#been thinking about this again and man. I really love my big cuddly murderous cat husband 💙

[hollow-prey]

Genuinely one of the biggest self esteem wins I ever got in my life was when I was going through the Grimm.jow tag on an Arr.ancar blog that I love because they write them all so well (and very much holds a "fuck canon"/"canon can be whatever I want" attitude and disregards 98% of Bl.each's story and lore in favor of fleshing out the Arr.ancar and writing them how they want, which I deeply respect and admire) and found a bunch of answered headcanon asks that coincidentally lined up perfectly with my own personal headcanons/self ship lore regarding Grimm and validated my compatibility with him more than anything else I had found before.

In the past, most posts I've seen in passing talking about "the best matches" for Grimm.jow ended up describing an ideal partner who's strong and serious and a capable fighter, someone energetic and a little feral, someone with attitude and a sharp tongue, someone who can keep up with him. so basically someone who's almost exactly like him And the vibe that always comes off these posts, whether stated outright or not, is that he's not, and will never be, an affectionate person. Cuddles? Get 'em outta here! He's not a soft character and he would never do that, or so a vocal part of the fandom seemed to say.

So, naturally, I felt foolish about my crush on him for a long time, because so many people seem to push the idea that Grimm's ideal partner is someone who is the complete polar opposite of me. I'm short and out of shape. I'm not physically strong and I don't know how to fight. In fact I hate confrontation. Most of the time I'm pretty calm (at least on the outside), I'm not that serious of a person, and I like affectionate physical contact. All signs pointed to me being the worst match possible and feeling that, even in my indulgent daydreams, he would still hate me or ignore me.

And then I find the Arr.ancxr blog. And it truly felt like they read my mind for how close their own headcanons and interpretations lined up with the ones I created for my own self ship purposes (along with some of the answers just being cute as hell). Stuff like OP saying he would probably actually prefer someone who's more calm and relaxed and patient who can therefore help him relax and not be on edge/on guard 24/7. Or saying he is actually very affectionate once you get close enough and loves to cuddle at every opportunity. The one that absolutely sniped me was when someone asked how he would feel about having a chubby s/o and OP responded by saying he wouldn't care or think any different or less of them, and in fact would probably enjoy it because they're that much softer and squishier to cuddle with. As someone who has always struggled with my weight and been insecure about my size my entire life, the idea that my number 1 f/o would love something about me that I've had such mixed feelings about over the years (many of them negative), would love me being so soft and delightful to cuddle with because of that very thing I've struggled with and despised, well, this idea lit up my entire goddamn week.

This is the True Canon of the Hollow Prey ship. Doesn't matter what AU or storyline I'm working in, these factors will always apply. I'm the perfect match for Grimm. He loves me, among many things, for being soft and sweet and affectionate and cuddly. I love being validated unintentionally and no I'm not crying I'm just sweating through my eyeballs

[dcuglybooks]

A short story collection featuring stories that are either mean and ugly like that turd that thudded you in school, or sweet and cuddly as a little gloomy kitten; or puppy if you’re more of a dog person.

Stories Christians don't have to read backwards. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LGB4HGN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_UIpaGb2VC4BBX

Here’s a free short.

WAP: WEIRD ASS PHANTOM

“There’s a ghost in this house. There’s a ghost in this house.”

Linda was getting tired of the shit. Every day at exactly noon her alarm would play this shitty overdubbed version of a Cardi B song. The original song wasn’t her cup of tea to begin with, this new version that sounded like drunk karaoke was even worse. Most times she would be sitting there and the sound of a drunk sorority girl would make her jump out of her skin. She couldn’t even find the song or alarm in her phone to do anything about it.

Linda and her girlfriend, Melissa, moved into this old house last month, the rent was so damn cheap; landlord said it was because it used to be a party house so he never charged much. The logic didn’t make any sense but at $300 a month and a mile outside of town, how were they not going to sign that lease?

“I think,” spoke Melissa one night while watching her phone float around taking pictures in the air, “the reason rent is so cheap is because it’s haunted.”

“You think?” Replies Linda while snatching the phone out of the air. “I just wish this damn ghost would stop posting pictures of our bedroom to our Instagram accounts. Did you see the caption last night?”

“Oh you mean ‘Pumpkin spice is almost here. Basic bitches, rejoice!’ The comma is what set me off. Why did she put a comma in that? Why bother? It wasn’t even used correctly I don’t believe.”

“We’re being haunted by a basic bitch.”

“I think that may be offensive.”

“I hear it all the time, it just...... yeah ok maybe. I guess I shouldn’t assume this ghost is a bad stereotype, I won’t say it again.”

“True, this girl may have more going for her than just these annoying social media posts from our accounts”

“Remember the mirror though?”

Last week as the couple were eating dinner they heard a clatter and crash from the upstairs bathroom. Running full speed ahead up the stairs and around the corner Linda saw all their makeup in a pile in the empty sink. She could see a pair of red lipsticked lips floating in the air while eyeliner was seemingly drawn onto the air in a cat eye shape. She sighed and said “What now?” These types of things had been going on since the first night so at this point it was old hat.

The lipstick went to the mirror and wrote “I am finally going to kill you.” Linda took a step back prepared to flee until the lipstick wrote below it “JK LOL YOUR FACE” and then the face floated off into the wall leaving behind the makeup like some sort of painting.

The first time anything strange had happened, a pizza showed up at the front door; delivery for an Amanda Perkins. The girl who moved out recently, they took the pizza because it was already paid for and assumed the girl had made a mistake. They were sure of this as they sat and watched old re-runs of home improvement and munched away; then they noticed the slice floating over in the air above the recliner and the chewed up pile on the seat. They screamed and ran outside, Melissa forgot her phone inside and Linda’s made a ding from inside her pocket.

