#*askbox prompt

BANG. i don’t want to do this anymore. BANG.

he’s breathing hard as they approach the liquor store, stopping to pull on their disguises before they reach the pool of light cast by the fluorescent shop sign. he tries to catch one last look at her face, pretty, picture-perfect, impenetrable. a face that belonged in the glossy pages of a magazine, eight inches by ten. a face he can’t leave alone, won’t leave him alone. a face that has the same power over him as her gun has over other people. 

it slips under a mask made to resemble a white rabbit - he had told her they had to look inconspicuous, hard to describe, and what disguise does she pick? animal masks (her balaclava had chafed at her skin the last time, she says) - and a second later, his own face becomes a mournful stag. 

the rabbit turns to face him for one, fleeting second, before it turns back and she walks into the store, gun drawn up.

BANG. just one more time. BANG. one last time. BANG.

he hasn’t been sleeping lately. keeps hearing sirens which frighten him awake. keeps dreaming of holding her body, riddled with bullets. but when he wakes up, she’s there, a cigarette drawn lazily between her lips before she plucks it out and places it between his. 

(he never smoked before he met her. he doesn’t tell her this.)

it was fun, in the beginning, when it was a crazy idea that just happened to have escaped into reality. alice’s crazy idea. they were spinning each other around by the hand when she whispered it into his ear, the promise of giving each other the world. it was fun. in the beginning.

he still relents when she asks him for one last heist, will do anything if she’s the one asking. but it’s always one last heist with her. he’s not certain if there will ever be one last heist.

BANG. fine. BANG. one more time. BANG. just one more. BANG.

the stag stares back at him when he looks up at the mirror in the corner of the store, one of those mirrors that bulge outward and distorts reality, makes everything seem as though it is receding from one central point. the boy manning the till still hasn’t noticed them yet. god, he’s just a boy.

the other two people in the store, customers, also haven’t noticed them yet. a short, stocky man whose shoulders are so broad he has to squeeze himself in between the aisles, and a woman whose physical appearance is so ambiguous she could have been anything from twenty to forty-five. she is the first one to realise, shrieking and shrinking back as she catches sight of the rifle in alice’s arms. the man looks up at this and backs into a shelf in alarm, causing a line of snack bags to cascade onto the floor.

the boy is the last to notice, and by then alice is already charging straight at him, mouthing off as she orders him to open the till, don’t call for help or i’ll shoot you. bambi keeps his eyes trained on the customers, wary should they do something, the man with the broad shoulders especially.

suddenly, he can hear sirens. is he dreaming again? he can see the flash-flash-flash of the police lights in the store window, and his heart is pounding harder than it ever has before. how are they going to get out of this, how were the police here so quickly? 

BANG. the police are here. BANG. alice, what do we do? BANG. just shoot them too! BANG.

he isn’t the only one becoming hysterical, he can see it in alice’s eyes (if not her whole face, obscured as it is by the mask) and in the way her hands are trembling as she grips the rifle. “what did you do, you idiot, what did you do?! i told you not to-” BANG. the boy goes down.

the woman is screeching, the man bolting for the door. BANG BANG. both of them go down. and suddenly there’s gunshots ringing everywhere and they can’t possibly all be from alice’s gun, the store window shatters and that’s when he realises, and he runs at alice, preparing to bring her down to the ground.

BANG. everything’s gone wrong. BANG. what are you doing? BANG. bambi, BAMBI... ?! BANG. BAMBI!

he’s groaning on the floor of the store now, holding his hand to his side. he’s not sure, but he thinks that’s alice he can hear, voice high and hysterical. something warm is dripping out from between his fingers. she’s pulling him towards the back of the store, probably hoping for an alternate way out, and bambi struggles to support himself, face scrunched up in pain. 

they’re stumbling out the back way, and there’s police cars here too, but somehow, by some fucking bizarre stroke of luck, alice manages to get them running through an alleyway the police haven’t blocked, an indirect route to where they parked their get-away van. her voice is a mantra as she helps him into the back, gets into the front; her mask has fallen off and the look on her face is killing him faster. the van peels away from the curb.

