#c: lil

[enthrallinglyeden]

TIMING: current LOCATION: Wicked's Rest Public Library PARTIES: Lil @the-lil-exorcist, Oliver @oliver--fox, & Eden @enthrallinglyeden SUMMARY: A ghost brings Eden, Oliver, and Lil together, and the trio uncovers some important context about the town's recent blackouts. WARNINGS: minor references to terminal illness

Eden peaked his head out of the study room, eyes scanning the library’s main sitting area. It was empty now save for the strewn chairs which were a sign of the rowdy children who had come and gone. He knew he would have to confront the task of storytime one day, but today was not that day. Lil was dropping by in a bit, and he had to save his energy for the headache that was going to be banishing a ghost. Or perhaps Lil would conclude that there was never a ghost to begin with and the exorcism wouldn’t be necessary. That would be his much preferred outcome. 

Now that the hoard of children were gone, Eden felt safe out in the open again. He left the study room, cutting through an aisle in an attempt to beeline for the circulation desk before anyone could realize how long he’d been gone for. Of course, that was the moment that someone decided to enter his exact aisle. “Oh!” Eden yelped, his outstretched hands the only thing stopping them from colliding head-on. “I’m so sorry, I didn– Oliver?” He momentarily blinked at the familiar face, the confusion quickly replaced with a soft smile. “Hey, it’s nice to see you. What brings you in tonight?”

—

Oliver chewed on his bottom lip as his eyes scanned the bookshelf in front of him. It was decorated with a piece of paper at the top, ‘Books about Wicked!’ written in colorful bubble lettering. It wasn’t exceptionally full; it only filled the first two shelves, with another piece of paper underneath them for another section. He wasn’t sure what he had expected to find, but he had felt like he had to do something. He could only walk around the Emerald Oasis so many times, and could only sleep so much. Oliver knew that he was on a time limit as soon as he left the Oasis; he could feel the magic levels dipping out here in the open. It wasn’t to the point where he felt he would collapse, at least not yet.

He pulled a few books out, reading the backs before pushing them back to their rightful places. None of them gave a hint that they could be useful. Oliver groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Was the incoming headache from the drop of magic, or from the surge of annoyance he was feeling? Who could say? Oliver turned, planning to head to the Supernatural section further down the way, knowing that it was almost entirely fictional but holding out hope that there might be one or two ‘real life encounters’ thrown in there, with maybe some having to do with Wicked. His brain is already plotting out the next steps if he can’t find anything here, which means he isn’t fully paying attention, and he jumps at the sight of another body, barely stopping himself in time. 

“Eden?” Oliver responded, eyebrows raised. That’s right, Eden worked here. Maybe he could help. “Hey, yeah, same to you.” He said with a nod. “I was…looking for a book.” Oliver shifts his weight from one foot to the other.  “Actually, I wanted to ask. Are there books that…perhaps you guys keep more hidden? I’m trying to find out more information about the whole-” Oliver lowers his voice to a whisper “-situation with the blackouts” he gestures to the air. “I figure if something like this has ever happened before, maybe someone wrote about it.”

—

The town seemed, like it usually did, to be on metaphorical fire, but Lil hadn’t really had the energy to look into what had sparked it. It didn’t help that it seemed every ghost in the world seemed to erupt here every time she left her house. She couldn’t hear them, but she saw them shouting and screaming and trying to pull her attention this way and that. The steady reprieve of winter hadn’t come this year, and now she was about three monster energy drinks into her day as she entered the library to look around. 

She probably shouldn’t have said she’d exorcise the ghost now, it might have been reckless, but the thrum of something happening in Wicked Rest that she couldn’t do anything about had made her more and more active. It could be the natural urge to try and push off the creeping feeling that something was coming, but it was at least more productive than running even if the itch was there to bolt. So, she had finally reached out to Eden. It would be an easy ghost at least and maybe she could pick up a library book on the way home. Yawning, she looked around trying to gauge where the ghost was - if he even existed. Slowly moving around Lil walked through the aisles starting in the front figuring she would eventually find Eden. 

—

Although the library didn’t close for another hour, Eden was always surprised to see people come in so late. With the brutal winter nights and increase in suspicious happenings around town, people weren’t so keen on sticking around too late. He was banking on that ringing true tonight for Lil’s arrival, though he was glad that it was Oliver of all people gracing the library with his presence. Considering what he knew about his friend now, talks of ghosts and exorcism probably wouldn’t even faze him. 

“A book? We’ve definitely got plenty of those here,” Eden said in an attempt at humour, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. However, he sobered up upon seeing Oliver’s serious expression, and even more so at the mention of the blackouts. He admittedly didn’t know much about them besides the fact that they kept happening and that he kept losing control because of them. He didn’t talk to anyone about his experiences with them either, but Eden found an odd comfort in at least knowing that he wasn’t alone in his suffering. 

“There’s the archive room in the back. Not exactly hidden but not a lot of people know about it either. Some commotion a while back about wanting certain documents removed…makes it seem like there’s plenty of information hiding in there.” Though Eden wasn’t an expert in the room’s contents, it seemed like Oliver knew what he was looking for. “I’m meeting somebody in a bit for some…library maintenance, but I can get you settled back there in the meantime,” he said, gesturing for his friend to follow his lead towards the back of the building.

—

Oliver’s lips quirk upwards at Eden’s joke, but the mention of an archive room is what makes him raise an eyebrow. “That sounds like exactly what I’m looking for.” An archive room could potentially show him information from decades ago, from when that first earthquake hit Wicked. It could also have books that were perhaps taken off the shelves so as not to scare the general public. He nodded quickly at Eden’s explanation that he would be meeting someone else soon. “No, that’s totally fine, just point me to where I’m allowed to look, and I’ll be sure to put everything back the way I found it.” He said, following Eden towards the back. 

Upon entering the room, Oliver has to blink a few times to get his eyes to adjust to the fluorescents. They're a different type than the rest of the library, older, like they haven’t been changed, maybe ever. There’s a certain staleness that permeates the room; evidence that the room has largely been untouched for quite some time. Oliver’s eyes light up at the sight of a microfilm. “Oh, perfect.” Oliver murmured before he glanced around the room. There are a few shelves of books, though there doesn’t appear to be a label for what they may contain. “Is there any sort of organization? Or should I just start opening them up?” Oliver asked, before tilting his head to the side slightly, “And, I guess, is there anything I shouldn’t touch? I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything.”

—

Going through the books Lil for a moment wondered if there wasn’t a ghost - it wouldn’t be the first time a haunting claim had turned out to be incorrect after all - but suddenly she felt a creeping cold and sighed. “Right so you are here,” Lil whispered, feeling an odd sort of reverence to the quiet rule even if the library seemed vaguely empty. She imagined Eden must be in the back somewhere, and while normally she might have checked in before she didn’t think the other was that keen on the haunting experience anyway. 

