#we'll see I guess she said she'd message if it doesn't help

[eviefrve]

we were gonna pick up a kitten tonight because we were thinking of getting another cat anyway and the owner had gotten her and their older cat just wasn't getting along with the kitten. they'd asked if we could pick her up straight away tonight and I said yes and then she turned around and said actually I'm sorry we're gonna wait a few more days we're giving our older cat some stuff to make him more calm? like. it's a tough and heartbreaking decision I am fully aware but you'd already gotten to the point of asking someone else to take her and even preparing for her to be collected and to turn around and do that is just annoying

#misc: personal #we'll see I guess she said she'd message if it doesn't help

[dragonmuse]

The Izzy + mother's day development is so delightful I cannot cope. It made me think about the parallel with Eddy + Alma and Izzy + Charlie - would Eddy and Izzy ever talk about being adopted by kid bonnets?

(Since that drabble posted today, I've been thinking on this ask and I think it happens later on, Charlie already starting his college growing pains. Our beloved wolves at their diner after a ride...)

Izzy's phone buzzed when Eddy was mid-sentence and to his credit, he let her finish before poking at it. A name flashed up on the screen.

"Charlie?" Eddy asked with some surprise.

"Yeah," Izzy thumbed open the message, snorted, typed something back quickly then set it down. "He's sending me lines from the last book I sent him to explain why it's 'unforgivably loathsome'."

"Ouch," Eddy wrapped their hands around their mug. Vaguely, they were aware that Charlie and Izzy sometimes exchanged books, but she'd assumed that had stopped when Charlie started college a few months ago. Or maybe before. "That sounds very...Alma of him. Pretty sure loathsome was her favorite word in tenth grade."

"I'll bet," Izzy returned his focus to her. "How is the girl?"

"Applying for grad school like her life depends on it," Eddy sighed. "I dunno what to say to her half the time about it. Just let her rant. Stede keeps trying to offer advice and then she gets defensive, it's a real treat."

"Uh huh," Izzy took a sip of his coffee. "Does she text you after to complain?"

"Of course. And I tell her I don't pick sides, but in this case...dunno. She's right. Stede didn't go to grad school, none of us did. What can we tell her? Just listen to people who know something and we'll hand over the cash and hugs."

"Must be nice to have those kinds of problems," Izzy said, a little grimly. "Charlie sends me a rant about an English professor and it's...yeah okay, I punched a teacher once, does that help?"

"He complains about college to you?" Eddy frowned at him.

"Not much. Hard to get a pulse on him most of the time," Izzy said mildly. "Why? Doesn't he give you an earful?"

"Charlie? Not about anything. Possibly ever. Alma is the talker."

"Huh. Figures, I guess. She takes after Mary a lot."

"Does she?"

"Yeah," Izzy leaned back in the booth. "Mary gets on a tear about something and that's it. Settle in, cause it's class time. She says she and Alma butt heads because of how alike the are sometimes. Argue the same way."

"I can see that," Eddy could recall the few times she's seen Mary with real fire in her eyes. "Funny isn't it? We wound up on opposite sides of the same house, seeing different shit through the windows."

"Seems to be where we wind up most times," Izzy agreed. His phone buzzed again and whatever was there made him huff a laugh. "These fucking kids."

"I know," Eddy smiled. "Eat right into the soul."

"Yeah, exactly." Izzy tapped out a reply. "You ready to head out? I've got an early morning."

"Yeah, it's my week, I got it, you go."

They watched him leave as they fished a ten out of their wallet. Enough for two cups of coffee and tip. She should mention to Stede that Charlie and Izzy were apparently still in regular contact.

Or maybe not.

Maybe she'd get distracted by almost getting hit by a driver who wasn't paying attention on the way home and it would go out of her head completely. After all, it wasn't a big deal. Charlie knew Izzy, they read books. It was fine. Charlie would probably only get busier and like Alma, the adults in her life would fade further into the background.

#leda house and the kraken verse #ficlet #poison me a little #eddy teach bonnet #izzy hands #alma bonnet #charlie bonnet

[itsbenedict]

I just finished hosting a 15-person game of Mafia for some friends. One tradition we have for these games is that every death is accompanied by some themed narration, so for my game I opted to spice it up with some art on top. Had to draw it real quick since I didn't know for sure who was going to die next until it happened.

The game's theme was "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", with the hidden subtheme that all the roles (stands) were named after They Might Be Giants (@tmbgareok) songs! A list of their powers, links to songs, and a recap of the game under the cut.

01) Mogis - 「Flo Wheeler」

02) TD260 - 「Working Undercover For The Man」

03) JGH27 - 「Good To Be Alive」

04) Raya - 「Stone Cold Coup D'Etat」

05) KK / Sahrimnir - 「Thinking Machine」

06) Spontaneous Combustion - 「The Statue Got Me High」

07) Leviwulf - 「Push Back The Hands」

08) DarkFalco - 「I Am Alone」

09) Deli064 - 「Doctor Worm」

10) Fedaykin - 「Letterbox」

11) Surge - 「I Am Alone」

12) Wikxen - 「Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head」

13) Minby - 「Where Your Eyes Don't Go」

14) Bel - 「(She Was A) Hotel Detective」

15) SnakeInABox - 「By The Time You Get This」

Bold roles were Jotunheim (Mafia), normal roles were Johnsburg (Town), and italicized roles were third parties. (Jotunheim is the realm of giants from Norse mythology! The mafia were, in fact, giants! And the town's job was to figure out who might be giants! And the two sides were Jo and Jo! JOKES!)

