#like when will she just admit that she only hates Hunter for being white and nothing else

[flower-boi16]

Lily and Mikila saying that Hunter is bad for being an "overdone trope" is so weird to me because like. Aren't ALL character archetypes over done??? In fact, this same logic can be applied to other characters within the show itself. Luz Noceda is an overdone trope; she's the bubbly "quirky" female protagonist who is also very kind and empathetic.

Her character archetype is actually more over done than Hunter's when you really think about it, especially in terms of Disney protagonists in the 2010s and early 2020s. Amity Blight is also an overdone trope; a bully character who goes through a redemption arc and becomes one of the main characters. Also has abusive parents as a way to explain their behavior and earn them sympathy from the audience. Amity's archetype, like Luz's, is arguably more overdone than Hunter's in a lot of media even outside of Disney.

Of course, this isn't exactly a bad thing; tropes are tools after all, and you can make generic ideas work with the right execution. Luz and Amity execute their respective archetypes well due to them having real depth and development over the course of the show, and, guess what? Hunter also executes his archetype pretty well too.

Story tropes are not inherently good or bad, they exist in every story and can be used effectively to create a compelling narrative, so docking points from a character for being a "over done trope" feels like a very bad faith critique, since, again, this same logic can be applied to other characters within the show.

Lily's only problem is that Hunter is an archetype she doesn't like and therefore her critique is heavily biased.

....Also he's an "angsty white boy" and Luz and Amity aren't. Sorry, I almost forgot.

[keepingeahalive]

Why Rapple Wouldn’t Work as a Couple

First off, let’s get this out of the way: Raven and Apple are not related. Well…more like distantly related, but to the point where any relation is almost nil. Raven is not destined to marry Apple’s father because Apple’s dad and Raven’s dad (The Good King) are two separate characters. Raven is only destined to be jealous of Apple and poison her. That is all.

Okay, on with the real debate.

I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this, but I can't see Apple and Raven as a couple. While both of their arcs were about coming to accept each other, they weren't equal in their relationship. Raven made it clear to Apple many times that she felt disrespected, and Apple ignored that and pushed her own agenda on her. It may have come from a place of caring, but Apple didn't get Raven at all. I can see them working through their issues down the line, but their love story (if you can call it that) is better as platonic.

Bulldozing and Passive Aggression

From the first episode, we can see that Apple immediately took control for both of them. She went behind Raven's back to room with her and decorated Raven's side of the room without her permission, all because Raven is an important part of "her" story.

Not their story. "Her" story.

Her friendship with Raven in the first three chapters was surface-level at best. She assumes what Raven wants instead of actually getting to know her, like when she decides to take "Home Evil-nomics" to get back at Raven for taking Princessology. But Raven's favorite class isn't Home Evil-nomics. It's Muse-ic.

We can see Raven trying to be patient with Apple because Raven is a good person. She doesn't want a repeat of what happened between Snow White and the Evil Queen. In fact, we see her other friends hide their concerns from Apple because they don't want to upset her.

When Ashlynn finally comes out about her relationship with Hunter, she's immediately met with Apple's dismay. Apple tells her several times that she's making the wrong decision, and it gets to Ashlynn so much that she chooses her friendship with Apple over her relationship with Hunter because she doesn't want everyone to be upset. Although Ashlynn decides to do what makes her happy, Apple still tells her outright that she's making the wrong choice.

Briar starts to feel the weight of her destiny sink in and, instead of being met with compassion and understanding, Apple tells Briar "we all have our part to play." While Briar rightfully calls her out for how privileged she is, it takes her three chapters and two more specials to admit to Apple that she was too scared to tell anyone that she didn't want to follow her destiny.

They both go behind Raven's back to poison a birthday cake she made for Apple just so she would stop crying about it.

Apple is the next Queen of Ever After, and she wants to take an active role in serving her people. But she thinks she knows what's best for everyone. If they don't do what she says, then there's something wrong and she has to fix them. Everyone enabled this behavior, except for Raven. This domination is what causes her and Raven's tension at the start of the series.

2. Apple's Fears

Apple is a selfish character. But that selfishness is born of fear.

She believes going against her destiny means dying and being forgotten.

I believe she does care about her friends, in the same vein a God-fearing church-goer cares about the people in her community. She believes there is only one true way of staying safe: following your destiny. If you don't, something bad happens. And she has to remind you of that. She thinks she's helping people when she's really being insensitive and condescending. And this comes down the hardest on Raven.

Raven is the equivalent of someone who's become disillusioned with their faith. She's unhappy with the system she's been put in and she wants something better. That doesn't mean she's not afraid of what might happen if she does. She's terrified she might doom everyone at first. But taking a risk on Legacy Day and showing everyone they can live without following a predetermined path made her and others more hopeful that they could live better lives.

But Apple can't be convinced with one act of rebellion. She doubles down on her beliefs and blames Raven for ruining her Happily Ever After. She's so afraid of her future being uncertain that she would rather follow a status quo where someone she claims to care for is locked away for the rest of her life. You could argue that she doesn't understand that's what would happen, but she never bothered to understand Raven's perspective. Raven takes Apple's perspective in Thronecoming and considers the consequences of her actions. Raven cares about her friends too, so much that she's willing to put her happiness aside to keep them safe. Apple never once did that for her, or for any of her other friends.

This stems from Apple being promised the best destiny out of anyone. She'd go on to live a very prestigious life as Queen. But she's too naive to realize what that would mean for everyone else: Raven would be locked up for the rest of her life, Ashlynn would die to continue her legacy, and Briar would marry some random dude several decades younger than her and never see Apple or anyone she knew ever again. I understand that no one wants to lose the stability they've had their entire life. But she doesn't seem to understand how good she has it.

3. Apple and Raven's Growth

Way Too Wonderland and Dragon Games gave us a lot in terms of character development. Apple and Raven have gotten to know each other better at this point. Even though they have their differences, they do care about each other.

Say what you will about Way Too Wonderland, but I do believe Apple has come to know Raven and is genuinely shocked and heartbroken when Raven finally signed the Storybook of Legends. She's come to care about who Raven really is, she knows Raven would never want to hurt anyone, and she realizes that destinies can be dangerous. I understand her main reasoning was that anyone could easily take someone else's destiny if they had the chance. But seeing what signing the book did to Raven frightened her. Destroying the book with Raven cemented a level of trust and understanding that Raven was longing for.

Which is what makes Dragon Games so heartbreaking.

Apple is a privileged little princess who was promised the best destiny one could expect. I don't think anyone would be all that happy about letting that go. It goes back to what she fears the most. She doesn't know what to do without her destiny. And with her mother only feeding into these insecurities, it allows Apple's doubts to resurface and for someone to take advantage of that.

Apple could have prevented releasing the Evil Queen. But she was too deep in her own cowardice to think clearly. Desperation will make people do anything, especially if promised a happy ending for you and everyone you love (maybe subconsciously hoping Raven would be her True Love). That doesn't excuse her freeing a war criminal who happens to be her best friend's estranged mother, thereby breaking her trust all over again. Raven had just started seeing Apple as someone she could depend on. That's gone now, and Raven had a right to be angry with Apple's selfishness and cowardice.

"But Apple realized her mistake and Raven forgave her in the end!" That's true, but that doesn't mean things are okay between them. Apple is still Raven's friend, and it's in Raven's character to forgive her. But I don't see her forgetting this experience any time soon. That trust would have to be built up all over again and, if you ask me, this ruled out any chance of them getting together romantically. I think Raven would need some time away from Apple to figure things out. Apple could use that time to figure herself out too, especially after figuring out it was Darling who woke her.

If that trust was able to be built back up again, hopefully they would have grown as people and learned to be better friends. But you can't expect this level of trust to be regained for a partnership.

4. A One-Sided Romance

If Rapple were to be anything romantic, it would only come from Apple.

Apple was always obsessed with Raven. I do believe she wanted Raven to fulfill their destinies so they would both be safe, but was too selfish to consider how that would look from Raven's end. She never showed any interest in Daring and, while she enjoyed the admiration she got from other boys, never expressed interest in anyone else.

Except Raven.

So, yes. I do believe Apple was in love with Raven. But I can't see Raven returning those feelings. Apple always disregarded what she wanted, ignored her when she argued against her destiny, and continually tried to turn Raven into something she wasn't. Even after her much-needed character development in Way to Wonderland and Dragon Games, these two still don't have a good foundation of trust between them. If we had gotten more of the show, we might have seen some healing. And, in my opinion, that would include Apple learning to let go of Raven and focusing on her own growth as a person.

And maybe someone else...

In all seriousness, Apple and Raven have a complicated relationship that I don't see working romantically. I know they have the most development together, and it would be an interesting take on the enemies-to-lover trope. But with how often Apple betrayed Raven's trust and how grounded and self-aware Raven is, I can't see them getting together.

I can see Raven being Apple's first crush, but the closest these two can get is sisters.

Because, you know, Raven has a boyfriend. It's Dexter. Say what you want about him, but they have a healthier relationship than Raven and Apple could ever have, romantic or not.

[weeping-statue]

Ough I can’t wait for when you start Elden Ring it’s so good!

I was wondering if I could request some headcanons for Andrew Kreiss x Hunter reader that’s super friendly (kinda how Mike Hunter is canonically a friendly hunter) but they especially dote on Andrew and has a super soft spot for him?

Andrew is a little scared of Hunter in the beginning though because they look not very human? (They’re humanoid but they kinda have some animal like features like a long furry tail and animal ears + antler like horns (is it obvious that they’re slightly influenced by vicar Amelia? Sob))

Please and thank you! - 🔮

Also what Overwatch characters would you write for if it’s okay for me to ask?

I’m so sorry I got to this so late but here we are! I dunno if you saw but I did answer your question in this post! Also yesss the Bloodborne reference!! I love Amelia, I hated fighting her cause she was just too pretty!!! <3 Oh btw I just got Andrew’s train conductor skin which I have been trying to pull for, for like ages..

Also this is heavily influenced by Amelia because she’s just an icon

Andrew Kreiss with a friendly Hunter!Reader who just absolutely adores him!!

On one hand, he really enjoyed the attention

On the other, he really didn’t know what the fuck was going on

He saw you around the manor from time to time, but you looked human, at first..

With your pretty lace veils and white clothes that seemed to be adorned with matching accessories. He couldn’t really deny he’d been watching you with a description like that.

But when he finally got to be in a match with you he was terrified.

You were quite tall, and very wolfy-ish.

He’d thought you’d be out for blood but boy was he wrong.

Really wrong, when he saw all the other survivors dangling off of you.

Andrew wasn’t sure he could trust this. It all seemed far too nice. Especially with the way you waved him over, and seemed to show extra attention to him.

Brushing his hair out of the way with a claw and keeping him close with your tail. Or even giving him small kisses to the forehead that he refuses to admit are his favorites.

“Hey! Put me down!” Andrew yelled,

Fussing about being picked up by his teammate Kevin.

“Oh come on! Stop being a baby, their friendly this match and your the only one not having a fun time!” The cowboy retorts back, not listening to him.

Andrew stopped struggling in his arms, clearly given up and was taken to the others who were messing with the snow.

He was weary of you at first, you seemed nice, lovely too, but knowing his luck you’d probably just target him or find him disgusting. But that couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

You liked Andrew, he was sweet, and somewhat straight forward. He had purpose even if he didn’t know it.

You saw the cowboy make his return and waved them over with a smile. The mercenary peeked up from his position, being wrapped up in your tail for warmth before settling back down. Along with memory who had been building mini snowmen around you both.

“Guess who I found!” Kevin exclaimed, setting Andrew down in front of you.

Andrew hit the snowy ground with a thud, instinctively backing up into Kevin’s legs. Which made him panic a bit more.

In an attempt to soothe him, you reach a hand over to brush his hair back into place and gently graze his cheek with your knuckles. He turns his head away as you do this. Cracking an eye open to watch you, a blush spreading to his ears.

Heart pounding, and thoughts racing he didn’t even notice you drag him towards you and entrap him in your arms.

Kevin whistled before realizing his friend is finally ‘gettin some’ in his words. And bowed his hat in respect, moving to help memory with her snowmen.

Andrew’s daze seems to break when he you nuzzle into his head, puffs of warm air hitting him nicely.

“You’ve got to stop being so paranoid. I’ll mistake it is for you not liking me.” You mumble.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean too.. I just..” Andrew couldn’t finish, his words dying in his mouth. Thoughts all jumbled up and chaotic while he tries to focus on your warm touch. Self soothing in your arms.

When he was calm again, he hanged there limply, watching the serene winter wonderland in from of him. Content to an extent.

———————————————————————-

I watched Naruto while making this and it took me about two days to even make a dent.

It’s also really cold where I am and I think I’m turning into an ice cube😔

[bonecaffeine]

helloo! this for the touchstarved matchups,,,

I go by either sam or amber (have been called samba .), she her he him ... whatever works .. ROMANTIC PLEASE !! I love love

ok got my friend to describe me yay.. hair is dark brown, they said it a wolfcut its just layered and stuff. ends right above the shoulders and I have bangs,,, nose is like. mix between button nose n snub nose and I am white. french😢 5'3 (5'2 and a half but I needed the pity points)

okay iLOVE biology especially when it comes to like viruses and stuff I find that so interesting yes please. drawing, writing, baking (but I have been compared to kuras in that aspect), and occasionally insects and flowers have piqed my interest. I dunno I really like drawing and writing

for dislikes um.... math is my OPP and I hate like. unpredictability I prefer rules and stuff when I have to do something but i confess i do enjoy slacking.OK THANKS SO MUCH

Hii! Thank you so much for your request! You where first to submit one, so congratulations! I've also read through other request people have submitted and I've got to say I am very grateful!!

☆ Romantic matchup for @jellynui !!

☆ tw - none

...

Anyways, I decided to match you with Mhin!

Yours and Mhins differences balance you two out, whilst your mutual similiarities provide a deeper understanding of each other. As a result you two are not only good friends but amazing partners as well. Let me explain:

It's not a secret that Mhin hasn't had the easiest life. It's very obvious from their attitude and general distance they keep from people that they have seen a lot of things they wish they could unsee. But in the midst of the turbulence and the chaos they have to put with with on a daily basis, Mhin has you by their side. You are their peacemaker, someone who provides calmness in their otherwise disarrayed life. And Mhin is so, so thankful for that even if they don't express that often.

In return you get someone who'll always be there to protect you! If you struggle to stand up for yourself Mhin will do just that whether that be with a sharp tongue or a satisfying punch in the face. Mhin does not take any shits when it comes to you.

Mhin struggles with being vulnerable... like a lot. Yet I know you harbor enough patience for this person. Lay their head down on your chest or hold their face between your hands and you'll heal a part of Mhin that they thought would never heal. They like it when you "slack off" because Mhin craves some slowness in their life! And of course, during these moments Mhin can get a lot of attention from you, which is amazing, though they'll never admit that.

Mhin would love to hear you ramble about biology (or about anything, really) because they too are probably knowledgable in this subject since they know anatomy so well. Mhin will keep everything you say in mind and once they're out and about somewhere in nature they'll look at the flowers you talked to Mhin about and the flowers will remind them of you.

As for drawing and writing, Mhin will also try to support this aspect of your life the best way they can. Mhin finds it admirable that you create art and literature just from your hands alone. Reading your writings is like therapy to Mhin since they struggle a lot to express themselves verbally. They're quick to absorb how nicely you knit words into sentences and later Mhin finds themselves using the words you used in your creations in their own conversations with others.

For the baking part... well Mhin will try anything you make (as long as you didn't accidentally make poison) whether it's good or bad! Mhin is an honest personality though so you have to be prepared for that!

If that's what you'd want to do, I imagine you two going on a drawing date! Something like a picnic but you two get to draw. Since Mhin is a hunter I feel like they know where the most safest parts of Eridia are, and know exactly where to take you if you two need some peace and quiet.

Just like you, Mhin hates not sticking to rules and routine. While it may seem that Mhin has a rebellious nature at first, change makes Mhin anxious and frustrated. The freelancer is glad that you are the same and appreciates this trait of yours.

For my final point - and this may sound cheesy so bear with me. I like how different Mhins and yours hair colors are! White and brown go along so nicely, I feel like. It kinda reminds me of white flowers blooming on a tree, you know?

...

Alriiight, I hope you like it, Sam!! This was fun to write ngl^_^ let me know what you think, only if you want to of course.

[patchworkgargoyle]

🩸 A Steddie Big Bang Fic 🌙

Chapter 1

story by: @patchworkgargoyle || art to come by: @mcdadarts || playlist to come by: @steves-strapcollection Rating: E || Words: 3.9k || CW: graphic depictions of violence, blood drinking || Full tag list on ao3! || Posting: weekly Fic title from Wolf Like Me - TV On The Radio AAAAA HERE WE GO, FOLKS!! Chapters 1 & 2 are here!!

Steve could hear it already, the pop music blasting too loud to be healthy for anyone’s ears, let alone his and Robin’s. He let out a contained sigh.

“Yeah, yeah. C’mon, you grump, you know we should,” Robin said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Into the fray?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Jaw muscles clenching and relaxing, he rolled his eyes and said, “Fine.”

The Bimmer’s doors shut behind them with finality as they walked up the long driveway of Penny Brady’s house, a group of teens spilling out of the front door and laughing loud enough to make Steve wince. He felt a bit of petty jealousy that Robin could handle it all just fine, the overwhelmed senses. It had been a year since Billy’s attack and he still struggled to tune them out, so this was part of Robin and Dustin’s plan: exposure therapy. Sounded like a shit plan if you asked him, which, of course, they didn’t. Steve was sure it was only going to expose him to a migraine but they wouldn’t relent until he agreed to go to Penny’s Halloween party, so, here they were. At least Robin agreed Dustin couldn’t come. The little twerp would draw too much attention, his pen and notepad out and pestering Steve with questions all night.

Robin led the way into the house, not even pausing, forcing Steve to keep up for appearance’s sake. The music, the people, everything felt like a viscous wall of sound as soon as he passed the threshold, clinging to and muddling his hearing. His shoulders rose as if to block it out. A few people greeted him, only the familiarity of his own name cutting through, and all Steve could manage was a thin smile and a nod, following the bobbing, scraggly white wig Robin wore to complete her Doc Brown costume. Finally she stopped in the kitchen, the door closing behind them and blocking out only some of the racket. Some couples dispersed as they entered, but another group stuck around, chatting to themselves in a corner.

Robin bumped him with her elbow. “You look like you ate a whole lemon.”

“I’d rather do that than be here,” he complained quietly, reaching for a solo cup and grabbing a generous ladle-worth of the spiked punch. He probably would have smelled the vodka even before this, and Steve hoped the strong fumes would distract him from the music at least. When Robin wiggled a cup at him, he filled it for her too.

“It’s not gonna get better unless you get used to it, Steve,” she said, at the same volume, leaning into his space. 

“I know,” he grumbled. And he did. She’d gone through all of this already, years ago and way too young, and as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. She was his self-appointed Werewolf Mentor, as much as the title made him roll his eyes. At least he had someone to help him through all this werewolf shit.

