot in the back of my mind in case Zeus is cheating on me.”

“Good news, then: he probably is. That’s his thing.”

“No! He wouldn’t! He’s probably scared and hurt somewhere!”

“Yeah, he probably hurt his penis in a tragic fucking accident,” my vulgar son shot back.

“Enough! Demetria’s looking for him and when she finds him, then you’ll see!”

“No I won’t. I’m going back to my forge. I’m not dealing with this crap.”

“Fine, but you better make the perfect weapon for my precious daughter!” I yelled to him as he walked away.

“She’s not your daughter,” he called back, his voice boomed with a lack of interest in continuing the conversation.

“Not yet!” I yelled, then stormed out.

Nobody was on my side, especially not my son who didn’t like me, but I would show them.

Back at my house, I decided to take matters into my own hands and grabbed my pistol. Before the night was over, I would find my husband if it was the last thing I did. With any luck, Demetria was already close to finding him, so if I found Demetria, I’d find my husband. Win-win.

But in the dead of the night, there were no guarantees. Silent were the streets, and silenter still were the confines of others’ homes. Even with my due diligence and my keen senses, I picked up nothing. Hell, I even tried to use echolocation, and that too failed.

All through the town I crept along and listened for even the slightest of discrepancies. At one point, I thought I heard someone shuffling behind a dumpster, but when I walked into the alleyway, it turned out to just be a rat.

However, when I was willing to give up my search, I heard the sound of someone running by just one street over. Then, a high-pitched shriek pierced through my eardrums. I ran toward the sound at once, and what I saw left me trembling.

Out from an open apartment door ran a screaming, mahogany colored haired woman in a bath towel. Following her was none other than my missing husband, arms stretched out, Zeus.

“Hey! Wait up! I can still go one more round! I may be getting old, but I’ve got the stamina of a donkey!” He called after her.

“Get away! I didn’t know you were married!” She shouted back.

So that’s the seducer! I didn’t even know her name, but that didn’t matter. What was it about her? Younger? Slimmer? Darker hair, maybe? Whatever it was, it had led Zeus astray.

Beside the temptress was Demetria.

No. No way. We had a deal. She was supposed to help me.

“Stop!” I shouted with a firmness that halted everyone in their place. My pistol was aimed at the other woman, then I shifted my aim over to Demetria, then Zeus. Finally, back at the other woman, the true target.

“You. You were the one who took my husband from me!” I declared and my arms shook as I held the pistol. In a panic, the woman pleaded and her lips quivered.

“You’ve got the wrong idea! He came onto me, he said he was just a down on his luck old man!”

“Lies!” My voice grew shrill and I shot at the ground next to her feet. She jumped back and squealed in fear.

“Hera, listen to me, you have the wrong idea!” Demetria jumped to the woman’s defense.

“You’d take her side as well?” I felt a sour taste fill my mouth and I was about ready to vomit.

“I’m not taking her side, I’m trying to explain to you the situation!”

“Enough!” I fired the pistol, a deafening howl which caused me to shake further when I was already shaken.

Dust filled where I had aimed, and when the dust settled, I was in shock over what I saw: there Demetria stood, her arm reached out as well, as a barrier had been erected from a strange device. She was in front of the other woman, and stood tall and proud.

That time, my lips quivered as well, as did my eyelids.

“Why? Why would you deny me my justice?”

“This isn’t justice, Hera,” Demetria replied, her tone flat, yet just as firm, “Maybe if she knew and was willing to go along with it anyway, she’d be culpable as well, but that is not the case.”

“But...but…” tears flooded out from my eyelids and sullied my face. “It hurts so much. Why? What did I do wrong?”

“In this case, nothing. You didn’t have to do anything wrong. The one at fault isn’t you, and it isn’t this woman, it’s Zeus.”

I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. There was no way…

“And you can continue to hate the ones he sleeps with, but the fact remains that the one sleeping around is the one who’s getting away,” Demetria continued with conviction. Then my eyes darted toward Zeus and...damn it! He really was getting away. He started to turn tail and ran.

“Just so you know, it’s not my fault either! Can’t help myself!” He yelled behind him. I pivoted my aim and shot the back of his knee. His head lurched up as he cried out in pain, blood splashed out from the wound in his knee and landed on the concrete beside him.

I walked over to him, slow and deliberate in my motions.

“Geez, woman! Was that really necessary?!” His face was red and it contorted to an upset scowl as he spat out.

“If it’s the only way to get us to talk, then yes,” I informed him.

“Fine. Let’s talk. What is it? What do you want?”

In his enraged state, he looked truly pathetic. But I sure would miss seeing him on his knees. Alas, this wasn’t the type of thing a collar and leash would fix.

“I want you to know that we’re through.”

His faced relaxed, and then turned to a pout.

“But why?” He whined.

“I’m just tired of sleeping around. It used to be fun in the beginning, but now I want someone who only wants me, and you told me that you would stop and be that someone, yet you continue to sleep around.”

“But who will I cheat on now?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll find someone.”

“Sleeping around just won’t be the same without you.”

“You’ll manage. Goodbye, lecherous hairy man.”

I walked off and left him where he was. Next was Demetria.

“Come, daughter-to-be. Let’s head back to my humble abode.”

“Enough with the daughter thing, sheesh!” She complained, but followed anyway. As for that unfortunate woman…

“You in the towel,” I glanced behind me. “As an apology for tonight, I’ll send you a gift basket in the mail.”

“Uh...okay...what?”

Back at my home, I sat and wept, head in my hands.

“What will I do now? I’ve gone most of my life without being single!”

Demetria sat on a small kitchen table with her legs folded.

“Hey, where’s the stupid confident Hera at? The one who says she could have any man, or woman?”

I knew what she was doing: the legendary pep talk.

“Yeah,” I looked up, tears still streaming down my face, “I could have anyone! I may be getting into my sixties, but I’ve still got it! Meryl Streep’s got nothing on me!”

“I don’t know who that is, but that’s the spirit!”

“Anyone would be lucky to be with me, including your mom!”

Demetria blinked, then gave a blank stare.

“Wait, what?”

“There’s nothing wrong with having two moms, hun,” I smiled a crooked smile.

“Yeah, that’s true, but I don’t even know if my mom swings that way, and even if she does, I’m not sure I like the idea of you and my mom dating.”

“Don’t be surprised if it happens. I’m hot stuff,” I snapped my fingers and pretended a flicker of flame was above my hand. There wasn’t any flame, but the imagery was nice.

She slept over that night, and several more nights after until Hephaestus was done with the weapon. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but from what she told me, it was perfect. When I went to ask Hephaestus, he just said:

“Eh. It was a knife,” without any more specifics. I couldn’t believe he’d keep a secret from his own mother, especially since it was regarding his craft.

“I think I’m ready now,” Demetria told me, nearly a month since she first arrived.

“Ready?” I asked, unsure what she meant.

“I’m going to head to the diner in the arctic, where my other family is,” she explained, which I then felt a tinge of jealousy over. But I let it pass.

“Mm...I think I’ve heard about that place. There’s a fog in the area right now. The ferryman won’t operate in such a fog,” I informed her, “if you’re adamant about going, I can give you the coin to a ferryman, but they’ll drop you off somewhere outside of the fog, which means you’ll have to walk the rest of the way through it.”

“So be it. If that’s what I gotta do, then I’ll brave it.”

I admired the courage she had, even if I didn’t see why she would go through such trouble in the first place. From out of a drawer under the coffee table, I fished out a ferryman coin and tossed it to her.

“Thanks! I just realized that before I go, I should dress for the cold. Are there any clothing stores around?”

“Indeed there is. Shall we go shopping?”

“Yes! I think I could use your judgment when it comes to attire.”

I wondered why she thought that, but I appreciated the compliment. Of course, once we went shopping around the streets of Olympia, I began to understand and after she covered herself up, I saw her off.

We’ll meet again, I thought. And maybe by the time we do, I’ll be in the arms of your mother.

#remoras full #intermission #a quick side story before chapter 39 #family #drama #hera #hephaestus #zeus #cheating

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hysterialevi · 4 years

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His Name Was Isaac - Ch. 2

Fanfic summary: During a mission to avenge his mother’s death, Isaac hunts down the men responsible for her murder and kills them off one-by-one, only to discover that his last target is taking refuge among the Van der Linde gang. In an attempt to kill them, Isaac attacks the gang and unknowingly becomes enemies with his own father, who is in the process of fighting his own battle for redemption.

Point of view: third-person

Author’s note: Just wanted to say thank you guys for all the support you gave on the first chapter. I’m definitely excited to write more for you and I hope you’ll stick around for future parts :)

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This story is also on AO3

TWO MONTHS LATER

AURORA BASIN, WEST ELIZABETH

Blackwater.

It was so close.

Dutch could see it.

Somewhere beyond those trees, all the way over the eastern horizon and past the Great Plains, lay the city that started all this. The city that caused the Van der Linde gang to transform from a simple band of outcasts... into a group of killers willing to do anything for a wad of cash.

But was anyone surprised? Probably not.

After Hosea finally succumbed to his illness five years ago, any glimmer of humanity that remained among them instantly vanished. Dutch took full control over the gang and immediately started heading back out west, eager to return to New Austin. Meanwhile, his mental health deteriorated rapidly into a state of paranoia, greed, and an incessant need for power... and the fact that Marston eventually left did little to help matters either.

At the moment, the only original gang members to remain at Dutch’s side were Bill Williamson, Micah Bell, and of course... Arthur Morgan.

Nobody ever questioned Bill or Micah’s sense of loyalty -- they rarely expressed any emotions suggesting otherwise, after all -- but to everyone’s surprise, Arthur decided to stay.

Some of the rumors said he stayed simply because he had no other family to return to. Others implied that he was waiting for Dutch to follow in Hosea’s footsteps before swooping in to become the new leader. But in reality... the reason Arthur had yet to abandon Dutch was mostly due to sentiment.

Despite everything Dutch had done over these past eight years, Arthur could still see a part of the old him lingering inside. Behind all the ravings and robbing and killing, Arthur could sense that there was something more human at Dutch’s core -- something more fatherly -- and he knew it would disappear completely if he left. So, against better judgement, Arthur stayed.

It probably seemed foolish to other people, to stick around like this. But those rare moments when the old Dutch would break through and remind Arthur of the good ol’ days definitely made it worth it. He had nothing else to care about nowadays, and it wasn’t like Arthur could just leave the gang behind. He was old now -- or at least older than before -- and even if he did abandon Dutch, he doubted he’d have enough time to start a new life for himself.

Right now, the only thing Arthur could do was accept that he was destined to be an outlaw for life... and he had.

Putting his tangled thoughts aside for a moment, Arthur returned to the task at hand and roamed down the short corridor, making his way through the derelict cabin as he went to meet Dutch in the living room.

