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looooooooomis · 3 years

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F I N A L G I R L | T W O

You were his final girl. And there was no chance in hell that anyone or anything was going to mess that up.

p a r t t w o | h a l l o w e e n n i g h t

masterlist here

pairing: billy loomis x f!reader word count: 4.3k warnings: implied/referenced cheating, swearing (obv), drinking, implied smut, genuine S M U T, rough oral, thigh-riding, unprotected sex, all that fun stuff.

Billy couldn’t keep his eyes off you.

Not that he ever really could – and who could blame him, really – but tonight? Tonight, you were on a whole other level.

Stu’s house was packed to the brim with people, too fucking packed for Billy’s liking, but he’d make do. He might have wanted nothing more than to ditch the party, throw you over his shoulder, and have his way with you all night long but he couldn’t exactly do that. Not the first two, at least. But the second he could escape, he would, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t getting his hands on you tonight.

Maybe it was your little talk in the cornfield last night or maybe it was on account of that goddamn Halloween costume you were wearing but Billy was ready to have you all to himself. He needed to have you all to himself tonight.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen you in your cheerleading uniform before, in fact, he’d seen you in it a thousand times prior to tonight but the way you wore it tonight made him harder than he could fathom. The skirt was hiked shorter than usual making you appear all the leggier in your white knee-high socks and tennis shoes and the though the top hadn’t changed all that drastically it, like the rest of you, was covered in fake blood. There were drops of crimson corn syrup, now long dried, dripping from those perfect lips of yours and continuing down your throat until bleeding into the material of your cropped cheerleading top. The sliver of skin showing your abdomen had a single bloodied handprint on it as well and your thighs, those gorgeous fucking thighs of yours, had a few more messy handprints that seemed to trail up your leg before disappearing beneath the hem of your skirt.

He was in agony watching you carry on laughing with Tatum from across the room. You had no right to look that fucking good tonight, not when Sidney was directly beside him idly talking to Randy about some stupid fucking test that he couldn’t bring himself to care about.

How could he focus on anything besides you tonight?

“Your girl’s looking hot tonight,” Stu chimed in quietly, smirking knowingly across the room towards where you and Tatum stood. “All that blood. All that leg.” He made a purring sound and grinned. “You going to be able to keep it in your pants until tonight?”

“Subtlety, dickmunch,” Billy growled. “Try it sometime.”

Throwing his hands up in mock surrender, Stu giggled and sprung across the room towards where you and Tatum were. Without missing a beat, Billy watched Stu throw Tatum over his shoulder, much to her chagrin, before running back to Billy, Sid, and Randy. Shooting Billy a wink, Stu mouthed a quick ‘you’re welcome’ before carefully plopping Tatum onto her feet. Sure enough, there you were, following the happy couple with a smile on your face as you joined them.

“Whole party just saw your girlfriend’s ass, numb nuts,” you laughed, playfully smacking Tatum’s ass. “Cute panties though, girl, take me next time. I’ll pick myself up a pair.”

Tatum grinned and cozied herself into Stu’s side. “Deal,” she chuckled, battling with the fake vampire teeth in her mouth. With a groan, she took them out and chucked them into the trash bin a few feet away. “Remind me again why I thought that would be a good idea.”

“So, you’re a vampire,” Randy mused, eyeing her all-black attire. “That checks out. You’ve got the personality down pat.”

Stu furled his brows as his girlfriend smacked Randy’s chest. “We’re both vampires, idiot, isn’t it obvious? I’m wearing a fucking cape.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Randy rolled his eyes and glanced around the circle of friends surrounding him. “The rest of you I got right off the bat. Sid’s a witch, Billy’s a moody looking skeleton boy and Y/N is a dead cheerleader.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” you clicked your tongue and pointed your beer bottle towards him in mock-outrage. “I’m not a dead cheerleader, Randy, I’m a demonic cheerleader. There’s a difference.”

“Oh, so you’re just a regular cheerleader, then.” Randy teased. When all he got was another smack to the chest, he surrendered. “Alright, alright. What’s the difference?”

“Well, for one,” you shrugged, “I’m not the victim. I’m the bad guy.”

“Bad guy, huh?” Billy piped in, watching you with that heavy stare of his. “What makes you so bad?”

“I eat boys,” you simply said, holding his purposeful gaze.

The corners of Billy’s lips raised in a small smirk at the innuendo but rather than let on, he simply ducked his head down and ran a hand through his hair. You were playing with fire tonight and it was obvious to him that you knew as much.

You’d definitely pay for that later on.

“Well, I think you look hot,” Sid smiled. “Blood and all.”

“Thanks, Sid,” you smacked on a smile and took a rather hasty gulp of beer. “You’re look like a babe tonight, too.”

“Thanks,” she flushed and looked down at her red dress. “It’s Tatum’s dress, I was scared it was going to be a little much on me.”

“Just enough,” you corrected with an honest smile. With your mouth suddenly dry and your guilt at an all-time high, you licked your lips and gave her a wink. “Billy’s a lucky guy.”

Leaning into Billy’s lean frame, Sid tilted her head up and placed a quick kiss to the side of his mouth. Averting your eyes immediately to the island between you and the doting couple, you tried not to let your discomfort show as you polished off the rest of your beer. That never got an easier to watch, no matter how much reassurance you got from Billy on the matter. At the end of the day, you were in love with Billy Loomis all the while being best friends with Sidney Prescott, his extraordinarily kind and sweet girlfriend. It was bound to be a tough pill to swallow.

From across the kitchen island, you caught Stu’s eye and for a brief moment, you saw a something eerily close to pity flicker across his face. Clearing your throat, you shook your empty bottle at the group and nodded towards the garage. “Anybody need a refill?”

“Yeah, sure,” Stu shrugged. “There’s a whole other keg in there actually. Be a dear and grab it?”

“A keg?” You snorted. “Who am I? The Hulk?”

Stu’s grin was cheeky as he nodded towards the garage. “Billy’ll help,” he simply said, squeezing Billy’s shoulder. “And hurry up, would you? Crowd’s getting thirsty.”

Rolling your eyes, you glanced at Billy briefly before nodding down the hall. “Come on, lover boy.” You teased, smiling apologetically at Sid who appeared none the wiser. “Be back in a sec.”

The hall leading down to the garage was crowded and full of your classmates dressed to the nines for Halloween. A few of the girls you were friends with smiled at you as you walked by, as did some of the guys, but the only thing you could focus on was the weight of Billy’s stare on your ass as you walked ahead of him. Sure, you mighthave been swinging your hips a little more than you should have been, but who could blame you? You were buzzed and Billy looked stupidly good tonight in his leather jacket and skeleton make-up. Even if said skeleton makeup was mostly gone from the amount of times he’d unwittingly rubbed at his face over the course of the night.

Pushing the door to the garage open, you held it open for Billy and shot him a brief smile as he walked into the chilly garage before closing the heavy door behind him. Walking down the steps towards the giant keg, you glanced over your shoulder and nearly laughed at the smouldering look he was giving you atop those steps. Turning around to face him fully, you gestured to the doorknob. “That thing have a lock on it?”

“Why?” He asked, leering. Slowly, he descended the steps towards you. Every step he took was agonizingly slower than the last but, being just as stubborn as he was, you remained firmly rooted in place with your own small smile in tow. “What would you have me do to you that would require a lock?”

“Who says you’d be doing anything?” You asked. “I’m the one who eats boys, remember?”

With a growl, he snaked his arms around your hips and pulled you into him. You could feel his budding erection through his jeans as he leaned down and nipped the base of your neck. The moan that escaped your lips on account of feeling his teeth dragging along your pulse point filled the empty garage and made Billy smile into the sensitive flesh. “Look at you in this fucking outfit. You’re a fucking tease, you know that?”

“Who’s teasing?” You asked. Reaching down, you gently squeezed him through his jeans and smirked when he swore under his breath. “I have every intention of following through.”

He kissed you hard and raked his fingernails up your bare thigh. The fake blood adorning your body might have been bone dry at this point in the night, but as he slid his hand beneath your skirt and rubbed his finger along the lace of your thong, a throaty laugh escaped his lips. You were so fucking wet. “Someone could come in here any second,” he whispered, pushing his finger beneath the material of your thong. The hiss that tore out of your throat sent him into a frenzy as he pinched your clit. “That get you wet, sweetheart? Knowing someone could walk in on us while I fuck you silly?”

“Billy,” you groaned, instinctually spreading your legs a little more to allow him full access to your slicked folds. “Lock the fucking door.”

“No,” he sucked at your bottom lip. “I want the whole fucking house to see us.”

Despite every rational part of your brain pleading with you to pull away from the infuriating man, you couldn’t. Not with how good he tasted on your lips and certainly not with his methodical fingers rubbing and pinching at your clit.

But two could play at that game.

Uncurling your fingernails from his shoulders, you got to work on his belt. Within seconds, it was gaping open as you fiddled with the button of his jeans and zipper before tugging them just far enough down his thigh for his cock to spring free. Biting down on his lip, you gave him a firm tug. “Lock. The. Fucking. Door. Loomis.”

You heard him laugh under his breath as he backed you into the keg. Once the back of your knees hit the coolness of the metal, you lost your footing and fell back against the piping along the top. The tap managed to hit you right on the tailbone, causing fireworks to explode behind your eyes, but with Billy’s deft hands still working your clit into a frenzy, you couldn’t bring yourself to care all that much. Stepping between your thighs, Billy’s hard cock danced across your wet folds as he tugged your underwear to the side. Your entire body was prepared to feel that familiar rush pure ecstasy that always followed that first, messy thrust. You were desperate for it in that moment, you craved it. But just as the tip teased its way down from your clit to your entrance, the garage door creaked open to reveal Stu’s handsome but mischievous face.

“Knew it,” he pretended to giggle as he quickly slid into the garage, being sure to shut it after to ensure nobody else saw the two of you. “Part of me thought ‘no way, they wouldn’t do it in my garage’ but the rest of me knew better. And, here you are.”

Swearing under his breath, Billy stepped away from you and ensured you were covered up entirely as he re-did his pants and belt. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

Between being caught up in the heated moment and feeling both shame and guilt for being caught, your cheeks must have been the colour of the devil himself as you ambled back onto your feet.

“Cock-block, asshole, the guy who just saved you from your girlfriend walking in on the two of you,” he casually waved it off, “I go by many names.”

“Shit,” you groaned, “how long were we gone for?”

“Not long,” Stu shrugged. “She just thought you two might need help seeing as how you were taking a few minutes.” He grinned. “Seems like you two kids had it all figured out, though.”

“Fuck-off for a second, would you?” Billy sighed and ensured Stu had turned around before looking back at you. Not wasting another second, he gently cradled your face and brushed something off of the tip of your nose. “White face paint,” he explained. Once he was sure it was gone, he leaned in and placed a sweet, chaste kiss to your lips. “Sorry about this.”

“Should have locked the door, Loomis,” you reminded him with a wink. Fixing your skirt, you walked back towards the steps and nodded towards the keg. “I’ll let you two carry that behemoth into the kitchen.”

Sliding past Stu, you opened the garage door and re-entered the crowded hallway. No one looked suspicious of you as you crept out and even when you re-joined Tatum and Sid – Randy having since left to tail some blonde chick in his algebra class – you simply smacked on a grin and asked them what you’d missed.

“Where’s Thing One and Thing Two?” Tatum asked, glancing over your shoulder.

“The keg’s a beast,” you simply said, “Stu showed up to help so I figured I’d leave it to them. Machismo bull-shit and all that.”

You hated how easy it was to lie to them. The guilt was still there, the guilt was always there, but over time the lying had become almost second nature to you. You could have a girl’s night with Sid, watch shitty movies all night long, and then proceed to fuck her boyfriend at two in the morning as she was sound asleep back home. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair.

And yet as Billy and Stu moseyed into the kitchen with the keg in tow, the look Billy gave you was enough to silence the swell of guilt boiling to the surface of your gut. It wasn’t a smoulderingly sexy look, not even an irritated look from having been cock-blocked by his best friend. No, this look was something different. Something softer, gentler, than the Billy everybody else knew so well. This look was one he’d reserved just for you. It was same look you got when he was half-asleep at three in the morning, groggily smiling across at you as though you’d hung the moon. The same one that seemed to take you in and memorize you as though half-expecting you to disappear before his very eyes. It was a look of pure wonderment, pure sincerity.

“You girls want to play beer pong?” One of the guys from the hockey team asked as you, Tatum and Sid watched the pair struggle.

“Yes,” the answer was out of your mouth before you had time to register the request. Dragging Tatum and Sid towards the dining room table, you shot one final glance at Billy before focusing ahead.

You were going to slip-up if he kept looking at you like that.

»»-------------¤-------------««

You’d barely managed to scrape all of the fake blood off of your face when you heard the familiar thud of your bedroom window. You were still dressed in your bloodied cheer uniform and the bloodied handprints smearing up your thighs and along your abdomen were still ever-present as you popped your head out of your washroom only to find Billy casually sitting on the edge of your bed.

“Couldn’t have waited until after I showered?” You asked with a small frown. “I look like Carrie from the neck down.”

Smirking, he pushed himself off of your bed and sauntered over towards you. He had since cleaned the skeleton make-up off of his face and the leather jacket had long been shed, but he still looked handsome as ever grinning across at you.

“I was hoping I’d catch you before you changed,” he admitted.

You raised your eyebrow and leaned against the doorway. “And why’s that?”

He said nothing at first, simply just reached forward to scrape his thumbs against your nipples which were pressing firmly against the thin material of your top. “Just because it’s after midnight doesn’t mean Halloween has to be over,” he slid his hands beneath the hem of your shirt and tugged it over your head. In nothing more than your skirt and knee-high socks, Billy’s calloused hands began to squeeze your bare breasts all the while never breaking eye contact. “Figured the demonic cheerleader might want to get one last kill in for the night.”

You hummed your approval as he pinched at your nipples. “And you’re volunteering yourself?”

Billy smirked and leaned down towards your chest to allow his mouth to consume your nipple. His expert tongue swirled along the sensitive nub a few times before devouring it entirely. Sucking and pinching and biting at your breasts, you barely noticed him steer you towards your bed until the soft material of your blankets were bawled into tensed fists.

“Billy,” you moaned, eyeing him through half-lidded eyes as he teased your nipples. “Fuck. Get up.”

Not listening to you whatsoever, he continued his assault on your tits before you finally gave his cock a firm squeeze from outside of his jeans. “Billy,” you repeated. When his cloudy stare caught yours, you cocked your head to the side and pat the mattress. “Get on the bed.”

With a smirk, Billy released your nipple before clambering onto the edge of the bed. Hitching your skirt up your thighs, you climbed over his lap and straddled him. His hungry eyes swallowed you up as you leaned into his face, your hair fell around you like a blanket, shielding you both away from everything around you as you very slowly tugged his head up to place a kiss to his nose.

His hands were on you immediately. They skimmed down your arms and waist and hips before giving your ass a long, firm squeeze. “You’re fucking perfect.”

You smirked and lowered yourself further down onto his lap so your clit was overtop his jean-clad thigh. “Shut-up,” you teased, slowly sliding back and forth atop his strong thigh. “Kiss me.”

With a quiet laugh, he craned his neck up to capture your lips as you continued to rock back and forth on his thigh. He wasted no time in hiking your skirt further up your body to allow him better access to your bare ass to which he hungrily massaged and grabbed. Moaning into his mouth, you felt his one of his hands wander from your ass and up your waist before giving your naked breast another firm squeeze. His mouth hungrily enveloped your breast as you gently flung your head back. Between the sensation of his tongue on your nipple and the feel of your clit scraping against his strong, muscular thigh, you were in heaven.

But fair was fair. If he wanted to be your ‘last kill of the night’? The very least you could do was play along.

Throwing your head back in ecstasy as he gently bit and sucked at your pert nipple, you reached down and unbuckled his belt. Your movements were frenzied as you worked on undoing his jeans next, and when you finally managed to undo his zipper, you unlatched your tit from his mouth and began to shimmy down his legs.

Billy watched you settle between his legs, barely taking notice of the damp streak on his thigh as you peeled his jeans down his hips. His cock sprang to life for the second time that night and as he watched your hungry eyes scrape over his painfully hard erection, he could have come right there.

Your lips were puffy from your little make-out session, your cheeks flushed. And as your chest heaved with each shallow breath you took, your already perky nipples only hardened. Scraping your fingernails up his thighs, you wasted no time in licking your way up from the base of his cock to the tip, swirling your tongue around his head as your hand gently massaged his balls. With hungry, half-lidded eyes, Billy watched that pretty mouth of yours take him. Slowly at first, but soon you fell into an easy rhythm as you sucked him off. He threw his head back as his fingers curled around your hair and tugged. Fuck, you were so good. And if he wasn’t careful, he’d blow his load in your mouth before you two could finish what you started in that damn garage.

Giving your hair another tug, you released his cock with a resounding pop and furled your brow. “Problem?” You asked stubbornly.

Without a word, he leaned forward and captured your lips in a bruising kiss as he carefully pulled you back onto the bed. Only rather than join you, he took his position between your thighs and tugged your thong clear off, exposing your extremely wet, throbbing pussy.

“Billy, let me fi—”

Before you could so much as think of your next few words, Billy buried his face between your thighs.

A guttural moan tore out of your lips as his dept tongue circled your clit, and as he inserted two fingers inside of you, you bucked into his mouth and grabbed a fistful of his hair. Billy’s tongue was euphoric, methodical. He lapped and sucked at your clit as his free hand reached up to play with your exposed breasts, rolling your nipple between his fingers roughly. “Billy,” you rasped out, squeezing your eyes shut as that familiar heat began to encroach its way up your body. Curling his fingers inside of you, you nearly screamed. Thank god your parents weren’t home. “Billy, fuck.”

You were going to come. Any second now. You felt that mind-numbing pleasure build up in your toes and up your legs and as he gave your clit another long, glorious suck, you let it overtake you. Your entire body shook as you bucked into his mouth. Stars flashed behind your eyes as a strangled moan tore from your throat.

Releasing your clit, Bily kissed and licked his way up your body before leaning forward to capture your lips again. You could taste yourself on his lips as you leaned forward and as your eyes caught sight of his erection, you opened your thighs on instinct. Pulling away from his mouth, you nudged your nose against his to catch his eye and reached down to stroke his unbearably hard cock. “Fuck me, Billy.”

He seemed to search your eyes for a moment as you pulled him back onto the bed. Once he was laying down, you wasted no time in climbing on top of him. Reaching down, you guided the length of him inside of your wet folds and slithered it along your clit before lowering yourself onto him. He hissed at the sensation and squeezed your ass, watching your breasts bounce with every bound you took. Leaning forward, he caught one in his mouth and bit down on your nipple, relishing in the moan he received on account of it. He must have bit harder than intended as within seconds, he could taste a metallic fluid rolling onto his tongue. Blood. Your blood. Looking back up at you, unsure of your reaction, his cock twitched inside of you when all you did was groan and tug at his hair.

You liked it.

Swirling his tongue around your nipple, Billy’s hands held your hips as you swiveled and bounced on top of him. He was going to come soon, he knew he was, but when he watched you reach down and begin to stroke your clit as he was buried inside of you, that was it. Leaning forward, he found your lips again as he came undone inside of you. “Fuck,” he rasped out, holding you firmly in place as his cock writhed inside of you.

Feeling his cock twitch, you waited on his last few pumps before breaking your kiss. “Happy Halloween, Loomis.”

A slow, lazy grin tore across his lips. The pair of you were stark naked in the middle of your bedroom, he was literally still inside of you, and yet there you were. Both grinning stupidly down at each other as your words sunk in. Slowly, you slid off of him and joined him on the bed your naked chest heaving up and down as he reached out to brush a strand of hair from your face.

“You going to kick me out of your bed so that you can shower?” He asked quietly.

“No,” you shrugged. “Not yet.”

Billy blinked, mild surprise showing on his face. But, before another word could be said, he leaned in and gently kissed your lips. Unlike the kisses you two had shared in the heat of the moment, this was soft and deliberate. And, as he pulled away, he placed another kiss to the tip of your nose before relaxing into the sheets. “Good,” he mumbled, pulling a thin blanket up your naked bodies.

You smiled and relaxed into the warmth in his chest. You absolutely should be slinking off to the bathroom to shower all the fake blood off of you, but that could wait another few minutes. For now, against Billy’s chest, basking in the pale moon glow shining in through your bedroom window, this was the only place you wanted to be.

LET ME KNOW IF YALL LIKED IT + IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE BILLY IMAGINES IN THIS SERIES BC YA GIRL IS WILLING

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rainbows-fanfics · 3 years

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Our Nightmare (Chapter 13)

Summary: Sally moves in with the man of her screams. But there is still so much she has to learn of Halloween Town, and what it’s like living with The Pumpkin King.

A sequel to Two Dearest Friends, where the Christmas incident never happens. But there are still many ends that haven’t been met, and much for these two dreamers to learn as they start to spend their deaths together.

Pairings: Jack Skellington/Sally, Dr Finklestein/Jewel

–

Note: This is a SEQUEL to my other story, TWO DEAREST FRIENDS. To read the original story, go here.

–

It is early in the morning when the crowing of a skeletal rooster makes it into Jack’s bedroom. The Pumpkin King throws his pillow over his skull in an attempt to deafen the noise. A few seconds pass before a bright light begins to seep into the room, as the pumpkin sun rises slowly in the sky outside. The skeleton groans when it hits his eye sockets. He mentally swears at himself for forgetting to close the curtains last night, and aggravatingly turns on his other side to avoid the window. His eyes snap open when he finds a face only a few inches away from his own.

Sally…

His frame freezes at the sight, finding himself in some sort of trance. His gaze is locked on her closed eyes, her slightly parted lips, and her breathing figure moving and falling by the second. It doesn’t take long before a smile grows on his stitched lips. He remembers all about last night. His proposal to move his girlfriend into his room...rightfully sharing a bed together as soon as they could. He remembers sleeping so peacefully throughout the night. He carefully brings a hand forward and moves the fallen strands of hair from her face. This notion catches her attention and her eyes slowly flutter open.

“Good morning, my dear.” He greets softly, cradling her face in one of his large hands. She looks surprised before relaxing her shoulders.

“Good morning…”

The air around them is entirely peaceful. She recalls feeling like this on her first morning in the Skellington Manor. Except now she has the pleasure of waking up right next to her skeleton man. He leans towards her and leaves a kiss on her lips, brushing her hair to the side before sitting up in bed. She follows his movements and lets out a small yawn. He notices this and tilts his skull.

"You can sleep in if you'd like."

She shakes her head. She already feels well-rested. "No, it's alright."

She leaves a kiss on his cheek before they hear something stirring in the room. Zero shakes his head from his doggy bed before peering around the bedroom. He levitates from the surface and meets with the eyes of his master and Sally. The ghost dog joins them and nuzzles both of their sides excitedly.

Jack chuckles as he pats his small head. "Good morning to you, Zero!"

Some more movement comes from the floor before a small, black figure jumps onto the edge of the bed. Ophelia tiredly blinks her yellow eyes at the figures, running along the blankets to meet with her owner. Sally coos when the feline jumps into her lap and nestles into her arm. What a wonderful way to start the morning!

"Good morning, Ophelia.."

The Pumpkin King takes this time to leave the bed and approach the windows, fully moving the curtains so the sun completely envelops the room. He moves to his dresser and searches around in his drawers for his clothes. The other figures watch him intently from the bed. Sally rubs her eyes as she adjusts to the light in the room.

"Did you sleep well, dearest?" The skeleton asks, pulling her from her thoughts.

She nods. "Just terrible!"

"I'm glad to hear it. I wanted our first night together to be perfectly unpleasant!"

He moves behind the screen to start dressing himself. He hears his beloved leave the bed after a few minutes and passes right through the door. The pitter-patters of her cat follow behind, and he can hear Zero's tag chiming down the stairs. It's only when he's fully dressed when the familiar sound of sizzling comes from the kitchen. She must be making breakfast already!

He grins to himself, elated with everything so far. This was the right decision to make after all this time. He'll have to spend the rest of the morning moving her things from her room and properly making his space into theirs . He’s already cleared plenty of time in his schedule to do it. He's more than excited by the time he rushes down the stairs to meet with Sally, kissing her neck once or twice while she stands over the stove cooking the food.

The sound of her giggles brings a new delight to his bones.

. . .

The nights go on, as do the mornings. They've moved past what happened on Halloween night. In fact, the subject never comes up again as the two get more comfortable. Jack's favorite part, albeit self-indulgent, are the mornings he spends waking up next to her . He finds he rises even earlier than usual just to watch her form next to his - sleeping so peacefully, auburn hair messily strewn over her face and the pillows, looking like the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his death. He listens to her small breaths in this time until she eventually wakes, and then he greets her with a kiss.

As the weeks pass, the skeleton and ragdoll start noticing each other's habits. While she sleeps, he finds she makes the tiniest of snores on some nights, almost virtually unnoticeable if it hadn't been for his keen sense of hearing. She will, in return, find the King overworking himself most nights, cooping himself up in his study while he reads or experiments. She has to drag him to bed every time this happens, sweetly reminding him to get his rest and that it's time to go to bed together.

He never resists. He feels like he's in some sort of Heaven as his angel leads him temptingly to their bedroom with a tight pull on his wrist. He sighs in bliss every time it happens. Things truly couldn't be better.

----

It is a quiet afternoon when Sally Finklestein sweeps around the entrance of her sewing shop. It is the usual time she takes a break and temporarily closes her business until she returns. She normally spends this time either in the plaza or the Town Hall, where she meets with Jack during his own lunch break. The two usually eat together and catch up at this time, before having to return to their responsibilities for the rest of the day.

She plans to meet with him and talk over a modest meal she packed for both of them this morning. She returns her broom inside and locks the front door of the shop with a hum. She eagerly turns on her heel and is about to begin her way until she is interrupted by the sound of laughter. It isn't a normal, childish one - rather, a collection of shrieks that sound from across the street. It is accompanied by the sound of running feet. She assumes it's from the Town children playing together as they usually do around this time, and continues on her way like normal.

