#looking back I think I realize what the problem was in the Cassidy and Charlie piece but oh well- too late now

[chipistrate]

Day 19: Period-Accurate Outfit

Wasn't really feeling this one so I just doodled Charlie and Elizabeth in some cute 80s clothes I found on pinterest<3

Bonus scrapped sketch for this prompt that I just couldn't get to look right;

Not ship art btw- realized it kinda looked like that after "finishing" the sketch but I promise it's not lmao Charlie just likes grabbing peoples arms when she's standing/walking near them

[daandyli0n]

so. have some more Golden No Longer au things, specifically in regards to what i call The Glitchtrap/Malhare era! (i personally like the name Malhare better, because it matches with O'Hare, which is what i changed Springbonnie's name to)

so, a few lore things to keep in mind for this:

- i ignore a good 95% of shit from the books, including Remnant. it's for the sake of the timeline and my sanity.

- Golden No Longer is...kinda a rewrite, but is more or less my own version of the Fnaf timeline that has been made so that the timeline is much simpler than it is canonically and also makes Some Kind of sense.

- Malhare, at least in Golden No Longer, is basically a small piece of Afton's soul left behind that grew into its own thing. Afton, who is still in Ultimate Custom Night Hell thanks to Cassidy, is completely unaware of its existence, at least for a while.

- once we get into The Malhare Era, the plot Definitely shifts around a lot. new characters get introduced, there are some Familiar Last Names in there, and just some Funky Plot Stuff happens.

so! let's start off with some names. i'm sure some sound familiar :)

- Tabitha "Tabi" Smith

- Gregory Schmidt (well...he technically isn't aware that's his last name, because Orphan)

- Cassie Emily

- Vanessa Warren (not necessarily a familiar one, but there is an Easter Egg with that last name ;])

- Summer Afton Atkins

...so. you're probably wondering What The Fuck. well! i can answer those real quick!

- Fritz Smith (yes the Fnaf 2 Night 7 nightguard) had kids. plural. Fritz Jr. and Jeremy, the missing kids, being two of them. Tabi survived to adulthood, though.

- Mike Schmidt, who is different from Michael Afton in GNL AND is Cassidy's younger brother, married a nonbinary partner who he had a child with. that child ended up having a child (Gregory) that they weren't ready to care for, and thus gave up. Greg is entirely unaware of his technical last name, and the history of that name.

- Sammy Emily, after having a whole crisis after his father died in Pizzeria Simulator (he's dedicated his entire life for the past few decades for avenging his sister's death, as well as the deaths of several other children), married a woman that he adopted a child with. he also worked as a technician in the Pizzaplex. he wants Bonnie back >:/ Cassie doesn't know much about her father's history, but she has heard tales of her "dear Aunt Charlotte/Charlie" who died way too soon.

- Vanny. that's just her.

- so...long story short, William had some siblings, specifically a brother. :) this brother actually had kids that lived long enough to have children of their own. :) Summer is Afton's great niece, and he is the Tape Girl (Summer is genderqueer). oh yeah, they and Vanny are dating.

some brief plot things:

Summer and Vanny move to the Fnaf Town (i think it's called Hurricane?), and upon Summer introducing themself, they find people...looking at them weird, like there's something wrong with her. he feels confused; did it do something wrong?

the pair get jobs working for Fazbear Entertainment, and the pre-Help Wanted story stuff happens. Malhare causes problems for the couple, and they both reluctantly get involved with this shit.

Summer starts having nightmares of meeting Afton in Hell (UCN), and while he's hostile and closed off at first, he realizes that this is likely his only chance to talk with another person, so he eventually starts (unknowingly) chatting with his great niece. Summer views their chats as being more disturbing than anything else. Afton still doesn't know who Summer is, and vice-versa.

Summer Now Has A Glitchy Hare In His Brain, And So Does Vanny (but he causes more problems for Summer).

they go to work at the Pizzaplex, Vanny getting a job as a security guard, and Summer getting a more technician-type job.

Vanny is definitely more of a Reluctant Follower of Malhare (the idea of child murder is...unsettling for Vanny), but less so than Summer (Summer Fucking Hates All Of This).

