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fanfics-for-fun · 4 years ago

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Bend to Live | BTS | Chapter Two

Genre: Bending AU, BTS AU

Rating: 18+

Pairings: fire bender!jungkook x water bender!reader, none bender! Yoongi x fire bender!Jimin, none bender!OC x air bender!Namjoon

Warnings: Graphic description of open wound. Read with consciousness.

Word count: ~5.2k

Summary: You were one of the mightiest water benders. In one of your fights, you caught the attention of a mighty fire bender. And with that, your journey around the world began.

A/N: I hope you’re enyoing the second chapter of ‘Bend to Live’. If you want to be added to the taglist, send me an ask.

Jeongguk secretly watched you, while you were asleep. His mind wandering from how beautiful yet frightening you were and everything in between. His mind just wandered from point to point without realizing what he was actually thinking about.

He didn’t realize that he was staring at you until Yoongi punched him against his arm.

“Ouch! What was that for?” he asked his friend, rubbing over his arm.

“You’re staring at her like you’re undressing her with your eyes. Stop it. It’s really creepy,” Yoongi explained and Jeongguk turned a deep shade of red.

“I’m … not doing that,” Jeongguk mumbled, trying hard to avoid looking at you again.

“You are, Koo. Since when are you so easily pulled into a woman like her?” Yoongi asked. Jeongguk just shrugged and looked over at you, peacefully sleeping and looking like sleeping beauty to him.

“I don’t have a crush on her, if you wanna hint that,” Jeongguk stated and Yoongi brought his hands up in defence.

“Never said you have one. It’s just obvious that you’re interested in her and if it is just for deep friendship,” Yoongi said. “By the way, Taehyung sends me. He wants to train with you.” Jeongguk nodded, stood up and left the tent.

Louise smirked against Namjoon’s skin since she heard everything Yoongi and Jeongguk talked about, thinking that neither Louise nor you would hear anything at all. Automatically, Louise worked on a plan how to get you and Jeongguk onto a date. She really needed to talk with Namjoon about her plan. Maybe he’ll help her and that would be a good chance of getting closer to him. Louise was proud of herself while thinking about it. Two steps ticked of her to-do-list in one go.

Outside, Taehyung and Jeongguk got themselves ready for training, greeting each other in fire nation behaviour and then attacking each other instantly. Because of their fight, you woke up. You grumbled loudly as you cuddled deeper into the sheets. The smell of burned wood and the forest fogging your mind lightly.

A loud burst caused that you were sitting straight up in your borrowed bed. Jimin, who sat next to the campfire and made sure that it wouldn’t go out, was so startled by your actions that he flinched in his seat and looked at you.

“What is happening?” you asked him as you stood up to make your way out of the tent.

“Tae and Kook have a training fight outside. You don’t have to worry,” he said and you sat down next to him.

“Oh… okay,” you mumbled tiredly and rubbed your eyes.

“It’s already afternoon,” Jimin told you and you jumped up.

“Shit, I have to feed her,” you mumbled, packed your stuff and hurried out of the tent. You looked around in search for Louise who stood next to Lynn and helped Namjoon loading boxes on Lynn’s back. You rubbed your eyes tiredly.

“Oh, you’re awake! I wanted to wake you up soon anyway. We can’t let the polar bear dog starve,” Louise said as she spotted you. You made your way over to them and yawned.

“Thank you, Louise,” you mumbled and hugged her tightly.

“Hey! Y/N! You’re awake!” Taehyung shouted as he spotted you. He walked towards you and nearly couldn’t dodge one of Jeongguk’s attacks.

“Bloody hell, Tae! We aren’t finished yet!” Jeongguk shouted as he came after him.

“Cool down, Kook. I just wanted to make sure that everything’s alright and she slept well,” Tae said and ruffled his hair with a blow of the air. You chuckled and hid your mouth behind your hand.

“Hurry up then,” Jeongguk mumbled. He hated it when Taehyung stopped training, especially when it’s about something so simple and not really important, at least for the training. To Jeongguk personally, you needed to sleep well. It was in his bed after all.

“I slept amazing, Taehyung. Thanks for asking. Namjoon, Louise and I are heading off now. Have to feed the polar bear dog,” you said.

“But you should indeed cool down. It is polite to ask that,” you said directed at Jeongguk and got onto the back of Lynn with Louise’s help. Jeongguk just huffed.

“Should I help you cool down?” you asked and bent some snow above him.

“Thank you, I can do this myself. And I would prefer of staying warm,” he said, melting the snow and turning it into vapour by breathing fire at it. You giggled.

“Taehyung, as soon as you finished your fire bending training, please go to the gates and watch the water collide with the wall. I’ll meet you there, okay?” you said. Taehyung nodded, gave you thumbs up and went back to training with Jeongguk. Namjoon shortly after brought Lynn up into the air and together, you flew to the cave where the polar bear dog with her four pups lived. With a good distance to the cave, Namjoon landed Lynn, you grabbed one of the boxes and jumped off of her back. Looking around, you couldn’t spot the animal so you approached the cave and saw her laying inside with her pups.

“Hey, beauty,” you whispered. The polar bear dog lifted her head and looked at you.

“I have food,” you said as you opened the box. You walked towards her but stopped in your tracks because the animal growled deeply at you. You immediately backed off and realized that you were to close to her pups. You laid the meat down and went back to Lynn.

“Is everything okay?” Namjoon asked. You just nodded and took another box.

“She’s feeding her pups, so she’s a little more aggressive,” you explained quickly and made your way back to the cave. The polar bear dog stood in the entrance eating the meat. You laid more next to it, sat down in front of her and watched her.

“You must be so lonely and hungry,” you mumbled. The polar bear dog just kept on eating peacefully.

“You need a name… how about… Clara? Now, that’s a terrible name for you,” you said aloud and brushed a few strands of hair out of your face. Thinking heavily about a name, you scrunched your nose a little.

“Ireyon?” you mumbled to yourself and the animal lifted her head at this.

“You like this name? Okay, then I’ll call you Ireyon from now on,” you said and smiled at her. Ireyon finished eating and laid down in front of you. You started petting her softly and smiled. It felt like there was a friendship building between the animal and you. You loved it. You were always impressed by polar bear dogs and now being nearly friends with one felt like a dream come true.

After a while, you stood up.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’m coming back tomorrow, I promise,” you said, petted her shortly and made your way back to Namjoon, Louise and Lynn.

“What I’m saying is that I slept unquestionably well and that I don’t mind sleeping like this again with you,” you overheard Namjoon say and you smiled brightly. One month and they’re in a relationship, you thought to yourself and climbed onto Lynn.

“Can we go back?” Namjoon asked you. You nodded and enjoyed the cool breeze that ruffled through your hair as Namjoon flew back to the campsite.

“Thanks for the fly, Namjoon,” you said as you jumped off of the bison.

“You’re welcome,” he responded and unpacked Lynn.

“Hey, Y/N. Tae is already on the wall. He asked me if I could tell you that,” Jeongguk said as you looked around. You turned to look at him and smiled. His heart skipped a tiny bit and his ears turned slightly red. Why did this look so cute to him?

“Thanks, Jeongguk. I’m heading there then. Can you help Louise bring the meat in our apartment?” you asked and Jeongguk just nodded, still captivated by your smile and not fully realizing what you asked him.

“Thanks, see you,” you said, waved everyone and headed towards the wall. Jeongguk stared at you while you’re leaving and a small smile crept on his lips.

“Jeongguk! Could you at least please help me carry something? She’s already out of sight!” Louise shouted and threw Jeongguk out of his thoughts.

“Huh? Why?” he asked dumbfounded. Louise let out a loud laugh.

“Y/N asked you to help me carry the meat into her apartment. You said yes to that,” she explained.

“Did I?” Jeongguk mumbled to himself but helped Louise nonetheless.

“I know her smile is beautiful but make sure to pay more attention next time,” Louise said and headed towards your apartment. Jeongguk could feel his face heat up and he followed Louise like some kicked puppy. This was extraordinarily embarrassing, even for him.

“Taehyung! There you are!” you shouted as soon as you finally spotted him on the wall. He turned around and smiled at you.

“Hey, I already wondered where you were. You took longer than I thought,” Taehyung responded.

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting,” you said and looked down onto the water. It was silent for a few minutes and you noticed Taehyung’s confused stare at you.

“What did you learn about the origins of water bending, yesterday?” you asked and crossed your hands behind your back.

“The first water benders watched the push and pull dynamics of the moon and copied that,” he told you. You nodded and bent a bucket full of water in front of you.

“Do it then,” you said and looked expectantly at him.

“Right now? Don’t I need some more input for that?”

“You have enough input for that. Do it.” You looked at him, seeing him swallowing thickly. He got himself into the right position and tried to copy the movements, failing miserably.

“You think too much. Just copy the movements,” you said, lifting your hands and mimicking to pull the water out of the bucket which ended in you bending the water out of it. You dropped the water back into the bucket and looked at Taehyung. Taehyung tried it, too and the water moved a little upwards.

“Keep doing it until the water is completely out of the bucket,” you instructed and sat down, watching him peacefully. Taehyung did as you told him and repeated his movements over and over again. At some point, he found the right position of his feet and his hands and he managed to fully bend the water out of the bucket.

“Good job,” you said, standing up. He bent the water back into the bucket and looked proudly at you. You smiled at him and let your gaze drift over the water.

“Let’s wrap it up for today. You worked on this for over two hours. It’s enough,” you said and turned around.

“Wait, that’s it?” Taehyung asked confused.

“Yes, or do you want homework?” you responded confused. His eager gaze and fast nodding made you giggle.

“Take the bucket with you and keep training that move. I want you to be capable of bending that water instantly. If you feel comfortable enough, try moving it in the air,” you told him. He nodded and bowed deeply.

“Thank you, Sifu Y/N,” he said and stood straight again. You felt your face heat up and a shy smile appeared on your face.

“See you tomorrow,” you mumbled and started your walk to your apartment.

Louise unlocked your shared apartment, letting Jeongguk go in first. He looked around and wondered which of the doors would lead into your room.

“Follow me,” Louise said and went into the kitchen. Jeongguk did as told and put the boxes of meat into the fridge with the others Louise was carrying.

“Do you want to drink something?” Louise asked, opening a drawer and getting a glass out.

“No, thanks. I should be going back anyways,” he said, leaning against the counter.

“C’mon, lover boy. I’m sure you want to see her room and to know more about her. Since I’m Y/N’s best friend you have the best source for information about her right in front of you,” Louise said and poured herself some juice.

“I’m not invading her personal space like that! That’s remarkably rude,” Jeongguk responded. Louise turned around, smiling.

“You’re a gentleman… I see. But it’s nice that you didn’t deny your crush on her,” she said and sipped on her juice. Jeongguk’s complete face heated up and he swallowed thickly.

“Maybe… I have a tiny crush on her,” he mumbled and scratched the back of his neck.

“I knew it! Should I set up a blind date for you two?” Louise asked and was utterly excited.

“Thank you, but I’ll do this myself… if I ever dare to do that,” he answered, mumbling the last sentence more to himself.

“You know, I’m more than willing to help. It would be nice if Y/N would be met with love instead of fear,” Louise said. Jeongguk looked confused at her causing Louise to sigh.

“You know she is a powerful bender. There's a really sad story. I’m sure she’ll tell it someday to you and your friends,” Louise explained.

“Thank you,” Jeongguk said and grabbed the glass Louise was holding out to him. He sipped at it while thinking about what happened to you. Why were people terrified of you? Did you hurt someone? Where they just afraid of your powers?

Jeongguk was completely lost in his thoughts and didn’t realize the waving hand in front of his face until Louise poked him into his side. Jeongguk jumped a little and looked confused at her.

“What?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Namjoon wants you to come back. I think he has something to discuss with you,” Louise explained. Jeongguk emptied his glass quickly.

“Thank you for the drink,” he said and hurried out of the apartment. Louise looked after him and smiled slightly.

“This will be good,” she mumbled to herself and started cleaning up a little.

Meanwhile, Jeongguk hurried back to the camp-site and into the tent. Everyone except for Taehyung was already there and sat around the fire.

“What’s the problem?” Jeongguk asked a little bit out of breath. He sat down next to Yoongi and looked around.

“Taehyung’s parents are looking for Taehyung,” Namjoon said.

“Well, they’re doing this since we left. So where’s the problem?” Jin asked.

“They’re here. In this city,” Namjoon answered. Jimin gasped a little and grabbed Yoongi’s hand tightly.

“Are you sure?” Everyone felt into a little panicked chatter.

“Guys, please listen to me,” Namjoon interrupted and used his bending to let his voice be louder. “I saw them when I was going to get some groceries. I don’t think they saw me but we have to leave tomorrow to keep Taehyung save. I already informed Louise about it. She’ll tell Y/N and they’ll be here as the sun rises. We have to leave as soon as they’re here,” Namjoon explained.

“Tae and Y/N are still outside training?” Jeongguk asked. Everyone nodded.

“We have to get them. It could be dangerous if Taehyung went back alone,” he said.

“Jeongguk, I’m sure he can defend himself,” Namjoon said.

“No, he can’t. His parents are remarkably manipulating and you know that Tae has a sweet spot for them. If they’re saying the right thing, he’ll come with them and then, they’ll lock him away,” Jin hissed and crossed his arms. Jeongguk was already on his feet.

“We’re splitting up. I’ll search on the wall. Everyone else scans the city for Taehyung. We have to find him before his parents do,” he said and walked out of the tent. The other five followed him quickly and together, they searched the city, hoping that they find Taehyung before his parents do.

As you entered the apartment, Louise stood lightly upset in the hallway. You raised an eyebrow since it seemed like she wanted to say something. Even after a few seconds passed, Louise still couldn’t get it out, causing you to sigh.

“Oh, spirits. Spit it out already, Louise. Why are you so uncomfortable?” you snapped. Louise was fidgeting in her place.

“We need to find Taehyung. His parents are here. I don’t know why it is a problem but Namjoon said it is urgent,” Louise said quickly. You opened the door again and stepped out. Louise quickly followed behind you and together, you walked to the wall where Taehyung and you had his training.

“We did his training here.” You looked around and headed into the direction of the campsite. You looked around constantly, carefully looking for Taehyung and stopping at some shops to ask if he passed through here recently.

Louise and you walked through the streets for half an hour now and you still hadn’t found him. You just knew that you were on the right track because an elder lady just confirmed that he passed through here a few minutes ago.

“I don’t understand. He has to be here somewhere. The woman said that he got stopped by an elder woman and man who looked like they were from the earth kingdom. Why is he nowhere?” Louise said quietly to you and you agreed. He had to be somewhere here.

