#and if I do. it would give me an excuse to use my monster prom ocs so that's an extra bonus
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goddd i love Lucien and Stan LaVey I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I am sooo not normal about them
writing one thing abt them has done something to my psyche; I've always loved them but after writing the chapter focused on them (and constantly rereading it bc its one of my best works ngl) I just cannot stop thinking. I lovb them
#I am sooooo close to writing more fics about them GOD#and if I do. it would give me an excuse to use my monster prom ocs so that's an extra bonus#ooooo maybe I will write more abt them.....maybe....#monster prom#bunni mumbles#delete later#PLEASE tell me someone is as crazy about them as I am lmao ;;;
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FRIGHT NIGHT (2011) SENTENCE STARTERS ;
145 starters. CW: alcohol mention, cussing, drug mention, sexual themes, violence. Feel free to change words and pronouns as needed!
“Defy reason. Defy everything you know.”
“Hey, kid. Don’t leer at the neighbors.”
“C’mon, you gotta get over it.”
“Attitude. You’ve been stressed or something.”
“Y’know, getting what you want can be stressful. Especially when you’re not used to getting it. More to lose.”
“I’m trying to get people to move in, not join the legions leaving town.”
“Hello? Can I get some help here?”
“That’s a very good question. Maybe you should spy on him some more and find out.”
“He’s thirteen feet from our house. That’s not spying. It’s merely observing.”
“I’m tired of making excuses for you, _____.”
“If you don’t wanna talk to him, just tell him.”
“I don’t have a worried thing. I never make that face.”
“About the prom. I was going to ask you. I just kind of figured it was a go. Y’know, you, me, ill-fitting tuxedo. The whole thing, y’know?”
“Nobody goes to the dance in senior year.”
“Did you find a freaking genie lamp, man? Make a sacrifice to the Hot Ass gods? How do you get that?”
“Holy crap, man. How did you get that?”
“You know _____’s missing, right?”
“Just meet me at his house after school. We’ll check around and see if he’s okay.”
“Do we really have to do this here?”
“Wow. Am I supposed to not even speak to you anymore?”
“Be quiet. Don’t spaz out.”
“You want me to go tell your pals how well we really know each other?”
“I’m insatiable.”
“I’m so sorry to take up your time. I really appreciate your help.”
“Is my mom flirting?”
“I’m sorry about the mess, _____.”
“My God. Why did you blow him off?”
“A guy that good looking, still single? Bad bet. He’s a player.”
“I’ve had enough man troubles. I am not getting suckered again.”
“I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but that guy, your neighbor, he’s a vampire, man.”
“Why are you walking like that?”
“Duh, dude, I know what you’re telling me. I’m making fun of you. I’m mocking you.”
“You read way too much Twilight.”
“That’s fiction, okay? This is real.”
“He’s a real monster, and he’s not brooding, or lovesick, or noble. He’s the fucking shark from Jaws. He kills, he feeds, and he doesn’t stop until everybody around him is dead.”
“I seriously am so angry you think I read Twilight.”
“You’re on drugs, dude.”
“I thought you’d take my word on this, man.”
“Can we just pretend for like one minute that you’re not a complete douchebag?”
“_____, this was fun when we were eight.”
“Point is, I grew up. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but don’t get an attitude because I’d rather have a life than make shit up.”
“_____’s gone and you act like you don’t give a shit!”
“What the fuck happened to you? We were inseparable.”
“You know when my life started getting better? When I stopped being friends with you.”
“Just hit me, man. Really. I don’t have time for this.”
“Jesus, man, I just gave you a fucking invitation to hit me.”
“You better run, boy! I’m coming! You better run!”
“Back the fuck up, man! I’m armed! I know how to use this thing!”
“You’ve been watching me. I’ve been watching you. It seems fair.”
“That looked like it hurt.”
“You bit off more than you can chew.”
“And you think anyone’s gonna actually believe you?”
“Don’t play that crap, don’t play that mind shit with me.”
“You were born for this. And you know it.”
“It’s on you to look out for them. You up for that, guy?”
“There are a lot of bad people out there, _____.”
“Where have you been? You told me to meet you here like an hour ago.”
“Hey, are you alright? Are you alright? Everything good?”
“Did you ever read this? It’s really good. It’s kind of sexy, actually, in like, a frustrated, unconsummated sort of way.”
“What, am I boring you?”
“Do you wanna get under the covers?”
“Please believe me, there is nothing I would rather be doing right now than getting under the covers with you.”
“Don’t be nervous. It’s okay.”
“Oh, shit! Oh, shit, he saw us!”
“Okay, _____, if you’re not into this, can you just tell me? Because you don’t have to do me any favors.”
“Oh, God! Get me out of here!”
“Oh, no, he’s coming back! He’s coming back! No!”
“The hours you keep. It’s like living with a vampire.”
“Under no circumstance is he invited into our house, alright? He’s dangerous.”
“_____, I’m serious. Don’t acknowledge him. Don’t talk to him, and at night, please stay inside.”
“Look, I can’t answer a million questions right now. Will you just trust me?”
“You weren’t in class. What are you working on?”
“I’m gonna pop your cherry.”
“Over there, that’s haunted antiques. Cursed stuff!”
“So, I’m the expert for your vampire thing, huh?”
“Say I wanted to kill a vampire. How would I go about doing that?”
“I read books, man. You think I’m hanging out with Dracula? And the Easter Bunny? Fuck off.”
“Do you think I don’t know how this sounds? I mean, two days ago I would have laughed in my face, but it’s really happening.”
“I’m not crazy. I’m not. I don’t wanna know this shit.”
“Dude, is that _____? What the fuck is he doing?”
“Y’know, once I thought I was being chased by carrots with machetes.”
“You guys are both ruining my high.”
“Don’t, _____, don’t! Don’t open it!”
“Oh my God… _____, please, I told you to lock the door!”
“You are flipping out. You’re acting all weird. You’re blowing everything off.”
“Is that a stake?”
“Look. Even if you are losing it, you do not get to blow me off. You don’t go from something to nothing overnight.”
“You’re not nothing to me, _____, so whatever is happening, I would like you to talk to me, to tell me what is going on.”
“I need you to just forget about me, okay? I’m not going to let you get hurt. I’m sorry.”
“I’d rather not take this to the authorities, but I will. I have no choice.”
“We’re alright as long as we stay inside.”
“I can’t believe you got _____ to go along with it.”
“I don’t think this is funny.”
“I don’t need an invitation if there’s no house.”
“Jesus Christ, _____, what the hell is going on?!”
“This is seriously not okay, _____! Who the fuck is this guy?!”
“_____, I told you, he’s a fucking vampire!”
“Noo! That’s his fucked up vampire hand! Now do you believe me?!”
“_____, fucking kick him!”
“Get away from me!”
“I repel you with the power of Christ the Lord.”
“You ever get a stake in the chest, _____? I have. It hurts. But they missed the heart. But it’s right here, _____.”
“You shouldn’t have been so nosey.”
“I don’t know. I think maybe you should’ve said something to the police.”
“I just really wanted you to like me, that’s all.”
“_____, I knew you were a dweeb. Do you think I wanted some dude like _____? Or _____? No. I like you. Because you’re different.”
“I’ll tell you what I know, but that’s it. Don’t expect me to join your little Scooby gang.”
“You’re going to need an army.”
“eBay. I order things late at night when I’ve had a few cocktails. So, yeah, some nice stuff.”
“Look, _____, if you have a problem, just keep it with me, okay?”
“Are you enjoying your panic room, master of darkness?”
“There’s more than one way out and there’s a million things to fight with. We’re gonna be okay, alright? Trust me.”
“If you hadn’t turned out to be such a dick, I could’ve tricked you out. We could have rocked this evil shit together!”
“I expected more of a fight from you, _____.”
“I can hear you breathing. It’s really fucking cool. I can feel you. I can taste you.”
“We got some catching up to do, my friend.”
“Aww, nice weapon there, _____! Not gonna do you much good though, because I’m a goddamn killing machine.”
“Come on, it’s like you’re not even trying.”
“Bone is a motherfucker. It’s hard to cut.”
“Security is a little lax since everybody got their throat torn out.”
“I’m gonna end him or he’s gonna end me. That’s how it’s gonna be, and you’re gonna come with me.”
“Don’t you understand this yet? There will be no fighting. There will only be surviving. Maybe.”
“You think if you live and we all die, you’ll be able to get us out of your head?”
“You think I collected all this stuff because it was bitching?”
“Come with me. We’ll go in at dawn. He’s got to rest some time.”
“The only reason I survived the last time is because I had the sense to hide.”
“Look, if you want to be a dead hero, good for you. I’m out.”
“You think I’m a coward. I’m not. I’m a realist.”
“So you just bail on people.”
“I don’t want to live till tomorrow if you’re the kind of man I’m going to be.”
“Here. Blessed by Saint Michael. You kill your vampire with this, it’s supposed to change his victims back.”
“Torch him. A vampire on fire is not thinking clearly.”
“Let’s kill something.”
“What do you think is down there?”
“Oh, shit. I may not be drunk enough for this.”
“You know this is a trap, right?”
“You know you should have saved me, _____.”
“I’ll be the best you ever had. The only you ever had.”
“_____, we could be together forever.”
“You smell that? It’s your fear. It’s intoxicating. It’s a very specific scent, _____.”
“You little shit. Next time you use my plan, give me a heads up first, yeah?”
“That was a fucked up night.”
“If you’re naked, I’m absolutely going to look.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. That doesn’t narrow it down. There’s, like, mini-golf and sushi. Carry on!”
“Will you promise me, now we’ll finally be alone?”
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hi !!! sending this on anon because i am rather nervous all things considered <:3 (i am lying to you, i have not considered 'all things'.)
one monster prom fan to another (can we be compared using such broad terminology ? i feel as if i am domesticated compared to you... [compliment, or at the very least not inherently negative]) , i wanted to thank you SO SO SO VERY MUCH for giving miranda so much love and thought and mulling her over in your mind in such a ... refreshing way
i also really really really like miri , but i can only aspire to have your level of dedication . it feels almost like we are of totally different worlds... !!!!!
thank you for bringing in real world biology too :3 i absolutely adore your design for her so much (this is most likely not proper grammar, but it is very late and i am very cold and so i will hope with all my heart you will excuse this mistake. one of many, i should assume) - though !!!! i do have a question if that is alright ?????
i cant say that a marine macropredator of a significantly vibrant pink really strikes me as advantageous colouring - does the abyssal environment that you say the merfolk live in negate the need for camouflage and such ????? i apologise for sounding passive aggressive !!!! i am merely asking a question. cocking my head to the side if you will
additionally, i would like to ask something foolish. how do they acquire food? i dont want to say 'hunt', because that might seem insulting. historically were they built for stalking, or high speed chases, or...???? please, talk 'nerdy to me' as they say !!! <- in an entirely normal way befitting two strangers of course.
you know, i would have expected to hit the ask word limit by now. but it seems i have not. yippee !!!!
with my extra space, i shall add this: I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THE WAY YOIU WRITE MIRI . GOOD LOOOOOORD IT IS AMAZING HAVIJNG SOMEOENE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEYRE DOING IWIITH HER thank yoiu for making her at least moderately intelligent. i feel blessed <- is this all too harsh sounding???? im a little new to all this letter/ask-writing thing <:3
IN ANY CASE !!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOIU SO VERY MUCH. AGAIN. drops this and scuttles away
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/761693443676045363/1183251697129226270/ordered3.png
also i believe you can indeed tell, but i drew that in ms paint with my finger .. sorry that it looks like poop <:3
(moving the image out of the link just in case it breaks-)
AAAAAA THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! this looks so WONDERFUL i love the way that you've shaped her head and how you've captured how Chunky it is... i know its one of the things people have the hardest time drawing with her so its just all the more impressive how well youve managed to capture her!!!
i also love the little doodles eeeee..... please feel free to toss all ocs at miri, its enrichment for her <3 ironically gentle chewing/biting is a Play and Bonding thing for merfolk so she shall happily Bites Bites Bites back-
(also i LOVE her smile!!! you arent anthropomorphizing in the slightest for that - miri often does have very human expressions in a way that's odd for a merfolk, because she effectively got imprinted during her time spent inland... and its politically useful if you smile and match expressions with the people you're trying to work with anyways)
ill also go ahead and answer your questions because i can! very easily clarify on them!
the color: actually, being bright red and pink is actually very common for deep sea animals, due to the way light works at depth! its why i decided miranda was abyssal, because that felt like the most natural way to explain why she's pink, since it's such an uncommon color in nature.
basically, different colors of light have different lengths! red is the shortest wavelength of light, and blue is the longest. water might be clear, but there's a lot of water in the ocean, and the more water you add, the more it filters out light - which is why the bottom of a pool might be dark and shady, but if you hold a little of the water in your hands there's no shade. the ocean is a lot deeper than a pool, and so it gets darker as you go down, but because it's also clear, it doesn't filter out all that light at the same rate.
red, being the shortest wavelength of light, gets filtered out first, so red often gets quickly darker the deeper down you go, until it's completely black! camouflage is dependent on the environment, so their color and brightness has to match the background, but it also depends on the light that's hitting the animal. it's why fawns have dappled spots, or animals might have black stripes, so they can mimic the light of their environment. and when your environment has no red light, well... red's a pretty good color to be!
because of this, a lot of animals in the deep sea can't actually see red either, which is doubly the reason why you might want to be red! think of it like tigers, and how ungulates often can't see their orange, making them look just about the same color as the foliage around them when they're hunting! miranda might stick out on land, but that's just because we aren't seeing her in the environment she's made for, where she blends in with everything else around her as much as a pure black animal.
(it's also why her bioluminescence is blue - blue is the longest wavelength of light, and the one most animals can see at that depth. if she lights up, then she wants to be seen, and she can even alter her silhouette to appear larger or smaller or breaking it up into multiple shapes if she needs to. it's why her tapetum lucidum is blue when light's shone on it, because there is blue light to be seen at depth, it's just very dim!)
(this is also why giant squid are bright red, and why the stoplight loosejaw fish is so special! the latter actually produces its own red light, and can see red light, which means that it has a secret light that won't reveal where it is but will reveal to it where its prey is!)
food: this is something that depends a lot, because there are actually multiple different species of merfolk, which is mostly my fault because i don't always feel like i communicate this the best. they're all slightly different in how they evolved to capture prey, with abyssals in particular being fuckoff huge ambush predators that attack from below, and others being shallower-water hunters or more adapted for smaller, faster prey - but they all evolved from an ancestor with a fairly consistent prey-capture method.
in short, all merfolk are ancestrally evolved to hunt whales and other large prey items, with all the extant species still holding at least a degree of this. primarily, they were ambush predators who were good at getting in close to their prey before a sudden burst of speed. they would work together in close-knit groups (one of the big pressures for their increasing socialization and larger brains, to coordinate such groups) to all mob a single prey item at once, hitting with force to cause sudden trauma, and then using their claws, double-thumbs, back feet, and mouths to hold onto their prey and refuse to be dislodged. they'd repeatedly claw and use their strong bites and massive heads to rip deeply into their prey, causing further massive trauma and shock, and if that failed, bleeding their prey to death.
think of it like the raptor prey restraint model, just further taking advantage of the fact that they were underwater, where no one else has hands that could potentially rip them off. being smaller and somewhat less-optimized for marine life compared to things like sharks and whales and large fish worked for them, because they had a novel adaptation that allowed them to take advantage of things no one else could, and the numbers to make up for it. this is, likewise, why they never lost their hands and fully developed flippers, instead making their limbs as flipper-like as possible to make up for it.
then as time went on and certain populations became separated from each other, they adapted for slightly different niches, but all remain fairly closely related to each other as a genus.
in the modern day, most merfolk don't really "hunt" for all of their meals, at least not in the same way that we might think. don't get me wrong, they still absolutely hunt and it's a larger part of their lives than it is for most humans, but they have options.
mostly, the merfolk theory for their relationship with nature is to invite it in. this is not to say they aren't controlling and pruning it, but they do live underwater, and it's far harder to keep animals out than it is on land, so merfolk accepted it and worked with it. they'll work to promote growth around their buildings and where they live, fostering the growth of sea grass and algae and coral and other sessile animals, encouraging them to set down and grow in these areas, and they'll then let more wild animals move in, further encouraged by these natural sources of food and shelter, on top of merfolk working even further to encourage them in. they serve as a functional cleanup crew for the merfolk in these settlements, being allowed to eat anything that merfolk might drop or go to waste, and even moreso might be purposefully fed at times, or have specific homes for them built. merfolk will keep encouraging them and taking care of them until they become a biorich hotspot, creating unique oasises for wildlife to live alongside merfolk.
however, this isn't just a free-for-all, persay. merfolk will also purposefully prune these populations and control how they form, often removing "problem" animals and encouraging certain behaviors which makes it easier for these populations to live alongside merfolk, not viewing them as a threat, but also not viewing them as an opportunity either. they will directly shape how these areas grow and cultivate them on a physical level, often using them as an easy shortcut to literally grow their settlements and buildings. but they will also harvest from these populations and selectively breed them, until their cities and towns act as massive public gardens full of food to be caught, picked, and eaten at any time
as there are also a lot of (very politically powerful) nomadic groups, they also do this, albeit not always so directly. they'll have specific shoals or "runs" of fish that they will follow behind and take care of, managing as they move through the ocean in accordance with the seasons. this is where the whales still factor in, because the nomadic groups will also take care of the whales, purposefully keeping an eye on their pods and taking care of them and, when the time comes, being choosy and particular in which whale they select at any given time to be hunted, harvested, and eaten.
(there's also the way in which food is distributed and managed throughout the merkingdom, since some food is indeed shipped and moved throughout the different areas, but that's a different story for another time and i've talked enough)
BUT!!!! thank you so much and thank you for enjoying all of this that ive been making with miri, and thank you for giving me an excuse to talk more about her <3
#all the care guide says is 'biomass'#asks#Anonymous#Monster Prom#Miranda Vanderbilt#i am wholeheartedly a ''miri is smart'' person because i mean. cmon.#of course shes smarter than she looks you dont just trip your way into knowing how to play people like a fiddle#manipulation requires cleverness!! knowing how to use it well just comes with the station she has#(honestly to the point where i think her playing stupid is just. well. that! playing stupid!)#(and sometimes just Playing too tbh. she seems to enjoy just. being silly. more than fully fitting into her role)#(which from what i can tell she DOES fit into her role VERY well)#(and absolutely means that yeah no miri acting the way she does isnt just because she has no idea how to be any other way)#(and is instead a deliberate choice that she's making for some other reason)#(which continues to frustrate me because CANON STOP MOVING TOWARDS ''NO SHES JUST STUPID'')
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Creep 2: I don’t care if it hurts
HIGH SCHOOL AU
Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Lexie O’Brien) Book TRR
MASTERLIST HERE
Synopsis: Drake and Lexie are star-crossed lovers. Her father hates him and forces Lexie to stop any contact with Drake. Lost and heartbroken, he “bullies” her for two years until he discovers the truth of Lexie’s behavior.
A/N 1 This came up to me after I got an ask from @nestledonthaveone to write a fic based on the song CREEP.
I used to hear this song when I was a teenager, so when I read this ask, I immediately wanted to write something angsty but situated in high school.
A/N 2: Because they’re younger than usual, I decided to change my FC.
Words: 4,110
WARNINGS: Parental abuse, domestic violence, toxic love.
THIS IS NOT YOUR USUAL MARSHMALLOW DRAKE. He was abandoned as a boy, he’s tortured and he doesn’t know how to express his love. His behavior is not excusable.
This is a dark love story. If you’re not comfortable with it, PLEASE do not read it.
ALL MY FICS ARE 18+
TAGS ON THE COMMENTS
As this is darker than usual; I’m only tagging the people who commented in the previous chapter. If you want to get on or off the list for this fic, please do not hesitate to ask!!
