#vlad was the reason the armor didn’t get done

[tanglepelt]

Dp x dc idea 25

Danny is forced to flee when pariah is released. The armor didn’t get done before pariah unleashed his terror. Pariah destroyed everything in his way. Danny was not able to save or protect his family and friends. He is all alone now.

Pariah takes to earth to conquer it. Danny was prepared to keep fighting a lost cause when clockwork appeared. He tells Danny that this isn’t the timeline that was meant to be. As it was the ghost king he was unable to rewind time.

To secure a better future tells Danny he needs to flee and when the time came fight pariah once more. Danny was not gonna listen to this man? Elder?? Child….. whatever it was.

He just gets pushed into a portal. Now he is in the dc universe. He had been forced through as human.

Here he does get questioned by the heros. I mean he did fall out of a green portal and land on earth. All Danny reveals is that he was fighting a tyrant who killed his friends and family and was set in destroying his planet. That some random dude pushed him through the portal.

Danny decided not to reveal he was half ghost or the words the nutjob left him. Danny being able to use his powers as human slowly gets used to them and better at using them. Learning the ghostly wail by watching canary. When his ice core forms he mimics Superman’s ice breath. Watching Martian manhunter helps him with his shapeshifting, invisibility and intangibility.

The heroes definitely think that he has some form of mimicking power. Danny can’t fly as a human tho. So no late night flights. Danny does slip info on who he fought so they have basic anti ecto weapons. Not that they realize it’s specific for ghost.

He’d probs end up with the teen titans given his age. Or maybe a hero snags him 🤷‍♀️.

One day giant hands rip open a portal in the sky and out comes fright knight and a horde of skeletons. Nothing they have works on pariah but keeps the skeletons at bay.

Danny decides this must be what the man was talking about. And for the first time since being here transforms.

JLD is here at this point and just is like you didn’t think it was important to tell us it was the fricken ghost king or the fact your a halfa. Danny just says nope.

Will Danny get a lecture. Most likely. Does he win. Yes. Did he become ghost king. Also yes.

[bl-garbage]

coming out, like in the movies.

There are far too many reasons, wide-ranging and on varied degrees, for why coming out is That One Thing all queer people share in suffering. Yet, in the end, all of these boil down to that one overarching fear: that society will reject us. 

Those who soften the blows of this reality will hold our hands, like Anna does (I love her so much, I fucking do), or will offer a safe space and let us cry it all out, like Ate Judit does. Others simply know and will let us come out of our own accord, like Tito Santi does. 

These are warm instances of comfort, but ultimately they are mere consolations to help us come to terms with our mad realization that we had been ‘different’ all along. That we were unnatural. Sinful. A fraud. A phase. An illness. A mistake. An abomination. A wrong. The elements of horror that society has instilled upon us cast a looming shadow, that which would follow us even as we try our damned hardest to step out into the light. The truly laudable thing about Gaya sa Pelikula is how the show willingly offers an opportunity for introspection, a clearance for one to delve into the trajectory of their own stories.

I myself have never come out. Imagine that. A hundred gay-themed movies, one massive crush on Chris Evans, and a desire to be TayNew’s personal bodyguard later, and I still have not said the word out loud. I know because I keep track. My friends know I like boys, and I have never hidden it to those that truly matter, but the reality is that I have never admitted it either. For good measure, I would often create buffers, perhaps in an attempt to make things more palatable: I talk about boys, in all their chiseled glory, but from time to time I make sure to let someone hear, whoever has an ear, that I too had been in love with a girl ‘back then, when I was a teen, back in high school, I guess’ - which is true anyway. I will not discount that experience. But then here comes the shameful part: ‘So maybe I’m not totally gay,’ I would rationalize. ‘And why not? I could very well be bisexual.’ Or perhaps fluid. Or perhaps I was simply too afraid of a label.

Back then, I had probably already guessed this One Thing about myself, but perhaps as a defense mechanism, I had subconsciously ignored it. To friends now, my official story is that I had been in love with a girl - had expressed so myself and had written things about her and had bought her gifts - but then, eventually realized that I was also capable of liking a boy. This narrative is only partly true. What I leave out is the very real possibility that liking a girl could have very well only been part of this overall journey, one that had just been all too complex to understand for my nascent, horrified self. I was only what, 15, when I was first confronted with the reality that loving a boy was possible. 

(One day I had found myself walking with a boy and realized butterflies had been swarming in my stomach. One day I was much too filled with a desire to message him that maybe things were feeling different. One day my mom caught me with that very message, saved as a draft on the phone, and my desperation may have betrayed my concocted excuse that it was just a joke, mommy, really. Didn’t matter what I said; it was what she said that had stuck with me anyway: In tones of pleas, she said, son, please, don’t. One day my mother and I agreed never to talk about it, but I knew better. There was no joke about all this: not what I felt for that one boy, but what I felt within myself. And a more brutal reality: That there was no way in hell my mother would ever except my truth.) 

I had no one to help me understand. Things did not look the way they were over half a decade ago. Liking a boy seemed so wrong. 

Which is why, I know exactly what Karl felt. Vlad had asked him, “Ano ka (What are you)?” and immediately told Karl that he should not be scared of the word. But the truth is, gay is a scary word. As much as we hate to admit it, being gay means being shunned, facing the worst of the world without any armor. It feels as though walking bare naked, unsheltered, with simple questions otherwise borne out of genuine concern feeling like sharp daggers thrown from all directions. 

Things like these, one does not really get used to. They’re not ones that are suddenly okay, just because another person professes that they accept us. The bravest souls in the community will attest that they, too, fight to have the courage every single day. I recall the coming out video of Dan Howell, who had so perfectly articulated why the word ‘gay’ feels so uncomfortable. To me, ironically, the word seems like a label that, once uttered, would permanently seal me in a box, devoid of any guarantee of an out. What if things changed and I suddenly found myself liking a girl (though I doubt that anymore)? The answer to this is one I already know: that only I hold this decision. Would society then, as I have been so predisposed to believe, think that I had lied, that I had failed to be honest? Even when the honest truth of it all is that doubt and fear are two sides of one coin? To my mind, the word ‘gay’ already seems like a conclusion, and henceforth any acts that I do, the word would hinge itself. What if there’s no eject button? That is the truly horrifying thing.

This is an experience all too common, which is why it resonated with every viewer. Similarly, the experience comes with more aggravating instances: Throughout the whole episode, there was the atmosphere of great unrest, which we all know had been a directorial intention. From the cold open, we are shown a slow motion that signifies how overly conscious Karl was to everything; we are shown the way Karl’s voice had been muted when he was trying to talk to Tito Santi; we are shown just how problems are kept hidden and in secret, as when Ate Judit and Tito Santi were talking over them and Karl just being quiet, silenced, until it was he who had been put on the hot seat, ever so suddenly. 

These people who are supposed to be allies have talked over Karl, drowning out his voice. Only at their own signal did they let Karl talk, and by then, it was to answer the question Karl had dreaded all along. We know they want the best for the boys, but this is important to note just the same: No one must be forced out of the closet. It will only harbor more pains. As expected, this unsettling atmosphere has paved the way for the confrontation we had long known was coming. 

The heartbreaking part is that Vlad understands, so much so that he has been patient. Karl needs to find his own self, just like Vlad did. Just like everyone does. The montage of their own perfect life, lived in a large box that is their apartment, was but a sweet escape, and Vlad knows that. This was their shelter from harm. But a time must come when this has to end and they must come out. What has happened there so far - the dance, the hugs, the kisses, and all the memories - it was all real, but it was also hidden. And if one of you denies it happened, how would you trust your own truth? Vlad had taken the lead, because he had the pass to come in and out of this large box, sharing this precious space with Karl. Yet, it was understandable that Vlad had also been itching to help Karl come out on his own. To Karl, that is the most terrifying thing. When he said, we’re okay, Vlad, okay? he was desperately looking for normalcy, to abort this mission and go back and just - just stop. 

Vlad has been through that, and was all over it. No longer.

Neither of them is to blame. On one hand, you own your truth; and on the other, you can never force one to live a lie and go back into the closet, just so that they may be at your own pace. 

The bold truth about Gaya sa Pelikula’s penultimate episode is this: Neither Karl nor Vlad is wrong. It is they who have been wronged. By a society that has forced each one of us to hide, to man up, to woman up, to believe that the only way of seeing people was on the basis of what's between their legs and not what 's inside their heads. And Ate Judit, Anna, or Tito Santi may try their best, but they can do no more than to assuage the horror that comes with living your own truth.

I cannot stress enough how important shows like Gaya sa Pelikula are. For those who are only in the first laps of this journey of coming out, it can be their console. To me, this is a way of understanding why things came out the way they were. To others, this is a welcome respite. An embrace.

This is the magnificence of Juan Miguel Severo’s love letter to the LGBTQI+ community. This was just masterfully done. I find comfort in Vlad’s own love letter to Karl. I’ll bid goodbye for now, go into a corner of this box, and mull over the choices I've made thus far. (Reader, to be honest: I’m now writing this in my dormitory, in my own box I suppose. For the past six episodes I had been watching the show at home, but now I had to stay in the dorms. I guess, this was fate, too, to help me process my own feelings, alone.) Anyway, for those who have not seen it:

God, I am just overwhelmed with emotions. Just gonna cry now.

[angelaiswriting]

The Assistant (14 of ?) | Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

[original picture found on: pinterest]

✏️ Pairings:

(almost official) Vladimir Ranskahov x fem!reader

Anatoly Ranskahov x OC (Paulina)

✏️ Requested by @kellydixon01 : Y/N–hacker, big mouth, even bigger attitude–is the new addition to Fisk’s team. Sent to help the Ranskahovs, she immediately gets on Vladimir’s nerves. But as time passes, they start to take a liking to each other, even if none of them is willing to admit their feelings. Yet.

✏️ Previously on The Assistant (aka I’m shit at updating): Y/N returns home after having spent some painful days in Wesley’s hands and finds Vladimir waiting for her. He unexpectedly takes care of her, gives her a safe place to stay (’just so that he can keep an eye on her’), and as a consequence, they find themselves slowly growing fonder of and closer to each other.

✏️ A/N: sorry it took me one year to update :) many thanks to Alice for the great ideas that helped inspire me again! 💛 more weird things are coming, I don’t even know what this story is aymore lmao we going from serious to crack in the matter of one chapter my homies

✏️ Warnings: nothing, just some stubbornness on Vlad’s part, mentions of terrible singing, fluff with hand holding !!! and a surreal situation with an old friend.

