#who are now ghost hunters in California | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

madnessr · 2 years ago

Text

Reunited Chapter 1

Summary: 300 years had passed since 1725, where three vampires had lost the only thing that mattered to them. Now in the year 2025, they are reunited with the one person they cannot lose again.

A poly Lestat, Louis, and Armand x Reader relationship

Warnings: Slight gore, cursing, mild angst

Word Count: 5k

Here it is guys! The first chapter to this series. Please let me know what you think, your comments make my day!

Masterlist

The Queen Mary, a ship built alongside the RMS Queen Elizabeth, was constructed to express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York. The intention was to provide competition to super-liners built by European companies in the late 1920s. However, by 1965 the Queen Mary was no longer profitable and soon retired in 1967, retiring in December on the shores of Long Beach, California.

All of this happened 31 years before you were even born, the notorious ship now growing roots against the harbor, nourishing a reputation for being hunted and cursed. Attracting self-proclaimed ghost hunters and other psychics to try and connect to the ship's past.

But winds were changing, and in early January of 2023, the descents of Cunard White Star, the original owner of the Queen Mary, announced a revival. A luxurious experience reliving the thrills of the 1920s, promising to carry the Queen Marry across the oceans once more for a final and elegant vacation for anyone who wanted to set sail on history, departing from California and arriving in Italy.

Social media and dedicated Queen Mary fans went wild over this news, claiming this could be the next generation of the Titanic, while paranormal enthusiasts couldn't wait to explore the ship for longer than just a night. However, you, along with many others, saw the announcement for what it actually was, a job opportunity.

Inflation being at an all-time high since the 1980s, you, along with 63 percent of Americans who are also living paycheck to paycheck, could use the extra cash, a place to stay was a given, no matter how small the staff rooms would be on the ship, you wouldn't complain. Having nothing to lose, you handed in your resume along with hundreds of others. You felt confident in your chances of being accepted, making a note to highlight your previous career in the American Symphony Orchestra as a cello, and when worst came to shove, you also were a waitress at one point.

The Queen Mary was not set to sail until 2025, leaving the hiring staff an entire two years to sort and select applications. Leaving you and many others in a state of radio silence. So, you promptly forgot about it. Moving on with your day-to-day life, you continued working ungodly hours, living off unfair wages, and living one day at a time. Until you had the wonderful delight of experiencing your boss, someone you furthermore supported through extra shifts and on days off, made a choice to fire you.

Or, as she said, "Needing to let go of such a valuable employee due to the current economy." A load of bullshit if she asked you, but she didn't, and with your belongings sitting in the classic cardboard box, you made your way back to your apartment.

Unlocking your door, letting your feet kick the old wood on its rested hinges closed behind you. You dropped the box carelessly, letting yourself sit on your second-hand couch with your head in your hands.

You had faced many challenges since moving to America, leaving your family in Austria to make it big in the symphony orchestra only to be eventually let go by an abusive boss. Leaving you as a waitress at Denny's for the past two years. Of course, your family didn't know; how could they?

You had left them. Had promised and gloated about your upcoming success just to end up in a shabby apartment in a dangerous area and now unemployed too. You were tired and have been for the past two years, but today was your breaking point. Like a cold shower, realization gradually washed over you, forming a heavy puddle in the pit of your stomach. You had failed.

You wouldn't return as the prodigy you had hoped to be; you wouldn't return wealthier than when you left. Damn it, you couldn't even sustain yourself anymore; the only way you'd be returning is with a walk of shame. How were you supposed to look them in the eyes again? People who unconditionally believed in you, people you made promises to like prayers.

You were ready to finally give up, throw the white towel, raise your flag, and surrender. You could already hear your grandmother, rotted in old sexist views, present you as an example to your younger siblings. You could practically hear her nasally voice, "Women have no place pretending to be anything they aren't." She always said that; it was almost her slogan. Whenever you had a new idea, when you aspired to be in all kinds of careers, from pilot to singer, she denied every single one. She wanted you to be a wife; nothing more or less was suitable.

The dawning realization hit you that not only did you fail, but you proved her right too. Your young siblings looked up to you and watched you prove her wrong as you lied to them. Yet, you still pretended to be successful, that you were a part of symphonies, and that employers were constantly looking to recruit you. So not only would you return as a failure, but a liar too.

In your well-deserved moment of self-wallowing, you heard the rusty sound of your mail slit open, watching a letter fall to the floor. You stared at it, silently praying that this wasn't the icing on the cake, and your landlord decided to hand out eviction notices. Then, slowly pushing your lethargic body onto its feet, you hobbled over and picked up the letter.

Ripping the envelope open carelessly, your eyes scanned the paper. You had been hired as part of the staff regarding the Queen Marys voyage, glancing at your calendar briefly, nearly two years after fucking applying. Due to a staffing issue provided by a system failure, you were hired as part of the waiting staff and, on occasional afternoons, a part of the on-sight orchestra.

A dry laugh escaped you, flipping off the air as you grinned tiredly. "Not yet, grandma, not fucking yet.."

The sound of seagulls singing, the smell of seaweed, drying kelp rotting on the shore, and the salty mist of ocean air surrounded you as you passed the crowd. It was boarding day, and you and the rest of the staff members were instructed to board early. But how was that even possible when you had to survive a sea of people instead of boarding a ship. Kids running around, clerly excited, young adults in their groups babbling about the cruise, while you and another worker, Ella, stuck out like a sore thumb in your 1920s-style work uniform. Considering that was when the ship was built and set out to sail, the owner of the Queen Mary only deemed it fitting that the boat preserved its history.

Along with all the "excuse me's" and "pardon me's," your eyes caught on to a peculiar pair of men. Both sporting shoulder-long locks, one a cheerful blonde and the other a content-looking brunette. Their odd fashion was comparable to yours if they wore formal uniforms. But the clothes looked so ideally suited to their bodies, not an inch of fabric out of place. You just assumed they were history enthusiasts and wanted to match older decades. You caught the gaze of the blonde man, whose laughter and smile stilled as he watched you. A chill traveled down your spine as the eye contact was far too intense for your liking. Ella grabbed your arm carefully, guiding you through the crowd so you two would stay aware of the situation. Finally, you managed to get to the elevator, showing your employee passes before being able to board.

You glanced out through the glass elevator walls, once again catching sight of the two men from earlier. Yet this time, six pairs of eyes stared at you; a look of shock and utter disbelief fell across their features. There was this incredibly odd, almost indescribable feeling of deja vu washing over you like those handsome faces were familiar. Finally being out of the rush of guests, you had a moment to stare. A man with black hair joined them, his strands of dark locks reaching further down than the others. He looked stoic, calm even, but his gaze connected with yours when you looked at him. He smiled, a gentle soft one that you barely even noticed. But it made you feel something—content. Like the man rarely ever smiled but had done so for you. Before you could fall further into your ridiculous daydreams. You looked away, feeling creeped out as the doors opened, letting you walk up the ramp and board the ship.

The ship's interior was a work of art all on its own. The lobby, displaying a decorative wall resembling a fountain behind the reception desk, stretched from one corner to another. Several seats and booths were set up to serve as the reception worker's primary domain. Being guided through the halls, past the main entrance seating area. You passed a golden elevator; there was something old-time about it, displaying a large panel to indicate which floor it was on at the top. A large, almost clock-like arrow guided its passage.

The staff was then split up and shown to their rooms. The halls had a fancy, royally red carpet as the floor. Beautiful golden embroidery gives it a more meaningful design as you pass the countless rooms. Having been given time to settle yourself, you glanced at your room. It looked similar to a standard, single-bed hotel room. A door leads to a closet on your right, being reflected by a body mirror parallel to it. There was a sliding door made of glass on your left, leading to a simple bathroom. A regular-sized bed and a simple bedside table on either side are in the middle of the room. You had put your suitcase against the chairs, flopping onto your bed for a moment to breathe.

A sharp, almost tapping or knocking sound was heard from your window. Making you snap your head up; nothing should be able to hit your window, considering you were on a ship, high above the waves. Standing up, you glanced outside, watching the night nearly overshadow all the waiting guests if it weren't for the street lamps and store lights. Shrugging, you turned around once more and were later ushered to the restaurant you would serve at with Ella. But, again, given the summary of what was expected of you, you wouldn't be a waitress tonight.

The restaurant was built to look fancy. Circular tables have neatly, if not ironed tablecloths draped over them. Two plates, four pieces of cutlery, wine glasses, and a white cloth napkin folded in a triangle on each plate. Pointing to the grand chandelier in the room's center, casting the room in a delicate orange glow. Along one side of the restaurant stood a small stage, a few instruments being displayed along with a cello.

Tonight, you would be entertaining the dining patrons from 6:00 pm till 7:00 pm as the ship's doors finally opened to the public. So, you took your place on stage, skillfully preparing yourself for your session.

The ship boarded similarly to airplanes, where more exclusive—or affluent passengers got to board first, following up with different groups sectioned by letters. Eventually, the calming silence in the ship slowly became something more welcoming. A soft, joyful buzz of people waiting for their upcoming vacation, or rather journey with bated breaths.

You, on the other hand, couldn't care less. You were getting good money and had yet to decide if you were even returning to the ship to sail back to America. So instead, you might just stay in Italy for a few weeks.

There was something so comforting in the idea of just doing as you pleased. No one to find you, just wandering down a road and seeing where it would take you. You were a day-to-day kind of person, and you saw nothing wrong with that. But recently, your days have grown to become boring.

So, as you heard the loud roar of the ship's horn. You smiled to yourself. You had officially set sail to hopefully new and more exciting adventures.

Gradually, guests began to appear in the restaurant. So, you started playing a casual, soft jazzy tune. Chatter filled the room, almost like a chorus as you played. You found yourself enjoying the atmosphere; everyone in this room came here for one thing: enjoyment.

For your scheduled hour, you did nothing but play and enjoy. Playing Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Waltz of The Flowers; to Saint-Saëns The Carnival of The Animals. You played it all, a gentle smile tugging at your lips whenever a note hit so beautifully. Sending shivers down your arms and goosebumps, you never failed to get when music was played.

You hadn't changed one bit.

Perhaps you would've grown shy while performing if you knew, but this moment had no significant meaning to you. You're just doing your job, simple as that. But what meant so little to you made dead hearts begin to leap again. What it meant for them to see you again, thriving, living, and mortal. Three-hundred unforgiving and torturous years did they spend without you. They spent years getting over your death, and while getting over you wasn't ever accomplished, continuing to survive was. Although blood lacked its taste, the night air its crispness, and music its charm. You stood there on a small stage. Single-handedly providing their miserable lives with color again. With meaning. Although they had long forgotten what it meant to be, or instead feel human again, this was the closest they'll ever get to being so vulnerable.

Lestat, although having been the most stubborn about accepting your death, was now struggling the most to understand that you were, in fact, alive. Right in front of him, so reachable, so obtainable. But he didn't dare move, frozen in his chair as he watched you. He had dreamed of you every cursed second you were apart, and some part of him didn't want to accept this as reality. Countless nights did he awake in his coffin, arms that had been around you in his dreams now empty. He never minded how cold his skin felt, but nothing was more challenging than the loneliness you left behind. His grief denied him this moment, compared to Louis, who felt nothing but joy; he just couldn't, unlike Armand, who shared the same happiness and disbelief as Louis.

He was certain you weren't really there.

To wake up alone after this moment once more, after something that felt so real. So Lestat stayed where he was, silently grieving the only sun in his life that didn't hurt, and enjoyed the sight of you in front of him, alive once more.

But before you knew it, and any of them wanted to accept, your time was up, and a young pianist came to take your place. You bowed, unaware of the three men who had watched your entire performance with bated breaths.

As you left the scene. One thing was understood between the three of them; the world wasn't the same without you. They had been given one thing they never had themselves, a second chance. One thing was for sure, they won't lose you again.

Now that it was seven pm, you were finally able to properly explore the renovated ship. Heading out onto the deck, the breeze gently ruffled your hair. A familiar coldness from the night air hugging you close, enveloping your entire being. You leaned over the railing, tall, half-drunk champagne glass in your hand as you chatted and joked with your newly acquired friend, Ella. A little younger than you, she was a college student who had dropped out of her recent major and decided to take a year off. To find what she really wanted to do.

You couldn't really judge her for it; teens were forced to make such detrimental decisions way too early, in your opinion. But there was more to life than grades and results.

A soft clearing of the throat could be heard behind you two. Turning around, you still saw one of the gentlemen from earlier. The one with shoulder-length brown hair tied neatly into a low ponytail and old-fashioned attire. You could tell that he tried looking more modern, but the way his dress shirt and waistcoat snatched his waist so beautifully, you refused to believe the man would ever wear modern-day, baggy clothes and sweatpants.

"Pardon my intrusion, ladies; I just wanted to compliment the wonderful cellist this evening." He mused, a crooked smile framing his face. Ella glanced at you, a playful, bowing smirk tugging at her lips before she nodded. "How wonderful; I'll leave you two be then. My break is over now anyways." She mused, quickly slipping away as you stood there.

Turning your full attention to the stranger, you smiled welcomingly. This was your favorite thing about traveling. The number of strangers you meant along the way, the people, the stories, the lessons. People never seemed to become boring to you; there always seemed to be something there that always kept you intrigued.

But something about this stranger didn't feel comparable to all those previous experiences. This man seemed to feel so familiar. "Thank you." You mused you weren't shy by all means, but this man and his companion gave you the oddest of feelings.

"Excuse me," you began. Then, fully capturing his attention with your words, "But have we met before?" The moment the question escaped your lips an expression painted his face you couldn't quite decipher.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, keeping a distance before you nodded. Inviting him to stand beside you, leaning against the railing and staring out at the dark sea. The lights from the ship give the only indication of the waves beneath you, the light softly reflecting against the surface.

"I don't think we have." The man finally responded to your previous question, his eyes watching the light reflection paint the waves beautifully. "I wouldn't have forgotten someone like you." He hummed with a playful glint as he turned to you and smiled, his forearms resting against the railing.

"Someone like me?" You asked, chuckling at how broad that phrase was. But, of course, that could mean anything, good or bad.

"It's a wonderful evening." The brunette mused, occasionally glancing at you as you continued sipping champagne. You awaited his reply to your question but gradually accepted that he would leave your curiosity hanging. "It really is. Have you sailed before?" You asked, attempting a light conversation. The man couldn't help but chuckle as if your question had been silly. Now getting your attention, you stared at him, eyes requesting an explanation for his outbursts.

As if sensing your confusion, he turned around. His elbows rested against the railing along with his back. "Yes, I have, many times, actually." You nodded, "To where?" But, you added, all kinds of travel interested you, so this wasn't strictly special.

"You'd be surprised where you can go just by ship." But, although you nodded, traveling by ship was rare besides the vacation cruise or exporting cargo. Perhaps you just didn't know better, but you didn't feel like prying or exactly learning anything at the moment either.

"You know, Mr.—"you trailed off, not knowing the man's name. He smiled at the gesture, having no problem filling in the title for you. “Louis de pointe du lac.”

You raised your eyebrow, finding such a long name an oddity. "Well, Louis de pointe du lac–" You began again but were again cut off, "Louis. Please refer to me as Louis."

"Well then, Louis, it was a pleasure meeting you." You mused, not noticing the minor quirk of his smile as you said his name.

"Louis!" A loud voice called in a chiding and scolding manner. The man was obviously annoyed, he was the one with blonde hair styled similarly to Louis's. However, his anger seemed to dwindle when his gaze flashed to yours. He stared for a moment, before softly bowing. You raised your hand to try and prevent the man from literally bending to you, but he simply grasped it. A touch ever so gentle as he kissed the top of your hand, cold soft lips meeting your blazing skin. “Pardon me my chérie, I’m Lestat de Lioncourt, at your service.”

After your shock finally calmed, you couldn't help but chuckle at the theatrics of this display. Bowing sheepishly, grabbing the edges of your uniform as you did, "Hello, gentleman, I'm Y/N L/N."

The soft sound of someone clearing their throat shifted your attention again, directed at the last man with long black hair in the group. "As lovely a name as ever, I am Armand." He hummed, making you realize the soft accents they had. Louis had an American accent, Lestat carried a faint French accent, and the man who had just introduced himself as Armand sounded European.

"How rude of us to bombard you like this chérie, care to join us for dinner? I'm afraid the night isn't getting any younger you know." Lestat mused, an eager smile stretching at his lips as he chuckled. You smiled at the offer but shook your head in refusal. "Although I'm not usually the type to deny a dinner with strangers, I'll have to pass this time. I'm too tired to provide any enjoyable company this evening." You hummed, slowly stepping away from what appeared to be a disappointed blonde.

"Perhaps another time." You added, smiling softly as you turned to the brunette. He shook his head playfully, "Don't mind him, have a good night Y/N." You nodded, waving a little as you finally left. Entering the ship once more as you made your way to your room, letting out a small sigh. The first day of anything was constantly exhausting in your eyes, but today sure gave you hope for more eventful journeys ahead of you.

