To Bea Okay Pt. 1: The First Of A Thousand Steps Forward
To Bea Okay Pt. 1: The First of a Thousand Steps Forward
[A desperate young woman with nothing to lose accepts a job offer that's a little too good to be true. Or, how Bea came to work for the ministry.] Below the cut.
From the moment she's approached on the street, Bea thinks to herself that this has to be some kind of elaborate scheme; That the flyer she is holding in her hands is a one way ticket to losing her kidneys to some back alley surgeon, and that she should do herself a favor and throw it away.
But, looking up from the embossed print at the odd nun who had handed it to her, she just gives a noncommittal shrug and tucks it away inside of her tote bag along with all the other random bullshit she's been handed already.
Despite putting on her bravest, bitchiest face when approached by people trying to give her stuff like this, Bea's never been good at turning people down when they aren't put off by her obvious annoyance and discomfort, because, quite frankly, saying "No" has always been a difficult thing for her to do.
Now, standing by a dumpster, Bea reaps what she's sown and turns her tote bag upside-down, letting its contents filter out into the trash.
Not like she has anything important in there anyway.
Everything slips away just fine, except for that stupid fancy flyer the nun gave her -the cardstock much more rigid than the flimsy printer paper she's usually handed- which gets caught up in the handles of her bag, and when shaking it doesn't loosen it even an inch, Bea gives an irritated grunt and rips it from there herself.
Looking at the paper once more, Bea leans herself against the bricks behind her and takes a moment to actually read what it says again;
"Now Hiring: Year Round Groundskeeper, Inquiries Please Visit Our Community Outreach Post At The Nunnery On Maple View."
Huh.
Bea squints at the page searching for any fine print or any obvious red flags, going so far as to hold the flyer up to the sparse sunlight peaking through the clouds overhead, searching for... something.
And that's when she sees it, the faintest hint of a odd sigil that appears like a phantom as the light shines through the dense paper;
It looks like an inverted cross with a circle set around the bottom.
"That's..."
Lowering the flyer, Bea tilts her head back against the wall, thinking.
On one hand, this is obviously sketchy as hell, but on the other hand, perhaps not the organ snatching kind of sketchy she thought it was.
Or maybe it's just a very fancy organ snatching thing.
She pushes away from the wall and shakes her head.
Honestly, if this is some kind of cult thing, she should hand this in to the authorities, but Bea's never gotten along with cops, and even if she hasn't done anything illegal in... about a year or so?
Yeah, she's not risking getting stuck in jail overnight.
But checking out a possible cult in the city using a groundskeeping job as a scam to draw in someone desperate enough to go for it?
Color Bea impressed.
And fucking desperate as shit.
If the offer turns out to be legitimate, cult or no cult, Bea's been looking for an opportunity like this.
Finally, a fucking chance of not sleeping in her car!
Erm... maybe.
Looking at herself in the window of an empty store front, Bea's not exactly the kind of person you'd want to hire on the spot; She's not big or tall, she's sturdy, compactly built, but entirely unassuming dressed as she is now.
It doesn't help that her hair hasn't been washed in days, or that she hasn't been able to keep up with basic hygiene like brushing her teeth, but-
...She needs this.
She needs to get out of this hole she's dug for herself.
Pinching her eyes shut, Bea takes a deep breath, rolls her shoulders, and stands up straight.
Fuck it.
Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it... she's going to do it.
She's gonna do it.
She's going to go in and ask about the job.
.
.
.
Bea's not sure exactly what a nunnery is or what purpose it serves -beyond being a place where nuns live- but sitting in the hallway waiting to be interviewed, she can at least admire the nice architecture.
It's strange though.
The lack of crosses on the walls.
In fact, there's not a lot of religious iconography anywhere in this front room, not that she minds really.
Bea's never been exceedingly religious; She wasn't brought up going to church, even if her mother had been raised Catholic, she, too, seemed disinterested in continuing on with her faith.
Not that she could really blame her.
Life had not been kind to her mother, and as a result Bea's hadn't turned out much better, but a small part of her has always held onto the hope that things could get better... even if things had really gone south for her over the last couple of years.
