#she never ever underestimates her she knows if she does that she's dead

[swan2swan]

Brooklynn making a joke about her limb difference and Soyona showing disapproval of this woman's possible self-deprecation (a split second before realizing that she's actually going to have to murder her) is incredible stuff, actually.

[letters-from-himring-hill]

Every single time I reread Morwen's first 48 hours in Terrafell in light of new character information, I find that I've underestimated just how utterly surreal those 48 hours were for Gavrel. They were surreal for Morwen too, obviously, but for her it was because she'd been yanked into a new world and was figuring out how it worked. Atticus definitely got a case of emotional whiplash, but I don't think that he ever doubted that his experiences were real. But Gavrel. Gavrel. This man's reality got flipped on its head so hard I think he's still processing it two weeks later.

So. He's coming back to his house after a fight in the Dungeon. He's injured. His familiars, whom he'd had for ten years (five in the game, five in person) are dead. They were the only beings he could really call friends in this world, and now they're gone. Also, everyone in town hates him, so he can't go to anyone for help with his injury.

There are three residents of his side of town. The other two live as far from him as possible. Except. Someone is in the house next door. It belonged to one of his friends back when he was in his home world and had friends. He stops to mourn the fact that he's going to lose one more piece of his childhood - what little is left of it.

The house's occupant comes out. He says hi and introduces himself, because...he should say something. She does not recoil from him in disgust or flinch back in fear. She invites him inside. Oh, and her name isn't a name. He knows this world and Asterians are not named "Morwen Winterthorne".

Possibility 1: He has lost the plot. Nope, he doesn't have an insanity buff. This is...real?

Possibility 2: She is trying to kill him. He takes this as his working theory. Morwen apologises for her house being dusty (weird) and offers him a chair by the fire (he is soaking wet as well as bleeding) (weirder). She says she came from outside Terrafell. There are no player characters in this world. She asks if he's injured. She sounds...concerned? People aren't concerned about him. She's trying to lull him into a false sense of security and then stab him.

He tells her about the friend who owned this house. (Maybe with all the grief, it just spills out. Maybe he's probing for more information.) She puts her hand on his shoulder. Okay, this is where she stabs him. She doesn't stab him. (Weird.) He asks why she's in Terrafell. She tells him she came by accident, without knowing how. (That's the exact way he arrived.) He tackles her flat and demands answers, and finds out that she's from his world.

For the first time in five years he is not alone! Oh, and she's never played a video game in her life. She is going to die. He's got to train her, because maybe there's actual hope that he won't die alone in the Dungeon. He takes her off to a training ground, does a basic spell, and lets her imitate him. This will probably take weeks for her to master, right?

The first try, she doesn't manage anything. She tries again. The room fills with magic. Then it explodes.

She's out for 28 hours. When she wakes up, she immediately tells him he looks awful and asks if he's okay, while unable to sit up from magic overuse. He takes her to Atticus, who can cure the magic overuse, explains that this might get him killed, because Atticus hates him, and - she's mad? She doesn't want him to die? She tells him they are friends. 🥺🥺🥺 He doesn't have friends. Why would she want to be his frie---oh he's being slammed into a bookcase. This is much more familiar territory. Uh oh, Atticus is scaring Morwen. ATTICUS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO SCARE MORWEN. NO. LET ME GO.

Morwen talks them out of the situation and then she hugs him. (He's got broken ribs but he's not telling her that. He is receiving Positive Physical Contact for the first time in years and also she would feel guilty for hugging him if she knew and clearly it is comforting to her.) (He has to sleep to heal from his injuries. Ugh. Sleep is annoying.)

He comes over to visit the next morning. Morwen knows about Star Wars! He can reference Star Wars! She is also a Geek and appreciates Geek Things. Then she goes off to train at the Adventurers' Guild.

Okay, he has a friend. What do you do with a friend. Well. She's going to training, she has no skills and no food in her house. He's a good cook! He can make her food! When he does, she thanks him and hugs him. Hugs are weird because she's not stabbing him, BUT he seems to be getting a good grade in Friend. (This is both normal to want and possible to achieve.)

After supper he finds out that Morwen fought things she should really not have fought. This is familiar territory! She needs medical attention. He's got first-aid skills. He can do this! He does not mention that he is this world's version of a doctor. He DOES offer to treat her injuries in a way that is easily interpreted as a romantic overture (he does not pick up on this). Things become very awkward for everyone for a bit, and then Morwen expresses protectiveness of him and tells him he's not broken. He, naturally, explains that he is and why. Morwen thinks this is the saddest thing she's ever heard and hugs him again. They both have a bit of a breakdown, and the upshot of it all is that now they trust each other implicitly and would die for each other.

In a little more than two days he's gone from absolute isolation to having a very loyal friend by the most SURREAL process possible. It just amuses me. And also makes me sad for him, but the emotional rollercoaster he's on is still amusing.

@scleroticstatue @exploding-the-wine-cellar @kanerallels @sweetcardamom

@awwyeah-rambles @sunflowergardens-world

[neteyamsilly]

Being Neteyam's Only Daughter...

pairing ;; dad!neteyam x daughter!reader

genre ;; headcanons

notes / explanations ;; i wrote this instead of i will soften every edge, the brainrot was too strong. SORRY . entirely unedited so i could get it off my system. not what you guys were waiting for but i hope you enjoy!

♯ After a whole tumultuous lifetime of playing guardian to his siblings that he might as well be called their third parent, getting a whisker’s away from death at his teens solely because his little brother was looking for some action, Neteyam is enervated — he cannot imagine a life with children, and doesn’t even want to. He has already raised three.

♯ He may be good with children in general but that doesn't mean he could handle raising multiple of his own. The thought alone gives him intense anxiety.

♯ A mate would be nice. Would mean privacy, and his own world free from the burden of having to look after his siblings. His own family. One thing belonging to Neteyam and Neteyam only.

♯ He does get a mate, eventually. Right after Tuktirey can be responsible for her own. It's not something his father tells him to do, Neteyam just couldn't trust Lo'ak with their youngest sister even when the boy became a man. Lo'ak was still Lo'ak.

♯ And then comes the dreaded, silent expectation his mother stares right into his soul every time she sees him and his mate together: I want grandchildren.

♯ Neteyam doesn’t. He really doesn’t. Some peace and quiet would be nice for a while, he really likes the mellowness of the present, feels so light now. He has his own life, finally. Home away from the Sullys. He doesn't have to wake himself up before his siblings. The silence and comfort of love is new and strange, but it's nice and it's his. They can pry it away from his cold, dead hands.

♯ No children.

♯ Neteyam finally has his peace.

♯ No children, mother, seriously.

♯ ...Not now, at least.

♯ And if it ever happens. Only one. That would be enough for Neteyam and his mate. The horror of having a big family enters his dreams sometimes even now, he startles awake with the sensation of Lo’ak having ditched him, none of his siblings around, and the trouble that would follow.

♯ Yeah, no. Neteyam isn’t going to spend his life running after another batch of children. No way.

♯ Only one. One is enough.

♯ Eywa, he hopes the child would be like him if it ever happens. Neteyam takes pride in his precocious childhood free of immaturity. Not that he's dying to be a father, but if he ever becomes one, he hopes the child is calm and easy to communicate with.

♯ He knows his mate wants to be a parent one day, and knows he also will be ready eventually, but having to give up how wonderful life has become... Neteyam just wants to be selfish for once.

♯ (Somehow he can't get used to the solitude of peace, but won't admit he misses the rowdiness of his siblings and how bright each and every day was with them. Neteyam doesn't realize it's loneliness.)

♯ He doesn't expect to be as excited when it happens. Neteyam knows before his mate does and it's not the usual pregnancy symptoms, but the change of scent, in the past, he had detected his own mother was with child that way, from what he knew, this was unique to him and him only, but it was conclusive and Neteyam was right every time.

♯ His stomach doesn't sink like he thought it would, and his mate gets scared with the scream that follows his dissociation.

♯ It has to be a girl. He wants it to be a little baby girl. The desire to coddle and pamper his baby the way none of the Sully siblings were overwhelms him. If it was a son, he'd love him all the same, make him feel loved and appreciated like the Sully patriarch never really did with him, it's just, the thought of another Lo'ak on his hands just worries him.

♯ Neteyam really underestimated how ready to be a father he really was. It shouldn't really be surprising to him given his big brother status, he already knows how to be a parent - but didn't know he wanted to be one, deep down, that he looks forward to the chaos his child would bring back to his life.

♯ His mother and father are nothing less than elated. It's going to be their first grandchildren, and Neteyam sees Jake Sully shed a couple tears for the first time in his life. They have a father-son hunting trip together for the offering to Eywa in the name for the safe arrival of his child, and have countless conversations about fatherhood. If it was Lo'ak, he'd be willing to learn the new knowledge, but Neteyam already knows all he should, and his father is guiltily aware of this too, his delivery is awkward, and Neteyam does his best to alleviate the talk.

♯ They don't know the gender until the day you're born.

♯ And his wishes have come true: a girl. You're healthy and fairly plump from how Neteyam kept feeding his mate throughout the pregnancy.

♯ He can't believe he has a child, and that he has his whole life together with you now. How scary it is that you have become his whole world the moment he holds you, that he is the protector of this tiny, little life. How will he be as a father? What kind of person will you become?

♯ It comes as second nature to hold you when it's fairly new to his mate, he knows how to handle you, how to calm you down, how to baby talk that it creeps his siblings out to see him openly loving that way.

♯ His father had talked about the sky person concept of monarchy in the past. He says how you're Neteyam's pretty little princess one day, and it sticks. Neteyam thinks so too, but Paskalin is what he calls you - sweet berry.

♯ Because you are very sweet, the calmest, most endearing baby he's ever known. The most adorable. He doesn't know anyone cuter than you that he catches playful aggression the whole time, wanting to bite into you and pinch you all around. Eywa help him, he hasn't felt like this in his life, ever. None of his siblings were close to being this delightful. His Paskalin is way too loveable.

♯ You don't cry at night, go to sleep easily, only fuss when you want or need something, and are full of smiles and laughter, you know how to entertain yourself. Neteyam can't believe how convenient everything is.

♯ His father says Neteyam was like this as a baby too, and you've taken after him. Usually, the first child's perfection tricks the parents into having more children, he says, and it's the easiest trap to fall into.

♯ Turns out, it's not something Neteyam is happy about. How flawlessly well-behaved you are as a baby, he means. He wished you would act out more, Neteyam would happily go along with your whims.

♯ It stems from his own childhood wounds, he wasn't allowed to be childish, so he hopes you would be. Neteyam wants to give you everything he wanted but couldn't have as a child.

♯ So he spoils you rotten. And it feels gratifying to make you happy.

♯ You and him are inseparable. Wherever he goes, you toddle behind him like a shadow.

♯ Neteyam is warned multiple times by his parents for overindulging you that you'd end up uninterested in the company of your peers, therefore experience isolation and loneliness, and end up hyper-independent because of those poor social skills, that you would end up selfish and entitled because he gave you whatever you wanted and become hyper-sensitive to criticism and in-family conflict due to not experiencing emotional toughening by interacting with friends and being too overly fond of him, your main source of affection.

♯ Some of those worries end up being realized, and some of them don't.

♯ As you grow up, Neteyam's wishes that you would want to be spoiled more get grander. His daughter is generous and loving. You aren't immature and childlike like he wants you to be. His Paskalin keeps getting sweeter as you get older and older. You don't ever ask for anything the more Neteyam wants to keep giving, always saying you had everything you could ask for in life, and if you wanted a specific something, you could get it yourself and wouldn't want to bother him with that.

♯ Neteyam really regrets praying to Eywa for an obedient child.

♯ He thinks of having more children at times, to give you companions, but gives up on it as soon as he entertains the idea. He would never want you to go through the same things as he did as the eldest brother.

♯ Neteyam doesn't know what to do about you not straying from his side and only ever wanting to be around adults. Your favorite people are your grandparents. That shouldn't really be a child's first preference, right? He knows he was like this, but also, it wasn't normal. Even your aunt Tuk was too young for you and her hyperactivity made you uncomfortable for some reason.

♯ He never knew your dislike of going out and socializing, your preference of staying on your own rather than getting close to your younger cousins.

♯ Great Mother, you weren't a shy girl that he knows of, always talkative and energetic with him. Neteyam has only noticed your quietness recently when you were old enough to go and start learning with other kids.

♯ You don't have any friends that he knows of. You orbit around people your age, but don't get involved, more interested in your hobbies and interests and duties within the village.

♯ His mother told him this would happen.

♯ Kiri tells him he has raised a girl version of himself and it bothers Neteyam. He loves that you are a daddy's girl and so close to him that you are basically transparent to him, but he really wishes you were more childish. You are too mature for his liking.

