#oc: nadja

[jenivere2]

babygurl

[cottoncandysprite]

Calm(ish) before the storm... Episode 8 of Season 4.6 is up now on AO3!

[spider-jaysart]

Okay soooo, first time I'm doing something like this, but I wanna introduce a fave oc of mines today that I've been working on for a longtime now :)

Her name is Nadja Al Ghul-Wayne-Kent and she's a Damijon kid

(Click for better quality)

@camo-wolf @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

The name Nadja means "hope" in Arabic. My very dear friend @theredheaded-stuff was the one who helped me pick it. And her hero name is Super Canyon, which is inspired by the Canyon Wren bird

(More under the cut)

(Edited some stuff on this post now btw)

Backstory:

After being inspired by the story of how Kon was created, a secret group of no good scientists, who just love causing chaos with many of their inventions, decided one day to create a mixed clone of both Damian and Jon, thinking they can do better than Lex did, so they collected both of the boys DNA's after one of their recent battles in public and got to work. Once their experiment was supposed to be done, they saw that their machine had actually created a baby girl instead of a grown, powerful clone like they had wanted, so they were ready to dispose of her as a failed subject, but were suddenly stopped just on time by Damian and Jon who broke into the place and kicked their butts after finding out that a recently committed crime they were investigating was caused by them. When they were done, the boys found Nadja and were surprised to find out she's a clone related to them both. They decided to take her with them and made her their daughter to raise together after that.

Personality:

She's helpful, stubborn, is as intelligent as Damian is, friendly but also tough when she needs to be, observant, sometimes a little too honest about things but doesn't always mean it as rude, courageous (a trait that can be pretty helpful sometimes, but also get her into really big trouble during dangerous situations too), a prankster, and very protective of others, especially her loved ones

Abilities and skills:

She has the usual Kryptonian abilities, which are flying, super strength, superhearing, superspeed, superbreath, ice breath, invulnerablity, x-ray vision, and laser vision that's purple instead of the usual red (because Lois has purple eyes, so it's something unique that was passed onto her that way). Sometimes they don't always work though and can accidentally get out of hand too since she's still growing and learning, but Jon aways tries his best to help her get better at using and controlling them. Nadja also uses many concentrating tips from Damian too for improvement, like meditating for example and other things like that, and he helps her practice them

And because she's half Kryptonian, she also has a couple of unlocked special abilities of her own too, which is invisiblity, the ability to phase through walls and objects, plus the power to also transfer the heat of her laser vision into the palm of her hands to burn who or whatever she touches and she can also let it absorb her whole body too if she wants, which makes her even more untouchable and at the same time lets her release a strong fiery blast around herself onto enemies or incoming threats (her body glows completely purple whenever she does this and if it's just her hands, the same happens to them too). Nadja hasn't been able to properly master these special powers yet though, only one of them, which is the invisiblity one

For skills, thanks to teachings from Damian, plus Talia whenever she visits her, Nadja knows how to use a sword and fight well in combat in case her powers aren't working the way she urgently needs them to during patrols and missions

Random facts:

She calls Damian Baba and Jon Dad.

She calls Clark "Grampops" and Bruce "Grampbats". For Talia, she calls her "Grandmother" and for Lois, she calls her "Grandmama".

Her best friend is her same age Cousin Dick II, the Son of her much older Cousin Jake Grayson and his Wife Meredith Robinson. In the Batfamily (besides Damian), she's close with all her Aunt and Uncles. And for the Al Ghul's, she also gets excited whenever she visits Talia and Ra's. And while she definitely also gets along a lot with her other relatives who are in the Superfamily, the person she's most closest to there (besides Jon ofc) is Kon, due to them both being created as clones meant for evil but turned out good instead, which got them to bond even more as Uncle and Niece.

Her voice sounds like Clementine's from Telltales the walking dead games, but specifically the version of it from season 2 for the tween age she's in right now.

She has messy hair like Jon when she lets it loose. Jon is the one who always has to brush her hair whenever it gets tangled up, since the steel strength of it is just too difficult for Damian to actually handle himself.

Nadja laughs at Damian's jokes all the time since she gets his dark humor and he loves that. They always laugh a lot about it together but when Jon's around, they're Iike "You wouldn't get it" and he gets all offended.

Jon passed his love for noodles onto Najda and Damian's usually like "That's not healthy!!" And tries cooking her vegetarian meals more often or healthy ones that Talia would used to make him back when he was a kid, just so that Najda will eat real food lol. Najda also really loves the meals that comes from Damian's culture too and gets happy whenever he makes them for dinner.

For nicknames, Jon will sometimes call her "Sweetpea", "Sugar cookie", and "Tootsie pops", while Damian calls her "Habibti", "Thamin" (meaning "precious" in Arabic), and "Galbi" (which means "my heart" in Arabic)

Damian matches his outfits with Nadja all the time just like Talia would always used to do with him when he was a little kid. He does this with Jon included too and they take pictures together.

When making her hero suit, Damian was the one who helped Nadja out in drawing the designs and brainstormed ideas with her. When she had finally found one she liked and was ready to make it, Damian and Jon could've helped her sew it and everything, but they didn't have many materials that she could use or a sewing machine either, only a regular sewing kit that they use to fix up their own suits whenever they get damaged, so they let her make it with Ma's help instead at her place when they visit her and Pa again, since she actually owned a machine and also had a sewing room filled with many useful materials. When asked, Ma didn't mind letting Nadja use her stuff at all and was instead delighted about it since it would just give them the chance to spend time with eachother while doing one of her favorite hobbies together.