Tabi, the younger sibling of two of the MCI kids and another security guard, has...rather negative opinions on the last name Afton, so to say...so Summer changes its last name to Atkins to avoid drama with her.

Malhare realizes Gregory exists and goes You Wanna Know What Would Be A Funny Idea? and that's how Security Breach happens.

Tabi's just trying to find Gregory so she can get him home or at least somewhere safer. Vanny is just trying to get the child murder over with so that she doesn't back out of this/get cold feet and piss off the Literal Glitchy Hare That Can Probably Kill her, and Summer is trying to fight off Malhare and lead Gregory to safety so that nothing bad happens.

everything works out, The End, Gregory is safe but the Pizzaplex is destroyed. Malhare is Pissed and is making that rather clear to Vanny and Summer. they're both relieved, though.

The Ruin DLC happens, and Malhare (as the Mimic) decides to go Alright You Guys Aren't Gonna Help Me Murder A Child? Fine, I'll Do It Myself. because yes Malhare, The Last Time Someone Killed An Emily Kid, That Ended Really Well For Them, Right? :) Sammy has dedicated his life to avenging a family member before, Malhare, don't fucking make him do it again, because you don't know how far he is willing to go.

Cassie survives, but just barely. Greg manages to help her get out, but not before Malhare and him lock eyes for a moment. Gregory booked it out at that point.

idk what happens from here, but. Probably Something

anyway, this is a brief plot summary so far. as always, feel free to send asks! ("Summer Is Effectively Being Forced To Start A Cycle All Over, And They Fucking Hate It So Much" is the best summary of this whole mess right here)

[ocsideblog]

massive liminal infodump

  november knows basically nothing about her mom's family. she won't talk about it, determined to avoid or change the subect when it's mentioned. all november knows is that her mom left home when she was about 18 and hasn't spoken to her family since. the only information november has to go off is an old polaroid of what she can only assume is her mom's family, and an even older book. she found these items in the attic when she was about six. her mom wouldn't talk about the photo, and had no explanation for the book - probably an old halloween decoration or something, it's not in any real language. november gets the book to play with if she wants it.

  november, now a 20 year old photography student, and her 14 year old brother noel, are on a train to the town of Limbo to finally meet and stay with their mom's family - their aunt, uncle, and cousins. she is determined to know about them and to find out what caused her mother to become estranged.

  upon arriving in the small town, november learns that one of her cousins, julie, had gone missing at the beginning of the year. another girl named cassidy schaerer, daughter of the editor of the town's weekly newspaper, had also gone missing around the same time. the two girls were best friends, and julie's car had gone missing as well, so people just thought they ran away. her father thinks this is most likely, complaining that julie has always been rebellious. her sister, adelaide, doesn't think it's that simple - she keeps these thoughts to herself, however, because she needs to be the 'perfect daughter' and not disappoint her dad. cassidy's father thinks something is up as well, but he isn't so quiet about it.

  over the year november learns from mr. schaerer, who becomes like a father figure, that people have gone missing before. it's simply covered up, he says, because the town does not want to seem unsafe, and they have enough problems as it is. the town is dying out - young people often move away, there aren't that many jobs around, and the future doesn't look promising for small town life here.

  as the year goes on, november's grip on reality is also tested. while on the train, november had a nightmare - driving down some back road, a deer in the middle of the road, swerving to avoid hitting it, crashing - which becomes recurring, getting more frequent and more vivid as the year goes on. along with the nightmares, she begins hallucinating - mildly and rarely at first, but getting worse as time goes on. images of decay haunt her. she also feels a strange connection with her cousin julie, although she doesn't know why - maybe it's because some people said they're alike in some ways.

