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samasmith23 · 2 years

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Quentin Quire: The Evolution from Morrison to Aaron

Over the past few years I’ve noticed that there’s a fairly sizable group of comic book fans who have taken issue with how the character Quentin Quire has been portrayed since his debut in New X-Men by Grant Morrison. Despite there being a lot of fans like myself who personally enjoyed Quire’s redemptive rehabilitation arc during Jason Aaron’s Wolverine & the X-Men arc into a quirky faux-rebel punk, there are quite a few readers who argue that redeeming Quire is inappropriate since Morrison originally framed them as being akin to a fascistic school-shooter during the Riot at Xaviers arc. I’ve discussed at length before about how I personally didn’t have an issue with future writers like Aaron redeeming Quire, especially since I personally really enjoyed how said-arc was handled in WATXM despite the more comedic shift in tone in regards to Quentin’s personality. However, one thing I recently realized was that despite fan-complaints that Aaron completely misunderstood Quire’s character or completely altered his personality, there are actually some subtle ways in which Aaron’s version of Quire is not only reflective of Morrison’s original characterization of him, but gradually abandons those initial negative traits in order to fulfill a positive-growth character arc.

So I was recently reading through a series of articles by ComicWatch editor Travis Hedge Coke titled “Examining New X-Men,” and in them Coke described Quire in those original Morrison stories as being portrayed as a misogynistic incel, stating that “Quire’s heterosexual jealousy throws him immediately into confrontation with men or boys he deems as challenges for the top position in the eyes of girls and women, he perceives girls and women as prizes as a reward for obtaining the top position… [and he] has incredible telepathic gifts including being subtly and intensely persuasive.”

And I will freely admit that... yeah... this kind misogynistic alpha-male behavior is on full display via Quire not only humiliating his fellow student Slick by essentially outing him telepathically through undoing an illusion of his idealized self due to low self-esteem about his actual appearance (consequently resulting in his girlfriend Tattoo rejecting him), but one of the reasons he staged the entire riot at Xavier’s was in a creepy attempt to impress one of the five Stepford Cuckoos.

Additionally, the article also suggested that Quire was also guilty of outright sexual assault since Slick’s aforementioned ex-girlfriend Tattoo immediately joins Quire’s “Omega Gang” and is madly in love with him, and following the riot one of Quire’s gang members desperately tries to convince Wolverine that they were all being mind-controlled by Quire. While Morrison leaves the story vague about whether or not this was actually true or just another lie from one of Quire’s followers to avoid accountability for their crimes, Xavier did state earlier in the arc that Quire’s telepathic abilities were “deep and subtle enough to influence the minds around him” when discussing his development of a cult-following in the form of the Omega Gang. Coke even went as far as to describe Morrison’s Quire as being akin to a younger, less rapey version of Wolverine’s arch-nemesis Sabretooth. It's also worth noting that there also exists subtle racialized undertones (ontop of gendered ones...) in the original Riot at Xavier's arc considering the white and fascistic Quire's overt manipulations of two Black characters in the form of Slick & Tattoo...

Furthermore, in a separate article for GraphicPolicy by Dani Kinney, despite her more charitable interpretation of Morrison’s Quire as someone who was driven to extremes due to frustration with Xavier’s flawed liberal-centrist approach in response to increasing human violence against other mutants, Kinney still criticizes Quire of being racially biased due to his victimization and exploitation of Slick and Tattoo respectively (both of which Morrison frames as bad things in the comic).

Interestingly, later when Quentin Quire began to undergo a rehabilitation arc in Jason Aaron's run on Wolverine & the X-Men (since Logan recognized Quire’s potential as a gifted student and telepath and didn’t want him to fall down the dark path of a mutant terrorist)...

...whether or Jason Aaron intended to or not he ended up showcasing Quire growing beyond the subtle characteristics of racism and misogyny that Morrison originally depicted during the character’s overtly villainous phase. For instance, throughout WATXM Quire begins to form a legitimate friendship and even romantic relationship with his fellow student Idie Okonkwo. Despite this, their first interaction showcases Quentin falling back on his old negative habits, making awkward pick-up lines and advances at Idie (which she hilariously sarcastically rejects in a nonchalant manner, and even Broo points out the inappropriateness of).

As the series progresses however, Quire begins to recognize Idie not as some prize but as a human being with her own autonomy. This is gradual shift first manifests during a school dance in the AVX tie-ins, where Quire is completely dumbfounded to see Idie uncharacteristically wanting to dance with him, even noting that she previously rejected his advances. This sudden shift in behavior for Idie was due to her worsening struggles with internalized-mutantphobia and religious trauma due to having been forced to kill someone by Cyclops in X-Men: Schism, feelings which were recently exacerbated by the Hellfire Brat’s gaslighting of her to give into what she mistakens to be her true “sinful, monstrous nature” via an android televangelist-style priest.

Quire's concerns Idie’s well-being and mental health only increase following an incident during the Frankenstein Murder Circus arc Idie nearly killing a sorceress a fit of traumatic rage due to she herself once nearly being burned at the stake by her Nigerian Catholic village when she first manifested her mutant powers.

This eventually culminates climatic Hellfire Academy arc wherein Quentin Quire actually infiltrates the Hellfire Brat’s supervillain-training school when he discovered Idie enrolled (both due to her worsening religious trauma and gaslighting, as well as wanting to investigate who shot her friend Broo and reduced him to a feral state), and seeks to rescue her from a that toxic environment. Unfortunately, Quire's rescue attempt backfires and he himself ends up getting captured and thrown into the Hellfire Academy's "detention room."

While Quire at this point hadn’t fully overcome his previous negative characteristics (he’s partially motivated by basic jealousy towards Broo and at one point thinks to himself that he might be forced to “telepathically coax” Idie into fleeing the Hellfire Academy), he simultaneously wants to prevent her from killing Broo’s shooter, as he wants to prevent her from going down a similar dark path that he previously did.

Furthermore, I don’t know if this was intentional or not but Aaron actually kinda sort of portrays Kade Kilgore, the Black King of the Hellfire Brats, as somewhat of a dark foil to Quentin Quire. Kilgore as he’s presented in WATXM is essentially like a younger but wealthier version of the kind of jerk Quire used to be during the Morrison New X-Men run. This is demonstrated not only through Kade expressing disappointment at Quire’s failure to live up to the standards of the supervillain academy due to Quentin’s past track record, but Kade is someone who actively manipulates and gaslights Idie by further feeding into her internalized mutantphobia and guilt over having killed before, all with the intent of influencing her into becoming both a murderous supervillain as well as his Black Queen of the Hellfire Club whom he would “have by his side at all times.”

And these are inappropriate behaviors which Kilgore undoubtedly picked up from his abusive corrupt billionaire father despite his own protestations to the contrary (in X-Men: Schism, Kade’s murder of his father was assisted by a secretary who wanted revenge for Kilgore Sr. sexually harassing her). Plus the Hellfire Club in general has a long history of being manipulative and possessive towards women, like with Jean Grey during the classic Dark Phoenix Saga.

So despite Kade claiming otherwise, the Hellfire Club’s misogynistic and manipulative behavior definitely seems to be generational.

In a sense, Kade Kilgore’s creepy & misogynistic manipulation of Idie is somewhat reflective of how Quire previously mistreated characters like Tattoo & Sophie Cuckoo during Morrison’s run. It also demonstrates that while Aaron mostly portrayed the Hellfire Brats as comedic joke-villains due to them being sociopathic spoiled rich 12-year-olds who murdered their parents and seized control over their corporate assets, he still fleshed out members like Kade Kilgore as being negatively influenced by the sexist & manipulative behaviors of his abusive father.

Fortunately however, Idie rejects both Kilgore’s gross manipulations and her own internalized-mutantphobia. While Idie initally seems to accept Kilgore’s offer of becoming his Black Queen, she did this solely just to trick Kilgore into confessing that he was the one who shot her friend Broo. And although Idie nearly went through with her plan to murder the little creep in retaliation, she he ultimately refuses to give into hatred and bloodshed (brought about by both her past religious trauma and the inhumane teachings of the literal supervillain academy) when she realizes that she is still capable of feeling love and and experiencing happiness after witnessing Toad of all people (he was the janitor at both the Jean Grey School & Hellfire Academy) refusing to kill a mentally unstable & murderous Husk (Paige was experiencing extreme mood swings due to a latent secondary mutation tying her emotions to her skin-shedding/transformation powers) because of the love they had developed for each other in previous issues of the series. Sparring Kilgore’s life, Idie then teams-up with Quire to rebel against and destroy the oppressive Hellfire Academy (a conclusion to WATXM’s running gag of Quire constantly fantasizing about instigating another riot and destroying the Jean Grey School).