So, she got to work moving to an open area away from all the books, wanting to limit the ability to get hit by too many of them. She knew that the ghost would come towards her sooner rather than later after all, it seemed to be inherent lately that they did. Mediums had always attracted ghosts, but now it seemed more like a magnet than the curiosity of a human being able to interact with a spirit. Seeing an overhead light Lil shut it off in the section not wanting a power surge to happen again. It seemed inevitable - but well she could always try to limit it. “Come out then,” She said, clearly trying to locate the ghost, deciding that she might as well get it over with before she found Eden. 

—

The archive was especially musty, which was a feat considering how old and decrepit the rest of the library already felt. Oliver didn’t seem to mind though, and Eden watched as his friend scanned the room with intrigue. “We have each shelf sorted by year, then grouped by document types within the boxes. Newspaper clippings, research articles, there is a good variety of papers in there. And don’t worry, everything in here is considered public access, so you can’t get me into trouble that easily.” He let out a quiet laugh. “I trust you to handle everything with care, unless your intentions are to get me fired so I can be your fulltime Mandarin tutor. Anyways, is there any way I can he–”

The lights suddenly flickered off. A familiar occurrence — it was active. “The ghost…” Eden mumbled, squinting at the ceiling as if he could turn the lights back on with sheer will. “Uh, I mean, please just give me a moment. I’ll be right back.” Before Oliver could ask questions, he stumbled back into the hallway, hastily making his way back to the main part of the library. Luckily, he didn’t have to look far to see another familiar face. “Lil! Hello. Thank you again for coming,” he said politely to the woman, ignoring the cold breeze that tickled the back of his neck. “Any luck so far? The place is mostly empty so feel free to do…uh, whatever it is you do.”

—

Oliver nodded at Eden’s explanation. “Amazing, thank god for librarians.” He joked. If the answers he was looking for were anywhere, Oliver had a feeling this was the most likely place they would still be reachable. He was semi-convinced that this had to at least somewhat to do with the ‘natural disaster’ that had occurred back in the 1920’s, but that meant that he could really only turn to other supernaturals with long lifespans. However, it would also require those supernaturals to have been living with the general population, shrinking the possibilities to an even smaller number. His attempt to find someone, anyone, who knew anything came up short; Oliver was forced to look through information that humans had cultivated. His worst fear had been that it had been lost and locked up in an old box in someone’s attic. Looking at the number of resources around him, some of that fear abated. 

“Absolutely!” Oliver exclaimed at the question of his treating things with care. “I don’t think I could handle a full-time tutor; best to let you keep your day job.” He grinned, his eyebrows furrowing at the flickering of the lights. “Ghost?” Oliver repeated, eyes suddenly dancing around the room. Could Eden see ghosts? That didn’t line up with what he knew about Siren’s, but maybe he had missed that along the way. Was there one in the room right now? “Wait, what?” He stared at Eden’s retreating form. 

He stood there for a moment, and then another. Oliver curled his fingers into fists, letting them out and then repeating the process twice more. He wasn’t scared. No, definitely not. He was… perturbed. Like anyone would if their friend ominously mentioned a ghost and then walked away. He glanced around the area again, unsure what he was even looking for. It wasn’t as if he was able to see ghosts, but the knowledge that something was around made his brain itch in a way that told him he had to try to find whatever was lurking. Oliver cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to another as he attempted to decide if he should start looking through the documents or follow Eden when the lights fully went off; the universe making his decision for him. “Nope, nope, nope.” Oliver muttered to himself as he blinked a few times, adjusting to the darkness. He turned around, feeling around to make his way back out of the room and into the hallway. “Eden?” He called out as he walked down the hall, keeping a hand on the wall. He spotted him speaking with a woman near the opening to the main library. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Oliver felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment at interrupting Eden when he was working. 

—

“Hey no problem,” Lil said somewhat startled to see the other even if it had been silly. She knew in the back of her mind turning off the light would call the other out to see why, but she hadn’t been thinking very clearly lately. The cycle of exorcisms and sleeping without much in between had caused what little social skills she had to disappear. “They just have a habit of uh causing some electrical issues so I tend to turn them off before I start especially in a room full of paper. I try to do a breaker most of the time but just turning them off usually helps - I should have warned you, my bad.” 

She could feel the creeping cold and turning though she saw the ghost and went to deal with it  when she heard his voice. Not a ghost then and on closer look she could tell he was corporal. Man she needed sleep., “Oh sorry about that. It looked pretty dead in here so I didn’t realize - I’m Lil and I shouldn’t be too long -” she said as she did see a shimmering air out of the corner of her eye, her eyes tracking it. “Yeah for sure a ghost, but not an awful one. Hey yeah you don’t just loom come out here I can see you. Don’t run away from me.” 

—

“Oh, don’t worry. The ghost unexpectedly turns the lights off all the time. Just another day,” Eden said as he waved off her apology with a gentle smile. What about a room full of paper? What was a breaker? He wished he understood what Lil was explaining to him, but she was the expert here so he simply nodded. Now that he thought about it, did he actually have any proof of her being an expert? All that she had said was that she could help him with the library’s ghost. What did that even mean? Eden brows furrowed as he contemplated, just for the sound of a third voice to snap him back to reality. 

“Oliver?” Eden blinked in the dark, a sheepish expression on the other man’s face. He had wandered off without much of an explanation, hadn’t he? Or perhaps Oliver was scared of the dark? He stepped towards his friend, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “No, no. Sorry on my part. I should’ve told you what was happening, but I didn’t want to, uh, freak you out. Oliver, Lil. Lil, Oliver. She’s here to deal with the library’s ghost.” He hated how non-chalantly he was mentioning the ghost now, like Helen’s belief in its existence had finally penetrated his psyche. It wasn’t real. Ghosts weren’t real.

Lil was looking in a certain direction, coaxing the ‘not real’ ghost out. Eden did not see a single thing, but a bit of rustling and suddenly books were being thrown off of the shelves. How did you know it was over there, was his question for Lil that died on his tongue when a framed photo fell to the ground in the hallway that led back to the archive room. “Wait, for sure a ghost?” He didn’t like how confident she sounded about that. Now it was his turn to feel sheepish, offering Oliver an apologetic look. “Sorry that this is interfering with your research. Hopefully once you do find your answer to stopping the…” Though Lil had retreated in the direction of the archive room, Eden still lowered his voice. “...stopping the blackouts, it’ll take the ghosts with it. Some wishful thinking.”

