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shirokodomo · 4 years

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[Hakudōshi Verses]

With my new blog theme I can’t provide a link to the verses page as before, therefor I will also post about them here.

This is a rather long post, so you can find the verses under the cut! They will be divided in three categories: Main, AU and Canon Divergent.

More verses will be added to this post and to the blog itself as they are created.

MAIN

AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: Canon Universe POSITION: Naraku's servant / Plotting to overthrow Naraku The canon verse everyone is familiar with, in here Hakudōshi was originally Naraku’s human heart, the Infant, before being split in half by a dying priest, from which the right half of it grew into Hakudōshi. He is a deceiving, manipulating little devil that doesn’t hesitate to kill his preys but also enjoys to play games and torture them, he often gets his hands dirty and doesn’t mind it and appears to be an incarnation who is almost as loyal to Naraku as Kanna is. He is also very clever and usually is several steps ahead from his enemies. He has, however, his own agenda and eventually plots with his other half to overthrow his creator and take his place. Interactions with this verse will vary between the Hakudōshi that is a loyal servant to Naraku and the Hakudōshi that is already plotting the betrayal with his other half, it will all depend on the plot of the thread. I am fine with the interactions between our Muses being hostile and harsh, Hakudōshi is a villain after all! Since the canon material with him isn’t much, a lot of things will be headcanon based, especially when it comes to his betrayal towards Naraku as personally I think the reasons for his betrayal were a bit bland and empty.

AGE: 11-12 TIMELINE: Early 2000's POSITION: Heir of the Makai Company, one of the most wealthy families in Japan. An AU where the series characters are all humans and no demons exist. Hakudōshi Makai is the 11 year old son of Naraku Makai and Kikyō; the couple went through a complicated and harsh divorce but through the corrupt system, Naraku gained the full custody of his son and made it so his now ex-wife could never see their son ever again. Prior to these events, Hakudōshi was extremely close to his mother and thus her leaving left an empty feeling on the boy. This and Naraku's manipulation over him lead to Hakudōshi believing that every relationship is meant to be doomed sooner or later and that the concept of a happy family does not exist. The Hakudōshi of this verse does not possess the same manipulative and cruel nature of his canon counterpart, however, he can be cold and even distant sometimes. He eventually opens up to others but it takes time. During free time, between Junior High School lessons and education regarding the family's business, Hakudōshi practices kendo and also horse riding lessons, he has a horse of his own a white mustang named Entei, he has owned it ever since it was a foal, and it was a gift from his mother. It is a gift he treasures dearly.

Variations of this verse may be created.

AGE: 19 (Biologically) | 12-13 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: x784 POSITION: Half-Demon | Former slave of the Tower of Heaven | Independent Mage An AU created for interactions within the Fairy Tail universe. Hakudōshi is a half-demon who during his early childhood was captured and taken by a Zeref following cult, for the same purpose as the other kidnapped children by them: build the Tower of Heaven to resurrect Zeref. During the rebellion led by Erza Scarlet, Hakudōshi escaped by using one of his abilities: Teleportation, once he was freed from the Magic Stealing Stones, instead of joining the rebels. After escaping, Hakudōshi set on to his main goal: find his twin brother, Akago, whom he had protected and prevented from also being captured by the cult. Due to his half-demon genes, Hakudōshi's body grows “slower” than the average human or demon, although his age keeps up with that of a human, his current appearance is of a child. This often leads to other people, wrongly, looking down on him when he takes up job offers. Although he possesses other abilities, his main magic is named Reversal Magic which is essentially a magic that allows Hakudōshi to absorb Caster type Magic into a barrier and then redirect it back to his opponent. It doesn’t work with Holder type Magic. With training, Hakudōshi develops other minor abilities which are connected to his demon side.

AGE: 19 TIMELINE: 2010 onward POSITION: Vampire turned by Naraku | College student An AU verse in which the main focus is supernatural stuff, this means, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, etc. It is loosely based on The Vampire Diaries/The Originals series. Hakudōshi is an adult in this verse and his features remain the same as his canon counterpart: white hair, pale skin, violet eyes. Hakudōshi prior to his transformation was a normal boy, 19 years old, who had just entered college. Distant, not very social, generally quiet but quite intelligent those were the words that described him. His life turned completely upside down when one day he stayed till late at the school’s library, studying, and at some point heard noises, moans and what appeared to be screams coming from one of the classes. Upon investigating, he caught one of his teachers feeding on a student, literally feeding. The teacher, Naraku, realized the extra company at the room and decided to silence the boy. But Naraku realized who it was, one of his favorite students and instead of simply killing him, he decided to toy with him. Feeding him his blood and then snapping his neck, the vampire left Hakudōshi alone at the school along with his now dead victim, blood dripping to the floor. When he woke up from his temporary death, it was night and Hakudōshi felt an inexplicable thirst, not for water but for blood. He saw the dead student and without being able to control himself drank the remaining blood but it was not enough, it only made him more thirsty. This lead to him going to his house and murdering his family, only coming to his senses when it was already too late. Naraku watched him the whole time in delight and attempted to approach his most recent creation, to gain control over him, but Hakudōshi rejected his control and escaped, using and discovering his new inhuman abilities. With his emotions extremely amplified and still not understanding what had happened to him, he soon discovered he could no longer walk in the sun, it burned him and so he had to hide during the day and hunt at night, to quench his thirst. His path eventually crosses with that of Kohaku, a supernatural hunter trained from a young age to kill especially vampires like him. Despite having been taught to hate and kill these bloodthirsty monsters, Kohaku noticed the despair of the vampire and choose to help him control himself, teaching him a new diet not human based and eventually provided him a ring which allowed Hakudōshi to walk in the sun. Hakudōshi, after turning into a vampire, becomes extremely sardonic and doesn’t easily trust anyone. Being ironic is what he does best, he berates others, mocks them. This was his way to protect himself and the only one who succeeded so far in breaking that shell was Kohaku, although that only happened because he spared his life.

