overlyimmersedarcana - Tumblr blog

overlyimmersedarcana · 3 years

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"Replaceable"

Maranell groans and rolls over, not bothering to open her eyes. But slowly her senses settle back into being conscious and she realizes something is very wrong. She sits bolt upright, and immediately regrets it, her head is aching horribly. She reaches up to touch a particularly sore spot and finds the texture...odd. She rubs the spot with her fingertips, trying to figure out what she's feeling, then brings her hand away and looks at it. She freezes, seeing her fingertips stained red.

"... What happened..."

A small whimper from beside her draws her attention and she looks over, seeing Xavier. The big white wolf looks pretty worse for wear himself.

"Xavier... Did you get the number of that bus that hit me?" She asks with a drowsy smirk.

Xavier cocks his head and gives a 'wuff', having no concept of what a bus is.

She waves her bloodied hand, "It's just a joke."

He wuffs again, this time chidingly.

"I know, I know. But it's better then panicking." She places her hand to her head again, trying to remember what happened. "What did hit me..." As she concentrates images flash in her mind, something metal and...hooked at one end? "A... Crowbar?"

Xavier whimpers again and scoots closer, sniffing at her face and when he finds the wound with his nose he starts to lick at it. She nudges him away though.

"It's fine, just let it... Coagulate..." She returns her attention to trying to remember. More images flash. A man -she can't remember his face-, a voice -presumably his-, her own voice, a feeling of defiance... "I got mugged..." She realizes out loud with an annoyed tone. "Son of a- ugh..."

She gets slowly to her feet and starts checking herself over. She doesn't carry much on her person, but her coin pouch is gone, of course. She starts a little, suddenly and reaches to the back of her head, then sighs with relief as her fingers brush metal. Wait, when did she start wearing a hair pin? She shakes the question away and reaches for her neck next, nothing... Though she doesn't remember wearing a necklace anyway. Why did she even check? Nothing else seems to be missing, again there's not much to take, so she just sighs.

"Come on, Xavier. Let's go ho-" she halts mid sentence and stares with a panicked expression. After a moment she looks at Xavier, "Do you know where home is...?"

The wolf gives a confident nod and starts down the alley way, she hesitates but follows after him. Along the way she goes through her memory, looking for other blank spots.

She starts by trying to remember her day. She remembers waking up...but then there's a blank, then she's walking into town with Xavier. What happened to getting dressed? She tries to remember yesterday. She remembers night time, she's sitting at a table drawing. Where is the table...? It feels like it's at home, but she still can't remember where that is. The next thing she remember is waking up yesterday. So she's missing the entire day? What is going on? She knows she has a head injury... But this is not how amnesia works... She continues trying to remember things, finding huge gaps almost everywhere. She remembers her sisters- but wait... How did she meet them? How long has she been here? She knows her name has changed to Maranell, but she doesn't remember when she changed it. She remembers she was pregnant at one point, but she doesn't remember giving birth. That makes her heart jump into her throat, till a memory of her child playing with Maranwe's daughter springs to mind.

She halts and calls out to the wolf, "Xavier, hang on..."

He stops and trots back to her.

"Xavier, I don't know what's going on." Her voice is trembling "I... I don't remember some things, but... What's going on?" She looks down into his eyes, hoping he has some kind of answer. But all he can offer is a sympathetic whimper.

"'It'll make sense soon'? What does that mean?"

Xavier just turns and continues leading her home, they left the city some time ago and now they're in the woods. It's past sunset so its pretty dark, and kinda spooky. But it feels like the right way. At one point they pass a...well its kind of a house. She stares at it for a second before the name springs to mind, 'Morga'. Morga lives there. She's Lucio's mom, Marayana's mother in law. They've met several times, she knows Morga is capable of mercy.

"Maybe I should ask for help..." She moves to approach the house, but feels something tug the back of her shirt. She looks behind her to see Xavier holding her shirt in his mouth. He drops it and wuffs, turning his head back the way they were going.