Transforming into a wolf-human hybrid for the full moon as well as the day before and after, drastically intensified senses, heightened strength and speed even in human form, an increased diet of meat, and a seemingly endless well of energy; Steve had known all of this from a young age too, younger than Robin, even, but from a different perspective. Being born into one of the longest, most respected, and traditional hunter lineages, Steve Harrington had known all about werewolves and everything else that went bump in the night since he was old enough to read. His parents had trained him to hunt the supernatural, keeping it controlled and away from unknowing civilians. He was the heir to the Harrington line. And as of last year, he was also a werewolf.

It sorta put a kink in the whole hunter thing – though the heightened senses and strength did help – but while Robin taught him her werewolf ways he taught her how to avoid and fight hunters off, and went about hunts with a lot more compassion than he’d had before. Hunter code required them to only “exterminate” targets who were a danger, and Steve was already too soft-hearted by most hunters’ standards, so he stopped giving a fuck and did what he felt right instead. Steve put himself between the humans of Hawkins and its population of supernaturals, trying his best to keep a balance instead of burning and salting the earth.

Unlike the Carvers, whose son just barged into the kitchen. Jason plastered on an obviously fake smile as soon as he caught sight of Steve and Robin huddled together and Steve felt Robin stiffen beside him.

“Hey Harrington. Haven’t seen you around in a while,” Jason said, holding his hand out. Steve shook it once.

“Carver.”

“We were beginning to worry about you, if it weren’t for the stories I’ve heard around town I would’ve thought you’d skipped town.” Crossing his arms, Jason leaned on the counter closest to the door, effectively blocking their exit. Steve stifled an irritated huff. He didn’t miss this stupid posturing. The Carvers weren’t worried about him, he could guarantee that. It was more likely that they wanted the title of the only hunters in Hawkins, since Steve’s parents were gone on consultations all the time.

“Yeah, well, I’m still kicking,” Steve said with practised nonchalance.

“Good to hear!” Jason clapped Steve on the shoulder just this side of too hard, gave Robin an assessing look, and left the kitchen with a, “see you around.”

“‘See you around,’” Robin mocked, and Steve hummed, agreeing. “Was he always this much of a douche?”

“Oh yeah. A total kiss-ass too. Followed me around during hunter and basketball practice begging for attention.” Steve was glad that his fall from Hawkins High royalty had stopped Jason’s off-putting hero worship of him; he'd been tired of it since their parents forced them to socialise as kids.

Robin snorted. “That’s not surprising.”

They stood and drank their pungent drinks, trading gossip idly, until Robin asked, “Ready to brave the living room?”

Instead of answering, Steve downed the last of his punch, braced himself for the noise, and joined the party proper. Waiting in the kitchen while his senses adjusted had made a difference, he only felt like his head was being smashed by a rubber mallet instead of a sledgehammer, so he let Robin push him into the living room where most people mingled and danced.

“Alright. Tip one: distractions,” Robin whispered. “Focus on my voice, not anyone else’s, not the music.” She began to ramble, picking out costumes she recognized, or thought looked bad or lazy, occasionally picking out a girl she thought was cute for Steve to either agree or disagree, drawing him into telling embarrassing stories about the popular kids he used to hang around with. Listening to her voice was simple, easy, and before he realised it the noise faded a little more into the background.

When a guy walked by reeking of body spray Steve dug his nails into his palms to keep from recoiling, nose wrinkling, and he tried to swallow past the affront to his sinuses. Robin also winced. “Tip two: breathe through your mouth. Though I doubt that’ll help much against that.”

“Pretty sure I’d choke. That’s chemical warfare. One spray is enough, for christ’s sake,” he complained, giving the guy a nasty glare.

“We should tell him he’s violating the Geneva Convention.”

They watched from their patch of wall as he stepped up to a group of girls, trying to chat them up with a smarmy grin. When the girls each made similar queasy expressions and dispersed, Steve and Robin snickered a little meanly.

Crossing his arms with a smirk, Steve asked, “Anything else?”

Robin shrugged. “If all else fails, go outside or find a quiet room. Just don’t use it as an excuse to smoke or anything, I’ll know.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved an unconcerned hand at her and she glared harder. He held up three fingers and said, flatly, “Scout’s honour.”

“You weren’t a Boy Scout, you ass. Now, go, spread your wolfy wings and fly from the nest like a very strange bird.”

Confused by the bizarre analogy, he let Robin shoo him into the crowd so he could mingle. Mostly, he let people come to him; old classmates, customers, kids whose parents knew his own (exclusively outside of hunter circles), still drawn in by his old reputation. Penny herself came up to talk to Steve at one point, asking how he was and what he’d been up to. Like Robin instructed, he focused on her voice instead of everything else.

The attention was nice. His dry spell had lasted longer than he wanted to admit, and he’d given up trying to pick up customers at Family Video when he struck out every time. She was pretty, he thought, with long, straight dark hair and hazel eyes, wearing some kind of subtle vanilla perfume, and when Robin waggled her eyebrows at him across the room he brushed her off with a smile that was only a little bit smug. Leaning into her space a little, Steve could hear Penny’s heart rate pick up over the bright poppy music, saw the slight pink blush in her cheeks and let himself feel just a bit accomplished. He’s still got it, he thought. But then something crashed upstairs, and Penny had to race off with panicked apologies.

Damn. He stood in the room by himself for a moment and watched, hands in his pockets, until he caught Robin’s eye and jerked his head towards the back door. When she waved him off he waded through the thinning crowd and escaped into the much calmer backyard. Skunky smoke wafted through the air, but that was something Steve could handle. He dug out his secret stash of cigarettes and lit up as he leaned over the railing of the small deck, exhaling with a heavy sigh.

The small backyard was enclosed by the forest of thin trees that surrounded half of Hawkins. Most had lost their leaves by now, littering the ground instead, and the lawn was meticulously cleared of them. A shed sat closer to the house, and a small fire pit burned a few feet away, crackling and watched over by drunken teens.

By the shed, though, two figures caught Steve's eye. A girl with a high, bouncy, blonde ponytail and Carver's letterman – Chrissy Cunningham. He often wondered why such a sweet girl was with Jason, she was always friendly with the basketball team and managed Jason's mood swings with ease, not that she should've had to. But beside her, half hidden in shadow, stood her total opposite.

Eddie Munson flicked the ash from his joint and laughed at something Chrissy said while he leaned against the metal shed with her. The distant fire caught, just barely, on the shine of his dark eyes and the curls of his hair. Steve wondered how he wasn't cold. Chrissy clutched her jacket close while Eddie's leather jacket and denim vest fell open to the cold autumn air, revealing some tee for a band Steve didn't know. He hadn't seen Eddie around since midway through his own senior year, Eddie's second attempt. But he hadn't come back to school after winter break.

The rumour mill churned out every kind of story about it – that he'd dropped out or gotten sick, or he'd died, or he stole a car and ran to the coast (whichever one seemed more dramatic). Seeing him here at Penny's party was surprising, either way. Must be back to dealing.

Steve's gaze lingered. He looked pale, but… good, smiling fondly at Chrissy as she kept speaking, something about the newest cheerleader. He had a dimple in his left cheek when he grinned, just above some intense scarring on his jaw Steve didn’t remember from school, but there was something with his teeth– 

Eddie's eyes flicked up, and met Steve's instantly. Something swooped low in his gut, he couldn't name it but it made his heart kick up a couple beats faster. Adrenaline? No. All the warmth in Eddie's face faded as soon as he saw Steve staring, chased away by a hard, emotionless expression. Catching on quickly, Chrissy glanced back at Steve, then to Eddie again, leaning in to whisper. Eddie kept staring back at Steve, who couldn't look away. He felt pinned, his cigarette turning to ash, and Steve thought that maybe he shouldn't look away, like this was some kind of battle of wills. Robin would mock him for trying to be macho, but he couldn't help it. Didn't want to.

Maybe it had something to do with his heart beating faster, tricking his body into fight or flight, but Steve could feel his senses honing in on the pair. The music from the house was still too loud to hear what Chrissy was saying, but Steve could still smell something. Beyond the weed, fire, and cigarettes, the beer and sweat, cologne and perfume, there was a familiar warm, metallic tang. It was subtle, woven between and underneath the rest, and Steve had to resist sniffing at the air like a bloodhound to suss it out. Before he could place it, though, Chrissy took Eddie’s ringed hand and began to pull him away.

The muscles in Eddie's jaw jumped and his chest rose and fell with a slow, deliberate breath before, finally, he tore his magnetic gaze away and released Steve from whatever that was. Steve swallowed. He tracked Eddie and Chrissy while they walked to the side of the house. Chrissy cast one last look at Steve, giving him a small, hesitant smile before following Eddie's dark figure out of sight. Refusing to parse out whether he was disappointed or relieved, Steve stubbed out the cigarette butt and tossed it into the short bushes that bordered the deck with a quick mental apology to Penny’s parents.

That was… weird, right? He thought about what had happened, still hunched over the railing, absently digging his thumbnail into the wood grain. It was also a little strange to see Chrissy with Eddie, since he and Jason had been at each other's throats in school more often than not, and as far as Steve knew he and Chrissy were still an item. Sure looked it, since she wore his members only jacket.

Robin found him still standing there some time later, staring into the middle distance until she kicked his calf. “Ow, what the hell?” he said, glaring.

“That’s what you get for hiding out here.” She scowled. “Also you stink of smoke. I told you not to, I thought you’d quit anyway.”

“You know I didn’t.” He tried. It didn’t last, clearly.

“Yeah, well, I was waiting for you to admit that, you coward.”

Steve scoffed. “You can smell it, Rob. Figured that was enough to clue you in.”

“Still a coward,” she said loftily. “Anyway, I’m bored, drive me home.”

“Right away, your majesty.” Rolling his eyes and stifling a smile, Steve pushed off from the railing and followed Robin back through the house, only a little disappointed that he didn’t see Penny again before getting to the door. Steve did, however, fill Robin in on who he’d spotted in the backyard once they stepped outside.

“Oh wow, Jason must hate that friendship,” Robin said.

“Right?” he replied with some satisfaction, “I’m no fan of Munson’s but I’ll get behind anything that ticks Carver off.”

Robin looked thoughtful for a moment as they walked down the dark street. The Bimmer sat parked under a streetlight, burgundy paint faintly sparkling. Somehow, after all the hunts and mishaps Steve had taken her on, she was still pristine. Eventually, Robin said, “As long as he doesn’t get the shit kicked out of him, though.”

Steve shrugged at first, but an image of Eddie’s face covered in blood and bruises similar to the ones Jonathan and Billy had given him flashed through his mind’s eye and he winced internally. Yeah, he wouldn’t really wish that on someone who didn’t deserve it. “He’s survived this long, he’ll probably be fine,” he said instead.

“Maybe, but-” she cut herself off, head tilting towards the car. “Steve? You hear that?”

He did. A faint voice, crackling over the walkie Dustin gave him that he’d stuffed under the passenger seat. “Shit.” 

They jogged to the car, Steve fumbling with his keys and whipping the door open, diving for the walkie under the seat as he heard Dustin loudly announcing, “Code red! Steve, goddamnit, where are you!? Code red!”

“Dustin! What’s wrong?”

“Werewolf! In the woods! It’s dead, over!”

Steve met Robin’s shocked expression, her blue eyes wide with worry. “Where are you?”

“We’re behind Forest Hills. And you have to say over, Steve! Over!”

Groaning, Steve resisted the urge to smack his head against the car door. Instead, he reached over to unlock Robin’s door so she could get in. “Why the fuck are you in the woods at night, Dustin? Over.” He emphasised the last word with every bit of frustration he felt at the moment.

“Just. Get. Here. Over!”

“Fine! Jesus christ, over and out,” Steve snapped, slammed his door shut and started the car, peeling away from the curb.

They got to the trailer park in record time, despite Steve ranting at Robin about how the brats shouldn’t even be out this late at night while Robin kept reminding him to please concentrate on the road and save the chewing-out for the kids themselves. He parked at the end of the road, which was barely more than cracked asphalt and a toppled over concrete divider, the Street Ends sign long since stolen. The dark trees loomed tall and slender, a sparse barrier at the end of the small field that was only half lit by a flickering yellow street light, but Steve could already tell that’s where the kids had gone. He could smell them in the air and saw the trampled spots where they’d walked their bikes through the tall grass. A dog barked in the distance, agitated. He nodded at their trail and looked at Robin, said, “Let’s go,” and took off.

Robin kept pace with him easily as they loped through the trees. Even with the moon almost new they could see their way without difficulty, lacking most colour but seeing every detail; each scuff in the dirt from a tire and their muddy footprints standing out in the quiet forest. Their scents grew stronger too, and alongside it, something else. Something Steve had smelled earlier. He ran faster.

Voices began to filter through the woods. The kids were, unsurprisingly, arguing. By the time Steve and Robin crashed through the underbrush and ran into the Party, who screamed.

“Holy shi– be quiet! It’s us!” Steve shouted. While the kids did shut up – thank god – they all glared at him.

“What did you think would happen, Steve?” Dustin yelled back, arms flailing, “Warn us next time! That’s what the walkie is for!”

“I forgot it in the car since you idiots told me you were in the woods with a dead werewolf. How do you even know they’re a werewolf anyway, they–” Words caught in his throat as Robin choked back a scream. Finally, Steve turned his attention to the body on the ground behind the row of kids. “They’re human when they’re dead.”

They were supposed to be, at least. Steve hadn’t killed a werewolf before, hadn’t had to. Even when Billy went feral he refused to do it. They were still people and it was the one line Steve refused to cross as a hunter. He knew, though, that when a werewolf is killed in wolf form, they shift back into a human. So why was this one still a werewolf?

The body looked like every other werewolf Steve had seen when shifted: elongated limbs tipped in blunted claws, distinctive feet, brown fur everywhere, a clear mix of human and wolf. A ripped white shirt and torn blue jeans still clung to the body in spots, like they didn’t have time to get them off before they shifted. The only difference was the head. Or lack of one.

Steve shoved the nearest kid behind him – Lucas, who he could feel was shaking slightly – and stepped forward, unable to take his eyes off the stump of a neck. Dark blood, almost dried to blackish-brown, spilled down the werewolf’s chest, worsened by gashes left by, Steve guessed, the werewolf’s own claws, which were bloodied too. The cut was disturbingly clean. Level. Whatever weapon had done this was sharp. Bile rose in Steve’s throat.

“Turn around,” he said, somehow managing to not sound sick, looking back at the Party. Lucas and Will already had, the latter standing with his arms wrapped tight around his chest, but Mike was still half-turned, like he couldn’t take his eyes off it, and Dustin stared at the body with an analytical gleam that would unsettle Steve if he didn’t already know what these kids had gone through. Still. “Dustin, turn around.”

“We’ve been looking at it for ten minutes, Steve, it’s fine,” Dustin retorted, but Steve grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to face a very pale Robin, who still had her hands over her mouth.

“You shouldn’t have seen it in the first place! What the hell were you thinking, coming out here at night?”

Mike spoke up this time, sounding like he’d swallowed something disgusting. “We were patrolling.”

With a sigh that felt much too heavy for his age, Steve dragged a hand down his face. “You’re children. You don’t patrol.”

“We’re fifteen! You were partying! We couldn’t leave the town unprotected–”

“I was at a party because you told me to go to,” he interrupted Dustin sharply, “and I told you to stay home.” These kids were going to drive him into an early grave through stress alone. When Dustin opened his mouth again to argue back, Steve hissed, “Zip it! You’re in the wrong here.” The kid crossed his arms and scowled at Steve, but gave in.

Now that they were silent, Steve cast his gaze around the scene. He couldn’t see any sign of the missing head. There were signs of a struggle, though. Claw marks scored into tree bark to the left, large paw prints and faint shoe treads that could have looked like a dance. Next to the body, though, Steve saw scraps of fabric and bent down.

They were soft and black. Nothing like what the werewolf wore. A flash of a logo, some kind of yellow-and-red lettering, stood out on the corner of a larger scrap. Steve heard Dustin whisper, “Shit.”

Steve's head whipped around. “What?”

“Nothing!” He answered too quickly, too high-pitched. Steve could hear the skip in his heart, and though that wasn’t a reliable tell it wasn’t nothing.

“Dustin, you have to tell him,” Lucas said.

“Tell me what?”

The Party didn’t speak. Eyes flitting between them, Steve caught sight of Dustin’s clenched fist stuck deep into his pocket. He raised an expectant eyebrow.

“It’s Eddie’s. Eddie’s shirt.” Will’s voice was quiet and empty.

That’s when it hit Steve. The smell. He’d known it was blood when he and Robin had run into the kids, saw the corpse. But now he knew he’d smelled it earlier – at the party. From Eddie and Chrissy.

Read chapter 2 now on ao3!!

[ae-neon]

Nesta Archeron in the Autumn Court

Other Neris Autumn Court stuff: (X)

[Non-political Neris because if I get into it, this will be 28 pages long]

She arrives in Autumn one month before the Hunt.

During her official introduction at court she wears a deep green dress, mermaid cut, the ends of the sleeves and tail made to resemble peacock feathers. It's the loudest thing she's ever worn so she opts out of jewellery.

She's almost horrified to find the dress barely stands out in the sea of outlandish fashion of the Autumn Court

Eris worries he'll have to spend most of his time babysitting an obnoxious Night Court brat but he finds Nesta surprisingly quiet aside from her sarcasm and wit.

He feels his power draw to the surface the first time they dance together, held hostage by that blue grey gaze.

She plays the aristocrat well enough that most things only take a few lessons and he ends up working while she buries herself in a book.

Nesta slowly adopting an Autumn sense of fashion but still holding back on the busier patterns and jewellery

There are things about Autumn so familiar to Nesta they feel like memories and things so strange they feel like dreams

Nesta wearing black pants and white shirts with fancy sleeves and ruffles

Nesta learning fire dancing and Autumn Court dueling

Eris being insanely stylish

Eris making sure his tailor and shoemaker include little couple details in their wardrobes to stir rumours

Nesta in embroidered coats, riding pants and knee high brown leather boots

Nesta pretending she can't be arsed to get into Fae history but becoming fixated on certain eras and people

The Lady of Autumn gives Nesta a fan made to look like a peacock's tail in remembrance of Nesta's first proper attendance at court.

It's subtle but Nesta can feel her magic rise closer to the surface in Autumn, the way the flames around her seem to burn brighter and the wind whispers as it flows through the sea of trees.

There are ruins in the woods near the Forest House that Eris tells her were once a part of the sprawling construct. The stairs circle into nothing above but lead down into a dark flooded tunnel below.

Nesta is almost sure she sees a ripple and hears something whisper her name as she stares down into the blue black water.

Nesta's favourite lessons become the fire dancing. The art lies somewhere between the classic steps she'd learned as a child and some sort of martial arts, flames all the while painting vivid pictures.

She hates to admit how beautiful Eris looks as he performs the movements.

Nesta asking Eris about certain details on the people and places she's reading about. Him answering earnestly and in full, sometimes they go on and on for hours - lost in quiet conversation

Sometimes, walking through the woods, Nesta sees figures moving between the trees, feels a chill run up her spine when she's sure something brushes past her

She dreams too, strange dreams about running through the woods with blood in her mouth, on her hands. Sometimes Eris is there, red hair glinting in the corner of her eye

The closer they get to the Hunt, the more she sees, feels and hears. The more restless the thing inside her becomes

Eris seems to sense it too, he grows quiet around her, watching and waiting

Other things watch and wait too; owls and foxes, wild horses and stray cats. She isn't sure if these things are happening in her dreams or not.