“Hey I know this is really weird, it’s weird AF for me too. We can make it work though, ladies. I swear I won’t bother you, I already cleaned up my mess.”

They inched inside looking around like scared toddlers and sure enough the mess was cleaned up. After that they just rolled with the weirdness.

“Are you sure Amanda left, Mr. Morris?” Linda was on the phone with the landlord.

“Yes. Positive. Why would you think she still lived there?”

“There’s been..... some things.”

“Drunk college girl, she probably stumbled home one night and forgot she went home for the summer. Its no deal. Not big or small.”

“Are you absolutely positive there is no deal? Big, small, medium, or slightly larger than medium but not quite large?”

“What do you think? I know her ex and he killed her and then buried her body in the basement so now her ghost is haunting you. This is why I charge so cheap rent! No. I don’t believe what you think. I will be going.”

He hung up without ever realizing Linda never once mentioned any of that other stuff. Linda thought, Why does he talk like that?

Turned out that’s exactly what had happened. After doing a quick google of the ghosts name they found out she never came home. After a quick Facebook search they found her ex boyfriends page. After some scrolling they found a post that said “Amanda and I broke up again and I am going to kill her.” The post had six likes and four comments.

“Get her bro!”

“Bitch ain’t appreciate you anyhow bet!”

“U need any ting lemme no”

“Fuk gr8 ass tho. Mind if I hit her up?”

These people were insane. Did not a single one of these people see the part about wanting to kill her? Actually PLANNING to kill her.

The police found it interesting enough to look into it, they found reason to arrest the guy. After a long court trial Amanda’s ex-boyfriend, Brent, was sentenced to life in prison for murder. The body was exhumed and buried at a family plot. The rent got more expensive because Mr. Morris was in prison for helping cover a murder so his aunt took over.

You win some you lose some.

Amanda did not leave though. The ghost hung out still to this day four months later. The social media posts kept going. The pizzas kept getting ordered, only now from their pockets because Amanda’s parents closed her bank account. Amanda was irritated about that, she was cut off from her parents money and stuck living with two other people.

Linda and Melissa tried to make her feel as comfy as possible, they left a pen and notebook in each room so she could communicate with them. Usually the notes were always about how bored she was being a ghost and how if she tried to leave the house it got all bright and she started floating. Amanda was “for real afraid of flying” as she wrote on a notebook.

Amanda’s behavior got strange at some point. She began doing things like drawing stick figures on the bathroom floor in shampoo, she would wrap herself in toilet paper and roll down the stairs creating the illusion of her body disappearing, the worst of it was when she would lay in bed with Linda and Melissa startling them when she pulled the blanket. It was like living with an invisible insane person. Either her mind was slipping or she was just a strange character. She would turn the TV on and watch the same episode of “King of Queens” for ten hours straight while they were at work. They wondered what would happen if they deleted it from the DVR but didn’t want to face that at all.

The alarm kept going off too; Linda had to hand out awkward smiles and apologies when it happened at work or in public. One time she had to apologize to a middle aged woman when it went off in the cereal aisle while shopping and her son started singing the lyrics to the original version as loud as his voice would allow. The mother gasped at all the words her kid knew and knocked a shelf of maple syrup over. The bottles burst all over the floor, Linda tried to help clean it up but she was shooed away by a guy with a mop bucket and a face that said he wanted her dead as shit.

They asked her multiple times what they could do to get her to move along, to which she would always write “sno-cone” on her notebook with no explanation.

Linda woke up sick on a Tuesday and didn’t go to work, she came into the bathroom and seen a note written in lipstick on the mirror that read “Baby, all my life I will be driving home to you.” She blushed, Melissa had left her a really sweet note on the mirror. When Melissa got home she surprised her with a bout of some of the best sex they had ever had, despite Linda being sick she felt overcome with love for her partner.

“Wow. What did I do to deserve that?” Asked Melissa after.

“The note.”

“Oh yes. The note, got you good with that one. So, if it was so good mind telling me what it said?”

“You know what it said!”

“Of course I do.”

She didn’t know what it said. She had no clue, but she wasn’t going to raise a stink about what just happened. No way, no how. She got up and went to use the restroom, as she sat on the toilet she looked up and saw the words on the mirror.

“LINDA!” She yelled. “I DIDNT LEAVE THAT! THATS THE GODDAMN LYRICS FROM THE THEME SONG FOR ‘THE KING OF QUEENS!’”

Linda didn’t know what to say; she shook her head and internally accepted defeat on this one. The couple didn’t talk about it again, the ends justified the means on this one they silently agreed; thanks Amanda.

The trio had carried on life like this for months, seven to be exact, when they heard a bang and a crash from the front door. Assuming this was yet again Amanda doing some goofy nonsense they ran downstairs to clean up the mess only to find a man standing their pointing a shotgun at them.

“You’re the dykes who got me locked up, aintcha?” Said a freshly broke out of prison Brent. “You know, usually I’m cool with like loving whoever and like rights and like equality and shit but tonight is not your night. Go sit.”

They were tied together on the couch while Brent sat channel flipping on the TV.

“Amanda is still here,” spoke Linda “she’s a ghost, at some point she’s going to help us and you’ll probably get hurt. She’s probably posting pictures on Instagram right now so she’s a little busy, but I promise when she finds out she’ll come running.”

“No she won’t.”

“Ok? So you think her post is going to get a ton of likes then?”

“She’s afraid of me.”