CANON DIVERGENT

AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: Post Ep.1 of Inuyasha: The Final Act / Chap.370 POSITION: Escaping from Naraku and The Infant This verse starts with a twist on the first episode of Inuyasha: The Final / on chapter 370, in this verse Hakudōshi doesn't die at the hand of Miroku's Wind Tunnel. Instead of losing his mind and trying to kill Kagura at any cost, Hakudōshi uses his miasma in order to escape from his enemies while his body keeps regenerating to its normal state; later he reunites with the Infant and Mōryōmaru in order to set up a new plan to get their hands on Kohaku's shard, the wicked Infant however has other plans for his "brother". With Naraku now being aware of their betrayal, the Infant states that he no longer needs Hakudōshi's help and that it is time for them to become one once again by having Mōryōmaru absorb him into his body, just like he had intended to do with Kagura. Hakudōshi refuses and they engage in a battle which ends with him barely escaping but successfully retrieves the jewel shard in Mōryōmaru's belly. The demon child is now completely alone, no allies and a lot of enemies with two of them constantly trying to capture him and kill him (Naraku and the Infant); this leads to Hakudōshi not trusting anyone he crosses paths with and being even slightly paranoid especially after he realizes the Infant is trying to enter inside his mind, to take over his body as well, and that he also has some sort of control over his regenerating abilities, slowing it down and making it far more painful. Hakudōshi eventually sets on a goal to find a way to create his own heart so that he can sever his connection to the Infant and eventually kill both his other half and Naraku.

EXCLUSIVE WITH: konosesshomaru AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: Between the events of the Devil’s Crag and Kagura’s death. POSITION: Traveling with Sesshōmaru's group A variant verse of "Abandoned". Naraku discovers earlier Hakudōshi’s and the Infant's plans to overthrow him; he absorbs the Infant back inside him and to make his former right hand man physically suffer, gives him a heart of his own so that real wounds -that actually take a long time to heal- can be inflicted on the child. Hakudōshi has no choice but to flee for his life as Naraku's demons chase him and he ends up being rescued by Sesshōmaru, who then makes the decision to take him under his wing at least until the boy's wounds are healed. Afterwards, he leaves it up to Hakudōshi to decide if he wants to stay with them or not. With Naraku now constantly chasing after him, Hakudōshi chooses to stay and travel together with Sesshōmaru and his group.

EXCLUSIVE WITH: thecursedpriestess AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: After Hakudōshi was pierced by Kikyō's arrow POSITION: Loyal to Kikyō | Travels with her After being pierced by Kikyō's arrow, shot by Kagome back in the Underworld, Hakudōshi is sired to the priestess due to her spiritual power having made some sort of connection with 'the Onigumo in him' instead of killing him -since his heart was somewhere else-. Afterwards Hakudōshi begins to feel strange whenever Kikyō is mentioned and no matter how hard he tries, he can't hurt her neither physically or emotionally. He eventually realizes what happened and though initially he hates the idea of being sired to the woman he was supposed to hate, the more times his path crosses with that of Kikyō's, the more loyal he seems to become to her. Hakudōshi, at some point, stops resisting and chooses to stay by the priestess's side. The bond becomes so strong to the point the child is willing to die for her; however what he doesn't understand is that the bond stopped being a 'sired bond' and has become one of a mother and her child.

AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: After Kagome's permanent return to the Feudal Era POSITION: Brought back to life by a demon named Kirimi Not long after Kagome’s permanent return to the Feudal Era, a demon going by the name Kirimi (切り身, ‘Cutting Flesh’) begins an attempt to revive once powerful demons. They pretend to follow the steps of the deceased Urasue and even surpass them by improving the technique. Kirimi starts by reviving minor demons, at first to merely appreciate their work from afar and even see the need of improvements. Then they move on the next step: start reviving the deceased incarnations of Naraku. Unlike Urasue’s creations, Kirimi doesn’t use ashes and clay instead they use: an object that once belonged to the demon intended to be revived and that retains said demon’s “essence”, Kirimi’s own blood to create the connection between them and the revived demon and the heart of a sacrificed human. To revive Hakudōshi, Kirimi used the blanket that once belonged to the Infant’s right half, the one who later regrew into the child incarnation, and the heart of a human child. Thus instead of being a body made of clay like Urasue’s creations, Kirimi’s revived demons have a body made of flesh but only possess one organ inside them: the heart of the sacrificed human. Hakudōshi is then revived but he doesn’t appear to possess any memories of his life before his first death. He only reacts to his name and the reason seems to be that because Kirimi used the Infant’s blanket, an object worn by Hakudōshi only prior to be being cut in half and shortly after his body regrowing, therefore the “essence” within the blanket doesn’t “possess” Hakudōshi’s memories in the child-like body. Kirimi allows him to go so that he can retrieve his memories, once that is done they would be able to control Hakudōshi as their personal weapon along with the remaining incarnations they intended to revive. Hakudōshi then wanders through the lands, vaguely remembering the face of a woman carrying an Infant (Kagura) and the killing of monks. Believing that is how he will recover his memories, the newly reborn incarnation begins killing monks in the same way him and Kagura did in the past.

AGE: 20+ | 8-11 (Permanent Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: Hanyou no Yashahime & onwards POSITION: Lives isolated in a mountain | Independent Demon Slayer After Kirimi’s death, Hakudōshi eventually recovers all of his memories, not just of the person he used to be but all the people he has hurt. Regret is a strong word for him, does he regret anything? He doesn’t, he did what he was born to do. Regret won’t bring back those who died at his hands or those who were hurt. He is capable, however, of apologizing despite knowing the most obvious answer is that he isn’t forgiven. That is fine by him. To his surprise, Kohaku asks him to come train for a while at the new Demon Slayer village. The boy hasn’t forgiven him but his kind nature doesn’t let the former incarnation simply go. He goes and after becoming a skilled Demon Slayer, Hakudōshi retires to a mountain and only leaves it when there is a dire need. He gains the title of The Demon That Slays Demons. This is where he will stay and watch as the new generations are born, grow and eventually surpass the old. The entire experience changes his personality to somewhat more calm, less brutal and cruel, the sadistic incarnation of Naraku is no more, but he is still Hakudōshi, the White Child.