"But maybe she can-" she's interrupted by an insistent bark. "Alright, alright... We'll just keep going then... "

He continues leading and she follows. Eventually he leads her to another house, it's much different, and kind of mismatched? Not badly, it just looks like some parts are newer then others. This appears to be it though, by the way Xavier trots up to the door, turning to her as if waiting for her open it for him. She hesitates for a moment, suddenly nervous. Xavier says it's the right place but she doesn't actually recognize it. After a whine from the wolf she walks up and reaches for the handle. As she grabs it a sounds strikes her ears, crying. A baby crying. Faolan! The name pops into her head, she hadn't actually left a baby alone for god knows how long?! She throws the door open, but stumbles and freezes as images register. The baby is there, but not alone. He's being held, and comforted, by a man. A really big man who's now staring at her with a shocked expression.

After a second, his shock fades. "Where have you been?" He asks in a gruff voice, he sounds... Slightly irritated? But his expression quickly turns to worry when he notices the blood on her forehead. When Xavier trots inside, looking scuffed up as well, the man looks even more concerned. "What happened?" He stands and places the baby in a...playpen of some kind, then walks over to Maranell. The child is still fussing, but is apparently not the man's current priority.

He's even bigger now that he's standing. Is this the baby's father? She hadn't even thought about how she'd gotten pregnant. But right now she has no freaking idea who this is. Horror and guilt start to seep into her heart. This is not good...

He reaches forward, intending to brush her bangs aside to see the injury better, but she flinches away from him. He looks at her, startled, she's never been afraid of him before. Not ever. "Maranell...?" He looks at her eyes, seeing the lack of comprehension, the lack of recognition.

"I'm sorry. I-... Who are you...?" The last part comes out quiet and rather timid, like she doesn't want to ask.

He stares at her, a kind of hurt creeping into his expression. But she can feel him warring with it, trying to stamp it down, like he doesn't want to believe it's cause.

The horrified feeling turns to panic when it bounces off his hurt and she tries to explain what she can "I'm sorry! I-" but he cuts her off, just holding his hand up for her to stop. Then he places it lightly on her shoulder, guiding her a few steps further inside and closing the door.

She's surprised by how gentle he is. She would have expected a touch from him to be rougher, but he's barley touching her, and the pull for her to move was more a request then a demand. Still, he's not saying anything. He's not saying anything. Is he mad? Should he be? She's not sure and it makes her uneasy as she watches him cross the room to a set of small shelves in the corner. He rummages around for a second before finding whatever he's looking for and returning to her. He holds his hand out to her, there's something sitting in his palm. She looks at it, it looks like a little...leather pouch. She glances up at his face for a second, he's just waiting, so she hesitantly picks it up and looks it over. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about the little pouch -except that it smells funny. It's earthy, it's kinda pretty, and...familiar. what is this smell? She brings it closer to her nose, trying to identify it. Myrrh... the smell is myrrh!

As the name rushes to mind, everything else comes with it. Her eyes widen "Oh my god..." her hands move to cover her mouth, completing the horrified expression, and she staggers backwards till she hits the door, letting herself slide down it to the floor. Hot tears flood her eyes and spill down her cheeks. How did she let this happen?

He's rather startled by her reaction. He expected her to be relieved, he knows she hates to be confused. But she's just upset, really upset. He moves to step closer.

"I'm sorry!" She bursts out, interrupting whatever he'd been intending to do, "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I- I- someone mugged me, I didn't- please, I'm so sorry!" Her voice becomes more frantic as she goes, turning to begging. She even shifts her position so she's on her knees.

"I know." He says amid her begging. He kneels down himself and reaches out again. This time she doesn't flinch, she actually tries to hold still for him as he moves her bloodied bangs aside to see the injury.

She continues as if she hadn't heard him, tight voiced and starting to hyperventilate "I'm sorry! I didn't mean this, I would never!" She's so worried she's hurt him or made him insecure, her mind is stuck in a loop. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, please I'm sorry."

