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inventors-fair · 5 years ago

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Let’s Talk Flavor: Commentary

I would say overall that most of these cards were fantastic and a great number of the story ideas were good. There will be parts where I suggest edits, and the thing about story edits is, well, it doesn’t impact game design. That’s the thing about the Fair and the thing about Magic in general: the whole thing could be replicated with number systems and program lines and it would be the exact same. It’s the fact that a creature has Flying, or that a spell is made of Lightning that makes the game exciting. This was an interesting experiment.

Let’s talk about cards!

@ace-hobo — Captain’s Wrench

This is a perfectly fine card. I like the “fixed” Voltaic Key style, the moderate power level. It’s a card that someone would probably be middling in artifact decks but fine in budget builds. I’m sort of feeling an Ixalan vibe, maybe with a little steampunkishness. I get that the wrench belongs to De, but it’s a little confusing regarding why they have the wrench. If they’re the captain and they’re not in the engine room, why is the card depicting a tool that would suit them better if they never left the engine room? Maybe the story should be about how DESPITE their captain status, they spend time in the engine room. It’s an easy enough tweak.

@cas-420 — Boiling Blood

The card is pretty good. It’s very aggressive and has synergistic potential. I really don’t see where the flavor is tying into it. I am favorably inclined towards your text, in concept. I can see where you were making the pun on “execution.” The wording is clunky with the repeated syntax, and could have just used the execution line. But what does that have to do with the card? The flavor evokes dissent, protest, retaliation. The flavor of the card evokes speed, purpose, initiative. It’s not a perfect tonal match. I would save the text for a different card with a clearer purpose

@dabudder — Wisdom of the Tides

In terms of card wording, I believe you’d be looking for something like Mysteries of the Deep, where you have an “instead” wording — unless you’re supposed to draw an additional card after? It’s a little confusing how you have it now. Still, Flourish is a fine mechanic, executed well. This was pretty close to being a runner-up. I like the nod towards crabs. We��ve been having a crab mood lately. Overall, not bad. Might need to be four mana, but that’s me being cautious.

@deafeningsandwichpeach — Jyska, Artificer Overlord

The name is probably the best thing about this card, and it’s fair enough for a legendary creature. Considering that this is essentially the Nim ability from original Mirrodin and that it’s a vanilla creature otherwise, I would contest that you’re severely overestimating the power level of this card. It’s not as strong as it seems. In terms of flavor text, this is basically exposition. I won’t dissuade you from story-rich cards, but there’s too much information presented in a manner that overloads the reader. Simplify, punch, beat, punctuate. In terms of presentation, the whole block should be in quotes, and you don’t need to attribute the quote if the character’s on the card itself.

@demimonde-semigoddess — Thaw

Great name, great snow flavor. I can see this in the tundra wastes, something emerging from the snow, bursting out. I had to do some digging. As it turns out, “gelid” is a real English word I had no idea about! I thought from the shackles and your flavor text that it was some Coldsnap lore. In terms of the text itself, it’s not bad. It’s just that the two statements are somewhat disconnected. They work both on their own, but together, they don’t gel well. Still, bonus points to mechanical flavor for an anti-ice feel.

@dimestoretajic — Phytotemple

The card is pretty funky for an uncommon, pushed but not busted. I’d call it a pain in the butt but no more than Wayfaring Temple. Ah, I see, the wayfarers, an homage. But there’s a lot I don’t understand. Who lost the wayfarers? Who’s saying this quote? Why did the phytotemples start appearing in general? Did the original wayfaring temples break into them? What does Selesnya have to do with construction crews? How is that related to the phytotemple’s physiology and motivation? Most importantly, why is there a street named after a Selesnya dissident? I think you should have focused on one specific area of the card’s backstory.

@emmypupcake — Bloom Nurturer

I was really surprised that there wasn’t a card already named this. In terms of card wording, look at High Tide or Bubbling Muck; I think it would read “Until end of turn, whenever you tap a Forest for mana, add an additional G.” The quote doesn’t light my world on fire, but it fits well and reads well. Just remember to indent the attribution with shift+enter. Overall? Good enough.

@fractured-infinity — Shara, Skalla Vengeant

I had to do a little digging, but I like how you incorporated Vivien’s lore in here. That said, Skalla is also, well, destroyed, presumably forever. Where did the spirit come from? Is it wandering around Skalla? In that case, did Vivien go back? Why? That raises a couple questions. In terms of this card, it’s broken. In anything but the most pushed Commander formats, it’s three mana to deal seven damage to any creature you want with minimal repercussions. Any prevention makes her impossible to deal with. In limited, she would sweep unfairly.

@ghost31415926535 — Man-Eater Wurm

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the flavor bar being in the middle of the line. That’s my bad. Let’s talk about the rest of the card. In concept, it shouldn’t be too overpowered. But deathtouch and trample together create complex rules baggage that many casual players simply don’t understand. Nine times out of ten, they’ll never be printed together. Seeing that this is exactly how you submitted it, consider for next time: Only the first keyword needs to be capitalized in a string. Something like Unearth needs its own line. The flavor text is standard enough. Just remember that quote attribution also needs its own line.

@gollumni — Gives You Hell

I love the name here. I got that All-American Rejects song stuck in my head now. Remember that one? Anyway. Firstly, you don’t need to put “target” there; “Enchant creature” implies it. Secondly, and least importantly, don’t forget you can add watermarks in MSE! Thirdly, the flavor text. I get it, but it doesn’t flow great. If there was some wordplay to be done on fire-spitting and whatever turn of phrase you used, like, “spitting poison” in the literal sense — I don’t know, I just expect something a little more concise. It’s a great concept and has the potential to be very funny, so points there. Also, the card itself? Fantastic.

@greensunzenith — Decorated Demon

Liking the name. I don’t like how this card has to be a rare. It’s more of an annoyance than anything. It feels like a card that prevents decisions. It’s not aggressive, nor is it particularly interactive. Conceptually it works, but I’m not in favor. The flavor text is a bit of a head-scratcher. The real question is: who is giving demons sigils? How do they become redeemed? On what world CAN demons become redeemed? This isn’t a Bant thing, is it? I’m a little lost as to the specifics, since it doesn’t play into any tropes and doesn’t inform the world in a recognizable way.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Goblin Decorator

If the flavor text had simply been, in quotes, “Earwigs would go so well with that wallpaper!”, then this card could have been a runner-up. Also, this should definitely be an uncommon. The effect is awesome and powerful and annoying and plays into a variety of strategies. Still, the flavor text is just...too much. It’s a lot of text that tells a story that doesn’t really need to be told. We get enough from the name and that last sentence, combined with a fun ability that matches the card. That’s all we need! Gotta simplify.

@ignorantturtlegaming — Dust, Revenant Force

For future cards, I would highly recommend reading up on design philosophy, what Magic’s colors are about, and how cards come into being. There are a lot of questions that this card raises, and a lot of things that need to be edited.

Green doesn’t get first strike, certainly not mono-green.

Why does this card cost five green mana? What does it provide for the limited/constructed environment?

It should be “Fox Warrior.”

The first thing about the flavor text is that there is far too much of it. It’s exposition for exposition’s sake. Fine in a high fantasy short story, but not on a Magic card.

The second thing about the flavor text is that Dust appears to be a white-aligned character through their actions and themes. I don’t feel anything green about them.

@juggernaut-is-a-metalhead — Devil’s Payment

I’m going easy on card art attribution since, well, it’s Disney and they are indeed evil, but in the future, please attribute it to the show itself and/or the director/copyright holder. So, the card itself. Is it supposed to be a common? Is it an homage to Cruel Bargain and Infernal Contract? This certainly isn’t a common effect, and for one mana, well, I don’t know what to say about this card. In terms of the flavor text, why is everything separated in lines like a poem? It’s way too long to fit into a card with three lines of rules text already. I don’t really understand what it’s even trying to say. The devil asked for the MAN’S youth. What does that has to do with his own? And why is it only sometimes capitalized? I don’t really understand this at all.

@koth-of-the-hammerpants — Hidden Bombardier

Great name. For the card text, it’s powerful, arguably fine in the right format, but very strong regardless. It also needs to say “It deals 3 damage” instead of just “Deal.” Gotta get past the 90′s, erryone. So now, the flavor text... I kinda get it? I just don’t understand what makes this card a shapeshifter. I don’t understand the world in which shapeshifters exist. This card feels like a Goblin. It’s an interesting kamikaze take, if a little too flowery and on-the-nose. It doesn’t exactly inform me, and it doesn’t exactly excite me.

@mardu-lesbian — Ballynock Adoptee

I had to look up to make sure that there were dwarfs on Lorwyn, and by golly, you’re right, there are! In RW hybrid in Eventide, anyway. And that brings up to a major story problem. By the introduction of dwarfs, the world has already plunged into Shadowmoor, and the thoughtweft has already been replaced with the mindweft. I’m stealing this from the wiki, so berate me if I’m wrong, but I always got the sense that the kithkin were highly xenophobic regardless of where the Great Aurora was. The jarring question that remains is: how does a non-kithkin creature become part of the thoughtweft/mindweft? It goes against what we know about the Kithkin and the world in general. If there’s a good explanation, I’m all ears, but I’m not convinced at this point in time.

@mistershinyobject — Phenax’s Messenger

Bonus judge trivia time: I studied Latin in high school and a little in college. From what I can tell about The Callapheia from other cards bearing it’s flavor text, it is meant to evoke classical poetry from Greek and Latin epics. The lines are written four at a time, indented carefully. HERE is a link to all cards with “Callapheia” in the flavor text. The gist is, this card does NOT evoke that. There’s a lot of text, a lot of quotes, a lot of forced story that could have been way punchier if you just had stuff about a snake eating a prophet. I love the card as a limited filler. But yeah, gotta do more research into what it means to have certain aspects on your cards.

@nicolbolas96 — Unpredictable Betrayal

You know, it’s hard to evoke Nicol Bolas well in flavor text. He’s one of Magic’s major villains, a huge face of many sets, with years behind him. And honestly? You didn’t do a half-bad job in this flavor text. Props! That said, this card is way busted. For one, double strike doesn’t affect fighting at all, so that’s...something. For two, it would need to be three sentences; you did a run-on for that last one. For three, mechanically? This is a two-mana spell that eight times out of ten will absolutely destroy two creatures you don’t control. In limited, that’s insanely powerful. In any format that plays creatures, that’s usually amazingly good. There’s a reason spells like Blood Feud and Clash of Titans cost what they cost. Getting two creatures you don’t control to fight is powerful.

@nine-effing-hells — Cairn to Athusis

Actually, this card was one of my favorites from the contest. I’m a heavy Gruul player when I’m not playing cruel control, and I think the gist of this card is super interesting. You made it an enchantment artifact AND a shrine, giving flavor there as well to your new world. The only thing I would have changed is erasing that first sentence from your flavor text entirely. The second is so powerful that it stands on its own. It’s poetic without being overwrought, specific to the world and building off of known tropes. Also, it tells us that “orcs are RG in this world” which is a great mechanical touch. Just needed that little bit of trimming.

@real-aspen-hours — Deflect Consequences

Now this is an interesting card!... What practical use does it have? I’m curious what this has on something like Harmless Offering. I don’t believe that cast triggers will be affected. Maybe it would specifically go against things like “counter target spell you don’t control” or something, but if control changes... I’m uncertain of this card’s applications past the gimmick point. That said, it would be fun to cast a Leveler and have it enter the battlefield under an opponent’s control. I’m not in love with the flavor text. It’s fine. Doesn’t light my world on fire. A touch wordy. But it’s fine. Fits the name and the ability well, so that’s nice.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Inconquerable Alseid

Besides the fact that “Hope” should be lowercase and separated by a colon, the flavor text is really cool! I don’t like this card much. It’s honestly fine, and it’s an interesting commander card that could lead to some cool consequences, but there’s a reason Undaunted has reminder text. It doesn’t look good floating there by itself. There are some abilities that just need reminder text all the time, and Undaunted is on so few cards that it significantly needs this. I think I was a little too harsh on this card on my first go-around, but I haven’t warmed up to it yet. I think the great flavor could have been used on a simpler, more protective card.

@scavenger98 — Kadalla the Scornful

I’m 99% sure it should go “First strike, deathtouch, haste.” Order of keywords is weird sometimes. So are creature types. I don’t really understand the world on which an Elf can be Mardu colors. It’s a stretch of the imagination to say the least. The card itself is...fine? I’d honestly make her an uncommon in today’s world. Yeah, she’s powerful, but she’s a 2/1 for three with all different mana symbols. Regarding the flavor, it’s well-worded, but it’s lengthy and doesn’t actually tell us anything about the character or the world. It doesn’t inform the card, and that’s its major misstep. Again, though, good writing.

@shandylamb — Multani’s Offspring

A fine card, a funny flavor. Just so you know, though, “Saproling” is pretty much only relegated to the token, and this card would probably see print as a plant or fungus. And additionally, as nice as the pun is... What’s this card even trying to say in the story? Multani’s only known child is Muldrotha, and that’s deep lore as-is. As funny as this card might be, it really doesn’t mesh with a Magic feel.

@starch255 — Unscrupulous Horpske

There are only two things I’m concerned about. Firstly: what about this creature makes it “unscrupulous?” What scruples does it have normally in its species? Secondly, this card is trying to make potato salad canon in the multiverse, and I don’t know if such a travesty would be allowed to happen. Potato salad is an affront to taste, no offense to the horpske.

Literally everything else about this card is a 10/10. I would also encourage you to work on a set symbol. Everyone should!

@teaxch — Hidden Seers

Interesting. So what timeline is this? Is this supposed to be, like, a return to Tarkir? Cool concept, I think, although I’m not entirely sold. After hearing the shaman’s whispers, why is Surrak’s first instinct to assume that without dragons a human would lead the clan? Wouldn’t the thought of a world without dragons evoke other thoughts and fears first? That’s my main hand-iffy-motion reason. This is also a supremely petty nitpick, probably the pettiest thing I’ve ever said about a card, but if this is the Dragon timeline then wouldn’t the watermark be the Atarka one instead of the Temur one?

@tmstage — Apostasy

Everything about this card is good...individually. Great name, but what does that have to do with the ability? What is it trying to depict? What does shuffling your library have to do with religious dogma? And the flavor text feels overbearing. Nykita as a character is someone I’d like to know more about, but this card doesn’t tell me much about her. It’s mostly that the mechanics and the flavor don’t mesh in the least, and, well, it’s not a good mechanic. Shuffling is time-consuming, game-prolonging, and has no discernible benefit to the game outside of incredibly niche cards that mostly don’t affect you as the player. And the more I read the flavor text, the less it makes sense. “Allow the world to deform your flawed notions?” It sounds awesome, but what does it mean?

Thank you all for your submissions. New contest tomorrow.

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #contest #entries #commentary #flavor town #inventor's fair

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ayakashibackstreet · 5 years ago

Note

for the oc ask: Angus: 5, 9, 36, 74, Lea: 22, 43, 54, 78, Venicus: 31, 40, 53, 83 (also all of your ocs have very pretty names!)

93 fun OC asks because why not

Ahhh, thank you so so much, Nonnie!!

Angus:

5.What’s their relationship with their parents like? What about otherrelatives?

Angus is a family man and he’s always had a great relationship with his parents. He’d be willing to sacrifice a lot for both them, his grandma and his older sister – Lamair. He’s lived with them all the way up until the story proper begins and he’s supported them near unconditionally. Sure, his sister might snark at him, his dad might expect just a bit too much and his mum might have a tendency to overreact – it doesn’t matter, he loves them dearly and there isn’t anything that could change that.

9.What is their favorite color? Favorite animal?

He’s the kind of guy who tends to stick to mostly grays when it comes to his clothing – however, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t like other colours, too. He really likes green and yellow in particular – they put him at ease and go nicely together. He’s got an eye for colours, even though people might not notice that about him.

Animal-wise, he loves birds of all kinds – from sparrows through flamingos all the way up to eagles. He finds them inspiring as well as funny – few things in life are as amusing as watching parrot videos. He domesticated a swallow when he was a kid – he was a feral child, as well as good with animals. Other than birds, he really likes dogs and he’d love to have one as a pet at some point.

36.What is their sense of humor like? Give an example of a joke theywould find humorous.

He’s mostly keen on situational as well as physical humour – notso much in media, moreso in real life. It’s the small things,mostly stemming from absent-mindedness; putting milk in the kitchencupboard instead of the fridge and not realising it is just reallyamusing to him. Bumping into a glass door? Hilarious!… so long asit wasn’t too painful. He’s also fond of funny animal videos;he’s the kind of guy who immediately wants to show them to hisfriends.

Also, Axciss’ face when he’s trying really hard to hide hisamusement is hilarious, second to none, hands down.

74.What weather is their favorite? Do they like storms?

He was always a fan of sunny weather but since the summers started to get hotter and hotter, he really started appreciating rain, too. Still, nothing beats a cup of coffee in the early morning as his face is gently warmed up by the sun. Morning jogs are also the best in the sun, so that’s a plus, too – rain makes him feel more lazy, so he prefers it when it rains in the evening if anything.

Storms are fine – he’s not a big fan but he can appreciate how fresh the air is afterwards. Despite being a pretty tough guy overall, an especially aggressive storm can actually make him a bit jumpy. The moment the thunder gets too loud, he’s not up for watching the lightning anymore. Also, he’d rather die than be outside during a storm, so there’s that.

Lea:

22.What is their least favorite thing about their personality?

While she generally considers it a strength, the bubbly side of her personality can be a real toughie for her to truly accept. She overall likes it, sure, but the moment someone seems even slightly annoyed with her, she immediately begins to despise it. Despite being people-savvy, it can be very hard for her to contain her excitement and it doesn’t always go over well with others – as she really needs others’ acceptance, it’s very difficult for her at times.

She also doesn’t think very highly of her own intelligence – she admires people who are more analytical in their approach to things and tends to overlook her knowledge in different fields because of that. She’ll frequently call herself stupid and seems surprised when her friends jump to her defense.

43.What is their least favorite thing about their physical appearance?

Her relationship to her appearance shifts a bit over the course of the story, actually! I don’t think there is a feature she’d single out as the worst one when it comes to her appearance – she finds everything perfectly average, which is exactly the problem she sees with it. Amongst all those beautiful, cute and/or unique-looking people, she’s just… Lea. She’s always wished to be more than that – in particular, she’s always wanted to see herself – and for others to see her – as cute and pretty.

Well, as the story goes on, she actually gains a whole lot confidence in that regard! Nowadays, I don’t think she finds anything about herself extraordinary either way, but she still sees herself as very cute and she grows to like her looks quite a bit! So while she still doesn’t single anything out, it’s because everything is just right.

54.What is their current hairstyle? What have been some of their pasthairstyles? Which was their favorite hairstyle?

Lea doesn’t experiment too much with her hair, mostly keeping it in her usual curly bob or a cute fro – she always decorates with cute littly bows, however, and she changes those on daily bases. She has a whole collection of them, she is going to use them and that’s final. Back in the day she also tried out braiding her hair but she decided she’s not a fan of it, not on herself anyway. Sometimes, if she gets bored, she might put her hair up in two buns, but that’s pretty rare for her – while she likes the look just fine, she prefers just keeping it simple.

78.Who do they consider to be their best friend?

That’s easy – that’d definitely be her girlfriend, Estela! (who’s @aceteling’s OC btw)

They met on the Internet and they’ve been online friends since. They started out just sharing memes with each other, gradually working their way up to sharing their daily struggles. Estela’s the one who’s affected her life the most, she’s someone Lea’s admired for a long time now and she finds herself incredibly lucky to have such an amazing friend, as well as a partner.

Venicus:

31.Does this character ever put somebody else’s needs before theirown? Who do they do this for? How often do they do this?

Veni is, in a way, pretty selfish and he hardly ever puts others’ needs before his own. To be fair, that’s a result of the environment he was stuck in – he basically didn’t have anyone to look out for, so he’s not used to considering their needs as much. Still, when the need arose to protect his guardian, Avaxius, he did it without too much thought, as if acting on pure instinct. If Venicus gets attached to you (admittedly a chore to accomplish that), he’ll be willing to put his life on the line, as he desperately doesn’t want to lose anyone anymore.

Avi aside, Veni’s very protective of Shion (again, @aceteling’s OC!) and this is where his ability to read people truly shines – he can tell if they don’t tell him how they really feel, which is oftentimes the case with Shion. He can put his own needs aside, every now and then, for just a moment, to try to talk sense into them. He’s pretty good at telling what people need and if it’s Shion, he will most likely even take that into consideration.

40.Who do they trust most? Is that trust mutual?

He’s a dumbass boy and the oneperson he trusted the most throughout most of his life was Avaxius –he literally would trust the demon he was contracted to with his verylife. The years they spent together made them both trust each othernear completely, even if they bickered quite a lot.

After Avi’s death, the one personVeni actually trusts is Shion. He doesn’t put much trust in otherpeople, he’s not even entirely sure which one of them he can trustnot to murder him atany given chance.

How much Shion trusts Veni is…debatable? I mean, they definitely trust him, probably too much since he’s a murder baby with, at this point, very little self-preservation instinct, but Veni’s definitely not the person they trust the most. Up to some degree, while they believe that he’s not an inherently bad person and certainly consider him a friend, they’re confused about how to interact with him. They trust Angus more, which is a valid choice (in spite of Angus having his own morality problems but hey).

53.What is their hair color? Eye color? Skin tone?

83.Can they swim? How well? Do they like to swim?

He can swim enough to not drown if thrown into water. Only breaststroke though. He’srather fond of swimming nonetheless, the water’s pleasant!

Once again, thank you for the questions, aaaaa

#VT answers #OC tag #Angus #Lea #Veni #Anonymous #long post #By all means send me more of these

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cutemoniic · 6 years ago

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Freeing Experience (pt.2)

You step outside, fresh grass under your feet, and you're carrying a body: the one of a girl, still lifeless, flowing light blonde hair covering the head thrown around your shoulders like a sack of disgraced potatoes: a small revenge for her graceful, innocent beauty that seared into your eyelids.

You wouldn't be able to lie if you said that what Wrath found you didn't suit your tastes: an angelic beauty, opposed to the powerful monstrosity you wanted him to get you. But you forgot to specify, and assumed that all angels that could have been grabbed could have been just uncanny valleys of ugly, so you simply thank him, and go on your merry way a few days later, the body in your hands freezing after a close experience with ice to keep it intact. Away from the house, in a safe place. You want a fair fight, and you guess that this is the closest thing you will obtain for that. But you can't help the disappointed sigh escaping your lips, and the adrenaline tingling at your joints.

You're ready. Maybe, you always have been, and simply stalled the inevitable.

When you reach your destination -- a large, large patch of burned down grass and dirt in the middle of nowhere -- you let the body drop without an hint of grace nor mercy. It splays on the ground with bright eyes wide open, soft lips slighty apart and in a strange angle, with open arms and curled legs that you fix with your feet and less than proper care.

The rest of the process is simple. It's like decanting the content of a jar in another one, careful not to let it spill: so your fingers move accordingly, brushing at your lips -- and with the slightest of hesitations, you softly blow on them.

She tastes like death, even in soul, but you're more interested in the slight tug at your essence. With a distant, ear-shattering scream, you sense the pit in your stomach growing into an hole when the sole force of your breath detaches the murk from your soul. It flies, the horrible aftertaste of it passing your mouth forcing you to dry heave and almost drop the disgusting glob of dark murk in the palm of your hand. It doesn't, fortunately, and you grab one of her shoulders to force the essence into her mouth.

It hesitates, clearly uncompatible.

It's just for a small moment. Then it moves down her throat.

Minutes pass, as you pace and wait for the soul to latch properly to the dead body. It will work.

You knew that you were good with decant. You have the final proof when new eyelids bat, and when she lifts herself up on her elbows. A small, girlish groan with a detestable girly voice erupts from her mouth, pearly teeth showing in all their pure beauty, and a flash of black hate deletes everything else from your memory.

Then, she finally starts screaming.

You expected that. Her eyes, limpid, clear and innocent, fills with dark sludge to the brim -- it pours down her face in dirty, sticky tears as she whrithes on the ground in agony, the strain of the new body forced to adapt her too much to stand still and simply accept it. Her nails pop off due to the overflow, her nose and throat become clogged as well, and you'd be lying if you were to say, later, that you didn't enjoyed her noises of choking and gagging on her own product. Her every orifice is trying to reject the substance, but it keeps spreading over her... it engulfs her completely, in a matter of mere minutes. It consumes the wings, her torso, her legs and tunic, leaving steaming holes in the soft fabric.

You stand there, hands folded over your stomach, and watch her slowly stop struggling -- simply trembling, for a long, long while. When she has regained enough energies to slowly roll on her back and on her elbow, she looks at you.

''Hello. I can finally look at your face,'' you calmly greet her, a smirk on your lips.

''What did you do,'' she rasps out, demanding an answer with a snark that doesn't suit your tastes. You raise your eyebrows and don't speak to her for a while, delighted to see her choke on black, murky words dripping down her chin.

''What did you do?'' She asks better this time, panic in her voice. ''This body is... y--you did... why?''

''Because you deserve to suffer,'' you reply, tone soft like a pillow. ''And I'm pretty pleased with your state right now.''

There's something wrong approaching you in the back of your mind that you cannot quite pinpoint, until it hits: something has been opened, and you sway on your feet and rear back until you can rest your bare back against a tree. You squeeze your eyes shut, cold sweat beading at the edge of your hairline and down your neck.

