corvidfamiliared

[corvidfamiliared]

@dbdakindy has a vice grip on my heart and soul, and baby Monty is everything to me 🥺

[corvidfamiliared]

Find the ghost boy, get him to trust you. That was the mission, that was the task Esther had given him. An important mission, something he was trusted with. So trusted, in fact, that he was let out of his (too small, suffocating) cage and given a brand new body to walk around in.

Monty tries to be grateful for that and not think about how much this body hurts. Moving is agony, muscles and skeletal systems not used to being this tall, this heavy, this shaped, screaming their protests. His bones feel heavy, filled as they were with marrow and whatever else. He could never fly like this. He can barely move.

Still, he thinks, it might be worth it. Because he's talked to Edwin and Edwin is...charming, effortlessly so, and so interesting, and he made Monty's heart flutter -Monty didn't even know human hearts could do that, and now Monty wants to know everything about him so...this whole scheme Ethel's cooked up might be a good thing actually.

Yeah. It's a good thing. And that sinking sense of unease is just nerves. He's getting used to a human body, he can't expect everything to feel right.

He's getting over his bout of nerves when someone else comes up to talk to him, a man. Not a ghost. Not a cat. Not a witch. A person. Monty's never talked to a normal person before, so he smiles -because he's just figured out how to do that -his full beaming smile;

"No, no, it's fine really, I'm just, uh, standing here and that's probably not good." He tries to remember how to shuffle sideways and trips a little. "Whoops, sorry."

"Have, uh, fun at the library!"

A Different Kind of Wings

Every Wednesday at exactly 11:30am, Maxine Parker would order DoorDash 30 minutes before her lunch break. That way when her food would arrive right before her break started, she would have time to eat before leaving the library to mail her latest letter to her current “love interest.”

The archangel had been watching her for a little while now. Ever since he spotted Maxine that night in an alley with her laptop, watching a movie and occasionally looking into a window to watch a woman, who was watching the same movie on her TV. He could feel the familiar desire from the days he had pretended to be Loki, starting to tug at his thoughts. But victims of Tricksters were usually douchebags. Not…whatever this was. But he really had nothing better to do, so he decided to look into her.

The quirky and shy librarian had some big secrets…as well as a restraining order. It seems that when Maxine falls in love, she falls HARD and doesn’t take rejection well. And as it turns out, he was not the only one who had come to Port Townsend to hide.

But when to strike and how would he do it? How would he humble or at least scare this woman into getting the mental help she so clearly needs?

He snapped his fingers and a paper Chipotle bag with Maxine’s lunch order appeared in his hand as he rounded the corner and headed up the steps to the library.

Gabriel glanced up the stairs when he heard voices, and saw three people at the top, chatting. No…not all of them were people. Not technically. He could see a white haired young woman chatting animatedly. She was human. Her companion however, a somewhat good looking young man, was definitely a ghost. As if his antique fashion sense and inhumanly pale complexion wasn’t enough of a dead giveaway (pun not intended).

The third individual’s back was to Gabriel, but from what he could tell, they looked to be a smaller, dark haired man. But there was something different about him. The archangel could sense dark magic coming off of him and something else…something that seemed more animal than human.

Gabriel stepped past the trio, glancing at them. Now he could see the dark haired man’s face and if he was being honest, he was rather pretty with his high cheekbones and dark lashes.

Gabriel’s polite smile turned flirty as he looked at the young man, “Excuse me,” and continued for the door to the library.

@corvidfamiliared

[corvidfamiliared]

tragic mick 🩶🩵

litty and kingham 💚🤍

and also david the demon! except i didn't make a moodboard bcs idk what his would be like, so. you exist? i guess.

[corvidfamiliared]

Gregory Widen, the Prophecy (1995) | Dead Boy Detectives (2024)

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty peered around the corner of the warehouse door, hesitating in the entranceway. Being here made him nervous, that part of his brain that would forever be bird, no matter which form he took, was cawing in warning, predator, predator.

The crow and the cat, what a pair they made.

"If I come in are you and your cats going to eat me?" He had to be sure. One of the Cat King's foot soldiers was eyeing him with a distinctly hungry look.

