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valleydean · 7 months

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Valley of God [Read chapters 1-4]

a deancas horror au by valleydean (emmbrancsxx0) halloween horror series

SUMMARY: Dean and Castiel have been dating for a little under a year, and things are going great - or, at least, that's what Dean thought. On the weekend before the summer solstice, Cas is hired to take a group of campers on an excursion through the Appalachian Trail in the Hundred-Mile Wilderness. Much to Cas' shock, Dean tags along. When the campers are attacked by mysterious forces in the forest, they end up in a peculiar town hidden under an eternal mist. Soon, members of their group start to go missing, and Dean can't shake the feeling that something led them to town for a purpose.

PREVIEW:

“Start from the beginning,” Ishim said.

At once, Charlie, Jo, and Victor began talking over each other.

Ishim held up his hand, silencing them. “One at a time.”

Everyone was quiet then, waiting for someone else to talk. When it became apparent no one would, Dean opened his mouth, figuring somebody had to do it.

Cas beat him to the punch: “We were hiking the Appalachian Trail and took a small detour to the ruins at the top of the mountain—”

“The old temple ruins?” Ishim confirmed.

Cas nodded. “We made camp not far from them. Some time in the middle of the night, we were awoken by… To be frank, I’m not sure what it was. Something attacked us. It shook our tents like it was trying to get inside.”

“An animal?” Ishim asked.

Cas shook his head. “No. I… We heard screaming. There were whispers. Some of us saw people in the forest.”

“Can you describe these people?”

“We didn’t get a good look at their faces. It was too dark.”

Ishim hummed. Then, “What happened then?”

“I thought it would be safer if we got off the mountain. I told the others to run,” Cas explained, and Dean narrowed his eyes at the back of his head. He remembered what Cas had said before he left the tent. Something about Dean being safer there. And now he was saying they hadn’t been safe at camp?

It didn’t make a lick of sense.

“We lost each other as we came down the mountain,” Cas was saying. “One of us may still be in the forest. If he isn’t here…” Cas shook his head mournfully down at his lap, but there was something in the line of his shoulders. Dean couldn’t place it. “I’m afraid he might be hurt.”

“Look, is it possible it was people from the town playing a prank?” Victor cut in.

Ishim sat back in his chair, not taking a second to mull it over. He shook his head immediately. “No. We keep to ourselves. We don’t get many outsiders.”

“You’re telling me,” Jo grumbled, probably thinking the same things Dean was.

The clothes, the streetlamps, the cobblestones, the town marshal? It all looked like something out of a 1800s period drama. Dean felt like he’d just stepped out of a time machine.

“Where are we?” Charlie asked.

Ishim said, “Nahaliel.”

Dean frowned. “That’s the name of the town? Kinda a mouthful.”

“It means Valley of God,” Ishim told him, shooting Dean a hostile look. Dean didn’t really care what the name meant!

Suddenly, the door swung open again. Dean jolted, at the end of his rope. He wasn’t the only one, because everyone whipped around, too.

Benjamin came back inside, two other people in tow. First was a slender guy who, even though it was the middle of the night, was dressed in a three-piece suit with a collarless shirt held together by a diamond stickpin. His shoulders were held back, making him look taller and more imposing than he actually was. Behind him, there was a stern-looking woman in a white blouse tucked into a long skirt. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun. An antique carved ivory cameo brooch was pinned to her collar.

Ishim stood up and said, “This is Raphael. He’s Nahaliel’s acting leader.”

Leader. Not mayor or governor. Leader.

Acting leader, actually. Dean didn’t know if it was worth it to ask what happened to their regular one. He really didn’t give a shit, anyway, considering how many other things were going on. Either way, these people were weird as hell.

Dean figured they must be Mennonite or something. That was the only explanation he could come up with.

“Raphael, these people were camping near the ruins on the mountain. They said something attacked them. One of them is still missing.”

“I see,” Raphael said. His tone was deep and dark, baritone. It shook inside the hollow of Dean’s bones. He spoke with absolutely no inflection at all. “Your friend?” He stood to the side of Ishim’s desk and gave them all the once-over. Dean felt himself tense when the guy’s eyes briefly passed over him. Like Raphael’s voice, his expression was unyielding and emotionless.

“Their friend,” Cas corrected. “They were on a tour. I’m their guide.” He said the last part sullenly, like he was blaming himself for what happened. For losing Garth. Dean’s heart tugged before he remembered he was mad at Cas.

Recovering, Cas looked up at Raphael again and said, “My name is Castiel.”

“Castiel,” Raphael repeated. “You were the guide for all…” He inspected everyone else again, like he was counting them. “Six of them?”

Dean’s forehead wrinkled. It was kind of a weird thing to say. Maybe the guy was just trying to figure out if everyone else was accounted for.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cas pull his shoulders back. “Yes. Including Garth.”

“The one who is missing?”

Cas nodded. “We thought, maybe, he saw the lights of your town and came here but…” He paused, and Dean could practically hear the cogs in his head turning. When he spoke again, he asked, “This town. How long have you been here?”

“A long time,” Raphael answered. “We were founded centuries ago.”

“That’s impossible. I’ve been this way hundreds of times. I’ve never seen this place.”

Dean tensed his fists on his lap, because Garth was still out there and they were getting off topic.

“Yet, here we are,” Raphael said.

“But—” Cas started.

Dean cut him off, “Who the hell cares?” He stood up, ready to go back into the damn woods and find Garth himself if he had to. “We’re wasting time standing around here with our dicks in our hands. Meanwhile, Garth’s still out there with who the hell knows what!”

“We will find your friend,” Raphael told him, slow and measured, and maybe Dean was just freaked out and overreacting, but this didn’t feel like the usual removed, calm public service guy attitude found in cops taking witness statements. Raphael was starting to piss him off.

Finally, Raphael turned to Ishim and said, “Form a search party and begin looking immediately.”

Ishim nodded, seeming ready to hop to it.

“Great!” Dean bit out. “I’m coming, too.”

“Me, too,” Victor said, his chair legs scraping on the wooden floor as he got up. Benny leaned off the wall.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve all been through an ordeal,” the woman who’d walked in with Raphael finally spoke. Everyone in the room turned to her. “You should rest. Let us handle the search.”

Dean told her, “Look, lady—”

“Naomi.”

“Right. Naomi,” he said, trying not to lose his patience. “I don’t think any of us are gonna rest very well until we find Garth. He’s our buddy.”

“And our people know these woods,” Naomi returned pleasantly. “There’s no sense in another one of you getting lost out there. Our marshal will find your friend quicker without you. In the meantime, there’s space for each of you at the inn. I’ll take you there. It isn’t far.”

Dean was still wary, even though the reasoning made sense. He looked at the others, trying to gauge what they were thinking. All of them shared uncertain looks with one another.

Cas sighed and relented, “Yes. Thank you.”

“Excellent. If you’ll follow me.”

Maybe all of them were just too bone-tired to do anything but go with the flow, but they all followed Naomi out of the marshal’s office. Together, they started down the street.

Ahead of him, Charlie and Jo had their arms around each other as they spoke in soft voices. Victor and Benny were looking around at their surroundings. Cas kept his head down, his shoulders tucked up to his ears.

Dean figured now was as good a time as any.

He rushed to Cas’ side and demanded, “You wanna tell me what the fuck all that was about at camp?”

Cas looked at him, expression drawn but eyes deep wells of emotion. “Dean, I promise, I’ll explain everything later.”

No way. Not good enough.

Dean stopped walking abruptly and grabbed Cas’ arm, manhandling him around. “Yeah, how ‘bout you explain now?”

Cas’ gaze roamed Dean’s face. His mouth was open, like he’d start talking at any second, but he never did. Dean didn’t know if he was searching for an excuse or what, but his patience was running out.

Cas inhaled. “Dean—”

“Please keep up! The mist is thick tonight. We wouldn’t want you losing your way,” Naomi called from up ahead, pausing to look back at them. The others did, too, all of them blinking Dean and Cas’ way.

Slight embarrassment uncurled in Dean’s gut. He looked back at Cas, whose face was shored up into a neutral mask again. Cas dipped his chin down and started walking after the others.

Dean flapped his arms against his sides in defeat and stomped after him.

#destiel #deancas #destiel fic #deancas fic #dean winchester #dean #castiel #cas #my writing #horror au

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smashinghalloween · 8 months

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Spooky Smash Event Sentence Starters

Happy October!!! Here's some starters to kick off the Halloween Event. These are a great way to get started interacting with everyone else participating! Feel free to alter as needed.

"Woah is that you ____?"

"What happened to me/you?!"

"I'm freaking out!"

"You look... different."

"Are you alright?"

"What's this?"

"This is really very strange."

"You look at home in this place."

"You fit in here."

"I feel sick..."

"Hey, calm down."

"You're not gonna bite me are you?"

"You don't look any different."

"Hey, how come you didn't change?"

"I don't think I can do this..."

"This is gonna take some getting used to."

"I like this."

"I hate this."

"Isn't this place great?"

"Is this a dream?"

"This is a nightmare."

"Shall we take a look around?"

"What the hell just happened?!"

"Who's the dancing skeleton?"

"Why is that dancing skeleton on fire?"

"So this guy is just like Santa, but for Halloween?"

"Wait, is that THE Jack Skellington?"

"The Pumpkin King?"

"He's so tall..."

"Do you think I can get his autograph?"

"You KNOW Jack Skellington?"

"Jack... Skellington?"

"Have you been here before?"

"Do you know this place?"

"Shall we meet the Mayor?"

"Can you show me around?"

"I can show you around if you like."

"Everybody's staring."

"Little help?"

"Need a hand?"

"I don't feel so good..."

"I need a moment..."

"It's so cold..."

"This is gonna drive me crazy."

"Where can I relax?"

"Bats! Bats everywhere!"

"There's a bat in my hair!"

"There's rats everywhere!"

"They look scary."

"I hate the sight of blood."

" What are you supposed to be?"

"Hey, you're freaking me out here."

"What do I look like?"

"I wish I could stay here all year."

"Is there a way to leave early..."

"How do I get outta here?"

"Don't leave me..."

"I feel really... strange..."

"Geez, what happened?"

"Is that a clown? I hate clowns..."

"Am I still cute/handsome?"

"I don't like the way the wolfman is looking at me."

"Those witches are eyeing you up."

"Whatever's in that cauldron looks disgusting."

"Whatever's in that cauldron smells really good."

"Is that the fucking Grim Reaper?"

"Do you have a napkin? This guy is melting all over me."

"These zombies are crowding me."

"This tree with the hanging skeletons is following me..."

"Shall we check out the rest of the town?"

"Let's check out that spiral hill."

"Wanna walk through the pumpkin patch?"

"I feel really hungry/thirsty all of a sudden..."

(Looking at graves) "Hey, I knew this person."

"Which way is the hotel?"

"Shall we stay at the dead and breakfast or Hotel Transylvania?"

"I just stepped in a pumpkin."

"These pumpkins are watching us..."

"Those crows are watching us..."

"The hotel is through the graveyard."

"Shall we go check in?"

"Woah, this hotel is huge!"

"Why's Count Dracula running a hotel anyway?"

"The real Count Dracula is here? Like 'bleh bleh bleh'?"

"Count Dracula is real?"

"Hey look, this place has a pool."

"Is that Frankenstein?"

"Actually it's Frankenstein's monster."

"What's your room like?"

"I can't find my room."

"What floor are you on?"

"I can't find my way around this hotel."

"Need a hand?"

"Are those shrunken heads on the doors?

"I'm lost."

"Can you stick with me? I'm scared..."

"Look, this place has five stars on tripadvisor."

"It's pet friendly too."

"The rooms have a minibar!"

"There's a live DJ every night."

"Let's check out the dining room/bar."

"It's actually really comfortable here!"

"The bellboys are all zombies..."

"Apparently it was built in 1895."

#event: spooky smashing fun #smashing halloween 2023 #event starters #mod jack

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quellmythirst · 2 years

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Autumn B&B

Summary: It's the busiest weekend of the year at your Bed & Breakfast. You almost of die of shock when someone you had only met once before shows up in your sleepy town.

Pairs: reader x Billy Russo

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: SMUT 18+ ONLY. Kissing, one night stands, strangers to lovers, choking, cream pie, Oral, pet names.

The world seems to be moving a million miles at second, the foyer is crammed full of guests, Ruby and Chole are trying to direct all the waiting guests into the lounge. But they all seem to want to speak to you. Unfortunately you’re only one person and can only get one couple checked in at a time. You expected it to be busy this weekend with the annual Halloween celebrations bringing all kinds of folks to your picturesque small town. They came for the trees, the pumpkins and most importantly the ball your Mayor threw in the old town hall on Halloween night.

It’s your biggest money maker of the year and you need the money. The foot traffic through your tiny B&B on Wattle Lake had been slow for the last year and you know that you’ll need to make up for the loss over the weekend. So every room is booked and apparently everyone had all come into town on the same bus. You really should have hired one more person, just another body, anybody. You didn’t though- “Ruby, babes!” you call from behind the desk, “Can you please take these gentlemen to Room 3A,”

“Yeah, Boss.” Ruby nods, “Off we go mates. You guys right for stairs?” she asks, leading them down the hall to the large staircase.

The day seems to last forever. The guests finally manage to dissipate as the sun crests in the sky and you seriously consider giving everyone their own checkout times for Monday so this doesn't happen again. “Coffee?” Noah asks, his overalls and boots tracking dirt all over your new rug. You can’t really find it within yourself to care, he does do such a good job keeping the gardens tidy and the guests out of your daisies.

“Please,” he nods in acknowledgment and takes off in the direction of the kitchen. You manage to flag down Hannah as she rushes by with a broom, “Han, honey. Can you please do me a massive favour?”

“I was just going to clean up all this dirt,” she shrugs, leaning the broom against the wall, “What do you need?”

“Can you start going over the bookings and make sure everyone's checked in, please.” she comes around next to you, shoving you out from behind the desk, “Thank you,” you bolt to the downstairs bathroom. After hours of sitting in the same place you really needed to go.

“Did you see the guy checking in?” Ruby asks you as she spots you in coming out of the bathroom, “How come you’re not checking him in? Hannah seems like she's about to start drooling,”

“What? I know she’s thirsty, but it can’t be-” you stop dead in your tracks. Hannah did indeed look like she had little hearts in her eyes, her dark hair twirling around her fingers while she leans into whatever this man was saying to her. You can’t see his face, only the back of him. His dark hair is slicked back, the leather jacket clinging to his broad shoulders and a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.

“Hannah,” you laugh, “You alright there honey?” you step a bit closer. Your heart nearly bursts from your chest when the man turns to face you, his expression of shock mirroring yours. Except that he has that slick smile you remember, on his soft lips. “Fuck,” you mutter, immediately turning and walking back down the hall.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you grab a bottle of wine as you step through the ktichen and onto the porch that overlooks the lake, “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“Hey! You ok?” Noah says, sitting down beside you, “Saw you coming running out here. What’s wrong?”

“Well, you remember when we went to New York?”

“Yes, for Ruby’s birthday last year. What about it?”

“And you know how I came in with coffee, just as everyone was waking up?”

“Yes”

“I was actually just getting in and I-”

“Is he the guy? THAT guy?”

“How do you kno- Ruby told you didn’t she.”

“Yes, she told me about the mystery man. Best night of your life man. The man whose name you didn't even get.”

“What is he doing here?”

“Probably a coincidence,” Noah shrugs, “Don’t read too much into it ok? Will you be fine out here with your wine while I go start the fire?”

“Yeah, thanks. Can you make sure they get him checked in?”

“I can, don’t get wasted. You don’t want to be hungover for the market tomorrow,”

The market, how could you forget. You never really bought anything there, but you did offer to tour your guests around every year so they didn’t get lost and so you could steer them a bit closer to your friends' stalls and help them make a few more sales than those who came from out of town just to capitalise on the event.