There was just pain and suffering. A contract being signed in a dirty pub. Darkness. Him. The struggle. Roars and blood being spilled. Bars. Bare knees and hands moving on the ground and the memory of no words being spoken, other than simple ones and a cheerful, innocent tone that got broken too soon. Too quickly. He looks at you in a way that makes you despise being alive. She roars inside of you and you choke on tears of murk. You break into a sprint and wreck your throat with sobs as malignant, cackling demons pursue you. He places a scalpel on a tray and the world goes black and red and white and then you die. And you die. And you die. Behind a tapestry everyone is suffering, so you decide to help them. Mismatched eyes watching from behind bars. Scraping your nails on hard rock to reach for some natural salt minerals. The smell of cooked meat filling the room. A lot of soft voices, thanking you for the meal and your bravery, lulling you to sleep in your bad days, fixing you on something soft as you come back from the death. The slow, laughabe pace of the guards as they try and fail to chase you. Wails from inside you. You die. And you die. And you die. The pavement is warm and you have gravel stuck in your back and legs. The form of your dagger is permanently stamped in your palm. The vague image of a warm living room, a TV show running in the background as terror overtakes you. I have to go back there, I don't want to -- an empty stomach growls and you only see black until it's filled. There's blood on your hands and a corpse in front of you and it tastes heavenly and you're so sorry but you were so hungry and they looked so tasty and you want more and the smell of food wrecks you still and your head is rolling on the pavement and he's looking at you in disgust disgust disgust and you have disappointed him again but you want to get out and you die and you die and you die and there's a soft haunting music in your mind that you cannot pinpoint and he picks the food from your sprawled body and tsks and tells you to do better next time and then he cuts you down after you talk because he's your father right and he'll never hurt you but he does and you're bleeding and you run and drag yourself on the warm stones and there's the fire the fire the fire the FIRE THE FIRE ---

You dry heave. Slowly come back to your senses and find yourself covered in sweat, and slumped against the hard tree, who has dug into your back like a particulary fierce lover. Your breath is skyrocketing into a panic attack, and you drag sticky hands down your face.

Calm down. Calm down...

And you do.

The sensation, after you command your body to cease manifestations of deep distress, obeys you. The sweat is still present, but your panic is swallowed as a numbing sensation spreads across your chest.

Which, you figure, it's better than still panicking. You're in awe at how... controlled you can feel, at how quickly you return to reality from the sea of memories swimming in your brain.

Something sinks into the corner of your lips, and tears away. For a split moment, you think that it's part of a memory. Then you feel the murk sticking to your open wound and material and blood starting to gush out, a sickly face closing on you again, and you react with a set of reflexes that leaves you speechless.

Your combact training, without you never remembering one, come in natural, fluent moves of your trained, fit body. The water-like dance you can pursue while holding your dagger leaves you mesmerized, puzzled at your new knowledge. And when in doubt, you enter His office unannounced.

He doesn't need to lift his gaze from the paperwork he's buried nose deep in. He knows that it's you, and the fragrant sound of papers being shifted stops for a moment to allow you to speak.

''How... how do I know what to do while I fight? I never had this training before. What did you do to me...?''

This question seems to puzzle him: crimson hues leave the trail of written thoughts for a moment, fix themselves on your small figure (and the shiver they give off is always the same, no matter how calm he is) and doesn't miss a beat to clarify the situation.

''What I implanted in your body was not simply your essence: along with it, I morphed you as a warrior. You lacked certaint knowledge, and I inserted what you didn't had into your core. You have experience because I deemed you fit to be one of my underlings.''

You probably offered him a break from his work that he wanted to take (or so you hope), and you see him slowly lifting himself up from the marvellous, soft chair he was resting in -- and with slow, methodical steps, he strides in front of you.

''But the knowledge I inserted in you is minor, simply the basics of defending and ending a life, when needed. But the motions, the other techniques... I did not touched them. So they must reside in your new body.''

A shiver ripples down your spine for a moment, his hand slipping out from the elaborate golden sleeve in an inviting motion.

''Give me your hand.''

This is the most intimate you've ever been with him from what you remember. Shy and insecure, you extend your hand out -- and there's something that warns you about placing the bundle of nerves that your appendix became into his care. Because his presence strikes defined chords in you, and his hands are slender and gelid.

The sensation proves right when he tries to wrap cold fingers around your wrist, and it's instinctive for you to abnormally tense up and react quicker than your mind intends to, sliding your warmth from his numbing coldness and jump behind a few steps, putting a safe distance between you two. Your breath is uneven, erratic, shock easily overcoming you. Your hand is itching to reach into your chest and pluck out a dagger, to bristle the skin with the smooth blade. Even your own creator's one.

He, in a staggering contrast, does not bat a lash. Slowly, unphazedly so, he retracts his hand inside his sleeve again and crosses them behind his back.

''This is what I meant.''

A pause.

''Your reflexes. Little of this belongs to you as an essence, but rather to the body you own. It's a simple concept that, I am sure, you'll have grasped after my explation.''

The time that he decided to dedicate to you is over, you understand the verbal dismissal he meant and quickly scutter out of the room to find some peace of mind.

You launch the dagger into her melting skin, and slash. And hack. And tear, the substance clinging to the blade. You scream when she slips away, and tears at the skin of your arm with her sharp, jade teeth.

''It's mine,'' she says, between chews. ''It's my body.''

She swallows, calmly, and you feel the exposed gum and teeth grow sensible to the cold air and to your crescent panic.

''I'll just hhhhhh--ave to eat you, little child.''

Calm down, you will to yourself again. And you do, a cold sensation of awareness spreading across your limbs.

You don't really wanna be eaten. Not now that you're so close to success.

She gets to your arm again, but the edge of your dagger is swiftly stuck between her teeth. You twist it and tear most of them out, panting and turning her with a knee to her stomach. Black murk is stuck everywhere, and it takes you a while to recognize that it's coming from you, rather than her.

What's happening?, you ask, vomiting a mouthful of sludge on the ground. When she attacks again, you simply stick your dagger out --

And when she dodges, drawling out a groaned growl, you twist your body and arm to split her apart with an even cut. The sludge parts and returns together, a deep, red gash underneath that is barely being covered.

Blade meets bone in another assault. It screeches against it, and you release your hold on her gurgling body before grasping at it again, and facing her directly.

''Leave,'' you hiss, chest rumbling. ''Leave right now. Go away. Go to Heaven or to rot back into the ground, for all I care. Come near me again -- and I will dissolve you in acid. You fucking... fucking monster.''

''No,'' she rasps out. ''My body...''

Anger rushes out of an unknown place inside your stomach. You coil like a springlock ready to burst, right in her face.

''IT'S MY BODY! YOU LOST IT!''

She draws back, stunned. All she can manage to hiss its ''thievling,'' before she scutters away in the secure refuge of the woods, glowering ambers that are her eyes following you for a moment before they disappear into the leafage. You feel her presence disappear off your property.

Something tells you that she will not attack you again.

There's crimson blood on the ground, and you feel dizzy. You walk back to the house mostly unscathed, covering your mouth with your hand and scraping at the blood on your exposed teeth. Despite the panicky situation, you feel calm and collected -- if not a bit surprised at how quick the whole ordeal was. Your teeth feel numb, too.

But there’s this new sensation... calmness, an endless one. You don’t rush home, instead sporting a relaxed pace despite the minor injuries and the whole situation that just happened.

This one is gonna be a bitch to heal, you're sure...

But, at least, you’re in control now.

#;;Narrating #gore ;;#cannibalism ;;#death mention ;;

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bamby0304 · 6 years ago

Text

The Hart II: Highway

Summary: Off on her own, without the Winchesters, Bobby, Ellen or Jo, Lizzie tries to get back to what she does best… hunting. But time is running out, Dean’s soul is on the line, and now everyone knows Lizzie is psychic like Sam. Can the brothers and Lizzie work through their problems? Or will they lose everything?

Bamby’s Masterlist

The Hart Masterlist

The Hart II: Highway Masterlist

Part Twenty-Seven: Don't Answer the Phone

Warnings: Violence. Murder. Angst. Implied smut.

Bamby

DPOV

I couldn't sleep. I'd tried. I'd gone over to Liz's room and had spent some time with her- basically, we had sex- which I thought would have helped me get some sleep. But when I'd gotten back to my room where Sam was fast asleep, I'd stuck myself at the table and began to wait.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, my phone began to ring, the display showing 'SHA33'.

Snatching the phone off the table, I headed into the bathroom to answer it. "Dad?" I whispered.

"Dean."

"Is it really you?"

"It's me."

"How can I be sure?"

"You can't. Dean, how could you do it?"

"What?"

"Sell your soul."

"I was looking after Sam, like you told me to," I defended.

"I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy, I love you. I can't watch you to go to hell, Dean."

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to stop it."

"'Cause if you break the deal Sam dies, right?"

"What?"

"Well I know a way out. For both of you."

"How?"

"The demon who holds your contract. He's here. Now."

SPOV

I walked into the hotel room to see Dean furiously typing on the laptop. He briefly looked up at me. "What's up?"

"That girl Lanie, her mum's ghost spooked her out pretty bad last night," I explained. "Just went over to Lizzie's room and asked if she'd come with me to go make sure everything's okay."

"Yeah, okay." He nodded.

"What are you doing?"

"I think dad's right. I think the demon is here. Check it out." He stood and waked past me, handing me some papers as he passed, moving to his bag.

I looked down at the papers. "What is this, weather reports?"

"Omens. Demonic omens. Electrical storms everywhere we've been for the past two weeks."

"Ahh... I don't remember any lightning storms."

"Well, I don't remember you studying meteorology as a kid either. But I'm telling you, that bastard's been tailing me... wearing some poor dude's meat."

"And it's following you because...?"

"I guess I'm big game, you know. My ass is too sweet to let outta sight."

"Okay. Sure."

He moved to me again, snatching the papers out of my hands. "Don't get too excited, Sammy. Might pull something."

"Dean, look, I wanna believe this man, I really do-"

"Then believe it! if we get this sucker, it's Miller Time."

"Yeah, that's another thing. Dad rattles off an exorcism that can kill a demon? I mean not just send it back to hell, but kill it?"

"I've checked it out. This is heavy duty Dark Ages. Fifteenth century."

"Yeah, I've checked on it too Dean. And so did Bobby. Lizzie, too."

"Okay, and?"

"Look. It definitely is an exorcism, okay, there's just no evidence it can kill a demon."

"No evidence it can't."

"Come on man-"

"Hey, as far as I'm aware the only one of us who has actually been to hell is dad. And maybe he picked up a couple of tricks down there, like which exorcisms work."

"Maybe it does. I hope it does too, but we gotta be sure."

"Why aren't we sure?"

"'Cause I don't know what's going on around here Dean! I mean, some guy blows his brains out, a little girl is scared out of her wits."

"Wow, a couple of civvies are freaked out by some ghosts. News flash Sam, people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts!"

We fell silent for a moment there, staring at each other, equally frustrated. I let out a sigh as he dropped his head in frustration.

"Dad tell you where to find the demon?"

"I'm waiting on the call!" he snapped, pulling out his phone from his jacket pocket.

Sighing again I turned for the door. "I told Lanie I'd stop by."

As he spoke, he didn't hold back the sarcasm. "Oh, good yeah. No, you and Liz go hang out with jail bait. Just, uh, watch out for Chris Hansen. Meanwhile I'll be here getting ready to, you know, save my life." When I just kept moving to the door, he snapped, "You're unbelievable, you know that? I mean for months we've been trying to break this demon deal. Now dad's about to give us the freaking address and you can't accept it? The man is dead and you're still butting heads with the guy!"

"That is not what this is about."

"So what is it!"

My patience was gone, I couldn't stop myself as I began to yell back at him. "The fact is we've got no hard proof here, Dean. After everything, you're still just going on blind faith!"

"Yeah, well maybe! You know, maybe that's all I got, okay?" After a second, he looked away from me.

I shook my head at him. "Please. Just please don't go anywhere until I get back. Okay, Dean? Please." Not sure if he would listen or not, I headed for the door, leaving him.

EPOV

"Lanie, this is Lizzie. Lizzie, Lanie," Sam introduced me to the teen girl as we walked into her bedroom.

I gave her a short wave. "Hey."

"Hi." She nodded back.

"Have you told your father about any of this?" Sam asked, getting to business.

I began looked around the room, listening to the two of them talk. There was no need for me to say anything. I was simply here just in case Sam didn't know how to react to a teenage girl. Well, at least that's what Sam said.

Honestly, I agreed to come because I wasn't sure we were dealing with ghosts. Not in this case. I just needed proof.

"And bother him at work? No. He wouldn't believe me anyway, he'd just chuck me into therapy," she noted.

"So, what did your mother say?"

"She wanted to see me. So at first I thought I was supposed to go to the cemetery."

"Did you?"

Lanie nodded. "Nothing happened. But then she started asking me to do other things."

"What sort of things?"

"Bad things."

DPOV

I was sitting at the table in the hotel room, staring at nothing as I waited for the phone to ring. The moment it did, I grabbed it off the table and answered it as fast as I could.

"Dad?"

"Yeah."

"Where's the demon?"

EPOV

"Lanie please. Tell us what happened, it's very important," Sam insisted.

Lanie began to cry as she answered, "Mum told me to go to dad's medicine cabinet."

"And?" he pressed.

"She wanted me to take his sleeping pills. Take all of his sleeping pills."

I frowned as I listened to Sam go on, as confused as I was. "She wanted you to kill yourself?"

Lanie nodded, crying. "Why would my mum want me to do that?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, just so I could come to her?"

I froze, turning to Lanie. "What did you just say?"

She looked to me, trying to calm her crying. "She wanted me to come to her."

Shaking my head, I stepped closer to her. "No, how did she say it?"

"'Come to me.' Like a million times."

My blood ran cold as everything set into place. "Lanie. That's not your mother."

...

Leading Sam and Lanie to the front door, I looked over my shoulder at the teen as I spoke to her. "Don't answer the phone. Don't use the computer. Don't do anything unless Sam or I say to, all right?" But when she didn't respond, I turned to her completely, seeing her looking into one of the rooms. "Lanie."

She looked out of the room and too me, eyes wide with worry. "Where's Simon?"

DPOV

I entered the house quietly, duffle bag thrown over my shoulder. Closing the door behind me before I set down the hallway. Some floorboards creaked in the house on the second floor.

"Hello?" I called out.

When there was no response and I was sure I was alone, I continued through the house, needing to get set up before the demon actually got here.

In the living room, I grabbed a large bottle of water and dropped a rosary into it. Then I sprayed a devil's trap on the floor, covering it with the mat.

EPOV

Sam and I moved as fast as we could. Simon- Lanie's little brother- was cross the road. A large truck was headed straight for him, the driver seeming unaware of the little boy.

Time was running short, and I knew I had to do something before it was too late.

Lifting my hand, I came to a stop and focused on the truck, looking through the window at where the driver was looking away from the road. Setting my eyes on the steering wheel, I gave it a quick jerk with my mind.

At the same time, Sam grabbed Simon and pulled him to safety. The truck missed them by mere inches.

Hurrying over to the two of them as they sat on the ground panting, I made sure they were okay. "Is everyone all right? Did anyone get hurt?"

"We're fine." Sam shook his head, looking up at me. "Thank you." He didn't say what for, but I knew why he thanked me. If I hadn't of moved that truck...

SPOV

Lizzie was driving, rushing to get to the hotel as I called Dean. The moment he picked up the phone, I spoke before he had a chance.

"Dean, it's not dad."

"Then what is it?"

"A crocotta."

"Is that a sandwich?"

"Some kind of scavenger. Mimics loved ones, whispers 'Come to me', then lures you into the dark and swallows your soul."

If it hadn't of been for Lizzie, I might not have realised it right away. But the moment she'd heard Lanie explain what her 'mum' had said, Lizzie knew.

"A crocotta, right. Damn that makes sense."

I sighed. "Dean, look, I'm sorry man, I know-"

He cut me off. "Hey, don't these things live in filth?"

I looked to Lizzie who could hear both sides of the conversation. She gave a short nod to answer Dean's question.

"Yeah," I told him.

"Sam, the flies at the phone company."

EPOV

It was dark by the time Sam and I got to the carpark of the phone company. We crept along an alley, coming to stop by a window which we peeked through. Inside we could see Stewie at his computer.

A loud noise distracted us.

We looked around to make sure we were still alone before turning back to the window. Only, Stewie was no longer at the computer. Instead, he was leaving the room.

"Come on." I nudge Sam before hurrying out of the alley way.

Hiding behind one of the vehicles in the parking lot, I pulled out my phone to try and get in contact with Dean while Sam looked out for Stewie.

"This is Herman Munster. Leave a message."

I sighed into the phone. "Dean, we're in the parking lot. He's here. Hurry."

The moment I hung up, Sam turned to me. "We can't wait. We gotta do this now."

Nodding, I pulled out my knife before the two of us rushed around the vehicle and rushed over to Stewie as he unlocked his car.

I pushed him against his car- despite the fact he was gross and I didn't want to touch him. Pressing my knife into the side of his neck, I put enough pressure there to keep him still.

"What the hell!"

"We know what you are," Sam told him. "And we know how to kill you."

"Please. Okay, wait, wait. If we're overcharging you for the call waiting or something I... I can fix that. I am your friend!"

Sam and I shared a confused look...

"Please. Please just don't kill me!" Stewie begged. "Don't kill me, please!"

Before either of us could say or do anything else I felt something heavy and hard hit me in the side of the head. Blackness followed closely as I passed out.

SPOV

I woke up tied to a chair in the phone company's back room where we first met Stewie. Speaking of which, he was tied to a chair in front of me, whimpering as Clark circled him. To my left was Lizzie. She was still a little out of it, in the space between waking up and still being unconscious.

"I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry for whatever I did to you," Stewie cried. "I'm sorry... please-"

When I noticed the knife in Clark's hand, I couldn't stay quiet. "Wait! Don't do it."

Clark turned to me. "You're awake." He leaned over Stewie from behind, placing the tip of the knife against his thigh.

Stewie's eyes stayed glued on the blade poking his thigh. "You're not a killer Clark, no! There's a good man inside of you, I know it."

Clark grinned knowingly at me. "What do you think, Sammy, am I a good man?"

"Just let him go," I pleaded.

"I would. I really would. If only I'd had more than a salad for lunch. You see, I'm starving." Clark lifted the knife high above his head before he plunged it into Stewie's chest, killing him.

"No!"

Moving in front of Stewie's body, Clark adjusted the chair so I could watch as his mouth opened wider than humanly possible. It was ringed with razor sharp teeth and blood red gums. Crouching in front of Stewie slightly he held the body by the shoulders as he began to suck away Stewie's energy.

I shuddered, looking away.

Once he was done, Clark stood again, wiping at his mouth.

"My last call with Dean. That was you." I turned to glare at him. "You led us here."

He shrugged. "Some calls I make, some calls I take, but you have to admit, I had you fooled for a while. All that Edison phone crap. " Laughing, he moved over to the telephone exchange cabinet. He placed his hands against the glass and leaned back in ecstasy.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm killing your brother. Or maybe I'm killing another guy. We'll just have to see how it goes."

...

I watched as Clark pulled the knife out of Stewie's chest.

"You know, mimicking Dean's one thing. But my dad. That's a hell of a trick."

"Well once I made you three as hunters, it was easy. I found Dean's number, then Elizabeth's number, then your number, then your father's numbers. Then emails, voicemails, everything. You see, people think that stuff just gets erased, but it doesn't. You'd be surprised how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked."

"Dean's not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy."

"Then the guy kills him."

DPOV

Waiting in the living room of the suburban house, I watched as headlights shined across the window. Silently, I moved closer to the hallway, listening as the car door slammed shut. I removed the lid of the holy water bottle, getting ready to attack.

A noise at the back of the house had me look in that direction, frowning. Moving down the hallway, towards the back door, I paused as I watched and waited...

The back door flew open as a man- who I assumed was the demon- stepped into the house, raising a rifle. I had a single second to think and act, leaping out of the way just as he pulled the trigger.

Having dropped the bottle of holy water while trying to save myself, I looked over to see if it was still of use. But it wasn't. The water was spilling out on to the floor. Son of a bitch.

The sound of a shell hitting the floor was my signal.

Dashing out from around the corner, I ran for the demon, slamming him into the wall of the kitchen. Pulling my fist back, I punched him a few times, getting in as many hits as I could before the demon got back onto his feet. Pulling away a little, I kneed him before letting him drop to the ground.

Moving for the rifle, I was just about to get it when I was grabbed by the demon and thrown on to the table. His fist came down on me several times before I even had the chance to look for an opening.

Once I saw it, I took it. Leaning forward to headbutt him as hard as I could.

As he fell backwards, to the ground, I kicked him in the stomach a few times. Pausing, I looked down at him, catching my breath, before I kicked him again, more viciously than the others, grunting as I did so.

SPOV

"Technology. Makes life so much easier." Clark reached out to brush my hair out of my face with the tip of the bloody knife. "Used to be I'd hide in the woods for days, weeks, whispering to people, trying to draw them out into the night. But they had community, they all looked out for each other, I'd be lucky to eat one or two souls a year. Now when I'm hungry, I simply make a phone call." He sneered. "You're all so connected. But you've never been so alone."

Opening his mouth, he raised the knife above me, ready for the kill.

Suddenly his wrist snapped in an awkward way, causing the knife to drop to the ground as he yelled out in pain and turned.

Lizzie stood behind him, a cocky grin on her face. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with your food?"

DPOV

The demon and I fell through a glass door leading into the living room. Moving quickly while he was still kinda out of is, I reached for his belt and pulled out the handgun there, flicking the cartridge out and tossing it aside.

The demon struggled to its feet, covered in glass. Leaning down, I pulled the rug back, showing it the devil's trap spray onto the floor, right below his feet.

Turning away, I pulled the exorcism out of my pocket, ready to get this over and done with.

"What is this?"

"Your funeral," I answered as I began to read the exorcism.

"Crux sacra sit mihi lux, Non draco sit mihi dux. Vade retro satana, Numquam suade mihi vana. Sunt mala quae libas, Ipse venena bibas"

The demon glared at me as he slowly moved forward... and out of the circle. "You do this to my daughter too?"

I froze, staring at the devil's trap. "How the hell did you get out?"

"Did you do this to my daughter too?!"

This wasn't a demon... this was just a man.

"Wait, this is a mistake."

"You killed her!"

"No, wait."

But instead of listening, the man leapt towards me.

EPOV

Clark and I were struggling against each other. Despite the fact I'd broken his wrist, he was still very strong. One wrong move from me and he'd win. I could tell he was already close to it, his hot breath on my neck, his sharp teeth too close for comfort.

Pulling my leg back, I kicked at him, pushing him off me. The moment I was free, I flipped myself up and got into a position so I was ready for his next move.

He jumped at me just as I thought he would. We traded blows, moving around the room. I felt every hit and kick he gave out, slowing me down. But there was a reason why I wasn't lashing out with everything I had.

I needed to find my opening. Sure enough, I found one.

As we struggle against each other I spotted a wall where there were hooks to hang jackets or hats or whatever. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that I now had a way to finish this asshole off.

Throwing his arms off me and pulling back, I lifted my arm and forced him away with my mind, sending him flying back until he collided with the wall. The hook went straight through the back of his neck, killing him in an instant.

DPOV

The man fell on top of me as I was pushed to the ground. "She was nine years old!"

"Stop!" I tried blocking all his hits. "I didn't! You gotta believe me!"

But he just kept hitting me. Over and over, blinded by rage.

Eventually I managed to twist around and grab the rifle, using it to smack the guy in the forehead. He fell back, giving me a chance to get to me feet so I could stand over him.

Giving in, he cried, looking up at me as if this was the end. "Why did you kill her?"

"I'm sorry." Breathing heavily, I shook my head at him. "I didn't kill your daughter."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I don't know."

EPOV

Everything hurt all over. I was already bruising in places where Clark had hit me. Not to mention the fact I'd used my telekinesis when I wasn't exactly up for it yet- hence why I'd had yet another nose bleed, which had now finished.

Sam walked me into his hotel room, setting me down on Dean's bed as he moved to the bathroom, only to come to a stop at the doorway.

"I see they improved your face," Dean spoke from inside the bathroom.

Sam chuckled lightly. "Right back at ya." Moving to the side, he let Dean walk into the bedroom.

One look at me and Dean came over, carrying his wash cloth. As he took a seat on the bed next to me, he pressed the cloth to my face, cleaning the blood off. "So, crocotta, huh?"

I nodded lightly, leaning against him as I closed my eyes. "Yeah."

"That would explain the flies," he noted.

"Yeah it would." Sam paused, sighing after a moment. "Hey, um... look I'm sorry it wasn't dad."

Dean huffed, brushing my hair back with his free hand as he continued to press the wash cloth to my forehead. "Nah, I gave you a hell of a time on this one. You were right."

"Forget about it."

The way the brothers began to talk, it was as if they thought I was asleep, or just not listening. Either way, they kept talking like I wasn't there. Though, if Dean didn't stop stroking my hair, I really was going to fall asleep.

"I can't." Dean sighed. "I wanted to believe so badly that there was a way outta this. I mean I'm staring down the barrel at this thing. You know, Hell. For real, forever, and I just..."

"Yeah."

"I'm scared, Sam." I could hear the strain in Dean's voice. "I'm really scared."

"I know." Sam was just as close to tearing up as his brother.

"I guess I was willing to believe anything. You know, the last act of a desperate man."

"There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean."

"Hope doesn't get you jack squat. I can't expect dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anybody to, you know. I mean the only person that can get me out of this thing is me."

"And me," Sam assured him.

Dean turned to look at him, not sounding too impressed. "And me?"

Sam "What?"

"Deep revelation, having a real moment here, that's what you come back with? 'And me'?"