“Ugh are you generic ‘I beat my girlfriend’ guy number seventy or not?”

“Not.”

“Then why is she afraid of you?”

“I’m bigger than her…… I guess?”

“She’s a ghost.”

“I’m still bigger.”

​“How can you be bigger than an incorporeal being with no mass or weight?”

​“See, she doesn’t way anything.”

“You didn’t think any of this through did you?”

“Not one bit.”

“It shows. Why did you kill her?”

“Hey I’ve never been what you’d call a planner. I killed her because she broke up with me for the fiftieth time that year and all my friends were giving me a hard time about how I would just crawl back to her. I said ‘can’t crawl back to her if I kill her!’ They all thought it was funny so I did it.”

“Ah………Makes perfect sense to me.”

“A guy has to watch his reputation, right?”

They sat there watching late night infomercials in silence for another half hour. Linda nudged Melissa as she seen a phone floating around taking pictures of a floating can of soup.

Of all the ghosts in the world, why was theirs like this?

“Brent, there’s some stuff on the DVR” Linda told him.

“Good I hate infomercials. Oh yuck, ‘The King of Queens.’ I hate that show, Amanda loved it. That fat fucking heifer guy gets to make it with that babe every night. Fucking loser ass UPS guy”

They could see the phone slowly lower and start hovering towards Brent. They let him rant.

“And that Deacon guy, what a fucking idiot, he leaves his wife at one point which is silly because she’s so fucking hot.”

The can of soup hovered behind him.

“That guy that dates the ugly chick from the bowling alley, now I can’t tolerate him at all.”

The soup can shook with rage.

“He ends up living with the other guy right? Like what the fuck? Are they like a thing or not a thing? I didn’t pay enough attention. I did pretend to though to get some action every now and again, show fucking sucks though. Here I’ll do you guys a favor.”

As he deleted the episode from the DVR the can came slamming down into his head.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

They heard a voice yell “MY BONES ARE GETTING WEARY! MY BACK IS GETTING TIGHT!” As the can of cream of chicken turned Brent’s head into cream of Brent’s brains.

After the violence stopped the notebook hovered in front of them and said “Sorry, I was on TikTok, I’ll clean this up tho.”

Much like the first night that’s exactly what happened. They were untied and they watched as the mess was cleaned up. Brent’s body floated over to the ground and the can of soup was laid on the table. The phone floated over to Melissa who dialed 911.

After the legal mess was cleaned up they decided that having Amanda around maybe was not such a bad idea. No one could really kill them, it was like having a built in security system. They did eventually add a third line to their cell plan and let her set up social media for herself as a reclusive twenty something who couldn’t leave the house due to a skin condition.

Her pages were ok, they didn’t get much interaction or followers but Amanda was happy. Sometimes people would say they wanted to hang out with her because they lived close, Amanda just said her skin condition was contagious AF. No one ever thought to say “Hey, what exactly IS your medical condition?” People could be so polite sometimes.

Christmas morning as they all opened gifts Linda and Melissa cried as Amanda opened the complete series collection of “The King of Queens.” The three sat on the couch together that evening and watched all of season one.

Baby all my life I will be driving home to you.

The next day they heard a familiar song. Together they both smiled and thought that yes, there was a ghost in this house.

[allofusandco]

ain’t no me | wy + wav

Wynonna returns to Purgatory to save Waverly, and they hit the road, on the way to Lebanon.

With @theycomeuninvited (Waverly)

Wynonna:

It took two days to get back to Purgatory. Two long days Wynonna had to resist the urge to call every ten minutes to make sure Waverly was still alive and unhurt. She’d slept in the truck, unwilling to waste her time checking into a motel, and knowing she’d slept in less comfortable digs before. Hell, jail was never exactly cuddly. She ate bad diner food and refused the advances of no less than four truckers, two of whom had needed a prod in the gut with the Winchester in order to get the hint. Poor fragile creatures, they were. And alright, there had been times in Wynonna’s life when she hadn’t been exactly discerning, but compared to the other Winchester in her life they were all ugly and short. And dumber than she could tolerate these days.

It was barely after lunch on the second day that Wynonna parked outside the house, and climbed out of the truck, not even bothering to shut the door. She bounded into the house, Peacemaker in hand, shouting.

“Wav! I’m here! Where are you? You’d better be packing!”

She bounced up the stairs to Waverly’s room.

“If I open with ‘I’m sorry and I’m an idiot and I’ll never leave you again’ will you forgive me?” she asked, stepping into the room. She opened her arms – seemed weird that a year ago hugging her sister had felt so foreign.

“C’mere, sis. I’m an idiot, and I’ll never leave you again.”

–––––

Waverly:

Hugging Wynonna was an automatic response, one that would have triggered in her even if Wy’s arm’s hadn’t been opened for her the second she came into the room. Wrapping her arms around her sister’s waist she let out a breath that she felt like she’d been holding for the last two days. She didn’t blame Wy, she could never blame her…not for this, not for leaving, not for Willa or dad.

“You’re an idiot but I forgive you,” she mumbled stepping back to get a good look at her. “Jesus Wy you look like you’ve slept less than me.”

To be fair it was probably true too. Wy had been busy trying to get there while she’d spent the first hour after calling Wynonna packing her bag and research up and then…and then nothing. It wasn’t like there was much she could do except stick to the ground of the homestead and wait. Wy had made it clear she was to stay put where she was safe and after a near death experience she was going to be smart for once and listen.

“Do you need to rest before we leave? What about food? I could fix you some soup, maybe a sandwich…something,” she rambled letting go of Wynonna to walk around the room collecting her bags—one of cloths, the other of research she’d deemed worthy of dragging with.

