#Jude looks like an actual vampire here

[hannahssimblr]

I watch the clock above the whiteboard as the minute hand inches closer and closer to twelve. Four seconds, three seconds, two seconds…

It’s five. My chair scrapes against the linoleum and I start running. Past Mr. Doherty’s desk, out the door, into the hallway, down the stairs, damn it why is this school so big? Another hallway, a foyer, the front entrance… 

“Don’t forget to sign out!” The secretary calls after me and I huff and turn back around, yanking my student ID card out of my pocket and slamming it into the sign-in machine, and then I hurry out, down the steps, out the gate and onto the rush hour Clontarf streets. 

The air is like daggers on my face and my school bag is weighed with a ton of books. My stupid trousers and my stupid blazer are slowing me down too, as is having to wait for the stupid green man at the stupid pedestrian crossing. I don’t bother in the end, I just swerve through traffic and give the woman in the SUV who blows her horn at me the middle finger. 

The house is so far up the Howth Road that it might as well be in Killester, and I sprint the whole way with my bag jostling, as commuters alighting the buses onto the darkened winter streets glance at me with dull surprise as I thunder past them and shove through the gates of a little enclave community of Georgian houses concealed from the road. 

I knock on the door of number two.

“Oh, we thought you’d forgotten about us,” Ivy’s piano teacher looks rightfully perturbed when she answers.

I have to cling onto the doorframe and catch my breath, “I’m so sorry, they made me stay behind at school.”

“It’s ten past five, her lesson ended forty minutes ago. I had her sitting in for the entire duration of the lesson after hers.”

“I know, I know,” I wheeze, “Is she okay?”

“Well she’s a little upset,” She goes through the hallway door to retrieve my teary eyed sister from the practice room. “We thought you forgot about her, actually I tried to phone you several times…”

“Ivy…” I hold my hand out to her and she regards me with a furious clenched jaw and a hot, teary face. She fists her hands into my blazer and shoves her face into it so that her teacher won’t see her crying and I just lamely pat her shoulder in apology. “Um, well, I’ll pay you the money anyway, I’ll give you double for the trouble…”

“No, just the usual is fine.” Her teacher says with pursed lips, “These things happen but just know I’m on a schedule, and I’m not a babysitter…”

“I know, again, I’m so sorry. Thank you for looking after her, I… it won’t happen again. I’ll be on time next week.”

“I’m certain you will.”

Ivy tries to make me carry her home on my back as reparations, but I beg her for mercy after two minutes because she is not three and tiny anymore, my bag weighs as much as her and I’m still so gruesomely hungover that I’m not sure how far I can even carry my own body without needing to crumple up in a heap on the ground. She’s merciful today and lets me away with it, possibly because she can tell I’m off, but she doesn’t let me forget what I put her through. 

“I want you to make me pizza tonight,” she demands, “With pepperoni, and not chorizo like you got last time, it’s not the same. I want pepperoni. And do you remember that time you got that packet of it with spicy pepper around the outside? Well I don’t want that either.”

“Uh huh, how about you give me a break?”

“You left me at my piano lesson!”

“Yeah, I recall.”

She peers up at me, “Are you sick? You look horrible.”

“Thanks for that. Yeah, I am. I think I ate something funny.”

“Oh…” She looks troubled, “Well can you still make me pizza?”

The idea of going through the effort of the flour and the dough and the tomato sauce makes me feel slightly faint, “How about I buy you a pizza instead? Yeah? And I don’t mean a frozen one from the supermarket, I mean one from the Italian pizzeria down in the village.”

She gasps. 

“But you have to eat it in the restaurant. We’re not bringing it home and getting caught out by leaving the box in the bin. And when mom and dad get home later on you can tell them that I made you something healthy for dinner instead.”

“You’re a liar,” She says with a sly smile that creeps up her face, “We’re both liars.”

“Yeah, dead right. It pays off.”

“I’m still upset about the piano lesson.”

I muss up her hair, “No you’re not, shut up.”

“Uh huh! I am. When we get to the restaurant I might need a milkshake too.”

“You’re pushing it, Ivy, you can’t push me…”

“I can,” she shrugs, and it’s a fact so undeniable that all I can do is laugh. 

“Yeah, well, we’ll see about that milkshake when we get there.”

Beginning // Prev // Next

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT,

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I absolutely love the recs you've given (you've introduced me to tomione, and I love it!) and I was wondering if it's possible to give you some recs in return? There are some books and fics that definitely have dramione / got vibes, and I was wondering if I could share them with you!

So glad you've enjoyed them! Feel free to rec me anything you want. I've read most of the classic recs in terms of fic and adjacent content (Cruel Prince et al), but I'll try anything that's well-written. My tastes run towards weird and/or audaciously creative stuff, and I can forgive a lot of weaknesses in plot on the grounds of (1) ambition or (2) character work. My turnoffs are instalove, protagonists who can't fail, and most Y/A (I'm not a hater, I swear, I just need characters who can say "fuck" when their leg gets chopped off.)

I'm also a fan of weird and fucked-up dynamics.(Wuthering Heights was my favorite book for a while, and as a teenager I wrote an AU in which the book ends on a long sex scene where Heathcliff fucks Cathy's ghost and then immediately gets murdered by Catherine 2.) Obviously, I am very normal.

[msviolacea]

So, I've been playing Ikemen Villains since its English release a week or so ago, and while I haven't finished a full route yet, I've been thinking about what I like and what I don't, so here, have an early review.

The tl;dr - I like it quite a bit, and am happy to keep playing. I don't like it quite as much as I like Sengoku, but I like it a lot more than I liked the other Ikemen games I've tried. I can recommend it to anyone who likes mobile game-type otomes with a darker tone.

The game setup: in an AU Victorian England, there's a team of men with questionable morals and fairy tale curses who work for the Queen to solve problems of even more awful moral implications. The main character is a letter carrier who accidentally witnesses their deeds and gets sucked into their world while they figure out if they can trust her not to spill their secrets.

What works for me:

The writing is top notch. It's light and fun when it needs to be, and hits the right combination of period melodrama and anachronistic modern that I enjoy in these kinds of games/stories.

The LIs are all very fun, and I'm looking forward to experiencing all of them. Even "wait, Motonari, what are you doing here, why are you alive like 300 years later and why did you change your name?" (I say this with all the love, I adore Motonari, but man I'm pretty sure they just recycled some cut dialogue from his IkeSen routes for Jude.)

I started with William's route, and I really enjoy the themes of "there's no reason to abstain from personal joy, you deserve to be your fullest self" that they're going for.

I also like the level of sensuality/sexuality they have going. If I'm playing one of these games, I want it to feel sexy!

I appreciate that they include content warnings for the darker content - one of the current event stories has a warning for potential dubcon content, which is nice. I don't mind reading the darker stuff, but I do like being prepared and being allowed to make a decision about when I want to read it.

I'm always a sucker for the fantasy Victorian aesthetic.

What works in comparison to the other Cybird games:

The chapter lengths are ... okay? One of the things that made me hard bounce off the other two Cybird games I've tried - Vampire and Prince - is that the chapters/segments felt REALLY short, in a way that felt like an over-the-top cash grab, in the "spend money to get a satisfying amount of story!" way. By contrast, the "5 tickets a day" amount I get from Sengoku feels like an acceptable amount of content - I don't know if IkeSen chapters are actually longer in terms of word count and scenes, but it feels that way, whether it's actual length or just quality of the writing/scene structure. In comparison, Villains chapters do feel shorter than Sengoku, but the content is presented in a way that feels generally satisfying to complete in the free daily tickets. I wish there was a bit more, but I'm okay with what they give overall.

The "oh no there's a time limit" plot contrivance is believable, in the context of the game and the genre. MC saw too much, they're giving her a month to prove herself trustworthy. That feels fair, with the genre conventions in mind. IkeSen's works well - Sasuke's "don't fall in love" warning is weirdly tacked on, but the actual time limit is the wormhole that would get MC home to the future, and the conflict is whether her connection to the LI/the characters in general will keep her in the past. I don't remember what Vamp's is, because I really bounced hard off of that game very early, but I remember that the Prince contrivance was the other major detail that made me ultimately abandon the game. What do you mean, the MC didn't read the whole contract she signed? All of this could be mostly solved if she'd paid attention? That just felt lazy on the part of the writers, and undermined the MC in a way that made me not want to follow her story. Anyway, I'm glad that Villains has one that makes sense and doesn't make the MC feel overly flighty.

The Villains art style is ... fine? Again, I don't like it as much as Sengoku, but it's comparable to/better than the other games I've tried from Cybird.

Some things I don't like:

I'm sure this is a tech issue, but GOD the loading screens in this game are SO SLOW. I can feel myself aging just watching the little lamp flash.

I know this has been a staple of the non-IkeSen Cybird games, but I really dislike the card system as it's integrated into the story mechanics. There's no benefit to the gacha. Oh look, it's .... a picture? There's no story involved, a la Tears of Themis, or anything other bonus content. I'd much rather stick with IkeSen's dress-up mechanic, at least dressing up avatars is a fun mini game. I am not tempted at all to spend real money to obtain so-so pictures that I can easily find on the internet if I really want them.

Ultimately, it's nice to have another otome that has grabbed my attention, and after playing a couple of the new event stories, I'm going to sit here and wait impatiently for Victor's route because I love him. But I'm certainly not going to be tempted to spend the kind of money I spent on IkeSen - which is good, I have a mortgage now, and I don't have the excuse of wallowing in my own grief + pandemic lack of leaving the house to excuse it, lol.

[mad-hatter-teacups]

Fear and Gold

(I've been in a bit of a funk and not been able to share some of my LoK OC stuff on here since I was shadowbanned, which if I think about it correctly...I think I was shadowbanned for several YEARS before someone actually brought it to my attention. Anyways, I had an idea for Kain in the future, after Defiance, with how he would have to begin the process of gathering the other guardians of the circle again.

---

It was going to go either one of three ways; violence, death, or fear. It usually was one way which was a combination of all three. At least, that was how Kain had been told. A fourth “secret option” was not how he had expected to be greeted when the Balance Guardian arrived to find Jude draped lazily in a chair, feet up on an ottoman while they looked like they were crunching numbers based on an inventory book on their lap.

“Back so soon, Jude?” Kain eyed the Energy Guardian with mild suspicion. Something had either happened with their assignment or Jude was toying with him. In all fairness, Kain was unlearning some aspects of his distrust in others.

The reply Jude gave was casual, laid back, and hardly concerned that the “Maestro” was addressing them on what may have been a serious matter. “Yup.”

No, no. This wasn’t what Kain was expecting. “You’ll do well to remember that I expect more than one word answers when I question you.”

“Well, I just got back about 2 hours ago, been balancin’ the old man’s checkbook so Cathedral can pick it up later. Somethin’ the matter?” Jude’s posture shifted a bit and although they weren’t quite as tall as the “Maestro”, they stood to meet Kain at eye level.The Balance Guardian noted Jude hadn’t changed their clothes since they had last departed…and not a smattering of blood was on them.

“Okay, so I’m back a little earlier than expected on the schedule. Business went a lot smoother than anticipate but then again you and I both know goin’ to Nachtholm ain’t exactly a leisurely stroll.” Jude gestured lazily to the fireplace within the lounge of the newly erected Sanctuary. “But things were different this time, little unexpectedly different but my hunch was right.”