"Uh... do you want a poem?" Sam asked, getting a giggle from me.

"The moment's gone." Dean sighed, tugging my shoulder so I'd lie down. Once we were both comfortable he flicked on the TV. "Unbelievable," he mumbled under his breath at the three of us watched TV in silence.

The smile on my face only faltered once. But I fought to keep it in place, allowing myself this one moment of happiness, despite all the pain and misery I was sure was headed our way.

Bamby

#dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fic #dean winchester x oc #sam winchester fanfiction #sam winchester fic #elizabeth rose hart #the hart #the hart ii: highway

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disco-chef-blog · 6 years ago

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It begins

And just like that, the long, uncomfortable process of keeping a personal blog begins. Hi, I’m Niko (you can call me that or Nikos or Nick or Disco, whatever is easiest for you, don’t worry about it) and long story short I am a university dropout who quit in order to pursue a career in the cooking/baking world. From about the beginning of 2016 up until October 2018. Due to injury to my spine (herniated disc pressuring the sciatic nerve) I had to quit my job and seek re-education in another field. I was an engineering and business administration student prior to this in Loughborough University and KULeuven respectively. I have always found myself far more comfortable working with/around computers so when a close friend of mine was about to start a new one-year course in Java development, I followed him through the registration process which included 3 days of lessons and a test on the 4th day. I was told that due to there being an unusual amount of people with some experience with Java, the few seats that they had were given to those that scored highest, even though I had achieved a decent grade. That’s when I caught the second bug of my life: coding. I found another course that begins in mid-April, although it is in Ruby and focuses more on web (and app, kinda) development but thankfully it is in English, unlike the Java course where I found that the people there had a hard time understanding my semi-broken flemmish and alien accent. It was surprising to see how frustrating it can be to not be understood.

I have created this page in order to document that journey and everything revolves around it like side projects on java on codecademy, epiphanies and whatever else comes along with it. The idea is to develop an idea that I have had for an app during my time in the pastry business. Failing that, I will find a job as a junior developer, hopefully.

There has been odd sets of circumstances and events that have led to this point. If you are curious to find out, read on. If you don’t wanna be attacked by another huge wall of text avert your eyes now!

Back in the end of 2015, I was initially working as a part-time deal for funds while being a student, but I fell in love with the work, the intensity and funnily enough the stress of it. I quit my studies 3 months in, and took on every contract they offered me. These were at most week contracts for interim work and I believe the official title was either cook or cook’s helper. After about two years of this, I was sent to a client who was making these incredible structures from pastries. Choux “glued” together with caramel towering above the guests, tartes tatins as far as the eye could see while also the pâtissiers, who were all working in a synchronous rhythm.

I was mesmerised. I knew I had to at least learn the basics.

When it had come to regular kitchen work, I was very fortunate to have learned from my mother how to cook from a very young age. Being the youngest, I usually would come home first, having to wait for my sisters to finish their classes and my parents to return from work. My poor mother at the time had been working almost every day of her life since she was 15. I would call her a woman who had to be a superwoman in her times in order to achieve what she has achieved, both professionally and in her private life. She would have food ready for all of us in pots and casseroles when we came from school, but I was not a very patient child. I would eat half of the food that was available, at first stunning my family but later aggravating them slightly. So, instead of my mother having to cook more quantities and spending more etc, I decided I would cook for myself something extra. It’s very funny to me still, how children don’t have any self-doubt when they set a goal. If I wanted to eat more than the rest, I had to cook something more. The early days are mostly a blur of Greek, Italian, Turkish, French recipes. I couldn’t seem to stick to one, since we had shelves full of books to choose from. Eventually, I found my favourites and would endlessly perfect them over the years with each iteration.

But when it came to baking, to me it was a whole other world. You can fuck up a recipe and many points in regular cooking and you can quite easily remedy them at many, if not all, stages of the process. With baking, however, the margin for error seemed to be unforgiving. It would be the ultimate test of ability: preparing something to perfection, every single time, in order to provide a consistency and quality that I had not seen before.

I asked for a small raise after working for that interim company for 2 years and was denied. I basically asked 1-2 euros more per hour, seeing as I was accepting the jobs with asshole clients that no one would take. Since I never said no, always did what was asked, covered for my colleagues when they made a mistake. Accepting the blame for something that I knew exactly who had done it, but choosing not to make a big deal of it and rather keep my head down and work harder, faster. I must say to this day, that really surprised me. Kitchens environments in general are as bad as they seem in television. The people who work there are uncultured or uneducated most of the time, the level of humour is very, very low. I had thought I had a great relationship with my boss and the many planners we have had. Many of whom I had saved their ass when they double-booked someone or had no one available (or willing) to take on the jobs with lazy clients. So I wrote myself in a 6 month crash course in baking much faster than I had expected.

It was a government funded program intended to help those who were seeking re-education in another field. During that program I did my internship at a local bakery where in the area I had just moved in to. While I may not have been treated as a real employee there all of the time and was given a lot of crap for being the young new guy (which, honestly, is understandable and common in many kitchen environments) I loved every second of working there, even on the bad days. I learned more there than I ever could have at any other educational facility. Most importantly, I lost a part of my innocence and gained more self respect. Unfortunately, being the young new guy, I always found that I had to work as fast as possible and as hard as possible (even though while I did that, I was nowhere near the level of skill of my colleagues or my boss). Which in turn meant that I didn’t always lift things properly, lifted things that I probably shouldn’t have (in order to save time or to avoid bending over every time). I first started feeling the pain on a flight as the plane was taking off and my lower back was pressed on the corner of the seat. Still kept working, thinking it was just a mild sciatica, but it became worse. I never took a break from my job during that time, seeing osteopaths for a quick 30 minute session during work and then returning back to the workshop immediately to continue working. That’s the deal with small businesses like that. We were only 4 people working in the production and that meant that if any one of us was absent, we were fucked in the sense that we would have to pull off a 18+ hour day rather than the usual 10-13 hour day and still being behind schedule. I loved most moments of it though but the pain was getting worse and worse until eventually I was stuck to the floor while emptying the dishwasher. One CT scan later I find out that I have a badly herniated disc on the L5S1 (right side). My boss was understandably not happy about this.

At the same exact time, I had been living with an old colleague from when I was an interim cook. He had many demons he had been avoiding to face over the years, always avoiding his problems with cocaine or other hard drugs and a lot of alcohol. At some point, the housemate had a mental breakdown and came to the conclusion that the people who had stood by him over the years where not worthy of his friendship (this coming from him that would always avoid his friends because he was never in a mood to talk to them just because he was in a funk all the time). I was evicted and forced to move out with no help of his, even though he knew about my back. I begrudgingly moved back to my parents place with the help of a close friend and have been living here ever since (November 2018).

Since then I am following online courses and also in-person courses concerning programming.

So there, now we have come full circle. Onward now to much, much shorter (maybe even daily depending on if I feel like it, I don’t know..) updates.

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ichibri · 6 years ago

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@supernovaecastaway Okay, here's a bit (or a lot, oops) about my wip novel "Prince of Hell" that's I've been developing for 7ish years now. But first, just a heads up that there's lots of dark themes in it including: murder, suicide, self-harm, torture, abuse, sexual assault, mentions of pedophilia, etc. It's about hell and demons, folks, so it's not always so pretty. Also, lots of religious/mythology undertones. Okay, warnings aside, here we go. Under the cut cause it got long

There are three separate, parallel planes that make up this world - Heaven, Earth, and Hell. They're all connected by one ruler, that being whoever possesses the Tablets of Destiny. Currently that's the Almighty (God, pretty much. But because every person has different beliefs and views them differently, the Almighty goes by many names and takes many forms, pretty much whatever name/form the person looking at them believes in). And then we have Lucifer who rules Hell and is plotting to steal the Tablets to gain control of Heaven and Earth, because he's power hungry and is sick of having to bow to the Almighty and their archangels. But the story doesn't actually focus on Lucifer. His plotting is from the background and slowly builds until it collides with the main character's story (which I'll get to). Okay, but world building. So Heaven and Hell are built on death and sin. Everyone dies and everyone has sin. Even the tiniest baby and the sweetest old lady have sin. So everyone is punished. Whether they lived a godly life or have blood-stained hands, their journey of death starts in the bottom layers of Hell (There's 10 layers altogether. The top 3 are residential/agricultural/livable layers, but the bottom 7 are various levels of punishment). The greater the sin, the harsher the punishment (torture, pretty much). And the whole idea is that the human souls must ascend through the layers of punishment while keeping their souls intact. Once their penance is payed, they're allowed into Heaven as angels and given a chance at reincarnation if they so choose. But if their soul breaks down under the torture, they mutate into beasts and become demons that are stuck in Hell (and if they're devoured by other demons, it's over for them. They die die and their soul doesn't get to return to Earth). The whole idea of the punishment system is to reward the good and ensure "pure" souls continue the cycle of life by eventually returning to Earth. But that system is greatly flawed. Because it doesn't judge goodness. It judges how strong someone's soul is. For instance, a child's greatest sin could be stealing a candy bar from a store. That's about a level 2 punishment. But their soul is young and fragile and more easily broken. So they end up in Hell. Whereas a serial killer could have a soul of steel. They are so unbreakable in their depraved ideals that they survive the punishment and are given sanctuary in Heaven. And in most (if not all) modern religions, the greatest sin someone can commit is suicide. So level 7 punishment - the harshest, practically unsurvivable torture - is reserved for the souls who are already vulnerable. It's a flawed, rigged system, and it leads to lots of morally gray characters. And as the main chara finds out throughout the story, nothing is as black and white as it seems. Okay, gonna move on to the main five characters cause I could babble forever about the structures of Hell and Heaven, basically yeah, Hell isn't all bad and Heaven isn't rainbows and unicorns. Some would argue, they'd prefer Hell.

Angelo

Our main character. Nicknamed Angel by Pantera as a rude joke that eventually sticks and turns into a term of endearment. He's a human who didn't actually die, per se. One night, he and a buddy (Ryan, his crush) got drunk at a college party, and because Ryan was far more wasted, Angelo was the one to drive them home. Only, it was icy and snowing and they crashed. Ryan was dead on impact, and in his guilt, Angelo begged to trade his life for Ryan's. Normally, that wouldn't be enough to summon a demon, but it was the night of the December solstice (one of the days - along with Walpurgis Night, Halloween, and the solstices and equinoxes - in which demons can freely cross into Earth).

So Angelo sells his soul to a demon and he's taken to Hell to be auctioned off (Souls are mainly seen as pets/property in Hell, a luxury as well because the contracted souls never go through punishment. They're often used for "entertainment" or labor or plain old devouring). Angelo was on the fast track to being a warty old frog demon's toy before Prince Ian swooped in and quietly saved his ass.

Thus begins Angelo's everyday life in Hell, and he slowly discovers the demons around him aren't as scary and cruel as he expected they'd be.

And he's got a plot line of growth where he realizes he probably shouldn't have thrown his life away for Ryan (because Ryan wouldn't have done the same for him, which he finds out when he uses an oracle pool to check up on Ryan). He gradually finds that love he was looking for in Ian. They have one of those relationships were they start as friends and then they see the other doing something utterly mundane and think "god, I'm in love with him."

Prince Ian

One of Lucifer's chosen heirs (There's 50 altogether. They work in the punishment levels and are encouraged to devour and fight among themselves so that only the strongest survive. If one dies, they're quickly replaced with another demon. It all ties in with Lucifer's secret plotting to steal the Tablets).

I'm gonna be honest. His human name is Ian, but it's not what he goes by cause he doesn't remember his name/past life (which is common for newborn demons. As they devour souls and each other, they lose their beastly instincts and slowly remember themselves and their humanity, and their physical forms get less beastly and more humanoid too). Except he's not newborn. He was a contracted soul like Angelo, but Lucifer put him through the tortures of Hell to break him and mold him into a stronger general. Didn't really work. Pretty much just gave him anxiety, depression, and daddy issues.

But anyway, yeah, his original name was Prince Neko (I know, cringe. I was a much bigger dweeb in my early hs years when I first started working on this story). Ian is the character I've been overhauling the most, so I haven't picked a new name for him yet. But it'll probably still be cringy and cat related somehow, cause his demon form closely resembles a cat (again, he's getting redesigned, so nothing about his look is really set in stone yet), and Lucifer is the one who named him, and well, Lucifer is a dickbag. Like major pile of useless old dicks. [Edit - his new name is Kotě and yeah, he’s still got a cat design]

Anyway, Ian's story arc is pretty much about him trying to remember who he is and finding proof of his past, most recent life. Because Lucifer pretty much has him brainwashed into thinking he was this cruel, ruthless, bloodthirsty person. And although we see none of that in Ian's character (he's a soft, kindhearted soul), he's so lost as to who he is that he believes anything Lucifer tells him (he's got a stockholmy relationship with Lucifer).

Jagger

Femme nonbinary. In a polyamorous relationship with Murciélago and Pantera. Ian's attandant (similar to Angelo, Jagger was saved by Ian. As a newborn demon, they were almost devoured. Ian saved them, and they've been together ever since). Very stoic and loyal. One glare from them can shut up the nastiest of demons. But their bark is bigger than their bite. They're more of a 'knowledge is power' person than a 'punch first and ask questions later' person. They'd rather avoid and strategically retreat from physically combative situations than start a brawl in the streets.

Jagger's sin was murder. They killed their mother. They were already an adult when the incident happened, living and working on their own. They came home for a visit and noticed their little sister (like a 15yr age gap between them, so lil sis is about 12) was acting strangely. She was quiet, reserved, and flinchy where Jagger knew her to be this really cheerful and bubbly little kid. Jagger had a gut feeling something was wrong, so they starting coming around more often, dropping by unannounced to check in. And on one of those visits, they walk in on their mother beating their sister within an inch of her life, and Jagger grabs a kitchen knife and fights off their mom, eventually killing her. Jagger never knew their mom to be violent (she wasn't loving, but she never raised a hand to Jagger) so Jagger curses themself for not noticing sooner and for distancing themself in adulthood. Long story short, the lil sis went off to live happily with an aunt and uncle and Jagger was killed a short few weeks later in a prison brawl. Hence why Jagger would rather avoid altercations altogether, because they regret not getting to live out a life with their lil sis.

Jagger's character design is still up in the air. They're one that's getting a major makeover, so all I've decided on in is they're gonna be more beastly than I originally intended (sue me, Ima a monster fucker now, hs me would probs be appalled). [Edit - lol, yeahh did I say beastly?? More like furry, oops. They’re design is now based on a honey badger, so they maybe appear soft and cuddly, but when they bare their teeth, they’re quite rabid]

Prince Murciélago

Surprise, surprise, he's a bat demon. Nicknamed Ciel. But Pantera calls him Mercy (it's a sexual innuendo & others assume it's because Ciel begs for mercy in the bedroom but really, Pantera's the one doing the begging). He's pretty quiet and reserved, doesn't really stand out other than, you know, giant ass bat wings. But he comes off as lanky and frail, and physically, he is. But mentally, he's the one everyone comes to for comfort. He's the one dishing out heartfelt advice and a shoulder to cry on and the very best hugs.

And considering his sin was suicide, he's come a long way from the newborn demon who was broken and just looking for someone stronger to devour him (it was Pantera who he came across, and well, Pantera is a rough guy but he's not cruel. And long backstory short, Pantera and Jagger brought Ciel into their relationship and it become the 3 of them). As a human, Ciel was a poor rural farmer without much to his name. He struggled with depression and eventually decided to end his life by ingesting crop pesticides. But now, after finding a family with not only Jagger and Pantera, but also Ian and the rest of Pantera's faction (more on factions in a bit), Ciel is the mental strength of the group. And more often than not, he's the backbone holding everyone up.

Prince Pantera

My main squeeze, my man, the love of my life! And also the most quietly tragic character in the story (of course). Nicknamed Tera. Of the main five, he's been in Hell the longest (died the youngest tho). His design is based around a black panther. He's broad, hulking, just this crude, big buff burly beast of a dude. [Edit - his beef had been cut back a bit, lol. Imagine a Shiro-level of buffness. Broad shoulders, dorito-like, still beefy but not like muscle-head beefy] He's the muscle of the group, but surprisingly, he's not good in fights. Kinda sucks at them actually. He just knows how to take a punch so he ends up outlasting his opponents with stamina. But also gets the shit beat out of him along the way.

And okay, to understand most of his character and decisions, you have to know his human life (thus he comes off as a sketchy, ruthless and rather heartless guy at first). Pantera's sin was murder, and he was only 17. He was the eldest son of a single mother, and he had 2 little sisters and a little brother (ages between 7-10). After his father died, his mother remarried in order to keep the family afloat and have a breadwinner in the family (gotta remember, Pantera lived in an older era where woman stayed at home to raise the family). Anyway, his step-father was scum, downright fucking evil and deserved the torture kill that Pantera gave him. Because Pantera found out his step-father was molesting his younger siblings. His mother couldn't do anything to protect them, so Pantera took it into his own hands. And he tortured the guy. There's a scene where he's talking to Angelo about what humans consider sins to be (like being gay is a sin) and Pantera just says, "I'm not here cause I like to suck dick. I'm here cause I cut one off." So yeah, his sin was murdering his step-father. And a couple days after, Pantera was hunted down and killed by his step-father's gang of friends.

So now, Pantera's role is protector. He protects his found family, he protects the weak, he protects those who cannot fight for themselves. And he has no qualms about getting dirty and staining his hands in blood to do so. But there's more to his protection than just fighting and killing (altho, he's stationed in the level of Hell that rapists and pedos go to, and Pantera makes sure none of them get out of alive. When he fails to break one of their souls, he falls into this dark depression and those are days where Ciel becomes the backbone that supports Pantera the Protector).

But yeah, remember when I said Lucifer was a bag of dicks? He's downright scum. Lucifer comes off as this open minded, super accepting ruler of "be whoever you want to be". But there are no boundaries to that. Wanna be a rapist? Lucifer has no qualms with that, cause he is too. Wanna kill every soul you come across? Go for it, no one's gonna stop you. And when Lucifer wants something, he gets it. He's known to prey upon his heirs and take them to bed whether they want to or not. Pantera's experienced it and has heard gruesome tales from other heirs. So Pantera's protections extend to protecting Ian and Ciel from Lucifer's sexual appetite. Meaning Pantera takes their place. It's one of many deals he has with Lucifer, because Pantera would rather he suffer and be hurt than to allow anyone he loves to go through it again.

But those deals he has with Lucifer are hidden. Because he has lots of other deals where the nasty, cruel jobs meant for Ciel, Ian, or other weaker heirs are given to him instead. He also has one where he became Lucifer's dog to ensure his siblings souls didn't go through punishment and got a fast track to Heaven (despite knowing that meant he would never get the chance to see them again). So there are scenes where Angelo believes Tera is betraying the group because he sees the two in hushed and/or suggestive conversations, but it's really just Pantera making sure his family remains safe and whole, even if that means sacrificing himself to keep it that way. And okay, I could go on forever about Pantera and how much he's willing to give up for his family, but on to the factions of Hell.

Factions

There are 3 main factions among the heirs. The leaders are Pantera, Toro, and Anzu. (Lucifer names his heirs, it's part of breaking them down to groom them into his generals. And only the strongest generals inherit the names of old (like Anzu, Azazel, Bahamut, etc.)).

Pantera's and Anzu's factions are constantly at each other throats, because Pantera's believes in the strong protecting the weak because everyone, regardless of status or power, deserves to live a peaceful life. They believe in helping your fellow demon and giving to those that need it. And his faction isn't afraid to get their hands dirty to protect those beliefs and ensure the safety of all.

But Anzu's faction follows Lucifer's belief, but to an even more extreme. They believe in the strong conquering the weak and taking whatever they want. They thrive off chaos and cruelty. They prey on anyone who's vulnerable, including members of their own faction. Think of them like the people in The Purge movies who go out and murder everyone instead of just getting a months worth of free groceries.

Lastly, there's Toro's faction. They are neutral. Their belief is every demon for themself, they don't really care unless it personally affects them. Mainly, they just want to remain out of the cross-hairs of the power struggle between Pantera and Anzu. But when push eventually comes to shove, most chose to align themselves with Pantera's faction.

And the factions eventually play a role in Lucifer trying to steal the Tablets. Which is why Lucifer tends to fan the flames between them, because again, he greatly encourages in-fighting to assure only his strongest generals remain at his side. But the split of the factions will determine whether he succeeds, because lets be honest, Pantera would rather hand control of Hell over to an archangel (he hates archangels okay, they treat demons like garbage even though most the archangels have worse sins than the demons) than let Lucifer rule the entirety of their three worlds.

And okay, bonus character!

Princess Zaba

That’s her as a little clay charm I made. She’s a tiny little dart frog demon (like only 2cm tall). She wears cloaks that Ciel makes for her, and she lives in a little vivarium made up like a dollhouse. Her sin was suicide. She felt her existence didn’t matter, and now she’s so small that most demons don’t even notice her. She covers up her insecurities with sarcasm though, and is close friends with the main five (especially Pantera). She likes riding around in their pockets.

And okay, that’s all for now, lol. It’s long enough, and honestly, I had a hard time congesting it to just this. Cause trust me, I could on and on about this story and it’s characters for hours. I just love them so much.

#my writing #my characters #listen this project is my baby #and after wpwt is done I'll be focusing on this and my other original centaur novel

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xxxdragonfucker69xxx · 7 years ago

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dunking and danging: kings of all cosmos

ok my dnd game is pretty certifiably dead so im gonna post here the skeleton of the plot i had planned, if you were in my game and want to preserve your innocence then do not read further

PLAYERS

squamata, a reptilian mystic

glenjamin gogol, a elemental monk who is dwight from the office

tobi, a hobbit ranger with a giant toad friend named george

and clayface, a goblin who makes things out of clay

ACT 0: EXPOSITION

the four of them appear in the sky over throne, a weird city where the sun is chained to the ground and ultraviolence is everywhere. also, demon wasps are attacking them. they fall through the roof of a building and meet the wanderers guild: neptune, jupiter and venus. they explain that this world is ruled by an asshole named zosimos, and that he has fucked off but left four kings to rule in his absence, and that there is a prophecy about a rising star that will overthrew zosimos and rule the universe as the new king, and one of them is the rising star. they’re stuck here unless one of the kings opens a way back to their homeworlds so they agree that they might as well become kings themselves

ACT 1: THE BLEAK ACADEMY

(i originally called this the black academy and then started kicking myself halfway through when i realized i fucked up the color scheme) (this is the only arc we finished)

the first king is lord entropy, principal of the bleak academy and inventor of murder. he cannot be killed by murder, which is a problem cause thats basically how you take the title of king from someone. everyone takes a youth potion and goes undercover at the bleak academy. there were some fun classes and squamata vowed to fuck lord entropy (leading to the famous “it’s not breaking the windflower law if it’s just eating ass”). in the end they befriend his daughter desecration roseblack attaris ebrot appeka entropy (and she ends up briefly played by a guest pc) who tells them about a scroll containing entropy’s true name (i wrote kind of a cool backstory for this i may post eventually) that can compel him to do anything. so they break into the library, then break into the secret underlibrary, to get the name. then they go confront entropy in his office, have a bigass boss battle, and then one of them commands entropy to attack so he can be killed in self-defense. rejoicing! they solved the murder puzzle! a star flies from entropy’s head to rest on tobi’s brow but im sure that’s not important for now! as they’re celebrating some old drunkard comes up to tobi and asks what she thinks about death, and her response is basically “it’s not something to worry about”

ACT 2: KEEPER OF THE FLAME

They wake up with a hangover and get an invitation from lady enheduanna, who is coincidentally the next king they gotta tick off. she’s throwing a party for nemontemi, which is basically calibration/halloween/the purge, and wants them there. the wanderers suggest they go shopping to get ready, and they basically have a christmas episode shopping and having fun with each other. they get back, and as they’re falling asleep, tobi wishes that “every day could be like this” in a very imperial voice. oops! they wake up and find that they’re in a time loop. after discussing it for a while they decide to go break back into the bleak academy’s library and look for information about time shit, and find that the key to breaking a time loop is usually a person that has to change

(this is where we left off)

the plan was for them to go talk to enheduanna, who at this point has probably been through a couple loops of their time loop (only the players and the kings keep their memories through the loop) and is probably kind of pissed off. but she offers them their hearts desires if they will go and steal from hell for her: she wants the forbidden apple, the fruit of life, because her current method of immortality is fading. (i really wanted to deliver the mottom speech ok). so then its a fun montage where they have less than a day to break into the brass embassy, which is hell’s embassy in throne, and find the door that will let them into actual hell, kill the serpent guarding it, and get back. surprise! enheduanna double-crosses them and tries to kill them. presumably they kill her and one of them becomes imperator of hunger

INTERMISSION: WAY DOWN NADIR TOWN

(this is possibly where this goes but maybe not)

the wanderers get a contract from the crooked-crosses, a gang of dickensian orphan urchins. they had a special treasure: one of the sparks of divinity leftover from the dead gods. it was stolen by a thief named snuffer, who has fled to nadir, which is a mining town inside the skull of a long-dead god. its run by a mysterious guy known only as Bossman, and nobody ever comes back. so they traverse the spiral road down, pass through the stygian wall and the kerberoi, and get admitted as miners. bossman provides food, board and company scrip, so by the time you actually find anything worth selling you’re probably so deep in debt it doesnt matter. his enforcers are the vakes, vaguely batlike people who swoop overhead in darkness; and the longer you stay in nadir the more you forget, so that the oldest workers are zombies who have forgotten everything but work. theres a friendly old worker named bones who points them towards the Hole, a speakeasy run by a lady named lilac. at the hole you can buy back some memories: sunlight, fresh air, clean water, love. of course, lilac is secretly the bossman. anyways, they find snuffer, but hes forgotten who he is and where hes hidden the spark. he begs them not to kill him cause hes just a kid too, and promises to pay them off if they rescue him. hes in debt to bossman, but bossman can be tempted by a suitable wager. the spark is actually in bossman’s vault as well. im almost certain this intermission ends in a riot.

