#*hands you the lizard baby* have a nice Sunday :)
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papa
#my art#sketches#ds9#star trek#garashir#elim garak#said garak-bashir#*hands you the lizard baby* have a nice Sunday :)
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Bed Bug - Part 3 of 3
Summary: Kylo rolled off the edge of the bed, somehow landing on his feet with his hard dick still hanging out of his pants. You watched with your mouth opening and closing like a trout, and he turned to you. Making a mocking crying face, complete with fingers trailing his cheeks with tears, “Oh, you poor baby! Never had to wait for something in your life, come on. Let's get you dressed for class and then we will see if you get to cum today.”
the lizard is a bearded dragon bby
Enjoy Part 1 and Part 2 before reading! along with my College Kylo Ren Masterlist
Come over.
Who is this?
🐸
Okay?
Come over.
Wanna cuddle.
Kylo?
No its someone else.
🐸
How’d you get my number?
I borrowed it.
Picking u up. B ready.
“Who the hell invited Kylo over? He just drove onto the grass again.”
You groaned from your bunk bed, letting your phone fall on your freshly washed face. It was Monday evening, you had things to do tomorrow… these things didn’t include getting dicked down by the frat king.
Even though you’d thought about it, after doing the walk of shame at the Sunday meeting yesterday. All the way back to your lonely table, while he high fived everyone he could touch on the way back. Explaining how you ‘choked on his dick like a champ’ to the brothers, Kuruk gave you a look you didn’t trust when he heard it.
Bazine and Kaydel were dead silent on the way back, and you ran upstairs to your room with your tail between your legs.
You didn’t do anything wrong! It was justified, there was nothing more to happen-
“Don’t make me climb up there,” Kylos voice boomed through your inner monologue.
You peered over the edge of your top bunk, looking down towards your door frame. Filled by his beastly body, dressed in maybe his version of pajamas? It was almost past nine-maybe he had a normal bedtime on weekdays?
His plaid lounge pants looked comical on his long legs, Bazine pushed him into your room. Your dorm mate got out of her bottom bunk, mumbling something about getting a snack.
Kylo watched her squeeze past him, before moving directly to the edge of your bed. His head clearing over the mattress as you were wedged between the ceiling and your covers.
“Hi,” you whispered, smushing your face into your pillow.
“Hi cutie,” his nose scrunched as he smiled, “I came over.”
“I see that.”
“I thought you were gonna come to my place first,” he sighed, gripping the metal frame with his large paws. You watched his fingers flex over the wimpy casing holding you in the air, he could probably rattle it free from its hinges if you upset him.
Rolling carefully to your side, you reached a hand out to touch his hair. Clean, extra soft like a kitty cats tummy, he pressed his forehead into your palm. Sighing again, “Think I can fit up there?”
“Nope.”
He shrugged, “That’s too bad.”
You were pushed rather violently to the back wall of your bed in a rush. The bed creaking loudly as he hoisted his body over the edge, squishing himself between the ceiling and your claustrophobic form. You pressed both hands on his chest, pushing hard, “Stop! What are you doing!? Its gonna collapse.”
“Bummer,” he wiggled his shoulders, digging into your covers like an animal. “Then you’d have to come sleep at my place… don’t want that.”
He groaned into your pillow, “Your shampoo smells so fucking good babe…” Taking another strong whiff, “We gotta get you some of that for my place.”
“What are you talking about?” you slumped, defeated, into the crevice between your bunk and the wall. He had cocooned himself into the top layer of your duvet, chest down on the XL-twin mattress…
“Shush-I’m tryna sleep like you normally do,” he growled, “It’s kinda nice? Like I'm on a cloud…” his hand darted out from the mass of blankets, latching to your waist and pulling you into the depths.
“Give me a good night kiss.”
You rolled your eyes, wrapping yourself in the covers as best as you could. Overheating already from the furnace his body heat made in your small sanctuary. You brought your cheek to his shoulder, burrowing into his nest, “Where’s your face?”
“Right here,” his chin jutted forward. Lips pursed for you to smack one on him, “Kiss me, then we can power nap before we go to my place.”
“Kylo I’m not coming over,” you groaned, “I have classes in the morning…”
“So do I but that doesn’t mean I’ll be going to them? Come on, just give me a kiss. I’m all comfy now and don’t want to have to roll on top of you for one.”
His eyes opened up, glaring as he made smacking noises with his mouth. Repursing them over and over, what the hell, you quickly pressed your lips to his.
Overcome with his taste for the third time in two days, your heart fluttered as he smiled into you. Breathing hard through his nose before kissing you back a few times. Humming in contentment, “Good, let’s go to sleep.”
————
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
You groaned, a heavy weight pressed on your chest. Caging your arms to your front, you tried to wiggle your shoulders out of your blanket coffin.
Finding it near impossible, somehow you’d managed to fold yourself under your mattress?
There was no other explanation.
You retraced your steps from the evening before, you woke up, went to class, studied downstairs with your sisters, had a big dinner, showered, and laid down…
And then…
“Will you turn that fucking thing off before I throw it at the wall?” Kylos gruff voice startled you.
Gasping as his cheek came to rest on top of yours, swiping a thumb along your bottom lip. Pressing on your pout a few times before dipping it inside, your tongue instinctively lapping out to taste him.
He purred into your hair, “Good girl, now let’s snooze a little more and then I’ll fuck you real good.”
“Ky-lo,” you mumbled, squirming underneath his form, your alarm still blaring overhead. “Get off of me.”
“Hmm,” he clucked his tongue, pressing his thumb inside your mouth more so you’d suck on it. “I don’t think so.”
“Will you guys shut up? His snoring has been rattling the bed all night?”
Both you and Kylos heads lifted up in unison, oh. Your roommate came back? The bed creaked underneath you both and out she rolled, slamming her palm on your alarm clock to shut it off.
“You guys suck-I’m leaving for class.”
“But… you’re in your pajamas?” you croaked, embarrassment flooding your cheeks, “He can get up, don’t leave!”
Kylo grunted, “Like hell I am, I have a raging hard on right now I’m not getting up until it’s dealt with.” He looked down at you, eyebrows raised, “So she can leave or stay and watch the show.”
The door slammed shut, there’s your answer. Kylo hummed with pleasure, peppering kisses all over your sweaty forehead from being crushed all night. He was only supposed to stay for a few hours, and yet you were lulled to sleep by his warmth.
His nose crunched against your forehead with each kiss, stubble scratching your face over and over until he made his way down to the corner of your mouth. Pausing, “Do you care about morning breath or what?”
“I…” you exhaled deeply, giving in, “It’s fine…”
“Don’t act so sad, you’ve been curled up against me all night. I’ve been waiting to have those sweet lips on me again,” he licked his lips. Puckering dramatically before blowing a raspberry on your mouth.
You couldn’t help but laugh at his corniness, humming back into his touch. Still crushed underneath him, his lips attached to you. Moaning obscenely when his tongue hit your palette, surprised that he wormed his way in there so fast.
Rutting hips trapped you underneath, you placed your sweating psalm on his shoulder. Strong muscle flexing underneath you as the incriminating sounds of the bunk started creaking under the weight of both of you.
Muffled by your mouths swapping together, your eyes shut in bliss. Letting him happily take the lead for whatever he wanted, your class could wait…
Kylos lips popped off yours, panting on your temple as he reached a hand between your bodies. Angled on his shoulder, “Gotta move,” he grunted, “There we go, kept crushing my fucking dick against you.”
Your face scrunched, about to protest when he ground down again and oh that felt good. His hard cock was pressing right against the apex of your thighs. Rubbing along the length of it between your flimsy fabric pajamas, you let out a soft sigh as he rocked back and forth.
Met with a grin, “That feel nice? I can feel your hard little clit.” He kissed at the edge of your jawline, peppering the skin with sloppy, wet pops before nibbling down the column of your throat. Rocking getting harder against your wetting shorts. Your excitement begging to rub between your thighs onto his plaid bottoms. “Kylo, I think I’m gonna…”
“Already?” he panted, “Doesn’t take much to get your little engine running. Shit, lets get some skin to skin.”
Kylo sat back on his knees, his head hitting the ceiling in a loud thump. But he didn’t seem to care, unbuttoning the front of his bottoms to reveal his purpling hard cock. Pumping with one hand while the other shot out to grab the crotch of your pajamas. You gasped as his finger hooked underneath, skimming your wetness, “Ah-oh my god…” you whined.
They were yanked down your legs, he swore under his breath when your knees knocked together to try and not ri[ them in two. Your legs fell back open, your slick cooling under his scrutiny, Kylo launched forward. His hot cock fell between you with a grunt and a gasp between you both, your wrapped a hand around the base of his neck. Fingers ripping into the long hairs that stuck to his nape, your legs already shaking from the oncoming orgasm that threatened to happen premature.
You couldn’t believe he was on top of you, naked cock rubbing on your pussy. Kylo growled in your ear, “Hot pussy, I bet I could slip right in baby. You want that?”
“Yes…” you teeth chattered together as you thought about clamping down on his length. You’d probably cum before he even got started.
Kylos hips rocked against you, the head catching on your wet entrance a few times while he groaned into your neck.
“I don’t know, baby.”
He rubbed his cheek against your forehead, stubble scratching slightly from his overnight stay. You whimpered as the very tip of his slipped inside you for a moment, you felt all his muscles tense in the effort to not ram inside you. Why wasn’t he? Your brain fumbled through various questions while he popped out of you, only to find the spot once again where your bodies were menat to be connected.
You jumped at the feeling of fingers on your clit, fumbling with it for a moment before they pinched at the hard nub. Yelping out while he shushed you, your legs bent in on themselves, toes skimming the ceiling in an effort to hold off on cumming, you wanted him inside you! You panted as he stroked up and down and back and forth. Humping the lenght of your right inner thigh with his precum staining the skin.
“Kylo-please just fuck me.”
He shook his head, bringing you in for a swift kiss before taking his fingers off your clit. Spitting in his palm while you laid there with an open mouth in awe. Your pussy tingled at the thought of him shoving his spit laced cock inside your waiting channel…”Kylo!” you ground out, “Just do it!”
“I don’t think your desperate enough. I’m not sure if you just want to cum or if you really really want me to ram my cock,” he paused at the word, pinched hard enough for more wetness to slip out of you, “So hard inside your tight little pussy. I think you’ll just have to wait.”
“Wait-what?” you babbled, rutting your hips up in the air to catching his fingers in a pathetic chase of release. You brought a hand down to try and help yourself, but only were smacked in response.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” he stared at you sternly, “You’re not going to cum until I say so. And I think its about time for us to get up,” he swiped across your pearl, “And for us to go to class.”
“But,” you started, shushed by his wet fingers on your lips.
“Nope, don’t beg, its a turn off.”
Kylo rolled off the edge of the bed, somehow landing on his feet with his hard dick still hanging out of his pants. You watched with your mouth opening and closing like a trout, he turned to you. Making a mocking crying face, complete with fingers trailing his cheeks with tears, “Oh, you poor baby! Never had to wait for something in your life, come on. Lets get you dressed for class and then we will see if you get to cum today.”
______
You got dressed together.
Correction, Kylo dressed you in the clothes he wanted you to wear. Just to make sure you didn’t get any chance to get away and rub one out in the bathroom. He trailed right behind you everywhere throughout the sorority house. Smiling and saying good morning to all the girls that he passed in the halls while you stormed from room to room, irritated that he was saying hello to all the girls who he had fucked.
While he left you hanging on the very edge, he was literally inside you and he did nothing!
It was his idea in the first place, why did he change his mind?
You thought over it while you brushed your teeth, together, at the same sink in the womens only restroom. Every one of your sisters giving you the stick eye when they saw Kylo looming behind you in the mirror with his own toothbrush that he had grabbed from Bazines old stash.
Apparently, your president had been snecking him in for a long time and he had an abundance of clothes and toiletries throughout the house. Which he pointed out to you while you sulked, even Bazine got to fuck him…
“Come on,” he whined, grabbing your forearm as you tried to get away for the tenth time this morning, “Let me drive you to class.”
Kylo tried dragging you closer to his lexus parked on the front lawn. You scoped out the car, luxury, and practically brand new judging by how clean it was on the outside. Complete with two anime women stickered to the back windows. Their big tits right in whoevers face that pulled up next to him, you yanked particularly hard.
“No, I want to walk. Leave me alone, Kylo.” you growled.
He raised his hands, a scowl painting his face at your vicous tone. You regretted bursting at him, but you weren’t going to give in just because he knew you were upset.
“Fuck-okay,” he placed his hands on his hips, “You’re sure a little bitch when you aren’t fucked. Do I need to come over there and spank you?”
You flushed at that thought, he had dressed you in a short tennis skirt with no shorts underneath. He could easily lift you over his thigh and smack your skin until it blistered and bruised and you were writhing in his lap for more. You shook your head in protest, he wouldn’t dare.
“I’m not-”
“You think I won’t?” Kylos eyebrows shot up, moving in closer with calm steps, “Baby, I’ll make it impossible for you to sit in your lecture without thinking of my bare hand on your abused ass. You want that? Right here on the lawn?”
You looked around, embarrassment coloring your cheeks when you saw all your sisters staring and dunking down from the windows. A few of them on the front porch looking the other way, even the houses on your block and across the street were watching the display between you and Kylo. You couldn’t imagine him doing that in front of all of them…
“Are you going to be good and get in the car?”
You nodded silently, shuffling to the passenger side of the car. Kylos long arm opened the door for you, pushing your head down to duck into the seat. He even buckled you in, you sat in silence while he peeled off the grass in a loud rev of the engine.
“Thats a good girl.”
______
Am I coming over today?
You had sent the text.
You’d been thinking about it all morning and throughout both your lectures, barely taking any notes despite it being your favorite classes to attend. All you could think about was your morning, and the absolute whiplash Kylo had given you with him feelings and desires, then calling you names when you didn’t get what you wanted.
A few of your sisters had texted you saying that thats normal, Kylo was just strange. They all were surprised he hadn’t left you alone yet, apparently he was notorious for hitting it and quitting it. But he hadn’t even hit it!
Typing, the little dots appeared and your heartrate picked up. What would he say?
Why?
Your forehead scrunched in irritation, what did he mean? You decided to be as straightforward as possible, tired of the games.
What do you mean?
Aren’t we supposed to sleep together?
Who said that?
Its not like we had a contract.
But.
Look its Monday Xi, I have plans.
Oh.
Your heart sank.
Guess you were the exception to his hitting it and quitting it rule, he just wanted to quit it.
Shit, babe.
You can come over. I just have a date I can’t miss.
Be here at 4.
A date?
What did he mean by date?
Was he seeing someone??
Your heartbeat picked up intensely, thumping loud enough for you to feel it almost burst through your chest. What did that even mean? He had plans with someone, but still wanted you to come over?
You thought about it the entire rest of the day, while you were standing in circles with your friends. Holding a cup of coffee in your hand, almost slack with your grip when youw atched the man himself walking in with other sisters, laughing and touching their shoulders. His eyes flashed towards you and you melted when he winked at you before moving on with his business.
After catching a ride with a friend, you were standing at the front door of the frat house. Pushing on the open door like it was last time. Did they ever shut it? Was anyone else home? You’d seen Kylos car parked sideways in the driveway, but no one else was greeting you.
Your popped your lips a few times, debating on if you should just leave, maybe call and say it wasn’t going to work out between the two of you.
Its not like he was that into you-
“Xi,” Kylos voice boomed from up the stairs, footsteps fast as he came down, with a giant lizard on his shoulders. “You came, hi baby.”
He came over despite you recoiling at the jarring display of the animal climbing over his shoulders and rubbing against his raised hand. Pressing a quick kiss on your cheek before he raced back up the stairs.
Yelling as you followed up behind him, shivering as you thought about the animal. “Come on, I have a thing to do.”
You rolled your eyes, he probably brought you here to babysit the crazy thing hanging on him, you’d just leave it while he was away. Maybe that would show him that you didn’t care-
His room was a mess.
Clothes thrown everywhere, piles on the floor, around black furniture. A desk in the far corner, with a large gaming computer on top that glowed blue and red, a gaming chair that was black and red piled with books that looked liek they had been heavily read. The closet was open, with a dresser inside it with all the drawers half closed and plenty of trinkets and trophies on top.
You looked around to the other side of the room, aside from his probably king sized bed being made. It was still just as messy, A large tank on top of another table, complete with a little habitat and sunning bed. A few stickers littered the tank but you couldn’t make out what they said. But they were pink and flowery…
“Um…”
Kylo turned to you again, holding the lizard away from you, “Sorry, I tried to clean but I didn’t have a lot of time between class and then I have to make this call… Um this is my lizard.”
“I see that.”
He held the thing out with both hands cradling it while it blinked at you. You squinted at it, noticing a small baby pink harness on its body.
You were about to ask about it when his phone started ringing, he quickly turned away and threw the lizard on his lade bed, it curled into a small ball like a cat in a patch of sunlight. He pulled his phone into a stand, turning on his mounted TV, revealing the FaceTime screen from someone named-Booger?
“Should I leave?”
He shoot you a weird look, “What? No? Just sit down and be comfy, this will only be a little bit.”
The TV loaded the other person, Booger apparently. A grainy image taking forever to connect while you tentatively sat on the edge of the bed, backpack slumping off your shoulders to the floor, you looked cautiously towards teh lizard. It paid you no mind other then what sounded like a purr in approval. It was a scaly cat, thats what you’d decided.
Static crackled startling both of you while Kylo smacked the side of his sound bar, “Boog! Can you hear me? Fucking stupid thing, I need to buy a new one…”
“Yeah I hear you.”
A mans voice came through, along with the image of the person in question. A scrawny looking blonde kid, you squinted at the loading frame, dressed in what looked like school gym clothes? You scanned it more for clues, seeing glasses framing a large nose, and a skinny face, down to another lizard in the lap of whoever it was.
He kinda looked like Kylo…
“Xi,” Kylo turned around, moving to pet his lizard, “This is my little brother, Matt.”
“Hi.”
You waved a hand, relief singing through your veins, it was a facetime date with his brother. Not a real date with another person… you introduced yourself, relaxing back.
Kylo picked up his lizard, cradling it like it was a baby, “We talk every Monday to let our girls see each other, and to catch up.”
“Girls?”
“This is Kira.” Matt lifted up his lizard, like it was a dog or cat under its armpits. The thing just licked its snout, Kira, was wearing a gemmed harness.
“And this is my baby girl, Rey.” Kylo lifted the lizard in your face, met with another blank stare from one eye while the other stared into the distance.
You breathed another sigh of relief, looking over at the tank to see the name Rey in pink bubble letter stickers. Along with a leash and maybe other pink collars hanging behind the tank, you chuckled a little as the boys launched into conversations about how the other was doing. Lizard maintenance, and when they would see each other in person again.
Blacking out while it happened, you busied yourself with doing homework and typing up lecture notes you’d missed while in class today.
There was something so domestic about it, you felt warm and fuzzy as Kylo leaned back into you while he listened to his brother talk about his day and the hardships he was going through being forced to go to weightlifting with his friends.
You scratched at his scalp while he lectured Matt about body fitness and how he wasn’t supposed to sit at the computer all day. Which he countered with how Kylo sounded like a parent and not his big brother who plays video games with him.
About an hour and a half had gone by before Matt was supposed to go to dinner with their parents. A few times you noticed someone walking back and forth behind the couch Matt was sitting at, maybe that was Kylo’s mom or dad?
Kylo had said goodbye, putting away Rey before turning to you and cagin you in with an arm on both sides of your body.
“Hi, baby.”
“Hi, Kylo.”
He leaned it, slowly shutting your laptop as he pressed his body on top of you. Kylo brought his lips to yours while you giggled as he got closer, pushing your items aside to fall towards the edge of the mattress. Pressing quick kisses to the corners of your mouth, “I missed you today, you looked soc ute int he outfit I picked out.”
You shrugged, pressing his chest away from you, “You saw me thought, and didn’t say hi…”
“I was busy with greek council shit, I can’t be next to you all day. Even though I’d want that.”
“Oh yeah?”
He kissed your forehead, pressing more of his weight on top of you. Your legs splayed out on either side of his thighs as he sagged, “Of course I do, I like you Xi. A lot. Wanna be with you all the time.”
Your heart sang at that, flushed at the confession, fingers digging into the fabric of his sweater. You nuzzled your face into the warmth of his neck. Voice muffled, “I think I like you too.”
Kylo purred at your words, pushing you back into the pillows on his nicely made bed. “Good, or else this would be awkward.”
Suddenly he was on you again, kissing you with a passion that made you almost choke on his long tongue slithering across your own. Pulling on the edge of your shirt and quickly throwing it off your scrambling arms, revealing your push up bra he had insisted you wear. Because he liked how your tits looked in it.
“Fuck, look at you.”
He licked his lips, leaning down while your hands buried themselves in his long hair. Planting hot, suctioning welted on your heaving chest, canines scraping while you grabbed at his sweater to divest him off like your own. Revealing his broad chest, the same one you’d been thinking about since the last weekend when he was stark naked for your eyes to dance around his frame.
Kylo pushed off your, mouth glistening with spit from his affections. He quickly dropped his pants with a clatter of his belt, yanking his boxers down his strong thighs and to his ankles. You couldn’t believe he was already naked before your very eyes, he nodded towards you.
Quickly, you stood before him, unzipping your tennis skirt for it to pool on the floor with all his other clothes. Dropping your thong and bra with the rest when he launched at you, bodys clashing together in a passion youd never felt before. You felt yourself be lifted from the floor as he spun you around. Falling together into the bedding, you straddled his form, rubbing your slicking pussy along the length of his hardening cock.
He groaned at the friction, you revelled in the roll of his eyes from the pleasure. You could get used to that look, Kylos paws fell to your waist. Pinching at the rolling skin as you leaned forward to latch your lips together. You swapped back and forth delicious salvation while you rocked your hips.
Kylo rolled the two of you over, your head against the far wall of his bed. He grinned above you, moving his hands down to yank your legs open further.
You gasped as he spat on your clit, “You’re just so wet, I bet I can slip right in. Can’t I?”
“Yeah,” your voice warbled.
“Lets see,” he shuffled forward on his knees, bringing his cock right into your entrance. Thrusting forward slightly, popping the seal of your wetness with a slick slurp of fluids. You whined, “Please-Kylo.”
You were aching from being denied earlier today, desperate for him to have his way with you. It was something you know you couldn’t leave here without, Kylo nodded. Wrapping a palm around your mouth, spelling it off so no noise could make it out.
“Can’t have you screaming, the neighbors already hate me.”
You were going to protest, but the scream creeped up on you when he jammed his hard cock inside you in one swift thrust. Completely engulfing your pussy with its hot, probably more than ten inches, meaty girth, He didn’t let you relax, swiftly plunging in and out of your candy coated center over and over again while the bed rattled your brain.
Bouncing around and held in place by just his hand on your mouth, your arms failed to latch onto anything to keep you from jostling. Your tits swinging with every grunted thrust. You wailed behind the palm, laving at it with your tongue, Kylo slipped two fingers inside your mouth.
“Yeah-” he panted, “Fucking suck on them.”
You doubled down your efforts, letting him jam them down your throat. Little noises fitting through the gasps while he panted above you. Eys snapping open and shut, you watched with dreamy eyes at his sweat beaded down his face to dripped off his nose to fall on your steaming skin.
“Rub your clit baby, I’m so close,” he panted, “You’re too tight.”
Your let out a muffled okay, swiping down on your hard clit in time with his grunting thrusts.
“There it is,” Kylo groaned long and loud, looking at the wall abov eyou for a moment while his thrusts slowed down, “Cum for me baby, cum on your daddy’s cock!”
You exhaled hard through your nostrils, rubbing harder as your crested the edge of your release. Gushing around his length as he buried it deep inside you, his throat catching on a groan as he came inside you in pulsing rhythms. Thrusting shallowly while you miliked his cock for every bit of his essence.
Kylo placed his forehead on your bare shoulder, panting in hot breaths. Whispering out what a good girl you were, how hot you were, hot tight your pussy was, kissing a line towards your lips. Peppering your face with doxens while he thrusted in and out of you for the last time, your collective fluids gathering underneath you with a wet plop.
