#that aside: i am working on pulling stuff together for my monster hunter au i just dont know quite how Miasma and Juno faced each other down

[smidgen-of-hotboy]

Hello hello I'm back :) and uh- quick heads up, I have not listened to TMA (at least not past season 1). so any references you have been making up to this point, have flown way over my head. I am a-okay and very comfortable with spoilers tho.

You've built the mental image for me of Juno bringing someone to his apartment with the intention to get laid only for them to see Small Fry and be completely lost doting on her, going "Oh can I feed her pretty please?"

GOOD ON SMALL FRY THO- she knows trouble when it's staring her down across the room.

PETER, BAD FAE- PUT THAT RABBIT DOWN-

You've also now created the mental image of Ben looking into a mirror in Purgatory and he sees nothing. Juno looks into the same mirror and he sees Ben.

Juno will forever be haunted by the past. He carries it like a fault of his own. Like it's his mistake for not taking the bullet instead. Smth smth- survivors guilt, ptsd, it's all about perception.

*raises hand in confusion* what is "Not!Them"? Is this a reference to something? (Smth tells me it's a TMA reference... my quick Google search confirms my suspicion. Uhhh- refer to my message at the top lol, I am so sorry. Looking back now you've been making a lot of TMA references haven't you?)

I think I understand what you're getting at tho? Jack wanted what Sarah had so he took what was hers and basically "stole her soul". Effectively replacing her at NorthStar. Their roles/positions becoming swapped and now Sarah had nothing, making her paranoia and mental illness worse. Something like that?

Something about fears and beliefs creating monsters and Sarah creating Andromeda and all the monsters she battled. The number of children who watched Andromeda and feared the things she took on. Andromeda the hero. Andromeda to Juno Steel pipeline for real.

Juno's love for Ben is so special. I had to relisten to monsters reflection to write one of the fics I posted on ao3, and I WISH they explored more of their bond as siblings. Bc Sarah telling them that they "can't fight, you are all the other has out there in the big mean world, so you two can't fight" hurt me so much. Bc as much as Juno isn't fond of Sarah and isn't clingy to her, he still believed that. He still does. He feels incomplete and alone without Benten, he feels halved. Dare I say cleaved. (And as someone who has an older sibling and has openly talked to them about wanting to die and feeling depressed, I saw the pain and devastation in their eyes. And for a brief moment I knew they were trying to think of the last few years where I was gone- and it hurt. Because it doesn't seem plausible but it is.)(sorry that got too personal dnakxhsizo)

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE mask imagery and usage MWAH chefs kiss

Doctor Soup.

Juno being in so much pain (agony even) that he doesn't care is on brand. Our lady has yet to hit character growth. He's yet to have a taste of power.

SACRIFICAL LAMB PETER NUREYEV!! everytime you talk about him like this the Hannibal fan in me does a happy little dance.

(My say is calling the CP a desert purely bc i like the idea of reversal. When you hear desert your brain jumps to dry lands and hot sun, not cold wasteland and toxins. That's just me tho)

PERCEPTION PERCEPTION PERCEPTION- I love it when characters can mimic others voices. (I have a character who is supposed to be a superhero of sorts, zey work on a team with others, and zir power is to manipulate zir voice. And it's cool. And it's freaky. And it's absolute torture when zey lose some friends and part of zir mind and imitate the voice of the team leader's girlfriend. Like I said- absolute torture.) What are Nureyev and Vespa's capabilities when they try to imitate something/someone? (Smth smth- it would be so fucked up if someone imitated Ben in front of Juno. So, incredibly fucked up)

Other Questions: I don't really have any past asking you what your TMA references were that I missed.

Hey! So, uh, I have some more stuff for the fae-hunter jupeter au, if you'd like to hear it? Regarding some more about the background and things and the other characters and also some intrusive thoughts Juno has regarding the cannibalism?

Oh fuck yeah babey lay it on me. This is the best Steel Twin Birthday Present and no other holiday or event going on irl I could've woken up to ever! And also does it mean anything if I say I have more thoughts on my monster hunter au bc I have a lot of new thoughts about it

[ibis-gt]

i made a fairytale au for cam and luther and then wrote nearly 5k words of fic for it?? which is wild bc i am not much of a writer. but. that’s under the cut. content warning for a pretty violent scene towards the end but there’s a happy ending i prommy

Once upon a time, there lived a prince. This prince, Luther by name, lived in a kingdom that was plagued by monsters. His father, the king, had gained his throne by feats of heroism, most notably by slaying a fearsome dragon that had ruled the land for years. The time came for Luther to prove he was worthy of the title of prince by slaying a monster of his own… 

Down in the countryside, farmers have been complaining for weeks of an ogre stealing their cattle and frightening their children. So Luther sets off in a splendid suit of armor, with a sword sheathed on one hip, a quiver of arrows on the other, and his bow slung on his back.

Luther rides his horse down to the village where the ogre was last spotted. He talks with the locals and gets a description of the creature. At least forty feet tall, they say, with greenish-grey skin and dark hair and teeth the length of a man’s forearm. Luther leaves his horse behind with the farmers because he doesn’t want her getting hurt and marches off, following a set of giant footprints left behind by the ogre, sword in hand. He would have to admit that he isn’t the best at sword fighting, and that really he’s never faced a monster on his own. But his father gave him a crucial tip: every monster has a weak point. Find the weak point, exploit it, and you’ll win every time. 

The footprints lead through the plains of grass, past the area where the farmers let their cattle out to graze, and into a dark forest. The sun is going down before he manages to find the ogre, so he sets up a little camp with a little fire and rests his tired bones. His armor isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it takes forever to get on and off even with someone helping him, let alone by himself. He sits with his back to a big boulder so nothing can sneak up behind him and eventually drifts off.

Luther awakens the next morning and groans at how stiff and sore he is. He sits up and pauses, brow furrowed, remembering that he’d gone to bed sitting upright. But just now, he’d been lying on his back. And he’s not the best tracker, but those giant footprints look… disconcertingly fresh. These things add up in his mind. He just about passes out. He crouches down and puts his head between his knees for a moment until he can breathe again and his heart stops pounding quite so hard. He was right next to it! He fell asleep leaning on it! If his father heard about this he’d give him such a beating. How could he not have noticed that the boulder was actually - 

His stomach rumbles, interrupting his panicked thoughts, and Luther remembers that the last time he ate was back in that farming village around two in the afternoon yesterday. He digs out a bit of beef jerky and morosely works at it. His father swears by the stuff, but it just makes his teeth hurt. Luther dreams of the kitchens back home and drools a little.

He gives up on the jerky and manages to take down a couple squirrels with his bow and arrows. He gets his fire blazing again and sets them cooking over it, and sits down to draw in the dirt and form a battle plan. He gets wrapped up in his drawing and loses track of time, but is startled violently back to reality as a deep booming voice from behind him says, “Your squirrel’s burning.”

Luther’s eyes snap up to the fire. He hastily pulls the stick with his squirrels off of it, waving it in the air to put out the bit of squirrel that had caught fire. He blows on it and inspects the damage. Not too bad, a little charred. Still definitely edible. Then realization dawns, and he slowly looks up and over his shoulder.

That’s the ogre. He’s unmistakable. Huge, greyish-green, with shaggy black hair and big tusks that jut out of his mouth. He’s down on one knee looming over Luther, modesty barely preserved by a loincloth stitched together out of the pelts of many different furry animals. Luther wills himself to not faint for the second time that day. 

