#probably doesn’t help that said demon Hunter is pretty boring this time around. seriously all Dman does is mope about and complain

[misterbaritone]

God I hope that new DMC anime is good because that first one was such dogshit

[haro-whumps]

Group Whumpees 11: Fight

So I stayed up until 2 in the morning writing last Friday, so you DO get an update before I go completely MIA for a couple weeks. And I do know y’all love Evan. Mind the CWs

CW: Attempted sexual assault (unsuccessful), violence, knives, stabbing, hospitals, needles, drugged character, multiple whumpees, referenced noncon, aftermath of trauma

Tag List: @bleeding-demon-teeth @theycomeinthrees @redwingedwhump @whimperwoods @inpainandsuffering @whole-and-apart-and-between @whump-whump-whump-it-up @whumpingupastorm @newandfiguringitout @lonesome--hunter @looptheloup @icannotweave  @deluxewhump @whumping-every-day @yeet-me-out-a-window @what-a-whumpy-world @burtlederp @constellationwhump @swordkallya @finder-of-rings @fairybean101 @adventuresofacreesty @arlennil @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @lumpofwhump @thatsthewhump @pinkdiamondprince @shameless-whumper  @whump-only

Masterlist

Nyla gestured Evan closer, Greyson already present and staring absently at the washing machine. He seemed to snap back to the present when Nyla entered his field of vision, though, with Greyson it was hard to tell if he'd even been spacing off in the first place. 

“Alright so I’d like your help moving the washer and dryer away from the wall,” Nyla instructed, “we’ll be able to reach behind them to clean, then.”

Evan chuckled, raising an arm over his shoulder and stretching it back. “Oh damn, we're really out of shit to do.”

“We have plenty to do,” Nyla said with a frown his direction. He was still behaving around Master Galo, thank goodness, but while he'd been cowed following his punishment he’d gotten more or less back to his usual self, around the family. It was relieving, because seeing Evan be… subdued, was worrying. But it was also the tiniest bit aggravating, because Evan was aggravating by nature. She couldn't wait for him to resume aggravating her when he talked about their Master, too (just as long as he wasn't aggravating while talking to their Master). She never thought she’d want to be mildly annoyed. “We finally have the chance to do lengthier projects, that’s all.”

“Like cleaning behind the washer and dryer.”

Nyla set her hands on her hips and frowned up at him. “Yes like cleaning behind the washer and dryer. Why wouldn't we?”

“Because the only reason anyone would clean there is if they were moving and wanted the house to look spotless for buyers. Seriously, who’s gonna look back there?”

“Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't collecting dust and grime.”

“And just because it's been collecting dust since the units were installed doesn't mean it has to be cleaned.”

Nyla let out an exasperated huff of air, feeling the ridiculous urge to stomp her foot. “Why are you being contrary?”

“I'm not, I'm not,” Evan said, raising his hands and rocking back on his heels. “I'm just saying: we’re out of shit to do, and it shows. And you refusing to admit that doesn't make it less true.”

“We aren’t out of things to do though!” Nyla insisted. “There are plenty of hard-to-reach places that haven't been cleaned the entire time I've been here, probably before even Greyson was here,” she said with a gesture to him, who blinked but otherwise remained where he was, quietly waiting, “and the tortoiseshell guest room needs a new coat of paint, and we should really retile the bathroom with the lighthouse figurines, and--”

“And what you’re saying is we are super out of things to do.”

Nyla made a frustrated noise, Evan chuckling her, and she jabbed a finger into his chest. “You are super obnoxious.”

“It's a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” Evan said theatrically, placing his palm upon his breast. 

“Greyson, back me up here,” Nyla demanded, turning to him, and he blinked again, a little slowly. 

“Greyson’s not gonna think we need to mop behind the fridge any more than I do.”

“Oh I hadn't even thought about moving the fridge,” Nyla remarked, pulling out her notepad. Evan laughed at her. 

“Good thing we’re super bored, or I might be tempted to complain.”

“As if that is a thing you have ever once refrained from.” There was a knock on the service door. “Groceries. Can you two start--” Evan waved her off, ambling forward.

“Yeah, yeah, we got it, go do your thing.” 

Nyla ghosted up the steps, silent and swift, and answered the door with a bright smile and a small curtesy. The delivery man was someone Nyla had met with frequently, someone who came around often enough for her to recognize his face. He was a chatty sort, liked to ask a lot of questions, and didn't have a very strong concept of personal space, but he was friendly enough and Nyla didn't find it to be any particular strain to be polite to him. 

“Noticed the new guy’s car isn't in the driveway today,” the man said, and Nyla hummed with a little nod. Master Galo had parked his car in the garage or in the drive with seemingly no criteria and changing all the time. It was in the garage, at present. Nyla theorized that the times Master left it in the drive while it was raining had been to rinse off the dust. 

The man helped carry the groceries into the kitchen, which wasn't part of his job at all, but Nyla was appreciative enough for the help. She was a hard worker, but some of the heavier bags she was more than content to let someone else carry for her. 

“Your owner out of the house often?”

“Yes sir,” she answered. Master Galo’s daily visits to the gym alone had him out and about with far, far more frequency than Mistress, plus with the training for his new volunteer effort he’d been out even more. And, like now, he would go out into the gardens to run or simply walk the grounds, whereas Mistress would only go into her yard for garden parties or to walk alongside visitors. 

“So it's just you and the kitchen girl when he's out?” the delivery man asked, walking alongside Nyla as they returned to his vehicle for the final bag.

Nyla did not frown or furrow her brow, but she did feel a twist of confusion. What exactly was the man trying to ask? “We slaves serve only Master; he has no family that lives with him,” she said, wondering if maybe he was curious about that?

His hand came down to rest heavily on Nyla’s shoulder, almost causing her to stumble, lilting in close to him to keep from getting knocked off balance. “I--sir?” she asked, hairs on her neck and arms raising in alarm. 

“Take it easy,” he said, which was the opposite of what Nyla was doing. He led her sharply to the right, away from the hall to the service door and into the living room. 

“Sir, this isn't--”

Nyla winced as her head hit the wall when he pinned her to it, not hard enough to hurt but far from pleasant. Her smile finally dropped at the sight of the knife. 

“Shhhh,” the man hissed, Nyla’s head tilting back, breath spiking, as his knife pressed against the soft underside of her chin. Her fingers trembled where they clawed against the wall, at her sides, terrified and confused. She did not whimper as his hand came up to cover her mouth, dry skin against her lips. “Shush, angel, I don’t wanna hear a peep out of you.”

Nyla had no option but to stare, silent, with tearing eyes at the man who grinned at her. “God, you’re so pretty,” he murmured as he slid his hand down, pressed to her throat, moving the knife away but replacing it with another threat. “I’ve been fantasizing about this, you know. What it would be like to see that smile of yours give way to fear. It’s even better than I thought it would be.”

Nyla’s breathing was shallow, frantic, she wanted to scream, but she knew she’d get a knife for her efforts. Mistress had used knives on her plenty, but never once had they gone near her throat, Mistress too careful for that. This man wouldn’t be half so cautious.

“God, I wish I could drag this out,” he whispered, bending close, his breath foul and ghosting over her lips, “but I can’t get caught, so.” He gripped her arm harshly, yanking her further into the living room, and her eyes jerked about frantically. None of the furniture in here was big enough--it was all decorative, where--

She gasped, air knocked out of her as he bent her over the arm of the couch. His hand returned to her neck, the back of it, keeping her head down, and the knife came up in front of her again, glistening, sharp. She trembled, feeling like she must have been hit harder than she thought, because she couldn’t think clearly, couldn’t think at all. She felt a wall of sheer, unadulterated fright, and nothing past that, she couldn’t move, couldn’t make a noise even if she hadn’t been ordered not to, couldn’t even blink as she stared down at the detailed patterning on the fabric of the couch stretched out in front of her, knife pressed to her chest and a man, larger than her, grinding his crotch down onto her ass and she could feel his dick.

“Please--” she gasped, because she’d never done this before, because she didn’t want it to be like this, because she didn’t want this at all, because she was scared!

“Quiet!” he hissed, yanking the knife down, proving just how sharp it was and how strong he was by tearing through her dress, through her apron, leaving a thin line of red where the tip of the knife clipped her sternum. She swallowed a high noise of panic, quiet, quiet, she was quiet, she didn’t want to be cut or stabbed, too. Humiliated tears slipped down her face as he groped her, and she bit down another horrified noise when he said, “Unless you wanna draw your kitchen friend’s attention. Betcha she’d be real good at this, tits and an ass like hers, we could have her come join in.”

Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, trembling hands on scratchy cloth, look at the pattern of the fabric, focus on that, focus on anything other than the heat and weight behind her, the hand on her breast, the knife pressed to her chest.

He gripped her hair and yanked her head back. “Crying already?” he asked softly, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Good.”

--

Evan rubbed at the back of his neck as he rose, washer and dryer now officially pulled away from the wall and all the dust bunnies and little clusters of lint and hair available for the dusting.

“Has Nyla been up there a while?” Evan asked, Greyson making his way to the broom.

Greyson’s brow furrowed minutely, only there if you knew what to look for, and he nodded. “You go. I won’t need you until we move them back.”

“I am okay with that,” Evan said, a joke, because he never actually would slack off if a task needed done. But he really had meant it; Nyla was contriving things for them to do because she was bored and he really didn’t see the point in this task specifically. The entrance to the basement wasn’t far from the service door, and Evan squinted, body going tense. Why would the grocery van still be here?

Not bothering with being quiet (Master was outside, anyways), Evan turned and set into a fast walk, ears perked, and a voice that wasn’t Master’s but was low and masculine anyway said something in the living room. Evan felt every instinctive alarm in his body going off, not knowing what was wrong but knowing something absolutely, definitely was. He wasn’t smart, but he had good instincts, and when he rounded the corner he saw red.

The knife caught him in the wrist but he didn’t feel it, didn’t feel anything other than the bastard whose hand had been on Nyla’s bare ass getting his nose broken under Evan’s fist. A sob tore out of Nyla, and Evan couldn’t hear anything after that from the blood in his ears. He’d hurt her. This fucking nobody had hurt Nyla. And he wasn’t Evan’s Master.

So Evan was gonna make him pay.

A shout, a wild swing of the knife, it caught Evan’s shoulder but it was shallow, meaningless, when Evan screamed it was with rage. It was with a wild, nameless fury, and it was with the bestial satisfaction of release.

He’d never raised a hand against Mistress. Hadn’t even thought of it with Master. But here was a target, open and asking for it, asking to be put in the goddamn ground for touching Nyla, hurting Nyla his family his friend Evan slammed his fists into any piece of him he saw, blood on Evan’s knuckles, flecked against Evan’s cheeks, and--

The knife in his thigh registered through the adrenaline, prompting another scream, this time of pain, Evan arching his back but he tried not to stop, not to deviate from his goal. Even as the knife came out and the pain shot blinding whiteness through him Evan was resolved to turn his face into pulp. He was going to punch and keep punching and he wasn’t going to stop punching until this fucker stopped moving for good, and if he bled out in the process that wasn’t currently a concern.

But a heave of movement left Evan struggling, and then the man was on top of Evan and things looked worse from this angle. Evan didn’t stop, though, couldn’t, grabbing the man’s stabbing wrist and holding onto it with a desperate, wild force, trying to get another swing in when the man’s other hand closed around Evan’s throat. He struggled, kicking, clawing red lines up and down the other’s skin, his cheek, aiming for his eye but missing, but air was quickly becoming a thing Evan would need more of fucking soon and that wasn’t happening. His grip on the knife-hand was growing shaky, the blade lowering and lowering as Evan’s vision blurred. He tried to scream again, in violent fury, but no air came out from his open mouth.

Master.

The knife fell on the carpet and Evan hauled in sweet air, choking and coughing as his abused throat struggled back online. He rolled onto his side, struggling up onto his elbows, and blood-rushed ears made out a brief exchange between Master and Nyla, confirming that the motherfucker had been the one to hurt her.

Even through the thick wood of the front door, Evan and Nyla both heard the resounding crack of someone losing the unbroken status of his skull. Fucking good. 

“Ev?” Nyla breathed, kneeling in front of him. Her dress was sliced down the front, held up by an arm across her breasts, something had happened to the sleeves, too, and Evan reached a still-shaky, still-bloody hand up to cup her cheek.

“Nyla,” he said quietly, and she leaned in, pressing their foreheads together. He hated it when Nyla cried. Nyla crying was basically the universe confirming that absolutely everything was terrible and anything that could go wrong, if it wasn’t already currently going wrong, would go wrong very soon. “Did he--did--?”

“Just my clothes,” Nyla murmured, shuddering, and Evan squeezed his eyes shut tight and pressed their foreheads a little closer. Greyson caught them both off guard, entering their little huddle with a hand to Nyla’s shoulder, another to Evan’s. He took off his jacket and folded it, then pressed it to Evan’s leg, prompting a hiss, then he looked between them, Greyson’s equivalent expression for confusion on his face, and Evan looked to Nyla.

She’d explain to Master and Greyson could overhear, it seemed, because Master came back through the front door, the resounding boom of it (it wasn’t so loud as all that, Evan was just scared) reminding Evan of the other, far more terrifying threat in the house.

--

“No, he is currently unconscious, on the account of him attempting to rape and kill two of my slaves. Yeah, yeah, he’s gonna need an ambulance, I uh, I might have broken his skull.” There was no might. Galo had absolutely broken his skull. And you know, Galo wasn’t a violent person, he believed in pacifism and talking things out (he still had semi-neutral/semi-positive relationships with his family, after all). But Galo knew where lines were drawn and this, this, (who even was this guy!?) this nobody--

Regardless, he deserved it.

“Yes, thank you.” Galo had just changed the fucking locks on the goddamn doors, how had he made it into his house? “No ma’am.” Thank god Greyson had heard the yelling and gone straight to Galo, instead of getting mixed up in whatever was happening. No offense to Greyson but he was thin and gaunt and scrawny as all hell and probably would not have done a lot in a fight. “I… would prefer to hang up, if that’s alright. The people he assaulted are inside and I want to make sure they’re okay.” And check in with Greyson, Lilah and Sasha, after, provided the police hadn’t arrived by then. “Thank you ma’am, yes.”

Galo went inside, finding Evan where he’d left him and Nyla and Greyson there with. Nyla was still clinging to the remains of her dress and Galo found it A Little Stupid that Greyson and Evan, both in possession of additional top layers, hadn’t offered her something to cover up with, but adrenaline and shock made for one hell of a cocktail. He tugged off his tank top and handed it to her as he entered the crouched-down-semi-circle.

“Are there pressing injuries that need immediate attention,” Galo asked, needing to prioritize.

“My thigh,” Evan said weakly, and Galo found that once his attention was drawn to it, hey yeah actually! Greyson was staunching it, good for him, but that was an alarming quantity of blood. 

“Do you need help applying pressure?” Greyson shook his head. “Okay, ambulance is on its way, we’ll get you to the hospital.” Galo glanced at Nyla, and upon finding her dressed (she looked faintly ridiculous, the tank top beyond oversized and the lettering entirely unsuited to the mood) he looked at her fully. “Nyla, do you need to be seen in the hospital as well?”

Fuck, wrong way to phrase that, she was shaking her head and Galo didn’t know if that meant Evan had intervened before he’d actually done anything more than fuck up her clothes, or if she was trying to tough it out.

“Can I get a summary of what happened?” Ideally brief, because Evan was bleeding from more places than one (those cuts seemed shallow, at least).

“The man frequently delivers groceries, he attempted to,” Nyla took an unsteady breath, and Galo wished he could hug her, comfort her in some meaningful capacity that wouldn’t just terrorize her more, “assault me, but was stopped from doing more than removing my clothing when Evan arrived. They fought, Evan was stabbed in the thigh, and you arrived, Master.”

“Very succinct, thank you Nyla.”

The sound of sirens; they’d made it there quick. Small blessings, Galo supposed. “Okay, I’m gonna go with Evan to the hospital, and also talk to the police I guess. Greyson, if Lilah isn’t inside already please go get her and lock the doors. The four of you stay inside until I’m back,” fuck what else. Oh, god, he felt horrible for even having to say it but if there was even a chance that they would… “Don’t worry about any of the other things you were gonna do today, okay? Just don’t worry about it. Do something pleasant, if you can.”

The sirens were in Galo’s driveway, and he stood, needing to direct their attention to the men in various states of injury.

“Thank you Master,” Nyla said, and Galo gave her a nod, not even bothering with trying to smile.

Things moved very quickly, after that, beckoning the ambulance staff inside, getting the grocery guy onto his own gurney, talking to cops (which Galo hated. Haaaaated.) Getting in his car and going to the hospital, talking to people there, time only slowed down as he sat in the waiting room chair. Waiting. He pulled up discord on his phone and started messaging John, a fellow tank, hoping to get the guy prattling in an attempt at a distraction. The thought of calling Jeremiah, just to get him to talk endlessly, passed Galo’s mind, but if his brother was in a weird mood or a bad one it would tip Galo off of some precipice he was standing on and that was not worth it.

He wished he had family he was close to.

He wished he had friends that he was close to, somewhere within a thousand miles of him.

Evan was fine, thankfully. The knife hadn’t been serrated, which meant the flesh had avoided extra damage upon removal, but the wound had been deep, and Evan had bled a lot. He had received a blood transfusion, and he had an IV in his arm when Galo entered the room, plus stitches, his shallower cuts had been treated, and also painkillers were involved.

“Hey,” Galo said as he settled himself into the hospital chair, perfectly comfortable and positioned at a thoughtful angle to the side, opposite the door so physicians could easily enter, feeling a sense of deja vu.

--

Evan was scared.

Evan was scared, and he was scared, and he was scared, and he was scared in an ambulance and scared in a hospital and scared surrounded by strangers and the adrenaline crashing meant he was also in pain and there were needles and Evan actually really hated needles and he was scared.

And it was a fucking joke of the universe that when his Master entered the room, Evan actually felt relief.

“Hey,” his Master, who had single-handedly cracked open the skull of the man who had put Evan in this hospital, said.

“Sir,” Evan whispered. He had intended for it to be a ‘hello sir’ but he was shaky and his throat hurt and hey, his brain wasn’t totally online. 