–––––

Wynonna:

“I probably have slept less than you have. And it wasn’t in a bed, either. Back seat of a truck.” She stretched her neck, making a face when she heard a loud click. “It was stupid to think you’d be safer away from me.” She looked around the room again. Wynonna wasn’t crazy about leaving any of the research behind, but they only had so much space. Maybe they could send for the rest later.

“No, I don’t need to rest.” Oh, except for how that was a lie. “No, actually, I do. And food, too. Soup, sandwich, bring it on. But sleep…”

No, as tempting as the bed was, she really didn’t think sleep was a particularly good idea. Better to get on the road.

“If you’re up to driving the first leg I’ll sleep some more in the car.”

The urgency was sucked out of the room. Seeing Waverly alive and apparently unhurt was enough to get Wynonna’s blood pressure right down again, at least enough to be sensible and slow down. She patted Waverly’s shoulder and headed back down the stairs again, to the kitchen.

She opened the fridge; pickings were a little thin, maybe Waverly had been eating at the bar.

“You say something about soup?” she called. “I’ve eaten some disgusting crap the last few days. I wouldn’t argue about a vegetable or two. Even a green one.”

–––––

Waverly:

Traipsing down the stairs Waverly settled her bag on the floor by the door ready to be grabbed at a moment’s notice. It was a safe bet to say she was ready to get the hell out of dodge before anything else around here could get worse. The Homestead had enough bad memories as it was, they didn’t need more of them here.

“Bottom shelf Wy—it’s vegetable and beef,” she said heading in to the kitchen and straight towards the cupboard to pull out a bowel. “I cleaned out everything else, figured there wasn’t a point in leaving food behind if we were both just leaving.”

She set a bowl down on the counter so Wynonna could ladle some soup in to it and heat it up.

“Most of the research that I didn’t think we would need I put out back in the storage unit, with your bike,” she added thinking about the few things she’d done to get everything in order to leave. No one wanted the homestead, that was just pure fact. There was bad memories for the whole town here, memories of a father and a little girl being murdered. Coupled with it being so far from town, no one wanted it which made it safe enough to lock everything up while they left.

“You want a grilled cheese with this?” she asked pulling out what was left of the bread.

–––––

Wynonna:

She was almost hungry enough to eat it cold; but Wynonna filled the bowl and stuck it into the microwave, rubbing her hands together. “Waverly Earp, have I ever turned down grilled cheese?”

She smiled winsomely. Best sister ever.

“Don’t say bike. I miss that thing already. I think I might have found my one true love, and the thought of her in storage breaks my cold, cold heart.” She pulled the hot bowl out and dropped into a chair there at the kitchen table. “Guess Henrietta still hasn’t noticed her truck’s missing, since I haven’t been arrested yet. And before you ask – yeah, I’ve dropped a couple of rev-heads, but I keep getting stuck with other things. Goddamn vampires are common as dirt. Think you can learn to wield a machete?”

The soup was good, and thick, enough to warm her bones. Wynonna ate it quickly, taking the crust end of the bread to mop up the extras, waiting for the grilled cheese.

“You ever find that box of Wyatt Earp’s papers?” she asked. “The one you were looking for before I left? There’s some stuff in it – we might need some of it. Men of Letters ring any bells for you?”

She wasn’t going to lay the whole crazy deal on her sister right then and there’ they’d have plenty of time once they were on the road. Still, she was curious. The smell of the cheese, good sharp cheddar, began to fill the small kitchen.

–––––

Waverly:

Grabbing out a skillet and buttering up the bread Waverly set to work on the grilled cheese, a small smile settling on her lips as Wynonna waxed poetry about her one true love. It was adorable and she even felt a little bit bad that the bike wasn’t something they could take with them but it just wasn’t conducive to two person travel much less the research she felt the need to drag with them.

“Oh yeah,” she nodded. “Found it up in the attack about a week after you left. I’ve been going through some of it but a lot of it doesn’t make sense to me. I mean I thought a lot of it was just ramblings Wyatt did once he was a little older and kind of out of his head ya know? But now here you are talking about vampire’s so maybe he wasn’t as crazy as I thought he was.”

She flipped the grilled cheese checking both sides of optimum doneness before plating it and walking over to the table setting it down next to Wynonna as she took a seat at the table too.

“Men of Letters,” she thought about it and nodded. “Yeah they were some group of guys he randomly met up with here and there over the last twenty or so years of his life. Apparently they were from overseas and knew a lot about demons and all sorts of other stuff. I haven’t looked too much in to them but Wyatt mentioned in some of his writings that they were looking to build some short of home base over in Kansas or something like that. I don’t know if it ever took off, sounded like they did a whole lot more talking than they did actually gettin’ stuff done Wy.”

–––––

Wynonna:

“Vampires and all sorts,” Wynonna agreed. “It’s a big, weird world out there.” But at least they weren’t alone; the thought brought a small smile to her face. “We should bring that box.” Sam would want to see it.

Her eyes lit up and the golden sandwich. Fantastic. She picked it up with both hands, and took a huge bite out. She groaned obscenely.

“You know the problem,” Wynonna said, with her mouth still half full. “Men. Men of letters. If it had been women of letters, they would still exist and they’d be running the world.” She smiled as she swallowed. The cheese was burning hot and completely melted, just the way she liked it. Crisp where it escaped the edges of the bread.

