Excellent

Excellent

I was thinking of Night experiencing Host going through a vision for the first time. With a lot of blood going through the bandages and Night is freaking out over what to do until Dark intervenes 😱

Sorry this took me forever to write!!

Also I couldn't resist slipping a little bit of the chaos twins in there! XD

--

It was a peaceful evening, for the most part. Night had cooked a lovely dinner for Host, feeding him a rich chocolate cake for dessert with a smile, then curling up in the couch to just enjoy the other’s company.

He was just beginning to doze off, fingers threading through Host’s hair to keep the longer strands out of the bandages, when he felt the narrator tense up against him. Turning to look at Host, Night’s eyes widened as he watched blood seeping through the bandages around his own eyes, leaking out from underneath to run down his cheeks.

“What’s happening? What’s going on?” Night asked, losing his composure as fear trickled in his veins. Tugging a handkerchief from his pocket, he pressed it to Host’s cheek, feeling his hands start shaking when the blood seeped through the fabric instantaneously.

He’d never seen so much blood coming from beneath Host’s bandages before; helping to change them had made him believe his sockets were mostly healed. This seemed… different somehow. Despite his tense pose, Host seemed unbothered by the affliction, simply facing forward with his mouth forming unintelligible words.

“I’m going to get some bandages… warm water… cold water to drink…” Night trailed off as he left the room, heading first for the bathroom to get the first aid kit, then going to the kitchen to douse a dishcloth in warm water and fill a glass with cold water. He paused as the thought of calling for help entered his mind, then shook it off in favour of getting back to his partner.

--

Stepping into the room, Night stopped as he spotted Dark kneeling in front of Host, hands on his shoulders with his eyes trained on his mouth, carefully reading Host’s lips and muttering comments about the words. After some time, Dark leaned away from Host and noticed Night standing in the doorway. Clearing his throat, he stood up and motioned for the god to return to Host’s side.

“He’s fine now,” Dark said, seeming to sense Night’s concern. “When he’s had time to rest, ask him about his visions. I have a feeling they’ll be regular occurrences for you. Also please inform him I received his message and will act on the vision as soon as I am able.” With that, Dark left in a cloud of black smoke, leaving Night blinking at empty space before turning back to change Host’s bandages.

--

“Sorry about that,” Host said quietly as he leaned toward Night, tilting his face to let him clean the blood. “Sometimes I can control when I have a vision, but today it couldn’t wait. I’m alright, though,” he finished, reaching for Night’s free hand.

“Did it hurt?” Night asked, carefully wrapping fresh gauze around Host’s head. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Having the visions don’t hurt,” Host replied, curling back into Night’s side once he heard the click of the first aid kit closing. “Mostly, it’s just annoying. I was going to tell you tomorrow, because Dark needed me to experience a vision for his next job, but I guess the vision couldn’t wait.”

“Do you need me to help you in any way when this happens?”

“What you’ve done is more than enough,” Host said with a smile, shifting slightly to rest his head on Night’s chest, humming when Night draped his arm around his shoulders. “The visions don’t last long, but afterward I will need a bandage change and a lot of water. In rare cases a shower would also help.”

Night nodded, humming in acknowledgement before holding Host closer, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and relaxing more against the couch cushions. As he listened to Host’s breathing even out, signalling he had fallen asleep, Night couldn’t stop the swarm of thoughts and questions he had about Host’s visions.

With a sigh, he decided to ask them on their next date, opting instead to do some research into the illusion magic that was probably involved with Host’s visions. And what better way to research than to ask the illusionists born from chaos magic themselves?

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Night sent a quick text out to a specific group chat, turning off the phone and closing his eyes after hitting send. Need to ask you two about illusion magic. Can it happen in the psychic threshold? Meet me at the cherry blossom tree tomorrow, noon.

--------------------------

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch

Voxhollow

Link to Prologue

Link to 1st Chapter

Chapter 2: Anti

Summary: A deeper dive into Anti's method of madness and backstory.

TW: Graphic depictions of violence and blood.