He panted, smiling at you with a goofy grin as he cradled you towards his chest, pressing a few kisses on your forehead when he whispered…
“I hope you know you’re my girlfriend now.”
_______
:)
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BTS as Boyfriends
Namjoon
• Really just enjoys your company
• Being in the same room but doing two different things like folding laundry or reading, as long as you’re there
• No conversation is a stupid conversation
• Even the light ones hold a lot of value
• Has a lot of weird theories about people and the world
• Listening to him is fine, but being able to keep up an intellectual report is preferred
• On the flip side he’s such a goofball
• Gets confused about simple things like how to open the lock on the front door
• Spends a lot of time showing you cute baby animal videos
• Talks about the future often
• Marriage/kids/growing old/etc
• Always obsessed with some new quirky phone game
• If it’s multiplayer he will make you download it too
• Date nights are always just at home
• Why go out when you can stay in and play board games?
• I imagine you both reading in bed at night and talking about if the book sucked or not
• Intimacy is a private thing
• No PDA whatsoever, maybe hand holding but that’s it
• Your family/friends love him more than you, oops
Seokjin
• Y’all know the crackheadery that’s going to go on
• Tries to pull pranks but is bad at them
• Hypes you up as much as he hypes himself up
• “Waaaah look at this beautiful couple standing in the mirror, so stunning”
• Very good at turning your sour mood into a good one
• He’ll listen to your problems, helps you solve them, and then acts like an idiot until you feel better
• He’s everyone’s best friend so social situations with him are a breeze
• Likes double dates
• Sunday’s are lazy days but boy does he clean up nice for Friday night holy shit
• It’s all about food all the time. The journey is food. The destination is food.
• I’m serious if there’s no food at a party y’all are leaving
• Has a mega sweet side
• LOVES BEING LITTLE SPOON HES NOT ASHAMED
• Wakes you up with tickles and coffee/tea
• Somehow your pantry always has new bottles of wines in them????
• If you drink he wants to try a new one almost every night
• But is super picky, will dump half the bottle down the drain
• At the end of the day you’re each other’s number ones
Yoongi
• Soft baby
• Not super vocal about affection, more physical
• Playing with your hands, the sleeves of your sweater, etc
• Looks of affirmation
• You’ll be in a room of a group of friends and you’ll catch his gaze and give you a sweet smile
• Spoil you but in a nonchalant way
• Give you expensive jewelry without batting an eye
• But will get embarrassed giving you a small sentimental gift
• Sharing sweat pants, hoodies, beanies, and everything else that’s big n cozy
• Will blush when he says he loves you
• Which won’t be super often but really random, though he means it so fucking much
• Please give him cheek kisses, it’s his weakness
• Following asleep with his head on your lap is how he likes to spend his afternoons
• He’ll send you little beats he’s made just cause
• Will smile while watching you do something and then pretend he wasn’t when you turn to look at him
• 100% will compliment your mind more than your physical appearance but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like the way you look
• Overall just a quiet boy full of love
Hoseok
• Y’all never stop talking
• Like living together is a nightmare cause you talk all night
• He’s hyper with most but is super gentle with you
• Like loud and bubbly in public but whispers cute things in your ear
• Will always come home from any store with things for you
• Like he’ll go out for eggs and come back with 10 of your favorite sweets
• Plays music REALLY LOUD
• Wants you to dance with him so he can spin you around the room
• A new album will drop from his favorite artist and he plays it at home and in the car and on his speakers and everywhere he can until you’re sick of it
• Wants to adopt every puppy he sees
• You’ll have to drag him out of the pet store
• Online shopping for clothes
• There are always packages showing up at the door, you think he has a problem
• But there’s stuff in there for you too so you don’t complain
• Tries to be romantic but doesn’t really get it ?
• Like lighting lots of lavender candles but almost burns the house down
Jimin
• TOUCHY
• omg he wants physical contact all the time
• Kissing your hands, cheeks, shoulders, any part of your exposed skin honestly
• Will always want his hair played with
• Like will let you do dumb little braids and ponytails or whatever you want for fun
• Wants to take you out all the time for dinners and dates
• You’ll probably start watching a bunch of series together but never finish any of them
• Brutally honest
• If he thinks an outfit doesn’t look good he won’t sugar coat it
• Ultimate hype man though when you’re rockin’ it
• Like mini fashion shows at the store the employees get so sick of you
• Spoils you with jewelry
• There’s no need to have all these diamond bracelets but he can’t help himself
• You’ll go on and on about something you really enjoy and even if he doesn’t get it he’ll listen
• If someone says anything bad about you he will sass them, no fists just harsh words lmao
• Jealous type so please give him lots of attention
Taehyung
• Words of affirmation
• Calls you cute no matter what you’re doing
• You could have the worst cold and he’d say your mucus-sneeze was adorable
• Weekend walks at the park
• ^Stopping to take a picture with every lizard/frog/insect you two see
• Going out for coffee but steals yours cause he likes it more
• Begs you to stay up to watch the stars
• Falls asleep before they even come out
• Whines about it the next day until you kiss it better
• Tries to cook for you but is so bad at it
• But you’ll eat his burnt steak cause you love him for trying
• I feel like he leaves sticky notes everywhere of just doodles??? They don’t even say anything he just gets bored
• Will laugh at your cheesy jokes
• Doesn’t know what to do when you’re mad like he just goes full baby mode
• When he’s upset he gets all pouty and just wants to be held
• ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT MUSEUM DATES
• Deep talks about art and the universe that you won’t remember the next day
• Maybe I’m hyper biased but just a good ole boy
Jungkook
• meme king
• Sends you everything he thinks is funny
• If you aren’t following his Twitter is it even love
• Anime watch parties
• Will make you dress up as dorky characters for Halloween
• Forgetful
• Like “oh shit it’s our anniversary??” But will make it up to you the next day
• He’s such a classic romantic
• Flowers and chocolate and heart shaped lockets
• The lockets are matching, of course
• Wants a secret couple tattoo
• Will cry during romantic movies
• Insistent on doing everything because he’s always babied and wants to be able to baby someone
• Gets absorbed into trying to learn a new skill so often that you can barely keep up
• Last week it was the cinematic history of horror and this week it’s managing stocks for beginners???
• Honestly loves it when you watch him play video games
• Will love it more if you get frustrated with how bad he is and take the controller/keyboard from him to show him how it’s done
• Doesn’t have to be older than him but loves strong/powerful women
#bts as boyfriends#bts reactions#bts as#jungkook x reader#bts x reader#taehyung reaction#jungkook reaction#jimin reaction#hoseok reaction#namjoon reaction#yoongi reaction#seokjin reaction#taehyung x reader#jimin x reader#hoseok x reader#namjoon x reader#yoongi x reader#seokjin x reader
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Trouble (YoonKook)
AO3 Link Here!
✩ Relationships: yoonkook (Yoongi x Jungkook)
✩ Genre(s): fluff
✩ Rating: Teen
✩ Tags: fluff, established relationship, humor, (teen for vague mention of sex at one point)
✩ Summary: Jungkook wants a kitten. And what Jungkook wants, Jungkook gets... Even if Yoongi doesn't know it.
✩ A/N: Written for Anonymous for the drabble requests, prompt #2: When did we get a cat?
✩ Word Count: ~2.8k
Yoongi had loved Jungkook for nearly as long as he’d known the man. They had met in high college, when Jungkook was still an awkward freshman trying to figure out what he wanted to do in life, and Yoongi was near his graduation, already signed with a music company in the city as a producer. Despite their first few awkward dates as Jungkook struggled to come to terms with his sexuality and get comfortable in his skin, they stuck together, moving in with one another in Jungkook’s sophomore year.
Everything was the both of them. Helping Jungkook come out to his family, the tears when his father was far less than supportive, Yoongi still remembers the way Jungkook had kissed him after Yoongi went toe to toe with the man, preventing a further fight and earning his respect in one fell swoop.
Studying for Jungkook’s exams when he felt he couldn’t learn a single thing more, working on the request for Yoongi’s contracts and listening to tracks he’d spent hours on.
Their friends laughed at them because of just how well they got along. Despite their many years together, fights were minimal. True fights, where one or the other had to walk away, could be counted on one hand. Spats were normal, but never lasted more than an hour or two before they talked it through. Agreements were easily reached, each willing to meet the other in the middle in order to maintain not only a peaceful household, but a happy relationship.
Yoongi knew he was wrapped around Jungkook’s very beautiful fingers, if he was being honest. He didn’t mind at all. Jungkook never abused the power he knew he had over Yoongi, and not once did Yoongi feel stepped on. They were equals and their relationship was more solid than most that Yoongi knew with people their age.
There was only one thing the two continually argued about. Animals.
Jungkook, from the day they moved in together, had been pleading with Yoongi to adopt a pet. First it was a dog, which was easily shut down because the apartment complex they were in did not allow dogs of any kind. Then it shifted to a cat, which Yoongi was less opposed to, but he worried they were both too busy to care for an animal. And then a snake, lizard, or bird, all of which Yoongi ixnayed as quickly as Jungkook brought them up. The idea of sharing his home with a pet was terrifying. Yoongi wasn’t exactly sure why, and even after Jungkook graduated college and began working, Yoongi still argued against the idea whenever it was brought up. It had to have been the source of at least five of their bickers per month, and not something either was willing to budge on.
The normalcy and frequency with which Jungkook normally brought up the idea of a pet was startling. And that should have been Yoongi’s first clue that something was amiss in their house. Jungkook stopped mentioning anything about adopting a pet of any kind, or even bringing UP animals. Despite the oddity of the decline, it was sort of nice, not having the same regular argument.
The second clue to something not quite being right was the sudden increase in the amount of fish - specifically tuna - and milk that Jungkook was consuming. Jungkook ate a ton anyway, so Yoongi didn’t think much about it, assuming his exercise crazy boyfriend was on some new protein or calcium diet.
The third clue should have been Jungkook’s willingness to clean the apartment. He’d always been willing to do laundry or cover certain chores, but Yoongi had been coming home from the office at the end of the day to an entirely spotless home. Though they weren’t dirty men, they were young men, and that - despite their best efforts - normally left some natural mess… But not when Jungkook set to work. Yoongi hadn’t had to pick up more than his own shoes or shirt in the past month.
Yet, despite all of these clues, Yoongi thought nothing of it. He was happy, content, and living life as well as he had ever hoped he could, doing what he loved with the man he loved.
It was a quiet Saturday evening and Yoongi was tense. He was snapping at Jungkook over the littlest things, and knew he was being a general dick.
“What is wrong?” Jungkook finally asked, rubbing Yoongi’s tense shoulders.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, there is. Talk to me.” Jungkook nuzzled over Yoongi’s neck and ear, kissing the soft skin there gently until Yoongi shivered.
“Just this new project. It’s a tight deadline and I don’t feel like it’s good enough,” he finally admitted, letting Jungkook begin to work the knots in his shoulders loose.
“I understand. I’m sure it’s fine, baby - but I also know you have that perfectionist streak that makes you so damn good at your job. It won’t let you rest until you feel like it’s ideal.”
“Exactly.” Yoongi let his head hang. Jungkook knew exactly where to press to turn him into mush.
“Well, why don’t you go into the office tomorrow? Spend a few times working on it and see if you can get it a little closer, or at least figure out what went wrong?”
“Sunday is our— Oh…” Yoongi sighed contentedly. “Our day.”
“And I’m sure I’ll be just fine spending a few hours by my lonesome while you work on something important. I’d rather that than have you tense and unhappy during our day together anyway. We can spend tonight and tomorrow night together instead.”
“Are you sure?” Yoongi asked.
“Of course. In fact…” Jungkook let go of his shoulders and began to kiss up the curve of his neck. “Do you want to make love tonight?”
Yoongi sighed deeper, his eyes fluttering shut. “If I ever say no to that, I’ve lost my mind.”
Jungkook giggled, a deep, playful sound that went straight to Yoongi’s stomach. “Then go take a nice, long, relaxing bath and get all clean. We’ll make sure you’re so relaxed you can’t even move until tomorrow morning.”
“You are… The perfect boyfriend,” Yoongi said.
“I know. Go on.” Jungkook kissed his cheek and rose, heading into their bedroom.
Yoongi headed into the bathroom, stripping down naked. He turned on the water, letting it heat up before plugging the tub and pulling out a nondescript box from under the counter. Inside were a variety of bath bombs, different makes, scents, textures, colors, and oils. It was his guilty pleasure, and only Jungkook really knew his secret. He knew the guys at work would tease him to no end. The tough rapper and producer loving the feel of silky soft lavender essential oil and bright pink bath bombs when he lounged in his tub.
Speaking of bright pink. Yoongi plucked a neon pink cat shaped bath bomb from the box, unwrapping it and smelling it. Jasmine and some other floral scents… Perfect. He went over to the tub, turning off the faucet and plopping the little cat into the steaming water. It began to fizz immediately, and Yoongi grinned to himself. He settled into the water, sighing contentedly. With half closed eyes, he batted the fizzing cat back and forth through the water, watching it pump pink and orange foam, the color slowly spreading through the clear water.
The scent was soothing and relaxing, exactly as intended, and Yoongi let his eyes drift shut. He listened to the fizzing of the bomb as he sank lower, his chin resting just above the water. His body relaxed almost of its own volition, the soothing warmth of the water and the scent of the oils working together to draw the tension out of his body. He could figure out his music, it was just a challenge. Which was exactly what he loved in his job. Nothing wrong with working a little harder.
Yoongi didn’t know how long he laid in the warm water. Long enough for the fizzing to quiet, leaving him in silence save for the steady thump of his heart, strong in his ears.
Because of that silence, the soft thud near the toilet was as loud as a snap in the bathroom. Yoongi opened his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his vision when it fell onto the toilet. Surely, he was seeing things. He remained still, squeezing his eyes shut and open. Nope… Still there.
On the toilet, carefully traversing the rim of the open seat, was a small black, brown, and orange kitten. Yoongi watched it slip, nearly landing in the water of the toilet. He tensed, ready to leap out and rescue it. It recovered, however, and continued on its trek, pausing to swipe at the water. Yoongi could feel his pulse increasing, concerned for the kitten’s safety, but worried that moving too quickly would scare it into the water if it might otherwise be able to avoid it.
“Jungkook,” he called at a voice just below normal. The kitten looked at him, seeming to realize there was a human in the room with it for the first time. It froze, as did Yoongi, hoping it wouldn’t do something stupid.
It looked at him for a while, then began its trek once more, seemingly deeming him as not a danger.
“Jungkook,” Yoongi called again, a little above his normal voice. And a third time, just a little louder so he wouldn’t scare the kitten, “Jungkook!”
“What’s up?” Jungkook called from behind the half-closed door.
“When did we get a kitten?”
There was a very pregnant pause. “What?”
“A kitten, Jungkook. When did we get a cat?”
“We… We don’t have a cat, Yoongi.”
“We don’t?” Yoongi looked at the animal and then at the closed door. “Then mind telling me what this small furry creature is that’s currently trying to avoid falling in our toilet?”
Jungkook pushed open the door quickly, rushing in.
“No!” Yoongi cried. Too late. The kitten startled at the sudden movement and fell into the toilet with an unhappy meow and splash. Yoongi scrambled out of the tub, splashing his own water everywhere. He grabbed the kitten out of the water, wrapping it in the towel he’d intended to use to dry himself.
It struggled at first, but seemed to calm when it realized it was warm and no longer under water. Yoongi sighed and turned to Jungkook, his mouth a fine line.
Jungkook stood sheepishly, his shoulders sagging. He worried his hands in front of him, chewing his lip. “I’m in trouble, huh?”
“I told you we couldn’t get a cat, Jungkook. Please, explain why I’m holding a very wet one right now?”
“Probably because she fell in the toilet…” Jungkook tried to joke, his mouth drooping when Yoongi didn’t so much as smile.
“I know you said no cats. No pets. And I didn’t… I didn’t mean to. She was dying, Yoongi.”
“She looks fine.”
“Yeah, now. When I brought her inside she was starving and shivering.”
“When you brought her in? How long has she been in the house, Jungkook?”
Jungkook lowered his head further. “A month. I promise I didn’t mean to keep her. I was going to take her to the shelter. I still planned to, I just wanted to make sure she was healthy so they wouldn’t euthanize her. I’ve been keeping her in the laundry room and letting her out while you’re at work.”
“So that’s why you’ve been so eager to clean. Keeping me from finding something cat related.”
Jungkook nodded. He looked close to tears. “I didn’t want to lie to you, but I was so scared you’d make me give her up right away if I told you. I just wanted to nurse her back to health and then I was gonna give her away. I promise. I know you don’t like animals.”
“Take her,” Yoongi said, holding the bundle out to Jungkook.
Jungkook obeyed, holding her close to him.
“Get her dried off, she’s gonna get sick with that water. I’m going to clean up the mess in here.”
“Do you hate me now, Yoongi?” Jungkook worried.
“No. Go on.”
Jungkook’s shoulders sagged. He headed out, the kitten in tow. Yoongi sighed when he was gone, grabbing another towel to begin cleaning up the water mess on the floor. He drained his bath, lamenting the wasted time he could have spent relaxing. As he cleaned the floor, he thought back to the previous twenty minutes. What a brave little animal. And so carefree, didn’t even mind being in his arms when he was clearly frustrated. As stubborn as Jungkook, clearly. He thought to the way Jungkook talked about her, so clearly in love with the small animal. A little twinge of guilt hit Yoongi. He’d been snappy. Jungkook’s explanation was sound; he probably would have done the same thing in his place. He needed to apologize.
Yoongi pulled on his sweats, walking through the apartment. He found Jungkook placing the small kitten in a carrier.
“Is that where she sleeps?” Yoongi asked.
“What? Oh, no, I had a little bed made of blankets for her. I’ll wash them, I promise.”
“Why are you putting her in there then?”
“Well, to drop her off to the shelter. They have someone available during nights most of the time. I told you I’d planned on getting rid of her once she was healthy – I’m sure she’ll be fine and adoptable now.”
Yoongi’s heart sank. “Jungkook…”
“I’m really sorry, Yoongi. I know I betrayed your trust.”
“You did. And thank you for the apology, I accept it,” Yoongi said.
Jungkook straightened up, wincing when the kitten meowed forlornly in the carrier. “I’ll be back soon.” He headed toward the door. Yoongi stuck out his arm, catching Jungkook in the chest and stopping him.
“The pet fee is one third of our monthly rent. I can pay half of it if you can afford the other half. And she’ll need to be up to date on shots, so you need to get that taken care of no later than Monday.”
“What?” Jungkook asked, his voice barely audible.
“Do I really need to repeat all that?” Yoongi lamented, looking at Jungkook out of the side of his eye.
“You’re saying we can keep her?” Jungkook clarified, a hopeful lilt in his voice.
“I’m saying feeding and the litter box is your responsibility. I don’t want to smell that, it’s gross. I’ll help with shots and buying food as you need, I know you make less, newer into your position. We can go half on getting her fixed, I’ll cover it if you can’t afford it, and you can pay me back over time.”
“Yoongi—”
“I don’t hate cats, Jungkook. I never did.” Yoongi let his arm drop and looked at Jungkook. “At first I said no because we were so busy, and then I just kept saying no. No real reason why. That wasn’t fair of me either. If I was in your position and found a sick kitten, I probably would have done the same thing that you did. I don’t fault you for having a big heart, baby. It’s part of why I love you.”
“You’re not mad?”
“I wish you’d trusted me enough to tell me right away, but I understand why you didn’t. I’m not mad. Go ahead and let her out of there, she sounds sad.”
Jungkook grinned wider, crouching down and opening the door of the carrier. The kitten peeked out. She stepped out slowly, eyeing Yoongi before trotting off.
“What did you name her?”
“Trouble.”
“Fitting name.” Yoongi crouched, holding his hand out and making a soft ‘psps’ noise to call her. She moved toward him, sniffing him before letting him scoop her up. He stroked her fur. “She’s cute. You did good getting her looking healthy.”
“I worked really hard with her,” Jungkook said, reaching out to pet Trouble as well.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick,” Yoongi said. “I should have been more understanding and willing to compromise on a pet.”
“I should have told you about her and trusted you to do stand by me,” Jungkook agreed. “You’re really okay with us keeping her?”
“No harm in it, really. We both work, but cats are independent. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
Jungkook went forward, kissing Yoongi gently. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He set Trouble down. “So I finished my bath,” he said, stepping up to Jungkook.
“Oh?”
“Mhm. I believe earlier there was a promise of making sure I was so relaxed I couldn’t move until tomorrow...”
Jungkook smirked, wrapping his arms around Yoongi’s shoulders. “I remember that.” He pressed gentle kisses along Yoongi’s jaw. “I should get started on that, hm?”
“Most definitely.”
Jungkook grinned. He let his arms drop and grabbed Yoongi’s hand, dragging him toward the bedroom. Yoongi laughed helplessly as he followed. He was weak for Jungkook, he knew it, and he was perfectly okay with it.
#thebtsficarchive#bangtanarmynet#thebtswritersclub#bangtanidx#btsguild#kwritersworldnet#networkbangtan#boymeetsmxm#bangtanxm#yoonkook#fluff#established relationship#animals#yoongi x jungkook#suga x jungkook#jungkook x yoongi#jungkook x suga#mywriting
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Object Impermanence
A short (horror?) story by me for no reason other than ive been listening to the magnus archives and thinking about how it’s nice to sit on the ground and exist.
__________________________________
Summer of 2004, I’d just quit smoking. I remember because I was pissed off for no reason all the time, and I packed more gum than I packed food. My entire backpack smelled like awful, sweet, artificial grape flavoring.
My little sister is home and she’s been hiking with those rich friends of hers and she’s like, ‘lets go hiking on the weekend.’ I’m all, do I look like I go hiking? But whatever, she was just gonna leave by herself if I didn’t go, and what did I have going on anyway? We were going to leave Friday, hike up the mountain, stopping at various lookout points to camp until we reached the top, and then we’d come home by Monday morning.
It started off fine. My feet hurt by the end of the first day. I was wearing sneakers cause that was all I had, and I couldn’t even complain about it because Sara, that's my sister, said that would happen if I wore them, and I told her to buzz off. It was just the two of us, wandering up a mountain. It smelled clean and sharp. The air was cool, almost too cool for the lungs, and I didn’t say how much I was actually enjoying myself. Yeah, there were mosquitos, and the undergrowth left scratches on my ankles, and Sara laughed at me when I struggled. She had a nice laugh, tough, kind and genuine. But it was all worth it when we reached a peak.
One of the first lookout points sat above the valley. It was a flat, stone outcropping. We dangled our legs over the edge. We ate our sandwiches and sunned on the rock like lizards. It was the first time in a long time I’d truly felt… solid. I was so used to this screaming, crashing in my head. I had too many tabs open at once, and I barely looked at any of them. And now I was just a creature, laying against my backpack in the sun, feeling the clouds pass over. It was good that way. People would be a lot nicer if they just shut their mouths and lay on the ground more often.
I heard Sara get up, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes. I was sort of asleep, and the weight of my body had settled into my limbs. I might have melted into the rock and been content there. It wasn’t until a cold wind swept hair into my eyes that I finally squinted and sat up, groggy from my half-sleep.
Sara was gone, her pink ‘rucksack’ (that was what it was called, according to Sara) abandoned a few feet away from me. I had gravel pressed into the palms of my hands, and I brushed it off as I looked around for her. Something settled into my stomach, a deep ill-ease I couldn’t quite shake. Her boots lay next to the backpack, socks sticking out of the top like little white tongues. Thinking back, I wasn’t really worried. If she’d left her shoes, she couldn’t have gone far.
I looked for her, grumbling. The forest here was made up of tall pines, and not much undergrowth anymore, so I should have been able to see her with relative ease, but when I stepped back into the forest, I saw no one. My steps made no noise on the pine needles. The trees swayed.
