#nora — threads

[alan-duarte]

TIMING: 10th of May LOCATION: Alan’s house PARTIES: Nora & Alan SUMMARY:  Alan and Nora meet for the first time since their encounter at the crypt. Some truths are told, some truths are kept. CONTENT WARNINGS: n/a

"Dinner's ready," Alan called through the corridor, with the hopes that she would hear him from the shower. He didn't give her much of a choice although he didn't have to bargain to get her to agree either. Obviously, he didn't believe her at all when she said she lived in a house with her dads. She might have had two dads, neither were doing their job at the moment. 

Far from him the idea to step in, he wouldn't have known where to start, but she wanted to know more about shifters and Alan could still remember just how lost he had felt, even having been turned into adulthood. She was just a damn kid. She deserved better than what he got. 

Sitting on the edge of his pool with a glass of wine, the werewolf was contemplating the evening sky's hues with a lot of thoughts in mind. He wondered what she would ask, and he feared that perhaps he wouldn't be able to help her. They were not the same species, even if they shared similarities.

Nora would never admit to the grumpy man but she was thankful for a chance to shower. That was what Nora missed the most about living in an actual house, a working bathroom. Nora scrubbed her skin raw, digging at each spec of dirt she knew would arrive again within a few days. It didn't bother her, being dirty. It was just a state of being. But when she was clean she became a new canvas for nature's artwork. A new place for dirt to pile and trace its patterns. It was worth getting clean for that. Nora stepped out of the shower using Alan's huge fluffy towels to dry off. This man might be a dick, but he was a dick who lived in the lap of luxury. Everything about his home screamed wealth. Of course, he wasn't as wealthy as her own dads, but she couldn't judge him for being lesser. 

Nora dressed in the too-large t-shirt and shorts he'd provided. The belt had to be wrapped around twice before it held up the shorts. At least he'd been kind enough to supply all-black clothing. Nora had a brand to keep up. Nora made her way out of the comfortably steamy bathroom and down the corridor. Alan was sitting by the pool. He looked the picture of wealth, sipping wine by a pool that was probably never used, a beautiful view in the background. It reminded Nora of home. Her heart arched for a moment before she shoved the emotion inside. Nora would never admit to being homesick. 

Walking out onto the deck, Nora took a seat by Alan. He was drinking wine. Nora looked around for her wine glass. There was none. That was rude. "What's for dinner? People?" Nora couldn't let it go. It was the most burning question on her mind. Plus, Alan had said he wouldn't talk about it online. They were in person now. "Are we supposed to eat people?" 

__

Alan looked up, and, completely oblivious to the troubles of her mind, offered her a sympathetic smile. He wouldn’t comment on the obvious. This was a much nicer sight, and a nicer smell as well. She seemed less lost for it. Alan’s smile softened. He glanced down, helping himself on the side of the pool to stand back up. “People for dinner?” 

She really wasn’t ever going to let it go, was she? He tried to elude the question. Yes, he did eat people. No, he didn’t have to. “You say you’ve been like this your whole life, yet you’ve never needed people as food, did you?” He put his hand in his pocket and headed back into the kitchen to pick up the Creuset pot he left on the stove. “I recall you complaining about a lack of ham in my sandwich,” for all this encounter had left a bitter taste in his throat, it was perhaps her complaints about the quality of his cold cuts that made him frown the most. Alan didn’t have bad taste and he would show it. “Madeira sauce and smoked ham, with mushrooms and sauteed potatoes,” the wolf announced, as he brought it to the garden table. It was warmer lately, and he didn’t like eating indoors on those days. 

“If you must defend yourself, eating one person can frighten the rest of your enemies,” make them all flee. It was a good thing. “I would say avoid doing it otherwise. Some people just want to paint us as bloodthirsty mindless beats…” Alan pointed out, picking up the bottle of water to get some into her glass. “How old are you again?” 

__

“I do need people to eat.” Nora answered, flicking one of her lip piercings in a circle with her tongue. “Just. Well. I eat their fear. Right? I can taste it.” It was hard to describe. It had taken a class in middle school where a teacher was telling the class that animals could smell people's fear for Nora to realize that everyone else there couldn’t smell fear. There had been many kids willing to tease Nora over stating she could smell fear in class. Those jokes died out in the wake of horrified children and another school transfer for Eleanor Pine.

Nora followed Alan up from the pool side, to the kitchen where he grabbed food, and to the garden table where she supposed they would be eating. “Ham.” Was all Nora repeated as she listened to Alan once more change the subject on eating people. He’d made an extravagant meal. It was more than she’d expected when he’d told her he was making dinner. Nora had assumed she would be treated to a plate of leftovers. Nora would have been happy with a plate of leftovers. Nora slipped into her seat, crossing her legs in the chair before slapping the napkin on her lap. Her fathers had trained her well with a napkin. They told her she was too messy of an eater to go without one.

“Twenty-one.” Nora lied, answering Alan’s question as he had the bottle of wine. “So its something we can do, but not something we need to do. But if I wanted to, I could digest a human?” Nora rubbed her belly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to eat a human. They were so… smelly. “How many humans have you eaten? Have you eaten any wolves? Have you made anyone else a wolf?” The questions kept falling out of her now that the flood gate was open. There was a shifter in front of her, and they were talking. It was her chance for answers if she wanted them. 

__

Alan’s eyes looked at her lip as she turned that thing around. He couldn’t say why, but that sight made him look away. He didn’t get why someone would want to carry all that hardware on their face. It seemed like an accident waiting to happen. Maybe he was just too old to see the appeal, or raised too traditional. Maybe a bit of both. The thought made him sigh. The thought of her being able to eat fear made his stomach twist. He had never heard of that, and the thought that she could feed from his own weakness wasn’t one bit comforting. Still, she was following him around like a lost puppy, and he found the energy to respond to her in him, at last, in this show of harmlessness. “Then you should stick to the fear. No need to eat people,” he didn’t need to eat people either. He generally didn’t. For Monty, however, he never spent more than a week without beheading someone. The zombie wouldn’t hunt people, Alan knew that. For the most part, he targeted hunters, game hunters or the more awful type. 

With a weary sigh, he set the pot on the table, taking off the lid and setting it aside on the table. It was meant for larger parties, both the pot and the table, but Alan wasn’t precisely the sort to enjoy gatherings with many folks at once. The seats were only filled in when he invited his employees over, which happened traditionally every semester, before the summer break and before the winter holidays. Alan picked up her plate, piling up more ham than he did potatoes. He figured the stuff had some sort of importance to her. Ham, was all she seemed to care for. Noticing the napkin on her lap, he couldn’t hold back on a smile. For someone who lived in a cemetery, and stole his sandwich quite rudely, she had manners. That was not something he counted on. He didn’t comment on it, and instead set the plate back down, turning it around so it was more pleasing to the eye. 

He served her some wine. Whether she was 21 or not wasn’t exactly the point of his question. Someone her age, living in homelessness? That troubled him. 

“You could digest a human,” he agreed. He sat down, picking up his fork and his knife. “They’re not much different from other meat. They’re just easier to hunt,” he joked. Taking another sip of wine, he took a moment before he replied. You didn’t just admit to being a mass murderer like that, to a near stranger. Still, he felt like he could trust her. “I don’t really eat them, but someone I know, a dear friend of mine… They need to eat people to survive. That’s all they can eat. I help them with that,” he explained. “I don’t need to eat them. I certainly shouldn’t bite them and let them live. Shifting is very painful, and it’s not a life I wish on anyone,” his gaze had lost most of his arrogance by now. He was confiding himself now, and Alan only ever wore that mask for outsiders. 

__

Alan wasn’t very forthcoming on the topic of eating people. Perhaps Nora had read too many monster novels as a kid. The fear of the masses that the monster would swoop upon them and devour them sinking from the text of fiction deep into her skin. A projection of who she thought she should be based on a guideline that didn’t know better. “Yeah, stick to fear.” Nora let her eyes gaze out over the pool, the cool picturesque scenery. It was the ideal American house. A wolf in human’s clothing, living in the lap of human luxury. That was never in the monster books. Those monsters lived in crypts.