@retriibutions

[corvidfamiliared]

"He does seem to do that a lot," Monty hedges, attempting something close to teasing. He doesn't want to badmouth Edwin, but gentle teasing...that's something friends do right? It's something he's witnessed this group do to each other, and it seems nice, friendly even.

Monty's not all too familiar with friendly.

"I mean, like, to be fair; you do the same thing whenever Edwin or Crystal asks you to do something you think you don't want to do." Monty smiles, hoping it's friendly.

There's something in him that wants to wrap Edwin in his arms and never let go. Never let him get his heart broken again or his body ripped apart. Part of that fear comes from how Monty looks at his best friend. A sense of want that Charles is only just beginning to recognise he shares.

And he got there first. Edwin is his.

"I'll let Edwin know and we can pencil it in. He'll take a tic to complain about it but he'll go if we ask nicely."

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty didn't mean to get involved with Hell. Truly. That was WAY far up on the list of things he Was Not Going To Do. But being an unbound familiar put him in a precarious position, he was as liable to unwanted summonings as most minor demons. More liable in fact, because he was far easier to bind.

(And far more useful if he did say so himself.)

Which meant, that when someone in Lucifer (the Devil's) fucking palace, needed a servant (for the Devil!) who was called? (to the Devil's house) -Monty, that's who.

He found himself sat on the floor, the crochet project he was mangling still in his, strangely still human, hand looking up at a large throne. He knew where he was instantly. Great.

"If I say no to whatever you summoned me for, can I go home?"

@crownedinsin

[corvidfamiliared]

Teeth, they're such an interesting body part to have, they make for very intricate facial expressions. Monty bares them now, in a smile that's all edge and no warmth.

"I'm sorry, was I giving the impression I was still pursuing him?" Monty sniffs. "I respect a rejection when I'm given one, unlike some people who hang around where they clearly aren't wanted." He swings around, so he's no longer facing the irritating ghost, hoping he's being clear that the unwanted situation is here and now.

"And cats and birds historically do not get along. Any idiot should know that."

@corvidfamiliared gif cred.

"edwin doesn't seem to be all that into you, does he, mate?" try as he might, charles can't completely erase the edge of jealousy that taints his voice. he's never been very good at sharing edwin with anyone who's romantically interested.

"oh well, it was a good run for you. you know, i think the cat king is single. you should give that a go."

[corvidfamiliared]

hold urself as a baby or wtf is it...

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty is a literal morning bird.

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty perks up at this. Ghosts who can eat, that opens so many possibilities. For a moment, he allows himself to fantasize about taking Edwin out to a restaurant, low candlelight, just the two of them.

No. He shakes his head, friendship only. Sadly, he places Charles and Crystal in the daydream. It's still nice.

"I've never been to a night market," Monty admits. "But I like the idea! That sounds really cool. Let's go after the club." Monty spares a thought for his sleep schedule, but ultimately decides its worth it, he needs remarkably less sleep than a normal human, part of the benefits of being a crow in all but shape.

They are both new at this. At making friends and learning about humanity. Sure, Edwin has always been human. But spending seventy years being torn apart and put back together by monsters has tainted what humanity he had left. Crystal has often remarked on how he is too frank and how he tends not to see the emotions of it all. Edwin can't say he remembers too clearly how to be emotional beyond the stronger notes. Charles has helped clear the path for that but there are wounds that even Charles' gentle smile cannot soothe.

"That would be splendid. I do enjoy walking the night market after a long case with uncomfortable elements. Charles does not like when I go alone as a few times I have been accosted due to my own curiosity. I hope this visit to find a particular herb that I have been scouting for as part of my studies into ghost remedies. If I am right it should allow a ghost to eat and Charles can finally have the spaghetti he laments."

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty tending to imitate how other people sound like corvids can do. He laughs like Esther, and I mean exactly like Esther, sometimes he says things and its in Edwin's lilt. He doesn't mean to, and its always a little unsettling

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty feels something settle in his chest. Relief, maybe? Except that doesn't make any sense. He doesn't need Charles' approval, he doesn't even like him very much. (Deep in his jealous, jealous heart, he is still under the impression that Edwin loving Charles means that he will not have any room to like Monty)

Still, Charles acknowledging that he might've had a good idea makes him smile and fills him with a sense of accomplishment. A task completed, a job well done.

