#i’m gonna start using that instead of the lore tag

[sleepy-seal]

whenever moth has the fucking :( thing while speaking my heart just SHATTERS

[loverslantern]

The Hunter and the Witch~ Dean

Winchester x f!reader

Description: Sam is haunted by a vision of a woman trapped in his childhood house

Warning: cannon violence, tension/ minor flirting, slight angst and comfort, mentions of death, mentions of a dead parent, the use of witchcraft that isn't exactly apart of Supernatural lore but does have ties to many folklore's interpretations of a witches capability from European Folklore to Appalachian Folk Magic and many more (i used a mix of different lore to create my own interpretation) this took so long to research, l also was testing things out in my apartment so i'd be able to write it properly- literally rearranging furniture for it

Tag list: @jesllianaquilesrolonsworld ,

@okayiamkassandra, @fablerose , @ada--44

Word Count: 12,947

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(Master list, Previous Ch., Next Ch.)

I stumble into the boys motel room, stifling a yawn from passing through my lips. Did I wake up two hours ago and refuse to get out of the stiff motel bed instead of coming to meet my lovely friends in their room?

Yes!

“Good morning my little stabby hunters” I greet cheerfully, closing and locking the door behind me. Sam mumbles some incoherent version of a greeting from where he sat on his bed while Dean looks up from Sam’s laptop, “Mornin’ sweetheart”

I walk up to each boy individually giving their hair a nice ruffle before shuffling my way to sit criss-cross applesauce on the unoccupied bed. “You had perfect timing ‘cause I think I found a few candidates for our next gig.”

“Oooh how fun” I half sarcastically say, “read ‘em out!”

“Alright we got a fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali” I nod pretending to know what a ‘trawler’ is, “ –-its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas.” Dean lists out looking up every now and then for a reaction, “Hey. Sammy.” He calls out to his brother who’s sat drawing something on a little notepad.

Sam looks up, giving Dean an annoyed look waiting for what he has to say. Dean leans back in his chair, “Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?”

“No. I’m listening. Keep going.” Sam declares, going right back to his drawing. He was in fact not paying attention.

“And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times.” He stops speaking again, waving his hand in the air intended to get his brother's attention, “Any of these things blowin’ up your skirt, pal?”

Sam suddenly sits up fully, “Wait. I’ve seen this.”

“Seen what?” I ask, Dean and I sharing a confused look. But Sam doesn't answer, he just crosses the room towards his duffel bag, searching for something. “What are you doing?” Dean asks. Again Sam doesn't answer, finally finding whatever he was looking for he pauses studying the two things in his hands, he swiftly turns around “I know where we have to go next.”

“Where?” Dean muses, asking the question were both thinking.

“Back home –- back to Kansas” Sam breathes, a hint of panic in his eyes.

“Okay, random. Where’d that come from?”

Sam shows the thing he took out of his bag, a photo, to his brother, I get up to view it too. “All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?” Sam asks, looking between the sort of family photo taken in front of their house and his brother.

“Yeah.” Dean answers plainly.

“And it didn’t burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?” Sam asks further.

“Yeah it took ‘em a while to, I think it was mostly out of respect because no one ever moved in after you either, as far as I know.” I answer only knowing because I lived in town even after they moved away.

“Okay, well, someone lives there now…and, I, uh, look, this is gonna sound crazy but….the people who live in our old house –- I think they might be in danger.” Sam stammers

“Why would you think that?” Dean asks the obvious question. “Uh…it’s just, um….look, just trust me on this, okay?” He starts to walk away to the other side of the room, Dean following suit, “Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?”

The fighting begins, I think to myself as I chew on the inside of my cheek. I knew Dean would probably act harsher then he meant to, his mom—his old house being a very rough topic for him.

Now it���s Sam’s turn to answer simply, “Yeah.”

“Come on, man, that’s weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that.” Dean raises his voice slightly.

“I can’t really explain it is all” Sam says looking around the room instead of making eye contact.

“Well, tough. I’m not goin’ anywhere until you do” Dean crosses his arms waiting expectantly.

Sam sighs, “I have these nightmares.”

“I’ve noticed” Dean says while nodding and I want to step in and lecture him for coming off so mean, but I bite my tongue.

“And sometimes…” Sam pauses for a while before continuing, “…they come true.” This time I don’t bite my tongue, the word slipping out of my lips out of pure shock, “Sam” I gasp. “Come again?” Dean says almost at the same time as my gasp.

“Look….I dreamt about Jessica’s death –- for days before it happened.” Sam tries to explain further, nearly getting cut off by his brother, “Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” I know Dean doesn't want to believe it, I know he’s scared of what this could mean. But I can’t help but feel this is like the argument Dean had started on my twelfth birthday, all those years ago. It felt especially silly to feel this way now, not when I never held a grudge against him because of it. Maybe I should have but I could never find it within myself to do so.

Dean sits down on one of the beds and it’s clear he doesn't know what to do with himself. Sam begins to explain himself more, which I hate the fact he has to, “No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn’t do anything about it ‘cause I didn’t believe it. And now I’m dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that’s where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?”

“I don’t know.” Dean huffs out. It’s clear he’s overwhelmed, which is a significantly better reaction than what I got to his whole realization of what I really was—a witch—despite the fact he already knew that. I want to respect their relationship and not speak when it’s not my right to, and yet if it comes down to it I know I will. I won’t let their relationship fall apart because of this, I won’t let a hatred form between them. Let alone like how Dean had hated me for months and I had hated myself too.

“I-it can mean something. There's a lot of cultures that believe that dreams are capable of showing the future as a guidance or even as a warning. Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, they all believed in this; it's,um, called oneiromancy.” I pipe in quietly as if scared that saying it too loud would shatter the delicate atmosphere. Sam was looking at me with big eyes like he was hanging on to each word I spoke, nodding along.

“All right, just slow down, would ya?” Dean stands abruptly beginning to pace the carpeted floor, “I mean, first you tell me that you’ve got the Shining? And then you tell me that I’ve gotta go back home? Especially when….”

“When what?” Sam asks carefully.

Dean sounds on the verge of tears, probably the most vulnerable he’s been in a long time, “When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?” The air, the atmosphere itself, felt fragile then too as if something so palpable had to be careful of where it stood

Sam begins softly, his eyes scrunched in a mix of worry and sympathy, “Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure.”

“I know we do.” Dean nods, his head hung low.

The Impala pulls up in front of the old Winchester house, the cute little two story green house standing there simply. I can’t help but wonder if in a hundred years these people who lived in Lawrence would know what happened here? The family that was lost here? Maybe not physically but you can trace everything back to this simple house, where these boys lost a piece of themselves no matter how young they were. You can still feel it in the air now, in this car with Dean's head hung low as he peers up at his old house, the only and last house he’s ever had.

“You gonna be all right, man?” Sam asks, trying to catch his brother's eyes. Dean swallow’s thickly, “Let me get back to you on that.” We exit the safety of the car and with each step forward the weight of this settles on our shoulders, the realness of this all. I know this isn’t about me, but if I let my mind stop focusing on the task at hand I know that it will wisp away to my old house. Just on the other side of town, to every moment I spent wandering the streets with no where particular in mind-

A sharp knocking on the front door snaps me out of my mind. A pretty blonde opens the door, her eyebrows scrunched in what seems like stress, “Yes?” she answers.

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am, but we’re with the Federal—“ Dean begins his lie getting cut off by his brother, “I’m Sam Winchester, this is my brother, Dean, and our friend Y/N. My brother and I, uh, we used to live here. You know, we were just drivin’ by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place.”

“Winchester. Yeah, that’s so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night.” She laughs lightly. Dean's face drops a little, a mix of curiosity and longing on his face that if I hadn’t seen it before, hadn’t known him so well I wouldn’t have recognized it. “You did?” he asks, and I'd have to think it was a look of longing for his life back then, before he lost his mom, to a life that was so simple and child-like because that might have been the only time he really was a child.

She nods and steps aside, “Come on in.” The inside of the house wasn’t so much different from what I’ve been told about it, she shuts and locks the door behind us and we wait for her to lead us further in before moving. “I’m Jenny by the way” she says moving past us. She leads us into the big kitchen, a young girl doing homework at the table while an adorable jumpy toddler bounces in his little playpen, I can’t help the smile that creeps up on my face at the sight.

“Juice! Juice! Juice! Juice!” The toddler chants, bouncing as he speaks.

“That’s Ritchie. He’s kind of a juice junkie.” She introduces going over to the fridge, taking out a sippy cup and handing it to the bouncy baby. “He has good taste” I laugh, the kid being just so freaking adorable.

Jenny walks over to her daughter, “Sari, this is Sam and Dean, they used to live here. And that’s their friend Y/n.” I smile at the girl who greets us with a small “Hi.” Dean for some reason waved awkwardly at the child, as if he doesn't know how to act around kids when that’s so far from the truth.

“Hey, Sari.” Sam smiles before allowing her to get back to her homework.

“So, you just moved in?” Dean asks, jumping right to it. “Yeah, from Wichita.” Jenny answers, referring to a different part of Kansas.

“You got family here, or….?” Dean continues to ask, and honestly it’s kind of a creepy question. She answers a little hesitantly, “No. I just, uh….needed a fresh start, that’s all. So, new town, new job –- I mean, as soon as I find one. New house.”

“Do you like it here?” I ask genuinely. “Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home” She starts looking at the boys as she speaks, “…I mean, I’m sure you had lots of happy memories here…but this place has its issues.”

“What do you mean?” Sam asks almost a little too quickly.

Jenny sighs, “Well, it’s just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We’ve got flickering lights almost hourly.”

“I think that’s an easy fix” I try to remain hopeful, it’s not like we can just tell her ‘oh yeah that’s ‘cause your house is probably haunted by a demon or something.’ And under the assumption that it was just faulty wiring, I really wasn’t sure if it was an easy fix. I mean I am no electrician.

“Anything else?” Dean adds in.

“Um…sink’s backed up, there’s rats in the basement.” She lists off before pausing for a beat, looking between us nervously, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain.” Dean looks a little taken back by this concern, because what was written on his face was far from offense, “No. Have you seen the rats or have you just heard scratching?”

“It’s just the scratching, actually.” She answers.

“Mom?” Sari calls out lightly, Jenny kneels down to her daughter waiting for her to continue, “Ask them if it was here when they lived here.”

“What, Sari?” Sam asks, confused.

“The thing in my closet.” She answers weakly, and I swear my heart broke a little at the way in which she said it.

“Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets.” Jenny answers softly, reminding me of my mothers soft tone when she spoke to us. Jenny looks up at the boys, “Right?”

Sam stumbles over his words as he answers, “Right. No, no, of course not.”

“She had a nightmare the other night.” Jenny explains, a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Sari shakes her head, “I wasn’t dreaming. It came into my bedroom –- and it was on fire.”

Uh oh.

~~~~~~~~

“You hear that? A figure on fire.” Sam whisper-shouts, mainly to his brother who was walking a little too quickly then necessary to his car. The man in question turns around swiftly, “And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?”

“Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit.” Sam bites back.

“Yeah, well, I’m just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin’ true.” Dean snaps.

Sam’s eyes were wide with panic, “Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it’s the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?”

“I don’t know!” Dean snaps.

Back and forth they fight like two dogs having a barking match from just over the fence. “Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?” Sam starts again.

“Or maybe it’s something else entirely, Sam, we don’t know yet.”

“Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get ‘em out of that house.”

“And we will.”

“No, I mean now.”

“And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she’s gonna believe?”

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

“Both of you, stop!” I nearly shout, both boys going quiet, “Look” I sigh. “I get this is scary and all but you two bickering isn’t going to get us anywhere! And if we want to help that nice family we have to think logically. We don’t know what we’re dealing with, maybe it’s something else or maybe we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that it is that monster.

Either way we can’t just run into this with assumptions or lead on feeling alone, okay? ‘Cause that’s how we mess up and wind up dead and I don’t know ‘bout you boys but i’m not quite craving the taste of death just yet.” I take a deep breath before continuing, “So, let’s pretend this is any ol’ case, any other hunt. What do we do first?”

“Research” Dean mumbles as if he was a kid who got caught doing something wrong, which arguably isn’t so far from the truth.

“Check our bases, dig into the history” Sam adds.

“Exactly” I smile, “Good job”

Dean opens the driver seat door, getting in as he speaks, “Except this time, we already know what happened.”

Sam and I followed suit, “Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?” he asks. Dean looks around a little uncomfortable, “About that night, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Not much. I remember the fire…the heat.” He pauses, “And then I carried you out the front door.”

“You did?” Sam asks surprised.

Dean scuffs, starting the car and pulling out of the spot, “Yeah, what, you never knew that?”

Sam shakes his head, “No.”

Dean continues, “And, well, you know Dad’s story as well as I do. Mom was….was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her.”

“And he never had a theory about what did it?” Sam questions further, and up until now I didn’t realize how much he was kept in the dark about such a significant moment in his life.

Dean shrugs, “If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times.” Sam starts again, “Okay. So, if we’re gonna figure out what’s goin’ on now…we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it’s the same thing.”

Dean again looks around uncomfortably, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel, “Yeah. We’ll talk to Dad’s friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time.”

Sam notices this obvious movement like I did and pauses for a moment, you could see the gears turning in his head, “Does this feel like just another job to you?” Dean clears his throat, suddenly jerking the car off to the left side of the road right up to the curb, the car poorly parked, “I’ll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom.” The second he finishes his sentence he’s out of the car and walking away into some local business that I couldn’t quite see the name of.

“I- I don’t understand him” Sam suddenly says as he watches his brother leave, turning in the passenger seat to talk to me properly, “It would be so much easier if he just…” He sighs, “talked to me.”

“I… don’t want to excuse his actions because you are right, but at the same time you know he was never taught how to be vulnerable.” I try to explain, carefully choosing my words knowing there were eggshells surrounding our feet. He then mumbles something incoherently about their childhood, he looks back up at me, “you know, you don’t really talk about your childhood either.”

“Maybe it’s just something about Kansas” I joke, he laughs lowly, “But I ,uh, I would like to tell you about it…someday…” I offer shyly, trying to offer him something in a moment where he has nothing

“I’d like that, at least I could get closer to one of you” Sam smiles, sadly.

“Hey and maybe it will open the door to encourage Dean to speak up” I say.

“Yeah you know that’s not gonna happen” He scuffs.

“Well, I was trying to be a little optimistic.”

When Dean came back to the car he was dead quiet, his eyes were glossy but he refused to talk. It wasn’t uncommon for him, not one bit.

Sitting in the back of the Impala, I watched the buildings and trees pass by. All blocks I was familiar with even if it was far from where I had actually lived, but when you're lonely you tend to find walking for an eternity isn’t so bad. Funnily enough, sitting in the back of this car felt eerily similar to when I was a child, my dad as quiet as an owl, a then changed man having lost his world. Only, he had forgotten my brother and I had lost her too, and that we were still around to begin with.

Dean stared at the road like my dad had all those years ago, so deeply as if they were to look away it would disappear right beneath them. Then Sam sat in the passenger seat looking between his brother and out the window not knowing what to say, like my brother always did. And I of course still played the same role because some things never change, some feelings never do fully leave.

Dean suddenly clears his throat, “Alright, up ahead is an old pal of dads.” Just as suddenly as he said it, he also hadn’t given us time to say anything before pulling over once more, this time in front of a mechanic's place. A sign reading “Guenther’s Auto Repair” in big red letters hung above a large garage unit. The smell of metal and grease breeze by my nose as I exit the car, following after the two taller men with what I thought was a forgotten sadness now back. I can’t imagine how they must feel, how Dean must feel.

They effortlessly found and began a discussion with the owner, easily lying about being cops which felt especially wrong today. It felt wrong to lie to anyone from the town I pretty much grew up in, even if I never knew any of them.

“So you and John Winchester, you used to own this garage together?” Dean asks the older man. I knew their father was a mechanic but hadn’t known he had his own garage and partner.

“Yeah, we used to, a long time ago. Matter of fact, it must be, uh…twenty years since John disappeared. So why the cops interested all of a sudden?” He says, whipping his dirty hands on a rag stained with car grease.

“Oh, we’re re-opening some of our unsolved cases, and the Winchester disappearance is one of ‘em.” Dean answers smoothly, and I guess it isn’t technically a lie either. He accepts the answer with no further, visible, speculation, “Oh, well, what do you wanna know about John?”

“Well, whatever you remember, you know, whatever sticks out in your mind.” Dean suggests.

“Well…he was a stubborn bastard, I remember that.” He laughs. “And, uh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It’s that whole Marine thing. But, oh, he sure loved Mary. And he doted on those kids.” To that I have to stop myself from reacting, for some reason I can’t picture John being anything less of what he is now, in terms of strictness and toughness.

“But that was before the fire?” Sam points out.

He nods, “That’s right.”

“He ever talk about that night?” Sam adds. He seems to think for a moment, “No, not at first. I think he was in shock.”

“Right. But eventually? What did he say about it?” Sam clarifies.

“Oh, he wasn’t thinkin’ straight. He said somethin’ caused that fire and killed Mary.”

“He ever say what did it?” Dean asks this time.

“Nothin’ did it. It was an accident –- an electrical short in the ceiling or walls or somethin’. I begged him to get some help, but….” He explains.

“But what?”

“Oh, he just got worse and worse.” He answered, sympathy written all over his face.

“How?” Dean asks carefully.

“He started readin’ these strange ol’ books. He started goin’ to see this palm reader in town.” He says, suddenly catching my attention, an air of familiarity surrounding it.

“Palm reader? Uh, do you have a name?” Dean questions. I scrunch my eyebrows together trying to remember why this was familiar.

He responds at the same time it suddenly hits me, “No” he scuffs.

The name leaves my mouth in quiet thought, “Missouri Moseley.”

All three of them look at me strangely, before Dean grabs hold of my upper arm, throwing the man a smile and a “Excuse us.” He begins pulling me away from the garage and back to the car, his brother following after us after he had thanked the man.

“Where’d you get that name from?” Dean asks me sternly, looking down at me with sharp curious eyes, his grip on my arm never faulting.

I look up at him, his green eyes piercing mine, expectantly, but I find myself at a loss for words. Each syllable ready to be spoken but dying on my tongue, all in the fault of once more feeling like my younger self. Sam reaches for his brother's shoulder, almost pulling him away from me, “Ease up, Dean.” He shakes his brother off, but listens, releasing my arm and swallowing thickly, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s okay” I cut him off quickly. I wasn’t scared of him at that moment, but of the past and I knew he was too. We all were.

“I remember your dad came over and mentioned that name, along with her being the real deal. I just don’t remember what the conversation was about, I mean it had to be years ago…” I feel my eyebrows scrunch together again as I try to recall more, glimpses of the memory popping up. Our dads sitting on the long vintage couches my mom had bought for the house while me and my brother ran outside to play, “It was at the original house, m-maybe a year before we moved to Kansas.”

“So three years after mom died” Sam nods.

“Yeah that seems about right, but I’m not sure if that encounter was like right after your dad met this Missouri or some time after.” I add

“It sounds familiar. '' Dean breathed out before rounding the car to the trunk, digging through it before pulling out the journal. “In Dad’s journal…here, look at this.” He flips it open, handing it off to his brother, “First page, first sentence, read that.”

Sam takes the book, reading the sentence out loud, “I went to Missouri and I learned the truth.”

“I always thought he meant the state.” Deans shrugs.

Missouri’s house was a cute little two story place. I admire the light brown wood paneling and stained glass windows, something I knew my mom would have loved. Dean and Sam sat squished together on a small couch, all of us waiting for her to be finished with her client. I choose to stand, not only to see them both quietly fight to sit on the couch but also to slightly look around the place without wandering around.

A round faced, warm brown skinned lady with big curly hair tied back in a ponytail escorts a man out of her house, “All right, there. Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you.” She tells him, her voice a natural soft and sweet tone, accompanied with a southern accent.

She closes the front door behind him, turning to face us, “Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin’ the gardener.” Her sweet voice does nothing to soften her blunt statement, my eyes go wide with the comment.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Dean asks her,

“People don’t come here for the truth. They come for good news.” She answers simply, causing the room to fall quiet for a beat, “Well? Y/n, Sam and Dean, come on already, I ain’t got all day.” She leaves the room, I follow after her only pausing when I realize the boys weren’t following. I turn back towards them waving them over, they share a look before getting up and following.

“Well, lemme look at ya.” She laughs, “Oh, you boys grew up handsome.” She points a finger at Dean, “And you were one goofy-lookin’ kid, too.” A burst of laughter slips through my lips before I can control myself, his face falls and he glares at her.

Her gaze turns to me, my laughter dying out but a permanent smile left on my face, “Oh, you never lost your beauty” She smiles.

“You knew me when I was younger?” I ask, confused.

“Well of course, I knew your mother. Bless her soul” She answers, only leaving me more confused ‘cause my mom never mentioned her and I would sure remember such a sweet and funny woman.

“We helped each other out back then”, she explains, “She would always show me pictures of you and your brother. You were always a smiley girl, it’s good to see you didn’t lose that. Your mother would be glad too.” A warmth blossoms in my heart at that, my smile softens with me and it was like something I didn’t even know was within was fulfilled. It was hard to find new memories of my mom when I really didn’t know anyone who had known her, other than our family, to ask. Missouri hadn’t given me a full in depth memory and yet, it was enough. Enough to know someone else clearly adored my mom and had seen her in the same light I did. I don’t know why my mom never told us about her, but for some reason I didn’t feel the need to ask.

She gives me one last smile before giving her attention to Sam, she grabs his hand, her face falling, “Oh, honey…I’m sorry about your girlfriend.” A wave of shock clearly passes over the boys face, “And your father –- he’s missin’?” she continued.

“How’d you know all that?” Sam asks, clearly forgetting she is a psychic.

“Well, you were just thinkin’ it just now.” She explains.

“Well, where is he? Is he okay?” Dean rapidly spews out.

She half shrugs, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know? Well, you’re supposed to be a psychic, right?” He snaps back, far too hostile.

She gives him a weird look, “Boy, you see me sawin’ some bony tramp in half? You think I’m a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can’t just pull facts out of thin air.” A laugh passes through my lips before I could stop myself, I nudge Dean's shoulder who glares sharply at me before turning that look to Missouri, only furthering my spits of giggles that I try to bite back.

Her demeanor changes back to gentle, “Sit, please.” We listen to her, I took a seat beside Sam so that I wasn’t squished between both boys. Missouri suddenly snaps at Dean, “Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I’m ‘a whack you with a spoon!”

“I didn’t do anything.” Dean argues, his voice seemingly an octave higher- like a child.

“But you were thinkin’ about it.” She answers.

“Oh, I like you” I say through my laughter, it was quite the breath of fresh air to see someone put gruff ‘macho man’ Dean in his place.

Sam gets back on topic, whipping the smile that formed on his face, “Okay. So, our dad –- when did you first meet him?”

“He came for a reading. A few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say…I drew back the curtains for him.” She responds.

“What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?” Dean asks.

“A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hopin’ I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing” She explains.

“And could you?” Sam asks

She shakes her head, “I…”

“What was it?”

She answers softly, “I don’t know. Oh, but it was evil.”, She pauses for a beat, “So…you think somethin’ is back in that house?”

“Definitely” Sam breathes.

She shakes her head again, “I don’t understand.”

“What?” Sam asks.

“I haven’t been back inside, but I’ve been keepin’ an eye on the place, and it’s been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin’ up now?” She explains.

“I don’t know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house all happening at once –- it just feels like something’s starting.” Sam says, eyebrows scrunched in worry.

“That’s a comforting thought.” Dean mumbles.