"I know, I know. It's ok. " Once he's examined the wound he places a hand on either side of her face and makes sure to look in her eyes as he shushes her. "Breathe."

She takes a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds before letting it out. That seems to break the hyperventilating, though she's still breathing a little quick.

"I'm sorr-" she starts, but he place a hand to her mouth to stop her then immediately takes it away.

"It's ok."

She looks at him, a few more hot tears spilling down her cheeks. But she doesn't apologize and she doesn't hyperventilate.

"You're hurt." He points out.

"Yeah, someone hit me with a crowbar. Seems a but excessi-" she's cut off to yelp as Muriel scoops her up off the floor. This gives her the opportunity to hugg him, which she takes clinging tightly to his neck.

"It's ok." He says again, taking her over to the couch and setting her down. She holds on a few extra moments before letting go.

He moves to get a rag, a bucket and some hot water from the pot in the hearth. Then goes back to Maranell.

"Let's clean this up." He says and starts to do so.

She flinches a little, and hisses as the hot water stings the wound. But it quickly acclimates. He apologizes anyway, and she just gives him the best smile she could right now. It comes off apologetic.

"It's not your fault." He assures flatly, continuing to clean blood from her forehead.

"I should have been more careful." She insists anyway.

"You should. You're hurt."

"I'm fine, my necklace is important."

He stops and looks at her "You're important."

"I'm fine. The necklace is-" she tries to insist, but he cuts her off.

"Replaceable. I have more." To prove his point her takes her hand and turns it over, showing her the spare pouch she's holding. "You're head is bleeding."

She reaches up to gingerly touch at the wound. He continues. "I have more myhrr. There's only one of you." He pulls her forward, hugging her protectively and keeps her like that for a while just glad she's there. Glad she made it back.

#the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana oc #the determined young woman || maranell #the arcana muriel #the arcana fanfic #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #tw violence #tw mugging #tw blood #muriel of the kokhuri #muriel x maranell #muriel the arcana #muriel x oc #muriel

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overlyimmersedarcana · 3 years

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Just imagine Muriel with bear ears and a bear tail~

I am imagining it

thoroughly ✨🐝

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overlyimmersedarcana · 3 years

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OC Questions

After seeing a lot of the same questions in OC asks, thought I’d write a few of my own lol. Send an emoji and and for which OC:

🩸 - Does your OC believe in blood being thicker than water? (meaning family relationships and loyalties are the most important)

✂️ - What kind of thing would have your OC cut someone out of their life? How likely are they to let someone back in?

🎭 - Does your OC show different sides of themselves to different people?

🩺 - Does your OC accept help easily? Are they willing to admit when they need help?

💡 - How does your OC enact plans? Do they plan down to the smallest details, or do the wing it?

🌋 - What’s your OCs temper like? Are they a slow boil, or an instant explosion?

⏰ - What is your OC like at timekeeping? Are they punctual, or always running late?

🎁 - What kind of gift-giver are they? Do they give thoughtful gifts? Expensive gifts? Practical gifts?

📎 - How organised is your OC? Do they keep on top of responsibilities, or leave things to the last minute?

🧸 - On a scale of 1 - 10, how ‘soft’ is your OC? 1 being the edgiest of edges and 10 being a literal teddy bear that cries at everything? (Bonus questions, where on the scale would your OC place themselves, and where would they like to be on the scale?)

💬 - Is your OC much of a talker? Do they only speak when spoken to? (Or not even then?) Do they ever talk over others?

🌅 - What is your OCs favourite time of day? Are they a morning person or a night owl?

🥦 - Does your OC eat healthily or live off junk food?

🍹 - Does your OC drink? If so, what’s their drink of choice?

🍺 - What kind of drunk are they? (e.g. talkative, sleepy, flirty etc.)

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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"Ah, uh... You're the 'guest'. That was mentioned..." She clears her throat a little, trying to compose herself. Though the position of her ears gives away her discomfort anyway. "Uh, nice you meet you. I'm Maranwe."

