#(I lost mine cause the usb decided to die)

[soundingstars]

@battleguqin x

The hambie found himself sitting on the makeshift bed of their home while the familiar sounds of the keyboard echoing through the air. He knew that the work Sizhui was doing was important. He didn’t know how to describe how he was feeling at the moment, but it felt like something was off. Lee Cheong-San couldn’t find the words that lingered against the tip of his tongue “I... I don’t know.” 

Shaking his head, he glanced up at him “No, no one said anything. Everyone has been nice to me.” The new arrivals have been kind since they arrived at their home, he hasn’t had any problems with them while Cheong-San wanted to make sure that they were all comfortable. It was up to him and Sizhui to make sure that they felt safe here because of the outside threat. There were people who could not be trusted. 

Cheong-San leaned into the familiar touch that rested against his skin knowing that Sizhui was making sure he was okay. It was difficult for him to tell his own temperature now since Gwi-Nam’s teeth sunk into his arm that day. The bully who caused him to turn into one of the many hambies that lived among these ruined streets. “It could be the meds, I just feel off for some reason. I don’t feel like myself.”

[sterekloveaffairs]

Pick Me - Jordan Parrish

Author: sterekloveaffairs

Characters: Reader x Jordan Parrish, Peter Hale, Sheriff Stilinski

Warnings: jealousy, flirting, fluff

Word Count: 1,710

The end of my shift was nearing when a familiar face appeared in front of the desk in the emergency room. I smiled at him, but at the same time I was cautious: Peter Hale never showed up without a reason.

“Can I help you?” I asked him when all he did was smile back at me, with that wolfish grin that bared his inhumanly white teeth.

“In so many ways, sweetie, but let’s keep it strictly business today, shall we?” I blushed slightly. Peter was handsome, and charming despite his many dark sides, so yes, when he flirted with me, I was flattered.

“What kind of business are we talking about?” I said while filing a bit of paperwork I had been doing. He put his hand on the desk, tapped his fingers a few times and looked around before he leaned closer.

“I might have something to help you with the latest epidemic of people with sore muscles and darkened veins coming in.” He had had my curiosity, but now he had captured my full attention. I dropped the folder I had in my hands and scurried from behind the desk. Those people coming in kept the hospital busy for weeks now, their symptoms an absolute mystery for the medical world, and unfortunately for them, often fatal.

“What do you mean?” I said when I stood next to him. I had had a suspicion that it had something to do with the supernatural, even when Derek didn’t know what it was when I asked him. Peter was in the loft at that time, and I was a little irritated that he hadn’t told me what he knew those few days ago. He put his hand in the pocket of his leather jacket, but looked at me sternly before taking it back out.

“This is information that I might have obtained in a semi legal way.” His voice was soft and his eyes kept scanning the room for possible eaves droppers.

“Semi legal?”

“Which means absolutely fucking illegal and you’re to tell no one you know about its existence.“ I raised my brows and rolled my eyes at him.

“Peter, I'm a nurse, confidentiality is one of the few things I excel at,” I said. He chuckled. Behind me, I could hear the front doors open and the sound of police radios echoed off the walls. Great. Another victim of Beacon Hills. I looked over my shoulder, and I was relieved to see that it was just the sheriff and deputy Jordan Parrish, supporting an older man who had obviously enjoyed himself tonight. He was wobbling on his feet and slurring a song that I couldn’t recognize, no matter how hard I tried. Just a drunk guy in the middle of the night, and not some other creepy Supernatural thing going on. I nodded at the sheriff and smiled at Jordan as one of my co-workers busied herself with the old man, ignoring his barely comprehendible catcalling towards her. When I turned back to Peter, his eyes flickered back from Jordan to me. And he smiled. No, smiling is the wrong word. This was a smirk. I wondered why. There was not a single thing about Jordan Parrish that I could make fun off. In fact, he was one of the nicest, most handsome and equally as decent guys I have ever met. The first time I saw him, was at the sheriff’s station, after he had gotten hurt during an intervention. He did not want to go to the hospital, so sheriff Stilinski had begged me to come over and assess him. And boy, I would assess that man any time. He had been friendly and waited patiently while I tended his injuries, trying to ignore how handsome he was and maintain my professional stance. Afterwards he had thanked me and when I ran into him a few days later in the coffee shop, we talked while waiting in line and decided to sit together to finish our drink. I had seen him regularly after that, and our chats were always enjoyable. So why Peter was smirking?  I had no clue.

Peter leaned closer to me, resting his arm around my shoulders.