✏️ Word-count: 4,577

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ULYANA

Days turned into weeks much quicker than he would have ever thought but the truth was, Vladimir enjoyed Y/N’s presence in his apartment. He had even caught himself calling it ‘home’ once or twice – never out loud, of course, always in his mind, but it was in there that it bore more meaning.

She had unofficially moved in with him – just so that I can keep an eye on her, he had told his brother, but both Vlad and Toly knew that the former would never manage to close his eyes long enough to have a good night’s sleep if he had to add her to his list of worries and responsibilities. She had moved in with him and suddenly the walls of his apartment had stopped closing in on him, and the shadows had turned a tad bit lighter, his demons a bit paler.

He had only ever lived with his brother – even before America, when their life had still been in Moscow and he had a girlfriend to call the love of his life. It had been him and Toly; it had always been the two of them ever since their mother had died and they had been left alone in this world. So now he wasn’t used to it – wasn’t used to sharing living spaces and taking turns for his morning shower; wasn’t used to helping someone prepare breakfast in the silence of the kitchen, and he was still learning how to use Netflix. But it had taken him less than he thought it would take, to get used to someone else’s rhythms.

It will only be for few weeks, he had told her at the beginning, on that Monday morning of almost two months ago. After that, he’d send her away to his enemy-friend in Russia, where she’d hopefully be safe, but Vladimir had yet to take that step forward. He hadn’t picked up the phone, nor had he sent an email to one of the men he still had back home to see if Sokolovsky still had an eye on the former kings of the Capital. He simply hadn’t reached out and the plan he should have given shape to still remained confused and untouched, its silhouette still vague in his mind.

The reason behind that was probably the fact that living with her felt easy. Easy and comfortable, almost homely in a way, and he found himself allowing her that very benefit of the doubt he had never truly graced her with before she had gone missing for three days straight.

He never told her these things, of course. He kept them locked inside his mind and his heart, and part of him foolishly hoped that she would pick up on them on her own. That she would look at him one morning, looked right into his eyes, and see something that would light up a lightbulb inside her head. Almost like a cartoonish a-ha! moment, that’s what he hoped for, and he was ashamed of it every single time his thoughts stopped on that. That would be the easier way, and he wouldn’t have to open up to let her in, for she would see and crawl her way to the center of his soul without him being able to stop her.

But then they had started going back to work, back to the garage, and he had found himself opening up a lot more easily than anticipated. There was no more screaming nor fighting coming from his office, and he had even given her permission to use his desk when he wasn’t there.

Little by little, he had let that whatever-this-is feeling he harbored for her consume the weld joints of his armor. A joke thrown his way just before she left with Petya to go to lunch; a cheesy punchline chuckled in the silence of his office when he least expected for her to open her mouth; and then all those Friday nights out at some bar that had somehow become a tradition.

“This job is starting to get boring.”

She dropped down into the chair in front of his desk, laptop abandoned on the new leather couch he had bought a few days after she had shown up again – it was time I threw old one away, that had been his excuse, but deep down he knew he had done all that for her. He had even gone that one step forward and bought her a nice coffee table – and then one of those fancy trays with legs he still didn’t know the name of, just so that she could keep her laptop in her lap without actually burning her thighs. A new desk would have probably been the best solution, but in his mind that meant admitting to everyone that he was doing something for someone else, someone that wasn’t family nor business, and… Well, he just wasn’t ready. What he really wasn’t ready for, though, was for her to understand. And that truly went against all the silly hopes he had, but he was scared, and while Tanya wasn’t on his mind that often anymore, he didn’t want to fuck up –or to get fucked up by yet another person.

“What do you want me to do?” His groan was just a bluff, a way to pretend like he was still the same Vladimir that had welcomed her – if so one could say – on her very first day at the garage. “Give you time off?”

She picked up a pen from his pencil holder and twisted it between her fingers. “I don’t like doing taxes, that’s not part of my job.”

He chuckled for a moment before he covered it with a cough. “Aslan is helping Sergei prepare for the trip, and others barely know any math.”

When all his words were met with was a huff, he dared a quick peek above the frame of his laptop and found her already staring at him. She had taken her glasses off, but still had the indentations of the bridge on the sides of her nose.

“It’s almost time to go clock out,” she pointed out, tapping the pencil on the top of his computer. “Everyone’s already gone home… You’re the boss, we could be leaving whenever you want.”

His right eyebrow rose in an amused expression, and he had to swallow down that chuckle that was threatening to come up again. What was it about her that had this effect on him? And why was he only now embracing it? Inside, he was burning with the desire to cave in and let her win, go home – home – and watch TV, maybe order pizza or Chinese. But a new meeting with Fisk’s man was coming up and soon both Aslan and Sergei would leave for a business trip to Florida, and he was behind on his schedule.

“I can’t.” He offered her a weak shoulder shrug before hinting at the couch with his chin. “But you can call it a day if you want. I have to-”

But she pushed the lid of his laptop down until it closed. “You have to do nothing. I saw what you’re doing and what you have already done. You’re good, Vlad, you can finish early today. When was the last time you took it easy?”

They stared at each other, and he truly did his best to not look away. The truth was, he didn’t know when that was. Sure, he had taken some time off when she had come back beaten and battered, and when she had moved in with him, on the other side of the corridor from her own apartment, and he had stayed home with her. But he had still been busy – busy with her and with his anger, and then the drinking and the kissing… It hadn’t been pure rest; he wasn’t even sure he knew what that was.

“We can’t afford mistakes if we want to fool weasel,” he frowned, a hand moving over his computer to open it again, but hers was still pressing it down.

She chuckled – both at his choice of that word and at the despise in his voice. “One day off won’t kill you, come on.”

He never pushed her as much as he had used to before the accident, but she still looked drained that day, even despite that playful façade she had put up. So, he ended up caving in. It was weird, to feel allowed to do something, take it easy – and for himself, not someone else. He didn’t need anybody’s permission to do anything – or to not do something – but it was almost as though part of the weight he carried on his shoulders had been lifted off of him.

“It’s Friday anyway,” she reminded him as she put her things in his car, a few minutes later, and he found himself grinning behind her, safe in the knowledge that she couldn’t see him.

Friday meant booze and bars, and it was thanks to them that he had gotten to know her better and she… well, he did try opening up a bit more, and alcohol surely helped. But it was one thing to spend all week thinking about spending time with her, doing something normal, civilized people did, and it was another to realize that she was looking forward to those nights probably just as much as he.

“Maybe we could reach the others,” he proposed in the spur of the moment, before he had the time to truly think his proposal over, his brother’s invitation still fresh in his mind. “Just for this once,” he quickly added, but she was already turning toward him with a bright smile on her face.

*

Vladimir had vague memories about the night before. Sergei and the guys had gotten him absolutely hammered, but he was fairly sure he remembered Piotr howling something vaguely similar to We didn’t think you two lovebirds would make it when he and Y/N had shown up at Anatoly’s place. The only thing he was sure of, when he woke up above his blankets and still dressed in his now-crumpled suit, was that there was no way in both heaven and hell that he had driven himself and his girl back home.

“Are you still alive?” came a drowsy voice from the corridor.

When he twisted his head to the side, she was standing there, just like that night of many weeks ago, leaning against the frame of the door. She had just gotten out of the shower, he noticed when he managed to take in her wet hair still dripping droplets of water onto her shirt.

He heaved a sigh, a noisy one, straight out of his nose, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth and give her an actual answer. Too laced with sleep and grogginess, he just laid there, and somehow, whatever that entailed, in his mind he felt like a fish.

“I’ll take that groan as a yes. Coffee will be ready in a few if this headache doesn’t take me out before I reach the kitchen and the pills.”

It was ten minutes later, when he was finishing getting dressed, that his brother knocked on his bedroom door and almost scared the crap out of him. For the first time in forever, his heart jumped up in his throat and as he whipped around, he almost tripped in his own feet.

“What the fuck, Tolik?” he groaned, Russian scorching and angry in his mouth as he tied the drawstrings of his sweatpants.

Good morning to you as well was the answer he got as he stared as his brother walked forward and sat on his bed. “The living room is messy,” Anatoly pointed out matter-of-factly as he looked around in the room and put the keys to his brother’s apartment back into the pocket of his jacket. “I didn’t even know you had books somewhere.”

Vlad’s brows furrowed. “Did you come to criticize my apartment?”

The other shrugged. “So, did you tell her?” he grinned – a big ass grin that went from ear to ear and that threw uneasiness on Vladimir like a bucket of cold water on the head. “Y/N,” he added when his brother grimaced in annoyance and confusion.

“Tell her what?” He feigned ignorance, and not because he was trying to play coy, but more because he wanted to avoid talking about feelings with his brother. It didn’t matter that he found himself calling him in the dead of night, with a closed-up throat and confusion thrashing his mind as he tried to figure out what, exactly, was making him feel the way he felt.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Vova. Even the guys are starting to notice.”

So maybe his memory of Piotr yelling lovebirds in his brother’s living room wasn’t a faulty memory. The possibility that that had actually happened stopped his mind from working for a moment. “Notice what?”

Really? was saying the look on Anatoly’s face. He stared at him, chuckled to himself, and then he stood up to close the distance between them. With his brother’s hands cupping his face, he felt like a child again. “You took two weeks off of work, that never happened, not even back in Moscow. And they all know you spent them in here with her. Then,” he went on, hands now leaving his face, “you made her workstation a bit more comfortable: new couch, new coffee table, even a new tray table for her laptop. That’s all new, and I have to agree with them in saying so.”

“You didn’t tell them…”

“About you calling me after midnight, trying not to cry because you had been kissing her and you were scared because you enjoyed it?” Anatoly scoffed, and then he scoffed once more at Vladimir’s annoyed expression. “Why would I? I’m your brother, and you’re your own person. You’re old enough to take care of yourself.”

A faint okay was Vladimir’s answer, heart beating wildly inside his chest. His gaze wandered back to the hallway, hoping and praying that she wasn’t there, whether it was accidentally or not.

“You dueted Can’t Help Falling In Love yesterday.”

His head turned back to Toly so fast that he got whiplash and for a moment, a brief second, he risked losing his balance. “What?”

“It was terrible, Paulina was still laughing when I left this morning. Drunk karaoke is not for you – for neither of you. And if you didn’t end up going at it on my living room floor, someone up there truly is looking down on us,” he chuckled. “Everybody was probably too drunk to remember about that this morning, so don’t worry. What you should worry about, though, is telling her.”