—

“Ah, it’s ok.” Oliver said with a small nod, gaze moving from Eden to the woman to whom he offered a hand raise as a greeting before his attention was brought back to Eden at the mention of a ghost. “I-What?” Oliver asked, eyebrows raised. “There’s…a library ghost?” That was interesting; why would a ghost haunt a library? His eyes widened slightly at the book being thrown off the shelf. He wondered if the incident he’d been a part of a few months ago, where the books had flown around the room, was because of this ghost? He shook his head slightly, as if to wipe that question away. That didn’t feel right. Those books had felt like they were moving without reason; only stopping when something physically forced it too. This time, the books being thrown off the shelves felt more precise and like they were done with a purpose. 

His lips turned down slightly at Eden’s apparent confusion. “Didn’t you just say it was a ghost? Why are you surprised she said it was one?” He asked, voice low as his eyes continued to track the retreating form of Lil. Oliver didn’t…love that she was going back to the room that he had just been in. He couldn’t imagine ghost hunting was something that wouldn’t cause a bit of a mess, which meant he was sure things would get messed up and would make his life more difficult. He sighed before giving a gentle shrug, “No, it’s fine. This is probably a bit more important.” Oliver joked, though there was a certain amount of tension present in his shoulders that didn’t dissipate. “I think if all the ghosts disappear, it’s probably not a good sign.” Oliver said simply, blinking at the other, before wetting his bottom lip; “Should we…follow her?”

—

Lil had somewhat ignored the two as she followed the ghost to the back as they started debating the existence of ghosts. It wasn’t uncommon after all, and at least for the exorcist she never really took much stock in it either way. If they didn’t believe it - it wasn’t any skin off of her nose.  “Hey - no don’t,” She said as she saw the ghost appearing at the top of shelves as the woman started huffing about - something Lil couldn’t quite figure out.

She seemed agitated but not necessarily a poltergeist yet in a weird nebulous area of what Lil could actually legally do. She was however very clearly mad about something, as she shouted at Lil pointing to books and finally pulling them down. 

“Hey don’t do that -,” Lil said realizing what the ghost was about to do with the books. “We can talk about this you don’t have to -” With a thunk she heard books starting to fall down in the room, as she huffed. “Eden, do you know an older lady? She seems pretty stuffy and like she’s trying to rearrange this room.” Lil said with an older thick book thunked down right in front of her. It looked old and weathered - not the kind of book Lil had associated with the library as she went to pick it up to keep the ghost at bay. 

—

It was a valid question, and Eden knew that his contradictory words were confusing. He simply thought he could’ve willed the ghost out of existence. “Well it was one of my co-workers who had originally got up in arms about the ghost, and I just went along with it to make things easier. I was hoping Lil would come here tonight and say ‘congratulations, there’s no ghost here’ and we could all move on. I didn’t think there’d actually be one…” He was aware of how silly he sounded, and perhaps because he had let his guard down around Oliver before, Eden even allowed his lips to press into a faint pout. 

At least his friend was understanding. As much as Eden wanted to be as far from the exorcism as possible, the sound of items falling to the floor in the archive room filled him with dread. “I will follow her so I can see how much damage this ghost is causing. You may stay or you may follow.” Not waiting for Oliver’s answer, Eden walked rather urgently to the back, entering the stuffy room just as papers from a falling box rained onto the floor. “Great. Excellent,” he grumbled to himself, the ghost temporarily forgotten as he started calculating how long it’d take him to sort the documents again. The thunk of a particularly heavy book snapped him out of his thoughts, his attention turning to Lil’s question. 

“I know plenty of older ladies. All of my co-workers are older ladies. All of them with a temper that could rival this ghost…” He probably shouldn’t have said that, another box dropping to the floor once the words left his mouth. “Okay! I sincerely apologize! Please stop destroying our archives,” Eden borderline whined, the feeling of annoyance taking over any of his fear from before. Taking the book out of Lil’s hands, he handed it to Oliver who had decided to follow after all. “Would you mind checking this one for damages? Since it looks older than everyone in this room combined. I need to pick up these damn documents before we step all over them.”

—

“Ah, the age-old ‘if I hire someone, then the problem will cease to exist’” Oliver teased, before giving a gentle shrug. “I get it, though, ghosts have always kind of creeped me out.” With how every other supernatural creature existed, Oliver had never doubted that ghosts existed. That didn’t mean he loved the idea of someone existing near him that he couldn’t see. He didn’t wish he could see any, though; he had seen the way it impacted the mediums he had known, and it always looked like it came with heavy baggage. He had enough to deal with in his own life without having to be concerned about someone’s afterlife. 

At Eden’s suggestion of his two options, Oliver opted to follow the siren, not being keen on being alone in a darkened library that had at least one ghost running around. He stayed near the entrance to the room, not wanting to mess with whatever Lil was doing, and also, perhaps on a more selfish level, he didn’t want to bring any attention to himself that could make the ghost interested in him. He flinched at the sound of the boxes hitting the ground; fingers curling around the doorframe. 

Oliver couldn’t help but (poorly) stifle a laugh at Eden’s description of his co-workers. He’d seen his fair share of librarians, and for some reason, it didn’t particularly surprise him that one would be up in arms about organization even after death. He took the book carefully and nodded. “Yeah, definitely.” Oliver said, slowly shifting it in his hands. He couldn’t see any immediate signs of damage. He moved back to the entrance of the room, aiming to be as far away as possible from whatever was about to occur, and instead opened the book carefully to flick through the pages to make sure there weren’t any rips or tears he was missing. As he went through, a title page about halfway through the book caught his eye: The Truth About the 1921 Incident. “Huh..” Oliver murmured, eyes quickly scanning the pages. 

—

“I mean I get that there’s probably a lot of older ladies - hey no stop,” Lil said glaring at the ghost. “No temper tantrums. Listen you know you're not following the library rules very well -” Suddenly the ghost shot up going into the ceiling - admittedly a move a lot of ghosts seemed to gather would help escape the exorcist. It wasn’t always the wrong move, as it ended up making things more labor intensive for her. Running after corporeal people was hard, when you didn’t have walls to worry about it got exponentially harder. 

 “ - I’m guessing Eden that I can’t get up into the ceiling from somewhere right?” She said with a sigh moving to the entrance of the room “I didn’t trap her so it’ll be a pain in the ass to try and get her down now. I can come back if you want, but I don’t think she’s dangerous, just annoying. I can go set up some traps and see if she’ll go into them and get it resolved without an exorcism. ” 

Her eyes briefly passed over the book that was now nestled in Oliver’s hands as she paused, “Huh interesting pick for her to have thrown at least.” Lil said, curious seeing the symbols on the front. 