Taking one last swig of your wine, you decide to head to your cabin, normally you’d stay in the house. But all the rooms had been booked, even yours. While annoying, it was the biggest in the house and you could charge the most for it. You're about halfway there when you hear someone call your name and you recognize the voice immediately. You start to walk faster, maybe he would think you hadn't heard and would leave. But he calls out again, you hear his feet pound on the soft grass. He’s running to catch up with you.

He catches you just as you hit the trail that leads to your cabin. “Hi,” he says with puffed breaths, smoothing his hair from his face. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,”

“Is there anything I can help you with sir?” you ask, planting on your best customer service smile, “I’m afraid I’m off the clock at the moment, but if you need anything Cody is just inside and he’ll be happy to help you,” you step back as he steps forward, “I should- ah.” you take another step back, bumping into a tree and tripping.

“I don’t remember you being this shy the last time we met,” the man smiles, stepping closer, “Not shy at all,” he says as he corners you against a tree, his arm reaching over your head to lean over you.

You stand frozen as his fingers glide along your jawline, stopping to rest at the base of your neck. He leans in closer, his nose nudging yours, his lips only a breath away. “I missed you,” his minty breath fanning over you.

“I-” you words seem to be stuck in your throat. Those beautiful eyes of his staring into yours, flicking down to your lips. Is this magic? It feels like it when the glow of the sunset drapes you both in its soft orange glow. The noises of the forest behind you and you see the fireflies start to stir in the corner of your eye.

“I'm going to kiss you now,” he whispers, “If that's ok,” he adds, waiting. He’s waiting for you to tell him to stop. But you don’t, can’t. Too wrapped up in whatever was happening right now. After moments that last lifetimes, he kisses you. It’s soft, careful, but his hand on the back of your neck is firm, holding you in place. His tongue slips into your mouth, his kiss becomes harsher, more possessive and controlling. A strong hand slips under your thigh, pulling it up beside his leg and digging his fingers into your ass.

You hop on your other foot and he catches you. One hand on your ass, your legs wrapped around his waist and his hand still holding your face close enough to kiss. “My cabin-”

“Where?” he breaths into your mouth.

“Down the path, to the left.” was this a bad idea? Definitely yes. Was there any way of stopping this? Maybe? Are you going to? Not a chance in hell.

The man carries you to your cabin. Not even putting you down to let you grab the key from your pocket. Instead he fishes his hand into your coat and grabs it out himself. “Cosy,” he murmurs, turning on the dim lights and closing the door behind you.

“Fuck,” you moan as he turns, pressing you into the door, his teeth nipping into your neck.

“That's the plan,” hiss fingers tear at your dress, pulling it over your head and throwing it away, “Fucking hell,” he smiles, his hands feeling up and down your torso. You slip your hands into his jacket, pushing it off his shoulders, while his mouth explores your clavicle, your breasts.

He steps back, running immediately into the bed that was pushed against the wall. It’s not a big space, the bed taking up almost all of the room. He drops you both onto it, kicking his shoes off and unbuttoning his pants as his mouth continues its exploration of your body.

Your hands fist the sheets and his mouth goes lower and lower down your stomach, his tongue flicking out to lick along your panty line. “You smell even sweeter than I remember,” his hands slide up the insides of your thighs and spread them apart.

His tongue darts out, licking over your panties as a low groan escapes the back of this throat. “Please,” you beg, arching your back and trying to get him closer to your pussy. Your hand moving to grip his hair.

“Hands to yourself, Kitten,” he commands, staring up at you from between your legs and holding your hands in this one, “Keep them on your tits for me,” he reaches up, licking his way back up to your breasts while he deposits your hands on top on them, “Play with those sexy tits for me, while I lick you,”

“Fuckin-” you moan, feeling those sharp teeth sink into the soft skin of your thighs, his fingers just grazing through your soaking pussy. “Please, please”

“What is it?” he smirks, “This what you want?” his long fingers pull your panties to the side, swiping over you. “This what you need?” his tongue darting out to taste you and moaning into you at the taste. “Tell me Kitten, have you been thinking about this all year?” He kisses your pussy.

“Yes,” you moan, pinching at your nipples.

“Think about me when you touch yourself at night?” his fingers thrust into you, his tongue circles your clit, his eyes still focused on your face.

“Yes,”

“Did you think about me when you fucked someone else?”

“I-” he stops at your hesitation, peering up at you over your tummy. His fingers are still deep in your pussy.

“Tell the truth now, did you?” he pulls his fingers out when you don't answer, slapping down on your sensitive clit. Smiling to himself when you begin to squirm underneath him. He slaps you again. He moves, bending to whisper in your ear, “Do you think about me with someone else's cock buried inside you?”

“Yes,” your voice is almost breathless.

“Good girl,” he kisses just below your ear, “It doesn't compare to the real thing though, does it?”

“Fuck me,”

“Beg,”

“Please, please fuck me.”

He stands pulling his pants down, taking his cock in his hand, slowly pumping in his hand. “More,”

“I need it, need you. Need to be fucked.” you shimmy out of your panties, lifting your ass to show him just how dripping wet you are for him. You grind back, stretching yourself open and lifting your knees.

“So good, so fucking sexy,” he kneels Infront, lining himself up with you. “You just want the head Kitten?” you feel his swollen cockhead stretches you, he moves slightly pulling out before pushing the head back in.

“More,”

“You want more of my cock?” his hand holds your neck, forcing your lolling head to look at him. You nod, attempting to thrust up, but his other hand holds your hips down. “It was the best you ever had wasn't it?”

“Best,” he thrusts in a bit deeper, holding you still as his cock slowly slides inside. You want nothing more than to move, for him to move. For him to fuck you like he did that night, like a man possessed and desperate for more of you. This pace was tortuous and for some reason it was making your brain foggy and your legs shake.

“So fuckin wet, kitten,” he withraws, before thrusting in harder and harder, “Been dreaming about this pussy for a while year. Don't want to cum too soon,” he picks up your leg, throwing it over his shoulder and trusting deeper into you.

Harder and deeper, he fucks you. His hand never leaving your throat, his cock never coming all the way out of you and and those fucking eyes watching you like your the movie of the year. Your panting and hoarse breaths fill the tiny cabin. “You’re so close Kitten,” his says, moving the hand from your leg down to your clit, “I'm close too,” he pants, “Cum, cum on me. I waited so long for this, I need you to Cu-” his voice cuts out as he lets out a scream, your body violently shaking and seizing as your cum, your pussy squeezing down on his cock.

You're so out of it you barely notice when he collapses next to you, both of you out of breath. The cabin seems stifling and as you sit to try and open a window to let in some air he grabs you by the arm and pulls you back to him.

“This is going to sound kind of rude,” you whisper, not sure why you didn't ask before right now, but.. Better late than never?

“Can't wait to hear this, you going to kick me out?” He says like he doesn't believe it.

“I ah- I can't remember your name,”

“Oh, that's because I didn't tell you or actually, you didn't ask when you basically jumped me at the club,”

“I did not jump you,”

“You did, a bit.”

“Fine. So, do I get to know your name or what?”

“Ask nicer,”

Reaching up you kiss along his neck, your nose grazing his jawline as your tongue darts out to follow its path, When you reach his ear you lower your voice, “Can you tell me your name so I know what to scream,”

“Much better,” he takes your face in his hands, kissing you deeply, “Billy, Billy Russo. You ready to start screaming my name, kitten?”

“Yes,”

Taglist:

@imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @wheresthesunshinesblogthesunshines @sweetheart-im-the-boss

@noortsshift @blackbirddaredevil23 @restingbitchsblog @misstimeless @nyctophiliiiiaaa

#billy russo fanfic #female!reader x billy russo #billy russo x you #reader x billy russo #the punisher fanfic #billy russo x female reader #billy russo x reader #billy russo #billy russo imagine #billy x reader

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kateeorg · 2 years

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Headless Theories Update: Episode 9

GUYS. WE'VE GOT A LOT TO DISCUSS.

Okay, SO

The "Judy is undercover" is looking pretty unlikely at this point, and the "Judy killed Anne" theory is full on dismissed. BUT, there is still a chance Judy is in on something, especially since her causing Anneke's skull to shatter seems awfully convenient. Plus, again, I really do believe Rip's disappearance has got to play a role in this somehow, which connects to Judy. (I'm really taking this one to the end of the line, guys)

I WAS RIGHT ABOUT LUCRETIA! (*fist pump*) Agh, that was so fun. Although, since we have no idea what happened to her since the gang went to jail. Hm...

So, remember the "Headless is related to Ichabod" theory? Well, I'm still kind of skeptical Headless is Henrietta Hudson. While Anneke may have planned to behead Henrietta, we don't know that she succeeded since that was the last entry. It's possible the body in the basement was Henrietta, and the Horseman is Anneke, and since Anneke is Ichabod's ancestor, that would fulfill that theory. It's somewhat unlikely, since they seem to be gung-ho with the Henrietta idea (although it baffles me why they're trying to reunite Headless with the head at this point if Henrietta was too powerful to be kept alive....), but with "Anneke's" skull shattered before we got a chance to speak to her... who knows?

Alternatively, since the Headless curse can be passed on, Headless is neither of these women anymore. Even if Headless was Henrietta in the beginning, at this point, Headless might be Kat's mom (whose last journal entry said she was going to face something in the woods) or Rip (who was last seen getting stalked by something in the woods before disappearing). And it could pass on to Ichabod (which makes me very nervous about the finale next week, occurring at the "calendar's turn" on October 31. (Don't let me be right about this last one guys - I'm still a bit scarred from Edgar's implied fate in Poe Party)

And then, there's the big reveal for this week.

Kat.

Here's some options on what I think went down:

Kat mentioned that she discovered her father lied about her mother's death a year ago, around the same time she got sick at the Autumn Gala and, apparently, died. We already know Baltus was willing to kill Anne. So, what if he and Kat got in a fight over the truth about Kat's mom? What if he did something to her that he came to regret and needed to cover up? And what if, due to his wife's work with the supernatural or his daughter's friendship with Matilda, he had a means of bringing her back. Something that involved sacrificing Rip Van Winkle. But maybe the spell only lasts one year. This is where the secret plot between Matilda and Kat comes in. They need to do some kind of ritual to keep Kat alive before Halloween. Something that requires Kat to lure Ichabod in as a sacrifice. He has no family, he's new to town, and he clearly likes her. It would be only too easy. But it doesn't explain Matilda. If Matilda is in on this, why help Ichabod with Headless? Why sneak into the mayor's house to investigate a crime she knew he committed? Why do something that would only lead Ichabod closer to the truth? This leads to my next theory:

Kat and Matilda have no idea Kat died last year, but they know something happened, and they're looking for answers. But with Baltus having lied, they don't know who to trust. So the secret thing she and Matilda are planning has to do with Kat's mom - that's why Matilda was initially cagey about talking about the photo with Ichabod.

On the flip side, maybe this isn't the first time Kat has died. There was that ominous message in the school yearbook, indicating more history between her and Matilda. Now, this may have to do with Kat's mom's death, which likely impacted both of them, but alternatively, they did some kind of ritual back in high school ("See you on the other side") that has impacted Kat years later. Last year was just the first time Baltus caught on to this, hence blackmailing Dr. Crayon. It may even have something to do with the Woman in White, connecting to Kat's white clothes and both Spike and Max Lee's encounters in the woods. Max did say the spirit he saw wa blonde...

What do you guys think?

EDIT: Oh, also!

Part of what Elizabeth was uncovering about Henry Hudson would have hurt Baltus's mayor status. I feel like some kind of secret deal was made that the Van Tassels would always be the ones in charge of Sleepy Hollow (because how else do the Van Tassels have such a strong mayoral dynasty after all these years?). Revealing the truth about Henry Hudson would unravel the entire legend of the Van Tassel family, that their ancestor was the first mayor. So Baltus did something to make sure her work was never uncovered. I'm not sure he killed her, but he may have ruined her reputation, leading to her death.

Part of that deal may even be the reason why Kat and Matilda are trying to do whatever secret ritual they're planning. There have always been Van Tassels in Sleepy Hollow... what if that isn't by choice? Kat tried to go away to college, but ended up coming back, even though she clearly doesn't like it there. She's Baltus's only heir - when he dies, there is no one else to carry the Van Tassel name in Sleepy Hollow. "Not everything in this town has to do with a curse." What if that was Kat deflecting? And what if Kat's death last year was because she tried to leave... and couldn't? What if Matilda is trying to free Kat from whatever spell or curse is keeping her in Sleepy Hollow?

Brom's ancestors had something to do with this. Because there have always been Tassels and Brunts in Sleepy Hollow, and, we know now, Storms/Cranes. It would be incredibly powerful if a reformed Brom is able to make amends for something his ancestor did to help a Storms descendent.

#headless series #headless spoilers #headless 1x09 #the clues in the clink #headless a sleepy hollow story #shipwrecked comedy #judy gardenier #lucretia lazenby #rip van winkle #kat van tassel #matilda bishop #ichabod crane #headless horseman #headless: a sleepy hollow story

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annaraebananawriter · 2 years

Text

Shiny Pink Scales

Hello there everyone! Yet another oneshot for you--I actually posted this one yesterday/the day before but I just ever got around to posting it on here until now. But here we are!

Also, just a heads up: I will be taking a break of writing for the first week or two of October. Sicktember has really taken a toll on me, in a good way, but I just do need the break. But after that, I’ll be back to normal.

Maybe even normal enough to do a Halloween special oneshot featuring my favorite boyos of both fandoms I’m in (i.e. two separate oneshots)??? We shall see. :)

With that, Happy reading!

Fandom: DSMP

Characters: Wilbur, Ranboo, Tommy, Philza, and Technoblade

Warnings: Mentions of a plane crash, implied animal abuse/overworking, implied mismanagement of a show, captivity of a teenager, and I think that’s it. Let me know!

Summary: “ Wilbur finds himself attending a new show in town, one that promises "something never before seen", with his dad and best friend Tommy. He also meets a guy who works at the show, who seems a little too nervous. They make their bets over what will be shown, and Tommy suggests a mermaid. Wilbur doesn't know what it's going to be, but is fairly certain it can't be a mermaid. Mermaids just don't exist, right? (Twinsduo-centric (technically), Modern AU; Technoblade is younger than Wilbur; Technoblade is also a mermaid/merman)”

Word Count: 3953

~oOo~

It was hot.

Wiping the sweat off of his brow, Wilbur sighs. This outdoor aquarium show thing his dad dragged him to was boring. Not for his dad, of course, as he went from tank to tank with a smile on his face, a polaroid camera around his neck like some typical Dad, which his dad definitely wasn’t. Mum was off doing some stuff for herself—and honestly? He’d give anything to be with her right now. Anything was better than this.

The only reason they were here in the first place was that an old friend of Dad’s stopped by the town, for some reason or the other—well, he guesses the reason was this. They would’ve needed to clear this with the mayor, as this was a big show and took up most of the high school field. Dad had said he noticed the friend around the store one day while grocery shopping and stopped to chat with them, and they mentioned this show they were bringing to town within the next month. They said it was something never before done; very expensive, but very well worth seeing the smile on people’s faces as they brought wonders to those that maybe couldn’t go and see them themselves often.

“And I even got something nobody’s ever seen before,” they had said with a grin the likes of which Dad had said he’d never seen before. Part happy, part something else. Something…darker, Dad reckoned. “You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

Unnerved, Dad had said something about the encounter that just struck him as odd. And after years of volunteering and working in places where he was faced with the ugliest parts of humanity often enough to recognize hints of it in those he had known his whole life, Dad always went with whatever his gut was telling him. In this case, it was telling him that the ‘never before seen attraction’ was in danger, and that was reason enough to go and check it out.

He had brought the idea up at the dinner table.

