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ask-the-good-creeps · 4 years

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VP AU Hallowe’en Special 2020

//Hey, y’all! Sorry for the tardiness here! Finally got this posted; if you requested specific characters when I asked about it like, a month ago, they make at least a minor appearance. If you requested certain cue-words, they are here and they are bolded/italicized. The main type of genre requested was feel-good type of story, so we have a bit of that here and there. It is a bit long, so I put it under a read-more. Please enjoy this short story, and Happy Belated Hallowe’en! c: //

“Fancy meeting you here, O Seraph.” Zalgo greeted the newcomer from his seat as the other entity stepped into the room. Said room was enormous and spacious with high-vaulted ceilings to accommodate the abnormal heights of its occupants. The walls were made up of bookshelf after bookshelf, upon which rested a myriad of old tomes. There were a few pieces of antique-looking furniture that had obviously been well cared for despite their age, including a pair of unnaturally tall armchairs resting near the fireplace. A red-orange flame danced and crackled merrily beyond the moderately complex masonry of the mantle to illuminate roughly a third of the almost-Gothic architecture in the room.

It was a simple place with a touch of elegance; Zalgo’s style with a few welcoming details for his guest tonight – the one and only Slenderman.

“You did invite me. I don’t see why it surprises you that I’ve come.” The faceless creature responded as he moved to occupy the empty seat by the fire.

“An invitation offered is not automatically an invitation accepted.” Several of Zalgo’s mouths grinned ruefully as he closed his book and tossed it behind him. The thick volume defied the laws of gravity to tuck itself neatly back in its spot on a shelf. The Slenderman did not respond immediately, instead focusing his attention to the warm flames that lit the room.

“Why have you called me here, Old One?” Slenderman finally asked, “What do you want?” Zalgo feigned offense at the other’s questions, complete with an obnoxiously loud gasp and a hand over the still-smiling mouth on his face for an extra touch of dramatic flair.

“We have met here in Purgatory many times solely for the sake of conversation…why do you assume this time is different?” He offered a question in turn. The Slenderman regarded the demon for a moment, and if he had a face, it likely would have displayed a rather deadpan expression.

“Tonight is the Eve of Samhain, where the barriers between are weak. You can’t honestly tell me that you have no motive for this rendezvous other than a social call.” He folded his hands over his lap as he awaited an explanation from the other.

“Oh, you do see right through me, Seraph. I should have expected nothing less from you.” Zalgo’s grin never wavered as he observed his guest. He stood from his seat and began to pace the room slowly as he continued. “I want your help.”

“My help?” The confusion that was evident in the faceless one’s voice was further accentuated by the obvious quirk of the flesh where his brow would be. “We may not be enemies anymore, Old One, but I don’t remember ever agreeing to work together as allies.”

“I don’t mean it as a permanent partnership…just one small, specific task.” Zalgo replied.

“Why? You are capable of anything I am, you don’t need me to-”

“I want to meet my child.” The Slenderman paused abruptly, partly due to the sudden interruption that was so uncharacteristic of Zalgo in conversations, and partly due to what he was saying. There was a long pause as he processed the demon’s request.

“Even with the barriers between being as weak as they are tonight, I still cannot go to the living realm without unintentionally causing death and destruction on a colossal scale,” Zalgo explained, “Lazari, however, will be able to come here…just for a short while…but try as I may I have yet to find a way to guide her here.”

“You want me to find her in the living world and bring her to this place.” It wasn’t a question – the Slenderman didn’t need further discussion to interpret what the other needed of him.

“You wouldn’t need to find her. I already know where she is, and I can tell you. I just need you to bring her here.” There was a strange look in Zalgo’s eyes as he spoke. Slenderman had seen it before in that of humans he’d met, but never an entity of their caliber. He, himself could not put a name to it, as the faceless being had never experienced it.

They stared at each other for a while longer, each with his own thoughts, the silence around them broken only by the crackling of the fire. The Slenderman eventually stood up from his seat, his decision made.

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In a moderately-populated town on the outskirts of the woods, two young girls wandered through a brightly-lit neighborhood. That was far from unusual on this night – there were many children out in various costumes, all walking up to spookily-decorated homes to ask strangers for candy under the watchful gazes of older family members.

These little girls had no family to watch over them…but that wasn’t exactly necessary for poltergeists, now was it? Lacy Morgan was quiet as ever while they walked along, occasionally joining groups of living children at the doors of homes for trick or treating. While Lacy saw no point in playing dress-up, Sally was happily flaunting the incredibly-made costume Trenderman had prepared for her this year. She was dressed as the Red Queen of Hearts from the original Alice in Wonderland movie, complete with a green-dodo-bird-turned-croquet-mallet prop in one of her hands. She hummed a little tune to herself as they got closer to the “interesting Halloween circus” that “popped up out of nowhere” everyone in town planned to enjoy with their kids for the evening.

They eventually made it to the open gates of the Candy Circus and managed to wander in around the crowds of living people who had come to have fun. It was there that Lacy and Sally separated from each other, each with her own plans for the evening. Sally wandered to each of the booths, peeking around guests playing the games there in search of a familiar face…and finally she found one, though not necessarily the one she was hoping for.

The little girl walked through the back wall of the booth to appear behind none other than Hoodie – sans mask, of course. He didn’t notice her at first as he handed a stuffed animal prize to a little boy dressed as an alien; he jumped and just barely managed to hold back a scream when he turned around and suddenly saw her there.

“Where’s Masky?” she asked. If anyone knew where he was, it’d be his partner, right?

“I’m not sure,” Hoodie answered as he calmed down from nearly having a heart attack, “He isn’t here at the circus, though. He said he had something important to take care of before he could join us.” Sally’s face formed a small pout at this answer. She wondered what her big bro could possibly find more important than the festivities here. She got a hint to the answer as she felt a slight chill in her soul, followed by a strong tug back to that place.

She frowned and walked back through the wall of the booth, trying to ignore the unsettling feelings as she explored the circus. She heard loud and raucous laughter over by the Ferris Wheel and saw none other than one of the circus owners.

Candy Pop looked about to collapse with how hard he was laughing as he leaned on his mallet for support. Judge Angels was on her knees in a giggle fit while Helen stood nearby with the faint ghost of a smile on his lips. Sally wondered what was so funny. She stepped up toward the group, prepared to ask in hopes it would take her mind off the odd feelings she was experiencing.

“My word, Sally, dear, just look at you!” Candy Pop gushed as he spotted her. “That old fashionista has really outdone himself with his work this year…and I have to admit, he found the perfect model for that one!” The jester grinned as he danced around her to get the full view of the craftsmanship that went into her costume.

“I’ll tell him you liked it,” Sally smiled awkwardly as Pop came back to his original spot in front of her. The jester nodded while Helen helped Dina to her feet. She was still chuckling, and every time she almost managed a straight face the giggles would start back up again.

“Did you tell a really good joke?” Sally asked Pop.

“Oh, no, dear child – I told a story…a story of the most entertaining insult someone has ever tried to throw at me that turned out so amazing I don’t know whether to call it the worst or the best!” Pop laughed again, and Dina couldn’t help herself as she started up again.

“There’s no way!” The blonde spoke in between laughs, “There’s no way he actually said that!”

“Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for him – he most certainly did.”

“Who said what?” Sally asked, not wanting to be left out. It took Pop a moment to calm down. He took a breath to try and keep the laughter at bay and turned to Sally.

“So…you know of Jeff’s brother, yes? The one they call ‘Homicidal Liu’?” Pop started. Sally nodded. She didn’t really know the guy, but she had heard of him at least. “He is the ‘who’ in this story. I ran into him a while ago and it looked like he’d had a rather dismal day, so I decided to cheer him up a little-” The jester was cut off for a moment by Judge’s laughter.

“Alright, so maybe I wanted to mess with him more than cheer him up, but that’s not the point,” Pop corrected himself with a shrug before continuing. “Either way, I upset the man a little bit, and he started telling me to go away. But I couldn’t just leave when it was finally starting to get fun, so I didn’t. He got the angriest I’ve ever seen, and I half-expected Sully to take control and come after me with his knife, but instead, Liu proved his own ineptitude with swears and insults – which isn’t exactly an unadmirable trait, but still – by calling me, and I quote: ‘an anus-eating boner fuck dick-nose’…” Judge was almost back to her knees again as she covered her mouth in attempt to repress her loud guffaws as the blue-haired jester finished,

“…and no, I have no idea what that means, but I could feel Sully’s embarrassment follow me all the way back to my dimension.” The laughter continued as Pop shook his head in mock-disapproval.

“How did you even respond to that?” Dina managed to ask when she had gotten ahold of herself.

“I didn’t…for once, I had no idea how. So I just left.” Pop gestured wildly with his hands as he said it.

“You probably shouldn’t use those words while children are around,” Helen chimed in, “He may have put them together…strangely…but most of those are still swears.” He looked at Sally, who wore a confused expression. She wasn’t any more fluent in swears and insults than the average eight-year-old child, so she didn’t quite see the humor as well as the others did. Pop paused for a moment, then turned to the little Red Queen.

“Please don’t tell your proxy friend you heard me say those things.” He smiled at her, and she grinned mischievously.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” She giggled and ran off in the direction of the roller coaster without waiting for his reply.

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She had seen the circus, but Jane just wasn’t feeling up to it this year. She didn’t know why, but hanging out with everyone to be happy and celebrate just seemed like it would feel…hollow. She passed people on the sidewalk going in the opposite direction, telling herself she’d stop in for a bit later. She passed a stray dog as she found her way to a nearby park, and noted the familiarity of it. She’d been here before, but when…?

“Jane?” She turned around at the sound of her name to see a woman her age dressed in a wild, electric-blue wig, black pants, and a red shirt that was labeled, ‘Thing 2’. She was a little taller than Jane, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair that was a bit longer than it was the last time they met. Jane remembered her, and by proxy, this park where they had first spent time several years prior.

“Tatiana.” Jane spoke her name, suspicion clearly evident in her tone. She thought Kate had already hunted Tatiana down and killed her. The Chaser was never one to leave loose ends. The girl seemed to flinch at the coldness in Jane’s voice, but recovered quickly.

“I was hoping I’d see you again.” She said awkwardly.

“Why? So you could finish the job?” Jane replied. Jane didn’t know why she was being so bitchy here; she was certain what happened before wasn’t Tatiana’s fault, but she had to admit she was on-edge around her. She had never gotten a definite answer as to whether the girl was actually SCP or had just been brainwashed by them back then. Speaking of SCP, Jane kept her ears open and inconspicuously scanned the area for any sign that the Foundation’s soldiers may be lurking around here. She didn’t want to be taken by surprise again.

