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#unless she is being raised by wolves. in which case. good for her.

sergle · 1 month

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When I talk about something bad I've experienced, Baked In to my experience as A Woman, I am not "making my little cousins feel like shit for being women", because I am talking in a space with, allegedly, adults. I am not bringing my problems to children in the first place. That said, I don't HAVE to make my baby cousin feel bad, because she's already experienced sexual harassment in her life, and she's only 8, and doesn't even understand what any of it means yet. And everyone in her family can try to instill confidence in her, and never talk about our bodies in a negative way. But she can still feel like she's too chubby, because she still goes to school, and talks to other kids and their parents, and still sees ads, and still watches tv. We can be positive, but we can't fix the root of the problem. And I don't HAVE to tell trans women that "pain is a rite of passage", because that's not a Rule being enforced (by me), because I've already sat and listened to my friend complain about constantly shaving as a Baseline necessity and how it hurts her skin and she has to put makeup onto fresh cuts on her face because going out without a full face of properly feminine makeup would make her life worse, and being anything less than thin and lithe makes her "less feminine", and ALL the things that can make her "more feminine" are behind a paywall. And I can try to make her feel better, and I can hear her experiencing the tenfold version of problems I relate to, but I can't fix the root cause of her problems by just telling her not to complain. Forcing happiness as a core personality trait for women is not the Girlboss Feminist move that you think it is, and no amount of gender euphoria in the world will make you immune to systemic oppression.

#sergle.txt #you cunts learned the term 'toxic positivity' years ago and forgot it instantly #putting a bandaid on a fuckin severed leg is what it is #do i wish i wasn't a woman? no #do i feel pretty in a dress? yes #have i suffered? OH MY GOD YES #do i think any woman alive today has lived without suffering in these ways? NO.#unless she is being raised by wolves. in which case. good for her.#again I am still flabbergasted by that post having used trans woman as a last ditch effort scapegoat.#like. shocked. as if ANY trans girl's problems are because other women complain abt the way they're treated.#she's got her own problems bitch!! and they are directly correlated to my problems!!#it's like. it's infantilizing almost. the way the dickheads in that post went from ''kids'' to ''trans women''.#adult women who know how gender works.#condescending.

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underagoldenmoon · 3 months

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COULD THE UNDER A GOLDEN MOON PROTAGONISTS SURVIVE CASTLE DRACULA?

(inspired by Tumblr user @canyourfavesurvivecastledracula)

HAZEL:

So first things first, we need to de-ghostify Hazel, because ghosts Do Not Have Blood. And blood is. Kind of Dracula's thing. Plus she can't die as a ghost except under certain circumstances :)

So yeah that's Happening.

So Hazel would probably accept the crucifix, but that doesn't matter so much; she doesn't carry a mirror so she wouldn't die shaving.

She knows that ghosts exist (she is one. Well, was for the purposes of this. No I'm not explaining how she comes back to life, this isn't canon.) I'm not sure that she'd know what vampires are, but from the start she's seeing clues that Dracula is Not A Normal Human Being.

She had to become a people-pleaser while she was alive to keep herself safe. So she's mainly fine on the Not Annoying A Rich Jerk front.

I'm assuming that the characters aren't aware of who Dracula is beforehand, and similar to Jonathan Harker they initially assume he's just a normal guy. So she has no reason to bring a weapon. She doesn't own one anyway (Starry is the only one who does. Unless you include Golden's whittling knife).

The second she's told not to explore, she gets suspicious. She assumes that Dracula has a Dark Secret. At this point she starts trying to imply about how she used to be a ghost because she doesn't realise it's an Evil Dark Secret she thinks it's a Cool Dark Secret (not a Sexy Dark Secret because she is a lesbian). But as time goes on, she realises that Dracula is not to be trusted.

She's had to learn to be stealthy; there are cats who hunt ghosts. So she won't necessarily get caught.

She's choosing the castle over the wolves if it comes to that. All of them are, really. They're teenagers they're too young to die /hj

If she happens to be Romantically Staring Out of the Window™ while Dracula is climbing, she does get curious. "Curiosity killed the cat" type situation - but actually, this convinces her that Dracula really is dangerous.

She might try to mislead him with a few lies about England once she realises this; she's been trustworthy up to this point, since she knows her way around well, but Dracula might be able to tell. In which case she's dead.

But if she doesn't try to be too clever and doesn't get too obvious in her attempts to drop hints that she's a ghost, Hazel would survive Castle Dracula.

GOLDEN:

Golden, too, would take the crucifix. Ze reads a lot of fantasy stories. Never ignore the strange old woman's warnings.

Let's be honest – ze is not going to put up with being forced to stay up all night. Ze needs a regular sleep schedule, and ze would rather die than have hir circadian rhythm messed around with.

Also, hir instincts are pretty good – ze's going to work out that there is something going on.

Unfortunately, this does not help hir.

Ze is not going to put up with any jerk for long, let alone a rich one.

And ze's wanted to try lock-picking for a while… and all these locked doors are so tempting…

You'd think that the fact that ze reads a lot would save hir. But no. Ze's clever, but ze has no common sense. Negative amounts, really. If ze's lucky and works out Dracula's a vampire, even that won't save hir.

Because ze died picking that lock to try to get into the room.

Sorry.

Golden would not survive Castle Dracula.

MOON:

Honestly, I think Moon is the protagonist who would last the longest if they were all to die at any point. Golden dies after being caught lock-picking, Hazel (if she dies) is too clever for her own good, and Starry… well, you'll see.

Moon would accept the crucifix out of awkwardness if nothing else. Because how do you turn it down without making it a thing? That doesn't really matter – he's not going to shave anyway, he's a cat. But still.

He trusts Dracula at first – why wouldn't he?

He works out, as time goes on, that there's something dodgy about Dracula, and since he's been raised to distrust ghosts and gods, he's going to Panic. Like when Jonathan was just. Running around the castle. He would do exactly that.

He would avoid doing anything to anger Dracula once he realised there was something weird – he's used to the idea of supernatural creatures that can destroy you if you look at them the wrong way, though he hasn't met one. Yet :)

He would probably try to help Dracula – the idea of tricking him would occur, but he'd decide against it. He knows some supernatural creatures can tell if you're lying. He's not going to risk it.

He spends a lot of time staring out of the windows, so he sees Dracula climbing the walls. At this point he is certain that there's something going on.

But don't worry – he has a plan.

A terrible one.

He tries to climb out of the Castle. And he nearly makes it.

He's bested Dracula, he's escaping, he's –

Fallen off a cliff to his death. Sorry.

Moon could not survive.

STARRY:

I think that Starry was the hardest to get an idea on. She's the newest protagonist, so she's not been floating around in my brain for… two to three years, I think? I think I started version one in 2021. Certainly during Covid lockdown.

Good grief.

Anyway, Starry takes the crucifix because she knows by now that if there are rumours about strange things, it's better to be safe than sorry. She decides pretty early on that he's a ghost, which makes her distrust him. She doesn't like ghosts.

She does everything perfectly most of the time she's there. She's learned to act; she's had to.

She does nearly break when Dracula takes her stuff. After all, how will she live without her knife?

But she manages to control herself.

She's doing well; Dracula doesn't suspect. She makes sure to follow his rules whenever there's the slightest shadow of a chance that she could be discovered. But she quietly rebels, too.

Then she decides she's had enough and tries to fistfight him.

Life hack: do not fistfight a vampire. It will not end well.

Starry would not survive.

And I can't work out how to draw this so. Uh. Sorry about that.

#under a golden moon #character: golden #character: moon #character: hazel #character: starry #my art #art #This was actually really fun and a cool way to develop the characters!

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beevean · 1 year

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Some more Hector and Isaac headcanons:

Hector grew up well-off, thanks to his father. This means that he was educated in certain subjects, and in particular he was taught to read and write, in Romanian, Greek and Slavic (what we now call Old Church Slavonic). Sure, Dad didn’t care much about his son, but that status symbol that he so craved, am I right?

Isaac, on the other hand, was a normal farm boy and grew up in poverty, so when he started to study magic arts in Castlevania he had to go through crash courses in literacy, much to his chagrin. (I like to imagine that Hector taught him to write his own name :) )

Isaac never knew his mother. Whether she died in childbirth or ran away because she thought she gave birth to a strigoi is unclear (read: i’m undecided). Mr. Laforeze was tolerant of his son’s oddities, being a sorcerer himself, but a lifetime of persecution and living on the edge of society also left him emotionally distant.

Mr. Laforeze at one point remarried (perhaps out of convenience?) and had Julia, meaning that she and Isaac are actually half-siblings, which explains why they don’t look anything like each other. The other wife, of course, only saw Isaac as an extra mouth to feed and had no interest in a literal redheaded step-child, so in any case, Isaac never had a mother and basically raised himself. You can imagine the kind of troublemaker he became :P I have this image of him kicking the big cross in the village church out of spite.

Isaac enjoyed teasing Julia, maybe even going too far at times, but he was fiercely protective of her from everyone else; he took his role of older brother seriously. This is where his complex of being appreciated and deemed useful started.

(I also wonder if this also started Julia’s own Stepford Smiler tendencies - she pretended to be fine and happy so that Isaac wouldn’t worry about her even more... or hurt other kids who might have harmed her)

Hector is not very good with people. As a child, he struggled with even talking (even as an adult he’s not the best conversionalist once you go past polite pleasantries), and he doesn’t understand others unless they spell things out for him - this explains how he could trust Zead but not St. Germain lol. Isaac has learned to read people better, perhaps due to fear. Both of them are terrible liars, but Hector is better at keeping a stoic face, while Isaac is brutally honest and wears his feelings on his sleeve; and both of them have low empathy for others - there is a reason Hector’s rebellion stemmed for self-centered reasons such as “I’m human too” and “I’m not a tool to be used”.

Just like Hector’s favorite animals seem to be cats according to the MF manga, Isaac’s were bats and wolves. Bats, because he has a slight bat motif going on (the Chauve-Souris), but I don’t know why I associate him with wolves. I guess he has some wolfish traits.

While Isaac comes off as being confident in his appearance, he’s actually self conscious about his hair for obvious reasons. I also don’t think he had the bangs at first, that was the result of letting his hair grow during those fateful 3 years (yes this is against the depictions of the manga, but it makes more sense to me).

Isaac actually tried to welcome Hector when he was accepted in Castlevania, but Hector wouldn’t talk to him, because he was still traumatized by the church incident and because he had an innate distrust of children around his age. Isaac broke his shell by showing him his Devil Forging :) of course he was also very eager to bask in Hector’s admiration lol.

Hector planned new Devils by sketching them on paper - he’s a decent artist at best, but the point was more about carefully planning and deciding on their characteristics. Isaac, who never held a pen in his life, relies on his imagination only.

Isaac had the idea of Devils, Golems and Mages; Hector had the idea of Fairies and Birds (his logic being that armies need more than simple brute force). As for the various evolutions, they created most of them together.

Abel is Isaac’s very first Innocent Devil. The Ends start off as Gales. I just love the idea that Isaac’s first Forging was a literal little devil lol. (and look at that, it has a little trident that kinda looks like the Chauve-Souris!)

Alucard and Isaac could not stand in the same room for five minutes without arguing, and Isaac was fond on going on tirades against “that brat” and “that momma’s boy” who wouldn’t allow him to do his job properly because he was oh-so-sensitive (to anyone who knew him it was obvious that he was highkey jealous lol). Alucard and Hector respected each other, with Alucard considering Hector highly intelligent and Hector taking his opinions into account during reunions, but they never became close friends, both because Hector was joined at the hip with Isaac and because the more Alucard grew older, the more he started to be disgusted by how his father groomed two human children. This becomes much sadder after Lisa’s passing...

Both of them held “Lady Lisa” in high regard, and perhaps they even considered her the closest thing to a loving mother figure. When Lisa died, Isaac was particularly furious if not even hurt, because being persecuted for being magic users (or being accused of such) is personal to him. Hector had more trouble empathizing with that, because he would have been glad to hear that his mother died, but he still felt sorry that an innocent, well-meaning woman was wrongly killed - hint hint...

Once, Isaac asked Dracula why he wouldn’t turn him and Hector (mostly him lol) into vampires. Dracula responded that humanity is a key element in the process of creating life, so Devil Forgemasters can only be human. Alucard himself is the proof of this, as he was born from a vampire and a human. Isaac was disappointed but never insisted, Hector was glad because the idea of being a vampire, a slave to his basic needs, repulsed him. (sidenote: I also like the explanation given by Netflixvania that keeping Hector and Isaac human assures their loyalty)

#castlevania #hector castlevania #isaac laforeze

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nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 1 year

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@gnotknormal replied to your post “Why are birds considered dogs?”

"We can't be sure if not letting pet birds fly is bad for them. There's debate there. But we are however, entirely in mutual agreement that parakeets make great babysitters!"

I have a good friend who has two parakeets, and she lets them fly around her home. I don't know anything about whether they like it or not but I would assume that if you are their primary caregiver then there is probably no harm done. If the bird was doing fine in the wild (as many of these species were) then why shouldn't it be able to do so indoors?

The main problem with birds as babysitters comes from how easy it is for an adult human to "accidentally" kill one while trying to calm down a crying child ("oh no the baby won't stop screaming! better just throw something at him!"), which can lead to serious injury. But with mammalian pets this risk is much smaller because of things like body mass -- even relatively small dogs will get up in your face before biting you. A crying infant might put its head into another person's lap without getting hurt by accident. So maybe you could use wolves instead, although my knowledge here is limited too…

In fact, any animal which regularly interacted with humans over long periods of time would eventually become domesticated, since it would need to deal with all sorts of strange situations without having full control of what happens next. This doesn't mean we should treat every stressed-out animal as a potential pet babysitter; some animals simply aren't cut out for that kind of thing despite being tame enough to live among us. For example, cats can learn how to talk pretty well when young but most never develop true language skills. Someone might try raising one as a dog substitute anyway, but this wouldn't work out very well unless the cat had social anxiety issues, in which case it already resembles a dog somewhat. As a rule, any creature whose behavior towards people seems more familiar than yours tends to be best suited to living alongside us (if raised properly). That includes dogs, horses, sheep, cattle, camels, reindeer, llamas . . .

But back to the original point: Parrots make great babysitters in theory, provided you know what you're doing, whereas dogs tend to only act as such in practice. Unlike parrot owners, dog breeding programs have gone on far longer. Consequently, our understanding of dog domestication is way ahead of where it stands for other creatures, including parrots. This means that even though scientific consensus still supports the idea that dogs evolved through selective breeding based on useful traits rather than simple mutualism, there isn't yet enough evidence for scientists to confidently say that.

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dreadwulf · 3 years

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prompt #1: The Green Knight

(Warning: Major Character Death. Not the Major Character you think. Be warned.)

The Green Chapel stands still and silent when the Golden Knight arrives.

Once he had expected a fine cathedral to await him at the of his journey, but by now he is unsurprised to find a crumbled ruin overgrown with ivy. Only the stone walls remain of this “chapel”. The sunken paving stones admit dirt and weeds between them enough that it is barely distinguishable from the forest floor, and the roof is long since fallen in. Everywhere it is overgrown with thick green leaves and vines, and surrounded by a canopy of trees that opens only enough to admit a slice of night sky directly above.

Ser Jaime Lannister enters watchfully, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The Green Knight is nearly invisible to him at first: concealed in greenery, grown into the landscape as though part of it. The bark of his skin is encrusted with moss, leaving no visible gap between himself and the plants around him. Judging from the growth, the Knight has not moved in a long, long while.

Has he stood exactly here for the entire year, waiting for him? It looks more like a statue, or a tree carving. Something long abandoned. Much longer than a single year.

“Ser Knight,” he announces, “I have arrived per our agreement.”

Silence.

There is only him here, and a tree that looks only a little like a man.

He is early, Ser Jaime realizes. Will be it dawn of the day, or the very hour of their meeting? He may be here for some time. It will be hours to dawn, and it had been another sundown after that when the Green Knight had ridden into Robert’s court on his enormous steed.

One year hence, the Knight had said. Well, at least he is not late.

The pre-dawn hours are quiet here, and the grove is peaceful. The trees overhead open out onto a pretty sprinkling of stars, and all the noise of the forest and the brook which has lead him here has faded away. He can see why the locals call this the Green Chapel. It is the sort of place that encourages one to pray, and to contemplate, at least if one is given to introspection and piety.

Which he is usually not.

The Golden Knight quickly grows restless. Waiting is not a skill of his. He is impatient by nature, impetuous and impulsive. Faced with delay he will rush things ahead, or abandon his course. Unless, as in this case, he has no choice but to wait, and then he will be overcome with unease.

He paces. His fingers twitch. His gaze darts around, landing on this and that.

There is no sign of movement from the Green Knight.

If he had not seen him walking and talking, he might assume this to be only a sculpture, and not a living being. He might wonder if he had been tricked, and if some unseen enemy hovered nearby laughing at his predicament. But he has seen the Green Knight up close, and ran him through with his own blade, and watched as the great gnarled hands pulled the greatsword from his own breast as casually as a thorn from his finger, and tossed the weapon aside as though it were a child’s plaything.

His hands curl around the same greatsword at his belt. He has carried it for a year, this sword. It was his prize for accepting the Green Knight’s challenge, and ostensibly he is here to return it. When he does, the knight will return him the same blow, and stab him through the heart.

Was it worth it? What, after all, did he do with his fine sword?

Ser Jaime sighs and sits on the wet ground. He can grow no more muddy and disheveled than he is already. He left King’s Landing in his extravagant golden armor, wearing his lion’s helm, and riding the finest horse in his stable. But he arrives in the Green Chapel on foot, with no helm, dressed in shabby clothing and battered bits of armor. Even his golden hair is shorn, and only a thin growth of hair remains of his famous golden curls.

The only thing of value remaining to him is the sword. And to be quite honest, the Green Knight is welcome to it. If he could, he would exchange it for something much more valuable that he had found, and then lost, along the way.

It had taken many weeks to get him here. There were some diversions - misadventures, a strange episode in a Keep, and a good deal of wandering around lost - but he has come a very long way from Robert’s Court to find himself here. He had managed the journey only with the help of his squire.

The girl had joined him on the road on the very first day. She was part of the crowd that had followed him from the gates, those knight-hopefuls who so frequently followed his footsteps around the city. Most wanted some of his glory, hoped for it to spill onto them by mere proximity. Some wanted merely to see him meet his fate, others to be part of that tale if they could. But there was very little glory in this journey. They had been beset by bandits, wild animals, bad weather, and strange side-tracks from almost the very start

There had been six, even eight of them at a time, during the ride through the Westerlands, but as he traveled further and further from the capital and the weather worsened their number dwindled, and by the tenth night there was only her. Her name was Brienne. If she had another he has already forgotten it.

She was a strange girl, ungainly large, and dressed all in armor, in imitation of a knight. She had a face like rotten fruit, softly misshapen. Her straw-blonde hair, ruddy and pox-marked skin, and stubborn pout completed the picture. Her very presence proved subtly irritating. If a maid cannot be beautiful she might at least keep herself out of sight; or else be a servant, who are barely women to begin with.

His followers quickly decided to make a servant of her. This did not go well. Ser Jaime came upon her fighting three of the men on the third night. One of them had blood streaming from his nose already, another was sitting on the ground looking dazed from a blow to the head. The last was seemingly unfazed by the fate of the other two, and Ser Jaime observed him take a good punch to the chin that left him spitting out teeth. They were trying to steal her supper, she said. The girl should be cooking for us all, the men said.

“She is my squire”, Ser Jaime told them, deciding upon it at that very moment. “She will cook supper for only me.”

“Like hell I will,” the ungrateful wench spat at him.

Ser Jaime raised an eyebrow. “Do you wish to be a knight or not? First you must be a squire.”

She did at that. She did wish it, very much. He can see it in her eyes -- striking blue eyes, with a determined gaze.

Brienne did cook his supper, the next night, over the campfire. Not very well, and he did not insist again. But she also tended his armor and sword, and that she did very well indeed. She handled his greatsword with tremendous respect and care, such that it touched him to see. He had long since stopped being impressed by the blade, after carrying it for a year.

Brienne proved a loyal squire, if not the most typical one. When wolves attacked she proved herself courageous, stood herself well in front of older and more experienced men. When there was work to be done she would be first to do it, and without being asked: gathering firewood, tending the horses. Drudgery she avoided, but practical, necessary things she performed without complaint.

She had very blue eyes. Sky eyes, clear and bright. He would have liked to look at them, except that she would be looking back, and that seemed to frighten her. She did not like to look him in the face. A shy maid, for all her armor and prickly temperament. He liked to tease her, and tell bawdy jokes with the other men until her face turned a pleasant pink.

A skirmish with the Brave Companions lost three of his would-be-knights and all of their horses,and it lead to their capture for a brief time. When they managed to escape, they were left traveling afoot, and without their supplies. His other followers drifted off then, losing their taste for adventure. Only the girl remained, and walked beside him along the road North uncomplaining through the long days ahead.

She was good with a blade, better than most. Not so good as Ser Jaime, who had a prodigious talent. But on the occasions he challenged her to spar with him, she got his blood up and roaring in a way he had not felt since he was a young man himself, and all his adventures before him.

She was kind. Too reserved to be gregarious, but generous in spirit. She took pity on every foundling, every poor farmer and milkmaid they encountered along the way. She wanted to help them, rescue them all; if he had not restrained her they would have been fighting for the honor of each individual cow from the Westerlands to the Neck. She was much disappointed that they hadn’t. What is a knight for, if not that?

She would learn, as he once had. The Knights of Robert’s Kingdom were more tarnished than a starry-eyed squire suspected. Heroes and legends in tales were only men in the flesh, and men with a bit of money and renown all went the same way. Given the best of everything they would indulge themselves, would grow greedy, would came to expect what had once been freely given. They fought not for gods and country but for glory, and mainly fought each other. They plundered wealth and women, sat by roaring fires, went slow, went soft, forgot hunger and killing cold.

Honor was a facade, nothing more. To become a knight was to learn it. It made him glad she would never be knighted, and fail that lesson.

“Entertain me, squire,” he said to her as they rode side-by-side, needling her. “I have heard all of the songs and stories of this land, and they bore me. Tell me a tale of yourself, Squire Brienne. What adventures set you on this course to become a knight?”

She bowed her head. “I have no tales to tell, my lord. It is only a wish, and an aspiration. But I have no adventures but the one we are on now. But you, my lord, are a famous knight, and must have many stories to tell. I would be honored to hear them from your own lips.”

Ser Jaime had hundreds of tales. He has boasted of his adventures to innumerable audiences as they looked on him admiringly, the great Golden Knight. Wins at tourney, duels with other knights, riding to war for King Robert. But for some reason, as he turned them over in his mind, he discarded each of his favorite stories one by one. He did not want to tell them now; those stories are not for her.

“I also have no tales to tell,” he said.

“Are you not on a quest, my lord?” She looked over at him quizzically, her blue eyes innocent. “I hear tell you are riding to the Green Chapel in the north…”

“I am, and to meet the Green Knight. But even I am not so bold as to tell that tale when I do not yet know its ending. But it sounds like you could, Squire Brienne.”

Again she frowned at him for that title. But she did know the bare outlines of the story, how the strange Green Knight had rode into King Robert’s court and invited the bravest and boldest of his knights to face him in battle, to strike a single blow and receive a blow in return, and for it they would gain his greatsword as a prize. How the Golden Knight had taken up the challenge, and in a blow of great talent and precision stabbed the Golden Knight through the heart, finding the weakest point in his armor on a single try. But instead of falling down dead, the Green Knight had easily pulled the blade from his own chest and mounted his horse. He told the Golden Knight to meet him in one year at the Green Chapel, where he would return his blow.

“And I see you do not hesitate to keep your word,” Brienne concluded the tale. “You are as bold and brave as all the stories say. But what will you do when you get there?”

“Fight him, I suppose.” Ser Jaime’s hand tensed around the ruby-encrusted pommel of his borrowed sword.