I called out her name and heard nothing in reply. Actually, to be honest, I heard nothing at all. No wind, no twittering birds, no crunching leaves. Have you ever heard of those rooms that suck the sound out of them? I had a buddy in high school who used to make music, and he rented a soundproof room to record. I went with him one time, mostly because his sister was really cool, and I’d reasoned she might be there (she wasn’t). The point is, the forest felt like that room. My voice died as soon as it left my lips, right in front of me. In the quietest soundproof rooms, they say you start to hear your own heartbeat, the sound of your digestive system, your pumping blood. Spending too long inside a room like that can drive you mad. I kept thinking about that; about soundproof rooms, and about how I didn’t know what my own body sounded like, not really. How can you live in a body its entire life, and not know everything about it? Do bones make noise when they move? The firing of nerves, do they make a sound? I had no idea. But right then, I felt that if I stayed here long enough, I would find out.
I wanted a cigarette.
A twig snapped behind me. I whipped around. I wasn’t sure what had me so tightly strung. There wasn’t anything to be frightened of. Not really. It was Sara. Of course, it was Sara. She’d pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail, and she gave me an odd look, like I was being weird, and she asked if I was okay. I told her, yeah, I was fine, where did she go?
Sara shrugged and walked back to the lookout without answering the question. I guess that was the first sign that things weren’t alright, but I didn’t pick up on it at the time. I was distracted by the quiet and soundproof rooms and my own hammering heartbeat.
We kept on up the mountain as the day stretched. My backpack dug into my shoulders and neck as I followed behind Sara and her hot pink rucksack.
At some point, I looked at my watch, only to realize it was gone. I’d never owned a wristwatch. Except, I had. I got it for myself as a treat after I managed to keep my job as a waiter at Sonic for a month. I couldn’t skate for the life of me, but they kept me on. I tried once. Skating, I mean. The experience was so beyond embarrassing I refused point-blank to do it on the job again. Have you ever had orange soda spilled on your crotch before? I had to walk around for the rest of the shift with this massive sticky stain down the front of me like I was a two year old with a melted popsicle. Disgusting. The manager on duty thought it was hilarious. It was, I guess. You have to find humor in jobs like that or else you won’t get through the day. I’m getting off-topic again. I bought myself a wristwatch from Walmart after the first month of working there because I could.
And now I didn’t have the watch. I’d… well, I thought I possibly could have just left it behind. But now that I thought about it, I couldn’t picture the watch in my head. Had I bought the watch, or did I just think about buying the watch? Either way, I didn’t know what time it was. We’d been walking for hours at this point, long enough that I’d gone through two whole packs of gum. My stomach growled. I told Sara we should stop, citing the setting sun.
Not pausing, Sara told me it wasn’t much farther. That was it.
I pressed the issue. I complained about how hungry I was, how my feet hurt, how I needed to sit down.
“It’s not much farther,” she said again.
Up to this time, I didn’t think anything was wrong. I was just irritated she was being so stubborn. I told her if she didn’t stop I was going to sit down, and she could go up by herself. I’m not exactly an athletic guy, you see? I never have been. In middle school, kids called me Scrawny Shawny. They weren’t wrong. Mom used to resew my pants because the store never had pants with the right sized waist and length. They were always too short with a waist that fit fine, or long enough with too large of a waist. I wasn’t as skinny as I was at thirteen, but smoking hadn’t helped me gain any weight, and I sure wasn’t used to hiking for hours on end.
I told her I was stopping to sit and eat something. I wasn’t getting bossed around by my baby sister. Sara was already a good distance ahead of me, up a slight hill in the trail. She stopped at the top. From that incline, I noticed the first really weird thing. She was barefoot.
Had she not put her shoes back on? How long had she been walking without shoes? And how? The trail was filled with sharp, sand-stone gravel. The trail wound around tree roots, and boulders. I’d stubbed my toe already from inside my shoe.
I called out to her. Where were her shoes? Was she stupid? What was she thinking?
She looked down at her feet, as if noticing them for the first time.
Then, smoothly, she twisted her neck to look at me. Her face was blank. But that could have been that she was too far away for me to see clearly. I told her to stop messing around and come eat a snack.
“It’s not much farther,” she said.
I felt that twist in my stomach again, a tightness in my lungs that wasn’t from the exercise or the thinning air. Her tone was flat, dull, like… this might not make sense, but like soft wood hitting soft wood. That’s the only way I can think to describe it. I heard her clearly, but the sound wasn’t traveling? It hung in the air for a second before dropping into the dirt.
I had my backpack in my hands, and I realized I was clutching it, my nails digging into my palms. Sweat coated my back from the hike, but I was getting cold.
All at once, I wasn’t hungry anymore.
Also, I hadn’t brought any snacks. I hazily unzipped my backpack, eyes still on my sister, who stared at me but didn’t turn around. When I opened the backpack, the smell of grape candy wafted up to meet me. But there were no snacks inside. No trail mix. No cans of beans. No dried fruit. No energy bars. And you’ll remember I said before, I hadn’t packed much food, but I definitely packed some. Had I eaten it all already? It was only Saturday. Or was it Sunday? I couldn’t remember.
Had I never packed any at all? I asked Sara if she’d taken my snacks. She said, “We don’t need a snack yet. It’s only a little farther.”
I gave in then. I’m not sure why, really. Something in me knew she wasn’t going to let me rest. I walked until I was a few steps behind her. She twisted forward again. And then Sara kept going. Up the mountain.
The sun should have set eventually. But it didn’t. That’s the thing. It stayed half set, not quite gone, but clearly not totally in the sky, for… I don’t know how long. Because it was halfway like that, I couldn't tell if I was imagining it or not. I couldn’t tell if it was moving. The shadows stretched like taffy, and the light was golden. We walked through this striped forest of light up the mountain. My stubbed toe was bleeding. I could feel the stickiness and warmth in my sock. Sara’s feet were bloody too, but she didn’t seem to notice. If anything, she walked faster the longer we went. I didn’t dare say anything. Everytime I tried to make an excuse to stop, I’d suddenly realize that excuse did not exist.
I told her we needed to set up camp.
We did not have tents. We would sleep beneath the stars, when they finally came.
I was thirsty.
We did not have water bottles. We’d planned to drink from the streams.
I told her my shoes were breaking.
I wore hiking boots. Of course they weren’t breaking. My toe was still bleeding, however, and that was the only thing that kept me certain that I had been wearing sneakers before.
A particular strain of fear settled in my gut, a familiar feeling I had not laid claim on in a long time. I used to be terrified of losing things when I was a kid. I couldn’t stand the idea of leaving something behind. I forgot a stuffed animal at a playground once when we were on a road trip. It was a little green bear named Ugly. I left him inside the jungle gym of a grubby Mcdonald's play area somewhere in the middle of Utah. It put this gaping hole in me, a seemingly un-proportionate terror I couldn’t escape. I was five, and I could not keep everything safe with me forever. When I closed my eyes, there was absolutely nothing making sure the world would be there when I opened them again. Worse, perhaps nothing was there when I wasn’t looking at it. At a certain point, you grow out of fears like this because you learn, logically, that there is something holding the universe together. You are not so important that your gaze keeps the world spinning. So I hadn’t felt that fear in a long time.
Walking up that mountain, the fear came rushing back to me in waves. Everything was unravelling under my fingertips, twisting into something else. If I didn’t look at it, it could disappear any second. I didn’t have a backpack anymore. I never had. Sara’s pink rucksack bounced ahead of me, mocking me. It was a rucksack, so it couldn’t be smug, but it was. I felt its zippers and rings and straps all straining and stretching and grinning at me. It was huge, bulging at the seams, certainly bloated with all of the things I lost.
Barefoot, I stumbled over a tree root and tried to catch myself on a tree, but my hand sunk into the wood like soggy parchment. It was rotting away, hollow, not really a tree at all. I jerked back and hurried onward. I couldn’t stop. Something horrible would happen if I stopped. We kept going, and the trees loomed above, taller than they were before. They leered at me, bent in so I could hardly make out the fading light of the sky above. Stretched high into eternity, the mountain would never end. The trail became gradually steeper, slowly enough that I did not notice until we climbed hand over hand up the face of the rocks. Pine needles rained down on me from Sara’s movements above.
As we climbed, I asked one last time, how much farther we had to go.
The silence gripped me. It stole the breath from my lungs. This was what it was like to be in space, where sound waves could not travel. I was stuck breathing sawdust and mud and wood shavings. If you’d like to know, bones do make noise when they move. Mostly when the joints bend. There are soft crackles, popping bubbles, and a wet scrape like a fingernail against a mud covered stone.
Sara paused.
Her head twisted toward me. Her neck should not have been able to turn that far, but everything was just so slightly off that this final thing did not shock me as much as it might have in other circumstances. I stood frozen in mute horror, not daring to touch the trees for support, but barely able to keep my grip. I swiped sweat out of my eyes and tears too, I think. I’d started crying. How long had I been crying?
Sara smiled too wide. Her eyes were too large and they glistened a dull, sickly yellow. Her smile held too many perfect teeth packed inside and her fingers were too long. This thing, whatever this thing was, was not my sister. In fact, I had never had a little sister.
There was just me. I was just me, climbing a mountain into the sky, and I had never been anything, or done anything else. The grit under my fingers, the rough stone under my feet, the salty sweat I tasted on my lips, these were the only things I knew. I would not know them for long, because when I stopped thinking about them, they would no longer exist.
“I think it’s time for a snack,” the twisted thing said.
I wanted to weep in relief. Maybe I did. I couldn’t let go of my hold on the stones and the roots on the path or I would fall, so I did not move. The twisted thing started toward me. It’s limbs moved in a jagged way, like a video played in reverse, as it climbed back. I reached out a shaking hand, hoping for some assistance, some food, some water. Something.
But as the twisted creature reached its long fingered hand to me, its mouth wide and grinning, a jolt went through my skull like I’d been kicked. Before it could touch me, I pulled away. This creature would not give me anything. It could not. I knew what I had to do the moment that clarity passed through me.
I stared up into the eyes of a poor imitation of my sister, and I hoped Sara escaped somehow. I doubted it. After all, I didn’t have a sister.
The creature must have sensed my intentions because it snarled and leapt down to grab me. However, I was too quick. I had myself. I had my body and I had my bones. They existed still. Even if they had not, I existed. And I was not sure it could take that. What was a person anyhow, that they can be taken?
My fingers. Even now, I had fingers. They loosened their grip. That was all it took. I plunged downward through the whistling wind. And finally, the sun set. Or perhaps, I just could no longer see it. I fell and I continued to fall, solace flowing across my skin like a balm. There was nothing around me but darkness. The forest was no longer there. It had been, but my eyes were closed, and the illusion did not need to continue. My heart ached.
Then I realized, I could hear the whistling wind. I could feel the coolness of the night. There it was, the sickly sweet smell of grape flavoring. It flowed through the wind. I smiled with lips I still owned.
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Of Books, Brothers, and Broadway (Creativitwins College AU) Chapter Three!!!
Word Count: 6875
TW: Remus, Janus, cursing, ocean critters, think that’s it
Pairings: dukeceit, logince, I think mentioned moxiety, familial creativitwins, platonic everyone else with everyone else, a nice bit of parental Remus and Thomas.
Notes: It gets gay!!!!! Finally!!!! Also skirts!!!! We learn more about Thomas, who is baby TBH hes just like, Remus good boy and I agree. these two have a very close mentorship, Remus has been there for for several years and Thomas has pretty much adopted him. They have one of my favorite dynamics in this. A lot of angst comes shortly after this so enjoy the soft gays while you can.
Summary: Remus is gay and smitten. Roman is as well. The two battle to woo their brothers best friend and both succeed. Soft boys going on dates and being in love. Remus rants a bit.
By the time that they all finish dinner, Remus is more than a little excited to show Janus his lizard friends. Janus is so nice and cute and he has an interest in reptiles, and the book he wrote for the musical in progress, and god he's in love. Roman gives him permission to run off without him while he and Patton engage in ‘civilized’ conversation. So he shows Janus his room, and heck he's bringing a cute boy into his room god this is filthy, disgusting worse than the worst most cuddly pornos that he's ever sat through, this is intimate and Remus feels like his blood is going to boil. He smiles instead though, because Janus is squealing and bouncing and looking at all the little guys in the tanks and he so desperately looks like he wants to hold one but he bounces in place while sounding like a balloon with a leak.
“You want to hold one?”
“More than anything!”
Remus walks over to the tank and tries to pull out a small gecko, but his only snake slithers out and coils his arm before he could. He laughs at it, petting its little head softly and he's almost knocked unconscious by the pure joy on Janus’ face. His eyes are damn near sparkling, his bouncing has stilled as his jaw dropped.
“This little guy is a Kenyan sand boa, he's actually the only scaly friend I've ever gotten from a rescue, the rest of these guys are just local pals. His name is Amadeus. Wanna hold him?”
“Yessssssss!!!!”
Remus guided Amadeus to slither up Janus’ arm. He ended iup coiling around his neck loosely and Remus could see the effort Janus was exerting to not get too excited. He petted the snake gently, stars in his eyes as the snake seemed to lick him.
“I love him!”
“He seems to like you too”
“I’m sorry I’m being so childish heh, I just, I lose my composure with animals I guess. And theater. I suck at keeping up this uh, facade I guess I can call it”
“Why would you? You're cute like this”
Janus froze and Remus nearly backpedaled on his words before Janus broke out in a huge blush with a matching grin. He swept the bangs that were sticking out from his beanie to the side of his face as he looked back at Remus.
“Do you want to go get coffee at some point? I mean uh, we can, we can talk about the musical some more and uh, maybe I can convince you to strike up a deal of some sort?”
Remus blinked and smiled back at him. He pulled out his phone and looked at something before changing it and handing it over to jay.
“I've got a class tomorrow and then work, and I'm bringing home an octopus so I probably can't do coffee tomorrow, but how does dinner sound?”
Janus took the phone and saw a new contact page pulled up. He smiled as he entered the information and sent a standard text and handed it back.
“That sounds even better! I'm free after 4 tomorrow!”
“How does 7 sound? I'm technically back at 5:30 but I want to be here for a bit in case shit goes sideways with Cephy”
“Sounds like a date! Er, um, a plan! Sounds like... a plan..!”
“God you're gonna have to stop being so adorable before I turn myself in to the police preemptively. Anyways, Roman might be getting annoyed from having you stolen for so long, so hows about we put back Dee and pick up this convo later?”
“Great idea!”
By the time that they leave the room, Patton is ready to leave, and as jay was his ride, he had to leave as well. The four said their goodbyes, and when he thought Roman wasn't looking, Janus mimed a little ‘call me’ motion to Remus and he nearly melted as the two left. Remus flopped onto the couch, and subsequently Roman, when the door closed with a sigh.
“You've already stolen him haven't you?”
“Were going to dinner tomorrow”
“Of course you are. I'm going to have to help you get ready aren't i?”
“Yup. and I'll make dinner on Saturday and Sunday as a thank you”
“And as payment for skimping on your original day”
“Yeah sure”
~
Remus wasn’t panicking, of course not, he was totally chill. It's just that he was bringing home an octopus at the end of his shift and then he was going on a date with a cute boy and he just wasn't used to so much happening in one day. He refocused however. He was wearing his lab coat and was sitting next to the institute's recreation of the coastal ocean with pen and paper in hand. He was recording some behaviors in the dolphin they just got, and its differences in behavior compared to their other inhabitants. It was moving slower, and did not seem to like getting close to the walls. He had many questions as he continued to note its peculiarities. Thomas walked in and squatted next to him with a smile.
“You have your inquisitive look on, whats up kid?”
Remus continued to watch the dolphin intently.
“Why is she so scared of the walls?”
“Oh, she was abused by her human caretakers, she's afraid of us still. She also doesn't like our feeding rods, or when we get in to do maintenance. She's just people shy, which isn't too terrible for her or us for the time being. She hasn't lashed out, and it's only a mild inconvenience during feeding times. The longer she's here with the others, the easier it will be, animals are great at encouraging trust in others, its key for survival. But isn't she just so beautiful?”
“Definitely! Hey, weird question, do you ever get transfers from different parts of the world?”
“Sometimes, not often though, they only transfer out of country or state if its a true emergency for the most part, and we aren't really in the hierarchy for those things”
“Hmm. I really want to see an amazon river dolphin. They're so fricken cool!”
“Well, if that's something you want to see about, and you're serious about it, I have some connections with the dolphin research center as well as Clearwater, and I think they both have some that were serious rescue cases. I might be able to set you up for a summer stint if you want?”
“Oh no, no that's fine I just, it's just one of the things that made me want to pursue marine biology. It was an episode of Go Diego Go if you can believe that. They were just, so magical, and I learned more about the ocean and like, the ocean is filled with magic that we don't even know about, and it's just, I dunno. Its a bucket list thing I guess”
“Fair. mine was jellyfish and sea turtles. Finding Nemo”
Remus chuckled at the image of the doctor as a child getting starry eyed at Finding Nemo. He nodded distantly and Thomas fully sat, giving Remus a nudge on the arm.
“What's eating at you kid? You're acting distant today, is something up?”
Remus finally looks at Dr. Sanders at this, a little shocked and confused. He looks back at the water and curls his legs up close to him and lays his head on them.
“A lot is happening and I’m scared I’m going to mess something up”
“Talk to me Re”
“Well, ok so my brother is real into theater, always has been, and he asked me when we were younger to write a musical with him. And, and it's fun, don't get me wrong, but I hate hate hate showing people my writing. And now I'm showing him it regularly, on top of my writing assignments for my creative writing minor. And like, I don't know how to feel about it. But like, it's not just that. Like, I'm a full time worker here now, not an intern, but I'm not even working full time hours, and I feel like I have to prove to you and everyone else that it was worth it but I don’t have the time to put in more hours and it makes me feel so guilty because you're losing money by upping my pay and I don't know, I feel like I'm not doing enough but I know I can't do any more. And then! I'm getting Cephy and like, I know she's gonna be a lot of work, and I'm so ok with that but I’m worried I’m gonna mess up and hurt her or something! And I've got a date with a cute guy tonight and he's my brother's friend and he's so cute and we mesh so well, but I could ruin it, like I always ruin my relationships, and then what if he holds it against Roman? He’ll hate me forever and I don't know what I would do if I lost my brother too, I drive him crazy but I know he still loves me but it makes me want to die thinking about how conditional it could be, even though he's never shown me that that would ever happen it still eats at me and god I'm a mess. God I talked too much I’m sorry boss, I'll shut up now, you didn't need to hear all of that”
Thomas hides the shock and concern on his face, choosing to nod as he rubs a gentle circle in Remus’ back. The two were very very close, they were basically family at this point, Thomas having chosen to be his mentor the moment he met him. He waits a moment to choose his words before speaking.
“I can't pretend that I totally understand your problems, but I'm aware that that isn't what you're looking for. So lets start with something easy. Cephy will not get hurt with you. There is not a single doubt in my mind that you won't be able to, while you were the only applicant, if we didn't know you were responsible enough to care for her with complete certainty and confidence, we would have sent her home with one of our older scientists. This was a long discussion and I know that you will do exactly what you have to to keep her safe. Two, you were not promoted because we needed you to work more. As I've said since you've started here, your studies come first. You were promoted because you did amazing work with what little you are allowed to do as an intern, and we could see that you would do even better with less restrictions. This was meant to give you the ability to learn more and aid in your work ethic. We don't need you to spread yourself too thin so you can work more, we have enough people for you to only work part time”
Remus nodded, he was trying to believe him, he really was, but his head kept turning them around with what ifs. He stayed silent as Thomas paused again.
“Your writing is personal, creative work always is, it is a bearing of your soul and its reasonable to be hesitant in sharing it. Even more so when it's to an overly creative person. But if I know anything about your brother, it's that he is a kind and uncritical person. You don't seem to have any reason to distrust him with it. I know that sometimes your head makes you nervous and casts doubt over others intentions, but it isn't healthy for you to be unable to trust even someone as close as your brother. And, if you let him know your feelings on it all, I'm sure he would be willing to work on it with you. This ties in with the other bit. If you have no reason to believe that something like a break up would cause your brother to hate you, then it's likely not the case. Trust that he values his relationship with you enough to endure the small likelihood of a break up between you and his friend. His friend is a bit of a wild card to you right now but just, give it a shot. It might go better than you can imagine”
Remus felt like he was about to cry. He pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes and took deep breaths. He pulled his hands away and looked at Thomas as he leaned slowly into a hug with the older man. Thomas smiled and wrapped his arms around the other and they sat there a moment in silence.
“Thank you Dr. Sanders”
“This is an emotional moment, call me Thomas”
“... thank you Thomas”
Remus had calmed down and felt far better after his conversation with Thomas, he was pretty zen as he drove home with Cephy on his passenger side. He parked outside he and Roman’s house and dialed Roman’s number. Roman picked up on the second ring.
“You back?”
“Yup. can you get the door for me, I don't want to set Ceph down on the ground”
“On it”
Remus got out of his car, opening the passenger door and lifting the rather small tank carefully in his arms. He felt bad for her getting stuck in such a small carrier tank. He got to the door and saw Roman in the doorway. Roman held out his arms.
“I imagine if I hold the tank I won't have to transfer her into the big one? So hand her over.
Remus chuckled and did so. He slid past then, opening the door to his room and lifting the cover on the big tank. He pulled on plastic gloves and did the same to the carrier. He laughed as Cephy’s arms immediately swung over the side of it. Roman nearly screamed and dropped the thing when one of her tentacles stuck onto him. Luckily he just hummed loudly and squeezed his eyes shut. Remus carefully picked Ceph up, placing her oh so delicately on the little rock shelf near the top before he released her and she dove to the depths of it quickly, swimming around happily, likely glad to have room again. Roman rushed to the bathroom, shouting as he went.
“REMUS CAN I DUMP THIS???”
“GO AHEAD! IF SHE NEEDS TO TRANSFER AGAIN I’LL JUST PUT HER IN IT WHEN ITS EMPTY, SHE CAN SURVIVE OUT OF WATER FOR A BIT”
“WHY IS SHE SO FUCKING SLIMY???”
“SHE'S AN OCTOPUS WHAT DID YOU EXPECT???”
Remus pulled off the gloves and tossed them, placing the tank lid on again before going back to the car to get the rest of her supplies. When he finished unloading, Roman was back out of the bathroom with the tank now placed under the other one in the living room. His hair, which was about shoulder length, was tied up in a hair tie, his bangs pinned up and he was wearing a black crop top with golden print of a crown and shorts. He had a makeup bag in one hand and a hair brush in the other. He had the most sinister smirk on his face.
“K, go take a shower and change into shitty clothes so we can try some faces. Go on! Its 5:45 and I need an hour to get you in order”
Remus opened his mouth and shut it, knowing that Roman was right. He sulked to his room, grabbing some pjs and heading to the bathroom.
“Roman I’m going to look like a clown with all this makeup, why are we even doing this?”
“Because you want to look nice, and you'll look better if you do a little bit of makeup to accentuate your features. And also because you suck at shaving so I'm hiding the welts you gave yourself. He won't want to kiss you if you look like you've been eating out a beehive. Now sit still! We still have to choose your outfit and deal with your hair!”
Remus did as told, pouting as he did so. Roman finally, finally put down the makeup brush. He pulled up a mirror and Remus gasped at his reflection. His face looked clear and smooth, and his cheeks had color. But his eyes were stunning. They were black on the lid, but it faded into a sparkly green shade and gosh Remus loved it.
“I’ll put some lipstick on you when you're done changing. Don’t want to accidentally stain anything”
“Ro I love it!!!!”
“Good. ok clothes next. Where are you guys going?”
Remus blinked and felt himself flush and Roman rolled his eyes. He walked into Remus’ closet with a sigh.
“Typical. Ugh, men. Jay likes anything, he's pretty basic on that, I'd say go to olive garden. Mid Range price but nice aesthetic. Plus he eats bread sticks like an actual snake. He’ll love it. Maybe plan your next date a little more though”
Remus nodded, eternally grateful for the suggestion. He followed Roman as he flipped through his clothes. Roman sighed again.
“You're so lucky I saw his outfit and know it isn't too regal, otherwise I would make you push it to later and buy you new clothes. Here, how about this?”
He pulled out his skull shirt, some ripped jeans, his leather jacket, and his fingerless gloves. Remus smiled.