—

At least Eden’s eyes were sufficiently adjusted to the darkness now. He grumbled as he knelt on the floor, gathering loose papers in his hand and haphazardly tossing them onto the table. This would be a problem for tomorrow, and at least it’d give him another reason to hide out in the back. 

He was very pleased to hear Lil attempting to enforce library etiquette onto the ghost, even if it had already caused so much havoc. “I mean, there are some random loose panels scattered about the place, but I don’t think it’d be safe for you to climb up there. God knows how long this ceiling has barely been holding on,” he said with a wrinkle of the nose. On one hand, he was definitely glad to hear that the ghost wasn’t dangerous, but he also wasn’t looking forward to more possible antics in the future. However, Lil was already doing the library a service, and Eden didn’t want to push further than was appropriate. “Just do what you can from down here for now. If she really starts acting up again…well, we can deal with that when it comes to it.”

As he imagined himself climbing into the ceiling and throwing some salt around (that was how you got rid of ghosts, right?), he was snapped out of his thoughts by the quiet chatter at the table. Eden peered at the open book, initially concerned that Oliver had actually found some damage to it. “The Truth About The 1921 Incident? What incident? That sounds so ominous.” Even if a year in Wicked’s Rest had already felt like an eternity, he was reminded how little he really knew about the town.

—

Oliver glanced upwards when Lil mentioned that the ghost had gone through the ceiling. That was definitely a nifty escape plan. An eyebrow raised at her follow-up question of being able to get into the ceiling from here. That can’t be an easy job to have. He nodded at Eden’s warning of safety. The last thing they needed was for her to fall and then have a very awkward conversation with emergency services. 

He hummed in agreement at Lil’s statement, eyes darting over the pages, and he turned them. He shifted the book slightly, keeping one finger on the page to mark his spot while he flipped to the front of the book again. “Published in the early 1980s” Oliver mumbled to himself as he flipped back to where he had been reading. It made sense that it had been kept back here rather than out on the shelves; the librarians probably figured it was too outdated to be helpful. Especially when there were more recently published history books on Wicked. This was the first one Oliver had found that spent more than a paragraph on the incident, which immediately intrigued him as to what else it might reveal. 

Oliver glanced up at Eden’s question. “It was this big natural disaster that happened on the 150th anniversary of the town.” He explained, turning to one of the pages that had a drawing of the town before and after. He turned the book around to show Eden. “This…mineral abnormality erupted from the ground and took like a fifth of the town with it.” Oliver said with a shake of his head. “After that, it was when Wicked became even more of a hotspot for supernatural activity. There had always been rumors, but after that…” Oliver trailed off with a shrug. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned the book back around, turning the next couple of pages. On the last page of the chapter, right before the book started talking about an increase in tourism, Oliver saw something that caught his attention. ‘It is reported that Father Jeffrey of the local parish went to investigate the abnormality 12 hours after it had appeared. It is unknown what exactly happened, as there have been multiple published explanations, not to mention the variety of different spoken stories that permeate the town. However, one thing is sure: Father Jeffrey went up to the abnormality in perfect health, and he had to be carried out by two other members of the church as he ranted and raved about demonic energy.’  

“...Demonic energy.” Oliver’s eyebrows furrowed before he turned his attention back to Lil. “Hey, that…thing that happened over the summer. That was a demon, right?”

—

“Probably shouldn’t risk it,” Lil said looking up at the ceiling with a weary expression. She wasn’t really wanting to test her ability to not fall through the ceiling today. Maybe another day she would - but at least for now she’d have to figure something else out. Right now as far as triaging went the library ghost probably wasn’t the most dangerous one at the moment.

Lil’s eyes flickered back to Oliver as he started to talk. “ Yeah it’s a pretty famous incident in the town -  wait demonic energy? What uh - are you exactly looking up? ” She had heard about the incident - there weren't many people in town that hadn’t heard of it, but she hadn’t quite ever connected the dots. Her hand itched already thinking about what might be going on as she looked between the two of them trying to figure out how much she could tell them. Part of her wanted to high tail it out of there immediately - but she couldn’t help but want to try and help as well. As those two parts warred against each other she reached out to look at the page,  “It says there’s demonic energy? Are you sure? Can I see?” 

—

Eden tried to maintain a neutral expression as Oliver explained the town’s history. It wasn’t like Wicked Rest’s supernatural affiliation was a secret to anyone in this room — he was staring at a nymph and a girl who could see ghosts, for crying out loud — but he didn’t want Lil to suspect anything of him. For all she knew, he was just some guy who happened to help her at the right time. 

Scanning the images that Oliver was showing him, the slightest bit of recognition dawned on Eden. “Wait, is this the part of town that became Netherville? I remember people warning me of a mineral abnormality when I first moved here. Then one day it just…became that.” That incident still baffled him, but it wasn’t exactly his job to think too deeply about it. Knowing that he was in the presence of someone, possibly two people, who knew more about it than he did intrigued him. However, he involuntarily winced once they started discussing the possibility of demonic energy. “Huh?!” He said a little louder than he meant to, his turn to be startled about a topic tonight. “Are you saying that that surge and the blackouts are related to…demons?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling in Mandarin. “What the hell is this place?”

A concern suddenly popped into his mind, and Eden shot Oliver a worried look. “You came in here saying you wanted to find some answers to this situation. Did someone assign you to this? Surely you’re not thinking about solving the problem by yourself?” He said hesitantly, brows furrowed. He knew his friend was strong, but having a hold on nature seemed like a completely different realm than demonic affairs.

—

Oliver showed the book to Lil at her request, using a finger to point to the passage he had been looking at. His own eyebrows were furrowed as he attempted to piece the information together. His thought process was snagged by Eden’s question. “Yeah, I think so.” He’d been to the Netherville on more than one occasion. It was a bit of a weird place, but Oliver couldn’t say he’d ever had a bad experience there. 

He hummed quietly at Eden’s outburst, “I’m not saying they are. But I’m also..not not saying it.” Everything had started to ramp up after the bird creature had been taken care of, and Oliver had heard rumors that it may or may not have been a demon. His ears twitched at the Mandarin, and he was fairly certain he had been able to translate it. His lips went upwards for a moment, “It’s Wicked, what did you expect?” Oliver teased in Mandarin before switching back to English, “I just wonder if the magic flowing through the town is somehow connected to demons, you know, somehow.” Oliver added with a shrug, gaze switching back to Lil, who seemed the most uneasy of the three. 