“You gonna eat that?” The ogre booms. “’Cause I will if you won’t.”

“W-well, yes, I was planning to,” Luther quavers, “But there are two, so, um, you can have one if you want? We can share?”

He takes the non-burned squirrel off the stick and holds it up. His hand only shakes a little. The ogre takes it carefully between thumb and forefinger and tosses it in his mouth. With such a tiny morsel, he’d usually just swallow it whole, but an interesting flavor makes him stop and savor it for a moment. 

“What’d you do to it? Not like any squirrel I’ve eaten. And I’ve eaten a whole army of squirrels.” He slaps a hand on his formidable belly. The sound makes Luther jump. 

“I- I didn’t do much, j-just some seasoning, I-I’m sorry, I d-didn’t mean to, please don’t eat me next." 

"You?” The ogre laughs. “Why would I eat you? You shared your food with me. That’s mighty polite. I’d say that makes us friends now, and I don’t eat friends.” He grunts as he shifts position, sitting down heavily and stretching out his legs. “Bad knees,” he grumbles. “Sat like that too long, but I wanted to see what you were drawing." 

Luther is now horrifically aware that he is directly between the ogre’s legs. He is also horrifically aware that he was drawing himself hitting an ogre with a sword. He hurriedly kicks some dirt over it. 

"Nothing. Nothing interesting. I’m a bad artist anyway.”

“Sure. What’s your name, little tin man? You didn’t seem too talkative when you snuggled up to me last night, but I thought maybe you were just tired. I’m Cam." 

"L-Luther.” Oh god. He was supposed to kill this thing, it - well, no, not ‘it’, he can’t think of Cam as an ‘it’ now he knows his name - he’s terrorizing folks, stealing their livelihoods, he’s supposed to drive him away, save the day, bring peace to the kingdom. Instead he’s sharing his meager breakfast and making friends with the monster. How did it all go so wrong!!

“So, Luther, you made of metal? I thought you were gonna take all that off, looks pretty uncomfortable, but you wore it all night. Unless it’s like… you?" 

"No, no, um, it’s just… it takes a long time to put it on and take it off? And I usually need help.”

 "Well shoot, friend, why didn’t you say so?“ Before Luther can object, a giant hand descends and plucks him up. He panics, struggles in Cam’s grasp, and Cam tsks at him. "I can’t get all that off you if you don’t hold still. Don’t make me squeeze." 

Luther goes still. If Cam squeezes the armor, it’ll stay squeezed. He wouldn’t want to still be in it if that happens. Cam clearly has no idea how to get someone out of armor though. He just pulls at clasps and buckles till they break, then shucks the metal off of Luther like an ear of corn. His helmet comes off first, freeing his dark brown curls.

“Aww,” Cam says, “lookit you. You’re kinda cute for a tin man.” He musses up Luther’s hair with a fingertip. "You’re like a little crab,” Cam chuckles. “Crack open the hard shell to get to the soft stuff underneath.” The food metaphor does not put Luther any more at ease as the rest of his armor is pulled off and tossed aside, piece by piece. Cam even strips the chainmail off of him and dumps it on the ground. This leaves Luther in his shirt and breeches, shaking like a leaf and terrified for his life. 

“Oh, you cold? Here, I gotcha.” Cam sandwiches him between his hands. Luther awaits the pressure and the horrible crunch that will no doubt be the end of his short life, but it never comes. Cam just holds him there, and truth be told his hands are very warm, and it had been a chilly morning. Luther relaxes very slightly.

After a few minutes, Cam lifts one hand a little and peeks at Luther. “Better?" 

"Much better, thank you. Even a little too warm, actually? Can I, um, come out now?" 

Cam laughs and opens his hands like a book, then tilts them so Luther tumbles into the palm of his left hand. "So what’s a fancy little shrimp like you doing all the way out here, with that tough shell and those sharp weapons? You huntin’ something?" 

Luther hesitates. It’s not… technically a lie, just an omission of truth, right? "Yeees…. Hunting.”

Cam laughs out loud, leaning back and slapping his knee with his free hand. “HA! You are just about the worst liar I ever met, Luther. Whew.” He actually wipes a tear from his eye. Luther feels his face heating up with anger and embarrassment.

“I am hunting! I’m hunting you!” As soon as he says it he regrets it. He slaps his hands over his mouth and cowers back as Cam sits up straight again and looks down at him, raising an eyebrow. 

“That so? Huh. Well, you found me, oh mighty hunter. And you fed me, and let me take your armor off you, and left all your sharp things on the ground while you sit in the palm of my hand. So, uh… how’s that goin’ for ya?”

“It… I… um… please don’t kill me?”

Cam grins. It’s not a nice grin anymore. It shows off too many teeth. “Lotsa folks have hunted me, you know. Not a one has succeeded. Most of ‘em can’t find me in the first place, not unless I want them to. Neat little trick we ogres have. We blend in well. The ones who did find me, they regretted it pretty quick. When I heard you clanking along with your silly armor and your little sword, I thought oh boy, here comes another one. But it turns out this one couldn’t find his own ass with both hands and a map, so he ain’t one of them legendary monster hunters lookin’ to claim some bounty. And he’s a little scrawny slip of a thing, too, and he keeps stopping to look at birds. I kinda liked you. And honestly, when you found me, it took me by surprise. Thought I had you pegged all wrong. Then you made your little fire, curled up next to me, and went to sleep, and it took everything I had not to bust my gut laughing right then and there. And now… well, I don’t rightly know what to make of you. Cute little thing, I know that. But cute won’t save you if you wanna tussle with me. So, little hunter… what’re you gonna do now?”

Luther’s nearly in tears. He manages to say, “Then… were you just… toying with me? This whole time? Waiting to see what I’d do?" 

Cam shrugs. "Pretty much.” That does it. The waterworks are in full swing. Luther’s chin trembles, his lower lip wobbles, and then tears are streaming down his face and he’s sobbing. 

“Y- you’re s-so-ho meeeaaaan,” Luther wails. “Y-you’re j-just making f-fun of me, I thought w-we were friends!” 

Cam has absolutely no idea how to respond to this. For some reason he actually feels guilty. “Aw - no - now look, there’s no call for - just… just stop crying, okay? Please?” Luther continues to sob, heedless of Cam’s pleading. “There, there,” Cam tries, patting Luther’s head. “I’m not going to kill you. Okay? How’s that? I’m sorry I called you - well. All those things. I’m sure you’re a great hunter. Look, you got those squirrels. And hey! That one I ate tasted great. You got some real skill there." 

Luther wipes his eyes and looks up, teetering dangerously on the edge of another sobbing fit. His eyes are all watery and a little red-rimmed. "R-really?" 

"Yes! Of course!” Cam clings to the compliment like a life preserver. “I bet you’re like, like the king’s cook or something, right? Cause you’re the best in the land?" 

Luther’s face crumples a little and he looks down, mutters something. 

"What?” Cam holds him up a little closer to his ear. 

“’m his son,” Luther mumbles again. 

“His son? You’re a prince? And you’re all - oh, hell.” Now he’s really put his foot in it. Luther bursts into tears again and curls up in a little ball.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I - oh, ugh, you’re getting my hand all wet.” Cam picks him up between thumb and forefinger and shakes the little tear droplets off his palm. “Now look here,” he says, attempting a sterner approach. “You’re a prince, all right? You can’t be crying and going to pieces just ‘cause some big bad monster was mean to you. You gotta kill big bad monsters, right? So here’s what you’re gonna do.” Cam sets him down gently, picks up his sword and hands it to him. “There you go. You’re gonna take that sword, right, and you’re gonna really let me have it. That’ll make you feel better, won’t it?“ 

Luther purses his lips and looks up at him. "But… all I can hit from here is your foot. That’s no good. I need a shot at something vital." 