And while some fans have argued that Quire & Idie becoming a couple creeped them out due to Idie being younger than him, I don’t have too much of a problem with it since was only a 2-year age gap between the two in Aaron’s run (Idie & Quire were 14 & 16 respectively; this was confirmed by the Jason Latour’s follow-up run on WATXM, which featured Quire having his 17th birthday), and seeing Quentin & Idie develop legitimate feelings for each other as they both underwent positive-change arcs actually felt kind of sweet IMO. Plus, Idie was the one who ultimately had to rescue Quire instead of the other way around due to his own rescue attempt FAILING, and the two co-lead the revolt against the Hellfire Brats.

Essentially, Aaron’s version of Quentin Quire felt like a more mature version of Morrison’s despite his new more comedic faux-rebel personality. Quentin by the end of WATXM was no longer a manipulative incel, but had instead evolved into someone who actually learned to respect the autonomy and personhood of not just women, but women of color in particular. This was something that completely flew over my head when I initially read WATXM, but after reading Travis Hedge Coke’s New X-Men articles I began to notice how vastly different Quire’s attitude and treatment towards Tattoo & Idie were, especially since both characters are Black girls. These are some deeper observations about Quentin Quire’s character development & positive change arc that I truly appreciate, since they make me realize that Aaron seemed to understand Quentin’s character a lot more than a lot of fans give him credit for. Sadly though, all this does seem to be lost on a lot of fans due to not just having prior memories Morrison’s more villainous portrayal of Quire, but also due to series which came after Aaron’s WATXM such as Christina Strain’s run on Generation X apparently having Quentin Quire regress into being rude and condescending towards Idie… sigh, oh well that’s the downside of having different writers with different interpretations I guess…

Overall, I'm not against redeeming Quentin Quire like a lot of other fans are since Wolverine in Jason Aaron's run was following in the footsteps of Charles Xavier's philosophy. Logan wanted to give Quire a second-chance and try and mold him into something better than a potential future mutant-terrorist, which he ultimately ended up succeeding in. And while Quentin still boasts about wanting to be the bad kid who destroys the Jean Grey School, most of it is now him being a faux-pretentious brat as he never exploited any opportunity to do so and instead developed empathy with his fellow students, and over the course of WATXM Quire developed leadership skills and even went out of his way to rescue the X-Men at several points in Aaron's series. His faux-rebel attitude is played more for laughs now.

Plus, the X-Men in general have a long history of trying to redeeming or rehabilitating supervillains like Magneto, Mystique, Juggernaut, and even Apocalypse and Mister Sinister.

So why is Quentin Quire off limits for a redemption arc then? Heck, I'd personally argue that Mister Sinister being allowed a seat on Krakoa's Quite Council is far more egregious considering that in past continuity Sinister was literally a Nazi scientist who was present at the Auschwitz death camp.

That seems far worse to me than Wolverine trying to redeem a delinquent teenager who once staged a half-assed riot at Xaviers...

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minkyumami · 13 days

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I’m really sad bc I just wrote a whole thing about my take on the Chuck won theory and it didn’t save 🫥

Just…. okay…

imagine a very eloquent and persuasive argument saying that we could never have gotten a good ending on screen, because for TFW to defeat Chuck they’d need to be allowed to escape the narrative entirely.

What I mean is: Supernatural is his show, he was always the one writing it, as well as the one watching it — and it has always been used as the Winchester’s prison. Every single episode is a construct that they’ve been trapped inside.

So the true ending for them is one that doesn’t satisfy Chuck’s need for a conclusion. His defeat would have to mean that the audience loses access to his story. We wouldn’t get to see what happens next, at least not in this show — because our protagonists winning would allow them to abandon the story and all its pre-established rules. They would finally be allowed to exist outside of the confines of the TV show Supernatural.

But the finale we’re shown is one Chuck would’ve wanted, simply because it’s there for us to see. It gives his show a conclusion — one that’s completely in line with everything he’s set up! It does nothing to really challenge the themes that he’s been obsessed with from the jump, which have been causing TFW the most pain:

tragedy, loss, isolation, and sacrifice.

So does this mean that Chuck actually wins? I think the answer is yes and no. I think there is no version of a canon SPN finale that isn’t one of Chuck’s endings — again, because it’s always been his show.

But are the Sam and Dean we see in the finale the “real” Sam and Dean? Personally, I like to think that the real ones got out and made their own story.

The true ending is one where they don’t have to be Chuck’s protagonists anymore — one where they get to live real, unedited, uncensored, long gay lives. Maybe that happens through another medium, or a reboot or a spin-off — anything but the show itself.

#spn #spn finale #spn meta #chuck won theory #please discuss #spn 15x20 #maybe the real Chuck is the CW #the best ending is a different show

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poppet-seed · 2 years

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Um, sooo normally I'm not one to send asks, as they make me real nervous. But um, I was wondering a couple of things about your pirate au because it has a choke hold on me.

Say someone wanted to write something for said au, would that be ok? And if so, would..it would be ok if it was done with a twist? As I personally love to try my hand at writing something for it, but I've found..I do better writing like found family stuff. Soo I was wondering if you would be cool with a found family sort of version? I had an idea for one, with pirate boys coming across some siren children in need of help. But I wanted to make sure just writing for your au is something you're ok with in general.

And second, going off the note of the pirate boys, my curiosity needs me to ask. What would the three do if they came across lone Siren children in need of help? Would they even help them? Would they be morally conflicted? Or what have you?

Anyway!

Sorry this got so long, hopefully it makes sense. And you don't have to answer any of this if you don't want to!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

You have no idea the brain rot you have unleashed on me.

I'm sorry I took forever to get back to you on this ask. I just wanted to think in depth about it. Because GENUINELY IT GAVE ME SO MANY BRAIN WORMS!

So here's what I got~

- mother sirens aren't that maternal unlike mermaids

- pups can usually fend for themselves after a few months and go off to be independent

- a mother siren usually has a pup a year (there's only one mating season every year), but can have twins in rare situations. It dosent go beyond that.

- sirens are solitary unless mated for life

- the pup will live on its own and separate from any siblings (rare situations have been recorded of twins staying together)

- mum and dad will stay together but abandon the kids after a few months

- if a predator approaches and the male can't fight it off the female may get a boost of maternal instincts to defend her young (this only applies if the pups aren't big enough to fend for themselves

- in an unlikely situation both parents die before the pup/s are ready, the pup will usually seek out merfolk.

- merfolk have been known to help raise siren pups untill they can fend for themselves.

- Once again though, they won't stay with the mers as they are solitary and will want to be independent.

- pup hood lasts untill their first birthday.

- sirens grow much faster than mers.

- they are more feral than Mers

- a siren pup is more likely to die after it becomes independent but before it reaches its first birthday.

- it's is unlikely for a pup to surface before it's first birthday. It will typically stay in a coral reef and feed of small fish

- however if chased from its hunting grounds the pup will be forced into deeper water

- the only way I can see the boys helping out a siren pup is if the child is in clear distress. (Caught in a net, injured and circled by predators)

- it would have to be a life or death situation for morality to questioned.

- the boys are extremely passionate towards kids, but like all that sail the sea, not willing to get tangled up with sirens.

- moon is terrified of sirens

- but in this case. They're likely to help.

- that question of "its just a kid and needs our help"

- it would mostly be sun arguing to help. Eclipse being the middle ground and moon against helping.

- Sun is very persuasive and would get eclipse to agree and basically outnumber moon

- the crew also love kids and would be a lot more willing to help the pup (probably one of them that pointed it out)

- probably put the pup in quarantine.

- Good thing about siren pups tho, is that they can be domesticated and loose their aggression if treated right. (Persistence is key)

The mental image of a tiny baby guppy lives in my head rent free.

Thankyou so much for blessing me with this idea.

I've had a lot of fun with this idea.

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cyberkevvideo · 3 months

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Pathfinder Gillman Race Conversion to 5e

Today is another entry for Kraken Week. Before, I did the boggard and turned it into a proper Pathfinder 1e playable race. This time I decided to do something 5e related and convert a playable race from Pathfinder with sea lore into 5e race to go along with the triton, grung, and other aquatic races.

For those who didn't see my previous entry, this week (July 1st to July 7th) is Kraken Week. It’s what will hopefully be an annual TTRPG event that was created and hosted by Point Hat and Ginny Di, and YouTubers come together and do videos on the kraken and other sea and water-based creatures. It’s going to be their version of Shark Week, but not just about sharks. It’s been encouraged for others to join in as well. Unfortunately, I’m not a YouTuber, so I’m going to be doing this via this Tumblr blog.

The artist is for the logo is Antonio Demico, aka Pointy Hat himself.

The gillman race I'm using as a base can be found in Pathfinder 1e's Inner Sea World Guide, among other books.

Image is courtesy of the Archives of Nethys.

They are the creation of aboleths kidnapping and fleshwarping humans, and have a second name, Azarketi, because of their Azlant origin. Aboleths manipulated them for centuries, making them susceptible to aboleth influence, and eventually abandoning them, allowing the gillmen to finally experience freedom, but still unable to fully break away from the torturous manipulations of their creators.

