This guy has 4 pages worth of tagged posts on my blog but no proper introduction, so I'm fixing that now.
This is Gold, the main character of my eventual graphic novel, No Devil Use. He's a cat slipshape (shapeshifter) who's deeply distrusting of most people, a kleptomaniac, a good liar, and a bad judge of character. He gets by via a variety of petty crimes and is in a totally-not-a-relationship with his dealer, Cain. The story follows his No Good Very Bad Time after a person from his past suddenly reappears.
Commission done for @sylphidine from their fic “Call Signs” chapter 15, “Parlor games.”
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As Mrs. Black rustled away, Ms. Deyvill said loudly enough to be overheard, “I don’t know how she gets around in those skirts.”
A bystander at the buffet, his bony hand holding a rather large brandy snifter, turned and inclined his head as a greeting to the group. “Tallulah, not everyone has your sense of clean lines and simplicity. Certainly my sister doesn’t.” His deepset green-gray eyes behind half-moon glasses glittered with amusement which was not entirely without a dash of malice. Swatch felt disposed to like him simply because of his evident antipathy to Mrs. Black.
“Fashion does not have to ignore functionality, Anton darling,” she retorted. She got up to give him kisses on both cheeks, which he returned. “Do join us, there’s a love. This is the jolliest little set I’ve had the pleasure of keeping company with since that little shindig Jean and Martin Shafiroff threw for Saint Patrick’s Day.”
“Any excuse for them to dredge up that old Roe & Co.,” the man named Anton replied, taking the proffered seat and tossing a length of his plum-colored scarf back over a bony shoulder without spilling a drop of ruby liquid in his glass.
By the way I am moving college human versions of the skeksis to NDU as the campus’ worst frat, Sigma Kappa Sigma (SKS) (I don’t know if this is a real frat or not)
Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have fewer than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag some people to take part.
Thanks for the tag Rach @platanchorsociety
(in order of latest editted, posted and not all are on ao3)
1. Horseshoe Bay was the slimiest, most moody town on a rocky nook of Maine's coast. Everyone knew everyone here. The gossip always brimmed after dark and with it, so did the stories: Stories of people who went into the woods and never came back, an old Sea Queen's spirit that haunted the moor, figures over the sea...
(Into The Wilde, Nancy Drew Universe)
2. She knew how it felt when a person close to you died. In your arms or not, it didn’t matter when you realized the point of it was over: Life. Existence as you knew it would come to a halt, mocking the illusion that led you till then, no more.
(Mostly You Were My Heartbreak)
3. The floor beneath her was slippery, the clacking of her heels slowing with every step she took. Everything was bright and shimmery around her. Ribbons hung down as loopy decorations, black and white balloons already shrunk in size from the morning when the interns had put them up. There was a party in the hospital downstairs, not that Reyna cared.
(Benign, Grey's Anatomy Universe)
4. "Everyone's heard me bossing around at the Claw." George rolled her eyes.
"The security detail is from another town but they know me 'cause of my dad." Nancy shrugged.
(Hey Jealousy)
5. She was really appreciative of the small independent businesses in Horseshoe Bay. But that didn't mean she wanted to see Lily's flower shop spread out in her kitchen.
(Bed of Verbana)
6. Ace is drenched, the first rain of the year painting his clothes flush against his protesting muscles as he knocks on her door. It is late in the night, when half the town is already asleep. But he can't lose the hitch in his breath.
(I Still Remember)
7. Her whole house smelled of cheese and sweets and cilantro. If Nancy didn’t know any better, she’d have thought River Heights was hosting its own version of MasterChef.
(Kiss The Cook)
8. Night had a very unfair way of making her think deeply. It had a calm that put her at peace, the equality of all dark assuring her that she didn't need to put up her walls anymore. It was uniform, bitterly truthful about the darkness it held. It didn't lie, just surrounded you like a blanket of silence. Ironically, the dark was where everything was bound to sound hundred times louder. You would start to notice things you never paid attention to before. You knew they existed, it wasn't that they ceased to be a problem the moment you turned your eyes away. You were just too busy ignoring them.
(Paralyze, Grey's Anatomy Universe)
9. When people thought of soulmates, they usually fathomed two broken halves of one heart. In wait for the right one, waiting for fate to drift them together until their cracks fit into the torn ridges of the other’s.