Oliver was caught off guard by Eden’s question and blinked at him. “What? No, I wasn’t…assigned this. I’ve just been..trying to find a solution to the blackouts. Have you run into other people being assigned this job?” He wondered who would even be giving out a job like this. And who would be signing up for them? Gotta be a hunter, right? “I wouldn’t be doing anything alone, at least not fully, especially if demons are involved.” He said with a grimace. “I don’t have a ton of experience, but I’ve never heard anything good about them. I also have no idea what a solution would even be.”

—

“I mean, it kind of makes sense,” Lil said looking at the passage trying to think back, “Demons have a sort of magic about them - demonic as you could guess. If that was removed I don’t see why it wouldn’t affect things. ” She thought about last year, the rumors of a demon being dismantled by the town - it would make sense that if you removed an element that the town itself would suffer. After all, what was Wicked’s Rest if not an ecosystem. 

She just hadn’t thought it would create such a dissonance in her. She spent an awful lot of time trying to stop demons after all, and the idea that one was why the town had been a stable hot spot seemed - mean for her to find out. Still, she had to admit the ghosts around town seemed agitated. She didn’t know the full scope for other people’s struggles - but if magic was affected it certainly explained why everything felt chaotic. Part of her wanted to say to not go for it, but that seemed dishonest and rather cruel. 

“I mean, theoretically you would have to put a demon back into the abnormality area, yeah? Make it so it couldn’t escape and could power stuff ,” Lil said, not really liking the solution. “I know enough about demons that it wouldn’t want to stay there - at least most kinds wouldn’t. You would need one that's powerful enough to have enough magic - juice I guess? But not one that would be especially bitter to stay there. You also might want to regulate its power, kinda like electricity. I’m sure if you just put a demon back down there whatever happened last year would just happen again eventually.” 

Lil hesitated again not being able to look the other two in the eye. She felt a little cowardly now wanting to warn them after she gave information. “Are you sure you want to do all of this? Demons aren’t something to take lightly. Especially one that would be able to do what you're suggesting.” She eventually looked up, “But I guess if you need help you can ask me. I - don’t want people to get hurt.”

—

Listening to the two others chat, Eden knew he was way in over his head. Demons? Magic? He knew nothing about any of those things, nor did he particularly want to. Even with his confusion, he couldn’t help but laugh under his breath when Oliver responded to his mutterings. He forgot he was in a room with two Mandarin speakers. “Not bad. Whoever’s your teacher taught you well.”

Eden could only allow himself to be amused for a few seconds before Oliver and Lil’s discussion brought him back to reality. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that a problem as severe as the blackouts would require a solution that was just as intense. He just hadn’t expected that someone he actually cared about would take it upon themselves to act. “No, no,” he shook his head at Oliver reassuringly. “This is the first time I’m hearing about this. Uh, the solution part.” Eden glanced over at Lil who was now avoiding their gazes — it seemed that this was also her first time hearing about this with how weary she seemed. 

A silence fell over the room as all of them seemed at a loss. I don’t know how to help you, I can’t afford to help you, I don’t want to help you, were all sentiments that flooded Eden’s brain, yet he didn’t have the courage to say them out loud. Finally Lil broke the silence, and the siren bit his lip nervously. She was right — people were going to get hurt if this continued. People had gotten hurt already. Suddenly the image of Wren violently sobbing in their kitchen came to mind. She had been so scared, and Eden had felt so helpless. If there was an opportunity for him to help out now, even if it was just a little contribution, shouldn’t he cease it? “I don’t…I don’t know how helpful I will actually be, but if there’s anything that I can do, just say the word. Anything you need from the archives. Perhaps I can try and gather up all of the articles related to 1921, or anything that discusses demons.” 

—

Oliver winked when Eden mentioned he must have a good teacher, before he turned his attention back to Lil. “Maybe it wouldn’t have to be a…proper demon? What if it was like, something that…held demonic energy or something? Like a battery.” Oliver felt a bit out of his depth when it came to the topic of ghosts and demons. Eden seemed just as lost as he was, but between the three of them, Lil was the ghost hunter, so it wasn’t as if they were completely without help. 

“I wonder…if the mineral abnormality was actually a baby demon that grew into that thing we saw over the summer, or…if the demon was attracted to the abnormality?” Oliver murmured to himself, flicking a few pages of the book to see if he could find anything helpful. Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be anything else helpful, at least not in this book. He hated this. It was as if they had the border of a puzzle figured out, but figuring out the actual picture itself was proving hard. They didn’t know if they even had the right pieces. However…this was the first lead he had gotten in months. If there was anything that was going to help him survive, it was going to be this. 

Oliver sighed, glanced between the two of them, “I think we might need some more help. Lil, I think you’re the most experienced in this type of situation. Is there maybe anyone you could reach out to? Maybe someone else knows something.” He asked, before nodding at Eden’s suggestion. “That’s a good plan. Maybe there’s something mentioned in an old news article or research paper.” Oliver suggested. “I..don’t have any real skills that would help here, but…if there’s any way I can help, I will.”

—

Lil wasn’t exactly sure what she had walked into, but well if she was honest that had been most of her life up into now. “More research would be helpful I think,” She nodded at Eden knowing that the big struggle with demons was the unknown. If they had more information - well it certainly couldn’t hurt. 

At the idea of a demon that was a proper one the first instinct was to say that there wasn’t something like that, but she paused. “A Battery? I - yeah a battery kind of thing might work. I’m not sure of anything with demonic energy off of the top of my head that would put up with it, but that’s brilliant. I mean I - don’t think that I could do it, but that doesn’t mean no one can.” 

Lil nodded at the idea of reaching out to someone with the idea of a battery, “I can call around and see if anyone would be able to help with something like this - or at least give them the idea. I’m not sure if I would have the ability to like - do it.” There was a creeping sense of doubt coming in as she thought about the demon nipping at her heels. Nevertheless there needed to be something that changed, and they were running out of time if the other two were to be believed. She would have to step forward even with the doubt, and for some funny reason she was pretty sure the other two felt the same. “ I think you’re right. A sort of demon battery would probably help whatever's going on. I’ll make some calls and we should try to pull more information about the abnormality.”

[viv-adair]

The More You Know || Viv & Lilian

@lil-adamson

A long day of teaching had Vivienne yearning for the days when she could give a one hour lecture and be off to do her own research. With a jolt, the woman hoisted her heavy bag further up on her shoulder, wondering if she shouldn’t have just requested not to work once she got into town. She had enough cash saved up, but something about the normalcy of a job, particularly one in teaching, felt necessary should anyone begin asking questions.

She passed the small bulletin board, normally covered in roommate postings and dog walking advertisements. A bored sigh erupted from her lips. Some things never changed, no matter what hell you were living in. One particular notice, however, caught her eye.