“He's not against punk?”
“Of fucking course not, did you not see his outfit yesterday? He's a baby pastel punk. He thought you looked good yesterday, he’ll think you’re the sexiest mother fucker tonight if I do this right so get changed”
Remus did so, not caring enough to be modest as he changed in front of his brother. They'd seen each other in less, it didn't matter. He grabbed some socks as well for the outfit, pulling them up before tugging on his jeans. He carefully pulled his shirt over his head, keeping it from hitting his face. He was swinging his arms through his jacket when Roman grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the proper part of his room. He sat down and Roman ruffled his hair before grabbing his hairbrush.
“Ok so we’re making this look decent. Ok so you’ve got the fucking fade done, so how about the nice swoop?”
“I have no idea what language you're speaking”
“Okay it was a rhetorical question anyways. Lemme grab my gel”
Roman poured a decent heap of gel into his hands, rubbing them together before raking them through Remus’ hair. He then took his comb and moved his hair all over to the right. He pulled a few strands free to fall in his face then pulled away and smiled as he wiped the excess gel off with some wipes. He gestured to the mirror next to Remus and once he looked at it, Remus was once again astounded.
“Roman what the fuck kind of sorcery?”
“I'm a theatre major, I dabble in makeup and hair”
“Dabble???”
“Oh honey you should see Patton at work”
“Roman, grab my docs”
“Which ones?”
Remus knew that while a valid question, it was also meant to tease and he narrowed his eyes at him. He pointed at the ones still on his shelf that had skulls. He rarely wore them, and was ecstatic at having the chance to. Roman brought them to him and he slipped them on with practiced ease.
“I think you owe me for this”
“If I give you Logan's number will we be even?”
Roman sputtered and blushed but nodded shyly. Remus grinned. He texted Logan to get his ok, which he got instantly, then sent the number to Roman.
“There you go! Now, I have a date to get to!”
“You have his address?”
“Of course not”
“You fucking spoon. I’ll text it to you”
“At least I’m not gaysexual”
“What the absolute fuck did you just say?”
“Spoonsexual?”
“Leave before I break your fucking neck”
“Fair, have a nice day”
Remus pulled up to Janus’ dorm room expecting many things. None of which he got. Janus was dressed in a black crop top with a turtleneck, a high waisted pastel yellow skirt that reached his mid thighs, and soft yellow thigh high socks. He was wearing bright yellow converse and had a golden flower headband. Remus thinks he might’ve died and gone to heaven. When Janus gets in his car he finally tears his eyes away as he goes to start driving again.
“You look nice Jan”
“As do you”
Remus avoids speaking, hoping that Janus will start talking and getting more anxious as he doesn't. Janus is playing with his skirt wait, his? Is his still a thing?
“Might I ask if you're still using he him pronouns?”
Janus looks up suddenly and smiles as a blush forms on their? Face.
“Oh, yeah, he/him all around, they them is good as well, but yeah”
“Ok cool”
“...I’m sorry I’m being so awkward, I'm a little on edge”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not in the slightest actually. Um, where are we going?”
“My two brain cells fucked off and didn't think of that until about an hour ago, but Roman told me you liked olive garden so we’re going to olive garden”
Janus giggled and god if Remus wasn’t already gay, he wouldve been the ambassador of queerland to hear that again. He smiled and sent him a quick look, feeling his cheeks darken as he saw Janus looking at him.
“That sounds great! So um, how's the musical going?”
“Hm? Oh, it's going well. Uh, sort of. I've gotten a bit stuck on the script, and Roman’s hit a roadblock in the songs. I'm a little uh, let's say bad, at writing things like this. It's uh, it's far more tame than my usual stuff, but Roman isn't one for my more graphic shit, you know how it is. He's all unicorns and rainbows and im blood and porn, so writing something he would like is tricky to say the least. It's far easier to just translate all my night terrors and intrusive thoughts to paper than to actually be creative”
“Well, your night terrors and intrusive thoughts may be you know, normal or whatever to you, but I'm sure your writings about them are just as good! Creativity takes many forms and seeks different inspiration! I would love to see more of your writing, if it's ok with you?”
“Oh, no they're, they're shitty, you don't want to see them. They're about eldritch monsters and serial killers and they're really bad, I don't want to subject you to that”
“Nonsense! Like I said, I'm sure they’re amazing! But if you're uncomfortable showing me, then that's ok too”
Remus shuts up, avoiding the end of this conversation. Except he digs absently in the back seat and pulls out a notebook, handing it to Janus.
“It's filled with them. It's my last notebook, I suggest you just borrow it and not try and read them over dinner. Some of them make me a little sick to read. But uh, yeah. Go ahead”
Janus looks at it, the little doodles that are sprawled over the cover, and then looks at Remus with his eyes filled with stars. And Remus almost crashes, he’ll admit it, but that is a look that no one has ever given him before and he might actually die this time. They're at olive garden though, so he gets out and rushes to the other side to open the door for Janus who giggles again.
“So where'd you come up with the idea for the musical?”
Remus looked up from his food at Janus. Janus had his hands pressed together and he looked insatiable for answers. He smiled, licking his lips before explaining.
“When me and Roman were kids one of our favorite movies was the nutcracker. Around the same time that he said he wanted to write a musical, our uncle took us to the ballet of the Nutcracker live, it was our Christmas present from him. It was, well it was magical. So that was part of it. But like, as a kid I always loved reading. I found that I had loved some characters more than I had loved anyone outside my family. I had crushes throughout my life, but none of them really worked out, so I ran back to stories, it gave me something permanent and I dunno, I had a recurring dream where I would wake up and the hero or villain of my favorite books would be there and would love me. It's uh, it's a bit pathetic now that I say it out loud”
“No! Its, cute”
Janus was leaning on his hand as he stared and listened to Remus, moving to be more attentive in his posture, both arms on the table, with an insistent look on his face at Remus’ last words.
“It's not pathetic to want to be loved! It's hard to feel like you aren’t. I used theater as my escape from my shitty situation, and now I'm in college spending more money than I will ever use on anything else to pursue my escape as my reality. Sometimes it seems silly, but it makes me happy, so it's not useless. I mean, what other group would look at some guy with scars enough to play Deadpool who wears frilly skirts for fun and accept him? Definitely not any group from my home”
Remus frowns a bit.
“Anyone with half a brain”
Janus smiles at him.
Remus was dropping Janus off. He did not want to be dropping him off, he wanted to be taking him home and talking mindlessly for hours about nothing and everything, but Janus had to go, he had a shift in the morning. And Remus did as well, but all he could think of was how wonderful the night had been, and he didn't want it to end. They were standing outside, had been for a while, both of them trying to drag this out. Janus shivered and Remus immediately toar off his jacket and wrapped it around his shoulders. Janus was blushing again.
“You don't have to do that, I'm right outside my door!”
“Yeah, but this way I have an excuse to see you again”
Janus smiled and shuffled slightly. He mumbled something incoherent and Remus’ eyebrow rose.
“What was that?”
“I would really like to kiss you, if that's alright?”
Remus felt his skin burning at the question. He nodded, leaning down to kiss him. It wasn't fireworks. It was a chocolate fountain, soft and sweet and smooth, and they were pulling away and Janus looked completely blissed out. Remus felt the same way as he leaned back against the car again. He smirked and gestured to the dorm.
“You should probably head in, it's getting late”
“Yeah. yeah I should. I don't want to but I should. Um, I'll see you again?”
“That jacket is too expensive to leave with someone I don't plan on seeing again”
Janus smiled and nodded. He finally turned to go inside, and Remus waited until the door shut behind him to get back in his car and drive home. He starts the ignition as his phone rings.
“Roman holy shit Roman I’m in love help”
“Of course you are”
“Roman he wanted to read my stories”
“Well yeah, he's already shown interest in your writing-”
“No but the dark shit Roman, the nightmare fuel the terrors and murderers and the dark gritty shit I never show anyone”
“Yeah, he's really into that kinda thing. He's a fan of that genre”
“But he's, he's so soft!”
“Yeah, you only just got to his second layer of that, he's got a bunch of soft covering up the gritty fucked up interior. His words not mine. He's got some shit buried, Patton knows a bit more than me, but he really tries to keep that hidden. I knew you two would hit it off, you're very similar”
“I want to know it all Ro. I want to know everything about him, I want to know what he's afraid of and what his parents told him before bed and what dreams he has and what makes him tick and god I want to kiss him forever and never stop”
“That is the sappiest thing you've ever said. Want some coffee?”
“It's almost midnight”
“Did I stutter?”
~
Roman was distracted. He was at work, so he really shouldn't be, he didn't really have the time, but he and Logan had been texting since Remus sent him his number, and Roman had caught feelings hard. He was super hot honestly, which was unfair Roman thought, he's half his size he shouldn't be allowed to be so attractive. But they had been sending selfies back and forth, mostly because they were both too occupied with their hands and Roman fucking adored it. There was one of Logan in a tie that was slightly loosened and he was giving the camera some sort of smoulder. Roman had decided after that to explain that he was working and turn off his phone. He went to the back of the shop to grab some replacement baked goods to bring up front and he thanks his years in dance that he didn't fall when he saw Logan at the counter. He was still in his polo and tie, but the tie had been tightened and he looks significantly more innocent than he did in the photo. Roman set down the boxes and moved to greet him.
“Howdy hot stuff, haven't seen you around here, what are you craving?”
Logan smirked back. Suddenly Roman was grateful the shop was in a lull, and he's sure Logan was too as he looked him up and down.
“Well, if we’re honest I'm in the mood for a tall cup of sexy, but it doesn't seem like you're on the menu, so I'll go with a salted caramel mocha. I think its a close second in sweetness”
Roman is completely red, very unprepared for any of what was said. Logan's smirk breaks into a smile and he laughs. And Roman quickly gets to preparing his drink before he combusts. He mutters the price quietly as he makes it.
“Aren't you supposed to have me pay first? Or am I being treated by a knight in shining armor?”
“You're going to give me a heart attack, I hope you know”
“You can't expect to tease me and get away without consequence can you? You'd have to take me to dinner first to get away with that”
“I did not tease you, if anything, you were teasing me, you foul beast!”
“Oh so me sending a picture of me in full clothes is teasing, but you in your gym outfit is just the norm?”
“Of course!”
“Mhmm. keep telling yourself that hot stuff. I suppose if I did the same, you would find no problem then?”
“Wha, you go to the gym?”
“Yes, it is healthy and I attempt to keep a healthy lifestyle. In a word… duh”
Roman felt warm all over again, far more attracted to the idea than he was consciously ok with. The two had been flirting incessantly, and Roman may have teased the poor nerd a bit, but he still didn't deserve this!
“So then if the price of free teasing is dinner, then how about dinner tonight?”
“Hmm, irresponsible to wait until the day of to ask someone to dinner, but I am free tonight, so consider yourself lucky. 7 work?”
“Absolutely. I’ll be waiting for your fine ass at 7”
“Oh dear, how have you ever wooed a woman? How dare you objectify me like I'm a hunk of meat?”
“You're definitely a hunk, that's for sure. A true himbo”
“Falsehood, I have a functioning brain, you are the himbo between the two of us”
Logan grinned at him as he finished paying and took his drink. He waved as he walked away.
“Seeya tonight sweetcheeks!”
Roman didn't know what he signed up for but he was so in.
“Yeah so you don't have to worry about dinner tonight, I've managed to seduce Logan into dinner with me”
“Is that how it happened? Logan told a very different story”
“Ok no, but don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!”
“Yeah sure whatever, I guess that means I'm getting the house to myself?”
“Yup! If jay comes over please try to remember our agreement and dont fuck in the common areas?”
“What? One, of course not, I’m not a heathen, and two, we’ve been on one date, I’m a gentleman, no sex until at least the third date!”
“Mhmm. likely story”
“Oh, and one last request, if shit happens with you two, don't tell me anything you wouldn't say in a pg13 movie. If it's worse I don't want to know, I still have to go to class with him on Monday”
“Deal”
“What's cooking good looking?”
Logan was stepping in the car and rolled his eyes at the line.
“No idea, you're the one in charge of food if I can recall”
Roman thinks it's very rude how easily the nerd can manage to take his breath away. He pouts a little.
“Why were you so shy when I first met you, cuz you obviously aren't”
“Nerves. I wasn't expecting to meet someone attractive when dropping off Remus’ belongings and I startle easily”
“Attractive huh?”
“Don't get too excited, if there's nothing else other than good looks I don't imagine this will go anywhere”
“Fair, I could say the same to you”
Logan sent him a sideways glance. He was also ungodly attractive. He was wearing a black v neck shirt, black jeans, and a blazer and Roman didn't think anyone could pull off a nerd look and be hot but counter evidence was sitting in his passenger seat. Roman was wearing white jeans, a simple gryffindor t-shirt, and his letterman jacket from his high school that was a nice red and gold. He also had simple makeup done, as well as his hair being tied back, leaving his bangs to frame his face purposefully. He was really hoping this went somewhere.
“So, where are we going, might I ask?”
“Depends, do you like Japanese cuisine?”
“Yes, I'm a fan of it, why?”
“Well it was between cheesecake factory and Benihana, and we have now decided”
“Benihana? Roman, that's really expensive, we don't have to go there, I know I joked about you buying the ability to tease, but you don't have to pour a fortune into a first date!”
“Nonsense! As you said, I teased you unfairly, consider it an apology and a bribe”
“...I can already tell that you're even more stubborn than your brother”
“We came by it honestly!”
“So you're a theater major right? So you do the big three, acting, singing, and dancing? I imagine you aren't a fan of writing considering Remus is writing for your musical, but do you do any traditional arts?”
Roman was mid bite of sushi when the question came. He set down his chopsticks and grabbed his napkin to cover his mouth as he finished chewing. He finally set it down and smiled.
“I am and I do, but I do enjoy writing, but it's garbage compared to what Remus writes. As much as I'm not a fan of his subject matters, his writing is undeniably amazing. My writing is very ah, fluffy. Not much sustenance. And like, fanfiction, but that isn't like, real writing-”
“Fanfiction is real writing. Every idea is based and influenced by countless things, sometimes without realizing it. Besides, it takes a lot of the most menial and boring part of the storytelling process out. Exposition is just as difficult to write as it is to read, in fanfictions you get to start right where the interesting part starts, no boring history that means nothing to the plot other than for throwaway lines. Sorry for interrupting I just have uh, I have strong opinions on the subject. Continue, please”
Roman might’ve gone red again but he was shocked at Logan's response. It felt… nice to have the validation in the writing he enjoys. He did however, go back to the original question.
“Um, and uh, yeah I do traditional art, I don't really get? Digital art? It's just confusing to me so I just do the bare sketchbook. I think I have some pictures of them on my phone if you'd like to see them?”
“I'm actually quite intrigued. May i?”
Roman grabbed his phone and pulled up his gallery, choosing his art folder and handed Logan the phone. He went back to eating as Logan scrolled through.
“You and Remus have such similar styles in art, I'm surprised. Definitely different tastes in what you draw, but the style itself is almost indistinguishable. Did you learn together?”
“Hmm? I mean, yeah sort of. We both drew a lot when we were little, but other than the little doodles in his musical notebook I haven't seen any of his art in years”
“Hmm. I suppose that makes sense, he's very secretive and protective of his creative works. I wasn’t ever allowed to see his writing until we were paired for a writing project. Creativity is incredibly personal, and while many seek validation and approval, he seems to fit the other type that fears rejection. I can assure you, his art looks a lot like yours but far more ah, violent. And usually a fair amount of tentacles”
Roman smiled softly, he was happy to know that Remus hadn’t stopped drawing. Logan was still swiping through, eating rather absentmindedly. Suddenly Logan sat up and Roman swore that his eyes glittered.
“Is this the Marquis de Carabas???”
Roman looked at the phone and indeed it was an image of his version of the character. He nodded and smiled as Logan smiled back.
“Yeah, I was messing with plague doctor masks, and I had just finished the book. He was always very birdlike to me, so I thought it fit”
“Roman this is incredible! His coat is perfect and, and his hat? Goodness, this is so pretty!!!”
“Meh, it's not my best. I drew Door as well, I think she's a better piece personally”
“I didn't take you as someone who would like Gaiman”
“Remus loves him and he's another talented author. Besides, Terry Pratchet was one of my favorite authors and I fucking love Good Omens. Oh and I grew up on Doctor Who so that also helped”
“You like Doctor Who?”
“Hell yeah! It's probably in my top favorite TV shows I've ever watched”
Roman was walking Logan to his door and they were still chatting when they reached it.
“This was nice Roman. Thanks for taking me out”
“My pleasure. I got to spend a nice night with a radiant man”
He smirked and was ready to watch Logan step inside when Logan grabbed his jacket and yanked him down into a kiss. He stood there with his arms awkwardly floating for a moment before he wrapped them around Logan's waist. It was quick, Logan pulled away.
“I’m sorry, I should have asked first I-”
Roman leaned back in, crashing his lips against Logan’s,and it felt like a forest fire. Logan wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck and smiled into it. It was passionate and wild and warm and Roman felt like every inch of his skin was burning and he never wanted to let go. They did though, and Roman stared a moment at Logan's face, admiring the blush that colored it. He knew he wasn't any better. They stayed there until Logan finally spoke.
“Do you um, do you want to come inside?”
Roman released him, and had to hold back a chuckle at the sad whine that left Logan when he did so. He leaned back in, placing a small kiss on his nose before stepping back.
“Sorry doll, not on the first date. ‘Sides, I have work in the morning. Maybe next time though. Text me”
Logan nodded and watched longingly as Roman got in his car and drove away. He sighed softly before stepping inside of his home, reminding himself to get another date with Roman, and soon.
Roman was about to shout about how his date went when he walked in, but he saw the lights in the house were all off. He walked to the living room and cooed at the scene he was greeted by. Remus was sprawled over the couch, one leg on the floor and one arm over the back of the couch, and Janus laying on top of him, curled up small with his head over Remus’ chest and Remus’ other arm wrapped protectively around him. The two were both passed out and Roman chuckled. He went to his room and came back with a blanket to cover them with before going to his room to sleep as well.
Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @fandomloverangel @booklover223
Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing!!!
Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!
#roman sanders#patton sanders#janus sanders#ts janus#remus sanders#duke remus#logan sanders#virgil sanders#thomas sanders#college au#familial creativitwins#logince#dukeceit#moxiety#tw swearing#tw cursing#tw ocean#sanders sides fanfiction#sanders sides#my writing#my fanfiction
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What are you wearing right now?
bluzę Lucy, tunikę z napisem Can’t touch this na tyłku, dresy...
Who was the last person you hugged?
dad
Do you write down your dreams when you wake up?
often
When was the last time you cried? Why?
not sure
Do you still have most of your childhood toys?
a lot of them
Do you get leg cramps often?
recently I started to get them as I never did before :o
What is your religion?
Christianity
Do you make wishes on your eyelashes?
I blow at them to check who’s thinking about me
Have you ever met someone online then met them in person? If so, which website did you meet on?:
yes, Dorota, tumblr
What was the last thing you threw in the trash?:
strzykawkę
How many orange clothing items do you own?:
just a few
Are you procrastinating at the moment?:
kinda
Is there someone you really wish would talk to you?:
maybe
Is Halloween simply the greatest holiday ever?:
nah (Lisa is offended)
When were you last frustrated?:
now
When was the last time you wanted to tell someone something, but couldn’t?:
today
How many true friends do you know you’ll always have?:
I worry that I will end up without my gf and dad :(
What color car would you definitely not want to own?:
pink
Do you look more for “cuteness” or “hotness” in the opposite sex?:
cuteness
How old is the nearest framed photograph to you?:
it’s my dad’s black and white portrait so older than me probably
Are you picky when it comes to music?:
dunno
What is something new you realized today?
sigh...
Do you pick out your outfits at night or in the morning?:
morning
What is the longest period of time you’ve chewed a single piece of gum?:
not long
Have you ever seen the movie “Chicken Little”?:
nope
What is the closest green object to you?:
scissors
When was the last time you got your hair cut?:
this month
Do you ever wear long socks?:
not anymore
Polka dots or stripes?:
stripes
Do you like the smell of hand sanitizer?:
noooo
If your friend just died, what would be the first thing you would do?:
omg...
Do you like the colors of your room?:
they’re fine
Would you rather it be snowing or bright and sunny?:
bright and sunny
When was the last time you went to the dentist?:
almost week ago
Do you believe in reincarnation?:
hmm...
What do you think of when I say PURPLE?:
asexuality and Prince :D
What was the last thing you watched on YouTube?
I’m watching Mean girls reunion now
How long do you think you could go without listening to music?
dunno
How long could you go without chocolate?
years
How about without your Cell phone?
depends
Which do you prefer: computer or television?
computer, I don’t watch TV
Who do you get along with best in your family?
my father obviously
How often do you go to the movie theater?
I don’t
How late did you stay up last night?
1 am at least
When did you wake up?
late
Are you ready for children?
hell no
Do you prefer to text your friends or call them on the phone?
text
Do you have a nice yard?
meh
When you’re bored in class, do you write on the back of your hand?
used to at times
Do you think that you see the world differently from others?
kinda
Do you watch the late night news?
no news, I avoid them all as much as possible
Do you have any odd obsessive habits?
not obsessive?
Do you prefer sour or sweet?
sweet
Are you currently in your house?
I am indeed
Do people ever compliment your eyes?
M. complimented my eyes
Do they compliment your hair?
wonder why
Do you laugh at extremely corny jokes?
oh well...
Do you prefer ketchup or mustard?
preffered ketchup
Garlic fries or curly fries?
garlic fries? eww!
Are you one of the top 5 smartest in your class?
been in elementary and partially middle school too
Do you own any crazy socks?
wouldn’t say so
Tell me about the first five photos you have on your phone or camera.:
Nat took pics of cats
Have you got any half or step siblings?:
I have not
When was the last time you were disappointed?:
constantly?...
What cars do your siblings drive, if they do drive?:
she doesn’t
What about your parents?:
neither
Do you like kid’s movies?:
plenty
When was the last time you had to take someone home? Who was it, and where did you take them home from?:
odprowadzaliśmy Gosie jakiś czas temu ze wspólnie spędzonego dnia w parku
Who did you last speak aloud to and what did you say?:
parent, forgot
How many siblings do your parents have?:
mom has a brother, dad has a sister and two brothers
What colour is your wallet?:
I own several coin purses instead
Are you wearing any jewellery right now?:
am not
What can you smell right now?:
luckily nothing
Who last held your hand?:
family member
Have you seen all the Lord of the Rings movies?:
not Hobbit
What is something you can’t seem to stop doing (or start)?
uh oh
When was the last time you comforted someone who was upset?
hours ago
When was the last time you yelled at someone?
same
What types of things typically cause you to cry?
everything?...
What is one thing that would make your life a lot better?
better health - too late for that
How would you describe your overall aesthetic?
complicated
What is one of your most positive characteristics? What about one of your most negative?
matter of perspective
Do you blow dry your hair or do you let it air out?
first option
Are you always late or always on time?
early
Do you face your problems head on or do you run away from them?
run
What do you think of dreadlocks?
cool
Who do you know without a doubt cares about you?
I doubt everyone, sorry
Have you ever caught yourself talking in your sleep?
mom caught me once or twice when I was a child
Do you catch lizards?
I photograph them
What is your favorite lyric in the song you are listening to?
I like it whole - Tame Impala - Feels like we only go backwards
Has anything seriously made you mad today?
whoops
What brand of chapstick do you use?
none, gross
Is it cold in your house?
not now
Where you live, has it snowed yet?
thx God it didn’t :o
Are you the type of person who says you like something just to be cool?
been there, done that, regret it
What is the title of the last story you wrote?
personal
Paper clips or staples?
staples
Is swearing really necessary?
helps :x
Have you ever stuck your tongue to a frozen pole?
I’m not stupid
Do you take screen shots often?
shitload
Is there an album that you can listen to without skipping over any songs?
when in the mood
Do you use Mozilla Firefox?
only to listen to the mass on Sunday
Cinnamon: Yes or no?
rarely
What would your initials be if you married the person you are crushing on?
who said I’m gonna change my surname?