One day they walk out deeper into the woods than she's ever been. Eris quietly beside her all the while. Too quiet. So quiet she isn't sure he's there when she doesn't look.

It's two nights until the Hunt and she still isn't sure what that means or why it feels important.

She turns to see Eris, amber eyes watching her, leaning against a bone white tree. He's beautiful and terrifying, like her.

Nesta wonders if it's just another dream. She's sure she can hear his heartbeat. As loud as a drum.

She knows it in her bones before it happens, that she is the Hunter.

That Autumn, and Eris, had been waiting for her. That she would kill Beron and that the magic inside him would find its way into her.

Well, that took a turn.

I didn't plan this out and I actually have like 4 other Neris drafts but oh well. Also, this is definitely more Nesta than Eris but maybe I'll do another when I'm in a better headspace.

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

Finally working on my DVR OCs I mentioned in the past starting with the recruiter of Gaston! @crazyyanderefangirlfan helped with the name and @jinxthejubilee has an awesome method of personality of the recruiters that I'm gonna try and use so it's easier here

If no one's slick as Gaston, no one's quick like Gaston, and no one's neck's as execrably thick as Gaston's then no one is a better recruiter than Gaston's! Eden, a beauty under the command of the manliest of men of all of history and beyond Gaston, his village's most well known solider and hunter. Eden is, as obvious, a beauty beyond words, some say she puts beauties like Snow White or Aphrodite to shame! Like Gaston, her looks aren't her only main quality of how to handles life as she's very charming and a good actress and very good at tracking and hunting as shown for her knowledge of knowing who or what went into which direction by tasting a piece of a rock or a sniff of the wind. She tends to act in a mix of emotions while attracting a audience while flaunting her looks and praising her master in highest regards, she at times acts helpless and naïve especially around the male audience or male recruiters to gain what she wants, drawing them in like a manipulative siren to the rocky shore, using her charms and flirting to gain information and items she wants or needs but will turn around and be just as snippy and sharp like a dagger if one were to disrespect her or her master.

Like the rest of the townspeople, Eden highly looks up to the man as her protector and savior. The huntsman have saved her at a young age from possible misery from her poverty household as the only daughter so she may of been forced to wed once she got older or worst forced to work the streets at night so she's grateful to him though she admit he's very full of himself, and despite his closeness with LeFou they seem to have a pretty decent relationship though she rarely sees him past him checking up on her from time to time. Through her pleas Gaston managed to teach her to survive in the wild woods which she stayed during the events of the film, teaching the ways and arts of the hunt as well as how to turn heads easily by the time she was able to wander the village some times though she stays in her cabin primary since she has a distrust in the village people due to her believing they don't know Gaston as much as she does!

Eden and LeFou has a very clear sibling rivalry like relationship due to how much the two fight over who knows and cares for Gaston the most, blind to see the have a lot more in common besides Gaston. Honestly, if dare say Gaston wasn't in the picture they're relationship more so be a semi chill sibling bond. LeFou's the one who taught her how to fend for herself minus fluttering her lashes at someone, such as cooking and doing simple living needs

She deeply dislikes Belle. How dare she reject her amazing master in such an embarrassing way! How dare she even get his attention when he doesn't even pay attention to her... And how dare she be so beautiful and friendly and no one hates her truly even though she's different... Belle is who Eden wants to be, beautiful and easily loved no matter what she does or say, being the center of someone's eye, having a happy life with her odd father...

Like many men before him Apple fell for her beauty and charming whims at first, though he looked pass the rose tinted glasses of awe after seeing her viper tongue first hand Sure, he's a bit too serious for her liking but she knows a ally when she sees one. Would like to get pass his uptight attitude about work though He's aware she's just as needy for attention as his Queen so he has great patients for her though he scolds her at times like the older coworker he is

Two peas in the pod, these two her and that Malfie! Sure, they bump heads with the attention seeking and praises but not long since she started did they bond truly. Both sing sweet praises for their masters like gospel, both are arguably the hottest and most prettiest of the lot, both know what it's like to want and demand attention 24/7, they're like platonic soulmates or the other's half in a way swapping beauty tips and stories to spare!

Jack Heart, oooooh boy- Another man who fell enamored towards her at first, going as far to try and take a rose from his Queen's garden when she asked for it and nearly being beheaded when caught. After that Jack and her are on thin ice with him seeing pass her tricks and going out his way to try and ruin her recruiting jobs more than him bugging Apple! In a way people still sense some tension of possible romance still lingering but neither will admit such ridiculous claims!

Like the men before this poor dog was eager to please the beauty before him. Falling deeper of her words of praise, jumping through hoops to appease her, Dalmatia is fully aware of her tricks and ways Though he's wrapped around her finger, he understands he's just a pawn in a little errand or trick for her after Jack began to voice is distrust towards her and tries to find distractions if she so prettily ask for a favor of him with her eyes even going as far as working with Pretty Scar

Though he was enamored as well, Joe got bored of her pretty fast but still will work with her if needed but draws the line of doing any work for her as he has enough on his own. He honestly finds her need of validation from others quite annoying, he can deal with it from Malfie and Pretty Scar but added a third is a no go for him

While men flock Eden, Eden so quickly fell to flock this laid-back pirate, and who can blame! She claims she's getting pointers but as soon as Lady Hook does anything cool or impressive she's with Veil and Farja in the corner fawning in awe. Huh, so that's what the men around her felt. She's impressed by her older coworker's bravery and strong loyalty to her master and desires the same connection and praise from her own one day, maybe she can beg for some gold to wear from the pirate if she sailed any time soon

Such a very studious and serious woman! She does find how she can work, work, work, without anyone doing for her impressive and "sad", they have a somewhat tense yet easily fixable relationship like two high schoolers growing up. With Ms Hades hard work and soon helping Eden, the young woman will soon value what she sadly didn't get from Gaston or LeFou and that's strength in knowledge more than physicals perks. Once they get a much better friendly relationship of opposites maybe she can try and get the fiery beauty some tips and pushes to start being more open on the idea of romance and love and not be jaded.

Oh they do not get along at all! Everyone knows Pretty Scar loves Dalmatia so having someone like Eden get his attention so easily upsets the poor hyena and Eden finds her crying face annoying...makes her feel almost pity. These two are as different as can be even! Her master is a rude narcissist who's only goal is to get what he wants, she constantly tries to shine and be validated as "cute", she... only wants to be included as a family especially to her master and those back home...She didn't get along in her previous families...She wishes her master's happiness even if it costs her sanity and happiness... She's usually alone... She has to do what she must to survive... Okay maybe they're similar in way!

And like with Pretty Scar, both Eden and Veil make a very interesting duo that for sure brings more customers to the shows. Veil is very quiet yet passionate about her master and what he does, similar to Eden though she's not so quiet only when she needs to be, Veil has a strong value due to her upbringing, Eden is the opposite in reasons and life values, While Veil will only be loud and outspoken when she sings her heart out, Eden shines and burst in energy like changing a dress and will never hide behind anyone but instead be open. Due to the reasons above the two would never get along in any other circumstance, Eden would find her dull as Gaston has while Veil would find her annoying and sinful has Frollo taught her. But the two seem to make a good odd-ball friendship like pair with both being the best singers especially when put together, both geek out over Lady Hook and their fun history facts of France, and both eagerly hug the other whenever they get a successful job well done. They're almost like sisters in a way!

Farja, another person who gets along pretty well with her! Both match in energy and care for their masters and plenty of love for travel and shiny things! Sure they're different from each other, but like with Malfie, the two are story tellers who understand each other well. Like two peas-in-a-pod type cousins!

Overall: As she gets close to the gang and sees them as family, she will see what matters most in a person and grow pass the needs of being seen for one person's side. Maybe, just maybe, if she witnessed the crazed obsession of disregard of others for the sake of not handling his rejection Gaston got from Belle she would be disgusted with his display of not being heroic and finally seek her own freedom...or will she remain in that iron cage a hunter put her in...

[eyesoverinfinity]

Vampire!Ellis au

fanfic 2: turning the tides

____________________________________________________________

"Hello down there!"

"Oh thank god! I thought I was the last women on earth."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

Francis turned around, surprised. There where other people!

After everything that had happed, he forgot there likely other unlucky bastards who CEDA and the military screwed over.

He walked over to the edge of the rail. There where four people below them.

The first one was a pale, dark haired, grumpy man with a once expensive white suit. He was skinny, muttering under his breath and Francis had add an urge to shoot him where he stood.

The next person was the person he heard. She was dark skinned, with a pink shirt, jeans and earrings (from what he could see being quite high up.). She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

The third person was only a little less pale then the last man, He had a blue hat and jeans, yellow shirt and joy in his step. He was looking up at Zoey like she was an angel.

The last one was a large man with dark skin and what looked to be a sports teacher get up. He looked quite strong, but was noticeably putting his weight more on one side of his body than the other, like what Bill used to do when his leg acted up.

The lost of Bill still stung in Francis's heart, as well as Zoey and Louis's. Zoey had taken a 'look out for your own' mind set and stepped up as leader in Bill's place, Francis almost didn't recognise her.

Louis was still injured and had become really quiet. Francis had joked about hating Louis's good feelings, but god he didn't want him to stop feeling altogether.

The worst part was that they knew Bill was at peace with his fate, he had done this for them. So why did they all feel so empty? At least he was in a better place, but it pained him that he couldn't tell the other two that the afterlife was real.

His old life was a lot more then what his team likely thought it was, that was his intention. He had used to belong to a clan of monster hunters.

Now, monster had become a far too generic term in the modern day. 'Monster' was anything that wasn't 'normal' nowadays, people threw it around everywhere. The only thing about this reckless use that was correct was that a human could be a monster.

A monster was a sentient creature that actively chose to do harm to others, many supernatural creatures where people, just like humans. The only exception that he knew of was vampires.

Vampirism was an interesting curse. You could drink animal blood and you wouldn't suffer for it, you'd even be able to live in human civilisation. But if you wanted the powers and immortality that you see in legends you'd have to kill people.

A lot of people.

But the more powerful you got the more weaknesses began to show.

The problem was the vampires that could recognized as vampires where the ones that were already mass murderers. The biggest problem was that powerful vampires could control those they turned, creating a thrall.

Thralls had no will for the first hundred or so year that they exist and are kept alive by their controller. But once they break free they remember EVERYTHING they were forced to do.

Most turn evil as well, the madness taking the place of the mental cage they were in, some kill their turner, but those who do usually end themselves as well. Thus perpetuating the cycle of evil vampires.

Francis caught himself on this train of thought and stopped, he had to focus on his current situation. Thought he had to admit, any supernatural creature in the county was in just as much trouble as the remaining humans where.

He looked back down, the newcomers were going to restart the generator in order to lower the bridge. As he saw the newcomers leave, he made eye contact with the one in the blue hat and suddenly got a bad feeling. Where his eyes.... Silver?

He tried to shake it off. But something didn't sit right with him.

"Trust your instincts little warrior." His Grandma used to tell him. "Because whether given by God or nature, it's there to keep you alive."

"Zoey..."

"Yeah Francis?"

"Keep an eye on that blue hat guy."

"You mean Ellis? He seems nice, at least next to the asshole in the suit."

"Yeah... There's just something that rubs me the wrong way."

"What, are they a werewolf or something?"

'Unfortunately you may not be far off.' Francis thought to himself.

Despite how often they were compared in media, werewolves were a lot different to vampires. The only real similarity is the fact the state of being was a curse. But werewolves themselves rarely dangerous in civilisations due to have access to food at any time. Nowadays maybe a challenge but he doubted that there if there was a werewolf in that group they'd actually do anything to harm anyone.

"Nah, Werewolves are way hairier." He had to force himself not to cringe at the stereotype. "But... just be careful?" He suggested.

Zoey looked confused, but thankfully nodded and didn't push for details.

He waited on the other side, praying that he was wrong about his hunch and that nothing would happen.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Ellis had just fucked up. Big time.

Granted at the time he didn't know how badly he fucked up, but he certainly knew that he had. He'd just been so hungry.

After the testing of his powers he had gotten hungrier than he had ever been before, he'd eaten 6 mice now and while it had helped he was still hungry.

He was glad that there was no urge to attack his friends. He didn't know what he'd do with himself if he hurt one of them.

But that relief didn't make him feel full. He was sure that he just needed more mice... right?

They had made it to the other side of the bridge, (he had eaten five more mice along the way), where they had found that the new people on the bridge had lost someone.

He had been so hungry, and the body was already dead right? it didn't need the blood anymore....

Ellis drank the blood from the body. Saying to the universe that he was willing to pay the price so long as his friends didn't get hurt.

The blood tasted of tar and adrenaline. It didn't taste like death, though how he knew that was lost to him. Despite that he felt more powerful as he drank, he was tempted to keep going, but his heart told him he was already pushing it. He took what he needed and stopped.

"I'm sorry for that... rest in peace man."

The body began to twitch.

Ellis got up and backed away as the body began to writhe around, the 10 seconds that it did that for felt like forever. But once it stopped Ellis realised what he'd done.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the reanimated body / new vampire.

'Oh fuck' was all Ellis could think.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Bill was very confused. He had died, hadn't he?

Yes, he had! He remembered very clearly being beaten to death by three on-fire tanks!

So what gives?

He was looking at this new kid, couldn't of been much older then Zoey. Staring at him and looking like he was about have a panic attack.

"Who the hell are you?" Bill asked, came off a but more blunt than he intended but he wasn't the most charismatic person out there.

"Oh fuck." was all the boy said.

'Not what I asked but ok.' Bill thought to himself.

"Hey Ellis, we're about to start the- OH LORD." A large black man came into the room. He seemed more started then the boy.

"I'm sorry, I'm SO sorry!" The boy, Ellis, began to apologise, but Bill couldn't tell who to.

Bill stood up, his body tried to protest but he was good at ignoring it. Was he... Paler then before?

"O God what have I done, didn't mean to... I"M SO SORRY!"

"BOY WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE LORD I DID YOU DO?!"

The two men where freaking out, when a third came in and joined in as well.

"ELLIS HOW?.... WHY?!?"

"I SWEAR I DIDN"T KNOW I COULD DO THAT, HE WAS ALREADY DEAD SO-"

"SO WHAT? WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!?"

A women came in after that, rushing in like she thought the other three where dying. With all the yelling Bill didn't blame her.

She took one look at Bill and realised what was going on. Then shot two shots in the air to get their attention.

'If she isn't the leader she's clearly the brains of the group.' Bill thought to himself.

"Boys, we currently have three people on the bridge who think that you were dying and now we have a reanimated person on our hands. We need to figure out how we're going to break this to them. No apologising,"

The women pointed to Ellis.

"No blaming," She pointed to the man in the suit.

"No freaking out." She pointed to the man in the purple and yellow shirt.

She turned to him.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll live." He said, though that got a guilty look for the boy.

"What just happened?" He asked, "Because last I remember I was being beaten to death by three tanks."

This got looks of shock and respect from the whole group. The boy in the hat stepped forward.

"Ok... Well, ya see." The boy turned into a bat in front of Bill's eyes and then turned back.

"I'm a vampire.... and now you are too?"

Bill was silent. His was trying to comprehend what just happened in front of him, but his brain refused to cooperate. The only thing that came out was:

"heh, wait till Francis hears about this."

Was this a sick joke from the universe? Why did it refuse to let him die? Not that he was complaining, but at this point the lengths the universe had gone to keep him 'alive' was utterly-....

Wait, they were talking about people on the bridge, That was his group! Why where they still here!?

"Wait, is he still up there?!"

"Yeah, Zoey and Louis are too." answered the lady.

Bill headed for the door, he needed to see them. He needed to see them ok. He was blocked by Ellis.

"Hey, hey! I know you want to see your friends. but you can't just-'

"And you think you can stop me?"

"I don't wanna! I just need to figure out how to explian this!'

"Just tell them that you bit me, drank my blood while i was dead and turn me into..." Bill stopped to listen to his own words.

"well shit."

"That's what I was thinking." Ellis said.

"Ok, fine. but once you do I'm leavening."

Ellis nodded and began talking nervously to the others.

Bill hated the fact that he had to stay in the room where he died for ant longer. But he supposed that it was common curtesy to help the person who brought you back to life not get shot.

He just hoped that his team would take his new form well. Francis would be the most difficult but it's not like he'd actually shoot.

Right?

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

To be continued

[m00nz-writes]

Three Cheers for Evil - Blackened Angel chap. 4

Summary: After Erica joins the cheer squad in order to get to Stephanie, Alyssa realizes there's something very off about the cheer captain. Between trying to keep an eye on Erica, being suspicious of Stephanie, and a possible date with Ethan, Alyssa is stuck in confusing headspace.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

"Aren't you excited?!" Maria exclaimed as she plopped down on her bed and looked over at the devil hunter who had her arms wrapped around her own body. Her lips pursed as she looked at the Filipino girl, and she gave a small shrug of her shoulders that caused a frown from her more vivacious counterpart.

"Watching more girls get beaten and victimized by our Lord, Stephanie?" Alyssa asked curtly, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know, Mar… I just… I don't like the idea of other girls being treated like us."

"Steph's not so bad!" Maria defended, sitting up as the white-haired teen sat down on the bean bag chair in the room. "Yes, she's demanding and pushy, but she could be worse."

"You make it sound like it's a good thing." Lyss murmured and looked up at Maria. "She puts the 'itch' in 'bitch'."

"Well, has she been bullying you a lot lately?" Maria asked as Alyssa shrugged her shoulders.

"Not since I almost ripped the door off my locker," she admitted, leaning back in the beanbag, trying to relax. "It was damn hard to explain it. I ended up just saying the hinges were super loose…some shit."

"Girl, you really need to control your strength." she said as Alyssa groaned, leaning her head back. "You're like… super gentle with your little dweeb friend. Why not put that towards other things?" she suggested before the hunter looked at her.

"Only Sarah and I can call Ethan a dweeb, Mar… and it's easier with him because I don't want to hurt him." she sat up and huffed. "I mean, I've always been taught that you should never hurt humans under any circumstances because it's not fair. But dad never said, 'Hey, kiddo! Don't destroy that box because it's weaker than you and can't defend itself!'" She rambled while Maria giggled and covered her mouth. "I asked dad how he handled it. He just shrugged."

"Hasn't he kicked the doors of the office down?" Maria frowned and sat up as she took a good look at Alyssa. "Yeah… I don't think he's the best person to ask for advice."

"What? I should go to my uncle for advice?"

"Vitale? I don't think he'd understand." Alyssa shook her head and stood to her feet.

"The other uncle," she corrected and Maria hummed, nodding.

"Right. The evil one who wants all the power in the world." she commented as Lyss snapped her fingers and nodded.

"Bingo." she crossed her arms and sighed. "I'll tell Nero… but he's got a lot on his plate right now."

"Maybe you just have to find out for yourself." Maria admitted with a smile. "I know I don't understand this whole… second puberty thing you're going through, but I'm willing to try and help!"