Lifting her head from her lap, Bea surveys the others waiting in the hall, folding back into herself just a little when she realizes she's the only woman here.
This sort of thing doesn't exactly surprise her all told, but it does make her a bit less confident that she'll even be considered for the job.
By and large people hiring for landscaping work or other jobs requiring physical labor prefer to hire men, even if Bea has the experience and know how, some folks are just set on the idea that someone like her can't -or even shouldn't- be working in this field.
She'd gotten enough "well meaning" lectures from older men about how she wasn't built for this kind of work, that she should stop cutting her hair, that she should smile more, and-
"Beatrix Milne?" A gentle voice calls, drawing her from her internal ramblings.
She stands and is greeted by a sweet looking, elderly nun, who gestures smoothly for her to approach and enter the room to her right.
Inside the room, sits an older woman dressed in mostly black with a brown shawl draped over her shoulders, grey and blond hair tied back in a tight bun that makes Bea's own head ache from the tension present there.
"Have a seat." the woman smiles, and Bea does what she's told, moving her tote bag into her lap so it doesn't catch on the arm of the chair, "I have to say, this is a refreshing sight, I've seen thirty men so far... It's nice to see a young woman like yourself applying for a position like this."
"I... Mn." Bea bites her tongue, unsure of how to feel about that statement, opting to simply nod instead, "I've worked similar jobs in the past, so I thought I would apply."
"Experience is a desired trait." the woman chuckles, tenting her fingers on the desk, "Introductions first; I am Sister Imperator, I am, as my title might suggest, the mother superior of this particular nunnery, though perhaps not for much longer..."
She gives a somber smile.
"And you are?"
"Beatrix Milne, or just Bea..." she says, "When you say that..."
"My health is in decline." Sister Imperator supplies, answering Bea's unfinished question, not seeming in the least bit offended by it either, "I intend to retire soon, and return home to the countryside, which is why I am hoping to hire a new groundskeeper; The property maintained by my family is quite large and difficult for someone such as myself to tend to, even with the help of the other residents of the property, only a handful of them are skilled in art of horticulture and understand the balance between beauty and the thoughtful maintenance required to care for the surrounding green spaces..."
"Additionally, there are tasks that need to be done that require the knowledge of how to use highly specific tools and machinery that I would not risk allowing an inexperienced individual using for fear of damaging it or themselves." she explains, "I also do not enjoy pulling them from their studies to work outside..."
"Studies?"
"Part of the property houses a school of sorts, a small one, but a school nonetheless, where individuals come to study specialized fields of science, literature, etcetera... I often rely on volunteers among these students to help maintain the property alongside our current gardener." she says, leaning back in her chair, "Our gardener is a diligent, hardworking fellow, but he oftentimes bites off more than he can chew, and he bears other responsibilities that take him away from the property for long periods of time, which makes it difficult to maintain things properly."
"...So you'd be hiring me to pick up his slack?" Bea questions, and Sister Imperator gives a little laugh and shakes her head.
"In a way, yes, but I really much prefer having someone else who's capable around when he is not, or perhaps when more than one set of hands would come in useful." she replies, "Making one person work to maintain nearly fifty acres of land would be cruel, even if a little over half of it is woodland."
"Fifty acres..." Bea tries to imagine it, but the sheer size is difficult to comprehend based on a number alone, so she tries to visualize it using a similarly large unit to help; Football fields.
As Bea sits doing the mental math of football fields to a single acre, Sister Imperator continues on explaining the details of the job.
"-Of course, I understand if you would be worried about leaving behind friends and family here in the states."
"Oh, uh..." Bea blinks back to the present at about sixteen football fields, "...No, not really."
"Oh?"
"I'm not in contact with my family, and I'm new to the area, so I don't really know anyone here." she admits easily, "I can pick up and go pretty much anywhere."
And that...
That really makes the older lady grin.
"Really... Well, I have to admit that that puts you ahead of some of the other candidates." she shuffles some papers in front of her, "...If I were to offer you the position now, how soon would you like to start?"
Bea stares.
"...As soon as possible... if p-possible?" she gives a nervous laugh.