Your name is Bambi Woods.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are counting down the seconds to the new year. Finally, you get to zero, and you turn to celebrate with your friends, only to find that they have all engaged in the tradition of kissing someone to end the night. You feel a little lonely, and try to avoid looking at the couples; in doing so you lock eyes with a girl, blonde curls and blue eyes. She smiles. You  smile back, only to realise that she is smiling at the ginger-haired boy next to you.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and it is Valentine's Day and you are, predictably, home alone. You sit for hours, skipping through the channels, until your father walks into the room and asks you to check the mailbox. You head outside, before noticing the moving van parked in a driveway across the road. No one is in sight, though, so you retrieve the mail and retreat back into your house.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are sitting on your porch waiting for Thumper to pick you up when you see your neighbour exiting their house. They have been here a month already, but this is the first time you have laid eyes on them. The blonde curls and blue eyes look familiar, and then it hits you that that is the girl from the New Year's Eve party. You hastily avert your gaze, in case she sees and remembers you.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and the heavens are pouring down with the first of April's showers. You are walking home from college when someone suddenly ducks under your umbrella. She pushes back the wet curls from her face and that's when you recognise your new neighbour, although perhaps she should no longer be considered "new" now that she has been living there for two months. She apologises and asks to share your umbrella, and that is when you finally learn her name is Marie.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you kind of want to ask your neighbour Marie to the May Day Festival that is being held tomorrow. You are shy though, always shy, and the day comes and goes and you do not ask her.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are currently at your friend Alice's for a movie marathon to celebrate school letting out for the middle of the year. You are surprised to find out upon arrival that Marie has also been invited, and spend the night sneaking peeks over at her while the movies are playing.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are currently linked arm through arm with your best friend Thumper, the both of you swaying, slightly tipsy on eggnog. Minnie's Christmas in July neighbourhood party is beginning to wrap up, and most people are getting ready to leave. Thumper moves off to find his friend Rapunzel, and you suddenly spot Marie approaching you from the hallway. She looks up, pointedly, at the mistletoe hanging in the corner of the ceiling above you, then leans up on her toes and kisses you on the cheek, leaving you a stuttering, blushing mess.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and this is the seventh time you have found yourself locked out of your house this year, which is rather sad considering it is only August. Fortunately for you, Marie takes pity on you the first time she catches you stuck outside and every time since, letting you stay over whilst you wait for your father to get home (though not without some mild teasing). You're starting to wonder whether your subconscious might not be forgetting the keys on purpose.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and your phone currently reads "2:14, 23 September 2015" but you are still up because you and Marie have had a Fight. It is just one of those things, those little tiffs that blow up into a terrible mess of emotion - you have never been one for harsh words but they came out today and to her of all people. You don't know how to tell her that you would take it all back, that you never meant to upset her, but then at 2:15AM she calls and starts it off for you - apologies are said and grievances are forgotten and when the call ends at 3:02AM you can finally sleep in peace.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are currently trying your best impression of a zombie as you stand in your living room, caked from head to toe in makeup. Your Halloween costume has never been this good, and it is all thanks to Marie, who is currently adding the final touches to her Marie Antoinette costume. She smiles at you (this time you can be certain it's you) and catches your hand in hers before leading you out the door and into the night's festivities.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and it is getting to the tail-end of November which means that end-of-yearly exams are upon you. You spend a lot of your time  cooped up in the library, although you don't find yourself complaining when your study partner begins to drift off, falling asleep with her head on your shoulder and "The Business of Fashion Designing" still open on her lap.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and you are currently fighting a losing battle against the tide of shoppers who have turned up on Boxing Day to grab a bargain. You would not be here if it were not for Marie, who is already up to her fifth shopping bag and counting. Then, suddenly, there's a sixth in her hand and she pushes that one also into your already heavily-laden arms, with an apologetic expression, and a quick, grateful kiss.