The laughter continues until she stumbles upon the source of the noise. The sight makes her stop completely in her tracks. It is coming from three children she's never seen in Town before...she marvels at their bright clothing. They look exactly like the trick-or-treaters she’s seen in the human world - dressed in costume from head-to-toe. There is one young girl and two little boys - the girl is dressed as a purple witch, with a tall hat, stringy black hair, and a long green mask. One of the boys seems to be a skeleton, who has stubby green hair, a round face, and only three pointy fingers and toes on his hands and feet. He wears a circular mask sporting a wide, toothy grin. The last boy looks to be a devil, with his hair gelled upwards to represent small horns, and a long red mask situated over his tall face, as a pointy tail flickers from his pants.

The three are currently standing in front of other children, except these are ones Sally recognizes from Town. There is the mummy boy - a child wrapped entirely in paper whom she knows loves to help the Mayor with his duties, a small winged demon with large black wings, and the corpse couple’s kid, Ethan. There is a look of terror on their faces as the trick-or-treaters stand before them, attempting to hide their bags behind their small figures. She notices they’re filled with many colorful wrappers, which she assumes must be candy.

The small witch steps forward, batting her broom on the ground in warning. “Give it to us! We know you’re hiding it!”

Ethan narrows his stitched eyes. He is among the few residents that happen to be blind. “Who says we have to give it to you!? Aren’t you supposed to EARN your own candy?”

“Push off!” The devil warns as he steps forward. “You owe us for helping you last Halloween! Give us the candy!”

“HELP? You got all of us in trouble for that trick you played last year!” The mummy boy joins in. “We don’t want anything to do with you bullies!”

“ ‘Bullies..’ ?” The skeleton kid snickers from behind.

The trick-or-treaters exchange a glance. Despite their masks concealing most of their faces, it is clear that there is mischief in their gaze. The other children loudly gulp and begin to back away as the taller figures step forward threateningly. It is at this point Sally realizes something is about to go badly. The three suddenly take the masks off of their faces, revealing almost identical expressions underneath.

“It seems like we have to remind you of who we exactly are ..!” The girl giggles menacingly.

The other figures nod in agreement before joining her side. This is when they completely advance on the Halloween Town children, cornering them until they have no more space to go. Then they arrange themselves in a line, with the devil coming first while the witch and skeleton follow from behind. They momentarily hold the masks over their faces before dramatically lowering them.

“Lock!” “Shock!” “Barrel!”

The last member licks the lollipop in his hand greedily, eying the bags they are currently concealing from them. He nudges his fellow trick-or-treaters. “Say, I think I know where they’re keeping their candy..!”

“Oh? Where is it, Barrel?” Shock plays along.

“Hey! I think I see them, too!” Lock comes forward and points a finger behind them, making the small kids quiver in fear. “You’re hiding it behind your backs! That’s the oldest trick in the book! Our book!”

“P...please…” The demon’s red eyes start to moisten with tears. “This is all we have..! Our parents would get mad if-”

“ Psh ! This is why we don’t have any parents! We work for the boogeyman, and he doesn’t have any of those lame rules..!” She snorts at them. Barrel nods in agreement.

“We take our job in pride...and the boss wants us to get him some extra candy! Which means you will have to give it to us. Don’t make us ask twice.”

Ethan sobs as they attempt to grab the bags from their hands. “ Stop !”

“Or what ?” Lock pushes him. His large figure falls onto the floor harshly. “Are you gonna tattle on us?”

The other two cohorts shake their heads in disappointment. “You’d be really stupid to try that.”

Before they attempt to push them down any further, a feminine yell interrupts them. The kids jump in alarm as a tall woman approaches them with a displeased look on her face.

“You stop picking on those kids right now !”

Lock, Shock, and Barrel freeze in their spots. The bags fall from their small hands as they turn around and find Sally Finklestein standing a few feet away from them. She has her hands clenched to her sides and her eyes firmly narrowed - completely upset at the scene she has just witnessed. In this silence, the mummy boy helps Ethan back to his feet and the hastily three collect their candy. Before the trick-or-treaters can do anything, they suddenly flee on the spot, running as far and quickly as they can. Shock lets out a frustrated groan at the sight before turning sharply to the older woman, pointing an accusing finger in her direction.

“Hey! What’s your problem, lady!?”

“Why are you treating those kids like that?” Sally implores with a frown. “You can’t bully them out of their candy! That is just...despicable!”

The three look at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. ‘Despicable ..?’ They guffaw right there on the floor, slamming their hands on their stomach amusingly. The ragdoll watches them with a confused look. Then she gets upset and steps even closer, wanting these mischievous children to understand how unacceptable their actions are. She points in the direction the others left in.

“I want you to go to them and apologize, right now!”

“Who do you think you are? Our mom?” The devil inquires sarcastically.

Shock laughs right with him while Barrel tilts his head at her tall figure. He suddenly tugs on his cohort’s sleeve and leans forward to whisper something. The surprised look on Lock’s face stops their laughter and he whispers another thing to Shock. The smile leaves her lips as she takes a small step forward.

“Wait..” She looks her up-and-down. “Do we know you ?”

“ Know me..?” Sally repeats quietly. She thinks if she has ever seen these kids before in her life. Then something starts to click...a past memory she has pushed aside for a long time. It is the same ordeal Jack apologized for when they first properly talked together - how she got kidnapped by that wretched Bug King, years ago...it is almost terrifying to remember.

She was newly-created at the time, by the hands of the town’s mad scientist, Dr. Finklestein. She was only alive for a few days before Halloween Town was completely overrun by horrible bugs. She got separated from her creator at the time, and was suddenly stuffed into a bag by the hands of three small children. She remembered the way they giggled when they stuffed her in the bathtub, speaking to her as if she were Jack Skellington. Her heart sinks remembering how she didn’t even know him, at the time. And the way she reacted when she first saw the Boogeyman...the sheer terror displayed on her face when he insisted on keeping her captive...

“That’s it!” Barrel exclaims. “She’s the one we kidnapped for Oogie! Susan!”

“Not ‘Susan’, you idiot!” Lock smacks him upside the head. “It was….erm...uh….”

“ Sally !” Shock slaps her forehead in realization. The other’s eyes widen before they look back at her, then make small ‘ah’ sounds. They look at each other again before laughing once more, slapping their knees this time. The ragdoll is even more insulted this time, but it is nothing compared to how she feels with their next words:

“Oh, man! Didn’t Jack have to come and save you? How helpless are you? And you think you can boss us around!?” The witch giggles. “I think the Doctor forgot to give you a brain!”

“Hey, what’s that over there?” Barrel abruptly points in a direction.

The others follow his finger and notice a newly-constructed building in this part of Halloween Town. They read the sign plastered outside proudly - “ Sally’s Sewing Shop ”. The pristine paint, the intact windows and doors...it certainly catches their attention. Both Lock and Shock stroke their chins the longer they look at it. Plenty of ideas stir in their mind, wondering just how they can vandalize it and make their work look proud. Sally frowns as she notices the expression on their faces. Panic settles in her leaves. She doesn’t feel right about any part of this situation at all.

“No!” She exclaims firmly. “Whatever you’re thinking of...don’t do it!”

“Is that YOUR sewing shop?” Shock teases. “I don’t remember THAT being there before..”

“How’d you get it?” Lock asks curiously. At her silence, he gives a knowing look at the other two. “Guys, don’t you remember those rumors in Town? That Jack got a girlfriend ?”

“Ew!” Barrel and Shock stick out their tongues in disgust. Then they realize his words and grin devilishly. “I mean, yes... we do !”

“I bet he got you that shop! And I bet how upset he’d be if something happened to it...because some doll wasn’t watching her mouth around Boogie’s Boys!”

Something snaps in her at those words. She doesn’t appreciate how cocky they sound, nor the coy smile that boy has when he says them. She steps forward and clenches her fists tightly. So tight she can feel the seams begin to weaken….her eyes widen as she comes even closer and the three take a step back. They notice her stiff posture and the smile is promptly wiped off their faces. In a dark tone, Sally Finklestein warns them:

“You will NOT be going anywhere NEAR my shop! And if you do, Jack will bring the WORST punishment on you three that you have ever SEEN! Do I make myself clear!?”

They don’t appreciate being talked to like this. But they think twice of it, and decide it’s not worth the trouble right now. They * can * get in serious hot water with Jack whenever he is angry - they’ve learned that lesson plenty in the past. And knowing this is his girlfriend...that would make things worse! They decide to drop it for now, only out of caution, and exchange a defeated nod with each other. They stick their tongues out at her before scurrying off in a random direction, glancing back only once to snicker wickedly. She is left standing there, fuming, as their small figures disappear through a gate. She releases her fists and lets out a sigh, worryingly glancing back at her shop and feeling the anxiety start to raise in her leaves.

‘I should talk with Jack…’

----

Sally is disappointed to learn that the skeleton has to cancel their arrangement that afternoon, as the Mayor is overworking him especially on this day. She shares some understanding, knowing he took the day off with her not too long ago just to spend some time together...he asks her if there’s anything urgent she needs to tell him - and she decides to bite her tongue, for now. She can spill everything about it to him tonight, when they can relax together after dinner, and all of his work is off his shoulders…

Finding she has a free afternoon, she decides to visit the Witches in their shop. They told her she is free to come by anytime, and that they’re interested in getting to know her. This certainly holds true, as the women inform her it’s their own lunch break, and insist on bringing her to a small arrangement with the other women in town. They demand on doing it to make up for the cruelty they all showed her in the past. She’s almost nervous accepting such an invitation, but agrees to it in the end. She would like to make new friends, after all…!

Sally Finklestein is led to a small table in the Residential part of town, shaded by an umbrella, where the Undersea Gal and Corpse Mom are currently sitting at, sipping small cups of tea and eating at plates with sandwiches on them. She is surprised at how welcome she is received, as there is no trouble making room for her the moment they spot her. She brings her own lunch to the table, a small bowl of worm and pea soup, before comfortably sitting beside the witches.

“Sally! We’ve been wanting to see you for some time now.” The Corpse Mom adjusts her glasses with a smile. “We just want to know all about what you’re up to..!”

“Your shop must be getting so many customers. I would visit you myself, if I had any need for clothes.” The fish butts in. “What I’ve heard from everyone else is terrible!”

“Oh, please..” She bats her eyes at their words. “It’s really nothing special. I am busy with all the clothes I’m making, but it’s only to help everyone in town.”

“You won that award on Halloween..! I would say it was rightfully deserved!” Helgamine exclaims, almost too passionately. It’s clear she’s making an effort, at least.

“You made my little boy some new clothes. He goes through them quicker than the vampires getting out of the sun.” The large woman sets down her sandwich. “We are all incredibly thankful for what you do.”

Her ruby lips curve into a smile. This is going all so well..! The five of them start having an incredibly deep conversation, speaking about how things are going in town. She appreciates getting to hear from some of the residents she doesn’t know. They don’t seem all that upset with her presence and even ask plenty of questions to her. She grows more comfortable the longer they speak, and a full hour passes before their lunches are finished, and they are now drinking through their cups and enjoying the afternoon.

“You are such a delight, Sally.” The Undersea Gal compliments her. “We should get together more often..!”

The witches bow their heads and look another way at this suggestion. They agree regardless, and the creation appreciates this gesture. Before further words can be exchanged, the loud sound of a door slamming shut interrupts them. The women snap their heads in the direction, to find an angry shopkeeper disposing of unwanted customers. Sally isn’t surprised when it’s the same trick-or-treaters from before.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel rub their backs in pain as they remove themselves from the floor. They throw their hands angrily up in the air. “Hey! How could you treat your own customers like this? We’re just kids!”

“Yeah - rotten little brats, is what you three are!” He rebuts angrily, returning to his shop. “Come back when you know how to follow the rules!”

The figures flinch as the door slams shut again, even louder this time. The three exchange angry frowns before nodding and reaching into their bag, surfacing rolls of toilet paper and straws. It’s clear to any outsider what is going to happen - they’re going to play a classic ‘trick’ on the unfortunate owner. Sally frowns as she witnesses this, and begins to stand in her chair to stop them. The other women notice and push her back down in her seat, giving her a firm shake of the heads.

“You don’t want to do that, dear.” The mother warns her. “Those three are more than you can handle.”

“I scared them off from my shop earlier.” She crosses her arms angrily. “They threatened to vandalize it, and I made it very clear Jack would punish them for it if they did.”

“You must’ve gotten lucky.” The Undersea Gal rolls her eyes. “They’ll never leave anyone alone before getting either candy, or playing a trick. They’re the worst trick-or-treaters in town, and I don’t mean that as a compliment..!”

The witches stand from their chair, shaking their heads and letting out disappointed ‘tsks’ . “Children..! They just never learn, do they, sister?” Zeldaborne asks. Helgamine agrees as the two leave the table.

Sally and the others watch curiously as they confront the kids. They were in the middle of throwing the paper all over the building and preparing some spit wads. They notice their visitors and resort to name-calling and screams, before the two women flick their wrists and begin to chant a spell. Without any warning, a purple glow is cast on the trick-or-treaters, freezing them mid-air and forcing them to drop everything in their hands. They struggle in their grip and yell harshly at them. Helgamine grins in satisfaction.

“Now, are you three going to scram before we have to turn you into toads again?” She asks. “And this time, we’ll make it last for more than 3 days!”

“No! Don’t do that to us!” Barrel struggles to move his arms. “Not again !”

“Then promise you’ll leave and quit bugging everyone! We don’t want you here, and we don’t know how many times we have to say it..!”

“Not until you learn how to behave!” Zeldaborne adds before turning to one of them. “And Shock, you know how disappointed we are in you..! You could be learning how to be a proper witch instead of all this nonsense!”

The little girl laughs bravely. “From who? You hags? I would never want to!”

They move their fingers and the glow grows only stronger. The kids groan as the grip is tightened. It doesn’t take long before they begin to plead. “Please, stop! We’ll go!” “Yeah! Far away!” “-Back to our treehouse!”

“Good. Off you go, then.”

They release the spell, and the three land on the ground harshly again. They throw sour looks in their direction before grabbing their stuff and running off. It’s clear they’re more afraid this time, as they don’t even bother looking back. The witches clean their hands off before returning to the other women at the table, sitting back down casually and acting as if nothing had happened at all. Sally is in awe at what happened, and smiles in delight at them.

“That really works..?”

“Oh, yes. We’ve had to throw so many spells on them just to stop their shenanigans.” Helgamine huffs. “It’s expensive to keep doing it, and it seems like every week we have to..! I wish they would stay in that treehouse of theirs.”

“Who exactly are they..?” She inquires. “They kidnapped me once, to give to their ‘boss’ . That was when that Bug King took over the town.”

“Right. That debacle.” The Undersea Gal frowns at the memory. “They are trick-or-treaters, obviously, but they’re more of miscreants. Always causing trouble and bringing bad things with them..! None of us want them here.”

“That’s right! They do all of these awful, nasty things for that terrible Oogie Boogie...they are never good news. Don’t believe them if they promise anything to you.” The Corpse Mom shivers in her seat. “They’ll just wreck your stuff and bully your boys just to get free candy!”

“We believe in the name of trick-or-treating, we truly do! But they take their ‘tricks’ to such levels…” Zeldaborne clenches her hands. “No matter how much candy you give them, they’ll keep coming back and demanding more each time!”

The Undersea Gal comes forward and lays a scaly hand on her shoulder. “Don’t ever let them into your shop, Sally, or even around it for Halloween’s sake! They will only cause trouble for you. Believe me. It’s happened to all of us.”

She frowns at all this information. She can believe it. Those words they said to her earlier...none of it was good news. “How come such children behave this way? How could they work for someone so awful? And what you said, Zeldaborne...that girl doesn’t even want to become a witch like you two. How could that be?”

“ -That Oogie Boogie !” They all exclaim, angrily, in unison. She looks around the table in confusion.

“He makes those little ones work for him, and it is just so cruel.” Corpse Mom frowns. “He constantly feeds them candy and junk food all day, and lets them do whatever they want! He’s the reason why they cause so much mischief.”

“They live in a treehouse in the Hinterlands forest. Far from town, but not far enough , in my opinion!” Zeldaborne waves her fist in the air angrily. The other creatures sigh and nod in agreement.

“Oogie Boogie is terrible news. You don’t want to meet him, which is why you should avoid those trick-or-treaters at all costs. It’s best you don’t catch their attention, otherwise the Boogeyman will know about you , too.” Helgamine warns Sally darkly.

She wishes to ask them more about this subject, but the ladies insist on changing topics - to something more... cheerful . She slumps in her seat as they begin to talk about business in town. She joins in the conversation when necessary, but her mind feels... troubled , and overwhelmed with all this information. She can’t get the image of those children out of her mind, and finds that somehow, somewhere , deep down...she feels a little sad for them.

----

The rest of the day is spent cautiously in her shop. She finds herself hanging around near her front door more often, constantly peering around the streets in search of those miscreants again. She’s relieved to find no sight of them, and is quick to close her sewing shop once the time comes. She makes sure she locks the door and closes the curtains before leaving for the Skellington Manor. Ophelia blinks worriedly at her owner from the basket held in the crook of her arm. The ragdoll seems so tense, that even an animal like her can sense it..!

She makes her way through the doors and relaxes once she’s inside. She lets Ophelia onto the floor and discards her wicker basket on the table. The cat happily meets with the ghostly dog and the two retreat to the other end of the room. She watches them run off before suddenly being met with two long arms wrapping around her figure. She smiles as she feels Jack Skellington hugging her, digging his skull into her shoulder. His pumpkin cologne eases her instantly.

“Welcome home, Sal..!” He greets her proudly in her ear. She hugs him back tightly.

“Glad to be home, Jack…”

He withdraws after a moment, allowing her to get comfortable. It is still a little early before dinner has to be made, so the skeleton joins her side and rests on the cushions of the couch. The animals are playing on the carpet in front of them, giving quite an amusing sight to the Manor’s residents. He chuckles when Ophelia manages to paw at Zero’s pumpkin nose, which lights up in alarm at the contact. Sally catches this scene and giggles as well.

“Aren’t they adorable together?”

“They certainly are.” He agrees with a knowing tone. Zero catches their words and quietly growls, only to be cut off when the black cat paws at him again.

“He won’t admit it, but I know Zero’s gotten very fond of her.” The tall man informs his girlfriend. “He enjoys the company so much, he waits right by the door for you to return from your shop with Ophelia!”

“Does he, now?” The ragdoll teases and the dog turns away. “I’m so glad he loves the new addition to our little family..!”

The apparition decides he’s had enough of their teasing and flies entirely into another room. The cat is confused at this gesture and runs straight after him. The two figures laugh from the couch as they watch them disappear through a doorway. They’re left alone now, and the silence starts to linger. She goes to cuddle with Jack and sighs in relief once she’s in his grip. She still has to tell him about her day...but she’d rather do that after they’ve eaten….

“Would you like me to cook dinner tonight?” She offers. He thinks about the idea, stroking his finger along hers.

“Why don’t we make something together ..? We’ve haven’t done that yet..!”

“Cooking together?” She blinks in interest. “I’ve never done such a thing...sharing the kitchen was never an option because, well, the Doctor had trouble with cooking!”

“Not a problem for me.” He picks her up in one smooth movement from the couch. She lets out a surprised noise before hugging his frame tightly. “Why, we should get started right now..!”

He moves his skull down to brush his nasal bone against her nose. She enjoys the touch while he brings them into the kitchen within only a few steps. He lets her down and starts searching through a cookbook. She joins his side and, after a few minutes, the two agree on a special meal to make together. It’s a new experience entirely to be cooking by the Pumpkin King - she’s always thought sharing a kitchen would feel cramped and bothersome, but it is entirely the opposite! Rarely would they bump elbows or get in the other’s way; it is delightful to help pour the ingredients in bowls and have him reach anything she can’t.

They spend a wonderful time cooking a casserole together, and by the time it’s finished, they’re both eager to try it. They waste no time helping themselves to their servings, sitting in the dining room to share this meal they made together. She feels almost excited as she squirms in her seat, eagerly stabbing her fork through the food and bringing it to her lips, savoring the taste…It doesn’t take very long until she comes to a judgement.

“It’s...delicious!” She exclaims. He takes his own bite and soon agrees.

“Absolutely wonderful! See? We make such good things together..! Remember the Halloween costumes?”

“That we do...it was delightful, Jack. I hope we do this again.”

“Then we will.” He replies smoothly before taking another bite.

She relaxes completely in her seat as they resume their meal, finishing it shortly with its tempting flavors. They return to the living room to cuddle once more, allowing their supper to be digested. The pets have long moved on in the house, but they don’t mind being alone at that moment. He especially misses her contact after not making it to their lunch together that day...he feels guilty having to be away, and frowns as he combs his hand through her yarn hair. He’s obligated to ask.

“How did your day go, my love? It didn’t trouble you that I couldn’t make it to our arrangement, did it? The soup you made was very good...”

“Oh, it was fine. I know you have plenty of work with the Mayor.” She nestles his side sweetly. “I went into town and had lunch with the Witches and a few other women from town.”

“Did that go well?”

“Yes. They’ve been wanting to make it up to me for what they said in the past. And we had a lovely time together. We talked so much about my shop and what’s been going on in the town…except, well…”

He notices her hesitation and leans forward. “Except…?” He inquires, crooking an eye socket.

“I had an unexpected encounter today, with...well, some children.” She awkwardly begins explaining. “I met the trick-or-treaters today. I found them picking on the Corpse Kid, the Mummy boy, and the winged demon...I just had to put a stop to it, so I interrupted them. It didn’t go quite as I planned…”

“You met with Lock, Shock, and Barrel?” The skeleton asks in surprise. She waits before nodding. “Did they give you any trouble?”

“Well, yes * and * no. They noticed my shop and threatened to do something to it, before I told them you would punish them if they did. And then they ran off. But when I had lunch with those ladies, we noticed them picking on some of the shopkeepers in town. The Witches stepped in and put an end to it, but-”

“-They’re a lot of trouble, Sally.” He interrupts her, waving a skeletal finger. “You need to be wary of them.”

“That’s exactly what they said.” She sighs. “But, Jack, who exactly are they? They told me they were miscreants and trick-or-treaters, but that’s all I really know…”

He hums before removing his arms and sitting upright. She can tell this is a serious subject and allows him to collect his thoughts. After a moment, he replies, “-They’re Halloween Town’s finest trick-or-treaters. And by that, really, they’re just good at what they do. Which is to get candy and pull tricks. But they cause much more trouble than they’re worth, and often try to give me and the Mayor a hard time…”

She leans forward and listens intently, wanting to know more about these children. “Where did they come from? I heard they don’t have any parents.”

“No. They don’t.” He frowns. “They came into town a long time ago, recently deceased at the time, I believe...they caused a lot of trouble back then, not particularly interested in meeting us, but demanding candy from everyone and pulling lots of pranks and tricks on them. It was overwhelming for me and the Mayor, and we tried our best to put a stop to it but...we weren’t very successful, you see…”

She blinks at his story.

“We were desperate and out of options trying to get these kids to behave. I could only scare them so much to put them in line. Not to mention, we had Halloween to worry about, and couldn't babysit them all the time. We eventually brought them to someone whom we thought could correct their behavior...but it hasn’t worked since.”

“Did you bring them to the boogeyman?”

He flinches at the word and visibly tenses. She is about to ask why until he grits his teeth and continues. “-- Yes . We brought them to Oogie Boogie thinking he could correct their behavior...but he took advantage of it instead, and made them his henchmen. They carry all his wrongdoings now since he can’t leave his casino.”

“And why can’t he?”

“I banished him. The same day he kidnapped you, and I met you for the first time.” He finds it within himself to smile softly, reaching for her hand and holding it firmly. “He had to be punished for what he did with the town, and trying to overthrow me. It’s the only way he can get what he wants - by making those children do all his dirty work for him.”

“Don’t you feel bad for them..? That they are under his control, and they had so much potential to be innocent little children…”

“It’s a difficult situation.” He sighs exasperatedly. “I’ve given them plenty of opportunities to better themselves and get * away * from Oogie Boogie, but they never seem to want to do it. They insist on telling him everything and involving him in everything I’ve asked them to do. He inevitably has some influence on them, one way or another.”

He notices her picking her seams nervously(a habit he might scold her for, it worries him immensely that she'll pull herself apart), and brings her gaze back to his. He tells her firmly. “Sally, everything those witches and women told you is true. They are trouble and do not come with good intentions. Please, avoid them all you can, and let me know immediately if they start bothering you and your shop.”

“I will. I don’t trust them.” She replies firmly, then softens her gaze. “But I still feel so bad for those children…”

“As do I. But, please, it is not your situation to fix. Don’t worry about them. Eventually, I’m sure they’ll overgrow everything and want to move on ....” He begins to mutter with his sentence, and snaps himself out of it. “Just don’t talk to them or let them inside your shop. Understand?”

She nods again. He drops the subject from there and announces that it’s time to get ready for bed. She obliges and follows him into their room together, changing into their pajamas for the night and freshening up before heading into bed. They sleep together closely, with Jack holding her unusually tight, more so than normal. The entire evening, she thinks of those children and the boogeyman…and her first encounter with all of them….

#The Nightmare Before Christmas #Nightmare Before Christmas #Jack Skellington #Jack and Sally #Jack X Sally #Lock Shock and Barrel #Oogie Boogie #TNBC #Tim Burton #Disney #Our Nightmare #fanfiction #long post #long

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my-one-true-l · 4 years

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Hey luv!!🖤 Can I order a microfic for wammy's boys by taking their child trick-or-treating on Halloween with his parents? Hope you have a good time this Halloween! 👻

Hello My Darling Anon! I put a rush order on this one to get it ready in time for Halloween! I hope you have a good one as well!!!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Come on Daddy! Let’s go!” The tiny child dressed all in black with the oversized cat ears and velvet tail dragging on the ground behind them tugged on L’s sleeve, trying with all their might to yank him towards the door. “If we wait much longer, there won’t be any candy left for me!”

L pressed his thumb to his lip, a smile growing beneath it as he looked at them lovingly. “I’m sure there will be no shortage of treats. It isn’t even dark yet.”