~~~~~~~~~

The ride back to the Winchesters house was the light in this complex time. The entire ride Missouri lectured Dean on his driving saying he was just a little too reckless and was gonna get us all killed despite it being a generally short one. They bickered back and forth a while until Dean gave up grumbling something below his breath, causing another snap response from the woman herself.

When we finally arrived Dean quickly got out of the car before anyone else could even register being parked, I genuinely don’t think I've ever seen him happy to be out of Baby. He had very obviously, and purposefully, positioned himself so that he was standing next to me away from Missouri, in fact two people away as she stood on the other side of Sammy. I searched for Dean's hand, my fingers brushed against his larger rougher hand. I clasped it gently, giving it a reassuring squeeze to hopefully ease his tension, caused by the beef he had with the nice lady that was helping us to begin with, even though I most definitely found the whole thing hilarious. Just as Sam knocked on the door I released Dean's hand, bringing both my hands to clasp in front of me. A peak of nervousness rests in my gut as I feel his gaze on me, I ignore it, focusing my eyes forward while I rock on the balls of my feet.

Jenny answers the door, her blond hair messy and clear stress present in the crinkled corner of her eyes and worry etched into her pupils. She holds her baby, Ritchie, close to her chest, “Sam, Dean, Y/N. What are you doing here?”

Sam smiles at the blond, “Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. You know, for old time’s sake” Dean chimes in.

She scrunches her nose, “You know, this isn’t a good time. I’m kind of busy.”

“Listen, Jenny, it’s important.” Dean tries to explain before Missouri smacks him hard on the back of the head, far harder than I ever do, “Ow!” He yelps, turning around swiftly towards the shorter woman, “How did you-!” He nearly yells holding the back of his head. He looks at her with big wild eyes, his yelling coming from the fact she was able to quietly get behind Sam and I to hit him.

Missouri cuts him off, “Give the poor girl a break, can’t you see she’s upset?” She then turns to Jenny, “Forgive this boy, he means well, he’s just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out.” Dean looks further stunned.

“About what?” Jenny asks, adjusting her hold on her kid.

“About this house.” Missouri answers.

“What are you talking about?” Jenny looks between us all, nervously.

“I think you know what I’m talking about. You think there’s something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?” Missouri says.

“Who are you?” Jenny asks just above a whisper.

“We’re people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you’re gonna have to trust us, just a little.” Missouri smiles comfortingly but even so Jenny looks unsure.

She seems to go over it in her head before finally sighing, “Alright.”

The four of us stand in Sari’s bedroom, Jenny having given us room to do what we need to while she waits downstairs with her kids. Sari’s room was a dark blue, a contrast to her pink and white furniture and toys.

“If there’s a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it.” Missouri states, looking around the room carefully from where she stood.

“Why?” Sam asks.

“This used to be your nursery, Sam. This is where it all happened.” She answers, looking around the room. Dean pulls out his DIY EMF from the inside of his coat pocket, “That an EMF?” Missouri asks.

“Yeah.” Dean smiles smugly.

“Amateur.” Missouri says lowly, I don’t know why she was targeting Dean specifically but his reaction to her was too amusing to really ponder it.

The EMF beeps frantically, “I don’t know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain’t the thing that took your mom.” Missouri announces.

“Wait, are you sure?” Sam asks frantically, getting a confident nod, “How do you know?”

“It isn’t the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It’s somethin’ different.” She answers, pausing for a beat before adding, “Can you feel it Y/N?”

My eyes widened in shock, “I’m sorry what?”

“You still got a lot to learn ‘bout your abilities'' She responds waving me over, “c’mere, you might be able to sense the energy.”

I hesitantly place my bag down before slowly walking over to her, she either senses my nervousness or reads my mind because she explains what she means, “Witches tend to have the best intuition and connection to the natural world, you should be able to sense energies especially spiritual ones with a second sight.”

She situates me in front of her with my back towards her, her hands clasp my arms tightly as they rest at my side. “Close your eyes, and just like meditation let everythin’ else fall away.”

I follow her instructions, my eyes fluttering shut reluctantly. I feel incredibly silly as I take a deep breath, the sage-y perfume of the woman behind me filling my nose. I breathe out slowly, forcing my mind to shut out the real world, which isn’t as hard as it should be with the quiet room and my nearly regular meditating. Complete darkness surrounds me as if the room itself had fallen away with all the people in it too, just me floating in an abyss.

I focused more closely on the house itself, extending my awareness far out to the block and then as if a dark fog hugged it I zeroed in on the house. Using my conscious self I pictured what it was like to walk through the house this time with a deep focus and new eyes.

With each step I ventured further into the house cautiously, a buzzing feeling rang through the house like when two strong magnets fight for equilibrium with a clatter. But despite the buzzing a physical warm glow emitted from the home's edges and like a hand reaching out it tried to conquer more of the house, yet it couldn’t. A force I couldn't quite tell held it back. The hair on the back of my neck stood tall, a cold chill running down my spine, I shrugged it off as I walked back up the stairs and down the hall to my physical self.

My foot only breached the doorway when a dreadful feeling filled the halls as if rooted beneath the wallpaper, a twinge of fear made its home in my stomach. I had never done this before, never went into my mind to feel the very things I hunt. I have no experience here, this is not my domain. They must know that as hushed murmurs fluttered around me with voices I couldn’t detect but knew they didn’t belong to anyone in the room. They wouldn’t be able to talk to me here so normally, maybe Missouri but certainly not Sam or Dean.

The murmurs became louder, each whisper jumbled over the next, talking over each other to the point of no recognition. My back hits the hard archway of the door's entrance, the sheer loudness of combined voices knocking me off balance. I braced myself against the door, nails biting into wood, my eyes shut tightly in effort to focus even further.

An unfamiliar cold hand brushes my forearm dragging its fingers up to my elbow as if standing beside me, I swiftly turn around backing up a few feet to see nothing near me. Another brush touches me, this time the back of my neck accompanied by a hot breath fanning by my ear. I don’t move away. this is not my domain, but it will be, and I will not show fear now. Latin spews from its mouth flowing right into my ear, a simple teasing statement, “Another toy.”

My eyes shoot open, pupils blown wide as my eyes adjust to the lighting as well as my mind being back in focus of the physical realm. My heart beats harshly against my chest, my lungs heaving with adrenaline.

A large hand clasps around my upper arm tightly, I nearly stumble back a step before my mind finally catches up with the present. “What is it?” Dean spews out quickly, his green eyes nearly crazed with worry.

I open my mouth to answer only to have Missouri answer for me instead, “You saw them.”

“F-felt more like” I stammer the feeling of its touch still lingering.

“What are they doing here?” Dean asks, looking between Missouri and I for answers, his hand still on my arm. Thing is I don’t have an answer, all that creepy spirit touching and I still don’t know everything.

But of course Missouri does, “They’re here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected.”

“This house buzzes with energy, literally you can feel it attracting paranormal energy. There’s two here right now…ones in the room. My head turns towards the closet, “A poltergeist. I’m not sure if it sees it as a game or what but I think it wants Jenny and her kids dead.” I know I’m right when Missouri nods her head.

“You both said there was more than one spirit.”

“There is. I just can’t quite make out the second one.” Missouri answers before adding, “You pick up anythin’”

“Only that it felt…good, if that makes sense. It was very different from the other. It was like this warmth trying to consume the house or really rid the house of its evil.” I answer by trying to make sense of everything that I have experienced.

“You’re sure of this?” Dean asks me, gaining my attention again by squeezing my arm before finally letting go.

“Yes.” I breathe simply, failing to explain that my only other hunch was the fact that it hadn’t been bothering me or I suppose terrorizing me like the poltergeist had with its touching.

A hard determined look sharpens on Dean's face, “Well, one thing’s for damn sure –- nobody’s dyin’ in this house ever again. So whatever is here, how do we stop it?”

“We’re gonna cleanse the house” Missouri answers simply, “Y/N, what you have in that bag of yours?”

A devilish smirk stretches itself on my face, “You wanna do purifying bags?” I ask back instead of answering. I walk back over to my discarded bag picking it up and swinging it over my shoulder, “Let’s do this downstairs, don’t want to make a mess in the kids room” Missouri says, answering my question without really answering it.

“Copy” I smile, taking the lead as we exit the room. With a sudden need for my specialty I found a new pep in my step as I quickly descended the stairs beelining for the nearest table. I carefully placed my bag down on the dining room table, pulling out my spell book marked and written in along with small corked glass bottles of different roots and herbs I carry. “When did you put all of this in your bag?” Sam asks, picking up a vial of crossroad dirt.

“Before I left with Dean to come get you, ‘cause you never know when you're gonna have to put together a spell or a potion of sorts” I answer, pulling out a couple empty small brown pouches.

“So you’ve been carrying this ‘round with you this whole time?” Dean asks this time.

“Mhm” I hum as I sit getting right to work.

With a little bag in front of me I put in each ‘ingredient’, for lack of a better word, not needing to look at my book for the right amount in each.

“Well don’t be lazy, help the girl!” Missouri lectures hitting Dean on the back of the head again. He grumbles no longer snapping back with something, he sits down next to me looking for direction.

With the feeling of his gaze on the side of my face I swirl my finger towards my spell book, a purple haze floating through the air turning the pages of my book to the right section for him to follow without me having to stop my work. He doesn't say anything as he takes off his jacket and rolls up the sleeves of his flannel, putting his forearms on display as he picks up bits of root, unfortunately catching my attention enough to pause my work and stare at him.

His eyes move from my book to the bag he was working on, his eyes sharp and focus as it passes across the words on the page. He moves his hand to the book using a finger to drag across the page underneath each word, the veins in his hand bulging as he does so. His eyebrows scrunch and his jaw ticks as he asks, “What is this stuff anyway?”

“That’s angelica root your holding” I mentioned first, referring to the fuzzy green plant in his hand. “And that’s van van oil, crossroad dirt, sage” I point to each bottle, naming off each ingredient we’re using.

He nods as I speak, his eyes still holding the same level of focus. From his listening to the gentle touch he used as he handled each bottle, all I could feel was pure endearment. The sudden quietness in the room made me painfully aware of the fact that we were the only ones left in said room and that Missouri along with Sam had left at some point, most likely to talk to Jenny.

“What are we supposed to do with it?” Dean questioned, knocking his knee into mine to get my attention once more. A bashful smile breaks its way onto my face at his touch, “We put them inside the walls of each corner of each floor of the house, north, south, east, west.”

“We’ll be punchin’ holes in the dry wall. Jenny’s gonna love that.” Dean points out.

My lips formed a tight line, cringing, “Yeah…this is just how this goes but to be fair some holes in the walls are better than evil spirits.”

He huffed a laugh, “And this will destroy the spirits?”

“It should, it's supposed to purify the house completely, we’ll probably each take a floor but we do have to work quickly because when they catch on to what we’re doing, they get seriously pissed.” I answered

“Won’t they catch on with us doing it here?”

“You would think that but spirits don’t always know until it’s actually happening like when we make the holes then it’s a big deal.” I inform, tying off another bag.

“Huh” He replies as he continues to work.

Soon silence falls upon us while we work, our arms brushing against each other every now and then.

“Are holes in drywall a hard fix?” I ask, breaking the comfortable silence, worried that the spirits won’t be the only pissed ones.

A deep chuckle passes through his lips, “That depends, sweetheart, but it should be.” He went on to explain the logistics of it, and while it wasn’t something I really cared to know about I didn’t stop him from explaining.

By the time his explanation of spackles and walls was over our purifying bags were done too.

Missouri and Sam walk back into the room, the floor creaking slightly underneath them. “You guys almost done?” Sam asked

“Yup” I hummed, “The bags are all done just gotta finish cleaning up”

“Good. Jenny and her kids just left, they’ll be back in an hour or two” Sam explained, placing a bunch of heavy items on the table. “I brought these in from the car, take your pick.”

I look up at the heavy mass, a hammer, a small ax, and two crowbars lay on the table. Though it is an odd collection of weapons as long as it is capable of making a hole in the wall it doesn't really matter, Sam picks up the hammer testing the weight of it in his hand.

With every part of the plan settled I throw the rest of the vials and leftover bags in my bag worrying about organization later, gently tucking my thick spell book into my bag I turn swiftly around, “Let’s get it done.”

“I’ll take this floor” Dean says, picking up his four bags, “Sammy you take upstairs, and you two can take the basement.”

“And remember you need to put a bag in each corner, north, south, east, west.” I order as everyone has the right amount of bags and a weapon of choice.

A collective nod was all we needed to spring into action, with the cold heavy crowbar in my hand I took the lead down the basement Missouri following closely after me. Without any words needed, we split up her heading to the west side of the floor and me to the east.