Your name is Bambi Woods, and your knees are aching, bruised and grazed following your fall on the ice. January snow is falling lightly around you, blanketing the sound of everything but your best friend, Marie Bonfamille, laughing at your side as she mimics the panicked expression you made just before you lost your balance. You admire the flecks of ice in her hair, and the dimples that form in her cheeks when she laughs.

the light is darkening outside the window and it marks the fifth day that has come and passed without her coming to see him Bambi is staring out the window as he waits for Flower to make his next move but his silly friend is taking forever forever forever if he moves his castle either to the left or right then Bambi will have him anyway it is almost meaningless to wait for him but he might as well hes waiting for her too -the smoke is choking him and blinding him- Bambi’s knee bounces up and down excitedly because he knows he just knows that Faline is coming today she has to it has been five days and Faline wouldnt make him wait that long he just knows it

he is shivering because he is next to the window and a cool breeze is sneaking in a cool breeze from either a westerly or northerly direction and he wonders where Faline is -impossible to escape and where was she- if she is not here wonders when she does plan to come because if it wasnt the last night and it wasnt tonight Bambi might very well wonder whether she is ever coming but that is silly because Faline will definitely come although maybe it has been Too Long

his home doesnt feel like his home the walls are too starched white the lights too harsh and unnatural and - it hurts oh god it hurts so much he didn’t think anything could ever hurt this much he is screaming - maybe thats the effect of her absence on him and maybe he is obsessing too much but how can he do anything else when it comes to her he loves her!! he can feel his cheeks growing hotter and hotter and gosh if he keeps this up he might very well faint Dead away!

Bambi abandons the game then because Flower is taking Far Too Long a shadow of impatience is creeping up his throat and maybe Faline is playing a game with him like when they were children - he’s screaming her name now but IT only roars back, louder and fiercer - maybe she is hiding somewhere in the house just waiting for him to find her and Bambi lights up because that is Just Like Her!! and abandoning Flower behind him he goes off in search for her his darling

***

“F-faline, F-fa-faline, w-where are y-you? A-a-a-are you h-hi-hiding?”

Doctor Willow shook her elderly head sadly as she watched him, his legs shaking so hard they threatened to collapse out from under him. Poor boy. No matter how many times they had told him, “Fallon, her name is- was Fallon, Bambi,” his clumsy tongue was only ever able to stutter out, “Faline”. Five years of reminders.

Under the fluorescent lighting she could see (found it impossible to ignore) the burns that had faded into scars spiralling around his face and down his neck and below his gown. His constant searching invited pity from most of the in-patients and ward attendees, though he also drew ire and annoyance. Ronno was glaring hard at him that very second, lip curling higher in disgust with every “F-f-faline".

The doctor sighed then, giving in to the ache in her heart as well as the desire to keep the peace. They had only just allowed Ronno to come back into the communal rooms ("Someone bring a sedative! Calm down, Ronno"). She stopped by the nurses’ station, reaching behind the counter to retrieve the radio hidden from view, before heading in Bambi's direction.

“Come on, Mr Woods,” Doctor Willow said in a voice dripping with honey as she approached him from behind, one hand going out to hook through his elbow. “Would you like to go out into the garden?” He nodded madly, head lolling backwards and forwards as though it was no longer connected to his spine.

“W-w-will Fa-faline be th-th-th-there?” She didn’t answer.

They weren’t allowed to play music inside the ward, as it had the capacity to disturb some of the other patients. Technically, they weren’t allowed to play it here either, but when the garden was deserted save for the two of them she figured it didn’t hurt to break the rule, just for him. It also calmed him to see the trees in the distance, beautiful and thriving, no evidence of the destruction caused five years ago.

As was his custom, Bambi sat on the ground in front of the bench that the doctor perched herself on, and rested his head on her knee. Doctor Willow turned on the radio, just in time for the ending refrain of the last song played to whisper out. She ran her fingers through his hair soothingly.

They sat in silence, just the two of them, as they waited for the next song to start. Bambi suddenly lifted his head back up to smile at her.

Admittedly, in his teenage years, Kovu had had a terrible habit of sleeping around. Without fail, he’d wake up the next day with a sick feeling in his stomach complemented by a throbbing ache in his head, and he swore each and every time that it wouldn’t happen again.

Finally, once he reached his early twenties, Kovu managed to break the habit. He cut ties with the girls who he saw regularly, and found that there was a hell of a lot more to the world than sleeping with the first person who would say yes. By the time he was twenty-five Kovu had had one consistent relationship in the past three years, and had slept with no one outside of that relationship.

Now, the point of delineating Kovu’s sexual history is to emphasise just how out of the ordinary it was for him to, once again, find himself at the tail-end of a one-night-stand. He knew the girl somewhat well, recognising her as the bartender at one of the Outlands’ better bars. He hoped she was cool, else he’d have to add one more to the list of establishments he couldn’t visit anymore.

