#especially Lilith and Easier Than Lying

[meyonherown]

so this happened:

The whole sequence was such quality I didn't know which part to draw. But something in the audacity of the 'link with me' and Liandrin's belief in her power against all these other Aes Sedai chilled me to the bone (or got me hot ? hu).

Sadly the end result is the opposite of what I wanted to portray. My decision to make each Ajah's colour the background was surely the wrong way to proceed (as I was aiming for something dark and malicious). But I love the details of Liandrin's outfit, echoing the blood stains on her face. 

[harmoonix]

ᨵׁׅᝯׁꫀׁׅܻɑׁׅ֮ꪀׁׅ꯱ׁׅ֒ꪱׁׅժׁׅ݊ꫀׁׅܻ

(Astrology Observations)

- Aquarius Risings are good at communicating in love thanks to their Virgo/Leo axis of 7th and 8th house signs, they may also crave a lot of physical touch

- Aqua/Scorpio/Capricorn Risings can have Sirene eyes, and if you have Pluto - Asc aspects you have the same thing

- Virgo/Cancer and Taurus Risings on the other side can have doe/deer eyes shape, they really look like Bambie (the deer)

- Sun aspecting Chiron natives happens to have other people throwing their insecurities on them, like your friend feels insecure and immediately throws that energy on you

- Chiron in the 7th house is both a curse and a blessing, sometimes you met hurt people already sometimes you're the one who hurts or heals them

- Chiron in the 12th house can show your subconscious is in pain, and can mostly be from your past life, does it happens to have a lot of deja-vu?

- Mercury in the 7th house are so good at talking and expressing their love language. I really love how comfortable they can get around people

- Mars in the 11th house sometimes creates a "love-hate relationship" between you and your friends, even conflicts can rise up

- Venus in Aquarius Degrees (11°, 23°) can really have an outstanding fashion style because of the uniqueness degrees of Aquarius energy

- Mercury at 8°, 20° degrees they can literally talk about every taboo topics without any fear of judgement. Their talk is freely open to everything

- Pisces Sun/Venus/Moons/Rising can get influenced more easier than others and I can say is that because of their neptunian energy

- Jupiter Dominant natives are wise from a young age, they perceive things differently than other people. They're also very lucky in their life path

- Venus in Fire Signs loves to be chased in love. Like that's a way to show you're interested in them, sometimes they can play hard to get too

- Earth Moons are the most stable people I know both physically and mentally, their are so strong in both things but sometimes they can have a hard time to balance those things out

- The Ethereal energy of a Virgo Moon is so naturally beautiful, they are the best supporters of people. So charming, calm and kind

- Uranus in the 2nd house can end up buying things they never expected before, for example you never expect to buy a phone you liked before

- Venus conjunct Pluto is so "Obsessed" vibes, people get so obsessed with them very easily, and you know they are damn loyal to you

- Pisces Moons & Moon in the 12th house have an energy like they are sometimes aware of what happens around them and sometimes they are not

- Neptune & Jupiter/Uranus in the 12th house are so spiritually connected with their subconscious, they can sense entities and often experience goosebumps (Spirit Signal)

- South Node in the 9th house can indicate that in a past life you gave your life for religion/God/etc.. and you need to focus more on yourself in this one especially at expressing yourself

- Sun & Lilith aspects are the most rebellious people you'll met, but they also have a side magnetism to them that makes people to like them

- Guys imagine having a man who wants a traditional wife/spouse but you don't have any 4th house placements like 👁️👄👁️ (Traditional guys scare the sht out of me like go away)

- Sagittarius Sun/Moon/Rising/Mars natives are so wild. Like they can be the wildest people you'll met through your life and do the most craziest things with

- If you have an empty 7th house just look at its ruler everytime you want to discover more about your future spouse (specific person)

For example if you have 7H in Taurus look at your Venus. 7H in Aquarius look at both Saturn and Uranus as your 7th house rulers

- Mars at Virgo Degrees (6°. 18°) have a good looking/attractive waist. Virgo rules upon that body part and it tells you about your attractiveness

- This is just between us but Mercury - Pluto aspects can be good at lying, if someone has prominent or strong aspects between those they are good liars

- Saturn in the 6th house natives are both productive and tired in the same way. Like you try to be productive or to work and suddenly you get tired.. damn

- I have Saturn quincunx Venus and honestly the energy it feels like having Saturn opposite Venus is just so hard sometimes to fall in love especially if you have questions about a specific person

- Asteroid Juno (3) sextile/trine/conjunct Mars are looking for a really hot, fierce, sparkling relationship like they want everything that's intense

- My asteroid Groom (5129) is at 1° (Aries Degrees family, 1°, 13°, 25°) and I read more about those degrees and I find that the spouse can have some dominant, confident, powerful, leader traits basically describing an Aries

- 2nd house placements are always hungry or thinking about food. Especially Sun/Moon/Venus in the 2nd house are really power hungry

- Sometimes Pluto/Neptune in the 6th house can indicate problems with health and that you'll need to prioritize your health

- Moon in the 8th house can indicate that in general the women in your family could've have suffered a lot, like your mother/grandmother/grand-grand mother etc..

- Water signs in the 5th house can indicate a passion/talent towards swimming/surfing 🌊

- Sagittarius/Jupiter in the 11th house can indicate that you make friends easily or just connecting with people easily

- In the vedic chart Chitra is my Nakshatra (2nd Pada) if you have the same star in the vedic chart is like a combination between the materialistic and spiritual world and you need to find a balance in between (What I love about this is that Chitra's symbol is a shell 🐚 and I love shells with all my life)

- Neptune in the 7th house natives can create an illusion about their partners, like creating something that is not real about them, sometimes even fake scenarios

- Gosh people with the 10th house placements really focus mostly in their lives on their career/job/career path like this is so important for them. They really want to succeed

- Venus conjunct Mars or Venus and Mars in the same house makes the native to more passionate towards the lovers in their lives, they're full of surprises

- Neptune square/opposite Moon cannot be aware of their spiritual side or aware of their intuition, but they are so powerful when they search more about it

- Lilith in Water Signs really have beautiful eyes, you will get lost in their ocean eyes 👀, just like a sirene in her natural habitat

With all the love and peace have a good day today

🐚 Harmoonix 🐚

[anenbylittlepotato]

Hi I like your writing.

Could you do a request , where the brothers and undatebles (platonic luke) are supporting a mc who is adding a new healthy habit. (Like exercising, balance diet or more time for self care).

Thank you

Hi and thank you! I can certainly do your request! 😁

Demon Bros and Side Dateables with MC Starting a Healthy Habit

Lucifer

When you first arrived in the Devildom, he noticed that you lived a pretty unhealthy lifestyle.

At first, he couldn't care less. You're just some human that'll be gone in a year.

But as he starts to get closer to you, he starts to become very frustrated with how little you seem to care about your own well-being. He continuously tries to get you to start more healthy habits but it never sticks.

So when you come up to him and tell him about a healthy habit that you're going to actually going to try and stick to, he is beyond ecstatic.

But, of course, the prideful bastard can't let that show, now can he?

But he does give a soft smile and tell you how proud he is of you for doing so.

He's definitely gonna reward you for this. Perhaps he'll take you out on the date of your choice to celebrate?

Mammon

Honestly, when you first arrived, he barely noticed your unhealthy habits.

He didn't particularly care. Hey, his job was to protect you from stuff in the Devildom. If you were harming yourself with your unhealthy habits, then that's none of his business.

But as he gets closer to you, he gradually gets more and more annoyed by it. Come on, can't you take better care of yourself???

I mean- not that he's... Worried about you or anything. Haha, what are you talking about? No way!

But anyway, when you tell him you're starting a healthy habit, he is HYPED. HELL yeah, you're FINALLY taking better care of yourself!

Without thinking, he gives you a BIG hug. He's too excited to think about it for a few moments but when what he did does finally register, his face turns red as he immediately pulls away.

That hug meant nothing! I- I mean it's not like he actually cares about you, haha, what? Just forget that ever happened please. And- HEY DON'T LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT, HE REALLY MEANS IT. Uh huh, sure you do, bud

Leviathan

Honestly, you see him so little at the beginning because he's in his room that he never has a chance to notice your unhealthy habits.

And even if he did he probably wouldn't care because you're just some dumb human lmao why should he?

Plus, it's not like he doesn't have his own fair share of unhealthy habits. Like staying in his room all day, and staying up way too late playing video games and watching anime, and eating tons of junk food. So yeah. Not the healthiest himself.

But over time he gets more and more worried about your well-being. I mean, sure, he has unhealthy habits too, but he's just a gross, yucky otaku and you're... Well... You.

But he never says anything about it because that would be hypocritical of him. Plus, who would conceivably want a yucky otaku worrying about them?

But when you tell him that you're gonna start a healthy habit he's pretty excited for you! He gives a smile and tells you he's proud of you. But he's also a little jealous... He wishes he had the sort of strength that it takes to do something like that...!

But when you tell him he'll praise you by sending you a few gifts in one of the video games you guys play together! And if you give him a little push, you might just inspire him to start a healthy habit himself!

Satan

He did notice how unhealthy your habits were pretty quickly.

But honestly, he didn't pay much attention to it at first. Why should he care? It's your life.

But as he gets closer to you, he gets a lot more concerned about it. He sat down with you a few times to talk about it, but he never seemed to be able to get you to do anything. That definitely pissed him off a little and he gradually got more and more frustrated about it over time.

So you can probably guess that he was really really excited about it when you told him you were starting a healthy habit. It's about time! He immediately smiles and tells you he's happy for you.

He'll take you to his favorite cat cafe to celebrate. And he lets you order whatever you want, too.

Asmodeus

He definitely notices your unhealthy habits pretty quickly.

And, while he still doesn't really care that much, he definitely cares a little more than most of his brothers. But he really just whines at you a few times about how they're bad for your skin and hair.

But he definitely starts to care more as time goes on. MC, please, why don't you follow his self-care routine, you really need to take better care of yourself! Please, he wants you to be happy and healthy!

So it's safe to say that when you tell him you're starting a healthy habit, he is ecstatic. Yes! Finally! You go, baby! He'll give you a big hug while telling you how proud he is. And he'll absolutely do everything he can to help you with this healthy habit too!

And after you tell him, he'll give you a nice spa day to celebrate. You deserve it, sweetheart!

Beelzebub

Honestly, he pays so little attention to you at the beginning that he never actually notices your unhealthy habits

Seriously, he doesn't notice them at all until he starts getting quite a bit closer to you.

And when he does finally notice, he gets pretty concerned for you. MC, are you okay? You should take better care of yourself. Come on, come eat some healthy foods with him. And you can start working out with him. Though, you should probably do a routine that's easier than his...

So when you come and tell him you're starting a healthy habit? He's so so so happy! He gives that big ol' puppy dog grin and tells you how happy he is for you. Please he's so precious

He'll definitely wanna take you to get food with him. All you can eat buffet. Unless your healthy habit is a diet. Then he'll get food anyway and just feel really, really bad for you.

Belphegor

Haha he's in the attic when you first arrive lmao

He's ain't see shit to even be able to notice let alone care.

But he does notice once he's out of the attic. And since he gets close to you pretty quickly after being freed due to the whole Lilith thing, he gets pretty concerned about it. But of course, the little shit pretends he doesn't even notice. Or care. But he does. Lying little asshole...

But he is pretty happy when you tell him about your healthy habit. He gives you a little smile when you tell him about it. That's great, MC. He's too lazy for something like that.

Anyway, come take a nap with him, he's tired. What, no, it's not to celebrate, you're just a good nap buddy.

Diavolo

He doesn't see you quite as often as the brothers, so it takes him a lot longer to notice but he does notice your unhealthy habits eventually.

And Diavolo's generally a pretty caring guy so he's definitely pretty concerned from the get-go. Especially since your his exchange student! He wants you to be happy and healthy!

But he gets more and more concerned about it as he gets closer to you. He tries to talk to you about it many times, but you never seem convinced. MC, please just take care of yourself... :(

So when you tell him you're starting a healthy habit, he practically jumps for joy. He picks you up and gives you a big bear hug. Diavolo, you're gonna crush them-

He absolutely takes you out to celebrate. Probably to Ristorante Six. Though, of course, if you're on a diet he won't let you order anything outside of it.

Barbatos

He has his future vision so he knows you have unhealthy habits almost immediately.

But, he also knows that you'll eventually start more healthy habits due to his future vision, so isn't exactly too concerned about it at first. Though he doesn't which healthy habits you'll get, as he also sees many possibilities.

Though, as you get closer to him, he gets more concerned about it. He can't help it. He cares about you too much. And he occasionally fears you might end up in the single possible future he saw where you don't develop any healthy habits.

But then one day you come and tell him about your healthy habit and his fears are eased once more. He gives you a soft smile and tells you he's proud of you.

He'll reward you by making you some tea and making you some sweets (that fit your diet if you have one)

Simeon

He doesn't really see as much as the brothers either, but he sees you more than Diavolo, so he notices your unhealthy habits a bit faster than he does.

He's an angel and he cares very much about others, so he's pretty worried right away and tries to talk to you about it once or twice.

But he definitely gets more concerned about it as you get closer to him and starts trying to gently chide you into starting more healthy habits. Please, he's concerned for your well-being and wants to see you healthier. Can you do that for him, MC?

So when you tell him that you're starting a healthy habit, he's very excited. Good job, MC, he knew you could do it! He's very happy for you.

To celebrate, he'll make you some tasty Celestial Realm food (that fits your diet if that's your healthy habit)

Solomon

Honestly, he doesn't see you that much at the beginning and when he does, he's certainly not paying any sort of attention to your habits.

And when he does, he doesn't really care all that much. Or so you think. Honestly, he's so hard to read most of the time that it's near impossible to tell. But you're pretty sure he doesn't care.

But he does start to care a little more as you get closer to him. He probably brings it up once or twice idly in a conversation but he never seriously tries to talk to you about it. Though he does keeps a close eye on you, trying to figure out an easy way to motivate you to take better care of yourself.

But then one day you come and tell him that you're starting a healthy habit. Huh, he didn't have to do anything. Interesting. He just gives you his signature smile and nods, telling you he's happy for you. He's still really hard to read tho-

He'll try to cook for you to celebrate, but uhhhh... Well, you know... Maybe you should find some excuse not to eat that. I mean, it was such a thoughtful idea and you don't wanna be rude, but you also don't wanna be poisoned.

Luke

In the beginning, he honestly doesn't notice your unhealthy habits until Simeon points them out to him.

But when he does, he's pretty concerned for you, even though he tried not to let it show.

But when you get close to him, he starts to see you as a sibling and he gets even more worried. MC, please, you're starting to freak the child out by not taking care of yourself, he wants you to be healthy! You're such an amazing friend and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you! He tries to talk to you about it multiple times.

So when you go and tell him that you're starting a healthy habit, he jumps up and down with excitement. Yes!! Finally, you're taking better care of yourself!! He's so excited for you!!! Good job, MC!!

He'll probably bake something for you! If you're on a diet, he'll try his best to make sure it follows it. He wants to celebrate! He's really happy for you, MC!

==

Hoogh, that took longer to write than it should have. Sorry about that, guys.

[melodramas]

okay so if i can’t have love i want power review. it’s a 9.5/10. i can't fucking believe that she just did that. these songs were all so distinct sonically but thematically they came together perfectly. the transitions between songs were so well done and you could literally feel the emotions rising and falling throughout the album. 

halsey took us on a fucking journey and i feel like it was so raw lyrically and emotionally. highlights for me are lilith, the lighthouse, i am not a woman i'm a god, and easier than lying but this is genuinely a no skip album. like i said before there is an overarching theme but all the tracks are so unique that it's such a joy to listen to as a complete body of work. 

halsey explores love and power, as they promised, with incredible nuance. the lyrics throughout the album hit me to my core and especially when you draw parallels to their past works, the album becomes all the more emotionally potent for the listener. 

it’s clear that halsey put her heart and soul into this album and this is one of the few records i can say became a favorite on my first listen through.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 2: Gray Blossom

Narrated by no one.

Narrator: The blossoming gray flowers crawl ornately over the gate, as if welcoming the Goddess of Desire.

Goddess of Desire: It’s time.

Nightbane: I’ve been waiting for it... the day you grace Miraland with your presence.

Goddess of Desire: You did well. There’s still something else I need, though.