"First, ew. Second, no way. I don't want you getting hurt because of me." Alyssa sighed as the door opened and Maria's aunt looked in with a smile on her face.

"Girls, dinner is ready." she said as they both smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Miss. Manalili." Alyssa said softly as the woman giggled.

"You can just call me Kaya."

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

Alyssa furrowed her brow as she adjusted the skirt she always wore for school events. Even after Maria's aunt had taken the time to adjust it to fit her better, the cheer uniform was extremely uncomfortable for her. Lyss hid the amulet under her shirt and fixed her hair, making sure her fringe were just right before closing her locker and screaming when Stephanie stood on the other side. The same fake smile was plastered on her face as the one she always had when she talked to Alyssa, the one she'd come to hate so much.

"You might want to get your hair out of your eyes." Stephanie said as she sneered and brushed her hair out of her face, deliberately ruining the style in the process. Alyssa quickly grabbed her wrist and squeezed a little too hard, causing the teen to gasp in pain. Her eyes almost seemed to flash purple and she seemed to be in a state of panic when… something didn't work. Alyssa released her hand with a sneer.

"And you should work on your attitude." she muttered as the blonde walked away angrily. Lyss watched her for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed at the realization that she was right, that there was something wrong with her.

"Hey." Ethan said as he walked up to the locker and noticed how messed up Alyssa's hair was. She smiled half-heartedly and opened her locker, fixing her hair in the mirror and making sure it was styled properly. "So… um… I heard that your favorite band… is gonna play…" he started nervously as Lyss looked at him and frowned.

"Don't tell me the King of Dorks likes Black Veil Brides." she said with a smile and he laughed awkwardly.

"Well… I listened to some of their stuff after you talked about them last week and it's… interesting." he admitted as she leaned against her locker and looked at him. "I scored two tickets… so if you couldn't get one… I have one to spare."

"Are you trying to ask me out, Morgan?" she asked, a grin on her face as his eyes widened.

"No! Well - I mean, not like that!" he exclaimed desperately. "Unless you want to…"

"I'd love to." she nodded as a huge, almost childish smile spread across his face. "Spending time with one of the best people I know and seeing my favorite band live? A dream come true."

"Awesome!" he said before Maria called out Alyssa's name. Lyss rolled her eyes and let out a sigh as she shook her head.

"Time to deal with the Wicked Bitch of the West…" she muttered before smiling at Ethan. "I can't wait for Saturday." she gave him an awkward punch on the arm as he nodded and laughed nervously, giving her a wave as she walked away. She walked over to Maria and crossed her arms as the girl started to panic a little.

"Stephanie is super mad today…" she sounded desperate, almost jumping as her nerves got the better of her.

"Probably because I snapped at her… and almost snapped her wrist." Alyssa shrugged as the duo approached cheer tryouts.

"Why?!" Maria shouted unintentionally, causing many of the surrounding students to look at them.

"Because she made a mess of my hair. Do you know how much straightening, teasing, and spraying this shit takes?"

"I thought it was natural for you…"

"I wish. I just want to look a little bit like Andy Biersack… he's a legend and I would love to have a bit of his coolness." Lyss sighed as the girls stopped at the desk and Stephanie practically pushed the pom-poms into their hands.

"Do the routine." she snapped before Lyss scoffed, but lined up with the other girls and began. Alyssa mumbled the chant under her breath as she went through the routine. "Say it!" Steph snapped at the hunter as she closed her eyes with an irritated groan. The other girls looked at her as she got back into position.

"Boom! Did a bomb just go off in my head? No, it's the Devil's when we beat you black and red! Call a nurse, call a doctor, call your mama too. 'Cause you're gonna need help when we are finished with you! Go Devils!" she finished cheering and looked dramatically at Stephanie while the cheerleading captain grinned at her.

"I don't know. Do you think it was good enough, girls?" she asked as the other cheerleaders looked at each other nervously.

"I think she was good…" Rebecca admitted, smiling and shrugging nervously. Stephanie glared at her as she admitted her satisfaction with Alyssa and rolled her eyes.

"From the top!" she shouted as all four of the girls continued to cheer. Alyssa's eyes were focused on the vampires at the end of the hall when Stephanie caught her attention as she knocked books out of a student's hands. Dropping her pom-poms, Alyssa went to help the girl and smiled kindly before watching her go.

"You are such a bitch." Lyss said, glaring at Stephanie as the girl smiled at her.

"And yet they all love me."

"More like 'love to get inside of you.'" the hunter growled before the cheer captain gave her a smack on the head and she made a small grimace, glaring at her as Erica approached the desk. "Please, no…" she muttered, grabbing her pom-poms.

"What? I just want to cheer!" Erica defended herself as Lyss narrowed her eyes at her.

"I'm watching you." she returned to Maria's side as the vampire winked and left.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

Alyssa snorted as she helped Sarah into her new cheer uniform with a smile.

"It looks good on you." She commented as the vampire rolled her eyes.

"Well, you might need some help keeping an eye on Erica." she muttered as Alyssa chuckled.

"No need to embarrass yourself, I can handle her."

"Says the girl who chose to be a cheerleader." she quipped before sighing. "I'm sorry… I'm just stressed about Erica trying to bite Stephanie and school…"

"You don't need to be sorry." Alyssa assured her with a pat on her arm. "I was going to try out for the volleyball team or something like that, but… I'm still adjusting to my strength and I wouldn't want to hurt anyone, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Sarah laughed a little as Alyssa headed for the door. Once out of the locker room, Benny laughed at the sight of Sarah in the cheerleading uniform. "Don't say a word!" she hissed.

"You look… preppy." Benny teased before Alyssa punched him in the stomach. "What happened to not hurting humans?!" he complained.

"I didn't even hit you that hard!" Lyss snapped, folding her arms as Sarah put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look, we're the only ones who can make sure Erica doesn't do any… sampling. So just back off." she looked between the boys before Stephanie entered.

"Let's see what you've got." she said as Lyss led Sarah along, taking one last look at Benny before they went into the gym.

Alyssa helped Sarah and Erica through the main cheers that had been their focus for the season, applauding when they had the cheers right. She looked over at Stephanie and rolled her eyes when she noticed her staring and motioned for the girls to form up. They did the cheers together before Alyssa's attention was drawn to the sound of Benny and Ethan suddenly entering the gym.

"Absolutely not!" she shouted, rushing over and forcing them to turn back around.

"We just want to help!" Benny shouted as she shoved him to the ground and pushed Ethan out of the gym.

"Help yourself, freak!" she yelled before Ethan turned to grab her arm.

"No, you don't understand!" he said desperately, looking at her with genuine concern as Benny pushed himself up and moaned. "I had… a vision. Erica's after Stephanie."

"Yeah, I got that." she pulled her arm away from him. "Look, I get it. You're worried about Sarah and everything… but I've got it under control. Just… don't do anything stupid. Okay?" she closed the door on her way back to the squad with a sigh.

She greeted the other new recurits, offering a much friendlier smile as she pulled them to the side and helped them along as well, while Stephanie and the other girls concentrated on the cheer for the rally. Alyssa applauded the girls for their good work and even walked them through the steps, making everything more cohesive for them when they had trouble. When the team took a break, Alyssa walked over to the benches with a bottle of water and sat down as Maria joined her with a sigh.

"What's going on with you and Ethan?" she asked as Lyss' eyes widened and she looked at her, almost gagging on the water. Maria patted her worriedly on the back while she managed to swallow it and coughed.

"Nothing!" Alyssa hissed, putting it down. "I mean… we may or may not be going on a date, but who cares?"

"You're going on a date?!" Maria repeated, squealing as Lyss let out a groan. "Where to? To that new place that just opened up?"

"The Black Veil Brides show in Whitechapel."

"Oh…" Maria's brow furrowed a bit before giving a shrug. "At least it's something you'll like!"

"He got the tickets. I had no idea… I don't know if this is actually a date." she shrugged while Maria raised an eyebrow. "I'm not usually the one on the receiving end of affection, Mar. Most of the time guys are scared of me."

"He has a crush on you!" Maria exclaimed before they turned towards the entrance to see the boys enter… in drag.

"Oh my God…" she whined, covering her face.

"Wow…" Maria murmured with a glance at Alyssa. "Pretty interesting boyfriend you got." she teased before standing up. Alyssa tried to grab her but she fell off the bench and rolled onto her back with a groan.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

Alyssa sat down with JJ and his interesting group of friends, smiling as she took a bite of the pizza she'd brought from home. She glanced over to see Ethan and Benny walk by and quickly covered her face in shame as she remembered the events beforehand. She jumped when her cell phone buzzed and pulled it out of her jacket pocket to see that she had a text message from one of her friends, and she smiled even more.

K: Are you excited about the BVB concert?

A: Totally

K: I can't wait to see them live!

A: Same. I was gonna see them in Redgrave but we moved

K: And you have a date. So exciting!!!

A: Let's not make a big deal out of it, Kimmie

K: But it is a big deal! This is your first real date!

"Who are you talking to?" JJ asked as Lyss screamed, almost dropping her phone.

"Kimmie. She's going to the concert too… she and her date are gonna meet Ethan and me." she explained as JJ smiled.

"Who asked who?"

"Ethan asked me." she mumbled as she put the phone down and took another bite of her pizza.

"Benny owes me fifteen bucks." he said as he looked at the other guys who were laughing.

"Don't bet on my love life!" Alyssa yelled, slapping his arm several times as he laughed and tried to shield himself. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the table, a frown on her face as she looked over at the boys. She got up from the table just as Stephanie bumped into her, causing her to drop the food she was holding. She screamed in anger and stopped herself from hitting the blonde as she watched as she and the other girls started to walk away. Sarah mumbled an apology as she followed the others, Lyss blowing her fringe out of her face.

JJ looked up at Alyssa with a grimace at the sight of her food being on the floor. He offered her the other half of his sandwich as she smiled a little and accepted it with thanks before she quickly made her way out of the cafeteria and back to the gym. She took occasional bites of the sandwich on her way, thinking more and more about what had happened earlier. The way Stephanie's eyes glowed was similar to Vitale's eyes when he cast a spell. She began to put the pieces together when she got to the gym. She finished the sandwich and walked in as Stephanie looked at her.

"Just in time." she smiled as Alyssa came over and stood between Rebecca and Ethan. "The star is the most important position for the pep rally tomorrow. It has to be perfect if we're going to get enough team spirit." she explained as she made everyone get into formation. Alyssa frowned a little and kept a close eye on Stephanie as she continued to listen to her drone. "I want to hear you shout!"

"We're forces of nature, that's what makes a star. We may look like girls, but that's not all we are!" the squad chanted while Alyssa picked apart every word in her head. She felt the frown deepen as the others left the formation and she remained standing, muttering the cheer to herself, trying to figure out what made it so… strange. It was almost as if it was a spell.

"Why would you voluntarily sign up for this?!" Sarah said, drawing Alyssa's attention away from her thoughts as her ice blue eyes widened in response.

"I just needed something better to do," she admitted, taking the question literally, before she noticed that the boys were ogling the other girls. She kicked Ethan lightly and he immediately turned to look at her as she frowned at him.

"I think I'm gonna go grab a bite." Erica said, while Alyssa was back in her thoughts with another frown on her face.

"We're forces of nature…that's what makes a star…" she murmured softly, crossing her arms before realizing that Erica and Sarah were both gone. Her eyes widened and she ran off to look for them, inadvertently pushing Maria out of the way as she went.

She ran down the corridors in search of the girls when she came upon Stephanie, who had both Erica and Sarah under a spell. Lyss' eyes widened as she watched the scene unfold in front of her as the blonde turned to face her. She raised a hand and threw Lyss back into the wall as she groaned and slid down, her vision fading as Stephanie approached.

"Stay out of my business, nephilim," she hissed, slamming Alyssa's head into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

"Alyssa?" a woman called as Lyss slowly regained consciousness. She tried to focus on anything around her, but her vision was blurry, though she knew she wasn't at school. She rolled onto her stomach and looked around, groaning. "Darling, you have to get up." the woman said as Alyssa tried to search for the voice, blinking a few times as her vision cleared and she got a better look at… Fortuna. "Your friends are in great danger, my love."

"Who…?" Lyss said, looking around in confusion. "Mom?" she called, looking for whoever the woman was.

Alyssa gasped as she sat up and looked around to see that she was still in the school. Trying to remember why she was even there, she pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled slightly as she made her way out of the building and fell, Shadow escaping the ink to catch her before she hit the concrete. She groaned, holding onto the jaguar as she tried to orient herself, her head pounding worse than ever as Shadow became an almost sandy substance and headed for Ethan's house.

Alyssa whimpered as she felt the cold, hard wood beneath her, and Shadow returned to his normal form, letting out a roar to try to get anyone to listen. The door opened as Jane stared at the teenager on the porch and the jaguar beside her, a frown on her face before yelling Ethan's name.

"What?" Ethan yelled back as he headed down the stairs to find Alyssa and Shadow. His eyes widened and he quickly shooed Jane away as Shadow maneuvered under Alyssa's body and carried her inside. "What happened?" he asked as the demon looked at him stupidly and he smiled awkwardly in response. Alyssa looked around, frowning slightly as she finally came to her senses.

"Why… am I here…?" she murmured, looking up at Ethan as he helped her to her feet. "I was just at school…"

"Well, it's good you're here because Sarah's bringing the rest of the squad." he said and she hummed, shaking her head.

"My head fucking hurts…" she murmured and made her way to the living room.

"I can get you water." Jane offered, but Ethan just shook his head.

"No way! I told you to butt out, remember?"

"Pay up." Jane snapped back with a glare.

"Fine." he reached into his pocket and gave her some money before she ran upstairs. Ethan went to the kitchen and got Alyssa a glass of water before returning and handing it to her.

"Than…" she murmured, sipping the water as Shadow moved over to her and laid her head in her lap.

"Do you think you can…?" Ethan asked as he looked down at the demon that was sitting at her side.

"She's not going to leave me until she knows I'm OK." she said shrugging as she stroked the jaguar's head. "That's one of her little quirks." she added, looking up at him before frowning. "I think… I had a dream about my mom…" she said as his eyebrows raised.

"Really? What was it about?" he asked as she put down the glass.

"I went to Fortuna, and… her voice came from all over, but…" her voice faltered. "She told me that everyone was in danger."

"Stephanie's planning to steal the souls from everyone at the prep rally tomorrow. Maybe that's what she was talking about?" he offered, but she shook her head.

"That's not what she had in mind." she admitted. "I mean… my mom, who disappeared when I was born, comes back all of a sudden just to tell me that the head cheerleader is evil? It's just so farfetched." she said before gently pushing him away. "Go. Get back in drag before the girls get here…" she murmured, laying her head back.

She closed her eyes and sighed as Shadow returned to the ink. She began to fall asleep, only to be awakened when the front door opened and the girls entered. Alyssa groaned and opened her eyes, looking over to see all of them… except for Maria. She frowned and straightened up as Sarah ran over to her and gave her a smile.

"Oh my God! You look so pretty!" she exclaimed as Lyss scoffed.

"I feel like shit…" she said bluntly as Sarah returned to the girls, who were talking about something. Ethan and Benny walked into the living room and looked over at the girls. Alyssa stood and grimaced, walking over to the boys, putting her hand on Ethan's shoulder. "I'm gonna take a nap…" she mumbled as he looked over at her.

"You can use my room." he offered as she smiled and patted him on the shoulder as she made her way up the stairs.

She pushed open the door and slipped into the room, taking a moment to look around the room. She'd only seen it a few times and yet it always amazed her how fascinating his room really was. She smiled a little as she looked at the shelves, admiring all the little things that made his quirks even more obvious, before she made her way to his bed and took off her shoes. She climbed in and rested on the edge of the bed as she closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. His bed wasn't nearly as soft as hers, and it didn't have the canopy that had always given her the false sense of security that she craved. As soon as her head rested on the pillow, she began to drift off to sleep.

She blinked and found herself back at Fortuna. She frowned as she looked around, in search of… something. Eventually, she made her way down a long corridor and found another room. With a large bookshelf and a large bed, this one looked like someone's living quarters. There was a desk in the room with a lot of letters and envelopes on it, which drew Alyssa to it. She walked over to it and saw that each one was addressed to either her or Dante, and her eyebrows furrowed as she read through them, realizing that it was in fact her mother that she was communicating with.

"It's not polite to snoop." the voice from before said as it came from behind her. Alyssa quickly turned around to see a beautiful woman with long black hair and the kindest of eyes. Instead of a look of irritation or anger, her expression was almost playful. Alyssa knew from all the images she'd seen that it had to be Ophiel.

"Mom…" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes as she ran over to give the woman a hug. She felt so real being held by the angel, as if she were actually there. The angel chuckled and held her in her arms with a soft stroke of her hair.

"I am so sorry that this is the only way that we are able to speak," she said softly as Alyssa pulled away and looked up at her. "How I have yearned to see you… and now you're here; such a beautiful young lady." she cooed, placing her hands on Alyssa's face as she brushed away her tears.

"Why now…?"

"I have seen the path before you, my love," she spoke more grimly, stepping away as Alyssa watched. "What lies ahead is a much darker evil. One you have never known… and unfortunately I cannot be there with you. It's still far too dangerous for me to leave this place."

"So what should I do?" Alyssa asked as she approached.

"Be prepared." Ophiel turned to look at the teenager. "What is coming is not now, but it is approaching. You will have to work to become stronger and to control your new found abilities."

"How am I supposed to do that? Dad isn't going to help me!" Alyssa cried with a frown on her face.

"I know this is going to be hard, but you have to learn on your own. That's how your father learned." she said while Alyssa sighed.

"Mom… I can't do this on my own…" she admitted as the angel came closer to her. "I'm so scared that I'll make things worse… or that I'll disappoint everyone." she sniffled as tears streamed down her face. "Everything I do… I manage to fuck it up worse than the last time. Either I hurt others or I'm afraid of dead animals… no matter what I do, I'll always be the odd one out."

"You are allowing your insecurities to take over your mind, my love." Ophiel said, placing her hands on Alyssa's face again, lifting her head. "You are so very strong. You do not have to push yourself to find a purpose. You only need to look within yourself to find the strength to learn who you truly are and what you are capable of," she explained as she wiped away Alyssa's tears. Lyss smiled and laughed softly as she placed her hands on top of her mother's. "You have made some wonderful friends. The seer cares so much for you… you have nothing to fear with him by your side, for he will fight beside you no matter what."

Alyssa opened her eyes as the sun hit her face, and she sniffled and wiped it when she realized she'd started to cry while she slept. She noticed that there was a blanket draped over her body as well as a weight next to her and she looked over her shoulder to see that Ethan was fast asleep next to her. She pushed herself up and stirred Ethan as he threw his pillow at Benny to wake him up too. Getting out of bed, Lyss rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching. Although she couldn't be with her mother physically, she found some comfort in the fact that she could see her in her dreams. She watched the boys panic over what had happened the night before and she chuckled a little, shaking her head as they made their way to the desk and sat down.

"I'm gonna go." she said quietly, about to head out the door before Ethan looked at her.

