time is an illusion

     “Oooo, this looks nice! Probably valuable. Could sell it for more than this crackpot run joint,” Bill spoke to himself as he eyed the ancient looking vase. He didn’t care what was in it or whatever curse may be attached to it -- they didn’t have an effect on him anyway. Bringing his lips together in a casual whistle, Bill used just his fingertip to knock the vase to the ground -- sure, he could’ve used his mind but this was much more fun -- and inhaling deeply with a satisfied grin on his lips at the sound of it breaking echoing in the Shack. “Perfect!”

That was one way to announce himself. A very Bill way. It had been a while since he had been back, and he had kept himself away from the Pines. Letting his hate for them brew more over that time away from them. Now, on a day where he was extremely bored, Bill thought it was time to make his presence known to them once more. “Oh, hey, Pine Tree! Miss me?” he grinned, a grin that was as sharp as a blade, when Dipper came rushing into the room to see what the source of that noise was.

For once Bill wasn’t playing his usual games, aside from the waiting like the dog. And even that didn’t sit well with her. Something about him wasn’t adding up. He bothered to wait five hours? When he could have just easily slipped the cash under the door and called it a day. Red flags. “Oh yeah?” She questioned. Jess would have preferred him to leave, as she always did. But for him to agree left a weird taste in her mouth. 

“Dying to know what had you choosing to sit around this shit hole instead. Was it the breathtaking view, or the company that kept you away from whatever the hell it is you do all day? Bet it wasn’t the peach down there,” she gestured behind her. The woman in 302 needed her teeth knocked in. 

Jessica grabbed the money he waved at her, like she was some sex object on stage. That didn’t seem so off. She was quick to count it. All there, as promised. But it still didn’t feel like every other agonizing experience she shared with the curly haired asshole. “Okay, spill it. What’s the deal with you? Are you using your supply, or whatever the hell he has you selling?”

     “I don’t use the supply I sell. I get my own. But, NO, I’m not on anything. Right now. Might be later,” he shrugged, thankful she took the money from him cause his arm was beginning to get tired. Focus on the minor inconveniences, not her. FOCUS. That last thought finally made his eyes focus on her. Seeing the confusion on her face -- the worry almost -- made his stomach turn. Bad idea to look at her. Bad idea. Bad. Why did he stay and wait? He should’ve just slid it under the door and left. Save himself from this. Whatever this is.

     “What does it matter, anyway? You got your money. Now we don’t have to see each other again,” did he really want that? “We can both go our separate ways. Do a little dance. MOVE ON. I’m sure you won’t miss me. I’ll miss that gorgeous face for a bit but I’ll get over it. Better this way.” Was it? 

such great heights

@cypherthis​

Ben hadn’t had much contact with the phantom presence that was Bill Cypher, but he couldn’t help but feel encouraged to commit adventurous acts with the guy. Not many friends of his were into heights- nor were they super dare-devilish. Which probably was for the best. Benjamin didn’t need any more dangerous folks in his life. 

“What’s up!?” He asked, pausing with his cigarette. The man trodding over carried himself with a whirl of chaos. A busyness in the aura surrounding him–very dark and muddied. Not an excellent sign. But Ben didn’t like to discriminate. Maybe it was just his current mindset. Got a lot going on. He could relate. 

“You–alright? You look…” Ben paused, not sure how to finish that statement. “Noisy in there today?” He asked, gesturing to his head. 

Bill was never in a good state of mind but tonight it was worse. Jessie was really fucking him up -- feelings aren’t something he does. So, what was the best way to deal with things he didn’t wanna deal with? CHAOS. The night before, Bill had took to the top of a building and dropped eggs, right at the perfect moment, in front of unsuspecting walkers. Sure, it wasn’t bloody or death -- that’d be for a different day, maybe he could suck Benny Boy into it somehow -- but it was funny as hell to hear people scream. 

As Bill approached where Ben stood, he could instantly pick up on his thoughts, it may have boosted his ego to know that the other man knew who he was and felt compelled by him. Might be a little easier to manipulate. Perfect. Tossing an empty bottle of gin next to the garbage can, the sound of glass breaking sending a nice shiver through him. 

Please don’t be here, Jessica repeated like a god damned mantra as the elevator stopped at her floor, where it paused for an extra five seconds. Sometimes she wished it would just plummet to the ground like that amusement park ride. Tower of doom, or whatever it was. Maybe then the owner would fix the thing. 

The elevator opened, and she cursed whatever god was sitting back watching as her life slowly spiraled. There in front of her door sat the damn devil himself. She nearly got out of the elevator before the doors began closing on her. A shove a little too hard made a terrible noise, as the metal had bent under her anger. “Great.” More money.

“Let’s make this short.” Jessica told him, kicking his foot as she approached him. “Do you have it or not? Because if not, I’ve got shit to do.”

     “Wouldn’t be HERE if I didn’t,” he mumbled as he stood, he held back from kicking back at her -- he’d rather keep his body parts today. Clearly still irritated with himself for even bothering to sit in front of her door for however long he had. Bill wasn’t one to keep track of time. It was an illusion that he wasn’t going to conform to like EVERYONE else.

“Definitely,” Zora rolled her eyes dramtically. “It’s my favorite passtime really.The only thing that can fully occupy my time.”

He could tell he was getting under her skin, which only made him grin. People were too EASY to rattle, even with something as simple as this. “Clearly it IS. You’re doing a fantastic job at it. Breaking hearts of all the money hungry assholes here, huh?”