Nightbane: What is it?

Goddess of Desire: It’s already there, waiting for me.

~~

“The most beautiful vessel to hold the purest soul.”

~~

Narrator: Nightbane creates an ugly doll and leaves it lying around in the streets of Starheaven.

Narrator: Starheaven residents live in pursuit of ultimate beauty. The ugly doll is regarded with disdain by all.

Narrator: All the hatred the doll receives only serves to further fuel its evil powers.

Ashley: If evil is beauty, then why don’t I become the devil?

Narrator: The angel-eyed doll, clad in a gown forged with flames, has now become the perfect vessel.

Lilith: The angel bestowed love to mortals, and mortals should reciprocate with all their love in kind.

Narrator: Those beautiful eyes of the Goddess of Desire are now watching over Ninir Kingdom.

Narrator: Nay, watching over the entire Miraland.

Nightbane: You’ve become even more charming, Master.

~~

“I need power from the Ocean of Memories, the purest power of all.”

~~

Narrator: In the crypt under Pigeon Kingdom, the lost Original Crystal is glowing once again.

Ophelia: Has the glory... returned?

Narrator: Having just awoken, Ophelia doesn’t know yet that the crystal has been stolen soon after it regained its glow.

Nightbane: Thanks for providing the glory we need, Queen Ophelia.

Nightbane: Master can now unleash her powers, all thanks to you people.

Nightbane: Especially you, Miss Nikki, successor of Leonid. Master would love to have you as a guest in the abyss someday.

Narrator: Nightbane leaves a soft kiss on the ice-cold crystal, as if kissing the hand of his Master.

Narrator: Down in the abyss, the Goddess of Desire can already sense the Original Crystal’s power.

Narrator: Nightbane places the crystal into a slot on the throne.

Nightbane: My Lady, your beauty truly knows no bounds.

~~

“Next, I need the key to all mysteries not yet solved.”

~~

Narrator: Nightbane eventually finds the final offering for his Lady in Ninir Royal City.

Narrator: It’s the manuscript Nikki obtained from Mercury in Pigeon Kingdom.

Nightbane: Thanks for the hard work, Miss Nikki. You helped me kill two birds with one stone.

Narrator: With traces from Nightbane, Nikki managed to get her hands on the manuscript, while the Original Crystal regained its glory.

Narrator: This saved Nightbane a lot of trouble.

Narrator: After all, it’s much easier to steal the manuscript from Nikki than from Mercury.

Nightbane: Now I’m just waiting for that one person to complete the trade with me...

Narrator: On the streets of Ninir Kingdom, a shadowy figure shows up to meet with Nightbane.

Nightbane: Now, can you give me that half of the manuscript you stole?

Narrator: The shadow hands the manuscript over. Smiling, Nightbane puts it away.

Narrator: “When the two halves form a whole, Leonid’s riddle shall appear once more.”

Narrator: Now that the two manuscripts have been pieced together, it’s time for the gate to the new world to open.

Goddess of Desire: Do we have everything we need?

Narrator: Everything’s ready. The time is ripe.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

[clandestine-weepings]

IICHLIWP as the Folk of the Air soundtrack

The Tradition: Jude and Taryn and Vivi's mother when she married Madoc

Bells in Santa Fe: Jude when she was with Locke and then found out he was using her to fuck with Taryn

Easier Than Lying: Taryn murdering Locke because she was sick of his bullshit

Lilith: when Jude tricked Cardan into taking on the crown and then had a lot of doubt about the situation and wasn't sure if she fucked up by tricking him

Girl is a Gun: Jude ruling Elfhame under the guise of being Cardan's seneschal

You asked for this: Taryn sucking it up and marrying Locke even though he's a piece of shit and Jude having to run the Court of Shadows when she doesn't feel ready

Darling: Vivi and her struggle to live happily with Heather in the mortal world while also trying to care for Oak and keep Heather out of harm's way and traumatize her by exposing her to Faerie

1121: the girls' mother risking everything to keep Vivi safe, Vivi being willing to risk it all for Heather, Taryn risking everything for her baby, and Jude accepting and risking everything for Cardan

Honey: Vivi simping for Heather. Duh.

Whispers: Jude doubting herself as Queen of Elfhame and wife of Cardan and questioning her decisions, as always (especially when she was captured by Orlagh).

I am not a woman I'm a god: Jude realizing that she runs this bitch and she calls the shots and she's tired of taking bullshit from the Folk and from the Court and from her family and from Madoc, and her disobeying all of them in order to save everyone.

The Lighthouse: the undersea folk and Queen Orlagh's court and the river nymphs that all have a goal of destroying those who reside on land; the Tower of Forgetting and Jude being kidnapped by the undersea.

Ya'aburnee: Oriana with Oak, it's about the girls' mother with them, it's about Jude and Cardan, it's about love. It's also very much about the end of the Queen of Nothing when Jude saves Cardan even though it's a huge risk, and they finally rule together, united as one.

[thegoodgayshit]

Luz’s mother really doesn’t want to send Luz to camp. She knows once she leaves, there is no going back. But Luz has a knack for getting into trouble, and one day she stumbles into the same type of people her mother would have preferred she avoided. After helping Luz dissolve her high school bully into dust, Eda and Lilith know right away that this kid is just like them - a child of the gods. So Luz hops on a Pegasus and heads to Camp Half-blood, where she embarks on a dangerous quest that makes her both friends and enemies... and she might even save Olympus along the way.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Don’t Touch the Stygian Iron!

The plan was really stupid.

Amity told her as much. It was barely a plan at all. But Luz didn’t really see what other choice they had, especially since they were on a time crunch.

Once Amity had stepped out of line, Luz realized she had no idea where the portal was. She knew her father had said it was between the outskirts of the Underworld and the River Achaeon, but she had no idea where that was. So, they ducked away from the crowds of souls to hide inside a cave in one of the smoky black hills just outside the entrance of the Underworld and rested against a pile of blackened rocks until they figured it out. Luckily, Luz didn’t have to guess for long.

“The secret passageway is about half a mile from here, buried near Orpheus’ tunnel,” Amity mumbled quietly to her, and Luz was so startled by her breath so close to her ear (it wasn’t warm like when she was alive… it felt like an icy chill in her ear canal) she jumped about three feet in the air.

She smacked her head on the rock they were hiding under and recoiled. “Owwww!”

Amity’s eyes widened, leaning in. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

It wasn’t a sharp rock, but when she pulled her hand away it was stained red. It was a stupid injury, even dumber than the blood on her knees that was still drying from earlier, but Luz was starting to figure out that she couldn’t be her usual klutzy self if they wanted to escape.

The Underworld was… almost worse for the living than the actual earth. Injuries here hurt twice as bad and drained twice the strength they were supposed to. She would have to be more careful.

“I’m fine. How do you know that?”

Amity flushed. Well, Luz assumed she did, it was hard to tell behind the mist.

“I’ve seen it in my dreams.”

Luz gawked. “Your dreams took you to the Underworld? Mine were just in the mountain!”

Amity rubbed her forearm uneasily. “I told you that my nightmares weren’t like yours. Before I started the quest, I wouldn’t get many flashes of the mountain. Most of my nightmares… well they took me here.”

“This whole time you’d been having those dreams and you didn’t tell me?”

Luz frowned, not wanting to think too hard about what that meant. That she’d known the whole time dying was something that would happen to her, and that Amity had been lying to Luz since they rescued her. It didn’t make her angry… she understood why she’d done it. Amity was the kind of person stubborn enough to shoulder her burdens away so her friends wouldn’t worry. But it certainly called into question everything that had happened right before she fell off the mountain…

Like the kiss in the tree… or the one right before she’d battled Belos. Had Amity only done that because she’d known she was going to die?

Amity flinched, and Luz’s frown deepened. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Amity’s feelings, or make her feel guilty for what had happened. It definitely wasn’t her fault.

She wasn’t sure what she was even going to say, and thank the gods she didn’t have to. The most horrific sound of metal clashing against rock cut off the rest of their conversation, and Amity’s eyes widened.

“Get back! Someone’s coming in!”

Luz slid under a boulder deeper in the cave just as she heard the harsh laughter from a pair of male voices. Very familiar male voices.

“Those little demigods really thought this would just be over like that? They have no idea. Though the one with the plant magic really got you good, eh Theo?”

“Holy Hades, do you ever shut your mouth? Maybe if you hadn’t underestimated the daughter of Aphrodite we wouldn’t be back here. Did you know she had the favor of Ares?”

Theseus and Achilles, and by the sound of it, a dead Theseus and Achilles. Amity was watching quietly from behind the rock, and Luz did everything she could to calm her racing heart, worried any noise at all would give them away.

What even happened to souls who died in the Underworld? She decided she didn’t want to test it by getting caught.

“Hmph. Of course, I didn’t. It doesn’t matter. As long as that portal is open we can avoid judgment and I don’t have to see Paris’ slimy face again. Why would they let him be a judge of the dead? He started a gods-forsaken war!”

“But for no power-hungry purpose. That makes him perfect .”

“Whatever. Let’s just hurry. If the Emperor finds out we didn’t join him right away…”

“We did our due diligence. The mines are clear, and I don’t see any of those silly little demigods following us. It would take them well over a day to get to California or New York. I don’t care what the prophecy says, they’re mortals. Even they abide by physics.”

“Unlike us! HA!”

I heard the sound of a smack, the kind of backhand her Mami would give for coming home late without texting her where she was. “Lower your voice! Do you want to be caught by the kindly ones again?”

“That was one time!”

Slowly, the voices began to fade, until Luz couldn’t hear a thing besides the beating of her heart. She looked up and watched as Amity peered over the rock, her murky golden eyes narrowed in concentration. Eventually, she moved, and the mist around her moved too. She gestured for Luz to stand.

“They’re gone. Let’s hurry.”

Luz was more than ready to agree until she caught sight of her reflection in the rock she’d been leaning against and her eyes widened.

“Wait. Holy Hermes, what is this stuff? Black glass?”

She finally took a moment to examine the cave they’d been hiding in and realized that it wasn’t a cave at all. There were dark iron pickaxes, and smoking set of carving tools leaning against the entry. Just to the left of the strange metal, deeper in the cave was a bright light. The closer Luz stepped to it the quicker she realized that it wasn’t light. It was blistering hot magma, half a mile down the cave. Above the tools, there was thick scarring on the wall, like someone carved into it. Initials.

NDA.

“This is the mine they were talking about,” Luz realized in awe, looking around at more of the strange black material that was as dark as a nightmare. “But… what’s getting mined?”

Amity swallowed hard, suddenly looking nervous. “Stygian Iron. This is a Stygian Iron mine, right next to the River Styx.”

“Let me guess. This is very bad?”

Luz was getting really tired of not knowing things. Thankfully, Amity seemed to catch on, those she still looked like she was going to bolt at any second.

“Stygian Iron is a metal from the Underworld. It’s… probably one of the scariest kinds of weapons a demigod can make. When you kill a monster with it, instead of its essence returning to Tartarus, it gets sucked into the blade and trapped forever.”

Luz thought that was pretty cool. Maybe she should have killed Lena the empousai with it, and she’d never have been bullied again. But Amity still didn’t look pleased. Then, it hit her.

“Wait… what does Stygian Iron do to mortals?”

“Like all godly weapons, it passes right through mortals. For demigods who are alive, a cut from the blade might slow you down and exhaust the limbs, making you easier to kill. But for the souls of dead demigods…”

A shiver ran up Luz’s spine at the silent implication. She stepped forward, ready to usher Amity out of the cave and away from the black metal.

“Ok, well don’t touch it. Let’s just go.”

“Wait! Not yet.”

Luz stepped back, shocked. It’s like something hit her all at once because instead of fear, Amity now had that look on her face that made her nervous. The gears were turning, and there was no stopping her now. Amity leaned in to examine the ore, and Luz’s heart sped out of her chest.

Luz was so worried about her accidentally touching it, she tried to pull her away, once again forgetting she couldn’t. Her hand passed right through her shoulder.

“Amity, you just said this stuff is really dangerous, so why do I think you’re going to try and mess with it?”

“Because this might be the key to stopping Belos,” she insisted.

Luz wasn’t convinced. She didn’t see how any rock that could suck Amity away would in any way be useful. Amity sighed, gesturing to it with one misty finger.

“Luz, just think about it. What if the only way to stop Belos is to trap him, just like he trapped Hestia?”

She stopped cold. Now that was something she hadn’t considered. Now the gears weren’t just turning in Amity’s head. She started making connection after connection, and before she could even think about what she was going to say it was out of her mouth.

“Hestia said the prophecy was supposed to be about me.”

Amity flinched like Luz slapped her. She might as well have. Amity had gone through hell and back literally thinking that she had to be the one to make the sacrifices, to be the good demigod girl Odalia always said she needed to be, and here Luz was blurting in her face that it was all for nothing.

“I… I didn’t mean it like that-” Luz tried, already regretting her impulsive decision.  

“It doesn’t matter,” Amity said flatly, and Luz winced. She opened her mouth to try and protest, but with a misty shimmer, Amity’s hand was up and stopping her from saying anything else. “We’re on a mission and a time crunch. We need to stop Belos before that portal rips open again and we’re right back where we started. We don’t have time for this.”

Luz bit her lip, holding back another protest. She was right. There was no use arguing.

“Okay. So what do we do?”

Amity’s gold eyes glittered, and for the first time since Luz reunited with her, she actually looked alive.

“We make you a dagger.”

Despite Amity not being able to touch the Stygian Iron, she leads the charge when it came to crafting.

She instructed Luz on how to use the tools NDA left behind to pick up a chunk of iron. Then, she mimed how to hammer it down into a sheet. She helped Luz separate the Iron from the regular steel, and slowly shape a hilt out of it. (Thankfully, Luz didn’t have to help with that, Amity was able to touch the steel and do it herself from there). After that, they moved down into the sweltering heat of the Underworld magma and Luz repetitively carved out again and again until the tiny heap of metal looked something like a blade. Thankfully, NDA had left behind heat protection. An enchanted suit to keep Luz’s skin from melting off her body.

Funny. The suit was almost exactly her size. If she ever met NDA, she’d have to thank them.

After hitting the mallet against the glowing iron for what felt like the billionth time, Luz turned to Amity, exhausted. She hadn’t needed a suit, being dead and all. Apparently, the heat just felt like a sauna.

“How do you even know how to do all this?”

“One summer my parents wanted us to work with another cabin and master one of their skills. I picked Cabin 9 and basically lived in the forges that year. I didn’t just make my own xiphos, but one for Ed too, and then I was able to use the extra sheet for Em’s knife.”

“You made your sword?” Luz gawked, thoroughly impressed.

She shrugged her shoulders, mist moving up and down as she did. “The stones on our blades come from the ones Aphrodite gave us. I figured once I told you that you’d put two and two together.”

“How was I supposed to know that you made your own sword?” Luz exclaimed, waving the white-hot metal around as she did. “Who makes their own sword?? Is there anything you can’t do?”

Even when she was scolded for waving around molten iron, Luz couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of pride that even in the Underworld, she’d been able to make Amity laugh.

In no time at all, the iron was ready. With careful hands, Luz was instructed on how to push the hilt gently against the blade, and hammer it down while it was still hot. Then came the tricky part.

“Stygian Iron doesn’t become fully formed until it’s cooled, and the only way to do that is by dipping it in the Styx,” Amity explained, looking left and right down the black sandy beaches to see if anybody was coming. “Whatever you do, don’t touch the water.”

She remembered Chiron’s warning to Cooper and shivered. Luz approached carefully, swallowing. Very careful not to step anywhere near the slow lapping oil-colored waves, she gently lowered the metal into the water.

First mistake.

The second it went under it made the loudest, most heinous sound Luz had ever heard. Like the screams of a thousand souls dying all at once.

She shrieked, almost dropping the blade entirely as she pulled her hand back, bringing the newly cooled weapon with her. The sound of her scream echoed around the clearing, and there was a clammer of noise from the distance, the same direction Theseus and Achilles had left down.

Second mistake.

“Luz, go!” Amity hissed in her ear, and Luz took off running, glancing behind her once to make sure the daughter of Aphrodite was keeping up. She lost a little bit of speed as she did, and Amity glared daggers at her.

“I’m right behind you! Away from the cave! We have to blend in!”