“Granddaaaad!” They whined at Watari, their huge greyish-blue eyes pleading up at him. “You’ll take me, won’t you?”

“Patience, child.” Watari’s grin widened under his moustache. “Your mother and father will take you in just a moment.”

“What about you Granddad? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Someone has to stay here and hand out candy to the children that come here. We wouldn’t want them to be disappointed by trick-or-treating at an empty house.” He handed them a pumpkin-shaped pail before straightening the pointy cat ears.

“Just don’t give it all away, ok?”

“Little One, you will have plenty of candy of your own when we return home. There’s no need to be greedy.” L gently took their hand in his.

“They remind me of someone else when he was their age.” Watari patted L on the shoulder kindly.

“So you’re blaming genetics?” L smirked at him.

“I’m sorry I’m late!” Little One’s mother hurried into the foyer, also donning cat ears on top of her head. She squatted to be eye-level with her kitten and whispered, “Everything is ready for Daddy’s birthday party.”

“Even the cake?” Little One’s excitement rang out a little too loudly.

“Mhmm. Even the cake.” She stood up and took their hand, pumpkin pail dangling between them. She gave L a little wink, who had no doubt heard what they were planning. “Ready to go?”

“YES! I’ve been ready since this morning!” Little One pulled them both towards the door.

“Sounds like someone else I know.” She smiled playfully at L.

L sighed as they stepped into the cold night, together as a family. “Apparently I’ve made quite the reputation for myself.”

“That’s ok Daddy.” Little One squeezed his hand a little tighter. “I’ll share my treats with you.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“That’s it. Let’s have them.” Mello frowned down at the tiny biker that stood before him, leather pants and a tattoo of a dragon drawn in marker on his arm made them look even more like thier father.

“I wasn’t going to use them. I just wanted them, you know. In case.”

“Mells, are you shaking our kid down for their chocolate?”

“No, but I might have to do that later.” Mello’s scowl softened when he spoke to her. “Look what our little darling decided to bring trick-or-treating?” In Mello’s hand was a half-used can of shaving cream.

“Did you really think it’s ok to vandalize someone’s house?” Their mother asked sternly.

“Only if they don’t hand over the good candy.”

“That is not ok. Your mother and I taught you better than that.” Mello turned to his Love. “There’re some eggs in their pillow case, too.”

“I thought I bought more than what is in the refrigerator!” She held her hand out to them. “Give them over.”

“You don’t want that. They broke when they set down their treat bag.”

“And it ruined all my goodies.” They yelled angrily at their parents.

She sighed and looked to her husband. “We really raised a mini-Mello. What are we going to do?”

“I think you should-“

“Your mother wasn’t talking to you.”

She closed her eyes for a second to clear her head. “This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to go get you a clean pillowcase and we’re going to try this again. We’ll go door-to-door as a family. You’re too young to be going trick-or-treating alone anyway.”

“And tomorrow starts your grounding. Two weeks. No T.V, nno video games.” Mello doled out the punishment. “And I get half your chocolate.”

“HALF?!” They growled at their father before his eyes grew wide. Mello didn’t need to say anything. His kid knew he meant business. “That seems fair.”

“Now that’s settled. Let’s go. And I don’t want to catch you pulling something like this ever again, you got that?”

“I sure do. Sorry Dad.”

“You know that’s a bunch of crap, right? They’re just like you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Mello lowered his voice to keep the words between him and his wife, a smile making his scar even more beautiful. “Is it bad I’m a little proud of them?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“It’s alright sweetheart. Go knock on the door.”

The little vampire hugged their mother’s leg, peeking around the woman with wide eyes as they stared at the stranger’s door.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. Pumpkins are not frightening and the spiders and bats are merely decorations, made of plastic in some factory.” Near reassured his child the only way he knew how.

“But I’m scared.”

“That’s ok. Halloween can be scary, but if you’re really brave and go to the door, you can get candy.” She stroked her child’s hair, still clinging to her leg.

“What are you dressed up as?” Near asked his child, twisting his hair around his finger.

“I’m a vampire.” Their voice shook the response.

“Are you an actual vampire or is it pretend?”

“It’s pretend.”

“As are these decorations.” Near held his hand out to his child. “Now let’s not be frightened of something that is pretend. I will go with you if it will give you courage.”

The little vampire with the flaxen hair nodded at their father, taking his hand and stalking toward the door, cape pulled up over their nose. Near’s Love couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. They looked like Dracula from all the old movies.

Together, Near and his child walked up the porch steps, between the cotton cobwebs and glowing pumpkins, the baby vampire building courage with every step before ringing the doorbell.

The door opened and a kindly older woman smiled at them.

“Trick-or-treat.” The tiny vampire could barely speak the words.

“Oh, aren’t you adorable! Such a cute little vampire.” She plopped a handful of chocolates and lolllies into their pail before turning to Near. “And what are you supposed to be? A ghost?”

Near frowned at the woman. “I’m a detective. Thank you for the treats.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*

“Alright, on our Trick-or-Treat bingo, we have skeletons, pumpkins, spider webs and bats all checked off.” Matt held the card in his hand, crossing out the words in purple marker as he read them aloud. “We need those eyes that are peeking in the bushes still…”

“And something inflatable. Oh and we need a house that is playing scary music.” The small Yoshi excitedly chimed up at their father. “Oh, this house has purple lights! Cross it off dad while I go to the door!”

“Haha, alright. Go get them. Make sure to say thank you!” Matt called after them before turning to his Love. “You did a damn good job on that costume.”

“Anything for my two favorite gamers.” She smiled proudly at him, never telling him it took her the last 6 months to perfect it.

“Mom! Dad! I got M&Ms and a Reese’s peanut butter cup! Your turn mom, cross it off.” Their face beamed from where Yoshi’s mouth should be. “Did I get Bingo yet?”

“You are one Milky Way away from getting candy Bingo.”

“And you need Orange Lights and you will have it on the decorations one.”

“Alright! I’m on it!” They ran to the next house, green and white tail waddling behind them as they hopped up the steps and knocked on the door.

“So what are we going to do when they win?”

“10pm pizza and scary movies until they fall asleep on the couch?” Matt grinned, proud of the prize at the end of the game he created. “I think they will love that.”

She smiled softly at him. “I think all three of us will love that.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Hey Dad! Check me out!”

Beyond’s child bound towards him, rubber butcher’s knife sticking out of their head, red corn syrup running down their face with eyes ringed in black, which Beyond was not fond of. It reminded him too much of someone he had tried hard to forget.

“Wouldn’t you rather go as the murderer than the victim?” Beyond hated even the slightest hint of his offspring being weak, even if it was only a Halloween costume.

“I’m not a victim. I’m a scary undead dude.” The excitement fell from their face. “You’re no fun sometimes. You don’t know how much work it was to look like someone you’re not.”

B knew all too well how much effort that required.

“On second thought, I think you look quite scary.” Beyond’s compliment brought the smile back to their face. “I think you’re going to get a lot of candy this year.”

“I think so, too!” The sweet voice of the child’s mother announced her entrance into the room, standing at B’s side & whispering in his ear, “I hope you don’t mind I let him use that old stage makeup you have hidden in your drawer.”

Beyond fought back a frown. “Of course not. Why would I have a use for that? I don’t even remember why I have that.”

“Mom? Dad? Can we get going please? I don’t want all the blood to dry up before I can collect my candy.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Beyond mustered a smile, letting a bit of the corn syrup drip on his finger, sucking the sweetness from his nails. “It’s terrible once the blood dries on.”

#L Lawliet #Mihael Keehl #Nate River #Mail Jeevas #Beyond Birthday #Death Note #Ask #Request #Answered #Anonymous

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hoodoo12 · 3 years

Text

Costume

This month’s prompt on our discord server? “Costume”, for Hallowe’en, of course! SFW, Beetlejuice/gender neutral reader.

@beetlewise-and-pennyjuice @thewolfisapartofmysoul @janitor-boy @turtlepated @angelicspaceprince

Enjoy! `

You’d never have expected being invited to a Halloween costume party would be such a problem.

A problem shaped like a pestering, jealous ghost-demon named Beetlejuice. “I wanna go! Why can’t I go! You’re leaving me for a whole evening to have fun and I have to sit here and twiddle my thumbs?! You’re going to leave me in the dark in an empty house and I never get to do anything!” His whining was amazing, and not in the good way. “You could take me! We can do a couple’s costume! Like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, or you can be a brick, and I can go as a brick layer!”

You couldn’t help but snort in laughter at his suggestions, as raunchy as the second one had been. “Or, or--you know those horse costumes? We could do that! I could be the back half, because I like holding onto your butt--” “And also because you’re an ass?”

The specter grinned broadly at your jab, thinking that if you were joining in on the idea, his battle was mostly won. “Beej, sweetheart,” you said, patting his cheek, “the answer is no. No one’ll be able to see you, so a couple’s costume just isn’t going to work. I’m sorry.” His expressive face fell. You were pretty sure that if he could control not just the color of his hair but how much it stuck up, it would have drooped in a dramatic, cartoonish way as well.

“Fine,” he muttered sadly. “I mean, people could see me if you just, I don’t know, said my name a few times or whatever, but it’s okay, I’ll just stay here with the dust and spiders and wait in the dark for you to come back . . .” He turned to go, shoulders sloping dejectedly, and shook off your hand when you tried to take his wrist to attempt to make him feel better.

⁂

You actually had no idea what to dress as. Everything was too cutesy or overdone or trite. When watching those Bly Manor and Truth Seekers shows on streaming, however, something clicked into place. You could go as a plague doctor! And not only that, since Beetlejuice bragged about living through the Black Plague, he’d have firsthand knowledge of it and them and could assist making it authentic!

Excitedly, you told him your idea. Although he was still a bit crestfallen, he of course preened a little when you asked for his help and promised to give you all the details he could to make it the best plague doctor around. He went so far as to bring you an authentic beaked mask from . . . somewhere, which he proudly tried to thrust into your hands. Gingerly you accepted it, but tried to keep only the very tips of your fingers in contact with the leather. The clear glass for its eyes made it look more than slightly creepy.

“I’m not going to . . . catch anything from this, right? You didn’t get it out of a festering plague pit . . . ?” “Nah,” he replied dismissively. “I mean, yeah, it’s from a grave, but it’s super old so anything infectious should be gone, I’m pretty sure.”

One thing he’d never claimed to be was a doctor or infectious disease expert, so although you accepted his suspect contribution, you cleaned it inside and out with bleach. And tossed it in the microwave to nuke any possibly remaining microbes, for good measure.

You procured a black coat and hat on your own. Beetlejuice also dug up a black cane--telling you that the doctors used them to poke at people so they could examine them without getting too close--with a silver wolf’s head as a handle. You joked that that was a prop for the Wolfman but accepted it anyway. He also gleefully shoved so many aromatics into the beak it made your eyes water when you finally tried it on. “Thanks, Beej,” you praised as you tried to breathe through your mouth. “Wow. There’s a lot in here, huh? What is that, pine needles?” “Juniper, cloves, and camphor! Some mint too.”

“Uh-huh,” you croaked. You were going to have to grab some tissues to wipe your running nose and watery eyes during this party. “Okay, I’ll see you later.” “Have a good time!” he called after you, and you were glad he’d gotten over his disappointment.

⁂

You knew the people who’d invited you to the party tended to go all out for Halloween, and this year was no exception. It wasn’t Martha Stewart, but it wasn’t professional haunted attraction either. They’d filled their house with lots of skeletons and spiders, pictures that changed based on which angle you looked at them, a soundtrack that low enough to not impede conversations but was filled with creaks, moans, and shrieks, and a buffet spread filled with treats made to look gory.

Everyone was in costume, of course, from those same generic ones available at Halloween stores to homemade cosplay of movie slashers. A hush rippled out like a stone thrown into water when you walked through the front door, even as you called hello to your friends. The party-goers turned to gawk at you.

Gradually people returned to their conversations, and some people returned greetings. You grinned behind your mask; it was good to make an unexpected first impression.

Wandering through the party, you slowly became aware that few people sought you out, and when you tried to engage with others, they were polite but seemed anxious to get away. More than once you caught people glancing over their shoulders at you as they left you. It also became apparent that people gave you a berth as you walked through the house, even at the table spread with food and drink. At first it was kind of cool, like you were this mysterious being, but then it devolved into being a little weird. It had to be because of the aromatics Beetlejuice had stuffed to the brim inside the beak. “I’m sorry about the smell,” you apologized to anyone who would listen. “I just went a little overboard on it being authentic.”

You followed that apology with a little self-depreciating chuckle.

It didn’t make people seem more comfortable around you.

Unable to mingle, feeling like a bit of an outcast--maybe like a real plague doctor--you didn’t stay at the party long. Walking home along streetlight lit sidewalks, you had the same effect on anyone else out: veering to give you room, furtive glances back at you once they were passed.

There was no way you stunk that bad.

Sighing, you slowed down a little. Although there was a chill in the air, you were getting this hat and mask off your face. Maybe you could dump the herbs and whatnot in a garbage can, and reduce the stench. Your nose could use some fresh air anyway.

You happened to stop in front of a closed store’s window. As you grabbed your hat to yank it off your head, you glanced at your reflection and yelped in surprise.

It was you in a plague doctor’s costume, but nightmarishly extreme. Your coat--just a cheap plain coat you found at a thrift store, was smeared along the sleeves and hem with something that looked tacky and black, like old blood. Like your coat had been dragging along the floor of a slaughterhouse, and like you’d been wrist deep in something gory. The rest of the fabric looked moldy and stained and threadbare on the elbows. As if that wasn’t bad enough, your mask--

It was authentic, obviously, but the leather seemed to have molded smoothly to your face. The glass in the eyeholes didn’t show your eyes at all; instead, pinpricks of light, the reflection of an animal’s eyes, shone out.

Everything that looked back at you in the glass looked evil, depraved, and unsettling. The effect was overtly chilling, even as you knew you were looking at yourself.

You ran the rest of the way to your place. “Beetlejuice!” you shouted, throwing open the door so had it bounced back at you from the wall it hit. He sauntered in from the kitchen. “Heya babes! How’d the party go? I was just here, making rice krispie treats--the kitchen’s a bit of a war zone right now--is marshmallow difficult to get off the ceiling?”

“What did you do?!”

“I told you--I was making rice krispie treats--” “I mean what did you do to my costume!”

The specter stopped, and grinned. “Did you like it? Did everyone like it? I think the pièce de résistance was that faint whiff of rot. You really have to concentrate to smell it, but once you do, you can’t unsmell it--”

You gaped at that disgusting revelation and resisted the urge to grab him by the sharp labels of his striped coat and shake him; he’d see that as playtime. Through gritted teeth, you repeated, “What did you do to my costume?!”

“I made it authentic. Just like you asked,” he shrugged innocently.

Squeezing your eyes closed, you counted to ten, actually making it only to four. Your jaw hurt from clenching it so hard, but you didn’t loosen it much to say sarcastically, “And the way my eyes look? Is that authentic? Did plague doctors have creepy shiny eyes?”

He laughed. “Oh. That. Yeah, that was some artistic license. Just to give it some flair.”

A worn coat splattered with unnameable gore, the stench of random herbs plus decay, a mask that was already unsettling and silver eyes for some “flair” . . . this time you did make it to a count of ten, and released the tension in your jaw this time. He was only trying to help. He had provided the expertise you asked for, and he just took it too far because he was nothing if not over the top.

“We should’ve just done the horse costume,” Beetlejuice advised. “Want a rice krispie?”

You glared at him, but couldn’t stay too mad too long. Shrugging out of the coat, you said, “Yes. Take this costume out and bury it or burn it or something. You tricked, and I’ll have a treat.”

“That’s my babe,” he grinned, and took the disgusting outfit off your hands.

fin!

#writing #fanfiction #beetlejuice #Halloween

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scourgewins · 4 years

Text

Halloween Invasion (Part 2)

(Warnings for entire work: fighting, lots of action, panic and fear, someone gets knocked unconscious, people get captured, killing mention (it’s meant to be comedic so all of this is pretty mild))

(Part 1)

“Play it again...but differently.”

Sammy narrowed his eyes. Joey gestured for him to go on and the musician huffed but obliged. Joey closed his eyes in order to focus more on the music.

“It’s a bit morbid, isn’t it?” He said at last, opening his eyes in time to see Sammy heave a long suffering sigh. The musician drummed his fingers over the skeleton mask he’d set aside on the bench. Something told Joey he wanted nothing more than to slip it back on and block him out entirely.

“First you said it was too cheery, then it was too relaxed, now it’s too morbid!” Sammy ceased drumming so he could face Joey fully.

Joey fastidiously adjusted his devil horns and placed his hands on his hips, “I know exactly how this next cartoon should sound and it is definitely not like that.”

“Well, if you’re so certain, why don’t you write the music.”

“I’m not a musician!”

“That’s right!” The faux surprise in Sammy’s voice made Joey grit his teeth, “You’re not a musician. But I am, so let me do my job in peace!”

“Excuse me,” Joey sniffed, “You’re my employee. If I say it should be done a certain way, you do it!”

“I don’t even know which way you want!”

“I told you! Not too cheery, not too relaxed, not too morbid!”

“What does that mean?!”

Joey gave a slight chuckle and gestured vaguely, “You know!”

Sammy raised an eyebrow. Joey licked his lips nervously.

“You know...make it…” He sought an adequate term, “...Creamy!”

Sammy was silent for a long while. Just when Joey was about to repeat himself, Sammy did it for him, “...Creamy?”

Joey nodded emphatically, “Yeah, smooth and creamy. Like butter!”

Joey hadn’t dressed up as a ghost for Halloween, but he got the distinct impression Sammy was about to give him a permanent costume. Fortunately, Susie interrupted them.

“Both of you knock it off! It’s Halloween!” She gestured to all the streamers and decorations hanging about, “We’re supposed to be having fun!”

“Susie’s right!” Alice looked up from the microphone she’d been helping Susie repair (a result of a broom accident involving Wally and a spider), “You can talk about this tomorrow.”

The cartoon angel smiled up at her voice actress. The two looked as if they’d traded outfits, with Susie in a black dress with a halo and Alice in a blue dress with a necklace. Joey wanted to say he found their costume idea ridiculous, but he’d tried to do the same thing. Bendy hadn’t caught on to the hints though, so in the end Joey had just gone as a stereotypical demon and tried not to glare too much at Susie and Alice.

Sammy jabbed a thumb at Joey, “Did you hear him?”

Susie nodded calmly, “Yes, I did.”

“Creamy?!”

“I mean...it kind of makes sense.”

“How the-”

Alice screamed. Joey jerked to face her and in doing so caught sight of what had elicited the scream.

“...Huh.”

Susie grabbed Alice by the shoulders and dragged her away from the mass of living ink sliding toward them. Sammy swiveled in his seat to see what the commotion was and nearly fell out of it.

“What the heck are those?!”

Joey lifted a finger, hesitated, then tapped it against his lips.

“Joey?!”

Joey looked up at Susie’s voice, “Huh? Oh, uh, those are...ink monsters.”

Susie and Sammy drew a simultaneous breath of air and Joey hastened to continue before they could start yelling again.

“I didn’t summon them! I mean, I do have a summoning circle in my office, but it’s useless unless someone does the ritual,” He considered the living ink things before him, shaking his head, “I don’t know how the ink could have come to life!”

“I don’t care how it happened, just get rid of them!” Sammy stumbled away as the humanoid blobs of ink drew nearer. One of them slid unceremoniously across a bow that had fallen to the floor and the musician cried out in protest.

Joey nodded, “Right, I’ll do that!” He made to leave but found a wall of shifting ink stood in his way. He turned back around, “Uh...there might be a slight delay.”

“How do we get through?” Alice’s anxious pie eyes turned to Susie. Faced with Alice’s uncertainty, Susie drew a deep breath, determination shining in her blue eyes.

“We’ll have to fight our way through.”

So saying, she searched about her and seized the nearest object she could use as a weapon, which happened to be a trumpet.

“Uh, no!” Sammy rushed toward her, “We are not using the instruments!”

“Do you see anything else we can use to defend ourselves?” Susie waved a hand at the remaining section of the music department that wasn’t swarming with ink monsters. It consisted of only the microphone and piano bench, one object too light, the other too heavy. She spotted a violin resting beside the piano and gave it to Alice before Sammy could stop her.

Joey tried to go for a chair but one of the ink blobs lunged at him and he barely managed to escape its grasping hands. He then decided the best course of action was to stay behind Susie.

“Alright,” he smacked his fist into his palm, “We’ve just got to fight our way through these guys, make it to the stairs, get up the stairs, down the hallway and to my office so I can get my ritual book and see if I can stop this. Easy as pie.”

Susie turned a baleful look on him and he gave her a nervous grin.

“Good luck,” said a detached voice from above. They all looked up to see Norman watching them from his perch in the projection booth.

“Have you been watching us this whole time?” Sammy called.

Norman shrugged and rested his chin in his hand, “Course I was. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Susie brought them all back to the matter at hand, “Here they come!”

The first ink thing to reach them caught a trumpet full to the face. It’s form wobbled on contact but reformed far too quickly for Joey’s liking. Alice struck out with her violin. For a moment, Joey thought the whimper of pain he heard came from the ink creature, but it was just Sammy.

“Sammy, get behind us!” Susie whacked a few more blobs aside and grabbed the music director by the sleeve. With the horde finally upon them, Sammy at last had the sense to shut up and let Susie protect him, though he continued to wince with each blow they delivered using his precious instruments.

Joey kept right behind Susie. As soon as she cleared a path, he determined he would bolt out of the music department and hope he made it up the stairs before anything came for him. With any luck, this problem was only contained to the music room and the rest of the studio was fine. Hearing a sudden scream from outside, though, Joey discarded this hope.

Alice tried to see over the sea of monsters, “Was that Jack?”

Susie jabbed the trumpet into the face of one of the creatures and withdrew it with a squelch, “Can’t help him right now!”

“Missed one!” Norman shouted.

Joey glanced up just as one of the ink things seized his wrist. The grip was surprisingly strong and the studio boss felt himself being dragged roughly forward. Unbalanced, he fell to the floor. Inky hands wedged themselves beneath him and lifted him up into the air.

“Uh, a little help!” He twisted around to get a glimpse of his protectors. Alice gasped as she caught sight of her creator being carted away and lunged for him. She just barely managed to grab hold of his hand and yanked back with all her strength. Joey tried to help by kicking out at his captors.

Norman shouted unhelpful commentary from the safety of his booth, “Don’t let go! Oh, almost had you there! The goal is to not get taken! Wow, you are bad at this!”

Joey decided that if they all survived, he would kill Norman.

Susie leaped in to help. With a trumpet, violin, and assorted limbs beating on them, the ink creatures began to withdraw, and Alice at last managed to pull Joey free. He stumbled right into Sammy, who had finally found a weapon he was willing to use: a music stand. It wasn’t nearly as effective as the instruments, but Joey knew this was about as helpful as he was going to get.

“Joey,” Susie said between breaths, “Get ready to run!”

He nodded, “Okay, just say the w-”

“Run!”

Joey nearly face planted into Susie in his haste to obey. Stumbling around her, he sprinted down the small swath Susie and Alice had created in the ink things’ ranks. It was fast closing and Joey had to leap the last bit of distance and frantically crawl back to his feet before they could nab him again.

“Go!” Susie called when he glanced back, “We’ve got this!”

“We do?” Sammy asked incredulously.

“You really don’t,” Norman said.

Joey didn’t hear any more. He bolted from the music room and into the continuing chaos that lay beyond.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Joey Drew #Sammy Lawrence #Susie Campbell #Alice Angel #Norman Polk #Writing Entity

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indestinatus · 4 years

Text

Scary Skeleton

TIVATOBER 2020 // DAY 10

↳ prompt: Skulls and Bones - rated T (1,332 words)

summary: Ziva isn’t exactly fond of crime scenes, but she didn’t particularly care. This time felt different.

A/N: Obligatory spooky fic in this halloween collection. Beware: spookiness.

read it on AO3 ☠️

Ziva glanced one more time over her shoulder, the feeling of being watched overpowering her thoughts. Again, there was no one other than the old grandfather clock in the middle of the empty living room, the constant sound of its ticking making her shiver against her own will.

She didn’t like it. Well, she wasn’t exactly fond of crime scenes, but she didn’t particularly care.

This time felt different.

Ziva surveyed the living room again, going through the mold growing on the old yellowish walls to the rotten cabinet doors stocking dusty bottles of whiskey; eyes detecting a running rat coming from underneath a gray couch to hide inside a hole just beside the grandfather clock.

With years training in Mossad and another hundred of suspects chases, she was used to having to adapt seeing things in the dark, but the grim atmosphere of that house was something else—the only visible light came from a dull lamp hung in the middle of the vacant room, the way it swung making it almost impossible to take the crime scene pictures in good quality.

Ziva glanced at the one window at the opposite wall, moonlight coming through the closed glass panels to only faintly illuminate a spot just ahead, too far away to help with anything. They had grabbed their flashlights on the van only to find out McGee had stolen their batteries for one of his computers, and the fact that not even candles were available at that horrific place made matters even worse.

Wait.

Ziva halted, looking at the window again.

It was closed, like she thought it would be. No wind came from anywhere, not even from its cracks, and the air was deadly silent.

Then why did the light swing?

“Do you believe in ghosts, David?” Tony’s voice made her jump, her hair standing on end at her neck.

Thankfully, he seemed to not have noticed, or else the teasing would’ve been unbearable. Maybe the darkness had saved her this time.

Though she could feel his presence just beside her, she couldn’t really see him - just shapes badly lit by the dull light - and it must’ve been the same the other way around.

“I do not not believe in ghosts,” Ziva replied, still feeling a bit too much alert for her liking. “Why?”

She glanced at the clock again.

A shiver ran down her spine.

When did it stop ticking?

“I wonder if you’d be a spooky one,” Tony chuckled. “Probably, dragging chains across the stairs and opening cabinet doors.”

He must’ve been completely unaware of the strange atmosphere, but Ziva wasn’t surprised. As soon as that man started listening to his own voice, everything else seemed to lose its appeal.