Much like the grung, gillmen still require to be immersed in water for a short period of time or suffer from the ramifications. Unlike a satyr or yuan-ti who have a full resistance to magic and other effects (or just magic resistance in the case of the Monsters of the Multiverse updates), a gillman is only able to resist enchantment and illusion spells, unless those spells are cast by an aboleth. Overall, the conversion might seem strong, but some of the abilities are niche or limited in overall scope. That said, if the race never comes up against an aboleth, there's no concerns, but the same could be said about a satyr that never goes up against a mage, or at least very rarely does. And even then, spell attacks ignore that.

Overall, it's about as strong as an aasimar. At least in accordance to racial ability point breakdowns found online.

Also, if you're using the ability score and language rules from Tasha's Cauldron, feel free to ignore the listed scores and languages presented here. They are merely a suggestion based on the original gillman race.

Gillman/Azarketi

As a gillman, you gain the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age. Gillmen age at much the same rate as humans, reaching adulthood at the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 160 years.

Alignment. Gillmen tend to lean more towards true neutrality.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.

Cold Resistance. Adapted to the frigid ocean depths, you have resistance to cold damage.

Limited Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells from the enchantment and illusion schools.

Poison Adept. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the poisoned condition on yourself.

Taskmaster. You have proficiency in your choice of Animal Handling, Persuasion, or Perception.

Aboleth Vulnerability. You have disadvantage on saving throws against enchantment and illusion spells and abilities used by aboleths.

Water Dependency. If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer 1 level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can recover from this exhaustion only through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Aboleth.

With that, this concludes my contributions to this year's Kraken Week. Hopefully this happens again next year, and I can participate yet again.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily, especially now that I’m racking up medical bills. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

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spnhunter4life · 2 years

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So Long Version 2 Chapter 2

Word Count: 5k

Warnings: Canon typical violence

A/N: If version 2 is the first time you're reading this, I hope you enjoy! If you've read version 1 and are reading this also, thanks for the support! Let me know which version you prefer.

Series Masterlist

Ages 12 and 16 July 23, 1995

Dean’s POV

The beds at this motel were probably some of the best quality I’d ever seen. The mattresses weren’t lumpy or too hard and they didn’t smell musty or like cigarette smoke. There weren’t any questionable stains on the blankets either. It was actually a comfortable bed, and I didn’t take that for granted. I would undoubtedly be sleeping on a bed that was much less comfortable and much more sketchy in the next day or two.

We were in Washington right now, but we’d just finished the job last night. It had been my second official hunt, and I was still thrilled that I was finally allowed to be involved, to actually get to chase down and kill the monster instead of being stuck at home doing research.

It was only a simple salt and burn case, but I’d still had a lot of fun. Things had gotten exciting when the ghost showed up as we were searching the abandoned house she used to live in for the object she was tied to – it turned out to be the knife she had been killed with, still covered in her blood – but other than getting a little bruised up from being thrown across the room, nobody had gotten hurt.

It had been a long night though, and so, exhausted, I hadn’t been able to do more than strip down to my t-shirt and boxers before collapsing on top of the bed and falling asleep almost immediately.

I had slept deeply. I was slowly making my way towards consciousness, clinging to the dream I was already forgetting. It was about me and Jenna. We were… out with friends? On a date? The details were hazy and fading quick. I think we were at the movies maybe. I was startled into alertness by Sam’s gasp.

I grabbed the knife from under my pillow, rolled onto my back, and sat up, scanning the room for a threat. There was nothing though. Dad was gone, probably either talking with Ben or gone out to grab breakfast and coffee. There was just Sam standing at the foot of my bed, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, staring intently at my ankle. Staring at the name that was tattooed there.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” He cried out in the voice of a little brother outraged at being left in the dark.

“Shit,” I muttered as I got out of bed and started getting dressed to hide the evidence. But the damage had already been done.

“Dean!” Sam protested.

“Let it go Sammy,” I ordered, rifling through my duffel bag for some clean clothes, deciding a shower was in order.

“Let it go?” Sam echoed, trailing me towards the bathroom. “Dean, this is huge! I thought we didn’t have secrets. You guys should have told me!” he insisted.

I set my clothes on the counter and was ready to threaten him to keep his mouth shut when something seemed to occur to him.

“Wait,” he said, backtracking a little. “Jenna does know, doesn’t she?”

“I’m only going to tell you this once Sam, so listen up. I don’t care if you’re my brother. If you ever tell anyone, especially her, I will end you,” I warned before slamming the door in his face.

Great, I thought. I’d been able to keep this thing a secret for less than a year. I wasn’t at all sure that I could trust Sam not to say something. Sure, he could keep a secret if he wanted to, but I didn’t know if I would be able to convince him that this needed to stay between us. Anxious thoughts swirled in my head throughout my shower, but by the time I got out I had a persuasive argument ready to go.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Sam was on the couch, restlessly tapping his fingers against his knee. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and stood to face me.

“I won’t say anything,” Sam rushed out at the same time I said, “We need to talk.”

“What?” I asked, not having heard him over my own statement.

“I won’t say anything,” he promised. “But… why haven’t you told her?”

I sighed. I should have expected this. Should have, but didn’t. I’d planned out how to persuade him not to tell anyone, had considered potential arguments he might throw my way. I hadn’t anticipated him immediately complying or the simple question that followed. I ran a hand through my hair as I considered how to answer.

“You know why,” I finally said, deciding that the argument I’d planned out would work as an explanation to his question. He just stared at me expectantly.

“I haven’t exactly made a secret of the fact that I don’t want to know my soulmate. That I don’t want her stuck living this life,” I told him.

“You love this life,” he pointed out.

“Yeah. I do. But it’s dangerous and it means never having a home. I won’t force her into that,” I explained.

“But she’s already a part of it. You won’t be forcing her into anything,” he responded.

“Just because she’s in this life now doesn’t mean she has to be in it forever. She’ll be able to make her own decisions in a few years. She can find somewhere she likes and stay there. She can get out of hunting.”

“Who says she wants to?” Sam asked.

“Well then that’s her choice if she doesn’t want to quit. I’m not going to be the reason though. I don’t want her hunting with me out of a feeling of obligation. I won’t do that to her.” I told him.

“You keep talking about her being able to do what she wants. What if what she wants is to be with you? Did you consider that?” he argued.

I had considered it. I decided that until I had a reason to think that she was interested in something more, I would leave things the way they were. I was happy just to have her in my life, in any way. I wasn’t going to push for more when what I had was already more than I could have ever hoped for. My soulmate was with me every day. And I didn’t have to worry about scaring her away. She already knew the whole truth about me and my life.

Frustrated that he kept pushing, I snapped, “I thought you weren’t going to say anything.”

“I’m not,” he insisted.

“Then why won’t you let it go?” I demanded. He scowled at me.

“If I’m going to be keeping this a secret for you, you can at least tell me why it has to be a secret. I told you I won’t say anything and I won’t, but I still don’t see why you don’t just tell her.”

“I don’t know how to explain it in a way you’ll understand,” I told him. “Can you just believe that I’m doing what’s best?”

He thought about it for a while.

“Fine,” he agreed.

“Fine?” I asked, relieved, but surprised he wasn’t putting up more of a fight.

“Yeah. Fine. Because you have less than a year before Jenna turns 16. You know she’s going to find out then,” he said confidently.

I hadn’t been letting myself think that far ahead. I wasn’t sure what to expect when her birthday came around again. Would she find my name somewhere on her body? Would she be happy or disappointed? Would she want to be with me or would she rather stay away and have a normal life? Would it even be my name she found?

“Maybe,” I said, humoring him for the moment. “But until then, this stays between us. Actually, this stays between us until I say otherwise,” I told him.

"Fine," he agreed. He wasn't happy about it, but he felt secure in the knowledge that he had less than a year before it would no longer be a secret. I both hoped he was wrong and hoped he was right. "Jerk," he added a little frustratedly.

I just smirked at him.

"Bitch."

Ages 15 and 16 September 13, 1995

I was sitting at the table in the Winchester’s motel room with John and my dad, discussing the case they were working on. Sam was in our motel room studying for a big test and Dean was just getting back from his afternoon out with the sister of the latest victim, trying to get more information.

“Hopefully Dean learned something useful so we can go in more prepared,” John was saying as we all heard the familiar rumble of the Impala’s engine. He had come up with a plan to catch the monster, but though we had theories, we still weren’t 100% sure what it was.

When the two of them had caught wind of this case, finding a newspaper article about a 14 year old girl who had gone missing – the third missing girl in this Colorado town this month – they’d immediately packed us up. The latest girl’s body hadn’t been found at the time, but the previous two were found a few days after their disappearances, covered in deep cuts, bodies drained of blood and dumped in rarely used alleyways. The girl from the newspaper article was found a day after we got to town.