ACT 3: KASTLE KORPUSLES

(backstory: in our last campaign one of the players was herbst korpusles, a paladin who was also basically agnostic. he had a little homunculus he kept in his beard and was raising like a son, but he was kind of a bad parent, so the homunculus was growing evil and basically sucking all the evil out of him. as time went on he got smaller and the homunculus got bigger and at the end of it you could barely tell them apart. the homunculus was named squilliam but thats neither here nor there. at the end of the last campaign they slew a demon named the king in yellow who basically possessed the empress and then herbst got made king for it, cause he also had excalibur)

hadnt really hugely planned this part but basically throne is split into quarters, and one of the quarters would be like industrial england (as opposed to the rest of throne which is more like ksbd) and ruled by this multiversal warlord named king korpusles who is, surprise surprise, that old herbst. they go to confront him through his castle which is simultaneously in throne and in albion (the world of our last campaign). i was probably going to send them to go discuss with a couple of other old characters: the druid raven veaux and the warlock valentine bebe, who are probably living in a bog together. they go to confront korpusles who has turned all of albion into one big war machine but he throws the cape off his hunchback and its not a hunchback at all! its a tiny little man just sort of attached to him sucking on his blood. is he the homunculus or the original herbst? neither can remember! also the king in yellow was the previous imperator of war and thats how korpusles is zoss’ king now. big fight, big murders. someone becomes imperator of war

ACT 4: THE APOCALYPSE SERPENT

the fourth king is kind of a problem, cause whereas the other kings were old and/or magically powerful this one is old, magically powerful and a mile-long dragon. its name is kormis, the apocalypse serpent, and it has been sleeping for ages but recently awoken due to all the hubbub. but they have a plan! throne is dotted with giant statues that are the corpses of gods and are sort of incorporated into architecture, but the wanderers have got word of one they can sort of reanimate. unfortunately its being occupied by their rivals, the most illustrious guild of judicious violence. they have to clear out the main room in the skull, then keep it clear while they perform the ritual to reanimate the god-corpse into basically a giant mecha. then they call out kormis, and have a proper mecha/kaiju battle. someone becomes the imperator of conquest.

ACT 5: BIG ZOSS BATTLE

the sun is chained to the tower of the sun, zoss’ palace, which the angels previously refused to let them into aaaalll the way back in act 1. but now they’re kings so they can enter. they go in, and aside from angels just kinda hibernating in between missions, its... empty. no palace here! but there is some kind of teleporter pad or something. they pop up, and appear in a room looking out over a plain of fire which is otherwise very luxurious. zoss’ palace isn’t underneath the sun, it’s on the sun. also, zoss is there, lounging with some cocktails. it turns out hes been grooming them as kings to take over, cause the current batch kind of fucking suck and hes bored of doing it himself. then they fight the king of the universe on top of the sun

#dunking and danging #what could have been....#can you tell i was extremely on my ksbd kick when i planned all this

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just-come-baek · 7 years ago

Text

Chills, Scares, and Cold Sweat

Pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader ft. a pinch of platonic Yoonmin and implied Kryber

Themes: smut | angst | haunted house!au

Word count: 12.7k

Summary: Ghosts and demons don’t exist, so how bad can it really get? In the worst case scenario, we’ll end up on YouTube screaming like a bunch of pussies. Taehyung’s words, not mine.

Warnings: late BTS Halloween special! Scary! (Not really) Backseat smut!

Masterlist

Okay, chill, you got this, I delivered myself a mental pep talk, as I stood in front of the house, my grip tightened around the suitcase handle, head high. The sun had already descended behind the horizon, grey skies casting a spine-chilling aura, the thick fog only intensifying the effect, putting everyone into long-awaited Halloween's mood.

The last days of October are just like that; everyone is hyped about Halloween, preparing slutty costumes, throwing amazing, unforgettable parties, trick-or-treating, and, obviously, scaring the shit out of friends, sometimes even posting the horrendous pranks online.

This year, though, my Halloween was going to be different. Not necessarily better, but definitely not like all the previous ones. I mean... it's not an everyday occurrence to participate in a paranormal experiment. Or in other words, being locked up in a supposedly haunted house for a couple of days. Thankfully, they pay quite handsomely, and I seriously need this money.

What's the worst that could happen?

It's not like demons or ghosts or other spooky creations exist.

That’s what I call; easy money.

With lips pressed together in a thin line, back straightened, I made a confident step toward the house; only to shriek a second later when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Instantly, I turned around, my hands raised in a defensive manner, ready to attack whoever dared to touch and frighten me out of wits.

“Your backpack is so cute,” stated the man around my age, beaming, his boxy smile making everything brighter. “It has those cute kitten ears,” he added, his hands stretched, as if he wanted to touch it, “utterly cute.”

“Don’t sneak up on people like that,” I preached, my palm firmly pressed against my rib cage, my heart beating rapidly, as he almost put me through a severe heart attack. “Anyway,” I started dismissively, “are you participating in the, hmm... project as well?”

Smiling down at me from under his hood, he nodded, “of course, I’m Taehyung, and you are?” he introduced himself, his arm outstretched, so I could shake hands with him. Quickly, I greeted him and gave him my name, his wide beam never fading. “It’s gonna be so much fun, isn’t it?”

“It depends on what you’re into,” I promptly replied, giving him a faint smile, “if you like being conned and pranked, since this ‘experiment‘,” I didn’t hesitate to draw a quotation marks in the air with my fingers, “is obviously some kind of a sick hoax taken to a completely different level then yes, it’s gonna be a blast,” I grinned innocently, studying his expression.

“Oh,” he pouted slightly, “so you’re a disbeliever. Interesting,” Taehyung spoke, and I could feel his glance on me, as he looked at me from head to toe.

“What about you? Do you seriously believe in all of that crap?” I asked, my eyebrow cocked upwards, as I impatiently anticipated his reply. He’s something; if he really thinks that horror monsters are real, it’ll surely be interesting. “I mean... whatever is gonna pop out of nowhere must be staged.”

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen; in the worst case scenario, we’ll end up on YouTube screaming like a bunch of pussies.” Taehyung replied, shooting me another smile, as he rubbed his hands in excitement. “We probably should get inside, I think we’re late.”

“Right,” I agreed, and Taehyung quickly grabbed my suitcase, “thanks.”

The porch squeaked the moment we stepped on it; from the outside the house looked terrible, only still in one piece due to a magical spell cast upon it; maybe even a curse, given the particular time of a year and sinister atmosphere around. From the inside, it didn't present any better.

“Finally,” a voice said as Taehyung grabbed the knob and pushed the doors wide open, a loud creak announcing our arrival. Slowly, he looked from above his tablet, his lips arched into a polite smile, his dimples on full display. “I started to think that you guys ditched,” he added, clearly glad that he was mistaken.

“Are you kidding me? Pass on such a sweet deal? Never,” I quickly assured him, as I accepted his hand shake when he greeted us, “nice to meet you, too, Namjoon.”

“Okay, before we start anything, you both have to sign this up,” Namjoon announced, showing us the terms of the agreement which were roughly thirty pages long, “basically, it states that we can record anything that happens here, and use it for further research. Also, we do not take any responsibility for any damage caused during your stay.”

Taehyung scrolled through the pages, his eyes moving quickly from left to right as he quickly skimmed the text, reading one every five words.

“Sounds legit,” he commented, as he looked at Namjoon, “where do I sign?”

“Just draw your signature with your finger at the bottom of the page,” Namjoon instructed Taehyung, the latter leaving an illegible squiggle under the date.

“Are you for real?” I asked, still unable to process what Taehyung just did. Did he seriously endorse the contract without thoroughly reading it first? Is he that reckless and irresponsible? For all we know, they could have a permit to legally harvest his organs, or worse.

“Don’t worry, there isn’t anything funny, it’s a routine procedure.” Namjoon reassured me, his arm outstretched toward me, the blank space at the bottom of the page waiting to be signed.

“Fuck it, let’s do it,” I replied casually before I left my signature in the right place. Right now, I seriously needed this money, even if the contract consisted of something I was against, it’s not like Namjoon had time to renegotiate the terms with me; it’s either all or nothing, and I really didn't want to leave empty-handed.

“Okay,” Namjoon locked his tablet, “since we got this covered, you guys must want a short tour around the house,” he simply stated, mentioning for us to follow him and carefully listen to him. Taehyung and I looked at each other, and he let me go first, as he slowly trailed behind me.

The reconnaissance was quite short; Namjoon showed us round the house and introduced us to the four fellow housemates. At the very end of the tour, he led us down the corridor, telling which room was whose. Mine happened to be across from Taehyung’s, squeezed between Jimin’s and Amber’s.

“I should get going,” Namjoon stated, as he glimpsed at his smart-watch, “shit, I’m late,” he added, his eyes roaming around the house as if he was in a panic. “Anyway, see you all on Wednesday.”

"What took you so long?" Taehyung asked as I walked downstairs to the living room. "And here I thought a ghost already ate your disbelieving ass," he snickered, and I immediately stuck out my tongue at him before I politely bowed at the rest and sat on the couch beside Taehyung since he's the one I was the most familiar with; Namjoon had introduced them to me, yet their names slipped my mind almost as soon as I heard them.

"Yeah, totally," I deadpanned, slightly jabbing Taehyung's side; that boy had it coming, why did he look so astonished? "Anyway, I have a treat for all of you," I started, as I placed a plastic bag filled with Chinese fortune cookies.

"Did you rob a Chinese restaurant on your way here?" A man with golden, fluffy hair smiled and reached for the ziplock bag, taking a cookie.

"No, but it's a funny story, actually." I started, obtaining his attention before he managed to crack the cookie and read whatever wisdom was inked inside. "I used to write quotes for the fortune cookies; the manager wanted them to be original and I kind of got carried away. In the end, I got fired."

"What does it say?" Taehyung asked, wondering what could be written there, as he couldn't imagine what kind of sentence could anger the manager to the point of wanting to sack me. "Come on, Jimin, read it out loud!" He encouraged, when the man scanned the piece of paper, his eyes squinted, trying to decipher the message in a tiny font.

"Oh my God, this is gold," Jimin declared, as he strived to refrain himself from ugly-laughing. "You will die alone and poorly dressed," Jimin read, and Taehyung almost choked when he heard the fortune. "Geez, thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to get."

"She must really possess some kind of power, I mean... what are those?" Taehyung asked angrily, as he pointed at Jimin's hideous sneakers. Everyone laughed at Taehyung's remark, and Jimin stuck his tongue out, acting calm and collected, although he couldn't understand the criticism; they were incredibly comfortable, who really cared that they were last season?

"I want one, too." A woman in boyish clothing interjected Taehyung before he got to diss Jimin more, and reached for the bag, eager to read her fortune. "Life is a symphony, and you are playing the kazoo," she read out loud, "why would anyone fire you for that? This is ridiculous; if anything, you should get a raise!"

Later that night, we're still chilling in the living room; demonic presence never making oneself known. It was just a simple get-together; six people in their twenties, a bag of delicious unfortunate cookies and a bottle of rum passed among them.

"Okay, let's lay our cards on the table," Taehyung started casually, wriggling on the couch beside me, brushing his thighs against mine all the time. "What made you guys take part in this? You go first Jimin," he asked with curiosity, his body leaned forward, his elbows digging into his thighs, waiting for the reply patiently, his eyes fixated on Jimin.

"The girl I have a crush on just got together with my friend, and I didn't feel like third-wheeling them, especially when they're in that honeymoon phase," Jimin stated, gladly accepting the bottle of alcohol Yoongi offered him. It wasn't easy for him, but hopefully participating in this experiment would take it off his mind. "Fuck couples," he added, and raised the bottle, taking another gulp.

"Salute to that!" I cheered, smiling at Jimin, completely supporting his views on relationships. It was solely envy speaking, but yeah, fuck couples!

"What about you Amber?" Taehyung inquired, as he looked at the girl, the bottle of alcohol in her hands.

"Actually, I'm just tagging along. Krystal wanted to go, because she thought her Instagram followers would love it, and I'm just accompanying her."

"That's true," Krystal suddenly interjected, tearing her eyes off the screen, "and they just love it," she added, every word just beautifully rolling off her tongue, "by the end of the experiment, the number of my followers will at least double."

Taehyung nodded his head, registering all the new information about other participants. "Yoongi?"

"Boredom, I guess." Yoongi answered dismissively, drinking alcohol as if it was water. "Also, I've been told I am dead inside, so hopefully, this near-death experience will stir some emotions within me." He added, placing an empty bottle on the carpet, "have any of you brought booze?" He asked, looking at fellow participants, hoping he wasn't the only one who had thought about getting wasted.

"I have," I quickly replied, unconsciously raising my hand as if I was still in high school, "but it's clear vodka, and I don't think we should drink it straight from the bottle," I added, and everyone except Yoongi agreed with me with a simple nod.

"I'll grab the cups and some juice, and you go get the alcohol," Taehyung proposed, and quickly, we stood up and went our separate ways to get what all of us needed. Within two minutes, we got back to the living room; swiftly pouring the drinks, each different with accordance to one's request.

"What about you, kitten?" Taehyung carried on, his gaze fixated on me, our cups clinking in a simple toast. Refraining myself from cringing at the nickname he had given me, I smiled at him and cleared my throat.

"I want to throw an amazing birthday party, and invite all of my friends, but I don't have money, so I signed up for this." I sincerely confessed, all of them staring at me, since mine reason must've been the most trivial one. "What about you, huh?" I boldly asked Taehyung, alcohol in my system giving me confidence and courage.

"What about me?" Taehyung questioned stupidly, grinning at me like an idiot, "Aww, look at your blush, is it me, or the alcohol?"

"Alcohol, definitely alcohol," I answered immediately, being perfectly aware that my cheeks turned scarlet red whenever I was drinking. I was attracted to Taehyung, but it didn't have anything to do with my blush at the moment; it was solely alcohol. "What about you? Are you avoiding my question?"

"I'm not, I just like teasing you," Taehyung stated, leaning forward, and I automatically lay back a little. He surprised me with all the attention he gave me, but I just didn't want to openly flirt with Taehyung in front of everyone. I hated PDA, and even Taehyung's handsome being wouldn't change that. "But to answer your question, I guess I joined the experiment because I felt like it?" Taehyung said, yet his statement came out as a question, almost as if he didn't know how to explain his decision. "I mean... I thought it'd be cool to try something new."

"Okay, since we've already established why we're here, why don't we get drunk?" Jimin spoke, trying to change the subject for which I was much than simply glad, considering the way Taehyung stared at me, waiting for a perfect moment to strike again with his playful remarks.

"Finally!" Yoongi cheered, as he reached for his cup and a fortune cookie. "You are all going to die here," Yoongi read the sentence with furrowed eyebrows, and I almost choked on my drink in horror; I didn't particularly memorise all the quotes, but I was certain that I hadn't written that. "Spooky."

"Are you okay?" Taehyung asked in concern, as he hit my back gently, evidently worried about me, yet intrigued by my reaction. "What's the matter?"

"It wasn't funny, Yoongi," I reprimanded the man, obviously not amused by his prank.

"I don't understand," Yoongi replied, his eyebrow cocked in a questioning manner, as he had no clue what made me act the way I did. "What wasn't funny?"

"The note," I quickly said, pointing my finger at the piece of paper lying on the coffee table, "I didn't write that."

"Who did, then?" He challenged, and I immediately reached for the note, eager to see what was written there. Yoongi's prank wasn't humorous, not even the tiniest bit. Quickly, I flipped the note in my hands, squinting my eyes as I tried to read it in my tipsy state. What threw me off first was the font; the one I held in my hands was hand-written, whereas the ones I had written were not. Someone was messing with me, yet I couldn't really tell who. It had to be one of the fellow participants, it couldn't be a ghost, obviously.

"You guys are the worst," I whined, crumpling the note in my hands, not giving them the satisfaction; they tried to prank me, but it failed.

Around two a.m. we called it a night. Unfortunately, when I got to my room, I didn't feel the tiniest bit tired, my eyes were wide open, not even a single yawn leaving my mouth. Perhaps, it was alcohol that they had poured me, or the cruel prank that affected me much more than I originally thought; either way, I wasn't feeling exhausted, anticipated dream way beyond my reach.

Having kicked off my shoes, I jumped on the bed, sitting up, my back pressed against the headboard. Quickly, I unlocked my phone, keen on reading whatever I had missed during the day. Slowly, I scrolled down the content, either liking or reblogging everything that caught my attention, or made me smile. It didn't keep me busy for long, though.

"Eh," I murmured to myself, as I rolled down, lying on the sheets. The brightness of my phone was blinding me, although it was set the darkest as it was possible. Thankfully, there was a working lamp on the nightstand, which engulfed the room with tangerine, weak light.

Suddenly, I felt cold; it lasted for not longer than ten seconds, yet it was enough for goose bumps to rise in my arms. Shivering, I turned my head toward the window, the curtain fluttering in the chilly breeze. It was strange, especially when I didn't leave it open. Sighing, I jumped off the bed and walked to the window to close it, only to furrow my eyebrows in confusion when I realised it was closed. There had to be a scientific explanation; the draft just didn't emerge from nothingness.

Before I got a chance to ponder the occurrence, I heard a faint knock on the doors, interrupting my train of thought. My head immediately turned, Taehyung's head picked inside my room.

"You're not asleep, thank God," he spoke casually, a sheepish smile decorating his face. Slowly, he pushed the doors open, gingerly entering my room, his pillow in his grip. "Would it be a problem if I slept here tonight?" He asked boldly, his gaze drilling holes in my eyes. "My room stinks as if someone has died in there," he clarified honestly, and I just nodded my head in comprehension.

"You can stay, I guess," I replied nonchalantly, as I wondered if I was his first choice. Didn't he prefer to stay with one of the guys? Or Krystal? Or whoever else?

"Thanks, you're the best," Taehyung beamed at me, quickly plopping on the right side of the bed, "you're my life saver."

"No problem," I muttered and gave him a faint smile, before I turned my head around, examining the window again. It bothered me that I couldn't come up with a logical explanation, even when I knew one existed; surely it wasn't Casper the ghost, playing with the curtains for crying out loud!

"What are you doing over there?" Taehyung asked, his deep, worried voice pulling me out of my thoughts. "Have you seen a ghost? You look unhealthily pale."

"What...?" I furrowed my eyebrows, as I didn't register what exactly he asked me about. "Oh, it's really nothing. I thought I saw something, but it must be nothing. It's just the house, everybody says it's haunted, and even if I don't believe in that, it still makes me feel a bit edgy." I explained, smiling sheepishly throughout my whole reply, as I analysed his concerned expression.

"Don't worry, it's a natural reaction in these circumstances, everyone a bit scared even though they may not outwardly admit that." Taehyung assured, trying to provide me with comfort of some sort. "Hell, even I'm a little frightened." He confessed, and I let out a faint chuckle. The thing was, I wasn't scared, what I felt was confusion without any sort of fear.

I knew better than to believe in that lies Namjoon had fed us with; the supernatural beings don't exist. Period. He might've fooled the rest of them, but I had never been easy to convince.

"It's not I'm scared. Maybe a little uneasy, but that's all." I replied, striving to look as confident as I possibly could. "Anyway," I started, rubbing my hands eagerly, "do you want to check out your room?"

"Not really," quickly, he brushed me off, his body comfortably lying on my bed, his arms tightly wrapped around the pillow, his lips puckered, "when I said that it stank, I meant it. Actually, I'm pretty much surprised you can't smell it from here."

"Okay, let's just stay here." I gave in, not really trying to force him to leave. I truly liked his company, and if he wanted to stay the night, I'd let him even if nothing was going to happen. "But if you hear me talking in my sleep just ignore it, I am not being possessed." I warned him, but Taehyung just beamed at me.

"And if you feel as if a boa snake is trying to kill you, don't panic, you're not being attacked. It's just me." Taehyung announced, holding his pillow tightly between his arms.

"Sure..." I replied, sounding not convinced, "I'll remember that."

"Aren't you tired?" He asked, his head propped on his elbow, as he stared at me. I was still standing next to the window, almost as if I was too shy to lie down beside him. "It's like seriously late," he yawned loudly, not even covering his mouth.

"I was, but sometimes one moment I'm super exhausted, only to be hyper when I should go to bed." I explained, slowly approaching him, the eerie curtain occurrence almost forgotten.

"Yeah, I get it." Taehyung nodded his head, as he closed his eyes, and snuggled tightly around the sheets, making himself absolutely comfortable. "Amber must be suffering like you right now. When I was standing in front of your doors, I could swear I heard moans coming from her room. And if I'm not mistaken, they were Krystal's."

"Whoa," I said, unable to disguise my perplexed reaction. They hadn't made it obvious that they had any romantic strings between them. Moreover, if I had to tip who were in a relationship, I'd nominate Yoongi and Jimin; Krystal hadn't held Amber’s hand when rain started to hit the windows, it was Jimin who had got scared, seeking safety in Yoongi's tight grip.

"At least someone's getting some," I added absent-mindedly, the depressing thoughts of my painfully long singlehood resurfaced.

"I'm very sorry that we're not having sex right now. If I knew sooner that you're down to fuck, I'd save my energy. Not today, kitten." Taehyung teased me, his mind almost in dreamland.

"That's not what I meant!" I replied defensively, shooting him a disapproving glance, which much to my dismay, got unnoticed. "I'm thinking long-term here," I added, although I knew he wasn't listening.

"Good night, Taehyung." I whispered, as I sat on the bed beside him, ready to return to reading on my phone.

When I woke up, Taehyung was gone. Lazily rubbing my eyes, I reached for my phone to check the time and other notifications; it was past noon, and I must've been the only person still in bed. Despite a hot affair between Krystal and Amber, I doubted anyone had stayed awake to 4 o'clock to finish reading.

A loud growl of my stomach pulled me out of my thoughts, demanding food. However, no matter how hungry I was, I had to shower first.

Swiftly, I got out of bed and approached the suitcase, fishing out everything I needed: a clean set of clothes, a bathrobe, and shower necessities.

The bathroom down the hall, thankfully, wasn't occupied, so I quickly sneaked in, locking the doors from the inside.

Instantly, I noticed a camera attached to the ceiling; everybody knows that in horror movies, ghosts just love scaring the shit out of people in the bathrooms, so I can't say that I am surprised. God bless the shower curtain and toilet stall!

Once under the hot steam of water, body coated in a bath foam, I spoke in confusion, "what the fuck?" It was weird, at night, when I had gone to bed, I didn't have any bruises, yet right now, my hips and thighs were covered in a handful of dark marks. How did that happen? These weren't hickeys, obviously. I hadn't knocked into anything, either.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I stared at the marks, still unable to recall how the hell I got them. Once again, something odd happened, and I didn't have an explanation for it; perhaps I am not as smart as I thought I was.

Having pushed the bothersome thoughts aside, I swiftly finished the shower and put on my outfit which consisted of black, ripped jeans and a simple band T-shirt.

"Look who we have here, the Sleeping Beauty finally came downstairs." Taehyung snickered, as soon as I entered the kitchen. Taehyung was alone, doing the dishes, while the rest lounged around the living room, either sipping coffee, or looking at their screens. "How was your sleep?" He asked, looking at me over his shoulder, sending me a simple smile.

"Short," I retorted, as I sat on the stool by the table, looking at the remains of their breakfast. "What about you?"

"I slept like a log," Taehyung admitted, as he turned off the tap and threw the sponge into the sink before he took a seat beside me.

"Taehyung, did we... you know... do anything yesterday? I have these... weird bruises, and I have no idea how I got them. We didn't sleep together, did we?" I mumbled, playing with my fingers. I realised I must've sounded crazy and confused, and thankfully, he didn't laugh at me. "It's really strange, but I seriously don't know how to explain that. I wasn't that drunk, and I was conscious the whole time." I tried to formulate a reasonable explanation, and Taehyung, despite me sounding batshit crazy, he just grabbed my hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Trust me, kitten, I'd remember that." Taehyung answered playfully, rubbing his thumb against my skin in a soothing manner. "And are you sure you haven't knocked into anything?" He asked, and I shook my head confidently. "Then, it must be the house. It's haunted, remember?"

"I'm being serious here," I whined, and Taehyung tightened his grip around my fingers.

"Don't look at me like that, something's wrong about this house. At breakfast, Yoongi told me that during the night, he felt the draft in his room, although the windows and the doors were closed." Taehyung started, and I looked at him with my eyes wide open; Yoongi had experienced the same thing, and it seemed a bit too coincidental for my liking. It was strange, but it didn't mean that the house was actually haunted.

"It doesn't mean the ghost assaulted me."

"You're right, but tell me when you come up with a better explanation."

"Does anyone know the history of this house?" Amber asked out of the blue, obtaining everyone's attention. "I googled it, and it's pretty messed up."

"Better keep it to yourself, she's already paranoid," Taehyung interjected, pointing his finger at me, earning a jab between his ribs. I wasn't paranoid, I was just puzzled. "What?" He asked loudly, his grip on my wrist, protecting him from me.

"Shut up, you're not better yourself. Who came to my room yesterday? You're the scaredy-cat, just admit it." I fought back, wriggling my arms from his grasp.

"Okay, we get it, you're both chickens," Yoongi commented, as he gave us a judging look. "What does it say?"

