*THE MAGIC MAN !

SEND ME A FALL / AUTUMN STARTER!

🏙 - Our muses go on a haunted tour of their city

David didn’t believe in ghosts. Sure, he’d spent thirty-three years with a demon stuffed inside his head, and he could move stuff with his mind and hear people’s thoughts, but that didn’t mean that everything was real, right? There had to be, like, a line or whatever. Between what existed and what didn’t. And ghosts didn’t exist. So, when Pan had asked him to go on a haunted tour of the city for Halloween, he’d agreed, half to show the family that he could protect them against anything – supernatural or not – and half in case cops or reporters saw them out in society, like normal people.

So, that was how he wound up spotting Oswald Cobblepot – possible future mayor of New York City. He figured it would do the family a lot of good if he was seen talking to Oswald. He was the most likely mayor of all the candidates. Had the most backing. So, David mentally told the family to stick together, and telepathically call him if anything happened. Then, he walked up to Oswald and smiled warmly. “Hey Oswald,” he said, like they were old friends. “What’re you doing here? I didn’t think this was really your thing.”

SEND ME A FALL / AUTUMN STARTER!

🌽 - Our muses get lost in a corn maze

Great, we’re lost – Just teleport us out of here – No, someone might see. David gritted his teeth and pressed his hands against his forehead. “Would you shut up already?” he hissed. They had been so loud lately. He figured taking the family out for Halloween might help, getting a change of scenery, some space. But they’d all wandered off by themselves, and he couldn’t hear their thoughts over the voices. He couldn’t hear anything. He snarled to himself and sensed someone else behind him, and spun around quickly. 

SEND ME A FALL / AUTUMN STARTER!

🌽 - Our muses get lost in a corn maze

”This is stupid,” David muttered to himself, turning around on the spot and staring at the walls, which all looked the freaking same. He could’ve just teleported outta there, but there was another woman near him, and the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. Not now the cops were looking at the family. He ran his hands through his hair and snarled in anger.

We’re lost in a freaking maze? Seriously – Shut up, I’m gonna get out of here – “Dolly!” he called out loud, and telepathically. Stevie! Pan! This was their idea. A family outing, for Halloween. And he’d let them go off by themselves, and now he had no idea where they were. He couldn’t hear their thoughts. They must’ve been out of range. Maybe it’s the corn. Maybe it’s our kryptonite – If you’re not gonna say anything useful, shut the hell up – He whirled around and looked at the other woman. “Any idea how to get out of here?”

fall starters // our muses hang out by the bonfire // @arelegions​​

Lenny took a seat on a haybale, next to David. She felt nervous around him, knowing that she was going to be leaving in a couple of days. If she could just have this one night with him, bonding and laughing like they used to, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much when she walked away. She’d always have the memory of tonight whenever she missed him or felt lonely without him and the cult. 

“How’s it going, man? You enjoying yourself?” she asked, pulling a packet of Twizzlers out of her jacket pocket. “I won’t tell the others if you don’t.” With a teasing smile, she offered one to her best friend. She’d miss this – miss sharing candy with the man who knew her better than anyone else did and having laughs with him. “Having a bonfire tonight feels so… Halloweeny. I dig it. Good call.” 

Resting a hand on David’s knee, she gave it a squeeze to get his full attention. “I love you, kid.”

When Lenny sat down next to him, David made a quiet noise of acknowledgement, but didn’t look away from the fire. They didn’t usually celebrate holidays in the family, but things had been weird lately. With the Bugle thing, and the cop watching them, he’d figured they all needed a bit of cheering up, so they’d built a bonfire and Hunter had got some marshmallows from the store. They were all sitting around the fire, but David had been by himself on the haybale ’til Lenny showed up.

She pulled out a packet of Twizzlers, and he turned to look at them, and smiled. Everything might be going to shit, but some things didn’t change. He still had Lenny, just like he always did. He reached out and took the Twizzler and flashed a smile at her. “Thanks,” he said. “They’re enjoying themselves. That’s the main thing.” He pointed the Twizzler vaguely at the family, who were all huddled together closer to the fire, leaning on each other.