The food given to her looked delicious. Alan, whatever his quirk, did not skimp on the ham. Nora’s mouth salivated as she watched the plate in his hand being lowered before her. There was no stopping her the moment the plate touched the table. Nora was eating as if she couldn’t remember the last time she ate, which had been that morning. It was delectable. It was a savory sensory heaven. Nora kept shoving and shoving the food into her mouth until the plate was empty, and she was staring at Alan like he’d taken all her food and she was still sitting there starving. In the time it took her to shovel all the food in her mouth, he’d poured her glass and started to share more information on eating people. Nora helped herself to more food.

“Why can they only eat humans?” Nora asked. Her hand reached out, gripping the wine glass between two fingers just as she’d seen her dads do many times before. Nora swirled the liquid in the glass lazily a few times before taking a sip. “Is your friend also an animal like us?” Nora placed the glass back down, thinking through the information. There was a creature out there that could only eat humans, but it wasn’t them. When Alan went on talking about shifting being painful, Nora tilted her head to the side. Sure, shifting hurt, but she’d gotten used to the pain. She’d known what to expect, and as soon as her bones were done snapping the pain was gone. It wasn’t unbearable. “Do you wish you’d never been bit? Sometimes I wish I was human. It would have made growing up easier.” 

__

“It’s not nearly as messy as being a human eating beast,” he promised. Alan didn’t want to become a stereotype, even if he had to resort to violence for what he thought to be a good reason. He tried to keep every other aspect of his life the stark, clean opposite of what his wolf counterpart commended him to be, but for all he detested the shifting process, Alan couldn’t say he hated what being a werewolf gave him. It was a bit exhausting, sometimes, to be always so polished, to have people expecting certain things, certain behaviors, from him. Yes, he had inflicted all of this onto himself, but wouldn’t it have been nice to let go a little sometimes, and just be himself. In a way, he sometimes felt more alive when he wasn’t entirely himself. Wasn’t that fucking sad? 

He had barely picked up his fork when he noticed that her table manners ended the minute food was on her plate. “You still haven’t given me your name,” he pointed out. Bearie wasn’t precisely what he’d call a proper name. She asked a lot of questions, and yet he didn’t even know her name. 

“I don’t know. Why do you eat fear? Why do I don’t need to eat either?” Alan countered. He didn’t want to get into the details of that. He didn’t want to tell her more about him. “No. He doesn’t change into an animal,” he was sure Monty would have disagreed on that. Sure, when he was hungry, the zombie could act like a wild, dangerous beast, but it hadn’t been so in a long while. Her question made him set down his fork, fall silent then take a sip of wine. If he was to sum everything up, yes, Alan would say that his life was a lot better before the bite. He was married, they were gonna adopt, and he was comfortable with the state of his business. 

They couldn’t change it. They could only accept it. What was the point of all this? Pensive, he took another sip of wine, leaned into his seat and sighed. “It doesn’t matter,” he stated. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

__

“Bearie.” Nora stared her host, the other shifter in her life, dead in the face while she lied to him once again. There was no way Nora was going to trust her name to this man. He was rich. Rich people weren’t known for keeping their lips sealed when more money was on the line. “You got a problem with my name, Alan?” Despite her usual mask of a monotone voice, she did her best to put as much derision as she could in his name as she spat it back at him. No one named Alan could judge anyone for being named anything. Who the fuck was named Alan? That was the most basic ass boring name in the whole world. Bearie, as dumb as it was, was still better.

Now Alan was throwing questions back at her. Nora looked away, playing with the fork in her fingers instead of shoveling food in her mouth. As if she didn’t want to know answers to those questions herself. As if she wasn’t here at a stranger’s house doing her best to try to learn those answers. Of course, Nora didn’t know why she was the little freak that ate fear when others didn’t. Nora may have met some shape shifters now, but she hadn’t met anyone else who needed to terrorize people to live. Whoever her birth parents had been, she hoped they had a real good reason for getting rid of her. Nora was tired of being the only one who didn’t know shit.

“Not a shape shifter and eats humans. He some kind of vampire or cannibal?” Nora asked, finally looking back at Alan. “Are cannibals supernatural like us?” Nora let out a snort at the question. What an odd fucking question to be asking at the dinner table. She took another bite of her food before washing it down with some wine. Nora was a lightweight, not normally known for her drinking. A faint lightness started to fog her mind after finishing one glass. Nora was aware enough to scold herself for being such a lightweight. If the bear took most of the food she ate, why didn’t it do the same to alcohol?

“Guess so.” Nora agreed. There was nothing they could do about it. There was nothing she could do to make her birth parents not give her up. There was nothing she could do to make her adoptive fathers have the answer to what she was. There was nothing Alan could do to stop being a wolf. It just was. Nora let out a bark of laughter. “Funny, isn’t it? You know humans go on the internet and pretend to be supernatural creatures like us for fun? And here we are, complaining about it.” 

__

He looked back at her, crossing his arms over his chest. Bearie was not her name, it couldn’t be, but Alan had decided a while ago not to give a shit about matters that didn’t make much of a difference to him. “Alright. Let’s not get cruel, shall we?” His name might not have been the most exciting, surely, he didn’t need to have it be ridiculed by a teenager. Teenagers weren’t precisely serious people, and it made it all the more humiliating. 

“I’m sorry, Osita,” he could tell that she wasn’t too happy about his answer having been more questions. Alan simply had nothing to give her here. When it came to supernatural matters, the werewolf was often left on the sideline. He knew a thing or two about zombies, he knew his fair share of things regarding his own kind, “But there are questions that I don’t have answers to,” he felt like perhaps she’d have more luck with someone who studied the supernatural, some sort of scholar, but as far as he was aware, the only folks who took an interest in them were those who sought to destroy them. “He’s not human, so he’s not a cannibal,” he might have been a bit too defensive about that question, but the implication that his friend was some sort of monster couldn’t have brought out any other reaction. “Stop. Of course not. We’re not monsters, they are,” Alan didn’t have a choice : he had to shift every full moon, Monty needed to feed and Nora did too. This was in their nature. Nature was just nature, it didn’t make monsters. 

Of course that statement had taken Alan some self-convincing inner monologues to accept, but after nearly 11 years of being a wolf, he had to do just that. “In the end, no one’s happy with the cards they’ve been given, heh? They want to be us, we want to be them. If I had known about all this before I got bitten, maybe I’d have wanted to be like this,” who the fuck knew ? He just wished he hadn’t been so fucking alone to figure out all there was about him that he simply didn’t understand. Even she’d been alone so far, maybe Nora would have more luck than he did from now on. Alan took a look at her, picking up his glass by the stem : “If you have more questions, I’ll gladly try to answer them,” he offered.

__

Let’s not get cruel? He must not be privy to spending time around teenagers. Didn’t he know that teenagers were supposed to be the cruelest of them all? Not that she was a teenager anymore. Twenty now. He’d been at her birthday party and everything, it was a shift that was hard to get used to. Nora took a bite of her food to cover the thought. “I’m never cruel.” She said, her mouth full, which in Alan’s proper presence, surely constituted as its own cruelty.

“Osito.” Nora corrected. Spanish was a fledgling language in her mind. One she’d only started to grow interest in because of the people in her life. They all seemed to speak it, shouldn’t she too? Why it was osito and not osita was something that Nora didn’t know, but it had been the name Metzli gave her, and it was the name that she was going to stick to. Despite whatever this Alan wanted to say. Nora went back to devouring his food as Alan told her he didn’t know everything. Which was lame. Did anyone in this world know anything? Where were the keepers of the knowledge and why were they locking it down?

“Your friend eats people, Alan. People who had lives and families. I eat people, maybe not physically, but if I’m not scaring the shit out of them, then I wouldn’t get to eat them. Doesn’t that make us monsters? Taking from people what they didn’t want to give?” Nora stared across the table at the man who was defending them, her big eyes blank of all emotion except for the question on them. Nora had already come to terms in her life with being a monster, it was odd that Alan would defend so heavily against them being monsters. “So, what is he?”