♯ When you hit your teens, he's confronted with a new dilemma. He doesn't know what a helicopter parent is, but his father says Neteyam has become one. That he doesn't allow you to face failure and challenges, and heavily guides you the more he becomes anxious about how you're turning up. He says Neteyam needs to leave you alone.

♯ Which he's too anxious to do. He doesn't know where this comes from and why he's this way. Neteyam just worries too much and doesn't want you to have the troubles he did.

♯ It becomes particularly stronger when he finds out you were having bullying problems.

♯ In the clan his father was the Olo'eyktan of. In the clan he was to be Olo'eyktan of. He can't fathom the audacity any more than he can't believe you were hiding it from him. You never hid anything from your father in your life, ever. He makes you cry for the first time when he confronts you and gets angry over it.

♯ You hadn't even done anything wrong, and Neteyam regrets it immediately, hugging you and apologizing for it on the spot.

♯ He offers to teach those kids who saw you too meek a lesson, but you tell him that they do it because they think of you unworthy to be his daughter and Toruk Makto's family. He learns they think you're weak and passive with barely any presence at all, when you were the brightest and sweetest girl Neteyam knew.

♯ Someone had taught you humiliation where he couldn't see or help. Stripped you off your worth. These kids were jealous of you. They wanted your status and it was clear as day to Neteyam, but he couldn't make you see the way he saw.

♯ It's Lo'ak who teaches you how to bite back, Kiri how to hit where it hurts with words and Tuk how to manipulate. None of them let Neteyam get involved, you have to do this on your own and prove your worth to yourself.

♯ He can't be more proud of you when you manage to stand up for yourself, and excitedly tell him about it one day along with the news that you have made a couple friends, too.

♯ The feeling of you branching on your own path stings and weighs heavy in his heart as he tastes the bittersweet of his child growing up, but his Paskalin would be alright, he decides.

♯ He will be with you every step of the way.

[calisources]

CHILDREN   OF   THE   NIGHT.   a   collection   of   quotes   and   scenarios   about   vampires.   change   pronouns/names   as   you   see   fit.   These   were   all   taken   from   different   sources   of   fiction,   both   in   literature   and   audiovisual   media.   all   known   triggers   for   vampire   media   apply   (blood,   death,   murder,   gothic   horror, obsessive love   and   more).

SENTENCES AND QUOTES. change pronouns and names, locations as you see fit.

"I took mythology a lot more seriously since I’d become a vampire."

“None of us really changes over time; we only become more fully what we are.”

"A vampire, like a lady, never reveals his true age."

"How do we seem to you? Do you find us beautiful and magical?”

"The strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him."

"Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!"

"The blood is the life!"

"Loving the monsters always ends badly for the humans. It's a rule."

“When people see good, they expect good. I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations.”

“Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness. And we are not weak.”

“You know that old saying. Once you go dead, no one's better in bed.”

“For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart.”

"I'm not human. And I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world. That is my secret."

“I'm in love with a woman I can never have. The point is I'm in love with her and it's driving me crazy. I'm not in control.”

"Your life is pathetic. Your after-life doesn't have to be."

"Life sucks either way, Jeremy. At least if you're a vampire, you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to."

"You want a love that consumes you. You want passion and adventure and even a little danger."

"Sometimes the world turns good people into bad people."

"People have been after me for a thousand years, but I'm always one step ahead."

"Mother made us vampires. She didn't make us monsters. We did that to ourselves."

"Perhaps one day, in a year or even in a century. You'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer."

"Do you have any idea how rare love is? In a thousand years, I have found it but twice, and when I have, I have honored it."

"You're a vampire, sweetheart. I don't think you'll ever be okay again."

“When you feel the blood rush in, you tell yourself that you’re gonna get through it; that you’re strong enough.”

“You’d be surprised how easy it is to forget the past, Elena.”

“I wanna rip into your skin. And I wanna feed on your blood. Under your skin.”

“I just want one taste. That''s all I need. I just want one taste.”

“There’s the briefest of moments before we kill, where we literally hold their life in our hands and then rip it away, and we’re left with nothing.”

“Do you know the secret to immortality?”

“The vampire bond. There is no human equivalent.”

“He was my mentor, my murderer, my maker.”

“When was the last time you drank blood?”

“Left you with a bit of a craving, didn’t it? One day that craving is gonna grow.”

“That's cause you took my life! I got nothing. I lost everything. I lost my brother. I lost my family. About to lose the last fucking thing I care about.”

“And then I watched you pull over and drain a dog. And run down an alleyway for two more rats. This is not a life!”

“Hunting is an art. You have the power to subdue anyone you want, but sometimes restraint is your most powerful weapon.”

“What does this taste like to you?”

“There is one thing about being a vampire that I must fear above all else, and that is loneliness. You can't imagine the emptiness. The void.”

“Vampires are killers. Apex predators whose all-seeing eyes were meant to give them detachment. The ability to see a human life in its entirety.”

“Don’t underestimate the allure of the darkness. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it.”

“End of the day, human life is just a means to an end. Our means to our end.”

“A mutual law of nature is the strong always take from the weak.”

“It’s better to have a flawed life lived than wasted rotting away in clay.”

“Hatred, a pure and perfect hatred that’s greater now than the day I first took your life.”

“A thousand years of history isn’t going to write itself.”

“I can’t be killed.”

“I’m the monster lesser monsters fear.”

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you."

"You don't know what you are asking of me. To drink from you."

"You need blood, take it."

"To walk with me you must die to your breathing life, and be reborn to mine."

"I love you, Stefan. We will be together again. I promise."

"You loved me once, you will love me again."

"I made him. Did you know that?"

"I never compelled your love. It was real, and so was mine."

"What did you think was gonna happen? She would look at you, see your real face and give you a kiss?"

"I could swap this life of shame. Swap it out for a dark gift. You just have to ask me for it."

"Vampyrism is, by definition, an afterlife."

"I'm not the one who was sleeping with one vampire while half in love with another. Your morality is a moving target. Mine is not."

"A man damaged by his demons and those demons are not dormant, they are hell-bent on killing me and everything I find beautiful. And you, you are beautiful."

"You are stronger now. Meaner. Sexier."

"They are like vampire royalty. The oldest among us."

"He is the original hybrid. Half vampire, half werewolf."

"We both know I could snap your neck and do my nails at the same time."

 “Viktor. The oldest and strongest of us. That night, he made me a Vampire. "

"Stop fighting who you are."

"I'll tell you what I know about death, Camille. Death dances silently in everyone's shadow, and she doesn't give a damn."

"Turns out, I have complicated feelings for a monster."

ACTIONS AND SCENARIOS. Add a +reverse for the inverse action. Change names as you see fit.

[YOU ARE NOT HUMAN]: sender figured out receiver is a vampire and confronts them.

[FEEDING HOUR]: receiver finds sender feeding on someone's blood.

[WHEN IS A MONSTER NOT A MONSTER]: sender touches receiver's vampire face, showing they are not afraid.

[YOU NEED TO]: sender offers their blood to receiver.

[ECHOES OF THE PAST]: receiver is a doppelganger/looks like a person the sender knew in the past.

[DEATH AND THE MAIDEN]: receiver and sender can't be together as one is immortal and the other is a vampire.

[MY MAKER, MY LOVER]: sender is receiver's sire and they reunite after centuries after.

[BOND]: receiver is senders fledgling and sender can feel them.

[ELIXIR]: receiver is hurt and sender, a vampire, feeds them their blood.

[SHARING]: sender tempts receiver to share a meal of blood.

[HUNTING THE HUNTER]: sender is a vampire hunter, and they found receiver.

[THE INVITATION]: receiver receives an INVITATION to stay at sender's gothic/ancient manor.

[DRACULA'S BRIDE]: sender wants receiver to be one of their wives/lovers.

[BLOOD FAMILIAR]: sender is a vampire familiar, a human bloodbag under receiver protection. receiver finds out another vampire had bitten them.

[CRAVING]: sender tasted receiver once and craved them again.

[INVITED]: after bring invited inside, sender shows up at receiver's home.

[LICK]: sender licks receiver's blood remains from their mouth.

[LAST RESORT]: receiver has to turn sender into vampire because they are dying. sender wakes up in transition.

[ANCHOR]: sender calms receiver down after receiver went on a bloodlust spree. sender reminds them their humanity.

[RIVAL COVENS]: sender and receiver are from rival vampire covens and they talk in neutral ground.

[HUMANITY]: sender is human and because of them, receiver is starting to feel humanity again.

[I'LL BE YOUR GUIDE]: receiver is guiding sender through the early stages of vampirism.

[RIVAL SPECIES]: sender is a werewolf/witch and receiver is a vampire. they fall in love/ally with each other.

[DHAMPIR]: sender is a half human, half vampire who just had their first taste of human blood. receiver finds them.

[REFLECTION]: sender looks in the mirror and finds out that receiver has no reflection.

[idliketobeatree]

dead boy detectives characters as art objects and sculptures; extended ---

hello, i remembered i made some subjective explanations and notes on few of my choices for this post, and i thought some folks might enjoy it. soo let's get into it.

1.

monty finch

author: anders krisár

pretty self-explanatory; it's a moulded male torso with visible inprints on its skin.

anders krisár’ artistry explores the themes of loss, separation, and the condition of the psyche through the lens of a human body in duality: perfectionism meets unsettlement, skin meets marble and bronze and polyester, to create sculptures spanning geological time far beyond the living's capabilities.

monty's creation by esther was already stripped of any human agency. "he was made a boy, not a person", small, almost doll-sized, with a singular purpose: to seduce and entice the chosen dead boy into their doom. the naked skin and specifically the position of its arms are mildly erotic, but in a way that makes your skin crawl. the imprints are intimate, placed possesive; notice the thumbs digging close to especially sensitive areas like nipples and the belly button.

the latter seems to connect the "creator" to the subject, the navel here as a symbol of cruel, invasive motherhood. the fact that the torso is cut off in the middle and at the neck furthers the uncanny valley feeling of a young male body, but then again. this is a realistic portrayal. so was it ever a person? what does it have inside to make dents so profound? how deep you can press until it breaks?

--- i'm leaving out crystal and edwin (for now?), but @nicheoverhere brilliantly noticed that it was the same author for both. that was intentional! because glen martin taylor is all about taking kintsugi, which is a beautiful art form of repairing fine china and generally delicate things with veins of precious metals, but with materials like— nails. scissors. barbed wire. all ugly. the repair after a great shattering is seldom pretty after all, they really are similar in this regard. ---

2.

charles rowland

author: robert hudson

okay, strap in. this funky dreamy world belongs to robert hudson, and i picked it for charles rowland because it's all first impressions. the colours? the composition? they give you the 80s vibes, almost; like something a kid would design if you asked them what a time machine would look like. it could probably move in several ways. the pieces seem mismatched, but hold themselves together surprisingly well. or maybe you underestimate it?

it's neither big nor small. you can't tell its size at all. it's a bit overwhelming to look at, at first, and at second, and after a while, but it carries that comfortable familiarity and nostalgia for— well, nothing in particular, because the longer you look, the sadder its past seems. the bold pops of contrasting colour are fighting for your attention. they want you to like it! and yet, the major material seems to be just. rusted steel. made from tools.

and look at that botched up sphere, it wants so badly to be a perfect sphere and it knows it'll never be one. fine!! perhaps it could be a football ball instead! or maybe a head. if you close your eyes, that is. and this facing-up horseshoe? a lucky charm, made to collect good luck and keep it from falling out cause god, it needs it.

---

3.

niko sasaki

author: justin cloud

---

niko sasaki, now how do i describe her? let's start by saying— she's cleary a her. this one is a she. and there's something to be said about blooming, and femininity, and delicacy, because pink is a hopeful girly colour and a surprise and a delight.

what are you doing in a gallery, little flower, shouldn't you be at home? in a field? look how pretty you are! mind you, of course there's something wrong with her as well, but you're not sure if that is because someone messed it up, or because of a different entity alltogether. was it always half-electric? its elegance seems purposeful— the iridescent metal fits all too well with the white-pink petals— but also uncanny. and oh suddenly you can't stop looking at the stigma from which a pollen should release aaany time now.

when i look at her, at her black artificial stem and the small leaves imitating the real ones, i wonder if she doesn't want to lure me into a trap. is it her fault?

the beautiful petals seem like the only thing left real of the flower. whichever way she turns, it will probably mean— death. and flowers are ephemeral. what is a flower mounted to a wall, fortified with steel, connected with cables and enfused with electrical energy, then?

i think she's a self-preserving survivor. ---

4.

the night nurse

author: elizabeth turk

---

now. the night nurse.

of course it's the only piece in the collection where the background needed to be dark. no one here is older than her. there is no inoffensive, fading-into-background white for this absolute pillar of truth. or maybe something like a totem, quite protective in nature. and it's terrifying, 'cause you're immediately hit with the feeling that you're looking at something out of this realm, something you're not supposed to witness. the perspective is all wrong. is it downwards or upwards? why does it seem unstable when the pieces are so perfectly centered and seemingly well-balanced? child, you should calm down, it's not like you will destroy it with a stronger puff of air. will you?

this sculpture is called "tipping point — echoes of extinction", and it's actually a mix of technology and sculpture and sound, with elegant visualizations of the lost voices of birds and sea mammals. the author said it "was conceived in reverence to the astounding lives the species which envelop humans have lived and the mysterious ways they have contributed to our well-being. the shadows of their memory, whether a shape or a sound, have inspired this project." so the piece deals with death. moreover, it deals with murder. it records the harsh reality and makes sure the ones that suffered horribly at the hands of humans are, in a way, celebrated. but also— categorised. like epitaphs. the birdsong, once a living sign, is only visually represented by the lines of varying lenghts in 3D, and you can do nothing about it anymore, right, you can't bring back the dead, you can't help the innocent dying in any way other than— stacking them on top of each other and moving on.