"Basically, whoever moves in dies." Amber summed up, as everyone stared at her, eagerly waiting for more details. "The legend says that the family who built this house was brutally murdered by robbers. It is believed the man, right before his death, swore to take vengeance on anybody who comes inside."

"That story's lame," Krystal criticized, shaking her head in disappointment, "I can't believe that's what you came up with, pathetic."

"I didn't come up with anything!" Amber defended herself, but Krystal didn't seem the tiniest bit convinced. "I found this article from a couple of years ago, and it says that over twenty people died in here; adults and kids, everyone cruelly butchered, no survivors. Just read it yourself." She sat up and stretched her hand, passing her phone to Krystal.

"Still lame."

In the evening, when Yoongi found a stash of alcohol, the atmosphere loosened up; no one was thinking about the urban legend, our minds hazy.

"Do you guys wanna play? Krystal and I deserve a break," Amber asked, as she pointed at the table where Yoongi and Jimin were refilling cups for another round of beer pong.

"Sure," Taehyung replied for the both of us, as he smiled at Amber and grabbed my hand, pulling me off the couch. "Come on, kitten, we're gonna fucking destroy them," he added, and I shook my head at Taehyung's confidence. I didn't doubt his skills, mine, however, left a lot to be desired. Especially, when I was already after a couple of drinks.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Tae," Jimin warned, as he smirked at us, "we crushed them, and we're most definitely gonna crush you."

"I probably should tell you that I, Kim Taehyung, have never lost, not even once, at beer pong." With a hand pressed against his heart, Taehyung admitted, while I tried to fight the urge to start laughing at his serious approach. He wasn't going to play to have fun, he was going to beat them out.

"What about you, kitten?" Yoongi asked in a mocking tone, infuriating me even more with that annoying nickname he had caught on from Taehyung.

"What about me? You better worry about yourself because Taehyung and I will beat the crap out of you." I exclaimed and high-fived Taehyung before we cheered together, being confident about our victory. Hopefully, Taehyung had his self-proclaimed skills, otherwise, we're pretty much screwed.

"Feisty." Yoongi hissed under his breath, a lopsided smirk decorating his face. "In that case, we should arrange a bet; what do you think?"

"Bring it on," Taehyung replied confidently, as he sent a determined glare at Yoongi and Jimin, "what's the punishment gonna be?"

"We'll have that figured out by the end of the match, okay?"

Having cracked my knuckles, and heaved a sigh, the game started, me being the first one to throw the ball, as the boys insisted that ladies first. Surprisingly, I managed to score for our team; unfortunately, it was the first and also last point I notched up. Amongst the four of us, Taehyung was definitely the best player, yet with my awful contribution, it wasn't enough to win against them.

"In your face!"

"There's a first time for everything, Tae!" Jimin mocked, as he approached our side of the table, and patted Taehyung's shoulder with artificial care. "What are we gonna make them do, Yoongs?"

"Don't worry, shit happens." Taehyung spoke, trying to cheer me up when Yoongi and Jimin were conferring our punishment. "It's not a big deal."

"Sorry, Tae. It's all my fault. If you want I can do the punishment alone. It's fine with me."

With everlasting smile upon his face, he shook his head. Of course, he'd do that, given how much of a sweetheart I knew he was.

"Don't be ridiculous," Taehyung spoke, as he spared me a short glance before he focused on Jimin and Yoongi who're bending their backs backward, desperate to come up with a sinister punishment.

"Today's Halloween, maybe we should send them to the basement. If the ghosts don't hunt them down, we'll know that Namjoon has been bullshitting the whole time." Jimin announced, and Yoongi enthusiastically clapped his hands and nodded his head, agreeing with Jimin's idea.

"Oh my God," Krystal whined and rolled her eyes, as she took a short break from her Instagram profile, "you guys are so lame! Unbelievably uncreative. A sponge would generate a better punishment."

Krystal was right; the guys didn't possess even a whit of creativity. They were also dicks, picking a dull cliché from every horror movie ever. Going to the basement with Taehyung wasn't a problem to me, yet when Jimin and Yoongi opted for clichés, I'd rather make out with my game partner. Their idea was neutral, and I didn't really mind spicing things up.

Hopefully, Taehyung didn't either.

"Just let them, they tried their best," Taehyung replied casually, yet I didn't miss the sly, subtle smirk that he sent me. He was up to something; it was obvious, and although I didn't know anything about his revenge plan, I could only assume that Yoongi and Jimin would regret messing with us. Or at least, making fun of us. "It's really nothing, we'll crush them in the next round. It was just a warm-up."

"Yeah... sure....," Yoongi hissed, sounding unconvinced, as he knew we didn't stand a chance to win against them. Not in the next round. Not ever.

"Finish your drink, Tae." Jimin said casually, as he looked at Taehyung's cup which was half full.

As soon as Taehyung emptied his cup with only three gulps, Yoongi and Jimin walked us to the basement doors, eloquently calling our mission 'Seven Minutes in Hell'. Frankly, despite all the alcohol in my blood, it still made me cringe.

"Okay, what was about that look?" I asked straightforwardly when the doors closed behind us, Taehyung and I in the embrace of darkness, occasional squeaks of the floor above us heard whenever someone moved.

"What look?" Taehyung asked, as he batted his eyelashes at me, trying to trick me into believing in his innocence. I had caught his smirk, he couldn't deny it, and I wouldn't fall for that. He was definitely up to something.

"Don't act like an idiot, Tae. That look, I know you have some sort of a revenge plan." I explained, and although I couldn't see his face, I knew he was smirking. We're going to bite back at Jimin and Yoongi, and if he really thought I'd step back, he was awfully mistaken. We didn't know each other very well, but the playful competitiveness that had surrounded us fueled me even more, not really wanting to stop the battle now. It was fun, and I couldn't stop. Taehyung had to feel the same way.

"Well... I can't say I have a particular idea in my mind, but it would be funny if we managed to pull a prank on them, don't you think?" He started, and I nodded my head, agreeing with him. It was harmless. Moreover, the house was obviously a ghost-free zone, they deserved to experience something exciting. If the ghost didn't want to scare them, Taehyung and I would take care of it instead. "Do you have an idea? Hopefully, you don't lack creativity as much as Yoongi and Jimin do."

"I don't know, we don't have much time left," I spoke, as I reached into the back pocket of my jeans to pull my phone, getting blinded by its brightness. "We have like six minutes, I doubt we manage to pull out an epic prank. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

This time, I was the one who had a lopsided smirk upon my face, "let's see," I spoke casually, as I grabbed Taehyung's hand and led him downstairs, trying to omit random objects which were scattered all over the place.

"Do think that's where all these people died?" Taehyung asked, as he followed behind me, his warm hand resting in mine, his gaze focused on the back of my head.

"No, of course, not. If anything, I'd bet they were killed in our beds." I replied casually, and Taehyung tightened his grip, as he heard my statement. I'm not surprised, it came much darker than I originally intended.

"That's really messed up," Taehyung muttered under his breath, obviously crept out by my bold remark. Damn it, I really should've known when to bite my tongue and just shut up. Even if I had the slightest chance to get it on with Taehyung, I just botched it up. The prospect of any form of intimacy just sank like a stone. "Why would you even say that?"

"Sorry, sometimes I forget it's not the Internet, and that I just can't say whatever comes to my mind." I replied, smiling at him sheepishly, knowing the situation I put myself in was miserable, and it couldn't get any worse. At this point, Satan himself could crack the surface of the Earth and set my dumb ass on fire, and I'd probably thank him for saving me from this embarrassment.

And since I was already a lost cause, I could play a little prank on him.

Abruptly, I turned off the flashlight on my phone, yanked my hand out of Taehyung's grip, and screamed, sounding quite naturally. No wonder, given how many times I had popped out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of my brother. Just as I expected, the second the light went out, Taehyung let out a shriek, which was followed by a fit of my laughter. Taehyung and the guys upstairs must've just lost their minds, some of them maybe even convinced that a vengeful spirit just finished us off.

"Holy shit, it wasn't funny." Taehyung gasped with a hand pressed against his chest when I switched on the flashlight. He looked utterly terrified, and I seriously felt like the worst person in the world. Maybe I really was the worst person in the world, yet the temptation was way too strong to fight. I couldn't waste this chance. "You almost got me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," I apologised, trying to refrain from giggling, even though it was truly difficult; his voice normally is really deep and raspy, yet just a while ago he didn't sound like himself. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys thought that high-pitched wail belonged to me. "You have to understand me, though. You'd do the same, you wouldn't be able to fight that sort of whim."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Taehyung agreed, scratching the back of his head, as he admitted his playful intentions. "I'm still angry, though. I almost pissed my pants, you know..."

"Sorry, but look at the bright side; you're gonna be prepared when the real ghost conjures up in front of you." I expounded, yet Taehyung didn't buy it. I just knew it, and the skeptical look he was giving me only validated my point. "Ugh, fine, let's make a deal. If anything supernatural happens, I'll shield you with my very own chest. Let's say, it's my token of atonement, okay?"

"Not okay," Taehyung crossed his hands across his chest, as he flat out rejected my proposition. That was unexpected. Who normal would pass on such a sweet deal? "First of all, it'd really hurt my ego if a girl jumped between me and a fucking ghost. That's highly unnecessary, kitten. It'd much rather you kissed it better." Taehyung asserted, as he poked his cheek with his long, slender forefinger.

I couldn't believe he actually said that; I thought he hated me.

Because of me we had lost the beer pong game. Moreover, I was the one who had made him scream like a little girl. Was he attracted to me the way I was attracted to him? Was he so interested in me that he actually was capable of turning a blind eye to me basically doing a one-eighty to his image?

"You're serious?" I asked, my eyebrows raised, as I still couldn't process that he, I'll be jiggered, requested a kiss.

Immediately, his gaze met mine, and I just couldn't look away. I was irrationally fascinated by him, and he, surprise, surprise, reciprocated my attraction.

"What? You don't want to?" Taehyung inquired, heaving a sigh.

Normally, I'd panic and lie, fleeing from the basement as soon as I could. Right now, however, I didn't even think about escaping. I just stood there, gawking at him, digesting his words. It still felt surreal; my cheeks probably scarlet red by now, his eyebrows furrowed in anticipation.

What the hell was I thinking? I had to be an idiot; why, on Earth, was I pondering over his statement? I ought to have smashed my lips against his the second he prodded his cheek. The guys could call us any minute; we didn't have much time, why the fuck was I wasting it?

Having come to my senses, I eagerly took a step forward, his arms wrapping around my waist the second I was within his reach. Nothing really happened yet, but my heart was already beating abnormally in excitement. Taehyung had amazing influence on me, or was it the consumed alcohol? Either way, I wanted him, and Good Lord, I should not have been satiated with just a peck!

"You know what to do, kitten," Taehyung urged, and I rolled my eyes at the nickname which I heard like the hundredth time tonight. It was really irritating, yet I just couldn't formulate a witty remark, as my mind completely shut off once I found myself in Taehyung's embrace. Almost as if we were in our personal bubble where nothing mattered, the sinister surroundings long forgotten.

Gently, I placed my arms around his neck, pressing my lips against his cheek.

"That's not even a kiss, do it properly," he whined, his fingers delicately digging into my skin, as he pulled me closer. Immediately, I replied with a smirk, trailing innocent pecks across his cheek, only to hover my lips over his, enjoying teasing him. If we went any further, I wouldn't be able to stop myself. For a short while, Taehyung and I looked into each other's eyes, as we breathed the same air, tinges of lust racing between our bodies.

"Kitten," he started, as he licked his lips, the tip of his tongue lightly brushing against my lips.

"Hmm?"

Slowly, I closed my eyes and leaned in; Taehyung's lips were incredibly soft when he moved against me. It wasn't anything extraordinary, yet it felt just heavenly; no tongue, no biting, no sucking—it was just a kiss in the simplest of forms. Why did he taste so marvelous, then?

It must've been his natural charm, as no other explanation came to my mind.

Gradually, I started to trace the outline of his lips with my tongue, and Taehyung responded by slightly opening his mouth, welcoming my tongue with his. Taehyung's hands roamed around my body, squeezing my hips and drawing small circles with his fingers on my skin. I, on the other hand, was pressed against his frame, my breasts rubbing against his chest, his thigh between my legs.

"Mmn..." I purred quietly, when I pulled away for a second to catch a breath. "You're an amazing kisser, Tae," I confessed and immediately captured his lips in a heated kiss, slipping my tongue inside his mouth. Taehyung instantly replied with a grunt, as he grabbed my bottom and gripped it, excitingly yanking me toward him, the outline of his semi-hard cock poking against my stomach.

No matter how long we made out; lust only amplified with each passing second. Taehyung tasted so addicting, it completely shut off my brain. I could only focus on the kiss and ways how to prolong it; the revenge plan the last thing on our minds.

My excuses went down the drain at once, as Jimin's worried voice echoed, his head stuck through the doors.

"You dead?"

Ever since we left the basement, Taehyung and I kept stealing glances at each other; the kiss had been amazing, and neither of us wished to pull away. However, we both felt quite uncomfortable making out in front of the rest. (Or was it just me, and Taehyung just didn't want to force me into anything. Especially when I confessed it was me who had shrieked at the top of my voice when I had thought I saw a ghost.)

Taehyung owes me.

Big time.

The tension between us was driving me crazy. It was utterly ridiculous how much I craved to return to Taehyung's embrace to score every base with him. Shamelessly, I needed his arms on me, bending me to his will as he wished.

"God, I'm so bored," Yoongi whined, as he locked his phone and rubbed his eyes. "I'll just go to sleep. Wake me up when a ghost decides to show up."

"Maybe, it's not that bad of an idea," Amber commented, yawning ostentatiously.

"That's official, this is definitely the worst Halloween party ever," Krystal criticized, looking around the room, everyone either exhausted or drunk. (In Yoongi's case, both.) "At least, I am being paid to be here."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Taehyung asked, sounding confused and disappointed at the same time. True, we hadn't witnessed any paranormal activity, yet it didn't necessarily mean that the party was horrible.

It was fun.

Especially my time alone with Taehyung.

"We're all tired, Tae." Jimin said casually, smiling at the latter, as he didn't want to hurt his feelings. "I don't know what about you, but I couldn't fall asleep; I didn't blink an eye yesterday."

"Fine," Taehyung groaned, plopping down onto the couch beside Krystal, "it's just that Namjoon will come get us in the morning, and we will probably never meet each other again. I thought it'd be fun if we used the time we have to the fullest. You're like seriously an awesome entourage."

Taehyung's words stung. The really stung, and although I didn't get to know them as thoroughly as I wanted to, I knew I'd miss them. Everyone was different in many ways, and we, as a group, complemented perfectly.

Also, I didn't particularly delude myself; I knew that Taehyung would be a very short chapter of my life, and despite that, I still felt bitter that tomorrow we would go our separate ways and never see each other again.

When everyone went to their rooms, Taehyung let out a heavy sign, and pinched the bridge of his nose, "are you going to go, too?" he asked, as he changed his position, leaning in, his elbows pressed against his thighs, his eyes seeking mine, almost begging me to stay.

"No," I firmly replied, sending him a faint smile. I wasn't going anywhere; Taehyung was right, we didn't have much time left, and I didn't want to leave him. "I'm not even the tiniest bit tired," I stated, as I stood up, and approached him, sitting down beside him. Our little moment in the basement was more than just energizing; it was so refreshing I couldn't remember when I felt this good.

"Thank you, kitten," he spoke softly, and grabbed my hand, placing a gentle peck on my knuckles, "so what do you want to do?" he inquired, turning to me, resting his head in his hand, as he propped his shoulder on the backrest. "I believe we were interrupted just a while ago," he remembered, and with a lopsided smirk upon his face, he leaned slowly forward.

"Yeah, we were," I agreed, yet just when he was about to kiss me, I pressed my forefinger against his lips, stopping him. Quickly, Taehyung arched his back and looked at me in confusion; I had to be out of my character to push him away. "You have no idea how much I want us to continue wherever we left off, but look around, Tae, cameras are all over the place. Namjoon pays quite handsomely, but it's not enough for my sex tape."

Taehyung laughed.

Loudly.

"Oh, kitten, you amuse me so much," he added, and I sulked. Was my assumption really that far-fetched? That hurt — a lot. "Hey, hey, hey, it's not what I meant, please, don't brood. It's just that I don't sleep around, kitten."

"I don't either," quickly, I replied, making him smile again, yet at this point, I couldn't tell what it meant. "I really want to fuck you right now, though."

His smile disappeared only to be replaced with lustful glance, his eyes slowly undressing me.

Abruptly, he stood up and yanked me with him, "my car's in the driveway."

The second we entered the car, I slammed my lips against his in a fervent, needy kiss; our disappointingly short make out session had only ignited fire with me, and I immediately had to share it with Taehyung before I completely burned out.

"I'm not really that kind of a guy," Taehyung defended himself when he managed to pull away. I had my hands on his broad shoulders, my fingers slowly roaming around his neck, giving him the best massage I was capable of.

"I know, you've already said that," I simply stated and smiled at him before reconnecting our mouth again in another passionate lock. "I'm not that kind of a girl, either, but I really want you, so why the hell not?"

Taehyung didn't need another assurance. I just gave him a green light to do whatever he wanted to do, and he couldn't be more ecstatic about it. His mouth could be shut, but his eyes were pure sin, glancing at me with utter lust.

"Oh, kitten," Taehyung groaned, throwing his head back against the headrest. He was enjoying it, although I barely touched him. "I don't deserve you," he added before he formed a pleased smirk.

He was wrong, though.

I didn't deserve him.

However, it didn't stop either of whom to take what we really wanted. We desired each other, itching to reach that high together, even though we knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Shut up, Tae," I reprimanded him, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. "Are we doing this or not?" I challenged him and before I managed to take a breath, Taehyung kissed me quite desperately. His hands stretched and landed on my sides, as he pulled me onto him, his cock poking against my stomach.

"I'd never forgive myself if I rejected you," Taehyung stated in a serious tone, his eyes fixated on me as if he was going to eat me alive. His stare was of a starved predator, and I was about to devote myself to him, willing to obey his every, even the kinkiest one, command.

"I'd never forgive myself if I let you reject me," I snickered and rocked my hips against him, earning a throaty moan from him. His cock, still restrained in his jeans, was throbbing for more friction, yet he'd have to wait for the main course a bit more.

I loved foreplay and I wasn't going to give up on that, even when I ridiculously wanted to feel him inside of me. My patience was going to be rewarded, it always is.

"Not even once it struck me you're such a bad girl," he spoke with a smirk, as he kneaded my ass cheeks when I was busy raking my finger across his chest and peppering his jaw and neck with damp kisses, nipping on his skin in an urge to mark him.

"Because I am not. I just met a guy who brings the worst out of me," I teased, and Taehyung tightened his grip on my sides, giving me a slight spank.

"I wouldn't say the worst... I kinda like that new image of you," Taehyung confessed, and I smiled shyly, quickly hiding my face in the crook of his neck, leaving stamps of my plum lipstick on his skin.

"Oh, Taehyung," I breathed out, as I unbuckled his jeans and put my hands in his pants.

Taehyung hissed the second I touched him, "damn, your hands are fucking cold!"

He was right, yet I was certain they would warm up quickly with a few strokes on his rock-hard cock. "Better?" I asked when his lips turned into a pleased smirk.

"You have no idea," he murmured, his eyes close shut, as he completely focused on my gentle touch, caressing his sensitive skin. Right now, I felt so powerful, straddling him; his body was reacting to even the slightest movement of my hand. "Kitten," Taehyung murmured on the exhale, as he grabbed my bottom and forced me onto him, so I fell on his chest, nuzzling my nose in his neck.

Uncontrollably, I giggled, and Taehyung stretched his arm, turning on the radio, and although I didn't mind the current mood, the soft ballad that filled the vehicle created a semi-romantic setting.

Without any comment, Taehyung looked me in the eyes, as he unzipped my jeans and forced his hand in my panties. "You're so wet, kitten," he snickered, and I rolled my eyes at his obvious statement. If only he knew I had been this excited for him ever since our kiss in the basement.

"Don't blame me, I really want to feel that cock inside of me," I stated nonchalantly, pulling him into another round of lustful and wanton kisses. Grunting, I slammed my lips against his, and he responded in an instant, poking his tongue against my teeth, demanding entrance.

"I'd never think you're into dirty talk," Taehyung spoke casually, as he played with my clit, flicking it between his fingers, making all my muscles tense, my hips grinding against his hand. Slowly, he ran his forefinger across my fold, smearing my juices all over my pussy; God, even the gentle caress of his digits got me trembling for more. At this point, I couldn't wait to feel what his cock was going to do to me.

"Because I am not, but with you it just seems suited," I confessed, and Taehyung reattached our lips together, pushing his middle finger inside of me, making me almost bite my tongue. His hands were perfectly sculpted and his fingers were just right, filling me just the way I need him to. "Fuck, Tae, keep doing that," I moaned, my voice louder than the radio in the background. Taehyung added another finger, and began to rub my clit with his thumb.

"I really do bring the worst out of you," Taehyung sneered playfully, pumping his fingers within me, making me squirt on his hand. He really had no mercy when it came to pleasuring me; if he kept the pace, I'd come before the song ended. "Shit," Taehyung spat, as I started to shamelessly ride his hand in desperation for more.

"I seriously need your cock right now."

"Fuck," Taehyung pulled out his fingers, and his hands quickly landed back on my hips, squeezing my flesh roughly. "Get your cute ass on the back seat," he ordered sternly and pushed me upwards, helping me get off of him. With the grace and elegance of a noddle-legged zebra, I followed Taehyung's command, almost falling face-first on the seat in my tipsy state when he spanked my ass cheekily.

"Hey," I whined as I sat on the cold seat, waiting for Taehyung to join me, "it wasn't nice, what would you do if I spanked you?"

"I'd ask you to do it again," he replied wittily, and I roared with laughter, as I watched him crumble in the seat beside me, his movement almost as clumsy as mine. "Spread those pretty legs for me kitten," he whispered, a devilish smirk decorating his handsome face.

I didn't have to be told twice, I obeyed his order in an instant, whereas Taehyung hooked his fingers under the waistband of my jeans, and pulled them off my legs agonizingly slowly, and at this point, I didn't know whether he was torturing me, or himself.

Quickly, I pushed the leather jacket off his shoulders, and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, pulling it over his head, revealing his naked chest and broad shoulders; maybe he wasn't ripped like a hockey player, but I liked his proportional frame. Without any hesitation, I could admit that he was ridiculously attractive despite anything.

"Take off your shirt, kitten," Taehyung cooed, and as if compelled, I got out of my jacket and band T-shirt, not leaving much to the imagination, since I was only in my panties and a violet bra that beautifully shaped my breasts. His eyes were focused on my cleavage, while his general expression was actually blank. "Wow," that's all he managed to voice before he grabbed me by my thighs abruptly and pulled me toward him, so in the process, I lay down on my back on the back seat, Taehyung already positioned between my legs.

"Taehyung," I purred when I felt his lips on the inner side of my right thigh. He was taking his time teasing me, and although it was nice, I couldn't wait for him to slam his cock inside of me until I come around him. Slowly, his kisses wandered upwards; gentle pecks all across my stomach, cleavage, and neck before he captured my mouth.

"Please," I mewled when he pulled away to catch a breath.

"Please what?" Taehyung smiled at me, rubbing his hard cock against my folds. Fuck, why do we still have so many clothes on?

"Pull out that cock and fuck me," I spoke rather tenaciously, as I placed my hands on his sides and pulled him closer, and he almost fell over on top of me. Didn't he understand how much I desired him?

"I really wanted to eat you out, though," Taehyung announced and licked his lips, as if trying to seduce me.

Didn't he realise I was already allured?

Twice.

"Oh my God," Taehyung tugged my panties to the side and tongue flicked his tongue against my clit, and I immediately buckled my hips upward against his face and clenched my fists, grabbing his fluffy hair. Every muscle of my body was tensed, my eyes tightly shut, and I only concentrated on Taehyung's tongue lapping and delving inside of me.

"What the fuck? Did you hear that?" We both instantly pulled away from each other and glanced at the radio which a second ago roared with deafening white noise. Strangely enough, it only lasted a few seconds, and I could swear I heard Jimin's scream.

"I did," Taehyung admitted, as he looked at the radio, and then at me, his frame supported on his arms, his hands pressed against the seat. "It must be nothing," he shrugged, and leaned in, kissing my abdomen, slowly pulling my panties down my legs. "The radio program must want to scare its listeners, that's all."

Taehyung's reasoning didn't convince me, yet I decided to follow his example and just shake it off; I had to be actually possessed to stop right now, put on my clothes back and check if Jimin's safe. Besides, he's a grown-up and he's not alone; he ought to be fine.

"Where were we?"

Quickly, a smile appeared on my face and the occurrence from a moment ago was the last thing on my mind.

"You were going to fuck me," I replied quickly, smirking at him. Obediently, Taehyung pulled down his pants to his knees, giving his thick cock a few strokes, "do you have a condom?"

"Shit, you're right," Taehyung cursed, but quickly reached into the car compartment where thankfully was a pack of condoms.

"You ready?" he asked the second he rolled the condom on his cock and positioned himself in front of my entrance.

"Fuck me, Taehyung."

Without any trouble, Taehyung eased himself in, and although I was soaking wet, he grunted as my walls wrapped around him tightly. Slowly at first, gradually increasing his pace, Taehyung snapped his hips, making me moan with every thrust. My breasts, although still in the bra, rocked in Taehyung's rhythm.

"Fuck, you're tight," Taehyung grunted under his breath, as he slammed his cock inside of me, his balls hitting against my body. His forehead was covered in sweat, and I was panting in exhaustion even we just began; his performance was amazing, short waves of pleasure running to every inch of my body.