                                                    - - - - -

  ok so november and noel are siblings, and they arrive in the town of limbo to stay with some family members theyve never met before - their aunt, uncle, and cousins. when they get there, they find out one of their cousins - julie - has gone missing, along with her best friend whos a girl named cassidy. cassidy is the daughter of the man who runs the town's weekly newspaper. people view him as sort of paranoid and determined to think the worst when CLEARLY the girls just ran away. he doesn't get along well with the mayor of the town, john brennan.

  john brennan really wants the town to get big someday, have a mall and eventually expand and put the town on the map. he wants to feel important. he has a wife named mary and a six year old son named charlie.

  november's super curious to a fault, so like. kinda really nosy. she NEEDS to know everything and WILL investigate. and she feels a weird attachment to her missing cousin so she becomes like... determined to figure out what happened. her cousin adelaide - the Perfect Daughter whos secretly gay and dating another girl named jane - confides that she also doesnt think julie ran away, but cant say so to her father who'd get mad at her for being a conspiracy theorist.

  november also becomes close with mr. schaerer, the town's newspaper guy, who becomes like a father figure to november and comments about how shes got some stuff in common with julie, who had also been like a daughter to him because she was best friends with his daughter and because julie's dad is this strict conservative type and thought she was a disappointment so he wasn't all that nice to her.

  the town's in trouble - a lot of older conservative types frightened by progress, a lot of industry and stuff that'd die out with modernization, crops aren't doing as well, young people moving away, etc.

  there's a priest named father alonso brennan - he's the mayor's half brother - who seems kinda guilty, like he's hiding something.

  november gets these recurring nightmares of a car crash, and sometimes hallucinates that things are old and decaying or hallucinates people looking deadish and stuff. when she tries to talk about this to most people, they think shes crazy, and since its 1983 and her aunt and uncle - mostly her uncle - are conservative types, theres a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness.

  mary brennan kinda tries to bond with her, try to get her involved with the town and stuff, at the suggestion of november's aunt, hoping that'll distract her from being like this.

  also november works at an antique and curiosity shop for antioch, whos this sort of eccentric weird guy who supposedly moved to town after retiring early because he had money so now he's chilling. she doesn't get paid because she's working off a debt - noel accidentally broke a skull while goofing around when they were just checking out the different stores, and november offered to work off the debt so noel wouldn't have to, since neither of them had money.

  it turns out father brennan DID know something. he had seen john and mary brennan burying a body out in the woods on january first sometime between midnight and 3am - cassidy's body. they had told him they hit her in a car accident, because they'd been driving drunk, and were trying to cover it up because they were scared and still drunk and afraid it'd hurt their lives and careers and stuff since john brennan's the mayor. alonso kept the secret because he was always close with his brother, and didnt want to ruin his life, but the guilt is eating him alive because he's generally an honest person but his honesty and his loyalty are in conflict. sometime around october he arranges to meet up with mr schaerer and tell him the truth about his daughter.

  the next day, schaerer is found dead in the woods. the local police say it was a suicide. november doesn't believe this. she confronts the priest, knowing he was one of the last people to talk to her, thinking maybe he found something out somehow - priests hear a lot in confession after all. he tells her about knowing cassidy was buried in the woods, and how she was killed in a drunk driving accident, near where schaerer died - he also genuinely thinks it was a suicide, out of grief for his daughter. he won't mention who did it, using the confession thing as an excuse, his values are still in conflict.

  november sneaks out in the middle of the night to go to that place in the woods and search for her body, see how much of this is true. after digging, she finds remains that are decayed WAY past what they should be. there's also nothing to indicate a car accident, the skeleton isn't broken as far as she can see, and there's a weird rusted ritualistic dagger in the grave, and some weird symbols that look kinda familiar but she can't place them at the moment (hint its the book from the attic)

  shes not sure if shes hallucinating or not, and she doesnt know who to trust at this point. she comes back to the grave later that day with someone (i havent 100% decided who yet) but they like. don't find anything, like the grave never existed. this doesn't make november look any more mentally stable.

  as new years eve approaches, the moon family - including november - are invited to the brennans' new years party. mary offers november an old dress to borrow since she doesn't really have any, and her cousins dont have the same size as her, the dress doesn't fit mary brennan anymore anyway, she owned it when she was younger, wore it on her wedding years ago. at some point during the party, after eating or drinking something which was handed to her, november doesn't feel so great. she passes out.

  she wakes up, hands tied behind her back to like. a pillar or tree trunk or something. there are six others also tied up the same way, in a circle. to her horror, she realizes noel is one of them. next to each of them stands someone from town - 7 people in total, including john brennan and her own uncle. mary brennan stands beside her. they're doing some sort of ritual. november thinks this must be another hallucination or nightmare. it has to be, right? there's no way this is happening. she's forced to watch as one by one the other people are sacrificed - including noel. this can't be happening. this can't be real. she can't do anything to save noel.

