#and in possible just the new normal its ass is a shapeshifter... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bao3bei4 · 4 years ago

Text

kpop music videos that gave their fans sexual brainworms

OR accidental fetish pop and its fringe fanbase: meditations on gendered desire

large warning here: i am someone who has been into kpop for the past 10 years. however, i have always been an extremely casual fan. i do write fic, but not rpf. if any of that makes you not want to hear me talk about kpop rpf (or you don’t want to hear about it in general), please keep moving.

anyway, obviously pop is corporate, soulless, and manufactured. but sometimes some truly bizarre shit gets past the committees and destroys a generation. these are their stories.

the video that started this is all is got7’s just right, released july 10th, 2015.

yes that’s all 7 members of got7 (one is out of frame) shrunken down for your viewing pleasure. they live in your room and tell you you’re just right.

this sheer fetish power of this video is nerfed only by how utterly sexless it is.

they’re styled like and dance like this. it’s a totally unironic sendup of the seminal work that preceded it by four years, “what makes you beautiful” by the white kpop group “one direction.” the chaste energy of the whole thing makes you legitimately wonder if the good people at jyp have just never heard of microphilia. (during a dramatic reading of this piece, here a friend interjected seriously, “i think it’s korean culture not to talk about things like this, fetishes in the workplace.”)

it’s for the best, honestly, though because the actress in the music video is lee ja in, who was 11 when the video was shot. considering that the members themselves ranged in age from 18-23 at the time, i think it’s actually very impressive that we only have to cancel one.

you receive absolutely no prizes for guessing that it’s jackson wang we’re sending to social justice prison. why’d he do this? no one asked.

at any rate, got7 fans, or “gans” (they actually call themselves igot7s which is too twee for me), have much to think about here: all 7 very small members of got7 sneaking into their room, possibly weird age play, and jackson wang eating a very large cake.

let’s see what they actually did.

twitter was actually very tame. the most charged thing i found was (unsurprisingly) from a bts fan (“ban”). i don’t actually know what it means, but i think it means something.

so, of course, i turned to the internet’s last bastion of free speech, where you can say whatever the fuck you want and receive cheers, or as the kids say, “kudos.” that is, i read fanfiction.

for those of you who don’t know your herstory, i started my journey at Asianfanfics.com, where, at the time of writing, there were 12,067 got7 stories. i want to start this by saying that i think feminism won, because someone was paying real human dollars to advertise their irene/wendy fanfiction on a banner ad, which is quite possibly a win for women for everywhere.

anyway, Asianfanfics.com’s search engine sucks ass (i kept on finding stories about different combinations of bts members worrying about their weight and being reassured by another member that were entitled “just right”), so i decided to look through all got7 stories written between july 2015 and december 2015.

but, alas, not a single got7 microphilia fic to be found.

also, some genre commentary while i’m here: i think the stories i respect the most are the “[y/n] is a ordinary girl who’s assigned to be got7’s manager! can she make them into superstars? as sparks begin to fly, can she keep it professional?” like fuck yeah that sounds like a kickass dating sim. it almost definitely already is one. i salute all the teens around the world for buying into the fantasy of dating a boy band member that they themselves sell you.

however, i don’t think i respect the “[member a] and [member b] are mafia/jocks and nerds/college students/high schoolers” concepts. in my opinion, the whole fantasy of boy band member is their personas, their hidden real personalities, their celebrity, and the show business setting. find a different intellectual property if you wanna write about school. i even respect the “yugyeom drank girl juice [not estrogen] and turned into a sexy girl” story more, because at least it knows exactly what it wants, and also because they’re all still boy band members. well, band members. shout out to yugyeom.

so, anyway, i looked elsewhere. at the time of writing, archive of our own only had 11,645 got7 stories, but it does have a better search, so it effectively has more. as an aside, i think it’s so funny, and mildly disorienting at first, that archive of our own separates the “music & bands” section from the “celebrities & real people” section. boy band members aren’t real people.

the first problem i encountered is that only 20 or so stories were written within a year of just right’s release. absolute cringe gans. don’t you care about your boys? there were zero stories tagged “vore” or “microphilia” either. stories containing the word “tiny” that were rated either “explicit” or “mature” were all normal (“normal”) size fetishization rather than, you know, just right.

however, i learned my lesson from twitter. i realized that what had happened was that watching this video had created sleeper agents, just waiting for their activation phrase. that activation phrase? bangtan boys. and yeah, lo and behold, there was one! unfortunately (fortunately?) it had nothing to do with got7, let alone just right, so i’m not going to talk about it.

basically what i learned is that this video may have actually been very normal, and my brain has just been destroyed by being too online at a young age.

however, there are plenty more videos in this genre. i present to you exo wolf, a banger from may 30th, 2013. i say banger, because in a comedic inversion, it’s actually fucking terrible.

this video is pretty self-explanatory in terms of why it might induce certain responses.

let’s get the formalities out of the way. this video, the member who’s getting cancelled is kai. he has braids in this video :/

also skating on thin ice: xiumin and chen. guys what was up with the whole exo-m thing? like, we’re gonna have a cpop subgroup, but it’s going to be part chinese members and part korean members that we’ll give a chinese name? unsurprisingly, the three exo members who have departed from the group are all chinese. they weren’t able to stand the microaggressions probably. but xiumin and chen remain uncancelled as an official chinese apology for five thousand of years of on-and-off invasions of korea. sorry guys that was kinda fucked up. our bad!

anyway, there are basically three avenues for exo fans to take: 1) humans with wolfish characters (usually wolf pack dynamics, which even wolves themselves don’t fucking use so i think all of you should shut up. the real omega here is your brain), 2) werewolves (duh), and 3) wolves with human characteristics (i.e. standard furry fare).

exo themselves let all these possibilities exist at the same time, superimposing them over each other, which is very woke and egalitarian of them. let’s see what the people decided. awoo.

Asianfanfics dot com had many stories in this vein. i feel very validated that this time i was able to correctly predict a fetish. that said, briefly returning to my earlier comment regarding alternate universes: it’s intense psychic whiplash reading about these vampires and werewolves, and going okay okay luhan is a vampire this that whatever, and then seeing the actual real performance photos the author attaches at the bottom of each chapter. bro i forgot these were actual people.... it breaks immersion so bad... i’m sorry, i just can’t believe that any of these dancing boys are having weird vampire sex with wings or whatever.

archive of our own also had many stories in this vein. and i think there are some important difference between the two sites worth talking about.

first of all, i think the higher engagement rate of archive of our own really enables some of the authors to get super bold. it makes Asianfanfics.com seem a little quaint, actually. like the wordcounts are waaay longer, for one. it’s uncommon for a story hosted on Asianfanfics.com to be more than a few thousand words long (most of them could easily be published in the new yorker), whereas some of these archive of our own people have written full length novels about if the members of exo were werewolves. i guess it’s just intensely demoralizing for the aff.com crew to get, like, three comments per story.

the second big difference is that i’m noticing more common themes between the ao3 crew’s writing. like stan intertextuality, or plagiarism, or whatever, but they seem to be implicitly engaging with each other’s characterizations, storylines, and tropes. i think it is because they probably all follow each other on twitter. (i have been active on twitter for three weeks now so i am an expert on fanfiction twitter.)

anyway, like not that i am a particularly big gan (cannot even list all the members), but these people seem to have reached a very specific consensus on how jackson wang, for instance, would react in a variety of situations that really surprises me? if i were to sit down and write a got7 story, i think the fuckboitude, the douchebaggery is a big part of his charm. not to be nationalist or anything, but for god’s sake, he’s from hong kong. but these people have him as very sensitive, lots of protective instincts. not that i understood what anyone on aff.com was doing with his character either, but they did all seem to be doing different things. “kudos” to that, i guess.

but: exo. wolf. i searched the “wolves” tag. this filtered the list down from 33459 stories to 52 stories. and the “wolves” tag was very different from the aff.com “wolf” tag. for the most part, aff.com liked stories where a member was a wolf (usually shapeshifting), feral boy, lots of y/n, lots of y/n dating a feral boy who is secretly a wolf.

ao3 really, really, really likes alpha/beta/omega stories. sorting by the most popular stories, only five on the first page weren’t a/b/o. and one of them was a cis f!baekhyun story, so i think the intended effect was communicated. anyway, let’s talk about some of the themes.

first of all, i’m disappointed. today’s bonus cancellation is of ao3 “wolves” writers. why the fuck are you drawing so heavily from european wolves?? there are wolves in asia!! you don’t need to keep giving their packs and ranks weird latin names. i will kill you. i hate italy. korea literally has a native wolf. i hate all of you!!! if you want to write caucasian wolves go watch that dumbass cw show!!!! my god.

the second theme (the first one was white supremacy) is that no one wants to be a wolf who fucks. i think that we need a sex positivity movement, or something, for omega rights. like, are all of you doing okay? you’re queering misogyny by inventing new genders to oppress. another level to “no one wants to be a wolf...” is the “who fucks” part. there are so many consent issues. and not even in like, a sexy intentional way? in a “i genuinely do not think this author understands how their writing comes off” way. unfortunately i am sensitive to untagged sexual coercion, and there was a lot of that.

at any rate, the aff.com wolves were at peace with being wolves, very self-actualized. the ao3 wolves know that every minute they spend alive on this bitch of an earth is suffering, and also sex.

the third theme is the evolution of y/n. y/n, who, in a startlingly woke move for aff.com, is almost always korean, is a girl main character stumbling into love, boy bands, and wolves (i think it’s because aff.com is oldschool kpop fandom, so therefore heavily asian itself in userbase). but y/n is not the main character in ao3 stories. she is the straight best friend. in what i think is a hilarious move, ao3 authors invert the gay best friend paradigm to give the gay main character a straight girl as best friend. she usually calls him “a gay,” she has lots of thoughts on boys, and she knows his sexuality better than he does and before he does. (sidebar: if all the men are gay, and all the women are straight...)

there’s a really fun twist to this, though, because the main character is always a self-insert in fanfiction. but where older fanfiction like aff.com was at peace with this and literalize it via y/n shenanigans, modern fic writers who haven’t finished distangling their complicated relationship with wanting to be a man who loves other men instead simply imbue their main character with their essence. a little voodoo doll sehun, with a lock of y/n hair.

this creates a deeply ambivalent relationship with gender in these stories. the main character is usually an omega, but one who resents being an omega. their body and its parts is usually described, if at all, as ostensibly intersex (except more offensively), but in practice, these discourses inscribe a trans body. (nb: i think cis writers approach this in a really fucked up fetishizing way, but i hope by this point we know that that goes without saying) it’s incredibly straightforward to read this, and see the underlying desires and fears in a heady cocktail of unfiltered writing that’s deeply confessional. you know when freud had people say whatever the fuck they wanted and figured they’d eventually free associate into releasing their subconscious into reality? yeah.

okay, and while we’re on the topic, let’s talk f(x) nu abo, released on may 4th, 2010.

this is a blitzy, maximalist, amped up dance hit that even has its own applause and cheers built in. it’s so fucking annoying, and i love it.

this song is on here because the second most popular kpop a/b/o story on ao3 is called “nu abo” except it’s about bts. that’s offensive enough in its own right. write something about f(x) (702 works). when will women win the right to have their own self-lubricating holes.

anyway, even though f(x) is probably innocent in all of this, i’m still cancelling amber liu.

for queerbaiting. who told her to look like ruby rose but hot? and for what? i’m also cancelling her for racism, but that wasn’t in this video.

moving on to a double feature: vixx voodoo doll and vixx chained up, released november 19, 2013 and november 9, 2015 respectively. this is because while voodoo doll is more formative, i think the fans who write fanfiction today got into kpop more recently, so we are casting a wide net.

anyway, voodoo doll is jam packed with weird pseudo-medical imagery, blood, vivisection, bondage, puppet shit, femdom, sharps, piercings, asphyxiation, dollification, stabbing/penetration metaphors, and a really sick and catchy dance. god that looks like the list of tags on the a/b/o wolf stories.

for this song, we’re cancelling you, for being way too into this song when you were 13.

vixx voodoo doll made me goth i guess! insert that pic of the your music saved me sign, except it saved me from getting into emo or pop punk probably.

chained up, comparatively, is much more tame. the only thing of note about it is that there are around 10 completely different chokers and choker looks the members wear in this music video. also they’re singing about being chained up, but that seemed a bit obvious.

we could argue that voodoo doll is gay while chained up is gay (derogatory); that voodoo doll is queer while chained up is gay; that chained up is a sensitive masterpiece of omega4omega sexuality. but we’re not going to.

we’re going to talk about what voodoo doll fanfiction was and was not. first, Aff.com had plenty of it. however, i was extremely disappointed to see that much of it did not hew to the spirit of vixx voodoo doll. my god, the voodoo doll becoming the one preying upon you disgusts me. the fantasy of the voodoo doll is that of absolute power. the idea that the doll itself has agency? instantly breaks the fantasy. i’m even not into voodoo dolls and i’m offended.

i also don’t think it’s part of the voodoo doll fantasy to release the doll. the only story on there that involved Y/N kidnapping vixx members like in the music video was unavailable because the author deactivated their account. come back qxeen what did you see.

i think this got off track, actually, in that i was mostly wondering why these people imprinted differently onto vixx voodoo doll than i did. like i don’t think you’re supposed to actually like straightforwardly absorb the morals and aesthetics of music videos like it’s propaganda. however, it’s more entertaining if you do. i hope ao3 doesn’t let me down.

out of the then 5932 works in the vixx fandom (the least out of every group so far, excluding f(x) because they’re women), 59 of them included the word “voodoo” somewhere. that’s 1%. i legitimately can’t tell if that’s high or not.

after some more cursory reading through the first page of popular results, my big takeaway is that people watched that video and wanted to be tortured and enslaved? but not, like, in a sexy way where the torturing is the point, the way where the point is to suffer bravely and beautifully, to endure the world’s harms like jesus on the cross, and then to fall into the arms of a beautiful boy who may or may not be the one hurting you in the first place.

there’s a certain predictability to these fantasies. like it’s not even masochism, which would be fun at least, it’s literally just like the desire to be beautiful, even as you suffer. and i do find that a little boring. (but, i mean, you can’t help being a woman!)

sidebar: on chained up. what’s interesting about chained up, is that most of the then 38 “chained up” works (likely because the video has no storyline) are about the members fucking during chained up promotions. no one’s ever actually chained up, but whatever. it’s fine. it’s fine!

anyway, here, more than ever, the nature of desire is stripped bare. i’ve written before [elsewhere in the unreleased tshirt cinematic universe] on how kpop boys are, through fandom, re-formed as white, or more strongly, i guess, blank slates. it’s really interesting to me how so much of this dynamic of projection is enabled by the fact that they’re asian men. they’re infantilized, feminized vessels; they’re seductive, but childlike, oblivious to their own charms, so nonthreatening; they have uncontrollable desires for sex, they’re scared of sex. and above all else, white women submit themselves to them, insert themselves into them. basically kpop fans tend to rework old school yellow peril and emasculation fantasies to reenact their own desires, often white, often cishet on them.

what i am saying is that there’s another thesis about forced feminization and its racialized subtext in here. obviously gender is a racialized construct to begin with, but like it’s fascinating to argue that when white women remake asian men according to their own desires, that is, into themselves, they (hopefully) unintentionally echo these old fears about the sexual order.

it illuminates, it seems, the underlying dynamic in the denigration of asian men, which is of course the fear of miscegenation. now, my breathtaking ability to make everything about me aside, miscegenation is interesting because it presents a racial synthesis, beginning to collapse and trouble the artificial designations of purity. so we make asian men into white women, and end up with an unsettling hybrid. i’m sure this has deep implications for me personally.

but i think we already knew that quite a few of these people had yellow fever, so let’s talk about the gender dialectic at play. basically, the above dynamic, of making men into women (whether literally, in body; or subjectively, in mind; or even relationally, as they are objectified into passive vessels for your desire) coexists with the ostensibly converse dynamic, in which the straight women desires to be a gay man. these aren’t necessarily in conflict: it could easily be that these are different writers writing different stories, that both are ways of expressing discontent with existing in a raced, gendered body, or even that the end product of both is the same.

it’s been a while without a picture. all of you now have the legal right to hunt and kill me for making a d&g joke.

anyway, what i want to talk about is how these two fantasies can coexist. that by making a man into yourself, you can speak on your own desire in a passive way. my normal interest is analyzing forced masc fantasies (albeit in chinese opera lol), and they bear little to no resemblance to this kind of fantasy. this kind offers plausible deniability, of course, because wanting things is embarrassing. but also the fantasy isn’t about wanting to be a man, it’s about having no choice but to be a failed one. the gender pessimism running through these stories is palpable. basically andrea long chu wants what wolf fanfiction writers know: everyone is an omega, and everyone hates it.

at any rate, this racialized dynamic is one that i wasn’t sure how to bring up throughout this piece, mainly because there is no definitive way for me to tell the race of any individual writer, beyond just like the clear and present vibes that i receive. but i think it structures a lot of the fantasies contained in this essay. (i felt more comfortable bringing up the gendered dynamic, because it was fairly trivial to find out the current gender of the person writing each story i was reading.)

obviously we should return to the specter haunting this conversation: the very much alive david eng. i think this sort of argument is familiar to readers of racial castration, especially his chapter on m. butterfly. btw sorry for mentioning that play 2 out of 3 posts on this blog. i have problems.

let’s talk about the parallel imagery between the depiction of gallimard’s final speech and the fanfiction i’ve described above. in it, gallimard makes himself into his own dream woman, dressing in yellowface and robes, the costume of puccini’s original madame butterfly. and he laments his lost love:

there is a vision of the orient that i have. of slender women in chong sams and kimonos who die for the love of unworthy foreign devils. who are born and raised to be the perfect women. who take whatever punishment we give them, and bounce back, strengthened by love, unconditionally.

in that, i see the self insert, and i see the sufferer of vixx voodoo fic. the fantasy that gallimard has about asian women is repeated, this time about asian men and a helpless identification with them. and on some level, gallimard’s women do have something very compelling to identify with: they suggest that there’s a way to endure white male violence without sacrifice, and even more potently, to enjoy it on some level.

but onward to the titular racial castration. eng argues that gallimard’s wilful ignorance of song’s true gender is a psychic castration -- song’s masculinity is diminished so that his own can be enhanced within their relationship. this, eng believes, acts out “richard fung’s contention that in western imaginary ‘asian and anus are conflated.’” this process stabilizes the relationship between the asian man and the white woman: they occupy the same place within the sexual dyad.

this is, i think, why some people are addicted to writing from the bottom’s perspective. again -- not implying that irl bottoms don’t exist or that bottoms are psychically castrated lol -- but rather that you can fantasize about this ideal asian man that you can come to embody. in kpop rpf, rather than it being between a white man and an asian man (unless someone’s started writing chad future fic), it’s between two asian men. so this transformation is performed. whiteness is always intruding and so i think eng is helpful here to making it visible again.

this essay isn’t a callout or actual cancellation or anything like that, i do wanna be clear. i guess i just like talking about fantasies, even the embarrassing ones, and where they come from. i think oftentimes in fandom spaces, we write a lot of stories off as idfic, and i think virtually every single one of the stories i referenced to write this fairly uncontroversially fall into that category. but i think calling something an “id” something or the other naturalizes the satisfaction it gives as purely instinctual and unconscious, when i do think there are deeper narratives at play. while i didn’t ever actually reference the base here (sorry), i do think it’s worth talking about how real world power shapes & maintains the superstructure, and thereby our fantasies.

anyway in conclusion, maybe i was the one with sexual brainworms the whole time.

85 notes · View notes

barbika1508 · 5 years ago

Text

Hiwaga (Vampire! Jeongguk x Reader)

Part 1

Words: 11,1 k

Genre: Soulmate AU, Reincarnation AU, Enemies to Lovers, Action, Romance, Smut

Pairing: Vampire! Jeongguk x Reader

Warnings: Brief mentions of smut, Cursing

Summary: Life was good, playing out better than it has been ever before. My future was bright and full of promises and wishes coming to realization. All up until she showed up. She stormed though the front doors ruining everything along the way by her mere presence derailing my goals and purpose in life. A puny mortal, a child, a complete nuisance, and yet…The key to an unimaginable life, to the truth all along.

Author's note: Hiwaga – mystery; full of wonder Words in italics are dialogues or thoughts that Jeongguk reads from others. So I’ve done research with this fic, and used certain words that need explanation…given that there can be A LOT I’ve put a dictionary just below the fic if anyone is interested :3

Jeongguk’s POV:

‘’Stop it.’’

I barely flinch at the hiss the presence that settles on my left expected, to which my glare remains unfaltering ‘’She’s just…infuriating.’’ I sigh quietly, trying to relax my clenched jaw but just settle right back into pressing my teeth tight together while my fingers curl into fists, annoyance brewing.

‘’Why is that?’’ the question has me rolling my eyes inside my head, as I shift onto my right foot and away from the broad-shouldered vampire, keeping my composure in case of anyone looking towards us.

‘’I don’t know, I just really, really don’t like her.’’ I grumble glaring at the girl that’s grinning widely showing of her blunt teeth advertising to everyone that she’s not like us. She’s literally making herself a bait, even though Yoongi hyung made sure she was doused in his scent not even an hour ago.

She’s chatting away with a middle-aged guy, his wife looking interested as she eyes the regular girl up and down her thoughts not promising anything good. Right now, I’m cursed having the abilities that I have, easily reading through the crowd of people that’s surrounding us. I hate big gatherings, or any gatherings for that matter. Its bothersome to keep my concentration up at all times, to prevent all the voices from flooding my mind. Well except for hers. Not hearing her thoughts, is one of the most infuriating things.

‘’We know that Jeongguk-ah. It’s been a well-known fact since the moment she stepped a foot past the front doors.’’ Jin hyung chuckles clearly amused by my brooding and misery, as I recall not even a month ago how she loudly shrieked a greeting, and then just ran up to Yoongi hyung. He offered her a SMILE! HE SMILED AT HER AND LET HER HUG HIM!!!

The scene as I remember it is still bizarre and sort of unrealistic. How easily everyone accepted her, even though she isn’t of our kin. We’ve turned away, orphaned fairies, witches and even shapeshifting dragons which could have given us great amounts in the power dynamic. And yet there’s Y/N. Ugh even her name has me rolling my shoulder back, as my nose briefly scrunches, Jin hyungs hand landing on my shoulder reminds me that I need to keep a calmer attitude. Glancing over to him he’s completely amused as he looks at me.

‘’You are stewing in your anger without a real purpose youngling.’’ He teases the nickname a pain in the ass ‘’Relax, Jeonggukie.’’ He leans in closer still smirking but looks me directly in the eyes hovering up close There’s plenty of girls here. Some with royal statues or skills you can only ever imagine of. he wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively. This time around I do roll my eyes for him to see, shaking my shoulders and him off as he ends up giggling not taking offense in my behaviour.

In a regular setting or just a regular gathering as this one is, I wouldn’t miss any single opportunity to tease him, or make fun of him blatantly but given the new guests I’m not in the mood whatso ever.

I do look at the wives, girlfriends, mistresses of our guests that fill our spacious ballroom besides the variation of men, that had me tune out their thoughts the moment the first 5 arrived. And granted they are all gorgeous, youthful, pale complexion mostly with vibrant eyes full of life, and deadly fangs poking from their lips proudly. My jaw unclenches, while I raise my chin up in interest once a blonde girl, walks past us quite a distance but I don’t miss how she flutters her eyes towards me, keeping on a shy smile which is a pretence but the visual has my attention. Her long blonde hair is cascading down over her exposed shoulder the ends curled up meticulously. Her front is a bit on the flatter side, figure smooth and flawless as the red wine dress that’s running and falling down her body like an endless seem of water while a thin vail that covers it, sparkles in the lights at times making her look more out of this world.

I raise an eyebrow in curiosity ready to start this game of chase. Watching intently, she offers a wider smirk steps slowing down, when suddenly she disappears from my view thanks to the group of chattering vampires ahead of us. Looking left and right she doesn’t pop up. Interesting.

‘’That’s it Jeongguk-ah. Our fearless maknae on the prowl.’’ Jin pats me over my back smirking his words making me smile but from half embarrassment and half amusement ‘’You know I’ve picked up on certain gossip that’s been floating around.’’ The implication has me turning to my older hyung fully in curiosity.