“Now, these are medical records from patients nationwide, and some research I did on the topic.” I could feel his breath on my ear as he whispered, and I felt another blush creep up my cheeks. Especially when his fingers started toying with a loose strand of hair in my neck that had escaped from my bun.

“Take a look at it, talk about it with Deaton. I think this might be someone spreading diseases through a curse.” That would make sense. How else could it be that so many people were affected, without any connection between them and no traces in their body of poison or anything else that could cause them to get so sick and eventually die. I nodded enthusiastically as he took my hand and I felt his fingers push a USB stick in mine.

“Remember, this stuff is enough to get your grandchildren jail time, so shush.” He was still awfully close, but when he took his distance again, his hand softly stroked my cheek. He grinned at my flustered look and winked at me before he walked away.

“Call me,” He said before walking through the door, causing Jordan to frown and look at me. I avoided his gaze and stuffed the USB stick into the pocket of my scrubs, pretending to be very busy and trying to get rid of my pink cheeks.

“What was that all about?” I jumped up, I hadn’t heard Jordan come closer. I smiled at him, deciding to play stupid. I was good at that. Came natural to me.

“Hi, Jordan. What was what?” I asked. He pointed from me towards the doors through which Peter had walked away and back to me.

“That. What was he doing here?” He sounded stern, and I wondered if this was what he looked like when he was interrogating someone. He could definitely make me say whatever he wanted if he kept looking at me like that...

But I also knew how strict he was when it came to the law, so I thought it was better not to tell him.

“Jordan, I'm a nurse, I can’t talk about that.” He let out a sigh and I turned to him. What was with that attitude? Was he getting annoyed with me?

“What?”

“You know that that’s not what I meant. Why was he standing so close to you? And why was he touching you?” He said it as if Peter Hale himself had invented and released the plague. Fairly said, I think Peter actually would do something like that if given the chance. But why was he acting like this? And what did he think was going on?

“What did it look like?” I ask casually.

“Like he was going to eat you alive.” Yes, that would be Peter’s way of flirting.

Oh, wait.

Oh.

“Why would you care about that?” I said when I realized that Jordan thought that Peter was flirting with me. I mean, he was, but not really flirting. That meant nothing. But if that’s what Jordan thought was happening, I could go with it. That meant that he wouldn’t suspect the presence of illegally obtained information in my left front pocket.

“Because... Well, he’s... It’s weird,” he muttered. This was the first time I saw him lost for words. And the blush that had disappeared from my own face, seemed to have found a new host.

“Why is it weird?”

“Because you’re so... And he’s so... You know?” I shook my head.

“No, I don’t know. Is it because he’s older than me?”

“Yeah, for example.”

“Or is because he is richer and more handsome than I am?” Jordan sputtered out a few sounds and I tried my best not to be insulted. I knew Peter was way out of my league, and I didn’t even want him, but to have someone point it out, was not feeling very nice.

“That’s not true, that’s not what I meant at all.”

“Then what other reasons can you think of?”

“Well, you could do way better than him!” This was the first time I saw Jordan not be cool, calm and collected around me. His cheeks were red, he didn’t know what to do with his hands and he was shuffling his feet. It was new to me, and I was very curious as to where this was coming from and where it would lead to.

“Is that so? Like who?” He looked at me for a few seconds, then leaned towards me and quickly pressed his lips to mine, surprising me completely. It didn’t even last a second, but it felt like the world stopped spinning for a moment. I looked at him, the blush back on my face and I softly touched my lips, where the feeling of his was still lingering. My stomach twisted and turned in the most pleasurable way and I smiled in astonishment.

“Someone like me,” He then said softly. He fumbled with his hands, until I wrapped mine around them.

“How about dinner tomorrow night,” I asked, causing the biggest and sincerest smile on his face.

“Yeah. Dinner would be very nice. Pick you up at seven?”

 When I went off shift the next morning, I still felt like I was walking on sunshine. Jordan and I would be going on a date. All because he was jealous and couldn’t stand Peter being so close to me. Peter. Is that why he had smirked? Could he tell? I knew he could smell emotions like anger, was love just the same? I took my phone and called him up.

“I can’t imagine that you already took a look at those files,” he said when he picked up.

“You knew, didn’t you?” He chuckled.

“I wasn’t sure. I thought he liked Lydia, but that didn’t explain his heartbeat and that sickening gooey look on his face when he saw you last night. So it had to be you that he liked.”

“We’re going on a date tonight.”

“You’re welcome.”  

[cywscross]

Hello, Cross. I am really craving for a good Harry Potter fanfiction right now. Do you think you can share something? An except, perhaps?

