#spectrator

    Short fingers tugged at sleeve hems, bright yet anxious eyes darted toward the sole path through the park that led to this spot. For a short moment, Dipper wonders if he shouldn’t make contact with the text conversation pulled up on his phone’s screen. This was definitely the time, definitely the place. Dipper had checked hundreds of times. He’d confirmed it with the other boy dozens more.

    So why hadn’t Norman shown up yet?

    Dipper chews his bottom lip, looks to his truth-serum-dosed bottle of soda, looks back to his phone. No new messages. But... Norman had to come. He wouldn’t just stand Dipper up, would he? No, this was his idea in the first place. But still... what if he did?

    He didn’t want to think about it.

spectrator

    “...and even today, he hides in the shadows of these very woods, waiting for the next lost soul he can make a part of his Dark Forest...”

    Out of old traditions, Dipper had taken to gathering some of the late-night Shack tours around a campfire in the woods, telling ‘ghost stories,’ or so to speak, legends he’d heard about Hive City, rumors of monsters or accounts of spectral encounters. Tonight, of course, was no exception. 

    Once the story was over and the crowd had all started making their way back to the cabin is when the boys usually found it a prime moment to talk privately between themselves. Usually it was a quick comment, a joke, a lighthearted conversation, but something was different, this time. Norman remained sitting on the fallen log beside the fire, staring into it. Dipper knew that look, he knew there was something on the other boy’s mind, that he was thinking about something important but not saying a word.

                   「☠」—» When you lived with one foot perpetually in the grave and ears that heard things that other people could only dream of, you found it hard to ignore when the other side decided to get your attention. But, despite this, Nico tried his best (even if it didn’t always work out like he would have wanted). Still, there were times when even his power couldn’t silence the disembodied whispers in his ear, or the cold feelings that swept over his thin body like a tidal wave. Times like now, where the dead’s incessant tugs were unavoidable. When they wouldn’t take no for an answer, and the son of Hades knew that sometimes the only way to stop them was to listen to whatever they wanted him to hear, to turn his eyes to them and find out just what they wanted him to do.

                   And so, that was exactly how he found himself in Spectre Square, the only living thing in sight. His pale skin looked stark-white in the mist that always covered the area, the olive tone leeched away and his form turned to a smudgy spectator. And all around him, the dead swirled. Hurry, hurry, hurry, they whispered, their voices insistent and heard only by him. Why they in such a rush, or what they were leading him to, Nico could only guess. Still, he followed them dutifully, hoping to win himself some peace with the completion of whatever quest they wanted him for. That is, until he turned the corner around an abandoned building and found himself face-to-first with a stranger.

                   The demigod had expected to see only ghosts in such a desolate place, so his first reaction was startled confusion. His dark eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and he took an involuntary step back. Nico’s thoughts flickered back and forth for an instant, eventually falling on the conclusion that the boy before him probably wasn’t a threat. He seemed harmless, small and thin, and Nico’s instincts told him that the boy before him wouldn’t be able to harm if he tried... until a frigid feeling washed over the son of Hades’s body, a feeling that squirmed through his chest and seeped into his limbs, turned them heavy and dead. His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes darted to find the source of the feeling, the cause of such a deep and thick sense of death.

Under the cover of night was ideal operational time, even if his plans weren’t nearly as sinister as they used to be. He couldn’t lie and say they were squeaky clean, since he was pretty far from it, but at the very least it wasn’t for the money. Just a few intrusive questions, a few coercions, and a lot of newfound information to put together.

That was mostly was he needed, and tonight’s intake would do. All that was required now was the walk back to his living quarters, which would likely be uneventful. He didn’t look like an ideal target, somebody you could easily snatch whatever from. It’s not like had much to take besides a cherry red jumprope, anyway. Well, that, and the item in his grasp.

He’d simply found it on the ground, the cheap kind you can get for 5 bucks at any corner store. It didn’t have much in it, but he didn’t see an owner, and with little identification in it, he wasn’t willing to go through the effort to track down whoever lost it. After all, cash was cash, and a guy with little could always use some more. He’d have to live until he could find a way out of here, after all.

One alley shortcut and a few blocks later, he found something in his path. Small, skinny, he nearly seemed to blend in with the night. He seemed to be poring over the sidewalk and the cracks in the walls with a purpose, on the lookout for something, and Yuu allowed himself a few minutes of watching him go about it before actually moving. For such a large guy, he could be pretty quiet, and only the imposing shadow would have been noticeable as he loomed over the younger. Most definitely not a friendly-looking visage.

☛ A Game of Thrones sentence/starter meme

          ❝An unfortunate truth.❞

          Like water did the silhouette move closer, a towering design of shadow brought to a stoop upon the child’s mournful utterance. It rang experience with the matter, likely subject to ignorance often. Mankind were but carved of flesh, souls at the reins– so full of turmoil, seeking a good word to numb their emotional hurts; comfort. He could comprehend their workings, appeal to this nature, but never fully understand in his own right.

                                        He hadn’t a need, but he could play the part.

     And so he did, laying his palms atop the boy’s shoulders as he gently spoke his support.

          ❝Go on now, Norman.❞

     That touch lifted away as he drifted from the child, seasoning the encouragement with a little more all the while–