“How’re you feeling?” Master Galo asked from the hospital chair, simultaneously altogether too close (he could reach out and touch Evan, if the mood struck him) and too far away (Evan was scared).

“Bad,” he answered honestly, “Sorry.”

“Hey,” Master Galo said, and it was a weakness Evan had sworn off the millionth time Mistress had played the kind sweet soothing game but Evan let himself take some small comfort in the tone, “hey, no, you have nothing to be sorry for. You did great, Evan, you protected Nyla and did not die in the process. You did better than anyone could’ve expected of you.” True. Evan had brought his fists to a knife fight. There was a burning little coal of pride, at that, and Evan felt his shoulders roll back a little, preening just a little, a little little, a little preening seemed to be allowed.

He hadn’t ever smiled around Mistress Bethany except when she made him, never genuine, so it was a surprise that he was smiling (just a little) around Master Galo. But Evan had done well.

“Thank you, sir,” and for once in his life, he was actually feeling grateful while he gave his owner thanks.

“Yeah, man. How’s the leg?”

“I’m pretty sure they’re giving me really good painkillers,” Evan said, which only confirmed his point because even he wouldn’t normally be ballsy enough to talk to his Master like that unless he intended to provoke him. But Master Galo just chuckled.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need to lay off it for the next couple weeks and they’ve given me the names of a couple physical therapists to talk to.”

“...Physical therapists?” Evan asked, brow drawn.

“The knife went in deep, man, your muscles are all fucked up,” Master Galo said, and his tone almost sounded pitying, but not really. Pity-adjacent.

Evan felt the urge to apologize again, but he wasn’t sorry and Master Galo had already told him not to so he blurted out his next thought, which was, “This is the hospital Mistress died in?”

“Yes, but you’re not going to die. They’re gonna keep you here for a few hours to make sure you don’t go into shock, and we’ll be home just after supper.”

“Oh.”

“You’re also gonna be kinda fucked up on painkillers for a while.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I’m scared.” Evan made a displeased noise at his own honesty, pulling his lips back and sinking his chin into the folds of his neck. “Oh I am fucked up on painkillers.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment.” Master Galo sounded amused. Bastard. (Maybe not as much of a bastard as Evan normally thought he was). 

“I don’t feel fucked up.”

“That’s probably not a bad thing. Why do you feel scared, bud?”

Evan gave his Master a very pointed look, then hunched his shoulders, looking down, because where the hell did he get off thinking he could give his Master any kind of look at all, much less a pointed one? Again, though, Master just chuckled.

“Okay, fair, entirely fair, that’s on me. What would help make you feel less scared?”

“I hate needles.”

“Okay, good news, you are done with the needle portion of the day. No more needles for Evan.” Master Galo pointed at the IV in Evan’s arm. “Except for that one. That one needs to stay exactly where it is until a licensed medical professional takes it out.”

“Can I take it out?”

“You are not licensed, medical, or professional, so no. Plus, it’d just injure you further cause you wouldn’t do it right and then you’d have more problems and I’d be a liar.”

Evan took a moment to puzzle together why Master Galo would be a liar if Evan took the needle out, but eventually realized that if he started bleeding he’d need another transfusion, and that meant more needles and okay, okay.

“Can I..?” Evan started, moving his hand across the hospital sheets.

“Hm?” Master intoned, looking down at Evan’s hand. He took one of those thoughtful pauses of his, Evan staring up at him. He was still shirtless, little T’s of scar tissue over his nipples. Evan did not expect Master Galo’s chest hair to be blue because that would be stupid, but maybe some fucked-up-on-painkillers part of his brain had expected that because he stared at Master’s chest hair a lot too. And his chin hair, which was sorta vaguely-fuzzy in the way it went when Master hadn’t shaved in a few days. Evan wondered if he could grow a beard. Evan couldn’t. Greyson extra couldn’t.

Evan felt stupid, childish, dumbass relief when Master Galo reached out and held his hand. Moron. This wasn’t real. This was something that he was going to be hurt for or pay for later, he knew it, he just knew it, nothing came without a price, but he was scared and his brain was acting all weird on him and if Master touched him Any Other Place on his body he was going to Lose His Whole Ass Mind, but for the time he clung to his Master’s hand like it was a lifeline. Idiot. He should know better. He should, he should, but he didn’t, and Master’s hand, heavy and warm, reassured him.

This hand had kept Nyla from getting kidnapped and Evan from getting murdered on the living room floor. It also had fine little hairs on the back of it, just barely there, and they didn’t really move when Evan brushed his fingers over them and he couldn’t feel them but he could see them, pale and thin and short.

Fuck what were in these painkillers?

“Was she in a room like this?” Evan asked, staring at the hairs on Master’s wrist and lower forearm.

“Yeah, pretty near identical, except the art. She was up a few floors, though.”

There were so many tiny, itty-bitty wrinkles that existed on a person’s hand. Like the knuckles, yeah, sure, but also the skin between the thumb and forefinger, and the palm, which Evan couldn’t see because he was holding his Master’s hand. “You got us here, right? She gave you..?”

“Yeah. Dragged her poor lawyer all the way over here just to fuss with her will and name me the sole heir.”

“Are you glad?”

“Yeah, bud.”

“Are you glad she’s dead?” Evan clarified, because he could see how someone might miss that with the way he’d originally worded it.

Another thoughtful pause, a little shorter. “Will you think less of me if I say yes?”

“I am,” Evan said, realizing far too belatedly that his Master had asked him a question he hadn’t answered. “I’m glad she’s dead. I hated her, and you’re confusing but you’re not mean the same way she was.”

“I don’t mean to be confusing,” Master said, Evan trailing his fingers over his skin. “I just don’t know what everyone’s expectations and routines are, and how you lived before I got here. I’m trying to figure out how to be a good owner to you all, but I’m making some pretty big mistakes along the way.”

Evan stared at the hand inside his own. He couldn't understand this man. Now that the fear wasn’t keeping him awake and alert, he was starting to feel exhausted. “Am I allowed to sleep here, sir?”

“I’ll go ask a nurse. Stay awake until I get an answer, okay?”

“Yessir.”

A little curl of fear let him do just that, when his Master took his hand away. Evan stared at his empty palm, fingers curling experimentally, and he felt the emptiness of the room echoing around him. These rooms were too big. Weren’t hospital rooms supposed to be small?

His Master came back and filled the space. It seemed like a reasonable size for a room, with this mammoth of a man inside it. “Yeah, bud, you can go ahead and take a nap. A nurse is gonna wake you up when they need to check your vitals, but go ahead and sleep until then.”

Evan’s fingers twitched. He reminded himself, firmly, that his Master liked to be asked for things. “Will you hold my hand again, Master Galo?” he asked as nicely as he could, because he was a weak little bitchbaby and a pansy and a moron. But he was a weak little bitchbaby who was getting his hand held, so take that!

God he hoped they lowered the dosage moving forward.

--

With Evan asleep, Galo now satisfied that he was fine and he was safe, Galo tried to make his brain do the thinking thing. His brain did not want to do the thinking thing, but too bad, because he was gonna make it do the thinking thing.

That was twice within the span of a single week, now, that someone had entered Galo’s home without his permission and attempted to harm Nyla. This could not continue to happen.

Hmm. Galo wasn’t guaranteed to be inside the house every time someone came knocking, so he couldn't ask the slaves to always let him be the one to open the door. But, also, well, Evan had very evidently proved himself as capable and willing of fighting back, if the person at the door was doing something they shouldn't. Obviously it'd have to wait until Evan was back on his feet (and even then, it depended on how well he recovered), but Galo could totally make Evan the doorman. Greyson, theoretically, could play doorman when Galo wasn't there, until Evan was an option, and really, how often even did people show up? Groceries, but other than that, Galo hadn't ordered a ton of deliveries and didn't have friends in town. 

Oh but speaking of which, Galo pulled up the internet on his phone and started looking for crutches. Evan was gonna need one for a bit, and then after that he would get a lighter mobility aide. Guess what the aide would be. Guess. Guess what the doctor had recommended. 

A fucking cane. 

Galo’s life was a joke and his suffering was the punchline. But hey, silver lining was that there were plenty of those available, since the dumpster was scheduled to arrive in two days, so. Evan could have free choice of which instrument of torture he would like to use as a mobility aide. Fucking hell.

“Y’know,” Galo said very quietly, so as not to wake Evan up, “it used to be that the most interesting thing in my search history was the walkthrough for The Grey Rainbow.” Which was an excellent, free PC game and if there were any mind readers out there eavesdropping on Galo’s thoughts, they should absolutely open a new tab and play it. Even if some of the puzzles were a little tricky. 

Galo left a note on his order that whoever delivered the crutches (he could only buy them in a set) please just set the box on the front porch and leave. Don't ring the doorbell or knock, please, just put it down and turn around. The slaves he'd left at the house didn't need the added anxiety of another knock on the door, not while Galo and Evan were gone and Nyla had just been attacked that morning. 

“It also used to be that the most stressful thing that happened to me on any given day was annoying customers demanding to talk to my manager. Not unearthing horrible family secrets or fun new traumas,” Galo murmured, Evan sleeping right on through it. They'd given him the good shit, whatever it was, and Galo remembered getting his wisdom teeth out. How he’d wanted to do nothing other than sleep, eat applesauce, and sleep some more. Fortunately, Evan’s mouth was fine, so the urge for applesauce should probably not resurface with him. 

Galo, very lightly, stroked his thumb over the side of Evan’s hand, just little motions. He crafted emails, one-handed, to a couple different physical therapists until a nurse came in to check on Evan and also deliver a late lunch. Galo thanked her and helped her sit Evan up, Evan looking mightily displeased at being touched, though Galo couldn't tell if he liked the nurse or Galo less. He was aware that, as far as Evan was concerned, Galo was very likely the lesser of two evils in this situation, the enemy you know is better than the one you don't and blah blah. He tried to keep it brief. 

“And sir,” the nurse said, turning to Galo when she was done with Evan, “could I get you a shirt?”

Galo glanced down at himself, faintly embarrassed. “Oh, yeah, that’d be great thanks.”

Evan stared at Galo, namely Galo’s bare chest, after the nurse left, ignoring the food on the little tray next to him. He’d been staring at Galo pretty intensely earlier, too, so Galo just let him, thinking on what he should do for his own lunch, and if Evan would be good if he left him alone for a bit. 

Google said there was an Arby’s nearby and fuck if Galo couldn't go for some loaded curly fries right then, actually. He could get a shirt on and walk down there, get some fresh air. 

“Oh my god your nipples!” Evan suddenly exclaimed, Galo jumping in his seat, nearly dropping his phone. To his credit, Evan probably was not aware of how loud he’d just been. But also, Ah.

“Don’t rip your stitches there, bud,” Galo said, saying the first thing that popped into his head. Evan had uh. Moved. There.

“There are Ts on your nipples!” 

“There are,” Galo confirmed, blinking twice. “More specifically, the scars are on the tissue around the nipples, but yes.”

“We couldn't figure it out,” Evan said, having one hell of an epiphany there. Galo quirked a confused smile and bit his lip, trying not to laugh. Evan would definitely hate him once he was sober, if Galo actually laughed at him while he was like this. “We kept guessing what ‘going on T’ meant but there are Ts on your titties!” Evan said with a broad gesture towards Galo’s pecs, and Galo shook with silent laughter. 

“Mhm. So. That’s not quite it bud,” Galo got out, and had to pause and bite his lip again to suppress his laughter. “Going on T is in reference to the hormone testosterone, which I take supplements for.” Galo gestured to his scars. “These are the result of me getting top surgery, which is pretty much exactly like it sounds.”

Evan was squinting, nodding, and asked, “Am I going to remember this when I stop being…” he waved at his own forehead vaguely, “drugged?”

“Yes, probably, but it's okay if you don't. You saying this makes me think I should probably actually give a trans ed 101 to all of you. Which, you know, makes sense if you think about it because my aunt was definitely not the right kind of person to give any sort of information on queer life or history.” Galo and Evan both looked to the door when the nurse returned with a stiff, thin shirt that only barely fit Galo. He thanked her and slipped it on, moving his arms slowly so he didn't rip open the armpits. 

“Which one is testosterone, sir?” Evan asked, squinting again.

“It’s the hormone that gives me body hair and lowers my voice and makes me sweat a lot and put me through puberty a second time,” Galo said, loose and playful with his explanation because Evan still seemed pretty far out of it, even if his words were all clearly articulated and coherent. He’d give more scientific answers during an actual, informative talk. “It's the hormone associated with masculinity; so I’m ‘on T’ because my body doesn't produce enough of it naturally.”

“Like a vitamin supplement?”

“Almost, yeah, but instead of taking a pill I give myself a shot every Saturday.”

Evan visibly paled at that, and Galo felt his hackles raise. Ugh, stupid, just because Evan seemed to be more relaxed didn't mean Galo could waltz around making careless mistakes. What had he said to set him off? Nothing had implied Galo was going to hurt Evan, had it? But that must be it, that was always it; what..?

“Easy, Evan, easy, I’m not going to hu--”

“You give yourself shots!?”

“I--yes?”

“Every week?”

“Yyyyyes?”

“Why!?”

Oh, right, Evan had said earlier that he hated needles. “Because needles don't bother me and if I don't my body’s hormone levels go bad real fast.” Galo shrugged. “It was uncomfortable at first but now it's just part of my routine. Like shaving or yoga Mondays.” He honestly didn't even think about it anymore, but he remembered when he was a kid, he’d had a diabetic friend and he had been horrified the first couple of times he’d seen him poke himself. So like, he got where Evan was coming from, more or less, he was just really desensitized to it now. 

“You need--sir, yes Master, sorry Master,” Evan said, looking down on the ‘sir’ and very clearly just remembering who it was he was talking to. 

“No biggie,” Galo said, going for casual, hoping this would roll off like the other times Evan shrunk in on himself earlier. The mood seemed to stick, though, and Galo very purposefully did not sigh. “I was thinking of heading out and grabbing lunch for myself. You gonna be alright if I leave you here alone for,” Galo wiggled his hand side to side, “an hour?”

“Yes Master.”

Galo winced a little at that. So long chill-drugged Evan, nice chatting with you. “Cool, back in a bit, hit the button if you need anything from the nurses.”

“Yes Master.”

Galo grimaced. Ugh, fuck, he’s done this with Greyson, too, that first night, taking it too easy and freaking ‘em out. 

Fuck. But it’d been nice while it lasted, Evan sorta-calm with lowered inhibitions, actually talking to Galo like a person. He flexed his hand, the one that had been held.

--

Fuuuuuuck Evan hoped they eased up on the dose moving forward. His brain was lagging so far behind his big mouth and he felt stupid as shit. Also calm, which wasn't theoretically a bad thing but when his Master was in the room calm was a bad thing!

It didn't feel like a bad thing, but his dumb drugged brain knew it was a bad thing whenever his dumb drugged brain decided to get it's dumb drugged ass in gear. Bluh. At least Master didn't seem mad that Evan had been acting up. Evan stabbed the cantaloupe with a pout. The moment he could go off painkillers he would. He could handle pain, but his dignity wasn't gonna make a comeback from this.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of him didn't give a shit about dignity at the moment. The overwhelming majority of his shitty little person was mad because he was alone in a hospital and every shadow that passed his door set him on edge and he wanted his Master back in the room. Pansy ass bitch. 

He finished his food and laid back with a sigh. He hoped Nyla was okay. 

When he woke up again he had no memory of falling asleep. Fucking shit he hated this. But he also still felt oddly good, super even. His Master was back in the chair, staring at his phone, and didn’t seem to notice Evan had woken up. So he just. Stared at him. He was so big. He wasn’t touching Evan anywhere, which was a relief, but he also wasn’t touching Evan anywhere, which was something he wanted to change again. He liked holding his hand. He should absolutely not beg to hold his Master’s hand a third time, like some annoying, clingy, crying child who was scared of the dark.

Why would anyone willingly give themself a shot? Multiple shots. Frequently. Evan couldn’t fathom it. “You’re really strong,” he said, because his Master was able to enact things with careless ease that took all of Evan’s strength and force of will to even endure.

Master Galo looked up from his phone, and smiled. “Yeah, I sure am, man. Work out every day.”

“You give yourself shots,” Evan clarified, realizing his mistake again.

Master Galo bit his lip and ducked his head, breath going all funny for a second. Evan didn’t smile, but he felt almost like he did. “Yeah, I do. We’re still on that?”

“Sorry.”

“No, no, nothing to be sorry for. Just wanna make sure we’re on the same page, easy Evan.”

“Oh I am so easy right now,” Evan said enthusiastically, then made a sour face. “What am I on?”

“I don’t know but I think stabbed-Evan should’ve definitely gotten the chance to meet no-wisdom-teeth-Galo,” Master Galo joked, and Evan laughed, because he got the joke! Master must have felt super great and weird then, too.

“Oh we’re feeling good,” Master Galo remarked, sounding pleased, and Evan hummed in agreement. “I called the house while I was out,” he mentioned, and Evan sat up a little, leaning on one elbow. “Nyla’s fine,” Evan felt himself relax, “she’s still feeling shaken up but she and the others have been curled up together and they’re glad you’re safe and on the mend. I told them to go ahead and eat dinner without us; we’ll just get something through a window on the drive home, and we’re,” Master Galo checked his phone, “pretty close to the time they balled for us to leave. How’re you feeling?”

“Fantastic. Also bad. And still tired.”

“What’s got you feeling bad, bud?”

“I can’t…” Evan waved his hands in front of his face, trying to express through gestures what he couldn’t find the words for, but decided against it when he lightly smacked himself in the face, nearly poking his own eye. He heard Master Galo snort and he glared at him. Bastard. Except no wait don’t glare at his Master.

“Alright, alright, I think I got the idea,” Master Galo said, and Evan huffed, frustrated. “It’s only temporary. The nurse’ll come take the drip out here shortly, and we can fiddle with how many pills you take at home so you’re not as loopy, sound good?”

“Being stabbed is stupid.” Mistress slicing him open was never like this. But those were all shallow and controlled, and this was deep. Fucking…… fuck bitch.

“It sure is, bud.”

