so, uh, salt made a writing thread, which made me think i should make a writing thread here goes a thing
first up: what i've finished for trash week Spoiler: 3. Breakups/On-Again, Off-Again (jaspis hs au), short drabble It was the fourth day of Breakup Hell. It was also the fourth day of avoiding speaking to or interacting with Jasper. At all. Not when you saw each other in the halls, or at the coffee shop, or in the lunchroom, or at the mall, etc. A couple of these meetings were genuinely accidental. Not all of them were, though. The best revenge was living well, and that phrase definitely meant engineering meetings with your ex in order to show her exactly how over her and completely uninterested in her you were. Maybe rubbing it in her face was a little bit petty, sure. Making out with Amethyst in front of her at a party, like you were doing right at this very moment, was extremely petty. But she deserved it. And sure, the Pool Incident was your fault, but she’d made you. All the crap she’d put you through, and she was going to be all bitchy about some ruined clothes and makeup? This was her fault, and you weren’t about to let her forget it. When you pull away from Amethyst for a short breath, you can see Jasper’s face. She looks furious, of course, but also like she’s about to cry. Good, you think, and you carry that image of her in your mind for the rest of the night, all the way through your impromptu hookup with Amethyst, and from there into the midnight taco run, and so on and so on. Revenge, you think, high as balls at three am, is sweet. Roughly three o-clock in the afternoon the next day, you wake up on the floor of Rose Quartz’s house, because of course you do. Your head kind of hurts (you vaguely remember hitting it against a wall when your hookup with Amethyst got particularly wild), and you are wearing someone else’s clothes entirely. Your phone is buzzing wildly, and is apparently in the side of your underpants. Huh. Looks like you’ve got some messages to read. Spoiler: 4. Honeymoon Periods/Good Times (jaspis sequel) The fifth day, you and Jasper get back together. Her texts (baby please, I swear, I didn’t know how much I was going to miss you, I’ll do better next time, I won’t even get mad when my stuff breaks, I won’t yell) are just too pitiful to ignore. “She’s learned her lesson, “ you say, and Amethyst pays Garnet five dollars when she hears. You collect your possessions from their scattered state all over the house, and head out to meet Jasper at Starbucks. About halfway there, you switch directions and stop by the mall instead. Sephora’s open, and you remember from Jasper’s rantings about it last week that there’s supposed to be a sale today. Once you’re in there, you snag an orange lipstick she’d been wanting, and head back out. You don’t bother to wrap it, just shoving it in your purse. She’ll appreciate it no matter what. When you get to Starbucks, she’s sitting in the back. There are two drinks in front of her, and a gift bag by her feet. Relief is on her face when she sees you, and she can’t manage to hide it. “I, uh, got you something,” she says when you sit down across from her, and she shoves the bag as well as the drink at you as if holding them longer might burn her. When you open it, there’s a pretty sunhat with a nice blue ribbon inside. “It matches that dress you like,” she says, looking everywhere but at you. When you say that you like it, she can’t help but look pleased, and when you hand over her present, her face lights up. “You remembered?” she asks, like it’s a surprise that you did. Of course you remembered, you’re the only person who would. It’s not like anyone else wants to deal with her glaring or her judgmental attitude. No one else is going to listen closely enough to pick up on what she actually likes. At some point, the two of you make plans to go out dancing, and by the time the date is over you’re making fun of people wearing clashing colors. Everything seems back to normal, and all is forgiven.
OLD STUFF TIME most of it's unfinished and it's not exactly, uh, good this is all original stuff i don't think i've given a rundown of most of the characters anywhere except leah and david note: basically all of this stuff is noncanon now, i think Spoiler: coffee shop stuff, carlie the barista hates everyone Simone + Nova, the most uncomfortable coffee date ever (outside pov, technically a crossover?) Carlie was ready to scream. She was having a very bad day. The café was never this screwed up normally! Had some douche cursed her or something? Her shift had started ordinary enough. A few customers were jerks, one guy refused to believe they weren’t Starbucks; a twelve year old tried to steal gift cards, nothing too bad. Most of the regulars came in, got there normal and left. An old lady there with her grandchild had actually left a tip, shockingly. The day seemed to be going well. It went well until an hour later, when her partner for the shift’s overly colorful boyfriend showed up, dripping blood and