‧₊˚✧ ❄️ Stories by the Fire Vol. 1❄️ ✧˚₊‧

[Megasis]

Come sit by the fire...

Twas the night before Christmas
and the lovely users of Iwaku,
gathered around the virtual fireplace
to read stories provided by you!

Let us be merry this holiday season
and while we are not physically near,
there will be joy and celebration
that we can at least come together here.

‧₊˚✧ ❄ ✧˚₊‧

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Big Shoutout to everyone who submitted their stories.
~ Thank You ~
It wouldn't be an event without you!

And without further ado, check out the stories below!
The thread will remain up through January.​

 

[Megasis]

Mistletoe
A Tale From Silent Pines

Writers: Astaroth / Diana

Genre: Supernatural

Fun Facts:
This is CANON for Silent Pines (if you know you know) and was written in 2018.
If you don't know what Silent Pines is, all you really need to know is that Caleb is a werewolf, Leo is a vampire, and Julian is a psychic.​

"Mistletoe," a sly voice drawled. That was all the warning that Caleb got before a warm, angular body pushed him up against the wall. A hand slid down to his back pocket and slipped inside. He could feel the grin against his lips even before Leo finished leaning up to capture his mouth in a demanding kiss. Melting, he closed his eyes as the back of his skull knocked against the wood paneling.

"I didn't see any mistletoe," he groused, once the invading tongue was out of his mouth. He opened his eyes again to squint at the other man.

Blue eyes blinked back at him with an innocence that he knew was totally contrived, but somehow still got him every time. Caleb swallowed and tried very hard not to squirm. It was difficult; Leo was still pressing close, his other hand slipping up under his sweater.

"You didn't exactly stop me," Leo pointed out, his grin widening. In a softer tone, he added, "Jules was looking for you. Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere," he answered, frowning. Leo's fingers were crawling over his stomach, making the muscles jump in reaction. He was nearly positive it was supposed to be disarming, and Caleb didn't like that Leo thought he needed to be disarmed right now. "Just out for some fresh air."

Leo's eyebrow quirked, but he let it go.

"Well if you're all done getting air," he said, "I think we might have to run interference in the kitchen. Jules and the little demon are onto the second batch of your cookies. And I don't mean frosting them. The kid is going to be bouncing off the walls tomorrow morning."

The frown deepened. "You didn't stop them?"

"Dude, you know they just ignore me unless I get fang-y, and I hate doing that to a three-year-old. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

Caleb did not immediately budge. Neither did Leo, he couldn't help but notice.

"Or we can stay here too," Leo continued, after a beat. "That might be a lost cause anyway. And out here is much more fun."

"My sister," Caleb hissed, though he realized the protests were far too late. They'd been standing in a very compromising position in the hallway for several minutes already.

"Your sister is a grown woman who has already long since realized we're doing dirty things, Caleb." Leo's voice was thick with amusement. "And besides, she's busy feeding and playing with her precious birds. Didn't you see her out there?"

Leo's fingertips ducked into the waistband of Caleb's jeans, and he sucked in a breath that sounded enough like a moan for him to feel his face go hot.

"Not fair," he growled, his own hand dropping to Leo's hip bone and squeezing tight. He felt a surge of satisfaction when he felt Leo twitch in response. Those blue eyes flashed with something wicked as Caleb started to pull him closer, and then--

"DAAAAAAAAADDYYYYYYYYY," a voice screamed.

"Fuck," grumbled Leo as his forehead hit Caleb's shoulder. He turned to nose at Caleb's neck. "So close."

"He's your son," Caleb reminded him flatly, shoving Leo backward so there were a few precious inches between them. Leo's eyes caught his, peering curiously.

"Well yeah," he said slowly, that look on his face that meant he thought he knew something. Caleb shifted against the wall and wished he didn't feel so warm.

"Come on," the other man urged, his long fingers capturing Caleb's slightly broader hand with ease, and began tugging him towards the kitchen. "I think we're needed. WHAT'S UP, GREMLIN?"

Julian had long since accepted that her daily life was going to be filled with endless chaos once her little goblin learned to walk and talk.

What she wasn't expecting was absolute nonsense.

By the time Leo and Caleb crossed the threshold, Julian was on her feet with Ariel upside down in one arm and kicking his legs. There was a gingerbread man in her mouth and a frosted spatula in her other hand. One socked foot was shoving against the butting head of Lady Francine the goat, who had snuck through the back door due to Silvia not latching the blasted thing properly.

"Shurr iffint rash feh hoor!" she growled out. The kid was slipping though and Julian had to crouch just enough so she could keep him propped up with her thigh until she finally dropped softly on her ass. It was a hell of a lot easier to keep a goat at bay when she wasn't balancing on one foot.

Really, she had everything all under control, but her giggling son thought the entire scene was so hilarious it needed to be shared. Or at least that's what she hoped, because if he thought he was getting any more cookies by sulking to Daddy, he was sadly mistaken.

When the body of her gingerbread man snapped and fell down the front of her shirt, she was done. This kid had two dads, it was their turn now!

"Save us!" she sulked, falling backwards on the floor with her hysterical, hyper child.

Leo and Caleb exchanged a glance, one that was significantly more amused on Leo's part.

"You get your hellbeast, I'll get mine," directed the vampire, and stooped down to scoop his child out of Julian's arms. He turned the boy right-side up and examined him carefully, like he thought he might actually be hurt. Seeing that tender look made Caleb's heart squeeze.

"Francine," he snapped gruffly, tearing his eyes away and grabbing the doe goat by her horns. He muscled the stubborn animal backwards and out of the way of the door. "I'll bring you something later."

When he turned back around, he found Julian still in a pile on the floor and Leo still looking at Ariel like he was the only thing in the room.

The little boy looked so much like his father. His hair was darker, like Julian's, but he had Leo's sparkling and intensely blue eyes. He also shared his father's sense of mischief. The two looked almost like they were silently communicating... which might very well have been true.

The moment Ariel saw Caleb watching them, though, he shrieked in glee.

"Tatay!" Caleb still wasn't sure which of them had taught him that, but it made his stomach flip every time.

Ariel reached his arms out, kicking as if he thought he could just launch himself across the kitchen at Caleb. If Leo hadn't been quick on the draw, he would have gone tumbling.

"Hello," rumbled Caleb gently, moving to take him. He let Ariel squeeze his finger with one tiny hand. "Have you been eating lots of cookies?"

"Yes! Lotsa cookies!" The boy grinned. His hair was starting to get long, like Leo's had been when they first met.

"He likes him more than me," Leo stage-whispered. He crouched, hooking his hands under Julian's knees and around her shoulders and lifting her effortlessly off the floor. "At least I still have you."

"I ate lots of cookies too," Julian lamented, playing up being a limp rag-doll even more by letting her arm dangle and her head to tilt back. "Too many cookies."

She should have listened the third time Leo warned her not to shovel another cookie in her face. But what was she supposed to do? Nothing smelled better than Christmas cookies, her appetite was soaring, and they were right there. It's not like she could predict when she was going to start feeling queasy or that a random goat was going to barge in to the room and rile her all up.

The only thing more uncomfortable than her stomach was the gingerbread now crumbling up in her bra. Julian dropped her noodle act to reach down her shirt and retrieve that lost cookie. Once she did, she was back to debating the pros and cons of stuffing it in her mouth. She did have to eat, right?

"You can have my share of goblin love when I die from frosting fallout. But if he grows up all brooding wolfpire I am coming back to haunt all three of you."

Her head dropped to his shoulder and the cookie, with a mind of it's own, headed towards her mouth.

It wounded up in Leo's instead.

"Nuh," he told her, looking very smug. He managed somehow to get the whole thing into his mouth without using hands, chewed, swallowed, and then resumed talking. "You both have had enough. There won't be any left for tomorrow."

"Have the cookies tomorrow," supplied Ariel. "Wanna have cookies. Mummy no."

"Should I put him in bed?" Caleb asked, retrieving his finger before it ended up in Ariel's mouth. They had all learned quickly that the boy was a biter.

Julian gave Leo a wicked pursed-mouth frown. Not only did he steal her cookie, he had her at an impasse if they ever wanted to get Ariel to bed. She finally understood why her dad always got exasperated with her mum when she hassled him while Julian was in the room. Little goblins liked to mimic what their parents did, and as much as she enjoyed giving her boys a hard time, no one needed a sugar monster on the loose.

"No more cookies for Mummy it is," she sighed, sliding her arms up around Leo's neck and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Definitely bedtime for goblins though. If you want to take him to bed, Leo can hide the rest of the cookies from me and Aunt Silvie. I have to make sure that creepy Shelf Elf stays where I put him this time."

That blasted Elf was supposed to be her fun for hiding every night, but someone kept sneaking him off to different spots while she was sleeping. No one would admit to doing it, and it was starting to drive her crazy. When things moved by themselves, it always ended up being something creepy and she absolutely refused to deal with sentient dolls on Christmas.

"I told you it's not me doing it," Leo insisted. He stepped closer to press a noisy kiss on Ariel's cheek, only to laugh when the boy shrieked like he'd been burned. He'd only recently started doing that, and since he was a little too young to learn about cooties from other children, Caleb suspected he'd learned it somewhere closer to home.

"Night Gremlin," he said, then leaned up to press a second (less audible) kiss on the shell of Caleb's ear. "Remember to come back and tuck us in, big guy."

"I've told you not to call me that," Caleb protested, as his ear tingled. "I'll be back."

He turned his back on the pair and cuddled Ariel closer to his chest.

"Alright, let's go get ready for bed..."

As soon as they were alone and he was sure Caleb was out of earshot, Leo looked down at his wife.

"You haven't told him yet, have you?" Idly, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Julian beamed the most ridiculously wide of smiles. Goats, cookies, queasy stomachs, and elves were all forgotten as she nearly choked on a giggle. She had to swallow it though, because she had lasted this long, she couldn't ruin it all last minute.

"No! It's almost tomorrow and I just have to keep it a secret just a little bit longer. I almost ruined the whole thing yesterday when Silvia wouldn't stop talking about baby Jesus this and baby Jesus that."

There had been a stretch of time where Angela and Silvia kept referring to Ariel as a little baby Jesus and Julian had been completely frustrated and horrified. This time, though, she was so completely thrilled that keeping her secret was becoming a trial.

Especially when she was wretched at keeping secrets.

"I put the test in a box with a ribbon. Do you think that's too weird? Maybe I should've done little tiny socks-"

She was cut off with Leo's lips covering hers.

"God you're cute," he breathed when he came up for air. He rested his forehead against hers. "He's going to be over the moon, you dork. I think he needs it."

 

[Megasis]

Into the Woods

Writer: MiharuAya


Genre: Fantasy, Mystery


Fun Facts:
Told through the point of view of Bigby, the town's detective and incarnation of the big bad wolf.
Loosely based on the Fables comic.​

A low, rumbling snore reverberated around the apartment, shaking the walls and causing the old building to creek. If there had been any picture frames, they surely would have fallen and shattered. However, no such sentimental items had ever graced these walls. The decor was bare, lifeless, and dreary, much like its occupant.