EXCLUSIVE WITH: @adversitybloomed

AGE: 8-11 (Physical Appearance) TIMELINE: After the Infant was split in half POSITION: Adopted by the Hua family | Doesn't know his connection to Naraku

After the Infant was split in two, the right half of it was supposed to remain dead while the left half regenerated back into its original form. In short, the right half was supposed to be nothing but dead meat. Given this, Naraku ordered Kanna to look after the left half and get rid of the right one. The incarnation did as she was told and abandoned the half on a river, allowing the strong stream to take it away. Something unexpected happened and the right half regenerated just like its left but it was completely alone. Although still a demon, the baby appeared to have lost its memories and even its previous speaking ability, therefore the only way to grab the attention of anyone passing by was of a normal baby: cry. And so he did and soon enough he was found by Hua Mulan. She knew he was a demon the moment she set her eyes on him and even so still took him. She took had demonic blood in her. Having lost its speaking abilities, at least for now, Hakudōshi spoke to Mulan through his mind ability but could only tell her his name as he didn’t remember anything else. Mulan decided there and then to officially adopt and raise the little baby as if he were her own son. Because of his demon origins, Hakudōshi grows and develops much faster than the average child; each month he grows more and more although at some point it should stabilize. He is happy, he loves his mother and has a big respect for the Hua family, never does he want to tarnish their name. But danger lurks around every corner and unknown to him, his life is still connected to that of Naraku’s and thus it is threatened to be taken should his infant counterpart meet his demise...

....

These are the current verses. I also have a verse for Crossovers but I am a bit selective regarding the fandoms I accept RPing with in this verse.

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allofusandco · 7 years

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Corner bar. Clever name.

with @theycomeuninvited - Enzo

Liv stops at the Corner Bar and meets Enzo.

Liv:

Well, that had gone better than expected. For a start, Alaric Saltzman might have sounded ninety years old on the phone, but he wasn’t, which was good. Also - not a witch, so he wasn’t going to give her grief about how she used her magic - one of the top ten fun things older witches liked to do. But for someone without magic, his knowledge was encyclopedic, so she had a feeling she was going to like him.

Plus, she’d flustered him enough so he’d hired her more by default than anything else.

It was close enough to dinner time, so she’d stopped at a place cleverly called the Corner Bar. Had to be something in the water around here. She was willing to bet there was a grocery store on the block called Grocery Store.

Still weird to be on this side of the bar, really but here she was, examining the place. Starving and in need of something alcoholic to round out the day. She brushed a mess of long, curly blonde hair off her face and crossed her arms, waiting to be served.

–––––

Enzo:

Glancing up when he heard the door opened Enzo noted the arrival of the blond girl tossing her a short nod to let her know he’d seen her. As far as being busy today went it hadn’t been too miserable, though in all fairness he rarely found their busy hours to be miserable. Still she had picked a small rush to come in on.

Finishing up the large order of drinks for the party at the back table (he was pretty sure there was something supernatural about them and would have to ask Ric next time he saw him) he wiped the counter, put a few bottles that were in the way away and finally made his way down to her.

“Sorry about that love,” he greeted. “Large order, complex drinks…the usual. What can I get for you?” he asked with a smile.

–––––

Liv:

Cute accent. Liv sat up straighter and glanced at the table behind her, and back to her new best friend (well – bartender in walking distance of work, it seemed like a gimme.

“I’ll take a large order of complex drinks,” she said, with a lopsided smile. “No, scratch that.” She stood up to look at the cocktail fixings on the other side of the bar. Gin fizz? Nope. Nothing as obvious as a Cosmopolitan. Was it mean to make him come up with something himself…? “I’m feeling celebratory. But I’m not big on champagne…”

She dropped back onto her stool.

“Whiskey sour,” she said, reaching for a pretzel from a bowl on the bar. “Champagne for the bitter and twisted. Nothing from the bottom shelf. This your place?”

Something about the way he moved in the space said it was – or he was the manager, something. He took too much pride in it to be earning seven bucks an hour plus tips.

–––––

Enzo:

Leaning against the counter he listened to her drink order, a smirk settling over his lips when she finally decided on what she wanted. Pushing back from the counter he pulled out a glass and set to work on making her drink.

“It is now,” he answered as he made her drink. “When I got here a few years back I lucked into a management position. When then owner got too old to run things around here he gave me the place, that was about a year ago.”

Finishing the drink he set it on the counter across from her.

“You’re a new face though,” he added. “New to town or just to this section of it?”

–––––

Liv:

Spot on. Liv liked being able to read people. A corner of her lip turned up.

“New-ish to town. But I’ve been sleeping on a friend’s couch earning shitty tips at a college bar since I got here.” She watched the bartender squeeze the lemon and absently scratched at her temple. There was someone supernatural in the bar. Wasn’t him, but they were close, and it was making her twitch. “I’m Liv. Parkman.”

The surname was totally unnecessary and she knew it. But she had to get used to saying it. Should have gone with something a little further off but for whatever reason, it was hard to remember to respond to Smith or anything so mundane.

“Just got a job down the street, so I’ll look for something close. You should get used to my ass warming a bar stool here. Promise I tip better than a college student.”

–––––

Enzo:

“Well Liv,” he grinned as he set her drink in front of her and wiped his hand on the rag slung over his shoulder. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Lorenzo, Enzo will suffice though.”

He wondered where she was working around that could be as decent as replacing a bar job. Though even he had to admit that if he was dealing with college students he likely wouldn’t find the job half as fun as he did.

“You’ll be among good company then,” he added tossing her a fond smile. “We have a few regulars around here anyways. Where are you working? Might have to drop in and pay you a visit,” he offered as he moved to lean against one of the back counters.

–––––

Liv:

“Lorenzo. Fancy,” she said, one eyebrow arching dramatically as she took her drink, and sipped. Mmhmm. Sour. Perfect. “This is good. I can definitely warm a seat around here if you keep these coming.” Liv drank too much. She knew it. Just sometimes it was easier to tamp down the magic than to deal with it.

He probably knew the shop – but there wasn’t the slightest whiff of magic about the guy, name notwithstanding, so he probably didn’t have a clue that it was more than a junk shop, nor that there was someone hinky in his bar. “I got a job at a shop down the street. Bookshop, mostly, but it’s a magic shop as well. Come by and I’ll hook you up with a love potion, make you irresistible.” She laughed, to herself, mostly. “Magic shop. Pretty cool, right? Boss seems alright.” For someone so completely mundane. Knew how to draw runes, though, that was impressive. “Maybe you know the owner. He subscribes to the ‘corner bar’ tradition of naming a business.”

