Lila and Lynn exited the elevator and both took a step backward at the sight that greeted them. Across the wall, across the floor, and somehow even across the ceiling tiles above Jasper’s tell-tale sign of his abstraction was visible. Oil. Jasper had used his abstraction since they were here, and whatever it fought had defeated it. Lila looked down the hallway, following the ink, and saw that the window at the end was broken as if something had jumped out. Lila looked back to Lynn, and the two mouthed a “what the fuck” before a sinking look befell both of their faces. “Father Wolf,” they said in unison before they took off down the hall toward Luca’s apartment. Lynn had already pulled up her phone and was trying to pull up the contact for Auri as she ran. As they reached the door, the sight of the door itself being open made their heart drop further. Lila, paying no mind to any potential danger, ran through the doorway and ran straight into Jasper who held a broom in his hand like a makeshift weapon.
“Fuck,” Jasper shouted as he raised up the broom to strike before he noticed his friend on the ground below him,
”fuck it’s Lila, and Lynn, Luca they’re here,”Jasper shouted to the other room. Jasper was missing his shirt. His pants were half there, cut from the thigh down on the right leg with three lacerations visible and bloody. His face was battered, and bruised, and his nose was broken even worse than it was yesterday. His face also had numerous cuts, gouges, and bruises. His chest had visible rot marks, as if Luca held him in a tight embrace.
”Thank god,” Jasper said as he turned around to look for a chair. He sighed as he remembered he had broken them all in the fight. His back had more scratches, bruises, and appeared to have even more rot than the front.
”Lynn, Lila!” Luca appeared behind Jasper, keeping his distance and peering around them. He dropped the wooden stick he’d been holding, rotting underneath his hands. Unlike Jasper, Luca was fully clothed - but he didn’t look any better. His bare arms were covered in long, ugly cuts, as if his skin itself had just torn. Almost every bit of visible skin was covered in dark bruises. He didn’t have any visible gouges, just tears and bruising all across him. He looked exhausted, eyes missing their normal spark of joy - though it was slowly reappearing from seeing Lila and Lynn.
”I’m so glad to see you, you have no idea!”“What the fuck happened,” Lynn started as she held a single finger over the call button.
“Were you attacked? Was it Father Wolf?”Luca opened his mouth to reply. It would be easy, he’d tell them about the terrifying apparition they’ve had to fight off last night, how Jasper had bravely battered if with chairs while Luca weakened it, until it fled with their precious gifts, then they’d help find it-
”We got scared watching a horror movie, and I jumped into Jasper’s arms, causing us both to fall over and hit our heads on the table.”What? Luca clenched his fists. That wasn’t what he wanted to say. He looked over at Jasper, eyes desperate. Maybe he could say it?
”What,” Jasper paused as he looked over and something felt off about Luca’s response.
” What Luca was trying to say was we were watching a movie, and during the movie a scary scene came on and Luca jumped into my arms, I lost my balance, and we fell down to the floor below.”. As the words left his lips his eyes filled with fear. He did not intend to say that. He wanted to talk about this monster that had attacked them, about how Luca held it off long enough for him to summon a knight to beat it back, and how it had a surprising amount of comedic timing.
Lila looked at Lynn with her mouth a slight bit agape. Did the two of them just lie? Lila wanted to ask them a few questions. Why did their fall to the ground cause all this damage? Why was the only thing not broken a laptop? What truly caused Luca to embrace Jasper? And why did Jasper summon one of his constructs? A tap on her shoulder from Lynn pulled her from her thoughts. Lynn had a different look on her face. Her eyes, full of excitement, and her mouth fully opened in a smile. She mouthed a “did they” and the question lingered with Lila for a second. Her eyes darted back to Luca and then to Jasper. She thought for a second before she looked back at Lynn and shrugged her shoulders with a smirk.
“Sooooooo…. You just.. jumped into Jasper arms, fell to the floor, and caused this much damage… just by jumping into his arms and falling to the ground.”No.
”Yup! That’s exactly what happened!” After saying that Luca turned around, and walked away - towards the window. He stopped at it and looked outside, wanting nothing more than to open it and just scream outside as if that would help anything. What the fuck?! Of course they didn’t just fucking fall to the ground. There was an apparition there! A fucking demon taunting them all night! He’d barely slept!
”We- we- we kept falling over! That’s why there’s so much damage.” Luca slammed his mouth shut, pressing his forehead against the window. It fizzled lightly underneath him, incredibly slowly - it would take hours for him to rot his way through glass. Thankfully.