The noise was getting louder, and Luz knew they were almost out of time. She had to trust Amity. The cave was compromised, it would be the first place they checked. But from what they’d overheard from the two newly re-dead demigods, there was a whole army waiting near the portal, and they had a new fancy weapon that just might save the day.

Luz kept running, keeping to the outskirts of the River along the sandy beaches, away from the mine and closer and closer to the distant River Acheron. If she could get there before anybody sounded the alarm, hopefully, nobody would think twice about her and Amity being there with them. If they didn’t buy it, they were dead. But if they stayed here, they were also dead.

It was their only chance.

Luz heard the gathering demigods before she saw them. And thankfully, the screams and shouts of outrage weren’t directed anywhere towards her.

It was chaos.

Demigods of all ages and from all time periods were throwing punches, kicks, and body-slamming other dead demigods to the ground. Left and right ghosts were dissolving away, but just as many seemed to take their place. There was cursing, screaming, shouting, as they brought up centuries-old baggage and Luz knew right away she wasn’t going to fit in.

Not because she was alive. Because she couldn’t get stuck running straight through this crowd. She’d stick out like a sore thumb just because nobody would recognize her.

In the time she spent standing there like a deer in headlights, Amity caught up to her and gestured for her to hide behind a boulder. She slinked in next to her, and Amity’s own wide eyes reflected the anxiety she was feeling.

“What are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” Luz said honestly, peering up over the rock. She clutched the new blade to her chest, unwilling to part from the thing that she’d just risked her life to make. It was just under a foot long, and was, if possible, an even darker shade of black than the ore or the River itself. It was shoddy crafting at best (Luz never wanted to touch a forge ever again) with faulty lines and a bumpy edge but it was sharp as anything and shimmered maliciously, and the raw hilt of the iron against Luz’s hand rubbed callouses into her palm. “Do you think we lost whoever was chasing us?”

“I think so,” Amity said, peeking. “Screaming in the Underworld is not that uncommon. I made sure nobody saw us. But I don’t know how you’re going to get through that crowd.”

Luz spared a glance, a silently agreed. She watched as one of the demigods knocked another’s helmet clean off their head, and it went spinning into the sand landing barely two feet from Luz and Amity’s rock. The spirit dissolved into thin air, and the victor roared in delight before charging back into battle.

“How are they dissolving?” Luz mumbled, shaking her head. “Aren’t they dead?”

“They’re between worlds,” Amity explained, “Guided by Belos’ portal to wait until they are fully reformed. They can carry weapons, wear armor, anything that might guide them until they can drink Pomegranate Nectar in the mortal world and become human again.”

Luz stared at Amity, who might have blushed again. “I dreamed about this clearing a lot, okay?”

“What is Pomegranate Nectar? The sounds like something they sell at Whole Foods.”

“It’s the liquid in Belos’ chalice,” she added, and Luz suddenly remembered the table next to the portal with the golden cup. “The first few batches were made from stolen Pomegranates from Persephone’s garden, but you can use any Underworld fruit to make it.”

Right. Underworld fruit. This day just got better and better.

“Why aren’t you a half soul like the other demigods here?”

Amity looked at her misty body, frowning. “I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t been dead long enough.”

The fighting in the clearing got more intense and Luz ducked as a body slammed into the rock they were hiding behind and dissolved, their chest plate hitting the dirt with it. There were more shouts and screams, and Amity ducked next to her in alarm.

“We need to move.”

“I have an idea,” Luz said to her, already shaking her head. “But it’s crazy.”

“Sounds like us. Let’s try it.”

So, Luz crept around the rock and swiped the helmet and chest plate off the beach, putting them on as quickly as she could. She tucked the Stygian Iron blade under her shirt in the back of her armor straps, careful not to reveal it. To finish the look, she opted to call for Aletheia, and the blade grew in her hand, a comfortingly familiarity that made her feel much better.

“So? How do I look?” She asked Amity, who shrugged.

“Like a vengeful demigod. It’s a good helmet, I can’t see your face at all.”

Luz peered over the rock one more time just to see another angry demigod get run through with a sword. She flinched, and Amity tucked her fist under her chin in worry.

“This is so not going to work.”

“It’s going to work,” Luz insisted, even though it wasn’t exactly an encouraging sight. “Demigods are still demigods, even if they’re a thousand years old. This would work at camp. It will work here.”

She turned to look at Amity, realizing for the first time this meant they’d be separated. Amity seemed to sense this, and she shot Luz a small smile.

“Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m the one who can’t die, you know that right?”

“What if I lose you in the crowd?” She fretted, the frown stretching across her mouth. “What if the portal opens, and I don’t have time to pull you through? What if somebody recognizes you and-”

“Luz!” Amity exclaimed, stepping forward and shaking her head. “Please, don’t worry about me. We have a plan. Just focus on getting to the portal without getting stabbed, and this time don’t look back. I’m right behind you.”

“You promise?” Luz hated how weak her voice sounded. Like a little kid worried she was going to lose her mom in the grocery store.

“I promise,” Amity said firmly, and Luz’s heart pounded against her chest as she tore her eyes away. She had to get a grip. She was on a mission, and she was going to bring Amity home. She just needed to focus. But the lingering fear was still there, and she wanted to kick herself for it.

“Luz, please,” Amity muttered, stepping so close to her that the cold rush of mist forced Luz to look back at her eyes. They were pleading, and Luz was smacked with the realization that Amity was just as worried as she was, but not for her, for Luz. Amity didn’t want her to run in their worried and get herself killed. “You have to trust me. I’m right behind you.”

That was enough for her. Amity was the most determined person she knew. If she said she was going to be right behind her, she would be right behind her.

“I do trust you,” Luz said, tightening her grip on her sword. “Stay close. I have a battlefield to avoid.”

The two of them stepped out from behind the rock, and Luz’s heart sank. Somehow, it seemed to have gotten even larger. In the distance, up the steepest Underworld hill Luz had seen yet, was a shocking replication of the swirling iron and obsidian portal back in the mountain. Luz had played enough Minecraft to know that it probably wasn’t a replication, but the real deal, something that appeared the same time the other one had been built.

She had hundreds, maybe even a thousand demigods she had to barrel through on the way to get to it. With all their slashing and hacking, she’d be lucky if she made it twenty feet in.

“Are you sure about this?” Amity hissed next to her, eyeing the crowd of ghostly demigods uneasily.

“Nope,” Luz said, taking a deep breath. “But when am I sure of anything?”

“Please, don’t get yourself killed,” Amity said, “I haven’t even gotten the chance to kick your butt at capture the flag back at camp.”

“Like that will ever happen,” Luz snorted, adjusting the helmet as she got ready to charge. “I’ve been getting lots of practice. You wouldn’t get ten feet near my flag.”

“Is that a challenge, Noceda?”

“It’s not a challenge, Blight. It’s a promise. See you at the top.”

She lowered her head, and with the loudest, most demigod-y scream she could muster, she charged full force towards the crowds of demigods, barreling in a straight line towards the portal.

[thewollfgang]

Oh man I’m so curious about your opinions on s5e4 though lolll especially since I’m still not exactly sure what I think of that episode. But if you don’t want to share them no pressure:)

asdfkasghfdjg HOKAY SO

The black and white was cool, the cast is absolutely pretty enough to pull it off. The story was okay imo and the accent inconsistencies can be explained by the fact that Lucifer is telling a story versus actually being there.

Kevin Alejandro was the best thing about this episode. (Second, how damn good Lauren looks in that suit)

There are pieces I simply don’t understand. How Lilith ‘decided to have soulless offspring’ how she ‘gave lucifer an army’ or why. Maybe these will come to play later, maybe not. But with how close Lucifer was with Eve, him also being cozy with Lilith puzzles me. (but I’m sure there’s more to the story.)

The ending. Finding out Trixie was merely the vehicle Maze used to sucker Lucifer completely soured the episode for me. It made a cool, flashbacky ep suddenly about Maze and her deceit with Trixie pulled along in lying to Lucifer. 

But this is what really irks me: “It’s knowing there’s an end. That’s what makes the rest of it count. That’s what connects them to one another. What makes them brave, even when they have no reason to be.”

I think that is total bullshit. Like to the point it makes me angry. I can’t even fully verbalize why, but the idea that because humans die it connects us? Makes us brave? fuck that. And i know, I KNOW, it’s probably setting up a “Lucifer becomes mortal for Chloe and they live happily ever after” and that’s fine. It’s a common, if satisfying ending, but idk. I really hate the way they put it in this episode. Because Lucifer (and secondarily Amenadiel’s) connections with humans don’t become more valid if they’re also mortal. Or because they will end. They just are.

The thing is, I am just personally not here for “Immortality is terrible” type stories. They’re a dime a dozen. And I get that it’s a byproduct of dealing with being mortal ourselves and it’s easier to say “oh wouldn’t it be terrible?” than to say actually “I don’t want to die. I want to live forever. I want to be here, I want to experience.” 

And yeah, this is probably just a Me thing and that’s fine. anyway, there ya go, that’s my unpopular opinion. 

[tsukifanbase]

After The Attic (Obey Me! Belphie x Reader)

Author’s Note: i actually wrote this before, but it got deleted when i tried to post it rip lmao. feel free to request something if you have any ideas you want me to write for you. 

Warnings: no swearing this time hehe, lil bit of angst, mostly from sleepy boi. loads of fluff at the end tho, hope y’all enjoy!

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

Belphie spent a lot of time alone while he was trapped in the attic. Despite Lucifer’s efforts to visit him every once in a while, a large majority of his time was spent by himself.

He missed his twin, and his brothers. Belphie slept more than usual while he was in the attic. While he didn’t realize it then, he slept more because it was easier than dealing with the aching loneliness he felt. 

When you found him, Belphie was caught off guard. You were courageous, and no matter how hesitant you were, you ultimately decided to help him. He admired you for that. You were such a strong person, it made him want to-

No.   

Belphie would never allow himself to fall for a human. Not after what they did. He could never forgive humans for what they did to Lilith. 

He refused, no matter how much he longed for you. Belphie was drawn to your light, he wanted to hold you in his arms, to keep you safe from anything that could ever hurt you. Maybe it was because you reminded him of his sister who he held so close to his heart. 

Or maybe it was because you were willing to forgive him for everything he had ever regretted doing. 

You were brushing your teeth in one of the bathrooms at the House of Lamination. It sounded like someone shuffled past the door, not that you noticed. You were too deep in thought. 

I think we both know who you were thinking about. The cold hearted, manipulator from the top floor. Not that you would ever describe Belphie as such. At a certain point while you were living in the Devildom, you stopped seeing demons as evil creatures. Or maybe you never saw them as evil in the first place. 

If you were being honest with yourself, you met each new demon with a clean slate, and gave them as many second chances as they needed. You weren’t naive though, you knew when a demon had malicious intent, and when to back off. 

However, despite Belphie trying to kill you a few times, you never believed him when he said he hated humans. Maybe it was the way he would sometimes walk you to and from school, just to make sure you were safe. Or when he would volunteer to go out to the shops with you, even though he was tired, because deep down he was afraid of something happening to you.

It was pretty easy to read him, Belphie loved humans like he always had. He was just heartbroken, and needed someone to blame so he wouldn’t end up torturing himself over the death of his sister. 

With that, it was pretty easy to overlook Belphie’s flaws in your mind. It made you flush to admit it, but you adored him. The way he would cuddle you in his sleep, and keep you close, as well as the adorable blush that would take over his face every time you teased him. 

The problem was that while you were positive Belphie loved humans, you weren’t sure he liked you. Every time it seemed you two would get closer, he would subtly push you away. You shrugged it off, and took the hint. He probably just didn’t like you the same way you liked him. You were okay with that, because you figured as long as Belphie was happy, you would be too. 

You heard the noise outside the door again, this time it sounded like someone had just collapsed on the ground beside the bathroom. You finally realized you had been brushing your teeth all this time, and rinsed your mouth of toothpaste. Bro your teeth had never been more clean lmao. 

You weren’t especially worried about the person outside, it was pretty common for the brothers to do things that that, for dramatic effect, of course. You opened the door, and to your surprise it wasn’t Mammon waiting for you, or Levi playing a game until whoever was in the bathroom was done. 

It was Belphie, you turned pink, a little surprised that the person occupying your mind had been so close this whole time. Speak of the devil hehe. He was asleep, not really that out of the norm. 

He looked so peaceful, curled up around his cow pillow, clutching it softly, as if it were a person. You had never been more jealous of a pillow. 

You sort of wondered why he came all the way to the bathroom only to pass out of the floor. Maybe he had been sleep walking? You shrugged it off as normal demon activities. 

You sat down on the floor beside Belphie, and before you knew it yourself, you had reached out to brush the back of your fingers against Belphie’s cheek. Belphie moved a bit in his sleep, and you tugged your hand back, fully prepared to book it because you knew how angry Belphie got when people woke him up. 

It was when you decided to pet him on the head gently that he opened one of his eyes to lazily glance at whoever was touching him. Both Belphie’s eyes widened as he realized it was you, and a deep red spread across his face. 

You smiled playfully at him, and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. “Goodnight, Belphie”, you whispered, then you stood up, and began to make your way back to your room. You prayed he wouldn’t remember this in the morning, simply because you were afraid he would ask you why you didn’t seem to want to leave. 

“(m/c)?”, you heard Belphie ask from where he he been lying down. You turned to look at him, he had pushed himself up into a sitting position. 

Belphie was glancing away, in his true tsundere nature. The second you stared back at him, he knew he had made the right choice in calling out for you. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. Especially when he could be with you. 

You didn’t really need a second hint. Other than failing to recognize that Belphie was pretty much head over heels for you, you were rather good at reading people. You walked back over to him, and he reached out to you in a manner than suggested he wanted a hug. 

You gently place yourself on his lap, and Belphie immediately engulfed you in his arms, and buried his face in your neck. Smiling gently, you placed one of your hands on the back of his head, and your other arm looped around him. 

You couldn’t really hear him all that well, but you made out a soft, “please don’t ever leave me, (m/c)”. 

You placed your hands on either sides of Belphie’s head, and gently moved him so he was looking at you. You then pressed your lips to his in a soft kiss. 

When you pulled away, you grinned at him, “there, that seals my promise”, Belphie pressed his forehead against yours. 

“Trust me, I won’t be leaving any time soon”

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Sandcastles pt 2

i hate editing super long documents so this is gonna be in a few parts.

~

Amity isn't having the best week.

Sunday felt like it lasted forever, stuffed into an itchy, uncomfortable dress that her mother had picked for her to wear to her party where she had to spend several hours with a fake smile plastered on her face, till her cheeks hurt, playing her part along with the twins.

She's pressured into a few dances with the children of their parents' coworkers and it hits her that the same songs, that feel so short when she dances with Luz, can feel so agonizingly long with their clammy hands on hers and their much too stiff grip on her waist.

Songs aren’t nearly long enough when her girlfriend holds her and spins her around. It makes her feel light and she doesn't think she could possibly dance better then she does with Luz.

She feels slow and jerky dancing with the other children of her parents’ blueblood, society friends.

They smile in a way they think must be charming and dashing, but Amity knows better. Most of them are just as scheming and devious as their parents or just as uninterested in all of this as she is.

She was looking forward to Monday if for no other reason than to get out of her house and see Luz, which she did, just not as much as usual.

She had to go home straight after school to help Eda, which did happen sometimes.

She at least had Tuesday to look forward to, but the next day as she was arriving at school her scroll beeped with a message from Luz, saying she wasn’t going to be at school today, which yeah, was pretty disappointing. Tuesday had become her favorite day of the school week, even if her ability to take notes and pay attention to the teacher did slip quite noticeably on that particular day of the week.

Wednesday comes and Luz does come to school, with a bandage on her forehead, claiming she fell on the stairs, which is on par for her, but it’s quickly forgotten, along with Monday and Tuesday when she yanks Amity into a concealed corner to kiss her while their friends play watch.  

Lunch is normal enough, even though she tells her that she has to go straight home again after school, she at least got to see her today so she’ll make do.

On Thursday Luz arrives late, so they miss each other, and is then curiously absent from lunch, though she sends her a message saying they finally can spend some time together after school, but Luz seems distracted when she arrives.

They’re lounging around their secret room, reading and normally Luz is much more animated when they read Azura, but today she seems lost in thought.

“Are you okay?” Amity finally asks from her place reclined against her girlfriend’s chest.