He wasn’t gonna say anything until she put her hand on his knee, and he turned back to her. There was something weird about the way she said she loved him. Lenny wasn’t like that. She didn’t say stuff like that. He frowned at her. “I love you too, Len,” he said cautiously. He wanted to read her mind, to see what was wrong, but he wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to invade her privacy like that. “Are you okay?” he asked, gently. “I haven’t seen you ’round much... Where’ve you been?” It was a careful question -- no judgement. He didn’t want her to think he was pissed at her.

Raven could hear the discord going off in his head, the man was breaking all it took was her words and this ‘Magic Man” had finally broken under her. Of course, she wanted his anger, his rage, she wanted him to attack her to test his powers and see just what this Legion could do. The mantra and flashes of the girl called Syd really seemed to fully push him over the top. 

She watched as he struggled to gain control as he tore himself apart, literally and figuratively the man was struggling to cling to his delusion even harder though she attacked his reality more than most probably have. “I’m not so sure about that, You’ve got the power but I’m pretty sure we are quite evenly matched.” She replied laughing cruelly at the sudden buzzing ringing in his head everything was getting louder and chaotic melting together in the perfect demon cocktail.

She felt his pain smirking knowing that was the push he needed to attack her, feeling her throat being squeezed while he used his mind she knew she’d won, and her dark smile and glowing eyes stared the male down never showing any pain before coughing out a single phrase “You….Help…..No…One” She managed to get out before Rachel had been able to gain control. She found herself unable to breathe or speak as her eyes returned normal staring wide at the male who was slowly pushing her towards death. She let out a silent scream before calling her powers to her once again using her dark matter to slice up David’s arm quite badly so he’d let her go. Dropping to the ground she noticed everyone had stopped playing staring at her like she really was the monster the world had always painted her. She coughed heavily gasping for air that flowed freely into her lungs now that the other had been distracted. It was only when she could finally breath normally did her tear-filled eyes turn towards David, taking notice of his blood-soaked sleeve which was her doing not her demons. 

He attacked her and she’d hurt him just like the true monster she was “I’m…sorry” She whispered out as she gently placed her hand over the bloody shirt before flinching when his family approached and yelled at her to get out of here. “I’m so sorry” she sobbed out before her eyed turned black making a giant shadow of a Raven take form transporting her far away from here not knowing that her mere touch had healed all his wounds.

David felt Raven’s thoughts change -- they became softer, quiet -- and he knew he wasn’t dealing with the demon anymore. Rachel had come back to her body. He wanted to let her go, but she didn’t give him a chance. Black sludge slashed out like knives, and cut his arm. He’d seen a lot of weird shit, but that had to be one of the weirdest things he’d ever seen. He gasped in pain and dropped her, clutching his arm. She cut us, man -- She fucking cut us -- Get her -- She was trying to save herself -- It was an accident -- He stared at the blood pooling under the cotton of his shirt. It had been a long time since he’d seen that. And he’d always been the one doing it, before.

She said she was sorry, and he looked up and stared at her, and didn’t say anything. He could hear her thoughts -- she was really sorry -- but he could barely listen over the voices, which were shouting at him to kill her for hurting him. And the family could see them again, and they were yelling at Rachel, telling her to get away from him, to leave Daddy alone. David didn’t stop them. He didn’t say anything. He just held his arm and watched her as she reached out and touched him. And, just like that, the pain vanished. There, then gone. The blood was still there, but he yanked up his sleeve and stared at his skin, and saw there were no scars, no marks at all. He looked up sharply, but Rachel was already gone.