For any of the neighbors, the noise was a repeated offense that often kept them awake. Though, they didn't dare wake the beast slumbering within these walls. By the grace of whatever powerful beings might exist, they only faced this problem a few times a week or when they were already awake for the day.

As a detective, Bigby often worked long shifts that didn't always follow a consistent schedule. He would be called in if there were an incident, even if he had just clocked out. That was simply how the job was. As such, it was rare to get a solid night's rest. But, it wasn't merely his job that contributed to his lack of sleep.

Even after a long day of work and being thoroughly tired, the wolf could never fall asleep. His mind was plagued by the horrors he had committed to what felt like a whole other life. The taste of blood, the smell of fear, and those once euphonious screams all haunt his mind. Bigby can't remember when it started or if it had always been this way, but the excitement he once felt had faded into regret. Now, he can only find sleep at the bottom of the bottle.

The loud, high-pitched chime of a cell phone ringing erupted inside the room, instantly quieting the snore and causing the beast to stir in his bed. An arm covered in peach fuzz reached under the blanket to snatch the device from the nightstand, swiping the screen and putting it to his ear. "What!?" He growled, disregarding whoever might be on the other end of the line.

"We found another body," The voice was serious and straight to the point. The police chief was used to dealing with Bigby's sour moods and was not easily shaken by how the call had been answered. In fact, most of their conversations went in a similar annoying way.

Those words washed the snarl off Bigby's face as he sat up with a sigh. "Where?" The wolf asked the grogginess in his mind waning as he snapped into his detective frame of mind. This hadn't been the first body, not even the second. But with a third, it had become a pattern. The prospect of which had given grave conclusions.

"Outside" was the sole word given. Bigby's mouth opened to snap at the chief for being so vague when a thought hit him. The man stood and walked to the window, pulling back the shredded curtains as he looked out. The street below had an unusual number of people for being this early. However, the flashing of blue and red lights answered his question. "Fuck,"

As Bigby hung up the phone, he rapidly went to change. Pulling a plain grey sweater and jeans from a pile of clothes on the ground. Were they clean? After a quick sniff revealed yes, he shrugged them on. From his appearance, he looked more like a vagrant than a detective, something his superiors chide him about to no end. But it isn't as if he has ever cared about those types of things. He does his work, and he does it well. That's all that matters.

While walking towards the door, he picked up his badge, slipping it over his neck to hang as a necklace. As he left, he locked the door behind him, but it wasn't as if he had anything of value inside. Still, he hated the thought of someone invading his territory. A trait leftover from his canine days.

The walk to the elevator was filled with the murmurs of other residences, all speculating on the happenings outside. Some were notoriously nosey and looked as if they wanted to ask Bigby a question. But, the moment they all saw him coming, they returned inside and locked the doors.

Once he reached the elevator, he saw the out-of-service sign precariously dangling from the doors. "God damn it," Even though it wasn't strange for it to be out, it never ceased to irritate Bigby. The detective turned and began his descent down the stairs. As he pushed the door open to the lobby, he was greeted by the sight of more curious residents huddled around the doors while some lower-ranked officers continued ordering them back upstairs.

As he walked through the lobby, fables parted, giving him fearful looks as they pulled their children near. He was used to this sort of treatment, so it hardly bothered him. He kept walking, heading out the door without a single word. When he reached outside, the smell of death hit his sensitive nose and caused it to scrunch up in disgust. There was nothing worse than the smell of a rotting corpse.

The wolf followed his nose to the fountain, though with the crowd of people surrounding it, it was obvious the body was there. While some finished gathering evidence, taking pictures, and bagging anything that could leave a clue, it was Bigby's job to look at the scene as a whole. As he stood back, he took note of the body placement, the condition it was in, and all the other variables that could prove vital in the investigation.

With the morning sun steadily rising, the coroner had arrived to collect the body and take it to the morgue. More people were starting to gather, including the ever-persistent press. As they began to move the body, Bigby continued to observe from afar.

 

[Megasis]

What We Do in the Shadows

Writer: MiharuAya


Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Action


Fun Facts:
Based on the show, What We Do in the Shadows.​

The crystal bell rang out from the study, its quickening clinks indicating the user's growing impatience. As the high-pitched sound cut through the silence of the mansion, it was a request, or rather demand, for everyone's presence. Zeph continued the jarring sound for a long moment, ensuring no one could ignore it. His lips quirked into a mischievous grin as his excitement grew.

When the letter had arrived that morning, nearly every inch of the roof and yard had been covered with ravens. Their incessant caws and abundance of excrement quickly annoyed the neighbors. Some neighbors had come out of their houses to stare or shake their heads disapprovingly, though none dared to do anything.

Well, except for Mrs. Johnson, who lived next door. When she left her house this morning to take her little devil spawns to school, the birds started overflowing and perching on the top of her precious Range Rover. The woman nearly had an aneurysm at the sight. She first took to yelling at the creatures, waving her arms like a lunatic, but it had little results. Other than her looking like a fool. Her next attempt was more fruitful.

After scattering the birds with a broom, she was finally able to reach her car without the danger of ruining her overpriced designer clothes. While she grumbled and whined at the other mothers, it only caused her irritation to grow. Once she had returned home, she had attempted to call and complain, but no one had picked up the phone. The women left several angry voice messages and even called the local city council office to file a complaint.

Judy was taking out the garbage when he noticed the flock taking the letter from the sole white raven. Although he attempted to shoo the animals away, he was scared off when one of them dove for his head. With a high-pitched shriek, he ducked down and covered his head as he ran back inside.

The envelope was large, the size of a standard sheet of paper, and made from some type of aged bamboo pulp. At the top, it was sealed with red wax with the sign of the Vampiric Council pressed onto it. It was clearly important, so the moment that Zephaniah had awoken, Judy delivered the message.

"Thank you, mon chéri," As Zeph was handed the letter, a smirk pulled at the corners of his lips. "My robe," He ordered, Judy rushing to grab the garment from the closet. Zeph quickly slipped on his red lace see-through sugar daddy robe over his matching black silk boxer briefs and camisole. With eager steps, he quickly descended the stairs and entered the study.

While he waited for the others to come and gather, his eyes sparkled as he stared at the envelope. "Ah, what's taking them so long?" He groaned, foot tapping the ground. "Mon poussin, do you see anyone coming?" He asked, crossing his arms in a huff dramatically.

 

[Megasis]

Forging New Paths

Writers: Canarycry / FaithLeafCat

Genre: Trauma/Healing, Mystery, & Superpowers

Fun Facts:
Lone wolf detective Garrett and secretive information broker Evelyn work together to rescue a young man with a powerful gift from being used as a living weapon, to help him find healing and a normal life, and unexpectedly find themselves a patchwork family along the way.

[If you want to read more, the writers supplied a link to their story!
Forging New Paths​

There was a little furrow in Luca's brow as they moved slowly away from shore, his eyes shifting between Garrett and Anthony, then back to Evelyn with something conflicted in his expression. He didn't normally like being surrounded, didn't like the memories that came with it of the people he'd been told to hurt, but Evelyn always kept him safe, and Garrett never told him to do bad things. It was okay, wasn't it? He could trust that they wouldn't ask him to do things that were bad.

Evelyn didn't push too far, keeping her eyes on him and her expression relaxed, and stopping when the water came up just high enough to touch her chin. It left Luca submerged only up to his chest, his shoulders still mostly above the water, so he didn't need to swim but could feel the way his own buoyancy began to pull at the way he stood. She wouldn't let go of his hand, not until he decided he needed both of his arms to help keep him up.

"You're all right," she soothed gently, her thumb running back and forth over his knuckles where their hands were submerged. "How does it feel? Familiar?"

The frown was getting worse, and she worried that the memories associated with swimming, with lakes, or just with water would make him upset, but he didn't try to get away. ". . . I don't know," he said finally, quiet and hesitant. "I think so. . . We can go deeper?"

Despite the fact that it would force her to take her feet off the ground, Evelyn only nodded and pulled him forward more, until she was treading water as gently as she could so as not to jar him, and the water was up to his chin. She hadn't really planned on getting her hair wet, but it would be all right. If it wasn't just hopeful thinking, she was sure some of the tension in his expression was beginning to relax behind the distant look in his eyes.

She stayed there, patient despite the effort of staying afloat while also staying still, until he finally moved closer again, following after her until he had to let go of her hand so he could use both of his arms to tread water next to her. His movements were a bit hesitant at first, but she sensed no panic from him, and if nothing else she thought perhaps the gentle sounds of the water moving around them might soothe him. He hadn't truly swam anywhere yet, but at least she knew now that she didn't have to worry about him drowning.

Garrett kept a close eye on Luca as he and Evelyn moved deeper and deeper into the water, but thankfully, although Luca seemed unsure, he didn't seem to be on the brink of a panic attack. Garrett was still at standing height when Evelyn began treading water, and when he noticed both her and Luca gently paddling, he nodded and relaxed a bit. So Luca could at least keep himself afloat, then.

"If anyone needs an arm, mine's here," he offered the pair gently. "I'm still touching bottom here a bit." The water was up to his chin, but his feet were still solidly on the mud lake floor.

Anthony smiled gently and began swimming in slow circles in front of the pair, making sure not to splash. "There you both go! Look at you paddling. You've got at least a survival level of swimming skills, then. That's great!"

Evelyn was busy feeling relieved that Luca was still okay, but spared enough attention to give a soft pff at Garrett's offer of his arm. "Not all of us are gifted with superior height," she said with a little smile and a shake of her head. "But maybe stay on standby."

Luca looked at Anthony, then Garrett, considering the fact that Garrett always kept him safe, and the fact that if he touched the man his Shadow would go away. He wasn't sure what it would even do for him in water, as it largely protected him against physical attacks and not things like heights or suffocation, but when he was uncertain he was always afraid to lose it. Besides, he liked the way it felt to move through water.

Evelyn was watching him, careful and considering, not taking Garrett's hand despite the faint guilt it incurred in her because she needed to know if her Insight would warn her of anything going wrong. "How do you feel? Do you want to go back?"

Luca shook his head slowly, peering down at the distorted images of their limbs in the water rather than looking at anyone's faces, then finally looked at her again. ". . . I want to go under." Was that okay? Was he allowed? He remembered something about it, about how it felt to be put his head beneath the surface, how it sounded. If he ducked down, he would remember it. He was sure of it.

A concerned furrow formed in her brow, but after a pause Evelyn nodded for him. "Let's move to shallower water, okay? So you can stand again if you want to." She didn't know what was going through his head, but she didn't want him to panic.

The detective was content just to stand near the group, making sure everyone was safe. And slowly but surely, he was feeling more relaxed about the situation. Luca seemed to be on the verge of something. Garrett wasn't sure what it was, but something in his gut told him it would be okay.

He stood calmly in the water and only carefully observed.

