#and it's awkward and weird in the moment and then they so successfully banish it from their minds

[anghraine]

On the one hand, I'm personally very sure that it was no later than when he tried to shoot Vader in Cloud City in ESB and likely it was that specific moment. I don't think he attributes what he sees to secret magnets or whatnot, and I think the Worst Dinner Party Ever (ft. Darth Vader) is even funnier if Anakin floats things around à la AOTC and shoves people into their seats and is just transparently The Most Space Wizard and Han is still processing this when he's dragged off to the sparky Imperial torture machine. Han Solo's worst day maybe ever.

On the other, it is very funny if it's actually after ROTJ and he literally never realizes it onscreen.

anyway sound off. at what stage do ppl think Han figured out the Force was real. the boring answer is after seeing Obi-wan vanish but i think he could rationalise that away as his eyes playing tricks on him. what do we think.

[drawingquest21]

I had to make a small story for a class more than a year ago, in 2021. We had to come up with a scenario about why a teacher was missing for the first class and why he’s often late. It was for a live action short movie.

Here's the story I imagined, although it won't be written like an actual story but more like a (long) summary.

"The teacher had been missing for the past two weeks.

There's a mention of a recent earthquake followed by thunder ; the thunder is heard more frequently these days.

After more than half an hour, the teacher still isn't there, he is therefore considered absent, turning this class into a free period. The students however stay in the room, waiting for their next class to start.

They discuss about the teacher: nobody knows what he looks like, they theorise on his repeated absences. Some theories are funny, others ridiculous, from alien abduction to Corona Virus, etc.

In the end, they think that the problem comes from the school itself: they might not have informed the teacher that he had a class ; it wouldn't be the first time they made that kind of mistake. The class is disappointed but agree that it might be the most plausible reason.

The teacher finally arrives but the period is nearing its end. He apologies: there was traffic jam because of a car accident ; his first absence was due to a family tragedy and the second time was because of an injury.

One of the students, once at home, out of curiosity and boredom, searches for the teacher's name online and finds a profile with a picture that doesn't match with the man met earlier.

The news on TV talk about the accident that the teacher mentioned, and a weird thought came to the student's mind: did the teacher cause that accident?

Another day.

The teacher is hurrying, not wanting to arrive late once more. One of his students is in the same situation and notices the teacher, the student decides to keep their distance to avoid an awkward moment.

Then, an unexpected event occurs. The teacher seems to have noticed something, we see him hesitate: he doesn't want to disappoint his students but he must intervene. The student watches from afar, hidden.

The teacher turns out to be a hero: a costume was hidden underneath his clothes, Superman style.

He has to fight a demon that possessed a student.

He succeeds in freeing the student pretty easily, he remarks that this demon was pretty weak. We then hear a voice revealing that this demon was weak because it was giving its energy: a wicked sorcerer that the teacher had already faced before.

That sorcerer is especially powerful because he now has Power Morpher in his possession in the form of a headband and gloves, which surprises the teacher who is then sent in another dimension. The student who stealthily observed it all was shocked by the teahcer's sudden disappearance.

The teacher finds himself in a comic book where he has to fight the sorcerer.

(I didn't draw the Power Morphers, I'll explain why later)

After successfully taking the Power Morphers off of the sorcerer, the teacher beats his opponent.

Without time to catch his breath, we suddenly hear thunder and a booming voice. The teacher can't believe it, this is a disaster: the Big Bad appears like a maleficent silhouette.

(I didn't need to come up with a name so I settled for "Big Bad", was good enough to me)

Big Bad: "You and your master had banished me in another dimension, in the past. But now, I'll use this dimension created by my underling to break free and I'll be able to conquer your pathetic world."

Teacher: "Not while I'm standing."

The teacher puts on the headband Power Morpher and gathers all the energy he can. Then, he unleashes a powerful energy wave that tears the comic board from the inside!

The teacher is thus back in the real world, weakened and wounded while the Big Bad is stil, trapped in another dimension.

The teacher collapses and the student who had witnessed it all (well, at least the start and end of it) rescue him.

The student brings the teacher to the classroom where his classmates are. Everyone is shocked and worried. Nobody believes the preposterous story told by their comrade until the teacher uses his power to pull an object into his hand.

The whole class ask for explanations, the teacher gives them:

-he isn't their real teacher, the latter died before their first class so the current teacher took over

-the Big Bad is a demon who seeks to conquer every worlds

A student ask: 《And what's this?》 pointing at a Power Morpher (maybe the gem on the teacher's costume). The teacher that the Power Morphers come from an "hyperdimension" and grant powers ; there's one type of power for each.

The Morphers are: a necklace ; a wristband or a watch ; a ring ; a mask or pair of glasses ; a pair of shoes ; a pair of gloves ; an earring ; a headband and lastly,  the teacher's costume.

A student takes the ring: 《My preciiioooouss...》 he jokes before getting lightly hit by a classmate who asked him to stop joking around.

The teacher states that new Power Morphers have most likely appeared (since among those listed above, some didn't exist before), which proves to be a real threat because the Big Bad might break free from his dimensional prison thanks to the Morphers' power.

The class decides to help their teacher, each student take a Power Morpher.

To be continued..."

.

Like I said, we had to imagine a scenario for a live action short movie. We would film the scenarios but didn't have much budget, however our teacher didn't want us to mind the budget issue.

I was inspired by a dream I had when I became a Power Ranger, I was also inspired by the "Jackie Chan Adventures" animated series, and by Dr. Strange too.

So the teacher would be a hero fighting sorcerers & demons and to compensate the low budget, I thought that the fights could take place in other dimensions. At first, I thought about a Lego dimension that would be made in Stop Motion, but I didn't have enough legos and Stop Motion would have taken too much time. So I thought about a comic book dimension as it would be easier to make.

(In 2022 came out "The Guardians of Justice" which had the same idea of mixing live action with stop motion or 2D animation, especially when it comes to scenes with superpowers. I wonder if someone else used this concept before. Probably.)

Since I had limited time and the teacher said that I could make the drawings pretty simple, like, only one drawing for the fight, I came to the conclusion that drawing a "beam clash/beam struggle" was the easiest and clearest way to show a fight with a sorcerer.

For the same reason, I only made 4 drawings, and because we weren't going to use all of those ideas, I didn't need to draw the sorcerer's Power Morphers so I didn't drew them (also, I forgot, but maybe I drew before coming up with what the Morphers would actually look like, I'm not sure...🤔)

And instead of drawing a Power Morpher, I gave the sorcerer a magic staff, to make him look more like a sorcerer.

I really wanted to draw the scene where the teacher tear the comic board from the inside but I didn't have the time to try it and, also, I was probably not good enough to make it. That move was inspired by the Avan Strash (from "Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken"), by the way.

That's pretty much a pilot episode. It'd be a live action "monster of the week" type of show and almost each episode would have a new dimension:

-Stop Motion (Lego, action figure, etc)

-Comic book

-Anime

-Video game

-Board game

-Maybe a book dimension that's read and written as it goes on?

etc.

And sometimes a live action fight scene with VFX and all.

That's it.

[katsidhe]

Ranking Every SPN Midseason Finale

15) 10.09 The Things We Left Behind. Claire’s reintroduction isn’t as bad as some of her later appearances, mostly because she’s still hostile towards Cas and the Winchesters, but it’s still not great. There’s Rowena and Crowley drama I don’t care about, and Dean kills a bunch of people, which is kinda fun, but would be more interesting if it had any consequences.

14) 14.09 The Spear. Michael’s monsters plan is pretty dumb. I’m still not clear on why Michael stopped possessing Dean at any point. Michael and Jack have a good conversation, and I suppose an assassination is the only viable plan for the Winchesters to go for, but most of this episode is just a series of “why” moments one after another.

13) 1.10 Asylum. This is a perfectly acceptable MOTW episode, and a ghost-addled Sam yelling at and punching Dean is fun, but it’s simply not up to snuff with the kind of plot or character development that the other midseason finales put on the table.

12) 13.09 The Bad Place. I really like Kaia and Jack here. The moment with the angels pounding on the ground to break the wards is genuinely pretty cool.  The stakes get upped with the reveal that Mary’s being tortured in Apocaland, and Dean reacts by threatening Kaia at gunpoint, nice. It’s not a bad episode, and it’s not incredible either.

11) 12.08 LOTUS. Is this episode silly? Oh yes. Am I thoroughly entertained when watching it? Resoundingly yes. Every dumb terrible campy detail--like Lucifer turning crosses upside down—combined with the sheer balls-to-the-wall wtf-ery of the President being possessed, and the interspersed moments of genuine drama—as when Sam banishes Lucifer—creates a combination that I can’t help but enjoy. I also like the likely somewhat unintentional implications as to how the political landscape of the SPN world was changed by the sheer volume of apocalyptic events it’s experienced. Seems fair to conclude that God is angry.

