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whorediaries-09 · 3 months

Text

heartbeat;

pairing- fwb!sirius black x reader warning- hurt/comfort, 18+ content, substances, cheating. (let me know if i should add more) a/n- also this has so much sex for no reason at all-

little train. masterlist of 'the seven lives' series

' you thinking that the songs coming on to tempt me i need to be alone like the way you left me '

heartbeat;

the waves scandalised on his feet, the sand running through the gaps between his toes. the sun hung low, a strange crimson glow bathing through his features. salty air blew into his hair, scents of burnt leaves tantalizing his nostrils as late july crept around. the cigarette burnt through his puffs, the burnt ash flying with the air, leaving the roll with an orange glow. the dusk of the twilight enamoured him. he took another puff from his cigarette, letting the burnt feeling settle on his tastebuds.

‘hey,’ your touch was all too familiar on his skin. from feeling his skin to touching his skin, he’d grown to like your touch. it didn’t shudder his thoughts or nerves. it was familiar, a burn that he liked.

‘hi,’ he said, as you pulled the from cigarette between his lips. wrapping your lips around it, you pulled in the tobacco, letting it intoxicate your lungs. he watched the tip glow red, the smoke leaving your lips as he wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

‘never took you for a beach kinda guy,’

‘no?’

‘nah. with all those abs and all. more of a mountain and trekking guy i guess,’

‘well i have surprised you then.’ he said pulling your body closer. his finger slid between the strap of your bra through the t-shirt. he drew faint circles on your shoulder, enjoying the goosebumps that arose on your skin, and how your shook under his touch.

‘or maybe you have your fantasy with a beach fucking gateway. you do, don’t you?’ he chuckled, a deep rumble from his throat. hiding his face in the crook of your neck, he blew a breath of warm air on your skin, letting the wind cool it.

‘you really know me don’t you,’ he whispered. he heard your heart beat, growing its pace.

‘honestly, i don’t know what you’re waiting for,’ you replied, your tone low, laced with a veiled hunger. your hand crept around his neck, pulling him closer by the black t-shirt he was wearing. smiling against his mouth, you crept your hand into his locks.

‘in public?’ he smirked. you laughed, hitting his chest with a light blow.

‘no,’

but when his lips met yours in a fanatical frenzy, you found your mind reeling, pressed against the cold wall of his hotel room. it was numbing, as his lips bit all over your skin, marking you all over, his touch spreading a blossom of lust within you. you arched your hips, as he carried you to the bed, throwing you on the mattress.

pushing back a moan into your throat, you gulped as he tore your shirt off, ripped off your pants. your hands slid down to the zipper of his fly, but he slapped your hand away, his fingers circling your clit.

‘did i say you could?’ he said against your mouth. you could see the clouds of lust hidden in his gray irises. he increased the force of friction upon your clit, circling the sensitive mound more aggressively. you breathed heavy.

‘n-no’ his fingers met the warmth of your cunt, his rings cold against the heat of your throbbing hole.

‘so wet, just for me huh?’ he teased, sinking his teeth in the nape of your neck.

‘it’s never dry when you’re around, black,’ your chuckle was caught halfway with a whine as he slid his fingers into you. he curled his fingers into you, pressing onto your sensitive spot. you arched your hips, trying to get more friction.

‘that’s right sweetheart, ride my fucking fingers. cum on them. let me have a taste,’ he said, watching you unravel on his fingers. he liked the control over you, how you turned into putty just into his hands. he liked you to see you melt, to watch you become breathless, surrender to him. he liked how he knew your body like it was his. as if he could sculpt you out pore by pore with his eyes closed.

‘fuck,’ you whined as he latched his tongue onto your clit, sucking on it, letting you closer to the release. you were feral, breaking through the latches of your sanity as his tongue lapped on you, your thighs shaking around his head, pulling him closer. he could feel the clench of your walls around his fingers, the shaking of your thighs as you pulled him closer, letting him consume you.

he smiled against your cunt, devouring every bit of your sanity as you unravelled on his tongue, letting your orgasm paint his tongue and fingers. when he got up from between his legs, he pushed his fingers into your mouth, letting your taste fuse with your tastebuds.

‘you taste so good, you know that?’ he said, adjusting his torso between your thighs. you smiled, wrapping your hands around his neck as he pushed into you.

‘i know,’ you said, your tongue slipping into his mouth, as he gasped into your mouth. your walls stretched around his neck.

‘you better fuck me like you mean it, black,’ you demanded, as he groaned, pulling his cock out and thrusting into you again.

‘trust me, i always fuck you like i mean it, sweetheart,’ the way the nickname rolled off his tongue had you clenching your walls around his girth. he rammed into you, his hand meeting your throat, feeling the beat of your cunt and heart under his control.

‘sucha dirty girl,’ he moaned, rubbing circles on your clit with his thumb. you arched your hips, as he pushed the back of your head into the mattress. through the constriction, you felt the numb whiteness of pleasure consume you, your over sensitive cunt throbbing as you felt his pubic hair rub rough against your skin.

‘just for you, black,’ he smiled, running his fingers through his raven strands.

‘yeah? just for me?’ you nodded, wrapping your legs around his waist, pulling him closer to your body. his hand left your throat, pinning your hands over your head. he enjoyed the look of your breasts bouncing before latching his mouth on your nipple.

‘fuck-black, just like that,’ you groaned, as he pushed a rather rough thrust into you. the hoarseness in his voice was laced with a low growl paired with a rhythmic thrust brought you over the edge, as your orgasm unravelled and you painted his torso with your juices. he craned his neck at the sight, releasing himself into you, painting your insides with his cum. panting, he fell onto your body, his cock still buried deep inside you.

‘sweetheart, you get me so soaked,’ you tease, enjoying the soft bliss of his warmth.

‘always my pleasure, sweetheart.’

‘always my pleasure, sweetheart.’ the bartender said, pushing the glass of his drink towards him. he wrapped his lips around the glass, drowning the bittersweet drink down his throat. in the crevices of the dim light of the bar, he could see you, pushing your hips against the crotch of your new boyfriend. it was disgusting, how his hands roamed all over your body, his lips latched onto your neck.

he should’ve seen this coming. he should’ve believed james when he told him about the bastard. he should’ve seen past the barriers of fucking, the barriers of sex in hidden hotels, seen past the potential of rendezvous affairs in parking lots. he should’ve seen it earlier.

but sirius black was a stubborn man. he would get anything he wanted. so, he found himself at the bar, when your glass was empty with a loser of a boyfriend. he found himself on the edge of breaking his jaw when his hands crept on your thigh, tantalizing over your core. he could see it on your face, even if you were hidden in shadows. he could read it in your expressions, the little breathes that left your lips, the way you gulped, the curt curl of lips on your face.

he tapped his finger on his thigh, bouncing his leg. the bartender was fluttering his eyelashes at him, his sandy dusty hair falling in front of his eyes. he could see the honey glazed irises through the strands, as he licked his lips. sirius wasn’t foreign to such attention from women and men alike. it came with him being dashingly attractive and more than just a hollow shell to look at. his charisma could break through a brick-wall, if he wanted to.

but what he was foreign to was the fact he had somebody else on his mind. he didn’t have a subtle history of one-night stands or flings. it was raunchy, and he had left the culture for good, having unintentionally broken many hearts. but sirius black’s sex drive wasn’t to be extinguished so fast.

a stupid drunken night he’d hooked up with his best friend, you. he’d fallen into a void he thought he could escape. but he’d already fallen down the rabbit hole of madness, a stupor of lust, greed, and highness you brought down from heaven. it was a promiscuous affair, and neither of you backed up, and it became more than just a stupid hook up ‘accident’. it became an arrangement of sorts, a clandestine affair hidden within the darkness of parking lots or scabby motels. it was inescapable, and soon he found himself reminiscing the touch, the feel of your skin.

but even through the feelings he’d tried to ignore, he felt himself drowning into the need of your touch. in this drunk stare, he took the bartender and the girl who’d been practically eye-fucking him, to his flat it was angry and frustrated; he needed those feelings out his system. so, he found himself between a guy and girl, in a haze of lust. it was lore to be kept hidden when the girl scratched her nails deep into sirius’ back, her red lipstick marked all over his torso. the bartender took sirius from behind, stretching him out, as sirius rutted the girl’s guts into his mattress. his hand wrapped around sirius’ neck, placing his mouth on his, retching him with bruised lips.

he felt his orgasm tug low at his stomach, as the girl’s walls clenched around his cock. sirius dug his fingers into her waist, drowning in the high of alcohol and lust that wrecked his system. he missed your touch, your feel, your nasty words that helped him crawl down the euphoria of pleasure. in the distant cacophony of the low moans and skin-slapping, he found himself emptying into the condom.

‘fuck,’ he whispered as he felt the warmth flood behind his back. he felt the liquid slide down his thighs, lips latched onto the skin of his neck. it brought him a strange sense of discomfort. it wasn’t the first time he’d had a threesome, but somehow, he found himself hating it.

‘i need to go clean myself,’ he whispered. they nodded. sirius stood there, lingering, his waist uncharacteristically swaying.

‘you guys can clean yourself in my bathroom - and stay here for the night if you’d like. i-um i’ll sleep outside,’

he saw the girl giggle and wrap her arms around the bartender before wrapping her lips around his waist before he walked out into the hallway. he’d have to change the sheets the next day, he decided. even burn that were about to be stained with the deeds of strangers. it felt like a backfire of his plan but he was too tired to fight it.

you knew better than to respond to sirius’ text. you’d seen him bartender and a blonde girl home. it was a ploy, to make you jealous. you could read it in his face. but you were so tired of being the chase, of being the prey. you needed him to hunt you down, make you his. perhaps all he needed was a little push. so, you’d decided to the guy at work a chance. he was cute-physically at least. as the evening went on you realized he was nothing but a hollow shell, just a pretty thing to look at.

internally you cursed marlene who’d given you this ‘awesome idea’ to woo sirius and make him jealous. sirius black was a stubborn man and he’d make anything his if he set his eyes on it. all he needed was a little push over the edge to pursue his interests. a little push for him to set off the ticking bomb that was his anger issues. he’d bash out and admit his feelings any day. but it was the push he needed. so, you’d tolerated the guy throughout the evening hoping the sex wouldn’t be half as bad.

how wrong you were. his touches were rushed. but it wasn’t a sensual rush that led you into a headspace of arousal. it was a rush to see you naked. there was no foreplay what so ever, neither was there an effort to make you feel good. all he wanted to do was explore his pleasure, let down his high of euphoria. you didn’t even feel yourself close to the edge when he pulled out, chasing your lips with a bruising kiss.

you groaned, as he fell near you, panting slowly. his hand wrapped around your waist and he nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck. his beard tickled the skin, and you found yourself hating it. it wasn’t like sirius’ soft stubble. it was scratchy, raising the sensors of your comfortability.

it was rabbit hole of fucking madness. you’d found yourself falling deep into the grave of lust and greed when sirius had hooked up with you on a drunk night when the summer air was humid. you found yourself filling the void of his heart without realizing it. you found yourself gaining a power, a control over him nobody else had. you found yourself falling with him, deep into a dorm of madhouse. it was inescapable, and somewhere along the clandestine rendezvous in hotels and parking lots, you allowed yourself to not escape.

you had messed with sirius, and you knew it was a bad news. and now he was messing with you. so, you turned around your screen of your phone on the nightstand.