“Hunch?” Kain arched a brow at Jude with slight disdain. “You made a business decision on a whim? You’re reckless. Not careless. What could have possibly been your thought processes of acting on such a whim being a good idea??” The elder vampire avoided scowling, but it was clear he was tense before the younger guardian.

Jude shook their head and held up a taloned hand to put Kain at ease, or attempt to at least. “Money talks, Kain.” It was a simpler answer than the “Maestro” would expect. At their answer, Jude began to step around Kain, but it was to reach for their tinted glasses they had left on the end table before they took out a small cloth to clean the lenses. “My crew and I went there on business to bust out some fledglings that were gonna be auctioned off to the reigning vampire hunters for slaughter. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that if the people in power ain’t takin’ care of the economy but doin’ rather well for themselves, patience thins to the poor and marginalized.”

Reflexively, as if to show a reminder of Kain’s rank above Jude, he caught the Energy guardian’s wrist as they finished cleaning their glasses. “...If you have a point,” Jude could feel the pressure on their flesh as Kain made a warning as if to dig into it, he hadn’t grabbed their prosthetic arm, meaning he wasn’t in a  gaming mood. “I would advise you to make it.”

Offering Kain a leveled, but careful, look Jude tilted their head. “Me and the crew got to the city just in time for the auction, but we didn’t come unprepared. We brought some significant financial aid for that district where the auction was happening. I decided to make a bid, and drew attention to myself, naturally. You get the idea; gasps, shrieks, faintin’ women.” They waved their free hand idly and mocked a swoon. “The auctioneers were terrified of course, but I just strolled my way forward. The crowd parted, tension hung in the air, and I had a couple of words with the guy in charge. He told me that at the end of the day people would never see the worth of vampires…and I told him that we’d have to see about that and if self preservation spoke more than money did.”

Kain narrowed his gaze at Jude but said nothing, pressing firmer in his grip on Jude’s arm as if to urge them to continue. “Your point, Jude. Get to it.”

“Cathedral and Elbrecht came with me, along with a few of my guys hangin’ in the shadows. All I had to do was snap my fingers and we tipped over some heavy wagons full of gold we brought.” Jude could feel Kain’s grip slacken a bit at this. “Whattaya think happened next, Maestro?”

“...Absolute chaos.” Kain seemed to grimace with slight displeasure. “...You’re a cleaner deal broker than that. Why go through the trouble of a mess?”

“You’d think.” Jude retorted but their tone remained collected and without a callousness to it. “I mean, you’d think that about there bein’ chaos. There was, don’t get me wrong, but more in the sense of watching the masses frantically begin towards the money. Zero casualties though. Couldn’t have people stampedin’ over each other. So my guys kept ‘em in line to prevent panic.

“C’mon, Maesto. I got eyes and ears in solid numbers across the realm in different cities. Black market shit travels faster than Nora (Lenore) sending us all telepathic messages to gather together for you. I was a deal broker, but in this case I was more your, uh, typical charitable donation. No strings attached, but more to send a message.” Kain released Jude’s arm then, watching as the Energy guardian used their prosthetic hand to massage where he’d gripped hard on Jude’s wrist.

“And?” Kain inquired steelily.

Jude smirked. “The people spoke, Maestro. Money won over killin’ the vampires.” Pausing though, the Energy Guardian saw Kain scowl then. “...might have a lot less prejudice from humans if somebody did their job around here instead of pining after one they can’t have.” Mikhail, their Guardian of the States, had become a thorn in Kain’s side.

Jude didn’t need to remind Kain of that and maybe that was their mistake of saying so, because the next thing they knew they were being hurled across the room from the force of Kain’s telekinesis. Jude crashed through a bookcase as pages and tomes flew everywhere. As the dust settled, Kain heard a sneez before Jude was lifting the large shelf off themselves while gazing at the Balance Guardian halfway across the room from them.

Any of the other guardians might have left then and there or apologized, but Jude simply stood up and dusted themselves off as if nothing happened. “...Okay. Fair point. Overstepped there…I didn’t have to say it, but ignorin’ it doesn’t make the problem of our butcher happy States Guardian go away, Maestro.”

“You dare imagine what I think?!” Kain snarled half expecting Jude to take a step back, but the energy guardian stood their ground and gazed back at Kain while they put their glasses back on.

Pushing the tinted lenses up on the bridge of their nose, they ruffled a hand through their faux hawk black hair. “Nah, I don’t wanna be in your head, Maestro. You got enough demons to deal with...ain’t my place to go pickin’ anyone’s brain. Although Mikhail’s should probably be studied.” They dusted the red leather trench coat off and tipped their head back to offer Kain a winning smile. “Lemme know when that happens so I can deliver the goods to Kinyeta. She’s been dyin’ to literally poke at Mikhail’s brain…but then again she’s also got more of a stomach for it than I do. I’d rather give it to the buzzards to be honest.” 

“Kinyeta is the nature guardian. Studying the brain of a decedent isn’t unlike her. She’s always studying some creature’s anatomy and that includes her own.” Kain had a point there. Then again Kain hadn’t managed to stalk, harass, and blackmail his way into a, primarily, male dominated university. Kain had always said Kinyeta was insane, but Jude didn’t think so.

“Well, she’s the only one of us to actually manage their evolution into a literal bat; complete with ears, fur, wings, and all. Mikhail ain’t even “worthy” of the gift he wants from ya and I think we both know that he didn’t come into this world wantin’ peace. He came into it wantin’ problems.”

Kain wrinkled his nose in disgust at the reminder, but he remained steadfast in his decision. “Be that as it may, upsetting the delicate balance of the circle is not a risk I am willing to take at leisure as you are so inclined, Jude.” Kain sneered approaching so he and Jude were in close proximity and they could see the eyes glowing on the Reaver mounted at his back. “...I cannot kill Mikhail, yet. He is not an immediate threat.”

Jude’s brow furrowed and they frowned. “Immediate bein’ the key word. Just don’t second guess yourself, Maestro. I mean that respectfully. You might know what you’re doin’, but Mikhail’s unstable and I’m not sure that you like to gamble in the same way I do…”

“...Are you implying I’ve gambled with fate?” Kain arched a brow curiously.

“I dunno, that coin been dropped to start turnin’ again?” Jude’s question held a weight to it that Kain was not yet ready to answer. 

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour: Top 5 Reasons to Read SWEET NIGHTMARE by Tracy Wolff! #tbrbeyondtours

Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the TBR and Beyond Tours blog tour for Sweet Nightmare by Tracy Wolff, the first book in the new Calder Academy series! This one released yesterday, so you can snag it ASAP! I've got all the details for you below, plus my top 5 reasons to read it. If you're a fan of YA paranormal, you're gonna love this one!

About the Book

title: Sweet Nightmare author: Tracy Wolff publisher: Entangled Teen release date: 7 May 2024

The scariest school on earth Is about to experience real fear… Most schools are about being the best. This school? It’s about being the worst. Calder Academy is where the rogue paranormals go. The ones who break the rules or lose control. And when that happens for vamps, werewolves, witches, and dark fae? It gets pretty freaking scary. I should know. Because I’m trapped here. Look, every seventeen-year-old girl thinks their mom is a tyrant. But mine just happens to run Calder Academy, which paints a giant target on my back. The way I make it through these dark halls is by steering clear of the things―and kids―who go bump in the night. Especially Jude Abernathy-Lee. But when a freak storm hits our isolated island, I’m stuck without a backup plan. The power is gone. The lights are out. And our worst nightmares are suddenly real―and out for blood. Now the only way to survive is to align myself with one evil to avoid the other. And the only thing worse than the idea of getting close to Jude? Secretly loving every minute of it.

Add to Goodreads: Sweet Nightmare Purchase the Book: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Tracy Wolff is a lover of vampires, dragons, and all things that go bump in the night. A onetime English professor, she now devotes all her time to writing dark and romantic stories with tortured heroes and kick-butt heroines. She has written all her sixty-plus novels from her home in Austin, Texas, which she shares with her family.

Connect with Tracy: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Top 5 Reasons to Read

Sweet Nightmare evokes all the feelings of the old glory days of paranormal YA books! ANY fan of YA paranormal is going to want to read this one asap.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Okay, so I don't think there was actually a bear shifter...and not lions or tigers, but definitely other big cats with two leopard shifters! This book has alll the great paranormal creatures plus some I'd not seen before: vampires, fae, wolf shifters, mermaids, sirens, even manticores (no, I did not know what they were until this book, lol).

Clementine has a difficult relationship with her family, but there is so much found family here that it just warmed my heart. it's one of my favorite tropes, and the Calder Academy students came together for each other in the most difficult of circumstances.

Clementine and Jude have the most adorable friends-to-lovers relationship! My favorite thing about them is how Jude calls her by the name of every citrus fruit so she calls him by the name of Beatles songs, ahhhh it's just too sweet!

Although this is YA, Tracy is not at all afraid to put her characters in dangerous situations and make them, even as teens, work through it. These kids are put through the wringer! She does not shy away from the gore and even death such situations would bring either, which I personally would have loved as a teen reader myself.

Seriously, if you're at all a fan of YA paranormal books, including Tracy's Crave series and older standards like Twilight, pick this one up!

Check out the Bookstagram tour as well! My post can be found here, and the full schedule is here.

[badassxbirdy]

March Activity Update - Pinned Post

It’s time once again for an activity update! If you’re new here: these posts help me to keep track of what the frick I’ve been doing, particularly when tumblr breaks or the brainfog strikes. This one includes posts and drafts for January and February. Everything else can be found in previous updates under this tag. There’s also the full thread tracker here.

The full activity update (along with OOC house keeping) is below the cut. Bold text = links.

If you want to see all IC interactions without the other stuff, click here. If you’d like to start something new, there are opens and memes, or you can just hit up the DM’s. You can also add Ty on Wire for IC texting.

Now onto the update!

Housekeeping

My beloved Rookito has set up a gofundme. Please go and take a look!

New year, new avatar. Thanks to all who voted in the poll.

Thank you for the lovely birthday messages and pet pics! ❤️

I scored a cheap laptop in the boxing day sales! 🥳 As well as it making a lot of things in my life generally easier, I’ll now have proper access for those months I spend away from home.

I’m so still getting notifications for old tags instead of getting newer ones. See this post. If you tag me in a thing, please also DM it.

I've made some changes to the guidlines page, primarily about FC's. Please take a look, or see this post.