「Flo Wheeler」 was a town role with a power that was pretty dangerous to the user- if anyone happened to be watching or tracking when a kill took place at night, Mogis would look like they'd visited the target that night in addition to whoever actually did. It could potentially be used to catch a mafioso in a lie, but otherwise it was more of an obstacle for the town to overcome- a miller-type role.

♪ You can't do the time, therefore you didn't do the crime ♪

「Working Undercover For The Man」 was a third-party role working for the Speedwagon Foundation to perform a threat assessment. TD could win with the town, but could win and leave early if he could guess all the names or powers of every other stand in the game. He could scan a name every night, to help that along.

♪ Planning midnight raids / On our unsuspecting fans / While the roadies rig / The video surveillance van ♪

「Good To Be Alive」 was a spin on the usual town doctor role- normally, a doctor can target a player and prevent their death if they would die that night. But... JGH couldn't actually prevent deaths- just fake it. The dead would become ghosts, who couldn't vote and couldn't be killed but were still allowed to talk as if they were alive.

♪ Hello leg / such a shaky leg / Just barely more than decoration ♪

「Stone Cold Coup D'Etat」 was a third party with an unusual win condition. They had to recruit a certain number of people to a private side-chat- and then make sure all those people got killed. Plus, she could redirect anything that happened to her at night to her recruits. If the recruits figured out what she was doing and got rid of her, they'd get a boost to their power.

♪ The bark now commands the trees / The queen is overruled by the bees ♪

「Thinking Machine」 was a town role with a mysterious purpose that didn't seem to make much sense at first. Sah would get, every morning, a strange series of numbers and letters of uncertain origin. It was information, somehow, but how to use it?

♪ Tape has brightening arm connect (Wait, that didn't make sense.) / Self-paint lever itching does! (That made even less sense!) ♪

「The Statue Got Me High」 was a mafia power. As the song describes, the victim is enthralled by the monolith and forced to obey its commands, until their eventual death. That is, Spont could recruit a player to the mafia, but they'd die one night later- and if he wasn't careful, he could die and his recruit would flip back.

♪ And now it is your turn (your turn to hear the stone and then your turn to burn) / The stone, it calls to you (you can't refuse to do the things it tells you to) ♪

「Push Back The Hands」 was a passive ability that caused anything that would happen to Levi- a nightkill, an execution, some other power- to be delayed by one day, giving him some time to react. He'd be told who it was that targeted him, so going after him as mafia was risky.

♪ Screeching tires but never a collision / Endless day without a sunset provision ♪

「I Am Alone」 was a weird one. See, DarkFalco, who was mafia, didn't have a stand as such. She was the stand- and she was the stand of Surge, who was town. They were linked together in everything, meaning the mafia had to work to keep Surge alive on top of their own people. She could send messages to Surge at night to mess with him, though.

♪ Before you fire I should inform you / One of us is a double ♪

「Doctor Worm」 had no real special abilities. His ability was to be pretty good at playing the drums, a power that had absolutely no relevance in a game of Mafia.

♪ I'm not a real doctor, but I am a real worm I am an actual worm ♪

「Letterbox」 was a mafia ability that let Fedaykin pick another player, and offer that player a chance to deliver a private message to one other player of their choice. He could see the "secret" communications, though, and once per game he could edit the message before delivering it.

♪ I'll never know what you'll find when you open up your letter box tomorrow ♪

「Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head」 is a classically mafia ability, but in the hands of a town player: the ability to force another player to vote for another. Normally the manipulated person isn't allowed to say what happened, but there was no such restriction here- confusion's no good for the town.

♪ Memo to myself: do the dumb things i gotta do: Touch the puppet head ♪

「Where Your Eyes Don't Go」 let Minby pick someone else to watch him at night. If anyone visited him to target him with an ability, the person he designated would be told the names of those people. A nasty trap for the mafia, as long as Minby doesn't pick a mafioso to share the information with.

♪ Where your eyes don't go, a part of you is hovering / It's a nightmare that you'll never be discovering / You're free to come and go / Or talk like Kurtis Blow / But there's a pair of eyes in back of your head ♪

「(She Was A) Hotel Detective」 was a very powerful town role- Bel was the cop, and could scan another player's alignment at night, plus track or watch them. Except... not directly. She couldn't scan players- she could scan hotel rooms, and if other players didn't check into the hotel at night or give up their room numbers, her information was useless.

Here are the room numbers, in order: Levi (1) Snake (2) JGH (3) TD (4) Spont (5) Sah (6) Deli (7) Fed (8) Minby (9) Falco/Surge (10) Raya (11) Wikxen (12) Mogis (13).

(Oh, and Thinking Machine's codes were actually encoded versions of her results, and Sah would get a weaker version of her power if she ever died.)

♪ She's got her ear to the walls / And she's tappin' the calls / If you've got a secret, boy / Forget about it! ♪

「By The Time You Get This」 imbued its wielder with the incredible powers of... an estate lawyer! Which meant Snake could leave a will behind when he died, naming another player and casting a vote on them from beyond the grave the next day.

♪ By the time you get this note / We'll no longer be alive / But our skulls are smiling still / At the thought of things to come ♪

So! Here's how it all shook out.

Day 1: The first day is always kind of a tossup, since no one has any information yet, and everyone's just trying to verbally stir the pot. Levi soft-claims his role right out the gate, warning town not to try targeting him or else. Mogis is executed, casting a vote on himself to save the town the trouble of dealing with Flo Wheeler.