”We didn’t sleep much last night, sorry.” “I bet you didn’t,” Lynn said as she elbowed Lila, and the two chuckled,
“and the scratches on the door? And we saw the remnants of Jasper’s construct out there as well. Did those happen when you two,” she paused as her smile grew wider. Good for them is the only thought that dared cross her mind.
“Fell,” she paused as she took a step closer,
“multiple times?””No,” Jasper nearly shouted as he took a step forward,
”I know what you’re thinking. That… Is... Not… what happened here last night,” he paused as he took a deep breath.
”After Luca jumped into my arms, I had to throw out the trash so I painted my knight to throw it out the window and it stumbled through the door. It’s blade caused those scratches.” Jasper stopped as he groaned loudly.
”Luca,” Jasper's eyes betrayed his concern as he looked at Luca. Whatever was happening to him was happening to him. Why couldn’t he speak?
”I don’t know,” Luca pathetically replied, still leaning against the window via his forehead. He didn’t want to turn around and see Lynn and Lila’s expressions… He could tell what they were thinking. Jasper probably didn’t, because he was straight, but Luca did and shit! It was so embarrassing.
”I just can’t explain how awful it was last night when- your knight destroyed my front door to throw out the trash.” ”Listen, Listen, you two take those thoughts you’re thinking and push them away, that is not what happened. It’s hard to say what happened last night, but we didn’t fall across the floor breaking everything,” Jaspers eyes lit up for a second. He was able to tell at least some truth and his words were his own. Whatever had compelled him to lie was gone. He could tell them what happened. He could erase all doubt. He was free.
”Okay. Okay okay. So he jumped into my arms and I just decided to danc-” he threw his up in the air. He wasn’t free. He wouldn’t be able to erase all doubt, nor could he tell them what happened. Whatever was compelling him to lie was still going strong.
”I just wanted a fun, safe evening,” Luca complained, closing his eyes. Everything hurt so much more than normal, his already fragile skin was extra sensitive and he had a headache coming on. But not being able to tell the truth was the most frustrating thing.
”But then we fell- oh fuck it! I can’t explain anything!”Luca finally pushed himself off of the window, making his way round to the barely holding together couch. He sat down on it and stared at his computer. At least he’d been able to protect it. He wasn’t going to lose his job.
”It’s going to take ages to tidy everything up.””I’ll help,” Jasper responded with a smile that read as kill me.
“Good”, Lila paused as she nudged Lynn,
“cause we don’t know what’s safe to touch””WE DID NOT FUCK,” Jasper shouted as he slid down the wall and rested on the floor.
”You think I would do that,” Luca gestured to all the rotten skin across Jasper’s front and back,
”by choice? Really?”[color=F08080]“Oh… of course not,” Lynn paused as she pondered the words and found there to be a nugget of truth there,
let me just,” Lynn paused as her eyes glazed over as she slipped into the possible future to get the answer.
”Maybe the future will be truthful,” Luca murmured, looking over at Jasper. He’d know what he meant. With a sigh, Luca stood up again. Alright! So this was a weird, shit situation where they were being haunted (possibly) by something they couldn’t talk about! But that was fine! He wouldn’t let something like that get him down! He was just tired. Being positive again started now!
”Alright, alright, let’s get cleaning- wait.” He turned to Lila, smiling at her - seeming to be back to the normal, bright Luca.
”Have you guys eaten yet?”“We did but I could go for another bite. We stayed up late drinking last night, thought about doing something stupid, instead we drank some more. Lynn made breakfast for us again this morning, but I’m still hungry. Whatcha got in mind?” Lila patted her stomach as she allowed Luca to change the subject. She in truth did not care what they did last night, and she knew that they’d tell her the truth in time.
”There’s a nice little bakery down the road. They do delivery, so I normally get that, but we can pop down… Should be quiet around now.” Luca smiled, relieved they could move past the awkward topic of them definitely not having sex but instead having the worst night ever. Plus, he was hungry. He’d used a lot of energy last night and then had barely slept. It meant he felt incredibly run down and nauseous, but he knew he needed to eat.
”Pretty cheap too, I’ll treat everyone!”He then glanced over at Jasper, and down at himself. He could at least cover his arms by putting on a jumper, and he had enough plasters for his face… probably. He could totally go outside like this.
”Hey, Jasper, did you bring a change of clothes?”“I did yes,” he paused as he pointed to his bag,
“give me a second and I’ll get one, and then let’s fucking eat.”Fifteen minutes would pass before Lynn returned from the possible future. She marked her return with a gasp and a step backwards.
“I don’t think they did,” Lynn said, a disappointed look fell over her face before a look of concern replaced it.
“You had a different excuse in every future. What happened last night,” she wondered to herself. Finally. A puzzle. Lynn loved puzzles.