“Ser?” She blinked back at him in confusion.

“What, you expected I would meekly bow my head and be murdered? Of course not.” Ser Jaime’s shoulders shook. “Twas not a fair bargain, when he has such dark magic that he can take a sword through the heart and survive. I have no such magic, and it isn’t a fair exchange.”

“But you did not have to strike a deathblow. By the bounds of the agreement you might have only scratched him, and taken only a scratch in return.”

Well, yes. In hindsight, that would have been wiser. If he had taken the time to think it over, he might have put that together. But by nature he rarely takes that time.

“He was a large and fearsome Knight, and I thought only to prevent the return blow. Of course if I had known he would survive it I would have acted differently. I know it now. And when I see the Knight this time I will fight him with everything I have, and he will fight me with everything He has, and we will see who is the victor.”

“But you made a promise…” She sounded faintly disappointed, and it irritated him greatly.

“It was a trick, girl. A trick to snare a knight by his honor. Would you have me die for a trick? What good will that serve? No, I will keep my appointment as promised, but he will have to work to land his blow against me. I’ll have my skill and my wit to defend me, as he had his magic.”

“Are you not afraid, Ser?”

“Afraid to fight? Never. It will be a fine duel, perhaps the finest of my life, and I am eager for it. It will be the battle that will make my legend, the kind that songs are sung of, and I look forward to that.”

Brienne said that she hoped to see it, and let the matter lie.

She did not see it, of course. They came to the Crossroads instead.

An inn stood at the crossroads, and cast-offs from the Riverlands sheltered there. Orphans and strays. Jaime and Brienne arrived only long enough to see a great many helpless faces before bandits came riding, meaning to plunder the kitchens, and carry off the women and children.

Jaime told the girls to run away as best they could, and aimed to do the same. If they were quick about it, the raiders couldn’t catch them all.

Brienne, on the other hand, meant to defend them. They would not survive alone in the forest, she said, and if the bandits took away the food, the little ones would starve.

“Better the bandits take them then, one or the other,” he said quickly, tugging at her. “But we had best retreat. We will not manage another fight in our condition, and not without more men.”

This was entirely reasonable, to him; better knights than he had often advised the same. There was no glory in failure, and certainly none in a pointless death in the middle of nowhere.

“No.” Brienne grew taller under his grasp, and would not be moved. “What good is a knight if he will not defend the innocent?”

“You stupid girl.” He holds her by the shoulders. “There is nothing you and I alone can do against so many men, no matter how skilled you are with a blade. They will surround us and cut us down -- it won’t even buy any time for your orphans. The best we can do is live to fight another day.”

“Someone must do something,” she says stubbornly. “I will not run.”

“Not to no avail! A battle is bravery, but this is suicide. It’s foolish, meaningless. It will make no difference whether you intervene or not - either way the women are taken and the children are killed. You will only add another body.”

“Someone must fight for them,” she insists. “Even if there is no hope. I am not enough, but if there is no one else, then it will be me.”

With that, she had shoved him in the larder, with a sudden and ferocious strength, and barred the door.

“Let me free, you stupid child!” He slammed his weight into the door sharply with his shoulder, enraged.

He could hear her through the door, her voice steady and clear.

“Someone must fight for them. If there is no one else, then it will be me.”

“Damn you,” he swore at her. “Open the door and I will fight with you. Two against a dozen is better odds than one. Open the door!”

“You have an appointment to keep,” she said, and then there was silence.

Jaime could not see what happened after that, but he could hear it. He could hear the disdainful laughter of the brighands, and the drawing of many blades. He could hear for a time the blades clashing, and much shouting, and one unfamiliar cry of pain, and for a brief moment he was hopeful that she might prevail. She was a talented swordfighter. If they fought her one at a time he had no doubt she could best them.

He could tell, even without seeing, that they did not. The fight turned, became a slaughter. He heard a single cry that he knew in his gut was Brienne, taking a blow she would not survive. There came more noise then, more steel and blows, and then the screams of the women and children being dragged from the Inn.

He screamed too. He wept, and clutched at his useless greatsword in a rage, wanting to throw himself through the door and impale himself on them like an arrow, these animals who would dare to touch a true knight. None of them seemed to hear him, or proved interested in the larder.

He didn’t know how long he had been left sitting there on the floor, with tears on his face and the earthy smell of raw meat weighting him down in the cool darkness. He waited for one of them, any of them, to remember him in the kitchens and come back, but no one did, and that was how he knew that no one remained. He wondered if he would be left there to rot. To moulder away with the bits of cheese and bread that remained there until he was nought but bones and a borrowed sword.

Eventually, quietly, a small boy with enormous eyes unbarred the door, having emerged from his hidey-hole only hours after the vicious intruders had left. Seeing Jaime huddled in the dark, he fled again and hid himself away in the Inn.

Jaime emerged into the twilight reluctantly. When he looked down the road, he imagined he could see them. The prisoners being taken away in the back of some wagon, women and children and women who were really children still, huddled together and weeping, down the long road and away. It was all for nothing, all of this. The brigands had taken them anyway.

There was no glory in this defeat. There was only a bloodstreaked trench in the mud where a terrible battle occurred, and in the middle of it a sad heap of metal. She was unrecognizable there, cut to pieces. Only a few strands of pale blonde hair remained to know her by.

The blacksmith’s armory had implements enough to break the cold ground. He dug a hole right beside the crossroads while the rain bucketed down on him. His chest hurt from the strangled sob caught in it. He put her in the hole and blanketed her again with the mud. If there had been flowers anywhere in that season in all the land he would have found them and laid them there above her grave. One day, he hoped, grass would grow.

It was a meaningless gesture, and made no difference to the blue-eyed girl. But it meant something to Jaime.

It was not meaningless to them, the shivering children and the sad-faced women riding away in the wagons. They had looked back, mournfully, at the place in the road where her body lay. Looked back down the long road, into the distance, through the rain and the trees and the tramping feet of the bandits’ horses and out of sight, and they kept looking. They would look back long after the rain and wind had wiped away any traces of what had happened there. They would not forget. When the enemy came for them, someone took up a blade in their cause. Someone thought they mattered. Someone thought they were worth dying for. They did not face their fate alone.

When evil comes, so long as at least one person stands against it, there is still some light left in the world.

He left the shovel there in the road and went back to the Inn. It took some time to locate the boy and persuade him to come out of the trunk where he had hidden himself. He carried the boy with him North to the next village, where he left him wordlessly at the Sept, and turned North again, alone.

The rain never stops now. The ground is crusted with snow and the air is wet and mossy and somehow the rains never wash anything away. It only soaks into the dirt and grime and ice and blood and weighs it down. Makes it heavier. Makes everything impossibly heavy.

There are more strange things that happen to him then: how the road curves and wanders beneath his feet and doubles him back to the start as though trying to throw him off his course. There were strange dreams, and visions, and he walks in a sort of fever. Nothing seems quite real after the Crossroads, nothing except the sword in his hand and his goal: the Green Chapel. He has an appointment to keep.

He grows only more determined to reach his destination.

The nights grow colder. He wakes up shivering, rolling over, trying to wake the embers of the fire, and every time his eyes open they are looking for the foolish girl in her armor. They find only blackness and he remembers then the crossroads and the hole he dug besides the road.

He missed her terribly.

He misses her still, sitting here before the Green Knight. It is a persistent ache, a weight that grows heavier by the day. It makes him feel ancient to contemplate. He sounds like one of the rusty old knights who cluster around Robert, lamenting the roads not taken, the women they might have settled down with. Lost loves. It has been only days and yet it seems like years ago, and a road already overgrown and impassable. He can see it already, the enormity of his mistake. His life might have become something entirely different, improbably better. The opportunity came to him, and he wasted it.

Brienne. The Maiden Knight. She could have been his lady love and his brother-at-arms all at once. Would anything have been so perfectly suited to him as that? He will never find her like again, and even if he did he would not want it; he will only want her, for the rest of his life.

Jaime muses over these memories through the hours. The journey, the past, the world around him. Time seems to settle into a hazy blur.

The sun rises slowly, impossibly slowly. He cannot see it past the trees, but the world gradually brightens, with gentle insistence. The greens grow ever more lush and verdant all around him. The wall where the Green Knight stands turns from grim grey to a lively grass color, the dark ivy wound around in loops that seem to form an altar of deep mossy overgrowth around the still and sleeping form of the Knight.

His hands worry at the hilt of the greatsword that he had come to return. He might leave the blade on the altar and go. Would that fulfill his word?

What did Jaime do with his famous sword, during the year he had it? Only held it aloft for others to see. Used it to threaten, and to cajole. Boasted of it to other lords. But the only time he had just cause to draw it he had chosen to retreat instead, and in doing lost the only thing of any value he had ever found.

If only he had gone with her. Agreed right at the first, without hesitation. If he had stood at her side it might have ended differently. One had no chance, but two, perhaps, might have survived. He might have taken her with him to the Green Chapel. He might have taken her home to the King. He might have seen her made a knight, and stood proudly beside her at the king’s table. The tales he might have made with her, he would be proud to tell.

The Knight’s form comes into clearer and clearer relief: looming over him, impossibly tall, improbably wide.

Jaime knows with cold certainty that the Knight is going to wake very soon. As the light grows stronger, the Green Chapel is waking around him with a thousand tiny movements. He can almost make out the subtle sound of leaves uncurling to the sun, and worms crawling in the earth.

The sword, Oathkeeper, quivers in his hands, as though outraged. How did he dare to carry that blade to this place intending to lie? To break his promise? More and more he thinks he did not. He came here for something else entirely.

Jaime finds, for the first time that he can remember, his hands are trembling. It is one thing to go to battle, but another entirely to go to an execution. His heart beats in his ears with a deep drumbeat of doom... doom... doom...

He’s not here to fight a duel, is he? What, then, is he here for?

Glory? Judgement? Mercy? Absolution?

Or only the cold, mechanical means of his inevitable end?

Was all this journey only for that? Is he truly here only to get a blade through his chest? And if so, might it be worth his while? After all, is there any better way for a knight to die? Will it not be a fitting end to his legend?

But he isn’t ready to die. Not willingly. Not without redeeming his honor, making something of himself. If he had another year… but would he do any more with that than he had the last? Than he has with all of the years thus far? Is there any amount of time that would make any more of himself than he has already?

The time he needed was these weeks on the road with Brienne. That showed him what kind of man he’d like to be. But he failed her when it mattered most. Perhaps he should be judged for that. Not a year from now, nor twenty. Today.

The sun rises higher in the sky, and paints the Green Chapel gold. The air warms, and birdsong calls to him on the breeze. The day is relentlessly pleasant, with a promise of endless more such days to follow. A bittersweet longing fills him. It has never seemed half so lovely to be alive as it does in this beautiful place. If only he could have brought her here.

I will be brave, he says to himself. Like Brienne.

All at once there is a great creaking sound of wood bending and tearing, and when Jaime looks up the green altar is moving. Green leaves tremble and wave purposefully, and twigs and small branches snap and fall away to rest in the dirt below. The trunk of the altar pulls itself free, excavates itself from the enclosure in the leaves and branches. Limbs pull free, and something nearly human rises out of the green, the bark of its skin glistening, newborn.

The Green Knight is standing.

Jaime looks up, and up, and up, from where he sits on the mossy floor of the green chapel, and his hand grips the hilt of his sword.

He is ready to fight, by instinct, and to flee, by sudden impulse. He is afraid, he realizes, afraid in a way he has never been before. There is more than a blow to the heart to fear here. There is the fate of his soul, which is suddenly entirely in question. Before his journey he had no doubt of his own worth as a knight, and now he is just as certain in the opposite direction. Is he worthy? He is not. He is not.

Slowly, he stands. The sun shines down on him through the same corridor in the trees where he had watched the stars the night previous, and its warmth is a rebuke; why should the sun shine upon one such as him? He is the golden knight no more. He is only a man, a man with a sword that does not belong to him.

His eyes raise last of all.

Jaime finds through the golden light the Green Knight’s face. The eyes first, through a thin bloom of leaves and moss, and then the nose, the jawline. He has never seen it so clearly before, not even when he had stabbed her through the heart. With slow realization his eyes travel down and up again, taking in the shape of his host, and her nature.

The Green Knight is a woman? Why didn’t he realize it before?

It seems only too clear now. The slight narrowing of the waist and wrists, and in the face… not a pretty face, but undeniably feminine. Full lips, round cheeks, and the eyes...

Blue eyes. Beautiful blue, sad blue, noble and sorry. The lost blue of long-forgotten clear skies.

When he sees them his hands stop shaking. All is well. His grand sword slips from his fingers and settles softly in the grass, sinks gently into the ground, is welcomed.

“It’s you,” he says. “I’m glad it’s you.”

The girl from the Crossroads is standing before him.

He doesn’t understand how it is possible. Was she always the Knight? Was all an illusion? Was the Knight in disguise when he met her, or was the Knight once that girl? But it doesn’t matter. Whoever she is, she is here now, and it is good and right that this happen to him.

Her voice is low and rusty, like a hinge that has not moved in many years, and slow in its opening.

“You... kept... our appointment,” the Knight creaks.

His mouth is gone dry. “One year hence. You gave me time enough. And so I am here.”

He thinks he sees her smile, faintly. With the crackling sound of breaking branches, the Knight gestures to his feet.

“You... dropped your sword... my Lord.” Ser Jaime glances down at Oathkeeper, already disappearing beneath the twining vines on the forest floor. “Is it not time... for our blades to cross? A duel to make your legend?”

“I made you a promise,” he says faintly, and puts a hand over his unguarded heart. “It seems my word is all I have, and if it means nothing to anyone else, it means something to me.”

She smiles. An oaken hand reaches out and touches him on the face, gently. “My brave knight.”

Her eyes are the bluest skies he has ever seen. He is not afraid. Not anymore.

“Are you ready?” she asks him, still stroking his cheek.

“Yes.” He is eager for it now. “Strike your blow.”

“Straight through the heart,” she agrees. Then she reaches out with her other hand to touch the other side of his face.

She kisses him.

#dreadwulf fic #jaime lannister #braime

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eethrowaway · 3 years

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Racism in Epithet Erased

Hey, this is something that needs to be addressed. While we would have liked to just send an ask to Jello’s tumblr blog to discuss this, the askbox is closed and we would like to keep ourselves anonymous so that we can avoid any hate that this may get. To preface this: we are going to be talking about the racism in both Epithet Erased and Anime Campaign. Any EE spoilers will be kept under the read more. Before anyone jumps the gun: we are NOT telling anyone to stop watching/liking/making fan content for Epithet Erased. We ourselves are big fans of the series! Our goal is to bring awareness to these issues and hopefully nip any further instances in the bud. Being aware is better than being ignorant. Also, these issues were brought up by a person of color, I (a white person) am writing this out as a proxy. Our first order of business will be the villains in EE. Every villain that needs to be defeated but ONE in the series is a character of color. Mera being southeast asian, Zora being latina/native, Indus unspecified but clearly brown and Arnold being black. The only white villain is Bugsy. This is not to say villains cannot be poc, but when all protagonists but one are White, it becomes an issue. Speaking of, the one protagonist of EE who is not white falls into the harmful angry black lady stereotype. Now while Molly in the show is a very nice person, Jello himself implied that if Giovanni had not intervened she would have become a rage-filled destructive person. To make her not act like that she needed a White Person (Giovanni) to “save” her. Which falls into the white savior trope. This is not to say Molly herself is a bad character, but is implied that unless someone who was white stepped into her life, she would’ve turned out ‘worse’. The last thing we will add on is that systemic racism was used as a ‘worldbuilding’ tool for the Ocean Country. Which is in bad taste and is being mentioned so those who are unaware, now are aware.

This is where it branches into AC territory.

First of all: we understand AC is a few years old and Jello doesn’t condone the distribution of it. However this needs to be talked about because tropes that were harmful and in AC involving race have also occurred in epithet erased, like we said above. There is a big problem in Anime Campaign where the villains are poc and violent, especially those within Bliss Ocean. Zora and Moot are portrayed as wild loose cannons that cannot be reigned in or controlled, while the other (white) members, Charles and Naven, are considerably nicer and more polite in comparison. This is especially the case with Bliss Ocean's leader Naven, who is portrayed as a good guy who doesn't want to fight and is only doing so because he was forced to, clearly reluctant and trying to reason with the party and talk them down.

(Charles)

(Moot)

(Zora)

(Naven)

As Moot is Indus’ sibling, we can assume that she will be a woman of color. Now, Bliss Ocean is a terrorist organization. Half of its officers are people of color. The only ‘nice’ officer is white. In the political climate the world is in right now, and the stereotype that terrorists are all poc, it is in extremely poor taste to continue this. It pushes a very harmful stereotype. Moving on to more instances; Anime Campaign was full of racist caricatures and stereotypes, especially of asian and black people: yellow backgrounds, buck teeth and yellow skin, the title 'anime' for all of them.

Arnold’s icon also falls into minstrel show stereotypes.

Echo, one of the only black characters having to "constantly fight her primal wolf instincts" and considered "undignified and rabid," was constantly howling, and was, raised in the wild and by wolves.

And killing another one of the only black characters within the tabletop, Crackerjack, off for a simple joke.

Banzai Baron is poc-coded with locs as well and is another such case of being a villain, as he was the one that killed Zora's parents and in general was a terrible man.

That is all we have to discuss for now, and a reminder that this is NOT some callout post or trying to say cancel Jello/Epithet Erased ect. It is to show the fans (many of whom are white) the issues and bring awareness to them, so that they are not repeated in the future. It’s very easy to be ignorant on these topics- so it’s even more important to know and be aware that this is something harmful. To Jello, if you are reading this: This isn’t digging up dirt by any means, 2016 is not that long ago and unlearning things that are not outright racist is not done in a few years. This is not an attack on you. We simply put this out there so that you are aware of the issues and can learn from the past. Thank you all for reading.

#epithet erased #ee #jelloapocalypse #please do not try and find out who we are we want to stay anonymous for safety #again: this is NOT AN ATTACK. This is so people can be Informed #reblogs are appreciated

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sodamnbored · 3 years

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I so badly want a Roman prequel series. More than a Solangelo book. There could be so many great things in it.

Ideally, we’d get a series, basically original PJO but on the Roman side, presumably then following Jason in the same way we originally followed Percy.

But that would just be rehashing what we’ve already seen! Jason’s story would be too similar to Percy’s! - I hear you cry. But bear with me.

Yes: there would be some big similarities - following a son of one of the big three as he grows up and masters his powers and all that. And yes it would also conclude with him fighting a titan. But! I also think they’re different enough that it would read more as parallels than just copy and paste. It could be really interesting.

For one thing: Jason is starting way earlier than Percy. And I am desperate to know about the wolves thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all the info we have thus far is pretty vague, no? We know he went to the wolves when he was about two years old. But we don’t really know how long he stayed with them.

There’s the idea that he was raised by wolves (which don’t get me wrong I love that) and only went to the Legion when he was older - for parallels sake say about twelve. But we don’t know that’s the case for sure. He might’ve just spent the more or less normal time period with the wolves, or even if he were there longer than most - a year, two years even - he might’ve toddled off to camp still pretty young.

Cause this is another thing: we know very little about Camp Jupiter. In CHB you see for a fact that there are plenty of young demigods there, talking ten and under. Unless I’m mistaken, we never really heard mention of any little kids in the Legion right? Hazel was what, thirteen, in SoN, which is fairly young, but I don’t think there was any mention of anyone much younger than that. There was the little girl helping Terminus, but she was from New Rome not the Legion. And the Legion isn’t a summer camp of course, that’s a crucial difference.

They are quite literally an army, preparing for war should one ever arise. So do they have a minimum age requirement? Would not be unreasonable to assume they would. We know the majority of Legionaries are legacies from New Rome as opposed to actual half bloods, so it’s not unreasonable to think these kids live normal lives in New Rome until they hit a certain age and get conscripted/have the option to join the Legion for training.

If this is the case, then Jason might not’ve been with the wolves for years at all. He could’ve done his time and then been passed along to the care of New Rome. Set up somewhere to go to school and grow up and have something of a life to prepare him for his future in the Legion. That would be an interesting difference from Percy who had grown up not knowing about his heritage, for Jason to be fully aware of his godly parentage and to grow up knowing he was heading to the Legion as soon as he was old enough. I’m not sure about timings because in The Lost Hero pretty sure he’s fifteen and has twelve lines on his tattoo “for twelve years of service in the Legion” according to the wiki; but the wiki for the tattoos alone says the lines can be for years at Camp Jupiter or for completed quests and such, so it could mean he was toddling about CJ at three years old in mini Legionnaire armour like Caligula (oh the irony), or just that he crammed a crap load of cool stuff into just a few years when he was older.

So the series could quite happily start with him joining the Legion and maybe just summarise his life before that, have the important parts explained as relevant to the plot, I dunno. But it would give us more info on how Camp Jupiter actually works because personally I am clamouring for more info on the Romans.

Presuming that Jason is at least a Probatio by the time he’s about twelve (and it’d be cool to see him earn his full place in the legion too), that also means we’d get to see other people’s stories happening alongside his.

We know he fought the Trojan Sea Monster at some point, so that would be a cool quest to see play out. We don’t know a lot of other things he’s done, but we can assume he’d have been in the Legion when Reyna turned up, which would also be a really interesting story to follow.

We know from tSoM that Reyna and Hylla were on Circe’s island, when Percy was about 12/13, and it seems in SoN that he and Reyna were both around the same age, 16 or so. We know Reyna and Hylla spent some time after tSoM on Blackbeard’s ship before she made it to Camp Jupiter. So somewhere between ages 12-16, she would pop up at camp and I firmly believe she would’ve been Jason’s friend before they both became Praetors. And I would kill to see it. I wanna see them go on a quest together so badly. They would be an awesome team.

But we’d get to see Jason go through the steps, Probatio to Centurion to Praetor. We’d see him improving the Fifth Cohort’s standing in the Legion. We’d see Reyna become Praetor. (We’d ideally see Jason and Octavian gently bitch at each other like with Percy, but that’s just for me.) We’d get to see Jason and Reyna being Praetors together for a bit hopefully. That would be cool. And no doubt the series would conclude with their side of the Titan War, with Krios’ defeat - which would be so cool to see!

Being able to see more of their side of the war would also be really interesting as well. Because surely, there was more to it for them than just that one battle out of nowhere right? They must’ve been aware of the war and enlisted by the gods to help out right? Maybe there were some other titans for them to fight, maybe they had defectors too? Perhaps they were under the impression Kronos was still chopped up in little bits and Krios was running the show, either wanting to take Kronos’ place as the big cheese, or thinking the titans were working to reform Kronos, but they were kept out of Luke’s side of things so they didn’t realise that he already had been? Who knows. Certainly not me, cause we don’t have any books on it.

And there would be opportunities to have almost crossovers. Particularly regarding the war. They might just overhear things that don’t necessarily make sense to them but that we get, stuff like that. See some aftermath from one of Percy’s visits to the area. So many options.

Oh also actually, just for added angst and a different view than Percy’s, there was that freaking tragic bit in HoH I think where Jason thinks about his mother. The part about following orders and rules bothered him, but he insisted on doing so and keeping his promises because his mother had abandoned him and broken her promise. That would be an interesting aspect for the narration and his point of view because it’s the exact opposite of Percy. Percy doesn’t mind pushing the limits with the gods and exploiting loopholes or calling them on their faults, focused on surviving till the end of the day when he can go home to his mother and forget the gods and their stupid rules. Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t have anywhere to go back to. Camp Jupiter and the roles he’s given there are quite literally it for him, so even though he may resent it as much as Percy, he feels the need to bite his tongue and do everything in his power meet expectations and stay in line, etc. And yes, it’s for the benefit of others like he said in HoH, but maybe also the threat that if he makes too much trouble, where else is he gonna go and who else outside the Legion does he have?

Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see Frank and Hazel come into it as newbies because that would’ve only happened after the war, so unlikely the series would continue after they beat Krios. But it’d still be a good set up to lead back into HoO alongside original PJO.

Also, I wanna know if Jason would’ve been particularly aware of his dad handing him off to Juno, or if she took a back seat until yoinking his memories out his head and dumping him on a dusty bus. I quite like the idea of him knowing, that she wouldn’t have been shy about popping up now and again as his patron, maybe sending him quests, offering occasional assistance like Poseidon did for Percy. Juno cared about her little champion, you can’t tell me different. I’d like to see her drop by from time to time. Or if he just accepted he was Jupiter’s and his dad basically never wanted to talk to him, and was a bit blindsided when Juno popped up after his hit on Krios.

Maybe he was just heading to bed after a long day of Titan slaying, thinking what he’d have for breakfast tomorrow and poof - Juno staring at him in his PJs, doesn’t he feel underdressed. Barely gets out an “um-?” before she’s like “got a quest for you. Surprise!”

(Since we got The Fall Of Jason Grace from Apollo in ToA, this series could be called something silly like The Rise Of Jason Grace to mirror it. I dunno.)

Either way, I need this. We deserve this. I will literally pay like 20$ per book if we could get this.

Wrote this hella sleep deprived and without sources and I’m still in ToA and haven’t read the extra books yet like demigod files and the Probatio one, so anything I’ve missed, had been answered, or is just plain wrong, let me know.

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jamie-leah · 3 years

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War of Wolves (13)

Season 1

Episode 13 - Say It Again

Bucky x Reader

Summary: You have been on the streets for the past two years, ever since your accident that left you with the ability to tell if someone is lying. You work as an informant for the white wolf and his mob but you had never met him…until you overhear a phone call that leads you to saving his life. Now he wants you to work for him. Its an offer you couldn’t refuse…right?

Word Count: 1828

Warnings: Swearing? Mostly fluff

A/N: I am not sure if anyone still cares about this series but in case there is someone still waiting here ya go

<---Previous Episode Next Episode--->

War of Wolves Masterlist Series Masterlist. Oneshot Masterlist

Over the next couple of days, the boys were coming up with plans on how to get more intelligence on Isaac. It was slow work, but it was the right move.

You would check in with them throughout the day, but you never stayed. You divided your time up into training, which was mostly running, and seeing Winter.

You would take treats and meat down to him trying to train him. You had gotten him to sit and do a couple of fun tricks, but some days he could be stubborn, like today. You were trying to get him to come over to you when called and heal, but he wasn’t in the mood to be good today.

You wave the food around, “come on Winter. I’m doing this so that if you listen to me I can have you out of here and with me all day”.

You know he didn’t really understand you and that the only reason he perked up was for the food, but you still liked to think the talking helped.

Another hour and Winter was finally getting the hang of what you wanted, but when you look down at your watch you give him the rest of the food and leave. You make your way into the house and towards Bucky’s office. You walk in to find Sam and Bucky talking over a way to spy on Isaac. They barely even look over at you.

You put your hands on your hips, “okay boys, that’s enough for today. Sam leave go take the night off. Bucky, we have places to be”.

Bucky shakes his head, “give me five more minutes-“.

You know it won’t just be five minutes, “see you tomorrow Sam”. Sam gets up from the chair and shoots you a wink before leaving.

Bucky leans back in his chair with a smirk, “has anyone ever told you that you’re stubborn?”.

You laugh, “once or twice”.

Bucky gets up from his chair and walks over to you, his arms pulling you to him. He kisses your cheek and keeps them feather light as the trail leads down to your neck. You close your eyes for a moment and lean your head back to give him more access.

You feel his hands tighten on your hips and you almost, almost got lost. You slap his arm playfully, “no Bucky. We promised we would do this and I’m not gonna be late. Now keep it in your pants and let’s go to the car”.

You hear Bucky chuckle as you turn to leave. You don’t get far before he slaps your ass with a, “yes ma’am”.

He takes your hand in his as you both walk to the car. You didn’t mind the drive so much as it was short, and Bucky would keep a hand on your thigh as much as possible.

When the familiar house comes into view you breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not late. As Bucky pulls up to the front the door opens, and Sarah and Joseph run out. Bucky barely gets out the car before they jump on him.

He catches them nonetheless as they talk animatedly to him. You see Steve and Peggy come out the house too, ready to go on their date. Peggy comes over to hug you, “thank you again for doing this”.

You smile, “it’s no problem”.

You hear Bucky speak to Steve then, “have a good time Punk”.

Steve smirks at him as the kids haven’t stopped talking to Bucky, “oh I will”.

You all wave Steve and Peggy off before going into the house. As soon as you were all inside the kids climbed down from Bucky to give you a hug which you returned.

You smile at them, “are we gonna have some fun tonight then?”. They nod enthusiastically as you then ask them, “so, what do you want to do tonight?”.

The kids share a look before running upstairs. You and Bucky also share a look, but this was more a look of nervousness. You hear them running down the stairs and they emerge holding water balloons and guns.

Bucky shakes his head immediately and the kids whine, “please uncle Buck. Please please please! Please uncle Buck!”.

He shakes his head again, “its dark out, we wouldn’t be able to see”.

Joseph counters with, “but there’s a light in the garden and the dark makes it more fun!”.

They go back to whining, so Bucky looks to you for backing up. But he doesn’t get it, “well…it could be fun”.

Bucky raises an eyebrow at you and shakes his head. You give him a smirk, “or you know, unless you’re too scared to play against us in the dark”.

Bucky chuckles at that. You watch him think it over, “okay fine. Let’s go, split into teams”.

It ends up being the girls verses the boys. You got ready by filling up the same amount of water balloons each and having a water gun each. You then split up. Steve and Peggy’s garden is huge. The light helps to lighten up a big area but it also casts shadows.

The kids were right, it does make it more fun. The only rule was no going back into the house or going too far out into the garden.

But you always loved breaking the rules. You open the back door slowly and just enough to back inside the house. Sarah whispers, “this is cheating”, and then laughs as we crawl on the floor to stay undetected by the windows.

You knew that you would need every advantage to even have a chance of beating Bucky, so you didn’t care about cheating as you made your way upstairs. Sarah couldn’t stop giggling and it made you smile.

You look out all the windows upstairs until you find Bucky and Joseph around the side of the house. You open the window quietly and hand Sarah two water balloons. You pick her up, so she can reach out the window.

You watch her aim and then let them go. You hear a splash and then shouts of shock. You and Sarah laugh as you tuck her on your hip and run back down the stairs and out the back. She’s giggling uncontrollably as you head for the shed towards the back of the garden.

You hide behind the shed, trying to control your breathing as you put Sarah down. You take out your water gun and Sarah does the same as you strain to listen for any movements from the boys.

Sarah starts giggling again and in turn you also find it hard to keep it together. You don’t notice when the boys round the corner of the shed. You scream as Bucky throws a water balloon at you and Joseph at Sarah.

You go to run but Bucky grabs you from behind, “oh no you don’t”.

Sarah manages to slip away as you yell at her to run. Joseph goes after her. Bucky starts carrying you as you wriggle in his hold. You can’t help but laugh as Bucky starts speaking, “I can’t believe you cheated Doll. I have to say I’m rather impressed that you played dirty”.

He nuzzles your neck, tickling you and you laugh harder as you try and pull his hands from your waist. A few moments later Bucky got pelted with balloons from behind and he ends up dropping you to turn around.

Sarah was there with her water gun spraying him rapidly and Bucky finally does the same back to her. She giggles so much that she ends up dropping the gun as Joseph also joins the fray.

You fight like that for a while, laughter ringing out throughout the garden. You all eventually run out of water and you grab the towels that you got earlier before starting. You wrap Sarah and Joseph up as you hand a towel to Bucky. Bucky then picks the pair of them up and takes them into the house. You trail behind them trying to dry yourself as much as you can.

Bucky takes them upstairs and you hear the kids yawn. You and Bucky work together to dry them up completely and then change them into pyjamas.

Bucky picks them up again and takes them into Joseph’s room and tucks them into bed. You watch him as he kisses their foreheads and checks the covers are on them properly. You watch him whisper goodnight and kiss them again and you get this overwhelming feeling burst in your chest.

You both walk out the room and close the door. You continue to stare at Bucky as you make your way into the living room. He notices and gives you a smirk, “you okay there, loser?”.

You stare at him a little longer and part your lips to speak, but you stop. He looks concerned then as he steps a little closer, “you okay Doll?”.

You couldn’t even stop the words if you tried, “I love you”.

Your heart was beating so loud you were sure it could be heard in the quiet of the room. Bucky’s face looks shocked as its his turn to stare at you now. It’s quiet for too long and you’re afraid that you might have scared him off.

You start to ramble, “its okay if you don’t feel the same way. I just really wanted to tell you-“.

He speaks finally, cutting you off, “say it again”.

You give him a small smile, “I love you”.

He walks over to you now, bringing your body flush to his. He whispers, “say it again”.

You smile up at him, “I love you, Bucky Barnes”. His lips crash down on yours in a bruising kiss. Your tongues lock as you feel him trying to bring you even closer to him. You mould together perfectly, like you always have.

Bucky brings you over to the sofa. He lays down first bringing you on top of him. You break away, “Bucky! We’re wet, the sofa”.

Bucky kisses you again, murmuring against your lips, “I don’t care. I’ll buy them a new one”.

You go to speak again, but he cuts you off, “I love you too”. You stare to him for a few moments before kissing him again. He pulls your wet shirt off and kisses a trail down to your breasts. You almost get lost again, but reality hits.

You pull away, “we can’t Bucky. The kids could come in at any minute”.

He stops, and you can see its with great effort as you feel his length underneath you. He groans as you roll off of him.

Bucky sits up, readjusting himself to get comfy on the sofa. He opens his arm up and you curl up into his side. He kisses the top of your head as his arm comes around you almost protectively, “I love you too Doll, I love you too”.

War of Wolves Taglist: @a-really-bi-girl @scuzmunkie @loving-life-my-way @crazyblonde124 @summerwelsh @peguenaguaxinim @paranoid-borderline-insane @lilsonbucky @somanyfandomsblog @broco8 @inquisitor-selvala @mad-red @k-n-e @ranting-introvert @rinkashirikitateku @duhh-danielly @boundtomyfate @kalesrebellion @booktease21 @whatinthyworld @flyingbabyunicornnamedangel @gaycooties @asapkyndall @yaszx @armoredashley @aveatquevale- @putinovertime @melimelbean @voltage-my2dlove

#bucky #Bucky Barnes #James Buchanan Bucky Barnes #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #mob!bucky #bucky series #bucky reader insert #bucky fanfic #bucky fanfiction

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silverlightqueen · 3 years

Text

Monsters

silverlightqueen’s SKZ Scarefest

ot8magicalcreature!skz x readers from all 8 fics - comedy, fluff, angst, basically just tying up the loose ends from all the fics with the setting of Jackson’s famed party lol

Word Count: 16.2k+ (she’s a monster lmao)

Summary - Jackson’s (in)famous Halloween party is finally here, after months of being hyped up, anticipated, and labelled ‘the Party of the Year’. He’s invited everyone who’s anyone - the guestlist is exclusive to say the least. Werewolves and vampires, wizards and witches, angels and demons (and demon hunters), living creatures and dead; magical folk of all kind are on their way to Jackson’s party on All Hallows Eve. Oh, and a few humans too.

Warnings: explicit discussion of sex, alcohol and mention of drugs, I think that’s it but please let me know if you noticed that I missed something!

a/n: and here is the ninth and final instalment of my SKZ Scarefest! I know it’s not actually Halloween anymore lmao but uh better late than never ig? I’ve had so much fun writing this series, and this part was actually my favourite to write, even though it’s taken me soooo long. I really hope you guys enjoy reading this (make sure you’ve read the previous parts first, or reach out to me to ask for a summary for any parts you haven’t read - this part won’t make sense if you haven’t read all of the others too!). a big thank you to @silverlightprincess for being the best, and to everyone that’s interacted with all of the previous parts, I really appreciate it. and now, this is silverlightqueen signing off on my SKZ Scarefest! x

taglist: @kodzu-ken @cloudsgathering @silverlightprincess

@peculiarskidz @cararoserae @t-tbinnie @liatlyn you guys didn’t ask to be tagged but you’ve shown interest in this part I think so I thought I’d tag you guys anyway lmao sorry if you didn’t want to be tagged lol

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‘Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, angels and demons, and everything in between! Before we get into this, I wanna lay out a couple ground rules. Wolves and vamps, if you can’t get along, stay away from each other. Wizards, witches and fairies, keep your magic away from the drinks. My bedroom is off limits, unless I take you up there myself. Everyone’s an equal here, so I don’t care if you’re a king of hell or some shit – in Jackson’s house, you’re the same as everyone else, so you better treat each other like it. And have fun, motherfuckers! Let’s get this party started!’

Jackson finishes his very eloquent speech with a loud ‘whoop’ into the DJ’s microphone, voice echoing out into the massive living room of the manor house, and everyone cheers in response. I can’t help but laugh, rolling my eyes amusedly as my friends, dressed in our matching Pink Ladies’ outfits, scream and shout, bumping their cups together enthusiastically. ‘Come on, y/n! Cheer up!’ Yeji practically bellows into my ear, and I wince at the volume of her voice over the music blasting out from the speakers. ‘I’m fine!’ I reply, the girls all raising their eyebrows at me. ‘You’re not even drinking. If you’re gonna be heartbroken, at least be drunk heartbroken!’ Chaeryeong says, the girls cheering at her words, and I laugh at them, trying not to think about the reason that I’m heartbroken. ‘Listen, y/n, Hyunjin ain’t shit! You’re better off without him! He’s fucking ancient, anyway! You need a young sexy thing instead! Fuck him!’ Ryujin exclaims, and I grin at her words. She’s right; he’s probably off feeding on some girl dressed as a sexy nurse or devil in a club, and I’m here moping at the party of the year. Fuck that.

‘Someone get me a drink!’ I say, the girls cheering loudly. ‘Yuna, get her a drink! Wait, no, you stay away from the drinks. I’ll get her a drink,’ Lia says, all of us laughing as she stumbles towards the kitchen, already a little tipsy. ‘I hate seeing you like this! You’re supposed to be my dancing partner,’ Yuna says, sitting down next to me, and I give her a sad smile. ‘I know. I’m sorry. I just can’t get him off my mind. I feel like such an idiot,’ I say, and she shakes her head, scrunching up her nose. ‘Don’t be silly, you’re not an idiot. He’s the idiot for leaving – you’re the best thing that would’ve ever happened to him,’ she says kindly, my heart swelling. ‘You’re so sweet, Yuna,’ I say, throwing my arms around her, but I don’t hear her reply, my focus shifting to the front door where I see Chan walk in, immediately catching Yeji’s eyes, and the two of them wave at each other across the room. Seungmin and Jisung follow Chan in, and I guess Hyunjin’s gonna be there too, with the rest of them. ‘Fuck. I need to go,’ I say, not wanting to see him just yet (I’m far too sober), so I detach myself from Yuna and jump up from the sofa, quickly dodging my way around people to get into the kitchen. ‘y/n!’ Lia exclaims when I pass her, ‘I’ve got your drink here!’

‘I’ll have it if she won’t!’ Jisung calls out to the girl in the Grease Pink Ladies jacket stood beside us, watching her friend rush into the kitchen. ‘Oh, uh… yeah. Here,’ the girl says, handing the cup to Jisung who thanks her with a wink, and she rolls her eyes amusedly, heading back to her friends. ‘You flirt,’ Ryujin laughs, Jisung smirking at her as he takes a sip from the drink. ‘More like slut. Whoring himself out for a drink,’ Hyunjin teases the boy, who shoves him, the two of them getting into a little fight, and Chan just sighs, looking away from the two of them with a hand raised beside his face, as though to block them from his sight.

It’s been just over a week since the boys first stumbled into the diner, and this is already the fifth time I’ve seen them. They came into the diner again a couple days later, and then again, and then another time, when Chan asked if we’d go to Jackson’s party with them. It’s a full moon tonight, so they’re gonna be disappearing in a couple hours, and then making a reappearance a bit later than that. That was their excuse for not wearing costumes, but I’m not sure I’m buying it. We decided to dress up as Harry Potter characters, us girls in the Hogwarts robes, and we already got some cute pictures at Ryujin and Yeji’s apartment before the boys came to pick us up. The girls have already started developing relationships with the boys too, and I can see us becoming one big friendship group.

With regards to Chan and I, though… things haven’t progressed in the slightest. I texted him, and we’ve been messaging, but he hasn’t made a move or anything! He’s the perfect gentleman, which is great, but also sucks, because I just want him to be forward and tell me if he’s into me. But I’ve decided not to say anything, just in case he isn’t actually into me, and I’ve misconstrued everything.

‘Oh, God, the vamps are here,’ Minho murmurs, all of the boys grumbling as they watch the vampires walk in and join the Pink Ladies girl and her Pink Ladies friends. ‘Ugh, look at them, all of them in all black. They look like they’re going to a funeral or something,’ Changbin spits out, and I exchange a glance with Chan, the boy rolling his eyes. ‘Don’t even look in their direction, guys. I don’t want anything to start, especially on a full moon. So stop looking,’ Chan says calmly, and the boys all look away, muttering under their breaths. ‘If I catch any of them giving me a funny look, I’m not holding back,’ Jisung threatens, Chan sighing wearily as I hold back a laugh. ‘Honestly. Not one peaceful party with you idiots,’ Seungmin complains, and Jisung lets out a scandalised noise. ‘Idiots? Who are you calli-’ ‘You. He’s calling you an idiot, Jisung,’ Jeongin clarifies, Jisung turning his scowl to the youngest now. ‘Are you siding with the vamps?’ he demands, everyone sighing. ‘No one’s siding with anyone. Nothing’s even happened. Can you relax?’ I say amusedly, and Jisung looks at me with a frown.

‘I hope you’re not trying to boss me around, y/n. You’re forgetting that you’re human,’ Jisung says warningly, and I roll my eyes at his empty threat. ‘And you’re forgetting something too,’ Felix says in a sing-song voice, looking amused, and Jisung’s eyes suddenly widen, flitting to Chan. He doesn’t say anything, and neither does Chan, the latter looking at the former serenely, and Jisung seems to relax under Chan’s chilled gaze. ‘What?’ Chaeryeong says suddenly, everyone’s eyes turning to her. ‘What?’ Hyunjin asks, and she rolls her eyes. ‘What did Jisung forget?’ she asks, and I won’t lie – I’d quite like to know the answer to that too. They keep doing this – one of them will say something cryptic and they’ll all look at each other and then go silent. ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter,’ Hyunjin says, us girls exchanging an exasperated glance. ‘Fine. Whatever,’ Chaeryeong sighs, the group falling silent at that. ‘Anyway… I’m gonna get a drink. Does anyone want anything?’ Minho asks, getting up from where he’s perched on the sideboard, and I raise a hand. ‘Can you get me a cup of Echo Falls please?’

‘God, these humans drink some weak shit. Echo Falls is practically flavoured water,’ I say to Felix, the boy rolling his eyes. ‘Stop eavesdropping on their conversations.’ ‘I can’t help it. You know I’ve got good hearing,’ I say, and Felix just gives me an amused smile. ‘You should be focusing on me.’ ‘You’re being boring, though. You won’t dance with me,’ I complain, pouting as I flick his plastic red devil horns, and he raises an eyebrow at me. ‘I’ve already told you why. If we dance together, you won’t keep your hands to yourself, and one of the other angels will see us and go snitching to God. I want you to speak to her before anyone else does,’ Felix explains for, like, the tenth time, and I roll my eyes at him. ‘I will speak to her. But is it that big of a deal if she hears about it from someone else beforehand? No. I just wanna dance with my boyfriend without worrying about anything,’ I whine, and his lips curl into a smile, eyes sparkling.

‘Did you just call me your boyfriend?’ he asks, and I realise that, yes, I did, and my face heats up a little. ‘No.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘I didn’t.’ ‘I think you did.’ ‘I think you’re hearing things.’ ‘Hmm, I’m not so sure about that,’ he teases me, and I roll my eyes, trying not to show him how embarrassed I am. ‘Whatever. Maybe I did. Am I wrong?’ I ask, and he grins at me, pulling me down from the arm of his armchair into his lap, and I’m surprised at the sudden display of affection. ‘Of course you aren’t. My girlfriend is never wrong,’ he murmurs with a grin, tilting his head up to press a gentle kiss to my lips, and I practically melt into him.

I break away a moment later, grabbing his hand and climbing up from the seat, pulling him up with me. ‘If you can kiss me, you can dance with me,’ I grin, dragging him towards where people are in a big throng, dancing along to the loud music pulsing out into the room. I wrap my arms around his neck, his arms coming around my waist, and we instantly begin dancing, bodies pressed close as we roll and wind against each other, the smiles never leaving our faces. Dancing with him like this is so… mundane, so human. To anyone else watching, we’re a boy and a girl dancing together, and that’s all. It feels like the most simple happiness, one I haven’t experienced for a long time. And one that gets cut short very quickly.

I blink, and suddenly Felix is no longer in my arms, and I’m no longer at Jackson’s party either, the air around me a startling silence. Instead, I’m stood in an office, God sat at the desk opposite me. She’s leaning back in her seat, her eyes on me, inspecting me, almost picking me apart, and I feel a little bit of panic flare inside me. I’m not prepared for this now – I’m halfway to being drunk on tequila shots.

‘Are you dressed as an angel?’ she asks amusedly, and I nod, feeling sheepish now in my little white dress, wings pinned onto the back of it, and my wire halo headband. ‘Quite ironic. Such a crude depiction, these humans have of my angels. Though… I do like your dress,’ she says softly, and I’m flattered. If God likes my dress, it must be good, right? Or maybe it’s not. I mean… I thought this was sexy and revealing, but if God likes it, it’s probably not as sexy or revealing as I thought. Shame.

‘Did someone snitch?’ I ask bluntly, and she lets out a gentle laugh, the sound melodious and light. ‘Yes. Somebody… snitched.’ ‘Who?’ ‘I’m snitching if I tell you,’ she says with a small smile, and I roll my eyes. ‘Can’t you just tell me?’ ‘It was Seungmin.’ ‘That little shit,’ I mutter, sighing in annoyance. ‘Felix didn’t make me aware of your relationship.’ ‘I know. I told him I’d speak to you about it.’ ‘You speak to me? Why not him? He’s here every day. You… are not,’ she says pointedly, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. ‘I know, but he was nervous, so I said I’d handle it.’ ‘And how will you handle it?’ she asks amusedly, leaning forward with her elbows on the desk. ‘By asking for your permission.’

She looks quite taken aback at my answer, raising an eyebrow in surprise. ‘Asking my permission?’ ‘Yeah. We assumed you wouldn’t be too impressed if one of your angels pursues a relationship with a demon.’ ‘I wouldn’t be impressed if the circumstances were any different. But, as I’ve observed recently, you seem to be particularly harmless with Felix around. He keeps you under control. I suppose it’d be in my best interests to encourage him to be around you, to keep you on a better track than Lucifer would have you on,’ she shudders, saying his name with disdain, and I bite my tongue rather than defend my father. I doubt she’d take well to it.

‘So you don’t mind?’ ‘No. I don’t. He’s good for you. And I’m quite impressed that you unconsciously won his affections. I never expected such a lovely angel to fall for a demon,’ she says, and I feel my lips quirk up into a small grin. ‘He’s a dark horse.’ ‘Apparently so.’ ‘Does this mean you’re not gonna kill me?’ ‘Yes, y/n, I’m not going to kill you. I’m nothing if not benevolent. So you may return to your party. Just bear in mind,’ she adds, as though it’s an afterthought, ‘I have a particular fondness for Felix, so see to it that you don’t break his heart.’ ‘I can’t make any promises,’ I say honestly, and she just looks at me for a moment, deep in thought, before a small smile breaks across her face. ‘I can’t fault you for such a truthful answer. Now go,’ she says with a kind smile, her warmth seeping into even my cold heart, ‘make him happy.’