Night 1: Spont uses the statue to recruit Wikxen, at the same time that Wikxen forces Snake to vote for Levi. So, now the usually-scum power in the hands of town is in the hands of scum for real. Bel scans room 3, and learns that its occupant is innocent. Raya recruits DarkFalco, and accidentally recruits Surge alongside her, to her surprise. JGH tries protecting Levi, to test if his claim was a bluff.

Day 2: Levi tries to push JGH on the basis of having targeted him last night, but everyone agrees to wait and see if Levi actually dies first. Votes circle around Wikxen and Raya for suspicious-seeming defensiveness on Day 1, and ultimately, when it seems like Wikxen's about to be executed, a small group of players flip their votes at the last minute and vote Raya out while she's asleep and can't defend herself. Rude! She was poised to win the game for herself and the town, since she'd convinced Falco that the mafia would benefit somehow if they were all recruited.

Night 2: The mafia kills Minby- and Minby opts to tell have Fed watch him, wasting his power. Lucky for town, though, Bel happens to scan room 8, confirming Fed is mafia since he volunteered his room number. Wikxen's coat contains a furnace where there used to be a guy.

Day 3: Wikxen forced Snake to vote for J, making him look bad- but Sah begins sharing his bizarre results from Thinking Machine, and Bel confirms that they're a log of her detective power. Then she points out that Fed is mafia, and the town falls in line behind the accusation with Sah to confirm.

Night 3: Spont uses the statue to recruit Bel, to keep any more problematic scans from ruining them. Bel, before being recruited, scans room 10, though- and now the town knows there's something funky with Falco and Surge, because Sah gets the results and knows what they mean. Due to their mismatched alignments, though, the encoded version is still misleading, so there's wiggle room. TD scans Spont and learns his role name.

Day 4: Spont concocts a daring scheme. He has Bel lie and claim to have received an incriminating result on him- so that Bel will be caught in said lie when Sah produces his own results. The plan is to frame Bel, who's a dead girl walking anyway, and clear Spont's name going forward. But the town talks themselves into explaining away the contradiction- even when TD reveals Spont's stand name, and Spont denies it outright and claims 「Combustible Head」, a fake vigilante (town nightkiller) role instead, the town explains away that, too. After a few more people claim, TD260 has completed his mission- his correct guess wins him the game and he leaves. Spont cleverly excuses himself by claiming that TD lied about his role to get him to claim his "real" one. Afterwards, the town ends up executing Deli064 instead, for some reason- poor Doctor Worm!

Night 4: The evidence vanishes from Bel's charred and smoking chair- because JGH tries to protect her at the same time the mafia are killing him! Bel is a ghost now, and the town never finds out her alignment.

Day 5: Bel not dying poses a problem for the mafia, because Spont was supposed to prove his own innocence by pretending to kill her! The mafia tries to misdirect by having Bel lie again, claiming to scan room 10 when she actually scanned room 6, Sah. Ultimately, though, the town is able to coordinate behind killing Surge and Falco, which- because they're linked- is a compromise option that both parties are happy with (when perhaps they shouldn't be).

Night 5: Since Bel is technically dead, Spont recruits again, grabbing Sah and removing the threat of scans entirely. If he'd recruited Snake instead, they'd have won on the spot, since only his will-vote prevented them from winning instantly due to outnumbering the town. We move on to a somewhat redundant...

Day 6: It's now down to five players- Spont, Sah, and Bel vs Levi and Snake. The mafia technically outnumber the town, but Bel's vote doesn't count, and Sah's going to burn the next night- so the town can still win by forcing a tie and then using Snake's By The Time You Get This power to place a vote on Spont. But that's if they can figure it out and get on the same page, and... they don't. There's no way there could be three mafia still alive, so the mafia are able to sow total confusion and ultimately get the town all voting for Bel... who's a ghost, and can't vote or be executed, which the town doesn't know because JGH died before he could fully explain. The execution defaults to Snake, and the mafia win the game.

#mafia #they might be giants #tmbgareok #jojo #jjba #benedict art

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 40

THE ROAD SO FAR

It's not that hard to say goodbye. But it's really sad for the notable few who enjoyed it.

The SIXth Ship

"Alex"

Sierra Leone, Africa

"Echo 3 - 1 to Hunter One One. We have confirmed the presence of a suspected SAM Turret. Advising not to deploy air support until it's down, over." Alex muttered over the radio as he lowered his scope.

"Copy that, Three One. We'll stand by for your go signal." Roach replied as Alex signaled his team to move forward, covering Alpha Team's six.

"This place is suspiciously quiet." Price muttered over comms.

"It's 5 am. Bad guys probably needed sleep too." Alex commented, scoping on what's head of Team Alpha.

"Well, I want Volt awake, so I could beat Nero's location out of him." Price spat.

"Guardhouse on the east. Single guard, fast asleep."Alex shot his suppressed rifle as the guard dropped to the ground.

"Good Night."

"I'm hearing an engine starting on our east." Soap whispered as Alex turned his scope east. There was indeed a truck load of food arriving at their base.

"Civilian delivery truck." Alex warned.

"Let him pass. He'll notice the dead guard and run." Price predicted and it actually happened as the innocent driver sped off away from the base.

"How long till he calls the cops?" Alex asked.

"Never. France already bribed the guy." Soap answered.

"What?" Alex was puzzled.

"Welcome to Africa." Soap chuckled and they hid into the supply truck while Price drove inside.

"Alright, we're in. Soap and France should plant charges on SAMs and Comms. Once their alarm rings we light things up." Price ordered as Alex's team advanced and circled the perimeter, protecting the gates.

"Where could Volt be hiding?" Alex asked.

"Could be anywhere. This base has lots of buildings." Rocket replied not far behind him.