“I think whatever it is,” Dad had said, brow creased, “it needs our help.”

At this time, they hadn’t known what the show exactly was. They knew it was something like a circus or a fair, where there would be tents and games and shows, but they didn’t know what the subject was. Based on what little knowledge they had, they just assumed it was another circus/fair with people showcasing different talents—maybe someone in the show needed their help? They were injured or something, perhaps? That’s what they rolled with, anyway.

Mum had swallowed her bite of food and nodded, mirroring the concern. “Okay. You’re going then, aren’t you?” And as if struck by lightning, she perked up. “Oh, you should take Wilbur! He would love that. Wouldn’t you, Wilbur?”

Wilbur, unfortunately, had been distracted by his friends on his phone and was only half listening, something he now very much regretted. “Hm…yeah, sure, whatever.”

And now, here he is, in the middle of a hot summer in an aquatic fair type show he would’ve never chosen to go to if he had actually been paying attention to that fateful dinner conversation.

But he supposes it isn’t all bad. There were lots of fish here, some types he’d ever seen before and probably never will again. There were even a couple of dolphins in one tank and a shark in another. The whole town seems to be here, too, busy as can be with adults and kids alike. Everyone is taking pictures and talking and laughing and genuinely seems to be having a really good time. Dad got struck by the wonder of it too, seemingly forgetting what he came here for in the first place, wandering away from Wilbur to take pictures of some fish. He finds himself just wandering back and forth between the tanks, not taking any photos, and he does admit to finding some of it cool, but he mostly thought about how they even set this up.

It was a bit confusing as to how exactly this show even got around, because apparently, it’s already been around the country and gotten some pretty good reviews and made the news one time, and the size of these tanks was big. These animals needed water to survive, so it would be a struggle to move them around constantly, especially in summer. It was concerning as to how they were transporting themselves around, but then again, he wasn’t the person managing all of this.

He's just a viewer. What does he know?

Fed up with the heat, Wilbur buys a bottle of water from some guy standing next to the show. Gulping half of it down in one go, he wipes his mouth, curiously looking up at the tent. “What do you think is going to be shown in there later?” he asks the guy, nodding to the tent as if they weren’t right next to it.

The tent was meant for the big showing of the never-before-seen thing, and that didn’t happen until noon, which was—he glances at his phone to check—still an hour away. Many people stop to stare at it, whispering theories, but so far no one has a concrete answer on what it is. This mystery was probably the main reason anyone was staying here in this heat, he reckoned.

The guy jolts, as if he wasn’t expecting anyone to actually talk to him. He glances at the tent and shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Wilbur looks back at him, eyeing the box around his next full of water bottles. “Don’t you work here? How do you not know if you work here?”

“Honestly, I just took this job to have something interesting to say when I go back to school. I’m tired of just saying ‘nothing’ when the teacher asks what we did for the summer while the rest of my class says things like ‘I went to Australia’, ‘I visited my cousin in Japan’, and ‘I met Taylor Swift’.” The guy says, and Wilbur gets the feeling he looks bored under his mask and glasses. And really, can he blame him? It sounds like something he’d do if given the chance.

Wilbur shrugs. “That’s fair. Have any guesses?”

This time, the guy shifts on his feet. “Well…I maybe do have an idea.”

“What is it?”

The guy shifts again, visibly nervous. “Well, you see—”

“I reckon it’s a mermaid.”

They both turn to the new voice in the conversation, and Tommy walks up to them with a grin plastered across his face. He’s holding a book too, and Wilbur can just make out the top of a girl’s head and the bottom of her, a tail where legs usually go. His friend falls into place next to him and holds the book up for them to see. “I’ve been researching everything about them ever since I heard this show was in town.”

Wilbur snorts.

Now, he loves Tommy, loves him like a brother—and no, despite the town's claims that they were related, they weren’t actually related. Not at all. They were next-door neighbours, yes, and so they visited each other constantly, but they weren’t related. They were, however, really good friends and jokingly referred to themselves as brothers to strangers. Which, really, was probably how the rumor they were related began. And Tommy is wild most of the time, just a kid with too much energy all of the time, and as such, he came up with some pretty ridiculous ideas.

But mermaids? Really?

“Mermaids aren’t real, Tommy,” Wilbur says, rolling his eyes. “And even if they were, I doubt they’d really be in a show in the middle of fucking England.”

He doesn’t believe in mermaids. Who really did? Kids, yeah, but that was a given, and he’s never met many adults who believed mermaids actually existed.

Tommy frowns at him. “Stop being boring, Wilbur.” He turns to the other guy and starts explaining his theory anyway. “Mermaids are a myth, and they are something no one has ever seen before. If the person running this show really wants to impress people, this—” Tommy shakes the book, tapping on its cover. “—this would be the way to go.”

The guy grabs the book and flips through it, and Wilbur really believes he’s going to burst out laughing and call Tommy crazy, but he doesn’t. He actually nods, serious as can be. “This makes sense.” He hands the book back, removing the box from around his neck. “That also adds up for what I saw.”

Wilbur blinks. Tommy leans forward. “Really?”

The guy nods. He glances around and beckons them to follow him with a wave, and starts walking away to somewhere behind the tents. Wilbur exchanges a glance with Tommy, and they both follow, glancing around as they pass people with clipboards and cigarettes. It’s definitely a vibe check from the public show, where everyone is smiling and there at children laughing. The backstage area is gloomy and tense, like everyone is waiting for the next shoe to drop and something horrible to happen.

Tommy presses closer to him. “Jeez, what’s with everyone?”

The guy glances back at them. “That’s the way they’ve always been, through every show.” He pauses, pressing his fingers together. “Though it really wasn’t helped by the fact our plane almost crashed when we flew over here.” Somehow, the guy says that casually, and Wilbur does a double take at the information. Looking over at Tommy, he finds the same wide-eye stare that he knows he has. The guy doesn’t notice and just sighs. “I really should’ve just stayed in America, honestly…”

The guy leads them through the field to where some more tents are, the ones reserved for staff. It’s bordered off with a piece of rope, but the guy just steps over it and they have no choice but to follow. The tents in this area are all white, very bland considering the bright, stripped tents for the public. But all of the doorways are open just the same, the curtains clipped back. It looks very…clinical. Professional. Much more than a show like this needs. They’re led to one of the tents in the back, the one tucked away from the others.

Unlike the others, this tent is closed.

The guy gestures for them to follow as he leads them closer, near the door. “One day, the boss returned with just this grin on his face. It wasn’t like all of the other ones from him. It was more…” He seems to struggle for the right word, his hand clenching in front of him.

“Dark?” Wilbur supplies, remembering what his dad said.

The guy nods. “Yeah, that’s it. Probably. But he said he had something new for the next shows. We had already been around a few places in America, but after some…incidents with the tanks and the animals and one of the trainers quitting because they thought we were endangering the fish, we quickly lost interest.”

The guy turns to face them, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. “That’s why we came here in the first place, as a fresh start. And before we left, the boss had taken a walk around the beach and found something. The next day, he got some trainers to go with him and they apparently captured the thing, though the trainers kind of disappeared after that. We got on the flight here not too long after, and as I said, we nearly crashed. Though I remember, in the midst of all that turmoil, that the boss got out of his seat and left somewhere. I think to somewhere on the back of the plane? We were on a private jet reserved for us.”

The guy carefully takes the curtain to the tent and peeks through it with one eye, meaning for Wilbur and Tommy, they couldn’t see inside it. “And then it seemed like whatever was causing us to crash just…stopped. And we were fine after that. And the boss came back, all smug looking, and sat down like nothing was amiss.” He sighs and glances at them. “I was curious, and so I snooped around a bit before I went to sleep. I managed to catch the glimpse of something. Someone. And I—” Just as he was getting ready to show them whatever was in the tent, his gaze flicks to something behind them and he stops, completely freezing in place.

Tommy frowns. “Hey, you—”

“I thought I told you to not snoop around, Ranboo.”

Jumping, Wilbur whirls around to face the new voice. A man stands behind them, arms crossed against his chest, and he’s roughly the same height he was. But he was far more muscular, and there was a glint to his eyes that said he was willing to do whatever it took to do things. He was dressed in a suit, too, navy blue with a pink tie. Something pink was tucked into his coat pocket, but it didn’t look like a cloth of any kind; it looked…shiny.

The man’s eyes were focused on their guide—Ranboo. “I warned you last time I caught you snooping, that if I caught you again, you couldn’t get another warning. You would be fired.” Mouth turning into a smirk, the man chuckled. “But you’re lucky. I’m in a good mood. I’ll let you go with another warning. Don’t do it again.”

Ranboo steps away from the tent without another word. “Yeah, of course. Wouldn’t want to lose the first job I’ve ever had.” He walks closer to Wilbur and Tommy and lowers his voice so only they can hear. “Not like you paid me much anyway, but whatever.”

“Exactly.” The man’s gaze switched to roam over them both, far more disinterested. It was as if they were an object that held little value to him. “And show these two back to the show. They wouldn’t want to miss the big wonder uncovering soon.” The man walks past them and into the tent.

The three stand there for a bit. Then, Ranboo claps his hands and walks them back to the main area without another word. They follow in silence. Tommy seems to be tapping on his book as he thought, and Wilbur just shoves his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

The man definitely seemed like the showrunner of this place. He just had this way he stood, like he knew he was in charge of everything. But the way he came out of nowhere back there…it was almost like he specifically ran into them before they made it into the tent. Like he had something in there he didn’t want people to see. Seems really protective of whatever it was, too, he thinks, recalling how his eyes sharpened when he basically threatened Ranboo into not snooping around anymore.

Was that the friend that Dad mentioned running into? It didn’t seem like he would ever be friends with someone like that, but who really knows? He doesn’t know what his dad was like when he was younger. Either way, whether it was Dad’s friend or not, Wilbur picked up on some kind of vibe back there. A bad one at that. He agrees now that something about this show doesn’t seem right, like something about the place was tainted because he met the man who ran it. The people who worked here, Ranboo included, seemed like they all would rather be anywhere else, and what few trainers he saw, they all seemed…scared, almost. Like there was something here they wanted to help but had no way of actually doing it.

The more he talks about this, the more he sounded like he didn’t know what he was talking about. These were a lot of conclusions he was jumping to. But something does nag at him and he probably would be paying close attention to this place during the week or two it was in town. He should come back in a few days and see if he could get into that tent to see whatever it was. Well, actually, now that he thought about it…

That’s probably the never-before-seen thing that’s going to be showcased in a bit.

Which meant Wilbur would see it then.

Ranboo leaves them at the same spot they left, placing the box back around his neck and leaving to go hang out at another place. Once he’s out of sight, lost in the crowd, Tommy turns to face him, book tucked against his chest. “I think something’s up here, Wilbur.”

So, Tommy caught on as well. Not surprising.

Wilbur nods. “For once, I find myself willingly agreeing with you.”

Tommy nods as well, not registering the vague insult, and Wilbur watches the realization wash over his face with a slowly building smile. His friend's nose scrunches up and he pouts, crossing his arms. “That’s not funny. And after all of my hard work, all the research I’ve done, this is what I get?” Huffing, he turns away and starts walking, and they both catch sight of his dad. Tommy breaks into a run. “Phil…”

Wilbur laughs and runs after Tommy as he whines for his dad. “Tommy, wait—”

They catch up with his dad and spend the fifteen or so minutes remaining until the main show talking about what they’ve seen. Tommy also rambles some about his book. Apparently, mermaids had a bit of natural luck attracting quality about them, which was the main reason why so many sailors wanted to catch one or see one, so that they got blessed with some luck for future fishing bouts and that the sky stayed clear for them. Tommy seems really invested in it all, and Wilbur could only sigh.

Nothing would tell him these beings really existed unless he saw one for himself.

And once noon strikes, someone with a megaphone starts telling everyone to head to the main tent for the attraction of the day. If it was packed while people were roaming from tent to tent, then it was stuffed in this tent, which was already pretty big. There was a set of benches all around a big covered tank in the center of the tent, the stands resembling those in the auditorium when they had assemblies at school. They sit down a couple of rows from the front, squeezing their way through the crowd, so they had a good view of the tank.

Once the man they ran into before appears, everyone quiets down without being told to.

The man inhales, closing his eyes for a brief second, and then opens his arms as if about to give them all a hug. “Why, hello there! It’s wonderful to meet all of you this fine morning…well, afternoon, I suppose.” He starts walking around the tank. “As I mentioned in my flyers, I have something very exciting to share with you all today. But first…a story.” He stops. “Has any of you heard about mermaids before?”

Murmurs wove through the crowd and Tommy leans over. “I told you.” He tapped his book again for emphasis, wagging his eyebrows. Wilbur rolls his eyes and pushes him away.

“I’m going to guess that you have.” The man starts walking again. “My story starts back in America. After some unfortunate accidents on my show, for which I take full responsibility, the interest was so low that I thought I might have to disregard the show entirely and find something new. If not for what I’m about to show you, you would’ve never seen me today.” Murmurs through the crowd again. “I had taken a walk along the beach to think about what to do. And I came across the most beautiful thing.”

He stops again. “I even have the scale to prove it.” And he takes the shiny pink thing from his pocket and holds it up for everyone to see, the scale—and that’s what it was, he could say that with certainty now—practically glowed in the light. Everyone in the crowd gasps and Wilbur leans forward in interest, catching sight of Ranboo on the far end of the tent. “This thing gave me its scale once I shared the story of my failing business and told me it would give me luck.”

Tommy gives him another nudge. Wilbur ignores him.

“And the thing also asks me a favor. It shares the story of how it was wandering around the ocean looking for a safe place to belong, forced out of its home at a young age. It saw how humans looked after one another and asked me to give it a place in my show, begging me to give it a safety it couldn’t find in the ocean.” The man let that sink in as he tucks the scale back into his pocket. “And of course, I said yes. I brought him with me across the ocean and now I show him to you now.” He pauses. “Are you ready to see him?”

The crowd starts shouting. Wilbur’s dad hums beside him. He glances over in question and Dad huffs, leaning closer. “Something tells me he’s not telling the full story there.” Wilbur nods back. He was just about to say the same thing, honestly. There was just no way that was the truth. Even Tommy was frowning at that.

But everyone else seems to believe it wholeheartedly.

Grinning, the man gives a bow and signals something. “Then I shan’t leave you waiting any further. I introduce to you…” He turns to face the tank, arms open, and the covering lifts in one swift motion. “Technoblade!”

The tank is revealed and Wilbur feels his breath catch in his throat.

Because right before him…is a real-life mermaid.

Or merman, maybe that would be more accurate. Nonetheless, floating there in the middle of a bare tank is a half-human half-fish person, who stares out at them all with eyes just as wide as their own. He looks…younger, as in younger than Wilbur. There was some roundness to his face still. Pink hair floated around him, long and pale, swaying gently. He was bare-chested, of course, but his arms crossed over most of him, and there were some scales to be seen crawling up his sides and spilling down his arms in spots. Something gold glinted around his neck, almost resembling a collar.

And his tail…his tail was big and bright and the exact same shade of pink as the scale the man had in the pocket of his coat.

Just as shiny, too, as it gleams in the light all the same.

In the awestruck silence, the mermaid Technoblade shifts, tail moving slowly through the water. His eyes roam over the crowd, and Wilbur finds himself locking eyes with him by accident, caught off-guard by how…watery they looked. He shivers, chest twisting in an unpleasant way. The eyes, a bright shade of blue, seem downturned and unhappy, which were far from the eyes the man described them to be like in his story.

This was far from the face of someone who willingly joined this show.

This was the face of a captive.

From beside him, Tommy curses. His dad sighs again, strained. “Well. This complicates things.”

The man moves in front of the tank again, cutting in between Wilbur and Technoblade. He’s grinning, proud, preening in the disbelief of everyone in the crowd. “Now…any questions?”