‘’Do spill thou secrets, dearest hyung.’’ another voice replies, Taehyung joining the two of us smirking knowingly. He probably knows where this is going, being the coven’s expert gossiper and a professional drama queen so to speak. He knows the ins and outs of the vampire world, dipping his toes into the werewolf pack’s and mere-folk communities as of lately. I simply slide my hands into the pockets of the black suit creased trousers I have on. I paired my outfit with a black long-sleeved saint Laurens shirt, and over it I’ve gone with a white suit jacket with golden detailing on it.

Jin hyung has gone more with a professional (regal) look, wearing a midnight black 5-piece suit, with the difference in the dress shirt which is a darker purple colour. The tie he has one, is more visibly purple adorned in small golden accessories that state which clan he belongs to by the logo being pined near the knot. He’s not only displaying regal colours but also the wealth, the rank and honour that was given to him, when he reached a milestone in his old age which not many vampires do anymore. The status and extra titles are appointed according to age and actions and Jin hyung has made it pretty high on both of those simple to-do lists as I’d like to call them.

Taehyung on the other hand is like me dressed in all black, going with a matching 2-piece suit lacking the suit jacket which leaves him in a more of a blouse type of dress shirt that has white squares doted randomly across. He has tucked the shirt into the slightly high waisted trousers, which makes shapes up his figure to the tens.

He quirks an eyebrow as he smiles mischievous standing on Jin hyungs left, giving me a knowing look.

‘’Rumour has it, amongst our lovely ladies mainly but in a wider circle nonetheless…’’

‘’Meaning everyone, yes hyung.’’ Taehyung pips in encouragingly licking his lips as he points his stare at the elder. I quickly shush him smirking as I glance between the two Taehyung grinning while Jin shakes his head but remains humoured.

‘’…it is said, that after a night with our Jeonggukie here, even as a vampire you’ll be having problems walking the next day.’’ His eyes are fixated on me gauging my reaction while I meet Taehyung’s gaze just knowing exactly what he normally would say. I don’t even have to read his mind to know.

But he loudly snorts instead ‘’You’ve left out the juicy part of the rumours hyung.’’ I lift my chin up again but look away from the two trying to see and detect if anyone is listening into our conversation. There’s a group of vampires that is standing close to us. Some have picked up on our talk but they are occupied discussing something else that has their complete attention, two women snickering to themselves quietly ‘’Our Jeonggukie even though is the cutest and the most innocent looking as a cherub doesn’t cuddle. Or kiss after he’s done fucking your brains out. How about that?’’

Turning back to the two, the elder gives me a disapproving look meanwhile Taehyung is strictly mirthful clearly finding this amusing ‘’I’m not looking for love. It’s simply an exchange of pleasantries and then it’s back to regularities.’’ I shrug turning away as the dark-haired vampire coos, chuckling while Jin hyung who has dyed his hair into a faint purple colour tsks.

‘’Oiii we didn’t raise you like that young man.’’ He chides while my eyes finding the blonde once more. Her gaze is already on me, clearly taking me in up and down shamelessly ogling me. To keep this interesting I refrain from reading into her mind, and offer a smirk back, taking her in as well. She’s joined into a conversation which she barely participates once our gazes interlock ‘’Yahhhh don’t ignore us! Don’t prove those rumours right!!!’’

‘’Let him be hyung.’’ Taehyung defends me, chuckling ‘’He’ll learn eventually, after getting punched into the balls enough times.’’

That has me quirking both eyebrows in question as I turn to the black haired male, his hair having grown out making him look all the more attractive in the period of a few months since he let it grow ‘’Have you learned that from experience hyung?’’ now I’m the one amused at the implication. But the mischief simply rolls of him.

‘’it’s a possibility.’’ He challenges back ‘’But it’s also well known what a gentleman I am first and foremost.’’ he wiggles his eyebrows, right hand rising up fingers wiggling, the suggestion obvious which has Jin let out a dry laugh.

‘’You younglings are just so cocky.’’ The elder condemns crossing his arms.

‘’Ah hyung I’m sure you were the same as we were at one point in your long and richly filled life.’’ Taehyung half sings stepping closer to the taller male, that simply smirks, his gaze now trained forward onto someone ignoring the antics of the younger vampire who cuddles up to him. I mimic our hyung turning forward in search of the blonde again, that once more has disappeared. Damn.

‘’I’m not telling you animals anything. You’d only take it as a challenge. And then I’ll just have more work to do cleaning after you.’’ Jin ends up grumbling the bickering going on put to the back of my mind.

With the wine-red colour in mind, I scan the growing crowd finding 4 more girls with a similar dress offering gleeful smiles, and even winks in return. Even though they look nice, I can’t help but to want to find the blonde. She had this quirky smile to her, and the fact that she put on an innocent face has me guessing she’s into something kinkier than she’d led onto.

Just as I’m about to head forward and find her by myself my intentions gets stopped.

‘’Oh, waw would you look at that.’’ Only now I notice that my two brothers have fallen silent, and are both staring ahead at something at the same time. Glancing at the two, Jin is amused while Tae’s expression is sort of blank. I follow their line of sight, finding an odd pair near middle of the room conversing. My blood runs cold at the sight. The 4 men that surround them are obviously body guards, the notion simply a sign of his power whilst is completely useless.

I sigh through my nose as other’s thoughts fill my mind, the curiosity and excitement and want for bloodshed rising in each and every vampire in the room.

The vampire that’s in the middle of the 4 man is Wangseja. Nobody actually knows his real name, as far as I know and have been told it’s been centuries so everyone just addresses him by his title. He is a descendant of the royal family, and has been meant to inherit the throne in his human life time. But obviously as he’s still here, breathing and undead something must have happened for him to have has to stray away from the human world and path of life.

He is not the only vampire that’s considered being one of the oldest here. There are a few more in this very room, one being our Yoongi hyung, and Jin following just close behind, after 3 others.

The 8 gifted with the title ‘elders’ are considered being in charge, with everything that’s regarding our vampire community and largely covens as they’ve tried to portray it as if we’re families. Which we aren’t. Coven wars still happen most often than some would like, and not enough to others.

Back to the former crown prince, he’s wearing a Gonryongpo which translates to Dragon Robe. He has the famous yellow dragon woven over his back which simply makes me assume that even though he puts on a friendly face and demander he’s a cocky asshole. He must be. Those clothes are generalized as robes that government officials and royalty wore but it’s well known that they were mainly emperors clothing. A bit pompous if you ask me.

Of course, the other 8 elders are dressed similarly to him, but in comparison they are dressed in downgraded versions.

His colours are the ones of red and to my misfortune of not being able to make fun of him later he isn’t wearing the traditional hat along his attire. He is however strapped with a Samjeongdo at his side. Again, it's all telling me he's a prick. I don’t even have to peek into his mind to see him as a sheep in wolfs clothing. A dangerous sheep with incredible power nonetheless. My nose scrunches up as his laughter can be heard all the way here, the ballroom having gotten quieter, everyone’s attention and ears focused in on the conversation at hand, the odd pair presenting curiosity amidst my kin. I bet the next gossip is going to revolve solemnly onto what’s happening right now. Ugh, great.

The girl that’s standing before him sports a bright smile unbothered by the many eyes that are fixated on her, taking in every error that’s marked over her skin, every imperfection that lies over her features and hair that even though has been styled looks messy to me.

She stands out from everyone else, simply by the colour choice of her dress which happens to be a soft lilac that edges on white, and grey. Ridiculous!

The ladies in the room, are for the most part dressed in designer clothing, with jewels, glitters, and modern sewing, styled to perfection which is an overused word, but that’s just what vampires tend to do. Dress to impress, every detail smoothened and detailed 100%.

Her dress is draped from her waist down pooling shily around her feet, her neckline all but shy as the V-neck is deep showing of her collarbones and extra skin, the odd scar littered here and there ruining her darker completion, pale not being in her vocabulary. Her fingers are adorned with golden rings, same goes for her ears where golden earrings dangle in the bright lighting of the chandeliers. More gold has ben simply strewn over the mess of her hair, the style which is supposed to be elegant has had my head shaking even before.

The cuff on her bicep even though displays her prominent muscular and athletic figure highlighting her arms is unnecessary, as is the leaf belt around her waist that makes her hips look wider. I’m sure there’s plenty of men lusting after her plump figure alone. I bet her flesh is soft, and easy to hold onto, the covered-up skin probably littered with more scars that seem to litter her every inch of her body. Unlike most people she shamelessly displays them.

What irks me, and leaves me in complete puzzlement is the sword that’s strapped to her hip. I’ve been told she’s a swordswoman, and that she has had the training of it as I’ve stumbled upon her and Yoongi hyung sparing one day randomly in the gym. The space is big and can have a boxing ring in it if we wish to, other activities such as practicing martial arts, and archery enabled by its spaciousness.

The already what looks like an exaggerated grin grows wider her animated looking speech bothersome. Her right hand is the one to move around fingers twitching, constantly touching the handle of her sword, awkwardly almost while her left hand is preoccupied with holding a glass that contains alcohol in it the content unknown to me. She’s the only one with a drink in hand making her even more obvious that she doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t belong with us.

And yet the prince seems to eat her right up with his eyes alone. He’s completely entranced by her. I don’t understand one bit as to why - she’s full of imperfections like I’ve said, the fact that she’s a foreigner isn’t the issue, but the word she chooses to say are at times very disrespectful as she doesn’t know better clearly her Korean obviously lacking while her mannerism are those of a child.

Still irked I tilt my head tongue darting over my teeth and cheek as I focus my gaze onto the man, the sound of my inner voice fading back, as the haze behind my eyes and fogginess that surround me starts to lift up. It would be way easier to close my eyes, but that would make it obvious that I’m trying to do something that I shouldn’t be doing.

As I blink a few times, I find myself in the prince’s shoes which are uncomfortable but he’s keeping that at the back of his mind. He notes how she’s so small and fragile looking compared to him, easily to take, steal away if it were the older times. Okay old man.

She’s just like a child! So excited and clumsy, its adorable. That sword on her hips must be a mere toy. Something to add sparkle and value to her in a sense. But the display of it does raise questions; Why did Min Yoongi let her wear that? And the style of it, very much so foreign to our own Geom’s and sword styles in Korea.

He probably dressed her up himself, given that she’s absolutely drenched in his bitter scent. Ugh mint. I’ve grown to absolutely hate it as it’s a reminder of him whenever the scent hits my nose. If it weren’t for him, I’d be king, and all these fools and idiots would have already been kissing my feet.

So why is he displaying her off like this? He has staked his claim, but hasn’t marked her. It must be a bribery? No Min wouldn’t stop so low he’s too prideful for that.

Look at her go, rising chuckles from my chest with almost ease which is sort of unusual how her humour seems to be in tune with my own. Even though she’s more than meets the eye, she’d be fun to play around with. Tie her down, or simply hold her as she’s useless against my strength...then use all her holes us, and drain her…fuck what would I give for a taste of her blood. Even though the mint covers her up, her own sweetness has started to seep through. She smells like the freshest batch of strawberries, mint ruining it into acidness. I want to ruin her…

A backhanded hit over the back of my head, brings me accidentally to another place in the Prince’s mind, seeing the image of the human girl being tied up inhumanely, and him fucking her. The scene has my stomach churning and if I was still human, I’d be throwing up right here and now. If my blood was ice cold before it quickly warms up, as that’s no way to threat any woman or man for the matter human or no. As I blink rapidly coming back to my own stiff body, I offer a glare towards the Prince one last time before turning to a fuming Seokjin hyung that’s glaring at me hand still holding onto the back of my neck, with an underlaying treat resting heavily between us.

‘’Are you fucking crazy?!’’ he hisses pupils starting to glow more prominently red as his anger rises. Only now I notice Yoongi hyung on my left, that’s neutrally staring at me clearly disappointed but there’s this sort of glimmer in his eye that I can’t exactly read ‘’Out of all the things we’ve told you not to do and you go straight ahead and spit in our faces?!?’’ his anger is basically radiating in waves from him, as he leans in closer to me to my neck, hand tightening forcing me to hold my head still.

Taehyung was quick to move and stand in line of sight trying to block out anyone from seeing what’s going on where we are near the balcony that has remained unusually unoccupied this evening.

‘’It was me.’’ Yoongi replies neutrally. It’s that sort of neutral that’s plainly terrifying as you cannot know what direction his emotions are swinging at. Even though he is my creator, my saviour and the one I’m closest to in our coven, he is after all a very old creature that with only a stare can make anyone cry and flee ‘’My order.’’ He adds eyes finding my own, voice easily filling my mind.

Is there anything you’d like to share with me? his face remains the same, whilst Seokjin lets go off me and steps away, angrily mumbling under his breath. With a glance towards Yoongi and a barely there nod Taehyung is scurrying away after Jin, meanwhile Hoseok hyung is quick to join us out of thin air it seems, settling himself on Yoongi’s right keeping an eye out.

Readjusting my clothes and posture I offer a glance towards the Prince and Y/N that’s down’s her glass and makes a goofy expression looking like she’s having the time of her life. Ignorant fool.

He wants to steal her. Literally. turning to the platinum blonde vampire he sighs heavily through his nose looking forward with his eyes narrowed.

What else?’

My lips tighten into thin lines the blonde woman from before coming into my line of sight. Shit. Cursing further I turn to the pair in the middle of the room again, watching as the prince daringly leans closer, the girl to my surprise dodging his touches, his hand now and then reaching out seemingly casual Her sword. I admit trying hard to push down the image of the two of them, and the way he wants to torture her for his own pleasure He hates your scent. But hers is starting to come out more which has him all the more curious and wanting.

Frowning as disgust raises again, I keep my eyes on the elder on my right, not missing the way his lips tug downwards. He looks displeased.

‘’Hoseok-ah.’’ With a single word and a look, Hoseok rushes away, disappearing as if he wasn’t even here in the first place. As I turn forward to look across the room ready to observe thoughts of certain vampires the blonde catches my eyes again. She’s standing much closer now but has been roped into another group of females that are clearly gossiping way to loud for their own good. Her eyebrows furrow as she looks at me as of saying ‘Help.’.

‘’Your punishment will be decided on tomorrow.’’ Yoongi speaks monotone getting my attention. I quickly lower my head down in understanding, hands pulling behind my back as I take a step behind him ‘’Even though you’ve earned a pass, your actions have earned Jin hyungs anger.’’ He spares me a glance but I don’t lift my head and gaze from my shoes, the leather polished so that it reflects the closes chandelier to us in them ‘’Taehyung-ah will take care of your position while you join Namjoon and Jimin.’’

Instantly I grind my teeth together, wanting to retort back a denial but know better than to go against him especially where anyone can hear and see us in a crowd like this.

‘’So much for waiting for tomorrow.’’ I grumble squaring my shoulders, picking up on soft patting of feet the person I want to burn in hell approaching us. Hyung doesn’t reply, just keeps looking ahead instead even though I know I rubbed him the wrong way with my comment. But he also knows how I detest her. It really is a cruel punishment as he’s putting her safety onto my shoulders. I hate this so much, ugh why me?!

I was supposed to be Yoongi’s hyung backup. I was supposed to start learning to be his left-hand man, as Hoseok is always there when he needs him. But no, she had to fuck it all up didn’t see? Just by coming here she fucked up years of progress I’ve made. Years of hard work to be the best, in all categories that hyung needs me to excel at.

‘’Hello gentlemen.’’ She cheers gleefully completely unaware of what’s happening. Looking up she spares a wide grin and proceeds to drink more of her newly refiled glass, a waiter following her around since the start.

‘’Aren’t you being a bit careless with the amount of alcohol intake?’’ Yoongi asks sounding soft and affectionate, as she smacks her lips which are coloured into a nice pinker shade, that complement the soft pastel tones of her makeup. So annoyingly human.

‘’Me careless never.’’ She snorts giggling ‘’I’d offer a toast but given your current lack of beverage, I’ll keep on trooping on for the both of us.’’

‘’How courageous of you.’’

Another puzzling matter is the amount of alcohol intake. I know humans drink, but isn’t this too much? It’s getting to a lethal point for her livers at this point ‘’Continuing on my legacy firmly.’’

My frown deepens as Yoongi chuckles half amused ‘’Did you enjoy your chat with your newest admirer?’’

At this I spare him a glance. His expression hardens but he isn’t giving anything off his expression and posture relaxed and well masking his real emotions while she on the other hand muses and obviously turns back toward the Prince, that’s already staring towards us, offering a smirk. She hums and turns back crossing her right arm over her front while she bends her left holding the glass up near her face the posture making her look ridiculous as she fake toasts, the Prince mimicking the gesture right back.

‘’Very much so, he’s quite charming.’’ She confirms her eyebrows jumping expression seemingly too happy for her to actually be normal. How can she be so cheerful and easy going? Again, with the animal references but she’s a lamb set right now in a den of lions, ready to be devoured. She’s acting so oblivious, she is oblivious idiotically so, her attitude and the way she’s acting want me to tear out my hair.

‘’Did he ask you about your heritage?’’ at this question I furrow my brows as I look at hyung in confusion. Why is he asking her that? For sure he has paid attention to every word they’ve exchanged like everyone else so why the unnecessarily of talking about this out loud??

‘’Yes.’’ She taps the handle of her sword visibly ‘’But he didn’t get the memo quite yet. He did compare me to a princess nonetheless. I should add that to my resume.’’ Her voice that’s this dreamy aspect to it. Another sip of the bubbly liquid she tilts her head to the side smirking at hyung. The next word she speaks I cannot even phantom to pronounce or repeat - it sounds almost like she is making a sound, which for a moment I assume she just burped or something, but Yoongi hyung nods curtly. Did she just speak in another language?

‘’Oh!’’ she states in wonder turning around as music starts to play louder now the hired coven that acts as a smaller performing orchestra coming to life with a lively tune. Couples are quick to line up in the middle of the room, ready to dance ‘’How wonderful.’’ she mumbles to herself continuing to sip on her drink. With her back to me, I’m drawn by the expanse of her back the dip of her dress reaching just where her kidneys are. Harsher looking scars litter her skin, which are confusing by all means. They are long and overlapping. That must have taken a long time to heal. It almost makes me flinch.

Yoongi’s silence gets my attention and a desperate wish to peek into his mind, to see what storm is brewing there.

‘’Remember that one time, when you asked me to dance on your own free will??’’ the girl wonders sounding reminiscent while the vampire moves to stand in front of her. I feel as if I’m intruding the moment, so given my new position I walk over to the side, to a giant column that’s keeping the heavy roof intact above us. I’m close enough to them to intercept anyone, and far enough to stop any danger. But instead of focusing on my surroundings I listening in onto the two.

‘’…you’re not getting that. Even if you drag me.’’ hyung finishes amused, standing closer to her. Way too close that’s necessarily, the proximity bothering me. She’s going to give him a bad rep and he’s just letting her. I am surprised I have to admit, about the lightness of their conversation having fully expected them to start talking between one another in the foreign tongue that nobody knows about, which they usually converse in.

‘’Aigo Yoongi-yaah! Stubborn as ever!’’ I close my eyes for a moment just breathing in an out, my mood sour-ing all the more. Even though I’ve told her myself many times, that when addressing your elders, you need to call them appropriately she still goes against it acting dumb and continues to call hyung in a belittling way.

I don’t understand why he doesn’t correct her! Why is he letting her act like that? If it were any of us, we’d be dismembered, missing a limb for a few years. (Not us necessary I’ve seen him cause pain to lesser vampires that were causing too much chaos in the human world)

‘’It’s just one dance.’’ She tries hand sneaking around his waist the contrast between her brighter colour and his darker blue shaded Gonryongpo is a huge contrast furthering on her difference from us.

‘’It’s been centuries since I’ve danced this waltz. Can’t even remember certain steps.’’ he entertains her further. Ever since she came, I’ve seen him smile more times than I have ever before I feel like. Whenever she’s around him, there’s always a somewhat smile on his face.

‘’I’ll lead, it’s not like I’d be the first time.’’ she whispers as they both chuckles.

‘’Running an imaginary headache there Jeongguk-ah?’’ I glance up towards Namjoon hyung who smiles at me clearly loving my suffering.

‘’You could say that.’’ Looking at the girl, she’s basically nuzzling into Yoongi’s side not minding the many curious looks others are giving her in passing. Or plainly staring at the pair. I try to relax my features understanding Namjoon’s subtle words, in correcting myself my concentration having gotten the better of me.

‘’It can’t be that bad.’’ He pats me over the back reassuringly, eyes darting towards our hyung and the girl that finishes her drink once more.

‘’How can she drink so much?’’ I find myself asking silently not wanting her to hear me ‘’She’s practically killing herself as we speak.’’ Looking up at Namjoon his eyebrows are furrowed as he silently nods. He’s the one that’s most fascinated with humans out of all of us, and has studied human medicine for a lifetime a decade ago. So, he must know better than me, that her eating and drinking habits are unhealthy ‘’Ugh.’’ I groan as she slips and starts conversing in another language, Yoongi seemingly easy to follow along a concentrated expression drawing itself on his face.

‘’Pretentious.’’ I grumble, while Namjoon looks absolutely fascinated ‘’Don’t.’’ I warn as he looks between them and me, gaze fleeting for a moment as he smiles.

‘’This must be…’’ he counts on his fingers but ends up pointing a 5 in his mind ‘’…language that she seems to be fluent in. That’s utterly fascinating.’’ I can see how the wheels are spinning in his mind, picking up on She must be a linguist, that’s why Yoongi called her for this gathering.

His thoughts sort of do make sense. My gut feeling tells me otherwise, doubt quick in questioning Namjoon’s logic for I think the first time in my life. Her being human doesn’t make any sense, for her to still be here.

‘’I’m sure you’d be a better choice for that.’’ I point out ‘’Or me for the matter.’’

He immediately tsks crossing his arms as he stands more on my side, looking at me incredulously ‘’Jeon Jeongguk are you jealous?’’ he asks my gaze getting captured by the blonde woman again, having reached only a few steps away, waving at me a moment later getting roped in chatting with a girl similar to her. Both of them glance towards me and end up giggling.

‘’Never of her.’’ my reply is instant as I turn to glare at hyung in anger, his demander sort of knowing and confident.

‘’Hm sure. Whatever you say maknae.’’ He teases but straightens up once Yoongi approaches us, glancing after Y/N that has sat on the couch behind us. She frowns once she’s down, but accepts another refill the waiter dutifully doing his job.

‘’The meeting is going to start soon.’’ Hyung starts which has us both straightening up, and at attention ‘’I want you with me, I still need to go greet the Jeju coven and given that they’ve taken a liking to you…’’ he trails off smirking both of them exchanging looks. I expect the seriousness that settles over hyungs features once he turns to me, his dark red eyes fixating on me the feeling of him reading into my soul present for a brief moment ‘’Keep an eye on her. And be nice.’’ the last part is a warning because he doesn’t even spare me another glance. He’s moving away with Namjoon hyung that’s getting his head in the game mind elsewhere. I’m sure he’ll come and talk to me later in the morning after all this ordeal is done. I can’t really chase the feeling away of being unwanted for a moment.

‘’Many thanks, truly but I will have to continue with politely declining your requests.’’ Her voice is easy to pick up on as I’m left almost alone with my brothers mingling everywhere around the room and nowhere in my sight.

Taking in a deep breath I turn around spotting at least 3 men offering their hands over to the human, that has a rosiness to her cheeks at their advances.

‘’Just one quick dance, m’lady.’’ One tries persistently making me scowl and approach them. They do look at me, one straightening up immediately while the two others scoff.

‘’The lady already politely declined you already. Don’t turn yourselves into gossip for others by getting rejected thrice more, gentlemen.’’ I point out standing on her left, making sure I’m acting as a shield. The men eye me one insinuating that he’s going to do something more in his mind. But he does take a step back nodding, the two following as they offer their greetings and start to walk away. As I watch them give me the stink eye, I don’t miss the blonde that keeps appearing in my eyesight. Again, she has that innocent expression on, but this time she tilts her head to the side a clear invitation to move elsewhere more private.

‘’Thank you for that.’’ Her more croaky voice pips up. I spare her a glance, as she slumps against the couch again, her sword laid improperly over the couch and her lap ‘’Yoongi-ah told me to be nice so…’’ she trails off quietly for the first time this evening looking exasperated. But only for a moment as her lips quirk up, as a pair passes us bowing down offering a greeting going along and away.

‘’Don’t mention it.’’ I mumble slipping my hands into my trousers again the itch on following the blonde kind of present, but I’ve fucked up enough this evening to keep still and do as I was told.

‘’So, are you having any fun?’’ again she addresses me, and I don’t really see the point in this small talk. Because it’s coming from her mainly. It sounds unfair and mean but I’m getting really tired of her.