The next time I blink, I open my eyes to Jackson’s party once more, the earsplittingly loud music making me wince as I scan the room for my boyfriend. ‘y/n!’ I hear him call from behind me, and I turn to briefly see his panicked face before he pulls me into his arms. ‘You disappeared! I was worried sick,’ he says into my ear, holding me in a vice-like grip, and I let out a laugh, pushing him away gently. ‘I’m fine,’ I murmur, pressing a brief kiss to his lips. ‘Where were you?’ he asks with his big eyes, and I grin, before replying, ‘With God.’

‘Goodness. Whatever were you doing with that bore?’ I ask Lucifer’s daughter, my equivalent of the ninth circle, and a smile of joy spreads across her face at the sight of me. We hold each other in a brief embrace, her boyfriend stood to the side, watching with curiosity. ‘What are you doing here? It’s been forever since I saw you at a party,’ she says, her language so much more modern than mine. I suppose I hung onto my outdated vocabulary, just as I hung onto my love. ‘I have much to celebrate. My love is returned. Changbin is himself once more,’ I inform her, her face lighting up at the news. ‘No way! That’s amazing, I’m so happy for you! Is he here?’ she asks excitedly, and I nod. ‘He is getting a drink for me – I am quite parched. Be sure to greet him at some point before you depart. He has missed you all – he was more excitable than I have ever seen him as we were readying ourselves for this party. He could not wait to come and see you all once more,’ I explain, hearing the fondness in my own voice. ‘I will, of course. It’ll be nice to see him.’

‘Yes. It shall. And who, may I ask, is your companion?’ ‘This is Felix. He’s an angel, which is why I was with God,’ she explains, my mouth falling open. ‘You, Lucifer’s daughter, with an angel? Goodness me, this is surprising news. I expected you to choose Minho as your companion. Certainly not a being so… soft. But if you are happy, I am happy for you. I just hope Felix does not do anything to hurt you, for he shall have many dark ones to answer to,’ I say threateningly to the sweet boy, his face falling as he gulps. ‘Of course not. I’d never hurt her,’ he says quietly, and I smile at him, taking to him almost instantly. He reminds me of a little lamb, or a gentle fairy. He is quite lovely. ‘I am glad to hear so. I am going to go and find Changbin, for he has been gone a while, but I hope to catch up with you at some point tonight,’ I say to the both of them, embracing them both and taking Felix quite by surprise when I do so (it is unusual for demons to be so kind to those they have just met, but I quite enjoy teasing other beings, and making them all flustered), a small smile on my face at his girlfriend’s soft giggles, before I turn away, making my way towards the kitchen and stifling a laugh when I hear Felix ask, ‘Who’s Minho?’

I enter the kitchen, Changbin stood on the opposite side of the room, pouring himself a scotch, a glass of red wine for me beside his tumbler glass. I glide over to him, sliding my arms around his waist when I reach him, and a smile stretches across his face when I press a kiss to his cheek. ‘I have missed you,’ he murmurs, turning to pull me into his arms, and I let out a soft laugh. ‘I left for a few minutes – you cannot have missed me that much,’ I reply, and he grins at me. ‘I don’t mean the last few minutes – I mean the last few centuries,’ he chuckles, and I feel my heart swell. He has told me he missed me so many times over the past few days and it has not yet become old to hear him say so. ‘I like hearing you say that.’ ‘I shall say it to you every day for the rest of our lives if you so wish,’ he proclaims, making me giggle (only he can make me behave as though I am a young teenage human girl with her first love).

I can feel eyes on us, and I manage to pick up whispers here and there, about how the famed original demon hunter is no longer a demon hunter, and is in the kitchen of a Halloween party thrown by a drunken fool. How Jackson has all these connections, I am not quite sure, though I suppose he is a sweet boy on occasion, when he is not intoxicated out of his sanity. ‘People are talking.’ ‘That is what they do.’ ‘I mean, they are talking about us.’ ‘They will always talk about us,’ he grins, cockiness seeping into his tone, and I roll my eyes. ‘More specifically, they are talking about you.’ ‘Well, they will always talk about me.’ ‘And why is that, my love?’ I ask with a grin, leaning against him with my arms around his neck, and he leans back against the counter, hands resting low on my back. ‘Would you like to guess, my love?’ ‘Your dashing good looks?’ ‘No.’ ‘Your unfairly perfect body?’ ‘Not quite.’ ‘Your… lovely personality?’ ‘Not even close,’ he says with a grin, childish giggles falling from my lips every few seconds. ‘Then what, my love?’ I ask, feeling drunk on love when he replies, ‘they wonder how somebody like me is with such a perfect lady like you.’

‘Wow. Did you hear that? That was the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,’ I murmur to Jisung, the boy rolling his eyes as he takes a sip from his beer. ‘He’s had a long time to practice his lines,’ Jisung says dryly, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘So have you, being a thousands-of-years-old demon and all.’ ‘Nope. I was too busy fucking people. Anyway, stop listening to other people’s romantic conversations, and focus on your own romance,’ he says sternly, and I hold back a laugh. ‘Romance? He didn’t even pick me up. He said he’d ‘see me there’ which is, like, totally not a date,’ I say mildly, and Jisung shakes his head. ‘He’s trying not to be too eager.’ ‘He’s going a little too much the other way.’ ‘Well… he’ll regret it when he sees you. You look hot,’ he says offhandedly, though the way his eyes roam over me hungrily betray his cool demeanour. ‘I do, don’t I? It was a good costume suggestion you made,’ I say, looking down at my angel costume. It’s a little basic – quite a few other girls here are dressed as angels (I’m pretty sure I saw a princess of Hell dressed as one, which is quite funny actually) – but the white dress, feather wings and tinsel halo are quite cute, if I say so myself.

‘Yep, it was. Sex God Seonghwa’s gonna love it,’ he grins, and I shush him, looking around embarrassedly in case someone heard. ‘Relax, relax. Oh, look. Talk of the devil…’ he trails off, and I follow his eye line to the door of the kitchen, Seonghwa and his friends just walking in. They’re dressed in standard house party outfits with a little bit of makeup on their faces – a half-skeleton face here and a half-zombie face there. I’m not quite sure what Seonghwa’s supposed to be, with his bright white contacts and cuts across his eyes, but he looks hot. I catch his eye, and he smiles widely at me, the butterflies I usually feel when he looks at me absent today, but I shrug it off. ‘I’m gonna go say hi,’ I say, rising from my seat, and Jisung nods. ‘I’ll be with Hyunjin, if you need me. Not that you will, but… just in case,’ he says gently, and I nod with a smile before heading towards Seonghwa.

‘Hey, y/n. You look… nice,’ he says with a devilish grin, eyes flitting over me before he pulls me into a loose hug. ‘Thanks, Seonghwa. You look good, too. I like your… contacts,’ I say awkwardly, but he continues grinning at me as though he can’t feel the uncomfortable tension in the air. ‘Thanks. Not more than my real eyes, I hope,’ he jokes, and I let out a forced laugh. ‘No, of course not. You’re real eyes are, uh, much nicer.’ ‘Thanks. Can I get you a drink?’ he offers, and I hold up the cup in my hand awkwardly. ‘Oh, never mind. I’ll just grab myself a beer,’ he laughs, turning to get one out of the fridge, and I want to scream at myself. Why am I being so awkward with him? Come on, y/n, step up your game.

‘So what exactly are you supposed to be?’ I ask, trying to sound more comfortable than I feel, and he grins as he flips the top off the bottle with a bottle opener. ‘Can’t you tell? I’m a… possessed… devil… thing?’ he says, and I laugh, the boy laughing with me. ‘You don’t sound so sure.’ ‘Yeah, it’s a little ambiguous. Wooyoung did it and I’m not sure what he was going for, but I’ll roll with it,’ he chuckles before motioning to me. ‘Your outfit’s pretty obvious, though. A perfect little angel, right?’ he smirks, and I let out a fake laugh. ‘How did you guess?’ ‘I think the halo and the wings give it away a little. The dress isn’t too angelic, though. A little… tight. Not that I’m complaining,’ he grins, and I feel my heart sinking. He’s attracted to me, he’s flirting with me, and yet… I don’t feel a single thing. What is wrong with me?

‘Well… I’m glad you like it. It’s a little… out there for me,’ I admit, hoping that derailing the conversation to something a little more tame will make things less awkward. ‘It really suits you. I think you should wear things like this all the time, if you want to. Be more confident in your body,’ he says encouragingly, and I feel so sad. Look how nice he’s being, and I still somehow feel like I’d much rather be talking to anyone else at this party. ‘I’ll try. I’m not sure my tutors would be too impressed if I showed up to my lectures and seminars in teeny little bodycon dresses,’ I joke, and he chuckles, grinning. ‘Maybe not,’ he murmurs with a smirk, ‘but I’m sure… other people would appreciate it.’

‘God, that’s the most awkward conversation I’ve ever listened to in my life,’ I say dryly to Ryujin as we leave the kitchen. ‘I know! The girl was obviously not interested, but he was not getting the message,’ she says, both of us wincing at the thought of how uncomfortable that was. ‘Boys are so dense,’ I complain as I throw myself down onto the sofa beside Lia, Ryujin perching on the arm of the sofa beside where Yuna sits. ‘Listen to you. She’s got a demon boyfriend now and, suddenly, she’s above human boys,’ Chaeryeong teases, and I raise my eyebrow, the other girls laughing. ‘He’s not my boyfriend. I’ve met him once.’ ‘And that was enough for him to fall in love with you,’ Lia says simply, and I roll my eyes. ‘He’s not in love!’ ‘He’s willing to come to a human party for you – it’s close enough to love,’ Yeji says dryly, and I shake my head with an amused smile. ‘This is not a human party at all. We’re like the only humans here, pretty much.’ ‘Us and that girl being practically tortured by that boy in the kitchen,’ Ryujin says with a wince, and I laugh. ‘Poor thing. We should’ve saved her. Pretended we know her or something.’ ‘Na, he was pretty hot. Maybe she’s just looking to get laid,’ Ryujin says with a shrug, and I consider it, nodding after a moment.

‘Who’s looking to get laid?’ a familiar voice says, and I look up to see Minho stood there, my heart stopping momentarily. He looks so handsome, in a pair of tight black trousers and a black shirt with white stripes on it, an expensive-looking black jacket thrown over the top of it, a smart casual outfit perfect for a date. I tried my best to wear something that doubles as a date outfit and a Halloween costume, but all I could come up with is a little black dress and a cat ear headband with a matching tail on my ass which I’ll take off when we leave here. At least I look sexy in it.

He holds out a hand to me and I take it, letting him pull me up from my seat, and he keeps my hand in his, holding it up and pressing his soft lips against my skin. ‘You sound different,’ Ryujin observes dryly, eyebrow raised, and he grins at her. ‘I decided to drop the formalities. No one wants to date a guy who sounds like he’s just stepped out of the Victorian era. Unless you’re into that?’ he asks with a grin, coaxing a laugh from me, and I’m relieved to hear him speaking like this instead of that stiff formal language. It makes him much less… intimidating.

‘I brought my friends,’ he says, and my eyes focus on the group stood a few feet behind him, all of them dressed similarly to Minho. They’re all taking turns to hug one blond boy who I saw earlier with his gorgeous girlfriend, the girl now stood beside the group, watching them with a loving smile on her face. ‘I’ll introduce them in a minute. Our friend was turned into a demon hunter centuries ago, and we’ve just now found out he’s back to being a demon again. It’s a long story – I’ll explain over dinner,’ he says, and I’m a little confused but I brush it off, just nodding.

‘Dinner?’ a voice says from behind Minho, the boy turning to reveal the blond boy’s girlfriend. She’s dressed in an elegant white evening dress, decked out in jewels and finery, a white veil in her hair and horribly gory cuts and wounds all over her face and chest. ‘Yes, dinner.’ ‘Ah, so this is the date you mentioned?’ she says, her eyes flitting to me, and I feel a little intimidated under her powerful gaze. ‘Hi. I’m y/n,’ I say shyly, and she looks impressed, holding out a hand to me, and I shake it firmly. ‘Nice to meet you, y/n. I am the Princess of the 5th Circle of Hell,’ she says with a smile, and I blink in surprise. ‘Charmed,’ I reply faintly, and she lets out a gentle laugh. ‘Does she not know of our nature, Minho?’ ‘She does. I suppose it takes a little getting used to,’ he says ruefully, and I nod embarrassedly.

‘You are dressed as a cat,’ she observes, and I nod, even more embarrassed. She looks all graceful as a zombie bride (I think?), and I’m in a cheap ass black dress and a flimsy plastic headband. ‘Minho has a liking for cats,’ she says amusedly, Minho choking on thin air, and I try to ignore the girls’ stifled laughter behind me as I say, ‘I… didn’t know that.’ ‘I guessed as much. What exactly are you supposed to be, Minho?’ ‘A normal boy taking a girl to dinner?’ he says with a small grin, and the girl rolls her eyes. ‘How boring.’

‘We don’t all have your creativity, Miss Zombie Bride,’ he teases sarcastically, and she lets out a little outraged gasp. ‘How dare you? Are you accusing me of being unoriginal? You should see Lucifer’s Princess – she’s dressed as an angel, and she’s here with her angel boyfriend,’ the girl says, sounding a little gossipy, and Minho’s mouth falls open. ‘Angel boyfriend?’ he asks, the girl nodding with a grin, satisfied at Minho’s reaction. ‘Do not ask her for details – she will gossip with you all night, and you shall be late to dinner with your human love,’ the blond-haired boy says amusedly, Minho nodding before his eyes flit back to me, a grin spreading on his handsome face.

He holds an arm out to me, and I link mine with his shyly, feeling more than intimidated with all these demons around. ‘We should get going. I’m parked outside,’ he says, and I feel excited – I’m really looking forward to this, regardless of the fact that my date is a demon prince. ‘Why did you bring a car?’ the demon princess says amusedly, and I look between her and Minho with confusion. ‘How else would we get there?’ ‘We can travel without… vehicles. What is it you humans call it… ah, teleporting, I believe,’ she says, and my eyes widen. ‘Can we do that?’ I ask Minho excitedly, and he shakes his head, an amused smile on his face. ‘You’ve never done it before, and it takes a lot of getting used to. I don’t want you to get hurt,’ he says, the last bit a little quieter, and his demon friends behind him fail at holding back their laughter, making him look more than a bit sheepish. ‘Do not tease him. He is obviously taken with her, and it is high time he settled down,’ the demon princess says, though she looks like she’s holding back laughter too, and Minho just shakes his head.

‘We’re going. See you in a few hours,’ he says embarrassedly, leading me towards the door, and I wave goodbye to the girls and Minho’s friends over my shoulder, all of them watching us leave with big smiles on their faces. We dodge around the groups of partygoers, dressed up all sorts of supernatural creatures and famous characters, and it feels like we’ve entered another world when we step out through the front door, the air clear, crisp and quiet. ‘Are you cold?’ he asks, and I shake my head, his eyebrow raising. ‘Okay, maybe I am.’ ‘I’d be shocked if you weren’t in that dress,’ he says amusedly, taking his jacket off and helping me to put it on, giving me butterflies. It smells like expensive aftershave and something… dark and smoky, like night itself. ‘Come on, angel, let’s get going,’ he grins, throwing an arm around my shoulders and leading me towards where several cars are parked on the driveway of the manor. ‘Where are we going?’ I ask, and his grins grows even wider. ‘Wherever you want to go, angel,’ he says softly, holding me close to him, ‘I’ll go anywhere with you.’

‘Oh, my God. That was so romantic,’ I squeal under my breath as we pass the couple who are leaving, the boy holding the passenger door of his car open for the girl, and I.N. – no, Jeongin – rolls his eyes. ‘It was cheesy,’ he says, ever the cynic, and I shoot him a look. ‘Whatever, grumpy,’ I mutter, and he lets out a little laugh. ‘I’m not grumpy.’ ‘You are! You complained the entire way here!’ ‘Yeah, because I don’t want to be here. I don’t like leaving the house.’ ‘But I’ve got a s-’ ‘Surprise, yes, I know. It’d be nice if you told me what it was,’ he says pointedly, and I roll my eyes. ‘It’s not a surprise if I tell you,’ I say simply, the boy muttering something under his breath as we reach the front door. I push it open, stepping through the doorway with Jeongin behind me, and I can feel the nervous energy practically radiating from him as we head further into the party. This is the first time he’s left the house to go further than the local shops and I can understand his anxiety, which is why I reach out and take his hand into mine, leading him through the big groups of people, to where they said they’d be in the kitchen.

‘Okay, I have some good news,’ I say when we reach the door of the kitchen, his hand still in mine, and he looks relieved that he’s finding out the surprise. ‘What’s the good news?’ ‘You can carry on living in 325 Sunshine Street,’ I say excitedly, looking forward to his reaction, and his face lights up. ‘You’re not selling it?’ he asks breathlessly, eyes sparkling with excitement, and I hesitate. ‘It’s still being sold… to me. I’m moving in,’ I say tentatively, and he doesn’t react for a moment. I worry that I’ve got this all wrong, that this is the last thing he would want, and that this is going to ruin the friendship that’s developed between us, the friendship that I treasure more than I realised. ‘You’re moving in?’ he asks, and I nod slowly. ‘I mean, only if you want me to! I don’t have t-’ ‘I want you to. I really want you to. Are you serious?’ he asks, eyes lighting up as he speaks, and relief floods through me. ‘Yes, I’m serious. I’m buying the house!’ I exclaim, and he lets out a loud whoop of excitement, pulling me into his arms. He’s so real, so warm and soft, and he doesn’t feel like a ghost at all.

‘That’s the best surprise you could’ve given me!’ he says contentedly, pulling away from me, and I can’t help but grin at him, so happy that he’s happy. ‘Actually… I don’t think it is. I have an even better one for you,’ I say excitedly, and he eyes me suspiciously. ‘Another surprise? Better than you moving in?’ ‘Mmhmm. It’s in the kitchen,’ I say, and he looks at the door before looking back at me. ‘Can I…?’ he asks, and I nod, laughing. He holds a hand up to the door, looking nervous as he pushes it open, and when he opens it, I wish I could imprint the look on his face to my brain forever, the look of pure wonder and happiness making me feel warm inside.

I can hear loud yelling from the kitchen before Jeongin rushes in, and I follow behind him, watching with a fond smile as his friends greet him and hug him for the first time since their exams all those years ago. For the first time since he died. I reached out to Chan last night, who was the one trying to sell the house, and told him everything. He told the other boys, and they told me they’d be at the party tonight, asking if I could bring him so they could see him again. When I first spoke to Chan, I suggested they all move into the house with Jeongin, but he told me that some of them were married with children. They had their own families now, and it was too late for them to move in with their old family. Which is when I came up with the idea to live there myself. I still have to work out the logistics, and how I’m going to tell my parents that I’m moving out of their house to live with my friend that they’ve never heard of in the house I’ve been trying to sell for months and haven’t been able to do so. But that’ll come later.

Jeongin’s eyes are full of tears and so are his brothers’, all of them radiating happiness as they embrace, and try to catch him up on what’s been going on in the past few years. He looks so young next to them, but I can see the echo of what they were at school, his presence making them seem younger too. I stand in the doorway and watch, wanting him to have his time with them, but he turns to look at me after a few minutes, telling them he’ll be right back. ‘You’re the best. Thank you,’ he says sincerely, pulling me into another hug, and I feel my heart melt. ‘You’re welcome. Now go back to your family, stupid. You’ll have all the time in the world to speak to me, when we live together,’ I say with a grin, and he rolls his eyes. ‘You’re the stupid one, y/n,’ he grins, and I raise an eyebrow, and my heart swells when he says, ‘don’t you know you’re my family now too?’

‘Did you hear that? How cute,’ I say to Chaeryeong as we enter the living room, wanting a reprieve from the racket those boys were making in the kitchen. ‘Yeah, but what’s the context? Because it’s not cute if she’s into him. That wasn’t even friendzone – it was familyzone,’ Chaeryeong says, making me laugh. ‘I didn’t think about that. Poor thing,’ I say as we head to the bathroom. There’s a little room before the actual bathroom itself, with mirrors lining the walls, and we head to the one in the corner to check our appearances. I nearly have a heart attack when I spot a wrinkle creasing my forehead, and I feel faint when I see grey locks streaked through my hair, making me look more like the Bride of Frankenstein than the sexy vampire I’m dressed up as. ‘I’m gonna cry. Look at the state of me. I look like an old lady,’ I wail miserably, Chaeryeong giving me a pitying look. ‘You don’t, y/n! This hairstyle is in!’ ‘Okay, but wrinkles all over my face isn’t!’ I shriek, the girl wincing when she spots them. ‘Well… you’ve gotta break the curse then.’ ‘I’ve been trying. It’s harder than you think. I’ve been doing so many selfless and generous things, but apparently not without judgement, even though I wasn’t even being judgemental,’ I complain, and Chaeryeong raises an eyebrow.

‘What have you been doing?’ ‘I paid for the coffee of the guy behind me in Starbucks, even though he totally wasn’t my type. I gave this half-troll girl a pad when I went for dinner with Yuna last night. I stopped to let an old man cross the road, and he was super slow. I did loads of other stuff too!’ I list off, and Chaeryeong shakes her head despairingly. ‘y/n, you moron! You judged every one of those people!’ ‘No, I didn’t!’ ‘Listen to how you just described them. A guy who wasn’t your type. A half-troll girl. An old man. You’re supposed to look past people’s appearance, but that’s the way you just described them all, stupid!’ she exclaims, and my mouth falls open. She’s right. I am stupid. ‘Oh, my God. I’m never gonna break this curse. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I look at people without seeing what they look like?’ I wail helplessly, Chaeryeong rolling her eyes at me.

Before she can speak, a girl dressed as a devil walks in, ranting and raving angrily, and Chaeryeong exchange a glance. She looks like she’s crying, her friend trying her best to comfort her. ‘Are you okay?’ I ask, and she looks at me in surprise before letting out a loud sob. ‘No,’ she wails, and I step towards her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘What’s the matter?’ I ask, and her friend sighs. ‘Her ex is here, with his new girlfriend, and they’re dressed as an angel and devil. She thinks her ex’s new girl is a better devil than she is, and now she feels like an idiot that she’s wearing a couple costume with her ex, but he’s here with his new girl,’ her friend explains, and I wince. It’s an awkward situation to say the least, and I feel really sorry for her. If that was me, I’d probably leave out of embarrassment, especially if I thought her costume was better than mine.

The girl in front of me is in all black with a red belt (a devil tail hanging from it) and red devil horns, with red contacts like mine, and she looks around the same size as me. ‘Oh, my God, I just had the best idea! Why don’t we swap outfits? You can have my fake fangs and I brought fake blood, too, and I’ll have your horns and belt! Then you can be a sexy vampire instead of a sexy devil!’ I suggest excitedly, the girl’s eyes lighting up. ‘You’d do that?’ ‘Of course. Exes are, like, the worst. Here,’ I say, pulling my fangs out and rushing into the bathroom to give them a quick wash. When I came back, she’s taken off the belt and horns, holding them out to me. ‘You’re really nice, you know? Thank you so much,’ she says sincerely, looking a lot happier now than she did a minute ago, and I grin at her. ‘No problem,’ I reply, passing her the fangs, and I help her to put some fake blood around her mouth and in two dots on her neck. She keeps thanking me and we even exchange socials before she leaves, because she says she wants to keep in touch with the girl that saved her Halloween. I can’t stop smiling as I put on the belt and horns, carefully wiping away the fake blood on my mouth and neck, touching it up with my foundation. It feels nice to do something nice for someone.