"Oh fine, fine, Mr. Picky,” Cam grumbles. He shuffles his legs to the side and leans down til he’s practically laying on his belly. “Face shot. Free one for ya. Go on, hit something good.” Luther considers. Just as Cam realizes how ridiculous this whole thing is, he draws his sword back and plunges it into Cam’s eye.

- Almost plunges it into Cam’s eye. The ogre moves suddenly, turning his head to the side to avoid the blow. Luther makes a deep gash in Cam’s cheek, and Cam roars. “Oh, you sly little shit. Very good, very sneaky. You almost had me there. Fine. We do this the hard way.”

He gets to his feet, draws himself up to his full, impressive height, and looks down at the dirt where Luther was a moment ago. Cam blinks in surprise. “Where’d you… goddammit…” He looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of where Luther could’ve gotten to. 

Luther was not about to let the golden opportunity to run and hide during a big dramatic show of power go to waste. He slides into a patch of underbrush, catches his breath, and takes stock. He has no armor, no food, no bow or arrows. Those are all back at his camp, which is currently ogre territory. He has one sword that he’s okay at using. The ogre has the homefield advantage, and some kind of ability, possibly magical, to hide himself from those who want to find him. Luther shouldn’t let him out of his sight. But he should work on camouflaging himself. He takes a handful of dirt and smears it on his face and shirt. The sword he can’t do much about, he’ll just have to try and keep it from glinting. He glances to his left, away from where Cam still stands, turning in circles and peering around. Luther had only gone a little ways into the woods before he stopped for camp last night. He can almost see the forest’s edge from here. He could dart for the grasslands and try to make it back to the village, but he’d be in plain sight as soon as he’s out of the trees and there’s no guarantee Cam won’t just follow him all the way back. The further he goes into the trees the more firmly he is in Cam’s territory, but the more coverage he has. 

Possibilities begin swirling around in his head. His best bet is trickery rather than a face to face confrontation. He’s got a running list in his mind of Cam’s weak points now. Food, monologuing, emotional outbursts. Although that last one’s probably off the table now. Bursting into tears isn’t going to get him out of a second pinch. Bad knees - if he can trip Cam up, he can get a shot at his face again, maybe cut his throat or get at his soft belly and sides. Cam’s a talker and likes to gloat, maybe if he gets him distracted by looking pathetic he could get him to walk right into a trap of some kind. He likes food… but Luther doesn’t have the resources to make a big feast to distract him or sate him, just a pouchful of seasoning that he never leaves home without. His lip wobbles again as he thinks about how that’s back at his camp… he may never see his precious seasonings again.

Meanwhile, Cam is getting frustrated. “Well, the little shit can’t have gone far,” he grumbles. “Just gotta flush 'im out.” Luther watches, petrified, as Cam lumbers over to a nearby patch of underbrush and without warning stomps down on it hard, twisting his foot and smashing every inch of it. He steps back and leans down to inspect what’s left. Luther bites his lip hard to stifle a whimper. 

“Nope, not there,” Cam announces. “Eeney, meeney, miney…..” Another bunch of bushes are mercilessly ground into the dirt. “Moe. Hmmm. Where are you?”

Luther can’t stay in his hiding place for long. It’s only a matter of time before Cam gets to him. He needs an opening to make a break for it though, if he runs now Cam will spot him right away. As slowly as he dares, he picks up a large, flat rock, then skims it like a frisbee off to his right, where it hits a tree with a satisfying thock. Cam whirls around, and Luther bolts out of the brush. Cam hears the leaves rustling and turns back around, catching sight of him as he flees. 

“There you are! Hold on now, don’t go running off! I just wanna talk, I swear. The whole monster-slaying prince thing not working out for ya? I got a better job offer! You can be my dinner!” Luther keeps sprinting as fast as he can, not even bothering to glance behind him. The last thing he needs is to miss a fallen branch or a groundhog hole and trip.

On flat, open land, the ogre would outpace him easily. But if he can get deeper into the forest where the trees are closer together, that could slow him down enough for Luther to get some distance and hide again, have a moment to breathe and think so he can work on his plan. He’s starting to get an idea of what he’ll need. He needs the element of surprise for sure, and he needs more than just his sword. If he had some rope he could set up a tripwire, maybe. He curses himself for not taking his father’s advice about packing, for letting Cam strip him, for being too weak and scared to do anything when he had the chance, for being born in the first place. His eyes well up with tears and he scrubs at them furiously. He can’t afford to have his sight blurred right now, he needs to keep his head clear and keep moving. He can hear Cam’s thudding footsteps behind him, gaining quickly. He can cover so much more ground in a single step. It’s simply not fair. The little bit of distance he was able to gain with his rock trick is disappearing fast and it won’t be long before he’s in arm’s reach.

Almost as if he can read his thoughts, Cam lunges forward and takes a swipe at him, trying to knock him off his feet. Luther hits the deck and Cam overbalances, stumbling and crashing into a tree. The tree snaps when his weight collides with it, and Cam has to windmill his arms to keep from falling over. Luther scrambles to his feet and keeps running. He even manages to put on an extra burst of speed when he hears Cam roar with frustration behind him. He’s not as fast as he could be because he’s lugging the sword along with him, but he doesn’t dare drop it. It proves its usefulness in the next minute. Cam closes the distance and grabs for him. Luther sees the shadow fall over him and whirls around, lashing out at the reaching hand. He slices across Cam’s palm, and Cam howls with pain and pulls back. Luther dashes away, and Cam stomps his foot in frustration. 

"Hold still, dammit! You’re just making it worse for yourself!” He takes off after Luther again, but his stamina’s flagging. It’s harder for a creature his size to haul himself around and he’s used to running down his prey in the first minutes of the chase. This has dragged on long enough to tire him out, but he’s not willing to give up just yet. “When I get my hands on you, tin man, you’re paste,” he growls. “They’re gonna have to come up with new words for how dead you’re gonna be.”

The trees start getting close enough together that Luther has to dodge around them from time to time. He can hear Cam behind him crashing through them, spluttering as he gets a face full of branches and leaves. Luther smiles to himself. That’s nice, at least. At last he gathers up his nerve and dodges to the side behind a particularly large tree, hoping that Cam’s too busy navigating the foliage to notice. His gamble pays off. A few seconds later, the ogre goes lumbering past him without so much as a sideways glance. Luther waits just a moment more, then bolts in the opposite direction.

He’s got a plan now. He probably won’t be able to find Cam again, but Cam can find him. So he’ll set up an ambush. He circles back around to his camp and grabs his supplies as quickly as he can, his bow and arrow, his helmet, his tinderbox, and most importantly, his seasoning. He hunts for deer, takes down a decent-sized buck, and sets up a new campfire, deep in the woods, where the trees are close. He’s hoping that Cam will think that Luther thinks he’s safe in there, and that the smell of the meat cooking will lure Cam in. He takes off his shirt and fills it with twigs and leaves, sets his helmet up on a stick driven into the ground, and makes a decently convincing decoy Luther that he leans against a log. The helmet tilts at an angle that makes it look like he’s fallen asleep. With that set up, and night closing in, Luther climbs up a nearby tree and waits, sword in hand.