Anthony, meanwhile, was delighted that Luca really seemed to like the water. "Underwater? Sure! I'll meet you down there in the shallows," he promised. He swam back a ways, and then dove under. Despite being a lake, the water was fairly clear, and he Gould see several feet out in front of him. He smiled and held his breath while he waited for Luca to join him.

"I'll stay above the surface, just in case," Garrett promised the group with a gentle smile. Things were working out to be better than he'd thought.

Evelyn looked over Luca's shoulder at Anthony when he spoke, nodding to him as she moved closer to shallower water. "Thank you." She said softly, but didn't say any more. She didn't want Luca to feel embarrassed that they were all watching over him, even if she wasn't sure he was capable of feeling that yet. But she didn't really want to put her face in the water if she didn't have to, so she was grateful for the way Anthony seemed willing to try and help.

When they were back to where Evelyn could just stand on her toes, the water coming most of the way up Luca's chest if he was still, she finally let go of his hand. "Don't stay under too long," she said softly, more a request than an instruction, brow furrowed still. "I'll worry. . ."

Luca nodded and took a slow, careful breath, then let his weight relax and pushed up a bit with his arms to drop his body down into the water, but the words didn't really hit him until he was there. He could hear movement under the water, from Anthony shifting around nearby, from his own hands, but everything was muted. Muffled. Like it came from a long distance away. When he dared to open his eyes he could still see the shapes and colors of Evelyn and Garrett's bodies, standing nearby, but the way light came through the water was so different.

He remembered being small and unable to touch the bottom of the deep end of the pool, trying to push himself down towards it while other children splashed about nearby. His mother had taken him to the pool at least twice a week during the summer, let him swim and play until he was tired, gave him watermelon as a snack, let him fall asleep in the car on the way home. For a moment he closed his eyes and covered his ears, tried to remember how she'd always told him to be careful, to have fun, how he would come out to see her leaning over the side of the pool to tell him it was time to go. He wanted to stay, to reach harder for her voice, for the sight of her face, to remember before she slipped through his fingers.

But his chest was starting to ache with the need to breathe, and he could hear Evelyn's voice more clearly. I'll worry. He didn't want her to worry.

Natural buoyancy was already pulling him up, so all Luca had to do was get his feet beneath him again and push himself up to his feet, until his head was above water and he could take a breath. He felt almost winded, just from staying under the one time, but he didn't want to let go of how it felt, unsure if the memories would start to hurt like the diner had or if they would stay muted and peaceful.

"I want to swim deeper. . ." He said when he'd brushed enough water away from his eyes to see properly again. ". . . I can go?"

Evelyn was worried still, keeping quiet and not trying to reach out and take his hand even though she wanted to. Making choices and showing initiative, as well as the ability to not only want things but to ask for them was a lot of progress from the voiceless robot he had been the first time they'd met. She didn't want to stop it, even though she was worried. "All right. Just be careful, and if you get tired or you just want to come back, let us know, okay?"

He nodded, waiting for her to nod back, to move a bit more out of the way and gesture for him to go so he knew it was okay. What she hadn't expected was for him to drop below the surface again and push off the bottom of the lake to swim away from them under water. It put an immediate, nauseating flutter in her stomach even though she knew in theory that he was not a child, that he was grown up and he apparently knew how to swim, and it was all probably fine.

While Luca was under the shallow water, Garrett could make out the vague outlines of both him and Anthony. He wouldn't tell Evelyn yet, but he trusted Anthony to let him know if Luca was in trouble. So he leaned back and let himself float in the waves a bit, casually watching the pair enjoy themselves below the waves.

Luca resurfaced at last. And he wasn't sure, but Garrett thought he could catch a somewhat different expression on the boy's face than he'd seen before. Something more present, more alive, even, than he'd been before.

Luca resurfaced when he needed air again, popping back up out of the water and breathing a bit heavily despite not having gone far. It was strange, doing things he hadn't done in a long, long time. He might have forgotten, but his body remembered. Swimming in the lake wasn't the same as the little brushes of memory that came to him of public pools, with dirt instead of cement, and no other children running around, swimming, and playing, but it still felt so familiar it was almost confusing. He liked the feeling of moving through water, even if it was more exercise than he'd had in years and he couldn't hold his breath for as long as he had when he was little.

He was allowed to have this, wasn't he? Even though the memories should have hurt, he could keep them, couldn't he? For the first time in years, he didn't want to let them go.

 

[Megasis]

Full Moon Rising

Writers: Canarycry / Megasis


Genre: Dark Gothic Fantasy / Supernatural / Mystery


Fun Facts:
In a grungy Victorian town, an unlikely duo meet like it was fate's intention. A werewolf and a vampire find themselves working together, trying to solve the mystery of why the people of Denbrooke are appearing as bloodied indistinguishable corpses in the streets.​

In the morning, the lack of sunlight had Isaac sleeping in longer than normal. On an average day, by the time he finally woke, he would already have been awake, found somewhere to wash up a bit, and set off to go and get himself some work. As it was, worn from the influx of power and influence from the moon, he came awake much more gradually than usual, and with a great deal more confusion.

He was in a bed. It was the first thing he thought of once the comfort of lying in one had worn off enough for him to realize that was strange in and of itself. Confused but groggy, he stretched his arms and shoulders forward for a moment, sighed softly, and finally moved to sit himself up and get a better look. He wasn't home. The pain of it hit him with enough force to distract him from the fact that he was in someone else's, and he rubbed a hand absentmindedly over the still pink, jagged scars on his neck and shoulder until a new realization made him go completely still.

He wasn't alone.

Isaac's memories of the full moon without a pack for guidance were once again so mottled and blurry that he couldn't remember at all what had happened. All he knew was that he had felt safe while he slept, and after shifting back some time in the night had apparently dragged himself back onto the bed to sleep again, next to a young woman he only began to recognize after several seconds of panicked staring. The barmaid, from the night before the full moon, the one he'd rescued in a daze of protective fury - somehow, for some reason, he'd found his way back to her.

The only course of action available was to flee. If he was careful enough, he could simply slide off the bed and shift back while she still slept, then run. At least, that was the plan until he looked back in time to see her open her eyes.

It was atypical of the vampire to take such a long rest as well. Although there were no windows to allow light inside, her body was usually quite finicky with the amount of time it would allow for sleep. But not this day, when the bed was tantalizingly warm and there was a soothing presence hovering near that was allowing Colette the best night of rest she's had in some time. She forgot what it was like to awaken feeling well rested. With a droopy little grin coming to her lips, she straightened her legs into a slow stretch beneath the covers, flexing toes and arching her back. With such a needy pet in her presence, she was not expecting such peace, figuring she'd feel the nudge of a wet nose or the lick of an equally damp tongue upon her cheek with insistence that she rise to get him more food. Or something else.

"… You are quite well behaved for an animal," she slurred outward with her grogginess. Her bed was not large, as its use was typically for one. So as she absently rolled inward, her reaching fingers stretched to find the fluff ball that had to be near. She could feel the warmth of the bed still where he'd been resting.

So imagine her surprise as eyes began to open and she registered in a delayed fashion that her fingers were pressed against skin, not fur.

The curtain of her eyes flew open then. And it took a solid five seconds before she fully comprehended that the outline of the body in front of her was not an animal. But a person. "What in bloody blazes are you doing in—ah-!!" She couldn't finish her exclamation of surprise as she shuffled so quickly backwards that she hadn't noticed the edge of the bed. She promptly pinwheeled her arms and fell backwards with a prominent oof. Though she was quick to scramble herself upright and peek over the edge of the bed with widened eyes of equal surprise and confusion.

Not again!! Goddamn drunkards-!! Why the hell did they always find her room to wriggle inside of!?

… And why were they always half naked??

She wasn't eager to find out how little clothing the male was actually wearing… quickly identifying him as such with his physique. Not that she was looking! Her freckled face was burning with heat and she promptly stood up with her wheat colored hair a mess about her features, raising a hand to half shield her vision as she came around the bed. Giving him a wide berth, she fumbled for the table to strike a light and give them better vision. Not that she was needing it necessarily with the sight of a naked person awaiting her, but it would aid them to find his damn clothes!! With a disgruntled noise, she had to swiftly tug open the drawer to grab a fresh candle since the other had been whittled down to nothing by the previous flame.

"Please, I don't care if you have a bloody headache or anything of the sort, just get your clothes on and get the hell out of my room—……..—!!" She paused abruptly for a second of thought, then realized something was missing. She turned in a flurry, her airy skirt flaring about her ankles as she did so, and damn whether he had clothes on or not, she marched right up to him and pointed a finger in his naked chest with an electric look in her blue colored irises. "Where's the dog. You better not have let him out, I swear… What did you do with him?!" She demanded an answer and wasn't about to let him leave until she got one!!

Isaac went stock still when her questing hand touched him, flinching and then hardly daring to breathe until the moment she began to wake up in a flurry and toppled herself off the bed in an attempt to get away. As she made her way around the bed he stayed mostly still, only slowly setting his other foot on the ground and pulling the bedspread over to cover as much of himself as he reasonably could from his stomach down. "I can explain. . ." He began a bit pathetically, heart still thudding hard in his chest at his own sudden appearance in an unfamiliar place and the very vulnerable position he was in without clothing or ally, at that, only to fall silent when she whirled around on him again and came back to jab a finger at his chest.

Even standing right in front of him, it didn't appear that she recognized him at all, though he couldn't have forgotten her face. Perhaps the tavern had been too busy for her to bother remembering just one customer of the night, when he had been inside, and when he had beaten the men that had tried to hurt her it had been too dark, and too fast. If he could, for once, have luck on his side, it may even grant him a continued lack of recognition, so he could be free of this place and simply never return.

"I - I didn't -" He managed faintly, looking up at her with clear anxiety and distress and then away as if he could avoid acknowledging the way she stood so close if he simply didn't make eye contact. He knew she wasn't happy with his presence or his state of dress, but it wasn't as if he enjoyed what was happening either! "No one let the wolf out. He's still here. . ."

The… the dog!! Where was he?! "If you hurt that animal—" She began the threat, but didn't finish. Mostly because she was, in fact, going to allow him a chance to speak. But he said something that swiftly caught her off guard. She blinked, and was unsure if she heard him right. "I… pardon-?" Words were sufficiently caught in her throat as her features quickly arranged themselves from hostile defender to baffled idiot. "Still- here?"

However, instead of beginning a search of the room for the furry animal, her eyes found themselves being drawn back to the man instead. Her gaze subtly narrowed in a means of giving him a careful look over… before it hit her like a bolt of lightning. She recognized him. "Y-your…" her arms shifted for her hands to begin a little pluck upon her skirt with uncertainty as her feet drew back a couple steps. "You're the man who helped me the other night." She hadn't acquired a great view of him that night, but before he fled the scene, she caught the glitter of his radiantly colored irises. Ones that reminded her of the sun that she could no longer mingle beneath.