10) 8.09 Citizen Fang. Dean sends Sam after Amelia with a fake text, as their s8 conflict comes to a head. This is far from the shadiest thing Dean’s ever done, but it’s so fascinatingly, unapologetically a Relationship Red Flag that I really enjoy it. Plus, I find Sam’s conflict with Benny pretty interesting here.  

9) 6.11 Appointment in Samara. Dean’s deal with Death is a cool concept, and it’s set up well, but it falls a bit flat. Dean fails the test in a way that’s very predictable, and that has no consequences, because Death likes Sam enough to retrieve him anyway. The better part of this episode is Soulless’ desperate, last ditch attempt to save his life at the cost of Bobby’s—he screams and begs as his soul is returned, and I love the moral dilemma here.

8) 9.09 Holy Terror. Kevin!! His death was viscerally shocking and heartbreaking. This episode is consigned to mid B tier because of the angel drama I don’t care about, and because I am still torn on if I really like Kevin’s death thematically speaking. For one thing, I miss him to this day—I miss having a cynical, informed perspective on the Winchesters in the room. For another, it muddies the waters of Dean’s crime in having Gadreel possess Sam, in ways that are sometimes interesting but sometimes miss the point.

7) 15.08 Our Father, Who Aren’t in Heaven. *chanting* New Cage canon! New Cage canon! Jake Abel steals the show with his insane chemistry with himself, and makes the s15 conflict much more interesting just by existing. I love how goddamn uncomfortable Sam is this entire episode, I love Adam and Michael’s weird compelling dynamic, I love Dean’s awkwardness, and I love the four of them all together. I just want them to sit in a room and talk foreeeever.

6) 7.10 Death’s Door. I don’t even like Bobby that much, but even I have to admit that this is a great emotional episode. Sam and Dean deal with their grief, and it’s done well enough to make me grieve for Bobby too.

5) 2.09 Croatoan. Good episode is good. It’s a zombie episode with a real sense of fear and isolation—and then Sam gets infected. Dean’s violent refusal to kill Sam, the subsequent reveal that Sam is somehow immune, and then a demon revealing that this town died just for an experiment on Sam? Creepy and emotional and intriguing!

4) 4.10 Heaven and Hell. Demon and angel battle! Some very fun additions to what we know about the angels and their motivations: Anna’s commitment to fleeing and defying Heaven, coupled with what appears to be Ruby doing the same with Hell, is cool. I also love how Sam ends up successfully playing both sides off each other. Plus, it ends with Dean’s emotional reveal about his time in Hell.

3) 3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas. Iconic. Three separate things to love: fantastic pre-series content, including amulet backstory and the reveal of little Sam finding out about monsters; a truly wonderful MOTW that involves Christmas tree stabbing and fingernail pulling; and the looming emotional juggernaut of  a final celebration before Dean’s deal comes due.  

2) 5.10 Abandon All Hope. Crowley’s delightful introduction as a smarmy survivalist, Ellen and Jo’s tearjerking deaths, Cas captive and mouthing off to both Lucifer and Meg, Dean’s unsuccessful shot, and of course Sam and Lucifer’s first meeting in person. Action packed and spooky and thrilling and simply beautifully executed.

1) 11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou? In Hell, is where, and I couldn’t be happier!! Lucifer’s reintroduction coupled with Sam’s distress and brittle scared determination is atmospheric and terrifying. Rowena’s betrayal and Amara’s pitch to Dean are compelling. Most importantly, though, I had to wait a MONTH for 11.10 with Sam’s CRYING FACE in my head: best worst cliffhanger of the series by miles and miles. Bury me in this episode.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

we’re partners in this.

so titans 2.12 was mostly about (awkwardly) moving pieces around to get them in place for a grand finale. it was great! but also awkward. but great! let’s talk about it, if you don’t mind:

SPOILERS ahead.

1. i apologise for going off on a tangent right off the bat, but i just had this weird bit of insight about this show’s universe and it’s kind of hilarious. so you know those clickbaity articles about titans fucking up its worldbuilding by having its characters be so blase about protecting their superhero identities? (screenrant and cbr have inundated my newsfeed. oh good lord the pain. the agony.) maybe that’s just how It’s Meant To Be. batman and robin have been around for at least a decade and a half; the big bat’s likely been around for longer. the justice league is a sophisticated organisation with connections, representation and influence on worldly affairs. no doubt there has been countless battles and alien invasions--to the point where superheroes have become so ingrained in public life that their identities are semi-public knowledge but Nobody Gives A Shit. it’s like asking folks about their local legislators--people are aware that they exist and perform a Function in society and that a minimal amount of research would reveal who they are, but most aren’t keen on/interested in doing that. as a result, keeping up a secret identity isn’t the priority it used to be. and That’s Fine! the titans universe is its own beast with its own internal mechanics and as long as it’s internally consistent, let it deviate from its comic origins as much as it wants to.

oh typical emmram, i can hear you say. scrambling for explanations to excuse careless writing and plot holes. well, dear Strawman I Just Made Up, you may be partially right--there was a time when i would’ve waved my ‘the author is dead’ flag, but (i like to think) i’ve matured since then. but also: have you considered that plot holes aren’t really plot holes if you can successfully use what’s been established about a story’s universe to explain them away and that it’s significantly more fun? 

with this background in mind, i can appreciate more than ever that titans plays out more like an intense, soapy family drama (with perhaps higher stakes than your average soap). this was never a show about a bunch of disparate heroes coming together and finding purpose in order to defeat a common enemy. this was always about a bunch of kids who grew up in a world where vigilantism and superheroing and magic and alien invasions are just an accepted part of life, and the deeply dysfunctional ways they keep coming together and pinballing away, over and over again. there’s no point where each of the characters have definitely Gotten Over Their Issues so they can all gather together to defeat the big bad; it’s why this late in the game we can have rachel looking for people to connect to and relate with that aren’t a series of adults who claim to protect her but only keep her in the dark; hank at the bottom of a self-destructive spiral; dick barely picking himself up from rock bottom, and kory falling apart at the seams. 

so anyway, that’s it on this edition of Emmram Tries To Give A Grand Unifying Theory of Titans; let’s move on to the actual episode.

2. rose’s story could’ve been so good, you guys. actually you know what, scratch that (she types, on a computer while having 20+ years’ experience in knowing how to use the backspace key), it’s a great story that got muddled in the process of the show trying to tell a number of great stories all at once. this season has been inexorably building up to dick grayson becoming nightwing, using his unreliable narration to build up suspense as we see him battle personal hangups and the fallout from literal decades of trauma to gain a sense of equilibrium and a renewal of purpose (it can be argued that even now, on the cusp of actually putting on that dang costume, he hasn’t really learned anything--but i’ll get to that later). if this is the main story that this season is trying to tell, then taking two gigantic detours for episode-long flashbacks and building up to jericho’s death as much as they did makes perfect sense. it also makes sense to set slade up as a foil to dick, in that they are both caught up in their heads and make self-absorbed decisions to protect their ‘children’ but dick comes through with the realisation that that’s a crock of bullshit. 

but that’s not the case, is it? there are so many things going on at once but they’re all orbiting around this throughline of ‘dick becoming nightwing’ and so we only get the barest glimpses of some relatively complex character motivations and development going on with the others. 

2.25. in this episode’s flashback (we’re still getting flashbacks! in literally the penultimate episode of the season! god i have never wanted to take a red pen to anything more) we come to a number of weighty realisations: the extent of rose’s powers, her feelings of otherness, her desire to connect with her father so that she doesn’t feel alone in her otherness, how desperate she is to connect with him--so much so that she’s willing to throw away her entire life and undergo physical mutilation in service of his revenge plan--and how...learning exactly how her brother died and... being with jason??? made her change her mind??? ok that last one’s a bit muddled, but i’ll try and make sense of it.

as far as i can see, there are four big turning points in rose’s story so far:

a) that moment in the car when slade invites rose to join him and reveals that he’s basically been funding her ‘normal’ middle class life till that point. i can imagine how destabilising that realisation might be to rose, and why she might think going along with slade, no matter how weird and how abrupt, is how she’s going to live a life true to who she is

b) but imagine actually being taken in by the titans, being given shelter and support and succour by a group that her father had described as ruthless and manipulative. i can imagine her still being on board with slade’s plan, but maybe the reason she didn’t do all that she could’ve possibly done while at the tower to sabotage the titans might be because she’s actually interacting with these people, and while they might be a Hot Mess, they aren’t actively cruel or vindictive. i wish the show had woven in more scenes of rose interacting with the others, of her learning intimate things about their pasts, of her bonding with the younger titans’ struggle with their own ‘freakish’ natures. rose hardly seems to have any presence at all after her intro episode, and that’s a pity.

c) dick’s confession about what actually happened with slade and jericho. it’s more complicated than she was lead to believe--her father was actually complicit in her brother’s death. it’s a very confusing moment for rose, who’s already (probably) feeling the first stirrings of guilt, unsure, really, about her devotion to the father and brother that she’s known only for a little longer than the titans themselves, and slowly coming to the sick realisation that slade used her as a pawn in his game against the titans. 

d) jason latching onto rose is understandable--he saw her as the only person making the effort to connect with him when he was feeling vulnerable and rejected by almost everybody else. jason practically bleeds a need for connection and acceptance. i don’t think rose anticipated that jason would come with her, or be as attached to her as he is--but she sees in him a sensitive and struggling soul baring his heart to her, and in herself the kind of deception and secrecy that she’d originally wanted to rebel against. so she finally comes clean with him, and thinks they should help the titans against her father.

i mean. i might be making some assumptions (actually i’m making a lot of assumptions, to be fair), but i’m just trying to work with what the show’s given us, which is... not insubstantial, but haphazard enough that it’s easy to forget that rose exists sometimes. 