DRAKE
Even if she never looks at me or speaks to me again, she’s mine. Even if I’ve been a horrible jerk to her for two years and she pales every time I pull into the parking lot on my motorcycle, she is mine. Just seeing her with him enrages me, so I walk straight toward my usual seat, directly behind Lexie, and slam my textbook down onto the desk.
Startled, Rys looks up at me, “Hey, Walker. What’s up?”
It’s not the first time he tries to make a move on Lexie. Last time –two years ago, we almost killed each other. Pretty boy might be an entitled ass, but he knows how to fight. Maybe he thinks Lexie is game again after all this time. He couldn’t be more wrong.
“Don’t you have a class this period?” I ask him. Liam cocks his left eyebrow, adjusting the straps of his backpack.
“I fail to see why that concerns you, Creep.”
My smile is murderous. “Get the fuck out of here before I break your face, pretty boy.”
I think he has a death wish because he looks at Lexie when he talks, “See you after class, Alexis, when your watchdog will be busy mowing my lawn.” Finally, he just shakes his head and gets out of the classroom. I resume my daily routine. Staring at the back of Lexie’s head, tracing the curve of her perfect neck, my cock getting hard over her perfect cherry scent.
“So that’s what you like,” I say, leaning forward to speak an inch from her ears. “You like them with blond hair and pink polo shirts. Prospects for Cambridge or shit. A huge trust fund. Don’t you? A brat like you needs someone who can spoil her. I bet you’d introduce him to daddy, wouldn’t you?”
She doesn’t respond. She never does. Her eyes stay stubbornly on the front of the class where the teacher has started writing today’s lesson on the board—my hands fist in desperation. I’m dying for her to talk to me. To look at me. Anything. “Too bad, Lexie. I’ll scare every single one of those fucking entitled boys off. You’re going to sit alone in your house on prom night, crying into your designer sheets like a baby. And I’m going to enjoy it.”
The only sign that she hears me at all is the quickening rise and fall of her shoulders. Even that tiny display that I’ve upset her is agonizing, floods me with self-loathing, but I can never stop. She ripped out my fucking heart, and I can’t deal with the consequences of that alone. I can’t let her go. I’ll never let her go. This toxic feeling is the only thing left between us. My hands shake with the urge to take her in my arms, to stop the trembling I caused. To protect her from everything. Even myself. I’d love to move my fingers up into the silky, brown hair that reaches the middle of her graceful neck. I don’t have a lot of money; most of the cash I earn as a handyman goes to food and fixing my dad’s cabin, but I’d give every last cent for her to turn and lock those soft brown eyes on me, just one last time. Sometimes when I jerk off, all it takes is fantasizing about Lexie looking at me, giving me one of those shy smiles, and I lose it. One stroke. Maybe two. Done. I can’t breathe without having her close. And I can’t breathe with her close. It’s a strange condition, this obsession, but she’s an addiction that I just can’t give up.
How could I? She’s intelligent, strong, and so damned gorgeous. Once upon a time, I thought she had a good heart too. But that was before she broke my pathetic heart only because I’m poor. I’ve been hurting since then, and I need her to hurt too. To know what it feels.
“Do you actually think that dumb rich boy would be a good choice for your first time, Lexie?” I grip my desk so tight it nearly breaks down, just thinking about her being kissed –touched by someone else. “At least that’s one thing us poor motherfuckers have going for us. We know how to fuck. If you went out with Rys for a while, you’d eventually give in and come slumming it one night, wouldn’t you? Knock on my rundown cabin door, begging me to fuck you as we both know you’d like.”
A pretty blush is starting to climb her neck. I have to take a deep breath to keep from kiss her pink cheeks. But I think if I got to touch her skin, my wall of bullshit would crumble. I’ve only fucked one girl. Since seeing Lexie for the first time freshman year, there’s been no one but her. I want no one else. She owns my cock as sure as she owns my heart. How easily she’s forgotten about both leaving me in agony.
“Stop,” she breathes. I freeze. Did she just speak to me? It’s the first time in two years that she’s even remotely acknowledged my existence.
“Lexie,” I managed to say. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. That’s all it took. One pleading word out of her mouth, and I’m done.
“Just stop,” she says again, turning her head slightly. “Please.”
I fall back in my chair, my heart thundering on my chest. If we weren’t in the middle of class, if I didn’t feel like a monster, I would pull her into my arms right now. I’d hug her until she stopped struggling, then beg her to hit me, bruise me, make me pay for every shitty thing I’ve ever said to her. But before long, the class is over, and she’s leaving the classroom to get out of here. To put distance between us as quickly as possible—and I have no choice but to watch her because I feel physically ill. Still, I manage to get out into the student-packed hallway, my plan to apologize for being crude and a jerk and torturing her for so long.
My head is telling me not to apologize, though. It’s telling me she deserved it for being such a snob, for breaking me, for valuing money and status like everyone else. My damned heart is telling an entirely different story. It’s insisting there is an explanation for her behavior. Am I going to apologize or not? The decision is taken out of my hands when Lexie opens her locker, and the little gift I left before class falls down. It’s a picture I cut out from our last yearbook. In the photo is a gorgeous smiling Lexie above the caption Most Likely to Succeed. Except I’ve crossed out the caption and added my own. Most Likely to Be a Trophy Wife. Watching her read it, I almost get sick right there in the hallway. Usually, she’s perfectly composed, not betraying a trace of emotion where I’m concerned—a real Ice queen. I’ve always thought she honestly didn’t care. Today, though… she’s not pulling it off. Something is not okay with her, and I don’t like it. She has to bite down on her bottom lip to stop it from quivering as she puts the photo back into her locker, out of sight, her bright eyes finding me briefly, massacring me where I stand. Betraying with one single look how much she has been affected by my actions. Christ. She hasn’t been indifferent at all.
Before I can react, before I can call her name, she’s gone, vanished into the crowd of wild students excited to be leaving for the day. And I know what I have to do. I have to see her. To apologize. To get an explanation for everything. Tonight. I’ll return to her house for the first time in two years.
LEXIE
I’ve known this was coming all day. Sitting on the couch in my living room, trying to make myself as small as possible, I watch my father pace. He rants, gesticulating noisily. This isn’t new, my father’s rage threatening me. But it’s going to be worse than usual. Business has declined for him and it’s put his temper on a trigger. Dad’s new wife, Nancy, hates to be on a budget, and she’s been spending his money like crazy all over Paris --where she’s now. When dad gets home from the office, he’s rarely in anything but a horrible mood. A tornado eating up everything in its path. Completely terrifying. At least dad’s temper makes me forget what Drake told me today, the ugly words he said to me, the boiling anger in his eyes when he looks at me.
“Are you even listening?” The slap across the face comes as a shock because I’d momentarily disappeared into my thoughts, but the sting quickly brings me back to reality.
“Yes, sir,” I say, my ears ringing. “I’m listening.”
“This C on your algebra test is going to drag your whole average down.” He’s waving the test in my face. “What a disappointment you are, Alexis. Your teacher shared my disgust.” I nod solemnly, but I’m listening for the rain outside. “I guess you’re your daughter’s mother after all. A poor Mexican girl who could barely count.” It’s not true. My mom learned English and Greek by herself, and she was a great Spanish teacher in Portavira, but my father would rather die than acknowledge how smart she was.
“Don’t talk like that about her,” I retort.
My father snorts. “I beg your pardon?” He takes a step towards me, and I can see the threat in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” I hate to be such a coward, but I know what he can do to me.” I’ll do extra credit. Something to bring my grade back up to an A.” I wet my lips. “Even if I can’t manage to raise the grade, it’s not going to show up on the college transcripts I sent off with my applications.” That’s the reason I let my focus slip a little in algebra. The finish line is in sight for everyone, and we’re just waiting to find out where we’ll be accepted for college. It’s a wonder I’ve been able to maintain my focus this long in any class, considering Walker sits behind me in every period, brooding making me feel … something. At the reminder of him, I want to close my eyes and dream about him. I replay that night in my garden when he kissed me two years ago, so tenderly and passionately, when he spoke to me so sweetly and honestly before he became the second villain in my story. Someone I dread, as much as I crave the sight of him.
At least that’s one thing us poor motherfuckers have going for us. We know how to fuck. If you went out with that punk for a while, you’d eventually give in and come slumming it one night, wouldn’t you? Knock on my trailer door, begging me to ride you right.
Should I be ashamed of the way my body reacted to those words? I grew uncomfortably damp in the hard plastic chair, the center of my body clenching, seeming to beat like a heart. His breath on my neck made me shiver, head to toe. Even the way he scared off Liam Rys did something to me. Aroused me. Deeply. It got so bad that I broke the rules and asked him to stop. I can still hear him saying my name in that tortured way after. That shocked, uneven sound. Lexie. And whether I’m ashamed of myself for it or not, I know I’ll think of it when I touch myself tonight. His voice, his hands, his eyes obsess me.
“College?” My father snorts, tearing the test in half. “You’re not going to college.”
This grabs my attention. A horrible feeling is making me cold. “I’m…what? What do you mean? I applied to nine different schools. I have a four-point five GPA.”
For the first time, I notice his red face is about more than just rage. There’s…humiliation. I’ve never seen him display that emotion.
“None of the American colleges that accepted you offered scholarships.”
“I’ve been accepted?” I gasp, sitting forward, heart pounding in my chest. “Where? I didn’t see the letters—”
“All the mail in this house goes through me, Alexis. I read them. And you failed to get academic scholarships. You failed. Not that I’m surprised.”
I don’t point out that his refusal to let me participate in any extracurricular activities is more than likely to blame for that. I’m too worried about what he’s saying, what this means. The blood is draining from my head, making the room spin around me.
“Okay, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry. But…we have money. We can pay tuition, can’t we? Or colleges in Cordonia are almost for free. I can go to any of them; I don’t have to go to NYU.” I have to get out of here. I have to get out of here. This is my way out. College is the escape route. I counted on going back to New York, but I can stay here and go to college in Cordonia City.
“Listen to you, so quick to spend my hard-earned money—spoiled brat. And of course, you can’t go to college in Cordonia. What for? To end up being a schoolteacher like your mom? A housewife as Nancy?” He laughs bitterly. “No, you’ll stay here, and I’ll help you find someone suitable to marry.”
I shake my head. “There’s financial aid, then. Loans or I can get a job and go to college in Portavira…”
“You want to leave, just like her, don’t you? You’re all the same.”
I don’t even flinch when he yanks me to my feet, shoving me into the wall. In fact, for the first time, I took him right into his eyes. And I can see the violence burning on them has nothing to do with me. It never had anything to do with how I behave, my choices, how hard I worked in school. How welcome I made Nancy feel or cooked a roast. It’s about him and his self-loathing. It’s his sickness. Not mine. I can also see that he was never going to send me to college. Because he wouldn’t be able to control me from a distance or stop me from sharing what I’ve been subjected to since my mother died. Not like he does now. He wasn’t physically abusive all the time. Especially not when his new wife is around. But she traveled often, and then he’d push me. Shove me. Slapped me several times. I’ll graduate at the top of my class for nothing. He knew I would all along.
That’s when I realize I’m free. I don’t have money, but college is free in Cordonia. I can work, save a little and go to college in one or two years. I’ll be a writer; it’ll just take more time than I thought. “Go to hell,” I whisper.
He steps back, giving me the momentary satisfaction of his shock. “What did you say?”
Liberated, I scream it this time. “Go to hell!” From the moment I sat down to have this conversation, I knew tonight would be worse than usual, but I’ve just bought myself a ticket to hell. Usually, I can retreat to the untouchable place inside of me as he unleashes his rage, but not tonight. He doesn’t stop at one or two slaps. He punches and kicks, and I’m present for every punch and kick. Every yelled insult. Finally, I start to get scared. I’m crawling across the carpet on my hands and knees, searching for a weapon I can use in my defense when I glance out the window and see Drake staring back at me, his face a mask of horror.
Drake
What I’m seeing just isn’t possible. It can’t be real. My head won’t accept it. Not until her terror-filled eyes meet mine through the window and the truth pounds on my chest, leaves no doubt that this is real life. Lexie’s father is beating her. Her mouth is bloody, one of her eyes beginning to swell, arms and legs visibly weakened. I can barely fucking process it before my body is springing into action, desperate to protect her. To put a stop to the worst thing I have ever seen. What the fuck. Scorching hot rage takes over. I kick in the front door and throw myself between Lexie and her father. His fist is raised, but it pauses when he sees me, his momentary confusion giving me the time I need to knock him out cold. It only takes one right uppercut from someone his own size, and he goes down, his blank, glassy eyes staring at nothing, mouth opened. It’s not satisfying enough.
Nothing will ever be satisfying enough. I want to kill him, destroy him, but my Lexie is struggling for breath behind me, and she’s all I can think about. Turning, I approach her, my heart threatening to jump off my chest. As gently as I can, I catalog all of the cuts and purpling skin. No. No. Who could do this to her? Who could lay a finger on her in anything but reverence? Get her out of here. Calling her name, I reach down to pick her up, but she flinches and hurries back, bringing her body up against the wall.
“Don’t touch me!” Those words filled with fear rip the soul clean out of my body. My hands drop limply to my sides and two years come rushing back, hitting me in the chest like a hammer. Every word, every action. Everything I did to make her life harder when this is what she’s been dealing with at home? Fuck me.
“Lexie…” My voice is as kind as I can. I feel broken. “I’m sorry. I came here to apologize. For everything.”
She puffs a humorless laugh, testing her cut lip with the tip of her tongue. “Bet you weren’t expecting to see this.”
“If I knew this was happening, I would have been here a long time ago. I would have stopped it. I swear Lex.”
Her expression can only be described as stunned. Maybe even a little pissed. “You are not my savior, Drake. You are my enemy. You’ve been for two years, and I want nothing else from you now.”
“I am not your enemy.” Those words barely make it out of me, my chest hurts so fucking bad. “Don’t say that.”
Unsteadily, she uses the wall to try and stand. I try to help her, but she recoils, and it’s a dagger straight into the center of my throat. Nothing less than I deserve, though, isn’t it? Her distrust of me is entirely my fault. I’ve made her hate me. There has to be some way to fix what I’ve done. Please God, let there be away. But right now, my main concern is her physical safety. Knowing she’s been in danger all along is unbearable. I only decided to come here tonight a few hours ago. What if I didn’t? What if I arrived an hour later? The possibilities are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. From the floor, her father groans, shifting slightly.
“We need to get you out of here,” I say, anxious to get her free of this place. “Now, Lexie. I need to get you somewhere safe.”
She’s standing now. Leaning against the wall and cradling one arm to her stomach, regarding me warily. “How do I know I’m safe with you?” It’s so much worse that her question is honest. Not meant to hurt me. She honestly doesn’t know if I pose a threat. It guts me where I stand.
“You are the safest with me,” I say thickly, cursing myself. Wanting to erase the last two years so badly, my hands shake. “Please believe me. I’d die before hurting you. I’d never, Lexie. I’d never do something like that.”
Her father rolls over onto his back and slurs a few words before losing consciousness again. Still, the sound of the older man’s voice seems to scare Lexie, “I…maybe you can just give me a ride to…a motel maybe?” She pushes off the wall, her step uneven as she walks toward the stairs. “I need some things from my room.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her we don’t have time, but I’m just grateful she’s trusting me enough to leave with me, so I don’t argue. I just wait until she’s halfway up the stairs, then tie her father’s hands behind his back with my belt in case he wakes up before we leave. I have no problem knocking him out a second time, but Lexie has seen enough violence for one night. Cautiously, I walk up the stairs toward the light coming from a room halfway down the hall. This place is a far cry from my home. It’s elegant and clean, and tasteful, but it lacks any warmth whatsoever. It’s cold, like a museum. Turning the corner into Lexie’s room, it’s time to hate myself all over again. There is nothing on the walls, none of the expensive furnishings. Just four white walls, a bed, and a dresser that doubles as a desk. Several textbooks. She looks back at me over her shoulder as if judging my reaction, and I keep my features impassive, though I’m dying on the inside.
“What can I do?” I ask.
“How long do we have?”
“As long as you need.” It’s physically painful not to pull her into my arms when I’m standing this close, and she’s hurt. Sad. Yet full of more inner strength than I’ve ever witnessed in another human being. I’m lucky just to be in her presence. I fucked up royally. And if she allows me back in, I’ll never do it again. It’s probably, definitely, too much to hope for. Being allowed back in. She doesn’t even look sure about having me in her room. Let alone her heart. I was trying to protect my own heart, but I lost it instead.
“Um…” She closes her eyes to focus, a familiar trait I’ve seen in class countless times. “There is a black bag in the hallway closet. Can you just stuff anything into it from the bathroom that looks useful?”
Ask me to bring you a unicorn. I’ll find a way to do it. “Sure.” We work in silence, Lexie taking things out of drawers and adding them to the bag, which I’ve left open on the floor. I add toiletries from the bathroom, and once it’s zipped, I wait, watching her hesitate in the doorway.
“Lexie?” Conflicted chocolate eyes meet mine.
“I can’t just leave, can I?”
“You’re not safe here, baby,” I say softly, trying to keep the residual rage at bay because it’s the last thing she needs. Not to mention she’s had her fill with negativity from me. No more. “How long…how long?”
She shrugs, the saddest expression in her eyes. “My mom died five years ago. Ever since then, it’s gotten worse and worse. Although I never had a chance to talk to anyone about what happened behind closed doors, you know? I don’t think a person can evolve into a monster. It’s inside him.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I became one, didn’t I?”
That gives her pause, forms a line between her delicate brows. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
She starts to walk past me, stops, standing close enough to fill my nose with cherry. “He told me if I ever spoke to you ever again, he would hurt me. Ruin you, have you evicted. Make sure you never got hired again. I didn’t mean to…hurt you. Or hurt your feelings, if that’s what happened.”
That revelation destroys me, sets me on fire. “Jesus, Lexie. You were protecting me? And I…I tortured you for it?” I twist the neck of my T-shirt, trying to calm down, but it doesn’t work. I’ll never be calm again “I’m so fucking sorry.”
She glances at the doorway, then back at me, eyes closed again in that way that says she’s thinking. “All I want from you now is a ride out of here, okay? And on Monday morning, you’ll stop.” She opens her shining eyes again. “No more bullying, Drake. If you’re really sorry, you’ll do that for me.”
Fuck. I couldn’t say one more single shitty thing to her if my life depended on it. Put me at gunpoint, and I’d rather get shot at than torture this girl for one more second. But I’m highly, painfully aware that with an end to the bullying comes an end to the possessiveness. No more scaring off guys who show interest in her. No more getting close enough in class to count the hairs on her head, to smell her sweet fragrance. And to tell the truth, I’m pretty fucking worried I don’t know how to give those things up completely. I don’t think I can physically do it. This addiction with Lexie isn’t something I can cut off. A leg would be easier to sever. But my hesitation is causing her eyes to worry. If I don’t agree to, essentially, let her go… she’s not going anywhere with me. And that means her safety won’t be guaranteed. I need it to be. More than anything.
“No more bullying,” I say, finally. A moment later, I follow her out of the room and down the stairs, trying desperately to count the hairs on her head before I no longer have the chance.
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Killer Frost, Caitlin Snow (DC Super Hero Girls 2019)
#PolarDemons
It was an ordinary day at the Metropolis school, I was getting ready to go to class, and maybe my mind was still a little tormented by what happened to Casey Krinsky, I was thinking about it too much in the last few days, and I don't know why , maybe it was because every time I met her at school I felt a sense of guilt and wanted to apologize to her? No ... I already tried that, and it didn't work.
- Zee! Are you okay? You're already standing there for about 5 minutes! Let's be late, and mr.Chapin promise that if we were late again he would kick us out! (Babs)
- Sorry Babs, I'm coming after you.
I was startled when Barbara called me, but I needed to get out of that trance, maybe the class distracted me a little about Casey.
(Time Skip)
It was time to go, and studying only made my mind worse, I needed a break, Mr. Chapin was unbearable today.