–––––

Enzo:

Oh, so she was Ric’s new hired help then. Enzo had known he’d been looking, something about needing some time off or something like that. Grinning he crossed his arms over his chest and laughed.

“Ric, yeah I know him,” he said casually. “Comes in here a few times a week, good kind of guy and a good friend too.”

It made Enzo wonder what Liv was though or if she thought the place was just a quirky little shop like he had. No, Ric wouldn’t hire someone like that, Enzo didn’t think he would anyways. This girl had to be a witch or something.

“What are you then?” he asked unable to help himself. “Or is that rude to ask? I’m sort of new to this whole world so…sorry if it’s rude.”

–––––

Liv:

Liv slumped a little. Damn. There went her air of mystery. She sipped the drink again. Nice to have an outsider’s perspective on her new boss. “Friend? Nice to know he has some, then. He’s a little too easy to bait – I’m not sure he even realizes he’s hired me. He looked confused as hell when I left.”

She leaned in conspiratorially. “I’m a succubus,” she said. “Sneak in men’s bedroom windows while they’re sleeping and steal their souls. Right out of their dicks. Don’t worry. You’re not my type.”

Succubus. She should have come up with that line long before now. Wasted opportunity. Oh well. “We’re very rare.” Pleased with herself.

Enzo had an expression on his face that suggested he had no idea whether to take her seriously, panic, run, call her new boss and suggest he’d accidentally hired a murderer. “Cross my heart, I only feed on blonds.” She made the sign over her heart.

Alright – maybe it was a bad idea to piss off the owner of her new favorite bar on the first day.

“I’m a witch,” she said, with a shrug. “So what – you’re a believer?”

–––––

Enzo:

God he hoped she was kidding about the whole soul sucking thing. Sure he was new to this whole world but he didn’t think Ric would hire someone like here if she was bad, right? Besides, what exactly was a succubus anyways?

“Oh, right, well…good joke,” he mumbled willing himself to relax a little as he ran a hand over the back of his neck awkwardly. Honestly he wasn’t well versed enough in supernatural things to really know when someone was joking around about what they were. For all he knew she could be joking about being a witch now, he wouldn’t be any wiser and had no way of actually knowing.

“I don’t know, I guess,” he shrugged his shoulders before moving to pull out a glass filling it with a splash of gin for himself. “Just sort of found out about all this stuff a few weeks ago. I’ve mostly wrapped my mind around it but it’s still a little weird thinking about it all.”

–––––

Liv:

Ha, ha. Yeah, good joke, look at him. Liv felt a vicious little stab of amusement.

“I’ve driven you to drink,” she said. “That might be a record for me. Relax. I’m sorry. I’m told I can be caustic. I promise – I don’t do spells that involve baby teeth or illegal fluids… usually. I’m just trying to make my way in the world, keep a low profile and annoy the occasional bartender. And I’ll have another one of these.” She raised the empty glass. Pity they didn’t come in a large. She could have saved him some time.

“So, what happened? You look like you saw a ghost. Something has to have convinced you this is all for real or you’d be laughing right now. And I doubt it was just Ric’s pretty face, earnest as he is. Got a story to tell?”

There was that buzz again. Liv turned around, and met the eyes of some vampire who must have heard a little of what she said. She stared him down. Enough so he knew it would be a bad idea to jump her, and back to Enzo. “I’ll tell you about the time my sister Elphaba got a bucket of water thrown over her and melted.”

–––––

Enzo:

Reaching out for her glass he set about making her another drink debating on how much he wanted to tell her of his story. She was right in thinking that something had happened, he just hadn’t expected for it to be that bloody obvious though he supposed most humans didn’t fall into this world with no reason too.

“Again with the joking,” he said with a small smirk. At least he hoped she was joking and wasn’t serious about the whole melting thing. As far he knew that lore was just rumor, then again he hadn’t bothered to stop and ask Ric about it, maybe he should have.

“It was a ghost,” he said setting the drink in front of her. Running his hand back through his hair he sighed and picked up his glass of gin taking another sip. “Turns out my apartment was haunted, Ric helped me out with it and I’ve been a part of the world since,” he explained before washing the words down his throat with a swallow of gin.

–––––

Liv:

“You hope I’m joking,” she said, with an arched eyebrow, and a smirk. Enzo was fun, no question. But the next thing he said made her shiver.

Ghosts.

Liv didn’t like them, didn’t like the idea of them. She’d spent too many sleepless nights imagining the ghosts of her siblings slinking around the house looking at her, wondering why she’d lived and they’d died. Truly she wondered the same thing herself. She’d never seen one, and hoped she never would, and if ghostbusting on the side was part of the new job she was out of there before the ink dried on her first paycheck.

“Well, that sucks.” She drank too much with her first mouthful. “But hey, at least you had a go-to guy Can’t imagine they’re much fun to live with.” She realized her breathing had sped up a little, and focused on slowing it down. “I’ll leave that part of the job to Ric. He’s not paying me enough for danger money. But welcome to the world. I’ll drop your t-shirt by next time I come in. And your decoder ring.”

She swallowed hard.

“Truth is if I had a choice I’d be Joan Q Citizen, and not have a clue. But once you know there really could be a monster under the bed you don’t have a lot of choices left.” It was the truth. Her fucked up family life wasn’t something Liv would wish on anyone, including herself, and the cruelty of being separated from a twin.

–––––

Enzo:

Enzo understood what she was saying better than anyone because it was the truth plain and simple. Now that he knew there was more to the world out there he couldn’t go back to not knowing. It was as if his life was forever changed and probably not for the better.

“For what it’s worth I don’t think he does it nearly as much as me saying he ghost hunts would indicate,” he explained as he downed another mouthful of gin. “I think he prefers to read up on the stuff, help out where he can. I doubt you’ll be expected to do anything like that,” he finished.

Turning around he made up another drink for Liv figuring if they were having this conversation that she was going to need it just about as much as he did.

“Here, consider it on the house,” he said setting next to her on the counter top. “So you don’t fancy being a witch? I don’t know why, I just thought that would be one of the more entertaining aspects of this whole world you know?”