To his Master’s credit, the nurse did arrive in pretty short order, announce Evan good enough to be discharged, and didn’t look at him with mockery or pity when he closed his eyes and looked away as she took the needle out. His clothes were technically good enough to wear out of the hospital, nothing sensitive had been torn open (like Nyla), and Evan didn’t want to wander around wearing a hospital gown, so yeah, he needed to change. But.

“Would you like me to help out, or should I step into the hallway?” Master asked, and that was the fucking dillemma wasn’t it? Evan would need help getting his pants on, and would be in only his underwear between taking the gown off and putting his clothes on, and Evan didn’t want his Master to see him mostly-naked but he also did not want to be left alone and mostly-naked in a room with a stranger.

“...Or maybe I’ll go stand in a corner with my back turned?” Master offered, and Evan wasn’t even proud or wary enough to decline. He dressed, and sat down on the bed, waiting while the nurse went and got the wheelchair over. 

“Need help getting in?” she asked patiently, didn’t even sound condescending.

“Please don’t touch me any more,” Evan said pathetically, not answering because yeah, he needed help and he knew he did and if he tried to do it on his own his uncoordinated fucked-up ass was gonna faceplant spectacularly, but no, fucking god please no, he didn’t want any more strangers touching him. He just wanted to curl up around Lilah or Nyla or maybe under Greyson and sleep for five thousand years.

“Okay. Can you make it into the wheelchair on your own?”

No. Evan turned to Master Galo, feeling disgustingly pathetic and reminding himself that his Master liked grovelling, and asked, “Master, please...”

“Yeah, I got you.” Master Galo easily lifted Evan from the bed and set him in the wheelchair, and the nurse made an impressed noise.

“He’s really strong,” Evan remarked to her, and she arched an eyebrow before rounding behind the chair to push him.

“I see. Is that something that comes up a lot?” she asked mildly.

“It’s hot.”

Master Galo made a strangled noise and he was definitely laughing at Evan, Evan who was mortified.

“Not that I think you are,” Evan quickly followed, gesturing at his Master who was keeping an easy stride alongside the chair. “Just that, like, objectively, you’re objectively hot.”

“Thanks,” Master Galo squeaked, shit at hiding the fact that he was still laughing and Evan needed, he needed to--

“Like, to women.”

“Okay.” 

“Any woman would be lucky to date you. You’re huge, like, to women.”

“Actually most people find me huge, but thank you. I’m flattered.”

“I’m not flattering, just, like, like art, like how art is hot, like a chiseled statue.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“I’m not gay,” Evan finally said flat out, because it was very important that his Master know that.

“Okay, well it would be alright if you were. I just wouldn’t reciprocate.”

“Look I know I was staring at your nipples a lot earlier but I’m not gay.”

“I believe you, Evan.”

“Would you like to go get your car, sir?” the nurse, who had heard absolutely all of that exchange, asked. Evan officially could never, ever get injured badly ever again in his life, he could never come back here again.

“Yeah, back in a jiffy, bud.” Master Galo jogged off and Evan sat, elbows on the armrests and face in his hands, wondering if maybe he should have just bled out while he had the chance. 

Master Galo had to help Evan into the car and Evan hadn't felt this pathetic since his broken rib (and the painkillers Mistress had had him on weren't like this at all, plus they'd only lasted while Evan was in the hospital (the pain was a valuable lesson, after all)). Evan buckled himself while Master thanked the nurse and bid her good day. When Master Galo entered the car, Evan tensed minutely, but all he did was ask Evan where he wanted to eat. 

“I don't know,” Evan answered honestly. Mistress was vehemently against fast food, believing chain restaurants were invented by the devil to tempt folk into sin or whatever blah blah reason. Evan honestly couldn't remember. But he did know she was ���ethically against them” so his last exposure had been when he was, what, 5 or 6? 

Master ended up choosing, and they sat in the car and ate, Evan feeling very uncomfortable at eating with his Master but not having any choice in the matter. Every sensible part of his brain told him he didn't get to eat until Master had finished his meal, and that he shouldn't be eating in the same space as him at all. But also huuuuuur duuuuur beef and ketchup, Evan’s brain was stupid enough to take the edge off his anxiety and just shove the food in his mouth. 

Words could not express how relieved he was to finally get home. He wanted to see Nyla and then just sleep. 

“Looks like your crutches arrived already,” Master Galo said. “Would you prefer I carry you up to the porch, you lean on me as a crutch, or I could go get them for you and you can walk yourself?”

Evan’s head made him skeptical on his ability to walk himself, but also. Hhh. Touch. “Can I lean on you, Master Galo?” he asked politely. 

“Yeah man.” Fuuuuuuck. He couldn't put any weight on his leg at all, which was also stupid. He had to lean all his weight on his Master, reliant, weak, dependent on him for balance and even the simple ability to fucking walk. 

He hoped Master Galo had killed that fucker that stabbed him. 

The foyer was empty when Master and Evan entered it, Evan on one shoulder and the crutches propped deftly on the other. Master called out, that it was them, that they were home, and hardly a moment later Nyla, in her other dress and smile firmly back in place, swaned into the room. “Master Galo, welcome home,” she greeted, but hesitated. 

“No hand-kissing for Nyla, his hands are full,” Evan said, which was supposed to be a thought inside his brain but whoooo there they are. Out in the open where everyone can hear them. Nyla, even through her smile, looked appalled. 

“He's on really strong pain meds,” Master Galo said, and Evan pointed up at him with a click of his tongue. 

“That.”

“I--see, sir, we can take care of him from here out, Master,” Nyla said, and the other three, who Evan knew had been listening close by, hovering just out of sight so as to avoid crowding Master, hedged into the area. They were worried about Evan, awwww, and he grinned when he laid eyes on Lilah, affection blooming in him. 

“Yeah, sounds good,” Master said, setting the box down but not Evan. “I kinda wanna get him down the steps first, but then he's all yours.” Which, admittedly, was a smart idea, because Evan theoretically could make it down while leaning on the railing, but the threat of stumbling was a real one and if he fell on like, Greyson or Sasha, they’d all just go tumbling down the stairs. If Evan stumbled into Master, he doubted he’d even sway. 

But he didn't trip! He was just unbearably slow, wasting everyone’s time going down one step by one singular, shuffling step. Lilah propped him up once he was at the bottom, and then, mercifully, Master Galo left.

They waited one, two, three baited breaths, and then the family was on Evan in a rush, their hands on him and their quiet words blurring over each other's until they mutually decided to let Lilah speak first.

“Tell is everything,” she demanded, and Evan raised a thumbs up. 

“Will do. But fair warning, I am on so many drugs right now.”

“How many is that?” Lilah asked, her nose all scrunched up.

“Enough to talk to Master about his hot nipples.” Fuck, definitely could've phrased that better.

“You did what?” Nyla asked, Lilah and Sasha seeming struck and Greyson even harder to read when Evan was fucked up like this.

“Okay, lemme rephrase--” Evan blinked hard. “Actually could I maybe do this lying down?”

They got Evan into bed, his body in the middle like it rarely ever was (he preferred to sleep with his back to the wall, facing the doorway). He told them everything he could about the hospital visit, Sasha very frightened when he talked about how often he fucked up, Lilah looking up at him thoughtfully from where she was bundled in his arms. He couldn't read Nyla or Greyson, with his back turned to them, but from how Nyla’s fingers would occasionally curl in his sweater he could guess that she was thinking he was an idiot. 

Which was fair. He absolutely was. And the drugs made him extra stupid. 

They had spent their day in the room, with Nyla in the center of the bed, only leaving when Greyson answered Master Galo’s phone call and Master had apparently ordered them to watch a movie or something. They had watched Singing in the Rain, which Evan was actually pretty bummed to have missed. It was one of his favorites, and Movie Nights were rare treats. 

“Maybe Master’ll let you watch a movie, while you're laid up,” Lilah mentioned, and Evan hummed into her hairline. 

“Who knows? He's weird.”

“Yeah, but he's nice,” Lilah said, and Evan would be anxious about that when he was sober, he knew, Lilah buying into their Master’s lies, but at the moment he felt good and warm and very sleepy so he just hummed again, snuggling in a little closer. 

In the morning, he realized why they’d had him on so many painkillers. 

“Fucking ow.”

Next

[the-a-j-universe]

Alright, cool. I finally have a guaranteed length of time that should be long enough to go through all of these, so let’s do this. I know the plan was to have me address each ask one at a time but that didn’t work out lol so I’m just doing it all at once. I’m also turning it into a post so anyone who wants to can follow along with my journey.

I’m also gonna copy/paste the text of the other asks instead of screen capping them because copy/pasting is faster lol.

I’m gonna put a pic of each one here, give my thoughts, maybe a goofy rating (I dunno), and then pick my favorite. Just so y’all know.

* Tanawy's entry n.1 in the Dragon Quest monster showcase: the all-time classic Slime. When asked to design the Slime like the standard goop monster they usually were, Toriyama said "no" and a legend was born, now cute slimes are more popular than the disgusting goop depiction. Its cousins and variants are numerous and some are very different from one another so as a bonus here the criminally underutilized Mottle Slime and its evolution the Mottle King Slime.

See, I don’t even need to look this one up. Here it is:

But let’s be real, you guys didn’t need to see an image of this dude either. I love this thing. I never went through a period where I thought of the grosser oldschool slimes. This thing has always been what’s come to my mind when I here the word in an RPG context. Which, considering my zero experience with DQ, really speaks to this thing’s popularity. I am actually going to remove this one from consideration, though, for that reason. I just have too much of a bias towards it. I know it too well, and all variations seem to be equally great. It’s a 10/10, though. Truly iconic.

Get the rest after the cut!

* Tanawy's entry n.2: Originally a boss monster, here is the Golem. While not the sharpest tool in the shed, these brick-made guys can be quite loyal, with a child-like personality, downright adorable (I will never forget you Goldirox) but their strenght in battle must not be underestimated. And since St. Valentinus is around the corner here a Chocolate Golem variant as a gift. Friendship chocolate mind you, from a dude to another 😄

I like this guy. He reminds me of a couple oldschool Yugioh cards. They’re all bad cards, but I’m nostalgic for them so that help’s this guy’s chances. I don’t know that I buy him as a threatening boss, though. He seems more like he’d be your big stone pal.

The chocolate variant is absolutely adorable.

8.5/10 overall for both.

* Tanawy's entry n.3: Here are two members of the Machine Family, first the Killing Machine. These relentless hunters are merciless and they are constantly upgrading, so models with different modifications are plenty. They even come with garden sprinkles. Then there is the Mecha-mynah, who puts a different spin on the mechanical Cuckoo-bird motif. Careful these guys have razor-sharp wings and they selfdestruct when cornered.

Alright, not so much for the second one, but the Killing Machine also reminds me of, like, a half dozen Yugioh monsters. Did Kazuki Takahashi just like ripping this franchise off or something? Either way, these are both good designs, but they don’t really work for me that much. They’re a little...plain? I guess? I guess I like my machine creatures rougher and with more detail. 7/10.

* Tanawy's entry n.4: Next are my deepest fears (exaggeration) if they were real; the Waspion, half wasp half scorpion, and the Claw Hammer, Half hammerhead shark half metal scolopendra, all nightmare. Continuing with the caravan of creepiness, here is the Bona Constrictor, just get it away from me. This next one, when i saw it for the first time i yelled "WTF is That?!" here is the Ulcer, a walking awful pile of rotting flesh.

I am NOT a fan of the Ulcer. That thing’s ugly, and not even in a fun way. 0/10.

I like these other guys, though:

The Waspion is literally just Gligar from Pokemon, but aside from that I like animal/creature mash-ups. And the Claw Hammer is a pretty unique one. 9/10 for the whole lot.

* Tanawy's entry n.5: Beef or chicken? Why choose when you can have both? Here is a heavyweight of the Bird Family the taurine Bullfinch. But dont forget your vegetables, or else they might turn into these Plant family monsters, the eggplant Woebergine, the bellpeppers Capsichum and the cucumber Cruelcumber. Also, meet the Peahooter, these guys pelts their targets with arrows taking advantage of their higher ground.

Okay, we’ve got another mash-up creature here in the form of the Bullfinch, but I’m not feeling this one as much. It’s worth, like, a 6.5/10, maybe. The Woebergine and the Peahooter are both pretty interesting. The Peahooter is kinda cute in a weird way and the Woebergine is delightfully derpy. They both deserve approaching an 8/10. I’m not really feeling the Capsichum at all though. They get a 5 or a 6/10.

* Tanawy's entry n.6: Who doesn't like a good dog? Well maybe not these guys from the Beast family: the Chainine who will ensnare their preys with their collars, the Putrefido, who is no longer alive, the Abracadabrador, who will eat your bones, the Crocodog, a levitating (yes this thing floats in the air) dog-crocodile hybrid and finally the Jackal Ripper (long lost relative of Wolverine or just imitator? More at 11 on the news)

Hey now. That’s not really fair to the other entries. Every one of these dudes:

Is a very GOOD BOI. I think I like the Abracadabrador the least. He’s a little too un-dog-like compared to the others. 6.5/10. The Chainine and the Putrfido are both the perfect blend of cute and weird. I like them a lot. They get 7.5/10. Jackal Ripper is a badass 8/10. He’d be cooler if he was wearing jeans. I LOVE the Crocodog, though. 10/10. Perfect. He just looks like a friend, but he also looks like he could kill my enemies. Which is what I like in a monster.

* Tanawy's entry n.7: Here is a taste of Japan with the Boppin’ badger, the most Tanuki-like monster you will ever meet; Then these guys don't need consent to give everyone within their reach a smooch, here is the Lips. Also, beware of these horses of the underworld, the Equinox where they probably hangout with these other lovely fellows, the Hellspawn. Speaking of which here is the demon Teeny Sanguini. Cute eh? Not when it evolves in the Bloody Manguini. Thankfully not everyone of them does that.

Okay, you can’t fool me. That first one is just a regular animal.

Jokes aside, though, I’m not really feeling this bunch unfortunately. The Hellspawn just reminds me too much of mutant can Steven, the Lips is a little boring, and the Equinox, while I like the wordplay in its name, and while it’s cool in principal, is too busy. I’m just not feeling the designs of these guys overall. 4 or 5/10 for the whole lot. Though the Teeny Sanguini is closer to a 5 than a 4.

* Tanawy's entry n.8: There are two species of monsters, the Pips and their cousins the Conks, who constatly imitate the classic classes of the humans, like warriors or priests, but this time the little rascals have gone a little farther and here they are copying the DQ8 4 main heroes in the Trodainian Conklave, the DQ4 heroes in the Zenithian Conklave, the hero of DQ1 and the 3 heroes of DQ2 in the Alefgardian Conklave and the hero of DQ3 with 3 other companions in the Aliahanian Conklave. Cute.

Okay, I love the idea of these things. They’re cute, they fit right in with the general aesthetic of the franchise, and they have a ton of personality. I’m not gonna post pics of all of them because there’re so many, but they deserve ~9/10 collectively. They’re very good.

* Tanawy's entry n.9: Not enough dragons? So here's three: what do you get mixing a T-rex, a dragon and a vicious axeman? An Hacksaurus that's what! Then the Drakulard. Don't be fooled by their mole these portly fellows mean business. Another chubby dragon, the Jargon: dragonic masters of the clay containers, these guys URNed their right to use jar puns and they will make sure you remenber it, even if they have to crack your pot.

Okay now these are more what I was thinking when I heard the title Dragon Quest.

I like the Hacksaurus the best outta them. He just looks nice. They’re all good, though. They fit the art style perfectly, and resemble each other just enough that you buy them all being related creatures. 8/10 overall, though the Hacksaurus is a little above the others, with the Jargon being a barely at the bottom of the barrel. Or the jar I guess.

* Tanawy's entry n.10: The only story entry in this showcase, because just look at him, it's the only DQ big baddie (at least in english) to actually call themselves "the Demon Lord" It's Orgodemir, specifically it's true form which is the first photo you find in the gallery at almost end-page. Let me just tell you this, Orgodemir is a d*ck of the highest level. The brain it's actually an eyelid for a giant eye by the way. Happy Nightmares.

HAHAHAHA. I know there are other forms for this guy, and this is probably not the reaction that anyone who played the game would have, but I just can’t take this guy seriously. He looks like Edward Cullen with bat wings. HAHAHA. 8/10 ‘cause it made me laugh.

* Tanawy's entry n.11: And lastly, in a category i like to call "I can't belive these are real", its the Funky Ferret; yes he and his cousins do exactly what the image shows. And the almost copyright-infinging Owlbear, yes they did not even try to distance themself from D&D with this one (ok they have a variant but is not saying much). There were others in the last category, but since they REALLY did not age gracefully to the modern standards of "acceptable" i prefered not show them.

I love Owlbears, they’re just such iconic fantasy monsters at this point, so he gets a solid 8/10 rating by default. It’s a pretty original take, too, focusing on the cuteness potential of the creature over the badass potential. I like that.

The Funky Ferret, though...

With a name like that this guy coulda been so cool. But he’s just a pretty generic design blended with a fart joke. What a bummer. 3/10.

And there we have it. Probably not exactly what you were thinking but I hope you like it. I don’t hate any of these guys. Some are more boring than others, but there’s something neat about each of them. I like the ones that take badass ideas and make them cute while remaining intimidating best out of all of them, and I think the Crocodog does this best with the Hacksaurus as the runner up. Crocodog is definitely my favorite of these, though. He gets the Best Good Boi award of Bestness.

Orgodemir gets an award, too, though, the “made AJ spit out his rum and Coke laughing” award. It’s not the most coveted, but it’s something.

I know this is a long one, and y’all may not want to reblog, but what do any of my followers think of these funky dudes? Leave a comment on this post or reblog with your answer in the tags!

[huntertales]

Part Three: Indecent Proposal. (Devil May Care S09E02)

Episode Summary: In the aftermath of the fall, Sam and the reader are taken by surprise when they learn Crowley is still alive–and stuffed in the trunk of the Impala. A temporary situation before the reader and the Winchesters relocate him to the Men of Letters dungeon. Kevin is anything but enthusiastic about seeing the king of hell under the same roof as him. However the three hunters want the demon close, hoping Crowley will provide useful information about others of his kind. Meanwhile, Abaddon re-emerges and plans to take over hell. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 7,825. (Oops. This got away from me lol)

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"The hell happened here?"