  november was saved for last as a special offering. mary brennan tells her that she is a Special sacrifice, that she believes Death has grown fond of her, so mary is offering this girl as a special sacrifice in an attempt to earn his favor in apology for having lost the book, which her ancestor stole a long time ago. she's the only one in the cult who has actually seen and been in communication with Death, and is also the only one to know this year has been repeating. she's hoping for the loop to end, and the town and everyone in it to be allowed to exist forever immortally.

  she finishes the ritual, calling forth Death to claim this sacrifice. november can't see properly, between tears and it being dark outside and - this feeling like she's slipping out of reality, dying? falling asleep? about to hallucinate again? or emerge from the hallucination? she isn't sure and it terrifies her. the figure approaching out of the woods looks somewhat familiar,but different. antioch, from the curiosity shop. his hair's down though, and something about him isnt..... right. the vibe in the area has changed dramatically, feelings of dread that are hard to describe. she calls out to him for help anyway, but receives no response. he ignores her, approaching mary brennan. says something to mary brennan about not being forgiven, better luck next year, and mary brennan begins throwing up blood and slumps to the ground.  he - whatever sort of entity he is - moves closer to november. says something to her. she feels a sharp pain in her chest. he's carving something with his nail, which is like a claw. he's also telling her to give in and let go already, that she should have done so long ago, shes far too stubborn and foolish, shes still resisting whatever this weird sensation of slipping away is. she vaguely notices, between the pain and the weird feeling, that her surroundings and the people in the area seem to be decaying. this has to be a hallucination. it has to. she lets go, thinks shes closing her eyes........

  but is actually opening them. weak sunlight filters through a smashed window through the trees overhead. a dream. it wasn't real. she looks around. it turns out that what was real was the car crash, and all that had been some sort of coma dream. she begins to get up, to become aware of her surroundings, her injuries,   noel.

  she looks over and he's there, he's worse than her injury wise. he isn't breathing. she tries to wake him. he won't wake up. he's gone. it's too late. she feels horrible. this is her fault. if she hadn't been so curious. she digs through her bag, looking for her phone. her stupid book from the attic is there. she feels stupid. her curiosity about some stupid halloween prop and about her mom's past, which was probably mundane and some sort of argument, got her brother killed. she finds her phone at the bottom of the bag. a little cracked but it turns on. no signal though. she starts walking toward the road and follows it, searching for a signal. she has to call her mom. she has to let her know what happened, to confess that it's her fault.

  as she's walking, she realizes her chest stings worse than her other wounds. she looks under her shirt at it. the sigil thing from her nightmare. it can't be. it has to be some sort of coincidence. it doesn't look like a normal wound, somewhere between a scar and a tattoo, turning black, but also bleeding a bit still, she brushes this off as being not all there and being shaken up. she just found out her brother died, of course she's not going to be all that mentally stable. she keeps walking. she gets a signal, weak. she calls her mom. keeps trying. finally gets an answer.

  she tells her mom everything - they'd set out to go on a road trip and find out about their mom's family. it was her fault noel died, if she refused to take him. she swerved to hit a deer. her fault. her mom blamed herself, for not telling them about her past and for being so dodgy about it. november comes to the outskirts of an overgrown ghost town as she's walking to get a better signal. completely abandoned, decaying, familiar. she fears what her mom's going to tell her. that her sister overheard her father's plans to sacrifice her, as a part of a cult thing, and she promised her sister she'd leave and never look back, so she did, late 1982. something in november's mind clicks. it's 2015. her mother's name is julie.

[fredrweasley]

Luck — Fred Weasley Fiction

Wow! I actually WROTE something?? Sorry if it sucks hah. It’s actually based on a true story and if you’d like to hear it, i love telling it, even though it’s a bit tragic lol. Hope you like it(-:

PS: I might turn this into some sort of series? Maybe a few more parts? I’m not sure! Maybe if it’s popular I will!