“I think I would be too busy being dead,” Ziva deadpanned, hoping her dry tone would make him shut up. The quicker they did their job, the sooner they could leave that place, and the faster she could go home. Where it was safe from any paranormal activity… not that she really believed in that kind of stuff, but—

A distant sound of something crashing made her turn around in a second.

Did it come from the clock? No, maybe next to it? She couldn’t really see, perhaps it had been the rat?

How can a rat create such a loud sound, though?

“I would make a formidable ghost,” said Tony, still talking to her.

“You do make an awful lot of noise,” Ziva bit back. Had it been just a figment of her imagination? She had surely heard something that didn’t exactly sound human...

Then she heard again—a distant yet echoey clunk of something hitting wood, the hollow sound of a heavy object falling just nearby.

With her heart racing, Ziva tried to see better, her eyes opening wide to catch any sudden movement in the darkness. With the camera forgotten around her neck, she took a step towards where the sound had come from, already expecting it to happen again.

“Imagine McGee… McGhost!” Tony snapped his fingers. “I have to use that one.”

“Tony,” Ziva said in a hushed voice. “Shh.”

She moved her arm to the side and hit his chest, surprised to find that Tony was closer to her than expected. Trying not to dwell on it too much, Ziva stepped towards the clock, doing her best to make her footsteps light—though the old wood floor tiles creaked even with all her care.

Tony followed her, finally alert to what was going on, his arm pushing hers as they started walking towards the darkness. Ziva’s hand fell on her hip to hook around her weapon if she needed to, her pulse loud in her ears as she tried to catch that sound again.

Tony’s heavy breathing next to her ear wasn’t helping, and she asked for him to tone it down with a disapproving glare. He might not be able to see in the dark, but perhaps he knew her too well and turned silent nonetheless.

They continued to walk towards the opposite wall, Ziva’s shoulder pressing against his and her mind racing. She had no idea why she felt such an uneasiness inside, but something didn’t feel right. It was as if the thing that was watching her had traded sides, and now followed them instead.

The sound happened again.

But this time was different.

It was the hollow sound of something being moved across wood tiles, dragged farther away.

It came just from the other room.

Ziva looked at Tony to see him already facing her, the gleam of his eyes the only thing visible among all that darkness. He nodded slightly, assessing her for a moment to check if she was okay.

Ziva nodded in return, even if her heart was racing. She unclasped the weapon from her hip and raised in front of her, watching Tony do the same.

His hand touched the round door handle and it rotated with a clicking sound, a shiver running down her spine as it did so.

Then everything happened way too fast.

The grandfather clock started chiming so loudly it made her jump more than the whatever was inside that room. Tony let out a muffled scream that made her dig her fingernails into his forearm, the grip of her weapon losing its strength.

Then a skeleton fell from out of nowhere, the rotten skull of someone with holes instead of eyes coming near enough to graze her nose, its bones ghostly illuminated by silver moonlight.

Feeling a coldness spread to her fingertips, Ziva was ready to destroy it with a reactive punch, but Tony somehow managed to turn on the lights and her hand stopped midway, her breath hitching.

Jimmy looked way too happy to be carrying a human sized skeleton like that.

“Oh, hi,” he said cheerily.

With her pulse still racing, Ziva glanced at Tony to see him looking at the hand that still gripped tight to his forearm, and she withdrew it immediately, rubbing her earlobe instead.

“Apologies,” said Palmer, smiling. “I was packing up the body and somehow managed to turn off the lights.”

Ziva blinked away the fright and tried to slow down her breathing while Tony cleared his throat. She hadn’t missed the way he’d screamed, but her mind was still working way too fast for her to joke about it.

“I lost my grip.” Palmer raised a hand of the skeleton in their direction, and they both backed away before he could touch them with it.

“Didn’t have the stomach to turn it back on again,” he added as the skeleton’s hand rubbed its own hollow belly. “You know,” said Palmer, chuckling, “Lazy bones.”

Neither of them laughed and Jimmy stopped smiling, a frown appearing as he looked between the two of them, confused.

“Do you believe in ghosts, Autopsy Gremlin?” asked Tony, his voice grave.

“Why?” Palmer swallowed. “Should I?”

Tony chuckled bitterly. “Yeah,” he said. “‘Cause if you keep making bad puns, I’ll turn you into one.”

#ncis #tiva #tiva fanfiction #tivatober2020 #once upon a halloween #my fics #team shenanigans and somewhat scared agents facing things together #<333

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harianadimples · 4 years

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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Warning: none 3.7k+: fluff, light angst, university!au, spooky szn

| – | – | – |

The house begins to look like a haunted house well before October 31st.

They finished refurnishing the walls and the floors of the living room three weeks into September and are now in the process of putting in furniture and decorating. Harry didn’t really bat an eye when Ariana was bringing home small Halloween related pieces like ceramic jack-o-lantern models and a practical witch’s spell book, but he felt he needed to step in once he saw her carrying a familiar bust into their living room.

“You are not putting that in here,” Harry immediately takes the bust from her, maneuvering it away from her grabby hands as they reached for it.

The bust was from a shoot he did for his first year, special effects makeup class in university. He had to create a prosthetic of his face; a mask, essentially. It turned out a little wonky since Harry didn’t have the experience he has now, and he might have been high while working on it. He kept it as a portfolio piece before it inevitably ended up in a storage unit. He would have thrown it away if Ariana hadn’t wanted to have it, and now he’s strongly reconsidering his decision to keep it.

“Come on, you know how much I adore that thing. It’s art!” Ariana huffs as she tries for the bust with Harry’s face again, but he only holds it above his head where he knows she won’t be able to reach it. “Hey, careful with him!” She gasps, making the jump to grab the bust from Harry which she quickly runs and places on the coffee table.

“It clashes with my Michaelmas Daisies,” Harry huffs motioning to how the fleshy bust dampened the soft nature of his purple flowers.

“What if I put him with the landline?” Ariana asks.

“No, it’s old and the direct sunlight isn’t good for it,” Harry shakes his head, trailing off as he looks around the living room, “I suppose he can go on the shelf there, with the paper weight Matt gave us.”

“Hmmm, if Matt ever heard you calling his wedding gift for us a ‘paper weight,’ he’d ghost you again,” Ariana laughs as she brings the bust over to the shelf.

“What would I do with a small crystal dog other than use it as a paper weight?” Harry asks. “It can’t give me kisses or cuddle me.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Ariana grins as she steps into Harry’s arms which invitingly wrap around her in an embrace that warms them both. She leans upward and kisses the bottom of his chin before slipping out of his arms so she could continue her decorating.

“Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”

The one where Halloween complicates a marriage when you couldn’t care less about Halloween while your wife’s the kind of person to paint ‘YOU’RE NEXT’ on your new walls with fake blood

-:-:-:-

After five of years of marriage and being together for nine years in total, Harry thinks he knows his wife pretty well at this point. So, when she came into their living room one summer morning, her eyes suspiciously aglow for someone who had to go to the pharmacy to pick up his ointments, Harry knew that she was up to something. He could see the cog wheels in her mind turning as he met her eyes from across the room.

“Look what I picked up. I saw it in the shop next door, and thought it was the cutest thing. I think it’ll look great on our mantle,” Ariana says, the pitter patter of her socked feet thud over their half-done wood floors to where Harry is sitting by a pile of floor boards. She pulls out a small skeleton doll, made mostly of tiny (he hopes are fake) bones and a barbie-sized head. Only the head is missing a face, and had a head full of matted black hair.

“It’s creepy,” Harry makes a pinched expression as he looks at it up close, “isn’t it a bit too early for shops to sell Halloween decorations?”

“It’s never too early for Halloween,” Ariana disagrees as she takes the doll from Harry, taking it to the fireplace to place it on the mantle.

They’re currently re-doing the living room so, the mantle isn’t flocked with family photos and the small gifts they’d collected at past weddings and birthdays. She sets the doll down in the middle of the mantle, stepping back to admire it in its lonesome.

“Have we decided on ‘silver chalice’ or ‘silk pillow’ for the walls?” Harry asks as he sets his phone down.

“Silk pillow,” Ariana sighs, “but I still think black would be divine.”

…

The house begins to look like a haunted house well before October 31st.

“You are not putting that in here,” Harry immediately takes the bust from her, maneuvering it away from her grabby hands as they reached for it.

“It clashes with my Michaelmas Daisies,” Harry huffs motioning to how the fleshy bust dampened the soft nature of his purple flowers.

“What if I put him with the landline?” Ariana asks.

“Hmmm, if Matt ever heard you calling his wedding gift for us a ‘paper weight,’ he’d ghost you again,” Ariana laughs as she brings the bust over to the shelf.

“What would I do with a small crystal dog other than use it as a paper weight?” Harry asks. “It can’t give me kisses or cuddle me.”

Harry spends some time rearranging their photos on the mantle which is worryingly overcrowded now, but he felt adamant about every photo being included. Each photo held a great importance to him, so much so that he went out of his way to have them printed and framed. There’s one from their first date, one from when they got engaged, and of course, when they got married. The other photos were every-other-day photos of them that he really loved, not to mention that they’d be great to show their kids and their kids someday; Harry can’t wait to be that one grandparent with the stories, you know the one.

Harry glances at the photo he’s holding and can’t help but grin. It’s a photo from when they met; a group photo taken at a Halloween party she’d hosted in her third year of university (Harry was a year below her).

…

“Why the hell are we here, Matt? Holly’s moved on and so should you,” Harry looked at his desperate friend in disbelief, trying his best to keep up with Matt as he kept walking further into the house. Harry didn’t even know whose party they’d crash, but he knew he needed to stop Matt before he caused a scene.

“I just want to see the prick she left me for,” Matty huffed, “now put on your mask, I don’t want to actually confront her. If she sees you she’ll know I’m here too, because we all know you hate Halloween. She’ll think you’re only at this party because I dragged you here.”

“Heeey!” Harry frowned, “I don’t hate Halloween, don’t make me out to be some bad person. I just don’t find it fun; the dressing up, the decorations, the stress of it all–.”

“Yeah, whatever man. Come on,” Matt slipped on his zombie mask along with Harry and the pair began walking through the house.

Harry wasn’t impressed much when he saw the different costumes. It’s clear that not everyone got the memo about the Night of the Living Dead theme, though to be honest there weren’t many people to begin with. While Harry still didn’t care much for the festivities of Halloween, he figured that if a Halloween party has a theme you should at least try to follow it, otherwise why attend? He felt most unimpressed by those who disregarded the theme entirely. It wasn’t that bad of a theme. A little dated maybe, but Night of the Living dead is a cult classic horror film that he can appreciate for the special effects makeup.

“Hey Matt, you know whose party this is?” Harry asks.

“Ariana Grande, from one of Holly’s classes. I think they’re friends, but you never know with her what your relationship is,” Matt shrugged, “Anyway, yeah, she’s kind of weird.”

Harry took in the decorations littered around the house. Through the dim mood lighting, he could make out the cobwebs stuck in every corner, the gentle fog which sweeps around his feet, and finally the fake bloodied limbs. There’s fake tombstones set up in places, and models of zombies made for lawns propped up in random areas. Whoever this Ariana girl was she really put in the effort in decorating the place.

The two made their way into the kitchen where the drinks were. Harry poured himself some red punch, which he wasn’t surprised was spiked with some alcohol when he gulped it down. He heard Matt gruffly speaking next to him, but it wasn’t towards him. He looked and saw Matt speaking to someone dressed as Mark Hamill’s Joker. They’re talking about Holly again and Harry’s about had it with Matt being hung up on Holly; if he didn’t love his best friend so much he’d be anywhere else, but he didn’t want Matt to do something stupid that would end up in a fight again.

Deciding to distance himself from the two, Harry made his way back to the table with the punch. He poured himself another glass and looked around. There’s some finger food (literally… fingers; they’re sugar cookies, he discovers) which admittedly tasted sinful with his spiked punch. There was a large bowl of chocolates as well which he was inclined to reach into when he spotted his favourite chocolate brand. When reaching into the bowl Harry was startled when a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist from within the bowl, buried beneath the chocolates.

The noise that came from Harry wasn’t pretty.

He’s sure that the whole house heard him scream. Matt and his friend were looking at him in confusion and worry, while other’s just stared in awkward silence.

Then muffled laughter; he heard laughter, coming from the bowl?

Harry looked for the owner of that laugh, readying himself to tell them off for being so childish, but instead he watches with forced composure as a young woman slides out from under the table. Her laughter is less muffled now, and when she’s standing in front of him with a pleased expression he notices how she looks like a proper zombie, her face in a genuine state of decay with her large school sweater ripped and dirtied.

“God, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting under there,” She said, reaching for a cup to pour herself some punch.

“I suppose I’m your first victim, then,” Harry murmured as he fiddled with his cup.

“You’re actually the only one to fall for it so far. It’s an old trick that only the dumbest people fall for,” She smirked, “I miss when Halloween had more tricks, as well as treats. Isn’t it fun getting scared?”

“Not a fan of the surprise but the aesthetic is sublime,” Harry shrugged. “I’m not much of a Halloween enthusiast but, whoever put this party together knows how to throw a good Halloween party.”

“Why thank you,” She smiled as Harry realized who she is.

“Ariana, right?” Harry decided to make sure it was her.

“Yup. So, you’re Harry. Holly mentioned you hated Halloween,” Ariana said as Harry sighs, “It’s not that I hate Halloween, I just know it takes a lot of dedication so I’d rather not bother myself with the stress of it all. I’m a last-minute-costume sort of guy. I have nothing against anyone who celebrates Halloween,” he defends.

“Well, at least you came to my party on-theme so I’ll forgive you for being a Halloween hater,” Ariana said, referring to his mask.

“I’m not a Halloween Hater–!”

“Not after I’m through with you,” She warned, grinning mischievously as she approached Harry, “I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve. I’ll give you a Halloween you won’t forget.”

Harry watched as she leaves, immediately losing her in a sea of fake fog and other party goers. Matt wasn’t wrong about her being kind of weird, but Harry thought of it in the best way, like she clearly has a personality behind her prosthetics and costume rather than sharing a hive mind with the rest of the undead in the room. Harry made a mental note to ask her about her prosthetics when he had the chance. In the meantime he rejoined Matt.

Though he’d rather not admit it, he was on edge for the rest of the night. He genuinely feared getting tricked by Ariana again, mostly because he was the jumpy type and would leap out of his skin even at the slightest noise and he’d rather not have to deal with her laughing at him for being such an easy scare.

Harry is unsure if Ariana let it slip to Holly that he was here, because at some point in the night Holly had come up to him and Matt (she was dressed as a zombified pageant winner) and somewhere between his fourth and sixth cup of spiked punch, Harry had lost the two and was left alone to mope on the sofa next to some couple making out. Right when he was thinking about getting up to look for Ariana, she’d reappeared from the hallway and had caught his gaze from across the room. She smiled and approached him, careful not to bump into the dancing bodies loitering the living room.

“Hey,” Ariana greeted him as she sat next to him.

“What happened to those tricks you said you have up your sleeve?” He teased her, smiling when she rolled her eyes.

“I think the real trick was not having to do anything and just watching you constantly turning around to make sure I wasn’t there. Anyway, I waited a bit but Matt was by your side most of the time and he’s hard to scare, so I gave it a rest. I thought you’d have forgotten about me by then,” She said.

“It’s kind of hard to forget you after my life was threatened,” Harry retorted.

“I just wanted to give you a little fright,” She laughed.

“Your face is frightening, alone,” Harry huffed as his bleary eyes began to struggle to find where her eyes exactly are.

“Thank you,” She smiled, “it's all prosthetic though, but don’t worry there’s a whole lotta ugly underneath this mask too.”

Her comments made Harry laugh as he shook his head, “Yeah, I took a special effects makeup class in my first year. I’m in the film studies program. So, I know a thing or two about prosthetics.”

“Oh sick, I’m in the theatre program. Same as Holly,” She replied. “You probably think my prosthetics look like trash.”

“No, no, actually, I think it’s pretty good. You know, for an amateur. You did that yourself?” Harry asked.

“Yup, just myself with an hour long tutorial on YouTube,” She nodded, “I had Holly help with some of the placement though. Is it really fine?”

“Honestly, it’s fine. I doubt I could do any better. I had to reconstruct my face for an assignment once. Got it on a bust in a storage unit at my dorm. It looked horrifying to say the least,” Harry chuckled.

“Can I have it?”

“No offence but, I just met you so it’s a little weird that you’d want to keep a bust of my face. You’d probably make it a part of your whole Halloween theme and I’d rather not showcase my worst work yet,” Harry shook his head as Ariana pouted. “Well, then how about we get to know each other better?” She suggested. “I know your name is Harry and friends with Holly and Matt, and I know you’re a film studies major and you know how to do special effects makeup. You know that my name is Ariana, and I’m also friends with Holly and Matt. I’m a theatre major and I love Halloween. Oh, I almost forgot, you hate Halloween.”

“I don’t!”

“Right, you just don’t think Halloween is fun,” Ariana rolled her eyes, “shall we unmask the monster under there?” When Harry didn’t try to stop her, Ariana continued to lift the mask over his head. When she saw Harry beneath the zombie mask she swore her heart skipped a beat.

“Well?” He asked her, his green eyes bleary from the alcohol, late hour and fake fog.

“Nothing,” Ariana huffed as she slid the mask back over his face.

Harry pulled his mask off again and set it down in his lap. He glanced over at Ariana who’s got her arms crossed, the rim of her cup tucked between her lips as she looked anywhere but at him.

“Now this isn’t fair. You know what I look like without my mask, but I don’t know what you look like under yours,” Harry pointed out.

“You’re not missing anything,” She assured him with a grunt, “trust me.”

“I suppose I’ll be the judge of that when I see you next, say, tomorrow afternoon? Coffee to nurse our hangovers?” Harry asked.

“Sure,” She shook her head, though she sounded a little hesitant in agreeing. “I’m sorry, are you asking me out?”

“I’m just completing your suggestion. I guess I want to get to know you better too,” Harry shrugged.

“Okay, but fair warning. There’s a lot of weird going on up here,” Ariana motioned to her head as she looked at Harry. “And I love Halloween, so I don’t know how that’ll fit in your anti-Halloween agenda.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake–,” Harry started but was cut off by her laughter. This time he realized he found her laugh quite pretty and nice in his ears despite him being a little annoyed by her teasing.

“Hey you two, we’re doing a group photo. Care to join?” Holly appeared with Matt behind her. Neither Harry or Ariana rejected the offer so they both stood; Harry first, and then Ariana who he helped pull off from the sofa.

Harry and Ariana end up stood beside each other. It’s then that harry realized that Ariana was quite small compared to his height and the other’s. She seemed to be getting pushed back by whoever else was trying to get in the photo, so he did was seemed logical in the moment and ushered her to stand in front of him.

Ariana seemed thankful and Harry gave her a small reassuring smile before putting his mask back on. He rests his chin on top of her head and wraps his arms around her.

“Say… Halloween!”

“Halloweeeen!”

…

Halloween morning, Harry wakes up alone with his face pressed into Ariana’s pillow having rolled onto his right side at some point overnight. He can tell because he can smell her on the pillow covers.

He wanders through the hallway, his socked feet sliding over the new floor boards just for the sake of it as he mindlessly admires his handiwork. He’s wrapped up in his lavender dressing gown as he makes his way downstairs where the temperature drops, and he wonders if the thermostat is being faulty again.

What he finds in the hallway leading towards the rest of the house is worse than a faulty air con. Among the corny Halloween decor, is the words ‘YOUR NEXT’ painted on the walls in thick fake blood (he hopes).

“Babe?” Harry calls for his wife as he blinks at the mess on the wall.

“Yeah! I’m in the living room!”

“Come here a minute!” Harry says as he stares at the wall.

The pitter patter of her feet follow his request and soon Ariana meets Harry in the hallway, her hands still covered in the fake blood she’d smeared on their newly painted walls. She’s still carrying a plastic Tupperware container of the fake blood with her.

“Morning baby,” She greets him nonchalantly as she looks at him for a reaction to her work on the walls. “What do you think?”

“You used the wrong ‘you’re’,” Harry sighs as he takes the Tupperware container from her and dips three of his finger’s in. He begins to fix her mistake, adding the apostrophe between the ‘U’ and ‘R’ and an ‘E’ at the end.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize. I was honestly half asleep when I started in the hall,” She admits with a giggle as she takes the Tupperware container back from Harry. “Come see the living room.”

Their living room doesn’t appear much different to Harry except for the fake blood smeared across the walls and on the floors. Though his bust is sitting on a silver platter, acting as a centre piece on their coffee table, and somehow it seems to be flattering his Michaelmas Daisies today.

“We’ll have to paint the walls over and then wax the floors again,” Harry reminds her, “this time it’s your turn to do the work.”

“Of course, but I want to keep this all up for as long as I can,” Ariana pouts. “Do you think our guests will finally dress on-theme this year?”

“Well, if we’re talking about our party being the Met-Gala of Halloween parties…. I doubt it,” He chuckles.

Later that day, Harry helped Ariana with the prosthetics for her costume. She’d asked for a deformed reimagining of her face earlier that week, so Harry had drawn up a few sketches for her to select. She’d chosen the worse looking one of course, and excitedly pestered him about it throughout his process of making the pieces.

As Harry finished up on her face, he took a step back to take in the finished product.

“How do I look?” Ariana asks, looking at him through the vanity.

“You look horrifyingly, beautiful,” Harry grins as he dabs his brush over the corners of her mouth before hooking his finger under her chin so he could turn her head and press a gentle kiss over her prosthetic lips. “Couldn’t be more in love with you, y’weirdo.”

“Thank you,” She laughs.

Harry’s costume is meant to match Ariana’s, so he’d made himself prosthetics as well. When the pair finished getting ready, they went into their living room and set up Ariana’s phone on a timer so they could take photos.

“I really like that one,” Harry says as she stops scrolling on the photo where they’re sat on the sofa next to each other just talking. It’s candid, and lovely, knowing she was probably going on about how excited she was about their party and Harry looks properly enamoured by her love for Halloween and her passion that shows when she talks about it.

You wouldn’t have guessed that he didn’t find Halloween very fun, though he’ll admit that over the years he grew to appreciate the spooky season more and more for the way it never failed to make Ariana’s eyes light up with pure happiness. The essence of the spooky season never really leaves, so long as Ariana has anything to do with it. Harry doesn’t mind, after all, Halloween is just another Thursday night for the pair nowadays.

| – | – | – |

Hey there, thanks for reading! I really wanted to write something inspired by the events that unfolded today: Harry saying with his whole chest that ‘Halloween is not fun’ and Ariana’s extra™ ass posting endless Halloween content of her in her twilight zone costume which this one shot title takes its inspiration from. I just love the parallel and wanted to write it in the context of a marriage because no one stopped me lol.

Hope you liked it ♡

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the-hilda-librarians-wife · 4 years

Text

The Mistakes We Made - Chapter Eleven

Summary: When her high school girlfriend comes back to town after two years with a baby and a terrible story she won’t tell, the Librarian has to deal with the feelings she had worked so hard to keep at bay.

Notes: This was the chapter I wrote with the nice anons cheering me on! Thank you, nice anons! Also, trigger warning for descriptions of violence and early stage emotional abuse.

Read it on ao3: (chpt1) (chpt2) (chpt3) (chpt4) (chpt5) (chpt6) (chpt7) (chpt8) (chpt9) (chpt10) (chpt11)

Torrin had been silent all day long. He had woken up quite content, but as soon as Johanna talked to him about her plans to visit her parents, his face had become unsmiling and remained this way all through the small trip to Trolberg and their visit, and that’s how he still was when they were driving back to their cabin. It had been making Johanna uneasy, but she had thought maybe the best to do was to wait until his bad mood went away. However, since it was showing no signs of doing so, she finally gathered the courage to ask him about it when they were going home.

“Is everything okay, love? You’re looking sad.”

Torrin sighed. He had driven on their way into town, but since he’d had a few beers at her parents’ house, he had allowed Johanna to drive for the trip back. He wiggled himself in the passenger seat, sitting straighter. “I’m just… sad you prefer them over me, you know?”

Johanna stared straight ahead, her brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” He began, dragging a hand though his face. “You spend a lot of time at Ericsonberg with your friends during the week, and I don’t begrudge you that. But I had thought we would have the weekends to ourselves. We are a married couple now, we should spend the most time as possible in each other’s company!”

Johanna felt a small pull at her heart. Had she truly upset him? “But we were together.” She argued softly.

“You know what I mean. Alone time.” He turned to look out of the window, facing away from her.

“I get it, but… you did go out to see your friends two weeks ago. It’s important to keep contact with the people we love.”

He turned his face to her, and with the corner of her eye she could see that he looked somewhat angry. “Yes, but that was when you were busy with college stuff and couldn’t give me attention anyway. Isn’t the point of being married beginning a new life together?”

Johanna’s expression softened as she tried to see his point. “Torrin… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t.” He sighed, sitting back against his seat. “It’s just that you’re my whole world, you know? It’s painful that I’m not yours.”

Johanna’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. He had changed because of her, he had changed for her, and she loved him so much for it. She couldn’t have him feeling unappreciated. “But you are!”, She insisted, moving one hand to grab his, which felt way to warm and tense at the touch.

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Jo. I don’t need you to pity me.”

“I do mean it!” She protested, practically begging for him to believe her. “What do you want me to do to prove it?”

he looked at her from beneath his untamed hair. “Just… try to show a bit more of commitment to us, okay?”

Johanna squeezed his hand, infinitely glad to have him in a good mood again. She couldn’t stand to see him upset. “Okay.”

_#_#_#_

Ridiculous, Maven thought. This is all ridiculous.

She looked around the place. It was a party house that the City Hall had rented for this event, excessively decorated with orange and black colours. Few were the surfaces that didn’t have a fake pumpkin laying upon it, or at least a plastic skeleton of an animal that didn’t even have bones in the first place. How did they even manage to get a spider that wrong? And if that wasn’t enough, she still had to deal with the awful Halloween music blasting from the speakers. She was really not in the mood for ‘monster mash’.