‘had a threesome after so long.’

it was vulgar, short, yet enough to set you off the edge. even if you knew it, the confirmation made it worse.

‘why don’t i fuck you good enough?’

‘well, you’re fucking some loser from work.’

‘i’m fucking him, that’s not my boyfriend.’

‘big talk sweetheart, you went on a date with him. he’s your co-worker. as good as a boyfriend.’

‘he’s as hollow as your mother’s fried brain.’

‘rude.’

‘you agree with it.’

‘i do.’

you let out a short breath.

‘so…’

‘meet me in five.’

‘right.’

‘right,’ he said, munching on a fry. you chuckled, wiping a stripe of mayonnaise from the side of his lips.

‘that bad of a fuck huh?’ he teased, even though you could hear the bitter tone laced in his voice. sipping on your milkshake, you shrugged.

‘sooo bad. he didn’t even last like…10 minutes.’

‘i mean he must have never had sucha good pussy before,’ he whispered, leaning closer to you. it was a vile thing to say in public, but you were guarded by the windows of his car. you chuckled, throwing him a nervous blow of your tongue.

‘i’m not wrong,’ he winked.

‘i mean i must believe you. you’ve your experiences.’ you said, a stern tone in your voice. throwing the plastic cup into the polythene, you climbed over the seat, straddling his hips.

‘fuck,’ he groaned, arching his hips. when you unbuttoned your skimpy blouse, shoving your breasts into his face, he latched his mouth onto your nipple. you moaned, craning your neck, and hiding your fingers into his silky strands. this wasn’t a part of your plan…but how could you resist his mouth upon your body, his teeth marking spots on your skin as he fervently kissed you into a stupor till your mind went numb.

still, this felt different, when his finger explored your cunt through your underwear, rubbing soft on your clit. there was something in his eyes, a fire of agony, a fire of desire. something more than just lust. he unzipped his pants, letting out his cock.

‘fuck me,’ you said, your mouth against his. he raised an eyebrow.

‘no foreplay?’

‘oh, fuck you, black, it’s so wet already,’ you groaned, rubbing your cunt against his skin of his girth. a devious smirk tasted upon his kiss bitten lips.

‘it’s so wet for me, isn’t it?’ he said, positioning the tip of his cock at your core, teasing your slit.

‘yes, yes,’ you groaned. when he entered you, it was a delicious stretch that burned through you. he grabbed your neck, pressing so slowly on your artery.

‘look at me, look at me, sweetheart,’ your eyes glazed over his, and you found yourself lost into the crevice of madness into his gray eyes. he rammed his hips into you, your thighs shaking as he did so. he brought your face closer to his, and licked over your lips.

‘you’re such a sweetheart for me. such a slave for my cock, even though you’ve got a stupid boyfriend at home,’

when sirius dropped by your office, he didn’t expect you to be… for a lack of better words, making out with your co-worker. the heat from the coffee he’d been holding seeped through his fingers. he felt his brain sizzle with emotion, an anger that soaked his nerves with a nausea an overwhelming desire to fucking bash that bastard’s head. his heart pounded threateningly against his ribcage, his feelings swallowing him whole. his eyes burned from unshed tears. he saw red, fucking red when you slipped your hand into the bastard’s pant, going down on your knees, licking your lips.

in the middle of the fucking day, in your office cabin you were ready to offer head to that excuse of a boyfriend. it was disgusting, gross- it made him feel things he’d never felt before. he felt obsessive, as a strange sense of possessiveness took over his senses. he felt his blood boil, his head reeling with viciously violent thoughts.

he stood there, watching through the curtain of his unshed tears as you felt somebody who wasn’t him. his hands shook as he walked out of the office, throwing the cup of coffee into the bin. truth be told, he wanted to ask you out, ‘gain a pair’ as james told him, since ‘it wasn’t too late’. he wanted to take you to dinner, a proper date with all the ‘gentlemanly shit,’ as marlene suggested.

‘you won’t break your heart,’ a famished lily had told him as sirius fondled with his godson’s cheeks. remus agreed with her, giving him a piece of chocolate as encouragement. and for the first time in their life, sirius thought, they were wrong. they were wrong. you wanted nothing more than sex from him. your heart wasn’t his, even if his was yours. you didn’t wear your heart on a sleeve like he did. you weren’t his to lose. but it still hurt.

it still pitied a fire into his stomach. a fire of agony, a desire. a fire which was fuelled by the diesel that was you. by the diesel that was your touch, your feel, your scent, your smile, your words, your body. by the diesel that were you. he decided perhaps, it was time to go. even if he wasn’t ready to go, perhaps he was. perhaps that’s how he’d be healed, if he ran away from you. from the ecstasy that you brought him. if he fled his thoughts that were full of you.

sirius wiped his hands on the side of his apron. as someone who’d never baked a day in his life before, peter’s advice helped him to make a darn good cake. it came out as a regular sponge, but he had an eye for decorations. from a boring old sponge cake, it was transformed into a beautiful cake. now he could only hope harry would like it.

he took a picture and sent it to you. he didn’t ignore you, as he thought he would, but he certainly never met you physically. he never met you alone in shabby corners or was left alone with you. perhaps you were done with him. but you were his friend, a damn good one at that, and he couldn’t let that bond break just because you didn’t want anything to do with him. perhaps he’d never be good enough for you.

‘you going today?’ you texted.

‘no i made this cake for myself.’

‘just answer the damn question god damn.’

‘obviously i’m coming.’

‘that’s what she said.’

‘middle school boy humour.’

‘hmmm… i know.’

the bubbles appeared and re-appeared on his screen. he didn’t text you back until you got off whatever you had on your chest.

‘can you… come over?’

he found himself questioning the text, instead of replying right away. he wasn’t ready to go, not yet. but he didn’t want to leave with a broken heart either. luckily for you, he was damn good at making bad decisions.

‘yes.’

‘yes,’ your moan muffled against the pillow as his cock plunged into you, his finger tips sinking into the soft flesh of your ass. the dress you were wearing for the party had been long discarded on the floor. you could hear him whimpering as your finger bruised circles on your clit. your walls clenched deliciously around his cock, your orgasm at the brink of your sanity.

sirius’ tatted hand wrapped around your neck as he brough your shaking body closer to his. he pushed his slender fingers into your mouth, as you gaggled around them, spit drooling around his fingers. the room was filled with the sound of skin slapping and guttural moans. it wasn’t a drunk accident. the both of you were very sober when you decided to ravage each other.

‘you’re sucha nasty-’ he moaned, his teeth sinking into your shoulder as you clenched tighter around him. he was feral, as he hit a particularly deep spot inside you at this position. it made you see fucking stars, and you practically screamed as your thighs shook.

‘i’m sucha nasty girl, no? just for you black,’ you whispered, your throat raw with the guttural moans and screams that emitted out of your lips.

‘that’s right sweetheart,’ he said, his voice low and rough. you nodded, as you broke the sweat, your orgasm escaping through your body as he licked a filthy stripe from your neck to your ear.

‘fuck,’ he gasped, as he emptied into you, his seed filling into you like white ropes. he pinched your skin, as his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he came down from the high of the pleasure you brought him.

your weak body fell slump onto the bed, and you turned around on your back. you brought him down by looping your finger through his silver chain. you slipped your tongue into his mouth, teeth sinking into his lips. he twisted his fingers into your hair, hungrily consuming the saccharine taste of your lips.

‘stay?’ you asked, breathless. sirius could feel a pool of anger pit into his stomach.

‘no,’ he on your lips. he could read the hurt in your eyes but he thought he just imagined it. obviously, he did. he had to stop falling into the spectrum of your attraction. he had stop being there, hanging in there just to be your little sex toy.

‘why not?’

‘i- i can’t,’ he said, getting up, distancing himself from you. he could feel his heart break as you covered yourself with the sheet under you.

‘you’ve a boyfriend.’ he whispered, as he put on his clothes.

‘that didn’t stop you from brainfucking me the other night-‘

‘i-i was out of my mind.’

‘i- i want you to stay.’

‘no.’

‘please.’

‘i’m sorry.’

‘why?’

because i don’t recognise you anymore. i don’t recognise the girl i once had. the only thing i recognise is the not half as bad sex. i’ve lost you.

‘i- i want you to know, i’m ready to go.’ throwing you a sad look, he left without giving you an explanation.

sirius had found you sitting at the bar. you weren’t expecting him of course. you hadn’t reached out to him ever since he’d left. he hated to say it, but he missed you. incurable was the void his heart had created. he missed something that wasn’t him, someone who wasn’t his. he had boiling anger surging within him, but he wanted to see you. his heart overruled his brain, so he approached you.

‘hi,’ he said. he half expected you to bash out at him. but you didn’t. instead, you gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes.

‘hey,’ you said. taking a sip of your drink. i’ve missed you.

‘so alone in a bar? on a thursday night?’

‘yep,’ you said, a little too cheerfully to be honest. his hand gripped yours. your heart broke. he wasn’t ready to go, not yet.

‘are you okay?’ he asked. you crept your hand around his neck. there was something in your eyes. something he’d never seen. something too pure for it to be just lust. something of an unreadable lore.

‘can we talk in private?’ he thought about your question. the last time, talking in private turned into a fuck session where he’d realized he didn’t recognise you anymore. but he was damn good at listening to his heart when you were around.

so, he agreed which resulted him taking you home. your hands wrapped around his waist as you held onto him. the skimpy dress you’d been wearing didn’t provide much of a coverage through the cool air. the engine of his motorbike died as he stopped it at your house.

it was a quiet feeling that submerged the both of you. your minds and hearts were full of unsaid words. a seething rage of desire settled deep into your nerves. you wanted nothing but to grab him and kiss him stupid. tell him how much you loved him. but you needed to talk. talk about your feelings and his. talk about the mad rabbit hole you’d fallen into.