You completed your routine rather quickly, but it was still odd to feel the occasional sway or shift of the boat. It was very subtle, but you would notice if you focused on it. Removing your uniform, you let it against one of the vacant chairs before hopping into the shower. Luckily the bathrooms were made to look more modern than the rest of the ship; you were a stickler when it came to bathrooms. Being quick to shower, you dried yourself off and put yourself in some loose clothes. You would consider yourself someone who doesn't wear specific pajamas for bed; you would wear whatever was comfortable.

Laying down after such an eventful day was pure bliss, even though you didn't do anything that was physically exhausting. Your feet still ached from all the walking, your lower back complained from the luggage you carried, and your mental state was even more drained. If there was one thing you were ready for tonight, it was to clock out until someone would bother you again tomorrow. Turning off your night lamp, you were quick to doze off.

Although your sleep was quick to come, it didn't stay. You sleep in two-hour increments but eventually give up after five A.M. You get dressed, not in your usual work uniform, since you would only have to check in for work late into the day. So at the moment, you were a simple guest. Stepping out of your room, you walked past the halls and suites. But you halted at the loud crash of what you could only assume was furniture tipping over. The noises erupted from the room as if a band of wild animals had been let loose.

You should have continued walking; this was none of your business. But the thought of it being a case of domestic violence or any other situation where your interference might've helped had you backtracking. You stayed silent, letting your ears strain to make up any conversation through the door.

"Absolutely not!" A loud yet familiar voice boomed as glass shattering followed the commotion.

"Why the hell not?" Another voice followed; this was a heated debate between two men. "What are you waiting for, Louis?" A moment of silence, like a glass of ice-cold water, was splashed onto you. You knew these men; this must've been Louis and the other's suite. At least, that's what you assumed.

You could hear stomping, the screeching of a chair against the wooden floor, then again silence. "Three-hundred fucking years. Three-fucking-hundred! Now you're suggesting that we let her go? Live a human life, a vulnerable, fragile, dangerous human life?" The man's voice, who you pinned as Lestats argued. But the mention of humanity, as if implying that there was something outside of that spectrum unnerved you. We're they rehearsing for some play?

"No, that's not it, Lestat, and you know that." Louis's voice spoke calmly, but there was a clear, agitated tone. For how long have they been arguing?

"Leaving her mortal makes her fragile, yes. But turning her could leave her hating us." The accented voice of Armand spoke, making you sincerely wonder who this 'she' was.

"You're risking everything!" Lestat couldn't believe they had this conversation for the last hour. After your sweet self had retired for the night, there was tension between them. It wasn't until Lestat lured a slightly drunk woman into their room and decided to celebrate his lover's reappearance with a bloody gore fest. Armand had partaken, not with much interest in the human blood-bag, and Louis was his sympathetic self as he drank. It wasn't until Lestat's small comment about how cute you'd look, all bloody and desperate for blood. Fledglings were always so needy once they got a taste, and he couldn't wait to indulge you. Then, of course, there was still the probing question of who would be your sire, your maker.

But Louis had cut him off, stating that you needed to stay human longer. To grow accustomed to them and eventually to their life. Louis understood where Lestat was coming from; perhaps he would've been more rational if he wasn't so exhausted from their argument. He sat slouched in a soft, red-cushioned chair. Rubbing his temples in an attempt to soothe his headache. He sympathized with you because he knew someone would turn you sooner rather than later. He just couldn't bear you going through the terrors he went through; he could still recall the way you had refused to turn the first time they had all met. They had foolishly allowed you to stay human for a little longer, where you had found yourself in a riot and subsequently lost your life in the raging mob.

He would be a liar if he said he didn't want to turn you too. To have that security, they had an eternity to properly court you, but you were human. Weak and fragile, with so little time compared to them.

Armand was the calmest in the situation. He, too, wanted nothing more than to hold you like he had always done, to share his gift with you like he had wanted to all those years ago. But you didn't want that then and didn't seem open to something so life-altering now. The risk of developing a bad relationship through actions rushed by their emotions was too risky, despite his creeping fear at the idea of you being human. If they were on a ship, there would be no civil unrest and certainly no outright threats that could actively harm you.

His coffin has felt so empty without you; for once in his miserable immortal life did he feel at peace. All of them did, and although they all felt torn. They eventually decided to wait to develop a small relationship before changing you.

You still stood outside, shaking your head at what you had heard. Utter nonsense, complete nonsensical sentences. Finally, you walked off, unaware that your footsteps had been heard. And three protective vampires were not too keen on the idea of someone knowing about them, about you.

1K notes · View notes

catfern · 1 year ago

Text

salt.

pairing: cowboy!ellie williams x afab!reader (she/her pronouns used)

music: california love - 2pac etc. OR devil wears a suit and tie - colter wall (tysm angel @lissanovak)

word count: 1.7k

summary: ellie takes good money where she can get it. turns out there's a desperate runaway who will stop at nothing to fill her coin purse. well, and run away.

warnings: blood, gun use, minor injury, slight ageism towards joel, bounty hunter!ellie kinda, outlaw behaviour forrealsies

an: the start of cowboy!ellie and reader's love story <3 how i met ur mother actually. yk when u write a word so much and it doesn't look real anymore thats how i feel abt the word flower.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“is the money good?”

her eyes trace the faded ink that paints your jawline. her fingers itch in her gloves, tapping along the flimsy paper. she shifts quickly, cigarette smoke swirling and fading in the air, a sweet smell.

your father was a desperate, desperate man.

‘please, please, bring her back to me.’

‘my sweet child, my only child.’

honestly, ellie wasn’t paying much attention to the blubbering until the mention of a payout.

the drag was long, smoke settling her stomach, and spilling out from her lips in a rasp of a laugh, “yeah, it’s real good.”

this was clearly your first time running from home.

your name on her lips, nearly everyone she met was itching to tell ellie what they had seen, for a stray coin or two. you weren’t exactly quiet, rushing off with kicked up dust and curses rolling off your tongue. the easiest money they’ve ever made, joel jokes.

ellie had your photograph in her pocket, the one your father gave her. it had felt almost unlawful to take it, your smile too intimate, your laugh too familiar. you wore the ornaments of high society, silks and velvets finding their comfort in the contours of your body, but your look was something unknown, untamed, something scarcely to be found. it was something that she deemed herself unworthy of. a sick perversion it was, to look at a capturing of you and imagine something more. she swallowed it.

“y’seen her or not?”

His eyes lingered a fraction longer on your face, the ghost of his breath circling the rim of his glass, sinking into the beer at the bottom. ellie dug her fingernails into her palms. she hated this man.

“maybe. y’got something f’me?”

“how much?”

“twenty.”

jesus.

“ th’s higher than last time, butch.” joel’s calm, albeit tired. the rasp in his throat echoes into the jovial sounds of the saloon. the old crook chuckles, sags of skin rising and falling with his molasses, gap-toothed smile.

“business is business, old friend. consider it a family discount, jus’ for you two.”

ellie makes sure joel feels the fire of her gaze as he counts out the bills. there’s little comfort in knowing the reward is sweeter, as she watches half their year’s savings slide across the table.

“a friend of a friend seen her in valentine. in that pretty dress too.”

her breath rots in her throat, palms itching as she takes back the photo, settles it back in her pocket. joel leads her out with a dishonest smile.

“easiest money we ever made.” it’s a mocking closing statement, before the heavy breath of horses fills a dripping silence.

you’re not far from a fallen angel, when ellie spots you. completely separate from the delicacy of your photo, now, you’re wild. your hair looks softer, less abused with pomade and twists to make stiff curls, capturing the sun and shining it like fragmented glass. a warmer, kinder glow falls on the dust of your skin, your rich silks abandoned for something looser, free. she feels a tragedy nick at her head when joel doesn’t hesitate,

“miss,” he stops you on the step of the general store, your grocery basket swinging from your arm, change echoing in the pocket of your skirt, “we’re friends of your father’s. he’s asked us t’bring you on home now.”

you weren’t smiling before, but something fell on your face that made you hard to describe. something echoes and ellie can almost watch the moment everything clicks.

“damn!-ellie!”

apples roll down the steps, abandoned. joel is old, and slow. ellie isn’t.

she’s on you before you can even breathe a getaway, her hands a rough burn against your skin as she pins you, cheek flush against the wood paneling of the store. softness forsaken, your breath is heavy, a monster slipping from your lips as you kick and bleed,

“i won’t go back-y’can’t make me! bastard!”

the blade is cold fire, foreign on your neck, “trust me flower. we can go easy,” pressure. “or hard,”

the silence between you deepens, your breath swirling together as the heat from her chest ripples on your back. this isn’t how ellie thought you’d be.

“how the fuck did you think that was gonna go, joel? ‘oh, you’re my daddy’s friends? why, of course, let me go and pack my beloved valuables and we can ride home together while i sing a tisket, a tasket for your enjoyment.’”

your voice is a rough, searing anger, as it echoes from where you’re bent over on ellie’s horse, hands tied behind your back, “cunt.”

“that ain't a very ladylike mouth you got there, darlin’.”

your father is wringing his clammy little hands on the front porch when joel and ellie’s horses are spied up the road. working himself up, he runs to meet you with a blabber of words. joel lifts you gently, much kinder than he was back in valentine, and cuts the sandpaper ropes from your wrists. your mother appears with a scowl,

“come on then. you need a bath, you’re filthy.”

it’s a walk of shame back down the road to your eyesore of a prairie home. the money feels sickeningly heavy in ellie’s hands as she watches you.

oh, she’s home. home, home, home. your father mutters in relief.

it doesn’t last long.

the second time is almost as painful as the first. tears stain the suede of joel’s jacket, a manic grip as the older man wailed and cried,

“she’s gone, again, again! please!”

they found you wandering a mountain pass, the sand of the red desert rock smeared across your cheek and dusted in your hair. you’d stolen a pony of your father’s, skittish and small, ellie almost laughed.

but fuck, you were learning to put up a good fight. even had a knife on you this time, smart girl.

but your dumb horse didn’t fight much, flying off at the first sound of a gunshot, throwing you violently into the dirt, winded and dazed. ellie shaded you from the beating sun with shit-eating grin, “howdy stranger.”

your voice is a coughing fit, “fuc-k you.”

by the fourth time, they started taking payments up front. the fifth time, your mother delivered the news, your father too bed-ridden with worry to see through the mess of tears and snot.

“back so soon, friend?” it’s mean to be a laugh, but it’s a rasp, dying wind scratching at his throat as his brow furrows.

ellie’s not interested in his dance, counting out the money and running it along the bumps of the scarred bar table, “same girl, y’seen her?”

he tuts, his voice high and mighty and too drunkenly happy, “dunno. think i forgot what i’m lookin’ for. might need t’see that photo again.”

“watch it.”

the silver of her hunting knife twinkles like a star in the warm light, the point slowly digging an edge into the aging wood. he shrinks and wisps the money up before it disappears, “last i heard she hitched a train up north. all i know, i swear.”

“always a pleasure, butch.”

the glow of your dying campfire wasn’t an easy beacon to follow from below the cliff face, smoke easing off the edge and falling into the moonlight. ellie eased her horse quietly up the incline, her eyes trailing your silhouette against the amber coals. a horse was tied to the tree you were camping under, not yours.

didn’t take you long to settle into the wild.

you were a completely different creature, something unknowable. ellie rounds the thicket on her feet, watching you. your eyes melt with the starlight, windswept and sweet in the air of the hills. you belong here.

fortunately, god makes it clear that ellie does not. the crack of the stick calls and echoes off the distance mountains, and, fuck, when did you get a revolver?

her hands are up as she steps out, cursing under her breath as her pants snag in the bush.

“you even know how to use that, sweetheart?”

your thumb clicks the safety, it echoes in the silence,

“i know well enough.”

“and what?” it’s teasing, and at some point, as ellie ponders her life down the barrel of a gun, your gun, she wonders if maybe, it’s not the right time. fuck it, “you gonna shoot me, flower? you gonna try?”

“i ain’t going back to that house, ellie.”

however tense, and full of pure hatred, her name on your lips is something god-given. she fights to revel in it.

“clearly.”

ellie steps, hoping to bridge the distance between you with something kind, something deserving of you. you panic.

blood. warm and sticky, seeping through the scratchy fabric of her shirt, the burn spreading through her body like a parasite. her hand flies to her arm, “you fucking shot me?’

had you seen blood before? had you shot someone before? your aim wasn’t guided by god, but fuck, you didn’t exactly expect it to hit her, and ellie knows.

“you’re th’one who fucking came at me!”

“i was walking!”

the ride home was horribly reminiscent of the first time you met. except, somehow, the ropes were tighter, and ellie had two guns in her saddle bag.

your mother scrubs the dried blood from your side in a cold bath, muttering about the witching hour.

you wait a few nights in restlessness, listening to your parents argue about your disobedience, before packing yet another satchel.

the outline of her jaw was lit by a dying cigarette, the soft scratch of her boots on the dirt echoing in the cicada rhythm of midnight. you watch her carefully as you drop from your window, wishing you had grabbed the shotgun this time.

“what? you hoping to cash in without actually doing any work?”

she’s quiet, leaning against your back picket fence. flicking her cigarette down, it briefly lights the white tourniquet splitting her bicep.

“i’m real sorry about that.” it’s quiet, remorse.

she tuts, without care, “just a graze. y’have terrible aim.”

she’s watching you, enforcing a silence between you as she studies you, almost unsure.

a sharp whistle bounces off a distant hill. you can vaguely make out the glow of a lantern, and joel.

ellie sighs, heavy, defeated.

“get your shit. don’t expect me t’carry it.”

#ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x you #cowboy!ellie #ellie x reader #ellie williams headcanons #ellie williams fanfic #ellie x fem reader

256 notes · View notes

scornedserendipity · 4 months ago

Text

II. The Road to California (Winchesters x Younger Sibling)

AN; so don't get me wrong. I love every single sibling au there is when it comes to my boys but i just cant stand how i always feel like its too sappy for what supernatrual in, so im writing this lol. like i said im gonna try to stick to the plot (timeline wise) but everything else is me so enjoy chapter two. (yes i do skip over some things beause a second sibling changes the timeline)

Summary: Dean and Jamie make their way to Sam in California.

word Count: 4.3k estimate

After filling Jamie in on the case concerning their father, the siblings fell into silence. Dean was driving while Jamie went through the cassettes for another album to listen to.

“I’m sorry we missed your graduation. I know it was a big moment for you.” Dean started. His sister was different, he could sense it. She was stronger, more mature but he couldn’t help but see that tiny kid Dad found in a big empty house.

“It was no different than any of the other big moments but let’s not get into it, Dean. Besides, you guys were on an important hunt and I forgot to get your tickets anyway. We can play catch-up when we get Sam.” She didn’t want to get all sentimental till they could get it all out with Sam after he agreed to come with them.

Dean sighed. “Jamie, I know you don't like being emotional 'cause you wanna be like your big brothers but we messed up. We weren't there for you when we should have been.”

“I know, don't worry it was lame anyway.” Jamie gulped. “I know you are upset about me hunting. Bobby didn’t even know till a couple of hunts ago!” She tried to explain but Dean put his hand up.

“You know how Dad feels about you hunting Jamie. That’s the whole reason he trusted you to Bobby, so you could have a normal life!”

“You know I was never going to have one, especially with my Mom still awol,” Jamie said, getting quieter when she mentioned her Mom.

Dean knew it was a touchy subject. How Dad always forbade her from seeing her Mom even though she was still alive. Jamie didn’t know the whole story of course but Dean couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth.

“Is that what this is about? Dad and I told you what happened. You shouldn’t go chasing after her!” Dean said.

“Why should that matter? I have a right to know who my mom is if I have the chance!”

“You’ve never even met her Jamie! We are your family. We have been there for you!”

“Oh Really? You left me with Bobby for a year Dean. You never call, never text, Dad never calls, never texts. I didn’t even know if you were alive until you rolled up!”

Dean didn't want to argue. She was right and he knew it. they had been less than a family in the past year. especially since Sam left.

“Okay. You’re right, but now we have to put that aside and get to Sam so we can find Dad.” Dean subsided. There was never a point in arguing with Jamie, for one they could never stay mad at her, their little girl, and two, thanks to her special little party trick they could never hide their true feelings from her.

“Yes, and I’m going to help you find Dad. there is no point in arguing because I’m going to do it anyway. I got past Bobby, you two are easy.” She added, taking the finishing sip from her cream soda.

“Whatever. So what have you hunted? Any souvenirs?” Dean asked jokingly.

“First was a shapeshifter that wormed its way into town. I beat Bobby to that one when I saw its skin outside my school earlier in the year. Then there was the vampire a couple of towns over and most recently a ghost haunting my ex-boyfriend, talk about karma.”