---

so that's for now, i might someday write more if anyone's curious. :")

[krispycreamcake]

yeeees! Please go for the headcanon!!

From author: Was secretly wishing you'd send this 🙏🏼

If you killed someone in the Sakamaki household

Shu Sakamaki

🎻- Honestly just like every other brother, it heavily depends on who was killed

🎻- If it was Reiji, he'd be ecstatic, kind of

🎻- His relationship with Reiji is extremely strained and that's without him even knowing about him "killing" Edgar

🎻- He'd be impressed that you managed to kill someone like Reiji which initially makes him extremely wary of you

🎻- His immediate reaction to finding out would be disbelief but then escalate into one of satisfaction

🎻- He'd probably say something along the lines of "What would that woman think if she knew you died by the hands of a mere mortal, I wonder?" And cue insane laughter please

🎻- If it was someone less relevant to him, then I'd say he's the type of guy to not care until he actually sees the body dressed up and ready to be buried

🎻- Now I'm not saying he'll go into grieving or anything, but it'll actually hit him that his brother is in fact dead

🎻- Now for his reaction towards YOU

🎻- That's a completely different story

🎻- Like I said before, his reaction would differ and if you really did manage to kill Reiji, he'd be ever so grateful but he'd never say it. Ever.

🎻- He'd probably be curious though as to what drove you to killing him, or any of his brothers for that matter

🎻- He'd analyze the situation in his mind and pick out the flaws that led to their demise

🎻- Realistically he'd care but not for too long. Give him about less than a week to get accustomed and he'll be fine

🎻- He'd never underestimate you again though, he'll make sure of that

🎻- If it was Yui however, then that's a lot more complicated

🎻- If his relationship was well developed with her, you'd be dead, without a doubt

🎻- If he was still in his almostgivingafuckbutnotreally stage, he wouldn't care a lot

🎻- He'd be kinda irritated that you killed his prey though and then Karl would just send another troublesome woman to bother him

🎻- But like I said, if he really did start to warm up to Yui or was already warmed up, you'd be dead in an instant

Reiji Sakamaki

☕- Surprised and concerned

☕- This may honestly seem like a shock to some people but Reiji actually does care for his brothers and has stated that he enjoys living with them

☕- Going off of this information, we can assume he'd be at least a tiny bit distraught even if he doesn't convey it outwardly

☕- Like Shu, he'd want to know your motives and additionally, how you even managed to do such a thing

☕- He'd honestly miss their presence and picking up after them. He would probably cope in some weird ass way

☕- Maybe he'd start writing letters to them and keep them sealed away somewhere extremely safe

☕- Initially, his face would go 😨 and then you'd have to deal with him mourning

☕- He'd probably avoid you realistically until he has thoughts in an order

☕- This process can take either a day or a month depending

☕- God forbid it was Shu that was killed however

☕- Once again, cue insane laughter

☕- Seeing your lifelong rival die is something I'm sure is hard to process

☕- I'm not saying he wouldn't be relieved that his good for nothing brother died, especially since it meant he was now the oldest and had more opportunities opened up to him

☕- But as much as he does hate Shu, it's still his brother and at some point in their lives, they weren't rivals

☕- Now I'm not saying he'll be even slightly upset with his death but

☕- Actually let me backtrack a bit

☕- Imagine hating someone so much because all they do is show you up without having to do anything and in a second, they're gone

☕- Reiji would almost throw a tantrum

☕- Their relationship can be comparable to Joker and Batman in a sense

☕- Let me elaborate on that for a second

☕- Building your life around a certain person and making sure you come out on top no matter what

☕- Having the very reason that you're the person you are today, be ripped away from you is something that's always hard to process whether your relationship with them is negative or positive

☕- Reiji needs to feel the satisfaction of killing Shu so he can translate onto him the years of pent up rage and resentment and pain and hurt and jealousy

☕- Killing Shu would mean to Reiji that you took away the one thing he could've owned for himself without being overshadowed

☕- If you take away the very thing that makes Reiji, Reiji, then he'll lose the foundation for all his successes in life

☕- If you killed Yui however, obviously death

☕- I feel like I shouldn't have to say it each time, but expect to die in some twisted malevolent way

☕- Let's say he didn't have that bond with Yui, he'd still be pissed

☕- Probably lock you in the dungeon without food so you could "understand" the extent of your crimes

Ayato Sakamaki

🏆- Ok so I'm not sure how many people know this, but Ayato is the most sympathetic of his brothers, I'd go as far to say even empathetic

🏆- Now I'm not saying this makes him a morally good person and whatnot, or that he'll cry everyday and bring flowers to his brother's grave, no

🏆- We learn that Ayato is actually quite understanding and sympathetic when he states that he understands why Cordelia did certain things and even pitied her

🏆- With that in mind, it'd hurt him, a lot

🏆- We all know Ayato is one to wear his heart on his sleeve no matter wherever or whoever

🏆- He'll be outwardly upset but that doesn't mean he'll be seen mourning

🏆- To break it down, he's the type of person to stare at the empty seat in the dining room and can't help but realize that chair will always be empty

🏆- Or he'll realize that he'll live long enough to forget his brother's voice, sometimes stand in front their bedroom door, not saying anything and then walking off

🏆- He'll notice how the living room feels slightly bigger when there's family meetings and how he'll never get to shout at that person again

🏆- Due to him being conditioned to being number one, he'll have extremely mixed feelings

🏆- As a competitor, the game isn't fun without other opponents, even if it's a game you know you'll win because then you coming first means nothing

🏆- Dying or in this case, 'dropping out the race' would make Ayato stop running for once and look back at the other players

🏆- That's if it was someone he wasn't as close with

🏆- Now let's say you killed Laito for instance, he'd have quite a different reaction

🏆- He would actually mourn his brother but never let anyone see him

🏆- His relationship with Laito is complicated but not an enigma

🏆- He feels as if he owes Laito something from not being able to help him in his past

🏆- Knowing that he died meant that he failed as a brother

🏆- If you killed Laito out of self defence, he'd be upset that his brother was dead but not because you defended yourself

🏆- Like I said earlier, he's the most understanding and sympathetic

🏆- If he could go into the shoes of the woman who abused and made his life hell

🏆- He could understand why you did what you did

🏆- If however it wasn't out of self defence, like Reiji he'd need to take a while to compose himself

🏆- He'd wanna know why and how and then just sit on his bed not knowing what to feel

🏆- He'd be upset at you if that was the case and you'd probably have to work to regain his trust again(if you want it)

🏆- But like I said, still the most understanding, so he had a feeling you might pull something like this if you started getting pestered too often or showed signs that you weren't doing okay

🏆- And oh God if it was Yui, yeah you're not coming out alive and I know I've said this like 2 times already, but let me be clear

🏆- You will wish he killed you

🏆- Prey or not, taking something that belongs to Ayato is never ever a good idea

From author: Guys it's 2am, I'll upload the other brothers tomorrow I promise, just please don't kill my family. (Ps, I love you guys❤)

[dayseternal-blog]

Summary: After years of war and bloodshed, the Uchiha and remaining members of the Uzumaki clan joined forces with the Senju. Within the space of one generation, several other clans forfeit to their combined strength, while others futilely resist.

Tasked to bring the weakening yet stubborn Hyuuga clan down swiftly and silently, Naruto successfully infiltrates their territory. And then promptly messes up.

Rebooting this really old wip for @kilandra-mordea's Secret Santa gift for NaruHina Month 2024!

Rated T.

"Trust" - Chapter 1: A Really Important Mission

No, he didn’t underestimate his enemy.

Although circumstances might suggest differently.

Her knees and feet pushing the air out of his lungs, the fight out of his legs.  His arm twisted in her tight grasp, and the other shoulder dislocated.

His own sword pointed, tip steady and sharp, at his very vulnerable throat.

No, he knows too well to underestimate a woman warrior.  Any woman who can succeed on the battlefield has twice the skills of any common man, and he’s learned that the hard way many years before today.

So…

Fierce animosity sparks behind the lightest eyes he’s ever seen.  Pearly.  Far too pretty on a gently shaped, feminine face…

No, he didn’t underestimate her!

He manages a grin, not a grimace.  “Before you finish the job, would you do me the honor of your name?”

Gentle brows furrow ever closer, and for a second, that cold animosity is replaced by surprised confusion.

For one second.

And she’s twisting his arm even harder than before.  “Who’s your master?  Answer me.”

There’s no way he’ll betray Tsunade, even when he’s more than just a little sore about her not mentioning there would be a gorgeous, young--

The sting of her sword pricks into his throat, and his eyes dart back up from the cleavage peeking through the loosening folds of her bedclothes.  It seems like even the very threat of decapitation doesn’t stop the ingrained habits of his teachers…

No, he didn’t underestimate her, right?

“Does it matter?  I’m dead as of now, anyway.  Either you’re slicing my head off--” He makes a schliiick sound for added drama, “--and my blood gets to spurt all over you, or I stab myself in the guts, rearrange my innards, and spill my stomach on your tatami.”  He visibly muses his options, somehow finding humor in his last minutes alive, and he takes it as a personal win when her nose scrunches up in distaste.

“You can’t do that, this is my bedroom,” she argues, as if he was unaware.

“Then I guess we’ll have to take this outside.”

She frowns deeper.  “Not in my garden!”

“Then where?”  And he can’t help a more genuine smile sneaking up on his lips even as new ideas to complete his mission float about his mind.

It’s all halfhearted plans, though.  He was doomed from the start.  Before any of them could have known.

He can’t kill someone like her.

It was that one second of hesitation that sealed his fate.  He could’ve murdered her.  It would’ve been too easy.  Too simple.

And therefore too wrong.

It’s not farfetched to think he was never cut out for this lifestyle.  He never really handled these kinds of missions well, and killing in cold blood was always difficult.  To separate his mind from his body.  To cut off his heart from his actions.  He could always manage.

On old men.  (Who were fathers).

On young men.  (Who were sons and brothers).

He’s known for some time now that the Hyuuga head was the infamous and powerful Hiashi.  A man with strong life force despite his age, supposedly the strongest in the family.  Intel told him he’d find a cruel man in the Main House.

“When I say so, you’re going to get up and walk with me.  One wrong move and I’ll--schliiick--slice your legs off.”  She sounds way too collected for such a serious joke, and it’s...

Just not funny anymore.

Reality is starting to settle in.  The moon lighting up her delicate features instead casts the shadow of death across the room.

At least it seems she’ll grant him an honorable death.

In less than two seconds, she’s got him rolled over, hands locked in one of her arms, and she’s urging him to stand.  “Get up.”

He staggers to his feet, and he doesn’t fail to notice that she makes good on her promises.  His sword is now angled at his legs, ready to hack him off at the knees.

Internally, he’s readying himself for his death, trying to find some kind of empty, zen-like peace.

Outwardly, he’s majorly aware of the softness of her nightwear at his forearms, her chest pressing into his back.

What a way to go.  His one and only opportunity in life to feel a woman, and it’s on his death march.

“Walk,” she murmurs, and he’s suddenly way too aware of the fact that her voice is...soft.

Obediently, as he has no other real options anyway, he steps forward.

Blunt pain lances into his neck, the world shifts in a split-second realization, and all fades to nothing.

---

Chapter 2, which is completely new stuff, will be posted tomorrow!!!

[shanastoryteller]

Happy birthday!!!!

WWX identity shenanigans? Or anything!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

A-Qing is scared.

Everyone around her is dead.

Everyone except Xiao Xingchen and Chengmei.

She doesn't know what to do. Xiao Xingchen remarks at how strange and reclusive everyone in this town is and she nods and complains, saying she wants to go someplace a little more lively, but Chengmei insists he likes it here.