They’ve been sitting on the floor, Luz’s back against the cushions with Amity sitting between her legs, back against her chest while she holds the third Azura book they’ve been rereading in her hands.

Luz has been strangely quiet, running her index finger over the tip of one of Amity’s pointed ears distractedly. She’s become quite used to being in intimate proximity to Luz but her face is still pink regardless, though faint. She’s beginning to get a little worried. Luz is hardly this quiet for this long, it’s a little unnerving.

“Hmm?” Luz hums questioningly and Amity knows she hasn’t been listening to anything she’s been reading either. “Sorry, what?” Luz glances down at her and mercifully the finger running over her ear stops as well.

Amity tilts her head back to look at her.

“I asked if you were okay,” she repeats the question.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine, why?” she cocks her head.

“You’ve just been quiet today and you've been really busy and I...,” she trails off not sure how to say ‘You’ve been busy and I miss you’ without coming off as clingy or needy, because really, it's just been a few days; but the limited time they have together before or after school and on Tuesdays is special to her, and she finds herself not at all liking the sudden deprivation from it.

She doesn’t have to say it though. Luz’s confused face slowly turns into a grin as she looks down at her.

“Have you been lonely without me, Amity?” She asks in a syrupy sweet and knowing voice that makes Amity turn red and scowl at the same time.

Amity just huffs, turning away and Luz grins at the back of her head and wraps her arms around her, squeezing her close and pressing a kiss to her the back of her head.

“Lo siento, mi amor. Eda has just been working on a big project and has been needing my help."

Amity relaxes into her hold, mock annoyance, and any real annoyance or loneliness she’s been feeling at Luz’s sudden absence this week, fading as she holds her tightly. She has to remind herself that she can tell Luz anything without fear of judgment or being made fun of. It’s still a strange thing to her.

“I understand I just…” her face remains pink as she mumbles something under her breath.

“What was that?” Luz blinks and whatever she said is repeated at the same volume.

“Uh, one more time?” Luz asks and Amity makes an annoyed sound in her throat.

“I said… I miss you,” she finally says loud enough for her to hear, but the tone is soft, fragile. “I miss you when we’re not together,” she mumbles, but Luz hears her and is glad that Amity is still facing away from her so she can’t see the teary doe-eyed look she’s giving her.

“I miss you too, Amity.” She sat her chin on her shoulder and squeezed.

Amity broke into a wide grin as Luz smooshed her face against hers.

“Maybe... we could hang out this weekend? My family has a beach house on the southern side of the Isles and the twins got them to let the three of us go over for the long weekend by ourselves… would you like to go?” She glanced back and frowned upon seeing the grimace on luz’s face. “You’re busy aren’t you?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah… since they can’t use magic to carry things it’s all hands on deck for the monthly supply run Saturday.” Luz frowned, especially as she watched the way her girlfriend's face fell. Sure, she was lying for the greater good, and Amity would be so excited tomorrow when they surprised her, but that didn’t make the disappointed look on her face any easier to see right now.

“I’m sorry…,” Luz started but Amity shook her head.

“It’s okay…  I understand,” she assured with a small smile, but Luz knows better, she's gotten good at reading Amity's face and the tone of her voice; she's disappointed.

“When Eda's project is done we'll spend a whole weekend together, I promise, mi amor." She squeezes Amity close and smiles knowingly into her hair.

"Soon, I hope," Amity sighs, leaning into her hold, deciding to just enjoy the time they have now

'much sooner than you think' Luz thinks to herself.

When their time together is done for the day Luz hurries home through the portal and runs straight to her room to get her stuff ready.

Gus and Willow will be there before noon tomorrow so they can take her portal glyph to the beach house. She's been practicing with it and the size of the glyph doesn't seem to matter. It just needs to be big enough to walk through, and she can be anywhere on the Isles near instantly.

Out of curiosity she tried one and thought of the human world, but it went nowhere.

Much as she hates to think it, she can't find it in herself to be disappointed. No one can say she didn't try though.

Her bag is packed and ready by the door, along with the box of decorations the twins had given her at lunchtime today. Since she, Willow, and Gus will get there first, they're on decoration duty.

Next to it are two cardboard boxes of her surprise for Amity and she grins to herself at the thought.

Amity hadn't expressly forbidden her from buying her presents but she didn't like Luz buying her stuff when they went out by themselves or with their friends.

She told her she felt bad when Luz spent her limited funds on her.

So Luz had come up with a rather ingenious gift if she does say so herself. Something they don't have on the Boiling Isles.

She couldn't believe her luck when she'd been digging through one of Eda's human junk piles in one of the spare rooms.

Two large boxes full of the stuff.

She ran to Eda asking if she could have them and Eda waves a hand.

"Whatever you want in there, take it, Kid."

She couldn't wait to see the look on Amity's face. Everyone else's too.

It takes her a while to go to sleep that night, she's so excited she tosses and turns a while and King gets fed up with her and stalks off to Eda's room, mumbling under his breath.

She wakes up before dawn the next day and jumps out of bed and dresses before quickly running down the stairs.

Lilith is sitting at the table having her customary cup of morning tea when Luz skids into the kitchen. The elder Clawthorne smiles at her, though far more subdued then the manic one on the human's face.

"Let's get baking!" Luz throws up her hands and Lilith chuckles.

"Very well."

A few hours later the sun has risen and Eda and King have finally come downstairs, groggy and eyes barely open just as Luz is boxing up the cake.

"All done?" Eda mumbles as she pours herself some apple blood.

"Yup, just waiting on Gus and Willow!" She grins setting the cake box down the table and swats at King's hand as he reaches for it.

"No, King, that's for Amity's party," she scolds and the tiny demon grumbles, glaring up at her.

"Everything you do is for that cupcake smasher!" he squeals with rage at being denied.

"I do not!" Luz argues.

"Yes, you do!" King stands in the chair, pointing a tiny clawed hand at her.

"Well…!" Luz pauses not sure what to say to that. Maybe she does do a lot for Amity, but Amity does just as much for her, so she fails to see how that's a bad thing.

Eda is watching her and grins.

Luz of course talked her ear off about their date under the grom tree last month, including her impromptu confession of love.

She'd just been nodding along, half-listening, flipping through a book as Luz waxed poetic about how 'amazing' and 'romantic' it was until the words: "Then I accidentally said I loved her out loud…"

That made her sit up and pay attention.

Luz had a tendency to get carried away and she was suddenly worried she'd… how did the kid put it? 'jumped the gun?'

She listened much closer to the rest of the story.

"Did you mean it?" Eda asked her when she finishes.

"Huh?" Luz looked up at her.

"Do you love her?" the older witch clarified.

"Oh…" Luz looked away, smiling dopily to herself. "Yeah… I did mean it. I do love her." She nodded.

"How do you know?" Eda pressed and Luz looked at her confused and Eda frowned, trying to think of a way to word it that wouldn't burst Luz's bubble if she was wrong. She just wants to protect her kid.

"Look, Luz, I know you like her a lot, believe me, and I'm not trying to say you couldn't love her, but you are still young and you do tend to get ahead of yourself…, so I'm just asking, how do you know you love her?" she words carefully. This is new territory for Eda.

'The talk' she can give, she's plenty familiar with that, but love? That's never been her strong suit, and she has a long trail of broken relationships behind her to prove it.

Luz pursed her lips, trying to think of a way to explain it to her mentor, whose right of course. She knows she's still young and stuff, she's famous for leaping before she looks, but Luz also knows her feelings. She's spent enough time alone with only her feelings to know how to read them, she's had crushes, but she's never felt anything like this before.

"Being with Amity… makes me happier than I've ever been…, then I thought I could be…," she starts slowly. "And I want to make her happy too… and I'd do anything to do that." She looks up at Eda, who's staring back at her with an unreadable expression.

"Alright," she finally says.

"Alright?" Luz repeats, blinking. Eda nods.

"If you say you love her, I believe you."

Luz smiles at her.

"And if she breaks your heart, we'll feed her to Hooty…" she grins wickedly making Luz squawk.

"Eda!"

"Well…" Luz hesitates, trying to figure out what to say.

"You love her, that’s how it goes," Eda says with a shrug, drawing everyone's gaze.

""Edalyn, they've only been together-" whatever else Lilith is going to say it's cut off by Luz who grins.

"Yeah," she says with a grin. "And Amity loves me, so we do things to make each other happy,” she tells the demon looking up at her grumpily. “I love you too though." She bends down and kisses the top of King's head and he makes a little squealing sound. "But this is for Amity, I'll make a cake for you next weekend," she promises, and then there's a knock on the door. "Gus and Willow are here!" She sprints out of the room leaving a grinning Eda, a stunned Lilith, and a happily squeaking King in her wake.

Lilith looks to her sister who is grinning behind her cup, looking where Luz has disappeared into the living room, where she and her friends' voices are coming from.

"You knew about this?" she asks.

"Mhmm," is her sister's answer.

"And you didn't talk to her?" Lilith cocks a brow as Eda's eyes slide to look at her.

"I did," she says, then takes a loud slurp from her cup.

"And?"

"And she loves her." Eda shrugs. "What do you want from me?"

"Edalyn, she's fourteen, how could she possibly know that?" Lilith sighs, rubbing her temples. Eda leans back in her chair, holding up her cup and giving her sister a deadpan look.

"And how can we know she isn't?" she retorts.

"They… they…!" Lilith holds up her hands, trying to decide what to say.

"Look, the kid and I talked. She says she's in love and I believe it. I honestly think Luz would put her life on the line for that girl, and I don't think I'm wrong when I say the same thing for Amity, heck, I watched her jump in front of Luz to protect her from Grom, and that was before they were dating!" Eda threw up a hand.

Lilith looks toward the living room where they can hear the kids talking.

"I suppose time will tell…," she hums.

Eda just grunts in response, much to her sister's annoyance.

"Perhaps you really should give her… a talk…," Lilith says after a moment and Eda snorts into her cup, laughing.

"Already covered, in great, embarrassing detail," she says proudly.

"No doubt." Lilith rolls her eyes and her sister only grins.

Luz dashes back into the kitchen and carefully picks up the box containing the cake.

"We're heading out," she says. Eda stands and walks over.

"Have fun, kid." She ruffles Luz's hair, making her grin.

"Ah, Luz, before you go, I have something for you to take." Lilith pulls a small dark blue wrapped gift from her pocket and sets it gently atop The cake box. "Something for Amity I would like her to have… only if she wants it…," she explains.

Luz looks at the small gift before looking up at Lilith and nodding with a smile.

With that, she turns and walks quickly but carefully out of the kitchen.

A few minutes later a portal blazed to life in front of the owl house and then all the kids are gone.

"What'cha give the kid?" Eda asks curiously, glancing at Lilith out of the corner of her eye.

"Something I hope she finds useful…"

"I hate it when you're cryptic…" Eda grumbles and Lilith smirks.

[ellewritesathing]

Infernal  -  V

Summary: In your sleepy little town of Greendale, nothing ever slept for long. And ever since October, everything felt like it was waking up. Everything except for you, that is. One teensy trip to Hell (and an infuriatingly cute guy) later and suddenly you felt wide awake.

Word-count: 4.1k+

Masterlist Prev. | Part 5

A/N: it’s been a rocky few days for me but!! here we are!! i hope you guys enjoy this 💕

Earth felt more otherworldly than Hell did when you got back. Roz and Dorcas were back to themselves, Lilith was nowhere to be found, and your lips still burned where they’d met Caliban’s. You’d had to put on a cool expression when you were with the others - no, you didn’t find anything, it was just a boring research session - but you let yourself feel as you stashed the sword and helmet. 

Caliban had said they (and you) weren’t safe in Hell. Caliban. You’d kissed him. He’d kissed you. Caliban. You got tangled up in his hair. He got tangled up in you. Caliban. Even his name was pretty, rising and falling like a wave in the ocean. Caliban, Caliban, Caliban. The only problem was that you didn’t know if you were afraid to swim.

You hid your feelings away with the helm and the sword, and then shut the door on your cupboard. Taking a breath, you thought clearly for the first time since you’d gotten home about everything that had happened in the past few hours. Your head was clear enough to notice the sinking feeling in your stomach and how quiet the house was. Something was wrong with your dad. 

You checked his room before tiptoeing to all his usual hiding spots. You circled back to find him curled up in his covers. You’d missed him the first time because of how messy the room was and how much stuff was strewn around him on the bed. Stepping around the piles of junk and trying not to notice all the broken glass, you knelt in front of the bed and put a hand on his back. 

“Dad, what happened?” you asked as gently as you could. No reply. “Where’d Lilith go?” He wasn’t even blinking; he just stared straight ahead at the wall like you weren’t even there. Sighing, you changed tactics. “What happened to Kali?” 

“They took her,” he said, voice sounding far away. Any sparks leftover from your trip to Hell were extinguished with that ghostly shell of your father’s voice. “I- I tried to stop them but … they dragged her out by her hair.” 

Despite the bad lighting, you could make out a very nasty bruise forming around his eye and a split in his lip. Keeping your voice level and dropping your gaze, you asked, “Who were they?” 

“The Dark Lord and his puppet.” The venom in his voice made you look back up. He was looking at you - staring at you - for the first time since you came home. You almost stopped breathing. “She needs help, little lily, but there's nothing I can do.” 

“I’ll figure something out, okay?” you promised. “Get some sleep.”

Sleeping was easier said than done, especially when Sabrina sent a text about waning powers and a banshee outside her house. Your lack of sleep made the next day foggy, but you had a vague idea of what you needed to do: tell your friends about Lilith being your mom and then figure out what the hell happened to her when you were in Hell. 

You tried telling Theo and Harvey the whole morning, but the words died on your lips almost as soon as you started to say anything. And Sabrina had the final challenge to deal with, so she wasn’t there to tell you to stop being a coward. Deciding just to bite the bullet, you leaned over in your chair and motioned for your friends to do the same. “Okay, so I know we all freaked out when Sabrina told us-” 

“Shh! Settle down, children!” Mrs. Wardwell cut you off as she rushed into the classroom, closing the door behind her. “Please, I am not in the mood today for your foolish …” she looked around like there was a fly buzzing past her head. “Chitter-chatter.” 

She had the exact same face as your mother, but the way she wore it was impossibly different. Always nervous, always scared. 

You and Harvey shared a look while Roz and Theo exchanged some side-eye before each of you sank back into your seats. Your revelation would have to wait. 

“Jeez, what’s wrong with her?” Theo whispered. 

The intercom rang out with one of Mrs. Meeks’ announcements before any of you could answer. The carnival was inviting the entire town for their Final Night Festivities; free admission, rides, and caramel apples to anyone who came. And if that wasn’t unsettling enough, she kindly requested the four of you to report to the principal's office to collect some exclusive prizes. 

You all knew that something bad was going to happen as you gathered up your things, but you didn’t exactly expect it to happen as soon as you rounded the corner in the hallway. The carnival ringleader stepped out and your breath hitched. This was the first time you’d ever actually set eyes on him, and he was terrifying. 

Harvey was the first to react, shoving you and Theo to the side and yelling at you guys to run. Once he was sure the three of you were inside, he locked the library doors and shut off all the lights while the rest of you scrambled for places to hide. 

“Lilith,” you whispered, closing your eyes to help you drown out the sound of Theo and Harvey’s bickering. “I don’t know where you are or if this praying thing even works, but get me and my friends out of here and we’ll talk about you training me, okay? Now.”

“Guys, shh!” Roz warned. 

The doors to the library creaked open, but you weren’t in the library when you opened your eyes again. You were in an empty classroom. Why would Lilith bring you to an empty classroom? 

“Seems I got to you just in time.” 

The voice clearly did not belong to Lilith. Relaxing muscles that you didn’t know were tensed, you turned to Caliban. He wasn’t the same as before; he had a dark cloud of his own today. His face was hard and his eyes were cold. 

“We have to go back for the others,” you rushed out, reaching for his hand and ignoring whatever was going on with him for the moment. He didn’t waiver from his spot. “Caliban, come on. What’s wrong?” 

“You’d go back there, with Pan and the Gorgon, to rescue your friends?” he asked. Even his voice was cold, and he wasn’t answering your question.

“Yeah, of course.” Something was unshakably wrong, but that didn’t stop you from trying. You raised a hand to the side of his neck and softened your hold on his hand. “I’d go back for you, too.”