“N-no, I wanted to thank you,” Tatiana stuttered nervously. Jane regarded her silently, and Tatiana continued, “You saved me from Kate.”

“I still don’t know if that was a good idea,” came Jane’s retort, albeit a little less certain that Tatiana was untrustworthy.

“Why?”

“She might have been right. You may be working for SCP, trying to lure me into another trap.”

“No! I didn’t even know what SCP was until I looked it up later!” Tatiana argued. “I didn’t even know what your name was until I did a metric fuckton of Google research. I don’t remember how I ended up in that situation. I was getting ready to go out with some friends, and then I was waking up here, surrounded by dead bodies and you telling another girl not to kill me.”

Jane listened to her explanation, looking for any possible holes in her story. Her set of events answered a couple questions Jane had, but there were still a few things that didn’t add up.

“How did you get away from both Kate and SCP, then? Kate was determined to go after you later and finish you off, and she doesn’t make empty threats. Even if you got away from her somehow, SCP would’ve erased your memory at the very least to keep themselves secret. You being alive here, in this same town, with full knowledge of that night…it doesn’t make any sense,” Jane reasoned.

“I wish I knew the answer to that, but I don’t. After that night, I never saw or heard anything from Kate or SCP again. It was like it was just some crazy nightmare. After a while, I started to think that’s all it really was…but you’re here, so it had to be real.”

“Hm.” Jane didn’t know what to do here. She didn’t buy into what she was being told, but at the same time, she would never risk killing someone who might be innocent.

“What are you going to do?” Tatiana asked.

“Nothing,” Jane shrugged, “I’m not going to kill you, but I’m not going to stick around here and find out the hard way if you can or can’t be trusted.” With that, Jane left the park, determined not to show up there again if she could help it. There were plenty of other nice places in the world to spend her time where she wouldn’t have to be on high alert.

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“Jason! We’re supposed to be helping with the haunted house!” Lazari whined. The Toymaker in question looked up from his plate of fettucine alfredo as he slurped up the last of the noodle in his mouth.

“There’s enough people to handle it right now without us. Besides, I told you I’d need snack breaks if I came out to help for the whole night.” He shrugged and started to get another bite on his fork as Lazari pouted.

“A full plate of pasta is a meal, not a snack,” she stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes. He shoved his mouth full of pasta to the point that he looked somewhat like a chipmunk and Lazari gave up trying to get him to come help before he finished his food.

Instead, she walked off on her own. She circled the little church, happy to see people from the community having a good time. She walked over to a little table surrounded by balloons and set up with bowls of candy where Father Daniel was talking with one of the local families. They finished their chat and parted ways with a call of, ‘Happy Halloween!’ to one another, and Lazari took the opportunity to sneak up behind the priest and startle him with a loud yell.

“Oh, Lazari, please don’t do that. You know I’m just an old man and a heart attack isn’t how I’d like to go.” He told her.

“Sorry, Father,” Lazari giggled. “I tried to get Jason to come back to the haunted house with me, but he’s busy eating.”

“He likes sugar that much, huh? We’ll have to be sure he leaves enough candy for the kids.” the priest joked.

“No, he’s eating pasta, not candy.” Lazari smiled.

“Pasta? Where’d he get pasta at this hour?”

“He probably brought it from his workshop,” the little demon girl shrugged. She looked away toward the tree line and her smile dropped. She found herself looking straight at a certain someone she didn’t want to see here. Even if he wasn’t so much the ‘bad guy’, when the Slenderman showed up somewhere it usually wasn’t good news. The entity seemed to be watching her, and she got the sense that she was the one he was here to see.

Whether that was an accurate assumption or not, she decided to find out what he wanted. The sooner he had what he was after, the sooner he’d go away. She excused herself quickly and made her way toward the trees. The Slenderman was no longer in sight, but she knew he didn’t just leave. She walked out of sight from the church, deeper into the foliage. She found herself in a very small clearing.

“You know it’s easier to talk to people when you’re not playing hide-and-seek,” Lazari called out when she was sure she was out of earshot from the humans. Nothing. Lazari crossed her arms and huffed in that pouty child way. She turned when she heard twigs snapping behind her and saw Father Daniel stepping into the space.

“Lazari, who are you looking for?” the old man asked. Lazari opened her mouth to answer just as she caught sight of a tall figure standing behind him. She ran over, and suddenly the world shifted around her.

She felt dizzy. The world was spinning so fast it took her several tries to open her eyes properly. She heard someone call her name, and turned her attention to the sound. It was Father Daniel, looking somewhat motion-sick. She heard a popping sound behind her, and turned to see a warm fireplace surrounded by several large, comfy chairs. She saw books everywhere despite how dimly lit the large room was, and despite never having been here before and not even knowing how or why she was here now Lazari didn’t feel alarmed or unsafe.

“Where are we?” Father Daniel asked as he shakily got to his feet.

“I don’t know.” Lazari answered.

“This place has many names,” a deep voice rang out in the room, “though the one you’re most familiar with is probably ‘purgatory’.” The voice sounded like it was everywhere, but they found the source when they saw movement over by the fire. Father Daniel gripped the cross around his neck and began to mumble prayers with his eyes open wide and focused on the large demon before them. Standing at full height, the beast was at least three or four times his size, with pitch black skin and mouths all over its body that seemed to glow red from within. It laughed at him.

“Your prayers have no power over me, nor would they affect anything else in this place,” Zalgo grinned, “Thankfully, you don’t need them tonight anyway.” Father Daniel stared at the creature, shocked into silence now. He hadn’t expected to ever come face-to-face with the Devil himself…and in purgatory, no less…

“What do you want?” The priest’s request came out quiet and meek, but that was still much more confident than he felt.

“With you,” Zalgo started, “Nothing. I don’t know why you were brought here, honestly. I needed to speak with her.” He gestured to Lazari, who until that point had seemed to be frozen. Not with fear, but with curiosity. Zalgo’s taunting grin softened as he looked to the little one.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting so long to finally meet you, my daughter.” Lazari tilted her head as she looked him over. Daughter? She hadn’t been called that by anyone for a while. She vaguely recalled meeting Zalgo in a dream once, but the fact that he was her father hadn’t really set in all the way…until now. She didn’t answer him and must have stood there in her thoughts for longer than it felt to her, because his smile started to wane.

“Does my appearance frighten you, little one? You’ve spent most of your life around humans, so I suppose that isn’t odd.” Zalgo stepped forward, and as he did so his body seemed to melt away into the shadows until all that was left was a man. Zalgo’s human-ish form was still unnaturally tall, but only by a foot or so. He looked normal enough, save for the red eyes and black horns in his head. He stepped closer to Lazari, and Father Daniel got in the way as if meaning to protect her.

Something dark swirled in the demon’s eyes as he addressed the priest.

“You think stepping between a mother bear and her cub is dangerous, but I assure you the risks involved with that are nothing compared to what you’re doing right now. Stand aside – I only get to see her tonight, and I will not have you wasting the little time we have.” Zalgo’s threat obviously terrified the man, but he refused to move. Before anything could happen as a result, Lazari stepped around her long-time friend and approached her father.

“Why now?” She asked. He didn’t seem to comprehend the question, so she elaborated, “Why not sooner? Do you know what she did to me? Do you know what’s happened to me because I’m not human? Why did you let it happen? Why didn’t you come get me?” The questions left Lazari’s lips in a desperate hurry, and it almost seemed that she wasn’t registering what she was asking. Zalgo sighed and reached for her, taking her in his arms and holding her to his chest. She didn’t fight him.

“I can’t go to the living world, that’s why we’re meeting here. I know what she did, and I had no way to stop it because I couldn’t reach you. I do know what happened to you in the living world; I couldn’t come to you, but I could keep an eye on you. If I could have prevented it, I would have – I didn’t allow it to happen intentionally. I didn’t come get you because I couldn’t go where you were, but I’ve been trying for years to contact you in ways I’m capable of…it just never worked.” He answered each of her questions quickly as he cradled her small body to himself.

“Even if I could have reached you, the only way we could have stayed together is if you were to die and enter my domain on the other side. I would never intentionally abandon you, my little one…I didn’t have another option to work with. I’m sorry.” His voice was soothing, comforting, remorseful. Things Father Daniel would have never expected from a demonic entity, least of all the King of Hell himself.

Lazari sniffled quietly, but offered no response. There were memories now, dark memories of her childhood with her hateful mother worming their way up from the back of her mind. She didn’t want to remember. She had no choice. Zalgo continued to hold her and say reassuring things, but she didn’t really hear what was being said.

“Look at me, Lazari,” he mumbled as he tilted her head up. Their eyes met, and with that, Zalgo was finally able to establish a mental connection with his child. He pressed his forehead to hers affectionately as he did what he could to dissipate the hurtful thoughts and feelings in her head. “I’m here now, little one. I’m here.”

She relaxed and wiped her eyes, feeling better but still not quite herself. Zalgo moved back to his chair and sat down again with Lazari in his lap. He motioned for Father Daniel to sit in the one across from them, but didn’t intend to force it if the man preferred to keep his distance. It made no difference to Zalgo what the priest did; he just wanted to spend time with his child for as long as he could.

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In another part of the world, a certain blue-masked man stalked around through backyards, climbing over fences in search of something to do…or, more specifically, someone to eat. He was hungry, had been so busy lately he hadn’t managed to keep proper track of his food stores, and now was out of preserved organs when he needed them most. At least the current holiday allowed him to wander without catching too much attention. He still had to remain mostly out of sight, but if someone caught a glimpse of him it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Jack climbed up to the top of the next fence in his path and perched on top of the thin wooden slats. There were people in the next yard, but thankfully a nicely placed tree kept him out of their view. They seemed to be having a little party, but strangely there wasn’t any music. Jack felt his stomach twisting with hunger and decided to move on and get what he needed; though he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off here.

Most of the fence was in shadow, and the majority of the people weren’t facing his direction anyway. Jack figured he just had to move slowly and carefully to the other side. He started on his way, keeping his attention toward the people. He reached his hand out to take another step and ended up nearly losing his balance when his hand grasped air at a gap in the fence instead of another piece of wood. He managed to stabilize himself until he heard a shout.

“What the fuck is that?!” Jack tensed and risked a glance at the people. They were facing the opposite direction. Jack looked where they were looking and spotted a familiar face…er, muzzle. Smile Dog was in his larger form, tiptoeing across the fence tops the same way Jack was. The canine seemed to notice the attention on himself and stopped to look at his audience with his terrifying fanged grin. The hellhound’s tail wagged a little and he jumped down into the yard and began to approach the group. The people didn’t take that well, of course; they backed away, yelled, looked for weapons.