(Freaking Me Out)
10. There was once a Cupid, who saw everything: hidden smiles, the virtue of a broken heart, longing looks ilk to a dream’s desire. They pretended not to notice anything though, for, a Cupid was supposed to be blind.
(Something A Cupid Sees)
11. The concept of the past is fundamentally simple you do something, spend some time over something and the moment slips by, already behind you like the next patch of gravel on a highway. Not for Nancy, it wasn’t. Her highway ran in circles: carefully intermingling circles that desperately revisited her naivete as proof of where she stood now.
(Scorched)
12. She was pretty sure undeserved karma was a thing. Ana did not know what she did to deserve this, but she would give it a half star at the maximum. Maybe even step it down to a minus thousand stars. Do NOT recommend.
(Candor, Grey's Anatomy Universe)
13. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call Ace?”
It was the hundredth time Bess had asked her that, and just like all those other times, the sweet accented voice rolled off Nancy’s ears like a smooth ribbon. An unnecessary ribbon.
(Slightly Banged Up)
14. Plans had been made for the next day, and the team meeting had come to a silent end. George and Nick were marinating in tense silence, and Bess couldn't but make it awkward with her usual nerve-wracked hums. Ace had been uncharacteristically inactive for the past hour.
(Do You Like Secrets?)
15. "You look like you're gonna faint..."
Ace was the first one to notice her feeling green. Nancy's steps had been faltering the whole day. She had woken up with her eyes spinning, no nightmares and a very bad stomach ache. She had puked once or twice, pushing away Bess or Ace to lock the Claw's staff bathroom.
(A Little of Life)
16. He's never had to be so distracted before. Ace was the most focused driver in his family. His father, even before the accident, was a easygoing driver. His mother was rarely not seen fumbling with the radio when driving. Ace was the only one out of them three whose attention never wavered from the road.
(Fading Streetlights)
17. It had taken a lot of time for the babies to fall asleep that night. Lulu kept crying awake, while Teddy never slept in the first place. Ace and Nancy had juggled their babies every time one of them woke up, the other trying to cram their deadlines.
(Toast for Nights)
18. Horseshoe Bay, though a small town, was a town with ample amounts of places to rejoice. But none of them seemed to click for Bess.
The beach? Nope.
The Claw? "The wedding's there Nancy, we can't have the bachelorette there too!"
The Youth Centre? "Let the boys have their party there"
The Ice Rink? Bess had fallen silent at that, and George was reminded her evening there with Odette.
(Dulcet Bells)
19. Nancy Drew was a disaster when it came to family. She never let anyone in but when she did, she was always faced with some problem or another.
(You Came Back to Me)
20. "Kat come on in!" Miranda Gilbert waves her elder daughter towards the car idling before the edge of the forest party. The girl's curled head swivels to her straight-haired twin "You called them?!"
(Allure, The Vampire Diaries Universe)
Tagging: Anyone who wants to do this. Go back to your fic list cebause Renny told you so and pass this on
I finally wrote the final part of this fic (part 1 here). Thanks to @ask-a-pale-experiment for reminding me to get this fic done!
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Jack had somehow managed to drag himself to his feet and get through the following day while mostly not huddled in a little ball of misery.
Well, not significantly more than usual, at least.
It was only when he got home that evening when everything went wrong.
He'd just shut the door to his apartment behind him with a sigh when someone lunged out of the shadows to grab him and clamp a hand over his mouth.
His mind was racing, wondering how one of his enemies could have figured out his identity and where he lived, while his body was acting already, hands rising to touch his attacker and freeze the blood solid in their veins.
He paused centimeters away when the person spoke in a hissed whisper.
“Shh! It’s all right, I’m not here to hurt you.”
Piki. It was Piki. What the hell was Piki doing in Jack’s home? Had he finally figured it out?
"Don't worry, don't worry, it's just me. It's Piki," the man added, removing his hand from Jack's mouth and pulling off his domino mask, as if Jack somehow wouldn't be able to recognize him with it on. "Look, I'm really really sorry about this, but I promise that it's for your own good."
"Wh-what's-" Jack stammered.
"I promise I'll explain everything. But first…" The shadows rose up to swallow them both, and when light finally returned, Jack found himself in entirely different surroundings. It was a little room with a handful of furniture, two door, and no windows.
Piki let go of him, stepping back. "Sorry. Look, you're in danger-- Wait, no, not like that! I'm not going to hurt you. It's… It’s the Winter King. He’s a supervillain, you might know about him. He somehow figured out that I… ah, well, he threatened you. He’s dangerous, and I don’t know if he might decide to hurt you. So I need to keep you safe. Just for a little while! Once I figure out how to dispose of him, I’ll let you go.”