“So anyway, how have things been? Other than your near-death experience, for which I am still truly sorry. How’s the, ah…” She smiled wickedly. “Long arm of the law? And yes I mean Deputy Haught, and her man-hating cat. Hope you two have had a chance to do some bonding. Oh, no, Wav, are you blushing? I don’t mean to pry, I just really wanna know Champ is weeping into his Count Chocula every morning and promising to treat his next lady friend a lot better.”

They really couldn’t delay long. With her sandwich still unfinished, Wynonna rinsed the last of the soup from her bowl. With the last of it shoved into her mouth (ouch hot burning ouch) she dried the bowl and stuck it back in the cupboard. She took about as much care with the plate.

“How d’you feeling about drivin’ the first leg? I need a nap before I start really filling you in. Let’s get the truck packed.”

–––––

Waverly:

She felt her face heat up at the mention of Nicole, a small smile turning the corners of her lips. That was the one part about ditching this town that she wasn’t looking forward to and she hadn’t allowed Nicole to ask a whole lot of questions either—she knew if she had that there was a chance of her packing up and coming with and Waverly wasn’t going to put her in that kind of life.

“She’s fine,” she mumbled and let it slide, glad to see Wynonna moving on to other tasks rather than wait around for her to give too many details on the matter. “Yeah, I’m up for it. We heading any place in particular? Oh do you have a lead, please please have a lead. After what I went through I could use seeing some hell fire swallowing a rev head down.”

It should worry her that she was that in to watching them being dragged to Hell but there was something satisfying about the whole thing. Then again her uncle had left her a skull as her inheritance so maybe she should invest a little more worry in her own morbidness.

Grabbing her bags she slung one over her shoulder and let the other hang at her side.

“You know I’ve never been out pf Purgatory right? I’m like a Revenant myself I guess,” she tried to put a laugh behind it but there was no hiding her nervousness at leaving home. She was excited sure but…but like Wynonna said, it was a whole big weird world out there.

–––––

Wynonna:

Wynonna turned, guilt pinging her lungs suddenly. No, she didn’t know that. She met Waverley’s eyes.

“This is not the way I want you to see the country,” she said at last, gently taking Waverley’s bag, to put into the bag seat. “I didn’t know that. I figured college… but you did that from right here. We’ll take it slow. See the sights. You got a camera?”

Stupid question – Waverley had a phone.

They took a moment to check the locks all over the house, and Wynonna made a mental note to ask Nicole to keep an eye on the place – after Waverley had spoken to her from the road, in the next couple of days. No matter the memories, it was still home, and Wynonna planned to live in it again one day. She wouldn’t be happy if it was inhabited by Bobo’s minions when she returned.

She got into the passenger seat, as promised. Too tired to drive safely after her rush back to Wyoming. She turned the heater on as soon as Waverley had the engine running, and rubbed her hands together.

“A plan.” She could have lied outright. “Not exactly? Sort of the outline of the beginnings of a plan, though. I met a hunter a few days ago. Might have some ideas to help. Resources, too.” Watching Purgatory roll by them, Wynonna got another pang, homesickness this time. Still, better to be on the move with someone she cared about than a guy with a sweet ride he’d stolen an hour beforehand and a trunk full of dope.

“Just head southeast, for now. Wake me in a couple of hours and I’ll tell you all about it. Right sis?”

She balled her coat behind her head, against the window, and leaned in, closing her eyes.

–––––

Waverly:

Waverly: mumbled something under her breath about the phone being her camera. She didn’t want to get into the details of college and having stayed here for it. It’s not like a lot of places around here were offering the degree’s she’d been needing to fight this stuff.

Out in the truck she took the path that would head them southeast and out of town. Glancing to the side she smiled, watching Wynonna settle back to sleep. Again she would have said something about this hunter guy, because she had a million and a half questions, but Wy seemed exhausted beyond belief.

A few hours later she found her attention drifting. There was only so long the road could hold her attention before it got to be too much and she found herself needing to pull over. Lucky enough they were just cutting through a small town, the perfect clichéd place to stop so they could refuel themselves and the car.

“Hey Wy,” she said gently, reaching out to settle a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Wake up sleeping beauty—time to get some food in ya. Something other than crappy made soup and grilled cheese. How’s diner food sound?!”

–––––

Wynonna:

“Get away from the penguin,” Wynonna mumbled as she dragged herself up out of what was decidedly the weirdest dream she could remember for a while. She narrowed her eyes. Penguin? “Uh… yeah, nothing. Too much caffeine, not enough sleep,” she said, stretching as best she could in the seat. “And diner food sounds disgusting. Let’s do it.”

Waverly: parked on the main street (blink and you’ll miss it – it felt like home) and Wynonna poured herself out of the passenger seat like a disgruntled cat, stretching her arms and legs, happy to have escaped confinement again. The town had a particular scent about it – not something Wynonna recognized immediately, but… paper mill? Maybe? She patted her hip to make sure Peacemaker was exactly where she should be, before locking the door of the truck and heading up to the diner.

“I think at this point in my life I can eat literally anything,” she said, opening the door for her sister. “Trust me when I say jail food is good training.”

They found a booth and sat down, Wynonna chiding her stomach to shut the fuck up.

“So, anyway,” she said, when she’d decided (one deep fried everything and a side of salad so she could claim to have eaten greens this week), “I met this hunter. Sam Winchester. Turns out, his family’s part of that whole Men of Letters thing.”

–––––

Waverly:

Whatever it was that Wy was dreaming about she wasn’t going to ask. Penguins had to be better than any of the other terrible things her sister could be dreaming about anyways so the most Waverly did was smile over it as she parked the car.

“No offense Wy but I hope all I ever manage is to take your word for that,” she offered a small smile and held up her fingers showing they were crossed for good luck on staying out of prison. She didn’t want that experience thank you very much.

