haven't you heard?

Another thing he liked was Sybill. He liked her big hoop earrings, her long flowy skirts, her mystic predictions, the day she told Sirius he was going to walk into something big in the future, and the fact that he'd hit a giant pole the other day while walking with Remus. He liked almost everything about her.

To be frank, nobody knew how the hell the two had come to be. How the two had even met. To be fair, it was really vague. The kooky, outsider, seer girl and the crazy rebel boy? Though, he would become the most perfect momma's boy if it meant more time by her side. She was the sun to his life, the yin to his yang, the…well, whatever other odd metaphor she could probably come up with. But, there was one main reason he loved her. It was because she noticed. Sybill would peek in the little cracks of everyone's lives. She would collect colourful paper clips in the halls and carefully insert them into his piercings. She'd verify shops pre-Barty visit. She would slide him her lecture notes if he'd skip, and she'd lend him a shoulder to rest on if a screaming match with his father got particularly rough.

Not like he didn't do anything for her, as he'd taken bruises, screaming, and much more for her. No one would hurt his girl, not on his watch. Looking at himself, he sounded so cliche, like the type of boy he'd have made fun of just a year ago. But he didn't truly care. The only girl he'd ever love was Sybill.

-

Sybill was an odd girl. A "wears long skirts to gym class" kind of girl. A "collects little birds she finds on the street and nurses them back to health" kind of girl. A "little odd but you should totally give her a chance" kind of girl(Okay, the last one really hurt). But she'd learnt since she was 13 that if you're a little odd on the inside like she was, you couldn't shove that sort of thing down. It'd bubble up eventually after lots of pain from hiding it, so you might as well just let yourself exist.

Plus, she'd gotten far less mean looks since she started dating Barty. Obviously, that wasn't the only reason, but she found it rather rhapsodic and ecstatic how he'd given her a chance(And the blood on his face after fighting was always pretty hot).

She was really grateful they'd gotten together, really. She felt they complimented each other perfectly, fitting together like two puzzle pieces that don't belong anywhere on the puzzle. Perfectly weird, in her opinion. Others might call it odd, say she was too good for him or that he was too good for her, but all that mattered at the end of the day was the two of them. She wouldn't have it any other way.

-

"Greetings and salutations, Bats." Sybill announced, sliding into the chair next to Barty in Charms class, a wiggling bulge in her pocket. Barty, noticing instantly, grinned, squeezing her hand.

"Hello, light of my life. How's the little guy in your pocket doing?" Barty asked, grinning as he gestured to the little wiggling form moving about in Sybill's hoodie pocket, happy as ever.

Sybill smiled guiltily, pulling a small mouse out of her pocket. "I found him on the way to school, and I couldn't just leave him! Bats, why don't we set up a little enclosure for him at home? It'd be perfect…we can add charms, and bottle caps, and windchimes, and-" Barty nodded along, giving her a quick kiss, interrupting her brain and shortcircuiting any chance of her finishing the sentence. "I think that sounds lovely."

She nodded happily, satisfied as she sat the mouse on the desk. The little rodent flicked its ears slightly, glancing intently up at the two, before jumping back down and climbing inside Sybill's pocket again. She giggled, glancing back up at Barty. "I'm naming the little guy Hubert, I think…he's so adorable." Barty smiled goodnaturedly at her statement, watching her in adoration as he commented with a smile "Damn, am I gonna have to compete with a mouse named Hubert for your attention?"

Sybill gave a knowing smile, shrugging.

"Maybe."

-

The first time Barty asked Sybill - nervously - to attend a drag show with him, she had gladly accepted. She was on the outskirts of society, and so were many drag queens, so she'd worn her best kind-of-clubbing outfit and waited. And waited. At a certain point, she just didn't think he was going to come. She was starting to plan her talk with him later on how he can't just stand her up when the show began. And god, she was mystified.

Beautiful drag queens strutted up and down the aisles, shocking everyone. Sybill just dropped her muffin straight into her lap, all traces of blueberry joy forgotten as she stared at these beautiful drag queens in makeup, glam, and all. And that's when she saw Barty.

Introduced as a new drag queen, decked out in goth makeup, strutting down, was the drag queen form of Barty. But, as he strutted down the aisle, he met her eyes, a slight vulnerability there. But she didn't really care. She wasn't very much inclined towards disliking beautiful people, and Barty was a beautiful person, no matter the makeup, the fit, or the form. So she just smiled, clapping along and cheering like everyone else.