And next time, while having their usual Mother and Son days out together, Talia helped Damian pick out the sarong skirt for Nadja while hanging around stores, since they thought it would be nice for her to have one. Jon was the one who bought Nadja the red sneakers while shopping together with Kathy, since it reminded him of Kathy's old purple, rainbow ones, but with a twist of red thrown onto it, which also reminded him a lot of his favorite old ones that he used to always wear as a kid too. Dick and Cyborg helped her insert digital tech into her cuffs, which lets out hologram screens that let her know whenever she's over using her powers since she's still mastering them and it does plenty of other useful things for her too.

Najda was also given a mask to go with her suit at first too since she thinks it's annoying to wear glasses in her regular life everyday, but then it got lost during a fight and some villains saw her face, so she was still forced to go with the glasses route in the end anyways.

As adults, Jon's a scientist and Damian's a veterinarian. Najda likes visiting both of her Dads at their day jobs after school and doing her homework there while they work. She always promises to behave and not get in the way and if she has no work to do, she'll help them out too, which they appreciate. She also loves watching what they do and let's them happily explain their favorite stuff about the job to her. She knows a lot about taking care of animals and science because of this.

Nadja loves music and making it too. She even thinks about playing rock music for a living when she grows up. Damian and Jon support her in this and buy her the instruments she needs and they also listen to her songs when she wants to show it off to them. Because of them being in a band themselves back when they were kids, Damian, Jon, Chris, and Jake give her lessons sometimes on how to better play her instruments.

Civilians and especially interviewers always question about how they had Nadja and just assume that she's adopted or assume that just because she looks more like Damian, she's probably from a secret ex girlfriend he had before being with Jon. The last one annoys both Damian and Jon so much, especially Jon since Nadja is actually his kid too and he gets jealous at the thought of the ridiculous idea. Both him and Damian hate these rumors and just want everyone to mind their own business.

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

i'm only two episodes into season 6 but i love that when nadja and nandor try to do regular jobs it's like

nadja: repeated colleague murder aside, surprisingly good at pretending to be a regular corporate employee?

nandor: congrats little buddy that's the worst anyone's ever done it

[shirojikimattari]

Hey

ⱽᵃᵐᵖᶦʳᵉ ˢʰᵃᵈᵒʷʰᵉᵃʳᵗ

Reference after cut uwu

By columbo (@thisuserisalive)

[osunism]

More

🔞 Rating: Explicit 💋Relationship[s]: Sukuna x Nadja ⚠️️ Be Advised: Sukuna's two cocks, his extra mouths, and mild cannibalistic ideation as a form of love, blood kink, double penetration, explicit sex. Heian-era Sukuna. 🪧 Summary: The King of Curses and his Fugitive of Heaven enjoy an afternoon of one another's company.

⛩️ AO3 𑁍 FFN 𑁍 Fic Masterlist 𑁍 Parallax OCs 𑁍 Sonder OCs 𑁍 HCs & Meta ⛩️

     She’s half-disrobed when she comes out of her closet, and he’s sitting on her bed. She saunters to him easily, and he draws her close with little effort, grasping one of her thighs, raising his brows at the luxurious feel of silk stockings under his fingertips. Curious, his hand makes a slow crawl up her leg, tracing the lace trim, the silk ribbon that binds it to her corset. She’s been playing the role of Lady Hikmat today.

     “You smell expensive, tsuma,” he says, but there’s a glint in his eye that tells her it is more desire than derisive. His hands crawl higher, seeking her warm umber skin, the naked folds of her cunt, already slick. “Like you lounge for a living and are attended by servants.” His palm splits open into a secondary mouth, taking the path of his hands, lingering on the tender flesh between her hip and thigh. The tongue slithers between the lips, tasting her skin.

     Nadja lets out a low laugh, husky and amused, her hands going to thread through his blush-hued hair, tender as a goddess giving benediction to a supplicant. But Sukuna is anything but supplicant. He is the devil to her angel, tempting her from her holy place in Heaven to dance with him in the hungry dark beneath the fetid earth.

     “Yes,” she agrees, her smirk sharp as he tests the ease with which he slips two fingers inside of her. His hand comes away wet, the inside of her thighs glistening. “You could smell expensive too if you bathed as often as I do. And I work plenty, as you well know, masoyi na.”

     He scoffs, idly sliding another hand behind her hip to grasp one curve of her ass, giving it a more than generous squeeze. Their gazes meet, their smiles bleeding onto their faces. How wondrous was it, that they had never imagined such intimacy between them until suddenly...they had. He touches her as easily and possessively as if he has always known this truth, and she yields with all the careless amusement of a goddess who knows herself pursued and willingly captivated.

     “I thought you liked me filthy, Daughter of Heaven,” he says slyly. He’s already pulling her into his lap, and she pours onto him until he can feel the thick, wet heat of her on his thigh. Her mouth is on his, her hands cupping his face.

     “I do,” she retorts in a purr as he lifts his thigh just so, parting her further. She grits her teeth on a hiss as her hips rock forward, applying pressure. There’s a slick, erotic sound as Sukuna follows her movements with his lower eyes, the slide growing more slippery. “Something about the taste of you after a fight is...thrilling to me. But I’d rather you not smell like we’ve been fucking in the stables.”