The diner was a lot like the ones back home. Small, old, locally owned and probably the only other place besides the bar in this little town that actually knew what a ‘hoppin’ Friday night’ looked like. The seats were an uncomfortable sticky vinyl all diner’s seemed to have gotten surplus way back in the forties when these places were all the rage. The menu wasn’t any better and Wave had to wonder if it’d been updated any time this last decade, she doubted it.

“Oh yeah?” that caught her interest in a major way. Wynonna was the only person who could literally roll out of town for only a few short weeks and run smack dab in to something they needed. She wondered if it had to do with the whole heir thing she had going on—maybe it was some sort of unwritten ability no one had noticed before.

“What’s this Sam’s deal? Judging from my readings it didn’t sound like the Men Of Letters ever did field work much,” she said curiously as she fiddled with the edge of the laminated menu.

–––––

Wynonna:

Sam. Okay. “Well, he… is smart. And kind. And mostly hotter than hellfire,” she had to admit. “Seriously, the boy is pretty. The kind of floppy hair you just wanna get your fingers into. You know? But more to the point,” she said, doing her best to sit upright and behave like an adult, “he’s a Man of Letters, just like Wyatt was. Smart as all getout – you’ll get by way better than I do, with him,” she admitted. Wynonna wasn’t dumb and didn’t think she was; but Sam was educated, too, and that was squarely in Waverley’s wheelhouse.

She slumped.

“Kinda miss the days when I woulda ended up sitting in his lap. I don’t like this behaving myself thing…”

They ordered from the menu, all fairly dull, and Wynonna tossed it aside.

“Anyway, Point is. There’s this bunker. In Kansas. When I say bunker, I know you’re imagining some bomb shelter, bet that’s not that it’s like. The Men of Letters used to stay there, Wyatt included, sometimes. Big library. Too big a library to wrap your head around, by the photographs,” she admitted. “Anyway, we’re in, because we’re ‘legacies’. But I had to bail on Sam to come and get you, and he’s got a whole other thing with his brother – so we’re meeting up in a few days, in Lebanon, Kansas. With any luck we might find a way to corral the revheads. There’s spell books and all kinds of stuff. What do you think?”

She twiddled her thumbs.

“I really should’ve slept with him. Probably missed my shot.” She let out a puff of air, blowing her hair off her forehead, and leaned back, staring at the ceiling.

“And I killed vampires. Did I tell you I killed vampires?”

–––––

Waverly:

Wynonna was handing her so much information that Waverly almost wasn’t sure what to do with it all. This Sam guy, he sounded ok but she wanted to be weary and Wy had to know that as well. They weren’t still back in Purgatory and they no longer had the protection of the black badge division to back them up on what they did. Out here in this world things were different and they needed to be careful of who they trusted.

“We’re going to meet him then, him and his brother? Do we know they’re good people Wy? I mean I trust you and all but hunters? We really want to trust them with what we know?”

She didn’t mean to be a downer in all of this but one of them had to remain highly skeptical in all of it.

“Ok, vampires though? I mean like real life suck your blood kind of vampires?” she asked leaning forward a bit in her seat as she talked. Wy had mentioned it back at the house but between leaving and driving here she’d not been able to ask a lot of questions. “Like the kind you put a stake through and watch them turn to dust?”

–––––

Wynonna:

Wynonna tipped her head. “Do we know they’re good people? Seriously, Wav, you and I – we know better than to trust anyone, ever. Which is why I’m armed to the teeth, and that reminds me, you should be as well.

“As for what we know – yeah. Quid pro quo, little sister. We’ve got revenants all over the damn country. We need all the information we can get, and this place has a lot of books. Records. If there’s something in there, we’ll find it. And…” Okay, this was embarrassing. “I trust Sam, about as much as I ever trust anyone who’s not you or your Haught little cop girlfriend.” Even Dolls or Doc – she trusted her life in their hands, but she was still sure they had their own agendas. “He’s already told me a lot more than he needed to.”

Okay, vampires. That was a better topic. “Yeah. Proper blood-sucking vampires. It’s not like Buffy, unfortunately, they don’t poof into dust. That’s how I met Sam. He helped me bury some bodies. As for stakes, it’s iffy. Turns out there’s more than one kind. Decapitation’s safer.” He made a move like she was carrying her now-trusty machete. “Peacemaker doesn’t work on them. Pity. Still slows them down, though. They’re strong. And fast. Sharp teeth, bad attitudes, whole nine yards. And I thought the world was scary when we only had demons. Oh, turns out there’s more than one kind of those, too. Burger, biggest one you’ve got,” she said, to the alarmed looking waitress. “And mountain dew. Wav, if anyone ever tries to buy your soul – tell ‘em it’s already spoken for.”

–––––

Waverly:

Every mention of Nicole sent a shock of pain through Waverly and she wished she could tell Wynonna to stop. She couldn’t though, not without having to talk about her feelings and she knew Wy probably didn’t want to hear it and she knew she didn’t feel like sharing either. It was what it was, she was here now and she needed to move past that part of her life—for now.

“Yeah ok fine whatever,” she waved off the thoughts of the Bunker and this Sam guy deciding she would pass judgment on both once they got there, she was way more interested in these vampires and other monsters anyways.

“Same, but with extra fries and a tea please,” she passed her menu to the waitress and watched her head off to place their orders knowing she was likely to avoid their table as much as possible from here on out. “Alright so no dusting, decapitation only—that’s some pretty intense stuff Wynonna, and souls? That demon lore about buying soles is real? I mean I know the devil went down to Georgia looking for a soul to steal and all that but really?”