Summary: David and Laura run into each other at Oswald’s Halloween party Trigger warnings: Alcohol, drug mentions, mental illness stuff, murder mentions, and schizophrenia Written by: @arelegions and @wolverine-23 Mentions: @notyourpenguin and @ofgcpd

Laura nodded before David disappeared to find the vodka, then sat down on the edge of his bed and began wringing her fingers, a habit she sometimes did whenever she felt nervous. She looked down at the bed and ran a hand past the covers. She couldn’t help but remember the times they’d spent there, cuddling and kissing and talking and laughing and sleeping, something she hardly ever did and specially not with someone else. Laura suddenly realized how far she and David had gone since that day at the coffee shop, where she’d pointed her claws at him and almost poked out one of his pretty, blue eyes she now loved so much. A small but sad smile formed on her lips; they’d lived so much in such a small amount of time, that it felt somewhat unreal. David came back with the vodka in hand and served two mugs; Laura frowned. David didn’t drink. Why was he serving himself vodka? A wave of coldness ran through her body; if he needed alcohol to get past this conversation, then it was more serious than what she’d initially thought. 

She took one of the mugs and smiled weakly up at David, mumbling a thank you. “I’m glad I’m back too. I missed this,” She looked around, then back at the bed. “I missed sleeping here,” Then she looked up at him. “And I missed you. So much.“ Laura looked down at the mug, staring at the clear liquid for a bit before she took a long sip, the strong taste of vodka doing little to her throat. She was used to it. Way too used to it. “A lot happened while I was away. It was only two weeks and yet it feels like a lifetime passed here.” She smiled, thinking of that morning at the diner where she’d had breakfast. As soon as she’d entered the dingy shop at the side of the road, Laura noticed everyone eyes were glued to the TV. “Did you see what happened at The Daily Bugle? Crazy, right?” Her eyes stayed down on the mug as she continued thinking of what she’d seen on the News Channel. They’d shown pictures of the murder scene, where masses of bodies lied either on the floor or somehow stuck to the walls. It seemed sort of familiar, now that she thought of it. Like she’d somehow seen that same kind of killings before. “Two weeks and the city goes to shit.” She mumbled, not really interested in the killings. She was just trying to make small talk, even though she sucked at it. “So what were you up while I was gone?”

I missed you, so much. David smiled wanly, and drank when Laura did. He’d missed her sleeping there too, waking up next to her and stroking her hair, her little smile as she just woke up. He lowered his glass to his side and held it across the top, his fingertips pressed against the rims. “Things... changed,” he said, quietly. “While you were away.” He remembered waking up and seeing she was gone. The voices telling him he was stupid to think she’d stay -- of course she abandoned him, just like his parents, just like Syd. He’d lost it, for a second. His control. His powers. He’d lashed out, sending everything flying through the air, the way he used to before he even knew he had powers, when he thought he was crazy.

Laura mentioned the Daily Bugle, and David’s smile faded. He looked at her. She knows -- Don’t be stupid, she can’t know -- She fucking knows, man. Why’d she mention it? -- He didn’t blink. The blue stuff did nothing to stop the panic. He’d just got her back, and she would leave if she knew what he’d done. What they’d done. Sydney had said he was a monster -- the real villain -- and Laura would believe it too. She’d leave him. He couldn’t lose her, not after he just got her back. Ask her -- What? If she knows we killed two dozen people? -- Smart move, idiot --

He realised he hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. He’d just been staring at her in total silence, holding his glass. “What?” he said, blinking. “Oh... You know. Taking care of the family.” His tone was calm, gentle -- the voice he knew she hated -- but it was the only way he could lie to her. He drank the rest of the vodka in one go, wincing at the awful taste, and looked at Laura again. “We had a couple of new members join. Alice and Jervis. They’re nice. You’ll like them.” He sighed. “I was thinking... We really need to be more careful. About who we let in. We’re not a shelter, you know? We’re a family. I think Alice and Jervis are the last. No one else...” He trailed off and fell silent.