He doesn’t watch the fire. He wants to keep his night vision sharp. And sure enough, before too long here comes Cam, moving surprisingly quietly for his size. He squeezes through the trees with barely a rustling of leaves. Cam’s eyes are fixed on the fire and the silhouette that the decoy makes against it. Cam gets right behind the decoy and slams his foot down on it. He grinds it into the dirt with a relish that makes Luther shudder. Then Cam looks at the deer cooking with that lovely smell rising off it, and his eyes go big and shiny. As Cam bends down to pick it up, Luther chooses his moment. He drops like a stone and buries his sword lengthwise in the back of Cam’s neck. The impact sends a jolt up his arms and he hangs on as tight as he can. Cam lets out a garbled scream of pain and collapses face first on the ground. Luther gets to his feet, pulls his sword out with some difficulty, takes a deep breath, and begins to chop.

It’s messy, horrible work. By the third swing tears are rolling down Luther’s cheeks. By the seventh, he’s sobbing. After the twenty-third cut, Cam’s head is finally severed, and rolls to the side. Luther stumbles back. He’s trembling, covered in blood, panting and crying, but it’s finally done. 

And then Cam’s head says, “Wow, kid. I didn’t think you had it in you.” Luther watches, dumbfounded, as Cam’s body sits up, searches around with its hands, locates his head, and puts it back on his shoulders as the flesh knits together again. Luther drops his sword in disbelief. He falls to his knees. That was it. That was all he had. He can’t even imagine what he could do against a foe who can just reattach his own head. 

“Oh,” he says quietly. “Okay. Um. Make it quick, please?” Cam had been planning to crunch the little shit once he was back on his feet, but he can’t help but feel a pang of guilt at how despondent Luther looks.

“Aw, no, no, don’t give up so quick! Really, you almost had me!” Cam scoops him up and pats him on the head. “Look, it was a good effort. I’m sure if you had known I can’t be killed, you wouldn’t have spent all that time and energy trying to kill me. Just do a little more research next time, yeah?" 

"Next time,” Luther repeats, and gives a hollow laugh. “There isn’t going to be a next time. I’m not welcome as part of the royal family if I can’t kill a monster. Even my sister’s done her first slaying already. A whole nest of vampires! And I can’t kill one measly ogre." 

"Hey, watch who you’re calling measly,” Cam warns, but his heart isn’t in it. “Jeez. You’ve got some issues, kid. Not much of a fighter, I take it?" 

Luther shakes his head and sighs. "I’m just not very good at it." 

"Well they chose one hell of a first mission for you, that’s for sure. Ogres are tricky ones. We’ve got a lot of defense mechanisms.” Cam thinks for a moment. “You know what you are good at, though? You’re a good talker. Very convincing. I mean, you really had me going, with the crying and all? It was a really good ruse." 

Luther bites his lip. "Um…" 

"Okay, so it was for real and not a ruse. But you made the best of a bad situation! That’s also a good skill for a ruler to have. You just gotta show your family that your skills are less conventional, but still effective! Like, okay, why do you have to kill me? What’d I do?" 

“You’re eating all the farmers’ cattle and scaring people." 

"I thought free range meant I had free reign. Eh? Eh?” Cam pokes Luther in the ribs. Luther frowns at him. “Oh, fine, whatever. No sense of humor. You know, that’s pretty important for a king too. Yeah, all right, I’ll leave the cows alone." 

"And the sheep,” Luther says sharply. “And the pigs, and chickens." 

"I haven’t eaten any pigs or chickens,” Cam protests. 

“Not yet. I’m being proactive." 

"There you go!” Cam says, beaming. “There’s that negotiator skill! But seriously, if I can’t eat the cows and sheep I’ve got to eat something. Can you make it worth my while? 'Cause I’m not going back to squirrels." 

"Well…” Luther says slowly. “What if… I hire you?" 

"You… hire me?" 

"Yeah. Like, as a bodyguard or something. Then I’d have to pay you, right? I could pay you in food?” 

Cam is quiet for a moment. He brings Luther up closer to his face and scrutinizes him. Luther’s heart is pounding out of his chest. For a moment he thinks he’s made some horrible mistake and offended Cam and it’s all over for him. "You’re serious? Not kidding me, here? That’s your offer?”

“Y-yes? Is that… is it bad?" 