A chill runs up my spine, an uncomfortable feeling floating in the air, I roll my shoulders trying to rid myself of the feeling. My knees hit the floor, the coldness seeping through my pants. I knock on the wall in an attempt to hear a hollow part, Dean having mentioned before that would be the easiest way to make a hole. My knuckles hit the wall in at least ten separate spots before it no longer sounds solid. I stand back up for better leverage before changing my hold on the crowbar to be horizontal, bashing the end of it into the wall repeatedly until it cracks.

A heavy sliding noise shuffles behind me, I snap my head to the sound of a large dark table moving across the floor right into Missouri. My mouth opens to scream her name in warning but just as the first syllable leaves my mouth a nail comes flying at my face. Out of reflex alone I send the nail flying to the left, the invisible force of my power altering its trajectory. My eyes follow where the nail came from, an open red tool box, more nails come flying my way and each time I knock them away. Knowing it wouldn’t stop I gripped the crowbar harder using only a glimpse back at the wall to know where I was aiming for. While I used one hand and half my focus on changing the direction of the nails I used my other to slam the crowbars end into the already cracked wall but only when it sounded like it broke through enough did I glimpse back again. With another look forward at the coming nails, only one more left, I waited until it got closer, the old nail zooming toward my eye. Just as it got but an inch away I dropped to the floor, turning my body as I went, throwing the purification bag in.

I got up quickly, dropping my crowbar, almost tripping over my other foot as I ran to Missouri, pushing the table away from her, throwing another bag into the hole she had already made before she got attacked. She breathes heavily, a hand on her chest. “You okay?” I ask, putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her away from the table. She nods her head, handing me her two bags, wordlessly telling me to finish the floor.

I grip the bags in one hand as I pick up my discarded crowbar, seeing the nails that flew at me sticking out of the walls. I head over to the undisturbed wall slamming the crowbar into the wall, not even attempting to do the knocking at this point. While I threw in the third bag, worry consumed me at the realization that the spirits must be attacking the boys too. Without wasting any more time I go to the last undisturbed wall, again slamming the crowbar into it. Call it paranoia or instinct that made me turn so that my shoulder was facing the wall instead of my face to see if another attack would be coming. Either way it was that alone that saved me from the poltergeist throwing a wooden chair at my head. I duck again just in time for the chair to smash into pieces above me, wood undoubtedly falling into my hair.

“Stop throwing stuff!” I yell at the air itself or really the incredibly annoying poltergeist. With a huff I throw in the last bag, all the activity silencing on this floor. I get up walking over to Missouri as I pick out chunks of wood from my hair, as soon as I get close enough she reaches up and takes a particularly large piece of chair out of my hair showing it to me with a laugh before tossing it somewhere on the floor.

“Y/N!” A voice yells with a strain, clearly coming from a distance away. Right away I recognize the voice, Deans, I go running climbing up the stairs two at a time. Forget about my hair, forget about leaving Missouri behind (no offense).

The ground floor is practically untouched other than the clear mess that is peeking out from the kitchen, I look around quickly and see no one, “Dean?!” I shout back evident fear in my voice, getting an immediate “Up here.” Slight relief hits me as I again sprint up the stairs, twirling around the banister the second I reach the second floor seeing the closest open door. Forgetting about precautions I immediately approach the door, my hand on the archway when I see Dean on the floor cradling a hurt-limp Sam.

“Wha-“ I begin saying only to lose my train of thought.

“Let’s get him up” Missouri suddenly says from behind me, very calmly. She nudges past me heading straight for the boys, but neither of them move. She leans down beside Sam pressing two fingers to the side of his neck, “He’s still alive, he’ll be just fine.”

He gives her a curt nod before leaning back on his feet and standing, dragging his brother up with him, just as he does so Sam comes to. His eyes fluttering open and close, “It’s okay Sammy, just gonna bring you downstairs” Dean tells him, putting his brother's arm around his shoulder.

Carefully he walks his brother downstairs, Sam grumbling something halfway through before going limp again. Finally they reach the living room, Dean carefully lays his brother on the couch then moves to sit on the coffee table right across from him.

“He’ll be alright” I say softly, placing a hand on Dean's shoulder.

“I know” he replies.

“Were you able to finish the floor?” I ask even though maybe it wasn’t the proper time to.

“No. I was hurled with knives the second I made the hole, then I heard something upstairs and ran to see if Sammy was okay…I don’t think he finished either” He explains, his eyebrows scrunched together.

“It’s okay, i’ll go finish it and you guys can stay here, watch over him” I say, giving his shoulder a little squeeze before moving my hand away.

“Are you crazy?! That’s dangerous. Did you not just see what happened to Sam?!” Dean shoots back, not quite yelling but his voice is definitely louder than needed.

I smiled at him sweetly knowing this was coming from a place of worry and not an incompetent sort of deal, “Don’t worry I can take care of myself just fine, I did so down stairs when we finished up. Got some nails thrown at me, a chair and a table, you know just the usual playing house with the ghost.”

“That’s not the point. I’m coming with you.” He stands up abruptly and I swear I saw his jaw tick.

“Okay. I’m not gonna argue with you” I respond with humor in my voice. “But. If you did want to stay behind to watch your brother I wouldn't fault you for it either.”

He looks at me strangely with those beautiful green eyes before diverting them just past me, “I’m coming with you.”

“Right.” I smile “‘You got the bags?”

He answers by shuffling through his jacket pockets and pulling out a bag from each, he holds them up in an almost teasing way. I take a half step forward, grabbing a bag right out of his hand, only then realizing how close my small step puts us, having to lean my head back far enough to look up at him comfortably. But I don’t move away as I ask him, “What about your axe?”

He tilts his head down slightly towards me, his breathe hot on my face, “Dropped it in the kitchen”

“Good.” I say, nearly and pathetically getting distracted by our closeness…and his eyes… and his lips. “ ‘Cause I have no idea where I left that crowbar”

He laughs and steps away, his shoulder brushing mine as he walks away to the kitchen. Before I can turn to follow him Missouri meets my eyes, giving me a pointed-knowing look about what just happened. ‘Shut up’ I playfully mouth.

Finally I turn around following after the man in question. He comes out of the kitchen holding the small axe but just behind him is a mess. The kitchen looks like a tornado went through it with draws and cabinets open, utensils on the floor, broken dishes scattered around, the table turned over with knives sticking out of it (a tornado could not do that but the point of the mess still stands.) I look back at Dean then behind him repeatedly, “Did you have fun?” I remark sarcastically.

“Oh, not as much fun as you had” He replies gruffly, reaching up to my hair, his fingers sinking in as he ruffles out small chips of wood. My cheeks feel warm at the small contact and even more so when he pulls away and gives me that smirk. Then he walks away towards the back of the house with a cocky look in his eye like he knew exactly what he had done. I take a short deep breath before following him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later every purifying bag is put in place and Sammy is conscious and now we stand in the disaster that is the kitchen, broken cabinets and chair bits on the floor as well as a collection of utensils, all just to see the bunt of the fight.

“‘You sure this is over?” Sam questions, his voice a little rough.

“I’m sure. Why? Why do you ask?” Missouri answers.

“Never mind.” He sighs, “It’s nothin’, I guess.”

The front door opens followed by footsteps, “Hello? We’re home.” Jenny calls out before finding us in the kitchen pure shock written on her face, “What happened?”

“Hi, sorry. Um, we’ll pay for all of this.” Sam word vomits, the words spilling out quickly and anxiously. Both Dean and I’s heads snap towards him, I seriously want to ask him ‘with what money???’ But before anyone can fathom a word Missouri beat us to it, “Don’t you worry. Dean’s gonna clean up this mess.” Again with her (maybe) uncalled targeting I have to bite back a smirk, meanwhile Dean stands unmoving his eyebrows scrunched looking at the shorter woman with a total bewildered expression.

“Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop.” She adds, and I don’t know how she has this much power but he listens and begins to walk away or really shuffle away, “And don’t cuss at me!” She lectures.

Laughter slips through my lips as he mutters under his breath, Sam joining in on the hilarious nature that is his brother being bossed around.

Wiping a tear out of the corner of my eye I touch Sam’s shoulder, “I’m gonna go get him and fix this up…” I twirl my finger slightly to signal I mean magically, “Bring Jenny inside somewhere.” He nods, “Okay but you should really let him suffer”

I laugh again, rolling my eyes as I move away.

I find Dean standing in front of a broom closet trying to balance several cleaning objects in his hands at once. I admire his effort but there’s just no way anyone could clean that kitchen when it’s quite literally just destroyed. I grabbed a broom from him that was seconds away from falling, “Not to ruin your fun but I figured it would be easier to use magic on the kitchen than a mop.”

“Thank god” He sighs, shoving everything back in the closet including the broom I held.

Back in the kitchen I try not to get stressed at just how bad it is. Taking a calming breath I walk over to the kitchen counters, closing my eyes, I feel my hair move around me slightly from a small drift in the room, my body stands completely still as I let my hands feel the cool counter below me and the steadiness of it all. As my body relaxes and my shoulders drop, relieving its tension I become a conduit for magic, a dance of ethereal threads weaving through me. The energy flowed from my core to my fingertips, the flow gracefully extending to every nook and cranny. As if tracing an intricate pattern, it embraced the room, coaxing broken shards and scattered pieces back into harmony. The air felt electric with the essence of restoration, and the kitchen hummed with the soothing melody of enchantment.

When I open my eyes again, I feel a gaze on me. I turn my whole body, so that I was standing sideways, to it and of course it’s Dean, he meets my eyes, his mouth just slightly agape and I can only imagine what the swirling of purple energy around the room fixing items must have looked like. His green eyes are slightly glossy with what is maybe curiousity or amazement, either way it was a weird look. Before I could question him I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a tall familiar figure. Sam stands by the kitchen archway waving his hand, signaling it was time to go.

Hours later darkness consumes the Impala. After dropping Missouri back home Sam insisted we came back to the house for a stakeout. It was hard to argue with someone who had a bad feeling over something that is quite literally life or death, so we stayed. We’d been in here so long in fact that I’d taken to lying down flat in the backseat, my legs propped up on the seats (shoes off so Dean wouldn’t complain but at least I got to showcase my cute dragonfly socks).

I stare up at the beige-ish interior roof, my hands laying across my chest. I breathe in and out evenly, but with the prospect of being bored, memories of my life here swarm my head and suddenly I miss my mom more than I've had in a long time. If I focus hard enough on the roof I can still hear the remnants of her laughter and I could see her smile, the one I inherited, on her soft face. That old longing, that old sadness that I thought I was over fills my heart, its hands creep up on it clasping it tightly. It’s been years. So many years since she’s been gone and yet still this feeling—this rawness in my chest, this endless longing is home in my body just as it was the first time around.

I miss my mom.

I want to cry and I want her back, tears threaten my eyes and that stupid tightness in my throat prevails almost like it’s choking me, a tightness that’s so painful I want to rip my throat out. I swallow forcefully, I hate this feeling and I hate death and I hate that I'm feeling this in the back of the car with my best friends just right up front. It’s too vulnerable, it’s too open, too close to home…I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I shut my eyes tightly trying to erase these feelings to move them back in the dusty box they had sat in. But it isn’t that easy and I know it isn’t so instead I breathe deeply and choose to listen to Dean and Sam talk, focusing on the up and down of their words and the softness of each syllable.

“All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin’ here?” Dean asks, impatience clear on his tongue.

“I don’t know. I just…” Sam sighs, “…still have a bad feeling.”

“Why? Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over.” Dean explains.

“Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that’s all.” Sam answers.

“Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now.” Dean responds and I hear him slide down his seat, probably closing his eyes in the process, “Like Y/N back there” he adds, softer, and even with my eyes closed a smile produces itself on my face. The small warmth that spreads in my chest fends off the grief, at least enough for it not to be at the forefront of my mind.

The quiet peace that falls over the Impala is short lived, Sam suddenly yelling, “Guys. Look” My eyes shoot open, “Dean!” He hits his brother's shoulder.

I sit up quickly catching a glimpse of Jenny yelling by her window, with nothing more to be said- we jump out of the car. I shuffled to the car door, leaving my shoes behind, the second I’m out and the door is slammed shut I run after the boys who were only two paces ahead. “You two grab the kids, I’ll get Jenny.” Dean commands as Sam tries the door which of course is locked. Dean pushes him slightly to the side, he takes a step back lifting his leg and kicking in the door. Broken pieces of wood stick out from the side of it.

The dark wooden floors are cold beneath my sock-covered feet, each step up the staircase seems far too long even as we reach the top. At the top Dean stops at a door close to the stairs but I don’t use any more focus to take anything else as Sam and I run down the hall, “Get Sari! I’ll get the baby!” I yell after him. Stopping at the closest door I swing it open only to reveal a bathroom, I curse underneath my breath before spinning around to the door right across the hall. Once more I swing it open, this time revealing a baby room with a white crib in the middle of it. I rush over only slowing to not scare Richie as I approach, somehow he’s still asleep wrapped up in his little blanket.

Carefully I reach in the crib scooping him up from underneath his upper back, my other arm going for his legs. Once in my arms I rearrange him so my dominant hand rests on his lower back while the crook of my other arm cradles his little head, just like holding a baby doll except this one is way cuter and also very alive. Standing back at my full height I fix his blanket around him before exiting the room. I know Sam can handle himself so I head towards the stairs, the baby had to be the priority right now. I quickly descend the stairs, only half way down when I feel Sam close behind, a relief hitting me.

My feet only just hit the ground level when Sam calls my name, swiftly I turn towards him Sari in his arms.

“Y/N, you need to take the kids and go outside.” He orders, placing Sari on the floor.

“Okay, what about you aren’t you coming?” I rushed out, cradling Richie in one arm so I could take hold of Sari’s hand.

Panic is written all over his face and something else lies in his eyes, “Take them. Don’t look back” And before I can argue any further he’s nudging me forward, reluctantly I go only because I know I can’t help with two kids in my arms. I run towards the door at this point, pulling Sari along with me, just behind me I hear a slam to the floor and I know it’s Sam- relief gone. But even so I rush forward.

The chill breeze of the night hits me hard. Jenny and Dean stand on the edge of the grass line. Only a few paces from them Sari lets go of my hand and runs to her mom, Jenny leaning down to catch her and hold her tightly. “Sam’s inside you have to go now” I speak quickly, my words jumbling over itself. Dean's eyes widen and pure fear fills them, on top of being scared guilt fills me now too. He runs to the front door and I hear it slam loudly. I hand Richie back over to his mom who is very obviously relieved to have him again.

Dean runs back to the Impala pulling out a shotgun and an ax, going right back to the door. I know I could open the door for him, it would be easy and I wouldn’t even break a sweat. Yet, my feet remain planted to the grown, the chaos of it all—the guilt. My purifying bags didn’t work, it nearly got a whole family killed and Sam’s now in trouble too. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.

My feet won’t move, my body won’t react, I can't even redeem myself. I don’t want to lose anyone else, I don’t want to. I can’t.

Move.

Move. Please move, I beg myself— my very being to do something anything but be helpless. I hate being helpless and yet I’m here doing nothing, anxiety and fear encasing me to this spot. I hear Dean hacking away at the door, faint grunts leaving his mouth as he does so but still I can’t move. Sari begins to cry latching on to her moms legs only waking up Ritchie in the process who then begins to cry too. The loud crying rings in my ears, only making my heart beat faster.

Jenny, visibly overwhelmed, wrestles with the challenge of consoling both kids, her distress mirrored in her eyes. Without conscious thought, my arms extend, offering to hold Ritchie. To my surprise, she entrusts the baby to me, planting a tender kiss on his forehead before gathering Sari into her embrace. Sari's legs encircle her mother's waist, a protective hand cradling the back of her head.

Richie moving in my arms breaks me out of my panic, if only because someone in need was right there, someone who surely couldn’t help themselves. I begin to rock him, moving my weight from one foot to another but my stress and worry is still there and he must feel it too because it does barely anything to help. I look back up, Dean is still hacking away at the door, not enough progress has been made. I rearrange the baby, using my free arm I lift up a hand my palm facing towards the direction of the door, with barely any thought needed the door slams open. Dean looks back at me for only a second before running in.

Richie's cries persist as I rock him, murmuring reassurances, "It's okay, everything will be okay." I desperately rack my mind for any calming measures, when I suddenly recall my mother singing me lullabies. But still I struggle to remember any of them, the memory too distant to be anything more than a hymn, instead I decide to softly sing "A Lullaby" by Dear Nora – even though it came out way after my mothers passing it always reminded me of her. And I had always kept a small hope that one day if I were to have kids that I would sing it to them too.

As I move a strand of hair from Richie's face, he begins to settle. My voice trembles with fear, but it seems to have a soothing effect anyways. Richie stops crying, and I meet Jenny's gaze. She offers a sad smile while holding her daughter close.

Both boys came out of that house. Relief had hit me like a ton of bricks, my knees felt wobbly with it. At first they could barely speak, shocked at what they saw but then the police and firefighters came and it was all the usual.

It was hours later until everything was resolved, and it wasn’t until Missouri came over that they actually spilt what happened. Their mom was there, she was the good spirit that I had felt, the one that was fighting off the evil and she did exactly that when it had attacked Sam. Somehow, she was still at the house after all these years protecting it. She had used the last of her abilities to say…sorry.

It’s morning now, Missouri cleared the house for real this time no spirit was left in there. The kids were sleeping still, Jenny was giving the photos she found to Dean and Sam sat with Missouri on the steps talking.

I had nothing to say to anyone in particular so I sat in the Impala, my legs outside the car, digging through my bag, when I finally pulled out my spell book I turned to the purifying page, I looked it over again trying to see if we did something wrong and messed up the amounts. But no. We did it right, but for some reason it didn’t work—it didn’t work and people could have died. Holding the book on my lap I reach up to the top of it, my hand holding the single page ready to tear it out when it’s suddenly taken from my grasp “Hey, what are you doing?!” Dean yells, holding it out of reach.

“It didn’t work. It needs to go, please give it back.” I answered, my jaw clenched.