This cabin was nice, Arthur thought, for a place that had been abandoned for so long. He and Micah found it sitting in the middle of nowhere while hunting for food at Aurora’s Basin, and decided it would be the best place to set up their new camp. At least until they finally made their move on Blackwater.

Though, Arthur couldn’t deny that he was worried for Dutch’s wellbeing. Ever since the gang first settled here, the man practically locked himself in the cabin and rarely ever came out.

And whenever he did come out, he always looked so pale. Tired. Sickly, even. Not even close to the man Arthur knew eight years ago. He could’ve sworn that Dutch’s hair was getting grayer every time he saw him, and the way his eyes often stared blankly into the distance did nothing to help ease Arthur’s nerves.

He just hoped it wasn’t too late to bring Dutch back from the edge. He might’ve been a total madman these days, but... even then, he was still like a father to Arthur. And as his son, the last thing he wanted was to see him lose himself completely.

He just feared it might have been too late already.

Finally arriving at the living room, Arthur sauntered through the narrow wooden archway and walked up to Dutch, only to be greeted by a depressing scene.

It was completely dark in here.

All the candles had been snuffed out, the fireplace lay cold with ashes, and the lamp on the ceiling did nothing but swing despondently in the chilling breeze.

At the moment, the only source of light in the room was the one in front of Dutch himself. It was a tall, somewhat cracked window that sat right underneath a broken pendulum clock, and it had a torn bundle of curtains dancing gently around it.

There was an array of pale, white sunbeams pouring through its dusty glass currently, and with the way they embraced Dutch’s figure, he looked like nothing more than a silhouette relaxing in an old rocking chair.

Arthur took a few steps towards the man, hoping to check up on him.

“...Dutch?” He called out quietly. “You, um... wanted to see me?”

The older man slowly glanced over his shoulder at the sound of his name, silently beckoning his friend to come closer once he saw who it was.

When Arthur was at his side, Dutch presented a used handkerchief to him and held it up in the light, making sure the other man could see the blood splatters staining its white fabric.

Arthur eyed the handkerchief with a sorrowful gaze, letting out a morose sigh.

“You ain’t doin’ too good, huh.”

Dutch coughed a few times, his voice raspy from the irritation. “What gave it away?”

Pressing his hands against the armrests, Dutch steadily pushed himself up from the chair and rose to his feet, still facing the window as he continued to talk.

“I’m... I’m dying, son.” He said, almost sounding apologetic. “I can feel it. It won’t be long now before you and Micah are the ones in charge of this gang, and I’m buried in the ground.”

Arthur was admittedly grief-stricken by the news, but did his best to hide it and simply carried on with the conversation.

“...You really think Micah would share that kinda power with me? You know how that man is.”

Dutch put his hands on his hips. “Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know.”

“Well, with all respect, Dutch, I ain’t too comfortable with lettin’ the future of this gang depend on a ‘maybe.”

“Neither am I,” the older man agreed, “but I don’t know what else to do, Arthur. Even after all these years, you and Micah continue to butt heads like a pair of deer who’ve got their antlers tangled. If I’m gonna leave this world in peace, I need to know that you and Micah can work together. Otherwise...”

Dutch’s voice trailed off, leaving Arthur with a sense of dread in his gut.

“Well...” he picked up, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”

Arthur shrugged in uncertainty, leaning against the wall. “So... what d’you wanna do?”

The other man returned to his rocking chair, allowing himself to sink into the flat cushion.

“Nothing. Not yet, at least. For now, we just do things the way we’ve always done them. We head for Blackwater, and we focus on the bank. My death is a bridge we’ll cross once we get to it. In the meantime, though...” Dutch gave Arthur a pleading look, “just try to cooperate with Micah, would you? For my sake. The future of this gang may depend on it.”

The younger outlaw crossed his arms, reluctant to agree but still complying nonetheless.

“...Of course, Dutch.” Arthur replied. “For your sake. I doubt it’ll be easy, though.”

That seemed to please the older man. “Thank you, son. Thank you.”

Leaning back in his chair, Dutch let his head fall back and stretched his legs out, gazing aimlessly through the open window once again.

“Oh... I wish Hosea were here. We had our disagreements from time to time, but no one knew how to keep people together quite like that old boy. It ain’t been the same since he died.”

Arthur shook his head with a sigh. “No, it hasn’t. I just wish John was here, too.”

Dutch glowered at the mention of Marston’s name. “Pfft. That man was a traitor. We’re better off without him.”

“Maybe,” Arthur conceded, “but he was still family.”

“Family don’t turn their back on you, Arthur.” Dutch countered. “If we’re going to survive this year, we’ve got to stick together. You, me, Micah, Bill, Mackintosh -- everyone. We can’t let what happened at Beaver Hollow happen again. You understand?”

The younger man hesitated to answer, unable to deny his skepticism about Dutch’s leadership.

“...I understand.” He replied regardless. The other man managed to display a small smile.

“I knew you would, Arthur.” Dutch said, shutting his eyes in order to get some rest as the day gradually came to an end. “You was always there through thick and thin. Even after John abandoned us and Hosea passed, you stuck around. You’ve been loyal from the start, and that means the world to me. Never forget that.”

Arthur pushed himself off the wall and began heading for the cabin’s front door, letting Dutch get some sleep.

“I won’t, Dutch. I won’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~

SAINT DENIS

GASKILL RESIDENCE

AFTERNOON

“...Gaskill...” Isaac murmured to himself, reading the small note in his hand.

He glanced up at the house in front of him, making sure this was the right place.

“Yep,” he confirmed, talking to his horse. “I think we’re here, Aldo.”

Leaving Aldo at the hitching post, Isaac said goodbye to the majestic creature and stuffed the note back into his pocket, strolling up to the front porch.

The property wasn’t as big as some of the others Isaac had seen along the way, but he still thought it looked rather cozy. It had a total of two stories and was decorated with loads of flowers, trees, grass, and a small water fountain that stood elegantly on the front lawn. There were a few birds perched on the edge of it at the moment, and they chirped happily as the cool water trickled onto their feathers, causing them to flutter their wings joyfully.

As for the house itself, if Isaac’s information was correct, then it belonged to an author by the name of Leslie Dupont. Though, according to the research he’d done, that was just a pen name.

Her actual name was Mary-Beth Gaskill, and word on the street was that she used to be part of the Van der Linde gang... the very same gang Isaac had been tracking down for these past two months.

He had to admit, this “Dutch van der Linde” figure was proving rather difficult to find. For a while now, he had been jumping from person to person -- town to town -- just trying to get even the smallest lead.

At first, Isaac paid a visit to a general store owner named Simon Pearson who apparently used to be the gang’s cook. He talked with him for a while and shared a few drinks, only to realize that the man had a talent for speaking a lot without actually saying anything substantial.

Afterwards, he tracked down another ex-member by the name of Tilly Pierre. She appeared friendly enough and was somewhat more willing to communicate, but Isaac hardly got a word out of her before her husband shooed him away. Didn’t want suspicious folks hanging around their family, he said.

And as if that wasn’t tiresome enough already, Isaac found himself talking to a preacher called Orville Swanson who seemed to have nothing but bad memories of Dutch, and kept going on about how much Isaac reminded him of one of the gang members.

At this point, Isaac was just hoping that this Gaskill woman actually existed. It seemed like every lead he followed up would end up with more questions than answers, and all the people he talked to so far had been less than eager to speak about their experiences with him.

If Miss Gaskill didn’t have anything valuable to give him, he had no idea where he would turn next.

Stepping up to the front door, Isaac gave it a few firm knocks and waited patiently in the garden, eager to speak with this woman. After a moment or two, the door swung open from the inside, revealing Ms. Gaskill herself.

She was a lot more presentable than Isaac expected. In contrast to the rugged, hardened, mean-spirited woman he had been anticipating, Ms. Gaskill actually seemed quite sweet. She had a romantic twinkle in her eye and carried a very inquisitive nature, giving her the look of someone who enjoyed reading books and drinking tea as opposed to the ex-outlaw Isaac heard she was.

“Arthur--!” Ms. Gaskill greeted excitedly, only to cut herself off once she got a better look at her visitor’s face. “Oh, um...” a flustered chuckle escaped her, “s-sorry, mister. I... mistook you for someone else.”

Isaac smiled. “No worries. That seems to happen a lot nowadays.”

The woman cleared her throat. “Can I... can I help you, sir?”

“Yes, actually. Um...” the young man double-checked his note, “...are you Mary-Beth Gaskill?”

She nodded, immediately picking up on the fact that he used her real name. “I am. Who might you be?”

“My name’s Isaac. I apologize for interruptin’ your day like this, but... I was wonderin’ if I could ask you a few questions.”

“What about?”

Isaac hesitated for a second, unsure about how to broach the subject. “...It’s...it’s about the Van der Linde gang. I’ve heard that you used to run with them back in the day, and I was hopin’ you might be able to provide some answers. I’m lookin’ for them, you see.”

To Isaac’s surprise, the response actually seemed to earn him a more colloquial temperament from Ms. Gaskill, as opposed to the suspicious nature his previous visits induced.

“Ah... I think I understand. Of course, of course. Come on in. I’d be happy to help.”

“Thank you, madam. I’ll just be a minute.”

Pushing the door completely open, Ms. Gaskill allowed Isaac to walk in as she made her way to the sitting area, preparing something for them to drink.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” She offered.

Isaac shut the front door behind him, removing his hat. “That’d be lovely.”

Mary-Beth beamed at him, gesturing to the multiple chairs that had been arranged around the room. “Please, have a seat. Make yourself at home.”

Taking in his surroundings, Isaac sat down next to a rather nice end table and placed his hat on his lap, gazing at the decorations scattered throughout the house.

Isaac already pegged Mary-Beth for a bookworm, but he had no idea just how into it she truly was. There were numerous bookshelves filled to the brim with horror stories, mysteries, comedies, tragedies... but most of all, romances.

They seemed to occupy the shelves more than any other genre, and just by looking at the small ribbons sticking out from between their pages, it was evident that Mary-Beth was busy working her way through quite a few of them at the same time. He wondered what that said about her as a person.

“Here you go,” Ms. Gaskill said as she handed him a cup of coffee, breaking Isaac out of his thoughts. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Isaac gently brought the cup into his grasp, holding it securely as the smell of freshly-brewed coffee beans reached his nose. “Thank you.”

Giving him a smile in response, Mary-Beth retrieved her own cup of coffee before taking a seat across from the young man, admittedly intrigued by his motive for being here.

“So...” she started, “you’re lookin’ for the Van der Linde gang. May I ask why?”

Isaac took a sip. “Well, truth be told, I ain’t really concerned about the whole gang. I’m just lookin’ for a specific person who I’ve been told is with them.”