As Alan went on to talk about the people not being happy, Nora looked away. She wanted to be happy. Nora couldn’t imagine being human, she couldn’t imagine who she would have been if she wasn’t othered from the world around her. Nora liked being scary, at least she thought she did. Did she only like it because it was the only it she’d ever known? Nora pushed the remaining food on her plate around with a fork. “Do you like it now?” Nora asked. “Being a werewolf. Now that you’ve had time to adjust.” 

__

“You stole my sandwich and made fun of me,” Alan didn’t even comment on her current mouth-full-of-food-conversational-skills. That was a whole different level of being cruel. Being invited to his table, eating his food, and cutting his appetite so brutally? That had to count as evil. 

“Osito?” With one raised eyebrow, he gave her a look. That seemed like a big deal to her. Alan decided he didn’t care for names as much. Picking up his glass of wine, he nudged his plate a bit further away, slouching back into his chair and propping one foot up on the edge of his seat. 

Her question was one that required a bit of reflection, a bit of time, and he was glad he could sip on his wine and get comfortable while he thought about it. “That depends who you ask. I don’t think my friend believes me to be a monster, and I don’t think he’s one either,” Alan thought he was a monster, and he knew Monty could think less of himself, hold himself in a different place than the one Alan picked for him, up high. “Besides, that’s just nature. He needs to eat human brains to survive, you need to eat people’s fright. If he could eat tofu, he would. If I just had to shop tofu for him, I would too,” they didn’t have much of a choice, and he was done feeling bad about it. “My friend? I don’t know if I should share this without his approval,” Alan felt bad enough using him as an example, but she needed to know that they weren’t an exception, and that remarkable folks could rely on someone’s misfortune to survive.

Setting his glass down on the table, Alan kept his silence, once again. Sure, he didn’t have an answer to all her questions, but he could make an effort to reply to the ones he had one to, even if it wasn’t easy. “Depends on the days,” Alan had moments when he dreaded it. Rainy days, full moons, new moons. Having no control over his body was forever a struggle to him, even when it came down to being unable to shift. He didn’t like being deprived of that. He didn’t like being forced to do it either. He wanted to have a choice, because how often did you truly get to choose anything? “It has helped me more times than I can count. I suppose I should be grateful for it.” He paused, and his eyes tried to find hers. “What about you? How do you feel about all this?” 

___

Nora did a little nodding motion. Yeah, she did steal his sandwich and make fun of him. That was fair. “But it wasn’t cruel. I would have done that to anyone at the moment. Don’t you think there is something comforting to know that everyone would be treated the same? It was just your unlucky day.” Nora tried to offer a soft and reassuring smile, but with her normally emotional mask it came out as the corners of her mouth twitching up ever so slightly. “Cruelty would be stalking you, following you to your home, stealing your sleeping bag, and making fun of your birthday party.” Nora shoveled more food in her mouth as she finished that assessment. 

“Osito” Nora agreed. Her name was a selfish secret that she would take to the grave. No one needed to know who she was. Not anymore. Not now when she had the life of anonymity that she always wanted. “Oso, for short, if two syllables are too many for you.” Nora stated it as if she was being kind and generous, as if it wasn’t a subtle mockery.

Then Alan was moving into a speech about monsters and the belief of who made a monster and who didn’t. Nora listened, eyes averted, but attention transfixed. A tale of monstrosity once again fell in the eye of the beholder. There would never be a cut and dry answer of what was a monster and what wasn’t. Maybe Nora had more in common with humans than she thought, the idea of her own monsterness stuck to her like a thick paste, painting her as different and other. Yet the others in her life, the few people she’d met who also had the otherness, wore it as a change of clothes that didn’t mark them as bad, just different. “Right.” Should it be disappointing that there wasn’t an embrace of the term monster? That the ideal of being the creature under a human children’s bed wasn’t celebrated? She’d have to chew that over in her own time. “Right.” Nora repeated the word. “It’s just nature. Right.”

Once again the firewall of secrets distorted Nora’s search for knowledge. “Right. We don’t out people without their permission.” Wasn’t it tiring? To hide your identity from everyone? Nora was willing to tell everyone what she was, now that she had a word for it. Nora wanted them to know. It was an important part of her. Not human. Never human. Allowed to be different. 

There was a sadness in Alan as he thought about his wolf. It was hidden, it was deep, but Nora would always recognize the look hidden deep in the expression, the slight tension, the pauses. She’d seen it in herself. “Should be grateful, and being grateful are two different things.” Nora placed her fork down, leaning closer, brown eyes examining Alan. “But I guess it's harder for you. You were born human. You learned how to be human. Then you became different.” Nora leaned back in her seat, eyes once more flicking away. “This is all I’ve known. Having a name for it just makes it easier.” 

___

"You ruined the one peaceful moment of my day," that wasn't entirely true. Evenings were peaceful too, when he wasn't completely worn out by work. With a sigh, Alan rubbed at his tired face. She threw in his face what he had done, and he only had himself to blame for that. He felt guilty for it, he felt as though she didn't care at all for what she did to his food. It didn't matter now. If he hadn't done that, she wouldn't be here, he wouldn't know she was a bugbear, she wouldn't know he was a wolf. Things had changed. "If it makes you feel better, I have dessert. I'll put a candle on it."

The offer came with a sheepish, albeit shameful smile. 

He didn't reply. Oso was two syllables. He wasn't sure what she meant here and he didn't want to be unpleasant either.

She didn't seem convinced by his definition of monstrosity. He couldn't blame her. He wasn't convinced by it either. He tried to be. He refused to consider Monty a monster, or Gael, or Nora. It was harder looking at the things he had done and having the same discourse. Alan had murdered a lot of people under the guise of a wolf. He was a monster in every sense of the term. 

"It's a question of safety. I won't tell anyone you're not human, I would appreciate it if you returned the favor," with a softer, much kinder smile, Alan glanced her way, leaning forward to offer her more food. "There are people out there who won't try to find out if we're dangerous or not. They'll kill us because we're the way we are," born or infected didn't matter to them. A monster was a monster was a monster.

And there it was again, this inner turmoil regarding whether or not he deserved to be put down like a feral beast. The things he could do… No hunter would turn a blind eye to that. "I'm not grateful," he looked away, as if the fern had suddenly become a fascinating sight. "I…" he shook his head. He didn't want to talk about this, about the things he had lost, about the things he would never have, the life he would never have again. "I'm glad you have a name for it. I hope you'll find solace in it."

___

“I’ll ruin other peaceful moments for you too. Who needs peace? It’s overrated.” Besides, Nora liked having a shifter friend. She liked the comradery of having someone else in her life that got it. Even if he was, well, a bit of a prick. Definitely a snob, if his house and the way he made her shower was any indication. Warmth spread through Nora’s chest, the equivalent of a laugh for her. “It does make me feel better. But it needs to be twenty candles.” Because she turned twenty. While she was never keen on admitting personal details about herself to strangers, it seemed important to her.

“Right. I won’t tell any about you.” Nora agreed. She didn’t make a habit of talking to people anyways. Most of her interactions were theft and bullying. She would be surprised if anything came up that changed that. Making friends in this day and age? Less likely than she assumed. The idea that there was someone out there who wanted to kill them just for existing was a new one. Nora let it mull over in her mind. What kind of CW melodramatic plot was that? “Sure.” She knew now that people wanted to kill them. That this wasn’t some joke put together by everyone to prank her. It had been the hunter trying to kill her that had spoken the magic words of revelation. It had been someone who wanted to snuff out her life for being different. He hadn’t stopped to see if Nora was actually harming people. Scaring people didn’t hurt anyone. It was a funny laugh for people to share. A fun story to tell at a party. But the hunter didn't care. “Right. Protection.” 