Once there was a boy named Anthony, the oldest of three brothers which included, JJ and Robbie. His family started as middle class. A series of unfortunate events led the family to a fall from grace leaving them poor and giving them no choice but to live in the Lower End of the city. The residents were hardly treated as normal people; rather they were being looked down on as an eyesore to the upper class. It was those harsh things and many more that made Anthony see a dark side to this city, where wealth was everything and human feelings meant nothing, especially to those in charge.

Anthony had crushing responsibilities as the eldest child to help provide for his family. They increased when he lost his father due to a workplace accident and his mother dying from a disease caused by the toxic fumes from the job she worked at. After the death of their mother, the brothers were left to fend for themselves. The brothers struggled to survive on the streets, often having to scrounge food in the trash to eat and sleep in abandoned buildings to escape the already harsh streets. Despite their hardships, they always looked out for one another, even as Anti’s hatred towards the upper class grew.

One chilly evening, as the brothers huddled together beneath a tattered blanket, a group of volunteers discovered them. Their hearts filled with compassion at the sight of the three vulnerable boys. They reached out to the brothers, offering warm meals, clean clothes, and a safe place to rest. At first, Anthony was wary, his instincts telling him to protect his brothers from disappointment and betrayal. But he realized it would be better for him and his brothers to take shelter instead of being on the streets for another cold winter’s night. He reluctantly let the volunteers lead them to the shelter, not knowing this would be one of the best decisions he ever made.

Slowly, the walls around their hearts began to crumble, and the brothers allowed themselves to hope for a brighter future. They found solace in the shelter's embrace, forging bonds with the other orphans who became like brothers to them. It was the happiest the brothers felt in a long time.

As the years went by, all three brothers grew into fine young men. Anthony at 27, was refining the hacking skills he secretly learned when he was younger. JJ at 24, was an aspiring actor waiting for the chance to be in a big movie. Robbie at the young age of 18, was still a little undecided about his future but his brothers supported him nonetheless. They eventually moved into a small apartment and even though it wasn’t the best, it was a place they could call home. The future was looking bright for them, with the dream they would get out of the area and live comfortably in the city.

But the unpredictability of life would rear its ugly head again and their world would come crashing down. A representative from a corporation had announced they were giving a 90 day notice to residents to leave their homes to make way to build a factory that deals with toxic waste disposal. The trio of brothers joined the protests against the new factory, battling the corporate hired goons determined to quash any dissent and bad press, but the bodyguards that came along showed otherwise.

After the dust settles and the adrenaline fades, all that remains is the stark reality of the aftermath—a landscape scarred by violence and the indelible marks of conflict. Broken bodies laid all around. Anti was left with a black eye and a plethora of bruises varying in intensity and size, blooming like dark blossoms all over his body. Each bruise throbbed with a dull ache with every movement he made to stand up. JJ had a broken nose and lacerated lip tasting the metallic liquid as it stained his whole face. Robbie was knocked unconscious from the few punches he took before going down. His older brothers slowly staggered in spite of their swollen joints protesting with each movement, to help their inert brother get serious help from one of their closest friends Dr. Henrik. When they arrived at his home, he immediately went into action to help the brothers. He knew he had a long week ahead of him.

Both Anti and JJ sat by their brother's bedside as they waited for him to regain consciousness. It took Robbie nearly half a day to awaken from his blackout, his mind reeling from the onslaught of blows and trauma. His thoughts were disjointed as he tried to ask his brother’s what had happened. Henrik explained calmly to Robbie what had happened to all of them. The memory that they were going to lose their home came crashing in like a tidal wave. Robbie couldn’t hold back his tears pouring through his bandaged face. Anti and JJ did their best to comfort him during his recovery despite themselves feeling despondent and resigned they were going to be homeless again. That was when Anthony decided enough was enough and he was going to get even with the people that treated them all like shit.

After a few weeks of recovering from his own injuries, Anthony set his plan into motion. He carried out his first scheme in the late hours of the night by targeting the same corporation planning to destroy their home. It took time, but he was able to infiltrate the building by disabling the security system and placing homemade explosives all over the place. But not before he stole the funds from a conveniently placed safe in the office.