"Where are my friends?" I thought, we usually all leave the class together, I went looking for them and while I was walking down the main hall I saw a crowd, and my friends were there too! I went to them as soon as possible.
- Girls! What are you doing? I looked for you everywhere.
- Hey, duh! We told you in the class that we were going to come here, but it looks like you were too distracted to pay attention to us. (Kara)
- i-I'm sorry is that I ... What are you looking at?
- The new girl, her name is Caitlin Snow, she makes magnificent ice sculptures, it looks like she was transferred
from the old school because her parents moved to metropolis.(Karen)
- I heard she was the most popular girl in the school she came from, it looks like you're going to have competition Zee haha. (Kara)
Kara slaps my arm as part of the joke and I have a very weak laugh, I was happy to have another student at school, and it looks like I wouldn't be the only popular girl here now, you might think it's envy or something, but something about this girl tells me that she’s not welcome here, there’s something wrong with her ...
- Aren't you Zee zatara? I heard a lot about you. (Caitlin)
I didn't notice Caitlin approaching, I was distracted again.
- A-ah hi, yes it is me, very pleased.
I reach out to her for a friendly handshake, but she doesn't fight back ...
- My name is Caitlin Snow, you don't feel threatened by me or anything, do you (Caitlin)
- T-threatened ?! excuse me?
- It's just that I was the most popular girl in my school before I left, and you are the most popular girl here, so ... (Caitlin)
- Oh, of course, I’m very calm about it.
- If that's what you say ... (Caitlin)
Caitlin walks towards the exit of the school door, but in the middle of the way she stops in front of the photographs of all the proms that the Metropolis school has had, and by chance, I was the queen of all these proms, she looks calmly all the pictures one by one, when Caitlin then takes one of my prom queen pictures in her hand and suddenly ... she throws it in the trash.
- I was the most popular girl in my school, and believe me Zee zatara, I don't like to share anything with anyone, especially titles, and in fact, you should feel threatened by me. This school is already mine, bye bye. (Caitlin)
I couldn't believe it, she threatened me?! I didn't feel threatened by her in any way, but now ... I felt very threatened, and it wasn't because of my title.
- You saw that-- GIRLS!
- Ah it was bad zee, we were seeing the ice statue, it moves can you believe it ?! This is very cool! (Kara)
- Were you going to say something, Zee? (Jess)
- No, I don't think so. Let's go home?
(Time skip)
After a long and tiring trip home I had time to relax a little, I was thinking more clearly now.
- Caitlin Snow is not it? Let's see what you do for a living.
I search for Caitlin's name on instagram, and luckily I found her profile, she was in first place in searches.
- but what is so impressive about you ...
I keep looking for something suspicious in Caitlin's profile, I know you think I'm jealous, but believe me, it's not jealous, I'm suspicious of this girl. Well, I look around for a while and I can't find anything, all I found out was that Caitlin makes a video of make-up, ice sculptures, and that her family has their own business, she and her mother give presentations on magical ice sculptures. and skating in a theater ... familiar isn't it? Maybe I would even be jealous of her? After all, she was beautiful, intelligent and had her own business. I was already accepting that I was getting jealous of the girl with white hair, when I decide to click on any video on her Instagram just to end it all, the video was starting, Caitlin talked about makeup, how to make a perfect contour and these things, I watched the video for about 2 minutes, until something caught my attention... I realized that every time the mirror appeared, the image would lock up, looking like those films from the 1950s, you know? I thought it was strange, but I didn't want to watch the rest of the video with the image of a film from my father's time! so I used my magic to make the video stop locking... it was a mistake, because as soon as I cast the spell on the video, I looked in the mirror, and believe me, it was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life, there was something with ... horns in the mirror! This confirmed my suspicions, there was something wrong with that girl and I intended to find out what.
- Zee, it's time to sleep.
- Okay daddy, good night.
I turn off the light and fall asleep, but I still thinking about it for a bit before falling asleep.
(Time skip)
I was already at school, and last night I decided that in addition to discovering what is strange about this girl, I was going to keep everyone away from her, if there was something more sinister behind it, it was better to let everyone away so that no one would get hurt, so I decided to give a magic show at school today, so no one would be around Caitlin.
- Ladies and gentlemen, witness the unique, incredible and fabulous, Zee zatara!
I was waiting for people's cheers, but nobody said anything, maybe everyone was on a different side of the school? Well, I take my bench and my special effects and look for a place with a lot of people at school, and walking through the halls I saw her... it was too late, everyone was surrounding Caitlin and watching her ice skating show, there was always an ice rink here? How come I never noticed ?!
- Sister! You arrived at the right time, we watching the new girl skating on the ice, join us! (Diana)
Diana pulls my arm to take me to Caitlin's show, but I release my arm from Diana's grip.
- Everything is fine? Don't you want to see the show? (Diana)
- I-i want, but ...
I sigh.
- Diana, there is something wrong with this girl, I don't know what it is but, there is something wrong with her.
- Something wrong? What you mean? (Diana)
- Yesterday I was watching a video about her on instagram, and in the reflection of the mirror something with horns appeared, look!
I had taken a screenshot of the video if it was useful, so I showed it to Diana.
- something with horns? where? (Diana)
- Right there in the mirror!
- Zee, has nothing there. (Diana)
- b-but, you don't see it?
- ... Look zee, you must be feeling threatened by Caitlin's presence I know, but remember what I said to Barbara Minerva when she said she was the cheetah? I said "One person’s success doesn’t exclude another person’s success" you don’t have to be jealous of her, Zee.(Diana)
- No, no, no, Diana please believe me I’m not jealous of her, don’t you see the horned creature in the mirror ?!
- Sorry zee, you will need more than a blank mirror to prove that Caitlin is a monster. (Diana)
Diana is gone, she went to see the show like everyone else...
- Diana... the monster... I don't believe it, am I going crazy?
I was questioning my sanity now, she is not here at school for 3 days and is already driving me crazy, is it me who is to blame? Was my magic playing with my mind? I didn't know anything else at this point, if the diana who was born in a home full of magic and monsters didn't believe me, who else would believe it? Maybe Casey Krinsky was messing with my mind right now, I better go wash my face to ease the tension.
(In the bathroom)
- control yourself Zee, you're going crazy, keep calm! My god what is happening to me...
My makeup was totally messy now, maybe redoing it would help me, so as soon as I look in the mirror I see the horned demon's reflection, from the chest down he was just bones, his outside ribs gave him a touch ghastly.
- Do you talk to yourself? (Caitlin)
- C-ca...Caitlin ?!
I look in the mirror again, and the reflection was normal now, it was just Caitlin's reflection.
- Weren't you at your skating show?
- I was, but I had to come here to touch up my makeup, by the way, today is crazy day and nobody told me? Hahahaha (Caitlin)
She snorts out of the bathroom. In just 2 days she dropped my food, made me stumble, and ruined my school work, I was sick of her being mean to me.
- Why you hate me?
- I do not hate you Zatara, you are cool, the only problem I have with you is that you are in this school with me, I remember saying that I do not like to share, and that the title of popular girl was mine, 80% of this title already belongs to me, but if you don’t leave the game I’ll never have the rest. (Caitlin)
- I'm not leaving this school, especially since I know you're hiding something scary from the rest of the people.
- Girl, you're crazy. (Caitlin)
- I'm not crazy, what is it then?!
I show the mirror photo to Caitlin, and she smiles arrogantly.
- it's good to know that you have magic.
- W-what are you talking about?
- Find out for yourself, Zatanna.
Caitlin comes out of the bathroom, leaving me with doubts and alone there.
(Time skip)
It's been 5 days, and Caitlin is officially the most popular girl in school, my friends just talked about her and about the ice skating shows, that didn't help at all, so I decided to stay a few days alone.
- Should we go over there and talk to Zee? I'm already getting worried. (Jess)
- I tried to talk to her a couple of days ago, but she insists that Caitlin is a villain, I think we better let her have some time. (Diana)
I watched my friends from afar, I was missing them so much, but I couldn't go back without discovering the horrible thing that Caitlin was, I couldn't solve this case on an empty stomach, so I went to get a snack in the cafeteria, I got one a little bit of spaghetti and I went towards my table, but suddenly Caitlin puts her foot in front of me and I fall to the floo ... face to face with the spaghetti, the whole school laughed at me.
- I do not believe that! (Kara)
- G-guys, calm down, it could have been an accident. (Karen)
- Accident will be my fist landing on the face of that pale white girl! (Kara)
I get up, I had noodles all over my hair and face, I was already irritated by all that and I wanted to hit Caitlin, but I couldn't, Jess taught me that anger is not always the way. I was annoyed, but I tried to stay calm.
- Caitlin, can I talk to you outside for a minute?
- Of course my dear, I'll be back girls.
(Out of school)
- about what you want to talk?
- "About what you want to talk?" Really?! What was that?!
- It was an accident.
- Accident ... ACCIDENT ?! ARGH.
I got annoyed, Jess would be disappointed in me, but I couldn't take any more teasing, I ended up not even caring if she was going to know that I have magic, so I hit her with a spell of magic, and of course, I regret doing that.
- Oh my god, I'm so sorry Caitlin, I'm really sorry!
Caitlin didn't move, I was worried, and as soon as I was going to call the ambulance she started to move... But it wasn't just that, I don't know if I hit my head too hard on the food tray a few minutes ago or something like that, but, I was watching Caitlin increase in size, that's right, she was growing and her shape and clothes were changing, the sky was getting cloudy and for some reason it started to snow ... it was summer! Why was it snowing?!
- I'm already tired of you Zee zatara ... (Killer Frost)
- C-Caitlin?
I was getting farther and farther away, it was getting really weird, as Caitlin moved her shape seemed bigger, she leaned on some bricks of the destroyed wall in order to get up, and as soon as she stands, I get scared, Caitlin was super tall! She had to bend down to go through the door, she are so big.
- I will kill you, Zee zatara! (Killer Frost)
I had no more doubts, Caitlin had super powers and was ready to transform into one of her ice sculptures, I wasted no time and soon changed too, and as soon as I was going to run away, she took me by the cape.
- You're in so much trouble. (Killer Frost)
- I don't want to fight with you, please let's talk!
- I have nothing to talk to you about! (Killer Frost)
Caitlin threw me so far and so high, that I ended up on the 7th floor wall of a building. My body was hurting a lot, but I had to defeat it, but as soon as I got up, Caitlin landed on my body and tried to hang me.
- By the way, you can call me Killer Frost instead of Caitlin in the next life, Zee Zatara! (Killer Frost)
- I'm not afraid of snow!
I teleport to the opposite side of Killer Frost, I needed to defeat it somehow, so I create a loop to be able to hold it, I throw the loop at Frost, but it freezes it and turns the shards into sharp pieces of ice, then throw them at me, I teleport again and try to hit her with my magic, but she creates an ice shield to protect herself from my attacks.
- Frost, let's talk! I do not want to hurt you!
- BUT I WANT TO HURT YOU! I JUST WANTED ATTENTION, YOU ALREADY HAVE TOO MUCH ATTENTION! (Killer Frost)
The earth begins to tremble, and in the midst of so much snow a giant snake made of ice chases me, I run, but the snake captures me.
- You always had everything you wanted Zatanna, attention, love, friends, and now it's my turn to have it all!
I wanted to say something, but then I start to feel my body getting cold, I look at my legs and see that I'm starting to freeze, would this be the end of me? No ... I couldn't die like that, I needed help, and luckily, I see a shiny golden lasso looping the tail of the giant snake that held me, the snake melted, and behind it revealed five super heroines, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Green Lantern and Bumblebee.
- Are you okay? (Wonder Woman)
Wonder woman said, she took my hand and saw that I had a low body temperature.
- stay out of this fight, you could end up hurting yourself even more. (Wonder Woman)
#dc super hero girls#dc comics#cartoon network#batman#dc#lauren faust#bat#batboys#super hero#dick grayson#caitlin snow#the flash#killer frost#zee zatara
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Secret
Pairing: Seth Clearwater x Female!Reader
Requested: No.
Warnings: None. Just some fluff.
Prompt: -“so, i �� uh — locked the keys on the car.”- I said as low as I could, blushing with embarrassment.
Number of words: 1064
Living in a small town, or reservation in my case has its advantages and disadvantages, everyone knows everyone or knows someone that knows everyone, so basically, secrets are hard to keep and everyone knows everything. So that’s why everyone knows the “La Push gang”, their fame follows everywhere they go, player, on drugs, buff, hot… these are some things people keep saying about them, and not even Seth could escape the label. That’s why I kept our relationship a secret, we’ve been dating for around 5 months now and I have told no one, not because I’m ashamed of it, but dating one of them can turn your life into a living hell, poor Kim was bullied for months after he and Jared started dating and I wasn’t ready for that…
Monday morning came too soon, back at school meant keeping my distance from Seth, and to be honest, it was becoming unbearable, seeing him getting hit by all those girls would leave me in a terrible mood and today was no exception, I just wanted for the day to be over and I could get away from this show…
-Y/N?-Jared called from the other end of the hall, alerting Seth of my presence making him step away from whatever girl he was talking to, I just passed through them shooting daggers with my eyes, and headed to class.
From: Baby boo
Babe, c’mon you’re the one who wants to keep us a secret…
Ignoring his text, and the growing will to cry, I tried to focus on whatever the teacher was saying, but to no avail. All I could think about was Seth and all the girls that keep trying to have something with him… 10 minutes later I gave up, excused myself, and got the hell out of there.
-Y/N?- Paul called after me once I was at the parking lot, tear running down my cheeks- Are you ok?
-No- I said, my voice cracking- But it’s my fault…
-Have you thought about just, I dunno, Stop hiding it? It’s hurting him and clearly, it’s hurting you too! Why Y/N, why do you keep doing this?- Paul asked catching me by surprise.
-What are you talking about? Seth said…
-Seth said he was ok with it, but it’s not, is hurting Y/N, he thinks you’re ashamed of him, of your relationship. You got to the point of going to prom with some other dude just to keep with appearances.-By now I’ve stopped fighting the tears and was sobbing, Paul pulled me into a comforting hug- Look, I know ok. I know you’re scared after seeing what happened to Kim, but He loves you so much and it’s killing him to hide that.
I kept crying in his shoulder for what felt like forever until the bell rang and all the commotion made us separate.
-Why don’t you take the day, go see Emily or something?- It was a good idea until I remembered a small detail. Since I got so angry by seeing Seth hug some random girl this morning I made one of my stupid mistakes…
-Can I ask you a favor? But please, please don’t tell anyone- I said to him, making my best cute face.
-What?- I asked, eyebrow raised.
-“so, i — uh — locked the keys on the car.”- I said as low as I could, blushing with embarrassment.
-You are kidding, right?- He said, laughing so hard people were looking at us.
-I was pissed ok!?- I huffed, getting annoyed.
-Well, I can help you with that. On one condition tho- He said, more serious now.
-What condition?
-You need to ask Seth to drive you home today- He said, a grin on his face. The bastard!- Don’t look at me like that Y/N, it’s time and you know it.
I took a deep sigh and went back to school stomping my feet. Childish? Hell yeah. But can someone blame? I know damn well the minute e get near Seth everyone will see the look he makes when he looks at me, and they will know something’s going on between us.
I walk into the cafeteria where I knew he would be, hesitating at the door for a second, but long enough to see how hard I had to fight the will to look at me, their pained expression making me feel like a monster. By the look on the pack’s faces, once they realized I was heading there, I could see this was the last thing they expected from me, I saw Seth’s shoulders tensing up once I was right behind him, but he still didn’t turn which made me roll my yews.
-Seth?- He finally turned, surprised by the fact that I was there, talking to him.
-His everything ok?- A worried expression crossed his face.
-Hum, yeah. I… Kinda locked my keys in my car and need a ride- I said that so fast I could swear no one understood what I said, unfortunately, they did and started laughing, earning a death glare from my Imprint.
I could hear everyone whispering, all eyes were on me, I was fucking doomed. Seth got up and walked as far away from me as possible trying not to give all the students even more to talk about, but Paul’s words were echoing in my head and I stopped dead on my tracks.
-Y/N?-He was confused by my sudden alt and got even more confused once I got closer to him.
At that moment so much was going on in my head, all the girls, Paul’s words, and all the happiness I felt when I was with him. I stopped overthinking it and at a moment of bravery, I kissed him, in the middle of the school. The smile he had once we ended the Kiss was resembling a Kid’s smile on a Christmas morning.
-I love you- I said, catching him off guard. Even though Seth tells me every day how much he loves me this was the first time I actually said those words.
-My house?- He asked once we reached the parking lot, leaving everyone behind talking about what just happened.
-Yes.
I knew tomorrow everything would be different, school would probably be a living hell from now on, but I couldn’t care less, I was with Seth and that was all that matter.
#seth clearwater#seth clearwater x reader#twilight#quileute#quileute pack#sethclearwater#seth clearwater x y/n
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-- Uroboros log - Encrypted E-Call - Or8cle / S0litar3 - source Commercial trade vessel ID 122-J-Prom / Cpt - Seifa A’rosk / SAVED blame=GKT --
(Mid CoV, Ven belongs to @hieroglyphix and JK to @godkingsanointed)
See - I mean of all hthe things. Of all the things you coudl have warned me about in the last what. 4 years now of this? Of telling each other things tht mattered? You could have said nt to take a swing at Troy's stupid fucking face.
See - Hurts so much to type this. God excuse the typos tbh im not doing grea t.
See - I got everything I need tho I'm gd. Take it you know where IM heading yeah? Figure as much at least. I hope this was the right call, Ven. I really hope this was the right choice. Weird cause ive run this through so many times in my head u kno? Wexactly stept by step what I'd do what would happen where I’d go. Shit packed up and stored for a year now, but hey you do actually know that, huh.
See - Feles like my stomach is gone, dropped out of me somewhere back in the cathedral or something. Feels like imnot really here like this whole thing is a dream and I'll waitke up at my desk with a 20 messages I cba reading and a pot of takeout noodles one of you left for me. This doesn’t feel real but it is aint it. Nothing outside the hull cept empty space and silence.
See - Never thought I'd hatee silence, Ven. Wish you were here filling it.
See - Look after JK. Watch out fo rthem. please. Eli is good I;m not worried, you always got Eli, Eli will outlive me I think, probably all of us with how loved he is. But watch out for JK primise me. They love Troy so much that they'll try and pull the monster off his back and that thing is going to be screaming now, Ven. That thing is going to be looking fo sr someone to rip in half and it's not me anymore stanidng in the way of it because I couldn't do it anymore.
See - I'm so fucking sorry man I couldn't do it. Not anymore. I coldnt. Put it off for so long but he was taking everything I had and there was so little left, and then what WAS left he .. he hurt tonight so bad.
See - Been crying for hours now bit Im not really crying you know? tears just dripping down. Can't stop them. Stupid really, eyes hurt.
See - Ven you ever think how funny it would be if verything had been juwt that bit different? Like not this not the COV. Us tho we could have. Like think about it we'd be unstoppable, me and you hahaha. We'd run this fucking galazuy if we wanted, can you imagine. Some bar somewhere we own with a lil casino, luck always somehow on our side? PAir of us could have wrapped anyone we wanted round our fingers we'd be a joke. We'd be terrifying. Could have owned shithoels like Pandora with a little time and a little work. Scam the riches off all those bastards, fucking XAN, oh my god. Leave the prick with nothing, man it would have been so eASY for me and you. Just me and you.
See - Could have saved some kids. Worn ourselves as who we were proud and free not hidden under rules and titles and whatever the hell kind of fake Gods we tried to walk the paths of. It would have been funny wouldn't it Ven, me and you.
See - But Then I think, you know? About how that affects everything tlese. Eli? Without this life Eli wouldn't be here would he. Not now.
See - God sorry, my hand is killing me I'm putting on speech to text.
See - Would JK be alive? Would they have found their lady and their family at all without that cancerous bullshit of a life we joined.