Oswald had ensured everything was perfect before it was time for people to start arriving. The entire party had a been cater and there were all different types of drinks available so long as the guest was old enough for anything alcoholic. He had long since received a text from Jim that the male was on his way ensuring to be there when the event was starting, he did his last looks before moving towards the stage to make a little speech for everyone to feel welcome and happy to be enjoying such a party. After the applause he moved from the stage smiling at the oncoming person “That was rather fun, I hope this helps ease the tension that everyone has been feeling lately.” he replied to the person before looking at him “Did you want to join me for a drink?” 

David hadn’t seen Oswald for weeks. Not since he’d volunteered the family for Oswald’s clean-up-the-city shtick. He watched the other man give his speech, standing near the back of the crowd by himself. He’s pretty good -- He’d make a good mayor -- Yeah, since, you know, we kinda put the last one in a wall -- He kept his face still, and didn’t give away the fact that he was talking to the voices inside his head.

When the speech was over, he didn’t clap, but just walked over to the stage. He figured it was more inconspicuous to stand by himself, and being seen with a mayoral candidate would be good for the family’s image. They couldn’t be bad people if their leader rubbed shoulders with a politician, right? And this way, he could find out if there were any leads on the investigation into what he’d done at the Bugle. He put on his warmest smile. “Sure, I’d like that,” he said. “... Oswald, right?” He squinted, like he didn’t quite remember. “I heard you were running for mayor, man. Good luck.” He walked with Oswald over to the bar and sat down. “That was a great speech, by the way,” he said. “You’re a natural.”

Laura nodded, still unable to look at him directly in the eyes. She quickly met his gaze, as he’d bent his head purposefully to look at her, but she didn’t want to look at him, so she looked away again. Couldn’t, without giving away what she was feeling. She was confused, and somewhat disappointed. Why did he have to take that blue stuff? Did he really want to be so out of it, like the rest of the people in the house? Couldn’t he see that they were all zombies enslaved by the drugs? You reminded me of her at first. Laura’s eyes flew back to his in less than a second. “Is that why you brought me here, David? Because you thought maybe I could be her?” She sighed, scratching the back of her neck with her free hand. It was useless; there was no point in talking about Sydney and his initial reactions to Laura. I want you to be you. And then he did it. The one thing Laura would have never allowed anyone else to do, nor did she think anyone would be stupid enough to dare. Suddenly his lips were on her knuckles, right on top of the patch of skin where her claws protruded from. Laura’s anger dissipated like air seeping out of a balloon. He knew what could happen; one wrong move and her claws could pop out without Laura meaning to. He knew how much she distrusted her own hands. And yet he pressed his lips to her knuckles and lingered there, like her hand was precious. She swallowed, her breath hitched at the base of her throat. 

The sensation of his lips on her skin sent waves of pleasure through her body, the skin around her claws far more sensitive than any other part of her body. She bit her lower lip, her eyes threatening to flutter closed. Suddenly, she yanked her hand away as he lowered their hands. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, or that she didn’t want him to touch her. On the contrary, the waves of pleasure rocking through her body just asked for more. But Laura didn’t trust herself. She couldn’t risk it. She held her hand against her chest as if it were a dangerous thing, then looked away again, nodding. “Do you have something that isn’t… tea?” She said, biting the inside of her cheeks as she began walking towards the house. “I think I might need something stronger for this conversation.” She stood on top of the porch and turned around, finally daring to look at David in the eyes. “Rum. Whiskey. Anything. I’ll even take ethanol if you have some.” Laura shrugged, looking down at her feet. “Something tells me I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear.” 

Laura pulled her hand away, and David sighed and smiled apologetically. He figured that would freak her out, but he wanted to show her that he wasn’t afraid of her. She held her hand against her chest and looked away, and David didn’t say anything for a second. He just looked at her. Tell her, man -- I can’t -- Shut up -- “Sure,” he said, out loud. They started walking towards the house, and he let her walk ahead, so she didn’t have to look at him. At least she wasn’t pissed anymore. He couldn’t tell what she was feeling, without reading her mind, and he didn’t wanna do that and risk her getting mad again.