But at least it wasn’t a costume party, Maven guessed. Given the Mayor’s taste for drama, that had probably been in the realm of possibility.

From her side, Mr. Kavindi cleared his throat (he probably had also been astounded by the eyesore that this whole party was) and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes in accusation. He was the reason she was in this hell, he had dragged her into this.

“Come, Maven.” He said, ignoring her murderous glare. “Let’s find ourselves a table. Maybe on the outside.”

Liar. Traitor. He thinks a table away from these goddamned red lights is going to help? Well, maybe it will. But still, traitor, she mused as she allowed herself to be guided through the tables and the other guests. This had all been his idea. It had began quite innocently, with him saying that he had figured the perfect way for them to advertise their Halloween event for children at the library.

The mayor had made a sort of tradition out of Halloween parties. Of course, he usually only invited the people he deemed important, but with the elections coming this year, he had decided to invite some public workers as well. When Mr. Kavindi revealed that his plan involved attending such a party, Maven had been ready to take the Nope train straight to Screw-This-Crapville, but then he’d pulled puppy eyes on her, and she was now almost certain she knew why it was her college’s dean had done him a favour. The man was a master in the art of persuasion!

When they were finally outside again, Maven felt like she had been set free from a jail, and she filled her lungs with the cool night air. The older librarian dropped his hand from her lower back, where he had been gently guiding her, and pulled himself a chair in one of the two tables that had been set on the outside.

“Is your wife coming?” Maven asked, looking around. It was supposed to be a back garden to the building, but truly it was just a lawn. She supposed that it was like that in order for it to be possible to put up tents and stages in there, but she still thought it looked hideous. Lawns were such an aristocratic France thing. It would have looked much more appealing if they had planted native flowers.

“Maven.” He called, snapping her out of her musings. “I know this look. Stop judging the place, we’re guests. It’s impolite.”

Maven huffed and marched to the table beside him, sitting with her right elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. “No, she’s not.” He answered.

Maven scrunched her nose, her eyes being drawn to the sky above her. At least the stars looked as beautiful as always. The moon had been full just a few days before, now it was heading to waning. Mrs. Kavindi was one lucky woman.

“Now we wait? Because I’m certainly not going to even try to mingle.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “You know, the reason we arrived earlier was precisely to try to mingle. Convince them that we are planning nice things at the library, you know?”

Not even taking her eyes from the sky, Maven chuckled. “Trust me, no one is going to come if I’m the one who tries to convince them.”

Looking at his young colleague, he sighed. Such a good woman, he would never be able to understand why everyone seemed so scared of her. In the end, he couldn’t deny that she was probably right.

“Don’t worry, then. I’ll handle a little talking. You can wait here until the time comes.”

_#_#_#_

And wait she did. Mr. Kavindi left and returned to the table a few times, going inside to check if there were any approachable people that had arrived to whom he could talk to about their project. The other table next to theirs remained unoccupied, and the only people who Maven talked to besides the librarian were the waiters who walked by with trays of expensive looking finger food.

Finally, eight thirty arrived. Both of them were called inside by a man who was also wearing the same uniform as the waiters, but was holding no tray. Probably an organizer. They were led among the crowd into the center room of the mansion, where they were told to climb the first few steps of a big, ivory staircase that split into two some steps above.

Maven wasn’t one to feel nervous about public speaking, but the crow gathered there was making her feel sweaty and dizzy. Before her, she could barely spot one friendly face. There were a few people who looked at them with interest and smiled, sure; it would be impossible for the whole town to be brainless. But the great majority of the guests were people she knew saw her as less than human, either because didn’t agree with what she was or because they just gave that treatment to anyone who wasn’t as important as them.

She shouldn’t have looked directly into the crowd in front of her. She should have just let them be individual blurs of disinterested faces, waiting for her to go away, but she did look. Just as the music was lowered and the organizer raised his voice to call for silence and attention, she looked into the crowd.

The first people she unfortunately recognized was a couple, although you wouldn’t be able to tell they were together if you didn’t know them. They had their eyes narrowed to her in anger, and she quickly looked away. Johanna’s parents. Why were they here? Sure, Kate was a doctor, so maybe she had come as a public worker?

Or maybe they had come because they were the in-laws of the mayor’s son.

That… made sense.

She continued scanning the crowd, and didn’t notice that Mr. Kavindi had began speaking. He introduced them as the library staff and listed a few of their programs, briefly explaining them. She knew that he was saying his speech, and that she should be paying attention, but his words barely registered in the back of her mind. She ought to be paying attention, but she really couldn’t. Not when she spotted an angry frown in the crowd, staring directly at her, his blue hair for once combed into something respectable.

Her blood froze at seeing him, even though she knew he would be there. It took a humiliating few seconds for Maven to realize Mr. Kavindi had stopped speaking and was looking at her.

She sucked in breath when she noticed every eye on the room was locked on her. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, and she had to clean her throat before she began speaking. She had practiced her speech many times, with Johanna and Hilda as her encouraging audience, and the words had been flowing smoothly by the time she considered herself ready. It was a little different now. She wouldn’t go as far as to say it was a disaster, but her speech didn’t come out as easily, she sometimes needed to stop and think about what came next, and her body felt full of tense energy. She hoped she wasn’t fidgeting too much.

When she finished what she had to say, inviting them for the Halloween event and asking them to bring their children, Mr. Kavindi wrapped it up for her, and when he had finished there were a few weak, odd claps of hands. The crowd quickly dispersed, and Maven stepped down with the librarian, making their way back outside. However, barely after they had taken two steps away, a tall man, with dark skin and kind eyes clasped Mr. Kavindi’s shoulders, making him turn towards him. He smiled when he recognized the man, and the two of them began talking.

Maven was sure that, if she stayed by his side, Mr. Kavindi would introduce her and include her in the conversation, and that’s the reason why she didn’t stay. She wasn’t in the mood for talking.

So she continued walking straight on, ready to grab her purse and go away, and she was nearly at the door to the back garden when she heard masculine voices talking.

“Are you kidding me? She really did that?” One of them asked, sounding moved.

There was a beat of silence before an answer. “Yes. It was weird behavior from her part, I never expected it from her. She always wanted to keep the baby a secret, at least until one of us had a stable job, you know? And now she’s using her against me. I really don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

Maven stopped straight on her tracks, her heart at her throat. Her fists closed as she recognized that voice, and she slowly turned to the circle of people nearby. Amidst them, she recognized some of her old high school classmates, Johanna’s mother (and how come, Maven wondered, she was just standing around and listening someone say these things about her daughter?), and of course, at the heart of the conversation, Torrin.

At this point in her life, Maven supposed she had already learned to stay out of trouble, to ignore the voices of people who only wanted to get others down and to continue on her own path with her chin up. But it wasn’t her they were insulting, it was Johanna. And, at this point in her life, she had already understood that her mind didn’t really use logic when it came to her.

The music wasn’t as loud as it had been before; they probably hadn’t turned it all the way up after their speech, so the group that hadn’t even noticed her before could clearly hear her when she spoke.

“Weird behavior? Really?” She said, firmly and with a sharp edge to her words. Those in the circle who had their backs to her turned to look at who had spoken, and those who hadn’t fixed their eyes on her. Johanna’s mother’s face soured even further. “That’s how you’re getting them to believe in something so wild that anyone can see that it did not happen?!”

Torrin’s face began to melt into a scowl, but he schooled it into a look of annoyed disinterest before anyone could notice it. “What was that, Miss… Amarylis, isn’t it?”

“You’re telling a lie, and you know it!” She snapped, ignoring her mistaken name. “How could you betray Johanna like that? She trusted you!”

All he did was raise an eyebrow, along with a corner of his mouth. “If I’m lying, then what is the truth?”

The question was like a bucket of cold water, putting out some of her impulsive anger. She was hit by the realization that she did not, in fact, know the truth. But hell, she knew enough. “I don’t know.” She admitted. “But I know who Johanna is, and I know who you are, and I know you’re lying!”

Distracted by the situation as she was, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a gentle had touched her shoulder.

“Maven.” Mr. Kavindi whispered near her. “It’s not worth it. Whatever you do, they will twist it against you.”

And it was true. But instead of listening to him, she shouted. “I don’t give two fucks about what this idiot says about me, but I’ll be damned if I don’t stop him from doing this to Anna!”

Every person in the group was now frowning at her, no doubt thinking her mad. Torrin looked around them, a smile on his face showing that he liked what he saw; no one was going to stand up for her.

“Maven.” He called, taking a step towards her, and she shuddered at his use of her first name. “I know we never got on very well, but let me talk to you. You’re clearly being precocious, so let me tell you my side of the story.”

“I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say.” Maven said, even though she knew she would have to. There was no escaping, not in front of these people.

“Mr. Librarian, I believe my father wanted to talk to you.” He said once he had gotten closer. Mr. Kavindi raised an eyebrow, but took a step back and began looking for the mayor anyway. Once her colleague had released his gentle hold on her, Torrin put a hand on her back and tried to lead her outside. She walked a step in front of him, so as not to be touched.

She opened the doors and slipped outside, realizing with a start that she was alone with him once the doors closed behind him. But there was nothing she could do now.

“Now.” He said diplomatically. “I don’t know what Johanna told you, but you have to believe me when I say that she was lying.”

Maven squared her shoulders. “I don’t have to do anything!”

Torrin exhaled, the friendly façade falling down with his breath. He looked around, his mouths set on a thin line. “Then take this as a warning.”

She barely saw his fist coming, she only felt it colliding painfully with the side of her face, making her teeth clatter and her skull throb. She fell heavily upon the table behind her, glasses smashing under her weight and cutting her back. Then her body was pulled to the ground by gravity, where she lay hurt and confused.

Torrin was walking towards her again, probably to get her to leave by one of the exits that didn’t require coming back into the mansion, when the door opened again, and two people came in. As Mr. Kavindi saw her and ran to help, Torrin didn’t look worried at all. The other librarian was only just more creditable in the eyes of the town than she was. He could easily claim they were both lying, or had drunk too much and confused him with some other person at the party. But when he turned back to the door and saw the second person, which stood by it open mouthed and looked at Maven in horror, then she could see true fear in his eyes.

Standing at the edge of the garden with a slack jaw and unbelieving eyes, the last thing Maven saw before she felt a deep sleep claim her, was Johanna’s mother.

_#_#_#_

She truly didn’t know what she’d do without Mr. Kavindi, and what she would have done if he hadn’t been smart enough to stay close and watch Torrin go outside with her, following them when he heard the sound of her body hitting the table. She didn’t know what happened immediately after Kate had appeared; she had fainted for what apparently had been a few minutes, from what he had told her, but she imagined he had run. There was no way for him to lie himself out of this one, not when Kate had seen it with her own eyes.

When she came back to herself, she was being carried through the poorly lit streets of her neighborhood, one arm across the librarian’s shoulders, his arm holding her waist, and another arm being supported by Johanna’s mother. When they noticed her blinking awake, they stopped to check on her again. She had some cuts in her back, and bruises on her head from the punch. The scratches she got from the fall completed the image.

There had been nothing they could do to help her in the middle of the pavement, of course, so they just kept on walking her home. It was a very silent walk, not only because Maven lacked the energy to talk, but because they all knew there was an outsider in their trio. Ironically, it was said outsider who broke the silence.

“Are you going to tell this to the police?” Kate asked, and even though Maven pretended not to notice it, she sounded worried for him.

She chuckled darkly, but stopped it as it made her head and back hurt more intensity. “No, I think I’ve had enough of being called a liar for today.”

After that, they were in silence until they arrived at Maven’s house (and thank the universe she’d once asked Mr. Kavindi over for tea and he still remembered the way, because Maven wasn’t in the right mind for giving directions at the moment.)

Mr. Kavindi knocked when they arrived, not wanting to make Maven look for the key in her current state. Kate looked surprised at that, not knowing that the young woman lived with anyone, so she was startled out of her mind when her own daughter answered.

When Johanna opened the door, she stared slack jawed at her mother, but then the librarian cleared his throat, calling for her attention. Then she noticed Maven, and gasped loudly.

“What happened?!” She opened the door wider and stepped out of the way. Maven let her left arm fall from Kate’s shoulder, and let her colleague half carry her inside, to one of the sofas in the small living room. Johanna’s eyes followed them, horrified, but the shock kept her rooted in place.

“She’s telling the truth.” Her mother told her, clearly confused by the words coming out of her mouth. Johanna looked at her, at how her face contorted as if she’d tasted something sour, fighting a battle inside herself.

She didn’t stay. She only uttered her daughter a ‘good night’ before she disappeared again, leaving Johanna finally able to move. She rushed to her friend’s side; the librarian was kneeling beside her on the floor, examining her back where she’d lifted her shirt. Johanna gasped once again as she saw the thin stream of blood running down the cuts there.

“Maven!” She got closer, her hands fluttering uselessly around as she tried to make sense of the situation.

“I’m fine, Anna, don’t worry.” Maven said, at the same time Mr Kavindi asked her if she knew how to clean and bandage these wounds. She nodded, determination coming to her eyes as she ran away toward her room, coming back as quick as lightning with what looked like a first aid kit.

Maven heard her spray something, and soon she put a wet piece of cotton on one of her cuts. Maven gasped and shifted away from it. It stung.

“Let her do this, Maven.” Mr. Kavindi said. “Or you might develop an infection.”

She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath, willing her body to be still as Johanna continued to apply the wet cotton and make soothing sounds. She felt a bit like a dog for it, but the sweet nonsense she was whispered did make her feel calmer.

“I’ll get her some water.” Kavindi said, getting up. It took him some time to find his way around the kitchen, but eventually he returned with a glass of water, which she emptied in big swallows, feeling it return some of her strength.

“What happened?” Johanna asked again, using a dry cotton to finish cleaning her wounds. She hadn’t found any pieces of glass in them: the librarian had taken the shards away when Maven was still unconscious, and held the blood flow with napkins from their table.

“She was hit.” He answered calmly, sitting on the arm of the couch.

“By who?!”

Maven gave a small chuckle at her surprise. “Take a wild guess.”

Johanna lowered her hand, her brow furrowing. She wasn’t sure she wanted to understand.

Mr. Kavindi cleared his throat, raising his eyebrows at Maven when she looked at him. He knew she got snappish when she was tired. He didn’t want her to say anything she would regret, and she seemed to get the message.

“It was Torrin.” She said with a sigh.

A deep silence followed Johanna’s “oh” of surprise, until the librarian got up and said he didn’t think there was anything else he could do for her for now, but asked her to call him if she needed anything, and then left the two of them alone.

“Maybe I should take a bath?” Maven said. “That should make me feel a little better.”

Johanna swallowed and nodded. “Yes, do that. Did you eat well at the party?”

Maven gestured negatively with her head.

“I’ll fix you some dinner, then. And then I’ll take a look at those scratches.”

_#_#_#_

Willa was the last of the group to go away. Other four students had just left, two of them climbing into a car who belonged to a third, and the other had his car for himself. They had come for a study session, in order to try and help each other with the approaching finals. They were already starting their engines when Willa finished putting her stuff away in her backpack and hugged Johanna.

“If you need help.” She whispered into her ear. “Call me. Or any of us. We can keep him away.”

Johanna hugged back, but frowned into her classmate’s ginger hair. Willa had made it clear, ever since she met Torrin for the first time, two meetings before, that she didn’t trust him. She’d voiced her concerns to Johanna before, but she’d always waved her off. Her worry seemed to build up, though, and not dissipate like she had thought it would the more she talked to him. And the thought of calling someone to keep her own husband away from her was laughable. They loved each other! He wouldn’t ever hurt her, of that she was sure.

She drew back and gave Willa a smile. “I know you could, but I don’t need you to. I don’t want you to. Trust me, it’s fine.”

Willa nodded and said her goodbyes, walking out of the cabin and climbing into her motorcycle, which she had parked near Johanna’s car (it had been a wedding gift from her parents!). She gave one last look to the bucolic house before driving away, lifting a cloud of dirt as she went.

Johanna closed the door, not bothering to lock it; there was no danger to be found around their home. She turned around, heading for the coffee table at the center of the living room, where her text and notebooks were still scattered, but stopped when she realized Torrin was watching her from the door frame that led into the kitchen. He looked displeased, and she had no idea why. It unsettled her to no end.

“Hey!” She chirped, wondering that maybe if she sounded cheerful enough his bad mood would go away. “I hadn’t seen you there.”

“I don’t like them.” He stated firmly, walking towards her at the same time she went in his direction.

“Why not?” As soon as they were close enough, Johanna raised her hands to his arms, rubbing soothing circles through his shirt.

“They don’t trust me. They don’t think I’m good enough for you.”

Johanna tried to break through the tense atmosphere with a chuckle. “They just don’t know you. If they spend a little more time with you, they’ll begin to see what a wonderful person you are. It took me some time as well, remember?”

He didn’t become any less tense with her words. Instead, he stared at her with an impenetrable gaze. “Johanna, they will try to get between us. We can’t have that.”

Johanna looked down, gazing not at his eyes but at his chest. She thought she knew what to do to please him, but… she didn’t really want to do it. She was getting along smoothly with these people, she’d go as far as considering them friends. However, the last time she’d ignored her loved ones when they disapproved of a friend, she’d ended up hurt. Used.

When she looked up into his face again, she could see that he was trying to tell her as much. That she didn’t really know when someone could be trusted or not, but he did, and he was telling her that those friends didn’t mean well.

Gods, how she hated this feeling of not being able to trust her judgment, to trust herself. But he had a point.

“I… guess I can ask some other classmates to study with me.” She said reluctantly, and he finally, finally smiled.

“Thank you, baby. It makes me feel happy, you know? That you’re putting as much effort into our marriage as I am.”

Johanna mustered a smile for him as well, even though she didn’t really like the idea of walking away from relationships that were going well. But he had proven himself to be a better judge of character than she was. They would probably turn out to be jerks in the end, anyway.

“Of course, Torrin.” She said as he closed her into an embrace. “Anything for us.”

_#_#_#_

When Maven walked down the stairs, she looked and felt more put together. Her dirty clothes had been replaced by a cozy pajama, and the scent of soup lured her into the kitchen. She had expected to have to tell the whole story of how she got hurt, word by word, and she had been right.

Although Maven felt a little flustered about having to say that it had happened because she’d been defending her (it sounded like the exact type of thing people said to gain other’s sympathy), she told the whole story like had been requested of her. Johanna was perfectly silent during her account, only her facial expressions giving away her feelings. In the end, the asked.

“My mother…?”

“I don’t know why she showed up, but she looked extremely startled. I think she followed us in order to defend Torrin.”

They stared at each other, and then Maven realized what she’d said: that Kate would defend Torrin rather than her own daughter.

“I’m sorry!” She said. “I didn’t mean to imply-“

“It’s okay.” Johanna cut her off gently. “I… I think you’re probably right.”

There was more silence. Their bowls were already empty, so they simply sat at the table, doing nothing and saying nothing. Johanna was staring at her hands with a thoughtful expression.

“I’m sorry.” She said, finally. “I’m just trying to make sense of things. I think I’m… finally beginning to understand.”

Maven blinked. “Understand what?”

Johanna didn’t look at her for a few more breaths, and then stared directly into her eyes. And oh, how they had changed in a matter of seconds. There was a new light to them, a clear recognition, like something had snapped inside her. Like she was the carefree and bold Anna again.

“You weren’t lying, were you? That day in Ericsonberg, when you told me he had tried to hurt you.”

Maven sucked in breath, secretly hurt by the question but trying not to show it. “Why the fuck would I lie?”

Johanna just looked into her eyes for heartbeats, and Maven realized there was fire burning behind them. She nodded.

“You like stories, right?”

Maven’s lips fell open. Of course she liked stories, she was a librarian for crying out loud. But she couldn’t see how this had anything to do with their current situation.

“I do.”

Johanna took a deep, fortifying breath, raising her head to the ceiling and rolling her shoulders back before looking at her again.

“Good. Because it’s past time I told you a few.”

#fic: tmwm #hilda librarian #hilda librarian fanfic #hilda's mum #hilda johanna #sketchbook ship #sketchbook ship hilda #hilda johanna fanfic

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twistedwonderlandimagines · 5 years

Text

Halloween Preparations

Well, it’s time for the Halloween special. Crowley decides to pair the dorms together and put each group in charge of planning for one part of the holiday.

---

Trey attempted to calm Idia with a pat on the shoulder as Riddle went on another tirade. The Ignihyde dorm leader was shaking, not used to interacting with someone as aggressive as Riddle (or anyone, for that matter).

“I don’t see why the pumpkins should be orange,” Riddle insisted. “They look far nicer in red!”

“Well, then we��ll give everyone the option of painting their pumpkins after they carve them!” Cater said cheerfully, trying to calm Riddle’s temper. “And if you prefer them in red, you can paint yours red...”

Event planning would have been so much easier if Crowley had just let Idia do it by himself.

“Mister Riddle!” Ortho called, “I finished setting up the projector for the movies!”

“Perfect,” Riddle said with a smile. “At least someone in this group is competent. And did you get all the movies from my list?”

“Yep! Everything’s ready for scary movie night!”

Cater sighed in relief. At least the first year seemed to be able to calm their dorm leader.

“Wait, where is Ace?” Deuce asked before Cater slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Do NOT set Riddle off again!” Cater whispered. “Ace probably couldn’t take it and decided to escape, and we should be happy for him, not have Riddle send out a hunting party!”

Deuce nodded, a bit jealous that his rival was able to escape.

---

“He’s been going off about the color of the pumpkins all day,” Ace sighed, hanging up rubber spiders.

“What kind of pumpkin isn’t orange?” Floyd grumbled. “I swear, if I show up for pumpkin carving and they’re red, I’m starting my own pumpkin carving booth!”

“Riddle’s head would explode!” Ace commented, laughing at the mental image of Riddle’s reaction.

“Speaking of Riddle,” Jamil spoke up, addressing the twins, “Where’s your dorm leader? He said he’d be here an hour ago.”

“Eh,” Jade replied, “He said something about decorating the whole campus to be ‘drudgery.’ So he stayed back at the cafe. Where’s your dorm leader?”

“He’s...” Jamil froze. “Ace! Did you see Kalim leave?”

“Uh, yeah. He headed back to Scarabia to pick up a few things.”

“Dammit,” Jamil groaned. “He’s going to get lost. I’m going to go find him... And you two,” he added, glaring at the twins, “Go get Azul and bring him back here, or I’ll drag him here myself.”

“Psh. Why should we do anything you tell us to do?” Floyd chuckled.

Jamil paused... and smiled. “Why don’t skeletons ever go trick-or-treating?”

Both of the twins froze in horror...

“Right on it, Mr. Viper!” Jade answered, scrambling for the door.

“Yeah, Azul will be here when you get back!” Floyd added, sprinting down the hall with his brother.

“I could get used to that,” Jamil smirked. “Ace, I’ll be back with Kalim as soon as I can.”

---

“I still don’t know why Crowley put us in charge of food and drink,” Leona groaned. “I can’t cook, and I’m willing to bet you sure as hell can’t either.”

“He put us in charge of food,” Vil sighed, “Because I’m an amazing chef, and because he had nowhere else to put you Savanaclaw heathens.”

“I’m just wondering why he didn’t put Octavinelle on catering duty.”

Vil shuddered as he remembered last year’s Halloween. “Because last year they enchanted the food to convince people to sign more contracts.”

“Never would have suspected it,” Rook sighed, interrupting. “But anyway, was it two or three cups of sugar, Vil?”

“Two.”

“Put in three,” Leona commented.

“You’re a cat! You can’t even taste sweet things!”

“Excuse you, I’m more human than lion!”

Rook sighed as their bickering continued, and turned his attention to Jack, who was quietly making popcorn balls away from the commotion.

“Where’s Zahir?”

“Not here. Shouldn’t you be more worried about your missing dorm member? Epel?”

“He’s not missing! He’s off with that Ruggie boy,” Rook huffed. “And our dorm leaders are already giving me a headache without bringing up those two.”

The door opened, and Zahir stepped into the kitchen, locking eyes with Rook.

The blond lion turned to leave, before Rook grabbed his arm and dipped him so low that his hair brushed the floor. “My dearest Zahir! How I have missed your company~!”

Zahir looked up at Jack from his rather embarrassing position. “Please kill me.”

Jack went back to his cooking, ignoring Zahir’s request.

Rook pressed a bit of red velvet cake to Zahir’s lips. “I pilfered a little cake for you! I heard you like red velvet~!”

He glared at Rook. “If I eat it, will you let me go?”

Rook only smiled that infuriating smile.

“Rook, leave the mongrel alone!” Vil called from the other side of the kitchen.

Sighing, Rook pulled Zahir back up to standing, putting the cake in his hand. “Oh, why must he ruin our time together~?”

Vil rolled his eyes, turning back to the cupcakes he’d pulled out of the oven just five minutes ago.

Three were missing. Two of them were in Leona’s hands, and he last was being scarfed down by the Savanaclaw dorm leader.

“I’m a bad chef, am I?”

---

The Diasomnia dorm arrived at Mortercitus, which was already being decorated as the haunted house.

Arawn greeted them without enthusiasm, not looking up from his clipboard.

“Where’s your gross dorm leader?” Lilia asked.

Arawn groaned, rubbing his temples. “Whatever you do, don’t bother him, Vanrouge. I’ve had enough anxiety today as is.”

“You’re no fun.” Lilia rolled his eyes, pulled out a bag of candy, and went to watch everyone from the corner.

“Where is Deidrick?” Malleus inquired.

“He’s in his library,” Arawn sighed. “I wouldn’t go up there by myself though. He’s not expecting you to arrive for another hour.”

Malleus sighed. “Well, someone needs to go get him.”

“I’ll go!” Sebek volunteered.

“No, I can do it. Besides, I have the best chance of coming back unharmed.”

Malleus entered the huge castle, taking in the atmosphere. The Mortercitus common room was at least three times as large as Diasomnia’s... It was beautiful, but it felt rather lonely.

Everything was ornate and well-designed. The furniture was expensive yet obviously comfortable, the floor was black marble, and chandeliers hung from what must have been at least a thirty foot high ceiling.