It was a want ad, printed in monotone greys, asking for subjects for a new research study at the Research Lab of Defense. How had no one relayed this to her before now? Her eyes widened and she ripped the flyer down, quickly stuffing it into her bag. There was a place in town that literally had her name on it.

Letting her eyes scan the rest of the ads for anything else with the Research Lab’s masthead on it, Viv was entirely taken by surprise by the linebacker sized shoulder that slammed into her arm, knocking her precariously perched bag flying to the ground.

“Oh fuck all…” She murmured, bending down to collect her notes. She looked up, noticing a tall brunette.

“Hey, would you mind giving me a hand?”

[enthrallinglyeden]

TIMING: early May LOCATION: a random tree near a sidewalk PARTIES: Lil @the-lil-exorcist & Eden @enthrallinglyeden SUMMARY: Lil gets stuck with an imposing tree worm, and much to his dismay, Eden is the only one around to help. CONTENT WARNINGS: none!

In a way, Eden was thankful for the demon bird creatures. They taught him a very valuable lesson which was to never get involved in strangers’ affairs again, specifically here in Wicked’s Rest. God forbid he try to be a helpful person and prevent a human from walking to their death alone. Who knows if Maggie would’ve survived the demonic creatures without his help, but then again, it wouldn’t have been his problem if he had just looked away in the first place. 

No, that wasn’t right. He was glad he knew the outcome of that encounter even though it cost him half of his strength. What’s done was done and he didn’t regret it, but he did vow to stop meddling going forward, at least if the situation at hand didn’t seem manageable within his human capabilities. That was why he only let himself look at the commotion in front of him, contempt with watching the individual fight without the urge to step in.

The woman up the sidewalk was currently fighting some sort of…creature, it seemed. Eden had definitely never seen anything like it in his life, but at least it looked more like a nuisance than a real threat. Watching quietly as the woman fought off the creature’s tugs, he contemplated how he was going to get past the scene undetected considering they were blocking the walkway. Maybe if he walked by incredibly fast while avoiding eye contact…yes, surely that would work.

—

To say Lil’s luck couldn’t be worse as she kept being stalked by a worm creature as it kept dropping down trying to pull her up into the tree. It seemed to be the season for it again. “Fuck. Stop. I am not your prey.” Lil said banging on the worm again as it tried to get to her foot as she tripped as it flipped her up again. 

It was starting to annoy Lil the fact that this worm could pick her up and part of her wanted to kill it. Still, she was out in it’s back yard and while she really wanted to not get near those jaws she didn’t want to kill something if she didn’t have too. After all, she had to deal with enough death. 

“Buddy you need to get it through your soft flesh that I’m not food.” Lil huffed as she kicked at the worm. While she looked over she saw a person rapidly trying to leave the scene and figuring that it would be easier to have help she called out, “Yo dude can you help? If you wiggle a bit it’ll get distracted and I can get away without killing it.” 

—

Whatever the creature was, Eden had never seen anything like it in his life. Though that was a statement he constantly found himself saying in this town so he wasn’t sure why he was still surprised. A snake-like thing kept reaching down from the trees trying to wrangle the woman into its grasp and while she was doing a commendable job at fending it off, he wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up.

“Just keep walking,” Eden muttered to himself as he picked up the pace, only allowing himself to take the briefest of looks at the struggle to his right. With how preoccupied the woman was, it seemed like his strategy was going to be successful. Eden let out a sigh of relief, and perhaps his prematurity was his karma.

He froze in place when he heard the woman call out to him, glancing around in hopes that she was talking to anyone else. Unfortunately for him, there was no one else in sight. For a moment, he considered it again. He considered biting the bullet and just helping another stranger just this once, but her following instructions sealed the deal for him. Wiggle? I will wiggle for no one, let alone in public. 

The woman was looking directly at him now, and Eden racked his brain for the next best solution. “Sorry, I don’t speak English,” he said in Chinese before he could stop himself. A questionable route, but one that usually worked when he wanted someone to leave him alone.

—

Lil sighed as she pulled at the worm again wanting it to drop her already ficking at it’s - tail? She wasn’t sure what the name of a worm's back end would be called. 

At the words though she looked up, “Oh sorry I assumed.” She said back in Chinese her language was more formal than it would be in English or ASL. Lil didn’t normally look it, with most of her speech and cadences - but she did have a knack for languages and found that learning modern ones helped her when she was trying to learn the dead ones. 

That and it was helpful when dealing with grieving people to speak in their native language when she was explaining what she was about to do. Lil wasn’t exactly the most comfortable helping living people, but she did try. Maybe it was a bit lucky now. 

“I was saying that the worm will get distracted if you wiggle and will probably let me go. It’ll only take a second and you’ll help me out,” Lil said looking at the other as she knocked on the worm again trying to get it to stop pulling her up. 

—

Eden froze upon hearing his native tongue thrown back at him. There weren’t really many opportunities for him to speak Chinese in town, limited to his handful of Mandarin students and the few Chinese restaurants in the area. It was usually a welcome surprise to hear it randomly. Usually. 

In this instance, it was the last thing he wanted to hear. Now he couldn’t even feign confusion, and he was once again trapped in a situation where he couldn’t bring himself to walk away from a person in danger — at least the danger this time was obvious and not an unexpected ambush. Fortunate for him, maybe not so much for the woman currently being snatched up into a tree.

The meaning of ‘wiggle’ was still lost on him, no matter if it was said in Chinese or in English. Eden had an idea of what the woman wanted him to do, especially considering that the creature seemed like a worm-like thing. However, it was still something that his pride refused to let him do in public. 

With an exasperated sigh, he finally stepped off the sidewalk and into the grassy area where the woman struggled. “I will not wiggle, but I will help you. Let me just find a stick and whack it a few times,” he said, eyes searching the ground for a temporary weapon. 

—

Lil tilted her head, or rather tried to as she pushed the worm again to try and let her go again. It really was the worst season to have gone back into town. Still, she was happy that the others understood her now. The exorcist had a knack for languages, only partially from her profession. Mostly she liked being understood by people, and in occasions like this it ended up working out well. 

“Yeah I am not sure the worm will drop me if you wack it, but we can try that,” Lil responded, kicking her wheel into what she assumed was probably near the worm’s eye. She wasn’t sure if they had eyes.

“Buddy stop trying to eat my wheel” Lil huffed in English to the worm assuming it spoke English, it probably didn’t - but you also never knew. 

—

Whatever the thing in the tree was, Eden did not want to look it in the eye…wherever its eyes were. So he kept his head down as he scanned around, also in hopes that the woman wouldn’t ask anything else of him. She didn’t seem entirely convinced that his method was going to work, but it had to work. He was not going to wiggle.