"There are also six ships by the dock. He could be in one of those." Royce added.

"Alpha Team, we've got movement on your six. Looks like they're looking for their supply drop. They're by the truck and unloading their supplies." Alex warned as the three remained quiet.

"Tango by the guard house down." Rocket confirmed his kill as the body dropped on the ground.

"They're about to discover their dead allies. Prepare for the alarm!" Alex roared as their alarm system activated, dozens of troops from their camps emerged carrying weapons.

"Shit! I'm taking sniper fire by the rooftops!" Soap yelled over comms. Bravo team immediately turned their sights to the rooftops and took down the snipers with ease.

"There's no sign of Volt here. He must've woken up early. Rendezvous with me by the tower." Price muttered.

"Sir. This is Meat from Charlie Team. We've confirmed movement on the docks. No positive ID of Volt yet."

"Copy that meat. Proceeding to the docks." Price said as gunfire echoed through his comms.

"Seeing multiple reinforcements from the gate!" Alex alerted as they attempted to shoot down armored cars loaded with more enemies.

"Alex! This area is compromised!" One of his allies suggested as smoke started to cover their forest.

"Shit! We'll have to meet up with them inside! Change to assault weapons and advance to the gate. You two cover our six using thermals." The two nodded as Alex switched to his assault rifle, advancing towards the gate, taking down reinforcements as they arrived.

"Price? Soap? France? Sitrep?" He roared through comms as his team was now barraged with heavy fire as they hid for cover.

"This is Bravo Six. I made my way inside the last ship. Looks like he's trying to escape. France and Soap are by the docks taking heavy fire. I'll handle Volt from here. You hold out for extraction. It looked like we didn't have a choice." Price said.

Alex felt the heat of the explosion as the ground shook. Soap had detonated the charges they set and help was on the way.

"Roach!" Soap sounded hurt.

"Way ahead of you!" Roach said as the air support bombarded the base with grenade shells, blasting every enemy away as the ground troops recovered.

"Reloading for another round. Stand by." He said as the plane circled back.

"Okay team! Their numbers have reduced. Let's finish this." Alex informed his bravo team as they finished off the remaining waves of enemies, which were too resourceful as they also had attack hyenas, something they didn't expect.

"These dogs are furious!" One commented as they entered the gates, securing the whole base or what's left of it, for valuable intel.

"Echo Three One to Actual. Jack, it looked like they cleaned this place already."

"Actual to Three One. Looks like it. I guess their getaway ship had all his latest work."

"Charlie team found a way to follow them. Bravo team resume recon on the five ships." Jack commanded and the rest followed

"Copy that, Actual. Proceeding towards the ships with caution." Alex replied as they carefully pressed deeper into the base toward the pier. Alex wondered how many piers and ships had been involved on his missions. Looks like Nero doesn't trust air travel.

The ships were rusted and broken, but the components inside were new stacks of equipment possibly used for his bomb making.

"This sly guy hides his stuff inside these rusty ships." Alex reported, his voice echoed around the ship.

"We're all clear, Alex. This ship is empty of tangos." One of his allies reported.

"So are the other ones." Another one reported.

"We found the rest of Alpha team by the pier. Looks like Soap's injured." Said another.

"Copy that. Stay frosty. We have no visual of the entrance so reinforcements might arrive." Alex replied to everyone.

"Roger that." The rest of his team replied in unison. Roach's Air support chopper hovered ahead of them and followed the getaway ship, providing support to Capt. Price. Charlie team had borrowed some small boats to aid in Volt's capture.

"It's all up to him now." Alex muttered as they resumed securing the enemy base.

"So, how was your day?" Samantha smiled, slipping herself inside the covers as she lay down beside Alex. The tired man huffed out a sigh and looked at her beautiful girlfriend, whose eyes were staring at him longingly. It's been almost a month since the task force was created and they were on separate beds, but Alex always makes sure he sleeps over every time he's free.

"Oh, you know. The other kind of usual. We beat information out of Nero's bomb maker today." He said in an interesting tone.

"I know beating people is wrong, but when you've been played with by these kinds of people, it's kind of pleasant to the ears." She chuckled, her hand gliding on his arms and looked for his hands.

"Yeah. I'll never stop doing it until they get a taste of their medicine." Alex breathed and looked at Samantha. Her eyes that once looked blank and lost now looked happy. It was tragic how she just wanted to live a normal life but had everything taken away from her.

"What would you do when this is all over?" She asked, questioning his last statement.

"Well, I could finally take you out on a nice date. Maybe say hi to your dad or something." he blurted, making Samantha's eyes widen in surprise.

"Aww.." She smiled as she leaned in for a kiss, while Alex slowly lifted her so that she's now lying on top of him.

"Why is it that every kiss feels so different." She mused as she leaned for another one.

"Maybe because my love for you grows stronger every second?" He replied.

"Haha. You're funny." She said sarcastically.

"That I am." He grinned as they rolled over, giggling at whatever they were doing.

"I love you, Samantha." Alex whispered in the sexiest way that he could resulting to Samantha actually giggling in disbelief.

"I love you too, Alex." She replied.

"Now, go to sleep. I want you well rested for your work tomorrow." She added as she turned the lamp off. Alex groaned like a kid who doesn't want to go to bed yet.

"How can I sleep, when even in the dark, I could still see your pretty face." He whispered as Samantha laughed.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, mister." She said as she turned back, letting Alex hug her from behind. She always loved his warm embrace beside him, a feeling of security amidst all the times that she'd been kidnapped.