‘Oh, my God!’ Chaeryeong exclaims, and I look at her worriedly. ‘What?’ ‘Look at your hair!’ she practically screams, and I look at myself in the mirror. The grey has disappeared from my hair, and so have the wrinkles on my face. My body feels a little stronger than it did a few minutes ago, and I poke my tongue around at the back of my mouth, finding that there are no longer gaps where three of my teeth fell out yesterday. ‘I broke the curse!’ I say excitedly, Chaeryeong pulling me into an excited hug. ‘Look how easy it was!’ ‘I know! God, this’ll teach me to stop being such a bitch. Ugh, I’m so glad to have my teeth back! I’m gonna go find Seungmin,’ I say, wanting to tell him, and she nods. ‘I’ll be with the girls. Just phone me if you can’t find us,’ she says, and we leave the bathroom, going our separate ways.

It doesn’t take me long to find Seungmin – I can hear his friendship group from a mile away – and he grins at me as I approach. ‘You just broke it, didn’t you?’ he asks, and my eyes widen. ‘How did you know?’ ‘It’s obvious. Look how excited you are. How did you do it?’ he asks, and I explain to him, the boy rolling his eyes. ‘See how simple it is? I’m glad you’ve learnt not to be a judgmental bitch now,’ he teases, and I shove him half-heartedly. ‘Whatever. But, honestly… I really have learnt my lesson. I feel terrible about that witch now. I’ll never be nasty again,’ I proclaim, and Seungmin raises an eyebrow. ‘We’ll see about that.’ ‘Well… I’ll try to never be nasty again,’ I amend, and he laughs. ‘That sounds more like you.’

‘y/n! Long time, no see! Are you two back together?’ Changbin slurs drunkenly, throwing his arms around us, and I wince as Seungmin closes his eyes momentarily. ‘No. We’re not,’ he replies, Changbin cringing. ‘Oh. Sorry for making it awkward. I’m gonna just…’ he trails off, turning back to the boys and whispering loud enough for us to hear, ‘they’re not back together, Jisung. You owe me a twenty.’ Seungmin sighs, putting a hand over his face as though he’s trying to keep himself together, and I let out a little laugh. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s okay. It’s not that big of a deal,’ I say, and Seungmin hesitates before saying, ‘I actually wanted to speak to you about that.’ I freeze for a moment, blinking as I try to process his words.

‘About… us?’ I ask, and he nods. ‘I know you ended things because I’m immortal, but I… found something. I’ve been looking for a… solution to that problem, and I found one. There’s this… potion, I guess, a really complicated one that takes a long time to brew, but I collected all the ingredients and I’ve started brewing it already,’ he begins, and I’m itching to hear the rest of what he’s got to say. ‘It’s an immortality potion, but it works in different ways, depending on who takes it. If someone mortal takes it, they become immortal. If someone immortal takes it…’ he trails off, and I finish for him; ‘they become mortal.’ He nods gravely, and I don’t reply for a few seconds, mind working at a million miles an hour.

‘So you want me to take the potion to be immortal?’ ‘No! No, y/n, God, no! I’d never ask that of you!’ he says quickly, looking shocked that I even asked, and then I realise what he means. ‘You’re suggesting that you take it? To be mortal?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘But… is that what you want?’ I ask, and he sighs, taking a few moments to reply; ‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and… yeah, I think so. I mean…. I don’t want to outlive everyone around me, everyone I care about, and love. And it’s not even outliving them, it’s seeing them turn 30, 40, 50, 60, whilst I still look like a teenager. I don’t want that to happen. I want to grow old with the people I love. I… I want to grow old with you,’ he says quietly, and I feel my heart stop momentarily. ‘Me?’ ‘Yes. You, y/n. I still love you. A lot, actually. I’d do anything for a life with you. And I understand if you don’t feel the same way anymore, but I thought I’d tell you, because I know that’s the reason you ended things. I guess… I’m hoping that that was the only reason, and that now I can fix it, you’ll have me back. But I get it if you don’t want to-’ ‘I do, though. I really, really do,’ I say without even thinking, and his eyes widen, face lighting up.

‘Wait, really?’ ‘Yes, Seungmin. I do want to have you back. But… I want you to properly think about this. It’s a big sacrifice that you’re thinking of making, and I want you to think it through.’ ‘y/n, I’ve been thinking it through the entire time we were broken up, the entire time I was looking for the potion. It’s all I ever thought about. I want this,’ he says earnestly, and I know that he’s being truthful, that he really has thought this through properly. He’s mature and responsible, and I know he wouldn’t rush into a decision like this without thinking it through properly. ‘Okay,’ I say simply, and he blinks in surprise. ‘Okay?’ ‘Okay. I’ll be with you.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, Seungmin, really,’ I laugh, and he lets out a loud shout of celebration, throwing his arms around me in a hug and I giggle at his reaction, touched at his excitement. ‘Are you back together?’ Jisung demands when we break apart, and I roll my eyes as Seungmin sighs at him. ‘Yes. We are now.’ ‘Ha! Changbin, you better give me that twenty back!’

‘Oh, that reminds me of our bet!’ Jisung says suddenly, all of us looking at him in surprise. ‘What? What bet?’ Yuna asks, and the boys exchange yet another cryptic glance, none of them speaking. ‘Oh, my God!’ Lia exclaims, finally losing her patience, ‘what is wrong with you guys? Why can’t you just tell us what the hell is going on? Or, at least, stop talking about it in front of us! Because I’m fed up of it n-’ ‘y/n,’ Chan says suddenly, cutting Lia’s tirade off, and we all turn our gazes to him. ‘I wasn’t talking, it was Lia-‘ ‘I know. I just… can I have a word with you? Outside, please,’ he says quietly, and I blink in confusion. What’s with the weird timing, and what exactly does he want to say? ‘Um, yeah, okay,’ I say softly, completely confused, and Chan rises from his seat, holding out a hand to help me up too. He leads me through to the back of the house, taking me out into the grounds, and he sits us down on a bench, a group of boys sat smoking weed on the bench on our left, and two other boys having a heart-to-heart on the bench to our right.

‘What’s the matter, Chan? Are you okay?’ I say concernedly, and he gives me a faint smile. ‘I’m fine. I just… I’ve got something important that I’ve been meaning to talk to you about, but it’s kinda… serious. Just, um… prepare yourself,’ he says seriously, and I side-eye him. ‘You’re scaring me, Chan.’ ‘It’s not bad! Well, maybe it is. I don’t know,’ he rambles, and I let out a little laugh. ‘Chan, just tell me.’ ‘Sorry, sorry. Um, so, basically… you are my… um… my mate,’ he says slowly, wincing as he speaks, and I just blink for a few seconds before asking, ‘Your mate?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Like… life companion forever?’ ‘That’s right, yeah.’ ‘But… I’m a human,’ I say slowly, unable to believe what he’s saying. ‘Anyone can be our mates. Even… vampires, or demons. So, yeah… you’re my mate. But just because you’re my mate, it doesn’t mean I have to be yours,’ he says, almost sounding sad. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask, puzzled, and he sighs.

‘Humans don’t have mates, so you can be with anyone you want to be, fall in love with anyone you want to fall in love with. You don’t have to be with me if you don’t want to,’ he explains, and I feel even more confused. ‘Wait, so what does it mean then? Like… I’m your mate but I don’t have to be with you? So what’s the point of it then?’ ‘It means that I will never… want anyone else, or love anyone else. Not that I want or love you – I barely know you – but y-’ ‘I know what you mean. So… if you don’t end up with me, you’ll end up alone?’ I ask, and he nods sadly. ‘But don’t… force yourself to be with me because of that. I want you to be happy, whether or not that’s with me,’ he says, and I can feel the burden of it already settling on my shoulders. I’m the love of his life – he’ll never love anyone other than me.

‘Um…’ I begin, but Chan cuts me off, ‘you don’t have to, like, make any decisions, or even say anything. I just… thought it was important that I told you.’ ‘Yeah, I know. I’m glad you told me, because now I can tell you that I’ve been crushing on you since the second I saw you, and I’d really like it if we went on a date together,’ I force myself to say, feeling so nervous even though he’s just told me I’m his mate. He just stares at me for a second before he says, ‘really?’ ‘Yeah. Really.’ ‘Well… I’d really like it if we went on a date, too,’ he says with a grin, and I can’t help but smile back shyly. ‘God, y/n, I was supposed to ask you out! Not the other way around!’ he complains, and I let out a fond laugh, amused at his childish behaviour that he’d never show around the other boys. ‘Well, you did make the first move by telling me I’m your mate,’ I point out and he thinks for a moment before a satisfied smile spreads across his face. ‘Yeah, I guess I did,’ he grins, and I roll my eyes.

‘Come on, let’s go back in. You must be cold out here, and we better get going. We’ll be turning soon,’ he says, standing up and taking my hand to pull me up from the bench. ‘So what’s the bet Jisung mentioned?’ I ask, curious, and Chan lets out an embarrassed laugh. ‘Whether or not I’d tell you tonight. They all betted I wouldn’t, and I said I would. They owe me ten each now,’ he says with a victorious grin. ‘I’m gonna deny all knowledge,’ I laugh, and his mouth falls open. ‘You wouldn’t betray me like that!’ he exclaims dramatically, making me giggle. ‘I won’t if you share the money with me.’ ‘y/n,’ he begins, eyes sparkling with amusement, ‘you’re my mate. I’d share my life with you if you asked.’

‘Ugh, did you hear that sappy shit that wolf was saying? Oh, y/n!’ Jisung says when he sees me, eyes lighting up which makes my heart stop for a moment. ‘Hey,’ I say, sounding breathless to my own ears, and Jisung grins at my tone, looking up at me stood before the bench with dark eyes. ‘y/n. It’s nice to meet you,’ the boy sat next to him says, and my eyes flit to Hyunjin, the boy Daehwi originally tried to set me up with. He’s even hotter in person. ‘Hey, Hyunjin. It’s nice to meet you too,’ I say shyly, and he grins. ‘Sorry I couldn’t make it. But I’ve heard Jisung more than made up for my absence. You two have struck up quite the friendship, right?’ he asks, and my gaze turns to Jisung, the boy smirking, and I look back to Hyunjin before nodding. ‘Yeah, we have, actually. He’s a great friend.’ ‘And a great wingman too, by the sound of it,’ Hyunjin grins, and I feel my face heat up at the thought that these two very attractive boys both know that less than two weeks ago, I was an untouched virgin who wanted to have sex before my first ever date. I’m embarrassed beyond belief, and it’s like they can both sense it, amusement settling on both of their faces.

‘Yeah, y/n, speaking of which, where is your date?’ he asks, and I remember why I came out here, a pout making its way onto my face. Jisung and Hyunjin move apart, making space for me on the bench, and I throw myself down with a long, dramatic sigh. ‘He is literally… so boring,’ I admit, both of them bursting into laughter. ‘Don’t laugh! It’s not funny! I’m, like, heartbroken!’ I complain, annoyed that they think this is funny, but I can also feel myself holding back laughter. ‘Sorry, sorry. But… y/n, I thought you wanted to have sex with him. You don’t have to find him fascinating,’ Jisung says, and I let out another long sigh. ‘I’m not like you stupid boys. I don’t wanna just have sex with someone because they’re good looking. I was attracted to him until I found out he’s literally the most boring guy I’ve ever spoken to in my life. Okay, maybe not boring. Just… we’re not compatible, so it was really, really awkward. And the worst thing was that it seemed like he didn’t even realise that is was awkward. He just kept talking,’ I explain, the boys nonstop laughing as I talk, and I’m laughing along with them by the time I finish speaking.

‘That’s such a shame, y/n,’ Hyunjin says, still laughing, and Jisung says, ‘maybe not. I don’t want you in a relationship.’ I look at him in surprise, and he looks surprised too, as though he didn’t mean to say the words out loud. ‘You were good, angel. I’d like it if we c-’ ‘Okay! Okay, you don’t need to finish that sentence,’ I say embarrassedly, not wanting him to say it in front of Hyunjin who fails at stifling his laughter. ‘So why are you here, y/n? You’re best friends with Daehwi’s girlfriend, right? And she’s here. Why are you out here with us?’ Hyunjin asks, and I hesitate, not exactly sure myself. ‘I guess… I wanted to come and complain to Jisung about the fact that he took my virginity for no reason, because I’m not even gonna have sex tonight,’ I say miserably, kicking at the gravel like a sulky little kid. ‘I mean, you could,’ Jisung says with a grin, Hyunjin bursting into laughter as I choke on thin air. ‘I’m kidding.’ ‘No, you’re not,’ Hyunjin chuckles, and Jisung says, ‘you’re right, I’m not.’ ‘Well… thanks for the offer, but I’m not in the mood. I’m too upset,’ I say dramatically.

‘Let me cheer you up then,’ Jisung says, and I side-eye him. ‘I just told you I’m not in the m-’ ‘No, I don’t mean that! Let’s go dance together, or we’ll go somewhere for food if you’re hungry. Let’s get your mind off… Soggy Seonghwa,’ Jisung says with a grin, both Hyunjin and I dissolving into uncontrollable laughter. ‘Soggy Seonghwa?’ I giggle, Jisung nodding. ‘I don’t think he deserves the Sex God title,’ Jisung says, tone all shady and gossipy, Hyunjin and I laughing even more now. ‘Well, whatever. You don’t have to cheer me up, it’s okay. I’ll go find one of the girls and get blackout drunk,’ I say, Jisung frowning. ‘No, no. I don’t have to cheer you up, but I want to cheer you up. I mean…’ he trails off, and Hyunjin raises his eyebrows at Jisung, as though there’s something going on here that I don’t know about. ‘We’re friends, right?’ he asks, and I nod instantly. ‘Of course.’ ‘Well, you must know I see you as more than just a friend, and I think you see me as more than just a friend too. So, yeah. I’m kinda relieved things didn’t work out with Soggy,’ he says, and I’m too shocked to laugh, butterflies exploding in my stomach.

He sees me as more than a friend? ‘Wait, what do you mean?’ I ask, and he laughs. ‘I like you, y/n, and you like me too. You might not know it, but you do. I can tell from the way you feel when I’m around. So let me… woo you,’ he says, making me laugh, and his lips curl up into a small grin. ‘Woo me?’ ‘Mmhmm. Let me dance with you, or take you for food, or take you back to your apartment,’ he smirks, and I roll my eyes. ‘Having sex is not wooing me.’ ‘I never said anything about sex,’ he grins with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘So what would we do?’ ‘I don’t know. Watch a film? Cuddle? Bake? What is it you human girls like to do when you’re dating someone?’ he asks, and I let out a gentle laugh. ‘That stuff sounds about right. But I don’t want to leave yet.’ ‘Okay. Let’s go dance then,’ he says with a grin, jumping up from the bench and pulling me up with him. ‘Hyunjin, you coming?’ Jisung asks, and I’m reminded that the other boy is sat there too. He smiles up at us, eyes shining with happiness, and he shakes his head. ‘You guys go. Have fun. I’m gonna find a cute little human girl. Got any friends, y/n?’ he asks with a mischievous grin, and I laugh. ‘Quite a few. And you’re hot, so you can take your pick,’ I say, Hyunjin jumping up from the bench at that, all of us laughing as we head up to the house. ‘Wait,’ Jisung says when we reach the back door, looking at me with a scowl, ‘did you just call my best friend hot?’

‘He is pretty hot, though. I won’t lie,’ I say to the boy as I step out through the back door, the pretty girl dressed very similarly to me and the two pretty boys on either side of her looking at me. ‘Yeah, I am, right? Can I get you a drink?’ the taller boy asks with a cocky grin, and I roll my eyes. ‘My boyfriend’s getting me one,’ I say, and his grin falls. ‘You just said I’m hot,’ he complains, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘I’m Lucifer’s daughter – I can say what I want,’ I tell him, and his mouth shuts straight away, the girl looking a little scared and the other boy looking amused. ‘Shame you’re in a relationship. You’re pretty hot,’ the taller boy says, and I grin at him. ‘Thanks. She’s hotter, though,’ I say, pointing at the girl who looks like she wants to curl in on herself and disappear. ‘Me?’ ‘Mmhmm. You got that cute little innocent vibe going on. Makes you even hotter.’ ‘Oh. Thanks,’ she says, a little more at ease now after the compliment.

‘She likes him,’ the taller boy says, pointing at the short boy who’s grinning proudly. ‘Share her,’ I say, only half-joking, and the girl coughs out of shock. ‘Share me? I’m not a chocolate bar,’ she says indignantly, and I feel my eyebrows go up in admiration – she’s a feisty one. ‘I like you, angel. You into girls?’ I ask, and the shorter boy’s smile drops. ‘You’ve got a boyfriend.’ ‘What about it? You think Princesses of Hell conform to different sexualities? Or to monogamy?’ I ask, purposely trying to piss him off, and he opens his mouth before closing it. I look at the girl again, waiting for her answer. I’m not actually interested (I mean, I wouldn’t say no) but it’s fun to tease her little boyfriends like this. ‘I’m… open to anything. But I do kinda like him,’ she says, pointing to the shorter boy, and I shrug. ‘Shame. I’m way hotter than him,’ I grin, the boy letting out an indignant noise.

‘I’m getting you a drink, and you’re flirting with someone else?’ I hear Felix’s voice behind me, and I turn my grin to him, my heart jumping at the amused smile on his face, the boy handing me a cup of some fruity flavoured vodka. ‘Ah, you’re the boyfriend? I’d sort her out if I were you – she’s flirting with my girl,’ the shorter boy says, and I roll my eyes. ‘He’s just jealous because he knows I could steal her if I wanted,’ I tease, baiting him, and he scowls at me. ‘Stop trying to steal the demon boy’s girlfriend, please. I’m not in the mood to hold you back from a fight today,’ Felix says, and I look at the shorter boy interestedly. ‘You’re a demon?’ I ask, surprised Felix realised and I didn’t, and he nods. ‘An incubus. So is he,’ he says, pointing at the other boy who gives me a lazy grin, and I look between the three in them with amused interest.

‘This just got way more interesting. A human girl has two incubuses wrapped around her little finger,’ I observe, the taller boy blinking in surprise. ‘I just met her,’ he says, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘You think she’s hot, though?’ ‘I’m not blind, of course I think she’s hot.’ ‘You got competition, kid,’ I say to the shorter boy, the frown on his face making me hold back a laugh. ‘Anyway, I don’t care about you two. Well done, girl. Bagged yourself… at least one incubus – I don’t know about this guy, but the other one definitely likes you. He’s, like, radiating jealousy right now,’ I tease, enjoying this, and Felix puts an arm around my waist. ‘Okay, that’s enough picking on the human girl and her incubus boyfriends,’ he says softly, the three of them letting out annoyed noises. ‘He’s not her boyfriend!’ ‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ ‘I’m not her boyfriend!’

‘Relax, he’s just kidding,’ I say as Felix begins to pull me towards the living room. ‘You’re a handful,’ he mutters amusedly, and I roll my eyes. ‘It’s fine, Lix, you don’t have to worry about me.’ ‘I don’t. I worry about the poor thing that you piss off to the point where they try to fight you and then you kill them,’ he says tiredly, and I let out a laugh. ‘I wouldn’t kill them. Probably just injure them a little.’ ‘Wow, I’ve really changed you, huh?’ he jokes, and I shove him gently as we reach the farthest corner from the DJ booth, both of us perching on the bay window.

We’re silent for a few moments, just looking at all the partygoers. It’s been quite a few hours now, so people are very drunk. The wolves left a little while ago, ready for their turn, and the vampires are making the most of their absence; they’re all scattered out into the party, biting people (consensually – I think) left, right and centre. The humans here seem at home around us otherworldly beings – in the space of a minute, I notice a human boy making out with a wizard in the corner, a group of human girls and succubuses dancing together in the middle of the room, and a pixie boy on the lap of a human girl, the two of them playing cards with their pixie and human friends. It’s quite nice to see the way everyone mixes together so freely, without worry or judgement, but we all know that nothing like this would happen in any other district. That’s why District 9 is so special.

I look at Felix, the boy deep in thought, and I lean against him, pressing a kiss to his neck. ‘What are you thinking about?’ I ask him against his skin, and I can feel him grin. ‘Whatever you’re thinking about,’ he says, and I groan, making him laugh. ‘That was so cheesy.’ ‘You’re dating an angel, babe. Get used to the cheesy lines.’ ‘I might have to dump you if you use another one.’ ‘If I can deal with you flirting with random human girls and demon boys, and nearly starting a fight with one of them, you can put up with a bad line every now and then,’ he grins, putting a hand on my chin and tilting my head back to press his lips to mine. ‘You’re lucky you’re so cute, because I wouldn’t put up with it from anyone else,’ I grumble when we break apart, and he smiles at me softly.

‘I’m so glad God was fine with it.’ ‘Of course she was! I told you she would be. You just worry too much.’ ‘I know, I know. I can’t believe you spoke to God dressed an angel when you’re literally her biggest betrayer’s daughter.’ ‘Did you just refer to my dad as God’s biggest betrayer?’ I ask with a raised eyebrow, and he winces, making me laugh. ‘Sorry.’ ‘It’s fine. He’s not that good a dad, anyway.’ ‘Oh, God, have you got daddy issues? Would be nice if you’d told me before I started dating you,’ he says, mirth in his eyes, and I shove him gently. ‘You’re so annoying.’ ‘You wouldn’t have me any other way,’ he grins, and I roll my eyes. ‘You’d be boring if you weren’t so annoying.’ ‘Oh, thanks.’ ‘I’m kidding. Kind of. No, I’m joking, I’m joking. I wouldn’t have you any other way,’ I admit when he starts pouting, laughing at the proud grin that stretches across his face.

‘You’re so whipped for me.’ ‘I am not whipped.’ ‘You are.’ ‘Am not.’ ‘It’s okay. I like you whipped. Whipped you is super cute.’ ‘Cute?’ ‘I was gonna say sexy, but I thought that’d make you act up,’ he laughs, and I raise an eyebrow, feeling my eyes glow red and watching the grin from his face slowly slip away. ‘You thought right,’ I reply quietly, hand snaking up his chest to the back of his neck, and he gulps imperceptibly. ‘You think there’s any empty rooms upstairs?’ he asks, hands sliding around my waist, a small smirk on his face. ‘Trust me, I’ll make one empty if I have to,’ I grin and his smile grows as he takes my hands into his, our drinks discarded when he pulls me up from the windowsill. ‘You know,’ he begins, pulling me towards the stairs, ‘I never thought it’d be so sexy to hear you threaten to murder people so we can have sex in an empty bedroom.’

‘I’m so tired of all this romance,’ I wail, throwing myself back against the sofa, and Yuna raises an eyebrow at me, holding back a laugh. ‘Romance?’ ‘She threatened to kill people for him. That’s so romantic.’ ‘She’s a demon, so it’s not a big deal for her.’ ‘Did you just say murder isn’t a big deal?’ I ask, and Yuna is silent for a moment. ‘This party’s changed me,’ she says with horror, making me burst into laughter and momentarily forget about my drunken wallowing. ‘It’s crazy being around all these different… magical people,’ she says quietly, obviously not wanting one of the said magical people around us to hear and take it the wrong way. ‘We’re always around vampires. This isn’t any different, if you think about it,’ I say, reminding myself of vampires and then letting out a dramatic cry, Yuna shaking her head amusedly at me.

‘y/n, just go speak to him if you’re that upset. There’s no point ruining your own Halloween by being all drunk and sad. Just speak to him, get it out of the way, and then you can enjoy yourself!’ she says, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be able to enjoy myself if he breaks my heart,’ I say dryly, and she thinks for a second before saying, ‘he already did, didn’t he?’ ‘Well… yeah, but-’ ‘So what have you got to lose? Go, speak to him.’ ‘I thought you were calling him an idiot earlier,’ I say pointedly, and she raises an eyebrow. ‘I was before I realised you’d be moping all night and drowning your sorrows in the worst alcohol I’ve ever smelt in my life,’ she spits, making me laugh when she scrunches up her nose, pushing my cup further away from her. ‘It doesn’t smell that bad.’ ‘Tell that to your breath.’ Yuna!’ ‘I’m kidding! But here,’ she says, reaching into her bag and pulling out bubblegum, handing me two pieces. ‘If you’re gonna go speak to Hyunjin, you don’t want to smell like cheap gin,’ she says as I down the rest of my gin and put the bubblegum in my mouth, quickly chewing it down from solid little shells into stretchy elastic gum.