What year was your dad born in?
not your business
Do you have any beauty marks?
moles? mhm
Lyrics to end this survey, aye? :]
Baby, I'm dying for another taste
hows your life at the moment?
“rollerclaster” or worse
do watch funny tvshows like family guy and south park?
prefer Simpsons
have you let someone down recently?
nothing new
quick lyrics from the last song you heard..
Hi my little kitten
who have you talked to on the phone today?
-
make a wish. right now. anything.
miracles won’t happen to me...
if you had to live at one of your bestfriend’s houses, where would u live?
I already live with one lmfao
how are you on this fine day?
not the worst yet?
are there any stressful situations in your life?
ha ha ha...
can you love and hate someone?
I felt that
do your parents annoy you?
my mother is a pro at this
what’s your favorite Lady Gaga song?
911 lately
any last words?
better stay quiet...
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Anaticula Pt 38
Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 - Pt 6 - Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 - Pt 11 - Pt 12 - Pt 13 - Pt 14 - Pt 15 - Pt 16 - Pt 17 - Pt 18 - Pt 19 - Pt 20 - Pt 21 - Pt 21b - Pt 22 - Pt 23 - Pt 24 - Pt 25 - Pt 26 - Pt 27 - Pt 28 - Pt 29 - Pt 30 - Pt 31 - Pt 33 - Pt 34 - Pt 35 - Pt 36 - Pt 37 -
...
New Years again bled into the final ten days of the break before you were back to your normal classes and the creeping feeling that another challenge was coming up before the big Lake Task.
Wk 1
Match 1 - Beaux 1 – Ravenclaw
Evangelinne as Beater led her team up against the Ravenclaw team, which under Cho’s swift dive for the unnoticed snitch ended the match in what could have been the saving goal for Beaux 1.
Match 2 – Gryffindor - Beaux 3
.
Wk 2 brought up another double match on Saturday leading to Hogsmeade on the Sunday after.
Match 1 - Slytherin - Beaux 2
Match 2 - Durm 1 - Durm 2
This match especially stirring up a surprising palpable in home rivalry leaving the Krums on edge with their biggest competition from home. Your support seemed especially crucial and after you were Sebastian’s first stop to curl around until he wound down from the match.
By Hogsmeade though it had calmed down entirely and they were all ready for the next set of matches in the following week.
.
Wk 3
Match 1 - Durm 3 - Beaux 4
Match 2 – Hufflepuff - Durm 4
Another easy match for you came with more and more images and footage of your skills were captured. And sure enough with the semester of images already captured a full year opening issue was dedicated to the promising talent tucked away in Hogwarts with you three leading the way after a mention that Oliver had already been offered a spot on the Kenmare Kestrals stirring up speculation that soon for the retiring members on that same team could be easily replaced with a clearly capable team easy to mold together in time to pick up between seasons if need be. Of course all that led to more articles about you and Sebastian on how it would effect your relationship if pitted against one another.
..
Matching origami owls came floating down from the rafters while you and Cedric sat in Double Potions, right in the middle of a lecture Snape sighed and asked, “And just what is this test?”
You both shrugged and stood leaving your bags with the twins as Cedric said, “It says to meet in the Astronomy tower.”
Snape chortled, “No doubt if they trap you in it we should get a clear view of the tower collapsing.”
You smirked at him in return as Cedric chuckled and joined you in strolling around the desks and to the door. Again you joined up with the other Champions, all in the same confused state and following you two and Harry to the tower where in deed you were locked inside with labeled tables coated in random vials and open bottles of liquid you all looked over left you puzzled. Completely alone you eyed each of them then glanced at each other until a ripple of notes appeared in blue flames reading simply, ‘Pick your Poison’.
Narrowing your eyes at the selection you mumbled, “It all looks like poison.”
Cedric shrugged and he said, “Maybe we’re meant to choose the fastest?”
Fleur, “What good is choosing a poison?”
Vivi wet her lips and then said, “Well, if they are all poisons-,” her hand extended over the table and she lifted one only to shriek at the following burst of flames revealing a rare breed of horned lizard that extended its jaws joined by another for each of your tables, “I can’t kill that thing!” She promptly set the vial down only to be hurled out of the room in a high pitched shriek through the opening and slamming of the hatch in the floor.
Wetting your lips you eyed the table again while Lukas asked, “We have to kill a creature to score points?”
Cedric looked to you, “Wait, Jaqi, that’s not a lizard, is it?”
Viktor, “Clearly it is!”
You shook your head, “No, it’s a reptilian shape shifter that lives off of poisonous fungus, meaning,”
Harry, “We find its food?”
You nodded again and raised an oddly neon green vial of goopy liquid, “I believe this is Pixies’ Carnage.” Cedric and Harry promptly found their matching vials they all joined you in feeding to your lizards, all of whom giddily rippled and turned into what appeared to be baby hippos the other teens quickly copied. The Hippos all hopped off the tables chasing after the colored smoke filled bubbles that the tables exploded into. Up against the walls behind you until all the bubbles were gone you watched your Hippos in their feasting while colored numbers floated above them racking up leaving you baffled for their meaning until the hatch opened and the hippos climbed back into their cages. Climbing through the hatch you found Vivi in the hall still and shared the useless challenge.
Harry, “Hungry Hungry Hippos, they really made a challenge off of Hungry Hungry Hippos?”
You shrugged again, “Maybe they’re running out of ideas.” Back to your classes you went and shared the useless challenge making even Snape roll his eyes then promptly award you both 20 points for selecting the proper poison by look alone.
..
5th test – Poison
Viktor - 17
Sebastian - 18
Lukas - 16
Fleur - 19
Charlotte - 16
Vivi - 0
Cedric - 17
Jaqi - 18
Harry – 19
…
Wk 4
Match 1 - Beaux 1 - Durm 2
Evangelinne again faced up against Durmstrang once again and managed to snag away a clear victory.
Match 2 - Gryffindor – Hufflepuff
Just barely you managed to get to bed the night before after you had gotten carried away on outlining another paper due in the following day. Though even in your exhausted state your steady offence and defense was unmatched by the younger team.
..
February reared its head and with it brought on the snow and the eagerness of the students for the mini Valentines mixer after yet another Durm/Beaux match.
Match 1 – Slyth – Rav
Match 2 – Durm 1 – Beaux 2
Krums vs Fleur
.
Wk 2
Match 1 – Beaux 4 – Durm 4
Match 2 – Beaux 3 – Durm 3
With the match over in the mixture of powder blue decorations paper hearts and confetti rained down on the couples in the Great Halls that was filled with sweets and little mailboxes looking like tiny cookoo clocks for each student for Valentines. Lost to the jealousy of your getting a great supply from the visiting males as well as your usual joke ones from Slytherin Sebastian moped for a few minutes until you reminded him of his own vast supply and gave him a firm peck on the cheek calming him down enough to steal a kiss on your lips and snuggle with you possessively for the rest of the evening.
.
Halfway asleep once again you were pulled from your beds and left to sit in empty classrooms across from a pair of people. A conversation was to be had and after you had determined which was the true one and which was the one under the Polyjuice disguise. One rambling sentence stemmed into two and finally the key words from a passing utterance in their visit the day prior sparked the clue for you all leading to a matching score of five for you all that freed you back to what little sleep you could manage.
…
Wk 3
Match 1 – Beaux 1 – Beaux 4
Match 2 – Gryff – Durm 2
…
The night of the 23rd came and under a clap of thunder in the Great Hall you sat in the empty room looking over a full spread of maps for all you could remember of the lake with Cedric upstairs going over a list of his own choices. Off in your own corners you had been sent by Minerva for whatever reason you trusted to be explained later. Harry of course had been clever enough to call dibs on the library he was sharing with Lukas, the pair of whom were scouring the shelves for any help at all. Curiously in seeing Harry’s collection of Herbology books Neville neared him and set a copy of Goshawks Guide to Herbology down, “You’d be better off with this one to start out.”
Harry nodded and continued to flip through his book, “Thanks, I’ll add it to the pile.”
Neville wet his lips, “Do you know there’s a Wizard in Nepal who’s growing gravity resistant trees?”
Harry glanced up with a sigh and shook his head, “No, I did not Neville. Though, for the dragons I got to use my broom, something simple, and now I’ll have to spend an hour under water, and for the life of me I can’t remember what that damn plant is the twins keep using. Could be a Tibetan Turnip for all these useless books tell me.”
Neville narrowed his eyes and shook his head, “I don’t know about any turnips, but I do know they use gillyweed.”
Harry, “Gillyweed?”
Neville nodded, “Ya, we’ve got a whole stash of it back home. I could bring you some tomorrow. Best leave it till right before to let it air out or you might drown.” He looked around and asked, “Why are you here alone?”
Harry shrugged, “McGonagall sent us all off alone. No telling why.”
Neville, “Well first thing I’ll fetch some for you, best to gather it in sunlight, put it in a nice jar and all.”
Harry chuckled and said, “Thank you, Neville.”
Neville sat down and asked, “So, I’ve been down there, it’s a clear shot to, well, everywhere, that can’t really be it, can it? I mean, there’s Merpeople, Grindylows, Kelpies, the Giant Squid, not even mentioning those odd lobster creatures. That can’t be it.”
Harry sighed and set his forehead down on the desk, “Haven’t the foggiest.”
..
Morning rolled around and in a row of boats you joined the other champions out to the filled towers in the middle of the vast lake packed with fellow students. Open mouthed Harry scanned over the Gryffindor tower and said, “Ron and Hermione aren’t here.”
Looking over to Ravenclaw you tapped Cedric’s arm, “Cho and Draco are missing too.”
Harry, “So we have to find them?”
Cedric, “Seems plausible.”
“Let’s just hope it’s not some underwater hide and seek game.” Wetting your lips you pulled your long sleeved emerald jersey tighter over your torso as your legs bounced in the chilly air due to your shorts over your bikini bottoms. In a shaky exhale you sat watching the smaller boat that split off yours carrying Harry off to the Gryffindor tower while Cedric reached up for the dangling ladder you would climb for the Hufflepuff tower as your own boat split off to the Slytheirn tower.
Fully confused for your place here you accepted a first year’s help up to the platform then looked around seeing even those with the greatest loathing for your blood traitor status welcomed you among their numbers while Snape stated, “It was believed to be best to have each Champion represent their own houses, and as you were first sorted to Slytherin Dumbledore accepted this trade.”
Crabbe quickly added, “Give ‘em hell.”
Goyle nodded, “Got ten Galleons on you.”
With a smirk you turned around as Barty inched closer to your side cockily teasing, “Only ten?”
Chuckling to yourself you spotted the other champions looking around until Percy standing in for sick Bartemis held his wand to his throat, “Today we are all here to witness the Second Task. Now as you have all surely ascertained from your eggs from the First task something has been taken from each of the Champions and they now have one hour to go and find it.” He glanced around saying, “Champions, on your marks,”
Pulling your jersey off over your head your swimsuit stunned those looking on in comparison to the one piece suits the females from Beauxbatons had chosen in their house colors. In a halter top style the top of your two piece swimsuit in a silver shade was comprised of woven strips that covered from your neck to your ribs on the front and showed more skin on your back around the cutout designs there of leaves. Those close enough could see bumps rising on your midriff and arms until eyes followed your fingertips adjusting the waistband of your emerald colored shorts and the wand holster strap on your arm.
The skin baring suit confused the other Headmasters, who had all advised their Champions to dress in more sensible suits while the guys wore full tank tops over their shorts. Barty claimed the jersey and all objections to your suit vanished as at the canon sounding you leapt off the platform and in an elegant front flip dive. Captured in a wave of flashes lips parted seeing the dazzling silvery blue tail sprouting from your now joined legs vanishing behind your torso into the water you now felt comfort from the frigid water. The transformation mid fall gave way for a picture perfect reaction photo of awe from the Pears tucked within your family in the crowds who were anxious to see how you would have faced this challenge.
Straight under the surface where you expected a clear path ahead under the murky water though all at once you were inside a sunken ship. Peering through the small round window you saw the giant jar the ship was trapped inside. Remembering Draco’s model ship phase you guessed you were in the Captain’s Quarters and after snagging a floating flag on your left you swam through the door you opened using your wand you drew from your arm sheath.
Room by room you glanced into each eyeing the various fish and octopi swimming around you in your search for more flags you made from a swaying bit of kelp you wove together a pouch you hung around your middle. Behind you a little wind up fish followed broadcasting your path to those above along with that of the other champions. A blasting charm freed you onto the deck where an Immobilizing charm stunned the skeleton army ready to attack you.
Glancing around you eyed the three more flags you added to the rest in your pouch before swimming up to the jar. On the other side of the glass you saw the maze of seaweed swaying and lurching from side to side in the circle of other sunken ships. Closing your eyes you zapped on the other side of the jar stunning the onlookers while your family cheered in the guest tower excited at the near impossible task of apparating underwater over the clear explosion they all had expected from you. After a glance at your watch you avoided the Grindylows that urged you to sink into the maze, inside which you were pulled into a treasure chest that opened sucking you through the chest that let you out in a clearing at the bottom of a ravine.
A deep sigh left your lips and grumbling under your breath you raced up the ravine ignoring the lobster creatures heading straight for the one place you hoped there was no enchantments. Straight off through the rocky deserted stretch ahead the Aurors who set up the course along with Albus questioned where you were headed as none of them had gone to that area for fear of the creatures there.
Faster and faster you raced until one creature crossed your path. A low reverberating bellow made the hearts of those looking on flinch until your arm outstretched and looped around the neck of the Hippocampus heading the herd in a racing path through their lands ending at the borders of the Mermaid Colony.
The familiar city grew in front of you and in an easy release you avoided the path of a Kelpie on its path to Lukas’ path and continued on seeing the Mermaids around the borders eyeing you carefully. In your approach you held your speed until a courtyard on the edge of the lands where you harvest your pearls held the bodies of nine people. Swimming a bit closer you mumbled to yourself, “Ok, Gabrielle, clearly for Fleur, those four, no clue who they are. Cleo, clearly not mine. Leaving, Ron, Hermione, Cho and Draco.”
A shriek in the distance had you inch closer saying, “If Cleo is for Seb then Hermi is for Viktor. Ron would be Harry’s and Cho is clearly Cedric’s.” A flick of your wand severed the rope holding Draco’s ankle and you swam closer giggling, “I could really ruin Ced’s day and steal Cho away.” Looping Draco’s arms around your neck you stretched his sleeves out you magically bonded then began the frantic swim up to the surface missing Sebastian’s entrance to the courtyard and glance up to you. In a quick motion in his Sea Serpent form he bit the rope and gently held his sister between his jaws for the swim up after you.
Harry entered next stumped between Hermione and Ron while Lukas’ and Charlotte’s people were sucked into chests under their feet that floated up to the surface joining Vivi’s. Cedric using a bubble charm after his own batch of gillyweed had worn off in the maze freed Cho and tapped his watch to urge Harry on. A near miss on his left had Harry avoiding Viktor in his partial shark form biting the rope under Hermione’s ankle to carry her up. Wetting his lips Harry refused to leave Gabrielle alone and after noticing he had already crossed over the hour mark he grabbed both her and Ron and made his way up to the surface.
From the moment your head broke the surface your body morphed back shifting your shorts from a skirt back to shorts over your bikini bottoms and in Draco’s stunned coughs you mentally formed a set of ice stairs up to the platform for the Champions stirring up another wave of photos. At your side he shivered in the cold in his wet clothes until the hot jet of air your wand let out dried and warmed him for the trot up as you dried and warmed yourself.
Up the steps behind you as you accepted the blanket from Minerva on the platform you watched Cleo clamber up the steps while Sebastian shifted back and crawled up after her, both of whom thanked you for drying and warming them and gladly snuggled with you after Sebastian had extended your blanket. Already on the platform were the Beauxbaton girls and Lukas, all warming up themselves after having been drug up to the surface by various creatures set in their paths.
“Miss Black, leading the others using a mermaid form, and a superb use of apparition underwater clearly came in the lead.
Sebastian clearly in second with his Sea Serpent form.
Where Harry Potter would have made third, he outlasted the hour for his concern that all the hostages were safely released. We have agreed to grant him an extra seven points for outstanding moral fiber.”
Ron chortled as Harry scoffed to himself, “Moral fiber, eh?”
Ron, “Blimey, even when it goes wrong it turns out right.”
“Cedric Diggory comes in third for his innate command of the bubble head charm.
Behind him came Viktor Krum, who took a partial shark form yet overstayed the time.”
Your score was leading the pack, a full 20 for all ten flags and ten for beating the hour and rescuing your person. Sebastian was behind you with a matching 20. Cedric was behind him at 19 contently dry on your empty side with Cho huddled with him under his blanket still slightly startled at waking up in the lake. Viktor broke the surface and helped Hermione up your steps to the blankets accepting his solid 10 at breaking the hour mark.
Harry was left and peering down under the surface you spotted the Grindylows swarming until Harry shot up out of the water and landed hard after having sent Ron and Gabrielle up ahead of him in the swarm. Accepting his 10 he coughed and sputtered as you all warmed and dried him after Fleur had hugged and peppered his cheeks with a pair of kisses in gratitude for his rescuing her sister.
For those drug to the surface Fleur had the lead with 7, Vivi was next with 6, Charlotte after her with 5 and Lukas in the rear with 4 after his creature had stolen him in his reach for another. Alongside the team of judges, including Percy all agreed on the scores after having tallied your flags and shared them with all looking on before you all hurried back to your own boats to head back for the promised cocoa waiting for you back in the Great Hall.
A figure strolling against the crowd brought Bartemis Sr into your path. Straight to your side looking on at Harry he stopped in front of you drawing the eye of a group of Professors who quickened their paces.
Bartemis, “A fine achievement.”
At his direct eye contact to Harry he answered, “Thank you.”
Bartemis, “Well done, boy.”
Continuing on Bathilda said, “See you at the castle, Harry.”
Harry nodded at her with a grin, Bartemis said, “I'm sorry we haven't spoken. After all, your story is one I've heard so many times. Quite remarkable, really. Tragic, of course...to lose one's family. Never whole again, are we?” By now the Professors were off to the side confused as to why he was saying this, especially without saying anything to you. “Still, life goes on...and here we stand. I'm sure your parents would be very proud of you today, Potter.”
Alastor moved closer patting your shoulder with his hand, “Bartemis! Not trying to lure Potter into one of the Ministry's summer internships, are we? The last boy who went into the Department of Mysteries never came out!”
Bartemis’ face dropped as Harry shook his head saying, “I don’t want an internship.”
His eyes then turned to you and then back to Alastor as you nudged Harry forward saying, “We thought you were sick, glad to see you could make it.”
Alastor patted his shoulder and joined Barty in escorting you back to the castle while Bartemis continued on to speak with Dumbledore.
To the scoreboard along the wall you read the final scores so far,
Viktor – 80, Sebastian – 97, Lukas – 69
Fleur – 77, Charlotte – 70, Vivi – 54
Cedric – 94, Jaqi – 107, Harry – 67
Clearly in the lead you only held by a mere 10 points over Sebastian, who only held his lead over Cedric by a measly three points for the top three. The others aimed to do better in the smaller challenges, of which supposedly would grow more complicated and allow more room for growth in points for those lagging behind meaning the visiting students were upping their study lessons in hopes that they could be ready for anything.
A stolen few moments with your families came to an end as the cocoa ran out sending them all to Hogsmeade or home again freeing you to all change and go to your common rooms for your houses conversations on how you had done compared to others while you snacked some more. Until you inevitably fell asleep on the couch with Cedric drooping over onto your side in his own nap captured for the next weeks paper.
**
“Mr. Crouch? You are certain it is him?” Fudge asked.
Dumbledore, “A man has died here, Fudge. And he won't be the last. You must take action.”
Fudge, “I will not. In times like these, the wizard world looks to its leaders for strength, Dumbledore!”
Dumbledore, “Then for once show them some!”
Fudge, “The Triwizard Tournament will not be canceled. I will not be seen as a coward!”
Dumbledore, “A true leader does what is right, no matter what others think.”
Fudge, “What did you say to me?”
**
Closed up in your dorms in the early morning you all shared hushed conversations until the news was finally broken to you that Bartemis Sr was found dead in Hogsmeade. Clearly Dumbledore had no need to question Barty as when it had happened he was with you, Snape, Alastor and Minerva discussing what the next challenge might bring well into the night with lists on all the ‘hints’ they had picked up from Aurors along the way.
.
Unable to sleep Harry found his way up to the Headmaster’s office knowing full well even you were troubled by the death so close to school grounds. A knock went unanswered and through the office he strolled finding it dim with only the light of a glowing mirrored stand of a liquid with a silvery mist inside it.
At the door closing behind him Harry flinched and turned to see Dumbledore now in his office, “Curiosity is not a sin, Harry. But you should exercise caution. It's a Pensieve. Very useful if, like me, you find your mind a wee bit stretched. It allows me to see once more things I've already seen. You see, Harry, I have searched and searched for something... some small detail...something I might have overlooked...something that would explain why these terrible things have happened. Every time I get close to an answer, it slips away. It's maddening.”
Harry, “About Voldemort sir?”
Dumbledore, “Yes, why do you ask?”
Harry, “It's just that I...I had a dream about him. It was in the summer, before school. In the dream, I was in a house. And Voldemort was there, only he wasn 't quite human. And Wormtail was there too. And someone else i don't know.”
Dumbledore, “Have there been others like this dream?”
Harry, “Yes. Always the same one.” After a pause he asked, “Sir, these dreams...what I see, you don't think it's actually happening, do you?”
Dumbledore, “I think it's unwise for you to linger over these dreams, Harry. I think it's best if you simply...cast them away.” Without the answer he had hoped for Harry returned to his dorm with more questions than answers, especially about Dumbledore dismissing his concern about his dreams.
*
“It’s a sign Severus!” Around the corner you strolled on your rounds in the lower floors only to pause finding Karkaroff and Snape in his storeroom with Karkaroff revealing his Dark Mark tattoo he promptly covered when he saw you.
Snape pushed Karkaroff away from his path through the door to ask you, “It appears I am missing lace wing flies and boomslang skin.”
Your eyes narrowed and you shook your head puzzling Igor, “Couldn’t be the trio they swore it off after what happened last time. And I can’t imagine who it would be, maybe one of the Aurors?”
Snape nodded, “I will have a word with them to keep their hands out of my store room.” His eyes however followed your glance to Karkaroff who was now smirking at you.
Thickly he said, “So interesting to see you so under her heel Severus. With a past like yours to kneel for a child.”
Before Karkaroff could answer you replied in Parseltongue, “As if a coward like you could ever fathom the truth.” By the third word he was gripping his forearm and groaning in pain at his burning mark. When you had stopped talking his eyes raised to you widely with his mouth agape as you said plainly at him in his hunched position, “I would advise caution in showing off that mark of yours while we’ve got an unexplained murder so near to the school, unless you find yourself so eager to return to Azkaban. Trust me when I say Fudge could care less as long as the fear has a name to blot out and forget.”
Smirking to himself Snape watched as you returned to your rounds then looked to Igor and pulled him up and pushed him out of his store room he locked behind him, “You really are an idiot Igor.”
Behind him Igor followed, “And just how did she learn to do that?!”
Snape turned grabbing Igor by the collar to slam him against the wall inside his classroom he locked behind them, “That child, as you affectionately named her, knows where the Dark Lord is.” Igor’s mouth fell open, “And is facilitating his return to power. Now either you can fall in line and show her the respect she deserves or trust me when I say she will not be kind in speaking up in your favor when the unloyal are questioned for after his fall.”