“Mom, Dad, please go back home. I guarantee you I’m okay,” you suddenly heard Taehyung say. You rushed instantly into that direction.

“You can’t know that Taehyung. You’re a weak Avatar. We’re just trying to protect you,” you heard a woman say. You finally arrived in a small alley where two adults cornered Taehyung.

“Mom, I’m sure you want the best for me but I can take care of myself. I’m in the middle of my water bending training,” he said and you could see the pain in his eyes from the statement his mother made before. ‘He seriously believes that he is weak,’ you thought to yourself. You cleared your throat and the two adults turned around, surprised that someone found them in this alley.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but Taehyungs’ friends are searching for him and I promised them I’ll bring him back safe,” you said politely. The man’s face contorted into an ugly angry expression. You just tilted your head at that.

“I don’t care. Taehyung is coming back home with us so he stays away from all of this. It is not good for him. He is way too weak for that,” the man hissed.

“Taehyung’s not weak. In fact, he managed to take me down which is a wonder itself,” you responded, raising your chin.

“As I said I don’t fucking bother. He is coming with us,” Taehyung’s father said aggressively.

“I’m sorry but I can’t let that happen,” you said and shifted your feet lightly. Taehyung noticed this and swallowed thickly.

“Y/N… you don’t have to do this,” he mumbled.

“Your parents are a vulnerable spot for you, Taehyung. If you can’t stand up against them, I will,” you said and crossed your hands behind your back. A wicked smile appeared on both faces of Taehyungs’ parents.

“You can’t win this. We’re two powerful earth bender. And this city is built on rocks. We’re taking Taehyung with us and there is nothing you can do against it,” the woman said and you sighed.

“And I’m the most powerful water bender at the North Pole and I’m a descendent of master Katara, the wife of Avatar Aang. It would surprise me if you could take me down,” you responded.

“I’ll teach you a lesson, brat,” the man said and attacked you.

Meanwhile, Louise rushed back to your apartment and packed your essentials. Namjoon helped her with it. He found the two of you and as he saw that you confronted Taehyungs’ parents, he decided to help Louise pack everything for the flight.

“I genuinely hope that Y/N can beat Taehyungs’ parents and the flight is even possible,” Louise said while packing hurriedly.

“Don’t worry. She doesn’t have to beat them. She just has to have them under control until Jeongguk arrives. Together, they’ll be able to grab Taehyung and run while they’re keeping his parents under control,” Namjoon explained.

“I’m still scared that she’ll be injured again. If she’s heavily injured she can’t heal properly and if Jeongguk gets injured too, she can’t heal him or even worse… what is if Taehyung gets injured and that causes the Avatar state to break through and he destroys the city?!” Louise asked herself panic-fuelled. Namjoon silently listened to her ramble and shouldered the packed bag.

“Nothing’s gonna happen. C’mon, we need to go,” he said and reached out for her hand. Louise took it quickly and together, they hurried out of the apartment and into the direction of the campsite. They had to cross the street where you were still fighting the parents of Taehyung. They were really good and you had a lot of trouble dodging and parrying their attacks.

“Give up! You can’t beat us!” Taehyung’s father roared. You shot some water into his face and froze it. With a slap against it, the man broke it quickly. You swallowed thickly and looked at Taehyung. He stood still on the side and watched. He had a mental fight with himself. Should he help you or defend his parents who gave him everything he ever had? And you couldn’t blame him for that. A stone slit through your clothes, leaving a bleeding scratch on your skin. You hissed in pain and looked angry at Taehyung’s mother.

“Oh? Did I hurt you?” she said mockingly loving. You threw some ice daggers in her direction.

“I didn’t want to hurt you because you’re Taehyungs’ parents but you crossed a line and I don’t care anymore,” you hissed and threw ice dagger after ice dagger in their direction. They managed to parry most of them but some left scratches on them, too.

“Y/N! It’s enough!” you suddenly heard Jeongguk shout. You turned around to look at him, bending an ice wall behind you for protection.

“What the hell are you doing here? I nearly had them,” you hissed.

“If you hurt them badly, Taehyung would be enraged and he would shift into the Avatar state. I’m here to prevent anything like that. We take him and then, we hurry to the campsite so we can get out of here,” he explained and kept a close eye on Taehyungs’ parents who shoot stone after stone at your ice wall. You let out an annoyed huff.

“Fine,” you said and shot the ice wall into the direction of Taehyungs’ parents. You used this as a distraction, grabbed Taehyung and started running to the campsite. Jeongguk followed right behind you with Taehyungs’ parents right behind him. You breathed heavily and bent some walls in their way so the gap would grow bigger.

And then, something happened which had to happen. You couldn’t parry an attack of the woman and she shot an earth dagger right through your thigh. You screamed in pain and fell onto the ground. Taehyung and Jeongguk stopped in their tracks and turned to look at you. Jeongguk’s face turned pale as he saw the big dagger in your thigh. Taehyung bent a tent around you three, while you curled on the ground.

“Shit shit shit, this shouldn’t have happened,” Jeongguk mumbled to himself and kneeled next to you. You cried silently and managed to roll on your back.

“Jeongguk, what should we do? She can’t run anymore!” Taehyung said and tried to not let the tent break under the force of the attacks of his parents.

“We have to remove the dagger,” Jeongguk said.

“N-no!” you managed to scream through your sobs. Jeongguk bit his lip and lifted you quickly. You cried out in pain because of the sudden movement.

“It’s not long until we’re at the campsite. As soon as we’re in the air, we’ll take care of your wound. Taehyung, make sure that nothing’s happening to neither me nor Y/N. Am I understood?” he hissed. Taehyung nodded quickly.

“At three you try to distract your parents to allow us to escape. One, two, three!” Jeongguk said. Taehyung bent the walls as a distraction and Jeongguk started running. You cried out in pain again and tears streamed down your face. It hurt like hell and you just hoped the wound wouldn’t get infected. Taehyung followed shortly behind you and made sure you and Jeongguk were safe. You cried the whole way to the campsite. As soon as the others saw the three of you, they helped you onto Lynn and Namjoon gave her the order to fly as everyone was on her back. Jeongguk watched Taehyungs’ angry parents on the ground and was relieved as they didn’t try to follow them.

“What the fuck happened!?” Louise shouted, kneeling next to you and watching your curled up figure.

“My mother injured her. It’s her dagger,” Taehyung mumbled and scooted away. He wasn’t able to look at the wound but to be fair, it looked sickening.

“We have to remove the clothing,” Louise instructed and looked for a knife. Jeongguk kneeled next to you, grabbed the clothing of your trousers and tore it apart. He removed the whole fabric underneath your hips like this.

“Or like that,” Louise mumbled to yourself. She inspected the wound and swallowed thickly. Because of the uneven surface of the dagger, the meat around it was torn to shreds.

“We have to remove the dagger. If it infects the wound it’ll get really ugly,” Louise said.

“Y/N said we shouldn’t do that,” Jeongguk responded and lifted your leg a little. Some blood dribbled onto Lynn’s saddle and he wiped it away quickly. Your sobs grew even louder at the movement of your leg.

“Y/N? Can you heal?” Louise asked and laid her hands on your cheeks. You looked at her and nodded.

“I-I can try, b-but I do-don’t know if it is st-strong e-enough,” you said between broken sobs.

“Hoseok? Remove the stone, carefully. We don’t want to damage more than already is,” Louise instructed. “This will hurt a lot. Are you ready?” You nodded and took a deep breath. You grabbed Jeongguk’s hand tightly. Hoseok scooted closer, raised your leg and carefully bent the rock out of you. You screamed out in pain, squeezed Jeongguk’s hand and threw your head back. As the dagger was removed, you were dizzy because of the pain. More tears spilt out of your eyes and you felt how a gush of blood shot out of the wound. Somehow, you managed to bend some water into the wound and used your healing powers to properly stop the bleeding. Everyone watched carefully, ready to step in if you would lose consciousness. You collapsed as soon as your powers gave in.

“It’s okay. We’ll handle the rest from here. You did amazing,” Louise said and grabbed the first-aid kit. You smiled at her and shortly after, you lost your consciousness. Jeongguk kept on holding your hand while Louise treated your wound. He looked at your face, thoughts racing through his head about how incredible you are because you stood through this.

“And she is unconscious because of me again,” Taehyung mumbled to himself.

“It’s not your fault, Tae. Your mother did this, not you. Because of her, she is injured,” Yoongi said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yoongi’s right, Tae,” Jimin said and smiled softly at his best friend.

“But if I didn’t run away from my parents, this wouldn’t have happened,” Taehyung said, causing Yoongi and Jimin sigh synchronously.

“Maybe I should go back home as they said. Maybe I am weak,” he continued.

“Quit the bullshit, Taehyung. You’re one of the most powerful benders I’ve ever met and it’s like Y/N said. Your bending itself doesn’t define strength,” Jeongguk snapped and looked angry at Taehyung.

“Yes, she got injured and yes, it’s your mother's fault and yes, it was a really ugly sight. But you saved her Taehyung. Without you I would have been incapable of carrying her to the campsite and without you, we both would be dead. So quit blaming yourself of the bad things that happened and look at the good things. We all will be injured again because we stick together and sometimes, you won’t be near to help us with our injuries but this is a risk everyone here is willing to take, Taehyung. We’re not here because we think you’re weak. Were here because together, you’re even stronger so please stop blaming yourself about things you can’t control,” Jeongguk said angrily and took a deep breath afterwards. Taehyung slowly started smiling brightly.

“Thank you, Kookie. I didn’t know that you would ever say something like this,” Taehyung said.

“Don’t call me Kookie and don’t pretend like I’m a stone without feelings. I may not show them often but I have them,” Jeongguk grumbled and helped Louise laying you down properly. Taehyung rolled his eyes at that.

“Smartass,” he mumbled.

“So… where are we going? We can’t go back and Y/N needs treatment after she wakes up,” Louise asked.

“We’re going to the southern air temple,” Namjoon stated.

“That’s a long flight, Namjoon. It’ll take a few days. Do you think this is a good idea?” Jin questioned.

“Yes. It is the air temple where Taehyhungs’ parents have absolutely no excess to and it is very far away from the North Pole,” Namjoon answered and climbed onto the saddle.

“On top of that, it has great spiritual energy which would help her recovering faster,” he added and got comfortable.

“You’re siriously going to sleep now?” Jeongguk asked.

“Of course. Lynn knows the way and I don’t have anything else to do. Y/N’s in a stable condition and there is nothing to worry about while we’re in the air. Wake me up as soon as you’re getting tired and I’ll watch Y/N for you, Jeongguk,” Namjoon responded and covered himself with a blanket.

“Okay,” Jeongguk said. The others got comfortable, too and Jimin happily curled up on Yoongi’s side. He laid an arm around Jimin’s waist and pressed a kiss on his forehead. Jimin giggled happily and pressed himself into Yoongi. Jeongguk watched it fondly and turned to look at you. You were still unconscious. He grabbed a blanket and tugged you in.

“You’re being really sweet,” Louise said and smiled.

“I’m just making sure she isn’t freezing,” Jeongguk said and slowly rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand. He was really afraid of losing you as you had the stone dagger in your thigh. Now, you looked like nothing of the things happening in the last two hours occurred.

“I know. And she’ll appreciate that,” Louise said. Jeongguk looked around. Everyone - except for Yoongi and Jimin - were already asleep. But the two young men didn’t recognize anything around them since they were in their pink world.

“Louise?” Jeongguk suddenly said, looking serious at her.

“Yes?” she responded and tilted her head a little.

“Maybe I do have a huge crush on Y/N,” he said and Louise giggled.

“I know but I won’t tell anyone. Tell me if it turns into more than a crush and I’ll help you wherever you want me to,” Louise said and got comfortable, too. Jeongguk nodded and watched your peaceful state while Lynn made sure they arrived as soon as possible at the southern air temple.

Taglist: @neinyasficrecs @deolly

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mythologyfolklore · 4 years ago

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Ares and Athena through the years - Ch. 16

Chapter Sixteen: Meanwhile ...

When Ares had chosen to leave for a world journey, Aphrodite and his children had tearfully said goodbye.

Hephaistos had been there too, although he given his older brother a warm grip of the hand, rather than shedding tears.

The rest of his family had also come to say goodbye.

“Take care of yourself”, Artemis had said, while giving him a firm hug.

Ares had laughed: “I'll do my best.”

“Don't get caught by giants and locked in a jar”, Hermes had grinned.

“Oh shut up, squirt!”, the war god had snorted and lightly slapped the Messenger's shoulder.

Hera had given her son an awkward hug; after the Trojan War things were more tense between them than usual.

Zeus had been more affectionate, giving his son a firm embrace and a kiss to the forehead (an extremely rare gesture of fatherly love from the King of the Gods).

“I suppose you will be gone for a few Olympian decades?”

“Yes, father. Seeing the world and getting to know new people takes a while.”

“Goodbye then, my son. Take care of yourself, as Artemis said. Don't forget to write. We want to know how you are doing and how it is, where you're staying.”

“Unless the place I get to doesn't have a writing system, sure!”

With that, Ares had spurred on his horses and left Olympos.

First he had gone to Thrace to say goodbye to his twin and his friends.

Enyo had tearfully begged him to stay or at least take her along, same as Eris.

But Ares had insisted, that he needed some alone time (although it had hurt him to leave his twin behind).

“I need someone to do my duties”, he had told her. “You're the only one who can, Enyo. Your domain is the same as mine. You guys just take care of my home, okay?”

Then he had left.

At first he toured around Hellas. It couldn't hurt to see what was going on and maybe check how the survivors of the Trojan War were doing.

Many of the Trojan women had died or worse, were living a miserable life as concubines.

Aineias, the son of Aphrodite, had gathered a few survivors and was now sailing the seas.

To his great delight, most of the Achaeans had met a bitter end: Agamemnon had been killed by his wife and her lover, Ajax the Lesser was dead, so were many others. And the best thing was, that his old enemy Diomedes had gone through some shit, only to come home to a nasty surprise.

Now the hero who had once wounded him and Aphrodite, was wandering the lands and seas in search of a place to live.

Ares couldn't resist the temptation and descended onto the earth.

Diomedes was done with everything.

He had almost drowned in a massive thunderstorm, then been washed ashore on the coast of Libya, only to nearly be sacrificed to Ares. Then he had landed in Attica, where the local king had mistaken him and his crew for pirates and had attacked them. And when he had finally come home to Argos, he had found his wife not only unfaithful to him, but also ready to kill him.

Now he had nowhere to go.

This moment he was walking through a forest, when he spotted a small river. Tired from the long march, he sat down, let his feet dangle in the water and sighed contentedly at the sensation.