Sister Imperator stands and rounds the table in a singular, swift motion, hand grazing the table top as she heads for the door.
Bea gives a nervous squeak when she opens it to step outside, but then the woman opens her mouth and-
"I've decided on a candidate, thank you all for your time, you are free to leave now."
The door closes again.
"Now then..." she says, gliding back around the desk and taking a seat once more.
"Let's discuss the finer details of your new job."
What.
"...What?"
Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have left that interview thinking it was shady as hell, but Bea?
Bea leaves the nunnery not thinking about much at all.
Actually, as she drifts through the door, the first thing that filters through her mind is how hungry she is.
There had been little candies on the desk during the interview, and she'd eaten one or two while waiting for Sister Imperator to come back with the necessary paperwork, and when she got caught popping a third in her mouth, the older woman had slid the bowl a little closer in a subtle, encouraging gesture.
Bea twirls one of the wrappers between her fingers.
"Maybe it's actually poison." a small part of her brain frets, but Bea just hums, thinking about what she can afford to eat that will actually be even remotely filling, "...It's sweet though."
.
.
.
Bea's never been on a plane before, and after being on one for nearly eight hours, she's come to the conclusion that she's never getting on another one ever again.
What little pride and dignity she might have had prior to boarding that wretched contraption is flung out the window as soon as she's firmly on the ground, curling into a tight ball.
If it weren't for the modicum of shame she feels -combined with a touch of nausea- she would have stayed there.
It sucks that for some things you have to experience it first to know how much it'll mess with your stomach, but, hey, now she knows.
Scrambling back to her feet, Bea parks her carryon beside herself and tugs on the coat she'd bought in anticipation of this trip; It may be decently warm inside the airport, but she can see the snow coming down outside, and she'd rather not freeze while waiting for her ride to arrive.
The ministry -the organization Sister Imperator works for...? Runs...?- had arranged to send a car to pick her up at the airport, which had been nice of them, especially seeing as Bea wouldn't know how to ask for one, let alone give the driver proper directions, because she doesn't exactly speak Swedish.
Yeah, somehow an old lady she's never met before, who possibly runs a cult, convinced Bea to travel to Sweden of all places on a whim.
Despite the obvious red flags, the prospect of being in a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language, and the voice of reason screaming at her NOT to do it; Bea did it.
She's always been this way truth be told, ever since she was a little kid, she knows she shouldn't but she does it anyway, because marching into Hell feels different than stumbling into it, even if she could have taken any other option.
At the end of the day, Bea supposes, she just wants to see what will happen.
She's the type of person who doesn't want to get involved with gossip, and yet needs to know all the details, and sometimes that requires her to get involved to some extent...
Although in this case, knowing that this could all be some ploy to drag her into something shady and illegal, the thought that echoes most prominently in her mind is...
"The worst they can do is kill me."
And in some strange way she finds comfort in that.
That, ultimately, coming here, she's accepting that as a possible outcome... and she's okay with it.
She's okay with the idea of dying.
Perhaps that's something she should be worried about.
But for now?
For now she waits for the car to take her somewhere far, far away...
More Posts from Coulduseprozac and Others
A Lack of Engagement Pt. 8: Save The Date
[Previous Part: Here. The final installment in the ALOE series. I am first and foremost a delighter in chaos. This is what happens when you let me write while ill.] Below the cut.
While the groundskeeper drags the lake closest to the docks for any signs of the giant dick that started this whole mess, Rain and Dew spend their afternoon digging holes and carefully planting the blueberry bushes Bea had entrusted to them.
It's a tedious job, especially since neither of them knows how best to approach the situation; Whether it's better to dig all the holes first, or simply dig them one at a time, but either way the task is distracting enough for the two of them to spend most of it working in near silence.
Rain digs the holes and Dew sets the plants into the ground, carefully covering the roots, his nails slowly becoming encrusted in soil.
They wind up making a loose circle, spacing the bushes out with room to grow, and by the time they finish and take a moment to stand back and admire their hard work, Bea's approaching them once more.
"Hm, good job." she nods approvingly, placing her hands on her hips, "I appreciate the help."