The location Abaddon led all of you to was a complete ghost town; rundown buildings overtaken by weeds, the ground beneath your fear was nothing more than dirt. It must’ve been decades since it had seen any form of life. You weren’t that surprised to see the demon lured you into a deserted part of the state like this. Better for her to have you all to herself, letting you run around while she waited for you to fall into the trap she set. 

You wondered what came of the town and the people who once lived here that caused it to turn into an abandoned wasteland. Rarely do you see towns and buildings nowadays to be empty like this without a good explanation behind it. She picked this place for a reason, and not just because it was the perfect spot for whatever she had planned in that head of hers.

“A local chemical plant sprung a leak years ago. They evacuated three square blocks.” Sam explained to the both of you the town’s history. You let out a slight noise from hearing that piece of information you weren’t expecting. “Guess it’s still contaminated.” 

"Wait, so this whole place is still poisonous?" You found yourself asking out of caution for your own safety. Sam nodded his head to answer your question. You rolled your eyes, you should’ve figured that much. No reason why Abaddon chose this place. If she didn't kill you, the leftover pollution lingering the air eventually would if you were exposed to it long enough. "It's like our very own Chernobyl." 

Dean didn’t find your words comforting. He found himself thinking of a certain place on his body where he didn’t want to be tainted from any chemicals that might still be polluting the air. You turned your head at the exact moment to see him lower his hand to shield his private area. You let out a scoff and titled your head slightly in disbelief at how he was acting.

“That’s not gonna help.” Sam warned his brother.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Dean muttered. 

You rolled your eyes and lightly whacked his arm away to get the man focused on searching this entire town to find the two other hunters. Your hopefulness that they were still breathing made you disregard the possible contamination you were about to walk right into. You put your life on the line almost everyday with all sorts of threats, a little pollution never hurt anyone until the long way down the line. You kept yourself vigilant for any possible surprise attacks Abaddon and her goons had planned as you traveled deeper into the town. 

You and the boys managed to cover some distance as you kept walking through empty looking buildings with windows still intact and doors most likely unlocked from the rush people must've been in to get out of here. You checked a few buildings and scoped them out to see if anyone was inside, but all the souls that seemed to be around at the moment were just the three of you. You continued to follow behind the boys as you looked around the place, cautiously eyeing the edges of buildings and looking behind your shoulder for any possible demon trying to make a sneak attack. It seemed that you were still alone. However you found yourself stopping in your tracks when you heard a noise, it sounded like shuffling in a building not too far from where the three of you stood. 

You followed behind the boys as Sam drew out his gun for any possible attackers when he approached the diner to inspect inside. The younger man kicked down the door with one swift kick and stepped inside, he took one look around the place to see there was no active threat around. The only people that were inside were the two hunters Abaddon had kidnapped. Sam lowered his weapon and called for you and Dean's attention from what he found. You made your way into the place to see the sight for yourself. While you were happy to see the Irv and Tracy were unharmed, you couldn't take anything for face value, You quietly shut the door behind you before taking one glance around the outside to make sure the coast was still clear from anyone besides the five of you.

"Irv? Hey." Dean pulled off the gag from the older hunter's mouth to give the man a chance to talk freely from the question he asked a few seconds later. "Where's Abaddon?"

"Abaddon's been torturing hunters." Irv said. "She's been trying to get intel on you kids." 

"Do you know why?" Sam asked. 

"I seriously doubt she wants to add you to her Christmas card. Now," Irv veered the conversation to something more important other than trying to figure out the demon's motives for why she was doing all of this. "Do you wanna make it with the rescue or what?"

"Right after you take a shot of holy water, huh?"

You wanted to believe that Abaddon just kidnapped the two and left it at that, but you knew from personal experience that things like her never made things easy. You pulled out the flask of holy water from your back pocket and twisted off the cap, you tugged off the cloth from Tracy's mouth and poured the liquid into her mouth. You watched as she swallowed without a problem and gave you an annoyed glare from the dramatics. She looked young, probably no more than someone in her early twenties at most. She must’ve been new to the game. 

“Happy?” She asked you.

“Sorry about that.” You apologized for the cautious steps you had to take around them. Tracy’s glare seemed to harden when she heard the sarcastic tone lined in your voice. “Gotta be safe than sorry.” 

"Don't worry about it." Irv said. At least the older hunter understood you couldn’t let them free without running a quick test to make sure they were still human without running around in their skin, waiting to jump up and rip your guts out. "Last thing you need is us popping black eyes." 

Dean took it upon himself to free the hunters from the chairs they were tied to after he took out a pocket knife and cut them free. You crossed your arms over your chest and watched as they stretched their aching muscles from sitting in the same position for so long. Sam decided it would have been the perfect time to introduce himself to the younger woman. 

"You're Tracy, right? I'm Sam Winchester." He said. When you noticed Tracy’s gaze had wandered over to you after Sam shifted his finger over to you, you forced yourself to give the woman a half smile and a wave before tucking your arm back where it was before. “And that’s Y/N Y/L/N.” 

“Good for you.” Tracy responded with a lackluster tone, as if that name was supposed to mean anything to her. Your expression shifted slightly from the attitude she was giving the both of you, suddenly looking as if you were boring her with your mere presence. 

“She’s new. We did a shifter job back in Sacramento together." Irv explained how he knew the younger woman. “Smart, but got a mouth on her."

“Sam and I know a little something about that.” Dean’s said. You rolled your eyes when you noticed his eyes wandered over to you to drive his point home. “Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s gear up.” 

You got to work with unloading all the supplies you had brought with you to take down Abaddon and her demons. Ruby’s special knife was your favorite weapon to use against a demon. While it might not be able to kill a knight of hell, something you learned from the first encounter you had with Abaddon, it worked well on others you had come in contact with without a problem. Angel blades were also useful and trusty to have on hand. You had enough ammunition to take down dozens of demons with the special carvings you had made. Might not be able to kill them, but they locked those suckers in place so you could take them down once and for all. 

You threw back a canister of spray paint when Dean took out another gun and set it down on the countertop with the rest of the weapons you had lined up. It appeared to you that you had just about everything you needed to take down the knight of hell once and for all. 

“All right, we got Jesus juice, guns loaded with devil’s trap bullets. Shoot a demon, put him on lockdown.” Dean listed off a few of the weapons Tracy and Irv were free to pick from to arm themselves for the fight ahead. He picked up a silver blade to swiftly flip the weapon in his hand with ease. “The angel blade works.” 

You found your concentration breaking away from the conversation when you heard something in the near distance catch your attention. You turned around in your spot and looked over to the window as Sam jumped up from the table he was sitting on top of and peered outside to see if he could see who caused the noise. The younger Winchester’s expression fell when he caught sight of two demons possessing those soldiers making their way to where you were. 

“They’re coming.” Sam announced. 

“Good.” Dean said, seeming ready for the fight ahead. 

You made your way over to the window and pushed down a few of the blinds to get a better look for yourself. You spotted the same demons Sam had pointed out just a few seconds prior, but he failed to mention they hadn’t come here empty handed. It seemed Abaddon had chosen those soldiers for a reason. You looked over your shoulder to break the news that made things slightly more complicated for all of you. “They’ve got assault rifles, Dean.” 

“Okay, less good.” The older Winchester noted. 

You were pretty sure the whole “don’t bring a knife to a gunfight applied to this situation a little too perfectly. You stepped away from the window and made your way back over to the counter in some kind of attempt to figure out how to get out of here. Luckily the demons didn’t know just yet where you were, they probably knew you were here from the parked Impala on the outskirts of the town. Irv wondered how you and the boys were going to get yourselves out of this one. You’ve been in a situation like this enough times to know that you couldn't risk the chance of sneaking out the back without arousing suspicion. You needed something to distract the demons to give you enough time to bolt. And what a better way to give the illusion that you were stupid enough to go up against them.

All of you packed up your things after arming up with weapons to protect yourselves in the case those demons weren't alone. You anxiously waited behind with the others while Dean was still back at the diner, setting up your phone after you got the brilliant idea to lure the demons into a trap with a recording of the older Winchester's voice on loop calling out the monsters, luring them to an empty diner, all of you long gone. You let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Dean making his way back to the four of you after setting up the phone like you told him to do. 

“All right. We got to flank seal team douche in there, so, Irv, you and me will go left.” Dean said, coming up with a plan for a way to get out of here alive. “The rest of you go right."

You nodded your head at the instructions without much thought and looked over at Sam, both of you ready to start moving. You took a few steps over to Tracy and without much thought placed a hand on her shoulder to get her moving, however it seemed that was the worst thing you could have done. Suddenly you felt yourself stumbling backwards after Tracy turned around and shoved you off of her, hissing at you to get away from her. You were stunned at what just happened, Sam was even taken back himself when she threw daggers at the man when he tried to go even near her. Tracy had given you attitude before, you thought it was because she was pissed off at the fact she was roped into your problems. But she was staring at you like you were the kind of monster that had gotten her into this situation. 

“Okay, that’s it.” You couldn’t take it anymore. You found yourself snapping back at the younger woman with an abundance of frustration from how she had been treating you since you met her. There was no reason for the attitude. Tracy responded by continuing to stare at you with the same disgusted glare. “Look, kid, I am not in the mood.”

“Whoa.” The older Winchester was quick to notice the sudden shift in mood from the reaction Tracy got out of you. He observed the three of you slowly to try and figure out what happened to have caused this. “What’s the problem?” 

“My family’s dead because of them.” Tracy's reason took you and Sam both by surprise. Your hardening glare slowly began to change at her confession, the younger Winchester was left wondering for the few seconds of silence that fell between the woman’s confession to figure out how that could have possibly been his fault. Both of you had done some pretty terrible things in the past. There was no denying that. But to have murdered someone in cold blood? You swore you never went that far. And you didn’t. Just the mistake you had made of freeing Lucifer came with more consequences than you realized. “I watched a demon slaughter my parents, and the whole time, it talked about how it was celebrating. How a couple of dumb kids let Lucifer out of his cage.” 

You pressed your lips together and moved your gaze somewhere other than Tracy. Sam couldn't help himself when he stared at the younger woman with a guilty expression at the actions he knew were all of his fault. He was the reason why Lucifer was freed from the cage. He was the reason why her parents were slaughtered. He wanted to apologize for the pain he caused her, but right now wasn't the time to do so. Dean was quick to switch things up, deciding to have Tracy go with him and let Irv tag along instead. You swallowed down your own heavy conscience in favor of getting Tracy and Irv out of here. Sam remained where he was for a few seconds while his brother and Tracy went off. You placed a hand on the man's shoulder and gave a slight squeeze, nodding your head for him to get moving. 

The three of you went on your journey of heading into the right side of town like Dean told you to do so. Most of the journey was in complete silence, you following behind Sam as Irv chose to linger behind the line that formed. Sam had the demon knife in his head at the ready while your loaded gun remained tucked in the waistband of your jeans. You didn't know why, but you found the confession Tracy made lingering in the back of your mind. From the way she looked at you. How she told you both that you were the reason why her parents were dead. You carried the burden around what happened back at that church on your shoulders every single day. If you could change the past, you would in a heartbeat. You even tried to fix your mistakes...but all that came of it was more mistakes on your part. 

"Kids, you copacetic?" Irv's question broke the silence between all of you. Sam nodded his head as you did the same a few moments later. You stopped behind a building and looked over at the older hunter, wondering to yourself why he wanted to know such a thing. “Good. Now hand me that toothpick and you two get Dean and Tracy—you beat feet out of here.” 

“What?” Sam sounded nothing more than confused as to what the man was suggesting. It sounded like a suicide mission, because it was. There was no way in hell you were letting Irv in there by himself with all those demons with one knife and no backup to help. 

“I’m going in there alone.” Irv said. “I’ll buy you two as much time as I can.” 

“Irv, that’s death.” Sam told the hunter. 

“Yeah, well, it’s what I got coming. It’s my fault, Sam.” Irv’s confession wasn't what you were expecting to come out of the man's mouth. You looked at him a little funny from what he was implying, wondering how that could be such a thing. There was more to the story that the hunter withheld from you until now. "I was in some dive and I was sloppy and lonely and I met some girl, and the next thing you know, I'm strapped to some bed and she's twisting things that ain't supposed to be twisted.”

“‘She’ who?” You questioned the man.

“Abaddon.” The name that fell out of the hunter’s mouth made you sink your shoulders down in disappointment. Sam took the news the same as you. Irv was distraught with the things he had done against his own will, but there was only so much a man could take before breaking. “I gave ‘em up. Pete, Tracy—I gave ‘em all up. So you hand me that blade and let me do what I got to do, or so help me—” 

Before the man could finish the argument to get what was coming to him and die with some dignity after the wrongs he had made, it seemed death came to him sooner than he was anticipating. You felt a sudden gasp of surprise escape from your mouth at what happened in the matter of seconds. You didn't realize Irv had been shot until you saw him lying on the ground with a bleeding wound in his chest. Sam quickly grabbed a hold of your arm and yanked you closer to him when he figured out what was going on. You felt your back collide with the brick wall as another shot went off. The demon who was trying to take you down must’ve been a sharp shooter. You and Sam quickly drew out your own guns, knowing a simple knife shared between the both of you wasn’t gonna cut it. 

Sam slowly inched himself closer to the edge of the wall and peered out with his weapon to see where the demon was. He managed to spot him sitting on a rooftop straight ahead, he took his chance by firing off a few rounds until he managed to hit a bullseye into the scope. When Sam tried to aim for the demon next, that’s when you made a run for it, Sam following behind right after you. You ran for cover in the nearest building that you found and pushed the door open with your body, not even bothering to think there might be someone inside waiting for you. You didn't come into that thought until you saw someone pressing their shoe against your wrist that was holding your gun. You looked up to see the barrel of a gun staring back down at you and the smile of a demon to greet you. 

“Boo.” The demon taunted you. 

+ + +

Dean couldn’t help himself when he thought back to what Tracy had said about her parents. The situation of freeing Lucifer came with a ripple effect that felt like it was never going to end. When all of you thought the dust had settled and things could go back to somewhat normal, there was always a small wave to come creeping back up. Tracy had every right to be pissed off at what happened to her parents. Hunters got into this lifestyle without much of a choice, almost always it was because of some sort of tragedy that dragged them into this lifestyle. You and the boys knew the story. It was your lives that lead you to this point. The reason you made the choices you did. 

You and Sam made mistakes with terrible consequences. There was no denying that factor. But so did Dean. Irv most likely would confess that he had nightmares from his past choices that kept him up at night. Everyone does. He was sure Tracy would make some along the way. In the moment, before everything falls apart, you feel like it was the right thing to do. You don’t realize how wrong you are until you’re faced with the mistakes of your actions that you can’t go back from. 

“Okay, I think they’re still inside. We wait till they come out, and we pick them off one by one.” Dean gave the layout of his plan while him and Tracy slowly made their way closer to the edge of a gafettied up wall. She listened without much as a peep. He adjusted his grip around the knife and looked over at her for a second. "Listen, for the record, Sam and Y/N weren't the only ones who thought they were doing right and watched it all go to crap. Okay? That's just part of being—"

“Being a hunter.” Tracy cut off the man, finishing his sentence with the moral lesson she thought he was trying to make. 

“Being human.” Dean corrected the woman. “Look, you want to be pissed off at them, that’s fine. I get it. But if you want to go after somebody, you make sure they got black eyes. Got to know who the real monsters are in this world, kid.” 

Dean nodded his head for Tracy to start moving when he thought it was the perfect time to start heading to the spot he located. He cautiously made his way forward with his gun pointed forward and figured just centimeters from the trigger, ready to take down any demon that tried to get the jump on him. However the hunter was stupid enough to overlook the small alleyway that was just big enough to have someone hiding in there. Dean found himself being taken by surprise when he felt someone take a swing at him, sending him straight to the ground. Tracy was fast enough to act without a second thought. She fired off several rounds into the demon that now stood in front of her, thinking it would have been enough to take her down. However this demon had seen this sort of trick before, and learned some herself. 

Tracy lowered her gun when she realized the five rounds that she shot off had done nothing to the redhead. Instead all she got as a reaction was a smile. Abaddon lifted up her shirt to reveal the bullet proof vest she was wearing. The hunter was stupid enough to waste all her bullets on a chest shot, why she didn’t go for the head was a rookie mistake she would pay for in mere seconds when Abaddon went over there and ripped her throat out. 

“Nice grouping. Kevlar. Beats magic bullets.” She said. “I love the future.”

Dean had some tricks up his sleeve to make the demon back off enough for a chance to get Tracy out of here and get some extra weapons. He twisted off the cap to a flask of holy water and splashed it in Abaddon’s face, happy to know that at least something worked on her. She stumbled backwards as her face burned from the liquid. Dean took his chance to get back up to his feet and make his way over to Tracy. He shoved his car keys into the palm of her hands. 

“Listen, my car is three blocks over. Go get more bullets, more holy water—get everything.” He instructed her. Tracy couldn’t help but worry about the man from the danger that he was putting himself in if she left him. “Just go! Go! Now!”

Abaddon felt the burning sensation on her skin slowly subside as she watched Tracy listen to the man, running off and going for more supplies would be rendered useless. The demon grew a toothy smile when she saw Dean turn around and face her, ready to let the real fun begin. She adjusted her red hair and tossed back a loose curl from her face. The demon had been waiting for a very long time to finally see the older Winchester’s handsome face. 

“Alone at last.” She said. 

Dean responded by taking out an angel blade from the inside of his jacket, something Abaddon wondered to herself how he managed to get hold of such an odd weapon. She smiled at the flimsy little tool that he thought was going to take someone as powerful as her. She watched as he attempted to take a stab at her, but the demon managed to block the shot with ease. Abbadon roughly disarmed him as she bent his arm behind his back, pulling him uncomfortably close to her body with his back pressed against her chest. She made the situation worse by hovering her lips over his ear.