"My parents might be downstairs." he said as she nodded and made her way to the window. She pulled back the curtains and opened the window. She gave a little wave and jumped out.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

Alyssa made her way through the halls, her eyebrows furrowed as she thought over and over again about how strange the cheer was. Worse yet, her head was still in pain and she had no idea why. She thought maybe she had just been exhausted by the meeting with her mother, but she wasn't quite sure about the plausibility of that.

Lyss looked up at the sound of voices and noticed that more and more people were talking about how excited they were about the prep rally. She couldn't say the same, instead she was left with a feeling of unease and worry. Part of her wanted to desperately beg her family to stay away from the rally, afraid that something would happen to them… but she also knew how stubborn her father and Lady could be.

Alyssa slipped into her first class and sat down just as the bell rang and the teacher started to drone on and on about biology. Alyssa never liked this class, she liked skipping it, but Trish informed her that if she did it again she would be in big trouble not only with her father but also with the school. Still, she went along with it and pretended to care, even though her mind was somewhere else.

The "date" was tomorrow, and she was worried about what she was going to wear. She had always imagined her first BVB concert as one where she would go in war paint like Andy and scream out every lyric like an idiot, just being a real teenager and enjoying her youth while she still had it… but now she was so worried about stupid things.

"Wouldn't you agree, Miss. Redgrave?" the teacher said, pulling Alyssa out of her thoughts and bringing her back to the real world. The other students were laughing at her confusion, but she wasn't paying any attention to them. She cleared her throat and sat up straight in her seat.

"I wasn't really listening." she admitted as the teacher rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Of course not… please listen." he muttered as Lyss shrugged and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Of course the cheerleader doesn't listen…" one of the boys next to her murmured as she looked over and glowered at him.

"If you want to keep your face pretty, you'll shut up, Taylor." she warned, turning back to the board. She didn't bother to look at anything written there and instead started to think even more deeply.

When the bell rang, Alyssa's eyes widened and she glanced in the direction of the clock before getting up and grabbing her book bag. She left the classroom and started down the hallway with other kids when Taylor pushed her down and she grunted as she fell. The other boys laughed as Lyss looked back at them and huffed, pushing herself into a sitting position as Ethan and Benny ran over and got between her and the boys.

"Look at them, they're so brave!" Taylor scoffed as Alyssa raised her head and looked at the boys before her. Benny started to back off a little bit when he realized that the boys were serious about wanting to do something bad. "You wanna run?" the blonde grinned at the taller geek and shoved him before Alyssa stood up and slammed her body into Taylor's, pinning him to the wall as more kids surrounded them.

"Nobody gets to push him around but me!" Alyssa hissed and stepped off of Taylor. His minions tried to grab her, but she punched one of them in the face. The force of the blow inadvertently broke his nose. Her eyes widened as she saw the blood gushing from his nose as he held his face and screamed in pain. She took a step back as she looked around at all the people surrounding them while Ethan tried to keep her calm.

"You stupid bitch!" Taylor screamed and grabbed Alyssa as she stared up at him with terrified eyes. "Oh, now you're scared?!"

"Put her down." Stephanie pushed her way through the crowd as she glared at Taylor as he tried to defend himself. "I said put her down. Now." she warned, her eyes glowing a faint purple as the jock let go of Alyssa. Stephanie motioned to Taylor and his minions to leave and they did, as did the crowd of students that had gathered. The blonde looked at Ethan and Benny and glared at them as they walked away awkwardly, but still managed to peek around the corner.

"Why did you…?" Alyssa said before Stephanie glowered at her.

"You're really getting on my nerves, nephilim." she snapped, and Lyss frowned and stared at her in confusion. "Don't pretend to be surprised. You can't hide what you are very well."

"I don't try… my dad is literally the most famous devil hunter in the world." she shrugged before Stephanie grabbed Alyssa's hand and used a cloth she conjured to clean the blood from her knuckles.

"Your stupidity will destroy my plans," she said, glaring at her as Lyss sneered. "You'll be a part of it." she added and Alyssa frowned at her.

"What…?" she asked, before Stephanie just gave her a smile.

"We've got to go get ready." she said as she pulled away and started to walk towards the changing room. Alyssa watched her with a frown on her face as the boys quickly made their way over to the hunter.

"Should we be scared…?" Alyssa asked quietly as they slowly nodded in agreement.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

"Stop moving around so much." Lyss hissed as she helped Ethan with his makeup. He made a face and pulled his head away before she grabbed his jaw and held him still as she carefully applied the eyeliner.

"How do you do this?" he asked, shrugging and working on the other eye. He winced and pulled away as Lyss rolled her eyes and sighed, holding him still again as she carefully applied liner.

"If you keep moving, it's going to go in your eye." she warned him as his gaze focused on her. This was the closest they'd ever been to each other and it caused him to get a little nervous as she put the eyeliner pencil down and picked up the mascara.

"Absolutely not." he tried to pull away, but she kept her grip.

"Eyeliner with no mascara looks silly. Besides, it's only for an hour." she shrugged as she opened the mascara. "If I can wear make up every day, then you can wear it for an hour." she said before she sat down facing him and began to carefully apply the mascara while Benny laughed at the scene.

"Stop laughing at me!" Ethan whined as he looked over at him before Alyssa made him turn his head back to her. "This was all your idea, genuis!"

"Yeah, to dress up like chicks. Not get made up like them." Benny taunted. Alyssa grabbed her empty makeup bag and threw it at him. He yelped as he tried to defend himself from her attack. "What the hell?!"

"I'm only doing this because you idiots can't even think straight enough to put on your own makeup." she said, finishing off the mascara before grabbing her lip gloss.

"Seriously?" Ethan complained as Lyss raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't you want to be the prettiest girl at the rally?" she teased before starting to apply it as he rolled his eyes. She smiled a little as she finished it off, carefully wiping away a bit of the excess.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." she chuckled as Benny tossed the bag over to her and she put everything back in the bag. "And I'll have fun putting war paint on you tomorrow, too." she teased, while Ethan sulked.

"Can't you just give me a break?" he pleaded as she fixed his wig and giggled again, still finding his disguise silly.

"War paint is not girly. And I won't make it super extravagant like mine." she assured him before getting up and fixing her skirt.

"Oh, so you'll be the matching couple." Benny teased with a smile on his face.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you. You still owe JJ fifteen bucks." she explained as his eyes widened.

"You asked her?!" Benny asked as Ethan eyed him him.

"You bet on my love life?" he asked before the taller geek's eyes widened and he hurried out of the room. Alyssa laughed as she shook her head and tied her hair back. Ethan stood up as she made sure everything was still in place, focusing on her bangs. "Aren't you worried about what Stephanie said?"

"Vitale is coming to the rally with dad and Lady. If there's anyone who can stop something bad from happening, it's Uncle V." she shrugged as Ethan looked over at her.

"What if he can't…?" he asked quietly and she looked at him with a small sigh.

"I know you're worried… but as long as we stick together and do the reversal spell, we'll be fine." she assured him as he smiled and nodded. She patted him on the arm and they went to the gym to prepare for the rally.

Alyssa stretched while the others rehearsed the routine to make sure everything went well. Lyss kept watching Stephanie as the gym began to fill with students and families for the rally, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully before the coach told the girls to go in. Alyssa grabbed her pom-poms and ran into the gym with the others, doing the routine as usual. Alyssa was reluctant to recite the cheer with the others as she kept an eye on Vitale, who was looking just as suspicious as she had expected him to look. He knew that something was wrong, and he didn't make any effort to hide it.

When the star formation began, Alyssa was kept out of the formation with a furrowed brow, and she continued her routine as usual until the boys began the reversal incantation. Everyone in the audience and even the girls outside the formation fainted as Stephanie's spell removed the souls. Lyss caught Maria as she collapsed. She looked at V to see that he wasn't affected, nor was her father or Lady. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that V must have been using something as a means of protection. Dante started to get up, but V stopped him in his tracks as Stephanie screamed in anger.

"Back off, geeks! I will not let you get in the way of me running this school!" she yelled, looking between the boys before turning to Alyssa and saying something in Latin, which made Alyssa tense and slowly stand up. "It's time for you to see what you can really do." she said before Alyssa let out a scream of pain and felt her body begin to transform into something new.

Alyssa tried to stop it as she fell to her knees and her skin began to change into deep red scales and horns grew from her skull, the transformation causing her unbearable pain. Dante called out her name as he jumped to his feet and ran to her, managing to dodge Stephanie's attack. Alyssa screamed as her body fully transformed and looked at the hunter, punching his jaw and sending him back to the far wall. Lyss turned and glared at the boys, and Stephanie smiled as she saw Alyssa's true demon form. They managed to reach Sarah with their pom-poms, and broke her out of her trance so she could get Stephanie out of the way.

As Sarah tried to stop Stephanie, Alyssa grabbed her arm and threw her aside. The vampire screamed in pain as the boys got out of formation when it was broken. Lyss growled and tried to grab one of them as well, but Vitale was able to keep her from doing anything bad. The hunter struggled against the invisible bonds, screaming in rage as she tried to break free. She thrashed around violently before she broke free and tried to hit Ethan as he stumbled out of the way, screaming.

"Alyssa!" he shouted, her movements faltering as she stared at him.

"Kill him." Stephanie hissed, making the Nephilim glare at her. She fought the control the witch had over her before she screamed and punched her as hard as she could, stopping the ritual and revealing the head cheerleader's true self as she fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Alyssa glared down at her, feeling the rage bubble up as she prepared to land a killing blow, when Dante ran over and restrained her. She screamed and looked back at him, seeing him properly. Her eyes widened as she stared at him and she gave a stifled sob before returning to her human form as everyone started to wake.

She fell limply into Dante's arms as she trembled with uncontrollable sobs and he sank to the floor with her in his arms. She clung to him as she sobbed louder and he tightened his grip on her, holding her tightly as she continued to cry. Lady ran to them before sitting down beside them, hugging them as Grandma Weir entered and handled everything else. As everyone started to leave the gym, the family and the gang stayed behind while Dante tried to comfort the teenager.

"I'm so sorry…" she whimpered as Lady brushed her hair from her face, planting small kisses on her temple.

"None of this was your fault." she assured her as Alyssa shook her head and began to shake even more.

"I almost killed someone…" she admitted weakly as she looked up at the woman.

"You were under Stephanie's control." Grandma Weir said, but Lyss shook her head once more.

"No… it… it was all me…" she wiped her face and sniffled. "I was gonna kill her… I really wanted to…" she trailed off as Dante looked at the others before picking the teen up and carrying her out of the gym.

•¨•.¸¸☆･ﾟ･☆¸¸.•¨•

Alyssa was sitting in her bed with Shadow lying next to her, sleeping peacefully. Lyss frowned before lying down, burying her face in the jaguar's fur, finding comfort in its softness. The door opened and Dante entered with a plate of pizza, walking to the nightstand and setting it down. He looked at the girl and demon, sighing as he knelt beside the bed.

"You're not a bad person…" he assured her as she lifted her head to look at him in silence. "I know what you just went through was terrifying, but it wasn't you."

"Yes, it was, dad…" she murmured, the jaguar's eyes also on the hunter.

"No, it wasn't." he put a hand over one of Alyssa's. "When you first transform, that primal rage takes over all your senses and sometimes you have no control over it." he explained as her eyebrows furrowed. "It will become less and less intense as time goes on. So don't blame yourself…plus Stephanie was a bitch. V and Evelyn took care of her." she nodded slightly before she started to cry. "You can still go see the concert if you want."

"I don't think I want to go…" she murmured as he laughed quietly.

"What? You're going to let some asshole ruin your first date?" he teased her before she grabbed her pillow and hit him over the head with it, laughing along with him as he got up. "I can't make you, but if you want to… go for it." he said before kissing her forehead. Shadow snarled, kissing the top of the jaguar's head, satisfying her need for attention.

"Dad…" Lyss murmured as he hummed to respond. "I love you…" she offered with a small smile and got a smile back from him in return.

"I love you too, kiddo."

[the-blossica-fan]

Note: A lot of lore for one character in my lore lol

Before Philip, many, many millennium ago, during the Age of Magic, there existed "Mages", those who could harness magic, or "Arcana" as it was known, to a very high degree.

Flame, Winds, Water, Stone, Ice... such were the common elements. Disregarding the forbidden Zora Arcana, there was one more.

Void. Whenever someone with the ability to use Arcana is born, their heart is instead a core for the strength, and it reflects it (an orb of magma for Flame, a small vortex for Winds, a rock for Stone, ect.). In the case of Void Arcana, it is instead a black hole, and they must also sacrifice a part of their body in order to channel the Void.

Many have died using it, being unable to resist the call of said Void.

Siegfried Orwell Darian Tomo, the Mage of Misfortune, and the previous incarnation of Philip, however, was different: she could silence the call of the Void, and use it expertly.

She also was known for excessive swearing and hating everyone but her wife, Marian, who was the exact opposite of her wife, being a gentle and kind soul.

Siegfried isn't a tsundere. She just genuinely hates everyone. It's honestly quite amazing to see.

Like most Tomos, she had white hair, and has dark purple eyes. She was also 6'0.

She used the Scepter of Siegfried to help her cast, but said scepter goes by another name.

The Staff of Llizel.

She did not recall her previous life as Pïïp, and so did not recall her promising the staff to Llizel. And so, when she died at the age of 88, and her spirit saw Llizel rob them, they vowed to find them and, using the Deity-Hunter... kill them.

Fast forward to Philip's time and him being pals with Darlin'. And Siegfried admits Darlin' is okay. Albeit a pain in her spiritual ass.

Her only desire, said to Philip, was to find Marian, who was suspended in time, and grant her peace.

"That Paradise is unobtainable for me... so get off your ass, AND SAVE MY GOD-DAMN WIFE, YOU INSIGNIFICANT FU--"

She sounds like the type to say "Of course I support gender equality, I hate everyone equally"

She sounds so nice (would probably insult me in so many ways), I like the fact that her wife is just a piece of heaven's bread while Siegfried just hates everyone.

(Idk how to translate "un pan de Dios")

Can you imagine someone who's DEAD describes you as nice but also a pain in the ass? At least we can say that your personality carries over.

I like that she's the character with the longest message you've sent me, do you have favorites? 🤨

Just kidding

Anyway, I hope her wife is okay, let them reunite after death. Darlin', hurry, help this woman's wife she seems to be desperate.

[obsidianmama]

Hunt, Gather, Parent Review: Prologue

After a months-long hold at the library, I have an ebook copy of Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD and am ready to review it! It's been recommended a lot among parents whose parenting philosophies and approaches have a lot of overlap with my own. Based on that, I expect to find within it a number of ideas I already practice within my own parenting, and am hopeful to find some new tools to add to my repertoire- after all, L is turning 3 in a few months, and that will be a whole new world for us to navigate together!

I have also harbored a few concerns. This is a book that specifically focuses on Indigenous parenting practices, but is written by a white woman. As a white person myself, I'm not the most qualified person to examine the nuances of non-Indigenous people talking about Indigenous cultures, so for the most part I'll focus on the parenting advice in my review, but since it IS important to address, I will try to point out what I do notice about how Doucleff handles her relationship with and portrayal of the people she's studying.

Since we're already on the subject, why don't we start with what we learn about these groups and how Doucleff approaches them in the prologue?

TREATMENT OF INDIGENOUS GROUPS

The book's focus is on the Maya, Hadzabe and Inuit peoples, with a section devoted to each culture. Since it's only the prologue, we don't get a lot of detail about them yet. We DO get a pledge from Doucleff to give 35% of her advance for this book to the families and communities featured within, which addresses one of my biggest concerns about a white person profiting off of Indigenous experiences- at least a significant chunk of that money is intended to go back to those communities. I don't really know if that's enough, and I can't find any information on if that money actually did get sent where it was promised.

Doucleff does emphasize that Indigenous families are as "contemporary" as any other, and notes "We...scold parents of different cultures when they don't follow our rules. At other times, we swing too far in the opposite direction and romanticize other cultures... Both types of thinking are categorically wrong" (page 11). She's definitely AWARE of a lot of the pitfalls of what she's doing. Whether or not she really avoids them remains to be seen.

Apparently she consulted with a number of experts such as anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, and psychologists as part of her research. But I feel like an anthropologist might have flagged her broad-strokes claim about hunter-gatherers being parenting experts. I'm sure many of them are, but it seems like a generalization from my layman's perspective. I'm going to be keeping an eye on that sort of thing as I read.

THE THESIS STATEMENT ON PARENTING

The prologue opens with an anecdote about Doucleff laying in bed early one morning, dreading having to wake up and face her daughter, whom she's begun to consider an enemy. She hates feeling that way, and wishes it were different, but she doesn't know HOW. She was raised in an angry home, where yelling and even throwing of shoes was common. She says that, simply put, she just didn't know how to be a good mother.

I like the frankness here, because this is something to which a LOT of parents, especially mothers, who face higher expectations and greater scrutiny for their parenting, can relate, yet often feel too ashamed to even admit. Doucleff talks about how much time she spent yelling at her three-year-old, only be to slapped and screamed at in response; how she would tell Rosy to put on her shoes to go to preschool (my feelings on three-year-olds in preschool are a topic for another day) only to be faced with the dress AND the underwear coming off. That kind of stuff is hard to admit to, because people WILL make you feel bad about it, as if you don't feel bad enough about it already. And if you don't, being shamed for it won't help you realize what's wrong with the picture.

The thing about parenting is that most of the tools in your parenting toolbox are going to come from the people who raised you. You might throw a few out because you remember those ones, specifically, hurting you, but even when you know some of them deal damage instead of fixing problems, when you don't have anything else to reach for, you're going to work with what you've got. I can relate to that, and I appreciate her candor about this. Parenting advice from people who pretend to be perfect is parenting advice you can ignore.

So, Doucleff knew something was wrong, but didn't know what or how to fix it. At the time, she was a reporter for NPR, and apparently one fateful trip to the Yucatán opened her eyes to different possibilities. This inspired her to take her daughter around the world, staying with various Indigenous peoples- many of whom are hunter-gatherers, hence the book's title- and learning new skills and wisdom from the parents she met there.

We get the bold claim that the style of parenting she learned in her travels is "universal" and children are "hardwired" to be raised like this. Now, I do think that all children will thrive the most if they are treated with respect, I would confidently declare that much to be universal. But I'm just going to need to hear more about the specific approaches recommended in this book before I can evaluate whether they're even good ideas generally.

According to Doucleff, the predominant parenting advice (she doesn't specify "in the US," but I will) centers a Euro-American perspective and is the reason for the alarmingly high rates of anxiety in children and teens and for Gen Z being the loneliest generation in decades.

The fundamental problem with mainstream parenting advice is that it centers the need for control. Either the parent is in control, or the child is, and if your child is out of control, you're a bad parent. This attitude sets up parent and child for a relationship marked by power struggles.

The issue of "Euro-American" as a synonym for "Western" aside (though I do have some issues with both terms), I would agree with the insight about control. In fact, Joanna Faber and Julie King addressed the power struggle in How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen (2017). If you view every interaction with your child as a fight for control, your home is going to be constantly embroiled in conflict, a miserable and harmful environment for everyone. Autonomy is a basic human need; therefore trying to control children against their will is going to cause them extreme distress, and they don't know how to handle extreme distress, so they're going to fight to exert control on their lives and they're going to try to emotionally regulate through yelling, crying and violent movement, the only ways that are available by default.