"Bad? Bad? That’s the best offer I’ve ever heard! Pay me in food? HELL yes, kid! That’s what I like to hear!” The force of Cam’s enthusiasm knocks Luther over on his back. He stares at the sky for a moment. His life is so goddamn weird.

~~~~~~~~~

Luther’s father’s dragon slaying days are behind him. He’s an old man now. He has good days and bad days, but even on his best days he frequently needs help getting around. But when he sees that giant ogre enter his royal halls, he reaches for his spear. Luther eases it out of his hand. 

“No, see, it’s okay. I didn’t kill him, but I stopped him terrorizing the countryside, and I kind of… hired him. As my bodyguard. This was easier, and we both benefit, see? Also, um, were you going to tell me ogres are immortal?" 

"You were supposed to figure something out,” his father says. “Since you’re so damned smart." 

"Well, I did figure something out. Just… maybe not what you wanted me to." 

Cam waves lazily. "Hi, Yer Majesty." 

"Cam,” Luther hisses. “We talked about this." 

"Oh, fine, fine,” Cam grumbles, and takes a knee to bow low before the king. “I humbly pledge my service to your son,” he intones, hamming it up just a little. “Please allow me to protect him from all harms, and so on." 

The king glares. His stabbing hand is itching. But he doesn’t currently have a better plan, and this’ll keep the peasants quiet for a bit. "Fine,” he spits, “But you’re taking care of him. Feeding him, walking him, cleaning up after him, whatever. No getting the servants to do it for you. He’s your responsibility now." 

Cam grins at Luther. "So, speaking of feeding… when’s dinner?”

[scabopolis]

Ummm because my brain could never come up with something as genius as yours, I will ask—nay, BEG—for more LoVe Vampire AU from Day 1 AU week.

Title: do not engage (part two of this little ficlet) Rating: PG-13 (some swears…because girl is still stressed) Pairing: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars, Additional Tags: Secret identity, vaguely vampire hunter related things, filed under: relationship obstacles, sharing of bagels, vampire Logan is probably far too schmoopy, tried to write angst but whooops I think it's fluff? Word Count: 1,800

For you, dear, @ayy-ohh? Anything. This one really got me stuck because...like...world building? What is that? And would vampires eat bagels? And why DOES Logan have a cell in his basement? So many questions. Anyway! Here it is! *** That she can’t remember ever seeing Logan Echolls in the daylight should have been Veronica’s first clue.

It’s just, given the nocturnal demands of her profession and thus her morning grumpiness, it was easy to miss. Easy to be grateful for. Easy to be relieved that Logan wasn’t like her college boyfriend—the kind of guy who insisted they wake up at 6:00 AM to go running and felt a day spent inside with the shades drawn was a day wasted.

There were, of course, other clues she missed.

Weirdly cryptic statements and obfuscations. (Given she was also prone to said crypticism, she didn’t press for fear he’d do the same.) His reticence towards beach days. (It seemed logical! Who doesn’t hate dodging tourists?) The weird way he’d linger at doorways of unfamiliar houses. (Again, given her own antipathy to socializing, his hesitation was something she understood.)

In retrospect, given that not pressing Logan on his vague answers landed her here—in a weird cell gnawing at the ropes her ex-boyfriend tied tightly around her wrists—she supposes she should have tried harder. She hears Logan’s footsteps on the stairs into the basement but doesn’t stop her attempt to undo the knots.

“I hope you have a good dental plan,” Logan says. She rolls her eyes and continues to work at the strands with her teeth. “Is there even a vampire hunter’s union? Might be something worth looking into. Though, given the general mistrust the position requires, electing a president might prove tricky.”

“God, staking you would have at least gotten you to shut up.”

“But then there’s the crushing guilt.”

“I would have managed.”

Do not engage. In the 36-ish hours she’s been in this cell, that’s been her motto. The secret to coping with the fact that your boyfriend is a vampire and that you and your dad are vampire hunters is to remain detached and cold.

Except it hasn’t been easy. Because her wrists hurt, she smells bad, and oh yeah, apparently she’s not as out of love with the bloodthirsty monster wearing the hell out of a henley and holding a bag of takeout as she thought.

“I got bagels,” he says.

As soon as he says it, the scent of cinnamon raisin wafts from the bag. He doesn’t wait for her to stand; simply slips the paper bag containing her bagel through the bars and slides it to her. Much like he’s done for their previous shared meals, he sits on the ground a safe distance from her and settles into eating his own.

She tears the paper bag and sees that not only has Logan brought her a bagel, he’s also brought her some sort of sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie. God. What an asshole.

What is his endgame here? If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it by now. It’s only a matter of time until her dad begins to question whatever story Logan texted him from her phone. Her dad will show up and he will have questions. What will Logan say then?

“What will I say to who?” Logan asks.

Shit. Detachment is also easier when inside thoughts remain inside thoughts. “No one.”

“If you’re talking about your dad, he’s out of town for the rest of the week.”

She concentrates on the pattern of the cinnamon swirl laced throughout her breakfast. “What do you mean?”

“According to the text he sent you last night, he had to go to Vegas. Vampire gambling ring of some sort?”

“You’re lying.”

“Takes a liar to know a liar.”

Veronica rolls her eyes and takes a large bite of her bagel, surveying the interior of her holding cell. And yes, fine, she technically has a policy of not engaging with the pointy fanged one, but she has questions.

“What is the point of having a cell in your basement? Is it for weird sex stuff? Or weird vampire stuff?”

“Who says those two things are mutually exclusive?”

She rolls her eyes. “Spare me, please. I’m eating.”

“I’ll tell you but you won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“My friend, Mac?” He extends his legs out in front of him. “Once a month, this is her guest suite.”

Veronica frowns. “For weird sex stuff?”

He raises an eyebrow in amusement which, fair, she should probably stop using the phrase weird sex stuff.

Wait. Is he saying—?

“Logan,” she says carefully, “is Mac a werewolf?” He nods, and Veronica’s bagel drops to the floor. “Could you be more of a vampiric cliche? Honestly! Does a zombie do your taxes? Does a ghoul trim your hedges?”

“I trim my own hedges, thank you very much.”

Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, or it might be the remaining vestiges of adrenaline leaving her body, but Veronica laughs. Just a little bit. At best it’s a chuckle. Still, it’s enough to make Logan smile in that way he sometimes does—like he can’t believe his luck that he even gets to be in the same room as Veronica. It makes something feel heavy and uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach. Do not engage.

“You really didn’t know?” she asks.

Logan’s answer with a slow nod. “I didn’t know.”

“Then how—?”

“It wasn’t an ambush, Veronica.” He pinches off a small piece of his bagel. (Sourdough, she guesses. Probably with jalapeno cream cheese because the man added jalapenos to everything.) She watches as Logan rolls the bread between his fingers. “The date was real but one of Dick’s friends recognized you somehow.”

“You were the one who threw me into a tree.”

“Yeah, and as far as they know, you’re dead. As far as they know, I was so enraged a vampire hunter tricked me that I took you home to finish you off.”

“Which means if you let me go—”

“They’ll know I lied.” He shrugs. “Either they kill me or your dad does. This way you’re safe.”

“Logan—”

“Sorry,” he says. “You called dibs on the killing?”

“Poor little vamp with a death wish.” She doesn’t mean for it to sound so fond. What is wrong with her?

The corner of his mouth twitches with a fleeting smile. There’s a ticking clock on their time together and now they both know it.

“I’ve never seen a vampire eat as much food as you,” she says.

He sets his bagel aside. “Dine with a lot of vampires?”

“Enough to know you eating that bagel is like me eating a bag of sour gummies.”

“Meaning?”

“You might like the taste of a lightly toasted sesame bagel, but an hour later you need to puncture the carotid artery of a single mother to really satisfy yourself.”

“You know sesame seeds get caught in my teeth. And single mothers come with too much guilt.”

“Hedge fund managers?”

“Now you’re talking.”

Veronica has questions, of course she does. More questions than she can properly express—wonders how old he is, who turned him, who gets him blood and how, why he’s friends with Dick Casablancas, if Logan is safe with Dick as a friend—but she doesn’t ask any of those. Because he asks the most important question first.