There was an argument deep in Nora. Wouldn’t it be better if supernaturals were out in the open? So they could protect each other? But of course, they didn’t want to protect each other. If supernaturals had any interest in helping each other, Nora wouldn’t have been alone for most of her life. Whatever was happening here, dinner with Alan, was a fluke. A kind act in a sea of people pretending each other don’t exist. 

Alan was shaking his head and expressing pain? Or something of the ilk was pressed against his features. Nora recognized she must have pressed too far on a sour subject. She let the pieces of those questions drop away. “It has.” She agreed. Because at least now she knew what to start looking for. 

___

“I need peace. My job is stressful enough,” that was on him. “I’m constantly tired, alright?” That was also on him. Alan could have settled for less, but there always was this little voice in the back of his head telling him that he wasn’t doing enough, and that if he wasn’t gonna be 100%, then why bother at all. Some people were admirative of his success. His family certainly was. He supposed others were more envious than anything else and he resented them, those strangers, for it. They had no business being envious when it was all hard work. 

It tired him, but he didn’t see himself stopping now. That would be bad for his image. People would talk. He didn’t like that. He didn’t want people to think negative things, not even when that was true. There was a reason he didn’t have one single negative comment on Yelp. 

Twenty candles. His expression softened. Must have been nice being that age. It was a tragedy she was moving through this milestone living in the street. Or in a crypt. He found himself wishing he could just wrap his arms around her. He didn’t move. That would have been inappropriate, right? Instead he just looked at her, once again sympathetic. “I’ll see if I have twenty,” he rubbed on the tip of his nose and sat back, nursing his glass of wine against his chest. 

“I’m going to assume you’re taking this seriously,” hard to tell, with kids. Harder even to tell, with her. Ideally, they shouldn’t have had to hide, but it would be a time before they were accepted by society as anything but monsters. You had to see the way people rushed to photograph alleged cryptids. Alan couldn’t imagine the horror it would mean if one of them were captured. 

He fell silent, letting her enjoy the remainder of her food. Before he left the table, he told her she could have a look around the garden if she wanted. Through a back door, she could even walk up to the seashore. 

Setting the rest in a Tupperware container for her to grab, he put the dishes away in the washer, and rummaged through the cupboards for candles. He knew he had some laying around. At last, he found a bunch, hidden between ziplock bags and aluminum foil. Poking holes into strawberries and raspberries, he managed to make all twenty thank you very much of them stand on the pavlova, even if very precariously so. 

Walking back to the patio, the werewolf sang without confidence a Compleaños Feliz to the bugbear, looking around to catch a glimpse of her.

“Then quit your job.” Nora stretched in her seat, her eyes facing towards the ocean as she watched the waves lap against the shore. “Who needs something that stresses them out like that? What’s stopping you from standing up and walking away?” And walking, and walking, and walking some more until you end up someplace you want to be. “Become something that makes you happy.” Nora knew there was something out there that would make her happy. She hoped she would find it. Her bones were weary from so much walking. It would be nice to sit and be happy. To look out at the ocean and know that she’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing. “Maybe that’ll make you less cranky.” Mean, considering all he’s done for her. But who was Nora if not mean?

He was kind to not say anything about her previous lie that she was twenty one. Nora took another sip of her wine. Or maybe he was assuming twenty was her favorite number. Nora didn’t know, and she didn’t want to question it. She was happy either way. “I am taking it seriously.” Nora informed him. She remembered the hunter dying in front of her. The head being ripped off and thrown away like it was nothing. The blood over her. If that was the cost of learning what she was, what was the cost of telling other people's secrets? Sure, she didn’t like it. But it was what it was.

Alan got up with a word to explore. Nora, ever curious, didn’t need to be told twice. Somewhere in the garden she lost her combat boots, and somewhere on the beach she lost the socks. She found herself with her feet planted firmly in the sand of the ocean. Her toes wiggling in the soft sensation and the waves slapped her poorly rolled up pants. There was something special about the ocean. It washed away everything, all the worries, cares and struggles. Eventually she heard Alan again, singing a happy birthday song. Nora could barely hear the wisp of it from where she was standing. Nora turned to see he had a desert with candles. Probably twenty, just like he said.

[honeysmokedham]

got hacked. change your password if you clicked the link.

[broken-heart-raven-queen]

I HAVE AN UNHINGED THEORY!!

What if... what if Andrew was Jeremy's brother at some point?? Okay, I know this sounds crazy and might imply that probably Jeremy's dad that we don't know about it's in fact a bad person BUT STAY WITH ME IN THIS.

Andrew lived in 12 homes in California before Cass (non of them good, btw) and we all know that Andrew was little when he did ended up with the Spears. Now, he has an eidetic memory, so he can recall this from those years, but no normal personnin their twenties would remember vividly everything that happened when they had idk 10.

Following this, remember that Jeremy is at least 2 years older than Andrew.

Jeremy does not mention once his dad's name nor his surname (thing that you may see I'm obsessed with) but we know it wasn't Knox. But why? Why would you not mention you father or think about him once specially when you have clear daddy issues sorrounding your step-father??

Unless he was a bad person. Unless his name not only brings back bad memories but it's forbidden because of something he did to the whole family.

Then we have all the issue with his brother that it's mentioned weirdly. For the sake of this theory imagine little Jeremy so very happy that he finally had a little brother to pass time with because your parents are fostering this kid that had obviously had a rough life but never gave up but then something happened and you are not sure of what because you are a kid too but the next thing you know is that your new baby brother is gone (as well as your dreams of playing and teaching him) and your father's name is a bad word.

He would still considered him his brother but because all of this Andrew (or "the blonde quiet kid he barely remembers") is not mentioned often to people when Jeremy talks about his family, but it would make sense that his best friends know about it.

Also Jeremy goes to therapy and he sure had a lot of other stuff going on as people normally have, but the girls mentioned that a GOOD therapist can change a person A LOT. And if that therapist had to deal with all this trauma is fair to think that maybe Jeremy reacted badly to this sudden change and how the rest of the family could start again as if nothing happened when they became Knox.

Andrew probably remembers Jeremy, but we don't know because he didn't talk about this with Neil at least during the books, but he maybe talked to Betsy before they had to play the Trojans.

And I know this is something hanging by a literal thread but in a way I want to think that Jeremy and Andrew had a bond of some sort and that is something that affects both of them to this day, so yeah.

[chryseiswriting-blog]

TSC Theory Thread

(MAJOR SPOILERS / AFTG trigger warnings apply)

Hey AFTG gang, I have a sort of theory / sort of question and want your thoughts.

There are two different moments in TSC where it is heavily implied that after Zane let Grayson into their room to assault Jean, Riko made Zane hurt Grayson. Now, it is never said outright, but I personally think it is pretty obvious that Riko made Zane emulate what Grayson did to Jean, but I’m second guessing myself because I can’t tell if that’s just my fucked up brain reacting on worst case scenario because of all the other messed up stuff that happens in TSC or actually what Nora is implying.

The first time it is mentioned is when Jean is watching the Edgar Allan vs. Foxes game and he sees the coaches have put Grayson and Zane on the court at the same time. He says they’ve hated each other since Jean’s first year but can’t even be in the same room after “what Riko did to them in January.”

(Pg.99)

The second time is after Colleen commits suicide and Jean is thinking about Zane and Colleen’s secret relationship, and he thinks about how Zane could barely look Colleen in the eye after “what Riko made him do to Grayson.”

(Pg. 214)

I’ve noticed not many people have discussed this detail and it was lost a bit under all the rest of the horrific stuff that happened in the Nest, plus it is hard to think of Grayson as a victim when he was such a monster.

But I really got stuck on it and I hope we get more Zane in TSC2 because I would like Nora to expand, not on details per se, but on the psychological impact for both sides. If this theory IS correct, it means Zane had a girlfriend but was forced to perform sodomy, and Grayson understood what it was like to be Jean and still attacked him outside the USC court.