Ms. Gaskill formed her own conclusion. “So, you’re a bounty hunter?”

“In a way, I guess. Only difference is I’m not doing this for the money. My reasons are more personal.”

The young woman nodded in understanding. “I see. And how did you know I used to be with them?”

“Your friend Mr. Swanson directed me to you.”

A nostalgic look spread across Mary-Beth’s face at the sound of Swanson’s name.

“Oh, Mr. Swanson...” she reminisced warmly, “it’s been many years since I last saw him, but he was always so kind. Lost, perhaps, but kind. How is he nowadays?”

“He’s doin’ well, I think,” Isaac answered honestly. “He’s a minister now, up in New York. I don’t know what he was like when you knew him, but... Swanson seemed to be content with his life, if a bit remorseful.”

“That’s good to hear,” Ms. Gaskill said, her expression dimming slightly afterwards. “Too many of my friends from the old days ended up dead, missing, or just straight-up insane... so I’m glad that at least someone besides Tilly turned out okay.”

She downed some of her coffee, changing the subject. “But enough about that. You said you had questions about the Van der Linde gang?”

“I do.”

“Well...” Mary-Beth set her coffee down, “what would you like to know?”

Isaac decided to start at the top, inquiring about the leader himself.

“...What kind of a man is Dutch van der Linde?” He asked. “What can I expect from him?”

Ms. Gaskill chuckled at the question. “I used to ask myself the same thing everyday.”

Isaac smirked. “He’s unpredictable, I take it?”

“Understatement of the century. Though, to be fair, Dutch wasn’t always like that. When I first joined their gang, he actually saved me. A couple of men had just caught me stealin’ from them and were chasing me over the hills until Dutch scared them off. He was so generous back then. So passionate.”

“Yeah?” Isaac noted. “How so?”

Mary-Beth leaned forward, gesturing with her hands. “Well, even though Dutch was technically an outlaw, he never really came across as one. He was more like a teacher, or a guardian. A father even, to some. He loved us all, and we loved him, but...”

A melancholic sigh escaped the young woman. “...things just... spiraled out of control. As the years passed by, civilization began to spread, the law started killin’ our people, and eventually, Dutch just... snapped. In the end, he was more akin to a tyrant than anything, and the gang fell apart within a few short months. That was when I decided to run away with my friends, but... not everyone made it.”

Mary-Beth’s expression sank with sorrow, causing Isaac to blurt out an apology.

“I-I’m sorry, Ms. Gaskill. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” She reassured. “I just wish things could’ve turned out differently, y’know? Not everyone in the gang was rotten. Some of them were actually quite wonderful... but it’s rarely the good ones who survive. I’m just surprised to hear that the Van der Linde gang is still going. I thought the rest of them would’ve scattered to the winds by now.”

Isaac drank some more of his coffee. “D’you have any idea where I could find them?”

Ms. Gaskill thought for a moment. “Well, if there’s anythin’ I know about Dutch, it’s that he probably headed back to the west.”

The young man quirked a brow. “The west? That’s a pretty big region. You have any specific states in mind? Or cities? Anything that could narrow it down?”

“Hmm... Dutch used to talk a lot about New Austin,” she suggested. “Apparently, he’s quite fond of the desert. Said it made him feel closer to the sky. I know he was always eyeballin’ that town Blackwater, too.”

“Blackwater...” Isaac repeated, mentally marking the town as his next point of interest. “I’ve been there a few times. Do you know why he’d be hangin’ around there?”

Mary-Beth shrugged. “No idea. All I know is that eight years ago, a ferry job in Blackwater nearly finished the whole gang. Perhaps Dutch feels like he has unfinished business there. Probably sees the town as a trophy he never got to win.”

“Hmm... that makes sense. And what about his numbers? How many men did Dutch have when you was with him?”

The woman conjured up a quick estimation. “Roughly two dozen, I think. Possibly a few more. But I can’t imagine he has that many people following him around these days, considerin’ how maniacal he was when I last saw him.”

“I see. So, he’s likely got a good chunk of people with him.”

The young man finished his coffee and placed the empty mug on the end table, preparing to leave.

“Well, I think I’ve gotten all the answers I needed, Ms. Gaskill. Thanks for takin’ the time to help me out. I really appreciate it.”

Mary-Beth smiled sincerely. “Anytime. It was good to talk about the old days, no matter how chaotic they might’ve been. I just hope you can find whomever it is you’re lookin’ for. Are they a friend of yours?”

Isaac chuckled. “Hardly. Quite the opposite, actually.”

“Ah. So you’re trackin’ down an enemy. Well, be careful out there, then. Things may be more civilized nowadays, but many gangs still roam the country. Not to mention that Dutch himself is exceptionally dangerous. Stay safe during your search.”

The man rose to his feet, heading to the door. “I will. Believe me. Oh, and um... Ms. Gaskill?” Isaac threw a look of gratitude at her, putting his hat back on before stepping out into the sun. “Thanks for the coffee.”

#red dead redemption #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #arthur morgan #isaac morgan #dutch van der linde #Micah Bell #mary-beth gaskill #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 oc

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five-rivers · 4 years

Text

Daydreams

Phic Phight Phic! Based on a prompt by Alexa Piper!

Daydreams

The observatory had been de-funded and shut down almost a year ago, a result of light pollution from Amity Park, the frightening proximity of ghost attacks, and all the scientists quitting when the Guys in White shot a missile at it while chasing Danny, breaking the mirrors of the main telescope.

Good times.

Still, the observatory was a good place to go stargazing, and Danny had sort of made it his unofficial haunt. It wasn't as if anyone was using the building, after all. No one minded if he brought in some of his parents' old computers, or replaced the telescope's mirrors with his ghostly ice. He wasn't bothered or harassed when he brought in his old mattress and sleeping bag, or when he brought in a mini-fridge he'd gotten for cheap at a garage sale and one of his parents' prototype ecto-converters.

It was nice, to have a place he could go. Somewhere to hide if things went bad. Somewhere he could bring his friends, or just be himself.

He taped another star chart to the wall. He'd found this one in the bottom drawer of one of the desks at the bottom level. It was a bit ratty around the edges, but it had cool retro vibes. He smiled, smoothing it out.

He really loved space, loved astronomy, loved the stars. He couldn't get enough of them, even here.

On some level, he knew his ghost half had latched on to his love of space. His thoughts of the stars had the same vibrant intensity as his deep-seated need to see his people happy and safe. Heck, if he was stargazing while in ghost form, he'd wind up with constellation-shaped freckles. He didn't like to think about that, though. The fact that he had Obsessions. He never talked about it, even if he was sure Sam, Tucker, and Jazz could see it. The idea of his... ghostly needs being used against him scared him too much.

But, when he was here, or when he was with his smiling friends and family, it was so easy to forget all about that. So easy to be happy himself.

So, he did.

He floated himself back onto his mattress and sighed. Being at home was too stressful right now. As he did with increasing frequency, he planned to sleep here, tonight.

A patch of night seeped through the ceiling of the observatory and blended perfectly with the star charts hung on the walls. It crept, silent, to pool in the shadows under Daniel Fenton-Phantom's makeshift bed.

Nocturne had been watching this place for some time. At first, he thought to make it his new base, after his foothold in the mattress factory had been discovered and dislodged. After all, a ruined observatory fit with his theme.

He had, however, been surprised to discover that Phantom, of all people, had claimed it as his own.

The younger ghost hadn't shown any signs of being interested in space before. It didn't fit his theme, which was entirely based on comic book superheroes. Still, Nocturne could recognize the signs of a dual Obsession as well as any ghost, and better than some.

A thin line of mist escaped Phantom's lips, and his eyes flickered open. Nocturne struck, pushing him back to sleep. He had done this several times, now.

He had tried trapping Phantom in dreams once or twice, before finding the observatory, but somehow the little brat always seemed to find a flaw in the dream and wake himself up. He had tried attacking him while he was held under, asleep, but, again, Phantom woke up. It was intensely frustrating.

But, now, with him sleeping out here, alone, most nights, Nocturne had a freer hand. He had more time to work with, more time to be subtle. To be delicate.

It was fortunate that Nocturne's theme and Phantom's second Obsession meshed so well. One could almost say that the stars were smiling on Nocturne.

Nocturne was certainly smiling on them.

He touched one tendril of darkness to the back of Phantom's neck, nurturing a dream, and slipped another under his twitching eyelid. If everything went well, he would test his progress tomorrow.

Danny shivered as his ghost sense went off as he stepped into the school building. He groaned. He'd been hoping to make first period on time today. If this was the Box Ghost again, he was going to snap.

He ducked into the bathroom, went ghost and-

-it suddenly occurred to him how nice Venus would be tonight. It would be almost at its furthest possible distance from the Sun, as viewed from Earth, so it would be bright. The moon would be new, too, so the seeing would be even better. It would be a great time to try out the telescope, he was pretty sure he'd fixed the hydraulics. He could see it in his minds eye-

He blinked, hard. Wow. He'd never zoned out that hard on the way to a ghost fight. In class sure, but... He shook himself. He had things to do.

The results, Nocturne mused, weren't exactly impressive, but he had expected that. It would take time for the seeds he had planted to come to fruition.

He watched Phantom dance through the sky, fighting Ember, and gave the metaphysical string that currently tied Phantom to him another little tug. Phantom didn't slip into a daydream, didn't even pause in his assault, but he saw the moment when Phantom's focus wavered, and Ember did, too.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

Danny had stars on his mind today. It seemed like every time he blinked, there they were. His focus was trashed. How could he concentrate on the French Revolution when the history of the stars was so much longer, more violent, more dramatic, more majestic?

Maybe he had been spending too much time at the observatory. But he deserved something for everything he went through, didn't he? He could treat himself now and again, right?

"Are you feeling okay, Danny?" asked Sam.

"Y-Yeah," said Danny. "Just a little tired, I guess."

"Right," said Sam. "Have you been sleeping at the observatory again?"

"Maybe."

"Well, maybe you should try a real bed tonight."

"Maybe," said Danny, not wanting to commit when his parents could be brewing who-knows-what in the kitchen sink again.

Sam gave him one last concerned look before turning down her street. Tonight was a patrol night, but she wouldn't be joining because she had family over.

Danny chased the ghost beaver who, until a few minutes ago, had been merrily chewing down telephone poles, through the storm drains under Amity Park. They burst from the ground in a relatively dark residential neighborhood, and Danny had to stop for a minute to stare up at the sky.

He'd never be able to get over just how beautiful the stars were.

A human shrieked in the distance and Danny cursed as he realized the ghost beaver had gotten away.

Alright. Enough was enough. Danny wasn't always the most focused person, but the past couple of days he had been a total space cadet. This couldn't continue. He couldn't let his hobby get in the way of saving people's lives, and that's what it was doing.