Something inside Caliban seemed to click and his gaze faltered, eyes falling down to your hands on his skin. So much had changed. “Your friends are across the hall. The hobgoblin got to them before anything happened to them.” He took a step back, out of your grip. So much was still changing. “I need to see to the final challenge of the Unholy Regalia.” 

“Caliban, wait-” 

And then it was just you and the leftover heat from the hellfire. 

Cursing, you cut your losses with Caliban and bolted to the classroom across the hall. When you got there, Harvey was arguing with Robin. Clearly, you’d missed something. Clearly, they hadn’t missed you.

“-can’t just leave!” Harvey was using his I’m-not-yelling-at-you voice to yell at Robin. “We have to fight. We have to stop that from happening. We need-”

“Sabrina,” Roz interrupted. “We need Sabrina, we do. Except that I think she’s still in Hell.”

“Yeah, they’re still busy with the final challenge of the unholy regalia,” you said as Theo wrapped you in a hug. You tried to shake off the weirdness of your last interaction with Caliban. “I don’t know if we can get to her down there.”

It was quiet for a second before Roz bounced slightly and clapped her hands together. “We can use that magick marker of hers. The one that she used to IM Nick. It’s in her locker.” 

“Do you know her locker number?” Robin asked. 

“And combination,” Roz grinned.

You and Roz went to grab the magick marker from Sabrina’s locker while the others waited in Harvey’s pickup truck. After piling in and sending Sabrina a message, Harvey drove you all back to his garage to wait for her to answer. It didn’t seem like it was coming any time soon. 

“Still no word back from Sabrina,” Roz sighed. 

“What’s taking her so long?” Harvey asked.

“Harvey, we don’t even know if she got the message,” Roz said, leaning back and shaking her head. 

Nick appeared in the corner without you noticing. You were so used to Caliban doing that that you didn’t even jump this time. “She didn’t, but I did.”

“That was meant for Sabrina,” Roz told him as you got to your feet.

“Well, that’s not how the magick marker works,” Nick said. There was a bite to his words. “And I wouldn’t expect her back anytime soon. Now, who needs help, and why?” 

Before you got the chance to answer, Sabrina materialized in the corner. “Guys! You’re okay,” she said as she rushed in. She had the relief on her face of someone who was incredibly stressed but just had found their favorite chocolate bar at the bottom of their bag. “It’s not too late.” 

“What do you mean ‘too late’?” Theo asked. 

“And where did you come from?” you asked. If she was here, was Caliban still in Hell?

“The pagans are coming,” Sabrina said. “You have to come with me, now.” 

“Okay, I don’t understand,” Nick said, grabbing her arm to stop her from running off again. “I just saw you walk through a portal at Dorian’s to beat Caliban.”

“You were right, Nick,” Sabrina said, shaking her head. “I let everything in Hell pull me away from what really matters: my family, my friends, and everything I love. But not anymore.”

She shut down any questions you asked and made you all hold hands. Sabrina said some words and in a flash, you were back in Dorian’s Gray Room. Zelda was lying on a table but bolted upright, shouting that she had the answers, almost as soon as Sabrina touched her. 

But Hilda … she hadn’t resurrected yet. 

One very inspiring speech from Zelda later and you were holding hands with Sabrina and the witches in a circle around the Cain Pit. Electricity coursed through you as Zelda called on the Triple Goddess, not just because it was a powerful moment but also because this was your first ritual. You didn’t want to stop that electricity.

The power you felt when Hilda’s hand shot up through the dirt was indescribable. You’d never felt that way before, but you were determined to feel it again. Helping the Spellmans with the town’s lullaby was a close second, but it was just a taste of the real thing. You wanted to know what you were capable of. 

Getting rid of the pagans was the exact opposite of those feelings. You couldn’t chase them through the woods and hunt them for sport. It left a bitter taste in your mouth and made you feel sick.

What you needed was someone to show you how to use these powers, and despite everything you’d been through with your friends - or maybe because of everything you’d been through - there was only one person you could think of to help you.

And he was still in Hell. 

At least, you thought he was still there. Sabrina was very vague about what happened to her in Hell, only that you didn’t have to worry about it anymore. She’d tell you if she won, right? She’d at least tell you if she’d taken Caliban up on his proposal - if that proposal was even still on the table, which you hoped it wasn’t. 

You were driving yourself crazy. Standing still before you paced a rut in your bedroom floor, you took a breath. The necklace would take you to Caliban, wherever he was, but it wouldn’t bring you back. You grabbed the borrowed spellbook and took off the necklace. The shell was pretty, more shades of blue than you remember, and it made an equally pretty crunching noise as you ground it under your shoe. 

The shell sucked all the air out of your lungs and darkened your vision. When it faded enough for your vision to return, you found yourself in a cold, dusty cave. The wall in front of you was carved with the names of Cassius, Brutus, and Judas Iscariot and the catacombs behind you were all dim and drafty. Either the shell was a bust or Caliban was skulking around these tombs somewhere. 

“Caliban?” Your voice echoed through the tunnels and made your hair stand on end. Debating whether to take your chances in the tunnels or wait around and hope the best, you leaned against one of the carvings and thought about it. Wraiths or tunnel demons, wraiths or tunnel demons, wraiths or- 

The cave wall started shifting under your side and you jumped back to the middle of the tunnel. Caliban stared at you under the Iscariot nameplate, looking equal parts relieved and distrusting. 

“Here to punish me again, are you?” The distrust won out. He hadn’t seemed this cruel since that first day in Hell, putting on a show for the Lords of Chaos. At least then he looked cocky, now he just looked sad. “The imitations are getting better, Izamael, I’ll give you that.” 

“What did they do to you?” you asked softly, reaching a feather-light hand to the side of his face. His eyes flickered at the touch and anger flared under the stone. “Hey, if you bite me, I’m going to set the wraiths on you. I don’t quite know how it works yet, but I-” 

“How are you here?” 

“Magic necklace.” You drew hand back and straightened up, folding your hand over your chest. “Your turn.”  

“As it turns out, you can’t betray just anyone to satisfy the betrayer challenge,” Caliban said with a sigh. He was shifting under the stone and he looked pained for a moment. Did it hurt him to be like that? You didn’t think he’d tell you if it did. 

“So they just stick you in here, then?” you asked. You looked around at the dark rocky walls and shifted uncomfortably. “Additionally, where is ‘here?’” 

“The seventh circle of Hell, love,” Caliban answered. “You should get back to Earth. I’ll find you as soon as I can.” 

“I’m not leaving you when you’re stuck in this stone,” you said. “How do we get you out of that?” 

“I’m made of clay, remember?” Caliban said like it answered your question. He almost laughed when you rolled your eyes at him. “Now that I’m awake, I should be able to get out of this just fine.” 

You didn’t understand how that worked, but you didn’t feel like arguing so you just nodded and took a few steps back to the cave wall. “I’ll be right here if you change your mind.” 

“You shouldn’t stay here. It’s not safe.”

“Don’t get all martyr-like on me,” you said as you eased yourself down the side of the rocky wall. “I need your help to get out of here, Clay Boy.” 

“I don’t think you need my help to do anything,” Caliban said, small smile on his lips. 

Neither you nor the butterflies in your stomach knew how to answer that one, so you settled for trying to make yourself comfortable. The problem - other than just about everything about being in Hell again - was that no matter how you sat or laid down, there was always a rock poking into your back. Or a pebble sticking into your side. Or dust on your face. 

With every twist and turn, your body went a little bit more numb and the tunnel became a little bit more bearable. You weren’t sure when exactly the whispers of the tunnel put you to sleep, but then someone reached out to wake you up and you bolted up to push them away. 

When you saw it was Caliban, you slumped back against the stone. “Jesus, what are you-” you sighed and rubbed your face. “Where are your clothes?” 

“Rather difficult to bring clothing through the minutiae of stone,” Caliban said. He reached out for you again and felt your neck for a pulse. His hands burned your skin. “Your heartbeat is slow. You’ve been here too long.”

“Next time I’ll just leave you with the wolves,” you said as you pushed yourself up a bit straighter. Your brain was pounding against your skull. “Can you take us back now?” 

“It took most of my strength to break free of the stone, but I can recite the spell and you can repeat it,” Caliban said. “Can you focus on my voice?” 

“I can focus on a lot of things, but I don’t know if I can do that,” you said. “I’m not- I’m not like you and Sabrina. I’m just … me.”

“And you are far more powerful than you think,” Caliban said. “There is something more to you.” 

Something more. 

Damn Caliban and his appeal to your sense of vanity. You nodded and listened carefully to the words of the spell before reciting them to the best of your sleep-deprived abilities. You had to repeat it before anything happened, squeezing your eyes shut and hoping for the best. 

When you opened your eyes again, you, Caliban, and the spellbook were sitting on your bed in the dark. Your insides felt muddled, making you worry that you’d done something wrong until Caliban laughed next to you. 

“I wasn’t sure that would work for a second there,” he confessed, still shaking his head. 

You reached for a pillow and smacked him with it. “What do you mean you weren’t sure that would work?” 

“I was thinking of all the places I could hide you until we sneak out of Hell,” Caliban said. He looked amused as you glared at him. He shook his head and collapsed back onto your bed. “Pandemonium was never an option, though with Lilith’s blessing … We could have gone to the Shores of Sorrow, but there are more places to hide in the- Why are you looking at me like that?” 

He’d caught you thinking that he almost looked happy on your half-made bed and in your messy room. You bit your cheek and shook your head. “You’re getting dust all over my bed,” you lied. 

“Dust,” Caliban repeated. You nodded again and he smiled to himself. “Where can I go to clean myself up?”

 “Uh, down the hall and to the left,” you said, pointing in the direction he should go. “I’ll bring some clothes and leave them outside the door. Just, um, be quiet, okay? My dad isn’t the best with visitors.” 

Caliban nodded, not pushing your flimsy excuse as he stood up and wandered out the door. He took all the air of the room with him, but at least it gave you a chance to think. 

You had no idea how you’d explain this - whatever this was - to your friends. You didn’t know if Caliban would go back to Hell after losing the challenges. You weren’t sure what to do about your newfound magic. But you knew that Harvey left some sweats and a giant hoodie here for whenever he needed to get away from his family, so you dug them out and left them outside the bathroom door. 

Your dad was still passed out in his room when you went past, upper body at an uncomfortable angle and lower body dangling off the bed. You tiptoed in and fixed his legs before shutting the door and heading back to your room. After a quick change and tidy up, you climbed under the covers. The cold from the tunnels was unshakeable, no matter how much time passed. 

The door creaked open and you peeked around the blankets. Caliban hovered just inside your door, looking more unsure than you’d ever seen him in Harvey’s old clothes. He was too tall for them, too ethereal for your bedroom. 

“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come sit with me?” you asked, sliding yourself up to lean against the wall. 

He tilted his head at you. “You’re inviting me into your bed?” 

“I’m inviting you to talk,” you corrected. “But if you’re going to make it weird then you can take the chair.” 

“The chair that is piled high with clothing and books?” 

“Make. Your. Choice.” 

Caliban shook his head and padded over to the side of your bed. He motioned for you to make space and got under the covers next to you. He sighed as he made himself comfortable. “What do you want to talk about?” 

You looked down at your hands, choosing your words carefully. “Do you remember what the wraiths said before they came after us? What they called me?” 

“The daughter of the winged and taloned demon of night,” Caliban said. “Names hold a certain power, especially a name like Lilith.”

Her name hung in the air, poisoning the space between you. You couldn’t tell if the feeling in your throat was anger or something softer as you looked up at him. 

“How long have you known?” 

One thing about Caliban that infuriated you was that he never looked away. Eye contact with him was both a personal invitation for something more and also a challenge. He never backed down from a challenge. Except now. 

“When we met in Hell, I knew you weren’t entirely human but I only pieced it together later. Lilith is … softer towards you than she is to your friends.” He chose his words carefully, seemingly deciding whether or not to hold your hand. “The wraiths didn’t leave much room for interpretation.” 

“Were you ever going to tell me?” 

You watched his face carefully for any flicker of bad intentions. He didn’t change. 

His voice was soft when he looked up and said, “I’d like to think so.” 

You made the decision for him and reached for his hand, giving him a small smile as you tried to figure out what else there was to say. He beat you to it. 

“I shouldn’t hope to know the way you feel about me,” he said, holding your gaze. 

An invitation or a challenge?

“And yet here we are,” you said, deciding it was a challenge. 

It made him smile, a hollow laugh escaping through his lips. You thought he was going to say something witty - keeping the back and forth going until it became unbearable - but in a swift movement, he untangled one hand and used it to cup your face. He kissed you and every part of you lit up. 

He pulled away slowly, forehead resting lightly against yours. Your heart raced at the thought of what he might say. “You’re still very cold.”

You didn’t think he’d say that. “Uh, yeah, I guess. It’s from the tunnels.” 

“Your soul drifted too far as you slept,” Caliban said. He cursed himself before repositioning as you stared at him. He nodded his head for you to lay with him and then placed his hands around yours. A shiver went down your spine. “Repeat after me.” 

You wanted to argue that you weren’t going to say spells without knowing what they did, but you wanted to lie in his arms more. You repeated Caliban’s words slowly and watched as a tiny blue flame sparked between your hands. It grew until there was a ball of flames prickling your palms. White and blue, just like the necklace.

“This was the first spell I learned when I awoke on the Shores of Sorrow,” Caliban said softly. His breath tickled your neck as he did. “These balls of light were the only things that kept me company while the souls of the damned drowned. Now they can keep you warm.” 

You turned your head to look at him and found him still looking at the fireball with a vulnerable sense of familiarity. It broke your heart. “You know, you’re a lot nicer than I first thought.” 

He frowned and turned to face you as best he could without disturbing the way you tangled together. “Don’t call me nice.” 

“What’s wrong with being nice?” you asked. 

“Nice is what you call someone who lacks a spine or someone who wants something from you.” He leaned in close enough to kiss you, but instead he stole your breath to say, “You’d get bored of nice within an instant.” 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of you.” 

Like a wave in the ocean.

Were you still afraid to swim?

Part 6

Tag List:  @caliban-is-my-girl  @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e​  @music-movies  @miss--moose​  @marrypuffsstuff​  @harryscarolinaa​  @igorsbby​  @foji2000​  @mschfavngz​  @artaxerxesthegreat​  @thxmagic​  @luquincy  @strawberriesandknives​  @xealia​  @hotmessindisguise​  @olivia-west-allen  @sweetrogers​  @reheated-coffee​  @shelby-x​ 

[milasartblog]

An unexpected visit (part 1)

Have you ever caught yourself in a situation where your thoughts get into conflict with each other? Sometimes it's due to one reason, or maybe more than one, sometimes due to one person. More often it happens in relationship situations. In a good case the solution comes quickly, but in a bad case it takes much time. Especially if this is about mortal and divinity relationship. Since the moment Gabriel got interested in Iris, moreover start to have feelings for her, he couldn't find a place for himself. Despite that things go well for now, he knew that it won't last long.

Gabriel: God, how did I end up in this mess? She is just a human, God's creation we have to guide and guard, and yet here I am, being friends with her and even going for a walk with her.

He was in his room, sitting at the table, holding his head with his hand. Only the light of the lamp illuminated the room.

Gabriel: What made me have feelings for her?....Beauty? No, that would be too simple...Her behavior? But that's normal for a person with good manners....Her smile? Everyone can smile like this....Or is it so? Nnggh, I can't. It's not right. Archangels should not be like this. It's not by laws that God have created....But even if I simply erase her memories, it will be wrong. Lying is also not an answer, it's not an angel way to do it....Says the person who have lied to his brothers about your relationship with human.

He looked down as stood up and walked to the mirror. Looking at his own reflection, the old memories flowed into his mind. He sighed deeply.

Gabriel: Everything was easier back then. Thing did change over the past years. Even I begin to change....No, what I'm saying, I should stay loyal to God's laws. But how can I solve this situation? I can't just simply ignore her, it will hurt her even more. And immortality I can't give, I have no right to do it. What to do?

He thought for a moment, walking around the room. His room was full of different books which Gabriel took from the library. Seemed like he hoped to find the solution there, but nothing. He couldn't even ask anyone for an advice, knowing how others would react: stunned and probably disgust by how such archangel like Gabriel could go so low. At least that's what he thought. And the situation with his brother Michael only made his thought stronger.