“Feels nice, doesn't it?”

He jumped at the sound of the voice and hastily grabbed his spear.

But it was just a little girl sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, dangling a leg.

Except it wasn't.

Diomedes still had his enhanced sight and knew a god, when he saw one.

The girl twirled her auburn hair and eyed him with twisted curiosity.

“You look like life wasn't kind to you, sir”, she noted.

He shrugged. “Is life kind to anyone?”

“To some”, she replied. “You look like someone glorious. A hero. Isn't that a kindness of life?”

“I'm not so certain anymore.”

The child giggled.

“You seem pretty happy”, he remarked.

“Likely happier than you”, the other teased. “Then again, heroes almost never get to live happily ever after, huh?”

Diomedes resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

“Your disguise isn't very subtle, Lord Ares Polydakros¹.”

The other snickered and leapt off the branch. When his feet touched the ground, he had turned from a little girl to what was basically a human form of his divine shape.

It made the Argive shudder. He almost averted his eyes, but managed to steel his nerves and hold the other's burning gaze (though his body refused to stop trembling).

“So Glaukópis² let you keep your enhanced sight”, Ares noted. “Interesting. Not that it's of much use to you now.”

“Have you come to gloat?”

“Yes, actually. After your stunt back at Ilion³, it is really satisfying to see you this humbled. And I don't even need to have revenge, because Aphrodite already had hers. Betrayal is a nasty thing, isn't it?”

The god's grin was twisted and way too broad. Obviously he was revelling in the other's discomfort and misfortune.

Diomedes refused to dignify the god's remark anyhow.

“But don't feel bad”, Ares chuckled, “It could be much worse. Most of the Achaeans drowned, Agamemnon was murdered and that psychopathic brat Neoptolemos was slain by Apollon's priests for some blasphemy a few days ago. Also, Menélaos, my half-sister Helene and Odysseus are all stuck far away from home. Compared to that, you got off easy!”

His smirk vanished. “You should be grateful, son of Tydeus. Considering the shit ton of murder attempts you escaped, you're actually really, really lucky.”

Diomedes bit his lip.

So he isn't going to kill me, then.

“No”, Ares answered his thought. “I'm not.”

Diomedes took a deep breath and forced himself to stop trembling, before putting his spear down.

“You can't blame me for being afraid of you”, he told the god bluntly.

The Man-Slayer laughed: “I don't. Only a fool wouldn't fear war.”

“What do you want then – apart from gloating, obviously.”

“Give you a piece of my mind”, the war god replied bluntly. “Remember how my granddaughter Kallirhoë saved you from being sacrificed to me by my son? You could at least have thanked her.”

Diomedes blinked in confusion. “But I left her a letter?”

“Kallirhoë couldn't read, Diomedes.”

Oh. Oh shit.

“The Libyans don't have a writing system”, Ares explained, “And even if they did, she was mentally disabled. It would have been extremely hard for her to learn how to read, if at all. Not that it matters now; she's dead. Hanged herself, because you broke her heart.”

Shit times two.

“Of course killing you sounds tempting”, the god went on. “But luckily for you, my family has other plans for you. Don't think Athena has forgot you. After all, you and Odysseus have always been her favourites. So before I leave, one last piece of advice: take the next ship to Italy, find the last surviving Trojans, lead by Aphrodite's son Aineias and return the Palladion to them. Only then will your misfortune end, for even though you had Athena's approval, that doesn't change the fact that you robbed it.”

For a few seconds Diomedes considered, if this was a trap. But it sounded logical enough, so he memorised it anyways.

Ares stood up and unfolded a pair of huge red wings. Then he took to the air and was gone, leaving behind only a single red feather.

Diomedes knew better than to consider this a sign of goodwill.

Ares, having gained just a bit of closure, continued his tour.

He had seen what he had wanted to see. Now it was time to leave Hellas and explore the rest of the world.

He hadn't been to Aigyptos in quite a while. He had a few friends there, who would be delighted to see him.

“ARES! EYYY!”, Sekhmet roared in delight.

“EYYY, SEKHMET! SO GOOD TO SEE YA!”, Ares yelled back and they engulfed each other in a bone-crushing hug.

“IT'S BEEN SO LONG, MOTHERFUCKER! HOW ARE YOU DOING?”

“DOIN' GREAT, YOU BOSS ASS BITCH! AND YOU?”

“GREAT! THE OTHERS ARE TOO!”

“AWESOME!”

A dignified cough interrupted them.

“Can you two please stop yelling?”, Thoth asked. “It's headache-inducing. Apart from that, welcome, Ares. What brings you here?”

“I'm travelling the world!”, Ares beamed at the ibis-headed god. “Just started my journey and I wanted to see old friends, before I discover the rest. My presence won't be needed in the next centuries, so why not get away from it all and do something new?”

“That's fair”, Thoth agreed. “Sadly, none of us can leave Ta Meri⁴ right now; the earthly world is quite a mess.”

Ares frowned: “Yeah, back in Europa too.”

---

1) Polydakros: "Of Many Tears/Of Much Weeping", an epithet of Ares, referring to the woe and grief, which war brings. 2) Glaukópis: "Bright-Eyed/Owl-Eyed", an epithet of Athena, because of her bright eyes, which depending on the source are either grey or blue (in my version they're blue). 3) Ilion = Troy 4) Ta Meri: "Beloved Land", one of the ancient Egyptian terms for ... well, ancient Egypt, as the word Egypt is Greek in origin. The Egyptians also called their country Kemet, "Black (Land)", referring to the fertile soil along the river Nile, which was very dark because of the yearly inundations. The desert parts of Egypt were referred to as "Ta Desheret", which means "Red Land" and was the domain of the goddess Sekhmet and the god Set (and some other deities associated with the desert.

#Greek Mythology #ares #aphrodite #artemis #hermes #zeus #hera #enyo #eris #diomedes #egyptian mythology #sekhmet #thoth #world-weariness #tw: suicide mention

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gltrngold-a · 5 years ago

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— ♥　♡　♥　THE SOVEREIGN ♥　♡　♥ —

“It's more like a song on a policeman's radio, how we rolled up the carpet so we could dance, and the days were bright red, and every time we kissed there was another apple to slice into pieces.”

�� crush, richard siken

｢ jodie comer. 23. female. she/her. ｣ welcome to cerulean pier, home of many mythological beings. did you know that our resident REGINA COLERIDGE is the child of ENYO? they don’t, maybe that’s why they’re known as the SOVEREIGN around town. they are PERSUASIVE & ENERGETIC, but also JUDGEMENTAL & CONCEITED. they are also currently AN ACTRESS. don’t say anything, but they are hiding THAT SHE ANONYMOUSLY SMEARED A COMPETITOR IN A MAGAZINE TO GET A LEAD ROLE. ｢ shannon, 20, she/her, bst. ｣

— ♥　♡　♥　basics ♥　♡　♥ —

name: regina florence coleridge age: twenty-three birthdate: 27 august, 1996 — cambridge, england zodiac ( sun ) sign: virgo orientations: pansexual, panromantic relationship status: single label: the sovereign occupation: actress

faceclaim: jodie comer height: 5 ft 8 in

— ♥　♡　♥　personality ♥　♡　♥ —

mbti: estp-a enneagram: seven, with an eight wing hogwarts house: slytherin temperament: choleric theme song: copycat by billie eilish

hobbies: martial arts, running, binge-drinking ( oops. ) spinning, astrology, tarot ( don’t tell anyone ! ) partying, mostly. modelling / being people’s muse in general captivates her.

— ♥　♡　♥　favourites ♥　♡　♥ —

songs:

new rules by dua lipa all i ever wanted by basshunter what hurts the most by cascada

television series:

green wing (2004-2007) community (2009-2015) fleabag (2016-2019)

books:

confessions of a teenage drama queen (dyan sheldon, 1999) good omens (neil gaiman and terry pratchett, 1990) bridget jones’ diary (helen fielding, 1996)

films:

home alone (1990) bill & ted’s excellent adventure (1989) drop dead fred (1991)

— ♥　♡　♥　summary ♥　♡　♥ —

okay so here’s the hoedown throwdown about cerulean pier’s party princess, regina! tw for drugs and alcohol mentioned, though not in detail, below.

i think there’s definitely sidney pierce from gypsy in her. and a little hayes morrison from conviction.

extrovert #1 and snack fiend. chaotic bisexual bastard.

obviously she doesn’t know anything about her life pre-island, but she still sounds english. perfectly received-pronunciation and lovely, and yes, people stay jealous and pressed about it.

her ( fake ) father is a politician. and as you can imagine, politics was the true love of his life, in and outside the home, and it didn’t exactly foster the closest relationship with him.

because of that and the obvious absence of her mother — enyo — she’s never really gotten the sense that anyone owes anyone commitment ?

she did briefly progress with her one serious relationship, but with that having ended two years ago, she’s mega regressed, folks.

regina is a little too willing to throw hands, start fights, etc. ( she came out to attack people and she’s having such a good time right now. it’s the enyo in her. ) it’s a personal favourite thing of hers to throw hands with rings on. it’s pretty and painful and what’s better than that?

through back-room connections ( in some ways scrupulous, some ways not ) the eighteen year old was given a place at the prestigious drama school, and became the muse of a leading director.

however, that didn’t come without being willing to play the game. did i mention the one who came with her to drama school? her best friend, who was the other person who caught the director’s eye.

so regina did what seeing her father in politics for so long taught her: go secretive, go underhanded, and it will get you far. because she was never taught not to. sabotaging others subtly while smiling too-sweetly to their faces had made her queen bee, and it was a strategy she wasn’t going to be letting go of any time soon.

she’s got acting awards, people! they sit in pride of place on her mantelpiece and she cares for them like they’re her own children. so yeah, ‘gina’s pretty darn famous and she’s having a great time with it. getting herself entangled romantically and otherwise with the elite is her favourite game!

she’s just a messy bitch who lives for drama. and the world is giving it to her.

she’s developed several issues with alcohol and substance abuse over the last couple years, especially since her break-up. it’s an unfortunate side-effect of the crowds she got in with, and never really having the influence in her life to pull her away from it / tell her to go to rehab. someone really should do that.

— ♥　♡　♥　wanted connections ♥　♡　♥ —

fans — she’d hardly be famous without them! give me people who know regina’s work and love her for it. we can plot whether they get on or if it’s a never meet your idols kind of scenario !

nemesis — someone who just can’t stand regina, no matter how she may try to swindle and charm them. they’re determined to let cerulean pier know who their ‘queen bee’ really is.

squad — bring me ye party-goers, ye chaos-creators, ye bitches! there’s no queen bee without a hive, and there’s no group of people regina coleridge loves more than her guys and gals. getting themselves in the magazines since the very beginning, baby!

best friend — the one regina stabbed in the back to get the acting job. they still don’t know it was her, they’re still absolutely brilliant friends, and regina feels no remorse for it whatsoever, so let’s give ourselves some fun future angst here. after all, it’s a secret she’s been sitting on for five years without telling.

unrequited crush — let’s force regina to face the reality of there being someone she wants but she just can’t have. fun slap in the face here. she needs it.

one night stands — past, present, or future, the promiscuous party princess truly is down for whatever (when it comes to you) !

eventual romantic interest because let’s make her feel something. could be slow burn. doesn’t have to be. let’s talk about it.

#gods:intro

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draconym · 7 years ago

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stories about your snakes and birds makes my heart so happy! could you tell one story about them all? like, one that makes you laugh when you look back on it or is really telling of their personalities or just silly? i would love to hear more about each of them. thank you for being wonderful

Aw, I’m honored that you would ask! The first thing that comes to mind is that time Mousetrap got stuck in a friend’s stove.

Before you assume there must be some kind of complicated story to explain this situation: there really isn’t. An elderly friend became enamored with our snakes while visiting our house and asked me to bring them to her dinner party. I did, and during the party she wanted to watch Mousetrap’s climbing skills in action, so I foolishly allowed him to climb freely up a chair. He took that opportunity to launch himself into the nearby (nonfunctional, thank goodness) stove and lodge himself inside before anyone could grab him.

It took us a long time to take apart the stove enough to get him out. He seemed really pleased with himself for having found such a perfect hiding spot, but he wasn’t too hard to remove once we could reach him.

My friend thought the entire event was hilarious from start to finish.

Dig Dug, who does often get himself stuck in things, is generally not very wily and does this seemingly by accident. He spends a lot of time knotted up in what look like pretty uncomfortable positions. But I guess comfortable is relative.

Enyo and Mai Tai have been buds for well over 10 years, although Mai Tai only recently started living with me. They have completely different personalities: Enyo is very gregarious, loves new people, real party animal, gets very attached to every cockatiel he meets. Mai Tai mostly wants to watch people from afar, and sit near you but not on you. It takes a lot for her to be interested in other cockatiels. She’s married to a toy that she’s had through several owners. Since we got her to stop laying eggs (by giving her a nest of plastic eggs to sit on) we think she and Mr. Bell are good for each other.

Both Enyo and Mai Tai have the most fun together when they team up to destroy things on my desk, as pictured here in this photo from 2009 of my college dorm room. It’s impossible to keep them off my desk, so I keep a supply of paper scraps on hand that I refer to as “bird distractors” which I use to draw their attention away from actually important things on my desk.

Around the time this photo was taken, they pooped in my printer’s paper tray and broke the whole printer.

Special shoutout to Lor (short for Taylor) who we found out had cancer shortly after we adopted him in 2012. I don’t think I’ve mentioned him much on tumblr, but Lor was an absolute character and he and Enyo totally loved one another (in this picture they are singing very loudly into each other’s faces). We only had him a short time but we miss that little weirdo every day.

Ripley, as you know, is a lovable terror and he runs our house. I don’t even know where to start with him, but if you haven’t visited his Twitter, it’s probably the most comprehensive collection of Ripley quotes and stories in any one place.

Suffice it to say, when you have an animal that intelligent living with you, he trains you AT LEAST as much as you think you are training him. People who come over to our house are often kind of baffled by the mutual vocabulary we have developed with Ripley, and with how we automatically do whatever he asks of us (”dance,” “shake your toes,” "let’s go in kitchen”). He also derives great joy from his ability to cause an entire room full of people to sing “Mahna Mahna.”

#photos #birds #snakes #mousetrap #dig dug #enyo #mai tai #cockatiels #Anonymous #ripley parrot

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jennycalendar · 7 years ago

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s2e14: innocence

synopsis: willow pieces together part of a secret, and jenny gives her the rest. then things start falling to bits.

INT. LIBRARY — DAY

Giles is paging through books, and Jenny is asleep at the keyboard. Giles looks up, notices this, smiles, and takes off his jacket, moving to tuck it around Jenny as a makeshift blanket.