‘’Sure.’’ I find myself replying stoically as I look around, returning a smile or nod here and there, spotting some of my friends that are strewn around in the crowd.

‘’You know…’’ she starts and pauses. For a moment I get an image that she’s choking silently which has me turning sideways to look at her. But she’s just sitting there a bit un-lady like her legs spread instead of folded which she does after my brief thought ‘’…if you want to go chase after the blonde you can. I’ll be fine on my own.’’ At this I raise an eyebrow in question startled that she actually noticed that ‘’She seemed nice. Even asked about you.’’ At this new information my eyes raise to the crowd, spotting her wine-red dress near the entrance of the balcony on my sharp right.

‘’You’ve talked to her?’’ I frown turning back to the human, her lipstick that has gotten smudged all the more irks me immediately. Must have rubbed of the glass too much. She should stop drinking.

‘’Uh huh.’’ she replies licking over her lips, my eyes darting onto her own finding her staring straight at me. They look so…normal. Her eyes. So plain so, boring. It’s the first time that I’m actually standing so close to her, and yes, I’ve once been a human myself this shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does – it intrigues me more – but her eyes seem beautifully normal. ‘’She approached me initially having figured I’m with you only after Hoseok addressed me casually.’’ To her boring explanation I offer her a curt nod and turn to the crowd while she takes another sip of her drink ‘’So you can go to her, I’m sure Jiminie or someone else will be here to replace you instantly. Yoongi-ah worries too much, he always has a plan B, C, D, E and so on in mind.’’

I faintly smile at the statement for the first time agreeing with her. Hyung is very organized and ready for anything, partially thanks to Namjoon, but I bet his experience shaped him into who he is today. As for her I’m not so sure. She’s acting way to reckless right now even more than she does when it’s just us. She almost broke one of Bernini statues that Yoongi hyung is very proud of, that’s located in his study. How she did that exactly as it weights tons don’t ask me, the screaming match they’ve gotten into has left us all wondering in confusion as to how and why.

Again, breaking limbs isn’t uncommon to teach younglings lessons, but his way of dealing with her was to after the screaming match as over - rolled his eyes at her and pushed her out taking her to get ice cream. ICE CREAM!!! A child is what she is!!! Even if her mortal age is above twenties, she acts as if she’s 9. Even children of 5 are more respectful than she is.

‘’Are you trying to get rid of me?’’ I find myself asking as she shifts behind me, nails tapping over the metal. I can hear how her heart beat is slightly rushed thanks to the alcohol, her breathing remaining steady.

‘’Hm, not at all.’’ she replies quietly. I can feel her eyes on me, and I refuse to look back at her keeping my eyesight ahead. The Prince comes in sight as he finishes the dance with one of the many mistresses her has, or concubine I’m not sure what title to use with anyone anymore ‘’You’re the realest one tonight to be honest.’’ I can hear her whisper to herself clearly taking another sip after. Glancing back, she picks herself up not faltering as I’d assume, she would. She steps forward standing next to me expression serious and for a moment calculating as she scans the room. Thanks to the high heels she has on, she actually stands taller next to me. Even without them she stands tall, at a sort of an average length – it isn’t enough to tease her for her height.

The heels add an edge to her ‘’Ugh I’m too sober for this.’’ She complains silently at the Prince that starts approaching us. Luckily enough he gets distracted by another lady that literally steps in front of him. Glancing at the human girl her smile falters, eyes meeting my own ‘’If it were up to me right now I’d be upstairs, settled in that gods-sent fluffy bed and would have a controller in my hand, just annihilating one person after another either in Overwatch or I don’t know. Maybe replay Last of us.’’ At this revelation I look her up and down whilst she greets the waiter with a grin who hands her a new glass instead.

So, she plays games huh. Wouldn’t peg her to be the type but what do I care. I’m sure I’d beat her with ease, she has nothing on me.

‘’And what would you do, if I was there right next to you?’’ comes a flirty remark from an orange haired Jimin hyung that offers Y/N a golden tube of lipstick that probably matches the one on her lips. Only now I notice upon taking a closer look how her lips despite the fade-ness in the middle, how plump they actually look. Bite-able.

‘’That depends.’’ Y/N remarks back accepting the lipstick and small mirror handing him her glass, which he takes a sniff of ‘’Where would you exactly be? Next to me? Behind me?’’

I roll my eyes at her poor attempt of flirtation scrunching my nose up ‘’Why under you of course.’’ Ghhhhhhh.

She simply muses for a moment in silence, probably giving him a flirtatious smirk or something, which is a grimace I bet. With the corner of my eye I half watch as she opens up the lipstick ‘’Hm interesting proposition. Unrealistic but courageous in attempt. You think you could handle me?’’

I want to facepalm so hard it’s not even funny. Jimin the bastard he is giggles like a little girl almost, watching her intently, whilst I spot the blonde again talking with another guy, that’s clearly showing interest into her. Fuck.

‘’Oh, little mortal there’s not that much to handle from what I can see. I think I’ll take my chances without a second thought.’’ He shamelessly ogles her.

‘’Are you willing to bet on that then, Jiminie? Stick to your words?’’ she dares back. I spare him a glance surprised at seeing him faltering. Her head is angled in a way where I can’t see her expression, but I can see that she isn’t necessarily smiling. Huh.

He visibly gulps ‘’You’re trying to raise the stakes, aren’t you?’’ he muses confidence having faltered, so he settles for a cute approach smiling exaggeratively for a moment ‘’All or nothing, huh darling?’’ he’s putting out all his cards, posses, smiles, and the looks he gives her. And yet I know for sure somehow that she has him hocked around her finger. All done with a single look nonetheless. Not a lot of creatures let alone humans can get to him and here she just did. He is a touch but to crack so to speak.

‘’All or nothing.’’ she repeats recapping the lipstick and is quick to hand both items back to the pink haired man, accepting her drink back ‘’From what I just saw I’ll choose the latter, kitten.’’ The remark has me rising an eyebrow power balance shifting. Knowing very well that Jimin is a switch and that it sometimes takes him only a word or a motion to render him putty this is highly amusing and interesting indeed. And I think judging by the silence, she broke him sort of. Glancing towards him yeah if he was human, he’d be blushing all over, the puppy eyes telling me everything I need to know.

‘’Let’s get this show on the road boys.’’ she comments off handed. I miss completely as people start to gather around the middle and end up clapping, the orchestra being thanked for the wonderful tunes, a speech from the Prince ensuing. All the while I stare as Y/N down’s her drink, and gulps it like its water. Getting a whiff, I’m seriously questioning her will for life. That’s the scent of strong clean, vodka with a hint of peach in it.

She smacks her lips again and turns to me ‘’Do I look okay?’’ she asks the question completely flabbergasting me. But I do automatically take her in, head to toe. Her dress is still in place not even wrinkled. And this close up, I can see more scars which don’t deter me away anymore. The gold on her fingers, the rings add elegance to the look more completing it, and the earrings are a cheery on top not glinting much under the lighting up close. Her hairstyle the messiness I understand it, and same goes for the gentle touch on her makeup.

Looking at her lips they look perfectly drawn and arched. I dumbly nod instead, taking a glance at her sword. The blade being a kopis, has the handle curved the detailing on the grip is shaped as a pouncing lion the underside of the guard has a winged horse on each side the wings sort of creating the handle . This is the heritage they’ve talked about as the blade is traditionally Greek. She’s turning away faster than I can assess her weapon further more. I watch as she puts on a smile, letting out a heavy breath and hands of her glass to the waiter that’s ready to refill her glass.

She offers him a silent thank you, and then steps forward. It takes me a nudge from Jimin to register that I should follow after her. So, keeping up a distance but remain relatively close I mingle into the crowd keeping her at the corner of my eye at all times noticing the way the draping of her dress elegantly seems to float behind her.

I join in the clapping as we come to a stop reaching the middle of the room. I’m surprised to see Yoongi her and remain standing in the back watching as the human steps right over to his side, bowing respectfully to the elder coming from Jeju that’s the closest one next to her.

The murmurs that raise, confirm my hunch – nobody is protesting her position in their lines but they are all questioning it. Out of the gathered mass my friend Yugyeom makes and appearance across us trying lowkey to keep a surveillance of the room, but he ends up looking straight at me. Crossing my arms, I shake my head amused at his fresh blood so to speak. I know he has been put in charge of protecting, their coven’s linguist Jackson. He simply smirks in return and disappears into the crowd. The other linguist or advisors’ steps next to their elders same as Y/N did while the Prince continues on telling a war story, probably meant to inspire everyone and instead I bet it has everyone wanting to stab him or someone else to end his miserable tale.

‘’…for the future!’’ he ends his speech soon after but not soon enough. The claps arise once more, while the elders start moving towards the end of the room, where a door will lead them into another room which happens to be our grand library, expanding up into the second floor as well.

One by one they make their way inside, the Prince getting distracted by his own advisor standing near the back. But I think for the most part everyone’s attention is situated on the only being that’s not of our kin in the room. The human accepts Yoongi’s offered arm, wrapping her own around his as they follow everyone else ignoring the rumours and different expressions offered towards them.

If I had a heart, I think it would be beating out of my chest by now. My body doesn’t necessarily lack all human traits but the stillness keeps emotions hidden luckily more times than not – I feel the heaviness settle in my stomach like a boulder invading my senses. For some reason I get a bad, bad feeling about this. My anger returns as this just crosses all the lines doesn’t it. And by some snarls once the two of them pass the doors lets me know I’m not feeling this alone.

My friend’s presence next to me, stops me from reacting too strongly like some vampires do hisses and protests rising. We both watch in silence and with frowns as the party mood turns tense. Some of the more mature meaning older vampires start to protest loudly, some going towards the doors where Taehyung has settled himself, along with mainly Prince’s extra guards. There’s an official speaker that’s been left outside trying to calm and charm the defiant bunch. Hoseok and Jimin hyung aren’t far away trying to get the party started once more doing a way better job than the assigned guy. Jin and Namjoon entered the meeting as well, leaving the responsibility onto us; mine being mainly security and basically manhandling if someone turns out to act too unruly.

‘’Interesting developments.’’ Yugyeom comments quietly. Glancing over at him, the turtleneck he has on wants me to make fun of him, but this situation prevents me from doing so. Dressed all in black and with freshly dyed black hair, he looks aged somewhat. The fluorescent yellow hair he had not even a month ago made him look younger.

‘’Uh huh.’’ I simply hum tearing my eyes away from the doors and crowd ‘’I’m surprised you’re still here.’’

Sparing him a glance my friend doesn’t seem phased at my question, just snorting in response at first keeping an eye out as I do too ‘’Gotta earn my place in due time.’’ I tilt my head to the side briefly rising my head up as I smirk knowing those words all too well myself ‘’So what’s this whole infuriation thing going on with the flesh bag?’’ he asks, motioning for me to start walking. The nickname he uses for the human strikes a weird chord deep withing me. I keep silent at first, as we make our way towards the other side of the room, and the balcony that’s closest to the library. No guards are settled here, which makes it seem as a lack of good strategy having been put in place. Anyone can jump through the windows to get the elders attention – this is getting strange and not in a good way.

The terrace is illuminated by the outdoor lights, as well as the half of the moon that’s glowing above us. The chilliness of the air is welcomed, even though I literally can’t differentiate temperatures as much as I did when I was a human in a sense of them bothering me.

‘’Rumours are already spreading.’’ The vampire next to me says keeping his tone down, as he leans against the railing, offering me a cocky smirk. I frown at him, turning my back to the gardens while I glance towards the library. The wall has been built in a way that you can barely see inside. And right now, the curtains have been drawn close. So, I glance inside at the calmed down vampires, spotting newcomers. It’s easy to detect their fastened heart beats, excitement rising. The main course of the night has arrived.

‘’Oh, do tell.’’ I grunt again spotting the blonde that seems to be haunting me this whole evening. She’s dancing with a human male, that’s almost literally slobbering over her.

‘’Where to start.’’ Yugyeom chuckles clearly amused ‘’Some say, she’s just a new pet Yoongi hyung found. Some have the impression of her being his concubine seeing her skin so battered. Others speculate that the scars are from fighting, as in some being former fighting and even sword wounds. The huge scaring on her back someone said is from whipping which isn’t it kinky ey?’’ he wiggles his eyebrows snapping his fingers, acting ridiculous.

My brows furrow at new gossip, and his words and implications. Fighting wounds? Whips. I know how whips feel, how whipping…how…

With some difficulty I swallow the lump in my throat. I can’t find myself imagining her being whipped, it just doesn’t make sense. She’s to chirp and loud and, full of life to have been put through something traumatic such as whipping. The rock in my gut just seems to have been set on fire, as nerves settle more prominently.

‘’Hah yeah.’’ I fake a smile which he does buy into it and continues on.

‘’Some are into the aspect of fucking her.’’ my lips go into a thin line as he says that cheerfully ‘’I think as a fetish more or less or something I’m not sure.’’ He pauses for a moment ‘’Do you think I can have a go at her too?? If hyung is willing to share her that is. Price and all included.’’ legitimately he looks eager and suddenly hungry pupils dilating slightly.

I simply glare at him the growl grumbling in my throat unexpected and has me freezing. But he gets the hint and raises his hands up a bright grin settling over his features ‘’No harm done bro! Understood loud and clear.’’ He even winks at me raising up a finger gun acting as bad as she does ‘’Man why do all exciting things happen to you and none to me?! It’s pretty boring sometimes. You should visit sometimes.’’ He’s quick to switch the conversation tension that has risen between us deflating halfway. But it’s still present.

I love Yugyeom I really do; we grew up together when we were humans so he’s more like a real brother to me. But right now, I’m finding myself disliking him, and the way he was led to think about Y/N. I’m the first person wishing for her to just leave us alone, but I would not want her to fall into the hands of these fuckers here. Everyone that attends these sorts of gatherings hold themselves way to fucking high up, as if they are royalty. In reality we all, came from dirt – and the ones that have not are pretentious pricks that have been handed things on golden platters unfortunately. There’s no in between in our society.

Screams raise up from the inside, fright loud and clear in the air as the invited humans try to run away. Its soon after that moans replace the terror the flip quicker than the usual. Our guests were hungrier than they led on.

‘’When all of this excitement goes down I will.’’ I promise smiling feeling my shoulders relax as the scent of blood reaches my nose. It has my friend straightening up as well shifting from one foot to another ‘’We’ve got a bet to settle, don’t we?’’

He wiggles his eyebrows chuckling, pushing himself away from the railing ‘’Wanna end it now?’’ he challenges. The bet is ridiculous and downright douche-y. I won’t go into details right now, as the nerves of the mere thought of trying at it, does the opposite of exciting me.

I shake my head at him waving my hand in dismissiveness ‘’Next time. I’ve had my fill earlier today.’’ I lie smoothly. He must be really hungry because he nods and is backing away instead of trying to wrestle me inside.

‘’Your loss bunny boy.’’ I roll my eyes as he reaches the doors ‘’More for me!’’ and with that he’s out of sight easily catching a fleeting girl twirling her around. Not wanting to see what follows, I spare a glance at a man that has another one pressed against a column, draining him hands roaming all over the human’s body who looks like he’s in pure bliss.

Another pair has settled on the ground shamelessly grinding against one another. With a bitter taste in my mouth I turn my back to all of them, and lean onto the stone railing, looking across the garden. Even though there’s so much going on behind me, I do pick up on pitter-pattering of creatures ahead of us. There’s a forest not far away from our estate, the back gardens connected to it. So many creatures do have access and roam freely around it by daylight mainly, sensing us as we sense them.

The smell of blood, and heaviness of sex whisks past me, the mixed smells raising the all too familiar itch to start scratching at my throat insistently so. Even with years of self-discipline and learning control the hard way, by being chained up most times than not it’s hard to ignore my instincts. I do want to just run in, and sink my teeth into some girl, or guy to drink them dry. This is the only time where we can do it, as usually our food comes from donors these days.

What I don’t understand is why for the first time something is holding me back. The blood doesn’t smell right, its either to sweetened or bland. Same as the noises and screams; nothing in particular arouses me, not even my own thoughts of the blonde. Her red wine dress, tugged up legs spread wide open beneath me, as I take her right where I’m standing here it’s just…I bet she’d moan nicely and beg to be fuck hard to the point before breaking. Her eyes would glow nicely wouldn’t they…

But the glow feels wrong. Her flawless skin would match my own under my palms, it wouldn’t be heated up, or fleshy to grope. Same as her melodic tone, it wouldn’t be raspy like I want it to be. Her scent is probably all wrong too, I bet she smells nothing like strawb…

‘’There you are.’’ as if I’ve called her or have pulled her straight out of my mind she’s right there at the doors. Turning around I raise an eyebrow upon seeing her, dragging another human girl that’s panting and has a leash around her neck. She visibly shivers at the change of temperature but the blonde pays her no mind ‘’You’re a hard man to catch.’’

Smirking I straighten up half turning around watching as she licks a bold stripe up the human girl’s neck making a show of it ‘’Hard to believe that. I wasn’t hiding or running away from you.’’

She muses pursing her lips, as she stands on the humans left side groping her whilst her eyes are hungrily taking me in ‘’Duty before pleasure I presume.’’

‘’Afraid so.’’ I nod in return, as the blonde whispers something in the girl’s ears. She moans hungrily eyeing the blonde that pushes her against the wall and shushes her down promising to do filthy things to her. It doesn’t take much for the human to comply, her hands flying under the skirt of her dress eyes shutting closed. My attention remains on the blonde instead as she turns around and approaches me still musing.

‘’Politics are such a bore.’’ She states standing next to me, looking across the garden ‘’Like life sometimes.’’ Looking at her she looks up at me curiously ‘’But I bet you can’t say the same.’’

‘’Hmm define the word boring.’’ I tease back her lips quirking into a smirk.

‘’Ah you know the usual. Feed, seduce, feed more and so on so on.’’ she replies stepping closer to me ‘’Now you’re turn.’’ Her hands are quick to rank up my suit jacket, nails a contrast that doesn’t go together with my outfit.

‘’Not much difference. Feed, train, feed more and train a bit more.’’ I almost neutrally reply, holding in my breath as he hands reach just beneath my collarbones abandoning my suit jacket in favour of testing out how firm my chest is.

‘’Hard to believe there’s nothing more, exciting to fill up your schedule.’’ Her eyes meet my own. And same as in my day dream, they glint briefly brightly red. She is laying all her cards on the table. And I’ve waited all night for this to happen. Granted I wanted to chase her down, like a gentleman but she’s here either way in my grasp.

Straightening up, I place my hands over her hips keeping silent for a moment further as I slide them shamelessly to grip her ass, the action having her breathing hitch. It doesn’t feel all that nice. Leaning down, I hover inches away from her thin lips shaded into a matching colour to her dress.

‘’There’s a possibility I like keeping that part of it to myself.’’ at this she arches an eyebrow showing of her sharp teeth as she smiles. As I intake a breath her scent fills my senses completely. She smells like roses, and butterscotch the combination wanting to be sweet and yet – I don’t find it nice.

It lacks that real tender sweetness, and fruitiness.

‘’Do you reveal it to only a handful of people then perhaps?’’ she breathes out eyes glowing brightly red, as I tug her left thigh upwards pressing her to myself shifting so that she can’t exactly feel me against her. I’m not hard at all. Not even semi-hard. Okay maybe a tiny bit but it’s worrisome that I’m not feeling any attraction to her anymore.

I take a look at her up and close trying to get my body to react, or convince myself to at least think that’s she’s attractive. Her blonde hair seems fake up close, features way too symmetrical and off putting for whatever reason. Her makeup is heavily put on, lines not visible. Glancing down at her body and how she’s pressed against me…the hold I have on her…it’s lacking. She’s very plain. The perfection I praised not long ago, is now just dull and uninteresting.

‘’We can share.’’ She adds probably detecting my hesitance ‘’Kitten won’t mind it once bit.’’ the nickname she uses throws me off further. Even though I do look at the human girl that’s shamelessly uncovered her lower part and is rubbing herself for us to see, moans filling the night air – it’s not convincing enough. I’d rather take the human girl for myself instead of sharing.

Grunting I let go of the blonde’s leg realizing in the back of my mind that I don’t even know her name. She looks at me with furrowed brows, as I take half a step away distancing myself.

‘’Found you!’’ a voice sings cheerfully from the doors. Both of us look towards the orange haired male, that grins widely, his mouth smeared in red ‘’Oh what do we have here.’’ He’s quick to skip over to the human, taking her in ‘’Yah Jeongguk-ah you are so selfish.’’ He pouts, running his hands over the trembling girl’s side.

‘’Jimin-ssi when I told you to beat it, I meant it. With all due respect.’’ Blondie pips up crossing her arms and looks annoyed while my hyung remains playfully touching the human girl, that’s panting louder.

‘’C c c Dahyun-ah. That’s so mean coming from such a sweet girl like yourself.’’ He pouts crowding behind the girls back. He hocks his chin over her shoulder as he gives us puppy eyes. I smirk at his antics thanking him quickly in my mind, that he was so quick to answer my call not even 2 minutes ago. Given by the silence of the blonde – or apparently Dahyun he has her hocked.

‘’Why don’t you teach her some manners hyung?’’ I propose crossing my arms as I lean back against the railing. She turns to look at me stunned mouth opening to say something, but Jimin in a bat of an eye is right there crowding into her space blocking her view away from me.

‘’I really should, shouldn’t I?’’ he growls lowly hand reaching under her chin to keep her focus on him ‘’You think you can handle it baby doll?’’

I frown instantaneous turning away eyes trailing off to the library, mind switching to the image of Y/N. Those are almost the same words that she used to tease him. Turning back to the two, they have ended making out – plain and simple. But once he opens his eyes and grins, she continues licking at him like an animal trying to get every trace of blood from his chin and cheek.

Jimin doesn’t say anything just sends me a wink and a I owe you one Jeonggukkie dragging both Dahyun and the human girl back inside in mere moments. He even closes the balcony door. A gentleman indeed.

My shoulders just sag, as I sit myself on the railing climbing over it, letting my legs hang over the edge as I stare at the moon at first watching as it lowers down slowly, orbiting around us.

What a stupid and weird night. I run my hands over my face trying to gather my thoughts that are in disarray. So much has happened, and still is happening. There are so many mysteries too, more than I thought there would be resolving one simple human. She should have stayed hidden upstairs away from everyone’s greedy gazes and thoughts, far away from the centre of anyone else’s attention. Rephrase that she should be here in the first place.

Saying she’s hyungs long term friend is stupid. I’ve known hyung over 190 years given that he was the one who saved and turned me. I’ve never seen her before; he never even mentioned her name or anything.

Even if he does have meetings in the city, there’s no way they could have hung out. Either of us would smell her on him, even if he did change clothes before coming home. Which we know he’s too lazy to go through that much trouble. He’s not hiding her away right now, meaning he didn’t give her a second thought then either.

There are so many questions to answer some completely illogical on their own.

Looking towards the library, nothing has changed. Not even the boulder in my stomach that weights me down. Something is about to happen. Changes are coming. She’s the initiator of it all. I just hope it’s not something of a downfall for us. It sure feels like it.

Part 1 / Part 2

Dictionary: Wangseja - Crown prince, the son of the king who appointed as heir to the throne. Gonryongpo – Dragon Robe/ were the everyday dress of the emperors or kings of China, Korea Vietnam and the Ryukyu Kingdom. Samjeongdo - the sword given to newly promoted Korean military generals each year by the Ministry of National Defence. Kopis - a heavy knife with a forward-curving blade / the Ancient Greeks often used single-edged blades in warfare, as attested to by art and literature.

#bts vampire au #jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x reader #bts jeon jungkook #enemies to lovers #bts jeon jeongguk #bts soulmate au #jeongguk x reader #bts smut #BTS jungkook #bts vampire #reincarnation au #yoongi vampire #bts fanfic #bts fanfction #bts romance #bts fluff #reincarnation

155 notes · View notes

crypterion-moon · 4 years ago

Text

Tiamat: Rise in Shadow p.2

Summary: He’s ended up in a new world, one that is surprisingly similar to his but everyone is so much younger. Tiamat, unable to resist his curiosity begins to observe, acting impulsively.

The Light realizes that they have problems concerning their operations

Tags: Violence, Gore

Tiamat's head was ringing, and it was damn annoying as well as slightly painful. It took a whole lot of effort and will to just open his eyes with his whole body screaming at him for the abuse. Not the first time, he told himself, had worse happen to him on Batman's watch. And then he realized there was a possibility he wasn't alone. His eyes shot open and he lifted his head enough to give the surrounding area a quick scan around before dropping back to the ground, face first of course. He felt as if he got kicked in the head by a horse, which was a close enough comparison given how hard he was hit.