Gabriel: If only I could talk to someone about it, maybe their words would help me solve this case...Wait, I can't do it. People will have doubts in me. But still....

Suddenly he remembered the person, whom he met thanks to Lucifer - The Gardener. He once gave an advice when he and Michael had an argument, so maybe he could help him this time?

Gabriel: But it will mean that I'm asking a demon for a help. Ugh, damn it. How everything is so complicated!...Wait, he is not technically a demon, so I guess it doesn't sound that bad? But it means that I have to ask Lucifer for a meeting. This jerk will for sure make a fun of me.

He made a grumpy face as suddenly remembered another person who could help - Lilith. He looked down sadly, remembering the past again. It's been so long since he last talked to his sister. He was afraid to talk to her, thinking that she was still mad at him. Then he shook his head.

Gabriel: Let's first try to ask Michael. But first I need to return all these books.

He started to clean his room and as soon as he finished, he collected all of the books and went towards the library. In the afternoon it's usually more crowded in Heaven's library, but being an archangel gives you some advantages on getting the book you need and giving it back. When Gabriel finished with books, he went directly to Michael's room. He hoped that his brother was there. But little did he know what surprise awaited him there. As soon as he got close to the door to Michael's room, he started to open it without knocking. Seemed like being into his thoughts made Gabriel forget about it.

Gabriel: Brother, sorry for distracting you, but I need to ask you so-

But as soon as Gabriel entered the room, Michael and Lucifer were in front of him. And it seemed like they were about to have their moment, which paralyzed Gabriel, made him being so shocked, while Michael blushed a lot from awkwardness and Lucifer was just surprised.

Gabriel: W-WHAT IN THE GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING HERE???! GET YOUR HANDS OF MY BROTHER!!

Lucifer: Hey, relax, I wasn't planning anything bad~

Gabriel: Like I would believe to a demon!!

Michael: W-What are you doing here, Gabi?

Gabriel: I actually wanted to ask you for a help, but I guess I arrived just in time. What are you even doing here, Lucifer??

Lucifer: Well, I actually wanted to ask you the same question, but you already told us.

Gabriel: Don't avoid my questions!! You know that demons aren't supposed to be here! I know you were about to tempt my brother, right??

Michael: Gabi, calm down, Luci didn't want to harm me, really. Well, he sure behaved like any demon would-

Gabriel: See??? He was about to make you fall into his demon trap!!

Lucifer: Hey, Gabriel, chill out. There is nothing wrong for couples to have some time alone~

Gabriel:....You know that I still can't believe you two are together? Plus, during a work time, seriously???

Michael: B-Brothers, let's not get into a fight again. We can solve things later. Plus, I'm not a child anymore, I can handle things myself.

Gabriel: Yeah, like you did now? Look, this demon can manipulate you easily. I know it. You can always ask me for a help.

Michael: Gabi, it's so sweet of you, but I'm fine. Really. I can handle the situation myself. Can you trust your brother with this, please?

He looked at Gabriel, holding his shoulders as Lucifer stood aside, watching at the whole situation with slight confusion.

Gabriel: Sorry, I just-...I can't let my brother fall too.

Michael: I know, but I'm okay. I can take care of myself. You wanted to talk to me about something, right?

Gabriel: Yeah, but it seems like you're busy with something else, so I will go and ask someone else.

Michael: Are you sure? I-I'm sorry that-

Gabriel: Yes, I'm sure. But first...

He walked angrily to Lucifer, looking into his eyes.

Gabriel: Dare to hurt my brother and I will show no mercy to you. You got it??

Lucifer: Yeah yeah, sure. Just next time knock before entering~

After these words Gabriel looked at Lucifer angrily for a couple of more seconds, then walked away from the room. As he left the room, Michael and Lucifer looked at each other.

Michael: Did you forget to ckose the door behind you?

Lucifer: Hey, that's actually your room, not mine. Plus, he was supposed to knock first.

Michael: True, but still we were irresponsible too.

Lucifer: C'mon, we did nothing wrong.

Michael: Still...

They were silent for a moment as Michael felt more awkward and embarrassed for what happened.

Michael: We better get back to work.

Lucifer: Aww, right now?

Michael: Yes, Lucifer. I don't have the mood for this for now. Let's talk later.

Lucifer was about to add something, but seeing how Michael was serious about it, he only sighed. Wishing to each other good luck with work, they returned to their duties. Meanwhile Gabriel was still irritated by Lucifef's behavior towards his brother. But he could only trust his brother for him being able to solve things by himself. And so the last thing he could do is go to Hell by himself.

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

And that's another story for our universe^^ Seems like Gabriel faces with his inner thoughts. Will he find the solution? Also, rip his sanity X'D

Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

[joohoneyhoe]

Anything you can do, I can do better.

[song inspiration: Flum ft. Tove Lo - Say it]

Info: im jaebum fuckboy!au x oc fuckgirl!au genre: pure smut word count: 4.3k a/n: all your bias’ are gonna burn after this. ALL HAIL THE BIAS BURNER SIN JAEBUM! (possibility of a part two)

[New Message: Im Fuckboy]

What the fuck was he messaging me for? 

Im Jaebum, the biggest fuckboy around. He was just as big of a fuckboy as I was a fuckgirl, though. It’s not like we ever talked, unless we wanted to fuck one of the other’s friends. Other than that, we stayed out of each other’s way. There was no reason for us to associate. Period.

So, why is he texting me?

[11:14 pm] Im Fuckboy: What are you doin’?

[11:14 pm] Im Fuckboy: Hey!

[11:14 pm] Im Fuckboy: Lilith!

I rolled my eyes so damn hard it hurt my head.

[11:15 pm] Me: What do you want?

[11:15 pm] Im Fuckboy: You’re not at the party. Why?

[11:15 pm] Im Fuckboy: Fuck everybody here already?

[11:16 pm] Me: Ha! You’re one to talk

[11:16 pm] Me: You’ve fucked every single one of my friends

[11:17 pm] Me: Is that why you’re texting at a party? No one left to fuck either?

[11:17 pm] Im Fuckboy: You say it like you haven’t fucked all of mine too

[11:17 pm] Im Fuckboy: Which you have

[11:18 pm] Im Fuckboy: But, no that isn’t why. I just realized I’VE never fucked you

[11:18 pm] Im Fuckboy: And I want to

I held my phone in my hand in confusion, unable to comprehend what I had just read. He was fucking with me.

[11:19 pm] Im Fuckboy: Did I lose you?

[11:19 pm] Me: No. I’m confused

[11:19 pm] Im Fuckboy: What’s confusing about it?

[11:20 pm] Im Fuckboy: You + me = 👉👌

[11:20 pm] Me: Thanks for laying it out for me genius

[11:21 pm] Me: I meant I’m confused why all of a sudden you want to fuck me

[11:21 pm] Me: Since fucking when?

I sat with my phone in my hand. No doubt I was intrigued as to why the sudden interest in sleeping with me. We both knew what kind of girl I was. And we both knew what kind of guy he was. I wasn’t his type and he wasn’t mine. At least I think he isn’t. I never fucked dominant guys, I just wasn’t into not being in control. I knew that’s not how Im Jaebum was in the bedroom at all. My girlfriends had told me his dominance was just as prominent behind closed doors as it was outside of them.

[11:23 pm] Im Fuckboy: Since fucking always

[11:23 pm] Im Fuckboy: You forget it’s my friends you fuck

[11:23 pm] Im Fuckboy: You think they don’t tell me how fucking amazing you are?

[11:23 pm] Im Fuckboy: How dominating and in control you like to be

[11:24 pm] Im Fuckboy: I’d be an idiot to not wanna fuck you

[11:24 pm] Im Fuckboy: Someone needs to show YOU what it’s like to be dominated

[11:24 pm] Im Fuckboy: Plus, you and I both know I’d fuck you better than any of them

[11:24 pm] Me: Did you forget you fuck my friends too, Im Jaebum?

[11:25 pm] Me: Because that’s not what any of them would say about it

That wasn’t true. Not one of them had a single thing to complain about when he fucked them. If anything, they only wanted more. As far as I knew, he was a God in bed. I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about fucking him, showing him exactly what he wanted to show me.

[11:26 pm] Im Fuckboy: Well, I guess you’ll just have to let me prove it to you

[11:26 pm] Im Fuckboy: I’ll fuck that attitude right out of you

I felt a pulse between my thighs, squeezing them together to get a little friction. I looked down at my attire, an idea coming to me. I was dressed in a black cami and simple black silk sleep shorts. It would be so easy to toy with him right now. I switched to my camera and took a selfie. It was from my mouth down, bottom lip pulled between my teeth, finger hooked in my strap and pulling it down slightly.

[Sent: Image.jpg]

Let the games begin, Im Jaebum. 

[11:26 pm] Im Fuckboy: Jesus Christ

[11:26 pm] Im Fuckboy: I knew I wanted to fuck you for a reason

[11:27 pm] Me: Your turn

[11:28 pm] Im Fuckboy: Hold on. I’m already headed back to my room

[11:28 pm] Me: Hurry. I’m impatient

I got up from my bed, pacing the floor as I waited. I hadn’t been this excited about possibly getting a nude in a long time.

[Received: Image.jpg]

I don’t think I’d ever opened a text message so fast. And man, was I not disappointed. He had taken it in the exact same pose, except he was shirtless. His jeans hung low on his hips, the band of his underwear showing. He was absolute Sin to look at. I knew why all my friends wanted to fuck him.

Because now, so did I.

[11:30 pm] Im Fuckboy: Anything you can do, I can do better

[11:30 pm] Me: We’ll see about that

I pulled my top off in one swift motion, moving to sit at the edge of my bed with my legs spread wide. I quickly snapped the picture, not thinking twice and sending it.

[Sent: Image.jpg]

It took less than thirty seconds for my phone to start going off, a smug smile spreading across my lips. This was insanely gratifying.

[11:31 pm] Im Fuckboy: Goddamn, you’re fucking hot

[11:31 pm] Im Fuckboy: I’m so hard already

[11:31pm] Im Fuckboy: But, now it’s my turn

Why the hell was this so arousing? He did this with every girl, there was no doubt in my mind about that. He shouldn’t be able to make me this wet already. I always kept myself in control. How was this situation different than any other time?

[Received: Image.jpg]

Fuck.

My mind completely blanked looking at his picture. He was sprawled across his bed, pants gone with his large hand shoved down the front of his underwear. What was showing of his face was just his lips, which had the most sinful smirk I’d ever seen.

[11:33 pm] Im Fuckboy: You’re awfully quiet right now 

[11:33 pm] Im Fuckboy: Especially for someone who likes to talk back all the fucking time

[11:34 pm] Me: Fuck you, Jaebum

[11:34 pm] Im Fuckboy: Please do

[11:34 pm] Me: Just shut the fuck up

[11:35 pm] Me: It’s my turn now

This time, I laid down on my bed and turned a video on. I kept everything but my mouth out of the frame, a clear shot of my naked chest, silk shorts and legs. I popped two fingers into my mouth and then slowly trailed down until they disappeared beneath the silk fabric. I cut it right at that and pressed send.

[Sent: Video.mp4]

I sat and waited for what seemed like forever until my phone went off again.

[Received: Video.mp4]

Oh, shit.

Once again, same angle as myself, but his underwear were now gone. His long fingers wrapped around his thick cock, stroking slowly as he groaned out my name. A noise involuntarily left my lips, my thighs pushing together out of instinct.

What the fuck am I doing?!

My phone began to ring, startling me from my thoughts.

[Incoming Call: Im Fuckboy]

I swiped accept and pulled my phone to my ear, taking in a deep breath before answering. I needed to be in control.

“Yes?”

“Fuck, Lilith. I need to fuck you so bad.” Jaebum informed me, I could hear him still stroking himself, his breathing ragged. I let my hand dip back down below my shorts, fingers teasing my clit as I listened to him breathe heavily in my ear.

“Do you now?” I teased, the ache between my thighs only increasing as we talked.

“Fuck yes I do. Come over. I can’t keep doing the phone thing. I need you NOW.” he pleaded, his voice almost giving off a whiny tone. It was satisfying to think that I, could make Im Jaebum beg. He was never going to live this down.

“I’m not going anywhere. If you want me, you can come and get me. You initiated this conversation and you’re gonna finish it.” I directed, my tone low and authoritative.

“Are you serious, Lilith? I’m so fucking hard, it’s painful. Just come over here. It’ll be easier.” he reasoned, a bit of a growl at the edge of his words.

“Nothing we want in life is easy. Either you come and get me or jerk yourself off for the night. Your choice, fuckboy.” I heard him let out a huff of annoyance, no doubt pissy about my conditions. He wasn’t going to get me as easily as he did all the other girls. If he wanted me, he was going to work for it.

“Fine. I’ll be there in five minutes and you better be ready. I’m going to fuck you senseless.”

“I’ll believe when I see it.”

He must have sprinted all the way to my apartment off campus, because he was knocking on my door four minutes later. I had put an oversized white t-shirt on now, it being winter and too cold to wander around half naked. He could work for it anyway. I wasn’t going to be an easy lay by any means.

I opened the door slowly, revealing a windswept haired Im Jaebum. His peacoat was unbuttoned, his scarf hanging as if he’d just tossed it around his neck. He didn’t even bother to button his pants when he pulled them on and his shirt was half stuck inside his jeans, boots unlaced. He was a flustered mess and I couldn’t help but smirk up at him.

“Are you going to let me in or make me stand out in the cold with this ridiculous hard on?” I stepped aside, gesturing with my hand for him to come in. I gently shut the door behind me, locking the locks before turning around to face him. His eyes were jet black, boring straight through my calm demeanor. For once, I didn’t know what to do. The dominant stance he was taking with me, was something I hadn’t dealt with in a long time. I was the dominant one with everyone I fucked. Plain and simple.

He slowly made his way over to me, taking his scarf off and tossing it on my couch, along with his coat. I tried to remain as stone faced as possible as he raked his eyes down my body shamelessly. Next thing he did was take the pads of his cold fingers and run them up my bare arm, sending goosebumps running along the surface. He leaned in, his lips also ice cold against my ear.

“You know, for someone so dominant, you’re being pretty submissive right now.” my eyes snapped up to his, a scowl darkening my face. He grinned, knowing he’d gotten the rise he was looking for.

“Are we going to fuck or not, Im Jaebum? Stop wasting my time.” I spat, hands on his chest to push him away from me. He took hold of one of my wrist, yanking me to him, bodies pressed together. 

“I told you I was going to fuck that attitude right out of you, and I intend to do so. Are you ready for that?”

“Who said I was going to let you? We’re both dominant and both want to be in charge tonight, how’s that going to work? Did you think I’d just let you boss me around like you do all those other girls? Sorry, I don’t do submissive.” I whispered, teeth nipping at the underside of his jaw. I could feel him shudder under me, my underwear dampening from the thought of him submitting to me.

“I’ll tell you what, Lilith. How about we compromise?”

“You and me? Compromise? Don’t make me laugh, fuckboy.” his hand found it’s way under my shirt, finger tracing from the base of my spine, all the way up.

“Hear me out.” he demanded with a snarl, surprising me a little.

“Fine. What?”

He began pulling me with him towards my bedroom, his eyes never leaving mine. Once we were in my bedroom, he slammed my door shut behind me.

“You let me do something to you that I KNOW, you’ve never let anyone do. And then, I’ll let you do whatever you want to do with me. No complaints.” he suggested, both of his hands now wandering beneath my shirt. 

“And why do you get to go first? It’s my apartment, so my rules.”

“Tsk, tsk, Lilith. I ran all the way here because you wouldn’t come to me. Had you done that, you would have gotten to go first. But, you didn’t, so you don’t get that privilege. I do.” I grunted in complaint, hands trying to pry his away from me, but he refused to let that happen.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. I promise.” he encouraged, lips just centimeters from mine.

“Fine.” his hands left me instantly, making me ache at the loss of skin to skin contact.

“Get your clothes off and stand with your back to me at the foot of the bed.” he ordered, his face hardening. I crossed my arms over my chest, still feeling salty about having to be the submissive first. He stalked back up to me, his lip curling upward in irritation.

“Clothes. Off. Now.” I breathed in deeply and decided to just do what he asked. I wasn’t going to do what I wanted to do to him any sooner this way. Nonchalantly, I began removing one article of clothing at a time, dropping them on the floor as I moved. I let out a loud sigh when I finally stood where he wanted me to, hands on my hips. I heard him chuckled from behind me as his hands fiddled with something. His breath was hot against my neck, but I remained in my defiant stance. He wasn’t about to turn me into a quivering mess, no matter how badly I wanted to be.