As the prologue comes to a close, the author emphasizes that the goal of this book isn't to make anyone feel bad about their parenting, but rather empower them to become more skillful and be more in harmony with their children. I think this ties back to the anecdote with which the book opens, where Doucleff honestly relays the deeply troubled relationship she had with her then-three-year-old. The parenting she described doing at the time was not effective, harmonious, or constructive. She knows what it's like to parent like that and feel guilt and helplessness as she gets into a shouting match with a toddler because she doesn't know what else to do. A lot of parents have been there. Chances are most people picking up this book are where she was back then- filled with frustration, guilt, dread, and at a complete loss for how to break out of the cycle of misery making their and their beloved child(ren)'s lives hell. If you already know what you're doing isn't working, you don't really need someone to come in and say, "You're doing a bad job and ruining your child's life!" That will probably hurt and upset you, but it won't help you do any better. What you need is for someone to say, "I know it's hard and you're doing your best. Here's something else you can try instead."

I don't know yet if this book is something I will personally recommend that people try instead, but I do think the long waitlist I had to sit through for a copy of it is heartening. More and more, people are going, "This way that I've learned from my parents and from the culture I live in is hurting more than it's helping. I want to find a different way so that my child and I can be happy together, so that we can be on the same team instead of enemies." It's not everything, but it is a big step in the right direction.

And if you have ever taken that step, or are doing so now? I see you. I know how it feels, and I know how hard it is. Things may not seem to get better right away, but you're making a positive difference. Your child will be better off because you made the effort to learn and change. You're going to make mistakes, but you'll say sorry and keep trying again and again until you get it right.

And it will be worth it.

[jeanstapleton]

up to the part in chimera ant where pitou is born.

the way the whole scene plays out with the rabbit guy does such a good job addressing the concept of predestined shounen power or someone just being lucky enough to have been born of great warriors, aka gon & killua! gon is slightly different since he lived in nature all his life & learned how to hone his senses to levels that were supernatural before the show even got into the hunter exam let alone nen but he also has ging’s legacy to uphold, esp since everyone & their mother seems to know about the two of them. in regards to the behavior of the chimera ants & the process of phagogenesis, the ants are only born with their particular views on society & power bc they’re getting it from the humans the queen digested; every prejudice, every feeling of entitlement, except made worse when put through the black-and-white filter of animal survival. predators and prey are natural elements of any food chain & thus free of any moral failure, but ingesting humans also gave the ants the anxieties humans have over falling short where others effortlessly succeed. it made them aware of their place in the food chain & gave way to ambition, frustration, hatred, sadism, and eventually subservience, which is what the rabbit guy went through.

my point in how it relates to gon & killua is that while we know the ants inherited the most toxic parts of humanity, we learn from the apex himself that it is entirely possible to unlearn these things & open your heart, even if it makes you vulnerable. the only other option is to stick with seeking power for power’s sake & closing your heart. gon’s upbringing differs from killua’s because he was not raised in prejudice, while the zoldycks actually foreshadow the ants: a tight-knit family of killers that believe themselves to be above everyone else, & have the power to “prove” it. this is continued with the phantom troupe. and what begins cracking the foundation of all three units is not just love, but the Choice to love. its easy for gon to love, because mito and the rest of whale island loved him. to killua, its like swallowing poison, and much like his training, he swallows enough of it that it starts to change him. whats even more interesting is that as the new zoldyck generation continues to be born, the less interested they are in sticking by their family, because no one is born hard. no one is born with hate in their heart. they have to learn it. (kalluto’s a somewhat grey take on that since hes the second youngest & was forced to spend way too much time with kikyo, but thats because he was undertaking two forms of molding: to be a killer & to be the daughter she wanted.)

the ants are born into a mold, only knowing to follow the basic instincts of eat or be eaten. as they get more self-aware, they start having emotional responses to that, and a resulting desire for individuality. these feelings get sent into turmoil when they get threatened by ants who are much stronger & in a higher class than them, & they learn defeatism when they decide there’s no point in seeking improvement. a lot of the adults kinda echo this when they see how powerful gon & killua are, but they don’t feel defeated in the end. most if not all of them are like “ykw? i haven’t trained in a while. i should go back to that. this new generation of hunters has inspired me.” you have to be open to change, or it’ll literally kill you.

 this applies to gon’s fate because for all his patience & kindness, he rarely allowed himself the catharsis of pure, unfiltered rage. he was justifiably angry at many of his enemies, but he never wanted to hurt anyone just for the sake of inflicting pain. he unfortunately needed moments like that, because little moments of change matter just as much as the larger scale ones, even if they give way to negative feelings. in the same episode, the lion guy sees how powerful the main trio are & makes his squad retreat, admitting that they’re vastly outclassed, but now are blessed with the ability to learn from this mistake. gon did not ever allow himself to fail or fall short -- we see during a scene from the hunter exam arc where hes gritting his teeth & crying bc he wasn’t strong enough to complete some kind of task. gon was raised with love, but is now too deep into the world of his father, a world where inflicting & experiencing the most brutal pain is the only way to sharpen yourself. we see through killua that its not. we see through meruem that its not.

gon’s whole arc depicts him progressively losing the purity (not naivety!) he tried so hard to cling to, an innocence that he may actually believe to be a fault. “if i harden myself & go through the toughest training & witness things no child should have to see, ill be worthy enough for my dad. but i couldn’t save his friend, an extension of him, the only real link ill probably ever have, so it goes to show that i have been unworthy this whole time. the last thing i can do to uphold this legacy even a little bit will be to die fighting the thing that killed him. dad would want me to.” gon, a child, will slit his own throat before he kneels to a higher power, before kneeling to anyone who isn’t ging. and that is the tragedy bc its the one thing he can’t change, or unlearn, or whose toxicity he cant even admit to. my dad hits me because he loves me

[manybcdthings]

Hunter could sense that being there only brought the discomfort he was witnessing from Lia. And, even in his strict thoughts, he knew telling her where his mind kept going to would solve all of it. But, he buried it and watched with an expectancy for Lia to lose more and more respect for him as the time went on. "Even if it was a fluke, it ain't happened any other way than how it happened." he responded simply. Even if his own worry drifted to the what ifs, Hunter hated to hear others do the same. It made it more difficult for him to accept the black and white world. The full moon could have gone one way, but it didn't. It went in their favor. End of story.

His head dipped at Lia's more direct gratitude and he sniffed, looking back across to her with a shrug lifting a shoulder. He didn't deserve thanks, and it was increasingly harder to hear. He only nodded to Lia, making it clear with the silence that he wasn't going to respond any other way. Especially after the fact that he was only contributing the bare minimum for their daughter, and practically announced it was all Lia should get used to. And it seemed she had already. Something in her tone hit his ears like a pain. One he hadn't experienced before, a guilty drop in his stomach. She usually wound herself around an issue, pried him from a depth and he didn't realize it until now when she no longer offered it.

"She ain't a God damn secret." Hunter huffed, a sharpened look to Lia. "And you ain't a-" there was no point saying anything, he quickly decided. As much as he hated to admit to himself, she was right. He'd try to keep the worlds separate since Saoirse was born. Ducking away from his brothers to see his daughter, terrified to bring her into family arms. It would feel too much like gloating, right in Elliot and Isla's faces. "I ain't doing anythin' for the reasons you think." Hunter said, trying to catch her gaze with his properly. "And I just gotta tell you to trust me because I'm not saying anything else about it."

lia doesn't know what's going on with her. she feels the same as always and changed beyond recognition. so much so that the dry joke only brings a small air of a laugh. and even keeping herself busy isn't working the way it usually does. she trails back to the kitchen to take a seat, nudging the box to the side so she can see hunter. it's clear she's distracted. keeping busy isn't helping, but the sense of urgency to be doing something hasn't gone away. she's brushing down her clothes as hunter speaks, shaking her head. 'i think it was a fluke.' she admits, a sigh following. 'just lucky i was getting that first shift over with.' she talks much quieter than usual, until she peers over to hunter with a slight narrow of her gaze. 'i'm thanking you.' she says. 'i can thank everyone else when i see 'em. i'm sayin' thanks because of what you did, hunter.' because it isn't just worth mentioning, it deserves to be acknowledged. all their differences aside.

she lets hunter's question settle between them. and where lia would usually have an abundance of words and solutions, she can only shrug. their small routine for the past few days has worked, but it's no way to continue. 'i think we got time to figure that out.' she says, complete defeat in her tone. 'we don't gotta talk about it right now. don't think it'd solve much anyways if we did.' that's all she has in her, and she can hear how her tone is different to how it usually is. she's tired, exhausted to be the one with solutions. 'i've accepted that she's just...like the secret baby you come on over to see and i ain't offended that i'm low on that priority list too. i get it.'

[theanoninyourinbox]

And it’s The Randomly Picked Full-Page Hypokits! Myler and Mapleshade! An anon asked for this, and I had an AU ready, and then in a moment of serendipity, @scentedglitterillumination asked for the same ship with THE EXACT AU I WAS ALREADY WRITING oooOOOooo I was yeeted directly into the twilight zone! Shivers! Anyway here’s ART

In this AU, Mapleshade is leaving Thunderclan, banished with her kits. The storm in her broken heart is mirrored by the turbulent weather, and her kits cries break through her mental fog. She needs to save her kits! She heads towards the river, but it’s far too wild, waves lashing (she sees Frecklewish lashing out screaming fury betrayal not my kin) (Ravenwing scowling Oakstar snarling everyone everyone everyone) and past that…she can’t put her kits through that! Not even for their father! (a molly she doesn’t know at his side laughing as they walk) (he says their love is special but don’t tell shhh) She doesn’t know where to go but she can’t stay there. Mapleshade herds the frightened kits away, and Patchkit asks - are we going to see the barn? The elders said there’s some twoleg thing - and Mapleshade remembers it too. It’s safer than the storm. And they go.

Mapleshade can see the hulking twoleg shelter when everything goes wrong - lightning crashes too close and Larchkit bolts away from her. She screams over the thunder (over the clan begging they’re just kits no no no I promised my babies) and a voice answers - do y’all need help? It says, strange and faint. My kit, she cries, I can’t find her! Please Starclan, they did nothing wrong! A black and white blur passes her, go inside, keep those two warm, I’ll find her Ma’am. She sees no stars in his pelt (she doesn’t deserve stars she broke the code what’s wrong with her) but he sounds confident, and Mapleshade is too unfamiliar and Patchkit and Petalkit are freezing. Inside she licks them clean, and as she begins to shake herself off, the blur trots in, Ma’am I got her! Larchkit hangs miserably from the muzzle of a tom with scruffed fur. The blur is another cat. Not a Starclan ghost, a living cat who deposits the shivering kit in her paws. I’ll get y’all something ta eat, he says, still strange voiced, y’all look like ya need it. Mapleshade finally finds her voice - thank you! The tom’s tail twitches, dripping as he walks off deeper in. Y’all’r welcome ma’am, my momma woulda shown up an knocked me senseless iffin I hadn’t helped.

When he returns, the kits sleep deep and peaceful, and Mapleshade sees the two mice in his jaws with relief. He drops them near and drawls muh name’s Myler ma’am, an what’r y’all doin out in this weather? Mapleshade pauses, and quietly admits her story, to being banished from the clans. She won’t be on his territory long - he cuts her off with a wave. Feel free ta stay, iffin yer alright with it. I get lonely, and the twolegs won’t mind if y’all help take out the mice. B’sides, I ain’t bought ta send off a lady - ‘specially a ma and her youngins. Mapleshade is…cautious, but accepts the offer for now. She never regrets it, not when seeing Myler act like she always wanted Appledusk to (never caring only meeting his own kits because she made him) (Myler giving badger rides Myler being target practice Myler crowing with delight when the kits bring down a mouse together look at these lil hunters I’m so proud of y’all go show yer ma), not when he acts like a better cat than her old clan (judging kits for blood for kin hating fighting for territory to just lose it again) (Myler breaking up a fight between loners they leave as friends Myler not caring what halfclan means Myler inviting the old loners in during winter so they’re safe), and certainly doesn’t regret it when he proves a much better mate (hush don’t tell of course I love only you don’t look don’t look I swear it’s only you) (Myler offering to watch the kits y’all look tired let me catch you a mouse Myler giving her flower petals because they make y’all sparkle Myler weeping in joy I’m gonna be a Pa again oh honey I’m never gonna leave).

There are other kits that come through, and other loners and wanderers and banished warriors. A few stay with them in the barn, most pass through many times, two stay as her own kits - she doesn’t need to have birthed them to be their mother. The couple pass away together, to the grief of kits and grandkids and great grandkits, and years later, when a kit with a crooked jaw passes through, a pair of ghosts keep watch, and decide that death won’t stop them from being better parents to the lost and neglected.

…this got way away from me. Like I thought it was going to be much shorter but the Prose Muse grabbed me by the throat and demanded tribute. Anyway enjoy your characters glitter, and I’ll see you at the 100 follower special!

[polarisbibliotheque]

Devil May Halloween - The Horror Amusement Park (Halloween with the crew)

Devil May Halloween 2022 - The Horror Amusement Park, Prologue (Reader and the crew spending Halloween together)

Pairing: During this Prologue, none. You can read it pairing the reader with anyone you want ;)

Summary: The 'Nightmares From Hell' horror amusement park had just stopped by Redgrave. After a few talks and Halloween enthusiasts, the DMC crew decide to visit it together, in order to have a bit of fun and wind down... Tough a cursed puzzle box might change those plans. (buckle up, it's a long one)

Author's Notes: You guys didn't think I'd forget you this Halloween, right? This is just the Prologue, then I'll update with Dante x Reader and Vergil x Reader parts, in a sort of "choose your own path" adventure (meaning, they'll have the same prologue, but then you decide if you want to read the whole ~incident~ with Dante or Vergil. Or both! Then the ending will be the same when the crew gets together again)! If I manage to finish them both by Halloween and have some time left, I'll try to deliver a Nero one too ^^

Happy Halloween, devil hunters, demons and lil' critters :3

Prologue

“Oh, hell yeah! This place looks friggin’ awesome!”

It seemed like Christmas was approaching to Nico while she looked at the ominous gates of the horror themed park the whole crew decided to visit on Halloween: the Nightmares From Hell.

It wasn’t too planned really. Nero saw someone talking about it on TV, Nico heard something on the radio, you talked about it with Dante, Kyrie seemed a little too nervous about it, Lady saw something about it while looking for a job and brought Trish on the loop… And Vergil eventually got what you were all talking about. Soon, everyone seemed to agree it would be something nice for the crew to do together.

Well, not everyone. Trish was neutral: if everyone decided to go, she’d go as well. Vergil had absolutely no interest in such human foolishness – to think they could do something as terrible as what he had experienced in Hell. Kyrie was adamant in not going: she loved kids Halloween, but hated the more adult side of things – all the scares, horror and gore was definitely not for her.

Dante had to do a little convincing with his brother, you helping Vergil understand it all was for fun – it took the blue devil quite a long time to even begin to comprehend why humans would find anything Hell related remotely fun. In the end, you had convinced him to go as a way to bond with everyone in the crew – especially since Nero would be there.

Now, Kyrie had to be convinced by her devil in shining armor. She kept denying until Nero showed her something he found to be incredible: Lady, Trish, you, Dante and Vergil all talking about the horror park and what you guys would do together, what kind of costumes you’d wear and how Vergil would scare people more than the actors themselves – Lady, though, seemed to be a child on her first Halloween. Nero and Kyrie had never seen her so excited for something; perhaps only Christmas at the Devil May Cry.

With that, Kyrie had to say yes.

“I really don’t know about that…” Kyrie sighed, getting closer to Nero. He didn’t even think twice before wrapping one arm around his girl.

There was something of sweet about their Halloween costumes: Kyrie put on one of her flowy white dresses, pairing it with feathery angel wings on her back and a golden crown adorning her coppery hair. Nero, on the other hand, went for the demon look: wearing his dirty, fake-bloodied clothes from his last job, you insisted on painting his ‘half-trigger’ looks – the blue lines that appeared on his face, some fake fangs and nails, his arms like his old devil bringer and a cheap plastic tiara adorned with blue devil horns.

No one could deny it: they were indeed a perfect couple.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m here, remember?” Nero cuddled her closer, smiling while watching her eye nervously at those gates. He wouldn’t admit, but he loved being her one and only protector. “Anything bad happen, I’m stayin’ with ya. No need to do somethin’ you don’t want, angel.”

Kyrie had to look back at him and smile when Nero called her like that.

“But not going on things is soooo not fun! We’re here to have fun together, dumbass!” Nico had to complain, all in her Eddie Munson costume glory. The thought of not having Nero around inside the horror mazes to poke some fun at her co-worker demon hunter was, actually, unthinkable.

“We’re all here, lil’ angel! No reason to be scared!” Dante playfully pinched Kyrie’s cheek, making her laugh. The Crimson Slayer decided to go all out during the Halloween and, with your help, dressed up as an 80’s rockstar. You were positive Mötley Crüe would be proud of his looks. “If things get too ugly, we just call lil’ ol’ Verge over there and even the monsters will run away; that, I’m sure!”

Vergil just limited himself to give his twin brother an annoyed look that could freeze the coldest of hearts. Keeping his arms crossed, it was one of the first times he ditched his usual attire for something else: the crew’s very own Necromancer. It was your idea and it seemed right up Vergil’s alley – plus, he found a way to carry Yamato as a makeshift staff, avoiding the terrifying thought of going out without his most beloved weapon.

Dante and Vergil couldn’t have planned to be more opposites than those last-minute Halloween costumes.

“Also, you can stay around us.” Trish threw back the lock of golden hair she was playing with, letting it rest on her shiny, vinyl Catwoman suit. Full Michelle Pfeiffer movie look, she opted for having her hair lose under the torn mask and messy makeup. “I think no one will want to mess with me, Lady or y/n.”

You and Lady exchanged a knowing look and laughed after that comment. Trish was right: having the beautiful devil as Catwoman, Lady full on her 90’s goth attire as the witch Nancy from The Craft – a movie you three ended up watching together and discovered it was one of her favorites – and you full in black and the iconic makeup of Eric Draven from The Crow, it was very unlikely people would mess with you.

Needless to say, Kyrie was safer than anyone else in that park.

“Well, are we going to just stand here and watch?” Lady finally put her hands on her waist and questioned the crew – receiving both eager, fearful and bored looks. “Let’s go in already!”

“You heard the woman! Let’s go!” You, charged with keeping the tickets safe, started distributing them so you could finally cross the gates of Nightmares From Hell. As Dante would always say, you all expected that to be one hell of a party – and it surely would be.

*

“The only hellish thing about this place is the amount of people screaming and running around aimlessly.” Vergil scoffed with an annoyed look in his eyes, one hand safely inside the pocket of his pants while the other safely held Yamato.

It was funny, really. The guy at the entrance of the park tried to make Vergil show him if it was a real blade, but just one glare of the blue devil made him give up on that. He allowed entrance when Vergil simply muttered it was a cane.

The man definitely wouldn’t argue.