Rain smiles, then looks past the woman towards the docks, "How did the search go...?"
Bea scratches her fingers through the short hair on top of her head, glancing back over at the water herself.
"Well, there's definitely something in the water over there," she says, "but that's the thing; There's a LOT of things in the water by the docks."
She gestures for them to follow her, and they all find themselves standing on the edge of the dock, staring out over the water.
"The water here is relatively clear, so you can see the bottom pretty easily." she explains, "I didn't have to search long to find an abnormality, but..."
She points to several odd shapes in the silt below, "It's kind of a mess down there."
Rain frowns, the groundskeeper is right, there's all kind of debris in the water by the docks, and none of it really looks like what they're searching for.
"You said the statue you were looking for was made of metal, so I thought I could just sink a magnet on a line and see what it stuck to, but, then again, there's so much garbage down there... and I think y'all said the blasted thing was made of bronze, yeah?" She asks, and the pair nods, "Yeah, see, you can't use a magnet to find bronze, because the shit's not magnetic, well, not unless it has nickel mixed in-"
Bea cuts her rambling short and shakes her head.
"Anyway, point is, short of diving in there and having a look around, I can't really go in there and shift things around much more. Taking a net to the lighter debris is one thing, but I can't be hauling up anything heavy and potentially waterlogged manually." she sighs, "Personally, I'd have the Creature From The Black Lagoon over there-" she gestures loosely at Rain, "-take a dive and see if anything fits the bill."
"We appreciate the help either way, Bea." Rain says, "Sorry to take up so much of your time."
Bea shrugs, "Ehn, it's whatever. Besides, if I had known earlier how messy this area was, I'd have probably come out here sooner and organized a group to help sort out all of this..."
She places her hands on her hips.
"I'm going to talk to Copia about getting some machinery in so we can remove some of the larger bits from the water, but it'll probably take a while for that to happen, so..."
Rain hums.
"We'll figure something out in the meantime, go have your fun with Mountain already." he does a light shooing motion, "Just shout if he actually tries to kill you."
"Aw, so kind of you to think I'd have the time to scream if he really wanted me dead." Bea places a hand on her chest, "But yeah, I better get going, or he'll be upset... I did promise I'd let him make dinner afterwards..."
As Bea leaves with a bit of a skip to her step, Dew can't help but turn to look at Rain and mouth a simple, "What the fuck?"
.
.
.
"So a plan B is in order." Rain announces after surfacing for the fifth time, "I've found two car fenders, a large rock that looks like a penis, but was definitely a rock, and, like, three shopping carts at this point."
Dew kicks his feet in the water, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping?"
Rain pulls himself up onto the dock, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping."
"Man..." Dew flops backwards, sighing, "I was kind of hoping we'd find the dick, I kind of wanted to see that ridiculous thing again..."
"I mean, yeah, it was pretty funny to look at." Rain agrees, laying down next to him, "...Dew?"
"Yeah, Rainy?"
"Why do you think that dick showed up here in the first place?" he asks, turning his head to face Dew, who is already looking at him when he glances over, "Like, the sudden rumors, it just appearing and disappearing and all of that... It just feels... odd, you know?"
"Mn." the other ghoul thinks for a moment, "Well, strange things happen here all the time, it's just the nature of things, I suppose... I don't want to dismiss it's... oddness, but, I guess I've bore witness to a lot of weird shit over the years so this didn't really register high on the list."
"But it is weird, right?" Rain wonders aloud, "Touching that statue, winding up in that other... dimension? World? Whatever that was... and then traveling to Limbo, getting out of there so easily because we could bargain with the Toll Man... Hell, even Bea being willing to help us search the lake... it all feels too convenient to be real."
Dew reaches over and trails his fingers down Rain's side making him twitch slightly before letting out a yelp as Dew pinches his sensitive skin.
"Ow! Hey-"
"Well, we can rule out the idea that this isn't real or a dream." he chirps innocently, "But I get what you mean. It's like someone is guiding us somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that."
"Who do you think it is?" Rain asks, "Guiding us?"