“What are we going to do, Veronica?”

She stands up, brushes cinnamon raisin crumbs off of her pants. (She catches a whiff of her unshowered self and cringes. So much for their farewell existing as a perfectly preserved memory in the mind of her undead ex-boyfriend.) “There’s no we, Logan. There can’t be.”

He can’t let her go, he can’t keep her locked up, and she can’t stay.

Logan pushes himself up off the ground and comes to meet her at the bars to the cell. “Yeah.”

“First, you’re going to let me out of here.” She wraps her hands around the bars. Logan does just like she’d hoped and does the same, his pinkies barely grazing her knuckles. “And then I never want to see you ever again.”

“That’s what you want?”

God. What a fucking idiot. Of course that isn’t what she wants. What she wants is to go back two days. To return to that night when Logan made pancakes for dinner, and they got drunk on rum and cokes, and then he kissed down her spine as they lay in bed.

She nods anyway. Presses her head against the bars.

“Fine.” Veronica squeezes her eyes shut. “If you ever need anything?” She nods again and she feels the gentle touch of Logan’s lips to her forehead. How is he always so warm? It never made sense.

“I won’t.”

And then, much to her surprise, he walks away. Without letting her out.

She opens her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” he says, a portrait of portrait insouciance once more. “You didn’t expect me to let you go now did you? What if this show of emotion is a long con? I could wake up to find you standing over my body poised to pull back my black out shades.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“Nighty night, Veronica.”

Logan doesn’t return to the basement and eventually she falls into a fitful sleep, waking up sometime before the sun rises. She definitely needs to pee and she’s so sick of the ‘toilet’ in her cell. Logan should still be awake. Maybe if she yells really—

Finishing that thought proves to be unnecessary because as soon as Veronica’s eyes adjust to the dim light, she notices the door to her cell is ajar. She’s barely thinking as she jumps from the bed and races up the stairs.

“Logan!” she calls out.

Her first stop is the kitchen, where she maneuvers a knife in between the strands of the ropes around her wrists and works to free herself. Her cell phone is waiting for her on the wireless charger Logan keeps in the kitchen. No messages from her dad, but she sends one to check in. She rubs at the tender skin on her wrists as she searches each room of Logan’s house.

As far as she can tell, there isn’t much missing. Some of his toiletries are gone (her toothbrush is still beside the sink) and she thinks maybe some of his clothes too. His motorcycle is still in the garage but the BMW is gone.

So. That’s it? He’s just gone? What about his house? There’s a housing crisis in southern California and this asshole thinks it’s acceptable to simply abandon a perfectly good home? He didn’t even leave a note.

It’s really the irresponsibility that—

Her call rings through to his voicemail. Rolls her eyes at the Dylan Thomas quote that greets her. That’s new.

“If you think I’m watering your plants for you while you’re gone, you are completely delusional.”

He responds while she’s in the shower. (What? She’s really supposed to put up with shitty water pressure at her place when he has a rain shower and heated bathroom tiles?)

Miss me already?

She responds with a garlic emoji.

[iamashamedofmyfanfics]

Hunters, Lies, And Leaders (29)

Hunters, Lies, And Leaders (by iamashamedofmyfanfics)

Pairing: None, S.Coups, Woozi, and Hoshi centric (platonic ot13 and unit specific friendships) Genre: Friendship, Fantasy Universe: Other AU Rating: PG13 Length: Chaptered (ongoing) Warnings: Violence Chapters: [Start] [28/Previous] [30/Next]

Notes: . If you’d rather read the whole thing there, the AO3 Version is {here}.

Summary: Hunters are trained warriors meant to fight monsters. They’re here to learn how to do deal with monsters, after learning how to fight. Why it seemed like most of the students don’t know what their doing, is beyond them.

On the day of their next hunt each team is herded into a van, and taken to different places. They’ve trained together everyday up until this point, but anxiety seems to settle over all of them, anyway.

Jihoon sighs, starring out of the window as their professor drives them. They’ve already been told they wont get any help from their professor if something goes wrong. It’s all up to them. There’s a very real chance of injury or even death. Jihoon turns in his seat, to look over his team. He can see their worry, but can’t offer any comfort. It’s not something a simple reassurance can fix.

At the van coming to a stop, Jihoon looks back out of the window. They aren’t so far from the school that it took a long time, but they are far enough for it to be out of view. They sit on the edge of a forest, where it merges into a beach. The ocean is calm, the weather warm. Everyone steps out of the van, and their professor looks them over before speaking.

“This is a real hunt. Unlike the last time, this area isn’t enclosed. Nor do we have camera’s set up, so we can keep track of you. I already said this, but I’ll reiterate: you’re on your own. Except, you still have each other. There’s a monster that’s been spotted multiple times around here. It’s red, approximately eight feet tall, while walking on four legs, has black eyes, and is said to look very deer-like. This is the monster you’re hunting. However long it takes you to find, and eliminate, it, is how long this test will go on.”

The team shares looks, understanding falling over them. Even if it takes days. This is a real hunt.

They’re two days into their hunt, when they realize how much work this task actually is. The monster hasn’t been forced into a smaller area, convenient to find like last time, so they have to actually put to practice the skills of an animal hunter. The first step to that, is trying to find tracks, or other signs of he monster, but that’s more difficult in actuality than it is in theory. It’s luck, really, that they find tracks. They're a bit further into the forest, and far further south, than they initially arrived at, when they do.

From there, most of them don’t actually know how to follow those tracks, or how to tell if they’re new. “For people calling ourselves Hunters, we kind of… suck.” Jeonghan is the one to voice their thoughts, and Jihoon sighs.

It’s Seungkwan who laughs at them- drawing their attention- and moves to get a closer looks at the tracks. “I guess you should be grateful I’m here!”

“Why’s that?”

“Oh,” Jihoon mutters, realization setting in. “Seungkwan lived near the edge of the kingdom, he had to hunt for food.”

“Yep!” Seungkwan grins, spinning around to face the team. “So I can’t say anything for sure, but it seems like these are pretty new. If we follow them, we might be able to catch up, or at least figure out how fast it’s moving or what it’s doing. Monsters aren’t animals so it’s a bit different, but I think this’ll work!”

With nothing else to go on, and a certain amount of confidence in Seungkwan, the group sets out, following the tracks.

Rather than finding the monster itself, the first real evidence that they might be able to catch up to it, comes four hours later. There have been, every other minute, complaints from the group to each other about all the walking, and exhaustion, so this evidence would probably be relief if it wasn’t just… disappointing.

The damage they find, at least, isn’t to the detriment to any humans, but that doesn’t make what they find- a fallen birds nest- any better. It must have fallen quite a ways, the nest itself and the eggs that were in it are both broken, the never-to-be mother of the nest, a hawk, dead next to it. There’s no real debate if the monster is responsible or not, as there are large hoof-prints messily strewn over the ground, showing it stopped here- likely as it attacked the nest- for some amount of time.

Seokmin gags and turns away from the sight, something which Jihoon notes. Seungkwan is shockingly silent, hand over his mouth, and Jisoo, Jeonghan, and Jihoon share a look, waiting for Seungkwan to share whatever he’s thinking about.

“This is pretty fresh.”

“What-” Seokmin starts, clearing his throat- “makes you say that?”

“It doesn’t smell as much as it would if it was old.” Seungkwan shrugs, dropping his hand. The group pauses, as if considering his words. He’s right, Jihoon realizes. If this had happened much longer ago, the tell-tale sign would be the stench of the dead animal. Something mostly absent from the scene.

“So we can catch up!”

“Not if we stand around here talking about it.” Jeonghan huffs, setting forward without any other comments. The others pause for a moment, before following.

“Seungkwan.” Jihoon motions the other towards himself, and Seungkwan falls into step next to him, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah?”

“When we get back to school, how do you feel about giving some lessons to the team?”