Still figuring out meds and other treatment, and still dealing with some intense irl responsibilities, so thread replies will happen when they happen. I’m trying to put less pressure on myself, but as an anxious human and chronic people pleaser it’s a struggle. 😂

Threads, replies, and other IC interactions:

(In alphabetical order by username)

@astormymind

Library ghost with Finn (queued)

@beastbitten

Awkward first meeting is awkward. (link)

@demonstigma

Threatening speech workshop? 😂 (link)

@demcnsinmymind

At the motel (link)

Now kisth! (queued)

Taking Lance on a hunt (queued)

Azzy proves a point (queued)

Doing Lance’s hair (queued)

An unwanted visitor, and Ty finds out the boy has powers (queued)

Car trouble (queued)

@derschwarzeengel

Vampire Damon (link)

Damon actually talks about his trauma! 😱 (link)

Sick Tyler = sulking Tyler (link)

Judging 50 shades (link)

“She’s a ghost AND a bitch!” (link)

@destroyerscved

Magical bean juice (link)

@discipulusmaleficus

Abandoned house (link)

@florafound

Important hot sauce discussions (link)

@hvbris

Tyler really said 👁️👄👁️ at Wednesday (link)

Tyler meets Hook (queued)

An appointment with Dr. Soliman (queued)

@imprvdente

FBI!Fish and human!Ty at the motel (link)

@innerwar

Jokes with charm (link)

Attempting to babysit Jude/the Doctor (link)

@kxllerblond

Attempted bribery (link)

@loyaltyguided

Birthday cuteness! (link)

@magaprima

Demon problems (link)

Demon problems part 2: electric boogaloo (queued)

@nightiingaled

The return of Moros (link) (link) (link) and (link)

Injured Killian (link)

Proteus is baby (link)

@pantslessoptimism

dumbass teens and canniball ghosts (link)

@thatslayer

Ty and Faith both say 😠 (link)

@vyrulent

Ty meets Orobus Jones! (link)

Headcanon, dash games, and assorted silliness:

How adorable are you? (link)

Thread commentaries (link)

Tag! - TyMel mischief (link)

What does love feel like to you? (link)

I think that’s everything! I may actually be up to date for once??? This hasn't happened in around a century, I'm in shock. As always: please let me know if I’ve missed something. I never intentionally drop threads without notifying, rest assured that if it’s not here I am either having a brain fart or I simply have not seen it. Remember to be kind to yourselves, and stay safe! ❤️ — Em

[estrangedaframian]

pasiphaedemetriadevil​:

Juno snorted. “What an adorable little vehicle. You’re right, it does fit her.” She watched him position her, rolling her eyes when she heard what he’d said. “Good gods, the rune’ll work. Stop worrying yourself silly, lover-boy.” She rubbed her forehead and scoffed, both hands on her hips now.

Shaking his hand? The hell she would. She’d healed him with her blood. That was handshake enough. “I’d think ptsd comes with the hunting job, yeah? I mean, you’re tracking down and keeping monsters from hurting more people. Bound to have a situation with one that’s just so horrid eventually, or come across another mortal who turns on you, whom you thought could be trusted, and kerblam. Post traumatic stress disorder.”

“Ha! I’ll do you one better.” She was quite literally about to envelop them in a cloud of black, but then he told her his name. She recognized that name. “My god. No wonder. You’re the hunter who has died and come back at least a bajillion times, and to several different things, yeah? Quite persistent, aren’t you?”

That’s when she waved her hand, a black cloud swallowing them. Once it disappeared, they were standing in front of the diner she’d spoken of. “Here we are.”

She made her way inside without another word, (and without telling him her name) her non-vampire side internally drooling with the smells that wafted into her nostrils.

Dean was a little tiffed at her constant derision— including, but not limited to, making light of his past trauma as human and hunter. He chalked it up to being a pariah, allowing it to slide without addressing such out of sympathy.

“Yeah, I am persistent. Thanks for noticing,” he said, a sarcastic smiling pulling at the eyes and lips.

While he’d seen the smoke firsthand he could never have guessed just how efficient this mode of travel was until he’d reached the diner that way. He had to control himself for the sake of making (or not) a certain Chevrolet jealous. All in his imagination, of course.

Winchester watched her go inside, deliberately lagging behind with the hopes of collecting his thoughts before facing her again. It wasn’t every day you made a dinner date with a vampire, after all.

There weren’t a lot of other ladies (none, actually) who looked like something from out of a Jude Deveraue, within the diner, so it was easy for Dean to locate her booth.

“So what’s preferred these days?” he asked, slipping in across from her. “Tell me what you want to order, I tell the waiter... or letting the girl speak for herself?” Tongue dabbed at the corners of his mouth and he grinned, all his warmth and kindness somehow even more apparent in that moment than any other before it.

“It’d mean a lot to me if you’d give me something to call you... If you want to use a false name, I can respect that... You’re much too different to just jot down ‘witch’ or ‘vamp’, though... Everything’s happened so fast, I’d like to be able to remember this day in perfect detail, years from now... I’m not saying you and I are pals or anything, lady, but it might interest you to know I did have a pretty deep bond with a vampire, once...”

He nodded, jaw setting as he attempted to regain control of his emotions.

“Benny Lafitte...” It always hurt to say that name and that gave Dean all the more reason to make certain saying it never fell out of practice. “Sacrificed himself to help my brother and me... Good man, Benny...”

Why couldn’t it be Benny sitting here instead of her? Dean immediately shook the thought away. He had no good reason to be comparing the vampires; doing so was simply species-ism, even if Dean hadn’t meant it that way.

“I, uh... I wasn’t trying to say we couldn’t be pals, ‘cause whatever happens happens, you know? I- I just didn’t want you to think that I had some kind of motive here. I wanna learn from you. That’s all.” He sniffled, subtly using his sleeve to wipe away any remnants of Lafitte from his eyes.

[bebepac]

The Vampires Live On

I am participating in @choicesflashfics week 3 Prompt # 3 “Bold of you to assume I would say yes to something like that.”  by @debramcg1106​ quote will be in bold.

I thought in the beginning this would be a one shot but it’s really not,  I think it has the potential to be a few parts, for Halloween as I don’t like zombies, but I think vampires are okay. :) 

A/N:  I’m pretty sure the idea of Liam as a vampire has been used on the fandom before, so any similarities to anything currently in print on the fandom is completely unintentional.  I know I’m probably not the first that has written Liam as a Vampire, and I’m sure I won’t be the last.  I take this dynamic into the past and use my dynamics and OCs I have created in my story.

The Book:  TRR Word Count 2425 Ratings and Warnings:  Teen/ Character deaths, mentions of blood and stabbing Pairings:  Liam x Riley?  Song Inspiration:  Hey Jude by the Beatles Summary: We get to know the “real”  Riley and Liam.

Original Post: 10/22/22 at 9:36PM EST.  

A/N2:  This story idea actually comes from a short story I wrote when I was in high school after seeing Interview with a Vampire.  So I’m totally about to Big Fat Liar myself with this fic, If you have seen that movie as I am recreating the short story from memory, and I feel like  there are similarites with  Twilight, and Bloodbound. This short story was originally written in 1994, and I’m tweaking it to fit my story lines for my fanfic characters.  Also I don’t proclaim to be a historian here, but did google how people would address others in the 1800′s.  

I was then, as I am now, and will be tomorrow. I am a vampire, nothing more and certainly, nothing less.  I made the choice to give up my life in the sunlight almost one hundred and fifty years ago.  I was born Alice Marie Hughes, in 1855 but in this decade, I had chosen the name Riley Antonia Brooks for myself.  In this decade, in the year of our Lord 2022, you could pretty much say or do or be anyone you wanted to be, if you had the resources to back it up,  and I, along with him, had made quite the nest egg for ourselves. 

But back in the years when I was living a mortal existence, the year was 1873 and it was the dawn of a new age in  Lumberton, a small province outside of Cordonia. My sister Clara and I, even though orphaned at a young age, were able to as adults get jobs in a local pub serving food and ales to the soldiers and other types of men that came in and out of the establishment.  It was a decent wage to be made there, not only from serving, but  we also entertained the men, with song and dance, just teetering on the verge of racy and seductive.  

The two of us together, we were way before our time.  

Clara would have loved living in this century in which I am living now. We’ll get to more of that later, more of what happened to her, and why she isn’t here with me, with us.  

The pair of us together, we could charm those men too. It also didn’t hurt that my sister and I were very pleasant on the eyes.   The people of that era and time found my sister and I intriguing and scary at the same time.  It was because we were not only sisters, but identical. It was like looking in a mirror when we were standing side by side.  Some called us witches,

 and other names almost anything you could think of, but Clara always had a witty comeback for them.  She was our fierce defender.

People had a very difficult time telling the two of us apart. So a lot of time both of us answered to each other’s names.  

It was early summer the first time he came into the pub.  He came in after a group of soldiers, taking a seat alone at a small table for two.  

The young man was pressed and dressed.  From his look it was evident this was not the type of place he frequented.  

“Clara! Go serve him.”   The shop owner meant me.  It had been two years of working there, and he still had no idea which sister was which.  I nodded, heading in the direction of the man seated by himself.

“Good Evening My Lord, is there an ale or spirit that strikes your fancy?”  

He glanced up from his timepiece to stare me directly in the eyes.  His eyes were two sapphires that in the dim lighting from the candles seemed to create their own sparkle from the lack of lighting.  His smile was enchanting, I found myself staring at his teeth, as I had never seen teeth so brilliantly white before.  

“What would you recommend?”  

“I do not drink those types of libations, My Lord, but I could bring you the one that seems to be the preferred by our clientele.”  

I brought him the whiskey that men from his station typically ordered when they were there.  

“Do you require anything else at this moment? Supper is still being served for a bit.”  

“I’m not hungry, but I heard there would be a show here? Sisters who perform?”

“Yes, My Lord  there is.  It will begin shortly. May I take my leave?”

“Yes Miss…….. Miss….”

“Alice Hughes.”  

“Alice. I will not forget that name.  As the face that it is attached to is unforgettable as well. I am Richard Reese.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Reese.”  

“You as well Miss Hughes.”    

My sister and I quickly went to our small changing room to put on our identical costumes waiting in the hallway for Maxwell to introduce us.

When we walked out to the small stage and the music began to play, Richard sat up in surprise.  

So much for an unforgettable face, he kept looking between my sister and myself, another in a stream of people that could not tell us apart.  He was attentive to the entire show watching our every move. 

When we separated to make our rounds across the room, keeping in our seductive, sultry characters, to flirt with men at their tables, I realized his eyes were now following me and me alone, either he knew I was truly Alice, or he decided at that moment to pick one of us to watch.

Once the show was concluded, we were allowed to have the patrons request time with us to sit at their tables.  We always decided separately as that’s how we found the two of us made more money. I was just finishing up with another client when I saw his hand raised.  Since Clara was free she walked in his direction.  She was there only a few seconds before she walked back over to me.

“He said he wants Alice.”  

I walked back over to him sitting down.  

“You requested me My Lord?”  

“You should be confident like this all the time, Alice.  You changed into a different person when you walked out on that stage.”

“It’s a character My Lord.”  

“It’s more than that. I’ve never seen someone so radiant before.”

“Then you must not get out much during daylight hours.”

“No. I do not, the evening is my morning, it has been for quite some time.”

“Mine too pretty much.”  

I stood.

“Where are you going?”  

“Your time is up.”  

I continued working, when I glanced up, he was gone. Clara and I pooled our money, giving the house its share, and bagging up our little fortune.  

“I will walk with you two home.  It’s not safe.  There was another murder last night.”  

“Thank you Maxwell for looking out.”   Clara’s eyes were locked on Maxwell, and his were on her.  

The next three nights Richard showed up for the show, and afterwards requested time with me.

“Looks like you have a fan.”  Clara said with a smile as she saw Richard waving his hand in my direction beckoning me to come over to his table.

That night when I sat down from the table across from him, he pushed a small purse towards me.

“How much?”

“Excuse me My Lord?”  

“For the night. I’m sure this is enough.”  

“Bold of you to assume I would say yes to something like that.”  

He appeared not to understand.  “Is it not enough? I have more.”  He produced a second equally large purse of coins.  

“I do not sell my body for money My Lord.”

“You sell sex. That whole show was nothing but sex.”

“No.  We sell the illusion of sex.

 We do not give it, or show all our bare skin to any of you.  We sell smiles, interest in your meaningless conversations you wish to have with us, and flirtations. We do not sell ourselves.  If that’s what you are looking for from me, you are mistaken, and please do not return here.”    