Fine. No more indulging himself. No more nights at the observatory. No more astronomy books. No more space documentaries. No more stargazing. Not until he could get himself under control.

If the Phantom hadn't been such a thorn in his side, Nocturne would almost pity the boy.

As Nocturne watched from a distance, it became obvious that Phantom had no idea how to manage his Obsessions. Nocturne had to wonder if he even knew what they were, with how he was behaving. His ignorance was, well, painful. Clearly, the boy needed some kind of instruction.

Well. Nocturne could provide that. Later. In the meantime, this just made it easier for Nocturne.

After all, you couldn't stop yourself from being hungry by refusing to eat.

"Danny," said Tucker, gently shaking his shoulder. "Hey, man, are you okay?"

"Uh?" said Danny, peeling his face off his hand. "What? What's going on?"

"School's been over for five minutes," said Tucker.

"Oh," said Danny, blinking. He'd- He'd missed all of class. Not really a loss, honestly, since it was history and Pluto was a fascinating planet with-

No. Stop that. Stop.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Tucker.

"I don't know," said Danny. "I just keep zoning out. I don't know why."

"Could it be, you know, a ghost thing?"

It certainly could. In fact, Danny knew perfectly well it was a ghost thing. Specifically, his ghost thing.

He forced a smile. "No, I don't think so. I probably just have ADHD or something." What would his friends think, if he couldn't even control his own mind anymore? He'd always been troubled by the thought of his friends finally realizing what a freak he was and abandoning him, but now even the slightest hint of risk in that direction seemed untenable.

"If you're sure," said Tucker, dubiously. "I mean, you're the expert."

"Yeah," said Danny.

"So, feeling up for the Nasty Burger?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

Nocturne glided from shadow to shadow, just out of range of Phantom's annoying ghost sense. This would be the moment of truth. The moment he found out whether or not all his planning and careful preparations payed off.

Finally, he loomed up, over the three teenagers, and pulled, hard, on the strings he had tied to Phantom. Phantom gasped and froze, but then relaxed, just marginally. Nocturne saw tiny stars flare to life in the dark space of Phantom's pupils, and then that darkness expanded, pushing at the boundaries of Phantom's irises.

Then one of Phantom's little human friends started shouting at him, shooting at him. Nocturne's lips curled these humans had put him through quite a bit of trouble during his first attack on this city. It was time for some payback.

He seized the more annoying of the two in one hand, bringing him up to eye level. "Well, now, what do we have here?" The human screamed.

Abruptly, he felt his hold on Phantom slip.

Curses. He had moved too soon.

Danny hung in the air, hands on his knees, panting. He had driven Nocturne off, barely, but... He put a hand to his face. What was wrong with him.

"What's wrong with you?" shouted Sam, echoing his thoughts. "You just let him grab Tucker!"

"Sam-" said Tucker.

"No, she's right," said Danny, drifting down and returning to human form. "I don't know what happened. I'm sorry."

Sam frowned, heavily. "I know you've been going through something this past week, Danny," she said. "But, really. I hate putting all this on you, but... I mean, you're the only one who can fight ghosts like Nocturne."

"We're here to help," said Tucker. "But we can only help if you let us."

Danny looked down at his feet. He had doodled little stars all over the white parts of his shoes, so that didn't really help.

"At least talk to Jazz," said Tucker. "I know you don't like to, but... She does know about stuff."

"You think I'm going crazy?" asked Danny.

"No," said Tucker. "Just, maybe that you need to talk about things."

"You don't have to tell us if you really don't want us to know," said Sam. "We all know about secrets, but... This is hurting you."

"Alright," said Jazz, after Danny finished explaining. "I think I get what you're saying. But, um, are you sure this is you?"

"What do you mean? I'm definitely the one spacing out."

"Yes, but... This just feels like something Nocturne would do. You said he was the one you were fighting?"

"Yeah," said Danny, picking at the ruffle on Jazz's pillow. "But I was doing this before he showed up."

"Before you saw him show up," corrected Jazz.

Danny glared. "Why are you so against it being my fault?"

"Why are you so insistent that it is?" countered Jazz.

Danny shrugged, trying to put as much anger into the gesture as possible.

"What if," said Jazz, steepling her fingers and leaning forward in her desk chair, "we try triggering whatever it was that made you, um, space out?"

"What? No!"

"I'll be right here to snap you out of it, or whatever," said Jazz. "Then, maybe, we can figure out what's causing it."

"I know what's causing it!" snapped Danny, slamming the pillow down on Jazz's bed.

"Oh," said Jazz, blinking. "You do?"

"It's because I'm a freak!" he said.

Jazz's face fell, though she tried to cover it up. "That's Spectra talking," she said, sternly. "You aren't a freak." She reached towards him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "You're my little brother, and you're a hero."

"But this is getting in the way of that," said Danny, fighting back tears. "I almost let Nocturne hurt Tucker."

"But you didn't. And you'll always be my little brother, no matter what."

"It's- it's still coming from me, though," said Danny. "Because I have Obsessions." He rubbed his eyes, even though they were still dry.

"Well," said Jazz, "we'll just have to figure out how they work, then, won't we?"

Jazz watched as Danny squared his shoulders and stared resolutely at the wall. It had taken some convincing, but Danny had agreed to try and trigger an 'episode.' Jazz thought he might be dissociating, or experiencing some kind of fugue state- But, at the same time, she knew those were both pretty extreme diagnoses, the conditions the sort of things that would wind up in thrillers, and the truth was probably something less 'exciting.'

"This isn't working," said Danny.

"Well, maybe that's a good thing?" said Jazz. "But... Try to think about what you were thinking about when it happened before."

Danny grumbled. Slowly, though, he began to relax.

Jazz tilted her head. There was something off about his eyes. His pupils were growing larger. Too large. She frowned. He should be in pain from the light at that dilation. Her own eyes widened. Human pupils didn't get that large. Or that sparkly.

She scooted back, just a little bit.

The black spilled into his sclera, then out of his eyes altogether as it reached his lower eyelids, dripping down his face like tears.

Nocturne started with surprise as Phantom gave their link a tentative tug. Then he smiled, taking up the slack. Perhaps he hadn't overreached after all.

He reeled Phantom in. When the child was looking for dreams, it was easy to lure him in, to trap him.

Now... First thing. Those eyes. Keep them filled with stars. Then, if the boy was going to be his sleepwalker, he had better look the part. That raggedy old outfit would never do. Might as well make him pretty, paint his skin with stars, dust them through his hair.

There. That worked.

"Sam?" said Jazz, her voice crackling with static over the phone.

"Yeah? What's up?" asked Sam, sprawled on her bed. "Did Danny talk to you?"

"Yeah, but I think I screwed up."

"Hey, don't worry. He doesn't stay mad at people for long, you kn-"

"No, no, it isn't that. It's a ghost thing."

"Well, we sort of figured it was related to his ghost half."

"No, I mean, as in mind control, Sam. It's a mind control thing. He like, got stars, like Nocturne all over him, and his clothes melted, and maybe his eyes, too? I'm freaking out here, Sam."

"Okay, okay," said Sam. She was no longer lying on her bed. The dress box she kept her heavy anti-ghost ordnance in was open on her braided rug. She needed something that could do damage but not permanently hurt Danny... tough call. "What are you doing right now?"

"Gearing up," said Jazz. "I'm freaking out, not totally irrational."

"And where's Danny?"

"Jumped out the window. He's in human form, Sam, and he's dripping stars. His footprints are black. He's leaving puddles. Puddles of stars. I hate this so much. I'm going to end Nocturne, I swear."

"No complaints here," said Sam.

This was amazing, walking through space like this. The stars sparkled. Nebulae intersected his path like veils of light. The planets orbited around him, like a celestial crown. Something thick and wet dripped down his face, but it didn't matter. The stars danced. He wanted to touch them.

Tucker was already asleep. So was half the town, all of them just keeled over in place, black and starry hand prints on their shoulders, faces, and backs.

Danny had been busy. They hadn't seen Nocturne yet. By mutual agreement, Sam and Jazz were avoiding Danny and looking for the real culprit.

This was, however, hard to do when Danny stepped out from an alleyway, right in front of them, an absent smile on his face, his eyes fixed on something overhead.

"You go," said Jazz. "You have more experience than I do. I'll distract him."

"With what?"

"Psychology."

"God, that's cheesy."

Sam turned and ran back the way they came.

Jazz cursed under her breath as Danny slowly walked towards her. Either this was going to work, or it wasn't, and, if it did, she was going to feel terrible because she knew Danny was insecure about his ghostly qualities, and-

Right, he was getting closer.

Jazz took a deep breath a screamed.

Something echoed through the space around him. He frowned. That wasn't right.

The sound came again. This time, he recognized it as a scream, but-

You couldn't hear things like that in space.

You couldn't walk in space, either.

In the scream was a cry for help.

The illusion crumbled around him.

"I'm so sorry, guys," said Danny. "If it wasn't for me-" He wiped away a tear with the heel of his hand. "You all could have gotten hurt so bad."

"But we didn't," said Tucker.

"It wasn't your fault, anyway," said Sam.

"But it was. If I wasn't like this, if I didn't have this weakness, everything would have been fine." He clenched his fists.

They were meeting in Danny's room today, as the most parent-free indoor space currently available to them. Nocturne had yet to be found, but they were pretty sure whatever hold he had over Danny had been broken.

"Hey," said Sam, "we've all been there."

"I've been there twice. I'm useless."

Jazz met Sam and Tucker's eyes over Danny's bowed head.

"You're the least useless out of all of us," said Jazz, "and I've been doing some research, before this happened, I mean, about ghost psychology. I know I don't understand what you're going through, but maybe I can help?"

"I don't know," mumbled Danny.

"Or maybe you could talk to Frostbite? Or Dora?" suggested Jazz. "They're ghosts, and they have Obsessions," she felt Danny flinch under her hand, "but they're still good, right? And both of yours- both of yours are fine. Nothing evil about them."

For a moment, Jazz worried that she had gone too far. She knew Danny didn't want to talk about that, not directly, so why did she bring it up?

Danny groaned. "Why do you always have to be right?"

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2020

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grownups-are-the-real-monsters · 4 years

Text

Here Today

Summary: Beaver spotted the man first as he & Jonesy strolled towards Derry’s kissing bridge, hand-in-hand. He was hunched over himself in a way that had to be might uncomfortable. Beaver stopped his loud laughter when Jonesy let go of his hand. For safety.

They’d just bow their heads, walk past and maybe come back later to attend to their business if they saw fit. At least, that could have been the plan had Beaver not recognized the stranger.

Fandoms: IT & Dreamcatcher

Ships: Reddie, Jonesy/Beaver

Word Count: 3,708

There was a man with bad posture sitting on the kissing bridge.