“Boyfriend?”

“yeah, it didn’t end up well. He wasn’t as cool as I thought he was but oh the face he made when I ganked that sucker. Ah for the pages!” Jamie laughed.

“Right. Well, no more boyfriends if you plan on being a hunter, and just because you graduated doesn’t make you grown up. So it’s the same. You follow orders and stay out of the way.” Dean said, glancing between her and the road.

He remembered the night Dad took them to her. Like the drifters they grew up to be, they were staying at their Dad’s friend’s house in Texas, hunting a vampire nest. He knew that his Dad and Frida were close. They would stop by anytime they were in town and one day, Dad had taken them there. He told them it was something important, an emergency.

Sam and Dean questioned them the whole time about what it was till he finally spit it out.

“You have a baby sister now and I’m taking you to meet her.”

“Dad, what do you mean? With Frida the medium?” Dean asked.

“Look, I know you’re probably upset but we didn’t mean for this to happen. I didn’t even know until a couple of weeks ago. Frida is in some trouble and needs our help.”

That was all he said about it. When they got there, the house was empty except for a car seat and a note. John and Dean searched the house while six-year-old Sam stood guard over the Baby. Curiosity got the better of him and he read the letter as he looked at the sleeping baby.

“Dear John, I am so sorry I did not tell you sooner. This child will likely have some of my abilities and for that reason and more than I can explain, I must leave her with you. All of her paperwork is under my bed. I named her Jamie Winchester. You are the father so don’t even think of running from this. She needs you and you need her.

-Frida.

“What’s it say, Sammy?” Dean asked as he came back to the main room.

“Her name is Jamie, and she is our new sister,” Sammy said, carefully holding the newborn in her arms. “Do you want to hold her? She is sleeping.”

“Sure,” Dean said, sitting down and taking the baby from Sam. “Jamie huh? She is a Winchester. Look at that nose!” He said. Using his index to lightly tickle the baby’s nose.

“Boys. this is no time to be cute.”

And the rest was history. it took a lot to adjust to having a new baby on the road but Dean had done it before with Sam. It wouldn’t be much harder.

The rest of the drive was silent other than the occasional argument of Metalica or AC/DC they enjoyed each other’s presence.

“So…was there any word on your Mom?” Dean asked just as they entered Palo Alto.

“No, still nothing. But I know she is out there. Ever since the thing kicked in I’ve felt a presence and I know it disturbs you but I can’t help it.” Jamie said, immediately going to defend her statement.

“It’s not that kiddo. Regardless of what you have going through you’re head. We all love you no matter what. You are family, ever since that night in Texas, and nothing will ever change that June Bug.”

Jamie smiled and nodded. “yeah, can we stop for food? we’ve been driving forever.” Dean chuckled and agreed. They pulled into a burger joint and sat down. It was late, almost midnight on this side of the country.

“Do you think Sam will come D?” Jamie asked, setting her drink down.

“Of course he will, it’s the family business.”

Jamie stared at her brother for a moment. “Why did you never answer my calls?”

Dean looked up at his baby sister. He knew this would be the topic of conversation until Jamie was satisfied with his answers.

“Sweetie, listen, hunting is not for sport. we don’t do this because we think it is fun. I should have called and checked on you, I know and I’m sorry I didn’t. I’m sorry I didn’t return your calls. I’m trying here.” He explained.

“Fine, I will accept your lackluster and mediocre apology. But I hope you know I know you are hiding something and I’m gonna find out what it is.”

For a moment, Dean almost got panicked over the idea of his baby sister finding out what he was hiding but that was for another time.

“Common, we gotta go get Sammy, the case is still an hour away,” Dean said, dropping some change on the table and waiting. Jamie nodded and took her final bites before dusting herself off and following her brother.

“You know, when you said try to convince him, you skipped the part where we break into our brother’s dorm,” Jamie said as she followed Dean up the fire escape.

“What can I say? We’re Winchesters.”

He broke the window and crawled in. Jamie followed after. Looking around at her brother’s life for the last two years. She pulled her gun out when she heard a crash. Turning around her brothers were wrestling, Sam holding a bat.

“Dean?!” Sam’s voice was tired. “Jamie?! What the hell are you guys doing here at two in the freakin morning?”

“Well, Dean is looking for beer but we came here for you.”

“You guys can’t just break into my house! I could have killed you?”

“You wouldn’t,” Jamie answered.

“Sam?” Another voice rang from the hallway.

“Jess. Uhm, these are my siblings. Dean and Jamie, can you give us a minute?”

“Yeah, I’ll go put something on.”

Jamie looked away. She was pretty, but she couldn’t help but sense that something was off, she wandered around the house while her brothers talked. It was always easy to slip away when she stepped away from them. Their bond was nothing she could ever imagine for herself. Yes, Sam left hunting behind for a better life, he left his family behind because of the turmoil but you can never not be a hunter. That was always her takeaway from the night Sam left for Stanford.

Jamie listened back in when Sam’s voice got serious.

“Whatever you need to say to me you can say to her too,” he said, putting his arm around his girl.

“Um, Dad’s on a hunting trip,” Dean said, raising his brows like Sam was supposed to understand him. “And he hasn’t been back for a while.”

"yeah, you know how the season is," Jamie said, raising her brow and winking.

“Jamie go wait in the car,” Dean said, tossing the keys for Jamie to catch right on time. She turned to Jess and smiled. “It was nice meeting you, finally. We’ll bring him back in one piece.” Jess nodded and Jamie left. Walking past her still arguing brothers.

She started the car up and waited by the trunk. Stealing one of Dean’s beers while she was at it. He wouldn’t mind. She knew he couldn’t wait for her first beer with him. Truth is her life has been on a fast track ever since Sam left and after she was left at Bobby’s she knew she would have to hit the road for her Mom sooner or later. She chose sooner knowing it wouldn’t be an easy battle finding out who she was outside of being a Winchester.

“Jamie, pop the trunk,” Dean said. She dropped the beer to her side, hiding it behind her thigh as her brothers walked towards her. Sam had a tired look on his face.

“What was he hunting?” Sam asked.

“And why didn’t you go with him, Dean?” Jamie piped in from the side.

“I had my own thing voodoo thing in New Orleans.”

“Dad let you go on a hunt on your own?”

“I’m twenty-six dude and besides Jamie has been solo hunts too. You’re the only one who’s behind.” Dean said.

Sam looked at his little sister with a mix of anger and surprise. She sighed and looked away. She wasn’t going to take dirt from someone who ran away from the life.

Sam walked over and hugged his sister. He already knew what she was thinking by the way she hugged him back. It wasn’t the kind of hug that popped his back and made his heels slightly lift up like before. It was just a return hug.

“Jamie. I left hunting behind, not you..”

“Well, you have a funny way of showing it. Fill him in Dean, I’m waiting in the car.” Jamie said. She knew she had no real right to be angry. She was there with him at the height of Dad’s obsession but she couldn’t relate. Well, she could but she refused it was the Same with Dean. it was always her reaching out after Sam left. They never needed her.

She got in the backseat and checked the time. it was late but Bobby would probably be up. She mulled it over for a moment opting to listen while Dean caught Sam up. A few minutes later she watched as Sam walked away. For a moment she wondered if he would walk back out. to her relief, he did. There was nothing she wanted more in the past year than to be with her family again sometimes.

Sam looked so much more mature, maybe even taller than when she last saw him, his hair was maybe an inch shorter and his clothes looked newer.

Sam jumped in and Dean followed.

“Looks like we’re getting the band back together.” Jamie joked, there was no better joy than irritating her brothers.

“Hell yeah!” Dean said as Sam rolled his eyes.

“I have to be back by Monday. No exceptions.”

Dean and Jamie rolled their eyes at their brother as the engine turned over. Jamie couldn't help but look back at Sam's house. It didn't feel like him at all. Right before they turned the corner, she could have sworn she Saw Jess looking through the downstairs window as they left. She did not look happy either.

Sam and Jamie sat in silence as Dean went into the convenience store. She could sense the tension he felt, how apprehensive he was about going on a hunting trip.

“Jamie,” Sam said, turning around to face his kid sister.

“What is it, Sammy? I’m reading here.” She said, putting the local newspaper down and looking at her older brother.

“I just, want you to know that when I left, I never left to get away from you.”

“Sam…” Jamie sighed. “I know you didn’t leave because of me.” Jamie adjusted her position taking up the entire backseat. “Yes, I am salty about it but you don’t have to keep apologizing. You still did more than Dad..or Dean for that matter.” She muttered. Sam tried to say something but Dean came back.

“Jamie, breakfast. Sammy?” Dean offered as he got into the car. Jamie accepted the cheap junk food and retired back to her newspaper. Dean mouthed to Sam, asking what was wrong with their sister and he gave Dean a look as if telling him to not go there.

“No breakfast. How are you guys even paying for this? Still running credit card scams?”

“Well, hunting isn’t exactly a pro-baller business,” Dean said.

“Did you forget the gummy bears?” Jamie asked from the backseat. Dean sighed and tossed them back to her. “Thanks.”

“Okay, game plan. Jamie is gonna get the motel set up, see if Dad left anything and we are gonna go get intel. We need more information.”

“Yeah, like Dad ever leaves us with any. Why am I stuck at the motel?” Jamie said, sitting up and chewing on gummy bears.

“Because you are the youngest and the youngest does research.” Sam piped in. Jamie could tell he didn’t like the fact that she was on the hunt. She grumbled and turned to face away. Sam rolled his eyes and gave Dean a look.

Jamie listened as they bickered over the music. Eventually, they took off and Jamie was left at some rank motel in town.

“Just like the old days. It would be fun he said. yeah, if leaving me in the motel my entire life is a fun childhood.” Jamie muttered to herself as she entered the hotel. Her role in this family unit was to stay behind.

She entered the motel room, flipped on the switch, and almost relaxed till she looked up and saw the walls covered wall the wall with what she could only assume were her Dad’s notes. Taking in her surroundings, there were sigils painted on the doors and windows, salt lining every entrance. Even the floor vent was covered.

“Dang Dad, what did you get yourself into?” She asked herself. Walking to the wall and reading over her Dad’s notes she could barely make sense of any of it. There were papers covering the walls, strings, and sticky notes. It was like a conspiracy theory board or something.

“Alright Dad, let’s see what you saw.” She muttered to herself. This was something she discovered fairly recently, something she could only attribute to her inheritance.

Jamie first realized there was a chance she could experience visions when she started getting into thousands of pages of lore Bobby had amassed and continued to grow as he went on his hunts with Rufus. She didn’t know for sure until she met her ex-boyfriend. He had been lying to her and she knew it, she went to punch him and saw visions of him with one of the girls from the cheerleading team.

Jamie scoffed to herself as she remembered the moment she discovered her visions, but they weren’t visions of the future like the lore had described; as far as she could tell they were visions of the past. The most recent moments of the past, but moments that had already happened nonetheless.

She tried to tell Bobby but she just couldn’t. He was already keeping her hunting secret at the time and she didn’t want to burden him with another. So she practiced in secret when Bobby was away, she would make her way up to the attic where he put the majority of his daughter’s belongings. She would touch them and see flashing moments of his daughters playing with them. Likely the last time they ever touched the many toys up there.

“Alright Jamie, you got this. Before Sam and Dean come back.” She muttered to herself before taking a deep breath through her teeth. She focused like she did with the girl’s toys and closed her eyes.

She felt her heartbeat outside of her body as she watched from the perspective of the wall. She saw her Dad staring back at her. Behind him, he was aligned with a mirror that hung in the room. He was haggard, standing a ways away from the wall, before walking towards it. he was on the phone, talking to someone. She couldn’t make out the words but she could almost read his lips.

The vision cut off and Jamie felt like she had fallen from high up and just made an impact with the ground. She stumbled back from the force and planted onto the bed.

“That was useful.” She muttered to herself, rubbing her brow to soothe the oncoming headache before gently laying down.

—

Sam and Dean returned in suits, sighing as they opened the motel door. Jamie had called them and told them all about the Dad’s room and how she couldn’t make sense of anything.

“Did you find anything, Jamie?” Dean called out. He didn’t hear a response. “Jamie? Are you in the bathroom?” Dean called again. Dean looked at Sam. “Where is she?” Dean asked as he walked through the small room. Only the bathroom was separated and a small wall led to a closet.

“Have you tried calling her?” Sam said, walking around the room and staring at his father’s obsession.

Dean muttered something under his breath and grabbed his phone.

“She better pick up.” He muttered. as the phone rang. sam listened as it rang and rang.

“This is Jamie Winchester’s main line, leave a message after the tunes. Caio.”

“Dammit, Jamie. Why is she always running off without telling us? We got her that phone for a reason.” Dean muttered as he changed out of the suit.

Sam stayed silent and changed as well. “Maybe she is at the library digging something up.” He suggested. Dean always jumped to worst-case scenarios when it came to him and Jamie. He raised her the same way Dean raised him. He was surprised that after she graduated she didn’t hightail it out of there for her mom.

Dean was calling again and on the third ring, it picked up.

“Hi D.”

“Jamie Winchester you answer when I call!” Dean sighed. He was just relieved she was okay.

“Okay jeez, don’t go all ‘Dad’ on me. I’m at the library digging up some local lore. I happen to have respect for municipal buildings big bro.” Jamie joked. “I took the bus and put my phone on silent.”

“Did you find anything good?” Dean asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Already regret picking her up from Bobby’s to help. Deep down he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus if she wasn’t near. The last year taught him how much he needs his family.

“Actually, yes. I did. Just like you said, over the years the killings have happened routinely and on the same stretch of road. I think it a haunting. Meet me here and I’ll fill you in.” Jamie negotiated.

“Okay. Sammy and I will come get you.” Dean agreed hanging up and turning to his brother. Who was standing by the door with his “I told you so” face.

“not a word out of you,” Dean said pushing past him. Sam rolled his eyes with a scoff and grabbed his bag.

“Why did you even bring her? You know Dad is going to tear us a new one for putting Jamie in danger. She should be in Sioux Falls.” Sam said following after his brother.

“She came along anyway and you know Dad could never say no to her? Remember when he got her .45 for her 13th birthday?” Dean said.

“No, you got scared after a ghost tried to haunt her at school and pretended Dad left it.” Sam corrected. His brother always seemed to remember some things differently than he and his sister. "She got suspended for having rounds in her backpack.

“Whatever,” Dean said, they got into the car and made their way to the library in town.

“So, how has she been?” Sam asked as he skimmed over some newspaper.

“Who Jamie? She is fine?” Dean said shrugging his shoulders.

“Dean, she is our little sister,” Sam said rolling his eyes. “Did you even know she’s been looking for her mom, Frida? Have you or Dad even checked on her in the last year? She is hunting on her own for god’s sake!”

Dean grimaced and looked over at his brother. He couldn’t image what would happen to his sister if they let her find Frida but he could also imagine how she must have felt when he didn’t call. He didn’t have a response, all he could think in that second was remembering what those bodies just a floor above his sister went through and how she could have been next.

“She will never find Frida. I don’t know why Dad kept giving her false hope.” Dean said, shaking his head and looking out the window.

“Dude, that’s her mom. She should be allowed to know her at least as an adult and we both know, Dad probably knows that she won’t stop till she gets what she wants.” Sam said. "I would have killed for a chance to know Mom."

This was where a lot of their arguments started. Over Jamie. It was either Jamie, Dad, or hunting.

“Sam, you know why we can’t let that happen.”

“Why because of something Jamie had nothing to do with and can’t control? We don’t even know if Frida went haywire on those guys that night.”

“That is exactly why. We are lucky Jamie didn’t get the full package. We got enough to worry about as it is.”

“How do we know that De-” Sam was about to start again, but the car was parked, and Dean looked up at the library.

“Sam.” Dean turned to his younger brother. His face was calm and his eyes watered for a second. His siblings had grown so much since he had last seen them. “I- never mind.” Dean didn’t even know what he was going to say. He got out and marched towards the library. Sam followed.

The boys walked in and searched for their little sister. Sam spotted her first and ruffled her hair before pulling a chair up. Just to get pushed out of the way by Dean.

“Hey! We have work to do, stop goofing off.” Jamie said. She hated how rough her brothers could get in public.

“Bitch.”

“Jerk.”

“Here look at this. I found this blog that talks about a close encounter someone had a couple of years ago. They also saw a woman in white that night but get this. This person heard her say something just before making it off the bridge the way he came. I think there are some embellishments but…” Jamie trailed off. She knew she at least found another witness account at best, her interweb slouthing skills needed serious improvement.

“here let me see,” Sam said. Jamie moved over, making room for her big brother. Dean wasn’t even paying attention. He was checking out the young librarian when he saw stacking books.

“Right here.” Sam pointed out. Jamie read the old article Sam had found.

“Dean, we found it,” Jamie said, tapping her eldest brother. “Does it say where she is buried, Sam?” Jessie asked, leaning forward.