Fortunately it seemed like the Blight Hounds didn't seem to make it through or were dropped off elsewhere, hopefully somewhere far away, like a different dimension. He was about to seduce and kill a young man who would later become a gang leader as he'd been told by Oriviane, one of the oracles. Though it had nothing to do with Tiamat or the wraiths what his destiny would have been, his name was listed. He would die sooner or later.

It would have just been another night of ending someone's life with pleasure until they were suddenly ambushed by those damned monsters. Ambushes weren't all that unusual though it served to be a pain in the ass having to kill his targets before they ran off. Tiamat was always prepared for these moments and it wouldn't have been a problem if his psyche as well as his powers didn't decide to fluctuate right at that moment. It earned him a swat to the face from one of their malformed paws, and they were strong, if not smart.

“Damn, I hope they didn't scratch me,” Tiamat grunted, as his fingers came away wet with blood.

He glanced at his surroundings, a thick but not unruly gathering of trees blocked much of Tiamat's field of vision like a forest, preventing him from seeing too much farther, but he could hear a the low drone of activity, human activity just beyond the edge of the spot where he stood. Tiamat followed the sounds, noting how oddly neat these trees were spaced almost as if...he reached the end to find wide open spaces filled with people either picnicking, strolling or playing, and beyond that was a city. Its buildings jutting up unpleasantly over the foliage. His portal navigation had landed him in the middle of a park in god knows where, again. In fairness, it was a stressful moment, trying to open up a door while fending of mutant mutts and no doubt, they must've been scattered over other realms. He really needed to get the hang of this before it sent him into somewhere much more unpleasant.

Strangely, as he kept passing through the thick growth of trees he could hear the sounds of civilization cars and voices, not too far away and as it turned out, he’d reached the edge of what turned out to be a reserved patch of forest. Now he was staring from under the shade, normal civilians passing by going about their business. At least he was sure he wasn’t on some god-forsaken hell. He was about to move forward when a sudden explosion erupted about fifty meters away. He flinched back into the cover and watched intently.

Through the throngs of screaming people, a figure emerged from the wreckage, large and imposing and an awfully familiar at that. It was Bane. Still duped up on Venom.

“Come out you spineless cowards, come out and face Bane!”

Good lord he was obnoxious as ever. Watching him thrash about like a child throwing a tantrum was almost comical. He took out a substantial chunk of the cement ground throwing it about, thankfully most of the crowds had retreated but he was posing a serious threat to bystanders. For now, it seemed that the only damage he was intent on doing was to the surrounding inanimate objects, smashing to be exact, unimpressive really. Then the drugged up criminal fixes his gaze on some unfortunate man on his way to work. Tiamat grinned. Perfect, he had some stress to work off.

Just when he had taken a step out, suddenly Bane was ambushed. Teenagers sporting colourful sets of powers and abilites. One of them, a green skinned boy morphed into a bull charging Bane relentlessly and recklessly. A young blond woman with a bow joined in, notching and releasing arrows effortlessly with near perfect aim. The flashy one dashed in to deliver a series of, flimsy punches. When it comes to Bane, nothing short of a strong punch will affect him, but somehow, Tiamat could feel that was merely to add to the distraction.

Something bigger was coming his way.

Just as the thought materialized, a large black and blue jean mass came flying in, crashing into Bane with a loud thump and crack that definitely was the sound of a few broken bones. The villain was sent flying back from the impact while the recent addition to the fray watched with a triumphant expression, back straight, floating in the air with the symbol on his chest on display. A Super.

The sight of the S brought memories, slamming back into Tiamat .

“Hey Broody.”

Kon smiling as he hovered over him making terrible jokes about his height, his personality being not as colourful as his costume. Fighting together with their teammates against extraterrestrial terrorists.

“You know he doesn’t mean that.”

Kon comforting him over his arguments and fights with Bruce and Jason. Hearing Kon’s voice beg him to come home again and again until he couldn’t hear him anymore. And when he finally opened his eyes, he was holding Kon’s head in his bloody hands.

Tim doubled over gagging, holding himself steady grasping a thorny vine that grew along the trunk of the tree, his hand so tight around it the thorns pierced skin and blood ran down his palm and the vine.

“Damn it, not now, keep it together...” he fought to keep the memories suppressed. Just then a giant crash spooked him out of the lapse and he looked up in time to see a huge Gorilla in a stupid hat flattening down everything In its way, with a machine gun to match. Following behind were what looked like a few hired goons, of course, why not. Bane always made sure to be stocked up on henchmen and backup.

This was however turning into a bit of a joke and Tiamat was getting bored of watching.

“Robin!” A slight figure leaped out of nowhere at the command, unleashing a whole arsenal of batarangs and smoke pellets. The flying pieces of metal successfully took down a portion of the goons while the pellets burst, enveloping the area in thick smoke. No one can see through it accept for Superboy but they had definitely planned this enough not to require visibility. Tiamat ’s suspicions were confirmed when the green shapeshifter charged right into the smoke, audibly knocking out more of the hired guns, both Robin and the archer jointly disabled the remaining men caught in the smoke. Bane could be heard roaring over the commotion, Gorilla sniffed and grunted. Suddenly, Superboy and a girl with a familiar symbol dived in, tackling the two. The team’s hard hitters best suited for tanks like Bane and the Gorilla. Tiamat guessed they must be this world’s Teen Titans, which meant he had to be careful who he came in contact with.

After a whole load of punching and kicking, the two villains were finally down, disappointingly enough, how boring. They began discussing something together possibly about whatever mission they were on while the blond with the lasso and the speedster began tying everyone up. Just then the farthest man lying just a meter of where Tiamat was hiding got up and started sprinting off into the woods.

Tim watched the man as he made his escape into the darkness, soon noticed to be by the teens, his lips stretched into a sinister grin. He sat back on his haunches, preparing for the chase.

“Let the hunt begin.”

“We have a runner,” Nightwing sounded slightly fed up, his tone coloured with annoyance as he watched the last of Bane’s hired gun run of to the woods. No one could blame him, since it’s been a long day and no doubt, going to be a long night for him in Bludhaven, the wicked never sleep. So the team started off after him as the heavy hands came to take the criminals away for locking up. Kid Flash was definitely the fastest but not the brightest, and in an environment like a forest, odds were that he’d trip up or spend the whole day searching high and low for the man, so it was a good thing he wasn’t here or he’d run off not knowing where he was going or running into. Beast Boy had the right idea though, as a hound, he had the escaper’s scent. So they followed him into the thick growth.

Finding him was actually harder than they thought, he had no tracker so all they could really rely upon was Superboy’s senses and Beast Boy’s ability to track as an animal, even then Connor couldn’t see past all the trees with his vision and Garfield lost his scent a few times.

“He must be in the deepest part of the forest by now,” Artemis said.

“Keep searching, if he’s going back to base this could mean finding the ones responsible for the meta-trafficking,” Nightwing ordered.

“He could be headed towards the docks, it’s the quickest and closest way out,” Robin said, it made sense and Nightwing agreed, it was the only other place that anyone could find a way to get off the island. As they got nearer to the docks, Superboy stopped all of a sudden, his teammates stopped as well.

“Superboy, what’s wrong, is-” Wondergirl began to say when he shushed her, his ears picking up whimpers and sobs and some frantic words that were to muffled for him to hear properly. But he could tell which direction.

“Over there,” he said, facing in the direction of the sound just off to the side to where the docks were, .

They followed Conner to what looked like the deepest part of the forest when he faltered and bent over looking shaken.

“What’s wrong,” Nightwing asked, checking him over with concern.

“Someone screamed and it wasn’t any scream, I mean a real scream,” Connor looked up and around, panicked, “I can’t hear him anymore.”

With this disturbing reveal, Nightwing and Robin both took off in that direction, with the others following after Superboy had recovered. Beast Boy was in the lead again, with the scent strong this time and they ventured on before Garfield started yelping, then, the smell hit them hard, the smell of blood and urine.

“Oh my god,” Artemis let out a hoarse whisper.

Everyone stopped, their mouths hanging open in shock. The corpse lying before them was definitely their runner, but he wasn’t going to be answering questions or going anywhere but the morgue. His limbs stuck out at odd angles like he was flailing about so much they were arranged haphazardly, his uniform was ripped open and so was his throat. The chest area bore several gashes. Right arm ripped off and legs punctured. He looked like he’d been mauled by a savage animal except, no animal can make such clean cuts as the ones on his chest, the claws must have been thin, needle like. His mouth hung agape with terror and he must have been scared enough to wet himself with the darkened patch on his pants mixing with the blood that was now seeping in, staining the grey a darker shade.

“Wha- who could have done this?!” Cassie gasped. Nightwing took a tentative step forward, he’d seen bad things in Gotham but never something like this here. Something had made it’s way on the island.

He looked back to see Robin had also followed his movement but he seemed to be on the verge of getting sick, he was too young to witness something like this. Nightwing didn’t want to baby him. Working as Robin alongside Batman meant being in the middle of things like this but still...he glanced back at the body. This was too horrible.

“You guys, go back to HQ, call Batman, tell him we’ve got an issue, possibly something worse than the crisis at hand,” he ordered the rest of the team, “Robin, look at me, I know it’s going to be hard but go back with them, take the rest of the day off.”

“But I-.”

“Listen to me, Tim, I’m not putting you off missions because I think you’re not up for it, but I’ve had something like this happen before and it isn’t something you can just shake off, take it from a guy who tried winging it,” Dick gave him a wry smile, “Go home you earned it.”

Both Nightwing and Robin looked at the tattered remains, “I don’t think it’s exactly safe there right now.”

Batman was waiting for them when Nightwing and a few others were finished assessing the situation and had returned to their new cave headquarters. The mountain they had once called base was demolished and smoothed over but in the process of retrieving precious components the had managed to unearth tunnels and caverns formed long ago when lava still flowed here.

It was almost like the old one, well, technically it was, or rather an extension of the old cave.

Batman was tapping away at the computer when they finally arrived.

“I’ve heard a lot about what happened, report.”

Aqualad, Blue Beetle looked rather ill, Nightwing wasn’t happy to have dug his hands deep into the case.

“Nothing good,” Dick said as he produced a image storage card from one of his compartments, and slotted it into the computer then turned to the rest of the teens gathered around watching curiously, “If any of you guys just ate and don’t have the stomach for this, you might want to look away, especially you Static.”

“I think I’m cool, I’ve been working on this team for a while.”

None of them seemed to be able to look away and Nightwing raised a brow questioningly but relented, “Suit yourself.”

The series of images that popped up on the screen were...hard to digest. The first image of the dead gunman in the woods was obvious, to some but there were more, far more to come. And they got bloodier and bloodier, multiple bodies piled upon each other or strewn around warehouses, corridors, missing limbs, missing eyes, throats torn, one had his skull crushed and a few sliced cleanly in half. All merciless, and brutally killed. All in the same uniform.

Some retching could be heard in the background, a few of the teens’ eyes had gone wide and forced to look away. Even Superboy, claiming to be fearless didn’t find it easy to be seeing this. Bart grimaced.

“We can assume that this was the base where our runner was going to and whoever, whatever got to him got here first, from what I can tell there were no survivors.”

“Oh god,” M’gann’s voice was merely a whisper.

“Have you determined who they were working for?”

“Only that the hired muscle belonged to Luthor and the whole operation was headed by Bane. The base located just a few miles off the coast was built overnight, it’s supposed to be temporary. That’s how they got so many guys to infiltrate the island. Today was supposed to be the first wave, scout and weaken we know the Light is pulling strings again and they were planning to completely take out the Young Justice.”

“The full attack was scheduled two days from now, a whole army coming at us...there were a lot of people stationed at that base.”

Nightwing looked visibly shaken, but he collected himself enough to give the rest of the report, “That’s all the information I was able to recover from their smaller caches, along with the shots we took of the scene but the rest of the data that was in their main computer, is gone, no messages, no videos, all taken or destroyed,” Nightwing looked grim.

Batman narrowed his eyes and turned back to the screen, scrolling through the images stored on the memory card. The info explained only a portion of the operation but nothing on what transpired there, no indications of unusual activity, which meant that whatever happened, happened suddenly and quickly. His mind racing through a million possibilities, scenarios, potential suspects who wanted in on this operation or just to sabotage it. Joker was on the list, even if he worked with the Light before, he and they both knew he was a wild card of sorts and could turn easily on any one. But this…

Beside him, Robin had taken a step forward analysing each photograph, the investigator inside of him pushing past his queasiness to work out all the clues and Bruce didn’t miss a single moment of that.

“Whoever did this knew what they were doing, but it wasn’t exactly planned, no, I think it all started with the runner,” Batman said.

“How can you be sure?” Aqualad questioned.

“No prior reports of related activity and in such a short time period starting, with your fight with him he’s done a lot of damage,” Batman continued before Jaime cut in.

“Wait, he?”

“Just one person?” Artemis added.

Batman gave Robin a look, body language he was trained to understand, by now, he’d analysed all that he could in those shots and was already organising them into vital information in his head, he started, “There’s blood on the floor that doesn’t match the shape of any of the men in the photos, it’s distinctly male given the size of the footprint, and it can’t be female as the toes are not narrow enough. The back of the print is narrower so the heel must be high, that alone separates it from the any one of the Lex’s men.”

“Plus there are some distinct marks in front of each print, they look like dots but on closer inspection,” Robin zooms in on one particular print showing a print with several patterned holes in the front, “Our...killer has clawed feet.”

“Whoa,” Bart said.

“What the hell could that be?” Static threw up his hands frustrated in the riddle talk, “Our mystery guy has clawed feet and is wearing high heels? Apart from fashion statement, is he human? Meta like us?”

Batman and Nightwing exchanged looks, everybody just looked worried.

“You’re thinking something else aren’t you.”

“Without further investigation we don’t have much to go on, but our gut instinct says the same, someone, something has made it here.”

“And whoever or whatever that is, is extremely dangerous,” Nightwing warned.

“Are you even sure it’s just the one guy?” Kon asked.

There was a pause, Batman turned to the screen, scanning the pictures of mutilated and half eaten bodies littered across it, before he answered, “With this kind of carnage, let’s hope we’re just dealing with one threat and not an army.”

Meanwhile at Lex Corporations, news about the massacre had reached Luthor, and he was not amused. He sat at his desk scrolling through the reports and the images attached, articles that were published days before. He cared little about the men he hired to do his work but was no savage and seeing the aftermath of the attack, he could only conclude it was performed by one. He could put the blame on a few named psychopaths but wild guesses may not help his case. The announcement given by the Batman claimed that it was both a calculated move and a spur of the moment impulse. The So now, he had a rabid but logical killer on his hands, probably headed for him. With nothing to help identify them it could turn out to be any one person or maybe more, he’s had attempts on his life but it helps to know the suspects, Arsenal a most recent example but a missile is easy to see, easy to counter. From what Lex could tell, this one will give no warning, far too unpredictable.

“Mercy, make the call, our protective measures won’t be enough I’m afraid,” Luthor said. His bodyguard immediately took out the phone to begin dialling, “I have a call to make myself.”

“So, you’re saying that you’re being hunted, why am I not surprised?” Klarion smirked.

Luthor cocked an eyebrow in response to the jarring comment but continued, “If I may continue, it is but a theory, the only thing that causes doubt is the suddenness of the incident. I’d rather be safe than sorry that’s all.”

“A few dead men and you’re concerned?” the Queen mocked lightly, “How very unlike you.”

“Simply cautious my dear, unlike some,” Luthor shot back, making the woman wrinkle her nose slightly but comment no further.

“Now, now, no need for us to argue over such matters, I understand how important it is to be vigilant, Luthor. You have our support. Let’s hope this setback doesn’t last too long,” Vandal said.

“Thank you, I’ll lay low for a bit, in the meantime we should end the threat while it’s still early.”

Klarion hummed in playful doubt, “I dunno, maybe whoever this is could be fun to play with. They’ve caused quite a stir everywhere.”

“Oui, perhaps this newcomer will make a good ally,” the Brain said in his heavily accented English. Lex looked doubtful, as the Queen but both Savage and Klarion seemed open to the idea, Klarion more so with a glee in his eyes. As long as chaos was involved anything would be enough to keep the boy happy. Though the other members were uncertain, a little bit of investment could go a long way. With both Black Manta and Ra’s unavailable to comment, the majority voted on watching the newcomer first, see if there was anything he could offer and act when the moment was right.

“Let us observe for the moment, we shall soon see if he can serve the Light.”

#vampire #vampire!tim #incubus!Tim #Young Justice #alternate universe

2 notes · View notes

courtof-storms · 4 years ago

Text

Exacting Vengeance, part 2

Previously: 1

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

------

Two days later

------

Alexandrea woke up with a frightful scream as they jolted up into a sitting position, sending pain through their body as they looked around, trying to get a sense of where they were. They noticed a familiar painting on the wall and calmed down a little, wincing in a delayed reaction to the pain that shot through their body a few seconds ago.

“Thank gods you’re awake.” A familiar voice said as Alexandrea turned to look for who spoke. They saw a dragonborn woman with fiery red hair and some spots in the rock that covered her body letting through a brilliant emerald hue from the scales.

“Wh-what happened?” Alexandrea asked, rubbing their head as they looked around at the bandages that covered their body.

“What happened was you almost died. Who did this to you?” The woman asked, her worry plastered all over her face.

“Nothing happened.” They lied, averting their gaze from their friend, too embarrassed to actually tell her the truth. “How did I get here?” They asked.

“You got here because Kellin carried your half-dead body here from the market where he saw you get your ass handed to you.” She told them, getting more worked up with worry as she spoke before another dragonborn entered the room. This other dragonborn had a giant hole in the rock that covered his shoulder, letting a marvelous blue hue come out as he sat down next to Alexandrea and looked over their bandages.

“You’re bleeding again.” Kellin said, pointing to the wound on Alexandrea’s chest.

“That one’s always bleeding.” They told him.

“Yeah, she’s the one I was telling you about the other day.” The woman said. Kellin nodded as he looked around and grabbed an empty phial.

“You ok if I try and analyze why it doesn��t heal?” Kellin asked. Alexandrea nodded in response as Kellin held the empty phial to the wound on their chest, letting it fill up completely before sealing it shut.

“Am I ever gonna get an answer as to who almost killed you?” Ren asked, pacing back and forth as she scratched at the rock on her forearm. Alexandrea hung their head.

“My mother…” They replied in a voice hardly more than a whisper. Ren stopped pacing and turned to face them.

“What was that?”

“...My mother.” They repeated, slightly more audibly. Ren’s expression sank and Kellin looked up from his work in surprise.

“Your mother is The Demoness of legend?” He asked, Alexandrea shyly nodded in response.

“Your mother is Elise?!” Ren practically shouted, her hair going pure white out of rage for a few seconds before calming down and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Technically yes, I asked a diviner for help with figuring out my past before dying. According to them, she fed on my near dead body and that’s the reason for why I came back as a Risen.” Alexandrea informed, their voice a bit calmer and slowly getting back to normal as they attempted to get to their feet. Though when they tried to stand their legs were jelly and almost fell down on their face. Ren managed to catch them before they hit the ground and guided them back to the bed, making sure they were sitting before she replied.

“So, that makes everyone like you…”

“Her children in a sense.” Alexandrea said, wincing a bit as they said it. Kellin was quiet as he tried to focus on processing the new information and studying Alexandrea’s blood.

“Ok...your mom is the legendary Demoness, is that the only reason why you tried to fight her?” Ren asked, scratching the back of her neck.

“An oath I took before I died, apparently I swore vengeance on her.”

“What do you mean?” Kellin asked, looking up from his current project.

“That’s the thing, we don’t know, the diviner found my oath but it was intertwined with her essence so they think the oath is against her and for the time being, I’m going to just go with it.” Alexandrea informed.

“...Is it possible your oath isn’t anything to do with her?” Ren asked, looking to Alexandrea.

“If it has nothing to do with her then I’ll answer for straying from that path when I die.”

“That’s...not a good plan.” Ren said, Alexandrea shrugged and tried to raise their arms but pain stopped them from it a second after they started.

“I’m gonna need you to stay here for a few days Alexandrea, just until I’m sure you’re ok to move around.” Kellin instructed, his tone making it clear that they didn’t have a choice in the matter either way.

“Yes, please stay put daughter, where else would I find you?” A new voice said, causing everyone to look towards the door and see a short drow woman with scarlet hair giving a coy smirk. Alexandrea’s attitude immediately shifted to rage as adrenaline rushed through their veins. They grabbed the closest sharp thing they could and attempted to make a beeline towards Elise, although the second they had their feet under them they collapsed to the floor. That didn’t stop Alexandrea as they crawled forward with a murderous glare.

Ren jumped when Alexandrea fell and attempted to get them back on the bed and try to restrain her. Kellin shot to his feet and without hesitation put himself between Elise and Alexandrea.

“What are you doing here Demoness?!” Alexandrea shouted, dropping the knife on the ground as they tried to break out of Ren’s grasp. Kellin looked down on the small drow with his face in a scowl.

“It would be better if you leave.” He told Elise his tone cold as ice started forming under his feet.

“Aww, but if I do that then my daughter will be left with more questions.” Elise teased in a singsongy voice which caused Alexandrea to get even more aggressive.

“If you have something to tell them then say it quick or leave!” Ren shouted before whispering something into Alexandrea’s ear which caused them to instantly calm down, taking Elise by surprise.

“That’s a neat trick, emotion magic?” Elise asked, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

“Not important, share the information now or leave.” Ren snapped, turning to face Elise. The drow woman shrugged and squeezed her way past Kellin before sitting at the foot of Alexandrea’s bed.

“First, I have a question, will you join me, my daughter?” Elise asked Alexandrea, causing the two dragonborn to jump before getting even more pissed than they already were.

“Leave. Now.” Ren said, her voice hardly more than a whisper but dripping in enough venom to kill a small town.

“I can tell you who you were before, that’s what you want isn’t it? But before I do, I want to know if you’ll join me in overthrowing the gods of this pathetic realm.” Elise told Alexandrea as they held up a finger to Ren before turning to her and shifting her face to one the woman recognized.

Elise’s face slowly transformed to an elven man with dark black hair and piercing blue eyes that were almost white with a magnificent but short beard growing out of her chin. There was a small scar right under the right eye and a small gold hoop in each earlobe. After the face took shape she began changing the rest of her body to his physique and clothes which were blue robes with intricate silver embroidery along the collar and sleeves. Ren’s expression quickly changed from anger to fear as the dragonborn woman shrunk into the fetal position.

“H-how do you know that face?” She asked, her voice trembling, as if she was on the verge of tears. Elise smiled in her new form, one that gave off a sick and perverted sense of pleasure as she made her way towards the frightful dragonborn.

“This face? It’s plastered all over your mind, like a child surrounding itself with it’s fear in an attempt to get over them.” Elise said, her voice sounding different, much more masculine and raspy as she lightly grabbing Ren’s chin with her right hand and gently made Ren look at her.

“There’s nothing wrong here, you’re safe now.” Elise told her, giving the woman a small smile before punching her across the face with her left fist. A noticeable and audible crack was heard throughout the room before Ren’s head fell to the floor with a nasty thud.

With that the atmosphere changed as Kellin’s hair went to a blue fiery hue as he let out a scream and hurled an ice ball at the shapeshifter, which seemed to go right through her head as she walked closer, her right arm changing into a sharp blade as she went to stab his right thigh. The blade went through but there was no blood and no scream of pain as it entered which confused her, causing her to look down and see that where she stabbed changed to ice.

“Nice try.” Kellin said with a smirk as he made the ice of his leg move up Elise’s bladed arm. Elise panicked, trying to get her arm free and succeeding just when Kellin would’ve landed a punch. She recoiled, looking around for a source of heat to warm up her arm and saw Ren’s hair still burning. She changed the form of all but her frozen arm to smoke and went over to Ren’s unconscious body, holding her frozen arm over the woman’s hair.

Alexandrea has snapped out of whatever spell Ren placed on them and let out a war cry before summoning blood from their chest wound into a dagger and throwing it at the frozen arm. The blood dagger hit its mark and caused Elise to screech in pain at a high enough pitch to make Kellin dizzy, causing the seven foot tall man to fall to his knees and hold his head to try and center himself. Elise noticed this and took advantage of the situation, taking a gamble and going back to her normal drow form and grabbing an empty phial before walking over to him and shoving it in one of his golden eyes. The dragonborn fell over, blood seeping from his eye into a pool on the ground as Alexandrea watched in horror, cursing themself. No, no time for that. They thought before feeling dizzy and attempting to once again get to their feet, this time managing to stay upright for a few seconds before collapsing.