     Sukuna’s mouth is somewhere between her breasts.

     “We could fuck in the stables if you like,” he murmurs, freeing one pierced nipple to capture it in his teeth. Nadja makes a low sound in her throat as her head tips backward briefly. Then she gasps as he uses his lower hands to drag her hips forward. The friction is slick enough to be pleasurable, and she hisses again, folding her legs to allow him full access.

     “Maybe,” she breathes against his mouth, “or we can fuck right here.”

     Sukuna agrees with a low laugh, the sound reverberating through her. He agrees with enough enthusiasm to make her scream for a good while. She comes apart in his arms like a destroyed work of art, vulgar and earth-shattering, and he relishes the taste of her sweat, the hot wet velvet of her cunt around him, the tight ring of muscles around his lower cock, milking him until he spends.

     Slapslapslapsslap—

     Nadja’s voice is ragged and keening, her moans strangled and choked as Sukuna braces her arms behind her with one hand, and uses the others to bounce her helplessly on both his cocks.

     “Gnh fuck…Sukuna…” She whines before dissolving into a series of short, hiccuping gasps. Sukuna says nothing, focusing instead on taking his angel apart piece by divine piece. He drives her hips down, and she lets out a scream as she’s forced to take him down to the base, her cunt split wide enough that he can worry her exposed clit with the mouth on his belly, which opens wide, grinning and malicious.

     Nadja feels all of the thoughts she ever had wiped clear from the sensation. Sukuna growls into her skin, one hand snaking up the sweat-slick plane of her back, cradling her head only to curl his fingers to draw the inky braids into a tight grip.

     The sound that spirals into the air, Sukuna will never tire of: a whimpering wail that skirts the thinnest edge of agony and ecstasy. Tears spring into her dark eyes, glittering like starlight as they begin to fall. Sukuna uses the vice-like grip on her hair to pull her close and catch the teardrops on the tip of his tattooed tongue.

     He watches her dissolve on top of him, eyes fluttering, brow pinched in abject pleasure, her voice hoarse. The tongue on his lower mouth undulates against her clit one final time and Nadja’s sanity snaps with a scream and Sukuna’s shout of triumph as she climaxes.

     He takes her harder, and Nadja revels in being used by him, and used hard. She shudders when he comes, letting out a whimper when his teeth sink deep into her breast, breaking the skin, the coppery sweet vitae of her blood flooding his mouth. Everyday. Every night. He wants to devour her, savor her, taste her for the first time. Nadja shivers in his tightened embrace, her curves molded to the curve of all four of his arms, dwarfed by the sheer size of him. Her thighs quiver, and she lets out an involuntary mewl when Sukuna shifts beneath her, his thick cocks sliding against lust saturated walls.

     “Oh fuck…!” she whines, her arms coming around his head, fingers threading through his hair.

     For a long while they simply sit together and breathe. Synchronization through the slick slide of their skin, the pressure of their mutual caresses. Nadja shivers when four hands tighten their hold on her. Captured. An angel taken by the devil, blackening the brightness of her soul.

     She’ll have it no other way.

     Sukuna pulls his head back to look up at her, crimson eyes soft and rippling with pleasure. Crimson smears across his mouth like brutal war paint. He has devoured the muscle of her heart while she watched: her blood is proof of her love for him. He licks his lips. Nadja divines his desire and pours her mouth onto his, tasting her own blood on his mouth. Her tongue slips between his teeth, the tip tracing the unusual sharpness of his fangs. Sukuna makes a low hum of pleasure before he sucks her tongue indulgently, making her laugh. He grins up at her, all mischief.

     “Even balls deep inside me you’re always thinking with your stomach,” she admonishes. Sukuna tilts his head, his smirk turning tender. In retaliation, the tongue from his lower mouth slaps against her clit, making her leap and yelp. He chuckles when she swats his shoulder.

     “I’m craving that meat dish you made me from your last journey,” he admits. “Something about having you just like this makes me crave it.”

     Nadja rocks her hips, and they both grimace and groan at the sensation. He’s softening inside of her but he’s still…so big.

     “You want suya?” She asks. Sukuna’s lips shape the word experimentally, memorizing it. Nadja can feel the labyrinthine turning of his mind. For not being immortal, he’s unerringly good at retaining vast archives of information.

     “Yes, I will have Uraume make it,” he says. “And I want your mouth around one of my cocks after that.”

     Nadja laughs again, full throated. “You are so strange,” she says, stroking his cheek. The eyes on the bony plate of his face peer at her.

     “No stranger than you, angel,” he mutters. He gives her ass a generous swat, grinning when she yelps. “Come, let’s eat, and then you can tell me of this..Soon-jata of Songhai.”

     Nadja bites her lip on a laugh. His accent makes the name sound different.

     “Sundiata,” she corrects gently. “Food, then a bath, and I will tell you the story.”

     Sukuna loves stories.

© 2025 Hajara Asiri. Do NOT copy, translate, plagiarize, repost anywhere without permission [reblogging posts is okay]. This includes feeding any of my writing to an AI as well as copying my masterlist format. I only upload on Tumblr, AO3, and FFN. All general banners and dividers by @cafekitsune.

☕️ Member of the @pixelcafe-network.