supporting their respective girl/boy/whatever friend, who was coughing up black goo. Yeah. That had never actually been weird, at least not for around here, but it meant that said partner got to leave early to take them to the nearest doctor. She had narrowly managed to get the place clean before the rush started. Almost immediately, every customer decided to be an asshole. Scammers, screaming children, self-absorbed hipsters, she got stuck dealing with them all. Finally, the majority of the loons left, and all that was left was an older pair, some giggling teens in the back, and a pissed off college student on his laptop. And then, the couple walked in. The boy looked like he had been through an explosion and had never heard of sewing in his life. The girl looked like she had taken make up lessons from a raccoon and smelled so strongly of peppermint Carlie felt like she was going to be sick. The worst part was their expressions. Both of them looked as if they were planning on murdering both each other, and everyone else in the vicinity in the next five seconds, and then burning the building down afterwards. Carlie held onto the vain hope that she would be able to get their drinks without a scene. Unfortunately, they didn’t even manage to order before exploding. The moment the guy opened his mouth to order the girl snapped. “What, so you automatically get to order first? Wow, fuck you!” The boy twitched. “Listen here you lunatic, we just need to get along and not destroy anything for one day, and then we will never, ever have to do this again. So shut up, order some damn coffee, and don’t start a fight.” “Fine then!” she said, and hissed under her breath, “you pig.” He looked like would retort for a second, and but thought better of it. Carlie prayed that they would stay calm for the rest of the time they were there. Shockingly, they managed to give their orders with little fuss. Aside from the girl (Simone, her name apparently was) complaining that they didn’t have some Starbucks exclusive drink, it was relatively straightforward. Nova, the guy, wanted a large black coffee, which was no problem at all, and Carlie decided that these two weren’t going to be the hell customers they seemed at the beginning. Unfortunately, she was wrong. While Nova seemed content with his coffee, Simone took one sip of her drink and her expression grew dark. “Oh, of course your drink is fine. Wow, how did I not see that coming? Well, I am NOT going to put up with it!” She stormed up to the counter. Nova stood up and chased her there. By the time he got there, Simone had already started a loud, angry rant. Carlie wanted to die right there. What was this girl’s problem, seriously? Nova went to yank Simone back. She turned around, screamed in his face, and threw her coffee at him. It missed, barely, and hit one of the teens. Said teen started screaming, which set off their friends, which set off the older pair. The college student shouted and slammed his laptop shut, before running out the door. Nova’s eyes grew wide, and he grabbed Simone, hauling her away from the counter. “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, attempting to pull Simone out the door. “I’m just trying to get my damn coffee!” she screamed back, apparently uncaring of the mess she was causing. The two proceeded to argue their entire way out of the shop, dodging Carlie’s attempts to get their attention. Finally, she was sick off it. “This is all being recorded, you know? We have cameras!” she shouted. Nova looked around and sighed. “Sorry about this,” he said, before muttering something under his breath and vaguely waving his hands. He then finally succeeded in dragging Simone out of the shop as one by one, each camera emitted sparks. Carlie stared in shock at the mess surrounding her. This was probably the worst day she’d had at work, ever. About the only good thing was that nothing had caught on fire. She took a deep breath, sighed, and silently got to work cleaning up. “I hate this job,” she thought.
Spoiler: implications of past creepypasta Missy + Nightingale Nightingale woke up to the sound of yelling. That wasn’t particularly weird, considering that he was sharing a very small apartment with some very loud people, two of whom despised each other and were only sharing space because they were being forced to. What was weird was that it was a) one in the morning, and b) happy yelling. Really happy yelling. Missy style happy yelling. He decided that sleep wasn’t going to come back anytime soon, and rolled off the couch. Sure enough, as he stood up Missy came running enthusiastically into the room. She cheerfully flung her arms around him, nearly squishing him, and accidentally knocked him back onto the couch. “Morning, Missy. What’s going on?” he asked once he had his breath back. She grinned and flopped over to take up the remainder of the couch. “I finished Nova’s new scarf! It’s so fluffy and colorful, and I got the pattern right, and only had to restart three times!” That made complete