‘hi,’ you said, unlocking the door. he smiled.

‘so, what did you want to say?’ you twiddled with your mouth. now that you had him, you didn’t know how to say anything. you walked towards your table, and poured a glass of water for yourself, a fake liquid courage. he stood on the other side, waiting patiently for you to say something.

‘for a lack of better words, i have no idea how to say this. but i still will. because i can’t go long without getting this off my chest,’ you voice broke, and you felt your cheeks heat up as the words left your mouth.

‘in simple words, the guy i was dating was a ploy, to get you jealous. i thought a little push would get you to admit how you felt. i- i’m in love with you.’ you said, whispering the last part. you met his eyes, hoping he’d say something. but there was nothing. a pregnant silence where none said anything.

‘so you’re telling me you’ve loved me for all this while?’ he spat, exploding into a fume of anger you’d never seen seethe within him before. you nodded.

‘i- i’m in love with you, sirius.’ sirius felt his heart explode. anger spilled into every crevice of his heart and he felt his words spill before he could control himself.

'fuck this! what even are we? are we best friends? are we fucking? are we dating? something in between that?' he said, slamming his wrist on your table. his eyes wandered over your body, taking in your features through the silky skimpy dress clad on your body. he stopped at your lips.

you could feel the heat radiate off his body when walked towards you pinning your body to the cold wall behind your wall. his hand crept on your cheek, finger stroking at your mouth. he leaned closer, brushing his nose against yours, his hair tickling your face.

the fury agonized a fire within him which only you could extinguish. it spread into his gut, crawling out with an intensity of lust. he could feel you melting into his touch, like you always did.

'i wish we never fucked, and i mean that.' he said, a cold threat laced into his voice. even in the spiral of lust or greed, you'd never seen his eyes so dark. you'd never seen the pure genuine anger which crumbled him into shattered pieces. still, you felt his touch ignite your skin, melting into the tension, the diesel of desire. it was the fire you liked playing with. gripping his t-shirt collar, you pushed his mouth near yours,

'do you mean that?' he brushed his lips against yours, taking your lower lip between his teeth.

'no, not really,'

a deep rumble held onto his chest when you pushed your mouth onto his lips, converging your feelings deep into his brain. he felt his heart thump angrily against his ribcage as he held onto you. in the mist of the clouds, he found you to be his muse. he found himself seeing nobody but you. you’d gotten him hooked.

when you parted, he was breathless, a stupid smile plastered on his face. his cheeks were dusted pink. he leaned his forehead on your temple, as you chuckled. your arms wrapping around his waist.

‘tell me you love me too,’ you said, a tone of insecurity laced into your voice. he crept his hand on your cheek, stroking his finger onto the skin.

‘look at me, sweetheart.’ when you met his eyes, an unfamiliar shyness took over you.

‘i’m yours. you’re mine. i love you too. let me take you out tomorrow?’ he said against your mouth.

************************************

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#harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #marauders #sirius black #sirius x reader #sirius black smut #the marauders #sirius black x reader #sirius black imagine #marauders era #sirius black thoughts #sirius black x oc #sirius black fanfiction #sirius black fanart #sirius being sirius #sirius black fluff #sirius black angst #fanfiction #james & peter & remus & sirius

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halfusek · 1 year

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Memory Joey’s Intangibleness

Sooooo I think it’s probably just one of those things that the developers didn’t think too much about but it’s been driving me up the fricking wall

If Joey is supposed to be “just a memory” and “ghost-like”, as it is established the first two times we see him-

then how come does this happen??

Like really he doesn’t have to take that at all, he could just phase out of existence or whatever...

...or can he?

I’ve given this some thought and came up with two versions I found most interesting:

1. He can phase out but he doesn’t do that to be there for Audrey. Maybe he’s hoping that seeing him get absolutely deaded will somehow help Audrey “snap out of it” and take control of this weird fusion she’s having with the Ink Demon...? I’ll be honest I don’t really understand how they’re supposed to be fused and why. But she sure does take control after Joey gets crushed, so I assume she needed that mental push. Joey could have known that or not, maybe he just wanted to be there for her, which would be kinda wholesome. I guess making a sacrifice like that in a circle that revives everyone every time it restarts is not that big of a deal so he could afford to give that a chance even if not knowing if that’d actually help or not.

2. He became tangible after retrieving The End reel from The Pit. Yeah. You heard me right. Theory time babey.

Honestly, it’s something easy to miss, I’m sure I did while playing because I couldn’t remember what the goal is at any given moment, but in this part of the game you are supposed to get to the Pit. Except... we never do.

When we get to the entrance of The Pit, the security system kicks in.

And we get got by the Keeper here and escorted to Wilson.

(Though “The Pit” could be just the name of that hole the Keeper crawls out of but either way what it guards the way to is not accessed by us and that’s where The End reel is supposed to be.)

"That's where the ghosts live. Just beyond that door. The Keeper's prison. The Pit. No one ever comes out. At least, they're not quite the same."

We don’t know much about the pit aside from this one quite peculiar fact: that’s where the ghosts live. Maybe even Joey, despite being one himself, can’t just go in and out of there without any repercussions.

And - watch out guys here is something I like about BATDR for once - it is quite cool that Joey is the one to retrieve it as it seems like a very dangerous place, so if the gang (Audrey, Henry, Allison, Tom) tried to do that, they’d very likely be badly affected somehow. Good job game, I like when you establish something and then follow it up logically, very cool.

So, yeah, my theory is that going to The Pit to get The End reel did something to Memory Joey making him less of a ghost than he was before (at least until his death in this cycle, I suppose).

#bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival #batim #batdr #halfpost #joey drew #memory joey #story joey. come on. give this to me. say it. i am THE story joey guy. SAY IT-

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aita-blorbos · 5 days

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[OCs based on an AU of an established fictional setting] AITA for taking a dive? First things first: I'm a defense attorney. Not just any defense attorney, but a *super* defense attorney. And I'm not just saying that! There was this whole big event in my universe about ten years ago where the world almost ended, but then it stopped at the last second, and around 2% of the human race was randomly given one of a few specific sets of powers- there are mind-readers, there are shapeshifters, there are guys running around who can set stuff on fire, et cetera. Most of their powers were latent for a year or two, but I was one of the lucky ones who manifested theirs right away. When you talk to me in person, I'm supernaturally convincing! (And there are some weird side effects with scorpions or whatever, but this isn't about that.) Neat power for a lawyer to have, huh? In fact, I'm one of the best in the state- so I'm not telling you which one I'm from, because then it'd be obvious who I am.

So I guess that's how I managed to get hired by this one guy. Super big guy, all sweaty, had a really thick Dixie accent, always whistling this weird song I couldn't place whenever there was a long silence. He said he'd killed his wife, and he wanted me to get him a reduced sentence. I said, uh, buddy, rule one is that you never *admit in front of your lawyer* that you killed your wife. But I figured I'd help him out anyway- my own ex-wife sure made me think about murder a few times, and I'm sure some of you can agree, am I right, fellas? Besides, he came in with this *big* briefcase of cash and said it was all mine if I got his sentence reduced. My Camaro was falling apart at the time, so who was I to refuse a little repair money? So then the trial rolled around, and the judge (who's one of those psychics mentioned earlier, and her powers kinda cancel out mine a little bit, so I couldn't pull *too* many stunts in the courtroom) called in the prosecution, and I got ready for another easy case. But then something happened when the other guy called the first witness. It was my client's daughter. He didn't even tell me he *had* a daughter. She couldn't have been older than nine, and she was a nervous wreck, telling everyone that daddy killed mommy right in front of her and she watched the whole thing. I was too stunned to try to turn on the charm, and my client just stood there, nodding. I was already thrown off my rhythm when the prosecution got permission from the judge to show the jury a collection of crime scene photos. The less I say about how my client killed that poor woman, the better. I was too stunned to speak, let alone work my magic. I thought that the bar beat all the morality out of my body. But, in that moment, even if just for a minute, I thought I got it back. And I decided to do absolutely *nothing*. I just sat back down in my seat, not even providing a word of commentary. I didn't want to say a single thing in the defense of that scumbag that could possibly make the jury see him as any less than what he was, money be damned. I just let the prosecution keep talking. For the first time since my powers awakened, I lost the case. I felt like death warmed up on me. And, yet, in this twisted way, I felt *proud of myself* for it all. But my client- no, I'm not even gonna say he was my client anymore- the *whistler*- they led him off in chains, and I could feel his eyes burning holes in my skull as he left. And I could hear him. It's been five years since that happened, and I've had that impossibly familiar song stuck in my head ever since. This is the first time I've told someone outside of my personal circle of close friends what went down when I lost that case, and, even with them, I didn't tell them my silence was on purpose- I told them that one of the jurors was part of the bunch who got disease powers, and they accidentally gave me laryngitis. (Sorry if one of those jurors is reading this, by the way.) On one hand, I feel like I committed a perversion of the legal system by not doing anything. On the other hand, the little-kid morality side of me is trying to convince me that the whistler deserved what he got, damn what law school taught me. So I came here, on the anniversary of the incident, to ask you this: am I the asshole? No matter your judgment, it's all fine by me, I can take- (buzzing noise; vague yacht rock playing through phone speaker) (click) Sienna? (out-of-earshot conversation) (click) That was a friend of mine, she had news. It was about the prison. The prison I sent *him* to. The whistler. It's on fire. All of it. It's not a natural fire. They can't find him anywhere.

#aita #am i the asshole #unreality

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the-jnadf-man · 5 months

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VIOLENCE THOUGHTS (Nobody asked but here goes anyway :))

7-1!

"Aw man can't wait to OH SHIT FLASHBANG"

"Where the fuck am I going" *spends like 3 minutes running in circles*

"FAST FUCKING DOLLS! MURDER"

"Yo holy shit BIG MAN JUMPSCARE! FOLLOW THAT BITCH IMMEDIATELY I WANT TO FIGHT IT"

"Oh hey Maurice"

*Spends another 3 minutes running in circles*

"Why is it so dark"

"Oh ye gods it's" *Points dramatically* "MINOS' WILD RIDE 2!"