I jumped up from the table walking away.

“Alice….”  His voice sounded sad and apologetic, but I kept walking.  

Later that evening I talked to Clara as we walked home, with Maxwell following us for safety and protection.

“He made a mistake about what we do here, Alice. 

He’s a man, that’s what they do.”  

“He thought we were prostitutes.”  

“And, there are places with actual prostitutes next door, but did he go there?  No?”  

“I told him if that is all he’s looking for from me not to return tomorrow.”

“He’ll be back.”  Maxwell commented.

“How do you know?” 

“He fancies you Alice, and when you’re around him, you look like you fancy him too.  

He will be there tomorrow.”  

The next evening, Richard was back; his hand was first in the air when their show concluded.

“I really meant no disrespect to you Miss Alice or to your character.  I never meant to insinuate something false about you.  Please accept my apology.”  

“I accept your apology My Lord.”  

When it came time for me to leave he kept plunking out coins to keep me at his table to continue our conversations.  I was there and only there the whole evening. Richard asked  to take me on a proper evening outing in two nights. Our first day we wouldn’t be working.  I was actually excited about our… first date.

That next night was when my whole world changed, even though it started out like any other evening.  Our shift at the Pub, our show, and Richard…

Clara and I were giggling and talking as we walked until Maxwell shushed us.

We halted in our tracks as  Maxwell looked around the area as if on high alert.

Two men wearing masks emerged running from the shadows  yelling for us to give them all of our money.  

Maxwell refused them. I wanted to just give them the money. But Maxwell insisted that they were not going to take what we all had worked that night and every night to get.  

Maxwell whispered “run.”  to us, the split second before he lunged towards the two men, the fight ensuing.  Maxwell managed to critically wound one, but the other got the jump on him, shooting him.  Maxwell’s lifeless body hit the ground.

Clara protectively pushed me behind her.

“Run Alice. Save yourself.”

“I won’t leave you.  We’ll give you our money, it doesn’t matter.”  I screamed.  

“No we won’t.  Maxwell died for us. They’re not getting a coin from us while I'm breathing.”  

Clara pulled her blade from the folds of her dress advancing towards the man.  I tried to help her when it looked like the unwounded man was starting to overpower her, by jumping on his back.  Using my fists to hit his back and face.  I was thrown off his back, losing consciousness when I hit the ground.  

When I woke, he was standing over Clara’s trembling body, blood was pouring from her neck in rivers.  Clara was gasping for breath trying to hold the wound closed.

I screamed at the sight.  Now I know Richard heard my fearful scream from miles away.  

The monster  of a man  stood wiping the  bloody blade on his pants.

Tears were streaming down Clara’s cheeks as she stared at me. “Run Alice… Please…”

I was frozen in fear as  he started to advance towards me.  

“You can have it. Please don’t hurt me.”  I begged, throwing the small purse of coins in his direction.  

“It’s not even about that anymore.  Now it’s your turn.”  

Finally my legs had unfrozen and I could move. I tried to run away.  He grabbed me from behind pulling me by my hair.  I screamed again.  He turned me around and pushed me to the ground.  

“Alice….”  She held her neck with one hand while reaching for me with the other.

“Clara.”  

I was about to die mere feet away from my sister, and I couldn’t hold her hand as our hands only a few crucial inches away from connecting.  

I gasped in shock when he slit my throat.  It wasn’t pain I felt in those moments, I could feel life spilling from me.  I felt tired, as my eyes started to drift closed.

  A hand clasped mine, causing me to open my eyes.  Clara had managed to slide herself the last few crucial inches to take my hand.

“I’ll go first, to make sure it’s safe for you. Then you follow. Like always.”  She whispered.

“Okay.  I’m not afraid.” 

“That’s sweet.”  The man grumbled, picking up the purse of coins.  He was standing there for the second before I blinked, and I heard a loud crunching sound and he was  on the ground dead and Richard was next to me.

“Oh Alice!!!!”  Richard whimpered.  “I can save you.”  

“Save my sister first.”  

“I can not. It’s too late for her.”

I realized I was still holding her hand, but her grip had relaxed.  Clara had died in those few moments since I last glanced at her.  

“I don’t want to die Richard.”  

“I can save you, but you have to give me permission to.  I  can give you another life, but you have to choose it.”

“I choose it.”  

Richard bit his wrist blood trickled from the puncture wound.

He held  his wrist to my lips.

“Drink from me and I promise you will live.”  

So I drank from him. 

 Not even a minute later I felt excruciating pain throughout my body.  It felt like what little blood left in my body was burning its way from the inside, out.

“What’s happening to me Richard?”  

“You have to die first. I’ll be by your side when you wake up. Don’t be afraid.”

I could hear everything around me as my body shut down, my eyes drifting closed,  my breaths and my heartbeat slowing. Then I noticed, there were no sounds coming from Richard.  NO heartbeat, no breath.  What did I consent to, in order to save my life?”

Then I felt my heart stop beating.

Vivid. Dreams. Were they dreams?  I saw my parents, I saw Maxwell, and lastly my sister.

“I will miss you Alice.  You have a different destiny now.”  

I woke up in a dark room. I felt his presence immediately even though he hadn’t spoken. When my eyes adjusted, I could see him clearly, though it was dark, he was sitting in a chair reading a book.

He sat the book on the chair and walked over to me.

“You’re finally awake, Alice, how do you feel?”

I immediately touched my throat; there was no longer a wound.

“I feel….fine..  How long have I been sleeping?”  

“It took three days for your body to heal and for death to pass.”

“So I did die?”

“You died a mortal death. But you Alice Hughes are still a living being.”  

My stomach growled.

“You’re hungry.  I knew you would be.  Let’s go get someone to eat.”

“Someone?”  

He softly laughed, lighting several candles.

“Look at yourself Alice. I mean really look at yourself.”

I peered at myself in the mirror.  I was the same, yet I was different.  My skin did not have the same glow it once did, but at the same time, it was glowing. My eye color had changed from the deep brown I knew, to a shade of sapphire almost identical to Richard’s.  

“Have you ever heard of the First Family of Cordonia?”  

“The Royal family?”  

“One in the same.  But what the world doesn’t know is… that we are Vampire.”  

[rollercoasterwords]

any fave fox recommendations atm???

loving the hand that feeds🫶

hi thank u!! assuming 'fox' is meant to be 'fic' in which case - yes!! rubbing my evil little hands together oh i am so excited

oneshots

hackery by orphan_account - hackery!!! hackery hackery hackery. hackery <3 if u read one thing from this list PLEASE let it be hackery. under 2k words and changed me forever. picked me up and threw me against the wall and ripped out my spine and ate it. i re-read this allll the time because it is just so fucking good. dorcas/lily are at a party that gets ambushed during the first war. go fucking. read it right now.

i would kill for some company (temporarily) by lesbianregulusblack (@lesbiansiriusblack hi liv i am talking abt this again) - beautiful + dark + gorey pandalily fic where pandora is a vampire and lily is a human and it's very hard to say which one of them is more fucked up (check tags on this one - when i say dark + gorey i mean it i gasped as i read and i am a horror enthusiast!)

bibliomancy by redsnake05 - listen ok just LISTEN. yes this is irma pince/minerva mcgonagall. yes it is also irma pince/helga hufflepuff. just. LISTEN. this is one of the most unique stories i have ever read in this fandom. the writer created this whole lore where librarians are like. these otherworldly eternal beings and it follows irma pince's immortal life as she tends the hogwarts library and just. i love it. i love it so much.

completed fics

Notes on a resurrection by newleaves - ok this one is a drarry fix-it fic where unspeakable draco malfoy accidentally raises harry's dad from the dead. and harry's mum. and harry's favorite dada teacher. and--well, u get the picture. i am not kidding when i say this is one of my favorite fics EVER like ever ever ever the lovely @simmy75 recommended it to me and i am now eternally grateful to her bc it altered my brain chemicals permanently. Like. i will try not to go on and on but this is one of the most beautifully and uniquely written stories i have ever read!! it is complex and confusing and feels like trying to put a puzzle together because draco is SUCH an unreliable narrator and just!!! please go read it. even if u are not a drarry fan this fic is AMAZING

Of Memories and Milk Thievery by moonymoment (@blurryayse hi jude i already yelled at u abt how much i love this) - this is the most recent like. longer completed marauders fic that i've read and it!!! is!!!! so!!! good!!! perfect balance of angst and sweetness and jude's writing makes me run around in circles like a dog chasing its own tail. remus + sirius are exes co-parenting teddy + they are both so petty that it leads to shenanigans + confrontations + tears + a poorly-thought-out parent-trap style plot by teddy + harry.

wips

i feel a bit silly even putting this one down because if u follow me on tumblr then surely u are aware of it but! the only fanfic that i'm currently reading that i am like. actually regularly keeping up with is crimson rivers by zeppazariel (@zeppazariel hi zar my sister still needs to read the new ch but once she does she is going to agree w me about the bagel bc i am RIGHT) bc i am reading it along with my sister! hunger games jegulus au, if u aren't already reading this then u are missing out i promise u it is soooooo fun (for angst-enjoyers. for everyone else...well.)

however! i also have...18 ongoing wips that i have like. started reading but have not had time to keep up with simply because. that is so many. and life is so busy. and also ao3 doesn't send me emails even tho i'm subscribed for some reason (if anyone knows how to fix this please help meeeee)

but anyway here are some of my favorites of those that i've started for anyone looking for some wips to get into!!

Invisible String by a1phab3ts0up - dorlene pirate au!!! dorlene pirate au <3 enemies to lovers <3 dorcas and marlene are rival pirate captains who reluctantly agree to work together !!! background wolfstar and jegulus and marylily! i absolutely cannot WAIT to catch up on this

honey honey by aeoneskova (@aeoneskova) - au where marlene survives the first war and raises harry. i've only read the first chapter but this is like. at the top of my list for once i have more time to read longer fics bc the first chapter was so fucking good!!!

A Darling, A Demon, A Lamb by brightened - this one is a very dark alice/lily first war fic told from lily's pov. very very heavy so please check warnings + everything if u decide to read - i love angst and i love dark fics and this is beautifully written so i'm kind of obsessed <3 currently on hiatus but the day it comes back i will be devouring it posthaste

when it's warm again by moonymoment (@blurryayse hello again jude. i have only made it through the first two ch of this i think but rest assured that i will once again become a cat dragging dead birds to ur doorstep once i have time to sit down and finish it <3 ) - another moonymoment fic!! because nobody is doing it like jude!! mermaid remus and human sirius <3 kicking and screaming and jumping up and down and chewing on my fingers. (also this one is almost done!!! one ch to go??? wowowowowow)

[mishapocalyse]

30 More Headcannons About Dean Winchester: A More Realistic Outlook (Part Two):

Here is Part Two For You Lovelies!

If he has eyes for you, the way he shows it are a bit off. They aren't the normal things people do if they like someone, but cherish them. Please.

Continuation from 21-> He will make bracelets out of vampire teeth, whittle angels from wood. Sometimes even bring back feathers from said angels, that you keep in a box. You never ask what things are, it is simply because he likes you.

Soft spoken and overall a teddy bear with acute issues, he gives the best hugs if you ask him. He may look off-putting and intimidating, he is the sweetest man.

He always wanted a family, to settle down and have a couple kids run amuck. It is hard with his line of work, but hopefully when everything is said and done, that he will finally be able to settle down with his S/O.