Sam had to take a second. He felt like he had whiplash. He didn’t know how to feel about his baby sister going after a ghost with them, let alone whatever Dad was hunting. He puts it aside when Dean peaches them both away.

“No, but the survivor says that he heard the woman say “I can never go home.” The same thing that was in Dad’s messages.”

“Well?”

“Constance Welch. Committed suicide after her two children drowned, and threw herself off a local bridge.”

“brutal.” He muttered. “Alright, find out where she is buried Jamie, Sam and I will check out where she died,” Dean said.

“Okay, can I get some pizza money?” Jamie asked. She knew better than to argue on a hunt but at the same time, she couldn’t help but yearn to be in their place, actually saving people and hunting things.

Dean scoffed and reached into his pocket. Handing his sister and twenty and leaning down to make eye contact with her.

"If you aren't back at the motel by the time we are, I'm going to kill you." He said with a small smile.

"You couldn't even if you tried." She sassed back, taking the twenty and pocketing it. Jamie and Dean stared each other down

Back at the motel they were, Jamie splayed herself out on one of the beds. She felt exhausted, with no idea why but if her brothers-

“Why are you sleeping, Jamie? We still have some bones to burn.” Dean said.

“Ugh, can’t you just leave me alone for one minute? Ever since we got in the car it’s Jamie this and Jamie that. If you weren’t gonna let me hunt why bring me at all Dean!?” With that she stood up and walked out again, handing her jacket pockets and a scowl on her face

“Dude, what’s with her?” Dean asked confused as to why his sister was suddenly giving him so much attitude, they were fine less than an hour ago.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Sam said, zipping up his jacket and walking outside. Dean sat down and looked around.

Sam didn’t have to go far to find his kid sister. She was leaning up against the side of the motel, her head in her hands.

“Hey, June Bug.” Sam called, using her old nickname from when they were kids.

“I’m not a kid anymore Sammy.”

“And I’m not a chubby twelve year old but here we are.” He said, moving next to her and leaning on the ledge of the wall. “So. Are we going to talk about what just happened?”

“Igh. I don’t know. He is just like Dad. He rolls up expecting us to just follow him and put up with these stupid orders. I’ve been on my solo hunts from start to finish Sam! Why can’t they trust me to help? I have half a mind Dean set this all up just to get us together and I love it when we are together but when we are we-” She said, rubbing her brow as she spoke.

“We’re pretty nuclear, I know, June bug.” He said with a lazy smile he always had when he knew he was right. Sam reached up, pulling her hand down. He didn’t know if she kicked her hair-pulling habit but he didn’t want it to start again either way.

“Hey, I get it. Trust me but you know we are just trying to protect you. Hunting isn’t exactly a safe career choice and there sure as hell isn’t workman’s comp.” He tried to joke.

“Oh really, is it any safer than leaving a ten-year-old and a toddler in some random motel with a clerk who is probably a pedophile?” She asked, sitting up to face her brother. She was in his face, Sam never backed away from her though. He didn’t even flinch at his baby sister. All he could do was internally laugh at the irony of their family’s dynamic.

Sam was much bigger than she was. He was bigger than all of them actually but Jamie had no real fear of her brothers. They never saw her as any real threat either. Most of their restyling matches ended up with Dean holding her down while Sam ticketed her. This wasn’t one of those situations.

“Are you gonna go back to Bobby’s?” Sam asked.

“No, the only thing waiting for me there is a car that has no belt, Bobby, and a bunch of faces I don’t want to see.” Jamie kicked a loose rock away from her boot.

“Have you considered college? You’re wicked smart with machines, like Dean.”

“Yeah, and abandon my family, that would go over well. Ya know Sam when you left none of us talked to each other for three days. I know we grew up pretty unnoticed but we were never completely abandoned. You got to leave and you left me behind too.”

“Ja-Jamie come on. You can’t hold that against me forever you knew I had to leave!” Sam tried to argue.

“Sam, you forget I can feel your true intentions. Whether I want to or not so no matter how much you try to explain it away with all your logic and luscious hair, I know exactly how you felt that night and that won’t change.”

Sam huffed and chewed his cheek. If he knew one thing about Jamie Winchester, it was that she knew how to hold a grudge.

and end. hope you liked it idk ima keep trying. prolly skip over some stuff idk

#supernatural #winchesters x sibling #winchesters x younger sister #season one supernatrual #dean winchester #sam winchester

10 notes · View notes

misguidedasgardian · 6 months ago

Text

From the Ashes (IV)

IV. Hotel California

MASTERLIST

Summary: You take a trip to see Sammy, while Dean and John do their thing. Such a lovely place

Warnings: Supernatural (and all that comes with it), monsters of all kinds, pyrokinesis, cursing, murder, child endangerment, impersonating of law enforcers, haunted car, a bit of blood, car accident, might miss some warnings

Wordcount: 3,5 k

Notes: Sammy! this is some sort of filler chapter, couldn’t come up with anything for them to hunt but… I have some cool things planned for the future.

2005, Davis, California

You had spent weeks trying to find that sick doctor, but you couldn’t find it, and you were in the kennels with John. You had saved him yes but you had also failed at successfully killing the monster that you were chasing. He raised alarms with his fellow hunter, and everyone was in the lookout now

So you moved on, and a poltergeist drove you to California. John had gone to talk to a friend about it, leaving you and Dean to “hunt” some lunch. You were both a bit spooked after finishing with the Ghost, it was a kid, and well… he suffered a gruesome death and was murdering every father that lives in the house, it was quite haunting. You were waiting on John outside, when a strange color caught your eye…

“Is that my car!?”, you asked as you saw it, a Pontiac Firebird, 1967. Sitting gingerly in the diner’s parking lot

“Your Firebird is not the only one in the country”, said Dean, looking at it.

“No, but it is the only one with the same shade of black as the Impala!, and the lines are a shade of gold that doesn't come with it originally, THAT’S MY CAR!”, you said, as you saw a lanky dude just opening it, entering it and…. you whimpered when he started it, “hear that? THAT’S MY CAR!”, it was like a purr, you always liked the sound of the engine, and it rode away, “We have to follow him!”, you said, grabbing onto Dean

“Hey! relax!”, Dean got to you and grabbed you

“I can’t relax Dean! someone stole my car!”, you screeched, running towards it, but with your “human” speed, you couldn’t catch without raising more than a few eyebrows, it was too late, it had drove out of sight, you whined loudly and went back to Dean

“I can’t believe it!”, you whined, “someone stole my car from Sam and…”, you got quiet as you looked at Dean, alarmed, “I haven’t spoken to him in about a week”, you mumbled

“You hadn’t?”, now he was concerned, what if someone jumped him to steal the car from him?

You grabbed the phone and dialed him quickly, and to your relief, he answered

“Hey!”

“Hey Sam, are you alright?”, you asked him

“Yeah, yeah, why?”, now that you knew he was alright, anger surpassed relief pretty quickly.

“You son of a bitch, where’s my car?”, you angrily asked him, and you heard silence on the other side, “SAM!”

“Your car is parked in a friend's house”, he said lightly

“Then why I just saw it in fucking Davis”, you heard silence on the other line.

“I’m sorry, I’ll call him, I didn't want to leave it out so he offered to stash it at his house”, you sighed

“I had…. things… in that car Sammy”, you heard him curse. You had… hunter things hidden in the trunk, “you don’t lock up a beast like that, you drive it”

“Sorry, I haven’t got many places to go”, he said, “Wait, did you say you are in Davis?”

“Yeah”

“You are so close, are you with Dean and Dad?”, he asked

“Yes”, you said shortly, looking at Dean

“Come alone”, and he hung up. You sighed

“What's up?”, you knew Dean, he didn’t want to ask, Sam will always be his brother, but he did not want to discuss him, neither did John, who didn’t even mention him

“I have to go”, you said finally

“Again?”, he asked, already angry

“Not like that”, you assured him, “I will be back in two days”, you said surely, while you took a couple of steps back

“Is this about your car?”, he asked

“Yes, I need to get it back, don’t worry, I will not burn anyone”, you assured him. You opened the Impala and grabbed your bag

“Come back please!”, he said

“Yes!”, you insisted. You looked around and saw nobody was there in the parking lot, so you quickly went to the nearest bus stop, to Dean, it seemed like you disappeared.

The bus came pretty quickly, you paid the driver. You had to go all the way down to San Francisco, since your car was here in Davis, you couldn’t believe it, maybe you should go back there and beat the guy up, but something told you that Sam wanted to see you. And you wanted to see him.

And John, well, you knew he was going to be angry but, he couldn’t be more than he already was with you, right? He barely spoke to you

The trip was sort of short, you were really close and excited.

In two hours you were knocking on Sam’s apartment. He opened the door with a smile already on his face

“Hey husband” you greeted with a wide smile

“(Y/N)!” he called, you jumped to hug him tightly, you had missed the giant bastard, “Oh fuck I’d never been happier to see you”

“I missed you Sammy!”, you said happily, finally releasing him, I’m so happy to see you!

“Hi!”, a beautiful blonde girl showed up behind Sam, in a pajama, “you must be (y/n)”, she said softly

“Oh!”, you released Sam in an instant, taking several steps back, “you are Jess!”, you said excitedly, you looked at Sam’s embarrassed face and you gasped, “I’m sorry! I… GODS! NO!”, you said quickly and apologetically, they didn't seem to understand, “I will not do that!”, you giggled, “I will not be the touchy “best friend” who doesn’t know boundaries!”, you laughed, and they seemed relaxed, you hugged Jess tightly, “it’s so nice to meet you!��, you said, “you're gorgeous!”, you admired, “you know you are supposed to say that “Sam didn’t do you justice” but he did!”, you said with a wide smile, “great catch Sammy!”, Jess laughed sincerely

“My friend gets back tomorrow”, said Sam

“With my car”, you growled, recuperating your crappy mood, he chuckled

“With your car”, he sentenced

“Well, that’s fine, so…”, you said looking around, “what do you crazy kids do for fun around here?”

The night found you in a frat party, you were extremely excited because you had never gone to one of them before. It was just like in the movies, people almost not dressed, drunks falling everywhere, lots of neons, buzz, all of it.

But you recognized that look on Sam’s face, so when Jess went with a couple of her friends for more alcohol, you got to talking to him

“Ok so, turns out my mom was loaded” you said with a grin, “so I decided to travel the world some” you told him, taking a seat sipping you beer, “I have seen things you couldn't imagine” you giggled, putting your feet up, “Do you know what a Cheuksin is?” you asked, “Because I do”

“What is it?” Sam engaged with you, leaning in with a smile on his face, you drop your feet to the ground and lean into him

“Is a Korean bathroom ghost” you giggled. He chuckled, “And let me tell you, they don’t hunt the cleanest and nicest bathrooms”

“What else did you see?”, he asked, and you smiled at him

“Well, I know you are going to be more interested in the arts right? name a museum, I was there, I even had to sneak into one a destroy a piece in Florence, because it was hunted”

“You hunted?”, he asked

“A bit, just the cases I came across'', you said simply. ”So… how’s life in Stanford'', you recognized the guilty smile immediately

“It’s incredible”, he said, “I love my classes, I… I’m good”

“You’re good?”, you pressed. He was living the time of his life, and he felt guilty about it, you could tell

“Yeah, for the very first time I feel like… like…”

“Like your family doesn’t hunt supernatural creatures for a living and your friend isn’t a phoenix?”, you tried, you both laughed

“Yeah”, he relented

“It’s alright Sam”, you said lightly, “you don’t have to feel guilty about it”

“I know”, he said softly, “how are they?”

“They are great”, you said, but he could tell you were not being truthful, “they do miss you”

“They haven’t even called”

“I know”, you said softly, “but they do, they ask me about you all the time, they let me do the dirty work you know?”, you mocked

“Is dad… drinking much?”, he tried, now bitter

“No, I mean, not a lot”, you said softly, “the occasional beer, or… whiskey”

“Does he hate me?”

“He could never hate you”, you whispered, “so… what about Jess?”, you teased, and they brought you both back to a more happy mood

“She is amazing”, he said, taking a deep breath. You smiled at him

“I’m so happy for you Sam”, you confessed, “now let’s dance, because that guy has been checking me out and I’m in the mood”, he looked at the guy you were referring to

“He is a dick”, he said

“I don’t want him to mate with him”, you said simply, “just want some shimmy shimmy”

“Alright”, he muttered, entertained

You danced the night away with this guy, and refused him when he invited you to go back to his dorm, you were not into that at the moment.

Truth is… you were scared of getting… “physically involved” with someone, in case you…

Eh nevermind

You slept on the couch in Sam’s apartment, you laid down looking at the ceiling with a silly smile on your face, you were so happy. It had been a good party, you were hanging out with Sam and life was good, in general.

It was just like that dream the Djinns put you through, you and Sam hanging around, partying, studying. The Stanford campus was gorgeous

This is the life your mother would have wanted for you.

The very next day, after a generous breakfast trying to stay ahead of the headache, and a day of spending time with Sam’s friends and walking around the campus. You were knocking on the door of the guy that had your car at sunset. You were trying to hold back, you wanted your car and you needed to hear explanations before getting all riled up.

But as soon as the door was opened by that guy, you jumped in front of Sam

“Alright, where’s my car motherfucker?”

“(y/n)!”, Sam called angrily. The guy put up his hand in a defensive manner

“It’s in the garage!”, he said

“And why did I see it yesterday in Davis, driven by you!”, you said. This wasn’t the same guy, didn’t seemed though, although, when you did saw him he was at the other side of the parking lot that is why you couldn’t catch him

“Follow me, alright?”, he asked. He led you through the house, and then stopped in front of a door, he opened it dramatically, and there ... was nothing… Sam watched you carefully as you looked at the empty space where your car should be

“My baby”, you whined. This guy was all nervous

“It was just here!”, he said quickly

“Somebody took my car!”, you said finally

“We will get it back!”, said Sam quickly, the guilt sinking in

“MY FIREBIRD!”, you screamed.

“Let’s check my cameras”, he offered, you did, you watched as the garage door opened and then, to your -fake- surprise, your car just drove off by itself

“We’ll find it!”, said Sam as he followed you out of that dude’s house, you didn’t even bothered to learn the name

“My car is possessed!”, you said in angry whispers

“I know”, he answered back in whispers

“Why would my car be possessed?”, you asked, “I’m alive, am I?”

“Last time I checked”, he offered

“Who could be possessing my car?”, you asked then, and then you stopped in your tracks, “oh dammit”, you cursed

“What?”

“I remembered”, you whined

“What?”

“Remember the cursed objects? from that guy in Kentucky? He inherited them from his grandmother?”

“Don’t tell me you kept one”

“It was in a box in the secret layer of my trunk!”, you defended, “that guy’s brother must have getting curious and opened it”

“Alright, now, we need to stop your car before…”, you heard tired braking in the parking lot nearby, you both looked and you saw cars getting out of the way of…

You gasped

Your car was driving randomly in the parking lot, people were running away from it and cars were swerving to get away from his destructive path. You shared looks with Sam and then you both started running.

Your biggest troubles as an immortal phoenix was not running in an incredible not human-perceived speed, was actually manage to run at normal but quick human speed

The car was driving away finding a way out of campus and you could let itself get lost again, you lost Sam, he wasn’t as quick, but you starting running in a still human speed, but you could beat Usain Bolt

Your car was zigzagging all the way down Campus street of the university, you were going to get in so much trouble if this thing reached the main street leading to the entrance of it, so many people. You looked around but you saw nobody, so you ran until you could jump.

You landed haphazardly on the back of the car

It brake, with all its might, you rolled to the top of the car and then in the front

“Motherfucker!”, you cursed, as you were in front it started driving again. For being a self-driving car it surely know defensive maneuvers

You grabbed onto the hood of your firebird until your fingers hurt, you only hoped it didn’t want to… you managed to look back to the front of the car to see that it was driving itself straight to the wall

At the last second it turned, and you went flying off of it, landed on the pavement

You thought that if you were a human that might have killed you because it hurt so, so much, you had scratches all over… it hurt so much, your side and the palms on both your hands bled for a few seconds until they stopped when they healed minutes later.

Your raised from the floor to see your car driving off

“This is bananas”, you whined, you were still in pain, your jeans had ripped on the knees and you were looking like a bloody mess.

A car came quickly, it stopped right by your side

“Get in!”, Sam said, “we can’t lose it!”, say less, you jumped into the car and he punched it.

Soon you reached it, seemed like the ghost was getting good at driving, as it wasn’t zig-zagging anymore

“We are gonna get in such much trouble!”, you whined, “that car is under my real name!”

“Dad told us we shouldn’t do that”

“Yes I know! my real self never returned from Europe!”, you said, “but it was my first car and I can’t let my real self be forgotten! what if I want to buy a house some day?”, you explained quickly

“We are getting out of track here”, he responded, you nodded, you followed the car, who seemed to turn randomly into many streets

“You remember what the case was?”