"Oh I get to fight people on the rollercoaster? REAL SHIT? AW YEAH I LOVE IT WHEN THE GOONS ARRIVE ON CARTS" *Proceeds to fall off cart due to hands shaking from excitement*

"I GET TO FIGHT BIG MAN ON DA CART?! YES YES YES YES YEW"

"Boy that is a MICROSCOPIC hitbox"

"Oh sweet another goon"

*Wins on round 2* "That was a fun fight"

*House of Leaves reference comes back for round 3* OH SHIT OF FUCK NONONO

"That bitch has a Panopticon hammer?? That's really cool!"

*Wins* Aw naur Big Man fucking dieded :("

*Reads lore entry* "So this is illiteracy. I don't care for it.

*Reads more* *Starts crying inside* "MINOS WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GET YOUR DOG"

7-2!

"YO ITS A DA GUTS MAN"

*Performs victory dance* "Oh they EXPLODE when you Goomba stomp their corpse okay cool I guess.

"Is that the fucking Big Ben"

"Why are the Mannequins in here. Are they made of the British??"

*Fails to notice the train. Tram. The thing you put the bomb on.* *Runs into the Guttertank instead* "Oh what is THAT" *Dies*

*Wins round 2* "Shit's crazy" *Almost dies to landmine* "Shit's crazy!"

*FAILS to notice red skull place location* "Okay better follow these tracks"

"Oh there's a hole in this building" *Lose shit and get very scared of the Under Construction sign*

"Okay where get bigger boom though" *Spends like 7 minutes accomplishing nothing whatsoever*

*Friend in VC tells me to put the nuke on the train* "What fucking train???"

*Backtracks after another 4 minutes of confusion* "Wow."

*Finishes level with some difficulties* "That took almost half an hour. Man. That's kinda sad."

*Reads Guttertank lore (And name)* "GUTSMAN TANK CANON"

*Laughs at Faust Panzer for like five minutes with friends*

7-3!

"Oh okay these are some funky-ass trees"

"Mmmm yes the Mannequins LIKE the dark spooky forest where they kill people. Definitely made of The British."

"Yoooo I get to feed the tree"

"What's up with these funky blood men???"

"Oh okay guess this is happening now"

"They upgraded the blood men????"

"Oh that is. EVERY all of the bad guys???" *Does not notice dual wield*

*Finishes level, somehow gets an S* "That sure was a thing I just did."

7-4!

"Oh no this passage is made for short people. Guess I'll have to go back inside."

"BIG FUCKING DUDE"

"Holy shit it's the it the its its IT'S THE FUCKING MARIO GALAXY BOSS"

*Opens blood waterfalls* "Oh no it's the plague! We've released the plague rats!"

"IT'S THE FUCKING- THE HALBERD'S DEFENSE SYSTEMS ARE DOWN WHERE'D THE BIG FUCKING LOBTER GO"

*Gets stuck in rising blood, mashing jump button, getting bullied by friends for dying* "The game just did not bloody let me jump :("

"Oh sweet it's Mother Brain with Star Dream's lasers" *Dies x3*

"I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE"

*Proceeds to die to environment during escape sequence, more friendly(???) (I cannot tell at the best of times, but I assume yes) bullying from friends (Mostly the one person)* ":("

"YOOO BIGGER MAN EXPLODEAD"

*Finishes level* 10/10! *Internet fucking. Dies??* "Yeah seems like a good spot to end on"

*Reads Earthmover's lore* Mmmm, robot giraffe bad, gotcha.*

*The next day* *Reading TVTropes* "THUS THEY HAVE BEEN CHRISTENED!

BENJAMIN!"

#ultrakill

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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I always assumed that Cinder made her swords by conjuring sand with her maiden powers and then turning it into obsidian with her semblance. I assume Penny did the same thing using maiden fire instead cause at this point fuck Cinder's semblance/dust fabric/etc I guess. I also assume that the swords are still around because the power that made them is still alive in Winter, but notice how I'm overusing the word "assume". tbh I'm not even watching this volume so *shrug*

With semblances, regular dust, dust in clothing/weapons, Maiden powers, partially siphoned Maiden powers, and the writers' tendency to just do things without offering an explanation... yeah, your guess is as good as mine.

Honestly though, the adherence to Cinder and Penny's iconic weapons bugs me because it feels like such a cop-out?The Maiden powers were introduced as elemental: Amber summons cyclone-like winds, bolts of lightning, blows fire from her staff, and freezes leaves into deadly daggers. Bad enough that there's no real, distinguishing difference between the Maiden powers - the Fall Maiden that implies fire abilities and the Winter Maiden that implies ice abilities aren't actually limited that way - but now we're left to assume (as you say, anon) that Maidens can just do... anything? Anything the plot requires, that is. Note that I say Amber freezes leaves, not that she summons them into existence, so how is Cinder magicking up sand? There's no reason that the elementally-aligned power should allow Penny to materialize swords, but because the writers wanted her iconic poses and fighting style, it just happens. But as said, that feels like a cop-out because it doesn't force the characters to undergo any change, or struggle once the powers are acquired. Despite the early Volume claim that Amber lost because she was a new, inexperienced Maiden, none of our heroes have struggled a moment when it comes to using their abilities. From Cinder beating the most powerful wizard in the world literal seconds after she gets the full power, to Winter immediately flying like she was born for it, Maiden powers are a no-train insta-kill... unless the plot needs the Maiden to inexplicably lose. And that includes ~magically~ giving the characters the chance to summon up versions of their normal weapons. Why have Penny struggle to fight without her swords, perhaps contributing to how she dies, when she can just re-create them with her ambiguous, all-purpose magic?

Also, it's kinda funny how the lack of thought put into these powers keeps implying unwanted possibilities. You know how Ambrosius is this super powerful being whose only real limitation is his inability to keep creations around post-new wish? Well, doesn't the logic of Penny's sword take care of that? At least on a smaller scale. If she can instantly create a whole circle of swords, why can't a Maiden create other things too? And if the swords last after her death because the Maiden powers still exist in the world, surely anything else they make will last too! "Oh no, Mantle is dying because there's a giant hole in the wall that no one can possibly plug with dust or good, old-fashioned labor. Ironwood is the bad guy because he's not filling that hole with the tech needed to build a communications tower :( " Never fear! Wheel the Maiden outside and she can summon up a giant wall that will last forever! Plus, a slab of magic-concrete is a lot less complicated than a collection of tapered swords complete with decorative handles, so this should be a simple, thirty-second solution :)

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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ancientschampionau · 8 months

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The Skeleton House

Related to my story/fanfiction.

When I first started working on the chapter (chapter 64) where Sans and Frisk explored their new house. I had no idea what to write and no view for it myself. So like the nerd that I am. I decided to first make one on the Sims. Then use that as a blueprint to write with.

It worked perfectly and I got through the chapter no issue.

Then someone asked if they could see what the house looked like and I figured 'Sure. I can just make a tiny post and like upload the picture in the sidenotes.'

TURNS OUT! The Sims did in matter of fact NOT save the house that I made, anywhere. So that plan was a bust.

So obviously. I figured it would a great plan to REMAKE the house.

Turns out. Making it from text -> house is a lot harder than the other way around.

I was just going to show the finished results but I guess you all can see my struggle:

Try 1. I ended up deleting it as I could not make the layout work as I wanted and I decided I wanted more space to work with. Just in case.

So I went to look through the houses that were there to figure out which family I could evict and house I could bulldoze (Gotta love the Sims)

I ended up going for a house in Windenburg:

I picked it because there were no direct neighbors and no direct roads which worked for my emergence and so my overall idea.

So I bulldozed the lot and I got to work with the basic layout on the groundfloor.

At some point I was happy with the overall layout. You will see the upper left change a bit.

Once I was happy with the groundfloor I added the overall layout for the first and second floors as well. I also decided to struggle on the staircase for about 20 minutes to get a hole around the top part of the stairs.

This is the only picture I got where it is obvious but damnit I am proud of it and it deserves the spotlight. But I spend 20 minutes on it so it deserves the mention. No I did not do the same with the second staircase. I don't enjoy suffering.

After that I made a bit of a sandy path to the front of the house and I added some windows and lights, mostly to make it light inside to enable myself to see what I was doing. I have eben making small edits to the overall layout and shape but it remained mostly the same.

The next view updates go fast because I got in the decorating zone and I just kinda went.

Tada! The groundfloor! Some of you will notice it is slightly different than the house in the story. Mostly this is how I imagine it will eventually look. After the guys also made it a bit more there own: Blue circle: The first guestroom. I made all the guest rooms generic. mostly because I don't hate myself and was not in the mood to make them all different. Green circle: Groundfloor bathroom Purple arrow: The area that is different from the story. In my head the guys will end up renovating the house a little which means they will sacrifices one of the guest rooms for another staircase to the library that does not yet exist. White arrow: the dining room. I wanted to use a bigger table but the Sims does not HAVE bigger tables thant 3X1 and I couldn't find a good one that should look like a big one if you place them next to one another and I wasn't in the mood to try and make it work with moveobjects on cheat. At elast the number of chairs is enough Red circle: The pantry. Obviously in the center by the staircase you see the living room. Top right is the kitchen. and bottom right is the hallway and enterance to the house.

That was the rundown of the groundfloor!

First floor lets go!

Okay here we go!

Purple circle: The library that was added later by the guys, before that part of the house did not exist. Green circle: General bathroom Blue circles: five guestrooms Pink circle: Frisk's room and they bathroom, bathroom has a door both to the hallway and to their room. I want to add that I added the non-binary flag above their bed but you can't see it clearly but I want everyone to know it is there I swear. Yellow circle: Sans' room with bathroom, bathroom does not have a door to the hallway.

The top floor is honestly boring but to be complete I will show you

I did not decorate all the rooms because I didn't know what to make them all yet. The center room is just the bedroom for Horror, Killer, Dust and Cross. It is honestly just a room with a giant bed in it because all they do there is sleep and otherwise they are either on the bottom floor or in the garden.

Now. The garden.

As you saw with the tour of the house, the garden is still very empty. Not for long!

Here is the front garden and the roof. Fun fact. the roof is actually rather easy and If you are struggling with adding one because of the windows. If you use a slightly smaller window and put it as high as possible you get a little bit of wall under the window. Then, when you add the roof you can make the tip of the roof lower. Then it is a matter of making it smaller until it fits under the window. No cheats required, just some patience.