Though, disturbingly, there were skeletons standing on the sides of the room, wearing suits of black armor and holding real weapons.

Knowing Deidrick’s taste in decor, Malleus guessed they were real.

And that’s when something crashed into his back, sending him crashing to the floor.

Whatever had hit him screeched and scrambled across the room.

“Draconia, are you hurt?”

Malleus looked up at a disheveled-looking Deidrick Morkond. “I’m fine. What was that?”

Deidrick cleared his throat. “Well... As long as you don’t tell the headmaster...”

Malleus sighed, holding out a hand for Deidrick to help him off the floor. The other dorm leader took him by the arm, pulling up up off the black marble.

“Alright, I won’t tell Crowley.”

“Thank you... It’s an imp.”

“You summoned a demon?” Malleus asked, eyes widening. “Is this some kind of Halloween trick?”

“No, no...” Deidrick mumbled. “I only meant to study it. You know I’m always looking for new information to add to my library.”

“Should I help...?”

“No, I have security measures for this sort of thing,” Deidrick said, then snapped his fingers.

At his order, the skeletons around the room animated, following the path of the imp. Deidrick smirked as Malleus’s eyes widened, proud of his skill in necromancy.

“I trust you won’t share that information with Crowley? Or worse yet, Vanrouge?”

Malleus cleared his throat, opening the door to leave. “Let’s just... Get to the haunted house.”

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heyheyitsstillgay · 5 years

Text

Respect the Dead

Phandom Phic Phight Entry #2 based on a prompt from @whosvladagain

#TeamGhost team leader @ibelieveinahappilyeverafter

Previous Entry ; Also available on FFN ; Next Entry

Words: 3,635; Status: Complete

TW: Panic, Vomit mention, themes of death.

Okay, he looks significantly less friendly than Wulf. Though, perhaps a tad nicer than Cujo's angry form. Maybe Danny can calm him down, slowly lead him somewhere safer. Coax him away from Casper High, without getting into a fight that promises to be filled with sharp teeth and claw marks. Clockwork forbid the school bell goes off when a ghost wolf who clearly has a lot of pent up anger is stalking the halls not far from the gym.

"Easy, boy." Phantom mutters, hand stretched in front of him in what he hopes is a non-threatening manner. When he first tried to aim the thermos at him the ghost-wolf lashed out. Danny's unsure if the animal knows what the thermos can do, or is aware it's a threat, or perhaps is confusing the metallic contraption for a gun. Either way the ghost boy is too close to the animal right now to try anything like that again without getting his glove bitten off. Sure, his Hazmat got ruined all the time, he's slightly more concerned about the hand residing in the glove though. It would be nice to return to class in one piece rather than partially digested by a wolf or exposed to some kind of spectral rabies. Maybe? Do ghosts have rabies? Okay, we'll be wondering if bacteria has the possibility for an ecto afterlife when we're in a slightly less half-life threatening situation, perhaps.

Danny keeps his knees bent and his stance wide to improve his balance and increase his reaction time whilst still making himself smaller in hopes of appearing less threatening. He moves around the spirit in a circle, not wanting to risk getting any closer. Maybe if he can find a blind spot he can shoot the thermos from there. He's hesitant to put distance between them. Surely the last thing to do when faced with a growling wild animal, is give chase. Would the animal freak if he floated or phased? Was hiding in the air vents a really idiotic plan?

Given the direction he was walking he was about to hit a wall, or rather go through it and into the boys locker room. If he left the wolf's line of sight he had no doubt it would bolt after him. After all, Phantom's the only person the wolf has seen here, if he's going to try to hunt anyone down then it's him. Class is still in session so there's no humans nearby enough for the wolf to go after.

There is a door to the boys locker room which would make entry less hazardous than phasing, he thinks. Going through that entrance however would require moving closer to the beast, which isn't going to happen.

Side hitting the wall, he phases through. From within the plasterboard he kicks upwards into the ceiling as he hears the crash of the animal splintering the wooden door open. Great. More property damage. He floats into the air ducts and regains his solidity. For some reason the crashing sound hasn't stopped. The wolf is yelping, growling, whimpering, the clattering going on sounds almost metallic as it echoes through the vents. Danny tentatively places his fingers onto the walls around him. Tail rippling as he meanders forward, slowly, towards the light leaking in from below, the grates of the vent. If he can aim the thermos through it unnoticed, then that's this confrontation solved.

"Damn it! Pesky mutt!" Danny freezes as a deep voice reverberates from below. "Where did he go?!" It growls as a sickening splat cuts through all other sounds of chaos. Danny's habit of breathing stops as he remains as still as he can. That sound… that wasn't good.

The smell of copper and formaldehyde bites at his nose hairs and he almost chokes. He can taste it at the back of his throat against the rising acid. Ectoplasm.

That wasn't all, Skulker is down there. Quiet settling over them that yelled louder in his ears than anything previously from that room.

The wolf was gone. Must have been. Scent alone told him that much. Smoky as though it's very ectoplasm had been grilled. He knew the smell of destabilisation. Skulker swore. Why could Danny smell pine needles now? And fresh grass? Why did that make the urge to vomit even harder to suppress?

He doesn't want to see, doesn't want to know. Unbidden, his body floats forward without him telling it to. He reaches the grate, can finally see the state of the locker room below him. Pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks, his throat closes at the sight.

Skulker isn't looking at him, fortunately, though it's clear the hunter can sense his prey is still nearby. The wolf, the bait, Danny realises, is barely recognisable. It's clear where it happened, a glowing blue net loose against the wall next to the door. With his enhanced hearing, Phantom can hear the net humming faintly. Was it, supposed to do this? The halfa wonders to himself.

Chunks of green lie below the net, barely touching it. Ectoplasm was usually viscous, think cornstarch in water, able to change between thin liquid and liquid thick enough to stand on its own. The chunks down there looked more like raw lime jello. With lines of black from where it had clearly made contact with the net. Dark smoke continued to rise from it in wisps. None of the discernibly wolf features remained. A light in the pile, a natural forest green compared to the now dark rotting green of the rest, it glowed like a flickering light. Something was oozing from it, but it wasn't ectoplasm, it was something deeper, more important, vital. It evaporated into mist immediately after contact with the air. The wolf's core had ruptured, cracked, shattering, it was bleeding out right in front of them and neither of the ghosts were trying to do anything about it. There wasn't anything they could do. An involuntary shiver wracks Danny's body as another wave of tree bark and pine passes over him.

They shouldn't be so close, this is so incredibly personal. No one should be looking at this, no one should be smelling this. But the animal died with them. It shouldn't be alone for this. It's too much, a new level of suffering and death that no spirit should ever have to go through. It's essence and soul is clinging to the scents in the air around them. Phantom and Skulker are the only people who can accept it, so they must.

It takes another fourteen minutes for the glow to leave the core and the smell around them to disperse. After which time, Skulker lowers his head. Placing a hand against his chest plate, the hunter mumbles an apology in ghost speak before he turns tail and leaves the room through the wall. This was hardly a situation to continue the hunt, so he doesn't.

Danny didn't like toast already, why the hell would Skulker have a ghost toaster? It was barbaric. Intentional core damage was very taboo, by everyone's standards, not just Walker's. The ghost boy moves through the vent and descends until he drops onto the floor by his toes. Neither of them have moved the net or disturbed the remains. Regular ectoplasm would evaporate naturally over time, he hopes that's able to happen now. He feels a slight territorial growl at the thought of any humans interfering with the animal husk. Glaring at the splintered door, he drags a bench in front of it. Stepping back with his head at a tilt, he uses his ghostly strength to stack another bench on top of it, in hopes that the humans would get the message. Stay Out. Sighing to himself, he mumbles a "good luck" in ghost speak before turning and leaving via the wall.

"Oh good grief." Ms Tetslaff grumbles as she passes the boys locker room on her way to the gym. She doesn't care who did it but if she does find out who then they're in for one hell of a kickboxing match. She slams her fist into her other palm and cracks her knuckles. How could someone cause chaos like this on tonight of all nights!? They needed to have the gym looking it's best! If she discovers even a hint of disturbance in that room too, she just might lose it.

The gym is fine, thankfully. Principal Ishiyama is in there with Mr Falluca, discussing the layout for the room. Tonight was supposed to be prom night, they had around 5 hours to decorate before students were meant to be arriving. Laraine calms herself and marches over to the folded tables to set them up along the wall.

"An Inspector Calls! Laraine!" Edward Lancer poked his head through the doors to the gym, exasperated. "Could you lend us a hand please? It seems that door has been barricaded from the inside, as well as broken into pieces!" Mrs Tetslaff nods and sets down the table she was carrying.

Ghosts then? She huffs. At least that means the students will live to see another day, unless the culprit is still inside. In which case they won't be having anything to do with tonight's celebrations if she gets a say in it. She punches her arm through the wide crack in the wood and grasps tightly onto the edge of whatever's blocking it beneath. Bracing her shoulders against the door, she flicks her wrist and shoves against it. They all hear the clatter of the barrier as she steps back and slams against the door again. This time it gives, they force through into the room.

Mrs Tetslaff's eyes dart around the mess. Yep, definitely ghosts. Wheeling his cleaning cart next to her, the long suffering janitor heaves a huge sigh and grumbles to himself. She shoots him a sympathising look before returning to the gym with Edward.

In the past, proms at Casper had always had themes; Medieval times, Fantasy, 70's night. Some genius on the PTA decided this year's should have a supernatural theme. Oh the hilarity. Some adults were in one corner blowing up black balloons and preparing to decorate the walls with the Halloween supplies, while the librarian and Mr Falluca seemed to have had the idea of putting an orange feather boa on the skeleton from the biology department. As if that could only ever end well. Mrs Tetslaff finished setting the tables up, lined with black plastic table cloths, ready for punch, nibbles and candy.

"Oh for- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!" Laraine marches over to the exasperated English teacher.

"Whatever is it now, Edward?" The man was reaching the end of his tether and responds only by shoving the Halloween bunting into her hands.

"Ah." Or rather, the remains of the Halloween bunting. Disintegration appears to have occurred while it was in the box. Although, upon closer inspection, the plastic maintains an unnatural cold and there are faint scorch marks at the edge of the ribbons. Ghosts, again. So they were going to have a prom in a room with a skeleton and a lot of black balloons, seems more like a particularly gothic funeral than a celebration for teenagers.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Mr Lancer sighed, picking through the box and watching it all turn to dust at his fingertips.

"Quit mopin'," she began, "I'm sure we'll think of something. I'll head to the shops and see if there's anything I can find."

"But it's the middle of May?!" He exclaimed, she simply levelled him a glare and stepped towards the gym doors with heavy feet.

On her way out when she crossed paths with the janitor, something in particular catches her eye. She does a double take, taps the elderly man on the shoulder and points towards the object in question.

"Can I borrow this?" She asks, "I might just have had a really good idea." She remembers the art teacher is stood just a room away, he is going to love this.

The trio had left for prom a tad early, expecting to be caught up in ghost attacks and ending up fashionably late. None of them want to inconvenience any dates so they've decided to go together as friends, just in case. If somehow no ghosts attack and Tucker ends up meeting someone he likes while they're there, then good for him. Danny and Sam will just have to despair at his absence. As if they don't have the pleasure of seeing him everyday.

For once in their lives, however, Amity was actually being pretty quiet tonight. The trio are left to their own excitement for the upcoming party. Tucker is smiling gleefully, pride rolling from his shoulders over his hand-made costume.

"I say we have a contest tonight, see how many girls Danny Phantom can get, versus how many girls the far superior, younger, fresher, finer, Tucker Phantom can get?" He brushes his fingers through his white anime wig and glances over to his friend.

While said friend is undeniably Danny Phantom, at this time he's just Danny Fenton, black hair, red trainers and blue jeans. The only difference being his shirt, while still white, this shirt has black text that reads 'Nobody knows I'm dead.'

"Or you can spend tonight enjoying yourself in ways that don't involve pressuring someone into showing you affection." Sam rolls her eyes playfully at her friend.

"You're just jealous that you couldn't put together a cool ghost cosplay in time!"

"Um- you think I'm a cool ghost?" Danny cracked a smile.

"Hell yeah man, you're friends with me aren't you? That alone makes you the coolest, never mind the awesome super powers and the teen idolisation." The halfa just shakes his head and feels his cheeks heat in response.

"For the record," Sam spoke up "I don't feel the need to dress up as a ghost, not to infringe on or appropriate the culture of spirits or anything, but I'm dead inside all the time anyway. I can be a creature of the night any old day of the week." she stated with pride. It's not like she isn't making an effort, this year she has a black gothic dress with green and gold detailing, no one questions how she is able to speak so clearly with those fangs in her mouth again.

"Speaking of effort," Tucker redirects his attention, "Hey Danny, what happened to cutting some holes in a bed sheet and layering them over that outfit? You know no one's going to get that t-shirt, right?"

"Firstly, you've met my dad. In what universe is it safe to walk within 9 yards of him with a bed sheet over your head, regardless of species. Secondly, you guys get the t-shirt and I'm not wearing it for any one else, I'm wearing it for me because it is hecking hilarious. I paid good money for this online okay? You can't take this away from me, I won't let you." He pouted exaggeratedly at Tucker while the teen giggled at the imagery of Jack Fenton single handedly destroying a whole bed section of a store.

Turning into Casper High, Sam's heels click against the concrete as they walk towards the back entrance to the gym. An aged looking banner adorns the entryway, the double doors are closed. Nearby stood the ticket stand, the line for which is considerably short, though it makes sense considering how early in the night it is.

The trio slow their pace as they near the queue. A slight chill is in the air, Sam folds her arms into her torso, Tucker's jaw clenches, something like liquid nitrogen tries to crawl up Danny's throat. It's not too unusual, it's early evening but more notably - they live in a ghost town. Usually there's plenty of cold spots dotted around the place, even more so when the halfas are around, which is why he's not particularly off put. That is, until the couple at the front of the queue head inside, the moment the door cracks open.

A sense of foreboding increases tenfold. The first thing that hits him is the smell. It's odd but his head still snaps up and his breathing slows instinctively. He's not sure why it has his attention. It reminds of cheap watered down bleach, or the stuff he uses to clean his parents lab when there's been a particularly bad explosion that demands his attention. It looks fairly dark inside, but there's an unpromising quality to it, a light glow that resonates within him. Eyebrows creasing, Danny remains silent as the three teens take a few steps forwards in line.

Eye contact is maintained with the door the whole wait. If Sam and Tucker notice his examining gaze then they don't comment on it. Next time the door opens it has his full attention. The room, it almost has an aura of its own. His core doesn't poke towards it in curiosity like it would a ghost and obviously his ghost sense hasn't gone off, so what's going on? Maybe there's some kind of giant ghostly relic that's somehow found its way into his school gym. Okay, that sounds stupid. They're almost in anyway, he'll see what's happening for himself then.

When they reach the table the ghost boy doesn't spare a glance for whoever's manning the stall. He simply slams his money down and marches over to the door, arms outstretched. With a tug of the handle he drags the door wide open.

The lights are off, but it's not pitch black. The walls are covered with something that he's certain everyone else here is under the delusion of being glow in the dark paint. It forms shapes that dance across the walls, little characters whose faces are mock attempts of scary, but it's not the smiles that are sinister. His friends are at his side as the realisation settles further. That is not glow in the dark paint.

Yes, it smelt like his parents basement. Ectoplasm mixed with disinfectant. He recognises the smell now there isn't a barrier in the way. His pupils faded from his eyes as realisation dawned, exactly where this ectoplasm was from, who this ectoplasm was from. Green is all he can see, it's swarming his senses, filling his oesophagus, thrashing against his sides.

No, that wasn't the ectoplasm. People had their hands on him, grabbing him, holding him, trying to drag him one way or another. It feels like he's drowning but his mouth is dry, his chest is constricting. Faintly, a part of him is surprised that his soul hasn't left his body yet. His core is flaring, trying to reach out.

He wants to hunt down whoever is responsible, wants to hurt them. Wants to rip the building down by shaping the ectoplasm in his fingers into claws, wants to chase everyone away and carefully peel the remains from the walls and find somewhere safer to put them. Idiot. Leaving someone's final remains in a public school. What were Skulker and himself expecting from humans?

Woah, back up. Stop. He could calm down from this. Blinking, his eyes burn with un-shed tears. He grips the grass between his fingers until his knuckles turned white. He releases a shaky breath and takes another one. Regaining his bearings, it registers that he's sat in the grass a little away from the building but still on school grounds. His head feels too heavy for his neck to hold, so he drops it. Facing down towards his knees, he clasps his eyes shut and focuses on evening his breathing to that of a regular human being. He shoves down the panic that rises as his vision is clouded by eyelids that carry a faint green tinge. His throat feels red raw now that the numbness is leaving his body, like someone had forced him to swallow acid. He hadn't vomited had he? He cracks his eyes open to check his surroundings. Tucker is sat next to him, hovering a hand over Danny's shoulder but hesitant to actually touch him. The techno-geek looks startled, the thumb of his left hand moving swiftly across his PDA as his eyes scan the text. Sam isn't nearby. She's a distance away, closer to the gym than she is to him, waving her hands frantically in the face of one of the chaperones.

Danny rubs the heels of his hands against his eyes and fully raises his head. The movement draws a flinch out of his best friend whose head snaps up to check over him with wide eyes.

"You okay, man?" The boy asks, voice soft and steady, "Blood Blossoms gone?" "Blood Blossoms?" the halfa croaks, hand clutching at his throat in a vain attempt to fix the cracks. "Yeah, it looked pretty bad. I couldn't see the red lightning like last time though. I was trying to check if there was some other subspecies with slightly different properties, we couldn't see the circle anywhere either. You seemed kind of… mad when we tried to get you away but you started to calm down after a minute or so, so like…" He trails off and smiles reassuringly, Danny pretends not to notice the dark circle beginning to blossom on his friend's jaw or the feeling of drying red blood cracking beneath his own fingernails. The trembling across his form is dying down as he shakes his head slowly. "That wasn't-" His voice creaks and he tries again "wasn't Blood Blossoms. Th-they, um…" biting his cheek to centre himself, he swears, it comes out as a shaky whisper.

"What kind of awful, terrifying creature, lines their walls with the blood and broken soul of the dead and gone?"

Based on WhosVladAgain’s Prompt: They're doing prom decorations and ran out of glow in the dark paint; luckily ectoplasm does too…

#panic //#emetophobia //#death //#its like a minor ghost character its fine #i just saw this prompt and was like 'im sorry how is that not ominous as hell??'#phic phight #phic phight 19 #phic phight 2019 #own post #owly writes #teamghost #danny phantom #danny fenton #((the net was supposed to get hot enough to make a halfa transform back into human form))#ficlet

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hermannsthumb · 6 years

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ok to kick off october (aka the month of halloween) bc its officially past midnight heres a little ficlet i tweeted the concept of a few weeks back! some classic “hermann gets dragged along into a corny fake haunted house and newt is the semi-incompetent worker who keeps flirting instead of actually trying to scare him” au meetcute. also dedicated to @newts-geiszler and @ee-void, the former who indulges me in all my halloween newmann talk, the latter who drew VERY cute art of this on twitter. im gonna make this longer for ao3 lol

The house is large, full of dark corners and artificial fog, fake, too-red gore splattering the walls, the hardwood floors, and cobwebs—these quite possibly real—hang from the chandeliers and wall-set candle holders. It all looks a bit like the set for some bad horror movie. Something that would come on the television at midnight that Hermann would deliberately skip over. “Forty dollars,” he sniffs, as he waits in line with Tendo, Mako, and Raleigh, “for this.”

Piercing, electronic screams drift through the shadowy doorway. The line moves forward. “Look, it’s totally worth it,” Tendo insists. “We’ve done this—what, how many times?”

“Three times,” Mako says. She smiles at Hermann. “It is fun.”

A “zombie”—face green, clothing hanging from its body, groaning—ambles past them, nearly bumping into Hermann, and Raleigh takes a small step between it and Mako.

By the time their group is ushered inside fully, three more zombies and a vampire have wandered by and Hermann is more than ready to go home. His leg isn’t aching him—not yet—but his head is, and it’s been a long day and it looks as though there are a great many stairs to climb in the house. And the flashing strobe lights aren’t helping anything. “Where first?” Tendo says, and points at a little signpost listing the different attractions the house has to offer. Knife-wielding serial killers are delegated to the dining room and kitchen, evidently, vampires to the master bedroom, bloodthirsty scarecrows to the field beyond the house and the undead! to the graveyard beyond that. “Your pick, Hermann!”

Whatever will get them out of here faster. There’s a large group clogging the main entrance that leads to the dining area and Hermann doesn’t particularly fancy standing around anymore, so he examines the sign for their other options. “Basement?” he says.

“The mad scientist’s lab,” Tendo says, lowering his voice ominously, and Hermann sighs.

A few people in costume leap out at them on their journey to find the basement, or, the mad scientist’s lab: a man in a hockey mask wielding a bladeless (and blood-splattered) chainsaw, a villain Hermann recognizes from one of those countless 1980s slasher flicks, a murderous and fanged clown. Much to the delight of Mako, Tendo, and Raleigh, and much to the disinterest of Hermann. He spares a glance at his phone when they finally descend upon the lab. Half past nine. Hermann would normally be in bed by now.

The mad scientist’s lab is decked out in sterile metal, flickering overhead lights, and shelves lined with strange disembodied things in jars. Hermann catches sight of some sort of animatronic Frankenstein’s monster-esque creature strapped to a metal table. That’s all there seems to be. It’s terribly anti-climatic. “Shouldn’t someone be jumping out at us?” Raleigh says, as they stand there staring.

A door swings open, and a short man in thick glasses and a lab coat stumbles in. He’s covered in more fake blood from his face to his clothing and holding what appears to be a large alien brain in a jar. “Shit!” he hisses. He nearly drops the jar in his haste to get to the side of the strapped-down creature, and he’s muttering under his breath. Hermann finds him oddly charming. Tendo and Mako are snickering.

When it’s clear the man won’t be leaping at them or stabbing himself with a retractable knife or any of the host of other things Hermann’s seen others do tonight, he can’t help but say “Are you meant to be scary?”

The man prods the animatronic creature one last time and turns his attention to them once more. “Uh. Obviously,” the man says, and he holds up his bare hands. “You see any gloves here?” He taps at his glasses. “Any goggles? I’m a walking OSHA violation, man. I’m a fatal lab accident waiting to happen.” The animatronic creature suddenly jerks to life with a deep yell, sitting up ramrod-straight and fighting its bonds. The man also yells, in surprise, and he falls back and does drop the jar this time. “Fuck! Now it works.”

Hermann has a hard time stifling his laugh; his colleagues are not even trying. “Are you quite alright?” Hermann says, as green liquid and the fake rubber of the brain ooze across the floor.

The man hauls himself to his feet, brushing off his bloody lab coat, and shoots Hermann a broad smile. “Yep! Yep. All good. Technical difficulties. All minor, though.” He ducks out of sight again, presumably for a broom.

“Come on,” Tendo says, grinning, and nudges the small of Hermann’s back.

They wander on through the basement. The short “mad scientist” they left behind isn’t the only thing to see down there, but he was certainly the only one that caught Hermann’s eye, and the rest of it passes by in a blur. They’re ascending the staircase once more—Hermann, slower up it on account of his cane, bringing up the rear—when a familiar face pops up in a gaping hole in the wall.

“Hi,” the mad scientist says, not making any move to shout or make a grab for Hermann. He’s just leaning on the jagged wood.

“Hello,” Hermann says, and frowns. “Shouldn’t you be—”

“Jumping out at you?” he says. “Probably.” He hoists one leg over the hole, then the other, much to the surprise of Hermann, then lands heavily on the staircase just behind Hermann. He dusts off his lab coat. “So,” the mad scientist says, “uh, I’m Newt. What’s your name?”

“Hermann.” It’s hard to make out Newt’s face from underneath the makeup and fake blood and the poor lighting to boot, but he has pleasantly round cheeks and a very nice smile that Hermann likes instantly.

“Hermann,” Newt repeats, and then goes and spoils the moment by waggling his eyebrows ridiculously. “You come here often, then?”

Hermann makes a face and begins ascending the stairs once more. “Not if I can help it,” he says. He’s lost Mako, Tendo, and Raleigh, but he’s got a new companion, evidently—Newt’s trailing after him, hands shoved into his lab coat pockets.

“Not your scene?” Newt says.

Hermann shakes his head.

“Well, don’t worry,” Newt says, and winks cheekily. “I’ll protect you from—fuck—!” An animatronic skeleton swings out at them from another gaping hole in the wall, and Newt jumps and grabs onto Hermann’s left arm.

“How heroic,” Hermann says dryly, and pats Newt’s hand. Newt does not let go, but Hermann finds he doesn’t really mind. “Why are you working here, exactly?” It doesn’t seem like Newt’s scene, either.

“I’m part time for the season,” Newt says, eyeing the dangling and fairly innocuous skeleton nervously. “I just love Halloween.” They step up another few stairs. Nothing else jumps out at them; Newt starts to relax. And talk more. “I’m a full time biologist, though,” he says. “So the mad scientist shtick isn’t totally a shtick.” He plucks at his lab coat. “I actually stole this from work.”

“You’ve covered it in fake blood,” Hermann says. “Doesn’t that count as some sort of contaminate?”

“Maybe,” Newt says, and shrugs. “I never actually wear it. Anyway, what do you do?”

“I teach maths at the university nearby,” Hermann says, and Newt’s face lights up.

“Oh!” he says. “This—” he waves his hand over Hermann’s—sensible—cardigan, tweed blazer, and glasses chain, “—isn’t a costume, then? I thought you were supposed to be a librarian or something. Math professor makes a lot more sense, though. Cool.” Hermann supposes he should be offended over the jab as his appearance, but Newt’s endearing in some odd, infectious sort of way. Like a particularly animated and particularly resilient weed.

They’ve reached the top of the staircase and Hermann’s colleagues are nowhere in sight, so he doesn’t let go of Newt’s hand quite yet. They wander out to the front of the house together, through a kitschy little graveyard of Styrofoam headstones engraved with terrible puns and more rolling fog.