It wasn’t like his brother was wrong and he was right when it came to swallowing down anything that got thrown his way – both the blessings and the curses. It was more of a matter of pride, it didn’t matter that he did call Anatoly in almost-tears more than once when he should have been fast asleep. It was also his business, and it wasn’t like it interfered with his job: he still slaved off, he still put his ass on that chair and did what he had to do. The only thing he hadn’t done was pick up the phone and call Sokolovsky, but that was because he didn’t really need him, because he was more than capable of taking care of her, of keeping her safe.

Most of the time, that was.

“Did you come to talk about my feelings?” He wasn’t on the verge of losing his cool, but he did want his brother and his accusations out of his bedroom.

“No,” was the reply. “Your feelings are your own, but it sure does hurt me to see my brother choosing pain over happiness over and over again.”

“I am happy.”

“Yes, for now. But then what? When pretending like you don’t feel anything won’t be enough anymore, what then? You’ll close up again, kick her out?” One of Anatoly’s hands covered his cheek and again, it was like being back home, and it was his mother’s hand the one on his face, warm and homely and safe, distracting his thoughts from whatever his father had been throwing at them that day. “I love you, brother. I always will, even if we have our own lives outside of the garage. And the last thing I want,” he sighed, “is going back to my woman and have her rant about the both of you being too stupid and blind to hold each other’s hand in public.”

Vlad frowned, his head tilting back a bit as he stared at his brother in disbelief.

“I’m kidding. But I do love you and I do want you happy. I don’t know what goes on in that thick skull of yours anymore, but I know what you’re doing to yourself. She won’t eat you alive, she won’t laugh in your face. If anything, after the terrible singing you both did last night, I think she might cry happy tears.”

He removed his brother’s hand from his face and took a step back. “I’ll ask again: Did you come to talk about my feelings for Y/N?”

Instead of saying So you do have feelings for her – because that was what he could read on his face – Tolik sighed in surrender before lifting his gaze to the ceiling for a moment. “No,” he eventually groaned. “Ulyana called. The sink in her bathroom keeps on leaking and she needs help.”

“So? Do you need my permission to go?”

“Fuck off, mudak.” He read disbelief in his brother’s eyes – disbelief more than annoyance at his petty ass. “She hasn’t seen you in months, she’s worried. After all she did for us, you up and leave? She asked explicitly for you, Vova. Just go, fix what needs to be fixed and spend some time with her – she hasn’t gone to bingo afternoons in forever.”

Ulyana had been like a mother and a grandmother all in one, back when he and Anatoly had first arrived in New York with barely anything in their suitcases. They had left everything behind, but had found a friend and ally in her. She had helped them – probably more than she should have – and they had reached their current position also thanks to the goodness of her heart. Ulyana’s tiny apartment felt and smelled like home, like a Russia they’ll probably never live again. Like home and hopes and all kinds of promises, shining under the sun.

It did make him feel bad, facing the accusations of abandoning Lina to her fate just because he had relapsed into something he didn’t want to give a name to. It was like a stab wound to the heart, and his heart didn’t ache just for anybody. She had become more of his responsibility when Tolya and Paulina had gotten together and he had been happy, for a while. But then his demons had got strong again, drawn the curtains of his mind, and even Ulyana’s place had turned dark and cold, and he had felt like there was no more space for him there.

“I’m serious, Vlad: you have to go. Take Y/N with you if you have to, but if I get a call from her, saying that you didn’t show up…”

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, and those three seconds felt longer than three hours as he stood there, under his brother’s accusatory gaze. “Fine, yes, I’ll go.”

*

The drive to Ulyana’s housing block was long and silent, stretched out even more by the crazy Saturday afternoon traffic. Y/N had yet to ask her usual bunch of questions about what they were going to do and where, exactly, they were going to do it. It was a blessing because he was sure that Ulya was his best-kept secret – after what she had done for him and his brother, without ever expecting anything in return, keeping her out of any kind of trouble was the least he could do.

But he hadn’t visited her in forever, so, whether his actions had managed to get the FBI to knock on her door or not, she was still going to be pissed. In her own way, that is – without violence nor harsh words, and that was truly something he had never been used to.

When they eventually arrived at their destination and he stopped the car in Ulyana’s unused parking lot, for her husband had died twenty years or so ago, he turned in his seat to look at Y/N, suddenly nervous about what he was about to do. It felt almost like a leap of faith, opening up about such a secret to someone like her. That was where that stupid ‘benefit of the doubt’ kicked in, even though, deep down, he had already started to trust her long before that day.

“What’s up?” she asked as she unlocked her seat belt and looked out of the windshield to try and understand why he was still in the car.

He couldn’t read her expression with those shades she was wearing, her sight still sore and sensitive, for her headache was still there, even if a lot lighter compared to what had almost cracked her head open just that morning. It was probably for the best, that he couldn’t look at her in the eye; it was like he wasn’t facing her at all, and it gave him the illusion that he wasn’t exactly spilling some beans, somehow.

“We’re going to meet someone,” he started, hands still gripping the steering wheel. “She is… my friend. I’m sure you know nothing about her.”

Y/N lifted her sunglasses up, looked at him through squinted eyes, before turning towards him with her whole body on the seat. “I know nothing about… who?”

“You will see,” he replied after a moment of indecision, torn as he was between telling her now or introducing her to the old woman when she would welcome them into her home. “It has to remain this way, though. A secret. It won’t end up in one of your files,” he added, hinting back at the files she had put together about him and his brother and Tatyana and everyone back at the garage, and had then shown him a few weeks back.

“Do you want me to pinky promise that?” she chuckled, but he knew that she was serious, only trying to downplay and lighten the atmosphere in the car to put him at ease.

He scoffed at that and simply opened his car door. “Let’s go.”

Inside, the building was a bit more run-down than he remembered it to be from the last time he stepped foot in it. The ceiling lamp in the entrance, a closed space with only the glass door as a source of light, wasn’t working when they walked in, and the staircase had a gloomy look to it when they walked up the steps.

Behind him, he could feel Y/N’s gaze drilling holes in the back of his head, but there was nothing he could do. There was also no need to do anything right now, when she’d see who this whole thing was about in a matter of minutes and judge the whole situation by herself.

“Ulyana Filimonova,” she read the oval plaque right above the peephole when he rang the bell. “Who’s this? I didn’t know you-”

But the door opened and an old lady, shorter than her by a whole head, stared Vladimir down to the ground with an accusatory gaze and a wooden spoon in her hand that, judging by the look in her eyes, she wasn’t scared to use as a weapon.

“Vladimir Borisovich! Where have you been?” Her voice was high and indignant as she spat angry English like it were bullets. But then her gaze landed on Y/N, standing half-shocked, half-amused on Vladimir’s left, and she stared at her with parted lips for a moment before she grinned, the look in her eyes melting away and fading into unexpected happiness. “Ah, finally a girlfriend!” she exclaimed, making Vladimir choke on his spit. “I was getting worried, my boy! But that’s good. I always said you need a softer touch in your life, da?”

Sputtering, Vladimir was about to protest when ‘the girlfriend’ tugged harshly on his hand and gave him a look.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Miss!” she smiled, stretching her hand out to introduce herself.

Ulyana was still talking when she moved to the side to let them in – first Vlad and then Y/N, whose arm she took in hers right after closing the door. “No ‘Miss’ around here,” she joked. “I’ve been happily married for almost forty years and even though my Shura is long gone, I still carry rings around my neck,” and she pulled out the chain from underneath her flowery blouse. “But please, get comfortable, I’ll go put on some tea!” she smiled, accompanying them into a tiny but tidy living room and showing them the two-seat couch. “Vlad never brought anyone home, it’s nice to be finally meeting his love!” And with those words, she left in a hurry.

“Who the hell is this woman?” Y/N whispered when she turned to look at Vladimir, sitting as stiff as a pole next to her. “This is the most surreal situation I’ve ever lived so far.”

“She…” He cleared his throat, still confused as to why Lina thought Y/N was his girlfriend of sorts. Maybe girl friend, with that tiny space in its middle, could be considered correct, but there was definitely no relationship between them – not yet, at least. “She helped me and Toly when we arrived. We used to live two doors down the corridor. She taught us better English.”

She nodded. “I’m surprised you managed to keep her off the records. I’m surely not the best at my job, but I consider myself good enough, and I never got a whiff of her.” She paused for a moment and Vladimir did his best not to look at her, but only spied her expressions from the corner of his eye. “Why does she think I’m your girlfriend?” she asked then, voice soft and almost shy, as she threw a glance in the direction the old woman had disappeared into.

Vladimir sighed, eyes rolling of their own accord as he relaxed against the back of the couch, his shoulder pressing right against hers. “She’s always thought I needed woman in my life. She says that ‘I’m too rough around edges,’ that I need someone to show me the good side of things.” He turned his head, then, and instead of meeting a look that mirrored his, he found her smiling softly at him, almost too lost in her thoughts to pay any attention to him.

“It would be a pity if she found out that we’re not… Y’know, a thing,” she reasoned out loud, taking his hand in hers just a few seconds before Ulyana came back with a box of Danish biscuits.

God bless Ulyana I guess! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Feedback always appreciated, suggestions always welcome as well :)

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[theyanderespecialist]

[Hello My Sexy Readers, here with another chapter this one with my co author and her as a male I hope you all enjoy and stay sexy!]

(Vlad's pov)

I looked out the castle window as I removed my armor seeing a a cart of new slaves come in as I looked at them as I looked back to my map as I got up to head to bed, I would check on them.

The next morning I woke up and got ready as I headed down as I hear multiple hushed voices.

"Am.. America?"

"Yes.."

"do.. you have family?"

"An older grandparent.. I don't even know what happened to them..last thing I did was fight with them because he would not let me leave the house unless it was for church, I just ..wanted to explore. Guess I got that wish huh?"

I walked in and am shocked to see a stunning man with such soft features. I wanted him.

"Who is this one." I order the Guard.

"Huh? Oh uh..number--"

"not the number the name."

"No idea, you there, what's your name?"

"M-Me? M-Mark.." he said softly as he shrunk back

"He will be my personal slave." I say. "And I will train him, let him go gently."

He looked at me shocked, fear also in his eyes as the man grabbed him as he led him to me as the others looked at him also scared as I look into his eyes before I dragged him away as he tried to keep up with me as I glanced back at him every now and then as he would look at me scared

I bring him to a private chambers where he stood.