“Yeah, I do… just some witch who cursed objects she liked on her antique shop”, you muttered,

“You think your car is trying to get back to New Orleans?”, he asked mockingly

“Probably”, you answered, “anyways, whose car is this?”

“Some guy from my intro to philosophy class”, he answer nonchalantly

“I can’t believe it Sammy, I’m sorry”, you muttered.

“For what?”, he asked

“We are supposed to be normal for two days, and now we are chasing my haunted car down the road from one of the top universities in the country”, you muttered, he laughed

“If truth be told, I kinda missed this, but please don’t tell my dad I say that”, you chuckled

“Believe me my lips are sealed”, you said back

“Do you know what is causing the haunting?”

“It's a small box, it's in the back, in the trunk!”

“Great”

“I drew a protective drawing, it must have been deactivated when this guy opened the secret layer”, you answered, “but the thing is still in that car or else, it wouldn’t be driving itself”

You followed it to the streets

“What is it doing?”, you asked, it was driving aimlessly, but you were still deep in the city, you couldn’t go all batman on that thing, or people were going to notice

You thought it had calmed down, but then it started his destructive path again, running red lights and going against traffic

You couldn’t jump it in these conditions, with so many people around so you followed it well into the night. It finally found a path out of the city well into a suburban area, the light in the gas light up, meaning you got little time left until you were stranded, and your car gone.

“Alright let’s do this!”, you said, you opened the window, managed to slide out, and sat on the edge, ready to jump. Sam was motivated, he accelerated the car until you were side to side, and you managed to jump. You landed in the back, the car seemed to feel you underneath it, and started jerking and zigzagging again, but you were determined. It was your car, you always knew how to punch it to open the trunk without the key. You did, it snapped open. The angle was terribly bad, you couldn’t reach the content from your point, so with the pain of your heart, you grabbed the back and you tore it off. You reached inside, tearing the secret layer too. and you started searching.

The car kept jerking, Sam was trying to push it gently off the road. As soon as you touched the small wooden box, the car stopped. You went flying over the car -again-, and landed on your ass, with the box in hand and the object in the other.

Now that you had stopped something of yours that had been possessed, you could clearly say…YOU WERE BACK! HAHAHA

. . .

It was a beautiful sunrise over the city. You sat on the hood of your car with Sam by your side, atop a hill, the best burgers of SF on your side.

“Why’d you keep it (y/n)?”, he asked gently, “you know better than this...”, he said, looking at the small box

“I know”, you sighed

“You were always the first one “yes sir” and “yes John” and burning bones!”, he said

“I KNOW!”, you said quickly

“Then why?”, he asked again, you grabbed the box and opened it again, Sam got quiet when he saw what was inside it

it was an old beautiful ring, it could be from medieval times, in the head, there was a beautiful stone carved in the shape of a phoenix, a signet ring

“I thought it might be a lead, so I kept it for research”, you confessed, “I know nothing about my kind, for all I know I could be the last one! so I kept it”, you said, with guilt in your voice

“You should have said something!”, he whispered, a bit embarrassed

“Well, we both know what John’s answer was going to be and I thought it was going to be safe if it was kept in the box”, you explained softly

“Well, keep it”, he said, you looked at him, “you are here now and the box and the car are going to be safe with you”, you sighed, you looked at each other and laughed, “No word of this to anyone!”, he said, you laughed

“Not a word”, you pinky promised on it

Your phone rang, and you picked it up gingerly

“Hello?”

“It's me, John”, he said shortly

“Hi, sorry for leaving”

“It’s fine doll, but we need you, we are going up to South Dakota”

“To Bobby’s?”, you asked, pleasantly surprised

“Yes”

“I’ll be back in Davies in two hours”, you said shortly, and he hung up. You looked back at Sam

“Duty calls”, you said simply, he smiled

“I’m glad you are with them”, he said with a shy smile, “having their backs”

“I’m happy to be of service”, you said happily. You hugged him tightly, “Good to see you Sammy”

“Good to see you”, he whispered, kissing your cheek

“Say goodbye to Jess for me alright?”, you asked softly, he nodded, “she is amazing!”

You’d miss him, but you were so terribly happy for him

You were happy to be behind the wheel again, you loved your car, Bobby had literally scrapped it together for you, and you and the boys helped him, it had been one of the happiest months of your life.

You found Dean and John outside the motel you were staying at, you jumped out of the car, opening your arms

“The phoenix rises from the ashes!”, you said excitedly, “Pun very much intended!”

taglist! @deans-spinster-witch

#misguidedspn #john winchester #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic series

7 notes · View notes

picklefics · 1 year ago

Text

Benefits of Camping, or How to (not) Hunt Bigfoot With Your Parents

This was originally posted on Ao3, but I decided I'd see what posting on Tumblr was like for fanfiction :) (https://archiveofourown.org/works/47138986/chapters/118767895)

I already have chapters 1-5, just not gonna put em all up right now as I'm at a coffee shop and need to work on heading home.

Summary:

It could've been a great vacation. Probably. Except there's one tiny issue: Danny's parents have decided to take a break from hunting ghosts, instead supporting their fellow cryptobiologists in hunting Bigfoot. The big problem? They do find Bigfoot. And Bigfoot can talk. (...and has a PhD?)

Chapter 1: Benefit 1-New Cooking Skills

Danny’s folks are usually ghost hunters, but that doesn’t mean they don’t branch out. After all, they’d spent almost 20 years of their life studying a science practically everyone thought of as a paper house in a rainstorm. Surely one of those droplets of evidence would disprove the science as a whole.

Really? Entire beings made of one substance? Supernatural entities?

Absurd .

Maddie and Jack have a great deal of sympathy for cryptobiologists. They also have a tendency to suspect that ghosts are involved every time someone spots Bigfoot or some other being. But really, they’d be happy with either the discovery of a ghost or a new animal to dissect.

Danny, on the other hand, is not in love with either of those two discovery options. He is having a great deal of fun tormenting Jazz, who’d been forced to come along on a trip to the red cedar forests of California. He’d tried to bribe Sam and Tucker into coming along. Sam, with the lure of a new animal (maybe) to check out, and Tucker with peer pressure and lots of grilled meat. Unfortunately, after the reality check that was another fight with a new ghost named Fortuna (self-proclaimed follower of Fortuna, Goddess of Fortune and Misfortune, and with luck-related powers), they’d been forced to concede that having people at home who could fight ghosts was too important to have all three of them on a camping trip.

Thank fuck that Val wasn’t in school right now and that she’d gotten less extreme about ghosts since meeting Danielle. One day Danny might even consider telling her about him, if she doesn’t figure it out first. As a result, there are three competent ghost hunters in Amity Park who don’t actively hate ghosts while Danny is on vacation.

At any rate, Danny is trapped with a bunch of adults who are way too enthusiastic about hunting down rare animals and (in at least one case) killing and taxidermy-ing them. The guy in question keeps tracking new hunters down and showing off pictures of his living room and business, covered in eerie deer, bear, and alligator heads, among other things. There’s even a snake wrapped around a driftwood piece on the table. It reminds Danny of Skulker, and makes him consider yet again whether ghosts might be more likely to form out of these kinds of people. He’s pretty sure his parents were obsessive before they started regularly working with ectoplasm, and after?

They grew much more extreme.

And who knows? It could be due to exposure to ectoplasm, or maybe the obsessiveness causes ectoplasm to accumulate near them. He’s heard theories going both ways.

This guy, Danny could easily imagine dying and becoming a ghost.

At least he helps with setup. The camp takes a while to go up, yellow and beige tents popping up like gophers among the trees. His parents’ tent is a green dome, one of a few splashes of color in the group. Another guy sets up a big grill and a solar panel in a little clearing, one of the few places with sunlight. His incredibly buff partner totes a bag of backup coal to the grill like Mom would carry a sack of flour.

All around the area, people bring up folding chairs and situate equipment. In a big, waterproof, black container, they all put their tech away. The container is anchored with thick ropes to be absolutely certain that nothing can drag it away. It’s flash-flooding season in the area and there’s a river nearby, so they’re concerned that the container could float away, but they had wanted to make the equipment available to everyone, so they aren’t keeping it in anyone’s vehicle.

A cage goes up towards the far west corner of the camp, away from the fire pit, because they’re worried anything they capture might be unduly frightened by said fire.

With that, a few people sign up in rotation to monitor the grill, planning to bake some potatoes and apples in the fire pit and grill weenies. It’ll be about three hours before supper, but the planning, and a snack, are needed. As the only kids present (apparently many of the others’ kids are nonexistent or at summer camps), Danny and Jazz are put on apple coring and potato poking duty involuntarily.

Matthew Kapp is their instructor. He practically drags them to the fire pit and tells them how to make the food like he thinks they have infinite memory space for commands, no matter how long the list is.

He explains that potatoes explode when in the ashes without holes, then shows them the basic steps to prepare the food. Essentially, they’re supposed to stab the potatoes with a fork “until it feels right”, wrap them in tin foil, and then yeet them into the fire. Then they have to be surrounded by the ashes and dug out later. Jazz and Danny both work on this, quietly chattering.

Danny grins and with particular emphasis stabs a potato old enough to have green sprouts studded all over its surface. He has to use his right thumb to put enough pressure on the sides of the sprouts that they fall off. He jokes, “If I were Skulker and this potato was me, I’d be so happy right now…”

Jazz raises her eyebrows at him. “Sometimes I worry about the normalization of violence you’ve experienced, Danny.”

Danny is like 90% sure she’s saying that mostly to get on his nerves, but he’s not 100% sure. Ah, the delights of a sister who adores psychology and tormenting her little brother. He rolls his eyes. “Literally everybody in town probably has that. The school has at least one attack every week.”

Jazz retorts, “That’s really not normal.”

“Well it’s normal for me.”

At that, Jazz changes topics. “Did you remember to bring our tent?”

Danny gives her a thumbs up.

“Great. We don’t have to listen to their snoring!” She cheers. Granted part of the reason they have the tent is because of Danny’s nightmares and occasional power use. Particularly, he’s prone to leaping out of bed and turning intangible the second he gets startled awake because of the sheer number of times ghosts have woken him up.

“Thanks for suggesting it,” Danny offers. Then he adds, “Stabbing the potatoes until it feels right is so…imprecise. How do we know when it feels right?”

Jazz groans sympathetically. “I know, right? I get it for people who’ve baked campfire potatoes before, but we’ve never done this. Mr. Kapp is a scientist, isn’t he supposed to know to be exact for beginners?”

Danny tosses his potato back and forth. “This potato better be good. It’s very hole-y now.” He sets it in the metal bowl to his right and adds, “It’s starting a cult.”

Jazz raises her eyebrows at him. “...why?”

“Holy? Y’know, like saints or whatever?”

Jazz snorts and grabs the tin foil roll. She starts unwrapping it to the familiar crumbly crackle of ripping metal, tearing off pieces big enough for each of the potatoes they’ve prepared. Danny snitches some of the squares and starts wrapping them around each potato as fast as he can. For this part, they don’t talk. The aluminum is too loud anyways. It covers speech pretty well.

After all 14 potatoes are wrapped, they toss them into the fire. Sparks flash into the sky and drift away, and one of the logs collapses into the pit with a soft thud. The white ashes have increased in number, but there aren’t many yet, so they wait to bury the potatoes in the ashes. While they wait, they move on to the apples.

Danny mixes the cinnamon and other spices together and Jazz cores the apples while grumbling about how hard it will be to work on her paper out here. She brought paper so she could handwrite some of it, but out here there isn’t any internet so the most she can do is type on her phone. She isn’t doing that because she’s worried about running out of power and not being able to call if there’s an emergency.

They both stuff the apples with the mixture and then wrap them and toss them in the fire in the same way as the potatoes but to the side. About 15 minutes later, they use sticks to roll the apples out of the fire. The potatoes are saved for later since it will be a few hours before they’re done, while the apples are served as a snack/dessert immediately.

Having had a long drive and therefore possessing a strong craving for sweets (or any sort of snackage really), everyone swarms the apple pile and as a result only gets one each. Danny plots to sneak another apple into the fire later so he can have seconds, and Jazz wholly supports him. He forgets to eat, and she has to remind him far more often than she’d like.

After the apples are all eaten, some of the people sit down to rest (those who weren’t already asleep) and some of the others begin prowling the area, including Taxidermy Guy (Oscar Polson) and his wife Paloma.

When the two of them come back, they have a map of the area filled with markings denoting where they want to put various kinds of traps. The Polsons are the experts on trap-setting and location, and they’re responsible for deciding which places to put the traps each person brought. With the locations for each trap decided, everyone fixes the last few supper items and sits down for supper as the sun sets, mostly because there’s not enough time to set up the traps that evening.

Next Chapter:

https://www.tumblr.com/picklefics/730299785376104448/boc-chapter-2?source=share

#dp x xm #dpxxm #phandom #x men evolution #bad camping trips #danny phantom #hank mccoy and his very own series of unfortunate events

21 notes · View notes

ash-and-books · 11 months ago

Text

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb: The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.

But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love.

Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves?

Or have they finally met their match?

Review:

What starts off as a contest between two killers (who only kill other killers) turns into something more as the longer the game goes on the closer they become. This was a fun rom com about two killers ( who only kill other bad guys) who meet by accident and initiate a game... and as the game spans years the closer the two become. Sloane and Rowan are rival killers, yet the moment they meet each other, they find that they really do see and understand one another. So they begin a game: they'll be given a location and first one to spot the killer and kill them wins. What starts off as banter soon turns into more as they begin spending more time with each other, hunting together, watching one another... and ultimately falling for each other. But nobody said being a killer in love would be easy, and the game they're playing is against other dangerous people. Rowan fell for Sloane the first moment he met her, but in order to keep her from flying away he initiates a game as a way to get to know her to and to see her again. Can he prove to her that he's the one for her? This was such a fun read. I adored the rom com aspect of it and the chemistry between Rowan and Sloane was amazing. This was absolutely a add to your tbr book for me and I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a unique and fun (with a bit of spice) romance!!I can't wait for the second book and to read about the other brothers/couples in this series!!

*Thanks Netgalley and Zando for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

#book review #bookish #butcher and blackbird

11 notes · View notes

thirtecnth · 4 months ago

Text

(Logan Lerman) THE CRESTFALLEN. Please welcome JONAH "GHOST" BASILONE (He/Him) to Huntsville, WV. They are a 32-year-old VISITOR who lives in THE COMMUNE. You may see them around working as a RANGER at EAST WATCH TOWER. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.

GENERAL

FULL NAME: Jonah Adam Basilone NICKNAMES: Ghost, Basilone AGE: 32 years old DATE OF BIRTH: January 13th SEXUALITY: Questioning STATUS: Hunter

APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 5′ 10″ HAIR: Black EYE COLOR: Blue

BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: San Diego, California INCOME STATUS: Middle Class FATHER: Wade Basilone MOTHER: Dawn Basilone SIBLINGS: Twin Half-Siblings / Cousins (27) SIGNIFICANT OTHER: None HOBBIES: Carving, Writing, Sketching, Lockpick, Training

TRAITS

[+] perceptive, confident, skilled [-] distant, traumatized, intimidating

STORY POINTS

From the moment he was born, Jonah felt like a burden.

His mother was pregnant at 15 and his father had shipped out for the military at 17 when his mother (Jonah's grandmother), signed the special permission for him to join up.

Money had always been tight and Jonah very rarely saw his father. During this time, he spent a lot of time with his uncle (his Dad’s brother) …and so did his mother.

She had a set of twins. Turns out they were both his cousins and his half-siblings.

When his Dad finally found out, he dragged Jonah to California; away from his mother, uncle, and half-siblings, all to begin anew.

He learned to fend for himself since his father was still in the service and found creative ways to make money in the meantime.

Not all of them were moral but he acquired a lot of skills that would prove worthy later on.

To temper these bad habits, his Dad taught him a moral code, how to shoot and how to fight.

Some of the training was brutal but it helped him defend himself when his hobbies proved to be dangerous.

That was when Dad left for the last time on deployment and never came back.

At 14, he was shipped back to his mother (and his uncle) who had gotten married at this point and left him to feel like Cinderella—abandoned and uncared for.

Due to the lack of care and attention, he continued antics, frequently getting in trouble as a result.

When a recruiter approached him about joining up at 17, he forced his own mother to sign the papers and headed out.

He made it into the special forces fast, however, despite his superior skills, he was drummed out at 20 for not following orders that conflicted with his Dad's moral code.

Just after his 21st birthday, Jonah was invited to join a clandestine group of CIA-sponsored mercenary assassins that, (thanks to his military record), assured that his targets would all meet certain death.

Jonah spent 9 years with these military mercenaries, earning a reputation as a con artist, a thief, and a combat specialist for the sake of his country.

He fell in love with a target. Believed her story when she said she was framed. When she betrayed him and killed a comrade, he was forced to kill her too. It was devastating.