Pt 39
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Monday: A Full Day in Zagreb
So, let me start off with a few observations about Zagreb. Overall, it is pretty interesting going anywhere after visiting insanely clean Scandinavian cities. Because of the wealth of those countries and their robust social infrastructure programs, and the money available for city projects (I would imagine), and just habits formed by the people in those nations as pushed byt heir governments (such as about recycling), you don’t see a lot of garbage on the streets or graffiti on buildings in the Scandinavian metropolises. Of course, there is some graffiti (oh! And I forgot to mention, about street art: the unauthorized Banksy museum, which I read about, is in Gothenburg of all places, right off the central square, and we walked right past it), but it is pretty minimal. Now, Zabreb, on the other hand, has a lot of graffiti, some of it more finessed and intended to be public art, but other graffiti is just tagging. There was, in fact, a wall of graffiti on our Airbnb building. Also, as we noticed in the Baltics, the exteriors of a lot of medium-rise (like 10-story) buildings have some, how shall we say, “deferred maintenance.” They look sort of shabby on the outside, but as we learned in Vilnius, most strongly, a place can look really run-down from the outside but be really, really spruced up and fancy on the inside. I wondered whether this was the case in Zagreb, but I didn’t get to find out. Our Airbnb was a two-story square, contemporary house, basically, that had been broken up into several apartments. Ours was on the first floor.
We also noticed, walking around in the afternoon (which I will detail below), that people are very social. There is also a lot of smoking going on still. Everywhere you go, if there is a relatively tall building, it has an outdoor seating area outside, and you will often see groups of 3 or 4 older men, sitting there, drinking coffee, hard liquor, or beer, and just chatting away. It seems very “old world,” like I imagine my Great-Grandpa Julius (who I never met) doing in New York in the ‘40s and ‘50s with other men who spoke Yiddish. I don’t know if he did, because from what I have heard he just spent his days in the front of the sign shop, reading the Forward, but it seems like it is that kind of older guy who sits with a group of pals and talks the afternoon away at these sidewalk cafes.
Anyway, enough observations. When we got in on Sunday night, the host met us and showed us the ins-and-outs of the place (not much to figure out). This is an apartment that is only used as an Airbnb; it is not anyone’s home (I prefer Airbnbs that are people’s homes). But, this place was really clean, with nice beds, and everything we needed in the kitchen (with another sandwich maker! I am beginning to think I might need Santa to bring me a panini press).
I went to bed too late, as always, and the kids got to bed pretty late on Sunday night because of our jaunt to Badovinci, as I mentioned. When they woke up Monday morning, Eric had yogurts for them, which he bought the night before during his jaunt to the 24-hour store, which was not a proper grocery but more of a “party store,” as Michiganders say. But there was a really nice bakery next store to that, also open 24 hours, so Eric got some bread and weird seeded pastries, as well. So, breakfast Monday was yogurt and bread. Rowan go the special treat of having a pistachio Greek yogurt, which I’d bought for him in Zadar, too, but Eric accidentally ate ;) So, after we had breakfast, we walked out for a day of adventuring! Just a side note: it was very hot and humid.
First off, we walked down a substantive road and passed a mirrored-glass office building, in which was housed, in part, the Finnish Embassy! Next up, we took a wrong turn and ended up not being able to go over the train tracks., but we saw a cat ambling across the street. Then, we rerouted and went under an overpass and kept on truckin’ toward the city center (“centar,” actually), and we saw a sign (actually many) for a concert by the Cure, but I didn’t make note of the day, figuring it had already passed, and lamenting that we probably couldn’t go anyway, though I’d love my kids to hear, as I did when I was 18, them play a 14-minute-long version of “A Forest.” Anyway, first up, we visited a playground. At the playground, there was one of those spiderweb climbing structures, so of course Rowan checked that out, but this one high the added risk factor of being able to spin, which, when it did, made it look like a Christmas tree. There was also a merry-go-round, which Rowan took to running around really fast and then hopping on. I remember doing that as a kid. Cece thought he was spinning it too fast. This little park/playground also had a small pond/water-feature with a little cherub-boy statue, holding his pee-pee, aiming into the pond. When we were there, the statue was emitting no “pee pee” into the pond, but I figured that a stream of “urine” was the intention of the cherub’s design and his proximity to the little pond. In fact, a man was cleaning the pond when we were there. Later, when we walked back by, after several hours, the statue was doing what it was designed to do . . .
We walked down to the central plaza where the Zagreb Cathedral is. Wow, what an amazing structure. It is sooooooo tall and soooooo ornate. It was damaged in the early-20th century during an earthquake and then, during the Communist era, there was little interest in maintaining religious buildings. So, since the ‘90s, there has been a lot of money spent and a lot of effort put in to repairing the Cathedral, and we saw men busily at work, way up high on one of the sides, the day we were there. We continued on from there, and Cece insisted on walking on her own, or “in your shadow,” which was a bit tricky because it was midday, so she was regularly right under my feet. We got to another playground, in a really big park (basically behind the church, but we’d gone around several blocks to get there), and it was full of huge trees, most memorably some beautiful weeping willows. There was also some lack of maintenance at the park, as it appears that lots of people might use it as a place to sit and drink beer, but the playground was a perfect spot for the kids to do some “circuits,” which they did: running up the slides, climbing up the sliding pole (Rowan did this, as it happens to be one of his favorite things to do), walking across the wobbly rope bridge, across every other piece of equipment, a few swings on the swings, with lots of running from piece of equipment to piece of equipment.
By this point, we were definitely hungry for lunch, so we walked on, and we had a few spots identified, via Google, as possible targets for lunch, but before we got to any, we saw place that I believe was actually called “Good Food,” and it looked like the kind of yuppie-ish, salad-and-juice oriented place that might just suit us. Sure enough, it was very on-target. You could take a piece of paper with all kinds of salad ingredients listed on it, and tick the boxes for the items you wanted. Eric and I did this, and so did Rowan! Cece chose a sandwich. Rowan’s salad was pretty funny, in that it had no lettuce, but lots of other good ingredients (like red pepper, broccoli, and garbanzo beans) and then something sweet: dried cranberries. We also got a juice called “Hollywood Glow,” which had oranges, apples, and I can’t remember what the third ingredient was. Eric and I both “tested” it, and then the kids finished it off in one turn each. Neither Rowan nor I could finish all the salad we ordered, so we took them to go and walked back toward our Airbnb, because I needed to be on a call at 3 p.m. As we walked, we went down the central shopping street, which I enjoyed seeing (and I popped into a Benetton, because they always have a piece of my heart), and the kids found a sort of nautical-themed playscape in the plaza, and played there for a good 15 minutes. We got home and I had fifteen minutes to spare before my call, and I got a fighting Cece down for nap, and she was *exhausted* -- she made not a single peep after I closed the door to her room and she slept well until I woke her up at 4:15. We were going to go to the zoo next!
We drove to the zoo, because, a) we figured we’d put our Peugeot through even more city-driving paces, and b) it was too far to go by foot and we didn’t want to bother to figure out the trams. We got to the zoo around 4:30, and, unlike our Albuquerque Zoo (and I believe many other zoos), they did not close at 5 p.m.! In Albuquerque, the zoo closes at that hour all year, I guess to keep things consistent for the animals and to give them a good break from the human visitors. But, the Zagreb Zoo in the summertime is open until 8 p.m. It was such a nice zoo! Pretty much right away, we went into the reptile and snake habitat building, and we ended up learning that if you ducked around a corner behind one of the enclosures, you went into a network of other indoor exhibits, for all kinds of animals! Maybe because I skip the snake exhibit at the Albuquerque Zoo pretty often so I am not sure how many snakes and lizards and the like we have in Albuquerque to use as comparison, this zoo seemed to have *a lot* -- and they had a young crocodile and its mom, and the young guy was just lying on his mom’s back the whole time, occasionally moving one arm.
We left the snake-oriented building and continued on to see critters that are more to my taste. They had red pandas, zebras, three female lions and a male lion – and they were pretty active!, some huge birds, lemurs, lots of monkeys and orangutans, a petting zoo with some eager goats, and a very fun sea lion exhibit, which looked like it had a mommy and daddy sea lion with their baby, who was still a nursling. That exhibit was very popular with the zoo visitors, and the sea lions made it worth our wait! The two adults were playing with and prodding each other – one from the water and the other up on a catwalk. The big one in the water swooped up and snapped/barked at the one on the catwalk, and when it had had enough of that, it dove into the water and they chased each other around, zooming like crazy through the water for a while! They were fun to watch. We got ice cream, went to the play area, and then, finally, when the mosquitos were coming out in the evening, we decided to leave, as it was about closing time anyway. The zoo was like $8 for all of us! It was a really pretty zoo, and they had some multi-animal enclosures, where animals who I guess get along together got to be together in their habitats there.
We drove back to the Airbnb and I noticed, from that vantage, that a huge building right across from the zoo was a stadium for Dynamo, which is a very popular Croatian soccer team. That was cool to see! They even sold some Dynamo gear at the zoo gift shop. We got back to our Airbnb at about 8:30 and then we had our leftovers and grilled cheese sandwiches and then, as always happens, the kids became totally unhinged wild creatures (as if taking inspiration from some of the friends they visited at the zoo) before bedtime. This happens soooo often and by the time they finally relent and go to sleep, I am at my wit’s end. They were asleep by 9:30, thank heavens, after Eric read them a chapter out of the 7th book in the Moominvalley series, which we’ve been making our way through over the last year or so, as we sprinkle it in with more books that Rowan can read some of himself. Eric has been really good about working on this trip with Rowan on his “keys,” – a ring of flash cards his teacher made for all of the kids at Kindergarten during the year. He is getting them! Reading isn’t his strongest school area, but we’re working on it and we’re super impressed by his progress.
After the kids went to bed, Eric and I got our things organized for leaving the next morning which, I was glad to learn, was a later departure than I had thought! Woohoo! In my next post, I will regale you all with stories of our last Zagreb morning, our flight from Zagreb to London, and our afternoon in London. After that is our big push back home – three flights: London to New York, New York to Dallas, and Dallas to ABQ, all in one day. We’ll all sure be tired after that series!
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March 2019
ॐ नमः शिवाय oṃ namaḥ śivāya ♥ / reading a book about the background and effects of different asanas
Friday evening with Lena: Yuzu ramen at Takumi, watching Green Book at the City Kino near Sendlinger Tor. Getting my favourite mix of sweet and salty popcorn.
Still: Obsessively reading the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. It's like one of those nasty TV series you just can't stop watching.
Noticing more visible veins and sinews on my body. Getting stronger and leaner! Yes! I can even see a little shadow where my ribcage is supposed to begin and my tissue is getting softer which means I'm losing fat and I can feel more muscles than before. Very rewarding.
Saturday lunch with Lena and her family. I hadn't seen her brother in maybe 10 years. My highlight: warm banana bread with slightly salty, thick caramel and homemade vanilla ice-cream.
Dressing up for the Of Sailors and Whales concert at Gasteig. I felt incredibly stylish in my outfit: mustard yellow headscarf, a side braid, oblong hoop earrings in rose gold, a green dress and coat, mint-blue purse, a dark plum-coloured lipstick, black tights and satin heels.
The PhysioFlow yoga teacher (Ulf, what a comical name) complimenting me on my perfect Viravadrasana pose because apparently I did the advanced version with my arms held up high over my head. Unfortunately my poses only look so good because of my hypermobility but the other day we started talking after class. He is such a nice and calm person. And married to a lady from my hometown. I love how he touches our faces, heads and shoulders in Savasana.
Thai massage. The best treat after messing up my neck with futile headstand experiments.
The perfect batch of smoky veggies in tomato sauce. Add a hand full of couscous and tiger beans and you'll feel full for hours.
A week-long holiday. Not leaving the bed after waking up, reading for one or two hours. Enjoying the morning light, having warm breakfast. Lena sending me a picture of a bunch of purple flowers she saw on one of her walks on Monday, telling me to enjoy my vacation.
Gorgeous yoga mats - I just ordered one with a gemstone design from Mala. // EDIT: It just didn't have enough grip for me so I had to send it back. Got a simple purple one from Jade Yoga instead. They're supposed to be the best.
Fried Tom Yum seaweed strips.
A dinner and movie date with Lena, Barbara and Maike. We watched Vice (2019), the movie about Dick Cheney. Quite uncomfortable. But I loved the scene with Alfred Molina.
Spending an afternoon with Franzi at Trachtenvogl. Pear juice spritzer. Decidedly non-vegan spinach dumplings. Stopping at &otherstories as usual, getting two beautiful bowls at Motel a Miio. Finding a purple edition of H.P.Lovecraft's ghost stories on top of a trash bin.
My mum visiting for the first time since I moved in. She helped me get rid of my old clothes and other miscellaneous items from the basement. Then we got a trunk full of flowers for my balcony and had dinner at VorOrt - vegan pizza and celeriac schnitzel. I got so many presents that day. A dark purple orchid with pointy blossoms, some books and a bottle of Jo Malone perfume. She also paid for some of my plants... It kinda felt like my birthday. Maybe she had a guilty conscience because my brother still keeps raiding the fridge at home? Anyway. It's funny that I can actually talk to her now that I'm older, have my own thing going on... and we have so much in common, I notice that all the time. Or interests and taste, habits. Could be worse though, she's an amazing woman.
Swiss cat ladders.
My first time at Boulderwelt! Frank finally took me with him and we spent two hours there, climbing up the yellow (me) and white (him) routes. I even dreamed about climbing up a tree that night and I could hardly move the next day. Hardcore sore muscles, oh boy.
Hanging out with Frank. Playing Scrabble. Acting really weird around someone who just gets it or isn't put off at the very least. Making gross jokes about guacamole-producing guys over burritos in Werksviertel.
Hanging out at bridal shops with Lena, making her put on gorgeous dresses.
The fresh spring green gradient you get on your cutting board when you're chopping up leek for a potato gratin.
Staring at a long-haired guy in a club for a pretty long while on a Friday evening because he was just that gorgeous. Then he suddenly showed up on the internet a few hours later an we have been talking ever since. Exciting! And yeah, I love good coindidences. I would have never mustered up the courage to talk to him that night.
The other day we saw a cat from our classroom window, casually walking down the stairs. And we had nothing better to do than running up there in middle of our English lesson to catch her. I guess I'm a quite easily distracted teacher.
Hand embroidery on linen. It's baby bonnets, okay. But still super pretty.
This idea I had while in downward facing dog pose during one of my yoga classes. I really want to go to a yoga retreat in the summer. Either in Bali or, even more exciting, an ashram in India. I'd also visit Nepal or Bhutan while I'm there.
Aidy Bryant. She's my gorgeous heroine. I loved watching the first season of Shrill.
Alpro cherry soy yoghurt.
New earrings from &otherstories and COS. And a new hair ribbon, too. Can't help it. Building my collections.
That whole Margo-banging-Josh-situation on The Magicians? I'm into that. And when she was tripping on lizard and saw Eliot in a python trenchcoat performing the Pretenders' "Don't Get Me Wrong"? The 80s choir they formed in the desert? So amusing. Seriously, this is one of the few shows which is absolutely not afraid of weird shit and doesn't take its writing too seriously. I don't entirely get it and it doesn't have anything to do with Lev Grossman's books anymore but I'm so grateful it exists. And I'm always down for a good musical episode (see: Once More with Feeling a.k.a. the single best Buffy episode ever made).
Finding the most incredible reed green silk dress at Hallhuber one afternoon after seeing a dermatologist in the city. Unfortunately even my ribcage is too wide for its narrow cut but perhaps I can convince Lena to buy it for the summer.
New idea: should I ever get a cat I want to name it Miso.
Seeing the first butterfly (European peacock) of the year enjoying the sunshine while sitting on my pink hyacinth.
After more than 20 years I accidentally found out that one of my favourite songs from the ZDF Christmas series Anna is in fact a Queen song! I'm also pretty sure that my taste in men, my "type", was significantly affected by João Ramos who played the role of the dancer Jacob. Swoon!
Using a sheep skin as a pillow. Oddly comforting. I was reading a book about the sense of touch when I noticed this connection. I also learned that most people prefer firm hugs and massages over soft strokes. Apparently gentle touching reminds some of insect's feet but it seems to be a matter of personal preference.
The crispy greasiness of butter croissants.
Finding out about banana twins (two fruits in one peel).
Enjoying a nice, sunny Sunday. Cycling over to Westpark and playing badminton with Frank in the middle of hundreds of families having picnics. Clumsy yoga poses on a towel. A little boy telling me that his penis was more important than my face when he hit me with a football. But to be fair, I made him choose. I even went to the gym afterwards, doing my strength routine and an hour-long spine workout. I was pretty exhausted that evening and made a delicious dinner with ratatouille, soy "meat", olives and capers, whole-wheat pasta and pine nuts.
Breaking news: my body contains over 66kg of muscle mass! Am I a superhero or what? (Well, also 36% body fat, gotta work on that...)
Giving the avocado seeds a new home. I've given them a large pot now so each time I eat an avocado a new member can join the gang.
Spending most of the week with my favourite colleague, espectially on Girls'/Boys' day duty: I liked meeting at the fire brigade in the morning, getting to know a firewoman, making one of my students climb up the pole at the station. Walking over Viktualienmarkt and Gärtnerplatz, getting some fresh juice, talking all the time. We visited an old folk's home, a garden center, a vet and an architect's studio. So much better than being stuck at school until 4pm.
Pancakes with mushroom filling. Strawberries with coconut cream. Delicious.
Finally performing a Nina Hagen Song on karaoke night. And Elle King's Ex's & Oh's which made Carlos, the Spanish guy, think of old ex-girlfriend trauma.
Uhm. I read 21 books this month. Wow? To be fair, I spent most of my weekends in bed with a stack of books next to me. I'm kinda hoping to read less in April - but since I'll be in Canada for two weeks this will probably not be an issue anyway.
My breakfasts keep me healthy, I really believe that. Extremely tasty and full of good nutrients. Latest addition: strawberries and pumpkin seeds.
Spending the whole afternoon with Anika in my kitchen, making vegan macarons. I almost couldn't believe it but chickpea liquid works just as well as eggwhites! And we came up with pretty good fillings: lemon buttercream, chocolate-raspberry and banana-peanut butter. Nom. Now they're sitting in my fridge, tempting me to eat them. Sigh.
Going to the gym after a week-long hiatus. Breaking the spell, you know?
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Story in progress
Eddie was in the back seat of his mother’s car. His sister Isabelle was right there next to him. She look bored, and had her headphones in looking out the window at the passing cars. He was doing something similar. Every now and then he looked out the window. The pitter patter of rain against glass caused him to tense and grip the railing of Izzy’s cage that rested on his lap.
The bearded lizard looked up at Eddie and licked its lips. Eddie like to think that she liked him. He always did relate to animals more than people. The Voice of his mother was blurry like a sheet of fog that had invaded his head. He felt dizzy and nauseous.
Eddie would often space out like this, but today was different. Today there had been a reason. Their small car was packed with boxes, suitcases, and all their belongings. Their whole lives were in that car.
Today they would start a new period in a new town. Eddie hated it. He tried his best to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. If Isabelle saw she would call him a baby again. He missed his best friend. He missed Toronto where he could go and do anything, and there was always something to do. He missed his dad.
Eddie didn’t know anyone in this new place. What was the name of this town? Eddie thought to himself then he remembered. “ Riverdale” that’s what it was called. It had a population of 1200. Not 12000 but 1200.
“Edd, Eddy. Don’t look so glum. Mrs. Perkins said. I know you don’t want to be here. But this is a fresh start for us. A new place”.
“ I hate it”. Isabel said.
“ young lady language. And Eddie please don’t make this harder than it needs to be”.
Eddie bit his lip and tried to hold back the tears.
Mrs. Perkins followed close behind the movers truck. Well because she had to make sure they didn’t steal anything or broke anything. When they finally arrived at their new home, and everything was loaded into the house it was 9:30 p.m. Eddie’s mother shouted the entire three hours at the Young 20 year olds on exactly where she wanted everything placed. So on the account it was late Eddie’s mother didn’t have time to cook. So the three of them headed into town to grab something to eat.
They didn’t have to wait long the drive only took 5 minutes at the max. Riverdale was small. Mrs. Perkins parked her car in the parking lot of the local mall. It was at the very most 10 p.m. so it was closed on the account it was a small town in everything closed early and it was also Sunday.
But there was a small Diner across the street. It reminded any of his favorite painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
Eddie and his sister saw it one summer when they visited the art gallery of Chicago. Their father took them but he was always busy and never spent a lot have time with him or Isabelle. But that summer his dad Caldo de of the blue, and said “Hey Eds why don’t you and your sister come spend some time with me over the weekend”. That’s what his old man called him Ed’s. And it was something that carried over to his mother.
It was the most time he spent with him in his entire life. They went to a baseball game. Isabel didn’t seem to like that part very much, but she did like the hot dogs. And afterwards they went to the art gallery.
As they we’re walking on the sidewalk up to the diner Eddie spotted engaged into the window display of a nearby shop. His blue eyes grew wide. The display reminded him of his dad. The red bike. It was glossy and perfect. Just like the bike his dad gave him, and taught him how to ride. But unfortunately it got stolen just before they moved.
“Hey mom”… but before the words could fully leave Eddie’s mouth the answer was clear.
Mrs. Perkins stood there on the sidewalk Crossing her arms. She looked at her son with his long blonde hair and tattered Army pattern jacket. And then she said. “ Eddie we’re not made of money. Your father didn’t exactly leave us well off now did he”.
“ Yes ma'am” Eddie said looking down at his feet and pulling the sleeve of his jacket.
Mrs. Perkins sighed. “Eddie if you want something why don’t you get a job. Nobody’s going to give you a hand out in this world. After all it’s still fall break you have another month before school starts. Honestly I wish you would let me cut your hair you look like a delinquent”.
…
Eddie was laying on his bed looking at the ceiling and he was bored. As much as he disagreed with his mother she was right. Nothing was free. But it also wasn’t his dad’s fault. The more he thought about it the more he came to realize he didn’t know the first thing about his father. He wanted to know. But then the voices he started hearing the voices, and all the doctor’s appointments, therapy, and pills. Pills and list pills. Of course who wouldn’t want to leave. He was angry he felt like screaming. the whole world was messed up and nobody could understand him. everyone just thought he was violent but
He wasn’t and his head hurt. Eddie decided he wasn’t going to spend all his time inside. That’s what he did all summer break and the brake before that and the brake before that. Maybe he could get that job. But he didn’t know anybody, or Riverdale for a matter of fact. He would change that though. No more feeling sorry for himself he jumped out of bed and grabbed his coat. His stomach rumbled but as usual his mother wasn’t home, and he didn’t want to bother his sister who was upstairs. He could hear the music coming from her room.
He opened the fridge nothing good he thought to himself. An empty carton of milk some eggs in 3 slices of stale bread there was some ham and cheese too. Eddie quickly made himself a ham and cheese. Not wanting to announce to anyone he was leaving not that anyone would notice no one ever noticed him.
The house where Eddie lived was three stories tall. It was Gray with Victorian moulding. Hard wooden floors, hexagon shaped windows, and 6 balconies. The house was over a hundred years old from the late 18th century it was divided into four different floors. Each one rented to a different tenant. Eddie and his mother along with Isabel lived on the third floor.
The little bell on the front door chimes when he exited. Did he forget anything? Coat, Keys, backpack, sandwiches. It looked like it was all there. Looking back from the far end of the street the house brought chills down his spine. No one would ever know anyone was living there it looked abandoned and in fact the whole neighborhood did.
“ Eddie. Eddie”. He heard his name being called, but no one was there.
“ Not again”. Eddie muttered under his breath. They wouldn’t leave him alone. He kept walking but two blocks later again. “Eddie, Eddie”. It was coming from the direction of a house down the street. The host was calling him the voice with sweet like a woman’s. Different from the ones he normally heard different from his mother’s different from his sisters. They were different from the ones he heard in his head the ones that told him he was useless and the ones that told him to hurt himself.
All his instincts told Eddie not to go but his feet just moved it was like he lost his free will. The house on Wilson Street is where he found himself. He crossed the gate it was rusted and it creaked when he open the latch. Eddie stood on the front steps so close to whatever was drawing him. He reached for the handle so close he could almost feel the brass.
With a Smash he fell back and landed on his ass.
“What the hell are you doing kid” he heard. They’re standing above Eddie was a boy no older than him. He was shorter but that wasn’t a surprise. Although Eddie was only 14 no one came close to his height.
“What the hell who jumps out like that, and what’s with the stupid mask”?
Indeed whoever he was had a mask on and not just any mask it was a mask of a white wolf. It reminded Eddie of Okami.