sense. She’d been working on it for quite a while. Actually, now that Nightingale thought about, she’d been working on it since before he and Simone had ‘moved in’ (aka been kicked out by their boss and forced to live with the only people who wouldn’t get them arrested on sight). It was really pretty; maybe too pretty for someone like Nova who’s clothes normally got destroyed within a week. “Neat! When will you give it to him? Does he know it’s done?” Nightingale tossed the questions out in a row, motor mouth going full throttle. It was nice to talk with someone who would keep up. “I tried to tell him! He just rolled over and told me to go to sleep. And he stole all the blankets!” For a second she looked indignant, but her grin came back in full force. “I think I’m gonna give him it for Christmas, ‘cause he doesn’t have any winter clothes! Everythings all holey, and ragged, and thin, and he’s totally gonna freeze! He won’t let me buy him any clothes either. Keeps saying we don’t have enough money for ‘luxuries’, like not freezin’ to death is fancy!” He’d actually been wondering about that. Nightingale knew Nova was, well, not really concerned about his own safety, but sheesh. It was freezing out. There was ice all over the place. And there was Nova, in ragged sweatshirts and jeans, acting like he didn’t feel the cold at all. Ridiculous. “Welp. Then I know what I’ll get him for Christmas too. I still have some extra money saved from before, and Simone still has a steady job. We should be able to get him a coat, definitely.” The look on Missy’s face was enough to make Nightingale feel happier than he had in months, happier than he had felt since that stupid day he looked a little too close in the background of his girlfriend’s video channel. It felt nice, and he decided right then that there was no way in hell he was going back to the Forest, or letting Missy go, no matter what. First though, breakfast. He smiled and stood up, went to the kitchen section of the apartment, grabbed the ingredients for waffles, and in his head began to plan for Christmas and beyond as he cooked. He refused to let anything happen to the new friends he was making. At all. Spoiler: uh, tw nightmare bullshit, onesided incestuous bullshit crushes, yandere unreliable pov, foe yay “She’ll leave you,” the voice in Jake’s head said. “She doesn’t really love you,” it hissed in his ear, as he fell asleep that night. “She isn’t going to be there for you,” he heard whispered as he walked, listening to his Leah as she happily showed him the new knife Matt had got her. It was silly, really. He knew Leah loved him. The tea party accident (no one knew, no one could know, they wouldn’t tell and Lucy couldn’t tell and Jess didn’t know, couldn’t guess, but if she did, and then he shook his head, horrified. What sort of a person was he becoming?) proved it. Leah would never leave. But the voice was still there, hissing and chattering and mocking him. “She isn’t yours,” it said again as he dreamed. He dreamed of a forest, green and bright, with flowers and sunlight. He was walking like this morning, with Leah beside him, and they were talking and laughing. He moved to hold her hand, and she laughed and pulled away. “Catch me if you can,” she said, happily, and took off running. Laughing, he followed her and they ran through the forest, ignoring how it began to darken. She ran very fast (and he should have noticed it was odd, because Leah could never run for very long without a coughing fit, but isn’t that the way it is in dreams?) and soon he could barely see her hair (did it seem lighter than normal? How strange) in the distance. The woods grew more twisted as he panicked, looking for her. He had told her that he would always be there for her, that he would protect her. How could he do that if he had lost her? Finally he saw her, in a clearing, by a river. “Leah!” he called, relieved. “You shouldn’t be here.” she said, back towards him. He started to reply, confused, but was cut off by, “ I don’t love you.” “You aren’t my brother. If I could, I would leave you and never come back. You don’t matter to me at all.” He stared in shock. And as he stared, he began to notice things he should have seen before. Her hair was white. She seemed taller. Not much, but enough. The more he looked, the more the veils seemed to fall away. “Who are you? Because you certainly aren’t my little sister.” The person shook in fury and whirled around. Jake stumbled back, shocked by the solid black eyes and bared teeth (sharp and horrifying in his mouth, as if something had pulled them from a shark to replace the human teeth). “She isn’t your little sister!” the boy screamed, lunging forward to tackle Jake to the ground. He fastened his hands around Jake’s neck as if to strangle him, and brought his face very, very close, almost lying across the other. “She isn’t yours. She will never be yours. She’s my dear sister, and you can never, ever take her away. Ever.” The words were hissed, and yet an odd, mad grin spread across