Xiao Xingchen is blind and can't tell that everyone around them is dead and A-Qing can't tell him because she's supposed to be blind too, because if she tries then Chengmei will discover the truth about her and she'll become just one more dead girl who can't do anything to help anyone.

There has to be something happening here, some spell or trick. Xiao Xingchen had smelled blood on the road but he doesn't seem to notice the air of decay or the way no one around them is breathing. Chengmei has done something to dull Xiao Xingchen's senses or addle his mind, has done something to him that he hasn't done to her.

It's important to her that people underestimate her. She's worked hard to be underestimated. But she's almost regretting it now - maybe it would be better to be walking around in ignorance, rather than having to smile and laugh and pretend that the walking corpses around them don't frighten her halfway into being a corpse herself.

She could leave. Chengmei doesn't care enough about her to stop her, she doesn't think, and maybe she could get some help. But what will happen to Xiao Xingchen while she's gone? What if Chengmei does something terrible to him? What if he takes Xiao Xingchen and leaves and by the time she comes back they're gone forever?

The thought is ever worse than her current situation, so she stays, and hopes one day she'll find an opening to get them to safety.

She's by the river, because the corpses seem to avoid running water, when she sees a woman she's never seen before walking through the mist. A-Qing squints, trying to make sense of what she's seeing as the woman heads in her direction. It makes her nervous, but the corpses have never hurt her before.

She's wearing pale blue robes and she's tall, for a woman, and almost too skinny. Her dark hair falls freely down her back but she has a strange ribbon wrapped around her forehead. A-Qing is trying to figure out what killed her, considering she lacks the puffy face of strangulation or and her robes are free from blood, when she notices a sword at the strange woman's side.

Terror shoots through her. A-Qing yanks her robes to her knees, getting ready to run, when the woman waves at her and shouts, "You there! You're alive, aren't you? Have you seen anyone else alive around here? He'd be this tall, in all white, very pretty?"

A-Qing freezes, mouth dropping open. The woman still has her tongue. Her eyes sting and she desperately tries to blink her tears away, worried if she loses sight of the woman in front her that she'll disappear completely.

This woman is alive. She's got a sword and she's smiling and she's asking for Xiao Xingchen, which means maybe she's a cultivator too, maybe she can save them from Chengmei's horrible games.

A-Qing throws herself at the woman, who in spite of her small stature doesn't so much as sway with the impact, and instead lays a warm hand against her back. "What's all this, then? What are you doing here with all this going on, anyway?" She rubs soothing circles into her back. "Hey, hey, don't cry! It's going to be okay. I may not look like much, but I'm pretty good with stuff like this."

She's warm. She's warm and alive and she's a cultivator and she's going to help.

A-Qing keeps her forehead pressed against the woman's chest and starts talking.

[onesaltybagel]

Finally talking about season 5 because I’ve been putting it off

Notes won’t be in order at all and are mostly about the final episodes

Spoilers BOGOOA BOOO!!!!

When people were saying that Sean had really gone all out this season, I was like “oh ok maybe there’s a kinda sad scene or a really heartfelt scene”. NO. I WAS SO WRONG. I was NOT prepared for the scene of him screaming and wailing to the point of his voice cracking and going raw because he wanted Mk to stop so badly. I did not ever imagine I was going to see that and I’m still not over it. If I see it again, I get chills every time and I’m in love.

Nine-headed demons full form is so cool! I can’t believe we saw that before the trailer even dropped and I thought nothing of it! I thought it was just going to be another guardian of the stone! God the designs in this show rock

Mk saying “don’t make me do this” was perfect. It was so quiet, so small and full of emotion. Had he planned since that first moment he was going to use the circlet? He knew since like episode two that he was going to be doing something EVERYONE wouldn’t want him to do and- presumably- it became clear really fast to him what that was. Was he planning all along?

I cannot stress this enough- THE FIGHT IN EPISODE ONE FORESHADOWED THE FIGHT IN EPISODE NINE.

Nuwa saying I’m so proud of you, her voice actor is completely perfect for her. It was so soft and gentle :(((

Mk crying from joy. He should never have to be in that position, it is so unfair that he was created just to die- over and over and over again. I’m so glad he found another way.

Nuwa saying “my sacrifice AND yours” what did she sacrifice? When she fixed the pillar the first time, was she the one that entered the pillar to fix the sky along with the stones?

WHERE IS NUWA EXACTLY??? Is that just what- the inside of the pillar looks like?

Will we see Nuwa again?

Oh my GOD Wukong catching Mk made me want to throw up. That little bit where we see it through Mk’s eyes kills me every single time.

People gaining elemental powers? Is that- every person who didn’t already have any? Like- some went into Red son did he gain MORE power like that one fire sneeze girl or is he the same? If he is, he’ll be mad LMAO

The chaos HHUUUGHGHGHB ITS SO PRETTY? I don’t know if it’s supposed to be unnerving but I want to stare at it for hours it’s so cool. Where is that? Outside the universe? How does the chaos affect things? WHO IS “HE?” I looked up Xiangliu and the only person I could associate that with was Gonggong who is another snake like entity.

Gonggong also knocked one of the eight pillars (theres eight?) holding up the sky and ends up dying in a battle with someone called Zhurong who is a fire god and has some story with Nuwa!

They’re all snakes. What is with snakes in this world?

Was Macaque still investigating? At the end, he’s in the court room again for some reason and at the start of the season he said he was looking around for stuff related to Mk. Macaque is a hero and he cannot deny it anymore.

Oh yeah the ten kings of the underworld are dead. What the fuck happens to dead people now?

Why does Macaque have chaos magic, who did he make a deal with and WHY WAS IT ON THE STAFF.

Li Jing is a complete asshole. If we’re basing him off canon then there’s no return but if him vandalising his son’s grave ISNT CANON, then he’s just bad dad. I hope he trips and falls over and embarrassingly gets a bruise on his forehead.

Nuwa x Lady Bone Demon toxic Yuri <33

I love Nuwa but I also hate her sm right now. Why did there have to be a cycle? Because there needed to be someone to fix the sky? Because that person would never be enough and they weren’t fixing the sky they were resetting it all instead? This is down to Nuwa underestimating the world- we see that- but I just cannot get over that she made a baby for the sole purpose of dying. He gets up, he gets the stones, he dies. He experiences nothing, he speaks to no one.

And Mk has absolutely had that life a thousand times.

But she doesn’t react as emotionally as I wished she had. This is nothing against the writers, I am just a Nuwa hater and lover rn. She was perfect, so cool, such an amazing character but she still needs to pay child support.

[cosmicjoke]

Levi never Glorified Violence and Never needed to be Taught a Lesson that Violence is Wrong:

Nothing makes me want to rip my hair out more than when I see clowns saying Levi was "blinded by revenge" over wanting to kill Zeke, that he was "too violent", and that's why he got blown up by the thunderspear.

It's such a deeply, fundamentally WRONG understanding of why Levi wanted to kill Zeke, and also, of why he ended up getting blown up. I've already spoken about the strategically sound reasoning behind Levi's actions, which you can read here, if you're interested: https://www.tumblr.com/cosmicjoke/746918499422781440?source=share But to summarize, Levi hooking Zeke to the thunderspear made perfect, logical sense within the context of Zeke's own actions and behavior up to that point. Zeke was someone who until then had engaged in tactics of deception and double-crosses, who had only killed others while at a safe distance and within the cocoon of his Titan form. Decidedly the actions and behavior of a coward. Levi had no, good cause to suspect Zeke would be willing to blow himself up to also take Levi out, and so his reasoning that the thunderspear would act as insurance against Zeke escaping while Levi was preoccupied with driving the cart back to the capital was a reasonable and logical conclusion for him to make. It wasn't a decision blinded by rage or an action taken in hast. Just like it was reasonable for Zeke to assume Levi would rather die than cut down his own comrades, because he knew of Levi's compassion. Both of them underestimated each other, and both of them paid for making assumptions about the other.

But further to the point, this whole idea that Levi was being "punished" for his violence is the stupidest shit I've ever seen. Because it basically posits that Levi glorified violence, and so needed to be "taught a lesson" that violence was wrong, when he's the one character in the story who NEVER did that. He never reveled in violence, he never tried to frame it as something good or desirable, or even tried to justify it. He always spoke about and treated violence for what it was, a means to an end and nothing more. He never tried to moralize it or excuse it. He was always completely objective about it.

Compare, for example, the matter of fact way Levi explains violence and killing to Armin and Jean, versus how Zeke frames his own actions of violence. Zeke calls his murder of people a "mercy". He frames it as a positive action which results in a positive, better outcome. He has a totally warped view of killing and violence because he tries to justify it and moralize it to himself and others. He tries to frame his violence as something which makes him a hero. Levi does no such thing. He tells Jean and Armin that he doesn't know if it's right or wrong to kill, only that if Armin hadn't killed that MP, they would all be dead, and that Armin can't go back to the person he was, because he's now taken human life. He isn't justifying it, or moralizing it, he isn't trying to spin it into something positive or good, or even into something bad or wrong. He's simply stating an objective truth and then telling the 104th that they need to make their own choice about what they believe is right and wrong in any, given situation.

Or compare the way Levi approaches torturing Sannes to how Hange does. Hange goes into that situation gung-ho at the idea of torturing Sannes, because she wants revenge on him for killing Pastor Nick. She thinks she'll enjoy torturing Sannes, and attempts to enjoy it by taking it to an extreme, only to realize she's getting no satisfaction at all from her cruelty. By comparison, Levi never does or even attempts to take pleasure in the act of torture. He approaches it as a means to an end, something he has to do in order to obtain the information they need to overthrow the current government. There's no justification in his mind, no excuse he tells himself to make himself feel better about it. He already knows it's horrible and ugly. He already understands perfectly the wretched reality of violence. Again, he's the ONLY character in the story who does, from start to finish. It's why Hange is so rattled and upset after torturing Sannes, because she thought it would be fun, only to learn it was anything but. Levi never thought it would be fun, he never expected it to be, never wanted it to be, and he never tried to convince himself that it was anything better than what it actually was. It's why we see his shocked expression when Hange engages in unnecessary cruelty by ripping one of Sannes' teeth out. He's always been the most objective character when it comes to violence. He's never labored under any belief that his violence made him a hero, and he never tried to glorify violence to anyone or told them they were heroes for killing.

It's also why Yelena says to him what she does, during the final arc, and the battle at the docks. Because she knows that he knows, better than anyone, the inherent violence of the human condition and the ugly reality of it. Yelena is trying to again push her fanatical belief in Zeke's antinatalist philosophy, by pointing out that people are always going to kill and be cruel to each other, and she makes the point to Levi specifically, because she knows Levi is the only one who'd already long ago understood and accepted that truth.

So this idea that Levi is this ultra-violent, revenge-obsessed lunatic that needs to be taught that "violence is bad" is fucking moronic, and I am SICK TO DEATH of seeing people perpetuate that bullshit take. I want to tell everyone who does to just shut the fuck up already, because they're actively damaging the perception people have of Levi's character every time they spew that garbage.

[fanfic-obsessed]

Responding to the Talk Shop Tuesdays post!

Leverage x Star Wars. Thoughts?

(I've had vague wonderings of leverage-style clone wars shenanigans but can't really get past "someone talks them into wrecking Palpatine's shit and they do" so I'm just throwing this into the air).

Alternatively, if you also have no thoughts there, favorite way you've written Palpatine accidentally shooting himself in the foot?

Oooh, Leverage and Start wars. I had not had that thought before…now I do. It’s legally required. 

I know you said during the clone wars but post Order 66 immediately came to mind. Let's start with our cast.

Mastermind: Cody (initially this was going to be Obi Wan with Cody being the hitter, but bear with me I think this will be even better). Cody deserts the empire, a broken man, lost everything. He thinks everyone he ever loved is dead.  A few years after his desertion, he gets his chip removed through a series of unfortunate events (though he never actually finds out what it is or what it does). He is drifting through life, doing just enough work to get the money to keep drinking. An honest man. And a smart one. 

Grifter: Obi Wan. After the Order goes out. After Anakin. After the birth of the twins, Obi Wan does spend a year or two on Tatooine. But Owen Lars makes a very specific good point, even a single slip up (and there are always slip ups), will bring the Empires attention to Tatooine (They believe Anakin is dead, so it is the Emperor’s attention that Obi Wan fears) and with that to Luke. It is better if Obi Wan is anywhere else. Owen is gracious in victory and agrees to updates up to four times a year.  So Obi Wan, Ben, loses himself. A new name every night, a new planet, a new voice.  The galaxy is a large place and Ben knows how to slip through and around the cracks.  Though no one has made the connection yet, a number Ben’s alias’s are wanted by the Empire, the Hutts, and the remaining Mandalorians (current total bounty’s, in credits, for all of his other aliases almost reaches the Empire’s bounty for Obi Wan Kenobi).