See - And with what he is now still, Troy wouldn't. I know that. Maybe Ty would be, and idk if she would even be something I could CALL Ty, but he'd be dead. I don't know if what I am is worth that. If like. My happiness in some other life, some other choices, is worth all these losses.
See - Maybe that's what it means to care, right? Me and you we get that, don't we. Caring so much about people you want to tell yourself you don't need but you deep down know damn well you'll fade away without. Maybe it means you always sacrifice yourself in the end, your choices, what you could be, what someone else could be with you, all for the people you find yourself loving.
See - Ven I am very drunk right now this was meant to dull the pain till I got base side but whew.
See - Wish this thing had emojis
See - :ass:
See - aww man.
See - Listen.
See - Don't hate him. I think maybe you already can't because you knew, all along, warned me what 2 years ago? Knew and I still saw the way you'd look at him like he was that kind of horrifically embarrassing younger teen brother who's insisted on hanging out with your friends and is SO cringe but you all kinda love him anyway? I know that haha. Don't hate him. You had a terrible life, but Ven, he's had none. Nothing.
See - Idk how much he's told you really, it's not for me to tell, and if you don't know everything, like how they grew up, what happened when they first got here, the things he had to do to make sure she would be happy? Find out. Wait till the monster subsides and he's broken and alone and just. Take that chance. Find out.
See - No one ever really understood why I put up with it all for as long as I could, and I guess I still sound like a moron rn when ur reading this. But if you know, I think you'll understand.
See - Cause me and u Ven. We are so close. man. We are so the same. You're better than I could ever be, but you understand who I am, and if you can understand who I am, you'll understand why I can’t give up on him once you know.
See - Tell E I love him so much. I'll be off grid for a while, gimme a week ok, and then I'll send a vid call and we can all talk.
See - Sorry I won't make it tonight.
See - Sorry, Ven.
-- Encrypted contact ends --
#borderlands#borderlands 3#bl3#troy calypso#tyreen calypso#calypso twins#seifa#leech lord#my hcs#my writing#oc: ven#oc: jak-knife#jak-knife#ven
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a twilight tag game, you say?
pick 5-10 characters and write your take on the canon version of them vs. fanon version of them. fanon doesn’t have to be what is generally accepted in the fandom, it can be your own idea of what you think a character is like. then tag the same number of people as characters you pick, if you can.
I was tagged by @teamjacobthot -- thank you so much! I’m excited to get into this :)
EMBRY
(obviously because i adore him with my whole soul)
Canon:
chill aka probably just shy let’s be real here
likes to bet on things?
seems to have the most common sense
Fanon:
HERE WE GO, EVERYBODY *cracks knuckles*
def the smartest one out of him, jake and quil.
an observer. definitely a people watcher. he reads the VIBEZ
very, super, ultra, mega sarcastic. almost cynical. I feel like he’s probably a realist in a lot of situations rather than either an optimist or a pessimist. probably leans a little more towards pessimism though
refuses to learn about his dad (though, I personally believe it’s Joshua Uley, but that’s a long headcanon for another day unless someone specifically wants to know my thoughts on it more haha)
a super romantic without knowing he’s a romantic?
real tight with his mom-- they’ve only ever had each other since old daddio has been out of the picture the entire time and she’s probably never really dated (once again, i have more thoughts on that too but you know, i digress)
also i SUPER headcanon that he almost ALWAYS only refers to her as, “Ma,” unless it is a serious situation in which he uses ‘mother’ but i do NOT feel like he is a ‘mom’ person. at least for his own mother.
honestly these are just all my own headcanon i have no idea what people think about him :S
for me, i think him and Jacob are closer than Quil is to either of them. In my mind, when embry’s mom Tiffany first got to town, she became really good friends with Sarah Black and thus, Jacob and Embry have kind of been friends since birth, quil only coming in a little later maybe and just not having the same kind of friendship that embry and jake have
I think him and Leah secretly get each other. Like they don’t talk much or anything, but Embry never makes comments to or about her and doesn’t participate in the guys being absolute jerks to her.
also, he just guzzles that respect women juice. like, he was raised solely by his mother so like... he was taught to respect women and also i think this makes him more empathetic to other people which is why he wouldn’t be mean to leah or say mean things about her because he’d understand to a level and might even see pieces of his own mother in her because they both were screwed over by men and he never EVER wants to be that to anybody ever
probably plays guitar but NEVER shows anybody
usually the but of a joke between jake and quil.
also the decider in arguments between jake and quil
i have a zillion more but i’ll quit while i’m ahead
also
is a slut for muffins
QUIL ATEARA V
Canon:
he thinks he’s a ladies man (thinks)
more outgoing?
likes hanging out with friends
took his cousin to prom
Fanon:
so, so, so funny as in a total dork with a lot of unearned confidence
book smart but NOT street smart
prefers name brand foods over generic because it just ‘has that extra something something’ and also, class
loves to debate with jacob. he always ends up taking it somehow more seriously than jacob does.
i actually do not know why nobody talks about quil i feel like he’s super underrated and actually hilarious.
@teamjacobthot‘s one of this tag game mentioned he was a soundcloud rapper and i think i DIED so imma also go with that and second you there
very particular about how things are done
a lover of the puns
toy story is his favorite childhood film, and he announces it as so.
LEAH CLEARWATER
Canon:
angry and bitter
thinks nothing more than of sam
hates vampires
sassy
Fanon:
i absolutely LOVE practically every fanon i’ve ever seen of leah in the fandom like...ever. they are all so amazing and i actually just want tons and tons of fanfictions about all of them
Ngl, i really am a big AngelaxLeah fan
BUT
I PERSONALLY hc that leah gets fed up with being in the pack and she feels like there’s really nothing there for her. She ends up leaving la puzb to go off and explore the world-- she wants to see it and experience more than just the memories and the life that surrounds her in la push. she travels all over and often does so in wolf form when she can. I HC she imprints there-- on a real nice super cool lady from some other country. (this is another thing i could go on for days about, i will write a fanfic about it one day. ONE DAY i shall PREVAIL!)
Honestly, i really do like Leah as she was canon. I think that it was the way everybody acted around her that i would change and i feel like the fandom as a whole agrees on that
like yeah, Leah is a badass bitch with a great sense of humor. she’s witty and sarcastic and smart and wise and i just love her to pieces. everyone else just needs to wise up and be nicer
JACOB
Canon:
super supportive and kind and loving and understanding and THEN smeyer swooped in and DESTROYED MY BOY.
like, don’t even get me STARTED on my feelings about what she did to her OWN CHARACTER
i mean really
smeyer straight up didn’t know what to do with him so she did... all of THAT. it makes me want to wheep.
Fanon:
the fanons out there on Jacob are just... they are SO WONDERFUL and give me SO MUCH JOY
i’ve heard him being a mechanic obviously, i’ve heard about the HILARIOUS details of his friendship with like, alice and rosalie and emmett like... that shit is so funny i live for it
i could read jacob fanons all day
i guess personally, i just love to bits. he’s super patient. very funny but also is really understanding and can (and loves) to get into deep discussions about stuff and listen to other people’s passions and share his own.
purposefully pushes quil’s buttons so he can get a rise out of him because he LOVES their dumb bickering and enjoys a good debate
is also almost always right in those debates
quil probably won like... twice in all of history and it was based on some kind of weird trivia fact he learned in a biology class or something lol
i bet that when the time came he had kids (not with you-know-who obviously cause just...no), he’d be SUCH a great dad and he’d be SUPER hands-on with them, like always taking them places and teaching them how to do various stuff
and if one of his kids was really into something he didn’t know how to do, you KNOW his ass is up on youtube all night long learning how to do it so he can spend THAT MUCH MORE TIME with his kids
oh he’s just so sweet love him to pieces
RENESMESS
...I had to do this but i have a good reason:
Canon:
exists
Fanon:
absolutely does NOT exist
who?
the only ONLY acknowledgement i will give her is i read a fanon somewhere about how she HATES her name. like she is downright royally not okay with it and when she gets older and has to go to school for eternity with her family (weird. seriously so weird but i’m pushing through this) she decides to announce that she is only going by this other name (personally i feel like it’s Carlie because it’s still her middle name and jfd;akfsd but also because it’s A NORMAL NAME) and so she is never called renesmee again because that is straight up a monster name and even her nickname is a monster so like, ugh.
also, i REFUSE to believe that Jacob imprinted on her, okay? if she has to exist, he did NOT imprint on her and they can be buds or something but just... no. (i have so many issues with imprinting guys, i should just sit down and write a long post about it but the ENERGY and it isn’t like it’s not all things that have been said before. it’s more what I’d fix about it so it could still exist but not be a legit code word for grooming and an excuse for blatant p*d* grossness because that’s all it is and i HATE THAT)
so I don’t talk to anyone in the fandom really because i don’t really know how to start conversations like... at all. I really WANT to talk to people but I’m a chicken and i have a hard time, BUT, i really admire so many of the blogs on here and i LOVE so much of their content. Off the top of my head, i shall tag:
@chiefjacob @911esme @jacobblackredemptionblog @embrycallsmuffin @leahclearwaterdefensesquad AND anyone else who wishes to do this! it was so much fun! I say do it! and if you’ve already done it, i just tip my hat to you for being an awesome blog :)
seriously! tag me when you do it, i want to see your answers!!
#twilight#twilight saga#the twilight saga#tag game#twilight series#jacob black#team jacob#wolf pack#quil ateara#embry call#leah clearwater
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Red flag pt.3
>>>Read on AO3<<<
Soon brothers.
Just not yet. :D
In the following week, Mikasa learned more about sex than she ever did before. While the internet itself was a fickle teacher, giving facts and hundred and more opinions from anonymous users, Eren was an endless well of knowledge. It was her who asked first too, he didn’t even try to talk about it before Mikasa brought it up. And how could she help herself, with such an insane bomb being dropped on her!
First things first – she googled the name of the agency he worked at, just to be sure that he was not bulshitting her, but everything he said seemed to be true. The website was there, displaying the “ wide variety of services done by long-term professionals”. Although Eren’s name was not there, he told her that he is listed as Master E, a thing she immediately questioned. Over messenger, of course.
Master E? Damn that’s lame.
You wound me :(
I mean seriously, couldn’t you be something cooler?
Such as?
I don’t know! Master Evil. Dungeon Master. Lord of the Night?
Yea, I’m sure that dungeon master would be turning heads
….. Orgasminator?
Mikasa pls
Lord horsecock
Stoooooop I beg you!
Fine fine, you’re just jealous I’m that much better at naming than you
Sure am.
When he didn’t continue, Mikasa took the initiative.
Sooooooooooo, gonna tell me where the Master E came from?
Simple. Annie wanted to be Mistress A so I just latched onto her vibe
Uh-hu. So you are just that much unoriginal
:( sadly
Just imagining Eren pouting at his phone made Mikasa’s evening that much brighter. She wanted to see more of it.
Latching on Annie, you do that a lot don’t you?
Why is that?
Well, she’s the one who introduced you to this whole thing and even today she is the best at your agency, most advertised one too. Playing catch up your whole life? Maaaaaaster E? :P
Hey, it’s not my fault that men are bigger pervs than women.
Excuses
To be honest, I don’t mind being behind Annie, she’s good at this. Also, don’t tell her this, but she scares me sometimes
Scares you how :O
Annie can be really brutal when she gets into it. Nothing the clients don’t ask for, mind you, but still. If you’d see her victims….. the wounds……
Mikasa’s breath caught in her throat.
Are you serious?
I don’t know…. Am I?
Dork.
She frowned at her phone, but still looked when the answer pinged in.
I am partly serious though. She can be a nightmare, sometimes I feel like she’s on a one-woman crusade against the male population. And she’s getting paid for it too!
She sounds like a hell of a woman.
You bet :)
Master E also had several scenes online, to be bought and watched, and a few times Mikasa almost clicked the button and spent her hard-earned cash on kinky porn. It was the promise of a live show that stopped her from doing so. She didn’t know if she’s going to go yet but buying a video of something she could watch happening in real time was a waste of money. No, she wouldn’t spoil that surprise.
She learned much anyway, way too much even, things that made her blush and hide her face, things that made her quickly hide her phone. In moments like these, she was grateful that the communication was being done over the internet, as Eren was way too intense of a person to be talked about this face to face. Here, hidden behind her screen, she could pester him for ages, joking and making fun of whatever he gave her. And, during these conversations, she learned another important thing.
For a guy who was more or less a professional perv, Eren used a lot of emojis in his messages.
It caught her off guard, how normal and easy to talk to he was. She didn’t think that he was a monster or something, but Eren was right when he said that her opinion of him changed fundamentally once she found out about his job. Mikasa found herself texting to him, a lot, and he texted back, snapped photos until she started doing it too, and overall just had a great time. Levi was giving her sidelong glares when he kept catching her while she stared at her phone, grinning like a maniac, but she simply ignored him. How was she supposed to not laugh when Eren just sent her a photo of his cup from a coffee shop with a crying emoji. Apparently, they spelled his name wrong again and kept calling him Aaron.
What’s the most common thing they ask you to do?
She half hid her face in the pillow, already dreading the answer. The three dots that appeared in the corner indicated that he was typing an answer, and soon enough there was a ping.
I feel like I’ll disappoint you here.
Most of my clients are easily satisfied - basic bondage/dominance stuff works wonders
They could do that with literally anyone else
Like their boyfriends and stuff
Mikasa frowned, typing an answer.
Why don’t they then?
Ping
Sometimes it’s the professionalism I bring to the table, and then I understand them.
But often it's just a lack of communication
You’d be surprised how many things can be solved if two parties talk to each other.
I usually advise it too, tell them that they could be doing this with someone they love and not me
You undermine your own clientele like this? Mikasa wrote Why would you do that?
A few dollars ain't worth if they could be happier. Then again, not every one of them takes my advice, it's difficult to open up about things like these.
That gave Mikasa a perfect chance to poke at him.
Not for you, apparently :p
Ping
:D true, but I work in the business
The range of things they discussed was wide. Save for her past, which she did not want to talk about, and made it crystal clear too, Mikasa shared a lot. She told him all about her brother and the gym, sent him snaps from her workouts and then typed back angry emojis when he called her sweaty tryhard. His overall ignorance towards something that was a big part of her life did raise a question. Grabbing her phone more firmly, she quickly typed it out.
Haven’t you thought about doing any martial art yourself?
You deff got the figure for it.
A ping later there was an answer.
Bold of you to say that when you never saw me shirtless :P
But nah
I’m a lover, not a fighter
Plus, you’re just trying to recruit me to your gym, aren’t you?
Levi promised you a bonus?
Spill your beans, Ackerman
Damn spammer. Yet Mikasa was smiling again, which made Levi, who just happened to be passing by, groan.
“Don’t you have a client coming?”, he asked.
She shook her head.
“In an hour, I’ve got plenty of time to get cleaned up.”, she made a gesture with her hand, “Now shoo, I’m having a conversation.”
“With Sasha?”
“Huh?”, she looked up, puzzled, “Why would it be Sasha?”
“Cause I never saw you smiling this much before.”
One week turned to two, and suddenly the day of Eren’s show was here. He remained true to his word, never bringing that event up, keeping it completely in her hands, if she wanted to show up or not. Mikasa was uncertain. The mystery pulled her in, she wanted to see these things for herself. Watching it on the internet is one thing, but live show….
All the stories Eren told her only fueled such a flame. He always omitted names and such, for the discretion of his clients, but he didn’t hold back on the details. To be fair, Mikasa did ask for those.
Sasha wasn’t much help in her decision process either, because Mikasa didn’t want to share all the details about Eren yet. She told her friend that the guy from the bar invited her to a strange-looking place, and wanted to know if she should go.
“Did you two fuck?”
Mikasa frowned, realizing that Sasha can’t see her over the phone.
“No Sash, we didn’t. He’s a friend.”
“Oh, okay.”, there was a crack on the other side as she probably munched on another potato chip, “And is he a friend-friend, or friend-you-would-like-to-fuck?”
“Why is that the question?”
Sasha giggled.
“Dunno just wanted to ask.”
“You’re not helping at all….”
“Because it's easy! You either trust that guy and go or don’t trust him, block his number and never see him again. Boom, solved!”
If only it was so simple.
Yet when the day rolled around, Mikasa woke up with a decision in her mind. She’s going to go there. Eren was a great friend, and she was curious about this whole thing. She will be masked, anonymous, and if there is something she won’t like, the door will be there. This raised another question, however, of what does one wear to a BDSM club.
Mikasa, in her vanilla life, did not feel the need to buy anything made of leather or latex and wasn’t about to start now. There was one pair of leather paints she used to own until one day a completely random guy on the street told her that her ass looks really good in them. Mikasa threw those pants right out that evening. Public exposure was something she was NOT looking for. So, she had a small variety to choose from anyway. Mostly jeans, one or two skirts and a single dress that she wore to prom and that probably wouldn’t fit her anymore. Standing in front of the wardrobe, she contemplated calling Sasha again but ultimately decided against it. Mikasa Ackerman is a grown woman. She can choose her own clothes, damn it.
In the end, it was just a simple shirt and jeans combo. She reasoned that it added to her secretiveness, as anyone could wear what she was wearing. Satisfied with her completely basic appearance, she headed for the door, grabbing the keys and popping her head into the kitchen.
“I’m heading out.”, she announced, “Borrowing the car too.”
“Oh? And you tell me now?”, Levi tsked, shaking his head, “Damn brat, you really have no manners. When will you be back?”
“Later, maybe tomorrow. Don’t wait up.”
The words were already forming in Levi’s mouth, but Mikasa spoke faster.
“I’m an adult, so please. Just don’t.”
And, to her surprise, he didn’t.
“Fine. But if there is even a single scratch on the car, I’m taking it out of your paycheck.”
“That’s fair. I’ll see you later then.”
“Later.”, he was already half-turned back towards the Tv, before he added, “Drive safely.”
And that’s how, an hour and a half later, she was standing in front of a completely unassuming building. The door was just like any other, with a small sign and everything, not strange in the slightest. The security guard might have been a bit of a giveaway. He was tall, wide and dressed in a tailored suit that fit him perfectly. When Mikasa approached, he sized her up and down.
“I’m afraid that this is a members only club.”, he spoke in low barytone, “Do you have a card?”
“I uhh... I was told that I can come in. I’m a friend of Eren, my name is Mi-…”
The guard raised a hand before she could finish.
“No names, please. We pride ourselves on anonymity.”
Seeing Mikasa nod, he continued.
“Mr. Yeager did tell me that someone might be coming and that I should let them straight in. So I will do just that.”, he stepped aside, “Once you enter, the masks will be to your right, and after choosing one please don’t forget to return it. Enjoy your stay.”
Mumbling her thanks, Mikasa dipped inside, finding herself in a small room. There were the masks, just as the guard said, and another door that led to the club itself. She could hear muted music coming through. First things first, she stepped closer to the selection, casting an inspecting eye over it. There were several types, all possible shapes and sizes form full hoods to tiny eye-masks. After a bit of healthy consideration, she grabbed a black one that covered the upper half of her face, more than enough to remain anonymous. It was not likely that she would meet anyone that knew her anyway, let’s be honest. Masked, ready as ever, curious and wanting to see more, Mikasa took a deep breath and entered the door, stepping right into Eren’s world.
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tempting.
Reflecting on my health issues, since age 17. And my living situation.
So since around the age of 16, I’ve been plagued with unpredictable bowel problems and digestive ills. Like, everybody gets constipated every now and then, but I mean I’d get just, excruciatingly backed up and my family wouldn’t help me get seen or anything.
Basically from the time I was 18 onwards I was told my medical bills were mine. But oh by the way [Ram. Not my real name, but the name fam calls me], you gotta pay us every dollar that isn’t devoted to keeping yourself alive :^)
I’d be like, family, I cannot afford this, it’d be in your best interests to invest in my health so I can figure out what’s fucky about my bowels and stomach so this can stop happening, I can live a normal life, and we can all continue on our merry way.