There's an awkward pause, that's soon broken by raucous jingling as Juniperbreeze knocks a toy down the hallway and chases after it. "Oh, uh, try not to step on the toys please. They break rather easily underfoot..."

Today was going to be a nerve-racking day for Nyx, standing just outside of Yen Sid's tower would be the young apprentice who just came out of a portal his master made. He was instructed to stay and learn with Master Yen Sid while trying to find a cure for his Ursathropy. Nyx didn't know if his master told the other he was coming or not but right now Nyx would be trying to find the courage to go inside as he was very nervous to meet one of the most powerful Wizards in the worlds.

The sun had started it’s rise about an hour ago, though with how high up the tower is it look like it’s hardly dawn. A few stars are still shimmering high over head, while the horizon below brightens with orange and yellow light. A soft click sounds from the tower’s doors, accompanied by a small flash of light. The breaking of a lock spell, and a signifier that it’s now late enough in the morning for the tower’s primary resident to accept visitors.And as if it were a que, another sound breaks the morning quiet. A gummi ship approaching, and landing on, the little floating island. Once the craft is completely stationary, the cockpit opens and a…somewhat small figure hops out. King Mickey heads for the tower doors, but stops with a slight jump. He wasn’t expecting to see anyone outside this time of morning.“Well, hey there!” He greets in his typical cheery tone. He walks over and smiles up at Nyx, “Good morning! Have you been waiting long? Master Yen Sid likes to have his morning tea before he sees visitors. The door should be open by now, though. Come on, I’ll show you the way.” With that, he leads the way into the tower.

#I'll cut the post when I get back to my comp #I'm currently on mobile #for any on the arcana blog that might be confused #different Maranwe #posted this to the wrong blog and just didnt wanna have to redo it #just ignore it #it's a kingdom hearts rp

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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I don't know what it is, but Nazali makes me feel some sort of way, and I'm not hatin' it.

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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Halloween Faolan

Faolan dressed as a little bear for Halloween. And yes this is half a month late. Oh well.

This didn't come out as well as the first drawing of him. I have no idea why... The mouth maybe?

#the arcana #The Arcana Game #the arcana oc #the arcana fan kid #the arcana muriel #the arcana maranell #the arcana faolan #Little Bear || Faolan #sketch #drawing #traditional art #halloween #costume #bear

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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Faolan

I've been meaning to draw Faolan for like 3 months, and finally I did. Here is da bb :3

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I have no idea how I've managed to improve my skills in the last 2 months since I've barely done any drawing. I did the october drawing challenge, but I only draw keyblades for that so it doesn't help this type of drawing. And 3 days ago I drew a supreme kai oc. That's all I've accomplished in two months, 31 keyblades and a kai... So here's an infant. I rarely draw babies... He's cute though.

Again, this is Faolan. Maranell and Muriel's son, at about 10 months old.

#the arcana #The Arcana Game #the arcana oc #the arcana fan kid #Little Bear || Faolan #the arcana Faolan #sketch #traditional art #fan kid #baby #the arcana muriel #the arcana maranell #drawing

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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Maranell’s Feelings

I just wrote a fic on the topic but I want to just talk about it. I'm not quite back into the swing of things but I want to talk about this.

Maranell and Muriel are... Really really good for each other. I'm biased, but really, out of the four relationships I've built with these four girls, this is by far my favorite. They're just, I think they play off each other really well, having opposite outward personalities while having a lot in common in finer details, and a lot common of ground emotionally.

They can really understand each other, and that makes it easier to help each other with what they don't understand.

Most of my works on the two are told from the reader following Muriel, and seeing more of what he thinks and feels, so it hasn't been made as clear the way Maranell feels and thinks. And I feel like that's made the relationship look one-sided. That's really really not on purpose. It isn't one-sided at all. The way these two look at each other isn't exactly the same, but there's no disparity in intensity.

Muriel is kind of in awe of Maranell, her stubbornness, natural kindness and understanding and perceived fearlessness are really stunning to him. It's kind of like 'how can this sort of person exist and what could she possibly want with me?' she's almost otherworldly to him sometimes.