Willow enters, placing her backpack down on the table and giving Giles a little wave. She notices him attending to Jenny and smiles slightly.

WILLOW

Aww. She fell asleep?

GILES

She still isn’t all that used to pulling all-nighters.

WILLOW

Her and me both. I nearly conked out in English today.

Jenny yawns. For a moment, it seems like she’s waking up, but she just kind of shifts a little and goes back to sleep. Giles lets his hand linger on her shoulder before he turns back to the books.

WILLOW

Any word from Angel?

GILES

Unfortunately not, but I’m remaining optimistic.

WILLOW

Seems like a good plan.

Willow crosses the room to pick up a book herself, but she isn’t really paying attention to what she’s reading.

WILLOW

Giles?

GILES

Hmm?

WILLOW

Where’d Ms. Calendar go last night when she kissed you on the cheek and ran off? Did she ever tell you where she went?

GILES

Um — no. Why?

Willow shrugs, looking a little pensive.

WILLOW

No reason.

This is when Jenny finally does wake up, groaning a little as she pulls herself into a sitting position.

JENNY

Oh, god, this is worse than any hangover. I think I have keyboard imprints on my face.

GILES

I’ll make you some tea.

JENNY

Coffee.

GILES

Absolutely not.

Giles and Jenny exchange a tired smile as he passes, crossing into his office. Willow hovers, book in hand.

JENNY

Hey, Willow, how was your day?

WILLOW

Ms. Calendar, what’s the deal with you and Angel?

Jenny glances nervously over her shoulder at the closed door of Giles’s office, then realizes too late that this has given her away.

JENNY

(stumbling)

What do you mean?

WILLOW

You’ve always been really strange around him, and then you were all like “let’s drive Angel down to the docks and out of the country,” and now no one’s heard anything from him, and, and, I’m just saying—

(hesitates)

It just looks a little weird from my angle, that’s all, and the way you’re looking at me right now makes me think I might not be wrong.

A brief pause, and then Jenny nods, as if coming to an important decision.

JENNY

Willow, what I’m going to tell you is something you cannot tell anyone else, okay?

WILLOW

(doubtful)

Depends on what you tell me.

JENNY

Fair enough.

(pauses, uncomfortable)

I was sent here by my family to watch Angel and make sure he’s still miserable, and I haven’t been doing a very good job of it. My uncle came to town to yell at me because I think Angel deserves a second chance, and my family is of the mind that he deserves to suffer for what he did. I went down last night to tell off my uncle, and it didn’t go well. I think that about covers it.

Willow’s eyes are very wide.

GILES (O.C.)

Jenny, do you want your tea in that awful mug you gave me or a proper British teacup?

Jenny looks nervously up at Willow. It’s hard to tell what Willow’s thinking at that moment.

JENNY

(to Willow)

Please don’t tell him.

A long, tense silence.

GILES (O.C.)

No answer means I go with the awful mug. Just so you know.

WILLOW

(quiet, pointed)

But you don’t want to hurt him. Or Buffy.

JENNY

I would never.

Willow nods slowly.

WILLOW

You know you’re going to have to tell everyone else at some point. Because if this comes out in a different way—

JENNY

I know.

Giles comes back in with a large mug reading “KISS THE LIBRARIAN” and hands it over to Jenny.

GILES

(jokingly)

I’ll have you know I still don’t condone this mug, but it does work quite well for large amounts of tea.

(frowns)

Are you both all right?

Jenny and Willow exchange a look.

WILLOW

(soft, decisive)

We’re good.

Willow scoots her chair a little closer to Jenny, then goes back to reading. Jenny, touched, takes a sip of tea.

INT. COMPUTER LAB — NIGHT

Jenny steps into the lab, turning on the light, and begins rifling through her desk for some more research materials.

ENYOS

Janna.

Jenny jumps, looking up, then turns back to her desk, visibly frustrated.

ENYOS

We have pressing matters to discuss.

JENNY

I thought you said I was at a crossroads and that only I could ever really—

ENYOS

Angelus is back.

Jenny stops, then looks up, a few papers in hand.

JENNY

What?

ENYOS

I had hoped to stop it—

JENNY

How is that possible? We cursed him with a soul, that’s—

ENYOS

You always have heard only what you wish to hear, Janna, haven’t you? The curse is a punishment made for Angelus to suffer, not to live as human. One moment of true happiness, of contentment, where his soul that we restored does not plague his thoughts - and that soul is taken from him.

Jenny reels. The papers slip from her hands.

JENNY

(small, broken)

He gave me peridot. For the nightmares.

ENYOS

This is out of our hands now.

JENNY

He saved my life.

ENYOS

I have come here to tell you that Angelus is back, and that your duties in Sunnydale have ended. I had hoped to stop this curse from breaking before it began, but I see now that it was destined to be so.

JENNY

My duties in Sunnydale are far from being over.

ENYOS

(almost sad)

You were always far too rash, too impulsive—

JENNY

Looks like it.

She turns and exits without looking back, letting the door slam behind her.

INT. HALLWAY — NIGHT

Jenny is halfway to the library when she realizes that she’s forgotten her papers.

JENNY

Damn it!

As she’s turning back to the computer lab, the lights flicker. She hesitates, wavering, and catches sight of something down the hall.

JENNY

What…

ANGEL

Ah, Jenny!

Jenny freezes. Angel’s face is in shadow, but his tone is more jovial than usual — more casual and bright.

ANGEL

You’ll have to excuse me. I’m on my way to talk to Willow, I think I saw her down the hall?

JENNY

(quiet, sad)

Angel, I, I wanted to say thanks. For the peridot, and the advice, and for saving my life.

ANGEL

Aw, shucks, it was nothing. Hey, come a little closer, I might have something else up my sleeve for you.

This is when Willow and Xander round the corner.

WILLOW

(bright)

Angel! I’m so glad—

Jenny steps in front of the kids, eyes on Angel.

JENNY

Let’s all go back to the library.

ANGEL

Oh, interesting. Looks like Jenny here knows something she shouldn’t.

WILLOW

Ms. Calendar?

XANDER

What’s going on?

JENNY

We’re heading back to the library.

XANDER

You’re kind of blocking us, actually.

ANGEL

That might be a good thing.

Angel steps into the light, vamp face on. Xander’s still confused, but Willow looks like she’s beginning to understand.

JENNY

Angel, if you don’t mind—

ANGEL

I think I do mind.

JENNY

—we’re just going to—

ANGEL

I think I’d like my necklace back. Can you come over here and give it to me, Jenny?

JENNY

That’s not good gift-giving etiquette.

ANGEL

Well, you gave me a soul and took it back, so what does that say about you?

Jenny flinches.

BUFFY

Angel?

All eyes turn to Buffy, standing at the end of the hallway. Angel turns to see her, and Jenny takes this opportunity to try and shove Willow and Xander in the direction of the library.

XANDER

Ms. Calendar—

JENNY

Both of you, I will fail you in my class five times over if you do not go to the library right now.

ANGEL

Buffy! Such great timing! I’ve got a message for you.

BUFFY

Then give it to me.

ANGEL

Well, it’s not really that kind of a message—

In a swift move, Angel lunges. He almost gets Willow, but Xander shoves himself in front of Willow and Jenny, shoving Angel back. Surprised, Angel stumbles, giving Xander enough time to grab Willow’s hand and pull her into the library.

ANGEL

God, I always hated that one.

BUFFY

This isn’t you.

ANGEL

Wrong. It’s more me than I’ve been in a very, very long time.

JENNY

No, Angel, it really isn’t.

Giles stumbles out of the library, holding a cross and looking thoroughly confused.

GILES

Jenny, Willow and Xander are saying—

(catches sight of Angel)

Oh, God.

ANGEL

Hey, great, the librarian’s here! Now it really is a party.

Giles looks frightened, then determined, then grabs Jenny’s elbow, pulling her into the library with him.

INT. LIBRARY — NIGHT

GILES

What’s going on?

Jenny looks at him for a long moment, then buries her face in her hands.

GILES

Jenny, what—

Jenny draws in a breath, then raises her head.

JENNY

This is all my fault.

GILES

What is?

JENNY

He — I had no idea that this could ever happen, you have to believe me, I would have told you right away if I thought—

WILLOW

(soft)

I can vouch for her, Giles, she really didn’t know.

GILES

(completely lost)

Know what?

Jenny looks helplessly up at Giles.

JENNY

My secret’s out.

Giles still doesn’t get it, and looks like he’s about to ask another question when Buffy comes in, looking dazed and lost.

GILES

Buffy, are you all right?

WILLOW

Oh no, Buffy—

Willow jumps up, running to Buffy and pulling her into a fierce hug. Buffy’s very visibly shaking. Jenny looks at Buffy, then at Giles.

JENNY

I, I came to Sunnydale to make sure that Angel was still miserable. My family told me to watch over him, and, and make sure he was suffering, and I just, I—

Jenny’s voice breaks.

JENNY

He’s a good person. He is. He really, really is, and I would never wish any suffering on Angel. I don’t even know if I hate Angelus. I’ve just been told, over and over—

Giles looks like he’s been hit with a ton of bricks. Behind him, Buffy raises her head, eyes blotchy.

BUFFY

(wobbly)

Did you know this could happen?

JENNY

If I knew, I would have stopped it. I promise, Buffy. If I knew, I would have, I would have stopped it from ever happening, okay?

Buffy sniffles, then nods, then steps away from Willow, stumbling over to Jenny. They look at each other for a long, painful moment, and then Buffy hugs Jenny, hard, burying her face in Jenny’s shoulder. Jenny stumbles, but hugs her back.

JENNY

(whispers)

I am so, so sorry.

BUFFY

(distant)

You can fix him. Can you fix him?

Jenny looks startled by the question, then worried, but doesn’t hesitate to answer.

JENNY

If there’s a way, I’m going to find it.

#fic #calendiles day #maybe i'm in love

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kafkasgods · 4 years ago

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Faaya & Enyo

tw violence

The arrow flew from her bow, cutting through the air and brushing just past the target. Faaya’s jaw locked as she glowered in the direction of her misfired arrow. Reloading and preparing again, she shot the weapon and again, the arrow soared fiercely past the intended spot.

“Your hand’s too tense. I shouldn’t have to keep telling you.”

Frowning at training ground’s archer, Faaya lowered the bow. “I wasn’t asking for advice.”

The older woman shrugged, raising her own bow. The arrow pointedly hit the center of the target. “It’s my job.”

Disgruntled, Faaya began putting things away.

Again, the unsolicited voice continued. “Don’t come here to blow off steam. You need a cool head for archery. Hand to hand combat would suit you better in your state of mind.”

“You mention it every time I come here,” Faaya replied with gritted teeth.

“Then maybe start taking my advice.”

Not bothering with a reply, Faaya left. The trainer was right to some degree. Archery was not her strong suit, so Faaya would take up the challenge whenever she was feeling angry. The cool head was something she was trying to achieve through it, but that wasn’t how archery worked. Overall, it was an unsatisfying training session and the anger that had been there for days hadn’t been dulled. [8:06 PM] Despite being slightly distracted, there was a strange sensation as Faaya approached her door. It wasn’t the presence of Phobos, nor Deimos. Nothing like the presence Audrey had called upon. She felt paranoid and on guard, entering her home slowly. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, there was nothing noteworthy as far as she could tell and she reached to turn the light on.

The second the light switched on, Faaya was on the unfortunate end of firm grapple. Usually, Faaya was a good fighter; she had to consider so since she could hold her own against Luke for a bit. But the woman on top of her gave her no breaks. She roughly slammed Faaya’s head to the ground and that’s when Faaya cut her losses about trying to fight back physically. Surging all the fear power and intimidation she could muster, Faaya directed it all towards the woman, hoping she’d let up.

The woman did, but not without a smooth comment. “That pretty trick doesn’t work with me.” Moving off Faaya, she stepped over her, before elegantly taking a seat on Faaya’s couch as if the whole place had belonged to her.

Trying to quiet her heavy breathing, Faaya sat up slowly, wiping some blood that had trailed down her face. “Enyo.”

“Pleasure, Faaya. Are you going to get up or did I hurt you that badly?” The dark-haired woman raised a single brow, her expression perfectly sculpted and cool. A passing thought — Faaya wondered if her mother looked something like that. Gone. The demeanor Enyo radiated was one Faaya herself tried to perfect. Of course, she didn’t like it when it was used against her. [8:07 PM] Still keeping her dark expression, Faaya pulled herself up and walked past the goddess towards her kitchen. Silence reigned between the two of them before Faaya returning, setting black coffee down for Enyo, while her own was made to preference.

The power move was not lost on the goddess. Faaya demonstrated a willingness for obedience and decorum, but a pointed hostility. It was a favored mix in Enyo’s opinion. “Oh, let’s not avoid the elephant in the room, Faaya. Would you like to ask about Jun-Seo?”

“Am I going to get an answer?” A conversation with Enyo was something Faaya and Bentley had both wanted. Something so that they could get Luke some much needed help. But as the goddess sat in front of her, Faaya had a feeling that it was moot.

“What answer could I possibly give you? You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Jun-Seo is stubborn and he’ll learn his lesson or he won’t. That’s not a problem that’s yours, so would you like to waste both our times and try to make a plea?”

Of course she did, but being faced with the question that would have made her seem like an idiot, Faaya felt compelled to shake her head. “So what lesson am I here to learn?” She asked, sipping her coffee.

Enyo clicked her tongue and shook her head. “No, Faaya. You’re not learning anything. I am. I don’t know you, but I have heard a good many things from Phobos. I wanted to see if those things were true.”

“I’m sure you know, but my dad has a tendency to talk out of his ass. Nothing he says really ever is the truth.”

“I agree. That’s how you were born.”

The calm words spoken by Enyo were countered by a perplexed expression on Faaya’s face. Phobos himself only spoke of Faaya’s mom in lies, thinking it was amusing to keep the mystery alive. “And how was that?” [8:08 PM] “My daughter was very rebellious. She had no respect for me or the things I gave to her. I guess you could say we were in a peculiar situation, much like the one between Jun-Seo and I. Either way, Suravi didn’t care much for me and decided to get her fix of powers elsewhere.”

“Phobos.”

“Yes. She thought she didn’t need me and, in a bid of spite, went to Phobos for powers.”

And with a smile that seemed too bright for Enyo’s face, revealing the sharp canines she had, she tapped the air in Faaya’s direction, pleasantly. “And what a gift full of powers you are.”

It could have been a lie. Faaya was used to hearing those. But Enyo wasn’t like Phobos and she wouldn’t lie for the sake of it. But she would tell the brutal truth to her own advantage.