3. i fell asleep right after watching this episode for the first time, and apparently at some point before actually sleeping i appear to have had some kind of Great Insight about it because in the notes app on my phone i typed in “dick bruce concept of justice” with no further explanation.

i’ve spent the better part of this evening trying to retrace my train of thought, and i think it went like this: essentially, i was curious that dick was so broken up about jericho dying that he banished himself to a five year long lonely journey to seek penance that ended with him voluntarily getting himself arrested, but didn’t seem all that cut up about zucco dying or basically ordering the deaths of the scientists at the asylum in 1.07. betraying jericho and the older titans’ trust in him is a far greater burden on him than being responsible for the death of people who have wronged him or hurt the people he loves. but this is also a man who has internalised batman’s mission and ethos for the better part of his life, so he can’t actually come out and admit that. instead the two things come together to form one conclusion: he killed jericho, and he must be punished for it. 

(i also imagine locking himself away in prison was a result of growing up under the influence of batman--who responded to trauma by embarking on rigorous, brutal, solitary journey of penance and extreme self-discipline. batman doesn’t ask for help. batman goes to the batcave and rides it out.)

so when dick finally breaks himself out of jail, it isn’t because he’s come to a great realisation about his self-destructive behaviour (although he’s aware of it on some subconscious level); it’s because he realised the thing he was punishing himself for didn’t actually happen. he hasn’t really learnt a lesson. to be fair, he would need some pretty intensive therapy to untangle the things running through his head, so it seems quite believable that this is the way he gets back on his feet in time to be nightwing.

4. i know people think that the conversation between rachel and kory was awkward, and uh, it kinda was a little bit, but it makes sense that they can talk like that to each other. rachel wants to protect dick but feels confident enough with kory to lash out at her; kory is unafraid to be vulnerable or sad around rachel which just feeds into the trust that rachel has in kory. i don’t know, i thought that conversation was a nice way to both re-establish this dynamic and give some insight into what kory’s feeling.

5. god, mercy graves--a family woman!--tenderly wiping the blood off gar’s chin after having turned him into her own personal killing machine is just... so unsettling on so many levels.

5.5. it continues to KILL me that gar had so much faith in the titans right up to the very moment he had his fucking skull opened up and his brains messed with against his will: an undeserving loyalty to a family who took his easygoing acceptance of their shitty treatment of him at face value and essentially threw him to the wolves. how do you even start recovering from this? i feel like we’ve gone past the point where a few heart-to-hearts could help.

6. man, hank spiralling the way he did was too brutal to be anything but deeply uncomfortable. i’m sure the teenager who bought hank’s suit from him was supposed to inspire hank and remind him of his place and purpose as a titan, but it came off as kind of a cruel joke. hank has been putting his body out on the firing line over and over and over again, and his lesson is to be told that he isn’t putting himself out there enough? yikes.

7. stu and lily and their collective disdain for dick grayson’s drama are my new favourite characters on the show and deserve their own damn spin-off. MAKE IT HAPPEN DC

[no-te-lo-voy-a-dar]

Sibling Jealousy - Chapter 3

Fic’s Summary: Reader has known the Winchesters for a long time, almost two years before Cas entered their lives. After that, since Reader was the only one actually teaching the angel about humanity customs and stuff like that, properly, they developed a closer relationship, on the parent-kid way. But it was never verbally acknowledged. Now, with Lucifer’s child on the way, life stabs some sense and realizations onto Reader, but there’s no time for feelings in this house.

Author’s Note: This is mainly a fic with the purpose of developing a family relationship with the characters, of mutual support, and I don’t plan on adding romance for Reader, because that’s not my final goal.

Pairings(?): Castiel/Reader (Parental like), Jack Kline/Reader (Platonic/Sibling like), Dean and Sam Winchester/Reader (Platonic/Friends)

Warnings: Usual canon violence and conflicts, as well as injuries and blood mentions, emotional struggles such as feeling unloved, like an outcast, low self-esteem issues and if you think something else should be mentioned let me know.

<<Last Chapter — Next Chapter>>

Chapter’s Author’s Note: Guys, you have no idea how happy seeing the notes go up make me. This is getting more attention than I expected tbh, and I can’t thank you enough. Not even 24hrs had gone by and the second chapter already had 30 something notes! That was almost three times faster than the first chapter! So, just because this was done already, I’m giving you the next part!

Chapter Three: He’s just a kid!

Word Count: 1,868

Turns out Castiel wasn’t coming back. And neither were Mary nor Crowley. The good thing is that Lucifer was successfully trapped on the other universe…if that counted as a win.

But you haven’t had time to let it really sink.

After Sam was a little in the room with you, Dean came rushing too, and was quick to point a gun to Jack, and even with you trying to tell him not to shoot him he did and Jack, out of fear you were sure, did some…nephilim magic shit and sent all three of you floating and then crashing against the walls, knocking you out.

The time on the Impala was awful, Dean was angry out of sadness, Sam was worried and trying to reason with him and you were on autopilot. Finding Jack was the priority, you could mourn Cas later.

Sam went inside the fast food place you found on the road, you stayed outside, doing guard as usual, and after some time, Dean got up and went to the back of the store. At first you thought he went there to check too, but when he came back, his knuckles were bloody. He let out some frustration and anger at…whatever is going on.

You also needed to let out some steam or you were going to cry soon, but punching walls wasn’t your thing. A box costal maybe, but not a wall. No, right now for you, punching something and slaying heads might be the best.

…okay, maybe you needed help, but there wasn’t such a thing as a hunters counselors.

Sam got info and found out Jack was on the police station, so you all jumped on the car again after telling hang over girl to let you pass.

—

Not even an hour later you found yourself on a cell with Sam and Jack, who now had some clothes on, and Dean was talking to the local sheriff.

Sam started talking to Jack, and kind of apologized for hurting him (as well as apologizing for Dean’s bullet, even when you were sure the other man wasn’t sorry). You learned angel radio made his head hurt and whatever he was listening to scared him, making his powers coming out in a weird (dangerous) and self-preserving way.

“They are just being the feathered jerks they usually are.” You were salty about them ditching humanity, leaving Castiel and then taking him back just to torture him or make him feel less and then you were just mad at the universe.

“(Y/N)!” Sam was probably reprimanding you for your language, probably.

“What? Most of them are anyway. There are, or, well, were exceptions obviously, like Castiel, Anna for a while, the sporadic neutral angel and even Gabriel.” When most of the ordeal with Gabriel took place you were at Bobby’s, but you came across him in a solo hunt you once took. A salt and burn that happened to take place at the town he was hiding at the moment.

Anyway, Jack seemed to be sure that Castiel was his father, because that’s what Kelly told him, and following the logic on how he called you his sibling as well, he was the proof of how babies did know of the stuff going out outside while they were on the womb. Or maybe that just happened to him because he’s a Nephilim.

Dean entered the cell room, saying how you were allowed to leave, when angels took over the place.

Dean was fighting hang over girl on the main office, and Sam and you were stuck with two others. You put Jack behind both of you and thanks to you being thrown over Sam your hit wasn’t as severe, which allowed you to stand up fast and kill one of the angels.

When you were finally thrown to the wall, Sam took care of the other by using a sigil, which just seemed to hurt Jack a little yet not banish him, and just as you were getting outside the cell, ready to flee, hangover girl appeared. After a few words, she was quick to stab Jack on the chest.

You killed the angel and noticed how Jack pulled the angel blade out of his chest and how quickly he was healing, the weapon doing nothing to him.

You chuckled a little and let out a “Dude, that’s some sick Wolverine healing factor the one you’ve got there.” which just earned you a frown from Dean and a chuckle from Sam. Jack was just utterly confused.

But, the slight light mood was soon over because you went back to the lake house, to burn the bodies of both Kelly and Cas…

You helped with the wood, because you couldn’t look at Cas’ corpse laying, lifeless, graceless, just…dead. He was…gone.

Chopping wood and setting it right kept your mind focused. You left Dean to cover the angel’s body and Sam and Jack took care of Kelly.

Sam tried to explain to Jack what you’re supposed to say at moments like this, and Dean made a sharp comment, making the mood awkward, at least for a while, because not even on your head you could muster a simple thought for Castiel.