"Honestly? It could be anyone." Dew says, sitting up again, "You said you heard the rumors about the dick from eavesdropping on the siblings, right?"
Rain nods.
"Well, the siblings all study the arcane arts, at least the ones living here in the abbey do. It wouldn't be hard for a couple of them to concoct some weird multi-dimensional, teleporting penis... no matter how fucking weird that sounds now that I'm saying it." he turns to look at the abbey in the distance, "Point is, whoever made it probably just wanted to test out the statue on some poor saps curious enough the try it out... Or ministry actually shelled out cash for a giant metal dick statue, but that doesn't feel like a Copia purchase to be honest."
"Definitely more of Terzo purchase," Rain chimes in, "or Ome-"
"Omega!" Dew gasps, "Why didn't I think to ask him before??"
"Huh?"
"Omega manages the arts department! It's... kind of a holdover position from when Terzo was still around and they'd do 'still life nights' that were just an excuse to fuck each other covered in paint, but he's basically in charge of deciding what pieces go on display and which ones get vetoed or shipped elsewhere for viewing." Dew explains, "He'd know if the dick is still in the collection if it's not in the lake!"
"...Can we go back to the having sex covered in paint part?"
"Rainy."
"What?" Rain pouts, "I'm a connoisseur of the arts myself... Also was that one of the instances where you and them..."
He brings two of his fingers together, then, after some thought, tries the same motion but with three instead.
"...I will admit that Terzo did occasionally school me on my... brushstrokes."
Rain whistles and Dew kicks him in the side lightly.
"C'mon, ya perv, let's go see Omega."
.
.
.
"...A giant metal dick?" Omega's mouth hangs open as he processes what Dew has said, "No... I don't think we have one of those. We do have a rather large, um, Georgia O'Keefe style statue that has a similar story to it, but it involved rubbing the clit and some people had a bit of a hard time finding the right spot to-Anyway. No, no large metal dicks."
"Aw, fiddlesticks." Dew snaps his fingers, "...Any idea where we can find the pussy statue by any chance?"
Omega eyes him wearily.
"No dice, huh?"
The older ghoul nods.
"Circling back," Omega says, waving his hand about dismissively, "you said you two held hands in front of this dick statue, rubbed it, wound up in another universe where you were married, then traveled through Limbo, came back here, had the groundskeeper -who is currently getting railed by Mountain, a detail I didn't need to know- search the lake and came up empty... which lead you to here, am I correct?"
Rain and Dew nod.
"Yeah, that's basically everything."
Omega leans back in his office chair, bringing his hands up in a prayerlike gesture.
"Boys, have you been eating out of Lucifer's cabbage patch...?"
"Lucifer's... Are you asking if we're high??" Dew balks, "Omega, it's a Monday! I'd at least wait until Tuesday-"
"Professionally, no..."
Rain clears his throat, "We're being serious, Omega. We experienced something really weird, and now we're kind of... It lead to some... emotions. So we just... we want to confirm that it, ya know, actually happened, and also we kind of sort of promised a ten foot tall demon in Limbo that we'd send him back something he could ride, and the giant metal dick that started all of this seemed like the obvious choice."
"Ten foot tall demon in Limbo..." Omega looks between Rain and Dew, "...Dewcifer Maurice Drop, if you're telling the truth, did you-"
"Fuck the Toll Man again? No, not this time."
Rain throws his hands in the air, "He knows about that, but you never told me-"
Omega holds up his hand, "As a medical professional and a man of science, I needed to know how-"
Dew slaps his hands down on the desk.
"He can shrink down!"
"OHHHH!"
As the sun finally begins to dip below the horizon, Dew, still reeling from their conversation with Omega, lets out a sigh as he and Rain fall onto the couch in the ghouls' common room.
"Well... we're back at square one." he says, letting his body sag into the cushions, "...Can you get me my laptop?"
"Gonna order the dildo for the Toll Man?" Rain asks, "You sure you don't want to wait and see if the metal dick doesn't show up somewhere?"
"Nah, let's just... We're the only people that seem to know that thing exists. I'm tired, and I have a giftcard that expires soon, so... Two birds, one stone. Laptop, please." he shrugs, "Oh, and my reading glasses!"