“Lessons? Me?” Seungkwan’s incredulous tone is second only to the confusion on his face. “You want me to teach them something?!”

“Clearly being capital-h Hunters requires more normal hunting skills than any of us really thought about, and you have those.”

“Well, yeah.” Seungkwan pauses, as if considering this, then grins. “I guess since I’m the only one you can ask, and I am pretty great at this stuff, I can offer my knowledge to you poor, unfortunate teammates of mine.”

Jihoon sighs, immediately feeling regret. “Stop.”

A loud crack echos out between the trees, and everyone except Jihoon spins around to face it. Jihoon, granted, would have turned towards it under the circumstance where it hadn’t come from so close to him. In fact, he isn’t quite sure when, but he’s gotten quite a distance from his team. Who are all staring at him, wide-eyed.

The trees around them seem to shake, as a red deer-like leg hits the ground with the monster's footsteps. They found it. For being only eight-feet tall, it sure does seem bigger, Jihoon thinks.

Maybe that’s because he’s on the ground, a realization that he only has when he looks down and notices how close to the ground he is. When had that happened? He reaches his arms out, to push himself up, only for pain to shoot through his left arm. Which is broken.

“Oh. The cracking sound was my arm.” Jihoon muses, mind finally catching up with the situation.

The monster, having noticed humans, must have instinctively attacked them when they got close. The rest of his team stares, gazes flickering between Jihoon and the monster, which is much bigger than the other one they’d faced. Something they knew, but was hard to picture until now, with it in front of them.

“Shit. Don’t just stare at it!” Jihoon pulls his arm closer to himself, and pushes himself to his feet. Nothing else seems to be broken, luckily. His words seem to break everyone out of their shock, and into action.

Seungkwan takes a step back, nocking an arrow. A normal one, likely for safety’s sake, and fires while everyone else finds positions. Jeonghan draws his sword as he flanks the monster, and Jisoo rushes forward. Jisoo doesn’t seem to have any real intent to face the monster head-on, but is just trying to keep it’s attention. Seokmin rushes to Jihoon’s side, helping him stand completely.

Jihoon takes a moment to be both surprised and proud of them for acting so quickly and smartly, before focusing on what exactly they’re going to do.

“Seokmin, you have medical supplies with you, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Seokmin nods, twisting the bag hanging over his shoulders to his front.

“Got a splint?”

“Probably?”

“Check.” Jihoon looks over to the others, while Seokmin searches his bag. Of the few supplies- their weapons aside- they brought, Seokmin had been the only one to bring more than just bandages with him. Something Jihoon regrets, now. “Seungkwan! Get somewhere higher up!”

“Okay!” Seungkwan doesn’t face Jihoon when he responds, but turns around to fumble his way up into a tree.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you, but stay away from it’s legs!” Jihoon turns back to Seokmin, ignoring whatever response Jisoo or Jeonghan might have. Seokmin fumbles to pull out everything needed to make a splint, but Jihoon ignores the disorganization, relieved that Seokmin has what he needs.

“We don’t- we’re not medically trained,” Seokmin mutters, worried.

“Since when has a lack of training stopped any of you?” Jihoon slowly stretches his arm out, surprised at how little it actually hurts. “Well, it’s numb. Wonder if that’s bad.”

While Seokmin and Jihoon try to set the latter’s arm, and apply the splint, another cracking sound echos out. This one, though, is distinctly different from the cracking of bones, being more like a whip cracking.

Then pink smoke starts slowly flowing out of a wound on the monsters back. Jisoo spins in Seungkwans direction, clearly startled. “Warn us!”

“Sorry!” Seungkwan actually manages to sound sheepish, despite the grin on his face. “But look! I was right to choose wind crystals!”

The monster charges in Seungkwan’s direction, and Seungkwan jumps from his place in a tree, onto another tree with little-to-no grace, scraping his hands on the new branch and winching as he pulls himself up. Jihoon is suddenly reminded that half of his team are without their Aura’s, and that the monster was strong enough to completely bypass his Aura to break his arm.

Jihoon pulls his arm back to him as soon as it seems like they’ve figured the whole splint thing out, and uses his Aura to apply a slight layer of ice and stop swelling. “Jisoo!”

“Yeah?”

“Stay away from the monster.”

“But-”

“It broke my arm! And you don’t have your Aura.” Jihoon holds Jisoo’s eyes, until the other reluctantly nods.

“What should I do, then?”

“Help Seungkwan out of that tree, for starters.” Jihoon takes a moment to find Jeonghan, and then calls out to him. “How do you feel about jumping out of trees?”

“Like that’s a stupid idea?”

“Great, what if I add that you jump from a tree, onto the monster.”

“Why would I do that?!”

“It can’t attack you there!”

Jeonghan stares Jihoon down, as if expecting him to change is mind. When it’s clear he wont, Jeonghan sighs, and nods.

“If I die I’ll haunt you until you die!” Jeonghan sheaths his sword, and starts climbing a nearby tree. While he does that, Seungkwan climbs down from where he was. The monster, seemingly unaffected from running head-first into the tree Seungkwan had jumped away from, turns around. Its stature, and form, make its turn around slower, but it’s still turned to face Seungkwan again before he’s managed to get down completely.

“Seokmin.”

“Yeah?”

“Get your weapon out.” That’s all the warning Jihoon has time to give, really, if he wants to keep the monster from going after his Aura-less teammates. So he reaches for his own weapon, struggles to turn the safety off with his broken arm, and then fires. An explosion gives Seungkwan time to reach the ground, and for Jisoo to reach him, but the monster seems mostly unaffected by it. It does, however, turn around to face Jihoon and Seokmin.

Seokmin and Jihoon both barely escape the full force of the monster, but Seokmin still get’s hit. It’s only because of his shield, that his Aura is able to absorb the force, the shield dampening it just enough. His Aura being a strengthening type may help, too, but Jihoon doesn’t have time to muse on that. Still, Seokmin rolls on the ground for a moment, before jumping back to his feet.

Jihoon, on the other hand, barely stays on his feet, and feels pain shoot through his arm at the sudden movement. Still, he wastes no time stumbling towards Jisoo and Seungkwan, and calling out for Seokmin to try and put distance between himself and the monster.

“Seungkwan.” Jihoon breathes out, trying to steady himself.

“Yeah?”

“Can you- the monsters attention, can you get it?��

“Probably?”

“Stand by where Jeonghan is.”

“Got it.” Seungkwan nods, running in that direction.

“Are you okay?” Jisoo’s worry is appreciated, but Jihoon doesn’t know what to tell him. Even if he isn’t, they don’t have any time to stop and regroup, let alone take care of their wounds.

“Yeah.” Jihoon pauses. “Wait, Seungkwans’ hands.”

“You think they’ll be a problem?”

“Firing a bow with messed up hands doesn’t sound great, does it?”

“Good point. Should we stop him?”

“It’s a bit late for that.” Jihoon sighs, turning to reassess everyone’s status.

Jisoo, next to him, seems unharmed. Seokmin, now about thirty feet away from where Jihoon stands, is a bit shaky, but otherwise fine. Jeonghan stands in a tree, teen feet up, sword drawn. And Seungkwan has pulled back another arrow, and taken aim.

Seungkwan fires, barely managing to hit. He winces as soon as he does, too, shaking his right hand, as if it will relieve the pain. The monster wastes no time turning towards him, and Seungkwan gets out of the way just in time. Jihoon is so focused on this, he almost misses that Jeonghan has managed his own task, sword stuck into the monster’s back being used to keep from falling off.

“What now?” Jeonghan calls out, head low to avoid the monsters antlers, as it shakes its head- and body in general- to try and remove the person on its back.

“Hold on!”

“Oh, great! Thanks!” Jeonghan’s sarcastic remarks are stopped by him making a startled noise when the monster starts jumping, trying harder to shake him off.

“Seungkwan, go stand behind Seokmin! Seokmin, keep your shield up and your aura activated!”

“Okay!” Seungkwan starts running in Seokmin’s direction. He’s moving slower now, and Jihoon takes a moment to realize just how much he’s had Seungkwan running around. They’re all tried from days of walking, he can’t imagine this helps at all.

“Got it!” Seokmin takes a position, half behind a tree, half just behind his round shield.

“Jisoo.” Jihoon turns to the other, who just nods, waiting for his instruction. “I need you to be ready to attack when I say to, okay? You’re going to be close to it’s legs, so it’s really important that you don’t hesitate.”

“I wont. I promise.” Jisoo, as if to prove his point, draws his weapon and a position ready to attack.