[ashpenly]

Nadja - What We Do In The Shadows

[new-austin]

I think Nadja gets more buff every drawing I make of her

Silly Nadja and Josie doodle as a little warmup for some actual comms

[cosmicpopstar64]

Happy Family 🌻

[claudiatherelentless]

Now seems as good a time as any to introduce my OC, Melinoe Cravensworth.

In an AU where it's possible but extremely rare for Vampire couplings to produce biological offspring, Laszlo gets pregnant somehow [I havent decided] and has Melinoe.

Just know that in the scenario where Nandor gets Laszlo pregnant Ladja and Nandermo coparent and in the other scenario Nandermo are just her Funcles.

Offspring of Vampire couplings are Daywalkers, and able to consume Human Food, though they still require blood to survive and tend towards nocturnal sleep cycles.

Gestation and Development are a much slower process with these offspring, with Pregnancies often lasting years and childhood typically lasting between fifty years to a century.

Laszlo has been pregnant since season two, and won't deliver Melinoe until two years after the documentary stops filming.

[roselyn-writing]

Couldn’t resist making another moodboard for Laya, I love her so much. Also putting pics of Nadja Auermann. Because she is Laya’s face claim, plus she is beautiful and what Laya looks in real life ❤️‍🔥❤️🥀.

[jenivere2]

i wanna be a dragon

[leslietheluna]

[WIP]

Been doing some Puyo~n artstyle practices, so here is a little bit of a sneak peak at some of my studies and outfit design for Parcell!!!

[8trackaxolotl]

That one car art trend to end the year

[rampenn]

Haven’t been making full drawings much so here are some wips or doodles :33

If you want something to blame for it blame my neonknights and madou 2 addiction 💔

[angstyaches]

For holiday requests, how about someone overindulging on some eggnog?

🎄🥂

Word Count: 4000+

CW: interspersed angst, stomach ache, repressed stress, tense sibling relationship, overeating/drinking, alcohol, burping, mild nausea.

___

Oli beamed from under the hood of her elf onesie. “Eggnog?” 

She had already filled four mugs of it and then piled them high with aesthetically-pleasing swirls of whipped cream dusted with cinnamon. The mugs were all matching, reindeer faces protruding from the ceramics, and had been neatly arranged on a black lacquerware tray. Last year, the trusty mugs had held hot chocolate with peppermint syrup. The year before, mulled wine with chunky cinnamon sticks.  

“Is it alcoholic?” Nadja flinched as Lilith whacked her in the stomach with the back of their hand. “What?” 

“I-I can open a bottle of wine.” Rex was standing next to Oli, her fingers lightly resting on her girlfriend’s shoulder. She had brought her hair up to shoulder-length, and it fell it tight, forest-green curls from underneath her Santa hat. The white bobble bounced back and forth as she glanced towards the kitchen, then back at Nadja. “Or… prosecco? I think there’s a bottle of prosecco.” 

Nadja’s eyes did something Lilith hadn’t seen them do all day’; not while they’d opened presents, not while family members had filed in, not when the Christmas pudding had been set aflame; light up. “Ooh, yes, please.” 

“I think I’ll join you.” Rex lifted her hand from Oli’s shoulder. She had done her nails with a glamour, turning them a deep, shimmering blue.  Tiny white snowflakes drifted softly through the air surrounded her fingertips, vanishing above her cuticles before reappearing at the tips of her nails. “Lilith?” 

“I’m going to try Oli’s eggnog.” 

“Just us two then,” Rex smiled at Nadja. 

Nadja gave a low chuckle as she followed Rex through to the kitchen. Rex started opening cupboards with her back turned, unaware that she’d just made a best friend for life. 

“More for us.” Lilith winked at Oli, rubbing their palms together and selecting a reindeer mug from the tray. 

“Precisely.” Oli rested the tray of down on the coffee table and grabbed a mug for herself. She sat, and Lilith followed her lead.  

The cheesy Christmas blankets and throw cushions were strewn across the sofa, greens and reds contrasting against the mustard-yellow upholstery. A digital fireplace burned on the TV screen, crackling beneath soft instrumental holiday music. For today only, the apartment was full of the smells of cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves. No doubt that tomorrow it would be back to smelling equally of engine oil and sage. 

Rex trotted back from the kitchen, her arms laden with the prosecco bottle, bottle opener, two glass flutes, and a digital magnetic timer. Nadja shuffled behind, hands swinging, and sat down on the couch next to Lilith. 

“Their place is smaller than I pictured, but it’s really nice,” she whispered. 

Lilith pursed their lips and took a mouthful of eggnog so that they wouldn’t have to reply.  

They loved their sister, they truly did, but after a day of enduring family niceties, it was hard to keep up the same pace. Drinks at Rex and Oli’s was usually a tradition kept between the three of them, but for the first time since she’d turned eighteen, Nadja was single for Christmas. For the last three months she’d been making it known how depressed she was about it. Lilith had been venting to Rex about how hard it was to keep reassuring their sister when they were already dealing with their own relationship issues, when Rex had insisted that Nadja come over on Christmas Day, too. 

To top it all off, Nadja had still moped like a teenager all day, and didn’t seem to appreciate just how much of an honour it was to intrude on this sacred tradition. She slipped into things that belonged to Lilith like she’d always secretly owned them first. 