"From this day forth you will be my concubine I am king so I can get away with this. You will dress as a woman and in public go by the name Marie in trade for this you will be fed everyday three times a day and be cared for you will also have these chambers to call your own. Do well and be rewarded." I tell him.

"I- okay." He says and I smile lifting his chin.

"The sex will be rough but please me and I will never hurt you outside it I am a man who likes rough sex and I only want you I will be loyal to you and lay with no other. I will only make love to you my sweet. Do you swear yourself to me?" I ask.

(I can see this being done in multiple parts ending with you as Queen of Romania and maybe even a vampire >:3)

He looked at me as he looked away as he suddenly seemed nervous.

"..f-f-forgive me.. b-but I.. I.." he took his hands, gripping one arm tight enough that his hand was turning white.

"I-I..I d-don't know.. ho-how I feel ab-about b-being..a g-glorified sex s-slave.. I.." he stopped as I noticed his eyes were watering. "I-I..never h-have laid with anyone, I-I always thought. .that my first time would be of love.."

(Yass and oof hitting him with hat glorified sex slave)

"Who says I do not love you?" I ask. "And if you need me to prove it I will earn your love before I lay with you."

(XD dracula melts when he sees you tear up he will wait for some time)

(Good anytime Mark doesn't want anything to happen he'll just start crying xD Like "I don't want to wear chains this time it hurts my skin and leaves marks" and just start crying)

(XD Pretty much )

"I-I would like to wait..." He says.

I nod and leave him to have the maids get him clothes.

-One Year Later-

(Mark's POV)

It has been a year and no matter what I did I was never hurt or forced upon and now I was in love with the king. I was still afraid that it would hurt. I did not want it to hurt. I am going to see the king as he returned from the war today and I know I needed to see him when I had heard the lie he died I felt like my world fell apart and that is when I knew I loved him so much. Well..how much of it was love was debatable..with fear playing a large role. I have seen what he was capable. Another issue was..his wife, she killed herself. I ran in to see him sitting on his throne his face harsh. He was..different. while he used to have this look of kindness, was now replaced with icy cold glares.

"V-Vlad .?"

(I can see mark still being afraid and for good reason too)

(true)

He looked at me and smiled softly urging me to come forward. Even though he was more hard he still was kind to me. I sigh in relief and walked up to him even though I was afraid I was worried for him. I want to help him. I got on my knees in front of him as I lay my head on his knee as he stroked my hair.

"Vlad. I.. I'm sorry about Elizebeta.." I said softly as tears once more formed in my eyes. I was surprisingly close to her.

"It's alright..I know you were just as affected by her death as anyone else." He said as I was a little confused. Why..didn't he mention himself?

"My king ..what can I do for you?"

"Just be here, be close." He says. "Your the only truly good thing in this world, just being able t be near you eases my mind."

I nodded and bit my lip and took a deep breath. I love him I do so I pull down his pants and took his cock in my hands. He needed this and I do love him as much as I can I want to be able to be close to him and satisfy him as well. He jumped suddenly as I pull back fearing I had upset him and offended him so soon after his wife..

"I-I'm sorry! I truly am, I didn't think sir!" I apologized as I waited to be yeld at.

"No I want you to, I did not love my wife I only ever truly loved you but never forced you because I wanted you to love me." He says speaking so softly.

"I do Vlad, I love you as much as I can and I want to be close to you." I say more confident.

"Touch me my love." He orders and I smile softly and take him back in my hand and he moaned. I blushed and became more confident in this stroking him.

(Readers tyrants as yanderes either go two ways very violent with their darling or oddly and more likely most times very soft. This is why Vlad is soft with Mark as he never felt this love for anyone it is that powerful)

(Aw love can be formed even when you know..you threaten them)

I blushed as I picked up my pace, feeling him grow harder in my hand as I pulled him into a kiss as he grabbed my hair a little rough. I smile in it he did warn me a year ago it would be rough. He never lied to me. I smile and kiss him back and then pull away and lean down licking the tip of his cock. However the sweet soft teasing kisses and licks didn't last long as he grabbed the back of my head as he suddenly forced my head down causing me to take him to the base as I hit his thighs in warning as tears rushed down my face as I started to gag.

He pulled my head back up a bit and stroked my hair. I slowly bobbed my head to get used t it and took more each time I went down.

(Remember he is bigger than mark and when mark is erect he is 12 inches XD)

(Yeah there's no.way mark wouldn't vomit with a straight deep throat)

(not unless he has no gag reflex)

However I did make up for it by stroking whatever wasn't in my mouth.

(Which is the opposite, I have a terrible gag reflex no matter how much I deep throat so marks no different

(XD That sucks)

He smiled. "Your so good for me~" He says. "You teased me so long looking so damn beautiful everyday. I wanted to take you and make love to you in every room."

I blushed darkly as I unconsciously without even realizing it, let put a moan as I took more of him. I couldn't explain it in any other way than..I was desperate for his admiration and for his compliments.

(It's like when a dog gets praised xD)

(Mark needs that sweet talk it turns him on~ ;3)

I grew hard at those compliments and started to suck harder he gripped my hair and came in my mouth.

"Drink every drop good girl~!" He cries out and I do just that swallowing it all.

He then stands up and picks me up and I knew tonight I would not be a virgin anymore. 

[YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Part one is done we hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay sexy all our sexy reader~] 

[darks-ink]

Grounded

Prompt: Valerie is underground. She's not sure how she got here, but who needs memory when you have a data log recording your hunt? Oh jeez. The file's corrupted, and she's only getting disjointed fragments... Prompt by: @catalystofthesoul Word count: 6,140

[AO3][FFnet][more Phic Phight fics]

When Valerie woke up, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark. Dark, and cramped, and dusty.

The second thing she noticed was that she was wearing her ghost hunting suit. The armor was wrapped protectively around her.

Then she realized that she wasn’t lying in her bed. Or her room. Or, hell, even the building where she lived. The cramped space she was in was completely unfamiliar to her.

Which led to the fourth thing she picked up on; she was underground. It was too dark to make out much, though. She wasn’t even sure how she could see anything, but for the moment that wasn’t important. The dirt and rocks and– was that debris from a building? Yes, it certainly seemed to be – it was all pretty clear.

So, she was somewhere underground. She didn’t know how deep, and she didn’t know how she had gotten here. It looked like a building had collapsed on top of her. Had one? It wouldn’t be unreasonable, with the damage ghost fights tended to cause.

She could find out easily enough, anyway. Because it didn’t matter that she didn’t remember what had happened – she had her suit, and her suit had data logs. Logs which included audio and video, nowadays. She simply had to watch the newest file and figure out what had happened to her. Based on that, she could figure out how to get out again. How much rubble was above her, really? Could she dig her way out, or would she have to rely on someone else?

Was she close enough to the surface that someone could find her before she died?

Valerie shook off the morbid thoughts. She had to focus on the here and now. It would be fine – she would get out of here.

Her suit wasn’t quite cooperating, but Valerie managed to summon her helmet – why hadn’t she been wearing it? – and got the log to play on her helmet display. Or, what was left of the file. It seemed that it had somehow gotten corrupted.

The video was almost incomprehensible, blown out beyond use. It simply showed flashes of green and black and white – nothing else. The audio was more useful, but only slightly. It was filled with static, but occasionally it broke up enough for her to hear snatches of voices. Still too staticky to recognize, but anything was better than nothing.

“…watch out!” and “…s dange…” and even a very frantic “Va-” which dissolved into static as the voice increased in volume.

Nothing she could use, right now. It didn’t tell her anything about where she was or how she had gotten there.

She shifted into a sitting position. With her previous plan a failure, she decided to try and examine the non-existent light. It wasn’t bright but it was enough for her to see – somewhat, at least. An opening to the surface, perhaps?

But a frantic examination of the cramped space revealed no light source. The light seemed to come from nowhere – everywhere she looked was equally bright. For some reason, she seemed to be able to just… see, despite the (almost?) complete dark she was in.

It didn’t make any sense. Actually, no, scratch that. It did. It was probably just a feature from her suit, since the thing was stuffed full of those. Sure, she had never noticed this one before, but that didn’t mean anything. After all, what else could be giving her apparent night vision?

Still, it was hard to see. If she just had a light, maybe she could find an opening of sorts. This was, unfortunately, a feature she knew her suit lacked. It was full of all kinds of things that made hunting ghosts easier. A light was not one of those – ghosts naturally emitted light.

But even though her suit had no way to comply to this request, and thus shouldn’t respond in any way, a tingle deep inside her still answered. It was an eerie feeling, one she didn’t recognize, a cold crawling in her chest–

Suddenly blue ectoplasm burst to life around her hand. She yelped, waving her hand around frantically to extinguish the flickering light. But the ectoplasm stubbornly stayed lit.

Still half-panicking, Valerie started to realize that it didn’t hurt. Somehow.

As she calmed down, she also realized that the cold energy in her chest hadn’t left – it thrummed with energy still, in her chest and down her arm. She saw the ball of ectoplasm flicker in sync with the beat of whatever was in her chest.

She wasn’t sure what drove her to her next action. It just… made sense to her. The energy, the cold in her chest, had seemingly responded to her silent question for light. So then, commanding it to go away should–

And it did. The ectoplasm extinguished itself on her silent command.

It was like controlling her suit – yet nothing like it at the same time. Because this, this was energy – a cold power – centered in her chest. Her suit was metallic – and while yes, it was controlled by her mind, she couldn’t feel it. It wasn’t part of her actual body. Not like this.

She bent her head down, looking at the armored hands in her lap. Slowly turning them around, she examined the suit that covered her, still. It looked like her usual suit – black with red detailing – and the plates seemed to be the same as always. A strong tough material, but light enough not to constrict her.

Valerie had never bothered to figure out where this armor had come from.

She wondered if maybe she should have.

The ball of cold in her chest hummed in accordance with her emotions. It seemed to seep more power into her body, but she didn’t know what that was supposed to achieve. It didn’t feel like the ectoplasmic blast from before – not as strong, and spread across her entire body rather than focused in a specific part of it.

Closing her eyes, Valerie chose to focus on the feeling of her actual body instead. The slow but strong beat of her heart. The comforting feeling of air rushing through her lungs. The shifting of muscles as she moved even the slightest bit.

When she opened her eyes again, nothing had changed. Not that she had expected it to, but…

Wait. With the way she was sitting, with the way she had her head angled, she should be seeing her own body. Her arms and her legs.

She wasn’t.

Freaking out a little, Valerie twitched – barely restrained her automatic response to stand up and back away. What the hell was happening?