You started somewhere and your mind took multiple lines on remembering him, or wanting to say something about certain issues, but you ended on some kind of mental crash because nothing left and you didn’t realize how much you’ve been standing there until Sam tugged at your jacket to get on the Impala, the wood and fire already consumed, along with the bodies over and inside them.

There was no risk at the fire spreading, nor their bodies being used or they becoming ghosts.

—

At some point, you and Jack fell asleep on the back of the Impala, Jack resting his head on your shoulder and you had an arm over him. You only found out because Sam told you, and when you asked for the picture (because it was a thing to have something to blackmail each other) he said he didn’t take one because it slipped his mind while convincing Dean to find a motel to stay in and get some rest.

While eating you and Sam noticed how Jack was imitating Dean while they talked, and weren’t sure what to say when Jack took from a beer bottle, because even if he looked like a teenager, he was, what did he said? 3 days, something hour and…little more than 3 days old.

It was when they came back on the middle of the night and Dean complaining that you found out they tried to give Jack an anti-possession tattoo, but after it was done, his body healed itself, leaving his skin as clean as when he was running naked on the forest.

Donatello caught up with you and helped you find Jack when he went missing due Asmodeus taking him trying to open a gate to Hell.

Luckily you were finally at The Bunker, and went straight to take a shower with warm enough water that left you feeling like you were really clean.

When you came out looking for any of the brothers or Jack, you saw Dean leaving with a bloody knife one of the rooms.

You went to the room Dean left, to find Jack with his shirt shredded and with blood spots around what seemed to be stab marks. But his skin was fine, just like it was after the angel blade and the tattoos try.

So why…

“Jack? Are you alright? Why is…why is your shirt like that?” Did Dean tried to kill you? Was a question you didn’t want to ask but was, hopefully, implied.

“I’m…healed.”

“Okay, wrong question. Did Dean do this to you?” Not so lucky after all.

“No, I, I tried to see if I really couldn’t die. I don’t want more people to get hurt.” After burrowing his eyebrows, Jack added “But Dean did say he would kill me if I, if I went evil.”

Of course he did, the sonofabitch.

You sighed, and went to sit on the bed on the room, patting the place besides you so Jack could sit. He hesitated before joining you, but eventually sat besides you, actually looking you at the eyes. That’s a good sign, maybe.

“Ok, first of all, you shouldn’t go around trying to see what actually hurts you, because some day, you could come across something that does hurt you and if you were stabbing yourself on the chest, that’s not gonna be a good thing.” You took a pause, trying to see a way of phrasing the next thing.

“If we want to protect you, we might need to know what harms you and your healing factor doesn’t fix as quick as everything we’ve seen so far. Just so we can keep you away from those. But stabbing yourself on the chest is a big no, okay?” It was like knowing what harmed Castiel to actually have that in mind while hunting.

“But they don’t want to protect me. Dean said-” oh no, you weren’t allowing that.

“What Dean says right now, is not that much of importance. He still doesn’t know you, so he’s talking out of fear…mainly. And he did say if you go evil. Which you won’t. I hope. I’ll do my best to avoid it.” Great, mumbling and hesitation might not be the best you can offer him right now.

But his face seemed to light up at that idea.

“You mean, if I’m a good person, Dean might, like me?” Oh Chuck, he was really just a kid and so much has been thrown at him already.

“That’s the idea. He’s still kind of an explosive character, but you can warm up to him.” You patted his shoulder as he nodded and were ready to leave, when you heard him talking to you again.

“(Y/N), what do you mean by ‘warm up’ to Dean?” He asked with that head tilt.

You used all of your strength not to sight because that tilt reminded you so much of Cas and you haven’t even cried for him yet, and the fight against angels just let you leave some stress out.

Instead, you turned around from the doorway you were already at, and tried your best at explaining the concept.

He used fancier words when he repeated what you told him or phrased it to what he seemed to understand, which you attributed to the angel side.

“That’s right, and please, don’t think too much about it, just, stay safe. I’m going to my room to sleep, but if you need anything you are welcome to knock on my door…maybe I should show you which one is mine. Come on.” The light brunette boy stood up and went to walk besides you until you signaled him to walk alongside you.

You took him to and from your room, to give him more time to memorize the way. Afterwards, you finally went to sleep, to rest.

You were so tired your mind and body didn’t even focus too much on the fact Castiel wasn’t alive anymore. He was gone.

You were left…alone.

.

.

Sibling’s Tag List: 

@carryon-doctor-lock

(If you wanna be added, please say so in the comment’s section of THIS post)

[seraph-novak]

It’s You

Tyrus Month ~ September 1st, “Sleepover”. 

Also available on AO3 ♥

As soon as Amber opened the door and ushered Cyrus inside, his eyes starting scanning every visible square inch of the Kippens’ house, hoping to catch a glimpse of a certain dirty blond-haired boy. When he’d first discovered that TJ and Amber were siblings, he’d been afraid that the dynamics in their relationships would change, but so far, everything seemed to be going okay. Except for the fact that he was now not only harbouring a crush on his best friend’s past nemesis, but also on his new friend’s brother. He was breaking two classic rules right there, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

“What’re you looking for?” Amber asked, her perfectly intimidating eyebrows drawn together. She was frowning in amusement as Cyrus strained his neck around every corner, mindlessly searching for TJ, but there was a glimmer of suspicion in her eyes as well. Did she know what was going on?

Cyrus slapped on a smile and returned his attention to Amber. Technically, he was here to see her anyway, so it would be rude of him to obsess over TJ all night.

“I was just wondering where the bathroom is?” he lied.

Amber pursed her lips. For a moment, Cyrus was convinced she was going to confront him about TJ, but then a porcelain smile slipped into place.

“There’s one just around the corner,” she said, “and another one opposite TJ’s room upstairs.”

At the mere mention of TJ’s name, Cyrus’ heart started to beat faster. His crush on the older boy was quickly snowballing into dangerous territory; if he didn’t put a stop to it soon, he was at the risk of falling too far. The only thing that kept him from trying to move on was the small chance that TJ might feel the same way. It was a long shot, but Cyrus had definitely been receiving some not-so-subtle signals from TJ lately, and he was determined to figure out what that meant before he completely dismissed the possibility of his crush being reciprocated.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Do you need to go now, or...?”

“I’m good.”

“Alright.” Amber shot him another suspicious look, then shrugged, tossing her blonde waves over her shoulder as she directed him to the living room. “You can just dump your stuff on the couch.”

Cyrus smiled at the collection of basketball trophies adorning the cabinet in the corner of the room, each of them proudly displaying TJ’s name. From the looks of it, they dated back almost nine years. It was adorable to think that TJ had been obsessed with basketball since he was a little kid, and Cyrus couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea of his friend winning games and making his family proud from a young age. He’d always known that TJ was more than just a dumb jock; he had a passion for basketball, not the bad-boy reputation that came with it.

“Those are all TJ’s,” Amber said, waving her hand at the cabinet. “I guess my little brother stole all the talent in the family.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes fondly. “You’re talented too, Amber.”

“At what? Scaring people?”

“I’m sure that’s just one of many talents you possess.”

Amber smirked. “You know, for a gay guy, you really know how to sweet talk a lady.”

“Thanks,” Cyrus said with a laugh. Usually, if someone joked about his sexuality, he got anxious and paranoid. But with Amber, it was different. Ever since she’d confided in Cyrus about her first crush on another girl, their relationship had deepened. Buffy and Andi were still his best friends, of course, but it was nice to have someone who really understood what he was going through.

“Okay.” Amber clapped her hands together, a sly grin tugging at her glossy pink lips. “Let’s get this party started.”

“I don’t think a sleepover counts as a party.”

Cyrus turned at the sound of the familiar voice, his breath catching at the sight of TJ leaning in the doorway with twinkling eyes. He was wearing a baggy jumper and frayed sweatpants, and his usually immaculate hair was damp and messy from the shower, but Cyrus still couldn’t stop staring. His crush was unfairly gorgeous, after all.

“Hey, Underdog,” TJ greeted him. He bit his bottom lip and smiled – a gesture that never failed to make Cyrus tremble with the urge to grab his stupid face and press their lips together.

But instead of jumping the poor guy, he simply said, “Hey.”

“You look good today.”

Cyrus glanced down at his basic shirt and skinny jeans, and struggled to come up with a heterosexual explanation for such an unwarranted compliment. Was TJ blatantly flirting with him on purpose? Did he even care that his older sister was standing right there, shaking her head in disgust?

“Right.” Amber gritted her teeth and shoved TJ into the hallway. “That’s enough, Casanova. Go back to your room.”

TJ threw one last smile over his shoulder. “Seya, Cy.”

“Oh. Um... B-Bye, TJ!”

Once she’d successfully banished her brother, Amber glared at Cyrus. “Can you not encourage him?”

“Huh?”

