#so I imagine if it did last more than a couple weeks they'd be terrors to deal with

[teatitty]

Do you think if Geralt and Dandelion ever had an argument before splitting for winter it just made them absolutely insufferable to everyone around them? Like Geralt goes back to Kaer Morhen and he's just stomping about the place, slamming cupboards and doors and making short snapping replies, stewing and sulking meanwhile Dandelion is in Oxenfurt putting the fear of the gods into students and faculty alike and it's a fucking relief to everyone when they finally make up and everything goes back to normal

[pansexual-puppy-pack]

day 4 of @theoraekenapperciation 's theo week 2024: canon divergence!

What if Theo was found by Parrish after Season 6A?

partly inspired by @multifandom-damnation 's fic Heart coming up my throat, think I'm getting worse at breathing !!

Jordan probably shouldn't have been surprised to find the Tundra at its most frequent spot—just west of the Preserve, a couple miles out from where his internal map placed the Nemeton. He turned the cruiser off and approached the truck.

There was a scent there; familiar, but only in passing. This was a supernatural creature the Hellhound was meant to be protecting, but something wasn't right. It might've been the sharp presence of night terrors or fear in John Doe's scent or the simple fact that Jordan couldn't identify what kind of creature this was based on their scent. That was wrong. He was a Hellhound—that was basically his whole thing. He was getting two conflicting ideas: Werewolf and Werecoyote, and unless there were two people in that truck—unlikely, considering the singular, lightning-quick pulse Jordan heard—this might have been one of the surviving chimeras from the Dread Doctors incident last year, which meant only one true result.

Jordan gently rapped on the glass window, immediately waking the kid up.

He groaned. "Come on,"

That voice. Jordan quickly placed it, the conclusion becoming clear in his mind. "Theo?"

Theo Raeken jolted to a seating position and brought his body forward to look at him. "Parrish."

Fuck. Theo should not have let this happen. He hurriedly pushed the hood off his head and started packing up his pillow and blanket. Fuck. Why was Parrish here? Theo had memorized most of the Deputies' and Park Rangers' routes by then, and he should not have been there at that time on that day—it would've been fine if literally any other officer had found him.

He kept an ear out for anything Parrish would feel, think, or say. He probably knew better than to ask what a teenager is doing, sleeping in his car by the Preserve, right? (If Theo saw this coming, he would've parked further within, but he could only take so many precautions. Fuck!)

He'd almost completely cleaned up his backseat before Parrish decided to say something.

"So _you're_ the John Doe that keeps popping up in our system," Parrish said, and—somehow—Theo knew he meant it without judgement, without malice, and—somehow—with understanding.

Theo wanted to beg him not to identify him in the system, wipe the record clean—anything to keep him anonymous in the eyes of law enforcement. The last thing he needed right now was a fine or a sentence; or worse, an impoundment.

Instead, he just nodded. "Apparently." Only then did he realize that they'd been having a conversation separated by the truck's windows, but that never really mattered to supernatural creatures anyway, so he ignored it.

Parrish exhaled from his nose, and Theo could imagine little tendrils of fire following it like a cartoon dragon.

He seemed to be deliberating. Whatever was going on in his mind, Theo really didn't want to stick around and find out, but all he did was crawl into the driver's seat and wait.

"How about," Parrish started, slow, like he was talking to a startled creature—which, honestly, couldn't describe Theo more at that moment. "I take you to my place? I have a spare mattress and a decent space heater."

Theo shook his head. He could find his own way. "I can't—"

—Parrish stopped him with a casual hand. "Just for a night, or..." After a short pause, a decision was made in Parrish's head. It's like Theo could see it.

"...Or I'll tell Scott."

Fuck. He got him—that was the best answer Parrish could've possibly given. (And he seemed to know it, given the scent Theo detected.)

Theo clicked his tongue. "Which way?"