#chickenbyday

[ask-aftg-tinies]

Do the tinies have their own exy court and if so do Kevin and Neil try to play on the big one anyway.

Wymack: We're working on their own exy court, but these two are impatient and tried to play on the big court. They're officially banned from it.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Neil!!! He's back!! And somehow while he was gone Andrew managed to stab him and obtain another cat. This mans going through it.

WIP Wednesday (10/8) | Demon Neil AU (Part 73)

"Speaking from experience?" Neil asks as they watch Hashbrown walk circles around the carrier.

"Yes." Andrew leans against the wall with crossed arms and looks himself in the mirror, aggravated when he can't see Neil in the glass. "Where the hell where you?"

"I don't know."

"Don't know who else to ask."

The demon sighs. "I'm not sure. All I remember is hearing that voice. Then you said I was hurting you. I tried to stop and then it was just... nothing." 

"Did it feel like last time?" Andrew asks. Hash baps the carrier and the kitten mews.

"It felt like nothing, Andrew. I didn't realize I was gone until you pulled me back. Going from your front room to the tattoo studio was instantaneous for me." Neil explains, sounding unsteady. "What, uh, happened with Lola by the way?"

"I told her I had no idea who you were. That I let just you borrow my phone the other day," Andrew says, quickly breezing past the lie. Meatball— no, not Meatball— seems to have discovered it can fit its paw through the bars of the carrier. It slaps Hashbrown, who has flopped onto her side to stare between the slats. Her tail swishes and she attempts to slap back.

"Do you really think she bought it?"

"Seemed like it. She got angry and told someone that they'd lost you. Called you a slippery little bastard and hung up on me." Andrew's mind whirs and he can feel Neil digging through his thoughts. "Hey."

"I know. I know you hate when I do this but I just need to see..." Neil is quiet for a moment, then sputters a laugh. "You told her we slept together?"

"We do. Technically." Andrew says, coughing into his shoulder. Neil's been in his bed every night for coming on two weeks. (Has it really been that long?) Neil laughs again and Andrew isn't sure whether he should be offended.

"No, no. I just... You're really good at improvising." Neil sounds almost impressed.

[tedious-malcontent]

Idk if you're still talking asks but if you are, can you give us some more kandreil ballet au?? I'm already obsessed lol

Kandreil Ballet AU - Part 4

When? is Neil's first thought, and then blinding terror. Does Andrew know who he is, who his father is? This is worse than he thought. "You're scaring him," Kevin says reproachingly, like Neil is a small startled wild animal, "We saw you at one of the open workshops around here. I liked what I saw, so I had Andrew track you down." So they stalked him. Great. That feels almost worse than Andrew somehow knowing him from when he was the Butcher's son. "The answer is still no," he snaps. He shouldn't've stayed around for any of this conversation. He can't get back on stage, and certainly not for a ballet that Kevin Day is choreographing. Even if his father is behind bars, there are others who want to know where he is. He can't risk it, no matter how much he might want to. The disappointed look Kevin gives him is almost enough to make him cave. Almost. "I can't," he protests, but it's more an attempt to convince himself than to convinced Kevin. "You can," Andrew says. Neil looks at him. He's produced a cigarette from somewhere and is smoking, which strikes Neil as a pretty stupid thing for a professional dancer to do, but it's none of his business, and he's never gonna see them again after tonight.

[stabbyfoxandrew]

My boy!!! He has returned!!!!

WIP Wednesday (10/1) | Demon Neil AU (Part 72)

"What is that?" Neil asks once they're back at the apartment, shut in the bathroom away from Hashbrown. With a door between them and her ire, Andrew gently scoops the kitten out of the box and sets it in the sink. It immediately tries to climb out, possibly hoping to brain itself on the tile below.

"It's called a cat, Neil." Andrew tells him, holding the kitten still. "You've actually met one before. White and fluffy, lives in my house, has a love-hate relationship with you... Am I ringing any bells at all?"

There's a sigh. "I meant why do we have a new one."

"I took this wretched thing off Renee's hands in exchange for the piercing," Andrew explains as he uses his free hand to search for the shampoo under the counter.

"You traded an earring for a kitten."