My dad and John were able to find out almost immediately that the girl had an older sister and instructed Dean to start trying to get close to her. They figured the teenage girl might spill a little more information – especially when a mysterious new boy with a handsome face and charming smile was asking the questions – than her parents would.

“Well?” John asked as soon as Dean had the door closed behind him.

“Sorry, I’ve got nothing,” Dean admitted disappointedly. “She didn’t say anything different than what everyone else has been saying. And she was more than happy to answer my questions so I don’t think she was hiding anything. Maybe I just didn’t ask the right questions.”

“Alright. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We knew she might not know anything. I’m sure you did just fine,” my dad reassured Dean.

“Maybe. I’ll try to figure out if there’s anything else I can ask her that might give us something useful,” Dean said.

“No need. Jenna, why don’t you go get ready to head to the library,” John said. I stood up to follow his instructions and he turned to the array of weapons on the table.

“The library?” Dean asked. “You guys are doing research? We don’t even have enough information to go off of to know where to start.”

“Don’t we?” John countered, already irritated. I froze where I was. He never handled it well when Dean questioned him, no matter how innocently. He always expected instant compliance, a “Yes, sir!” kind of attitude.

“Ok, well I’ll come with then,” Dean replied.

“No you won’t. You’ll stay here with your brother,” John told him.

“Why? What’s the point in me sitting in a motel room when I could be with you guys doing something useful?” He argued. “The more people we have looking, the more information we can get through.”

“We don’t need more people. Jenna’s going alone.” John told him, the “end of discussion” clear in his voice.

“What?” Dean spit out through clenched teeth. I looked at him and saw him looking disbelievingly between the two men.

“You heard me,” John said, daring his son to question his decision. “We made a plan while you were out.”

“While I was out?” Dean said incredulously. “You mean while I was working the case? While I was doing what you told me to, you ‘made a plan’ to send Jenna out by herself?”

I’d never seen him argue like this with his father. With jerks at school, sure. With me and Sam, occasionally. But with John? I’d never seen him truly question his father, and I was worried where this might be headed and how ugly it might get.

“Yes, we did,” John said. “And the plan isn’t going to change just because we don’t have all the information.”

“Did the three of you somehow forget that this… this thing is taking teenage girls? Did you forget that all three of the girls he took had dark brown hair, pretty much exactly the same color as Jenna’s? What about the fact that he’s taking these girls from the library? That he only goes after them when they’re alone? Tell me how this isn’t enough information to know that sending her in is a terrible plan!”

“We’re not discussing this any further Dean,” John said with finality, moving to usher me from the room. Dean stepped between us, back to me, breath heaving.

“You can’t use her as bait!” he yelled. He ran his hands through his hair, a sure sign that he was beyond stressed. I set my hand on his shoulder, wanting to comfort him. He took one quick look at me, his eyes wild, before he turned to look at my dad.

“Ben, how could you be ok with this?” He asked.

“I don’t like the idea either,” my dad said as he looked at me.

“So why-” Dean started.

“Because it’s the only plan I can see that catches this thing before another innocent girl is taken,” he said firmly.

“Jenna is an innocent girl,” Dean said.

“But not an ignorant one,” John countered. “She knows what she’s getting into. We have no leads on this thing other than it being in the library. It’s managed to avoid all security cameras so we don’t have any idea what it looks like. We don’t even know if it managed to sneak around so well because it works there or if it was just that careful about scouting out the place ahead of time.”

“Exactly! That’s why you can’t just let this thing take her, Dad! How bad do you think it’ll hurt her before we manage to find her? Who says we even find her on time? You can’t do it.”

John stiffened.

“Excuse me? I can’t do it? You’re giving me orders now?” he asked in a dangerously quiet voice. Dean squared his shoulders and lifted his chin.

“You heard me,” he said, repeating his dad’s earlier words. “You can’t. I won’t let you.”

Sensing that the situation was about to escalate to a point of no return, my dad stepped in.

“We’re not going to let it take her, Dean. Of course not. We’ll be there, waiting for it to try and grab her. And when it does, we’ll be ready.”

“You’ll be ready?” Dean said with an edge to his voice, never taking his eyes off of John. “You don’t know what the thing even is. How can you be ready?”

“We’re bringing everything. Whatever it ends up being, we’ll have what we need to kill it. I’m not going to risk my only daughter,” Dad said, trying to reason with him.

After a few tense seconds of silence, Dean finally turned to me.

“And you?” he asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet through this whole thing. Are you ok with this? They can’t make you if you don’t want to.”

“Dean,” I started, trying to decide the words to say that would calm him down, ease his nerves. “I’m ok with it,” I finally decided on. There was nothing more I could really say.

“You’re ok with it? You’re fine with being bait? Jenna, I know you. You try to hide it, but I can see how scared you are every time you come on a hunt. You’re telling me you’re not scared now?”

“No,” I said, and was surprised to realize I meant it.

“No?” He questioned disbelievingly.

“No,” I repeated. “Because I know you’ll be there,” I told him confidently, looking at John to see if he would contradict me and insist Dean stay behind. That’s what the plan had been originally, both John and my dad thinking he wouldn’t be able to handle it. When he just shook his head – not in denial but in irritated acquiescence – I continued. “Because I trust you. Because I’ve never had to worry about not being safe when you’re around. Because I know you would die before you would let anything happen to me.”

He looked at me for a few moments, processing the words I’d spoken with such conviction.

“You’re sure?” He asked one more time.

“I’m sure,” I told him. He nodded, resigned to the plan if not happy about it.

“Alright,” was all he said.