#my writing #my fanfiction #fanfiction #oneshot #dsmp #dream smp #wilbur soot #ranboo #tommyinnit #philza #technoblade #modern au #mermaid au #tw plane crash #tw animal abuse #tw overworking #tw mismanagement #tw captivity

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melishade · 2 years

Text

Attack on Prime Halloween Anthology: Werewolves

Main Story

Okiku

The Rake

Red Death

“Eight more days, eight more days,” Jean muttered as they sat around the bonfire.

“You guys are cowards,” Hanji declared, “Except for Mikasa,”

“Mikasa’s got issues!” Connie declared.

“We all do,” Mikasa insisted.

“Yeah, normal trauma against titans!” Sasha retorted.

“Is this something that needs to further be discussed?” Optimus asked them in his holoform. They all looked at each other nervously before turning back to Optimus.

“Let’s just listen to the story,” Eren insisted.

Optimus clearly didn’t buy the answer, raising an eyebrow with suspicion, but he decided not to push the matter and turned his attention to the fire. “A long time ago, a bounty hunter had made his way into a small town after hearing stories of a creature terrorizing the town. The mayor of the town had explained that every full moon, a monster would appear from out of the woods and devour livestock and people. If the bounty hunter agreed to hunt down the creature, he would be paid handsomely.

The bounty hunter knew what this creature was, and agreed to the terms, but only if he was given a silver bullet to slay the creature. The bounty hunter was given a silver bullet crafted by the blacksmith to kill the creature. The bounty hunter then waited in the center of town until night had fallen. When the full moon had risen, he saw the creature. It was a large, grotesque monster, standing on its hind legs. The creature was covered in fur and growled at him with sharp red eyes. It bared it’s teeth at the bounty hunter and extended his claws. This was no ordinary beast, this was a werewolf: a human that turns into a wolf at the sight of the full moon to devour all that came its way.

The werewolf had gone to attack the bounty hunter sitting in the town square, but he wasn’t there. The bounty hunter had merely left his items out to lure the werewolf into a trap. The bounty hunter hid at a higher vantage pointed, aimed his gun to fire the silver bullet, and pulled the trigger. But nothing happened. He tried again and again, but the click of the gun had alerted the werewolf to his presence. The bounty hunter had no choice but to retreat.

The bounty hunter had examined the bullet and realized the bullet was tampered with. The gun was never meant to go off. The bounty hunter surmised that the blacksmith was the werewolf, and he was arrested, leaving his wife and daughter devastated. However, the mayor did not pay the bounty hunter his reward as he did not kill the werewolf, and ordered the man to leave the town. The bounty hunter did not wish to start a fight and chose to leave peacefully.

The blacksmith was kept in prison for a month, but he did not confess that he was the werewolf. The town had decided to bound him and put him on display for everyone to see his transformation under the full moon before he was executed. When the moon shone down, the blacksmith did transform into a werewolf, but so did his wife and daughter, taking everyone off-guard. They began to slaughter the people left and right and devour them. The townsfolk could only flee, fight, or be devoured in their carnage as they destroyed the town. And as the town burned to the ground, the bounty hunter merely continued walking on into the night, not even bothering to look back.”

“...That’s pretty messed up,” Connie declared.

“Why does a werewolf transform at a full moon?” Hanji asked, “Can’t it transform at any other time.”

“That I do not know,” Optimus answered, “I just know that is one of the many popular tropes of werewolves. Like vampires, they are quite popular on Earth.”

“See, a werewolf sounds much more interesting than a vampire,” Sasha proclaimed, “At the very least I can eat meat.”

“People are still considered under meat for the werewolf,” Armin reminded.

“Still the better option,” Sasha proclaimed.

“But why would the bounty hunter leave?” Eren demanded, “The people were in danger and the werewolves were destroying the town. Why would the bounty hunter not help?”

“Self-preservation,” Optimus answered, “The bounty hunter did not have the means to kill the werewolves, and the mayor no doubt had some awareness of the blacksmith’s deception. He had no money and little resources. He was not going to risk his life in a situation he would not win. He just wanted to survive.”

Eren couldn’t help but feel angry at the response. What a selfish and terrible thing to do, but then he thought about Annie. Annie had always stated she was looking out for herself. That she wanted to survive. Even though he hated Annie for betraying them, he did...understand her. Just a little.

“That’s still pretty fucked up,” Levi commented.

“How did they become a werewolf in the first place?” Mikasa asked, causing Sasha to groan.

“That has quite a few answers that mainly centers around being bitten by another werewolf,” Optimus answered.

(Wow. I was having trouble finding a werewolf story because there weren’t any origin stories. Luckily I found this video, so be sure to check it out.)

youtube

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spinachandhoney · 5 months

Text

SnakeFace episode 8 script

This is where the script starts to get consistent with the story, so I apologize for any repetitions or confusing elements of the first 6 episode scripts, because (keep in mind) episodes 7-11 are rewrites of the ORIGINAL script. There will be several inconsistencies with the previous script, but not with the comic itself (which I highly recommend reading before reading the script). Thank you

[episode script under cut]

[there was supposed to be a bonus comic for this one, but I took it out of the published episode because it would've taken too long and the episode wouldn't have been released on time, but I'll add the script in for the scene anyway because I like the writing]

Ivan didn’t eat lunch. He was still too nervous about everything to totally let his guard down; he didn’t exactly eat like “normal” people did. The only thing Val had brought was, strangely enough, a peach.

“You like fruit?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah, love ‘em,” answered the vampire. “Why?”

“I guess I thought since you were a vampire you couldn’t really eat anything but… you know… blood.”

“First of all, rude, but no. I can eat certain other foods that bats can usually eat. But you won’t catch me dead eating a handful of mosquitoes if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Ivan chuckled. “No, that would be weird. I just thought it was rather strange you liked them.”

“Hey, off-topic, but you’ve got photography last, right?” Val didn’t meet his eyes.

“Yeah, why?”

“Aw man, Rohellec’s in that class.”

“Rohellec?”

“The mayor’s son. Real douche of a guy, let me tell ya. Not as bad as Garroth, of course, but he’s kind of a brat. He’s got no friends, not like he wants them anyways, and he hates his dad. He’s huge on photography, and you’re stuck with him.”

Is he really that bad? Ivan wondered. Lunch ended, and Ivan basically zoned out through his next two classes before photography. He wasn’t super excited to have a class with a presumably rude upperclassman, but he figured he might give the class a chance. Ivan walked into the room and caught the glance of a strange-looking student. Strange, as in unsettling. His eyes were covered by his hair, and despite his brooding energy, his clothes were light.

Is that Rohellec?

The teacher told Ivan to take a seat next to the green-haired boy, who would apparently talk Ivan through the basics of their unit. Hesitantly, Ivan sat down. The boy didn’t move. The teacher raised their voice.

“Joey!” They called, the boy’s head snapping up as he jumped. “You have a student to teach.”

The boy, Joey, turned to Ivan. “You're new?”

Ivan nodded. “Yeah, I just got here. Your name is Joey, right?”

“Joey-Simon Rohellec. You?”

“Ivan. Peters.”

“Peters? Wait a minute, I know you.”

Ivan froze. “You do?”

“Yeah, you’re from Overdale, right? Halloween. I was in town that week; almost didn’t recognize you. Makes it easier for me to help you out if I’ve already met you.”

This was the mayor’s son? Val had made him out to be such a rude person that it was hard to believe he was talking with that same guy. He didn’t seem so bad, so either there had been some sort of misunderstanding… or Val lied.

“You’ll need your own camera by the end of the week. Until then, you can share mine.”

Ivan talked with Joey through a lot of the class, figuring out the curriculum and what he would need within the next week. Joey had already taken the class before me and knew every lesson, so he easily caught Ivan up to speed. Near the end of the class, Ivan decided to bring something up.

“So, do you know Valentine Cross?” He asked.

“The vampire?” Joey looked offended. “Yeah, why?”

“He told me you were kind of… a jerk. I trust him, so I was really pleasantly surprised when it turned out you were nice.”

“Ah, of course, he did.” Joey snarled, chuckling sarcastically. “That damn vampire is such a pain. He’s up to something and I know it, the amount of time he spends around Garroth is suspicious. No one that hangs out with Garroth has good intentions; I wouldn’t trust him if I were you.”

Ivan didn’t know what to think. Val hated Garroth, he made that much apparent. There had to be some sort of misunderstanding between the two of them because Joey was seemingly a nice guy, and Val wanted nothing to do with Garroth.

The bell rang. Joey walked out with Ivan, who immediately caught sight of Kim and Val. When the vampire saw Joey, both of them scowled.

“Rohellec,” Vam grimaced.

“Cross,” Joey returned the tone.

“I see you’ve made friends with Ivan.”

“I could say the same.”

They continued to glare at each other for a while, creating an awkward tension that was starting to get on Ivan’s nerves.

“Look,” he started, “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding-”

“That’s for sure,” Joey frowned. “You decided to befriend one of Garroth’s goons.”

“Goon?” Val shouted. “As if I would ever follow that thieving, garlic-loving, two-faced ghoul! You have some nerve.”

Ivan could tell by Joey’s mouth that he was confused by this. “I don’t understand? You’re around him all the time, same as that weird cat-looking girl, and you’re telling me you hate the guy?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. It’s you that’s got a problem with everyone else. You make assumptions, it’s no wonder you never make any friends.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Joey started walking away, but Kim caught his sleeve. “Both of you, cut it out! If there’s one thing I know for sure it’s that Ivan doesn’t just go up to anyone to be friends with them. Listen to each other; neither of you knows anything about the other! So who’s to say you couldn’t be friends? Just talk to each other, for crying out loud, you might learn something.”

Ivan smiled. When Kim was serious about something, she meant it. She started walking away, Ivan following. “Now come on, we don’t have all day.”

“Wait, where are we going?” Val was confused but listened.

“My house, you two are talking things through and you’re not leaving until you can convince me you get along.”

“Who are you, my mom?”

“I may as well be at this point. Someone has to take responsibility here.”

Joey chuckled, saying not a word. When they got to the manor, Val and Joey’s faces dropped in awe. Kim flung the door open and stepped inside.

“You coming in or what?” The three followed her inside promptly.

“You live here?” Val gawked. “This place is huge!”

“No kidding,” Joey stood still in the doorway.

“Aren’t you both rich?” Ivan said.

“Well- yeah, but I live with my sister, her house isn’t nearly this big. This has to be at least three stories.”

“Four, including the attic,” Kim tossed her bag aside. “Too many rooms to count, seven bathrooms, a balcony, a miniature library, a greenhouse, full kitchen and dining room, and… what am I forgetting?”

“The telescope,” Ivan muttered.

“Right, yeah. Stargazing tower on the roof. You can access it from the balcony and the attic.”

Again, Val and Joey were shocked. Val stuttered to speak, but eventually found words. “Not even my family’s house is that fancy, and Dante’s over a hundred years old.”

“Speak for yourself, Dan’s place is on a literal cave plateau,” Joey added. “But a library? That’s a bit much.”

“Alright, enough about the house,” Kim stood stoutly. “You two. Attic. Now. Go bond.”

“But-”

“No. Now.”

Kim snapped her fingers and the two were gone in a puff of smoke. Ivan never really thought about just how skilled Kim was until she was aggravated. She took a breath and tipped over backwards, flipping over the sofa and crashing down onto the throw pillows. Ivan walked around and sat on one of the decorative loveseats next to her.

“You think they’ll actually get along?” He asked the witch.

“They’d better,” Kim huffed. “Or group therapy won’t be the only thing they’ll be worried about.”

Ivan laughed, earning a smirk from Kim. She thought for a bit. “I think we should offer up rooms.”

“What?”

“To Joey and Val. Joey lives with his sister and Val constantly talks about how awful his family is to him. We might as well give them the option if they ever need someplace to stay.”

“I think that’s a good idea. At this rate they’ll have to get along.”

“That’s the point, Ivan.”

Ivan had ended up falling asleep, or at least zoning out for a while. When he “woke up,” Val and Joey were walking down the stairs from the second floor. Kim looked pleased with herself.

“You know,” Val crossed his arms. “It’s kind of hard to find your way back down without a map; it’s practically a maze in here.”

“Team building,” Kim said. “So…?”

Val rolled his eyes. “I guess, Rohellec isn’t all that bad.”

“Does this mean you guys are friends now, or?” Ivan wondered.

“Sure, if it makes Kim happy,” Joey shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me, Val’s pretty cool.”

“Great. Wonderful,” Kim stood up, “so how would the two of you feel about having your own rooms?”

Both of their faces lit up.

“Wait, you serious?” Joey said. “That would be great!”

Kim nodded. “The good bedrooms are all on the second floor so you can see which ones you want, then we’ll set them up as the week goes on.”

“Kimber, you’re the best,” Val grinned. He and Joey took off to the second floor, Ivan and Kim following after. Val chose a room connecting to a bathroom, which was shared by the second bedroom next door. Joey suggested he take the balcony.

“Well, it wouldn’t necessarily be fair for you to have the balcony and no one else,” Kim tried to explain.

Joey pulled a box out of his pocket. “I smoke… so.”

“Yep. Balcony room. Outside. No smoking in the house for you.”

“Great, thanks.” He made an “ok” with his hand. “I’ll just have Bev drop my things off at some point, we can rent a moving truck.”

Val rolled his eyes. “I’ll just buy new stuff so I don’t have to trouble the butler.”

“All my friends are rich,” Ivan muttered.

“Ivan, you live here.”

“I am worth a single dollar.”

Joey and Val went to their own homes that night but would start moving into the York manor later that week. Kim and Ivan sat on the porch as the sun dipped behind the trees, just listening to the wind. Kim looked over at the snake.

“You know,” she started, “it’s nice seeing you happy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ivan didn’t turn his head.

“Well, you’ve already made friends with two more people, and fixed a broken bond. You seem pretty happy about that. But, there’s still something bothering you, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know, I guess I’m just homesick. It’s nice to get a fresh start and all but…”

“I know what you mean. You miss your dad. I miss my friends, but I can’t even begin to understand how you feel.”

“That’s okay. I know I won’t be able to get over this for a long time, but for now? For now, I just want to try something new for a change.”

“That sounds nice.”

<ooOoooO put a spoopy slide of Tom somewhere in there to make it more dramatic or smth> [2024 Fenn here, that was literally in the script. There are so many notes like that scattered throughout the new script so get ready for my random author notes to myself]

#snakeface comic #webtoon #webtoon canvas #webcomic creator #webcomic #script #snakeface script

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britesparc · 7 months

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Weekend Top Ten #608

Top Ten Supporting Monsters from The Nightmare Before Christmas

So Halloween is upon us once again, and therefore I need to make some kind of tenuous spooky-themed list. It is what it is.

So this Halloween I’m looking at one of the best creepy flicks that’s also, y’know, for kids, and also a Christmas movie in disguise (disguise being a really big part of Halloween, natch). I am of course talking about Henry Selick’s wonderful stop-motion spooktacular, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which – scarily enough – is thirty years old this year.

One of the (many) things I love about Nightmare is its cast of characters. Yes, obviously, the main guys and gals are tremendous; Jack Skellington, all angles and spider-walks, is an empathetic delight as the lead, and he’s backed up by Catherine O’Hara on adorable form as Sally, with creepy doctors, mayors, various holiday personifications, and the genuinely creepy Oogie Boogie all filling up the film’s cast nicely. However, I’m not going to talk about those guys today. Nope, I’m focusing on the background freaks.

Nightmare is, infamously, referred to as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas on most posters and imagery associated with the film. This despite the fact that he didn’t write or direct it; he serves as a producer but, more importantly, he came up with the story and even the original designs of some of the characters (and, I believe, the famous Spiral Hill). Whilst sticking his name on the cover had the unfortunate effect of sidelining the less-famous people who actually made the thing, day-in and day-out, there is definitely a very strong Tim Burton-y vibe to the whole thing, and the various artists and designers did an excellent job in translating the look and feel of his scratchy drawings into 3D models.