ALSO. Riko asked if any of the backliners wanted to help “break in” the new backliner (probably in punishment for the way Jean looked at Kevin) because he himself could not hurt Jean in that way— because he was not sexually interested in men (unconfirmed). If that’s the case, how did he force Zane to do anything to Grayson? Did he threaten their spots on the line? Or was he in the room with them, holding them at knife point? And how did he even know what happened unless Jean told him? Or was it one of the others?

😰 Nora truely has a way with psychological trauma.

[megamindsupremacy]

Hello! Fan of your blog for a while now, and I've been meaning to scream about Billy Batson to you for some time, too.

I'm curious, what are your favorite personal headcanons for Billy Batson? And what D&D class do you think Billy would take/fall under?

Oh hi!! I'm a huge fan of your blog too, I love the Billy content <3

-

One headcanon I am constantly rotating in my brain is the whole "Billy is immortal and Captain Marvel doesn't age" concept. Because we all love Billy for his special power of Kid Turning Into Adult but also kids do that anyways after enough time so him dealing with adulthood and immortality is just.... so good....

I LOVE the communal Twitch Chat AU the Billy Batson fandom has created. The idea of all these gods just constantly yelling at Cap is so funny this poor guy cannot catch a break. I also like the "the Wizard put a magic filter on Billy" headcanon specifically for the surprises the League gets when a depowered Billy is suddenly swearing like, every other word. What do you mean you usually talk like that? What do you mean "A Wizard did it??"

-

I'm going to be honest. Despite being part of a ~2 year long D&D campaign (we're really bad at scheduling, it really shouldn't be this long), I know like... nothing about D&D. One moment I'm going to google some stuff.

Okay, so after a quick skim of the D&D Beyond class page, here's my Billy class headcanons:

Cleric: Because "A priestly champion who wields divine magic in service of a higher power" seems pretty spot-on to what Billy does in like. Base canon

Ranger: "A warrior who combats threats on the edges of civilization" would be accurate for a Billy who's more focused on the supernatural side of things (as opposed to the Punch Alien side of things). Especially one that focuses on honing the magic in his mortal form and not just relying on his Captain Marvel form to get out of trouble.

Rogue: "A scoundrel who uses stealth and trickery to overcome obstacles and enemies" would be great for a less magically-inclined Billy who has to deal with all sorts of bullshit on the streets. Especially if he's of the "I shouldn't become Captain Marvel for anything but the most morally correct of causes" because then he has to like. Pickpocket or steal food and run away from cops all the time.

-

And now, for a reverse Uno card... What are YOUR favorite Billy headcanons? Who's your favorite CM supporting character?

[notebookmusical]

books read in 2023

hi, hello! inspired by a few mutuals, i decided to do a reading thread of 2023! you can find my goodreads here, and my bookstagram here! as always, askbox + dms are open if have any questions or would like to chat about books!

january

book lovers by emily henry (reread; ★★★��★)

convenience store woman by sayaka murata + translated by ginny tapley takemori (★★★☆☆)

a wish in the dark by christina soontornvat (★★★★★)

so you want to talk about race by ijeoma oluo (audiobook; ★★★★★)

highly suspicious and unfairly cute by talia hibbert (★★★★☆)

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid (reread; (★★★★☆)

if not, winter by sappho + translated by anne carson (★★★★★)

when you wish upon a lantern by gloria chao (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

this time it's real by ann liang (ARC; ★★★★★)

love, theoretically by ali hazelwood (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

hell bent by leigh bardugo (★★★★☆)

everything i know about love by dolly alderton (reread; ★★★★★)

the fraud squad by kyla zhao (★★★☆☆)

masters of death by olivie blake (★★★★☆)

enter the body by joy mccullough (★★★★☆)

the stranger by albert camus (reread; ★★★★★)

you'd be mine by erin hahn (★☆☆☆☆)

a hundred other girls by iman hariri-kia (★☆☆☆☆)

bloodmarked by tracy deonn (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

fearless by mandy gonazales (★★★★☆)

february

the roommate by rosie danan (★★☆☆☆)

wuthering heights by emily brontë (book club pick; ★★★★☆)

the nanny by lana ferguson (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

the writing retreat by julia bartz (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

exes and o's by amy lea (★★★☆☆)

not here to stay friends by kaitlyn hill (ARC; ★★★★☆)

chloe and the kaishao boys by mae coyiuto (ARC; ★★★★☆)

isha, unscripted by sajni patel (gifted; ★★☆☆☆)

conversations on love by natasha lunn (★★★★★)

meet me at the lake by carley fortune (ARC; ★★★★☆)

emily wilde's encyclopedia of faeries by heather fawcett (★★★☆☆)

where echoes die by courtney gould (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

vintage contemporaries by dan kois (gifted; ★★☆☆☆)

how to be perfect: the correct answer to every moral question by michael schur (audiobook; ★★★★★)

half a soul by olivia atwater (★★★★★)

ten thousand stitches by olivia atwater (★★★★☆)

longshadow by olivia atwater (★★★★★)

between the world and me by ta-nehisi coates (audiobook; ★★★★★)

infamous by lex croucher (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

the lord sorcier by olivia atwater (★★★★☆)

the latch key by olivia atwater (★★★★★)

made of stars by jenna voris (ARC; ★★★★☆)

march

when broadway was black: the triumphant story of the all-black musical that changed the world by caseen gaines (audiobook; ★★★★★)

leave it to the march sisters by annie sereno (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

once more with feeling by elissa sussman (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

moorewood family rules by helenkay dimon (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

fleabag: the scriptures by phoebe waller-bridge (★★★★★)

fake dates and mooncakes by sher lee (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

vera wong's unsolicited advice for murderers by jesse q. sutanto (gifted; ★★★★☆)

emma of 83rd street by audrey bellezza and emily harding (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

how to read now by elaine castillo (★★★★★)

constellations by nick payne (reread; ★★★★☆)

ching chong chinaman by lauren yee

devil in winter by lisa kleypas (★★★★☆)

the passing playbook by isaac fitzsimons ( ★★★★★)

infinite jest by david foster wallace

our wives under the sea by julia armfield (★★★★☆)

mrs. nash's ashes by sarah adler (ARC; ★★★★☆)

study break: 11 college tales from orientation to graduation edited by aashna avachat (★★★☆☆)

the love match by priyanka taslim (★★★★☆)

a lady for a duke by alexis hall (★★★★☆)

love and other consolation prizes by jamie ford (★★★☆☆)

april

spoiler alert by olivia dade (★★☆☆☆)

all the feels by olivia dade (★★☆☆☆)

ship wrecked by olivia dade (★★☆☆☆)

float plan by trish doller (★★★★☆)

yellowface by r.f. kuang

the ex hex by erin sterling (★★☆☆☆)

the kiss curse by erin sterling (★★★☆☆)

siren queen by nghi vo (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

chloe and the kaishao boys by mae coyiuto (reread; ★★★★★)

wandering souls by cecile pin (gifted; ★★★★★)

heavy vinyl, vol. 1: riot on the radio by nina vakueva & carly usdin (★★★★☆)

heavy vinyl: y2k-o! by nina vakueva & carly usdin (★★★★☆)

never ever getting back together by sophie gonzales (★★☆☆☆)

book lovers by emily henry (reread; ★★★★★)

miss aldridge regrets by louise hare (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

if the shoe fits by julie murphy (★★★☆☆)

blackmail and bibingka by mia p. manansala (★★★★☆)

murder and mamon by mia p. manansala (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

icebreaker by hannah grace (★☆☆☆☆)

alone with you in the ether by olivie blake (reread; ★★★★★)

may

beautiful country: a memoir of an undocumented childhood by qian julie wang (★★★★★)

the other black girl by zakiya dalila harris (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

check & mate by ali hazelwood (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

if i'm being honest by emily wibberley & austin siegemund-broka (reread; ★★★★★)

always never yours by emily wibberley & austin siegemund-broka (reread; ★★★★★)

do i know you? by emily wibberley & austin siegemund-broka (reread; ★★★★★)

romeo and juliet by william shakespeare (audiobook, reread; ★★★★★)