The next morning, Alex came back to the base after breakfast with Samantha. It has been a while since he had that and thought that it wouldn't hurt to go late once in a while.

"Where have you been?" Roach asked as soon as he got to the base.

"I overslept." he lied as Roach scoffed.

"You? Hahaha. Nice try. I know full well that no matter what happens you always wake up at the exact time." Roach laughed.

"Why? Is there something wrong with Volt?" Alex pressed on to the main topic at hand.

"The guy had a little fight. But he actually talked."

"Yeah? About what? Nero's location?"

"No. And This isn't like the official thing, it's just rumors. Price slept at the infirmary today and hasn't woken up yet. So the news is that his EMP tech is now capable of killing humans on a set radius."

"Shit." Alex hissed.

"I know. It could launch anywhere anytime and no one could hide from it. A whole new kind of killing weapon." Roach wondered, making them worry about what Nero's about to do.

"Volt better get talking soon."

"Yeah. He better." Roach approved with an encouraging voice.

Later that afternoon the whole 141 was briefed about a message sent from Nero himself. Thousands of humans, civilians and soldiers alike, were nuked just outside the American capital.

The blast didn't do much damage to infrastructure but machines and humans suffered more than ever. Some were able to withstand the mental damage while some were left in a trance state. Some who already had some form of mental problems suffered horribly and dropped dead on the streets.

It was estimated that about half a million people were affected as the nuke exploded by the ocean. Some say this was a miscalculation and others speculated that this was Nero's warning shot.

America had raised itself on high alert, any time Nero's troops would charge on American soil ignoring all authorities who wanted to stop him. This was it. His plan finally came to fruition.

As for the task force, they have located the main signal of the nuke's control. A place somewhere in Cuba. Alex and Jack knew this place was once visited by older CIA SAD members and rumors had it that one of their Black Ops comrades died there. It once housed the reverse engineered Greenlight nuke. Alex never told anyone in 141 about this as history would tend to repeat itself. He hoped that this was not the case.

This would be the lead that the rest of the task force will be focusing on. As the war rages, Alex was sure that the following days would be the toughest so, while waiting for any potential final lead and orders from above, they spent the rest of their time training for the final showdown against Nero.

Optional Chapter : The Fall of the Capital - Pvt. Ramirez

Next Chapter : FIVE Seconds

Notification Squad my Beloved

@enderio @samatedeansbroccoli @smokeywhalee @ricinbach @bumblingbee1 @whimsywispsblog

#alex echo 3 1 #john soap mactavish #horrayfic #codmw #john price #gary roach sanderson #whateverittakes

[colemacgrathtkz]

Buying time

Previously. Next

Fair warning: This one is long.

A few days after her return, Noceda made her way into the Blight manor. She hadn't seen anyone else from the "good old days".

Today, Amity should be finished moving back into her old room. Now that the "empress" had returned, Luz needed a place to stay.

The Owl house didn't seem like it would be accepting new tenants. Amity said she could stay at the "New Coven" HQ. Belos's former castle might as well be put to good use.

Stepping through the front door, she expected to be greeted by either stuffy parents or mischievous siblings. Neither seemed to be home. Just a familiar face waiting to report her news.

Luz: "Good afternoon, my lovely gf! I'm ready for my homecoming party!"

Amity: "I've already updated Willow and Augustus. They should be ready to speak with you after some time."

Luz(folding her arms): "Why so formal, Blight? Is it the house? Maybe we should get our own-".

Amity: "Everyone's going to need time to take all this in, even me. But what about you? Any trouble moving back into your old castle?"

Luz (sarcastically): " You mean Belos's hand-me-downs? You know, after I killed him. Not so bad once you get passed the stares and constant reminders of who I was."

Amity: "Sorry."

Wait, why was she apologizing?

Luz nonchalantly shrugged.

Luz: "Meh, there was vacancy."

Speaking of vacancy, even for a big house, this was unusually quiet.

Luz( jokingly): "So, when's the party? I want to see everyone. Where are they?"

Amity: "That's going to have to wait. My family's already on their way to a conference. We'll be gone for four days."

Luz: "Sounds like high class stuff. Perfect for a romantic getaway, like in the movies. Ok, I'm in!"

Amity: "You can't come."

Luz( pouting): "Huh, why not? I was technically at the top of this food chain. What could possibly stop this empress from returning to high class society?"

Amity: "Me. Remember, everyone was afraid of you. You're supposed to be a secret. Everyone at HQ has orders not to mention you being back."

Sticking her hands in her pockets, the sulking latina turned to leave.

Luz: "Fine! I'll just hang out with Willow and Gus."

Amity: "Those two are busy. Willow has official coven business. Augustus works with his father. They can't drop everything just because you're back."

Stopping mid step, she glanced back to hear about the others.

Luz: "Eda? King?"

Amity dodged her gaze.

Amity: "We haven't been able to reach them. They left Bonesborough to cure the curse... with Lilth."

For a brief moment, red flickered in Luz's eyes. Unfortunately, Amity caught glimpse of that. She made her way to the staircase.

Amity: "Enjoy the alone time."

Being left alone wasn't a fun thought.

Luz: "Hold on, you sure there's no way I could tag along?"

Amity: "Not without some assurances."

Luz: "Like a certain glowing circle floating in midair?"

Got her...

Amity: "The everlasting oath will only work if we're both on board with this. If you're willing to promise give up your magic, it could work. Just for four days, ok? I want to breathe easy. "

Luz: "Ok, but on one condition. We don't tell anyone else about this. There's probably a line of witches who want to take a shot at me."