Maranell on the other hand isn't awed by Muriel, she's impressed don't get me wrong, but her perception is much more down to earth. He's a person, a wonderful person, but a person, not something from another plane or something. But weather or not he's an angel, doesn't change the fact that she feels saved by him. He gives her things she's never been allowed to have before; freedom, unconditional confidence, his complete faith in her. And he loves her fully and without pretense, without stipulations or conditions. He sees everything she is out in the open and loves her for it. All of it, not in spite of some parts. All of this allows her to be fully herself, to feel safe in being fully herself. And that's something she'll never be able to repay, never be able to thank him enough for.

Her own family couldn't even love her without conditions, but this man does. He loves *her* not what he can make her into or an imagined idea of what she will or should be. That's really all she's ever asked for and it's everything to her.

#the arcana #The Arcana Game #the arcana discussion #the arcana oc #the arcana muriel #the arcana maranell #The Determined Young Woman || Maranell

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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A Conversation Over Tea

(Hey! I exist! Apologies for the absence, I'm one of those hype fixation people, and my hyper fixation shifted... twice. But I've rounded back to here, for now so...more writing! This is the only fandom where I do this. I don't write in any of the others, not like this.)

(I've written several pieces detailing Muriel's feeling for Maranell, but not so much the other way around so I thought I should do that.)

"You sure are productive." Maranwe comments, sipping her tea. Her and Maranell are sitting together in the salon, just the two of them this time.

Maranell certainly has accomplished a lot in her time in this world. Building a house, building a family. She always seems to have some project in the works, and it's the type of stuff Maranwe couldn't really see herself doing.

" I wasn't before." Maranell points out

"No?"

"No. I spent a lot of my life doing nothing. Idle. I thought about a million things a day, but I never did any of them. I only started doing things when I came here." She motions with one hand to their environment, "I came here and things needed doing, and I was the only one willing to do it, so I did. I feel... " She laughs a little, "Sometimes I feel almost invincible here. I can do anything. I have the freedom to. Whatever comes into my head it just...happens. I just do it. I don't have to... "

Maranwe tips her head, curious, but not wanting to rush her sister's thought process.

"Think. Worry, about what anyone else will think or feel or say. It's not like... Back 'home'." She continues, "There's nothing to think about, nothing to be afraid of. It's wild... Muriel helps. He seems to think I can do anything. He even seems to think it's easy. Maybe I make it look easy. He says I don't make sense when I talk, " Maranell smiles brightly at the thought, "His faith is... Heartening, empowering. He thinks I can do anything, so I can. He thinks it's easy for me, so it is. Sometimes I think he thinks I can...shape reality." She laughs "And sometimes it feel like I can. Just cuz he thinks I can, cuz he looks at me when I'm working and... I don't know what he's seeing, it's like I'm some kind of marvel in his eyes. Something inexplicable and supernatural. He makes me feel special and capable and...not afraid of anything, I don't have to be afraid of anything. I don't have to be afraid of getting hurt, I don't have to be afraid of screwing up, or being judged. The world isn't scary -people aren't scary- anymore."

Maranwe listens, watching her double as the feeling spill from her mouth. Once Maranell has finished speaking, and after a momentary quiet, she glances up with a blush, realizing what she'd just rambled on about. Maranwe just smiles into her tea cup.

#the arcana #The Arcana Game #the arcana fanfic #the arcana oc #The Determined Young Woman || Maranell #The Mysterious Doctor || Maranwe #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #the arcana muriel #the arcana maranell #the arcana maranwe

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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A Series of Nightmares pt 2

"The Window Doesn't Open"

(Trigger warning; horror, cursing, onomatopoeia of icky noises?)

Maranell opens her eyes and is instantly confused. Why is she awake? When had she fallen asleep? She lays there, snuggled in their warm bed, trying to think about it. A sudden noise startles her from her pondering, a sort of *thunk*, and she bolts upright, looking in the direction she'd heard it from.