“He’s clearly messing with you to get on my nerves,” she said, huffing a sigh as she tossed the pillows off the couch and onto the floor, making room for the two of them to sit down. “Just ignore him, and he’ll stop.”

Cyrus deflated slightly. Did Amber really think TJ was only flirting with him to make her angry? It sounded like the sort of thing little brothers did, but what about all the private conversations they’d had at school, when Amber wasn’t around? TJ seemed to flirt with him all the time, regardless of who they were with. Or was he only seeing what he wanted to see? All this thinking was starting to give him a headache...

“I’m gonna order some pizza,” Amber told him. “You can get changed in the downstairs bathroom.”

Cyrus nodded and scuttled off, happy for the distraction.

A couple hours later, he and Amber were curled up on the couch, making their way through the second season of Queer Eye. Empty pizza boxes and cans of diet Coke littered the coffee table, and the smell of pepperoni lingered in the air.

“So,” Amber said, her voice strangely high, like she was about to approach a tricky subject, “do you have a crush on anyone at the moment?”

Cyrus tore his eyes away from the screen. Amber was looking at him with a feral gleam in her eyes, and her mouth was twisted with a smirk. It was quite unsettling.  

“Why do you ask?”

“This is what people do at sleepovers, Cyrus. They talk about their crushes.”

“Well, I don’t have a crush.”

“Liar.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Tell me who it is!”

Cyrus snorted. “Trust me, Amber, you don’t wanna know.”

“Now I’m intrigued.”

“Please, just drop it. I don’t want you to hate me.”

Amber frowned, and Cyrus was afraid he’d given too much away. He fixed his eyes back on the TV, pointedly ignoring his friend as she moved closer and stuck her nose in his face. She was scrutinising him, searching for any sort of clue in his expression, but Cyrus was determined not to break. If he told Amber about his crush – if he told anyone about his crush – then TJ would eventually find out, and everything would be weird and awkward between them. He didn’t want that.

Just as Amber opened her mouth to say something, the microwave pinged in the next room.

“The popcorn’s ready,” she said, moving off the couch with a sigh. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

As soon as she slipped through the door, Cyrus exhaled a shaky breath. His heartrate was almost back to normal when another body dropped into the space where Amber had been sitting.

“I hear you have a crush,” TJ grinned.

Cyrus buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Don’t you start.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You wanna know who my crush is, right? Well, I’m not telling you. It’s private.”

TJ bit back a smirk and shrugged. “It’s okay, Underdog. I have my suspicions already.”

“Y-You do?”

“Yep.” He slung an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders, his smile softening as he flicked his eyes over the younger boy’s face. He looked adorable, and Cyrus couldn’t stand it. “I have a crush too, you know.”

Cyrus gulped. “Oh. Um... That’s really great, TJ.”

“Are you gonna ask me who it is?”

“I...”

“You what?”

Cyrus licked his lips, daring himself to meet TJ’s unwavering gaze. “I have my suspicions.”

TJ chuckled. “If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

“I don’t think –”

“You don’t have to worry,” TJ said, gently cupping the side of Cyrus’ face. He looked strangely vulnerable in that moment, and all Cyrus wanted to do was hold him close and tell him everything was going to be alright. “I mean it, Cy... If I’m right about your crush, you really don’t have to worry. Believe me.”

Cyrus found himself leaning closer to TJ, his eyes trained on the other boy’s mouth. “What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not.”

“How do you know?”

TJ pushed Cyrus’ fringe out of his face, his lips twitching with an affectionate smile. “Do you think I’m wrong?”

“I, um... I-I don’t know...”

“I think you do.”

Cyrus pressed his palms against TJ’s chest, his fingers splaying across the soft, worn fabric of his jumper. His throat was incredibly dry, and his eyes refused to move away from TJ’s mouth. It was like he was caught in a trance, and he didn’t want to be shaken out of it. He knew Amber would be back any second, but he didn’t care. He wanted this. He wanted TJ. And all he had to do was lean forward and –

“Oh my god.” Amber slammed the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table, her glare aimed directly at TJ. “Can you stop flirting with my guest and leave us alone?”

TJ sneered. “Seriously, Amber? You couldn’t give us a minute?”

“Newsflash, baby brother: this is my sleepover!”

“Fine.” TJ gave Cyrus one last look, his hand lingering on his cheek for a moment before sliding away, then got to his feet. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

Cyrus smiled. “Okay.”

As soon as TJ had disappeared, Amber turned her glare on Cyrus. “What did I tell you about encouraging him?”

“Amber, I –”

“Please don’t tell me he’s your crush.”

Cyrus stared down at his hands, his cheeks turning warm. His silence must have been answer enough, because Amber suddenly shuddered and covered her mouth, supressing a gag. When he finally found the courage to speak, she simply waved his words away and said, “I don’t wanna hear it. Let’s just eat popcorn, watch TV, and pretend this never happened.”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely.”

An awkward silence settled over them as they returned their attention to Queer Eye, their slow crunching of popcorn the only sound filling the space between the show. They were almost finished with the second season when Amber reached over and patted Cyrus’ hand. He was almost certain she was about to break his fingers or dig her nails into his flesh, but instead, she squeezed his hand and smiled.

“I’m sorry for giving you a hard time before,” she said, her eyes still watching the screen. “I guess it’s just weird. You’re my only friend, and he’s my only brother. You get what I mean?”

Cyrus nodded. “Yeah, I do. I’m sorry for messing things up.”

“You didn’t.” She glanced over at him, her eyes glittering. “You and TJ are actually perfect for each other. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, but... I think my brother might be smitten with you.”

Cyrus ducked his head. “Well, I don’t know –”

“Stop it, Cyrus. You know I’m right.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “I think I’m just scared to admit it.”

“Why?”

“Because then it’ll be real, and that’s when things start to go wrong.”

Amber grabbed his other hand and looked him dead in the eyes. “You’ll never know unless you give it a go.”

Cyrus didn’t know how to respond to that, so he rested his head against Amber’s shoulder and continued to watch TV. Amber didn’t seem to mind; she simply hooked her chin over Cyrus’ head and started to play with his hair. It was her way of saying ‘I understand you, and I’m here for you’ without having to use any words, and Cyrus was once again reminded why he’d decided to befriend Amber in the first place.

It was bordering on midnight when Amber fell asleep, her hair sticking to her lips as she breathed loudly against Cyrus’ head. He waited a few minutes – just to make sure she wasn’t faking it – then carefully replaced his head with a pillow and lowered her onto the couch.

Cyrus snuck up the stairs and found the room opposite the bathroom. Behind the door, he could hear the quiet hum of music. It wasn’t anything he’d heard before, but he liked the soothing tone of the song.

After a while of pacing up and down the corridor, Cyrus worked up the nerve to knock on the door. Almost instantly, the music went quiet, and the sound of socked-feet padded across the floor. Cyrus sucked in a deep breath and prepared himself. He knew, if he hesitated, he’d never manage to say what he wanted to say, which is why he’d decided to take a leap of faith and stop being scared for once in his life.

TJ opened the door and smiled down at him. “Hey, Underdog. What’s –”

Before TJ could finish his sentence, Cyrus grabbed his stupid face and kissed him, just liked he’d wanted to do for months.

The older boy stilled against him in shock, his arm still casually draped across the doorway. It wasn’t until Cyrus tugged at his hair that TJ got with the program and kissed him back, his hands roaming all over his body before settling on his waist. He yanked Cyrus closer and kissed him hungrily, his warm breath panting against his mouth. By the time they finally broke apart, neither one of them could breathe properly.

“It’s you,” Cyrus said between gasps, his fingers still tangled in TJ’s dirty blond waves. “You’re my crush.”

TJ cradled his face and smiled. “Ditto.”

[el-borealis]

Full Circle - Chapter 1

Read the full fic on AO3 

(currently 17/20 or 21 chapters up) 

Summary: 

At 16, Mike and El were torn from each other as El went into hiding from a resurgence of Brenner's project. Seven years later, Mike had finally moved on. But a chance occurrence on a New York City train throws them together again at the best and worst possible moment, completely changing their trajectories.

--

Please don't do this, El. Please!

You're not safe as long as I'm here. I'm not safe as long as I'm here.

I know but I lo-… Eleven… Just… FUCK! Just…

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Promise you'll find me when you're safe. Promise me.

I Promise.

Eleven, I -

Mike…

"Mike!"

"Wha?!" Mike shot up in bed, his heart racing.

Marissa sighed and buried her head back in her pillow, "You were having that dream again."

"What?" Mike asked, rubbing his hands over his eyes as he blindly reached for his glass of water in the dark.

"Eleven. You yelled Eleven. Again. It's like the third time in a row. What the hell does it mean?" she replied sleepily.

Mike laid back against his pillow restlessly, "Yeah, I… I don't know."

"Weird…" Marissa murmured.

Mike laid in silence in a cold sweat and stared at the streetlights painting the ceiling. The cars six stories below drifted up in white noise through his window. He could not catch his breath.