A purple halo was spawned before them. Amity held her hand out, ready to begin. But just as Luz held out hers, it crackled. A burst of red in its hue, it zapped both their wrists before dissolving. The slight scorch marks seemed to send a clear message.

Amity( disappointed): "I knew this wouldn't work."

Luz: "Hang on, one more time. Close your eyes."

If you looked up "suspicious" in the dictionary, you'd see this moment.

Amity's narrowed eyes tried to read Luz's intentions. The suspect raised her right hand and put the other one on her chest.

Luz: "No tricks, I swear."

Complying with her request, Amity didn't peek.

Luz's eyes darted for the closest reflective object. Settling on a mirror, she knew who else was staring back.

Luz( mouthing the words): "Come on, help me out here."

Trying once more, two hands joined together without fail.

Luz: "See? No sweat. Now, when do we leave?"

Amity: "Tonight, I'm almost done packing. But there's something else I've got to say. My family's arranged for all of us to have our own rooms, for privacy. So..."

Amity brought a hand to Luz's face, smiling.

Amity( patting Luz's cheek): "Good luck finding a last minute vacancy."

And with that, a slack jawed girl was left to wait at the door.

Luz: "Fine, I don't need magic. I've got a dangerous rep!"

[The morning after Luz's return, at New Coven HQ]

Gus: "We've got to drop everything and deal with this!"

Amity: "No, we need to focus. How did she even get here?"

Willow(sarcastically): "Maybe you can find the answer at your next book club meeting? Spoiler alert! Luz's pages ahead of us."

Gus has been working with his father. Though, keeping his finger on the town's pulse was definitely a useful thing. From hearing rumors to reading reports, Gus was the group's ears.

He'd barged into Amity's briefing. Reports of crystal balls disappearing overnight. That definitely seemed like New Coven business.

Of course, it seemed like a good time to inform them of last night's visitor.

Gus: "This can't a coincidence. First, she shows up. Then, robberies happen all over town, overnight! What next? The town gets knee deep in a potion flood?"

Willow: "That doesn't sound that bad, all things considered."

Gus(hysterical): "Oh, sure! Why don't we just ask our former dictator? Hey, Luz, how bad are things going to get?"

They took the news about as well as could be expected.

Gus: "We can't just ask her. She'd probably get scary and wipe out the town."

Willow( putting a hand on Gus's shoulder): " Come on, Gus, this is Luz we're talking about. She's got a big imagination. She'd probably come up with something way worse."

Ok, that's enough panicking.

Amity: "She's not going to wipe out Bonesborough... today. Look, right now we've got questions that need answers. And each of us still have jobs to do. Augustus, I want you to keep up to date on the investigations. Willow, I need you to go to the tree. The portal's gone, but there might be something left behind. Anything that could give us a hint.

Get to it!"

This was normally the part where everyone's dismissed. But Willow waited to shut the door behind Gus.

Willow: "Now that he's gone, we need to clear the air."

Amity just sat down, resting her head on her arms.

Willow: "Do you know why I became your personal assistant?"

Amity(sheepish): "Because you're that nice of a witch and couldn't let me fall apart?"

Willow: "Luz meant alot to us. But she meant a whole lot to you. If anyone was going to get her back, it was you. You were the key to seeing her again. And I wanted to be there to see my friend again.

...

Guess I dropped the ball on that one, huh?"

These two might not be friends, but they had each other's backs.

Willow: "So, do you trust her?"

Amity: "I don't know."

Smirking, Willow wrapped one arm around Amity's shoulder.

Willow: "Well, maybe we can do something about that? See, while you were obviously crushing on her from afar..."

Amity(slightly blushing): " Obviously?!"

Willow(smug): " I was learning up close about schemes, plots, and ruses from a master of shenanigans."

Willow's confidence had improved.

Willow: "I've got a plan. If everything goes well, you might get everything you hoped for.

Twoo wuv's kiss saves Luz and both of you get a happy ending."

She took jabs at her new boss when she could. Payback for the years of bullying.

While Amity became beet red, Willow continued.

Willow(whispering): "Here's what you need to do..."

[Bonus]

The afternoon after the conference, at the Blight manor.

The "undercover" duo knocked at the Blight manor entrance.

The family should be back, by now.

They were met by the twins, Emira and Edric.

Willow: "We need to talk to Amity."

Emira: "She's sleeping."

Gus: "It's four in the afternoon."

Edric: "She didn't get a wink, last night."

A smiles appeared on Amity's siblings.

Edric: "Want to see why?"

Not even waiting for an answer, he brought up a scroll. The footage was ready to go.

Edric: "We had a ball to cap off the night."

Emira: "But Luz wanted to do something special."

There, on the screen, Luz stood in the spotlight. Holding the mic and a spanish guitar, she broadcasted for the dance hall.

Luz: "This one goes out to a special someone here tonight. It's called, 'You're in my heart'."

Amity could be seen hiding her face, as she tried to excuse herself.

Emira: "We told her, Amity left during her performance."

Edric: "So, she asked for our help in finding mitten's window."

Pulling up another recording, this one seemed to take place outside.

Luz: "I saw this in a movie, once."

As the shot panned out, the eyes of these two detectives nearly popped out at the screen. What they saw could only be described as an army of Luz clones. The one up front, holding the guitar, began to play. The rest of them sang behind her.

Luz army(echoing): "Love of my life, you've hurt me.

You've broken my heart, and now you leave me."

The Blight twins collapsed from laughter.

The two guests looked at each other.

Gus(confused): "Are we... sure that's not the real Luz?"

Willow: "I thought Luz wasn't supposed to do magic?"