“Oh, c’mon. I bet you’re having fun, necromancer.” You side eyed him, a tiny smile showing on your black lips. Vergil responded the look.

“Perhaps I was wrong bringing you back from the dead, Draven.”

That little comment made the whole crew stop on their tracks and look back at both of you.

“Did you…?” Nero started blabbering, pointing at his father – still protecting Kyrie with one of his arms. “Did he… Just made a joke? And a movie reference? All in one?!”

“Boy, this Halloween sure promises to be creepy!” Dante had to laugh while Vergil rolled his eyes, seemingly impatient. All you could do was laugh with everyone else.

“I know, right? There’s hope for the Dark Slayer!” You patted Vergil’s shoulder, immediately pointing at something else that caught your attention. “Wait – are those candied apples?!”

“Where?!” Lady immediately turned around, seeing a witch booth, selling all kinds of candied apples and what it was labeled as love potions. “No way! We gotta get one!”

“You don’t have to say it twice!” You entangled your arm around hers and off you both went, talking about your favorite Halloween foods.

“Didn’t know they loved those things so much.” Dante had his eyebrows raised, as Kyrie started to pull Nero towards the booth.

“C’mon, man! Everyone loves candied apples!” Nico answered the red devil before turning around and running after all of you. “Hey! Wait for me! You bunch of hungry raccoons!”

Vergil and Dante just glanced at Trish, who started following the group with a faster pace, but still gracefully swinging her hips.

“Not gonna lie – I love candied apples too. Like all humans apparently, huh?” She winked at the twins, spinning on her heels to turn back to the booth and making her golden hair elegantly flow in the night.

Dante and Vergil stood there for a while, watching as you all made a fuss around the witch and discussed the love potions – different drinks with all kinds of flavors, but, of course, Nico would never stop annoying Nero and Trish had to tease Lady, at least a little bit. You and Kyrie just laughed as you watched all the mayhem, nibbling at your apples and choosing the best love potion for each of you.

“Maybe they got some strawberries with chocolate…?” Dante finally suggested, making Vergil close his eyes with a tiny smile hidden in his stern lips.

“Our preferences have never really been human, right?” Even though Vergil’s arms were crossed in front of his chest, still holding tightly to Yamato, he had quite an amused tone to his voice.

“Eh, what can I say. Demons have different tastes.” Dante shrugged, satisfied with the sort of relationship he and Vergil had built so far. It wasn’t the most loving or amazing brotherly dynamic, but they had their laughs and internal jokes – and Dante missed that, honestly.

Vergil would never admit it, but it was one of the things his heart bled for in Hell. Only after having it back, rebuilding that sort of dynamic with his twin brother, Vergil noticed there was a void inside of him only family could fill – only Dante. Of course, he loved Nero, and the boy was his son, but having a brother who grew up with him, went through the same family trauma, survived all the horrors they had both seen… It was different. It was home.

“Remember when mother tried to make candied apples…?” Vergil’s voice barely broke the noises of music, screams, laughs and horrifying sounds of the park, but he knew Dante could listen to him very well. Both had the same kind of hearing, inherited from their father.

“Hah! I thought you wouldn’t remember that!” Dante rested his hands on his hips, letting a good laugh out of his chest. “We couldn’t break that coat of sugar if our lives depended on it!”

“Father had to use his demon fangs to taste it just so mother wouldn’t be sad her recipe didn’t work.” Vergil finally looked at Dante, now having a noticeable smile on his face. It was one of the very rare times Dante saw him smiling in such a carefree manner – and it made his heart happier.

The whole night was worth it just because of that moment, in his opinion.

“We didn’t know how to trigger back then, it broke her heart when she saw dad breaking our apples!” Dante could see that scene as bright as day, and Vergil couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“We never ate candied apples again.”

Dante rested one of his hands on Vergil’s shoulder, almost breathless from laughing. Vergil kept his arms crossed, but his body was turned towards his brother, laughing alongside him with rare care in his cold eyes. They had completely forgotten about the candied apple incident, but being there with each other and the crew, talking as if they had no worries and putting down their alertness for a while, it had all come back – and, honestly, they hoped for even more moments like that.

“Let’s hope for strawberries, or else we are doomed.” Vergil adjusted his posture, starting to walk alongside his brother.

“Strawberries with chocolate, bro. Let’s not forget your favorite part!” Dante winked at him, resting his hands inside the pockets of his old coat he wore during the Temen-ni-gru incident. It still fitted absurdly well, given how much time had passed. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d be ready for candied apples again.”

“I would like to keep all my fangs.” Vergil scoffed, making Dante burst out in laughs.

“You’re supposed to be a necromancer, don’t start with the vampire lingo.” You took another bite of your shiny, bright red apple – just ignoring how much of your makeup you would have to retouch after eating.

“Hey, it’s not our fault we do have fangs, beautiful.” Dante winked at you, making you giggle in response. He was a perfect rocker from the 80’s. “But hey, ya think they’ve somethin’ other than apples?”

“Why? Do you guys have a trauma of apples or somethin’?” Of course, Nero asked as a joke – but Dante and Vergil just stared at him seriously in response. Everyone stopped their laughs and Nero furrowed his eyebrows, immediately worried he joked about something he shouldn’t have. “What…? Are there… Demon apples?

“You don’t wanna know, kid. Trust me.” Dante replied in his completely out of character serious demeanor.

“It is safer if you remain in ignorance. All of you.” Vergil used his stoic tone, eyes cold as ice from the nineth circle of Hell.

It was safe to say the whole crew got creeped out – the Sparda twins, in another hand, were internally laughing together, as if they were still two children pulling pranks on oblivious people during Halloween.

They wouldn’t let the rest of the crew know, though. It would be another of their internal jokes.

“I can assure both of you there’s nothing demonic in my apples.” The lady from the booth used a sing song tune to lure their attention, a perfect and deadly witch who dealt with all kinds of delights and afflictions of love. “Would you like to taste one?”

“Well, you see, babe, I’m more of a strawberry kind of guy.” Dante leaned on the booth, and you could clearly see: if he had ever found some bandmates, he would have been one of the greatest rockstars the world had seen. He had the looks, the sass, the attitude – and, of course, you all knew he could break the gates of Hell with his guitar playing. Literally. “And my bro here, he’s really into chocolate. A lil’ too much, if I might say so.”

Vergil, once more, rolled his eyes at Dante’s antics, while the witch giggled gracefully, completely smitten by those charming men that had stopped by.

“I can say the same regarding his love of strawberries. It borders unhealthy even.” Vergil had to use his voice to sting like the thorns of a rose. That made her even more delighted by them – even if Vergil wasn’t even trying to be charming.

“Yeah. I’m an unhealthy stuff kind of guy too, if you know what I mean.” Dante winked at her, making you shake your head while laughing. He was hopeless. “Would you by any chance have chocolate strawberries for us?”

“Well… I don’t have it here right now…” She glanced the twins, taking her cellphone from one of the pockets on her skirt. “But I can work some magic to bring them. Can you wait a bit?”

“I can wait all night for magic like that to happen, babe!” Dante let out one of his hearty laughs and she immediately started typing.

“Does he always makes himself look like a fool like that…?” Lady took a bite from her glistening cherry red apple, crunching it on her teeth – just like you, she would have to retouch her black lips.

“U-hum.” Trish didn’t even think before answering rather uninterested, cleaning a little bit of red love potion that dripped from her blood red lips. “A trainwreck, really.”

“I bet Nero wants to die right now.” Your comment came right before taking another bite from your apple. That immediately turned your attention to Nero, Kyrie and Nico – he didn’t know what to do with himself, blushing viciously while apparently trying to get Kyrie out of there, but she and Nico insisted on staying and waiting for Dante and Vergil’s food to arrive. “Poor boy is gonna die out of shame because of his rockstar uncle.”

“We should’ve told him to dress as something else.” Lady sighed a little hopelessly, one of her hands resting on her hips. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I think it’s fun. Look at Vergil’s face.” Trish pointed at the blue devil with her apple, giggling right as you all focused on his painfully annoyed expression. Every bit of shameless behavior Dante had, Vergil seemed to lack. “I wouldn’t mind watching this the whole night. That’s the best I’ve ever seen of the great Sparda twins.”

“C’mon. You gotta do something.” Nero finally approached you, holding Kyrie’s hand while she and Nico followed him with giggles on their lips. They obviously were having a little bit too much fun with all of that as well.

“And spoil all the fun?” Trish was painfully honest sometimes – making Nico burst into a fit of laughter and Kyrie try her best to hold hers in, while Nero just stared soullessly at the woman in the shiny vinyl catsuit. “You have to admit this is at least… A little fun.”

She winked back at Nero, just enhancing everyone’s reaction. He wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

“C’mon… We can at least leave ‘em here and do somethin’ else…” Of all the families he could have had… Nero had to be on that one.

He loved all of you, with his heart and soul, even. He wouldn’t flinch if it came to sacrificing himself for anyone in the crew. But that didn’t mean sometimes you were all too much for him to bear and he just wanted to leave you all laughing together in a fit of anger.

Of course, at least assuring Kyrie he still loved her and it had nothing to do with her.

“Hmmm… I think the kiddo is right, we could get to a line or something.” Lady pointed at the nearest horror maze around. “I mean, the place is packed. It wouldn’t hurt to get us some spots in the waiting line.”

“Thank you, Lady!” Nero seemed like he was about to grab her by her shoulders and kiss both of her cheeks. She couldn’t stop herself from giggling as soon as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, still holding Kyrie’s hand. They were his girls now. “You heard her! She’s right! We’re goin’ to the line, get us a spot, someone should be responsible here!”

“Oooooh, c’mon! What if your ol’ man needs some help, huh?!” Nico had to tease him, making Trish laugh gracefully while already following Nero, Kyrie and Lady.

“Nico, the man escaped Hell with only his hands and his fuckin’ will – I’m pretty sure he can handle a night with Dante in a horror park!” Nero barely turned around, holding Lady forward so she wouldn’t turn back. The woman just laughed alongside his girlfriend. “We’re goin’, ya can stay if ya want!”

“Hey! Wait for me, dumbass!”

“I’m staying with them, Trish.” You winked at the devilish woman, making her agree with her head. “I’ll meet you guys at the line, ok?”

“Ok, beautiful. Just don’t take too long or die of shame, ok?” She winked back at you, slightly waving her hand with shiny claws. “If you do take too long, we’ll wait you at the exit.”

“Ok, gorgeous, have fun!”

With those words, you walked back to the twins, patiently waiting while Dante casually chatted with the witch – pain filling Vergil’s eyes.

“In need of some salvation, blue devil?”

“I don’t think there’s absolution waiting for me…” Vergil sighed, looking down back at you, moving only his head. “I am forever stuck with this fool as my own blood.”

You could almost see sarcasm dripping from his words, Vergil’s silvery eyes filled with a delighted amusement. You were already proficient in reading the twins, so you knew quite well his foul humor was all just a façade so he wouldn’t show his real feelings towards his brother – and even how much he was enjoying that night.

“Ei, I’m forever stuck with ya as my twin too, asshat. Don’cha go thinkin’ you’re the only one sufferin’ here.” Dante immediately joined the conversation, shifting the witch’s attention to all of you. “I’m not the one with a long history of doin’ dumb shit.”

“You guys are twins?” The witch finally asked, pointing back at Vergil.

“Unfortunately.” The blue devil answered in monotone, making her giggle with endearment. Vergil seriously questioned himself why some humans tended to find his sharp comments and stoic expression so adorable sometimes.

“Ditto.” Dante had to agree with his brother. You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing at those clowns. “He’s the one who does stupid shit and I’m the one who cleans the mess, though.”

“Oh, really?”

“You’d think it was otherwise, right?” You jumped into the conversation before Vergil could begin arguing. You knew if he decided to go all out on Dante, there would be a monologue fit for Shakespeare and you’d never leave that place before the rest of the crew got inside the maze. “Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”

Vergil immediately turned at you with furrowed eyebrows, his eyes clearly questioning what kind of quote you had just said. It was something he did know, for it was vaguely familiar to him, but escaped him completely.

It was quite a feat to win a quote war against Vergil.

“Star Wars, A New Hope.” You murmured back while Dante’s and the witch’s attention were grabbed by another witch bringing the skewers with strawberries covered in chocolate. “Wise words from old Ben Kenobi.”

“Clearly I need to watch it again.”

“Clearly, blue devil.” You winked back at him, while the witch handed Vergil his skewer.

“I hope it is to your taste, necromancer.” She had so much suggestion dripping from her eyes, you could almost feel it. You had to hold back your laugh while Vergil seemed completely uncomfortable with her flirty demeanor – Dante, in the other hand, didn’t give a damn. “You too, rockstar. Do come back if you want another one, ok? Or if you want something else.”

“Thanks, babe! You’re the best!” Dante replied her wink before leaving the booth alongside you and Vergil – you in the middle of the huge Slayers. Some actors even tried to get you three by surprise in the moment and scare you, but neither you, Dante or Vergil flinched.

Vergil’s hand tightened its grip around Yamato, though, making you hold it as a reflex. It was something he did unconsciously every time he was taken by surprise – and you and Dante always made sure Vergil would know he was safe and there was no reason for using violence.

You were quite lucky he didn’t spawn any summoned swords – that would be a little difficult to hide and to explain.

“Wanna a strawberry, beautiful?” Dante wrapped your shoulders with one of his arms, like a perfect rockstar. He was in character, and you could tell he was loving it.

“Thanks, red devil. I’m pretty satisfied with my apple.” You showed him your empty skewer, having devoured your whole snack. “Nero was too ashamed of your antics and went hiding on the line of that maze over there.”

“Ashamed? I see no reason why!” And, to your and Vergil’s surprise, Dante seemed genuinely confused.

“I am starting to deem myself the more foolish for following him around.” Vergil mused, biting one of the strawberries and taking it off the skewer – some of its juices dripping from his lips. For the first time, he didn’t seem to care about making a mess.

“C’mon! I got us strawberries! With extra chocolate! You should be thanking me, mister smart pants!” Dante pointed at his brother with his skewer, making a small smile appear on the corner of Vergil’s lips stained with chocolate.

“Indeed, that I have.” He recognized, finally relaxing the grip around Yamato – something you felt in your hand that enveloped his. As you started to let it go, though, you felt him tense again, as if asking you not to. You kept holding his hand. “Your foolishness paid off this time.”

“Hey, it always does – and you both can’t disagree!” Dante pointed back at you and Vergil before you could say anything.

“Well… It kinda does, really. I’m not complaining.” You raised your free hand as if you were at gunpoint. “You would’ve been a great rockstar, handsome.”

“Finally, a compliment! You’re gettin’ a strawberry, whether you want it or not, babe!”

You couldn’t really argue against Dante on that – he was always extremely giving, and you wanted him to be a little more selfish, even if it meant starting by enjoying his food all on his own. But Dante couldn’t do that: if he didn’t share it with you, he wouldn’t enjoy it enough. You accepted the strawberry covered in chocolate – with all the help Dante could give so you wouldn’t let it fall or it wouldn’t smear your makeup.

After all, you had just retouched your black lips while he had all that conversation with the witch.

“Oh! She really brought you strawberries! That’s so kind of her!” Kyrie waved as you approached, so you could find them on the line more easily.

“I wouldn’t say it was kindness…” Trish set her devilish eyes on the Sparda’s, making the meaning of her words quite obvious. “But you are dressed as an angel today, dear Kyrie.”

“C’mon, Trish. If you keep like that, Nero’s gonna cover her ears every time you open your mouth to speak.” Lady had to laugh of her co-worker, watching as Nero glanced at them with such an offended expression you didn’t know if it was because of Trish’s comment or Lady’s.

Even though you wouldn’t doubt he would cover Kyrie’s ears whenever someone said something ‘wrong’.

“I’m nooooot…!” Nero didn’t even know what he was disagreeing with, he just wanted to disagree with something.

“You aaaaaare…!” Nico had to drop her two cents on that conversation. “You’ve done it every time I cursed in the van!”

“That’s ‘cause you curse more than a truck driver!” Nero immediately turned at her, looking like he was on the brink of triggering.

“He’s got the short temper from ya.” Dante murmured back to his brother, only you being able to hear what they were talking about.

“The awful vocabulary comes from you, though.” Vergil had to strike back.

There, holding Vergil’s hand and wrapped around one of Dante’s arms, all you could do was smile. You couldn’t have asked for a better family to be a part of.

*

“I really don’t want to go first…”

Kyrie seemed to have her feet – adorned with beautiful and sparkly golden shoes – glued at the entrance. Both of her hands rested over her heart, and you and Lady immediately stepped by her side, each of you entangling your arms around hers. No one would leave Kyrie alone, it was a rule.

She was the innocent angel of the whole crew who should be protected at all costs. It was unnegotiable.

“Hey, if we go first, the actors will think they are the ones scared, remember?” You winked back at her, tightly holding her hand while pointing at the others behind you.

“Besides, we’ll stay here all the time! We’re not letting you go, Kyrie!” Lady smiled at her, making sure the three of you were tight against each other so you all could fit in the smallest of aisles. “If they want to get you, they’ll have to go through me and y/n!”

“Also, they’re all actors. Remember they can’t touch you.” Trish towered behind you, using her nonchalant tone of always. She was born in Hell, it wasn’t like she could get easily scared. “If they do, we can always sue them.”

“Spoke like a true devil.” Dante winked back at her, making Trish blow him a kiss in response.

“I’ll make sure to scream like crazy here behind you!” Nico practically jumped as she followed your footsteps while going into the house-maze. Kyrie couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “They’ll think I’m the scaredy cat of the crew and run after me! It’s a perfect plan, angel!”

Nero, Dante and Vergil followed all of you, like wolves guarding their pack. Dante talked about it with all of you before going to the park: he wasn’t sure how Vergil would react, so it was better if he stayed beside his brother. Nero volunteered to keep his own father on track, making him and Dante casually walk with Vergil in the middle.

The blue devil wasn’t dumb. Even though they acted in their easygoing manner, pointing at the stupid decoration and laughing instead of being scared, Vergil knew why they were flanking him – and was secretly grateful for it. He was used to go full into survival mode whenever something sudden happen – and whenever he was jumpscared. It wasn’t uncommon for Vergil to grab Yamato and judgement cut the TV when you were watching horror movies and he was taken by surprise. He was prone to flinch – but in a deadly way.

You were there to have fun, not to deal with him accidentally killing innocent people out of a survival instinct or having a PTSD meltdown causing mayhem and distress in the whole park. What Dante said was true: Vergil was aware people would fear him more than whatever ‘horrors’ the park could have.

“Ok… Can we run through this room?” Kyrie suddenly stopped on her tracks, pointing a single opening on the other side, lit only by a faint red light. The middle was engulfed in shadows, having no lights whatsoever. You didn’t know what expected you. “I don’t like the dark.”

“Hmmm… I have to be honest, I’m not much of a fan of darkness too.” You eyed the room suspiciously, trying to see if there was something inside – the pitch-black darkness didn’t allow you to do it, though. “I’m all for running and never looking back.”

“Thanks!” Kyrie whispered, looking genuinely happy with your support. After all, you were a demon hunter, just like everyone else in the crew. They weren’t very keen on admitting their fears, so she knew you were admitting that one out loud for her to feel better about it – and it worked. Kyrie didn’t feel like a scared little child.