They completed each-other. Which was enough in her eyes, and she hoped it was just about enough in his. But, at the end of the day, they relaxed on the couch, Hubert in cupped hands, makeup half off, just two oddballs, perfectly together.

every single time that barty plans to pull off some elaborate prank, sybill will try and see what'll happen. she never tells him but each time that he tells her the consequences she will burst out laughing

even though barty hates walking around and complains each time he goes long distances, sybill is addicted to hikes so they constantly go on them....it's ok

sybill makes little pins for barty and he wears them on his jacket like badges of honour which they kind of are

barty actually has beat up people for sybill before, but when sybill hears ppl talking shit about her bf she will go up to them and say some freaky ass eerie shit, so they keep eachother safe in their own ways

sybill is a HOARDER. absolutely she is obsessed with any little thing and she says it's because there's life in everything(not rly barty related but i love my girl)

they have these weird ass nicknames for eachother with SO SO SO MUCH backstory, like sybill will pull up and go "hello fer!!!" or smt and then they have to explain why sybill is calling barty a nickname based off of a car

when sybill has a vision, barty will literally drop everything that he's doing in order to help her out with decoding it/understanding it, etc.

sybill drunk is adorable but concerning to barty, but like if she's drunk no one but him is coming near her whatsoever, like even friends

when barty is drunk/high, sybill will console him with anything he feels shitty about

they both got those like infinity rings that you need your id for, and they do not care, they're everything to eachother

although sometimes they do fight, sybill has a rule she never goes to bed upset w him, and barty hates breaking routine, so they are surprisingly healthy

sybill has those like picture frames w taxidermied(?) bugs in them, and barty loves them, he calls them his freaky cool paintings <3

their music taste is radically different so when they play stuff it goes from intense rock to relaxed soft nature music, and all their friends think its hilarious

no one knows how they got together, and each time they're asked sybill says "the stars pushed us together :)" and barty says "fuck off <333"

barty is so "if my gf thinks she can just bat her eyes at me and get whatever she wants, she's right" coded

sybill is constantly nervous and jittery, but barty actually calms her down so she gets less anxious due to their relationship

sybill's family are all immigrants(including her) so when barty hears ANY racist comments fists are flying spells are sent and no one is safe at all

every time sybill asks "hey thanks for putting up with me" barty pauses what hes doing and like hugs her so hard and goes "of course i put up with you, you're the light of my life"

But, back to running. She'd always be able to manuever her way throughout any situation. And another thing she was good at was running from things…metaphorically. Like when Lottie had asked who'd forgotten the snacks at a party afterwards, and eyes turned towards Shauna, she'd figured her way out of the situation, sneaking away and bringing snacks, saying it "Couldn't help, no matter who'd forgotten". She was absolutely good at it, and although she didn't flaunt it, she used it. But nothing changed the fact she was a runner.

So, when they got into the wilderness, Shauna ran. She ran around making sure everyone was okay, she ran around taking care of chores, she ran off to get supplies and forage for the team, and she ran away from her feelings. She hadn't explicitly liked Jackie. There were a lot of reasons why. Jackie was reasonably brash and sarcastic at times, and she barely asked or respected Shauna's opinion at times. As previously stated, she didn't even like soccer. She'd just joined because of Jackie. And she would much prefer to go to Brown, but Jackie had wanted them to go to Rutgers(and they would've, if not for…what happened). But she ran from the feelings. The complicated, fearful, angry, affectionate feelings that she felt for Jackie. And she wasn't always that bad.

But maybe that's because she was the one to run that time.

-

Jackie was a waiter. Not like someone who served dishes from a hot and steamy kitchen(though if that was true, she would absolutely serve in her job). She was a waiter in the sense that she waited. All the time. She'd waited for Jeff to notice her for months, and it was worth it. She could be reasonably patient if she deemed it worth it for the person. Jeff was deemed worth it, and he proved to be.

Almost. He couldn't quite fufill her, and hell knows why. She really did like Jeff. But something was always off. She was half ready for it to click at some point, and half ready to dump him as soon as she left high school for Rutgers. She was so excited. Perfect colour scheme, perfect everything. So once again, she was waiting. Waiting for college to start, waiting to room with Shauna, waiting for everything to click.

The interesting part is that would've happened. She would've achieved it. If what happened…didn't. She still remembered it, the argument, the stinging that she felt in her head, a slight thrum. Her and Shauna didn't end on good terms, and no amount of waiting would resolve the slight hum of pain in her chest each time she thought of Shauna. All the time, essentially. So she kept waiting. Maybe someday Shauna would join her. Maybe the wilderness, in all its cruelty, would take pity on the first kill. Maybe it would remember her dream as she died. She couldn't quite place all the details, but she knew it felt…so warm. Maybe there wasn't even a wilderness. Even so, she needed something to pray to. But she knew that it wouldn't do shit for her.