Hmm I actually don’t have any new strictly HP excerpts to show. But I have a bit of an HPxHunger Games crossover fic with MoD!Harry I can post? I can’t remember if I already did but I wrote it a long-ass time ago and never really continued it, and it’s the only remotely HP thing I can find on my usb atm.

Here’s a bit of background first:

Summary: In a magic-fused Panem,tributes are allowed to bring a Contracted Creature with them into the arena…if they have one.  Harry’s not quite aCreature but nobody needs to know that, especially when the little Mockingjaygirl he took under his wing five years ago volunteers for the Games in theplace of her sister.  In the past, he’skept out of human business for the most part – saves him grief in more waysthan one in the long run – but the Capitol sickens even him, and when itthreatens the few things he still cares about, Harry decides it’s time toreturn to the battlefield.

*Contracted Creature – A magicalcreature partnered with a human for a certain amount of time, agreed upon byboth creature and human.  During thattime, human is sworn absolute obedience from its creature, while the creature,depending on its strength, might need to draw on the human’s energy tofight.  Mostly, contracts are allowed toform only when the human finds and defeats the creature in battle.  When magically bonded, if one dies, so doesthe other.

And here’s the excerpt:

               An occupation as the Master ofDeath was, above all, boring.

               Why?  Well, it was very simple – Death had beenmasterless since the beginning of time; it wasn’t as if it needed someone tohover over its shoulders to make sure it was doing its job properly.

               So really, all Harry Potter hadever needed to do was ensure that the souls of the dead were ferried properlyto the other side and didn’t get lost in between, as well as make sure certainpeople kicked the bucket when they were supposed to.  There were always a handful of megalomaniacsevery generation who got their hands on pesky things like Philosopher’s Stonesand demon blood and other magical items, or they’d invent new ways to prolongtheir lives.

               For the most part though, theformer task was only necessary when there was a particularly large number ofdeaths at one time, and the latter… well, there were always heroes ready ornot-so-ready to step up and get rid of whatever evil was reigning during thattime and, on the whole, they’d do a pretty good job of it.  Needless to say, Harry had accumulated quitea bit of free time over the years.

               He’d seen kingdoms and countriesrise and fall, seen wizards and witches die out, seen three apocalypses comeand go, seen magic itself spread across the globe unhindered and watched peopletry to harness it.  Some succeeded, somedidn’t, until magic was a way of life, living alongside humans and taking theforms of creatures of varying species.

               But the first time someone cameup with the idea that said creatures could be used as weapons for humans strongenough to capture them also saw the dawn of yet another era, another nation.

               Panem, they called it.

Paradise, they called it,after that uprising had been suppressed and destroyed by the Capitol and allthe powerful Creatures they had Contracted. The Capitol, as well as the wealthier districts, was a cesspool ofmagic, and Creatures that thrived on it tended to navigate closer to thoseareas.

               Harry stayed well away.  For one, he didn’t need magic to survive; he was magic, or an entity of magicanyway.  And for another, he wasn’t veryinterested in the goings-on between the humans and the twisted ways thatpower-hungry minds worked – he’d seen oppression many, many times before; Panemwas just another nation whose hierarchy demanded that the strong stand at thetop and the weak at the bottom.

               The Games came as a mildsurprise, but Harry had seen fights to the death in arenas before, severalcenturies back, though admittedly, the Capitol was brutal in a way that astoundedeven him.  At least the death battlesthat he’d seen before had always been between adults.  To send kids to their deaths and enjoy it –well, Harry had learned long ago that power often killed the humanity inhumankind.

               Still, he stayed out of theirbusiness – there were times in the past when Harry could step in and get rid ofan evil threatening to end all life on the planet, but even he wasn’t allowedto simply wipe out entire civilizations. That was the humans’ job – revolutions would rise when the greaterauthority pushed too hard.

               So Harry watched and wanderedand kept to himself as he had done since he had truly accepted his role as theMaster of Death, as an immortal on a mortal planet.  There was only so much existential angstingone could do before they had to move on, especially when they had forever tolive through.

               He coped.

                 And then, one day, sixty-nineyears after the first Hunger Games began, seventy-four years after Panem hadbeen established, and eight-two years since humans and Creatures had startedforming Contracts, Harry meandered into District 12.

               His only purpose there was tosee to another batch of souls ready to move on that day, all humans – thereweren’t many Creatures in District 12 – killed in yet another mineexplosion.  There were always so manydeaths these days, killed from hunger, from dangerous jobs, from murder, fromthe yearly Games, that Harry and Death occasionally split the workload.  It was faster that way.