The energy in her chest responded, and it drew back its power. Immediately her limbs started to fade back into visibility. Valerie sighed at the familiar sight.

Until she realized what it meant.

Shit. Shit.

Had a ghost somehow settled into her body, like a partial overshadowing? No, surely not – she seemed to be in full control over the powers. Had her suit somehow granted her ghost powers, then? Had she become some sort of human/ghost hybrid?

Oh. Well. She supposed that that wasn’t entirely impossible. She had met Dani, after all. Phantom’s cousin, who was somehow half-ghost.

Valerie didn’t know how the girl had become that way – or had she been born like that? – but then, to be fair, she didn’t know how she had become like this, herself. Perhaps that was just part of the affliction – just like ghosts weren’t supposed to know about their deaths.

If that was the case, then Valerie would be more than happy to settle for remembering everything else. She would rather remember her life, her friends and family and loved ones, than know what had happened to her. That, she might be able to figure out. Memories? Those couldn’t be replaced.

But now that she was thinking about Dani… Didn’t that girl have a second form, a more ghostly one? One that resembled Phantom?

The cold in her chest (a ghost core, she assumed) pulsed in answer. A sudden flash of light blinded her, and she slapped her hands over her eyes in a hopeless attempt to protect her vision.

When Valerie pulled her hands away and blinked the spots from her vision, she could immediately tell that the space around her grown brighter. This was not very surprising – ghosts glow, after all. Dani had.

A glance down confirmed her suspicions. She was glowing – and her colors had gotten flipped around.

She was still wearing her armored suit, but now it was white with blue highlights. She wasn’t entirely sold on the color, but she supposed it made sense – the ectoplasm she had controlled earlier had been blue, too. And Vlad had blue eyes, which had turned red when he became a ghost. It made sense that her suit had done the same in reverse.

Her helmet had disappeared. Apparently it didn’t carry over, possibly because she hadn’t worn it when she first became half-ghost. Or whatever had happened, exactly. Something like that, probably.

There was no mirror to check her appearance, but Valerie could guess. Dani’s black hair had become white when she had transformed, and her own suit had done the same. Presumably, her hair had thus also turned white.

She wondered, briefly, what color her eyes were. But she dismissed the thought almost immediately – it wasn’t important for the moment.

Okay, okay.

Alright.

Focus on the situation. Sum up everything she knew. Stay calm.

So, here’s what she knew. She was somewhere underground. She didn’t know how she had gotten there. She had somehow become half ghost – and had somehow broken her suit in the process.

That was it. That was everything she knew about her current situation. That was… that was just sad.

But, back to the plan. Step one was easy; get out of here.

Now, that was easier said than done. But… ghosts could turn intangible, yes? She had even experienced it before, herself. Phantom had turned her intangible before, when they had broken in the Fenton’s lab. How hard could it really be to mimic that? To turn herself intangible and fly up using her hoverboard?

Assuming she could summon said hoverboard. But, well. Only one way to find out, right?

She pushed herself to her feet, remaining somewhat crouched. There wasn’t a lot of room in the tight space. But there should be enough for her hoverboard, at least.

Thankfully, it responded to her mental command. It formed underneath her feet, the hum of its engines somehow echoing in her core. It, too, was now white with blue accents. An ectoplasmic construct, rather than her normal board?

Weird, but whatever. It seemed to work just fine, as she hovered slightly above the ground. As long as it would work, she wouldn’t question it.

She angled herself upwards. The dirt and debris that greeted her wasn’t an encouraging sight, but… she would be fine. She promised herself – and she had promised her dad.

Valerie thought of the tingly feeling that had washed over her when Phantom had turned her intangible. The core in her chest responded, and the feeling once more spread throughout her body. It was… It was weird, using ghost powers like this.

Doubtful that the intangibility would last long, Valerie threw herself upwards as quickly as possible. She encouraged her board to go as fast as possible – and her core too, for all that it mattered.

A few long moments, she saw nothing but dirt and darkness. And, oh god, what if she turned tangible now – but then the fresh outside air greeted her. Oh, and how she had missed it. She hadn’t even realized until now.

It didn’t take long for her to start taking in her environment. The area where she had emerged was in ruins. No one was nearby – evacuated, most likely, based on the damage. Large pieces of debris laid scattered around, a couple crumbled walls indicating where buildings had once been. Soot covered the ground, clear signs of a fire long conquered.

What had happened here? How long… how long had she been underground?

Her core surged once again, but this time not with power. Not really. Instead it seemed to emit a wave of heat – like she had passed too close by an overheating appliance. Or stood too close to the grills at the Nasty Burger.

“Val?” a soft echoing voice asked, cautious.

She whirled around to see Phantom there, a shocked and… pained?… expression on his face.

Repressing her automatic response – a grimace and a reprimanding over using her name – she instead greeted him. She was too tired to be hostile. Not physically – maybe physically – but mostly mentally. “Phantom.”

Then she remembered that Dani was Phantom’s cousin. She would need help with this, she was sure. And who better to ask than someone who was familiar with this? With being half ghost?

Valerie licked her lips, then hesitantly asked, “Do you… have a way to contact your cousin?”

“My cousin…?” Phantom eyed her, confused and a little wary. “Why?”

She shifted, uncertain. Dani, she might trust, but Phantom she didn’t. Well, a little perhaps, but not much. But she didn’t see a way around this.

“I think… I might’ve become part ghost, too. Somehow.” She looked away from him, glancing around them instead. “I don’t know what happened – can’t remember – but…”

“Stop,” Phantom said, holding up a hand. Then, in a tone that was clearly meant to be soothing, he continued, “It’s okay, I get it. You died Val, alright? But that’s okay – being dead isn’t all that bad, right? You don’t have to lie to yourself, to pretend otherwise.”

And now a flicker of her usual hostility returned. How dare he. How dare Phantom act so condescending, like she didn’t know what she was talking about. How could he!

Her anger thus kindled, she felt her core eagerly respond to her anger. Ghosts were emotional creatures, she knew. It made sense that her core would be eager to lap it up.

Blue ectoplasm stated swirling around her clenched fists once more. Her eyes felt like they were burning – but not like tears, it was different somehow.

Then her core just… quietened. Seemingly gave up. Its power faltered and once more the bright white light washed over her – this time she could barely make out the white rings – and then suddenly she was human again. Or as human as she could be, now.

The light show apparently did a good job of shutting Phantom up, at least. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. Then he groaned, deeply and passionately. “Of course,” he muttered, dragging his white-gloved hands down his face. “Of course it had to be her, of all people.”

“Excuse me!” she protested, her core flickering up once in annoyance. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Phantom groaned again, flapping a hand in her direction to wave off her concern. Then he moved the hand on his face to pinch his nose instead.

“If you’re looking for help for the halfa thing, you don’t have to try and contact Danielle. Not that that would’ve been a huge success, because I don’t know where she is, either.”

Frowning, Valerie crossed her arms. “Phantom, you’re making even less sense than usual, and I’m not in the mood.”

The ghost nodded, looking away from her for a moment. When he turned back to her, his expression was sheepish. “I, um. I’m also half ghost.”

Her jaw dropped, and she looked Phantom over once more, critically. It wasn’t hard to imagine him human – he already looked fairly human, and his similarity to Dani was honestly frightening. Just flipping his hair color back to black was enough.

She didn’t know how to feel about this, though. She’s pissed and exhilarated and upset and–

Her clenched fist hit him in the upper arm, and Danny yelped, flinching away from her. “How could you!” she yelled at him instead, digging her still-armored fingers deeper into her palms. “I can’t believe you! You’re one of my best fucking friends, and you–”

Shaking her head, she glared at him. Her core eagerly supported the glare with more burning in her eyes, which seemed to be doing a good job of intimidating Danny. She can’t believe this. One of her only friends knows this, knew what she was dealing with and how to handle it–

But he also let her hunt him. Hunt him and hurt him despite knowing she didn’t want to hurt human beings. And as Phantom, he has done bad things. To her, and to Amity Park.

She snarled, but this time Danny didn’t move. He just raised his hands placatingly.

“Valerie,” he begged, “Please calm down. I’m sorry, okay? But if you calm down, I promise that I’ll explain.”

Valerie took a deep breath, then held it for a long moment. He was right. She had to calm down. She couldn’t let her anger rule her, not again. That was how Vlad had manipulated her, controlled her.

That couldn’t happen again.

When she felt like she was calm again – or calm enough, at least – she nodded at Danny. She still felt agitated – both in the angry and in the energetic way – but she could deal with that.

Danny nodded back, and then light washed over him. He dropped the last bit of distance to the floor, having returned to, well, Danny. Danny Fenton, instead of Danny Phantom.

God, how had no one seen that before? Were they really this blind?

“Can you retract your armor?” he asked her as he moved closer. He went slow, clearly still cautious. She couldn’t blame him.

With a frown, she tried. The armor seemed fried, the nanotech set together and refusing to come apart again. And it seemed to have disconnected from her mind – every time she tried to call on it, her core responded instead.

“No,” she finally answered, looking back at Danny. “I think it got fried. It’s not responding anymore – only my core is.”

Danny nodded, looking thoughtful. “That makes sense. Your armor, or, well, this version of your armor, was made by Technus. Since it’s an ectoplasmic construct, working via ectoplasmic energy, the signal might be blocked by your own ectoplasmic energy.”

He slowly reached for her arm, and she didn’t move as he grabbed it. He inspected her arm – or more accurately, the armor covering it – with a creased brow. Finally he shook his head, somewhat disappointed. “I think we might have to break you out of it. I don’t think it came with a release-all function.”

“No, because that would’ve been too easy, huh.” She sighed, but silently agreed. At least the helmet hadn’t come back when she had shifted back. Small mercies.

“Let’s take cover behind that wall.” Danny pointed towards one of the more intact walls, a couple feet away. “The area was evacuated so people will probably stay away, but better safe than sorry, right?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, trudging over there. She felt tired and she just really wanted to sleep. It was a weird kind of exhaustion, bone-deep – or deeper, perhaps. Like her very being was tired.

They sat down on the dirty floor, uncaring about the soot stains their clothes would surely gain. Or, well, Valerie’s armor would probably be fine. Danny’s jeans? Hopeless.

“So how do you plan on getting this stuff off of me, anyway?” She quirked a brow at Danny. He remained silent for a moment, considering the question.

Then his eyes brightened – literally started glowing, but blue instead of the green associated with Phantom – and the temperature around them dropped. He held out a hand, and slowly but surely, ice started forming above the palm of his hand. It gathered, crystal by crystal, in the shape of a knife.