‘Okay, now go. Seriously,’ she prompts, pushing me up from the sofa, and I nod, looking down at myself. ‘How do I look?’ I ask, and she inspects me. ‘Touch up your lipgloss. And take the jacket off – it covers how cute your top is,’ she says, and I do as she says, applying some more lipgloss from the tube that’s in my back pocket before pulling off my jacket, Yuna taking it from me. Now, I’m just in black leather trousers, a black crop top and black heels, looking more like sexy Sandy than pretty pink lady Sandra Dee. ‘Go. And don’t tell the girls you’re going – they’ll stop you and give you all sorts of stupid advice,’ she instructs, and I nod, heading towards the kitchen before I lose my nerve, avoiding the girls dancing in the middle of the room. I take a deep breath when I reach the door before putting my best uninterested face on, pushing the door open and revelling in the way all eyes turn to me. It’s much quieter in here, due to the door separating us from the loud music, and the fact that it’s very late and a lot of people have already left, so I can hear people whispering about how I look.

I ignore the whispering, not bothering to look around yet because I don’t want Hyunjin to catch me looking at him, and just head towards the fridge, pretending to decide what to have before I reach for a small glass bottle of alcoholic pink lemonade. I close the fridge, looking around the room for straws and I spot them, right beside where the vampire boys stand. I head towards them and they all go quiet, obviously expecting me to speak to them, but I don’t bother, just reaching for the packet of black straws and pulling out a clean one. I begin to walk away, hoping my plan will work, and I have to stop myself from punching the air when I hear Jeongin call out, ‘y/n!’ I turn back around slowly, pretending to be surprised when I see them. ‘Oh, hey! I didn’t see you guys there. Where have you been all night?’ I ask, taking a couple steps towards them but still keeping my distance, my eyes staying on Jeongin and not straying to the annoyingly handsome boy beside him. ‘We’ve been around. The question is, where have you been all night? There’s eight of us, and one of you, and none of us have seen you,’ Changbin says with a grin, and I raise an eyebrow, taking a sip from the lemonade. ‘I’ve been around,’ I reply, and his eyebrows go up, an impressed look on his face. ‘Touché,’ he murmurs, a grin spreading across my face at that.

‘I’m gonna head back to the girls in the living r-’ ‘Why in such a rush, y/n? Stay and chat for a bit,’ Felix says with a small smile, eyes cryptic, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘About what?’ ‘You.’ ‘What about me?’ ‘What you’re dressed up as,’ Felix says, and I laugh softly. ‘I was a pink lady, but I got too hot, so I took my jacket off. Is that all?’ I ask, the boys exchanging a glance. ‘No, no, not quite,’ Jisung says, and I roll my eyes. ‘What else then?’ I ask, sounding exasperated to my own ears. ‘I wanna know why you’re so drunk,’ Seungmin says dryly, and I let out a laugh. ‘I’m not that drunk.’ ‘Your eyes aren’t fully focused, the smell of peach gin is literally dripping off you, and you’re chewing on bubblegum to try and cover it up,’ he says pointedly, and I let out a little sigh. ‘Okay, so maybe I’m a bit drunk. What about it?’ ‘You’re usually so responsible, y/n. It’s not like you to get drunk. What’s going on?’ Minho asks, smirk on his face, and then I realise what’s going on. They know what happened, and they know that I’m hurt and that’s why I’m drunk, and they’re basically dangling it in my face.

‘If you must know,’ I begin, all of them practically hanging off my words, ‘I was drowning my sorrows, but now that I’m so drunk I can barely see straight, I feel a lot better. So good, in fact, that I might take the incubus I spoke to a little while ago up on his offer. So, if you’ll excuse me.’ I turn on my heel, heading back towards the living room, and then I hear his voice. ‘y/n, wait,’ he says softly, and I freeze, taking a deep breath before I turn back to face them, the boy shrinking in on himself when he sees my face. This is the first time I’ve looked at him properly, and it breaks my heart how beautiful he looks, his soft dark locks falling over his eyes, tall and lean build dressed in all black, top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned and trousers skin tight. ‘Yes?’

‘Drowning your sorrows?’ he asks softly, and I want to scream at him, my eyes filling with tears. ‘The embarrassment of leaving me without a word wasn’t enough, and neither was the ghosting me or the telling your friends about what happened so they could interrogate me whilst I’m smashed, so now you have to humiliate me by making me spell out how hurt I am? Is that what’s going on here?’ I demand, voice wavering, and about a million emotions pass across his face, the most prevalent being guilt. ‘No, y/n, that’s not what I-’ ‘I don’t care. Please… just leave me alone like you have been the past few days,’ I spit out, turning back towards the living room, and then I hear sudden movement, feeling a hand grab my arm a few moments later.

I turn around to see him, desperation on his face, and wrench my arm away angrily. ‘y/n, please, let me… explain,’ he pleads, and I hesitate. This is all I wanted, an explanation, and that’s what I came in here for, but now… I don’t know if I can handle the hurt. We stare at each other for a few seconds until I open my mouth, not quite sure what I’m about to say. ‘Fine. Explain,’ I say quietly, relief appearing on his face. ‘Can we go outside?’ he asks, and I nod as I put my drink down on the counter top, letting him lead the way out of the kitchen and out through the back door, everyone whispering behind us.

‘I’m really sorry,’ he says when we’re sat down on a bench, and I let out a humourless laugh, not even looking at him. ‘You can’t be that sorry; you’ve been ignoring me and avoiding me since that night. No reply to my text, no call back, and you didn’t come to the apartment once. So forgive me for not believing you,’ I spit out, and he lets out a little sigh. ‘y/n, I am sorry. And I know I shouldn’t have ghosted you, but I wasn’t sure what I else to do. I should’ve just spoken to you and explained from the start.’ ‘You don’t need to explain. It’s pretty obvious,’ I say bitterly, and I can see him smiling sadly out of the corner of my eye. ‘No, y/n, you don’t understand,’ he says gently, and I meet his eyes as he tells me, ‘I love you.’

I feel my heart stop, my entire body freezing, and it takes a little while to process what he’s telling me. He loves me. ‘So… I heard right. That night, when I was falling asleep, you said it then, didn’t you?’ I ask, and he nods with sad eyes. ‘And it scared me so much that I left.’ ‘But… I love you too,’ I tell him, and he doesn’t react as I expect, just smiling wistfully and nodding. ‘I know you do. You have for a while, and I’ve been lying to both of us by pretending I didn’t know, and pretending I didn’t love you back. But I did, the whole time. I do.’ His words are all I’ve wanted to hear from him, for so long, and yet, he looks so sad, sounds so sad, and it’s breaking me. Why is he acting like there’s something between us that’s stopping this? ‘You love me, and I love you. What else is there to say?’ I ask, and he lets out a mirthless laugh.

‘You’re a human, and I’m a vampire,’ he says simply, as though that explains everything, and I blink at him before saying, ‘what about it?’ His lips curl up into an amused smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘I’m over 300 years old. You’re, like, a fifteenth of that-’ ‘So what? We look the same age anyway.’ ‘We won’t forever. You’ll only get older, and I’ll stay the same. You’ll be 90 dating a 20-year-old.’ ‘That doesn’t matter. We’re in love, Jin. I don’t care what you look like, or what I look like.’ ‘And neither do I. But I won’t even be able to love you in public in a few years’ time, y/n. People will think you’re, like, my sugar mommy or something.’ ‘But I don’t c-’ ‘And, not just that, you’re alive. I’m dead. We can’t have a family, or have children-’ ‘Ugh, I don’t want kids. I never have,’ I say, nose scrunched up in disgust at the thought – all they do is eat, cry and shit. I’d rather not, to be honest – and he lets out a laugh. ‘You might change your mind as you get older.’ ‘Then we’ll adopt.’ ‘y/n…’ ‘I’m being serious! Wouldn’t you prefer to give a kid a better life than they’d have in the care system? Better than me having to carry a baby and my body getting all fucked up because of it.’ ‘And then the kids we adopt will grow to look older than their dad,’ he says pointedly, and my mouth is open, but no words come out. I’ve run out of solutions.

‘It doesn’t matter, Jin,’ I whisper, and he shakes his head sadly. ‘y/n, you’re being silly. You know that it’d never work out. I love you and you love me, but I can’t ask you to give your life to me, when I can’t give mine to you. We can’t grow old together, can’t start a family, can’t love each other in public – these are basic things in a human relationship.’ ‘But we wouldn’t be a human relationship.’ ‘Which is exactly the problem,’ he says softly, and I don’t even know what to say, my eyes full of tears. ‘I’m sorry, y/n. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but you make it too easy for me to love you,’ he whispers, taking my hands into his and my tears spill over onto my face, making him let out a gentle laugh. ‘Don’t cry,’ he murmurs, leaning forward to kiss my tears away, and my eyes flutter shut. I wish I could live in this moment with him forever.

‘Okay, I’ve got a solution,’ I say, mustering up the courage to tell him something that’s been on mind for months now, and he breaks away from me with a raised eyebrow. ‘Living in seclusion so we don’t have to deal with people judging us for the difference in the ages that we look?’ he asks suspiciously, and I laugh. ‘That’s not what I was gonna say, but it’s a good idea,’ I joke, and he rolls his eyes. ‘It is not. What’s your solution?’ he asks, and I take a deep breath before saying, ‘you turn me.’

He doesn’t react, just staring at me for a few seconds before he says, ‘I must be losing my mind because I could swear you just suggested me turning you into a vampire.’ ‘I did.’ ‘y/n, are you fucking crazy?’ he demands, and I sigh. ‘Jin, hear me out-’ ‘No! Are you actually insane? There is no way in fucking hell!’ ‘Why not, Jin? What would I lose? The pale thing is a myth, the burning in the sun thing is a myth, the-’ ‘y/n, are you listening to yourself? That stuff might be myths, but you will have to drink blood to survive! You will watch generations of humans that you love die! You will lose your humanity!’ ‘Jin… I don’t care. The blood thing doesn’t bother me at all. You haven’t lost your humanity, so I don’t think I will either. And… maybe it’ll suck seeing my family die, but my friends… they want the same too, Jin. We’ve all been thinking about it and discussing it, and we all want to turn,’ I admit, his eyes nearly falling out of his head.

‘This isn’t, like, a matching tattoos thing! This is serious!’ ‘We know, Hyunjin, we’re not stupid! We’ve been discussing it for months! But I don’t care if they do or not – I want to anyway. I want to be with you… forever,’ I say, and he shakes his head. ‘No. I won’t turn you, and I won’t let anyone else do it either. It’s not happening.’ ‘Hyunjin, please. This isn’t a spur of the moment thing. I promise I’ve thought it through. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of time with you. I was just waiting to see if you felt the same way before I mentioned it to you. It doesn’t have to happen straight away, obviously, but I just want you to consider it,’ I say, and he shakes his head. ‘You don’t understand. My selfish side wants it more than anything – you think I don’t want to spend the rest of time with you? But my responsible side can’t let you give up human life for me.’ ‘Why? It’s what we both want. We’ll be happy, Jin, so happy, forever. I don’t expect you to agree to it, but promise me you’ll at least think about it, and we’ll discuss it regularly,’ I say, and he doesn’t say anything, looking down at his hands. ‘Please, Jin,’ I plead, and he sighs deeply before his eyes meet mine, my heart stopping like it does every time he looks at me.

‘I’ll think about it. That’s all,’ he says over my loud shout of celebration, an amused smile curling up his lips as I throw my arms around his shoulders, his hands coming around my waist to hold me against him. I tilt my head back to press my lips to his, eyes fluttering shut at the feeling of his kiss – it’s only been a few days, and it feels like a lifetime. He grins against my mouth and we break away after a few seconds, his lips coming to my forehead. ‘I love you,’ he murmurs against my skin, and I feel like I’ve never been happier when I reply, ‘I love you too.’

We stand up from the bench after a little while, holding hands as we head back up to the house. ‘You wanna dance?’ he asks, and I can’t say yes quickly enough, my eagerness making him chuckle. ‘Oh, the girls are gonna kill me.’ ‘Why?’ he asks, and I hesitate before replying, ‘maybe because they all hate you for ghosting me, and we’ve been cussing you nonstop since you left.’ His mouth drops, fear in his eyes, and I wave it off. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine when I explain. But they didn’t even know I was coming to speak to you.’ ‘Well, neither did you. You came to get a drink,’ he says, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘You’re 300 years old and you still don’t know about girls, do you? I came to get a drink because I knew you’d speak to me, stupid,’ I say as though it’s obvious, and his eyes widen. ‘You’re so sly.’ ‘Oh, whatever. You should be glad. If I hadn’t set it up, we wouldn’t be…’ I trail off, not actually sure what we are, and a small smirk spreads across his lips.

‘Wouldn’t be what?’ ‘I don’t know. What… are we?’ I ask, and he laughs. ‘Will you be my girlfriend?’ he asks amusedly, as though he thinks it’s silly, and I know he’s only asking for my benefit. ‘Yes,’ I grin, preening at the question, and he rolls his eyes. ‘So we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, I suppose,’ he laughs, and I laugh along with him, half finding it ridiculous that after confessing that I want to be a vampire so I can spend the rest of my life with him, our relationship is reduced down to boyfriend and girlfriend, and half ecstatic that I can officially call Hwang Hyunjin my boyfriend.

‘Do you know how exciting this is?’ I ask, and he chuckles, raising an eyebrow. ‘We’ve practically been dating for months already anyway.’ ‘I know, but it’s official. Now I can tell people you’re my boyfriend instead of saying you’re my hot friend,’ I explain, and he looks at me in confusion. ‘Who have you been saying that to?’ ‘On nights out, when girls would ask if you’re my boyfriend. I’d say no, you’re my hot friend, and they’d ask if you were single.’

‘And what would you tell them?’ he asks suspiciously, and I bite my lip. ‘No. Obviously. Why would I want all these pretty girls trying to get with you?’ ‘You’re the only pretty girl I’d ever want, y/n,’ he murmurs, making my heart skip a beat, and I raise an eyebrow. ‘I’m being serious! Look how hot you are in your… costume,’ he says amusedly, eyes travelling up and down my body, and I roll my eyes. ‘I promise you, I was wearing my Pink Ladies jacket a little while ago,’ I say, and he raises an eyebrow, taking his own jacket off and putting it over my shoulders. ‘That’s better. I don’t like people looking at what’s mine,’ he says lightly, only half-joking, and I feel my stomach fill with butterflies. ‘Now,’ he says sternly, face serious but eyes shining with amusement, ‘what did you say about an offer from an incubus?’

5 YEARS LATER

Chan and y/n are married and living together in the house next door to the pack house, raising three little werewolf pups. y/n still works night shifts at the diner because she’ll miss it too much if she leaves, and she’s the only one who knows the wolves’ after-turning orders off by heart. She has it ready for them when they arrive, and she feels herself falling in love with him all over again each time he walks in, the same way she did the first time he walked in with his sandy hair and his bright sparkling eyes.

Minho and y/n are in a long-distance relationship – she’s in District 9 and he’s in the 2nd Circle of Hell. He stays at her apartment a couple nights a week, and he takes her for date night every Saturday. Ryujin and Chaeryeong are also seeing a couple of Minho’s friends – y/n’s friends and his friends make quite the dysfunctional group. y/n found a ring in his jacket a little while ago and has been waiting for him to propose, waiting eagerly until she can say yes. She hasn’t come up with a solution to the problem of him not aging when she does, but that can come later, because their love is all that matters to her right now.

Changbin and y/n are happily ruling together in the 5th Circle, doing whatever they can to turn demon hunters back to their original state. They have had a child together and y/n is pregnant again – Minho and his girlfriend pay regular visits because of how much the human girl adores their child. They are old, so old, but y/n feels like a little girl when she’s with Changbin – their love keeps them young and happy, and will do so for the rest of time.

Hyunjin and y/n still live in their apartment, now as an engaged vampire couple. They’ve been engaged for a couple years now and still haven’t started wedding planning yet – they have all of eternity to do that. Lia and Yeji have both turned, and Yuna, Ryujin and Chaeryeong plan to do so too, in the next year or so. y/n’s family knows what she and Hyunjin are, and they have since gotten over their initial despair about the fact that their baby girl will stay this way for the rest of time, and the couple are always welcome at family events. The two have discovered that vampire blood tastes so much better than human blood, and has better effects than human blood too. y/n is still Hyunjin’s little blood bag, but she has a particular fondness for the name now.

Jisung and y/n have their own apartment together in District 9, and they are very much in love. At the beginning, y/n found it difficult that Jisung has sex with people for a living, and so they began… training y/n, building up her stamina and tolerance in a sexual sense, and now she can satiate Jisung alone. Even if she couldn’t, Jisung still wouldn’t have sex with anybody else – she’s the only one he ever wants. y/n and Seonghwa are good friends now, and Jisung and y/n regularly meet up with Seonghwa and his husband (Jisung found it hilarious when they got news of Seonghwa being closeted all that time – he claimed that it made perfect sense because no straight human boys are good enough at sex to get the title of Sex God). y/n still gets a little upset that Jisung can’t get her pregnant, but she’s come to terms with it and the couple have now started to look into adoption.

Felix and y/n have bought a house together on Earth, their common ground, and are engaged – y/n found it slightly ridiculous when Felix proposed to her, considering they’re otherworldly beings that don’t really conform to humans’ customs like marriage, but she still said yes in a heartbeat. Lucifer and God both regularly reach out to the couple, asking them to visit, and have even showed up at their house a few times (it was more than awkward when they both visited at the same time). Felix and y/n stayed a few weeks in the 5th circle with Satan’s daughter and her love, and their child took a particular liking to Felix. After seeing him with the child, y/n suggested they have children of their own, and they have begun trying to get pregnant.

Seungmin and y/n are living together in District 9, the two of them slowly aging together as a happy married couple. y/n redecorated Room 13 at the surgery for Seungmin, and she much prefers it now, spending a lot of her time there with him, training to become a magical nurse. Seungmin’s mum was over the moon when y/n started making appearances at family events again, and she played the part of the enthusiastic mother-in-law perfectly at their wedding a year ago. y/n is still trying her best to be a nicer person, and she is mainly succeeding. She slips up every now and then, but Seungmin is always at her side to pull her up on it.

Jeongin and y/n lived together at 325 Sunshine Street for a little over three years before Jeongin sat y/n down to tell her that he wouldn’t be a ghost for much longer, and would be passing over to the afterlife soon, as he had discovered that his unfinished business was the house. He’d found someone worthy of living in the house, and they’d truly made it a home – where he and his friends had made it fit to live in, a house in only a home once it’s full of light, love and life. And once y/n had brought that, his business on earth was finished. She held back her sadness over the last few weeks of his time with her, and threw a farewell party with all of his friends. She felt her heart break when she awoke one morning to find that the other side of the bed was empty, and he was gone forever. Jeongin’s friends drop in nearly every day to check on y/n, and she’s doing much better than she was when he first left. She still misses him, more and more every day, but she’ll be okay, because she knows that even if she can’t see him, he’s always with her, no matter what.

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schrijverr · 3 years

Text

'Till Death Do Us Part

Part 11 out of 13

When Alex has to bring Philip to work, he and Thomas discover that they both have something in common: they lost their love. They form an unexpected bond and connection about this that grows into something more.

A medium burn with parental feelings about Philip and flowers.

On AO3.

Ships: Jamilton

Warnings: brief mention of death and water trauma.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 11: Water Lily Means ‘Purity of Heart’

The first morning at Monticello, Alex woke up by Thomas shaking him: “Hey, darlin’, wakey wakey, sleepy head.”

“Hmm,” Alex looked up, “Hey,” he smiled sleepily as he rolled over, “How’d ya sleep?”

“I slept well, want to get up for breakfast?” Thomas asked, “Pip is already up, heard him patter down the hall a while ago.”

“Oh, did you have to get up?” Alex asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

“Nah, heard him run into Ma,” Thomas answered, “They’re probably eating by now, so wanna join them?”

“Yeah, yeah,”Alex got up and pulled on a sweater to go with pajama pants, while Thomas put on a tank top and sweats.

They made their way downstairs and saw Philip and Jane sitting at the breakfast table. Philip had a bowl of cereal and Jane a plate with eggs while she nodded along to something Philip was saying, getting closer Alex put together that Philip must have dreamed something.

“Good morning,” he greeted and Thomas also greeted them: “Morning.”

“Hey there,” Jane smirked, “You two sleep well?”

“Yeah, the bed’s really comfortable,” Alex stretched and gave Pip a kiss on the forehead as he walked by: “You sleep well, buddy?”

“I had a dream,” Philip informed him of something he had already a gathered.

“A song to sing?” Alex asked.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s a song reference,” Alex told him, “What was the dream about?”

“Well,” Philip began as Thomas and Alex did a familiar dance around each other, it might be a different kitchen, but things were easy enough to find, “I was in a castle and there was a dragon and I was going to slay it, but then I realized that Theo was the dragon, so I instead we took the treasure and went to a mountain, but then Theo wasn’t a dragon anymore and you were there, Papa.”

“I was?” Alex grabbed his toast.

“Yeah, you and Da were keepers of the gate,” Phillip said, “Ineeded a password to enter, but it was weird and you two kept talking and we couldn't pass.”

Thomas snorted as he sat down with his breakfast: “That sounds right.”

“But then we were running and there were wolves everywhere,” Philip went on as Alex also sat down, “And at first we thought they were chasing us, but then we were running with them and we were also wolves. And I don’t remember what happened then.”

“Sounds like a busy night. Don’t forget to eat, Pip,” Alex reminded him.

Philip started eating again and Thomas turned to Jane and asked: “How was your night?”

“Same as always,” she waved vaguely, “Nights are boring, I miss them while I sleep. What are your plans for today? The weather’s going to be nice, you could start warming the pool.”

Alex paused with the toast halfway to his mouth and looked at Thomas. The pool had been mentioned during packing, but both had forgotten about it. Philip lit up on the other hand: “There’s a pool? Can I go see?”

He was almost out of his chair when Alex said: “Philip, stop.”

Turning around Philip did as he was told, the unusual tone stopping him in his tracks. He softly asked: “Can I not go see the pool?”

“Philip, I want you to look at me right now and promise me something, okay?” Alex said, waiting for Philip to nod, “You do not go near the pool without Thomas or an other adult with you. Is that clear? Water is dangerous and you can’t swim, so unless someone wants to go with you, you don’t go near the pool.”

“Promise,” Philip pouted, looking to the floor.

“Can you pinky promise?” Alex asked, holding out his hand, “Papa is not trying to be mean, Pip, just watching out for you and sometimes rules are stupid, but necessary.”

“Alright,” Philip interlocked his pinky.

Before an uncomfortable silence could fall, Thomas said: “Lucky for you, kiddo, I wanna swim with you, so dishes to the sink and find your swim trunks. Don’t forget to wash up, alright?”

Philip beamed and quickly set to work doing as he was told, before running off.

“Thomas or an other adult?” Jane asked, having picked up on the wording.

Alex cringed, this was one thing he didn’t want Jane to know out of fear what she would think of him.

“He’s not a water person,” Thomas tried to cover for him.

“You can’t swim?” Jane asked.

“I- I can, I just-” Alex sighed, then deciding to be honest, “I just don’t like the water. There- there was a hurricane when I was seventeen, not much of a swimmer after that. I should be signing Pip up for classes, but, you know, they ask parents to come.”

Jane nodded understanding – as a single parent herself – she was aware of the whispers that could follow you. She said: “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on him. He’ll be safe here.”