So that was the story. And Faaya was the end. Maybe Faaya should have felt more hurt by the discovery her biological had never wanted her. That she was a loophole in game Phobos had played. But Faaya didn’t feel much. It wasn’t earth shattering, the world didn’t change. Faaya had been living her entire life under the impression anyways. If anything, her heart hardened firm and validated.

“Will you do me a favor, Faaya?” Enyo asked, blinking slowly at her.

“Not for nothing.” The words came out automatic and hollow.

“I wouldn’t expect you to. But I’d like you to meet her. Suravi,” she clarified.

The ‘no’ was on the tip of her tongue, but there was an undeniable curiosity. One, Faaya had unfortunately never really gotten rid of, no matter how much she suppressed it. “Fine. And when should I do that?”

Enyo lifted her shoulders, casually, thinking nothing much of the situation she was throwing Faaya into. “Today. I don’t like wasting time. I’ll show you where she is and you can go from there. Talk to her, get to know her. Though, I do ask you avoid telling her your relationship. She’s not as rational as you are.” [8:09 PM] There wasn’t a lot to say between the ride between the Vines and Apollo’s Sunspot diner. Faaya remained impassive about the ordeal, while Enyo appeared to exam her the whole way through. There was some small talk, but nothing Faaya presumed important enough to remember.

Then Faaya was inside and Enyo pointed towards a booth before disappearing altogether. Seated there was a lone woman, though Faaya could only see the back of her head.

“Faaya Shah!” Neely greeted with a smile. “You look terrible. Still hot, but not great. Would you like to sit in my section?”

“Depends. Will you be electrocuting me or knock everything off the table with a healthy wind?”

“No, ma’am. Just spitting in your food as always.” Neely replied before a nearby coworker hit her arm. “Anyways,” The waitress glared shortly at the assault before turning back to Faaya. “I can get you seated elsewhere.”

“I’m fine. I’m meeting someone.” With that, Faaya walked past, leaving Neely muttering something along the lines of ‘Then say that next time.’

Seeing who sat at that booth came as a very unexpected surprise to Faaya. The archery trainer sat, mid-bite of her chili, glancing up at the visitor. [8:09 PM] “Yeah?”

The lie came easy to Faaya. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I tend not to be in the best mood whenever I decide to practice archery.”

Setting the spoon back down, Suravi nodded. “I can tell. It’s fine. There aren’t a lot of demigods who don’t have an attitude problem.” Suravi’s dark eyes — Did Faaya have the same ones? — darted around momentarily, checking to see if Faaya had any other obligations. “Did you want to sit? The only rule is no shop talk. I’ve been at work all day. Come again tomorrow if you want the pointers.”

“It’s possible I’ve lost interest in archery.” But Faaya slowly slid across the booth, facing her mother.

“I would have imagined you’d have more tenacity than that, but whatever floats your boat.” Suravi called Neely back and Faaya’s order got placed in. It came relatively quick considering she’d only gotten a drink and fries. This conversation didn’t really inspire eating.

“Faaya?” Suravi repeated. “That’s a pretty name. I’m Suravi. Hey, can I guess whose kid you are?”

Faaya blinked before nodding.

“Okay, I’m gonna throw a couple out there. Athena?” No. “Khione?” No. “Morpheus?” Hell no. “Alright, I give up.”

“Deimos,” Faaya answered and again, Suravi surprised her by the sudden shift of demeanor. The entire time, the older woman seemed to be slipping into a comfortable conversation with Faaya, while now, with her jaw locked and a look of distaste, Faaya could only sense a strong resentment.

“I hate those gods.”

“Come again?” [8:10 PM] Suravi leaned back into the booth, keeping a levelled stare at Faaya. “I don’t really have a great history with his twin, Phobos. I won’t get into it, but I’m very sorry for you, Faaya.”

Faaya’s lip twitched. How could that be both funny and infuriating? Suravi had a lot to apologize for, but that was the last thing she needed to. “And who should I sympathize to you about?” It was hard keeping the anger out of her tone, but Faaya was well-versed in a cold fury.

Suravi snorted. “Enyo. I’ll take all the sympathy I can get. Woman’s a bitch. Don’t tell her I said that. Or do. Whatever.”

“I would have guessed Apollo. Given the archery.”

“Enyo’s got a proclivity towards all weapons. And I do hand-to-hand combat training some mornings. You don’t train often?”

“When I need to. I’m usually too busy with work. It keeps me on an opposite schedule of most people.”

“Yeah, what do you do?”

“I work at the Grapevine.” Faaya picked at her fries. “What happened between you and Enyo? I don’t know if I hear someone swear out a goddess everyday.”

Suravi shrugged. “We disagreed on too many things. She wanted me to be one way and I wasn’t going to let her turn me into someone who jerked themselves off to conflict. Enyo doesn’t care about people.”

“Is that why you hate all the gods with a darker presence?”

“Partially. I sought out Phobos when I was young and stupid and it fucked me in the ass.”

Faaya sucked on the front of her teeth. “Phobos isn’t the first god I think of when I think to seek one out.”

Suravi pushed the chili around, keeping her eyes low. “Well, no one else had answered and I figured it’d be nice to give Enyo a good dose of fear. Again, young and stupid. Either way, it worked out fine enough in the end.”

“Hm?” Faaya hummed, biting her tongue. “Things are going well for you now?” [8:10 PM] Suravi lifted her hand, shaking it a little in a ‘so-so’ manner. “It’s alright. I haven’t heard from Enyo or Phobos in a long time and they leave my family alone, so I’m grateful for that and I love my job. I guess the only thing is I miss going on quests, but you know, I should probably be glad to be alive for my kids.”

“You have kids?”

The look on Suravi’s face brightened. “Yeah! I know I look young, but I’ve got two little ones. They mostly take after their mortal dad, but my daughter likes when I train her a little.”

This was enough for Faaya. Just as she was about to open her mouth to excuse herself, Enyo stood, smiling between the two of them at the end of the table.

“Isn’t this a nice family reunion?” Her arms were lifted slightly, greeting the both of them.

“Wha- Why-” Confusion and anger flooded Suravi’s face as she spluttered at the sight of Enyo.

“Don’t be so surprised, Suravi. I didn’t think you’d be much of a fool to presume you could stage a single coup against me without any repercussions. You went to Phobos and you wanted me to feel fear?” Enyo leaned down. “I will put fear in you.” Straightening again, Enyo jerked her head towards Faaya. “Your daughter, Suravi. I do like her quite a bit more than you, but we’ve only just met. I need to get to know her a little better and I have just the question to ask.”

Enyo turned towards Faaya. Both women at the table were staring at her — Enyo with a sadistic glint and Suravi with something between horrified awe. [8:11 PM] “Faaya, would you like Suravi’s powers? You can’t do very much with the parlour tricks you’ve inherited from Phobos, but you can do much more with what I can give you. I know you’d put better use to them than anything Suravi’s ever done. Teaching, Suravi?” She gave her daughter a withered look before giving Faaya her attention again. “Of course, if you don’t need them that’s fine too. I won’t hold it against you. I just thought I’d ask.”

Slowly, Faaya moved her gaze from Enyo’s encouraging one to Suravi, now staring at her with pleading eyes. It’d ruin her whole life. “Faaya...”

If only Faaya could find it in herself to care what happened to this woman. “I would.”

“Perfect,” Enyo grinned. “That means you can leave, Suravi. You’re not my demigod, you’re not my daughter. Epineios is no longer your home.” She looked back down at Faaya. “Should we let her stay, do you think?”

“No.” Faaya wanted Suravi gone. Out of sight, out of mind.

Enyo leaned back down, closer to Suravi than she’d been before. The tone was harsh and unforgiving, Enyo’s black eyes piercing and hard. “Leave.” There was no room for arguing, begging, any of it.

Still, when Suravi stood, followed by Faaya, standing beside Enyo, the woman gave her the same dark look that had come over her when Faaya had mentioned Deimos. The only thing that came from Suravi spitting at Faaya’s feet before leaving was a strange and fulfilling sense of satisfaction.

Again, Enyo was gone and Faaya was left to foot the bill, but it hadn’t even annoyed her in the slighted. She left Neely a gracious tip and returned home. There was a lot to go over...And new powers? To test. Normally, she would have preferred to take a rest after all the activity, but Faaya felt energized. It felt like a good day. [8:12 PM] Returning to her apartment, Faaya’s day was only more validated. Walking towards the middle of the living room, she picked up the card from Enyo to read:

Faaya, It was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to guiding you in the future. We’ve already had so much fun. I know I haven’t been very attentive, but I thought I’d give you a welcome to the family sort of gift. Loyal and lethal, you’ll find no fear in the brothers. Give them kisses from me. Enyo

Placing the card down, Faaya knelt down to the basket where two sleeping Rottweiler pups snoozed. She’d always wanted a pet, but her powers had always scared animals off. Gently, she scratched one of their ears. He snored softly, edging his head closer to her hand. Faaya smiled down at them. Judas and Brutus.

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olympivnshq · 5 years ago

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congratulations possum ! i’m still shook by how quickly you applied after we posted that teaser, and could not be more glad that you did so. i adore your panther analogy, particularly because i often used it myself for a couple favourite past characters of mine and your ENYO is shaping up to be one of the greats already. this was an easy yes, and we’re so happy to accept you with your first faceclaim choice: ANGELA SARAFYAN.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ OOC INFO.

possum || 21+ || she/her || est

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ DEITY — GENDER. AGE RANGE.

Enyo, cis female, 35.

☆ﾟ*・ﾟ MORTAL NAME. JOB/OCCUPATION. BOROUGH/NEIGHBORHOOD.

Isadora Torosyan. PR for a major pharmaceutical company that has played a large hand in the opioid crisis. Upper east side.

☆ﾟ*・ HOW WOULD YOU PLAY THEM?

Enyo is all sharp edges, from the cut of her structured power suits and the stiletto shape of her nails, to the point of her heels that beg to dig into something softer than the concrete jungle she roams. She is a panther, slinking through life, leaving devastation in her wake. From painted lips she spills her words, never minced, for she demands that you understand her the first time. There will be no repeating. She is the sound of cracking knuckles, the smell of a burning building. She is made of bubbling fury beneath smooth skin that runs a little too hot for comfort.

Isadora is, unknowingly (for now), a direct mold of her ancient self. Her presence demands respect because she forces it to. That is the only way she can make it in the male dominated world she has found herself in. Every moment she spends in the presence of others she spends observing them, searching for those achilles heels she can take advantage of. She’s always been this way— growing in a household where a smack on the back of the head was practically a form of greeting can do that to a person. Foster homes were a war in itself, especially those that she grew up in. Sisters or brothers, it didn’t matter. She found herself fighting more often than not for a place in the world. An adolescence devoid of affection sprouted thick walls around her that she refuses to break down; there is softness hidden behind them, but it has not seen the sun in decades, so the state of it is questionable.

The list of her enemies would extend beyond the length of a city block, but her friends are few. Hell, she often wonders if she could even call them that. Sure, she may have admitted to that therapist she visited twice that she was lonely before she ditched. Vulnerability is uncomfortable, and she couldn’t think of a reason why she should pay to be any more uncomfortable than she is on a daily basis. Boxing lessons, though? That she is happy to pay for.

☆ﾟ*・ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:

are they more likely to stand with the pantheon or against it? whatever best suits her interests at the time, honestly. She may stand with one or neither, or switch back and forth. Whatever keeps the battle going.

what is their stand on mortals? mortals are no more useful to enyo than a weapon. they are playthings for her, nothing more. they are a means to an end when it comes to war, pawns she can use in her game.

☆ﾟ*・ ANYTHING ELSE?

Mini playlist: ✴ Teeth - Lady Gaga ✴ Shampain - MARINA ✴ Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs ✴ Flawless - Studio Killers ✴ Cherry Wine - Hozier

Moodboard

#semi appless rp #greek gods rp #mature rp #lsrpg #literate rp #ohq:accepted #enyo

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kinkykinard · 8 years ago

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I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Fandom: Star Trek (AOS/TOS). Pairing: Reader x Bones. Prompt: Requested by @trekken81 – Bones fluff. Word Count: 3713. Warnings: None. Rating: Teen+. Author’s Note: Sorry this took so long, darlin’! This semester has been kicking my ass. I hope you like this! Soulmate AU – tattoos.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin You take a deep breath as you climb out of the shuttle that has just delivered you to your new post as head nurse on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Looking around, you’re already thrown by the ship’s grandeur – its shuttle bay alone is easily three times the size of the one on the Enyo. As your gaze travels back down from the ceiling, you’re met with the sight of the captain, the first officer, and another man standing in the doorway to the rest of the ship. “Welcome aboard,” he addresses you and the handful of other new crew members standing around you. “My name is James Tiberius Kirk and I’ll be your new captain. To my right is Commander Spock, my first officer, and to my left you’ll find our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy. I trust you’re all ready to devote yourselves to this ship and its mission.” You and the others nod and the captain continues with a bright and easy smile.