Just before he turned 30, he was released and returned to normal life... His life just wasn't really "normal" anymore.

He seeked purpose. That came as hired protection for someone he'd never even met.

His search for them led him to Huntsville and now, being stuck, he'd vowed to keep them safe at the very least.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

1. Coworkers

2. Friends & Bros

3. Hookups, FwBs

4. Other Assassins

5. Therapists (lol)

…More to come, I’m sure!

#jonah basilone.#jonah basilone. / intro #huntsvilleintro

5 notes · View notes

quoteablebooks · 5 months ago

Text

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Dark Romance, Contemporary

Rating: 3 out of 5

Content Warning: Eyeballs and eye sockets, Amateur surgery, Skin ornaments, Chainsaws, axes, knives, scalpels - a lot of sharp objects, Accidental cannibalism, Not-so-accidental cannibalism, Questionable use of a mummified corpse, Lobotomized man servant, Ill-advised use of kitchen implements, I’m sorry about the cookies and cream ice cream (I’m not really), Detailed sex scenes which include (but are not limited to) cock warming, rough sex, praise kink, anal, adult toys, choking, spitting, dom/sub interactions, genital piercings, References to parental neglect and child abuse, Parental loss (not depicted - one parent murdered, one parent passed in child birth), References to child sexual assault (not in detail), It’s a book about serial killers, so there’s some generally messed-up murder and chaos

Summary: The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

*Opinions*

This was another social media influenced read as romance and dark romance in particular is having a moment right now. However, there is only so much I can take in a dark romance before I ask why someone isn’t calling the police. The thing that drew me to this novel is that both of the main characters are serial killers, so there wouldn’t be the normal power imbalance that makes me uncomfortable. While I enjoyed my time with this novel, it didn’t grip me the same way as all the people singing its praises. However, it also has a good number of haters and I don’t think I am there either.

Butcher and Blackbird follow Solan Sutherland and Rowan Kane, two serial killers who hunt serial killers in Raleigh South Carolina, and Boston Massachusetts respectively. When Rowan stumbles upon Solan when a hunt goes wrong, he decides that once a year they should attempt to hunt the same serial killer, whoever gets the kill wins. What neither of them expects is that spending time with another person who understands their gruesome hobby will open something inside them. As they get closer and the games get deadlier, Solan and Rowan need to decide whether being vulnerable is worth the risk.

The first thing that you need to be able to do in this novel is suspend disbelief a good deal. We have two serial killers who are not at all worried about being caught and openly talk about their murders in public places. Multiple people in their lives know that they are serial killers and they seem to use their real names when they get plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars when they are on their yearly hunts. If you cannot let this novel sit in a world where the FBI and police are not actively looking for a serial killer who plucks out people’s eyes and randomly now seems to be moving about the country, then this will just aggravate you. Also, at one point they take time to makeout while they are in active danger and I could not roll my eyes hard enough.

It is a rather short summary because there really isn’t a lot of plot in this novel. It is more vignettes of plot strung together to move us through the relationship, but we don’t see a lot of the parts that I want to make me fall in love with a couple. I think the issue is the year time jumps in which Solan and Rowan are building their relationship that we never get to see. Now, I don’t want to see every text between them, but I would have loved to see Rowan and Solan during their time in Boston when he was taking care of her to make the last third of the book have an emotional hit. I didn’t dislike my time with this book, though there were parts in the sex scenes that did give me the ick, but I didn’t care about Solan or Rowan all that much because I felt as if I didn’t know them all that well. The twist at the end was…whatever. It didn’t shock me all that much. Also, there wasn’t enough murder for a serial killer romance, in my opinion.

I don’t feel as if get enough of either of the character’s backstories to get a good idea about either of them. Solan was self-conscious and Rowan was scared of losing her, those were their personality traits. It is also the crux of their relationship and it’s issues. Solan doesn’t trust Rowan or think that he could want her because she thinks that she is unlovable. Rowan is obsessed with Solan but doesn’t want to scare her away so he keeps an arm's distance even though it is driving him insane. That’s it, that’s their whole dynamic for the entire book. When they finally have sex, the reader gets multiple chapters, but never any emotional depth to their relationship. I know that is not what everyone is looking for in a dark romantic comedy, but it is what I need to be invested. Also, there was a part in the sex scene that went from very sexy to very gross very quickly, but I know that is a personal preference thing.

This was a 3.5 read rounded down to a 3 because as I was writing this review I became more annoyed with this book. It was a fun enough read and I will go on with the companion novels, but I won’t be buying a copy for my shelves. Also, please please please read the content warnings before reading this because I can see how some of these things would be really hard for people to read in a romance.

#book review #booklr #3 out of 5 stars #dark romance #butcher & blackbird #the ruinous love trilogy #brynne weaver

3 notes · View notes

connectparanormal · 5 months ago

Text

Ghosts of the Queen Mary

Retired ocean liner Queen Mary is famous for her many ghost stories, in addition to her history and majesty. She is currently permanently based in Long Beach, California. This magnificent vessel, which first set sail in 1936, served as a luxury liner and later as a troopship during World War II. The Queen Mary has grown in popularity among paranormal aficionados over the years, with many considering her to be among the most haunted locations on Earth. One of Queen Mary's most well-known ghosts is a young sailor who perished in the engine room. According to rumors, his spirit still resides near Door 13, the location of his crushing during a standard exercise. He is known as "Half-Hatch Harry." Visitors to this area report feeling abrupt temperature drops, seeing shadowy figures, and hearing strange knocks.

Even though it's empty now, the first-class swimming pool is nevertheless the center of paranormal activity. Despite the lack of water, both guests and staff have reported seeing enigmatic wet footprints appear on the deck. Here, guests frequently report seeing and hearing the spirit of a little child named Jackie. Witnesses report hearing her laugh and making splashing noises, despite the pool being dry for decades. The ship's magnificent ballroom has witnessed the soul of a woman wearing a white evening gown drifting across the floor. People often refer to this apparition as the "Lady in White," believing her to be a past passenger who met an unfortunate end and now haunts the ship's luxurious areas for eternity. The faint strains of 1930s music accompany her presence, further enhancing the eerie, nostalgic atmosphere. Probably the most notorious spot on the Queen Mary is cabin B340. For a long time, authorities kept this area off-limits to visitors due to its well-known paranormal activity. Unusual occurrences in B340 include lights flickering mysteriously, bedsheets disappearing, and taps activating on their own. Guests who dare to stay in this cabin frequently talk of sleepless evenings full of unexplained noises and a general feeling of discomfort.

Rumor has it that children's ghosts haunt the former nursery, another terrifying spot on the ship. The now-empty room echoed with the sounds of babies weeping and lighthearted laughter. Some have even reported seeing the spectral image of a young child clutching her teddy bear while gazing through the porthole. Even if some people don't believe in ghost stories or think they're just the product of people's wild imaginations, many people who have personally witnessed paranormal activity on board the Queen Mary continue to believe in the ship's infamous reputation. The Queen Mary is an intriguing site for history fans and ghost hunters alike, since the stories of its spirit inhabitants add an intriguing dimension to its already rich past, whether or not one believes in ghosts.

#queen mary #ghost #ghosts and hauntings #ghost art #paranormal

2 notes · View notes

konnorhasapen · 2 years ago

Text

NO OMG I REALLY TAGGED THE WRONG PERSON YESTERDAY SAYING I WAS GONNA POST THE WIP FOR THAT VAMPIRE BIGFOOT THING TODAY FML-

@romeo-the-homeo IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOU SHAJFBJBF AND SINCE YOU SEEMED INTERESTED @friendlyfaded YEAH SURE ANYWAY HERE IT IS I GUESS💀

"As happy I am that you're makin' friends, I have a couple questions." Alphonse began, sparing only a glance to his passenger as he spoke. "First of all, why did they have to be all the way in California? Second, why did you pack so much shit? I mean, seriously, your crap's taken up the entire backseat and thrown up into the trunk! What do you need all of that for? And third—" He griped with a lighthearted chuckle, being cut off by his partner.

"I told you it's for our hunt!" Seth exclaimed, fiddling and futzing with the camera settings while it was already recording. "We need all the gear we can get our hands on to nab this thing! Or at least get decent, actual footage." He added smartly. Seth smiled when he finally got the perfect look he was going for he set it on his thigh while he twisted to grab the tripod he packed, the camera lens facing toward him.

"Nice crotch-shot." Alphonse snorted, receiving a playful "shut up, Al" and a smack in the arm as the brunette twisted back into his seat, tripod in hand. "Aye, don't hit the driver! That's so unsafe!" He laughed, the sound infectious.

"Didn't you have another question?" Seth asked as he attached the camera and began positioning in front between them as to get both himself and Al in the frame.

"Yeah, I did. Two of 'em! Before you so rudely interrupted me." Seth rolled his eyes at the others' snarky response and replied:

"Why don't you ask it then?"

"Fine, fine!" He laughed again and cleared his throat. "Third, who even are these people? And last, but most definitely not least, why in the hell am I bein' dragged along with you?" Alphonse asked, earning a chuckle in return.

"These people are friends I met online!" Seth paused for a minute, thinking. "Well.., one of them is. They said they have a friend whose also a huge cryptid fanatic and that they'll tag along with us."

"You only know one of them?"

"Yep."

"And they invited you to this Dahlia place."

"Mhm." Alphonse blinked at Seth's answers, taking a few moment of silence before inhaling deep.

"Am I the only one here who thinks there's a ninety-seven percent chance this person is most definitely a psycho killer? I'm driving you to your murder crime scene. That is what I'm doing right now." Al rambled, making emphasizing gestures with his hands as best he could with his palms still on the wheel while he drove.

"C'mon, I've looked up pictures of Dahlia. I doubt there's a psycho killer anywhere near that place." Seth rolled his eyes again before the camera was finally in position, smiling to himself as he flipped the monitor around to see Alphonse and himself both in the shot. "There we go." He declared. "And I dragged you with me because none of this would've fit on my bike." Before the pastel punk could answer, Seth cleared his throat and drew in a steadying breath.

"What—are you preparin' to give a speech to the president?" Al teased him again, interrupting him anyways.

"Oh my g— Alphonse shut the hell up and let me do this!" The two laughed together for a minute, then once it died down the self-proclaimed cryptid hunter repeated his preparation to officially start this video.

"This weekend on another episode of Hunting Ghosts and Other Assorted Paranormal Entities, Alphonse and I are taking a huntin' trip. We've done some digging and came across the general area where the most sightings have been reported and narrowed it down to a single city in California called 'Dahlia'. So that's where Al and I, are headed to next." He closed it off dramatically, leaving a few seconds of quiet before letting it drop.

"You're still goin' with that name? Seriously?" Asked Alphonse as he made a futile attempt to hold back his snickering.

"What is your problem with the name? I think it's great." Seth rebutted.

"That's way too much of a mouthful, man!"

"Oh yeah? Then come up with a better one, right now." Minutes of utter silence passed by as Seth burned holes into the side of Al's head with his chocolate brown eyes open wide in a stare.

"...I can't—"

"Exactly."

There you go, that's all I have at the moment lmao

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #yuurivoice #wip wednesday #yuurivoice seth #yuurivoice alphonse #the cursed cryptid hunt crossover

29 notes · View notes

darcyxelainexanthony · 6 months ago

Text

Introducing Darcy

( ZENDAYA COLEMAN . CISWOMAN . SHE/HER ) - the chicago resident , ( DARCY ANTHONY ) , was heard blaring ( DON’T SAVE ME / CHXRLOTTE ) this morning . the ( TWENTY-SIX ) year old is a ( GHOST HUNTER ) in the city & has lived the ( EAST ) tower for ( TWO MONTHS ) . since being here , they have been told to be ( - SELF-CRITICAL ) , but also ( + CURIOUS ) , i guess we'll find out soon !

MUSE INSPO:

PINTEREST || SPOTIFY (coming soon)

BASIC INFO:

Name: Darcy Elaine Anthony

Age: 26

Faceclaim: Zendaya Coleman

Birthday: August 12, 1998

Hometown: San Diego, California

FAMILY:

Father: Mitchel Anthony

Mother: Elaine Anthony

Sister: possible wc on the main to come

APPEARANCE:

Height: 5'10

Hair: brow, curly (visual of how it usually is)

Piercings: 3 ear piercings (reference)

Tattoo(s): simple ghost on her wrist

BIO:

TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of death, fire, grief, depression

Darcy was born and raised in San Diego, California, eldest daughter of Mitchel and Elaine Anthony. The Anthony's were a happy little family and they were well known in their town since Mitchel was the chief of police. Darcy and her sister bickered often, but siblings fighting over petty things was the only bad thing in the Anthony household.

Darcy was an adventurer when she was younger and even is now. She loved going out and finding things to do, people to play with, and new places to explore. She had a group of friends in high school who would always smoke together and explore abandoned buildings near their town. It was fun and they seldom got in trouble since Darcy's father could kind of sweep things under the rug. Things like, her breaking and entering said abandoned buildings.

Darcy and her friends had plans for the future and promised to be together forever, but a few nights after their high school graduation, there was a fire at one of their houses, and one friend, Knox, didn't make it. It was devastating, and while the rest of their little group mourned and grieved together, they eventually went their separate ways.

Darcy had always felt like they were invincible, so to be faced with mortality like that really hit her hard. She dealt with depression afterwards and she had already decided to take a break between high school and college, but she had plans to travel but she stayed home instead of doing her plans.

It was one night that Darcy was home alone, that she swore she heard the voice of her friend, Knox. Darcy had heard stories of ghosts and people speaking beyond the grave, but she never really put much thought into it. But she could never explain how she so clearly heard her friend's voice.

Darcy's family didn't believe what she heard and thought it had to be something easily explainable, but from then on, Darcy decided she would do whatever she could to prove that ghosts were real. She bought all the equipment she needed, she did research on places that were supposedly haunted, and she went out to ghost hunt. Sometime during this, she made her own YouTube channel where she would film her ghost hunts, traveling all over America to find her evidence.

Since reading up on some haunted locations in and near Chicago, Darcy moved to Marina Towers and she's going to find her proof, as well as prove that Marina is haunted itself.

#tw depression #tw death #tw fire #tw grief #marina.intro

6 notes · View notes

c4ndytr4p · 1 year ago

Text

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐑! 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄!

𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 "𝒚𝒗𝒆𝒔" 𝒍/𝒏

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭: a young woman who has the voice of a siren, but the kindness of a dove. she knows how to handle being the friendly neighborhood badass along with her friends as well… while trying to uncover a plot behind the scenes. her long time best friend says that she’s like wonder woman kinda. in a small california town like this, you can’t mistake something’s off here.

intro songs: spicy by aespa and dress down by kaoru akimoto

likes: her friends, family, anime, self care, books, children (some cases)

dislikes: alphonse’s [REDACTED], lies, spoiled people, children (some cases)

zodiac: ♍️

𝒂𝒍𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆 "𝒂𝒍"

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭: a fighter, baker and vanessa’s old friend. he’s been through a lot but rather not talk about it. especially those times when he went through some drama. but now, he’s outta dark mode, and still sweeter than sugar. but something has resurfaced.

likes: baking, boo (nessa), the truth, sanrio (whaaat? I bet he does sometimes), jessie

dislikes: his [REDACTED], cooking (sometimes), charlie

intro song: one more hour by tame impala and might start singing by wuvv

zodiac: ♏️

𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒉

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭: a ghost hunter, friend, and son; he tends to look at the more “what if” but more positive aspects of scenarios. he has issues with his mother, but he’s still a big sweetie at heart

likes: ghost hunting, al’s baking, nessa, action movies

dislikes: spiders, charlie, [REDACTED], small dogs

intro song: n side by steve lacy and feel good inc. by gorillaz

zodiac: ♋️

(a/n: tumblr has a ten image limit soooo the others will be coming soon!)

#sakura’s book pile! 📚#yuurivoice #a production with… poppy 💐#Spotify

10 notes · View notes

captainjimothycarter · 2 years ago

Text

One Line One Fic

Rules: pick any 10 of your fics, scroll somewhere to the mid point, pick a line, and share it! Then tag 10 people.

Tagged by @behindthelabelsand @cafecitowriter

I'm just choosing from random because decisions

1. A Christmas Miracle (Steggy) “Very much like how a certain someone is stubborn,” he shot back, sitting across from her and spearing a bit of egg on his fork. “Ma has a cure for just about any ailment. I might’ve been writing to her and mentioned your ailments. She suggested tea, actually sent it in her care package and had this ridiculous idea that you might be pregnant.”

2. Captain America Story Time (Stucky ft. Fem!Bucky) Oh no, no. That sounded wrong, too wrong. He shouldn't have said that. His heart jumped to his throat, his eyes widening in pure terror. He almost knocked over a few decorations on his desk to throw his hands up in defense. “I-I didn’t mean it like that! I meant A-Alpine! I’d love to scratch - love on Alpine, I mean. I mean, not like you aren’t...that I wouldn’t... Fudge knuckles.”