–––––

Liv:

Well, good. Because Liv wasn’t hunting for ghosts, even if Alaric doubled her pay. She gave a tight nod. Time to change the subject.

She shrugged. “The magic itself is fine,” she said. “Fun, even, most of the time. Unfortunately, it comes with a lot of… responsibilities, and rules, and things you’d rather not hear about.” Like, for example, the fact that if her batshit crazy family found her they were going to force her to merge with her brother, leaving one of them dead and the other stuck in a management role they really didn’t want. And Since she’d already lost five family members over magical spats… basically, no. “My family is pretty intense.”

That was as much as she was prepared to say about it.

“Thanks,” she added, reaching for the new drink. On the house? Not bad at all. Way to spin a paycheck out. “Anyway, I guess I’m starting on Monday. So yay me.”

The discount would be useful, too. Paying full price for rare herbs and crystals was a total bitch. And when it was quiet, Alaric said she could read whatever she wanted. She was going to fill another grimoire in the space of a few months, unless she got bored and quit.

“So what’s with the vampire who hangs around the shop?”

–––––

Enzo:

Enzo’s experience with witches was limited to just the half hour or so he’d spent with Liv. He knew some came into the bar, at least he figured they did and he knew he’d likely bumped in to one or two while talking to Ric outside of his shop. That was it though, he was limited in what he knew of those world in general but he understood what she was saying. There were enough movies all about the responsibilities of magic and the balance you had to keep or the evil things that could be done with it. He wasn’t naive enough to think that all witches in the real world were good either.

“Vampire?” Enzo arched a brow at her words unsure of what she was one about.

Ric hadn’t mentioned anything about a vampire and the thought of them being real sent a chill through the human. Witches and ghosts were one thing, blood sucking fiends that could kill him in a matter of seconds was a whole new thing to wrap his mind around.

“This isn’t by chance your attempt at being witty and pulling my leg again is it?” he asked and when she looked like she wasn’t kidding he took a mouthful of gin and wondered if he could function enough to run the bar while drunk. “Ric’s never mentioned a vampire, guess I was hoping there was a limit on what supernatural things were real.”

–––––

Liv:

Oh, whoops. Liv bit her lip and reached for her glass, watching the blood drain from Enzo’s face. Maybe she could have been a little bit more delicate.

“Vampire,” she said again. Well, he knew, now. No sense in being delicate. “Fangs, cloak, loves to count… I was making that last bit up. Actually the cloak thing was made up as well. The guy with the pale eyes and the fuck me hair. You haven’t met him?”

Well. She tapped her fingers on the bar.

“Cute. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry. Can’t see Alaric befriending a Lestat. He’s probably more of an Edward. You know the type, castrated, likes to watch people sleep, eats bunnies. All of that.” She waved it off. “But hey, look. You’re continuing your supernatural education, and all it cost you was a free whiskey sour.”

Liv was getting a little tipsy, actually. Probably should have eaten something today other than saltines for breakfast twelve hours ago. And if he kept at it, Enzo was going to follow close behind.

“Watch it,” she warned. “I know I’m the living embodiment of sweetness and light but no way am I working behind the bar if you pass out. If you’re lucky I’ll shoo the rest of the customers out and lock the door behind me. You got some smelling salts?”

–––––

Enzo:

Enzo thought he’d seen someone who fit her description lurking around the store a few times. He’d never thought that Ric would be involved with him though and he hadn’t expected him to be a vampire either. Actually Enzo hadn’t really paid him too much thought seeing as he was clearly a customer of Ric’s which meant he wasn’t someone Enzo would usually socialize with.

Taking a sip of his drink he rolled his eyes at Liv.

“Don’t worry love I can handle my liquor without needing your help,” he offered by way of an answer before following the words with another sip. Besides it wasn’t going to be too much longer before his shift release showed up and he could skip out of there for the evening and head home to really drink. It was amazing how much more he looked forward to that now that his resident ghost was gone for good.

“What are you doing after you leave here?” he asked arching a brow at her curiously. “We could grab a bit to eat, nothing funny just dinner between friends mind you.”

Yeah, he still looked a little pale. Liv snickered to herself, draining her glass, and pushing it across the bar. She pretended to consider.

–––––

Liv:

“I was going to say yes,” she said. “But really? Nothing funny? Does that mean I can’t pretend faeries are real, and living at the bottom of the garden, waiting to pull out your teeth while you sleep?” She shrugged. “Don’t worry. You’re not my type. But since we’re such good friends now, sure, I could eat.” Probably not a good idea to get behind the wheel of her car now anyway. She’d briefly debated asking Alaric if she could sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms (they were going to come in very handy).

She poured herself a glass of water (radical concept) and reached for a book settled in the pocket of her messenger bag, figuring they’d be out of there sooner if she let Enzo do his thing. The book was ancient and battered, almost every page folded down at least once over the years; lately, Liv couldn’t stand reading anything new, just books she knew and loved. Something about having lost so much in the last couple of years had her clinging to what she knew.

–––––

Enzo:

“Faires, you know even if you tell me know that you’re yanking my chain I’m not going to believe you. Those are some scary little things right there,” Enzo said grinning at her. He was glad she’s said yes though and agreed to go with him for food since he was already starving and having a friend for company was always nice.

Finishing up his shift duties he passed the bar off half an hour later to his coworker and tugged on his jacket.

“Alright Liv,” he said offering her a grin as he rounded the counter. “What are you in the mood for? There’s a nice burger place about a block the other direction or if you’re some weird vegan type there’s always that way,” he said gesturing to the two different directions as he talked to her leaving it up to her, honestly he could go either way so it hardly mattered to him.

–––––

Liv:

Liv gathered her things, winding an oversized scarf several times around her neck, against the biting cold. “Seriously? Burgers here all day and you go eat another burger elsewhere?”

But she wasn’t really interested in vegan food. Maybe on a day she was feeling a little more morally superior and less tipsy.

“Passed a noodle place on the way in,” she said, pausing at her car to half-empty her oversized handbag into the trunk. She closed it again, locked the car and found her place at Enzo’s side again. “Noodles might actually sop up some of the booze you practically poured down my throat. How long have you lived around here? Thought I might see if I can find something I can afford close by, save some money and time. I’ve never lived alone. I wanna try it. The pants-free existence. Ice cream for dinner. The works.”