“Great,” John said sourly. “Now that that’s settled, we’ve got a job to finish. Get moving.”

~~~~~

An hour later I sat at a table in the most secluded corner of the library I could find. My biology textbook was laying open in front of me and the rest of the table was scattered with my notes and some old assignment sheets. We’d only been at this school for a few days, but I tried to carry all my notes from previous schools. It wasn’t uncommon to cover the same topic multiple times with all of the school-hopping we did.

Dean, John, and my dad were hiding behind one of the big bookcases behind me, waiting. I was actually doing homework, partly to keep myself calm and pass the time, partly because it’s what the monster would be expecting.

We were covering the digestive system currently and the teacher had assigned the class an essay taking her through the full digestive process from the perspective of the food that was being digested. It was definitely one of the weirdest assignments I’d ever been given. Unfortunately, I let myself concentrate a little too hard on my work, not paying attention to my surroundings the way I should have been.

“Excuse me,” a voice said to my right, causing me to jump a little in my seat. He was a man, probably in his 40s, wearing a little name tag identifying him as Trevor. “Sorry to startle you. I’m just letting you know the library will be closing soon, so if you could please finish up, that would be great.”

“Yes, of course,” I said, a little flustered. I couldn’t believe I’d been so careless. I started packing up my stuff, already mentally preparing myself for having to come back here tomorrow to try again, when I realized the man wasn’t leaving. Tense now, I looked at him. “Was there something else?” I asked.

“Actually, now that you mention it.” He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and grabbed me, moving the needle towards my arm. He was quick, but I was quicker, reflexively swatting the incoming hand away with the arm he wasn’t holding in place, knocking the syringe out of his grasp and onto the floor where it rolled away.

“You little bitch,” he spat as he caught the fist I threw at his face. “Hard way it is then. You’re going to regret that. I enjoy a fight.”

I threw my knee straight up towards his crotch and he dropped one of my arms to block it. In blocking this attack, just as I’d anticipated, he’d dropped his head down to see. I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer as I rammed the top of my head as hard as I could into his nose.

Momentarily stunned, he let me go and I ran in the other direction, wondering where the guys were. I meant it when I said I trusted Dean with my life. I obviously trusted my dad just as much and John too. But that didn’t mean something hadn’t happened to them. Trevor took only a second to recover before he lunged forward and grabbed me. He wrestled my hands behind my back and started to force me towards the back exit but he was stopped by my dad stepping out in front of him, gun pointed at his face.

“Let her go,” he commanded.

“How cute,” Trevor said. “I suppose you guys figured you’d set an easy trap for me in what I can only guess is some misguided revenge attempt. I’m afraid you’ve underestimated your opponent though. Those bullets won’t kill me. So now you both die.”

“I suggest you listen to the man,” John said from behind and slightly to the left of us. He also had a gun trained on the man. And then I understood. They’d taken so long to intervene because they were getting into position, sneaking around behind the bookshelves to surround us. I knew where Dean would be, behind and slightly to the right, but I didn’t look. Didn’t let this monster know we had a fourth person on our side.

“I don’t think so. Like I said,” Trevor said, still unconcerned about his odds, “It’ll take more than a bullet to kill me.”

“You mean because you’re a shapeshifter?” John asked as if he were having a casual conversation. “That’s why all three of our guns are loaded with silver bullets.”

That’s when I heard the gun cocking directly beside me. John had been the distraction, the way to get Trevor to turn his back so that Dean could get close.

“You’ve got one more chance to let her go,” Dean warned, gun pressed up directly against the man’s head.

“And why would I do that? I let her go and you kill me.” He breathed out, afraid now that he understood the guns were a very real threat to his life.

“If you don’t let her go, if you hurt her in any way, you can be sure that you’ll be wishing for death by the time we’re done,” Dad said. Dean grunted his agreement.

I could feel the hands on my wrists minutely tightening and loosening as he made a decision. The next thing I knew I was being shoved into Dean and the monster – shapeshifter, apparently– bolted for the door.

Dean and I fell in a heap on the floor, him flat on his back, me on his chest. I heard a gunshot, only one, and knew it was over. I didn’t know which of our dads had been the one to fire the shot.

I took a deep breath, letting Dean pull me into a seated position and hold me against his chest while murmuring into my hair, “Don’t you ever do that to me again. I don’t think I can handle it.”

I didn’t respond. He knew I would do it again if it was ever needed the same way he would always offer himself up for the sake of others. I just listened to the sound of his elevated heartbeat and let myself enjoy the feeling of being held by him.

“How did you know it was a shapeshifter?” I asked once Dean had let me go.

“The real guy is dead behind one of the bookshelves,” John answered. “We knew what he was the second he came over to talk to you. Now let’s get this cleaned up and get out of here.”

I mentally rolled my eyes at his order, but I knew he was right. The real Trevor’s body would be left for the police to find. We needed to take care of the shapeshifter though.

We drove to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. It was mostly empty inside and everything was made of concrete or metal. It was the closest and safest place we could find to burn a body.

Once it was taken care of, we piled back into John’s truck and drove back to the motel.

Ages 15 and 17 March 18, 1996

“Jenna!” I heard Dean call from down the hall as he stalked towards me. He sounded annoyed. I knew how it looked, Tony casually leaning next to me, arm braced against the lockers. The halls were mostly empty as everyone went home for the day. I knew I had a big smile on my face too, knew the conclusion Dean had undoubtedly come to, but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him playing overprotective big brother. Rolling my eyes, I turned to face him as he stopped within inches of me.

“What’s up, Dean?” I asked calmly. I didn’t fail to notice the way he angled his body slightly between the two of us.

“I was going to ask the same thing,” he answered. “I thought you were going to meet me and Sam outside.”

“I was. I am.” I corrected myself. “Tony was just telling me about all the horses his family owns and he said I could come over and ride if I want.” I told him, getting excited again. I looked at Tony who looked slightly nervous. He was a fairly attractive, semi popular guy. A sophomore, like me, he was still growing into his long legs and widening shoulders.

“You really think your dad is going to let you go to some guy’s house?” Dean scoffed.

“Why not?” I answered defensively. “You and Sam go to your friends’ houses all the time.” I noticed Tony wince a little and pushed Dean away, only able to do so because I took him by surprise. He still only backed away a single step.

“That’s because our dad doesn’t care what we do and you know it. Your dad is way more protective,” he countered. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before he lets you do something as stupid as go to the home of some random boy by yourself.”

“You mean before you let me go,” I retorted. “Well news flash Dean, you don’t get to decide what I can and can’t do. And what do you mean ‘stupid’? I want to go ride horses with a friend, not bungee jumping off a cliff above a shallow lake.”

“You’ve never ridden a horse before, Jenna! What if something goes wrong? You could fall off and hurt yourself!”

I was surprised he wasn’t backing down. He never used to have these kinds of arguments in public. He’d always been protective, but for the past year he’d been even worse. While deep down I appreciated his concern, right now I was just irritated.

“I have to drop my stuff off and let my dad know what’s going on, but I’ll try to be there by four if that works for you.” I told Tony, ignoring Dean for the moment.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Tony said warily. “Whenever works for you. And if you don’t come, I’ll just assume your dad said no.” He told me, eyeing Dean before making a hasty escape. I huffed and turned to punch Dean in the shoulder.

“Really?! Why do you have to do this to me? You know how much I love horses! Why can’t you stop scaring away everyone I make friends with?!” I ranted. Dean just started walking for the door.

“I don’t scare away all of your friends. Only the jerks that are making moves on you. I mean, really Jenna? You think all he wants is to show you a few horses?” He mocked. He held the door open for me and, choosing to ignore his jab, I made a beeline for Sam, who had started walking once he saw us come out. Sighing, he closed the door and jogged a couple steps to catch up to me.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing my shoulder and turning me to face him. “I’m not trying to ruin your life, you know. I’m just trying to protect you.”

“Well maybe I don’t need you to protect me! Did you think of that? I’m not an idiot, I know he’s hoping for more, but I also know he’ll back off if I tell him to. And even if he didn’t, don’t you think I can handle one teenage boy? My dad doesn’t have me train for nothing.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?” I asked him, exasperated.

I watched as he physically reigned in the automatic response that wanted to shoot past his lips. He worked his jaw back and forth and took a breath as he thought of the best way to say it.

“Guys suck. Ok? And I can say that with absolute certainty seeing as I am one.”

“Dean-” I tried to interject.

“No, let me finish. I just don’t want to see you get involved with some guy who's only going to end up hurting you.”

I waited to make sure he was finished before answering.

“Yeah, but did you miss the part where I said I wasn’t interested?” How could I be? There wasn’t a boy in the world who stood a chance of gaining my attention when the most perfect one was already in my life, completely oblivious to how thoroughly he had ruined the chances of me ever being interested in anyone else. Of course I couldn’t tell him this, so there was no real way to assure him that I was telling the truth. “Zero chance of me being hurt. I promise.”

“Maybe,” he said, clearly not sure if he believed me or not. “You could still fall off a horse though. I’m sure that would hurt.”

“Because the risk of falling off a horse is so much greater than getting hurt on a hunt?” I asked pointedly.

“Okay. You’re right,” he sighed after a moment of deciding whether or not to argue. “I’m sorry. You still have to get your dad to agree to it though,” he pointed out. I groaned and squared my shoulders, readying myself for the upcoming argument.

~~~~~

I was practically vibrating with excitement as Dean pulled into the driveway of Tony’s home. It had been one of Dad’s conditions, that Dean drove me. I could see several horses already and knew I’d be on one of them soon.

“Thanks Dean!” I said as I moved to get out of the car.

“Just a second,” he said, putting a hand on my knee to stop me. I paused with my hand on the handle and turned to him. “Just… promise you’ll be careful.” He finally got out. My heart stuttered a little like it always did when he worried. I knew it was only a brotherly concern no matter how much I might wish it was more.

“I will.” I told him with a soft smile. Then I jumped out of the car and headed towards where I saw Tony at the barn.

Chapter 3

#supernatural #fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #john winchester #original female character #original characters #dean winchester x original female character #dean winchester x soulmate!ofc #soulmates #soulmate au #so long v2

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holystormfire · 8 months

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What is the meaning of 2nd Thessalonians 2:8-11?

These are references of an impending spiritual rebellion, of unseen evils, and the rise of a powerful tyranical spiritual figure, the man of lawlessness. To those who are not followers of God and/or of the Heavenly sent Son, Jesus Christ, God sends a strong spirit of delusion, so they will succumb to the false teachings of the man of lawlessness... The antichrist. In conclusion it is now to be with God and His holy nature than to be against it. To gain nourishment for our soul is to read His word and to never abandon these truths.

What causes delusionment?

Ezekiel 7:19

They will throw away their money, tossing it out like worthless trash. It won’t buy their deliverance in that day of the Lord’s anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their love of money made them stumble into sin.

Misplaced affection

Philippians 3:3

For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,

Misplaced confidence

Matthew 16:26

And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Misplaced priorities

Ecclesiastes 4:16

He might become the leader of millions and be very popular. But then the next generation grows up and rejects him! So again, it is all meaningless, like chasing the wind.

Searching for satisfaction from any source other than what God’s Word says brings satisfaction

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Then I observed that most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless, like chasing the wind.

Success motivated by envy

Jeremiah 23:16

“This is my warning to my people,” says the Lord Almighty. “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the Lord!”

Hopes built on lies and half-truths

Ecclesiastes 6:9

Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.

Discontentment

Romans 4:14-16

So if you claim that God’s promise is for those who obey God’s law and think they are “good enough” in God’s sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless. But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) So that’s why faith is the key! God’s promise is given to us as a free gift.

Seeking salvation through any other means than through faith in Jesus Christ

Jeremiah 10:15

Idols are worthless; they are lies! The time is coming when they will all be destroyed.

Worshiping anything other than the Lord

Titus 1:16

Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are despicable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

Hypocritical living/ Compromised living

I personally believe that the life of compromise is following the beliefs of Baalim/ Baal and Ashtaroth mentioned in the Old testament. Which is basically a version of idolatry.