She didn’t realise how badly Lilith needed this. Not just a respite from real life, but a respite from all of their multiple versions of real life. Tonight, they weren’t a witch, weren’t a warrior, weren’t an agent, weren’t anything but... 

But what? 

These were all bad, not very Christmassy, thoughts, and Lilith drowned them under a mouthful of whipped cream from the top of their mug. And then they swallowed it all down. After licking the cream from their lips, they took another swig, this time from deeper in the mug. 

It was the perfect temperature, hot enough for them to feel it warm them on its way down, and deliciously rich and smooth. Lilith wasn’t sure why they had expected eggnog to taste like scrambled eggs, and their eyes literally opened wider as they processed the fact that they were basically drinking custard. All their life, they had been the kind of person to take the smallest possible sliver of Christmas pudding and then make it swim in custard. All this time, this had been an option, and they’d been totally oblivious? 

“Oli, that’s fucking gorgeous,” they hurried to say in between sips. 

“Thank you!” 

“Is it?” Nadja’s shoulders slumped. Lilith practically saw the FOMO flash through her eyes. She quickly got over it, though, at about the same time as Rex placed a flute of prosecco in her hand. 

“Cheers, m’dears,” Rex said softly, clinking her flute against Nadja’s. She also reached across to clink Lilith’s mug, and then Oli’s.  

Lilith eyed the red lipstick smudges on their mug, feeling a bit ashamed that they’d already taken a drink. Well, several. 

“And Merry Christmas,” Rex added, stepping over the coffee table with her drink still raised in the air. Her eyes glinted, purple and shimmering, as she turned and smiled. “We survived another one.” 

“We sure did, babe.” Oli gazed up at her girlfriend as though she couldn’t quite believe her eyes that she existed. The two of them generally weren’t sappy or lovey-dovey with Lilith around, but since they couldn’t exactly be a third wheel with a fourth person around, Oli seemed to have taken the opportunity to fawn a little. It seemed to take a bit of effort for her to turn her head to include Lilith and Nadja. “Merry Christmas, beautiful humans.” 

“Yep. Merry Christmas,” Nadja agreed with a nod. A tad solemn, but she was trying. Lilith felt a sudden wave of guilt for resenting Nadja for coming along. She looked so happy, so comfortable, and Oli and Rex were all too delighted to welcome her into their home. 

And Lilith Mars Forrester was many things, but they were not a Grinch – even if their jumper literally had the Grinch’s face knitted into it. At the end of the day, they were sitting in a room with three of the most important women in their life. 

“Merry Christmas,” they smiled. “I love you guys.” 

Toasting done, Rex flopped on a purple beanbag on the floor. She had placed the magnetic timer on the coffee table while she’d been serving the prosecco and giving cheers, but she picked it up now, tapping buttons until there were five minutes on the clock. 

“And with that, I hereby declare,” she said, “this year’s official Christmas Day Decompression Session… begun!” 

Oli instantly launched into a passionate tale of how her brother-in-law had forgotten to bring the cranberry sauce for the turkey, even though they’d called him three times in December to make sure he remembered. This had descended into madness, with the brother-in-law accusing Oli’s mother of never liking him in the first place. The words tumbled out of her in a hurry, since time was of the essence. 

Nadja looked at Lilith with wild confusion. Ah. They’d forgotten to explain it to her, hadn’t they? Or had they purposefully omitted it? 

“We have five minutes to be as negative as we want about Christmas with our families,” Lilith whispered. “Then we let it all go and enjoy the rest of the night.” 

“What?” Nadja hissed. 

Sweat tickled the back of Lilith’s neck. 

“Do you complain about me, you bastard?” 

Once again, Lilith forewent acknowledging her by filling their mouth with an excessive amount of eggnog. Looking back a moment later, they realised that not answering was probably far worse than answering honestly, but by then it was too late. 

“Alright.” Oli sighed deeply and waved a palm to the room. “Somebody else go.” 

“Lilith bought me a makeup palette I already own,” Nadja blurted out. She threw an accusatory glance in Lilith’s direction and then seemed to quietly seek validation from Rex and Oli. 

Rex grinned into her prosecco glass. Oli grimaced and leaned forward, pressing her elbows into her knees like she was watching sports. 

“I – did I?” Lilith coughed, a splash of eggnog catching in their throat. Their heart thumped in their chest as they remembered that afternoon in the department store, picking up bottles, trying to decide which one to buy. Their hands shaking. Their brain buzzing with the details of a quarry they still hadn’t tracked down. Trying not to think about how many more victims were being made while the Hand continued to gather intel –  

“I’m sorry.” They swallowed, glancing at Rex in her festive hat and pyjamas. Christmas Day. Friends. Happy, happy, happy. They looked at Nadja. “I have the receipt. We can go and exchange it tomorrow.” 

“Thank you.” Nadja nodded and looked quite pleased with that outcome. Or with… herself? Did she think the Christmas Day Decompression Session was a game, and that she’d just somehow won? Lilith was disappointed in themself for even wondering that. Of course that was how Nadja saw it. 

“Is that it?” Lilith asked brusquely. 

“That’s it.” 

“Okay…” Lilith frowned in thought as their sister took a drink. They’d half-expected her to complain about how many times their father had brought up Stephen, Nadja’s last boyfriend, despite the fact they’d broken up back in April. If this had been a regular year, with just Lilith, Rex, and Oli, Lilith would have vented their frustration about having to hear about it so many times.  