With the stolen cash in one hand, he walked out the building, reached into his pocket, pulled out a device and pressed a button. Immediately a deafening roar and a blinding explosion erupted from within the heart of the building. Flames danced hungrily, devouring everything in their path as billowing plumes of smoke spiraled into the sky like dark tendrils reaching for the heavens. The force of the blast rippled outward, shattering windows into a million glittering shards that rained down upon the streets below like a deadly hailstorm. It was a beautiful destructive sight to behold.

Anthony left the scene and walked home slowly thriving on the new feeling of schadenfreude, the smirk on his lips soon turning into a crooked smile, cackling at the misery he gave to those smug assholes. He was now a criminal and he didn’t want to stop; instead, he wanted to do more to give them all a taste of their own medicine, to make them feel the pain he felt when everybody turned their backs on his family all those years ago. He thought of his brothers and the harsh realization of the danger he had put them in for his crime. He knew deep down he had to leave his family, no matter the heartbreak.

He went back to the apartment and peeked into JJ and Robbie’s room to see both of them still fast asleep. He quietly leaves a note and placed two money bags discreetly under his bed. He stood in silence between his brothers beds, taking in how peaceful they both looked. Anthony wished he could have done more to help them. He wished his parents were still here to scold him for his actions, to tell him to think about what his brothers would say about his behavior. But that’s all they were, wishes. Wishes can only get one so far. Anthony was now dead, he would now be known as Anti. He tiptoed out of the room not before he looked back. With tears streaming down his eyes, he whispered to his brothers, “Goodbye…”

Morning came and JJ woke up to see Robbie in his bed. He grimaced at the twinge of pain from his back and sat up in his bed. Glancing to his left he saw his older brother gone, but thought that he was doing an early morning errand. He got out of bed to make some coffee and turned on the TV, which lit up with breaking news of an arson attack the previous night. JJ's eyes widened and panic started surging through him, assuming the worst as he looked all around the apartment to find out where Anthony went. He stopped in his tracks when he heard Robbie’s cries. He went back to their room to find Robbie on Anthony’s bed. Robbie was crying into his pillow, JJ was puzzled.

Trying his best to speak, JJ’s rough voice came out as, “Robbie, what's wrong?”

Robbie lifted his head to reveal a red splotchy face riddled with tears, he was gulping air as he tried to answer. “A-A-Anthony is gone!” Robbie said as he started sobbing louder into the pillow.

“What? What are you talking about!?” JJ raised his voice louder, feeling the rapid pulse in his ears wondering if this was just a sick joke Robbie and Anthony were pulling on him.

“Re-re-read the letter.” Robbie said, squeezing his pillow even harder to block out his crying.

JJ saw the envelope in front of Robbie and he quickly snatched it to read it for himself. JJ read the note slowly, it read the following.

“Dear Jameson and Robert, by the time you read this note I will be long gone. I’m so sorry for leaving you two like this. I am taking a dark path that I don’t want either of you to follow. The last thing I want is to see you two get hurt because of me. I know what you're going to say, that I’m a coward, that I’m selfish for leaving, that I’m doing this because I don’t love you. You’d be right, I am a coward and selfish, but don’t ever think I don't love you. JJ, I’m sorry for doing this to you. You always were the best brother a man could ask for. Robbie, always stay true to yourself. Don't ever change for anyone. Please promise me, that you two will always look out for each other. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me for doing this, I also don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again but know this. I will always love you two no matter where we are in this world, nothing breaks the bond we have together so please, be better men than I’ll ever be. I love you.” - Anthony "P.S I left a little fortune under my bed, even though it won’t fix my mistakes, but I hope you two use it well."

JJ was shaking, his vision blurry from the tears in his eyes. He crumpled the paper in his hand and threw it on the ground. He was angry. Why would Anthony do this to them? What did they do to deserve this pain? Did he really expect a little money would smooth this all over? All these questions kept racing through as he fell to his knees, pounding the floor in anger over and over, not caring how much pain it caused him.

Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around him. “NO! Please stop, I don't want to see you like this!” Robbie shouted, wrapping the rest of his body around JJ to stop him from hurting himself even further. JJ snapped out his fit to wrap his arms around Robbie. They stayed in each other's embrace as they cried out to their now gone brother. Little did they know, that they would soon find out why Anti left them in the months that followed and that their lives would change forever.

And now Anti is getting ready to make his next strike against the newest player in his twisted game, Dark. Anticipation builds in him contemplating the chaos that will happen, unaware his brothers were still keeping out the hope their older brother would someday come back home.

Tags: @luxuriadanti @iamvegorott @bookwormscififan

Obviously I want to read more

Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt5

First: Link Prev: Link Next: TBA

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Marvin spent another week traveling around and trying to figure out what to do. He did see Jackie but apparently, it was impossible to not have that man on his mind since he started finding little ‘care packages’ for him around the city. He knew they were from Jackie since all of the little boxes had a piece of paper taped to the top that had JBM written on it. It didn’t take a lot of thinking to connect JBM with Jackieboyman. The boxes were usually filled with food, containers of tea, and bottles of water. 

Right now Marvin sat under a tree in the park, the leaves above him beginning to turn yellow and orange. He was eating one of the ‘care package’ sandwiches while waiting for someone to pick up his call. He thinks he finally managed to find someone that could help him get home. 

“First and last name.” An automated voice asked. Marvin bit back an annoyed sigh at getting a machine and not a person but hoped giving that information would get him closer.

“Marvin…Um…Marvin…” Marvin thickly swallowed.

Why couldn’t he remember his last name?

“Marvin Marvin. Is that correct? Yes or no?”

“No. No. It’s Marvin…fuck.” Marvin hung up the call, suddenly feeling like he wanted to throw up. He stared off at the dying grass and found it hard to breathe, heavily panting as panic started bubbling inside him.

He was Marvin. 

He was Marvin. 

Marvin what? 

The Magnificent. 

Where did that come from? The hell kind of name was that? 

That wasn’t-he isn’t. 

No.

No.

No.

Marvin pressed a hand to his chest, sandwich falling and air suddenly in short supply. 

Breathe, Marvin, breathe. 

“Shit.” Marvin wheezed as he forced himself to his feet, his other hand on the tree as he remained hunched over, slowly working that unwelcomed rush of fear away with deeper and deeper breaths. 

Why couldn’t he remember…why couldn’t he remember anything?

This wasn’t good. He needed to get out of the public. He needed to be alone, he needed some peace. 

x~x~x

Jackie casually jumped from one roof to the other. He had found one of his boxes in the park and the mess that was left behind told him something was wrong. Marvin always cleaned up and put everything back into the box neatly. Jackie had asked around and the few witnesses around said the man had just disappeared and he assumed that meant Marvin was up on a roof again. 

“Tell him he can choke on the entirety of my ass if he has a problem with how I’m doing this.” Jackie scoffed into the phone. “I’m supposed to be the one that brings him to the House so I’m doing it my way.” He jumped onto the next roof, still not seeing Marvin yet. “Remember the last time we went against the prediction? There was a lot of fire. And the time before that took out half a country's power for a whole day. Aren’t we supposed to be like low-key? I’m doing pretty good about that compared to those messes.” Jackie did another jump and this time he saw Marvin, sitting on a raised ledge of this roof, letting his feet hang off the edge. “Found him. I’ll fill you in later.” Jackie hung up the phone and started walking over to Marvin.

But then he paused.

Was that a sniff? 

A sob?

Was Marvin crying?

Oh…it must have kicked in. 

Jackie had hoped it didn’t happen until Marvin was at the House, with more information about everything and with the others around to help. They were a lot better at dealing with this than he was but he couldn’t let Marvin go through his alone. 

It hurt too much to do it alone.

He would know. 

Jackie got confirmation that Marvin was crying when he got closer, hearing it a lot clearer now and as he sat down on the ledge next to Marvin, he could see the wet spots of tears on Marvin’s pants. 