“You need not worry daughter, he won’t die. The bleeding has already begun to slow down. However, he won’t be using that eye again.” Elise informed, pulling the dagger out of her arm as she felt the frozen feeling go away.

“What did you do that for? Why are you here?” Alexandrea asked through gritted teeth as they crawled towards Ren’s unconscious body.

“They were in the way, and besides, what I have to tell you is for you and you alone.” Elise said, her voice devoid of emotion or empathy as she took a seat in one of the empty chairs and looked down on Alexandrea.

“The Court of Storms. I didn’t think anyone with their blood was still around but apparently I was wrong seeing as you exist,” Elise started. Alexandrea’s expression shifted from anger to confusion as the woman spoke. “You are the last remnant of the Court left in this realm and if the nobles find out then you’ll be executed publicly and your carcass will be paraded around the streets of the city for weeks. For obvious reasons, I don’t want that.”

“How do I know what you’re telling me is the truth?” Alexandrea asked, cutting Elise off. Elise looked down and saw Alexandrea’s face now fearful and unbelieving. They didn’t want to believe her, but when they looked up at her expression and saw it was truthful, their eyes watered as small tears started to stream down their cheeks, rolling over the fresh wounds on each cheek given to them by Elise in their last encounter and causing them slight pain.

“I don’t want you to join forces with me, but I can promise that I’ll keep you safe if you come with me.” Elise told them, her voice now carrying a tender and caring tone.

“At the very least, I want you to look for me if you find yourself getting hunted by knights and peasants, although, if you come for my head I’ll kill you without hesitation.” She finished as she got to her feet and reached in between her breasts and pulled out a small clear stone with some blood in the middle of it on a leather cord before handing it over to Alexandrea.

“This will guide you to me if you decide you want to talk or hunt me down. For your sake, I hope it’s the former.” Elise said, laying the crystal in the palm of Alexandrea’s bandaged hand before leaving as the young tiefling wept in front of the unconscious bodies of her friends.

#exacting vengeance #original writing

1 note · View note

packsbeforesnacks · 4 years ago

Text

Blank Space || Darwin & Winn

TIMING: Wednesday, July 1st, 2020, Late Afternoon LOCATION: Fine Print (Darwin’s Bookstore) PARTIES: @wardinasrani & @packsbeforesnacks SUMMARY: Winn visits Winston’s contact, Darwin, hoping to find answers about his hidden memories. When Darwin looks into Winn’s mind, the answer shocks them both. WARNINGS: Brief depiction of an anxiety attack.

Truth be told, Darwin wasn't too keen on coming out of hiding. The ritual a couple of weeks back had drained him, and it had taken him days to even feel like himself again. He wasn't an idiot, he knew the Asrani probably had people on his trail, and he'd decided to disappear at least until his magic came back. Now he could feel his energy flowing through his veins once again, power crackling at his fingertips, but did he feel safe from the Asrani's reach? Not really. Still, this was a favor to Winston, the kid he'd doomed with a cursed eye, the kid that had allowed him to perform the ritual that had stopped what could very well have been an apocalypse. Darwin owed Winston, the whole town owed Winston. White Crest might not be aware of its debt to the kid, but Darwin wasn't going to forget the part Winston had played in keeping the world safe. He'd help their friend, even if that meant coming out of hiding. When he heard the bell on the store ring, he raised his head and offered a polite smile. The door was open, even though the sign outside said closed. “Welcome. You must be Winston's friend, correct?”

It had taken a minute for Winn to find Fine Print, especially given the gaps in his memory (ha) he was still filling in with regards to the town’s twists and turns. Each new street could have hidden shops he’d never been into — and that was even before you started thinkin’ about all the magical shit that Winn couldn’t see, or could only see part of. Winston had put a lot of faith in this guy, so he hoped their bet paid off. Fine Print was louder than any bookstore Winn had ever been in (admittedly, not many), noises echoing from behind each shelf as he made his way to the only other person in the store. Winn considered Darwin’s question longer than was really appropriate, given its straightforwardness. “Friend, yeah, that’s me.” Winn wasn’t sure if Winston considered him a friend, but he’d let that last worm of anxiety wriggle its way around his head when there wasn’t a hole in his head — memories, whatever. “You’re the, uh,” he glanced around, knowing full well that there wasn’t another soul — well, maybe he shouldn’t go that far — in the store, “specialist that they mentioned, right? Darwin? I’m Winn.” Should he sit? Should he shake hands? His normal social graces weren’t applicable here, in the mage’s home territory. And God forbid he pick up a book just to make himself feel less awkward.

Darwin smiled as he studied the newcomer. Part of him, the part that he tried to hide from himself, enjoyed his nervousness: as an Asrani he'd been taught to use other people's anxiety, wield it as a weapon in order to get the best bargain. It was the reason behind the villainous mustache, the dark silk shirts, the haunted noises in his domain and the theatricality in everything he did: it created expectations in other people minds, tricked them into thinking he shouldn't be messed with. But this particular meeting wasn't about scoring a good deal, it wasn't about covering his own ass... Winn was no threat to him, and Darwin had nothing to gain from this except the warm, satisfying feeling of a good deed done. It was worth it: he had much to atone for on behalf of his family, any small step to improve his standing in this community and his karma was worth the risks. He walked over to Winn and nodded, offering him his hand. “Darwin Asrani, yes. The... Specialist.” That word sounded a bit cold to his ears: mental magic wasn't surgery, it wasn't something anyone could ever truly master: each mind was different, each spell simple at its core but presenting unexpected turns and surprises at every corner. Darwin gestured toward the small door at the end of the store, leading to the basement. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Winn. Tell me, are you the type that would prefer some small talk before getting into the reason for your visit, or would you rather jump straight to the point? I can make tea.” He was aware that, to someone who didn't know him, anything he said probably sounded sinister, but nevertheless Darwin tried to keep his tone friendly and casual.

Winn took Darwin’s hand in his own and shook it firmly before letting go. “Um,” he said, frown on his face, “I don’t mean to be rude, but… smalltalk afterwards, maybe? Sorry, it’s just… if the problem can get solved, I’d rather get it over with. It’s been a pain.” He looked towards the door, humming a bit in the back of his throat. “Some tea could be nice, though? I’m, uh, a little nervous?” It wasn’t the first time Winn had met a spellcaster, sure, but magic was all still so new to him. That mystery, ironically, kept Winn comfortable. The more he knew about it, the more scenarios his mind would play out, trying to figure out what could be possible. He’d already lost two years of memories to magic — albeit of a different origin, apparently. Winn had seen Nell summon, what, hellhounds? Winn might be a scary story, but magic was a fairytale, and, save for demons, was the hardest thing for Winn to accept about the supernatural world. Even Otto’s assertion that his father had protected his office hadn’t eased Winn’s anxieties around it. “I, um, don’t know how much they told you, about me, but to cut to the chase… I can’t remember everything in my past. For two years, there’s a… blur. I thought that I had been,” turned into a wolf, “preoccupied, during that time. But some folks say they saw me during that time… and I don’t remember ever seein’ them. My, um, my friend threw me into a tree, recently, and I slipped into a, like, almost a fugue state? Not the kind from any sort of identity disorder, but I couldn’t remember — can’t remember — the next five minutes. I came to, but… Yeah. I don’t want that to happen again. Someone,” how to phrase this delicately? “... could get hurt.”

Darwin nodded and offered Winn another smile. “Nervous is exactly what you should be,” he murmured solemnly. Jumping into magic with no fear, no doubts, that was reckless and stupid. Winn's concerns were understandable, wise even. Then again, Darwin reminded himself, doubts could also become obstacles when it came to magic. “My tea is terrible,” he concluded with a shrug, hoping the joke would ease the tension as he led his guest to the room. Darwin opened it and walked downstairs. Walls covered with libraries, a small altar in the middle of the room, runes and circles scribbled and carved everywhere, and a small electrical stove, along with some kitchen supplies. The room wasn't well-stocked enough to live there, but it had enough supplies to make some tea, and while Winn shared his tale, Darwin listened carefully, keeping himself busy with the stove. At the end of the tale, he turned around, arms crossed as the water boiled. “Mh. I see. Two years is quite a long time. My first guess would be, well...” He paused and bit his lip, stroking his mustache as he stared at Winn, deep in thought. The young man wasn't sharing everything: vague words like 'preoccupied', the awkward pauses... Darwin sighed. “Actually, I have a couple of theories. I'm going to assume you already tried regular medicine. When people come to me, they're usually at the end of their rope.” There he went again with the villainous talk. He shook his head and continued “I mean... Messing with magic can be dangerous, I'm sure Winston told you, and people don't always trust a perfect stranger with their mind, and who can blame them? But you need to understand... If you want my help, you'll have to be honest with me, no lies, no omission, or someone could get hurt.” He chuckled after echoing Winn’s own words, trying to show the guy he wasn’t threatening him, just offering Winn the same honesty Darwin was demanding of him. “So before I share my theories, I have to ask... Are you willing to do that?”

The room was about as Winn imagined a sorcerer’s would be, somethin’ out of Arthurian legend or the study of Freyja, but with modern edges, and an… altar? Some sort of centerpiece, definitely, and Winn didn’t know nearly enough about magic to begin to guess at what the placement, the runes, the shapes meant. It was enough to send his head spinning, so he focused on Darwin, ignoring the thrum of energy in the air. He’d known, of course, that he’d have to admit what he was to the mage, but… Well, he wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t make him a bit uncomfortable, what seemed like every spellslinger in White Crest knowin’ about the werewolf with the broken memory. In the wrong hands, that information could be dangerous. But… Winn trusted Winston, knew that they wouldn’t intentionally steer him into a trap. “I’m willing. Um. I’m goin’ to assume you already know about… shapeshifters. Selkies, bugbears, and… werewolves.” He paced, careful to avoid stepping on anything not recognizably English. “I’m a werewolf. Bitten, not born. I, um, it’s been almost a decade. I have a friend whose parents trained him to be a hunter and we’ve been researchin’ for weeks — or, well, he has. Nothin’ we’ve found has been useful. Until a couple of months ago, I had just thought I was… transformed, for a really long time. Thought maybe the animal didn’t know… didn’t feel the passing of time? But I called up an old packmate after I got into a… fight, with another wolf. I’ve always been fairly in control of my emotions. But this was… different. And then, later that month, my friend tossed me into a tree while I was shifted, and I almost killed her. I pulled back, barely, but… My dad, he’s, um, a huxian? He suggested it might be magical, and then pretty much everyone else has thought the same thing. So… Tada. Here I am.” He gave a weak smile. “If you have any questions, I’ll answer them. Sorry, just… y’know, I’m not human, technically. Some folks aren’t big on that.”

“I know of shapeshifters, know they exist, but nothing really specific.” Darwin replied. The natural curiosity that had pushed him to explore the Asrani library even before his father was ready to begin his training was throbbing inside him, and it took all of Darwin's willpower not to ask Winn about a dozen questions. When he mentioned a Hunter friend, though, Darwin couldn't keep a small snort at bay. Talk about unlikely friendship. After a pause, Darwin moved his hand toward Winn's shoulder in an attempt to squeeze it to reassure him. And, well, the guy had amazing shoulders, Darwin couldn't deny it. “Don't worry. This here? Judgement-free zone. An amnesiac werewolf doesn't even score in the top five dangerous creatures that I've dealt with.” The loud whistling noise let Darwin know the tea was ready, and he quickly poured two cups, offering one to Winn. He took a sip from his own, squinted and then abandoned the cup on a small desk, mumbling something about needing more sugar. “Magic can erase memories. Or, rather... Make them inaccessible. Though I don't know why someone would do that to you. There's a chance they wanted to hide something else. Maybe you witnessed something a caster wanted to be kept secret. Maybe they even manipulated you and then blocked those two years out so you wouldn't be able to go after them.” Darwin started circling the room, pacing back and forth, talking more to himself than Winn. Then he suddenly stopped and turned to stare at the werewolf. “The wolf. Is it... A separate entity within you? Does it have wishes and urges that are different from yours? Is 'it' even the right pronoun? What I mean is... Are we dealing with one or two minds, here?”

The squeeze to Winn’s shoulder was comforting, if slightly too long. He resisted the urge to waggle his eyebrows, knowing that him being serious was the most important thing here, not flirting to ease tension. “Maybe sometime I’ll ask you ‘bout that list, man.” Winn sipped the tea after a moment, wincing at the bitter taste. Hm… Okay, so. Darwin hadn’t been lyin’, that was crap. Rather than be rude, he let it cool down. It would be water soon enough. There were theories, but Winn, not unkindly, didn’t want to hear them without knowin’ the truth. Darwin could deal with the magic; Winn would deal with whatever was waitin’ for him after he broke through. Winn gave the question some thought. “I… I mean, it’s me, right? I am the wolf, the wolf is me. It’s…” Winn sighed. No judgment, Darwin had said. “It was easier, when the wolf had blood on its claws, to act like it was… separate from me, in some ways. After a while, it became a habit.” He picked up the tea again, took a sip, made the same exact face. It’s not like his memory had been great before he’d had them taken from him. “But… I don’t know, when I’m transformed, even on the bad nights — near the Moon. I remember everything. I have since the end of that first year or so. Average, from what they tell me, for Bitten. When I almost attacked Blanche?” Winn gave a thoughtful hum. “It was… almost like an instinct, one that overrode my senses and consciousness. I… a defense mechanism? Could that be somethin’? I mean, I know for… humans, their minds can develop responses to trauma that can’t really be… explained, with a simple answer. So, maybe it’s just… my mind tryin’ to protect itself? Maybe there’s somethin’ down there that I shouldn’t touch? I don’t have any answers… well, except the original one, I guess. No. The wolf isn’t different, or, uh, isn’t supposed to be. Just a turn of speech.”

“Oh, it's a fascinating list, one better enjoyed in front of dinner.” The invitation in Darwin's words wasn't subtle at all, but he didn't push any further than that: they were having a Serious Conversation™ . “Defense mechanism, mh. Makes sense. You know earlier, when I asked you if you'd explored different venues before turning to magic? That's what I meant. Trauma can block memories, and that's as mundane as it gets, something I couldn't help with no matter how deep I dug. But from what you're saying...” Darwin hesitated, not sure how to phrase things. He'd never really discussed the nature of werewolves with anyone, let alone with an actual werewolf, so he wasn't sure what would cross the hypothetical line of werewolf etiquette. After a few moments, he decided he'd deal with this not unlike a medic: clinically, detached. But damn if he wasn't curious. “Well, from what you're saying, you normally remember what you do in wolf form, even if you can't always control it. So either what you've blocked is bigger and worse than any other stuff you remember, or there's something else at play.” There was only one way to know for certain, but Darwin wasn't sure how to bring it up: 'Hey, can I look inside your mind?' wasn't exactly a first meeting offer. Then again, it had been Winn seeking him out, so... “There's a spell I can do. It would allow me to take a peek under the hood, so to speak, catch a glimpse of what's going on in that head of yours. But I have to be honest: it's a one way show, I'll see some shallow thoughts, but you won't be able to see inside my head. It might feel... invasive, I suppose. But it's the quickest way I can get an idea of what's going on and at least narrow it down. On the bright side, it would only take a couple of minutes. And, ah... to even the score, I'll answer truthfully any one single question you may have about me. And, of course, any questions you might have about the process.”

Unlike his tryst with Jimmy, Darwin’s invitation didn’t make Winn feel quite so… gross. He was happy to flirt, but… well, after. Regardless of what Noah and he decided to do, bein’ charming was, well, part of his charm. “That sums it up,” Winn said, popping the p. Even for a werewolf, there were things Winn could comfortably say he didn’t know much about — subspecies that he’d only heard about in whispered rumors, whatever hybrid monsters Adam had spoken about. But this was different. “It gets… harder to control, near the Full Moon, yeah. And on,” the three days of, “the Full Moon, we transform. Bam, the legends are true. Some of them.” He laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “Let’s do it,” he said, immediately. Winn wasn’t one to wait, even if — when — waiting was the best option. When he saw somethin’, he needed to go and handle it. His memory had been weighin’ on him for too damn long, and he wanted to know. Curiosity, though typically noted of cats, called Winn to think hard about the question he’d ask Darwin, too. “Man, I’d have questions, if I knew what questions to even have. Um, will it… hurt? I guess? It doesn’t matter, I’ll take the pain, just… preparing myself, y’know. Werewolves and gettin’ hurt don’t always go great together, so please… I know you said I wasn’t dangerous, but I can be. So, I don’t know, maybe have a sleepin’ spell in your back pocket, in case you need to Sleeping Beauty me. If that’s a thing.” It had to be a thing, right?

“Wow, I give you a free pass at any personal info, and you don't go for my digits straight away? That tea must have been really bad. That, or I've lost my charm.” Darwin joked, adding a playful wink to the end of it for good measure. It seemed like Winn was more at ease whenever he assumed a less formal tone, so Darwin switched his posture to a more casual one. Yet, no matter how relaxed he wanted to keep it, he realized what Winn was saying was a real concern. Being trapped in a basement with a bloodthirsty monster was not something Darwin wanted to try any time soon. Sleeping spells existed, of course, but to check Winn's head he'd have to get close to him, so close that he wouldn't be able to even utter abracadabra before being ripped to shreds if the werewolf decided to appear. How quick did the change happen, anyway? Darwin shook his head to chase those distracting questions away, and looked at Winn, this time serious. “It will only hurt if you push me away.” The times he'd seen the ritual performed, when his father had done it to some unwilling rivals to steal their secrets, it had looked mighty uncomfortable at best and hellishly painful at worst. But Darwin himself had also done it with friends and lovers alike, using it to get closer to each other when words just wouldn't cut it. “This sort of spell can either feel invasive, or... Well, intimate, but that's up to you. It's why I offered you a question: trust will make it easier, on both of us.”

“Ah,” Winn said, an easy laugh coming out of his mouth. “I’m… goin’ on a first date with this guy, Saturday. I tried to… burn off some tension, if y’catch my drift, and it was a little weird. Given you’re about to poke around in my head, I feel like I should just come clean… If he and I had DTR’d or were open or whatever? Well, I know an easy way to help us both relax. That said, you could always steal a kiss away. Door’s open, Darwin.” He let that hang in the air for a moment, giving the man time to consider the offer. Sex? Definitely off the table, not even a little bit alright. But… one kiss? That wasn’t that bad of an idea. “So, ‘m not gonna be sorry if you see some colorful details in there, dude. You’re stacked and I have eyes.” He winked. “‘Sides, I’m fine with intimate. I’m tryin’ this new thing where I just tell folks shit that they might want to know. I won’t push you away. Hell, get as close as you need.” Winn thought through Darwin’s ask a little more carefully. It seemed, almost, like askin’ something would make the other man more comfortable. And, hell, he’d been thinkin’ a lot on the subject lately, so there was… one question that occurred to him. Winn was just the brand of shameless to ask. “What’s it like for you, when you fall in love?” he said before he could stop himself, though he quickly followed it up with, “I know you said… anything, but if that’s too, uh, personal, I get it. Really, I do. I can always get your number.” He smiled, this one a little more real, and left himself open to Darwin’s best… or worst.

Darwin seriously considered the offer: Winn was extremely attractive, and one way or another he was about to be inside him anyway. The way he licked his lips made it abundantly clear that the temptation was there, but ultimately Darwin shook his head, albeit a little reluctantly. “I'm not the sort to steal kisses, Winn. No way to enjoy the build up and the aftermath of a kiss if it's stolen and tinted with guilt. More importantly, I'm not a home-wrecker. Or, well, an opportunity-killer, if things aren't that serious. You seem pretty into this guy, and I'm not gonna jeopardize that.” Again, a wink, followed by a low chuckle. “That said, if come Saturday you two have defined things and the door's still open, I'll let you have my number anyway.” Winn's eagerness to share was refreshing; the people that usually came to Darwin were secretive at best, with far too many things to hide for Darwin's taste. Hell, Darwin himself had his fair share of secrets, but he only kept those because he knew they'd scare most people off, not because he really wanted to keep them hidden. What Winn asked, though? That wasn't scary, and Darwin let out a relieved sigh when he heard the question. “Not too personal at all. Could've asked way worse shit. But it is a... Difficult question. I could wax some poetry, feed you some lines like 'it just feels right', but truth is... I don't know.” With his father keeping such a close eye on him, Darwin had never gotten the chance to grow close enough to someone to fall, he'd barely had the time for the casual one night stands he'd somehow managed to keep a secret from his legacy-obsessed family. And once he'd finally left them, he'd been too busy moving from place to place, following demons summoned by the Asrani and fixing their mess. Wow. Up until that particular moment, Darwin hadn't really thought about how much his family had taken from him. “Never been in love, I don't think. Been in lust, had some intense friendships, but love? Never had the chance. I can only assume it feels... like home. Not my home, mind you, my home was a mess, but like... a not fucked up home. One that accepts all of you, one where you feel comfortable and safe and can be simply yourself and walk around in your boxers, one that smells like your favorite food and... Sorry, I guess I am waxing poetry now. What can I say, I'm a romantic at heart.” They were getting off topic, but it had been a while since Darwin had just had a pleasant chat with someone, one that wasn't necessarily about dark pacts, obscure rituals and potential apocalypses. Again, refreshing. “Why that question? Of all the questions you could have asked, you went for the love one right after sort of” another wink, the last in what felt like a long series for such a brief meeting “turning me down. Sending some mixed signals here, buddy.” Before Winn could have the chance to answer, Darwin placed a finger on his lips to silence him. “Actually… Perhaps you should answer that after Saturday, mh? After all, you did turn me down. I’m guessing that date is related to the question, and we don’t want you focused on all these confusing emotions right before I dive into your head. Besides, I’d like to talk more, get to know you. Platonically, I mean. Haven’t had the chance to meet many friends here, so… Let’s not burn all the steps with the deep personal love stuff just yet, mh?”

Leaning forward, Winn settled in for Darwin’s explanation. He couldn’t find it in himself to be… disappointed, per se, but Darwin’s decision to stay out of his and Noah’s dance — or, well, Twister game — only confirmed that Winn could trust this man, even if the man had a story, a past, and plenty of secrets. If he wasn’t relaxed before, the last coil of anxiety had been taken from his gut. When Darwin explained, Winn couldn’t help but smile a bit. The honesty was nice; Darwin reminded him almost of Rio in that way. Romantic at heart, a big apologetic for when he rambled, but ultimately kinder than… well, what White Crest could turn people into, if they let it. When Darwin’s finger left Winn’s lips, he nodded. “I’d like that, too,” he said, after a moment. “But,” he clapped his hands together, “leeeeet’s do this. Spread me open, bro.” Wow. Talk about an innuendo. There was an energy to this interaction, and Winn wasn’t sure if it was the magic coursing through, what, Darwin’s veins? Or if it was simply the chemistry of two future friends. Either way, Winn was diggin’ it. Felt better than wiggin’ about his memories. “How do you want me?”

Darwin tried to keep a straight face. Seriously, he gave it his best shot, he bit his tongue and winced at the pain of that. But in the end, he just couldn't keep it in, and his loud, baritone laughter echoed in the basement. “That was... so bad,” he finally let out with a gasp, shaking his head. “I've used some terrible pick up lines, but you've got me beaten.” Again, he patted Winn's shoulder, this time the relaxed gesture of two buddies sharing a good laugh and nothing more. Well, almost nothing more, the guy still had incredible shoulders, and Darwin's hand lingered there. He used the contact to cop a feel, sure, but also to lead Winn toward the desk where his tea had been abandoned. With his leg, he pushed the chair, to give Winn room to sit, and then he gently pushed the man on it. “At the cost of being just as cheesy as you've been, I'll need you to relax, it'll make it easier. I'm also going to look like one of those evil hypnotists you see on TV, but no pocket watch or swirling spirals. Just some intense eye contact as I try to establish a... a connection with your mind.” As he spoke he lowered his voice to a soft whisper, and put both his hands on Winn's temples, tilting his head slightly so he could look in his eyes. “Just focus on my breathing, and try to match it. Slow and easy. Take me in as you inhale, let your worries out as you exhale. Like meditating, but we're doing it together.” For a moment he wondered if his sandalwood cologne would smell chemical to a werewolf this close, and if he could sense Darwin's natural scent, but instead of dwelling on that — more questions for their potential friendly outing — he started gathering his energy. He didn't need words for this particular ritual but he kept murmuring, to give Winn something to follow as Darwin visualized his own conscience enveloping his hands. He couldn't see auras, but he liked to think his right now would look like a bright ball of energy surrounding Winn's head, warm and almost electrical as his essence moved around, gentle, tentative almost, looking for an opening, hoping Winn (more importantly, his wolf instincts) would feel safe enough to make his job easier.