But with her sitting right there, already stewing, it felt wrong to bring it up. 

Lilith took a slurp of eggnog to give themself a few more seconds to think. “Um. Oh! Petra’s perfume. What the fuck was that?” 

Nadja hummed. “Yes! I could smell her from a mile away.” 

“Wait. There are two Petras in your family, right? Are you talking about your cousin?” Rex asked. 

“Our aunt,” Lilith and Nadja both replied. 

“Ah.” 

“You can probably smell her on us,” Lilith declared, smiling as Nadja buried her nose against the sleeve of her cardigan. 

“I think I can, you know!” 

They both burst out laughing at the same time, and Lilith literally had to hold themself around the waist. Admittedly, it wasn’t that funny, but on top of an already-full stomach topped with eggnog, it was enough to make them worry that their sides would split. 

“Uh, Rex?” Lilith asked, tossing the metaphorical baton across to her where she was still perched on the beanbag. 

It took Rex a few seconds to wipe the look of bewilderment off her face. After that, she held up her phone and began to read from what seemed to be a pre-compiled list of grievances. It was like listening to spoken word poetry, and Lilith sipped away on their eggnog, enthralled. ‘Second-cousin Robert might literally be a flat-earther’ was a highlight. Despite what Nadja might have felt, there were no prizes in the Christmas Day Decompression Session, but if there had been, Rex might have won Most Concerning Relative that year. 

As the timer beeped to mark the end of the Decompression Session, Lilith was cradling an almost-empty mug in their hands and silently offering up their gratitude that nobody had experienced anything homophobic or transphobic this year. It was a little frustrating that that was how low the bar was set, but it was still worth celebrating. 

“Okay. Everyone, breathe in.” Rex closed her eyes and slowly lifted her hands, palms up, from her knees, stopping when they were just higher than her head. Lilith gently inflated their lungs, matching the pace of Rex’s movements. She was actually making them breathe a little too fast, in Lilith’s professional opinion, but they weren’t about to be a Grinch about it.  

Not everybody knew how to become so relaxed that their heartbeat slowed right down, almost to a stop, so that even nearby vampires found it hard to locate you – 

“And out.” Rex brought her hands back down again. Slowly. Ish. 

Beneath her straight-cut bangs, Nadja’s eyebrows were mashed towards each other, as though she could force-of-will her way to Christmas enlightenment. Lilith downed the rest of their eggnog. It was a shame that there were two more full mugs cooling off on the lacquerware tray. 

“I’m going to take another,” they announced, wiggling a finger in the direction of the tray, “if nobody else will?” 

Oli nodded and gestured to the tray. She had shaken down her hood, revealing her choppy pixie cut. Her eyes locked onto Lilith’s. “Are you okay?” 

“Uh-huh.” Lilith smiled as they swapped their empty mug for a new one. They went straight in for a gulp of whipped cream from the top, then took a deep swig. It was still hot, still heavenly. 

“I’m glad you like it. It was my first time making it.” Oli pointed over her shoulder, vaguely in the direction of the kitchen. ““We have mince pies, pigs-in-blankets, and cheese and crackers, if anyone’s hungry.”  

“Are you kidding?” Rex planted a hand on her stomach. She curled up a little tighter on the beanbag. “Are you actively trying to kill me with food?” 

“Not you, babe. I said if anyone is hungry.” 

Lilith sat up a little straighter, twisting a lock of straightened hair from their shoulder. “Did you make the mince pies, Oli?” 

She nodded and inclined her chin. “You want one, don’t you?” 

“If you wouldn’t mind...” 

Oli sprang to her feet. “Nadja?” 

Lilith had never heard Oli say their sister’s name aloud before, and it was obvious that she wasn’t quite sure whether it should be two syllables or three. 

Nadja grinned and nodded. “Yes, please.” 

Oli smirked and stuck her tongue out at Rex. “Rex, how many can I put you down for?” 

The pile of fuzzy red fabric on the beanbag let out a long groan. 

Lilith focused on slowing their heart rate, grateful that Rex didn’t sit back up to try to talk to them. Nadja was preoccupied with sipping her prosecco, and humming along to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock as it played through the TV speakers. 

When Oli returned from the kitchen, she was carrying two mince pies on a ceramic plate. She leaned over and handed the plate to Nadja, but instead of going straight back to her spot in the armchair, Oli crouched by Rex’s beanbag. From behind, she scooped her girlfriend into a hug, rubbing her hand over her belly. 

“You’ll be alright,” Oli said. She kissed Rex’s cheek and got up, hopping back into her armchair. 

“You guys are so cute.” Nadja sulked and picked at the foil casing on her pie. “I wish I was a lesbian.” 

“Nadja,” Lilith chided, but noted that Rex and Oli were both laughing, and it wasn’t forced laughter. “Shut up and eat your pie.” 

She snorted. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” 

Nobody had to tell Lilith, not even once. They took slow, tidy bites, careful not to get crumbs on Rex and Oli’s couch, and they were about halfway through when the rich, fruity filling began to stick in the back of their throat. The pastry-filling ratio was perfect, and was by no means too dry; it was just a matter of trying to force more food into their already overworked stomach. Christmas Day dinner was much heavier than what Lilith was used to eating. They’d had just enough digesting time to forget how full they’d been.  