Turned out the world outside of Purgatory was pretty damn scary.

–––––

Wynonna:

Wynonna knew that tone in Waverly’s voice. Well, her sister had better instincts for people than she had herself; if they found Sam and Waverly decided she didn’t trust him (seemed unlikely; if anything, Wynonna suspected that five minutes after meeting they’d be neck deep in lore and making nerd-eyes at each other and Wynonna would be forgotten) they were out of there before the engine cooled.

She shrugged. “Far as I can tell, everything you’ve ever heard a single story about is real. Demons, vampires, witches – not that that comes as a shock, thank you Constance – ghosts, you name it. Never especially asked about the boogeyman, but the way I figure it, he’s just some monster no one had a name for.” She leaned in. “But I don’t think the devil steals your soul, exactly. Swaps it for a wish come true and ten years. Ain’t too picky about the state, either.”

She’d tried to wonder what could make anyone plain dumb enough to take that deal, after she and Sam had talked about it. It hadn’t taken long before the answer was clear – she’d do it for Waverly.

Wynonna drained a glass of water and pushed it aside.

“But like I said. This bunker is full of everything everyone ever wanted to know about anything. Bound to be a whole section on the revheads. So I figure we take on a couple of hunts, keep our ear to the ground for news of Bobo and his wacky pals, and Sam’ll call when he calls. Hope you’ve been keeping up your shooting practice.” Didn’t even need saying; Waverly was a crack shot, and disciplined. “There’s a werewolf hunt, if we make it in time.”

–––––

Waverly:

If there was one thing she knew about Wynonna it was that she was stubborn just like she was. It came with being an Earp and she knew they’d be going to meet this Sam just as soon as he called whether she approved or not. That was fine, they could met this Sam and check him out. Heck they might even lift some information off of him before they left.

“Ok, looks like I’ll be having to expand my research then,” she sighed and pushed a few fly away hair’s from her face. Local revheads had been one thing, expanding that to take in to account for everything being a real thing was going to be a pain in her ass. Was it wrong she was looking forward to it?

“I have,” she nodded and flashed Wynonna a grin. “You’re not even kidding are you? A werewolf, like a legit turn on the moon and eat people werewolf? I’m not supposed to be excited am I? Oh god Wy, a werewolf though!”

–––––

Wynonna:

Wynonna narrowed her eyes. “You’re not fooling anyone, Waverly Earp. You wanna look at that library. I think you meant you get to expand your research. Just don’t go enchanting Sam with your Latin, alright?”

Only a little bit joking. Maybe forty percent.

“And yeah, a legit turn-on-the-full-moon and eat-people werewolf. And not all of the lore is true, but the silver bullet thing, yeah. So we’re goin’ on a werewolf hunt, little sister. And don’t get yourself bitten, okay? I don’t like the idea of having to tie you up in the back and having you drooling out the window in a full moon.”

Fortunately, supernaturally gifted or not, Waverly was a damn good shot. Wynonna had no qualms about a hunt like this with Wav by her side.

And she appreciated the enthusiasm.

“Starting to think everything might be real,” Wynonna admitted. “Which is why I stopped asking questions. Because where do you draw the line? And are fairies the cute glittery tiny people Disney loves or the nasty, vindictive types old German stories told about? No thanks. A werewolf, I can shoot.”

A waitress topped dead and pale, staring at Wynonna.

“Theoretically, of course. Can we get some coffee?”

–––––

Waverly:

A soft snort left Waverly at the waitresses reaction, she’d almost forgotten what it was like to have someone not knowing about all this stuff. It was funny in a way, a twisted kind of way mind you but it was hard not to be when she’d grown up knowing about this sort of stuff.

“If I had to hazard a guess Wy, I’d go with the twisted messed up ones simply cause we’re not lucky enough for the other kind,” she said once the waitress scampered off to get their coffee. Her eyes might have lingered a little too long on the woman before drifting back to her sister with a shrug of her shoulders. “And you’re right, I might be looking forward to the books but you know I still don’t trust anyone but you.”

Not even long lost people claiming to be family. Waverly had learned her lesson long ago that there wasn’t a while lot of people in Purgatory worth trusting, she wasn’t going to think any better of the wider world till someone proved her wrong.

“So Sam, you interested in him then?” she asked smirking, ready to put talk of werewolves and such off for a touch of gossip—she wouldn’t have been her if she didn’t want some juicy details. “I mean you’re the one telling me not to woe him with my Latin afterall…”

–––––

Wynonna:

Yeah, probably. Nasty biting fairies who steal babies and leave changelings, that would be more their luck. And Wynonna was never, ever going to ask Sam. Because he probably had the answer.

Wynonna put an elbow up on the table and reached out to grip Waverley’s hand for a moment. Tight, reassuring. Solid eye contact. Wow, I’d make a good cop.

“You and me, Wav,” she promised, and after another squeeze, she let go. “Not gonna trust him any further than we need to. Not for a while, anyway.” Trust had a way of biting them on the ass; the return of their sister had made them more wary than ever.

“Well,” Wynonna said, raising her eyebrows and picking at her fries. “On the one hand, he’s good-looking and dangerous, well-armed – in both senses of the words,” she added slyly. Oh, those arms. She had in fact spent a good long while on the drive back to Wyoming imagining how it would feel to spend a few hours wrapped up in them. “So just my type, right? On the other hand, he’s nice, smart, and respectful, and that doesn’t tend to grab my attention at all. I don’t know. Yeah, I am. And there was definitely a vibe.”

She laughed to herself.