“Okay.” Jihoon nods. “Jeonghan! Now’s a good time to test your aura out!”

“Now?!”

“Yes, Now!” Jihoon sees, just barely, Jeonghan nod. In a moment, two things happen. Jihoon leans down to the ground, and activates his own Aura, creating a wall of ice between himself- and in turn Jisoo- and where Jeonghan and the monster are. The second thing, is a lot of wind kicking up.

While training, Jeonghan’s Aura was mostly just strong winds, without much control. It was something they quickly realized, and addressed. Something they’d been working on since. If Jeonghan could take the force behind all of that wind, and concentrate it more, he’d be able to cut through a lot with the force of wind. The last time they’d trained, he’d only been able to do this once, creating a deep slash in the ground.

This time, he manages it twice. Two slashes, on either side of himself, that run up the sides and head of the monster, are created by the force of his Aura. Something which he has only a moment to be proud of himself for, before he’s falling, his sword having come loose from the monsters back.

Jeonghan has just a moment to take in the distance he is from the ground, as well as the sudden amount of water on it, before he panics. He doesn’t know how to land. Will his Aura be able to absorb all the damage from this fall? What will he do after, if it can’t?

Jeonghan can hear Jihoon yell to someone, and sees Jisoo running in the monsters direction. While he wants to call out, his voice is surprisingly absent. Then, he finds himself rolling down something and onto the ground next to Jihoon. He looks up, and meets Jihoon’s exhaustion-filled face.

“You know, you probably could have used your Aura to slow yourself.” Jihoon sighs. Jeonghan nods, though he hadn’t at all thought about it. Turning, Jeonghan faces what caught him- a ramp of ice- and through it he can see Jisoo slash at one of the monsters legs. The ground is wet, likely from the melting of the wall that had been there a moment before the ramp that caught him took its place.

“Is he going to be okay?” Jeonghan turns back to Jihoon, who shrugs, staring at the ground. “Jihoon?”

“It’s legs are pretty skinny for it’s size, so I thought he’d be able to at least get it to tumble.” It isn’t really what Jeonghan’s concern is, but hearing the idea behind the plan does relieve some of his worry. “You should… go help.”

“Right, okay.” Jeonghan nods, pulling himself to his feet. He feels off balance, the adrenalin that he felt while falling fading and leaving him feeling tired. He pushes himself forward anyway.

Jisoo stumbles away from the monster, as it tries to retaliate against his strikes by kicking at him. It’s only because it’s slowed- presumably because of the damage Jeonghan���s done to it- that he manage to avoid it. Even then, he’s just barely escaping broken bones. The only thing keeping him moving, really, is knowing that he’s so close to cutting through one of its legs.

He hear Jeonghan’s footsteps, before he sees him. Jisoo isn’t sure why, but he feels less worried, with his teammate at his side, joining in his efforts. Maybe, he briefly thinks, it’s because their teamwork on the last monster they faced was what kept them safe, then. Jisoo can hear Seungkwan and Seokmin getting orders yelled at them, but is too focused on not dying, and keeping up his attacks, to process what they’re being told.

Jeonghan manages to strike the same place that Jisoo had previously, which seems to be all that was needed to have the monsters leg snapping. Jisoo has to grab Jeonghan’s arm, tugging him back, to keep the falling monster from crushing the other. They share a moment of triumph, before the monster swings it’s head around, antlers threatening to send them flying.

Seokmin barely tumbles into place between them and the monster, blocking the antlers with his shield, just in time. Realization that this must be what he was being told to do, hits just before Jisoo notices how surprisingly little the force seems to affect Seokmin.

“Hey, you’re using your Aura!”

“Yeah!” Seokmin manages to grin, proud. It hits Jisoo just how little any of them have been smiling since they set out on this hunt. Sure, it’s a serious job- their current states can attest to that- but he realizes just how stressed they all must be, if even the most cheerful of their group weren’t smiling.

Jisoo is broken from his thoughts, by one of Seungkwan’s arrows embedding itself in the back of the monsters head.

“Come on! We’ve nearly got it!” Seungkwan calls out, wiping his hands on his shirt. Jisoo frowns, noticing that it’s blood he’s wiping away, but there’s nothing he can do about that. Instead he turns back to the monster, which hast taken to wildly shaking it’s head back and forth.

“Seokmin, can you help us get closer to it’s neck?”

“I can help one of you, but I don’t think I can protect you both if we’re that close to it.” Seokmin looks back at them, and Jisoo nods.

“Jeonghan?”

“Yeah, I can do it. But why me?” Jeonghan faces Jisoo, eyebrow raised.

“Well I don’t have an Aura unlocked, for one.”

That decides it, it seems, because Jeonghan and Seokmin move forward. Jisoo, in turn, moves back. Without Seokmin in front of him, he’s far too close to the monster for it to be safe. There isn’t much he can do at this point, he realizes. So he makes his way towards Seungkwan, while reaching into his bag. Seokmin may have been the only one to bring more than basic medical supplies, but bandages should be good enough for Seungkwan right now.

Seokmin’s help turns out to be vital to allowing Jeonghan to attack. As, when they’re close enough, Seokmin has to block the monsters mouth- which has a startling amount of teeth- and ends up holding its head up, and away from Jeonghan, with his shield and sword. The sword, he stabs into the monsters jaw. Seokmin didn’t feel exactly ready to be this directly facing a monster, but manages not to give into the fear trying to worm its way to the forefront of his mind. He can feel scared later, when hesitating wont get one of them killed.

It take a total of eight strikes from Jeonghan, before the monster is unable to hold its head up, or use it to try and fight back. Despite knowing monster feels nothing, Seokmin can’t help but feel slightly cruel, as they continue to attack, when the monster is no longer able to fight back. It still take five more strikes, before the monster is beheaded, and it’s body collapses into dust.

Relief settles over the group, as four of the five of them gather around the remains of the monster.

“So… that sucked.” Seungkwan is the first to speak.

“Somehow it felt both easier and way, way harder at the same time?” Jisoo sighs, shaking his head. “I guess it’s because we knew what we were doing, but were still way over powered by it.”

“Well, we won?” Seokmin offers.

“What now?” Jeonghan wait for a response, but no one seems to know what they should do next. “Jihoon- where’s our leader?”

They freeze, then look around the group, realizing their leader is missing. Seokmin is the one to find him, pointing out where Jihoon is sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree. After a moment where concern is echoed across all their faces, they make their way over to him.

“Uh… are you okay?” Seokmin asks, look down at Jihoon with clear worry.

“Yeah? Just… tired.” Jihoon shrugs, before looking up at them. “It broke through my Aura, which means I used a lot of Aura there, considering, and then used it multiple time to create a lot of ice. I’m sort of… just really exhausted, guys.”

“Should we, rest? Now that we won?”

“No, not just yet.” Jihoon shakes his head, and moves to stand. Jisoo helps him to his feet, when it’s clear that the movement is difficult. “We should collect some of it’s dust, as proof we did it, and make our way north.”

“North?” Seungkwan raises an eyebrow and tilts his head.

“Towards the beach? We don’t know that this is the only monster around, and we want to at least be able to see them coming if there are more. Besides, figuring out how to get back to our teachers will be easier that way.”

“Alright.”

“So….”

“Oh, I’ll go get some of that monsters remains.” Jeonghan does just that, while the rest try to figure out which way is north.

“Suns there,” Seungkwan points, “I think it’s closer to sunset by now, so that way.” Seungkwan motions in the direction that must be North, and the group waits for Jeonghan before setting out in that direction.

“Hey, guys?” Seokmin draws their attention, after a few minutes of walking.

“Yeah?” Jisoo glances back at him.

“We did pretty good for a bunch of lying Hunters in training, right?”

Everyone’s silent, most of them unsure if that’s true or not. None of them know well enough what people who are actually supposed to be in their position are like, not really. Though some of them know graduated Hunters, they aren’t sure if they’re at the level of those meant to be Hunters in training yet.

“Yeah, you did.” Jihoon breaks the silence, effectively silencing their doubts. He is at the level he's supposed to be, after all.

As the group heads north, they wonder how the other teams hunts are going.