“My favorite lie was from Luca. You said that a large tiger broke in through the door, and it just wanted some cuddles but it didn’t realize that it had sharp claws and that it was too big to fit in the room so it kinda destroyed everything.”“The fuck,” Lila responded as she looked over to Lynn and saw that she was serious.
“Let’s talk about it more over some more breakfast, I’m still hungry.”Luca opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Maybe it was best to just not talk about it, rather than risk saying that a tiger had broken into his apartment. Which honestly… he would have preferred over what actually had.
”Alright, follow me!”Luca led them out of his ruined apartment, and back out the building. The bakery he talked about was indeed just down the road, only a few buildings along. It was thankfully quiet, with only the two staff members busying themselves behind the counter. Luca carefully opened the door with his clothed elbow and stepped in, making sure to hang towards the back rather than close to all the breads and pastries.
”Order whatever you want, on me,” Luca turned back to the other three with a grin.
“Luca you’re the best,” Jasper said as he went up to order. He kept it simple and ordered a few buttered croissants, a large black coffee, and some tasty-looking Danish pastry. He did not care if it was not a full meal, he was simply hungry and wanted some quick relief from confectionery treats. As he got his order he stood off to the side, awaiting the rest of the group.
“Oh the generosity,” Lila responded as she ordered a few different baked goods, and grabbed a coffee of her own. She took a spot next to Jasper.
“Any other day and I would eat you broke,” Lynn joked with a wink,
“but today all I will take is a coffee”. She grabbed her coffee before she took a spot next to Lila. As she did, she chugged at the coffee for an uncomfortable long time before she looked towards the wall and slipped back into the possible future. She lingered there for another minute before she returned. Her eyes narrowed and they darted between Jasper and Luca.
”Next time, then,” Luca laughed. He ordered himself a variety of pastries, and then paid. He turned to the rest, holding up the paper bag his food was in (that he was concentrating very hard to not disintegrate).
”One of you mind taking this for me? Since I paid.”He couldn’t exactly say in front of the blind bakery staff the real reason - the others would get it.
Lynn shot her hand out and grabbed it before the rot sensation truly set in.
“So Jasper, after we eat you’re going to say that you want to check out the 317 to figure out the costumes,” she said, still trying to decipher what the future was telling her.
Jasper’s eyes narrowed for a second before it clicked in his mind. He wanted to wait to bring that up. He wanted to wait until they got some food, a chance to decompress, and maybe a quick nap. How far did Lynn look ahead this time?
“Yeah, I figure after the destruction our hugging caused last night I’d want a distraction,” he winced as his words were stolen again. How hard was it to say we were attacked by a fucking skeleton? If he ever saw that skeleton again he would make sure he finished the fight, right then and there.
“I know the leadership there well, we can get the friends and family discount. You down Luca? It’ll be before they get busy, so it should be mostly clear.””Of course!” Luca nodded. He made his way out of the bakery before continuing to talk.
”The sooner we get our costumes started the better! Wouldn’t want to rush them… If it’s going to be quiet, I should be able to avoid doing any damage.”He then frowned thoughtfully.
”Uh, they won’t have to measure us for the costumes, will they? That might be a bit difficult…”“They won’t, but their abstraction will,” Jasper said with a wink,
“it’ll be a second at most, and then they can get to work on the costume itself. Maybe a day or two from measure to completed. He paused as she shuddered.
We might run into Sypha while we’re there, if we do just be prepared for a free heal. It is…a process. You might be safe, but you won’t be safe from the visual.””Alright, that’s good,” Luca let out a sigh of relief, then tilted his head. He had no idea who Sypha was, or why he needed to be prepared… Did she heal in some really weird way? Generally he couldn’t get healed by others anyway due to the whole rotting thing.
”Is it worse than the sight of rotting flesh?” He asked this half jokingly, half genuinely, suppressing the memories of the two agent’s who’s skin had rotted off the day before… and Jasper too, though that was more difficult to suppress when it was visible in the present.
”I’ll keep it in mind… Are we heading right there, or going back to my place to eat?”“I need a break from the crazy so your place.”“It is entirely… too bright outside right now,” Lila said as she grabbed some sunglasses from her bag.
“I can help you guys clean or something while you two eat. Lynn, you down to help?”“No,” Lynn paused as she looked well past the group, deep in thought,
“the possible future is a place I need to be right now, I need to find some clues.”“Please,” Lila pleaded for a second, trying her best to guilt her into helping. Yet, she knew the point was moot. Lynn had caught the scent of a particularly interesting puzzle. Lila still thought the obvious answer was the correct one, but it had been a long time since she saw Lynn this invested in looking forward. Usually, that meant there was more to the equation than what was provided, and she would allow her friend to seek out that missing information.