He curled into a ball on his side and pulled away from Marissa. Her breath tickled the bare skin of his back, but it only worked to make him colder. He bundled the blankets beneath his chin and watched the slowly flashing blue light emanating from his computer on the other end of the warehouse loft. It bleached the memory of her face from his mind and lulled him back to sleep.

The morning came quickly and before he knew it he found himself blearly eyed in front of his screen. "Up so early?" Marissa cooed in his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, an errant strand of brown hair tickling his ear. He fought himself not to be rude and shake her off, but he needed all of the concentration he could muster.

"Yeah, sorry if I woke you. I got paged about an operation and I really need to pay attention," he replied in a distracted monotone.

Marissa sighed and stepped away, "It's like you have a new operation every day," she grumbled as she reached for her skirt.

"…I do have a new operation every day," Mike replied matter of factly.

"I still think what you're doing is… well, not illegal I guess, but legally dubious, yeah?" she replied with annoyance. Mike gritted his teeth but chose not to respond. The topic had only gotten them in more and more awkward fights as she'd learned more about his work. He didn't have the time or energy to have another go around on it this morning.

She rummaged through the pile of haphazardly strewn laundry at the foot of his bed, located her shirt and worked to turn it back from inside out, "Anyway…" she sighed, "I'm going to head out."

"Okay," he said as he quickly looked over his shoulder and threw her an apologetic smile, "Sorry I got caught in this. I know we'd planned on having breakfast but…"

"It's fine," she said, though he could swear he saw her rolling her eyes, "Oh hey, Mike? Did you still… want to come with me this weekend?"

"What's this weekend?" he asked, his eyes back on the code on his screen.

"Um… Christmas? It's Christmas. Meeting my family? Do you remember?" she said quietly.

"Uh… Oh yeah. Um… Yeah, Of course," Mike replied, his eyes back on Marissa. He watched her as she brushed her fingers through her short brown hair and smoothed it to the side with the remnants of yesterday's product. She really was lovely, he thought, and she didn't look like… like her… at all. No matter what Dustin had said when he'd visited a few weeks back.

"Okay, great," she smiled shyly, "I'm supposed to talk to my mom today so I'll page you when I have the information and you can call me?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Mike said, turning once again to his computer screen.

"Okay…" she said tentatively, "Well… Bye."

"You too," he mumbled, fully back in the swing of staring at the code.

The door opened and closed quietly, and his head immediately dropped to his desk. "Shit."

Christmas. Family. What a disaster. What was he doing? Was he leading her on? And what the fuck was with these dreams? It had happened every night for the last, what? Two weeks? It didn't make sense. It had been years since he'd dreamed about her regularly.

She swam through his mind as he stared at the screen, making it impossible for him to focus. Her mop of curls and shy smile puffed up like smoke out of foggy memories and had slowly grown into technicolor, brighter and more vivid with each passing night. After so many nights in a row he felt like he could almost smell her shampoo again. And with it, the callous on his heart from her abrupt departure cracked a bit with small waves of angst and longing. To be honest, it was maddening.

He didn't like to admit it, but it had taken him years to move on and banish everything to the past. Everyone at M.I.T. had thought Mike was gay throughout his entire college career. His seeming lack of interest in girls was legendary, and was greatly confusing to everyone he knew given the fact that he'd matured into a pretty good looking, and really funny, guy. He had cursed himself over and over and tried to push past it, but the truth was that he just… couldn't give up hope that she'd come back for him.

But time and age did have a way of fading past priorities… or rather, accepting the things he could not change. And around Day 2,000 it finally sunk in that she wasn't coming back.

And with that, he opened up to options and along had come Marissa. She was a brain and had a publishing internship at a bookseller in midtown. They'd met through a mutual friend during Mike's first week in New York during the past summer, right after he'd graduated college. It was a fully fresh start. And it had been great. She was witty, intelligent, decently nerdy and very cute. And after about six months together it was all going great… or at least fine?

Then what the fuck were these dreams about?

Mike sighed, stood up and crossed to the oversized and ancient warehouse window. Using both arms, he laboriously cracked one of the huge windows to get a breath of fresh air. Hell's Kitchen was alive below. Traffic backed up on 12th Avenue, boats buzzing in and out of the docks on the Hudson. It was a unique living situation, to say the least, but the appeal of living in a hacker community and operating out of a completely secure building was something he couldn't pass up. The place was Fort Knox as far as the technology protocols. It was safer to do his work here than he could have ever asked for, allowing him full ability to focus on his 'project'. And in return, all they asked of him was a few hours each morning to do the 'legally dubious' hacking they needed from him.

He was so close to completing what he had been working on for so long. If he could only find a way to tell her.

Mike's eyes fell on his old Supercomm propped on an overturned box by his bed.

"Pull it together, Wheeler. She's not going to be listening on that fucking radio. She's not 13. You're not 13."

---

Jane sat in the windowsill of the dilapidated warehouse, overlooking the piers and docks on the river. The city was always busy in the morning, even in the water. Despite the realities surrounding her life, a small smile played upon her lips. New York was a foreign site, like all of the others, but it felt oddly welcoming. After all of the anonymous cities and backwoods cabins and any and every place that had served as a good hiding spot, she had prepared herself for New York to feel hostile, just like all of the rest. Maybe it was the energy. Maybe it was the fact that she was so close to succeeding after all of these years. So close to safe. But New York felt different. She could feel it in her bones. There was something in the air that made her feel hopeful, alive, and a bit more whole.

"Any peep out of the girl?" Kali asked quietly as she moved to join Jane in the window sill.

Jane tore her eyes from the river, turned to Kali and shook her head, "Not yet."

Kali groaned, "You're sure she can be trusted?"

"Yes, I can feel that she's good," Jane insisted, for the 20th time in three days.

"Well, you were good. And I was good. So… it's possible, I guess," Kali said with a placating smile as she looked in the direction of the threadbare mattress and the small sleeping girl, "But she hasn't said a word in five days."

"Did you say a word for five days after you escaped?" Jane replied curtly, throwing Kali a look. "I know I hardly did. And yes she has talked, just not to you. You scare her."

"Yeah..." Kali nodded and ran her fingers through her untamable hair, "I just don't want this to turn out like last time."

A familiar knife twisted in Jane's chest. She swallowed hard, "It won't."

"Mike?" a small voice muttered from the other side of the room.

Jane looked over her shoulder to the small girl stirring and patting her hand around her on the bed, searching. "I see him," Jane called as she jumped up and crossed to the mattress. Jane bent down, grabbed her old teddy bear, and gently handed it to her girl, "Here you go, Sev. He's doing a good job keeping you safe, huh?"

The small girl's eyes opened as she took Jane's bear and she smiled tentatively, "Thank you."

Jane nodded kindly, "Are you hungry? I have Eggos."

"No Eggos," the girl replied, shaking her head into her pillow.

"What's wrong with Eggos?" Jane asked in surprise.

"Too many Eggos," Sev whined quietly.

"Never too many Eggos," Jane said with mock insult, "I'll get you a granola bar." The small girl nodded and closed her eyes again.

Jane bit her lip as she rose and walked to their makeshift kitchen. Kali was right, they needed to start pushing the girl. It had been almost a week since 017 had successfully escaped the New York lab, which she seemed to have done in a shockingly easy manner. The girl was clearly powerful and cunning, or so she had seemed to demonstrate through her escape. However, she hadn't shown anything but fear and exhaustion in the days since she had tracked Jane to their new concealed location.

They needed to get her to talk if they were going to finish this. They were so achingly close. Closer than they had ever been to ending it all. It was clear, however, that they were operating more and more on borrowed time with each day that Sev remained mum about the details they needed. Kali was having to work her powers on overtime to keep their whereabouts untraceable, and Jane could tell it was taking a toll on her. They needed to finish this, fast.

Kali and Jane had been extremely nervous and alert upon Sev's arrival to their new hideout in New York City. They had been fully prepared for a trap. Kali had been less than enthused by the plan that Jane had created on her toes in the fly, but accepted it begrudgingly as they could back out if things didn't go to plan and conceal their escape. It was much less dangerous than their last attempt at anything like this, and the potential gain of having 017 with them was immense.

But when the small girl arrived no one was with her, and no one had seemed to follow. And as such, as the first couple of days progressed a huge bloom of hope prospered in Jane's chest. She saw the familiar trauma in the girl's eyes, a look she had never seen on another face, but knew full well was a shadow of her own first days of freedom. They had gained a new sister. A new sister who could help them as they helped her.

But in the last couple of days, the bloom had started to wilt as the girl refused to talk time and again. More and more Jane couldn't shake off the feeling that they were sitting ducks.

She was so small, so frail. It was jarring to imagine how much she must have resembled Jane when she herself had just escaped. She couldn't have been older than ten years, stark blue eyes and a shaved head with miniscule strands of chestnut hair. So painfully young. But even so, she had shown herself to be the best tracker any of the labs had created since 011 herself.