After all, if a badass devil hunter like yourself was afraid of the dark, it was ok if she was as well.

“We’ll count to three and run for it, ok?” Lady held Kyrie’s hand and you did the same. She looked back, seeing Trish and Nico agree with their heads, ready to run with you. Kyrie giggled – it was one of the very few times she felt invincible.

“Ok. You two, make sure we’re not gonna lose ‘em, ‘kay?” Nero looked at his father and uncle, with them just agreeing with him. He smiled back – there was something warm about them accepting Kyrie was human and having human fears instead of making fun of it. Nero couldn’t be more thankful.

“1, 2… 3! Let’s go!” As Lady announced, you all started running – and, immediately, everyone was laughing. There was something of stupid about it – after all, you killed demons on a daily basis to survive – but that just made it… Special.

It was the first time Lady actually felt like she had friends; like she was part of a group of girls in school who liked to visit haunted houses and giggle as if nothing mattered in the world. It was something she always wanted to have, but it was robbed from her. You could understand that: you finally had friends you were free to be yourself, to hold their hands and laugh, knowing they wouldn’t deem you stupid – knowing they were having as much fun as you were.

With you all, Trish got to live a life she never thought a demon like her could have. You weren’t scared or smitten by her devilish antics, and she was allowed to live, to experience everything humanity had to offer – every feeling, every sorrow, every happiness. Nico and Nero finally had a family: as if you all were siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, knowing none of you would let the other go.

Dante and Vergil… It was the first time since they were kids, they weren’t running side by side to save their lives or stop apocalypses – they were running for fun. It seemed like they were in their home again, playing hide and seek with each other. It was foreign, distant… But warm. Their hearts missed that – they missed being actual brothers, even if they wouldn’t admit it out loud.

As you were nearing the red light passage, though, a door closed and you were all trapped in total darkness.

“Hey, what happened?! What’s goin’ on? Everyone there?!” Nico started asking in a slight panic. It was safe to say everyone was caught by surprise.

“Yeah, we’re here, Nico! Nero and Verge with me! How ‘bout you, ladies?” Dante could see his brother in the dark, Nero a few feet away from them. If they wanted full night vision, they’d have to trigger – but it was probably just something to scare everyone, not an actual problem that called for demonic powers.

“We’re here too! I got Kyrie and y/n with me!” Lady still didn’t let go of Kyrie’s hand, who practically hugged the woman now. “Trish?”

“Safe and sound. I can actually see what’s going on, don’t worry.” Of course, Trish was completely unbothered. “Demon, remember?”

That made everyone let out a nervous laugh. For a few seconds, you forgot there was an actual supernatural being alongside you.

“So, what happened? Is there a way out?” Nico was almost stuttering from the scare, but now she had a slight smile on her voice.

“Hmmm probably. We’ll have to find it, but…” Trish didn’t finish her sentence. She kept looking around the room, seeing all kinds of terrifying decorations as if you were all locked inside a torture chamber. She was sure they’d light some points to help you all see something soon enough.

“But…? What’s wrong, babe?” Dante had his hands on his hips, looking back at Vergil. His brother looked as worried as Trish did, and something weird stirred inside Dante’s chest.

“Nothing. It’s probably nothing.” She dismissed, trying to ignore that pull inside her stomach that told her there was something out of place.

“Hmmm… Probably not, Trish. My hand…” Nero was looking at his fingers on his new arm, now painted as his devil bringer, but he wasn’t sure what was going on. “It’s tingling.”

“Oooooh it’s the spidey sense! His Nero-tingle!” Nico didn’t know where to look, so she was pointing somewhere she thought Nero was standing. “Oooh somethin’ is very wrong!”

“Hey! Don’t call it like that! It’s not a Nero-tingle!”

“Wait, what is it, Nero? I’m out of the loop.” You finally asked, trying to find him in the dark. Kyrie was hugging Lady, who bravely guarded her, so you could try to find the rest of the crew and see what the hell was going on. “We don’t know the Nero-tingle.”

“It’s not a Nero-tingle!” You could swear he would trigger in a matter of seconds. Nero audibly sighed, so done with all of you. “My arm, the one where my devil bringer was, remember? Before dad of the year here tore it off!” Nero pointed back at Vergil, who didn’t say anything. If you all could see, though, you’d see the blue devil looking at the floor like an ashamed puppy. “It tingles whenever there’s somethin’ wrong!”

“Woah, like Frodo's sword? That glows blue when orcs are near?” You had to ask. The words flowed faster than your self-control.

“Ha! That’s even better than the Nero-tingle!” Nico couldn’t stop herself from laughing, even if she was genuinely scared. Whenever Nero felt like that, it wasn’t good.

“I am feeling something as well.” Vergil finally spoke up, knowing Dante agreed with him. “Trish. What do you feel?”

Before she could speak again, a dimmed red light made you all able to see the gruesome decoration. Kyrie flinched in Lady’s arms and you couldn’t stop yourself from at least wincing a little bit: it looked like something straight out of the Hellraiser movies.

“To find a way out of eternal torture, you must solve the room. Good luck.” An ominous voice announced, making you all sigh.

“I don’t think it’s an actual demon…” Trish finally answered Vergil’s question. “I do feel it's more of an object. They probably stumbled into something very real while doing this whole decoration.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Nico waved her hands, finally being able to see everyone. “You’re sayin’ there’s some devil arm or somethin’ like that in here?!”

“I’m saying there is a probability.” Trish sighed, slightly opening her arms to show the room around her. “But there’s a lot of stuff here. We could get started on solving the puzzle and see if we can find whatever it is.”

“Works for me.” Dante immediately started looking around. “Just make sure whatever it is, you guys give it to me, ok?”

“The guardian of the weird devilish stuff.” You teased him, making Dante smile in return.

“What can I say? The shop is almost a museum already!”

It didn’t take long for Kyrie to find a hidden door – eager to leave that gruesome place. The only problem was that you all needed a key to escape, and said key was hidden in that dim lit, cluttered room with fake blood dripping down the walls.

Vergil seemed completely unfazed by all the decoration. No one ever asked him what Hell looked like, but, given his reaction, you all could conclude he saw much worse. Dante seemed completely unbothered just like his brother, always with his carefree smile and even playing around with the fake decoration – to Kyrie’s horror. Nero had a little bit more of good sense, telling his uncle to knock it off, but doing a joke or two.

Trish kept looking as if it was all normal, agreeing with you wincing at some gruesome detail every now and then – even if she was a demon, she lived among humans for so long now, she knew what was right and what was wrong. Any of you would consider her a full devil.

Lady and Nico wandered around with Kyrie, telling her not to look at some things and trying to figure out where the key to the door would be. They avoided some things, calling either Dante or Vergil to take a look when it was a little too much for them but it could have something interesting inside.

It was just when you opened a cabinet that you called Nico to take a look at it with you.

“What’s up, pretty thing?”

“Puzzle boxes!” You pointed at the various rows filled with puzzle boxes of all sizes. If you thought that place reminded you of Hellraiser, now you were positive. “Do you think one of them can have a key inside?”

“Absolutely! If it was me, I’d definitely hide a key in a puzzle box!” Her eyes were now glowing with excitement, seeing the different shapes and forms, from the most intricate to the simplest of contraptions. It was even better than Christmas for the gunsmith virtuosa. “Say, if each of us try to solve a box, we’ll go through ‘em in no time!”

“You gotta leave the simple ones to the Spardas, or else we’ll be stuck here forever.” Your comment made her snort right away, shaking her head in agreement.

“You’re right. If we depend on that nut-head, we’re screwed!” She pointed at Nero, taking one of the simpler boxes and immediately calling him. “Ei! Demon boy! Catch!”

“What?” But Nero immediately caught the box, his reflexes never failing. “The hell is this, Nico?!”

“A puzzle box, you dumbass! Never seen one?” She made it sound like it was obvious, throwing everyone a box she got from the cabinet. “I’m pretty sure they put the key in here. We gotta open them to get out!”

“That… Is actually very smart.” Kyrie turned her box between her fingers, seeing how the flowery patterns complimented each other.

“I know, right?” Nico smiled proudly, having a bright red box in her hands. Each one already worked on their own – you having a cube box that you could swear Pinhead was going to spawn right behind you saying ‘the box, you opened it, we came’. “The faster we work, the faster we’ll get out! Let’s get to it!”

Vergil was the first to solve his box, finding nothing inside and asking Nico for a new one. She was quite impressed he was faster than her, working even harder on her red box. Trish kept her eyebrows furrowed, but couldn’t concentrate: that feeling inside her got stronger and she didn’t know why.

Until the box in Nico’s hands started glowing.

“Hey, guys! It’s an apple! Is that why you’re scared of it?” She laughed it off, while getting ready to press the last button of her box – now a perfect, shiny, red apple.

“What…?” Trish looked at the gunsmith’s hands. Her blue eyes immediately recognized it and the woman tried to reach out to Nico before it was too late. “Nico! Stop! No!”

But it was to no avail: Nico pressed the last button and the whole room started to move, glowing until you all had to close your eyes.

And, when you opened them, you weren’t inside that room anymore.

To Be Continued…

*****

More Author's Notes, 'Cause I Want To Talk To You People:

I'm actually doing a horror movie marathon! I've already watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser (the 1st one), The Collector, The Love Witch and Hellfest - got this idea while watching Hellfest and Hellraiser! Mostly Hellfest, because the movie looked like a rom-com in a horror themed park during Halloween and I swear to you guys, Hollywood is missing out on that horror-romance niche. Just putting the idea out there.

So, I just imagined how fun would be to have the crew in a place like that - I've always wanted to go to a horror amusement park, but we don't have much of those here in my country and, when we do, I don't have a group of friends to go with. Halloween isn't much of a thing around here.

Also, while watching Hellraiser, all I could think was Dante and Vergil would seriously kick those cenobites asses.

(and if you guys have any movie recommendations, do tell me! I'm not much of a fan of gore, but I can handle ~some~ of it, if it isn't the whole theme of the movie. Also, hate exploitation movies, aside from that, recommendations are welcome!!)

I actually went on a deep dive on Halloween costumes to decide what would match with each one of the crew xD

And the only reason why the witch from the candied apple booth is a love one, selling love potions as well, is because here in Brazil, candied apples are literally called 'love apples'. It's cute ^^ even though I never ate one, just ignore me

That whole thing brought the candied apple incident idea - I just want to write more wholesome interactions between Dante and Vergil. I think they quite deserve it at this point. There was something of comforting writing the crew's interactions - that's the kind of group of friends/found family I'd love to have. I hope you guys can find your place in here too ^^

And coordinating 8 characters at the same time while trying to give all of them the same amount of "screentime" is actually absurdly chaotic. So do apologize if you felt someone was under-represented, I tried my best while writing. I'm still trying to figure out how to juggle so many characters at the same time hahahaha

Hope to see you guys around for Dante's and Vergil's parts! They will have the same ending when the crew gets together again, but the ~incident~ will be different - and the reader will be their s/o. If I get to make Nero's version, it will, as always, be Nero x Kyrie with the reader being his best friend ;)

Once again, Happy Halloween! I'll be back in time for the Day Of All Saints (that's how it was called here in Brazil ^^)!

[cantfightmoonlight]

“Yeah, really," A soft smile broke across his lips as he gave her a light nod. Only for the smile that graced his lips to fall as she insisted that they were better off staying outside no matter how brisk the cold February air was. "Okay, then what's going on?" He began to ask, only for his brows to scrunch at her next comment. "Whoa. I'm sorry, go back. You did what now?" He blinked over at her as if to double check that he had just heard her right. "I just know that's what you referred to her as, but who you choose to view as family or not, is up to you, Di," He told her softly, not sure how exactly to handle the situation anymore given that anytime he attempted to comfort her, she seemed to shrink away at the sight of him.

"Okay then," He winced as the crying girl before him practically screamed in his ear. "Yeah, I kinda fucking do. I told you I don't make promises I can't keep. And for the record, being a fae as a hunter isn't exactly a benefit." If anything it likely made Hande more erratic and he was sure the fae, herself, viewed it as a weakness. The other hunters would never except her. The ones who raised her likely saw her a pawn they could play and she likely had far more riding on each kill and way more to prove. All which was recipe for a slippery slope or pressure, desperation and inevitable error. But, Chai also knew better than to analyze her sister like he had been taught to analyze a target out loud. "I'm not trying to downplay what she's capable of. I know she's dangerous, Dilan. But, just as you know fae, I know hunters," He started to explain himself only at her sigh of a comment, Chai found his forehead creasing. A tinge of annoyance finding its way across his face as he scrunched his brows and asked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well that... sucks," He admitted, not being able to hide the blatant disappointment in his voice when she told him that she did have ulterior motives. "You say that like I didn't like you," His voice was all, but a low murmur as let out sigh of his own. Racking his fingers back through his hair as he leaned back against where he was sitting. "I guess you were just always a person to me first." Rather than some object to be won or to win over. "But, if you don't want to be friends, Dilan, we don't have to be. Like I said, I'm not going to force you to be in my life, if you don't want to be. And I-" His voice broke as he pulled his hand back. "Okay," He said, holding his hands up as if drawing the white flag. He even pulled himself up to his feet that so that he now stood a few feet in front of her.

"I don't mind complicated, but I think you already know that so," He said with a small shrug of his own, not all too sure what she wanted from him though at this point, besides to torture him as he stood there watching her sob in front of him without being allowed to comfort her or be there for her in any regard. "I don't know what the hell you want from me, Dilan? You don't want to be friends, fine. We won't be friends. You want to pretend you don't know me? Go right ahead. I can't stop you. But, I don't play games and I don't pretend. I thought you knew that about me by now, but apparently you think I'm fucking perfect, so maybe not. I just... I'm not going to forget every interaction we've ever had up until now nor is it fair for you to ask me to, because you were my friend whether or not I was yours and, yes, I did like you too, but one doesn't revoke the other."

"You fucking sacrificing yourself? It may be your life, Dilan, but I'm not going to let you die because of some fucking self martyr mentality. Hate me if you want for it, I don't give a shit. But, you want to talk reality? You think Hande will murder me onsite, but somehow you're planning on taking her down all on your own? How the hell are you going to do that exactly? You can't even hurt me and I, as you love to point out, am human. You go in by yourself, you will die and maybe, you get lucky, maybe you manage to defy all the odds and take Hande down with you, but what if you don't? What then? Your dead, Hande's alive and your sister and the people you care about are left with no one. That's your so called plan? You want to kill Hande, fine. So be. But, be fucking smart about it. You don't- for the love of god, you don't have to do everything on your own. It doesn't have to be me, but let someone help you. And no, Dilan. No, I'm not going to stop fucking giving a shit about your well being. I care if you're alive or if you're dead. Deal with it. Because people fucking care about you. I mean, you talk about how you hate when people make promises they can't keep? Well, what about you, right now? Because I promise you that we won't be fine without you."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

“Wait really?” Peaking her curiosity, she got side reacted trying to imagine what the inside looked like, but she wasn’t here for that. “Ignore my curiosity, we need to stay out here.” At least out here she wouldn’t be tempted to back out or be too distracted to even do what she had planned. “Chai—“ stopping when he reached out to her and she froze, wanting to hug him but knowing that she shouldn’t. She was thankful when he stopped short, even if it did break her heart. “Probably not.” Letting the tears start to fall when he touched her face and they stopped at his thumb until she realized and pulled back slightly, wiping her own tears away with the back of her hand. “I’m not trying to scare you, just—“ She was trying to push him away and probably break her own heart in the process. “I haven’t.” She reassured him. “The most I’ve done is clean out their bank accounts and use them until I was finished and we had a new target.” She never talked about their life of crime with anyone outside of the circle, now that she found herself opening up once more she realized how much she hated what she’d done. And how she’d grown to love Lunar Cove because for once she wasn’t required to be that person, to worry about where they where staying or what they would eat next. “Is she? Because I’m not so sure after what she did to me and Leyla. I’ve always wanted to believe that we could save her, that maybe we or should I say I misunderstood her.” Moving the hair out of her face, she just tucked it behind her ear as she sniffled. “After what she did to Leyla—“ Stopping short as she cried harder at the thought and she could just picture Leyla’s broken helpless body being brought in by Ken. 

“You don’t know that Chai. Nor can you promise it!” She practically screamed, then horror washed over her face when she realized the tone she’d taken. “She’s a hunter too. A supernatural one at that.” She explained softly as she tried to pull herself together. “She knows who I’m connected to and how to hurt me of all people. I mean she threatened our fucking dog.” Recalling the incident sent a shiver up her spine, she shook slightly, trying to stop the memories from flooding back, she gripped her hands together tightly so they wouldn’t give her away. “Aren’t you just perfect?” She asked with a sigh, she looked away from him, looking off at anything else she could find in the moment. Giving a soft laugh when he mentioned her trying to kill him on occasion, she actually smiled for a moment. “You still owe me lessons.” Playing with the little knife bracelet that he’d given her and she hadn’t taken off since getting it along with the necklace from Leyla. “Wait ugh fuck—“ Realizing that she was doing horrible at this. She knew that she was coming off just as confused as she was inside. “I’m not sure I know how to be friends. While you didn’t have ulterior motives, I did. I liked you a lot.” She remarked sadly, hated that she was even doing this. Taking a hand through her hair as she turned it into a tangled mess. Sighing when he wiped another tear away and she looked over at him in confusion for a moment before reaching up and taking his hand so it wasn’t touching her face anymore. “I know you want to comfort me but please. It’s killing me.” Giving his hand a squeeze before releasing it. “I’m not sure someone like me even knows how to be friends with anyone if I’m not using them.” While she was friends with Paloma it was different with Chai, especially since she liked him. “Plus, I’ll 100% make your life more complicated than it already is.” She promised, that was one she knew she could keep. Listening to his words, she put her head in her hands. Practically pulling at her hair as she sat there for a moment just crying. How could she go back and pretend she didn’t know him? She couldn’t. “Why can’t you just do this? You want to know me right? Well this is me!” Getting up as she stood in front of him and let her arms drop to her sides. “You like what I’ve shown you Chai. Not me. Trust me this is me and it’s something you want no part of. I’m messy, complicated, a bitch, and I can promise you that I’m going to make your life miserable and that I will leave it. I’m good at leaving, it’s kinda my thing and I could teach a masterclass in it.” 

At him calling out what she was doing she refused to comment, instead just crossing her arms over her chest, she huffed. Looking away from him to avoid eye contact because she knew that he was right. “It isn’t your choice is it?” She countered back. “It’s mine. My life. I can do whatever I want with it.” She shot back at him. “You are not killing her Chai. I’m being the reason you kill another person.” Letting him know that wasn’t even an option on the table, she narrowed her eyes at him for him not to push her on the subject. “Stop fucking caring will you? Fucking hell what do I have to do to get you not to give a shit anymore?” She yelled at him from where she was standing. “No! I’m not involving you in this shit. You can’t risk me right? Well you think I can risk losing you? God this is already hard enough but if I lost you?” Stopping as she gave him a pained look and held back tears. “Just stop for the love of god. Let me do this. You and everyone else will be fine without me. I promise.”