Anyway, the result of all this is that we get a film populated with a ton of fantastic background freaks. Horrific zombies, angry ghouls, old-school monsters, dead people, and tons more besides; the many denizens of Halloween Town are delightfully macabre. It’s especially impressive considering that, for what is ostensibly a kids’ film (a Disney film, no less) it does go to some very sinister places with some of these characters.

This, then, is a celebration of those guys, gals, and ghosties; the horrific and loveable Halloween Town residents. The backup singers for the Pumpkin King. And, yes, I’m stretching “main characters” far enough to include Lock, Shock, and Barrel, the three “Boogie Boys” – just in case you’re wondering where they are. They’re off in their groovy perambulatory bathtub.

Now. What’s this?

Corpse Child: he’s part of a whole Corpse Family, who could all be championed, but I’ve singled him out coz he’s special. A little dead toddler-bot, looking like he’s been dredged from a lake, with his eyes all sewn up in rather disgusting fashion; he reminds me a little bit of some of the little buggers from Burton’s The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. Truly freakish and disturbing. Cute.

Winged Demon: is he a bat? Is he a child? Who knows, but this is another distorted and disturbing monstrosity, some kind of tiny bat-thing with an enormous head who gets about by walking along on the tips of his oversized wings. Batty.

Monster Who Lives Under the Bed: only glimpsed in darkness during the opening number, this guy gets a high spot because he’s just frankly terrifying. Visible only as a pair of glowing red eyes and a set of razor-sharp fangs glinting in the darkness, he describes himself as “the one hiding under your bed, teeth filed sharp and eyes glowing red.” I mean, what? This is meant to be a kids’ movie!

Wolfman: rather simple this fella but I like him. He’s a werewolf. He’s a wolf-man. He’s a slightly portly boy with tiny legs, wearing a nice yellow lumberjack shirt that’s too small for him (I can relate). He’s basically the audience surrogate for all the dads.

Behemoth: another big boy, this fella is a bit slow on the uptake, wearing dungarees that scream “body disposal”, and he has an axe lodged in his cerebellum. Like Wolfie, he’s adorable; the fact he appears to be properly dead makes him a bit freakier mind.

Clown with the Tear-Away Face: another one of the truly terrifying buggerlugs from the opening number, Clowny is a scary clown (check one) riding a unicycle (check two) who can – get this – remove his face leaving nothing but a yawning chasm of darkness behind (check three). Beats making balloon animals, I guess.

Melting Man: I don’t know what to tell you about this guy. He looks like he’s made of toffee. Or possibly shit. He’s a sticky, dripping, melting… man. Really, he’s gross. You wouldn’t want him round your house unless your furniture had those plastic coverings on it from the eighties.

Monster Who Lives Under the Stairs: the third “Monster Who”, this one boasts a fairly Burton-esque design, with his long stripy neck reminiscent of the Beetlejuice sandworms. He’s got a long beakish face, with at least one huge spider living on top of his head. Oh, and his fingers are basically snakes. Yeah. What’s not to love?

Mr. Hyde: Mr. Hyde is a truly freakish looking bloke, with his Victorian stovepipe and all; he looks more like Jack the Ripper. Anyway, like a Russian Doll crossed with an undertaker, he has smaller versions of himself inside himself, which pop out to give him a hand with stuff. It’s a bit weird, really.

The Devil: he’s the Devil. He’s got horns and beard and whatnot. That’s his whole deal. He’s voiced by Greg Proops, apparently.

#top ten #halloween #movies #animation #film #tim burton #henry selcik #disney #nightmare #the nightmare before christmas #christmas

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laresearchette · 8 months

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Sunday, October 01, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS (CHCH/ABC Feed/Check Local Listings) 7:00pm MICKEY AND FRIENDS TRICK OR TREATS (Disney Channel Canada) 7:00pm THE SIMPSONS (City TV) 8:00pm BOB’S BURGERS (City TV) 9:00pm THE RINGLEADER: THE CASE OF THE BLING RING (HBO Canada) 9:00pm FAMILY GUY (City TV) 9:30pm LAST WEEK TONIGHT (HBO Canada) 11:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: EVIL LIVES HERE: THE KILLER SPEAKS (TBD - Investigation Discovery) SECRETS IN THE DESERT (TBD - Lifetime Canada) HEIST 88 (TBD) JACK OSBOURNE'S NIGHT OF TERROR (TBD)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CBC GEM GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW HEARTLAND SKYMED

CRAVE TV CREEPY CRAVINGS COLLECTION THE RINGLEADER: THE CASE OF THE BLING RING

NETFLIX CANADA THE CONJURING 2 THE CROODS DJANGO THE FINAL DESTINATION FINAL DESTINATION 2 THE FOREVER: PURGE HALLOWEEN: H20 I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER THE NIGHT LOGAN WOKE UP JIGSAW SAW III SAW VI SCARFACE SEE FOR ME THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER ZOMBIELAND

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN) 9:30am: Falcons vs. Jaguars (TSN4) 4:00pm: Cardinals vs. 49ers (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 8:20pm: Chiefs vs. Jets

MEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP (TSN2) 11:45am: Australia vs. Portugal

CURLING (TSN4) 12:00pm: PointsBet Invitational Curling: Women's Final (TSN4) 5:00pm: PointsBet Invitational Curling: Men's Final

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 3:00pm: Rays vs. Jays (SN1) 3:00pm: Rangers vs. Mariners (SN 360) 3:00pm: Astros vs. Diamondbacks (SN Now) 3:00pm: Marlins vs. Pirates (TSN3) 3:00pm: Cubs vs. Brewers

HEARTLAND (CBC) 7:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Amy is surprised when a very pregnant Mallory shows up at the ranch with a wild horse; Jack and Tim face new competition, and Lou grapples with a familiar opponent in her campaign to be reelected…OH NO, SHE’S RUNNING AGAINST A HORSIE!

THE BIG BAKE (Food Network Canada) 7:00pm: Cotton candy dreams and funhouse screams are on the menu as host Brad Smith asks the baking teams to create chilling cakes that take judges Ron Ben-Israel, Eddie Jackson and Danni Rose on a wild ride.

MLS SOCCER (TSN2) 8:00pm: Real Salt Lake vs. Los Angeles FC

THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (SEASON PREMIERE): Ten of the country's best amateur bakers arrive at the iconic "Great Canadian Baking Show" tent to complete three "Cake Week" challenges.

JUNGLE CRUISE (CTV2) 8:00pm: Dr. Lily Houghton enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff to take her down the Amazon in his ramshackle boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal -- a discovery that will change the future of medicine.

ALMOST PARADISE (CTV Drama) 8:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A local priest is murdered over a long-lost ancient cross, the cross which Magellan held in his hand the day he was killed by Lapu-Lapu in the Battle of Mactan.

COMING HOME (APTN) 8:00pm: Going behind the scenes of the production of the Crave Original drama series "Little Bird," and the groundbreaking movement for Indigenous narrative sovereignty as experienced by the series' creatives, crew and Sixties Scoop advisors.

INFIDELITY CAN BE FATAL (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm: A jaded private investigator who specializes in exposing lecherous, cheating husbands thinks she's met the love of her life in a chance encounter, but as it turns out, this dream man may actually be her worst nightmare.

SKYMED (CBC) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): SkyMed expands its medevac service into new territory, throwing everyone into disarray as familiar faces return - and intriguing new flight crew arrive.

IRRESISTIBLE (Movietime) 9:00pm: A Democratic political consultant helps a retired Marine colonel run for mayor in a small Wisconsin town.

STARSTRUCK (Crave) 9:00pm/9:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Years after their breakup, Jessie and Tom meet unexpectedly at Kate's wedding with Ian. In Episode Two, Tom's engagement party with new partner and fellow actor Clem puts pressure on Kate.

SATAN WANTS YOU (documentary) 9:00pm: The story of how a young woman and her psychiatrist ignited the global Satanic Panic with their book Michelle Remembers.

WHEN CALLS THE HEART (Super Channel Heart and Home) 9:00pm: The town prepares for the governor's black-tie ball; while still reeling from the true intentions of Union City Holdings, Lucas decides to try to sway the governor to their side.

CLEAN SWEEP (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: Shelly outmaneuvers the fingerprint test, but a new witness appears who gives a description of a suspect that may point to her.

AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERIES: SOMETHING NEW (CTV Drama) 9:05pm: Young Aurora Teagarden returns home to Lawrenceton to pursue her post-graduate degree but soon finds herself embroiled in a mystery involving her friend's fiance.

THE WINTER KING (Crave) 11:00pm: Derfel feels uncomfortable about the attack on the mine, which Owain keeps a secret; Tristan, prince of Kernow, demands justice for the raid at the mine.

#cdntv #cancon #canadian tv #canadian tv listings #heartland #the big bake #the great canadian baking show #skymed #when calls the heart #clean sweep #the winter king #rugby world cup #curling #mlb baseball #mls soccer

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proximasc0rner · 2 years

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I'M GOING TO INFODUMP AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT. AND I AM ALSO GOING TO SHARE MEMES THAT YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WITHOUT READING SO THEREFORE YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO READ LOL.

Okay so

I recently joined this Nightmare Before Christmas server (that was the inspiration for me to draw Mr. Hyde in Tim Burton's style) and it has this roleplay channel. Only one, but that is all a gremlin like myself needs.

Because I am very much hyperfixating on Jekyll and Hyde, I wanted to play them on the server SO I DID. Yes, I know that Mr. Hyde is already a character in The Nightmare Before Christmas BUT I DON'T CARE SO THAT MEANS YOU CAN'T YELL AT ME FOR IT AHAHAHA (in all seriousness, we did have a fun Hyde-meets-Hyde moments so it's all good). Anyway. So, I write a starter, right? And things start out generally okay, Jekyll's lost in the woods because Hyde was running away from the authorities and got both of them into Deep Shit™. Eventually, Jekyll runs into Finkelstein (we hate Finkelstein in this house 😤) and Finkelstein questions Jekyll. The conversation gets heated and Jekyll gets very overwhelmed and transforms into Hyde. Finkelstein's like "well shit ig this guy will fit in after all lol" and points Hyde in the direction of Halloween Town. Then Hyde threatens Finkelstein because Hyde's an asshole. This entire interaction leaves Finkelstein rather confused.

(One prolonged interaction involving a witch OC throwing glitter in Hyde's eyes later) Jekyll's eyes hurt, and not just because of the glitter. He's very shocked and overwhelmed by the townspeople because every single one of them sticks out like a sore thumb. Jekyll runs into the mayor, who's looking for Jack, and then he runs into Jack, who's looking for Sally. Then he falls asleep on a bench lol.

He wakes up as Hyde. He meets the other Mr. Hyde (haha you have to keep track of TWO now /j) before Finkelstein walks in saying that he found Jack with Sally, and now he's mad at Sally so that sucks. Anyway, Finkelstein makes a snide remark at Hyde, so Hyde is rude right back, saying that he's "had quite enough" of Halloween Town. Finkelstein says, "Then why don't you just leave?" And Hyde's like "FINE" so he does.

Now we get to the juicy part.

Hyde is sitting in the graveyard, essentially throwing a temper tantrum when he hears Zero barking. He beckons the dog and says this: "You see? Nothing to worry about. I like dogs more than I’ll ever like people, and I especially prefer you over those things in town. I’m not much of a gambler, but I’ll bet you anything that I’m the least interesting person here. And here I thought I liked interesting, hah.”

For those of you who haven't watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, or those of you who've forgotten, gambling is associated with Oogie Boogie. So yeah, that comment about Hyde not being a gambler? Intentional. I'm so fucking cool /j.

So anyway, suddenly, Zero is distressed and runs off into the woods. Hyde chases him. He runs further and further into the woods until he starts to hear a laugh. He slows down. The laugh becomes louder and more menacing. I'll just copy and paste what happens next because I'm lazy:

Hyde stops. He’s heard a laugh like that come out of his own mouth. It’s the laugh of someone who’s about to do something terrible and enjoy it. “Oho, is this some kind of game? I know that kind of laugh anywhere, I’ve laughed it before. Go ahead, I’ll play.”

"A Game..?" The ominous voice declares.

“Well, I did just ask if it was. Is it?” Hyde doesn’t show it, but he feels a little uneasy now.

He is only greeted by the sound of chittering insects, scurrying all about around the trees. A big hairy insect scurries up to Hyde's foot.

“Eugh, disgusting.” He kicks it away.

The creature lets out a screech, then suddenly hundreds of insects make their way down the trees towards Hyde.

Hyde’s eyes widen into an “oh shit” expression. He starts to back away.“Ohhhhh dear.”

Rivers of squirming mass pulsate on the ground. Wriggling, Crawling, Skittering. Sounds of violin being hacked by a meat cleaver rapidly HmmMmMmm.. The voice is heard once more, laughing.

Hyde doesn’t know why, but he’s ridiculously annoyed with that voice. His stomach drops and his neck gets hot in a strange combination of terror and irritation. “S-so…” He clears his throat, desperately trying to sound confident. “So, is this your idea of a game?”

"Yessss AhAH-" The mass of legs and worms and bugs begin to collect in the middle of the path, into one large mass of squirm and gross. It forms as if it were like snow building to make a snowman, until it falls apart, and crawls back up onto itself.

“Erm….” Hyde really doesn’t know how to respond to this. He shifts his weight, uncomfortable. “What exactly are you trying to do here?”

"Fetch me a sack will ya..?"

“Haha,” he laughs awkwardly, “anything to not die, because it looks like that’s where this is going.” He runs off. About a half an hour later, he returns with not one but several potato sacks. “Snatched these from a shed in town, hopefully nobody misses them.”

(Okay back to actually typing it out) The bugs fill up one of the sacks to the brim, and the mysterious sentient bug mass (it totally isn't Oogie Boogie you guys /s) stumbles off and throws itself into a hill which closes up when Hyde tries to approach. Hyde, growing increasingly frustrated, storms off back to the graveyard. After sitting there awhile, three trick-or-treaters come to thank him for helping Oogie Boogie. The exchange is super creepy but I'm not copy/pasting any more because no. (Timeskip to later that night) Hyde can't sleep, so he walks back out into the woods looking for answers. He comes across an OC named Jonnie that, for some reason, gives him a strange feeling of deja vu (these two are dating in another server lol). Hyde's still an asshole tho so he tries to attack Jonnie, who proceeds to knock him down and tie him to a tree. L. After that embarrassing experience, Hyde has had just about enough and spends the rest of the night in the forest. When morning comes, Hyde sees Jack in the graveyard and the two are pulled into an awkward conversation that as of now isn't finished. During this conversation, Hyde lies about having enemies that were out for him, so Jack says this: "Well, in Halloween Town, we're all Friends here..! Well except for that Oogie Boogie.." This causes some internal screaming for Hyde as he unwittingly helped Oogie Boogie in some way. Whoops. He lies about even knowing Oogie.

ANNNND THAT'S IT FOR NOW! Enjoy the memes.

#long reads #long post #dr jekyll and mr hyde #the nightmare before christmas #aaaaaa #lord save me now

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ask-lock-shock-and-barrel · 2 years

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How did you guys meet Oogie Boogie?

L: Funny enough, this all happened around the same time we became a trio! It was mine and Barrel's second Halloween together, and we'd just met Shock! She was the new kid in town, and we were showing her the ropes of trick-or-treating. Barrel and I couldn't believe she was older than us and had never gone before!

We were taking our stash back to the treehouse and there was a voice coming from a crack in one of the walls. It told us it could give us anything that we wanted if we did it a favor and collected some bugs to put in the wall!

We debated over it for a little bit, mostly over what we wanted from them. And we agreed that we'd do it in exchange for more candy and toys. Fun sharp toys!