               What a waste, Harry thought idly as he directed the tarnished,weary souls onwards to the world beyond. All of them were a little broken, though they’d start healing now thattheir burdens could be left behind.

               “Peace only in death,” Harrymurmured as he watched the last soul wink out of sight with the softest ofsighs that only he could hear.

It sounded like relief.

               Shaking his head, Harry headedback out of town, a Notice-Me-Not Charm easily keeping him from other people’sattention.  Not that they seemed tonotice much these days – their very existence seemed grey to Harry.  Even their souls, when he shifted his Sightand studied them through Death’s eyes, looked like guttering candles.

               Souls without hope.

               This was why Harry tried to stayoutside of Panem as much as possible, even if most of the rest of the world waseither barren or dead.  He had seen morethan his fair share of tyranny and cruelty, so, to a degree, he was pretty muchimmune, but the Capitol and the Career districts still made him grimace withdisgust, and everywhere else just made him tired if he stayed too long.

               He was halfway to the borderwhen something caught his eye, or rather someone, a tiny figure stumbling awayfrom a trash can as a woman’s caterwauling cut through the drizzling rain,chasing the mousy-haired girl away.

               He paused, slowing to a stop ashe watched the emaciated girl stagger past him and slump against a tree, hungerplain on her features.  It wasn’t allthat rare – he’d seen others, children and adults alike, slowly starving todeath, but there was something…

               He blinked and his Sight zeroedin on the blazing soul still clinging to life, blazing red even as it struggledto survive.

               He hadn’t seen a soul colouredwith so much defiant desperation in years.

               The girl’s foot slid out from underher when she made to straighten and she ended up slipping instead.  Harry was at her side in three strides,cancelling the charm he had placed on himself as he caught her around theshoulders before she could face-plant on the ground.

               Up close, the girl was evenskinnier, skin drawn tight over her cheekbones and her eyes were hollow in herface.

               But there was still thatdesperate light in her eyes, desperate to survive, desperate to keep going.

               She even tried kicking him inthe shins when her weak squirming failed to dislodge his grip.

               Harry smothered a smile.  “Easy there. I won’t hurt you.”

               He released her when her feetfirmed against the ground again, and while she backed away a few steps and eyedhim suspiciously, she didn’t run.

               The confrontational type.  How refreshing – Harry hadn’t seen that in agood long while.

               “Who’re you?”  She rasped out hoarsely.

               “You can call me Harry,” Harrysaid, and then reached into his coat and withdrew some bread wrapped in darkgreen cloth.  He didn’t necessarily needto eat anymore, though he could if he wanted to, but he tended to have somefood with him at all times.  He had takena stroll through the Capitol several months ago after Death had dropped a wordto him about being busy with District 9 and could its Master please clean upthe influx of dead Avox that the Capitol had executed for trying to run away asecond time.

               Harry had taken the opportunityto dump a handful of the citizens into various fountains and puddles, as wellas cause havoc in the Creature zoos by unlocking all the doors.  He had also grabbed some food on a whim, anda spell to keep them fresh ensured that his rations would still be in goodcondition several months down the road. All his pockets had Invisible Extension Charms on them – he had plentyof room.

               “You look hungry,” Harry saidquietly, crouching down to the girl’s level and holding out the unwrappedbread.  “Here.”

      ��        The girl stared at the food asif she had never seen bread before. “…I- I can’t pay you.”

               Harry shrugged and smiled.  “I don’t need the money.  Take it. As a gift.  No strings attached.”

               The girl seemed to struggle withherself, looking torn between hunger and stubborn pride.  Finally, one of her hands shot out andgrasped the fresh loaves with careful fingers. The bread was halfway to her mouth before she stopped again.

               Harry arched an eyebrow.  “I promise I haven’t poisoned it.”

               A scowl scrunched the girl’sfeatures.  “…I have a sister.”

               Harry eyed her for a long momentbefore reaching into his coat and withdrawing another bundle.  “Another for your sister then.  But you can’t take it to her if you pass outon the way.”

               The girl’s mouth dropped openand her eyes went wide as she took in all the food, probably more than she hadhad at any one time in a long while.

               “D- Don’t you need it?”  She stammered out.

               Harry shook his head.  “No. Take it.”

               The girl continued staring up athim.  “Are- Are you a- a Creature then?”

               Harry tilted his head.  She was quick on the uptake.  Or maybe just the type to jump to conclusions– humanoid Creatures mainly existed in the Capitol and Career districts sincethey tended to be stronger and therefore needed more magic.  The poorer districts usually only had enoughenergy in their atmosphere to support much weaker Creatures so ones that lookedremotely like Harry normally wouldn’t be seen by the underprivileged citizens.