When she said she wasn’t gonna like what she was going to hear, he met her gaze. “Lenny --” he began, awkwardly, ignoring what she’d said, “-- She keeps some vodka in her room. She thinks I don’t know about it, but...” His voice trailed off, and he tapped his temple, and flashed her a nervous smile. “Head over to my room, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He teleported to Lenny’s room without saying anything else. Most of the family slept wherever, but he and Lenny had their own private rooms. He reached under her mattress and grabbed a vodka bottle. That was where they used to hide contraband stuff when they were in hospital. Some things never changed. He smiled to himself, and held the bottle by the neck for a few seconds and just looked at it. God, he wanted to talk to Lenny. They hadn’t spoken since... Jeez, he couldn’t remember the last time. Where was she? He hadn’t seen her for days.

He blinked, and brought himself back to the present. Laura. She was waiting for him. He teleported into his room, and held the bottle up to show her. “It’s not exactly fancy,” he said, “But at least it’s not tea, right?” He walked over to the table where he usually made tea for visitors, and poured them both mugs of vodka, keeping his back to Laura. He still felt weird, sort of out of it from the blue stuff, like this wasn’t really happening. He picked up their mugs and walked over to hand Laura her drink. “You know,” he said, “I didn’t say this before, but... I’m really glad you’re back, Laura.”

Raven loved the anger that was no rolling off the male, it was feeding her power even if the male didn’t know it. Taking away his family had been easy, blocking their thoughts from his mind, something even Rachel could accomplish had she been standing here instead of her. “You sent nothing” She replied cooly watching him turn into the upset little boy she knew he always was. “Well, it didn’t really work, did it? They reported the tragedy and now everyone in New York is looking for you, and your family not so smart David” she mocked him a bit further.

His anger only seemed to fuel her, she was going to break this pretend this boy playing a man, his mind was abuzz with voices something she’d caught so easily since his blockers stopped working the angrier he got at her words. She could hear the sides called Legion telling David what to do, telling him to kill it trying to poison his mind against her. The entire conversation was almost laughable as if they could kill her, no he was powerful but he acted out as a kid with a new toy trying to turn out anyone who tried to break his version of reality. “You prey on them Dadddy, you fix nothing but you own ego” She paused hearing a mantra that he tried to use to calm himself down. Her smirk only seemed to widen when she repeated the words  “I’m a good person. I deserve love? awww little David is that why you keep these people around? to boost your shattered ego? did someone hurt you?” She smirked sending him the brief shots of the blond-haired woman she kept getting glimpses of when he lost control. 

Rachel was somewhere  in the back of Raven’s mind fighting, but she wouldn’t let go of her control not until David made the first move, hurting an innocent was nothing to him, but he desperately wanted to help set Rachel free, Can’t do such a thing when the girl is terrified you’ll try and kill her. “That’s nothing Dave, Rachel will always have me, I’m here and she is me, just because your demon kept you as a pet doesn’t mean you have any power here” She replied taking one step back before making somewhat liquid darkness pour out of her back making it look like raven wings. “You can’t even heal yourself, you help no one David, you kill people when they don’t give you what you want. You don’t have the power to take me down little boy” She replied before mentally throwing David through the door of his home.

David could hardly hear what it -- she -- whatever -- was saying over the sound of the voices, and the buzzing in his head. He gritted his teeth and his face twitched, and he shook his head. “Stop it --” he snapped, when Raven repeated the mantra back at him. I’m a good person, I deserve love -- What did we tell you, man? -- A delusion starts like any other -- He saw Syd, smiling at him like she loved him, like she believed in him, Syd raising a gun and pointing it right at him. Our love is real -- Then why’d she shoot you?