Her defenses were slowly lowering as her uncertainty grew. If he was the one that had helped her… it wouldn't make sense that he would seek to hurt her now in any way. "I didn't get to… um— I didn't get to thank you. You ran away so quickly." Now she was feeling strangely bashful as she reached up to try and shuffle a tangled piece of wild blonde behind her ear. Shyly, her eyes glanced at him, because she still wasn't entirely sure what his words meant. She was a supernatural creature after all, and it wasn't as though she was unaware that there were other kinds of supernaturals in the world alongside vampires. Eagan has told her so, but she's never met another face to face before.

"What do you mean… that… he's still here?"

He could only give his head an almost shy little shake at her thanks, unsure how to explain exactly why he had run away without checking on her and not knowing how she would take it if he expressed now how he hoped she was all right. In that moment, he didn't think either of them was truly 'all right'.

"I don't . . . remember what happened, exactly," he admitted after a short, awkward silence had fallen between them, trying to think of some way to explain when he'd never had to do so before. "It was a full moon last night and . . . I'm afraid I'm not at my best while it's around."

He tugged on the end of the blanket still held in his grasp as if to draw it even further over his lap and hide more of his skin, looking a bit awkwardly down at his own bare feet. "I am . . . so sorry for waking you up like this, but I was only wearing fur when I came in. . ." He ran his free hand over the back of his neck, looking up at her with something hesitant and worried in his eyes. "The dog was a wolf . . . and the wolf is, well. Me. I must have changed back after the sun came out."

Not at his best while the full moon was around-? Okay… she'd need a little more than that. Her eyes upon his form bid him to continue. And he did. Her eyebrows shot upward in surprise while her eyelids carried out excessive blinks trying to put the pieces together in her mind to create the full picture.

Wearing fur… a wolf but also a man… the full moon—…. werewolf.

If she were human, her reaction likely would have been much different. Her look of surprise would have instead been one of disbelief and annoyance that he'd believe her so stupid as to fall for a story like that! Likely to be followed by a haughty laugh in his face. But she knew better. She was aware of the monsters hiding in the dark. It was a little hard to deny their existence when she was one herself. "I…" for a moment she drew the intensity of her gaze away and uneasily combed her fingers through her wild mess of blond bedhead, "… you're a shifter."

From the subtle turn of her head, the electric blue of her eyes swiveled for another peek of the male still technically in her bed. And she gave a rather pointed look lower… toward the blanket specifically that was spread over his lap. She didn't recall the animal the other night wearing any garments on its lower half. Which meant- "Soo you're… um… very naked under there, aren't you-?" Leave it to her to be so horribly blunt!

Her fingers reached to smooth a frazzled bit of her golden curls from her hairline. "… I've never… met another supernatural before." Her voice had grown softer. Hesitant. But she wondered if it would make him feel better, knowing she wasn't exactly human either. "I'm not… normal, by any means myself. But instead of being affected by the moon, it tends to be the sun for me."

It was uncomfortable, to say the least, bearing her scrutiny as the seconds dragged on, but her expression had gone from suspicious to considering, connecting all the dots before him. Given the necessity of getting undressed to shapeshift, lest one rip clothing or dislocate joints in the process, nudity wouldn't usually have bothered him so very much, if only her eyes didn't rake over him so intensely as she decided whether or not to believe him.

So relieved was he that she not only believed him but seemed to have relaxed at coming to grips with his nature, he even managed a little smile - only for it to quickly turn into a grimace at her remarking on his state of dress.

"Oh, completely." He managed sheepishly in response, and thought that served enough as an explanation for why he was not getting off her bed and attempting to leave the room. Rather than be disturbed or further embarrassed by her directness, he found it almost reassuring. It felt a little more like 'normal' having someone speak to him without dodging around social niceties.

"One might call us polar opposites, then?" He said with a bit of humor in his voice, managing a smile at her response, and running a hand back through his hair as if that would help him look more presentable.

Oh, lovely… She would try to help as much as possible with that, but she didn't think she'd have many options for him. She was appearing a touch shy as she did so, since she'd just basically given away the ghost as to what she was! Just because they were on the same level of peculiarity to this world, it didn't mean he'd be accepting of her - of a vampire. But when she'd gathered the courage to glance upon him, he didn't seem offended by her presence. Nor surprised. In fact, he was making a joke about it! And… grinning-?

"That's… accurate." His grin was mildly contagious, and with her crossed arms, her fingers fidgeted lightly and picked at the sleeves of her nightgown. She made an obvious pause and looked at him with the brightened blue of her irises as her fingers slowly wound the little strings around her pointer finger. "My name is Colette, by the way. Can I ask yours? Unless you want me to start calling you Fluffy or something equally atrocious." The subtle grin on her lips was showing her own lightened amusement of her own jest.

"Fido would do," he murmured agreeably, then finally shifted to rest his head on top of his arms so he wouldn't try to smother himself in the sheets anymore. "Isaac. . . It's Isaac. . . Thank you for helping me, Colette. Present circumstances aside, it's nice to actually meet you."

 

[Megasis]

The Garden of Madness

Writer: MajorMooser

Genre: Cosmic Horror / Mystery

Fun Facts:
Supernaturals band together in this universe to protect the public from the creatures in the dark. Creature inspiration was taken mainly from the Cthulhu Mythos and with the gritty urban fantasy scene of Constantine.​

While his footsteps echoed around him, Johnny walked down the alleyway leading up to Sid's Antiques. The store was out of the way, tucked into a dark corner of the alley. An old, green wooden door marked the entrance to the shop. Altogether unassuming. "How the hell did Sid keep up with rent if no one can even find the damn place?" he wondered. Although it was well past midnight, Johnny knew better than to assume that no one was home. He knocked four times and waited, his overcoat doing its best to shield Johnny from the chill of the rain. After a moment or two, he heard the familiar heavy footsteps that he expected.

"Yeah?" a shout from behind the door.

"It's me, Father." Johnny reassured.

"I thought I fucking told you to stop fucking calling me that!" the voice retorted. The door opened wildly to reveal a portly, older man wearing a stained wife-beater, striped blue pajama pants, and a pair of gray slippers. His receding, graying hair was messy and his thick mustache needed a trim, but he was definitely the Sid that Johnny knew and loved… or at least, tolerated.

"Johnny fucking Daigo! How many fucking times to I have to say it? I ain't no man of the cloth no longer and I certainly ain't your fucking daddy, so stop fucking calling me 'Father!'" Sid pressed. Johnny just did his typical smile and took a drag of a fresh cigarette. Sid just rolled his eyes, sighed, and motioned for Johnny to enter the shop. As he followed the larger man inside, for a split second Johnny thought he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye. He darted his head in that direction… just some trash bins next to a fire escape. A cat, maybe? Johnny's instincts told him to be extra cautious tonight.

The air inside the shop was stale and musty, but like the various antiques and knickknacks scattered about, full of history… or at least that's what Sid claimed. From life sized statues of Roman gods, to ancient coins from Southeast China, to a broken toaster that Sid insisted was cursed by a Haitian Witch Doctor, "Sid's Antiques" truly had something for everyone. Naturally Johnny knew better than to believe that everything here was extraordinary, however he also knew better than to assume Sid to be nothing but a fraud. You wouldn't guess it by looking at him, but, like Johnny, Sid had seen things no mortal ought to see.

"You'll have to excuse the mess, Mr. Daigo. Didn't expect no company this time of night." Sid grumbled, as he led Johnny through the shop's interior and into the living quarters behind the register counter.

"I won't be long." Johnny stated in between drags of his cig.

"You never are…" Sid mumbled under his breath. The two men entered what passed as Sid's living space, which was really just a single room. It was dark, save for a couple of lamps, one next to his mattress and the other next to his dining table. A half-eaten bologna sandwich rested on a paper plate on top of said table.

"Drink?" Sid offered, motioning to a bottle of cheap whiskey on the kitchen counter.

"I'm good for now, thanks. Looks like I caught you during dinner. Apologies." Johnny shrugged.

"It's fine, whatever. Now sit down, shut the fuck up, and tell me to what do I owe the fucking pleasure." The older man barked as he collapsed onto his chair to once again attack his sandwich. Johnny blinked a moment, then did as the older man said. He took his seat and another drag from his cig. Watching the smoke lazily wander up towards the long-dead smoke detector on the ceiling, Johnny made some final decisions in his head about how he was going to play this. He didn't want to say too much, but he did need to divulge just enough to get the old man's cooperation.

"Look, Sid. I need to borrow something. For a job. Big one." Johnny's demeanor became serious. He scratched at his trimmed, black beard. Gray hairs were starting to become more and more numerous, much like the hair on his head, Sid noticed. Looks like he wasn't the only old man sitting at this table.

"And what, pray tell, do you need to borrow so fucking badly that you felt the necessity to bother me at almost 1 in the goddamn morning?"

"The monocle." Johnny replied with no hesitation.

"The fucking what?"

"I shouldn't need it for more than a day or two."

"What the fuck do you even need it for?"

"Sid, can you just trust me on this? Just let me have it for 24 hours and then I can leave you be." Johnny proposed. Sid almost choked on a piece of his sandwich while he laughed.

"Trust you? Yeah, because that's not fucked me over in the past!" Sid retorted in between coughs. Johnny knew the incident that Sid was referring to, but that wasn't important right now. Johnny's temper was beginning to flare up.

"Fuck that! I have always returned what I borrowed from you! And you know that the less you know about what I do, the better."

"Better for who, I wonder. Me or you?" Sid grinned. Bits of bologna and bread were stuck in his teeth.

"All I can tell you is that this could be big. I've been following up on this rumor for a while now and if I'm right…" Johnny trailed off. The room was silent for a bit, save the sounds of a cigarette being smoked and a sandwich being eaten. Finally, after several tense moments,

"24 hours. No more, no less." With his dinner finished, Sid rose up from the table. Johnny put out his spent cig and stood up as well.

"I appreciate–" he began.

"But Johnny? This is the last fucking time I'm doing this for free. Next time you need to 'borrow' something, you better fucking pay me for it." the older man warned.

A few minutes later, Johnny Daigo was back outside, the monocle in question safely placed in one of his coat's many pockets. He briefly looked back towards the shop in time to see good ol' Sid locking back up. Johnny never wanted to deal with the former priest more than he had to, but tonight was far too important for old grudges. Once more, he found himself thinking about Tanya. Her soft, warm body against his. Her sweet, cherry-flavored breath as their lips touched. She would still be in his bed for some time yet. He shook the thoughts away. Distractions, nothing more. He needed to focus, he reminded himself. The cold, piercing Autumn wind made Johnny shiver, so he took a quick swig from a flask that he pulled out of one of his many, many coat pockets. The fiery, burning sensation filled his body swiftly. He lit another trusty cigarette and made his way towards the city's Eastern docks. The closer he ventured towards the docks, the fewer people he witnessed walking the nighttime streets. "That's good," he thought. "Fewer people means fewer problems."