the boy’s face after he said them. He moved closer, and for a second Jake wondered if Lewis (because that was the only person this could be, that boy who died years ago, who else would act like this but the brother who had burned up with along Leah’s early life) was planning on kissing him. Lewis rested his forehead on Jake’s, and the mad grin grew even wider, splitting his face with even more jagged shark teeth. “I’d bet she wouldn’t even notice if you left! Want to test that?” Those words were a threat, and Jake knew it. He tried to move, to throw the other boy off, but he felt paralyzed. He’d heard of sleep paralysis, but this was ridiculous. Whatever Lewis was planning, it was cut off by a sharp cough. Startled, he quickly rolled off of Jake, looking put out. “What?” he snapped. The girl who had walked out the woods snickered. “Am I interrupting or something? Cause if I am, you should let me watch, just sayin’.” “Do you actually have a reason to be here or are you just being a pest, as always?” Lewis said, glowering. “Aw, Pup. You’re such a charmer. Dolly says that there’s a ‘family meeting’ or some shit.” She turned to look at Jake, rolling her eyes. She walked over to him and pulled her foot back. “Blondie! Time to wake up!” she said as she kicked him. Jake shot up in bed, breathing hard. He reached over to grab his phone and check the time. ‘Three o’clock?’ he thought. ‘I’m going back to sleep.’ And he did, ignoring the voice in his ear saying, “Goodnight.” Spoiler: a little clarification on the previous one lewis is leah's bio brother. he died. dying exaggerated his character flaws and drove him a Lil Bit Nuts jake is her adoptive brother. he's subtly yandere and does not realize this. leah hates both of them, for obvious reasons the tea party accident was when jake's blatant yandere gf, lucy, snapped and tried to kill leah. and then fell off a roof. jake interpreted that as leah murdering her for his love, and is SUPER INTO IT leah still hates him, and is super traumatized.
Spoiler: dysfunctional family bullshit. tw incestuous love confession, religious abuse, no longer canon because of inaccurate ships, innacurate pronouns, and lack of Perma Deadness “Hey, you’re that guy my sister used to always fight with, right?” The guy sitting in the corner looked extremely uncomfortable and nodded. He didn’t look all that different from how Zack remembered him, if less, well, crazy looking. Granted, the last time Zack had seen him had been when Leah shoved him out a window. It wasn’t hard to look less crazy when you weren’t flailing a knife around and ranting about heathens. “Mark, right? I’m Zack.” Zack thought it over and decided that having a conversation with this guy couldn’t be less awkward than going back outside. There was no way in hell he was going back out there for at least an hour. Well, that or if Leah came to haul him out. Not that Leah was having a particularly good time either. There was a good chance said sibling had already bailed. “Uh, yeah, actually. You remember my name?” Mark scooted over to give Zack a place to sit. He didn’t look particularly enthusiastic, but then again, he’d looked glum already. “Hard not to. When you spend most of your first year with your siblings hearing it screeched it sorta sticks.” If possible, Mark actually looked more uncomfortable now. He glanced away, and his shoulders scrunched up like he was trying to disappear. They sat in silence for a moment, before Mark said, “Listen, this is probably long overdue, and worthless, but,” he took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight back then. “ He pulled at the small cross he was wearing, and shrugged. Zack smiled at that. That was something he really hadn’t been expecting. “Apology accepted. I’d say now go tell that to the rest of the family, but now is a really bad time.” Mark winced at that. He wouldn’t say he’d been wondering about why the other boy (well, he couldn’t really be called a boy anymore, he had to be at least twenty) had decided to go sit in a bathroom, since that would be rather impolite, but he still had some natural curiousity. Zack shrugged, and said, “I’d rant about it, but I don’t think you really want to hear.” “No, I, go ahead. You look like you need to rant. And at this point, I’m starting to think our good lord put me on this earth for people to rant at.” Zack considered it. On one hand, he only really knew Mark from the times that he had been freaking out. It was probably an awful idea to talk to him. But, on the other hand, he seemed to have turned over a new leaf. He hadn’t even mentioned heathens once. And fine, some of it was that he was cute. He had a dorky southern accent and blond hair and sky blue eyes and a tan. (Zack refused to think about where his thing for blonds could have come from.) “Sure,” he said, “But after that, you should tell me what you’re doing in here.” “Deal,” Mark replied. Zack cleared his throat and said “Alright, here goes. You remember Leah, obviously. So, tonight, the whole family