Hitter:  Boba Fett. Bounty Hunter. The only clone who wasn’t (who was a son). Often underestimated because of his youth. Alone by both circumstances and choice (even with Pond's death, Boba would be welcomed by most clones had he been willing to see them as sentient).  He is a teen when our team comes together and is still one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy. At first he barely considers any of these people sentient and is not sure why he is sticking around, but this is also the safest he has felt since his father had died. 

Hacker: Echo. After Tech’s death Echo found that he could not stay with the Bad Batch.  The ghosts of everybody he had lost draped around him, weighing him down, leaving Echo feeling he could not go back to the Rebels or Rex either.  He skimmed enough credits from various Empire accounts that he was able to buy himself a ship, which he then modified. He decided he would find, no matter the firewalls, every scrap of video or information regarding his lost brothers (all of them). That they would not be forgotten. When he found information that was pertinent to the Rebels, or the Bad Batch  he would send it along, but he now worked alone.

Thief: Reva. After the purge Reva hid for hours under the bodies of her friends. Before it was dark enough that her movement would not immediately give her away. Then weeks creeping through the lower levels of the temple before she could find a way to escape (All the while the giggles of her friend echoed in her head- This part of the temple had always been off limits and they had all talked about being big and strong and facing what was waiting in the dark-Reva did not feel big and strong now, but there was nothing more in the dark she feared). She taught herself to step soundlessly, barely touching the ground. She taught herself how to make herself small, or just big enough (just enough to wedge herself into a small, high, space).  It is amazing what one can learn if survival is on the line. Those hours coveted in the blood of her friends, the Force echoing with the horror her family was experiencing, then the weeks in the dark tunnels changed Reva irrevocably. Before she can be found by the Empire, she is found by a Master thief who sees in her his chance to pass on his legacy (Reva is just the right kind of broken).

Now that we have our cast, let’s look at how they come together. 

I love the Leverage Pilot, so let’s use that as a Framework.

Cody is drinking on Ord Mantell, approximately 14 BBY or 985 AAR,  when he is approached a Falleen Noble, who wants to hire him to run a job (though I do not know what the Falleen noble would say, I do imagine Cody saying Nate’s line “You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We’re coming up on that pretty quick”). The Noble has hired Boba, Echo, and Reva as the rest of the crew.  The job is to steal back some plans (let's be honest this job does not matter much).  

The Job goes well, but when Echo mentions how well it went, he gets the brush off. Due to the fact that Cody still does not know about the chips, every other member of the crew has issues with clones. We speed run through the Falleen noble gathering them together for one last betrayal and an explosion. 

They wake up in a med ward. All of their DNA is being run. This is bad news. Standard panel would show that Reva is Force Sensitive (though no one else in the room knows that). It would also mark the other three as clones (Even Boba). Though the Empire does not particularly care about employing Clones, they would still pay handsomely for escaped clones.

This is where we veer slightly.  

Reva’s panic in the Force draws the attention of Obi Wan, calling himself Ben right now.  Enough time has passed (and enough has happened that all of their Force signatures had changed) that Ben only just recognizes Echo, and no one else.   For a single moment Ben hesitates, they are not his business (Ben also does not know why he was shot at) and are possibly his enemies.  But there was Echo, familiar if only just, and with him someone who was Force sensitive. A young force sensitive (in Ben’s mind anyone who is the right age that they could have been in the council room that day was someone to protect, because he failed those initiates). 

Ben is very good at grifting, so is easily able to get the four out of there (They also do not recognize him) and get them to a safe house.  There are several moments of uncomfortable silence before Ben greets Echo with a teasing, “Hello There Echo” in his real accent and voice. 

Cody is the one who frowns and peers at Ben (clean shaven), because it couldn’t be…

Echo asks who Ben is, Ben smiles sadly and says “I suppose it has been many years since Skako”

This told Echo next to nothing (he’s been back to Skako Minor a couple of times since the war) but Cody just straight up sits on the floor in shock (Trying to say general and Obi Wan and you’re alive all at once-it is a little unintelligible). When Ben looks directly at Cody for the first time (Ben can’t quite let himself focus on any of the clones, for fear of what he would see)  he realizes exactly who it is.

Ben, by sheer happenstance, manages to sit in a chair. This is followed by Echo needing to explain about the chips and order 66 (“There was what in my head!?!”/”You all had what in your heads?!?”).

I picture them absentmindedly destroying Falleen Noble, in a similar way to the show. They do it because he tried to kill them/did not pay them (Ben took that personally for all of them- Cody: He tried to kill us, that is a bit more important than not paying up Ben<waving a hand>:Trying to kill you is nothing, but not paying you is just rude.) 

I picture that they decide they might as well stay together, and grow into a found family (with Codywan being the exhausted parents) traveling around to help people ala leverage. They cannot and do not start going after the empire immediately. None of them want to draw the attention of the Empire, but if some of their jobs do include liberating people and occasionally planets, well they just have to be careful to not bite off more than they can chew and not to leave any tracks. They also do stop at Tatooine every so often (It turns out Owen likes Ben an awful lot more when he is not camped out in their backyard) so Luke knows them.  

I imagine that when Leia is kidnapped, a few years later, Bail is still able to reach Ben. The Leverage crew immediately go to save her. It is during this that it becomes known that Reva had been in the Temple, had been in the council room. This is very swiftly followed by the realization that Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader (which none of the crew had known).

This…This is what circles them back around to take on the Empire (a cross between Leverage Season 3 and Leverage Season 4). They still work to help people, but it becomes more pointed. Throughout their new self appointed mission, Ben starts to train Reva, to help her overcome the trauma of the Purge.  

As they are now acting more deliberately against the Empire they begin to come across more familiar faces. Rebels (including Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor). Bail reintroduces them to Fulcrum (Ahsoka has mixed feelings about Obi Wan in particular. He challenges the way she remembers Anakin with rosy glasses). 

It certainly ends with Palpatine staring in abject shock as his empire burns around him.  Vader is being escorted to get correctly fitting prosthetics, from which he will go to prison. Bail ends up taking the Emperor position to start working on turning the Empire back to a Republic. 

Our team keeps going on finding people who need…Leverage

My favorite way that Palpatine shot himself in the foot is in Read the Fine Print  where Palptines first domino was his last, because he did not pay attention to a sub clause in the treaty. 

That was fun. Thank you @somestorythoughts

[ambiguous-avery]

Chasing Shadows, Part 3

Dean Winchester x OC fem!Touched!Reader/You | WC: 6647

Summary: She’s never been afraid of the dark, not really. She’s more concerned about getting lost in it. He’s haunted by every dark deed he’s ever done. It’s constantly nipping at his heels like a hell hound. He’s her light in the dark, and she’s the one bit of darkness he’s willing to embrace.

Tags/Warnings: No use of Y/N, canon-typical violence, eventual romance,  eventual smut,  fluff and angst, POV alternating (sometimes a little all over the place), no beta we die like men

Disclaimer: The base concept of Touched comes from @aylacavebear and is used with permission. I’ve taken creative liberties with it.

A/N: Well my silly little brain realized I made a slight mistake when copying and pasting stuff over to Tumblr for my previous chapter, and I missed an entire paragraph. Just in case, double check the very end of chapter two. There should be an additional paragraph between MC’s statement, “I need to find my place in the world, and I know it’s not here.” and Dean’s response. I hope you guys know how absolutely amazing it is to see familiar usernames pop into my notifications and knowing that you’re following along. Thank you so, so much! Chasing Shadows Series Masterlist

You hadn’t really thought this all through before you acted. The realization that the hunt was complete and that the boys would likely leave soon had been so jarring that you just went with your knee jerk reaction and demanded to go along with them. If you were being entirely honest with yourself, you hadn’t expected them to let you. Dean and Sam seemed like they had a system, and there was a zero percent chance that you weren’t mucking with it. But you needed answers. Your curiosity demanded it. When they had agreed, you had quickly packed together a duffel bag of clothes, naively underestimating just what you had asked for.

When Sam explained it all in full, you balked. Their home base wasn’t local, and they spent a majority of their time on the road.

But it didn’t deter you. You had marched your happy ass back upstairs, – intending to pack a full suitcase – taken one step into your room, remembered that there was a dead vampire body in there, and turned right back around to let the boys take care of it. You didn’t let yourself think too much into how they were going to deal with it and instead spent the time downstairs compiling a list of things you would need to take with you. Watching them drive off with the body had been incredibly difficult. There was literally nothing stopping them from leaving for good, your request to go with them be damned. 

You had trusted Sam and Dean with your life the night prior. Surely this was something less drastic to trust them about. Even so, you had checked the window in the front room for the Impala in between packing. They stayed true to their word and came back for you. So there you were. Two hours into a thirteen hour road trip with two absolute strangers with nothing but what would fit into a suitcase. And you were thrilled.

“So does everything in lore and mythology actually exist?” You asked excitedly. You were seated in the back seat of the Impala, your suitcase on the bench beside you, though you had spent most of the trip leaning forward as far as the seat belt would allow and peppering the boys with question after question. 

“I wouldn’t say everything. But we’ve definitely seen our fair share of creatures.” Sam had humored you most of the trip so far. The man was practically a walking textbook, and you were a sponge for information. 

“Ooh, you said that demons are real. Does that mean angels are too?” You had pieced together generic mental images of some of the creatures Sam had talked about. Most of them were cartoonish in nature, and you wondered if angels were the mass of eyes and wings that you had seen renditions of in various art pieces. Sam nodded.

“You know,” Dean chimed in, “we got an angel buddy we can call on. I’ll bet’cha he’ll have an answer for you.” You saw him glance at you in the rear view mirror, and the lap belt securing you creaked as you drew closer to him.

“Wait, really? It could be that easy?” A grin split across your face. “Then what?”

“What do you mean ‘then what’? Then you have your answer. And you do whatever you’re gonna do with it,” Dean said with a shrug. Your smile faltered. Why did that possibility disappoint you? You had spent countless years searching for an answer, and now that it was potentially so close, it didn’t have the same luster as before. Getting an answer directly from an angel seemed so… anticlimactic. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

If you were being entirely honest with yourself, you weren’t wholly sure why it wasn’t as appealing. There was something about the mystery of it. The search for the answer seemed more thrilling than actually having it. Your abilities have made you feel special, unique. Something that made you stand out from the crowd, a trait that all the heroes in fantasy stories you grew up reading had. What if the angel took one look at you and told you he had seen countless others like you, and you were just another run-of-the-mill creature the Winchesters hadn’t named yet? Doctors misdiagnosed all the time. Who was to say experienced hunters didn’t misidentify? You chose to hold onto the glimmer of hope that maybe you were something special.

“I just… I don’t know. I feel like it's cheating, just having someone tell me who or what I am.” You knit your brows together, leaning back in your seat. Sam turned as best as he could in his seat, having easily picked up on the change in your demeanor. 

“He’s not always available. Besides, we don’t have to ask him. If you really feel like you have to work for it, we have an entire library of knowledge you can dig through," Dean said. That lifted your spirits. A library full of information about supernatural creatures once thought to only live in stories. You were going to have a field day there.

When Dean glanced in the rearview mirror some three hours after you and Sam had momentarily stopped nerding out over the subtle differences between a strigoi and a garden variety vampire, he found that you had fallen asleep in the back seat. You had slumped over the comically overstuffed suitcase you had shoved your life into before throwing caution to the wind and hopping on the road with them. Your keys were in your hand, the LED light attached to them flashing through its colors. The sight pulled a half-smile from him.

Saving people was a natural part of the family business. He had done it time and time again, oftentimes without the victim ever knowing they had been in danger in the first place. Even when the victim knew, a ‘thank you’ was all that the Winchesters would ever ask for. But you? When he had watched you step out from the shadows, tears streaking down your face, you had looked at him with something he had never seen directed his way. He’d seen appreciative looks meant for him before, and a woman’s fancying gaze was nothing new. But the look in your wide eyes had been something more akin to the look a damsel in distress would give to the main character as he saved her in one of the old Western movies Dean had watched before. Being regarded as a hero was new.

He knew that the things he and Sam did technically classified them both as the good guys, but Dean wouldn’t delude himself into believing that he was a good guy. There was far too much blood on his hands to be the one who wore the white hat. Dean had accepted that fact long ago, ingrained it into his very being. What was the saying? Something something, take nothing and leave only footprints? It would have to do for Dean. Take nothing from the world and leave fleeting memories of him in the minds of others.