A couple of things were wrong with him. Some were simply symptoms of a common cold (the cough, the stuffiness & the sneeze). But what was left (the breakdowns, the depression & sudden fondness for his hell-hole hometown) were signs of a problem much larger than that of a ‘sick-bug’.

The man with awful posture was re-entering a period of mourning. Like the time of the werewolf; the moon snuck up on Richie Tozier two nights ago and reduced him to a sad, hairy man. Slobbery too. But slobbery with tears.

Each of his loser’s club pals had reached out to him that morning. Their texts were loving & perfect but awkward (through no fault of their own). Who knew what to say to their best friend who’d never officially come out of the closet on the anniversary of the man he never got to confess his full-love to’s death? Hallmark didn’t have the best cards for that. Some. But not a lot.

Mike Hanlon had encouraged his Idea to come on down to Derry over the phone when he’d hesitantly pitched it. Once Richie told him about the carving, Mike told him to go on & head-out. Pay a sentimental visit instead of succumbing to his usual coping mechanism of crying & watching movies for straight men. ‘She’s Out of My League’ had been his original plan for the afternoon.

But sweet Mike was right, as he often was. So Richie negotiated a week off with his agent before the ‘real work’ in his schedule started. He came home...to the place where he’d grown-up...the place which housed some of his fondest and some of his most horrifying memories. It was that strange sort of balance that kept any feeling but numb at bay.

{R + E}

It had still been there, of course. He hadn’t expected any Derry hooligans' to scratch it off or some shit. But it was still sort of surreal to be back again. He traced his fingers along the thick, cut-open lines just as he’d done down the tender ripped skin of Eddie’s wound two years ago. He shouldn’t have been as squeamish this time, considering it was only carved wood not the yanked-open & festering skewer hole of his loved one (Ha! He laughed like a disturbed & deeply depressed Fozzy Bear at that one!)

That had been a little over twenty minutes ago but Richie still hadn’t left. He sat now at the edge with his legs hung over the side. Not completely ready to go back to his lonely motel room. He thought about the Losers having to pull him off Eddie’s body down in the sewers which eerily lead him to his Halloween costume six or so years ago...Tom Petty’s get-up in the ‘Mary Janes Last Dance’ Video.

He felt a sudden urge to vomit and cry at the same time. Because there was truly no way to avoid the pain. It would just have to hammer in his chest until it either passed or killed him. He couldn’t run from himself or his memories for very long. He felt a sick sensation of missing the time he’d first left Derry & was forced to forget everything and everyone. At least then...

No. He hated that he could even think about wanting that. He would just have to keep learning how to live without Eddie Kaspbrak. Shouldn’t be too damn difficult, huh?

: : : : : :

Beaver spotted the man first as he & Jonesy strolled towards Derry’s kissing bridge, hand-in-hand. He was hunched over himself in a way that had to be might uncomfortable. Beaver stopped his loud laughter when Jonesy let go of his hand. For safety. Derry was nowhere near as bad as it’d once been but you couldn’t be too careful when it came to displaying your sexuality in front of strangers, sadly.

Though still, the boys held love for their home-town. After all, it was the setting of their found family and nothing was more important than the good ol’ SSDD gang.

They’d just bow their heads, walk past and maybe come back later to attend to their business if they saw fit.

At least, that could have been the plan had Beaver not recognized the stranger. “Jesus Christ-Bananas!” he yippee’d in that voice Jonesy usually adored but was slightly annoyed by in the moment. “That’s Richie fucking Tozier!”

“A very distressed looking Richie Tozier.” Jonesy corrected, hoping they were giving the man enough space & privacy that he couldn’t notice them yet. He nver understood his boyfriend’s obsession with the guy. To Jonesy, Richie Tozier seemed like any other straight white comedian. “We should probably leave him alone, Beav.”

Beaver’s beautiful joy snapped into an accepted disappointment as he observed the man in front of them. Jonesy could see the ache to rush over was hard for him to hold back. It pained him just to see his boyfriend so deflated. Teased by such a great possible experience-

“I’ll be leaving soon, if that’s what you’re worried about!”

Came a sudden friendly & very Richie Tozier like voice. Beaver just about shouted as they jumped their eyes over to meet the stranger’s. He was tall and a little gangly with Buddy Holly glasses sliding down his nose.

“Actually we were just trying to decide which one of us was going to rob you...” Beaver chuckled awkwardly & so unlike him. “We were gonna do a coin toss for it.” He added before slamming his hand against his forehead (quite forcefully too). “That was a joke, sorry...a dumb joke...” He mumbled. Jonesy couldn’t hold back his amused grin but resisted his urge to pull Beav closer. Instead, he walked forward to their conversation ahead, an eager yet embarrassed boyfriend following him.

“You’re Richie Tozier!” Beaver repeated.

“Beaver’s a bit starstruck.” Jonesy smirked. “He gets this same way whenever he sees a famous comedian just chilling in our hometown.” He chuckled and pretended not to notice Mr. Tozier’s red eyes. He got the feeling---actually it was more than that, he could very well tell the man was caught between a rock & a hard place with the little...trick he & the gang each possessed.

“Hey, that’s ok with me.” He laughed & pushed his glasses up his nose. “Don’t see any paper...want me to sign a body part or something?” He joked and Jonesy knew exactly how Beaver would try and continue the joke so...

The taller friend slapped his palm over ‘Beavers’ mouth which made that squeaky old man laugh escape Richie.

“Gary Jones. You cane call me Jonesy.” The young man held out his free hand to shake in a charming gesture which said ‘We do this bit all the time’. It hit Richie right in the grief bone again.

“Joe Clarendon. But my friends call me Beaver.” And just like that, Beav’s confidence was back.

Richie noticed the way Jonesy practically glowed when his friend spoke. “Richie Tozier.” He felt the need to introduce himself, like an idiot, even though they obviously knew his name. “But you can just call me ‘your hero’, I guess.” He laughed at his own lame joke which seemed to make the Beaver-guy light up again.

He looked them up and down. They looked about twenty or twenty-one to Richie. Beaver was a short but made up for it in hair, which was long & hippie-like. He respected that. Most of his body up top was covered by a large Fonzie-Jacket & the bottom was all about the Doc Martens. Richie felt like he was looking at a bit of a modernized version of his younger self.

Jonesy was going for a much calmer look of a light-blue flannel and sneakers. They looked like quite the pair.

“What’s a guy like you doing in a town like this?” Beaver grinned, charm oozing so easily off him. One of the reasons Jonesy fell in love with him so quickly.

Richie chuckled, swiping his thumb under his nose. “Thought I’d visit my old stomping grounds.” He shrugged.

Jonesy shared a quick look with Beav as a feeling shot up his body. He got the idea through their...special talent that there was more to that story. And by the look of it, so did Beav.

“There’s no way you grew up here. I would’ve known that!” Beaver smacked a hand to his chest. “Jesus-Christ-Bananas!”

Richie quirked his brow at the Beav-ism & Jonesy briefly thought he might ignore it or roll his eyes like most strangers but instead...“Mary, Joseph & the whole fruit basket!” He shook his head. Beav looked like he might burst with respect and adoration. It was just about the cutest thing Jonesy had ever seen. “I can’t believe it myself sometimes.”

The Beav takes a toothpick from his new wooden container (a gift from Mrs. Cavell) and pops it between his teeth. He thought-no-he knew that Rich Tozier was doin’ a voice. Not an outrageous one like he sometimes did on stage but one that said ‘I’m alright. Doing just fine. Nothing to see here’ and all at once Beav felt a little bad for bothering him again.

“I ran around with a little gang of dorks.” He laughed, 100% sure he was about to dumb a lot of his tory onto these poor boys. Not all but some. “Lost one of them two years ago today...” He frowned and looked conflicted before adding “In the flood.”

The boys started to nod but where Jonesy felt a pinch of something wrong in his mind, Beaver started having a full-on attack about it. Like in the old days. Days of Grenadeau and Josie. Jonesy felt his boyfriend shaking and looked to see him trying to repress it to the best of his ability before lurching forward with a grunt that sounded painful.

Richie ducked down like he might try to catch him if he fainted but Beaver popped back up with sweat running down his temple.

‘What happened?’ Jonesy sent a message through his mind almost completely accidentally.

Beaver looked up, looking deeply deeply disturbed and scared. He’d seen images he could not for the life of himself comprehend. ‘Dark places. Large sharpened legs stabbing through somebody's body? Something like that. Screaming and...?’ He looked at Richie. “New shit today, Jonesy.” He felt vomit whirl up his throat but he swallowed quickly. “I saw a clown?”

Richie widened his eyes before vomiting over the edge of the bridge.

“Major gross-out!” Beaver whistled as he heard the plops of chunky puke hit the water. Jonesy looked a little green himself after Rich came up, wiping his mouth with general looking shock.

Beaver was about to make another kind of joke when he noticed the guttural growl the comedic-stranger made as his body lurched forward. He hoped the guy could catch his breath before he choked on any more reverse meals.

He stepped forward to offer him the bandana he kept in the jacket pocket but when they briefly touched hands, another sight hit him that was just as shockingly awful as the last-----

‘Beads of blood dotted the corners of Richie’s torn lips. Hands incapable of remaining clutched with the slickness of the sweat pooling in his palms. He had Eddie kneeling between his skinny legs who was trying to communicate something to him but the most Richie could think to do in those fatal seconds was to hope for a few things.

The kind of hopes that were important to someone at the delicate age of forty.

A large thump above his head made him flinch, Eddie’s fist briefly slamming hard under his chin. He fought back his pain filled yelp by clasping his palm over his wet mouth. His eyes darted wildly back and forth behind the minimal cracks on his glasses.

The second hand dirt that he’d gathered on his piss colored shirt was now having a wipe down of maroon.

Only the dye-job didn’t come from him. Rather, Eddie Kaspbrak who was now wailing above him as Pennywise waved him around like a magic wand.

The hair on the back of his neck stood. He popped his hand off the tight grip he’d had on his chin. The satisfying pop sound came with a small following gurgle. Gasps of choked breaths rushed out from his clotting throat.

But none of that mattered because the love of his life was being murdered right in front of him.

He screamed.’

Beaver screamed too. Not as loud but just as horribly pained.

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

“So let me get this straight...” Richie paced back-and-forth on the bridge while Beaver & Jonesy tried to follow him, amusingly. They’d each given each other new and semi-honest backgrounds now. Richie’s was hard to understand without all the pieces but beyond crazy still. “You’re in a group of friends, from Derry-” He laughed like a crazy person. Beaver loved it. And oddly, so did Jonesy. “And you all have these...powers?”

Jonesy nodded, now walking in-pace with the older man. “You got it.” He chuckled.

“There’s five of us. How many do you have?” Beaver added, standing on his tip-toes.