“My shift’s over in five minutes,” Newt suddenly says, casual. He’s watching Hermann from the corner of his eye. “Just so you know. If you wanted to ditch this place and, uh, grab a drink or something.”

“A drink,” Hermann says, and then he realizes what Newt’s implying. “Oh. Yes. I would like that.” He doesn’t imagine Tendo will be too upset if he calls it a night early. Especially considering the circumstances: Newt is even nicer to look at in the moonlight, faux blood splatters and all (and he does hope Newt has a change of clothing, or else they may not be let in to any bars), and though Hermann isn’t the type to run around falling for handsome strangers at Halloween attractions something about Newt feels different.

“Ha! Awesome!” Newt’s near-bouncing on his feet with excitement and beaming at Hermann, which is probably why he doesn’t see the chainsaw-wielding man in the hockey mask from before until he leaps out right in front of them. Newt swears loud enough to wake the dead and undead alike. “Shit! Okay,” he says, as Hermann smothers his laughter behind his hand and the man in the hockey mask crouches behind a tombstone once more, “I’m so over this.” He starts dragging Hermann towards the exit. “Let’s go, Hermann.”

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag #halloweeeeeeeeeeen!

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constantfluxx · 6 years

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T’was Halloween Night

T’was Halloween night, And all through the park A thick fog was spreading From every tree’s bark.

A movie was playing For every Mundane kid: The Nightmare Before Christmas Was their Halloween gift.

But not just a movie Would these youngsters find! Instead, they’d be treated By something far less kind.

The Shadowhunters were told By their friend, Magnus Bane, “Come quick, come quick! Central Park’s gone insane!”

“A werewolf is howling While three vampires dance, And there’s a large burlap sack Playing lethal games of chance!”

“While odd,” remarked Clary, “A werewolf’s hardly new, And maybe those vampires Just needed something to do?”

“Call Raphael and Luke,” was Jace’s reply. “It sounds like their problem This Halloween night.”

“You don’t understand,” Magnus tried to explain. “They’re no one familiar And entirely strange!”

“What of that sack You mentioned before?” Izzy rubbed her chin And urged, “Tell us more.”

“Yes,” Magnus sighed, “That thing’s quite a fright And it’s got me convinced Something’s definitely not right!”

“It’s armed with strange gadgets And two loaded dice, And it’s stirring a cauldron Overflowing with mice!”

“There are bugs in its eyes, And bursting from its seams, And when it opens its mouth The night fills with its screams!”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Alec finally agreed. “We’ll rush to the park And do anything we need!”

And hurry they did To their friend Magnus Bane Where they found Central Park Far from Mundane!

“What’s going on?!” They cried in surprise. “Shadowhunter or not, I can’t believe my eyes!”

“There’s no time for that,” Magnus quickly urged. “We must make quick work Of curing this scourge!”

“Why, what a great name!” Three voices declared. “But who sees Oogie-Boogie And isn’t that scared?”

The five of them turned And saw something most odd: Three small trick-or-treaters Staring back up in awe.

“You see us?” Jace asked. “But, how can that be? Are you not Mundane children As we’ve been led to believe?”

“Mundane?” they all cackled. “That’s completely absurd! “We’re Lock!” “Shock!” “and Barrel! Haven’t you heard?”

“We’re the trick-or-treaters— Halloween Town’s best! We’re tricksters and pranksters Much to old Jack’s behest!”

“And now that we’ve found you? Why, we think it’s high time You met Oogie-Boogie And his most scary slime!”

Without further warning The three children struck With clubs, bags, and spiders, And a fair bit of luck!

When next they came to The Shadowhunters found They’d been dragged through the park And were now chained and bound!

But Alec saw with a frown One person they lacked. “Where is Magnus Bane? Was he not attacked?”

“No time for that now!” Clary let out in a shriek. “Is that Oogie-Boogie, That huge burlap freak?!”

Oogie-Boogie cackled, “That’s right, doll! That’s me! And you’ll play my game If you want to be free!”

“What kind of game?” Izzy hissed through her teeth While meanwhile she wrestled A blade from its sheath.

“What other kind But a game of pure chance? Best you roll true Or towards that you’ll advance!”

With a hideous glee Oggie pointed his arm To the bubbling cauldron And its putrid mouse-swarm.

“I’ll cook you all up In a most gruesome stew! Now, who will roll first? Oogie-Boogie says… YOU!”

With a yank of a lever Izzy flew through the air And the blade in her hand Got caught in a snare.

She fought with great might, She kicked with her feet. “By the Angel, let go! I’ll unravel you, creep!”

“Ah, what a lovely idea!” A voice chirped from behind. “All I need is this thread— Now just watch him unwind!”

And watch they all did, Both relieved and alarmed, As none but Magnus Bane Emerged - wholly unharmed.

Beside him there stood A tall skeleton man. A wide grin crossed his face, And he lifted his hand.

With Izzy forgotten, Oogie let out a scream. “No! Not skeleton Jack, The Pumpkin Patch King!”

“Yes indeed, Oogie-Boogie! ‘Tis none other than I Here to rescue the friends Of this strange Warlock guy!”

Magnus offered a bow And, to his friends, a smirk. “I had a small feeling That this would work!”

“What do you mean?” They demanded in sync. But he offered them only A small, knowing wink.

Meanwhile Jack bested That bizarre Oogie fellow, Who fell to the ground With a most fearsome bellow.

“Confound you, Jack! I’ll beat you, I will! And, when I do, I’ll turn you to swill!”

“Perhaps, my dear Oogie, But it won’t be tonight. Now go on back home! Get out of my sight!”

And with a wave of his hand To the cauldron he threw That cruel Oogie-Boogie Into his Mouse Stew.

He turned to the hunters, Oggie’s screams still a-ringing, And, as though nothing had happened, They found Jack was grinning.

“I’m terribly sorry For my associate’s tricks. I hope you’ll forgive me For letting him slip?”

“I still don’t get What happened tonight.” Alec asked dear Magnus, “What caused this great fright?”

“I think that you’ll find,” Magnus said with a sigh, “That our dear Seelie Queen’s Been a thorn in our side.”

“It seems that she thought The kids might enjoy A Halloween Town visit And all it employs.”

“I assure you,” Jack said, “It won’t happen again. I hope you won’t mind If I call you all ‘friend’?”

“Er, sure. Should be fine?” Jace said with a shrug. “Just don’t get too friendly, And don’t too snug.”

“Of course not!” Jack laughed. “It’s Halloween Night! I’ve got ghouls to raise And children to fright!”

And before they could reply, He turned with a clap, And the great Pumpkin King Was gone in a snap.

Magnus Bane sighed As the fog started to clear. “I’m glad all that’s over With no more to fear!”

“Yes, all seems well, And no one was hurt.” Clary looked to her friends. “So, no more alert?”

“Well, there’s just one more thing,” Izzy noted with glee. She threw her arms ‘round her friends And screamed,

“HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!”

#shadowhunters #shadowhunters tv #the nightmare before christmas #magnus bane #clary fray #jace herondale #isabelle lightwood #alec lightwood #jack skellington #oogie boogie #lock shock and barrel #fanfiction #halloween #fluxx fics #when worlds collide #happy halloween everyone!!!

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maczazind · 7 years

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Film Diary 2017: August AKA "The Month Where I Crossed A Lot Off Of My Watchlist"

I found myself playing a major round of catch up last month, cramming three months worth of detailed movie reactions into one massive film journal post. But finally, I’m back on track with quite the larger month so far in 2017 as I cross off some highly notable titles from the past year off of my watchlist.

As always, the following reflects MY OWN OPINION. If you’d like to see these entries in full as the year progresses, each installment is given the tag “Film Diary 2017” so feel free to follow along! To see which movies I’m watching in real time prior to these posts, various ratings on a five star scale for assorted journal entries, likes and more, you can take a peek at my personal Letterboxd here & maybe even give me a follow there.

Each entry includes how every feature was primarily seen and an asterisk which denotes that viewing was the first time I’ve seen that movie in its entirety, despite possibly having seen pieces of the film previously or having a general knowledge of it. Numbering reflects the year’s overall total, not the monthly total.

89) August 1st: The Accountant* - DVD (Rental - Library); This first entry of the month I admittedly gained some new interest towards when news arrived that a sequel is reportedly in early development. Driving it home even more so was a glowing review from family members, as it had just arrived on HBO weeks prior. So having watched it, I can say I enjoyed it though I did manage to guess at least a few of the larger twists that seemed to have a impact towards others’ experience of the narrative. The story, when it irons itself out and gets rolling, ultimately can feel spiritually similar to that of Jack Reacher; both being solidly-crafted mystery thrillers centered around a man with an impressive set of skills. But where Tom Cruise delivers a military-trained badass, Affleck presents a character a bit more complex due to a high-functioning form of autism coupled with a number of interesting factors that I wouldn’t want to reveal for spoilers’ sake. Because of this, Affleck brings out a unique performance that’s demanded of him while its the supporting characters surrounding him who help define it and push it into new directions. Anna Kendrick is charming opposite Affleck as she finds a way to connect with him and ultimately gives the film a decent part of its emotional side underneath the mystery. Jon Bernthal is absolutely the scene stealer you wish was given more screentime, with his final scene in the film shining his talents wonderfully and his prior moments presenting a sly counterbalance to Affleck’s focused demeanor. Director Gavin O'Connor (who also helmed the incredibly moving feature Warrior that I highly recommend, along with the based on a true story Miracle) presents a thriller that certainly takes a novel approach, as it does feel like the tight style you see in various books brought to life on screen. As I stated, some of the larger surprises I was able to guess before their reveal; however, that doesn’t rob them of their overly satisfying and slick feeling when officially presented. In fact it actually adds more intrigue into the world, if anything. The Accountant is a good mystery that I certainly walked away from with more pros than cons. And if a sequel is to be made, I’m definitely intrigued by how Affleck, O'Connor and more will elevate the foundation laid out here.

90) La La Land* - DVD (Rental - Library); If you had asked me last Winter which of the contenders to emerge out of awards season caught my eye, I absolutely would have said La La Land. My hopes were definitely high as an impressive cast and the idea of a musical came forward under the direction of Damien Chazelle, who brought us the incredible Whiplash. As awards season took off, though, La La Land dominated to the degree of annoyance, resulting in many parodies, screen time, thank you speeches and ultimately a major downturn in my expectations. Six months later and far removed from the height of awards recognition, I can say that it absolutely deserved its praise & yet not everything presented shines as brightly as word of mouth would have you think. Chazelle crafts a great homage to classic Hollywood musicals of the past, heartfelt and passionate but perhaps a bit too predictable. Sebastian and Mia are both great individual personalities, equal parts charming, frustrating, and inspiring. They each come from very different worlds with very different passions, and it’s clear where that path will eventually lead them. I did, however, appreciate that 95% of what was presented in trailers and commercials as this sweeping love at first sight is given a twist to first time viewers with their origins and the songs sung at the time not painting the perfect picture. Seeing their relationship bloom is an interesting journey, with Emma Stone easily delivering the best performance of the film. And it all results in a finale that is both touching and oddly satisfying. Chazelle’s vision is presented with memorably shot scenes, and what helps boost the musical is a soundtrack from Dear Evan Hansen’s Pasek & Paul that will keep the catchy original songs stuck in your head for days to come. At the same time I feel it gets a bit too lost in the Hollywood love letter to give it a true edge, ultimately resulting in me gravitating more towards the intriguing exploration of themes in Whiplash as opposed to the spectacle of La La Land. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy nor believe La La Land is a great film; it absolutely is and I’ll wind up owning it on Blu-Ray someday for sure. But in the quest to measure up to the great musicals of the past and reinventing it for the present, a premise similarly presented just a few years ago in the award winning The Artist, it’s just too heavy of a task at times.

91) August 2nd: Big Night* - DVD (Rental - Library); Watching as much Youtube as I do, the hit cooking channel Binging with Babish landed this feature on my watchlist after his episode in which he crafted the film’s signature dish. It took awhile to hunt down the movie, but I finally managed to get my hands on it and ultimately found it to be an enjoyable little gem. The story at the center made me laugh plenty, with characters that were fun to watch, music and food that demanded your attention, interesting relationships to watch as they jump their respective hurdles, and even an ending that is more poignant with a message to deliver than it is overly satisfying.

92) Arrival* - DVD (Rental - Library); Continuing to close out my watchlist of films I missed in 2016, this sci-fi feature arrived last year and caught my eye due to director Denis Villeneuve who previously impressed me with thrillers Prisoners and Sicario. An alien invasion story that unfolds the more we discover what’s going on alongside the characters, Arrival has an absolutely gripping first act that evokes a tense feeling reminiscent to Signs and The Day The Earth Stood Still. To see the scope expanded beyond just what our cast is doing and take into consideration how the perspective of the invasion differs in countries around the world is an intriguing concept that helps drive the hurdles to the exploration at large. The second act tends to drag as really we somewhat plateau with the characters getting a bit too comfortable for the intrigue to really continue. However, this results in a third act with a surprise that I absolutely adored as it tends to reflect on the film in an entirely new angle. As for performances, Amy Adams really holds scenes strongly on her shoulders while similarly working well opposite most of the supporting cast. At the end of the day though, Villeneuve pulls off a memorable original sci-fi entry that makes me excited for his upcoming turn with Blade Runner so long as he can shake that mid-movie halt present here.

93) August 3rd: Ouija: Origin Of Evil* - DVD (Rental - Library); I’m attempting to keep a majority of my horror movie queue until next month as we start to move into the Halloween season. But as this one became available, I decided to take a shot. I’d yet to see the original Ouija as so-so reviews mostly kept me at arm’s length and in the years since it never really emerged as a must-see entry in the genre. However the prequel gained my attention last year when after a large marketing campaign, and its stance as the only horror themed outing for the 2016 Halloween box office, it intriguingly gained a positive reception. And after seeing it I can certainly see the appeal. At it’s core is a 60s-set haunted house movie driven by the title game that perhaps I enjoyed less for its scares and more for its plot. A fan of the Paranormal Activity franchise, the skeleton underneath it all felt like quite the similar set-up with a family you’re set to care for, demons, and all of the supernatural happenings taking place under one roof as the small nods ramp up into a bigger climax. What elevates it even more is director Mike Flanagan’s visual style. Flanagan pulls off something impressive by managing to fully immerse the story in a setting that truly does feel like the 1960s in nearly every aspect. Furthermore, there are quite a few shots in this movie that actually made me walk away impressed because they gave off a unique look that wound up sticking with me. The cast, likewise, is strong and plays in the world well; the younger actors are impressive in their delivery of the material (so much so that one of them is continuing the horror prequel haunts in Annabelle: Creation this month). My minor gripes are that while I found everything compelling enough, it didn’t offer too much in outright scares for myself; though I strongly admire that Flanagan goes for an overwhelming sense of creepiness and awe over what’s unfolding as opposed to a cheap string of jump scares. Additionally the CGI - while not used overwhelmingly - isn’t up to snuff thanks to the film’s low budget, as the few scenes it’s utilized in come across as late ‘90s level at best and SyFy original movie level at its worst. In the end, Ouija: Origin Of Evil was a solid watch that managed to now not only put Flanagan’s recent horror release Oculus on my watchlist but also possibly the original Ouija, as from what I briefly glanced I now have the perfect set-up towards it.

94) August 5th: Big Eyes* - Streaming (Netflix); I’m honestly not sure what compelled me to turn on this Tim Burton directed feature from a few years ago. Perhaps it just struck me as the right time to finally check it off my watchlist? Regardless, what transpires is a solid story that doesn’t quite emerge as one of the director’s finest films but manages to at least tell an intriguing true story. Burton manages to put his own unique spin on a biopic, not to Ed Wood heights however, as this art tale comes off quite different thanks to the central romance and Christoph Waltz’s character. Certain shots definitely evoke an early Burton feel through the visuals presented, such as the way he plays with color in a certain way on screen. But likewise, the story never manages to overly wow you beyond your personal fascination of the key struggle, and I think part of that has to do with Waltz as well. A strong actor, his initial take in which his role is supposed to be alluring and comforting in the first half comes off just too over the top, to the point you know that you shouldn’t trust this guy, even if a more effective outcome in the grand scheme of things demands you to. And it’s that mismatch that left me wanting something more in that execution, honestly, as the failure to be as swept away as Adams’ character had led to a disconnect for me that followed throughout. When things reach their peak, there is an empowering feeling to Adams that really emerges until the credits roll, despite an ending that can be a bit too comedic but at the same time satisfying as well. Far from an absolute hard hitting biopic, Big Eyes at least manages to do something different with the genre for a take almost as different as its interesting story, even if it’s not the cleanest brushstrokes.

95) August 6th: T2 Trainspotting* - DVD (Rental - Library); Back in January (when my journal posts weren’t so finely detailed), I had seen Trainspotting and walked away with an impactful reaction towards the film of entertaining and heartbreaking proportions. At the time, I knew a sequel was on the horizon but distanced myself from the initial word of mouth because I had no nostalgic attachment that many others have had. Seeing the sequel, my take is that it’s a fine expansion that doesn’t hit nearly as hard as the original but still manages to have a damn fun time with the characters. This go-around feels less about the overall theme of addiction and more about the aftermath of the first film’s climax, despite a great handful of our leads still being addicted to various things and even some trippy imagery in the middle of it all. The thematic focus this time is the impact of the original’s ending and the friendship divide it led to, in addition to whether or not those bonds can be repaired or not. In that respect it certainly works, with your intrigue as to where these characters are at and your compassion for them driving a good deal of the movie. Similarly it’s a change up that gives it a thankful new focus instead of simply being another sequel dealing with the same exact skeleton for a quick cash grab, as most non-blockbuster sequels tend to turn out. In doing this, director Danny Boyle tends to turn the attention inward for all these characters as they confront their current state and where they should be going after their dreams didn’t necessarily wind up going according to plan. Boyle reflects this in various ways, perhaps most notably a scene in which the lyrics for Queen’s “Radio Gaga” tend to relate rather fittingly. But as I’ve said, this is all well and good as long as you’re expecting more fun than you are another hard hitter. Character driven, I never quite felt like the situations at large were ever out of their controls nor that the conflict would result in any major surprises. At the same time, there’s a “dynamic” that’s cooked up that the film feels it needs to adhere to in order to give the plot one little left turn at the end that doesn’t really feel as grand as it wants to be. If you enjoy these characters and are looking to have simply a fun night out with them all these years later, absolutely take the chance.

96) August 8th: Ouija* - DVD (Rental - Library); Ugh. I had to. I really had to go and let the mythology get the better of me. After seeing the prequel the previous week I decided to go back and watch the first installment that originated the story, despite terrible initial critical reception trying to convince me otherwise. That being said, I can’t accurately put into words how much I disliked this movie. Where Origin Of Evil has a thematic motif of a haunted house film, it’s almost as if Ouija is confused as to what it wants to be. In some parts it’s recognizable modern-horror fare with a demonic mystery, which doesn’t kick into high gear until halfway through the film, and then a lunge into full on supernatural confrontation. In fact, the haunting scenes leading into the overly supernatural half of the film feels more like it would’ve worked better as a slasher feature surrounding the teen characters. But the way it unfolds is in a frustrating blend of bizarre character choices, lack of any emotional reactions to twists, confusing time placement to put the prior into context, and more. There’s dumb horror thinking - such as simply accepting the stovetop turned on and proceeding to bed upstairs - and then there’s just absolutely bizarre, unexplained horror thinking - such as the parents’ of one of the victims vaguely “going away” IMMEDIATELY after their daughter’s death and leaving our lead character in charge of housesitting. And that’s just in the first 20 minutes. 95% of the horror in this movie builds up to a cheap jump scare; characters dying are barely given any kind of emotional reaction by our leads as they just go on with their lives; time in between scenes is even more abstract as dialogue to let go of their grief seems shockingly too soon. It’s just a mess. I’m willing to pay the film a compliment in that the CGI presented here is noticeably better than its prequel, even despite this entry having less of a reported budget. Additionally, Olivia Cooke does her damn best with what she’s given as her turn as Laine is perhaps the strongest of the cast. Origin Of Evil is certainly an effective evolution of whatever Ouija attempted to do, and I still absolutely recommend it. But if you’re looking for a chronological extension, it’s best to stay in the ‘60s because boy oh boy this script is ultimately what drags the whole movie down.

97) August 9th: Live By Night* - DVD (Rental - Library); This gangster film adaptation managed to come and go quickly from theaters, also managing to break Ben Affleck’s critical momentum as a director in recent years. Live By Night certainly has a visual flair about it, but easily this is my least favorite film directed by the Argo visionary. The pacing is slow as all hell, managing to change gears half an hour in and repositioning itself as a potential revenge-driven story, but never quite managing to find a strong a focus on that. Likewise, I find that Affleck’s performance following this shift leads to him mostly stone faced, leaving me wishing that we could have seen more behind his persona that peeks out but never quite gives him a beating heart. Supporting characters help add personality to that leading man though; Zoe Saldana is great, sly and lovable, Elle Fanning’s character has a great turn that I actually liked as her actress dreams finally grant her an audience she craves. But it never impressed as much as it should. The building of this new empire lacks the power it should easily exude because there’s always a threat in the way that never allows us to bask in the glory, and even lacks the confidence of strength to squash said menace at the same time. Characters all play in this muddled sandbox of conflicting motives and ideals with a drawn out ending that goes for poetic rather than satisfying, and ultimately while there are cogs to admire as the story machine pumps along, it’s far from well-oiled.

98) August 10th: Hell Or High Water* - DVD (Rental - Library); Going from one outlaw tale to the next, I’m happy to say Hell or High Water is one film I walked away in awe of, as it presents a charming, entertaining thriller that I absolutely adored. The plot immediately drops you in the thick of things, allowing much to be discovered by these characters that drive the events that transpire, leaving a slow, unfolding motive to interest you throughout. The tone brushes with western noir in quite a few ways, but at the same time has a lot of fun with the chemistry between our two central pairs; Chris Pine and Ben Foster play off each other fantastically for a dynamic yin & yang type of performance, while Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham share a very similar relationship posed on an opposite moral side. And what easily helps is a well-rounded script from Taylor Sheridan, that manages to make you laugh one moment, feel shocked the next, and marvel at plenty of tense encounters. I felt like director David Mackenzie’s feature was a longshot earlier this year to take home the title for Best Picture, and yet I walk away many months later feeling as if it would’ve deserved that underdog fight. Easily one of the best impressions of the month and the year at large.

99) Batman: Return Of The Caped Crusaders* - DVD (Rental - Library); As someone never overly attached to the late Adam West’s portrayal of Batman, I still give it a great amount of respect. I grew up in a time lucky enough to be swarmed with Batmen on television through The Animated Series, Beyond, Justice League and even Nickelodeon reruns of West’s version as well. Released last Fall, Return of the Caped Crusaders continued the fun of that original campy era with a number of original voices in tow, with the return of West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar. What results is a harmless, well-crafted love letter that is campy as always. The comedy is great, with the story and tone more in line with the original show for both its highs and lows. If anything, the film feels best described as being of the same spirit as the classic Hanna Barbera cartoons. The script is packed with plenty of fantastic homages and fourth wall breaks that only gain even more of a spotlight having built up over the years thanks to internet culture. Where it really finds a hard time is with pacing and balance. The first half hour follows the original show’s storytelling method almost verbatim for a straight half hour that once the charm of experiencing the classic atmosphere fades, it really starts to drag. Thankfully the plot manages to find a second wind afterwards to propel the second half, but at the same time can’t build anything quite serious enough to stand on confidently. For die hard fans of the original, unlike myself, this is absolutely a movie made for them. And though I see the flaws which led towards a more shaky reception, there’s still some fun to be had amidst everything else.

100) Get Out* - DVD (Rental - Library); For my 100th movie of the year milestone, I finally was able to see easily one of the most acclaimed and my most anticipated films of 2017 in Get Out. And man did it live up to the hype. Director Jordan Peele not only manages to create a creepy atmosphere all the way around while at the same time tackling major social issues, but does so with an incredible cast top to bottom led by breakout Daniel Kaluuya. Much like Ouija: Origin of Evil, what it lacks in outright traditional scares it makes up for in genuinely eerie and skin crawling tension. There are even some visual representations of the film’s main theme of racial & social divides and injustices that will have you rewatching the film over and over again. Even if you guess some of what transpires, the third act manages to squeak out some real surprises. The ending managed to evoke a real gut-drop of an emotional reaction from myself only to sophisticatedly subvert it in a way that has left a very lasting impression. A must-buy-on-Blu-Ray from me, and I’m happy to finally add to the number of voices praising this original feature that deserves said praise.

101) August 11th: xXx: Return Of Xander Cage* - DVD (Rental - Library); Vin Diesel has easily come back to the top of the box office thanks to the return and retooling of the Fast and Furious over the past decade. But truly, that’s been his only series of films go score a hit with audiences lately (unless you consider his turn as Groot in Guardians). When it was announced he would be returning as Xander Cage in another xXx film, I mostly had mixed feelings. The first entry was never my cup of tea, and I easily watched the sequel with Ice Cube more when I was younger (one of the few films I owned on UMD for the original PSP). So heading into this movie, I didn’t quite know what to expect. But ultimately I received an entertaining, endearingly over the top, big dumb fun action movie. The best way I can describe it is Return of Xander Cage feels like a film plucked out of that early-to-mid 2000s action genre where it also originated, for both its strengths and flaws. Diesel presents a performance that is definitely a change of pace from Dom in Fast and Furious; he really seems like he’s having plenty of fun in all his quippy charming pleasure. And honestly, there’s a good chance the feature would’ve crumbled without his presence. The story isn’t nearly as complex as they want it to be, with any real twists being seen from a mile away thanks to the classic “oh hey I kinda recognize that guy from somewhere” tactic spelling out importance later on down the road. Most of it has to do with a macguffin chase that is the only thing driving the plot forward. A great number of characters are introduced in a Suicide Squad manner that I’m sure many out there will roll their eyes over. Ruby Rose and others are awesome badasses, while others lean a bit too far into their roles; Toni Collette’s hard-ass company woman lacks the back & forth to come off as anything but blandly annoyed, and Nina Dobrev’s Becky is there for an overly comedic infusion that can feel really off balance compared to the tone of the rest of the action and one liners. As the team is assembled and the plot comes to a close, I just couldn’t help but feel as if the set up for another feature ultimately had more potential than this entry, as it had finally laid down the foundation for something bigger. The action gets better the longer the film goes on, but if I’m being honest the most sly and impressive action set piece occurs halfway through the film with a private island party setting. Additionally, when the action looks practical it really hits well; those assisted by CGI do not and simply take you out of it due to its highly stylized appearance. In the end, Return of Xander Cage requires even more extension of disbelief than your typical Fast and Furious entry, but is packed with some truly genuine charm and world building that is still pretty fun. If they can execute their ending set-up right and develop a story that’s both better and WAY less goofy, there’s potential we could see this series elevated beyond this chapter teetering the line of enjoyable and stupid.