“Tick TOCK,” was all Hook uttered as the image of the fool faded. It would have thrilled him to pierce through Bill’s chest and watch him bleed out on the warehouse floor. But that was the stickiest part of it all, due to his unflinching ability to thrive on like a cockroach in a wasteland regardless of impending doom. It seemed nothing would kill the devil. Because the devil could see just far enough ahead to put a stop to it.

Hook took one look down at the black duffle bag before kicking it aside to inch closer to his counterpart. If he could shake him from conducting business for him, he would have. But the thing about cockroaches was they could find their shit trail and follow it back to the source. “You’re far later than we discussed.” Hook told him, already having threatened to lessen his pay for making him wait. Then there was the discussion about messing with his men… “You’ll receive your six percent and not a penny more. You should be pleased I didn’t knock you down to four.”

The blasted ticking hammered on. “You carry on your little scam while I settle my last deal for the evening. I’ll find you and drop it by when I’m well and ready.”

     “OR, counter offer, you give me my cut now so I can go and we don’t have to see each other again for a good bit!” flashing him a toothy grin. Bill may like being around a fellow psychopath -- and causing Hook more trouble for fun -- but he had things to DO. A woman to pay. And probably more than equally annoy.

“Hey, I mean four quarters make a dollar,” Zora shrugged. Clearly he was a little irritated with her, maybe making a joke would help relax the situation. “There’s no possible way I could have magically turned that into a quarter.”

Her good intention thoughts made Bill want to gag, yet all he did was narrow his eyes at her and speak with thick sarcasm, “I bet you did. Which is just RUDE. You always go around getting peoples hopes up about finding gold doubloons?” 

     “Said I wasn’t her dog and yet, HERE I AM, sitting in front of her door. WAITING,” Bill was mumbling to himself, mentally tossing his wallet up into the air over and over again. “Should just get up and LEAVE. Send the money through the mail. It’s not like she ACTUALLY wants to see me. Just wants to be EVEN. Don’t even know WHY I’m here!” he growled under his breath before throwing his wallet in frustration, only to make it fly back into his hands seconds later.

One on Jessica’s neighbors came out and saw him, Bill hearing their judgmental thoughts -- which only caused him to smile at them while simultaneously flipping them the finger before shooing them away, the lady glared at him before going back inside. “Nosy bastards,” he mumbled once more. Running his hand through his curls, Bill tried to calm himself. Jessica wasn’t even HERE yet and he was already rattled. The sense of “normalcy” he felt around her was eating away at deeply embedded walls. “This is BULLSHIT.”

“I mean – It’s quite possibly a doubloon. I’m not a doubloon expert,” Zora shrugged.  Clearly he was enthralled by the dirty coin, it was probably nothing,but her mother told her never underestimate the things the world may give you, “Maybe its like…an old quarter?”

“Well, I’d be so inclined as to believe, but I recall your lies to be far more powerful than your sales pitches.” James looked him over as he basked in whatever pride he had. 

“Now I know you know we work on a flexible pay scale, which might benefit you more if you were to tell me he only paid triple the amount. When in actuality, he paid five times the asking price. In which, you and me would be at it again.” James stated very clearly. He had henchmen in high and low places. 

“You didn’t think I’d pursue your next venture with watchful eyes after we wrangled the last time, Billy boy? You may deceive many, but you do not do that with me. Where is the rest of the money?” James demanded as he placed his foot on the seat of the chair between Bill’s thighs, propping it up onto its back legs as he sat now uncomfortably in it. 

“The money, Bill.”

Now Bill had seen this coming -- it was one of the pleasures of being clairvoyant. Another pleasure he had? Being able to make people see things that AREN’T there. As soon as Hook tilted that chair back, the Bill in that chair faded away. The REAL Bill was leaning against the door frame of the entrance to the room.

     “Considering the last time I tried to PLAY you, and how it didn’t end well, you REALLY think I’d screw myself out of a GOOD pay day? You better check that intel you got. I don’t think the lackeys you sent to follow me are up to PAR. And one of them may need to get his nose fixed after the nice break I gave it,” he was very nonchalant about this, looking down at his fingernails as he spoke. Hook didn’t scare him. Their shared psycho was something he ENJOYED.

“Yeah, well. Same. You drive me right out of my comfort zone. Grab me a bottle and scram.” She directed. Not that she had the ability to control anyone, but she certainly had a way to intimidate that hurt a whole hell of a lot. 

“I want the money by the end of this week. The rent’s past due already, and I can only hope I can talk the landlord into giving me a few extra days to get my shit together.” Jessica should have listened to that woman’s advice at the bank. Set aside half the check and pretend like it wasn’t there. Put it in a savings account and ignore it while it accumulated. For emergencies kind of like this one. 

“If you don’t have it by Friday, I’ll make sure you never fuck with another person’s livelihood again. And I really should do that anyways. But we agreed on squaring things up. Do not make me regret it.”

Bill waved her off as he made his way to the bar, his mind filled with too many things for him to even give her a response. YET. As he walked, the things she had said -- and made him FEEL -- were settling in. And making him angry. Once he was done with her tonight, Bill needed to cause some chaos. Drink until he can’t see straight and maybe make someone scream -- who knows.

He didn’t wait for the bartender to get to him, using his telekinesis to grab three bottles from the shelf behind the bar -- it was so busy that no one even noticed. Not that he would’ve cared if they did. Jessica had made him feel things that he was NOWHERE near able to process correctly -- if people got in his way during this, it was their fault.

Once he was back to where he left Jessica, anyone could pick up on his irritation. Part of him LIKED that she made him feel these unknown feelings, which only pissed him off MORE. Placing a bottle in her hands, Bill couldn’t even look her in the eyes before he turned to leave. “See you Friday, Jones. Then we’ll be even.” Time to go drink his fill and cause some HELL.