“This was your moms, you’d hate yourself if you ripped it up.” Dean lectures.

“No I wouldn't, give it back. I need to make sure this never happens again.” I shoot up from my seat reaching up to grab it back but his arm shoots down behind his back.

“Yeah, you would. Sorry to break it to you sweetheart but I know you pretty damn well.”

I don’t care if he’s right. I don’t. That page needs to go, I can’t make this mistake again. I won’t. I reach for it again behind his back but again he moves it, “Dean. I’m not joking around give it back.” I don’t often get angry, but I am.

He looks down at me, his eyes scrunched in confusion and concern, “What’s going on with you?”

I huff, frustrated, “What’s going on is I messed up. Badly. They could have died and don’t try to say I don’t know that for sure because I do. And I know you do too, so I don’t need any comforting lies”

"We screw up, sweetheart. It's part of the gig. But we fixed it. They're alive and kickin', okay?" His words carried that gruff reassurance he always had, even when he was being a bit of a hypocrite. Book at his side, guard lowered just a bit, it was my chance to snag it back. "Not this," I jabbed a finger at the book. "I'm good at this. I don't mess up on this."

"I don't care that you're all emotional right now. You're not trashing your spell book." Arms crossed in front of his chest, he held his ground.

My chest heaved, my eyes scrunched in frustration as I looked up at him, my free hand in a tight fist my nails digging into my palm. “But, it needs to—“ I say back, weakly, already my fight was crumbling, being replaced with something else. Suddenly his arms were around me and my face was buried in his chest. His arms held my upper back tightly, his hands going up to cup my head, his fingers entangled into my hair a little while his chin rested on top of my head. With each breath I took, inhaling his smell of something woody and some sort of spice mixed into one, any resolve I had left was gone.

I wanted to keep fighting, I wanted to tell him he was wrong but he held me so close and so gentle that I couldn’t. If that in itself had made me weak then so be it. I wrap my arms around his center, even with my book in my hand. It had to be seconds later when he must have felt the tension leaving my shoulders when he pulled away, his hands dropped down to the crook of my arm holding me a short distance away. His green eyes locked with mine in a silent agreement.

I pull away fully when Sam and Missouri approach, quickly whipping my eyes just in case and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. We each exchange hugs with her, even Dean who surprisingly gets no comment this time.

Missouri smiles, “Don’t you be strangers.”

“We won’t.” Dean nods as he rounds the car.

[some0newithapen]

2024 is almost over, so it’s time for an art summary! Some of the pieces featured in this summary I haven’t posted on this blog, but I wanted to have something for every month instead of just the ones when I started posting here. I hope I improved!

I decided to make my own template since I was having trouble finding one that I liked lol

This year was stressful in the beginning, if I’m being honest. However, it got a lot better towards the end (though it’s still been a bit of a struggle sometimes, but that’s life). I made new friends, learned new things about myself I didn’t know before, and joined the wacky world of Tumblr. Everyone here has been so kind and supportive, and I am especially grateful for my mutuals (yall are amazing ok??).

Okay now I’m gonna put some New Years Resolutions I have for my art:

1. Finish the script for Chapter 1 of Adventure of A Lifetime and begin posting the actual comic.

2. Focus on stopmotion and 2d animation more

3. Post more finished works than sketches

4. Work on structure, perspective, and enviroments

5. Use more references (I have a bad habit of not using references and jumping straight into drawing)

Post more OC lore and original art

Also since this my new pinned post I’m gonna put my tags:

#my art - My art! Yay!!

#aoalt - Anything related to my comic Adventure of a Lifetime! Characters from said comic will have tags like #bender aoalt

#swapoc - Other OCs not related to Aoalt, characters will have tags like #oc flick

#reblog - Reblogs

#friend’s art! - Reblogged art made by my mutuals!

#queue jumpscare - queued posts of any kind! sometimes I can’t even remember I made them..

#swaptext - text posts, updates, and also comments I might leave on reblogs that aren’t in the tags!

#insp - anything I think looks cool and I want to save for later

#prayer request - prayer requests either from me or that are reblogged from other people

#important - usually used for more serious topics

This blog is SFW for the most part, but I may post some more triggering stuff every now and then (gore, abuse, nudity, etc). I will put trigger warnings on these posts. I encourage you to curate your own experience and censor certain tags and stuff like that if something makes you uncomfortable :D

And that’s it! Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have an amazing year <3

[shynetyme06]

PJ number 1 and 14 please!!

YAYYYYYYYYY

Ahem, #1 is truly my #1 pj of them all, they’re the one I post the most about and has their own featured tag (mc pj) yet I’ve barely finished scratching the surface when it comes to sharing lore and info on them here ;3 for the fun fact, I’m gonna talk more about their puddling thing. Basically, they can turn into a puddle of ink on command and they primarily use this ability to suffer no painful consequences for falling from really high places

They don’t use this ability for every possible risk of pain, because it is reallyy messy. (They always have to remember to take their art supplies, especially any books, out of their bag first otherwise they get stained irreparably)

…….#14. Uuhhh so I counted chad pj on this list, and yeah he does have lore. It’s really horrible but that’s what he deserves

Fun fact is that he is cursed, like literally cursed with like -999 rizz and the only way to cure him is a kiss. (I’d suggest killing him instead) You’ll know he’s near when you start hearing the metal remix of cbat

[you-remind-me-of-the-babe]

I’m gonna do some fic recs today! Let’s goooo!

What Remains After the Storm, Complete, 86k, rated M by @hushed-chorus

This fic completely sucked me in and transported me to another world. Simon is a goatherd in a small seaside town who finds a nearly drowned man he rescues, only to find out it’s someone important from his past who also happens to be under a Fae curse that has turned him into a merman. The author weaves incredible lore, lush descriptions of harsh but beautiful settings and a meticulous plot that will blow you away. Plus! This fic is accompanied by a staggering amount of gorgeous art by @erzbethluna that compliments the story in such a delightful way. (Seriously, these two are geniuses.)

Swords into Plowshares, Complete, 6.5k, rated T by @ileadacharmedlife

I don’t often click on fics with the crack tag, but if they’re anything like this fic then I am thoroughly missing out! It’s a simple premise. Baz feels jealous that Simon is spending so much time with his new Excalibur sword. This silly yet sexy fic had me cackling with glee at nearly every turn. Come for the sword innuendos and stay for Baz’s paranoia clashing with Simon’s enthusiasm.

A Gift From the Propheseals, Complete, ~7k, rated E by @skeedelvee

Simon is sent on a mission to ask the propheseals to grant him visions to help with defeating the Humdrum and instead is gifted with visions of a future with Baz that is very different than what Simon would expect from his nemesis. This fic is tender, sexy and sweet and is accompanied with fantastic art by @letraspal that really adds a dreamlike quality to Simon’s visions. This premise is so creative and at just under 7k you will devour it quickly and be left with a warm feeling in your chest.

The Sexual Education of Simon Snow, Complete, ~15k, rated E by @eelwinks (LakeWitch on AO3)

Watford-era, Agatha wants to have sex so Simon sets off on a journey of educating himself on the intricacies of the act, with the help of his dread companion, and to the consternation of his roommate. I know, I know, this is an older fic, but some of us are slow readers and take a while to get to things. If you’re like me and you missed this one (or have been meaning to get to it) you should go for it. Of course the sexual tension between Simon and Baz is delicious but also I thoroughly enjoyed Penny bravely trying to teach her friend about sex with nearly zero boundaries.

Personal Best [Link to the Podfic version] Complete, 36min, rated T, written by @scone-lover and read by @petrodobreva

Man, there are some fabulous podfics in this fandom, and if you haven’t checked any out yet, this is a great one to start with. This Normal AU features Simon and Baz as rivals on the same swim team and does a beautiful job showing the progression of Simon’s admiration, frustration and feelings of inadequacy morphing into attraction and want. And @petrodobreva adds a rich layer of brilliant characterization, coupled with lovely voices/accents and extra touches of sound effects and music. Plus, if you like this one, she has a couple of other CO podfics that are done with equally superb levels of production.

And We Still Do, Complete, 8k, rated T by @facewithoutheart

Another one that came out months ago that I missed! This fic is really like 5+1 mini-fics, imagining Simon and Baz meeting in various different AUs. Each one is a mini world the author crafts beautifully in a short time, pulling you in and making you feel as if you’ve read 20k in each of them. My particular fave was Simon and Baz meeting at 5 years old, but honestly, they are all fantastic. Do yourself a favor and immerse yourself in each of these worlds. You won’t regret it.

That’s it from me for now! I’ve read other great fics but I’ll save them for another time. Thank you to everyone who continues to tag me btw! I love reading your stuff and hopefully I’ll have words of my own to share soon.

[bartholomew-junior]

ENDOPARASITIC? THAT HORROR GAME WHERE YOU PLAY AS A GUY WITH 3 OF HIS LIMBS GONE? THAT HAS CHARACTERS OTHER THAN ONE ARM GUY?

yes, and the existence of these three is the basis of nearly all of the endoparasitic fandom (used to be 5 or 6, now just me or maybe another person idk) if you scroll through the fandom tag (#esptc) you’ll see a few others, as well as the main tag, #endoparasitic. i’m gonna go over the existence of these characters in canon, starting with the main character:

CYNTE (one arm guy) CANON:

in the game, he is voiced by gianni matragrano, and we are shown a fair bit of his personality and motive which serves as a catalyst for the plot of the game. as far as we know, he’s got a bucketload of negative character traits, given that he is at least partially to blame for the events of the game. but he is shown as a very determined, ambitious and intelligent character. i strongly, strongly suggest you read the chat logs on the computers in endoparasitic which shows his dialogue and more of his personality, cuz despite his status as one armed protagonist guy, he does have depth which i commend nessa (the writer) for.

and now for the two other characters that are named and (semi) important to the plot. ill start with praví, who is lesser known character when put into comparison with luce and cynte. (i highly suggest you watch a lore video or something)

PRAVÍ CANON:

praví is only seen in a few chat logs and one cutscene (this also applies to luce), so VERY little canon. the things that we do have (where he’s not begging for his life) show him to be levelheaded, an efficient worker, and dare i say laid-back, at least in comparison to cynte. there is something to say about how he ignores luce often, maybe showing less of a concern to people below his station.

LUCE CANON:

she serves as the driving force for the plot, inviting the parasites into the lab and killing everyone because of the manipulation of the nautilus parasites saying that instead of her “”great, smarter, objectively better”” boss, she was chosen to host the parasites. ignored by praví, treated like a child by cynte, she is often portrayed as timid and sentimental, again in comparison to the other two characters. her spiraling into madness was “finding her strength” in a way, and at the end, it is shown that she thinks of cynte as worse than her even though she caused the mass infection, showing her to be just a bit naive and hypocritical.

again, i very strongly urge you to play through the game or check out a lore video if possible. thank you for letting me ramble 👍

[smilingformoney]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

no one tagged me in this but I saw @hirukochan do it and decided to steal it

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Eight

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

425,915 (most of them Soul of Ice, obviously)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter but specifically Snape, and Alan Rickman characters

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

See, this won’t work so well because I have eight stories, but if we could have chapter kudos it’d be a much more interesting exercise to see my five most popular chapters. Anyway:

Soul of Ice

Happy Ending

Soul of Ice One-Shots

Professor Snape II

Morality is an Illusion

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Not unless I have something to say, maybe I should?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Three Secrets considering you die at the end.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I want to say Happy Ending for the title lol but really it’s Soul of Ice, which so nearly had a heartbreaking ending but I couldn’t do that to my babies!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope, the Snapedom is generally very positive! And who could hate Dad Snape?!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I’ll write pretty much any smut, but I prefer it to be part of a wider context, hence why I don’t write a lot of one-shot smuts. The one-shots I do write are pretty freaky though 😎

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, I’d get too lost in the lore trying to explain why the crossover was happening 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yeah, y’all remember when this happened?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, nobody is insane enough to try and translate my whopper of a fic 😂

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I don’t see how it’d work personally, although I am big into using people as soundboards. Soul of Ice would be very different without @sevsnapes and For the Love of Books wouldn’t even exist without @snowblossomreads

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

doctorrose, though I’ll probably never write for them. Any form of Snape/Happiness is a-ok in my book but Snephy is obviously my favourite form of that.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I’m gonna finish them all! I promise! Eventually!!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characters. The most common compliment I get is that people like my OCs, Abbie in particular.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I’m always conscious that my narration isn’t very descriptive. It feels very “he did this and she did that, then they did this and that.” I do try to go back and flourish it a bit but I struggle to be anything other than literal in my descriptions. eg, if I had to describe a table I’d be like, “The table was a rectangle with four legs. It was made of wood.” 😂

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If I felt the need to do that for whatever reason I’d probably do it like, “Insert dialogue here,” she said in German.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER TOLD THIS STORY ok so I was like 9 or something like that and I wrote a snamione story but my mum found out and made me stop because Hermione was like 13. So I did stop but I didn’t just ghost the story, I made a post that my mum said I couldn’t write it anymore but that Hermione finds out Snape is getting married so she gets together with Ron instead. I don’t remember much of what I actually wrote, only that it started with Hermione noticing that Snape had very sad eyes. I’m pretty sure this was before the last book came out so I clearly knew what was up!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Soul of Ice, always and forever. (I count Professor Snape II as being part of it.)

Tags: @sevsnapes @giosnape @mamawolfsmith87 @snowblossomtumbles @thestephanieflora

[akamikazae]

Sorry in advance for asking all these things 😭 but first up, your oc is cool! She’s so stylish as heck! She gives me that 80s funky/chill vibe and her hair is flawless! And I adore for bond with sasuke so much, Ahh. Would it be ok to ask about their lore together? How did they meet and bond together like mother and son? (And kakashi too! He’s papa).

Plus, I also appreciate all the Sasuke positivity so much. From your drawings to random posts. It’s so refreshing and uplifting for me. There’s to much negativity for the poor kid these days. And I greatly respect the “my son!” Feeling to for sasuke. I to get that parent vibe haha (sasuke is little guy no matter what, must squish respectfully).

And for atla, if your oc and characters you like. What benders would they be? And if they are besties with any of the Alta crew?

-

P.s; i do Like seeing the snake positivity! It’s wonderful seeing that. Poor things also get bad rap as well. (I like seeing hognoses, they are cute!! Myself I wish I had one and tarantulas😭) ANYWAYS, TY FOR POSITIVE CONTENT SO MUCH. Be well and have a great day/night! Sorry again for the long ask!

Never ever be sorry for sending an ask! I love love getting them and getting to chat w lovely pals like you! So thank you for popping over to send me an ask ❤︎₊ ⊹  You are always welcome to ask about my lil fam! I will try to keep it short and sweet lol ₊⊹ Ahhh thank you so much for saying so, Akami is very very dear to me! I’m glad u think she’s got a bit of a retro vibe. I always see her fitting in well w that 90s-ish style from the 80s to the 00’s ! (I actually have a 90's au for them too)

Shisui was one of Akami's first childhood friends and later her first lil love. She goes w Shisui to meet Sasuke when she’s 13yr, he’s only a few weeks old but the second she holds him and his chubby baby hand swipes her chin she falls in love. Bc of her relationship with Shisui Akami spends more and more time around Sasuke— he’d be tagging along after the big kids, but she always made time for him. Even if it was 20 extra minutes before a mission or after a long day of training, she’d hide her injuries and play with him instead. She’s one of many Anbu called to the scene the night of the Uchiha massacre. The second she found him all alone she knew she was taking him home and she quit Anbu that night.  Akami never felt heard or seen as a child so she tries her best to make sure that Sasuke has a voice. She didn’t intend to take on a parental role; it just happened over the years. She’s always open about his family and ready to listen when he confides in her, she teaches him every single uchiha jutsu she knows (and eventually kakashi does too) so Sasuke can still feel connected to his Clan. She gets him through his nightmares and defends him tooth and nail, she teaches him how to cook and use a sword. No matter what, he's always gonna be her baby and she’ll be his Kami-chan. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for him.  Akami and Kakashi knew each other as kids, they did not get along until their traumas sort of forced them to see eye to eye and rely on each other.  But it wasn’t a friendship until their early-mid teens, even then it always felt like more. Shortly after she takes in Sasuke they start a tumultuous FWB only to realize they very obviously love each other. Sasuke approves bc Kakashi makes Akami happy and is always there for her (for better or worse) and Kakashi and Sasuke start to have a very meaningful connection well before he becomes his sensei.  Yes parent squad ! Sasuke deserves the world and I love that you love him too!!<3 In ATLA Akami would be a water bender, she’s a descendant of the Yuki clan so it just seems fitting for her heritage! Tho I’d be wary of her healing abilities, she’s more of a fighter and I would not put it past her to learn how to blood bend! (She was Anbu Root for a reason💀)  Sasuke is fire bb! Kakashi I go back and forth on but I think he would be fire too .I love love love love ATLA and have tried to make an au for her but I find it hard to imagine Akami interacting w the gang (They all just feel so young lol- though she’d probably like Suki and Zuko best) I think that she would get along really well with Piandao! June, Jet and Iroh too. She’d def feel some sort of kinship for Azula (ruthless + manipulative never taught to love, w similar mommy and daddy issues!🤝lol) Yes Yes! I love snakes, they are so beautiful !! When I made my oc I really wanted to have her be ostracized because of her father and resemblance so it’s so fun to play w both the beauty and monstrous qualities for her. 🐍Akami and her summons Ryū are based off of mangrove pit vipers and Copper bellied water snakes ! Thank you again for the ask! I could blab about them all day if my super long winded response wasn’t proof lol 💕💕Take care my dear and have lovely day and or night :)

[licantropa]

Hi hi!

So I've been getting some like Resident Evil brainrot from your AU and firstly its great and I love all the character placements so much!

And I was wondering if you had any ideas of what Sonja and Capsize do in the mansion plot point wise since I believe there isn't much canon wise to say what Jill and Chris actually each do.

Also I'm like curious if you had certain scenes you have in mind or if its just the characters so far.

(no pressure to answer, just enjoying thoughts)

I’m glad you enjoyed the au!