Judges 2:11 KJV

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

Judges 2:13 KJV

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

Judges 10:6 KJV

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

Modern practices of Baal worship today that you may be unaware of.

Baal worship included promoting new, man-centered ideas for success in farming and fertility, as well as child sacrifice (known as abortion in this period), serving the matters of man that do not mention the true and living God. Wicked, "respected", and persuasive natures in individuals given in to those strongholds, personalities, and influence claiming they serve God but are partakers in sin and like it that way. Such as fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. A weak spirit in the person that is not aligned with God and his laws.

The Bible says that Solomon allowed and promoted the worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Molech, and other pagan gods.

Through Solomon we find that wisdom alone is not sufficient; we must also have a heart of obedience. As believers we should realize that we’re also susceptible to this type of influence and deception.

Isaiah 42:18-20 KJV

Straight forward disobedience

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rosietrace · 2 years

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Davidson Novellion

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“Oh?... You underestimate me?.. Well, now I'm obligated to prove you wrong with a single swing of a blade.”

— Davidson Novellion

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General Information

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Full Name — Davidson Mordred Novellion

↳ Davidson; A name of Hebrew origin, meaning ‘Son of David’.

↳ Mordred; A name taken from the Welsh form ‘Medraut’, and possibly the Latin form ‘Moderatus’, meaning ‘controlled, moderated’. In Arthurian legend, Mordred was the illegitimate son (and in certain versions, nephew) of King Arthur.

↳ Novellion; Taken from the word ‘Novel’, with additional letters.

Japanese ver. — デビッドソンモードレッドノベリオン

Romaji ver. — Debiddoson Mōdoreddo Noberion

Twisted from: The Black Knight

❐ — Arthurian Legend

V/A(日本語): Yūichi Nakamura(中村悠一)

↳ Voices Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen

V/A(英語/EN): Josey Montana McCoy

↳ Voices Kaeya Alberich from Genshin Impact

Age: 19

Birthday: October 19th

Horoscope: Scorpio ♏

Species: Human

Height: 187 cm

Hair color: Ink Black

Eye color: Amber (+ Black scleras when UM is activated)

Gender/Pronouns: Male, He/They

Sexuality: Bisexual, Demisexual

Dominant hand: Left

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Extra Information

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Homeland: The Blackheart Empire

↳ Formerly known as the ‘Lucretian’ Empire

『 Family:

Mordred Lucretius — Father

Antoinette Winchester Lucretius — Mother

Lancelot Winchester Novellion — Younger Brother

Roya Callistis — Cousin 』

Dormitory: TBA

School Year: 3rd Year

Class: 3-A(seat no. 1)

Club: Fencing Club

Best class(es): Fencing, physical education, debate

Worst class(es): Prophecy, ancient curses

Like(s): Himself /j, teasing his brother, dressing up, swordsmanship, sparring, horseback riding/archery, equestrianism in general, makeup, ducks, walks in the garden with his mother, fairytales his Mother used to tell him at night

Dislike(s): His father… Sort of, handling political affairs, being petty, talking shit about Roya /j /j, the idea of abandonment, lack of acknowledgment for his accomplishments, playing second fiddle, Roya Callistis, his brother getting hurt, being called a horse girl /j

Hobbies: Swordsmanship, horseback riding, horseback archery, hand-to-hand combat, unnecessarily complex debate, upside-down chess, blindfolded grenade launching, doing his makeup, feeding ducks

Talent(s): Sweet talk, swordsmanship, sparring, horseback archery, political debate/negotiation, general persuasion, getting what he wants ~~that counts right /j~~

Flaw(s): Prideful, two-faced, manipulative, apathetic towards those he doesn't care about, selfish, vindictive, competitive

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Personality

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Honestly, Prince Davis is quite charismatic, no? Ladies, gentlemen, those from lands far and wide would give anything just to grovel at his feet!

So kind, so hospitable, so…. Competitive, yet compassionate.

Why, some might even say the Prince is just damn near perfect!...

….. That's what they all say, unfortunately. Davis is frighteningly good at keeping up an act for long periods of time. Those with a keener eye know to steer clear of him; most of the time, at least.

His mask feels too real. Putting on a compassionate, hospitable, yet prideful face for the sake of the glory it brings him in return.

Out of all those three traits, Davis is mostly prideful. His pride — in most cases — goes before all else. And he isn't afraid to use some…. Underhanded, yet manipulative, tactics to satisfy it.

Don't expect him to genuinely care about you. If you aren't Lance, or someone he's close to in general, don't expect genuine kindness off of him. At most, you'll get hit with a blank expression.

Never get on his bad side. Davis knows what he wants, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. By getting on his bad side, the only thing he wants out of you is begging for mercy.

Davis' pride knows no bounds. He will do anything, anything, to get what he wants.

Desperate as he may come off, at the very least — the man knows what he wants.

And he's good at getting what he wants.

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Unique Magic: Mordred (モードレッド)

♔ Allows user to summon a shadow-like clone of themselves. Said clone wears a full suit of armor, obscuring their physical features.

As for the user themselves, they develop black scleras, as well as their hands having the effect of looking like they were consumed by shadow itself.

By summoning the clone, many of the user's physical stats will rapidly increase. Such as:

♔ Physical strength

♔ Physical speed

♔ Advanced hearing/sight

♔ Faster reaction time/reflexes

The clone can only stay depending on the amount of energy used by the user. In a situation in which their energy has dissipated completely (especially if they push themselves to their limit), the user will collapse and be temporarily paralyzed.

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Thoughts on them

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“He's a perplexing subject of conversation. Prince Davis is a prideful individual, frankly, I find nothing wrong with that. I just find it inconvenient and…. Unsatisfactory.”

— Victoria Shard, Davidson's ‘rival’

“It's hard to understand my brother, honestly. I'm supposed to say he's wonderful, and he is…. When he wants to be.”

— Lancelot Novellion, Davidson's younger brother

“I admire my cousin, his accomplishments certainly are…. Something. I don't understand that look in his eyes when he looks at me, though. Do you happen to know anything about it?”

— Roya Callistis, Davidson's cousin

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Additional Trivia

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✑ Main Theme: Judas by Lady Gaga

✑ Backstory: 『 The Weight of the Sky 』

✑ OC Playlist: TBA

༝ㅤ･ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ♔

♔ Davis hates losing. He just hates it. The only time he tolerates it is during the Swordsman Solstice, and that's only because he knows Victoria's ambition knows no bounds.

♔ Victoria's one of the few people Davis genuinely respects. Like him, her pride — her ambition — knows no bounds. Nothing can stop the two of them when it comes to satisfying what must be satisfied. And in that sense, they find mutual respect in each other because of that.

♔ Every year, in every Swordsman Solstice, Davis has always played second fiddle to Victoria. As much as he wishes to respect her by honoring the win…. His pride can't handle being a runner-up.

♔ Don't try asking him why he seemingly dislikes Roya. He's not going to elaborate, whatsoever. The same applies to Lance if you ever go to him for answers.

♔ Roya is painfully oblivious to Davis' genuine disdain for him, to the point it's almost painful because of how glaringly obvious it can be 😭

♔ Davis' hobbies are…. Unconventionally entertaining. At least to him. He usually plays the games he plays by himself since no one — not even Lance — wants to play with him.

♔ Davis is the reason behind the numerous scars Lance acquired during his childhood. More specifically, the ones on his face.

♔ Is a horse girl, and named his horse ‘Spirit’ /j /j

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#davidson novellion • #『 davis ⚔️ 』

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#twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #twst rsa #rsa oc #rsa ocs #royal sword academy oc #royal sword academy #davidson novellion #『 davis ⚔️ 』

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power-rings · 10 months

Text

Light Consorting with Shadows

Chapter 4: Ambush (edited version)

Author’s note: I dug through my stories on my blog, went through my drafts and decided to touch up Chapter 4. I am planning on working on chapter 5 hopefully tonight!

*I don’t claim Aurora as my own, she rightfully belongs to @e-vay !

It was a long travel to a neighboring kingdom Murasia, and after they made their way through the forest, that was worth at least two days of trekking through, then they would need to travel by boat for until they arrived on the island where the older kingdom stood strong. For years, they had yearned to become allies, and finally sign a peace treaty; that Sonic didn’t feel the need to sign because a piece of paper did not mean a thing to him. It was the actions and the fellow king’s character that mattered to him, more.

He did not travel alone. His wife came along, and with much persuasion from his daughter she tagged along with her parents – he didn’t want to bring up the fact that this dude was interested in marrying his son off to Aurora.