After washing down the last of the mince pie with a long swallow of eggnog, Lilith had to fight for their life to stifle a belch. They held their breath, willing their belly to settle down. The trapped air still shifted uncomfortably, gurgling as it shifted through their stomach contents. 

“Was that your stomach?” Nadja asked, barely stifling a yawn. 

“Yes…”  

“That sounded like a polar bear waking up,” Nadja observed. 

Rex smiled sympathetically from the beanbag, her eyes travelling to Lilith’s middle. Like Nadja, she seemed to be fighting a yawn, her eyes glistening. “Are you good?” 

If everyone was looking at them anyway, there was no point in making themself suffer more, so Lilith released a short, breathy burp. “I’m just kind of full,” they admitted, raising their mug to try to swallow down the acidic taste in their mouth. 

“Lilith!” Oli cried, following the motion of Lilith’s hand. “You just said you were full! What are you doing?” 

“Oli and the Ivy, are you attempting to ‘nog-shame me?” 

Oli’s eyebrows darted up. “Uh, no. That wouldn’t be very in line with the Oli-day spirit.”

Lilith winked as they took a sip. The eggnog was getting cool now, but it tasted just as good. 

“Let’s do something,” Rex piped up, sitting forward on the beanbag. She tapped her cheeks and shook her head, making her Santa hat bobble whip from one shoulder to the other. “Otherwise I’m just going to get drunk and sleepy and not fun. Shall we play a game?” 

Nadja visibly perked up. “A drinking game?”  

Oli’s mouth opened, then snapped shut again as she looked at Rex. Lilith’s stomach contorted as something private seemed to pass between the two of them. Was it just-the-two-of-them private, or was it inner-circle private? Would they have told Lilith what was going on if Nadja hadn’t been here? 

“You don’t need a game to drink, Nads.” Lilith tapped the underside of their sister’s prosecco glass. “If you want to drink, just drink.” 

She shrugged as if to say ‘fair point’, and tipped her glass towards her lips. 

Rex produced a deck of cards from a wooden crate sitting next to the TV. The artwork on the cards was themed around Roman deities, each royal depicting a different god or goddess. Lilith didn’t need to ask to know that they belonged to Oli, who was a secret Ancient Rome history buff, while Rex was more enamoured with Egyptian mythology. 

She dealt them all into a game of rummy. Oli changed the fireplace channel to Christmas With The Kranks, in the hopes that it wouldn’t lull anyone to sleep like the instrumental music almost had. By the time Oli had completed a seven-card run, Lilith had only collected a pair and a triple; but in their defense, the majority of their body’s energy was focused on digesting the sickly weight in their stomach. 

They finished the dregs of their second mug of eggnog and laid it down on the tray. They tentatively eyed the last untouched mug. The whipped cream had deflated and sunk into the liquid below, but they had no doubt that it would taste just as lovely. 

“Why am I so bad at this?” Nadja grumbled, handing Rex her cards so they could be shuffled back into the deck for the next game. 

“Lilith,” Oli said, “you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking?” 

Lilith grinned. “Well, as long as you’re not eyeing it up…” 

Rex laughed to herself as she shuffled the cards. 

Oli rolled her eyes, barely containing a grin. “You are the only one doing that.” 

It was with just a little sheepishness that Lilith reached for the last mug. They slurped up what was left of the dissolving whipped cream. It slipped far too easily down their throat. As they watched Rex deal the hands for the next game, they felt that first, cold, slightly clumpy mouthful gurgle its way out of their oesophagus. 

Nadja muttered under her breath as she began organising her cards. She held them close, her eyes narrowed, her hand purposefully turned away from Lilith, as though they might have been trying to cheat her out of some imagined victory. 

When Rex won the next game, Nadja threw down her cards with a little more force than was necessary. She snatched up her prosecco glass and stared at the TV, trying to pretend she hadn’t really cared or paid attention to the game at all. Lilith knew her tricks.  

They weren’t good tricks. 

“Nadja, it’s fine,” Lilith whispered, their temper simmering. Nadja’s obsession with winning every game under the sun was one of the reasons they didn’t usually want to spend the entirety of Christmas Day with her. They knew where her frustration came from though, knew that it wasn’t pettiness, wasn’t a cry for attention, wasn’t the behaviour of a bratty child. 

She sighed. “I… think I’m going to sit the next game out.” 

“We don’t have to keep playing.” Rex’s snowflakes were still softly trickling down her nails as she gathered up the cards. “We can just chill and watch the movie.” 

Rex adjusted the lights, lowering the main lights and flicking on an extra floor lamp to supplement the fairy lights and fibre optic tree. Oli jumped up, remembering that there were some Christmas crackers that hadn’t been pulled, and they all pulled two each.  

Lilith won twice but slipped their prizes into Nadja’s lap. It was just a cheap pencil sharpener and a fortune-selling fish, but her eyes lit up all the same. 

“Thank you,” she said quietly. And then Lilith realised that there might have been something magical in that golden fizzy prosecco she was drinking, because she scooted a little closer to them. 

And rested her cheek on Lilith’s shoulder.  

Lilith held their breath. Their stomach was sore, an aching pressure building beneath their abs, and they kind of wanted to shift into a position that was less constricting, but they couldn’t move. Not now. Nadja’s head was still on their shoulder when everything quietened down and, with no more distractions, focused on the movie. 