She couldn't deal with it much longer, being alive, she was sure. She would've never adapted to the David Attenborough, Steve Erwin type of shit she would have needed to do to stay in good graces. But she wasn't built for that at all. She couldn't. So she just waited for things to change. Waited and waited and waited. Until she couldn't. Especially after the night even Shauna didn't care when she was locked in the closet, desperately banging. And the argument after.

So for once, she became the one who ran.

"Really? You're seeing me in group settings now? Shauna, I'm telling you, you've gone batshit craaazy." Jackie commented, glancing down at Shauna. Months after…her death, and she was still hanging around. Maybe it was unfinished business. Or maybe Shauna really was batshit crazy. She didn't actually know.

"I am fine, so shut up. Now." She mumbled, spooning soup into her mouth. "Hey, Shauna, you say something?" Taissa asked, glancing up.

"I didn't say anything, sorry. Must've been the noise around us?" Shauna offered a weak explanation, and although Taissa had a lingering suspicion of what was going on, she shrugged it off, turning back to her conversation with Van. Shauna stared back down at her bowl of stew, a mix of leaves, some small amount of meat Natalie and Travis had scrounged up through a lot of work, and some water, wherever. Probably the lake.

"You know, it's pretty frustrating that you're annoying me. I mean, you're basically the reason of my death, and you won't even grace me with a response? Didn't realize you hated me."

Shauna let out a deep breath, pushing her chair up and standing up. "I'm going outside. Save my bowl." She said to no one in particular. Leaving the table, she sat outside on the ground, staring down at nothing.

"You do know that going outside isn't gonna help. I'm just gonna follow you…duh. C'mon Shauna, you're smarter than this." She inhaled, trying not to glare at Jackie. "…I know." Jackie sighed, sitting down next to Shauna and nudging her. She could almost feel it.

"Well, since you're finally responding, I think I should get to ask you a couple more questions." Jackie responded, twirling her hair around her finger as she glanced at Shauna. When she didn't get a response, only Shauna staring up at the sky silently, she continued. "Alright, let's start….What is. Your favourite colour."

Shauna looked up, chuckling slightly, even a small snort escaping her mouth as she glanced up at Jackie. "Really? My favourite color? That's the worst segway I've ever heard. Plus, we've been friends, for…forever, basically. I think you'd know." Despite her voice taking on a teasing tone, there was a sense of softness in her voice. Still affectionate with Jackie.

"Well, I know it used to be maroon…but I don't know now. Maybe it's changed. Maybe it's blood red. I don't know." Shauna paused at that, her eyes hardening slightly with guilt as she stared back down at the ground, fiddling with her clothing, and refusing to meet Jackie's eyes. "Is that a dig, Jackie?" She paused, glancing at Shauna, watching over her body. "I don't know. Do you want it to be?" She offered a slight smile, only half genuine, before sitting down next to her. "I think you know."

Shauna glared at her, this time full on. "Don't…just. I'd rather you say it head on, Jackie." Jackie rolled her eyes, before nodding, shifting slightly and offering a knowing smile. "Fine. I will. Why'd you have to eat me?"

Oh. That. It was pretty big, so no one could blame Jackie. But Shauna half did. "We were starving, Jackie. I'm sure if it was- if it was someone else that…it had happened to, you'd have done the same thing. So please don't fake being a saint…" Her voice was tired, and yet still slightly fond, as she glanced at Jackie.

Jackie shrugged, shifting over juust a little more, until she was right next to Shauna, nudging her shoulder. Shauna could almost feel it. "I'm not trying to be a saint…but Shipman, I would absolutely not have eaten anyone. I'm the team captain." Shauna couldn't help but let a small noise of teasing escape her mouth. "Not out here, not really. You aren't- weren't…exactly capable." Jackie laughed slightly, glancing at her, then the sky, then back. "Maybe. But still, you weren't some survivalist either. You were better, but still." Shauna offered a small chuckle in return, staring at Jackie(or what was left of her).

"Fine…I guess you're right. Truce?" Jackie nodded, her smile turning softer, almost human again. "Truce…"

Shauna smiled slightly, before reaching out to hug Jackie. However, she was met with the stiffness of air, half falling onto the ground.

Right.