"Just like that," I moaned, almost melting in front of him. He fucked me so good that it made me wonder how could he know my body better than I did. No one had ever made me feel this heavenly so soon; even myself. "Damn, Taehyung, you're killing me," his cock felt so amazing that it almost hurt. "I want to ride you, Tae."

"Fuck, come here." He hissed, as he pulled out of me, and I whined already missing his cock. It felt so empty that I almost felt bad for asking him for a change of position. Raggedly, Taehyung sat on the seat and placed his hands on my hips, helping me to sit down on his lap. "Ah, kitten," Taehyung purred when my sex brushed against his twitching cock, "I already miss that tight pussy."

Running my fingers through his fluffy hair, I raised my hips, and Taehyung positioned his dick against my entrance. Slowly, I sat down on him, my walls once again stretching around him. "Fuck, it makes me so full," I moaned, my eyes closed, my breath hitched.

Sensually, I rocked my hips back and fro, while Taehyung was decorating my cleavage with damp kisses, his large hands under my bra, fondling my breast. His touch wasn't too gentle, nor too rough; he knew what he was doing to make me feel desired and striving for more.

"Let me see them," Taehyung grunted, as he reached behind my back, unhooking my purple bra, tossing it onto the dashboard. "Beautiful, just as I imagined them," he confessed and before I got to give him a questioning look, his lips landed on my nipple. Hungrily, he sucked on my sensitive bud, his left hand kneading the other breast, making me slow my moves, as I savored the feeling of his tongue.

"Oh God," I moaned, digging my fingernails into the skin of his broad shoulders. "Taehyung," his name rolled off my tongue, and Taehyung immediately grasped my chin and tilted it down, pressing his lips against mine in a deep, haste kiss. His tongue swirled around mine, as he swallowed each moan that left my mouth.

"I hope you're close because I'm fucking coming," Taehyung warned me before he placed his hands on my sides, helping me increase my pace. The sound of our bodies, the skin slapping almost got me loose my balance. His fingertips dug into my hips, and I threw my head back, nearing my orgasm.

It was our first time, and although we both wanted to last as long as we could, I'd gladly reach my high now. I didn't really mind it as long as he was down for another round. Maybe not today, but generally. On my side, it was too fantastic to settle on a one night stand.

Hopefully, Taehyung thought the same.

"Just come, Tae," I breathed out, almost unable to speak, "I'm coming, too."

With a final thrust, Taehyung growled in ecstasy, releasing himself into a condom, while I fluttered my eyes when the shattering sensation nearly ripped me apart. For a brief moment, the orgasm overwhelmed me; my vision faded to black, and I was lying on my back, desperately trying to catch a breath, listening to Taehyung's irregular breathing.

God, how much I wished we could stay in his car a bit longer.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Taehyung gasped the second we entered the house, "what the fuck are you doing Jimin? It's not funny, bro." He added, and I looked over his shoulder to see what frightened him so much. Apparently, Jimin thought it'd be a good idea to stay up all night, sitting in a chair in front of the entrance with his hands entwined on his laps, just to catch us sneaking inside.

"Not cool, Jimin. Not cool." I added and shook my head disapprovingly.

"Are you gonna answer us?" Taehyung asked, crossing his arms over his chest, while I was just staring at Jimin, crept out by him as he not even once blinked since we had entered the house.

Hesitantly, I raised my hand and waved in front of Jimin's eyes, but he didn't move an inch. "That's creepy—" I spoke and shrieked in astonishment when the doors behind us slammed spontaneously with a loud bang. "Okay, Jimin, that's not funny anymore," I urged him, snapping my fingers before his face, yet Jimin remained unresponsive.

"Hey," Taehyung shouted, as he placed his large hands on Jimin's shoulders, trying to shake him awake. Unfortunately, his method also failed.

"Taehyung, look," I said, lightly elbowing Taehyung's side, wanting to obtain his attention, "there's blood," I added, pointing at Jimin's hands.

The second we examined his palms, Jimin shot a sinister glare at us, curving his lips into a creepy smirk. "Look who's finally here," Jimin started, his voice oddly different, as if an octave lower and raspier. He didn't sound like himself, and I was completely alerted. "I hope you liked your stay," Jimin continued and raised from his seat, turning his head in a very uncomfortable angle, as his eyes was drilling in our faces.

"Ha, ha, ha," Taehyung laughed awkwardly, as he scratched the back of his head.

"Taehyung," I whispered, as I tugged at his sleeve.

"What's the matter, kitten?" He asked, as he stared back at Jimin who licked the blood off of his hands, "that's nasty, bro."

"I don't want to break your moment over there, but I'm pretty sure it's Yoongi who lies on the floor over there in a puddle of blood." Taehyung's eyes immediately followed the direction I pointed at, and the second he spotted Yoongi, he pushed Jimin backwards. Jimin chortled as we tried to run away.

Oddly, the kitchen doors shut close almost in front of our faces, and this time, I doubted it was caused by the aeration.

"Okay, plan B?"

"Not really," Taehyung shook his head, his mouth wide open as he stared at Jimin in panic. "I must admit I counted on you in that area, kitten."

"Fuck," I cursed, as I tried to come up with a solution. I like working under pressure, but this case was quite extreme, as Jimin behaved like someone else, and Yoongi was lying on the floor, blood slowly seeping out of his head. "Stay back," I told Taehyung as I took a step forward, so he could hide behind me. I wouldn't generate a better idea if I knew that Taehyung was directly exposed to danger.

"What are we gonna do?" Taehyung asked, and I shook my head, as I didn't come with anything yet.

I was silent, observing Jimin. However, as soon as Jimin started to levitate a foot above the ground, my eyes almost popped out of its sockets. Like how I previously thought that all of this was a staged prank, I began doubting myself. Like before I knew a logical explanation existed, right now, I wasn't so sure anymore.

"Run!" I screamed and pushed Taehyung in front of me, so if Jimin wanted to dash after us, Taehyung had more chances of getting away.

"Over here!" Amber's voice echoed through the corridor, and we immediately followed the sound, running into the last bedroom on the right. "Krystal and I thought that Jimin finished you off like he did Yoongi. Thankfully, we were wrong." She spoke, and Krystal barricaded the doors.

"What happened to Jimin?" Taehyung asked, as he managed to catch a breath.

"I wish we knew," Krystal started, as she sat on the edge of the bed, her phone in her tight grip. "One moment we were going to rest in our rooms, and another, we heard Yoongi's scream."

"Quickly, we ran to see what the hell was going on. We saw Yoongi flying across the room, knocking his head against the wall." Amber finished, and Taehyung and I were equally crept out.

"That's messed up," Taehyung commented, and everyone nodded, agreeing with him. "What are we gonna do?"

Everyone was in deep thought; without a plan, we'd end up like Yoongi. It was three o'clock at night, and Namjoon was going to come get us at dawn. Right now, we had to be smart to last until then.

"Where are you hiding?" Jimin's sneer echoed behind the doors, as he strolled slowly, looking for us. He was taking his time chasing us, yet I suspected that he already knew where we were; he just played with us, making us think we stood a chance.

Suddenly, he heard a loud thud. Almost as if someone fell onto the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Amber asked in a raised voice, as she pointed at the doors. "I didn't like that sound."

"We should open the doors and see," Krystal spoke, and everyone looked at her, not knowing whether she was ridiculously brave or simply stupid. In our circumstances, the attack wasn't the best option; we would have to be batshit crazy to face the opponent, especially when we didn't have the foggiest idea what the fuck we were battling against.

"Nah, we're not gonna do that," I replied, trying my best not to offend her. I might've come a bit mean, yet Krystal's proposition wasn't the smartest option. No one in a right state of mind wouldn't willingly leave the sanctuary we were currently in. They might think I am a bitch, but at least, we would be safe. "Let's just stay here."

"What if Jimin's hurt?" Taehyung asked in concern, taking Krystal's side. It wasn't the place, not time for choosing sides, yet it happened. Taehyung was like me, no matter how stupid he was, he was worried about the rest. Without any doubt, he'd sacrifice himself if the group would make it without him. "We can't leave him like that."

Of course, we couldn't! Did he seriously think I didn't know that?

"Let's just go," Krystal added and smirked, and I immediately caught the difference in her voice. Amber realised it, too. Whatever possessed Jimin took over Krystal right now—that's why it was oddly quiet on the other side of the doors.

"Run!" Amber shouted, as she threw herself on Krystal, tackling her down on the floor. The second Amber's voice rang in my ears, I pushed the barricade as quickly as I could, and Taehyung and I escaped the room.

"We can't just leave her," Taehyung said when he looked over his shoulder, looking at Krystal, who was lying on the floor beneath Amber, chortling evilly.

"You're not gonna leave this house alive," Krystal threatened, as she laughed in Amber's face, effortlessly pushing her off of her. Taehyung and I gawked at Krystal whose eyes changed its colour to a very eerie shade of white.

With great dexterity, Krystal threw Amber across the room, smashing the old wardrobe with Amber's unconscious body.

"Run!" I shouted at Taehyung, pulling him with me, as we ran downstairs.

"What's your plan?"

"To get the fuck out of here!" I quickly screamed back at him, my hands instantly fidgeting with the knob. The doors just wouldn't open.

"Let me try," Taehyung proposed, and I took a step back, allowing him to try to break the doors down. Everything in vain, though. We were locked in. "Do you have a plan B?" Taehyung asked, as he hit the doors with his clenched fist in irritation.

"Tools? We need some tools," I said the first that came to my mind. I knew it wasn't the smartest solution, yet that's all I could postulate.

"Okay, just stay here, and I look for something," Taehyung stated and kissed my forehead before he ran off. It was very irresponsible to split up, yet I didn't even get to scold him, since he was already out of my sight. How could he leave me like that? I understood that he didn't want to put me in danger, but as a duo, we were stronger. I had watched way too many horror movies to know that splitting up was the worst thing that we could do.

Trying my best not to panic, I paced around the hall, playing with my fingers. I was left alone, and I didn't like that feeling; that monster that was terrorizing us could come at me anytime.

"Holy shit," I shrieked when I heard a loud thud. Thankfully, it was just Taehyung, and he had found a crowbar. "What took you so long?" I asked, relief washing over me, seeing him safe and sound. I had a bad feeling about it, yet it was only my paranoid suspicion.

"I returned in a speed of light, babe." Taehyung snickered, sending shivers down my spine.

Babe?

Oh, no. Taehyung exclusively called me kitten. He knew how much it annoyed me, he'd not change the pet name; at least, not until it grew on me.

It wasn't him anymore.

Taehyung was gone, and I was, now, face to face with a parasite that lived off him. I was scared beyond common sense, and I had no idea what to do. However, I had to figure something out real quick unless I wanted to be discovered.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, I'm just really scared, you know," I spoke, trying to sound natural. My hands were trembling, all covered in sweat, yet thankfully, my voice didn't break. "Are you ready to get the hell out of here?" I asked, smiling, as I reached for the crowbar.

"Are we really going to leave them behind?" Taehyung asked, as I turned on my heels, facing the doors. With my eyes tightly closed, I bit on my bottom lip, feeling the copper on my tongue. I had to be cautious with my words. I couldn't get busted.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. Namjoon will pick them up at dawn, and we wait for him outside," I explained, tightening my grip on the crowbar.

"I guess that's reasonable—" Taehyung replied, but before he managed to finish his sentence, I swung the crowbar, and hit him in the head. The blow wasn't powerful enough to kill Taehyung, yet it was sufficient to knock him down. A thin stream of blood seeped from his head, but I didn't worry that much about him, being sure he was going to be alright.

"Shit," I cursed the second lights started flickering.

Using all my strength, I tried to break the doors down with the crowbar, but they didn't even budge. Desperately, I looked around, thinking of another escape way. A broken window had to suffice right now. Even if I was about to break my leg, I wouldn't stand another minute in this fucked up house.

Quickly, I swung my hand, shattering the glass into a million pieces. While clearing the sharp pieces from the frame, I heard a quiet groan. Immediately, I turned around and saw Taehyung who tried to raise his head.

"Careful," I warned him, as I approached him and crouched by his side.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, when he touched his head, wiping the blood off his forehead. "Why does my head hurt so much?"

"I'll explain later," I announced, helping Taehyung to stand up. "We have no time, Tae. I smashed the window, we're getting out of here." He nodded his head before I helped him walk to the window. "You go first."

Taehyung wanted to argue with me, but he couldn't do anything to change my mind. He was wounded, and although it wasn't anything serious, I was still going to force him out of the window if he wouldn't jump out willingly. Nothing would convince me, so he better complied with me.

"Quickly," I urged him, when Taehyung swung his legs over the frame.

"Come on, kitten," Taehyung spoke, waiting for me to join him outside. Shooting one last glance at the interior, I heaved a sigh, and squeezed through the window, landing on my feet beside Taehyung.

Naturally, he entwined his hands with mine, and we jogged away from the house, pressing our backs against the side of his car, slowly sliding down onto the ground. We were both panting, our breaths slowly evening.

"It's 4 o'clock," I stated, as I looked at my phone, "I should probably call Namjoon, but given that the house is packed with cameras, he's already on his way over here."

"Yeah, with a fucking exorcist," Taehyung added and laughed loudly in relief. "What are you doing next weekend?"

I giggled before I turned to look at his face, "I was going to throw an amazing birthday party, but right now, I think I'm gonna treat myself. I fucking deserve it." I uttered, and Taehyung nodded his head, comprehending my words. "Why?"

"I'm gonna intrude that little celebration." Taehyung announced, and I smiled at his bold words.

"Please do."

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formerprincess · 7 years ago

Text

Silver in the soul, lightning in the blood (Chapter 1)

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Human, Liam and Theo are co-workers, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Museums Summary:

For years gods and titans lived in peace and amongst humankind. Nothing gave away there were some eternal souls on earth, gods and demigods, titans and demons, but they were there all the time. Now this peace seems to suddenly be over and the young demigod Liam gets dragged into the war when he gets attacked by a demon at his workplace. To make things worse his longtime crush and co-worker Theo witnesses the fight and now Liam is not only responsible for himself and his status in this war, but also for the man that he can't stop thinking about.

Liam stood on the side and watched the workers carry in pieces after pieces for the next exhibition the museum would hold. All centered around Greek mythology and Liam was excited but at the same time, he knew he would probably do all the boring stuff while his boss strode around and got all the glory. If he was lucky he could serve some canapés during the formal reception to open the exhibition in a few days. It wasn’t even that Liam didn’t like the work, he just didn’t like his boss. The curator of the museum, Robert, was a stuck up asshole and deserved several claps. In his face. Preferably with Liam’s fist. But he was, unfortunately, the one who guaranteed Liam’s job. When Liam applied for the job as curator back then, he was told he was way too young but they offered him a job as the curator’s assistant and he had accepted it. If someone told him his new boss would be that snobbish, he would have declined. But here he was now, hoping one day they would see Liam knew more about history than Robert.

Until that day, he kept still and stuck to glare daggers at the asshole, brought him coffee and did all the paperwork Robert felt too entitled to do. It was a dull work but Liam tried to cling to the sliver of hope he had.

A statue was placed right next to Liam and he narrowed his eyes when he saw the plate. His eyes wandered up the monstrosity and he raised both eyebrows. That was supposed to be Ares? Bitch please! That was one ugly statue and simply didn’t do Ares justice. Not even remotely close! See, Liam wasn’t mortal. He was instead a demigod, just like his parents. His father was the son of no other than Hades himself while his mom was the daughter of Ares. And while Liam was still fairly young himself (Yes, he was really only twenty-three-years-old) he knew he wouldn’t age anymore. Thanks to being a demigod, you were eternal and at one point the aging process stopped. There were some tricks, of course, to make disguising yourself as a normal mortal easier yet in the end, you kept your young and healthy appearance. But given his heritage, Liam knew a lot about history (We already established he knew more than Robert, right?) and so he saw statues like that as a personal insult. His grandfather didn’t have such a long nose!

“Liam, if you are done with frowning at this beautiful artwork, I could use a coffee. I get why work like that intimidates you. Small minds always get intimidated by greatness, but you’re here to work and learn a bit. So.” Robert snapped his fingers and Liam resisted the urge to strangle him. He inhaled and exhaled slowly and then nodded curtly and walked into the direction of the coffee maker to bring Robert his coffee.

When he returned Robert was ravishing about the beautiful statue that showed all of Ares’ attributes and Liam could basically hear his gramps grumble and complain about insults like that. It made him grin and Robert glared when he got his coffee. “If you have time to smile, you’re clearly unchallenged. I think there are some boxes in the storage that need sorting.”

“Ah, Robert, a slavedriver as usual I see.” Maybe there was another thing that kept Liam going, aside from his hope to get a better job, and that thing or rather that person was no one else than Theo Raeken. Responsible for the museum’s PR, Theo was drop dead gorgeous, had the most captivating smile Liam had ever seen, beautiful hazel eyes, and could charm every person. He was Liam’s ray of hope in the dull daily life as Robert’s assistant because Theo was not only ridiculously attractive and charming, he also could not stand Robert and was the only one to give him a piece of his mind. Liam was pretty sure he was in love.

“Theodore, is there something I can help you with?” Robert asked bored and sipped his coffee. “You? No. If I would need help or expert advice I would ask somebody else.” Theo gave back with a smirk. Robert scoffed. “See, Theodore, some of us actually have to work. They didn’t get their jobs because they slept with the boss.” He was hinting at a rumor circulating since the beginning that Theo had put out for the museum’s dean and got this job. Theo never commented on the rumors other than his usual sarcastic way. “Doesn’t your father plays golf with the dean? I mean, if the rumors are true, I at least worked for my job here to some extent while in your case Daddy just said a few nice things and waved some dollar bills.” He now replied with a sweet smile and Liam covered his laugh with a cough. Robert glared at Theo and sipped his coffee. Theo smirked and brushed past them. “Tell me you spat into his coffee.” He whispered into Liam’s ear and Liam snorted with laughter, causing Robert to glare at him. “Liam, the boxes!” He said and Liam sighed internally but nodded and walked towards the storage rooms. Better to get it done and it meant a few minutes without his boss.

He just opened the door to one of the storage rooms and stepped inside when he saw one of the workers in the clutches of a female looking creature with blazing white eyes, longs claws and sharp teeth. She was currently holding the worker’s head with both hands and extracted his life energy, given how pale and unconscious he already was. When Liam entered, she screeched and let the worker slump to the ground.

The next few minutes were a blur. Liam just knew he grabbed one of the swords they stored thereafter an exhibition about knights and then he defended himself when that demonic thing attacked him. She screeched again and tried to pierce his skin with her claws, not happy about being disturbed during feeding. They fought and Liam was not willed to let her get away or surrender. He was the grandson of Ares goddammit and if he learned one thing it was to fight on the battlefield. So he spun, attacked, blocked, and moved out of the way of her claws until he finally spun around and his sword pierced her chest. She screeched one more and in one last desperate move, she raked her claws over his left thigh before she turned to ash. Liam hissed and fell to the floor, like the sword.

He now sat in the middle of the storage room and held his bleeding leg when he suddenly heard a sound. His head snapped up and right in the doorway stood Theo, eyes wide open in shock. He had dropped his clipboard, the sound Liam heard. They stared at each other, both uncertain how to react, but then Theo pulled himself together and hurried over to Liam to help him up. “I’ll bring you into my office, you can rest there.” He said and steadied Liam. Liam gritted his teeth and hobbled next to Theo down the hallway into Theo’s office where he sat down on the little couch. He looked at his thigh and sighed. “I think I have a first aid kit somewhere around.” Theo muttered and searched his desk for it.

Liam waved it off. “It will heal in a few minutes. Perks of being a demigod.” Theo had already seen him kill a demon, there was absolutely no use in lying and acting like he didn’t see what he saw or like Liam wasn’t what he was. “Is that what you are? A demigod?” Theo asked while he rounded his desk and leaned against it, hands in the pockets of his trousers. Liam nodded and Theo followed with another question. “And that thing? What was that?” “Well, she wasn’t a god or a demigod. And she sure as hell wasn’t a titan because those don’t turn to ash when killed. I’d say demon? Not completely sure.” Liam grimaced when he moved his legs slightly and Theo made a sympathetical sound. “Does it hurt very bad?”

“It’s okay. As I said, in a few minutes, it will be over.” Liam replied. It was only nasty for the moment. He leaned back and looked at Theo. “So, uhm, listen, what you saw, you can’t tell anybody, okay?” “To be honest, Liam, I don’t think anybody would believe me even if I tried to tell them. I’m not sure I believe myself but I saw what I saw.” Theo replied and point taken. Liam nodded and looked at his wound which was slowly closing up. “I need to tell the gods about that. It’s a clear breach of contract, attacking mortals.” He stopped and sighed. “Listen, you’re a mortal but you saw it happen, so I need you to come with me. Just to let the gods see you and know you’re not exposing us. You don’t plan on exposing us, right?” Theo shook his head. “Never.” “Good.” Liam let out a relieved sigh. “They will ask you some questions, but I promise nothing will happen to you.”

It meant a lot to him Theo nodded again and trusted Liam enough to come with him. Most mortals surely would have freaked out and Liam refused to let it go to his head. It had nothing to do with Theo liking him. No, Liam was the one with the crush here and Theo was not only way out of his league, they were playing two very different sports, to say the least. So now Liam used a tissue to clean the remaining blood away and then got up. It was only a scratch now and he nodded for Theo to follow him.

They left Theo’s office and then the museum through the back door and stepped into the alley behind the building. Liam peeked at the sky. “Hey, we need a lift!” He suddenly yelled and Theo jumped at the sudden noise. “Uhm, I have my car here. We can take that.” He offered. Liam glanced at him and chuckled. “We need to go to Aeranas, City of Gods, I don’t think your GPS knows that.” “Oh.” Theo rubbed his neck. “Probably not.” God, that man could also be adorable and Liam internally swooned when suddenly a loud band sounded up and suddenly a blue Cadillac sped into the alley. Theo jumped again and Liam had to chuckle again. He opened the door and peeked inside. “We get the luxury drive this time? That’s too sweet.” He said before getting into the backseat. Theo followed.

“This is Aleta, she’s a nymph.” Liam explained to Theo. “That’s Theo, he had the misfortune of stumbling into me killing a demon.” He introduced Theo and the tiny woman with green hair in the driver’s seat. She tapped her cap in greeting. “A demon attacked you? I don’t need to ask if the demon is dead, right? Nobody attacks the son of Ileana without paying with their lives.” Liam grinned. “Yeah, killed that beast but I still need to tell the council. So, we need to go to Aeranas asap.” “On it!” Aleta said, started the engine and the Cadillac sped up. “You’re not getting car sick, are you?” Liam asked directed at Theo and Theo shook his head. “Good.” Liam leaned back in his seat and Theo did the same, looking out of the window, until curiosity got the best of him. “So, demigod, who are your parents?” He asked and looked over at Liam. “My mother is Ileana, daughter of Ares. My dad is Lucas, son of Hades. Before you ask, my parents are way older but I was actually born twenty-three years ago. I’m really that young.” He laughed and Theo smiled at him, making Liam’s heart jump.

“You said breach of contract. What does that mean?” “When the world started and the first human roamed the earth, the gods lived on top of the highest mountain Mount Olympus. The mortals worshiped them and they all had their temples and such. But as humankind evolved, so did their views and beliefs and the gods adapted. The mortals grew more autonomous but the gods were still watching over them, they still do to this day. Most gods live among mortals, disguised of course, and so do their children. But there is also Aeranas, City of Gods, where the gods and goddesses can live without any mortals around, hidden from the mortal world and such. Humankind has a free will and the gods don’t always interfere. Ages ago there was a war around Mount Olympus where the Titans fought against the gods to enslave the human race again and bring back the glory of the old days. The gods won the war in the end and banned the Titans and their demons from Aeranas. They are allowed to live amongst mortals but they were forced to accept a contract with strict rules. Attacking mortals is a clear breach of said contract.” “It’s not the first attack from what I heard.” Aleta said and Liam frowned. “Really?” He said bewildered. “That’s bad. It means a declaration of war.” “I know, sweetie, I know.” Aleta said.

Liam went silent and Theo looked over at him. “You okay?” “Confused what this is all about and still riled up by the fight. I honestly didn’t expect to return to Aeranas around that time.” “When did you expect to return?” Theo asked with a soft smile. “Around Christmas or something like that.” Liam said with a shrug. “One more thing, time is different in the City of Gods. If you feel like rarely a week has passed, it could already have been a month on earth.” “Uh uh, thanks for the heads up.” Theo said and then looked outside when the car sped up and their surrounding turned blurry. “Whoa!” He exclaimed and looked outside like a little kid, completely engrossed by the display. Liam smiled and leaned his head against the window, watching everything flew by. It would take a bit until they were there.

“You know, you’re great at just accepting everything and going with it.” He suddenly said. Theo shrugged. “As a kid, I used to imagine all kinds of stories in my head, about gods and demons and witches and wizards, and I lived in this dream world. As I grew older, this changed naturally but I always believed there was more between heaven and earth than we know. So when I saw you fighting with this sword and then saw this thing, it was kind of: I knew it!” He explained. Liam chuckled. “That’s cute.” Theo smiled softly. “Thanks.”

When they finally reached the city gates Theo’s jaw dropped at the golden gates. “That is incredible.” He said as the gates opened and the car rolled through. And when Theo saw the city itself with the elegant houses kept in a Greek style and streets and golden signs, his jaw dropped even more. “This is absolutely...Is the street made of gold?”

“Sunlight and stars, so not real gold but kind of.” Liam explained and Theo just stared. His eyes gleamed and Liam watched him with a soft smile. It was always great to see someone’s reaction to it. Mason had exactly the same reaction when Liam brought him here the first time.