Edric(astounded): "That's why she asked for our help!"

Emira: "I just thought she was trying to get in good with her future in laws. Those powers glyphs weren't a bad start."

Before Willow could ask about that, Gus had his own question.

Gus: "When did you even learn this song?"

Blight twins(in unison): "Last night."

Willow: "No one tried to stop her during any of this?"

Emira: "People were too sacred they'd set her off. I mean, even we had trouble believing she wasn't going to start... you know."

Edric: "That is, until she wanted to pull something over on Amity. And really, who are we to try and stop her from redeeming herself?"

Emira: "Yeah, shame she made Luz walk home."

Slowly, Willow pieced together a realization.

Willow: "Time's not up yet and she's walking back alone.

Wait, did you post this on Penstagram?!"

Author's note:

Admittedly, the bonus was inspired by this moment in the show

and a song on the radio.

#Broken! Luz AU #Story I pieced together #lumity #the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #toh #willow park #Gus Porter #Emira Blight #Edric Blight #luz x amity

[the-coffee-story]

Coffee - The Plague Doctor's Revenge

Chapter 11 - Back on the Motorway Bridge

"So how exactly do you plan to find him?", Thasfield asked when they were standing on the top floor of the parking lot ten minutes later. An icy wind was blowing around the trio. Coffee shivered.

Violet nodded, smiled, then took a deep breath. "We, uh, have no idea."

"Oh, wonderful," Sean mumbled and Violet glared at him.

"Hey Cof," she suddenly said, turning to him. His head jolted up. "Hm?"

"What's the best hiding places in Graytown if you're trying not to be spotted?"

"Hmm." He furrowed his brows, trying to find the words. Then he realized Thasfield wasn't fluent in sign language anyway and grabbed his phone from his pocket.

"I'd say the motorway bridge, it's a good spot to look across the city without being seen. On the other hand I left some stuff up there, so I'm not sure whether anyone would stay for long. Depends on how willing he is to risk meeting someone else."

Violet narrowed her pretty green eyes. "So you suggest we search there?"

Coffee shrugged his narrow shoulders.

"At least that's where I stayed most of the time while the whole drama happened."

Violet suddenly got flustered and started running a hand through her curls in embarrassment. "Oh my God. You heard us, right?"

Coffee felt himself flushing red when he remembered hearing her and Franklin exchanging meaningless little flirts a few months ago, words she'd meant to say to him, not his brother. "Uh-huh."

Violet groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry."

"Uhm." Thasfield cleared his throat. "Can we get back on topic?"

"Right. Sorry." Violet blew her hair out of her face. "Motorway bridge."

***

"So you hid here for...what was it? A couple months?", Thasfield asked while they were climbing up a narrow metal ladder to the grating of the bridge. Coffee nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Doesn't look very comfortable."

He shrugged his shoulders and reached out to the dusty grating.

"Sorry, I forgot you can't talk right now."

Coffee giggled and waved it off. Then he climbed through the hole in the grating.

Thasfield's square face grew worried when he saw the hole. "I...well, I'm not sure whether I'll fit through-"

"Come on, even Doc did," Violet's throaty voice came from the darkness behind him. She was barely visible in the shadows save for the glint of her eyes.

"Have you seen him?!", Thasfield countered. "He's a stick!"

"Yeah, one that is 6'8 long!"

"Alright, alright." He sighed. Coffee held his hand out and Thasfield took it.

The catwalk was narrow and dusty. Cobwebs clung to the concrete around them while Coffee led the others through the labyrinth. Their only source of light was the city across the river and more than once he could hear a metallic clunk when one of them bumped into a pipe followed by cussing.

"I hate spiders," Thasfield mumbled after running face forward into the third web of the night. He spat over the dusty railing of the catwalk. "Bah! Disgusting!"

"Yeah, I doubt your coat will still be black once we get out of here," Violet commented in a whisper. Her smirk was audible.

Coffee gently ducked when he noticed a freshly torn web in front of them. He raised his hand to signal a stop.

"What is it?", Violet asked.

He pointed at the web.

"Someone was here," Thasfield whispered.

"It's fresh," Coffee signed. "Whoever passed through is still here."

Suddenly they heard a shuffle from the dark catwalk in front of them. Coffee jumped.

"Against the wall, quick!", Thasfield hissed.

They lined up against the cold concrete, side by side, having no idea what was going to happen next. Coffee's heartbeat was drumming in his ears, so loud that a part of him feared the Plague Doctor might hear him.

Then a sound echoed through the labyrinth of steel and concrete. A quiet wince of pain. Coffee glanced over to the others.

"He's hurt," he signed. Violet nodded. Her green eyes shimmered in the dark. Her breath was forming clouds around her. One of her hands was clutching her belly in fear.

Suddenly a silhouette appeared in the darkness of the corridor. They could hear irregular footsteps coming closer. He walks with a limp, Coffee thought. In his mind he counted through every strategy of self defense he could use if necessary, then realized the only thing that gave him a realistic chance in case the plan went wrong was a quick escape Spiderman-style. Even then, his experiences had proven that the Plague Doctor was just as good as him. The only thing he could hope for was that everything would go well.

The Plague Doctor turned his head a little and the lights of the city reflected in the tinted glass of his mask, making it look like his eyes were glowing red.

Coffee's hand slid into Violet's and she gently squeezed it.

And suddenly the stranger turned his head and stared directly at them.

Coffee's eyes widened and he felt the blood draining from his face. Violet's pulse was hammering in his hand and he could hear Thasfield's breath racing. The metal beneath his feet seemed to bend and the world felt like it was spiraling out of control. He realized he was about to faint and angrily bit his lip to keep himself conscious.