I’ve just finished replaying the game (Jill’s route) so I could refresh myself on the mansion layout and boss fights.

This is where things get tricky because canonically to the RE lore everyone survived the night (Barry, Jill, Chris, Rebecca, & Wesker) but we don’t see everyone from either perspective, Barry missing in Chris’s and his fate left unknown, while Chris is missing in Jill’s and Rebecca is nonexistent. But it’s canon that they were all there.

So in the au I think it’d make sense if Capsize & Alyssa never run into Sonja, but they’d also have to get captured by Mianite semi early on.

Boss fight wise I think it’d make sense like this:

Capsize fights: Crimson Head, Mother Neptune, Plant 42

Sonja fights: Lisa Trevor, Black Tiger, Tyrant

For specific scenes, Capsize and Alyssa beat Sonja and Spark to the Residence area of the map and just complete it, Capsize who has had an awful feeling about all of this begins to question Mianite who just so happened to run into them there. Getting frustrated that things aren’t going his way he reveals himself and begins threatening her. At gunpoint, Capsize laughs at him. Mianite goes to shoot Alyssa, but Capsize takes the (non-fatal) hit instead. From there, they are lead to a cell where both of them will stay captive til Sonja releases them at the end. (in the original re1 in Chris’s route when he confronts Wekser, he just starts fucking laughing at him, I think that’d be in character for Capsize to do)

Another scene I’ve been thinking about would be one after the Lisa Trevor fight. Sonja being more demanding to Spark on getting some answers she’s sure he has, while Spark is very much trying to talk around the issues and there being more tension from that point forward on their teamwork.

Other than that, figuring out who opens what doors and how the hell puzzle solving is going to work out is gonna be a tough one.

Also! Regarding your tags, I wanted to respond to them but I got sidetracked…playing re1 😅.

The piano thing is just a reference to Chris needing Rebecca to play it for a puzzle, while Jill just knows how to do it. And yea there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to the controls for the game, but for me after I got used to them I found them enjoyable. Like I really like the different camera angles and how it made the game more tense, but I can definitely understand how irritating they can be. Sherry is supposed to be Ianita (knew I was forgetting to mention somebody). I’ve also been going back and forth on Martha being Anita birken (although Steve would definitely not be William Birken, maybe Gaines? but more a fellow umbrella scientist and not husband to Martha).

If you love cheesy lines, highly suggest to watch a video that goes through the original re1 dialogue. It’s hilarious. Give one a watch if you’ve got the time. ( https://youtu.be/pVyOCssIXgQ —> 10 minute video of og re1 dialogue)

Thank you for the ask! If you’ve got suggestions for the au I’d love to hear em!

[guiltyfilthysoularchive]

.. guiltyfilthysoul. ! an independent mutually exclusive fandomless blog. original character with original lore. this blog will include not safe for work content and triggering themes.  themes include : the unwanted child, abusive parents, death mentions, drug and alcohol addiction, alcoholism, mental breakdowns, losing someone close to you, losing yourself, not-guilty verdicts, and getting revenge on those who took something from you.

 heavily affiliated with the likes and lore of @woodridgehollow​.

001. just be chill, seriously. no kind of hate-speech. we’re all adults, ( at least be over the age of twenty-one to interact with me please ) so treat each other as you want to be treated. i’m nice and easy to get along with, treat me with respect and i’ll do the same for you, it’s as simple as that.

002. this is a safe space for myself and my writing partners. if you need something specific tagged, trigger wise, please let me know and i’ll more than likely oblige. otherwise basic trigger tags will be used.

003. i ship with chemistry. and more than likely, i ship with my out of character friends. this is a multi-verse, multi-ship blog. if that’s not something you’re into, then i’m sorry, this is not a space for you. established relationships otherwise ( familial / platonic / hateship  / any other dynamics ) are welcome.

004. this is not my main writing platform. i have obligations that lead me to sometimes be busy and sometimes my brain doesn’t work right and the muse is gone. please take that into consideration if you’re willing to write together.

005. main blog is notladylikes. follows will most likely come from there.

                                                               CINDERELLA’S DEAD NOW, CASKET.

my sister, she’s gone missing. cops ‘round these parts are all real interested in the case, til they realize it’s got foul play written all over it, and now they’re putting it off - saying they’ll ‘look into it.’ lazy fucks. all of ‘em. the likelihood they’ll actually do their job is slim to none, ‘cause they can’t be bothered to do actual work. that’s blasphemous, in their eyes. preacher says he’ll get on them, but that’s a waste of time. he’s feedin’ my mama a sack of bullshit. talkin’ about how god will help us in our hour of need, but if god were listening, would maggie’ve gone missing in the first place?

i think something’s up with this town, the people never paid much attention to me, i was always the one that came first, the screw up. once i hit teen years everybody stopped looking at me and started lookin’ past me. but maggie? she was the golden child. voted nicest person in town, or some bullshit like that. got a sash even. they used to look at me like that when i was real young, like i had potential. then at thirteen i started causin’ a ruckus because my mama would rather dote on her ‘new family’ instead of payin’ attention to her old one, and things all went to shit.

maggie and me though, we got a bond like no other. i feel so lost without her, like a part of me is just defunct altogether. there’s a hole in my heart where she’s supposed to be that’s gone dormant, i can’t feel her anymore. i’m gonna find out what happened to maggie, if it’s the last thing i do. so y’all better prepare yourselves, ‘cause if somethin’s done happened to her, there’ll be hell to pay.

                          it should have been me. it should have been me. it should have been me.

[yukidragon]

Since its almost Halloween can we get some yandere werewolf Joseph head canons, please?!

Ho, hoooo~ That sounds like a fun little AU right there. I hope you don’t mind if I specifically use my version of sunshine, Alice, for this answer. It might help me get inspired to make another AU short fic for her and Jack... or rather Joseph. ;3

Hmm... lots of ways to take this. For example, I could go with a similar angle I used for my Vampire AU, in that everything is basically the same, just Joseph was a werewolf before he died, which now makes him a werewolf ghost(?) who was released from this cursed VHS prison by Alice.

Buuuut that would be Jack and not Joseph wouldn’t it? After all, he would be in the persona of the character of Sunny Day Jack, so let’s go with the college AU as our basis, shall we? I’m sure that version of Joseph would make a fine yandere werewolf.

BTW, for those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s a picture of Joseph in the College AU that Jambeebot/Sauce drew and posted publicly on their twitter.

A tired but handsome lad, perfect for some wolfy shenanigans, don’t you think?

Just as a quick reminder, please don’t repost any of the pictures posted privately on the Snaccpop Studios Patreon. For just $3, you can get a peek of the good stuff, and that’s cheaper than a cup of coffee like the one Jojo here is holding. You could also consider joining the Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack kickstarter. It recently hit $45,000, so the Nick route was just unlocked!

Oh, and while I’m plugging stuff, why not check out Sunshine in Hell or Sunshine in Another World, my Sunny Day Jack fanfics? I’d love it if you read them and let me know what you think.

Also, I want to remind everyone this series is an Adults Only game, and there’s probably going to be a smutty headcanon or two in the bunch. I mean, we are talking about a werewolf AU. I’m practically obligated to mention knotting at least once.

Oh, before I forget, here’s the obligatory tags for @channydraws and @earthgirlaesthetic.

Thanks for indulging my side-tangent, now back to the headcanons.

I haven’t really touched on the College AU before, but now’s as good of a time as any, just with a little supernatural twist to it. There’s not really any “canon” lore to this AU, just Joseph looking pretty stylish as a college student, so I’m just gonna go crazy and have fun with it. Okay? Okay!

First off, it’s modern day, with cell phones, super fancy coffee drink shops, and obscene student loan debts. Joseph’s family/school life has been shit like in the normal universe, with parents who don’t love him (and probably regret ever having him), but he didn’t run away from home (or if he did, he eventually went back). Instead, he doubled down on his education to get a college scholarship that’ll get him the hell away from his shitty home life and hometown.

Of course, being a student reliant on a scholarship for his funds, Joseph has to work his ass off to maintain high enough grades to keep it. This leads to a lot of late nights, dark circles under his eyes, and a rewards card at the local Sunbucks coffee shop that gets used more than his phone. He gets so much coffee there that the barista even learned how to spell his name right!

The college happens to be the same unnamed college that Alice(/MC), Shaun, and Ian attended. Joseph, being interested in acting, winds up in some of the same classes as the three.

Now, we could say things in this continuity are mostly the same as canon, with Alice and Ian dating at the start of college. This would be when Joseph gets to meet his sunshine while being an ordinary college student instead of a ghost(?) clown actor. Jealousy and love triangles ensue.

But, nah, let’s shake that timeline up little more with some of that werewolf spice, shall we? In fact, let’s rewind the timeline just a little to some events before college starts.

Joseph comes from a pack of werewolves. His parents are still unloving and don’t pay attention to him, but man does being a supernatural creature complicate matters even more. There’s the whole pack hierarchy with alphas and what not (which even Joseph knows is something real wolves don’t do, but then again real wolves don’t transform or have supernatural nonsense going on with them either). You have to be the biggest and strongest to get any power or attention, which is more reason for him to go through a rebellious stage... only this period of teenage angst involves fangs and claws instead of a pocket knife.

So why then, did Joseph not run away from home in this universe when things feel even more isolating for him? He did, but this time it was during a full moon after a particularly rough tumble with his pack. He made it to an area without local wolves of any variety, and on that moonlit night he found himself a ray of sunshine.

Alice’s childhood home has a large backyard that leads into a forest. Being familiar with these woods and with no dangerous wildlife to speak of in the area, it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary for her to take a late night stroll. When she heard a faint whimpering, she assumed it was one of the family dogs. What she found in the dim light of the moon and her cell phone’s flashlight app was a juvenile “dog” with dark chocolate colored fur that had a pretty blue shine where the light hit it.

The poor thing was all covered in cuts, and growled at the strange human approaching him when she got close. Alice felt sorry for it, but knew better than to get too close. Joseph wasn’t exactly happy about being found, and was relieved when she left, only to be surprised when she returned with a couple bowls, one filled with dogfood and the other water.

Joseph figured out her misunderstanding and found it kind of funny. This stranger was treating him as a dog more kindly than his parents or his teachers ever did, speaking soothingly and not getting too close. He snubbed the dogfood because he wasn’t that desperate yet, but he was thirsty after running away so far.

Alice smelled pretty nice to Joseph, really nice in fact. He got closer to her to get a better sniff of her scent underneath the artificial perfumes of her soap and deodorant. She knew better than to move when he got closer, lest she startle him, and he decided to be cheeky and lick her hand when he noticed some cookie crumbs still stuck to her fingers.

What Joseph didn’t expect was that Alice took that as a sign he wanted to be petted. It was startling, to say the least. No one had ever pet him before, not even his parents!

Then again, they didn’t hug him either.

It felt... nice. Far nicer than it had any right to feel, especially after he felt so shitty after getting roughed up by his shitty pack. Joseph melted under the touch and leaned into Alice as she used both hands to put him so gently, his tail wagging for the first time in forever.

Werewolves hid among humanity, but didn’t have much respect for them. Joseph didn’t see a reason to respect humans or werewolves, but this one... this one felt nice, really, really nice. Maybe it was just because of the full moon making him feel more wolf-like and instinctive, but he thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be this human’s pet... at least until he recovered from his injuries. He shouldn’t stay too long in case one of his pack decided to track him down to punish him for running away. 

Alice felt so warm, and Joseph wanted more of her touch. He could’ve cried when she hugged him and called him a good boy.

Unfortunately, such a beautiful moment didn’t last long, as Alice started to cough and she backed from Joseph while covering her mouth and nose. “I guess your owner’s a smoker, huh?”

Joseph never batted an eye whenever a teacher caught him with cigarettes. Their detentions, wagging fingers, and warnings of the danger of teenage smoking never reached him. If anything, their obnoxious lectures just made him want to cut class to light up another joint. It was only when Alice, the first person to hug him in forever, had to put some distance between them so she could breathe did he regret ever picking up the habit.

Even still, Alice brought Joseph back to her house with the intention of taking him to the vet to get him treated in the morning. The family dogs were wary of him, as was expected since they had a better sense of the danger a werewolf posed, but her human family were welcoming. Fortunately, acting friendly enough convinced them that he simply was a very wolf-like breed rather than an actual wolf, let alone a werewolf.

Still, they kept a more careful distance from Joseph than Alice did. They looked him over, and he allowed a few pets, but none of them smelled as appealing as Alice, or cuddled him like she did. Unfortunately, being indoors made it harder to avoid the smell of smoke, so she was forced to keep her distance.

It made Joseph feel a little lonely.

During the night when everyone was asleep, Joseph raided the fridge in a form that actually had opposable thumbs and prowled around the house. He found Alice in her room, but he couldn’t stay long when she started coughing in her sleep. He did linger long enough to notice that she had some fantasy romance novels, a couple of which involved supernatural creatures like werewolves.

Joseph wanted to stay and get to know Alice, but he was a danger to her. Not only would the pack find him if he didn’t keep going, but something as stupidly mundane as a smoking habit was keeping him away from the first person to make him feel warm and cared for in his life.

That night, Joseph reconsidered what he really wanted. He wanted to find a new life, a better life, one with actual love in it. Before he didn’t know how to do it besides forcing his parents, teachers, peers... just someone to finally look at him like a person and not a burden. Now... now there was a chance. He found a ray of sunshine in his dark life. He had a goal to work towards.

Joseph returned to the pack, but not before getting some information he could use, like Alice’s home address and phone number. He would sneak back to watch her from a distance, waiting until it would be safe for him to see her again. He quit smoking, but it would be a while until he stopped smelling of smoke.

One time when Joseph snuck by to see Alice, he saw a scrawny human boy by her side. It wasn’t unexpected - humans spent time with humans, though it did make him feel lonely to see her spending time with someone else when he couldn’t. Worse, was how much fun they were having, laughing, playing around and joking together. They were close.

Then Joseph caught wind of the boy’s pheromones... and hers as well.

The two of them were attracted to each other.

It irritated Joseph, which wasn’t helped by his nicotine withdrawal. Yes, humans were meant to be with humans, and he was supposed to mate with another werewolf and all that bullshit, but fuck that! He hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk to Alice yet, and here was this little toad daring to hug and lust after the first person to show him just the smallest scrap of warmth.

Joseph couldn’t handle it.

Ian had some incidents coming home from Alice’s house where he was stalked by a wild dog or a wolf that chased after him, snapping teeth and growling. However, it would mysteriously only go after him when he was alone and somehow always avoided his attempts at snapping a photo on his phone. On those nights, he wasn’t even truly safe at home, as he would hear scratching at his windows, only to find nothing there, and he thought he heard whispers warning him to stay away from Alice. It made him paranoid and afraid to walk alone when visiting her, and his mom twisted his experiences as being demonic in nature, a warning that he better not have any sinful thoughts about his friend...

It created some distance between Ian and Alice. They were still friends and still close, but he visited her house less often and felt more anxious about his romantic and spicy feelings towards her. This made it even harder for him to gather the courage to ask her out and try to go from friends to something more.

Which suited Joseph perfectly.

It was at least a year after that first encounter that Joseph arranged an ‘accidental’ first encounter with Alice in his human form while she was out and about in the city. Although she kept a greater distance from him as a human than she did as a “dog,” he managed to act cheerful and friendly enough to get her to lower her guard.

The time waiting to see Alice wasn’t spent idly. Joseph had been preparing for that “first” meeting with her, studying more about how to act than he ever did at school, though he did pull his grades up. He stopped acting out, ironically now trying not to attract anyone’s attention in his hometown, so that no one would realize he was sneaking off.

His pack might have hid among humans, but they kept their distance and felt humans were beneath them. They would never accept Joseph’s obsession with one, not unless he became the leader of the pack and changed the rules, or could earn the right to leave the pack, both of which would require him to battle and defeat the alpha.

It was an exhausting balancing act, but worth it to Joseph. He got stronger, pulled up his grades in school, and visited Alice whenever he could. They became friends, and got close enough they exchanged cell phone numbers. He was elated, and the more time he got to know her, the deeper he fell for her.

Joseph did intend to just befriend Alice, he really did, but when she gave him a hug while he was in his human form, he didn’t want to let her go. He wanted more.

He wanted her to be his mate for life.

You know, sometimes werewolf romances have mystical mate bonds, so let’s go with that. It’d be fitting since it’s similar to the connection between Jack and his sunshine in the main universe. Werewolves have one mate for life when they make the mark and all sorts of perks and all those fun tropes.

Joseph did his best to appeal to Alice, and he was thrilled the first time he caught scent of her interest in him - not Ian or someone else, but him! He nearly acted on it right there, but he knew her better by this point. She was shy, took things slowly, and when sneakily prying about her thoughts on romance, he found out that she’d only want to date someone she was friends with first.

Fine, fine, Joseph could wait. He had to take care of his pack’s potential interference anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to secure a good future too if he was going to start a family. Alice did admit she wanted a big family with a bunch of kids in the future, and he was quite happy to imagine having a whole litter of pups with her.

Joseph managed to defeat the alpha by the time he graduated high school. He could have taken over for the pack, but screw them all. He was free, more or less. He had a scholarship, he made sure to enroll in the same college Alice was attending, and he even managed to arrange it so that they would be staying in the same dorm. He wanted to be roommates with her, but the damn school decided that students of the same gender couldn’t stay on the same floor, let alone share a room.

Now that Joseph finally was free, he asked Alice out on the first day of classes, and she shyly accepted.

The fact that Ian just happened to be in earshot at the time really was a total coincidence. Really.

One date led to more, then a relationship. Joseph was the ideal boyfriend, kind, considerate, and very loving. Alice was wonderful to him as well, so cuddly and affectionate. She made him feel so loved and appreciated in a way no one else could.

Joseph swapped out his nicotine addiction for a caffeine addiction, but that was fine. Alice liked the smell of coffee, and although she didn’t really care to drink it, she didn’t mind the taste of it when he kissed her. After a while the smell of coffee would remind her of him, especially when they kissed.