”You don’t need to help too much, Lila, since it’s our mess,” Luca waved his hand. He didn’t want to annoy them by making them help clean up, especially when he and Jasper couldn’t even explain what had happened. If Lynn was going to look into the future that was great, because hopefully she’d see all the futures where they hunted down the skeletal apparition and realise what had happened!
Luca led the other three back to his apartment… Before looking around at the damage and realising the few chairs he had were pretty much destroyed in the fight last night. Awkwardly, he turned back to them.
”I think there’s still some chairs in Olivia’s room? We didn’t go in there last night.” He glanced around the room and sighed softly.
”Let’s eat first.” “Yeah I’ll go grab us a few,” Jasper ran and grabbed a few chairs for everyone. As he returned he spotted Lynn near the doorway running her hands down a slash mark on the wall. He remembered that the monster and his knight fought for a minute inside the apartment, and his knight tried to strike the monster but missed.
“Thanks,” Lila said as she sat down. She looked over to Lynn.
“With them not telling us what happened I hope you’ll be able to fill me in.”“Oh I’m going to figure this out,” Lynn said with a determined grin on her face,
“but I think it’s going to take a long while. The future is very unclear.”. She finished and slipped to the possible future.
Luca glanced over at the girls, nipping in to grab his pastries, before sidling over to Jasper - getting as close as he could without hurting him (again). He lowered his voice to a whisper that they couldn't hear.
”Why can't we tell them anything? We didn't have a shared fever dream did we?” After asking, he shoved a piece of a croissant in his mouth.
”You don't think we're cursed, do you?”“I don’t know why, I’ve tried to tell them about the skeleton,” he paused as he looked over towards Lynn,
“i don’t know. I think we have to be. We can talk about what happened freely between the two of us, like we were attacked by a four armed skeleton who had comedic timing,” Jasper paused as he leaned back,
“and then the man with the top hat walked through the door,” he said loud enough for Lila and Lynn to hear. He pointed as he finished his words.
“See? We have to be cursed. I don’t know much about curses but I think if we see that skeleton again we fight first and ask questions second””Agreed,” Luca nodded, frowning.
”We can't just let them get away with it… we'll beat it down and then ask how to break the curse! I wonder if it's just Lila and Lynn we can't tell… no, that would be weird. The whole things weird, why did that skeleton even appear in the first place!”“Maybe? We’ll have a chance to test it soon, we’ll be running into a few people I know and they’ll ask what happened for sure,” Jasper paused as he pondered the final question,
“I don’t know, I really don’t. Like why us?””Hopefully it's just them and we can explain to someone else…” Luca shrugged, before his lips tugged up into a slight smile, tone turning slightly more joking.
”Y’know, maybe it saw us and thought ‘wow those are two really cool guys’ and wanted to take a closer look. We’re just suffering from success.” “Just the nicest guys on the planet, you know what they need? To be visited by a used car salesman in the middle of the movie,” Jasper looked confused for a second before he looked to the side and saw Lila had drifted too close to the conversation.
“Hey, at least we’re dealing with this together. I think I’d be dead if it wasn’t for your help last night, thank you for holding it off for me.””Of course, I couldn’t let the used car salesman get the better of you!” Luca gritted his teeth in frustration… But at least Jasper would get what he meant. With Lila so close there was no point talking about what had happened last night, since they straight up couldn’t. With a smile, he turned to include Lila in the conversation, finishing off the croissant he’d been holding in one bite.
”Alright, cleanup. If we just pile up everything over there,” he pointed to the far corner,
”I can get rid of it easy. Uh, I don’t have a broom anymore, kinda destroyed it last night… Guess if we just fix the worst of it, haha.” “On it,” Lila said as she began to pick up the debris and carry them over to the designated corner. She used her feet to push some of it over but mostly relied on her hands for it. Jasper got up from his seat and flashed Luca a smile as he also began to help. As he grabbed broken pieces from broken chairs the images from the fight flashed in his mind. There was something off about the way the monster fighted, was it playing with them? Eventually the two managed to get the worst of the mess to the mess corner.
“Time to go?” Lynn asked the group as she returned from the possible future.
About a half hour later the group had arrived at The 317. The building itself did not have any parking spaces open to it so Jasper had to navigate to the side road and find parking there. Thankfully the area was still waking up and he was able to find parking decently close. The group would immediately notice that they were in an arts district. There were no chain stores in the area, and the restaurants and bars that did dot it had various well designed murals on the sides of the brick buildings. There were vintage clothing stores, antique stores, and flyers on every telephone phone advertising some showing in the nearby area. The 317 was not alone in the arts space here, it was simply the biggest and most visited place to buy, sell, and experience the arts.