Anyway, that were the roofs. The garden was just me adding the sand path with the terrain editor. Digging a river type thing with the dig tool and add water tool. I made a tiny pit where I added a volcanic pit, just for flavour to serve as a firepit. Then I just added a buttload of trees and plants and waterstuff.

Some of it even lit up which made me very happy.

But that is it! the Skeleton Estate!

Final overview shot:

For those curious it took me about 5 hours to remake it (Not counting the 2 hours with the failed attempt at the start)

I will probably never use the house in the Sims but it is there and I actually saved it this time so hopefully if I even need the reference again I don't have to rebuild it again.

#AncientsAU #AncientsAndChampions

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sizzlingpatrolfox · 8 months

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Hey there, been reading through your posts and others to get caught up, and I just had to say something when I saw your post about bts's real fans leaving 2020. Hey that's me in that group lmao ✋. Around the time after the boy in luv era ended, I got into college and was busy with that, but also I just didn't particularly like the music they were putting out (huge HYYH simp here, honestly just enjoyed a lot of their older stuff more). I was a huge Jimin bias (well on my way to being a pjm even back then if my lurking in pjm posts had any indication lol) and I just kinda checked out on most things bts (I was still in the fandom when promise dropped, can still sing some of it even with zero knowledge in Korean lmao). I was there in 2018 where jikook was everywhere and I did indeed fall into that rabbit hole, though just like with bts I completely checked out when I left the fandom, not even because of jikook interacting less, I was just busy and I wasn't too serious about it either to begin with, it was just harmless fun in private online circles. I was gone by early 2019.

Coming back literally a few days after Like Crazy dropped (I don't even know how I found out I literally did not engage with bts at all, must be destiny or something) and seeing all the stuff that went down in the fandom is hilarious, and I'm here to stream Face until my phone combusts. Perhaps a true pjm now that solo era has begun, and I can focus on Jimin without having to care too much about keeping up with everyone. That isn't to say I hate the other guys, I'm just not as interested, and I would rather give all my energy to Jimin. If they do become BTS again, I guess I'll see if I like their music, but might check out again if not. Thanks for the blog keeping it real lol

Welcome back 😌💘

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ofmermaidstories · 2 years

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hi!! I love, love, love your in another life fics and they live rent free in my head— I remember reading surrender and being like oh, nothing can top this, but then I read something and I just !!!! words fail, like, deku and reader just circle around my brain constantly. and all your other ocs/characters too!! hana (bby must’ve been so done with deku) and kenzo and literally everyone else (even mineta ?? you got ppl to like mineta ?? the power you hold). But I’ve always wondered did deku ever ask about who the other co-writer for justin shield was? did reader and reo ever, like, get closure.

also pls pls pls give us some insight about how deku talked about reader with all might !! like he’s watching his protege fall in love !! imagine the softness the oh my god, you’re in love

also in the new chapter I keep imaging deku just coming to save reader and breaking through a wall fully berserk bec there was that one line where kenzo went “You’ll don’t that window, but knowing you it’ll have to be a hole in the wall”

idk maybe I’m projecting bec I’m a brat and also lost friendships :( but fic(s) !! so good !!

oh, hello anon. 🥺 idk how much of a consolation this is, or if it’s a consolation at all, but i am also a brat that has lost friendships over the years. with some of them it was my choice—and with others the choice was made for me. i think it’s a really common, hurtful part of being human (especially for us brats) that maybe we don’t talk about enough. ☹️ it’s definitely it’s own grief.

thank-you for all your lovely gushing. 😭🌷🌾🪲 you flatter me, lmao (i STILL get shit for including mineta, so… LOL dslkfjsdlkfj) but!! lemme have a think about your questions.

lmao, Deku and Yagi talking about Reader is in the fic, so I won’t spoil it too much (“Well,” he starts, “I believe the phrase young Bakugou used was, ‘Deku’s collected another shitty extra’”)—but I imagine Yagi is very proud of his boy. :’) Look at him, all grown up. :’))

Deku seems a bit of an investigative kinda guy, so he definitely knew that the Justice Shield team was a joint effort even before meeting Reader! He never directly asks—this is all in chapter five, but like, he sort of just picks up context clues??? Reader does not talk about Reo. Whether Reader gets any closure about him, is, well… 👀 dependant on what you’d consider closure, I guess, LOL.

(personally, outside of fiction, i don’t believe in it. :’) i think it’s another story we tell ourselves to help us push forward. that sounds pessimistic, LOL, i don’t mean it to be, nor do i think it’s a bad thing. sometimes you just have to pick the moment you let something—or someone—go, and tell yourself it’s okay)

But, berserking through a wall, you say? 🧐 would you like that???? 🥺 we can work that in—why not. 😌 sometimes it’s nice to have people belt down walls to get to us.

here’s to meeting our own heroes, Anon—who’ll break down those walls for us. 🌷💕

#ofmermaidstories-asks #if you tell me you’re leaving i’ll make it easy — it’ll be okay #something just like this - fic #will queue read me a bedtime story? the nightshift queue #mer-spoils-everything

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vonartsy · 7 months

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Poisonous Flowers [1001] - Ch 1

Wrote this for school and decided I wanted to flesh out my anomalous world. Proofread a bit, but this was my first time writing something big, so please let me know if any plot holes or inconsistencies are found. The continuing chapters are scheduled for the next four days.

Also Bravo Team will be tagged with [1000].

Next chapter here.

“To begin the day, sightings of an anomalous being have been found yet again in the downtown area of Salamander City, more specifically on Gecko Circle. Witnesses say that it was a human-like entity, covered in fungus, tree bark, and lichen. Stay in lighted areas and remain in groups. In other anomalous news—” The television cut off, its remote held in the hand of the teammate who had just entered the common area.

“Hey Dip,” Brit says simply. He’s not really one for small talk.

“Already up?” the other man asks with a raised brow. His short curly hair was still ruffled, eyes clearly showing a sleep-deprived man. “... I guess that freak’s what we’re goin’ after then?” he said, setting the remote down on the TV-stand and looking over at the team leader.

Brit gave a little nod, standing up from the seat. “Not freaks... but yes, Dipaulo, seems like that’s our target. Where’s the others?” questioned Brit as he made his way out of the common room and through the hall.

Dipaulo followed closely behind, looking up at Brit as he spoke. “Just came back from the mess hall. I think... Erikson is still helping Phillips with her equipment? No clue where Vance went off to though...”

“Right behind you, buds.” Ah. There he was.

Dipaulo spun around, almost jumping at the sudden appearance of the (figurative) little gremlin known as Vance. “God—Vance! Yer’ such a little—” He hisses, making a pouting face before facing forward again.

“You two’re so immature sometimes...” Brit muttered under his breath, which earned a smug chuckle from Vance and a huff from Dipaulo.

The trio continued to walk over to the dorms, being greeted by Erikson and Phillips in the middle of the hallway. The two were chatting, likely just on their way to go see the others.

Vance perks up, jogging across the hall in no time. “There you two are! C’mon guys, we gotta go, uh... We gotta... gotta... ” He looked over to Brit.

“Contain an anomaly like we always do,” he continued.

“Right, yeah, that.” Vance said, nodding his head and keeping his actions just as confident as if he was the one who finished the sentence. He dragged both of them by their wrists, even though they were already on their way over. “What’s this thing about anyway, Brit?”

“I’ll explain when we’re ready to go. Erikson: start up the van, make sure ev’ryone got their equipment, that stuff. I’m telling I-12 we’re heading out,” Brit announced.

"Yep-yep.”

Erikson took off to the parking lot with Phillips, Vance, and Dipaulo in tow; while Brit made his way through the many sterile concrete hallways, reaching I-12's office in only a few minutes. Just a quick in 'n out, no longer than it has t' be, he reminded himself. After a couple knocks, and the go ahead from him to enter, he took a step into his office. "Sir.”

I-12 looked up at me from his desk, his TV screen remaining its usual turquoise blue. “Yes, Salem?” His voice echoed with just barely audible static.

Brit never got over how... odd I-12 was. No offence to the robot-man- of course, but having a boss with an expressionless television for a head wasn’t exactly the norm; even when one works with anomalies every day. “Permission for Bravo Team to attempt to capture an entity in the city?” he asked firmly.

“Permission granted. File a report when you’re done with the mission,” I-12 states as per routine. “And one other thing..."

"Hm?"

"Don't deal with it like last time, alright? We kinda need them alive and still anomalous. I don’t even know how you five did that catastrophe that was last week...” I-12’s screen changed colour to purple a few times, which was presumed to be a... change of emotion? Brit wasn’t quite sure.

“... O’ course. We’ll refrain from doing that again, sir.”

“Good.”

Brit nodded respectfully, making his way out and to the exit. Lovely, he found out ‘bout that, he thought, then sighing. Erikson should ‘ave everything settled and ready to go by now.

Everyone's loaded up into the van, their weapons, anomaly restraints; all the things required for each and every mission. Brit gets into the driver's side, Erikson to his right, and the other three in the back. “ ‘re we all ready to go, lads?” Everyone states a form of confirmation, and the van leaves the parking garage by the lab, moving smoothly down the road to head for the city. The drive would be about 15 or so minutes, as it always was; and it was only about 0600 in the morning so the whole drive was generally quiet. Once Vance woke up fully though, he was like a hyperactive toddler. One interaction that other people may think is strange that’s actually expected when it’s coming from Vance would go along something like this:

Phillips taps Vance’s shoulder, as he was the one right next to her. “U–uhm... Vance?”

“Obamna soda.”

“Wha... ? N–no, that’s—”

“BIDEN BLAST!” Dipaulo loudly interjects after having heard the ‘calling phrase’. Dipaulo and Vance are already wheezing with laughter at their own ridiculousness, while Phillip’s expression can only be described as both confusion, and/or immense fear. All the while, Erikson is holding his head in disappointment.

“Good luck getting used to us, Phillips,” Brit said in a deadpanned voice while driving. Phillips couldn’t tell if it was actual good luck, or a threat that they could get a lot more chaotic. Probably both.

“... Thank... you... ?” Phillips mumbles. “Right, uhm, sir? Weren’t you gonna tell us about the anomaly? I mean... we should probably know what it is we’re even going after.”

Brit glanced at her for a second or two in the rearview mirror. “'S a plant humanoid, somewhere downtown. That’s all we’ve got on it.”

“... Oh, yay...” She says back sarcastically, looking out the tinted black van windows. So they were going after an anomaly that could almost definitely blend into foliage with ease, and none of them even knew what it looked like... Better than being completely blind to what I’m looking for, I suppose... Phillips thought.