“A formal welcome will be had in the commissary this evening,” he explains. “In the meantime, Yeoman Tsang will show you to your quarters. As soon as you’re settled in, please report to medical for your intake assessments. Once Dr. McCoy clears you for duty, you may report to your stations for orientation, and I’ll see you all in the mess at 1900 hours.” The captain takes his leave, followed by the two other officers, and a young, bright-eyed Yeoman rushes forward, allowing you just enough time to collect your bags before leading you off on a brief tour of the ship. Your mouth hangs open in awe the whole time – you’d spent the first several years of your career assigned to a much smaller ship and you still can’t wrap your mind around your transfer to the fleet’s flagship. As the Yeoman gives you the passcode to your quarters and admits you, you think back on everything that has led you to where you are now. Your tenure on the Enyo, the battle that broke her, the weeks in recovery after you’d been beamed off of the vessel as shrapnel from a core explosion tore through your body. You hadn’t expected to survive, but with the best doctors in the universe at their disposal, Starfleet had made sure you would live to see another voyage. You had recently been cleared for duty and promptly assigned to the Enterprise. You’ve heard stories about your new ship’s CMO. He’s rumored to have the steadiest hands and the coolest countenance in the fleet, but he’s also been described as abrasive and harsh. You’re not overly concerned, however; after the things you’ve lived through in your service to the fleet, you can handle working under a man with an attitude. Stowing away your few personal belongings before changing into a regulation uniform, you look yourself over in the mirror for good measure and then slip out of your quarters. You make sure to glance around and take notice of everything on your way down to the med bay so that you have no trouble navigating back to your quarters later and before long you reach your destination. You can’t help but look around as you cross the threshold and make your way to the central desk: you’ve never seen an infirmary so pristine, well-stocked, and state of the art. Your unit on the Enyo had been good, but this is magnificent. Your mouth is agape again and you remain at a loss for words until a voice from somewhere below you catches your attention. “Nurse Y/L/N, I presume?” The nurse at the desk asks with a smile. You nod. “Yes, I’m here to see Dr. McCoy,” you reply. “He’s with one of the other new crew members, but he’ll be with you shortly,” the nurse says warmly. “In the meantime, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Alice; I’m the most senior nurse on staff now that Nurse Chapel has left us, and I’ll be your second hand. If you need anything at all, please just let me know!” You smile gratefully at the woman and nod. “Thank you,” you say softly. “And please, call me Y/N. I’m not much for formality unless it’s inspection day.” You wink, earning yourself a giggle from the other woman, and turn as you hear an exam room door sliding open. You watch as one of the men from the earlier shuttle ride steps out and is followed by Dr. McCoy. The two seem to be speaking jovially enough and you feel a little bit of your tension ease. Still, when Dr. McCoy’s gaze turns to you, you can’t help but straighten up to stand a little taller, a little more rigidly. “Dr. McCoy,” you greet the man, holding out a hand for a shake. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He takes your hand and you’re surprised by how warm his palm feels against yours as the two of you shake. You’re not sure why you’re astonished – perhaps because you’d been expecting a physical chill to go with the cold personality you’d heard tell of – but you smile all the same as he releases his grip. Gesturing to the room next to the one he’d just vacated, he gestures for you to go ahead. “The pleasure’s all mine,” he says in kind. “Just have a seat and we can get this over with quickly.” You nod as you step through the doorway and you make your way to the bio bed. You take a steadying breath before climbing onto it, the memories from after the Enyo’s destruction still fresh in your mind, and take your seat. The doctor ensures the door is closed before moving to lean against the counter opposite you, regarding you as he picks up his PADD and pulls up your records. “I’ll make this easy on you since I’ve got all of the information from the physical you had just the other week in here,” he explains. “Unless you’ve got any new and pressing concerns?” You shake your head, glancing around the room and taking notice of all of the equipment you’ve been trained on but had not yet had the opportunity to use during your previous assignment. “What about your mental health?” He asks. “Have you been having nightmares? Flashbacks?” “They’re becoming less frequent,” you reply honestly. “I was cleared for duty, doctor, and I assure you I’m capable of performing whatever tasks the job demands.” The doctor chuckles softly, setting his PADD aside and taking a step closer to you. “I’m not questioning your fitness for duty, Y/N,” he assures you. “I just want to know what’s going on. The more you tell me, the better a position I’m in to help with whatever you need. If we’re going to be working together, I need you to be honest with me and unafraid to talk about the hard stuff when the situation arises.” You stare at him for a long moment before relaxing as you realize that he really, sincerely is just trying to be supportive after what you’ve been through. You smile, just a tiny upturn of the corners of your mouth, and watch as the doctor activates the bio bed you’re seated on. You comply easily with everything he asks you to do – it’s all old hat to you by now - and he’s gentle with you as he works. The exam is over in the blink of an eye. “Everything looks fine, Y/N,” the doctor comments, making a few notes on his PADD. “Do you have any questions for me before we wrap this up and adjourn to my office to talk about your duties?” You’re about to shake your head but a thought crosses your mind and you refrain. You chew your lower lip for a moment, pondering whether or not what you have to ask is important enough to bother with, but since the worst the doctor can say is no, you decide to give it a try. “I do have one thing,” you begin, continuing when he glances up, giving you his full attention. “It’s vain and really unimportant, but… After the Enyo’s destruction, it was all they could do to put us all back together and secondary procedures kind of fell by the wayside. I had Dr. Lawson take a crack at some of the scarring with a dermal regenerator later on, but there was only so much he was able to do. Most of it is fine, but there’s a bit of scarring I’d really like to have you take a look at. I’ve heard great things about you, and I’m hoping maybe you can touch it up a little bit.” The doctor glances up from his PADD to consider you and you blush a little bit. You suddenly feel self-conscious as he steps closer to you and you hesitate, not wanting to pull your sleeve up to show him the scarring you’re talking about just yet: the scarring that’s marred your soulmate tattoo. Before your accident, it had been a beautiful work of art with crisp lines and perfect curves. It’s centered on your right wrist and wrapped around your lower arm, tendrils extending from the main body of the image. It’s clean and simple, yet complex enough to be interesting, and moreover, it’s your favorite part of yourself. At least, it had been before. Now it’s marred and damaged, and if you’d been worried about never finding your soulmate before the injury, you’re even more worried now that it’s nearly unrecognizable as what it had originally been. “Show me,” the doctor instructs, and you snap out of your reverie with a soft gasp. Nodding, you pull your sleeve up to your elbow, supinating your hand so that he can see the tattoo and the damage that’s been done to it. You keep still as he reaches out to take your arm in his steady hands, his fingertips gently brushing over the scarring and the jet black, albeit faded, pigment beneath it. You can feel your pulse reverberating off of his fingers where he’s gripping your wrist to steady it and you swallow thickly as he says nothing for several long moments. “So can you fix it?” You ask when the silence becomes too much, worried about what he’s going to say. “Well I can,” he begins, glancing up to meet your gaze. “But there’s something you need to see first.” You’re surprised at yourself when you miss his touch the moment it’s gone, and you watch as he takes a couple of steps back away from the table. You’re not sure what’s going on, but when his hands go for his belt buckle, your eyes widen. “Dr. McCoy?” You ask tentatively. “What, exactly, do I need to see?” It feels like you’re in some kind of a bad comedy as his belt comes away and his zipper follows. You’re about to avert your gaze as he drops his pants down to his knees but you stop when you catch sight of a few wispy tendrils of black pigment wrapping around his thigh. You’re still staring as he turns slowly to reveal the outside of his left leg and the image that’s in the skin there. “Y/N, you need to breathe for me,” the doctor says gently, and you don’t even realize that you’ve forgotten how until that moment. You suck in a quick, deep breath as the gears turn in your mind. Hopping down from the bio bed you slowly edge closer to the doctor, ignoring the fact that he’s in his briefs as you stoop down to get a better look at his tattoo. Holding your right arm out in front of you for reference even though the design has been burned into your mind for years, you compare the two pieces of art. Where your tattoo is damaged, disrupted, and disfigured from the burns you’d sustained during your rescue, so, too, is his. His is less noticeably marred, but still perfectly so. His tattoo also hasn’t faded like yours has from the loss of tissue overlying it, but it’s unmistakable. Reaching out, you gently brush his tattoo with your fingertips, the light dusting of hair on his thigh tickling your hand as you connect with him. You hazard a glance upward and find him staring down at you. “I’ve been wondering what happened,” the CMO murmurs, holding out a hand to help you to your full height again. “I came back to my quarters after a late shift one night and found it all disfigured. I knew something must have happened. Now I know.” You smile weakly, trembling a little as the implications of what’s just transpired sink in. You’ve just met your soulmate. Your soulmate is none other than the legendary Dr. Leonard McCoy. You step back a little, away from him, so you can lean against the bio bed as your knees get weak. At the same time, he quickly pulls his slacks back up and buttons them into place like nothing had ever happened before taking a tentative step toward you again. “I can’t even imagine how much pain you went through,” he says softly, reaching out to take one of your hands and squeezing it reassuringly. “You must have been in hell, darlin’.” For the first time you notice the faint lilting of a Southern accent in his voice and you smile. The expression is brighter and more sincere this time, and you shrug. “It was worth it,” you murmur. “All that pain, all that heartache… it helped me find you. If my last ship hadn’t been destroyed, we might never have met. I was almost convinced you didn’t even exist, it’s been so long.” “Well the wait’s over,” Leonard assures you, inching in until he’s standing flush with you, pinning you to the bed. Taking the hand he has held in his, he brings it up to his chest, flattening your palm over his heart where it’s pounding away as hard as yours is. He’s warm, soft, and vital.

“I’m right here, darlin’,” he nearly whispers, leaning in close. “And I’m not going anywhere.” Sensing that you’re comfortable with his proximity, he lets go of your hand and winds his arms around you, pulling you in close and just holding you in a protective, possessive embrace. You melt into him like you’ve been meant to all along and inhale his scent – a heady mixture of antiseptic and aftershave. You tuck your head into his neck and feel his cheek come to rest atop it. You’re not sure how long the two of you stay like that, just feeling one another, but eventually the doctor begins to pull away. You let go of him reluctantly and gaze up into his lovely, soulful hazel eyes across the short distance between the two of you. “As much as I’d like to shirk my duties in favor of getting to know you, I’ve got a few physicals left to perform,” he says with a wry smile. “But I’d still like for us to get acquainted. I’ll have Alice keep you busy with a tour of the place for a while, and then we can talk.” “Sounds good, doc,” you say with a smile, earning yourself a chuckle from him. “I suppose we ought to dispense with formality if we’re meant to be together,” he says with a wink that makes your knees weak. “It’s Leonard, darlin’.” “Leonard,” you repeat, rolling the name around in your mouth, testing it out. You can tell he likes the way it sounds coming from you by the slight crinkling at the corner of his eyes when it rolls off of your tongue. He moves toward the door, extending an arm, gesturing for you to make your way out ahead of him. You push away from the bio bed and precede him back out into the med bay, clasping your hands in front of you as you consider your tattoo again in a whole new light. He leads you over to Alice and you spend the next couple of hours getting an official run down on how things work in the med bay while your mind continues to reel. You’re confident in your abilities and ready to get right into things starting on Alpha the next day, but you’re finding it hard to concentrate with the weight of finally having met your soulmate sitting on your shoulders. You’re not complaining – it’s a warm, reassuring weight, like a lover’s arm draped there – but you’re a little overwhelmed. You’re both nervous and excited when Leonard steps out of the exam room having finished with his last patient of the day. You join him in his office as he gestures you over and you’re about to sit down in the chair opposite his desk when he takes your hand and tugs you toward the couch at the side of the room instead. You allow yourself to be led there and you sit down at an angle so that it’s easier to face him. Your knee is bumping his as he joins you and you flush a little as he reaches out to rest a gentle palm on your thigh. “Are you getting settled in alright?” He asks. You nod, clasping your hands in your lap, feeling like a schoolgirl in love with the school’s golden boy. It’s been a long time since you’ve been in any sort of relationship and you’re so anxious you swear he must be able to hear your heart the way it’s pounding along in your ribcage. “Everyone seems very nice,” you murmur. “I feel like I’m going to fit in here just fine.” His grip on your leg tightens a bit. “I’ll make sure of it,” he assures you. “I plan on keeping you around a long time, darlin’.” Your eyes trace his features, falling on the lines around his eyes and at the corners of his mouth, the greens, browns, and golds in his irises, the angle of his jaw. He’s a handsome man and you can tell by the warmth in his gaze that he’s got a kind heart, his reputation be damned. You’re distracted from your ponderings as he moves, reaching out to take your hand. “May I?” He asks softly. You nod and offer it up, watching him push up your sleeve so he can get a closer look at your tattoo again. His fingers are so gentle it’s like his touch is barely there but it’s enough to make a shiver run through you and goosebumps spring up on your arms. You close your eyes and inhale sharply as his fingertips gently trace the design, leaving a burning sensation in their wake. Your whole world is suddenly reduced to the parts he’s in contact with and you keep your eyes shut tightly, enjoying the way his fingers are exploring your wrist, your forearm. At first, you think you’re imagining it. You can feel a heat creeping up in your neck, your face, and you think you might be blushing. You inhale, though, and realize that it’s not you – Leonard’s scent fills your head and makes you dizzy. Opening your eyes, you gasp softly as you realize Leonard is leaning in close and his breath is what’s warming you. “Too close?” He queries, his voice nearly inaudible. “N-no,” you breathe. You meet his gaze as he drags his eyes up from where they’d been lingering on your lips. Your breath is coming in short bursts as your mind reels and if he hadn’t heard your thundering heartbeat before, you’re sure he can feel your pulse in the wrist that he’s holding now, fluttering away. You’re both surprised and not as he closes the last of the distance between the two of you, pressing his lips to yours. His hand drops your wrist, moving up your arm instead until he reaches your neck. His other hand comes up to meet the first and he envelops the column of your throat, his thumbs stroking gently just beneath your jawline as he deepens the kiss. Responding in kind, you slowly bring your shaky hands up to his neck, the five o’clock shadow on his jaw rasping against your fingertips. You’re reassured to feel his pulse racing away against your hands just as quickly as your own and in a strangely paradoxical way it calms you. You break the kiss moments later as you run out of air completely. You keep your eyes closed, tipping your forehead forward until it rests against his, and drag in a few deep, cleansing breaths. “I could get used to that,” you whisper. The doctor laughs and straightens, leaving you with nothing much to do aside from opening your eyes. You blink in the room’s bright lights and consider him silently. The flush in his cheeks is endearing, and his lips are as swollen from the kissing as yours feel. “Good,” Leonard murmurs. “Because there’s plenty more where that came from.” You spend the rest of the evening together talking, laughing, sharing a meal in his quarters. You’re so taken with him that you miss the captain’s formal welcome. Leonard ends the questions he gets via comm message with a quick and clipped statement about having too much to go through with you to bother with all the pomp and circumstance which thankfully appears to mollify the captain. The two of you fall asleep on the couch, Leonard with his feet propped on the coffee table and his head drooping back onto the cushions and you curled up at his side, using his chest as a makeshift pillow. In the morning, where it would have been awkward to wake up like you do with anyone else, it feels natural and familiar with Leonard and you take it as a sure sign that things are finally falling into place for you. As you get ready for the day, you can’t help but smile at the new life you’ve found on the Enterprise. You’d come for the work, but you’re staying for the connection you’ve been destined for since the day you’d been born. You can’t wait to see where the future takes you.

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jennycalendar · 7 years ago

Text

irredeemable evil

ao3

so. nearly 6000 words set in a post-s2 au where jenny got turned, tortured giles for information about acathla, and was given her soul back with willow’s restoration ritual.

(i wrote almost all of this today...for...some reason...)

Jenny-the-vampire, no matter what the kids seem to think, wasn’t in any way bloodthirsty or vengeful; she was pragmatic and thoughtful and kept under the radar until it was time to come out again. She stayed indoors and bought pig’s blood from the butcher at night and waited and waited and waited until it was the perfect time to hurt Rupert. Jenny-the-vampire had a capacity for cold, calculating vengeance, and Jenny sometimes feels that angry hate burning in her. It’s terrifying.