joan is okay by weike wang (★★★★☆)

technically yours by denise williams (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

first position by melanie hamrick (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

the boy from kyiv: alexei ratmansky's life in ballet by marina harss (ARC; ★★★★★)

the boy you always wanted by michelle quach (ARC; ★★★★☆)

woman, eating by claire kohda (★★☆☆☆)

immortal longings by chloe gong (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

heartburn by nora ephron (★★★☆☆)

a merry little meet cute by julie murphy & sierra simone (★★☆☆☆)

the deal by elle kennedy (★☆☆☆☆)

the mistake by elle kennedy (★☆☆☆☆)

the score by elle kennedy (★☆☆☆☆)

the goal by elle kennedy (★☆☆☆☆)

the legacy by elle kennedy (★☆☆☆☆)

open water by caleb azumah nelson (★★★★★)

painted devils by margaret owen (gifted; ★★★★★)

playing for keeps by kendall ryan (★☆☆☆☆)

june

the final revival of opal and nev by dawnie walton (★★★☆☆)

the missing of clairedelune by christelle dabos (audiobook; ★★★★★)

happy place by emily henry (reread; ★★★★★)

iris kelly doesn't date by ashley herring blake (ARC; ★★★★☆)

ghosts by dolly alderton (★★★★★)

you don't have a shot by racquel marie (gifted; ★★★★☆)

thank you for listening by julia whelan (audiobook; ★★★★★)

if you still recognize me by cynthia so (gifted; ★★☆☆☆)

imogen, obviously by becky albertalli (gifted; ★★★★☆)

for never & always by helena greer (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

all the dead lie down by kyrie mccauley (gifted; ★★★★☆)

one hundred days by alice pung (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

much ado about nada by uzma jalaluddin (★★★★☆)

thieves gambit by kayvion lewis (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

deep in providence by riss m. neilson (★★★☆☆)

the burnout by sophie kinsella (ARC; ★★★★☆)

small worlds by caleb azumah nelson (ARC; ★★★★☆)

we ship it by lauren kay (★☆☆☆☆)

foul heart huntsman by chloe gong (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

the memory of babel by christelle dabos (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

pride and prejudice and pittsburgh by rachael lippincott (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

a british girl's guide to hurricanes and heartbreak by laura taylor namey (ARC; ★★★★☆)

the reunion by kit frick (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

queer by william s. burroughs

when grumpy met sunshine by charlotte stein (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

july

the storm of echoes by christelle dabos (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

will they or won't they by ava wilder (★★★☆☆)

fiona and jane by jean chen ho (audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)

business or pleasure by rachel lynn solomon (★★★☆☆)

teach the torches to burn: a romeo & juliet remix by caleb roehrig (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

a man called ove by fredrik backman (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

exciting times by naoise dolan (audiobook; ★☆☆☆☆)

the hobbit by j.r.r. tolkien (audiobook; ★★★★★)

the year of magical thinking by joan didion (★★★★★)

such a fun age by kiley reid (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

tis the damn season by kimi freeman (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)

august

a very nice girl by imogen crimp (audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)

bliss montage by ling ma (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

the raven boys by maggie stiefvater (reread; ★★★★★)

freshwater by akwaeke emezi (audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)

the dream thieves by maggie stiefvater (reread; ★★★★★)

i'm not done with you yet by jesse q. sutanto (gifted; ★★☆☆☆)

blue lily, lily blue by maggie stiefvater (reread; ★★★★★)

the raven king by maggie stiefvater (reread; ★★★★★)

bellegarde by jamie lilac (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

red, white & royal blue by casey mcquiston (reread; ★★★★★)

some mistakes were made by kristin dwyer (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

september

beta read (★★★★★)

dogs of summer by andrea abreu lópez (audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)

in these hallowed halls: a dark academia anthology edited by maria o'regan and paul kane (ARC; ★★★☆☆)

together we rot by skyla arndt (★★★★☆)

stay with my heart by tashie bhuiyan (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

before we say goodbye by toshikazu kawaguchi & translated by geoffrey trousselot (ARC; ★★★★★)

the dead romantics by ashley poston (★★★★☆)

the seven year slip by ashley poston( ★★★★★)

you, again by kate goldbeck (★★☆☆☆)

serpent & dove by shelby mahurin (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

harlem after midnight by louise hare (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

witch of wild things by raquel vasquez gilliland (gifted; ★★★☆☆)

the luis ortega survival club by sonora reyes (gifted; ★★★★☆)

blood & honey by shelby mahurin (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde (audiobook; ★★★★★)

for the throne by hannah whitten (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

the wake-up call by beth o'leary (★★★★★)

the book eaters by sunyi dean (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

october

the moth keeper by kay o'neill (★★★★☆)

a fragile enchantment by allison saft (ARC; ★★★★☆)

just kids by patti smith (audiobook)

cult classic by sloane crosley (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

the atlas paradox by olivie blake (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

the goodbye cat by hiro arikawa (gifted; ★★★★★)

the appeal by janice hallett ( ★★★★☆)

the twyford code by janice hallett ( ★★★★☆)

wildfire by hannah grace (★★☆☆☆)

the roaring by t. katarina tayler (★★☆☆☆)

curious tides by pascale lacelle (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

the tempest by william shakespeare (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

murder on the orient express by agatha christie (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

canadian boyfriend by jenny holiday (ARC; ★★☆☆☆)

november

better than fiction by alexa martin (★★★☆☆)

the christmas appeal by janice hallett(★★★★☆)

kaikeyi by vaishnavi patel (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

finale: late conversations with stephen sondheim by d.t. max (audiobook; ★★★★☆)

cleopatra and frankenstein by coco mellors (★★★★☆)

the undertaking of hart and mercy by megan bannen (audiobook; ★★★☆☆)

december

how to stop time by matt haig (audioboook; ★★★☆☆)

the wake-up call by beth o'leary (reread; ★★★★★)

the break up tour by emily wibberley & austin siegemund-broka (arc; ★★☆☆☆)

bride by ali hazelwood (arc; ★☆☆☆☆)

the getaway list by emma lord (arc; review withheld due to st. martin's press boycott)

same time next year by tessa bailey (★☆☆☆☆)

the mountains sing by nguyễn phan quế mai (★★★★★)

normal people by sally rooney (audiobook, reread; ★★★★★)

the night circus by erin morgenstern (reread;★★★★★)

funny story by emily henry (arc; ★★★★★)

les misérables by victor hugo (★★★★★)

TOTAL BOOKS READ: 202

[shieldborn]

Nora presses an unruly corner of chicken wire up against one of the fence slats with one hand, and secures it to the wood with a satisfying thunk of the staple gun in the other. The garden had appeared dormant for some time, and now they were being rewarded with bright green growth starting to poke out of the dark soil. She moved around the rows of sprouts carefully, tossing the gun back onto the dirt momentarily as she used both hands to pull the mesh around the corner of the plot. Thunk.

"leave that and come on inside." cathy stands on the porch, trying to wave nora in, "it's gonna start pouring any minute. i've put off fixin' that for years, it can wait another couple of hours till the weather's better." - @entriprises

Cathy's call drew Nora out of the routine with a grin and a phantom tip of a hat, "Yes ma'am." The light sweat on her forehead protested the call of rain, but Nora had learned not to question Cathy's sense for the sky's fickle secrets. Looking up, she saw the clouds a stretch away had grown heavier as she had been working, just waiting for a draft to bring their cover to the farmhouse. She slipped the thick garden gloves into her pocket, leaving the roll of wire mesh but grabbing everything else as she nudged the concrete block back in front of the gate. Realigning the latch was next on her list, but the block served well enough for now. "Y'know, I reckon I could've gotten that last side done in time," the grin was back, "we'll have to wait for the ground to dry out unless you want me tracking mud."