“I missed you. Did you miss me?” She whispered to him. Dean wasn’t given a chance to give a snarky response from the way Abaddon was bending his arm to the point where all it would take was one wrong move and she’d snap it. She pushed him forward and down to his knees, his one arm still painfully in her grasp as the other was wrapped around her wrist. There was no way Dean was going to get out of this one, at least, not without Abaddon's permission. "So appreciate Y/N and you boys coming when I call. I think that's what I like most about you Winchesters.” The demon used her free hand to run her hand through Dean’s hair, enjoying the sight of such a handsome face. She smiled when he felt his body stiffen under her touch. She grabbed a fistful of the short locks, forcing his neck back slightly. “You’re so obedient. And suicidally stupid. I like that, too.” 

“Are we gonna fight or make out?” Dean asked the demon, wondering where all of this talking was going to lead them. “Cause I’m getting some real mixed signals here.” 

“I want Crowley—or what’s left of him.” Abaddon said, giving her reasons to the hunter. 

“Yeah?” Dean wondered if that’s all it really was. He flinched when she tugged on his hair, forcing him to look up at her with a tilted neck. “What’s in it for me?”

“I let you die.” Abaddon said. The demon thought her persuasive offer would be something Dean would be very much interested in than deal with the consequences if he didn’t cooperate. “You give me Crowley’s head, and I will snap your neck quick and clean.” 

“And if I tell you to get bent?” Dean asked. 

“Well…” The demon’s gaze fell away from Dean’s face and to his body, her lips stretched farther into a smile at the sight of a familiar tattoo on his chest. An idea crossed the woman’s mind that seemed like a perfect act of revenge against the man if he didn’t do what she said. “You know, I’ve loved this body since the moment I first saw it.” 

Dean grabbed the demon’s wrist when he felt her grab a fistful of his jacket and shirt, bunching up the fabric as she yanked it aside to reveal the one thing stopping her from using his body like a puppet. She smiled at his attempts at fighting back. The man was no match against her. “You’re the perfect vessel, Dean. You give a girl all sorts of nasty ideas. Y/N is a very lucky woman, being able to enjoy this body all to herself.” Abbadon eyed him up like a piece of meat she was ready to devour. “So go ahead, and play hard to get, and I’ll peel off this ‘No demons allowed’ tattoo and blow smoke up your ass.”

“Oh...well, I got to tell you, between you and me, it’s a horror show up there.” Dean warned the demon if she chose to be stupid enough to try and ride around in his skin. The demon merely chuckled at the man’s silly little thoughts that were nothing more than foreplay compared to what she could cook up in a mere afternoon. 

“It can get worse. Trust me. Have you ever felt the pure joy of ripping a fetus straight out of a mother's womb? I was gonna do that to your little girlfriend when I went to the church. Just like how I did to Henry. Remember that? Of course you do. Maybe I’ll make you do it. I’ll use your body any way I please.” Abaddon chuckled darkly when she saw the look that crossed Dean’s face from her own threat. It was so easy to get humans riled up when you went straight for the people they loved. “Let me ask you, Dean. Have you ever felt the blood of an infant drip down your chin? Or listen to a girl scream as you rip her guts out?”

Abaddon forcefully grabbed the man by his face, digging the nail of her index finger into his skin as her thumb rested against his chin. “Because you will.” The demon promised him the torture ahead for him. “You and me lover, and we’ll have a grand old time. Because if there’s anything I can keep, it’s a promise. And I promise I’m gonna kill everyone you love with your own bare hands.”

+ + +

There was only so much two hunters could do when they were up against three demons. A fight like this wouldn't have been a problem if you were on your feet and gave Sam a proper warning to take them down when he had the chance. All you could do was regret your slow response as you were dragged back up to your feet by the demon who was crushing your hand with his boot. You tried to put up a proper fight, you really did. But there were only so many times you could handle your head being smashed against the wall before your vision grew blurry. After the demon was done with you for the meantime, he tossed your body across the room like you were a rag doll. A set of chairs broke your fall after you hit the table and went sliding to the ground. 

Sam was struggling to hold his own after he was somehow overpowered by the two demons that chose to pick a fight with him as you went up against the other. If given a proper chance, he could have taken them both down, but he realized that the fight was rigged not in his favor when he heard the sound of crashing. And it wasn't the demon you were going up against when someone decided to join in. Things were starting to look grim as the younger Winchester kept on trying to take them down. If he could find the knife after he dropped it, maybe he could take one or two down before going after the other. One of them demons roughly threw him across the counter and watched as he fell to the floor like a ton of bricks, laughing at how easy this was going to be.

In the moment all Sam could think about was trying to survive and use the knife that he lost on the three demons and not let them use it on him. He didn't realize that you were back up on your feet after being knocked out cold. It seemed your awakening caused the demons' attention to shift away from the younger Winchester. They were soon going to realize who they were staring at wasn't you, but something else. Sam didn't forget there was someone else hitching a ride in your skin. A silent passenger who was healing your internal wounds and organs back to normal. The angel hadn't made a peep or broken his problems about doing what needed to be done. But it seemed that Ezekial had come out just in time, as if he knew the both of you needed a lending hand.

Sam quickly lowered himself to the ground when he saw your eyes starting to glow a bright blue, as if the angel was warning him for what was about to be done. He heard a warning about covering his eyes before the room was lit into a blinding white light. The ground beneath his feet began to violently shake from whatever the angel was doing. Whatever he had done, it stopped quickly as it started. When Sam noticed the ringing in his ears stopped and his vision grew black, he noticed things had calmed down. He outstretched his hand and placed it on the counter, using it to push himself up to his feet to inspect the damage Ezekiel had inflicted. 

The younger Winchester looked to see that Ezekiel was standing over the dead body of the demon who was ready to kill him with the same knife the angel was using to slit the monster’s throat. Sam wondered why Ezekie was doing that when the demon was already dead. But then he realized, the angel was covering his tracks. He was making it look like one of you had done this. Sam made his way from behind the counter and watched as Ezekiel continued to work on the last body, finishing up right as his brother rushed in to see what the commotion was all about after witnessing only a glimpse from the outside.

"Thanks for the heads up." Sam spoke up, his tone of voice made him sound the least bit thankful for the rescue. And he wasn’t. He still wasn't sure how he felt the angel possessing you. You were tricked into having another partner walking in your skin, healing you up. He knew now was not the time to strike up the argument about his disagreement with the plan. 

"They were going to kill you and Y/N." The angel must have felt Sam's lingering stare, the frustration from the unexpected jump in appearance after being quiet for the past few days. Ezekiel turned his head to give the man a blank, almost unreadable expression. 

"Ezekiel?" Dean sounded surprised to see the angel was the one who was still out and about, cleaning up the mess that he had made so it wouldn't cause any suspicion for when you woke up. The older Winchester turned his head to see that his brother was okay. A little pissed off, but same from harm. "The hell did you do?"

"We had it under control." Sam said.

"If I didn't intervene when I did, you would be dead right. And so would Y/N. I was protecting your friend." Ezekial said. Sam knew the angel was right about that. But he wouldn’t admit to it. The silence that followed told the angel he wasn't going to be thanked for the rescue. He didn't understand the younger man's hostility towards him, he was merely doing what was promised. "I thought that was what the both of you wanted."

"Right, yeah, no." Dean mumbled out a response to the angel, his mind racing too fast for him to comprehend the situation he was in right now. For a split second he thought he was still talking to you. It looked like you, sounded like you. But the person standing in front of him was an angel who promised to help. Ezekiel hadn't made such a peep since he hitched a ride in your body a few days ago. Seeing him out and about took Dean a moment to comprehend. "I-I...sorry, I'm just still getting used to this whole thing." 

“As am I.” The angel agreed with the complexity of the situation. 

"Is she gonna be okay, at least?" Sam asked the angel in a concerned tone of voice. if anything, your well being was the one thing he cared most about. "Y/N. Is she gonna be okay?"

"She was knocked unconscious. In a way, she still is." Ezekiel said. "Y/N will not remember any of this." 

"So what the hell am I supposed to tell her when she comes to?" Dean questioned the angel.

Dean was no stranger to a situation like this; two souls sharing a body with one not knowing the other was there. It happened too many times with you. The memory loss, the questions. He didn't want to deal with the complications like he had to when you were still a half demon. When you found out about that, the fall out caused damage in a monsterous way. But this...this was worse than any of that somehow. Not only would he lose your trust you would most likely never forgive him. Maybe you would never be able to look at him in the eye. And when you did, all you could think of was that he was a selfish man. Choosing your life over another. "Selfish little bastard. That's what you are. You should've let me die...you should've let me be at peace." 

"That's why I used the knife." Ezekiel's voice broke the man out of his personal thoughts. Dean looked down to see the demon knife in the angel's outstretched hand. 

"Right." Dean muttered, grabbing the knife by the handle and dropped his arm back down to his side. "Smart." 

Ezekial noticed the shift in Dean's voice first before his expression began to change. Despite talking to him, Dean couldn't look at him directly in the eye for very long. He slowly turned around so his back was facing him. Dean must have felt as if he wasn't speaking to an angel, but you. He was lying to your face without having talked to you directly. "You are troubled, still." 

"Yeah, it's that, uh...this is on me. I was the one who talked Y/N out of boarding up Hell. Okay? And I know what would've happened if I let her. All of this is my fault. I should've been there. It should've been me who did those trials. Not her. Not Sammy." Dean admitted his guilt for the entire situation that affected them here. He looked over at his brother, as if he was silently wanting to let him know not to carry this burden. All of this fell on his shoulders. If he had been quicker, if he said no to Cas maybe all of this would have turned out differently. But it didn't. "So every demon deal, every kill they make...well, you're looking at the person who let it happen."

“Dean, come on.” Sam suddenly spoke up after hearing the nonsense that was coming out of his brother's mouth. “It’s not your fault.” 

"You were protecting Y/N. I am in her head. Everything she knows, I know. And I know what you did, you did out of love." Ezekiel said. The words weren't reassuring enough to help ease the older Winchester's worried mind. "You two are soulmates, correct? Dean slowly nodded his head, wondering why it suddenly mattered. The angel's lips stretched into a smile. "It's a love not many humans will experience in their lifetime. But it doesn't always show in romantic forms. I believe it can be palontic as well. The three of you have a strong bond. Unbreakable. She can feel it." 

"Yeah, uh, look, Zeke—and I'm gonna call you Zeke—we're not really with the whole love, and...love." Dean was starting to feel a little awkward from how this conversation was shifting into sharing their feelings. He did it for almost no one. He barely let his brother in sometimes. The only person who could see him at worst, the most vulnerable was you. He always had a soft spot for you. He was the only one who told you that he loved you. Three little words with such heavy meaning. And yet they felt too hard to say these days when the both of you needed to hear it the most. 

"But it is why I said yes." Ezekiel said. 

"Yeah, and if that goes sideways, that's on me, too." Dean said, shifting the blame on himself for a situation that hasn’t even arisen yet. 

"That's not going to happen." The angel reassured them both. 

Ezekiel's kind words didn't help the older Winchester's racing mind. Dean let out a chuckle from the situation he was in. "This is nuts. I mean, you're Y/N, but you're not Y/N, and normally she's the one I'm talking to about all this stuff. You think I would be used to talking to someone else in her skin." Dean muttered the last remark to himself, his lips stretching into a weak smile at how this situation was spiraling. "Sam and I are trusting you, Zeke. I just gotta hope you're one of the good guys." 

"I am." Ezekiel promised both of the Winchesters that he wasn't like his siblings. However the angel was quick to realize how the human mind worked. Sometimes a worded promise didn't come with reassurance that they meant what they spoke. They were complicated creatures, their words were flimsy. They could mean so much to a person, and yet so little. "But I suppose that is what a bad guy would say. Sam and Dean Winchester, you are doing the right thing.”

The brothers slowly looked away from the angel, finding their gaze reached to each other.  Ezekiel’s words were full of reassurance and hopefulness that everything was going to be okay in the end of all of this. Much as things seemed like it could be, but nothing was going to make the guilt that came as a heavy weight on their chest loosen up even the slightest. If anything, the words made it feel worse. Both of them stared at one another with the same defeated, almost pained expression. If this was the right thing, the only good thing they could have done to save you...then why did it feel so wrong?

+ + +

You didn’t come back around right away. The boys kept themselves busy while your body remained where it was on the floor, making it appear as if things were left as you last remembered them. Dean dropped the last of the supplies into the duffel bag as you slowly made it back into consciousness. You weren’t sure what was going on right away, feeling the coldness against your bruised cheek made you piece together that you were on the floor. How you got here was still a blur. You shifted around slightly as you tried to sit up, but the sudden jolt of pain reminded you that you weren’t willingly put here. A demon had thrown you across the room...

The sound of someone speaking your name made you jump slightly in the noise you weren’t expecting, your mind tricking you into thinking it was a demon trying to go another round with you. When you looked up to see that it was just the boys, Dean holding the bloody knife that you remembered his brother lost in the fight you had gotten into, you were confused as to what was going on. You looked around the diner from where you were to see that it was just the three of you. 

“Guys?” You winced as you slowly pushed yourself up into a sitting position, wiping your hands clean from the dirt you accidentally touched. You noticed the bodies of the demons you had tried going up against, now lying on the ground dead. You furrowed your brow slightly in confusion and looked up at the brothers. “What the hell happened?” 

“You took a shot to the head, Sammy was pinned up against three demons. I came in and saved your asses, like usual.” Dean gave you a recap on what you missed out on. 

“You killed three demons?” You asked him. “Alone?”

“I took them by surprise while Sam distracted them.” Dean slapped a hand on his brother’s back and cracked a smile at the fake story he was making up on the spot. To you, it sounded like the truth. He slipped the clean knife back into the inside pocket for safe keeping. “Got a little messy. I got a little lucky. Oh, and uh…” He outstretched for you to take and pulled you back up to your feet like you weighed nothing. “I’m awesome, so there’s that.”  

“Geez. Yeah. You are pretty damn awesome. Nice work.” Your eyes wandered around the three dead bodies that were led to believe were killed by Dean. A smirk spread across your lips as you looked over at the younger Winchester. “You did good, too, Sasquatch.” 

Sam couldn't help himself but smile at hearing the nickname for the first time in what felt like forever. The conversation was monentaly paused when you heard what sounded like the Impala's engine coming your way. You and the boys headed out to see Tracy was coming your way, she parked the car out front and got out to greet all of you. You felt a little easier knowing she was at least safe from the harm. 

“Hey. You okay?” You asked her, expecting a snarky response in return. 

“Yeah.” She said. “What about you two?” 

You shrugged your shoulders, “More or less, yeah.” 

“Good.” Tracy took you by surprise when she sounded rather happy to hear. She must've noticed your slightly skeptical look at her change in behavior. She tossed the keys to Dean and made her way to the backseat. "I got everything. But guess I'm late to the party."

“Lucky you. Let’s blow this toxic waste dump.” Dean said. All of you took your respectful places and got comfortable for the long drive ahead of you. "Burgers and silkwood showers on me." 

You smiled at the thought of eating something and washing away the possible containimentation you were subjected to. You might not have been able to take down Abaddon easily as how you wanted, and not to mention how Irv was killed. But you had to take your wins where you got them. You and the boys made it out in one piece, ready to see another day.

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[themoonandotherslikeit]

The Daughter of a Righteous Man- Chapter 28

*SEQUEL TO THE LOOK IN HER EYES*

After her husband is drug to Hell, Ava Winchester and her brother in law Sam try their best to do right by Dean and raise her daughter, only to find that good intentions aren’t always enough. Loving someone isnt always enough.

Chapter Twenty-Eight, When the World Burns

Dean

About 3 years later

"You really think that an underground bunker is a good place to raise a kid?" I asked, holding Nel in my arms as she pulled on my ears. She was bored. People say it's the terrible twos, fuck no. Try the terrible every year. Maybe it was because she was a Winchester kid, but she got bored running in circles. She’s got that stir crazy gene.

"I don't know where could possibly be safer than this," Sam said, with his arms crossed.

"It is greatly warded," Castiel agreed. "You had to remove a lot just to let me in."

"Yeah, but I want her to have a normal life."

"I don't know if we can while we're still in the life," Sam said gently. "You ready to give up hunting?"

"If there are," I glanced at Nel. "M-O-N-S-T-E-R-S out there I'll be in the life. Gotta make the world safer for my princess." I bounced her in my arms and she fell into a laughing fit. "Want to check it out, monkey?" I asked her.

"I no monkey,” she complained, patting my shoulder to instruct me to let her down.

I nodded. "Of course." I sat her down and her chubby legs pattered around the kitchen of the bunker. "It's going to be a bitch baby proofing this place."

"Bitch bitch bitch," Nel sang.

"Crap," I sighed. I needed to be better.

Those were the moments I missed Ava the most. When I felt like a failure. She would never make those simple mistakes. If she was here, Nel's first word would've been mama like it was supposed to be, instead of glock. How'd I fuck up so bad?

"Dabby,” she said, tugging on my pant leg. "Up."

I smiled at her and picked her up. I pressed a kiss to her nose. "What do you think?"

"I love it,” she said as clear as day, her blue green eyes glowing.

"You heard it, boys. Unpack. We will figure out how to make it normal for her after we get some pizza."

"Pizza pizza!" Nel sang, kicking her legs.

Every night Nel slept in the crook of my arm, her little face against the curve of my neck. I could feel her warm breath on my throat. She would wake up every few hours to place sweet kisses on my skin, and I'd pull her even closer.

Our life wasn't logical. The Impala was never meant for a car seat, but somehow I found Baby a lot sexier knowing my girl was protected. We'd lived in the bunker for a few weeks and gotten Nel into day care. It was particularly difficult, but considering that Cas had his wings, it was pretty easy for him to poof and pick her up at closing time.

I was pretty confident that the women thought we were an item, but I didn't really care. My days of women ended when Ava died. I was a father, a brother, a hunter, and a friend. That was it. I only had room for one girl in my life, and she was more than a handful.

Ella

About Sixteen years later

"What the fuck is that?" Dad asked, looking up from his beer. His eyes landed on the purring lump in my arms. His eyes are wide and his eyebrows raised. He kept blinking as if he expected her to disappear at a moments notice.

"Her name is Clementine," I said flatly, holding the hairless kitten in my arms.

"I said what is that. Not who."

"She is a Spynx, Dad."

"Who let you... why do you...?"

Jack walked into the room lazily, probably to get a glass of chocolate milk, or to make sure the ice cube trays are full. He's always very concerned about that. "Dean! I see you have met Clementine."