               “Well if I wasn’t, I’d certainlyneed it then,” Harry said lightly.  “ButI don’t.  Go on.”

               Slowly, the girl tore off achunk of the bread and brought it to her mouth. The first bite was tentative.  Theones after that were ravenous.

               “Slow down,” Harrycautioned.  “You don’t want to get sick.”

               The girl nodded, swallowing alarge mouthful and almost choking on it, but she made an effort to do as hesaid, movements slowing just a notch.

               “I- I need to get this back toPrim,” She mumbled at last, half her share of bread still cradled in one handas Harry held on to the unwrapped portion.

               He studied her for a long second,her over-bright eyes and dazed expression making her look lightheaded.  The sudden copious amount of food probablydidn’t do her many favours when it came to staying on her feet.  It had most likely shocked her system a bit.

               Yet still, there was that firein her eyes, beneath the exhaustion and confusion and gnawing hunger, refusingto be extinguished.

               “Alright,” He decided in a boutof generosity, passing her the rest of the bread before turning around.  “I’ll give you a lift home.  Don’t be scared, okay?”

               Before the girl could doanything more than blink, Harry slid fluidly into one of his Animagus forms, alarge, lean panther with a pelt the colour of a starless night.  Easy as breathing nowadays; he barely had tothink about it.

               He craned his head around andsurveyed the girl.  There was always achance that she would run away screaming murder but…

               The girl only stared at him,open-mouthed and unmoving, and her expression, already too mature and hardenedfor a child, was filled with childish wonder for that one, unguarded moment.

               “You are a Creature!”  The girlwhispered almost gleefully.  She edgedforward, one small hand timidly reaching out to pet him.  It stopped an inch away and she paused tofrown anxiously at him.

               Harry chuckled, though it cameout in a rumbling purr.  This girl wassomething else.  Most people treatedCreatures like they were pets.  Some ofthe worst ones considered them slaves. Even out here in District 12, several of the children from the merchantsection used butterfly nets to capture the pixies that flitted around theseparts for sport.

               “Go ahead,” Harry turned in atight circle and brushed the girl’s side. He had long since figured out the tricky bit of magic that enabledspeech when a witch or wizard became an Animagus.  Or rather, Hermione – Hermione Granger curly hair, brown eyes, and very, very clever; moreand more often, he found himself forgetting the details – had figured itout with some help on his part.  Hisvoice was still the same, though a darker timbre echoed under it.  “I don’t usually give rides to anyone butI’ll make an exception for you.  Get on.”

               For the first time since Harryhad met her, a small, wobbly smile twitched at the girl’s lips, genuine butuncertain as if she had nearly forgotten how. But as Harry lied down on the ground so that the girl could clamber on,her free hand tangling gently into the scruff of his neck.  Her grip tightened instinctively when he rosesmoothly to his feet.

               “I’m not too heavy?”  The girl asked nervously as Harry padded backtowards the Seam (brown hair, brown eyes – she couldn’t really be from anywhereelse).

               Harry mentally scoffed.  The girl barely weighed anything, as light asa gust of wind on his back.  “Not atall.  Which way’s your house?”

               He veered left as the girlrattled off directions, one ear flickering when she fell silent and hunchedfurther down on his back.

               “Thank you,” She muttered, soquietly that even Harry almost didn’t catch it. The girl had a surprising amount of pride for someone from the Seam.

               “No problem,” Harry leapt nimblyover a ditch, careful not to unseat his rider.

               “…Why are you helpingme?”  The girl asked a few secondslater.  “You’re an animal shifter.  District 2 has those.”

               “I go where I want,” Harry saidevasively.  “And I do what I want.  I wanted to help you so that’s what I’mdoing.”

               “Nobody does that!”  The girl protested, almost toppling off whenshe sat up too quickly.  Harry slowed tolet her steady herself before picking up the pace again.  “And- And you’re a Creature.  I haven’t captured you so you don’t have tohelp me.”

               “I’m helping because I want to,”Harry repeated firmly.  “That’s all thereis to it, kid.”

               The girl instantlybristled.  “Don’t call me kid.  I’m Katniss. Katniss Everdeen.”

               Harry glanced back, catching aglimpse of fierce eyes and a fiercer soul. “Katniss then.  Or Kitty-Kat.”

               He choked back a laugh whenKatniss growled indignantly at him for the nickname.  “Don’t be mad, Kitty-Kat.  Don’t you know?  Felines grow claws.”