Collecting bugs wasn't even that hard, there's a million of them crawling in Halloween Town, and we had more than enough traps to do it!

At first, we weren't sure if we were being punked or not, but then the talkin' hole in the wall made good on their promises! And then we decided to keep it up when the rewards got better and better.

None of us really questioned what this invisible voice in the wall wanted the bugs for. I mean, would any kid if they were getting free stuff out of it?

By the time we met Oogie face to face, we were already starting to do more favors than catching bugs, and some of them seemed a little weird, like stealing stuff from the Mayor's office, or putting bigger traps in town. Not really stuff we'd be doing on our own. And after a while some of the rewards got a little old, so we got bored. But by then, Mr. Boogie was making it pretty clear to us that it wasn't just about presents anymore, it was that he could really put us in a world of trouble if we didn't keep doing what he asked!

We still had fun with a lot of it though, but I don't know if I'd be totally down to do some of the same stuff I did back then. Leave it to a softie like Jack or Sally to make me actually consider things on a stupid scope of 'right or wrong'.

But I don't think I'd do anything different back then! Because with all the bug collecting we had to do, Shock and Barrel and I got the practice to become the best candy collectors in town! And now I've got two best friends!

B: And leave it to fate that we met Shock at the same time too!

L: A happy coinkidink!

S: Exactly!

S: A happy, fateful, coincidence.

#the nightmare before christmas #tnbc #tnbc fanart #lock shock and barrel #tnbc lock #tnbc shock #tnbc barrel #tnbc oogie boogie #oogie boogie #answered qs #queue #blog lore

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the-witty-pen-name · 3 years

Text

The Nanny Pt. 9

Lee Bodecker x Nanny!F!Reader

18+ ONLY

Warnings: cursing, angst, slow burn, alcohol mention, grief, yearning, mention of prostitution, corrupt cop, age gap (reader is in her 20s), dirty thoughts

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: It’s been too long oh my goodness.

Based on this Request: The reader moves to Meade/Knockemstiff while answering an advertisement for a nanny in the paper. We learn that the ad was posted by Sandy, who has the reader watch her child whenever she and Carl leave to do their secret thing. After one of these trips, Sandy and her husband never return, so the reader is left caring for their baby. With the new investigation into these events, she meets Sandy’s brother Lee, the older, out of shape, alcoholic bachelor, and they are suddenly thrown into each others lives as he begins looking into his sister’s disappearance. Through it all, Lee starts to fall for her, and they slowly become a family.

Lee didn’t care much before about holidays, but now with Valerie’s first Halloween right around the corner, he found himself spending any free time getting his house ready. For the past several weeks, he’d come home with his arms full of bags of decorations. Outside and inside were equally decorated, and soon enough Lee’s house was the most decorated on the block. It was nice to throw himself into a project, and maybe a part of him was using Halloween to distract from other things.

Valerie was so captivated by everything, and she loved coming with you into downtown to see the town square, and all the buildings decorated in orange and black decorations. The library steps were lined with pumpkins of all different sizes and the Church youth group ran a charity hayride around the square.

The air was smelling crisp and the chill in the air was refreshing. It felt like things were finally getting better, and the falling leaves were hopefully a sign of change for better things to come. It seemed like lately the biggest thing Lee worried himself with was what Valerie was going to be for her first Halloween with him.

“You should dress up with her,” you try to insist, picking her up out of her high chair after she finished her breakfast.

“No, I don’t think I will,” he chuckles, leaving his empty coffee cup in the sink.

“Come on. She would love it.”

“She won’t even remember,” he retorts.

“If she could talk, she’d say something different,” you joke.

“She sort of talks,” he says, “we’re working on that, right Val?”

She babbles something incoherent.

“She should be talking by now,” you frown, tucking some of her hair back.

“She has her appointment today right? Talk to Dr. Hammond about it, but I’m sure she’s fine. She’s just a little behind, considering it all… you know I think she’s gonna be good. Anyways, I gotta go.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to her and see what she says.”

At the station, Lee was bullshitting his way through some paperwork, trying to just make it to his lunch hour. He had been also doing everything in his power to dodge calls from Leeroy’s guys the best he could. His list of excuses for missing meetings have been dwindling. He felt like he had been so busy dealing with just this new life, he’s had no chance to keep up with his other obligations.

“Hey Sheriff,” Benny says, knocking on his door and stepping into his office uninvited. Lee grits his teeth and tries his best to hide his annoyance.

“What is it, Wilson?” he asks, clearly irritated but Benny doesn’t seem to notice.

“The whole masquerade ball, costume party thing,” he begins, like Lee should know what he’s talking about, “the thing the mayor is hosting at the Town Hall- you know. Um anyways, they just sent out a memo letting all government employees and elected officials that attendance is mandatory, no exceptions. I uh- just didn’t know if anyone told you yet. You’ve been kinda cooped up in here and-”

“Thanks, Wilson.”

“Dates are mandatory too-”

“Good to know.”

“Judy needs the headcount by the end of the day-”

“Is that all, Wilson?”

“Oh, uh yeah.”

When he finally leaves, Lee sinks down into his seat and rubs his face. That conversation was exhausting to him. He feels something in the pit of his stomach. A feeling of dread that not only does he need to go to this fucking party, but he needs a date on top of that. He scrambles through the junk mail on his desk and finds the invitation he got weeks ago. He sighs, relieved it’s not actually on Halloween night, but the night before. His plans with Valerie are salvaged.

But he can’t think of anyone to ask except you.

“Hi, we have a 10:45 appointment with Dr. Hammond. Valerie Henderson.”

“Alright, just fill this out, and the nurse will come get you shortly.”

When called into the room, Valerie’s appointment goes fine, and Dr. Hammond is able to relieve many of your anxieties

“Small children who undergo traumatic experiences can be delayed in some areas of development, like talking,” she explains, as she takes Valerie’s vitals.

“Right now, she’s in a much more stable home and in better care. Right now, the best thing I can say is just to give her a little bit of time. She might not understand what happened but she is processing this change and the things happening around her. I can recommend a great family counseling service a few towns over.”

“That would be amazing, thank you.”

“She looks better than she has in past appointments. She’s healthy and happy. She’ll come along in development as things consider to settle. The stability is the best thing to focus on right now, and the rest will follow.”

“That’s such a relief.”

“Status quo of a good home life is just what she needs. Most kids begin to say words at the nine month mark, but at a year the only thing expected are ‘mama’ or ‘dada.’ It’s the stage where they speak and they connect the words to the meaning. She fully understands words, I can see that in how she reacts to me. The speaking should soon follow as long as nothing further disrupts her routine.”

“Sounds like we’re on the right track.”

After her appointment, you decide to get lunch at the diner to visit Julie and to meet up with Steve. Ever since the incident, you have been seeing them less and less. Julie was your roommate for heaven's sake and you feel like you never see her.

Valerie is situated in a high chair and the three of you are sitting in a corner booth on Julie’s lunch break. It feels nice, normal to be seeing them and it helps distract you from knowing in a few hours you’ll be seeing Lee. All this time passes, and you can’t help but feel the same way every time you look at him.

“She’s getting so big,” Steve says, letting Valerie hold his fingers while he uses his free hand to flip through the menu.

“I know, it’s crazy,” you agree with a smile.

“How has it been with the Sheriff? You haven’t told me anything since that whole picnic ordeal happened,” Julie says and you can’t help but feel suddenly shy.

“Uh, there isn’t much to tell,” you say with a shrug, trying to come off as indifferent. “That was more for Val than me anyways,” you chuckle. “I mean I see him when I show up for work in the morning and it’s small talk, and then I head out when he gets home. It’s nothing to tell really.”

“Sure,” she smirks, unconvinced.

“What?” You ask, playing stupid.

“You can tell us about it when you’re ready, but there’s definitely something going on with you two and you aren’t fooling me for a second.”

“You and Sheriff Bodecker?” Steve asks, coughing on his water slightly. You scoff and shake your head.

“Better off, if that’s the case,” Julie shrugs, “I don’t think you should get close to him more than you have to.”

“Why?”

“Did you forget everything?” Julie chuckles, “Looking at him with rose colored glasses, playing house… You can be so naive. He’s a criminal, crooked cop. You can’t see that anymore? You were so skeptical and you were doing all that research.”

“He’s also a drunk,” Steve interjects and Julie nods in agreement.

“He might have, but since taking in the baby, I haven’t even seen him touch a drop.”

“Where do you think he’s going on the nights you work late? Do you really believe he’s working late at the station. Don’t be naive, he’s going down to that bar.”

“He doesn’t come back drunk,” you try to reason.

“Maybe he’s going for something else.”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t heard the rumors? That bar is a front. They supposedly run a brothel or something in the back room. The men who do the deliveries also bring stuff to my dad’s store and they’ve told him they’ve seen the back room,” Steve explains.

“And people swear Lee is a regular, not going to shut it down or anything. He’s in the owner’s pocket, and everyone knows it,” Julie adds to her previous points.

“I don’t know about that,” you say. It’s true. You didn’t. And you aren’t going to call your best friend a liar. They’ve both been in this town longer. You feel stuck, between knowing the Lee you have come to know and the Lee the town knows.

“Next time he says he’s working late, I’ll watch Val if you want,” Julie offers.

“I’ll go with you to make sure you’re safe,” Steve promises and you can only nod. The server brings over your food and Steve and Julie move on to another topic easily but you can’t help but sit there and dwell on the conversation that just happened.

The rest of his day at work, Lee can’t stop thinking about how he’s going to ask you to be his date to that stupid costume party- masquerade ball, whatever. It shouldn’t be a big deal. He can get the McDonald’s daughter from across the street to babysit, and you’ll go out as friends. It shouldn’t have his palms sweating like this.

It’s not a big deal.

It’s not.

When he comes home, he finds you and Valerie playing with her toys on the floor in the living room. His eyes immediately go to the way your skirt has naturally hiked up, and he scrambles to look away before he lingers. But fuck, your skin just looks so goddamn smooth and soft all the time.

“Hey,” you smile, and get up as Valerie runs over into his arms. He can’t help but grin ear to ear scooping him up in his arms.

“Hey shortstack,” he says when he picks her up. She breaks into a fit of giggles and buries her head close to his chest.

“Her appointment went well,” you say, gathering up your things to head home. “She said we don’t have to worry about the no talking just yet, but I got a number from her for a good trauma con-”

“Heading out so soon?” He asks, his tone sounding sad to see you just up and leaving so quickly. He senses something is bothering you, but he doesn’t want to push you to tell him. It’s not his place.

“Um yeah, I guess,” you say shyly, “I mean, you got home so now I get to go home, you know?”

“No, no of course,” he says quickly, “I had just wanted to ask you something but if you wanna get home, it can wait.”

You are grabbing your coat and buttoning it, and when you finish you look back to him expectantly. “You can ask me now,” you say, and he feels a lump in his throat all of a sudden.

“It’s nothing. Just some event I need to go to- just a work thing. It’s gonna be boring with a ton of politicians and it won’t be fun. But, I need to bring a date and-”

“I’d love to,” you interject with a smile, and his whole body relaxes. “When is it?”

“Tomorrow night,” he says. Your eyes widen a little at the short notice. He picks up on it and tries to smooth it over. “I know, I’m sorry for the short notice, but I wasn’t going to go. I only found out today that it’s mandatory.”

“That’s the night before Halloween,” you point out, “What if I already had plans?”

“I’d be screwed,” he chuckles and it makes you laugh. “It’s a costume party by the way.”

“Lee! How am I supposed to get a costume this late?”

“It’s more like a ball so maybe just a nice dress?”

“What is it exactly?”

“It’s the mayor’s masquerade ball.”

“Okay,” you settle, “I can make it work. You are very lucky I have nothing going on in my life right now, Bodecker.”

“I need to still figure out Val and her costume, nevermind something of my own,” he scoffs, “I’ll figure something out after she goes to bed.”

“Maybe storytime will inspire something,” you joke.

“Maybe,” he shrugs, and then he looks down to the baby, “Want Uncle Lee to read you a bed time story?”

“Dada! ‘Rella!”

You and Lee lock eyes again in absolute shock. Did she just..?

“Dada! ‘Rella!”

Lee looks at you again in utter disbelief. He’s speechless. You feel the same.

“W-what’s ‘rella?” he asks, finally, not even able to process her calling him dada yet.

“I think she wants you to read Cinderella,” you say quietly. Both you and Lee feel like you’ve been hit in the face while Valerie continues to repeat the same sentiment happily, unaware of the weight of her projection.

“Dada!”

“Maybe that’s her halloween costume,” you suggest, trying to break through the tension in the room. Lee nods, still not sure how he should be reacting. His heart is simultaneously bursting with pride but breaking into a million little pieces.

“Dada!”

“No, no, no, baby, I’m uncle.”

“Dada!”

“Un-cle.”

“Dada.”

“Christ she doesn’t listen, does she?”

“She’s just a girl who knows what she wants,” you say with a wide grin.

“C’mon, there’s no way she can call me that.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not her father.”

“You’re better,” you insist.

“I’m not,” he says, defeatedly.

“It’s up to you,” you shrug. “I think Daddy suits you just fine,” you joke playfully. “Pick me up tomorrow night, okay?”

“What-” The door closes behind you before he can even process what you just said to him and he needs to pick his jaw up off of the floor.

TAGLIST:

@demirunner @letsfly-andbe-free @msgodofmischief @iamlee1 @buckistan @littlemissthistle @oitommothetease @kcmarvel333@lostgirllulu @swiftieandthewintersoldier @swndmans @thehuntresswolf @maryelizabeth13 @Bodeckersdiamonddoll @whatinthestyles @hogwartsahist0ry @every-whenwaywardwifey @mandiiblanche @every-when @charmed-asylum @alyssadelashmit @kcmarvel333 @missyellowbirdie @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog

#lee bodecker x reader #lee bodecker x f!reader #the nanny #The Devil All The Time #lee bodecker x reader smut #lee bodecker smut #lee bodecker x reader series #tdatt #lee bodecker fan fic #lee bodecker fan fiction #tdatt fan fic #tdatt fan fiction #Sebastian Stan #sebastian stan characters #sheriff bodecker x reader #sheriff bodecker x f!reader #sheriff bodecker smut

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whereisten · 4 years

Text

Porcelain

A Yangyang fic that’s part of our Halloween Series!

Summary: After a falling out with your friends, you wander into a forest and find a mysterious mansion with an even more mysterious inhabitant, Yangyang.

Pairing: rich boy!Yangyang x female reader

Genre: romance, fluff, fantasy, mystery, suspense, drama

Word Count: 7k

Warnings: Violence

(A/N): hey y’all! So the timing for posting this story worked out so well because it’s Yangyang’s birthday (in America!) :D Anyway, this is our second story for our Halloween Series for NCT 2020 and we hope you enjoy! I’m so excited to be writing for one of my biases. I know my writing needs a lot of work but I hope you guys enjoy it. Yangyang is precious. Stan Yangyang, y’all. Shoutout to Krys for inspiring me everyday and for proofreading my story! You are my rock!

_______

It was October 10, the day in which your small town came together for a big bonfire to celebrate the fall season. Your town of Celestial was known for celebrating something every week but the atmosphere was always special at this time of the year. Classes ended for the week and your friends were excited to go to a party in the woods.

Unfortunately for you, you were abandoned off the side of the road after having a falling out with your friends Dowoon and Sana for blowing off the mayor’s son’s party. You’d recently been rebuffed by him in the senior hallway. Your rejection was followed by your classmates mocking you all day long. You wouldn’t be caught dead at Peter’s party. And you were especially in no mood to put up with your friends’ preference for a good party over their recently spurned friend’s feelings.