Jasper led the group from the car on a short five minute walk down the block to the industrial complex. As the group approached the smell of the various food trucks would fill the air. They had just opened, and soon they would be swarmed, but for now they simply sat at the ends of the lot waiting. The air was filled with the sounds of the nearby birds, and stray conversations from the early birds at the gallery. The group would find their way to the side of the building where the door was already open.
As the group entered, Lila noticed that the hallway was much more wide than she suspected it to be. On either side of the hallway there were doors that led to the artists rooms, and most of the doors were open. As she followed Jasper she saw a room filled to the brim with clothing, paintings, rock sculptures, crystals, and more. It seemed like this place had a bit of everything and anything in the middle.
Luca looked around the room with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. He’d never seen anything like it. Honestly, he’d gotten used to off coloured, peeling walls and nearly bare rooms. He wanted to go take a look at everything, but also knew that he could - making sure to stay far enough away from everything so he didn’t damage it.
”Holy shit, this is amazing.”Eventually, Jasper found himself in front of a locked door near the middle side of the hallway. He knocked three times in a slow pattern, and as he waited he turned and flashed a smile to the group. A second later the door opened and a man walked out from behind the door.
“Jordan,” Jasper said with a nod.
“Jasper,” Jordan responded with a grin. He was Jordan Fuchs, brother of Sypha, and one of the resident artists in this space. He held his arms out wide and pulled Jasper into a hug. “You doing good buddy,” he asked, eyeing up the numerous bruises, cuts and rotted spots visible on his body, “you don’t look good.”.
“Yeah, yeah, we had an accident last night rustling cattle,” Jasper said as he groaned,
“It’s a long story but I’m good”“Good, good,” Jordan said as he stepped out of the way, leaving room for the group to head downstairs, “stop by Sypha’s office, she'll get you to actual good, stop by there
first.”
“Greeeat,” Jasper said with a sigh as he motioned for the group to follow him down the stairs. The downstairs was very much similar to the upstairs, however there were only four rooms one in each corner of the basement. The middle section was open, well as open as it could be as the various support columns dotted the area. These columns were decorated with various art and string lights. There were various benches arranged in a circle around a central circular table. Around the benches and table various candle holders littered the area. Over the treble a banner featuring their symbol hung.
Once he got to the bottom of the stairs, he paused before he took three more steps and found himself in the open doorway of the first room to the left of the stairs, knocking on the frame. His shoulders slouched as his hands shot out and a
“wait, wait, wait,” escaped his lips. Three seconds later several tendrils of blood impacted him all across his chest, slamming into it with force and cutting through his shirt, before he was lifted into the air and dragged inside.
”Holy shit!” After last night, Luca was immediately on edge, looking around for something he could use as a weapon to beat whoever was attacking Jasper. He reached over for a candle holder, and raised it with a determined look.
Lila and Lynn stood in a stunned silence for a second before they looked at Luca, and back to the doorway. Lynn went to the possible future for a brief second before she exhaled with a chuckle.
“That's Sypha.” ”... Oh.” Luca put back down the candle holder - thankfully undamaged, since he’d put on a pair of lycra gloves before they’d left (and brought plenty more with him). Carefully, he peered round the doorway, calling out,
”Jasper, are you alright?”“-ut things are good? You’re doing okay?” Sypha asked as she leaned across the desk towards Jasper.
“You’re not doing..” she paused as her eyes rose and eyed up Luca, and the injuries visible on his exposed skin. Her eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, I’m okay!”. Jasper spoke as he looked back on the group. He was sitting in one of two open chairs in front of an antique desk.
“Guys, this is Sypha, Sypha” he paused as he pointed back at his friends,
“That is Luca, Lila, and Lynn.”. The group would notice the cuts, bruises, and even the rot heal in a rapid pace and before their eyes. A few seconds more would pass before the tendrils released themselves from Jasper. They left behind a blood stains around the point of impact. Jasper was almost fully healed. Some remnants lingered but he felt good to go.
“Luca,” Sypha spoke as her blood tendrils danced in front of her. Speckles of blood fell to the ground. Thankfully, it was a concrete floor so cleanup would not be an issue. The tendrils shot out towards Luca and they flew across the room at a frightening pace. They aimed for his exposed skin all across his body.
”Huh?” Luca didn’t have time to react before the tendrils hit his skin, burrowing in. The immediate impact hurt, before it started healing… But after only a few seconds, the tips of the tendrils where they touched his skin began to darken and rust.