July 1994, Paris, France

She had put on her favorite dress but she didn’t yet know why. She just felt like she should. She also spent extra time on her hair and minimal makeup for no reason at all, it seemed. She felt something different in the air when she walked through the doors of the hall.

“You’ve got to ask him tonight, it’s your last chance.”

“No way in hell will I ever be doing that, Cas.”

“You’ll never see him again! What’s there to lose?” Her friend sang, “look there he is!”

“Shhhh! Don’t point. I see him. Oh man is he cute.” The girl swooned.

“Would you like to dance?” They twirled around to find a boy offering his arm to Cassidy.

“If you don’t ask him, someone else will.” She said, leaving with the stranger.

The girl sighed and sat down on the benches lining the dimly lit dance floor. This was her favorite spot in all of Paris. She loved coming here each week to watch all the couples dance to real, live jazz! She’d been watching the boy for almost a month now, dreaming of him coming over to talk to her or ask her to dance. It was east coast swing, her favorite. The summer was ending and soon enough she’d have to go back to school and likely not come back for a long time. She sulked on the bench, daydreaming about how she wished her night was going when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Would you like to dance?”

She looked up and almost choked. She couldn’t hold back the grin that was now stretching ear to ear.

“I’d love to.”

He dragged her onto the dance floor and put his hand on her waist. The pair of them moved together slowly and gracefully.

“I’m Fred, what’s your name?”

“English!” She blurted out. She felt her cheeks blushing before she could even comprehend what had happened.

“Your name is ‘English’?” He asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“Oh my gosh no, I’m so sorry. My name is Annette, you can just call me Anna. If you want. Annette is fine too. It’s just kind of a mouthful, if you know what I mean. I mean, um. I’m so sorry.”

He was laughing hard now and other couples were starting to stare.

“I was expecting you to be French! That’s why I said English. I don’t know why I didn’t realize before when you asked me to dance. I have no idea what’s wrong with me. Oh my gosh but I’m not like… insane. Nothing is medically wrong with me. Except I have bad vision I guess.”

She couldn’t stop talking but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it.

“I like you, Anna. Or English. Which do you prefer?” He winked. She blushed. Her stomach was jumping up and down so high she could feel it in her throat. As they danced, all she could see was him and all she could hear was the band playing ‘La Vie En Rose’ and all she could feel was enchanted and charmed. It was as if the world around her didn’t exist.

They talked and laughed and danced the rest of the night away. He was from Devon and was on holiday with his family. He said he liked her American accent and she almost died. She explained that she too was on holiday but was visiting some family in Paris. They couldn’t stop talking and when the band finally played their last song, she still didn’t want to stop dancing.

“Do you live nearby? I’ll walk you home,” Fred said, walking towards the doors.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

They walked through the cold air, talking about anything and everything. He told her about his favorite songs and the way his brothers pull pranks on each other. She could not stop laughing at his insane stories.

“This is me.” She said when they arrived all too soon at her doorstep.

“Right. I’m never going to see you again, am I?” He smiled kindly but his eyes said different.

“Probably not,” She winked.

“So it won’t matter if I do this?”

He kissed her and again the world around her melted. Their hands found cheeks and hair and they embraced each other for what felt like eternity. They pulled away and kissed a few more times, smiling yet heartbroken. How could they have found each other on such a wonderful night only to never be able to see each other again?

“I like you quite a bit,” he said, unable to look away.

“Me too, I think. I haven’t known you that long.”

He laughed,

“Goodbye, Annette.”

“Au revoir, Fred.”

He smiled one last time and left with a heavy heart.

-

August, 1994, Devon, England

The house was very tall and very beat up. She could hear all sorts of sounds coming from inside. She hesitated before knocking but when she did, the door flew open immediately. The woman was short and stout and squealing with joy.

“You made it! Are you hungry? Tired? Too hot? Give me that bag, I’ll get you a snack. I’m so happy you’re here.”

She asked her a million more questions before she could even get through the door.

“Molly leave the girl alone, I’m sure she’s exhausted. That was quite the journey. Do you remember us at all? You were just a wee one when we saw you last, I don’t even think you know Ron or Ginny!”

She faintly remembered the pair of them, from pictures and stories.

“Yes, I remember you from pictures and such. My mom talks about how much she wants to see you all again at least once a week.” They all chuckled.