All the time I see people objectifying this man. He is desperate for love, lonely, and cannot seem to catch a break from the big bad's that decide to enter his life.

He has issues with his father who is still in Hell. That man never made it to Heaven for all the shit he put his kids though. It does not mean Dean hates him. He just knows that his father is doing his time and that eventually when the topic of him resurfaces between the brothers that they will sit down and talk about it.

Aside from what Dean struggles with, he does not push others to talk about what they are going through, if they need to talk about it he will sit there and listen.

He is not the best person to ask advice from on life issues. Because that is his issue: Life.

If Dean really has feelings for his S/O or you, he will let you drive the Impala. He won't say it, but he will slip the keys into your hands and walk to the passenger side door.

Some people hate me for this one: Dean is hard of hearing. After all the loud music, and Castiel trying to talk to him in his actual form, Dean is left with only one working ear in theory. He does have aids. Asking Castiel to heal him is something that he refuses to do, although Cas would be more than happy to do it.

Dean never asks for help.

If he does in fact need something and you are his S/O, he will tug at the hem of your shirt, pull you in gently by your belt loops. Rest his head on your stomach and nuzzle. It will take several times for him to tell you what he wants after you ask.

After hunts when he comes home to you or his S/O in particular, he will scoop you up in a hug, every time. Wanting to be held, and to feel you close.

When he gets frustrated, he will go out and work on the car even if it doesn't need to be fixed. It is a coping mechanism that is healthier than smoking or drinking.

Occasionally, Dean will self loathe, and be in such a self deprecating mood that it is best to let it run its course.

Dean's favorite color is yellow, which is a total opposite of his entire being. But that is my head cannon.

He keeps a knife under his pillow and a pistol tucked between the mattress for better accessibility.

Anytime a friend, even S/O comes through the door he makes them drink holy water and "accidentally nicks them with a sterling silver blade". He is paranoid, and just making sure.

If you are ever alone with him, sometimes you can catch him humming "Hey Jude."

If you run your fingers through his hair, or give any sort of affection he will cry.

There is never a time where this man stops surprising you. Even when he is standing in your doorway covered head to toe in mud, blood and god knows what else.

He is fairly awkward at times, and never likes looking into people's eyes for very long. He is a wallflower.

Sometimes it is hard getting out of bed with the acknowledgement of being someone's vessel or the answer to everything is a heavy burden on his shoulders. He needs to have that comfort and that knowing that people are here for him.

He needs a lot of therapy.

You can tell by his eyes, which at first were a beautiful shade of forest green, were now dark, empty, just like he is. Pulling him out of those dark times can be and are difficult.

He is a heater. Dean is so warm that you do not need a blanket. Just him. Will sweat you out of bed during the summer.

Since his hands are large, his fingers thick, it can be difficult to hold his hands that are above all gnarled and calloused from countless hunts, sometimes burned by the fires they start from salting and burning remains. (Or by the many hunter's pyres they had to do-> don't kill me just spitting facts.)

Dean has this knowing look when something is wrong. His brows furrow, his lip quivers, and the way his demeanor darkens, is terrifying. 256 lbs of scary.

Every night he sits at the edge of the bed and cleans and takes apart his pistol. A nightly routine of his.

Lastly, for those Destiel fans or Angel! Readers. When Cas or Angel! Reader dies, either from saving Dean or in his arms, their wings are forever scorched in his skin. (This will be in the Hunter's on High fanfic! Coming Soon).

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Three (Part 3)

When Marnie takes me back to the booth, there are even more people there than before. A crowd of hipsters have joined us, all looking like members of Vampire Weekend, and I scoot in next to one of them; a mousy haired boy with glasses called Stephen, who asks me what I want to drink, and then has no issue with ordering one of the lewdly named cocktails for me. 

“So you’re also an artist?” He wants to know. 

“Yeah I’m doing art and design. Hoping to get a bachelors in Illustration.”

“Illustration like books?”

“Yeah kinda. Sometimes.” My drink arrives with a flourish, the waiter making a big show of presenting it to me by lifting a glass dome from the top of it, letting a cloud of dry ice waft onto the table. It’s all very over dramatic and frankly embarrassing, and everyone makes noises like they’re dead impressed, but I just snatch it up and take a mouthful. I’m still feeling so rattled from seeing Jen that even my eyes are having a hard time focusing. 

Stephen is talking about the illustrations in some book from his childhood, but as he’s talking to me I kind of zone out and chew on the end of my straw, trying to decide whether or not there’s actually something wrong with me. I make a mental note to anxiety-google my symptoms later, wondering whether a churning stomach and palpitating heart are normal responses to talking to someone you used to know. Jen and I can’t be friends again, I decide. Being around her would up my chances of colliding with Jude Turner tenfold, and I don’t think my body could physically handle the stress of that encounter. 

I realise Stephen is waiting for me to say something, and I shake myself back to life. “What?”

“Oh, sorry, I know it’s loud in here. I was just asking what music you’ve been into lately.”

“Oh, like Sufjan Stevens.” I say immediately, surprising myself, “And I’m getting really into Alabama Shakes”

“You know Alabama Shakes?” He says, impressed, not knowing that I only said that because Shane left his iPod on the coffee table a few days before and when I scrolled through, theirs was one of the names that stuck in my memory. 

“Yes.” I say. “The sound is super unique. I’m drawn to the lyrics, actually I think I’ll try to get tickets to the next gig if they ever come to Dublin.” I sit back and take another drink, watching his face and wondering when on earth I became someone who could bullshit. I’m sure that someone who knew all about the who’s who of music would be able to see right through me, but Stephen doesn’t. He tells me that I seem like a pretty cool girl, and I smile, wishing it was true. 

He tells me that he’s in second year, studying social sciences in some small technology institute outside of town, and then we spend some time discussing that, and him, and where he lives and where he comes from, all things that kind of shape him into a person, rather than some hipster who buys me drinks. Stephen is nice, I decide, in an everyman kind of way. Nothing to get excited about, but there’s nothing especially off-putting about him, save his skinny jeans that are just a tiny bit too skinny. We share three drinks together, and then he asks me if i’ll go out to the smoking area, because he needs a cigarette. 

I’m usually not someone who smokes very much, and even when I do I try to limit it to just one, because I hate just about everything about it except for the social element of continuing the conversation outside with everyone else who’s smoking too. I never understood the appeal of the actual cigarettes though. Especially in a day and age where we know everything there is to know about the harm they do, the myriad of painful, excruciating ways that they’re killing us. Even now, after its ban indoors, the hikes in prices and the horrible, gruesome images on the sides of the packets, it feels like every single college student in this city has a cigarette between their lips as a fashion accessory. I’ve seen people put stickers over the warning labels, and even listened to them have in depth discussions about their favourite ones, Marnie was saying recently that hers is the picture of the man with the hole in his neck. 

I try very hard not to think about the man with the hole in his neck when Stephen is handing me my second cigarette of the night. He’s not smoking what Jen was smoking, and it’s much stronger and much more unpleasant, so much so that I have to stifle a wince while he tells me a story about the time he went to New York on a J1 visa. 

When I stand next to him and look up into his face, I think again about how alright he is. He’s friendly, he’s tall, his outfit is mostly nice, and now that I’ve had three strong cocktails and all of those awful, anxious feelings I had earlier have floated away with the breeze, I start thinking that maybe I could try out some light flirtation on him. 

“Have you got a girlfriend?” Is what comes spilling out of me though, and I wish I could stuff it right back into me. It must be the least graceful or subtle attempt at flirting there ever was. My face immediately burns up. 

“Um. No.” He says with bewilderment. I realise I have cut him off mid sentence. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Just wondering.” I’m so embarrassed of myself that I can’t meet his eyes anymore.

“Ehm. Well, do you have a boyfriend?”

“Oh, absolutely not.” I laugh too loudly and then cover up my mouth. 

When my eyes drift back to him, he’s giving me an amused smile. “Is it funny? Like, the idea of you having a boyfriend or something?”

“Maybe.” I say. “Kind of. Yes.”

“Why’s that?”

“Oh, like, I dunno I just don’t really have boyfriends.”

“You’re exploring your options.” He says with a conclusive nod, even though that’s not at all what it is. In fact, I’ve been doing whatever exactly the opposite of exploring my options is; Avoiding all romantic prospects. Wallowing in my room. Fleeing in terror from any and all single men who might want my phone number.

“That’s what college is for anyway.” He goes on. “Like, just seeing who’s available and having fun.” He gives me a suggestive little smile that makes my stomach coil nervously even through my tipsy haze, because he seems to think I’m the queen of sex now. 

“Yeah completely.” Is all I manage. 

“You have lovely eyes.” He says. “They’re a real emerald kind of colour.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, let me have a closer look at them.” He leans down until we’re eyeball to eyeball and he gazes right at me. I can see my own silhouette reflected in his glasses, and think that I look kind of messy, and not in a purposeful, Alexa Chung kind of way at all. More in a three-cocktails, two cigarettes and a resurfacing of a past trauma kind of way.  I smooth down my hair with sweaty palms. 

“You’re extremely pretty.” He tells me.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He surges suddenly towards me and pecks me on the lips. It startles me and I jolt backwards. 

“Sorry.” He says with wide panicked eyes. 

“It’s okay.”

“Maybe I was misreading the signals.”

“No it’s fine, I don’t mind.”

“I don’t want to be one of those weird men.”

“You’re not.” I feel tetchy for some reason. “You can just… you can do it if you want. You can kiss me, I don’t care.”

“That’s romantic.” He says, dripping with sarcasm. 

“Sorry, I just don’t know how to be.”

“It’s fine, we can um… we can just chill out if you want.”

I don’t know why he’s insisting on prolonging the awkwardness when it’s clear to me that neither of us is going to leave the smoking area until we kiss. 

“Kiss me, please.” I say flatly, and his mouth does that porny quirk again. “You’re a woman who knows what she wants.” He says in a voice that makes my hands clench, just as he comes at me and puts his mouth over mine. 

It’s a strange sensation, kissing another person after so much time, and I’ve completely forgotten what it felt like to do it. It’s more real than I remember it being, I’m more aware than I used to be of the way his tongue feels and the sounds our mouths are making. It’s a little bit visceral, but not totally unpleasant. Despite the strong taste of cigarettes on his breath, Stephen’s kissing is fine, there’s nothing wrong with it, but still, it makes me feel almost nothing inside. I hold onto the front of his jumper anyway and I kiss him back, because it feels like he’s helping me to sever the very last connection I have with Jude. He no longer gets to be the last boy who kissed me. Now it’s Stephen. Just plain old Stephen, the social studies student whose surname I don’t even know, and it’s like all in that moment I’m freed. 

“You’re pretty.” He tells me again, gently as he pulls away from me. “Has anyone ever told you that before?”

“I dunno.” I say vaguely. Men are obsessed with being the very first ones to tell women that they’re attractive, like it’s some gift that they are privileged to bestow upon us. We’re floundering, lost in the world, completely blind to ourselves until some man comes along and lets us know what he thinks about us. I can’t agree with him, say that I know, or I’ve heard it all before, because then he’ll think I’m up myself. It always feels like a trap. And besides, he’s not really saying it because he believes it, it’s just a device to get into my knickers. 

“What are you up to later on?” He wants to know.

“I suppose I’ll just go home.” I say, my heart jumping a little in my chest. 

“Where’s home?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” I say, and he grins at me like he thinks I’m just being coy. “I would.” Maybe he really isn’t that bad looking at all. 