The salty smell of the sea assaulted Johnny's nostrils not long after he had sight of the docks. There were some street lights scattered about that lit up the night, but the area was mostly deserted and shrouded in darkness. The sounds of crashing waves and crickets chirping masked the noise of Johnny's footsteps. Johnny took out a gold-plated pocket watch and glanced at it – 1:27am. He still had about an hour and a half before the show's second act began. Now, he just needed to set up shop and play the waiting game. It wasn't long before Johnny found a large, old oak tree on top of a damp, grassy hilltop that provided a decent view of the surrounding area. He took a seat with his back up against the tree trunk. Johnny learned a long time ago that it paid to be a bit paranoid, so he took out some parchment and a piece of charcoal. On the parchment he wrote out a strange symbol with the charcoal, and whispered a set of alien-sounding syllables. What followed immediately after was a brief snap sound while the parchment became alight and burned away into embers that quickly died down. Johnny exhaled and felt a little better about using up a ward spell, even though he had precious few left.

"Can't be too careful, especially tonight," Johnny reminded himself once again. With that, he enjoyed what little 'calm-before-the-storm' he could. There was something about the ocean waves that had a way of lulling him into a sense of inner peace. This was why, he discovered long ago, he couldn't sleep without playing such sounds off of his stereo at night. Once again, as much as he would have liked to think about Tanya, he resisted the urge to entertain such distractions. Instead, he thought about nothing. While Johnny had never been very good at meditating, he still found it beneficial to try. And while he couldn't shake the feeling that, even with his ward spell active, he was still being spied upon – as most experiences in Johnny's long and storied life had taught him, no one is ever truly safe.

 

[Megasis]

Anonymous

Writers: donutdisturb / oaklands


Genre: Slice of life / High school


Fun Facts:
This is like the third reply or so. We have multiple characters in this story.​

Rune wanted nothing to do with Antonio. She was done calling him Tony. Tony was the man she met at the hospital and the one that even if she was sober she probably would've slept with. Antonio was a man who put this grand scheme together just to get Rune alone for what reason? She wasn't quite sure. She clearly wasn't his type. He was always with white women or women that looked like Erika. She saw him with a Latina woman once when they were really young and she thought they would be together forever. Rune and Antonio were never close, she never found out what happened between him and that girl. He seemed to be Tony back then, but after they split he went back to Antonio and obviously women of darker shades were no longer his type.

Rune didn't know him, so she never really cared to try and dig into his past. As he thought that the current situation was the perfect time to talk about her moans, she realized she didn't want to speak about their past either. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. "Who knows? I was so drunk out of my mind I probably thought you were Finn…just smaller." Even through the verge of her panic attack she still found the nerve to spat heinous words back at Antonio. Rune didn't know shit about Finn's lower regions she didn't even know what she did to him or even if she did anything. They weren't sexual in the slightest, but that was no one's business but their own. Rune would lie to her hearts content to get Antonio off her back and out of her head. The last thing she wanted to hear was his voice in that present moment and yet he just kept blabbering.

"That's why you weren't supposed to get on the fucking ride! Stop fucking moving before I tell everyone what a tiny dick you have." Antonio was not a comforting soul by any means. Her being a fucking human, having feelings scared the living fuck out of him. That was probably why things never went further with them. She wasn't a robot, she had feelings, she was scared and Antonio laughed… he laughed at her. Antonio had zero regards for her feelings so she didn't care about his either. That and the fucking fact that she had other things to worry about like the fucking ride stopping. Her breathing got heavier and heavier, "I can't breathe…I can't breathe." It was clear she was panicking, her heart was beating a mile a minute. Her hands were shaking and the very last thing she wanted to hear was another one of his wise cracks. "Shut…up!" Rune cried out trying not to waste her last breath on him.

For once Rune was being selfish, her world completely revolved around her and getting the fuck off the ride. Her head was in her hands, tears clouding her eyesight, the sound of the world being melted away. All she could hear was the annoying ringing in her ear and the pounding of her heart. That is until that annoying pubescent squeak of a voice spoke again, she didn't know what he was talking about. But then she heard it, the angelic voice of Finley Nelson.

"Shush! I hear my boyfriend!" Her eyes scoured the ground looking for her favorite brunette, a small smile appearing on her face when she saw it. "Finn! Get me out of here! I want to get out!" Rune cried out like she was a toddler and she didn't care in the slightest. The poor girl's pride flew away the moment the ride came to a halt. She knew she wasn't the easiest girlfriend. She didn't like being mushy or nicknames really. He was lucky Arrow stuck and it was before they even liked each other as people. Rune wasn't one who got dolled up for her boyfriend. She wasn't even one that liked to be public about their whole relationship. Not that she was embarrassed of him, but more so embarrassed of caring as much as she did. Rune was far from easy, but at that point she wanted to be easy for him. He could've easily been a turd like Antonio was, but that wasn't Finn. God, did she love the man Finn was.

"W-with whip cream on it?" Rune's favorite part of drinking hot cocoa with Finn was watching him make funny faces with his whip cream mustache, but as she became more and more attracted to him it was rather attractive watching him lick it off. Rune drunk hot chocolate like people drink coffee, didn't matter the weather and Finn often indulged her hot chocolate needs even if it was in the summer. Relief filled her face as the ride got fixed just like Finn had said it would and they slowly went back down. And it sure was slow. It felt forever until she could climb out of the ride, making sure to tell Antonio off now that she could calm down. "You literally set all this up to get me alone and yet you are so much of a dimwit you fucked it up within seconds." She stepped on his foot before getting out of the ride, running up to her boyfriend and jumping in his arms.

​

Her legs wrapped around his waist as she kissed his face a thousand times until their lips met. "I'm so happy to see you right now I would even let you call me princess. That's how terrified I was." Rune was cheesing, so ecstatic to be in her boyfriend's embrace she forgot they were in public. That is at least for a few seconds until she came down from her high. Clearing her throat, before she jumped down off of her boyfriend. Awkward as ever, she brought back the gap between the pair before walking off.

Gideon didn't necessarily know how to handle his so called feelings for Josie. It was hard to know what to do. He had feelings for her before her and Adrienne ever got together. It had been years of him watching her fall in love with someone who wasn't Gideon and wasn't even good for him. If the group rumors he heard when he was away were true than Josie even had her fun with Erika. Of course it wasn't Josie's fault that he moved away, but they had time to be together before then. They had been friends for so long neither admitting the fact that there was more than just friends feelings between them.

Gideon had made a lot of mistakes in his life, one being letting Josie fall in love with someone else. One mistake he would never make is having Josie cheat on Adrienne. Although technically there was also emotional cheating, but he couldn't help how he felt. He certainly couldn't help how she felt. If they were counting emotional cheating than the couple had been cheating as soon as they got together. Gideon wanted to believe he was a good guy. Was he really a good guy for inviting a girl he knew he had feelings for over to his friend's house without her permission? He was sure there was many things wrong with what he was trying to do.

So, when Josie had the glorious idea to go somewhere else first, he instantly felt so relief. The young man pulled out his phone to text Rune really quick. He was sure she would be too busy at the fair to look at her phone, but at least he wasn't disrespectful enough to not give her a heads up 'Yo! Sum tings went down w Jo. Is it ight if she comes over?' He knew Rune would say it was fine. Maybe that's why he had the confidence to pose it as more than a question than a statement, when he had already invited her over.

His attention got snapped away from his phone when he heard that sweet mellow voice. Quickly pressing send before looking up at his Josie. Gideon ran his hand through his hair as he tried to come up with an adequate answer for Josie. That is until she reminded him of the day she had. She was right, she deserved some kind of honesty. Maybe her whole break up would be less embarrassing. He threw his hands up, sighing still not quite sure how to answer her.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Leo 2.0." He shrugged as his eyes fixated back on the road. It was hard to look Josie in the face at this point—not only because she was driving, but he didn't want to see the pity in her eyes. His leg start bouncing like a nervous little habit of his. Two embarrassed people sitting in a car together, not necessarily wanting to talk about their embarrassments was quite an awkward feeling. Gideon began to be less and less sure that he was good enough for Josie. He was an eighteen year old, an adult living with one of the youngest members of the friend group. It wasn't like she had a place of her own, so he was living with her dad and her step-dad. It was nice of them to take him in, but it was also embarrassing. Gideon couldn't make it on his own, so he had to come all the way back to town and live with Rune. He didn't even want to think about the fact that his parents didn't love him enough to not abandon him. Yeah, he was pretty embarrassed of what he called a life. How could he possibly be good enough for Josie?

"I'm going to get my shit together though. Don't worry. I'll be out of Rune's crib soon." Gideon didn't know if everything he was saying was true, but he would try his best to make it so. Just like a regular teenager, Gideon's social media life looked a lot happier than his reality. For example the snap he posted of him and Josie didn't showcase the awkwardness that was in the car. His social media would never show the hurt he felt or the things he had to go through to get back to his city. A smile spread on his face hearing her mention her parents. They weren't like Rune's dads…not as open minded to have a man in the house especially since they probably knew they were more than just friends. That didn't make him feel any type of way towards them though. They were just being parents of a teenage girl. "Well, what can I say? I'm a charming man." A smile appeared on his face, thinking he was charming enough to have Josie not say anything as he put his hand on her thigh. Her slick tongue of course she said something, although she knew secretly she wished his hand was higher up. He licked his lips slightly, looking Josie up and down before speaking.

"Don't you miss having someone around who knows what you want without you asking for it?" His hand moved up only slightly, a quick squeeze before he leaned back slightly in his chair. Gideon shrugged slightly, "but then again what do I know? It has been a minute. If you want me to move, put me where you want me." His smile never ceasing, even if she moved his hand right back to his own leg. He knew Jodie would've slapped his hand away immediately if it wasn't where she wanted it. No matter how long it had been, he knew Josie and he knew her well.

 

[Megasis]

Shatternight Fever

Writer: Mordo

Genre: Mystery / Comedy / Suspense

Fun Facts:
Okay, so I wrote this on a Disney canon site. It was my intro for a roleplay I had finished over there. I played Darkwing while my partner wrote as Negaduck and it was pretty awesome! Not to brag, but I have been told that I nailed Darkwing. That said here is my intro and I hope you will all enjoy it since it does set up the rest of the roleplay. If anybody wants to read the entire rp, let me know and I will see about getting permission from my partner and if I get the okay, I will post the full link.​

It started off as a normal enough day in the city of St. Canard with all of its decent citizens minding their own business including the devilishly handsome, neighborly Drake Mallard who had found himself smack in the middle of Flitman's Jewelry as a personal favor to his naive neighbor, Herb Muddlefoot. Herb had prepaid for a beautiful amulet made of precious rare gems as a surprise anniversary gift for his wife, Binkie. But wouldn't you know it the poor guy was just much too shy to go pick such an extravagant gift himself; plus he wanted to keep it a surprise, so he asked his best bud and neighbor, Drake to go pick it up for him. Drake wasn't so sure how good ole Herb was able to afford such an expensive amulet on a Quackerware salesman's salary, but he felt certain that however his annoying neighbor was able to do it he did so honestly. After all, according to Drake, Herb Muddlefoot may be a lot of things, but a dishonest, rotten no good thief certainly was not one of them!