Basically I was told, “tough shit, do it yourself, also pay your fair share to The Family” (aka, give mom all your money.)
It was never just fear of homelessness, but fear of homelessness while my GI tract was fucky and my teeth were rotting out of my head that made escape from here impossible. It’s why I didn’t just climb into a hole in the wall and escape this garbage fire of a mother and do that bootstrap shit. Because it sincerely made me wonder sometimes if I was being poisoned by my mother to keep me powerless and in need of help, but perpetually weakened to where the best I could do is move towards help but just be put on a treadmill for someone elses financial benefit.
Perhaps my bitterness makes just a touch more sense now, right? Because Maine is a long-drive state. You need a car. You absolutely need a car to get anywhere. Not having one means you walk everywhere, you ride a bike everywhere and are FUCKED during the winter, or you go nowhere because you don’t have anywhere you need to be and don’t drive.
Now that said, imagine having bowel and ass problems so bad just the idea of driving makes you question if it’s safe for you to even be on the road.
That has been my existence for twenty years now, because my family wants me just close enough to extract what mom things “she’s owed,” but absolutely will not help me with anything. There’s no security in staying here because the whole fucking POINT of putting up with a family’s infantilizing “everything has its place” mentality, is you’re able to wisely squirrel away your income without paying a landlord anything and your income going up in smoke
If your mother is just the worst sort of landlord, you’re basically just paying a narcissistic bitch of a mother to be a narcissistic bitch of a mother. There’s absolutely no upside.
So I’ve been stuck in this virtual tutorial of an existence because my own digestive system was torturing me and seriously deleting my ability to operate independently. And mom, whom has always wanted absolute control over my finances and my future, saw it as a holistic way of penning me up and making be desperate. Never a wasted opportunity with this fucking monster.
Well. I eliminated cottonseed oil and chicken proteins from my diet and, while not perfect, the amount of excruciating pain and pressure and weird cold-acidic burning in my back and bowels has subsided a lot. As well as my stomach issues receded considerably.
The truth is I was loathe to even try and escape without figuring out these problems, but I couldn’t figure them out because I never had the money. I tried to get a barium enema x-ray when I was 17 and suffering a massive, excruciating flareup. I missed prom (I didn’t have anyone to go with anyway) because of what felt like it could’ve been anything from gall stones to bowel cancer.
Had a big useless cleanse that was excruciating, then had the guys that give the barium enema tell me, “lube is expensive” when I screamed about how much it hurt to have the thing shoved up my ass. My already inflamed, tender ass.
Absolutely nothing was found in my bowels. Which did absolutely nothing to explain why they felt inflamed and miserable. But it did give me a $1,700 bill, which proved.. absolutely nothing except they couldn’t find tumors or any object lodged in my butt. Given how it took me two summers to acquire almost that much working a shit job for my shithead father’s girlfriend, maybe you can appreciate how heartbreaking that is. Spending all that money and you don’t even learn WHY you’re suffering, you just learn why you aren’t.
And today I still fume with rage over being told, “ass lube is expensive so we’re skimping on it” and then be charged almost two thousand god damned dollars.
Absolutely could not get my family to help me pursue any other avenue. They just kept insisting, “it’s all anxiety, it’s all in your head. You just need to get off the computer and do more manual labor/make us money and your problems will go away. :^)”
But then they would not help me do it. They wanted me to take on all the risk while they got the guaranteed income from my needing to be around them.
My need to grow step by step was their opportunity to mitigate my life, every step of the way, so non-compliance with their exploitation would result in homelessness and complete uprooting. If I wasn’t going to voluntarily follow draconian rules, then I’d be governed by those rules anyway in the absence of them being verbally stated. Just, using poverty and immobility as a way to impose it.
But I refused to comply. I wasn’t going to suffer every day unendingly AND get my income snatched away, BY MY OWN GOD DAMNED FAMILY. A family that didn’t even pay RENT to live in the house we were living in at the time, and a family that made 65-70K a year, with another house they owned in a less convenient location worth $350K. My mother had ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS other than fun and profit as an excuse as to why I needed to buy, “the family,” a car. Other than making it the “family” car giving her defacto control over it but my obligation to pay for it. Just another indirect way to give her absolute control over my options and alternatives.
So I didn’t work. I sat at home and dealt with her abusive bullshit, because it was the only card I had left in my deck. She didn’t want the stigma of throwing out a sick man without a license, a car or any savings. I didn’t want to voluntarily throw myself out and die in the street.
So I dealt with my health problems as best as I could. There were a good many times living in this house, that we’ve lived in and she’s owned since 2006, that I questioned whether I should phone an ambulance and just say fuck it, go into tens of thousands of dollars of debt just goosechasing this problem, thanks to the backdoor socialized medical system that exploits the profit motive but uses government assured payment fixed to taxes in order to afford it.
That’s probably what pisses me off the most about my situation. Our medical system has been turned into a farce by socialists deliberately making medicine as toxic as they fucking can in order to then bat their eyes and go, “Bet you just want single payer and to basically make medicine another ring of the government NOW, don’t youuuuuu? It’d make all those woes go awayyyyy!” while turning the screws to our bodies by denying us affordable medicine. All while blaming capitalism for shit that’s assured to work at any cost by the government.
Other people pine for a more socialized system to make the disgusting exploitation and abuse stop. But the truth is, that’s just like wanting to marry a pirate so they’ll stop lobbing cannonballs and demanding tolls at sea from you. Yes, the actual literal war on you and your community and your personal sovereignty will be over, but you’ll also be institutionalizing pirates in order to make them stop taking complete advantage of you on their terms instead of taking complete advantage of you on mostly-their terms but you get to act like you’re consenting to it.
I digressed. Anyway...
Well. I’m curious about pursuing a shit job just to see if I can KEEP some income, but I know, and have always known, my mother will not allow me to do anything with that money but barely keep myself alive. While she uses it to just buy enormous bulk loads of garbage and hoards them in the corners, or throws hundreds of dollars at friends-of-the-family/neighbors and extracts that money from me to do it.
I know going into it that the job would be otherwise worthless. She wants her ten pounds of flesh a year from me, and if I worked, there’d be no getting around it. She isn’t going to allow me to profit living with her, in any way. Everything has to revolve around her, or I get made homeless.
But trying to hold a job would mean possible (there’s that ‘potential vs. guarantee dichotomy again) feelers out to couches to surf on. Or credit building.
It’d still be a sexless existence dictated by someone so fucking petty that they can’t help you fix a broken tooth but do miraculously have the money to buy you a cell phone and a plan, “if you want it,” purely to always have you at their beck and call and/or have control over your phone plan. And it’d mean committing to something that runs a minimum of a year while being able to have a foot crushing my neck and destroying whatever I’m trying to do in an instant.
but it’d also mean being able to financially pursue what’s wrong with me and fixing it.
But I will hold this grudge against women and the actual, objective privilege they have from the legal system and our social system in the US for the rest of my life. Everybody around me saw what she was doing to me and my life, and they’ve done and said absolutely nothing. An abusive woman in this society is basically on par with the richest barons in a young adult novel, and all you have to do to get that kind of institutional power, rich or poor, is have a vagina and be a mom.
Then other women will sympathize with the mother, whom can never be totally wrong about anything, and at best you might get silence and indifference about the way you’re treated.
You can be cornered, debased and neglected until you’re a greasy shoggoth of a person, and if it’s a woman doing this to you, it’s your fault for not escaping. After having every escape route made as torturous and unsustainable an option as possible, you’ll be held accountable for yourself.
I’ll be relieved and pleased when this disgusting pig of a woman dies of natural causes. She’ll have gotten away with grabbing my life and thrashing around with it for 20 years while the world passed me by, just to keep control, just for fun, just for profit.
But in the meantime, maybe there’s a local niche I can fill. Just enough of something to find somewhere else to live. Without conditions making it more damning to pursue than nothing at all.
But I’m not hoping too hard.
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After reading that those breakup senarios for monster prom I was crying 😭 so do you think you could write some getting back together senarios?
(A/N): I’m sorry for making you cry, hun! Here are the getting back together scenarios you asked for (sorry it took me so long, these are very long to write). I hope you and the others will enjoy them!
This is a follow-up of the Breaking Up With Them (Monster Prom Characters)
Miranda Vanderbilt:
Getting you killed for broking her heart was probably Miranda’s greatest regret of all time, leaving her wishing she had spared your life so she could have the chance to see your face from afar. She was missing everything about you: every expression, every tone of voice, every simple touches… In fact, she missed you so much that not a single thing about you ever slipped from her mind, the simple thought of you tearing her insides apart over and over as she internally screamed in agony at your absence.
And it was all her fault.
She needed to see you again, at least one more time. It didn’t matter to her if you would hate her with all of your soul, or even go live your life and be with someone else, all she wanted was for you to just be alive in front of her again… to see you smile one last time.
And to be able to get that miracle she desperately needed more than anything else, she needed to sacrifice at least a hundred of her serfs to an obscure god she learned about from Zoe. She won’t lie to herself, none of them seemed really happy to get slaughtered by her guards in order to get you back to life, but at this point, she didn’t care to even act like it was in their best interest. They’re her serfs, they’re nothing to her.
And you’re her entire world.
While her guards sliced and cut serf after serf, her eyes were locked on your corpse she made them put on the podium earlier, observing every inch of you. She didn’t like to see the state you were now in, the weeks you’ve been dead having rotten your skin to a point where you were almost unrecognizable. But Zoe said it didn’t matter how long it has been, and she believes her. And with a hundred offerings, you better come back looking exactly like you were before dying: Perfect, like a divinity.
“Princess Miranda.” Her attention turns away from you as soon as one of her guards speaks up, her eyes settling on him. “The last serf has been killed.”
“It’s only a matter of time, now.”
Dark fumes suddenly both engulf you and her, everything turning dark only to reveal a giant and monstrous form grinning in the blackness.
“Miranda Vanderbilt.” His low voice makes her question her action, fear slowly rising in her soul. “Thank you for your generous offer… here’s the price you’ve wanted in return.”
A bright light emanates from your body when his black finger touches it, blinding her so much that she has to hide her eyes with her arms.
“Princess Miranda!”
Her guards’ voices bring her back to reality, and she blinks a couple times to adjust her vision as she frees her face from her arms. When she looks back at you, she feels her heartbeat stop in shock, your (e/c) eyes looking back at her in pure confusion.
“… Mir’?”
“Oh, my dear (Y/N)!” She throws her arms around you in a desperate manner, her tears already flowing down her cheeks and unto your shoulder. “I am so delighted to see that you’re back with us, love!”
“But… you killed me…”
She tenses up from your words, the memory of the spear getting through your body flashing in her thoughts.
“Ah…” She frees you from her embrace, her eyes looking down at your lap to avoid looking at your expression. “I’m deeply sorry for that, dear… I acted without thinking and, well… There’s no excuse for it, so I would understand if you despised me now…”
She wipes away a tear from her eye, your silence only answering her words for a while.
“Well…” A rush runs through her spine when your fingers touch her cheek, making turn her head towards yours so she could your smile. “I forgive you, Mir’.”
Her heart melts like a burning candle when your lips capture hers in a small moment, her whole body having craving this kind of touch for a long time now. More tears follow the path of her skin when she realizes that you’re not holding any grudge against her, a few sobs escaping her throat when you part away.
“Oh, Miranda… why are you crying?”
“I thought… you said…” She shakes her head to try and reassembles her thoughts. “You said you wished to leave me…”
“Ah, yes, but… you see, being dead kind of gives you a whole new perspective on things.” You give out a sweet smile, giving her lips a small peck. “For example… leaving you would be a huge mistake since you’re the origin of my happiness.”
She couldn’t have been happier in that moment. Because not only did she managed to get you back to life, but you were also back to be hers.
And that is the greatest gift she could ever ask for.
Damien LaVey:
He hated this.
He hated how you were standing there by your locker, smiling and laughing with one of those stupid monsters he didn’t even know the name of, while he was simply here, constantly feeling overly angry and lonely since you left him
He really fucking hated this.
Why couldn’t you be happy and stay with him? Why did you say being with him was draining you from any happiness you had left when it was when you were with him that you were the happiest? Why did you think it was his fault that you were feeling numb? Why didn’t you tell him anything-
“Damien.” He comes back to reality when Vera snaps her fingers in his face, the gorgon clearly being annoyed. “Do I need to remind you that it’s primordial for you to listen to me? This heist could be disastrous if you don’t.”
“Yeah, the heist, yeah…” His tries to not let his eyes look back at you giggling at what that other stupid monster just said, but he’s unsuccessful at doing so. “I hear you.”
Vera quirks an eyebrow and looks in the direction he’s looking at, only to roll her eyes upon seeing you.
“Are you regretting not killing her or something?”
Damien groans, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans his shoulder against one of the lockers. “I regret letting her go.”
“Then go get her back, you idiot.”
He gives her a surprised look. “Huh?”
“I suggest you do it soon, or else that monster over there’s gonna beat you to the chase.”
He looks back to where you’re standing to see you slightly push your friend’s shoulder in a playful way, your laughter echoing in the hallway because of one of the monster’s joke. A flash of hatred burn in his eyes when he sees the dummy subtly getting closer to you, and Vera smirks proudly when she sees his expression.
“Show him his place.”
Damien unconsciously cracks his knuckles, preparing his fists for a future impact as his own lips stretch out in an evil grin. “With pleasure.”
He hits the space between you and your friend with his fist as soon as he arrives, leaving a deep mark on the metal of the locker. You give him a shocked look at first, then sigh in annoyance when he stares at your friend like he’s going to twist his head off his body in a few seconds.
“Leave.”
Despite being terrified of dying, your friend gives you a small look over Damien’s shoulder. “B-but-”
“I said leave!”
He doesn’t wait for the demon prince to add anything else as he runs away without looking back, leaving Damien turning to your annoyed face.
“That was my friend you just scared off.”
“Your friend was about to kiss you.”
You quirk an eyebrow at him while taking some books out of your locker. “And why should you care?”
He grins at your question. “Because you’re mine.”
You close your locker, holding your books closer to you as you look back at him.
“That’s funny, I thought we broke up.”
“And I’ve decided that we were back together.”
You give out a chuckle. “You do realize you can’t force me to do that, right?”
“I’m going to be the King of Hell, I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
“Hm…” You approach his face to yours, his breath getting caught in his throat in hope. “… but you’re not the King of Hell yet.”
You playfully tap his cheek with your free hand before walking past him, letting out a surprised yelp and accidentally dropping your books when he suddenly grabs your arm. You look back at him, a little frustrated, but your words disappear from your mind once you see the pain in his eyes.
“Please.” He moves his fingers down your arm to finally hold your hand with his, his claws almost digging inside your skin in desperation. “Please come back.”
Your expression soothes down to a sweet one, your eyes full of sadness.
“Even after I hurt you, you still want me to be a part of your life?”
“I don’t want it, I fucking need it, okay?” His words contrast with the fact that he gently puts his lips on your fingers, not wanting to let go of your hand as he gives out a sad chuckle. “I fucking hate that I need you and you don’t. I know you don’t love me, but I wish you could just for one more minute.”
“I do love you, Damien.” The world stops around him, and he stares at you in disbelief. “I was unhappy, I still am a little, but it has never been because of you.”
He blinks a couple of times while processing what you just said, then he frowns in what seems to be anger or frustration. “Why the fuck did you lie to me then? Why the fuck did you hurt me?”
“I…” You sigh, looking down at your hand still trapped between his. “My feelings were so… dark. It was slowly killing me and I was scared of dragging you down with me if I stayed with you. So I lied because I knew that with the real reason, you wouldn’t have let me go.”
“For fuck sake, of course I wouldn’t have, you idiot.” You’re surprised when he takes your head between his hands and puts his forehead against yours, his breath feeling shaky against your skin. “Now you better let us get back together so I can help you fight this or I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“… okay, okay.” You look into his eyes, your smile slowly becoming bright. “We can go back together.”
You can’t help but giggle when he attacks your face with a huge amount of kisses, his lips against your skin feeling like a thousand tickles.
“You won’t let me go that easily now, will you?”
He ends the attack by giving your lips a small kiss. “Never.”
For a moment, he never thought you’d say it. He never thought you’d let him hold you in his arms again nor he thought he’d get to taste your lips one more time.
But he is so fucking happy that you let him back into your life.
Scott Howl:
Since you left him, Scott’s skills in the football game-play have incredibly deteriorated, making his team lose almost every single match they had against the other schools up, and the practices weren’t any better. No matter how much his coach encouraged him to do better or how his cousins threatened him to stop hanging out if he didn’t stop playing so bad, he just couldn’t get himself to focus on anything. Football didn’t matter to him, and if he ever had any interest in any school subject, he definitely didn’t have any at all now.
All he wanted was you.
And therefore that’s all he could think about.
It hurt to not have you by his side, constantly. How could he stay the same when every inch of his mind and body kept screaming in agony, begging the universe that you would come back to him?
He couldn’t play because you weren’t there to cheer for him, he couldn’t study because you weren’t there help him with his homework and he couldn’t breathe because you weren’t there to hold him.
He couldn’t live without you.
And you noticed it.
It made you so worried about him. You almost regretted lying to him when you break up seeing how much you hurt. But it was to save him from yourself, it had to be done.
But one day, when you see his dull eyes looking down at the floor has you pass by him, the boy no longer looking up at you with a little hope like he used to do, you couldn’t stop yourself from talking to him.
“Scott.” Your voice makes every one of his bones respond to it from memory, his eyes finally looking back into your (e/c) ones. “Are you okay?”
“I miss you.” His words pierce right through your chest, your heart begging you to run over to him. “I miss you so much, (Y/N).”
You made a mistake. That’s the first thing that goes through your head after hearing him. Maybe you shouldn’t have broken up with him, even if it was to save him from your own dark feelings. You loved him so much, but you haven’t noticed how much he loved you back too. And god, he wouldn’t be so heartbroken if you had just told him the truth, wouldn’t be?
“Hey.” You give him a sad smile. “You have a football match tonight, right?”
“Yeah…” He looks back down at the floor, his foot kicking a ball of paper away from him. “But what’s the point in it, anyway? I’ll just lose it again and get kicked off the team.”
You really did a mistake.
“What if we made a deal?”
His head perks up when he hears you say that. “What kind of deal?”
“Well, if you win this match…” Your smile turns to a sweet one as you tilt your head at him. “… we can go back together.”
You’ve never seen his eyes light up so bright and so quickly, a huge grin breaking out of his lips while grabs your shoulders in excitement.
“We can?”
You giggle, part of surprise and part of happiness from seeing his. “Yeah… Yeah, we can.”
“Deal!” He crushes into a tight hug, his cheek pressed against yours in a loving way. “I’ll win this match if it’s the last thing I have to do!”
When he frees you to run towards the school’s field so he can practice properly, you can’t help but smile at his leaving form, your heart warming up at the thought of making him happy. Of course, the boy was too excited about having another chance to be yours that he forgot to ask you what would happen if he loses the match, but honestly, it’s not something neither he or you had to worried about… because he won and crushed the other team completely that night, not only earning back the school’s and his teammates’ respect along with a good pat on the back by his coach, but also you.
He won you back.
When he looks back at you smiling at him beside the bleachers full of monster, he can’t help but worry that this is not what you wanted, that you accidentally trapped yourself in a situation you wouldn’t be if you hadn’t had pity of him and made a deal. Those thoughts made him sad, but he kept on a fake smile for his cousins who were cheering him on, and he kept it when he walked back towards him.
“Hey.” You welcomed him with your usual sweet smile, the one he was craving to see again for so long. “You won.”
“Yeah, I did!” He’s really happy that he finally managed to get back on track, but what about you? “But, (Y/N)… it’s okay if you wanna call of the deal.”
You give him a surprised look. “Really?”