Smile stopped going toward them and whined, tilting his head to the side. He hadn’t done anything wrong here, had he? Jack watched the scene through his altered senses. He didn’t like this. Smile barked and wagged his tail again as if trying to convince them he was friendly…but why? Jack knew Smile wasn’t one to approach humans like that, and certainly not in that form; he really only liked Jeff.

The guys in yard kept watch on the dangerous-looking creature in their midst, and Jack noticed too late that they had gradually moved to surround the canine. The two in front worked to distract Smile, the two on the sides closed in; Smile backed up into the last three who threw a thick chain around his neck and he let out a strangled bark as they tightened it. It was like they’d done this before.

They yelled to each other while they tugged at the chain to make Smile go where they wanted. The red Malamute struggled against them, whining and pulling against the bonds. Jack growled, preparing to step in as he saw them bring a cage out to the yard. The cage was large, but certainly not large enough to accommodate what they’d captured.

Jack dropped silently into the yard, unnoticed thanks to the fight Smile was putting up. They opened the cage door as he got closer, and Smile stopped struggling and sat on the grass. They tried to tug him into the cage, but he didn’t budge at all. Jack stopped as Smile started to laugh.

It was an eerie, bone-chilling sound that didn’t belong in a dog’s vocal cords, and the sound seemed to help the humans realize just how badly they’d fucked up here. Smile’s grin seemed to grow wider as he stood and shook himself. He stretched, then suddenly bolted off at full speed toward the other side of the yard, dragging the guys holding onto the chain hard against the rocks before making a sharp turn that slammed them into the wooden fence.

They let go of the chain as they collided with the hard surface, except one who yelled about being determined to make Smile his ‘champion fighter’. Oh, so that was it. Jack understood now; these guys were illegal dog fighters and had become Smile’s targets. That made a lot more sense. He figured there was no need to step in here, but he decided to stick around and enjoy the show in hopes that he could use some of the remains for his supper that night.

The demonic medic watched them try to run, watched Smile toy with them until he was finally ready to go in for the kill. In the end, only one remained. Smile pinned him on his stomach and held his head down with a single massive paw. He moved his head down to his target’s, and bit off half his ear with a disturbing tearing sound…then did the same with the other ear. The man, to his credit, didn’t cry…but he did yell at a decent enough volume.

“What’s wrong? You want to look tougher, don’t you?” Smile taunted him. The large canine speaking clear English in that creepy voice was the straw that broke the camel’s back, it seemed; he started to struggle harder and beg for his life to be spared. Smile bit into the back of his throat firmly, but not enough so to break skin. He lifted his target that way and carried him off toward the house.

Jack followed them around the side to a storm cellar. Smile broke open the door with ease and carried him down. The man was set on the floor in the middle of the cellar which had at least ten cages in it, each containing a depressed-looking, scarred dog.

“Let them out,” Smile ordered. The man started looking furiously around the basement, possibly for a weapon. Smile growled low in his throat, but the man still wouldn’t do it. Jack stepped into the cellar.

“Can I help?” he asked the hellhound. Of course, Smile wasn’t surprised at all – he’d known Jack was there since the beginning. He asked Jack to unlock the cages. Jack went to each one, pulling off locks and opening doors. He reminded Smile of Jeff on a raid as he went along. Soon all the dogs were out, and Smile led them in a frenzied attack against their former tormentor.

While the man was torn apart by dogs, Jack headed back up to the backyard with Smile’s permission to eat from the other corpses.

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“He just shouted ‘yeet’ and kicked me out,” Jeff was telling Liu, “Not even a push, he legit kicked my back.”

“Seriously? No warning or anything?” The elder Woods brother asked. Jeff shook his head.

“I’m lucky I didn’t pass out on the way down – I know I wouldn’t die from that kind of fall, but I’d still rather drift down on a parachute.” Liu chuckled a little. Jeff had apparently gone skydiving for the first time with BEN the day before, and Liu couldn’t say he was surprised at the poltergeist’s methods of coaxing his brother out of the plane considering all he knew about BEN.

Jeff took another drink of soda and popped a piece of dark chocolate into his mouth while he kept his gaze focused out on the hills. He and Liu had decided to meet at a condemned old farmhouse this year. It fit the spooky vibe of the holiday, they were unlikely to be disturbed given the dangerous reputation of the building’s construction, and they had a decent view. Well, Liu did anyway. Jeff’s vision certainly hadn’t improved over the years.

“Was it fun, though?” Liu asked.

“Kinda. It was a decent experience, but not as fun as I’d hoped. It might be more enjoyable for people who can actually see the world below them while they fall.” Jeff responded before taking another swig of his drink. He wasn’t usually a soda guy, but tonight was a special occasion. They fell into silence again for a moment.

“Do you ever get the feeling that something important is about to happen?” Liu asked randomly to break the silence.

“I guess,” Jeff shrugged. “I don’t really believe in superstitions.”

“I feel like something special will happen tonight. I don’t know what, but it’s going to be a major thing that makes a big change.” Liu said.

“I guess we’ll see if you’re right soon. If it’s a big change, we’re all gonna know about it by the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

“Yeah.” Liu agreed. The Brothers Woods sat in comfortable silence for a while longer, just enjoying each other’s company while they were able. As soon as dawn came, Sully would consider the annual treaty over and go back to trying to kill Jeff.

For now, they could pretend that they didn’t need to worry about that. For now, they were brothers again…at least until sunrise.

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He jogged through the Dark Wood at a decent pace – not too slow, not too fast. He didn’t want them to catch up to him just yet, but he didn’t want to lose them, either. He was surprised they had come after him so willingly despite the circumstances…most would be terrified to follow an unidentified masked man to an unfamiliar place secluded in the woods, especially on Halloween night. Especially considering the way he’d caught their attention in the first place.

He was almost there. He checked back to be sure they were still following, and thankfully they were. He lead them out of the Dark Wood, into a regular forest in the human world. He doubted they saw the changes in the trees at all as they went forward. His destination was in sight; he burst into the clearing and stopped by the shovel he had stabbed into the ground roughly a half-hour earlier when he was done digging.

His pursuers were there mere seconds later. They stopped toward the edge of the clearing, panting heavily from the sudden physical exertion they clearly weren’t used to like he was. There were three of them: two men, one with dark brown hair and brown eyes and the other with slightly longer, messier, and lighter hair; and a woman with long brown hair similar in color to the second man, and bright green eyes. All looked to be somewhere in their mid to late forties.

Masky watched them take stock of their surroundings; the woman and the first man looked confused and worried, but Masky saw a quick flair of recognition in the second man’s eyes. He remembered this place, and he remembered what he did here. His two companions were unaware of why they had been lead here, but he knew. That sick bastard knew his secret was going to be exposed and the proxy could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to think of a way to save his own hide.

Without a word, Masky lifted his hand out in front of him, a glint of metal hanging from his fingers catching the light of the full moon above them. He held it above the open pit next to him that he’d spent so long digging and organizing earlier. The woman covered her mouth with one hand in attempt to hold back tears as she broke away from those she’d come with and approached the wide hole.

She got to the edge of it despite the others trying to hold her back while she kept a wary eye on the proxy. He didn’t move, and she took a deep breath as she looked down into the hole. She collapsed to her knees as her eyes focused on what was there.

The pale bones were old and stained a tan-ish yellow by the dirt they’d been buried under for so long, arranged neatly in the shape of a skeleton on top of a grey tarp. They were clearly that of a young child, though no indications of the child’s exact identity were present…they didn’t need to be.

Mrs. Williams wept as she recognized the remains of her daughter who had been missing from her life for so long. Masky remained silent as the woman grieved, but offered her the piece of jewelry he had. The small necklace was dirty, having been buried with the bones so long, but the chain had held. She unwrapped it from its loose grip on the proxy’s fingers and held it to her chest. It was the final confirmation of what she already knew. It was Sally’s necklace, the one she always wore, the one that was around her neck the night she disappeared.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask this man, but she couldn’t get them out through her tears. She had always had a small, naïve hope that Sally would be found alive, and now that hope was gone. At the same time, there was a feeling of closure, an end to the morbid uncertainty. She felt so many emotions that she couldn’t quite sort out, and any attempts she made at speech came out in strangled, unintelligible sobs.

Her husband was by her side in an instant, holding her for comfort…but his eyes remained glued on the remains of his daughter. The proxy reached down into the hole and grabbed the edges of the tarp with hands that shook ever so slightly. He pulled the tarp around the bones and tied the top loosely like a bag before offering that to couple as well, and he finally spoke.

“She’s been here too long…she needs to go home.” He spoke quietly. Mrs. Williams wasted no time in taking the bag from him, holding it to her chest as she had the necklace, cradling what was left of her little one. The tears that rolled down her face fell onto the rough fabric and soaked through while Masky turned and ran full-speed at her brother…Sally’s killer.

He realized what was happening too late, and was tackled shortly after he turned to run. Masky tackled him to the ground, hard, and they both went rolling into the bushes out of sight of the clearing. Mr. Williams saw it happen and was torn between wanting to help and needing to stay with his wife. There was a yell from the bushes, followed by a wet cracking sound, then another…then another.

Maybe it was having her death avenged. Maybe it was having her remains fully unearthed. Maybe it was the feeling of her mother’s tears against her bones. Whatever the reason, Sally couldn’t ignore the harsh tugs pulling her spirit back to the site where she’d been buried anymore. Her soul, still dressed as the Queen of Hearts, appeared next to the open pit.

They were older now, much older than she remembered from the last time she saw them, but Sally recognized her parents’ faces. They didn’t notice her at first, as she stood there silently with Charlie gripped tightly to her chest. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. She never thought this would happen.

“Please don’t cry, Mommy.” The quiet words were hypocritical considering the tears that had started to fall from her own eyes. Mrs. Williams almost fell into the pit trying to reach her. Sally moved to stand in front of them, and the couple embraced their child for the last time.

“It’s okay…Masky took great care of me.” Sally assured her brokenhearted parents as they held her tightly and cried, perhaps in some misguided attempt to keep her with them. Said proxy was watching from just outside the clearing with blood staining both his coat and the rock in his hand. He didn’t want to interrupt their reunion, though he felt warm rivulets of saltwater tracing lines down his cheeks beneath his mask.

“I…I have to go now…can you take me back to the park down the street that we always went to? The one with the green slide?” Sally asked hopefully with a hand on the folded tarp in her mother’s lap as she started to fade away. Her parents made their promises and struggled to hold on, but two humans can’t fight the natural order of things. Their daughter smiled at them as she disappeared into the ether, her final words taking on a faint, echo-like quality.