Now that they had gotten this far, Joseph had to gently warm Alice up to the idea of werewolves. She enjoyed horror movies as well as gothic romances, so he had something to work with, getting familiar with some werewolf romance media to show her and talk to her about. It was so romantic how a human and a werewolf could make a relationship work despite all odds, wasn’t it?

Joseph would feel insecure when Alice made friends besides him, especially if he caught wind of any sort of attraction they had towards her. Shaun also had the annoying stink of cat on him. Joseph was quick to make it clear early on after meeting him who Alice wanted to be with, much to her embarrassment.

After all, she hadn’t been expecting Joseph to (gently) bite her neck while she was introducing Shaun and Joseph to one another.

“Joey!” Alice hissed breathlessly as she pushed Joseph back, her face cherry red. “Not here!”

Joseph chuckled, unrepentant as he admired the new mark he left behind on her skin along with the others that made it clear to everyone that Alice was his. “Sorry, sunshine, I just couldn’t resist.”

During a full moon, a werewolf’s instincts are much stronger, which made it that much harder for Joseph to hold back his urge to mate with Alice. He had to take it slowly with her, mindful of her comfort, but oh how she drove him so crazy sometimes. It seemed to get harder and harder to stop when she signaled an end to their make out sessions, but he would never, ever do anything she didn’t want, even if it left him with blue balls and with the urge to tear something apart in the woods to burn off the extra energy.

But all the waiting in the world is worth it for Alice, as far as Joseph is concerned, especially the night she finally, finally tells him that she loves him. He gently pried for it, not as forward or as confident as he would as Jack in the game, but he was absolutely just as giddy and relieved to hear it.

Needless to say, when Joseph reveals the truth about his werewolf nature to Alice, she’s very skeptical, thinking it’s a prank at first. He offers to prove it and shocks her when he manages to actually transform into a wolf, and a rather sizable one at that. Although intimidating and world changing, she quickly accepts this side of him, much to his delight.

Wolfy cuddles, petting, and tail wags follow... then Joseph reveals his hybrid form, with a human physique and wolf features. (It’s not too much different than Bo’s “feed me” form.)

It happens to be a full moon, and Joseph, high off of her love and acceptance of every side of him, gets very affectionate. Though intimidated and very nervous, Alice consents to going all the way with him for the first time. She marvels at how a big and dangerous werewolf like Joseph can be so gentle... and how many times he can keep going.

It was quite the learning experience for Alice. First she learned that her boyfriend was a werewolf, then just how big he is, and finally that she can handle someone of his size without pain with enough loving preparation beforehand. Joseph made sure to shower her with praise through the experience, especially when she managed to take his knot.

Needless to say, the two of them skip classes the next day. Joseph is only too happy to carry Alice around until she can walk properly again, much to her embarrassment.

The mate marking happens either during their first time or afterwards, but, in any case, Alice is consenting to it. After all, it means she and Joseph can be together forever. She’s never felt so happy and accepted before. How can she say no when he’s such a wonderful guy who loves her so much?

Sure, Joseph gets a bit territorial, and Alice always has kiss and bite marks that she can never quite hide when out in public, but that just shows how crazy he is about her. How can she not find it flattering?

Although Joseph’s size and werewolf nature can be intimidating, Alice isn’t afraid of him. How could she? He’s the sweetest, most gentle, friendly, and loving person she’s ever known. The idea that he could hurt anyone is completely absurd!

Joseph is the happiest he’s ever been in his life. He finally has his sunshine, and, someday, they’re going to have a nice home and a bunch of happy pups to call their own. As long as no one tries to get between them, everything will end happily ever after.

If they do, well... this wolf knows how to hunt.

[aastarions]

stay gold [three]

Previous Chapter || Series Masterlist || Next Chapter

Pairing: Zhongli x Female!Reader

Series Tags: Eventual Smut (18+), Kinda Slow Burn, Reader has a Backstory/Lore, Heavy Liyue Lore, Lots of Fluff, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Reader uses She/Her Pronouns

Word Count: 5,100+

A/N: Here’s the 3rd chapter! Again, I had already posted these on AO3 so going forth I’ll be posting new chapters on both AO3 and Tumblr around the same time! I’m nearly halfway through writing chapter 4 so thank you in advanced for your patience 💕

It’s been a week since you explored a fraction of Liyue Harbor with your newest acquaintance– friend, Zhongli. Within the past seven days that have passed, you’ve come into contact with the funeral consultant for five of them.

He easily became a regular customer at Kai’s Teashop, stopping in every single morning for a large, hot tea and whichever fresh pastry was highlighted to be the special of the day. The only time you weren’t sure if he swung by was during the weekend, which you’re fortunate enough to have off for.

A routine developed between the two of you, though. One that has you looking forward to going to work specifically because you know you’ll get to witness the heartwarming grin that reaches his gentle, golden eyes as you hand him his goods. On a few occasions, you were even able to hold a brief conversation before the morning rush piled past those glass doors.

So imagine the disappointment that festers in your chest when the afternoon rolls around and you have yet to see him today.

You tell yourself that it’s truly not that big of a deal, attempting to apply your full attention to the last hour of work instead…but your mind keeps wandering, wondering if something might have occurred. He could have fallen ill, or injured himself, or he just didn’t feel the need to stop by today – the possibilities are quite endless.

The next and final hour goes by at a snail’s pace, finding yourself cleaning nearly every inch of the shop’s interior to pass the time while your coworker takes care of the very few customers that walk through. You manage to keep your mind somewhat occupied, at least until the very end of your shift. When a string of words from a patron’s mouth catches your attention.

“Do you happen to know where the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is? I’ve just come from out of town to meet with Director Hu Tao, but I’m not sure where the building is actually located.”

You listen to your coworker give directions to the lost gentlemen just before you head to the back of the shop to gather your belongings, taking a mental note of the parlor’s location. Never did it occur to you that you actually hadn’t known where his job was located, only that it was in fact somewhere in the harbor.

It’s not until you reach into your tote for your shades – eyes catching on the history book that Zhongli had brought in earlier that week for you to borrow – that you decide you could use this newfound knowledge.

Maybe, just maybe, you could head over to the funeral parlor with the finished non-fiction novel, bringing some fresh pastries alongside as a gift for him – well, if he’s actually there.

Would it be too weird? Or strange? The doubts plague your mind as you teeter back and forth between going through with it or abandoning it altogether.

“Ah, screw it…” You eventually mutter to yourself, hoisting your tote onto your shoulder as you return to the front of the shop. Catching your coworker’s attention, you start to say, “I’m gonna grab a few pastries and some tea, could you ring me up–”

“No need for that, take whatever you’d like!”

The startling voice of your boss, Mr. Kai, has you nearly leaping out of your skin. Spinning on your heels, you turn to face him just as he’s fully stepped inside his shop, “No, it’s okay I can pay–”

“Nonsense!” He insists with a hearty laugh, rounding the counter and making his way over to the many jugs of freshly brewed tea, “So what did you want to get?”

You wind up leaving work with a large container of tea, specifically Zhongli’s go-to, and a dozen assorted pastries – much more than you initially anticipated on bringing with you. Nonetheless, you trudge up the hill through Chihu Rock, carefully balancing the box of sweet-smelling goods in one hand while the other holds tightly onto the heavy jug of hot liquid.

Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is much closer to your apartment than you expected, you think while crossing over the bridge to Feiyun Slope, making an immediate left towards an unmarked building. With both of your hands occupied, you resort to knocking on the wooden door with your foot instead and hope that the directions you eavesdropped on were correct.

The front door swings open violently seconds later, the lost gentleman from the tea shop stumbling past you as though he’s just seen a ghost. Following his trail is a short brunette calling out towards him, “Wait, wait! I was only trying to help you save money!”

“By suggesting I have a joint funeral with my late-brother?! You’re out of your mind, lady! I’ll take my business elsewhere!”

He wastes no time in storming off while muttering expletives under his breath, heading as far away as possible from the funeral parlor, at least that’s what you assume. You can only watch in complete and utter confusion, eyebrows knitting together as you recall what was shouted only seconds prior.

Something along the lines of a joint funeral…with his brother–

“Hiya! Sorry about that guy, come on in!” The young woman who’s name you have yet to learn suddenly ushers you into the building before you get a chance to fully comprehend what just transpired, “Welcome to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, I’m Hu Tao, the current director. Were you looking to arrange a funeral?”

The interior is exactly how one would expect a funeral parlor to look like. Dark wooden paneling on the walls, a crimson colored carpet lining through the center of the narrow hallway, vintage looking furniture that compliments the dreary atmosphere one often feels when stepping inside a place like this. An overall stark contrast to the bubbly personality that emanates from the Director you now know as Hu Tao.

You eventually shake your head, placing the pastries and tea on the nearest surface before your arms truly begin to ache, “No, actually–”

“Were you just looking for a casket, then? We have a huge selection of all shapes, sizes, colors, finishes–”

The sound of a door creaking down the hallway catches both of your attention, watching none other than Zhongli make his way over while interrupting with, “Director, would you please practice some self-restraint when speaking to new clients–”

“Hi, not a new client…unfortunately?” You send a shy wave in his direction, the visible signs of agitation that plagued his features dissipating as those golden eyes land on you.

“Oh, what a pleasant surprise,” Zhongli halts in his tracks only a few feet away, your name falling from his lips before he asks, “What brings you here? Is everything alright?”

Nodding, you begin your longer-than-necessary explanation, “Yeah, everything’s fine, you just uh…you didn’t come by this morning for your usual tea so I thought maybe something happened…like you were sick or got hurt so I thought I’d come by with some tea and pastries…though I guess if you were sick you wouldn’t be here – anyways…my boss gave me much more than I originally asked for–”

His raspy chuckle echoes through the narrow space, a much needed interruption to your rambling, “That is quite a hefty amount of tea, thank you for thinking of me, though I am quite alright. The Director and I had an early morning consultation in one of the nearby villages so I was unable to fetch my usual breakfast. My apologies for worrying you.”

“You know…” Your gaze swaps to Hu Tao, who’s currently sporting a rather mischievous grin on her lips, “We have an amazing friends and family discount. Since you seem to be close with Zhongli and all, how about fifteen percent off the purchase of one of our luxurious satin-lined caskets–”

“Director.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll stop, promise.” She insists, though that cheeky smile never wavers, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, any friend of Zhongli is a friend of mine!”

In the midst of shaking the eccentric brunette’s hand you quickly learn her alternative intentions, “And since we’re friends, you don’t mind if I take a snack or two right? I’m starving.”

Zhongli scoffs at her blunt attitude, but you can’t help but let out a few laughs at the entire ordeal.

“That’s fine, there’s plenty to go around!”

It’s not long after that you find yourself in Zhongli’s office, an assortment of documents pushed to the side in favor of his makeshift lunch. You glance around, any personal touches nowhere to be found. Only a wooden desk crafted with what appears to be sandbearer wood, a few chairs, and a filing cabinet make up the small space.

“It’s rather bland, isn’t it?” He notices your gaze follow around the room, “This office is a stark contrast to my abode – I’ve begun to run out of shelving for my books and antiques.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” You turn to grab your tote that’s hanging on the corner of the seat, fishing out the novel he had let you borrow and placing it atop the desk, “I, uh, I finished reading it.”

Zhongli appears surprised by your words, “That was certainly quick, I take it that you enjoyed Verses of Equilibrium?”

“I did! I’ve never had the chance to explore historical books before, especially one with such a poetic format…Rex Lapis did a lot to keep his people safe, the adepti too! You can tell how much the people here adore their Archon…it used to be like that in Fontaine, too…”

“I faintly recall overhearing about the original Hydro Archon’s passing, having been replaced with the God of Justice.” He says after a few bites of the sugary-sweet pastry, “I imagine it’s difficult for people to accept a new ruler without cause for concern.”

“Liyue seems to be handling the loss of their God better than Fontaine, just from what I’ve seen since living here.” You mention, thinking back to your conversation with him a week prior. Where he explained how the Liyue Qixing and the people themselves are in control of their own nation, rather than the God they once relied so heavily on.

Zhongli nods in agreement, “The Qixing have done a divine job of governing the nation both before and after Rex Lapis’ passing, using everything he taught them alongside their own beliefs in what will better this prosperous nation.

“I’m glad that you found the reading to your liking,” he continues, “If you’re interested, I can head upstairs and allow you to borrow another–”

“Upstairs?” You raise an eyebrow.

He nods once more, “Indeed, Director Hu was kind enough to allow me to rent the space above the parlor, though she certainly uses it to her advantage by occasionally pestering me on my days off.”

Despite only having known Hu Tao for all of a few minutes, this doesn’t surprise you in the slightest. If anything, it’s entirely befitting of the personality she exudes only seconds after meeting her.

“You don’t have to grab it right this second, actually I hope I’m not intruding with this sudden visit while you’re working–”

“Nonsense,” Zhongli reassures you, “I had intended on fetching something to eat soon anyways…besides, I find your company to be most enjoyable.”

The instant warmth that envelopes your complexion betrays you, exposing your inability to receive any and all compliments without turning into a flustered mess. Whether or not the man in front of you picks up on it, you’re unaware, the lower half of his face shielded by the cup of tea he’s brought to his lips.

“What do you do for work here anyways? Is it really just preparing funerals all day?” You ask, changing the subject.

“Not entirely,” he goes on to explain, “though I occasionally assist with every day funeral proceedings when needed, I’m mostly hired contractually through Wangsheng for my rather extensive knowledge on Liyue, specifically its history and traditions.”

“So…like a hitman, but for knowledge instead of killing.”

The loud laughter that spills from his lips is unexpected, watching pure and utter amusement adorn his usually stoic features. He sets the cup down before potentially soiling his paperwork with warm tea, responding after a much needed intake of breath, “That is quite a strange way to define it, but sure.”

For a little while longer, the both of you continue to talk about rather trivial, but enjoyable topics. Conversation with Zhongli comes so naturally – it genuinely feels as though he’s someone you’ve known for weeks, or months, rather than a measly single week.

Although he tends to go on long tangents about topics that interest him, he also knows when to press his lips together and avidly listen. Something many men of higher status in Fontaine lack, at least the ones that you had the misfortune of meeting.

It’s in the middle of one of your own tangents that you’re interrupted by three knocks at his door, your shoulders flinching at the sudden sound. When the door creaks open, you’re met with the familiar eyes of Hu Tao.

“Oi, Zhongli, did you forget we have to head to Bubu Pharmacy?”

“Ah, yes, we best make haste,” Zhongli begins to rise from his seat before glancing back over at you, “I apologize, we should continue our conversation another–”

Hu Tao interrupts once more, also turning to face you, “Why don’t you come with us? It’s not like it's top secret business, we’re just looking for ghosts.”

“Ghosts?” Your eyes widen, making sure you didn’t mishear.

She nods as though it’s nothing, “Yep! Since the usual exorcist is out of town, we’ve been asked to investigate some strange activity for quite a hefty amount of Mora, so what do ya say?”

You can’t help but look over at Zhongli for his opinion, only to find a small smile on his lips, “As long as it’s not intruding on the rest of your day, of course.”

“I really didn’t have any plans…'' This impromptu trip to the funeral parlor was anything but orchestrated in advance. The only thing you considered doing today was wandering around the harbor and taking some photos with your Kamera, but you could save that for another time, “Sure, why not?”

The three of you set off for Bubu Pharmacy only minutes later, walking through the entirety of Feiyun Slope until you’ve reached a part of the harbor you haven’t gotten a chance to visit before. Crossing a small stone bridge, you turn right towards the large building that’s settled atop a long and tall staircase.

There’s two people in the pharmacy…scratch that, one person? You’re not entirely sure.

You’re about to consider the purple-haired child with the pale complexion to be the ghost they’re after until she finally speaks with narrowed eyes at Hu Tao, “Oh. It’s you. I don’t like you.”

“Qiqi, Director Hu is here to help us!” The young man behind the counter nervously says, “Sorry about that, thank you for coming on such short notice, if Baizhu finds out we’ve lost merchandise while he’s away in Sumeru…”

“Don’t sweat it!” Hu Tao laughs, entirely unphased, “Now would you or the zombie mind telling me what’s going on here?”

“...zombie?” Just when things couldn’t get any more confusing; you fear your eyes might quite literally pop out of your head.

Zhongli nods, “Indeed, through the power of the adepti, Qiqi was resurrected, though zombies cannot function in the same manner as a mortal–”

“And it’s still outside of the natural order, but we have more important matters to deal with today!”

The Director urges the gentleman behind the counter to finish his explanation of the mysterious occurrences that have been going on within the pharmacy. You try your best to pay attention, though you still have a myriad of questions regarding this newfound information about zombies.

“Well, it started a day or two after Baizhu had left for Sumeru…”

He goes on to explain how their daily inventory numbers no longer match up with the amount of ingredients they’re using in their medicines – ingredients like milk and lavender melons are missing in excess.

“The milk isn’t as big of a deal, but we just had the lavender melons imported from Inazuma and we don’t have another shipment scheduled for a few weeks…” Perspiration settles on the young man’s forehead, his eyes frantically darting between all of you, “There haven't been any strange visitors either, so it has to be the work of a ghost!”

“Milk, you say?” Zhongli grasps his chin between two fingers, appearing lost in thought, “Sir, have you considered asking the only other employee who has access to the back of your store?”

He shakes his head, “Qiqi likes coconut milk, remember–”

“No coconut milk, we ran out. I drink the other milk instead.”

There’s silence for a solid ten seconds, before the one gentleman asks, “What about the lavender melons then?”

“I ate them.”

Silence again.

“Well would ya look at that! We solved the issue in less than five minutes. The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor continues to exceed people’s expectations.” Hu Tao claps before deviously rubbing her palms together, “I hope that you will hold yourself to your end of our contract now, yes?”

While the young man meticulously counts a large sum of Mora, you take a glance over at Zhongli and say, “So…that’s it?”

“I suppose so,” he muses, letting out a light chuckle. “Not nearly as exciting as witnessing a ghost, I presume?”

“Actually, I think I can live the rest of my life without seeing a ghost, thanks.”