"Aye, aye, Captain." Rain salutes him and Dew rolls his eyes, smiling softly as the other walks away.
As soon as Rain returns, Dew opens up his laptop and clicks on a pinned link below his search bar.
"...You just have this site on quick access?" Rain's eyes grow wide as he takes in a barrage of colorful sex toys in some... unconventional shapes and sizes, "On your unlocked laptop no less?"
"If anyone opens my laptop without my permission and the worst they see is a bunch of penises than I think it's fine." Dew says, pushing up his reading glasses as he scrolls through their options, "This isn't even my main computer... Anyway, let me know if you see anything you want."
"...You're gonna buy me a dildo?"
"Or a vibe or one of those stroker things, whatever your perverted heart desires, I'm feeling strangely generous."
After a bit of searching, and spending way too long customizing not one, but two absurdly large sex toys, Dew carefully inputs the details on the gift card and confirms his purchases...
...Just in time for Swiss to walk in dragging a certain metal dick in what is effectively the ghouls' front door.
"You guys will NOT believe what I found-"
Rain and Dew exchanges looks.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
Not me pulling up in your driveway like I live there, listening to my favorite Swedish satanic band, bringing you your Doordash order.
![[x]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/d7af6367c4cb7c65fa3a7fe98018df1d/f86282f4975efa46-21/s500x750/40e8896ae8ead9a3bf4a06d04afb568c3b24ea69.gif)
![[x]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f6bc5b6dad953369c5757688f4ed565a/f86282f4975efa46-74/s500x750/7050f0bc03c1572d26b8747ea44d76b3846e2e68.gif)
The most powerful ghoul!! ;3
Mushy May 2024
Day 10- Quiet Nights
I played it a little loose with the concept of the prompt, but it still fits and overall is something I enjoyed writing :)
Rating: G
Characters: Sunshine and Zephyr, background Ifrit and Swiss
Words: ~1.1k
Summary: Shortly before her summoning, Sunshine gets worried about how being summoned topside and having the latent fire magic inside of her activated will change the air element she already has. Some late evening meetings with some ghouls recently returned to the pit alleviate her concerns.
Involves my personal headcannon that while hybrid ghouls are born as such, multi ghouls are made so
Thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing and @ghuleh-recs for the great dividers ♡
Already, Sunny can feel the pull. The humans of the ministry might not know yet, but she has been told by the Dark Lord himself that she will be the next ghoul summoned by the satanic ministry. In three short months by topside calculations, she will be summoned.
This time is different though, a direct blessing from Him to strengthen the fire element within her. She has always felt its potential, but once she goes topside she will be both air and fire. A true multi ghoul. The prospect is exciting, everything she could ever ask for, but nerve-racking all the same. What if she learns to love the fire too much, forsaking the air element she has known her whole life? What if in order to strengthen the one element the other weakens?
These and various other questions have been blazing through her mind ever since she got the news, a wildfire of worry charring any other line of thought caught in its way.
The answer to her worries comes in the form of a resource she didn’t even know existed, the previous band ghouls. Getting an introduction to Zephyr and Ifrit was simple enough, news of returning ghouls travels fast and why not set up a dinner meeting for them and the new kid to chat.
Sunny sees the meeting with the ghouls for the perfect opportunity that it is, exactly the chance she needed to quell all her worries about being topside and her latent fire element.
She has always been extremely direct and voices her concerns to the two ghouls almost immediately, before the hellish vintage Zephyr picked out has even finished being poured.
She carefully notes the roaring laugh this pulls from the fire ghoul and the fond exasperated sigh from the air ghoul.
“Told you she wasn’t worried about the fire part, this is all on you my dear” Ifrit teases, pouring a little extra wine into Zephyrs goblet with a knowing look.
The plan gets worked out quickly leaving lots of time to chat and get to know one another. Each night leading up to her summoning Sunny will meet up with Zephyr and work on meditations to better connect her to her air magic. In addition, every other evening she will meet with Ifrit briefly to go over fire ghoul things. Just because it’s not her present concern doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy and Ifrit is historically eager to help anyways.