“I love you.” Then, she was gone. Her parents stayed for a while, her father silent and her mother quietly weeping. The mourning parents eventually got to their feet, Mrs. Williams keeping an iron grip on precious cargo in her arms. They passed Masky on their way out of the clearing, and Mr. Williams gave him a small, knowing nod of thanks that the proxy returned. They didn’t ask about Sally’s killer. Nobody explained it to them, but somehow through the context of the events that had just occurred, they knew what had happened.

Once they were gone out of sight and earshot, Masky turned back to the pit. He placed the bloodied stone in it and picked up the shovel. It didn’t take him long to fill in the hole, symbolically burying the past where it belonged.

“Thank you.” He turned to see Sally standing behind him, her face set in a melancholy expression. She hadn’t actually moved on, after all – she just knew it would be easier on her family if they thought she had. At least now she would get a proper funeral, and her soul would no longer be restricted to this little, isolated area in the woods. Masky dropped the shovel and approached her.

“Are you alright?” He asked quietly. She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his stomach. She mumbled something, but he couldn’t understand. He held the ghost child he’d come to see as his younger sister as the faintest light began to make its way into the sky. They stayed like that for a while, and when she finally pulled away, he invited her to come stay with him at the cabin, at least until she knew what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go from here.

Sally accepted, and they walked off toward the Dark Wood together as the sun began to rise on a new day, shining with her new-found freedom.

//Sally can finally wander, y’all! She’s free from her area restriction! Masky’s a hero, and that is a hill I am willing to die on!//

#ask the good creeps #ask creepypasta #creepypasta #Halloween #all the pastas #short story

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hamliet · 4 years

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Girls Don’t Want Boys, Girls Want Monsters: Netflix’s The Witcher Review

Finally, the show we deserve.

Men get all their superhero power fantasies of kicking villain ass. Finally there’s a story that has that and includes women’s emotional power fantasies about falling in love with monsters who change. It doesn’t treat either as ridiculous or limited by gender, either, since Geralt falls for a monster too and women get to kick ass as well.

Essentially, it’s a story about defeating monsters: often through integration with the shadow, sometimes involving love and connection, sometimes violence, but the violence is never glorified. It’s good.

NB: I’m in the middle of reading the books (in the middle of Blood of Elves so far). I haven’t played the game since video games aren’t really a medium I enjoy. So I’ll make some comparisons since the show covered the two books I’ve read thus far, but please don’t put spoilers for the books below!

Let’s talk my favorite aspect of every story: characters.

Renfri.

Her story was somewhat sanitized from the books (it’s a lot more brutal what happened to Renfri) but well adapted. Both versions--the book and show--depict sincere empathy for our deconstructed Snow White. I loved her dialogue with Geralt, in which Geralt praises her for escaping the huntsman her stepmother hired to kill her, and she laughs and says that she didn’t. He let her go, but not before raping and robbing her. The story never directly answers if the prophecy was true or not; Geralt doesn’t believe it, but a lot of things Geralt doubts turn out to be true. Renfri was supposedly attacking animals as a child; however, the person reporting that is highly unlikely to be unbiased (Stregobor) so is this even true? Did Renfri become a killer because she was horribly abused and left with no other option? (That’s the option that I think seems most likely.)

We can’t know. The Witcher isn’t interested in giving its audience palatable answers. It’s interested in provoking questions. The show gives more answers than do the books, again likely due to the medium, but it still lets these questions linger.

Renfri’s story is not the first one in the books, but it is the first one the show adapts, and that’s a good decision imo. Her story embodies The Witcher’s themes and questions:

By acting the monster, we make monsters out of others.

To defeat monsters, you must be a monster.

What, then, can heal, especially in a world so broken?

Ciri.

Our deconstructed Rapunzel (yes, there are a lot of fairy tale references). As far as her story goes in its adaptation, the addition of Dara was well done. Sadly, no, Dara is not in the books, but his addition gave Ciri an arc beyond merely running in this story.

That said, Ciri in the books is much younger than she is in the show. Which is okay, because Ciri is somewhat emblematic of the future: there’s a lot unknown about her powers, she needs to be protected from everyone trying to grab her and use her powers for themselves. She is Geralt’s destiny, and she is the future of the world of The Witcher.

NB: I can’t discuss Ciri without shouting out to the casting director for casting Pavetta: how did they find an actress who looks so much like Ciri’s actress? It’s almost eerie.

The episode where Geralt finds out about the Law of Surprise and his reaction to Pavetta’s pregnancy is perhaps the only story that I felt was better in the show than in the books (again, this isn’t inherently a quality thing but a medium preference). It added some much-needed hilarity (Geralt’s perfectly-timed “destiny can go f--” *Pavetta vomits* and all he can say is, “fuck”) and gave Geralt an arc.

Geralt.

Mm.

I liked how they handled his character and his struggles with what it means to be a Witcher and/or human. His struggles to understand himself are relatable, and fairly well set-up for future exploration. He’s a foil of Ciri, Yennefer, Jaskier, and Cahir so far, and I’m particularly intrigued by the monster theme and the foiling that is already set up thus with all of the above except Jaskier (who is no monster). Geralt was skeptical about saving the striga for her father, but managed to succeed, and I wonder if he will somehow be able to save himself from his own inner fears/monster by being a father. (Basically, I am curious as to how being Ciri’s de factor dad is going to challenge him.)

Jaskier.

Or, Dandelion, as he’s known in the books. The bard adds some much needed levity to the tale, and as @aspoonofsugar says, he’s pretty much Donkey from Shrek. But he is used fairly well within the story: he shows Geralt even before Ciri and Yennefer enter his life that he has a purpose beyond being a killing machine. In that sense he’s the foil of Renfri (Renfri accomplishes the same, but through violence) in that Geralt saves him and he clearly thinks highly of the Witcher. Jaskier is in some ways humanity in all its paradoxes and foibles, annoying and stupid, kind and clever, funny and truthful, deceptive and respectful.

Cahir.

I’m a sucker for ravens as part of an aesthetic, as well as pretty, tormented bad boys. Yes, I know he’s a character I’m sure will arouse much handwringing and puritanical policing a la his other archetype brothers (Loki, Kylo Ren, Snape, etc). I don’t care. I do think the show made him much darker when compared to the books, but I still expect his arc to go in the same direction as the books. He’s a complicated, conflicted, complex character, and I’m not sorry for feeling empathy for him.

But I am curious about his foiling with Geralt. Both are characters seeking Ciri to fulfill... something, and monstrous in a way (Cahir more for what he does, but there’s a humanity to him as well).

Yennefer.

Finally, my favorite, my baby murder daughter.

Yennefer’s character was fascinating. I appreciated that she’s allowed to want deeply, her own wants, instead of attaching her wants to be whatever the male character desires. She wants to have children. She wants love. She wants to be beautiful. Her desires are traditionally feminine, and the show doesn’t put this down. And she also kicks ass and takes names, she fails, she’s allowed to be angry, to be mean often, to want to learn and to want to be the best.

The show doesn’t punish Yennefer for her ambition. Neither do the books. She experiences consequences, both positive and negative, for her every choice. The show reveals her backstory right away, whereas the books don’t, but again that’s a medium thing. I think both do excellently in setting up Yennefer for our empathy. It doesn’t apologize for her or her wants or actions; it lets her arc and the story itself do the talking.

Yennefer’s not here to be your cautionary tale or your role model. She’s just there to be her and to live.

That is, to an extent, perhaps the best kind of role model.

That doesn’t mean the show did everything in Yennefer’s story justice. I wasn’t thrilled with the adaptation of her first meeting with Geralt--the orgy in the background isn’t in the books and is a very bizarre decision given context. While, I loved Tissaia’s character and her foiling with Yennefer: they are too alike to ever get along, I really didn’t understand the point of Tissaia turning the other girls into slugs in episode 2. It was unsettling and not in the books. It was a heavy-handed metaphor not explained until episode 7 (about treating people as expendable slugs) that didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about how the world and Dark!Hogwarts worked. If anything it made the school seem foolishly cackling-mustache evil instead of the true current of darkness within it: manipulation and utilitarianism. As part of effort to control things, that control itself can lead to chaos.

I think the rest of the series set this precise dilemma of a precarious balance between self-control and manipulation/utilitarianism quite well, though (it goes hand-in-hand with the theme of a “lesser evil” to quote Renfri’s story). I’m excited to see this explored more.

Other comments:

When comparing the show to the books as I’ve read so far, I think the show made some smart changes for adapting to a visual medium. For example, Foltest and Adda’s story was adapted as a mystery: what is the monster? Who is the father? Who is the curser? Can the monster be saved? Whereas the book doesn’t do that: you know immediately that the monster is a striga, Foltest is the father, and he wants the striga saved. The answer to who cursed Adda is never clear in the written story either, whereas the show declares it was Ostrit (the book leaves it very much up in the air as to whether it was Ostrit or Adda’s mother). However, the way this particular episode weaves Adda’s story of rebirth with Yennefer’s rebirth was beautifully done. (Foltest is a good dad. We need more good dads in stories; of course, if we had more good dads, we’d have far less stories.) (I’m jesting.)

The dialogue is at times... well it’s not like it’s The Rise of Skywalker levels of “who wrote this???” but it’s not always stellar. Actually, I’d say the quality tends to swing wildly about between clever (episode 4) and just confusing (episode 5). But in general, I think the dialogue issue is representative of the show’s largest issue: it struggles to know when to trust its audience. When should it give details? When should it trust them? When is it spoonfeeding, and when is it just confusing? It tries to walk a fine line and stumbles a bit. It succeeds, however, with the characters as I mentioned earlier with Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri.

My advice for the show going forward (not that they should definitely listen to me) is to forget Game of Thrones. It’s pretty obvious that this show is a passion project made by people who love The Witcher. I really hope they lean into that aspect instead of into the GoT-replacement aspect (because there are definitely aspects of that, particularly in the mood/aesthetic, tone, and gratuitous nudity--which is not exploitative or disturbing, but it also wasn’t necessary, isn’t in the books, and so felt like pandering).

However, the sheer love for the material still really shines through. They made me care for the characters, they interested me in the world, and they have me hooked for season 2. The showrunners’ excitement for the story and adoration of its characters is contagious, and I hope the show lets this excitement spread.

#the witcher #netflix's the witcher #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #cahir #ciri #princess cirilla #hamliet reviews #jaskier #renfri

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queenpersephonesgarden · 6 years

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little devil darling

Fandom: Bendy and the Ink Machine Characters: Thomas Connor, Joey Drew, Allison Connor, Bendy Word Count: 2408 Inspired by: @squigglydigg‘s rather wonderful theory about the end of Chapter 5, and the Halloween spirit!