"Holy fuck..." she curses under her breath. Something is staring at her through the bedroom window, wide eyed and grinning. She instinctively reaches to wake Muriel, but her hand hits empty bed. She looks over in shock. He isn't there. White hot panic starts to course through her as she jerks her attention back to the window. The face is gone. A scream bubbles in her chest, but she caps it there, not yet ready to succumb to her panic.

As she moves to get out of bed, something catches her eye. A glint at the end of the bed. She glances at the window again, to make sure the cost is clear before she moves closer, then she crawls to the end of the bed and looks. There's a knife stuck in the bed frame. Somehow the idea that this monster threw a knife at her is the least terrifying thing about it, and actually calms her slightly by it's sheer absurdity.

She reaches forward, pulling the knife from the wood and looks it over in the moonlight. As she peers at the blade, the slight calm she'd just gotten is slowly eaten way by an eerie feeling. The unignoreable gnawing of something being very, but uncannily, wrong here. This is Muriel's whittling knife...

She jumps from the bed and pulls open the bedroom door, hoping against hope that she'd see him there on the couch, using the very knife she had clutched in her hand to carve some cute little creature out of wood, and all of this would fade into the warm firelight like the nightmare it clearly is. But she has no such luck. The living room is indeed well lit, but it's empty. Neither people, nor wolves are anywhere to be seen as she creeps into the room. She stands in the middle of it, looking around in horrified bewilderment at the empty house. How can it look so exactly right and so very off at the same time? She's been at home alone before and it never looked this wrong.

A sudden sound makes her jump and yelp, she slaps her free hand over her mouth to stifle the noise and listens. It's like scratching...or pawing? Maybe it's one of the wolves, maybe they had just gone out while she was sleeping...or something. She looks towards the door, decidedly avoiding the stained glass window set in it. If it's Xavier or Inanna, she should let them in. Maybe they can make some sense of this. But her paranoia roars forward, squashing the optimism.

Do not open that door!

She stands perfectly still, hand over her mouth, until the sound stops. She stands another moment, listening to the silence. Only when she's sure it's gone does she dare to move. She slowly drops to a crouch, and on all-fours. As quietly as possible she creeps towards the door. She stops against the door and tips her head so her ear is centimeters from the wood. Slowly, a sound starts to emerge from the silence. She listens hard as the sound comes closer, it's like...bones...It's the sound of joints popping, like when a person pops their neck or fingers. Except this is rhythmic.

*pop-pop* *pop-pop* *pop-pop* *pop-pop*

It's like...steps. She sits back away from the door and covers her mouth with her hand as nausea overtakes her features. It's such a grotesque sound, and it brings images to her mind's eye of the distorted anatomy that would be needed to make it with each movement like that. She can still hear it, but it's getting quieter. She listens, for a long, long time she listens. The sound approaches and retreats evenly.

*pop-pop* *pop-pop*

*Pop-Pop* *Pop-Pop*

*POP-POP* *POP-POP*

*Pop-Pop* *Pop-Pop*

*pop-pop* *pop-pop*

It's...circling. The creature is pacing circles around the house, like an impatient predator... Is it looking for a way in? She looks around the room. The only other outside door is in the bathroom, and it's locked. It's always locked unless she's doing laundry. And if it wasn't the creature surely would have gotten in by now. Her anxiety laced gaze settles on the doorway from the living room to the bathroom, there's a window in the bathroom, she can just barely see it through the darkness. As the popping fades to it's quietest point, she sees it again. Just it's eyes and teeth visible in the black, it grins right at her as it passes.

The capped scream from earlier tries to force it's way out again, but she's too afraid of making noise. Too afraid to draw it's attention even more. So she stays, frozen. Measuring the creature's distance by the popping. Once it's closer to the front door, away from the bathroom window, she jolts forward and pulls the bathroom door shut. Her instincts can't tell if that's better or worse. She can still know where it is by the popping, but now...there's a void. No more light can spill into the bathroom, there's darkness on the other side of this door. And she can feel it.