She’s very, very quiet the first few days. Jenny-the-vampire had done a lot of talking, and it’s made Jenny hate the sound of her own voice. She remembers the silky cadence her voice had taken on as she’d cupped Rupert’s face in one hand, the way she’d mimicked her own breathy tones. How she’d kissed him, soft and insistent, and how he’d kissed her back unhesitatingly, his tears warm and wet against her cool skin.

Jenny. My Jenny. Please never leave me again.

Willow comes into Rupert’s bedroom (Jenny’s staying at his place for now) on the second day. “I found your soul spell after you left,” she says quietly. “I—I know that my using it on you wasn’t exactly what you had in mind, but—Giles needs you. We all do.”

Jenny doesn’t say anything.

“I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you,” Willow continues, with gentle compassion in her eyes that no part of this new Jenny Calendar can possibly deserve, “but you should know that Giles is really happy that you’re okay.”

“I’m not,” says Jenny. Her voice is hoarse from disuse.

Willow sits down next to her. Jenny can smell her, and she smells like food, and that’s so profoundly frightening that she all but jumps out of the bed, flattening herself against the wall. “Get out,” she’s saying, barely conscious of Willow’s hurt, teary-eyed expression. “Get out, get out, get out—”

Willow presses her lips together and runs, but she can’t even make it halfway out the door before she starts crying. Jenny can hear her sobs and listens to them die away. Emotions are beyond her capacity at the moment; it seems to be all she can do not to eat people.

Rupert comes in on the fourth day. As soon as Jenny sees the love in his eyes, she looks down at the blanket.

“I’m just—going to sit in here,” he says, and she hears the rustle of him taking out a book. She can’t look at him. The last time she looked him in the eye was when Jenny-the-vampire asked him, sugar-sweet, how to awaken Acathla. She remembers the hollow, broken look in his eyes when he looked back at her, like all the happy parts of him had gone with her when Angelus turned her. Jenny-the-vampire had had no vested interest in whether or not the world was sucked into a hell dimension; she was really mostly just interested in torturing Rupert.

He starts reading, soft and reassuring, as though Jenny’s some kind of wild animal he’s trying to tame. Jenny hates it, and looks up to tell him so, and sees the bandage on his neck. Her throat tightens as she remembers the taste of his blood, not coppery like it had been when Jenny-the-human bit her lip, but sugar-sweet and rich with flavor. She doesn’t know how she’s supposed to live like this.

She doesn’t know if she wants to.

Her Uncle Enyos had always said that vampires were creatures of irredeemable evil, and that the soul was given as a punishment, not as a chance at redemption. Jenny’s starting to kind of get why Angel was so miserable all the time. It doesn’t feel like a second chance to be here, especially when there’s suddenly all this guilt and grief tied up in all of her memories of Rupert. She wishes he hadn’t loved her, because then it would have been so much simpler.

More horrible than any of this is the fact that he loved her so much. He kept on reaching up, touching Jenny-the-vampire’s face with shaking hands. She’d broken two of his fingers, and he’d still looked at her with that same love and sadness. Jenny-the-vampire had hated it. Jenny (whatever she is now) hates it too, but for a very different reason.

“Pig’s blood,” says Xander, and sits down on the edge of the bed. Jenny doesn’t take the mug, nor does she study Xander’s face. Impassively, she thinks about the fact that she could jump out of the bed and snap his neck like a twig. “Come on, Ms. C,” he says, quiet and placating. “You have to eat sometime. Giles is worried sick about you.”

Jenny doesn’t look at Xander. She’s never understood him. Xander had hated Angel, but now Xander seems to treat her like she’s been struck down with some kind of strange affliction instead of being the latest souled vampire. Angelus 2.0, only Angelus had had a longer reign of terror than Jenny-the-vampire both times around.

“Ms. Calendar,” Xander says. His voice breaks. “We can’t lose you again. I know Giles can’t handle that. He—all that’s keeping him going is the thought of you someday being okay again.”

Nothing really feels real to Jenny. The room is Technicolor bright, but Xander’s voice is dulled as though she’s turned the volume down on him. Her entire body feels heavy, and she doesn’t know if it’s the vampire thing or the probable-depression thing (though depression seems too mild a term to describe the situation). She stares at the wall in front of her.

“You know, Angel already did the brooding thing,” says Xander with a nervous laugh in his voice, “but he wasn’t exactly starving himself.”

Jenny rolls over onto her side, sliding down in the bed until she’s lying with her back to Xander, and closes her eyes. She’s been doing a lot of sleeping lately.

She wakes up with Rupert stroking her hair and singing softly to her like she’s some kind of small child. She keeps her eyes closed for longer than she should, because she’s half-convinced that it’s a dream anyway. But then Rupert says her name, barely a murmur, and Jenny jerks awake and away from him.

Rupert spills the mug of pig’s blood all over the mattress.

Jenny stares, breathing hard and shaking. She won’t. She won’t make herself into a monster and drink blood to survive. She’d rather die than live out this punishment for the failures of Jenny-the-human. The woman Rupert loved is dead, and the vampire who wanted him to suffer is trapped. Jenny doesn’t know where she is anymore, but she knows that she can’t live knowing that the vampire is there too.

“I should change the sheets,” says Rupert finally, his voice quiet and sad.

Jenny just looks at him.

“Right,” says Rupert. He hesitates, then, “Jenny—is there anything I can do to help you?”

For a moment, Jenny’s almost afraid to say it. She forces it out. She’s nothing if not brave. “Kill me,” she says, meeting his eyes with nothing but firm sincerity.

The look on Rupert’s face is thousands of times worse than what she’d seen when Jenny-the-vampire had tortured him for fun. He stares at her like he can’t possibly believe what he’s just heard. “You know I can’t do that,” he says, his voice small and close to shattering. “Please—I just want you here with me.”

“Selfish of you,” says Jenny, and curls into the blood-soaked blankets.

Rupert pushes them off of her and reaches towards her, trying to pick her up and carry her downstairs. His shirt is stained with pig’s blood, and he smells like food, and Jenny is so, so hungry, to the point where she can feel the last threads of her control—her humanity—slipping away from her. She imagines snapping and killing him, killing the rest of the Scoobies in a desire to sate this thing living in her chest and forcing her to live with it. “I’d be dead,” she says. Her voice is small. “If you had staked me, I’d be dead, and—I wouldn’t have hurt you like I did.”

Rupert has a badly masked look of hope on his face. Jenny realizes that this is the most honest she’s been with him since she regained her soul. Maybe even before that. “It wasn’t you,” he says. “Jenny, please—”

“I won’t live like this,” says Jenny, wishing she could sound fiercer than she does. “I won’t ever risk hurting you again.”

There’s a silence. Rupert seems to be considering this. “Well,” he says, “if you’re worried about hurting me, you might consider the fact that you’re more likely to lose control if you’re starving.”

Jenny really doesn’t want to admit that he has a point, but he kind of does.

“Up you get,” says Rupert gently, leaning down and winding an arm around her waist so that he can pull her out of bed. He picks her up bridal-style, carrying her down the stairs, and Jenny focuses only on the way his arms feel around her. She doesn’t think about how hungry she is, or how easy it would be to take advantage of how close he’s holding her. None of that. None.

Rupert places her down on the couch and moves into the kitchen. It’s a strangely comforting feeling to be downstairs. She’s been up in Rupert’s room for at least a week, and everything has felt hazy and only halfway real. A change of scenery reminds her, in its own odd way, that she is present and existing.

Rupert comes out with another mug of pig’s blood. At Jenny’s look, he says, “Just a sip, all right?” in that low, soothing voice he uses when he reads to her.

Jenny closes her eyes, and takes a sip. It doesn’t taste like anything she’s had before, and if she closes her eyes, she can pretend it’s not blood. She’s thirsty, too, and all but snatches the mug from Rupert, gulping it down more eagerly than she wants to think about. She focuses on the taste and not on the situation. It doesn’t fix much of anything.

She opens her eyes, setting the mug down. It’s already halfway gone. Without a word, she leans back into the couch.

“Blood sausage,” says Rupert, sitting down next to her. “I-if you’re looking for some semblance of normalcy, blood sausage—human people eat that. I could eat it with you.” He gives her this soft, sweet little smile that makes Jenny want to reach out and kiss him, but she’s pretty sure that that’s not an option.

Or—maybe it is. Maybe Rupert-the-complete-idiot has already somehow forgiven Jenny-the-vampire for torturing him and drinking his blood. But then again, maybe this is all obligation, and the way he’s looking at her right now (hopeful, hesitant) comes from some kind of guilt that she’s like this in the first place. It would really be like Rupert to think something like this is somehow his fault.

“I guess,” says Jenny, and sets down the mug of pig’s blood.

“Jenny,” says Rupert, his voice patient but firm.

“I drank some.” Jenny keeps her tone flat and detached. “I’m not dying on you, England.”

Rupert’s smile falters.

“Not again,” Jenny amends.

Jenny hears Xander and Willow talking in low voices as they enter Rupert’s apartment. She rustles the blanket draped around her in an effort to remind them that she’s still here. They don’t take the hint.

“I just miss her, Xander, and I know that’s stupid because she’s back now, but I miss Ms. Calendar,” Willow’s saying.

“You were her favorite,” Xander says. Somehow the were cuts deeper than anything anyone’s said before—as though Jenny’s dead and gone and not listening from the couch. “Giles says he got her to eat, though, so that’s something.”

“Xander—” Willow’s voice catches. “Buffy and Angel and Ms. Calendar—I just—”

“Well, personally, I’m not all that cut up about Angel,” says Xander, a nervous laugh in his voice, “but we still don’t know that Buffy’s not okay.”

“Buffy?” Jenny echoes involuntarily.

Xander and Willow turn, wide-eyed. “Buffy,” repeats Willow tentatively, a new light in her eyes. She gives Jenny a wobbly smile. “Buffy’s…missing. How are you?”

Jenny wants to flinch away from the hopeful way Willow looks at her, the way she’d done so easily earlier. But she’s eaten now, and her mind isn’t clouded by panic and guilt, and it’s Willow standing near her, the bright-eyed girl who made jokes about programming and cried over every kid who ended up dead. She can’t hurt this girl again. “Getting better,” she says, not sure whether it’s true.

Willow’s smile stops looking quite as wobbly, even if the hesitancy doesn’t yet leave her eyes. “I brought you your laptop and a copy of Scientific American,” she says, sitting down on the couch next to Jenny and placing both items down between them. “And I’m trying to bring over some popsicles for the summer—I mean, I know you probably won’t taste anything as much, but the texture might be nice.”

“My little cousin used to eat ice chips for the crunch,” puts in Xander. “And if you want to get all toasty-warm, I bet Willow can make you some hot chocolate.”

“Xander, what if that burns her up from the inside?” Willow demands in a high, shrill voice. “I don’t know anything about vampire care!”

The absurd sweetness of the statement makes Jenny—it’s not actually much of a laugh, just that quiet, amused intake of breath that there isn’t really a word for, but it makes Willow and Xander both look at her with identical smiles. She finds herself smiling back, which is a little scary. She still doesn’t feel all the way okay, and they’re looking at her like she is.

Willow sets the laptop down on Jenny’s lap. “I brought you fun straws too,” she adds. “And some of your favorite mugs.”

“I can go warm up some blood,” Xander adds helpfully.

Tentatively, Jenny opens the copy of Scientific American. Her fingers linger on the little Post-It note stuck to the front page, where Willow’s written feel better soon! in bright pink pen.

“Lunch,” says Rupert, handing Willow and Xander sandwiches and Jenny a mug of pig’s blood. “Xander, kindly don’t get crumbs on my chair, thank you. Jenny—” He hovers, looking at her tentatively.

Jenny looks at him, then takes a sip from the mug, moving over slightly on the couch. There’s a spot for Rupert there if he decides he wants to take it, but she knows that he won’t. He needs a direct invitation, which makes her want to laugh; she’s the vampire, and yet Rupert’s the one with the best manners out of both of them.

Rupert sits down on the floor instead, seeming unbothered by how undignified this makes him look. “How is everyone?” he asks, though it’s clear there’s only one person he really wants to know the answer for.

Xander seems to catch this. “Everyone is drinking her blood and looks a lot better,” he says significantly. Jenny has to hide an involuntary smirk behind the rim of her mug.

Jenny finishes lunch, and then she slips into the bathroom and showers for the first time since she’d been brought to Rupert’s apartment. The water is warm, comfortingly so, and she’s much more aware of it now that she’s a walking corpse with no body heat. Thinking about that is kind of disturbing. She focuses on washing her hair.

There’s something really comforting about being in here by herself. She definitely doesn’t feel in peak condition (that’s what happens when you don’t drink anything for weeks), but she felt very much like an invalid with all the blankets and the fussing and the whispering. Standing here, she feels almost like things might someday be okay.

It’s nice to finally discard the gross vampire dress, too—a sky blue dress with white polka dots. Jenny-the-vampire wore a lot of pastels, possibly some sick twist on the fact that Jenny-the-human preferred darker colors (her thoughts drift to her favorite leather jacket; she misses that jacket a lot). It seems really fitting that Jenny-the-vampire would share Jenny-the-human’s love of irony. Jenny-the-whatever-this-is stretches, turns off the shower, and wraps herself in a warm, fluffy towel before stepping out of the bathroom.

She leaves the vampire’s dress in there. She feels like that probably symbolizes something.

Willow and Xander have already left when Jenny enters the room, but Rupert looks up from his desk, turning slightly pink. “Um,” he says, standing up and polishing his glasses. “Would you like a robe?”

Jenny adjusts the towel, self-conscious. “Yeah,” she agrees, looking away. “Do you have anything I can wear?”

Rupert hesitates, thinking. “I believe Willow brought you some of your clothing,” he says finally. “Fortuitously, I didn’t manage to finish sorting through your belongings after your death, so your clothing and your things are all at your home whenever you feel up to getting them.” He blushes. “O-or moving back to your home, of course. I wouldn’t want to assume that you’d choose to stay with me—”

“Okay,” Jenny says quickly. It’s still so adorable when he’s flustered, and she doesn’t feel ready to dwell on that.

Rupert heads into the bathroom, coming back with his blue bathrobe and draping it carefully around Jenny’s shoulders. His fingers brush her neck. Jenny’s still a little bit warm from the shower, a little bit flushed from the blood, and for a moment it feels like she’s alive again. But there are still a thousand things broken between her and Rupert right now. Thinking about it, it feels like most of their time together was spent fixing things between them. Something about that really hurts.

“Here you go,” says Rupert awkwardly. “You can change in the bedroom, I suppose. I’ll give you your privacy.”

Jenny nods and heads up the stairs.