“Yeah, because…” Despite the sadness in his eyes, he manages to give out a smile. “I only want you if you want me too.”
“Scott…” You grab his giant hands with yours, looking up at him with a huge smile. “I love you so much more for saying that.”
His heartbeat tries to get out of his thoracic cage as soon as you say that, his brain reviving with hope.
“You do?”
“I knew you would win the deal, Scott.” You tiptoed in order to be somewhat at his height, giving his nose a quick kiss like you used to do. “I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t.”
You yelp when he suddenly wraps his arms around your form, bringing you up in the air so he can turn around with you in his embrace. You let out a loud laugh along with his, both of you enjoying this happiness running through your veins.
“You’re back! We’re back!” He finally puts back down, but only so he can crash his lips against yours for a small moment before parting away. “I’m so happy!”
And you have no idea how much he is.
Liam de Lioncourt:
Somehow, acting like he didn’t care that you were gone made everything worse. He thought that if he showed that it was something he wanted as much as you, it would make things easier for him, that he’ll be able to move on much quicker, but he was wrong.
He felt like dying all the time.
It didn’t help that he had to be your friend. Sure, he managed to not see you as much with excuses such as secret meetings that didn’t exist or a random art calling that he needed to do alone, but he still had to hang out with you when the group wanted to go out. And that was pure torture because he had to see you smiling and laughing up close, which constantly reminded him that he could no longer be that source of happiness for you.
And that’s not even counting his followers, who have noticed that he deleted all the pictures you were in, and have been harassing him about the situation ever since it happened.
‘Where’s (Y/N)?’, ‘Why did you delete your pictures?’, ‘Have you two broke up?’.
He tried to ignore those comments, but he couldn’t. They were a constant reminder of his failure at loving someone, at loving you, and it kept digging holes in his heart each day.
Of course, they are times that you can’t hang out. No real excuses except for something along the lines of a weekly meeting of some sorts, which kind of reminds him of his own excuses. Only he’s pretty sure your meetings are real, unlike most of his, and you’re doing a pretty good job at hiding what it is.
Until today.
He wasn’t trying to learn anything about you, in fact, he was trying his best to avoid you at all costs. It’s a coincidence that you happen to arrive with another person in the same area as him. I mean, not in the same area, but close enough for him to be able to hear the conversation he didn’t really want to hear. He was about to leave, wanting to have some peace and quiet where he wouldn’t be able to hear you laugh with someone else until he learned what your meeting with this person was about.
It was a meeting for people who are in depression or were in a state of depression, you and the other person having been paired up and meeting each week to talk and listen so you could try and lift each other up. It shocked him to learn that you had been going to those meetings for months, way before you had broke with him, only to try to fix something inside of you and thus without telling him or any of your friends. Why you hadn’t told anyone was beyond him, and he was glad to learn that the other person was agreeing with him.
“You need to tell someone close to you, (Y/N). Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you found help by coming to me, but at some point, you’re gonna need someone you love to be there for you.”
“I don’t want to drag them down with me.”
Your reason made him so worried about you. It suddenly didn’t matter that you shattered his heart into a million pieces. All that matters was that you got better.
“Is that why you broke with Liam? To protect him from your feelings?”
“I didn’t tell him the real reason.” The whole world around him exploded from learning this, his eyes widening in shock. “Trust me, it’s easier that way.”
“You’re an idiot.”
He hasn’t noticed that he had moved to where you and your friend were sitting, your shocked expression now looking back at him in both surprise and fear.
“… Liam?”
“It’s not easier that way.” He sits down beside you just as your friend subtly leaves, letting him take over. “You just end up alone for the wrong reasons and it’s worse than anything else.”
“I-You…” You hide your face with your hands, trying your best to control your breathing so the tears don’t come out. “You weren’t supposed to hear this.”
“But I did.” He takes your hands off your face, his serious expression staring back into your “e/c) ones. “And now you’re gonna listen to me.”
Staring into his yellow eyes calms you down enough to slowly nod, and thus despite the fact that you’re still feeling quite embarrassed and ashamed of yourself.
“You’re not gonna hide this from me anymore. Every time you’re gonna have a bad thought or a bad feeling, you’re gonna tell me about it and I’m gonna help you get through it.” His hands hold yours tighter to support his point, and you think you see a flash of sadness in his yellow eyes. “I don’t care if you think it’s gonna hurt me, you will tell me about it. I have lived for centuries, (Y/N), and I’m telling you, I prefer staying with you so we can help each other enjoy life even in the darker days than being away from you and feeling like dying.”
Your heartbeat gets louder to the point of hurting. “Liam…”
“I love you, okay?” He puts his forehead against yours to give you some comfort. “I love you and I am not going anywhere.”
The tears finally fall down as you try to keep in a sob. “I-I thought you didn’t care. You said-”
“My pride got in the way.” He smiles when you let out a small chuckle, his fingers wiping away a few tears from your cheeks. “Thought, you did hurt me pretty bad.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Everything’s fine now.” He gives your forehead a small kiss, a thing he would have never done in public if it wasn’t for the fact that he loved you so much. “I won’t let you push me away again.”
And you’re not even gonna try, because you love him too much to watch him go a second time.
Polly Geist:
Polly never gave up on bringing you back.
Well, at first, she was utterly devastated. Her heart was broken and crushed at the exact moment you left her, and she tried to forget the pain by partying way more than she already used to do (which, knowing her, is a freaking lot). But then, she thought about your smile, about the way you made her happier than she ever did, and she thought…
… she can’t let you go just like that, can she? That you two had just simply cannot end like that.
And so she had tried to win you back ever since, no matter how much you tried to push her back. Nothing worked on her: not the insults, not the cold demeanor, not the silent treatment, not the threats, not the begging, nothing. No matter what you did, and how extreme you went, she was still there by your side, smiling and bugging you constantly about taking her back. At least for one day.
It was both painful to your heart and also extremely annoying.
“Baaabe.” She pokes your cheek to get your attention away from your book, your eyebrows instantly frowning in annoyance. “Talk to meee.”
“Don’t call me babe.” You hide your face closer to your book, trying to ignore the flash of hurt in her expression that you spotted from the corner of your eye. “We’re not together anymore.”
“But we could be again!” She pushes down your book so she can see your face, her hopeful grin staring back at you and making the guilt grow inside your gut. “What do you say, (Y/N)? For old times sake?”
“Why-” You sigh, trying your best to not explode in anger at her. “Why are you constantly bothering me with this? It’s been weeks, Polly. Move on.”
“I can’t.” She flutters her eyes and accidentally let a few ghostly tears appear in their corners, her grin still somewhat present on her face. “I love you too much to do that.”
“God, Polly-” You make a pause when you feel your heart twist from the guilt, your brain just screaming at you to take her back and hold her. “You’re just hurting yourself that way.”
“No, I’m not.” Her lips stretch out as she looks into your eyes. “You are.”
You quirk an eyebrow in confusion. “What-”
“I know why you broke up with me, (Y/N).” She tilts her head at you, her expression sweetening. “You’re scared of hurting me, right?”
You stare at her in disbelief, blinking in silence for a while until your turn your head towards where Vera is sitting in the cafeteria. The gorgon subtly waves at you with a huge grin on her face as he drinks her vodka, clearly amused by your death stare.
“I guess someone doesn’t know how to keep secrets.”
“Does it really matters in the end?” You look back at Polly when she grabs your book and puts it beside her, a new determination showing on her face. “You don’t need to be afraid of hurting me. I’m already dead, there’s nothing to save. In fact, I should be the one saving you instead of the other way around.”
“You-You don’t know how it feels, Polly.” You put your hand on your chest, grabbing the fabric when you feel the tension in your heart rising. “It’s dark, it’s intense and it is there constantly. I don’t want you to be exposed to that.”
“It’s part of you.” She takes your hand away from your shirt to hold it, her ghostly fingers touching your skin making your spine tremble for a moment. “And I love every single part of you.”
Your breath gets cut in your throat. “Polly…”
“Just take me back, okay?” Her smile shakes a little, the ghost trying her best to hold back a sob. “I know I’m not the best at dealing with these kinds of feelings and I probably won’t understand everything, but… but I promise I’ll try my best to be there for you.”
You feel yourself melt at her words, your brain burning at the sight of her loving you so much.
“Okay…” You intertwine your fingers with her, her excitement already affecting you. “Let’s try this one more time.”
She doesn’t wait for you to say anything else that she’s already putting her lips against yours in a heated passion, her whole world feeling bright once again.
Vera Oberlin:
Vera did everything in order to move on from you quickly.
The first thing she did was to order someone to kill you because she just knew she wouldn’t be able to do it herself. You might think that she could have also spared your life, which would have been easier to do, but just the thought of you going out with someone else at school not only made her cold blood starting to boil but teared apart her heart like a simple piece of paper. You had to be gone in order for her to be happy again, it was the first step.
The other step was to try her best to not think about you. Of course, the fact that you were now gone made it a little easier. Can’t think of someone if you never pass by them in the hallways, right? But it wasn’t as easy as she would have thought, because you were constantly in her head and it was enraging her.
At first, all she could think about was the last moment you two shared: the moment where you grabbed her heart inside her chest and pulled it out so suddenly that she almost cried in public. And she let that memory feed her anger and despair, fueling her enough to be even crueler when she killed people and stole money from them. The memory of you was making her more respected around, and so she didn’t see the problem of getting rid of you from her mind.
But then, she started to remember you differently. It was small moments that kept coming to her brain at random times. Moments where you said a funny joke that made her laugh, moments where you gave her incredible gifts no one gave her before, or sometimes she would just think that you would have loved this thing or that joke, and her dark heart kept twisting in pain every time it would happen.
Then she tried everything to stop thinking about you, from dark spells to unknown sacrifices to gods, but either the things she tried didn’t work, or she wasn’t able to fully commit to it and dropped it at the last second. Because in order for her to stop thinking about you, she would need to completely forget you, and she wasn’t ready for that. As much as she hated to think about it, you were everything to her, and she needed to acknowledge that.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have killed her.” Was a thought that kept creeping into her brain one day, her steps echoing in the hallways because of her high heels. ‘Maybe then we would have a second chance.’
But it’s too late now. Her stupid pride got mixed with her emotions and you were gone. There’s no way she could bring you back without giving her soul to an unknown god. She shouldn’t give her soul to have you back, she’s smarter than that.
But maybe-
She stops walking when she hears a familiar laugh; your laugh. The one she adored hearing no matter where and no matter when. But it couldn’t be you, could it? You’re dead. Her hitman assured it-
Her eyes go wide when she turns into a hallway and see you laughing with Polly, your translucent body floating in the air right next to the party girl.
You’re back as a ghost.
You’re back!
You stop laughing when you spot her staring at you, a sweet smile still staying on your lips.
“Vera, hi.”
The gorgon closes and opens her mouth a couple of times. “H-hi. You’re… you’re a ghost now.”
“Yeah…” Your smiles stretches out. “Yeah, I am.”
Polly looks between you and her best friend with a huge grin on her face, a giggle soon coming out of her throat before she disappears into the lockers to give you two some privacy.
“You’re beautiful…” Vera gets lost in your eyes for a second, but soon regains her confidence as she clears her throat. “I mean, for a ghost, you don’t look half bad.”
Your smile stretches out. “Thanks, Vera. You’re gorgeous as ever.”
Her cheeks burn down from your compliment. “Of course. Your death gave me a new glow.”
She has to remember that you destroyed her with the breakup, and she cannot be too friendly with you even though her heart’s begging her to just claim you back. But how would you want to be with her when she’s the one responsible for your death?
“I can see that.” You tilt your head at her, floating back down towards the ground so you can be at the same level. “Thanks for killing me, by the way.”
She gives you a shocked look. “What?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but it freed me from… well, kind of dark thoughts and emotions I had all the time.” Your smile falters a little at the memory. “Plus, I deserved it for hurting you.”
“I wasn’t hurt.” Vera gives you a hard look when she feels her walls starting to crumble. “You’re wrong if you thought you could even give me a slight amount of pain.”
“If you say so, but I probably should tell you the truth.” You look away for a moment, hesitating. “Vera, I didn’t break up with you because you didn’t make me happy… but rather because I was afraid I would drag you into my depression.”
She stares at you in disbelief as you continue to explain.
“I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me, and I knew you would listen if I told you the truth, so I made up a lied. I shouldn’t have, because I ended up hurting you more, but… I did. So I’m sorry.”
She continues to stare in silence, making you feel uncomfortable, then she suddenly stands a little straighter and gives you a smile.
“Tonight. Seven o’clock.” She slowly passes by you with a proud smirk. “Be ready.”
It’s your turn to give her a shocked look. “Huh?”
“We have a date. You owe me one for hurting me.” She stops at the end of the hallway to give you one last look, her eyes lighting with happiness. “If it goes well, we’re going back together and you can’t say no.”
You don’t think you would have said no anyway since she left you there alone but feeling the happiest you’ve ever been.
#monster prom#monster prom imagine#monster prom imagines#monster prom x reader#monster prom scenarios#miranda vanderbilt#damien lavey#scott howl#liam de lioncourt#polly geist#vera oberlin#miranda vanderbilt imagine#miranda vanderbilt imagines#miranda vanderbilt x reader#damien lavey imagine#damien lavey imagines#damien lavey x reader#scott howl imagine#scott howl imagines#scott howl x reader#liam de lioncourt imagine#liam de lioncourt imagines#liam de lioncourt x reader#polly geist imagine#polly geist imagines#polly geist x reader#vera oberlin imagine#vera oberlin imagines#vera oberlin x reader#imagine
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team starkid's “black friday” musical
feel free to edit where necessary!
"Don't be scared!"
"His belly is so squishy!"
"He's all that you wanted! He's all that you needed!"
"Do the wiggle!"
"Doors open at 7am,"
"Lose your mind!"
"Drop dead!"
"How many times are they gonna play that ad?"
"Relax, it's just a toy,"
"Cabbagepatch Kids were just toys, and there were RIOTS over those things. Literal riots."
"Well, we're here. So you can get off your soapbox,"
"I mean, he is an asshole."
"Hey, everything's going to be okay, okay?"
"Who are you?"
"Well, we haven't put a label on it yet!"
"But we are intimate."
"That stuff is for little kids!"
"I do not get flashbacks, I remember bad things vividly."
"I didn't do for you."
"I don't have a drill press, and even if I did, how would it fit into the sedan?"
"This kid deserves one fucking thing that he asked for."
"Even now it's a dream. the kind that makes you question reality."
"Someone's gotta pay for it."
"I couldn't hold him still enough to teach him guitar."
"I hit replay on that night, over and over again 'til it gives up the fight. But there's no end - there's no end - there's no ending in sight."
"What have I done?"
"I don't say it enough. I'm scared you blame me. I'm scared you blame me for your luck."
"I'll give up both of my arms to get you on track."
"All I need is getting you walking towards the paradise you dream."
"Excuse me, you think it's okay for me to park here?"
"I was hardly valedictorian."
"How does it feel to be a role model?"
"You know, I could. But that would be violating company policy, and everyone's telling me I should be more responsible lately, so I'm gonna go with them on this one."
"These little friend-o's are gonna take you so far into the black, that you ain't never coming back."
"You are gonna make a killing!"
"You'd think that a drop-out with a record would be thankful to have a job."
"See, she CAN be taught!"
"We'll see who's laughing by the end of the day!"
"Where's my sister!?"
"Do I have to put a leash on you, like a dog, or my cousin Oliver-"
"Is today a good day or a bad day?"
"Oh great. Now we gotta talk to the imaginary spider from outer space."
"Bad blood. Crossed. Black and white."
"Can you translate? I don't speak crazy."
"Don't you fucking laugh."
"Cross my heart. Hope to die."
"I'd make a great dad, I'm just saying."
"Seven fucking thousand!"
"My mom's a bitch!"
"It beats being broke."
"That's not how cameras work, babe."
"We're missing in action!"
"Get yourself a new trailer. 'Cause this one is broke. as. shit!"
"Let's go, I need a cigarette."
"I did not cut, I bought my place in line!"
"That's called a bribe, and it's illegal...Or it should be."
"I hope you don't get a toy. I hope you fucking die."
"Well, my children were accidents. You don't see me pushing my problems onto anyone else."
"Not that ra ra school spirit cheerleader bullshit that you never grew out of."
"Did you think your neighbours didn't notice you wearing sunglasses on cloudy days? Turtlenecks in the summer? Well, they knew what was happening, they just didn't care."
"What do you say when you love each other? What do you say when years have past?"
"Just skip to the fucking!"
"Nah, I'm shopping for myself, I like dolls... I'm just kidding. I don't like dolls. Least not, like that."
"We're not liable for anyone who dies."
"You should be ashamed of yourself, you disgusting little pervert."
"It's mine! It's mine! It's certainly mine!"
"You never should settle for a lifetime that is handed to you. There's always a line to be cut and someone to barrel through."
"Let go! Do you have a death wish?"
"This is not the type of place you can haggle."
"Don't do it. Two doors, not one."
"Bad place. Black and white."
"Look, I know you're nervous to leave home. But you gotta trust me. It's gonna be so much better for you out of there."
"He's got a knife!"
"No, I'm not frightened! I'm annoyed!"
"Oh, I don't know if you wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna fuck with me."
"And you - you are the most special person here."
"You keep looking for it in the arms of other men, or the smiles of your ungrateful little brats. But you have been cruelly denied it."
"That's the kind of bullshit you feed to your therapist or your life coach."
"Shut the fuck up!"
"Back off or I will send a laser guided ballistic missel to your house in Denver, and you will be scrapping what's left of your kids off the fucking pavement."
"I will bite your nipple off."
"That was a joke, sir."
"Behind the veil of the universe you perceive, are entities both ageless and foul. And these eldritch forces are rising. There's a creature at work here, one with designs on humanity far worse than any nightmare we can comprehend."
"There are monsters and there are men."
"When the clock strikes three, see you at the rink!"
"-the fuck I am watching?"
"Maybe he crawled for help."
"You've got to forgive yourself, 'cause if you don't, how is anyone gonna forgive me?"
"You look just the same as I always remember."
"Take me back in time to love you."
"You don't look the same at all as I remember. The light has left your eyes."
"If you asked me, I'd still go to prom with you."
"Hold me closer than before."
"Tell me something Santa would know."
"This is the best movie ever!"
"Bet you didn't guess that the lord of despair would be so cute and cuddly, did ya!"
"That's heavy."
"You want to send me to the fucking Twilight Zone!? To have a sit-down with the devil? Fuck that, fuck that, that's all folks!"
"We're trying to stop the birth of a god."
"If we have faith, we will be rewarded with a cuddly toy."
"Kill them! Fucking kill them!"
"I dislike that word. 'Cult'. No, it's a new exciting religion that I started."
"I've met God. He had nothing nice to say about you."
"I demand your love and worship too."
"I will destroy everything, and then I will destroy everything."
"I'm in the black and white now. It's just like California, it never rains."
"I swear on my own grave."
"You're being a rotten little banana. I'm going to have to peel you. I'm going to split you in two. I'm going to eat you."
"We don't get tricked. We're grown ups."
"You don't scream at a child, it frightens them. You lure them in delicately. And you put them to sleep."
"I'm sorry, babe. No dice."
"The poor get poorer, and the rich, well, they keep getting richer."
"I can't be evil, I'm a status quo democrat."
"It happened on your watch, your time is running out."
"There's something that's beautiful, being awake for my funeral."
"Is there some lesson to learn? Should I even have wanted?"
"Only my ashes will see the sea."
"I'm authorizing you to use my firearm."
"Look me in the eye, and make a solemn vow to become your best self now."
"Gather your forces. There's a warrior of light trapped in deep sleep. Wake the warrior, kill the prophet, save the world."
"I hope they didn't tow my car."
"Kids don't want that thing. They're all into Fortnite now."
"Everyone's dying, and that includes me too."
"I failed you once, and I will fail you again."
"You're not that cute, in fact, you're real fucking ugly."