102) August 12th: Silence* - DVD (Rental - Library); Upon awards season heating up last year, there was a little bit of talk behind Martin Scorsese’s latest film Silence that didn’t reach the crescendo of other competitors alongside it. Regardless of this, I still wanted to give it a look and see if it lived up to the hype. And while it definitely needs to overcome an incredibly long runtime, it’s when the movie switches gears following the first hour that a truly impressive outing is presented. Slow paced at first, it’s after that aforementioned time passes by we truly get to the meat of our tale and with it a story that rests firmly on the shoulders of Andrew Garfield. In that focus, Garfield gives an absolutely powerhouse performance that is just captivating to watch as he is put through an emotional ringer. I have yet to see Hacksaw Ridge, which he was nominated for, but a case easily could have been made for a nomination here as well had he failed to secure the nod originally. It’s in this stage as well that the film gains its true depth as we see a test of faith in many forms for our protagonists throughout; faith in their missing mentor, faith in their guide who they don’t fully trust. And Scorsese visually astounds as he ties in thematically to various parts of The Bible, with the allegories losing subtlety the longer the film goes on. For some reason, I originally didn’t think Silence would be as overwhelmingly religious in its nature as it was, despite its premise, but it is and it may turn off some audience members in that exploration. But I also saw the artistic side of it in terms of relating the ongoing plot to that of the classic text and simply found myself impressed at what Scorsese accomplished. In the end, if you can endure the slow burn introductory act and are set to see the story through, there is plenty to capture your attention later on that will leave a longer lasting impact well after the credits roll.

103) August 13th: Selma* - TV (DVR - FX); Sitting on my DVR from earlier in the week, I found this to be the right time to watch this film in light of recent events. And Selma is as amazing as people have said, reaching the right tone of powerful and heartbreaking to examine the Civil Rights movement and their marches. At the heart of it all is David Oyelowo leading a great all-star cast, with Oyelowo presenting a stunning, moving performance that absolutely should’ve been nominated for awards at the highest level. Through his heart and emotion as Martin Luther King Jr., the narrative reaches deeper emotional depths beyond those already presented that even managed to make me misty eyed at one point. Definitely an important feature to watch.

104) Justice League: Dark* - DVD (Rental - Library); My second WB-animated outing of the month, this entry falls more in line with the ongoing DC animated film canon that I’ve been very touch-and-go with in recent years. The latest entry from the studio to get an R-rating, I had anticipation for this outing as it not only featured the return of TV’s John Constantine in Matt Ryan but was also a preview of what may hit the big screen sooner rather than later in live action. And overall, I have to say it was solid but felt far more at times like a pilot for a television series than a standalone feature. The main plot feels a bit so-so in its slow build up, introduction of team members, assembly of said team and more, until a very late third act results in a memorable showdown with some true strength. Did it deserve an R-rating? While I don’t believe it grasps as dark of a tone as The Killing Joke, it does feature some undoubtedly dark moments and creepy imagery that certainly makes a case for the rating, but debatable. As for the voice work, I’ll admit it took a bit of warming up to, especially in the realm of Ryan gaining his spark as Constantine the longer the film goes on, having to shift his role from the usual portrayal to behind the mic. Notably, Camilla Luddington is absolutely fantastic as Zatanna and boosts the material incredibly well, while Nicholas Turturro is very entertaining as Deadman. It wasn’t the strongest of the DC Animated Original Movie canon thus far, however it’s far from the weakest. If anything, a solid foundation into the more mystic side to present further adventures rather than an overly satisfying standalone.

105) August 15th: Disney’s Beauty and The Beast (2017)* - DVD (Rental - Library); Before I begin this reaction, I feel I have to tackle the subject of the recent Disney remakes to indicate my headspace. I was grown up strongly on Disney from a very early age and there are various films from their history that hold a special place. In recent years, Disney has unleashed a number of live-action remakes that in my opinion take the base story of the originals and attempt to elevate them beyond the iconic scenes that you can never ever replace in animated form. So far some of the remakes (The Jungle Book) have achieved this much better than others (Maleficent). This year it was Beauty and The Beast’s turn and while admittedly the original was a well-remembered feature, it is far from my personal favorite. But now that I’ve seen the remake, I have to say how absolutely impressed I am. Taking the original story, the live action version manages to expand in key areas that wildly impress; Belle emerges far more independent and self-sufficient, Maurice is granted a much more emotional side that deepens his relationship with his daughter and is woven into the plot in bigger ways. Josh Gad sheds a more comedic and goofier typecasting for a Le Fou that is given depth, attempting to serve as a well-calculated conscience for Gaston while still delivering sharp-witted humorous lines and subtle emotional intentions as well to fantastic effect. Backgrounds for both our main leads are explored to heartbreaking success, though I do wish The Beast was still given more beyond a single flashback for additional sympathy (and a freakin’ human name would STILL be nice). Everything else either matches well with the original as classic scenes and songs are brought to life, while the supplemental songs are just as catchy and provide more emotional context (such as “Evermore” or “Days in the Sun”, the latter of which reads as a more somber yet satisfying replacement to the extended cut’s “Human Again”). The acting is strong from all fronts; the enchanted castle inhabitants did take a little bit of getting used to on my end and don’t necessarily hit the same iconic look of the animated version. There are even some surprising developments as the film’s story goes on as well that adds more for the plot and characters to gain from. Personally, I adored this version despite whatever shortcomings it may have and Disney manages to prove that updating their classics can still be a worthwhile endeavor. If you haven’t, definitely check this out when it hits Netflix for U.S. subscribers in the coming weeks.

106) August 16th: Phoenix Forgotten* - DVD (Rental - Library); The popularity of the found footage style in film has continued to simmer down, following its resurgence courtesy of the phenomenon that was the first Paranormal Activity. The horror genre has produced plenty of entries using the method in the years following, but a few additional found footage sci-fi narratives popped up to notable intrigue in that time, such as 2012’s Chronicle. Earlier this year prior to my screening of Kong: Skull Island, a trailer played that caught me completely off guard for a new sci-fi found footage film called Phoenix Forgotten that is based around the mysterious real life Phoenix lights event of 1997 and looked almost to be the alien/sci-fi version of The Blair Witch Project. The feature arrived quietly in some theaters one month later and has now arrived on home video just a few weeks ago. And while the concept is intriguing, the pacing comes off as wildly sluggish as it attempts to balance two timelines. The film is packaged as a documentary that admittedly at times had the exact quality look of real life docs that have impressed on Netflix in recent years. In this fictional doc, though, we are told a story between present day and 1997 as the now-grown-up younger sister of our subject in the 90s footage attempts to piece together what happened to her missing brother. The present day set-up helps support the other plot, sure, but once the 90s footage starts to grow intriguing its that storyline you ultimately want to stick with. However, it’s when the present day interlude pops its head in at one of the most inopportune times that it almost halts any momentum the handheld “shaky cam” portion attempted to build. We’re taken through various bridges before we can ultimately get to the real climax of the film in the 90s material, and even afterwards when perhaps you need answers the most, all we get is some text on screen as opposed to any type of continuation or conclusion from the present day story. And it’s this off balance that left me cold to Phoenix Forgotten as I couldn’t help but feel that it was stunted in its growth. It’s the constant stopping that bored me and after the most interesting part of the movie arrives thankfully uninterrupted, the other side of the movie simply refuses to carry the torch any further as we head to credits instead of build on its own momentum as well. I understand that I am part of a massive divide on this movie, as internet comments throughout have been pretty evenly mixed between people who hate it and people who adore it. While I loved the concept and the ideas presented in various moments do have a great deal of interest, this UFO simply couldn’t beam me up.

107) August 17th: The LEGO Batman Movie* - DVD (Rental - Library); The LEGO universe is rolling forward quite hard this year, with The LEGO Ninjago Movie arriving in theaters soon. The original The LEGO Movie was a quick-witted, hilarious, and charming endeavor with Batman being a standout character in a supporting capacity. This spin-off certainly received positive reception, and I enjoyed it well enough. It’s nowhere near as smart in its humor as its predecessor, but presents an impressive deconstruction of the entire Batman legacy by exploring his core role and relationships, especially including the ones with the Bat family and The Joker. There are wonderful nods to other incarnations of the hero, as well as his universe, while the climax of The LEGO Movie helps enhance the more absurd elements that pop up, even in terms of pop culture crossover. The inclusion of a key piece from Superman’s stories actually brings something different not seen in this corner of the Dark Knight’s films. It still skews overall younger in its demographic range, and I would argue even more so than The LEGO Movie did, but is still fun. It’s not the most satisfying or groundbreaking animated feature, and yet a worthy second installment in the brick-filled franchise.

108) August 19th: Inferno* - DVD (Rental - Library); I was never one that particularly gravitated towards the phenomenon that was The Da Vinci Code at the height of its popularity. I had seen the previous two films and thought they were solid but short of the top tier blockbusters or thrillers they strived to be. After a seven year gap between films, the franchise continued with little fanfare last year in the third installment Inferno, which in my opinion was fine but ultimately felt like a dull next chapter against a sharp ongoing narrative. The main premise of this adventure immediately puts lead character Robert Langdon at a disadvantage, left to discover exactly what is going on, and yet in the progression of that journey he still feels outpaced. At one point there are seemingly three different factions working against a Langdon not at his full strength, which is increasingly overwhelming the longer the story switches their morality around, and leaves a bit of a mess in its wake because of it. The script at least presents a mystery in the middle of all the clutter to latch on to, and wisely explains a variety of plot threads that manage to come-and-go by the time credits roll. Action sequences can feel slow paced at times, bundled with some CGI that stands out as well. In the end, perhaps this was better left to the page, as the complex mystery thriller can wind up more forgettable than captivating this time around.

109) The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - Streaming (HBO Go); It’s been awhile since I traveled to the fantasy world beyond the wardrobe. A notable feature upon its release and a story largely taught to me in school for its thematic focuses & allegories, I never got around to falling for anything beyond this initial adventure. As one of my best friends made her way through the trilogy, I decided that perhaps it was time to revisit the saga before it undergoes a planned reboot of sorts in Hollywood. First up is the most notable entry in the saga that still holds up for the most part. The acting from our core four actors really differs, getting a bit better as it goes on but leaves a bit to be desired. Likewise, some smaller shots with green screen backgrounds notably stand out 12 years later as the technology has advanced. Early career James McAvoy is still an absolute scene stealer; Tilda Swinton stands strong as does Liam Neeson’s voice performance as their titular characters. The end battle is still a blockbuster climax that captures your attention as much as a similar faceoff in Game Of Thrones would. I don’t know if it was the fact that I’ve gone through the central story multiple times before, but ultimately I wound up feeling as if the film felt lighter to me and I wasn’t as sucked in as I may have been the first time around. At the same time, with my determination to finally see the trilogy through, that may have been because upon this rewatch I see it simply as a reintroduction and the first act of the films to come.

110) August 20th: The Space Between Us* - DVD (Rental - Library); This sci-fi feature seemed to come and go rather quickly earlier this year, sneaking under the radar as more high profile fare made its way to theaters. Curious due to the cast involved, I was interested in whether or not the original story would come as a pleasant surprise. And for awhile, it actually did. The first act of the movie I thought was fantastic, filled with a interesting concept, themes, and relationships that are set up which could easily be explored for a powerful emotional undercurrent. In fact, it’s at this point that I thought perhaps the marketing of an overly young adult romantic adventure and cheesy title pegged it wrong. Asa Butterfield comes off great here as the lone teenager of Mars, a dreamer of a life beyond his highly isolated one, and even sharing a promising dynamic with his surrogate mother (Carla Gugino). However, it’s halfway through when the film loses its edge as a fish out of water tale by changing gears towards Earth. It’s here the central romance is pushed aggressively towards the front, with the adults shoved to the side until late in the third act, left to simply chase our lead around as it’s reduced to a road trip movie instead. That being said, Britt Robertson does a great job as an individual with her own dreams, which syncs her up with Butterfield not only in tone but in dynamic as the more grounded of the duo to present a yin and yang repertoire. Here, though, the romantic dialogue seemed to get more cringe-inducing as it goes on, with quite a few eye rolling moments in tow, a plot twist that didn’t sit well with me, and an ending that similarly landed way too flat. And it’s that second half that disappoints me the most, as so much potential is set up early on just waiting to be explored thanks to it’s unique premise. Instead of focusing on the complicated bonds, his very hidden existence, an entirely different culture, the loss of his mother & more, it’s the magnification of the cutesy star-crossed lovers that leans too heavily into cliché and left a lesser impression as a result.

111) August 21st: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian* - DVD (Rental - Library); Going into the second installment of the Narnian trilogy, I recalled seeing a portion of this film many years ago but never finishing the entire outing as I didn’t like the drastic time jump at first. Rewatching it now, I can state it’s my favorite of the three entries thus far. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a small share of problems, such as its bloated runtime, and it not being as allegorically deep or thematically satisfying with a focus more so on an action template. But in that note there’s also a lot to be explored in that length. At the close of the last film, our core four characters lived into adulthood as the royalty of Narnia, only to be reverted back to their childhood selves upon rediscovering their original portal into the world. An abrupt ending at that point left much to be desired, and Caspian absolutely enjoys delving into that as we see not only the toll its had on the four of them but a new sense of maturity in the quartet as well. It’s there we get into a generally more mature outing, where the stakes are even higher for the fate of Narnia itself as opposed to strictly its leadership, and likewise the actors present better performances as a reflection of all these combined elements. While half of our key siblings are destined to not return in the sequel in a leading capacity, the ending here gives a heartfelt conclusion that grants us a better close than the previous entry, capitalizing on our time spent with the Pevensies and more confident in their road ahead.

112) Now You See Me 2* - DVD (Rental - Library); The previous Now You See Me managed to impress me enough as a sly magic-fueled thriller and capitalized on the atmosphere with a twist ending that’s a nice touch despite not quite being spelled out narratively beforehand. It’s not the greatest, but certainly an entertaining outing. The sequel, however, steps in a completely different direction for a handful of reasons. For starters, I feel as if the trailers were a bit misleading, as the direction seemed to indicate that perhaps this time around the magic would have some reality to it (spoilers: no it doesn’t). Additionally the secondary tone underneath the primary thriller goes way more comedic, which is better when contained in a surprisingly great relief character such as Lizzy Caplan, but is presented too widespread here and is an odd contrast to the foundation laid out by the first film. Having to tackle the first film’s aftermath is intriguing enough, attempting to widen the scope beyond our core group and similarly exploring the true identity of one of our leads. But with some in-fighting mixed with the lack of being the ones on top this time around, the engine isn’t exactly firing at full steam. And when it’s mixed with that aforementioned comedic slant in tone, the tricks fail to astonish and amaze as much as it did the first time around.

113) August 22nd: The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage of The Dawn Treader* - DVD (Rental - Library); I conclude my viewing of the Narnia trilogy with Dawn Treader, the entry that in my opinion seemed to have an uphill battle. Not only is this the first film in the series without Disney behind it nor director Andrew Adamson, it’s the first without two of the major four characters traveling to the title land due to the conclusion of Prince Caspian. And honestly with all of the changes, it’s my least favorite of the trilogy. Easily the shortest of the saga, it somehow feels the longest as the pacing is a bit weird. The opening reintroduction into Lucy and Edmund’s lives are barely driven home on an empathic level before we’re whisked away to Narnia. While Ben Barnes is back as Caspian and awesome as one of our leads, the massive change of accents between films proves a bit distracting. Additionally, the lack of a major villain for the first time in the series adds to the pacing problem despite a clear objective painted out. It just feels a bit listless and as if there isn’t much resistance to the flow of the story. That being said, somewhere in the thick of it all Lucy and Edmund’s personal stories are concluded rather well; even if I would argue Lucy’s is given more attention than Edmund’s. The acting may be the best of the three, especially when Will Poulter steals scenes as the infuriating yet enjoyable newcomer Eustace. And while the allegories come off less subtle this time around, it’s hard to knock Dawn Treader for it, as this leads towards easily the most emotional ending thus far; highly memorable, heartfelt, definitive and satisfying. All the behind the scenes shuffling may have prevented this installment from reaching bigger heights, but it’s a handful of character moments, a new dynamic, and that incredible ending which you cannot rob the third entry of.

114) Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Blu-Ray; Looking to shift my mindset from the Narnian conclusion, I at random decided to revisit a mid-90s animated feature that in my opinion only gets better the older you become. Hunchback is easily one of Disney’s darker and more mature outings, which as a kid I always liked for its visuals and songs but always felt a disconnect with. As I’ve grown older, though, the film has absolutely climbed my personal charts not just for its incredible songs (one of the greatest of which “Hellfire” accurately displaying an internal conflict for our villain) but for all its complex themes of religion, mass persecution based on class, morality through perspective, temptation, subverting your idea of the key romantic subplot to respect the platonic, and more. What hinders some of the maturity, though, is the more slapstick comedic moments filled with wacky sound effects, an example of which includes a chase scene in the middle of the main festival. And while yes The Gargoyle Trio are those goofy sidekicks that show up all throughout Disney’s animation, they do raise a very interesting purpose in serving as this intriguing outlet for Quasimodo that also reflects not only his isolation but his mentality in these three being simply a figment of his imagination created in his loneliness (before that’s seemingly thrown out the window as they fight back in the climax, but I digress). Going back now, there’s plenty to love about Hunchback that’s easily worth a revisit and may manage to impress those who haven’t seen it in awhile.

115) August 23rd: Dawn Of The Dead (2004)* - TV (DVR - IFC); This zombie-action reimagining from the mid-2000s has been notable over recent years not only because it’s grown a strong following, but also for its director Zack Snyder and writer James Gunn. Having caught bits and pieces over the years on cable, I finally sat down to watch the full film and while I admire it for the subversion of the iconic rules & perception of zombies from Romero’s original outings, it didn’t overly wow me. The factors leading to my timid reaction I believe are perhaps a bit of over hype from a vocal fanbase for the flick, but also the exhaustion of the genre in this post-Walking Dead culture, where there are certainly echoes of a similar dynamic in regards to a group focus and competing dynamics within. That being said, the more agile undead come across as terrifying, threatening antagonists that certainly lean into the film’s more general action-over-horror feel as to how they are dealt with by our core characters. Speaking of which, there are some solid entertaining arcs for a handful of the members, especially Michael Kelly’s C.J. and a highly memorable close to Mekhi Phifer’s Andre, that add a bit more substance beyond their initial first impressions in which they seem to fill a respective role in the crowd. It’s the farthest thing from what I’d define as a bad film; I just wish I had seen it before the over-saturation that’s emerged in the last decade, where it may have astonished me before zombies achieved another massive popularity boost.

116) August 25th: John Wick: Chapter 2* - DVD (Rental - Library); The original John Wick managed to impress me with badass action and a gritty, ruthless feel against a rather simple yet unique revenge story. And though the sequel lacks as big of an emotional undertone underneath it as its predecessor along with some pacing issues, the sequel still manages to surprise in new ways as the previously mysterious background of John’s prior assassin profession is explored and cracks the previously smaller scope wide open. The action remains as awesome as ever, with plenty of fantastic build up, tension in certain scenes, and intriguing matchups presented once the core narrative truly hits its stride. How exactly you anticipate the face-off between John and supporting characters certainly drives intrigue with the rest of the plot, as in the meantime we’re given a villain with a bit more mythology behind him, and plenty of rules in regards to the assassin organization that fuels the underbelly of the entire film. Additionally, this second installment sets up a third entry with such ease, anticipation and captures the imagination of what they could do now that they’ve painted themselves into a corner. Another enjoyable outing that I may have liked more than its first, despite any flaws.

117) August 26th: Split* - DVD (Rental - Library); It’s no secret that M. Night Shyamalan has let me down before. Hell, I went to go see The Happening and The Last Airbender in theaters for who knows what torturous reason. Regardless, I had yet to see Shyamalan 2.0 in action as The Visit has not made its way up my watchlist and this outing was quite the hunt as a physical rental. I can finally say I’ve seen Split, despite knowing full well what the “twist” extra scene at the end was well in advance, and it was a tense, well-acted thriller that overcomes some early sluggishness to work quite well. The first act tends to be where I saw the most faults, with standoffish dialogue between characters that left them initially cold and a general odd tone of lesser films from the director, which left me worried. But once more about our primary protagonist and antagonist are revealed, the plot takes off as an edge of your seat battle ensues. James McAvoy is absolutely astounding as the key player in all of this, afflicted with multiple personality disorder and making sure to convey each identity uniquely that will just leave you appreciative of his performance. Likewise, our lead on the other side of things Anya Taylor Joy gives a performance that grows heartbreaking the more you understand her, thanks to a backstory that breaks down her initial highly guarded walls. It’s the dynamic between these two that plays well to drive the set-up forward and has me intrigued in exactly how it may shift upon the addition of new cast members in the upcoming sequel. Mentioning that, the spoiled extra scene really didn’t hinder my opinion of the movie as a whole. In fact, it helped enhance some minor dialogue throughout, especially in regards to Dr. Fletcher’s psychological theories. When all is said and done, though Get Out easily takes the cake this year with its artistic subtleties bubbling under the surface, Split is a well crafted entry in the thriller category that lands Shyamalan back on my good side.

118) August 29th: A Cure For Wellness* - DVD (Rental - Library); I’m willing to admit this wasn’t one I was completely eager to see earlier this year, and yet upon its theatrical release I remember positive reactions from friends. So, I decided to give the film a try and found a visually stunning psychological thriller with a compelling mythology that unfortunately doesn’t move quick enough. That’s not to say I felt the film’s two and a half hour runtime felt overly dragging compared to other features this past month. In that regard, the movie manages its screentime and pacing rather well. But to me where A Cure for Wellness tends to lose some points is the second half in its failure to execute its reveals at quite the right time. The story articulates its mythology so well that I felt I knew exactly what was going on for awhile before Lockhart (Dane Dehaan) did, or before we reached the major unveiling in one of the film’s final set pieces, almost as if it was underestimating its audience in a way. And that’s disheartening as not only is the mythology a large part of what helps this story work, but what separates some good chunks of the film from also just being weird for weird’s sake. That being said, I actually liked A Cure for Wellness despite all its flaws. Dehaan does strong as the audience vehicle; Mia Goth is compelling as the complex patient whose innocence is a stark contrast towards a lot surrounding her; Jason Isaacs is an absolute scene stealer as the director of the facility. In the end, I feel that this is a movie that will easily divide people as its something many can perceive different things from. Some will see an overly creepy and intriguing mystery thriller; others will see the subtext of a life over analyzed and over medicated. For me, I found a blend of both but still wish there had been less of a beating around the bush in regards to the mythology, and more of an outright focus on exploring of the deep central themes.

119) Jackie* - DVD (Rental - Library); Another awards season contender, it seems I chose to end my month with two features with grief at their core. First comes the mourning of JFK, with a film that focuses on Jackie Kennedy and the days following the death of her husband. Natalie Portman delivers a strong portrayal of the former First Lady, showcasing not only immense strength but exceptional poise amidst the chaos of it all, managing arrangements her way, dealing with her brother-in-law, political factors, her children and so much more amidst a very heartbreaking loss. All of this is explored wonderfully and thematically as I sat in awe of how much Mrs. Kennedy had to endure. Storywise, I have to admit that I didn’t really get into the film until after the first act, which comes off non-linear as we jump across multiple timelines, until we finally settle on just two. From that point on we get to see the true emotional and thematic meat of the movie emerge and it can be quite intriguing. It didn’t knock me on my ass as much as it did other people, nor did it crack my top films of the month either, but it’s still a strong entry if you’re interested into the material.

120) August 30th: Manchester By The Sea* - DVD (Rental - Library); And finally, we have my last awards contender of the month. With only trailers and tv spots to go on, I didn’t quite know what to expect from Manchester By The Sea except for the wide consensus that it was sad. Imagine my surprise when I found myself chuckling early on at the odd charm the film presents, while at the same time intrigued as the story begins to uncover exactly what’s behind the lead character of Lee. Seemingly off-kilter, especially in his reactions towards his brother’s death, it’s when Lee’s story is revealed the film reaches deeper lengths in its grief theme as each of our characters are experiencing it in one form or another. The ending may upset people, but honestly I dug it as the reasoning is very prominent in the film through Lee’s actions, supporting characters’ examples, and it never robs the central story from its character development that it does build, especially between Lee and his nephew Patrick. Lucas Hedges steals the show in his breakthrough performance, and likewise Affleck works well to present a lead whose complexities are unveiled the longer the film continues. A strong watch that works on both an entertaining and artistic level, similar to that of Hell or High Water.

And that concludes my incredibly packed August! I expect the next month to be a rather slow one because I’ll be converting a good deal of my free time towards Destiny 2 as it’s released. But there are certainly some big films landing on my radar as we inch closer towards Halloween, including the remake of It and the sequel to Kingsman. Additionally, I’ve already begun to plan a horror-themed list of features, including an experimental rewatch of the Paranormal Activity franchise but in chronological order of events. Until then Guardians, I’m grabbing my Ghost, going to see Ikora Rey, and I’ll see you next time.

#film diary 2017 #movies #film #text post

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