“Well don’t worry if you forget a name, Merlin knows I can’t remember how many children I’ve got. To jog your memory, I’m Arthur, my wife is Molly. Our oldest is Bill and then Charlie, Percy is third… who am I forgetting?”

“The twins, Arthur! Fred and George! Ron and Ginny! How did you forget four of your children? Merlin save us.”

Before he could respond, three kids about her age ran through the kitchen and were about to sprint up the stairs but Molly called them back.

“Ron! Introduce your friends to Annette. She’s also staying with us until September.”

“Mum! We don’t have enough rooms for all these people!”

“Sorry about him and his so called manners, I’m Hermione.” The girl shook Annette’s hand,

“Those nitwits are Harry and Ron.” She followed the other two up the flight of creaky stairs, leaving Annette in the kitchen again.

“You’ll stay with her and Ginny, why don’t you go up with your things. It’s the second story, door on the left.”

She walked up the creaky stairs. This had to be the most interesting house she’d ever been in. She reached the second floor and found three doors, two on the left. She wasn’t sure which one to choose so she knocked on the first. Ginny Weasley did not open it.

The two of them were speechless for a minute before finally he said,

“Anna?”

“Fred!”

She dropped her bag and wrapped her arms tight around his neck.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, pulling away, a grin stretching across his face from ear to ear.

“I’m staying here! Our families are good friends and I’m moving to Hogwarts this year so I’m staying with you all!”

He kissed her about a million times before pulling her into the room.

“God I’ve got so much to talk to you about. I cannot believe this is happening.”

“Hi there. George. I’ll leave you two alone. Merlin knows the stories I’ve heard. He has a surprising amount of material despite it being what? Four hours you spent together?”

“Six. And thank you, goodbye.”

George left the two of them sitting on Fred’s bed.

“I am not letting you out of my sight ever again, just so you know.”

“I think that might turn into a problem but I’ll let it slide for now.”

“My god” he said, leaning into kiss her. “I just cannot believe my luck.”

[hekate1308]

Another Today, Chapter Two

Read it on AO3

Crowley would admit that they hadn’t discussed details when they had made their deal (and quite frankly, he had no one to blame for that but himself) but he was rather sure he hadn’t agreed to his house becoming their base in his coven’s grounds.

But the very next evening, there was a knock on his door and when he went to open it, Charlie Bradbury strolled in, her fairy bluebird familiar perched on one of her shoulders and Dean in his squirrel form on the other.

“Hey, Mr. Crowley”.

“Just Crowley is enough, Miss Bradbury. Gilda”.

The bird chirped.

He looked at Dean.

“Squirrel”.

He glared at him – hardly an intimidating gesture from such a small animal – and, to his surprise, jumped unto his left shoulder in a mirage of the bonded pair in the room.

“Dean said I was right about you not liking Lucifer. Glad to hear it”.

There was an underlying threat in her voice that made him respect her more than he had beforehand.

“I don’t know what he told you, but I am mostly interested in staying alive”.

To his own surprise, he valued his continued existence more than he’d realized.

“As good a reason as any to rebel. At least when you’re scared for your hide you’ve got no reason to betray us”.

“Jesus, Charlie” Dean said, after hoping down on the floor and transforming, “Calm down. He’s on our side”.

Technically he wasn’t on anyone’s side but his own, but he didn’t correct him.

“You’ve never seen Lucifer. His powers...” Charlie shuddered. “I’m just worried, that’s all”.

“It’s gonna be alright. Our family has taken on many bad guys over the centuries”.

He might have underestimated the influence the Winchesters had. Charlie and Gilda clearly looked up to Dean, and his word seemed to be enough for them to trust Crowley, if only warily.

Being chosen to be a Winchester’s witch would be an honour.

Where had that thought come from?

“Let’s get started, then”.

Dean turned to him.

He still hadn’t stepped away from him, and they were close enough that Crowley could distinguish the different shades of green in his eyes.

Not that this was of importance.

“What can you tell us about Lucifer?”

“Why do you think I have any interesting information regarding him?”

Dean shook his head.

“Come on. Guy like you, you probably have a file on everyone you associate with”.