You said screw them but they would probably end up screwing each other anyway. They were platonic but their drunken hookups always said otherwise. So sometimes you felt like a third wheel. Which was also why you didn’t want to go. You wanted a new experience this spooky season. And you were probably getting one now that you were 2 miles outside of town. Damn your pride. Dowoon and Sana insisted you get back in the car but the driver, the school quarterback, quickly drove them off. What a sense of community, you thought.

It was freezing in Celestial at this time of year so you were layered up, saving your pair of ruby red mittens for last. The overcast sky appeared to promise snowfall. If not for tonight, the snow would surely fall tomorrow

You knew this area well enough to walk back into town but as you took a few steps forward, you noticed smoke in the distance. Like it was coming from a chimney.

That was odd, you thought. Who lived on this side of town?

As you walked in the direction of the smoke, you moved past the dense evergreen trees and before you knew it, you stumbled upon a mansion out of an old-time movie. Dating back to at most the 1800s. The mansion was a Renaissance chateau, big and domineering. Something that could’ve made Celestial a tourist destination like Asheville had with the Biltmore Estate.

How was it possible that anyone could live here, you thought. Surely, this would be the talk of the town if anyone knew. And if it was off-limits, it would’ve certainly kept the town on their toes.

The mansion was quiet and there was no trace of movement or inhabitants. Then again, it was large so you could be incorrect. The chateau’s main entrance was big and made of the most pristine marble. The only thing missing was a moat. There were several fountains in the entrance. The water froze due to the colder weather. You didn’t understand how you could keep moving forward. You didn’t know this place. You didn’t know who could be inside. But you found yourself taking steps up to the massive double doors. Your hand moved to the doorknob and turned it over. The door creaked open and without a second thought, you walked in.

The door slammed shut behind you but you weren’t afraid. In fact, you were mesmerized by the atmosphere of the mansion. From the outside the mansion looked preserved like a fine piece of art in a high-surveillance museum: cold and unwelcoming and way out of your price range. But on the inside, it felt...warm and bright. It felt like home. It smelled of cinnamon and freshly baked bread.

You walked through the entryway and found everything illuminated by candle light. There was no indication of light from the outside. It was almost as if the real goings-on were hidden from the outside world.

There were shoes at the entrance. You took your boots off to not track dirt into the residence. Winter coats were hung up on the coat rack. You hang your coat up as well. There was a half-full cup of tea that was beside the sofa of the sitting room. You admired the interior: the expansive first floor library, the dining room table that sat seven, the pristine kitchen area, the music room...

As you stood in the doorway of the music room, you heard the sounds of a violin playing a somber but sweet melody. Rather than grow alarmed, you longed to find the source, thinking that whatever it was could only bring you joy.

The music room was massive, with a skylight in the shape of a spade on the ceiling. The sunset colors of the sky never looked more stunning than they did at that moment. A grand piano lay at the center. You longed to touch it but something inside you warned you against it. Instruments of all kinds were splayed across the area. But there was no violin in sight.

When you turned around to continue exploring the mansion, that was when you found the source of the music.

A boy about your age stood before you with his violin rested against his collarbone. He continued to play as he smiled knowingly at you. He had straight brown hair that nearly fell into his warm brown eyes. He donned a black tuxedo that was more regal than modern. His eyes crinkled as he watched you, delighted to meet such a beautiful stranger.

You nearly jumped at his presence. “Who…are you?”

Quirking an eyebrow, he replied as he continued playing, “I should be asking you that. You’ve broken into our home.”

“Our?” You asked.

He shook his head. “What brings you here, miss?”

You knew you’d been caught doing something you weren’t supposed to but you couldn’t help it. This place called out to you and you’d hoped you could stay longer. But it looked like your time was up. You lamely said, “I…need to borrow your phone.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re referring to. What’s this ‘phone’ you speak of?” His refined voice was not like that of the locals. He sounded well-traveled, worldly. But definitely from a long time ago.

The more you spoke to this young man, the more you realized that he didn’t sound like he lived in the same century as you.

You frowned. “You don’t know what a phone is? Come on, you’re kidding, aren’t you?”

He halted from playing and gave you a look. “Tell me. What is a phone?”

“…It’s a device that lets you speak to someone who isn’t with you…” You attempted an explanation that was as eloquent as possible, thinking that if you spoke in a more refined tone, he would get what you were saying. Where on earth could this boy have been from to not know what a phone is? He really sounded like someone from a century past.

“Like a medium?” He asked as he set his violin down in its case. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked slowly back to you. Your breathing stalled as his face was mere inches from yours. He was indeed very handsome. His high cheekbones. His glorious tan skin. A pearly white set of teeth. His legs were dangerously long as he faced you.

Your face warmed up and you hoped he couldn’t tell. You backed away as you locked your eyes on the piano instead. “No…It’s like if I were two miles away from here and you needed to get a hold of me, you could use a phone to contact me on another phone. It’s an electronic device.”

He nodded. “Oh, I’ve heard of those…My family and I could not acquire them, unfortunately.” His expression became sad, longing.

Hearing his defeated voice, you turned to him. “Oh, I’m sorry. Why is that?”

He looked at you, defeated. “I’d rather not say, miss…”

“Y/n,” you answered.

“Y/n,” he replied, liking the sound of your name.

“It’s okay,” you replied, “I should probably go…I’ve overstayed my welcome, sir….Your name?”

“Yangyang,” he answered, anticipating the sound of his name off of your lips.

“Yangyang…Would it be possible to get a ride back into town? I can pay you for your trouble.”

He smiled apologetically. “My sincerest apologies but I’ve no means to take you.”

“Oh…” It was all you could say.

You felt a small pang of worry at the pit of your stomach, especially now that night had fallen. Perhaps, you could make your way back into town if Yangyang offered you a torch. He would have that much, at the very least.

“It’s dangerous to go out on your own at this time of night, y/n…” He said, quietly. It was a little eerie that he read your mind at that moment.

“I know. I’m such a fool…I couldn’t borrow my father’s phone for the night so I have no way of calling anyone…I…just couldn’t help myself when I walked in here…” You said as you looked around the music room. “It was like…”

“Something pulled you in,” he finished.

“Yes, exactly.”

Yangyang began, “I know it’s out of turn for me to say this but I can offer you a room to stay in for the night…Then, you can make your way back into town in the morning.”

You were beyond lucky your parents weren’t home for the weekend. Otherwise, they’d be worried sick. But even so…How could you say yes to a total stranger? Even if you were only a few miles out of town, you didn’t know Yangyang. You didn’t know what his intentions could be.

Another part of you told you to trust him. Because what would you do in the woods at night? You couldn’t account for the wolves or the other creatures of the night. You didn’t know who else could linger in the woods.

As far as you could tell, Yangyang was an odd but attractive guy. And if he was offering a separate space for you to sleep in, then you should take it.

_______

There was a snowstorm in a matter of minutes when Yangyang escorted you upstairs. How odd for it to be snowing in early October, you thought. You rejoiced over how your jerk of a crush's party was a bust. You wondered if Sana and Dowoon made it home safely. You wondered if they worried about you now. After they left you in the middle of the road.

Maybe you should stop being friends with them. You felt like you were more disappointed in them with each passing week. You wondered when they would do something for you. It always seemed to fall on you to pick them up from parties and cover for them when their parents called your house when they went to a 21+ club. You just wanted a simple night in to watch a movie and share ghost stories. Maybe they didn’t want to do those things anymore.

You wouldn’t say they grew up but maybe...the three of you just grew apart.

You pushed thoughts of them to the back of your mind as Yangyang stood in front of an ornate door, decorated with flower engravings, painted in several colors. The initials at the bottom were “W.T.”.

Yangyang pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door for you. He handed the set of golden keys to you. “These are yours for the duration of your stay. You can trust no one will come in...Unless it be your wish, y/n.”

He dropped the keys into your hands. “Thank you,” you whispered.

Yangyang smiled. “You are welcome. Supper will be ready in an hour. I’ll come for you when it is time.”

You couldn’t look at him for too long without your eyes burning. He was too radiant. Too beautiful. Almost otherworldly. You looked down at your socks as you entered the room. You shut it gently behind you.

You locked the door from the inside, trusting that Yangyang gave you the only set. You took a sigh of relief as you took in the bedroom.

This had to be a mistake, you thought.

This had to be the master room. It felt like you were in a 19th century penthouse suite, if such a thing had existed. Your room for the night started with a fireplace and a sitting area. When you walked past it, you entered the study area that was bigger than the first floor of your house. You had a massive walk-in closet filled with gowns and shoes of every color. You even had a room full of fine jewelry on display, including tiaras studded with diamonds. Your mouth remained open as you walked through the “bedroom”.

You shouldn’t have access to any of these things. For they must have belonged to someone. Why would Yangyang let you sleep in here?

Lastly, as your heart couldn’t take anymore, the bedroom was plush and luxurious. The carpet embraced the soles of your feet. After resisting the urge to touch everything else in the bedroom, you allowed yourself to sit on the king-sized bed.

Sleeping in this bed would’ve compensated for all of the all-nighters you’ve pulled in your life. It was a shame you wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, though.

You were many things. Naive, innocent, studious, and quite impulsive at times. But you weren’t about to fall asleep in a stranger’s home.

Half an hour passed as you washed up and warmed up by the fireplace.

Yangyang knocked at your door. You thought it odd that he would be escorting you down himself. Shouldn’t he have servants, living in a place like this?

You opened the door and Yangyang stared at you in shock.

“What?” You frowned. You looked exactly the same as you did when you first met him, he realized.

“Were none of the gowns to your liking?” Yangyang asked, genuinely confused.

You did a double take. “What? Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly...Those aren’t mine. I don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality. No more than I already have.”

Yangyang was stunned at your decision. He thought you would have tried on all of the dresses in the past half hour and don the diamond tiara with golden accents...But no...The suite he’d given you was relatively untouched. You were certainly a woman of your word. You would’ve looked stunning in the red sleeveless dress, he thought. He snapped out of it and said, “No matter. You had the option...That’s why I gave you this room. Everything within these mansion walls is at your disposal.”

You laughed. “You’ve done more than enough for me so don’t worry. Now...can we go eat? I really can’t turn down a meal.” You hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

Yangyang laughed at your candor. “Of course.”

As you walked down the grand wooden staircase, you could hear more people in the house. You heard chairs being pulled, laughter, clinking of glasses, and the piano being played.

You turned to Yangyang. “Who...”

Yangyang replied, “My brothers will be joining us for supper.”

“Oh,” you said, surprised. When you entered, you were shocked enough that Yangyang was there. Who knew more people resided here? Up until now, it was so quiet that you could probably hear a pin drop.

That, and Yangyang’s violin. Which you longed to hear again.

You felt quite underdressed upon meeting Yangyang’s brothers in the dining room, which boasted a lot of paintings and miniature statues to the men who stood before you. There was another grand piano in the dining area, where one of Yangyang’s brothers sat and played a lively piece. Three of the brothers were laughing about an anecdote that the tallest of the group told. The final two men sat as...to your surprise, servants finished setting the dining table, lighting the flames of the candles in the center. The servants’ dresses had turned up collars with plain neckties. Yangyang’s brothers all donned suits of dark reds, blues, and grays. They looked like members of a royal family.

At the sight of you, the music stopped and all of the men started moving towards you and Yangyang.

“Yangyang, an introduction is in order,” the pianist asked as he got up from his seat.

“Brothers, this is y/n. She is staying with us before she returns to town in the morning,” Yangyang said, the humor in his voice when he spoke with you vanished. He moved closer to you, you noticed.

The pianist asked for your hand and kissed it. “Enchanted to meet you, y/n. I am Wei Kun, the oldest of the Wei children.”

You coughed, a little shocked at how forward Kun was. It was a culture shock to you. Most boys thought they were too damn special to ever make eye contact with you.

You shook hands with the other brothers. They were all very happy to see you. But you couldn’t quite place what kind of joy it was so you remained on your toes.

“Please, sit,” Winwin said as he led you to the seat right next to the head of the table. Kun sat down at the head of the table and smiled at you. The rest of the brothers joined you.

The servants began to bring out the drinks and the first course. Ten was about to sit next to you when Yangyang immediately claimed the seat.

“Calm down, brother,” Ten said, “It won’t do you harm to let her sit beside someone other than you.”

Yangyang remained in his seat. “She is my guest.”

Ten chuckled as he sat across from you. “So y/n, what brings you to this neck of the woods?”

A servant poured a glass of water for you. “Thank you,” you replied and tried to meet her eyes.

The servant quickly turned away and headed to the kitchen, you assumed. That was odd.

“Well,” you continued, “My friends and I were going to a party in the woods. We got into a fight and I got out of the car that was on the road not too far from here…”

“A car?” Xiaojun frowned, his bold eyebrows furrowed. He took a bite of his salad.

So these men didn’t know phones or cars... “Oh...Well, they’re these machines that can transport people from place to place…”

“Like a carriage?” Yangyang offered.

“Ah.” The rest of the boys said in realization.

You nodded as you drank your water, “Yes, but it runs on gasoline.”

The boys were amazed at your tales about modern technology. You went into as much detail as you could about phones and cars. The boys were an odd bunch. It was almost as if they never left this house.

Although it seemed like that, they told you tales of their travels to Asia, South America, and Europe. They told you about their cultural expeditions and their visits to the natural wonders of the world. Ten, the painter of the family, motioned to the paintings you’d seen earlier. They were paintings of places like Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, and the Parthenon. They were paintings of the places they visited. They were so vivid and lifelike. Ten was an incredible painter. Talent ran in the family, that was a sure thing. You were as much in awe of their tales. You were thankful the spotlight wasn’t on you like you’d expected, being the sole stranger of this household.

You enjoyed the salad, the tomato soup, the roasted duck, and the dessert, which happened to be your favorite: strawberry shortcake.

“Would you care for another slice?” Yangyang asked in a whisper as the other boys talked. He noticed your face come alive at the first bite of the cake.

You nearly choked on the last bite of your slice. You must have looked gluttonous to him. You should’ve eaten slower, you thought. You must have not been very ladylike at that moment. You shook your head. “That’s alright. Thank you. Everything was delicious.”

Yangyang looked at you once again in confusion. You clearly wanted another slice so why weren’t you asking for it, he asked himself. “Very well…” He murmured.

Lucas got up from the table. “Well, Yangyang, the boys and I will retire early...Although we wish you would let us be in y/n’s company…”

Yangyang quickly replied, “Good evening, brothers.”

They all pouted but wished you a good evening.

You laughed. “Your brothers are a lot of fun.”

Yangyang scoffed. “That’s one word for them. The minute they caught wind that I had a visitor, they insisted on joining us for dinner. I am so sorry, y/n. You must have been overwhelmed.”

You shook your head. “It’s nice to know that it isn’t just you in this house.”

Yangyang was stunned at your words. You were so...kind. Thinking of others, always. Thinking of him, basically a total stranger. You were as kind as you were trusting. It made his heart ache.

He pulled your seat back for you. He offered his arm. “Are you tired?”

Exhausted, actually. But once again, you were in a stranger’s house. And now that you knew he wasn’t alone, you wanted to be more on guard.

“Nope...I am wide awake.” You smiled as you took his arm. He was warm to the touch. The electricity ran between both of you.

Yangyang laughed. “What would you like to do, y/n?”

“I’d like to hear you play,” you said.

He was shocked at your honesty. He liked when you expressed yourself honestly most of all.

It was the truth, you thought. Frankly, it was part of your ruse to stay up as late as possible but if Yangyang could keep you entertained, it would certainly help a lot.

And truly, you could listen to his violin for hours.

_______

Back in the music room, you sat on the couch, serving as Yangyang’s audience. He loosened his tie and took off his jacket, setting it aside on a chair. He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

He warmed up his hands and fingers for a few minutes before he tuned the strings of his violin. His fingers were so elegant and slender. The veins of his arms protruded as he flexed his hands. He looked so focused and determined and just unbelievably beautiful. The violin was an extension of his heavenly hands. This was the most attractive he’d ever been. You bit your lip.