Richie stopped moving. “There’s seven-” He paused. Thinking of the cruel way Stanley & Eddie had been taken away from them. “Five left though.” He looked like he wanted a cigarette so Beaver instinctively held out a tooth-pick.

When the comedian actually took it, Jonesy saw Beaver smile so wide it looked like it might break his gorgeous little face. For a moment the pair so alike just stared at each other. It was something of a little stand-off that Jonesy was about to question when a different thought popped into his brain. “Whoever died this day-?”

Richie slid down against the wood and sat. “Eddie.” His eyes glazed over for a moment before falling on tiny Beaver’s huge Doc Martens.

Jonesy swallowed, hoping yet knowing he wasn’t wrong. “Was he your...?” He licked his lips in thought. But Richie cut him off by looking back up with freshly-red eyes.

“Almost. Maybe.” He shrugged, rolling his toothpick to the other side of his mouth. “Slipped through my f-f-fingers-fuck. Starting to sound like stuttering Bill.” He laughed but the boys weren’t sure who that was.

The three of them were now sitting on the bridge together.

“He didn’t know. We left him down there and he didn’t even fucking know I was in love with him.” He sighed, not wanting to think about how weird the day was starting to become. “He was afraid of the dark.” He shrugged, holding the tooth-pick between his fingers, rolling it back-and-forth.

“Taste good like a cigarette should, huh?” Beaver mumbled after a few minutes and again Jonesy was sure that Richie wouldn’t appreciate that reaction but the man surprised him with a hearty laugh.

“It’s like the song says; I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. Seen sunny days that I thought would never end. Seen lonely times when I could not find a friend. But I always thought that I’d see you again...” Beaver raised his tooth-pick, Richie followed without question & Jonesy raised his pinky finger.

“How’d you get to be such a funny kid, huh?” Richie quirked his brow.

Jonesy smiled. “Born that way.” He slapped Beav’s knee gently.

“Overactive imagination and anger issues.” Beaver pushed Jonesy back by the face and giggled when Jonesy just let him do it.

Richie watched the short little spitfire slap-fight his pal and felt sick to his stomach by how much the young man reminded him of himself...and of Eddie only with a tooth-pick holder clutched in his hands instead of the inhaler.

Jonesy felt a short breeze pass over them. “Beav brought me here to show me some carving he did when we were little.” He glanced at his boyfriend with extreme affection. Both knew Richie was safe now.

“Our initials in a heart!” Beaver whistled. “Because little Beav didn’t know how to express his feelings.” He mocked a sweet voice.

Richie laughed, chin to the sky. “You gotta be shitting me.” He leapt to his feet and gestured for them to follow him. Which they did without hesitation. “I came here for a reason today too.” He pointed towards his old carving with an unbelievable amount of pride and utter amazement. Another coincidence.

{R + E}

The younger men each stared at the carving with wonder and appreciation. Beaver kneeled down and traced it with his fingers just as Richie had done just a half-hour ago. Jonesy simply looked off with vague amusement as he threaded his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair, Richie supposed he wasn’t even aware he was doing it.

“My friend, Mike...Mike Hanlon. He thought it’d be good for me to come up here today just to...” He faded off to wave his hands about, not knowing how to finish. The boys looked up with happy looking grins.

“Mike Hanlon?” Jonesy shook his head with joy. “He was our childhood librarian.” His tongue ran across his lips & he was most surely seeing flashes of his childhood. And maybe feeling a bit like time was passing by too quickly.

‘Damn kid was barely twenty-one though’. Richie thought bitterly & fondly.

Beaver nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. Nice guy. He helped me check out my Playboy’s that one time.” He stuck a thumb into Jonesy’s shoulder which was slapped away with amusement. His smile faded to an exaggerated grimace. “It was always weird to go there after that.”

Richie couldn’t help but laugh again with the jovial young men. It lasted about twenty seconds before it turned into hoarse sobs. He turned away from them, chest hurting. “Fuck, man! This is embarrassing as shit.” He managed a small chuckle through it.

Jonesy looked at him sympathetically, hearing all of Beaver’s thoughts of ‘I wish Henry were here’.

“SSDD, huh?” Jonesy did the best he could and took pride in himself when the man turned. “Same shit, different day.” He added.

Richie chuckled again, a beautiful one. “Yeah--yeah, I’ve heard it before.” He shook his head and leaned onto the railing. He genuinely looked cheered up by that simple phrase, sharing a private & entertained look with Beaver, who Jonesy would later call his soul-son.

“We should give you our other friend’s number, he’s studying to be a psychologist--”

“Psychiatrist, Beav.” Jonesy corrected.

Beaver shrugged, waving his hand. “Psychiatrist, whatever. He may be able to help your fragile mental state.”

Jonesy accepted just then that his boyfriend could never push too far when it came to Richie because the Tozier man recognized the Beav for what he was. And that would be someone very similar to himself.

It was strangely beautiful.

“What I saw was...” Beav faded off, eyes twitching. It was hard for him to put to words just how gut-wrenching the scene was. “Awful. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through or are going through.” He shook his head.

Jonesy nodded, rubbing a comforting hand down his boyfriend’s arm. “I only just felt it & I wanted to die.” He wondered if that was extremely rude to say.

Richie squinted. He was reminded of a younger Stanley Uris & his ability to see...to understand things past the other loser’s comprehension. He felt a strong urge to insist his losers come back down to Derry just to meet these home-visitors too. Maybe it was meant to be.

“It’ll be hard to get over the fact that my vision of Eddie & I getting together in my head....” He bit into his cheek “Well, it’s going to have to stay there forever.” He looked up at the happy former Derry citizens couple as they instinctively held each-other’s hands tighter. He nearly choked with jealousy. “I loved him for a few years, forgot him for a good twenty-seven more and now...” He waved his hand in-front of him in a tight spiral.

“You’re lonesome all the time since leaving your baby behind on Blue Bayou, huh?” Beaver flicked his tooth-pick. The sky grew a little bit cloudy over their heads and Richie Tozier burst into a fit of giggles.

“You could say that, kiddo.” He crossed his arms, looking ready to drop the subject all together now. “And I’m not gonna say anything more about that fucking clown before you ask.” Rich smiled, pointing a finger at Jonesy who truly was about to ask more about that creature the comedian briefly mentioned only enough to explain Beaver’s vision.

“I’ve made your nice little trip about me, sorry.” He added. “See, making people miserable is a talent of mine. I’m a great comedian in that way.” He rolled his eyes, standing up straight.

“You’d be better if you wrote your own material. I’d like to hear some jokes about that horrible trauma you talked about.” Beaver giggled as he bit hard into his toothpick. Richie burst into another fit of genuine laughter. “My trauma is the center of my comedy-” He smirked.

Jonesy frowned, thinking of the past and of men like Richie Grenadeau who they had once dreamed dead. He softly pinched the back of his boyfriends palm. If Tozier could keep some cards close to his chest, so could they. At least for now.

“Ow! Bitch-in-a-Buzzsaw!” Beaver whipped his hand back and sucked on his skin like a child. Jonesy tried not to giggle as Richie looked on with confusion.

He shrugged in response. “I just-”

“Nah, I got it.” He waved a hand from his temple to the vague direction of Jonesy’s. “We don’t have to tell each other everything. Hell, we’re still strangers.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked off in the direction of his carving.

“But soon to be best friends.” Beaver added, breaking his lips free from the moist spot on his hand. Richie and Jonesy had a nice shared laugh at the charming boy.

They walked a ways up the bridge to see Richie Tozier off, in some silent agreement. Jonesy felt a rush of disappointment pass through him but it was quickly squashed by the eagerness he had for his date with Beaver.

As the group walked him over the bridge, Jonesy caught sight of little Beaver’s old carving...in the shape of a heart...

{B + J}

#idk #i dont think i did a good job with this #i tried but #ahhhh #dreamcatcher #Stephen kings IT #reddie #beaver/jonesy #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #Gary Jones #beaver clarendon #dreamcatcher (2003)#IT by stephen king #it chapter one #it chapter two #my fanfiction

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thewincestgospel · 4 years

Note

do you have any wincest fic rec in which sam and dean are actual fbi agents or something similar? even just the two of them being partners at some normal job, police-y or not. thanks ♡

Okay that gif is a little aggressive but you get what I mean.

FBI Agent Dean

Alternate World by EimiWinchester (Siyah_Kedi) Sam casts a spell to take him to where Dean is whole and alive, and ends up in another world.

Counting Bodies Like Sheep by abeautifullie3 Sam D'Eboli is a mobster. Special Agent Dean Winchester is assigned to take him down. Dean's okay with that double entendre...until he isn't. A connection that won't be denied, and secrets revealed, Dean's objective may no longer be the same as the FBI's.

FBI Agent Sam

Federal Temptations by Mrs_SimonTam_PHD Dean Winchester is a career criminal who is caught by the FBI. The FBI calls in their best interrogator, Sam Wesson, to crack Dean, and Dean learns something about Sam.

You Were Made For Me by blackrose_17 Sam Wesson has belonged to Dean Winchester since he first laid eyes on him and it doesn't matter that Sam is with the FBI sent to take him down, Sam is his. Sam just needs to remember that

FBI Agent Jensen or Jared

Broken Angel by moviegeek03 Senator Fred Lehne has been brutally attacking, raping, and murdering young men for over a decade, but always evades arrest thanks to his money and power. He has everyone fooled, except one team of detectives headed by Captain Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his protege Jensen Ackles. When things become worse, Morgan goes to FBI agents Misha Collins and Jim Beaver for help. They offer it in the form of Jared Padalecki, hotshot profiler who also happens to be Jensen's boyfriend. But there is more Jared...he also happens to be the only surviving victim of Lehne's..

Coming Home by sasha_dragon F.B.I. agent Jared Padalecki works in the L.A. Under cover Unit as a handler. He has fallen in love with the under cover agent he looks after but has never met. Now Jared is engaged in a race against time and across L.A. To get to him before it’s too late. Can Agent Jensen Ackles hang on long enough, to finally meet Jared.

Shape of My Heart by ashtraythief There are two things that make Jensen feel: killing people and thinking of the boy with the sunshine smile.

Police Officer Dean

Arachnophobia by JuniperLemon There's trouble going down in Sam's apartment. Unfortunately, this leads to a neighbor calling cops, Winchester and Novak.

Impurity in the Night by CleverUsernameHere Officer Winchester is called to handle a noise disturbance. When he arrives he finds a high school party and gets more than he bargained for when he sees a familiar face

Let's Get Frisky by ShadowBiscuit What do you do when the city's hottest cop has his eyes on you and chases your fine ass down streets and alleys? When you can't help but want him to catch you and fulfill your dirtiest fantasies?Sam's solution to this problem is relatively easy: just be a flirtatious little brat and see where it gets you.