[entriprises]

oh were you having a good day? sorry

[duskianfae]

N o r a

[alan-duarte]

TIMING: April 1st LOCATION:  The Crypt of Annalise (aka Nora’s Home) PARTIES: Alan @alan-duarte &Nora @honeysmokedham SUMMARY: Happy 20th Birthday Nora! CONTENT WARNINGS: none

Today was a special day. Nora had gone dumpster diving specially for it. There was a local bakery that threw out all of its day-old goodies and Nora was up bright and early to snag the goods before anyone else. Excellent. The crypt Nora called home was haphazardly decorated. Hand drawn posters and streamers were messily tapped to the marble walls. Babadook even showed up in a party hat Nora crafted for him out of some old chip bags. Now all of this might seem like a lot, but Nora had even taken care to clean up the crypt to make a nice space in the middle. Since Nora never had guests she generally left her sleeping bag spread out, her art supplies all over the place and the backpack that held everything she owned in the world turned out in a pile of clutter. Today, she tidied it all up to make a presentable party place. 

“Are you ready Babs?” Nora asked, slipping into a cross legged sitting position. In front of her was an assortment of pilfered pastries. A few of the ghosts friends Nora had made slipped in through the walls and ceiling. “Happy birthday to me,” Her monotone voice wasn’t very good at singing but Babadook really carried the song with his mournful howling. The ghost chorus really tied the rest of it together. “Happy birthday to me.” She wasn’t sure if she was really happy it was her birthday, if she was being honest. “Happy birthday dear me.” But in this lifetime she would only turn twenty once. “Happy birthday to me.” 

Ah, what a sunny, beautiful Saturday this was. Alan had plans to get to the aerodrome later today, enjoy the fair weather from above, but before he got to it, the man had made it his mission to find the young girl who had stolen his meal and hadn't even had the decency to apologize when he had generously offered to pay for these few words of repentance. He hadn't asked for the Moon, and in exchange, had found himself confronted by a cheeky girl with no manners or sense of decency.

She probably didn't expect him to be able to track her down so easily : the girl exuded a disgusting stench, and he could have done it with his eyes closed.

Alan wanted an apology, and he would have an apology. He had also brought in a bag some provisions, because although he was a perfect asshole, his reputation was that of someone generous for those who had not heard of his greed, and he intended to prove her absolutely wrong. Never mind if his generosity was only there to prove he was right. Anyway, that's what he liked to pretend. It was better than admitting he gave a fuck.

At the insistance of Analise herself, the owner of the body whose final resting place was the crypt, Nora constructed herself a party hat out of trash. “No party is ever complete without the birthday girl being special.” The ghost had told her, hovering close and smiling. Nora didn’t know what made this birthday special. It marked the two year anniversary of running away from everything she ever knew and setting up a life for herself. A life away from money, people and most of all a social media account with a lot of followers. For whatever reason Nora had made a new social media for the town itself. She figured she’d use it to troll people and figure out where she could get her next meals. What it was, was never that serious.

Nora was about to take a bite of her pastries when Annalise stopped her again. “You didn’t blow out the candles dear. You sang a song but you didn’t light the candles and blow them out.” It wsa true because Nora had realized she didn’t have a lighter. How was she going to light the candles without a lighter. In the moment Nora decided she didn’t want to fight Annalise on that.  So she cracked open the stolen candles and started spelling out ‘Happy Birthday Nora’ on all the make shift pastries. Honestly? It looked like a mess.

Her scent took him toward the cemetery, and though Alan wasn’t one too easily spooked, he heard enough stories about those places, the same sorts of stories he didn’t believe about the woods until he got bitten and thought for certain he was going to die. Ever since that day, he had made the choice to take those tales a lot more seriously. 

“Of course you’d live in a fucking crypt,” with a roll of his eyes, Alan stuck one hand in his pocket, the other holding onto the grocery bag. He had traded his suit with something more suited to hunting down a demon dressed as a smelly child : a comfortable merino blend sweater and a pair of cotton trousers that allowed more movement than slacks. 

Falling quiet as he thought he’d heard something, the familiar words of the Happy Birthday song reached his ears. It wasn’t the best cover of it he’d heard, perhaps because the voice singing it grated his ears already, and, as he pushed the door to the crypt, Alan, quite frankly, told himself he had never seen something so sad and pathetic than that time he had the misfortune to run into Ben Shapiro while on vacation on the west coast.

“See, I told you you could use the ten dollars,” he pointed out, leaning his weight against the doorway.

Nora had grown too complacent. She should have been paying attention. Or at the very least she should have had some ghosts friends paying attention. A collective ‘Ooo she’s in trouble.’ threaded its way through the ghost chorus as Nora leaped up, whipping around to face the door. It was that man from the other day. The man who’s sandwich she’d taken and then had the nerve to ask her for an apology. “What are you doing here?” Anger seethed under her monotone voice. Her face did a good job keeping her placid expression. “You’re not welcome here.” A hand jumped to trash party hat at the top of her head and tossed it to the ground.

Behind Nora, Babadook raised his hackles. The yeth hound’s tentacles moved towards the intruder. There was something embarrassing being caught throwing herself a small birthday party. But what did she have to be embarrassed about? This was the life that she had chosen for herself. The one she had wanted away from everyone. Just her and her dog. “Get out. I don’t need your fucking ten dollars.” Nora’s hands clenched into fists.

"Well, perhaps you should have thought about that when you decided to be extremely rude to me," he pointed out. Alan's eyes darted toward her hands, expecting her to throw something his way, although it was all the more devastating to instead watch her throw her crafty hat to the floor, so much that he kept to himself how he had managed to follow her trail. The man's eyebrows furrowed and he decided to ignore her protest. "I'm pretty sure neither of us are supposed to be in here," he didn't glance toward the tombstone, keeping his eyes on her instead.

Upset people could be unstable, and Alan didn't plan for anyone to get hurt.

"Maybe you don't, but I need an apology," he raised his hand, shaking the brown paper bag he held. "And I suppose you can do it for free. Consider this a birthday present," ha, well that was just him being incredibly lucky, wasn't it? What were the odds? “How does that sound?”

He had tracked her down to demand an apology while trying to shove his pity upon her. Something broke in Nora as she saw that brown paper bag swinging there. “Get out.” Her voice was soft, tight with anger. “Get out.” The monotone was beginning to unravel revealing nothing but adolescent rage. “GET OUT.” This was the loudest her voice had been in years, it trembled with the effort. “GET. OUT.” Her hadn was out stretched pointing towards the door. “GET! OUT!”

The fury took over. The bear came out. Her good pair of clothes ripped as white fur sprouted over her body. Her face elongated. Her hands turned into paws with claws. My Nora, what big teeth you have. All the better to eat the mothefucker who broke into her home, she thought to herself. The bear stood there. A part of herself felt disgust that she shifted that easily. A disgusting disgrace of a creature who couldn’t control her state of being. The ghosts swarmed closer, watching this drama with interest. It had to be the most interesting thing they’d seen in years. Babadook joined in the bear’s yoddeling with his own mournful howl. It was becoming a very loud cacophony of noise. 

What this man hadn’t known before entering this crypt was he was following a monster and she wold make him shit his pants, pee himself and cry for his mother. Nora started to barrel towards him. She had no intent on actually running into him. She just wanted him to start running.

The screaming made him quietly reflect on the difficulties he had faced with his first husband when they'd tried to adopt. Was this the sound of good life choices Alan was hearing here? This was not the sort of volume he would have tolerated in his home.

“Alright, there’s no need to fuss,” he began, holding his hands up and slowly lowering himself to set his ‘present’ on the floor : shampoo and a bar of soap, a box of wipes and enough granola bars for a few days. But while he did so, a set of worrying sounds started to echo in the thick walls of the crypt. What the fuck. His eyes darted toward her pet, who had to be perhaps the ugliest thing he had ever seen in his life, right after Ben Shapiro, once again. “You’re fu-'' Of course he’d have to run into someone who was just like him. And a bear. Not just like him then. But pretty damn close, right?