She crawls back to the front door and huddles with her back against it, knees pulled to her chest as she listens to the sickening pops approach and retreat in rhythm. She stays that way for a long time, praying for sunrise. It's her only hope, for light to chase this dark thing away. Then she can run, she can dash for the city and find help in her sisters. She waits...and waits...and waits. Now and then glancing upwards towards the stained glass, looking for the sky to begin lightening. But nothing changes. The gruesome rhythm begins to fall into background noise, like a ticking clock, as her focus shifts from the creature to the absent sun.

I new sound draws her attention. So quiet that for a moment she isn't sure she actually heard anything. Then she hears it again, laughter. A quiet giggle. But not from the other side of the front door. And she just now begins to realize...the popping has stopped. Her eye settle in horror on the door she'd forgotten to close. The doorway to her bedroom is now a yawning void, the dark seems to press in on the living room's light, trying to consume more space. And from the inky nothing comes the giggle.

She can see nothing, but the sound is definitely inside. How had it gotten in? Come to think of it, how had it thrown the knife at her to begin with? There's no doors, no entry of any kind from outside the house, save for breaking glass. The window doesn't open.

The giggle resounds again as Maranell stares into the darkness. Cautiously she creeps forward through the pitch-stained doorway.

*Slam*

#the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana fanfic #the arcana oc #The Determined Young Woman || Maranell #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #horror #tw cussing #tw horror #halloween

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overlyimmersedarcana · 4 years

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A Series of Nightmares pt 1

"I'm Sure it's Nothing"

(Trigger warnings; horror, cursing)

(My first go at horror, ever. So sorry if it's too predictable or not scary. Very excited for the spoopy season :) I started this as a one shot, but since I'll probably write more on this nature as we go into October I decided to make a series out of it.)

Act 1

"Son of Bitch!" The exclamation is punctuated by the sound of shattering ceramic.

Muriel's head snaps up from the piece he was whittling, the shout had startled him, but beyond that she had cursed. Maranell almost never curses. Though dropping a plate might bring a 'damn it' from her under normal circumstances. But these are clearly not normal. Her tone hadn't been frustration or irritation, it had been fear. The curse had come out as more of a shriek, and now as he looks at her she's staring wide eyed, and frozen as a startled rabbit, at their front door. He follows her gaze, and sees nothing out of place.

"What is it?" he asks, setting his project aside. Though something in the back of his mind tells him to hold on to the knife. He stands and moves over to her, brushing his hand against her upper arm to tell her he's there.

This brings her attention to him with a jump, and she blinks a couple of times. There's fear in her eyes, but also confusion. "I...I don't know." Her tone is hushed, "Something in the window..."

The window. When Maranell had replaced the door she'd installed a stained glass window Marayana had made for them. It's pretty, but he thinks it's impractical. And this is exactly why.

There are two doors to this house now. The front with the window, and a backdoor in the bathroom that leads to their clothes line. Both have locks, and are currently locked. They could just ignore this. He could make some excuse, tell her it was an owl flying by or a reflection. But...she's awfully scared. She's not just spooked, there's a terror to her demeanor that's settled a chunk of ice squarely in his heart.

"I'll go see." he resigns.

Her hands comes up as if to stop him, "wait!...It didn't look...normal..." she warns, that terrified edge still in her voice.

He considers that information. That could mean anything. "...Stay here." He insists anyway. And of course the first thing she does is move... Though only over to where Faolan is, sitting in his playpen while Xavier entertains him through the bars.

She moves to sit down, but as she looks nervously over her shoulder she notices the bedroom door is open, a yawning shadow as there's no light in the unoccupied room. She straightens back up and pulls the door securely shut before returning to the baby and settling down.

Once he's sure she's not going anywhere, Muriel moves toward the door. Inanna gets to her paws with a whine, meaning to follow.

"No. Keep them safe." he tells the wolf, as he reaches to undo the lock on the front door.