“Thank you, he loves it,” Alex told her, “He usually goes swimming with his Auntie Maria, but she’s busy and I don’t want to put that sort of responsibility on her. Besides, I could just sign him up for classes and not get in the water, it’s just-”

“It’s alright,” Jane said.

“It’s just that, maybe you know how it is, but for so long it was just me and people tend to think you’re a bad parent if you’re all alone,” Alex explained, “I didn’t want to send him with one of his Aunties or Uncles. You get looks.”

Jane had already gathered that and her heart ached for the young man with that familiar look on his face. She put a hand on his shoulder and assured him: “You don’t have to take shit from them, but I get it.”

Then Thomas offered: “I can teach him how to swim. I’m a pretty good swimmer and if we get back, I don’t mind going to classes with him.”

“Really?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, darlin’, no problem,” Thomas finished his breakfast, then went to turn on the heating in the pool, before going to see if Philip was getting dressed alright.

Once he left, Alex softly smiled: “You’ve raised him well, I’m so lucky.”

“Glad to hear that,” Jane replied, she knew what the complement meant to both of them and she respected him for it.

They continued to eat breakfast while making small talk and waved at Philip and Thomas as they passed. Philip was clad in his pirate swim trunks and Thomas was carrying a pool noodle.

Alex helped with the dishes, before Jane checked if he was okay with seeing water and they sat down by the pool to watch Thomas teach Philip how to swim. And to the sounds of Thomas telling Philip to make pancakes with his arms and legs, they talked.

It was strange how easy it was to talk to Jane. The way she talked was different to Thomas, less confrontational and more running commentary on things along with vague statements that could be seen as threatening or judgement, but it made Alex comfortable.

Sure, he could talk circles around people, went to law school and had an affinity for literature which had given him a huge vocabulary, but he didn’t like being proper. And Jane allowed him to feel like he didn’t have to be proper, just polite and kind.

When lunch rolled around Philip and Thomas joined them, both still dripping but smiling. Biting into a sandwich, Thomas asked: “When are the others getting here?”

“Randy said he’d be here Wednesday and Mary said she’ll be coming the day after that,” Jane said, as she handed Philip a juice box and asked him: “You’ve been enjoying the pool?”

“Yeah, I can swim for a bit now, but then Da has to come hold me again or I’ll sink, but I can hold my breath very good,” Philip replied, “I also jumped into the pool. Did you see me jump?”

“We did, Pip.”

“It looked very cool, Philly.”

“The water did a big splash and I opened my eyes when I was underwater and everything is blue and shifty,” Pip grinned, “But it does hurt my eyes a bit.”

“Maybe don’t open your eyes too much underwater, Pip,” Alex said, frowning slightly.

“Yeah, if you want to see underwater we have goggles,” Thomas agreed.

“Can I see underwater!” Pip exclaimed.

“After lunch,” Alex told him, all chuckling when Philip started munching on his sandwich at record speed.

When Philip and Thomas got back into the water again, Jane picked up a book, but Alex couldn't bring himself to put his attention fully into something else while Pip was in the water. He trusted Thomas to ensure Philip was safe, but just in case, he kept watching, just enjoying their laughter and the sun on his face.

Alex could see why Thomas had waxed so much poetry about Monticello. It was absolutely beautiful and the atmosphere felt like a Studio Ghiblimovie.

He told Thomas as much when they were sitting on the porch together that night after Pip and Jane had both gone to sleep already. Thomas smiled: “Yeah, running around here made me perhaps a bit snobbier than necessary.”

“Not a city person when you were little?” Alex smirked, watching as Sir Poof jumped on Thomas’s lap and his hand came up automatically to pet the cat.

“Nah, much rather run around in the forest on my own,” Thomas smiled, “Though I can appreciate the anonymity of a city, everyone around here knows each other.”

“Yeah, I can get that,” Alex said, before both fell silent. Looking up Alex saw the stars, he hadn’t seen a sky so clear since he left Caribbean. He pointed at some stars and said: “That’s Lyra, a constellation related to the Orpheus myth.”

“Really?” Thomas raised an arm.

Alex nodded and leaned against Thomas’s side as the arm came to rest around him as he explained: “It’s supposed to be his lyre.”

“Tell me more?” and Alex did until they were nearly falling asleep on the porch.

The next few days passed by in quite a similar fashion, until Randy came. They were waiting for him on the porch like Jane had done for them when a car came up the driveway. Out the car came a young man with a big smile that made Alex think of Thomas, though he lacked eye crinkles. He grinned: “Hi, Ma, Tommy, who’ve you got there?”

“Randy! Still asking dumb questions I see,” Thomas grinned back, hugging the man, now identified as Randy.

“It’s called a hypothesis and it’s actually how you start research,” Randy shot back.

“Yeah, when you talk about plants it is, not people, dipshit,” Thomas told him.

“Could be in Psychology,” Randy smirked and Thomas took a breath to reply.

“Boys, enough, how about instead of squabbling, you actually introduce the people you’re talking about,” Jane interjected, then hugged Randy too, “Hi, sweetheart, how’ve you been?”

“Good, good, Ma,” Randy assured her, then stuck his hand out to Alex, “Randolph, call me Randy, I’m this one’s brother.”

“The youngest and a spoiled shit,” Thomas called out to Alex from where he was getting one of the bags from the car.

“Alex,” Alex introduced himself, “And this here is Philip, my son. Wanna introduce yourself, buddy?”

It seemed like Randy only noticed Philip now. The kid had been studying this new person for a while, and now he said: “I’m Philip, Philip Hamilton, nice to meet you. Are you related to Da? You look like him.”

“Nice to meet you too, kid,” Randy shook Philip’s hand, “I’m Randy and I’m your Da’s brother,” he looked amused when he referred to Thomas as Da, “Which makes me your Uncle, I think.”

“Cool, where did you come from?” Philip said and that was that.

“College,” Randy chuckled,“When did you pick up this kid, he’s great.”

“Around the same time as my boyfriend, don’t corrupt him. Now help with your own luggage,” Thomas handed him a bag.

It was a bit of a bustle to get everyone inside and Randy’s luggage to his room, but soon they were sitting at the table while Philip was playing with some Lego’s in the next room. They had been talking for a bit when Randy said: “So, you’re the mysterious boyfriend I’ve heard about. All sorts of things coming down the grapevine.”

“Randy,” Thomas said warningly.

“No, nothing bad, it’s just that you’ve not been telling anyone but Ma very much, so there has been speculation,” Randy shrugged, “Can’t I get to know the man who stole your heart.”

“You’re like twelve, you have no rights to know anything,” Thomas told him.

“I’m twenty-two and you know that, dick.”

“I didn’t know I was a mystery to your family,” Alex decided to side with Randy just to mess with Thomas, “You’ve been keeping secrets about me?”

“Believe me, it’s for your own good,” Thomas said, “Otherwise you might have the whole household on you. I have two older sisters and they are scary, not to mention the whole army of siblings who can otherwise get you.”

“Now I feel like I should be scared.”

Randy’s ‘you should’ was interrupted by Jane, who told him: “They’re overreacting. Mary and Jane can be a bit protective to the extreme, I know I raised them. They know what to do.”

“Ah,” that wasn’t very comforting, Alex thought.

“You will have nothing to worry about if they like you,” Randy assured him, “So, how did you two meet?”

“Work, actually,” Alex answered, “We work in the same department.”

“You hated me,” Thomas said.

“Lies and slander,” Alex refuted, knowing full well that it was a bit of a lie.

“You once told me that everything I did was bound to be stupid, because it came from a brain so backwards and illogical as mine and then you called me Jeffershit,” Thomas recounted, not at all feeling guilty about throwing his boyfriend under the bus.

“And I might have meant that, but that doesn’t take away the fact that you once referred to me as ‘an idiot lapdog boy, who didn’t know good opinions if it hit me in the face.’ You’re not innocent here and don’t think you can pretend to be,” Alex shot back.

“Maybe so, but at that time you were insufferable,” Thomas pouted, “And you still have pretty shitty opinions on company policy, and in general about stuff like bagels.”

“While you think red velvet cake is not just chocolate cake with food coloring, you’re opinions are also shit,” Alex informed him, “Besides, who the fuck thinks that having separate budgets within the same branch are smart.”

“I do,” Thomas said, before explaining in detail why he did, which of course caused Alex to retaliate.

Randy looked at his Ma and whispered: “There’s another Thomas, I didn’t think people like Tommy existed.”

“It’s strange what a partner can do to a shy kid, you missed that part,” Jane sighed fondly, she remembered who firstgot Thomas talking like that all those years ago. Then she clapped her hands, shutting them up.

“What got you talking?” Randy asked, “Like normal people, I mean.”

Both had the decency to look sheepish, before Thomas answered: “Philip. Alex had to bring him to work one day and it makes you see people differently.”

Alex was glad he hadn’t mentioned what exactly tied them together. Dead spouses wasn’t exactly great conversation material. He just agreed: “Yeah, Thomas is great with kids, never imagined that before I saw him talking with Pip.”

“He seems a good kid, what’s he like?” Randy asked.

“Philip loves drawing and he has a big personality. He’s a talker.”

“He has the last part from Alex,” Thomas interjected.

“Yeah, he has, he has a big imagination and he likes telling stories,” Alex gave Thomas that, his talking had definitely influenced Philip, “I think it’s good for him to express himself.”

Jane was with him on that: “I can definitely see that working. He’s not afraid to talk his mind, has a lot to say, him. Better to let him learn talking and standing up for himself now.”

“Exactly,” Alex smiled, “But what do you do, Randy?”

They talked about Randy’s biology studies, college stories and more until it was time for dinner. Thomas had offered to cook, so he and Alex made shrimp rice.

The next morning was lazy as Philip explored the gardens. At one point he came in and asked: “Papa, I found floating flowers. How do they do that? Don’t they need ground to grow?”

“I don’t know, Pip, maybe we can look it up later,” Alex replied.

“You must be talking about the water lily’s” Randy interjected, “Some plants are made for water, they’re water plants, but they still have roots. I can show you, if you’d like.”

“You’d want that, Uncle Randy?” Pip asked excitedly, already bounding away.

“Yeah, sure, kid, lead the way.”

“Are you sure?” Alex didn’t want to impose on Thomas’s family when he and Philip were still new, “You don’t have to indulge him out of politeness.”

Randy waved his worries away: “I don’t mind, I finally have a nibling while I am old enough to manipulate into thinking biology is interesting.”

“That’s not an ethical motivation, Randy,” Thomas told him.

“I feel like it’s ethically substantiated to want to teach kids about nature, Mr. Nag,” Randy stuck out his tongue.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Thomas called after him, mumbling: “Fucking college making him think he’s so smart. I went to college too, you know.”

“Doing good, mopey?” Alex teased.

“Don’t be mean to me, ‘Lexi,” Thomas pouted, “Not you too, you’re supposed to be on my side here, do you know that?”

“Looks to me like you’re jealous you don’t have all of Pip’s attention here,” Alex wrapped his arms around Thomas’s back, failing in putting his chin on his shoulder, “I had to learn that with all his Aunties and Uncles, sometimes you’re not number one.”

“‘M not jealous,” Thomas turned around in his grip and looked down.

“Sure.”

“Watch it, or I’m calling Laf and telling him he’s again being replaced as the best Uncle,” Thomas warned.

“You wouldn’t,” Alex gasped, scandalized.

“Try me,” Thomas shot back, kissing Alex’s nose.

Alex hummed and didn’t dignify the threat with a response, instead just melting against Thomas’s chest. Thomas replied by resting his chin on Alex’s head and just holding him, swaying them gently in the middle of the kitchen.

They stood there for a while, before they heard Jane call out to them: “Boys, Mary is driving down right now,” before they heard her yell, “Randy, come back here with Philly. And don’t go into those bushes, the roses are new.”

Then they heard the sound of tires on the gravel. They made they way to the porch to see a family van make its way to the house. A woman with lilac braids stepped out the car and opened one of the back doors as she told the two girls in the back seat to go say hi to Mawmaw.

The two girls had matching sun dresses, one in yellow the other in blue and their hair was tied in buns with matching scrunchies.

“Mawmaw! Mawmaw!” they yelled as they came running to the people on the porch.

“Hey there, pumpkins, how was the drive over?” Jane asked, hugging the both of them tightly.

“It was okay, Kitty was being boring though,” the one in blue said.

“I was reading that’s not boring,” the other, probably Kitty, frowned.

“It was for me.”

Kitty stuck her tongue out at that, which the other, probably Francie, graciously returned.

“Come on, ladies. No fighting. I haven’t seen you in forever,” Thomas said, he looked them up and down, “My, my, you two have grown, you’ll be surpassing me the next time I blink.”

That was a fat lie, naturally, since Thomas was obscenely large and the two girls were barely ten, but that didn’t stop them from giggling as they jumped into his arms, squealing: “Uncle Thomas, you came!”

“Heya, girlies,” Thomas kissed both on the cheek, before setting them down.

At that point they spotted Alex and turned to him, both big curious eyes. Francie asked: “Who’s that, Uncle Thomas?”

Thomas smiled and answered: “That is Alex, he’s my boyfriend. He and his son Philip are also staying, isn’t that fun?”

“Hi,” Alex waved to the kids, it wasn’t often that he had to interact with kids outside of Pip and he wasn’t really sure what the expectations were with nieces, since he’d never had any of them.

“You have pretty hair, can I braid it?” Francie asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Alex agreed.

“Why are you so tiny?” Kitty asked.

“I- I don’t know, genetics, I suppose.”

“Let’s not all jump on him immediately,” Thomas saved him from two curious children.

“On who should my kids not jump, Tommy?” Mary had finished greeting her mother and getting their stuff to the porch and now finally turned to her brother and who he had brought with them. She extended her hand: “Mary Jefferson.”

“Alex, Alex Hamilton,” Alex shook it, glad to have something to do with his hands for a second.

“I heard Ma mention the name, you must be the boyfriend,” she smiled and Alex noted she had the same perfect teeth as Thomas, along with the full lips.

“Yeah, that’d be me,” Alex huffed out a laugh.

“Ma said you had a kid, bit younger than mine?”

Alex nodded: “Yeah, Philip, he’s six. He was out with Randy exploring the garden,” he looked over to the rose bushes and saw that two figures were moving their way, but they still had a bit to go since it was a big yard, “There they are,” he pointed them out.

Mary looked over and rolled her eyes: “Typical Randy rolling in the dirt like a kid.”

“How have you all been, Mary,” Thomas hugged his sister, it was funny how on her heels she was slightly taller than him, that rarely happened, “Everything alright with the kids?”

“Of course, of course,” she kissed his cheeks, “You? Domesticity suiting you?”

“Surprisingly more than expected,” he replied.

“Are you and Alex married?” Francie asked.

“No, Francie, but we are together,” Thomas explained.

“You can do that?”

“If you want, any relationship that all people involved agree on, can,” Alex said, unable to let the opportunity to teach the girl about queer relationships and concent pass him by.

“Cool,” Francie nodded.

At that point Randy and Philip arrived at the porch. Randy greeted his older sister a bit less warmly than Thomas had, before quickly hugging his nieces and saying hello. The two seemed less enthusiastic about seeing Randy than Thomas, but still excited.

Alex nudged Philip to introduce himself, so he stuck his hand out to the two older girls and said: “Hi, I’m Philip, Philip Hamilton, it’s nice to meet you.”

The two turned to him and said: “I’m Kitty.” “And I’m Francie. You’re tiny.”

“I’m plenty big, just need to grow a bit,” Philip protested.

“Hey now, girls, be nice. He’s younger than you two,” Mary jumped in, before introducing herself to Philip: “Hi, Philip, I’m Mary. I’m Thomas’s older sister.”

“You don’t look older than Da,” Philip said, “He has more lines on his forehead.”

Mary chuckled: “That’s very sweet of you to say, little man.”

Thomas looked to Alex and rubbed his forehead as he mouthed: “Lines?” but Alex just laughed at him and whispered back: “You frown when you read,” at that Thomas frowned, which made Alex laugh again.

“Do you know how to play Ludo?” Francie asked.

“What is that?” Philip asked in return.

“It’s a board game, we can teach it to you,” Kitty smiled, taking his hand.

“Be nice to him,” Mary called after them as they ran away, while Alex yelled: “Play nice.”

Both looked at each other and smiled, before Jane interrupted: “Well, these bags aren’t going to carry themselves into the house, come on.”

Randy and Thomas carried a part of the luggage, while Alex offered to carry the rest so that Jane and Mary could catch up a bit.

On his way back to the seating area, he checked the room the kids had disappeared into and saw the three kids sitting around the board with Pip sticking out his tongue in concentration while the twins were pointing at the board and telling him something.

Entering where the others were he said: “Seems like the kids are getting along.”

“Ah, that’s good, the twins can be a bit much,” Mary replied.

“Well, Pip is used to a bit much,” Alex assured her.

“Big family?”

“Kind of?” Alex replied, “None related, but considered as good as.”

Mary hummed as she nodded. She watched as Alex took a seat, watching him carefully and seemingly sizing him up. Once he was seated, she asked: “What makes you think you deserve my brother?”

“Not you too, Mary,” Thomas whined, facepalming the table.

“I am your older sister and in case you have forgotten I was there when you were a shy anxious highschooler, so sorry for not wanting someone to take advantage of you,” she huffed.

“You almost scared Martha off, I hope you know that,” Thomas told her.

“And the fact that Ididn’t, proved her character,” Mary shot back, not backing down, “So, Alex, tell me.”

Alex had been warned about Thomas’s sisters, so he had been preparing a bit of a speech for this, though he hadn’t expected her to be so upfront about it nearly immediately after meeting him.

“I think I could give you the expected spiel about how I love him and treasure my time with him and hope to take care of him as he does me for as long as he’ll have me,” Alex began, “however, I’m not sure if you’ll believe me, no matter how much I mean every word.”

Mary looked confused, but let him talk.

“So, instead I’m going to be honest and say that it is unknown to me why I deserve him,” he told her, “I have a few things I know. I know I love him, I know he makes me happy, I know I picture my future with him, but I have no control over most things. But I don’t know why I am given that chance to be with him, I just know that I will try to be the best I can, so that one day I am the person that deserves him.”

It was quiet at the table. Alex was sweating slightly and grabbed Thomas’s hand under the table for comfort, which Thomas took and squeezed.

After a while Mary had turned over his words enough to form a verdict. Her impassive face split into a grin: “That’s good to hear, I like honest people.”

Alex let out an audible breath and everyone at the table laughed at him, but he just laughed along. It didn’t feel mean, it was a joyous moment. A family moment.

They found that Alex and Mary actually had a lot in common, both had gone to Columbia University with Alex starting around the timeMary graduated. Both had studied law and apparently they had lived in the same dorm building.

When they had bonded, Mary pulled out some pictures of younger Thomas on her phone, which was Jane’s cue to grab photo albums.

Thomas protested heavily, but he could not escape from the stories of him nearly falling of the podium during graduation or the baby pictures of him in overalls or dressed up as Frodo for his first Halloween with Martha.

He was only saved by the kids coming running in asking for drawing supplies, apparently done with Ludo. So Alex had to get up to go get those for them.

Randy had kept to the background for most of the previous conversation, but he joined in again when they started talking the news and when Jane started to catch up the two of them on the local gossip as well.

They broke off in smaller conversations after that, with Thomas and Randy discussing one of Randy’s courses, while Jane, Mary and Alex were swapping more embarrassing stories about Thomas.

When it was time to cook, Jane got up and stated: “I’m going to start on dinner, there’s a lot of vegetable cutting to be done.”

“I’ll help you, Ma,” Mary got up as well, she got up and turned back to Alex and offered, “Want to help as well, Alex?”

Alex remembered Thomas telling him that Jane inviting Philip to help with the cooking was a huge compliment, so Alex assumed it would be the same for him. He got up and smiled: “Yeah, I’d love to.”

“Great,” Mary sounded like he’d passed a test.

Dinner was served a while later and the three kids came running in, excitement among them as if they had known each other all of their lives, the friend making skill only little kids possessed. They showed off their drawings.

Philip had drawn a dragon on what looked to be Monticello itself, while Francie had rainbows with a pony and Kitty had drawn a dolphin and a boy near a cave like in Hylas, the book she was reading.

Alex noted that all of Philip’s drawing he did had paid off and his drawing was pretty good even compared to the ones of the older girls.

After dinner, Alex and Thomas did the dishes together, before Alex went to tuck Philip in. When he sat on his bed, with Philip fully dressed for bed and ready, he asked: “Have you been enjoying your time here? Are you having fun?”

“Yes, Papa,” Philip answered, “There is so much to explore and the gardens are huge and Uncle Randy showed me all sorts of plants and bugs and Sir Poof is soft even though he runs sometimesand Kitty and Francie are fun and they taught me how to play Ludo.”

“Yeah?”

“Hmhm,” Philip hummed in affirmation, “And Mawmaw Jane makes great food, she gives me cookies, but I’m not supposed to tell.”

“Well, then I haven’t heard a thing,” Alex promised, deciding to let Philip have that.

Martha Washington was a great lady, but since Alex worked for Washington they hadn’t been there often to keep it seperate, while Mrs. Schuyler had enough other grandchildren to only see Philip on parties where she did dote on him too. So, Jane was the closest thing that Philip would have to a grandmother and Alex would let him have the entire experience.

“That’s good, ‘s supposed to be a secret,” Philip said, yawning slightly.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, Pip,” Alex said softly, “Sleep tight.”

Philip grabbed his hand and asked: “Can you tell me a story?”

“Of course. What sort of story would you like?” Alex asked.

“Can you tell me about Daddy, you said he had a big house like this once, did you ever see it?” Philip replied.

Alex remembered the big house, where he had been not even for half an hour before the screaming had driven them away and the miserable look John got when he talked about it.

“I never saw Daddy’s house,” he finally decided on lying to Pip, now was not the time to explain that to him, so he spun a tale, “He told me it was haunted.”

“Really?” Philip asked.

“Yeah, you Daddy fought against the ghost of the painting once,” Alex told him, “Would you like to hear the story?”

Philip nodded quickly and Alex laughed: “Well, it started long ago, before me or your Daddy was ever born, with a man, who bought a painting…”

Alex talked about the man in the painting and the supposed fight John had had with it until Philip had fallen asleep, before he retreated to the opposite room that he and Thomas shared. They had decided to make it an early night after everything and Alex was glad for it, he was exhausted after all the family impressing he had done.

They crawled into bed and were lying next to each other when Alex spoke up: “There seemed to be a bit of a disconnect between Randy and Mary and the twins. Did something happen there?”

“Not really,” Thomas said, “Just that when Randy was born, I was sixteen, but Mary is a few years older, she had already moved on. So, they never really grew up as siblings, me and Randy are closer because we were the only two boys in the family until Mary got married.”

“Ah, I see,” Alex could understand that, “And with the twins?”

“It’s weird to become an Uncle at twelve, never really happened,” Thomas shrugged.

“You think they like me?” Alex asked, rolling into Thomas’s arms.

Thomas kissed the top of his head and replied: “You’re practically guaranteed a spot in the family by now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Mary is the family sister. Jane might be the oldest, but she’s a business woman, when it comes to finances they listen to Jane, but family- that’s Mary’s area, if she likes you, everyone likes you,” Thomas explained, “Especially since Ma already likes you too.”

“So no more heartfelt speeches,” Alex grinned.

“No more heartfelt speeches,” Thomas promised.

“You’re so fucking lucky the people who would force you to do that from my side already knew you, you bastard,” Alex informed him.

“Yeah?” Thomas asked.

“Jup, you have Angie, Laf and Washington, and maybe Eliza if she thought you were shady, but Angie already vouched for you,” Alex pointed out.

Thomas was quiet, then he said: “Holy fuck, I would have been dead otherwise.”

Alex snorted: “Glad you see your luck,” then snuggled up close to sleep, content in now familiar warm arms.

~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:

Fun Fact: my great uncle taught me how to swim with pancakes, I was also horrible at swimming, but those aren’t really related. Anyway, fuck water and shout out to that time my sister almost killed me by pushing me into the water.