“Did I manage to sneak up on you this time or does this still not count?” Jackie weakly laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew it had to be bad when Marvin didn’t give a comeback, he didn’t even look at him. “Are you okay?” 

“I…I can’t remember them.” Marvin’s voice came out soft and raspy as if he’d been crying for a while. 

“That happens. I was told that it’s how we adjust to this new…form. It’s weird.” Jackie also knew he wasn’t the best at this because he didn’t really pay too much attention to the details of what they were. He just wanted to live and thinking too far into his and the other’s reality got sad. Jackie didn’t do sad. Or at least he tried not to. 

“They’re not here. My friends, my family. They’re not here. I don’t have anything. All I have are my clothes and even then the jacket I’m wearing isn’t even mine.” Marvin’s laugh was forced, strained, and almost sounded painful. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“I can’t remember my mom.” Marvin finally looked at Jackie, eyes red and filled with tears that continued rolling down his cheeks. “I had her face in my head just hours ago and now she’s gone.” 

“Forgetting mom is the hardest.” Jackie wished he knew how to comfort Marvin. He felt so useless. “I mean, I know we don’t actually have parents but…but losing that memory still hurts. It doesn’t matter if it was real or not. It still sucks.” 

“I went from having so many people around me to being alone. Or at least I think I had people. I don’t fucking remember anymore. I think I had a cat or was it a hamster? N-No it was a cat…was it? The fuck did I have?” Marvin looked at Jackie with a pleading look, silently begging him to give him an answer. 

“I’m sorry, Marvin. I don’t know.” Jackie placed a hand on Marvin’s shoulder and he felt an ache in his own heart when Marvin cursed, beginning to cry again. Jackie did what worked for him when he was like this and he moved closer to Marvin, pulling him into a hug. 

Jackie didn’t know how long they stayed like that, how long he held Marvin and let him cry into his chest. He didn’t care how long it took, he’d sit like this all night if Marvin needed it. 

Eventually, Marvin did pull away and Jackie let him go. The two sat in silence for a while before Jackie broke it. 

“Wanna see a magic trick I learned?” Jackie asked, getting a confused look from Marvin.

“Sure?”

“Cool! Let me see your hand.” Jackie held his own out. Marvin still looked confused but he went with it, placing his hand palm-side up on Jackie’s. “Gotta have a little patience with this one.” He took the very tips of his fingers, using his dull nails, and scratched at Marvin’s palm before closing his fingers over it. Marvin blinked and just waited as Jackie did that gesture several times before just barely pinching the center of his palm and then ‘plucking’ at it. “Eh? Did it feel like I just pulled a string out of your hand?” 

“Yeah.” Marvin was lying, but the way Jackie perked up and gave him the brightest smile made him not feel bad about it. “I don’t get you.” 

“You don’t get me?” Jackie tilted his head a bit.

“I just-” Marvin did a scoff-like laugh. “Why are you so nice? I’ve pushed you off a building and had you fall out of a tree and knocked you off a fence, and yet you just keep making sure I’m the one that’s okay.” 

“I mean, if you actually wanted to hurt me, you wouldn’t have made sure my landings were soft. I might not be the smartest guy, but even I caught on to that.” Jackie did an exaggerated tongue pop and smiled when that got Marvin to laugh. “Oh! If you knock me off the roof again could I have like feathers as my padding? I think the puff of them flying in the air would make a funny scene.”

“You don’t have to worry about a padded landing.”

“Why not?” 

“Because I’ll go with you to the House.”

“You will!?” 

“You already have my hand, you can just walk away with me,” Marvin smirked as Jackie looked down, saw that he was, in fact, still holding his hand, and started sputtering.

“I-I just-I was-uh-distracted and-”

“Take me to the House before I change my mind.”

“Okay!” 

I choose to be single by choice 😌

@iamvegorott add a knife with that roomba and anyone can tell it's Anti's 🔪

Sure why not

Reblog In 5 seconds for good luck