Jack just stared at him. This. This was the conclusion that Piki had come to. Jack wasn’t sure if he wanted to hug Piki or shake him for being a complete idiot, but he was leaning towards the latter.
Piki fidgeted, looking nervous. “I, er, I got you some books,” he added, gesturing to a stack of them on a bedside table. “Notebooks, too, in case you want to write. Let me know if there’s anything else that you might like, and I’ll see what I can do. With any luck, this should only take a few days. A week, tops.”
Jack doubted that very much.
“I… I’ll just let you get settled in. If you need anything, just knock on the door. The other one goes to a bathroom,” Piki explained, backing further away and slipping out the door, and closing it with a click of a lock.
Jack flopped back onto the bed with a groan. Well, this was a hell of a situation he was in. On the plus side, Piki hadn’t figured out about his secret identity. On the other hand, he intended to keep Jack captive until he murdered the Winter King, who also happened to be Jack. What the hell was Jack supposed to do about this?
He supposed he could always tell Piki about his secret identity. And in doing so, reveal his greatest secret to someone who hated his guts and would at the very least likely attempt to make good on his murder threat. Jack didn’t think it was likely he would be able to succeed, but if he didn’t kill Piki, and likely his brother, in turn, then Piki would likely reveal Jack’s secret identity to everyone he could out of spite. Jack’s life would be ruined. But he didn’t want to kill Piki.
He could wait until Piki and Pitch left to go hunt for the Winter King, and break out of the room. It wouldn’t be hard to make ice to pop the deadbolt out of place. But Piki would no doubt attribute his disappearance to the Winter King, and Jack would be back in the same position as before, unless he faked his own death and moved to a new town. An extremely less than ideal solution, especially as Piki would doubtless try to track the Winter King back down for revenge, if news of Jack’s activities made it past local headlines.
Or Jack could just… stay. Not exactly a sustainable solution, but maybe Piki would eventually get bored and let Jack go on his own. And besides, he was technically living with Piki right now. The current situation didn’t exactly match Jack’s prior romantic fantasies, admittedly, but this was a form of intimacy, wasn’t it? For a given definition of intimacy, at least?
Did Stockholm Syndrome work in reverse? Maybe Jack could talk Piki into having some movie nights together, while he was here. That would be nice.
Yes, this was a good plan. Jack could always think about longer-term solutions later. He was in no rush.
Jack went to go check the stack of books to see which ones Piki had picked out for him. He felt a rush of warmth when he saw that several of his favorite books were there, along with a smattering of works by some of his favored authors and a handful of books he’d had his eye on but never got around to reading. Piki had been paying attention to what Jack had been looking into at the bookstore, that was so sweet.
Jack picked up one of the new books, along with a blank notebook and a pen. He set the writing tools aside and settled back in the bed to start reading.
-
A careful knock on the door preceded Piki’s return a little over an hour later. He had changed into his street clothes and was holding a tray. “Jack? I brought you some food, if you’re hungry?”
Jack looked up from his book and smiled at Piki. He picked up the notebook and straightened up in bed, beckoning Piki over.
Piki seemed a bit surprised, but he set the tray down on the little table in the corner of the room and approached Jack. “What is it?”
Jack swung his legs over the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him. Piki gingerly sat down beside him, and Jack opened the notebook so they could both see it.
Thank you for rescuing me, Jack wrote.
“What? I mean, you’re welcome, but to be honest, I didn’t expect you to see this that way,” Piki replied.
I know you wouldn’t have done this without good reason.
Piki looked surprised, and a bit skeptical. “That’s… very understanding of you. Thank you. Is, is there anything that you need? Anything that would make this situation any more pleasant?”
Would you stay with me for a while? I’m feeling a little lonely.
“Yes, of course, if that’s what you’d like.”
Can you tell me about your work? I’m sure that having superpowers and running around with heroes and villains must lend itself to some interesting stories.
“Oh, you have no idea…”
-
It had only taken a few days before Jack had managed to persuade Piki into a movie night. It had been easy enough to get him to stay; the simplest way to watch a film would be with a laptop, and Piki couldn’t very well leave a laptop connected to the internet alone with Jack, or Jack might use it to contact the heroes or someone else who would complicate the current hostage situation.