“You ready?” he questioned, his voice barely audible.

“Whenever you are, big boy.” I quipped, eyebrow arching.

Suddenly my eyes were being covered by a black silk scarf, a gasp leaving my lips as I reached up to touch the fabric. Jaebum tied it off, then grabbed my wrist and yanked them behind my back, immobilizing me.

“Nuh-uh. No touching, baby. I told you, you’re giving up control completely to me. This is how I want you to experience letting someone else take the reins. No sight, only your hearing and touch, IF I’m feeling generous.” his laugh was dark in my ear, making me let out a whine I couldn’t control.

“God damn you, Im Jaebum.”

“He’s going to after the things I do to you.” he picked me up bridal style, startling me from the lack of warning. He tossed me onto the bed, my hands reaching out to keep myself steady. 

“Turn over and put your hands behind your back.” this time, I found myself doing what he told me without a second thought. Anticipating what he had planned for me. Maybe I had been missing out on something all along. Hands finding my hips, he yanked my ass up further, the cold metal from the button on his jeans rubbing against me. I felt another silk scarf being wrapped around me, this time my wrist.

He smoothed his hands over the curve of my ass and down the back of my thighs, wrenching them apart. 

“Now, be a good girl and try not to squirm.”

His tongue ran up my slit, eliciting a moan from deep within my chest somewhere. He took two fingers and pulled my folds back, his tongue instantly going for my clit. I jolted from the contact, my body hyper aware of every single touch. I could feel his fingernails leaving marks in my thighs as he held them apart, his mouth doing things I’d never imagined it could do.

I let out a broken cry when he pulled away from me and then his palm landed hard against my ass. He pressed his back against my secured arms, lips trailing my neck and shoulder.

“Is this as bad as you thought it would be, Lilith?” his deep voice next to my ear made the hair on my neck stand tall. All I wanted right now was to get this blindfold off so I could see him.

“Terrible.” I lied, maintaining my cool as best as I could.

“I guess we’ll just have to keep going then.” he slide down my body, his hands trailing behind him, touching every inch of flesh he could. I wanted to complain, tell him to hurry up and make me cum already, but I knew that would just prolong the torture. He pressed his tongue flat against my folds, moving them apart to delve in further for a few moments before denying me again by removing his mouth from me.

“You can’t tell me you don’t like this, Lilith. You were so wet before I even put my mouth on you. Deny it to me and yourself all you want, but your pussy doesn’t lie.” he murmured, his lips kissing along my inner thighs as they trembled.

“If my hands were free, I’d smack the shit out of you.” he gave my ass another hard wack.

“Which is exactly why your hands are tied. I knew you’d be a hitter.”

He went right back to work, this time pushing two fingers into me. The air left my lungs, not being able to see making it that much more intense. His teeth bit down on my ass, definitely leaving behind a mark as his fingers worked the inside of me. I couldn’t even speak, the only sound leaving me was shaky breaths and small moans. Curling his fingers, he hit me right where I needed him to, making me let out a scream.

“There we go, baby.” he praised, his fingers continuing their abuse on my g-spot for a few moments. He pulled his fingers from me without warning, making me let out a noise of discomfort. 

“Do you want your hands or your sight back? Your choice, Lilith.”

“Take off the blindfold! Please, Jaebum!” at this point, I wasn’t above begging anymore. I was loving every single thing he was doing to me and I didn’t want him to stop. I would grovel at this point.

“Your hands it is then.” he undid the tie in one go, my hands landing on the mattress.

“Cocksucker.” I yelled, reaching back to swing at him. He grabbed my wrist again, pulling me up until I was sitting on my knees with my back flush to his chest. He put a finger on my clit, applying light pressure as he circled slowly, lips kissing below my ear. 

“Oh Lilith, did you really think I’d give you what you wanted that easily? That’s no fun. Now, be a good girl. No more trying to hit me. I’m here to make you feel things you never have with anyone else, just let me.” his fingers now traced patterns on my stomach, almost in a soothing manner. I took a deep breath, calming myself before reaching behind me to wrap my arms around his neck.

“Okay, I’m trusting you.” I replied softly, feeling his soft hair on the tips of my fingers. 

“Good, I want you to turn around and lay down now.” I felt him get off the bed, I could hear his jeans hitting the floor, along with his shirt. Not long after the thud from his jeans rang in my ears, the bed dipped between my legs. I jumped when his lips touched my hip bone, still hyper sensitive to touch without my sight. My hands reached for him, fingers finding his hair and carding through it. He continued to travel upward, stopping at my navel and then going up to the underside of my breast, sucking a deep purple petal there. 

I took a sharp intake of breath when his lips wrapped around my nipple, swirling his tongue around it slowly. My hold on his hair tightened, eliciting a moan from him before he bit down. I cried out, not being able to tell if I loved it or hated, maybe both. 

“Good girls don’t pull hair. Do you want me to take your hands away again?” he threatened, me shaking my head no almost violently. I heard him chuckle, tongue soothing over the bud he had just bitten so harshly. His index and middle finger slid back into my heat and he curled them immediately, making my back arch off the bed. 

“Man, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you like being submissive.” he teased, his fingers now moving languidly inside me.

“Please, I need cum Jaebum. I’m not above begging at this point.” I confessed, fingernails digging into his broad shoulders, feeling the muscles flex underneath. I heard him groan, obviously happy with my words. 

Instead of responding to me, he just picked his pace right back up, making sure to hit right where he needed. The coil in my stomach tightened, on the verge of snapping. I felt his tongue begin to work my clit, surprising me once again with the contact. Both is tongue and fingers worked vigorously to bring me to my high and it wasn’t long before the coil snapped and sent me plummeting into the strongest orgasm I’d ever had. 

His name left my lips in a scream, the neighbors without a doubt hearing me. I could feel him moving up my body, fingers still lodged inside of me, helping me come down from my high. His lips landed on mine, much more gentle than I would have anticipated. He swallowed my moans, tongue finding my own and teasing it. After I finally came down, he pulled his mouth away and removed his digits carefully. 

My chest heaved as I tried catching my breath, hands running up and down his defined arms. I felt his hand on the side of my face, fingers slowly pushing the fabric of the blindfold away from my eyes. He completely removed it, my eyes finally getting to meet his again. 

“Hi.” he greeted me with a smile, his eyes soft and gentle. It wasn’t a look I’d ever seen on him before and oddly enough, I liked it.

“Hi.” I finally answered back, arms winding around his neck as I smiled up at him.

“So, I think it’s your turn now. I had my fun and I promised I wouldn’t complain about it.” he pointed out, leaning down to leave open mouthed kisses on my throat. I pushed him back, wanting to see his face after being deprived of it for so long.

“I have a better idea, how about you just fuck me how you want and next time it’ll be my turn. Deal?” I offered, the look of shock evident on his face.

“I get to fuck you more than once? Fuck yeah, it’s a deal.” he grinned widely, mouth crashing down on mine in a hungry kiss. I put my fingers back in his hair, tugging it roughly. 

He lined himself up with my entrance, pushing in without any resistance. He snapped his hips into me mercilessly, the sound of skin hitting skin echoing in the room. He moaned next to my ear, then bit down on my earlobe. I raked my nails down his back as my legs locked around his waist, pulling him closer. He reached between us, rubbing my clit to help me reach my peak faster. I could feel it already building up, threatening to hit me like a train.

“As much as I want to keep going, I don’t think I’ll make it much longer.” he informed me, his breathing labored as his dark eyes searched my face for disappointment. I simply grabbed his face and kissed him again, taking him by surprise. After I dragged myself away from his soft lips, I rested our foreheads together.

“We’ve got plenty of time to try again.” he let out a laugh, then thrusted into me harder than he had previously, flinging my head back.

“Fuck, Jaebum!” I shouted, a death grip on his hair as he continued. 

“Come on, cum for me again. You’re close, I can feel it.” he pressed down harder on my clit, the sensation throwing me into the deep end, my climax trying to drown me. I screamed for him, cursed and yanked his hair as I let it take over me. Not even thirty seconds later, he released into me, ribbons of cum coating my walls. My name left his lips like a curse, his brow furrowed as he milked himself dry.

After we had both come down from our highs, we just sat there, staring at each other. I didn’t even know what to say, honestly. He was, hands down, the best I’d ever been with. Extraordinarily giving, for a fuckboy. Carefully, he pulled out of me, grabbing the silk that had been over my eyes before moving to lay next to me. He toyed with it, fingers feeling the silky fabric.

“Sooo…we’re going to do this again, right?” he probed, eyes locked on the scarf.

“I mean, I still have my end of the deal to do and I definitely am not giving that up.” he glanced over at me, eyes roaming my sweaty face,

“So, that’s a yes then?” I smacked his chest, making him laugh as I slung my left leg over his and placed my arm around his waist. His skin was damp, but I could care less. I couldn’t remember the last time I wanted to cuddle after sex. Jaebum tossed the silk scarf aside and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, tugging me closer. We lay in silence, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. More like, content silence. That is until I broke it.

“Wanna know what your name in my phone is?” I asked, tilting my head to look at him. He smiled, eyebrow arching.

“What?”

“Im Fuckboy.” he laughed loudly, his hand moving to cover his mouth. It gave me butterflies to hear that sound leave his lips, something that I hadn’t experienced in years.

“That’s funny, because guess what yours is?”

“What?” 

“Satan’s Wife.” I sat up and began hitting him playfully, his hands flying up to protect his face. He grabbed my waist and tackled me down onto the bed, pinning my arms above his head before leaning down and kissing me. He pulled away, making me jut my bottom lip out in a pout.

“I never said it was a bad thing, Lilith.” he pointed out, kissing my face over and over.

“Touche. Now, shut up and fuck me again.” I demanded, trying to pry my hands free, but with no avail. 

“Gladly.”

[anactorya]

[fic] Burning Bright

12x21 tag squeaking in under the wire. Crowley/Lilith, Crowley/Dean, Crowley/Lucifer, all in pretty non-shippy ways. PG-13, 3100 words. Animal cruelty, minor character death.

Also on AO3.

But rats is hard killing, especially when they wise up to the traps. - Horatio Clare, The Prince's Pen

Fergus is a wee slip of a boy when he first sees the man.

He tramps down into the village like a bit of the heathland come to life, bearded and smeared in mud, with a red deerskin thrown over his shoulders. Fergus watches from behind the churchyard wall with the other children, one or two of the bigger boys sticking their heads up to stare before ducking back down again. (Fergus is already learning how to manage them; how laugh when they do and to notice all the things they don’t, and keep a list of all their weaknesses inside his head.)

The man pays them no heed and goes on his way. Witchcraft, whispers one small voice. Our Da says he eats children, comes another.

When the man leaves again, small against the skyline on the edge of the heath, long grey shadows cluster at his heels. They say he talks to them. Fergus finally dares poke his head up over the wall, enviously tracking the man and his shadows until they disappear from sight.

One of the bigger boys whacks him on the back of the head for woolgathering, making him start and scrape his elbows on the wall. Fergus scowls and promises himself he won’t get caught out again.

Later, he watches the battle-scarred ginger tom who sometimes haunts his mother’s home dispatch a mouse on the front step, batting it back and forth like a child’s plaything. When the cat is satisfied it’s dead, he picks it up in his mouth and carries it into the one dim room of the house, depositing it at Mother’s feet where she sits before the fire.

It burns high and bright, no matter the time of day, and no matter how little firewood they bring in. Sometimes the children whisper, Witchcraft, about her, too.

The cat looks up at her expectantly. In places, its fur is almost the same red as her hair, most of it looks faded, as though it’s been left out in the pale sun too long. Mother and cat gaze at each other for a moment, as though they’re communicating without words.

“Can some people really talk to animals?” Fergus pipes up.

Mother looks up at him at last, and for a moment he can’t read the expression on her thin face. (She’d be a bonny one, wi’ enough food.) Finally it resolves: unkind smile, sharp eyes.

“There’s only one thing you need to learn from them,” she tells him, and nods down at the dead mouse. Its tiny guts have made a dark stain on the floor. “People like me and you? In situations like this, we’re never the cat. So don’t get caught, little mouse.”

She stoops and scoops the cat up in her arms, scratches the top of its head. Her long fingernails disappear into its fur. Then she nods down at the mouse corpse.

“And get that out of here.”

The cat pushes its head against her hand and gives a contented purr. Fergus does as he’s told.

The last wolf in Scotland is killed when Fergus is nineteen.

He left the village years ago. He has a trade, and ambition, and little thought, most of the time, for what might stalk the edges of civilisation. But he keeps an ear out, and there are whispers for years afterward. Rumours that they’re still out there, in the dark remote corners of the land, hiding from the humans who hunt them.

Sometimes, he still thinks about the man who talked to wolves. Are there others like him still out there on the heathland? Or did the wolves turn their backs on him along with the rest of mankind? Do they still speak the same language?

London, 1890 or thereabouts, and Fergus isn’t Fergus anymore. He’s lost his soul and gained a title, and learned how easy it is to talk a man into Hell with a few little promises of worldly power. He’s watched London blossom into a hole in the world like a great black pit, and now he walks its streets with the queen of demons on his arm.

(There was a wife, once; and a boy lost at sea the better part of two centuries ago. He doesn’t think of them often; and he tells himself he understands, now, why Mother preferred the cat.)

He’s wearing a gentleman doctor. Lilith burns through a succession of East End whores, male and female, depending how on her fancy. Today, the circus has come to Olympia, and Crowley has an appointment.

In the midst of the crowd, a man with wild eyes and no hat stands on a rickety old crate, Bible in hand, and declaims at passers-by. He’s thin, but there’s a surprising boom to his Welsh-accented voice, his r’s rolling theatrically. Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But Lucifer is just a bedtime story Lilith likes to croon against his skin, so Crowley smirks and lets his eyes flash red just to hear her laughter in his ear as the preacher backs away from them into the crowd, stumbling over a rut in the path as he goes.

There are lions in the ring, too. They cower from the chair and the crack of the whip, and when the show is over and the animals back in their cages, you can see that they’re scrawny and flea-bitten.

The audience doesn’t seem to care. The lion-tamer places his arm between the jaws of one of the great beasts, and the crowd holds its breath. A moment later, when he removes it triumphantly unscathed, the collective sigh is somewhere between relief and disappointment. The lion slinks back to its corner on its belly, and the tamer smiles like a king.

Lilith tugs on Crowley’s arm, already bored. “He didn’t even get a little maimed.”

He turns an indulgent smile on her, as though she isn’t the boss here. “Don’t worry, darling. You’ll get your show.”

Out back, it’s quiet. The ringmaster is wealthy from ten years of success, and he doesn’t recognize Crowley at first. (Not entirely a surprise. He was, after all, wearing a Soho dancing-girl when they last met.) “What do you want?” he grumbles at their approach.

Crowley extends a hand. “Just here to collect on what you owe me.”

The ringmaster frowns. “Rent’s paid up until the end of the month.”

Generally, Crowley’s not the type to draw it out. He doesn’t break bones; he makes deals. He leaves the messy side of things to the Alastairs of the world. Still, he’d be lying if he pretended it wasn’t a little bit satisfying to let his eyes turn red, tilt his head, and pout. “Forgotten so soon? You’re hurting my feelings.”

He snaps his fingers, then, and Juliet’s invisible presence materializes beside him, the burr of her growl making the hairs stand up on the back of his meatsuit’s neck.

The ringmaster runs, as they all do, his frock coat—too gaudily embellished to be really tasteful—straining over his barrel chest. The buttons pop off it as his blood spurts, a shining arc through the air. Lilith laughs in delight, her eyes shining. Pale as pearls, cool and hard as those of a bird of prey.

Juliet nuzzles his thigh, and he pats her head in recognition of a job well done. Touching her is a little like brushing through cobwebs and a little like thumbing the edge of a knife. She’s loyal to him, as much as a creature made of shadow and edges and the stink of death can be, and she recognizes his voice.

Still, once in a while, he finds himself thinking about the man who haunted the edge of the village when he was small. The man who spoke the language of wolves.

Hellhounds are useful enough. And he could talk to them, if he wanted. It’s not as though he needs them to talk back. It’s not as though he needs them to understand.