"Are you a part of this?" Dad asked Jack, standing up from his seated position.

Jack smiled widely, looking insanely proud of himself. "We cannot have a cat because you are allergic, but I read that you won't be affected by Clementine, and Ellie has been so sad lately. I thought she could use a friend."

Dads expression softened a bit, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So you got her a hairless cat."

"Yup," I said blankly, scratching under her chin. Clem grabbed my hand in her paw and licked my palm. "But you won't be around much longer, so what do you care?"

Castiel came from his room, bursting into the kitchen with a large, toothy grin. "Good news."

"Found a lead?" Dad asked desperately, clasping his hands together.

"No, but I did learn how to knit a sweater for Clementine,” Cas said, holding up the roughly knitted purple sweater. There weren't enough holes for all her limbs, but it was the thought that counts.

"Aww, Cas! Thanks. Do you love it, Clem?" I asked her, as Castiel brought over the sweater for her to sniff.

"It looks like a raw chicken. Why does it need a sweater?" Dad complained. "Am I being punked? Is Sammy in on it too?"

"Who do you think picked the name?" I countered, eyeing him.

"The fuck is happening?"

"Jack wants me to be happy. You know, that's what family does." I blinked at him blankly. I knew just how to get on his bad side, so when Jack pressed on what I wanted for my birthday I planted the seeds for a cat.

Nothing could've prepared me for him bringing home Clementine, though. Her big blue eyes and loud purr were growing on me.

"I get that you're mad but this. Eleanor this is just now how we do things. You can't just bring animals into the bunker."

"My other two dads said it was fine. You did say they'd be taking over the parenting when you were in the middle of the ocean, right?"

Cas lowered the sweater he knitted sadly. I was being cruel, I recognized that, but obviously crying didn't work. I needed to make my way down the list of ways to guilt him.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Dad asked, low.

"I supposed. Jackie want to take Clementine?"

"Do I?" He grinned widely, opening his arms. I lifted Clem into his arms and she nuzzled him. "Hello, Clementine. I am your brother, Jack. You are a cat, and I'm half angel, but we are both Winchesters! Family is very important here..." He started rattling off as Cas lead him out of the room.

Dad crossed his arms. "What's this about, kid?"

"You really have to ask that?"

"You don't throw fits."

"Trying something new."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Michael must've been yelling again. Suddenly I felt guilty. He was trying to do what was right, like what he always did.

"No one said having a teenager would be easy, but fuck you're making it hard right now."

"Well being your daughter isn't exactly easy either, Dean."

His eyes narrowed. "Come on, kid."

"What? You can use my name and I can't use yours? You can demote yourself to less than Cas and Sam and then you're mad when I use your name? I use theirs."

"That isn't the point! El you know why I'm doing this. It isn't all about you! Stop being selfish."

"Selfish?" I bit my lip hard to stop myself from screaming. Blood pooled in my mouth, before I swallowed hard. "That's fucking rich."

We were in a stare off, which stubborn Winchester would bend first. He had years on me, but I had a rage inside of me that was untapped until this point.

"I don't deserve you to talk to me that way."

"I don't deserve to lose another parent," I said blinking away angry tears. "Why does it always have to be us?"

I slept in the bed with him until I was thirteen. He wasn't home that often then, and I used to wake up screaming, afraid that I would lose him, that he wouldn't come home. So when he was here I was attached to him like glue. I slept right next to him, checking on him every few hours to make sure he was still breathing. He was so much more than a father to me. He was my fucking world. My best friend. I turned away from him.

"El,” he whispered touching my shoulder.

"You've made up your mind. I get it, but I do not have to be happy about it. I do not have to accept it. You're just going to have to get used to it," I said, shrugging him off. I held my breath to keep my sobs at bay as I stormed out of the kitchen, and outside into the afternoon air.

Dean

Present

"Dean," Castiel said, standing next to Ava and my bed.

"The fuck, Cas?"

"We need to talk."

"I'm kind of busy," I said, gesturing to my sleeping wife."

"It's important."

"Fine," I said standing up. I felt weird and I looked down at Ava. She hadn't moved an inch. "What's happening?"

"You're dreaming."

"Right," I sighed. "You just invading my head now?"

"I have a message from heaven."

"What's that?" I crossed my arms.

"Lilith is on the last seal. The one that only the first demon can break. You have to stop her, Dean. You are our only hope. Kill Lilith, or Satan will rise."

"And what about Sam? Is he really the answer?"

"Consuming the amount of blood it would take to kill Lilith would change your brother forever. Most likely, he would become the next creature that you would feel compelled to kill. There's no reason this would have to come to pass, Dean," Cas said gently. "We believe it's you, Dean, not your brother. The only question for us is whether you're willing to accept it. Stand up and accept your role. You are the one who will stop it."

I looked back at Ava. She'd be fucking pissed, but it was Sam. It's always Sam. "If I do this, Sammy doesn't have to?"

"If it gives you comfort to see it that way."

"God, you're a dick these days." I shook my head.

I stared at Cas. Something felt off, but maybe it was Sammy in the hole and the fact that I was dreaming. The morning wood I was sporting, also didn't help.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Fine, I'm in."

"You give yourself over wholly to the service of God and his angels?"

I shrug. "Yeah, exactly."

"Say it."

I raised an eyebrow. "I give myself over wholly to serve God and you guys."

"You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?" It weirdly felt like a cult marriage ceremony, but I shrugged again and answered.

"Yes, I swear. Now what?"

"Now you wait, and we call on you when it's time." He looked at me seriously. "You are heavens only hope. We will call on you soon, and you must come."

"Yeah, whatever man. If it stops the world from burning up I'm in, but you know humans do need sleep," I complained as Cas disappeared in front of me in a snap.

I blinked my eyes. My phone was going off on the bedside table. I rubbed my eyes and answered it, feeling Ava stir at my side.

"Dean!" Bobby said urgently. "Shit, son, he's gone."

"What?"

"Sam escaped."

"Escaped?" I shot right up in bed.

Ava looked at me, her eyes wide.

"How the fuck did he do that?"

"Bunch of broken devils traps. Fuck," Bobby grumbled.

"Ruby," I groaned. "How'd she even get through the door?"

"Maybe she's got mojo?"

"Well, I hope it's Ruby."

"Why?"

"She's next on my kill list. I'll be over soon," I hissed, hanging up the phone.

"Sam?" Ava asked weakly.

"Yup. Guess his dealer busted him out of the demon-proof slammer. Pretty annoying."

"You think you can find him?"

"I know that kid better than anyone. I can find him," I sighed. "Cas came to me when I was sleeping, Ave. They're on the last seal. We have to kill Lilith. It's now or never." I took her hand. "Cas said I'm the key. Sammy doesn't have to take down Lilith, and the apocalypse. Heaven thinks I can do it."

"You believe them?"

I met her eyes. "I don't think I have any other choice."

Ava squeezed my hand. "In that case, I'll put on my good bra." She smiled at me, trying to calm me down, but all it did was make my stomach hurt.

Shit was about to burn, and I wasn't sure if we had our fire extinguisher close.

We went back to Bobby's after thanking Lacey for the millionth time for watching Nel. I was starting to think we owed her a vacation, or at least a really expensive scotch.

"Two cars reported stolen since Sams big escape," Ava said, leaned over her laptop. Perks of being married to a detective. Even though I wasn't sure how she still had a job. "Old Gold Mercury Sable, 1994, or a white Escalade only a few years old with custom rims. It's got a spot light on it for sure."

"Sam would never take that," Bobby said.

I stood up with a grin. "And that's exactly what he did. He doesn't want to be found, so it's Opposite Day."

"Looks like the last ping of a cell tower was here," Ava said pointing to the map. "Now the phone is disconnected."

"Well that's a start," I sighed. "He's gonna be at a nice place. Flashy. You start callin hotels around there." I pulled out a pen and scribbled down some names. "Here's Sams aliases. Ask for anyone in the honeymoon suite. Trust me."

"You got it," Ava said with a nod. She pulled out her phone and stared to dial the first number on the list, and I walked to the counter for a coffee. The nights and days were blending together. It was getting hard to tell the difference. I had no clue what day it was.

Bobby walked to me and picked up his flask. "So correct me if I'm wrong, but you willingly signed up to be the angels' bitch?"

I glanced at Ava then back to Bobby. "My wife sell me out?"

"She's worried bout ya, kid. After everything you said about them, now you trust them?"

I sighed and took the flask from Bobby taking a swig. "Come on, give me a little credit, Bobby. I've never trusted them less. I mean, they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan."

"Then why in the hell did you..." He hissed.

"Because what other option do I have? It's either trust the angels or let Sammy trust a demon?"

He sighed. "I see your point."

"I think I found him." Ava looked up at us. She turned the laptop to us and she pointed to the reservation.

"Yahtzee. Good job, babe. Guess we are headed out."

"Son," Bobby said, taking my shoulder in his hand. "Just remember, you're there to bring him home. Be gentle with him."

"Yeah, Bobby we know," I said weakly.

Ava took my hand and we headed out to the Impala.

Ava sat crisscrossed in the passenger seat next to me. "You're worried," I commented, eyeing her. "You don't think I should work with Cas?"

"I don't know what I think,” she admitted. "I'm just worried. I feel like you're going to disappear, fall through my fingers. I just got you back."

I reached toward her, and put my hand on the back of her neck. I squeezed gently. "You cut your hair. Sorry I never mentioned."

"I just didn't feel like me anymore. I looked in the mirror... my body was misshapen, and my heart was broken. I needed a change."

"There's nothing misshapen about you, Ave. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Yeah you look different, but there's nothing sexier to me than knowing that you brought my daughter into the world."

She smiled at me and snuggled closer, unsnapping her seatbelt. She rested her head on my shoulder. "We deserve a vacation after this. Just the three of us."

"I second that," I said, kissing her forehead. "Once this is all over we can finally rest."

I hoped with everything in me that I wasn't lying to her as I focused my gaze back up to the road ahead of us. The road to the fucking end of the world.

—————

Chapter Twenty-Nine, The Moon Who Will Save the World

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[crashdevlin]

Good Things: Part 2

part one 

You were lucky, when the demon started making its way through the wake, to be wearing a silver anti-possession amulet. Elvis, Alicia and Jody weren't so lucky. 

At one point, you were searching the manor with Mary, the stunningly beautiful and young mother Winchester. "I saw how Dean was looking at you. His father used to look at me like that." She said, quietly, not looking at you. She concentrated on clearing the room.

"Oh?" You couldn't think of anything better to say.

"I rejected John when he first asked me out. He was a Marine. I didn't want a soldier. Spent my whole life around hunters, didn't need more of the macho BS in my world." Mary finally turned to look at you. "Dean looks at you like he's trying to figure out how to win you over."

You cleared your throat. "I... don't... Dean has a reputation." You weren't sure why that was what came out of your mouth.

"I've heard." She confirmed.

"And I'd've been fine with that rep, but he was talking about some chick he had a connection with and I'm not the kind of chick guys like Dean cheat on their girlfriends with... I mean... I can't... Look at me."

"He doesn't have a girlfriend." Mary put her hand on your shoulder. "You should talk to him when this is over."

You did. After the exorcism, as you were watching Asa, Randy and Elvis being sent home in smoke, you bit your lip and approached him. "Thought I should actually say 'Goodbye' this-"

"You should come to breakfast with us." He interrupted. "We're takin' Mom to get some bacon. What do you say?"

You smiled. "Well, does this look like a body that says 'no' to bacon?"

You sat between Sam and Jody in a diner booth in North Dakota. Dean sat across from you, sharing a large plate of bacon with Mary. "Okay, craziest thing you've ever hunted?" Dean asked.

"Uh, probably the transsexual witch who cursed her community college to wake up in the body of someone of the opposite sex so they'd understand how she felt." You answered, before taking a bite of pancake.

"When you say 'she'..." Sam trailed off. It was a genuinely curious question.

"Born 'Michael', became 'Michelle'."

"What'd you do with her?" Mary asked, drinking down some coffee.

"Well, she hadn't actually hurt anyone, just confused the fuck out of 'em for about 16 hours, and she did it out of an overwhelming desire to be understood, so I put her in contact with a Wiccan priestess I know. Last I heard, she was flourishing in her new coven, really embraced the 'Harm ye none' thing."

"Wicca is new agey white-" Dean started to explain, but Mary shot him a death glare.

"Gardnerian witchcraft has been around since the Fifties, Dean. 'Wicca' replaced 'Witch' because the hippies wanted to beat the negative connotations, wanted everyone to know they weren't wart-covered crones in candy houses trying to curse everyone and eat little children."

"Oh, we met her." Sam spoke up.

"Who?" You and Jody chimed in together.

"The witch from 'Hansel and Gretel'. She was turning crappy adults into shitty kids so that she could eat them. Hansel was in on it."

You looked between the brothers. "You're bullshitting."

"Swear to God. She was one of the last old-timey witches from the Grand Coven. Probably only a small handful of 'em left. Rowena doesn't count." Dean answered Sam's unasked question.

"Who's Rowena?"

"A tiny Scottish ball of fury and dark magic. Not really evil, but definitely not one of the good guys." Dean responded.

"She got kicked out of the Grand Coven for being too ambitious." Sam followed up.

"Not to mention: you know Crowley? That's his mom."

"Crowley, the demon?" You asked.

"Crowley, the douchebag." Jody snorted derisively.

You laughed. "Okay. Somebody else, weirdest hunt you ever been on?"

"There was a Shifter who spent a year following Paul Simon's tour. He was killing people who had tickets to the shows so he could take their spot." Mary said, around a piece of bacon.

"Being the reason Bobby Singer found out Leviathans are allergic to borax was pretty weird." Jody provided.

"What's a Leviathan?"

"They almost ate the world, what, five years ago?" Sam asked Dean, who nodded. "They were seriously low-key about it, though. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them."

"You sound like a hipster." You laughed. "So, what about you two? The legendary Winchester Brothers must have been on some ridiculous hunts."

"Oh, all kinds. Let's see, top of my head. Bloody Mary, killer clown ghost, haunted movie set where I got really into my role as PA, we killed Santa, the angels once wiped our memories and gave us new identities working office jobs. There was that time with the dragons. Oh, and when we went back in time and met Samuel Colt and killed a phoenix." Dean went through the list alternating between excitement and boredom.

"Not to forget everything Gabriel did to us. That was all ridiculous. Oh, and that alternate universe Balthazar sent us to where our lives were a moderately successful primetime TV show." Sam added.

"And Chuck's books about us."

"And finding out that Chuck was God."

"And not dying in the dust-up between God and his sister." Dean turned to Mary with a smile. "And getting Mom back as reward for mediating a reconciliation between them."

You stared at the table, going through everything you just heard. "Holy shit." You gasped out, finally. "I... I knew you guys started and stopped the apocalypse a few times, but... holy shit. Back and forth through time, alternate realities, you know God and he has a sister?!"

"You should stick around. We're bound to blow your mind some more. Crowley and our angel friend, Cas, are working together to find Lucifer, who was most recently seen in the body of has-been glam rocker, Vince Vincente."

"Oh, holy... Lucifer was in Ladyheart."

"No, Lucifer was in a dude who was in Ladyheart." Dean corrected.

"Wow. Your lives really are legendary."

"Well, you never know. Stick around. It might rub off on you. Then, you could be a legend." Jody nudged you, lightly, as Mary looked down with a smile. The moms were conspiring together.

"Yeah, well... I'm not sure if I could handle that."

"You don't know til you try, do you?" Dean smirked at you from across the table.

You took a deep breath. You had one more tool in your tool-bag to try to fend off whatever the hell was happening here: blunt, honest confrontation. "You are putting in a lot of effort here to get your 'I Fucked A Fatty' badge, aren't'cha?"

Everyone at the table jerked and the mood immediately fell into a limbo of apprehension as Dean blinked at you. "What?" He said after several long seconds.

"Oh, come on. This is obviously some Playboy Scavenger Hunt, right? Your list of conquests, a 'Fuck-it List'?" You took a bite of your pancake and looked pointedly across the table at him. "I'm a novelty, right? Bang a black chick, bang a latina, a milf, a mature... twins?"

Dean nodded, slowly, and licked his lips. "You think I've been flirting with you, trying to get you in bed, so that I can cross 'fat chick' off my list? Just makin' sure I got this right." You took a drink of your coffee and returned his uncomfortable gaze. He nodded again, then leaned forward. "When I was twenty-three, I met a chick named Ursula Green at a bar. She was five-foot-nothing, three hundred pounds, wearing a red halter top and a skirt with a split in the side clean up to her hip. She danced like no one was watching and threw a beer bottle at the redneck who told her to 'take her fat ass home' and I grabbed two nice big handfuls of her ass when I took her back to her home that night."

You swallowed. His green eyes bored into your soul as he continued. "She crossed 'fat chick' off my list." The way he said it was like he couldn't believe he was saying those words. "Now, I don't know what you've heard about me and I'm sure that I've earned a bit of that reputation... but I am not gonna sit here and let you think that I've been talkin' to you just because you're a little on the chunky side and that makes you a novelty. I don't know what kinda men you generally let into your life, y/n, but I don't play games like that."

You opened your mouth but no words came out. The other three occupants of the booth table all looked very uncomfortable, so you cleared your throat and stood. You threw a ten dollar bill on the table and walked out of the diner. 

"Where the hell are you going?"

"I'm going home, Dean." You grabbed the handle of your driver's side door and pulled your key.

"Yeah, I got eyes, y/n." He growled, putting a hand on your car door to keep you from opening it. "Why?"

You turned to him, exasperated. "Because I don't know what to do!" You shouted, pulling away from your door and leaned against the backseat window. 

"I've never had a man want me for anything more than a single-night novelty fuck, or worse a pity fuck, Dean, and I don't know what to do about a man like you wanting-"

"What do you mean, 'a man like me'?" Dean interrupted.

"A preposterously handsome biblical hero who shouldn't even look at a woman like me."