”Please take them out! Not cause it's scary or anything, it’ll just hurt you!”Sypha left them in for just a brief minute as she watched the rust spread up the tendril slowly. Her eyes opened more in surprise at the sight. She looked Luca in the eyes and said
“you’re right, I’m sorry but I won't be able to get you topped off.” she finished as she pulled the tendrils out of Luca’s body and moved them over to the corner. There was a trash can there and she hovered the tendrils over it before she released the ends of the tendrils, causing the rusted blood to drop into the can below.
“Luca, I need your help. Jasper told me a wild tale about how the two of you got hurt. Mind telling me what actually happened?” As she finished she pulled the tendrils back into her body, allowing her wound to close with nary a drop of blood dropped on herself. She pulled open a drawer and grabbed a small plastic container filled with sugar cookies, grabbing a few before she put it away.
”Don’t worry about it, I’m used to it,” Luca shrugged with a smile. He was glad she hadn’t gotten that hurt… Like the agent yesterday. His smile froze, though, when she asked him about what had happened. So Jasper hadn’t been able to tell someone else.. Maybe if you knew someone, you couldn’t. That would mean he could tell her! Hopefully!
”So we were watching a horror movie last night,” Luca started. So far, so good.
”When a clown walked into my apartment and terrified us so much I jumped into Jasper’s arms. Then he valiantly fought the clown off with all of my furniture, but kept tripping over the clown’s massive shoes and hurting himself.” Fuck.
“That’s funny because Jasper just said you two were working on a competitive ice skating routine,” Sypha paused as she groaned, leaning back in her chair as she did,
“I don’t have time to figure this out, whatcha doing here Jasper”.“Faith owes me a favor, calling it in for some costumes for the four of us.”Sypha took a bite of her cookie before she looked and Lila and Lynn. Her eyes held a question, and she did not let it linger for long
“should I worry about this one.”Lynn immediately shook her head ‘no’. She slipped into the possible future and this time, she projected it out for the whole room to see. The group would see a possible version of themselves, transparent and with a green filter overtop , but visible all the same. In these future she would turn to Jasper and ask him first what happened. In each one, Jasper responded with a different response each time. Yet there was one common theme plain to see in them. A slight wince after he finished speaking.
“Not sure what’s going on but I am looking into it. We’ll figure it out.”“Good. I like these friends better already Jasper. Faith is in her office, she paused as she swiveled in her chair, taking another bite of her sugar cookie.
“Your sister is in there. Good luck.”Jasper let out a soft groan as he looked back across the group. He felt better, healthier, and strangely lightheaded, and the day was already looking up. Yet he was about to have an impromptu meetup with his sister. It’s not that he hated his sister, or even disliked her, she just tended to be…. Overprotective.
“Just don’t tell her how hurt I was, okay?”“Too late.” Sypha tapped send on her phone.
Jasper moaned and motioned for the group to leave the room. As they stepped out he turned to Luca.
“How are you feeling?””I’m all good,” Luca gave Jasper a thumbs up, smiling. He’d taken his regular painkillers before leaving, and another that he took when his pain was worse than normal. So really, he wasn’t lying, because he was used to being like this. Just tripping over something would cause bruises to flower across his skin, and moving wrong could tear it. It was just a bit more extreme than that today.
”It looks a lot worse than it is!”He then leaned in slightly.
”But dude, I didn’t know you had a sister. What’s she like?”“I haven’t brought her up? She’s a few years older than I am, closer to Lynn in age. I don’t know if I had time during the old days to bring her up. She’s…” he paused as he sighed, his eyes caught sight of her already waiting for them outside the door of the room on the opposite corner of the basement
“Well you’re about to find out. She is intense, strong willed, and-”“Jasper, let him form his own opinions of me,” Octavia yelled as he began to cross the gap between the two. Her hands were clenched into fists, her eyes burned holes into Jasper’s face, and her mouth was curled down into a near snarl. She got into Jaspers face before she inspected him for injuries, and once she was content with what she saw her expression softened.
“Hi, I’m Octavia,” she said with a tired voice.
“Calling in a favor for costumes? This early in the morning, what the fuck man. You’re looking good, you doing okay?” Octavia crossed her arms, but did not let Jasper answer.
“You’re up first,” she pointed to Luca, her voice barely hiding the venom that wanted to come out,
“follow me””Ok,” Luca’s voice raised a pitch, eyes widening. Was he about to get murdered by Jasper’s sister? Did she think him getting hurt was his fault? It kind of was- but he didn’t want to die. He glanced at Lila, then Lynn, then finally Jasper. It was fine. He could survive this. He nodded to the other three, like a soldier about to go to war.
”Wish me luck.” He then followed Octavia into the room.
“Good morning sycamore,” a woman from inside the room talked in a pleasant tone.