The meetings with Ifrit are raucous and energetic, freeing in a way she didn’t know was possible. The meditations with Zephyr are magical in multiple senses of the word.
As in tune with her magic as Sunny previously thought she was, it quickly becomes clear how much more she could improve.
Zephyr's techniques tend to be a mixture of focused meditation and light yoga, after which she swears she can sense the ambient magic swirling on the breeze around her.
There’s a closeness that grows in the silence. The shared concentration and mirrored movements accompanied by the soft sounds of air rustling the plants around them imprints upon Sunshine a feeling of having the air ghoul’s soul laid bare and hers revealed in turn. These moments together quickly become the highlight of her day, and something she knows will be missed terribly once she is summoned.
Halfway through her summoning countdown she meets up with Zephyr but something feels different. The older ghoul is holding back, but this time she doesn’t push, willing to let the conversation topics float along however Zephyr sees fit.
After several minutes she finally hears it, that same resigned sigh from the night they met.
Still, she waits patiently. A light smile and a turn of the head as encouragement to spur Zephyr to speak on whatever is weighing his mind without pressuring him. It works perfectly.
“If it helps at all, you won’t be the only multi ghoul up there. I hope that you find kinship with them,” he starts, nerves seeping into his normal light demeanor. “The method I want to show you tonight is something I made with said multi ghoul. There are parts specific to a multi-element aptitude, which I do not possess, but I hope I can explain clearly enough for you to understand.”
Sunshine works through the movements slowly, a drawing of pure elemental power into the body and a push down towards the ground to expel any other random magic within. It makes her veins feel like they are sparkling in an intoxicating way.
She frowns a little noticing there doesn’t seem to be as strong of an effect on Zephyr, but shakes it off choosing to enjoy the time with her new friend.
Night after night the two have dinner, joyous swapping of stories without a care in the world, followed by quiet purposeful meditations. Before they know it though, it is the eve of Sunny’s planned summoning.
Zephyr, Ifrit, and her have one final dinner together to celebrate the short friendship that they have fostered. The two older ghouls insist that they will see her again and cannot wait to hear about all the fun she will get up to. They both pass her along a few messages for ghouls on the surface, and leave her to prepare for the following day.
As she moves through the magical exercises on her own that night she feels at peace, bolstered to tackle whatever being topside will throw at her.
~~~
The summoning is chaotic as always, but overall goes uncharacteristically smooth. Sunny takes to her new element with gusto, the time spent with Ifrit more than paying off.
Everything is definitely still an adjustment for her with many new places and faces, but there are a few people in particular she is on the lookout for as the day moves along.
Late in the evening after all the chaos calms down, she sets out to wander the grounds and find a nice spot to meditate and reconcile both the elements inside her. From a distance she spots a lovely looking clear patch in a garden and makes her way over to it.
In the center of the clear patch stands a tall ghoul, performing movements that at this point are as much a part of her as anything else. A calm breath in, a forceful one out. A purposeful sway to facilitate the movement of ambient elemental energy. Leaning back on a bench nearby is a skeptical looking Ghoulette, looking on and heckling him as she corrects his form.
A hopeful smile creeps its way onto Sunny’s face and with a confident stride she bounds over to the meditating ghoul, hand outstretched.
“Hi, I’m Sunny and I bet you must be Swiss, Zephyr and Ifrit have told me so much about you. Mind if I join in?”
Vote because Project 2025 is dangerous to you and all those you love
You guys realize this means we ALL have to vote now. No "don't wanna vote biden" excuses now- if we don't vote our rights are going to be taken away.
I got tickets! I'm going to KC in August! I can't believe is spent that much for The Ascended VIP!
Someone asked me a short while ago what happened to Dewdrop that caused him to miss two shows. Thanks to @miss-grim and some research, I can share what happened:
On December 5th, 2018 during the Pale Tour Named Death, Dewdrop suffered an injury at around the midway point of the show. He continued to play the rest of the show, but backstage.
You can watch the full concert here.
Copia talks about him being injured at this point.