Still even as Drake found himself inside the stuffy store standing in line behind an insufferable amount of people when all he wanted to do was pick up a lousy amulet he wondered how in the world he got himself roped into acting like a delivery guy for Herb. He supposed it could be worse; so much worse! He could be stuck babysitting Tank after all; the little terror! Drake cringed at the thought. Oh how he hated that brat of a kid! After seeing all the priceless jewelry securely tucked away behind some fancy looking glass; oh that glass; Drake was also relieved that he was able to persuade Gosalyn to stay at home with Launchpad. Doubtless one of her signature trick shots from her hockey puck would have broken the shop's expensive glass for sure leaving him to pay all the damages as usual. If nothing else, Drake at least didn't have to worry about his destructive daughter breaking anything in the store. However, the possibility of her and Launchpad tearing up the whole house while he's away is, unfortunately, very high.

Sadly, the possibility of his daughter engaging in some sort of property destruction would soon be the least of Drake's worries for little did he or anyone else for that matter realize that something very strange and very bizarre was about to take place. There was only a couple of people in front of the impatient duck when all of the crazy and the 'real fun' first began. "Ugh, how much longer is this going to take?" Drake impatiently grumbled tapping his foot as he glanced at his wristwatch. He didn't care what anyone else said or thought, Herb owed him big time for this, Drake mentally noted as he watched the cashier slowly complete the transaction for the little old lady in front of him. Suddenly it happened.

As soon as the cashier handed granny's purchase all chaos broke loose! For some strange reason everybody in the store including Drake Mallard himself went crazy! Everybody was hitting, kicking, and punching each other in a regular free-for-all with poor Drake stuck in the middle of all the chaos! Drake who was in the middle of mindlessly fighting the much larger security guard was fighting in much the same way he did under his Darkwing Duck hero identity save for the fact he wasn't using any of his gadgets and smoke bombs. Thankfully everybody was too busy fighting each other to notice nor care.

By the time the police arrived everybody was out of it and nobody not even Drake Mallard could remember anything. Some of the citizens found themselves in weird places after the fight. Drake himself ended up having his head stuck in a trash can and was struggling to get it off of him. Thankfully one of the police was able to pull it off him leaving Drake with a massive headache. The duck was very confused when he saw the huge mess caused by the big unexplained brawl.

He then noticed the broken shards of glass scattered all over the floor and that the jewelry they had once protected was now missing! It looked like a tornado hit the store and dare he say it, it made his daughter's room look clean by comparison! Drake let out a startled gasp. "What? What happened here?" he asked nobody in particular, clearly confused.

"That's exactly what we'd like to know," answered one of the police.

"Well, sure looks like you guys have a real mystery on your hands," Drake told them with an awkward smile.

The cop nodded. "Yes we do citizen; which is why we are hoping that you will all cooperate with us during this investigation. Since you are all potential witnesses to this crime we have questions for all of you! And as such I am afraid we cannot allow any of you to leave just yet. Understood?" Unsurprisingly, this was met with groans and cries of protest from 'the witnesses' not that the police cared.

Drake, naturally, wasn't too happy with the officer's request either. As a crimefighter he so did not have time to satisfy police curiosity not that he'd be of much help to them and their pesky questions anyway since he couldn't remember anything; which was really weird. All he could really remember was going to the store for Herb, getting in line and then...nothing! It had all been a blank to him. But he was definitely sore and in pain. Why? He wished he knew. In fact, he was really looking forward to finding that out for himself. Nobody gives Darkwing Duck amnesia and gets away with it! He just had to sneak away from the police, so he can change into his hero persona.

Luckily for him most of the police were busy questioning the others leaving him with only one annoying cop to deal with. Searching his pockets for something useful, Drake found one of Gosalyn's marbles. When nobody was looking, Drake tossed it at the cash register causing it to ding.

"Hey, what was that!?" demanded the cop.

"It sounded like the cash register. Someone must be messing with it," Drake informed him in a concerned tone.

"Oh yeah! Not on my watch! Wait here buddy! I'll be right back!"

Drake grinned slyly. "Take your time." With the cop preoccupied, Drake slipped into the back room.

Two minutes later, mysterious blue smoke filled the shop. "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I'm the gaps in your memory! I'm Darkwing Duck!" The smoke cleared revealing the mysterious masked crimefighter standing heroically atop the counter. He hopped off when he thought he had everybody's attention. He walked over to the Chief of police. "Don't worry Chief I totally got this handled. I'll find the culprit behind this heinous deed and return the stolen jewels posthaste. Now if you will all just excuse me, I got clues to look for," Darkwing assured them as he pulled out his magnifying glass to take a closer look at the remnants of glass scattered all across the floor. However, the Chief clearly not very happy to see him just groaned.

"Darkwing Duck? As though I didn't already have enough problems. What makes you think you'll be able to find any leads in this mess when we have yet to find a thing?"

'Does he really want me to answer that?' Darkwing thought smugly as he continued to scan the area for clues. "Chief, nice to see you still hold me in such high esteem," Darkwing replied sarcastically.

The Chief just rolled his eyes. "Just cut the sarcasm and stay out of the way! This is my case."

Ignoring him, Darkwing walked up to the manager. "Okay, I'm gonna cut right to the chase, you guys got video surveillance or what? I'd like to take a look at your security camera footage. That should show us who or what we're dealing with here," Darkwing asked point blank. As he waited impatiently for the manager's reply, Darkwing wondered if the police had already seen the video feeds or if they hadn't why they didn't even think to ask for them? After all there is no witness more reliable and more honest than a security camera. Oh how Darkwing loved technology!

 

[Megasis]

An Ink In The Ointment

Writer: Mordo


Genre: Mystery / Comedy


Fun Facts:
Another Disney roleplay post that I had written on a Disney canon site. This time I wrote as the Phantom Blot while my partner played Basil and like before it was awesome! Hope you guys enjoy! I know I had a lot of fun writing as the fearsome Blot.​

From his ingenious hiding place, the Phantom Blot waited and he listened for any sign of that infernal Mickey Mouse and friends. After all, he was confident that it will only be a matter of time before one of them notices the damage done to their beloved hero's statue. He didn't think he would need to wait for too long before his handiwork attracted some notice with the locals and he was right. Just a few minutes later a couple of beings arrived on the scene and sadly much to his disappointment neither one of them was the evil plan ruining mouse nor the lucky rabbit that he so feverishly sought. What he got instead was the micro version of Mickey and a funny looking horse that moved in a most peculiar way. The horse appeared to be made out of a hard plastic material and it moved up and down almost like a...like a... carousel horse,' the cloaked villain cleverly observed to himself.

Now as weird as a sentient carousel horse was it was nothing compared to some of the truly weird stuff he's seen. And in fact on many of those occasions he was the weird thing or the direct cause of any weird stuff that may be happening to them and/or their puny little city and proud of it. Suffice to say, the Phantom Blot had grown quite accustomed over the years to the truly weird and bizarre happenings of the world around him. At this point very little would freak him out. Still, the sentient carousel horse had caught his attention and considering how truly evil and messed up he is in the head that is not a good thing. The carousel horse being alive was a curiosity; one that he admittedly never seen before and he longed to learn more about how such a horse came to be. He had no idea that the carousel horse was a famous one; designed and built by the famous human, Walt Disney himself, but even if he had known this he would not have cared.

As for the small mouse that was not Mickey he behaved an awful lot like his arch-nemesis from the way he was looking so very carefully at the statue with his little magnifying glass to how quickly he discovered his calling card. So annoying! Luckily, today he expected and even invited such nosiness since it was all part of his ingenious plan. The next part was coming up. Once he figured nobody else was going to show up he made his next move. At any rate he was pretty disappointed that no other do-gooder decided to show up to little statue defacement party, but he supposed they were simply all getting coffee... at the exact same time.

'Totally unprofessional is what this is! Would the great Mickey Mouse ever have decided to not investigate any of my fiendish plots? No, of course not! The guy was a professional! A true hero who never stops even when tired. Which is just one of the many reasons why he is my sworn enemy and why I hate him so much,' the Phantom Blot complained to himself as he watched the pesky do-gooders investigate the damage he caused to their world's beloved statue. If he wasn't trying so hard to remain hidden he'd be rolling on the floor laughing since he found the whole thing so very amusing.

Pulling out a reporter's outfit that he had on his person, the sneaky Phantom Blot put the reporter clothes on over his villain outfit which consisted of a short brown fedora, a green shirt, a dark blue tie, and a long brown trench coat. 'Not bad if I do say so myself,' he thought vainly as he admired himself in his small handheld mirror. 'And now, as they so often say in the theater,' he thought with a snap of his fingers, 'it's showtime!'

He then hurried out from behind the bushes where he then casually made his way over to the pint sized mouse detective and his faithful steed. Microphone in hand he then proceeded to 'interview' the two nosy nancy's. "Afternoon everybody, this is the Phantom Reporter reporting live down here on Mean Street where some unknown unscrupulous person it seems has just gotten away with spreading their graffiti all over the beloved Mickey Mouse statue; which I know is very confusing because I don't know about all of you, but the last I checked it was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit holding hands with the human guy not Mickey, but whatever it's Mickey now, so let's just continue," he began while trying his hardest not to laugh. Because he was still somewhat assuming he was still trapped in Wasteland he was clearly confused about some of the details such as who was part of the Walt Disney statue and the name of the street. His confusion would definitely not go unnoticed by those with observant ears. Grinning widely he continued on with his reporter charade. "But anyway, moving on, I am here with a couple of... art critics er concerned citizens who discovered the destruction and I presume are big fans of the big mouse in question," he formally announced in typical reporter fashion.

Seeing Basil over by the statue he waved his arms wildly to get his attention. "Sir! Oh sir! Tell me in your own words who do you think could be the genius er the graffiti head behind such devastatingly disgusting destruction? Do you think this the work of a small time thug barely worth anybody's attention or do you think it could be the work of a criminal mastermind? And even more importantly, when and where do you think he or she will strike next?" he questioned the pint sized mouse detective in much the same way that any nosy busybody reporter would. The disguised villain was definitely curious on the small mouse's opinions on the matter. From the very way he was acting and was dressed, the Blot gathered he was a detective of sorts; which only made him all the more eager to learn what his new foe's thoughts were on his latest crime on the art world.

His white hooded masked eyes then landed onto the pieces of paper; which contained his calling card and challenge. He smiled at the mouse. "And oh I see you have found a couple of pieces of paper. Do you mind sharing with my viewers in what you have just found? I must admit, as a reporter I am very curious to see for myself on what's on those papers and I am certain my audience is just as excited about their contents as I am. No doubt they contain a message from the menacing menace behind this mess," he asked wanting to see how the mouse will react. If he's anything like Mickey then it might take him a hot minute before he realizes he is not a real reporter. However, in this case the Blot wanted to get caught because he wanted everybody in this pathetic little dimension to know that he is in town and to fear him. Oh how he loved the attention and so he could not wait to see what kind of attention vandalism and destruction of public property will bring him. It was definitely well below the caliber of his usual crimes, but hey like he said on the paper, 'this was only the beginning.' Besides, he had to start somewhere and in his sick, twisted criminal attention-seeking mind vandalism was as good as a place as any to start off on.