“So no wowing.” She shook a fry at Waverly and then stuck it in her mouth. “Apparently he has a brother. I didn’t meet him, no idea what he’s like. You can wow him.”

–––––

Waverly:

Hey he did sound to be just Wy’s type, until he didn’t. She loved her sister, really she did, but she had a habit of going through guys and the second description of Sam made him seem a lot less like her type. It would be interesting to watch how that played out, she just had to hope that Wy wasn’t going to get hurt in the process.

“Brother? No sister to speak of huh?” she asked, arching an amused eyebrow at her sister as she munched on her burger. “Serious talk though, you know I’m not looking. Things with Nicole are still—I don’t know, complicated I guess. I don’t think I even so much as want to look at anyone else, not seriously anyways.”

And that was all she cared to say on the matter for now. Leaving her was still too fresh of a wound to go poking at.

“This werewolf hunt, where is it?” she asked wondering where they needed to stop. Wy had her driving no direction in particular so she hoped she hadn’t gone too far out of the way now.

–––––

Wynonna:

Wynonna smiled. “He never mentioned a sister, and I think he would have. Sorry. I guess I’m not used to this, yet. And listen, there is no one happier than I am that you’re not with Champ anymore, I promise. I guess I’m just…”

She had a million questions, that was all. She’d left Purgatory without having had much of a conversation with Waverley about any of this. Was her sister a lesbian now? Was it girls, or was it Nicole? Was she bisexual? Trouble was there was nothing in Wynonna’s life that had prepared her to ask questions like that, and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing.

Saying the wrong thing was something she excelled at.

“I gotcha, sis,” she said. “And you know if you wanna talk, I… can talk, I’ll just probably say the wrong thing, but I love you, and don’t forget it.”

She turned on her phone; she’d bought (fine, stolen) one of the newer ones that had GPS and all of that. Like the one Black Badge Division had given her (that one had been destroyed, because fuck them all; she might not always be Dolls’s biggest fan but unless they were willing to hand him over she wasn’t interested in talking to them). “About another six hundred miles,” she said. “I figure we’ll stop and get a hotel room this evening, hit the road in the morning, be in the forest tomorrow night. We should probably hit the road pretty soon. I can take the wheel.”

–––––

Waverly:

Deep down Waverly knew Wynonna got it, got whatever it was. She was ok with her liking girls even if they hadn’t talked about it. She wasn’t even sure there was anything to talk about since she hadn’t really been in to girls before Nicole. It was still too new to her to be able to answer questions for Wy so she was glad it wasn’t a conversation they were having.

It was nice to know the offer to have it was there though.

“Yeah yeah I love you too,” she rolled her eyes playfully before giving a low whistle at the millage. “We’re really going to be putting the miles on, aren’t we?”

That was something she was going to have to get used to. She’d never been outside of purgatory now and a part of her wanted to just stop and enjoy the view, though she got it was more important to get to where they were going to save people first. Saving people and hunting down rev heads (or just monsters in general) seemed to be the got to family mantra with the Earp’s.

“Sounds like you’ve got this all figured out, we stopping for silver along the way? Did Sam give you any tips on that cause last I checked Wy we don’t have pure silver to take down any were’s.”

–––––

Wynonna:

It wasn’t fair. Her whole life spent in Purgatory and now… well, they weren’t exactly holidaying. Wynonna reached across the table and took Waverly’s hand.

“I swear, when we’re done, when we’ve broken this curse… I’ll take you everywhere, sis. I’ll take you to Greece. You’ll love it. White beaches, great food… it’s beautiful.” She closed her hand over the key she wore on the necklace she almost never took off. “And we can stop anywhere you want.”

So strange. She’d run as far and as fast as she could, and Wav…

They’d lost so many years.

She sat back.

“Sam is connected six ways to Sunday. Got an address for someone who’ll sell us silver bullets if I drop Sam’s name. Easy.” Yeah, easy, sure thing. “We’ll stock up. I’m real glad you kept up the shooting practice. Two guns are definitely better than one.” She hesitated. “I shouldn’t have left you behind. I have dumb ideas. Can you maybe remind me of that? I got a badass baby sister and I benched her, which did neither of us any good.”

She drained her glass.

“We should hit the road. I don’t wanna be driving too long after dark.”

–––––

Waverly:

All things considered it was a nice offer but Waverly wasn’t too concerned about getting a vacation. She’d long since given up the idea of ever having a normal life and had just come to accept that they were always going to be hunting down Rev Heads. Now it seemed as if it wouldn’t just be them though but other things as well.

She didn’t mind, she’d never had a hope of being normal anyways.

“He sure does sound connected, so long as you’re sure dropping his name is what you wanna do, I’m game,” she laughed at her sister’s next words and nodded. “Yeah deal, next time you go all Wynonna on me and try to do things yourself I’ll give you a reminder, probably in the form of me kicking you in the ass but yeah, I’ll remind you.”

Grabbing his drink she finished it off and got to her feet to stretch.

“Alright, I’m gonna go freshen up and use the ladies room while you take care of this,” she gestured to the table. “I’ll meet you out at the car.”

Wynonna stayed put for a long moment, watching Waverly disappear out the back. She counted out some cash (they needed to hustle some pool later, or something, seriously low on funds) and left a decent tip. She was leaning against the truck when Waverly returned, fresh-faced and so very much alive, and Wynonna felt another stab of relief. Could have lost her, and it would have been her own idiotic fault.

“Come on, sis,” she said, opening the passenger door. “Let’s go visit a shady guy who sells silver bullets out of a bunker and then bag ourselves a werewolf.”

~ complete ~