"I acquired a kitten so I could get you back without slicing my finger off." Andrew corrects. 

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Got lost again, huh?"

"Yep." Andrew bathes the kitten as quickly and efficiently as possible but there's still a white paw slapping under the bathroom door before he finishes. "Yes, Hash. There's another cat in here. Yes, it is very small and vulnerable. No, you may not eat it. Go away."

"I can't believe that worked." 

"She'll be back," Andrew's sure. He rinses the now severely upset kitten with warm water and grabs a towel, swaddling it as best he can before dashing into the bedroom to grab Hashbrown's carrier from the closet. He bundles the kitten up and places it inside, then sighs and falls against the door just as Hash throws herself at it from the other side. Andrew opens the door and she hones in on the carrier, immediately flattening her ears as she approaches. "Yeah, yeah. Get to it, come harass the damn thing. You're siblings now, that's your job."

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Hi hello I don't know if my ask went through but if it didn't can I please have my boy?? Happy Wednesday!!

WIP Wednesday (10/15) | Demon Neil AU (Part 74)

"Mm, I suppose." Andrew clears his throat and drums a finger against his elbow. "You know Neil, you still haven't exactly told me why these demons are after you. I mean, evil father, sure. But what does he even want you for? Having had custody of you the past couple weeks, I can say you're no cakewalk."

"I'll have you know I'm a delight."

"Neil."

"All I know is what my mom told me. It was part of the deal that I'd stay with her until my thirteenth year, then I would be brought to hell to live with him instead. Mom refused to give me up, we ran and they chased." Neil tells him. How funny that Neil's mother would fight so hard to keep him when Andrew's own threw him away like a dirty napkin. "I don't know why they're so persistent about dragging me down there, but I can only assume it's for something fucked up."

"Well, I can't imagine he'd go to such lengths just to teach you to ride a bike."

"Highly doubt it. Probably he wants to consume my flesh so he'll live forever. Or something like that," Neil says with a concerning lack of humor.

"Charming," Andrew says. Then, "Is that really a thing?"

"Not sure."

"You're supposed to be the resident expert, you know."

"Andrew, I know his name and that I look like him. That's all I have to go on. I've never thought to ask why they're hunting me down while they're hunting me down, but next time I see Lola I'll be sure to throw the question over my shoulder."

"Good." Andrew says, watching Hash circle the carrier a couple times before dropping onto her side and yowling her discontent, tail flicking like a rattlesnake's as she observes the tiny contents. Idly, Andrew wonders if Neil's tail can do that.

"It cannot." Neil answers. "Well, maybe if it was broken."

"That doesn't count." Andrew tells him. "Hashbrown, stop that. You're making Neil sad about his lame tail."

"Shut up. I don't think she's thrilled about our new house guest."

"Our, says the demon as if he pays half the rent," Andrew mutters.

"Hey, I'm going to. Have you forgotten what you're getting out of all this?"

"Besides a perpetual headache?"

"Says the human as if he didn't put a new hole in his body to get me back," Neil says in a mocking tone of voice. Andrew feels heat in his chest and jabs a finger towards their joined reflection.

"I told you I was going to get it pierced soon anyway, this way was just a two birds situation."

"Yeah, whatever. Huh. Think my ear will be pierced when I get out of you?" The demon asks, prompting Andrew to imagine a stud in what he knows to be a pointed ear. (Renee and Robin would have a field day with Neil's ears, so much space.) How romantic, matching earrings.

"Dunno. If I cut my hair, would yours get shorter?"

"... I don't think so."

"Well, there you have it." Andrew leaves the cats to hiss their curious hellos and goes out to the living room, plopping down on the couch with a soda and his sketchbook. "Tell me about Lola."

"Ew. No."

"What does she look like?"

"I told you, the epitome of horror."

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Hello hello happy Wednesday!!! Pls stop holding my boy hostage. Pls. pls.

WIP Wednesday (9/3) | Demon Neil AU (Part 69)

The box disappears under the front desk. And coincidentally, so does Robin. For the rest of Andrew's appointment, he can hear her murmuring to the kitten in a baby voice that is quite frankly very annoying. But he prefers her ridiculousness to the absence of noise inside his own head. When he finishes with his client Renee is busy and Robin's 'busy' with the cat so he's forced to go handle all that comes after a tattoo in their little shop. Asking to take a photo of the piece, giving instructions for taking care of it. The whole shebang. 