Giving the mouse a quiet moment to think, the disguised villain then redirected his attention onto the sentient carousel horse bouncing up and down nearby. Microphone in hand he walked over to it. "And what about you living carousel horse? What do you think about all this? Do you think it strange that only the Mickey statue got vandalized? Very curious, wouldn't you two art critics...I mean concerned citizens agree?" he asked unaware that although sentient the carousel horse could not speak.

 

[Megasis]

Anonymous

Writer: Anonymous

Fun Facts:
This is a pirate au of one of my characters and my writing partner's! my character is a pirate king (Finch) who has it out for a rogue pirate captain that was supposed to be under his command, but has gone rogue and doesn't listen to what is being ordered. This is my first post.​

Somewhere far out in the seas of Keardiac Deep, Lumry Archipelago sat with its little islands of chaos and unruly ways. The lands seemed barbaric with little to no ruling or a person to follow. However, Finch Blackheart, the so-called king of this large lot, allowed whoever to do whatever. He knew that when he opened his mouth and gave an order, they'd all be kneeling at his feet and following everything he said to a T like loyal dogs. Except one of the many captains under his thumb, he had long since gone against him and purposefully did things to ruin hunts and treasures.

He didn't know when it all started, whether it was before or after his father's mysterious disappearance and Finch taking his place in leading. Regardless, it had been years now and certainly had gone on long enough. Whether he be dead or alive, Finch wanted this rogue captain's little adventures to be over. Though, part of him wished for him to be brought back alive, so he could show what happened to dirty, disloyal dogs.

Blackhearts were never known for their kindness or easy going attitudes. They always held themselves high, chin up, and like they were the next best thing to walk the land. And Finch would carry that with him until the day he was killed.

Krowith, one of the smaller islands of Lumry, was hardly crowded. Only those that were deemed important close to the king were allowed in his, what he considered, a home. His quartermaster came, and did an on and off lover, but a child not many knew about stayed here almost full time. Occasionally, his closest crew was allowed on Krowith to talk about plans and maps, but prisoners of the king's? They were allowed here as well, but they went wherever Finch did. Whether it be on a different area of Lumry, on his ship, or whenever he occasionally made a visit to Wrumun and all over the realm of Sukkelion, he kept prisoners close to his side with a watchful, stern gaze on them.

 

[Megasis]

Anonymous

Writer: Anonymous


Fun Facts:
Another au of mine and my writing partner's characters! This is an rp that was loosely based of the show 911.​

At a young age, Finch Blackheart had lost his mother and twin in a car accident. His mom had died on impact and his twin shortly took their last breath the moment responders arrived on the scene, meanwhile he just just left with a few scrapes and bruises. He'd always remembered the paramedics being kind and having at least one of them by his side until someone came to get him and then bring him back to the police station to where he'd wait hours for his dad to come pick him up. That day would always be burned into the back of his brain, very often having nightmares from it, even now as an adult.

After that, growing up was lonely and quiet. His father, Reginald Blackheart, secluded himself more than he had already done before his mother's passing, and the only times he ever spoke a single word Finch were only in regards to his grades. Reginald was hard, wanted his grades no less than a 100, made him study at any given chance. And when it came time to do college applications? It worsened.

Finch genuinely had no social life until he was eighteen and in college starting his law degree because that was what Reginald thought was best.

Days before his twentieth birthday, his roommate, known for epileptic seizures, fell and hit his head on his bedside table. 911 had been called, paramedics came, and Finch was thrown back to when he was little, tear stained and clinging onto whoever was with him for the time.

Much against his father's wishes, he dropped out of law school and went into training to be a paramedic.

Twelve grueling months later he was twenty-one and was being assigned to his first station back home in Salem, Massachusetts. Another year passed and he was twenty-two, transferring to Los Angeles. Not that he didn't enjoy his home town, but he definitely needed a change of scenery of sorts.

Station 118 was his new home.

That started a few days ago and today would be his first twenty-four hour shift being here.

He was hardly personable with the others in the station, so he just kind of kept to himself and did whatever he could in the station to keep himself busy. While actually out on the job, he was more than occupied and busy, barking orders at other paramedics who were definitely much older than him.

A minute before his shift was starting, he was scrambling into the station and straight to the lockers to get dressed and put his bag up. And while finishing buttoning up his shirt, dark hazel hues trailed out to see some guy talking to the captain. He could feel curiosity bubbling up, head tilting to the side slightly as he finished with the last button and left the locker room.

He was slow to approach the captain and this new guy dressed practically identical to the other firefighters mulling about the house, so his guess that this guy was a new recruit was high.

The brunette cleared his throat as he moved closer, holding a hand out but barely offering a smile of any sorts. "Blackheart," He started off with his last name because that was how he was constantly introducing himself back home, but he gave a slight shake of his head and finally offered some barely there, sheepish smile, "Finch Blackheart."

 

[Megasis]

The Christmas Miracle

Writer: LuckycoolHawk9

Genre: Romance

Fun Facts:
It is an over decade old one shot that I wrote. It also includes one of my favorite characters I should write more of. It also has a reference to a country song in the romance.​

Lily Rose was in a graveyard. She sighed as she passed tombstone after tombstone. She didn't really care. These graves meant nothing to her, they couldn't hurt her. Not like the grave she was heading to….his grave. She arrived, knowing his grave on sight. It was a day shy of two years since he had died on Christmas. She didn't really want to think about him, but the longer she stood in the graveyard, the more memories of him started to come back to her.

His name always came first, Anthony Thorn. She got lost in her first memory of him; the moment she realized was in love with him.

Oo0o0o0o0o
Lily was sitting alone in the library on Christmas Eve. Of course, the library had been abandoned years ago and the corpse of the librarian was slowly decomposing. She had taken the creaky back door into the library and sat all alone.

"I guess I should go and investigate what books are left here." She felt the spines of the book and picked the first one she saw off the shelf. The door creaked as someone else walked into the library.

'I wonder who that can be? I thought I was the only one who knew about this library.'

"Is anyone here? I noticed that the door was open and I am new on Terra. I just moved here from Floura." The voice asked. Lily heard footsteps, brushing the spines as they walked through the library. Lily didn't' like strangers, she started to creep towards the door when the owner of the voice turned around. Lily stared into his chocolate eyes, they were so beautiful. His hair was brown and waved. He was shorter than Lily, by about an inch. "What is your name?"

"My name is Lily Rose. What is your name?"

"My name is Anthony Thorn, I just moved here from another planet."

"I didn't know we were currently accepting foreigners."

"Can you keep a secret, Lily?"

"Sure, I can keep a secret."

"My father got a job working for the king and the princes."

Lily was about to leave when a figure blocked the doorway. He smelled of death and destruction.

"No one is leaving this library, alive. I have come to get what I need, a piece to immortality. If anyone tries to stop me, then they will be in a world of pain," the figure said.

"I have no clue what you want but I am not letting you get this away with this." Lily stood defiantly.

"I am getting away with this and if you move another step, you won't live to see Christmas." There was a glower from the figure.

Lily moved a step forward. "What are you going to do about this? You don't even have a gun to shoot me with."

"I don't need a gun, I am the gun."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "You can't be a gun, you're human."

"My "gift" is to make any weapon from my body," His arms started to get ready to shoot when Anthony kicked him in the groin.

Anthony grabbed the immorality fragment. "Come on, Lily let's go. He won't be down for long."

Lily let a tear fall to the ground. She sighed as she continued to walk until she lost herself in their first dance.

-​

Lily was dressed in a purple dress as she waited for Anthony by the door. They had been dating since they had gotten out of college, but this was their first dance since they only happened once every two decades.

Anthony walked in a purple tux with a blue shirt and black dress pants. "You look handsome tonight, Anthony."

Anthony smirked, "You look beautiful tonight, Lily. I guess we should get going to the dance, we are already late."

"I have to agree with you on this one, we don't want to be late."

The duo arrived at the castle just as the music slowed down for the first slow dance of the night. A bullet seemed to travel and hit the wall.

"I may have failed the first time but I will succeed, those kids aren't here to stop me," the figure replied.

Anthony sighed. "I don't think our mystery man learned the danger of missing people before, I do believe that we have to remind of this."

Lily knew exactly what he was thinking. "I have to agree with you Anthony. I do believe that we let this villain have it."

The figure turned around. "You two, the one who ruined my plans last time, you won't live for us to meet again, I promise that."

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to make promises that you can't keep? I know my mom did."

Lily watch him fumble as she grabbed the fragment.

Lily tapped his shoulder with the fragment in her hand. "Is this what you are looking for? I presume that you want it to be stronger."

The figure growled, "Give me the piece or pay the price, you wouldn't want to have any blood on those pretty little hands of yours."

"Is that a threat? I don't feel threatened by you. You are a cute and adorable pest." Lily didn't feel any fear from the figure.

"I need it back. I need my darkness back. I am weak without it."

Anthony looked at the figure. "So you want the power, Dark Matter, you'll have to fight for it," Anthony replied, throwing a knife hidden on his person at the figure as he fell out the castle window.
O0o0oo0

Lily walked as she felt the weight of the two memories. She cried and continued to walk past more molding graves. She looked up and saw it, the third piece of the immortality fragments. When all three of the pieces touched, it would create for the person, two choices, the first choice was to give them immortality. The second option was to give away the immortality to a dead person to bring them back to the realm of the living, to live a full life that had been cut short.

0oo0o0o0o0
It was on a day that they didn't plan to go anywhere.

"We never have one of these days before, a day where we just relax and be calm. We don't find trouble or accidently stop a villain. It is so beautiful, I wished that moments liked these could last a lifetime." Lily couldn't remember the last time she felt this joy.

"I agree with you, Lily. I can't believe that we already have a handsome son and have been married for five years. There is nothing in the world which can make this moment better."

"I have some news for you. I am pregnant again. It is going to be another boy, I want to tell you on our day, Christmas Eve but we have to see the family, so I am telling you now."

Anthony was beaming with pride as he heard this news. "I am so proud of you. We are going to have another child and you will be a great mother to him like you are to Matthew. I don't believe that there is anyone in the world like you. You are brave and selfless."

A shadow appeared by the door.

Dark Matter smiled. "She is also stupid. She went against a man who could have killed her but her white knight saved her. I really hate the idea of a happy ending. There are no real happy endings in life."

"What are you planning to do?" Lily had a feeling she knew.

Dark Matter smirked, "Funny you should ask that. I found the problem in this equation and I am going to kill it."

He aimed for Lily and the shot would have killed her and the child if Anthony hadn't jumped in the way. Dark Matter disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.

"I love you, Lily. I had to save you for yourself and the child. You can live without me, I know you can. I always will love you now and forever." Lily let herself sob as he died.
O0o00o0

She hadn't heard the footsteps until the figure was behind her.