He should’ve been upset. You had absolutely no idea what you were asking to be involved in. Hunting wasn’t something people just decided to get into. The 401k and dental benefits were severely lacking, and that wasn’t even considering all the occupational hazards that went along with it. More than anything, he should’ve been angrier with himself. Saying yes and allowing you to tag along was absolutely asinine in retrospect, but the feeling of your lips against his the night prior flashed to the forefront of his mind every time he thought about saying ‘no’ and taking back the decision. Dean was no stranger to kissing people, but he was used to fast, desperate kisses that led to wrinkled bed sheets and sweet nothings gasped into existence. Even though he could clearly see that you were into him – you were awful at hiding your lingering glances – there hadn’t been any of that push for more behind your actions. Kissing had always been a means to an end, but without the promise of sex, it became a destination in and of itself. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had kissed him without the expectation of being shown a good time.

By the fourth or fifth time Dean had glanced at you in the mirror, he caught a glimpse of Sam watching him from the passenger side. He quickly reigned his thoughts in and met Sam’s gaze, letting nonchalance smooth over his features.

“What’s up, Sammy?” he asked, trying to sound more upbeat than he actually felt. Sam’s expression told Dean that he wasn’t buying it. Working so closely with Sam for as long as he had was a double edged sword. No one in the world knew him as well as Sam did. While that meant he and Sam were like extensions of each other when on a hunt, it also meant that he could read Dean like a book. Dean pretended he couldn’t.

“You said yes.” There was an edge in Sam’s voice, and Dean recognized the ‘I’m about to call you out on your bullshit’ tone.

“I say yes to a lot of things. Burgers, beer, pie... pretty women.”

“Except you wouldn’t say yes to a pretty woman asking to become a hunter. Yet here we are.”

“She didn’t ask to be a hunter, Sam. She wanted answers. Big difference. One puts you face to face with some ugly sons of bitches. The most dangerous thing about a book is a paper cut. Or dying of boredom… but I can think of a few ways to keep that from happening.” Dean quirked his eyebrows suggestively. Sam grimaced.

“Gross.”

“You’re the one who went digging for the answers.”

“You know that’s not what I was getting at.” Dean didn’t respond, so Sam veered off into a slightly safer conversation route. “Okay, fine. Any thoughts about what she is?”

It was an obvious out, and Dean was all too happy to take it.

“Well she passed the big three, so that rules out a lot. There were family photos all over the house, and a crucifix hanging above the front door.” Dean took another glance in the rearview mirror, making sure you were still passed out. He dropped his voice. “Cas can give us better clarity later. She can hunt down her answer all she wants, but I’ll feel better knowing she’s not something Cas says we need to worry about.”

“Yeah, whatever you say, Dean,” Sam said, shaking his head with a disbelieving half-smile on his face. He knew Sam wasn’t buying it, but Dean was stubborn enough that, if he dug his heels in deep, Sam would eventually let it go.

You woke with one hell of a crick in your neck. Falling asleep on your suitcase had been a terrible mistake, and now you were going to pay for it for the next day, at least. You sat up and rolled your shoulders, working out the stiffness as best as you could.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” You met Dean’s gaze in the rear view mirror, and you could see him grinning. You smiled back.

“Good morning,” you responded, taking a look out the window. You were no longer on the highway. Instead, it looked as though you guys were traveling through a small town, not unlike the one you grew up in. “Where are we?”

“Bumfuck nowhere, Kansas,” Dean said, “Sam might have found another case, and it’s on our way. Figured it couldn’t hurt to stop by and see if it’s something down our alley.” Your next breath was sharp.

“What are we hunting?” you asked quietly, all traces of drowsiness wiped clear from your system. Dean’s grin fell.

“We,” he motioned from himself to Sam, “are hunting a possible ghost. You are staying at the motel room we’re about to get.”

To make his point, Dean turned off the main road, pulling into the parking lot of a motel that sat across the street from a small diner and a pawn shop. You frowned.

“What do you mean? I can’t come with you guys?”

“Look,” Dean said your name and slung an arm across the back of the front bench of the car, twisting to look at you fully. “Sam and I have done this hundreds of times. You haven’t even been with us for a full 24 hours, and I’m not going to put you back in the middle of a case. You asked to come along so you could get answers. This doesn’t have anything to do with answers you’re looking for.” His tone held an air of finality that reminded you of the way your dad used to sound when he had made up his mind about something. You crossed your arms, likely looking as much like a kid as you felt at the moment. When you didn’t argue back, he got out of the car and went into the office.

You turned to Sam.

“Can’t you say something to him?” you asked, motioning to Dean’s retreating back. Sam shook his head, his long hair flopping a bit with the movement. Your frown deepened.

“He’s right. There’s too much that can go wrong even when it’s him and me on a case. You’ve seen firsthand that what we do is dangerous.”

“But wouldn’t it be better to have an extra set of eyes and ears on things? What if you interview people and you miss something they say? Or what if it’s a whole pack of vampires? Wouldn’t having more people be beneficial in that scenario?”

“Can you tell me the difference between a poltergeist and a banshee?” The sudden shift in the conversation caught you off guard, and your scowl quickly gave way to a confused look.

“What?”

“How do you get rid of a vengeful spirit? What can you do to slow it down?” Sam hit you with question after question, asking another before you could even begin to say ‘I don’t know.’ “You don’t know,” he said for you. “And that’s okay. We don’t expect you to. But on a case, there are things you need to know otherwise you put everyone at risk, including yourself.” As Sam explained his reasoning, he methodically stripped away every ounce of fight you had in your system until all you could do was nod dumbly in agreement with him. You didn’t like it, but it was a sound explanation. 

The three of you settled down into the motel room rather unceremoniously. You could see it in the way that they moved that they had a routine figured out. Dean tossed a duffel bag onto the bed Sam was sitting on, and you hadn’t missed the fact that there were only two beds in the room. On one hand, it would make the most sense for the two of them to share a bed and leave the other one for yourself. On the other, though, there was a solid part of you that was sure they were going to relegate you to the loveseat by the door. Both Winchesters were tall, and there was no way either of them were going to be able to get a good night’s rest on it. 

“Scoot over, Sammy. We’re back to sharing,” Dean grunted as he collapsed on the mattress next to the bag he had just thrown. Annoyance flashed across Sam’s face, and you saw him glance from Dean to you then back to Dean.

It would be a lie if you said you were only a little disappointed this hadn’t been a full on ‘only one bed and two of us’ cliche moment. You were fairly confident that Dean had some interest in you. The few times you had caught him looking at you in the car, he had met your gaze fearlessly and flashed that toothy smile that caused your stomach to flip. Every time. This wasn’t some Hallmark movie where a traveller came through and swept a small town girl off her feet. That sort of thing didn’t happen in real life. You had barely set your suitcase down beside the bed that had been unofficially dubbed yours before the boys were back on their feet.

“We’re gonna go do some investigating. Shouldn’t take us too long. We should be back around dinner time, and we can hit up that diner across the way,” Dean unzipped the bag he had set on the bed and passed a handgun over to you.

“You have both of our numbers, right?” Sam asked, double checking that his own phone was safely tucked away in his pocket. You nodded and took the firearm, noting that it was the same one you had been given before. 

“When we leave, you lock the deadbolt and stay here. You don’t let anyone in that isn’t me or Sam, and if you aren’t sure, you call. Got it?”

“What do you mean if I’m not sure?” You paused for a second. “Wait, nevermind. You’re talking about shapeshifters, aren’t you?”

The boys had left three hours ago, and you were running out of things to keep yourself occupied. The TV in the motel room didn’t have many channels, and the only thing worth watching on any of them were reruns of old sitcoms. There were only so many mind-numbing episodes of sitcoms you could stomach, and three hours of them were pushing it. You had dug through all the drawers in the room and had a notepad and golf pencil to show for your efforts. By hour four, you had had enough. The room was stifling, and you were sure that if you had spent any more time pacing, you were going to wear through the thin carpet. Between the lack of anything engaging in the room and the gnawing concern that maybe something bad had happened to Sam or Dean, you were ready to rip your hair out. You needed something to serve as a distraction.

The pawn shop’s neon ‘open’ sign across the way drew your eye when you peeked out the window. Sure, you had been told to stay put, but really, how much trouble could you get into going across the way? You tucked the handgun beneath the pillow of your assigned bed, took three steps towards the door, then stopped. How much danger did a ghost pose? Did it stick to one place? Or did it choose the people it latched onto or lashed out at? What were you even thinking? If it was a ghost, then you were in no more danger across the street than you were in the motel room. You wouldn’t be far, and it wouldn’t be for long. You were a big girl who could make her own decisions. You made sure to grab the room key on your way out.

The pawn shop was small and dingy, and the bars on the windows made it feel prison-like. There was a bell above the door that jingled when you walked in. The girl sitting behind the counter didn’t even bother looking up from the book she was reading, only making a small noise of acknowledgement as you walked by her. She was dressed from head to toe in black with several face piercings that you were sure would’ve been a bitch and a half to get. Honestly, she looked as bored as you felt. The shop was dead with only the two of you in it. There were only a handful of aisles in the shop which subsequently meant that you had meandered your way through them in no time. You went through for a second look, taking any chance you could get at spending time away from the motel room. The amount of junk that people pawned off was astounding. There were several power tools that looked like they would need a prayer to start working and far too many VHS players that people had likely gotten rid of with the advent of DVDs.

“Hey,” a voice caused you to freeze midway through reaching for a closed toolbox. You looked up to see the gal from behind the counter standing at the end of the aisle. 

“Uh... yeah?” you responded, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“There’s something you might like over here,” she said, her tone deadpan. You stayed rooted to where you were standing for a moment. Something felt... off, but you couldn’t quite place your fingers on what might have been causing the feeling. The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end, and you briefly reprimanded yourself for leaving the gun back in the motel room. This was weird, too weird for your comfort. But despite it all feeling strange, it didn’t necessarily feel wrong. It would be easy to leave and book it across the way back to the room. Dean and Sam would never have any idea that you had left, and things would be fine. The worker’s face poked from around the shelf after a moment, expression still impassive. “Come on. I don’t bite, I promise.”

And that’s what did it, your honor. That’s what had you running across the parking lot and barricading yourself in the motel room, crappy wooden chair braced against the door knob and you huddling in the shower, gun in hand. You absolutely weren’t going to be another vampire’s meal, and the ghost wasn’t going to possess you without a fight. Could ghosts even possess people? Sam was right earlier. You really had no idea about anything in the realm of the supernatural. It was officially your new goal to learn anything and everything about every supernatural creature that you could. By the time you were done with the library they had promised you, you were going to be a goddamn encyclopedia. You lost track of how long you spent in the bathroom, ears straining for any hint that the girl across the way had followed after you. When you finally deemed it safe enough to step out from the shower, you brandished the gun, eyes sweeping across the room warily. Nothing seemed out of place. The chair was still tucked against the door, and the only sound in the room was the blood rushing in your ears.

This was fine. 

Everything was fine.

You took several deep breaths, centering yourself back in the moment. Okay. The question then became ‘how to tell the boys you might have found a lead without revealing that you left the room.’ You had the very distinct feeling that telling them you left wasn’t going to fly very well. Was there a lie that would sound believable enough? God, what if there wasn’t even anything going on with that girl, and she was just weird? Was this all just one big case of apophenia? Dean and Sam said they were hunting a ghost; what were the chances that you just happened to come across the thing? Logically, it didn’t make sense. But still, there was something about the place that you couldn’t shake. And your curiosity was clawing at you.

By the time the boys had come back to the room and shared their findings, you had devised the perfect plan to lead them to the possible ghost without ever letting on that you had ever stepped out of the room. To your dismay, they came back triumphant, talking about how the spirit had latched onto some ancient heirloom that was passed down in a family. When the last family member had died and given the heirloom to someone of a different bloodline, the spirit that stuck around to protect the initial family hadn’t been happy and instead killed whoever had the heirloom. It was a cut and dry case. They had destroyed the heirloom, and without it, the ghost had nothing to tether it to this realm. Your foot tapped impatiently as they spoke, pushing around the last few of your fries on your plate. You interspersed questions about ghosts here and there, slowly honing in on your theory. Only powerful ghosts could possess people, and it was very rare that a ghost possessing someone had good intentions. Could there be more than one ghost in the same town? It wasn’t impossible. Improbable, maybe. But still within the realm of possibilities. You weren’t willing to let your hunch go to waste so quickly.

“Can we go into the pawn shop next door?” you asked when the bill came around. Dean raised an eyebrow at you.

“Doubt they have anything good,” he said with a shrug as he tossed several bills onto the table.

“Please? I’ve been cooped up in the hotel room all day. I’m dying to spend some time outside of it,” you pressed, putting on your best puppy dog pout. Sam laughed.

“You two can go. After getting tossed around like a ragdoll, I need a hot shower and some sleep.” Sam brushed his hair out of his face and moved to stand up from the booth. Dean followed suit.