He gripped his hair and tried to bring himself down, tried to make the voices stop. How was he supposed to help Rachel? He was the hero, that was what he did. He saved people. But this was too loud and too much, and he closed his eyes and breathed out, a ragged, shaky breath. “No -- I -- I help them -- I’m more powerful than you --” He felt the buzzing static inside his skull, the feeling that used to happen when he was still possessed, when he thought he was crazy, when Farouk wanted to screw with him, getting louder and louder. But he wasn’t that guy anymore, that weak prisoner. He was powerful, now. He had control. He wasn’t gonna let another demon fuck with him.

David. He recognized that from the newspaper, originally checking it out just for the part on Jeremiah Valeska. He had motive for the massacre and mass murder was sort of Jeremiah’s thing. The only thing that didn’t line up was the fact it was clearly done by a Meta-Human or a Mutant. Of course, maybe he hired someone. He glanced over the man again. He seemed harmless but then again, so did Oswald when they first met. “Is this the Sunshine Bunch? You say you take care of people here. Out of curiosity, do you take care of all your people’s needs?” He questioned. Keeping his tone even and calm. His mind went to the people he saw laying around. How out of it they looked. He glanced David over carefully. All of this was just too weird for it to be legal. He supposed maybe he should take the guy in for questioning. After all, they were both featured in that article. He listened to the other speak and decided to focus on the case at hand for now. Danielle Dean. 

“No, thank you.” He’d rather not accept anything from this commune. “I’d like you to call Dolly in, if you wouldn’t mind. Her immediate family is looking for her, she’s been a missing person for a year and five months.” She was a legal adult now, but not so much when she ran away from home. “I have a few questions for her. Seeing as she’s an adult now, I won’t be asking her to return to her family. She can come to that decision on her own. I just want to verify her identity. Maybe then we can talk about closing the case on her.”

He tried to keep himself looking fairly calm, as if he didn’t think of this place as anything other than a helpful commune for the homeless and forgotten. After all, that was what this man seemed to want him to think, and if he went along with it, maybe he’d let him have a look around. So he can see if it held more secrets than David was willing to tell him about. He’d ask Dolly about the place when he called her in. 

David’s smile didn’t falter, but the voices hissed at him. The Sunshine Bunch -- I can’t believe they’re calling us that -- It’s, what, our name now? -- “We prefer to call ourselves a family,” he said out loud. He tilted his head to the side a little at the Commissioner’s question. What the heck did that mean? Was he talking about drugs? Sex? After a second, David said, “I make sure they’re happy. I give people a place to stay, to rest. People who have nowhere else to go. I help them.” He could feel the cop judging him, even if he sounded polite, but he didn’t let his anger show. He couldn’t give this guy any reason to bring him in, to suspect him. The fact that he was here about Dolly after what David had done was kind of funny, in an ironic way.

Commissioner Gordon asked him to call Dolly in, and David’s jaw tensed. Screw her immediate family -- We’re her family -- He breathed out slowly. “Sure,” he said, in a calm voice that barely hid his annoyance. “I’ll just go get her.” And he turned and walked out of the waiting room. It was stupid, the fact that he had to walk to Dolly. Normally, he’d just telepathically call her, but this cop didn’t know he had powers, and David wasn’t about to tell him.

He walked into the living room, and everyone turned to stare at him and started asking questions at once. What’s happening, Daddy? What does he want? Are we in trouble? but David raised a hand and they fell silent. He smiled at Dolly, who was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and looking up at him. “He wants to talk to you, Dolly,” he said, gently. Her eyes widened, and David sent out a wave of mental peace, to keep her docile, stop her from freaking out. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Daddy will be right there. I’m not gonna let him take you away, okay? You just have to answer some questions.” He reached down and took her hand and helped her stand up, and she nodded silently. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said, and he walked with her back to where the cop was waiting.

He let Dolly walk in first, and then leaned against the wall with his arms folded, watching. Don’t be afraid, he said, mentally, sending her the messages to comfort her. Just answer his questions. I’ll tell you what to say. I’m right here.