“If I tell you where I live then you might show up at my front door.”

“I might, who knows. And would you invite me in?”

I laugh awkwardly, feeling the vibe shifting rapidly into a realm I’m not comfortable with. “Probably not, no.”

“Ah, you art school girls, sure you’re always playing hard to get.”

“I like to stay mysterious.” I step away from him and make moves towards the door. “I’m pretty cold.” I tell him. “Maybe we can go back inside?” 

“Yeah, okay.” He stubs out the butt of the cigarette that he was holding onto the whole time, and we head through the doors. I’m just thinking about how maybe he’s not so bad, and maybe if we spent some time together I could get to like him, when the hot air from the bar hits his glasses and they immediately fog up, and the effect on me is so immediate that I almost have to flinch away from him. The sight of him with fogged up specs is so dorky that I’m instantly repulsed. I watch in horror as he takes them off and wipes them on his jumper. There’s nothing at all attractive about him. What was I thinking?

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” I say robotically. “But I actually have to leave now.”

“Oh, right now?”

“Yeah. I didn’t realise how late it was, my housemate wanted me to come back and help her with something.” I start walking away immediately, the thought of his kissing me causing a shudder through my entire being.

“Wait, uh, can I have your phone number?”

“Um. I don’t know.”

“Really?”

“I don’t really give it out to people.”

His face falls. “Oh.”

“I’m just really not in the place for… this right now. It’s not personal.”

“It’s okay. I get it.” He doesn’t get it. He looks downtrodden, and I feel horrible, but I can’t stand there looking at him anymore, so I turn towards the cloakroom and try to collect my things. 

“Hang on.” He calls after me. “Will I ever see you again?” 

Does he think we’re in a romcom? That I’m the Meg Ryan to his Billy Crystal? I have to try really hard not to roll my eyes in front of him as I pass my token over to the cloakroom attendant, my breath shuddering. “No.” I say over my shoulder. “You probably won’t, sorry.” I don’t add the bit about how I was just using him to get over the memory of another person, because that’d make me the bad guy here. 

“Damn. Okay Ellie. Nice to meet you.”

“Right. See you.”

I pull my coat on and walk right out the door into the freezing cold night.

Prev // Next

[inkyindigo]

the prompt i wanted to do for @tmafantasyweek was actually on monday but whatever, it takes me four days to write anything

i offer you some Familiar!Martin and Vampire!Jon (also on ao3)

When Jon doesn’t come home before sunrise, Martin goes looking for him with his heart pounding to a degree that must alert every vampire on their block. Or would have, if he hadn’t already called them all. Most were asleep, but their familiars told Martin that neither they nor their masters had seen Jon last night. They would know, because their masters always took their familiars with them. Like you’re supposed to.

    Martin is fully aware that Jon doesn’t like him much, but it’s cruel to leave him worrying after the sun comes up without so much as a text. And Jon isn’t cruel.

    Martin’s head is full of visions of Jon hurt somewhere, Jon burning somewhere, and nearly passes right by him. A stumble backwards reveals Jon huddled in the mouth of an alleyway next to a coffee shop, practically hugging the steps that lead to the staff entrance. 

    “Jon, christ, what are you doing?!” Martin gasps.

    Jon doesn’t appear happy to see him. The ever-present circles beneath his eyes are darker with his face in shadow. “As you can see, Martin, the sun is up, therefore I’m staying in the shade.” He gestures over his head rather petulantly. He doesn’t look hurt and Martin’s worry steps back to make way for indignation.

    “You had me worried sick! You couldn’t even call me to say where you were? Why were you even out this early?”

    Jon’s eyes flick to his shoes before he stubbornly brings them back up to Martin’s face. “This was the only time Jude would agree to meet with me.”

    “I’m sorry - Jude Perry?” Martin says shrilly. “From the cult that likes to burn vampires?”

    “She had information for me.”

    “Wh - so what, you - you risked your life for information? While the whole time she was planning to trap you in daylight, why would you agree - ”

    “Of course she was!” Jon snaps. “I know that, Martin, I knew exactly what she was doing. I got what I needed and I’m still alive, and I certainly don’t need to explain myself to you.” There’s something almost wild in his eyes, but it’s all defensive. Martin’s heart hurts.

    You could have called me, he doesn’t say. I would have come with you. I would have taken you home. Jon knew that, didn’t he?

    For whatever reason, Jon didn’t want Martin there with him. But he’s here now.

Martin draws back one side of his coat. “All right, get in here and I’ll cover you until we’re inside.”

    “Excuse me?”

    “As a bat, I mean. You can turn into a bat, right?”

    “Of course I can.”

    “Well…” Martin gives his coat a little shake and holds out a hand. “You don’t have to stand out here all day. I promise I won’t let you get burned.”

    Jon takes a hesitant step forward. The tension eases from his face and his voice is softer when he says, “Fine. Thank you.”

    “That’s what I’m here for, yeah?”

    Jon disappears in a blink, and a bat settles into the palm of Martin’s hand. Martin smiles at him. He’s never seen Jon in this form; it feels special, like Jon trusts him with something after all. And bats are very cute.

Martin knows better than to assume Jon is less dangerous like this. He’s only seen a fraction of Jon’s powers of compulsion and he’s sure there are more Jon hasn’t shown him. This is an illusion, a facade of vulnerability he can hold entirely in one hand. It’s still cute, though.

    Martin carefully tucks Jon inside his coat and feels his fuzzy body shift around, presumably getting comfortable. Martin keeps his hand curled around him and holds his coat closed with his other hand. It’s an odd pose and the people he passes on the street probably think he’s hiding a gun, but he doesn’t care. He’s hyper-aware of every breeze that may flip his coat open to the sun. His fingers cramp with how tightly he holds the lapel, while also holding his other arm still so he doesn’t jostle Jon.

    When he’s safely back inside, Martin lets his shoulders relax with a breath of relief. He takes Jon out of his coat and holds him carefully in both hands, making a flat surface for him to take off from. “Okay, we’re - ”

He stops. Curled up in his palms, Jon’s body doesn’t move except for the slow rise and fall of his back. Asleep.

Jon had fallen asleep right there tucked against his heart. 

Martin stands frozen, nearly breathless. The cynical part of his brain says that Jon is so exhausted, of course he couldn’t stay awake. All the other parts riot over the thought of Jon trusting him, feeling safe enough to let himself rest. To be small and defenceless and entirely in Martin’s care. He hardly weighs a thing. His wings are folded on either side of him, most of his face nuzzled into one. It’s unbelievably adorable.

    Martin pulls himself together. Jon isn’t a pet to be cooed over. Even if his little ears twitch in his sleep.

    Martin moves very slowly into Jon’s room, cupping both hands around him and gently laying him down on the bed. He bunches up the covers slightly around Jon like a little nest. And then he makes himself leave the room and shut the door to give Jon privacy.

    There’s a good chance Jon will wake mortified that Martin carried him to bed like a child. Martin will deal with his entirely toothless crankiness and try to convince himself that Jon the person isn’t just as cute as Jon the bat.

[ecto-stone]

So I don’t really know that much about that my blood au you created could you tell me a bit about it?

Ha hah I Hope this is Edible

So My Blood Au is just Me dumping all the cool stuff i can think of into a DP what if Vlad is Good ^For Starter MB Vlad or Vladimir Jude Masters is a Paranormal investigater/ hunter/exocist in a sense. He seemingly Perfect in People eye, Not Really on the inside as he have many problem stem from living so long and going though alots of thing that he prefer not to talk about that he hide from People , go so far as to adjust his own emotion to what he find fit to the situration making him really hard to read. (Not Jack and Danielle, those are close enough 2 peel him like an onion if they sense something off). -Vlad And Danny are not same kind of Halfa in this AU, Vlad is Two soul (Half Blue Demon Vampire Ghost, Half Human twisted together and blend into one) and Danny is Soul within soul (Going though the accident give him two identical soul that over lapped each other) -Ghost are nerf and ecto beam and ecto Base attack can harm ghost but they can't harm Physical thing in living world Unless they are infuse with Core element same with Human entering Purgatory. -The world have 5 Realm: LivingWorld, Purgatory (GhostZone), Elsewhereness, Fairy Land and Unworld. +Going with the idea that originaly Vlad is supposed to be a vampire and many ghost in the series feel like they are more supernature creature then Ghost. Living world now have many Human and other Creature living among each other , hidden in plain sight +Purgatory: Where Ghost go and heal before they move onto Elsewhereness (Heaven in this verse) or Rebirth back to the living cycle. There are many area in Purgatory that fit human decription of after life look like , this is due to collective faith and ideal of many Ghost focus with each other to created these Resting stop. Incidentally like the living world these area are also watch over by being call King and Queen of the Death (Caretaker and protector of the Death soul, a being with incredible power capable of bending reality). Most well known one are the King Dark, Prince Argon and Princess Dora of the Dark Age Zone. Queen Desire of the thousand and one night. ect.. newest King of the death is Ghost Writer (library of the forgotten) but he prefer not be refer to as king, just Ghost writer. +Elsewhereness: The final resting Places of enternal Bliss. Once the Soul is ready to let go of all earthly desire, they are send here. Not much is known about this realm or it location. When a Soul reach enlightment it will automatically know where to find it. The realm also House many god. +Fairy Land: Home to care taker of the childhood inocent and many god that work to keep the universe running. Most common creature that live here is Fairy with two side one silly colorful side that appear to children to granted what ever their heart desire. The other is the Blue fortune side that Weaved the fabric of Luck and fate. +Unworld: A Dark realm with one way in no way out. It house many dangerous creature, ancient outer god and unspeakable Evil that have been banish to through age by god and human. >the Origin Story: +Vlad and Jack are Friend from Childhood (Their Bond are really tight kinda like Sworn Brother ) unlike their canon counter part meet in college. They Hunt Ghost but in more of a Release soul from their earthly bound kind of way via the info they get from the Masters Family Grilmore. (There is one major inconvience is that You need to wait for the correct day and time to perform ritual sending ghost back to purgatory so they can Move on to Elsewhereness/heaven of this verse ) +They Meet Maddie in college (Maddie and Vlad almost alway in a total clash with each other with Maddie tech almost Hunter like way in dealing with ghost and Vlad more traditional Way of Handling them) Which end with Three of them forming the Original Ghost Trio. With Maddie accept Vlad and Jack Respect the Death ideal. And Vlad and Jack incorperate More Technology into their Asset. +Maddie point out the inconvinient of having to wait for the correct day for each ghost to send them back to Purgatory (Their room are fill with