She certainly seemed so, and they parted ways with each sharing a sarcastic but certainly not acerbic quip. And that was that, Kovu thought, until he ran into her again. And again. And again.

He saw her a week later at a gas station as he went to pay for fuel, Nuka waiting irritably in the car. She happened to be buying something at the same counter, her eyes lighting up in recognition at the same time his did. They ignored each other.

Then, ten days after that, Kovu saw her again, in a run-down cafe straddling the border between the Outlands and the Pridelands. She slid into the booth next to his, and again they saw each other at exactly the same time. This time, Kovu gave a nod of acknowledgement, but she simply looked down at her menu, mouth curling into a grimace.

Just three days later, they ran into each other again, him on the sidewalk waiting for Vitani to pick him up in their trash-heap of a car and her passing by to go to work. He ventured a, “Hey… do you-“ remember me, he was going to say, before she interrupted with a terse, “Not now, I’m going to work.” That had probably been the longest string of words he had heard her say.

Kovu was beginning to wonder if this was the divine punishment for having a one-night-stand past the age of twenty-four. That was it, wasn’t it? Maybe he and that girl were fated to have awkward run-ins for the rest of their life.

Next time, at least, he would have to find out her name.

And he did, precisely two months later as she arrived carrying a message from the infamous Hades, shady leader and overseer of the Underworld, to his mother, leader of the insurgents in the Outlands. 

Never had Bambi regretted not starting finals study earlier so much. Lines about erosion and algal blooms blurred into one another, but if he didn’t know this chapter by morning he was doomed to fail. He was beginning to seriously reconsider just how much he wanted this biology credit.

Across from him, Alice didn’t seem to be faring much better as she pored over her psychology textbook. It was so thick that Bambi was certain several trees had been cut down to make it.

Right, conserving the environment, that was why he needed this credit.

Deciding to re-read the chapter from the beginning, Bambi had only gotten as far as four lines when he heard a sharp intake of breath. He looked up.

“I think I just saw a ghost,” whispered Alice behind her hand, as if someone was listening. Bambi stared down the aisle she was indicating, and a sinister feeling made him wonder if someone just might be.

He tore his gaze back to look at Alice in slight alarm, whispering back, “A-are you sure? Maybe you're just tired; we have been studying for a really long time.” He had never been sure if he believed in ghosts, but there were all manner of strange things in Disney that it probably shouldn't surprise him if they did exist.

She nodded, and Bambi’s blood ran cold. Then she grinned, and his blood ran even colder, knowing what was coming next. “Let’s go see if it’s the friendly sort.” 

“U-um, hang on, I,” but Bambi’s stammers didn’t stop Alice from getting up. He called after her as she went then looked around nervously before following.

“Hello? Is anyone there? I know I saw you; my friend and I would very much like to speak to you, if you’d oblige us.” Bambi honestly was hoping that no one would answer her, friendly or not. It was far too late for chasing after ghosts, and he would definitely fail his final tomorrow if he couldn’t get to sleep out of fear.

He had been trying his best to keep as close as possible to her, yet somehow, suddenly, Alice was nowhere in sight. Bambi stopped dead. “…Alice? Alice! W-where’d you go?” His urgent whispers were met with silence.

Bambi continued tentatively down the aisle of shelves.  “Alice!” He was feeling very much like the person at the beginning of a horror movie. The fluorescent lighting in the library made it ten times worse, bathing everything in an eerie glow. Cue foreboding music. Turning the corner, he suddenly collided with someone, and squawked loudly in shrill tones.

Thankfully, it was Alice, and she looked at him with a mournful face. “I lost them.”

Bambi breathed out a sigh, before smiling, “Oh thank g- I-I mean, that’s a shame. Maybe you’ll see 'em some other time.” He placed a conciliatory hand on her shoulder.

Movement in the corner of Bambi’s eye caught his attention, and he looked over Alice's shoulder to see a woman bearing down on them. He processed in a single second the gash in her neck and the bloodstains on her dress, the way her feet didn't quite seem to meet the floor. Her mouth suddenly fell open, as though she was about to scream.

Shuddering, Bambi fainted dead away, his lanky body collapsing beneath him.