“I haven’t drawn up one on you, yet”.

“Feel ready to begin whenever you want, I ain’t stopping you”.

“Gentlemen, could you quit flirting so we can focus on then monster trying to take over the world for a second?”

Crowley blinked.

Flirting? They hadn’t been flirting. He never flirted. His one night stands knew well enough what he wanted, there was no reason for preliminary rituals.

“Gilda, tell your witch she shouldn’t call the kettle black”.

The fairy blue bird transformed into a pretty young woman a bit shorter than her witch.

“You know as well as I do that no one tells her anything.”

“And you love it, babe”.

So he’d been right about their witch-familiar relationship.

Not all bonds were sexual, of course, although he had always had his suspicions about his mother and Abaddon, and Gavin and Fiona were talking about having children.

“Excuse me if I interrupt this charming display, but you seemed to think time was of the essence”.

“Right. So. Lucifer Pellegrino. What do you know?”

“He arrived here about ten years ago”.

“You had another Supreme then?”

“Yes, Lilith Cassidy”.

Crowley hadn’t been very fond of her either, but as a respected witch, and her occasional lover, he’d known how to get what he wanted from her.

He’d known from the first there was no point in attempting the same with Lucifer. And with his arrival, any interest Lilith had had in Crowley had been gone, as well.

“They started living together; I think she imagined them as the next power couple. It didn’t work out like that. He killed her” he said matter-of-factly.

“You got proof?” Dean asked.

“Of course not. But both her and her familiar burning up during a spell gone wrong... She was always careful, planning every detail. She wouldn’t have risked something like that alone, even though she and Ruby were pretty powerful”.

“At the very least her familiar would have tried to stop her” Gilda said. “We usually do”.

She glared at Charlie.

“It was just once!”

“You wanted to bring Star Trek characters to live”.

“Bones deserves a break with all the saving the crew he does!”

“First of all he does, but we all know what kind of mojo would have been required” Dean said lightly.

“That said, if you ever come across something powerful enough, I wouldn’t say no to young William Shatner crawling out of my TV”.

Crowley was somewhat at a loss, for no coven he’d ever been part of had acted like this.

They seemed less like allies out of safety and habit and more like a family.

“We’re getting off topic again. So he killed your old Supreme?”

“Correct. He then proceeded to take over”.

“And you were all just okay with it?”

“There were... several accidents that year, let’s leave it at that”.

“And that damn mutt probably caused a few” Dean muttered to himself.

“You’re sure you’re feeling alright?” Charlie asked, immediately worried.

“Yeah, like I said, Crowley healed me”.

Her eyes lit up.

“That’s right!”

She turned to Crowley.

“I completely forgot! I was still freaking out about Dean getting hurt, and for all we knew, you might just have been an uninterested bystander, so I wasn’t holding my breath in the first place, and I had a bad night when Dean didn’t come back, and – I’m so sorry, let me do this properly!”

He’d rather have known what “doing this properly” contained before she did it, but before he could moved, she’d drawn him into a tight hug, whispering “Thank you thank you thank you” over and over.

She’d been more subdued when she’d visited before.

“Come on, the poor guy just truly met you” Dean said. “Charlie, I’m pretty sure he has trouble breathing at this point”.

“Oh I’m sorry” she stepped away and Crowley only then realized that, in fact, he had barely gotten any air while she’d squeezed him.

“It’s alright” he said for lack of any other response he could think of.

The simple truth was that he wasn’t used to this kind of treatment.

People didn’t thank him.

People weren’t nice to him, period.

People either left him alone or were scared of him, if he didn’t downright inspire hatred, and he was fine with that.

“So now that you have been introduced to the patented Charlie Bradbury hug, what do you say we move this elsewhere?” Dean asked.

He glanced at him. He couldn’t possibly –

“Your powers extend down into the earth quite a bit. You have a cellar”.

No one else had ever realized that.

Gilda looked at Dean, a puzzled expression on her face.

“It’s there” she said slowly, “but it’s not easy to notice”.

Dean shrugged.

“What can I say, I am just that awesome”.

But none of that explained why Crowley ended up showing them what he had come to call his safe room.

Or how Dean had known it was there.