Container for ghost), Which lead to them comming up with the idea of Making a Ghost Portal. <Note: MB Vlad is not into Romantic relationship, Platonic one Matter to him more> >The Accident: No diet soda the Accident is purely due to one miscalculation that cost Vlad life (his Head got Blash Clean off infront of Jack and Maddie) In that Split Second of His face getting disintigrating, Vlad get a Glim into UnWorld (the Realm where are Demon and evil of the four realm are banish to) and Got Latched on and Pushed Back to the living world by a Demon Vampire Ghost Both Soul are now inhabited Vlad headless lifeless body, in Which about 3 day after Vlad burial that Vlad Body got completely decontructed inside the coffin and recontructed into a body that is more fitting to host both . Vlad have a hard time remembering Who he is after kinda get rebirth and Wander the world until he Get Suck into a Natural Ghost Portal and got Flunk Back in time. >Journey of an Immortal Being: -Vlad Stuck in the Past, He recovered his memories, Going through existenal crisis, Evil phase, Evil make me feel bad, Not Evil anymore, Found out that he is immortal now, Existenal crisis part2, Acceptance, Travel the World and Start doing the what ever he like, learning old way of magic still helping ghost and other supernatural being. -Caused several Major Change to the past that Mythical Creature got un extinct. (Due to the Law of life and death this does not affect who get born or not, it just that the world got alots more races now and those used to be born human in the original timeline might get born as another races entirely) -Get Mistaken for Messiah.( Look You can't kill Vlad, He would just be gone for like 3 day then comeback) -Caused the legend of Dracula. -Vampire cult have a horrible obession with Vlad as a Whole. Look like vampire act like one, can walk in plain day light and more importantly the ability to Open a Portal to Unworld . ( Vlad don't use this ability much and can only open small one as it is very energy consuming) -Meet his own ancestor Which is the Fentonightingale that Later Splited into Fenton and Nightingale (later change to Masters) leading to revealation that Jack and Him might be very distant Related. -Bickering With Time God (Do not trust the Clock Man that work for the Eyes) -Get Caught in War far too many time. -Meet Phantom (an odd entity that is oddly clingy to him) in the Great War. -Meet Other Some of the DP ghost when they still alive -The Horrible Bar incident that reveal Phantom true nature, an evil being that wish to turn the world back to it original nature of nothiness and try to turn vlad to the his side, Kill, Seal in Rock Case covered with Sigil to prevent Phantom from escape, Chuck it into the ocean. - The Contruction of the Coffin Ghost Portal. (Havent actually went into the Purgatory caused the CCP is one Way Portal. -Forming of many Hidden town that home supernatural being. Amity Park is one of them. - And many more unseen story >Daddy Stolen Ribbone saga (MB Vlad is sterile, he want to have kid but can't.) -The Vampire cult that he have grudge with attemp to Clone or at least created a child that have Vlad Power through ritual and cult like method. Imagine Danny Clone but even more mess up . -Vlad end the life of most of them by his own hand (they are suffering, it is best to let them go) -Birth of Danielle: +Danielle Evelyn Masters or just Dani/Dee for short is the only Stable child come out of this whole odeal. She is Created From Vlad Ribone like a Twisted Eve. And like in the book it caused both of them to be very attached to each other in a Fatherly Daughterly Way. +Dee Have Vlad Ghost power and Demonic Power but No ghost form (Her default funtion as both and whether she is in ghost mode or Human mode is all Up to energy control) and no connection to Unworld there for she can't open portal to Unworld. Dual Soul nature Wind/Fire.

+She like Frog and is interested in Marine biology (which Vlad have full support over, she have a room fill with Vlad hand made frog plusie that she all named. +He raise her teach her everything he know about how to deal with supernatural being and how to Snipe Vampire from a long distant with pin point accuracy.

+An kidnapped incident with the Vampire cult latter resulted in Dee Death at the age of 12 (1999), and Vlad becoming fully Merged into one Being with Plasmius. and wipe out the entire vampire cult in a horrible Vlad the impaler way). +After wiping out the remainder of the cult, vlad go into retirement and work as a wall Painter < he work supper fast on celling painting and no one know why> >The Boy Who Fly (2 year before the start of actual MB story) -Danny Gain his power at the age of 10, his parent know. The event of Portal acivation caused the whole town to have a black out. -They move House alots for 2 year. And Jack try his best to make his family as normal as they can be after accidenly k his friend all those year ago and now half eff his own son. -They finding out amity park their new home is on accident when the RV engine die mid way through the middle of no Where (The town shown it self to those in need) -Danny hide his abiltiy. But after a gym incident. and getting Praise by his peer for it instead of scold like with the adult Danny start getting bolder using Floating power around his new friend when no adult is watching. <Vlad who is Working on the Giant Raven paiting for the School Saw this and know imediately What Danny is> -They offically meet each other on the the roof top, when Danny mom ask him to go down the store and by some bread and he decided to try to Air Frog Swim to it. They become friend and Vlad even teach Danny how to fly properly before having to leave (they visit each other alots after the revealation, and vlad is a good adult friend that Danny can talk to) (Danno forgot about the bread and return home breadless) -Jack may stop with the whole Paranormal hunter/ghost scientist job but not Maddie. She keep doing it behind his back due to danny special need in ecto base consumtion (he havent grow abit since the accident and keep getting smaller and it concerning) -Jack found out and they have a Fight. which lead to Maddie go to his Sister house. -Danny Found out about why his dad was so stressed out about ghost thing now. When looking through his parent old stuff with his new friend tucker. (Dude why does your parent have a Picture of the wall painter in thier old junk). He show the image to Vlad. -Danny Get jack to tell the story about the inccident. Dad what if i tell you that Your friend who die 18 year ago survived and is on our front door right now. Reunion, Jack feeling guilty about making them both like this. Go Get Maddie. Happy reunion of the trio. -Fenton Parent become accepting to Danny condition, Danny have a good mentor that can teach him ho to control his power And they live happy ever after for now

[mad-hatter-teacups]

I like to think that with Kain now set to start trying to fix Nosgoth and actually fulfill the role as the Scion of Balance, I'd like to think that he's still cynical and somewhat leery of what the future holds since (I'm not sure if he knows what it looks like now that Moebius is gone), but he IS hopeful (though cautiously I would think).

To me it makes sense that the guardians that accept the Dark Gift do evolve to have some specific vampiric traits where they don't look quite..."monstrous?"

Jude and Alkììn full on have talons on their hands and they would have the same footwork as Kain obviously. But the rest of them looks completely human aside from their somewhat pointy ears. Kinyeta is the exception to this because she has talons, but she actually is the only guardian to evolve into a bat-like creature (she's also the Nature Guardian, so an actual bat critter makes sense).

Lenore has claws but she still has all five fingers, but is unnaturally pale, almost in a sickly sort of way. Kain can transform and travel as thay swarm of bats we see in Defiance, but Lenore has evolved to manipulate (literally) moving on the shadows.

They all retain (sans Kinyeta) some various human aspects in terms of visage and behaviour.

The only ones who remain human are due to various conditions:

Alistair (I like to use him in multiple AUs, don't @ me) - He has a spiritual contract with a higher being (it is not the Elder god)

Alejandro - Kain's generational timestreaming trauma with Moebius automatically makes him reluctant to offer the new Time Guardian the Dark Gift. Alejandro is understanding of this and willing to wait as "time will catch him first" before death will.

Mikhail - He has done nothing to actually have EARNED the Dark Gift. Kain also does not trust him not to abuse it.

Matthaeu - He was bitten by a werewolf and actually would be unable to accept the dark gift since he now has lycanthropy he is attempting to treat.

I just think of how the Lieutenants devolved and its actually a weirdly balanced bunch he has here now that aren't like that???

That just blows my mind in my future AU.

[nonsensegnomes]

they get on like a house on fire

or, the evil john & mary prequel we deserve

~half of the songs here released before mary died in 1983: ft. joan baez, jimi hendrix, beyoncé’s lemonade, kd lang, the twin peaks soundtrack, 4 zeppelin songs for mary 😇, 3 sonny & cher for john 🙄, and a version of hey jude that doesn’t even involve the beatles

–––

IMAGE DESCRIPTION BEGINS

Two cover images for this Supernatural playlist. The first is a close-up of young John’s face in 4.03, as looking over Mary’s shoulder as she hugs him just after restoring him from the dead. Overlaid is the title of the playlist: BUYING THE STAIRWAY. 

The second is a mid-shot from the same scene of Mary looking over her shoulder at Dean (not pictured), as she realises the repercussions of the deal she just made for John’s life. Both images are slightly distorted in a way that makes it look like they are on an old/pre-digital tv screen.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION ENDS

–––

Liner Notes:

House Burning Down, Jimi Hendrix

Look at the sky turn a hell fire red Somebody's house is burnin' down down, down down Down, down, down

i think we gotta do the tragedy thing of starting with a flash-forward to the moment of disaster and/or some really fucking ominous foreshadowing, right? so anyway i think when mary gets back home after 4.03 her childhood home is burning down

Mississippi, The Secret Sisters

Taking off for Mississippi Wearing someone else's name Brought you in this world and I Can take you from it just the same

when john reveals he remembers going to hell when he died and mary admits she made a deal with the devil for his soul & they’re just looking at each other like:

Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold And she's buying a stairway to heaven

thesis. statement.

Summertime, Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald

Your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin' So hush, little baby, don't you cry

my parents used to sing this to me as a kid, so i have no problem appropriating it as an ominous opener for a spn playlist

Lady Weeping At The Crossroads, Carla Bruni

Run with terror all before you And regret behind

Little Man, Sonny & Cher

You're growin' old, my mother's cold Now it's time that you learned what it meant to be mature

idk, i just think it’d be funny if john didn’t actually like classic rock and all those tapes were a result of mary’s taste/a whole lot of posturing + his favourite artists that he was so distressed to learn broke up were. sonny & cher.

Bird On A Wire, k.d. lang

Like a knight from some old-fashioned book I have saved all my ribbons for thee

Give It Up, Angel Olsen

What is it you think I need Everything, it's not true Give it all up for you

the inherent violence of becoming a suburban housewife etc etc

I Walk The Line, Johnny Cash

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds

The Power Of Love, Frankie Goes To Hollywood

I'll protect you from the hooded claw Keep the vampires from your door

...

Dreams are like angels They keep bad at bay, bad at bay

hopefully it’s clear most of these love songs are uh. ironic.

Americans, Janelle Monáe

I like my woman in the kitchen I teach my children superstitions

this is not putting respect on the name of dirty computer and the biting satire janelle achieved in this song is far too good for spn, but it works too well to NOT use

Happy Together, Slothrust

Me and you and you and me No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be

theeeeee vibe

Mariners Apartment Complex, Lana Del Ray

People can change, but you don't have to leave her When everyone's talking, you can make a stand

in my head this is their first disastrous attempt to break up, when the angels first reel them back in together w/ forced amnesia and other tricks

Angel from Montgomery, John Prine

If dreams were lightning And thunder were desire This old house would've burned down A long time ago

about here is where anna enters, i think. per this post, she’s stranded in the 70s but still trying to thwart the apocalypse as a human, and when she first meets mary she tries to stab her in the heart with like a bread knife :)

Love Of My Life, Queen

Love of my life, you've hurt me

Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Nirvana

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me Tell me where did you sleep last night

Dancing Days, Led Zeppelin

Dancing days are here again, As the summer evenings grow.

i feel like they have to have SOME good times just so the ugly stuff hits harder, so they should dance to this in the kitchen while a baby dean watches on & develops Complexes :)

If You Could Read My Mind, Gordon Lightfoot

And I will never be set free As long as I am a ghost, you can't see

i Really want to know what mary got up to in those TWENTY TWO YEARS she spent haunting their house

Black Books - Live, Nils Lofgren

She wants to hurt other guys Put tears in other eyes

can’t possible beat the sopranos scene, but if we gesture towards it...

Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye & Kimbra

When you said you felt so happy you could die

this is when they actually do have a shitty yet relatively mature break-up, and the angels just immediately eternal-sunshine them

Happy, Mitski

I was in the bathroom, I didn't hear him leave I locked the door behind him and I turned around to see All the cookie wrappers and the empty cups of tea Well I sighed and mumbled to myself again, I have to clean

can’t say why, but this one has major timeloop vibes. anyway, this is when the powers that be just replay their first meeting again & again until they get it perfect

Questions About Angels, Carrie Elkin

All them things were black and white to you You can’t question an angel

mary brings john into the loop about what’s happening to them

Snake Eyes, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

What did I do last night and will I be ashamed

Everybody Knows, Leonard Cohen

Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do

...

Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet

this is when jary try to do a truman show fake relationship while plotting to escape & the angels see right through them

The House That Dripped Blood, The Mountain Goats

And the cellar door is an open throat

Running Up That Hill (Deal With God), Kate Bush

Let me steal this moment from you now. C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling, Let's exchange the experience

obviously.

O Death, Shakey Graves & Monica Martin

When God is gone and the Devil takes hold Who will have mercy on your soul?

when the orig soundtrack is good, it’s GOOD

Mary, Big Thief

Heavens, when you looked at me Your eyes were like machinery Your hands were making artifacts in the corner of my mind

Sandcastles, Beyoncé

Pictures snatched out the frame Bitch, I scratched out your name and your face What is it about you that I can't erase, baby?

Moderation, Florence + The Machine

You think you need it, you think you want love You wouldn't want it if you knew what it was

Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting), Elton John

Oh, don't give us none of your aggravation We had it with your discipline

HAS to play over a wacky sequence where mary is trying to go on a date with john & investigate a hunt on the same night out; some real disney channel vibes

Only The Good Die Young, Billy Joel

You didn't count on me When you were counting on your rosary

annamary question mark?

Oh Ana, Mother Mother

You are the angel that I couldn't kill

so guys, this one is about anna

Red Right Hand, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

You're one microscopic cog In his catastrophic plan

so i think at a certain point heaven recruits mary to do some of its more delicate dirty work

A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done, Sonny & Cher

I used to jump my horse and ride I had a six-gun at my side I was so handsome, women cried And I got shot but I never died

mary is MY marlboro man <3

She’s A Self Made Man, Larkin Poe

Lord have mercy, I'm a self-made-man

Jockey Full Of Bourbon, Tom Waits

Hey little bird, fly away home Your house is on fire, your children are alone

sometimes you leave your young children in another state to go take a case where an oracle then tells you beware the ides (nov 22nd 1983)

Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet, Fall Out Boy

I don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness Does your husband know the way That the sunshine gleams from your wedding band?

did i mention we’re doing annamary? >:)

The Only Thing That I Know, The Mountain Goats

And I know you're lying And you know you're lying too That is just about The only thing I know about you

DIVORCCCCCEEEEEEE!!!

When The Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay

Gunpowder & Lead, Maria Lambert

If he wants a fight, well, now he's got one And he ain't seen me crazy yet

i simply think mary should get the murder john, as a treat (see below)

The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes, Fall Out Boy

And when it all goes to hell (Take this to your grave) Will you be able to tell me "sorry" with a straight face? (And I'll take it to mine) And when it all goes to hell And when it all goes to hell And when it all goes to hell And when it all goes

Everything Put Together Falls Apart, Paul Simon

For all the good it'll do you You can die

Laugh, I Nearly Died, The Rolling Stones

Feeling so despised When you laugh, laugh, I almost died

okay so that scene in bloody mary did change me on a foundational level when i saw it as a child, so obviously we’re going to upstage it! this is after the rage & resentment brewing between john & mary comes to a head, and they have a really UGLY fight, and there’s a moment where you think he might be about to hit her... before he just storms off to go drink at the VFW. and so when he comes home she puts a bullet in his head. and then after calmly disposing of the body, she goes to drive off, and there he is in her rearview – miraculously whole. and not remembering any of it

Ain’t No Grave, Johnny Cash

Us And Them, Pink Floyd

Heroes, David Bowie

The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

The Way It Goes, Gillian Welch

One Way Or Another, Blondie

but w/ a really ominous tone like this one riverdale vid

Angeleyes, ABBA

Johnny, I Hardly Knew Yeh, Joan Baez

Kentucky Gambler, Dolly Parton

i’ve already had my say on this song

Moonlight Shadow, Mike Oldfield

‘70: They’re Killing Children Over There, The Magnetic Fields

so this amv changed my life...

I Want To Break Free, Queen

Tomorrow’s Money, My Chemical Romance

The Grocery, Manchester Orchestra

Nowhere to Run, BOGA

Ask the Angels, Patti Smith

Oh! You Pretty Things, David Bowie

Hey Jude, Wilson Pickett

Who Do You Love?, George Thorogood & The Destroyers

any destiel song can should must & will be appropriated for the annamary cause

What Is and What Should Never Be, Led Zeppelin

House Carpenter, Joan Baez

What hills, what hills are those, my love That rise so fair and high? Those are the hills of heaven, my love But not for you and I

i have SUCH a complicated & sick little amv plotted out in my head for footage that doesn’t exist set to this song, which we really can’t get into right now i suppose, but!! suffice to say things go poorly when heaven finds out about anna & mary’s last-ditch desperate escape attempt

All Along the Watchtower, Bob Dylan

destiel retrospectively homophobic canon yet AGAIN when we kill anna in a clear reference to cas’s death in the s12 finale

All the Angels, My Chemical Romance

Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division

Jenny, Sleater-Kinney

No Children, The Mountain Goats

duh.

Everybody Knows, The Chicks

Sycamore Trees, Jimmy Scott

Stuck In The Middle With You, Stealers Wheel

American Girl, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

The Beat Goes On, Sonny & Cher

The Chain (Live at the Forum 1982), Fleetwood Mac

yes this performance specifically

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon

---

[thequibblah]

hi so i'm looking for some new music to listen to and i thought you could help because you have great taste!

if this helps, i'll tell you what i normally listen to, which is very basic & basically the same few artists over and over lol

- mostly just taylor swift, she makes up 70+% of my listening probably haha and if i had to pick a favorite genre of hers it would be the folkmore style

- some other pop, like olivia rodrigo and conan gray and lorde & some doja cat but i'm not a huge fan of doja's lyrics

- lyrics are really big for me, so is having a pretty voice and nice melodies

- i love your playlists but the old songs are usually not my style (there's been some though that i really like, ty for that !! <3)

- ceremonials is my favorite florence album

- liability is my favorite lorde song

no problem if u don't want to!

OH i basically recommend things for a living so why not music, eh?

so. what i'm getting from this is that you have three big listening buckets: soft acoustic and indie pop and just plain old pop. so i will divide my recs by those broad genres! i too prefer singable music so i will try to lay off on especially dissonant artists, or mark them as such so you can be prepared (LOL)

acoustic/folksy (i'll admit i am a big indie pop girl so this stuff will be a bit sparser)

phoebe bridgers — admittedly she is more alt-rocky, but see garden song, savior complex, moon song, graceland too, prayer in open D

waxahatchee — can't do much (GOD THIS SONG), lilacs, st. cloud

lucy dacus — also more alt-rocky, but here r some softer jams: hot & heavy, christine, green eyes, red face (a jily song)

anything by first aid kit! start with stay gold and the lion's roar

hozier — i feel like most people on the internet have listened to SOME hozier but check out wasteland, baby! (i tried to pick individual songs and ended up listing most of the album LOL)

kacey musgraves — another artist you've probably listened to already, but try golden hour

brittany howard — stay high must be the sweetest song in existence, and basically all of her album jaime

arlo parks — the whole album but especially caroline, hurt, and black dog

lake street dive — i can change, good kisser (a mary song if i've ever heard one), and i adore their hall & oates cover!

anya marina — this whole album has had me by the throat since like 2013

lucius — just the whole album wildewoman, h/t @figg-anon for putting me onto this!

idk what tf genre fiona apple is but try her out as well!

artists i listen to less of but are in this vein: the lumineers, bon iver, vance joy

u know i had to rec some old people shit (LOLLLL), so in this vein, joni mitchell, heart, judee sills, emmylou harris, joan baez, vashti bunyan

one-off songs you might like: hold you now by vampire weekend, big wheel by samia, i eat boys by chloe moriondo, strawberry blond by mitski (i worship at the altar of mitski but she might not be your speed haha), like i used to (acoustic) by sharon van etten & angel olsen, body by julia jacklin, jackie onassis by sammy rae and the friends, cowgirl bebop by HANA

indie pop BELOVED

maggie rogers — ok i cannot recommend this higher like if u like lorde and conan gray drop everything now and mainline maggie's brilliant debut album

HAIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — they've got poppier songs like want you back and more mellow songs like summer girl, but honestly i would just recommend a deep dive because they have a pretty surprising breadth within their own alt-rock/pop niche

caroline polachek — can sometimes get way out n weird in the pop sense but so hot you're hurting my feelings is a very listenable pop standard (also it's so funny she's such a clever lyricist also this is irrelevant here but she sounds amazing live), also love look at me now and her cover of breathless

charli xcx is more experimental pop but would rec trying out warm (FT HAIM!!!), blame it on your love (FT LIZZO!!), and official

rina sawayama — technically her album is all sorts of genres but especially XS, comme des garcons, paradisin', bad friend, and tokyo love hotel

orla gartland is a lil softer and i love more like you, oh GOD, and did it to myself

king princess — especially cheap queen, 1950, holy, but basically all of cheap queen

more one-offs: kansas by ashe, comeback by CRJ (full paean in her honour to come in the pop section), i am a big fan of other people covering the bleachers (LOL) especially rollercoaster by charli xcx and i wanna get better by tinashe (full tinashe praise to come too), saturdays by twin shadow (FT HAIM!!!), the kiss of venus and 3 nights by dominic fike (also his interlude on halsey's album), aute cuture and milionària by rosalía, young lover by st. vincent (i love her but again might not be for u haha), good days by sza, backyard boy by claire rosinkranz, slow dancing by aly & aj, hot sugar by glass animals

if ur down to try out something weird witchy and cool, kate bush is like the originator of 9 billion pop and rock genres and hounds of love is a masterpiece

pure pop (we can split hairs on what makes pure pop LOL but basically everything here is based on ur enjoyment of doja)

carly rae jepsen — ok if u haven't listened to her non-radio-hits u may be like "what?? call me maybe lady???" to which i say YES, especially window, stay away, no drug like me, and too much

victoria monet — this may or may not be a selling point to you, but victoria is a frequent ariana grande collaborator and you can absolutely hear it in her music (see also: the mattress spring background noises in dive JUST like they are in positions...), and i love experience, go there with you, and we might even be falling in love, and why not throw in her ariana grande collab monopoly

magdalena bay — how to get physical which i am destined, nay, contractually bound, to put in a jily modern AU someday, killshot, stop & go

tinashe — basically ALL of her new album!!! SO good. i also love rascal (superstar), esther, and old jams like company (and i JUST found out she has a chaka khan cover!)

chloe x halle have the most angelic vocals in the world

this might sound actually demented because WHO hasn't heard love on the brain but rly... go give ANTI a re-listen...

tove lo — especially are u gonna tell her, mateo, and jacques

WAIT I FORGOT TO SAY ROBYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY ROBYN SONG!!!!!!!

for that throwback poppy sound u may as well go real throwback KJAHKJA and check out donna summer!

one-offs: right to it by louis the child n ashe, serial lover by kehlani (also more by her but im getting lazy now kdjfhgk), missed calls by max n hayley kiyoko, peppers and onions by tierra whack, idk who hasnt heard this song but circles by meg, todo de ti by rauw alejandro (the way i wanted this to be song of the summer so bad ;___;)

hope you enjoy and pls come back and tell me if you really liked any of these!!!! xoxo