Even if it had been an accidental joke, Winn still was happy to hear Darwin laugh, even slightly at his expense. “Only terrible,” he said, with another friendly wink, “if it’s never worked.” He allowed Darwin to put one of his big, warm hands on Winn’s shoulder — and, hm, okay, heel boy — and guide him to sit. Darwin was close, and he was right, this was intimate. Winn could think of partners whose face he hadn’t gotten this close to. Winn snorted at the joke, but tried his best to relax. In, out. Darwin smelled like cologne, sandalwood one of the few scents that Winn enjoyed, but if Winn inhaled deeper, and he did, he could smell something… like a burning, almost, but it was faint. Underneath, though, Darwin’s scent reminded him of… Ricky’s, almost. Saltwater and the outdoors, someone perpetually destined to be a wanderer. Unlike the mountain scents that Winn associated with pack, this one was, admittedly, a little strange to him. Not… bad, but strange. In, out. Darwin’s hands on his head buzzed, almost, and it wasn’t painful, not quite, but the feeling was… too much, almost. His mind had only ever had Winn in it, that he’d remembered, but. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. His eyes, though open, lulled to a half-closed state, his gaze lost in Darwin’s dark ones. There was so much on Winn’s mind, at all times, but here, like this, the cores rose up to meet Darwin. Winn wouldn’t describe it, except that his mind was… light. Noah, his friends, his newfound purpose, all lived there, linked together and shining out from Winn. Without thinking, his lips slid into a smile. Inhale. Exhale. The light, though, cast… a shadow. And within that shadow, concealed from vision, was a hole. The shadow, his mistakes, his anxieties, the ways in which he’d failed, time and time again, to make things right. And, if Winn followed Darwin’s energy, he could almost feel the absence in his mind. It hurt, more than he could describe, but it wasn’t… physical. It was grief, loss, unnamed things and unremembered things. And then, Winn’s eyes glassed over, as Darwin looked into what his mind refused to see.

Winn's mind was not what Darwin would have expected when looking into what people often described as a savage beast. While the spell was too superficial to really put faces to the soft feelings swirling inside Winn's head, it was clear that those bonds meant a great deal to the man sitting in front of him. That was the mind of a protector, not a monster. Like demons, perhaps werewolves were misunderstood, and people should focus more on their deep sense of family and pack rather than their fangs and claws. Then again, this might just be Winn, not a werewolf thing. Darwin had learned long enough not to generalize when it came to these things. Feeling Winn grow more comfortable with what they were doing, he dove deeper, moving past the superficial thoughts, those that were either so ingrained in Winn's core or so fresh that the man had no trouble remembering them on his own. The painful memories, the doubts and fears weren't unexpected; everyone had dark corners in their mind, and Darwin did his best to move past those as quick as he could, to let the man have as much privacy as he could give him. But what he sensed next... Darwin's spell was meant to let him reach within for things he'd lost, things that might have been locked away. And once he'd found those cages, he'd just open them and return the memories to Winn. Simple, clean. Except there were no cages. What he saw was... a void. Like a puzzle missing a few pieces. Darwin paused, so baffled that Winn would probably be able to sense it through their temporary connection. Winn's memories weren't trapped, they weren't hidden under a hazy fog, or lost in an endless sea. They were just... a blank space. Darwin moved his thumbs' on Winn's temples, trying to soothe him as best he could as he lingered in his head, searching for something that wasn't there. Perhaps it was the fact he was dealing with a wolf, but the longer he spent looking, the more he felt like a dog chasing a ball that'd never been thrown. He spent minutes hunting, each moment everlasting, but no matter how much he tried... Nothing. Finally Darwin gave up, and he slowly pulled back, his hands releasing Winn's face as the last remnants of his conscience left him. He gave Winn a few moments to recover before opening his mouth to speak. And then he closed it again, not sure how to break the news to him. The silence, coupled with the grim expression on Darwin's face, spoke volumes, and when he finally made a sound it was tentative, guilty almost. “How are you?”

The fuzz from Darwin’s temporary confusion stung at Winn’s temples, almost like brain freeze, and he felt himself wince even if he was practiced enough at weathering pain to not break the connection. In, out. He bit into his lip, so hard he was half-sure it was bleeding. Darwin spent more time in his head, looking for what he wasn’t sure. Winn trusted the spellcaster — or, trusted that Winston trusted the spellcaster — and knew that, if he could just wait, just be patient, then Darwin would ever be able to put his fractured mind back together. But, the longer Darwin looked, the more Winn began to sense that… that maybe his mind wasn’t fractured, so much as missing something. That hole, the one hidden beneath the shadows, was that… was that an actual hole and not just a place where things were hiding in wait? He felt a spike of anxiety run through him as Darwin pulled away, and Winn searched his face. When the silence didn’t break, when Darwin’s mouth just kept opening, shutting, and the look grew even more grave, Winn started to ask… and found he couldn’t. How are you? Well, panicking, if Winn was going to be honest. He took a few breaths, trying to calm himself down, but he knew the signs of an anxiety attack like the back of his hand. Winn hadn’t had one in years, had grown to an expert at managing them between therapy and becoming a counselor-in-training himself. But something about this one was different, and Winn felt himself burying his face in his hands, blocking out the light, blocking out Darwin’s pained expression. There was a part of him that wanted Darwin to touch him, to reach out and say something. And then there was the part, equally as strong, that was sure that would make him lash out at someone who didn’t deserve it. And so Winn took shuddering breaths as he tried to wrap his head around what he sensed was true. Finally, a whisper, “... They’re not there.” It wasn’t a question.

Darwin could only watch in silence as emotions danced on Winn’s face, and he felt like some sick peeping tom, even more so than when he’d been inside his mind. He watched as doubt turned to fear and then into terrible certainty, and he felt powerless to help Winn. The selfish part of him was glad at least that the werewolf seemed to have grasped the situation, it kept Darwin from struggling with how to break the news to him. As things stood now, there was nothing his magic could do for Winn: nothing to release, nothing to fix. Maybe, maybe Darwin could help if only Winn had a vague hint about where the memories had gone. Who’d taken them. But this whole situation was obviously something Winn didn’t fully understand, and Darwin assumed if he’d had some vague suspicion he’d have shared it with him. Darwin could maybe tell him that, should the memories be found, it would be possible to put them back where they belonged, but right then, staring at Winn’s chest rising and falling with deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down, Darwin didn’t have it in him to offer his new acquaintance (possible friend?) any false hope. So, after a long, endless pause, he just lowered his head and sighed. His hand moved once again to Winn’s shoulder, this time not to feel the muscles there, but just to offer a small anchor in this moment where the rug had been pulled from under his feet. He opened his other arm in a silent invite, and simply whispered… “No. No, they’re not.”

#wickedswriting #para #Darwin #Blank Space #Chain of Memories

7 notes · View notes

all-hail-stevinel · 5 years ago

Text

lol here’s a sneak peek for Now that just won’t fly chapter..five-ish lol? im writing a bit out of order but i know some of you guys missed the bois from chapter one so i though id post a lil preview! chapter three IS COMING lmfao i just started my final semester so im a lil busy rn but hopefully i will be done with it by next week!

Her gem vibrates slightly and she sighs, reaching up a hand to pull out a buzzing phone from her facets. Steven had bought her the thing months ago, as a way for her to talk to him and other friends she made on Earth who didn’t own a diamond communicator whenever she wanted.

She liked it well enough, especially the games it could play that communicators couldn’t and the photos she could take, but right now it only served as an annoying reminder of the diamond ass she called a partner. Checking the screen, she’s surprised to see that its not actually Steven calling her, though its clear from her notifications that he certainly had. Quite a few times actually. 27 times.

Ugh.

Clod.

She ignores it and checks the rest of the notifications, swiping past the seventeen progressively more assertive texts the diamond boy also sent her to the most recent one that caused the buzzing, from Sammy.

Spinel’s eyes blink hard as she does a double-take, feeling curious as to why the other human boy was contacting her so late. Gems didn’t often need rest, but even she knew the hour was quite late to be up, yet another reason she was so frustrated with Steven. Stupid diamond couldn’t even rest properly. If he was going to ignore her, the least he could do was bother to take care of himself.

Hey Spins! Don’t kno if ur up but me and the guys are headin to a party by the warehouses if u wanna come? 🎉🎉- 1:03 AM - Sammy

She takes a minute to consider the offer and finds herself wanting to be as far away from Steven as she can possibly get when yet another of his concerned texts pops up in front of her face before she can swipe it away.

Spinel! Talk to me! Cmon please I need to know where you went. - 1:03 AM - My Steven❤💎

Scoffing at the message she rolls her eyes and swipes away the notification, clicking on Sammy’s instead to reopen the chat. Oh so now her diamond cares about where she is and what she’s doing? He didn’t seem to feel that way much for the past twelve weeks, so she’s sure he could handle it for a few more hours.

Yeah, that sounds like fun. Where is it? -1:04

Eyyyy!!! The guys are hype, I’ll send you a pin and we’ll meet u there! -1:05 AM - Sammy

Sent.Attatchment5492.pindelmar -1:05 AM - Sammy

U can bring ur boyfriend too if u want! 💏 -1:06 AM - Sammy

Usually, Spinel would appreciate the thought but now she can’t help but wince at the offer, shaking her head even though she knows Sammy can’t see her through the device while quickly typing back a response.

...No thanks, id rather just hang out with you guys tonight -1:08 AM

WOOT WOOT!!! its a SPINEL N’ BOYS nite out!!!! -1:12 AM - Sammy

Also, kno if u want to talk we’ll listen to ya Spins -1:12 AM - Sammy

💗💞💯 -1:12 AM - Sammy

The sweetness behind the message warms her gem and she smiles, cuddling the piece of plastic and metal closer to her chest with a content grin. Steven may be pissing her off but he wasn’t the only person she could spend time with! She had her own friends, her own life outside the other half gem and she was determined to remind herself of that fact!

Suddenly, her phone pings again and when she reads the message she can’t help the mischievous grin that curls up her lip.

Or if u just wanna get fuckin wasted we can do that too lol -1:13 AM - Sammy

Normally, Spinel would try to hold back. She would feel bad about letting Steven worry, about leaving him behind to hang with humans she knew he was still a little jealous of to parts unknown. She’d feel guilty about wanting to break all his rules and go crazy, do all the human things he warned her to be careful of like partying and drinking and hanging out with strangers without him to watch her because she’d know it would make him anxious and protective.

But right now, even as Steven sent her yet another demanding text, this one part desperate plea, two parts “I’m not sorry I was working I’m sorry you caught me”, Spinel decides she’s done holding back on Steven’s account. There’s a moving mirror for the lighthouse to reflect onto the sea and she uses it to take in her form as she shapeshifts into a newer, more revealing outfit.

She’s going to a party after all.

Her shift sparkles extra light in the air that flares up the lighthouse and sparkles out to the sea, making her grin as she watches her crop top glint away for a smaller and tighter fit that leads down to a diamond cut on her cleavage. Feeling daring, she exchanges her loose frilled skort for a pair of high waisted black shorts that have frayed ends, looking just as good as the human model she saw wear it once in a magazine.

Contemplating her boots for a second, she shapeshifts into wine red, over the knee heels that hug her calf, giving her form even more of an hourglass figure despite how waifish and delicate her arms and shoulder make her look when exposed.

Tilting her head back and forth as she examines her reflection, she gives it another sharp grin before letting her hair out of her pigtails to gently fall down around her shoulders, completing her sexily disheveled look before picking up her phone again.

….i wanna break all the rules -1:14 AM

Not waiting for a response, she leaves Steven’s five new texts unread and stretches her way down the lighthouse, downloading the location pin into her phone’s GPS and elongating her legs to walk toward the party that much faster. Eager to meet up with her human friends and finally, finally have some fun! 👌👌Lol then lets be stupidly irresponsible Spins! C u there 🍻🍺🍺 -1:14 AM - Sammy

#stevinel #steve x spinel #stinel #stevenel #stevnel #double trouble au #ficlet #my fic #lol spinny is done #steven deserves it tbh #him and universe are in the doghouse #lmfaoooo the bois are back #prepare for trouble #and make it double #bc spinel and the bois are going to PARTAY #jealous steven to come lol

31 notes · View notes

spagetthee · 4 years ago

Note

📂 I would love a Baku headcanon pretty please?

Of course my dear!

This is based on a fic I'm working on currently! Basically a very small part of the population is born a secondary quirk. And Bakugou is one of them.

Essentially a secondary quirk means that it is a seperate quirk from the other- and may have nothing to do with the first quirk. People like Todoroki could be considered to be double quirked as his two quirks can be used separately, and the manga and fandom refer to it as 'two quirks'.

Anyways Bakugou is born with two quirks- his original canon quirk: Explosion, and his second quirk: Animorph!(tho the name may change lmao)

Basically Bakugou has the ability to shapeshift into any animal he touches! This includes some insects and bugs, but does not include humans as he cannot copy the quirk. However, it may be possible to shift into a quirkless person. His quirk works kinda like a catalogue- once he touches an animal that shift is added to his catalogue where he can access it at anytime. However he cannot shift to a different animal once in animal form- he must go from human to animal and animal to human.

His Animorph quirk is limited via the size of an animal. The larger the animal is the harder it is to control in that form. With training he found that he can go up to about a medium to large sized pony. But not a full grown standard horse. Of course some animals are super hard to come in contact with- things like lions, tigers, large deer. Anything that he might use in combat is probably either too big or too hard to have contact with. So more often than not he's stuck with smaller easy to touch animals. (He has to touch them with his palm- no exceptions). His favorites to shift into are cats, ferrets, snakes or any lizard, and birds as they are easy to get in contact with. Although he does have a large selection to choose from.

Anyways, he gets into UA like normal, except this time he has a second quirk. But for reasons I can't disclose until the fic is out >:) no one is aware of his second quirk. Not even Midoriya really knows. He has his suspicions of course, but nothing concrete.

But onto bakukitty.

Cat Bakugou that hangs around the dorms and Ground Beta. Aizawa, being the stray cat guardian he is, finds evidence of a new cat and tracks him down. You know just to make sure he's not injured and feed him. But instead of finding a scruffy stray like he usually does- he finds a fairly well groomed light blond cat sitting on the ledge of very tall buildings. And of course thats not the greatest place for a cat to be so Aizawa scales the building trying to get the cat down. Bakugou being the little shit he is just stays where he is and watches his teacher scale a building for a Cat. If cats could smirk, he would be.

Eventually Aizawa coaxs bakugou down from his ledge with the lure of fresh salmon (Aizawa is a little concerned with how receptive this cat is. Were they a pet cat? Are people looking for him?). Aizawa was a little distracted with trying to get Bakugou down that he didnt even really notice that the cat had red eyes. Very red in fact. And there was a strange smell coming form the cat- oddly sweet, like burnt sugar.

He doesn't make the connection at first- not in the right way. He assumes that the cat b elonsto Bakugou. But that cant be right? He'd never seen a cat in the dorms nor had Bakugou spoken of a pet. But regardless Aizawa assumes the cat is Bakugou's, so he tries to lead the cat towards the dorms. Bakugou is having way to much fun with this and just goes along with it. Of course he can't reveal himself out here, but once aizawa takes him to his dorm...maybe he will. He'd been meaning to do so for awhile. He trusts Aizawa to keep his secret. To not hand him over to scientists or weirdos looking for quirks. (One cant be too cautious- not after what the HPSC did to those second quirked kids.) So he follows closely behind, not enough for Aizawa to see him clearly but close enough to know he's following.

By the time they get back to the dorms, its rather late- after curfew for that matter. So Aizawa is hesitant to knock on the explosive teen's dorm, everyone knows that Bakugou goes to bed at 8pm on the dot. So he was definitely not going to be happy about this- but well his cat got out so? It should be alright, yeah?

Bakukitty is just sitting behind him smugly as Aizawa knocks on his door. Aizawa has the masterkey, he could open the dorm and let the cat slip in...but what if it wasnt his cat. Shit. now what? Bakukitty rolls his eyes, or well- kind of. Can cats even roll their eyes'? Hes not really sure.

Aizawa keeps knocking- trying to get his attention. And its just so funny to him to watch his teacher fumble in the dark to get his master key to open the door. Aizawa was just gonna open the door and let the cat slip in, but when Bakukitty refused to go in- he just...picked him up. Bakukitty gave an indignant mreow and nibbled on his teachers finger- who in turn gave a look that could only be described as a soft stink eye. Bakukitty had to keeping nibbleing to keep himself from shifting and laughing his ass off.

Once Aizawa flipped the light on and noticed that the supposed student was not in fact in bed or in his dorm at all he started frantically searching the small room- like he would be hiding under the bed..idiot. Bakukitty meowed fondly and shook his head before turning around and nudging the door closed. Aizawa taking the hint closed it fully. Bakukitty stretched out his paws and a soft golden light filtered around his body. Transformation never took long, but Bakugou had half a mind to mess with his teacher and draw it out.

He did in fact draw it, the soft golden light illuminating the room and showing the slow(ish) transformation back into his human body. Behind him Aizawa lets out a soft annoyed sigh "What am I going to do with you problem child?"

Bakugou turns his now fully transformed body around to meet aizawa in the eye. "Well you could start with that salmon."

Sorry if the format is weird! I had to copy some of it off oof where I had it in my docs!

4 notes · View notes

nancywheelxr · 5 years ago

Note

27, Zarlie

There are few things that surprise Zari anymore, especially regarding missions with the Legends. Once you had a pet dragon, she supposes, your bullshit-O-meter sort of gains new heights. So yes, when Sara tells her the string of murders in the suburbs of New Jersey needs investigating, Zari thinks nothing of it.

When Sara tells her she needs her and Charlie to go undercover, it’s not like she’s pleased, but she can see it makes sense. Zari has an amulet, she’s lived in a house in the ‘burbs before, she can pass as not-cuckoo-crazy better than half of the Legends. Charlie is a shapeshifter, she knows the supernatural, understands these creatures.

It makes sense.

Constantine lays down all sorts of wards and spells on their newly bought house. Sara inspects it thoroughly with Ava, pointing out all the ways they were unsafe under that roof and fixing them the best they can. Mick is given a half-assed badge and a generic uniform and told to play night watchman. They set all kinds of contingency plans in place.

By all means, Zari and Charlie are as safe here as one can possibly be.

Safe as houses.

“Do you think,” Charlie says as they settle for the night. There’s only one bed, just in case anyone comes snooping, and Zari has claimed it, allowing Charlie to graciously take the large couch they had chosen on Gideon’s IKEA catalog. “This place is haunted?”

“No,” Zari immediately says. But then again, just last year, they’ve dealt with a possessed doll and a demon again. Maybe it’s time she, too, reevaluated her beliefs. “I mean, not this particular one, no. Why?”

“Nothing,” she shrugs, lounging on the velvety couch, and her sleeping shirt rides up, revealing too much skin for Zari’s sanity. Something hot and hungry growls deep in her belly. “It’s just all this empty space– it’s an awful big house for just the two of us, innit?”

It is. Now that Charlie mentions it, Zari feels it, too. All these empty rooms on the other side of the door. Just stale air and the creaking of the wood. The blinking lights of the microwave. The clock ticking in the living room. It’s an awful big house, yes.

“Mick’s outside,” Zari says nonsensically, wondering who she’s trying to reassure here. Or why, anyway. There’s no reason to be scared at this point, they’ve barely gotten here. Today’s been a blur of moving in, making a spectacle of furnishing the place, putting on a show to assure the neighbors that yes, this is a perfectly normal household, nothing to see here. The most frightening thing so far has been the lingering sewer smell from the busted pipe a few houses away, but Zari’s been living in an enclosed space with both Mick and Constantine, she can stand some stupid unpleasant smells. “Anyway, great topic to discuss at midnight, thanks for that, by the way.”

Charlie smirks, slow and syrupy. “I aim to please, love.”

It’s not easy, falling asleep. Zari has to stop herself from tossing and turning, forces her body to stay very still, a light sheet over her body in the stifling warmth of a heatwave during summer. Even in her dreams, she feels too hot, burning up a fever that brings strange visions to the forefront of her mind– she dreams of walking down a road with thick woods at either side, alone under the moonlight, reflecting eyes watching her from the shadows; she hears the cars approaching, sees the headlights, and yet no one passes her by. Around the bend, there’s a sign but the writing is all wrong, foreign in an impossible way, and Zari keeps on walking with the determined certainty of a dreaming person that whatever she’s looking for is at the end of this road. The eyes follow her, unblinking, and the sour smell burns her lungs like sulfur. Ahead, the road stretches on, infinite.

At some point during the night, Zari jolts awake. Just like that, tugged from her dream between one blink and the next, and she’s staring right into the vanity’s mirror. It’s a rather startling thing to see right as you’re so jarringly regaining consciousness, something terrifyingly cold crawling down her spine. Her reflection stares back at her, just as distraught, and Zari averts her eyes to the window in the reflection, exhaling at the silver moon visible through the blinds. Although, she quickly glances down, lying back on the mattress, glad that Charlie is sound asleep on the couch, because there’s no excusing her irrational fear at how much that car’s headlight had looked like glowing eyes in the dark.

In the morning, with the sun shining once again scalding on her skin, Zari pauses as she’s opening the bedroom window. Something odd settles on her gut. She can’t see the bed reflected in the mirror from here. This spot should not have been in the reflection last night.

The room feels suddenly very small and very empty and Zari shivers, hurrying away even as she chalks it up to the remnants of a dream. She had never seen nor heard that car drive by either. Clearly, she must have been dreaming, Charlie wouldn’t have been that still anyway, they all know she’s a messy sleeper.

“Do you think,” Charlie asks over breakfast with a plate of steaming pancakes between them, “someone died in this house?”

Zari sets her mug down forcefully, glaring. “Why are you like this?”

“I’m just saying,” she defends herself, resuming her inhaling of the pancakes, “the Boss said a buncha people died ‘round here, right? This place was way too cheap, I’ve seen the papers. I’m just connecting the dots, love.”

“Well, don’t, then,” Zari watches the honey slowly drip down on her plate rather than the way the sunlight hits Charlie, softening all her edges. This early in the morning, she looks too touchable, beautiful in a way that doesn’t seem impossibly far. She’s warm and solid, a person instead of a concept. It makes the fluttering feelings caged between Zari’s ribs too real, too plausible. The waters become too dangerous to thread. “I don’t need any more weird dreams because of your weird theories.”

At this, Charlie perks up. “Oh, you had a weird dream, too? Mine was completely bonkers!” She grins, excited, but something is dulled behind her eyes like she’s trying to fix up the holes in her wall with malleable plaster instead of bricks. “I dreamt I was here, in this house, but it was different. None of our stuff was here, for one, and there was this hideous wallpaper. Very 70s. The lights were out and I had a candle like some bloody Victorian penny dreadful, but whatever, I had a candle and I was hiding from something, I think? I could hear it growling and pacing around the house sometimes, so I hid in a closet– which, by the way, is kind of funny, in an ironic sort of way? Bet the big guy would get a kick out of it– and I could see it coming to open the closet door, you know, I could see through the gaps, but I woke up before it did.”

“Wow,” is all Zari can say. There’s so much to unpack there, she doesn’t even know where to begin. Jesus.

“I know,” she shrugs, deceivingly nonchalant, “how was yours?”

Uncertainty pools all over Zari, filling her to the brim. A dream is just a dream, but something about those eyes and the writing and the window in the mirror just feels off somehow. Like the sort of thing you shouldn’t say aloud. “Can’t remember,” she says instead, and then because the wind picks up and breezes into the kitchen, she scrunches up her nose, “shit, they really need to do something about this smell.”

A disgusted sound comes out of Charlie as she pushes her half-full plate away. “It smells like something bloody died in there. What the fuck was in those pipes?”

��Dunno,” Zari shrugs, standing up to dump their dishes into the sink, and glances at the street. A few houses away, the sewer is still cordoned off. “Maybe a possum fell in or something? I think I heard some raccoons last night too.”

“Coulda just been Mick, though,” Charlie snickers and leaves to contact the ship.

“Nothing’s coming to mind, mate,” Constantine’s voice is staticky and tiny coming from the communicator and it grates on Zari’s nerves even more than usual. She’s folded herself on the couch, throw pillow in her lap, while Charlie is sprawled on the carpet, communicator on her stomach. “Dreamwalkers wouldn’t make this mess.”