"No wait!" Maranell jumps a little, but stays mostly sitting. "Take her with you, I'll feel better if you're not alone..." she tucks into herself a little, her bangs falling to obscure her right eye.

He pauses, considering it. He'd feel better if no one else was walking into danger, and if there really is something out there, he wants Maranell and Faolan as safe as possible. He sighs, and resigns again "Fine."

Inanna trots forward and sniffs around the edge of the door, her ears lay back.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Muriel tells the wolf, as he pulls the door open and they both step into the night.

Act 2

Muriel pulls the door shut behind him, a little extra hard, hoping to jam it since he didn't want to risk locking it from the outside. In case they need to get out. But still wanting to discourage anything but him from going in.

Inanna looks up at him and whines, something doesn't feel right.

"I'm sure it's nothing." He insists, despite feeling it too. He looks around the clearing in front of the house, it's dark. It had been overcast all day, the clouds must still be there blocking out the moon and star light. The only light he has to work with is the lamp hanging next to the door, another of Maranell's additions. A 'porch light'. They don't have a porch. Still, at the moment, he's thankful for it. It lights up the dark woods directly in front of the house, which keeps most nighttime creatures away, and it's currently letting him easily survey the area, despite the moonless night.

Though there isn't much to see. Just the woods. At night. The leaves have changed color with the onset of autumn, some are on the ground being blown about by a chilly midnight breeze. But nothing dangerous. He looks down at the ground, searching for prints, nothing there either. The ground looks undisturbed. Maybe Maranell really was seeing things. He looks at Inanna, who's taken to sniffing the ground.

"Should check around back." he says, as much to himself as her, and lumbers that way, placing his steps as even as he can to try and be quiet. It's much darker, no porch light behind the house, but it's not pitch black. He can see well enough in the dark, and Inanna can probably see just fine.

As he stares into the dark, he doesn't see anything. But then a sound strikes him, Inanna's snarling at something. Before be can ask her what she sees, she's off like an arrow from a bow. He's stunned for just a second before taking off after her, following the sound of her paws through the dark. The sound leads him back around to the front of the house, where it vanishes. There's no sound of chasing paws, and nothing to see in the porch light. She must have chased it into the woods, but how had she gotten so far ahead of him so quickly? He draws a breath to call out for her, but it dies in his chest as a crash resounds from inside.

Muriel turns and shoulders the door open, nearly knocking it off it's hinges. He stands in shock, looking into the main room. He sees nothing. Nothing broken, and no one there. Maranell, Faolan and Xavier are all gone, with no signs of any struggle. It's like they vanished. He rushes through the room to the bedroom door, throwing it open. Still nothing. He stares, horrified, his heart pounding so loud it seems to echo in the darkened, silent bedroom. His eyes scan the room again and again, as if he'd just missed them somehow. Until something catches his attention and his blood turns to ice. In the window at the far end of room, something stares back.

It's...wrong. Maranell's words come back to his mind 'not normal'. This thing certainly didn't look normal. It looked...like something trying to look human, but not very hard. It's skin is yellowy and...unsettlingly smooth, it has stringy, sickly looking black hair hanging to either side of it's face. It's grinning at him, an unnerving, open mouthed grin, it's teeth are...jagged? But not in a sharp way, in a...displaced way. Some are crooked or missing. The worse part are it's eyes, they're...wide. Unnaturally wide open and sunken into it's skull so they're rimmed in deep shadows.

He's frozen to the spot. Unable to break the creature's gaze. For a long time they stare at each other through the window, until at last the creature moves away, vanishing from sight. Muriel's muscle control returns with a jolt and he turns from the dark bedroom, rushing back to the open front door. He halts just outside, staring into the woods. It's watching him, now only it's eyes and teeth visible as it stands just outside the porch light's reach. There's a sound that might have been a giggle, if it came from something else, and the creature disappears into the darkness. He stares after it, the world around him still and quiet and dark, until finally he steps forward. Trailing after the creature into the black.

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