3. The Best Things In Life Are Unpredictable (Steggy) The news hit him hard, his body feeling lighter than it has in weeks. He held a hand to his mouth, feeling a sobbing gasp escape him. He was going to be a father! Look at him - a father! In truth, he’d never thought he’d get such an opportunity in life, even before the serum and now here he was.

4. Meeting The Brother (Winterhawk) “It’s fine. Barney here ain’t saying anything I haven’t thought about myself. Or haven’t beat myself up for the past few days. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for not being there. Wanna know where the hell I was? Your brother sent me away, gave me the diversion of helpin’ fix my family’s house in California. He knew what he was doin’, trying to protect lives he has no reason to bother to protect. Too proud.”

5. The Transparent Hand Of Lives Gone By (Steggy) Peggy looked down as Steve's hand ripped from hers. She felt like she was watching everything in slow motion, as he ran from them. She didn’t miss the horrified look on his face, this was news to him. She followed after him, shouting his name just as his parents did. “Steve! Steve, stop! It doesn’t matter if you’re a ghost, you’re still my best friend! We can still do the things we talked about! I don’t care if you’re...you’re dead!”

6. Gut Feelings Are Never Good (Steggy) “People change,” Hunter mused, shrugging his shoulders. Steve hadn’t even seen the man come in, his hands held up when Steve whirled on him and took three strides closer. There was a good foot height difference between them. “She’s dying and when people start to go, they get desperate. Look, Cap, no ones blaming her if she did but the evidence says she’s working for Whitehall, and if that’s so, then-“

7. running on borrowed time (Steggy) “You’re not kidding about Pining Sickness,” he mumbled to Jarvis. “I didn’t realize it gets this bad, this fast, but with his delicate hormones, the pregnancy. It’s no wonder. Looks like he had enough sense to get something to eat and drink.” He toed at the countless bottles of water, a glass overturned, and the old bowl of soup on the bedside table.

8. let the walls down and let me in (Steggy) “I’m not calling you anything,” Steve replied in a demanding tone that caught her attention. When Peggy looked into his baby blue eyes she saw nothing but compassion and sorrow. “Because you are not a traitor for wanting to cradle a boy who was dying from one of our weapons. You’re not a traitor for wanting to give him comfort, Peggy. And I will make sure others think the same.”

9. One Foot In Front Of The Other (Steggy) It’s been almost a month of physical therapy and he is getting better. His leg wasn’t as slow, his hip still hurt like hell, and the nerves still burned but he was getting better. Natasha was still volunteering to help him during his physical therapy days but today wasn’t an appointment. It was a Tuesday, a day he purposely came in, in hopes to avoid Peggy.

10. The Future Wasn't Kind To You, Was It? (Steggy) She flipped him over to rub the oils into his chest, careful of scars and tender spots. She straddled his hips without applying too much pressure, letting her fingers work over the hard pecs. She paused at every scar and mark unknown to her, gently pressing soft kisses to them before rubbing the oils into his skin. He looked down at her with an adorable, half-smile as he struggled to stay awake.

Tagging: @missfitmarvel0-0 @avengeclintasha @3pirouette @sosoane1 and anyone else who wants to do it because I suck at tagging and can't remember people's URLs. I don't want people to feel left out.

#Tag meme #Fic Meme #Steggy #Winterhawk

10 notes · View notes

greeneyedpixie99 · 2 years ago

Text

𝐼𝓃𝓉𝓇𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒸 ·𖥸· 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓊𝒹𝑒

Intrinsic- (adj) belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing.

Returning to Beacon Hills, California- Celine Argent was determined to find answers to every question she'd ever had in the six years since the Hale fire. In pursuit of these answers, she is faced with breaking her families code, rebuilding a shattered friendship and taking down a homicidal Alpha Werewolf hell bent on killing off just about any Argent he can get his claws on.

Warnings: Mention of the Hale Fire, Kate Argent (Only Mentioned),

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Derek Hale x OC (Celine Argent)

Word Count: 937 Words

There’s always a home for you here in my heart. I’ll leave a light on. -Ben Maxfield-

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Hunter (n)- also known as ハンター (Hanta) in Japan, and Breakers in Scotland, are people, usually humans, who hunt down the supernatural and save people from monsters, demons, ghosts and other creatures and supernatural events.

That’s the official definition if you looked up supernatural hunter. Saving people, hunting monsters- it’s what anyone with morals would consider the professions that the Argent family and many others took on. But for the rest of the supernatural world, it’s the definition of the people who have hunted down and killed their perfectly innocent loved ones. There are hunters out there who kill indiscriminately- the glow of your eyes, the flash of your fangs and the deep rumbling growl ripped from your chest- they’re all seen as excuse enough to kill. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t 100% justified.

So, the Argent family, and any hunters who went along with them, developed a code. A way of life to keep the innocent free from consequences and the evil the bearer of all their own wrongs. Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent- We hunt those who hunt us. Any supernatural creatures- werewolf, vampire, Kitsune- all of them were free to live their lives as they see fit but as long as they were adults and as long as there was proof that they had spilled innocent blood they were free game. But, hidden in the shadows of the noble words, was another rule within this code. That if you were an Argent or a Calavera, and you were bit by the Alpha of a supernatural pack something dark was expected of you.

To prevent the change from Human to Monster, you must make the ultimate sacrifice- your own life. It hadn’t occurred much in the times where hunter reigned supreme, only a handful of occasions, but it did happen. Growing up Celine Lea Argent knew nothing of the world she lived in. She knew nothing of werewolves and werewolf hunters, she knew nothing of the feud between the Hale Pack and the Argent Hunters. Her sweet and gentle heart wouldn’t be able to withstand such a terrible world. A world where her friendship with head strong Cora, wise Laura and passionate Derek was a bad thing. A thing so wrong it could insight wars or riots or death. They were just as much part of her family as the blood between herself and her younger sister Allison.

But nothing good ever seemed to last. Between Celine’s aunt pulling her best friend further and further away from her to the sudden and mysterious fire that wiped out nearly the entire Hale Pack and Celine’s entire world was shifted off kilter. Suddenly her family is moving away from the only place she has ever really called home, told with heartbreaking emotionlessness that her best friend is dead and that the world she lives in is not the world she thought. Now Celine Argent is expected to walk the path of a Hunter, to throw away her entire childhood long before she was meant to- against the wants of her father who only ever wished to protect her.

Suddenly Celine Argent is becoming the thing that has been accused over and over again for the Hale Fire- She is a hunter, whether she wants to be or not.

i n t r o d u c i n g

Celine Lea Argent aka Lina Argent |The Little Warrior| “I walked the path you forced me down, I let you drag me through miles of woods, I let you leave me abandoned in rundown buildings! I have worked my ass off to become the hunter you wanted me to be. And yet, despite it all, you couldn’t burn the kindness from my heart, could you? It’s about time you heard the truth- I. Am. Nothing. Like. You. Kate. Argent.” · ·Emma Watson· ·

·𖥸·

Celine Lea Argent aka Baby Lina |The Werewolf Friend| “You’re my best friend Derek, I never want that to change.” · ·McKenna Grace· ·

·𖥸·

Derek Samuel Hale aka Sour Wolf |The Broken Man| “You family is the reason that my family is dead Celine. There is not getting past that. There is no moving forward. I’ll help you gain control but after that I want you and every other Argent out of my life for good.” · ·Tyler Hoechlin· ·

·𖥸·

Derek Samuel Hale aka Baby Derek |The Passionate Boy| “There are things I can’t explain to you Cel, you just have to go through them when you’re older. Cause when you’re older, you’ll understand how I felt about Paige.” · ·Ian Nelson· ·

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

NOTE: To clarify, the Paige-Derek thing happened when Derek was a freshman in High School towards the beginning of the year, so he was fourteen nearly fifteen years old when it happened. When the Hale fire occurred was just before he turned sixteen years old. Which puts him about twenty-two years old during the first and second season of Teen Wolf as it starts after Winter Break. Celine is eighteen almost nineteen years old during the first and second season. I’m reworking and rewriting some of the chapters I already have because I feel like it’s moving too slow so I’m fixing it as I go.

POST-NOTE NOTE: Celine Argent is no longer face claimed by Rose McIver but rather (as mentioned above) Emma Watson.

Edited: 02/28/23

#derek hale #teen wolf #derek hale x oc #derek hale fanfiction #teen wolf season 1 #teen wolf season 2 #werewolf #stiles stilinski #allison argent #chris argent #romance #scott mccall #lydia martin #jackson whittemore #fanfiction

8 notes · View notes

halothenthehorns · 2 years ago

Text

Chapter 10: I BREAK A FEW ROCKET SHIPS

Jeez, already half done and the quest only just now officially started. I can't get over how strangely short these books are.

PJOPJOPJO

"Zombies made you hungry?" Percy cracked a grin at her. "Really Rachel?"

"I've heard an awful lot about those magical fridges," she nodded seriously. "Show me around Perce?"

"There's not much to show," but he very reluctantly set the book back aside and agreed to show her out.

Thalia watched them go with a guilty sense of relief. She was well aware Annabeth used to be greatly jealous of Rachel, but they had recently made friends, and Percy had never looked twice at the frizzy redhead after he and Annabeth kissed under that lake.

No, it wasn't guilt her little sister's boyfriend was off smiling, reluctantly, but one that had been missing all morning with another girl.

It was guilty relief for Percy being gone for just a moment. Not pissed at her this time.

She didn't know what else she could do to help but hope Rachel eased the tension that hadn't left his face since he remembered Annabeth going over that cliff.

So distracted was she intently watching the door, ears trained for the slightest peep of unease that she might need to intervene if Percy lost it again and their Oracle needed a save, she didn't notice someone flopping down in Percy's abandoned seat until he spoke to her.

"You knew I didn't belong here too, didn't you?"

She dragged her eyes away from one pseudo pain in the butt little brother, to a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy from California with a scar on his lip watching her with that same inquisitive face that asked every day why the sky was changing colors and when he could watch it happen again.

Halcyon Green was nuts, a mad old demigod out to torment them... She remembered how different her dad had been the second time he'd come around, more formal, and how Jason used Roman god's names so casually... it wasn't possible...

"Huh?" She asked, realizing he'd said something else.

"I asked if you were okay," he murmured gently. There was a wavering to the way he spoke now, his curiosity reigning in here most of the time, but occasionally like now still slipping into the stiff, confused tones of when he'd first come down here. He most definitely came across as a concerned leader asking after a prisoner of war right now.

"No," she admitted. "You're like a ghost to me," she put on a brave smile that didn't fool him one bit. "Don't worry about it. Yes, I suspected something was off about you, but it's so strange and unique. I can't fathom how you've survived so long on your own. Percy, well, the gods shouldn't have allowed you to be your age without you being at camp. It'll be explained later. Something about you is..." she couldn't finish, she didn't know how to articulate the insane possibility before her.

He looked disappointed, but not surprised.

"If Rachel has a gut feeling about you then I trust her," she waved vaguely to where Alex and Magnus were having another ASL study session. Annabeth's cousin whom she'd never mentioned, family whom she was never comfortable talking about. She was being foolish, Oceanus was to dense to have connected lost relatives together on anything more than an accident. "We'll figure out what your story is Jason, I promise the Hunters will search the corners of the globe to figure it out when we get out of here." Nobody should have to live like Percy was now.

"Thanks," he whispered, but there was no hint of relief in his troubled, stiff mouth. She swallowed as he kept watching her, as if still waiting for her to spill the rest of her secrets to this mirror of a stranger.

It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible.

Beryl Grace had said he was dead...but she was a drunk who went crazy on her own beauty for catching the same god's attention twice...the very same god?

"You can stay," Thalia said firmly when Rachel and Percy came back eating ice cream cones. Will and Nico had gone back and forth too, though the Norse kids hadn't. They'd also been snacking the entire time they were here and hoarding food in all pockets of their clothes, so clearly that silent conversation had taken precedence this time. "Drag that beanbag over here, I don't bite."

Jason stalled, gave her a cautious smile, and then did exactly that as he dragged the woven cushion to her other side without unraveling a single seaweed from it.

Thalia's suspicions weren't soothed though, as something clicked into place when she turned a curious frown on the Son of Hades. 'You knew too'... Had Jason just been talking about Rachel? If Jason was the very same Jason back from the dead, could Nico have something to do with it? That boy was always off doing his own thing...if he knew something-

Alex laughed flamboyantly as always at the new chapter title Percy read. "One is never enough with you!"

"Break them how though?" Jason asked the real question while his scar wiggled at his twitching smile. "Over somebody's head? The security for yelling at you?"

"Can you set those on fire?" Magnus grinned along. "The one thing I would have thought would be safe from Percy's talent."

Thalia was to busy trying to muffle a laugh at the look on that Nemon Lion's face when Percy had thrown space food in its mouth to laugh along, but it wasn't exactly subtle. Nico wasn't going anywhere anymore than them, and Percy's distress was her priority right now.

"Oh, oo," Will started bouncing in his seat in excitement and Nico watched him with interest, "did you know Colin Cantwell designed the ships for both Star War's and A Space Odyssey! I hope they have a replica of one of his models in there!"

"They redid the Odyssey in space?" Nico asked blankly. Will's smile somehow got brighter every time he found out he got to show Nico something new.

"You see what I've had to go through," Percy waved at them while looking pleadingly at Rachel for some sanity to insist they don't linger on these silly things.

She merely smiled back, and said, "do you have any idea how expensive those are Percy? I'm so proud of you!"

"You're all hopeless," but he couldn't help laughing along too.

I tore across the Mall, not daring to look behind me. I burst into the Air and Space Museum and took off my invisibility cap once I was through the admissions area.

The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing one of those holiday school trips. I wanted to yell at them all to leave, but I figured that would only get me arrested.

"Speaking from experience?" Rachel asked.

"I've never actually been arrested," Percy vaguely answered. Gabe had threatened to send him to juvie on more than one occasion, and that wasn't a threat he'd ever taken lightly.

"You could have just pulled the fire alarm," Magnus reminded, "always a surefire way to get people to evacuate."

"I wanted all those people to flee the state, they would just huddle around the building and get more people there," Percy huffed.

I had to find Thalia and Grover and the Hunters. Any minute, the skeleton dudes were going to invade the museum, and I didn't think they would settle for an audio tour.

"Not everyone shares the same hobbies," Will nodded seriously.

"Someone needs to tell Oceanus that," Percy grumbled.

I ran into Thalia—literally. I was barreling up the ramp to the top-floor balcony and slammed into her, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule.

"I bet your dad has a piece of himself there every day and brags to all the other gods about it," Nico grinned.

"I'm pretty sure he claimed once at least half of NASA were descendants of his," Will agreed.

Grover yelped in surprise.

Before I could regain my balance, Zoe and Bianca had arrows notched, aimed at my chest. Their bows had just appeared out of nowhere.

When Zoe realized who I was, she didn't seem anxious to lower her bow. "You! How dare you show thy face here?"

"Never crossed her mind for a second he was innocently and conveniently on a field trip there?" Magnus smirked.

"No," Thalia rolled her eyes at being on the same page as Zoe, again.

"Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness."

Zoe glared at him, and he blushed. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!"

"Geez, who knew you'd get the kid in the divorce," Percy told Thalia.

"You were saving that joke when he was held by Polyphemus, weren't you?" Thalia grinned.

"That's not the point," he scoffed.

"Luke," I said, trying to catch my breath. "He's here."

The anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet.

"If anyone deserves to be bashed in the face with that shield, it's him," Alex nodded in savage agreement.

Thalia was doing so again in here, but Percy and Jason suspected that troubled look contained more hurt and memories than a bashing was forthcoming.

"Where?"

I told them about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

"Why would I lie?

Percy spoke in tandem with the book, and Thalia couldn't stop a laugh at the exact same level of indignation.

Jason gave a concerned whistle though. "Her mistrust of you runs deeper than I originally thought, I don't even know if it's safe for you to be on this quest. She might desert you at the first chance."

"Don't care," Percy said at once. If he had to dog, track, and hopscotch his way after their every move he would just to get one step closer to finding Annabeth.

Thalia frowned at Jason, wanting to defend Zoe, but knowing she couldn't yet. It wasn't a wrong assumption, just incomplete data of who her predecessor really was.

Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia demanded. "How many?"

"Twelve," I said. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster."

Thalia and Grover exchanged looks.

"We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent... She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet."

"Zoe," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"

"It cannot be!" Zoe snapped. "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

Jason felt a flicker of unease why Zoe seemed so adamant of where this guy should and shouldn't be. Was it all distrust of the boy being unreliable, or did she have some actual knowledge she was withholding?

"Illusions don't crack marble floors," I told her.

Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. I didn't know why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this General guy, but I figured now wasn't the time to ask.