There's a news article here claiming that it was likely a shoulder injury as he was not moving his left arm after the show. That would certainly make it pretty difficult and painful to play. :(
Edit:
Here's a link to the final performance and final bows. You can see Dewdrop coming back on stage. His left arm is obviously injured. Aether and Rain come over to check on him.
Thank you anon for sharing!
Mushy May 2024
Day 2- Lake Night Snacks
Rating: G
Pairing: Cumulus & Rain
Words: 591
Thank you to @forlorn-crows for organizing the event once again ♡
Divider by @ghuleh-recs
There’s a high chance the loud noises and faint smell of bacon coming from the kitchen is purposefully trying to tempt somebody out, but Cumulus has been tossing and turning so long that she really doesn’t care. It only takes about 20 seconds before she’s throwing on a robe and slippers and setting down the hall in search of a distraction.
There’s a faint discontent noise from down the hall that she immediately clocks as belonging to Rain, bringing a soft smile to her face. It is so rare that she gets time alone with the water ghoul, the two of them often getting snagged by somebody else. This chance for the two of them to hang out alone is beyond overdue.
Before heading to bed she had noticed how beautiful the moon was shining on the lake, streaks of captivating pale blue light rippling with the shifting surface of the water. It had almost convinced her to head down, so it makes sense that Rain ended up there. Odds are he got carried away and only wandered back in.
As she rounds the corner to the kitchen, she can’t help but take a moment to appreciate the darling look of concentration on Rain’s face as he carefully pours batter onto a griddle in slow deliberate shapes.
“3am seems a bit early for breakfast” she teases, hopping up to sit on the counter opposite the griddle.
“It’s not so much early for breakfast, but late for dinner really. Got caught up at the bottom of the lake enjoying the moonlight, when I realized I was starving. Nobody else was up, but I had a feeling the extras wouldn’t go to waste” he yawns out in response, flipping a pancake onto the empty plate next to Cumulus.
“Hmmm you have always been perfect tempting, and I am here now so it’s a fair assumption.”
Cumulus smiles at the heart shaped pancake before picking it up, ripping it and handing one half to the water ghoul. She takes a quick moment to reunite the heart in a cheers motion and pops the treat into her mouth.
“Mmmm, it might be the late hour but that’s beyond amazing”
“Sunny and I have been working on incorporating fruit puree into the batter” Rain beams, sighing contently as he eats his own half.
“Mmm I love that y’all found an excuse to do something together that doesn’t end in tracking water everywhere”
Rain attempts to fake looking hurt at the insinuation that Sunshine and him are anything but well behaved, but it only lasts about 3 seconds before he dissolves into giggles.
“Yeah alright, well maybe you and I will have to scheme up some trouble to make up for it.” he lilts, following the air ghoulettes eyeline to the bacon beside him and handing her a piece.
The two go back and forth trading jokes and enjoying the alone time as Rain finishes up cooking. Eventually they hear a telltale groan of Mountain stretching as he shambles down the hallway to start his early day and make sure to leave the plates of food where he will see them.
They quietly scamper off to the patio to leave him to his routine, and make plans to meet up for some less elaborate late night snack and overall shenanigans on a semi-regular basis.
The next time the moon gets that particular irresistible shine to it Cumulus knows she’ll get alone time with her favorite water ghoul once again. This time she doesn’t even attempt to sleep, knowing the anticipation would keep her up anyways.
-
papaslittlesunshine liked this · 9 months ago -
mac-and-thefox reblogged this · 9 months ago -
glimmerofsanity liked this · 9 months ago -
swedishgremlin liked this · 9 months ago -
limp-b1zkit liked this · 9 months ago -
7crowsinadress liked this · 9 months ago -
coulduseprozac liked this · 9 months ago -
tiresias-the-prophet liked this · 9 months ago -
pollitoesbonito liked this · 9 months ago -
coulduseprozac reblogged this · 9 months ago
-
arawsuu liked this · 9 months ago -
dressed2depress liked this · 9 months ago -
cornflake2005 liked this · 9 months ago -
mac-and-thefox liked this · 9 months ago
-
thelampisaflashlight reblogged this · 9 months ago