Yeah, she was apparently very tipsy. Good stuff.

–––––

Enzo:

Enzo smirked and held the door open letting the girl walk past him before following her out onto the street, his hands moving to settle in his pockets as he walked.

“Let’s just say that while here at work my diet is purely liquid,” he said grinning as he answered her. Noodles were fine though, honestly he didn’t care what they ate since he usually just picked at his food anyways.

“A while now,” he admitted. “There’s some cheap places around the block,” he added thinking about it. “I share my place with this old woman, she rents pretty cheap and so do a few others in the area. It’s not apartments per se but the top and bottom are renovated into their own places so they are. It’s nice, makes it feel more like a home and not renting I guess.”

He’d always loved his little place, up until it had started being haunted that was. Now he was back to loving it and glad he wasn’t going to have to move out of it any time soon.

–––––

Liv:

Hmm. Liv could put up with that, as long as no one complained about her incense, or occasional chanting… she’d lived with Luke so long. At college at least they were only down the hall from each other, and before that, the bedroom next door. Asshole. God, she missed him.

“Well, I should start looking,” she said, with a shrug. She was definitely a little drunk. “Anyone ever tell you you make a damn good whiskey sour? Was your wrist sore?” No, probably just the fact she hadn’t eaten all day.

She dragged Enzo into the noodle place and examined the menu for about thirteen seconds before she’d picked out something that sounded fine. Satay, that was peanuts and just a little bit of chili, she thought.

They placed their orders and collapsed into the plastic bucket seating by the window.

“Where I grew up… everything was green. My house was in the middle of basically a pasture. And then woods. I thought we needed that. Witches.” Oh dear. Nostalgia. Better drink more before it gave way to melancholy. “But there’s magic in the city too. Obviously.” She reached out to pull a leaf out of Enzo’s hair, and made it twirl on the end of her finger before floating it to the ground.

–––––

Enzo:

Taking a seat by the window across from Liv Enzo grinned as he listened to her talking. She was fascinating and that only became even more true when she used her magic on the leaf. It was funny in a way because before that moment he’d not really considered the implications of witchcraft. He knew she was a witch and yes he’d seen and dealt with the ghost at his place but seeing just the simple use of her skills in such a mundane environment as this place really drove the point home.

“You know if you need a place to crash I do have an extra room. Landlords hard of hearing and..well she’s old so all her sense are dulled. You could stay there for however long you need,” he shrugged his shoulders as he offered. He barely knew the girl and for all he knew she could be terrible to live with but he didn’t think she would be and honestly he was so rarely at home these days with as much as he worked.

“Sorry, nice guy complex or something,” he added shrugging again as he carded a hand through his hair. “It’s a habit to offer help when I can or something,” he admitted with a small smile realizing it might be creepy to just offer a place to stay to a stranger.

–––––

Liv:

Liv raised her eyebrows. Not really used to someone she’d just met offering something so big, not when she seemed to spend half her life begging for people’s couches, and she missed having Luke around. On the other hand, she knew she wasn’t the easiest person to live with. The smell of incense might drive Enzo mad.

But it was a nice offer. Probably better than whatever she was going to find and be able to afford alone around here. And it would only be temporary, of course…

“Alright,” she said. “I could do that. Only temporary, until I can find something. You sure, though? You’ve only known me a few hours, I might be completely awful and you wouldn’t know. I should let you find out just how awful in your own time. And there’s our order.”

She walked to the counter and dug through her wallet – no way was she letting Enzo pay or even split it after he had just unknowingly probably saved her from sleeping in the back seat of her car again.

“Smells good,” she said, strangely buoyant suddenly. “Let’s go.”

The temperature had already dropped, or maybe they’d been getting used to the warmth of the restaurant.

“You’re not allergic to incense, are you? Because… never mind.”

–––––

Enzo:

Really Enzo hadn’t really thought that she would agree to the whole moving in thing but now that she had he wasn’t going to tell her he couldn’t. Besides the place got lonely a lot of times and he hated that part of living alone. Naturally he was a social person so having someone else around the place would be alright, even if it did mean having to deal with some incense here or there.

Pushing open the door he let her out ahead of him and fell in to step beside her.

“Awesome, I don’t live too far from here either, just down that way around the corner and down a bit. You’ll be in walking distance to work and the bar,” he said flashing her a smile. “It’s pretty safe around here too which is a bloody bonus yeah.”

Taking the bag of food he looked to make sure they had both their orders.

“Alright where do you want to eat this?” he asked as he closed the bag back up. “Back at our place, I can give you the official tour then we can go grab your stuff.”

–––––

Liv:

Hmm, well, maybe she’d upgrade ‘temporary’ to ‘until Enzo got sick of her and kicked her out’. Good spot. Definitely better than a couch which hadn’t been cleaned since it was made in 1985.

And of course it was safe. As far as Liv could tell, Allentown was mostly gay couples, many with small children. Probably had the best dressed neighborhood watch program in the country. It was nice, really, but she was probably going to have to go a little further north if she was looking for some serious company.

“Mm-hmm,” she said, eyeing a couple passing them with fingers tangled. “Our place. But everything I own is in my car, so I’ll grab it in the morning. Probably pass out on a couch or something tonight. My spiritual home.”

He wasn’t lying; it was a very short walk. She gave a jaunty little cock of the chin and arched a well-sculpted eyebrow as he led her to the entry. She could feel it; that trace of something that had been so strongly present here, but was gone. The last vestiges. Like smoke caught in curtains. Another few weeks and there wouldn’t be a trace.

“It’s cute,” she said. “Are we upstairs?”

–––––

Enzo:

That was fine with him, he probably had an old t-shirt she could bum so she could sleep more comfortably while her stuff was still down in her car. Pulling out his key’s he made quick work of unlocking the door as he made his way up the steps.

“Yup, top floor is all ours. There’s a door just up here on the landing so no one can just barge in and up the steps on us. Landlady stays down stairs, she’s got knee and hips issues so she doesn’t make it up often. Hard of hearing too but she’s sweet,” he explained as he pushed open the door and held it for her before leading the way upstairs.