Jane would know. She'd met every single one of them in the Void.

Most of them hadn't been able to make sense of what they were seeing when Jane made it clear she could see them back, but Sev had understood immediately.

"Help," the small girl whispered as Jane appeared to her for the first time. Her body encased in the same old sensory deprivation suit she herself remembered too well. A deep chill raised up Jane's spine.

Back in the reality dimension, Jane grabbed Kali's hand hard. Kali's understood in an instant, and her eyes dropped shut in order to obscure the conversation from the signal.

"You're safe with me. They can't hear you." Jane replied to the girl, "Who are you?"

The small girl tentatively raised her arm. 017 etched into her skin. Jane raised her own arm and peeled back her sleeve to reveal 011.

"Did they send you to find me?" Jane asked. The girl nodded. "Is this your first try?" The girl nodded again.

Jane sighed as a rush of nervousness laced through her veins. They were getting better. Too good. There wasn't any time left anymore.

"Do you want to get out of there?" Jane asked carefully, "I can help you. Escape?"

The girl nodded adamantly, tears materializing at the edges of her eyes, "Help," she whispered again.

Jane's resolve wavered. Her fear of being tracked was quickly drowned out by the aching she felt for the innocent young girl. Every other tracker she had met in The Void had been older, more sinister and aggressive, and clearly less skilled. She had never before felt as though one of them was a mirror of her own self.

It was dangerous, insanely dangerous, to trust the girl to be real. She knew it all too well. She thought fast.

"017, can I call you Sev? Short for Seventeen? A nickname?" Jane asked tentatively.

The girl stared at her blankly.

"I'm El, short for Eleven, just like you," she said with a smile.

"Oh," Sev said, thinking hard. She ultimately nodded.

"Okay," Jane replied with a warm smile, trying with all of her might to calm the girl. She walked closer to the girl and sat within the water of the Void, "Sev, have you ever tracked someone without the bath?"

"Yes," she replied with a stutter.

"Good, that's really good!" Jane replied in surprise. She scooted herself closer as she made a plan on the fly, "Sev, I need you to do that, okay? I need you to track your captors and learn their routes. Can you do that?"

The girl began to shake, fear rising to her face.

"I know it's hard and scary, but I need you to learn how they get out of the building, and then in…in three days I need you to come back to me and we'll make a plan to get you out of there. Can you do that?"

017 swallowed hard as a terror filled tear spilled from her eyes.

"You can do it," Jane replied encouragingly, "I believe in you. If you do it and you get out I'll let you track me and you can find me. I can kind of tell where you are, but not quite, so I'll be really close. Come back to me in three days?"

The little girl nodded, glancing over her shoulder nervously.

"And Sev," Jane added abruptly, "Do not tell Papa anything. Do not tell him you saw me. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she whispered shakily.

"Good. Promise me you won't tell Papa," Jane repeated softly leaning in as closely as she could.

"Promise?"

"It means something that you can't break. Ever."

"P-promise," the girl stammered.

"Find me in three days, Sev. I'll be close. Follow them. Remember. You saw nothing. Don't tell Papa."

The girl swallowed and nodded frantically as she faded from view.

Jane never expected the girl would escape in such a clean manner. No deaths, no instant triggers. A perfectly executed escape. Jane herself had usually made quite the scene with her own interactions with the labs, from the very beginning. Stealth was not her strong suit. Her new small sister was clearly more powerful than she let on as she sat doe eyed on the mattress, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and positively swimming in Jane's ratty hand me down Replacements t-shirt.

Jane grabbed the final granola bar and a Hi-C and returned to the edge of Sev's bed. "Sev, here's breakfast."

Sev arose slowly, Mike the Bear still held tightly in the crook of her arm. She took the granola bar and munched quietly as she looked at Jane.

"Sev, if I let you sleep late will you help me today? Find the bad men? We have to find them soon if we're going to keep you safe." The girl was silent as she chewed her granola bar.

"No," she said quietly.

Jane sighed, "Okay… Sev, we have to talk about this or we're not safe."

"Tomorrow?" the girl asked.

"Do you promise?" Jane asked carefully.

Sev grimaced and paused, fear rolling through her eyes. She shut her eyes tightly for a moment before looking back at Jane. "I… promise."

"Okay. Tomorrow then. Get some rest," Jane replied, stress rising into her chest.

Sev nodded and laid back down, pulling the bear deeper into her embrace.

Jane rose from the edge of the mattress and crossed to the other side of the room where Kali sat with a sour face.

"Well?" Kali asked.

"Tomorrow…" Jane replied with a sigh, "But she promised."

"What the hell does that matter?" Kali exclaimed, a little too loud.

"Shh, she's sleeping. She'll keep the promise," Jane avoided Kali's eyes, though she could have drawn a picture of the face she was surely receiving.

"We don't have the time, Jane," she barked in a whisper.

"I KNOW," Jane snapped, "It will be tomorrow. Promise."

Kali sighed, "If I'm going to do this another day I need supplies. I'm running low on energy and we hardly have anything left."

"Can you make me a list?" Jane asked. Kali nodded and crossed the room to their messy pile of supplies. She rummaged out a pen and paper and scratched down a few necessities as Jane wrestled on her oversized winter coat.

Kali returned and shoved the list into Jane's hand, "Wear a wig and please don't draw any attention to yourself. Be careful."

"I know," Jane huffed, "I'm always careful."

"You're usually careful," Kali corrected with a smirk, "Be careful today."

Jane nodded and crossed to her set of wigs, "Just keep her safe, will you? I'll be back soon."

---

Mike cursed under his breath as the train trundled through the cold mid-morning tunnel. This was… stupid. But he could find no way out of it. Ted Wheeler's old college buddy Sal was intent on finding Mike a 'suitable job', and that definitely meant exactly what it sounded like. Suit. Tie. The man. 9-5. Two weeks vacation. Pension. Retirement. Early Death. It wasn't happening.

So why was he on this train at ten in the morning dragging his ass to 44th and 8th Ave for a coffee? He honestly couldn't answer it for himself. He had pushed it off four times in the six months that he'd been in the city. But if he pushed it off once more his dad might actually call him and talk to him just to give him shit, and a phone call with Ted Wheeler was literally the last thing he wanted. A 45-minute coffee would have to do. Though he had made sure not to comb his unruly mop of hair, and he was certain the hoodie and jeans he was wearing were going to be seen as scandalous. That was, honestly, the point.

"42nd Street / 8th Avenue" the voice rumbled over the intercom. Mike begrudgingly stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and exited the train car.

----

"50th Street Station - This is a downtown bound A Train"

The choppy train intercom blared as she stepped into the grubby train car. She absolutely loved the train. It was electrifying watching little girls play cat's cradle next to a businessman reading the Times, next to a junkie who was still riding the train after sleeping in it the night before. All of it topped off with erratic graffiti. Everyone was anonymous. Everyone was a stranger. It was so incredibly freeing.

She ran her fingers through her straight blond wig. Of all of her disguises, her first was still her favorite.

"42nd Street / 8th Avenue"

The train began to slow as they reached the station.

"Hey! My purse! Get off!" A small woman shrieked as the junkie who had recently been passed out made a fast and sloppy attempt at a snatch. The train erupted in screams from the small schoolgirls as they tried to back away.

"Shit," Jane grumbled as she scanned the room for a heavy object. A hardcopy of John Grisham's 'The Client' flew from an elderly man's hands through the air at full speed and smacked the perpetrator in the face, rendering him unconscious.

The doors opened.

----

Mike dragged his feet as he slowly made his way down the platform toward the stairs. A rush of wind smashed against his face, making his hair fly as a train careened out of the tunnel on the downtown track to his left. "Good," he thought, "Make me look messier."

The train came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal intense commotion. He watched with surprise as a book flew through half of the train car and hit a man square in the face, clocking him out cold.

"Good aim..." he said to himself with a laugh.

A throng of schoolgirls ran screaming from the train car and almost bowled him over. A small old woman huffed, kicked the man on the ground, and lumbered her way out of the train. A pretty young blonde woman by the door wiped her nose casually as she turned away from the commotion and toward the exit.

Mike's feet froze where he stood as he gazed in shock at the young woman hanging her arm casually from the strap of the train car. He watched, transfixed, as she tucked a blond strand of hair behind her ear, revealing her always delicate profile. She was draped in an oversized and unbuttoned grey peacoat, the same old Clash t-shirt she had worn every day of 10th grade peeking out from underneath. It had been seven years, but it didn't matter her age. He would have recognized the arch of her cupid's bow lips and almond eyes anywhere, at any age. She was just as beautiful as the day she'd left.

He gasped and watched in agony as the doors of the train closed between them.

"El!" he called suddenly, his feet taking him hypnotically after the moving train.

El Hopper looked out the window as the train began to move and locked eyes with him. He could swear he watched her lips mouth his name as the train sped out of the station.