Once she's gone, Andrew climbs behind the desk with Robin to occupy the tiny little rat he's agreed to house for the time being. It's orange and has big, dumb blue eyes. It almost reminds him of someone but he can't place who. Robin grins when he joins them on the rug. 

"Oh good. I need to pee." She says, dropping the kitten on his chest as she gets up. It mewls and Andrew strokes between its ears with a couple fingers. It's going to have to get a bath as soon as they get home. And Hashbrown is likely to raise hell about this thing. But he doesn't think she'll hurt it. Probably. 

While he's waiting, Andrew takes a couple walk-ins. Both to pass the time and because he's going to be paying new vet bills very soon it seems. The women come in together wanting matching stars on their inner wrists. It takes them longer to take off their coats than it does for Andrew to ink them on. They coo over the kitten when Robin comes out from the desk to do her job, each of them asking to pet it. Robin does not tell them it came from a pile of deceased brethren.

Andrew rejoins them behind the desk, this time with an old sketchbook. He alternates between doodling and fooling with the adventurous kitten and doodling said kitten. Because evidently Renee is recreating the Mona Lisa on some guy's back and is taking forever. 

Eventually Seth rolls into the shop. Andrew knew he was going to be here today. But he'd planned to get out beforehand. Seth pulls his sunglasses off and looks at the kitten waddling around on the desk. Robin explains its origin story, that it's a poor, nameless orphan and all.

"Meatball." Seth dubs the kitten with finger pointed at it. Then he wanders over to get his shit set up.

"Meatball! Isn't that cute?" Robin smiles.

"It's ridiculous." Andrew says. Though he supposes the kitten is rather round... No. On principle he is not naming this thing anything suggested by Seth Gordon. 

"What will you call her then?"

"Don't know yet." This cat is not his main concern right now.

When Renee is finally through she collects Andrew and plops him into their designated piercing chair in front of the mirror. She makes him sign the consent form and talks him through the entire process as if he's never heard her give this speech before, telling him how much it will hurt and all that jazz.

Then she tries to talk him into getting a little hoop on the edge of his ear instead of a stud in the flat, which is what he'd been picturing. She nearly succeeds.

"Maybe next time." Andrew tells her. He picks out a plain little silver stud and Robin calls him boring for not taking the tiny crescent moon one. In a whirlwind, Renee marks the spot and double-checks with him. Then comes the needle and ZAP! 

A bolt of lightning races down Andrew's spine so suddenly he nearly leaps to his feet and botches the entire thing, thankfully he manages to keep himself seated.

"ANDREW." Neil gasps into his head. In an instant Andrew feels the demon fill up space inside him, like air settling into a balloon. "Are you alright?"

[stabbyfoxandrew]

Hellooo congrats on the permits!!!! I'm here for my boy pls sorry if he bites the other kids....

WIP Wednesday (6/18) | Demon Neil AU (Part 46)

A couple days later, Andrew finds himself wandering the narrow aisles of what is apparently Baltimore's one and only legitimate magical supply store. According to Neil there are a handful of others sprinkled across the city, but none of them were actually Witch-Owned. In fact, in Neil's opinion they were all gimmicky little places run by hippie and wannabes and better left to humans playing make believe. Since they had real hell to raise, Andrew allowed the demon to lead him here.

When they stepped inside, Andrew nearly choked on a haze of obnoxious incense and Neil laughed at him until Andrew threatened to go home empty-handed. He glances down at the short list he'd brought with him. So far he's picked up the ten black tapered candles and a bundle of magic-grade cinnamon sticks, these are the things occupying the little basket hanging in the crook of his elbow. He sighs; he can't believe he's about to drop thirty bucks on goddamn candles...

"They're necessary," Neil reminds him.

"I know, I know." Andrew mutters. What he doesn't know is how they're three dollars a piece. It's a stick of wax for fuck's sake!

"Magic wax."