So now the two of them were half-reclined on Jack’s bed, propped up with pillows and watching the scene playing out on the laptop balanced on Piki’s thighs.
“Ugh, this is absolute garbage. This man clearly cannot act worth a damn, and don’t even get me started on the hack job of stage direction that the director is managing. Everyone involved in this production should have been fired,” Piki groused.
Jack smiled and shifted a little bit closer, enough that their sides were pressed against each other and Jack’s hand was half-overlapped on Piki’s. “H-hey, Piki,” Jack murmured.
“Hmn?” Piki made a questioning noise and turned his head to look at Jack. Jack took the opportunity to curl his hand around the side of Piki’s jaw and lean forwards, bringing their faces closer together.
Piki’s eyelids fluttered closed, but snapped back open before Jack could kiss him. Piki jerked backwards, breaking any contact between them.
"No! No, this is wrong. This, this is Stockholm Syndrome, or… or you're so afraid of me that you think that letting me take what I want means that I might not hurt you any further," Piki said, looking sickened. He scrambled to snap the laptop shut and lurched off of the bed, away from Jack.
Jack was left staring at him, stunned.
Piki drew in a shaky breath and stared off somewhere past Jack into space. "This is going to taint everything we ever might have had. I…" Piki shook his head, wrapping his free arm around himself. “I'm sorry, Jack. I… Pitch will take care of you from now on."
Before Jack could say anything, Piki fled the room and shut the door behind him.
-
True to his word, the next time the door to Jack’s room opened, it was Pitch carrying the tray of food. “Here you go,” he said, plunking it carelessly on the table.
“P-P-Pitch?”
Pitch rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you. You don’t need to shake in your boots.”
“I’m n-not scared. This i-is just the way I t-talk,” Jack stammered out, hating the way that his mouth stumbled over the few basic sentences.
“Ah. Well, nevermind then. What do you want?”
“P-Piki. He’s… L-Look, can I just write it d-down?” Jack asked.
“Fine,” Pitch sighed, walking over to Jack to read what he wrote down.
Piki’s sad, isn’t he?
“That’s a bit of an understatement. Moping and maudlin and distraught would be better words for it,” Pitch replied.
Would it be better if he was angry?
“I mean, he’d probably be marginally less insufferable then. Why?” Pitch asked.
Jack inhaled and braced for the loss of his career. Because I have something I probably ought to confess.
“What, do you have a boyfriend who’s a superhero or something?”
No. Jack wrote, then let the rime frost spiral down the length of his body, wrapping the identity of the Winter King around himself once more. Pitch gasped and stumbled backwards, breath misting in the air. By the time the transformation was complete, the shock had bled into anger.
“Oh, you absolute bastard,” Pitch snarled, before whirling around and flinging open the door. “Piki!”
“Pitch? What is it, is J-” Piki looked through the door and froze when he saw the Winter King. He broke out of it after a moment, stepping forward as shadows began to surge around his body. “What the hell did you do to Jack?!”
“He is Jack,” Pitch snapped.
“He- what? No, that’s not-”
“It is, Piki. It’s me. I’m sorry, I probably should have told you sooner,” Jack said.
Shock and hurt flashed over Piki’s face, before finally settling back on anger. “You… This has always just been some game to you, hasn’t it? Some hilarious joke, to toy with me? You must have been laughing so much at being able to trick me. Did you share the joke with your friends?” he spat.
“No. I really did, really do care about you. But I didn’t want you to see me as some helpless pathetic nobody. I wanted to impress you, and prove that I was actually worth something. But I didn’t go about it in the best way, I see that now. And maybe… maybe all you wanted was someone pathetic to look after. I don’t know. But that isn’t me,” Jack said, and sighed. “If you really want to fight, then I understand, but I don’t want to fight you, Piki.”
Piki growled, and seemed to struggle with himself. Pitch stepped up beside him, and Jack braced for an attack. Instead, Piki’s shoulders slumped and he stepped out of the doorway. “Just… go. I don’t want to have to look at you.”
Jack left.
-
When Jack got home, he set to packing up his things and preparing to move. It was only a matter of time before his identity hit the headlines, and then he would need to go somewhere else. Gotham was supposed to be nice this time of the year.
But it never came. No bounty hunters showed up at his apartment to try to collect, and nothing happened for days.
Finally, Jack received a note in his mailbox, one that had no stamp, though it did have a return address. It just said, We have a lot we need to talk about, I think.