Read more on AO3 or ff.net

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A Barrage of Buffy

Because I am a great big geek, one of my personal goals is to read all of the novels inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the second in a series of posts collecting relatively short reviews of these books. All of the following are set during the show’s third season.

Obsidian Fate by Diana G. Gallagher In 1520, a Spaniard conveying stolen Aztec treasure to a secret hiding place was killed by a mudslide while holding a particular obsidian mirror. Now, his remains have been found in an archaeological dig in Sunnydale. It turns out that the mirror contains the essence of the Aztec god of night, Tezcatlipoca, who quickly makes a graduate student working on the dig his High Priestess and adopts a jaguar form to prowl around and do some chomps. The gang must prevent his brainwashed followers from offering enough human sacrifices to empower Tezcatlipoca to banish the sun forever.

There were definitely things I liked about Obsidian Fate. I liked that Buffy is worrying about her friends leaving for distant universities and colleges and trying to figure out what she herself is going to do. I liked that Angel has begun to think about moving away to let Buffy live her life. I liked that Giles is still grieving Jenny. A lot of the characterization and dialogue was good—especially Oz, which is pretty difficult to do. Surprisingly, Kendra and Faith both get a mention, though the latter is nowhere to be seen (and this is all set before she goes bad). No Wesley at all. It’s also really neat that the Mayor and Mr. Trick are facilitating Tezcatlipoca’s rise!

But oh man, so many descriptions of temples and stones and boulders and pillars. It’s very tedious. Also, one of their fellow students has become temporary host to part of Tezcatlipoca’s essence and plans to sexually assault Willow prior to sacrificing her. Nobody, besides Oz, seems to be quite as pissed off about this as they should be. Lastly, a subplot about how one of Buffy’s prophetic dreams showed Angel’s demise offers zero suspense. Still, their reunion on the final page does produce a genuinely cute moment.

Is this one worth a read? Eh, it could be worse.

Power of Persuasion by Elizabeth Massie This was a bit of a clunker, I’m afraid. The awkward teen daughter of a culinarily disinclined restaurant owner grows fed up with catering to her incompetent father’s whims and, by chanting supplications whilst surrounded by random items from the restaurant’s pantry, somehow successfully summons a Greek goddess and her two muse daughters to help her change things. They proceed to compel a lot of female students (including Willow) to join their “womyn power” crusade, which mostly involves campaigning for girls to have the right to try out for the vacancies on boys’ teams that arise when male athletes keep turning up dead.

Many of these Buffy media tie-in novels have similarly mediocre plots, but are usually made more tolerable by the author having the ability to capture how characters speak and interact. Not so much here, unfortunately. I appreciated that with Willow, Giles, and Xander falling under the sway of the villains and Angel out of town, Buffy had to rely on Cordelia and Oz to help her. But, while Cordelia’s scenes were fine, much of Oz’s dialogue and demeanor seemed wrong to me. Also, some weird abilities are ascribed to vampires, like one scene where a struggling vamp leaves scorch marks where her heels have dug into the earth.

I suppose the best praise I can muster is, “It’s pretty lame, but at least it’s short.”

Prime Evil by Diana G. Gallagher Seldom have I read a book so starkly divided between enjoyable parts and excruciating parts!

Set after “Doppelgangland,” the plot of Prime Evil involves a witch attuned to “primal magick” who was first born 19,000 years ago and who keeps being reincarnated and gathering sacrificial followers in an attempt to access “the source.” Her current identity is Crystal Gordon, a new history teacher at Sunnydale High, and her latest crop of doomed devotees is composed entirely of students. Obviously, it’s the Scooby Gang’s job to stop her.

First, the good. Most of the scenes with the main characters are fun, with dialogue that I could easily hear in the actors’ voices. Anya and Joyce have significant roles, and there was notable awkwardness between the latter and Giles. Although this was presumably the result of their dalliance in “Band Candy,” I liked that the explanation wasn’t explicitly stated. I thought it was interesting that Crystal tempts Willow to join her disciples by promising a cure for Oz, and I did have to snicker at a scene in which Angel, for the sake of expedience in getting to safety, has to sling Xander over his shoulder.

The bad, however, cannot be denied. There are many tedious flashbacks to Crystal’s past incarnations and these quickly became literally groan-inducing. In addition, the theoretically climactic magical battle at the end is full of prose like “The great source-river of wild magick coursed in violent abandon through the orbits of comets so ancient and distant they had never been warmed by the sun” and succeeded only in making me profoundly sleepy.

In summation… zzz.

Resurrecting Ravana by Ray Garton A rash of cattle mutilations has the Scooby Gang suspecting hellhound activity, but when several people turn up eaten, after each has spontaneously killed their dearest friend, it’s clear something else is up. There’s more of a mystery here than these books generally offer, with a plot that features Hindu gods, an elderly collector of magical artifacts, his lonely granddaughter, and a certain statue that can resurrect a deity who will reward one richly for this service (and whose minions will kill everyone else).

Along the way, a new guidance counselor of Indian descent is introduced (replacing the guy who got killed in “Beauty and the Beasts”). At first, I thought this was going to be another one of those “Willow falls under the sway of a new female staff/faculty member who is secretly evil” storylines, but, refreshingly, that did not turn out to be the case. Willow just talks to her about problems with her relationship with Buffy, which come to a head in a couple of full-on brawls in the library. It takes a really long time for anyone to put together that their situation parallels the murders/devourings happening elsewhere in town, but it does lead to a nice final moment for the book.

Characterization is spotty. Pretty much each character has a moment that feels especially right as well as one that feels especially wrong. Xander and Cordelia’s bickering is even nastier than usual, and it’s never outright said that they’re being affected by the same creatures who manipulated Buffy and Willow. That said, I did enjoy all of Buffy’s interactions with her mother, particularly a late-night trip to Denny’s. All in all, Resurrecting Ravana wasn’t bad!

Return to Chaos by Craig Shaw Gardner Return to Chaos is a bit different from most of the other Buffy tie-in books I’ve read. Instead of a new big villain coming to town, the plot is mostly about some new allies coming to town. A quartet of Druids, specifically, consisting of an older guy named George and his three nephews, one of whom develops feelings for Buffy. George wants to enlists the Slayer’s help in performing a spell on the Hellmouth that will supposedly prevent bad things from crossing over, but he’s really vague about his plans, and it soon becomes evident that he isn’t in his right mind. The nephews genuinely are allies, though, which is kind of refreshing.

This book was written in 1998, and it seems that the author was not privy to much that was going to happen in season three. A couple of vague references are made to Angel coming back, and about Buffy trying to move on romantically, but Xander and Cordelia are still very much together as a couple. That would put this somewhere between “Beauty and the Beasts” (episode four) and “Lover’s Walk” (episode eight), except that it is very clearly spring and we know that “Amends” (episode ten) is Christmas. Oopsies. There are a couple of other small errors, too, concerning Buffy’s eye color and Giles’ glasses.

This is another book in which there’s more of Oz than I’d been expecting. Some of his scenes and thoughts are okay, and I appreciated that the author wrote a teensy bit about Oz’s family, but at other times he just seems far too verbose. (This, combined with the errors mentioned above, makes me wonder just how familiar the author was with these characters.) Cordelia has a subplot of her own, as well, in which she falls under the thrall of a former rival turned vampire. The Druids recognize that the vampire is using a “mastery” spell, which is likened to the power Drusilla exhibited when she was able to kill Kendra so easily. I thought that was kind of neat.

In the end, despite some flaws, it turned out to be pretty decent.

Revenant by Mel Odom In 1853, 35 Chinese laborers were killed in a mine cave-in on a site owned by some of Sunnydale’s forefathers. The incident was covered up and families were unable to provide their loved ones with a proper burial. Now, the unquiet spirits of those men want vengeance on the owners’ descendants and have managed to communicate with the troubled brother of one of Willow’s friends, who enlists her help. Honestly, this plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but there’s a rich importer involved (who’s receiving help from the mayor) and chanting and statues and dragons and warehouses what go boom and demons that turn into goop.

Sometimes, Odom has a bit of trouble with characterization—Oz’s dialogue often doesn’t feel quite right, and sometimes Buffy comes off as vapid, like an early scene where she’s worried about her hair while Willow is running for her life—but other scenes are spot-on. I particularly liked a moment where Giles is forced to hotwire a truck (“I was not always a good boy”) and the final scene wherein Xander attempts to parlay his latest romantic disappointment into Buffy’s half of a Twinkie they’re sharing. Odom also incorporates and elaborates on some of the issues characters are worrying about at this point in the show: Buffy ponders her future with Angel, Xander dreads being left behind after graduation, and Cordelia seeks to avoid trouble at home by helping with research. The action scenes are easy to envision, as well.

Unlike most other books set during this season, the brief Xander/Willow fling and its fallout are acknowledged. Like the others, neither Faith nor Wesley is mentioned, and the former’s absence is particularly glaring, given the evident difficulty of the big battle. Still, Revenant ended up being a pleasant surprise.

By: Michelle Smith