#touchstonedreams

🌌 - suffering from blunt force trauma ( a hard punch to the face, hit with a bat, etc )

   “… Dammit..”

   A frustrated growl left the young man; a hand pressed against the side of his head. Where blood - both fresh and dried - was plastered against his hair and skin. Why couldn’t he go one day without being injured in some form?

“H’lo, “ she answered and shrugged. “Um. I asked my last foster mom about them, she said… “ The girl lowered her voice conspiratorially. “ ‘Fuck if I know’ “

She grinned proudly. “ Fuck’s a bad word. “ she whispered. “ I didn’t like my last foster home so I’m runnin’ away. You can’t have my sandwich though I gotta save it for tomorrow ok? “

She pulled her backpack around to her stomach, unzipped it and dropped the sandwich into it before she hefted it back onto her shoulder and looked up at Freyr again, chewing her upper lip and giving him a hard stare.

Finally she said “ Can you walk me across the highway? I gotta get to the bus station…” She held out her hand to him.

@touchstonedreams

Freyr tilted his head and looked at her in concern, not reacting when she said the bad word because he knew how kids can be. They tended to repeat what they hear in their environment, so it was not her fault. He tended to face these situation with a patient point of view.

((All of them?!))

Lewis’ hair flared up for a moment in surprise,  but he quickly combed it down, and smiled.

Vivi giggled, and gave the smooch-giver a quick little peck of her own.

Arthur covered his face with his hands, but wasn’t completely able to hide the smile on his face.

Mystery wagged his tail, though he didn’t lift his head from his paws. The heating vent was too warm to move from.

Gawain froze up like a deer in headlights, and slowly faded out of sight.

Callahan made a show of rolling his eyes, but the air around him began to feel a little warmer.

@amongthegentlymad

It was a few hours into the night after he’d dozed off. He heard the sound of choking- and on opening his eyes saw Joni struggling to breathe. It took only a heartbeat for his brain to synapse- to realize the problem, and Arthur found his feet with more speed than he had in him. Everything nearly buckled in agony, but he ignored it in favor of grabbing his waist-basket from the corner, and turning Joni on her stomach so she wouldn’t choke. 

Carefully, Arthur collected her hair his hands, holding the basket steady for (to reduce any splatter), and keeping her hair out of the way. He waited until she long seemed spent, and she passed out again before he frowned, leaning her back on her side instead. He made a quick trip to the bathroom to throw out the bag and add a new one returning it to beside her in bed. 

And then he stood, unsure of what to do. That time....she’d been loud enough to wake him. But What if next time she wasn’t? What if....?

Arthur shook his head free of the worst-case scenario. He fiddled with his fingers, before brushing back his hair. With an aching slowness, Arthur crawled onto the mattress, leaving her closer to the edge of the bed in quick access to the waist-basket. Arthur slid beside her, before turning on the side facing away from her, keeping them back to back. 

There. Now he would feel it if she started to react again. And it wasn’t too weird to share a bed with a friend if they were literally trying to save you life. His biggest concern was her reaction when she woke up- especially if the drug was the one he worried it was.

“ Oh! It’s a moonshell! “

Joni scooted away from Arthur for a second to lean down and pick up the shell. She went to the water’s edge and rinsed off the sand and came back opening up her hand to show him. “ It’s not even cracked either, it looks like a pearl. “

The waves receded, roiled and crashed on their left. In the distance a purplish streak of lightning glimmered faintly on the dark cloudy horizon. It being the off season, the beach was all but deserted at this time of the night and the wind was a little bitter but not unbearable.

Joni rubbed her eyes. They had dark circles underneath them and for good reason. “ Thanks for coming and walking with me, Arthur, “ she mumbled, rubbing her arm. “ I really appreciate it. Finals week is killing me. I knew if I didn’t get away from campus for a few hours I’d go crazy. “

Her face softened as she looked out across the ocean. “ There’s just something…” She looked as though she was about to say something thoughtful and then she looked over at Arthur, smiled nervously and said “ Heh, no-no never mind! ”

Arthur meandered on the beach with Joni- she’d been running on fumes for a while, and while she’d insisted on working, he’d managed to convince her that she needed a break for the night. At least for a few hours. And when she’d agreed, he’d whisked her into the van, and drove her out to a fairly small town on the coast, one small enough not to be touristy so much. 

He watched her collect the shell, smiling and inspecting it as she brought it up to him. “Wow. That’s pretty cool.” He took the shell from her, slipping it into a messenger bag on his side, after checking it wasn’t occupied. He glanced at the sky as the lightning flashed, but whatever storm chopped at the grey-green waves and sent a cold breeze brushing past them was miles off the shore- if it started getting closer, they could head back to the van. Otherwise they could enjoy the quiet night. 

Well- relatively quiet. There was a bonfire some distance down the beach (maybe other college students that had finished finals earlier?) and the sound of music wafted in the air with hoots and hollers. Black forms, people silhouetted by the flames of the fire, were dancing about in a ring caged by logs and rocks and seats where others sat and watched. But it was further down the beach, and he wasn’t particularly feeling the inclination to investigate.

“Then if you’ve been listening, you’ll know that I’m done with this.”

@touchstonedreams

Vivi did a quick last-minute double-check through her supplies. Normally what she could fit in her sleeves would be enough, but she knew from experience that this mansion - and more importantly, the ghost who owned it - was on a whole other level that warranted extra precautions, especially with her tackling this place on her own. In addition to the usual spell tags (bubble ward, room ward, calming mist, healing, hold spirit, and a couple of emergency energy blasts in case of a fight) she was packing incense (with a lighter), sage, a cold iron chain necklace, two whole containers of salt, and of course her trusty bat, covered in wards of its own. If that enormous flaming skeleton tried anything, she would be ready.

She gulped, steeling herself. She’d made it as far as the front steps. All she had to do was go through those huge double doors, and she’d be solidly in enemy territory... but also one step closer to answers, she hoped. Anxiously, she twisted the ring on her finger. It was a simple thing, a band of silver set with a purple gemstone cut into the shape of a heart. It had been months, and she still had no clue where the ring had come from, but she wouldn’t dare take it off. The silver could make it a useful extra defense against the ghost, and even if it didn’t, the ring served as a reminder why she was here: a gaping hole in her otherwise perfect memory, one that, for a brief moment, had seemed like it might be filled here. She had to know what was wrong with her, who this ghost really was, why he was so adamant on destroying her best friend...