The Plague Doctor was frozen still.

Both parties spent at least a minute staring at each other, unable to move, paralyzed by terror.

"Please don't hurt me...!", the Plague Doctor finally whispered. His voice was surprisingly soft, with a velvety German accent.

Violet blinked. "I...yeah, I was about to say the same."

"Oh." He tilted his head in confusion. "You're... you're not here to...?"

"Nope." That was Thasfield. "Actually we came here to check whether you need any help."

"Oh." He looked a little overwhelmed. "I...okay, this is awkward." He nervously laughed. "Uh...tschuldigung, I mean, sorry, I...wasn't expecting anyone here-"

Violet waved it off. "No, we have to apologize, we scared you."

"Who are you?", the Plague Doctor asked.

"We're private investigators," Thasfield explained. He was surprisingly calm. Then again, as a former serial killer he was probably used to stuff like this. "I'm Sean, here's Violet and Coffee."

Coffee waved and smiled shakily.

"Uh...hallo." The Plague Doctor nervously brushed a black curl out of his face. His silky hair reached his knees. From up close Coffee could see a few silver strands in it.

"What's your name?", Thasfield asked.

He hesitated.

"Keine Ahnung, erm...can I trust you?"

Violet shrugged her shoulders. "That's your decision, really."

He hesitated.

"My name is Wilhelm Wisper."

***

He'd gone through hell. He didn't say it out loud but it was apparent. The limp, the missing arm, the fact that the mask stayed on told them more than words.

Wilhelm told them everything. They'd had a fight. She'd thrown a burning candle at him. His sleeve had caught fire. She'd fled.

"What are you gonna do now?"

Coffee handed his phone to Wilhelm, who quickly read through the message.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Keine Ahnung. Wait until there's some evidence against Eugenia, then strike and try to prove it was her fault. And in the meantime I'll stay here, I guess."

"Our co-worker Doc Tilch is coming back from Scotland this evening with evidence," Thasfield quietly said. "Perhaps we'll find something."

"Thank you."

"You could come with us," Violet suggested.

Wilhelm flinched a little. "I... I'm not sure whether that'd be good."

"Uh...do you have a phone then?"

"Ja. I mean...yes." He dug through the pockets of his dusty black jacket and took out a black Samsung with a shattered display.

"Can I get your phone number so we can call you if something new happens?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Klar."

#reviews are welcome ;) #remember to listen to the song #the coffee story #the plague doctor's revenge

[lifeisonlyaborrowingofbones]

I don't know if I'm even able to say anything that hasn't been said already. Doesn't even feel like these help that much, I feel like I'm just repeating myself constantly. I still feel terrible. After a week of trying my best to do better & eat, I was informed by girlroommate after asking if newroommate was avoiding me that I'm still a massive bummer to be around. Well that sucks. Anxiety shits are back, the cold at night is making my muscles feel even worse. The night before, the diphenhydramine didn't work. Worked last night with vodka though, thankfully.

She's the sweetest lady I've ever known. I made slime with her yesterday for her halloween bags & then I napped with her in the living room, like I did yesterday. It was... really really nice. I can't believe she's so sweet to me. I can't believe I fucking threw it all away.

Sent a message the other day to newroommate after girlroommate said she didn't blame him for not wanting to talk to me. Yesterday he finally responded in person & he doesn't really have anything against me, he'd just rather be talking to her. Which... fair enough. It's not like I have anything good or positive to contribute to any conversation. He said he still wants to be friends. I also asked him if he wanted to play spooky games with me last night & I was promptly ignored. Not the first time he's done so, guess I'll stop doing that shit. Fair enough. He doesn't care about me, just wants to care about her. Logical.

Every single day has been forcing myself to be not even happy, but to just be okay with this situation. I don't want to leave. I don't want to be pushed out. I want to matter to her still. I told her I wished she'd talk to me more yesterday. She says she doesn't wanna talk about newroommate for privacy reasons. I didn't even mean about him, I just meant in general. Why didn't I say that? Probably wouldn't have mattered.

Been calling several mental health places in Denver & most of them are booked until January. I guess I'll make an appointment then but what the fuck am I supposed to do until then? Just keep trying really hard to not think about killing myself? I dunno what the fuck is gonna happen but I guess we'll see. Honestly getting through christmas sounds like absolute hell. I just wanna not be sad. I don't know how & I need help please. Maybe even if I just had a friend to talk to about it. Idk.

Girlroommate gave me money to buy a video game last night, before newroommate ignored me asking him about it. I guess she sent me $100, even though I didn't even really want it. I haven't been playing games for almost a month, certainly a record. I had been playing almost every day for over 6 years. The last thing I played was Deltarune chapter 2. It was very sweet & had a good ending, then I cried & cried after I beat it. I.. don't know if games can help me. Nothing can distract me from my pain, unfortunately. Maybe I can actually save some goddamn money now. I'll need to if I'll be able to afford my new rent. Godammit. I can't believe I OFFERED to have them do this. I thought it would help me too but all it did was help them. I know newroommate is happy with it, he's over the fucking moon. But girlroommate is clearly of two minds about it. Even now, a month later, she still seems happy a lot of the time but also irritated that she's in a space with a new person. Why am I still even typing. None of this matters. She's not mine anymore & she never will be. I'm never gonna be happy again because nobody I ever meet will be anything like her.

I hope she can be happy one day.

10.29.2021

#sad logs #pathetic #ignore #ignored #depressing #money #games #kill me #mental health places can suck my ass #alone