word count: 539

NEOVERSE: CASPER OSCURO, GWENDOLYN OSCURO

in which casper's younger sibling, gwendolyn, is persuaded to help him in his 'experiments'.

contains themes of manipulation and general horror things. author's notes at the end.

For someone who doesn't have a job, Casper doesn't do nearly as much around the house as he should. All his time is spent in his basement room, rotting, until he comes up at dinner just as Gwendolyn gets in, eats with them, then disappears. When it's only the two of them (until they turn 18 proper, Casper is their only legal guardian, technically), there should be a little more collaboration. Especially in the wake of their parents' deaths.

Gwendolyn wouldn't say they're scared of Casper, per se: just wary, wary enough to avoid him when they can and stay silent when they can't. Even so, they're each other's only siblings. Maybe he needs help.

Over a dinner of buttered pasta for the fifth day in a row — Gwendolyn hasn't been to work as much recently, and of course Casper doesn't contribute as much as he should — they decide to bring it up to him. The dull yellow bulb swings under its lampshade above their heads, a single fly buzzing helplessly into the shade over and over again; Casper scrapes his spoon agonizingly across the bottom of the bowl, stares at his sibling across the table. "What did you want to ask me?"

His talent — the ability to guess whatever you're thinking or feeling by just a look at you — doesn't surprise Gwendolyn anymore. They twist a final strand of spaghetti between the prongs of their fork and stare at the butter sliding down the metal. "Do you know how to cook?"

He shakes his head, tut tut. "That wasn't quite it, was it?" He speaks in that patronising tone, as if talking to a dog, the one others seem to love so much but Gwendolyn hates, hates, hates. They kick a table-leg and look over with a pout. "Don't talk to me like you talk to them. I want you to start pulling your weight," they answer firmly. "What do you do all day?"

"I work. I'm very busy, you know that," he clucks, but there's something sharp in his voice now, a knife's edge, a smile like razors. They swing back on their chair slightly, tilting the front legs of it off the floor.

"With what?"

"Nothing you need to know." Casper snaps, then softens; slapping someone across the face and kissing their burning cheek. "I don't want to worry you, Gwendolyn. But I'll show you, if you help me."

Help him with what? Possibilities hang in the air, all Gwendolyn's ideas of his 'work' stagnant with the scent of death. They do not know him, yet he knows them. But he would never hurt them, surely, never. Even at his tensest.

"It's only very simple." His voice has a mellower quality, soft and patronising again, but more powerful; oxymoronic, the softer his voice goes the more one strains to listen, the more power he holds. "But I need you to agree to it first. It will be mutually beneficial to the both of us. It will help you." And then they consider properly for the first time. Gwendolyn is still his sibling, and maybe if they help with this, he'll help them. He knows what they need, what they want. Maybe this will—

"I'll think about it."

this was a little more abstract in its sticking to the concept: i tried to go with a different idea of 'bid', more one of 'bidding' and persuasion in that way. plus i just wanted to write about casper, because he's so fun to describe!! this is actually canon-compliant too, sort of a deleted scene, though i would of course expand on it if i introduced it into the plot. i did like writing this, even though i had difficulty coming up with the idea itself. see you in day three!! <3