decided to meet up out here for dinner, catch up, you know how it goes. We’re discussing how we’ve been, when Leah says they have something important to say. Turns out Matt, you remember Matt, right?” Mark nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed. “So, Matt proposed to them. And they said yes. I mean, who didn’t see that coming? Turns out our older brother, Jake, did not. His face when he heard, it was like he’d gotten slapped or something. We didn’t think much of it at the beginning. But then our mother started talking about how of course she was going to get to organize the wedding, right? And she kept pushing, and Leah snapped. Just said, you never wanted to be part of our lives when we needed you, so why are you trying now? And that turned into a screaming fit, and Jake ended up just drinking a ton of alcohol, and so they’re fighting and he’s getting drunk. And then our mother storms out, and our father goes after her, and Jake just starts crying. And then he drops to his knees, and gives a drunken love confession to Leah.” Mark had already been staring blankly, but that took the cake. His jaw dropped. “He, uh, what?” “Yep,” Zack continued, “drunken incestuous love confessions, that’s my family. He went on about how he’d been in love with them since they were kids, and had never said anything because he’d just wanted to be there for them, and that he was saying it now because it was his last chance, and that he knew he could never be the person they loved but he was content with being their brother. And then I left before Leah could say anything back, because, well, goddamn that is enough horrible family drama for one night. And I still have to drive Jake home. I was supposed to drive Leah too, but they’ve probably got a ride by now, since they’re also ‘secretly’ dating Delphi and Kat, too. They just think they’re being sneaky.” “No taking the Lord’s name in vain,” Mark said automatically, before processing everything. He then said, after about a minute of processing, “What. Dear Lord, what.” “Yeah, never thought I’d be happy I was his least favorite,” Zack said, “Your turn.” “Alright. My night isn’t really that bad. I’m meeting up with my mother, for the first time in a long time. She, well, kicked me out of the house, a little while after the window incident. I moved in with my grandparents.” He sighed, and then, “I wanted to see her again, after all these years. I just thought, maybe, she’d have changed? But no, not at all. I don’t even want to think about coming out of the closet to her. I managed to be around her for five minutes before I started having a panic attack. She yelled at me for not wanted to go to this abortion protest she had planned. I may not support that sort of thing, but I’m not going to protest! I’m trying to be a better person! She started again, like she used to, saying that if she hadn’t turned to Jesus she would have had me aborted and saying, Mark Ruby, you better shape up! Hell has plenty of room for sinners like you! And then I got out of there in a hellfire hurry. I just couldn’t be in there with her anymore.” Zack stared. That was not ‘not really that bad.’ That was awful on a whole ‘nother level. “I’m sorry. That is awful. That is really awful of her, and you shouldn’t have to deal with it. Did you order any food yet?” “No, why?” Mark replied. “Because, I’m voting that you just flat out leave. Everybody else seems to be doing it. You’ve got your own car, right? Just drive off.” Zack directed a pleading look at Mark. Seriously, he had to get away from that woman, mother or not. “That’s right. I can just drive off, can’t I?” Mark paused, looking to be in deep thought. He nodded and said, “I’m going to do that. I refuse to let her control me even when I’m an adult.” He stood up, and dusted himself off. Zack grinned. When he saw Mark begin to leave, he made a decision. “Wait, Mark. Do you have a pen?” Mark nodded and handed it to him. Zack grabbed Mark’s hand and quickly scribbled something down. “Is that-“ Mark began. “My phone number, yeah. Call me once you get home, I want to make sure that you get back okay.” An uncharacteristically sweet smile spread across Mark’s face, and he agreed too. As he left, still smiling, Zack felt a heck of a lot better. Well, until he remembered that he still had to deal with his family. “Well, here goes nothing,” he said, and left the bathroom. Spoiler: tw body horror, eye horror, remembered familial squickiness, gross eye goo Leah waking up (eye horror, body horror. Idk, bad stuff happens to eyes) All of a sudden, Leah Liddell existed. It felt as though she hadn’t in quite a while. Leah opened her eyes. That seemed very strange to her, and she couldn’t quite tell why. And then, all of a sudden, she remembered. She remembered claws in her gut, and a mocking voice as someone with black eyes pet her hair. She remembered (far too well) arms wrapped around her as memories she’d wanted to forget swirled around her. And, worst to her, she remembered fingers in her eyes, and a familiar boy saying how glad he was they would be a family again. Ugh. Leah had been certain that had gotten left behind with the ashes of their house. That said, how was she seeing? Leah quite distinctly remembered having her eyes removed from their sockets. Honestly, that was something she would be trying the rest of her life to forget. Had she gotten replacements or something? Was that even possible? ‘Mental note, ask Kat if eye transplants are possible,’ she thought. Curious, Leah reached up to her face, slowly moving her hand towards her eyes. She shut them, and gently touched her eyelids. They felt odd, but she couldn’t put her finger (heh), on why. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Leah took a breath, and tried to work up the courage to touch her eyes. ‘This is really stupid. Why am I doing this? I can see, so they must be there, right?’ Still, she just wanted to be sure. There were too many what ifs floating around her head right now, making her sick to her stomach. She slowly pressed her finger to her eye. And felt, well. She wasn’t sure how to describe what she felt. There was what felt like a thin film, with liquid rippling beneath it. She knew she should be horrified, but really, after the sort of day she’d been having? Leah pressed her finger inwards, through the film. It popped, and Leah barely choked back a mad giggle as some sort of liquid dripped down from her sockets to her cheeks, some of it even getting in her mouth. It coated her hand, and tasted like nothing. No, that wasn’t true. It tasted like every disgusting medicine she’d ever had to take, the stolen sips of alcohol she’d had hiding with Matt, cotton candy she’d shared with Delphi at one in the morning, lollipops Kat had tossed at her. It burned on her tongue, at the same time it froze. She gagged, trying to spit the gunk out at the same time she tried to swallow it and only succeeded in jamming her fingers further into her eye socket. There was a flood going now, black liquid dripping on her hand and face and onto the fussy white skirt she was damn certain she had never seen in her life. Nightmarishly enough, she could still see. As in, she could see her goddamn finger in her goddamn eye socket! Any hope that everything was normal, that she was safe, that her life wasn’t going to be a horrorshow from here on out was completely gone. Leah yanked her hand away from her face, and placed it on her lap. She clasped her hands together, stared, and tried to figure out what, exactly, was happening. Spoiler: tw religious mania, subtle transphobia Mark Delphi, for Kat. Mark stood outside the church doors, having a silent debate with himself. He had to report back, but nothing had happened. That demon boy hadn’t been seen in ages, the pretty, attractive, HORRIBLE cross-dressing tomboy and violent blonde “doctor” hadn’t gone to any of their usual coffee spots (it wasn’t stalking. Definitely not. Only bad people stalked others. This was research, and it was for God and the greater good.) and who even knew where that crazy, pagan, redhead was. Which brought him back to his current predicament. He had nothing new to say. Mother was going to be very unhappy. He knew that it was for the good of the world, and his own sake, but he still found himself shaken at the prospect of going to her with empty hands. And so he spent about five minutes standing with his hand above the door handle, deep in thought. So deep in thought, that he didn’t notice a certain ‘crazy, pagan, redhead’ sneaking up on him. “You’re Mark, right?” she asked, from over his shoulder. He jumped, startled, and tried to spin around and get into a fighting position all at once. This, predictably led to him falling on his butt. She giggled and held a hand out for him to take. Insulted, he refused and began to haul himself up. “Why? Do you need it for some horrifying ritual or something?” he asked, only half sarcastic. “No? We never got introduced, remember? I mean, we’ve never really talked or anything. You’ve been stalking Matt, and Leah’s thrown you out some windows, and Kat says that she keeps bumping into you when she gets coffee, but you haven’t ever really been weird at me yet. I’m almost kinda upset!” She giggled after the last part and Mark was horrified to find that it was not an evil sounding giggle at all. Certainly not the sort of giggle any insane fortune-telling witch girl should have. “I’m not stalking her! What are you talking about?” “Yep, you’re Mark all right. You don’t look all that busy. How about coffee?” And that was how, despite his protests and best efforts, Mark found himself hauled to a unacceptably heathen café with someone who he was now certain was a demon straight from hell sent to try his patience. “What is with this place? What sort of a devil worshipper runs it? How is it still in business? Every church in the state should be protesting its existence!” Delphi smiled over her latte, watching as the boy ranted with a horrorstruck expression on his face. It was taking all of