“I keep this one locked too, just in case someone from her family comes by,” he said looking behind him and flashing Liv a small smile. Pushing opened the top door he headed inside and stepped back so that she could come in and get a look around the place.

“Welcome home,” he said grinning brightly.

–––––

Liv:

Hard of hearing worked. That meant Liv wouldn’t have to worry too much about her music. Good. Nothing more annoying than being told to turn it down. She looked around the apartment, stepping into the kitchen – decent size, good, cooking up spells could get messy sometimes. She looked out the window but it was way too dark to see anything but the fact there was a greenhouse down there somewhere.

“Perfect,” she said. She was pretty sure the contents of her pathetic bank account would stretch far enough to buy a bed, and not much further, but she’d be getting paid, soon enough (which reminded her, she was either going to have to talk Alaric into paying her cash, or find a way to open a bank account under her assumed name. Dammit). “This is great. New job and a new place in…”

She glanced at the clock above the oven.

“Six hours. Not bad at all.”

She opened the bathroom door. Good, an actual bath, even if it was small. Enzo’s door gave off a strong vibe, but the next door was almost dead. “Assume this is me?” A few boxes, that was about all. No problem, she could stick them under the bed. Not like she owned much.

“Let’s eat noodles and get drunk, then,” she said. “I have a dozen Netflix passwords and a hard drive full of movies illegally downloaded on someone else’s dime. Oh! And a popcorn maker, and one of those cotton candy machines. This could be a match made in heaven.”

–––––

Enzo:

The place seemed to be to her liking and Enzo allowed himself to relax over that. Why he was even nervous he couldn’t say, he just knew he wanted her to like the place. It’d been a while now that he’d been considering getting a roommate, the ghost issue had only confirmed his general dislike of living alone too. Having her get here and hate the place, having her decide to go somewhere else…Enzo just hadn’t wanted that to happen.

Setting the bag of food down on the coffee table in front of the couch he crossed to the small kitchen area and pulled out a bottle of gin and two glasses.

“I have gin and gin, which would you prefer?” he asked flashing her a quick smirk. “We can grab something you like from the bar tomorrow, write it off on the monthly bar inventory. I don’t like doing it often but here and there is fine.”

Honestly having the bar being his it didn’t matter one bit; he just didn’t want it getting around to the other employee’s around the place.

Leaving the kitchen he grabbed two forks and the glasses and headed back to the couch collapsing onto it next to her. Passing the fork and the glass of gin to her he settled the bottle on the table next to the food and pulled out his own.

“What movie should we check out then? You should be fully warned I’m not all that up to par with what’s good to watch,” he admitted grinning. “TV isn’t exactly my thing. Cable seemed pointless and we get shit digital reception sense they changed from analog. Bloody awful really, nothing local at all worth watching. Hell the TVs become a decoration piece more or less.”

–––––

Liv:

Yes, this was going to work out nicely, Liv thought, coming back into the room with a look of satisfaction on her generally haughty face. Good. She took a hair band from around her wrist and pulled her hair back in a bushy ponytail (nothing like letting it trail in noodle sauce – and she’d only washed it that morning, ready to impress the new boss with how homeless she didn’t look).

“I’ll take gin,” she said, dropping into the couch at last, and reaching for her box of noodles. Spicy peanut, but not too spicy – Liv liked to be able to actually taste flavors. “I drink anything. Almost anything. Tequila and I are good friends, go way back, although we’re not on the best of terms at the moment…” she shrugged, and grabbed a fork. “I don’t care what we watch. It’ll just end up background noise anyway. I want to hear about you. And your ghost.” She reached for the remote and pressed a few buttons until something not entirely annoying graced the screen – okay, looked like it might be the first few bars of a low-budget horror movie, that would do. Liv always liked them, especially when they tried to invent their own lore and broke the laws of conceivable magic to do it.

“You’re right, this is shit reception. I’ll set up the drive tomorrow when I bring in all of my stuff.” It was only down the block but no way did Liv have the energy to go lugging everything back here tonight – and she was already too tipsy to drive the car closer.

“How long have you lived here? When did you leave merry olde England? Why Buffalo? Or is it just Allentown – the scenery here,” she said, referring to the huge population of very well dressed gay men, “is stunning. Got someone in your life?” Pretty sure she knew the answer but it was only polite to check.

–––––

Enzo:

“Told you,” he laughed at the reception comment and grabbed his dinner out tucking in to it s she rattled off a lot of questions. “Wow, you really were serious,” he teased around a mouthful of dinner before swallowing and chasing it with a swallow of gin.

“I came over here about twelve years ago, I was just starting middle school at the time. Mum was getting a divorce, I was the only step child so I got to come back here to America with her when she decided she wanted to start her life over,” he explained with a roll of his shoulders.

For a long time Enzo had been bitter over it, over having to leave his half siblings behind and make a new life for himself. It was still easy for him to slide into that mind space if he allowed it so he much preferred not to dwell on it too much.

“She went to Virginia first and we stuck around for a bit, then she moved again and then again and again…finally we ended up here when I was about seventeen and I just refused to leave when she did. Got myself a job working as a mechanic till I was twenty one, then I started working at the bar. Same day as my birthday, the owner was a regular at the car shop. Owned a bloody junker that always needed work done. Anyways, I’ve been working there ever since so three years now.”

Why he’d stuck around here of all places he couldn’t much say, he just liked it here. He hadn’t wanted to move again and he had a job, it worked out. He didn’t know whatever happened with his mom, she wasn’t the sort to really keep in touch but he figured she’d rolled back through again eventually or she wouldn’t, he tried not to think about that either.

“No, just me,” he shrugged. “Though there is a cute werewolf that’s been hanging around Ric’s,” he said offering her a smirk.

–––––

Liv:

“Hmm. Sucks. Let me guess, half the kids in your school thought the accent was cute and exotic and the other half pushed you over in the playground for being a freak? Kids are the worst,” she mused, picking the greens out of her noodles and eating them first so they couldn’t ruin a perfectly good mouthful of something else. “Probably sort of like when the entire school thinks your family is full of witches, I bet.” Worst kept secret in the history or poorly kept secrets, that.