Can also be read on FFN and AO3

Mr. Drew doesn’t invite Thomas along for the grand ceremony to herald the Ink Machine’s first awakening on Wednesday night, which suits Thomas just fine; even if he’d been ordered to attend, he wouldn’t have gone back to that studio at night for all the extra pay in the world.

He’s spent more than his fair share of sleepless nights holed up in the dim, flickering lights, all alone, tweaking and readjusting the damned thing over and over. Trying to bring this ‘great technical marvel’ Mr. Drew had clumsily designed to life in a way that actually worked less on belief and prayers and more on engineering and logic. He’s not exactly eager to return unless the sun is up and there are at least a handful of other employees already there, thank you very much.

So, Thomas isn’t there the night the machine finally works, but he arrives the Thursday morning afterwards to see the results after a lengthy, half-coherent phone call with Mr. Drew, who’d been too excited to get half his words out.

He comes in a couple hours early because at least Mr. Drew promised a bit of overtime, and he is a bit curious to see what exactly resulted from the boss man’s special experiment. But when he enters the chamber where the infamous Machine is glugging away gallons of the studio’s precious ink, Thomas is suddenly really wishing he’d taken that vacation Allison had suggested.

“What in the hell?”

The question kind of slips out without Thomas really meaning it to, because Christ Almighty, there is a hulking, dripping thing lurking just in Mr. Drew’s shadow, and for a moment Thomas is afraid to make any sudden moves, attract its attention, but his voice seems to have already done that, if the eerie way it turns its malformed head towards him is any indication.

Thomas can’t help but swallow hard as a goopy, unsettling grin slowly tilts curiously to the side, like it’s watching him, but before he can start retreating out the door the way he came Mr. Drew finally spins away from the Machine.

“Isn’t he wonderful?!” Thomas has never seen Mr. Drew so ecstatic before, face alight with a joy that had all but faded in the last few years of the studio’s decline into bankruptcy. He’s standing up tall and straight as he can without leaning on his cane, like he’s trying to appear as large as the thing standing behind him. “I knew you had it in you, Mr. Connor! Your redesigns really did the trick, my boy! It stopped clogging and accepted the model just like you said it would!”

The compliments practically fly over Thomas’ head, as most of his attention is fastened to the monstrosity Mr. Drew seems to be ignoring rather masterfully.

“Sir,” Thomas coughs, because God, what the hell- “What- uh, what did you-?”

“Oh, he’s just marvelous, isn’t he?!” Mr. Drew turns right around and beams up at the oozing monster like it’s the best Christmas present he’s ever seen, and Thomas feels a chill go down his spine when the thing just angles its head down and continues grinning back even though from here it doesn’t look like it can properly see, what with its eyes being nonexistent. “He’s just a prototype, but he came right out on the first try! I didn’t even have to reset the levers or anything; he crawled right out after the sketch was put in!”

“‘He?’” Thomas asks weakly. There’s a lot more he should be saying – hell, there’s plenty he should be screaming at this point – but his brain is refusing to cooperate. Words are completely failing him, because his eyes can barely comprehend what they’re seeing.

Mr. Drew cheers a bit, shaking his cane around in excitement, and if he were a younger man he might have broken into a happy jig.

“Yes! Bendy, of course!” he says, and.

What?

Is that what this is supposed to be?

Looming just behind Mr. Drew’s shoulder, the thing sways a little bit, like a sudden breeze might make it topple over and crush him.

Thomas musters something that might resemble an understanding smile, and backs out of the room as slowly as he can, trying not to look like he’s running away.

Mr. Drew hardly seems to notice his departure, ecstatically circling back around the Machine, chanting words that aren’t even English and waving his arms around like a loon.

Back where it had been left, the thing that might be Bendy the Dancing Demon hadn’t taken its attention off of Thomas, head still tilted to watch his exit, still smiling smiling smiling.

Once he reaches the corner, Thomas gives up on any pretenses and books it out of there like a bat out of hell.

He can still feel the thing’s invisible eyes on him all the way out of the studio.

While the experiment might seem like a success in some ways, in many ways it most definitely is not.

The strange, towering husk is almost nothing like the little devil darling it’s supposed to be.

Sure, it’s got the iconic horns and the unnaturally wide grin of its cartoon counterpart, but that’s about where the similarities end.

This thing is tall, unnaturally so, like its body is made out of taffy that’s been stretched out too long. It’s horns nearly brush the ceiling and its arms are nearly as long as it’s body. One hand has the glove reminiscent of the real Bendy, while the other is just an ugly, black paw, fingers jagged and curled slightly like claws.

And it drips everywhere, continuously oozing puddles and streaks of dark ink all across the ground wherever it goes, staining the floor just as much as all the damned burst pipes always do.

“It’s a damn menace!” Sammy Lawrence snarls at lunch time, voice booming through the breakroom like it usually does when he’s in a terrible mood and he needs everyone else to know. “Fuckin’ freak thinks it can wander into my studio and-! There’s ink all over the damned walls! How the hell am I supposed to write a damned thing when half my papers are soaked darker than Satan’s soul?!”

Thomas, picking wordlessly at his lukewarm tuna sandwich, watches Eddie and Marge and Frankie all nod seriously in agreement, and can’t help pursing his lips.

The animators and half the rest of the staff are practically in an uproar about the thing, which has meandered its way all across the studio and back in the day and a half since it was brought into existence. At first, they were too creeped out by its’ appearance to say much against Mr. Drew, but ever since it started seriously disrupting people’s work with its random disappearing-reappearing through walls act, they’d been getting a little more vocal about their displeasure in private, where neither the boss man or the thing in question could hear them.

Sammy looks about five seconds away from storming out of the room and demanding a word with Joey, and honestly Thomas is almost tempted to let him; if there’s anyone in this place that can kick up enough of a storm to actually get Mr. Drew’s attention, it’s Sammy Lawrence and his sharp tongue and even sharper temper.

But the same, creeping feeling of being watched is still on him, even now, hours later and with the thing not even in the room, and Thomas isn’t feeling up to pressing his luck right now.

“You managed just fine when the pipes burst, yeah?” he dares to ask, raising an eyebrow at Sammy’s outraged sputtering.

This could become a nice, distracting argument, but even thinking about defending the monster is killing Thomas’s appetite, and he shoves back from the table with a scowl.

“Up yours, Connor!” Sammy hollers after him as he heads out into the hallway.

Thomas waves over his shoulder and skirts around a fresh ink puddle without looking.

Thomas gets called in to deal with another burst pipe in the animator’s department, and ain’t it just his great luck that he finds the thing standing right in the middle of the room, hunched over a bit to accommodate for its massive height and the low ceiling, smiling smiling smiling in that creepy way it does as it seemingly watches Mr. Drew with poor Frankie at the man’s desk.

“It needs to be completely on model this time, Mr. Chambers,” Mr. Drew’s voice is poisonously sweet as he loomed ominously over the animator, expression calm but the look in his eyes bordering on murderous as he stared Frankie down.

Thomas winces in sympathy as Frankie gestures uselessly at whatever is on his desk, face set in a stubborn scowl that’ll probably get him fired.

“Sir, ya said so yourself; the sketches I gave you yesterday were on model! Those Bendy’s looked like every other cartoon we’ve ever released, they were perfect, so I don’t see how it’s my fault the-” he coughed a bit, glanced at the shadow standing right in the middle of the room, and grimaced. “-the model your Machine spat out is as deformed as it is! Maybe you should be taking a look at-!”

“The Machine worked exactly as it was supposed to!” Mr. Drew snapped, and Thomas pretends very hard like he’s studying the leaking pipe he’s over here to fix, because the Machine was working just fine when he’d been working on it, but that was back before all the weird voodoo shit was thrown in, and he’s not sure he wants to see what would happen if he decided to mention that.

Another chill goes shooting up his spine, and Thomas glances over his shoulder to find the thing slowly drifting closer to the wall he’s working next to as both Frankie and the boss man continue their little discussion.

His entire body stiffens at the thing’s approach, and Thomas is just contemplating how much trouble he’s likely to get in if he reaches for his wrench and takes a swing at it, but he doesn’t need to worry; the thing drifts farther and farther to the right until it reaches the corner opposite Thomas. It hits the wall, and Thomas half expects it to phase through the wood like it’s been doing all damn day, but instead it just sort of leans listlessly against it, unmoving for a long minute, until its form slowly crumples up into an awkward, misshapen ball, like a pouting child in timeout.

The comparison does nothing for Thomas’s nerves, and neither does the sudden thud and the sound of paper ripping coming from Frankie’s desk.

“Just do better this time, Mr. Chambers!” Mr. Drew is still smiling that unhappy smile as he walks away, limping heavily even with his cane, not even looking back when Frankie throws up his hands in frustration and proceeds to rip up even more papers from his desk.

“Whatever you say, sir,” Frankie mutters sourly, gathering up his ink pot and a few folders before stalking out after the boss, expression thunderous.

The door slams closed after the duo’s dramatic exit, and Thomas is left with the horrifying realization that he is alone in here, and that thing is also very much still here.

Ruined scraps of paper float gently off Frankie’s desk after it’s owner’s hasty departure, and they scatter a bit across the floor.

In the corner of the room, the thing has started to rock back and forth. A disturbing choking sound is emanating from the back of its throat, and Thomas can feel gooseflesh rising up all along his arms as it thumps it’s head gently against the wall with a gentle splat-splat, staining the wall with ink.

If Thomas didn’t know any better, he’d say it was crying, curled up like a frightened kid and making itself as small as possible.

“Would you stop that?”

He doesn’t mean to talk to it. He doesn’t want to talk to it, because it’s not a fucking person, but it’s crying and he doesn’t know why.

Thomas’s throat rasped, voice curiously strained for some reason. His tone was a lot quieter than he’d meant it to be, but if he tried to go any louder he might really start screaming. “You’re Drew’s special little project, ya hear? You ain’t got nothin’ to cry about. Stop that.”

A half-finished sketch of what looks like Boris the Wolf lands on Thomas’s shoe, and he shakes it off with a scowl.

The thing chokes a little louder, and Thomas gets up and grabs his toolbox and walks back out of the room. Someone else can deal with the leak for now. He’s really not in the mood.

Allison finds him, after work is over for the day and he’s still packing up his things. She bursts into the room like she’d run all the way here from the recording studio, entire body trembling like a leaf in a storm and eyes haunted.

He doesn’t ask, just opens his arms and holds onto her when she falls into him with a gasp.