“Okay, here we go,” he said as he finally found a stick that felt sturdy enough. The creature’s tail was slowly creeping up again, inching its way towards the woman’s heel. Eden hesitated for a moment, because as much as he wanted to help free this woman and be on his way, he didn’t want to hurt the creature. Who knew how many more of them were lurking in the trees and ready to snatch him up next?

But he was losing patience, as was the woman with how she was starting to kick back at the thing. Were those wheels in her shoes? Now was not the time to stare. Eden begrudgingly whacked the tail end of the worm creature with the stick, lightly at first but increasing his force with every second it refused to budge. “Is it working? Is it loosening its grasp?” He asked the woman, knowing very well that neither of those things were happening.

—

Lil was pretty sure that the comedy of the situation was fading as the worm seemed to be getting more and more annoyed with the two of them. She wished for not the first time in her life that she had been a hunter and not a medium. After all, surely one of them knew how to get the worm to let go without having to rely on someone else. 

Still, they would probably kill the poor worm and for some reason Lil couldn’t wish death on it. It just wanted to eat, and Lil just wanted to go home to sulk. She was getting pretty good at it, and she was sure it was a healing thing. 

“I really think it’ll get distracted if you wiggle,” Lil repeated, wanting this absurd comedy to be done and knowing that if she didn’t get out of it soon it was about to be a worm tragedy. Maybe that was the secret, it would always end up being like that. 

—

Eden wished so badly that his conscience would allow him to simply drop the stick and walk away from the situation, but he was too far in it now. The worm did not waver, the woman was still stuck, and he knew what he’d have to do if he wanted this all to be over. 

“Ok! Fine!” He let out an exasperated sigh, tossing the useless stick off to the side. “I will wiggle, but if this doesn’t work…” he trailed off, realizing how silly he was going to sound. Considering the predicament that the other woman was in, there was no chance that her current priority was to have him make a fool of himself. That was the beauty of living in this town, wasn’t it? His every move wasn’t under scrutiny — no one cared.

Still, Eden couldn’t help but scan his surroundings, and he only began to move once he knew the coast was clear. “Like this?” He asked the woman as he moved his hips stiffly from side to side in his definition of a ‘wiggle’. The creature seemed largely unimpressed considering how nothing changed, and Eden let out another sigh. “Or like this?” This time, he forced himself to let go of the tension throughout his body and shifted back and forth carelessly, his arms dangling limply with every movement. 

Finally, finally, the creature started to react. One end of it slowly started to turn towards him, and the other end that held the woman tightly seemed to loosen its grip. “Is it working?” 

—

Lil felt the worm stopping the constant tug up as the other started to wiggle although at first it didn’t seem impressed by the movements.. It would have been funny, and she did want to laugh - but she also really wanted to get out of this god forsaken tree too. After all, he was doing her a solid. At first nothing seemed to happen, the worm a little unimpressed by the wiggling of the other. 

Eventually though he seemed to wriggle in a way that was more worm like and Lil could feel the worm loosening the grip on her leg.  “There you go. Almost -” She said as suddenly the worm dropped her completely entranced with the other’s wiggling. If worms could feel joy, she was pretty sure the worm was happy - a stark contrast to the wanting nibbling it had done before. 

Lil scrambled up getting away from the tree as quickly as she could only somewhat tripping over her wheels. “Oh thank god. Let's get out of here before it grabs one of us again. I owe you one.” She could tell someone about the worm, but it wasn’t a very busy place. Maybe it would move on before it hurt someone else. 

—

Something strange started to happen as Eden continued to wiggle. The less he consciously thought about the foolish way he was flinging his limbs back and forth, the more…easy it felt. Yes, he still felt humiliated that he was doing such a thing in public, but his embarrassment was somewhat overwritten by the relaxing sensation he felt throughout his body. The more he moved, the more tension dispersed from his shoulders and back and every other part of his body that he had unknowingly clenched on a daily basis. Was wiggling…fun?

He was so caught up in his movements that he almost missed the woman falling onto the ground, the snake fully focused on him now. “It won’t…chase us down or anything, right?” Eden asked the woman as she approached him, though she was quickly making her exit down the sidewalk. He did one last wiggle for good measure, hopefully enough to satisfy the creature for the next ten seconds while they escaped. 

“Hey, wait up!” Eden called out to the stranger who was a decent distance away from him now, probably thanks to the wheels that he’d seen in her shoes earlier. He only had a few seconds to contemplate the absurdity of the concept before he caught up to her at the end of the street. “You…you speak Mandarin?” He asked the woman. Now that the wiggling fiasco was over with, he was more than happy to be in her presence. 

—

“It probably won’t leave that tree no,” Lil said back, still getting moving from the tree. She turned when the other asked her to wait up, after all she did owe him. It was a funny thing for Lil  - she always felt like she owed people or was owed. She had to assume that was a bi-product of growing up in the type of work she did. 

Still, she hadn’t been expecting that question. “Oh - Yes, I know Mandarin and a few other languages.” Granted she didn’t know how to hold a conversation in all of them, Latin was hardly a conversing language anymore - but she had a knack for them. Mandarin hadn’t been the easiest to learn - and she no doubt sounded stiffer in that language then she did in others- be she did like it. Maybe it was over compensating for the fact she couldn’t hear ghosts, that would be a fair enough assumption for her, but she did like speaking a lot of languages. It felt nice to be able to connect with people where she might not have been able to in other areas of life.

“I think there's some other people in town that speak it too, probably a lot less stilted than me,” Lil said with a laugh, the worm seemingly not following them now. “I’m Lil. If I did not say.” 

—

Eden could tell from the woman’s accent that Mandarin wasn’t her first language, but she was clearly familiar with it to the point of a smooth conversation. “That’s very impressive. Language is such a useful talent to have,” he said as he brushed the dirt from the stick off of his hands. “And you are very good already, so don’t worry. Casualness comes with more practice, which, if you’d like, I’d be happy to help with.” 

Glancing back in the direction that they came from, Eden finally allowed himself to relax when there was definitely no sign of the worm. “To be fair, you seemed a bit busy for any introductions,” he said, a hint of amusement in his eyes. Now that the whole affair was over with and he was mostly certain that no one else had witnessed them, the whole thing seemed comically ridiculous. “But hello, Lil. I’m Eden. Glad you’re not stuck with that creature anymore.”

Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. “Oh, excuse me for one moment. Work’s calling,” he said to Lil as he glanced at the caller ID and stepped off to the side, though he hoped that she wouldn’t take the chance to leave before they could chat more. “Hello? Helen? No, I’m not working today. Wh– someone sat in Gertrude’s chair? Helen, that’s fine. She’s not rea– no. Please do not tell the patron that they will be haunted by an angry ghost for the rest of their life. No, I’m not coming in for this. Can you as– hello?” As the line went dead, Eden shook his head in dismay, murmuring to himself as he approached Lil once more. “Sorry about that. My coworkers are…interesting.”

—

“Sure I never mind talking to people and learning more,” Lil said, figuring that she’d be around in town for the foreseeable future. It wasn’t uncommon for her to practice and the other seemed like a fine enough person to talk to. “Nice to meet you Eden -”

Lil was cut off with a call, when her eyebrow went up realizing that he had switched into - perfectly understandable English. For a moment it didn’t click and then she couldn’t help the laugh that came out. “One who’s Gertrude because I think I can help with the hauntings and two you for sure know English, You just did not want to wiggle huh?”  She said, speaking back in Mandarin anyway. She should be mad, after all he was clearly trying to trick her earlier to get out of wiggling but there was a certain hilarity to the situation Lil didn’t often experience. After all, there was no harm or foul in it and for once it was just funny not tragic to be tricked. 

“I can’t believe you made me figure out how to say wiggle in Mandarin," Lil laughed. 

—

Upon his return, Lil let out a laugh that had Eden raising an eyebrow. He had momentarily forgotten about his little act, but his eyes widened as the realization dawned on him and a hand flew to his mouth.  “Oh, oops. I guess I’ve been exposed.” He raised both of hands in mock surrender. “Look, I am not a man who wiggles. Even I almost didn’t know what wiggle was in Mandarin as I’ve never wiggled in my life. You are lucky I did it at all.” He tried to maintain a serious expression, though he quickly broke as he started to laugh with her at the absurdity of the situation.

“As for Gertrude, she’s a “ghost” that haunts the library,” he said in English, also making big movements to emphasize the airquotes. “There’s this chair that no one’s allowed to sit at because she allegedly haunts it. Sometimes people accidentally do, and one of my co-workers really doesn’t like that.” Eden made sure to eye Lil cautiously as he told her this information. He was still a little apprehensive about bringing up the supernatural so casually in public, but ghosts seemed to be one entity that most people could easily accept. “Help? How so?”

—

“Hey it’s not something that I can fault you on. I expect you didn’t think someone else knew the language.” Lil said charitably. It obviously wasn’t a rare language in the global sense, but it wasn’t a bad bet in a small town in Maine that a lot of people didn’t know Mandarin. Hell it was odd how many people knew Latin, but that seemed to be a staple of specifically Wicked’s Rest. 

At the information Lil’s eyebrow raised slightly. She hadn’t known about Gertude, but she wasn’t usually going into the library as of late. “I can see if there’s a ghost and if she’s going to do anything particularly worrisome. It might help your co-worker feel less touchy about a chair.  Although I’ll be honest, it’s probably just a superstition. I would have figured someone would have come and checked it by now if it was real.” Not that she had much hope in that either. While exorcists were rare anyway, it seemed a lot of the time Lil didn’t cross paths with a lot of them. Someone might have just been slipping. 

“I’ll consider it a payment for the favor I owe you,” Lil said with a chuckle. “I won’t even make you wiggle.” 

—

Eden was glad that Lil seemed just as amused by his trick as he was. Not that he would’ve felt bad if she was upset — it wasn’t exactly deception if he ended up helping her in the end, right?

And helping her, it turned out, would end up benefiting him in some unexpected way. “That’s what I keep telling her! I mean, self-proclaimed ghost hunters have come by before, but they seemed more focused on making content than actually getting rid of any threat.” Though, Eden was admittedly a bit skeptical, because how was he just supposed to take this person’s word that they could see ghosts? Still, it was better than nothing, and whatever service Lil could offer him would be worth it to settle Helen’s nerves. 

“How gracious of you,” he said jokingly, though he seriously did have no intention of wiggling in a place where his coworkers could see him. “Thanks though. I’ll seriously take you up on that offer.”

[enthrallinglyeden]

@the-lil-exorcist replied to your post “[pm] Hey Eden! I finally have some time, I can...”:

[pm] Awesome! I can stop by in the evening when hopefully there aren't to many library guests around.

​[pm] Excellent. Thank you again for doing this. I hope you've been keeping safe from the worms in the meantime.

[chasseurdeloup]

Left next to Andy's present to be delivered, the wrapping is as nice as Lil was going to be able to do.

Inside his present is a set of nice thick socks with a nice orange leaf pattern on a green background. They are very clearly meant to be worn with boots when it's cold outside.

Hey Kaden,

I did actually end up getting that License! I appreciate your help. Hopefully these fit, but if they don't let me know and I can make you a pair that does. They should be easy to wash, and I used a yarn that should be somewhat good with sweat wicking.

Merry Christmas.

Best, Lil.

[athxna-wood]

Athena wasn’t exactly sure what to call her relationship with Lil at this point, but the fact that she had extended the invitation to her and Oliver even though she had only been going because her boss would be in attendance made Athena smile. Of course she had been honest about having a nephew with the other, but she didn’t exactly describe the entire situation. It felt like a lot to dump onto someone she was hoping to pursue. Even if it wasn’t a date, Athena figured she should still look presentable. After showering and fixing her hair, Athena put on a nice outfit that was casual but suitable to make a good impression. Oliver insisted on wearing his favorite yellow sweater and a nice pair of slacks, which she couldn’t argue with. He did look positively adorable in them, after all. 

It was easier to meet her there, especially since Athena was bringing Oliver. Of course, she was nervous about introducing the pair, knowing the truth wasn’t all out on the table just yet. Oliver loved meeting new people, typically, but it was different when you were three and loved everyone and everything. Did Lil even like kids? Well, she must not mind them, if she was inviting the both of them. Regardless, she was trying to hide her nerves as they headed to the carnival. It was pretty early on in the festivities, since all of the family events were taking place in the beginning while there was still light out. “Look at the rides!” Oliver excitedly giggled, pointing to some of them in the distance. “We’ll go on some, I promise,” Athena chuckled, adjusting Oliver on her hip. It was inevitable that he’d get tired if she made him walk too much, so until she found Lil she’d carry him the way. It didn’t take too long to recognize the other, picking her out in a crowd. 

“Long time no see, stranger,” she laughed softly, setting Oliver down beside her, who was excited to introduce himself. “My name is Oliver. I’m three!” In typical kid fashion, he held up three fingers as if Lil needed a visual. “Oliver, this is auntie’s friend, Lil. This is my nephew,” she gestured to the young boy, looking back at Lil, trying to mask her nervousness.

@lil-samson​