"Wake up! Belittled you isn't as fun if you're not upset."
"You've been outfoxed by a fucking moron."
"Oh, the plans he has you and me, me more favourably."
"Do you see what I see?"
"Tomorrow will come."
"Tomorrow won't come."
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Lesson Learned || Ariana & Layla
timing: sunday evening (6/21)
parties: @letsbenditlikebennett & @laylacooke ft. ulf (mentioned)
summary: ariana’s anger gets the better of her.
warnings: death mention (rip celeste), explicit language
Layla had returned the night before, just in time to insist that Ulf and Ariana chain her back up. The talk she had had with Frankie had been a step forward. The second instance of hope, after Lucas had given her a small pendant for her birthday, showing that not everyone had thought she was evil incarnate walking the streets. But as the compulsion began to fade, and her heart started to turn cold again, Layla’s mind clouded with only one thought, and that was to make Ariana, Ulfric, and anyone else involved in this ridiculous plan to pay, “You do realize how wrong this is right? Making me sit here all fucking night chained to a chair? It’s inhumane. I thought you cared about me and my well-being. You know, I’ve only got so much blood in my body. And this ghostly complexion should be enough of a hint to you, that I’m bleeding out!!!” The monster inside was willing to say anything, especially at this point and had she been given her phone, she would’ve set the whole town on fire with her words. “Do I at least get one phone call? If so, I’d like to call my girlfriend and tell her how you’re holding me hostage you fucking oompa loompa excuse of a wolf.”
When Ariana had left the other night, she hadn’t thought to grab more than one change of clothes. While she was sure Ricky would have gladly lent her an over-sized t-shirt or five, she wanted a few more comfy pants and some work outfits. Layla was currently chained up in their room and her fists balled up just at the thought of seeing her. The thought of the reckless route she took to avoid her own emotions left Ariana seething, especially in the midst of her own grief. Every single day already felt like a battle and this was another layer that she could barely take on. Her trust was betrayed, and she had a hard time separating this heartless version of Layla from the friend she’d grown close to in such a short time. The moment she entered the room, the dramatics had already begun. She rolled her eyes and retorted, “If you prefer, I can just go ahead and turn you into the cops. I’m sure they’ll be much more fucking accommodating and have tons of vegan options for you.” She went through her closet, pulling out a few signature items and grumbled, “Yeah, okay, we’re really letting you bleed out when Ulf and I have both already given you stitches, but go off. You’ll just feel like shit about this later when you can’t just turn off your fucking feelings. And no, you don’t get a call. I don’t have a phone right now.” As much was true, she had accidentally smashed it when she’d been showing Ace her photos from prom.
With Ariana just a few feet away, Layla was seething. With every breath she took in anger, she could feel her lungs pressing into her ribs. She had kicked and squirmed most of the night only to bust the stitches yet again, but this time in an attempt to get one of them close enough to make them pay. However, when it didn’t work, she was stuck bleeding all over the floor, “Call the fucking cops, and then watch as I rip their heads off one. by. one. And you know I think I’ll start with Stranger Things. He looks like a good one. Nice and meaty.” She licked her lips. “I can taste the coffee and donuts now.” The words coming out of her mouth were far from anything she would’ve ever said. And after having the compulsion wear thin, the cursed toy made sure to return its power three-fold.
It had hardly been five minutes since Ariana returned to the trailer and she found herself already seething. She didn’t know how Ulfric did it. The older wolf seemed to just have an endless amount of patience when it came to them. She could hear Layla rustling around under the chains as she packed some of her clothes up and let out a huff when she spoke of hurting the cops. Her head whipped around and she sneered, “Oh, I’m sure you’re just the biggest and baddest in town. Hate to break it to you, but there are other supernaturals in the police force. One’s way bigger and scarier than you or I could ever be, but by all means, it’s your funeral.” She wasn’t sure how true that was, but Detective Stryder had to be something if she knew about the supernatural. Whether it was more threatening than a werewolf, she had no clue, but Layla could use a little reality check. She wasn’t invincible. She rolled her eyes. “Can you just shut the fuck up already? You’re not going anywhere until you’re un-hypnotized.”
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? Docile little Layla. Over in the corner cowering at the world. Well I’ve got news for you, Little Wolf...Ain’t gonna happen. Because I’m here now. And you, and Clifford the Big Red Doof can’t do a fucking thing to stop me.” Rocking back and forth in the chair, she started to work towards flipping it on its side. If she could get the chains loose, she might be able to break free. And as she rocked harder and harder, she finally managed to get the thing on its side, despite the grunt she let out from the pain of the chair and the awkward position she was in. As she continued to kick and struggle, she growled in frustration.
Instead of giving Layla the satisfaction, Ariana for what had to be the first time ever, held her tongue. She’d rather tell actual Layla how she was feeling than… whoever the hell she hypnotized herself to be. The fidget spinner was tucked safely away in her pocket so she could take it to Winston. This would all be over soon. “Whatever you say, Layla,” she huffed as she zipped up her bag and heard a thud. Without a beat, she’d whipped her head around and ran over. “What the hell are you doing? No wonder you keep breaking your stitches open, dumbass.” One more little quip, not quite as spicy as what was being dished out, but she had no interest in chatting or arguing with this fucked up version of her friend.
Layla kept kicking and fighting to get free, and regardless of what the chain was doing to her wrists, she finally managed to wiggle her way out. With her arms free, she reached out for Ari’s leg in hopes of grabbing it, but the chair was holding her back from still being chained to it by the waist and her feet bound. Growling, she began pulling herself, and the chair, forward, “Come here, you little purple haired bitch!” Claws coming out, she jammed them into the floor to get traction as she struggled to get to Ariana.
A low growl escaped Ariana as she felt the other wolf trying to grab her ankle. Bitch. Of course, she couldn’t just chill out until they fixed this whole thing. It was hard to deny the anger and resentment that was boiling up inside her. She took a step back, watching Layla’s claws dig into the floor. “Are you fucking serious? You’re the bitch here, Layla. Instead of dealing with your fucking problems, you turned off your conscious so you wouldn’t have too.” She pulled the fidget spinner out of her pocket, staring at it momentarily, her face contorted in an angry sneer. She clenched it in her fist, feeling how delicate it felt under the weight of her heavy palm. “My sister is dead because of me. She just died and now I have to clean up the fifty messes you made around town because you misused a toy, I warned you against using? And I’m the bitch? You know what,” she yelled, her voice strained as her cheeks reddened and tears threatened to pour down. She squeezed the fidget spinner feeling it crack in her hand and she clenched her hand around it harder, feeling the pieces come apart. She let the broken toy fall to the floor and gave it a stomp for good measure. “See how big and bad you are without your stupid fidget--” She cut herself off, realizing that may have been a bad idea. Would it even turn her back to normal? She watched the redhead carefully, pleading for this to just make her normal again.
Her claws continued to dig into the floor as she moved closer and closer to Ariana, but when she looked up again, she noticed the fidget spinner in Ariana’s hand. Eyes wide in desperation, Layla panicked trying to get to the other wolf faster, but it was too late. With the crack the red headed wolf cried out in immense pain. The surge through her brain was intense and with the break and stomp on the toy, it left the teenager laying on the floor unconscious. However, it was the surge of feeling coming back to her heart, that gave her the jolt that brought her back, and all at once the young wolf felt guilt, shame, heartbreak, grief, anxiety, and a number of other feelings that couldn’t be contained. Tears immediately flooded her cheeks as confusion filled her mind. The question of what had she done was an understatement, and when she realized who was standing over her and how cruelly she had treated her, Layla quickly scrambled away from Ariana as if she were that same skittish wolf the first day they had met, despite the fact that she was still chained to the broken chair. Cowering behind the bed in the corner she normally slept in, she couldn’t bring herself to look at the girl who’s heart she had broken the most, aside from Frankie. The one person that had taken her in, despite not knowing a damn thing about her.
For a moment, Ariana was frozen in place, unable to believe what she had just done so carelessly. The stroke of luck that breaking the thing had been the right answer didn’t erase the guilt that was now settling, or rather unsettling, her stomach. She’d always had a tendency to act before she thought, and it dawned on her how terribly wrong this could have gone. By the way Layla was cowering away from her and crying, she knew it was her again. She could just feel it, but her head was reeling. This was too much and suddenly the walls of the room felt like they were closing in her and her heart was pounding against her chest. “Layla,” she croaked, voice hitched in her throat, “Lay, please say something.”
The teenager was gasping for air. It felt like the world was coming down around her. What she had felt at the party seemed minuscule to the wave of shame and fear that hung over her like a 70-pound weighted vest. Did Ariana hate her? Did Frankie hate her? Did the entire town hate her? Layla had never been this aware of her feelings, and it felt like she was suffocating. Her eyes unable to focus on one thing as thoughts raced through her mind, she stayed crouched in the corner shaking, until Ariana had said something. With broken brown hues, she looked to the other teenager and with bated breath, replied in a whisper, “W-What did I do?”
Something in Ariana broke hearing Layla crying so pitifully on the ground. Despite her own pain and how much more the other wolf had brought her this week, she still hated seeing her so broken up. She was still mad and knew she would need time to trust her again, but right now, the hurt in her friend’s whisper took precedence. She kneeled down on the floor, scooting toward the corner Layla was in and refrained from reaching out, knowing it might startle her. “You-- I don’t even think I know everything. Just try to breathe, okay? It’s going to be okay.”
Layla’s heart was shattered. She was lost even more so than before anger had sent her into making the most regretful decision of her short life. The chains had remained around her and the broken chair was restricting her movement, but as she noticed Ariana coming forward, Layla pressed herself further away from the girl. She had already hurt Ariana more than she could ever try to fix and having the girl comfort her didn’t seem right, when it should have been the other way around all along, “Why did I do this? I’m so sorry, Ariana. I hurt you, and- What did I do?” Sobs left her lips as she struggled to catch her breath.
Ariana frowned as Layla moved further away from her and tried to swallow the anger that still threatened to spill out. She needed to air out all the ways in which Layla’s actions had hurt her, but now wasn’t the time. She needed time to come to terms with all the things she had done, and it was clearly overwhelming her in this moment. Tears pricked at the edge of Ariana’s eyes as she assured, “Nothing that can’t be fixed with time and a few apologies. Just-- breathe, okay, Lay. I’ll--” She realized Ulf had the keys for the chains. “Can I get you anything? I need-- Ulf has the keys. I should--” The words came out of her mouth hurriedly as she tried to keep herself steady.
It was like Layla was trapped in her own mind and couldn’t get out. Except this time, it was from all the emotions she had tried to push out of her life. The pitiful decision she had made had come back to bite her in the ass and hard. But the word ‘fixed’ gave her pause. Could this be fixed? She could easily list the ways she had hurt multiple people in the town including, “Oh God, Sam..Sam is he- Did I?” In her warped state of mind, she hadn’t even checked to see if he was okay. There was so much she needed to know, but the mention of chains caught her attention and sent her looking downwards. Grabbing hold of them, she lifted them up weakly, before letting her hands drop in defeat. What was the use? Looking back at Ariana, she grew quiet. With a very subtle shaking of her head ‘no’, she let the sobs subside as she tried to take in everything all at once as if it were some punishment to her actions, knowing she had a long way to go, before anything would ever feel okay again.
As she watched the other wolf sob, Ariana found herself at a loss. Even with her own anger still welling up inside of her, she couldn’t stand to see Layla like this. It didn’t matter that it was her own actions that got her here, she still hated seeing someone she cared for hurting like this, and she had no idea how to fix it. Things weren’t okay and probably wouldn’t be for a while. Hell, she even needed time to move past what Layla had put her through while she was already reeling from losing Celeste, but right now wasn’t the time for a fight. “Sam’s going to be okay,” she said softly. She slowly backed away as Layla shook her head and let out a sigh. It was all too much right now, even for her just trying to quiet the part of her that was still filled with rage. “I’ll get Ulfric, just stay still. You’re hurt, okay? Ulf will-- Things will get better again. We’ll talk things out soon, but I can’t-- I just can’t yet.” She walked away, tears falling from her own eyes as she tried to figure out where the keys were stashed. Her hands were shaky as she texted Ulf, hoping he’d be home soon. He’d know what to do. He always knew what to do and that’s who Layla needed right now. Not her, still trying to fight down her own anger and feelings of resentment. She wished she could be the bigger person and let this all go, but the wounds were still too fresh. She promised herself that soon they’d be able to talk through this.
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March 29th
Master List
~~
There’s something spectacular about the last day of any school term. It’s the magic of knowing, the next time you set foot on this campus, you’ll be older. It’s the sadness of saying goodbye to the teacher you used to have and preparing for the ones you’ll have next year.
Today was different. It was the last day, but this time, you would never be coming back here. Tomorrow night you would graduate, and then you’d be off, off in the world being adults. So today, the seniors were given the chance to just vibe, wander the campus, reminisce as they prepared themselves for the following day.
“Hey, Y/n, remember this?” Jeongin giggles, pointing to a chunk of the wooden bench that had been knocked off.
“I’m late, I’m late” You were gasping for air, dodging around other students, trying to get to the main office. You weren’t doing any parkour or anything, but you were bouncing off benches and sprinting along curbs. “Excuse me!” You called, brushing past a large group of men. You boosted yourself on the wooden bench next to them, but just before you could jump off the end, there was a loud crack and you were suddenly falling. As if in slow motion you turned, aiming to land on your back, but you never hit the ground.
You were in someone’s arms, staring up at a very cute boy who had stopped you from crashing onto the ground. He offered you a grin, carefully setting your feet back on the ground.
“Are you okay?” You nod quickly, picking up the lunch box you had dropped.
“I’m sorry, thank you. I have to go.” You turned to begin sprinting away.
“His name’s Jeongin.” Someone called, and you turned back slightly to offer him a smile.
“Thank you Jeongin, I’m Y/n”
“Of course I remember breaking this stupid bench.” You huff, kicking the old seat. “Freshman year, I was late for my doctor’s appointment.”
“Hey don’t be mean to the bench, this is where we met. When I heroically saved your life.” He posed for emphasis, foot resting on the bench and hands on his hips. Your face erupted into a grin as giggles escaped you.
“Ah yes,” You began, pressing a dramatic hand to your forehead, “My hero.” You collapsed backward, falling towards him, and weren’t remotely shocked when he caught you.
“Jeonginnnie! Y/n!” Someone called. You looked up to find Felix and Jisung jogging towards you.
“Hey you, finished bothering Mr. Pips?” You greet, standing up straight, with Jeongin’s arms still around you.
“Sadly, he’s got a meeting, had to run off before Jisung could declare his love.” Felix teased.
“So what are you two doing?” Jisung pouts, dropping onto the bench. “Hey isn’t this the bench you broke?” You nod, kinda proud.
“Yeah. We were just talking about that.”
“My favorite thing you two have ever done was the escape on prom night junior year.” Felix recalls, sitting on the back of the bench.
“This is straight-up lame.” You groaned, picking at the flowery lace on the edge of your dress. Your shoulders were cold, your legs were cold, and your feet hurt from these stupid shoes. Jeongin seemed just as bored sitting next to you, and Felix was sitting with Hyunjin and Jisung a few tables away. Seungmin was nowhere to be found but something told you he was at the snack table loading his pockets.
“The music here sucks,” Jeongin whined, peeling off his jacket and draping it over your shoulders. “We should leave.”
“They’d never let us go, didn’t you hear? Everyone has to have their parents pick them up, cause of the murder last week.” You sigh, “Stupid rule. It’s not like the killer’s going after high schoolers.”
“What if we snuck out?” Jeongin offered, pointing to a darkened section of a fence where no one was watching. “Hyunjin’s car is right over there, past the fence.”
“But then we’d have to get Hyunjin to sneak out with us.” You reasoned. “And get me over the fence in heels and a skirt.”
“We take the shoes off, and when you get to the top, I’ll be the only one on the other side to catch you.”
“And then once we’re all over we sprint to Jinnie’s car.” He nods at the plan. “Where are we gonna go though? Our parents aren’t expecting us home till just past 2 am.”
“Let’s go to Chan’s” Seungmin’s voice made you jump, and you turned to find him on the other side of the table. “I was eavesdropping, cookie?” He pulled a bag from his coat pocket, offering you one.
“No thanks, do you think Chan will let us come over?”
“I was already going, he was gonna pretend to be my dad and come get me at midnight.” He shrugged.
“Alright.” Jeongin nods, “Let's get those three in on it.”
Less than twenty minutes later and you found yourself perched on the top of the fence, waiting for Jeongin to give you the clear to jump down.
“Alright babe, come on.”
“You sure?”
“Now’s not the time, Y/n, Hurry.” Hyunjin huffs, jiggling the fence slightly.
“Shut up, Hyunjin.” Felix hisses.
“No worries babe, I’ve got you.” You swallow the lump in your throat, and swing your other leg over the top, before dropping down.
“I was surprised you actually caught me.” You giggle, all of you laughing at the memory. “Weird to think no one heard us, we weren’t quiet.”
“I’m pretty sure Seungmin bribed the security guards.” Felix reasons.
“Who did I bribe?” Seungmin’s voice makes you jump, finding him walking towards you looking like a runway model.
“Why are you dressed like you just walked out of a catalog, I thought we still had to wear our uniforms today?” Jisung wonders, tugging on Seungmin’s beige trench coat.
“I did just walk out of a catalog, dad had me doing a photoshoot, I wanted to clean out my locker before school ended for the day. Now answer my question.”
“The security guards at Junior prom, when we snuck out.” You answered, stepping away from Jeongin, “Hey we should probably all go clean out our lockers.” You realized, grabbing Jeongin’s hand. “Come on you two, lord knows Felix needs extra time to clean up his disaster.”
“Hey, it's not that bad.” He cries, jumping off the bench. “I’ve just got some extra papers.”
“Yeah okay.” Jisung scoffs, “You kept every paper from this semester. It’s like a tornado in there.”
“Your’s isn’t much better, Jisungie.” You tease, trailing your hand over the lockers as you walk down the hall.
“Speaking of absolute messes, where’s Hyunjin?” Seungmin asks, glancing up and down the mostly empty halls.
“Who knows, probably making out with someone in a bathroom.” Felix laughs, “I know I saw him walk into the science wing with some girl earlier.”
“You’re so mean to him. Let him live his hoe life.” You defend your friend. A locker in front of you bursts open, making you shriek and jump back, partially falling on Jeongin as Hyunjin bursts out of the compartment.
“Exactly, let me live.” He cries, bursting into laughter at his scared friends. You were practically in Jeongin’s arms, and Jisung was on the floor staring up at his friend.
“You’re a monster.” He gasps, trying to calm his breathing.
“It was so funny, you should have seen your faces.” Hyunjin cackles, earning a slap on the arm from Seungmin. “Oh my gosh, where’d Felix go?”
“Hey,” Jeongin whispers, “We gotta stop meeting like this.” He jokes as you detach yourself from him.
“What can I say, I keep falling for you.” You tease back, kissing his cheek as he blushes.
“With any luck, I’ll always be there to catch you.” He flirts back, making you giggle.
“I found him!” Jisung shouts, and you look over to find him pointing up at Felix, who had somehow managed to climb onto the lockers in fear.
“Something tells me that this isn’t the end of these idiots antics.” You sigh.
“Hey, at least we have each other.” Jeongin grins, nudging your shoulder.
“Thank god for that.” You grin back, leaning up to press a quick kiss to his lips. “Otherwise I’d go crazy.”
“I’m already crazy.” Jeongin begins, resting a hand on your cheek as he pulled you closer, “Crazy for you.”
You were too focused on Jeongin’s gentle kiss to register the groans from the boys as they echoed down the hall.