Look the Other Way By: Candle Beck Dean is a cop and Sam is his no-good brother.

Mírë by blackrose_17 Dean Winchester had an okay life as sheriff of Sioux Falls, sure his love life was a little slow but that was fine with him then everything changed the day Sam Wesson and his son Jack and friends moved into the empty Wesson Manor. Dean finds his world changed as he is drawn to the single father and his young son and his life is changed as his eyes opened to the fact magic is real and Sam is being hunted by someone who refuses to let him go. Dean will do whatever it takes to protect his new family.

V I C E by awabubbles Dean Winchester works in the human trafficking unit for the Vice Control Section of the Chicago PD. While undercover, Dean meets "Baby Boi" aka Sam, an underage prostitute with a strange fascination for the macabre. Sam has cast himself as Bonnie in a real life reenactment of the infamous outlaw duo, insisting that Dean is his Clyde. When Dean finally agrees, they run off to fulfill each other's deepest, darkest fantasies. For Sam, it's a dream come true; until Dean starts to spiral out of control.

Police Officer Sam

Blue on Blue by bingsboba Sam Wesson, a young narc with intelligent eyes and a naïve spirit, meets Dean Smith, a man with a charming facade and a dangerous interior, in a drug bust mission turned into a failure. With no evidence to pin Dean to a crime, Sam is unable to move forward with his first loss in his job. Determined to have the biggest drug bust tied to his name, Sam goes after the con artist, but Dean turns out to be more than Sam can handle.

Deeply Dangerous Dean by ScorchedAngel Dean is a quiet blood spatter analyst who keeps himself to himself and Sam is a detective on the hunt for the man who murdered his girlfriend Ruby. They've both been keeping secrets from each other and everyone else that have the potential to turn their world upside down.

The Orange Hour by Deeranger The Winchesters have gone undercover in a prison while working on a case: Dean as an inmate, Sam as a correctional officer. This way they will be able to gather information from both sides of the bars. A smart move, right? Or so they think. Because on a seemingly peaceful evening a riot breaks out, and the brothers are suddenly forced to question themselves - but most of all each other. What is real and what is not? And just how far are they willing to go to keep each other alive?

Perfect, Twisted, Bloody Family by orphan_account Dean has a great life. He’s got amazing boyfriend and a successful business, lots of friends, and a smart detective for a brother. They have awesome dinners at each other’s houses, poker nights, and a relationship most siblings would envy. Dean also has a deep, secret lust he’s been harboring for said little brother. That, and the occasional murder of a pimp or drug dealer, just to keep things interesting. C’est la vie.

Stop and Search by JuniperLemon Dean is trying to get out of town after a hunt when he is pulled over by Officer Wesson. Things go slightly unexpected when his hunting equipment is discovered. Unrelated wincest.

Two Sides Of The Same Coin by ShadowBiscuit Sam Winchester, police detective.He's trying to find the notorious serial killer who has been leaving mutilated bodies all around the city. The police hasn't been this baffled since the time of Jack the Ripper. This mystery killer is just simply impossible to catch...But Sam isn't one to back down from a challenge. So he hunts the monster that preys on the innocent, however this time, he's not sure if he wants to win.Not when the "Righteous Man" might be his own flesh and blood, his big brother.

Police Officer Jensen or Jared

The Balance (Constantine Fic) by storyspinner70 Jensen Ackles spent his days coughing up his lungs and killing demons, hoping to earn his way into heaven. Jared knew his sister didn't kill herself, no matter what the Church had to say, and a hateful exorcist with a mission and a chip on his shoulder may not be his first choice for a guide, but Jensen was going to help him – if he didn't die first. Trips to hell, lung cancer, a conniving archangel, and even the devil himself weren't going to stop Jared from getting his sister back where she truly belonged.

Creature Feature by Saone Something hungry is lurking in Lake Winchester.

Cuffs by TwoBoys2Love Detective Ackles gets a new partner who may be a bit of a challenge. They have different views about everything. Ackles picks up some work on a new case that reveals his partner's secret and dredges up the past

I'm A Broken Man With Addictive Tendencies by robin_writes In Jared’s mind they were a new brand of a tale as old as time; Romeo and Juliet. From two different worlds, destined to be kept apart, and both of them too fucked in the head to survive what they end up doing to each other.Jared is a cop who is a dom and Jensen is an underage prostitute. Jared tries to tuck away his 'dom personality' but you can't hide yourself from yourself.

The Lion The Beast and The Beat by storyspinner70 It’s the typical story: boy goes through an ugly divorce, boy falls in love with the late night DJ that keeps him company on all his sleepless nights, boy saves DJ from his “number one fan”. The DJ is very grateful.

Mischief and Mayhem by LoveThemWinchesters Jared is a police officer.Jensen is his biker/bar owner husband of several years.Chaos ensues when something very important is lost.

Out of Silence by Annie46fic When hardened, but lonely cop, Jensen Ackles meets Jared Padalecki in his family’s diner, he doesn’t realize that his life is about to change drastically. Jared is a complete innocent, deaf, mute and unable to communicate, he needs a friend. Can Jensen be that man?

Pure like Blood by Ephermeralk They have a deal. It’s two years (730 days, 17,520 hours) before Jared turns eighteen. And if, by some miracle, Jensen’s not in prison and Jared’s not another Joe Doe in the morgue, they’ll both leave Denver and start a new life. But, until then, Jared’s still got work and Jensen’s still a cop who’s hell bent on putting away the rest of Jared’s clients.

Shades of Cool by tebtosca Officer Ackles tries to keep the peace, but that Padalecki kid doesn't want to play nice.

Some Kind Of Hold On Me by KatStark Cop Jared comes home to his boyfriend, who has a special night in mind.

Speaking Softly by femmefatales Jared Padalecki, a 27-year-old police officer with a psychology degree gets assigned a special case. His job is to do one thing and one thing only-- Get Jensen Ackles, a seventeen year old boy who's been badly abused, to talk.

Stray by storyspinner70 Officer Jared Padalecki is on his way home, but catches one last call that's near him. He has no idea exactly how eighteen year old werecat Jensen Ackles is going to change his life, but sometimes the best things in your life are things you never saw coming.

Trust in me by Winmance It isn’t the innocence of the boy’s voice that was making such dirty sexual innuendos that made his blood run cold, it was the suggestive smirk he plastered onto his face while saying it. The way he leans too far forward on the chair, that it was impossible not to look obscene, and the large spread of his legs while he does so, almost inviting Jensen to look.When Jensen's best friend asks him to questionned the young prostitute he just came back with, Jensen has no idea that his life is about to change. Neither does Jared.

#ask and you shall receive #wincest #supernatural #j2 fics #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #dean/sam #jared/jensen #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #fbi #police #supernatural fan fiction #AO3 fic #livejournal fic #fanfiction.net #recs #fic list #Ask Me

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blazewatergem · 4 years

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Moments of Absolute Feral Energy, staring my family

* I filmed a tour vlog of our cabin first day. Halfway through my Mum joined me. We commented on everything. I posted these on Instagram! You’re able to see me in them a few times, and hear what I really sound like 😂 I’ve been told I have a deep voice for a girl.

* We also climbed up the stairs like animals. I’m talking all fours. Both Mum and I. Dad almost had a heart attack when he came around the corner.

* Dad proceeded to count every pillow he could find. We ended up with 36, not including decorative pillows. Just sleeping pillows.

* We watched The Never Ending Story, and some other movies, in a theater room built above the cabin garage. Like a legit theater room. Movie posters, dimming lights, beanbags, and a microwave in the room to pop popcorn.

* The con of the theater room is that there’s no bathroom, so you end up walking down like two flights of stairs whenever you need to go. My legs have been throbbing for days 😂 they still hurt a bit.

* Dad and I ended up having a passive Merlin marathon, where we would just play the episodes when we could and not like binge it. We have made it to season two, episode four by the time we’re leaving.

* Mum and I watched Over The Moon on Netflix. Great movie. I cried at the end.

* We all had a horror movie marathon in the living room this time. Watched The Gift, Sinister, and You Should Have Left. The Gift was a great psychological debate for us, Sinister freaked my parents out(I loved it), and You Should Have Left freaked me out(parents loved it).

* We attempted DoorDash for Red Lobster, our official “outing” as we didn’t want to risk it. Figured it was safer, right? Yeah no we spent like an hour and a half just trying to put the order in before we gave up on DD, and Dad proceeded to go pick up food in person.

* He got me chocolate cake :D

* I ate so many bay scallops. I love seafood so freaking much.

* We had a video game van thing, like one you see in arcades, in the garage. I played a game with Mum and then with Dad. I got highest scores both times 😊

* I’ve been jealous of the mugs here. There’s this pretty glass one that I’ve been drinking hot chocolate out of and it looks like something on Pinterest.

* We manage to avoid politics for the entirety of this trip. Dad is pretty Right Winged(not in a bad way, I’m working on it, to try and get him to see the more Left point of view which is where I am) so it’s nice to not have spats over the latest political dumpster fire. I just...can’t keep up. I do my best though. Honest.

* We keep sleeping in different rooms. I’ve crashed in Beaver’s Hideout, Deer Meadow, Fox Den(technically for kids, I don’t care), and once on the couch because I stayed up too late and didn’t move in time lol.

* They have a awesome open rock shower I’m massively envious of. Like I use this non jokingly but the vibes were immaculate. Cross between feeling like an Elven princess or badass traveling warrior. Great for my self esteem. Not so much for my curly hair that hates showers 😬 these curls don’t like getting wet. Look like Ozzy Osborne when I do.

* Thanks to said rock shower and Merlin marathon I have MORE fanfic ideas. I’m ok with this, though. Work at my own pace, no pressure no worry. I did work on some fics in progress! Like I said though, I’m refusing to stress myself out over fics. I get to them when I get to them, it’s not my job it’s my hobby for fun. No worry here, I refuse.

* Today(tonight?) is our final day. In an absurd instinctive moment, which I cannot for the life of me explain, I proceeded to raid every bathroom and steal the soap bars. I’m talking I went up and down the stairs, SWAT searched every room, and proceeded to head back up to the main bathroom bag and shove in the soap. Regular bars for hands and body bars were stolen together, nothing left behind. I am a weak, noodle armed woman who PUSHED two huge totes out of the way of one bathroom door for five small, circular bars of soap. My parents, who for ten minutes as I did this wondered where TF I went — since we were watching Big Brother — until I came back up, clutching these fancy soaps to my chest like an angry dragoness. My Dad high fives me on my way to drop off the latest catch. My Mum is cackling. I am Content with my stolen good soap. It’s circular, and smells of honey and chamomile. Worth being called soap girl for the rest of the day.