It never ceases to be absurd that Dean Winchester is terrified of dogs.

The first time they meet, the brothers fight their way into his house instead of ringing the doorbell. Dean questions him even after he hands over the Colt and the directions: like a feral creature biting the hand that feeds, suspicious of anything that looks to be freely given.

Lilith is long gone—to her doom with her father’s name on her lips. Crowley always knew she’d fly away (and besides, things started to get a little awkward once she took to swanning around in a pre-teen meatsuit.)

Dean makes him look twice, for the first time in… well, longer than he cares to count. The Apocalypse business, complete with imminent destruction of all demonkind, does tend to put a dent in a man’s libido.

Crowley looks, but that’s all he does for a long time. It’s only later, after he learns what it’s like to be tangled in the Winchesters’ lives, locked in their fucking basement, that he realises what he was looking at. Dean’s vicious loyalty, his desperation, the sharp edges and the mushy centre and the curtain of bad jokes he pulls down over the whole thing. It’s… well. It’s hard to take his eyes off it.

So he keeps a sharp watch, and when he sees an opportunity, he takes it. He leads Dean to Cain, and to the Mark, and from there it’s just a breadcrumb trail to rebirth.

“Let’s go take a howl at that moon,” Crowley says, and Dean wakes and looks up at him with big black eyes, and just for a moment, he imagines being the man with the wolves. Out on the heath in the darkness, with nothing around him but their voices and the cold bite of the night air.

It doesn’t last. Turns out, it’s the whole package that he wants. Without the mushy centre, yes, Dean is easier to pull away from his brother; but there’s no loyalty left in him to anything else, just a cold hollow. When he flashes his black eyes, all Crowley sees in them are his reflection.

Even hellhounds are a demon’s best friend. But human, Dean will never come when he calls. Demon, he’s already snapping and straining at the leash, and sooner or later he’ll turn.

So Crowley lets go. Hands Dean over to his brother, and then gets very, very drunk.

Dean Winchester will never be his. He tries to be philosophical about it; contents himself with the occasional text message, and with Dean being a little quicker to call him for help than his brother would like.

It’s nowhere near enough, but soon enough he has other things to worry about.

Predilections or no, it’s not as if he intends to end up playing cat-and-mouse with the Devil. Lucifer hasn’t been a bedtime story in years; instead, he’s a force of nature, a promise of annihilation, something you shelter from like rain. It’s only when Rowena (Crowley’s trying to stop thinking of her as Mother) summons him to Limbo to pace like a big cat behind the bars of his cell that he becomes a creature.

He looks at Crowley as though he’s already planning to bite his head off. In hindsight, Crowley thinks maybe that’s where it starts.

(Later, Rowena screws him over yet again, sending Gavin back to a watery death. But this time, when she breaks his heart, she hands him a trump card.)

It’s not just about revenge. Not that Crowley underestimates a good old-fashioned grudge as a motivating factor—they’ve netted him plenty of souls over the years—but if it were just that, he’d have made Lucifer dance like a monkey in front of the minions the moment he got the spell working, and then stuck an angel blade through his heart.

Instead, he plays the long game.

Even in chains, Lucifer keeps smirking and rolling his eyes, acting like it’s only a matter of time until he escapes and reclaims the throne. No doubt he’s plotting something with one or another of the demons, but it’ll be sloppy. That’s what happens when you get used to being the most powerful entity in the room, assuming that the top of the pile is your rightful place. Crowley knows better. Don’t get caught, little mouse.

Still, he hesitates a moment, after he’s finished sounding out Hess.

It’s the best plan he has: let Lucifer and the Men of Letters tear at each other, and then pick up the pieces when whoever wins that fight is already limping. It’s simple. (Embarrassing, really, that neither Lucifer nor his little helper shows a hint of suspicion when the spell goes into reverse.) Still, Crowley doesn’t exactly relish the prospect of being tossed around like a ragdoll, or of wearing a twitchy little rodent for the next few days.

The alley where they dump his meatsuit is full of smells and dark corners. They tug at threads of instinct in his little rat-brain. Eat. Hide. It fills the time while he waits for the demons on guard duty to lose interest.

It’s a little too easy, letting himself be pulled along by the animal senses. He can sort of see the appeal of it. Probably goes double if you’re not a prey animal, if fear isn’t hardwired into—

The thought is cut off by a smell that goes straight to his stomach. That keeps happening, sidetracking him. There’s a day-old burger half-eaten in its wrapper on the alley floor, smeared in mayonnaise and relish. Even hungry little Fergus would have turned up his nose, but down here the tang of it is irresistible, and he has his whiskers buried in the mess before he knows what he’s doing.

Then another smell—a living, animal one—catches his attention. An alley-cat prowls around the edge of the dumpster. (Honestly, they haven’t even bothered to bury the body. He’s going to have to have a word about standards, when all of this is over.) Its presence sends the rat’s small heart into overdrive, and he goes very still.

The cat stops, one paw in midair. Turns its head. Its eyes fasten on him.

It’s a ginger tom, with a chunk ripped out of its left ear. In places, its fur is the colour of Rowena’s hair.

The instinct to run floods through him a nanosecond before the cat moves, and he’s ready to scuttle for one of the dark cracks in the alley wall—but then a voice in his head murmurs, little mouse, and he remembers himself, changes course.

Straight into the dumpster and up his vessel’s trouser leg. He nestles against its cold thigh as the cat prowls around outside. It’s an indignity, hiding out with his tail poking up his own boxer shorts.

It’s a kick up the arse. A reminder: it’s all part of the plan.

The demons leave, eventually. One new suit (off the rack, but this is no time to worry about tailoring) and one stiff drink later, he’s ready and waiting. A loyal contact at the FBI tells him the last known location of the missing presidential aide. (Maybe she's seen enough criminal empires brought down to know that Lucifer's way only ever ends in a shootout and a grainy newspaper photograph.) He waits until the news alerts start showing freak storms over the town, and then he makes his move.

The scene on the ground is straight out of a war movie. Hess's SUV a blackened husk; the ground littered with Men of Letters in various states of disembowelment and their discarded toys. Then there are the Winchesters, and Castiel, and Kelly Kline, in various states of groaning dazedness.

Standing in the midst of the carnage, Lucifer turns to face him.

There's a flicker of surprise, just momentary, before the familiar, affected boredom takes over. It's enough. Crowley already knows he's won.

But, "Crowley," Lucifer drawls, apparently oblivious. "I'd say you're my favourite little cockroach, but we both know I'd be lying. Do I really have to step on you again?"

Even in this moment, Crowley’s borrowed heart speeds up a little, the instinctual tingle down his spine tells him to run. That is, he guesses, part of the thrill.

He tamps it down and lifts an eyebrow, supposing he may as well enjoy the theatre. "Stamp your feet if you must. But we both know how this goes by now, don't we? You roar and beat your chest and throw a big noisy tantrum. And then I outsmart you."

"Is that how it goes? I’m pretty sure—”

Crowley snaps his fingers and Lucifer stops dead, his eyes flaring red as the spell clicks into reverse once more. There’s the surprise again.

Then a bright, white flash of grace—and its reflection in the eyes of Kelly Kline, blinking herself back to consciousness on the far side of the empty lot.

Lucifer resists him. Tries to, at least. He fights the spell, moves with awkward jerks, like a shadow puppet in reverse. It holds, though, and then he’s standing in front of Kelly, extending one hand as she looks up in confusion and starts to say, “What—?”

She never gets to finish her sentence. There is light, so much light, and then she slumps lifelessly to the floor.

Crowley’s never heard an angel scream before. The sound of it is like sheet lightning in his bones, and when he takes his hands away from his ears, there’s blood on his palms and he knows he’ll never have to fight for his throne again.

Dean hasn’t answered his messages since it happened. Crowley supposes he should have expected that. Killing pregnant women is a bit beyond the pale even for the Winchesters; but they’ll come around eventually. Next time they need his help.

So now, Crowley sits with an archangel chained at his feet, Hell running like clockwork beyond the throne room doors. No more little mouse.

Not much else, either.

(The man with the wolves. Did he speak their language? Did he howl with them when the moon was full?)

He yanks on Lucifer’s chain, forcing eye contact. From her spot guarding the door, Juliet eyes him jealously, but a quelling look is enough to keep her still. She gives a muffled grumble and drops her head between her paws.

Lucifer doesn’t smirk, doesn’t make some puerile comment, just regards him vacantly.

“Nothing to say for yourself?” Crowley ruffles his hair like he’s petting a cat.

Dull-eyed, Lucifer bows his head and keeps his silence.

It doesn’t feel much like victory.

[jasontoddiefor]

Lilith

Title: Lilith Fandom: Blue Exorcist Summary: "I-," Rin speaks up again, her voice dripping with self-doubt. "I would have been a bad mother anyway." Yukio knows she's trying to lie to herself, it's so easy to make it out. He wants to disagree, he thinks his sister would have been a great mother- he's sure of it. But that won't ease her pain at all, right? Because the Order wouldn't give Satan's spawn the opportunity to sire more demons. Fem!Rin AN: Warning: Forced sterilization. If he's honest, Yukio would prefer it if his sister were crying. But his sister has never been that kind of person. She never cried in front of him, always leading him to believe nothing can get to her. She’s his big sister, powerful, strong, as solid as a rock.

He wonders what it says about him that he wants her to cry. Perhaps it is cowardly of him because facing a crying, an emotional Rin, is easier than facing her how she is now: silent, lying on her bed while staring up at the ceiling, one hand resting on her belly.

She's been like this for the past two hours, maybe longer. He's only gotten back home recently, missions keeping him away. Dinner had been made and he ate it in silence alone at the table. That should have tipped him off, if he's home, Rin always eats with him or drags herself out of bed to sit with him in the middle of the night.

If he's home that is.

He hasn't been there much recently, he hasn't been with her today. Father would scold him for it, just like he did when Yukio wanted to miss the special Sunday dinner his sister always makes in favor of studying.

Makes – made?

Does she still do that? He doesn't know. Father would be disappointed. He'd be here now too. He would have gone with Rin and tell her that everything will be fine and that the Vatican is made up by a bunch of dicks that can't see the child his sister still is.

He'd do all Yukio didn't do today.

He bites the insides of his cheeks, the report he should be writing long forgotten.

He can't make it worse, he thinks. Whatever he does, he can't make it worse, can he?

"Nee-san," he speaks up, his voice barely above a whisper.

He hates that his words sound like they used to. He still has the voice of a child afraid of the world and more.

"... yes?" The answer follows and Yukio curls his hand into a fist.

His sister sounds weak and frail like never before.

"Are you- do you-"

Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?

Stupid questions, so, so stupid.

Of course he could make it worse, he just did, he’s still making it worse. His sister really had the worst luck, getting him as her brother.

"I-," Rin speaks up again, her voice dripping with self-doubt. "I would have been a bad mother anyway."

Yukio knows she's trying to lie to herself, it's so easy to make it out. He wants to disagree, he thinks his sister would have been a great mother- he's sure of it. But that won't ease her pain at all, right?

"I'd probably forget going to parents' day at school," Rin continues and Yukio wants to shout at the world.

"And my kid's food would be totally unhealthy. I'd forget to tell them about stranger danger too and don't help with their homework. I never was good at school anyway and I don't think True Cross is changing that."

Rin has set up now and reached for the tea Yukio has made hours ago. It's her favorite and cold by now. It won't taste anymore.

"And I wouldn't love them enough."

Yukio has spaced out, but those words pull him back. He turns around to his sister, fully facing her now. She's sitting on her bed, her jacket draped over her shoulders. She's wrapped her arms around herself and her shoulders are shaking.

She's crying, Yukio realizes. His strong, always smiling big sister is crying.

He has no idea what to do.

This is not what he imagined.

"I never wanted this, I didn't ask for this!" She's sobbing, looking far more vulnerable than Yukio thinks he's ever seen her.

The thing is, he understands the Order. They are afraid of her. She's powerful, the daughter of Satan. She's a good weapon. And that's all she's supposed to be, right? Fight for them until her death and when she's gone, they have one problem less.

They don't want her to become Lilith, raising an army of demons. They want a weapon that follows every order without any resistance.

What he does next isn't an action he'd call conscious. His sister is uncontrollably sobbing, letting those ugly tears run over her cheeks. And it's ugly, of course it is, crying isn't pretty, it's not supposed to be.

Crying is heartbreaking.

Yukio isn't sure for whose heart.

He walks over to her and sits down on her left. He puts his arm around her and starts to hum. It's been their secret for long, the humming, this song. Sometimes he thinks the words are in the tip of his tongue but they just don't come out. It used to be his sister and him, still small enough to fit into Yukio's bed together with one blanket protecting them against the world. She hummed this song again and again, calming him down and never recalling where she heard it.

He thinks it could have been their mother who sang it for them. He never follows that train of thought.

His sister calms down. She's still sobbing but not as much and the shaking has gotten better. Yukio isn't sure if he managed this, he'd like to think he can help.

He'd like to think that he alone can still fix all of this.

"Thanks, Yuki," she mutters, her voice hoarse.

Not from screaming, not from shouting, not from singing but from crying.

He hates it so, so much.

He doesn't know how he finds the words, but he does.

"I think you can be a good mother."

"Yeah?" She replies. Her voice is steadier. Good.

He has to keep talking.

"Mhm, you're fussing over me like a mother hen since... always actually. And you have to teach the next generation the Okumura Rin Special Day Menu."

At this she giggles. Yukio isn't a disaster in the kitchen, but he isn't anywhere near Rin's skill. She has tried teaching him before, their father too and the rest of the monastery, but they all failed spectaculary.

"They have to be twins," Rin continues the conversation. "A troublemaker and the built in playmate."

"I'm not a built in playmate," he replies dryly, but there's a smile on his face. They've had this discussion so many times already, it's good to have it again. It means things are going up again.

"Pretty names like Amara and- and maybe Kōshirō?"

She carefully looks at him, as if she'd want his approval. He thinks about their father and how he'd probably be amused. It would be nice to keep his name around somehow. And Yukio doesn't think he'll ever have children. If he's honest, he doesn't think he'll make it last twenty.

"They sound good," he replies and she cheers up. It doesn't fix things but at least Rin starts to talk. She keeps going, describing how she would go about the parenting situation. She has this worked out better than their father probably never had. Then again Rin and Yukio weren't exactly planned.

Rin trails of, her voice fades.

"But that won't happen anyway, so why bother?" She mutters and Yukio knows he has to fix this.

He will. There isn't another option. There never were many options in his life.

"This will be over someday," he promises, not giving her a time or an explanation on this, but he thinks she understands him anyway.

"And then we will see. The Vatican won't go after you anymore, they won't dare to, and-"

Yukio considers stopping there for a moment. It is after all classified information for a reason.

But he didn't become an exorcist for them, did he?

He just wants to protect his family, what is left of it. That's the reason he has to be the strongest, he can't protect if he's weak.

Yukio doesn't stop talking.

"There are a lot of children like you- like us."

There are.

Many half demons, half humans, don't make it far in life. Demons don't raise children and the humans usually don’t want their cursed child. And if they do, they can't protect them. Split race children usually don't make it past eight, the oldest he has encountered was 16 and dying. There was no balance in their body, they were killing themselves.

The Vatican didn't help rogue mixed children either.

"They need a home."

And Rin understands. He knows she does, she sees it in the way her blue eyes sparkle and ideas come to life.

Maybe he isn't a horrible brother. Maybe he can do at least some things right.

Thanks for reading! The reason I wrote this? Mostly being annoyed by the lack of good genderbend fanfics. They all don’t seem really realistic to me, especially in cases like Rin here whose existence already angers the majority. Do you really think the Order would actually leave just the possibility open of her having kids? Nope. Then there’s also the fact that you could possibly draw parallels to Lilith. That was Adam’s first wife, who ran away and had children with a demon that then got killed by angels – short version. And since sexism is a thing and some Catholic priests actually do believe that women’s roles are raising children, well, I think the whole sterilization makes more sense if Rin’s a girl. (The priest in the church I went to is pretty chill though. Told him I’m pansexual and he was like “that’s okay. Some might say it’s not but the church is stupid sometimes” so please don’t go hating the whole institution now. The current pope is pretty cool too.) Yukio’s POV because I’ve always wanted to write him and try out this slightly more broken writing style. Time line wise this would be set just before the Kyoto Arc.