The Cadillac stopped finally in front of the council hall and Liam got out. “Hey, Aleta, tell Megara the next dew in the tavern is on me, okay? As thanks for picking us up.” “Always a pleasure, honey.” Aleta said and when the two young men left her car she drove away. Liam looked up at the hall and then tugged at Theo’s sleeve who was still enraptured by the city. Theo looked back at Liam and the followed him inside. The hallway leading to the meeting place was hemmed with statues from the gods themselves, all in their respective duty, and Theo gaped at the marble and the gold processed there. “I’d love to see those in the museum. Better than the shitty things Robert has to offer.” Liam barked out a laugh. “I really like that you can’t stand him, you know?” “I’m aware. I see how bad he treats you and I hate it. But the dean won’t listen to me.” “You pay attention to that?” Liam blushed slightly. This was embarrassing. “I can fight my own battles, Theo.” “Just because you can doesn’t mean you always should have to.” Theo replied and Liam would have loved to reply but then suddenly a blonde young woman joined them. Her blonde hair in a high ponytail and completely fashionable in black pants and dark brown boots, a grey shirt and a dark red leather jacket.

“Tell me you’re here because you missed all of us and not because you were also attacked.” She said. Liam groaned and shook his head. “You know I always miss you, cousin, but no. I was attacked.” “Figured.” She said and then cast Theo a look. “I’m Sadie, Liam’s cousin.” “She’s the granddaughter of Athena.” Liam added and Theo hummed. “I’m Theo, nice to meet you.” Sadie glanced at Liam. “That is Theo?” “Sadie!” Liam hissed and his cheeks heated up. Why did he tell her about his crush? Theo was more or less his boss too, that was unprofessional. But instead of looking apologetic, she just grinned.

Theo looked at the cousins. “Why do I get the feeling that is a joke between the two of you?” “Because it is!” “I see.” Theo said with a shake of his head and a soft laugh. “But wait, if you are the granddaughter of Athena and you are the grandson of Ares, your grandparents are siblings and that means you are second-grade cousins or whatever, right?” “Cousins. You know, since in mythology basically everyone is related, we keep it to the first grade. Are you my siblings, mother, father? Are we cousins? Ah okay. That’s it. Otherwise, it would get super complicated.” Sadie said. Theo could only nod. That made sense.

They reached the round meeting hall where some of the gods talked in hushed voices. The hall itself was mostly kept in white, only a few tiles in the middle were kept in a dark blue color, with seats around the middle, each for every god. When they spotted the three of them, a woman stepped forward. Her dress was white and golden and flowed down her body. She was beautiful and her long brown hair was in soft waves around her face and over her shoulders. She smiled at Sadie and hugged her and then squeezed Liam’s shoulder. “You look tensed. You were attacked too?” Liam nodded. “Who else got attacked, Athena?” “We got attacks in London, Milan, Paris. Whatever those demons try, it seems to be more than some lonely demons wanting to cause havoc. Are you okay?”

Liam nodded. “Just a scratch and it’s already healed.” He said and she smiled. But then her glance fell on Theo and a crease appeared between her eyes. “A mortal? Liam, you know the rules.” “He saw the attack. I knew you would like to ask some questions.” Liam said firmly and Athena nodded. She motioned Theo to step closer and he hesitantly did. The other gods had stopped talking and watched them. Athena pointed at the blue tiles. “Step there.” She instructed. Theo did what he had been told and the tiles light up as if the night sky was projected on them, with thousands of stars. “What’s your name?” Athena asked him. Theo looked at Liam who offered him a supportive smile. “Theo Raeken, I work with Liam in the museum.” “And you saw the attack happen?” Athena inquired further. Theo nodded. “I wanted to check something in the storage room and saw Liam killing the demon after it almost killed him.” He looked at the gods. “I promise I won’t tell anybody about this. Your secret is safe with me, I already told Liam that.” Athena watched him closely, brown eyes piercing and watching every move he made. Finally, she nodded. “Is there anything else you saw?” Theo shook his head. “You can go. Aleta will bring you back.” Athena dismissed him.

“No, he can stay. I stand bail for him.” Liam said. The gods looked at him and even Athena seemed surprised. When she finally spoke, her voice was firm but still, she seemed uncertain. “You know what happens if he betrays us, Liam?” “I know.” Liam said just as firm and nodded. “I know. He’s worth it.” He repeated. Athena looked at him in a thoughtful way then she nodded. “Then he’ll stay. Liam, your parents will arrive soon too.”

She dismissed them all and Theo followed Liam and Sadie outside. “Liam, what happens if I betray you? Not that I plan on doing so, I’m just curious.” He inquired. “He gets banned and loses his status as a demigod.” Sadie answered for her cousin and Liam just nodded. Theo looked shocked by this reveal. “But, Liam...” “Don’t. I trust you. So don’t try to change my mind. It’s too late now anyway. You’re stuck with me now.” Liam replied and looked at Theo and when Theo smiled at that, Liam almost stumbled over his feet. That was really an attractive smile. Sadie giggled and Liam ignored her in favor of smiling back.

They stopped in front of a house and Liam pointed at it. “That’s ours, you can have one of the guest rooms. And I need to get out of those clothes.” He tugged at his dress shirt and the ripped dress pants. He only wore this for work and now he was happy to enter the house and change. But first, he showed Theo the guest rooms. Every room was furnished very modernly and yet chic and classic and Theo coincidentally picked the room closest to Liam’s own room. Liam berated himself for being an idiot when he grinned while walking into his room to get changed.

It didn’t take long for him to walk out again to where Theo and Sadie were chatting in the living room. When Theo caught glimpse of him, he got a strange look in his eyes. “I think it’s the first time I actually see you in casual clothes.” He said. Liam blushed softly and looked at his dark blue jeans, dark red shirt, and his black leather jacket. He had also picked out his favorite black converse and now he had no idea what to say. “I hate my work clothes actually but it’s required.” “Don’t have to tell me. I hate it too.” Theo pointed at his own dress shirt. “And this looks much better on you, even though you never looked bad.” Liam was already sure he was blushing again at this comment and it didn’t help Sadie was chuckling in the background. “We can...uhm...go shopping for you? So you can change clothes too. You will stay here for a while, you should feel comfortable.” He explained and Sadie squealed. She loved shopping! “That would be nice. Does my credit card work here?” Theo asked and Sadie laughed. “This is the City of Gods, darling. We don’t pay here. It’s the paradise for shopaholics.” “Oh. That makes sense somehow.” Theo admitted. “I swear, I will get used to being here.”

But before they could even leave, the front door flew open and a woman marched in. Her black hair up in a bun and her short dark blue dress adorned with some white flower motives at the seam, she looked breathtakingly beautiful and not a day over thirty. “I was told my grandson had been attacked. Whose ass do I need to kick?” She asked, brown eyes burning with a fire. When she spotted Liam however, her facial expression turned warm and she opened her arms when he walked over to her. “Grandma!”

“Persephone.” Sadie whispered to Theo and he shot her a grateful look. Liam meanwhile hugged his grandmother and then she cupped his face and inspected him. “I’m fine, grandma, don’t worry. The demon is dead.” “That’s my grandson, my pride!” She said with a laugh and hugged him again. And then she spotted Theo. She gasped. “Liam, who is that?” “Theo, my co-worker. He witnessed the attack.”

Persephone let go of her grandson and moved to kiss Theo on both cheeks. “So happy to meet you. Liam told us a lot about you. Aren’t you the one that always argues with Ro-bored?”

Theo laughed loudly at the insult at Robert and Liam knew his grandmother liked him immediately. And if he had not known it then, her looking at Liam and mouthing Good catch would have done the trick for sure. And Liam ignored that he blushed again. Nobody was catching anybody!

“We wanted to take Theo shopping so he can change clothes too. Mom and dad are not here yet so we have to wait.” Liam filled her in on their plans and she nodded. “I’ll stay here, my sweet grandson. And I will greet your parents if they finally arrive, as well as your grandfathers. Can’t have Ares burn down the house again because his precious grandson was attacked, right?” “Again?” Theo asked amused. Sadie shrugged. “He may or not may have a slight anger management problem, especially when it comes to the few people he cares about. Totally understandable if you ask me.” “Totally.” Theo agreed amusedly. He looked at Liam and chuckled. “You know, I always thought you were this nice, ordinary young man. Never picked you for the grandson of Ares and Hades, a demigod.” Liam shrugged. “It’s my cover but I actually started working at the museum because I wanted to do something with history. I like history. Unfortunately, I am too young for them.” “Bullshit. You would do a better job than Robert for sure.” “Listen to that young man, he knows what he’s talking about.” Persephone chimed in and Liam groaned. “Well, the dean sees that differently.” He said. “Maybe in a few years.” Sadie reached out to rub her cousin’s arm and he smiled gratefully at her. “Come on, guys, let’s go. I can’t just sit around and wait until something happens.”

After everything that went down this day, Liam now needed something to take his mind off. They were safe at the moment and since they didn’t have any valid information about what the demons planned, it was the best to wait and watch. And while he was way too impatient to do so, getting new clothes for Theo would be the best thing to do. Also, Liam kind of was curious to see Theo in something else than button downs and dress pants but if someone asked him about that, he would deny it until his dying day. Sadie rejoiced and grabbed his and Theo’s arms and pulled them out of the house and towards her favorite shops. “Welcome in Aeranas!” He called out to Theo and the other laughed.

I got this idea the other day while I was dry-blowing my hair and I had to write it. I actually rewrote it three times because I had the idea for three ways to start the story and set the basics but this is the version I loved the most. What do you say? And yes, I couldn't resist adding my Oc's to this. Not only Sadie will appear :D

#thiam #My writing #Silver in the soul lightning in the blood

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fontonascreen · 7 years ago

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Basically posting this just to show off my headcanon that Crow rides a Big Wheel. Under the cut because it’s ramble-y.

Tom and Crow were waiting at the top of the basement stairs. Their creator had been down in what was affectionately referred to as his lab all afternoon working on a project for ConGypsCo. Some mid-80s college rock blared from his stereo as soldering fumes wafted up to them.

“Hey, Joel!” Crow yelled.

The music suddenly got quieter and Joel yelled back, “What?”

“Can we go outside?” Tom asked.

“Uh, yeah. Just stay in the yard!”

“Sweet!” Crow cheered.

Joel heard Crow scamper outside, rolled his eyes, and went back to his soldering.

Crow drug his big wheel out of the garage and mounted it. He scooted down the driveway at a painfully slow speed, his long legs making pedal based travel difficult.

Tom, having no legs, was unable to ride any pedal based vehicle and ended up hovering behind him making generic motor noises.

The game went on for a while until Tom finally started whining. “I don’t want to play Warrior of the Lost World anymore.”

“We weren’t playing Warrior of the Lost World,” Crow replied. He swiveled his head around to face his brother quizzically. “Is that why you kept calling yourself Megaweapon and trying to run me over? Huh, sort of makes sense now…”

Tom sounded confused. “What were you playing?”

“I was about to ask you if it was time to accidentally murder somebody because I was jealous that my best friend got a singing contract.”

“Let’s regroup here…”

“Should I be shooting up heroine?” Crow asked.

“We could start a seemingly meaningless bar fight and utterly get our own asses kicked.”

“Only if I can be a down on my luck stock car racer who is secretly working for the county police.”

Suddenly, Tom blurted out, “Car!” and smashed into the back of Crow’s bike making it skid a few inches.

“Servo! We’re not playing Warrior of the Lost World anymore!” he whined. Joel’s station wagon pulled past them into the driveway. “Oh. It’s just Mike.”

“Hi guys, whatcha up to?” Mike asked once he had gotten out and grabbed a bag of groceries from the back seat.

“Playing generic biker movie,” Tom replied like it was obvious.

Mike only smiled and nodded. “Ah. Well, I’m going to get dinner started. Stay off the road.“

“We will,” Tom and Crow both replied. They sounded bored.

They waited until their other dad was inside before resuming their game.

“Ah ha! Come get me, copper!” Crow cackled and started to pedal away… slowly. He got about three feet before his front wheel rolled off the pavement into the yard and he got stuck. Grunting from the effort, he rocked back and forth trying to free himself. It wasn’t very successful. “Aw, damn… Hey, Servo! A little help?”

Tom was in the middle of hovering circles around him and singing “Bad to the Bone”. Suddenly, he stopped mid-verse and froze, his gaze fixed on their next-door neighbor who had apparently been giving them the stink-eye for the past 5 minutes. “Uh, Crow?”

“What?” Crow spat, irritated.

“Remember that neighbor Joel and Mike told us to ignore?”

“Yeah. What about her?”

“I think she’s coming over here.”

Crow turned so he was looking in the same direction as Tom. Sure enough, their tiny, tight-faced neighbor looked even more tight-faced as she strode toward them.

The first time they had met the woman was the day they moved in. She had spent a good forty-five minutes sneaking around the house, trying to peek in their windows. After catching Mike and Joel in a rather chaste “welcome home” kiss, she decided that she needed to spend every chance she could get evangelizing them. The fact that this apparent couple had, what she called, homosexual robotic demon spawn, didn’t help their case either.

Crow and Tom stared at her, their beaks agape, vaguely realizing that it was too late to run. As a last resort, Tom hid behind Crow.

Their neighbor briskly made her way across the driveway, her modest flats making faint clopping sounds as she did so, and stopped in front of the two cowering bots. “Hello,” she greeted, her voice falsely sweet

Crow tentatively looked up at her face. She looked like a cat taunting its food.

“Hi, Mrs. Soderstrom,” they mumbled.

She didn’t waste any time. “Do you know where you’re going to go after you die?”

Crow stared at her, clearly not amused by the question. His ping-pong ball eyes were more blank than usual.

Tom continued to cower behind his brother. “Our dads told us not to talk to you!” he blurted.

Mrs. Soderstrom’s smile became pained for a second, but she quickly changed her question. “Do you know where your… dads are going to go when they die?”

“Joel said he assumes he’s just going to stop existing,” Crow admitted. “He wants a boring funeral if you ask me.”

“Are you aware that your dads are going to go to Hell? Do you know what Hell is?”

Crow and Tom glanced at each other.

“Uh, The Beatles?” Tom guessed.

“Mike always said he thought that all our time spent having to watch bad movies was Hell,” Crow answered. “Well, at the very least, purgatory…”

Mrs. Soderstrom’s smile turned into more of a self-satisfied smirk. “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, described Hell as a place of outer darkness where there will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. A place of regret, torment in fire and no water.”

“That sort of sounds like our first apartment actually,” Crow replied.

Tom started whimpering.

“You will be thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulfur where the smoke of those tormented there goes up forever and they find no rest…”

“So, basically a giant hot tub… of fire?” Crow asked.

“That doesn’t sound very nice at all,” Tom said through some sniffles.

“Do you want to know how to save your dads from Hell?”

Tom nodded.

Crow looked skeptical. “Just so we’re clear, why are Joel and Mike going to Hell exactly?”

Mrs. Soderstrom gave them their first genuine smile. “Well, the Bible condemns homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin. Leviticus 18:22 states: Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

Crow’s skepticism turned to confusion. “But… our dads never lie to each other.”

“Yeah. They’re both pretty honest fellas,” Tom added, his voice wavering.

“Look!” Mrs. Soderstrom snapped, her patience ending for a second before going back to her fake tone. “Do you know about the creation account in Genesis?”

Tom looked up at her. “You mean the ‘let there be light’ one?”

“The one with the snake who sort of sounds like Gilbert Godfrey?” Crow added.

The woman closed her eyes briefly and sighed through her nose, trying to keep from yelling at them. Her forced smile returned and the sight made Tom slip behind Crow again. “Genesis 1:1 teaches that “in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” On the sixth day, God created Adam. When God created a partner for Adam He created Eve—not another Adam.” She bent down so she was about eye level with Crow. “You see boys, God wants your daddies to have mommies. Wouldn’t you rather have a mommy?”

“We don’t need a mom!” Tom protested, but then he unsurely glanced at Crow. “Do we?”

Crow shrugged.

“Don’t you need someone to clean and do the laundry?”

“Well, actually, Joel does that…” Crow said.

“Then, who cooks?”

“Mike,” Tom replied.

Mrs. Soderstrom began to get flustered again. “Who pays the bills? Does the taxes?”

Crow started staring blankly at her again, unsure of where this line of questioning was going. “Servo.” He looked around. “Can we leave, now?”

Tom’s voice lowered into a comedic whisper. “Crow! Crow, let’s go!” He made a few pathetic whining noises and started hovering to the door.

He looked after Tom, not sure of what he was supposed to do. Turning to face the neighbor, there was a beat before he blurted, “Uh… Bye!” Crow awkwardly crawled off his bike, tripping and falling on his face before hurrying off so he could open the door for Tom. His claws slipped on the handle until he managed to push it open. He heard her trying to pray after them as he made it inside.

Mike was in the middle of slicing up vegetables for a stir-fry when Tom flew by him. “Hey Servo, how’d generic biker movie go?”

Tom replied with a whine, and continued down into the basement.

Crow trudged in after him.

“What’s up with Servo?” Mike asked.

Crow sighed and joined him at the counter. “I dunno.” He watched Mike cut peppers as the neighbor lady’s words swam around his head. Did he really need a mom? Suddenly, he had an epiphany. “Mike?”

Mike replied with a hum.

“I don’t want to alarm you with this news, but it appears that I’m a Disney princess.”

He chuckled. “What?”

“Think about it! I don’t have a mom, my dad’s a crazy inventor who fell in love with a beast…”

“Crow, it was the princess who fell in love with the… Hey!”

Crow ignored him. “… I’m beautiful, of course. I have a magical connection to most woodland creatures. I tend to sing a lot. I can paint with all the colors of the wind. I always seem to be missing a shoe. I’m overly trusting. I sometimes struggle to remember the proper names for common household objects…”

Mike snorted. “Well, Crow, it seems like the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of you being a Disney princess. Congratulations.”

“I’m glad that’s settled.” Crow was silent for a couple of seconds. “Do you think some day my prince will come?”

Mike threw his hands up, exasperated. “I don’t know!”

“Yeah, he’s totally going to come…”

Meanwhile, Tom was confronting Joel down in the basement. He hovered over to his father and set himself down on his workbench.

Joel glanced at him, but continued studying his blueprints. “Hey, Buddy. What’s up?”

Tom looked over the plans for a few seconds. These particular ones were scribbled over a few spare napkins and the back of an old grocery list. He looked up and sighed. “Joel?”

He smiled at him. “What?”

“Joel? Are we going to go to Hell because we don’t have a mom?”

Joel’s face dropped. Straightening up, he cleared his throat and put a comforting hand on Tom’s shoulder. “That’s an oddly specific question, honey.”

“The neighbor lady, the one who lives next door, y’know? Said because you and Mike lie to each other, God made Adam and Eve. And since we don’t have a mommy, God was going to throw you and Mike into a giant hot tub that sounds like our first apartment!” Tom cried. He ended with over dramatic sobbing

Joel’s brow furrowed, not quite following Tom’s rambling. The little robot buried his face into his side and Joel wrapped his arms around him. “Calm down, Tom. What were you saying about our neighbor?”

“She said you and Mike were going to go to Hell. But it sounded scary and not fun at all and I don’t want you to go there,” he explained through sobs.

“Well, it’s sweet that you’re worried about us, but remember what I said about our neighbor?”

Tom sniffed. “That she’s one weird…”

“Mama jama,” Joel finished. He leaned his forehead on Tom’s dome so he was eyelevel with him. “That’s right and you shouldn’t listen to her. No one’s going to Hell.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Don’t worry your little head about it. Okay?”

“Okay, Joel,” Tom said before shifting positions and wiggling his head so it looked like he was wiping his nose on Joel’s shirt.

Joel patted him on the back, as Tom moved away from him. “Are you going to be alright?”

“I think so.” He went back to looking at Joel’s blueprints. “What are you making anyway?”

Joel picked up a metal cylinder and examined it. “Well, it’s supposed to be a self-sustaining, self-cleaning, exhaust filter, but it’s not exactly turning out like I’d hoped.” He held it up to his ear and shook it. It made a hissing sound.

Tom glanced at Joel uncertainly. “Is it supposed to do that?”

Joel put it down and slowly got in between the cylinder and Tom. “I don’t think so.” He tensed and turned away from it slightly and grimaced, waiting for something to happen.

The cylinder finally made a muffled pop and emitted a puff of smoke. There was an electrical surge before it finally started to vibrate and give off a subtle green glow.

“What the Sam Scratch did you put in that thing?” Tom demanded.

Joel stared at it dumbly. “Baking soda. A lot of baking soda.”

“Wow! You pulled a Mike. Good one, Joel!”

“You get the salad tongs. I’ll get the old refrigerator open…”

“Honey? You okay?” Mike called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, the lights did the thing!” Crow added, scurrying to the top of the basement stairs. He was met by Tom coming up the other way.

“Joel made a nuclear reactor out of baking soda,” Tom informed him. Begrudgingly, he hovered to get a pair of tongs from Mike.

“Cool! Can I see?”

“Stay upstairs, honey. You’ve absorbed more than enough radiation for one lifetime.”

#I apologize for this being ramble-y.#gay space dads universe #and their robot children #and their weird neighbors #Crazy Christians

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pygmana · 7 years ago

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Session Logs Special: Catch-Up Edition

Provided by Gabe (Thank you so much, you saved my life)

Previously, in Pygmana... (Keep in mind I have a cartoonishly bad memory, this is just all that I remember)

After a brief stop to pick up Brynne, a Wizard, and Colyndor, a druid, the group met for the first time the Duke of Davin, who invited them all to a celebration being held later in the week for heroes who actually did something good. Meanwhile, in their unending efforts to do something bad, Wolfgang and Colyndor decided to investigate the duke's castle on their own, and found nothing but a lot of sadness and drug habits, with the one light in the darkness being a map to a blood orgy in the duke's son's room. Colyndor, wandering without thinking, got himself trapped in a cell with a night hag, with whom Wolfgang had to negotiate to get Colyndor out.

The ight hag's deal was that she'd let him out and give Wolfgang an undefined "boon", if he could bring two women to her, while being cartoonishly vague. Colyndor then disappeared after that, and we never bothered to explain why. This lead to the weight of having to find two women for a possibly nefarious purpose down to Wolfgang. After a discussion that was much longer than it should have been about how to properly seduce women to possibly get murdered and where the best places to prey on women were, the party collectively remembered bounties exist. After hitting up a bandit stronghold and taking two of the women with them, the night hag took them in and more or less shoo'ed Wolfgang away.

Meanwhile, at some point I don't remember, Raven, Nereid, and Khunsu found themselves left alone for long enough that they investigated a demonic ritual that went horribly wrong that turned a school to ghouls, and investigating a pyramid. After some light grave robbing, the group got paranoid and left before anything could wipe them off the face of the earth. They kept the items they got from the tomb to themselves, much to the irritation and annoyance of a lot of people, but mostly Brynne.

The blood orgy ended up being the night before the group was headed to the Duke's ball, so naturally Wolfgang, Brynne, and Moira, a Cleric who I don't remember WHEN she showed up, decided to crash it and see what information about demons they could glean from there. The blood orgy was a beautiful mess of rich kids fucking monsters and getting crunk out of their goddamn minds, and while the group didn't fuck the monsters, they sure as shit got naked and crunk. They also found out the name of one of the guys dealing in town, who I completely forget the name of. At the same time though, they hint that their supplier is kind of holding out on them.

Several blackouts later, the group got themselves together, sans Moira I believe (She'll be back later), to go to the ball. For once, the team seemed to have it together, with Wolfgang as a cool teen talking to other cool teens, and Raven as the Dad Friend getting themselves invited to a drug deal and learning how to summon a dealer. Raven also further pursued his endgoal of getting land and a title by accepting a vague request from the duchess to "deal with her husband", who is sleeping with another man and is drugged out and is basically driving her to drink even more.

Wolfgang (who is driving a surprisingly large amount of the plot, now that I'm looking at this) and Raven get down on this new sexy drug deal, and meet this new sexy lady, who wants them to sign a contract that says she and her demon are the only supplier they'll go to anymore for drugs. Everyone finally realizes that Moira was kidnapped to be eaten by a giant, and they all murder it super hard to save her. She still kind of vanishes afterwards to elope with a goblin princess.

After that, the group prepares for the inevitable demon rumpus, and decide to investigate that pyramid from earlier to get a mummified hand for a ritual. Khunsu, despite not noticing the last time they were in the pyramid, realizes this is super sacreligious, and tries to convince everyone they need to leave. This does not sink in for Wolfgang, who waits until everyone leaves to sneak off and take a hand for himself. Unsurprisingly, this has bad consequences, and the group has to go off to a temple of Serket, and do a good deed there so the gods don't hate them and actively work against them.

They stop on the way in Lynnport, where the duke mentioned a series of prostitute murders happening. They meet Aster, who basically is mostly everyone's contact with the constables, and Raven (I think, could be Luke) pays to fix her tusk. They find out that the next murder, according to the pattern, is coming up, and make plans to stop by again on the way back. Brynne picks up a treasure map before the group heads to Serket's temple.

I wanna say they're called the hills of music. Anyways, the group heads there, and immediately find out that the problem they have to deal with is that their water supply is drying up. While Bernie Squanders stays behind to get pampered, the group investigates and finds out that giant mushrooms have overgrown and have taken over the wellspring. After finding and killing the source of it, a parasitic fungus who got a man to come down and plant it, the hand Wolfgang took is regrafted onto the mummy and Wolfgang is forgiven of his crimes against the dead.