"Shut up." Andrew tells him, huffing when Neil laughs at his frustration. When he turns toward the wall of magic rocks, Andrew pitches forward and nearly falls flat on his face. Neil curses at being jostles just as Andrew catches himself on the edge of a shelf. Behind him, a black cat mrows as if offended. Andrew, who is offended, glares down at it. "Maybe you shouldn't stand in the way." 

"Lucy! Let him shop in peace!" calls out a chipper, feminine voice from... somewhere. Andrew looks but doesn't find its owner, instead he continues to the wall of crystals and skims row after row of identical baskets filled with colorful gems. Since they're each labeled with names and purposes, he finds both jasper and moonstone fairly quickly. Figuring he can use all the help he can get, Andrew scoops up a handful of each and dumps them into his basket.

"Good call."

The shop cat mrows again and Andrew turns to find it sitting on a shelf opposite of him, staring him in the eye. He stares back and the cat's ears flatten against its head. 

"Seems you've been spotted." Andrew whispers his resident demon.

"Hello, Lucy." Neil says, trying the same friendly-demon bit that won Hashbrown over. But this cat is not Hashbrown. It hisses and dives off the shelf, kicking off half a dozen assorted goblets. They fall to the ground in the most obnoxious way possible, clattering and banging and making the worse racket Andrew's ever heard. "...Oops."

"I hate you." Andrew sighs. He bends to pick them up and a moment later, a pair of feet appear next to him. Andrew looks up, then up some more, and finds a very old woman staring down at him with a curious look on her face. Andrew clears his throat. "It was the cat, I swear."

"I know, I saw," she says, with an accent Andrew can't place. She holds out her hands to take the goblets from him as he picks them up. She places them back in their spots then regards Andrew again. "She's not a fan of what you're carrying."

[stabbyfoxandrew]

ooooh ok so you already know but if my boy is being a little shit then I'm gonna go with arsoneil, or whoever is biting the least. Happy Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday (6/11) | Demon Neil AU (Part 45)

They spend the next half hour teaching Andrew the incantation needed to call Neil up from the bowels of Hell. 

Before this horrid lesson, Andrew was under the impression he was a quick study. This is partially because he's a natural born know-it-all and partially because his perfect memory allows him to hold onto information longer than other people. However, the handful of words Neil is trying to teach him... They all zig when Andrew thinks they should zag. The Latin just doesn't roll off his tongue. Perhaps because he lives in the twenty-first century and he didn't attend a private school.

"Do it again," Neil commands. 

"Sub luce lunae hunc circulum compleo," Andrew pauses in the middle, the way Neil had instructed him to. This is when he's supposed to add the blood, he said. After a breath Andrew stumbles over the rest. "Daemonem Nathanaelem evoco."

"That's almost right. You just need to practice a little more. It'll be good by the time the moon's ready for us." Neil tells him, sounding almost proud of him.

"Maybe I should write it down," Andrew says. Perhaps seeing it would make it easier to understand. He reaches for his pen and has Neil spell each word for him, saying it as he goes. Once he has it all down in front of him, Andrew squints at the words. They look like the drunken keysmashes he receives from Nicky every now and then. All except one. "Wait, isn't that one just...?" Andrew points at 'Nathanaelem'.

"Yes. It's the Latin version of the name my father gave me. I think it'll make the spell more potent that way."

"I promised you earlier I wouldn't say it anymore and you've had me chanting it for the past thirty minutes? That is entrapment, Neil." 

"It doesn't feel the same to me. Does it feel the same to you?" Neil asks. Andrew repeats it a few times and feels nothing. "So it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Still entrapment." Andrew insists. "I just made you a promise and you've already made me break it."

Neil is quiet for a moment. "You didn't break anything."

Andrew doesn't feel like arguing— shockingly— so he lets it go, running his eyes along the words again. Underneath, he scribbles out the pronunciations Neil'd given him. "What does it mean, in English?" 

"Roughly, 'Under light of moon I complete the circle, I call forth the demon Nathaniel.'" When Neil says it himself, there's no twinge. What a shame. Andrew glances back down at the paper and is amazed. With the translation he can see how each word corresponds to another. "Yeah. A lot of your words have their roots in Latin. It's not surprising you recognize them now that they're written out."

"Shut up and let me feel smart, Neil."