”You all have been busy since you came together again. Don’t worry, a friend of Jasper is a friend of ours, right Octavia?” Faith looked over at Octavia and stared at her for many seconds, eyes flicking between Luca and Octavia. Octavia had grabbed a can of spray paint and had moved towards the wall, behind the chair Luca was in. Eventually Octavia sighed and said a soft ‘yeah’.
“And Jasper is asking us for a costume set. He’s simply trying to have fun with friends, and he’s asking us for help with that. I think that’s good, Octavia. Tell me, sycamore, what costumes are you looking for today?””Morning,” Luca smiled at the much less murderous appearing woman. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on with Jasper’s sister, but at least it didn’t seem like someone was going to knock him over the back of the head! That was nice, his head was quite fragile.
”It’s Luca! My name, that is… We’re doing the powerpuff girls. Well, me and Jasper are gonna be the manly versions. I’m looking for a manly buttercup costume!””Also,” he glanced behind him at Octavia.
”I’m sorry about Jasper, some of it was my fault… I got scared when we were watching a horror movie and hugged him. I really didn’t mean to hurt him, I normally try avoid touching anyone.”Octavia raised an eyebrow and looked towards Faith, who also had an eyebrow raised. The two kept their gaze locked on each other for a second before Octavia returned it to Luca. Her expression softened further.
“You guys… hugged. While watching a movie. Must’ve been a scary movie for Jasper to allow someone to hug him.” “He’s hugged me plenty of times, Jasper just has reservations around hugging his family. Luca, Sypha let us know that he had injuries… beyond… the one your hug caused. Ones that made us feel a bit worried about what Jasper was up to, we all care dearly for him you now? I will not press on it further, and I do not believe it was you that caused those injuries, but I wanted to.. let you know that if you, or anyone, hurts him intentionally…. I won’t be there to stop Octavia… and she’d be the least of your worries…. now, powerpuff girls,” Faith hit the table as she stood up and grabbed a pad of paper, before she conjured a few tape measures and a pencil.
“You can keep your clothes on, I’ll get a perfect measure regardless. You ready?”.
”Yeah, pretty scary movie, seemed real… Don’t worry, I’d never hurt Jasper on purpose! I care about him too, he’s one of my closest friends… Even if we haven’t seen each other for a while!” One of his only ones, but that wasn’t Luca’s choice… it was difficult to go out how he was. He then nodded. He had no idea how this measuring was going to work, but hopefully he couldn’t damage those tape measures.
”I’m ready!” Faith’s pencil floated to the pad of paper and stood at the ready. Faith dropped the tape measures to the ground, and the sound of a slithering creature soon filled the air. From across the room the two tape measures quickly moved, until they finally began to wrap themselves around Luca. They circled up his legs, crossed over his hips, climbed up his chest before they excited down the arms. They were fast, but not fast enough to avoid the rot. They were half decayed as they fell to the ground, before they dissipated back to nothing. As they moved, and as they dissipated, the pencil was furiously writing down the exact measurements for each section of Luca’s body. Faith looked down and checked the numbers by her eyes and smiled as she deemed it accurate.
“I’m happy to hear,” Faith said as he looked to Luca.
“You have a very unique abstraction. What material works best for clothing?””You could say that,” Luca’s smiled, hints of pain flashing across his eyes. They were gone just as quickly as they’d appeared. Unique was probably the nicest way you could describe his abstraction.
”Anything synthetic… Polyester and the like. It doesn’t degrade as quickly, lasts a good few days of wear. I’ll layer up underneath too!” The pencil continued to write, making a note about the material before it too dissipated.
“I’ll be able to accommodate, you’re free to go Luca. Send in the ladies.”“If Jasper ever needs any help come find us, we won’t get involved in coven drama but we’ll help wherever else we can.”Got it,” Luca nodded. He didn’t want involved in coven drama either, if he could help it.
”I’ll make sure to! And I’ll protect Jasper too!” He nodded, puffing up his chest slightly but still looking very unthreatened. With that said he walked back out.
”Hey Lila, Lynn, she said you two are to go in.” He then turned to Jasper with a grin.
”I’m pretty sure your sister wanted to knock me out with a spraypaint can, but I managed to convince her that I’m a really nice guy.” Lila looked to Lynn. The two made their way inside without a fight. The door closed behind them soon thereafter
Jasper’s eye twitched as he heard mention of the spray paint can.
“No, no she wanted to do a lot more than knock you out” Jasper exhaled,
“her abstraction involves art as well. She’s always been protective of me……I’m being saved for last for a reason I think” Jasper said as he shook his head.