In the wagon, being pulled by a pair of horses Aurora was currently resting on some silk sheets, surrounded by supplies in the wagon. She the puffy clouds pass over her head, and occasionally feeling the breeze tickling her face slightly soothed her. Oh, and the fact that she was no longer restricted in Camelot. She felt free... and perhaps forgetting her role as a princess altogether, if only for a short time. Sure there were knights surrounding her and her family to secure their safety, which she merely ignored many hours ago. Lancelot might’ve been great company too if he was actually being sociable. That wasn’t the case today, the dark hedgehog was far too focused on getting to their destination instead of making small talk with the princess. It surprised her how disappointed she felt because of how distant he was being. However, this feeling was quickly ignored when she realized how she was being quite selfish simply because the knight was on duty.

There was so much she wanted to do after they reached the village. Explore, interact with the villagers, try various foods the merchants may sell there, and even if it was a fleeting thought... perhaps sneak out of the glimpse of her royal bodyguards’ view to explore outside of the village walls. There were lots of sights she desired to see. But, she had to remind herself this wasn’t a vacation of any sort.

Aurora was soon startled awake when the wagon hit a pothole, and then suddenly coming to a complete stop. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that she stars were shining brightly. She was quite shocked on how long she had been asleep. She overheard her parents talking about setting camp here, and taking a break before continuing onward. Hopping out of the wagon, Aurora gave a stretch and a yawn before meeting up with her parents. Behind her, the horses kicked at the ground, neighed and shook their heads in response a knight approached the two horses to offer them some fresh water and food, and then guided them away from the path, leaving the wagon abandoned on the side of the road. The horses ate some more grass, and some apples provided by their caretakers. Once they decided where to setup camp, which was between several trees - only a faint shine from the moon peeked through providing them some light. Aurora caught a sight of Lancelot leaning against one tree, just observing his surrounding for any sight of danger. Her attention went back to her parents who was laying out their bedding for the night, a goodnight kiss was exchanged between them, and as she wiggled underneath her blanket she heard her father whisper to her “Goodnight, Tiny.”

Whenever Aurora tried to fall asleep again she was quickly disturbed by the sound of creatures that were more lively during the nighttime. Owls, coyote’s yelping and even wolves howling, and her father’s snoring was the most disturbing of them all. With a sigh, Aurora left her bed. As she came near the tree Lancelot had been standing before she leaned against it to support her.

Snap! Came the sound of a twig, followed by the sound of footsteps. Starling her, Aurora quickly peeked over to the left of her to notice Lancelot was approaching her. All she could see through the darkness was his crimson eyes, and the moon shining off his armor. “Princess?” He cleared his throat to make a correction to his response, “Aurora. What are you doing awake?”

“Not tired.” She answered with a shrug, “I slept the whole way here.” Lancelot nodded in understanding, and came closer to stand in front of her. Aurora gave him a challenging look, “don’t even think about it. This is my tree.”

“Oh? I don’t see your name on it.” He knew she was only teasing, so he played along. Why not? It was gonna be a long night, he might as well make it a little interesting!

Aurora frowned at him, and then glanced around to look at the ground to search for a good stick to write her name on the tree. With her hand resting on the trunk, she inched a little further away from the tree to reach down and grab the stick. She turned, her back facing Lancelot now as she carved her name into the trunk of the tree. “There! Happy now?” She heard Lancelot stifle a soft laugh, and he shook his head, taking a step closer to take the stick she carved her name with.

“Hey! Don’t carve in my- What are you carving, anyway?” Lancelot gestured for her to wait, and she stood next to him, struggling to see what he was carving into the tree. As she waited, Aurora tapped her foot impatiently until Lancelot moved aside.

“Fixed it.”

She gave him a suspicious look before checking to see what he carved into the tree. It read: “Lancelot was here first”. She turned around to face him again, “how old are you? Five?”

“Tch. Says the one who started this fight over a tree.”

“....Hmph! I bet you can’t climb it!” A wide grin spread across her face.

Lancelot glanced up to the nearest branch - which would be a huge challenge for either of them no matter how skilled they were in climbing. “Actually, I don’t think-” Before Lancelot could argue back, Aurora was already attempting to climb it. She struggled to even reach the nearest branch, she dug her nails into the bark to and pushed herself up only to lose her footing on the side of the tree when getting a tad closer to the branch. As she fell, it was all a blur until she felt two strong arms around her before hitting the ground. They looked at each other, in silence.

“Don’t you dare say it.” Aurora gave a nervous laugh, and walked away from the knight.

“Say what?”

“I told you so.”

Lancelot looked away, but that smirk didn’t go unnoticed by Aurora whatsoever. “... I was actually gonna say you lost your own bet.”

The following day, they were heading in the direction of the deep forest that stretched for miles and miles. There was no other route to take unless they preferred to take a boat across the borderline. It was a risky journey ahead, for the forest packed lots of traps and horrific legends that left man and women shaking. Theories of ghosts haunting were spread across the land, which lead them to believe that is why many who traveled here never returned. Instead of hesitation among the group, however. Sonic led them onward displaying no sign of fear whatsoever. This was typical of the hedgehog and everyone simply went along, trusting their leader’s intuition instead of dwelling on childish fairy tales.

For a couple hours they continued onward without stopping for a break, until the horses needed to be tended to and the canteens that had been provided for the whole group was refilled with fresh water that they gathered from a nearby stream. Some of the knights removed their helmets and poured some water on their heads to cool them off while others gathered some snacks, and found themselves a comfortable seat on the damp grass. With the soothing breeze, and their quiet surroundings it was a struggle for many to not dose off right that second. Once the horses’ restored their energy again, they kicked at the ground, and tugged at the restraints as if they were ready to take on without the group. Sonic was the first to stand up and encourage the others to get back on their feet again. They were wasting precious daylight! Every knight returned in their designated position among the group like before, but not without giving a sigh of complaint for having such a short break, yet they respected the king’s wishes and made themselves ready for the rest of the journey for the day.

Following alongside her parents, Aurora caught a glimpse of Lancelot in the corner of her eye. He was gripping his hilt of his sword awfully tight. Taking a few steps away from her parents, she quietly approached the knight and elbowed him gently. Who in turn, quickly glanced in her direction. “You’re not nervous about those ghosts, are you?”

“I have a feeling ghosts will be the least of our worries, princess.” Her eyebrows arched slightly when Lancelot was being so vague.

“That’s awfully vague... what are you nervous about then?”

It surprised him somewhat that she picked up on his body language so quickly in the first place. Yet at the same time... after being in her company more often, she could’ve caught on to many of his quirks and habits in that period of time. Is it really that obvious? No matter, Lancelot was standing his ground by completely ignoring the following question and focused on their surroundings instead. Why should he worry her with his suspicion?

~~~

“Aurora?” That voice sounded all too familiar, and only few that she was close to called her by her name. Gradually that voice encouraged her to fight the pain. The princess’s eyes begun to open, blinking up at the handsome knight hovering above her. Everything was hazy. Squinting, and slowly lifting her head. “Don’t move.” The knight’s voice was soft, but stern. With a groan, she obeyed and rested her head. What in the world happened? Why did her head hurt so bad? She was bearing tons of questions that she was fearing to discover the answers to.

She rested her eyes momentarily, until she was disturbed with that throbbing pain on the back of her head, and the terrible ringing in her ears. The princess took notice that Lancelot was no longer beside her. Here in a tent, all alone. Her body ached when she moved any. Something awful had taken place, that was for sure. She called out, her voice straining. Then, she heard footsteps and a shadow came closer to her tent. Peeking in, it was the unmasked knight – Lancelot. When he discovered she was awake, he entered the tent, crouching down to her level. She raised a brow, taking in his appearance. He had a cut along his eye, and jawline. Aurora opened her mouth to speak, only to find a canteen of water presented before her. She desperately desired for some water, and so she gladly took his offer without another word.

The refreshing sips of water seemed to help gain her voice back, “w-what happened?” She watched the flame flicker in the lantern, that seemed to grow duller and duller.

It was that dreaded question Lancelot wasn’t prepared for. He felt like a failure to the royal family. However, he couldn’t hide it for too long. She would be able to figure it out soon enough. Without looking at her, the knight sighed. “We were ambushed, the other night.” Well, that clarified why Lancelot was injured. He must’ve fought hard.

Aurora lifted her gaze to watch the knight’s face, watching for a change in his expression. “Is everyone okay…?” Hell, she was surprised her parents wasn’t freaking out about her being knocked out. Other than that, she heard no commotion outside. No stirring of feet, hooves beating against the ground, just the eerie stillness of the forest.

“There was a huge number of attackers, Aurora. Some of us made it through okay, while…” The solemn tone suggested that something tragic had happened, that she was unaware of.

She swallowed thickly, and her chest tightened. “Mom and dad?” Immediately, she noticed Lancelot clenching up his fist.

“They were taken.” Their eyes met, and Aurora could’ve sworn she saw sorrow in his eyes. It was a rare sight. Of course, it made sense though. Lancelot cared a lot about her and her parents, and the very kingdom itself.

More questions filled the princess’ head. Who took her parents away, and why? “W-we have to find them!” She exclaimed with determination, although, her voice cracking with emotion did not help her sound so strong. Fighting through the pain, she slowly stood to her feet, albeit very wobbly as she did so. Lancelot was on his feet in a heartbeat, and quickly steadied her before she fell. Don’t need her bumping her head again, he thought.

“Aurora, we have to plan this out. But, first… you need medical attention. You bumped your head- “

She jerked away from him, only to stumble and almost fell out of the tent in a very unfashionable way. “N-No! They may hurt them… or w-worse!” And then, there came the tears.

The knight’s hands rested on her shoulders, and turned her around to face him. “Aurora, I will do anything in my power to get them back to safety. But, we must look at this in a realistic way.” He paused, once Aurora finally met his gaze again; shimmering with fresh tears. “I would like to remind you that your father probably has this situation well under control… in his own way. “Aurora gave a nod. She felt dizzy now. Both from the head injury and the stress of the news she just received.