He’d so carefully shielded it from all detection that not even his mother, who knew his powers the best, had been able to feel it.

“Ah, that’s the reason” Charlie said as soon as she stepped down the stairs, and for a moment, he hoped she’d found an explanation, but instead she just chuckled and pointed to his record player and vinyl records.

“He probably felt the vibrations from those babies. Can’t keep Dean away from music for too long”.

He’d already stepped up to Crowley’s collection. He found himself actually curious what he thought.

“You a jazz guy?”

“I like the classics”.

“Yep, definitely what drew Dean down here” Charlie mumbled.

Gilda threw her a glance. They seemed to communicate through their bond for a moment.

It had always made Crowley uneasy when witches and familiars talked privately in front of him like this, but he didn’t mind when it came to Charlie and Gilda.

Maybe because he could hardly imagine either of them attacking him after that hug.

“This is somewhat more... comfortable than I imagined it” Dean commented.

He had made sure his hideaway was as pleasant as it could be, bearing in mind that he couldn’t have windows.

All his favourite books and movies, a large assortment of Craig, good furniture...

“I actually like it better down her then upstairs. Just how much of yourself do you keep hidden away?”

“That is a rather deep question considering two days ago I had no idea who you were, don’t you think?”

He was surprised that he wasn’t angrier – he was slightly irritated by the question, sure, but nowhere near as furious as he would have been, if Rowena had dared ask the same.

Charlie nudged Gilda. They talked through their bond again.

“Come on, girls” Dean complained. “If it’s important, let us know”.

“Oh, it is, but it doesn’t concern our current problem”.

“Here” he said, stepping up to a file cabinet.

“This is all I have on Lucifer”.

Dean took the file he handed him.

“You could find nothing on him before he came here!? The guy either lived the most boring life imaginable and suddenly decided to become your Supreme, or he has something to hide”.

“And all probability points to the later” he agreed. “But sadly, my contacts couldn’t help me. No one has ever heard of this guy”.

“No one who’s alive, at least” Charlie mumbled.

“Why did your Supreme take him in?”

“Lilith was all about power, and he has more than enough of that”.

“I’d say, if he ordered his familiar to kill you” Gilda said. “What exactly is their relationship like? I love Charlie, but I wouldn’t commit murder if she told me to”.

After a pause she added, “Unless it was justified, of course”.

Crowley smirked before replying, “I’m not sure. I have never been particularly apt at feeling bonds. My mother might know, but she’s sadly enamoured of Lucifer. From the looks of it, I always thought they were like master and slave”.

Gilda made a strange noise that sounded like the human form of a frustrated chirp, and Dean looked furious.

He understood that. It couldn’t be pleasant, hearing about a member of their species being used like that.

On the other hand, it was Michael, and the thought of him suffering didn’t inspire pity. If he was even suffering at all. Maybe he liked doing whatever Lucifer told him to.

But this was more complicated than whether Michael had chosen to become Lucifer’s pet or not.

For centuries, witches had looked down at and dominated their familiars as useful conveniences. Things to channel their magic through. It had taken a long time for them to establish themselves as individuals with rights of their own.

Of course any self-respecting familiar would hate a witch who still believed in this old-fashioned nonsense.

Crowley never had. He had met too many idiotic witches and fiendishly intelligent familiars to even consider it.

He was starting to think both Dean and Gilda were more proof of the power of familiars.

A thrill went down his spine.

“Someone’s at the door. Someone I don’t know”.

“Who is it?”

Crowley concentrated on the spot.

“It seems to be a witch, a young woman, and a familiar... in Moose form”.

“Should have known Sammy would show up soon – he said he just had to finish a case before he and Sarah came along.”

“Wait, that’s your brother?”

He’d collected more information about the Winchesters from the moment Dean had left him yesterday, of course.

“Of course you know his name... And don’t you dare make even one joke”.

“I can’t imagine what about” he deadpanned as Dean, with a glare, transformed to make a point and skipped up the steps to meet his brother.

“Winchesters. Trust me, they’re worth every single nerve they cost you – Charlie’s basically one of them, too” Gilda told him, but he couldn’t for the life of him understand why.

It wasn’t like he and Dean would see much of each other after they had dealt with Lucifer.