“Are you sure?” She presses, sighing frustratedly. It had been foolish of them to think they’d get a lead so soon in the mission.

“Positive,” he agrees, words mumbled in that way which means he’s trying to sneak a cigarette without Sara noticing, “but I’ll look into it, just in case,” then, a pause where Zari can practically hear the smirk on his voice, “anywho, how’s married life treating you lot?”

“Piss off,” Charlie scowls, eyes still closed, basking in the patch of sunlight like a cat, “don’t be a bastard. We’ll be off playing nice with our dear ole neighbors today, so tell Sara not to call until later.”

“Will do, love,” Constantine is laughing, chuckling, really, considering he doesn’t laugh, still entirely too amused by their situation, but he grows serious before adding, “be careful, though. There’s something dark in here, something hungry.”

Zari thinks of eyes watching you in the dark. She shudders. “Thanks.”

“Ta-ta,” Charlie murmurs, turning off the thing.

In the silence that follows, his words hang in the air, floating along Charlie’s it’s just all this empty space, and Zari grips the fabric tighter, resists the urge of pulling the quilt over herself. It stems from child logic, the naive certainty that if you don’t see it, it doesn’t see you, as if a flimsy blanket would be enough to build a safe space.

“Think its time to go pay Ms.Flower-Prints a visit?” Charlie is sitting up now, studying her with guarded eyes, a tension to her shoulder that hadn’t been there before.

Pull yourself together, Zari tells herself. To Charlie, she only says, “don’t call her that.”

Myrtle Jones has lived in Cherry Street for her whole life, from childhood to now, and according to her file, she never married, never had children; a lonely life in a fairly lonely place. It makes Zari wonder why she had been so reluctant to invite Zari and Charlie to her home– no, actually, it doesn’t. There are dozens of possible reasons and none of them is a good omen to the kind of person Myrtle might be. Zari wants nothing more than turn right back on the quaint stone path leading to her front door, but Charlie’s got her hand on a vice grip as if anticipating her flighty attitude.

That, of course, is a hurdle on Zari’s whole plan on staying sane and dignified for the duration of the mission. She had banked on Charlie staying as disinterested in her as she is with following rules, not teasing her over breakfast, all soft-eyed, or holding her hand because she knows Zari is liable to turn tail. Zari needs Charlie to be as awful about this whole thing as possible, needs her to make it difficult not to focus on the mission.

In all her plans, Zari had been very stupid not to consider Charlie, as unpredictable as ever.

“Christ, could you look less like I’m holding you hostage here?” Charlie hisses, ringing the doorbell. On the glass door, Zari tries not to commit the reflection to memory. “We’re going for happily wed, not a Criminal Minds episode.”

“I really don’t want to talk with our racist neighbor,” she whispers back, shuffling a little, “besides, this whole thing is a Criminal Minds episode. Wanna bet our murderer is probably passing as a middle-aged white man?”

“Point,” Charlie admits. Huffing, she rings the doorbell again. “But Sara told us to interview everyone, see what they know. And hey, we could make a game out of pissing her off?”

Zari snorts, relaxing instinctively, and glances around. The mailbox is empty, a sign Myrtle has got to be awake already to pick up her mail. “Weird. Do you think she went out?”

“How would I know?” Charlie shrugs, peering inside the dark foyer, “looks empty to me. Do old people go out? The fuck would she go?”

Feeling considerably better already, Zari can barely suppress her smile. “Well, what a pity, it looks like we’ll have to come back later.”

Unfortunately, once again, she had forgotten to consider Charlie’s overall Charlie-ness. “Forget that,” Charlie says with a smirk bordering on excited, “why don’t we try it my way, uh? Let’s pop in, snoop around a bit, see if the old lady has got something interesting in there.”

“Charlie,” Zari hisses, fuming, “that’s breaking and entering! That’s a felony!”

“That’s rich coming from Miss FBI’s-Most-Wanted,” she raises her eyebrow in challenge, “or are you too scared, Z?”

Hey now, that just won’t do. “Shut up,” she scowls, uncrossing her arms harshly, “I’ll pick the damn lock. At least the smell can’t be any worse inside,” she mumbles with a resentful look behind her shoulder at the offending open sewers behind her.

With the way this whole mission is going, it’s unsurprising that the smell is not, in fact, gone. If anything, it’s even stronger inside the house, with flies buzzing past them in a frenzy. “Damn, Myrtles,” she murmurs, slipping the door closed behind them, “you live like this?”

“Bloody hell,” Charlie breathes beside her and Zari follows her gaze, taking in the living room beyond the small foyer. Yellowed photographs in old-time frames line the walls, making up almost all the empty space in the shelves too, all those people undoubtedly dead by now, their eyes seeming to zero in on them and follow their movements, staring from every corner. Everything in this house seems to have stayed in the past, left stagnant in the 40s. The furniture, the decoration, the curtains– even the TV looks like it might not broadcast in color. It also must not work anymore if the static station it was left on is anything to go by. “Talk about creepy.”

“C’mon,” she tugs at Charlie, hand slipping oh-so-easily on hers, “let’s take a look upstairs first.”

The stairs creak with each step they take as if hell-bent on announcing their uninvited presence there to unseen witnesses and Zari feels Charlie squeezing her hand in wordless reassurance. Any other time, any other place, Zari would probably focus a little more on this. As it is, though, stepping into the bedroom without gagging is her main concern. Jesus, is there an open window right over the pipes in there or what?

“Well, this is dodgy,” Charlie says after getting one look inside the room. “Either the old lady is into some kinky shit or someone definitely got murdered in here.”

Blood stains the walls, the ceiling, the floorboards, in different stages of drying, while the whole place is trashed beyond recognition, almost as if a wild animal had torn it all apart in a fit of inhuman rage; a butcher’s place destroyed down to the red-stained structure. Deep scratches have gone through the floral wallpaper and revealed the wood, the plaster, all the way to the other room, and the smell is even worse in here, sticking to the back of her throat, to her tongue, to her lungs, makes her taste mothballs and rotten eggs. “What the hell,” Zari croaks, holding her breath before her stomach turns inside out on what’s clearly a crime scene.

“We should go,” Charlie coughs, eyes tearing up at the foul stench, her hands like claws on Zari’s wrists, “Z, come on, I’m not trying to be funny, we should go now.”

But they can’t, not yet, not when the closet is staring right there at Zari, door slightly ajar, and fuck, she knows what she’s going to find there, she’s seen their eyes on her dreams last night, but she has the same crystal clear certainty now– whatever it is she’s looking for is just up ahead, just around the bend. Just beyond that closet door.

“Oh, bollocks,” Charlie curses, kicking a nearby ottoman and checking the hallway outside as Zari slowly unfreezes herself to follow the bloody breadcrumbs, that terrible smell. “Please tell me you’re not going to– for fuck’s sake, Z, we need to go!”

Zari doesn’t answer her, simply reaching a hand to the cold metal handle, pointedly not taking a deep breath before carefully swinging it open.

The contents inside all topple down at her feet but the first thing she registers is the smell. It burns in her nostrils and she gags, dry heaving in the blood-soaked carpet. Then, she notices a terrified Myrtle Jones staring right back at her with glazed unseeing eyes.

Her scream stays stuck in her throat, but Zari feels nausea lap at her stomach and the next thing she knows, Charlie is supporting her weight, an arm around her middle, and there are even more flies now, buzzing around them, covering what’s left of Myrtle with black polka dots that clash terribly with her floral patterns, with the blood staining her whole dress. Limbs and body parts too rotten to recognize litter in a pile over her body and Zari is going to be sick because they all look gnawed on, there are teeth marks on them, sharp fangs that scratched down to the bone and sucked out the marrow, and the maggots fester on the putrefied meat.

“Z,” Charlie whispers, arms tightening around her, drawing her back, away from the gore, “that looks–”

“That’s Myrtle,” she confirms, voice breaking and wavering, as she wobbles herself, “that’s– Charlie, that’s Myrtle!”

“That’s at least a week old, Z,” Charlie continues, eyes fixed on the bloody pile of what must be their murderer’s leftovers, “Myrtle’s been dead for a bloody week.”

Something cold crawls up her spine and Zari’s stomach bottoms out. If that’s– that can’t be right, it just. If Myrtle has been dead for a week – “then who the fuck did we talk to?”

Downstairs, the stairwell creaks.

#legends of tomorrow #zarlie #charlie #zari tomaz #lot charlie #lot #zari x charlie #john constantine #zarlie fic #halloween #spooky hours #tw: gore #horror theme #horror #zarlie tag #lot tag #spooky legends

61 notes · View notes

holylulusworld · 5 years ago

Text

When love hits you - Part 5 – A lot in common

Can I request a fic? where the reader is a hunter who saves Dean' s life. she has a one-night stand with him and is the one to leave him early in the morning. Dean finds her again and asks her why she left, and she says, "Easy I was just another notch on your large belt" Maybe it turns into a miniseries where they meet and leave maybe they end up together in the end? it can be as angsty and smutty as you want lol.

Pairing: Dean x Reader, Sam, OMC Joshua

Warnings: angst, language, arguments, protective Dean, violence blood, asshole ex, mentions of past physical abuse/cheating, light smut, unprotected sex, slow sex, feelings, fluff

When love hits you Masterlist

Around eight months later, Milwaukee, a random hunters bar...

The music in the bar is loud and your mood is good. Standing with your back to the bar with Dean and Sam flanking your sides you let your eyes wander.

Seeing someone familiar you swallow hard, he’s the last person you want to see. Turning around as fast as possible you try to duck your head and become invisible. Your heart is beating a mile in a minute and your body is beyond tense.

Why does he still have this effect on you? Back then you punched his nose and kicked his balls but when you saw him some months ago you felt shy and weak again. Just like you feel right now.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Sam asks seeing your discomfort.

“Yeah, just tired, ya know.”

“Do you want to go back to the motel, Baby?”

“Would be the best. I don’t feel like drinking and celebrating right now.” You lie. Well, it’s not a complete lie. The moment you saw Joshua your mood went down to zero.

“Y/N? Don’t you want to greet an old friend?” Joshua snarls standing a bit too close to your back for Dean’s taste.

“Hi.” You whisper and Dean raises an eyebrow. You are never silent and shy, not with any hunter you and the brothers met. Never.

“The Winchesters? Seriously, you managed that the Winchesters drag you around, Y/N? Are you better in bed now?” Joshua spats and Sam turns around. Angrily clenching his fists he’s ready to defend his friend.

“What did you just say?” Dean asks cocking his head. Eying the man talking to you like that up and down his features darken.

“You heard. Must be a hell of a pussy by now. Well, I taught her everything. She was a boring virgin before me, you two should thank me.”

“That him?” Dean asks and you nod. “Awesome. Sammy, take care of Y/N as it will get ugly right now.” Dean says grinning.

Before Joshua knows what hit him he feels Dean’s fist collide with his face, breaking the smaller hunter’s nose on its way.

“Dean!” You scream shocked but Dean doesn’t stop after one punch.

“I got this Sweetheart. You know this, you bastard, is my lovely girlfriend. She told me everything you pathetic, weak little asshole did to her. I know that you were barely able to get hard and punished her for your failure. Losers like you make me sick.”

“I didn’t…” Joshua stammers.

“Did I allow you to talk? I’m not done. You had three punches from me by now and you are already a bloody mess. Your nose is broken, and your eye doesn’t look good. I’m normally a simple man, I don’t hurt human, got it. But for you, I’ll make an acceptation. Except you apologize to Y/N, for everything you ever did to her.”

“She’s not worth it, Winchester. You will see she’s a boring little slut.” Joshua spats and Dean’s fist meets his other eye, his jaw, and finally his aching nose again.”

“What did you say? I think I misheard.” Dean says raising his fist once again.

“I’m sorry for everything. For not being there for you, for blaming you that I couldn’t get hard, for hitting you, cheating on you. For yelling and making you feel small and weak. Please tell him to stop.” Joshua pleas now and you smile down at him.

“Dean, he’s not worth your time, just a pathetic little man. God, he even peed his pants. What a strong hunter you are. Not able to satisfy a woman, only to hurt women but you do not stand a chance against a real man.” You chuckle.

“You heard the lady, worthless scum. You’re a weak little worm. Never dare to talk to my girl again, don’t even think about her or I’ll come back and break your face even harder.”

Eagerly nodding, even if it hurts like hell, Joshua starts sobbing. Feeling humiliated and weak he knows how you felt for over three years.

“Let’s roll, I got some energy left for my lovely girlfriend.” Dean chuckles cleaning his hand at Joshua’s shirt.

----

“You really didn’t have to do that for me but thank you, Dean. For the first time, I feel free of the weight on my shoulders.”

“That’s my job as your boyfriend,” Dean says stalking toward your half-naked form.

“Not your only job, you promised me you got some stamina left if I recall right.”

“Damn right, lady. I’ll make you feel things you never felt before.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Oh, yeah, you will see, Baby.”

“Show me what you got, Dean Winchester!”

“I will do so right now.” Licking his lips, he eyes you up and down. The only fabric covering your naked body gets ripped off and tossed aside. You want to scold him for ruining another pair of panties, but you couldn’t care less.

When your back hits the mattress Dean’s lips capture yours in a soft kiss. Gentle hands roam your body while he presses his hard erection against your aching core.

“Dean, I want to feel you.”

“Let me hold you a bit longer. We’ve got all night, Sweetheart.”

“I know, Dean but right now I want to forget everything he ever did to me and the only way is to replace every memory I have of me and him together with a new memory of you and me.” You whisper.

“How could he ever hurt you or let you go? Such a fool.” Dean whispers.

The plump pillows of his lips pressed against your temple Dean groans when you wrap your hand around his cock. Guiding him into your wet cunt you enjoy the loud sigh leaving his lips.

Your legs propped around his waist you smile when he slowly starts rocking into you. Softly kissing your neck Dean moves one hand behind your head to bring you close to him. Lips claiming yours he slides his tongue with yours.

Tenderly caressing his back with your hands, you feel a single tear roll down your cheek. Not knowing what he did wrong Dean looks at you with panic in his eyes, but you shake your head.

“I love you, is all Dean.” You whisper and he smiles down at you. His lips find yours again and all you want right at that moment is Dean to hold you tight for the rest of your life.

----

“You really hit him hard, Dean.”

“That asshole dared to talk to you like that. He deserves so much more. I swear if he ever tries to look into your direction I will rip him apart.”

“No one ever protected me like that.”

“Really? Not even your dad?”

“He left us when I was four or five.”

“A hunter too?”

“Just a normal guy, not a hunter. He found a new woman and left mom and me. After that, my mom changed. She started training and was away for days, sometimes weeks, so my aunt raised me.”

“Your mom was a hunter then?”

“After she died I found her diary. I read it over and over again. First I thought my mom was crazy or something but then one night someone, or rather something attacked me.”

“Did you got hurt?”

“I was a cop back then and due to this fact I was well trained to defend myself, but the attacker didn’t back down. Not even after I shot him with my gun. Then I saw something in his eyes and remembered something called ‘Shapeshifter’ from my mom’s diaries. I knew silver would hurt him so I took the silver knife my mom always carried and stabbed him.”

“Damn, girl, you are one badass.” Dean chuckles.

“Just lucky I didn’t throw the knife away. My mom’s initials were carved into the handle so I kept it.”

“After that, you became a hunter?”

“Not right away. I told my boss that something was off with the guy attacking me, told him about the eyes and stuff. He was a friend before and I thought I can trust me. A week later I got suspended and they wanted me to go to a psychologist, Dean.”

“One fly over the cuckoo's nest?”

“Exactly. No one believed a single word and I realized my mom fought against those stubborn idiots her whole life.”

“So she was a hunter before your dad left you?”

“According to her diaries, she was and gave up hunting for him. After he left she lost interest in normal life, in me. I was a burden, I guess, but my aunt raised me well.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“Don’t be, Dean. Without my mother, I would’ve never met you.”

“True. How did you get that lucky to have a piece of my cute ass?” Dean chuckles and you look up at him with a grin on your face.

“Only a piece? No, Mr. Winchester…your whole ass is mine. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am. My ass is all yours, forever.”

“Then mine is yours too.”

“Deal. See we got a lot in common…”

Forever Tags

@donnaintx, @screechingartisancashbailiff, @fallen-wolf22, @sister-winchesters99, @mogaruke, @the-is13, @helloitsmeamie203, @strayrosesbloom, @thewinchesterco, @hobby27, @kittycatlover18, @gh0stgurl, @marvelfansworld , @sandlee44, @hawaiianohana31, @unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt, @katpatrova17, @notyourtypicalrose , @heyitscam99, @onethingthatkeepsmealive, @natura1phenomenon, @flamencodiva, @echoesofpassion, @cocklesbelli, @anushay1998, @voltage-my2dlove, @kmvld, @fandom-princess-forevermore, @thenamelesschibi, @lauravic, @fandomsrourlives, @wittysunflower, @drakelover78, @lemondropirwin, @chonisberonica, @lonewolf471, @wronglanemendes, @electraphygelectraphyng , @spnhollis, @void-imaginations, @jay-and-dean, @shatteredabby , @juniorhuntersam, @helpmeluci, @neii3n, @goodgodimaweirdperson, @alltimesamantha

If your name is crossed out Tumblr won’t let me tag you for some reason. Sorry.

Dean/Jensen Forever Tags

@spnfamily-thewinchesters, @supernatural-bellawinchester, @butifulsoul125, @lyinginthegingerlocks, @deans-baby-momma, @hawaiianohana31, @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester, @20gayneen, @janicho88, @thefaithfulwriter, @dreaminemz, @negans-lucille-tblr, @sadwaywardkid, @akshi8278, @hhiggs, @midnightsilver16830, @mrspeacem1nusone, @ria132love, @caligraphee, @the-witch-in-silence

When love hits you Tags

@bitchwhytho, @star-adorned, @marvelous-wayward-fangirl

#spn #spn fanfic #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #when love hits you masterlist #request fill #light smut #fluffy #violence #dean winchester x you #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester SPN #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester series masterlist #angst

99 notes · View notes

mittensmorgul · 5 years ago

Text

HECK there’s so much in 1.06 I still find fascinating. In its own way, there’s even the aspect of the “truth spell” to it, when the shapeshifter takes on Dean’s form and talks to Sam about Dean’s state of mind and thoughts, and the entire episode revolves around Sam’s “normal life” past through his college friend Becky.

Big themes: lying and telling the truth (both to each other AND to the general public about what they do and the reality of monsters), identity (and the things they keep hidden from each other, which have focused on Sam in 1.05 but now get a spotlight on Dean’s internal headspace via the shapeshifter).

They show up lying, drawn into the case by Sam’s connection to her and the mysterious circumstances of her brother’s murder charge-- he was supposedly two places at once and had an alibi. Sam talks Dean into detouring to help her, and everything goes almost immediately sideways. Sam has history with Becky, which is effectively a history of lying about his entire life.

He almost immediately lies to Becky that Dean’s a police officer, forcing Dean to go with it to gain access to the crime scene, because Sam doesn’t want to tell Becky what they actually suspect. He desperately wants to keep the “civilian” side of his life untainted by the supernatural. He wants to protect Becky from learning the truth. Ironically that ends up hurting them all in the end, and they still can’t protect her from either the monster or from learning the truth-- Sam’s family hunts monsters, and the monsters are real. This little bit of unrealistic sanctuary Sam had found with his friends at Stanford has been corrupted yet again. It’s an ongoing case of “this is why we can’t have nice things.” He can’t even think back on that life he lived under false pretenses with the same “purity” anymore, you know? Can’t unring that bell now.

Yeah, Jess dying the way she did (and that guilt is STILL weighing upon him unvoiced to Dean yet) kinda wrecked the possibility of going back to that life for him, but the truth of it, the truth of the rest of his life and the monsters had still been contained. The rest of his friends were still “unpoisoned” by this knowledge and would still welcome him as the friend they’d known for four years at college. The fact Sam kept in touch with all of them via email had served as a sort of lifeline for him, an anchor to the “normal life” he’d tried to build for himself where he could pretend the monsters weren’t real.

And then he’s confronted by a literal monster wearing Dean’s face. Everything the shapeshifter taunts him with here is a fascinating early case study in Dean. Wearing a literal false face, it reveals an awful lot about Dean-- from the fact he was jealous of Sam for getting out and going to college while he was stuck in the hunting life to what he personally gave up to make sure Sam even had that chance in the first place. This is also the source of the “everyone eventually leaves me” agonizing facet of Dean’s personality:

Shapeshifter Dean: I am your brother. See, deep down, I’m just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I’m a freak. And sooner or later, everybody’s gonna leave me. Sam: What are you talkin’ about? Shapeshifter Dean: You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothin’, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It’s not without its perks. I meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let’s see what happens.

There’s a reason this shows up in so many fanfics, you know? It explains his cavalier attitude about relationships, flirting-- all of it. He puts on the mask, no chick flick moments, and he can be the guy who always leaves at the end of the night or the end of the case (which we learn in another 7 episodes has additional painful rationale after we learn about how Cassie broke things off with him... what IS it with this show and episodes that invoke “college” as a symbol of freedom and normalcy? I say while 1.07 runs in the background, set at a college...). But Dean has accepted that his life is what it is. For one reason or another-- be it the nomadic lifestyle of hunting going from case to case, or just having to hide the truth of his entire life from a disbelieving public-- he’s isolated and in self-defense he wears this mask of the happy-go-lucky ladies’ man and macho BAMF. He’s accepted that normal life can never be his life, and this is the way he deals with it without getting hurt.

Ironically, it’s the very fact that Sam had been trying to keep these two sides of his life separate, untouched by one another, that “got Dean killed” here... Secrecy may have been the expected reaction for him and Dean in their investigations, but Becky reacted like a “normal person” and disclosed everything to her lawyers.

REBECCA: I told the lawyers that we went to the crime scene. (SAM scoffs.) SAM: Why would you do that? REBECCA: Well, I told them that we were with a police officer. And they checked it out, and they told me that there is no Detective Dean Winchester. SAM: Bec— REBECCA: No, I don’t understand why you would lie to me about something like that. SAM: We’re tryin’ to help. REBECCA: Oh, trying to help? Do you realize that that was a sealed crime scene? This could have just ruined Zack’s case. SAM: Bec, I’m sorry, but— REBECCA: No, goodbye, Sam.

This leaves Becky unprepared when the shapeshifter shows up at her house looking like Dean... and uses that to gain her trust while also telling her about the monster, about what Sam had actually been investigating. And it also leaves Sam entirely unprepared for what he finds when he actually goes himself to Becky’s house to attempt to explain the truth to her. She’s already been replaced by the shapeshifter, and the moment he DOES explain the truth of the monster, she clocks him. And then Dean is forced to kill the shifter while it looks just like him... talk about an unsettling experience, but also a really freaky mirror situation, killing a mutant version of oneself. D:

But this is also Sam effectively severing his connections to the last hope of being able to go back to his life at Stanford as if nothing happened. He’s burned a bridge. And while Becky does her best to understand, for Sam, a large part of the idealization of that life as somehow “normal” has been forever shattered. He can’t pretend to be just another guy anymore.

REBECCA: So, this is what you do? You and your brother—you hunt down these kinds of things? SAM: Yeah, pretty much. REBECCA: I can’t believe it. I mean, I saw it with my own eyes. And, I mean, does everybody at school—nobody knows that you do this? SAM: No. REBECCA: Did Jessica know? (SAM looks thoughtful.) SAM: No, she didn’t. REBECCA: Must be lonely. SAM: Oh, no. No, it’s not so bad. Anyway, what can I do? It’s my family.

Must be lonely... and that’s it right there. That’s what Dean/Shapeshifter Dean had said as well. But Sam doesn’t really get it yet. He spent years with his friends at Stanford and none of them ever knew this HUGE aspect of his entire life before. Not even the woman he lived with and considered marrying and spending the rest of his life with. Sure sounds lonely to me, having to cut out so much of himself to pretend like that... and this is one of Sam’s ongoing major themes for a very long time to come-- through his soullness and shattering of self after his wall is broken, to the promise he extracts from Dean to go live that apple pie life after 5.22, to running away with Amelia and abandoning hunting yet again while never actually talking about the truth of any of it. At least Dean had Lisa, who was at least aware of the hunting and the monsters (though that didn’t help her much in the end... it did make for a situation where Dean could actually recover from his trauma without having to lie or hide huge portions of the truth from her, which is something Sam never even allowed himself to consider until the whole “something, with someone in the life” speech in 11.04).