"What do you mean 'a woman like you'?" Dean shook his head. "Look, y/n, more than what I saw from you last year and-and what I saw from you with Jael last night, I have asked about you. Every hunter I've talked to since Spirit Lake has a story about you, some way that you've helped them in the past." You opened your mouth to argue that you weren't anything special and you'd always just done what any hunter would do, but Dean stepped closer to you and you were suddenly struck with how tall the man was. "You think outside the box, you put others first, you are the epitome of selfless and goddamn it, you're gorgeous."

You looked down. "That's not true..."

"Stop acting like you don't see it." Dean demanded.

For some reason you needed to resist him. "See what? I've got mirrors in my house, Winchester. I see-"

"You obviously don't see. You don't see what I see."

"Are you kidding me?! You really expect me to believe that you met me, spent two days with me, and I-I somehow impressed you enough that you've spent the last year with me on your mind? I'm not an idiot!"

"Yeah, not an idiot but you sure are blind." Dean took another step closer to you, looking down at you with a confused annoyance. "Fuck, y/n. Why the hell won't you-"

"Because it's too good to be true!" You exclaimed, pushing off from the side of your car and standing up to him, ignoring that his height was so intimidating. 

"Good things don't happen to me, Dean, they never have. So when I have a stunningly handsome man telling me I'm gorgeous, it sets off my bullshit alarm."

"Good things don't happen to you because you run away as soon as they start!" Dean insisted. "You think those extra pounds around your middle are your defining characteristic, but they aren't. That weight is nothing and you need to stop focusing so much on it. I didn't even clock you as fat until you started that shit inside. This isn't bullshit, y/n. I leave my lies for when I'm on a hunt."

You bit your lip and looked up into his stunning green eyes. "Dean, I-"

His face softened. "I'm not trying to get you to jump in bed with me, y/n." He reached out and brushed a stray hair out of your face. His hand rested against your ear and his fingers twirled your hair. "But don't run. Stay. Let the good things happen... in their own time."

You pulled your phone out of your pocket and presented it to him. "Put your number in. I'll text you."

"You're still gonna leave?" He asked, disappointed, as he took a step back and took the phone out of your hand.

"I've got a hunt in Tennessee. Only reason I'm not on it already was for Asa." You answered. "But... I'm interested in... letting the good thing... this good thing... happen."

"The cautious approach. I'm all right with that." He said, tapping his thumbs against the screen of your cell phone. "I just texted myself so that I have your number, too. A warning: I drunk text." He smiled as he handed your phone back.

"Okay. As long as you don't send pictures I haven't requested... I'm okay with that."

"There gonna be pictures you do request?"

You chuckled, turning your forgotten key in the driver's door. "Maybe, Winchester."

"Can I request pictures?" He asked, as you got into your car.

"Not yet." You smiled as you turned your engine over and headed out. 

Part Three

[undeadimpulsereviews]

Onechanbara Z2 Chaos

What kind of gamer are you? Are you the type who will play whatever you please, do you not care for genres or place of origin? Maybe your a little more of a casual player. Do you only play a few genres of games? Well regardless of how you play I have one question for you. Do you know what Onechanbara is? Chances are, regardless of your gaming history, you’ve seen or heard of this series. Take me for example; before I reviewed games my preferences were vastly different. Yet I would occasionally go to my local game store, and this game always caught my eye; not because it looks interesting, but for pretty different reasons. Let me explain

Onechanbara is a long running series in of hack and slash style games. It’s a game from development studio Tamsoft; it’s a budget title that has some sort of fan-base to it. I can’t speak for Japan; it’s clear they probably like the game giving it’s long history, but yet from my experience it’s been something I can only describe as outlandish. The first ever game in the series that I saw was for the Xbox 360; I was probably getting near the end of high school around this time. Just wander into my local game store to see what games were available to me, and what do I see sitting on the shelf in front of me? Why Onechanbara of course; though it wasn’t the name that caught my eye, or any previous knowledge on the series. At this point I knew nothing about the game, or what it was about. All I had to go on was the box art in front of me, and man was it something “special”. The name of the game was Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some weird 360 games out there; however, you can’t tell me that if you saw this in the store you wouldn’t do a double take. This game was the first game we in the states had the privilege to obtain. All the other games in the series were either Japanese exclusives, or also released in Europe. So English translations did still exist; that being said the series dates back to 2004, so the time line is vast and confusing for someone like me who’s only played the latest game in the series. When I started this blog, I juggled with the idea of finally playing this game; I knew going in that this game was “interesting”. I’ve seen gameplay from a previous installment and man, was it something else. This was one of my ultimate goals; if I was going to play both the good and the bad, then this needed to be played. Now I went into this game with the same expectations as Bound by Flame; by that I mean I had no expectations. Yet bear with me when I say this, but I think that this game is better than Bound by Flame. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it’s the best thing I’ve had to review all month. Now there may be some out there baffled; “Luke how is this budget and broken title better than the last three monstrosities? Well I’ll explain, but before I get to deep into things, keep this in mind. How seriously should we view this game? Onechanbara Z2 Chaos, is a mediocre title with some pretty bad parts to it. The story is confusing and boring; this is partially due to my lack of knowledge of the series, but at the same time there are problems with it’s telling. The characters are bland and overdone caricatures of other characters from other game series. The visuals and music is odd to say the least; I think I got the best quality when it comes to this, but this takes the term budget to new lengths. Lastly the gameplay is clunky and feels weak in many areas. Even for a budget title this is really bad,but enough of all that; let’s dive into the story and see if we can get a little understanding for whatever this game is.

Onechanbara follows the story two feuding families; these families are known as the Baneful, and the Vampiric. Both families are a group of ancient demonic beings; the Baneful are those of cursed blood. They attract or react to tainted blood, for example from the undead. Two of our main characters Aya and Saki are Baneful, and they work as zombie hunters. The Vampiric are just as they sound, while not sharing all the rules of the traditional vampires they feed off blood and thrive from it like vampires would. These two families have been at each others throats for some time now and as we come to present day, both families have almost been completely wide out. The game takes place directly after the last game; Kagura and Saaya, the two Vampiric sisters, have just killed their adoptive mother with the help of the other two. Though after all was said and done, the truce between families could not stay firm; the sisters fought each other, each with the intent to kill. Yet another evil lurked in the room; a mysterious green haired women has made her appearance, and once again the girls must put their differences aside to stop this greater evil. Will the families be united under these unlikely heroes, or will this mysterious third party get her way? Only time will tell.

This synopsis only covers the starting ground work for Z2 Chaos, and the outcome of the previous title; though there are clear moments in the game where other information from other games would be necessary. For example, later in the game you meet a character named Misha; I don’t know anything about this girl, and the game doesn’t do a good job of explaining her character because it expects you to know. I know this is the latest game in the series, but the two other games in the US are the 360 game I mentioned before, and a Wii game that is a direct sequel to the 360 game. Between the Wii game and Z2 Chaos, there are three Japanese exclusive titles; sure the demographic for this game might be low here in the states due to it’s style, but if you’re going to introduce more of this series outside of Japan then you need to have some easy way for those people to get the material from previous games. Due to this, for those who might be interested in the game, the story gets really confusing. Though the biggest problem with the story is that it just feels so bland; I don’t care at all what happens to the world or it’s characters. The two families and their on going feud holds no gravity for me; I know nothing about them or why they fight. The story doesn’t develop well over time, and it feels really rush; plus the way the story is told is really odd. You get these random unannounced sequences that try to go for a sort of comic book layout. For me these moments took away from the story; I wasn’t focused on the story that was unfolding, or the plot that was trying to be explained. Instead I was distracted by everything filling the screen.

The one above isn’t as drastic, but these do get worse the more people are present. That and these happen rather sporadically, you’ll either get normal cutscenes, or these framed moments. It dawned on me what exactly Onechanbara was trying for, or at least this is the impression I got. This series is trying to do what Devil May Cry did years ago. They wanted to make a cocky cast of characters; a cast that feels slightly out of place in the world they’re placed in. There are a lot of similarities between the two games; A demonic main character (half demon in Dante’s case) taking on demonic entities that are planning to destroy the world around them. This main character is often sarcastic, and also well versed with certain weaponry. Not to mention they’re the same style of game. The only problems with Onechanbara is that the story doesn’t really reach the same gravity that Devil May Cry could reach, the characters are still vastly inferior to Dante and his crew, and the gameplay isn’t up to par. Though this is where my reasoning for my view on the game is. Just like Devil, you should never take Onechanbara seriously; I mean you’re fighting the undead as two half naked women, and their sisters. If you’re going into this expecting the next big thing then you’re in for a rude awakening. I knew this going in, so I came out with a slightly average outlook. Though everything I’ve reviewed this month up to this point have all tried to be serious in their own right. However, that seriousness is lost on me with how terrible it’s approached. Bound by Flame was attempting to be the next Dragon Age, but instead of being a serious fantasy story it comes off as just another terrible excuse for a game. While Onechanbara is trying to be something it isn’t; it still captures that random outlandish nature in it’s own way. Is the story good, or interesting no, but if there is one good thing I can say about this game, it at least knows what it’s trying to be. Does that excuse the game? Not by a long shot, and the blame doesn’t solely rest on the story. Every part of this game has something to answer for, from the story right down to the characters present.

Onechanbara’s main problems come from the fact that it doesn’t ease newcomers into it’s story. Due to this the characters are already far in their story lines so development is almost completely missing in this latest installment. The only piece of development we really get is in terms of the feud between the two families; though that’s more a story development than a character one. Both groups of sisters hardly change throughout this story, and while a tiny bit of blame falls on me for not playing all the titles available to me, most of this is due to the fact that a lot of the series in not something we can get our hands on. Though I don’t know how much the development of these characters can help them. The current personalities of these characters are really boring; instead of coming off as comical overly sarcastic characters, I leave with little to no impression of the four girls. I don’t care about what events unfold in their path, or how they overcome it. I feel no connection to these people at all, and to me they hold no weight in the overall story. I also have no idea what the motivations are for anyone in the cast; I understand that the families want to rid the world of the other, but for what reason? Also why is the green haired woman doing what she’s doing? Why do our main characters want to save a world that already seems lost? The characters raise so many question and none get answers; it’s a little aggravating, but at the same time I wasn’t expecting much. Could I have come to like these characters if I had the opportunity to play more of the series? Anything is possible, but I think my opinion would probably stay the same. This is main due to the attitude and personality, but a little of the blame can also go towards the use of visuals in this game. I told myself that this shouldn’t be taken seriously, but some wouldn’t seriousness wouldn’t hurt.

Now usually when it comes to the Onechanbara series, you’ll probably one of many that knows it for it’s odd use of visuals. The series spars no expense to push the unusual factor. Even the CD itself has it’s fair share of racy visuals.

What words can be said about this game? From the main characters, to the villains you face; the visuals are something all right. What that something is I’m a little unsure, but something. Now as I was playing the game I thought to myself; why does Onechanbara need to look like this? Why do the characters need to wear skimpy clothes as they hunt the undead. I know this is Japan we’re talking about, and sexual content is something vastly different from her in the USA, or elsewhere. Yet at no point is this ever called to attention. In all the other games I’ve played, with some degree of sexual content, all the random moments were called to attention in someway. In Onechanbara there is no reason for these people to where clothes like this. It’s not for sex appeal, and it doesn’t feel like fan service. For a game that advertises girls in bikini’s, the outfits given to the girls just feel really out of place to me. Though that aside, the visuals get weirder still. The most tame of the visuals are the scenery; each stage is a rather small area to roam around and fight in. All of them are just bland arena’s with little to nothing to them. All the random stuff comes from the character and enemy design. If you thought you’d only fight your average zombie, you’re in for quite the ride.

If you told me I’d be fighting disembodied legs on the top of a cruiser; I don’t think I’d instantly doubt you, but at the same time I don’t think I’d accept this at face value. Why stop there though, how about werewolves or dragons? Maybe some scorpion centaur thing? Just to be clear this all takes place on earth; you venture across the globe for different mission. I know demons exist, but they feel a lot more out of place here than they should be. I know this isn’t a triple A title, but when you see your character in action, or move in the slightest everything looks a blurry and it feels like frames might be running slower than intended at times. It’s not great and a lot of the game looks gross. Then there’s the music; Onechanbara has this very awkward soundtrack. I don’t know the direction Tamsoft was aiming for when making the music for this game. A lot of the tracks were these weird electronic-rock songs with a some what aggressive female vocalist accompanying it. None of the music really fits with the game play and while I remember some of the tracks, it’s not for the right reasons. Here a little taste of what the OST has.

It’s not all that great of an OST; the vocal sound really poorly recorded and the instruments don’t always go together. The one thing I can actually say about this is that I surprisingly didn’t get any sort of audio or visuals bugs throughout the game. While the gameplay wasn’t all that good, I had a rather smooth time through considering glitches and the like. They are certainly there; for me the biggest problem was the gameplay. No matter how serious the characters or story might be, the gameplay wasn’t fleshed out as well as it should have been.

When I was going into Onechanbara, I was entering into a game I thought was broken. From what experience I had with the game, from the videos I’ve seen, it had it’s fair share of problems. Terrible AI, bugs and glitches, you name it; though I didn’t really have much in the bug side of things, controlling allies and fighting enemies is where my troubles were present. A hack and slash should feel smooth to operate; they should be relatively fast when necessary, and simple to control. Onechanbara is not this; the game felt really heavy and clunky. My hits never felt like they did much, and how you do specific actions isn’t made all that clear. The AI is another problem in the game; most of the enemies will move to surround you, which is fine, however every enemy acts as if they have some sort of immunity to you. There’s no stagger to both your characters or the enemies, or at least stagger feels a little to inconsistent at times. So you don’t know if you’re doing damage, or taking it as well. Those no clear indication you’re dying until you’re basically dead either so that makes things a lot worse.

Here’s a video if watching if you’d rather see for yourself. Onechanbara has a lot of systems to it that are not all that easy to remember. Cleaning your weapon, sub weapons, tag fighting, etc. I went most of the game never cleaning my weapon because it’s so slow to do and I hardly noticed the meter. When it comes down to it, the game just feels terrible as a whole; is it playable? Sure, a lot easier and manageable than Bound by Flame, but nothing to write home about. 

Overall I’d give Onechanbara Z2 Chaos a 3 out of 10, it’s not good; however, for me it felt less aggravating to play than other games I’ve played. It didn’t really leave me with any sort of negative or positive impression of it. I felt more like I was doing homework than playing a game. It wasn’t something I particularly found enjoyable, but at the same time I wasn’t begging it to end either. It’s not good, not average, it’s definitely a bad game. Though in the end it’s all about the perception leading into it that changed my outlook on the game as a whole. The story, characters, gameplay, all of it is terrible. I don’t recommend this game to anyone, and never plan to play another in the series. I’ve had my fill.

That will do it for the reviews this month; thanks for sticking with me to the end. I’ll be posting soon what’s to come next month, but until then, go do something fun for crying out loud. We’ve had enough crap, right?

[piddies0709]

Theories/Possible Predictions on the Final Samurai Jack

Assssshhhiiiii-t!!! Too subtle? Well I guess should first say that I kinda was expecting things to  take a turn for the worst. For anyone still bitching about last weeks episode, I'll say this, it may not have been the season's strongest episode, but it still had a point to it's existence. It was meant to be a light-hearted calm before the storm, that would not only establish the turning point of Jack and Ashi's relationship, but also give them a little bit of happiness as well before everything goes to shit! God, I can't believe there are people still complaining about that episode... You've made you're point, can we just move on?

So before I get into what I think might happen in the next and final episode, let me first list a few favorite moments and what I think of the whole guardian situation.

List of some favorite moments:

-Just opens up with them still kissing. Were they doing that all night?

-Ashi finally finds some real clothes.

-Jack taking a shower. Now I know where the cake idea came from, but still, WHY?

-Ashi seeing Jack taking a shower. Come on, girl. You know he's hot.

-See he still has the mane!

-The reverse of Jack's inner mental self. Yeah, Jack's really stuck between a rock and a hard place at this point.

-Jack and Ashi catching the same thing for dinner.

-Awkward chewing scene.

-Jack telling Ashi of his home.

-Ashi asking about a girl. Did Jack forget about that girl in the field or was that just a one time thing?

-EIGHT?! He was only eight years old when it happened?! Damn...(I was eight when I started watching this show...)

-Aku dancing. Seriously, there was a cult around this guy?!

-The Guardian and the time portal being destroyed. More on that later...

-Jack not wanting anything awful to happen to Ashi.

-Jack holding Ashi's hands.

-Aku has come to FUCK everything up.

-Scaramouche is dead?! Good...

-OH SHIT! Aku really IS her Dad!!!

-So thats how it happened? Oookay...

-Why would you drink that shit? Oh wait, this is the High Priestess we're talking about.

-Oh no... here it comes.

-Most heart breaking sword fight ever.

-Aku, your an asshole...

-Oh crap...Thats gonna give me nightmares... Also, doesn't she look like the Beast from Over The Garden Wall? Maybe it's the eyes.

-Well Fuck... Though, I kinda like of the last image. It echos the art work from the original opening.

Okay so, about the guardian. I had feeling he wasn't going to be around anymore. Aku said it himself that he eradicated all the time portals and the guardian's was no acceptation. As to how, you can make you're own conclusion. I mean this is Aku after all. I'm pretty sure he killed the guardian the same way he killed the Scotsman. So that could explain why we only see his glasses. He must have been vaporized. But no matter what, the time port is gone. I know there's been rumors I keep hearing about  Jack having a rematch fight with the guardian and using the portal to instead save Ashi from Aku killing her, but after this episode, I'm almost certain that won't happen. *phew* Still, no amount of time travel would ever have saved her from what shes has become. And now that leads me to some theories I have for what might happen in the last episode. Keep in mind I don't expect all if any of these predictions to be true. These are only things that could happen, but might not. With that said, lets get started.

Theories/Predictions:

So, one of the things the of mentioned rumor talked about was Aku killing Ashi (at least in a literal sense) and after witnessing episode nine. I think it's safe to say I can toss that out one the window. Aku, would have no reason to kill Ashi, now that he knows she carries the essence of him within her. He can pretty much use her as his puppet, to make her do what ever he wants. Sure, Aku's had many evil minions, bounty hunters and robots in the past that have done a lot of the dirty work for him, but no matter how loyal they may have been, none of them could ever really get the job to done or they may have a change of heart at last minuet. Either way, this is the first time Aku's ever had someone he can fully control and bend to his will. It only make sense why he'd keep her around.