her self-control not to burst out laughing. ‘If he’s this bad with just one Halloween themed café, imagine how he acts when it’s actually Halloween!” she thought. After a while, she cut him off with a, “Your coffee’s getting cold.” He was startled out of his rant, and rather suspiciously eyed his coffee. “Is it drugged?” he asked seriously. ”I’ve heard about places like this, where innocent people are turned to the dark path with innocuous little things. If we go in the back there will probably be drug fueled mass sacrifices or-“ He cut himself off suddenly, blushing slightly. “Or?” Delphi prompted. “Things that aren’t polite to mention in front of a girl, even if she is some sort of heathen oracle.” Delphi couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore “You think-, you think they’re having orgies in the storerooms? Really, Mark? Really?” He huffed, feeling insulted once more. She was obviously just trying to deflect his suspicions. “Well, what are they doing back there then? Hmm? Are they all part of your cult? Is that why you know what happens back there? Are you their heathen goddess in physical form?” Delphi couldn’t breathe, she was laughing so hard. “Where are you even getting this? No, I just work here on weekdays you dork! The only thing that goes on back there that shouldn’t is Pokémon battles while people are on shift!” “Ha! I knew it! You play your satanic games, while- Mmrf!“ She cut him off with a pumpkin spice muffin to the mouth. Gasping, she caught her breath, still letting out little wheezes with each inhale. “Pokémon is satanic, now you’re reaching. Have you ever even played any of the games?” “No, why?” He looked honestly confused at the question. “Give me a sec, I think I know what to do. Don’t go anywhere, or do anything stupid.” She ran off, leaving a very confused Mark behind. He sat there, stupefied. After careful consideration, he decided that the coffee was most likely not drugged and took a sip. And another sip. Wow, this pumpkin spice stuff was actually pretty good. After he had drunk about half of his coffee, Delphi came running back, a DS clutched in her hand. “Here, Carlie said you can borrow this as long as you’re really, really careful. Alright? You can’t complain about Pokémon unless you’ve actually tried it.” Gingerly, he took the DS as if it would explode. He’d never actually used one before, but it couldn’t be that hard to figure out, right? Or not, he couldn’t even turn it on. “Wait, what time is it?” Delphi asked suddenly. Mark checked his watch and was horrified to realize it was almost three thirty. He had places to be! “I have to leave. Here, tell, uh, ‘Carlie’ she can keep her…device.” He didn’t make it a foot before Delphi grabbed him and pulled him back. “Fine, but you have to come by here tomorrow, okay? Or at least sometime this week! I will introduce you to video games, and more fancy coffees, and everything!” “Fine, alright. I’ll come back on Wednesday or something. Now, really, I have to go!” “It’s a date! See you Wednesday, then.” Delphi said, smiling. “And one more thing!” Still smiling, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Now, shoo!” She waved him off. Mark began the walk back to the church, head swimming. One thing he was very, very, certain of. “She’s definitely a witch. Absolutely.” Spoiler: unfinished sequel to previous Mark looked uncomfortably at the people around him as he walked. He didn’t like any of this. The entire road was decked out in horrifying imagery, and no one was complaining! He didn’t understand how anyone could be so blind as to ignore the cultish, heathen imagery surrounding them. Finally, he reached his destination. Frankly, he would rather not be here. He didn’t even want to be here. This was for research. He was certain that there was a pagan cult being run out of this café. He was here to investigate, no other reason. Definitely not.. He wasn’t here because Delphi asked him to show up or anything. Of course not. He took a deep breath, and stepped inside. It was as disturbing as the first time he visited. False spiderwebs hung around the room, jack o’lanterns were on top of tables, and images of ghosts were on the walls. He couldn’t shake the feeling that just stepping in here was dooming his soul. Mark joined the line of people waiting to order. It was fairly short and was moving quickly. Getting to the end, he saw the person he was looking for. “Hi Mark!” Delphi said cheerfully. “My shift’s over in a bit, so I’ll join you then. Pumpkin spice latte and a muffin, right?” “Yes. As quick as you can, I don’t want to spend very long here.” Delphi giggled. “Can do.” It didn’t take long for his latte to be resting on the countertop along with his muffin. Mark picked them up and carefully made his way to the table in the corner, where he could avoid potential contact with any of the devil worshiping lunatics who came here. Well, excluding the one he came here to meet, of course.