“Ghosts aren’t that scary! I’ll introduce one to you next time.” Hu Tao turns on her heels, a decent-sized bag of Mora between her polished fingernails, “I’m heading to Wanmin for some dinner, I’ll catch ya later Zhongli!”

She then flickers her gaze onto you, “It was a pleasure to meet you! Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

With that, she’s off. Rushing down the stairs before either of you could respond. After wishing both Qiqi and the rather perturbed young man a good rest of their day, the both of you descend the large staircase, too.

“I’m assuming this ghost hunt was the last thing on your agenda today?” You ask, assuming that if Zhongli had more work on his plate he’d have long since left for the funeral parlor already.

“You would be correct,” he agrees, “I had not anticipated that we would solve their issue within such a short span of time…it’s a tad comical, wouldn’t you think–”

He cuts himself off suddenly, reaching towards you until his fingers hook under the straps of your tote that had begun to roll down your arm. You can only stand in place as he drags it back up and settles it onto your shoulder once more.

“Wow I didn’t even notice…thank you, I’d hate if anything happened to my Kamera the one time I bring it with me.”

“Oh? I recall you mentioning that you own one of those fascinating devices.” Zhongli appears intrigued at the mention of it, eager to see it for himself.

So you slip your hand into your bag, grabbing tightly onto the Kamera and exposing it to his curious stare, “I was actually thinking about taking some photos with it today…would you maybe want to join me?”

“I’d love to,” that tender smile returns to his lips, “though I’m not entirely aware of how they work.”

“My father told me it’s like painting on a canvas, only you can capture any moment in seconds instead of hours. I mostly like taking photos of flowers, though, oh and wildlife.”

Zhongli absorbs the newfound knowledge, listening intently before responding with, “The Yujing Terrace is home to a few native species of flora, allow me to guide us there.”

Once you agree, the two of you are off, walking towards another set of stairs opposite of Bubu Pharmacy. While following his lead your mind begins to wander, more specifically in regards to your aforementioned father. The man who gifted you this Kamera in the first place.

He had gone out of his way to procure one for you a few months after you saw one in use for the first time on a trip to the capital. Citizens were lining the narrow streets to have their portrait taken with the brand-new, exclusive Kamera and shops who were fortunate enough to sell them did so at a fortune.

After relentless pleading on your end, tied together with the promise of taking on extra responsibilities, the device was very soon in your own palms. Funny how only another few months would pass and you’d choose to abandon both your duties and your home altogether.

You start to wonder if the letter you received from Fontaine might be specifically from your father, or someone else from your family’s estate. Ever since the evening you received it, the letter remains tossed aside on your kitchen counter.

If it is in fact your father’s penmanship that decorates the pages, you can already gather what its contents will entail. The same way you begged for the Kamera, he’ll beg for you to return home.

If only it were that easy, if only returning home didn’t equate to tossing aside your freedom in the process–

Thud!

Having been so lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed that Zhongli stopped in his tracks, not until you collide directly into his back of course. Your complexion blooms with warmth, taking a step back from the tall male just as he turns to face you, asking, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, sorry, I was a bit distracted, sorry about that.” You attempt to wave him off, laughing through the waves of embarrassment.

Unconvinced, his concerned visage never wavers. Rather his eyebrows draw tighter together as he lays a gloved palm over your shoulder, “I won’t pry, but if you require someone to provide an ear, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Thank you, I’ll uh…I’ll keep that in mind,” your fingers curl against the Kamera that you fortunately hadn’t dropped in your daze as Zhongli allows his arm to fall back at his side, remembering the whole reason the two of you trekked up here in the first place.

Glancing around, you take quick notice of how secluded this upper level of Liyue Harbor feels in comparison to the busy main street of Feiyun Slope and the rambunctious crowds of Chihu Rock, “Are you sure we’re allowed to be up here?”

The dark-haired male in front of you chuckles before answering, “Yes, you’ll find that Yuehai Pavilion only truly sees heavy traffic when the Tianquan holds her occasional auctions or the Qixing gather for their regularly scheduled meetings. Prior to Rex Lapis’ death, citizens would also congregate here for the Rite of Descension.”

“Rite of Descension?”

He nods, explaining further, “Once a year, Rex Lapis would provide the people of Liyue with a prophecy, a guide if you will of the economic path the people should follow.”

“There’s so much tradition and history in Liyue…” You say more so to yourself. Of course, your nation has its own history, but it feels barren in comparison to all that you’ve learned already from Zhongli.

“For the record,” he captures your attention again, “If you ever find yourself uninterested, feel free to interrupt me. I will not take any offense.”

A frown settles on your lips at his words – though you’ve never been one to dwell too heavily into the subject in the past, you have yet to grow tired of listening to history from the highly knowledgeable consultant.

“I…like listening to you talk actually…” You admit in a quiet murmur, but you know he hears you when a rather large smile overtakes his features.

“That’s quite a relief, I’ve often been told that I put others to sleep when I ramble on about what many consider to be…boring topics.”

Further digging yourself into a hole of abashment, you say, “It’s not boring when it’s coming from you.”

“Ah, you flatter me too much…” Zhongli appears amused, “I am well aware it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I appreciate your kind words nonetheless.”

It’s not long after that he guides you towards a section of well-manicured grass with colorful flora blooming along it. You first look at the small red bushes, noticing a pair of puffy, pink flowers protruding from them.

Just as you angle your Kamera towards the beautiful arrangement, Zhongli begins to explain what exactly you’re photographing, “These are Silk Flowers, one of many flora native to Liyue. They’re often used to create fabric, though most of that manufacturing is done by the Feiyun Commerce Guild.

“I’ve also been told that they make for a rather saccharine concoction when cooked with Sweet Flowers.”

The shutter of your camera clicks twice and you watch as the printing paper slowly slides out from the small opening at the bottom of the device. You know it takes a moment for the image to fully appear on the special parchment, but Zhongli stares at the blank results with a slight, albeit cute, pout, “Is the device malfunctioning?”

“No, nothing like that, it just takes a few minutes for the photo to show up.”

“Interesting…” He examines the slowly developing photo after you hand one over, gold eyes ignited with innate fascination.

The next flower your eyes land on is on the opposite side of the color spectrum – a pair of soft blue tones decorate the petals of this closed-off plant. While aiming the lens, you quickly learn of this one’s origin, too.

“Glaze Lilies once inhabited the plains of Liyue in great numbers until they were overpicked due to their beauty. The ones that appear to bloom in this harbor are artificially planted; only very few of them can be found within the wild anymore.”

You watch as Zhongli leans over and plucks the Glaze Lily out of the earth, spinning the flower’s stem between his fingers as he examines it further, “One might believe that these are real at first appearance, but the smell is slightly off.”

“The smell? Have you…seen a real one before?” It shouldn’t surprise you at all, but if they’re as rare as he states, you can only imagine the price one would have to pay to get their hands on one.

“A long time ago, yes,” he continues to examine the artificial flower with an unreadable, yet soft expression.

Click!

Zhongli glances up to find the Kamera pointed in his direction as the device slowly pushes out the eventual photograph. A sense of realization washes over you, an apology immediately tumbling from your lips, “Sorry, I should have asked you first–”

“I don’t mind, I’m quite curious to see the results, actually.”

Those results, along with the other photographs you’ve taken this afternoon, wind up fully developing within the next five minutes. By that point, the two of you decided to find a nearby bench to sit on as you watch the color bloom onto the unique paper.

“Truly remarkable,” Zhongli comments as he holds the array of photos between his fingers, “What a wonderful way of capturing memories, I imagine many historians would be interested in such a device as well to preserve and document their findings…”

“In Fontaine, they’re mostly used to photograph friends and family, at least that’s how they advertised it in the capital. It’s so much faster than standing for a painter.” You mention – remembering the gross sweat you broke out in having to dress in multiple layers of your finest clothing for a family portrait.

Although nothing can compare to the artistic styling of one’s own caliber, not having to pose for hours on end is a definite plus in your books.

“Oh, do you want to try using–”

The moment you put the question out there, Zhongli’s already nodding with an unexpected zeal, “I’d love to, after a lesson on how to properly use it, of course.”

You give a quick explanation of the Kamera, watching him fiddle with it between his fingers as you teach him of each component.

Bringing the device up to his complexion to peek through the small, square hole, he immediately points it in your direction and before you even realize–

Click!

“Wait! I didn’t know you were gonna take a photo of me!” You shout, already fearing the results, “I would have smiled or something!”

Zhongli chuckles, grabbing the paper from the Kamera that will eventually have your complexion plastered all over it, “It’s only fair you took one of me earlier, no?”

“Okay, fine.” He laughs once more at the narrowed glance you send his way.

Although you wish for this afternoon to never end, the feeling of your stomach churning in hunger grounds you in reality, “I…should probably get home now and make some dinner, thank you for joining me today, I had fun.”

“It is my honor and as I’ve stated once before, I thoroughly enjoy your company.” Zhongli stands from the bench after handing you back the Kamera, holding out a gloved palm to aid you in standing, too, “Allow me to walk you home.”

As the two of you travel from one end of Liyue Harbor to the other, your mind goes back to your previous thoughts of your family, more specifically the unopened letter. All this talk of Fontaine and your past has you undoubtedly a tad homesick, but you fear that the letter might just play into that.

You continue to teeter back and forth on your decision all the way to your home where Zhongli bids you a good night, promising to bring another book for you to borrow the next time he comes by your job. As he walks off towards the funeral parlor, you notice he takes something out of his pocket to glance down at, but you can’t tell from such a distance what exactly it is.

Once within the confines of your home, you head straight towards the letter that’s gathered a light coat of dust in the week it sat in place. With shaky fingertips, you bite the bullet and remove the royal blue seal, unfolding the paper and gazing down at the handwriting that decorates the page. Here we go…you think, beginning to read the words laid out in front of you.

To My Dearest Child,

I beg of you, please come home…

[strange-ghoul]

Okay, I’m gonna start world building on main here again. Specifically for Dead Dove Copia.

Dead Dove Copia is a AU where Copia has both the antichrist within him and an “guardian” angel attached to his soul. It screws with him in the worst way possible, sending him down a spiral of madness and tragedy.

Anyways HC time:

Copia and Terzo were very close before Copia went through the ritual to become Cardinal.

Copia is ex catholic, and still has a “guardian” angel connected to his soul after all those years being devout.

Copia is the antichrist. When he goes through the process to become cardinal, this “awakens”, along with his “guardian” angel trying to “save” him after detecting the antichrist within him, which greatly fucks with his sense of reality and mental stability.

Imperator basically groomed Copia into a monster when he after he became Cardinal. She’d constantly mock him and demean him about his features and his life, making him anxious and self conscious. At least, she thought that was what she was doing.

In reality, Copia had lost his mind long ago after the ritual to become cardinal. This only solidified his very little connection to reality, especially after he realized they were going to use him as the lead singer for Ghost.

Copia had the Papas killed in a fit of jealousy when he realized they were coming on tour with him. Then he dragged around their bodies to mock Imperator.

Imperator didn’t know who killed the Papa’s until her own investigation with her sisters of sin proved that Terzo’s own ghouls did it. When she found out, she was horrified at the monster she created. She had wanted Copia to become strong through “tough love”, but it’s evident that’s not what happened.

Copia had torn apart and defiled the former Papa’s corpses to send a message to Imperator: “This could be you.”

Imperator becomes deeply concerned not only for herself but Papa Nihil.

Copia deeply regrets killing Papa’s, but refuses to accept that’s what happened. Because of the antichrist and angel within, he can’t seem to face his issues when he’s awake. Instead, he hallucinates and gets stuck in nightmares about the papas, specifically Terzo.

He misses Terzo deeply, and visits his corpse often. He goes as far as sewing together the body again after his rage incident with imperator in an attempt to “fix” him.

Nobody but Sister Imperator knows of this Copia however. Copia continues to play the naive, innocent and awkward version of Papa he’s always played. All the siblings assume he’s the same as he always was, especially Papa Nihil. Imperator won’t leave those 2 alone in fear of Copia doing something.

Mr. Saltarian had no idea of Copia’s streak of madness, and assumes he’s as stupid as he behaves. Though Imperator has tried to bring it up to him, she just gets too nervous and bails out last second every time.

Please send asks or something about this if you’re interested at all in the lore lol. I’m going to be writing fics for it ofc, I already have one called “Accusations” which you can find in the “My fanfics” tag if you’re interested.

Till I make more HC posts, toodles~

[ukiyokki]

mars reads too much dreamnotfound fanfiction for their own good

a dreamnotfound fanfic recommendation list by your resident dumbass (me)

this took way to fucking long... i’m tired

below is a (very extensive) list dedicated to all my favorite dnf fics, ranging from quick one shots to 100k+ word monstrosities that devour the storage on my computer, forever incomplete masterpieces to ongoing works of art, you get the idea. i provided links for each fic/series for your reading pleasure. there will be no smutty/nsfw fics on this list, that’s just not my vibe lmao. this list goes in no particular order, and i’ll update it from time to time when i feel like it. now, without further ado, let us begin.

Heat Waves (complete) by tbhyourelame

(wtf else did you expect, looking at a dnf rec list?) amazingly well written, and while it’s not my favorite dnf fic it’s damn near close. in the midst of a brutal heatwave, a suffering dream comes to terms with the fact that he is desperately in love with his best friend. everything i could say about this fic has already been said by nearly everyone who’s read it, so if you haven’t yet caved into the hype, just go for it. you won’t be disappointed.

Gonna be around (completed) by georgescatcafe

(mc irl) my favorite dnf oneshot to date. just read it, i don’t wanna spoil for you :)

Inferno in the Sky (ongoing)by zairielon

(star wars au) an ongoing star wars au currently clocking in at almost 200k words. need I say more? everything about it absolutely slaps, each chapter is amazingly written, and it’s just good. also, can we just appreciate dream and tubbos dynamic in here? 10/10, amazing, must protecc. oh right, a summary: george, an exiled padawan turned engineer, must return to the jedi temple after attacks on it from an unknown assailant threaten the safety of himself and the other jedi.

Like Magic (ongoing) by KangarooKen, NotGra55 (Gra55)

(harry potter au) the unofficial official dnf harry potter au. we watch the young unlikely wizard pair grow up together throughout their years at hogwarts as they battle good old fashioned wizard racism. beautifully written, incredibly fun and suspenseful, and just an overall blast and a half.

GeorgeNotFound, Son of Poseidon, and the League of Minor Gods (ongoing) by Clichewho_69, Cygnvs, Trash_Kinggg

(percy jackson au) percy jackson au? check. “road trip” (technically quest but u get what i mean)? check. enemies to friends to lovers? check. this fic follows the plot of the lightning theif (albeit loosely), but everything is explained enough where you don’t have to read percy jackson to understand what’s going on. basically after moving to the usa, george gets taken to camp halfblood where he learns that a) gods exist. b) he’s the son of poseidon and c) he needs to prove that he didn’t steal zeus’s master bolt.

Protected (completed) by aenqua

(royalty/camelot au) my favorite piece of dnf media of all time. dubbed the official dnf camelot au, where dream is the heir to the throne and george is a servants son with a secret that couldp get him killed. these childhood friends grow up together and learn trust, love, and acceptance. (that summary did not justice to the masterpiece that is this fic) here’s the directors cut

The Hunter (completed) by HederEgo

(mc irl) a choose your own adventure fic with 13 different endings, where dream the hunter must kill george and stop him from beater the ender dragon. enough said.

The official dream team cowboy AU (series)(ongoing) by antsu_in_my_pantsu

(cowboy au) cowboys and outlaws horses and shit. and the big gay. it’s a cowboy au, what else did you expect? fucking yee haw (all seriousness this is a great read, i loved it so so so so much and i can’t wait for the final chapter to release).

This is a Drista moment, let's just accept it (completed) by Qekyo

dnf fic from drista pov. considering its unique perspective, it’s perfectly done. beautifully showcases a sibling relationship through drista and her memories/moments with dream, and it just works, y’a know? also drista supremacy.

Dear Dream (completed) by Qekyo

(wwii au) i don’t cry when watching/reading anything sad. translation: i’m a heartless bitch. however, this fic is the only exception. it caused me to cry so hard my mom walked in my room and asked if i was ok. ‘nuff said.

TECHNOlogical Wingman (completed) by Closeted_Bookworm

techno is the autocorrect ai on dreams phone, and he gains sentience. interesting concept, and the author fucking nailed it. great fic.

It Was Only a Fic (ongoing) by imagineitdear

dream starts reading a dnf fanfic (we’ve all been there buddy).

Teacher’s Pet (ongoing) by niyuha

(teacher au) in which dream is a high school english teacher and george is the new comp sci teacher in room 297.

Saltwater Secrets (ongoing) by earlgay_milktea

(mermaid/high school au) a great example of the shear amount of variety in fics this fandom has to offer. when i started reading dnf fics i would have never thought i’d find one about a mermaid george hopelessly crushing on his human friend, who happens to be his schools star swimmer. yet here i am, and i am far from disappointed.

Smash My Heart (incomplete) by dontrollthedice

george and sapnap are commentators for duper smash brothers tournaments, and george develops a crush on an up and coming smash streamer named dream.

roleplaying in the dark is harder than it seems (completed) by Alienu

laser tag. 10/10

solar system (completed) by quartzfia

(mc irl) george vists dream in pandora’s vault.

Ramblings of a Lunatic (completed) by jungkooksfic

ahh communicating through a notebook left on a shelf in a bookstore- what a perfect way to start a relationship.

Paint me like your French Girls (It's Charcoal, Actually) (completed) by Turtle_ier

(artist au) george is an art student, and dream is a model.

00:00:00 (completed) by isleofdreams

(soulmate au) 00:00:00 is the moment you meet your soulmate, as indicated but the clock ticking down on your wrist until the moment you meet. i’m not a fan of soulmate aus; this fic is the exception.

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me (completed) by kivy

(artist au) i don’t usually cry while reading stuff, but this brought me damn near close. george is a painting conservator and chats it is with the ghost of the artist if the painting he is working on. they fall in a love.

Current Location (incomplete) by hendollana

(influencer au) george simps for a hot american instagram model. who knew he’d actually follow back?