Then it dropped into his hand, apparently fully formed. Danny offered it to her, a shaky grin on his face. “Here, you take this one. I’ll make another one for myself.”

“Jesus Danny,” she muttered under her breath, but she took the knife anyway. Carefully she started wedging it underneath some of the plating on her arms. It was a good excuse to look away from Danny. Seeing him use his ghost powers was… discomforting. She knew he was half-ghost – that he was Phantom.

But knowing and knowing were different things. Seeing was believing. And for all that she knew, she didn’t believe. Had yet to connect her mental images of Phantom and Danny, despite them being one and the same.

“Too much?” Danny asked with a laugh, having conjured up a second ice knife with more ease. He gestured for her leg, and after a moment of hesitation, she stretched it out for him.

“A little bit, yeah.” With a snap, the piece of armor she had been worked on broke off. For some reason, the armor acted more like actual plates of armor instead of nanotech, now. “How much of your power can you use in human form?”

“Ehh.” He wiggled his free hand for a moment before turning back to the armor. “Most powers can be used in human form just fine, although it’s harder to do. They tend to be weaker as a result, but it’s not a direct limitation. Some powers are even too easy to use in human form. You might’ve noticed the feeling of your eyes burning, earlier?”

She nodded in answer, glancing up from where she was working. “Yeah,” he continued. “That was your eyes glowing. It’s a real pain, has almost blown my cover so many times. Usually happens when you’re angry – or it does for me, at least.”

“That sucks.” A snap as Danny broke off part of her leg armor. “But all your powers work in human form? Ectoblasts, intangibility, flight? All of it?”

“Well, yeah.” He dropped the knife to wriggle the remainder of the plate he had broken. “My really strong one, the Ghostly Wail, I’ve never tried. But if everything else works I don’t see why that one wouldn’t.”

“I don’t think that I’m familiar with that power.” The knife in her hand creaked as she put too much force on it. She was a little amazed that it wasn’t weakening in the heat. “Also, that name is stupid as shit.”

Danny snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks. And be glad you haven’t seen it – it’s kind of a finishing move for me. I don’t use it often – too much damage.”

“Then when have you used it?” And how had he gotten it? Why would he – as Danny or as Phantom – need a power that destructive? Did it reflect on him, who he was, somehow?

“That’s… a long story.” He pulled loose the rest of the piece he was working on, falling onto his back as the thing suddenly gave. He grimaced at the soot on his clothes, but went right back to work. “I’ve never used it here. Well, I have in an alternate reality, but that doesn’t count. And never around people who could’ve gotten hurt.”

“That’s a bold claim, ghost boy.” She wrenched another piece of her arm armor loose, freeing most of her left arm. “Because you keep telling people you never hurt anyone, but I know you have.”

Danny also broke away another plate, huffing angrily. “Yeah? And you’ve never hurt anybody, of course.” Then he sighed, and continued with a more subdued tone. “Look, I try my best, alright? But I’m only human – or, well, you know what I mean. There is only so much I can do.”

“And that involved kidnapping the mayor and robbing jewelry stores?” She shot him an unimpressed glare. “And that’s not to say anything about that ghost dog at my dad’s work.”

The boy groaned, driving his knife a little deeper into the armor that covered her. But he remained careful – he had yet to nick her. “Look, the thing with the dog wasn’t my fault, okay! He was just looking for his toy, and he kept coming to me, probably because I was the only ghost around.”

Another piece of armor snapped off, and Danny shifted around to get better access to the next part before he continued. “As for the rest… The mayor was overshadowed by a ghost named Walker, and he grabbed me. The robberies were…” He paused. Seemed to consider his words for a moment.

“The robberies involved a man named Freakshow. He had a staff which he could use to control ghosts – including partial ghosts. Ask Sam or Tucker if you don’t believe that he controlled me.” He looked up at her, his blue eyes big and watery. “I promise, Valerie, that I never intended to hurt anyone. Least of all you.”

She sighed, looking away from him to focus on the armor. “I just… I don’t know, Danny. I thought I knew you. I’m just…”

“Tired?” he finished for her, smiling a little. “Yeah, half dying does that to a person. It should get better over the next few days – or maybe you just get used to it, I don’t know.”

They worked in silence for a few moments. Then, quietly, she asked, “How did it happen to you?”

“Accident in my parents’ lab.” He licked his lips, unsure. “Electrocution via the Ghost Portal. Sam and Tucker were there, which helped, I think.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything. At least he had had Tucker and Sam. They might not know anything about ghosts, or how they functioned, but they were good friends.

And she would have Danny. He was a good friend too. And he knew about this, about being half-ghost.

“You’ll be fine,” Danny assured, apparently picking up on her silent distress. “You won’t be alone, okay? I can help you. We’ll meet for training – until you get your powers under control, at least.”

“I don’t even know what to do afterwards,” she confessed, pulling off the entire glove on her left hand. She shifted to her chest armor now – it would be too awkward for Danny to work on that. “I’ve just… I’ve been the Red Huntress for so long now. I can’t imagine not doing anything as her. But the suit is fried, I can’t use it anymore.”

“You still have it in ghost form.” Danny broke off the boot, and then shifted to her other leg. “And as far as anyone knows, the Red Huntress died in the attack today. If you use your ghost form instead, you can work off of that. Tell everyone you died and came back as a ghost.”

She hummed. “And that way I can clear your reputation as well. Say that as a ghost myself, I finally understand that not all ghosts are bad. That you weren’t lying.” She freed the first corner of the chest plate. “That’ll explain our sudden truce, at least.”

“Do you really mean that, Val?” Danny grinned at her, bright and hopeful. “A truce, just like that?”

“You’re my friend, Danny.” She sighed, toying with the ice knife for a moment. “And… things are weird, but. You’re still my friend. And I could really use that right now.”

A snap as another piece went off of her leg. “Then I would be happy to accept your truce, Huntress. And I would be more than happy to help you in whatever way possible.”

The second corner of her chest piece came loose, and Valerie peeled the entire thing off in one go. “Much appreciated.”

She moved to take apart the layered plates on her ribs, but paused when she couldn’t see her hands. “Uh. Speaking of help…?”

Danny looked and barked out a laugh. At her glare, he quietened down again. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just used to having that happen to me. Uh, try to focus on being all visible. You can feel your body, yeah? Try to imagine seeing it too.”

She followed his advice, and her hands came back. She set the knife to her ribs. “Thanks. Is that, uh, a common problem?”

“Was for me.” He only sounded a little sorry, the bastard. “But your suit works roughly the same, right? So it might be easier for you. And I’ll be there to help you, too.”

“Can’t be too soon,” Valerie grumbled, yanking the first plate loose. After that one, the rest followed in a cascade. “I’m not very excited about the prospects of accidentally blasting my dad in the face with an ectoblast.”

“Yeah, Tucker wasn’t very excited about that either.” Danny loosened her other boot, too. “Although you won’t have to worry about that for a bit. It was a few months before I did my first ectoblast.”

That tickled her competitive side. “Yeah? Funny, because an ectoblast was the first thing I did when I woke up.”

Danny looked up from her leg, frowning. “Oh. Yeah, I guess you did summon two earlier. Maybe we should work on that – you might’ve gotten it earlier because it’s similar to your guns.”

“Joy o joy.” The plates on the other side of her ribs tore off, too. She moved to the ones covering her stomach, now. “We should… probably start working on control soon, then.”

“Probably,” Danny agreed, tearing the last plate of armor off of her legs. He hesitated as he looked her over – she pointed to her back, and he smiled gratefully as he moved over. “I can drop by tonight, if you want? I sneak out of the house all the time for patrols, but Sam and Tucker can handle those for tonight.”

“You’re not afraid that they’ll get hurt?” Working on the plates on her stomach while Danny was at her back wasn’t ideal, but she would make do. “They don’t even have armor, do they?”

“I’m afraid every time one of them goes out,” Danny confessed, quietly. She could hear him shifting, but she couldn’t see him while he was behind her. “And I was afraid every time you went out, too. None of you have – had – ghost powers, but you all keep going out anyway. And that scared me. Because I couldn’t always be there. I couldn’t always keep you safe, especially you, Valerie. Because you wouldn’t let me.”

An uncomfortable silence fell, broken only by the sound of their knives scraping past the remaining bits of armor. Finally Danny broke it again, voice heavy with unshed tears.

“I thought you died, Valerie. And it would’ve been my fault. Because I didn’t beat the ghost fast enough. Because I didn’t catch Cujo before he ruined your life. Because I didn’t stop Vlad before he turned you into a ghost hunter. Into his little puppet.” A sigh, weary. “Because I wasn’t good enough.”

Shit. She wasn’t any good with emotions, with comforting people. But she had to try, at least. Danny was her friend, and he was genuinely broken up about this. Blaming himself for something completely out of his control.

“Danny,” she said, as gently as she could. “Don’t be a fucking idiot.”

She reached behind her to grab his hand – settled for his arm when she caught that instead. She met his eyes over her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, okay? It was my decision to hunt ghosts. I kept going out, knowing how dangerous it could be – how dangerous it is.”

“But–” he started to protest, but she shushed him.

“If anyone is to blame it’s Vlad, alright?” She turned to face him properly, trying to convey the right emotions. “It was Vlad who gave me my first weapons – my first suit. It was Vlad who kept pushing me on and on. If you’re gonna blame anyone, blame him.”

Danny laughed, his stony expression finally breaking. She smiled back. “Alright, alright. I’m fine with blaming Vlad.”

“Good.” She turned forward again, breaking another piece of armor off. They were getting close, now. “Because I just realized that there is another problem.”

“Uh oh.” A snap as Danny took off a part too. “What’s wrong now?”

“My dad.” The last piece went, her torso now free of armor. Just the few on her back and her right arm left. “He knows that I’m the Red Huntress – which you already knew because you revealed my secret identity to him. If I tell everyone that the Red Huntress died, what about him?”

A sound somewhere between a growl and a groan. Then a loud crack as another piece of armor went. “I dunno. You could… tell him that it’s a new feature of your suit? And that you lied about dying as an excuse for your truce with Phantom?”

She snorted as she turned to offer him her arm. She didn’t want to risk stabbing herself by trying to remove it left-handed. “That might just be the worst lie I’ve ever heard, Danny, and I’ve heard you tell a lot of shitty excuses.”