Then he said “oh you know scaring kids not much else to do in Riverdale”.
“You’re psychotic”. Eddie said as he got up and brush the dirt from his torn jeans.
“Wait seriously you shouldn’t go in there. The guy in The Mask said. That house has been abandoned for years people go missing in this town”.
Eddie had walked past him as his arm was reaching for the door like before. “ you believe in that stuff he said”?
“ Not really he said, it’s just it’s common sense you know.”
Eddie looked. “ yeah I guess you’re right. This isn’t a horror movie. It’d be pretty stupid if I just walked in there. Say what’s your name?”
The boy stood up for a moment then he pulled the mask over his head. Eli my name’s Eli".
I know that Eddie got a closer look at him. Eli was shorter than he thought. With an olive complexion and short black hair and green eyes.
“ I’m new in town me and my mom and sister just moved here yesterday”.
“ sister huh she hot? Chill I was just kidding what was your…”
“ Eddie the name’s Eddie”.
“ Eddie that has a nice ring to it you know you can tell a lot about someone just by their name. Where exactly do you live Eddie”?
“The the house on 22nd Street”
“ wow that old piece of junk the four Story one. Interesting. Interesting”
“What’s interesting about it?”
You know you got some interesting characters who live there. Don’t worry you’ll meet them you’re new in town. My dad works there. He’s the janitor".
…
Eddie was sitting down at the dining room table for dinner. He didn’t have much of an appetite but he did his best to eat his lamb and brussel sprouts. He hated brussel sprouts and he had a creeping suspicion that his mother gave them to him on purpose to screw with him. Isabel was there sitting across from him and again listening to her music.
“ Eddie how was your day”? mrs. Perkins asked.
“My day well uh”…
“ that’s right son of mine did you do anything”?
“I guess you could say I made a friend”.
“ see what did I tell you a fresh start. Everything will be better you’ll see. She said picking up the empty plates and taking them to the sink. By the way I pulled some strings and if you still interested in that bike”.
Eddie was anxious he had never been very independent. For the most part he relied on Isabel she would help him with his homework, she would help him order food, she would help him with anything that involved human interaction. So it was no surprise that Eddie was panicking. A job he’d never had a job before.
He pulled out the sleep of his shirt and bit his nails. Both bad habits so that were clear signs that Eddie was stressed. He paced back and forth. Any minute now his mother would come home and introduce him to his future employer.
“ Hey Isabel” he said barging into his sister’s room. And immediately she got up from where she was sitting in the corner of her room, on her bed.
“Ed what is it now”?
Eddie was in full panic mode. His breathing was irregular. Up and down in and out his chest rised as he struggled to get the words out.
“ You want to do the thing Ed”? Isabel said.
Eddie nodded.
She got up off her bed and laid down on the floor. The carpet was shagging green. It had been there since the late 70s.
“ No cheating” Eddie said.
Eddie got down on the floor and kicked his legs up into the air. Isabel smiled and did the same. They played this little game ever since Eddie was 4 and Isabel was 6.
Their feet touched, Eddie’s bright green socks clashing with his sister’s equally as bright neon pink socks. The game was a tug of war Eddie trying to push Isabelle back, Isabel trying to do the same. The loser would be whoever said Uncle first or whoever knocked the other against the wall. It was a heated match, but then Eddie shouted “ ouch” cheater". It was no use his sister had always been stronger. and today was no exception she had pushed him back and in the process already had smashed his head against the back of his sister’s desk.
“Feel better Ed”?
“ Yeah thanks Izzy”.
“I wish you hadn’t named your lizard after me”.
Eddie simply smiled.
“You have that job thing today right”?
“ Yeah just waiting for Mom to come home”.
“Don’t worry about it it’s all in your head. A job isn’t so bad. It’s like school just the same boring routine once you get used to it you won’t even notice. You taking your pills”?
Eddie nodded. “ Yeah but there’s so God damn many of them”. He took out the transparent orange container which housed the pills. “One , two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… wait to you see this ninth one”? Eddie said.
“ 9th. His sister looked at his brother’s hand and saw the blue, white and orange capsules. Nope only eight Ed. You must be seeing things again”.
There were only eight pills. But Eddie only Eddie could see the invisible 9th pill. He could see a lot of things no one else could see. Like the Shadows that shifted in and out in the corners of his vision just barely out of reach. They followed him for as long as he could remember. He could see strange things that no one else could perceive. When a dog barks and nothing’s there to an ordinary person it’s nothing, but animals have a sixth sense.They sense danger and some say they can see what’s beyond in the Supernatural Realm perhaps they see what’s beyond death.
Eddie could certainly see something but what he saw weren’t ghosts or the Grim Reaper the common things associated with death. What Eddie saw he always saw eyes. The pills helps and he hadn’t seen them for over a year now but now he remembered when he was at the abandoned house on Nelson Street Wilson Street. Elie was there and he saw a pair of eyes looming in the shadow they had purple irises Did they belonged to that voice that lured him to that place?
Eddie. It called him. The eyes that led to despair that reveal what’s not there. The Crimson eyes see what’s not there. He couldn’t remember where he heard that from but he had always heard it. maybe it was something one of the many voices said to him.
“Ed you’re spacing out again”. Isabel snapped her fingers. And then he heard the door downstairs turn. It was Talia.
“It’s mom”. Eddie said in Rush downstairs.
It was indeed Eddie’s mother. Talia was Dripping head to toe in rain she hung her trench coat on the hook near the front door and after shaking off the excess water from her umbrella she tucked it into the umbrella stand right beside where the guests put their shoes.
And speaking of guests Talia wasn’t alone. A man in his mid-30s accompanied her He Wore a Yellow Slicker that was drenched in rain. He had red curly hair and a thick beard in Eddie’s mind the man look like how he’d imagined a fisherman to look. He was like the man on the box of fish sticks his mother would sometimes buy.
“Eddie, Eddie don’t just stand there gawking come down here and meet Mark”.
“ Hello son. The man said. He had a kind voice. So you want a job” he said.
“Yes sir. I’m willing to work hard whatever it takes”. Eddie said.
Mark Daniels worked at Cedar Manor he was the caretaker. He looked after the garden, fixed what needed fixing. When the lights went out or there was something like a busted smoke alarm that wouldn’t shut up he was the man the folks at Cedar Manor Estate would call.
In the summer time the garden was full of red blooming roses. The garden was the one thing that kept mark sane. He was happy to help anyone who’d ask. These days anything he could do to preoccupy his time was a blessing. It seemed everything that could go wrong this year had gone wrong. His wife had run out on him she often said he was too busy with work. His father refused to talk to him in fact he refused anything from Mark. His dad had left the reservation and was living here at the Manor. So now it was just him and Elie. And it seemed he didn’t even know what his own son was thinking. Did Elie hate him? Did he blame him for his own mother running out on him. Elie never lashed out like Mark would have done at his age. He only kept quiet and bottled up his emotions deep inside.
On one occasion Elie even suggested that Mark should date. There were no women on the reservation or even in the rest of town that interested him, and he was no good at dating Lord knows how he snagged Elaine in the first place.
Mark would often stop off after work at the Old Dublin and irish-style Pub if it wasn’t already clear enough from its name. But he’d been sober for a year now ever since Elaine left to the very second. Whenever Wendy the waitress would walk by doing her rounds mark would say just a cup of coffee please. And she’d smile she knew him by name. He was practically her father from how much he’d hang around.
It was raining Thursday night and their Mark was at the Dublin work was done with for the night, and not wanting to head home and face Elie’s silence he was here in the corner Booth looking out the window watching the rain.
It never stopped with the rain in Riverdale, Mark thought to himself as he watched the rain drops Sizzle and evaporate on the neon sign of the strip club across the street. It was like the rain had everyone in Riverdale trapped in its endless sorrow, a bubble in which time repeated in a never-ending cycle. He was about to head home when a woman in a long gray coat walked in. She was soaked from head to toe and it looked like her umbrella she was carrying didn’t do her much good. it was almost torn apart from the howling wind outside.
She sat down two booths from Mark. He had never seen her in town before she must have just moved or was passing through. Wendy greeted her “what y'all have” the woman only ordered a cup of coffee and a fried egg. Some may have found that odd at almost 1:30 in the morning. Personally Mark like breakfast for dinner.
“Looks like you’re having a rough day” he said as he walked up to her.
“Thats putting it lightly it seems like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong”. I just moved here seems like my kids there growing further and further apart. My first day of work let’s just say it could have gone better. This was supposed to be a fresh start".
Mark looked at the woman and slid in the seat across from her.
“I hear that I have a son of my own he doesn’t say a word to me”. She smiled at that I knew you looked out of place I never seen you before and I know everyone in Riverdale"
“He sure does”. Wendy said pouring a glass of beer to a customer sitting at the front of the bar.
“So whereabouts do you live” Mark asked.
“The old house just up the road, Cedar manor” she said. Marks face lit up.
“Small world I’m actually the caretaker at that old place um… I didn’t catch your name.
“Talia. Talia Perkins”.
“And I’m mark. Mark Daniels”
That cold rainy night was the first time they meet, and mark didn’t know what it was about Talia, but there was something missing from her. There was loneliness in her eyes. Just like there was loneliness in his. They may have only just met but it seemed she trusted Mark at least enough to ask for a ride.
The motor of his pickup rumbled and the white exhausted it made stood bright against the black backdrop of the pitch black sky.
“I know I don’t know you she said. But my son he has trouble fitting in. Maybe since you’re in charge here.. She stumbled with her words. Maybe he could help you around. I’m sorry my English isn’t very good”.
“You mean a Job”.
Eddie was tall skinny and lanky and fast oh he was fast Mark couldn’t leave out that fact. Everything Eddie did seemed Todd from how he moved. He had a nervous demeanor he cracked his knuckles he would always check if there was someone behind him, and his eyes would always shift back and forth.
One week 14 hours and 36 minutes that’s exactly how long and he had been working for Mark Daniels. Mark called him down which was odd because to Eddie’s knowledge marked showed him how to do everything, and for the most part mark left him on his own to get things done. The job was simple. Sweep the Halls, rake the leaves in the courtyard, and help with anything that needed tending to down in the maintenance room.
Eddie hated going down there it was dark creepy and there were spiders everywhere. The humming and clicking the boiler made brought a chill up Eddie spine.
“Eddie. Mark called him into the room where he was busy stocking the shelves of the Supply Closet was light bulbs. His back was turned. I have a new job for you Ed. Aside from what we usually do around here there are a lot of older folks who live in the manor. These tenants need help even if they’re too stubborn to admit it”.
“ what kind of help”? Eddie asked.
“Well Ed some of them don’t have family and can’t go out to buy their groceries. They need a little help. I want you to go up to the third floor room 306 and take this to mr. Daniels”.
“ Daniel’s isn’t that your name”?
Mark looked a little embarrassed “yes Ed he’s my father”.
Eddie thought it might be rude to pry so he only took the two plastic bags of food and made his way up the old stairs up to the third floor. It took Eddie 10 whole minutes to knock on the door. He never was good at Social things.
“Yeah, who’s there”. A voice came through the door. It sounded tired and rough.
“ My name is Eddie mr. Daniels I got some things from Mark”.
The door swung open and in front of him stood up man with white long hair down to his waist. He was maybe in his 70s to mid 80s but he was in good shape considering his age.
“You tell that useless pile of crap to mind his own business”! The door slammed in Eddie’s face. The old man smiled behind the door thinking that was that but then he heard Eddie small voice.
“Please sir if not for Mark at least take it from me. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for you dying or anything”. Eddie stood there staring at the door until finally a full 10 minutes had passed the door slowly creaked open.
“Well you might as well come inside. Come on don’t just stand there looking stupid. Take off your shoes put the bag over there on the table by the couch”.
Eddie did what he was told and sat down. Mr. Daniels was in the kitchen he could hear the clicking and clanging of pots and pans and the boiling of steam in the tea kettle. Room 306 was much smaller than theirs it was basically all one room besides the kitchen and what Eddie assumed was the bedroom. The living room was cluttered there were things everywhere. Things that a normal person wouldn’t dream of keeping. Piles and piles of old newspapers some of the dates going as far back as 1975. There were eight cartons and pizza boxes colorful glass. Things that someone might find laying on the street like a crow might pick up shiny objects that catch its eye. but the thing that most intrigued Eddie was the wall by the window overlooking a dense forest shrouded in fog. There were endless newspaper clippings and strange pictures pinned to the wall and all connected to one another like a web with butcher string.
“They’re missing people. Eddie jumped at mr. Daniels voice. I’ve lived in this town my whole life he began to say. I remember when I was your age my best friend disappeared. It would stop for a time but eventually it would always happen again. The police never cared eventually they forgot about all these people all these kids someone’s family lost souls. They never found my friend. His name was Allen we both decided we were going to run away. Leave the reservation run away from her abusive home from our drunk fathers and neglectful mothers. no one would miss a couple of Indians like us”.
“ What happened”? Eddie asked his eyes bright but anxious.
“We went into those woods over there mr. Daniels looked out the window. Our elders always told us to stay out of those woods. They told us the legend. my grandmother called it the skin taker but it has had countless names some know it by the Wendigo”.
“What’s that”?
A spirit a spirit of the forest. It takes many forms but it’s most well-known to infect a person’s thoughts. People close to it it breaks their mind fills their thoughts with a ravenous hunger that makes the person go mad. They here it’s voice and kill each other. But I know better. It takes the Flesh in devours its victims lures them in".
Eddie remembered what Eli said and the sweet voice of the woman that lured him to that abandoned house. He always heard the voices but he always thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him he had gone to many doctors and they told him he was schizophrenic. But he would always see things and not just see things he would feel them he would wake up certain mornings when he was four years old with bruises on his chest in the shape of handprints. he glanced at the jumbled web of pictures and string. All the faces of missing children no older than him. but there was one picture that caught his eye that stood out more than the rest. it was a drawing done in charcoal it was abstract and didn’t have much of a form. It was some sort of blob covered in eyes.
“ I’ve seen this before” Eddie said pointing to the charcoal drawing.
“Where”! Mr. Daniels asked with a troubling tone.
“In my dreams” is what Eddie replied with.
It was 7:40 a.m. twenty minutes until Kevin Parker had to get ready for school. He yawned and shambled to the bathroom mirror. His short black hair was a mess, and matted like a tattered birds nest. Again he yawned, brushed his teeth and looked into the mirror. Starring back was the same nerdy boy with the thick horn framed glasses.
When he made his way downstairs the sight he was meet with was all to common. An empty house. Kevin opened the fridge, at least there was food today. He made himself a couple of eggs and a cup of black coffee just the way he liked it. Maybe it was a little odd, most kids his age thought coffee was gross but not Kevin. He liked the dark bitter flavor. He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door but as he open it his father stepped in. His toolbox hanging from his left hand.
He wore his denim overalls soaked in the old oil from the mechanic shop where he worked. “ Hey Dad you stayed all night again”.
“ sorry Kev I know I’ve been busy it’s that time of year. I worry about you Kev I know those kids bullying you be careful”.
“ Thanks Dad”.
Kevin’s mother died when he was only 4 years old. He couldn’t really remember what she looked like. There were no pictures of her anywhere his dad didn’t like to talk about her. All his dad would tell him was “it was a car accident”. When he mentioned to his father he should put himself out there all Mr Parkers would say was “ Not today kev too busy”. And he was he never missed a day of work in all of Kevin’s life. But he didn’t need to worry Kevin Parker could take care of himself. He had Bean at Riverdale High almost a year and in all that time he hadn’t made a single friend. He probably could if you wanted to but Kevin was happy to be with himself. Other people always would flock together in crowds but Kevin was fine with being on his own. He valued the time he had to himself. every day when most kids his age would eagerly awaited the Bell to hang out with their friends, but not Kevin he would stay hours until the school closed until mrs. Hawkins the school librarian with glare and tell him to leave.
He could take care of himself he had being for years.
That day was like any other Kevin was taking notes as their science teacher Mr. Hale shuffled through the slides on the overhead projector. The shutter the ancient machine caused a smirk to appear on Kevin’s face.
“ mr. Parker mr. Hale looked at Kevin with a Stern expression then it broke. Mr. Hale was always the jokester. He was everyone’s favorite teacher but behind that comedic expression was a hidden sorrow. All the students in room for a new that mr. Hale had a daughter and that she passed away the year before. It was does a brain tumor which cost a blood vessel to rupture she almost died instantly. And for that reason they are forced to smile at his lame jokes.
The hierarchy of the class was simple the smart kids aka what people would call nerds set in the front row. The kids that eagerly answered the teacher’s questions the moment they were called upon. The other group were the ones that set at the very back never did their homework and prayed that they were never called upon.
Trevor Duvall was exactly one of those some buddies. He sat why the back window surrounded by his friends. Unbeknownst to him Trevor stared at the boy with the thick frame glasses as he carved a skull and crossbones into the ancient desk with his Swiss Army knife which he kept hidden under the sleeve of his shirt.
Just as quickly as class begin it ended in like usual Kevin headed to the library to fill his head with research to escape the troubles of his life. Here there were no worries no responsibilities. Just Kevin and his books. He headed down the hall avoiding the Swarms of teenagers the 10th and 12th graders. He had to. It was a common practice to Haze the 9th graders . Travis was in the 9th grade but he was the oldest he had repeated the 9th grade two times already. His mother would always say he wouldn’t amount to much. ” dumber than a sack of rocks" that’s what his mother would say.
Travis could never live up to his older brother no matter what he did his brother wood outshine his every effort. But when he disappeared even with him gone would always bring up if Michael was here he would do it right. Why can’t you be more like Michael.
Kevin thought he was so smart teacher’s pet. It made the anchor in Travis grow he grit his teeth. Kevin Parker took his time removing his things from his locker. His coat, his textbooks for science math and history. Then Kevin like always quietly made his way out through the back door of the school where no one would see him. No one did he was never very noticeable that is every day but today. He was almost at his place of Refuge the library when Travis and his three friends Pete, Zack and Jeff came up behind him and surrounded him from all sides.
“ Hey Travis Kevin nervously said. I don’t want any trouble”.
Travis laughed and all three of the other members of his group began to laughed as well. It was nervous laughter like the three of them were afraid. Afraid of what Travis might do. He had gone over the edge before. His daddy always use to tell him people who were different weren’t to be trusted. That their very exsistance tainted the rest of the good hard working folks around them. And so Travis believed that to. It was his daddy and why would his daddy lie.
“I don’t like you parker. In fact no one likes you. You and you’re dad are freaks”.
“Yeah your dad looks mexican and is too poor to feed you”. Zack laughed.
“Look his clothes"Jeff also began to laugh.
Kevin stood there in his clothes that his dad got from his aunt and thrift stores. He clenched his fists. So what if he was poor his dad was a good person more than he could say for any of them.
“And don’t forget he’s super religious to” Peter the last member of Travis group chuckled in his moronic voice.
“THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT”!! Kevin shouted.
“What’s wrong slant eyes baby gonna cry. Word around town is that your old man murdered your mom”.
Kevin bolted at Travis and try to slug him in the gut but the boy who had at least 60 pounds on him narrowly dodged.
“ did we get you mad baby boy. What even are you anyway you’re white yellow? You’re just ugly muddy trash”.
They had a saying in Japan for children who were half Japanese half something else. They would call them hafu. I’m pure there blood was contaminated muddy. No matter how hard they tried they would never live up to the nobility of a pure Japanese. Kevin’s father had met his mother during the war when he was stationed in Hiroshima. He fell in love with the tall Slender Woman and brought her back to Canada to their little hometown of Riverdale. Kevin could almost pass for Canadian but there was something different about him his mother knew this and told his father to never mention his culture. She tried to hide the fact that he was different. People would just think he was an illegitimate child and it would bring shame to her family. But Travis picked up on the fact that he didn’t look quite like everyone else his fair skin his slightly slanted eyes. Travis’s father said those type of people we’re better off dead. And his daddy was never wrong. When he was five he questioned this to his father and he made himself clear and told Travis to take off his shirt. And like the innocent five-year-old he did so. His father took off his belt and with the Brass Buckle he beat him. The sound of the leather thrashing through the air and breaking Travis skin what’s deafening. He learned his lesson never question. If a man reacted so savagely over a simple question it must have been a universal law. That these people weren’t human.
Mr. Dubell was a police officer he dealt with criminals murderers rapists but that wasn’t the reason he hated them, People who were of different race. The reason was they were different. And since the beginning of time humans feared what was different. The eyes watched and grew relishing in the suffering a smirk appeared on the Shadows face it fed on the negativity and grew stronger.
Travis was Furiously grabbed Kevin and pushed him up against the brick wall in the courtyard where the 12th graders smoked. No one would see because it was the last period of the day and everyone either skipped or were already in class. Travis three friends looks nervous until finally Zack was the one who spoke.
"Hey Travis don’t you think this is taking it a little too far”.
And at that Travis lost what little restraint he had. He pulled out the Swiss Army knife from his jean pocket and at the same time he was holding up Kevin he grabbed Zack’s shirt.
“ Don’t ever tell me what to do. I’ll tell you when it’s too far”.
Kevin’s eyes grew as he saw the gleam of the metal reflect in the sunlight followed by an intense burning. Travis had plunged the blade of his Swiss army knife into Kevin’s Temple it dragged down cutting the side of his face from the top of his head to halfway down his cheek. But in Desperate situations people who ordinarily thought they had no strings found it deep down. Kevin kneed Travis right in the balls, and he ran. Without any regards to his things he ran. His bag full of his belongings that were most precious to him, his books his Spider-Man comics his countless hours of research all Left Behind in the water drenched pavement of the school basketball court.
Travis quickly chased after him he screamed at his friends to go after Kevin has the small teenager ran across the street almost being hit by a passing car. The people in the car saw him they saw the Panic on his face but they just kept driving. Kevin muttered under his breath “bitch”. He fell to his knees and there he was standing on the edge up the Willow Creek Woods, the only thing between him was a flimsy railing that separated the woods from the road.
“Nowhere to go now baby”.
But there was yes. Kevin jumped he plunged into the Ravine the palms of his hands were torn by the gravel in broken glass his jeans which were brand new and a birthday gift from his father we’re torn to shreds. Kevin heard the leaves crunching in the Twigs breaking in the distance. Travis and his friends were coming after him. Their voices getting louder and louder. He did the only thing he could do and that was hide.
Kevin landed in knee-deep water in the small Creek that ran through the woods. He ran faster and faster hoping he could get away then he saw it. There was a cave. In the back of his mind he thought there was something strange about that cave but he went in anyways. He thought there probably were Bears inside but he took the risk because this was a sign it was a miracle that this cable was even there.
Inside it was dark and wet so dark that it was Pitch Black. The kind of dark that he rent a boat in the National Geographic Magazines at the library that he loved so much. He read an article in one of them about the creatures that lived at the bottom of the ocean floor we’re not a sliver of light would reach. The animals there were born without eyes or if they did have eyes they had no purpose anymore.
His heart was racing in his chest. “Please God don’t let them find me. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’ll be a good Christian. God I didn’t mean to skip church last Sunday. And I’m sorry I got a boner when Henry Thomas showed me his brothers 30 magazines with the naked ladies. Please don’t let Travis find me”.
Travis was so close that Kevin could almost feel his voice on the back of his neck.
“ Come on let’s go he must have slipped into town”.
Kevin’s Hart settled back down it was a miracle. “ what a dreadful child” a voice came from the darkness. Kevin turned but it was pointless he couldn’t see anything even if he wanted to. But much to his surprise a pair of violet colored eyes appeared in the Darkness. They glowed bright showing what was behind them. Standing before Kevin was a deer, but it wasn’t a normal deer and one could tell as much from its eyes. But what made this year different was that it’s good on its hind legs.
Kevin jumped back. “WHAT THE HE’LL ARE YOU”
It looked at Kevin and walked around him in a circle its Hooves clattering against the stone ground.
“ Don’t be afraid Kevin Parker”.
“How do you know my name”?
“Kevin I know all in this world you are a high school student in the 9th grade do you live with your father Matthew Parker. And deep down Even If you deny it you are lonely and wish to have a best friend”.