“Well then,” said Erikson with a sigh, still brushing off what Vance and Dipaulo just did. “Brit, how long ‘til we get there?”

He shrugs without another word. The man is still very sleepy, that much is obvious.

The van returned to silence, of course with the occasional small talk or jokes that randomly popped into Vance’s head, but nothing of note. Some time later, they pulled into a parking space on the side of the road, now in the city.

“Remember guys, no civilian harm—we hafta get at least 2 months without doing that, got it? I really shouldn’t even need to tell you guys,” Brit said as he turned off the van, his eyes shifting between Vance and Dipaulo specifically.

“Yes, yeah, I know, but I keep telling you that it's their faults!” Vance retorted.

“That doe’n’t make it any better!” Brit loudly said, before sighing and lowering his voice down to normal. “C’mon everyone. Out the van ‘nd grab yer equipment.”

All of them did so, getting out of the vehicle and taking their respective weapons (even though they barely used them), and anomaly restraints out the trunk. Of course, that earned them some weird looks from people because, well, no one in the city was really used to anomalies or the people that wanted to capture them. Not going to lie though, they did look like they were on their way to kidnap someone, so the weird looks were more than justifiable to call the cops; and that has definitely delayed them more than a couple of times.

Once everyone had settled with their equipment, Brit spoke up again, looking at Erikson, "2-4, you're bringing 2-3 and 2-1. You know the drill, search the west side."

Erikson—callsign 2-4—gave a firm nod.

He turned to Dip, motioning for him to follow with a little wave of his hand, "2-2, with me on the east. Report in an hour if you don't find it by then. Bravo, head out."

#M Lab Bravo Team #M Lab #[1000]#Bravo Team #[1001]#original writing #original story #original characters #my story #oc writing #character writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writing #god putting tags is so much work for my lazy arse

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crystalninjaphoenix · 1 year

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Shadow Play

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Seven

A JSE Fanfic

This is scheduled to go up on Christmas Day my time, so happy holidays everyone! Here’s the gift of a fanfic that takes place as far from Christmas as possible XD The boys decide to check out some rumors about weird mushrooms in the park, and Chase sees something strange. Afterwards, Jackie has a suggestion for the others, and Schneep ALSO sees something weird. Enjoy reading ^-^

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“It’s a bit cloudy. Are you guys sure you want to go to the park? It might rain.”

“It’s not that cloudy, Mom.” Chase stared at the sky through the car window. Sure, there were some gray clouds, but not nearly enough for rain. Probably. “Besides, we already promised.”

“Well, alright.” Mom nodded. “In that case, call me when you want to be picked up. Or I guess you could take the bus. What are you planning on doing anyway?”

“Just, uh, hanging out. Skating and throwing balls and stuff.” Chase twisted around in his seat to look at Schneep in the back. “Right?”

Schneep nodded silently. At some point during the drive, Chase’s skateboard had fallen over and was now partially resting against his legs. Chase didn’t expect to actually use his board, but it was good cover. But he thought there’d be more use for his baseball bat and Nerf gun. After all, it was clear that anything could be useful when dealing with the strange things they were finding.

“Sounds fun,” Mom said. “Just be careful. Wear your helmet.”

“I got it, Mom.”

“She is right, you know,” Schneep said. “Helmets are important. They protect the brain.”

“I know, dude.” Chase definitely knew the importance of wearing his helmet after his last wipeout. The one that happened at a park not too different from the one they were heading to now.

Mom dropped them off at the corner, leaving them with a “Have fun, sweets,” before driving away. Chase waved, then stood and stared until her car turned the corner. Then he spun around to face the park. “Okay, we gotta find the guys,” he said. “Where are they?”

Chase wasn’t too familiar with this park. There were only two in the city, but most people preferred the bigger Hollewych Park to this one, St. Alodia’s Park, known casually as “the other park.” It was alright. It had a playground, some trees, and a few benches. But it was smaller, and it wasn’t as clean. No matter where you stood, there was usually at least one piece of litter in a twenty-foot circle around you. Chase heard some rumors that teenagers liked to use this place to drink underage and do other delinquent stuff. But there was no proof.

“There.” Schneep pointed to the playground. “I see the twins in the jungle gym. That is what the bar dome is called, ja?”

“Bar dome.” Chase giggled. “That is kinda what it is, huh? But yeah. Jungle gym. C’mon, let’s go talk to them.”

The playground in the other park consisted of three slides—one metal, one plastic and short, and one tube—a bunch of swings, and the jungle gym, which was made of interlocking bars in triangle shapes. All of this sat on a patch of sand. The twins, Marvin and Jameson, were currently sitting in the center of the jungle gym. It looked like they were digging.

Chase walked right up to the jungle gym, dropped his skateboard and helmet, and banged on one of the bars, producing a hollow metallic sound.

“Holy shit!” Marvin shouted. Jameson jumped and almost fell over. The two of them turned around and saw Chase and Schneep. “Oh hi guys! I didn’t hear you! JJ, did you hear them?” Jameson shook his head. “We didn’t hear you!”

“You didn’t hear us?” Chase repeated. “We weren’t trying to be sneaky.”

“What are you doing?” Schneep asked.

Making a hole, Jameson said.

Schneep blinked. “Why?”

“Bored,” Marvin simply stated.

“Uh...okay.” Chase decided to move on. “Is Jackie here yet?”

“He forgot something in his car,” Marvin said. “Hey, isn’t it weird how when you dig enough, the dirt starts to get wet? Why is that? Is this that groundwater we heard about in the water cycle?”

Yes, Jameson said.

“England is a rainy climate,” Schneep added. “So there is more of it, too.”

“What do you think the rainiest place on Earth is?” Marvin wondered. “I bet it’s like... Canada, or something. Or is it mostly snow over there? Oh! No, I’m dumb! Rainforests! They’re named for it! So that would be in like, South America or something, right? The Amazon? Did you know that the Amazon was named after a group of people in Greek mythology? They were a bunch of girl warriors.”

“Cool,” Chase said idly, looking around the park. It was pretty empty, but he could see Jackie’s green hatchback parked nearby. He could also see—“No!” he gasped, and started climbing into the jungle gym. “Everyone be really quiet!”

The others looked at what he’d noticed. Three girls on scooters—purple, green, and pink—were riding along one edge of the park. It was Heather Westing and her two sidekicks. “Oh, that’s the girl you hate, right?” Marvin asked.

“Shhh!” Chase hissed. “We’re far enough away that they might not notice us if we hang out in here and get really close to the ground.” By now he was inside the gym. “Schneep, get in!”

Schneep followed Chase inside, though he didn’t look too enthusiastic about it. Then Chase dropped to the ground. He gestured for the others to do the same, which Marvin and Schneep did. Jameson, meanwhile, looked down at the sandy ground and pulled a face, not too eager to get sand all over him. He would tolerate sitting, but not lying.

The three girls were passing by. Chase heard Heather say something. Curly Hair laughed, followed a second later by Pink Glasses. Then they paused scootering, just as they were within earshot. “I mean, who wears a cape just around?” Heather was saying. “Mom says that one was gonna be held back a grade but the other was too smart and the parents wouldn’t let them be apart. I bet the tiny one is gonna be held back. He can’t even speak English right!” She laughed.

Curly Hair laughed again, but Pink Glasses said, “I mean, he probably didn’t grow up speaking English. I think that if we went to another country we wouldn’t...uh...” She trailed off as Heather and Curly Hair stared at her. “But, uh, you’re right, Heather!” Pink Glasses hurried to add. “And your shirt is really cute today.”

“Aw, you’re just saying that,” Heather said, smiling. The girls started to scoot again, and she continued. “I always knew that he was gonna end up around people like that...” Her voice slowly trailed away.

It took a moment before Chase sat up. He couldn’t help but think that the three girls had stopped there on purpose. That...maybe they weren’t exactly hidden.

Something in his chest was aching.

“So she’s like, a prick, right?” Marvin said, sitting up straight. “That’s why you don’t like her? It’s not fair that she gets a scooter, then. Scooters are too cool.”

“Uh...yeah,” Chase said uncomfortably.

“She is a Stück Scheiße,” Schneep said, expression perfectly deadpan.

Jameson, halfway reaching out to put a hand on Marvin’s shoulder, suddenly wheezed and leaned to the side, a big smile on his face. Marvin looked at him, confused. “What?” When Jameson signed something too quickly for Chase to catch, Marvin’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god. Schneep!” He laughed, leaning to the side with the force of it. His shoulders collided with Jameson’s, who was still silently giggling.

“What?” Chase glanced back and forth between them. “What’s so funny?!”

Before anyone could explain to him, a hollow metallic sound came from nearby. The four all looked over to see Jackie standing by the jungle gym, on the other side of the bars. “You guys having fun in there?” he asked.

“Jackie!” Chase quickly stood up and ran over, slipping out of the gym. “What’s up?!”

“Not much, little man. I brought these.” Jackie held up a fistful of fabric. Bandannas, in various colors.

“What’re those for?” Marvin asked, standing up and staring at the bandannas.

“Well, we’re here looking for those weird mushrooms, right?” Jackie said. “That girl at the pool said they made people feel woozy. I thought that maybe that was because of spores or something. So we can use these to cover our mouths. Have you guys seen anything, by the way?”

None of them had, so they all climbed out of the jungle gym and talked about where to find them. “Are we sure that girl was talking about this park?” Schneep asked.

“Yeah, she said the other park,” Chase said. Schneep looked at him, puzzled.

Also, Marvin and I looked around the first park, Jameson added. We didn’t see anything weird.

“I did that, too,” Jackie agreed. “Nothing.”

“What do we know about these mystery mushrooms anyway?” Marvin asked.

“Not that much,” Jackie admitted. “I tried asking about mushrooms in the park, but, uh...” He hesitated. “People just...got really concerned... about that. A guy asking about mushrooms with, uh... special properties. It was... awkward.” The other four stared at him for a solid minute, all utterly confused by what he was trying to say. So he quickly changed the subject. “There’s nothing in the newspapers or the online local news, either.”

But they do E-X-I-S-T, Jameson insisted. Marvin and I asked people, too. We heard stuff. Right, Marvin?

“Yeah.” Marvin nodded.

“Who did you ask?” Jackie looked confused, and a bit worried.

“Anyone,” Marvin said. “Like, people in the library, people in the park, people at Zelly’s. A few people said that there was a spot in the park where they started to feel weird. And, like, hear things.”