“I said ‘hi’ to it,” she whispers, voice so hoarse he can barely hear it even when her chin is pressed into his shoulder. “It came up behind me, and I wasn’t thinking, and I said ‘hi’ because I thought it was Sammy and it- I thought-”

She sobs hard, can’t speak for a moment, and Thomas can’t do anything but tighten his arms around her, ignore the angry fire banking in his gut as she shakes apart.

“It said- I thought it said ‘Hi Alice’, and the voice-! The sounds it made- oh, god, Tom, that’s not human, whatever it is, and it’s- it’s so sad-!”

Words fail her, and Allison buries her face into his neck and cries her heart out.

Above them, Thomas listens to ink flow sluggishly through the pipes. It never sounded so much like a moaning voice, before.

Thomas hands in his resignation letter the Monday after a long weekend of thinking.

Marching back out of the studio with his head held high, he ignores the stares of his former colleagues and keeps his shaking hands balled into fists at his sides.

The ink thing that might be Bendy wanders past him on the way out, face still dripping inky tears and smiling smiling smiling all the while.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #fanfiction #squigglydigg #my writing #Bendy the Dancing Demon #Thomas Connor #Joey Drew #Allison Connor #Allison Pendle #Halloween

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mareebrittenford · 6 years

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The Extra Fakes- Shadow Mirrors Chapter 2

I’ve decided that I’m going to update this every Friday. So here is the 3rd installment (it’s chapter 2 because I broke the first chapter in half). I have made a WIP page, so you can keep track of things there, and I’ll also be posting to Patreon, so any subscribers will get automatic updates when the new post comes out.

As always I appreciate any support for my writing, so please check out my novels #1, #2, patreon and ko-fi!

Also here’s a link to the first part in case you missed it.

Lionel messages me to set up an early morning run, which is a bit surprising, until he shows up with David.

Of course.

I glare at him. Was I really planning on giving this guy the benefit of the doubt? I told him no, and so he went around me to get what he wanted anyway. I briefly consider ditching them both, but that's only going to make me look petty. Instead I decide to experiment on him. That's fair, right?

David is already wearing (rather pretentiously I think) his team shirt. Did he even get a chance to wash it?

"So, you landed him?" I say to Lionel. Perhaps I can ignore David for the whole run.

"We came to terms. Can I go in real quick and use your bathroom?"

I groan. "Use the sucker fan!" I am too closely acquainted with what morning runs do to that boys digestive tract.

Lionel gives me a jaunty wave and heads inside, leaving me and David standing there alone, and me wondering if any of Lionel's 'terms' involved me. He wouldn't do that to me, would he? Besides, I still don't quite know if David was hitting on me or is just really intense about getting a running partner. I haven't figured out how to read him, which is unsettling. Most people are easy to read. Perhaps if I could actually see his face. But he's got that cap on again, pulled down to hide his eyes, even though the sun hasn't even cleared the horizon.

We stand there in awkward silence. The thing that is really annoying me is that before he got all weird and pushy I liked him. Not falling in love with him liked him, but a lets be friends liked him. I'd thought he'd seemed nice. Are my instincts off? I'm not used to that.

"You know the fairy house?" I ask. Demand really.

He looks startled. "The what?"

"Oh, it's this stupid old house that Lyse is obsessed with," Lionel says, joining us, finally. "I guess this means we're going to run a route past it. Where do you normally like to run?" he asks David as we head off down the street.

"I like the river trails, or I head into the hills and trail run." I knew it. He probably uses his runs to scout places to hide the bodies of his murder victims.

"Cross country would probably be your thing then."

"Yeah I guess."

They chatter back and forth, and I drop behind them feeling irritable. I'm completely ignored. They've probably forgotten I’m here. Perhaps I should just take off on my own.

"How many miles do you normally run a week?" Lionel asks.

"Carlyse asked me that yesterday." David glances back at me, as if he knows what I'm thinking and wants to make it clear that he's still aware of me. "I don't keep track. But usually about two hours a day."

"And you don't know your pace either?"

"No, I just run. Sometimes I take it easier, sometimes I push myself, but I don't know how fast I am."

Lionel shakes his head at this. Someone as results orientated as him finds this sort of attitude incomprehensible.

David seems so easy and comfortable I'm starting to wonder if that whole thing he told me about panic attacks and anxiety was fake, a way to gain sympathy. Because apparently I'm ready to believe all sorts of bad stuff about him now.

And then we make the turn onto Orangethorpe. Giddy anticipation starts to build up inside me, knowing how close we are. I don't know when I started looking forward to seeing this house like it's all my Christmases come at once, but that's almost how exciting it feels as I see it coming up.

After the weirdness with Brad I'm curious to see what David thinks of it.

But what I don't expect is for him to stop dead and stare.

"Where the hell did that place come from?"

"I'm guessing it was built in the twenties?" I say, uncertain of what he means. "It looks like that sort of design."

"It wasn't there before."

"It's not fake." I hate fake old stuff. I'm no expert on architecture, but I looked at some of the books Georgia had about local history and houses, and I'm certain this place really is almost a century old.

"Not what I meant. There was a model train store here. I know there was. I've been inside."

He pulls his hat off and fixes me with that intense stare. "What is going on here? What are you guys?"

"Look dude," Lionel says, and pats him on the shoulder.

David jumps in the air like a startled cat and spins, giving Lionel a terrified look, and then takes off down the street.

"Damn. Okay,” Lionel says.

David's fast. And I feel guilty for thinking that maybe he lied about his anxiety issues, because that was a guy in panic.

Lionel starts after him, but I can see that there is no way he's catching up. So I don't bother. I can't imagine that running him down when he's panicked is the best move anyway. He wants to get away from us, not be pursued.

Instead I do something that I've never done before. I walk up the broken concrete path that curves across the lush lawn.

There is no direct access to the house. Instead there’s a wall made of odds and ends, sheets of roofing iron, concrete block, and a whole section of tiny strips of wood all nailed together like some modern art sculpture. The whole thing is overgrown with vines, and in the middle of it is a gate. It's pretty in a faded sort of way. It's made of wood, with an arched top and a diamond shaped peephole insert made of lattice. It was once blue, but all that's left of the peeling paint is on the lattice and in the grooves between the pieces of wood.

There's no handle or latch, only a keyhole. I push on it, but it doesn't give.

My heart is pounding, I'm sure that someone is going to yell at me at any moment, but I can't help myself, I bend and try to peek between the lattice slats. But all I can see is vines. Does this gate even work?

I press my hand against it one more time, and a thrill runs up my arm, and I know that I have to see what's on the other side.

I start looking for a place to climb over. Perhaps those slats of wood can give me a toe hold.

"Lyse?"

I look around and Lionel is standing on the sidewalk staring at me.

I turn back and test my first foothold.

"What are you doing?" he asks, his voice much closer now.

"What does it look like? I'm going to see what's over there. Maybe I can figure out what scared David."

He grabs my arm and pulls me back, away.

"Are you crazy? You can't just go climbing fences into peoples yards."

I look at him and then back at the wall. "But I really need to see what's over there."

"How about we come back later then? After we find David?"

"He had a panic attack."

"Or something. We should find him."

Once we're back on the sidewalk I shake my head. Was I really about to climb that fence just because? But for a moment there it felt like the most important thing in the world.

But David is frightened. We should try to help him. How did I forget that?

"He really did have a panic attack. He told me that he gets them." I say.

Lionel looks stricken. "We need to find him."

We don't find David.

I worry about him until I catch a glimpse of him later at school. He looks- perhaps not fine- but normal. His hat pulled down over his face, his body language making a stab at invisible, although now I've noticed him he's anything but. He's more like a lurking predator, invisible until he choses not to be. When I try to catch his eye he looks right through me.

It's like that for the rest of the month. He's on the team, but he shows up right before practice and leaves as soon as it's over, so I never get a moment to talk to him. He's always alone on the long runs too, I know he’s varying his pace to keep it that way. I'm getting frustrated with him shutting me out, but Lionel is thrilled. The boy really is as good as he thinks he is. He's pretty decent as a sprinter, although he's not really tall or muscular enough to be excellent. Where his real talent lies is as a distance runner. Out there no one can keep up with him. And he is showing up for practices. He's just avoiding social stuff.

Lionel tells me that he tried to talk to the guy and figure out what spooked him that morning, but he can't get him to give a straight answer about it. He's doing better than me. I can't even get him to look me in the face.

I know he's watching though. I catch glimpses of him around school. Which, okay that's normal. It's not like he's hiding the bushes or peeking in my windows. But I feel his eyes on me at school, like I'm a puzzle he's trying to figure out.

I try to forget about him, put him out of my mind.

But the house won't let me. And I guess my conscience won't either. Somehow the fairy house and David have become entangled in my mind, and I can't stop thinking about either of them, and whether I did something to betray his trust in me.

It doesn't help that I'm starting to wonder if the entire team is playing a practical joke on me. Although it feels more like my sanity being questioned.

Because as I run with different people over the next few weeks I start specifically pointing out the fairy house. Asking casual questions.

Everyone else sees a model train store. Everyone. Except me, Lionel, Georgia, and apparently David.

I'm so spooked and frustrated that on Friday afternoon when Georgia and I pick up Melody from school I make them both walk over to Orangethorpe with me, and the three of us stand in front of the house.

"Okay," I demand. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"You've shown it to me before. It's a cool old house," Georgia says. "Is this the one that you've been saying is haunted or something? Because I could totally believe it."

I heave a massive sigh of relief. Okay. I'm not crazy. I'm being pranked. The team is pranking me.

"Oh! Thomas!" Melody squeals.

I look at her with dread.

"What?"

"Thomas, look see? They have trains like Thomas. But I like Percy better. Maybe they have Percy."

I crouch down next to her.

"Did someone tell you to say that? Was it one of my friends from school?"

She frowns at me in confusion. And then before I can stop her she races away from me, and- disappears.

"Melody!" I scream. And then she just sort of comes back, right in front of me. I grab her hand.

"Georgia, did you see that?"

"Huh? What?" She says. She's staring up at the trees rising over the house's fence with a dreamy look on her face. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What happened?"

All my giddy feels for the house have frozen like ice in my guts.

Before now, it was fun, a little eerie, frustrating too, but fun. Or maybe a crazy prank. But I just saw my sister disappear into a void or something. It's not funny or cool anymore.

I grip Melody's hand more tightly.

"Let's go home."

tagging @pinehutch @focusdumbass @timeenoughforamasterpiece @maximillianvalentine @q-oetry @rosy-writes as always if you’d like to be added or removed from this list please shoot me a message or comment on this post!

#the extra fakes #wip boost #serial urban fantasy #YA #superpowers

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obikinbigbang · 7 years

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Summaries!