#stray kids imagines#stray kids#stray kids imagine#stray kids i.n.#stray kids jeongin#yang jeongin#jeongin imagines#jeongin imagine
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the wrong end of a very long tunnel
king falls am
word count: 2106
poetry borrowed from straw house, straw dog by richard siken
read on ao3
x
and you wanted an adventure, so i said have an adventure
The car smells like Jack. He always forgot body spray on his mad rush out the door in the morning so he took to keeping a can in the glovebox. Sammy sits in the driver’s seat with a death grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles standing out like strings of pearls. In the passenger seat is the packed bag he found by the front door months ago.
It was months ago. It took that long to negotiate a way out of their contract at the station. And maybe Sammy was hoping for a miracle, hoping for a late-night phone call or the sound of a key in the lock. If he waited a little longer, dragged his feet, Jack would make his own way home.
But Sammy is sitting in a car that smells like Jack, with a bag in the passenger seat where his boyfriend should be, and his phone in the cup holder with the GPS waiting on his first move.
It’s a hard move to make. Sammy is a coward. He wants to go back inside. Back into their house, even though the mail is on hold and the gas and water has been shut off. Back into the life he and Jack built with each other, for each other.
But this is the only way back. Leaving now is the only way to go back home.
Jack, Sammy thinks.
He presses the clutch and shifts into first gear. He doesn’t slow down until the fuel gauge is on empty, seven hundred miles away. Then he pulls into the first gas station off the interstate and has a quiet panic attack.
It’s only for his benefit that it’s quiet, really. To keep some semblance of control. He could have made a scene if he wanted to. It’s one o’clock in the morning in the Middle of Nowhere, Northern Oregon, and Sammy is alone. He could fall to the ground and scream and be long gone before some unfortunate morning employee came in and checked the CCTV.
Jack, he thinks. He doesn't scream. He gets out to pump gas.
i don’t really blame you for being dead but you can’t have your sweater back
His apartment isn't quite ready for him. Real estate market isn't exactly booming in King Falls, but the landlady wants a chance to clean the carpets. The last tenant had cats. So Sammy has a handy excuse to stop in at the only motel for a hundred miles, to smile as he introduces himself as the new radio personality, make small talk, ask about the town. It's very scenic, the drive up was beautiful. You must get a lot of tourists when the weather's nice. Have you seen any new faces around here lately? Anyone new come through?
No, the grizzled receptionist said, just you.
The motel room smells like stale cigarette smoke and mold. The walls are an ugly puce with a wainscot that might once have been white. The comforter on the bed is stiff and over-starched. Sammy sits down on it with Jack's bag. He didn't bring any of his own things in from the car. He falls asleep with his nose pressed into the collar of one of Jack's shirts. It's the only way he can fall asleep.
It's easy enough to assimilate into town. Easy enough to adopt a persona that would assimilate into town. He could play the aggressive shock jock well enough for work, but he felt like an understudy in a role that wasn't really meant for him. Felt like being back in high school and taking a friend from homeroom to the prom because she was a girl who understood him and the pictures would be what their parents expected.
Sammy has always known how to be what people expected. He's always known how to play his cards close. There's too much at stake to get sloppy now.
Ben Arnold is a bright, lively person. King Falls is home to him. He knows the ins and outs of every weird and unsettling corner. It's on the tip of Sammy's tongue to ask— hey, where would the best place be to start looking for a missing person? Can you give me a reference number for the paranormal abductions section of the local library? The love of my life is gone and your creepy, hungry hometown is to blame, so tell me, Ben, what does it do with the people it eats? Where does it keep its food?
Sammy doesn't know how to have that conversation without sounding insane. Without going insane. So he doesn't have it.
He'll do this on his own.
Jack's shirts don't smell like Jack anymore, but there's still a can of body spray in the glovebox. Sammy only uses it sparingly, when he's afraid he's forgotten what it smells like.
On a rainy morning, when Sammy is giving Ben a lift home from the station because they drove in together the night before, he points Ben toward the glovebox for some napkins to dry his glasses with. After a moment of rooting around, Ben makes a suspect little "ooh" sound— his curiosity is a monster Sammy is doing his very best to tame— and comes out with the body spray.
"Don't," Sammy says. It comes out quick, but not sharp, and Ben's head tilt is confused, but not hurt. "Just don't want to waste it," Sammy adds with an easy smile, eyes on the road. He puts out a hand for it and Ben surrenders it without a fight. It's just body spray, it's not worth the conversation they're having about it. "It's hard to find."
"It says Bath & Body Works on the sticker," Ben laughs, "but whatever, weirdo."
And Sammy could say actually—
Do you have a minute?
Can I tell you something?
But instead he drives them down the mountain, arguing about breakfast, taking care on the turns. Ben's glasses are smudged and his smile is lopsided and bright. Sammy has never been able to protect anyone but himself, but he drives differently when Ben is in the car.
you are a fever i am learning to live with, and everything is happening at the wrong end of a very long tunnel
It doesn't feel right to not want to be at his apartment, pouring over the complicated notes Jack left behind that Sammy doesn't know how to read, smoothing out a wrinkled map with half a route traced in blue pen and pretending like this time he'll see something there he didn't notice before, this time he'll figure it out.
But the longer Sammy spends here, the closer he comes to admitting what a part of him knew all along.
He isn't getting Jack back. He isn't going home again. Home got taken away, home is gone.
"Havin' a rough night, are we, bud?" Ron asks. Sammy doesn't know where he came from.
He's laying on his back across the hood of his car, a bottle of liquor clutched in hand. It's a clear night, and there's hardly any light pollution out on the edge of town. Maybe that's why Sammy drove out here. Maybe he just wanted to look up and see something beautiful in this godforsaken place. It's half past one in the morning, and by now Sammy would be deep in Sweetzer Forest, doing his usual pointless run around before booking it up to the station for the show, always a few minutes late.
But at midnight on the dot, his phone helpfully reminded him of Jack's birthday tomorrow. He checked the notification at a red light. Then he pulled into the parking lot on his immediate right and got out of the car, because he didn't trust himself to drive at that point. The only 24 hour convenience store was a few blocks away. He bought a half gallon of whatever was nearest the door.
"I'm fine," Sammy says. He's pretty sure he says it. It's so practiced by now that he can't imagine he would have said anything else.
A calloused hand works the bottle out of Sammy's fist. Ron leans his hip against the side of the car and takes a swallow. The first drink had made Sammy cough, but Ron's face doesn't change.
"Shelled out for the good stuff tonight, I see. Special occasion?"
"Yes," Sammy says firmly.
Of course it's special. Jack's birthday is always special. They go out to dinner and they get extraordinarily drunk and they stumble home together and climb into bed. Jack is warm and solid, and he lays an arm across Sammy's waist in a way that makes Sammy feel— held. Jack makes him feel held.
And Sammy isn't the type of person who could make someone feel like that about him, but he tries. He makes breakfast, he remembers how Jack takes his coffee and how he likes his eggs, and hopes it at least comes close.
"I forgot what day it was," Sammy goes on, and then he starts crying.
He'll blame the drinks later. He'll say he just can't hold his alcohol. It'll be sort of a running joke after this. Sammy never lives it down.
But for now, the driver's side door pops open, and the cabin light goes on, and the warning chime starts up because the keys are still in the ignition. Ron roots around for a minute and then returns to Sammy with his phone and a napkin from Paulie's.
Sammy takes the napkin, not sure what he's supposed to do with it. Ron asks for his PIN, and Sammy tells him, "It's today." Ron takes his wrist and directs the hand with the napkin in it up to his face.
Oh, Sammy thinks, and wipes his eyes while Ron makes a call.
Some interminable amount of time later, the car rocks a bit as Ben climbs up next to him on the hood. He scoots around until he and Sammy are shoulder-to-shoulder, marooned in a parking lot under a staggering array of stars.
"I'm playing a Best-Of compilation," Ben tells him. "I was working on it for your anniversary, but I'll come up with something even better by then." He turns his head, glasses going crooked and pressing into the bridge of his nose. Beneath a mop of dark curls, his eyes are familiar. People don't usually look at Sammy like that. He's not sure what it means. "Come on, dude. Come with me. Let's ditch your car for the night, okay?"
He winds up on Ben’s couch, bundled under the comforter from Ben's bed. Ben finds Legally Blonde on TV and stays up to watch it with him, and Sammy falls asleep in the first ten minutes.
He dreams of Jack, but for once it isn’t a nightmare. He doesn’t wake up gasping. He dreams of Jack’s face, of his hands, of his smile in the morning. He’s awake between one breath and the next, a slow rising up out of the dark.
Someone is singing ABBA in the kitchen, where there is the distinct smell of breakfast burning.
"What in the fresh hell are you doing in there?" Sammy croaks.
"Hey, look who's up! You look fresh as a daisy, Sammy." Ben's obnoxious good cheer seems louder than usual, pounding between Sammy's ears like a hammer, but that might just be the dehydration talking. "Come and eat.”
This isn’t why Sammy came to King Falls. This isn’t what he’s supposed to be doing. He's harboring secrets and taking advantage.
But there’s a plate of lopsided eggs and toast and slightly blackened bacon in front of Sammy, and a cup of coffee and the caramel vanilla creamer he’s taken a liking to that Ben keeps stocked in the station. The kitchen is warm, and comfortable, and bright with the sunlight coming through the window above the sink.
“Is it okay?” Ben asks, sitting across from him. “You always get your eggs over easy at Rose’s.”
Sammy pulls the hair out of his face with the hair-tie on his wrist. The end result makes Ben laugh, and Sammy picks up his fork.
“Of course it is, Ben. You’re the best.”
The first bite tastes like guilt. The second one tastes like way too much butter. The third one tastes like home.
you can sleep now, you said. you can sleep now. you said that. i had a dream where you said that
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BBC’s The War Of The Worlds blog - Episode 3
(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)
You know, people often ask me why I get so angry when I’m reviewing BBC shows. I mean yes I give Disney and Marvel a hard time too, but they don’t get nearly as much bile and venom as I give the BBC. Well that’s because, unlike Disney and Marvel, BBC shows are funded by the British taxpayer through our TV licence fees. I’m effectively paying for them to make this crap. That’s what pisses me off more than anything.
Yes we mercifully come to the end of this... this. Episode 1 was a slow, plodding and utterly tedious affair that was about as exciting as an Amish bachelor party. Episode 2 was even worse thanks to its poor narrative structure, terrible characterisation and less than subtle allegories. Now Harness has come to hammer the final nail in the coffin with Episode 3. Is it bad?
...
You’re right, that’s a stupid question. A more apt question would be how bad is it. Very, very bad is the answer. Very, very bad indeed.
Lets start with the obvious problem. The non-linear narrative introduced in the previous episode. The stupid early reveal that the Martians ultimately lose and that Amy survives completely destroyed any and all tension and suspense thanks to Peter Harness desperately trying to outwit the audience instead of just telling a story. Now, bizarrely, he tries to reintroduce tension by having the characters umming and arghing about what killed the Martians off and whether this could help stop the Earth from terraforming. One teeny, tiny problem with this though. The audience already know! Even those that never read the original book know how it ended! And even if you didn’t, the episode drops enough hints like great fucking boulders. The prevalence of typhoid throughout the episode and its correlation with the Martians stumbling around like a drunken prom date isn’t exactly hard to miss. Harness’ writing is still as unsubtle as ever. But worse still, he completely undermines and misses the point of the ending to War Of The Worlds.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people (mostly Americans) criticise the end of the original book for being a deus ex machina. I mean the Martians get killed off by the common cold. How stupid, right? Except it’s not because those people (mostly Americans) are looking at it the wrong way. Your main takeaway shouldn’t be that the Martians were easily killed off by bacteria. Rather that we failed to stop them. The reason humanity prevails in the end is more down to luck than anything else. The narrator even attributes this to being an act of God. But here’s the thing. We didn’t stand a chance against the Martians. We didn’t beat them. They lost because they just happened to catch a cold. Now it’s not hard to imagine a society as scientifically advanced as their’s to be able to find some kind of cure or vaccine for it. And if and when they do, what then? We’d be fucked, wouldn’t we? Should the Martians ever return to finish what they started, the human race would be well and truly doomed. It’s not a deus ex machina. It’s a dire warning of what’s to come. A brief respite before the inevitable. That’s what makes the ending so effective.
The BBC series however completely misunderstands this, changing the story so that Ogilvy (an astronomer, don’t forget) somehow manages to weaponize typhoid in order to kill the red weed, which is presented as some kind of victory, when in reality it’s quite an insulting deviation from the source material. If only the Commonwealth could shake off the remnants of British colonialism as easily as these guys dealt with the red weed. Not to mention it just makes the Martians look really stupid. So they come to Earth, drink our blood, keel over and then... what, they just give up? Are they just waiting for humanity to die by itself? What happens when Mars HQ realises the red weed hasn’t worked? What then? Are they just going to shrug it off? It doesn’t make any sense.
Which brings us to the Martians themselves. The picture above comes from the Jeff Wayne musical version and is without a doubt the most accurate depiction of the Martians from the book. Most of the other adaptations have wildly different interpretations, which isn’t a problem in and of itself provided it works within the context of that particular narrative. However the reason I bring up the original design is so I can talk about what H.G. Wells intended when he came up with them. See, while the Martians are highly intelligent, they’re also presented as being quite vestigial. They’re sluggish thanks to Earth’s heavier gravity, rendered practically deaf thanks to Earth’s dense atmosphere and apparently have no organs with which to digest their food, hence their need to inject human blood directly into themselves for sustenance. The Martians represent what humanity could become as we become more and more reliant on technology. The Industrial Revolution brought about a lot of societal fears and concerns at the time, and the Martians are those fears manifested. Heartless creatures reduced to being simple brains, unable to properly interact with the world around them.
The BBC series goes a very different route. Instead of the giant brains, we instead get giant brown crabs, which, again, isn’t necessarily a problem provided it works in context. And that’s the problem. It doesn’t. The original Wells design told us what we needed to know about their biology, their motivations and their society. What do we learn about the BBC Martians? They’re big, generic monsters that look like rejects from Stranger Things. They don’t even inject blood into themselves. They feed off of us directly, leechlike. They’re more like animals. Not the vast, cold, unsympathetic intellects they were described to be. At no point do you buy that these creatures would be capable of building the Tripods or colonising the Earth. They just exist for some cheap jump scares and horror movie cliches.
What’s worse is that by changing the Martians’ design so drastically, any subtextual allegory gets chucked in the bin. The Martians from the book are meant to represent the British Empire at the height of its power. Merciless tyrants stomping all over the lives and cultures of the so called ‘lesser races,’ changing the environment to suit them rather than adapting to the existing environment. It’s Darwinism crossed with arrogance. And yet, ironically, the oppressors (the Martians) are technically inferior to the natives (the humans) as they are incapable of surviving without the aid of technology. The BBC series is unable to make this allegory, so Harness has to resort to straight up telling the audience the allegory. In by far the clunkiest scene in the entire series, we see George argue with his brother about how the Martians are no different from the Brits in their colonial ways. Not only does this break the ‘show, don’t tell’ rule and stands as a perfect example of bad storytelling, Harness doesn’t even bother to do anything with this other than just making the comparison. It’s been previously established that Amy was born and raised in India. You’d think she’d have something to say about all this, but nope. At the end, she wistfully describes India to her son in the most patronising and insulting way possible. It’s really quite disgusting. I mean H.G. Wells was quite patronising towards the Tasmanians in the book, but in his defence, he was a privileged white man from the 1800s. What’s Peter Harness’ excuse?! Ostensibly he pays lip service to the idea that the Martians are no different from the Brits, but he doesn’t want to really explore it or get us to actually think about it. Probably because it’s all a bit too complicated to get into, but if he’s not confident about exploring such topics, why the fuck is he adapting War Of The Worlds in the first bloody place?! Write something else!
In fact I think this is the root of all the problems with this adaptation. Harness clearly isn’t capable of exploring the complex themes of the source material, so instead he either introduces irrelevant social issues that aren’t nearly as complicated (women’s rights, empires are bad and so on) as a token show of progressiveness, or he goes as far as to uncomplicate themes and ideas to an almost offensive degree. In the book, the narrator is trapped in a church with a priest who is going through a major existential crisis and risks giving away their hiding spot to the Martians, who are busy terraforming the planet. So he resorts to knocking the priest unconscious and watching as the Martians drag his body away. In the BBC series, we see the old woman and the kid get killed off for no reason other than shock value and the characters have nothing to do with their demise, so they’re morally in the clear. The priest meanwhile doesn’t even appear in the scene, instead being relegated to the shitty flash forwards where his faith remains very much intact and even protests against the idea that it’s humanity’s illness that stopped the Martians rather than an act of God (brief side note, would Ogilvy really be this open about not believing in God? At the time of the book’s publication, the scene with the priest losing faith was considered extremely controversial, so this just seems utterly wrong). Plus there’s no tension in wondering what the Martians are doing and whether they’re going to find the characters. In fact there’s no tension whatsoever because we know the Martians have fallen ill and the characters are just hanging around, waiting for the fuckers to die. I cannot stress enough how atrociously awful the writing is in this show. We know the Martians are dying and the episode is about the characters waiting for them to die.
Jesus fucking Christ!
The Artilleryman from the previous episode was the same. In the book he was a deluded crackpot who willingly bought into imperialist dogma, believing that humanity could rebuild underground and eventually rise up and defeat the Martians. In the BBC series, he was a scared, innocent little waif being forced to fight in a war he wants no part of. It’s an incredibly shallow and uninteresting reinterpretation of the source material.
But the worst, the absolute worst, is what Harness does with George.
To be clear, no I’m not upset he gets killed off. I’ve made my views on him quite clear. He cheated on his wife because she was infertile and ran off to make whoopie with some redhead. The bastard deserves everything he gets, frankly. Plus I’ve had enough of Rafe Spall’s gormless acting to last a lifetime, thank you. What I am upset by is the way he gets killed off.
One of the most interesting parts of the original book is the fact that there are no heroes in War Of The Worlds. The Artilleryman is a young, impressionable, nationalist fool, the Priest descends into a pit of nihilistic despair, and the narrator survives only by his cowardice. He even goes as far as to attempt suicide, throwing himself in front of the unbeknownst to him dead Tripod because he cannot bear the idea of living in a world like this. It’s extremely dark and very cynical. The BBC series goes a very different route. We see George slowly become delirious as a result of the typhoid infection he got by drinking the poisoned cup of water in the previous episode (so all that stuff about the Martian terraforming was a load of bollocks) before, realising that he is becoming a burden to Amy, deciding to make the supreme sacrifice and facing the lone Martian alone while she makes a run for it. Not only does this open up a major plot hole - who the fuck was Amy expecting to arrive from the North if George is dead? They try to dismiss this as memory suppression, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t apply to losing a loved one to a fucking alien - it also completely stands at odds with the themes of the book. When facing annihilation at the hands of a higher power, the arrogant Brits, who previously lived a life of privilege on the backs of millions of subjugated, reveal themselves for who they truly are at their core. The BBC series says yeah, we were a bunch of racist tosspots with delusions of grandeur, but we weren’t all bad. The main takeaway I got from this despicable, badly written series was a three hour pity party about how all those selfish POCs don’t consider the feelings of white people and asking why can’t we all just get along.
Peter Harness’ bastardisation of War Of The Worlds is without a doubt one of the worst adaptations I’ve ever seen. In fact it’s quite possibly one of the worst TV shows I’ve ever seen, period. It’s not just the sheer disregard for the source material that upsets me. It’s also the absolute amateurish nature of the whole fucking thing. This series fails in some of the most basic ways. His writing is truly terrible, somehow getting steadily worse and worse with each episode. It’s not just upsetting to see someone get the fundamental elements of storytelling so spectacularly wrong, it honestly makes me sick to my fucking stomach. Peter Harness, please, for your own sake and my sanity, stop fucking writing. You’re clearly not good at it and I don’t want to see my money go to someone who obviously hasn’t the faintest fucking idea what they’re doing. Enough is enough.
So it would seem that Jeff Wayne’s musical version remains the best adaptation of War Of The Worlds. In fact can we just have a movie adaptation of that please?
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