“So you just walked up to random guys and asked about mushrooms,” Chase summed up. “Um...okay. I guess it worked.” He never would’ve been able to do that, too afraid of what people would think. But the twins were already strange, so what was one more thing to the pile of stuff that was going on with them?

“Mushrooms grow in places that are shady or dark,” Schneep said. “And it helps if it is a bit wet, too. The ideal temperature is twenty-one degrees Celsius. They cannot produce food with sunlight like plants, so they usually grow on things and get food from them. That is how things decompose.”

“Whoa, how do you know that?” Chase asked.

“I looked stuff up,” Schneep explained. “On the computer in your home.”

“Ohhhh. Yeah, I should’ve done that this time.”

Maybe they grow around the trees, Jameson suggested. In the shade. We should check the R-O-O-T-S.

“Sounds like a good place to start,” Jackie said. “Alright. We’re already kind of near one corner of the park. We’ll start here and go that direction.” He pointed to the left. “Then we’ll circle around the park until we get back here. Everyone take a bandanna. Wrap it around your face, just in case.”

The four boys all hurried over to take a bandanna from Jackie.

“We’ll go faster if we split up,” Marvin said, his voice muffled under the purple cloth he’d already wrapped over almost his whole face. Jameson reached over and pulled it down, as it was in danger of covering Marvin’s eyes. “All of us by ourselves?”

“I’d be fine with that,” Chase said. “Schneep, are you fine with that?”

Schneep hesitated, then nodded. “Is fine.”

“Alright, then.” Jackie clapped his hands once. “We’ll split up. Shout if you see anything weird. Or come find everyone else. Got it?” The others made various positive noises. “Alright. Let’s go team!”

This was not as exciting as fighting a ghost or water monster, but Chase still felt a little thrill as he ran off. After all, who knows what’ll happen when they found these weird mushrooms? Maybe they’d fight some kind of mushroom giant! Or living plants! Oh, that would be so cool!

But the thrill quickly started to fade. He couldn’t find any weird mushrooms growing around the roots of the trees. Even though he circled each trunk twice, just to double-check, there was nothing growing in the ground except straggly clumps of grass. Once he’d gotten to the other corner of the park, he sighed and sat down on the ground, leaning back against the bark of a tree. It was hard to breathe with the bandanna, so he took it off. Just a little bit. Just enough for his nose to poke over the cloth. The others could keep searching. He’d come running when he heard them shout.

As he thought that, he heard... something. A voice. But it wasn’t shouting. And it sounded a lot closer than the others should be. He sat up straight. It almost sounded like it was coming from...above him?

Chase looked up. And he saw it again. The shadow.

Its knees were wrapped around one of the tree branches, leaving it upside down and looking a lot more...real. The last two times Chase saw the shadow, it was definitely just a flat shadow. Now, it was like a person made out of darkness. Slightly translucent. But definitely there. He could see the folds of clothes, and hair that dangled downwards as the shadow hung from the branch. But strangely, the face still looked flat and featureless.

“Hi.” The whisper definitely came from the shadow, despite the lack of a mouth. Chase didn’t say anything back, frozen and speechless. The shadow giggled. It reached up and plucked a small stick from the tree, which it dropped.

The stick fell straight down. Chase’s eyes followed it—and saw the stick land right on top of a cluster of mushrooms. He glanced up again, but the shadow was gone. So he looked back down at the mushrooms.

These had to be what they were looking for. Chase hadn’t seen mushrooms before (except for pizza toppings), but he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to be green. The mushrooms in the cluster ranged from as small as a coin to as big as his hand. He was surprised he hadn’t noticed them when he sat down. They also looked somehow... fuzzy. When the stick had landed on top of them, it had sent a small bit of that fuzz into the air.

Chase blinked. All of a sudden, he felt kind of dizzy. “H-hey guys?” He looked around. The others weren’t in eyesight. “Guys!” he shouted, starting to stand up.

As he shifted position, he put his hand down on the ground. Except he missed the ground, and planted his left hand solidly down on a few of the mushrooms. More fuzz spurted into the air, and his vision tilted and wavered. “Whoa!” He lost his balance and fell onto his side.

Then he heard a voice again. Not like the shadow’s whisper. And not any of the others who’d come with him. It was a grown-up’s voice. A familiar one. “Hmmnh?” Chase lifted his head, confused, and blinked slowly.

“Did you fall down, sport?” the voice asked. “Come on. Get up again. You can do it.”

Through the fuzz drifting through the air, he saw the blurry outline of a man standing nearby. The man walked over, without the sound of footsteps, and knelt next to him, without leaving impressions in the grass. Even though he was right next to Chase, the man still looked strangely blurry. But Chase could make out brown hair, a beard, and blue eyes in the same shape and color as his.

Chase blinked. What was he doing here...?

“Alright, I’ll help.” The man offered a hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Mom you were hanging out near weird plants. It’ll be our secret.”

This was impossible. But...still, Chase reached out, ready to take that hand.

“Chase!”

The shout came from behind him. Chase turned his head, rolling over where he was lying. Jackie was running over, followed by Schneep and the twins. They must have heard him shout. He gave them a little wave, then looked back over. But the man had vanished.

“Are you okay?” Jackie asked, crouching to the ground. “You sounded kind of freaked out. Here.” Jackie held out his hand, ready to pull Chase up.

Chase stared at him. Then mumbled, “I wasn’t freaked out.” He sat up straight on his own, without Jackie’s help. “I found the mushrooms,” he explained, and pointed at the cluster of green fungi. “You’re right, they make you feel...weird. Hey, uh, did any of you guys see that?”

“See what?” Jackie asked.

“We just saw you,” Schneep said. “Are you...okay?”

“Yeah. Uh, yeah.” Chase nodded slowly. “I just got dizzy. From the mushrooms.”

“What’s that stuff floating in the air around them?” Marvin asked.

“Those are probably spores,” Jackie answered. “You know. What we’re trying to avoid breathing by covering our faces. Chase, yours slipped a little and left your nose uncovered, so you must have breathed some of them. That’s why you got dizzy.”

“Oh. Right, yeah, that makes sense.” Chase hurriedly adjusted his bandanna and stood up. Jackie stood as well, and the five of them stared down at the little cluster.

They’re smaller than I thought, Jameson said.

“Yeah,” Marvin agreed.

“So we know they’re here now.” Jackie put his hands on his hips. “How do we get rid of them?”

“Oh! Chase and I brought things, actually.” Schneep pulled off his backpack and opened it up. He took out a few plastic bags, like people put sandwiches in. “We can pluck them and put them in here, then throw them away.”

“But do we wanna touch them?” Jackie looked pretty reluctant to do that. Or, probably. It was hard to read his facial expression with the bandanna.

Wait, Jameson signed, and opened up his own bag. He pulled out—

“What the hell is it with you and knives?!” Jackie cried. “That’s the third time! Oh my god, are you just carrying that loose in your bag?!”

“We thought we’d have to fight off giant fucking mushroom monsters or something,” Marvin said defensively. “But it works out, right? We can cut the stems with the knives!”

Jackie blinked. “Knives. Plural.”

The twins nodded.

“Okay. Fine.” Jackie’s voice sounded kind of strangled. “Guess this might as well happen. This is already so goddamn weird.” He exhaled, then decided to move on. “Next time, you have to at least wrap them tightly in something, alright? Otherwise you can cut yourself when you feel around in the bag.”

Jameson nodded, and handed the knife he was holding to Marvin. Promise. We brought five today. One for everyone!

“F-five...” Jackie stopped working for a moment. Then he exhaled again, louder. “Okay. Fine. Everyone take one. Be very careful!”

A minute later, all of them were awkwardly crouched around the cluster of mushrooms, trying not to touch them or breathe too much as they carefully sawed at the stems. Whenever the mushrooms jostled even a little, they let out more pale green spores. Luckily, though there were a lot of them, they weren’t able to get through the bandannas. Everyone was still worried about touching the fungi, but Schneep suggested putting their hands inside the plastic bags as some sort of makeshift gloves.

It was easy to get rid of the tops of the mushrooms, but getting rid of the stems proved more difficult, as they were firmly rooted in the ground. Eventually the four younger boys gave up on uprooting the last stems and left the work to Jackie. After about five minutes of digging and cutting, they could find no more mushroom bits, and the parts they had were sealed inside a pile of plastic sandwich bags, leaving only a hole at the base of the tree that was almost ten inches deep.

“So...it was a big cluster,” Marvin said. “Just in a vertical area, not a horizontal one.”

“That was...easier than I thought,” Schneep said slowly.

“Easy? We...we just spent like...twenty minutes on this.” Jackie, as the one who’d done a lot of the difficult digging at the end, was a lot more tired than the others. Also out of breath. He had to take a moment to recover.

“Yes, but last time we fought a bubble monster,” Schneep reminded him. “That was hard. You got stuck underwater. We had to climb the slide.”

“Well...I’m not complaining.” Jackie used the tree to climb to his feet. “There’s still a lot of...a lot of spores in the air. Let’s get back. Grab the bags.”

The group retreated to a safe distance, taking the plastic bags with them. Do you think it’s safe that all the S-P-O-R-E-S are still around? Jameson asked.

“I guess we’ll see,” Jackie muttered. “If we come back here in a week and there’s even more mushrooms, then no.”

“It’s, uh...probably fine.” Chase gripped the bags he was holding tightly. He watched as the mushrooms inside, though uprooted, still gave off a weak puff of fuzz.

“How do we get rid of these?” Marvin asked. “Do we just...throw them away?”

“I do not think that is safe,” Schneep said. “What if someone found them in the trash? Like the trash man? Or wild dogs?”

“Okay. Do we bury them again, then? Like we did with the ghost hoover?”

“That seems...bad,” Jackie said slowly. “Maybe...we burn them? Here, give them all to me. My house has a fireplace. We’ve never used it, but it’ll be safer to do it there than in, like, the middle of the park or something. I’ll wait ‘til Dad is asleep, then sneak down and dump them all there.”

“Are you sure?” Chase blurted out. “I mean, do you know how to use a fireplace? Can you figure it out?”

Jackie laughed a little. “I appreciate your worry, but it’ll be fine. I’ll be very safe, and I’ll wear the bandanna in case of spores. Though I think they’ll probably go up the chimney.”

Seems like the best idea, Jameson said.

“Alright.” Jackie nodded. “Let’s carry these to my car, then.”