“You probably shouldn’t have let slip you’re a mechanic. Daisy breaks down whenever I’m rude to her, and what can I say? I have a forked tongue. But I’ll pay anything, as long as it’s not money.” She smirked. “I can make tacos. And reheat almost anything. Beyond that… expert at takeaway, really.” She swirled noodles on the chopsticks. Delicious.

“Werewolf?” Liv made a face, though she was mostly joking. “Oh, Enzo. No, no werewolves. Well, I mean… are you sure he’s housebroken? They chew slippers, you know. I mean, they’ll eat anything.” Luke would have laughed. Luke had a werewolf friend once who would have cheerfully thrown Liv out the window for talking like this but Luke still would have laughed. “And you have to be responsible about getting them microchipped, and neutered. Capisce?” She raised her eyebrows, and reached across to steal something out of Enzo’s noodle box.

Hmm. Tasty. Not as good as the satay, though.

“I’m at a stage in my life where I need… to lie in the bath and not have anyone ask when I’m getting out,” she said, and yes, it was a selfish thing, but mostly, it was trying to find the upsides of living without Luke. “Which means the whole bar, late shift thing will come in handy. But getting laid on the regular, that I could do with. Bet werewolves are warm,” she said, with a sly wink, reaching for her glass.

Ah, tasted so wrong with the food, but Liv really didn’t give a crap.

–––––

Enzo:

“First off yes,” he said nodding in reply to the school thing. He hadn’t lasted long in classes anywhere they went, not until he was a little older and could pick his own fights anyways. “Secondly don’t worry about it. I like working on them for fun these days, which isn’t something I ever thought I’d say really. It’s relaxing or something so just let me know what you need done and we’ll have her all fixed up.”

It wasn’t an issue, hell he wasn’t even worried about her needing to pay him. Roommates, friends…connections to help get things done, that’s what it was all about really and he didn’t mind lending a hand when he knew he was capable of it.

“Thirdly,” he grinned. “I don’t know how housebroken Nik is because he’s a new werewolf. At least that’s what he told me the other night. Rescued me from a vampire actually, thank god too or I wouldn’t be here right now talking to you. Then again maybe you could have gotten the apartment just to yourself then.”

Enzo didn’t like thinking about that actually. Coming that close to being vampire food hadn’t been fun and he didn’t want to be put in that position ever again.

“I wouldn’t know,” he added shrugging his shoulders to the warm comment. “But I’ll let you know if I ever find out. But enough about me, what’s your deal? I mean you’re new around here so what brought you to our little place in the world?”

–––––

Liv:

“Well, good. Because I can guarantee you Daisy is due to die on me again any day now. One advantage of living close to work – at least when she dies on me on won’t lose my job. Which is half the reason I was couch surfing. Which reminds me – I really should call in the morning and quit.”

Oh, that would be so much fun. Hello, assholes, here’s what I think of your five bucks an hour. Now that she was thinking about it, Liv was looking forward to it.

“Mmhmm? Big bad werewolf rescuing you from a vampire? That’s kind of hot,” Liv purred. New werewolf, though. And he lived at the shop? Well, that was interesting. Werewolves were generally pretty sassy. Could be entertaining, as long as he had a mouth on him. “Sounds at least housebroken enough, since he didn’t rescue you from them just to eat you himself.”

And here was the inevitable question of where Liv was from.

She toyed with the idea of just coming out and being honest about it, though there were at least a dozen reasons it was a bad idea, not least of which was Liv’s strong desire not to be looked at with any kind of pity. But she didn’t really want to out and out lie, not when she’d made an actual friend, and one she planned to live with, at least until he adopted the puppy and brought him home.

She shrugged. “Getting away from my batshit crazy family,” she said. “They have some very strong ideas about family responsibility, and it so happens that their ideas clash with my plans to spend my hottest years with a cocktail in one hand and a book in the other. So. It’s good, I’m having a blast. Family’s kinda rich, though. It’s a pity I can’t magic some of my eventual inheritance into my current pockets.”

Eventual inheritance. As if she could ever go back.

–––––

Enzo:

The remark about Ni eating him was one Enzo was going to let slide. Honestly he wasn’t sure if that was something werewolves did or not and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. There was a lot about Nik that was still a mystery to him, then again there was a lot about this world in general that was a mystery to him and he wasn’t sure how much of it he was really willing to question these days.

“I’m sorry,” he said genuinely meaning it. “I speak from experience when I say it sucks when family isn’t on the same bloody page as you.”

Him and his mom hadn’t ever agreed on anything, much less what they wanted from life. It’s why he was here and she wasn’t and sometimes it really sucked but mostly he figured it was something he had to just accept and get over in the end. Whatever Liv’s hang-ups with her family were they were hers and he wasn’t going to push to know the details.

“Alright I have a spare room you can take,” he said letting the conversation move on to other topics, “but it doesn’t have a bed yet. I know a few places around here where we can get you a cheap mattress tomorrow before I head in to work. I promise it won’t be used either, I just know a lot of people around here willing to help others out. Then we can get you set up in there so you can have some privacy. Tonight you’ll have to take the couch, I promise it’s not awful though.”

–––––

Liv:

Yeah, not on the same page. One way to put it, Liv supposed. “It really does. They’re mostly batshit crazy though so I don’t really care.” Way to put a thin sheen of bravado all over everything. What a pathetic (and probably transparent) lie. “Just wanna live my life.” And that was one hundred percent true. She wanted to survive past the age of twenty-three, but she didn’t relish the idea of losing Luke, either. And neither of them wanted to lead the coven. No way.

“Good,” she said. “I’ve been sleeping on couches for months, I can do another night. Got a little cash saved up. A bed of my own, how luxurious. It’s been a while.” And then it had been her dorm room, with a mattress that had probably belonged to fifty people before her and had been industrial standard to start with. She certainly wasn’t above letting Enzo call in a favor. She wondered how long she’d end up staying here; probably a little while, if she was going to save the cash for a deposit, furniture, all that stuff she was going to need… she decided to put off thinking about it for the forseeable future, maybe do some sums when she had some quiet in the shop. She’d never bought furniture before, and had no idea.

“For now, let’s just get drunk, alright?” She raised her glass to chink against Enzo’s, and grinned. TV time.

~COMPLETE~

#v: open whenever #p: corner bar clever name #liv rp #theycomeuninvited #theycomeuninvited: enzo #all of us; & queue

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