Back in Lynnport, after going back the the inn they had previously visited, they find out that a bartender had been sick and missing for a few days. Checking in on her, they find symptoms that are the same as anyone else infected with the tainted heroin, and she passes a little after giving information on her dealer. Finding the gnome that ran the circus, they capture him and zone of truth him so he can be prosecuted for his crimes. The party splits after this, with half the group (Wolfgang, Raven, and Nereid) staying to complete the original plan of "disguise yourself amongst the prostitutes to catch the killer", and the other half (Sir Luke, Khunsu, and Brynne) checking in on the gnome's wife.

After some hijinks while trying to be expensive unavailable prostitutes, the group finds the sexy lady drug dealer from earlier talking and interacting with the prostitutes. Wolfgang, the only member of the group not disguised as a prostitute, tries following her when she leads on of the prostitutes to a back alley, but she warps away with her. A scream is heard a few blocks away, and the woman who was with the drug dealer is found dead. Wolfgang, Raven, and Nereid try and confront the woman, but she shrugs off everything and seems to leave her body, leaving a second corpse. Raven also gets a message around this time that the Duchess has decided how she wants Raven to deal with her husband, and asks him to come by at his earliest convenience.

Meanwhile, with the other group, they go to the home of the gnome's wife to check on her, and unsurprisingly she is still dying of illness (despite her husband making an ill-conceived deal to cure her). Despite their best (bare minimum) efforts, Khunsu and Brynne are unable to do anything and their group heads to a bar. Here at this bar they meet a recurring bartender (Mr. Tummnus, I wanna say his first name is Paul), and Baxter Maplepaw, fey corgi paladin of Bast. (Just go with it.) Baxter is immediately interested in the group, as he's been investigating it a little himself, and agrees to go back to the gnome's wife, who he cures and converts to Bast.

The rest of the group show up, and they all (save Raven) go to church to talk about a series of cattle mutilations they've heard about with the priests there. They find out about gruesomely slaughtered cattle and the three farms that have mostly been hit, while Brynne got kicked out for being disrespectful and Wolfgang slept in a pew. Raven, on the other hand, takes this time to meet with the duchess, who, in a drunken stupor, tells him to kill the duke because he's been consorting with demons. Raven, while realizing that a lot of what's happening in front of him is motivated by anger towards the duke, also realizes she's telling the truth, and accepts the job to kill him at some point.

Wolfgang and Brynne get some time to themselves, and decide to go clubbing against the world's better judgement. They meet Brad, a paladin of the ancients, who's celebrating his 21st birthday, and kidnap him in a friendly way while just absolutely not remembering his name. They all, with their bowls of wine, decide to go to a spa, and end up meeting Thokk, a barbarian and a religious zealot of Tlazolteotl, and they hang out a little. After splitting ways with Thokk, they find out that a Norse temple is infested with frost giants, and take care of that problem (with the help of the police) before going to a strip club. Some breasts and near fights later, Brad decides to stay with Wolfgang and Brynne because his old friends are somehow much shittier.

Now that they're all back together, the group investigates the farms, and Baxter purifies the dead cattle while the farmers prepare small meals for everyone, until the last farm where they tell the group they've prepared traps for whoever's been mutilating cattle. The party tries to prepare for the sleep spell that the cow murderers have been using, but only Nereid, Baxter, and Brynne stay awake. Nereid stays back because he's racist and doesn't trust the drow hostesses (who are all asleep), while Baxter and Brynne try and investigate. One of the two intruders gets his leg stuck in a bear trap, while the second runs and Brynne has to shark bolt him to get him back.

After the shark starts biting the man in the shoulder, everyone wakes up, and they all head out to interrogate the intruders. Thanks to a surprising amount of diplomatic restraint and Brynne charming one of the cattle mutilators, they find out that they were sent by this man with gold eyes (that they can't remember any other details of) to kill enough cattle that it harms the farmers, summoning a demon we all know and love as the Horse Lord. After getting the exact meeting times out of them, Baxter and Nereid murder the two of them and they head to the bar to meet they mystery man.

After waiting a little, he shows up, and the party shows increasing levels of unsubtlety and a lack of restraint, ending with Luke announcing that the group knows who he is, and Baxter lodging an axe firmly in Brad's shoulder. Amused by this, the demon agrees to hear the group out. The Horse Lord is looking to head to the human world since two of his rivals are doing the same thing, but Baxter suggests that instead of coming out, the party (with his help) force the other two back in. The Horse Lord agrees, although he still needs them to work out an exact deal as soon as possible. This leaves everyone immensely nervous.

#session logs #nc

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dungeons-and-dwegons · 7 years ago

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Destined to Die (Strings of Fate)

Session 21 Recap [Abridged]

-Party along with Korska, the Pyromancer, and Zin have all been thrown into strange Nightmare Realm -Everyone is paralyzed with fear except for Fein who takes massive damage from Psychic Guardian -Naughty Fein falls back and casts Darkness to shroud himself -Psychic Guardians approach party members -Korska runs to Yumi and attempts to break her out of the psychic bubble -Nim is able to break out of fear and is bombarded by Psychic Guardians, rendering her unconscious -Natlia breaks out of her own fear and casts slow in a square around Yumi, hoping to slow the effects of whatever’s going on with her -Leonne eventually breaks out of his fear and starts mixing a liquid using things he’s gathered recently -All party members eventually break out of the fear, except for Lilith who remains stuck -The Psychic Guardians attack the party members near them/who hit them, and the party must fight them -Natlia attempts to speak to Yumi telepathically and takes a huge amount of damage for it -Hachi sneaks around and is able to attack some of the Psychic Guardians from afar -Zin creates duplicates of himself and the Psychic Guardians attack them, leaving Zin weakened -Pyromancer also attempts to help Yumi but is wounded -Leonne creates a holy concoction using Infinity Drink to create a mass of blessed water mixed with holy incense -Party fights the Guardians and have no idea where Naughty Fein is -Hachi notices via the light of the Lantern of Revealing hanging on Fein’s tail, Naughty Fein has escaped from the Darkness and is attacking them from outside of the Slowed area -Eventually Naughty Fein begins massacring basically everyone -Ulan tries to call out to Naughty Fein, who just shrugs him off -Pyromancer is attacked by the Psychic Guardians -Pyromancer then gets torn to shreds by Naughty Fein, killing her instantly -Natlia flees using Misty Step and her Wild Magic ends up creating illusionary doubles which make it harder to hit her -Leonne’s attack golem tried to attack Naughty Fein but got blown to pieces in the process -Natlia blasts Naughty Fein with Lightning Bolt and it deals massive damage thanks to Naughty Fein’s metal armor -Enraged Fein attacks Natlia and kills her super dead in just one turn -Ulan falls to his knees in shock and grief -Fein goes up against Naughty Fein, but faces the same fate, going down in one turn after Naughty Fein takes off his arm -BloodAxe’s appearance begins forming -Zin and Leonne grab Ulan and Natlia’s body and drag them away from the area close to Naughty Fein [Who lands the finishing blow on Naughty Fein before he rises up again? Like, before Fein kills them both? Leonne? Lilith? Hachi? Pls lemme know!!] -Naughty Fein comes back up and attacks, but Fein also comes back up and kicks Naughty Fein’s weakened leg and pulls him into his blade -Both Fein’s die in the process -Nim is up again, she sees her friends dead or dying and enters Rage before running towards BloodAxe who is now almost fully formed -Yumi has fallen out of her Psychic Shield -Leonne Revifies Natlia and the Pyromancer -Hachi is fending off the Psychic Guardians -Nim jumps onto BloodAxe and begins tearing into him -Hachi calls out to Korska to look at BloodAxe--they do -Korksa also starts attacking BloodAxe -Pyromancer rushes towards them all -Suddenly BloodAxe enacts one last action, self destruction -Nim, Pyromancer, and Korska are all hit with the blast -Nim and the Pyromancer are dead, Nim’s body is missing vital parts -The party rush over to the bodies, Leonne Revifies the Pyromancer who is now missing her legs and one of her arms -Leonne desperately attempts to Revivify Nim, but to no avail -Pyromancer goes to Yumi and hugs her, promising her she did no wrong taking on a blast of damage falling unconscious (Sigh, does she want to die?) -”Yumi, your parents would be so proud of you, your grandmother too. Never give up.” -Party mourns for their lost friend -Torihel appears and collects Naughty Fein’s spirit -”I see.. After I defeated BloodAxe, Naughty Fein wanted to bring him back. So he tempted the Fates, creating the children. But he didn’t know exactly how BloodAxe would return. Later Fein created a cult that would bring him back. They failed, but Naughty Fein found the child’s grandmother. Knowing who she was, he seeded into her mind the fear of BloodAxe, he tricked her into searching for the books. Naughty Fein assumed the book would be a way to bring him back. But they brought back you all instead.. Wow, what a wild drama. No wonder the Fates were so willing to listen to him. Tsk tsk tsk.. Poor angry fool.” -Nim’s soul floats above her body, seeing her friends below -A figure (Emissary of Death) greets her, saying that Nim has passed on and it’s time to go to the next plane -Nim refuses -Nim resists Death itself and floats away with great strength -Death cannot capture her -Nim floats aimlessly and finds herself in front of a large figure who tells her she has made a foolish decision -Fein suddenly senses a presence, Nim’s soul attempting to return -Party set out to find a way to bring her back -The guild is slightly in ruins, they discover Pecora’s centaur friend died protecting Albie -Various people have been killed at the Guild -They ask Pecora if she knows someone that can bring back Nim and her friend -Pecora brings them to a place far away hidden in the forest, it is now late at night -A tribe of Druids greet her, they attempt to find a way to revive the spirits -The Centaur’s spirit wishes to pass on, but Nim’s spirit remains, wanting to return -Collecting materials the elder Carebear starts a ceremony, hoping to create Nim a new body -After some time, a new body is born of the earth, but this body is different as is the nature of Reincarnation -Nim souls returns in a now Demonic Nim, she is reborn a Demon Rock Gnome -The party rejoice heartily and return to the guild -That night, Nim goes to sleep with her sweet Albie and is transported into Torihel’s home -Torihel warmly welcomes Nim as her own, a Demon of Rage -They are greeted by another guest, Contract -Contract is a Demon that works for the higher power that held onto Nim’s soul -Contract states Nim works for them now, and her mission is to find the Diamond Sword -The next morning the party get together for breakfast -Dade gives the party the three Neverending Stories, apologizes for keeping them secretive -Mother Goose’s Fairy Tales, History of Emesyu, Untitled Journal -Their own book, the History Book is no longer active -Danric says there may be notes in Xanth’s castle on how to revive beings from the books -Ryder shows them the paper -PREPARING FOR WAR: Scarlet Guild begins mobilizing after cities around the country are overthrown by the Valencio Military and Draco’s Army, Collaborating with new service Craig’s List.. -UNDEAD UPRISING: Undead have driven out the Gulguun Gnomes leaving them with nowhere to go. Rumors claim cultists are to blame, known Necromancers are being taken in for questioning -STRANGE MONSTERS SIGHTINGS INCREASED: Strange Monsters are being sighted all over the country. Some claim they have seen Dragons. No reason has yet been tied to these occurrences. Be cautious, these beasts are unpredictable. -NARIUS’S MAGIC TOURNAMENT POSTPONED: Narius has postponed magic tournament for an undisclosed amount of time, no official statement given, rumors say Narius is working with Destiny to help protect the school of magic after the death of two students -DRACO’S NUMBER ONE ENEMY: A notorious group of Anti-Draco warriors fought back in the city if Blackthorn which was recently taken under control by Draco’s army. Having wiped out most the forces, the city has been deserted. The fighters are rumored to have been the same warriors fighting at the late Great Magician Xanth’s funeral. Members of the Feinclub claim the reports match the description of the notorious fighters from Fein’s Fables.. -RECORD SCRATCH TOUR RUMORS: Everyone’s favorite Monster Boyband, Record Scratch has been promoting their world tour and are currently planned to perform in Burkenkeen. Rumors circling that the band may need to postpone their tour due to Kingdom conflicts. Quote from Elfis, “The whole war thing is hella bad. We believe in peace, love, and rock’n’roll.” -Party also try out Craig’s List for the first time -Natlia realizes Craig’s caravan is the same one that Zin’s father owned and goes to get them -Zin claims ownership of the caravan is gets a fraction of the price -Party let Strox out of prison to go to Narius’s College -Yumi & Korska also go with -Pyromancer is talked to, Natlia gets rude -Pyromancer says she will no longer lead the guild -Party take off to Narius’s College

#recap #WHO LANDED THE FINAL BLOW ON EVIL/NAUGHTY FEIN PLS HELP

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enemymine2000 · 8 years ago

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Fandom rambles: Holy Mother Mary

Disclaimer:

Another winding ramble which might not make sense to anyone but me. Sorry, not sorry.

So ramblers, let's go rambling! Halfway through season 12 we finally begin to see Mary Winchester. I mean not the skewed view we inherited by her sons of the wife and mother beloved and missed, drilled into them by John. Holy Mother Mary. Mary Winchester was never holy in the sense that she was somehow holier than thou. Yes, she had wanted to leave hunting behind. But she never quite did, didn't she? Asa Fox' prolonged life and subsequent death is testament to that. Had she done as she said she would to time-traveling Dean in the 1970s, Asa Fox never would have lived beyond his childhood. But she was only making her rounds, right? She already had the picket fence life and no reason to look back. But she was as much unable to let go of her former life as Sam was, when a chance was presented to him.

You all know Sam's issues. Of rebellion against the machine (his father). He had been out, but as we all had to realize, it always had been quite a scam. His so called friends had all been set up by Hell to keep an eye on Azazel's golden boy. Azazel who we now finally know was not only some weird yellow-eyed demon, but a literal Prince of Hell, and Sam was to lead his army. Sam would have never been able to fully leave the life and his years away were all but an illusion.

Once Sam returned, he was unable to go back to the picket fence. No matter how much he sometimes wishes for it, in a pinch he always chooses the family business.

Sam is Mary's parallel. She had wanted out, but never stood a chance. And she knows it to this day. She regrets the choices of the past that led her boys to lead the life she so loathes. But she just can't give it up herself and thus makes even more mistakes. Look at when Mary came back to life. The first days spend in confusion about this world that had changed so much, the boys who now where now men and the legacy that simply never let go. (Never the other way around, it's always one or the other legacy coming back to haunt them.) Mary coped the only way she could by immersing herself in John's journal and followed by her literally walking in his footsteps. Right back into hunting and thus into the hands of the BMOL.

Mary is Sam before Sam had to detox from demon-blood. Before experiencing a state of soullessness. Before having to make the choice between himself and his brother over and over again.

Sam might not be in his own journey where Dean already is – far along the road to self-discovery and thus out of the unhealthy co-dependency – but he is getting there slowly. This season has given us the awed son, coming to terms with a loss, he never was quite allowed to let go. I think we will see him through to the end of that path. And the season finale about “consequences of cosmic proportions” might very well give us a Sam making the choice between the mother he yearned for his whole life, who he was practically taught to worship, and his brother(s). But for once not because of his unhealthy co-dependency, but because it simply is what is right compared to what is easy.

See, the BMOL stand for the easy choice. Same as the American version did before being killed off by Abaddon.

We were told as much when we first learned about them. Men of Letters don't hunt! Hunters are beneath them. They don't dirty themselves with the hard questions and choices hunters have to make every single day. The easy choice: Gank them all! No matter if it's an Alpha Vampire or a newly turned soul. No matter if the vessel still holds an innocent soul together with the demon – don't get me started on the ritual that can change demons into humans again. Crowley's vessel has no other entity in it than Crowley (otherwise the meat-suit would be able to operate whenever Crowley leaves it). The original soul has long died off. In that Crowley truly is Cas' mirror – an angel and a demon in otherwise soulless vessels respectively.

Thus we don't know what would happen with that ritual if there was the original host still in play.

The Men of Letters don't care if you could be saved, they simply won't.

And enter from stage left, Mr. Ketch. He is the BMOL's weapon. Their cleaner. Their Mr. Wolfe. (I got that Tarantino-vibe from him from the beginning. Thanks to 12x12 “Stuck in the Middle (with you)” it has now gone canon.) Who now in turn has got Mary to do his dirty work for him. It's the Colt (and a lot of other weapons) he is after. The BMOL simply don't want to share and their offer to do so with the Winchesters is a simple strategic one. They need the legendary Winchesters to convert the American continent to the same system of dealing with “things” as they have done with the British Isles. (Hear, how they never say the rest of Europe is on board with that!) They and in extension Mary simply don't know how legendary the Winchesters (standing in for the hard choice) truly are.

You see, Mary has been dead, so she is excused. Those are still her little boys, her babies, she wants the world to be a safer place for. She had not yet enough changes to reconcile the past with the present and the simply truth, that she is not needed to protect and shelter them from harm. But she is going down that road – if only because she now saw that even the King of Hell will fight a losing battle and an angel willing to die for them.

The BMOL have not yet realized that their arrogance will cost them.

Yes, Mr. Ketch now has the Colt and they have all those nice little gadgets, but they don't have heart like hunters, especially the Winchesters, do.

The Winchesters' files, as shown in 11x23 and 12x01, are woefully inadequate and probably false in very important, world defining details.

Now they have sent Mary against a demon, who turned out to have yellow-eyes, a detail that simply was not on file. Even if you don't know that yellow eyes equal Prince of freaking Hell (like the Winchesters have not known) you still should have known that that means very bad business. Especially when coming into contact with the Winchesters.

If both files would have been correctly maintained, the BMOL would have known that. But for Mr. Ketch it is still a matter of business as usual and a fake apology.

Well, those never went over well with Winchesters. Or Campbells for that matter. Mary is both and a mother to boot.

Mary Winchester is very much flawed and has just begun to reconcile her vision for her boys with the reality of the battle-hardened, legendary Winchester Brothers. Same as she needs to reconcile her vision of a peaceful future with the reality that there is no black and white, only various shades of gray. That “things” can be humane and “people” are often very much monsters.

It will be her road of reconciliation which will drive Sam's arc of self-discovery to a closure – I hope, for he has been on it for far too long now – while mirroring a lot of it.

At the moment I don't know, how Mary can come out of this season alive. I somehow see a self-sacrifice in the finale. But you know what, I would be okay with that. We know Mary's soul has a place in Heaven no matter what. She had already found her peace and Chuck bringing her back, as nice as it was a gift for Dean, was only the latest of His dick-moves. Honestly just self-service: “Look at me, what a great and loving father I am to all of my creations. Here have a gift bag for your troubles, which ultimately I have caused.” Otherwise someone might have wanted to ask Mary before resurrection for her opinion on that matter.

Dean surely didn't need her back.

Yes, he loves finally having a mom, but he doesn't need a mom anymore. (12x04 “Is it okay, if I still call you Mom?” ... “Great, now I've turned into a thirteen year old girl.” - He is self-aware about the absurdity of wanting a mom, when he doesn't truly need one anymore.) He is as grown-up as he can be at this point. Basically all his insecurities have been resolved when he went to face Amara with the soul-bomb in his chest.

He knew he wanted to live, because he has things and people to live for. But also because he is damn well worth it to live for himself. But he was still able to go to his certain death, for once not to safe his brother and their co-dependency. He went for the world and humankind – Sam just happens to be part of that – and angel-kind – Cas just happens to be part of that – and demon-kind – Crowley just happens to be part of that. He didn't do it for Chuck, for Chuck is an asshole just like John, and Dean has come a long way and can finally acknowledge that his father(s) sucked.

This season the blood contract with Billie was a means to an end and fulfillment part of the deal. He would have offered himself because he simply is at peace now.

There might be neither Heaven nor Hell waiting for a Winchester anymore, but he made peace with that. He lived a life of purpose and it began for all the wrong reasons, but he did a lot of good with the hand he had been dealt. He knew, that he has people that love him, that would mourn him – and he is finally at a place were he accepts it and understands why – but he knew that they would be able to move on eventually for they still had their lives of purpose to fulfill.

Especially Sam, who Dean sees can have that, if he just finally let's go of his past and accepts himself. He sees the bunker as an opportunity for his younger brother not as some sort of hunter life prison/MOL legacy and knows Sam will one day realize it too. Hence, he for once would willingly give his life to fulfill the contract instead of having Sam be the one not because of the old mantra of “safe Sam at all costs”, but because he is at peace and sees that Sam could build a legacy for the brothers by himself.

Sam, as stated above, has not yet come that far on his on road of self-discovery. He still mourns the life that could have been.

A large part of which is Mary. So of course he welcomes the mother, he never had before, in a way unlike Dean. He very much is the son she wants, for he never had been a mother's son before. Only ever the son of his father and charge of his brother.

But he has already started down that road.

He has been tortured by the worst of the worst and now finally he starts to realize that he came out on top despite all of this. Despite the memories of Lucifer torturing him, despite the memories of craving demon-blood, of being more monster than man, when being soulless, he came out on top. He still feels compassion for others.

But he is now also able to start and differentiate between his pathological need for compassion for others (his former way of redeeming himself) and the very reality of never showing compassion towards himself.

Yes, he has done all that. Yes, maybe he is sometimes more monster than man. But even Sam freaking Winchester deserves to be saved.

It only took an angel placing the burden of cosmic consequences upon himself to finally opening his eyes for the possibility of his life not necessarily having to end in his own blood.

Having his mom around, especially in her not-quite-belonging state, will only drive that point home further, for he finally has a person where he can look at and see his own failings mirrored with his eyes open.

Part of that will include him realizing, that as much as he loves the image of his mother, he doesn't necessarily need Mary Winchester to play that role.

And Mary herself? Well, she is thrust into this world she simply does not understand. Everything has advanced so much. Not only technology, but also world views. The world simply is not her place anymore.

If she would have been asked before her resurrection, she might have answered, that yes, she would very much love to be with her boys. But the reality is not Heaven's version for her. Her boys grew up and they don't need a mother. They might need a motherly friend, but they buried their mom a long time ago and the image they grew up has nothing to do with the Mary Winchester that she was even before her resurrection. Which the boys know due to some nifty time-travel, but Mary can't remember.

So Mary turns to hunting. The one thing she swore she hated and wanted to leave behind, even when was not able to really do it even before burning on the ceiling. Hunting occasionally, justified to herself to keep their boys safe, is one thing, but hunting in a post-apocalyptic world, where the Winchester Brothers are stuff of legends is another monster. Mary still justifies it with the mantra of keeping her boys safe, making the world safe for them, without wanting to acknowledge that those very boys saved the world a couple of times now all by themselves and that she, with being so out of touch with the present is more of a liability for them than help.

Mary's road will be to acknowledge that while she still is their mother, she doesn't need to be their mom, but rather a motherly friend. That she needs to look for a way for herself and not for a way to keep doing what she always had done. And maybe going back to her personal place in heaven might be just it for her.

Unwittingly setting her sons up in that death trap with Ramiel and having to see Cas nearly die and being saved by Crowley has started her up on a new path. The belief-system, instilled by Samuel Campbell (another legacy right here) and passed down through John, that people are to be saved, things are to be hunted is being challenged.

The “things” were doing the saving and her sons were willing to die, if only so one of those (better) “things” won't die alone. Because they are all family.

I think, where Mary was until now just humoring Sam and Dean (and only just being willing to do so because, well, ANGEL) is finally starting to understand that family goes beyond blood. It even goes beyond species and past deeds. Everybody can be saved, when the literal King of Hell is willing to lay his life down the line without any gain for himself! (Excursion:

Yes, Crowley stated his best interests for keeping the Winchesters around at Ramiel. Practically the same things he told Rowena, when she first appeared. But never forget that the Crowley of six years in the past, who made a deal with a Prince of Hell to become King himself, was a very different beast. That spiel about “better having the Winchesters as allies and kill all my enemies than have them kill me” as reasonable as it is, is what a former crossroads demon would say. The King of Hell who has briefly reconnected with his humanity and had a very strong (b)romance with demon and Mark Of Cain Dean is a different matter.

Crowley does not gain personally or for hell in most instances of “assistance for the plaid-covered nuisances” anymore. Not taken into account that literally everybody gains his continued existence when not crossing the Winchesters and well every year or so Apocalypses and end of world scenarios are being successfully averted. Which of course is always a nice bonus for everyone.

No, Crowley likes (loves?) Dean and has come to terms with the fact that his BFF is a package-deal. He likes (loves?) him enough to safe Cas, because Dean without Cas is unthinkable at this point (no matter if you ship them or not, canon now has made that especially clear this season that those two cannot live without each other). Crowley has nothing to gain from having Cas alive, but he does it anyway. Because it is the right thing to do.)

Mary witnesses this for the first time. Yes, Cas ganked Billie to prevent spilled Winchester blood, but Cas is an angel and as anyone not experienced with Supernatural's version of heavenly assholes, Mary is heavily biased towards them. (Remember the little putto -guardian angel - she had placed above Sam's crib?)

But Crowley is the impersonation of all things evil, something she is heavily biased against, and he acts more humanly as she herself was able to in that episode.

Giving up an immeasurable advantage in weaponry and allies to safe someone, while Mary herself, despite everything, still clings to an unreliable ally and the weaponry he offers, even when he is the reason for endangering everybody in the first place.

As I said, it's only the beginning of the road for Mary. The end will probably see her face the choice of giving up false security with the BMOL's promises to safe Cas from the cosmic consequences his act of love will bring upon him, the Winchesters and by extension probably the whole world.

We have seen a lot of mighties fall in this show. The image of The Mother is the next one on the list. While nicely set in contrast to the other mothers (and mothers-to-be) in the realms of this show.

Mary will fall. The question is not even “when” over “if”. It is “how far”.

#Supernatural #SPN meta #Mary Winchester #fandom rambles #meta

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