~~~

It was a bit of a risk as they took the boat to the nearby island, that was home to the Murasian’s civilization. It did not look like much from afar, but this very kingdom use to dominate most of the world until the former king had been brutally murdered. His great grandson took over, bringing peace for years to come. During King Alastair’s reign, the civilization was known for their advancement in technology, and many desired trade with them. Camelot’s civilization was the only outsider that the Murasian’s accepted as their allies, and would trade with them in the future.

They were indeed expecting the royal family to set foot on their territory, but would they be friendly when they discover that the king and queen were not with them? It would defiantly look sketchy. Lancelot took Aurora’s hand, and helped her along the shore. Not far from the shoreline, there were stone steps up ahead. Lancelot stood there, surveying the walls that protected the kingdom; feeling weary of archers that may be standing on top.

“Let me go first.” Aurora offered, stepping ahead of him. His eyes grew wide, slightly startled by such a bold move.

“No.” He grabbed her by the wrist gently, “you’re not leaving my side.”

“I can protect myself.” She stubbornly remarked, “what if they recognize-“The sound of a loud horn hurt their ears. Lancelot saw a figure on top of the towers, and he pushed himself onto Aurora, her back against the stone wall. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be hushed by the knight. She glared at him with piercing emerald eyes.

It wasn’t until they heard something from behind them. It sounded like voices, and then from the corner of Lancelot’s eye he noticed a with two passengers paddling to the shore. He cursed under his breath as begun to pick up the containers being carried on the boat, and stepped off the boat, now walking closer to the steps. One of the men noticed the two immediately. His eyes darkened, and he dropped his things. He pulled out a dagger. “State the meaning of your presence. Now.”

Lancelot gave Aurora some room, now standing in front of her. For once, the knight did not pull out his sword. He wanted to make this as peaceful as possible. Aurora needed medical help, and they needed assistance in finding the king and queen. Calmly, he stood his ground as another native came forward – who left his belongings next to the other container. “I am Sir Lancelot of Camelot. We came for your assistance.” The two Murasians looked at each other, and slowly lowered the dagger held in tightly in their grasps.

“Camelot, you say? The King Alastair was supposed to meet with King Sonic. If you say you’re with King Sonic, dare I say. Where is he now?” The taller and muscular individual stared the two down, harshly.

“That’s why we came. My majesty and his queen was kidnapped the other night.” Their eyes grew wide, but they were still skeptical of the whole situation. The older and smaller Murasian took a step forward, “and who are you, miss?” He pointed with his dagger in the direction of Aurora.

“I am Sonic’s daughter, Princess Aurora.” It rolled off her tongue, after saying that same phrase for many years.

“Well, well. The king would be happy to see you, M’lady.” He coughed, “despite the circumstances. My apologizes. We shall take you to him, then. Perhaps he’ll even assist in your search.” Grabbing their belongings, the natives led the pair up the stairs to be welcomed to an almost ancient appearance, with a touch of modern buildings spotted here and there. Walking further down the pathway, they did not meet very many of Murasians out and about, and if they did there were some odd glances sent their way. The guards at the gate, which blocked the entrance to the castle stood upright and looked at the fellow citizens, which now Lancelot and Aurora soon learned were the ones who conducted trade with other civilizations. The youngest of the two, spoke to the guards in a hushed voice. He glanced at Aurora, gave a nod and stepped aside to open the gate. Inside the palace, they admired their surroundings. It was nice here, but it definitely wasn’t like home. Ironic how Aurora had wanted to get outside of the walls of Camelot, however, due to the situation at hand, she desperately just wanted to be back home instead... safe with her parents.

“What’s this all about?” That deep voice sounded from the walls of the palace. Immediately, the traders fell to their knees. Lancelot and Aurora did not follow along, which earned a disapproval scowl from the king. “No kneeling before my presence?” Alastair scoffed, he stepped forward. Lancelot stared him straight in the eye unmoved by his cold stare.

“You are not my king, therefore I refuse to kneel.” Such a bold move that would have cost the lives of many that spoke to him in a manner just like this.

“Is that so? Then who is your king?”

“King Sonic.” Alastair was taken aback. “That doesn’t make sense. If he’s not bold enough to face me, then we can’t settle the deal.”

“No, sir. Sonic and his queen Amy was taken while we were camping.” Everything was becoming clearer now, and Alastair’s gaze seemed to soften ever so slightly. The Princess was introduced soon after, and then Lancelot mentioned seeking medical attention for her. It wasn’t long before one of the servants came back with the middle-aged physician who took Aurora away to be examined. The rest of the evening, the knight, the king of Murasia and his son Baron talked about finding the royal couple of Camelot. They concluded that there wasn’t much that could be done, especially without any clues of who these attackers were and where they even came from. However, Alastair was willing to assist with his strongest soldiers alongside to fight whatever forces that may intervene in the couple’s safety. “Now, I want you to realize that I suspect something in return for my assistance when they are found..” He retorted, his gaze once more cold, but the knight wasn’t fazed, and stood stiff under his gaze, they quietly settled on an agreement, the King dismissed Lancelot while Alastair found his men dressed in heavy armor to discuss the plan.

~~~

Lancelot took a quick bath, and made his way down the hallway. They were in a building connected to the palace where the physician was nearby. The other rooms sometimes housed patients with severe illnesses, but now there were only a few rooms that were currently being used. The room at the end of the corridor had been where Aurora was staying the night. The knight lightly knocked on the door, before being greeted with a soft “come in” from the princess.

“Hey.”

Aurora perked up when noticing it wasn’t her doctor, but instead it was a familiar face who wasn’t asking her a thousand questions that concerned her wellbeing. She smiled faintly. “Hi.”

Lancelot looked around the room, kind of awkward. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Nope.” She seemed a bit more upbeat now that she had something to take for the pain, and a warm place to rest. She invited him to join her at the end of the bed.

“I miss being at home…” After longest span of silence between the two Aurora spoke up again. If she hadn’t, Lancelot would have been asleep by now.

Lancelot mumbled something under his breath, and rubbed at his eyes. “I can understand why.”

“Don’t you miss being at home?”

He wasn’t sure if he was making the right connections to her question. Lancelot looked at her, his brow raised slightly. Was she implying Camelot, or his home before he entered knighthood? He did not know. It was possible she was asking about his past; since there were still a lot he hadn’t told her. “…I do.”

Aurora gave a yawn, and stretched out those stiff muscles. “It all feels like a dream, you know.” If that was so, it would be great time to wake up by now!

“It’ll be over, soon. Until then, you need your rest.” The dark knight stood to his feet, and was about to walk away until he felt her hand grasp a hold of his own. He gave it a light squeeze.

“Please… don’t leave.”

Heat rushed to his cheeks. Sharing a bed with her? She can’t be serious! Sonic would have his head! “No we shouldn’t- “

“Okay, first of all. You have a dirty mind. Secondly,” she raised her voice slightly, showing she was frustrated that the knight jumped to conclusions. “we don’t have to share the bed. You can take that ugly couch.” Aurora grinned, pointing towards the furniture.

Boy, did he feel stupid. “I knew that.” He frowned. Refusing to look her way until his cheeks weren’t red as a tomato. He walked away, kicked off his boots, and took off his gloves before settling down.

“Goodnight my fair knight.” She stifled a laugh, before rolling over on her side.

“Goodnight, m’lady.”

“Goodnight, Lancey.”

“Stop that.”

Another giggle from the other side of the room, “wait! I’ve got one more I promise.” The knight gave a sigh, but waited. It was like being in the same room as her father. They were certainly two peas in a pod.

“Goodnight my- uh.” Aurora gave an awkward laugh, “I lost it.”

“I’ve noticed.” Through the darkness, Lancelot grinned wider. “Now, get some sleep Rory.” In response, Aurora snorted at his remark, when she closed her eyes slumber quickly took over her.

#lancelotxaurora #light consorting with shadows chapter 4 #sorry about the spacing between paragraphs tumblr is being a turd

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