* In line with the above story, that glass mug I was talking about? I was talking to my Dad about it, and he just point blank says “Steal it” I go no, that’s illegal. He shrugs and we move on. Fast forward three hours later. I am telling Mum about the mug, bouncing back and forth between maybe I SHOULD take it or not. We paid a lot of money, this isn’t us renting some family’s cabin it’s a company’s, and I mean the mug can’t be super expensive it’s a mug right? Mum is laughing at me. Apparently I am Late to this conversation, as Dad has already wrapped the mug up in a towel, and has it hidden in her purse.

* Like father, like daughter.

#talking fire #story time #family vacation

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 4 years

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Dating Beverly Marsh Would Include...

Requested: [I'm sorry I can't remember who requested this or if this was an anon, I'm sorry!] Hey, could I request some headcanons about dating Beverly? (Also if you could add in the reader having homophobic parents 💕)

Warnings: obviously there will be homophobia, [at the end so people can skip if they need to read safely 😊] specifically from the readers parents so please feel free to skip if need be. And remember my blog is a safe space 💕 oh yeah theres also plenty of grammar/spelling errors i'm sure

A//n: This was WAY longer than I anticipated. I just kept coming up with more stuff and holy crap I love writing Bev x readers???? Please request more Bev Edit: this was in my drafts forever and again as much as i have been trying to get requests out in order, it's been pretty tough but at least this way stuff gets out sooner so here ya go.

Okay

First of all..

Y'all make the CUTEST COUPLE, OKAY?!

Like no joke

You know that cliche about girls stealing their boyfriends hoodies/clothes??

Well that goes for both of you and you both are always swapping clothes cause you both love each other's sense of style

Plus, ya know, it's got that great boyfriend girlfriend smell

It's cheesy and played out, but it's honestly so wholesome, and again, you guys each have an interest in each others senses of styles

If you're bigger than her, and her clothes don't necessarily fit you, pfffttt no big deal, she had a million blankets that smelled like her and then you two got together and now she can only find like,, two. But that doesn't mean she doesn't love stealing your clothes!! They're baggier on her but oH MY GOODNESS DOES SHE LOVE THAT. She just loves being able to completely immerse herself in your stuff. Especially when she isn't feeling safe in her own home and you aren't around, the best thing for her is to wrap herself in her your stuff and be comforted by you. Uggh, its hella sweet

But let's start from the beginning...

Both of you knew about each other from school

You definitely heard the many rumors about "Beaver-ly Marsh"

Not that you participated, but you were always overhearing rumors from gossiping girls and bragging boys in your class

Your school wasn't huge but it wasn't small either

But it was kill or be be killed, and rumors spread like the damn plague

It was inevitable

And it was just a matter of time before you overheard the several rumors of the "slut" who did it with every guy in school.

You'd roll you're eyes at the word and the ridiculous insinuations, knowing the massively overplayed game of telephone that ruled your school was not necessary the most credible source of information

And you were positive there were rumors about you, I mean, it really wasn't possible to go to that school without a rumor going around

Everyone had one

Anyways, you never paid much attention to them, but then you met her...

And oh no.

Immediately, it was:

You already never paid much mind to the rumors, but when you got to know each other??

Nuh uh.

No way

Not Beverly

No no no no, no

She was way too sweet, and shy, and beautiful, and awesome, and funny, annnd oh no the damn butterflies were back and shit she made you feel things

And you??

Bevery had no clue she was into girls until you came along...

You were her gay awakening and her being so used to all those nasty things people said about her and all those boys??

Even though it wasn't true, any of it, she still always expected that eventually one day she'd get her first boyfriend, to love and cuddle with and everything normal

Again, then you came along and her heart was all like

BOOM BOOM BEECH

You both danced around each other a lot. Seeing as you were two precious little gay beans that lived in a conservative town in the 80s, it wasn't exactly the most accepting environment and you guys didn't know if the other was into girls at all

On both sides it was "does she like me or is she just really laid back and friendly???"

It took way too long to figure out you were both into each other

If I'm being completely honest here, y'all were like the female reddie

Two girls who became best friends and always bickered like crazy to hide your feelings

The way you two found out you had feelings for one another was bumpy and awkward but silly and cute nonetheless

It came off in a passing comment that just slipped out

The two of you were having a sleepover like you did every Friday night you were available

and you two were laying on her bedroom floor talking about anything and everything staring at the ceiling

Her radio was playing in the background and the two of you were surrounded by various snacks you had been munching on all throughout the night and the conversation drifted to gossip about your peers at school

It went a little something like this:

Y: "Did you see so and so today??"

B: "Yes!!"

Y: *laughing* "Yeah, what the hell was that?"

B: I have no idea what goes on in her head...

B: but I guess I gotta give her some credit, she's always super confident and I'm like, 90% sure that's what makes her the most desirable girl in the 8th grade"

Y: "I guess that makes sense"

B: "I do wish I had her confidence. Maybe I'd have better luck romantically"

Y: "Oh please, like you need that. You're infinitely more attractive than her"

B: "What?"

Y: *panicked* "What?"

B: *slowly sits up with smug ass smirk on her lips* are you saying you find me... attractive?"

Y: ..."what?" *sweating*

B: *still smirking* "Wait,"

Y: "WhAT?"

B: *stILL smirking* "do you-?"

Y: *full on gay panic* "No!"

B: *smirking and blushing*

B: *lays back down* "well, I think you're pretty attractive yourself, if it's any consolation"

She's still so nervous though so it comes out in a whisper

She's 99 percent certain you just accidentally revealed your crush to her but her heart was p o u n d i n g anyway

What if it just came out wrong and that's why you panicked???

Had she just revealed her crush to you by mistake???

But no

You both were a blushing mess and it did not go unnoticed by either one of you

You're hands kinda accidently brushed and you both just had a heart attack on the spot

But the connection you two had that night

You both just... knew

You guys kinda just... happened

After that you both were aware you liked each other

But it was kind of unspoken

At first

It's not like you guys never talked about it, but you two definitely became more touchy and flirty

Holding hands when no one was looking

Shortly before you guys happened and before that night, she had introduced you to losers and they just totally accepted you as one of their own

You got along especially well with Richie (wonder why)

But Bev wasn't too happy about this particular fact...

Especially after you two got together

She wasn't necessarily jealous, especially cause she already had a sneaking suspicion about his feelings for another loser, but because he took up a lot of her time with you

But then, to her chagrin, Richie found out about you two

the eight of you were hanging out in the clubhouse, and Ben had to make some adjustments so him and the others left momentarily to help him get the resources

Except you, and Bev

You two volunteered to hold down the fort [literally]

aaaaaaand you two wanted to have a few minutes alone together too,

Nothing scandalous or anything like that, but you two didn't get be close around the losers

Then Richie returned way earlier than expected [turns out he was doing more harm than good and they sent him back]

He was just outside the entrance and he overheard you two

"I wish we could tell them,"

"I know. And it's not that I don't think they'll accept us, it's-" *sigh* "I'm just not ready... I'm sorry"

"Don't be. It's okay, we can tell them when we're both good and ready."

"Thank you, Y/n."

Richie just kinda stood there thinking about what he just heard

I mean, it made sense, you guys were really close, but then again, that's just how he thought all girls were

But everything else kinda made more sense the more he thought about it

And, it honestly reminded him of him and Eddie

More specifically, how he felt about his best friend

Now naturally this was a very emotional moment, but Richie Tozier being Richie Tozier wasn't about to waltz in there and give some sappy speech about he accepts you guys and he's here for you no matter what

No, no, no

He laid down on the forest floor, sticking his head in the clubhouse scaring the shit out of you two and said

"You guys should really be more quiet, Ben may be a suspiciously good overnight kid architect sensation but he has yet to soundproof this baby"

He then stuck his arm inside the clubhouse, patting the ceiling, shaking a couple spiders loose from his his hand in disgust

"Richie...!"

You two jumped apart and you about nearly shit your pants

"Relax, I'm not gonna tell anyone,"

You both were startled as hell and absolutely disgruntled but the two of you looked at each other, simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief

He got up and joined you two in the clubhouse, and began lounging in his usual spot in the hammock, arms behind his head

"So, this means you two are both into girls, huh?"

Once again, you looked at one another and back at him, nodding shyly

He plastered on the most mischievous smirk you had ever seen and nodded his head, his huge eyes squinting slightly from behind his glasses

"niceee"

This of course was followed by simultaneous eye rolls, Bev even threw her gum wrapper at him but you laughed

It was a relieved laugh

Here you were, exposed and unintentionally outed to Richie "Trashmouth" Tozier and sure enough his reaction was "nICE"

It was honestly a relief and kinda hilarious

You guys just kinda broke out into laughter

It was nice moment

***TRIGGER WARNING FOR [PARENTAL] HOMOPHOBIA BELOW***

And for a while, everything was great. That was, until your parents began to take note just how much time you were spending with Bev

They kept an eye on it at first

Then they started asking questions

You knew this day would come one way or another

Hell, you grew up with them after all, you knew what they thought about people like you and it broke your heart

It terrified you

And it's exactly what you heard every night when you tried to fall asleep, their voices speaking to you clear as day; how disgusted they were. They weren't really there of course and it wasn't until you became a loser that you found out what that voice was...

The point is, your deepest fear was being realized so you did what you could do

Lie

And it seemed to work. Briefly

Your mother had come in to check on you two for the fifth time - usually she checked on you two four times since their suspicions - and found you two snuggled up on top of your sleeping bags

Your mother screamed, scaring the crap out of you guys and you jumped apart

Your mother was thrown into hysterics and went to fetch your father, wailing like a damn baby

Needless to say that night was a long one for everyone

And as if things couldn't get any worse, just days later you found out that Beverly had been taken by It

Immediately, every doubt, every fear, every inkling of shame your parents and your community had drilled into you was forgotten and all that mattered was getting her back

You and your friends literally went through hell to get her back

Needless to say it was a terrifying ordeal but you all had each other's backs and everyone came out okay

When you left Neibolt, you and Beverly were hand in hand

You couldn't give a flying fck about it, you just fought a shape-shifting demon clown you could face your small minded parents

And more importantly you knew even if your parents didn't support you, you had other people who did that and that was enough

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Hope you enjoyed, sorry it's so long and again this is out of order of who requested it so I'm sorry to those of you who had stuff in before this, but I've just been stuck for too long and I needed to get things moving again. Anyways, I hoped you guys like this and again, omg I love writing Beverly!!! I would not be offended if you guys asked for more Bev fics/hc when I open up requests again

#beverly marsh headcanon request #beverly marsh imagine #beverly marsh x reader #beverly marsh #headcanon #head canon #beverly marsh headcanon #beverly marsh head canon #bev head canon #beverly hc #beverly marsh hc #bev marsh hc #hc #hc request #homphobia #homophobia warning #it #it requests #it request

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