The Withering (series) (series ongoing, 1 work completed) by App1e_Juice

(mc irl) lore and world building and fight scenes and everything i crave. what’s not to love? something starts making the plants and crops around dreams village wither, and must team up with new friends to find the cause of the mysterious disease plaguing the land.

Minecraft, But You Can't Leave (complete) by facadecake

(mc irl) dream and george are sucked into their own private minecraft world together and must beat the game to escape.

Free The Game, Beat the End (incomplete) by goatgoatwasfound

(mc irl) a glitch in minecraft causes thousands of players from around the world to be trapped inside minecraft, with only one way of escape- beating the ender dragon. first dnf fic i ever read, and it’s still 10/10 for me.

Why don't you come a little closer? (completed) by lifeofandoms

george gets stood up by a date, and Dream pretends he’s the date to save george from the embarrassment. simply adorable.

lightning bug (completed) by saintachesP

(band au) while on tour, dream realizes his feeling for george.

Hold me closer (completed) by Treesofmyheart

(mc irl/dsmp) i just,, really like this trope.

Dizzy on caffeine (completed) by GleamingGreenGoggles

(coffee shop au) best dnf coffeeshop au i’ve read. periodt.

living a life of crime isn’t always easy (series) (completed) by itisjosh

(mafia/assassin au) stockholm syndrome except it’s not weird.

Inhibitions Make Interesting Situations (completed) by Ship_On_The_Sea

i pissed myself laughing. it’s just a dream and george being hilariously dense, flustered idiots. serotonin central.

thy eternal summer shall not fade (completed) by gracequills

(high school au) that moment when you recite shakespeare to your crush in your ap lit class instead of confessing (hate it when that happens).

All is Fair in love and Football (ongoing) by graciegirl2001

(college au) #1 favorite college au. in which george is a cheerleader, and dream is the football teams rising star player. this one gets extra points because of the amazing karlnap moments sprinkled throughout. *chefs kisses air*

online love (completed) by andbutso

(high school au) online classes go zoooooooom

Can’t help falling (completed) by isleofdreams

dream re-learns the guitar to sing to george on his birthday. beautiful. fluffy. amazing

dance in the rain and my arms (completed) by lazy_kitkat

george is a rain god, and dream is a wind god

Weather Boy (completed) by DaintyDiizzle

wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? (where dream can control the rain)

The color orange (completed) by anon

(mc irl) dream describes the colors of a sunset

Family Mode (completed)by Strawberry_flavoured_tears

they’re dads :,)

Breathing Room (incomplete) by papercranes

(band an) an amazing band au. the mad lad author wrote original songs for each chapter. above and beyond, mad props :). unfortunately, it’s incomplete

Piece of Clay (completed) by carbonbrine

(artist au) george is a sculptor and his sculpture comes to life- but oh no he’s hot.

Try (completed) by Not4typicalwriter

(royalty au) george must choose a suitor, but none of them are up to dream, his head knights, standards. or dream is hella jelly. also protective dream is perfect

When the Roses Bloom (completed) by HederEgo

(royalty au) close second for my favorite fic. go to royalty au for a quick serotonin bost. it’s all fluff and flowers and crushes, and i love it. criminally underrated.

Heavenstruck (ongoing) by dontrollthedice

george is dreams guardian angel, and dream want to find out more about him and his past life. bittersweet :,)

Bang and Burn (completed) by App1e_Juice

(spy au) george accidentally falls for target number 1 on sapnap’s secret agency’s hit list. this ones great, i love me a spy au :)

Can I get a uhh… (completed) by lemonskies

dream keeps pulling up to the drive through mcdonald’s that george works at drunk.

Pretty Stranger (completed) by anon

when looking for dream in the terminal, george sees a cute guy and decides to flirt.

Take my Hand (completed) by latinbias

(royalty au) another royalty au? poggers. surprise twists? double poggers. love this a lot.

seconds, minutes, hours, lifetimes (complete) by meridies

ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP *inhales to compose herself* roadtrip au. unrequited love, ignored feelings, longing, pining, you know the drill. absolutely love this one, its the best roadtrip au i have ever read, in any fandom. (maybe cause i identify with it a little too much, but thats not important. whats important is that you read this fic. right now. im waiting).

Message redacted (complete) by justyouraverageloser

(text fic) dream asks for a girls number and realises hes been given the wrong number. however, an unexpected relationship starts to form between him and the stranger on the other end of the line.

the waves (completed) by anon

(mc irl) this fic was written by the same anon who wrote the color orange, which is up there on my fav dnf oneshot list. dream and george know they have a higher purpose. they don’t know where they came from, or why they are seemingly the only humans in the world, or how they feel about eachother, or even where the skeletons come from, but they are sure of one thing: they have to beat a dragon.

The Dream Doll (completed) by PeppDream (Pep_Pizza)

(voodoo i guess) i’m a real big fan of fics with really out there or unique concepts, so naturally this one makes the cut! i really liked it, it’s really sweet and made me think a lot about what matters to me in the world. george finds a strange doll in an antique shop, and would really like to just stuff it in a drawer and forget about it. sadly (?), the doll has other plans.

last updated February 6th, 2021

[insertdisc5]

Hi!! I wanted to ask, in celebration of Deltarune CH. 2, do you have any updated thoughts and head canons about the game?? Like, y'know, similar to a previous ask about Kris in your Deltarune tag? Thanks!

thoughts on kris part 2 i guess???? (part 1 from ch1 here lol)

spoilers for deltarune like woah. this wont be kris focused just random thoughts on everything. thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk

not that many thoughts for this chapter tbh! EDIT LOL: this was a lie i have a lot of thoughts

-just in general i feel like the player isn't the only one controlling kris... like yes the player forced kris to do what happened in the snowgrave route but AT THE SAME TIME idk it feels like there's someone else too. just because of the terrifying voice i suppose. and also the jerky movement kris does every time they get their soul out? unless there's another reason for it... maybe getting your soul out means you walk weird lol

-BUT ALSO i feel like kris is 100% in control when they create fountains. idk it just makes sense kris would create them. to create another world, a better world, A WORLD WHERE THEIR BROTHER IS HERE PERHAPS? i do wonder why they get their soul out then though. i'm all for it sweetie! do whatever! i support you!

-(i am and will be playing deltarune with only kris' best interests in mind. i will not hurt anyone unless kris wants me to. dont worry my little meow meow im on your side! talk to me! no? okay ill stay under the sink its fine)

-speaking of asriel. SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER (starts crying) V-VACATION COLLEGE WHEN

-kris misses their brother so much it's so sad. if you make kris steal 5$ from asriel they take it "reluctantly"? talking to asriel online so often even alphys knows?? the google search?? GOING INTO ASRIEL'S GOOGLE SEARCH ROOM WITH THEIR EYES CLOSED BECAUSE THEY'RE CONVINCED THEY ALREADY KNOW WHATS IN THERE? THAT ONE IS LESS OF A MISSING THING BUT IM LIKE OH MY GOD

-the city walk with susie at the end makes it clear to me that kris really values susie's friendship... kris even sits with her if you spend long enough near the lake like aaaaah ;_;

-and even in snowgrave you spend your last acts with the final boss calling for your friends like YES there's a way bigger creepy aspect to this (kris as more of a Leader who Commands and commands their subjects to come) but still :'0 (and then noelle answers oh my god noelle im so sorry for the trauma)

-berdly. listen. listen. listen. liste

-berdly sucks but [berdly hurts his arm in the battle against queen if you don't save him because he doesnt want to hurt you] [berdly realizing smg's wrong in snowgrave and immediately taking steps to save noelle] berdly is my little crumb nugget. i will protect him.

-noelle. noelle. girlboss!

-like ooooh listen. hearing about the genocide path for undertale. made me go "that is SO COOL. i HAVE to experience it myself this is great. hehehe killing time" and like no regrets. i was fully enjoying the experience knowing i was an awful person. SNOWGRAVE THOUGH. i will never try this myself its too fucked up. casually grooming your childhood friend to murder people <3 and also acting like a weird stalker towards her <3 stockholm syndrome speedrun i will get all the info i can about this but i will never do this myself

-people remarking the kris/player>noelle relationship is similar to the relationship between player>chara in genocide path is like yes. chefs kiss. don't worry we just are making you stronger and everything will be fine "you made me kill my friend? and for what?" this is fine sweetie don't worry about it!!!!!!

-like the amount of details added to snowgrave, like if you equip noelle's watch she notices later? and her battle animations change as time goes on, she gets an ice shield and stops sighing in relief after battle? oh my god? oh my god.

-(berdly is not awake.) JUST KILL ME RIGHT HERE I HAVEN'T STOPPED THINKING ABOUT BERDLY NOT BEING AWAKE!!!!!

-also why didnt he turn into dust. so many possible reasons. is magic a thing in the normal world and perhaps no magic means no dust (theres graves). maybe he isnt dead. maybe hes braindead. maybe he'll come back. either way that boy is now in the closet big enough to put someone in

-also dess' name probably being december AND THATS WHY NOELLE LOST THE SPELLING BEE?!?!??! FUCK ME UP!!!!! JUST FUCK ME UP!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

-also so many good pixel art this chapter. too many? i didnt need pixel art of cardboard noelle falling on the statue. like thank you but please. please it hurts my game artist brain.

-the expressions in this chapter were also top notch. all the unsettling noelle expressions like (i fall over face first)

-i threw away the ball of junk (which i already tried in ch1) and this time the game was like "ARE YOU SURE BC THIS IS A BAD IDEA" and kris felt bitter :'( (it deletes all your items in the dark world)

-i uh fucked up and skipped the susie+noelle scene bc listen last time ralsei mentionned seeing what susie is doing we missed some PRIMO LORE. turns out it just makes you skip the scene and you dont get anything new. welp

-speaking of ralsei well you know. he exists. but im stuck on him going "i just wonder what being ralsei-like even is...?" ralsei my dude there's so much i could say about this. do you feel like you can't be ralsei-like because you feel like you have to be asriel-like

-but also that makes no sense bc susie hasnt even mentioned ralsei looks like asriel. and i cant imagine asriel being so meek. so WHAT GIVES

-ralsei as kris’ “i wish i was a monster just like my bro and family and i’d look like asriel but with red horns [THE HALLOWEEN COSTUME] and my name would be something cool like ralsei instead of a boring human name like kris and im sweet and cute because thats how i act with asriel because ASRIEL MADE ME” theory because that would be cute.

-ASRIEL GOING TO THE CHURCH TO CONFESS HIS "SINS" WHEN "SINS" AREN'T A THING IN THE ANGEL BELIEF LIKE I KNOW THIS INTERACTION WAS TREATED AS A JOKE BUT WHAT THE FUCK ASRIEL?

-kris definitely has a connection with the big red door in the city, judging by what the kids say they probably went there... i feel like this place's dark world will be the Final Dungeon you KNOW some shit happened there. also the sounds you hear when you go there is the phone dark world call's sound slowed down? AND AFTER SNOWGRAVE APPARENTLY YOU CANT HEAR IT ANYMORE? HUWAH?

-speaking of songs the songs were all so good, My Castle Town rules, the berdly snowgrave music is stuck in my head, flashback is uwah wuahah, Until Next Time is so good, AND ALSO A FRIEND NOTICED THE DARK WORLD CITY THEME IS JUST tHE SONG 74 (MOST NOTICEABLE WITH THE SNOWGRAVE VERSION)?????? WHAT DOES IT MEAN????? it might be just "hey its just reuse" BUT MR FOX YOU KNOW WE'RE GONNA READ INTO THIS IS NOELLE THE ONE SINGING IDK BRO!!!!!!!!!!

-asgore dreemurr fired from the force what happun!!!!! game theory is that asgore is related to dess' death/disappearance but eh who knows

-you start the chapter at lvl2 and get to lvl3 after the final boss, a friend mentioned this is probably because we destroyed a world and im :0

-to go back to kris it's still so interesting to figure out who they are based on how they act/people mention them. like kris shaking the ferris wheel car? yeah makes sense i can imagine a pranking kid do this. kris' dance? yeah thats a little silly but i can buy it. doing cool anime poses? well i dunno this doesnt line up PERFECTLY but sure. BUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN SNOWGRAVE... especially >proceed like that is such a weird thing that i can't imagine them doing, but i can't completely see the "player" doing either (compare with going to sans -which kris doesnt know- and going "SANS!" because of course the player would know sans), like THATS one of the reasons i feel like there's someone else in there. the weird robotic merciless actions. if im going super meta it feels like there'd be someone else like writing the choices into existence for us to pick you know? gaster probably? god i need to read more gaster theories i completely sidestepped the gaster shit bc i wasnt interested. anyway just spitballing

-(looks at big shot guy) please dont make him the next tumblr guy i beg you

-obligatory "queen was great" mention if only because this part made me laugh a little bit too hard

that was a lot. thank you for letting me talk

[thechekhov]

Alright, alright, I caved.

After a slot opened up in me to be able to take on another show emotionally, I decided to invest in OwlHouse. I thought I would probably like it, but it won me over faster than I thought it would.

I’ve already watched a few episodes, but I realized that it might be more fun to do liveblogs, so here I am - with a liveblog...

I will be doing this episode by episode, and probably releasing them every once in a while. Everything will be under a cut, however, to save you all dash space.

If you’d like to follow, please track the #chekhov watches owlhouse tag!

(I’d also like to dedicate this post to the Tumblr Staff Rob, who did his best to restore this post for me when tumblr queue ate it.)

Without further ado...

Episode 1!!

Fair warning - this is technically not a ‘live’ blog, because I have already watched some of the show before deciding to do this, but I’ll still react to them to round things out.

Immediately, this reminds me of Little Witch Academia... Anyone? No? Only me? I feel like maybe I’m getting my wires crossed, but there HAD to have been some inspiration taken from there?

“No-- my only weakness! Dying!!“

Same, big snake monster. Same.

Oh, backup snakes? This girl is READY.

Please don’t mistreat the snakes.

Spider breath... This kid is on my wavelength. That griffin seems to be waiting to be put out of its misery though, and I don’t blame it.

My child... where did you get that pigeon head though.....

Nurse mother, do you REALLY think signing up your spider-summoning daughter for summer camp will actively make her antics slow down instead of ramp up to 60?

Awww, baby makes AMVs... But also, NO ONE TOLD YOU TO THROW AWAY THE BOOK??? I know it’s symbolic, but goodness, isn’t that a bit much???

wait a sec, is that Eda????

Love the realistic bilingual kid experience of replying in English when your mom talks to you in your native language. Universal.

Love this introduction of Eda’s character. She’s got that little green scarf on and everything. Like a tiny trash grandma.

Oooh, okay, let’s extrapolate...

Lots of bones everywhere. I kinda love the aesthetic here - it’s gross and visceral, kind of like what Luz was making with her school projects. Yet in the middle of it all we have a rather clear gothic looking structure. Is this a power imbalance in the supposed kingdom?

The five circles of stained glass seem to perhaps indicate something like Hogwarts houses? Several different types of magic?

But Luz has no reason to freak out as much as she is - she LOVES weird stuff! Haha... No, I kid, I kid. I get it.

“Am I in the bad place?“

Eyyyyy, gotta love shows referencing other shows. :)

“Oh dear child... I’m not like you.”

Wow, what a DRAMATIC reveal for some pointy ears. :) I love her.

We should all aspire to have such cool and stylistically well put together wanted posters. You can tell the commissioned artist really respects her craft.

Steven Universe fans watching this:

I’m looking too.

Okay, okay, enough shenanigans, let’s have some LORE.

I love this landscape. Teeth or bones, or whatever they are, this is one of the more unique settings we’ve gotten, though maybe I’m prejudiced because I love body horror and bones. The darker orange and red themes fit really well here.

Things I’m desperate for: Giraffe Lore 

Things I’m more desperate for: Eda lore. Why do her limbs fall off? Is she a zombie?

Things I’m not quite as desperate for: Hooty lore. He can keep that to himself.

well hello there mysterious chekhov’s glyph which will DEFINITELY not be relevant in the second chapter (or end of season? Maybe? Idk it just seems important).

Ah, yes. That would have been my reaction as well, to be fair. Somehow I didn’t expect to see this guy so early on. I figured he would be a low stress early villain that got assimilated into the Found Family. Kinda psyched that he’s just there from the start.

....I’m just gonna presume this is all true and accept it at face value.

Old Escape The Cops Lady and Tiny Little Demon King, I need your backstory. How did you meet.

I love looking at background details, because like... you can tell the BG artists had fun. I particularly love how the 3 eyed toad doesn’t actually have any reward attached to her. Though the Knife Baby does intrigue me!

“I write fanfics of food falling in love.”

Why am I being called out...

“Noo! My weak nerd arms!”

Finally, a realistic portrayal of a protagonist thrust into a fantasy setting!

.....................

Okay but. If only humans could pass through the barrier... wouldn’t that mean a human had to have deposited those things in there? Do they have a human on staff in this weird pseudo-prison??? Suspicious....

Confession - when I initially saw ads for this show, I expected Eda to be a villain, not a loveable middle aged witch aunt figure. I am shockingly even MORE drawn to her this way. I expected betrayal. I expected her to be a lowkey threat?? But no. She’s just wholesome in the way a solid raccoon is.

“Eda, are you okay?!”

“Yeah, this just happens when you get older...”

“........does it..?”

If I had to pinpoint the exact moment this show won me over...... it would probably be this one.

I know it’s probably the wrong thing to focus on, but what is that insignia? Wings??? Like.... the kind OWLS HAVE?????

COINCIDENCE??? I THINK NOT!!!

I’m really loving the landscape here. And those fireworks are... hmm... intricate?

Gotta love the old tried and true Witch Apprentice Actually A Live In Intern trope. :)

Hold up...

Is that

Is that Hooty? I thought he was just a door....

Eda: This is my room for human stuff. I will also put my human in there.

. . .

Overall rating: I think this is a cute overall beginning. The prison break went hard! I enjoyed the characters and it kind of surprised me in a lot of ways. It definitely does a great job setting up a world with a lot more to explore while giving us a small taste of cool magic stuff and witchy battles. :)

Now on to Episode 2!!

Read the liveblogs in order by clicking here!