The deer was right no matter how much Kevin tried he was lonely.
“ I can make it happen it began to say. Whatever your greatest desire is I can make it so. All I ask from you is to come with me”.
And as soon as the deer spoke those words the came was brought to life with light. Hundreds of thousands of eyes begin to open all around them on the moss covered walls. They were pure Scarlet with light green pupils that shifted from side to side. But there was one gigantic one in the center of the cave. It opens and there was a blinding light stronger than the Sun. It was a gateway.
“Come Kevin”.
“I’m sorry” I can’t he finally spilled the words.
“ I thought as much your time hasn’t come yet but my offer still stands return to me when you have made a decision”. The deer turned away and made its way to the portal.
“Wait what’s your name”?
“My dear boy my name matters not but you may call me Gremish”. And as quickly as he appeared in a flash of light it was gone. The eyes the deer . Kevin felt around but there was nothing no portal no nothing it was just an ordinary cave.
When it saw through the trees it knew everything about Emily.
It was cold and the little girl shivered in her torn pink winter coat. No one noticed that an eight year old girl wandered from her home to the isolated park just beyond the forest. Douglas Spencer the girls father was a drunk. There were many fights between him and his wife Alison. Bruises, black eyes, and broken bottles was all there ever were in Emily Spencer’s home.
Emily although covered with bruises and broken blood vessels smiled as she swung back and forth on the swing. She was hopeful that one day everything would be alright. That her daddy would stop drinking, and her and her mom and dad would be a family again.
It knew what Emily’s greatest desire was.
She looked up into the dark sky as snow fell on her face. It accumulated on her eyelashes. Creek crunch. Creek crunch. The sound of footsteps in the snow. When she looked in the direction of the sound she saw her mother. Emily was slightly confused. Her mother had come to get her. It was what the girl had always wanted from her mother, for her to care.
She held her hand as they walked, and Emily looked up at her. “Where are we going”? Emily asked. But her mother did not respond. But the girl knew it wasn’t the way home. She knew the way home. They had walked it together every day when Alison would pick her up from kindergarten.
The full moon hung low and bright in the night sky, but tonight it had a red hue to it. This girl would do it, it thought to itself as it read every thought in Emily’s mind, every desire that was ever in her head. Every fear,every joy was known to it at that moment.
“Emily what do you want in the whole world”. Her mother asked.
She thought about it for a moment then she looked into her mothers eyes. “I wish you and dad would stop fighting so we can be a family again”.
Alison smiled and answered That’s why i’m here everything is going to be alright now. Lets gets some ice cream.
Emily smiled at that as she remembered the Rock Cold Creamery, and how she would see all the happy families having their ice cream. She wished that could be them.
It seemed that they had been walking for hours, and Emily didn’t recognize anything around her. “Mom are you sure were going the right way”? she cried. But all Alison would say was.
“Just a little further; its a shortcut”.
The moon continued to shine bright through the thick trees.
“Emily you do want to be a family forever. Isn’t that your greatest desire”?
Something was wrong they were nowhere near town, nowhere near anything. And the expression on Alison’s face . Emily knew something wasn’t right. This wasn’t her mother. Her skin had turned pure white, and the look on her face wasn’t Alison. Still time slowed as minutes felt like days. But soon enough they had come to the center of the woods. Not a sign of anyone or civilization to be heard or seen.
“Emily i’m going to take you to a place where everything will be perfect like when your dad and i were happy. It promised me. Alison said.
“Mom who promised you, what are you talking about, where we going”? Emily’s voice rose with panic as each word left her mouth. Then she saw something peculiar. It was a deer. Not like anyone she had ever seen. It’s eyes glowed pale like moonlight, and it stood on its hind legs like a man. It bowed moving its hoofs down gesturing for the two females to come over to it.
It stood in the entrance to a cave. The cavern Emily remembered it somehow from a dream.
Inside was not what one would expect from the inside of a cavern. The walls were perfectly smooth and pure white. There were no doors, entrances of any kind. In fact the space Emily and her mother had used to come inside had vanished. All there was , was a blinding light in the center of the room, and that was all there was to the room. A room, space that seemed to stretch out endlessly. Light poured from the portal. It was the very thing staining everything white. Emily’s mother was standing next to it. The figure of the deer had disappeared into the light. There was a feeling of warmth, comfort.
“Come Emily, come everything will be alright”. Her mother held out her hand as she began to disappear as well into the portal.
The girls instincts told her not to go, but she ignored them all as every one of them were overwhelmed by the feeling of warmth the light filled Emily with. It was too late then. She had stared into the void. Poking her little face through the light. And what she saw was something indescribable. Her mother told her it was a perfect world where all dreams came true. Where her, her mom, and her dad would be happy again. But what she saw in the light was none of those things. She was completely submerged in the light now. It felt like Emily was deep underwater. It was heavy and suffocating, and there was nothing around her. Emily floated in the void that stretched into infinity. She cried out “Mom, mom where are you”? But there was no answer.
In the blackness they appeared, three rubies. Perfect spears of red light. They fickered fading in and out of exsistance. Until finally it was clear what they were. Eyes,eyes as big as planets, and when the girl saw who or what they belonged to her blood ran cold. It was a shapeless mass that somewhat resembled an angler fish. A type of fish that dwelled in the darkest depths of the sea where not a shred of light would ever reach. Like the angler it had an antenna that protruded
from its forehead, with a gland at the end that produced a light. It opened what would be its mouth was the closest way to describe it. For it was a creature not of this world, and was formless and indescribable to mortal eyes. Inside was spiral that stretched to infinity with rows and rows of jagged teeth cascading down like a stairway. In its center was the light. The light that Emily saw before. It came from the inside of this creature.
The girl was in a trance her eyes clouded in a pale hue of white. She saw what she most desired in the void of the creature’s mouth. Her mother, her father, and herself as a family.
“Come Emily join us” the creature called out. Emily heard the words, but not out loud but in her mind.
She could not control herself, and was drawn to the creature. And as quickly as it appeared the angler pounced tearing the girls head from her body.
The three perfect spears glowed as the creature had absorbed another victim. At that moment Eddie Perkins awoke in his bed, sweating, his heart pumping so violently he thought it would exploded in his chest. Not sure if it was a dream.
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Visit
Ross visited Thursday, September 19th through Sunday the 22nd. His plane arrived late afternoon / early evening on Thursday. I’d spent the week previous planning for his arrival. Airport transportation and car rental were real challenges. It was so hard to adjust to not being able to go wherever whenever. Not having a car on campus was a real struggle. Ross and I drove all over southwestern Ohio together. I missed that freedom. I called listing after listing in the yellow pages. “What’s your rate for a three-day rental?” “Do you have any weekend specials?” “Is there an age limit?” “Are there any additional fees if you’re under 25?” “Yes, I have a credit card.” (Dad had co-signed for me in the weeks before I left for school.) I found only one agency that would rent to young people under the age of 21. I still believe it’s age discrimination – but how do you fight it? Once that was arranged, I begged Stephen Paul to drive me to the airport to meet him. He agreed and dropped me off at the door of the airport and drove back to campus.
At the door? Well, yes. Rochester is a small town. Sure, it’s the world headquarters of Kodak, Xerox and Bausch and Lomb, but that doesn’t automatically mean that Rochester is a bustling booming metropolis. It’s a city; a few tall buildings downtown, an urban transportation center, theater district and all that. But the small airport serves the community sufficiently and it was even smaller in 1985. And it’s fewer than three miles from campus. To get there by car, take the Elmwood Street bridge over the river, turn right onto Genesee Park Boulevard, and turn left onto Brooks Avenue. A mile or so later, cross over the highway and at the one traffic light, turn left into the airport parking lot. Aviators learn to align the airplane with Elmwood Avenue, fly over the dome of the campus library building (also referred to as the “nipple of knowledge”) cross the river and land on the runway. Airplane enthusiasts loved watching the various planes fly over campus.
Stephen Paul dropped me off at the airport door and I went in to meet Ross at the gate. I was tense and full of questions. My two worlds were colliding and I didn’t know how to behave. How would Ross fit into the world and persona I had created at the UofR? I learned that choo-in’ was unacceptable. It was hard to break that habit, but I was already working on it.
Even with all that pent-up tension, it was still good to see him. He walked through the doors with his backpack slung over his shoulder, and we hugged immediately. He’s real! Not just a voice on the other end of a telephone line. Not an unknown author of scribbled thoughts on paper that ended up in my mailbox. It’s Ross, it’s Bok, and he’s REAL, and he’s here to see ME. Oh I love you. I missed you. I hope this hug never ends - we fit together so well.
We broke our hug finally, and kissed, and the questions began, “Who drove you to the airport? How’re your folks? How’s Skot-X?” “Is that all your luggage? No need for a trip to the carousel? Let’s go get the rental car.”
Arms still around each other (I wasn’t about to let him go) we walked to the rental car counter. Ross filled out the paperwork, gave the woman his credit card, and she ran it through the reader. Everything was in order, so she gave him the keys and directions to find where the car was parked. Aaah. Sweet Freedom!
The car was a tiny thing, a Ford Escort, or a competitor’s equivalent with two doors, bucket seats and a tinny engine. But I didn’t care; it was transportation. Ross and I were together again! Nearly a month apart, and we both were going to have to adjust. Our expectations for the weekend were high – how could we possibly live up to them? There would inevitably be some disappointment.
It didn’t take long. I didn’t know how to navigate the short drive back to campus. I got frustrated and started bawling like a baby. Fortunately, the woman at the rental counter had handed us a map with the rest of the paperwork. We sorted out where we were and how to get to campus. Already I had broken down in tears – what a way to welcome the love of my life, “Hello, I love you. Now I’ll cry.”
Once on campus, we made it back to the dorm, figured out where to park and dared campus security to ticket the vehicle. I’d pay the fine if I had to. We approached the door and I had to dig for my ID card to get into the building. I slid my card through the reader, the buzzer sounded, Ross pulled the door open and held it for me, following me in to the building. I wonder now what his impressions were. What did he think of the college I chose?
I pushed the button to call the elevator and quietly, without conversation, we rode up to the sixth floor together. Who would be on the floor? Would 6124’s be busy? Roz was going to stay in Mike’s room. That was nice of her. The other girls in our suite didn’t seem to mind Ross staying.
I had planned as far as Ross’ arrival. Now that he was here with me, I had no idea what we were to do. Since I didn’t have a car, I had no idea where things were off campus. And driving in the dark, while it was a ritual at home, we were in unfamiliar territory. Here in Rochester my geography was befuddled. We had missed dining center hours, so as dark quickly approached I decided we could eat dinner at the student union. I’d walk him around campus, show him the sights of my small sad little world. He’d meet my floor-mates, and we could decide what to do for the next couple of days. It was a plan.
I wish I remembered more of Ross’ visit. I’m sure we spent time in my room. I know he met most of the people I had gotten to know. We also got off campus with the rental car. It was then that everything “clicked” and my world stopped spinning around me. I was back in familiar territory – in the passenger seat of a vehicle, with Ross in the driver seat, music on the radio. Life was good for a few minutes. Everything made sense again.
Pets were allowed in our dorm rooms. No dogs, no cats, but rodents in a cage (mice, gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas, rabbits) lizards, snakes, tarantulas and fish were all fair game, so long as your roommate/suitemates did not have allergies or objections. Ross may have been the one who instigated the acquisition of the Lesters. I bought a tank set-up for a couple of anoles, small green-brown lizards common to Florida and the southern U.S. They’re all over the Caribbean. Roz and I couldn’t tell them apart, so we named them both Lester, Lester the Lizards. I bought a heat lamp and some sticks and gravel for them to romp on, around and through. I took a piece of string and fashioned a leash for them so they could be exercised. I spent the remainder of freshman year begging for rides to the pet store to buy crickets and fly larvae for the things to eat. Later on in the year, we had lizard races in the hallway. It was an occasion for alcohol consumption. The lizards survived. Don’t know how – they must be hardy little things. They became famous. Oddly, I don’t remember their demise. To the best of my recollection, I never disposed of their carcasses and I didn’t sell them. The following year I got a rabbit, and then another rabbit. What did happen to those Lesters anyway?
Ross had to return home for classes and homework and plans of his own to concentrate on. We drove back to the airport and returned the rental car. I stayed with him as long as I could before he had to board the airplane. I was devastated. Why couldn’t he stay? Why couldn’t I go home with him? We’d see each other again in another month – over October break. I took a taxi back to the dorm, rode the elevator up to my room and waited for Ross’ phone call to let me know he was home safe.
W
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Sunday 15th October 2017
Shaniah woke us up super early this morning. I have a feeling that that was down to being in an unfamiliar environment. We are heading into Newquay today as the little ones have requested a trip to the beach! I am a major lover of the beach so I for one was not going to turn this opportunity down!
Once we arrived at the beach I did what is only really acceptable by the Cornish beach and had a Pasty for breakfast! There’s got to be some unwritten law that states that this is a necessity right?
We made our way down to the sand and I sat there eating my pasty. I love being here, there’s something about this place that makes me instantly happy. I don’t know what it is but I love it.
Shaniah and Freya were happily building sand castles together then Shaniah decided she was going to collect stones. She made her way around the beach finding a few nice stones then she nearly picked up a dog poo! After the scare of us all shouting no to her she decided that she was going to sit on Grampy Pats lap.
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Shaniah couldn’t turn down the chance to do a sand angel…
I absolutely love the views which you get to witness when you are walking to and from the beach front. Even in the gloomiest of days the place looks so beautiful.
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With Shaniah and Freya hand in hand we all decided to pop into Frankie and Benny’s for some lunch.
Shaniah decided went for a chicken burger and when it arrived we couldn’t have been more in love! The effort that went into them was second to none.
With our stomachs full we headed back back spend the rest of the afternoon chilling.
Sunday evening.
It’s Disco time baby! The youngsters have been so good today we decided that they deserved to go to the on site disco. Freya loves to Dance and Shaniah loves to sing… They were practically born to Disco right?
Half way through the Disco, Shaniah decided that she needed a poo so we had to mad dash to the toilet and pray that she had given us enough warning to get there. Hurray! She did and she managed to do one hell of a poo, so big in fact that I couldn’t flush it. She was obviously getting bored as she managed to unlock the toilet door leaving me there on my own flushing a massive indestructible turd down the toilet. I gave up in the end, there was no budging.
According to Dawn, Shaniah had run in and announced to everyone that she had done one hell of a massive poo even showing the length with her arms!
Before the evening came to a close, Shaniah met both Lizzie the Lizard and Sid the Seagull.
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It was 8.30pm and the little ones were getting tired so we decided that it was probably best if we headed back to base and call it a night.
You can read what we got up to yesterday here.
Our holiday at Parkdean – October 2017 Day 2. Sunday 15th October 2017 Shaniah woke us up super early this morning. I have a feeling that that was down to being in an unfamiliar environment.
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Convergance 8 Playlist
Found an old backup while cleaning up
Behold my playlist from Convergence 8 (May 31-June 2, 2002): Montreal with my original comments
Friday:
I'm dedicating that Set to my Grandfather Adolf Würdinger
who died a week prier to all that.
-Opening-
The Astonished Eyes of Evening by Cinema Strange (End to End)
Machina Supremacy - Giana Sisters
Uranium 235 - You Spin Me Round
Suspiria - (Now You See ) The Swine (Re-Mix)
Manuskript - The Sun Always Shines On T.V.
Orgy - Blue Monday [1]
Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons
Killing Joke - Eighties (Serious Dance Mix)
Tubeway Army - Cars
Yazoo - Don't Go
Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand (Single Max) [2]
- Captain Matt's Armada Featuring Axel
(where Trevor writes all the songs and does all the work) [3]-
Ghoultown - RotoRiculous
Reverend Horten Heat - Baddest of the Bad
Waltons - Truck Me Harder
Nekromantix - Demons are a Girls best friend
Batmobile - Transelvanian Express
- Fashion Show Part I [4]-
Mark Stewart - Anger
Converter - I died today (Fisted)
Noisex - K. V. (Live)
- Fashion Show Part II [4]-
Atari Teenage Riot - Sick to death
Esplendor Geometrico - Al-Giaber
Einstürzende Neubauten - Haus der Lüge (Live)
Premature Ejaculation - Pigface Show & Tell / Blue Honey
The Eternal Afflict - Kinski is Dead
- This Ascension [5] -
Nina Hagen - Auf'm Friedhof (Long Version)
Schwefel - Metropolis (12" Version)
Bella Morte - Were Shadows Lie
Dreadful Shadows - Chains (Autumn-Remake '96)
- Bella Morte [6] -
[7]
Gigantor - Everything Counts
Vice Squad - Princess Paranoia
The Normal - TV OD
Ghost Dance - Search Lights
The Vibrators - Disco In Moscow
Joy Division - Dead Souls
Sex Beat - Sex Beat
Misfits - Die My Darling
Killer Barbies - Skulls
Wendy O. - It's My Life
Faith and the Muse - Hallow Hills
9XDEAD - Wild Women
Ghoul Squad - Pogo Is dead
T.S.O.L. - Code Blue
The Brickbats - Zombie Flanders
Rammones - Sheena is A Punk Rocker
The Cramps -Sheena's in a Goth Gang [8]
The Fools - Psycho Chicken
999 - Homicide
Ghoultown - Pale Skin Diva
45 Grave - Partytime (Zombie Version)
Christian Death with Rozz - Deathwish [9]
Bloody Dead And Sexy - Bloody Rose
Der Fluch - Rattengift
Jay Kay - Feuer & Asche
Fliehende Stürme - Das Chaos Brütet
The Rorschach Garden - State Protection
[some more that i don't remember right now]
-The Spectrum closed-
Sunday:
[10]
-DJ Doc-
I was there @ 8:20 and started spinning at 8:25 [11]
1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut
Oomph! feat. Nina Hagen - Fieber
[12]
Flying Lizards - Money
Splatterday - Keine Schmerzen Mehr [13]
Sex Pistols - EMI (Unlimited Edition)
The Damned - Neat Neat Neat
Vampire Beach Babes - Tomb Mau Mau
Ghoultown - Boots of Hell [14]
Electric Frankenstein - Grave Yard Truck Race
Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 - They Only Wants to Eat Your Brain
The Brides - Dress Code Blue
The Vladimirs - Grave Girl
AFI - Last Caress
Baby Horror - El Hotel Del Horror
Action Pact - Suicide Bag
Bordello - Free Ride [15]
Cinema Strange - En Hiver [15]
Bella Morte - Logic [15]
Psychopomps - Badlands
Morbid Poetry - Children of the Eighties
The Merry Thoughts - Boy Sinister
Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11 (Short Version)
The Normal - TV OD *
X-Mal Deutschland - Polarlicht
Malaria - Kaltes Klares Wasser [16]
Holy Orange - Pretty Baby
The Rorschach Garden - State Protection *
Alien Skull Paint - Fly With Me
Anne Clark - Abuse
Cat Rapes Dog - Motordead
The Invincible Spirit - Love Is A Kind Of Mystery
Slickee Boys - This Party Sucks
Toy Dolls - Livin La Vida Loca
The Vibrators - Disco In Moscow
Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone [17]
The Stranglers - No More Heroes
P.I.L - The Order of Death
- DJ Mr. Black - [18]
Bella Morte - The Rain Within Her Hands
Crüxshadows - Her Comes The Rain
VNV Nation - [19]
Blutengel - Black Roses
Einstürzende Neubauten - Haus der Lüge
Tears For Fears - Mad World
Depeche Mode - Share The Disease
Pixies - There Is My Mind
- DJ Psyche -
Salome's Wish - Frozen
Faith and the Muse - Running Up The Hill *
Deep Red - Living In Black
Regan - I Am Your Garden
Rhea's Obsession - Memento Mori
Crüxshadows - Cruelty
Written In Ashes - [19]
The Cure - Primary
If/Then - Equal + Opposite
Tapping The Vein - [19]
- DJ Doc -
Alice Cooper - My Generation (Live)
29 Clocks - Psychotic Louie Louie
Dead Kennedy's - California über alles *
Elvis Hitler - Dance of the Living Dead
Motörhead - God Saves The Queen
The Voidoids - Blank Generation
Nina Hagen - Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo
Kiss - God of Thunder [20]
Dee Sniders SMF - The Kids Are Back [21]
Rose Tattoo - Nice Boys
Asylum - System Overload
Sepulerum Mentis - Scary Monsters
Dominator X - Psych Sister
The Redresser - Held Back
Sleepless (br) - Cliche [22]
Antiworld - King of all Monsters
The Plague - Never Die
Strange Boutique - Quicksand Minds
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
Scarehead - Ha Ha
Voodoo Church - Eyes Scond Dead
Penis Flytrap - Cemetery Girl
De Sade - Venom
Killer Barbies - (The Came From) Mars
Nina Hagen - Viva Las-Vegas [1]
Ghost Dance - Walk In My Shadow
New Days Delay - Glass-Made Savior
Joan Jett - I Love Playing With Fire
Skeletal Family - Promised Land
Texas Terri & the Stiff Ones - Cave Women
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life [23]
The Clash - I Fought The Law
Peter & the Test Tube Babies - Banned From The Pubs
The Exploited - Punk's Not Dead
Rammones - Blitzkrieg Bob
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The U.K.
The Cramps - Naked Girl falling down the Stairs
Gigantor - Everything Counts
The Cramps - Do The Clam *
Ghoultown - Pale Skin Diva *
Misfits - We Are (138)
T.S.O.L. - Code Blue *
Flesheaters - The Wedding Dice
Stiffs Inc. - Sad Song
Gun Club - Sex Beat
Andi Sex Gang & Mark Almond - The Hungry Years [24]
Birthday Party - Release The Bats
Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
Cinema Strange - Speak Marauder (Unreleased Version)
Specimen - Beauty of Poisin
Ausgang - I'm A Horse
Alien Sex Fiend - Silver Machine
Lords of the New Church - Method To My Madness
Misfits - Last Caress [25]
Dr. Feelgood - Milk and Alcohol
Screaming Dead - Paint it Black [26]
- the end-
* Request
[1] Blame JAK for that one
[2] Dedicated to DJ Ricky Prinz, Munich's finest
[3] What an opening Act, Axel is really a Modern Day Sex God TM
[4] They were doing there own music for the actual fashion show
[5] Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy that show as much as I wanted.
I was fighting with a headache. And had to re-sort all my CDs after
drooping 'em all to the floor earlier @ when we got the notice that
everything should start 1 hour before schedule
[6] To be honest I didn't like most of what I have of BM on CD but that
Show altered my view 180 degree. You guys ROCK. I haven't seen that much
energy since Antiworld last year Herbstnächte. BM is a band we should
really look forward to see in Europe.
[7] Sorry from here on it isn't in order and I'm not sure if I got all
songs 'couse I wasn't able to write down the playlist
[8] And don't forget what Sheena became
[9] Should be in Order from here on
[10] Well sometimes strange things are happening an so I had an other
set to do on sunday don't try to find me on the web site it wasn't
officially announced
[11] Just o entertain the crew while doing last preparations
[12] Some more songs that I haven't written down just to get a feeling
for the volume and decided after that to go as loud as that damned thing
will let me go.
[13] A local Munich Punk/Power POP band that were playing @ the new
years party I did with Ricky earlier that year.
[14] Who ever will do Convergence 9 try to get Ghoultown
[15] A little tribute to some of the great bands we had the pleasure to
here the last days
[16] That one goes to Miss Janette
[17] That one goes to Maria my beloved one who was turning heads all
weekend long
[18] Thanks to Mr. Black and Psyche for giving me a break and to Sexbat
for checking back
from time to time to see if I need an other
[19] Can't read that one, sorry :-(
[20] This one is for the best Stage Manager on the planet
[21] For Brian, not exactly Twisted Sister but
the best I could do for you.
[22] Time to honor the best Masks
[23] From now on it's dedicated to Bella Morte
[24] From now on it's dedicated to Purp an all others who still hold the
flag of deathrock up.
[25] This one was a request of the bartender girl
[26] I wanted to end the night with "Beerdrinkers and Hellraisers" by
Motörhead but I forgot it at my hotel room so I ended the night
with my preferred version of Paint it Black ;-)
0 notes
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