Eyes wide, he took a cautious step back, but as she started to barrel his way, Alan figured he’d defend himself in the only way available to him now. He didn’t register yet that she didn’t make much of a fuss over her limbs, her flesh, every part of her rearranging themselves in a new way. Alan never was so quiet when he turned, and as the man turned to wolf, his cries matched her angered words of rejection. 

The scent of fear coming off of the man was gratifying. He smelt like the home she’d left behind; expensive cologne and soap mixed in with his delicious fear. It was reminiscent of everything she’d left behind. Nostalgia pinged inside her mixing in with the rage and disgust Nora felt for herself. However, missing her fathers wasn't going to make her stop. It wasn't enough to soothe the sea of anger that raged through her. All it did was make her hate him more for reminding her of the choices she'd made.

What did make her pause were his cries. Before Nora's eyes, he went from a human into a wolf. Just like her. Well, obviously not just like her. He was a wolf, and she was some sort of sad excuse for a polar bear. Nora skidded to a halt. Emotion drained from her in that instance, leaving behind nothing but wonder. 

The bear must have stood there staring for at least five minutes. Someone like her. In her twenty years of existence that had never happened before. The bear shed away. Mass shed away leaving behind Nora. Small, naked, shivering. Most of all transfixed. She reached out with a trembling hand to touch the wolf. "What are you." Her voice was back to its monotone. Every bit of anger she'd just held had fled just like that. This discovery was so life-changing that she couldn't even remember what she had been angry about. 

A low growl escaped from the werewolf's jaw as he stared her down. Terrified as he might have been with the sight of her, Alan felt a large urge to stand his ground and try not to let it show. Lips drawn, the wolf snarled, a constant sound locked in his chest as he remained bolted on his forepaws, his thick grey fur bristling as if to threaten her to step back. 

Unnerving as it might have been, to stand still in front of such a terrifying creature, Alan let out a sigh of relief as the girl shrank back to her petite form, and didn’t dare move at all as she approached him. Pushing his snout against her palm, Alan lowered his head at last, and having well realized that he would have to get back home completely naked (did he have at least a coat in his car? He knew he had rubber boots for muddy lots…), began the painful process of shifting back to his human self, but not before cowering in a corner if only not to flash a child with his lack of modesty. 

“I should return the question to you,” he pointed out, holding up a piece of stinky polyester (fucking kill him already) against his chest. With furrowed brows he looked her in the eyes and sighed. “You’ve heard of us. Werewolves,” he sighed.

“Werewolves are real.” It was a statement and a question all at once. Unlike the modest Alan making efforts to cover himself up, Nora seemed completely unaware to the nudity of the situation. Instead she stood there in wonder. She wasn’t the only monster in the world. Werewolves were real. Did that make her a werebear? “I’m a werebear.” Nora decided in that moment. “I think. I don’t actually know.” I never met anyone like me. She couldn’t get herself to say the words out loud. 

Babadook came up to Nora offering her a large shirt clenched in his mouth. Nora, finally noticing, put it on. “You’re a werewolf.” Nora repeated. She seemed more stunned then anything. “How did you find out you were a werewolf?” The word kept tumbling out of her mouth. Despite her voice returning to its natural monotone, excitement was racing through her body. Werewolf. Werebear. “Do you know other wereb-” She stopped herself, switching words midsentence. “werewolves”

"Well, I am real," he confirmed with a slight grimace. He sure wished sometimes he never got bit. That had cost him his first marriage and it certainly had changed him, that sort of raw power. Amused by her attempt to come up with a name for her condition, Alan pursed his lips to keep that smile off his face, eyes avoiding her sight now. This being said, he couldn't have come up with a better name himself anyway.

"I am a werewolf," he nodded. That was his second time admitting to it in a minute, but he guessed that was shock speaking on her side (which was off coming from a bear child). "The hard way, I suppose." It was a full moon on a winter night, and Alan had barely managed to park on the side of the road when it finally kicked in. He'd woken up absolutely naked in the middle of the woods. Absolutely fantastic. Rubbing at his shoulder, where he kept the stigma from the bite, Alan shook his head as she asked of other werewolves. He had known some, but they had vanished, probably killed by hunters. "You'll need to be careful who you show your ... bear to. Some people don't mean you good."

"Werewolf." She repeated the word one more time. It was…Wow. In twenty years, of everyone she met. Who would have thought the jerk would be most like her. Nora was never a jerk to anyone, how weird that they could be so different yet so a like. The adrenaline was starting to fade from her system. Feeling weak kneed, Nora let herself drop to the ground. Absently she grabbed one of the birthday pastries, starting to eat it without taking the candle out. With everything going around in her head, she didn’t notice it. “The hard way?” Nora asked finally. “You weren’t born like that?” Nora was talking with her mouthful. Manners were never her strong suit. “I was born like this. Is being born hard?” 

“I don’t know if it’s easier for those born with it. I suppose it is,” Alan crossed his arms over his chest, doing his best to ignore how uncomfortable polyester felt against his skin. “I got bitten about ten years ago.” He had the precise date stuck in his head, but wasn’t the sort to share anything he considered personal. That just wasn’t him. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to ignore her questions, even if he kept his responses as short as possible.

“I will leave you be, for now. I’m borrowing your… sleeping bag,” a sigh escaped from his lips again. This was new, a werebear. Terrifying too. Yet, he couldn’t leave her to just fend for herself, could he? She made it very clear that she didn’t need his help, but maybe she wouldn’t mind that he gave the thing a good wash. 

“I’ll bring it back,” he wasn’t one for promises, but she had no reason to doubt that. 

Nora didn’t object when Alan left with her sleeping bag. The candle had made its way into her mouth and she didn’t object to that either. She was just sitting there in awe. Who knew that her 20th birthday would come with the best gift she could have asked for. The knowledge that she wasn’t alone. In that moment, just for that instant, Nora thought to herself maybe she wasn’t the disgusting monster she thought she was. 

[ulyflynn]

closed for: @edietello

where: aiden's house, nora and aiden's birthday party

"Move." Uly practically barked at two partygoers who were trying to take a selfie in the hallway he was making his way down, leaving both Nora and the bathroom they had occupied in his rearview as he sought out another drink.

The pair parted for him easily and he pushed passed with a deliberate shove, inhaling through his nose sharply to counteract the irksome tickle in his nostrils that usually indicated to him that he should lay off the lines for the rest of the night.

He wastes no time to take the bottle of Belvedere he sees left unoccupied by the neck and pour himself a measure into a red solo cup that appeared clean enough, glancing to his side as he catches sight of blonde in his peripheral with a face that made him double take.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

[sunchases]

"okay ... so, the only reason i'm agreeing to anything is because i love nora and i want her to be happy," harper starts, fixing rhys with a fond smile. in another world, he'd be more stern about no celebrations, but what can he say? one look at that adorable little face and he just crumbles. the fact that they even know when his birthday is instead of thinking of him as some mysterious, vaguely aging being is because nora had asked in that sweet voice when it was. and apparently people pay attention to what harper says. "but it's still not a huge thing and you guys really don't need to do anything for me. i just want her to be happy." / @weedzkiller liked for a birthday thing !

[tilbageidanmark]

(Click to see the memes I'm making)

[shevaults]

a little walk through sanctuary hills in the snow <3

[dayurno]

kevin day's hairy legs in those tiny shorts 🥹🥹

🥹❤️ don’t ever forget about the beauty of this world

[aamusedly]

@vaultsuited / NORA . From HANCOCK .

It had been a while since Hancock had needed to stay on his toes. But at least he still had the instinct to smell tension in the air, the sharp odor of change, like blood on the tongue.

His people were always on edge when the detective rolled into town, but at least it was a nervous prickle they were used to. The vaultie, though... that was different.

Rumors were flying, tensions were rising, and jobs were no longer being posted. Hancock's hackles were raised just as much as his curiosity had been piqued-- enough to venture out of his Statehouse to track down where the woman was staying. No one would hold that info from him.

But draped in authority though he was, Hancock had some good fucking manners from time to time-- so he knocked, a shoulder resting on the doorframe of her room.

"Room service," he called in a low rasp.