“Yeah, well, what am I supposed to say?” He twisted the knife under one of the plates on her arm. “’Sorry Mr. Lancer, I just gotta go punch Skulker real quick’? I bet that that would go over well.”

“Yeah, ha ha.” She rolled her eyes at him, kicking him gently with her right foot. “But seriously, Danny, how did you tell your parents?”

He froze, knife hovering just above her arm. Why did he–

Oh. The Fentons hunt Phantom. They don’t… they don’t know. They must not know – they love Danny too much to keep it up otherwise.

The guilty expression on Danny’s face confirmed her suspicion.

He never told his parents.

“What the hell– Really, Danny? You didn’t tell them?!” Her fists clenched, and she felt heat building up behind her eyes. Making them glow, no doubt. “Why the fuck not?! Why would you let them hunt you?”

“I–” He fidgeted, then fell silent again. Went back to work, prying off the last bits of armor remaining on her arm. “I never… told anybody. Sam and Tucker were there for my accident. Jazz saw me transform – and then didn’t tell me until like a year later – and Vlad… Yuck. Vlad found out because he punched Phantom until I ran out of energy and transformed back.”

The plate he was working on came loose, and he moved to the last one – the last one beside her glove, that was. “I just… I know I should’ve told them. I almost did so many times. But I… I was scared. Am scared. And I know that they love me more than they hate ghosts, but…”

He fell silent. Valerie let it linger, content to sit in the quiet. The only sound was Danny’s knife scratching along the armor.

“You gotta tell them,” she finally said, as the last piece broke in half and released. “Sooner or later they’ll find out, Danny. Won’t it be better to just tell them, on your own grounds? Instead of having them find out when you get, I don’t know, shot down?”

Danny doesn’t answer, just dug the knife into the glove – loosening the connections so she can take it off. It clicked loose, and finally she was free.

“Yeah, you’re right.” The knife in his hand suddenly fell apart, melting into water. The one Valerie had laid aside followed the same fate. “I guess… I guess I should. Before it’s too late.”

She smiled at him, and he shot her a hesitant grin back. “Good. And I’ll tell my dad as well – about me, that is. Not about you or Dani. Or Vlad, I guess.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Danny scrambled up onto his feet, then offered his hand to her.

She took it, dusting the soot and bits of armor off of herself. “So I’ll see you tonight at my place?”

“Yeah.” He smirked, then shifted to his ghost form – to Phantom. All the ash and dust had disappeared off of him – even his hair was immaculate and white. “See you tonight, Val.”

Then he launched himself off, leaving her to pick her own way back home. She tracked the direction he went, and realized she was just a street away from her apartment in Elmerton.

“Jerk,” she laughed under her breath. Then she walked home, the core in her chest humming in pleasure.

[jeaneybean]

So I haven’t done a recap in a while

TL;DR previously on this campaign we broke into a vampire’s house, murdered him, looted it, the gang dug up a body and ‘let’ her brother take her somewhere that wasn’t a mass grave, and Vera lied like no other to a vampire’s major domo.

Last episode left off with Vlad’s father tearfully greeting Fyodora, asking the group why they’d came and how they met and whatnot. And that’s when Havilah failed his first control shape check of the full moon, turning into a wolf right in that great hall. He instantly grabbed his wolf and went outside to sulk, despite Vlad’s father Valery being like ‘no that’s just something that happens’. Werewolf dad is pretty chill with puppy problems.

Vlad and Valery go out hunting to get meat for the table and everyone except Havilah have dinner in the great hall. Introductions are made around the table, Vera giving a very diplomatic telling of how the party met up with Vlad. Jake does his normal Jake stuff after popping out of the necklace and Magnolia starts throwing rolls at him. Wolff Wolf skitters behind him and snaps up the rolls every time they hit the floor. Valery tries to figure out how Nitahn got his affliction, mostly trying to see if it was Vlad doing it. Vera doesn’t confirm or deny this, stating that it was necessary and bringing up how Juno would’ve turned him int he great hall anyway and they got to one up her. The entire party confirms that Nitahn is a big ol puppydog.

Valery offers the party sanctuary for however long they need, and Oz def makes a note that Vera mentions nothing about taking it despite being into her sixth months of being preggers. After dinner Vera brought Nitahn some Venison and talked to him for a bit, squooshing his face and wiggling his nose because he’s a cute wolf and also because ‘I can’t mess with you like this when you’re a human’ before heading back inside.

Jake also bothers Nitahn, using his newly gotten suggestion spell to have Nitahn fetch. This annoys Nitahn severly, and pisses off Oz pretty bad because Oz doesn’t like the entire Enchantment school. Oz scolds Jake pretty badly for taking away their friend’s free will before being like ‘yeah it’s probably best we don’t talk for a while’. Oz then goes to Nitahn and tattles on Vera for not asking to stay despite her state and puppy Nitahn is like ‘thank you for bringing this to my attention, boof.’. After that, Oz goes to Magnolia and again tattles on Vera.

Meanwhile Vera is having a time up in her room, finishing letters and getting herself real upset. This follows down to breakfast, where she’s very quiet. The mail carrier shows up to the distrust of everyone but Vera, and letters are passed out. Nitahn got a few from his family and three from Jasna, Vera got three from her husband and two from Nik, Oz got one from his mom and one from Vera’s husband. Vera sends off four letters: one to her husband, one to Nik, one to Jasna, and one that it takes her a bit to hand off. She instructs the carrier that it isn’t to be delivered to the Medvedev house, that it is to be left in care of either Mishti Isha or Vera Medvedeva. It’s a letter to her brother. After that Vera excuses herself from breakfast and goes up to her room, where she stays. Her letters get her caught up on city goss and Nik’s scrounged up every bit of werewolf/vampire politic information that he can.

Jake goes down to town and tries to get a loan from the bank, going with all of his usual chaos. He tries to get a loan to open a pancake shop, turning into a short copy of Vlad when the banker says he’d need a voucher. He also tries to use suggestion, leading the banker to realize that he’s tried to alter his mind but still is super confused about what’s going on. He tells Jake to come back tomorrow and Jake happily leaves.

Vera doesn’t show to dinner, citing not feeling well. Valery visits her in her room where she is hiding behind Bear and offers to let her stay in the keep until after she has the baby. Vera’s mostly dead to the world and is like ‘yeah, whatever they decide on I’ll do’. Which is good because Vera’s normal reponse would be basically ‘aw heck no’ to the idea of staying in one spot.

Valery repeats this offer to the group and Oz tattles on Vera to Valery, and Valery’s like ‘yeah no she’s very pregnant’. Magnolia spends another meal chucking rolls at Jake and Wolf-Wolf gets more snackums.

Jake heads back to the bank the next day to fuck with him more, and Vera tracks down Oz to ask him about something he’d mentioned during the great hall, about how dying wasn’t so bad. Mostly she just wants to tell him that should he need help in Spee, Selina isn’t that far away. Oz advises her to forget he said that, as he’s not legally allowed to discuss it. Vera is like ‘cool. Just remember if you need help I’m a lwayer.’ and Oz also realizes that Vera is looking bad. He inquires if she’s okay and Vera’s like ‘yeah, no, not really’ and eventually admits that now that they have downtime she’s got time to think on stuff. A year ago she was in the capital dressed in nice things going to parties, and now she’s out here up to her elbows in blood of terrible people. And she really, really prefers the second to the first. Oz tries to comfort her by saying that it is the blood of awful people, but Vera doesn’t seem to comforted. 

She also finds Magnolia and brings up the idea of silvered claws for bear. Magnolia agrees to the idea, and also brings up that Vera looks pretty wrecked. She offers to spend time with Vera, and Vera’s like ‘yeah I’ve been crying a lot and I don’t like people to see me cry’ and Mags is like ‘well, I can look away’ and Vera admits that’s what her husband does. 

They have a bit of downtime, and one day Fyodora comes up to Nitahn and is like ‘so there’s someone talking to my father and i am not cool with them, come with me?’ and they go to eavesdrop on official business. Nitahn, however, recognizes the voice: Anton Bellek. He instantly bursts into the room and is like YOU.

Meanwhile, Vlad knocks on Vera’s door and is like ‘So there’s someone here to meet my father on offical business and I don’t think he’s good. We should get the group together?” And vera’s like “Fine, help me put on my armor” “I think his name was Anton Bellek?” “-sounds of Vera scrambling across the room, throwing her door open- Okay let’s fucking go.’

They go down and vera’s like ‘so will you be okay heading in there?’ to Vlad and he’s like ‘Yeah, no, it’ll be fine.’ “He (Valery) wont’ hit you?” And that’s when Vlad learns something about Vera he probably didn’t want to get confirmation on and is like “Yeah, no. That’s not the kind of person he is.” And they initally hold back, but they hear Nitahn inside and Vera’s like ‘oh goddamnit’ before breaking in themselves.

Anton greets everyone pleasantly. Vera holds onto her temper for a bit and apologises to Valery for bursting in before turning to Anton. Anton’s looking for allies! Anton is also still super evil, though not enough to knock Vera unconcious. Magnolia’s hiding behind Vlad, making sniping comments whenever she can.

Anton gives a grand speech and he’s good at it, and Jake’s like ‘yeah no he sounds legit’ and the whole fucking time Vera is grinding her teeth and quickly losing any composure she has. She starts calling him out on about every point, adding in there the whole ‘hey, I’m a paladin, I can literally see you’re evil’ and he tries being like ‘I kill people to eat, I have to drink the blood of living creatures’ and Gremlin Oz is like ‘what about getting concent first’ and Vera’s like ‘Can’t you eat animal blood? I’m not evil because I eat meat’.

She goes on her own rant about understanding the desire of being up to your elbows in blood and she admits: She wants a war too. She all but begs him to fight against whatever nature he’s got from being a vampire and offers out her holy symbol as kind of a peace offing. Anton doesn’t take it and curls his lip up at it.

Anton departs, making some dark comments about Vlad and Valery as he goes. The enitre party sees shadows detach from the walls and go to him, and Oz passes a knowledge arcana to know there’s a preestige class that lets you summon shadows. Vera’s like ‘yeah, that tracts’.

Vlad is goaded by Magnolia to talking with his dad for the first time since they first arrived and he’s like ‘listen laws are there for a reason, but Anton’s right. We have to change. We can’t be a neutral party or we’re going to be targeted by everyone. We can’t stick to the old ways when there’s almost no one left here’ and Valery seems to be ackwnolaging this.