“Oh! Question.” Marvin raised his hand. “Can we all go to Zelly’s after this? For ice cream? Jameson has money!”

Jackie laughed. “Sure. It’ll be a celebration.”

“You should work at Zelly’s, Jackie,” Schneep said. “They want help.”

“You mean they’re hiring? Huh. Maybe. I could use a job.”

They started walking back to the car, but Chase lingered, looking down at the plastic bags. In his arms. He grabbed one with a lot of the mushroom tops in it—the parts that let out the most spores. And he hurriedly shoved it deep into the largest pocket of his shorts. Then he ran after the others.

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A week passed. The group went back to the park one more time and confirmed that there were no more mushrooms growing. Once they were sure, the twins convinced Chase to let them come over to his house for dinner and video games. They wanted to keep working on that game they started a few weeks ago, on the day when the monster dog broke into the house. Chase agreed, but he reminded them not to go into his room. And when they came over, he made sure that the plastic bag he’d taken was hidden in his closet. He didn’t want to risk anyone finding it.

Mom was home when Jackie and the twins came over, but she was busy in her bedroom office, and said the boys could hang out, as long as they didn’t do anything too dangerous. She trusted Jackie to watch them.

“This level is fucking impossible!” Marvin declared. “How the fuck am I supposed to do this?!”

“You know, there’s a glitch you can do where you skip it,” Chase said, leaning over the back of the sofa and reaching for the controller in Marvin’s hand.

“Don’t touch.” Marvin easily moved the controller out of reach. “Just tell me how to do it.”

Isn’t it C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G to use a glitch? Jameson asked.

“It’s fine,” Chase said, shrugging. “He’s been stuck for a while. Kind of weird. This part isn’t that hard.”

“Well fuck you too.” Marvin made a face at him. “How do I do it?”

“Alright, go back over to that wall...”

“Schneep, do you think it’s alright to sit that close to the TV?” Jackie asked. “It’s like, bad for your eyesight, right?”

Schneep, sitting on the floor with his plushie bat in his lap, shook his head. “I already have glasses, so it’s already done, right?”

“I...don’t think that’s how it works.” Jackie drummed a random pattern on the armchair cushion with his fingers. “Things can get worse.”

“Then I will wear stronger glasses.”

“Alright. Fine, up to you.”

Meanwhile, Chase had finished guiding Marvin through the glitch—narrowly avoiding sabotage from Jameson, who tried to lean over and jostle Marvin when he was half-done—and now a cutscene was playing. Oh no, it’s this fight again, Jameson said, a look of dread on his face. You have to do it twice?

“Well, yeah, one time with each of the characters in it,” Chase said. “It’s easier with this guy, though.”

“If you guys are about to do a boss fight, do you mind pausing so I can ask you all something?” Jackie said.

Marvin paused the game, and everyone turned to look at Jackie. “Yeah?”

“Okay. So.” Jackie paused, then gave an awkward little laugh. “So, my dad’s been saving up for a while, and he told me he wanted to go on a camping trip with me. And that I could invite my friends, too, said he would rent a spare car and tents and stuff. I already invited all my friends who are, like, my age, but I asked him if you guys could come, and he said yes. So...I know it might be a little weird, but do you guys want to come?”

“Camping?” Chase stood up straight. “For how long?”

Where? Jameson asked.

“When?” Marvin added.

“Will we need things?” Schneep said, looking a little worried.

“Uh, ten days from now,” Jackie said. “There’s a campground in the forest around town, he said it was a forty-five minute drive, but I don’t know how accurate that’ll be. It’ll last two nights. And you don’t need to bring any supplies, but it would probably be good to have sleeping bags and toothpaste and stuff like that. You know.”

“Why did you ask us?” Schneep wondered.

“Well, uh...” Jackie laughed awkwardly again. “I-I don’t know. It just seemed like a nice thing to do. After all the weird stuff apparently going on, I thought, uh, maybe you guys would like to...do something fun. That’s not related. H-have any of you been camping before?”

“I think we went once,” Chase said slowly. “When we still lived in America. I was, like, four or five or something. Schneep?”

Schneep shook his head. “Mama und Papa do not like to travel anywhere.”

“We’ve never gone camping,” Marvin said. “But sometimes when we went to visit our grandma, she used to live in this, like, farm-like area that was kind of nowhere. She wasn’t a farmer, but there were still only a bunch of fields and bushes around the house, and we used to go exploring. Sometimes, like, all day. Right, JJ? Remember that?” Jameson nodded.

“So this’ll be new for all of you.” Jackie smiled a little. “It’s fun. We go camping all the time. Or, well, it’s...been a while...” He trailed off, looking very sad for a moment. Then he moved on. “So we have a lot of stuff, and Dad and me know how to set up a tent and campfire and all that.”

The four others exchanged looks. “Sounds fun!” Chase said cheerfully. “I mean, we’ll have to ask Mom, of course—”

“Do you think she will let us?!” Schneep squeezed his bat tight, voice nervous.

“Yeah, probably. We’ll have to go shopping for sleeping bags. I wonder where we can go do that?”

“I wanna go!” Marvin said. “I bet when you’re out in the forest you can feel magic, cause it’s supposed to come from nature.”

Jameson looked concerned. Do you think Mam and Dad will let us go for three days?

“Uh...we’ll have to be really nice about it, but probably? Yeah. Probably.”

Chase snorted. “Your parents let you wander around town alone, but they won’t let you go camping with a bunch of other people?”

It’s how long that can be the problem, Jameson said. And how strange the place is.

“Jackie’s dad will be there, and a bunch of older kids, it’ll probably be fine,” Marvin said. “And campgrounds have other people, right?”

“Right.” Jackie nodded. “So...if you guys are excited, I’ll tell Dad that you need to ask your parents, but you all want to go.” He took out his phone to send a text message. “Is that good?”

“Yeah!” Chase punched the air. “Whoohoo! We’re going on a trip!”

“Heh.” A tiny smile drifted across Schneep’s face. “I hope it will be fun.”

“So are we gonna meet your teenager friends, Jackie?” Marvin asked. “Are they cool?”

“Well I mean, objectively, they’re dorks,” Jackie laughed. “But they’re cool dorks.”

“Nice.” Marvin grinned, then turned back to the television. “Okay, I’m gonna press play now.”

The next couple of minutes was taken up with Marvin playing the boss fight, occasionally interrupted by more of Jameson’s attempted sabotage. In the end, he was triumphant. “It’s no use! It’s no fucking use!” he shouted, laughing. “You’re dead! You’re motherfucking dead! I win! My win!”

“Oh, a B! Nice.” Jackie nodded.

So it’s Chase’s turn now, right? Jameson asked.

“Oh, you don’t wanna play today?” Chase said.

Maybe after you. Your character’s story is a lot cooler.

“If you think this is cool, you should see the game he came from.” Chase vaulted over the back of the sofa, landing in the perfect spot in between the twins, who both scooted away to make more room.

Schneep stood up, carefully unfolding his legs. “While you switch, I am going to put Mitternacht in my room. Okay?”

“Is that the bat?” Marvin asked. “That’s cute!”

Schneep laughed. “Yes. Thank you. I will be right back.” He turned and headed towards the stairs. As he climbed them, the sound of the boys and their video game slowly faded. Not completely going quiet, but the words and noises blurring together. They continued to blur as he walked towards his bedroom doorway. Then he paused, and walked down the hall to the upstairs bathroom. Might as well, while he was away from the others. A couple minutes later, he walked out again and back to the open doorway.

The light in his bedroom was dim. Aunt Jess had recently taken him shopping for some things for his room, and that included a set of curtains: blue, with a pattern of white stars. Though the curtains were pale in color, they were thick and did a good job at blocking out the light from the window. Still, the room was bright enough to see a figure sitting on the edge of his bed. Someone must have followed him up, and decided to go into his room when he went to the bathroom.

“Chase?” Schneep asked. No, wait, it was too tall, and it wasn’t wearing Chase’s cap. “Jackie? What are you doing in here?” That was—it was rude, to go into someone's room without asking. And he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the jumpy feeling of fear it gave him when someone else was in his room. So he reached over and flipped on the light switch, ready to tell them to leave.

But even when light flooded the room, the shadowy figure was still just a shadowy figure.

Schneep froze, staring at it. It was like a person made out of darkness. It was three-dimensional, but didn’t look entirely solid, with Schneep being able to partially see the pattern on the curtains through its body. He blinked, squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them wide. But the shadow was still there.

The shadow stood up. It hadn’t left any impressions in the covers of Schneep’s bed. “Hi, Henrik,” said a whispery voice. It sounded like it belonged to a boy, maybe one around Jackie’s age. Then it started to walk forward.

Panic filled his chest, then his throat. Then it burst out as Schneep screamed.

The shadow stopped, as if surprised. And it giggled. The light overhead flickered, turning off, and when it flickered on again, the shadow was gone.

“Schneep?!” Footsteps running up the stairs. Chase crashed into the doorframe next to Schneep. “What is it?! What happened?!”

“Es gibt—d-da war ein—” Schneep pointed urgently at the spot where the shadow disappeared, hugging his plush bat close. “Ein—ein Schatten!”

More footsteps up the stairs. Jackie, followed shortly by the twins. “What happened?! Jackie gasped. “Schneep, are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“Ghost!” Schneep gasped. “Ghost—Geist—Schatten—shadow! There was a shadow!”

“A shadow?” Chase’s eyes widened. “Like...like a shadow of a guy, but there wasn’t actually a guy there?”

“Ja!” Schneep nodded vigorously. “It was—it was a pop-up shadow! A person made of it! H-he said ‘hi Henrik’ and walked to me! Then I screamed, a-and he laughed, and he is gone now!”

Someone stepped into Schneep’s line of view. Jameson. Take deep breaths, he signed. Like this. And he started breathing, showing Schneep what to do.

Schneep mimicked him, focusing on the movement of his chest. He felt his heartbeat in his ribs and neck, going fast but gradually slowing.

“Are you good?” Jackie asked.

Schneep nodded.

“So... someone else saw the shadow guy,” Chase mumbled. “Good to know it’s just not me. But, uh, not good. That he freaked you out.”

“What’s this guy’s fucking deal?” Marvin asked. “Is he following us? Haunting us?”

“He was just...there,” Schneep said, vaguely gesturing into his room. “I think it was...on purpose. That he was here. He knew my name.”

Chase shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on. But I think...we’re gonna have to figure it out eventually."

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