There are a few of Willow’s oversized sweaters in the bag, and no sign of Jenny’s favorite leather jacket. She makes a mental note to ask Rupert or Willow about that jacket. Jenny rifles through the bag some more, finding one of her favorite blouses and the skirt she wore on the monster truck date with Rupert. She dries off and changes, combing her hair with a brush Rupert’s left on his dresser, and sits down on the bed, not quite ready to go downstairs again just yet.

“Are you finished?” Rupert inquires tentatively from downstairs.

“I’m decent,” Jenny calls back, lying back on the bed. She hears the sound of Rupert coming up the stairs, and sits up, leaning back on her elbows with her legs stretched out in front of her. Rupert draws in a sharp breath, looking at her, and she can see the desire and love in his eyes.

“I have to go out,” Rupert finally says, looking away from her with visible effort. “I won’t be back until tomorrow morning. I’ll call the children in to keep you company, all right?”

“Where are you going?” Jenny asks carefully.

“Looking for leads on Buffy,” says Rupert very quietly.

Jenny gets up, steps forward, almost touches him, stops herself, and simply replies, “I hope you find something.”

When the kids arrive, Xander plays solitaire with an old deck of cards and brings Jenny a cup of blood with one of Willow’s silly straws. After she’s finished the first cup and changed into some night clothes, he asks, “Do you know how to play poker?”

Surprised by this query, Jenny raises an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking,” replies Xander, tossing Jenny his box of cards. They land in her lap, only narrowly missing the empty cup of blood. “Can you play poker?”

Jenny smiles slightly. There’s something wonderfully normal about this conversation. “I tried to learn when I was, like, seven,” she says, a faded old memory coming back to her for the first time in years. “The girl across the street wanted to learn too, so we tried to play together. It doesn’t really work as well with two people, I don’t think.”

“So we start a Scooby poker team,” says Xander. “But I guess that’s something for later. Are there any games you do know?”

Jenny tries to think of something vaguely child-appropriate. Most of the time she uses card decks for magic, if anything. “I know Crazy Eights,” she says finally.

“You’re not serious,” says Xander, giving her a look. “Crazy Eights is a little-kid game.”

“What, and poker is a big-kid game?” Jenny studies Xander with amusement, then adds, “I’ve been drinking everything through silly straws and I’m wearing one of Willow’s sweaters. I’ve got the little-kid thing covered.”

Xander blinks. “That’s Willow’s sweater?” he says in surprise. “I thought you were just going for the plaid-hearts look.”

Jenny throws the deck of cards at him. Xander catches it and gives her a cheesy grin.

Willow comes in from the kitchen, handing Jenny a new mug of blood and taking the empty cup. “Oz called,” she says happily, setting the cup down on the coffee table. “He says he’s going to try and come visit tonight.”

“Hi,” says Jenny shyly.

Willow smiles at her. “You’re looking better!” she says, sounding delighted by this. “A little more color in your cheeks.”

“Metaphorically speaking,” says Xander helpfully.

“We’re about to play Crazy Eights—” Jenny begins.

“We are not,” says Xander indignantly, “we can play poker when Oz shows up. I’m not having Oz come in to see us all playing Crazy Eights.”

“Oz played Crazy Eights with me just last week,” says Willow, taking the deck of cards from Xander and sitting down on the couch next to Jenny, “so we’re playing Go Fish, and you can leave your concepts of mature card games at the door, Xander.”

“Leave my—” Xander repeats with confusion.

“It’s an expression,” says Jenny as Willow deals cards. “She means there’s no place for them here.”

“It just sounds really weird in this context,” says Xander. “I mean—we’re already inside.”

This is when Rupert steps through the door, looking exhausted and more than a little battered. Jenny draws in a sharp breath, feeling a rush of worry and love. “Rupert,” she says involuntarily, and when Rupert’s eyes meet hers, she thinks she would have blushed if she had working blood vessels.

“You okay?” Willow asks anxiously, setting down the cards.

“I was following a potential lead on Buffy,” says Rupert exhaustedly, hanging up his jacket. “Took all night, and all I’ve got is a wild guess from a rather vicious cave-dwelling vampire.”

Jenny wants to get up off the couch and hold him. She wants to pin him against the wall and kiss him. It takes her a moment to realize that the thought of drinking from him hadn’t once crossed her mind, and something about that makes her feel a little better.

She still can’t bring herself to move towards him.

“You’ll find something out soon enough,” Willow reassures him, and Xander nods.

“I think I’ll make myself some tea and head out,” says Rupert with a perfunctory smile.

“Oh no,” says Jenny, forgetting about the fact that she’s a vampire and she tortured Rupert and she all but begged him to kill her. All that she thinks about (all that she lets herself think about) is that Rupert’s just come back late at night with a bunch of demon-inflicted injuries that he’s trying to ignore, and that’s happened enough for her to be thoroughly sick of it. She gets up, handing the mug over to Willow. “Xander,” she says, “get the first-aid kit. Willow, go up to Rupert’s bedroom and get his dark green sweater—it’s the softest one, it’ll work best for this. Rupert, get your vest and tie off, I need to check for bruising. You always get thrown up against walls, it’s ridiculous.”

No one moves. Everyone just stares at Jenny, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry, am I speaking Latin?” says Jenny tersely, words made sharp and angry by the sudden worry in her chest. There’s a gash on Rupert’s neck that she’s just noticed, and it has an odd greenish tint to it. “Because if I am, at least Rupert should be moving right now.”

“I think she’s getting better,” says Xander with a mixture of alarm and appreciation.

“You think?” Willow places the mug down next to the empty cup, heading towards Rupert’s bedroom. Xander throws a look over his shoulder before hurrying into the bathroom for the first-aid kit.

Rupert stands there, looking at Jenny as though this is the first time he’s really seeing her. He doesn’t say anything as she steps closer to tug impatiently at his vest. “Lift your arms,” she says with some exasperation, falling easily into the old routine. It’s better than thinking about how much things have changed. Less painful.

Rupert doesn’t move.

“Rupert—”

Without a word, Rupert pulls Jenny roughly into his arms, holding onto her like they haven’t seen each other in years. So we are falling into the old routine, then, Jenny thinks wryly. She feels a jump in her stomach, wants to pull away, but then she hears the small, broken noise he makes as he presses his face into her hair and she knows she can’t let go of him when he’s like this.

“Okay,” she hears Xander say. “Uh, should we leave them alone?”

“Let’s just leave the stuff here and go play cards in the bedroom,” Willow suggests.

Jenny nestles her head into Rupert’s shoulder and pretends that nothing’s changed. This close to him, it’s not that hard to do. “Hey,” she says, and she’s proud of herself for keeping her voice so steady. “Hey. Snobby. You’re gonna have to let me take care of you in a minute.”

“Jenny,” says Rupert in this small, broken little voice. It sounds almost like it did when he saw her for the first time in the mansion—

And there. The moment’s shattered. Jenny pulls away easily, her vampire strength kicking in. She wants to run outside and away, but it’s morning, and she doesn’t exactly have a death wish anymore (a realization that surprises her, but one that she doesn’t have time to dwell on). She doesn’t want to think about how many times she’s hurt him, how many different ways. She thinks instead that the bite she left on his neck might end up scarring both of them. “I can’t,” she says, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking down. She doesn’t know exactly what she’s saying she can’t do, but it’s comforting to have conviction about something.

Rupert nods awkwardly. “I—” He wipes roughly at his eyes with his shirtsleeve. “Damn,” he mutters, and hurries into the kitchen to make tea.

Jenny wants to tell him that she just wants him to not be hurting, she wants things to just go back to normal again, but she recognizes the hypocrisy in the statement. You make me feel bad that I don’t feel better—the difference, though, is that the Jenny possessed by Eyghon needed space, and the Rupert bitten by a vengeful vampire wants the person who hurt him to be there with him.

Jenny sits down on the couch and takes a long sip of blood from her mug. It’s weirdly comforting.

“Willow, I know this might be a long shot, but do you know where my leather jacket is?” Jenny asks tentatively before she goes to sleep that night.

Willow shifts a little on the air mattress (Rupert’s set up a sleeping space on the floor for the kids), bites her lip, and says, “I-I know how much you like that jacket, so when I was putting together a bag of clothing for you, I looked all over your place for it. I just couldn’t—”

Jenny shrugs. “It’ll turn up,” she says, snuggling into the couch. Rupert’s offered to let her take the bed, but she prefers it down here.

Jenny wakes up after the kids have left. She tries to make herself a cup of morning coffee, not really feeling like herself in Willow’s sweater. The coffee tastes okay. Not as strong as it should, considering how much time and effort Jenny put into it. Maybe vampires have some natural immunity to coffee. Jenny takes a sip, leaning against the counter, and pretends that she’s as human as the Watcher upstairs.

“Hello.”

Jenny jumps, nearly spilling the coffee. Carefully, she sets it down. “Hi,” she says tentatively. “You feeling a little better?”

“Not really, no,” says Rupert with a small, tired smile. He isn’t looking at her. “I miss you.”

Somehow I miss you is so much more painful than please never leave me again. Jenny lets her hand brush against Rupert’s. She stands shoulder to shoulder with him and doesn’t say anything. She gets the sense he has something he wants to tell her.

“What hurts me more than anything,” says Rupert very slowly, “is the thought that you might think my—attentions towards you—are only because of the way you died.”

Jenny can feel his eyes on her now, can tell that he’s trying to gauge her reaction. She keeps her face impassive, gaze straight ahead.

Rupert is silent for a moment, then says, “I love you.”

“I know,” says Jenny. “You shouldn’t.” Her voice breaks. “Rupert, I fucked up, I hurt you, and that isn’t erased just by the fact that I have some semblance of a moral compass again. That kind of anger still existed in me before I became a vampire.” She can’t look at him. “I can feel her in me,” she says. She’s shaking. “I’m not me anymore. She got here first.”

Rupert tugs on Jenny’s hand, and she turns without thinking. The love in his eyes makes her want to look away. “Were that the case,” he says, “I don’t think you’d fuss over me when I came home from patrol bruised and bloody. Perhaps I’m missing some crucial bit of the puzzle, but to me, that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a soulless vampire would do.”

Jenny thinks about the way he’d looked at her in the mansion before he knew she was a vampire, smile bright and relieved. “You love me so much,” she says in a small voice, “and I just know that’s going to get you killed.”

To her surprise, Rupert starts laughing, placing a hand down on the counter and knocking over the coffee mug. Jenny’s coffee spills onto the counter and the kitchen floor, and she’s pretty sure that Rupert’s not just laughing anymore. “And that’s not what happened to you?” he forces out. He’s crying. “You told me—told me that day—and I turned and walked away—left you—”

“No,” says Jenny fiercely, stepping forward and forcing Rupert to look at her. “Hey. No. My death was never your fault.”

“You shouldn’t have loved me.”

“You shouldn’t still love me, you British idiot!” Jenny shoves Rupert, hard. He stumbles backwards into the wall, placing a hand at her waist to steady himself, and somehow, suddenly, they’re kissing, Jenny’s hands grasping at Rupert’s pajama shirt as she presses him against the wall. She doesn’t—can’t—think, only feel, Rupert’s hand grabbing at her leg and her mouth on his and he’s warm, soft, alive—

Rupert spins them around, lifting Jenny up onto the counter and sliding the borrowed sweater up, and it’s the warmth of his hands on her skin that brings Jenny some level of reluctant mental clarity. She pulls back. “We can’t,” she says.

Rupert lets his head fall forward, forehead resting against hers. “We never got to be in love,” he murmurs, still sounding a little shaky. “I want that. Desperately.”

“Me too,” says Jenny in a small voice, twining her arms around his neck. “Just—so many things are so fucked up. I want you to be safe.”

Rupert shakes his head. “I was safe,” he says. “I was safe, and I went home, and I found your body in my bed.”

Jenny feels something twist in her. She pulls back a little to look at him, eyes wide. “What?”

Rupert’s hands move up to take hers. “Angelus,” he says distantly. “He set up a nice little tableau. Roses, champagne, candlelight, and you as the centerpiece.” He looks up at Jenny, stroking her hair. “Believe me,” he says. “I know what it is to hurt the one person you wanted safe, and hear from everyone around you that it wasn’t your fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” says Jenny, feeling sick. She pulls a hand away, cupping his face and kissing him deeply.

Rupert breaks the kiss, looking at her with a gently pointed expression. “If you believe that,” he says, “why is it so hard for you to believe that it wasn’t you that hurt me?”

“You didn’t torture me!”

“Neither did you,” says Rupert with emphasis. “But you still had to see me hurting in front of you, and I don’t think you’ve ever really addressed how much that’s hurt you.”

“Pot calling the kettle black, England,” says Jenny. She tries to smile. “Maybe we can figure it out together.”

“Someone should have told me that Ms. Calendar’s back from the dead,” says Cordelia indignantly, breezing into Rupert’s apartment with Willow and Xander following. “I only found out because I called Xander and his parents said he was heading over to Willow’s, and then Willow’s parents said that she was heading over to help take care of Giles’s girlfriend, and then I put two and two together—” She stops, wrinkling her nose. “Oh my god, Ms. Calendar, did your fashion sense not survive the trip back from the afterlife?”

Jenny crosses her arms in Rupert’s button-down and realizes that Cordelia might have a point. “This was more of a romance thing,” she says, blushing a little at Willow and Xander’s incredulous looks.

“You know you could, like, lose your soul if you get a happy, right?” says Xander, sounding very much like he doesn’t particularly want to bring this up, but thinks he probably should.

“Xander,” says Jenny, smiling innocently, “we are inventive, creative adults.”

Rupert looks like he can’t decide whether to be pleased or mortified. Willow starts giggling nervously.

“I mean, still,” says Cordelia. “It would be different if Giles borrowed your clothing, because you have good taste, but this is just—”

“Oh—I did borrow something of yours,” says Rupert suddenly.

All eyes turn to him. “Wait, what?” says Jenny, startled.

Rupert winces. “It’s really just one item of clothing,” he says. “I-I took it from your home while you were missing. I thought that—that then you might find your way back faster. To get it back.”

Jenny smiles, reluctantly touched. What a dork. “Okay,” she begins. “What clothing—”

Rupert holds up a hand, hurries up the stairs, and comes back with something in his arms. Carefully, he drapes the leather jacket over Jenny’s shoulders.

Jenny hugs him, hard.

“Yes, dear, I love you too, but you’re preternaturally strong now,” says Rupert weakly, hugging her back.

“Hmm,” says Cordelia. “You know, she actually kind of makes that lame-o shirt of Giles’s work with that jacket.”

#fic #calendiles #jenny and willow #rupert giles #jenny calendar #willow rosenberg #xander harris

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