And then Charles mentions Crystal and Monty's smile falters a little. The witch, no psychic, scares him deeply.

"Yeah, uh, yeah that sounds great, like total group outing, fun!"

Charles raises an eyebrow as the crow attempts to guess what the angle is here. Sure, Monty had his whole redemption arc moment in Esther's kitchen but that didn't mean Charles trusts him around Edwin alone. Because of Monty Edwin had been tricked and nearly eaten by a tree. He won't let anyone get so close to his best mate without prior checking. Especially as he knows now that Monty has a crush on his still discovering his sexuality best friend.

"It's fun. Mum and I went once and seemed pretty aces though cold as hell. Edwin hasn't ever mentioned ice-skating but he's not really one to head out and do sporty stuff. Prefers a good read, that one."

He knows from experience that making Edwin do any sports is usually a foolhardy decision. While often the smartest in the room the boy didn't know his arse from his elbow when it came to anything athletic.

"Suppose can't hurt to ask. Make a day of it. Crystal's been aching to get out and away from the office."

[corvidfamiliared]

You are free to spread your wings.

Monty doesn't feel free yet. He feels like this, here with Edwin, is a lovely dream and that he is going to wake up and have to scout out another little girl for Esther to murder.

But this was not a time for morbid thoughts. He shakes them off and pastes on one of those pretty, pretty smiles. "Maybe after we can do something you enjoy?" he offers. "Read something together, maybe? Or go for a walk?"

It makes sense that Monty would find teeth an oddity as in his usual form he would not have had any. Edwin had found it a few times coming back from hell that he'd encounter something that did not have any reference to what he knew. It is a very strange feeling and he can understand if one truly enjoys the new sensation.

"I can understand that. I am glad you are finding enjoyment with your new form. I did worry that it would cause you more pain after...everything."

He smiles sympathetically. "I am sorry she treated you so unkindly. You are not trapped by anything here. You are free to spread your wings, so to speak. You need not worry about upsetting me with enjoying it while I do not. It is common for me not to enjoy things that others do. You enjoying this actually makes it easier for me for I do not need to subject myself to it."

[corvidfamiliared]

Monty waited a long time before going to see the Cat King.

But, you see, here was the problem. There wasn't much to do in Port Townsend. He'd already picked through the wreckage of Ethel's house, taking the few things that were of any significance to him. The one bell toy she'd had made for him, back when she still did things like that, several books of witchcraft and astrology, a deck of tarot cards, and one sketch -done on vellum paper, of Esther with a crow perched on her shoulder.

(Proof that she'd loved him once, right?)

And once that was over, well, there'd been nothing to do except for wander around and try to practice turning from a boy to a bird. It hurt, in the way only transforming from a five-and-a-half-foot man to a two-foot-long bird could hurt. And he wasn't very good at it.

Unfortunately, he knew someone who was. He went as a man because a bird flying into a den of cats was a good recipe for a dead bird. So it was boy-shaped that he picked his way through a warehouse full of cats, trying very hard to ignore their teeth.

"Uh, Cat King, I seek an audience...or uh, something."

@itsbitmxdinhere for the Cat King

[corvidfamiliared]

"Do you think Edwin would like ice skating?" Monty muses, staring out the window of the office. The rain had yet to turn to snow, but there were indoor rinks, and synthetic ice had been set up in some of the larger parks nearby, for the holiday season

"I've never been," Obvious. Though he had perched on Esther's shoulder when she'd forded a river during a freeze some centuries ago, that might count. "But it seems like an activity friends do together."

He looks at Charles and tamps down a reflexive burst of jealousy, keeping up what he hopes is a kind and disarming smile. "Have you ever been ice skating?"

for @angstlived as I begin to shove Monty and Charles in a get along shirt.

[corvidfamiliared]

There's a trend im noticing with Ncuti's run as the Doctor. He tends to outshine his companions. His companions are just there, watching him as he zips around. I thought this was a problem with Ruby Sunday but I'm noticing it with Joy in the Christmas special too.

Now. I adore Ncuti's Doctor, he is a joy to watch and his energy is infectious. But I find myself just wishing that the companions would do more.