"It seems that we are always going to meet like this, the last piece is in my sight and you have the other two. This is perfect, exactly how I wanted to be."

"How did you know I would be here? " Lily knew the answer.

"I knew you would bury your husband close to the final piece."

"How come you didn't steal the piece when I wasn't here? It was always yours for the taking. You could have made my life more miserable."

"You can only access the third piece when the other two are with you. They are going to react soon."

"Why do you need these pieces?"

"I am not whole yet, I am lacking my immortality since it was killed by your parents…. isn't it ironic?"

"I guess the universe has a wicked sense of humor, demon." The pieces glowed and they reacted to form one piece.

"I do believe that the pieces method is to go to the one who has the most selfish ambitions." The piece fell into Lily's hand with a light thud.

"I believe you got that wrong, it goes to the person with the purest of intentions, the one who longs for love and still has hope when they should be hopeless. You have too much darkness for the piece to even consider you."

Dark Matter attempted to grab the piece but it blasted him instead. "It seems that this piece knows when a person is pure of heart, the truth of this piece is also the truth of Christmas. You can't revive your husband though. He has to be in a form which he can touch the object in and he is buried six feet under."

"I think you don't have enough faith in our love. It is much more powerful than you know; some might say it is the equivalent of my parents which is a very powerful type of love."

"You might as well be waiting for luck. Once a man is dead, they can't reenter the plane of living."

A shimmer started to appear in front of the grave, it slowly started to form a figure coming down from the light.

A voice broke through. "I wouldn't bet on that, Matter. It is after all the season of magic."

Dark Matter was shocked., "You shouldn't be able to come down to this plane, this is breaking a ton of rules that angels are given."

"The rules are slightly more flexible around the holidays."

"I really have to open my big mouth, it seemed like it is my cue to exit but this is not the last you will see of me. I promise that I will win a battle agonist well some day and you will be dead for good." He vanished into the shadows with a slight scowl on his face.

"I told you that you could live without me. You stopped all by yourself and you didn't need my help. I don't think you ever needed my help, you are a strong woman," Anthony replied.

Lily didn't have words for a moment before she finally spoke., "What good is immortality? I think it is dangerous but bring back the dead isn't so bad. Catch, Anthony."

Anthony caught the piece and it reacted to his angel half and he slowly came back to life.

"You just have fun breaking the rules, don't you?"

Lily smirked. "I do enjoy that, rules are made to be broken."

"How are we going to do tell the boys that daddy is alive again?" Anthony asked.

"I think we can worry and figure that out later."

She pulled him in for a kiss under the graveyard's mistletoe. It felt magical to kiss a man back from the dead.

 

[Megasis]

I'm Asking For Friend

Writer: LuckycoolHawk9

Genre: Horror / Parody / Satire

Fun Facts:
This story is inspired by Until Dawn and other choice based horror games/novel. The excerpt is also the most satire and makes fun about a ton of trouble. It also plays on the theme of love and loving yourself and working on your mental health.​

Chapter 1- New York, New Mike

Michael groaned, feeling a great deal of pain over whatever Noir did. He stumbled out of the bed. So, this was what life was like in a horror novel. It didn't feel any different than real life. He was in bed, same as home. There was nothing exactly horrifying about what was going on. He was alone. Oh goodness, loneliness. How terrifying. So, is this the best that Noir could come up with? A room full of nothing and me waking up. Maybe some jump scares in the closet and then I die. Mike pondered this as he went into the bathroom. He wasn't going to let any 'horror' novel transportation deters him from completing his morning ritual. The mirror was full length and fogged up.

"Oh, terrifying. A fogged-up mirror- I have seen scary things in a Walmart parking lot. Listen, Noir, if you want to scare me, you will have to do better than a foggy mirror and putting me alone in a bedroom. Like seriously, dude, I don't think horror is your genre." Mike was met with silence. It wasn't like Noir was going to reply to him.

"I might as well defog up this mirror regardless." Mike picked up a towel and wiped the fog off the mirror. It took a good fifteen minutes, but he hadn't expected for it to go fast at all. It was a full-length mirror and he was just one person. He shrugged and glanced himself in the mirror and blinked twice. What the hell sort of drugs were involved in this physical change? Mike had been an average human before waking up. Not exactly ugly, not exactly handsome, somewhere in between. The reflection looking back at him was some sort of Adonis. He paused and mused over this fact when it hit him. He felt so stupid for not thinking of it immediately.

Horror movie protagonists and antagonists for that matter had to be CW hot. There was no average looking guy or girl, they were all ten plus. He observed himself in the mirror. Yup, he was a 11. "Is there a particular reason that I couldn't like my average self?" He asked.

For once, he was answered. "Being average doesn't sell movies or books. If the people who are reading this don't want to fuck you, I'm doing it wrong."

Michael arched an eyebrow. "You do realize making me hot isn't going to change me outside of making me more likely to be killed in your novel. Oh, you are just doing this because I insulted your book.? So, making me hot as a punishment. How horrible. I really don't think you understand a damn thing about horror, Noir."

"My name is Jed. I have told you this twice…. And you're just calling me Noir to piss me off, aren't you?"

Mike was silent, not denying Jed's claim, but not clarifying it any more. He observed himself in the mirror. He was built like a jock, had the hair of a nerd, it being his normal chestnut brown and a light shadow of a beard. He also had a scar over his right eye, making him look a little more rugged. "Did you just spin a wheel of typical horror movie protagonists and give me each one of those traits?'

Mike was sure if he could see Jed's stupid face, he would be grinning like an idiot. "Maybe."

"So, Noir, you going to give me someone to talk to because talking to you is just well and fine, but generally a horror novel involves more than one goddamn person. It would be boring if I was the only one here for the next few hours. I mean, if you want me to be the first dead-," a knife fell, and he caught it by the hilt. "You are going to have to try a lot harder."

"How the fuck did you know that was there? It was placed so perfectly. You should have been dead, like dead as a doorknob. I swear to god, if you were cheating…." Jed trailed off.

"I have seen every horror movie twice, read every horror novel three times, so I suspected something was up when you made this perfect mix of everything. Rule one of horror, the hotter and more undefined they are, the closer they are to death. Rule two, expect the unexpected all of the time." Mike rolled onto the floor as an arrow pierced the cabinet above him. "Rule 3, everything is dangerous and most likely booby trapped." Mike punched the man sneaking up behind him with a smirk. "Rule 4, if you are doing the killer route, make sure that you don't give your victims a way to…" Mike grabbed the knife and threw it at the killer's heart. He was dead. "Rule 5, nothing ever stays dead." Mike walked over with the arrow and jabbed it through the brain, snatching the knife out of the heart and turning back to Jed. "So, is my lesson learned?" He asked.

"You just ruined my novel…. You killed the killer. How the fuck am I going to bring him back when you fucking stabbed in the heart and jabbed an arrow in his brain? I mean, one of those things could be doable, but both things make it impossible for him to come back. There is no one…. scratch that. There is one person- you."

Mike smirked. "I'm no killer. Sorry, looks like this horror novel is cancelled."

Jed pouted. "Fine, I will bring you back to your world… ummm… we have a slight problem." Jed paused, appearing in the novel. "The book can't let you out because- well, it turns out that I don't have control to remove things from the book. It wants this story to be finished and everyone to die by some force."

"Where did you get this book?" He asked.

"The discount aisle in the cursed books and potions section. It was on sale for a penny. How was I supposed to know that writing my novel would cause me to be bound to its rule too?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Has anyone ever called you stupid? Because that was stupid of you. Like not kind of stupid. Like super stupid of you. So, in other words, until the perfect novel is written, in which the rest of the people you cursed are murdered or defeat the psycho… who is dead, we can't leave here. Beautiful. Just wonderful. So, do you want me to help you?" He asked.

Jed smiled. "That would be nice, if you could just remove the arrow from the killer's brain…"

"I'll do it. I hate all the characters in your book expect one. So, let's make a deal. I become your killer, but have no memory of agreeing to it. I will complete this novel and if I die, you let everyone go and you can keep me in the book. My only requirement is that I am dating Lacey, like super close and none of those fake death things either. Classic horror in which the killer doesn't fake die and is revived. So, book, do we have a deal? I become your killer, we get a new location, I date Lacey. I remember none of this. Also, one more thing, Jed is renamed Noir and gets to be a part of it."

"You mother-" Jed pouted and frowned. He was not happy about this arrangement. Though, Mike was met with initial silence, he heard a page turning sounding.

"Great, it's a deal. I will be your sociopath, I get the girl, and everyone gets what they deserve. So, there is nothing more to discuss on this matter. So, Noir, I await seeing you. I have a request. Change Noir to look less like he belongs to a black and white movie and more that he belongs in this novel."

"You know, I can see why I was going to regret having you in my novel. You are twisting my novel into something of your own doing. It's mine. I swear to god, if you do anything to screw me, I will…"

"One more thing, I want to add to our little agreement book. Death is permanent. When I kill someone, there is no turning back the clock. They are a one term use, and nothing can keep them alive. So, let us get start on this little adventure of mine. I know I am going to have a good time."

Villains tend to have the best times in the horror novels. They are the ones who almost always make it to the end. The villains always get a second chance and they are always the best. The one who takes the knife and ends the lives. It is something that I can honestly say always fascinated me. Their motives. Why they are doing what they do? It always stems back to something that everyone can relate too. Being abandoned, being humiliated, being abused, being insane. It ends the way you expect. Sometimes being the villain is better than being the hero. More than that- it is the perfect way to make sure you live. I knew what I was doing when I made that deal with the book. I knew I had to make the stakes high. The book wanted a show. I have always been the boring kid. The one who would always listen to the teacher- but didn't understand the rules. Didn't understand why it was wrong to reflect the sunlight on the ant. Didn't get why it was so wrong that I punched little Jimmy when he insulted my mother. I guess that's why I became a critic.

I always saw the unrealistic side to things. It's why I always rooted for the villains. They were the ones who wanted something I could understand. It's kind of funny how I got my nickname. It was a play on my last name, Path. Because I was so cold and unfeeling, they called me socio. Put together and you get the picture. You started to understand why I am the way I am. I know that you can't all relate to me and that's okay. I'm sure that as you progress through my journal, you will be rooting for Kelly or Sebastian.

I can't blame if you don't identify with me. But, don't dismiss me as the villain. This is my side of the story and I can't promise the reason I did these things were right or sound, but they were my reasons. I can't expect you to understand.

If you did understand why I am doing what I am doing, then I am just as worried about you as you are about me. That means your mind is just as warped as mine and for that, I am truly smart.

Please don't root for me. Just because I'm the protagonist doesn't mean I'm the hero of this story. So, I pose a question to you. You should understand what I am going for here. I hope that by the time you get to the last entry, you understand what I mean by this. If you don't, then please google it. Like legit google it and what that phrase means. I trust you will not be disappointed or maybe you will be. I'm not you. So, as I was saying, the question.

If you were told that it was killed or be killed in this cruel and twisted game, what would you do about the situation? I'm asking for a friend.