Rex had shimmied herself onto her side on the bean bag, her arm curled under her head, and she very much looked like a woman who wouldn’t be conscious two minutes from now. Oli stretched out her legs and sank low in the armchair, hands folded over her stomach, eyelids heavy. The fairy lights twinkled, sending gentle flashes of colour through the room. 

Lilith remembered that they still had eggnog left. They slowly reached for it, and sank a little lower in the couch as they returned. They also used their free hand to guide Nadja back to their shoulder. She hummed sleepily and complied. 

The two of them used to hug and cuddle lot when they were little. They’d spent more nights sharing a bed than not. Lilith wished they could say that they couldn’t remember when all of that had stopped, but that would have been a lie. 

Their stomach churned as they swallowed a mouthful of eggnog. At this point, it was more like drinking room-temperature ice cream that had melted to the consistency of a milkshake, which in itself was a delightful treat and a welcome distraction from the sheer fucking guilt that settled over them every time they thought about how they’d been gifted with magic and Nadja had been given the short straw. 

Lilith watched over the edge of their mug as Jamie Lee Curtis fought for her life over a Christmas ham. Ugh. Just thinking about ham brought the salty taste of it rushing to their mouth, even while their tongue was drenched in custardy bliss. How could they have eaten and drank so much that day, and yet still be able to make out individual flavours from food they’d eaten hours ago?  

Lilith let out an involuntary groan.  

Nadja tilted her head up, and Oli looked over from the armchair. No sign of movement from Rex, which either meant she hadn’t heard, or had fallen asleep in a pile on the beanbag. 

“Would you shut up about your stupid stomach?” Nadja complained, straightening up and stretching her arms out in front of her. 

“I didn’t say anything,” Lilith whispered. 

“What did you expect to happen?” Apparently, Rex hadn’t fallen asleep, because she propped her head up, digging an elbow into the beanbag.  

Lilith gasped in mock outrage. “Excuse me. You’re one to talk over there.” 

“I stopped eating when I was full!” Rex pointed out. “You’ve had three huge mugs of what is essentially a liquid dessert, and now it’s all just sloshing and swirling around in there –” 

“No.” Lilith splayed a hand on their belly to stop it shaking while they laughed. “Stop describing it. I can feel it.” 

“Sloshing,” Oli agreed from the armchair, teasing the word out, “and churning –” 

Lilith twisted slightly to rest their head on Nadja’s shoulder, but where Lilith had melted when she’d done it to them, she stiffened.  

“Do not puke on my Christmas clothes,” was all Nadja had to say. 

“Okay,” Lilith sighed miserably, slumping away from her. 

“Rex, I’m going to need to get a closer look at those nails.” 

There was some shuffling around as Rex got up from the beanbag, swapping places with Oli so she could sit in the armchair and let Nadja examine her snowflake nails across the armrests. 

“So cool,” Nadja said softly. “I didn’t know you could use magic to make things pretty.” 

As Lilith expected her to, Rex flinched from the slightest possibility of being praised. “People don’t usually need it to make things pretty. If I was a more creative person, I wouldn’t need magic to make something like this.” 

“You still had to have the vision to make it,” Nadja pointed out. 

Lilith smiled to themself. 

“And what are you talking about? You have a homeware line and a jewellery line!” Nadja exclaimed. “You’re probably the most creative person I’ve ever met.” 

Rex inclined her head. She reached out to the side, seeking Oli’s hand. “Well, I wouldn’t be able to make any of my designs real if it weren’t for this one.” 

Oli took the offered hand and rested her cheek against it, but her focus was entirely on Nadja. 

“What do you do, Nadja?” 

“Me? I work for a non-profit. Um... It’s a lot of spreadsheets and numbers and emails. I – I studied accounting in university, so...” 

“No kidding,” Oli chimed in. “You like numbers?” 

“I do! But, um, I’m trying to find a new job. There’s this guy… this man I dated, even though we work together. Um, anyway, it didn’t work out, so now it’s just…” 

Lilith blinked. They felt a surge of sickness in their stomach, so strong that their mouth watered. Stephen… Stephen worked at the same non-profit as Nadja? The two of them had dated for over a year. How had Lilith not known that they worked in the same place? 

Probably because even when they were Lilith the Sibling, they never really stopped being Lilith the Witch, Lilith the Warrior, Lilith the Agent – 

As quietly as they could, Lilith twisted so that they could rest their cheek on the back of the couch. They hugged a cushion shaped like a gingerbread man to their stomach. 

“Seeing him every day is –” 

A sharp, rolling cramp made Lilith wince, but they bit back the urge to groan.  

“It’s just – it’s been hard. And I just want out of there.” 

“Something new will come along,” Oli said brightly. “And if you ever need any C.V. help, I’m your girl.” 

“That would be so helpful. Thank you.” There was a little pause, only movie noises, for a couple of seconds. “I think Lilith’s out.” 

Lilith hadn’t realised they’d closed their eyes until they heard that. After laying down the dual swords of Lilith the Friend and Lilith the Sibling, it turned out that they were just...

Exhausted.

Despite the speculation, they weren’t even close to sleep, and probably wouldn't be for hours. But sinking down into the softness of the couch, listening to their friends chatting, feeling how warm and full their stomach was, was far easier than fighting any of it. 

And Lilith was so, so sick of fighting. 

“And I thought I’d be the first one to go,” Rex whispered with a giggle. “I’m getting some more prosecco. Anybody want some?”