Spoiler: no longer canon but still pretty amusing i think, leah/smile successfully possessing someone and drinking ALL THE COFFEE!!! LIKE A PERSON!!!!!!!!! David winced. It all made sense now. Unfortunately, they needed; a) better, less supernatural proof, b) the actual motive, and c) a way to warn potential victims. Speaking of which… “We know that she’s going after people with any sort of magical potential. We know she’s using other murder patterns to cover her tracks-“ He paused as Amelia let out a wordless snarl of rage at that, then continued, “And we know she’s been using her position as school psychologist to test students for magical abilities. As for who’s next-“ He was cut off by Amelia’s drawling. “Maaaayybe, Davey, it’s that cutie blonde? The one who keeps inviting you out? That’s who I’d go for, anyways. Not like it’d be hard, I doubt she’s got enough braincells to know when some-“ “Amelia, shut up,” David began, but the brewing fight was cut off by Annie muttering, “Uhm, guys? Amanda just got her wisdom teeth out, right?” “Yeah, that’s why I don’t think she’s going to be the next victim. Her parents will be watching her like a hawk,” David replied. “I-in that case, why is she outside your window?” David turned to see Amanda climbing into the open window with a disturbing grin. Kris and Juniper both shuffled backwards, but David was frozen with confusion. There was something familiar about her (besides that she was, at least physically, Amanda) but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Until she spoke, in a familiar English accent but an uncharacteristically giddy tone, saying, “I really love having a body!” “Smile?” David asked. He shot a glance back at the others, who looked either confused or worried. In retrospect, he probably should have told them about the immortal nightmare demon coming into his dreams at night. “In the flesh!” she said gleefully, practically breaking down in laughter at her own joke. “Uh huh. I thought you couldn’t leave the dream realm? You said you couldn’t.” She lost the battle against laughter. Smile collapsed onto the floor and stayed there cackling until she was out of breath. “When did I EVER say that!? Seriously, for someone so smart you can be so fucking idiotic!” “Well,.” David said, insulted, “It was definitely implied!” Smile shook her head. “If someone’s asleep, I can get in their head. If I’m in their head…” She gestured at David to continue. “You can possess them, “ he said. He thought quickly, and then added, “You got in Amanda when she was drugged for her wisdom teeth, right?” Smile nodded enthusiastically. “I thought you were my friend,” David said, sadly. He wasn’t entirely certain that Smile was actually a total terror who’d been faking affability this whole time, but better safe than sorry. Considering how insulted she looked at that, she was probably genuine. “I am your friend!” She punctuated that by lunging up and forward to throw her arms carelessly around his neck. “What,” David said. She might have been saying she was his friend, but she was hitting new levels of creepy the longer she was in Amanda’s body. At least as far as he knew, Smile hated being touched. (Other than head scritches.) On top of that, it was a lot more awkward to deal with a nightmare demon that was body-snatching your classmate than one that looked like a small, fluffy, adorable (if eyeless), kitten! Especially when she was clinging to you and grinning in a way that was entirely wrong for both people involved. “You’re so warm! And soft!” David leaned back a bit as Smile moved one of her arms to pet his hair. This close, some of the differences between regular Amanda and Smile possessed Amanda were pretty obvious. For instance, her irises were black, rather than blue and there were dark circles under her eyes. He only looked into them for a second. It made him feel dizzy, and he didn’t particularly want a repeat of the ‘let me show you’ incident. Once had been enough. Smile got bored of petting his face, and released him, darting to the door of his room. Bouncing slightly, she turned and asked, “Do you have coffee? I want some coffee, I can drink it like a person!” “Like a person?” Juniper spoke up, obviously very, very confused. David shook his head rapidly. “LIKE A PERSON!” Smile said, very, very, loudly, continuing with, “I haven’t had a body in fucking ages, this is GREAT! I’m going to drink all of the coffee.” David sighed, and said, “It’s the second cabinet on the left, and the coffee maker is next to it. Please just drink decaf.” Smile giggled, (that was creepy, giggling was not a Smile thing), said, “Fuck no,” and left to obtain coffee. David looked at the blankly staring group. Amelia twitched. Juniper started to say something, but was cut off by Kris. “Well,” he said, “that’s one way to solve a love triangle.” David started to say something, faltered, tried again, and finally got out a, “No. NO. Not what is happening here!” “I’d say go with freaky demon girl, but tell her to stay in blondie’s body, because look at her-“ Amelia was cut off by an offended Juniper.