You told yourself to calm down, for he was a complete stranger.

Sure, up until this point, he gave you the bedroom of your dreams. A dinner that nearly brought you to tears from the flavor and comfort it gave you. And he was playing his beloved instrument for you...But you couldn’t get attached so quickly.

He couldn’t meet your gaze because the look in your eyes made him feel something he wasn’t prepared to acknowledge. Time had slipped quickly and his heart was deceiving him when it shouldn’t have.

“So...what will you be playing first?” You asked. How many songs could you get out of him before you both retired to your rooms?

Yangyang grinned excitedly. “An original I’ve been working on...I finished composing it today.”

“Really? Today?” You asked.

He gave you the knowing smile he had the moment you met him. “You helped me finish it.”

“Is that so? Well, I’m ready when you are.” You smiled, about to kick your legs up like an overly excited schoolgirl.

“The piece is called ‘Found’,” Yangyang said as he positioned his bow against the strings and began.

Yangyang was truly an otherworldly being, especially under the skylight. The snowstorm was long gone and only the moonlight shone down on him. His skin illuminated like porcelain. His sculpted face tilted as he immersed himself in his song.

You realized the song was the piece he played when you entered the music room the first time. The song was somber at first. The notes were low and left you feeling down. Yangyang’s face was so melancholic at the start of the song. However, as he continued, the notes became lighter and freer, picking up towards the end, signifying hope. Your heart swayed with each three-note chord he played.

You weren’t entirely sure of the story behind the song but meeting you must not have been a low point of his day.

You clapped for Yangyang. “I loved it! It’s...too beautiful to be called merely beautiful...You are so talented.”

Yangyang’s cheeks were now a rosy pink. He bowed for you. “Thank you.”

You laughed giddily. You wished you could’ve recorded this performance, you longed to keep it with you for the rest of your life.

Yangyang continued playing his original pieces. He was truly gifted in his craft. His compositions were nothing to sneeze at. He should be a world-famous musician with all of the work he’d done.

As he played, he would meet your eyes and give you a little smile. You could watch him for hours. He could play for you for hours.

You two were in this perfect little bubble, then. Reality didn’t take effect. It was divine.

Yangyang’s hands grew tired and after his last song, he sat beside you.

“You look sleepy, y/n,” he noted, “Did my performance actually bore you?” He mocked taking offense.

You fought a yawn but couldn’t let it escape you so turned away from him. You lifted a finger and told him to wait.

You let out a yawn, trying not to be noisy. Yes, you were tired. A long day at school, a falling out with your friends, and an evening at the Wei Mansion did its number on you.

You faced Yangyang again. “I’m wide awake.”

Yangyang lifted an eyebrow in skepticism. “Perhaps you would like something to drink?”

You nodded. “Something warm...Would hot cocoa be possible?”

“Absolutely. It’s a staple at this household this time of year,” he said.

He offered his hand to you and you took it. Both of you were taken aback by how immediate you were to hold hands but neither of you let go as Yangyang led you into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, he tended to you. The servants were nowhere in sight. The mansion felt like it had when you first came in: empty.

It felt like you two were the only people in this house, a world in itself.

He poured you a cup of cocoa he made and you were in love. The cocoa tasted amazing. You drank it slowly, savoring every sip.

You shivered a little from the cold that creeped into the mansion. Yangyang left for a moment and returned with a blanket. He wrapped it around you.

It was plush and made of the softest material you could ever imagine. If you snuggled too much against it, you would fall asleep right then and there.

But your energy started picking up again...It must have been the cocoa.

“We can go into the library...I’ll start up the fire.” Yangyang offered as he drank his cup of cocoa.

It seemed Yangyang was eager to stay awake with you, you thought.

“Aren’t you tired?” You asked.

He looked up from his cup. “What?”

“You don’t have to force yourself to stay up with me. I’m the one who can’t sleep.”

Yangyang knew you were keeping yourself awake on purpose. He knew you didn’t completely trust him or this house. Slowly, however, you opened yourself up to him and he was quite fond of you. He wanted to be by your side for the night. He didn’t know why exactly but he just did.

He met your gaze. “I hope it is not too forward of me to say this...But I want to remain at your side.”

You looked down, flattered at his words. Then, you mustered your courage and met his unwavering stare. “Okay.”

The truth was, you felt safer with Yangyang. And you couldn’t lie to yourself: you liked him. He was kind, attentive, charming, and a wonderful musician. The moment you met him made you forget all of your troubles...if only for a moment.

You two walked into the dome-shaped library. It was bigger than any commercial bookstore. You wondered how old the family’s collection was.

Yangyang started the fire at the fireplace by the reading couches. He motioned for you to take a seat.

You sat down and nearly sank into the couch. It was so comfortable. You were living in the lap of luxury.

“Y/n, are you alright?” Yangyang asked.

You laughed. “Yeah...why?”

“Your eyes rolled to the back of your head,” he said, smiling confusedly.

You laughed again. “It’s because this couch is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever sat on.”

Yangyang smiled and shook his head. “The simplest things please you.”

“Nothing about this house is simple,” you said.

He shook his head, smiling at you and picked up a book off of the shelf. He scanned the title and the summary. “What do you like to read, y/n?”

You answered, “Horror.”

Yangyang’s eyes widened. “Really?”

You nodded. “Yes. I like the suspense and the kinds of creatures the writers come up with.”

Yangyang was wrong to assume you were a romance kind of girl. He’d hoped to woo you with some Shakespeare. He took it in stride and put the book he had back on the shelf. He took a rolling step ladder and positioned it farther away from you. He got up on the steps and picked up another book off the shelf.

“It’s called ‘The Mysterious Mansion’,” he said, biting back a laugh.

“How fitting,” you said, laughing.

You and Yangyang shared a couch as you took turns reading to each other. The story was dark and twisted but got your heart racing.

Well, maybe Yangyang’s being so close to you may have had something to do with it.

The hours pass and you finish off the last page. Yangyang leaned against the other end of the couch and simply watched you. He loved the sound of your voice and the way it cracked.

He gave you a glass of water to relax your voice. He loved how your eyes scanned word for word. The crease between your eyes as you interpreted the author’s words. But you kept on reading aloud. He’d read “The Mysterious Mansion’ several times but this time was his favorite reread.

You could hear Yangyang talk forever when you heard him read the passages. His voice was soothing and full of wonder. The grin on his face right before he read a twist to the story. The crinkle of his nose when he laughed at your reactions. He’d become a friend.

A friend you wanted to kiss.

This was the most fun you’d ever had. This cold October night with this enchanting young man. You kinda wished it would never end but you were still resolved to...Stay...awake…

Your eyes grew heavy and you curled yourself against the couch. You pulled the blanket tighter around you.

Yangyang realized you were drifting. He quickly moved over to you and shook you awake.

You two had stayed up all night and it was nearing daybreak. And he had to move fast.

“Y/n!” He yelled to wake you up.

You grumbled. “What?”

“Please wake up. You need to leave right now,” Yangyang demanded.

You rubbed your eyes and snapped out of it. How the hell did you almost fall asleep, you fool, you thought to yourself. The alarm in Yangyang’s voice also was a cause for concern. “What’s wrong?” You asked.

He shook his head rampantly. “There’s no time to explain. Do you have everything?”

You nodded. “I have to get my coat and boots at the entrance.”

Yangyang grabbed your hand and you both ran towards the entrance. You put your coat and boots on. Yangyang did the same and he nearly dragged you out the door. You quickly moved down the staircase and set foot on the dewy grass. Yangyang kept his foot on the last step of the staircase.

The sky overhead was mostly black but shades of oranges, pinks, and red were breathing through. Dawn was imminent.

That was when you realized you had no mittens. You’d left them in the bedroom.

Yangyang noticed your bare hands. He pulled off his royal blue mittens and slipped them onto your hands.

“You don’t have to-“ You started.

“I want you to have them. A fair trade. Yours for mine?” He smiled.

He squeezed your hands before he let them go.

“Thank you...for tonight, Yangyang,” you said. Even though it was through the weather and the night that you had no other choice, you had a magical night with a boy who was so wonderful, he must’ve been out of a classic novel. He’d treated you like a friend and listened to you: about what you wanted to do and what you liked. You’d wished you could’ve gotten to know him more but you appreciated that he listened to you attentively.

You were sad the night had ended but you’d succeeded in staying up nearly the whole night at least. You were meant to leave now. You’d overstayed your welcome and you needed to get home. That was the most important thing.

Yangyang moved closer to you and moved some hair away from your face. He touched your cheek with the back of his hand. Once again, you both did something with no thought.

You got up on the staircase and kissed him. He pulled you in to deepen the kiss. He picked you up off the ground as he continuously took your breath away.

But as quickly as this piece of utter bliss started, it quickly ended.

He let you go and set you down on the grass. “Goodbye, y/n.”

“Goodbye, Yangyang.” As you walked into the forest, you turned back once more and watched as Yangyang stood there, his face unreadable.

You waved at him and his expression softened as he waved back.

You laughed as you turned back now and kept on moving. The path to the main road took a little longer than expected because it was still dark. However, the sun rose before you knew it and you were able to see the main road again.

And you were shocked to find several people on the main road. Cop cars were parked off the side of the road. A news reporter for Channel 23 News could be heard saying.

“It is Day 8 into the search for y/n y/l/n. She was last seen on this road, Road 116 by her friends and has not returned home. If you have seen y/n or have any information that can help our police force find her, please call the number on the screen: 1-800-RES-CUES. Again, that’s 1-800-RES-CUES.”

Dowoon and Sana were being interviewed by another news station.

Dowoon was on the brink of tears, his eyes stained red. “This is all our fault.”

Choking on her tear, Sana continued, “We shouldn’t have left her on the road...We thought she went home...We were so stupid…”

What the hell was going on?

You walked into the road and several people turn to you in shock. They gasped and screamed your name.

Your parents broke out of the crowd of people that has accumulated. “Y/n!” They both yell.

They run up to you and wrap their arms around you, weeping hysterically.

Your mom yelled, “Y/n, where have you been? My baby!”

Your dad held your face in his hands, “What happened to you? Are you alright?”

You were shocked at their reaction. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you guys were in New York until tomorrow.”

Your parents, not letting you go, gave each other a meaningful look.

Your mom’s eyebrows furrowed. “Tomorrow? Y/n, we came back a week ago.”

You laughed in disbelief. “No, you guys left Friday morning, yesterday morning.”

Your dad shook his head. “Y/n, you’ve been missing for a week now.”

You laughed again. “No...You guys are messing with me.”

But then you looked around at all of the worried looks on the people’s faces. The police officers came right over. You even saw Dowoon and Sana sobbing not too far from Sana’s car.

“You guys...I stayed in a mansion not too far from here for the night because of the snow…”

“What mansion? What snow?” Your parents asked in unison.

You darted your eyes to everyone else and whispered to them. “Come with me.”

“Y/n, we need to get you home…” Your mom pleaded.

You shook your head. “I need to show you where I was and that I wasn’t in danger.”

“Y/n, we should tell the police-” Your father offered.

“No!” You snapped. “Please trust me. He didn’t do anything to me. He’s my friend.”

At the mention of “he”, your parents were up in arms and motioned for the police to come over.

“We will go with you, y/n…” Your mom said.

She meant that they’ll go with you if you have a police escort.

You shook your head and led the party to the mansion. You couldn’t believe this. Missing for seven days? That was impossible. You’d only been gone for the night. How could anyone have known you’d been gone? Your parents were away.

Once you got out of the forest to the Wei mansion, you saw that there was no mansion. Only an abandoned cabin.

What?

“Is this where you were detained, y/n?” Police Officer A asked.

“I was not detained. This isn’t the mansion I-”

“A mansion?” Everyone looked at you skeptically.

You entered the cabin, knowing that everything you believed in was slipping through your fingers. Tears quickly ran down your cheeks. The cabin was shabby, the furniture inside covered in dust. It had been unlived in for quite some time.

“Y/n!” Your parents yelled.

The police rushed in after you and Police Officer B held you back. “Let me go!” You demanded.

“It’s dangerous.”

The police officers searched the entire cabin three times over and came up with nothing. “There is no trace of anyone having been here for years,” Police Officer A said.

Well, of course not, this wasn’t the mansion that you stayed at.

Clearly, the more time passed, the more concerned everyone looked. It was possible you heard the words “rehab” and “therapy” and “mental break” thrown around.

You had to calm down. You knew you weren’t crazy. You knew it because you wore Yangyang’s gloves.

Yangyang.

Where is he? Where were his brothers? Where was the Wei mansion?

Police Officer B released you and you browsed the area. Your parents trailed behind you. You entered one of the bedrooms, encased in dust. You sneezed and found a chest with a lock on it. The chest was engraved with the letter “W” at the center.

You recognized the engraving. It was the same handwriting from the bedroom door in the Wei Mansion. Your bedroom door...The keys.

You remembered you still had them in your pocket. It was a long shot but you pulled them out. You placed the key inside of the lock and opened the chest.

You found seven porcelain dolls. The dolls were more sophisticated than any doll sold at the local stores. They were almost lifelike. The way their eyes and lips were drawn. Each doll bared a striking resemblance to the Wei brothers. You could see them all: Kun, Ten, Winwin, Lucas, Xiaojun, Hendery, and…

Yangyang.

The last doll was definitely Yangyang. The doll held a toy violin and wore…

Your ruby red mittens.

Fin.

_______

Epilogue.

Yangyang sat in the music room alone, holding on tightly to your red mittens.

Hendery charged into the room. His brothers trailed behind. “You fool! Why did you let her go?”

Yangyang shrugged. “I’ve had it.”

“What are you talking about?” Xiaojun demanded. “You were smitten with her. She was clearly enamored with you.”

Kun laughed. “It’s because he’s in love with her.”

All of the boys looked at their oldest brother, confused. Yangyang avoided their stares.

“You changed your mind,” Kun murmured.

Yangyang sighed, “She was not like-”

Winwin rolled his eyes. “Please do not give us the story of ‘she was not like other girls’. She seduced you and you let her go. You fell for her game. She outsmarted you.”

Yangyang snapped. “Do not test me, brother.”

Ten interjected. “Okay, okay, everyone needs to calm down...We are just curious...Why? She could have stayed here with us forever...With you forever.”

Yangyang didn’t want to speak to them. Every moment that passed, he missed you more. “She did not wear the jewels or the dresses...She left everything untouched. She did not come to us because she sought material possessions. She wanted a friend…”

Lucas laughed. “How pathetic.”

Yangyang groaned. “You lot would not understand…”

“Do not act like you are better than us, little brother,” Kun began condescendingly.

“I am not-”

“You think you’re better than us because you let a prisoner go this time, do you not? Well, let me bring you back to reality. Our spirits are confined into those tacky porcelain dolls...So what do we do to ease ourselves? We bring people into this realm to reside with us. Materialistic, selfish, and vain people. Y/n is no different from the rest of them.”

“Shut up,” Yangyang muttered.

The rest of the boys were stunned to silence but Kun heard him clearly. “Repeat that, Yangyang. You know the consequences.”

Yangyang got up and shoved your mittens in his pockets. “Shut up, Kun.”

Kun smiled and laughed. The other boys faked laughter so as not to upset Kun even more. His smile quickly faded as he punched Yangyang to the ground.

Kun gave Yangyang a harsh beating and the rest of the brothers watched. No one dared to step in and upset Kun even further. Yangyang couldn’t blame his brothers. Besides, he wanted this. He wanted to feel a pain other than the pain of missing you.

He may have been damned for the rest of eternity but he was thankful to have met you. You proved to him that not everyone could be consumed by the deadly sins, as he and his brothers had. You were an angel that gave you a moment of compassion, of affection. And for that he would always be thankful.

_______

Come back tomorrow the third installment in our Halloween Series! :)

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