“Faith is a treat though, as long as you follow her rules..””Ohhhh, a spray paint can did seem like a weird weapon of choice.” Luca didn’t look put out at all that Octavia had been essentially threatening him. It really didn’t bother him. It was just a sibling thing, right? Of course she wanted to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Jasper! He could understand, especially when it came to someone with an abstraction like his.
”Heh, is your sister going to chew you out? I can kinda understand, considering we can’t explain what attacked us last night…” He sighed.
”Faith was lovely! Even asked me what type of material to make it out of.” “Not chew out, ask a lot of questions that I won’t be able to answer, and that’ll prompt another line of questions..” Jasper paused as he sighed. Should he bring up more of his past? Jasper knew that it would make things a bit more clear as to why Octavia was ready to hurt Luca. Octavia, Faith, and Sypha put a lot of time and energy helping Jasper get sober. That would require him to bring back some painful memories, and he wasn’t ready for those to come out to this group. He flashed Luca a smile.
“I’ll be fine though, it’s all coming from a place of love. They just care a lot about me, you know?” he paused as he smiled even bigger.
“I’m excited to see Faith at least, I haven’t seen her in a while. I figured she’d be flexible, she’s big into making her own stuff you know?””Hopefully you won’t end up saying a completely ridiculous lie,” Luca rubbed the back of his neck. The whole thing was annoying enough with Lila and Lynn, but not being able to tell his sister the truth as well? That was difficult.
”Course, I get it. My big brother used to be the same with me… Well, maybe not quite the same. But I get it! I’d be upset too if someone I cared about was hurt.” Luca shrugged, returning Jasper’s smile.
”Oh yeah, it’s great, I was worried I’d have to wear tons of layers under my costume just to not destroy it… And then I’d die from overheating. Now I should only need the one underlayer! I really can’t wait for the festival.” “You and me both Luca,” he paused as his smile widened,
“Though I do hope we can finish that movie, I was enjoying watching it with you.The door opened and Lila and Lynn exited the room, each had a look of fear on their face. Jasper knew those faces well. Octavia had threatened them, apparently more than she threatened Luca. Jasper did not wait for his name to be called back, instead, he accepted his fate no matter what it entailed. Jasper was in the room for thirty minutes. Eventually he returned to the squad, and his smile did not falter. Faith had told Jasper that she’d rush their costumes, and they’d have it within the next couple of days.
The squad made their way back to Lucas’s apartment from here, stopping at a hardware store first, and then the gas station to buy Luca some of the treats he liked. Jasper bought a new broom for Lucas, but also bought a sledgehammer , two claw hammers, and numerous other tools that could be used to fend off a skeleton. Jasper knew these tools were useless in the hands of Luca, he’d rot through them faster than he could swing them, but Jasper did not like the idea of being unable to defend Luca, and himself. No, if that skeleton fuck showed their ugly faced again Jasper would be ready. Lila and Lynn would hang out at the apartment before they left, leaving the boys alone once more.
“So, how about that movie then?””Yes, let’s finish it off,” Luca grinned, jumping up to turn on his computer - thankfully still completely fine. It booted up and he found the movie, quickly finding where they’d been last night when they were rudely interrupted by a fucking monster. He sat down on the couch, grabbing the snacks.
”We better not get interrupted this time.”“I got protection just in case,” Jasper said as he grabbed the sledgehammer with both hands. Thankfully the two were spared from another monster visit for the duration of the movie. The movie finished, the credits played, and Jasper started to hope that the monster was just some bad luck from the night before.
“Finally,” Jasper said as he looked over to Luca,
“That was a good movie. You want to watch another?”. Jasper hoped he would. There was something nice about watching the movie with Luca, monster attack excluded, and he let his eyes linger for a second too long as he hoped for a second.
”Hell yeah,” Luca grinned, turning to look at Jasper with eyes crinkling with sheer joy after they
finally finished the film. No skeleton attacking them! Nothing else to worry about!
”Want to watch one of the ones you suggested last night? Somehow managed to download them even with all the chaos last night.”“What about-“The sound of nails dragging across the wall behind them filled the air. It was a very familiar sound to Jasper. It was the sound of a monster that had come back for round two. It was the sound of a fate that the two now shared. It was the sound of a fight at hand, and the sound drew closer with each passing second. Jasper gripped the handle of the sledgehammer tight, looked to Luca, and slowly turned around.
Luca froze, mood instantly plummeting, and he carefully twisted his head around to look behind him.
There the monster was, stalking towards them, nails raking through the wall below the marks made yesterday. It almost seemed to be smiling at them.
This time, Luca wasn’t scared. He was just pissed off.
”Oh for fuck’s sake!”“Oh I’m going to break your bones,” Jasper said as he stood up, readying his hammer for war.
“Talk to me,” the skeleton laughed as it lunged towards them.
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