“Just what I need… someone else in my life who has puppy dog eyes as a weapon.” He snatched one of the fries you had left behind on your plate. “Let’s go see what kind of junk they have next door.”

As much as you had wanted Dean to walk into the pawn shop first, he kindly held the door for you and made a dramatic gesture of bowing as you walked past. “After you, princess.” You laughed and tamped down your nerves enough to place your hand on his head, briefly noting how deceptively soft his hair was, and pushed, forcing his bow to deepen.

“A real bow to royalty would expose your neck. It shows reverence,” you teased. He chuckled and turned his head enough to look at you.

“I always associated reverence with religion. I’m not a religious man, but I’d worship you if you asked.” You were pretty sure your eyes had doubled in size because wow that was a line if you had ever heard one. But also, how the hell he had delivered it in a way that didn’t make you cringe was truly a mystery. You didn’t have a response for him and instead continued into the pawn shop, warmed by the blush Dean had managed to color your cheeks with.

The same woman with piercings from earlier was seated behind the cash register again. She glanced up from her book, and you froze in place. The two of you made eye contact, but you didn’t see a hint of recognition in her eyes before she went back to the book she was reading. Despite that, you still felt on edge. Something about this place just didn’t feel... normal. Just like before, you couldn’t quite say that things felt wrong. 

“Does this place feel weird to you at all?” you asked quietly as Dean stepped into the shop behind you. 

“It’s a little musty, but you can’t really have high expectations for a small place like this,” he responded. He made a move to wander down an aisle, but you grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and tugged him in the opposite direction.

“Can... can we look over here?” you urged, pointing towards the glass jewelry case just to the right of the cashier. Maybe he just needed to get closer and his hunter senses would tingle. That was a thing, right? Definitely how those worked.

“Yeah, go for it, sweetheart. I’m gonna look over here,” he jut his thumb in the opposite direction you were hoping for. You had to suppress the frown that threatened to tug the corners of your mouth downwards. Of course he wouldn’t make this easy on you. 

You approached the jewelry case carefully, keeping the cashier in your peripheral vision. She seemed thoroughly engrossed in her book, though you weren’t ready to fully believe that she wasn’t secretly tracking you just above the pages. The jewelry case was only half full of various rings and necklaces neatly laid out for viewing. There were several commemorative coins and badges and a few knives in the case as well. Surprisingly though, none of the glittering pieces caught your eye. Instead, your gaze gravitated to a single dark pendant. You scooted closer to the side of the display case where the pendant hung. The thoughts of what the cashier might have been up to suddenly slipped from your mind as the necklace drew all of your attention to itself. 

Realistically, it wasn’t anything fancy and probably didn’t belong in the same case as the diamonds that sat next to it. It was a simple crescent moon shaped pendant that was a little smaller than a silver dollar. Silver wire was wrapped around it haphazardly, and it hung from a black, braided cord. The most interesting thing about it was that it appeared to have been chipped out from a solid piece of obsidian. You vaguely remember seeing someone at a museum forever and a day ago chipping away flakes of obsidian from a larger chunk to shape an arrowhead. This looked the same, right down to the edges that you were confident were sharp enough to leave a nasty cut if you grabbed it the wrong way. 

“Can I look at this?” you asked, momentarily forgetting all about your concerns of a possibly possessed cashier. Big mistake.

The cashier was already looking at you when you glanced at her to ask for the necklace in the case. There was a flicker of acknowledgement in her eyes, and a smile that looked entirely out of place on her crept over her features. Your hackles rose, and you spared the briefest moment of attention towards where Dean was hidden behind several shelves. If you screamed, surely he would get to you in time. You saw him tuck the handgun into the inside pocket of his jacket before dinner, so you weren’t entirely caught flatfooted. Well, he wasn’t. You, on the other hand, only had the silver pocket knife Dean had insisted you cut yourself with before he let you into the Impala. While it was better than nothing, you weren’t sure you wanted to get close enough to stab a ghost or whoever it might have possessed. 

The sound of the pendant clattering onto the glass case drew you from your thoughts. 

“This is what you were talking about, right?” the cashier asked in the same deadpan tone from earlier. You gave a single curt nod but didn’t move to touch the necklace. As if she had sensed your hesitation, the cashier took a step back, back pressed against the wall behind her. You moved slowly, half expecting her to lunge at you or screech or whatever it was that ghosts did to scare people. She didn’t budge, and as your fingertips brushed against the stone pendant, you were surprised to find that it was warm. Touching it immediately soothed your nerves, and while you were still consciously wary of your surroundings, the little voice in the back of your head that told you to run as far away as possible went quiet. Your shoulders relaxed, the tension falling away from them in large chunks the longer you held onto the moon.

“How much for it?” you asked, and when you looked at the cashier again, it seemed as though the stone’s calming effect extended to her as well. The strange smile that had split her face before was more serene and human-like. 

“Five bucks and we’ll call it even,” she said simply. You nodded, still unsettled by the entire situation. But if it were a bad situation, then Dean would’ve noticed it, right? Speaking of, you were about to turn and call out for him, wanting to know where he had gotten off to. There weren’t many places to hide in this small shop.

“What’d you find?” Dean popped up behind you, and you just about tossed the necklace into the air. You turned around to glare at him.

“Where did you go?”

“Wanted to see if they had any guns I was interested in. What have you got there?” He motioned to your hand, and you held it out to show him the necklace. Dean gave a small nod of acknowledgement, and you paid for the necklace, running a finger along the smooth surface of the moon all the while. You saw it when the cashier handed you the receipt for your purchase. Her movements, which up to that point had seemed almost stilted and awkward, evened out, and as you watched her grab her book and take a seat on the stool again, it looked like the most natural thing of all. She had gone back to ignoring you and Dean. It was fucking weird.

You stepped out of the pawn shop with Dean in tow, and you slipped your newly acquired necklace over your head. The pendant, which was still inexplicably warm, sat against your skin as you tucked it beneath your shirt. As soon as it was settled, the pendant suddenly hummed to life, vibrating gently for a few endless seconds before going quiet. 

“Dean, di–” Your vision went dark.

The Void was a familiar place to you. You didn’t know all of its intricacies, but deep down, you knew it like it was an extension of yourself. It wasn’t quite a friend, but it wasn’t an enemy either. The Void was just that – a void. A mass expanse of nothing that existed for reasons you couldn’t possibly fathom. And there was nothing there. Besides you.

And whatever that was.

Ahead of you was something you couldn’t find the words for. The Void was dark, lacking all light, but whatever you were looking at was somehow darker. If the Void was a shadow, then the thing was a negative space within the darkness. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, but the longer you stared and tried to make out a definitive shape, the more the edges of the nothingness shifted, eluding you. You swallowed hard. You hadn’t Walked into the shadows, and the only time you ever slipped into the Void by mistake was when you were sleeping and had a nightmare. Although you couldn’t make out an actual shape of whatever was in front of you, it lifted its head as though it had been hunched over with its back towards you.

It turned around, and although this other side of it was still as featureless as the first, you swore you could feel eyes on you. Its gaze pierced through you, seeing every building block that had put you together piece by piece. In that moment, you had the very distinct feeling that whatever this thing was could unmake you with little more than a thought. And it was a terrifying realization.

“Well, well, well... you aren’t supposed to be here.” The words resonated in your head. They were a whisper against your cheek. They were a song in your heart. They were everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. But most importantly, the Void didn’t eat them. The words were spoken in a voice you didn’t recognize, but it was distinctly feminine in nature. You couldn’t explain it, but you watched as the figure raised a finger to their lips. “Shh... we’re both breaking rules by being here.”

“Who are you?” Your voice sounded foreign, and you realized this was the first time you could hear in the Void. 

“That’s not the question you want to ask.” The voice’s tone was gentle but firm, like a teacher nudging a student in the direction of the correct answer.

“What are you?”

“Hmm... almost there but not quite. Give it one more try, won’t you, my dear?” 

“What am I?” The words left your lips before you realized you had even thought them.

The figure was suddenly right in front of you, invisible fingers pulling the crescent moon from beneath your shirt and unseen lips pressed against your forehead. You looked up, finding more nothingness in front of you but feeling the warm embrace of one arm wrapped around you.

“You are my Touched, and I bestow my blessing upon you.” The Void exploded, leaving you floating in a sea of stars that glittered like distant coins. It was a cloudless night, and you found yourself reaching out towards the only dark spot in the sky shaped like the crescent you wore around your neck.

“Hey, sweetheart? You in there?” Dean was snapping his fingers in front of your face. You jolted back into reality with a start, finding yourself standing just outside of the pawn shop. “You alright? Where’d you go?” Dean asked, and you watched as his eyes searched your face for any sign of... something. You weren’t sure what he was looking for.

“Yeah... sorry. Uh...” You tried running what had just happened through your head, but the harder you focused on it, the more it slipped away from you. “I wasn’t sure if I turned off the stove before I left home.” Dean laughed, your words placating him. 

“I’m pretty sure you checked everything about three times over before we left. I think it’s a safe bet that you’re okay.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The motel room was dark when Dean pushed the door open, and when he flicked the light on, he let out a low, exasperated groan.

“Oh come on!” When you stepped inside, you saw exactly what had drawn that kind of reaction from him. Sam had followed through on his plan for the evening. You could hear the bathroom fan still humming across the room, and Sam was collapsed in a heap on top of the blankets of the bed he and Dean were sharing. Supposed to be sharing. Sam had fallen asleep right in the middle of the bed. Whether that was on purpose or not was a different question, though. 

You wet your lips. Maybe there was a god and he had heard your unsaid prayers from earlier. With a heavy sigh, Dean grabbed his duffel bag from the bed and moved it to the small wooden chair in the room.

“Do you want help moving him?” you asked. Sam was tall and decently built – if the T-shirt clinging to his back muscles was anything to go by – but his height meant that his weight was likely more spread out. You certainly wouldn’t be able to lift him, but you were confident you could probably drag him a bit with Dean’s help.

“Nah, he took the brunt of the ghosts’s attention today. He deserves it. Just toss me one of the extra pillows; I’ll make do on the couch.” Even though his tone was nonchalant, there was a hint of something more beneath it. You remembered him mentioning that he was the older brother at some point during the car ride, and while you hadn’t ever had siblings growing up, you had friends that were practically family over the years. You would’ve given up the bed for them too if it meant they got to be comfortable.

A beat passed between you two as you grabbed a pillow from the second bed.

“There’s room in my bed,” you said before you could let your nerves get the better of you. “If you want,” you added hastily. Green eyes met yours, and your fingers unconsciously found the shape of the pendant beneath your shirt. It thrummed against your skin, and you felt your nervousness melt away as Dean spoke, his million-dollar smile lighting up the room more than the overhead lamp.

“You didn’t have to conspire with Sammy just to get me in your bed. All you had to do was ask, sweetheart.”

It felt good being God’s favorite.

---

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Part 2 --- Part 4

[afsosville]

Shen Jiu, if he was actually a competent shizun

My HC for how Shen Jiu is like with kids without trauma/healed trauma and shit: Honestly with a person like Shen Jiu, I can only see his interactions with kids going one of two ways, him being so very fond of them, and ofc, how he's like in canon. Ok look, in the third book under Shen Jiu's character description, it said that Shen Jiu definitely had more reasons to relate to Luo Binghe than to hate him yet he still chose violence for some fucked up reason. So yes, I for one headcanon that when he's in a better place mentally, he would choose to be doting and fiercely protective. We've seen that he's capable of being like that with Ning Yingying (and Qiu Haitang), and it's not outwardly obvious, but we can see it with the way she behaves around Shen Yuan when she thinks that's still Shen Jiu. She definitely acts like a spoiled younger sister/daughter who looks up to her guardian and shows a great amount of trust in him. So just imagine if that was extended to all of his disciples.

No coz if he was spared enough kindness for him to actually want to do better, he would choose the first option and emphasize with LBH instead BECAUSE smn gave HIM a chance and emphasized with HIM. LBH and SJ are parallels, and so whatever happens to SJ, it would be reflected onto LBH.

I am dead. I am so dead. I'm bleeding out so fast and goddammit it HURTS- SJ and LBH's whole story hurts sm.

Anyways-

I kinda like to imagine that when Shen Jiu's heart settles on the fact that maybe, just maybe, bleeding on ppl who didn't cut him and taking his hurt out on LBH is a no good very bad idea, he's going to end up over compensating for his whole fucking childhood and the way he projects on him is completely flipped.

"I'm going to treat you the way I wanted to be treated and ur going to feel loved and safe do you hear me?!?"