After checking to make sure the fall had not hurt him, Alice giggled and turned to high-five the ghostly woman, or attempted to, their hands passing through each other.

howl and sophie

belle and adam

peter and wendy

Hot, indignant tears seeped from the corners of Wendy’s eyes, as she tried to wring out the sodden parts of her dress. She shot a glare at where Peter was sitting, surrounded by sea girls fawning over him. She felt stupid for having looked forward to meeting the mermaids. She felt even stupider for ever entertaining the thought that Peter might like her, when he had the attention of such beautiful creatures. Their hair fanned out in glorious waves where it touched the water, and their movements were as fluid as practiced ballerinas. They reacted as one to Peter’s jokes and banter, their laughs ringing out like music. It was no wonder that even Peter Pan was charmed by them.

Peter hadn’t even noticed when one of them had detached themselves from the group, swimming over to where Wendy had been sitting, with the pretense of friendliness glimmering in her eyes. Wendy had smiled, grateful for some attention, before shrieking as the mermaid sent a wave of such force in her direction that it was only pure luck she had managed to latch herself onto the rock in time. The mermaid gave a playful laugh as Wendy struggled back out of the water, but the young girl couldn’t help suspecting she had heard an undercurrent in it of something much more sinister.

A loud, sneering voice emanated from within a fog in the distance, and all heads turned in its direction. The mermaids sank in the water until only their eyes were visible, unwilling to risk an encounter with the Jolly Roger and its crew. Peter stood up on his rock, his balance perfect, and scowled when a rowboat came into sight carrying his nemesis, Hook, and his first-mate. He was already up in the air when he recognised the form of Tiger Lily, bound and gagged at Hook’s side. Before Wendy could say anything, Peter had darted off in the direction of the boat, leaving her without a single happy thought to send her after him.

She was momentarily at a loss for what to do, but started when a low hissing began to rise from the water’s depths. The mermaids, whose attentions were no longer occupied with the presence of Peter, now began to circle around Wendy, their tails gleaming like silver as the water rippled over them. Her position on the rock seemed even more precarious than before as she shifted upon it, trying to get as far away from the water as possible. It seemed as though something had suddenly changed in their appearance; their gazes were cruel, their features less than human, and their nails elongated to the point of deadliness. Wendy glanced from one hostile face to the next, and fear ran its razor-sharp edge along the back of her neck.

The hissing had increased in volume until it was all she could hear. Before Wendy knew what was happening, a scaly hand had thrust its way out of the water and locked itself in a vice-like grip around her ankle. She had only a second to scream before her leg was pulled out from under her, causing her to lose her balance. Into the water she fell, and suddenly, it seemed as though ten thousand hands had found their way onto her body, vicious nails pressing imprints into her skin until it broke. The more she thrashed around, the louder they screeched and the more their grips tightened.

At the sensation of teeth sinking into her forearm, she screamed, only to let water flood her lungs. Her skull made a dull sound of impact as it hit the rock behind her, and a thin stream of red curled out amongst her hair like smoke. She was no longer capable of struggling as she was pulled into the icy depths.

As he left the Indian camp, Tiger Lily safe with her family once more, Peter congratulated himself on yet again foiling Hook’s plans before he remembered how his day had started. Wendy.

When he reached Mermaid Lagoon, Peter cupped his hands around his mouth and made his signature crowing sound before alighting and looking around. “Wendy? Wendy, where are you?”

Hearing his voice, the mermaids once again rose up from the depths. Peter bent down to address them, and said jokingly, “Now ladies, what have you done with my friend Wendy?”

They giggled as one, and gave each other knowing glances. Peter froze as he noticed that the mermaids had grown in number. One face in the back stood out from the others, and his face lost all colour when he saw it.

Wendy, no longer capable of human feeling, blinked serenely at him. All the pins had fallen out of her hair, replaced by a wreath of seaweed, and her pale blue nightgown was nowhere to be seen.

“Come on; the water’s great!” Lilo shouted back to the shore as she rode the crest of a wave. Belle simply stood still on the sand, in a swimsuit that was clearly new judging by the tag she had forgotten to remove. She lifted a hand to her mouth before saying, “The waves are a little big today, aren’t they Lilo? Wouldn’t I be better off trying again on another day?”