"For once I have to agree," Magnus gave a surly nod. The one time he understood why someone couldn't just spout the answer already.

Jason's unease only rose though what she wasn't saying about this guy, and hoped it hadn't gotten anybody killed.

"If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible... We must leave now."

"Good idea," I said.

"I was not including thee, boy," Zoe said. "You are not part of this quest."

Percy winced without surprise, he hadn't needed Jason to remind him he was unwanted, and Zoe wasn't going to make it easy on him. His conviction to gawk these Hunters like a satyr was as strong as ever.

"Hey, I'm trying to save your lives!"

"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Come on. Let's get back to the van."

"I accept that," Percy sighed with a reluctant smile at Thalia. At least she wasn't calling him a liar and telling him to leave too.

She gave him a much quicker smile back and let out another breath of ease. Percy had never been good at holding grudges against his friends.

"That is not thy decision!" Zoe snapped.

Thalia scowled at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoe. I don't care how old you are! You're still a conceited little brat!"

"You never had any wisdom when it came to boys," Zoe growled. "You never could leave them behind!"

Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoe.

"That's not a match I want to see," Will winced. If Percy and Thalia had nearly destroyed their camp, those two probably would have leveled the state.

It would never come to that now, and Thalia swallowed old, bitter tears how much she still hated Zoe for being right about that. She wouldn't learn her lesson any time soon either, she wasn't leaving here without her friend.

Then everyone froze, I heard a growl so loud I thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.

Below us, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"

"I'm guessing it's not the cute baby sabers back?" Magnus asked uneasily.

"What are the odds of Space Kitty on display?" Rachel sighed, knowing chances weren't in her favor.

Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. I'd seen this monster once before. Two years ago, I'd glimpsed it briefly from a train.

"Does everything in the past come to bite me in the ass?" Percy demanded.

Thalia didn't answer, which felt like an answer he didn't want to hear anyways.

Now, up close and personal, it looked even bigger.

"The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move."

"It's not a t-rex!" Will yelped.

Nico let out an impressed whistle though and whispered the Nemean Lion's card stats, that had been the first rare card he ever got. "What's this have to do with dinosaurs?" He found himself being gratefully distracted from his past to ask. He wondered if Will heard the curiosity in his voice, he loved dinosaurs too and had slept in more than one museum in a spinosaurus exhibit.

Will gave him a promising smile and said, "it's another movie you have to watch."

He was clearly compiling a list in his head, and Nico couldn't think of a downside to that for a moment...right Tartarus.

The lion roared so loud it parted my hair. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

Rachel's eyes widened in awe, and her hands spasmed in frustration she couldn't be reaching for something to sketch that image right now.

"What did his breath smell like?" Alex asked with interest.

Percy considered for a moment with a wrinkled nose. "Tires, catnip, and death."

"An extravagant new cologne I'm sure," Thalia snorted.

"Does he chase cars down the freeway?" Nico asked, keeping to himself how smug he used to be when he played a hellhound against this card as a sacrifice move to summon Cerberus, though he'd never do that to Mrs. O'Leary now. They might be terrifying playmates.

"I didn't ask," Percy snorted.

"Separate on my mark," Zoe said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Until when?" Grover asked.

"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"

"That's a great answer," Jason begrudgingly approved.

I uncapped Riptide and rolled to the left. Arrows whistled past me, and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes.

"Is he trying to distract him with bird calls?" Magnus yelped.

"Not a bad strategy," Nico smirked as he imagined a skeleton bird hopping around.

I turned and saw Zoe and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. They were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lions metallic fur. The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back. Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAAR!"

"I don't need Grover's translation for that one," Will muttered.

"Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire.

For a second, I thought Thalia had it under control. Then I saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. I'd seen enough cat fights in the alleys around my apartment in New York. I knew the lion was going to pounce.

"Confirmed, Percy likes watching the kittens wiggle their tails," Thalia, as usual, seemed the least concerned about the whole impending doom of them all almost dying, especially herself.

"You've clearly never heard an actual cat fight," Percy shook his head with dread in his stomach. Those deep cat hisses with their fur on end that sent shivers up his spine, their claws ripping off chunks of ear and matting themselves in blood. It was brutal, and Thalia would have been a goner.

"Hey!" I yelled. I don't know what I was thinking, but I charged the beast.

"There's that phrase again," Jason said in exasperation. If this guy ever thought before he moved he might be unstoppable. Even as an impulsive lunatic he was pretty close.

Rachel looked at Percy in admiration his heroics were such an ingrained part of him and tried to map out a color wheel in her mind which would best be used to depict that.

I just wanted to get it away from my friends. I slashed with Riptide, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.

"And dropping a rocket on its head will do the trick?" Alex asked, though she could now easily imagine why all the breaking came into play.

"Why was a Fury one of the easiest things to kill and she still terrified the piss out of me?" Magnus asked. He'd really like it if each of these things stopped having a gimmicky way they needed to die! Especially another magical beast...as he wondered about those wolves again- nope. One trauma at a time, and Alex was already studying him again for the new stress in his voice.

The lion raked me with its claws, ripping off a chunk of my coat. I backed against the railing. It sprang at me, one thousand pounds of monster, and I had no choice but to turn and jump.

"Plunge to the death the sequel?" Nico muttered. He was proud of himself though he was no longer sitting like a jaw-dropped idiot Percy hadn't managed to fell this beast in one swoop. It wasn't even because he was distracted wondering what his sister would have had to say about Percy being there before they were interrupted.

I landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane, which pitched and almost spilled me to the floor, three stories below.

An arrow whizzed past my head. The lion jumped onto the aircraft, and the cords holding the plane began to groan.

The lion swiped at me, and I dropped onto the next exhibit, a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter. I looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat.

Its mouth, I thought. Its fur was completely invulnerable, but if I could strike it in the mouth...

"Throw your sword in there!" Jason and Alex yelled at once.

"Do I look like I do javelin events for fun?" Percy protested. "Then I'd be unarmed until it came back!"

"That's a really good idea though Percy," Thalia said with a brilliant smile. She didn't even sound insultingly surprised. Who knew looking into the maw of death could ever cause a good idea? "I promise I won't tell PETA on you."

"You're one to talk, Huntress," Percy chuckled along now.

The only problem was, the monster moved too quickly. Between its claws and fangs, I couldn't get close without getting sliced to pieces.

"Zoe!" I shouted. "Target the mouth!"

The monster lunged. An arrow zipped past it, missing completely, and I dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earth. I slid down Russia and dropped off the equator.

Thalia winced now though, at the casual reminder Percy had dropped off the face of the Earth and Annabeth was still out there losing her mind with worry.

The Nemean Lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One of the cords snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model earth's North Pole.

"Grover!" I yelled. "Clear the area!"

Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from me, on the other side of the globe.

Alex tried her hardest not to bust out laughing the two were the opposite of polar opposites of each other back then when they were after the same goal. The problem was they were too similar.

The lion regarded us both, trying to decide which of us to kill first.

Zoe and Bianca were above us, bows ready, but they kept having to move around to get a good angle.

"No clear shot!" Zoe yelled. "Get it to open its mouth more!"

The lion snarled from the top of the globe.

I looked around. Options. I needed...

The gift shop. I had a vague memory from my trip here as a little kid. Something I'd made my mom buy me, and I'd regretted it. If they still sold that stuff...

"Thalia," I said, "keep it occupied."

"Oh come on, now even you're doing it!" Magnus groaned. Annabeth wasn't even in danger and he was still on the edge of his seat, wide eyed to hear what was next. He hadn't even freaked out over a metal-coated lion being around, that much.

Alex was almost disappointed he finally seemed to be adapting to this world. She missed his dumbstruck face almost as much as she enjoyed watching him get invested in these.

She nodded grimly.

"Hi-yah!" She pointed her spear and a spidery arc of blue electricity shot out, zapping the lion in the tail.

"That is one way to keep it occupied," Rachel agreed proudly.

"And help it decide who to kill first," Jason said faintly.

"ROOOOOOOAR!" The lion turned and pounced. Thalia rolled out of its way, holding up Aegis to keep the monster at bay, and I ran for the gift shop.

"This is no time for souvenirs, boy!" Zoe yelled.

"I don't know what she's on about," Alex scoffed, "I would kill for a lion throw rug right now."

"I don't think The Air and Space Museum sells those," Magnus helpfully reminded. "Unless there really is a space kitty on display and we've been lied to about a lot more than aliens."

"I'm withholding judgment," Alex shrugged.

"Why is it every time I come up with a plan people are calling me crazy or think I'm fleeing?" Percy protested.

"No faith," Will agreed sympathetically. He didn't even know what Percy was up to and he knew it would help.

I dashed into the shop, knocking over rows of T-shirts, jumping over tables full of glowin-the-dark planets and space ooze. The sales lady didn't protest. She was too busy cowering behind her cash register.

There! On the far wall—glittery silver packets. Whole racks of them. I scooped up every kind I could find and ran out of the shop with an armful.

"That explained nothing!" Magnus groaned as he looked at Percy in betrayal.

For once though Percy wasn't disturbing the water or them with it as he read he was so invested in this, and his nose was still scrunched up like that cat breath lingered in memory, so Magnus wasn't too put out Percy wasn't trying to give them a play by play detail of how fast he'd been moving by launching them into the wall again.

Zoe and Bianca were still showering arrows on the monster, but it was no good. The lion seemed to know better than to open its mouth too much. It snapped at Thalia, slashing with its claws. It even kept its eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

Thalia jabbed at the monster and backed up. The lion pressed her.

"Percy," she called, "whatever you're going to do—"

The lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket.

"Hopefully not ominous," Percy muttered as he glanced at her now, though she hardly looked winded at the old injury.

Her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor.

"Hey!" I yelled at the lion. I was too far away to strike, so I took a risk: I hurled Riptide like a throwing knife. It bounced off the lion's side, but that was enough to get the monster's attention. It turned toward me and snarled.

Percy swallowed and reminded himself not to clench his fists. "Are you two happy now, I threw the sword!"

"Yes, please continue taking my advice," Alex nodded sagely.

"No, because now you're right and you don't have a weapon and you're about to be Meow Mix," Jason sighed.

"There's no pleasing everybody," Will snorted.

There was only one way to get close enough. I charged, and as the lion leaped to intercept me, I chunked a space food pouch into its maw—a chunk of cellophane-wrapped, freeze-dried strawberry parfait.

"Everybody loves parfait," Percy proudly announced like that explained everything.

It did not, but Percy didn't give them the chance to argue the point as he kept reading in the same way.

The lion's eyes got wide and it gagged like a cat with a hairball.

"Naww," Magnus said with a genuine smile like he actually found that cute.

"You have clearly never heard a cat hack up a hairball," Percy shook his head. "It's disgusting, and I almost feel bad for doing that to him. I once was him."

I couldn't blame it. I remembered feeling the same way when I'd tried to eat space food as a kid. The stuff was just plain nasty.

"Fascinating," Alex declared, and then got up unprompted and left the room. There was a few beats of silence, the sound of gagging and then a toilet flushing, before Alex flopped back into her seat beside Magnus and assured, "and agreed, that stuff should burn. Continue."

Percy decided to take her advice again before anyone else got brave enough to subject themselves to that.

"Zoe, get ready!" I yelled.

Behind me, I could hear people screaming. Grover was playing another horrible song on his pipes.

"Remind me to record some of Grover's songs to add to my playlist," Rachel smiled his music would fit perfectly to how Percy kept describing her taste.

I scrambled away from the lion. It managed to choke down the space food packet and looked at me with pure hate.

"Snack time!" I yelled.

It made the mistake of roaring at me, and I got an ice-cream sandwich in its throat.

Fortunately, I had always been a pretty good pitcher, even though baseball wasn't my game.

"Basketball is throwing something into a hoop, same principle right?" Nico asked.

"Nico, you poor guy." Percy looked at him mortally offended now. "What planet are you from to think such a thing?"

Nico wasn't particularly offended, he was used to not getting the majority of what the other Camper's said, and for once it didn't sting like fresh scorpion pit venom to hear that coming from Percy. It still didn't feel great either.

Will smoothly intervened, "and you wouldn't know the horn from a stirrup in a saddle Percy, moving on."

The blank look on Percy's face proved Will's point enough he did as asked while Nico gave him a grateful smile. Will's heart skipped a beat, and for once he was grateful nobody had ever listened to him about putting saddles on those Pegasus when riding.

Before the lion could stop gagging, I shot in two more flavors of ice cream and a freeze-dried spaghetti dinner.

The lion's eyes bugged. It opened its mouth wide and reared up on its back paws, trying to get away from me.

"I have tamed the beast!" Percy cheered, fist-pumping the water with the book in hand and shooting up a geyser into the ceiling, creating another crack. It made dust dribble down on them for a moment, but Percy kept reading without concern.

Lucky him, he probably wouldn't die if this place collapsed. None of them were so sure if their protection would linger outside these walls.

"Now!" I yelled.

Immediately, arrows pierced the lion's maw—two, four, six. The lion thrashed wildly, turned, and fell backward. And then it was still.

Alarms wailed throughout the museum. People were flocking to the exits. Security guards were running around in a panic with no idea what was going on.

Grover knelt at Thalia's side and helped her up. She seemed okay, just a little dazed.

Zoe and Bianca dropped from the balcony and landed next to me.

Zoe eyed me cautiously. "That was... an interesting strategy."

"Hercules should be begging you for tips," Thalia proudly agreed, though she was grateful she'd kept the comment to herself back then. Percy smiled at her, when she wasn't so sure he would have back then.

Not to mention Zoe might have stabbed her on the spot.

"Hey, it worked."

She didn't argue.

The lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.

"Take it," Zoe told me.

I stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"

"Only if you don't use the whole animal," Magnus grinned, "the rest of the animal melted, don't let what's left go to waste Perce."

"Duly noted, especially if one of Artemis's girls are telling me," Percy chuckled.

"It is a spoil of war," she told me. "It is rightly thine."

"You killed it," I said.

She shook her head, almost smiling. "I think thy ice-cream sandwich did that.

"I would concur with Zoe," Thalia pretended to shiver in revulsion just to keep up a charade to Percy her old dislike. "I was concussed at the time and saw you poison that poor kitty."

"Payback for the time my mom once tried to take in a stray and it pissed on my bed," Percy said innocently, though in honesty he'd never held a grudge and had snuck it out scraps when Gabe kicked the animal out after it pissed on his pillow too.

Fair is fair, Percy Jackson. Take the fur."

I lifted it up; it was surprisingly light. The fur was smooth and soft. It didn't feel at all like something that could stop a blade. As I watched, the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster.

"Howdy, howdy, howdy," Alex burst out laughing, she'd loved Toy Story as a kid.

"It's to bad you never got a hat to go with it," Thalia said with a strange smile, it almost looked forced. That getup had saved his life, and it made her sick to her stomach just thinking about mocking him for it now.

Nico gave Percy a forlorn smile as he said, "I can't imagine why you ever gave that up," though he was glad he had. As if this could get any more perfect, cowboys and pirates all bundled up into one Percy.

Percy gave him the same strange look as ever like he was speaking a different language. Nico flushed and looked away with guilt, he hadn't meant to provoke Percy's memories. Thankfully he didn't flip out, so it wasn't something else he was going to inevitably be blamed for.

"Not exactly my style," I murmured.

"We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

Will was the only one trying to suppress a smile at that, he felt bad for the mortals, but not bad enough he wanted Percy getting caught.

"Oh my gods!" Alex burst out laughing hardest of all. "I will pay that satyr to teach me that!"

"On yourself or innocent civilians?" Magnus asked sincerely.

"Why not both!" She beamed.

"I'm sure he'll get right on that," Percy agreed.

"You did that?" I asked Grover.

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."

"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I could feel their gaze aimed straight at me.

"To bad you couldn't feed them to the lion," Thalia scowled, she still remembered her heart skipping a beat every time those menaces showed up.

"Go," I said. "They'll be hunting me. I'll distract them."

"No," Zoe said. "We go together."

I stared at her. "But, you said—"

"You are part of this quest now," Zoe said grudgingly. "I do not like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."

"It only took you literally saving her life to admit it," Rachel chuckled as she offered to take the book from Percy.

He seemed reluctant to hand it over. He hadn't gotten any news about Annabeth in this one, what Luke was doing to her, how she was recovering. In this instance he didn't think no news would be good news. He'd figure out how to work a fax machine for a few letters again, take a pigeon message, anything!

If he started kicking up a fuss about wanting to read this though, he was worried he'd start losing it over everything again. He really was trying so hard to keep it together, so he passed the peeling, purple, battered, and bruised, key to his heart over to her.

#pjo #reading the books #fanfiction #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #rachel elizabeth dare #zoe nightshade #will solace #nico di angelo #alex fierro #magnus chase #hoo #percabeth #fierrochase #solangelo

3 notes · View notes