"Yes shizun (*＾v＾*)"

Here's the thing, he may be fond of his disciples, but he is still shit at taking care of them. He was robbed of his own childhood, so he doesn't know what normal kids act like in the first place. And he has no idea what the typical stages of development are and he would totally underestimate how dumb kids who didn't grow up like him would be. So yeah, shit at babysitting but loves them anyhow, for the same reason he would hate them in canon. (They remind him too much of himself). Idk, him being bad with kids regardless of trauma is so funny to me.

That moment when it clicks for him that he may not hate them after all: "oh gods these brats actually like…me? Me? Fuck what the hell do I do?! This is why no one should trust me with kids Aghhhhh!! Still think they're brats tho :( but they're my brats >:) "

He'd be like Shifu from Kung Fu Panda as a shizun. He's strict, harsh as hell and shows no mercy when training, coz becoming a cultivator/martial artist is fucking hard and requires alot of discipline anyway. So he really is doing his best to make sure his disciples come out on top. Shen Jiu is a prideful person by nature, it's just that his disciples are his pride. He's always there for them when they need him, and he will make sure that none of his disciples will ever have to go through anything he has. He wants to be the reliable adult that his disciples seek out. (He will never let it be known that he seeks his disciples' approval and validation as much as they seek his.)

Really fucking specific but idgaf. My social teacher brought chocolate bars to class and gave them out one time. After a few moments she asked if everyone was enjoying themselves. After she heard us agree she went on a lesson about slave labour and the production of goods in underdeveloped countries. Shen Jiu. Would do this. Because he’s a madman.

And Binghe. He would still end up a little unhinged. Like sure being under a master that abuses you will fuck you up one way but if you had a guardian who will start genocides and watch cities burn for you… It does things.

Shen Jiu is morally ambiguous as fuck and that rubs off onto his disciples. He is still a terrible role model, but his kids wouldn't trade him for the world:)

Would be the type that gives 5 yr olds knives for birthdays, bc he had a shit ton of them hidden away on his person when he was that age and knew how to use them when he was on the streets.

“What? It's an appropriate gift! The kid needs to have smt to protect herself! Yeah I know she didn’t grow up on the streets so what? No need to rub it in. Ok fine! I’ll teach her then just shut up. Let’s go Yan-er, some people just don’t appreciate the value of giving practical gifts WAIT PUT THAT DOWN-”

Is this lowkey self indulgent? Yes. Do I particularly care? No. I just want my favourite blorbos to be happy, is that too much to ask for? My Roman Empire is that SJ probably could've been a crazy good shizun if he had a chance to heal. If you've read The Hidden Flower, then you know exactly what I mean.

I already made a post with all of the soft BingJiu fics ik. I could literally make another one rn where they're just chilling platonically, or even as an adoptive family bc I have no chill like that and read all the SJ fics there is to read.

It's already summer and all I have going for me is my job rn and I am sooooo close to going through all nearly 400 pages under the SJ tag coz I simply can.

[districtfourmermaid]

It's the Nut!

I understand Gale's rage. I know it. I know that when Gale says they could block even the train tunnel, he's getting carried away, thinking only of what the Capitol did to District 12. What these people working in the Nut facilitated. Katniss knows it, too.

"'We watched children burn to death, and there was nothing we could do!' I have to close my eyes a minute, as the image rips through me. It has the desired effect. I want everyone in that mountain dead."

Katniss pulls back for a moment, because she's also from 12, and she likens the Nut to a coal mine. But who knows better than Gale what that would feel like? His dad died in the mines just like hers. She could barely stomach the annual field trip down there and hates the thought of him working there. But he worked there. He knows exactly what the avalanche would inflict on the people. He knows very well how it will feel. And he says that if he were a spy in the Nut, he'd say "bring on the avalanches," because he's committed to the cause and knows the rebels will never win without taking the Nut and District 2. Katniss would do it, too, be willing to die for the rebels if she were in the Nut. There are only a "handful" of spies, after all.

Boggs, of course, is steadier and suggests leaving the train tunnel open for surrenders. Gale is usually very reasonable, so this moment is odd for him. Who doesn't say things worse than they mean in fits of rage? After what he saw in 12, saving all those people and it still not being nearly enough, he's not out of line. But he may be slightly blinded by that rage. Once he calms down somewhat, even he sees that leaving the tunnel is right. He's just cautious, saying they should be armed, because those "surrendering" surely will be. And he's right about that, too (Katniss's spleen might want to weigh in).

At the end of the day, though, the Nut is a military base. It's the key to 2, which is the last stop before the Capitol. People are dying across Panem every day. The Capitol wants a ceasefire? No! The fire will cease when the people are free!And for that to happen, the Nut must be cracked. I do not have sympathy for the workers in the Nut who are not rebel spies. Those from either 2 or the Capitol who are genuinely fighting to keep the Capitol in power. They chose their side.

When talking with Beetee, Gale said they're using the same rulebook Snow used when hijacking Peeta. That would be the same one used when 12 or the hospital in 8 were bombed. But then, he's not. This is no where near as bad as what the Capitol has done. District 12 hadn't even officially rebelled yet. They never got the chance. The Capitol bombed a whole District of poor, malnourished, overworked, heavily policed regular people and followed up their bombing of 8 with hitting their hospital. I will never understand why people look down on Gale for suggesting violence may be required against a military base that launches hovercraft to go bomb more Districts.

After the bombing of the hospital on District 8: "I remember all those years in the woods, listening to Gale rant against the Capitol. Me, not paying close attention. Wondering why he even bothered to dissect its motives. Why thinking like our enemy would ever matter. Clearly, it would have mattered today. When Gale questioned the existence of the hospital, he was not thinking of disease, but this. Because he never underestimates the cruelty of those we face."

Katniss and everyone else needs to remember this. The Capitol's cruelty and the lengths to which Snow is willing to go to retain power know no bounds. There can be no progress without taking action, and holding back because you don't want to be too mean to an enemy who thinks of you as lower than dirt does not work.

[crowandthefics]

Little Valentina Diaz fic!

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Valentina sat quietly while some of the older campers talked about the titan war. Valentina had been in the Titan army but came back to camp after the war. People had basically forgotten she was the enemy once.

She wasn’t going to say anything till Connor said: “honestly how could someone be so stupid to join Kronos?” It was just a playful off hand comment, Connor hadn’t even known Valentina was in the Titan army but it pissed her off.

“Oh my gods Connor could you be any more insensitive? That was a massacre!” She exclaimed.

“Well yeah I know, so many people from camp ha-“ Connor didn’t get to finish before Valentina snapped at him.

“16. 16 from camp half blood died. Hundreds of demigods in the titan army were murdered. When I say it was a massacre I don’t mean against camp. Does anyone here actually understand the half blood who were in the TA?? You all claim to understand our frustration but I don’t think any of you do! Our dead hardly got funeral rites. Do you remember Ethan nakamura? No one wanted to give him funeral rites and he surrendered! He was Lucky drew was so insistent. Every one else got whatever rites living ex-TA members could make on the battle field. I don’t want to hear you talk about the Titan army ever fucking again.” Valentina was mad. She hardly gave the rest of the circle time to respond before storming off.

But people quickly learned not to insult the half bloods of the Titans army lest Valentina found out. And other ex-TA members knew she wouldn’t let them be disrespected.

Drew and Valentina may not be close or ever talk very much but they are a terrifying duo to see mad. A good reminder as well not to underestimate Aphrodite kids.

“Be nice around Valentina Diaz” becomes common advice to new campers.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

I headcannon Valentina as ex-TA if it wasn’t obvious!

Drew was never in the ta in my writing, but she does defend its half blood (mostly Ethan)

Uhh tell me what you think! I wanna hear anything you got as long as you’re not rude!

[rai-nie]

are there still beautiful things?

a/n: hi this is my first post plz enjoy :) lmk if there's a name not y/n or n/n because i originally wrote this with an oc

pairing: f!reader x jj maybank

warnings: jj's dad, violence, swearing, argument, abuse, hurt/comfort, angsty, fluff at the end i swear

“We can’t be together, y/n. You’ll end up getting hurt.” 

“I’m with you because I choose to be. Don’t you have trust in us?” 

During all the reckless Pogue adventures, Y/n never got hurt. Never. Until now. It wasn’t exactly a group mission, though. JJ had gone to his father’s house to tell him about the restitution money and he didn’t want anyone tagging along. He didn’t want his friends risking their safety for his well-being. But, he underestimated his girlfriend. She was determined to better JJ’s life, no matter what it meant. 

When Y/n reached Luke Maybank’s home, she could hear the sounds of arguing. The girl began running towards the commotion. Once the back porch came into view, she could see JJ and Luke shouting. Luckily, nothing physical yet. 

“JJ!” She shouted. Definitely a bad decision. Both turned their heads toward her and she stopped dead in her tracks. JJ could see his father start to make a move toward Y/n and his heart dropped to his stomach. JJ quickly moved to block Luke. 

“Who is this, your girlfriend? Does she know what a piece of shit you are? Huh?” Luke was up in JJ’s face at this point, the younger of the two determined to keep a straight face the entire time. 

“Who am I kidding, she’s probably just as worthless as you are.” Luke scoffed. He stormed off of the porch, down to Y/n. She tried to back up, but Luke was quicker. He grabbed her by the wrist, pressing down so tightly she began to lose feeling in her fingers. JJ’s face hardened, if that was even possible, at the sight of his father hurting his girlfriend. Y/n struggled against Luke’s grip to no avail. The man got up in her face, the smell of alcohol more present than she’d ever experienced. 

“Let me go!” She yelled. 

“Shut up! Shut up, you bitch!” Luke’s anger got ahold of him, landing a right hook on Y/n's face, then pinning her to the ground. His hands weren’t around her neck for long before JJ kicked him off of her. Y/n was recovering while JJ fixed the problem. 

The boy contemplated ending it for good, but knew that his life would end too. JJ’s mood quickly changed when he saw Y/n on the ground, cradling her wrist. 

“Hey, hey. Let me see.” JJ took her wrist in his hands, his touch as light as a feather. It was red, and Y/n winced whenever she rotated it. 

“It’ll be bruised, but you’re okay. How’s your neck?” Y/n tilted her head back slightly so JJ could get a better look. At the sight of the red line, JJ could feel his heart break into a thousand pieces. He did everything he could to protect Y/n, and it failed. He failed. JJ stood back up, turning his back to Y/n so she didn’t see the tears. 

“JJ?” She stood, reaching to put a hand on his back, but he flinched. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. Let’s just go back to John B’s, alright? We both need sleep.” JJ stayed silent, but agreed. He took Y/n's good hand and they walked to his bike.

The chateau was empty when the two arrived, which was beginning to be a normal occurrence. Y/n began to drag JJ into the bathroom to clean his wounds, but the boy insisted they just go to sleep. 

. . . 

When Y/n woke up the next morning, JJ wasn’t in the bed next to her. She listened for a moment, hearing the tab of a beer can open on the porch. Y/n climbed out of bed, sliding on some sandals before joining JJ on the porch. 

“Hey,” her voice was hoarse as she rubbed his back. “How’d you sleep?” JJ didn’t say anything, just shrugged. It was obvious that something was bothering him.

“J, what’s going on? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday. You know you can talk to me.” 

“Yeah, N/n. I know that, and I’m so grateful to have you, okay? It’s just..”

“Just what?” 

“I’ve been thinking, and I don’t think we should be together anymore.” 

Y/n's breath hitched. 

“What? Why? Did I do something? If I did something, please let me know because I can fix it, okay?” 

“N/n, you didn’t do anything. In fact, it’s what I didn’t do.”

Y/n tilted her head in question. 

“I couldn’t save you, okay?! I tried and tried but he got to you too, and if we stay together, you could get hurt again, or worse, and I can’t handle that, N/n! I can’t live knowing I’m putting you in danger.” 

Y/n's lip quivered and tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that the boy she loved so much thought he was the one who hurt her. JJ looked at her, two pairs of teary eyes meeting each other. JJ sighed, turning his back and rubbing his neck. 

“JJ, I am with you through everything. That is what I signed up for when I agreed to this relationship. I do not care who your father is. I do not care what shit I have to put myself through to see you alive and well. I love you and I always will. I am with you because I choose to be. Don’t you believe in us? No matter what shit life throws our way.” Tears were flowing freely down both of their faces now and Y/n's voice was cracking even more. “I do not care that I got hurt, because I am fine.” All JJ could see were the marks on her wrist and neck as he tried to listen to her words. He wanted to believe her, and Y/n could see he was trying. 

“What…What if you get hurt again? What do I do then, N/n?” His voice cracked and it broke Y/n's heart. 

“I don’t know, J, because it's hypothetical. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us in the future, but I do know I want to be with you through it all.” 

JJ was silent for a moment before he stepped forward and wrapped his arms lightly around her neck. Y/n sighed in relief and wrapped her arms strongly around his waist. JJ held her as if it was the last time he ever would, but he prayed to whatever god there was that it wouldn’t be.