Honestly if Ashi is to die, which judging by this whole situation is more than likely the case, it would be by the sword. Here, let me explain. You know remember seeing that image of behind the scenes where, we see the voice actors in the recording both and theres a screen with some of the story bored above? In one frame it has Aku encouraging Ashi to do something and other with Jack begging her not to while he hangs by is wrists, sort of like his Dad in the Birth Of Evil episode. Phil even has his arms raised to fit the inflection of that position.

Anyway, what might end up happening it, Aku has Jack held a prisoner. Word of this gets out, prompting the Scotsman and his daughters, (who must have an army set up by now) to go forth and attack Aku's lair. Meanwhile Aku probably has Jack's sword out of reach, most likely he's not going to destroy it just yet. Rather than killing Jack right away, he instead tortures him. After all, Jack has been a thorn in his side for so long that he wouldn't simply just kill Jack right then and it end there. No, that would be too merciful of him. Of course he would want to kill Jack slowly and painfully. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he got Ashi in on it as well. Then what I think might happen next is the rebellion formed by the Scotsman of all the people that Jack has helped over the years comes to battle to try and save Jack. This annoys Aku, in, which he proceeds to head out and attack the rebels yet again , with Ashi meant to stand guard. With Aku out of the way, Jack tries to reach trough to her yet again. Much like how she did to save him from committing suicide. Now here's where that romantic subplot plays into, Ashi may have Aku's essence with in her, but she's not twisted like her parents. She does feel love, she does know right from wrong and it's her love for Jack that helps her fight against the demon form she's trapped in, at least long enough to free Jack. Then either she uses the sword to kill herself or she is force in to fighting Jack and gets killed in the process either by him unintentionally or she makes him stab her. (Which makes the cute Rams look more like for shadowing) Now whether she stays dead is up for debate. Who knows, they could pull a deus ex machina on us. But more on that later. So if she does get stabbed by the sword, that could be what kills the essence inside of her, thus changing her back. While dying Jack holds her and she tells him how she feels before passing away.

This sends Jack over the edge, as not only has another innocent life been taken because of Aku and him being powerless to stop it, but also the fact that it was someone he's grown so close to. Someone who he cared for dearly. Now just another memory. Finally, he's had enough, no longer caring whether he goes back to the past or not. Aku must die! Back at the fight, all hope seems lost for the rebels has Aku appears to be winning, but that when Jack shows up to kill the demon once and for all. For many years Jack as had to fight Aku alone, but now with his allies, they are able to work together and help Jack deliver the final blow. With Aku defeated, everyone is ready to celebrate their victory. Not Jack however. Instead he heads back in Aku's lair while everyone watches in confusion. A few moments later Jack comes back out with Ashi cradled in his arms. Clearly grief stricken. Now this is where I think the Scotsman might play a roll in this. Genndy did say he'd come back in a big way. In edition to being the one that assembled the rebellion in the first place, who's to say he wouldn't also save Ashi's life as well. After all he's a ghost now and with Aku dead, he doesn't really have any reason stay on earth anymore. Maybe he can use some of that Celtic magic to give Ashi life again. Now you maybe asking why I think this. Why would Scotsman save the life of someone he'd never met. Well, for Jack of course. He was always such a good friend to Jack, plus Jack did help him save the love of his life. So this could be his repayment. The world is saved and future looks bright. Despite still being stuck in the future, after seeing all those he's helped and finding someone he cares about deeply, Jack comes to a realization; that you can't really change the past, but you can work to build a better future.

So there you have it. Those are my theories on this last episode. Now all of this is just speculation. I don't expected all, if not any of these things to be true. Who knows what will really happen until Saturday night comes around, but if some of my theories turn out correct, I will be surprised to say the least. Still there so many ways that this series could end. So if you have your own ideas as to what the outcome might be, please let me know.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 9/4/19

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 23 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seido is reeling from their surprising loss in the final round of the West Tokyo qualifiers. Promptly, the third years retire to focus on college while the rest of the team gears up for the fall tournament. Many pivotal spots have been left vacant, so the junior varsity players are fired up to finally secure a place on the varsity squad. Not fired up are Eijun, who has trouble shaking the image of his pitch hitting a batter, and Kawakami, who squandered Seido’s lead and ruined the upperclassmen’s hopes of making it to Koshien. I always appreciate anything that leads Eijun to a more humble state of being and also really liked seeing Miyuki seriously step up to a leadership role after he is made the new team captain. I’m excited to see how this iteration of the team fares. – Michelle Smith

Barakamon, Vol. 18 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – Much of the final volume in this series involves showing us that time is slowly marching on. There’s no time skip or anything, but life keeps happening. Tama gets a manga published. Miwa’s father is leaving to work on a ship, similar to Naru’s father, and Naru and Hina move on to the next grade, though the island is so small that they don’t get any underclassman to be sempai to. As for Handa, he’s become the stable part of the group; still teaching calligraphy, still being a bit of a goofball, but not going anywhere—this is where he belongs now. The overall tome of this series was relaaxing and fun, and that’s how it ended up, with the characters undergoing mild but meaningful journeys. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Count Fujiwara’s Suffering | By Mahito Aobe | Yen Press – I’ve talked before about how I think that omnibuses of comedy manga are a bad idea, and this 540-page volume bears that out. That said, I don’t think I’d love this even in single volumes. Count Fujiwara is a cat, whose thoughts we are privy to. He’s dealing with two sisters—one an airheaded NEET who stopped going to school after a past event we only find out about near the end; the other is a more “normal” girl who has an unfortunate crush on her sister—unfortunate in that it contains all the annoying “comedy lesbian” tropes. There’s a speck of a storyline here about what happened to make Shizuka like this, but for the most part it’s “look at the silly girls and their frustrated cat.” You can do better. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 8 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I have occasionally wondered as I read a manga where a character discusses the fact that they’ve never felt love like other people if said character will actually end up being asexual. It’s rarely happened, and I don’t expect it to happen here, but it’s an interesting thought. Ayumi’s thoroughly analytical personality is great for a career as a newshound, but very bad when dealing with Takaya, who we’ve known for a while has fallen for her in his quiet, hard-to-read way. Her thesis paper on why they should or shouldn’t go out doesn’t help. Fortunately, we have Kai and Riko being adorable fluffs in love to balance things out. And this time Kagura’s on the cover, but STILL gets nothing to do. Arc when? -Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 2 | By Tomohito Oda | VIZ Media – Much of this volume is cute. A classmate declares herself Komi’s rival in the national health exams. Komi attempts to tell (lame) jokes in writing. The gang goes out for ramen after school. Najimi encourages Komi to go shopping for clothes and the gang all chooses different outfits for her to try on and rate. And then there’s Ren Yamai, who has a crush on Komi and promptly goes into scary, knife-wielding psycho mode. I liked that Yamai’s threats against Tadano prompted Komi to firmly state (in writing) that she decides who her friends are, as well as the fact that this whole situation prompted Komi to “talk” a lot with Tadano and allowed for some funny Najimi moments. But I really disliked that, after all Yamai’s terrible, alarming behavior, Komi consents to be friends with her after all. Yamai is the Mineta of an otherwise really fun series. Sad face. – Michelle Smith

Murcielago, Vol. 11 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – The police have had a very odd relationship with Kuroko, for obvious reasons, but they find themselves more drawn into the current case than usual. The people getting eaten by sharks rapidly led to brains in jars, including the wife of Tsuru, who he’s been trying to avenge but sadly reality gets in the way. Also, his partner may be secretly evil? Fortunately, Suiren is saved, and deals with her grief. She’s not even seduced by Kuroko—yet. And so we move on to a new arc, which involves someone going around killing master swordsmen. Murcielago will never win any good taste awards, and its leads are all sociopaths (even the police, to a degree), but it’s fun, and there are some great Kuroko faces here. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 17 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – When the hell did this get so boring? Its strength remains its humor, and the best parts of the volume are showing off that humor, such as Fubuki desperately trying to rally the incredibly apathetic troops, or Saitama only getting really pissed off because the hero hunter keeps ignoring him. But for the most part, it’s serious fights between serious heroes and serious villains, and honestly I can get that much better in My Hero Academia. The world is also pretty nihilistic here—we need the heroes because the villains are not going to stop and wait for them, as a Private Merc Force finds out when they are quickly beaten and enslaved. I want more funny stuff, please. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 8 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media – It’s time for new employee orientation, including a field trip and a hot springs visit. This actually means a bit more fanservice than the other seven volumes combined, as of course Syalis goes along with everyone—they have to pretend she’s working as a demon in order not to give it away. (This being a comedy manga, the author lampshades that Syalis is in a swimsuit twice within three chapters.) The jokes are the same, though—Syalsi is spoiled and a bit appalling but also too difficult to say no to, and also sort of cute and adorable. At least she’s not gleefully killing everyone anymore, so that’s a plus. It even feels a bit like an extended family now. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 7 | By Maybe | Yen Press – We’ve hit a new harem manga record with this volume, as fully HALF THE BOOK is set up to have Satou and his fiancées get it on so that they can gain the power needed to defeat the Abyss King. Sadly, for anyone hoping for a payoff, there’s lots of skin and titillation but everyone is still a virgin by the end of the book. We also get some details of the prior hero, who was seemingly corrupted by the situation of “get to bone all these girls” and ended up getting killed by said girls, one of whom is still around thanks to the long lives of elves. Will Satou end up going down the same path? Well, not if this keeps up. This is a good series for fantasy fans but harem fans may be getting irritated. – Sean Gaffney

We Never Learn, Vol. 5 | By Taishi Tsutsui | Viz Media – As with the series’ spiritual successor, Nisekoi, We Never Learn is very good at balancing out each girl in the romantic comedy stakes so that they all get something to do. Unlike Nisekoi, the choice is not obvious from chapter one, either. It doesn’t help that Fumino seems to be honestly trying to help Naruyuki get together with someone else… even as she gets the shippiest chapter in the book, the classic “we have to share a hotel room and there is only one bed” trope. But the others get their moments as well (including the teacher, which I suppose I will have to get used to), and it’s cute, fun, and a bit sweet and romantic as long as you don’t mind it then snapping back to status quo. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – Sometimes series can falter after their respective love interests get together, but so far that hasn’t been an issue with Wotakoi. There are some chapters that I find less engaging (generally the few that take place “in game”—I prefer the manga’s exploration of real life experiences), but as a whole it’s still consistently entertaining. I especially appreciate the importance placed on the series’ non-romantic friendships. The fact that Hirotaka and Narumi are dating is still being kept a secret in the workplace, so one of my favorite running gags in the third omnibus of Wotakoi is that their coworkers are all essentially rooting for them to hook up. In part this requires Fujita to introduce a few new recurring side characters who end up being a rather amusing addition to the manga. I continue to greatly enjoy Wotakoi. – Ash Brown

Yuri Life | By Kurukuruhime | Yen Press – Yuri Life is a collection of 4-koma vignettes about various cohabitating couples, the vast majority of whom are working women in their twenties. Some stories are kind of cute, but none is in the least bit funny, so it’s not that kind of 4-koma. Probably the best story in the lot is “Life with a Grim Reaper,” in which a grim reaper falls in love with a woman who’s supposed to die soon. I could see a concept like that filling at least one volume, but not so much the rest. The collection also includes “Life with a Yandere,” in which we get creepy inner monologues like, “If I snipped off those small, slim fingers, would I be the only one you touched?” Um, that is seriously fucked up! Why is that in the same collection as these other frothy tales? This is definitely a mixed bag. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

[royalnovels-blog]

PWE Chapter 209

Chapter 209: Dark Ravine CloudDragon saw that on top of the food buff, he actually received the the skeletal demon’s buff too. All his attributes were increased by 30%. Lin Le also got the buff. The difference between them though was that CloudDragon kept it a secret whereas Lin Le never even noticed… Zhang ZhengXiong looked at the bitter WillowDream. Pity… Such a beautiful woman put us on her black list just like that. What WillowDream was most bitter about wasn’t having to eat again. Rather, it was the fact that another dish had appeared in front of her that looked like sashimi. It didn’t have any smell, but her subconscious warned her that it was dangerous. This dish also wasn’t something to take lightly… CloudDragon sighed, and handed over 4 gold to the treasurer Little Ye Tian, then looked at Ye Cang, “Hand it over…” Ye Cang took out the cooking wine, and poured it into everyone’s bowls. ThornyRose and the others also paid up. WillowDream hesitantly held out her bowl. “2 gold per share…” Ye Cang smiled. “So expensive!? Wait, didn’t they all pay 1 gold?” WillowDream said astounded. Although she knew they had to pay, why was it 1 gold for CloudDragon and the others, yet 2 for her? “They’re regular customers, so they get a discount. If you come a few more times, you can get it too…” Ye Cang said, patting WillowDream’s shoulder. WillowDream calculated. Her group had 3 people, so it would come to a total of 6 gold. This was enough to buy a piece of equipment! She looked over and saw that CloudDragon and ThornyRose ate it without any anomalies, then looked back at the sashimi which didn’t have any strange smell. He said in a cold voice, “You don’t have to buy it, but it tastes a bit better…” WillowDream’s group of three grabbed the sashimi, and swallowed it before he could finish speaking, then directly passed out. Ye Cang sighed. “… if you eat it with my special wine. It would not only taste better, but the food buff would be better. If you were more sincere… giving you a discount wouldn’t be impossible. People these days have no patience, not even waiting for me to finish…” “It’s clearly you who was playing dirty tricks!!” ThornyRose thought of all those times she ate it without the wine. That explosive disgusting flavor. To be able to suffer even one less time would be worth it. ColdFront, LordGrinned, and their people all broke out in cold sweat. They each paid one gold, and then ate it with the wine. Ah~~ It wasn’t a scam. It really tasted pretty good. Even the buff improved. Although it wasn’t much, just looked at the three women on the floor… Thank you for your sacrifice… When the three women woke up, CloudDragon also stood up. “It’s about time. Let’s go down the ravine.” Ye Cang nodded. Mar saw their bustling activity and knew it was time. “Army! March!!” WillowDream looked at Ye Cang’s party with eyes full of resentment. Zhang ZhengXiong continuously sighed, and then jogged over to her. “Actually, my bro isn’t a bad person. It’s just that you…” Zhang ZhengXiong saw WillowDream’s eyes turn red in rage. Zhang ZhengXiong smiled awkwardly, then jogged back to Lele’s side. “Later, the battle will become chaotic. The people here should stay close to Mayor Mar. PaleSnow, you can see the furthest, look out for any anomalies… We’ll act according to the situation.” CloudDragon said seriously as he looked into the dark ravine. No one objected. Upon entering the ravine, they found that it was very spacious. They looked up and couldn’t see the sun, making the area look dark and gloomy. There were sharp rocks protruding out the two sides of the ravine. Pairs of ominous red light began appearing, making everyone alert. They were prepared for battle at any time. “Awooo~~!” Following the wolf howl. Countless werewolves charged out from the cliffs and jumped down, all of them strengthened elites or boss level enemies. “Kill them!! Let’s show this filthy place the light of day!!” Mar bellowed. They would clash at any moment, and it would be extremely chaotic. “Archers! Pay attention to the ones on the cliff!! Spellcasters, prioritize the boss level werewolves!! 4 people per group! Don’t mess up the formation! Prioritize protecting the ranged players!! Unaffiliated players, join into groups if you can!! Don’t be alone!” CloudDragon and the others began giving commands. The Treant’s began using their roots from on top of the cliff, grabbing at the jumping werewolves, making them helpless targets for the archers and mages. However, there were only a few thousand people who had a ranged weapon or could cast ranged spells, because this was still the beginning of the game. Many mages and hunters still had to fight like fighters. This showed that there weren’t enough resources in this beginner village to go around. Mar charged straight ahead, helping a party to take out a werewolf. His figure swinging the longsword looked bold and powerful. The Fishmen chief - Yoji brought his trusted aides and wasn’t the slighted bit modest. Their pikes often ran through two werewolves in one strike, showing off their might! As for Vasiyas, he gave up on attacking. It was too crowded, so his spells could cause friendly fire. He instead provided support using healing and aoe protection spells. Ye Cang noticed that the werewolves were attacking more fiercely than last time. Their roars would hurt people’s ears, and their sharp claws had already sent countless people back to town. He used his bow and arrow to craftily manipulate the battles. Lin Le’s job was much simpler. He just had to go the places with the most werewolves. “Little girl, restore your mana after casting your blessings! Try to keep half your mana on reserve, in case an event boss appears…” CloudDragon reminded Little Ye Tian while also commanding the fight. “Mm, I know…” Little Ye Tian nodded. “HeavenShakingMight, if you’re bored, go up and help out with the boss leveled minions…” CloudDragon saw that the boss level werewolves were constantly causing casualties. This HeavenShakingMight could help lessen their burden, and it was also a chance to observe how much he had improved. The little girl had a resurrection skill, so he wasn’t worried about losing the auras. “Look! Look! Mad Devil Le is too damn strong! He’s taking on a hundred werewolves by himself. We’re already having trouble with just one even as a group…” “You don’t say! Do you know who he is!? Who doesn’t know Really New Village’s most awesome three brothers. If you saw Brother Diamond, you’d piss yourself. He’s playing around with three bosses by himself. As for Brother Hero, he just saved our lives with that arrow earlier. You see him with his arrow ready? He’s been killing werewolves left and right, always hitting them in the eye, and helping to control the battle. Ah, it’s Brother Hero’s signature skill, Heroic Fireball! Tsk~ Tsk~ there goes another dozen werewolves. Such might…” “Stop wasting time. However, I want to try Brother Hero’s cooking some time. Did you see those two thousand people twitching on the floor? Tsk~ Tsk~ it’s probably unspeakably delicious…” “I thought I smelled the flavor of rat but many times stronger. Furthermore, I have a friend in the Flame Dragon Union. I asked him how it tastes, and he didn’t say a word. He just covered his mouth…” “Fool, do you know of stinky tofu? The stinkier it is, the better it tastes. Don’t you know anything!?” “Now I want to try it too…” “Quit dreaming. It’s cooking made by Brother Hero himself, not anyone can eat it…” Previous       Main menu       Next Click to Post