(I’m so sorry these are late.) Artists take a peek at these summaries and have in mind which you would like to work with. Please remember that if you are under 18, you will be paired with a SFW fic. I don’t know which ones fully are which, but there are some clearly NSFW ones, so don’t cling to those. It’s not gonna happen. (I don’t mean to be mean, but this is just how it is.) Anyways, love the ideas folks!

These are the ones that were submitted. Still need to submit a summary, or would like to post an updated/longer version?

Please do so here!

Also if you know there will be NSFW, please let me know, so we can help plan ahead of time.

★ by @anibun-skywalker [NSFW]

Anakin was a freshman at Coruscant Republic University with a full ride basketball scholarship. His skills had been rumored to have been the best in the area, but of course, only by high school standards. Anakin quickly discovered that the head coach, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was the most attractive man he had ever seen in his life. He only intended his coach to remain just that; his coach. Too bad that didn’t work out like he planned.

★ by @prideandprejudiceandkittens [NSFW]

Anakin and Obi-Wan crash-land on the Planet of the Living Force. And, Anakin being Anakin, finds a glowing cave and walks straight into it. When he comes out, he's not alone. A creature of pure Force-dust and soul, his daemon, walks beside him, powerful enough to manifest daemons in those around her. Now back at the Jedi temple, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, and even Mace and Yoda find their lives destabilized by the presence of their soul, palpable and alive, next to them. (To artists: daemons are animals, an idea taken from His Dark Materials.

★ by @darthvders [NSFW]

So my fic is a professor!Obi-Wan and TA/GA!Anakin au where Anakin has just leaving an abusive relationship with the help of Padmé. Obi-Wan is a Philosophy/Ethics professor and Anakin is his GA /TA who is in graduate school to get his masters in both philosophy and psychology (he's a double major). Obi-Wan doesn't feel like he's ready to take on a GA/TA and comes off as standoffish which leads Anakin to think he hates him. It's a slow burn friends to lovers with Anakin going to therapy and realizing that yes he does deserve to be happy. The abusive relationship is more implied and is only in the first chapter, with the occasional flashbacks. This fic will be nsfw but the nsfw will only be between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

★ by @blumyosotis [SFW~]

Ben was born in a distant Moon where the inhabitants worship and are descended from the Starbird, a great flaming bird that is the personification of the Force. He was sent to the Jedi when he was young and apprenticed under Yoda. Years later, in a mission with Qui-gon Jinn to save the Naboo Queen, they emergency land in the planet Tatooine and there he meets a young boy called Anakin who holds the galaxy in his eyes... and apparently can see his wings. He brings(in a manner of speaking) the child back with him to the Temple. Anakin chooses to become a Jedi to help people and becomes an unofficial padawan of Ben. When he is older, the two goes on missions to help a torn kingdom, rescue royalties, topple a dicatorship, and help incite a slave rebellion. Anakin totally loves his master.

★ by @ninadown [NSFW]

Just smut, and lots of it. #Master kink #daddy kink Obi Wan, Anakin and Padme live in New York in a poly relationship. Obi Wan comes from money and can be a bit arrogant at times. He is a New York Times reader and he also works as a negotiator for the UN, and as such, is a Very Important Person. He has the ear of the president on occasion. Anakin is a bit flighty, and is a very high in demand male model. Not that this has gone to his head…When he’s not obsessing about working out, he’s obsessing about his Master. He has somewhat of a rivalry with Padme when it comes to his Master’s attentions. Padme is a hard working chef at a posh restaurant. She is very competitive and sometimes her work tends to occupy all her time. In fact, she may be a bit of a workaholic. Until she gets distracted by the boys…. Padme loves when her daddy spoils her with attention, it really takes her mind of her stressful job. She may have a competition with Anakin, but at the end of the day when Obi Wan isn’t home they definitely know how to distract each other….

★ by @cuddlykoalas [NSFW]

Anakin gets taken in by Sidious when he's still a boy on Tatooine. As a young Sith Lord trying to survive in a galaxy quickly descending into war, he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight, tea provider and all around mother hen. That's not exactly improving his life expectancy, though.

★ by @grayjedii [NSFW]

Recently knighted Anakin Skywalker is assigned a simple transport mission at the Council’s insistence. Upon arriving on Dantooine, Anakin discovers that his “cargo” is a dangerous prisoner whom he must escort to Coruscant where the man will be safely contained in the Jedi Detention Center. However, not all goes as planned, and as Anakin finds out, not everything is quite as it seems concerning the prisoner. Additionally, fresh in the young Jedi’s mind is the death of his master, Qui-Gon Jinn. As he attempts to come to terms with the loss, Anakin is drawn into doubting his past, his beliefs, and the Order itself. Complicating things further, Anakin is unable to resist his fascination with the prisoner, Obi-Wan, and develops a strange attachment to him. It should be unsettling—the extent to which Anakin connects with this man—instead, Anakin finds it all too natural, like stoking a fire that had always been there, lingering between them in long-forgotten dimness. Whispers of the Sith’s return do nothing to quell the situation, and somehow, Anakin finds himself falling not to the darkness, but for Obi-Wan.

★ by @ice-mint [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

Anakin lives a boring life in his mother's farm near the dessert Town of Tatooine and works in a minumun wage job. All of that is going to change when he witneses an ongoing mission and picks up the dashing J.E.D.I knight Obi Wan Kenobi. In a world in the verge of war Anakin Skywalker may have what it takes to become part of a shady organisation and stop a tyrant from gaining ultimate power. (I dont know yet if there will be smut, but count on lewd jokes and make out sessions,)

★ by @selcier [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

Anakin decides that in order fulfill his prophecy of the Chosen One, he needs to take up the Father’s demand to stay on Mortis. Anakin believes that this will enable the War to end quickly. Obi-wan supports his decision with the caveat that he be allowed communication with Anakin. He is proud of Anakin for putting aside his worldly wants in order to follow the guidance of the Force. However, over the course of Anakin’s stay on Mortis, he begins to lose less and less of himself while become immersed the Force. He lacks initiative and is distant from the events in the rest of the galaxy. Obi-wan finds this change disturbing and eventually realizes his attachment to Anakin after the parts of his personality are lost to lethargy. Also, Anakin’s actions do not seem to affecting the War in the Republic’s favor. More and more systems are falling under Separatist control, the Senate bogged down in committees and inaction and the Jedi are decreasing in numbers. On a mission to Onderon with Ahsoka (whose training Obi-wan has taken over), Obi-wan feels the lack of motion in the War and chooses to aid the rebel group in guerrilla tactics. His methods are beyond the scope of self-defense and the Council deems them Terroristic in nature. He is ordered to return to Coruscant. Instead, Obi-wan finishes his task and decides to liberate Anakin from Mortis. Anakin wakes up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to find that he has missed two years of the War. He is frustrated that his actions were in vain and angry at the Force for its deception. He finds out that Obi-wan has been Court Martialed for his actions and is being held in a GAR military prison. Eventually, they have words about their goals and expectations while Obi-wan is awaiting trial. (This story will probably play out in a nonlinear fashion with hints to past Obikin interactions. Clearly there’s no ending yet!)

★ by @stopaskingme [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

[AU] Obi-Wan is a hermit, herding shaak on the grassy dunes of Osten, Stewjon. He had no intention of attending the Skywalker clan's annual gathering of Force-users. Until the Prime Minister of Stewjon came begging at his door.

★ by @thishereanakinguy [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

Post-ROTS AU. Anakin makes the right decision in Palpatine's office, but ends up suffering the consequences. Effects of the Force Lightning has damaged his health, and Padme has still died, the twins with her. In mourning, Anakin struggles to piece his life back together. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan is tasked by the Council to keep an eye on their Chosen One: he made the right choice once, but could they trust him to do it again? Could they trust him not to cause himself harm? Short answer is no. Long answer is Obi-Wan and Anakin dance around each other and their feelings until they can't anymore.

★ by @askgrelf [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

In the wake of his premature death, Anakin is left trapped in the physical realm as a Ghost. Confused and troubled, with pieces of his past left unfixed and broken, he struggles to come to terms with what was his reality as truths, lies and corruption are revealed in a twisted puzzle between the Jedi and Sith. All the while watching helpless as Obi-Wan begins to succumb to the fate that should have been his. All while slowly fading away out of existence - and the Force - eternally as he and his master both remain lost afoot. (Heavy angst, inspired by the song "Dear Agony").

★ by @imaginaryanon [SFW~]

Modern day London; Anakin Skywalker, a young man who's accidentaly always in trouble with the law, is in bigger trouble than usual. He's about to get his ass locked up when a fancy, suit-wearing stranger arranges for him to be discharged. The stranger introduces himself as Obi-Wan Kenobi and leaves Anakin with more questions than answers as well as an address of a tailor shop in Savile Row. But not before he takes Anakin for a drink at a local pub and, after they're rudely interrupted, proceeds to beat up four grown men into unconsciousness without so much as breaking a sweat. "Well fuck me," Anakin whispers in shocked awe. "At least buy me dinner first," Obi-Wan replies, grinning. [basically a Kingsman AU but, like, even gayer]

★ by @musicandfandomtrash [SFW]

Anakin goes missing in the outer rim and it's up to Obi-Wan to find him. But after almost a year of searching, he's beginning to lose hope. With Satine dead and Ahsoka gone, he's isolated and lonely. He never had the chance to tell Anakin what he truly meant to him. And now he's afraid he never will. When Obi-Wan is sent a planet in the outer rim, he meets a very young girl who may have the information he's been so desperately searching for. Will this be what leads Obi-Wan to his love? Or will this supposed lead turn into a trap?

★ by @skywalkerssassyginger [NSFW BY DEFAULT]

As far as he knew, Obi-Wan hadn't signed up to be the exclusive, pioneering member of the Anakin Skywalking Disaster clean-up crew. However, when Padme Amidala shows up on his doorstep, neck bruised and heavily pregnant, of course he couldn't turn her away. Anakin's gotten involved in the Sith. You'd be a fool not to know the name of the gang, or speak of it in anything higher than a whisper. Of course Anakin had been getting into nothing but trouble since they had last spoken, just short of a year ago. Soon after, Padme dies in childbirth. Her eyes drift away with a pen in hand, Luke and Leia Kenobi drawn out in soft cursive.

★ by @autisticanakin [NSFW]

Anakin Skywalker is a cloaked force-sensitive working in the Senate as the new Coruscant representative under Palpatine's guidance. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Senator shortly returned from a leave of absence, can't stand him, with Senator Skywalker's reputation being that of a morally grey, pleasure seeking, bribe taking scoundrel. When the threat of the Sith becomes evident in the galaxy, Senator Kenobi sets to researching. He soon finds himself put on senatorial assignments with Anakin Skywalker.