And these themes continue over the next two episodes. Sam’s impression of going to college as his shot at freedom and normalcy, a chance to choose his own future for himself, while that illusion slowly shatters.

His conversations with Lori about how going to college got her out of her father’s home, gave her a chance to try new things in her own life, while literally carrying the baggage of her father’s beliefs of morality around her neck, “punishing” her every time she tries to step out from under his rules. The fact her father has defied the moral code he’d always taught to her-- having an affair with a married woman-- crushes her own faith in herself and her long-standing beliefs. It’s only by uncovering and destroying the symbol of that baggage that she’s able to free herself from it.

Makes it kind of ironic when in 1.08, Sam’s the one who earns the “not a liar” tag:

DEAN We're students from the university. JOE No, you're not. You're lying. DEAN seems taken aback. DEAN Well, truth is JOE You know who starts sentence with "truth is"? Liars. DEAN exchanges a look with SAM. SAM Have you heard of Oasis Plains? It's a housing development near the Atoka Valley. JOE (to Dean) I like him. He's not a liar. (DEAN looks angry.) I know the area.

Back to 1.07 for a moment, because Dean finally gets the chance to pretend, to live a bit of the college experience vicariously, and in true Dean chameleon style, he fits himself right in, makes himself at home in the frat house, even while Sam remains uncomfortably on the fringes and only really engages when Dean leaves him no other choice-- leaving it to him to paint the purple guy while they talk, dragging him to the party while Sam confesses that he didn’t really enjoy parties while he was at Stanford (which we saw in the pilot episode how even while he was there pretending to be normal, he still didn’t really let himself have that full experience and tried to keep the wall up at the halloween party). But for Dean, this is just one more experience to throw himself into with a casual lie about who he is and why he’s there, knowing full well that they’ll move on to another case, another town, another persona for him to adopt for the next case. Sam just... has trouble packing away parts of himself like this and truly letting himself be the chameleon Dean’s mastered. Not that this is healthy for Dean, either, but it’s how he’s learned to cope with his entire life.

And this “college as freedom” theme strikes again in 1.08, from several angles, telling Matt that things will get better between him and his father, and explaining to Dean as they talk about how different their experiences with their father were-- Sam feeling like the “freak” of the family for wanting to get out and live a normal life, despite possibly being the one person in their family who was already incapable of it (because hey, demon blood! psychic powers! even if we don’t know this yet, it’s painfully ironic when we’re eventually given that context).

SAM Matt, just listen. You have to get your family out of that house right now, okay? MATT What, why? SAM Because something's coming. MATT More bugs? SAM Yeah, a lot more. MATT My dad doesn't listen in the best of circumstances, what am I supposed to tell him? SAM You've gotta make him listen, okay? DEAN Give me the phone, give me the phone. (He grabs the phone from SAM.) Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts. MATT But he's my DEAN Tell him you have a sharp pain in your right side and you've gotta go to the hospital, okay? MATT Yeah. Yeah, okay. He hangs up, and so does DEAN. DEAN Make him listen? What are you thinkin'?

Matt, of course, tries to tell his father the truth, and it nearly gets everyone killed, because of course his father doesn’t believe him. After the night they have, his father will be convinced and their lives will all be changed forever. There’s no going back once they know the truth.

And all of this still through the lens connecting them to the still murky mytharc, finding their father and learning the truth, uncovering and unraveling the mystery that drew them into this life in the first place. And this is still just level one of that grand tangle of cosmic deceptions that will lead them through the next 14 years to the end of their ultimate quest for the truth, and the unraveling of their fate so their final battle can be for their own freedom and free will from this eternal cosmic game. :’)

#spn 1.06 #spn 1.07 #spn 1.08 #spn 14.20 #s14 hellatus rewatch #spiders georg of the tnt loop #lies and damn lies #practicalities of monster hunting #it's spirals all the way down #there's so much more i wanted to say about all of these episodes too >.>#performing dean

15 notes · View notes

yyh-revival · 6 years ago

Note

What are your headcanons on Kuronue? /how do you characterize him?

Ah, Kuronue, the fandom’s favorite sweetheart that has an actual screen time of like 3 seconds. We all agree that he’s Yoko’s boyfriend, right? Like, that’s canon, isn’t it? Or fandom canon, at least? I’m a bit rusty on this movie (Last time I saw it was the abridged version Lanipator did on youtube… it’s pretty funny even if its a million years old)

So you guys probably guess I’m a slut for canon so let’s start off analyzing this shit from what we can actually deduce from the show.

Under cut!

So, the problem with Kuronue is that this awesome looking bat demon’s appearance was stolen by that shapeshifting demon, so most of the time we see “Kuronue,” we’re actually looking at a different demon.

There are only two ways we can judge his character then, by his 1 second of screen time and Kurama’s reaction to how the shapeshifter is acting.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll go chronologically.

Remember that Kurama is extremely intelligent, so if he doesn’t pick up on this being a shapeshifter, then he’s playing Kuronue’s part pretty well.

So, Kurama gets attacked by this demon, who claims to be Kuronue, and his first reaction is to try to calm him down and talk to him. Which tells me 2 things. 1, Kuronue definitely could have a vindictive steak. If he was a super nice guy, Kurama would have called the demon out on his bullshit, saying something like “Kuronue wouldn’t act like this.” So our dear Kuro must have had some ability to be at least somewhat cruel (enough to want to get revenge on a now weakened Kurama by joining a group looking to kill a lot of innocent humans). And 2, he wasn’t too cruel or Kurama wouldn’t have even tried talking. With Yomi, he tried to steer clear of the whole “sorry I tried to kill you” thing for as long as possible, and even faced with the assassin, didn’t bring it up himself or try to apologize there and then. So Yomi is crueler, more likely to be hot-headed.

So two possibilities here. Either Kuro is the type of person who will go pretty far to get revenge when he feels he’s been slighted, but not nearly as cruel or vindictive as Yomi and Yoko. Or they were total fuck buddies with feelings and Kurama’s hoping that’ll get through to him enough that he’ll wait and listen. Or, a little bit of both.

So, the shapeshifter is using some memory manipulation crap? It’s not 100% clear but Kurama does this after their meeting:

So he’s either really fucking upset or his head is hurting for some reason, like maybe cause someone’s trying to fuck with it.

But! Here’s the thing. We Know Kurama’s head is hard to mess with. Whether the movie follows the canon of the show or not I am not 100% sure, (I mean, they do make up a whole new realm). But in the show, Kurama’s mind is incredibly well guarded. A literal mind reader can’t read his thoughts. So either this demon he’s facing is way stronger (in which case why bother with the disguise?), Kurama’s more susceptible because of the emotional connection (he wants to believe it’s Kuro), or the manipulation isn’t actually working and this is just Kurama’s actual emotional reaction.

So from Kurama, we can somewhat confidently assume that Kuronue isn’t cruel, but won’t take shit, either (so he was a nicer dude than Yoko, but perhaps not as nice as Kurama). We can also conclude that he wasn’t unreasonable, and could be talked down. And we also get hints that perhaps these two were very close.

___

So that’s how Kurama’s reacting. After that, we have only really 3 scenes we can analyze for the REAL Kuronue.

One.

Two.

Three.

So, let’s try to squeeze as much as we can from these frames.

1) We see Kuro laughing along with Yoko as they run away from a heist. They’ve been found, they’re being chased, but they have the treasure, and they’re laughing. Both of them are laughing, so Kuro couldn’t have been the “more careful” one, nor could he have been the “I’m so done” kind of boyfriend partner. He was just as into stealing shit and having fun as Yoko.

They sort of remind me of two college students who keep making chaotic neutral D&D characters. They’re not evil, they just want to have fun and fuck shit up.

2) We get this goddamn thing

in a shot as it’s cut off and Kuronue freaks out and tries to go back for it. So, there are 2 possibilities here.

Kuronue either really fucking loves this goddamn thing like, he’ll die for it, important. (As far as I can tell it’s just a pendant. Was it given to him by someone? Or was it just a regular pendant?) So depending on how important this thing is, we could judge how dumb he is here.

What’s heartbreaking is that we get these shots of Yoko:

So we can conclude a few things from Yoko’s reaction.

1) from that gif there, we see he immediately goes all “No don’t!”

So they KNOW what they’re doing is dangerous. They’re thrill seekers. They running high on the fact that they’re a hair away from death but they’re gonna make it, and gonna make it with some awesome treasure. But Kurama seems more aware of the danger than Kuro is. Yoko must know how important the pendant is to Kuro, as he’s not at all suspicious of how often the dude is fondling the thing

*fondle fondle*

But Kuro goes back for it, either thinking he has the time, or that it doesn’t matter if he does. Personally, I like to go with the “he’s a dumbass” headcanon, cause I like the idea that Kurama’s type for dudes is “loves the dark and is stupid.”

So Kuro isn’t as careful or aware as Yoko. Once again, college students come to mind. Perhaps two dudes doing drugs or drinking alcohol. Yoko has more experience or is just smarter with it, so he knows the limits. But Kuro thinks he can handle more or just isn’t thinking as clearly and gets fucked up and Yoko’s like oh fuck no, I did this I shouldn’t have brought this dumbass to this party.

Then 2) Yoko full on stops. He’s being chased, too, but he stops and stares for a good while. We get two different shots of him just watching in shock. So this tells me either this isn’t normal behavior for Kuro… and/or Yoko really liked that ass and is just super fucking shocked it’s gone. Or, also a possibility, Kuro is acting normal, but Yoko just can’t fuicking believe he just died for that goddamn pendnat wat the fuck kuro we talked about rthsi!!!

(deep breaths…)

Lastly, 3) Kuro yells for Yoko to run. He doesn’t just cry in pain or ask Yoko to save him, he sees that Yoko is frozen, and yells at him to run. This tells me 1), Kuro isn’t selfish. He could have tried to take Yoko down with him by accident, by asking him for help, or on purpose (which would make him more evil). But he doesn’t. This also once again screams “there’s something juicy here!!!”

______

SO! My conclusions?

Canon compliant/derived from canon: Kuro is

Sentimental (can’t let go of the pendant)

Willing to go great lengths for revenge… but is not evil or cruel in it.

Willing to listen to reason.

A little too quick to act

Not as careful/aware of his surroundings as Yoko

Thrill seeker

And relatively selfless when it comes to those he cares about.

Now for my personal headcanons:

He is a dumbass

That pendant was given to him by someone he cared for, either a family member or maybe even Yoko? Which I think would sweetly add to the tragic factor. If Yoko was the actual reason he died in the end, because he gave him the dumb thing…

The pendant has some small magical properties, which is why it was a worthy gift

He and Yoko totally fuck

He has a tendency to cut himself a lot hence the stupid black bandages

He doesn’t mind following cause it lets him be more of a dumbass if someone else is making the plans

he’s not really all that serious, he likely had a more comedic personality, which is why these two are laughing so freakin much, cause he brought out the fuckign happy light in yokos fuckign life and ghgjreg

So that’s my conclusion. Followers, any thoughts?

- Mod Lola

#yyh #yu yu hakusho #kuronue #yoko #kurama #yoko kurama #meta #analysis #headcanon #mod talk

102 notes · View notes

legion1993 · 7 years ago

Text

What Happens When You Bring Home A Unknown Substance

Title: What Happens When You Bring Home A Unknown Substance

Square Filled: Tentacle Porn

Ship: Tentacle x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Tags: Vaginal Penetration, Anal Penetration, impregnation, choking, gagging, double penetration, talking tentacle monster

Summary (If applicable): you head out on a hunt but it turns into something that brings your inner curiousity to a whole new level, upon bringing this new specimen back to your home, you finish your shower and things begin to go wrong…

Word Count (If applicable): 2,977

Created for @spnkinkbingo.

Masterlist kink masterlist

To say your curiousity always gets the better of you is an understatement… to say that hunting alone is a good idea is also an understatement… but to whoever said expect the unexpected, why did you have to be right…

You had just finished dealing with a witch sitch, you ganked her but she left behind this strange plant… you took a piece of it for observation and research… you headed home with the substance/plant/thing, and you could have sworn that it grew like 3 times bigger by the time you reached your apartment…

You brought it inside and left it on the table in your dinning room, going to the bathroom you stripped off all your clothes leaving the trail of clothing you would later clean up but not realizing that the plant/substance thing was actually alive…

You were in the shower, you couldn’t hear anything, you didn’t hear several things break, your couches being rearranged, your tables being smashed, that plant thing had grown to full strength and all it had to do was wait till you got back…

You were humming as you got out of the shower, you had some correspondence with people, other hunters who loved a fascinating scientific discovery as much as you did… you would contact them when you were done… but that is when you heard it, the loud crash of glass or ceramic breaking on the floor…

Y/N (to self): “what the hell was that?”

Then you heard whispers, almost as if it was calling out to you… you were cautious, you pulled out your knife and exited the bathroom, there was slime and stuff all over the floor and walls… you were appauled…

Y/N (to self): “fucking hell is this shit, I just took a shower…”

But the closer you got to your living room, the louder those whispers got…

Tentacle (whispers): “come to me…”

You follow the slime and whispers very carefully… your entire body convulsing like you wanted to throw up… it smelt like you were walking into a room right after an orgy had just gone down… but you entered your living room only to have your ankles bound and your knife knocked out of your hands, your attention fully focused on the big monster standing in your living room, but what they didn’t know was that you had a spare alarm of sorts…

Tentacle: “do you know what I am…”

You shake your head trying to reach your bag to answer your buzzing phone…

Y/N: “excuse me but can I please have some slack to reach my phone and answer it cause its work calling….”

The monster was compliant he let you get to your phone and answer the call you knew exactly who it was…

Dean (over phone): “is everything ok?”

Y/N: “its fine, just a little tied up with slime, but if you want me to come in please let me know now…”

Dean (over phone): “im on my way…”

You hung up the call, and tossed your phone behind you, it slid across the slime… you feared what look was befallen your form, one of the tentacles on the monster made its way up your body to pull off your towel… to which you were then pulled down onto your ass, you didn’t even have time to think before the feeling of slime filled your skin, you became unable to move…

Tentacle: “here is what I am, I am a tentacle plant, I sometimes come to life and rape beautiful women, in hopes of getting them pregnant and having them birth some more of my species… but half the time it doesn’t work… so here I go with you, that witch gave me some human characteristics and some shapeshifting abilities, but if I use them it wont be out of random, it will be to torture you…”

Y/N: “no please don’t do this, im a virgin… I can’t…”

Tentacle: “well this will be even more fun…”

The tentacles were holding your arms and legs spread apart, you were instantly scared not only were you being held in a pile of slime by some rapey tentacles, you tried struggling, but you soon found your mid section was being held down, your throat being wrapped in tentacle, but that’s where it all started…

Tentacle: “you make too much noise little girl…”

That’s when the monster stuck one of his tentacles in your mouth shifting it to look like a giant massive black cock… you gagged, you choked, but he thrust it deeper and deeper into your throat harder every time… you tried to scream against it but everytime you tried to scream, the tentacle in your mouth grew…

There were tears blurring your vision, the tentacles still swarmed your body, fondling your breasts making you squirm, making you try to break free of their grip… but it was soon that you felt like you couldn’t breathe…

Tentacle: “your about to pass out, good, lets see what I can do to you before you wake up again…”

Your eyes shut, you were trapped in your own head, great alone with your inner demons… while the tentacle monster had made his big form somewhat human looking, you were fighting your inner demons, this meant you needed to find a way to wake up, you had no ideas…

Meanwhile the tentacle monster had made two of his tentacles start playing with your nipples, the rest were still roaming your body, the monster was having some fun, seeing how far he could go before you would wake… that’s when Dean tried calling again, your phone buzzing against the floor, but no answer…

Dean (to self): “ok I need to connect with her some other way…”

That’s when castiel showed up beside Dean…

Dean: “jesus Christ cas you scared the living shit out of me…”

Cas: “why do you seem panicked?”

Dean: “its Y/N she is in trouble, something about slime and being tied up…”

Cas: “actually I was coming originally to tell you that a tentacle monster is loose in Y/Ns area… but there is something else you should know Dean… you and her have a connection… your parents said that you and Sam were their only children, that’s not true, you have a twin…”

Dean stops the car in the middle of the highway…

Dean: “IM SORRY WHAT?”

Cas: “Y/N is your twin… your parents split you both up incase something bad were to happen… she was living in an orphanage… but the people in the orphanage one of them specifically the one who was assigned to watch out for your twin was a hunter, she passed away by the hands of a werewolf who came after your sister… your parents kept this from you because together you have tremendous abilities… all of which would make you guys fantastic hunters… their only option was to give you guys as normal a life as possible by splitting you guys up…”

Dean: “so wait she is my twin… she is family… wait so everyone but me and Sammy knew about this…”

Cas: “pretty much…”

Dean: “I need you to do me a favor, I need you to mind meld me with my sister… I fear that she may be in greater trouble right now and its making me anxious…”

Cas puts his fingers to Dean’s forhead and the next thing Dean knows he is in a dark place, he walks around a bit before he sees some light… your silhouette in the middle of it, he approaches you…

Dean: “Y/N…”

You look up…

Y/N: “Dean, is that you?”

Dean: “of course it is… can you explain whats happening…”

Y/N: “im being raped by a freaky tentacle monster that’s why im crouched in a ball form… he stripped me of my clothes, if your on your way here I hope you have something for me to wear… cause there is no way im gonna be able to wear anything small and tight like I got…”

Dean: “Y/N, cas told me something about us, about you…”

You look at Dean being careful not to show anything…

Dean: “you and I are twins… mom and dad separated us because we have abilities that together could make us really powerful hunters… but don’t worry im coming to bring you home…”

Y/N: “if he hears you he is gonna impregnate me… he wants to impregnate me… Dean this witch I killed spelled him, gave him shapeshifting abilities and some human characteristics… you need to get to me as soon as possible… but warning there is slime everywhere, I mean literally all over the walls, floors, furniture, im pretty sure I don’t have any of my clothing left that isn’t covered in it…”

Dean: “its ok we will replace whatever we need to once back home… trust me sis your coming home…”

You at that moment tried to smile but instead started screaming… Dean moving back from you watched as you disappeared… he was then back in his own body…

Dean: “its still another 10 hours to her place, lets see if we can cut down the time…”

Dean puts petal to the metal as he takes off down the highway… meanwhile tentacles were teasing your clit, your holes and everything, but the tentacle that was still in your mouth had already shot several loads into your mouth… not even giving you a chance to breathe…

Tentacle: “she is about to wake… we must finish the penetration…”

That’s when you opened your eyes, you felt the slimey tentacles slithering across your vaginal and anal holes… you shoke your head but gagged on the tentacle that was in your mouth… then once again you were violated… a tentacle slithered across your vaginal hole, you shivered and tried to struggle but you couldnt move…

Tentacle: “im sorry deary I wish it didn’t have to be this way but I don’t want you getting away from me before I have a chance to plant my seed…”

You couldn’t speak, you couldn’t move, you were completely helpless… to say you didn’t feel when your vagina and ass got penetrated was an understatement the tentacle monster made sure you felt everything…

First he went in your vagina you screamed gagging against the tentacle which had grown again… you were trying to stay calm but you didn’t remain calm at all, you were scared, you tried to not let your mind get overwhelmed, you tried to convey a connection with Dean’s thoughts, trying to see if you and your new found twin have a psychic connection…

Nothing worked but you didn’t give up you tried anything to distract you from what was actually happening to you… you couldn’t believe that you were loosing your virginity to this slimey ass tentacle monster… but the worse of this was just about to happen, the more he thrust into your vagina, the bigger he got, then he sent another tentacle to your asshole, instantly you froze…

You shoke your head once more but he ignored your pleas, that and he couldn’t hear you speak or at least attempt to without hearing you gag on the tentacle that was still in your mouth… by this point you were sure you would throw up later…

but that’s when your worst fear happened, the tentacle after sliming up your asshole entrance forced its way inside, growing just at how tight it was, you would have screamed if you could, you would have ran away or fought back but you couldn’t…

Tentacle: “so tight, be ready to receive all my sperm kiddo, be ready to birth all my children…”

Your eyes once more with even more terror widened, you were a god damn hunter you weren’t scared of anything… but he was thrusting in and out of you pretty well, your body held down, frozen almost from the initial shock, your mind not registering anything, your eyes shut for opening them would make this all too real…

Back in the impala, dean was just entering your neighbourhood, Cas was using his powers to find out exactly where you were…

Cas: “dean make a left and its just half a block down, its just before the park on the right… the lights should still be on but there is something strange…”

Cas listens for a moment before opening his eyes and turning to dean…

Cas: “drive faster he is raping her, he has taken her virginity…”

This made Dean panic, this made him mad… he drove and in seconds he was at your place, he placed the car in park and took out his gun, but made sure that he had a few extra things still with which he could either wrap you in or give you to wear… at this point modesty was out the window, you were his god damn twin, you are the piece he could never figure out was missing, why his family seemed so small…

Dean: “Cas stay outside and watch for any sign of intrusion by magic or other wise…”

Cas: “no dean im coming with you there is a key to unlocking your abilities as twins and it needs angelic presence to be able to activate…”

Dean: “I thought me and Y/N had to be in the same room..”

Cas: “no it’s a bit more complex… Michael was the one who approached your parents with this, when he came to your mom and Dad after the 2 of you were born he explained that you guys were powerful, being blessed by angels will do that to you, because your parents were blessed by angels when they conceived you guys, you came out with special abilities, ones that Michael said when the time was right should be unlocked but only by angelic powers could it be… ultimately I have to come with you, plus I can blast this thing into high heaven or into the deepest darkest farthest regions of space…”

Dean cocked his gun as he turned to Cas and sighed getting out of the car he could only see the shadows of the monster… he could only imagine how bad this was gonna be, but he knew one thing forsure was that tonight you were coming home and the thing raping you was getting ganked…

The tentacle in your mouth released an even bigger load, which was so big that it pulled out of your mouth in time for you to scream… this caught the ear of your brother, who little to your knowledge was outside, cum and slime now everywhere, you were screaming and gagging spitting every single drop out…

Tentacle: “what does the little girl not like cum, not like having things…”

That’s when the monster lifted you upright off the ground now holding you in the air the tentacle in your vagina and the one in your ass moved faster and faster growing bigger everytime… but that’s when you screamed was the feeling of warmth, the feeling of being stretched so wide that it felt as though you would tear in 2…

Tentacle: “get ready baby im cumming….”

That’s when he shot huge loads of cum in your ass and vagina… you now screamed but soon felt very very weak… you were so out of breath that you didn’t even notice that the door was bust down…

Dean: “hey monster put my sister down… NOW!!!”

Tentacle: “this is a first… no one has ever tried to stop me before, but im afraid your too late, I just impanted my seed inside this girl, what did you call her again, ah yes your sister… now if you don’t mind id like to continue torturing her and then terrorize the neighbourhood…”

Dean: “you wont get the chance fugly… Cas do your thing im gonna see if I can get Y/N released…”

Cas holds his hand towards the monster, who is completely oblivious to what Cas was about to do, but this distracted him long enough for Dean to find one of your katana’s and slice off the tentacles that were either inside you or holding you… to which he then removed what was still attached to you…

Dean: “Cas toss me your trench coat… you can buy another just do it…”

Cas didn’t argue he knew how important this rescue was so he tossed Dean his trench coat before taking the monster and sending him through the roof of the house not breaking anything and blasting the monster into the deepest farthest regions of outerspace where he could harm no one else…

Your form quivering under Dean’s touch, your eyes opening to see your brother holding you, wrapping your naked form in a coat…

Y/N: “Dean…”

Dean: “shh its ok sis, the monster is gone we made sure he will never be able to do any harm to any one else… Cas can you scan her and make sure his plan didn’t work…”

Can touches your forehead and glows for a few seconds but when he pulls back he smiles…

Cas: “she isn’t pregnant but she is tired and sore, so if we are gonna get her out of here we need to do it ASAP…”

Dean: “Y/N im gonna carry you to the car ok… don’t worry im gonna take care of you…”

Before picking you into his arms he gave Cas his keys…

Dean: “cas you drive, there is no way that ill be able to focus on the road right now…”

Cas nods taking the keys he watches Dean take you into his arms bridal style (im sorry it’s the only way possible in this situation) he helps Dean sit in the car while still cradling you in his grasp… you start feeing warm-ish, but before Cas starts driving he witnesses you and Dean starting to glow…

Cas: “its begun…”

~that’s all for now folks…~

#SPNKINKBINGO

14 notes · View notes