Vera makes a parting note to everyone to watch the shadows, and goes to Vlad’s room and is like ‘hey can I stay here tonight and make sure you don’t get eaten by shadows’ and he agrees. She spends her night laying on bear and quietly praying, because vera doesn’t afraid of anything but herself, and she just admitted to everyone that she wants to start a war and she really likes being covered in blood.

Things are chill for a while, until one day at dinner Oz hears a crash int he kitchen. Before we can prepare, but with enough time to make sure there’s no sneak attacks, nine werewolves storm the room. Three enter from the kitchen side, six from the main entrance. One wolf goes for Jake, two go for Valery. On the other side, one goes for Vlad and two go for Vera, while all three archers take shots at Valery. They hit him in the shoulders, and one in the face directly in his eye. He reacts by hulking out into a werewolf. Y’know. Like you do. Vlad doesn’t turn into a werewolf, choosing to instead swing his axe at one of the werewolves previously attacking Vera.

Magnolia and Oz take a quick second to talk about Vera, who has neither armor nor arms on her because she hasn’t been wearing them. Oz assures Magnolia he can protect Vera, and Magnolia encourages Vera to climb up on the table. Vera’s like ‘yeah, that was my plan’ as she climbs up on it and summons Bear in her place. Bear responds to this by going for the wolf that Vlad attack, full round attacking and killing it. Magnolia climbs on the table and reaches out to tap Valery with a Bear’s Endurance. Oz blocks Vera in from the other side and casts Slow on the remaining five werewolves on our side because Oz is an unholy terror. Jake hits himself with mage armor like a good boy. The werewolves with their crossbows drop them and draw short swords before slowly starting to move towards the group. 

Valery slashes at a nearby wolf and Vlad turns into a werewolf for the extra beef. Vera slaps bear with Divine Sacrifice and turns him loose on the werewolves, where Bear starts to just slap them the fuck around. Werewolves have DR. Bear doesn’t care. Bear overwhelms it. Magnolia casts Foundations of Stone on everyone on the ground. Oz casts stoneskin on himself.

A few other highlights: Bear did what I’d been hoping he’d do forever, crit on a Divine Sacrifice blow. 46 damage in one hit, he turned one wolf to mush. On our side of the room he tore through everything. Oz got hit once and shrugged it off thanks to stoneskin. He also cast haste on the party, and flesh to stone on one of the werewolves. Valery dragged a werewolf that pulled a silver dagger on him into a melee with Nitahn climbing in. Vlad offered Vera his axe to protect herself and Vera very unhappily had to turn it down because she’d probably fucking use it. Mags cast Balor Nimbus on herself and went to join the scrap of werewolves.

A vampire droped from the ceiling and hit Jake with a sneak attack for 46 damage, killing him. As Jake died, he felt himself pulled somewhere else. Death appeared before him, and as Jake watched, the skeletal form shifted until Death looked like him. The not Jake tipped his head and was like ‘fascinating’.

Meanwhile, as everyone starts to freak the fuck out about Jake, he pulls off of the sword, looks down at himself, and was like ‘Fascinating.’

[officialleehadan]

A Question of Faith

Brandon was glad when they crossed the border into Canada.

Their RV was a boat, but Blaec drove like everything smaller than him should simply get out of his way. It was funny in a way. At least Brandon thought so.

The dragon would also actually spit flames when someone cut him off. Brandon suspected that he was the cause of a sporty car blowing a tire. It seemed like the sort of thing Blaec would do.

Whenever Evalene wanted her seat in the cab, he went back to his maps and charts.

They were due to stop at one of the major Vampire holdings shortly, and the whole team was going in loaded for vampire. They were allies, it was true, but none of the mercenaries trusted them and Brandon had no reason to doubt his team.

“Sunlight, holy water, crossbow,” Thori said as he laid out the items on the table for Brandon. The half-dwarf was taking his job as armorer very seriously. “Don’t bother with a holy symbol. Three lighters, tuck one into your sock.”

Brandon followed the instructions. He had fought vampires before and Thori had checked him out on the bow the day before.

“Why no holy symbol?” he asked curiously. His department didn’t use them either and he never thought to ask why.

“It would not do you any good,” Xaenxa said. “You haven’t the faith in a god to make it work.”

“So not cross-specific?” he asked, tucking a handful of flares into his bag.

“Hephaestus’ symbol is a lightning-struck hammer,” Thori said, showing him what looked like a normal hammer. It bore etching of a lightning bolt on an anvil on both sides and seemed to hum. “Hela’s is a half-black half-white mask.”

“Faith is what matters? Not the symbol?” Brandon said, mostly to himself.

“Not faith,” Thori corrected. “The belief that your God will intercede if necessary. Hephaestus will. So will Hela.”

He nodded to Evalene who was pulling on a Kevlar vest. As soon as it was on, she ducked back into one of the bedrooms. Xaenxa already had a vest on and Thori and Brandon’s were waiting.

“Poseidon wouldn’t intercede for her.” He said. “Triton might well, but we would have to be closer to salt water for him to get involved.”

“But you’re not a priest either,” Brandon commented, pulling on his vest and adding a normal one on over it to keep it hidden. He and Thori were going in as the hired muscle they were.

“Every smith of His is a priest,” Thori corrected. “I’m not a cleric like Xaenxa, but I am of the Order, after a fashion. Enough to count.”

“If I had my way, me and Blaec would be the only two going in,” Rhys said as he came out of the other bedroom. For obvious reasons, neither he nor Blaec would be wearing Kevlar.

“Melaena specifically invited all of us by name,” Evalene called.

Brandon had overheard her having that very argument with Blaec the night before.

“If we don’t all show up, she might refuse to work with us, and we need her Coven to help if the Hoard gets unleashed. She rules the entire mid-east territory all the way to the northern ice.”

“She wants you there because if you’re there I can’t torch the mansion,” Rhys grumbled. “She’s hobbling me and Blaec with you four. It’s clever and it reeks of trouble.”

“We’re ready for trouble,” Xaenxa reassured him. She reached over and ran a hand delicately over his cheek. “I have my spells ready and waiting, Thori and Brandon will cover us, and Evalene’s songs will still work on a vampire. Besides, when has Melaena ever crossed Blaec?”

It was unexpectedly reassuring and Brandon tried not to be too confused by it. Seeing the murderous dark elf happily playing with children was mind-boggling enough. He was trying to simply stop expecting things out of her. He kept being wrong.

Rhys took the comfort as it was offered and bent to kiss her cheek.

“Thank you sweetheart,” he said softly. He added something soft in Russian that Brandon didn’t understand. He assumed it was fond. They were surprisingly affectionate with each other when Xaenxa wasn’t killing Rhys.

Whatever Rhys said, it seemed to please Xaenxa. She flashed him a smile.

It was a little astonishing to Brandon how many weapons Xaenxa managed to hide under the slinky gown she wore. It was tight and floating and silver-white. Brandon could only guess at what it was made of.

Somehow Xaenxa managed to fit her vest on under it. It didn’t show. Brandon thought it might be magic.

The only weapons she had visible were her favorite dagger, strapped to her thigh through the long slit in her dress, and a pair of delicate jeweled stilettos that tucked into her hair.

The pearls she always wore in her hair simply shifted around them. Brandon still hadn’t figured out that trick of hers. He didn’t think he wanted to know. More of the tiny gems draped around her throat and from her ears.

He had traded his usual clothes for a dressy black suit he wore for formal events. Thori’s was nearly identical. They didn’t look like much and they weren’t supposed to. Of the whole team they were the most vulnerable.

Rhys looked almost like them, except that he had added a bright red vest underneath.

When she reappeared, Evalene was draped in layers of blue and looked like she wore the ocean. The jewelry she wore looked simple until Branson realized that it was all carved of polished dragon scale.

Between her and Xaenxa, Brandon figured they could charm just about any man they wanted.

Blaec looked on. He had unbent enough to replace his leathers with a suit that was almost the same color as his scales. He looked frighteningly impressive. If Brandon was a vampire, he would think twice about tangling with the dragon.

“Is everyone ready?” Blaec asked. His eyes skimmed over them all and finally he cracked a smile. “Well, at least they won’t be able to snub you about your clothes. Well done.”

The comment was mostly directed at Thori and Rhys, but Brandon thought he was included as well. Xaenxa preened.

“Vampires make the Ailfar look like frat boys,” she said. “All that ridiculous pomp. I swear they get it when they’re human and it never goes away.”

“You like Lord Tepes,” Rhys said, coming up beside her.

“Vlad is old enough to be sensible.”

“He also throws a hell of a party.”

“That too.”

Brandon grinned. He had met the ancient vampire on a diplomatic trip a year or two back. The meeting had begun with Vlad summarily decapitating two of his minions who made to lunge at the humans.

Defiance would not be allowed.

Melaena Sheer was one of Vlad’s Children. She was also a known entity to Brandon’s Agency and extremely powerful. For the first time in days, Brandon felt ready for what they were up against. Vampires he knew how to handle.

Blaec had called ahead to a limo company so they would be arriving at the mansion in style, and all in one vehicle. Thori had suggested that it might be better if they did and after some thought Blaec agreed.

It was rare but vampires did sometimes work with necromancers. If that was the case, any vehicle they arrived in would not be safe to drive by the time they were ready to leave.

The limo would drop them off, and return when Blaec called for it.

Far more reliable than letting the Coven provide a car or trusting them to leave the RV unmolested.

When they were ready to go, they all filed out and Blaec stopped for a minute. When Brandon turned to see what the dragon was doing, he was amazed to see a firetruck were their RV was a moment before.

“No one messes with a parked firetruck,” Rhys explained. He eyed the illusion and nodded to Blaec. “Anyone asks about it, a polite officer will walk around the corner and give them some reason why it’s important that this truck stays right where it is.”

“And it will also keep anyone who’s looking for us from tampering with the RV.” Brandon finished. It was a good trick. Now he knew why Blaec had insisted on parking them in the lot of a public park.

A moment later a sleek black limo pulled up and the driver moved to hold the door for them.

Xaenxa smiled wickedly at the man and Brandon saw him blush deeply. It was surprising to him that he didn’t seem to react like that to her anymore. Maybe he was just getting used to her.

The oddness of that thought carried him all the way through the ride to the heavily-secured mansion where the vampire coven waited.

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HGE - Mismatched

What do you get when you put a dragon, his mermaid, a dark elf, a half-dwarf, and a firebird into a zombie apocalypse?

A very frustrated human, who really isn’t sure how he ended up in this situation to begin with.

Death Valley Sand

The Regency

Red Scales and Golden Hair

En Route

Silver-White Knife

A Question of Faith

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