#summaries #obikinbigbang2017 #obb2017 #obikin #admin a

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careergrowthblog · 7 years

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What happens when schools don’t permanently exclude?

Recent figures showed a welcome increase in the number of permanent exclusions. This shows that schools are moving in the right direction, by putting the victims of the poor behaviour first.

This invariably results in lots of very liberal people condemning schools for just not being understanding enough. Don’t teachers know that poor behaviour is just children trying to communicate their “unmet needs”? Recent reports about the hundreds of rapes and thousands of sexual assaults that happen in our schools don’t seem to have affected the willingness of those who argue that children are natural saints, corrupted only by their circumstances, or their unsympathetic teachers. “Inclusion Machismo” where virtue-signalling headteachers boast about how they never exclude because that would be “giving up on children” can also help to discourage exclusions.

When somebody told me yesterday that children are permanently excluded for “persistent aggravating behaviour” and that before supporting exclusions I should accept that it’s hard to concentrate if you are hungry, cold or worried, I thought it worth looking into what behaviour teachers actually face by asking the following question on Twitter and Facebook:

What is the worst behaviour you’ve encountered where the student involved was not permanently excluded?

The thread is still being commented on and can be found here. Note that many of these responses go back to the height of “inclusion” and may not reflect how schools now behave. I can say that I’ve seen nothing like this in my last 3 schools. However, these are a fair indicator of what happens when schools are discouraged from excluding. (I’ve tried to include only those from mainstream schools in the UK but may not have done this perfectly).

In my NQT year a pupil tried to burn down the blinds with an aerosol can and matches, then tried to headbutt me when I intervened.

Confiscated a knife whilst on PGCE placement.

A reception class child; tried to throw a child out of a window; choking; spitting; constant swearing; punching; stabbing; scratching I walked him around in an armlock most of the time. Lasted 2 months before the Ed Ps[y]ch got top see him. Left school. Next school instantly excluded. I tried my best but I wasn’t a 1 man referral unit. Looking back I should have taken a day off …In another school I “took” 8 yr old into the hall after he punched a helper. He lifted a chair to throw at me and fell backwards. Hilarious.

Mimicked a teacher, backed them into a corner and blocked escape with a chair. Detention given and rearranged to allow for a football match.

can of Coke opened in my face and was threatened with rape on my pgce placement in M[ain]stream.

Loud racist comments at teacher and other students. “Well, you have to understand, he’s going through some things…”

A student making gorilla sounds to the face of a black teacher

A girl spat in my face a few years ago.

Student repeatedly came into my class and called me a c*nt. so I locked him out. He went crazy, he and another student tried to break the door down and almost succeeded. [The[ doorframe had to be replaced. My crime I stopped him talking to someone in my class by closing the window.

Wow, worst is a big shout. Not sure how to define this. Just in 2017:

Yr 8 Punched HT in belly

Yr 7 White supremacist Graffiti

[Year] 10s Homophobic attack

[Year] 11s Racist attack on EE kid

[Year] 11s Organising gambling on yr 7 fights

[Year] 11s Dealing canabis

[Year] 8s Theft from a T[eacher]’s Wallet

Chair thrown at staff with intent

That’s just off the top of my head, incidents I have had dealings with

A student threatened to rape a female member of staff. Result? No punishment at all.

Pupil took gulp of water and spat it all out over my face & chest. Not even internal exclusion- was expected to teach her next lesson…!

On pgce, child tried to strangle me with my own tie. I got blamed. School head was later disposed off and sch[oo]l massively improved.

As a student tchr, was thrown against wall by large & angry Y8 boy who threatened to make me “bleed & scream”. He was put in detention

Pregnant supply teacher told by kids they were going to cut her baby out and kill them both. Nothing.

False allegation that my colleague had hit the student during class. (Many witnesses said they hadn’t!) No consequence for student.

I’ve been attacked with a hockey stick. Physically attacked on parents evening by a child and his dad…also had several chairs thrown at me and been punched several times…Worst thing I’ve seen with no exclusion is heavily pregnant colleague kicked in the stomach. Never been so angry in my life…

being assaulted with the student’s crutches, he had a broken ankle at the time. I ducked the bag he threw though.

Head butted as well and felt like the guilty party . I was trying to prevent the child from attacking their HoY.

In a school I worked in a pregnant female teacher was punched in the stomach. Had his lunchtimes in isolation and had to return back to her lessons.

In my first school – punched in the face by a student and then her mother slapped me. No sanction given.

Threatened to assault me and other members of staff. He eventually left the college only because he got jailed for attempted murder

Rec[eption] child bit part of another child’s ear off. ( bit two others also) was spat at,bitten and scratched. Used to empty water trays on floor Used to get into water trays. Forced another child’s head into full water tray. We had to get 1-1 support. Child left at end [of year]

Punched in the face.

Repeated teacher assaults and two attempted murders.

Year 11 pupil threatened me with a cricket bat in front of my yr 7 class because he wasn’t happy with his GCSE mock result.

A colleague had her thumb joint fractured when she intervened in a fight. The girl she was trying to remove did it with intent. Three w[ee]ks.

Throwing a razor blade into another pupil’s face. The on-call HoY brought him back after 5 mins asking “How hard did he throw it?”or bringing a knife in as an escalation of a fight the day before. Got half a day in isolation. or punching a TA in the face. No sanction at all. All at the same school.

Child bring a hammer into class and ‘wanting to some damage’

Stabbed in the hand with a pencil because I dared to ask the child to come sit on the carpet for story time.

Called me a “white c**t”. Didn’t get excluded immediately but incident did add to the tower of paperwork necessary to eventually remove.

Student pulled down a Turkish flag and set it on fire. Apparently she was Kurdish. Saw her on front of Guardian that summer [at] the Turkish embassy in London. Head reported as sa[y]ingcshe was a model student. Same school same term – tear gas released in a maths lesson

The majority of the above have occurred in my career, but the worst I’ve seen is a child filling a cup with urine and waiting for an LSA …. whose face he threw it in without provocation

A lad once set fire to his desk in one of my English lessons. That was interesting!

Threatened to have me ‘twatted’, threated by a parent, threatened to have a fire extinguisher thrown at me. Questioned what I did to….Antagonise the student/s. Nothing done Also questioned about why I repeatedly challenged the poor behaviour – rather than ignore

A Y[ear] 7 child attempting to leave classroom without permission or a reason charged at me, pushed me into a wall & I dislocated my shoulder no action taken as the child was looked after & foster carers wouldn’t hav[e] him back if excluded. SLT leant on me v[ery] hard not to complain.

I was punched in the face after stopping a boy who had already punched a girl. I had to teach him the next year because he was a ‘G5 target’

Had white spirit thrown in my face!

Physical intimidation (blocking exit from desk) + verbal abuse over report. 5 day exc[lusion]. Had to push to get removed from my tutor group!

Years ago when I did consultancy, a student lunged for me twice in lesson after making racist comments. Other students heard him threaten to ‘Get me’. Long story short, my account of events was dismissed, nothing happened to student so I terminated the support I provided to school

Had a chair thrown at me week 2 of NQT year. Caught it (ninja skills / blind luck) – rest of class cheered.

Throwing chairs, setting fire to the classroom carpet with lighter fluid, smoking cannabis

Replica gun brought into classroom (did not recognise it as a fake at the time).

student poured acid on a classmate ‘by mistake’. SLT just had a chat w/him. V[ery] unsettling to have him in my class the next day.

Had my finger broken by a student. Deputy said there was no proof that he intended to hurt me

Arson. Not a little bit. About quarter of a building. 7 fire engines, school closed for week.

Year 11 boy using a can of lynx to set fire to year 7 school bags..while yr 7s were wearing them…1 week suspension…

Kicking his TA in the shin, standing on a table throwing chairs, shoving a student into a desk unprovoked, punching a student in the face…

*very very tall* yr 11 grab me by hair *had longish hair at the time* and threaten to “end me”. 2 day exclusion. Did a year in a secondary. Oh also got headbutted by a boy with ASD in my NQT year. He was on the floor so I will leave it to your imagination where he got me.

I’ve had chairs/tables thrown at me. Friends of mine have been bitten so badly that they’ve bled. Internal exclusion at most.

Same [arson]. At a pre[v]ious school I worked in 60% of the School was destroyed. I had to teach the arsonist French. He was then finally excluded for not following his behaviour plan just towards the end of the academic year. Fire happened on the 1st September.

Once had h2so4 [sulphuric acid] thrown at me. Another pulled a knife. Left and went to FE. Peaceful there.

When I was a student teacher one boy said to another “bend her [me] over the desk & give it to her”. I told HoD. No consequences at all.

student brought a knife into primary school; performed in Xmas production that evening

I had a kid repeatedly threaten to kill me. Followed me round school tracking me. Got 3 days in isolation, climbed out the window… scary

Oh yeah forgot y[ea]r 8 hospitalising another with a chair leg in the face. No sanction because the behaviour AP had forgotten about it next day.

Overt racism to the same teacher, twice, two different students. Both still with us.

A pupil slammed a door into my back as hard as he could after he was sent out while I was doing an exit check. Impact sent me to my knees.

I had a student grab my arm and try to break it. I was stopping him from Re-entering the classroom after sending him out. Causing a lot of pain. I was told that he would not be excluded as I had ‘placed myself in a situation where harm was likely to come to me’.!!! I was leaving at the end of the year and this was May. I point blank refused to teach the class if he was in it and as such he was moved down a group. Absolutely disgusting decision but then again he was a star football team player and we can’t piss those off!

As a cover supervisor, I caught a girl trying to stick a sign saying ‘Suck my d**k’ on my back. The Head had a chat with her and told me, ‘This is a good girl who made a bad decision.’ That was the end of the matter.

A boy once deliberately slammed a door onto my hand, didn’t break but badly bruised. He was told to apologise to me which he did, followed by “but you deserved it.” He was sent home for the afternoon.

Telling a teacher to eat shit.

Being knocked out by a class throwing French dictionaries at my head. Also, two lads sitting in my class three times a week muttering,”[teacher’s name]’s a f***ing C*nt”. For a year. Apparently there was ‘nothing the Head could do’,

Repeatedly called an “Irish c*nt” by student – H[ead]Teacher’]s response? “But you are Irish.”

I am still getting further responses. But I think this makes the point. Treating exclusion as a terrible failure to be avoided puts everybody at risk. Sometimes it is necessary and refusing to face up to that is cowardice, not compassion. This is not intended to put anyone off teaching, but we need to be honest about these things; if we cover them up they will get worse and there are all too many people out there who would silence teachers if they got the chance.

What happens when schools don’t permanently exclude? published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo

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