(yall I was so stuck on this that I did a tarot reading for myself to help understand why I was floundering, this chapter was a struggle)

I also want y’all to note how Thomas never told any of his family members that Alex is trans, because that is not his to share. This whole fic is actually a set up for this specific PSA, I tricked you (/joking). Anyways, don’t randomly out your trans friends, it’s shitty to do so.

#RR writing #tw: trauma mention #tw: death mention #Hamilton #Hamilton AU #Alexander Hamilton #Thomas Jafferson #Philip Hamilton #Mary Jefferson #Randolph Jefferson #OCs #Jamilton #'Till Death Do Us Part #'Till Death Do Us Part Part 11 #'Till Death Do Us Part AU

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natferdinand · 3 years

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swanqueeneverafter · 3 years

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The Once & Future Queen Pt.33

Impenetrable Forest. Recent Past. (Attempting to find their own way out of the Impenetrable Forest, Merlin and Merida walk side by side along the forest path.) Merida: "They're holding Anastasia in the tower and there's no way they haven't used magical protections." Merlin: "I understand, you were right to come find me." Merida: (Glancing backwards:) "What about Guinevere and the others?" Merlin: "If I can speak with Morgana without risking their lives, then that's better for everyone." Merida: "Guinevere believes Morgana can change, doesn't she? (Merlin nods:) Then she's a fool. Morgana is too far gone." Merlin: "I used to think like you. I thought that the only way to destroy the Darkness was to kill the Dark One. Emma and Regina showed me there was another way. As old as I am, I have yet to find a more powerful force in this world than love. No one is a lost cause, Merida, but it will always depend on whether a person is willing to accept the chance to be saved." Merida: "Well, in Morgana's case, I'll believe it when I see it." Merlin: (Chuckles:) "Hopefully you won't have to wait too long." (They continue walking until they arrive at a clearing to find a man waiting for them. When he turns, Merlin is shocked to see the man from his vision standing before him.) Mordred: "Good evening, Merlin."

Storybrooke. Flynn's Barcade. Present. (It's couples night at the arcade and a plethora of Storybrooke's most loved-up pairings have taken advantage of the two for one drinks on offer. While the Stiltskins and Joneses play a friendly game of pool, everyone gathers around the table to watch.) Hook: (Watching Belle sink yet another ball into the corner pocket:) "Hey, I thought Lacey was the one who knew how to shoot pool?" Belle: "She was, but pool's not that hard. (Lines up another shot:) It's just basic geometry. For example, if I hit this ball against the cushion at an angle, then it will bounce off at that angle as well but, if I give the ball a bit of spin... (Belle strikes the ball with spin causing it to bounce off the cushion and pot another ball in the corner pocket:) then that happens." Hook: "Well if you're going to use math to play pool you're gonna take all the fun out of the game." Belle: "Oh I don't think so. (Lines up another shot and looks directly at him:) I mean, I'll always enjoy counting the money I win from you, Killian." (Belle strikes the ball, pots the eight ball and wins the game. Much to Regina's drunken delight.) Regina: (Laughing, to Maleficent:) “Your man just got taken to school.” Maleficent: “Just as long as I don’t have to pick up a cue, I’m fine. (Looking around:) Lord knows when this place was last given a thorough cleaning.” Regina: (Chuckles:) “It can’t be any dirtier than the Dragon’s Lair back when it was a sex dungeon.” Maleficent: “It wasn’t a ‘sex dungeon’. It was safe haven for those who wanted to play out their inner most fantasies and-” Regina: “Perversions.” Maleficent: “Well, you would know about that, dear.” Regina: (Nods vigorously:) “Yes I would!”

(Watching from across the bar, Emma smiles as Regina almost topples from her bar stool before being steadied by Rumplestiltskin.) Alice: (Taking a seat next to her:) "So, how did your travels across the realms go? Did you find the answers you wanted?" Emma: "Sort of. We listened to a lot of different opinions, heard about their experiences and I guess we're just gonna take things as they come." Alice: "Maria is so lucky to have you and Regina as parents. I know if mine were still around they'd have trouble understanding about all this magic business. Of course, I didn't realise I even had magic until much later in life and by then it was too late to worry about what other people might think about it. I mean, we're all different, aren't we?" Emma: (Smiles:) "We certainly are." Alice: "Just promise me one thing, no matter how it turns out with Maria, don't lock her in a tower somewhere?" Emma: "Oh, I promise." (At that moment, the door to the arcade swings open and Merida rushes through it, causing people to scatter in her wake as she makes her way towards the bar.) Merida: "So here's where the retirement party is huh? Playing games and getting blind drunk at happy hour while Morgana's still out there hatching her evil schemes!" Emma: "Merida, what-" Merida: "She's taken Anastasia! She's locked her up in some bloody tower and unless you lot get up off your arses and help me, that's where she'll spend the rest of her days!" Alice: (Stands:) "A tower, you mean my tower?" Merida: "Ach, no. Some other tower out on the desolate plains surrounded by the Impenetrable Forest." Rumplestiltskin: "The Dark Tower." Alice: (Mutters to herself:) "Well mine wasn't exactly cheery most of the time." Regina: (To Rumplestiltskin:) "You've heard of such a place?" Rumplestiltskin: (Nods:) "It's where the High Priestesses would take their initiates." Merida: "Aye and that's why there's no time to lose." Regina: "Well wait a minute, why did we go to the trouble of freeing Merlin if-" Merida: "Merlin's dead." (The mood in the room sobers immediately. Regina looks over to Emma while Rumplestiltskin bows his head.) Impenetrable Forest. Recent Past. (Merlin and Merida stand watching Mordred who waits patiently.) Merlin: "Wait here. (Merida does not move as Merlin makes his way down into the valley to stand before Mordred:) I had a vision we'd be meeting soon. I must say it concerned me at the time but now I see there are no flames that surround us and you have no sword in your hand with which to run me through." Mordred: "Perhaps it is not I you should be worried about."

(Catching Mordred's quick glance back up the hill, Merlin spins around to see Merida release an arrow from her bow. Using his magical abilities, Merlin is able to catch the arrow but not without it first slicing his palm.) Merida: (Dropping her bow:) "I'm sorry, Merlin! Mordred told me that if I didn't do what he said, that he'd kill Anastasia." Merlin: "It's all right, Merida. I understand. (He tosses the arrow away:) No harm done." Morgana: (Approaching from the other side of the valley:) "I wouldn't be so sure. (Merlin turns toward her:) If it's just a scratch, heal thyself, Merlin. (Keeping his eyes trained on Morgana, Merlin raises his uninjured hand and attempts to heal the cut on his opposite palm. To his dismay, he finds that he cannot:) That was no ordinary arrow. It was laced with the blood of the Gean Canach. (Merlin's eyes widen:) Your magic is gone, Merlin." Merida: "No. Merlin, I swear I didn't know!" (Morgana knocks Merida flying backwards with a careless flick of her wrist and stands before Merlin.) Morgana: "What a joy it is to see you, Merlin. Look at you, not so tall and mighty now." (She conjures a sword into her hand.) Merlin: "Magic or not, I am still immortal. No mortal blade can kill me." Morgana: "This is no mortal blade. Like Lancelot's, it was forged in a Dragon’s breath." Merlin: (Realisation dawns:) "Morgana, wait. It does not have to end this way." Morgana: "You're wrong. The prophesy gives me no choice." Merlin: "Morgana-" (Morgana stabs him and Merlin starts to feel the effect of the blade. Mordred looks on while Morgana holds Merlin as he dies. Mordred steps forward to help her lower Merlin to the ground and Morgana withdraws the sword.) Morgana: (Whispered, almost reverently:) "Goodbye, Merlin."

The Dark Tower. Present. (The spirit of Uther Pendragon continues to listen while his daughter recounts her victory.) Uther: "You killed Merlin?" Morgana: "I vanquished the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever known. Now there is no one who can stand in my way." Uther: (Stands:) "Then you truly are the mistress of your own destiny. If you are finished torturing me, you must let me go, for I can no longer bear to see the creature you've become. (Morgana smirks and then nods:) Despite everything, I will always love you, Morgana." (Morgana says nothing as Uther fades from sight. However, Morgana is barely able to take a breath before the door to the room bursts open and she is attacked by the knights of Camelot. When Bedivere charges, Morgana uses her powers to throw him aside. Gwaine and Leon meet the same fate before Lancelot enters, holding the dragon’s breath sword in his hand.) Morgana: "And to think I was told that sword wasn't meant for me." Guinevere: (Enters, stands in front of Lancelot:) "It isn't. Please, Morgana, you must listen to me." Morgana: "So you can fill my head with more of your empty promises?" Guinevere: "I give you my word. Come peacefully and no harm will come to you." (Morgana looks around the room to see the knights getting back to their feet and Lancelot's grip on the sword tighten.) Morgana: "You expect me to believe that while your boyfriend wields that sword?" Guinevere: (Turns to him:) "Lower your weapon, Lancelot." Lancelot: "You know I can't do that, Guin."

Morgana: "Then you give me no choice." (Upon raising her hands to strike, Morgana is blown backwards by a blast of magic that hits her square in the chest. Crashing against the wall, Morgana falls to the floor, unconscious. Lowering their hands, Emma and Regina move further into the room, much to the astonishment of everyone else.) Guinevere: "Emma. Regina. How did you-" Emma: "We heard you could use a hand." Guinevere: (Looks over at Morgana:) "Is she..." Regina: "She'll be fine. We need her restrained before she wakes. Here. (Regina kneels next to Morgana and places a cuff on her wrist:) That should block her magic, at least for the time being." Emma: “Great, now where the hell is Anastasia?”

Elsewhere in the Dark Tower. (Anastasia continues to rock Elyan's body in her arms when she hears footsteps behind her.) Mordred: "The plan was a success. (Anastasia looks up at him:) Merlin lies dead in the Impenetrable Forest. His body left to rot until the wolves gorge on his carcass and bathe in his blood." Anastasia: (Stands, backing away from him:) "Then I'm of no further value to you." Mordred: "True. But circumstances are changing rapidly within this tower and you may still prove useful as a bargaining chip." (Mordred lunges at Anastasia, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her forward. At that moment, a loud cracking sound can be heard all around them as the roof of the tower is torn off. Releasing Anastasia momentarily, Mordred turns and looks up into the face of Alice's Troll as he stares down at them. Mordred draws his sword but it is shot out of his hand by an arrow. Scrambling out of the way while more arrows are fired towards him, Mordred watches the Troll lower Merida into the room. Grabbing Anastasia once more, Mordred pulls a dagger from his boot and holds it against the blonde's neck.) Merida: (Still standing in the Troll's large hand:) "Let her go!" Mordred: "She's useless to me now. She's served her purpose. I have no reason to keep her alive. (Knowingly:) But I think perhaps you do. Now you’re going to let me walk out of here, or she dies. Simple enough?” Anastasia: “Don't do it, Merida!” Merida: “He'll kill you.” Anastasia: “He'll kill me anyway. You can’t let him escape.” Mordred: “Let me pass or watch her die!” (While the standoff continues, Anastasia’s gaze is caught by a vision of her mother standing in the corner of the room, seemingly only visible to her eyes. Rapunzel smiles and covers her heart with her hand, nodding. Instinctively, Anastasia realises what she must do.)

(Returning her attention to Merida, Anastasia locks eyes with her and gives the redhead a nod of her own.) Mordred: “I mean it, I’ll cut her throat, I swear to-” (Merida hesitates until she sees Anastasia mouth the words ‘Trust me’, her chin raised defiantly. With tears in her eyes, Merida releases the arrow, watching as if in slow motion as it travels through the air, piercing Anastasia through the heart and coming to a halt embedded in Mordred’s shoulder. The man drops the dagger and stumbles backwards against the wall while Anastasia crumples to the floor. Mordred takes the chance to vanish from the tower while Merida jumps out of the Troll’s hand and sinks to her knees beside Anastasia.) Anastasia: (Weakly:) “Merida...” Merida: “I’m so sorry, Ana... I don’t know what I was thinking.” Anastasia: “It’s all right, there wasn’t anything else you could do.” Merida: (Pressing her hand to Anastasia’s wound in an attempt to staunch the blood:) “It’s my fault. I never should’ve gotten you involved in all this.” Anastasia: (Shakes her head:) “Getting involved in magic to begin with, that was the start of all my troubles.” Merida: “Isn’t there anything we can do... A spell or... (Merida looks down at her hand to see the blood slowly retreating back inside Anastasia’s chest:) What the hell?” Anastasia: (Looks down:) “Well, would you look at that?” Merida: “Are you doing that?” Anastasia: (Shakes her head:) “No, I... (Thinks:) I think it’s my mother.” Merida: “What?” Anastasia: “My mother’s heart. She must’ve protected it somehow before she gave her life for mine. I think it’s repairing itself.” Merida: “Well you could’ve told me sooner!” Anastasia: (Laughs:) “I didn’t know... I still don’t. I’m only guessing here.” Merida: “Then how do we know for sure?” Anastasia: “Kiss me.” Merida: “Ana, what-” Anastasia: “Just shut up and kiss me, will you?” (Anastasia pulls Merida in for a kiss and a rainbow of colour illuminates the room.) Merida: (When they part:) “Was that...?” Anastasia: (Smiles:) “True Love’s Kiss? Yeah, I think it was. So how do you feel about that?” Merida: “If it’s true well then... I think my life just got made.” Anastasia: (Beams:) “Mine too.” (Falling into each other’s arms, they kiss once more while the Troll stares down at them, wiping a tear from his eye.)

#sq #swanqueen #swan queen

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treatian · 3 years

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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse

Chapter 12: Life After Death

He moved his dagger the following Thursday, a week after he'd been caught, on Thanksgiving afternoon when he could be certain Regina was busy with Henry. Not that it was a terribly difficult task this time around. In fact, he'd spent practically the entire week figuring out the perfect spot to bury it out by his cabin. He'd had time to do it, felt comfortable waiting, all because of one fact.

Sheriff Graham was dead.

It had happened on the same day that he'd spotted him burying the dagger. That very night. Whether or not he'd told Regina he saw him that morning was unclear, but after hearing the report from Dove, who was still watching Emma, he felt confident enough that he hadn't had the time and there had never been the place. Emma had run into Graham that afternoon. They'd followed a white wolf, a real wolf, around town before going to the cemetery and sneaking into the Mills Mausoleum. When they'd come out, Emma and Regina had engaged in some sort of argument which Dove couldn't hear, but he confirmed that they'd both taken swipes at one another. He hadn't seen Regina leave, but Graham had left with Emma. They'd gone to the police station. And there, less than an hour later, Emma had frantically called the paramedics saying that Sheriff Graham had collapsed. Dove couldn't confirm, but the rumor was that by the time they'd shown up, Emma had been the one to tell them that he was dead.

The funeral was ill-planned because of the Thanksgiving Holiday Regina had scheduled it for the Sunday afterward. When he arrived, it was standing room only. The only way he'd gotten a seat was by walking over to Belle's father, sitting on the end of a row toward the back, and motioned to his leg with a smile. "You know…cane," was all he had to say before the man grumbled out a sigh and resigned his seat to him. He didn't say another word, not even as he mentioned that his loan was coming due, and he was looking forward to doing business with the man who had killed his true love…though he might have left off that last little fact. Crowded as it was, the others in the row made plenty of room for him.

It felt like nearly half the town was packed into the tiny funeral parlor room. It figured. Regina had planned the service. Since he'd had no family, she'd seen it as her mayorly duty to make the arrangements. It figured that someone like her would have assumed that she'd be the only one to attend instead of considering the town that Graham kept safe and in order throughout the Curse. The former Evil Queen tried to maintain a façade of responsibility and valor, but he could see how his pupil swallowed hard, the way she blinked too frequently and dabbed at her eyes. If he didn't know any better, he'd think the poor girl had actually cared for the man, maybe even convinced herself that he cared for her. Magic and hearts and love…it was first and foremost messy stuff. He thought he'd taught her that.

To her credit, Emma Swan did not cry, but it was clear that she was affected by the Sheriff's death. She'd been with him when it happened at the police station, so it was ridiculous to think that she wouldn't be affected. And though he'd heard that she'd cried plenty that night, she didn't shed a single tear now. Sitting next to Mary Margaret, she stared straight ahead at the various speakers, unmoving except for the occasional blink. At one point, Mary Margaret had put her hand over her daughter's. Emma had winced at the contact, but when she looked over in her direction Mary Margaret smiled at her, and she'd managed to muster a half-hearted one before turning back to the service. Whether or not they knew they were mother and daughter, the connection they were starting to share was, without doubt, growing stronger by the day. Sad as all this was, that was positive thought.

He didn't stay for the reception, which he was sure, given the service, would lack both space and food. No, he didn't stay because he had work to do. Or rather work to oversee. Across town, he'd hired Dove and a few of his cousins to "clean out" Sheriff Graham's apartment. Though, of course, that was only half of it. In actuality, they'd been hired to comb through the apartment and locate any personal possessions and collect them for him to pick up.

Painful as it was, life went on. Life had to go on because this small town had been stuck in a rut for far too long. Not that he cared about anyone else but his boy, but he also knew that keeping this town moving forward was the only way to prevent more useless, wasteful death. And after watching Emma, who had dutifully been acting as deputy all this time, he was already working on the next steps in a new plan.

"This is it?" he questioned as Dove brought a single cardboard box to him and set it on the small coffee table in front of the equally tiny couch. "One box?"

Dove shrugged. "There wasn't really much to find. The apartment is fully furnished but not much of a home. He was married to his job, it seemed, so we didn't find many personal items. Guy didn't have any family, so no pictures or anything sentimental. Unless, of course, you found someone?"

Ah yes, when he'd explained the job to Dove, he'd told him it was because he was going to search for someone related to the man to take his possessions. The honest truth was that he hadn't even bothered trying. Dove was right. The man had no family; none with two legs that would appreciate any of his knick-knacks anyway. The Evil Queen's Huntsman had practically been raised by wolves, and since she'd wanted him to herself...she hadn't given him a family in the Curse. He was alone, even when he was with her. A lone wolf through and through.

"It seems our former Sheriff was a genuine man. What you saw was what there was. He had no family."

"Well…that's too bad. But this is it. Other than the clothes which we either donated or threw out, this was really all that was left of him. Given the circumstances, I'd ask if you wanted me to take these to the local pawn shop but seeing as how that's also you-"

"It's a job well done, Mr. Dove," he interrupted, peering into the box to look over what they had found. One item, in particular, stood out. It was a leather jacket, not the type that Emma Swan appeared to fancy but….

"I thought you donated or threw the clothes away."

"It was his favorite jacket, Sir," one of Dove's cousin's answered from somewhere behind him.

"That's Marc," Dove explained. "He played darts with Graham every Monday night."

"He wore it everywhere, Sir," Marc insisted sadly. "It's not really…ordinary. Remy said you wanted keepsakes…"

And so it appeared he'd gotten keepsakes. Some more helpful than others. Now that he was looking, he did see a dartboard with several darts bundled together in a coffee cup at the bottom. That was certainly not something he needed. In a rare moment of pity, he removed the board and darts and held them out for Marc. "I think these will have a happier home with you."

Marc took a breath, then turned red as he reached out and took them. "Thank you, Sir," he choked out.

"So what now?" Dove asked as his cousin looked the items over, and he saw him wipe his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Now the apartment is professionally cleaned, carpets and surfaces will be replaced, and it'll be rented out again. You know how this goes, Mr. Dove. Out with the old, in with the new."

"Rented out, wait…doesn't the Sheriff job come with the apartment? What about the new girl? Emma. She's only the deputy, but she's been acting as sheriff since he died? Shouldn't she be promoted? Shouldn't she move in?"

"I'd rather keep all that quiet for now," he smiled. Though that wasn't exactly in the cards, for now, it was reassuring that was where Dove's head had immediately gone for the future of the Sheriff. "She can't formally take the position until two weeks after it's vacated. As for the apartment when she does…well…you've been watching her Dove, does she seem the type to want to live in her dead former employer's apartment."

"Not particularly, but…Mary Margaret's place isn't exactly big."

"But it's not small either. No, I'd like to keep her where she's at. When she takes the job, we can keep her at salary instead of taking out for an apartment."

"And the box?"

"I think I'll hold on to it for a bit. You never know when it might come in handy."

"But, Sir-"

"Don't ask questions!" Dove shouted at another of his cousins. The corner of his own mouth twitched. It seemed that Dove had indeed learned his lesson. It seemed he might have even enjoyed the power trip that came from being in his employ. Good.

He motioned for Dove to pick up the box and carry it to his car for him, again motioning to his cane. Once it was set snug inside his trunk, he turned back to him. "Finish the cleaning; I'll see you're all paid, with a reminder, of course, that I expect services to come with discretion."

"We know. He knows."

"Good," he confirmed, slipping a pair of sunglasses on and fumbling with his keys. "I'll be in touch. There are things I'll need from you in the next few days. I will be looking to hire a couple of your cousins to help me with some other work. Just some little things, but I'm working on something special, and I need more eyes than you have. Be sure they know that discretion can buy them their way to the top of the list."

"Always happy to help, Sir. Any of us are."

He beamed. He might not have magic, but money did have a special sort of power in this world. "That's what I like about you, Mr. Dove. Wait for my instructions."

As he drove back to the pawnshop, he could hear Graham's belongings rattle and shift in the trunk. All that was left of a Cursed life. Nothing that would have been truly important to him if he'd died knowing who he was. If that was the case, he suspected Graham would have died happy, knowing Emma was with him. It was a waste. The only benefit from it that he now had a suspicion about where Regina was keeping her magic. Graham had no home, no family, no purpose other than being the Sheriff.

He had plans for Emma, though. She had a purpose and a family; she just didn't know it yet. As for the home part…that was something that would take time, but it wasn't contingent on the Curse breaking. He could begin that process now. He could make her invested in this place, these people, he could make this her home. He just had to wait a few more days, and until then, he had to proceed with caution. There were forces at work even beyond his control.

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Mr. Gold #Regina Mills #Evil Queen #Emma Swan #Savior #The huntsman #sheriff graham #ouat #ouat fanfiction #fanfic

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andieperrie18 · 4 years

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BLACK SEA (p. lahote)

SO THIS IS MY ATTEMPT ON WRITING THE PROMPT I POSTED A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO. THIS IS JUST AN ATTEMPT.

Freya had been with the Cullens for quite and they were the only who ones who know of her real nature. After escaping the terror of Ragnarok by some miracle, she is sent to Midgard or also known as Earth in human tongue.

inspired by Natasha Blume's Black Sea

Paul Lahote x Oc

Malina Weissman as Freya Cullen

She is taken under by Carlisle and Esme as their first child. The couple had nothing but kind parental figures that Freya’s real parents can’t be and not wanting to destroy the bond between these two immortal beings, she revealed herself as the Nordic Hound, Fenris. She Who Dwells in the Marshes.

Freya told them how she only wanted to be accepted and love. She told them that she had thought the gods loved her for they took care of her for all her childhood but because of their fear of her overpowering them, they bounded her down and stuck a sword to her mouth, forever leaving her grieving and hurting as the days of Ragnarok came. The day she vowed to swallow the bastard god Odin. But upon the arrival of the said day, she wasn’t prepared for the consequences of her world’s end. She was left alone. With no one else to care for her.

The Cullens, whom were thoroughly captured by her melancholic life decided to take her in as their own and will forever call her as their own no matter what kind of being she was. They vowed that they will take her secret to the grave. And in them she found what her heart desired for eons.

Their family grew bigger and bigger as witnesses of her primordial existence grew but only within her family. Unlike the shape shifter, she didn’t reek any kind of dog mutt smell that any vampire’s strong sense of smell can breathe. Her scent is composed of fresh bloomed roses and pine. She lived among the most dangerous predator as another monster.

For thousands of years she and Cullens roamed, living country after country, life after life. They didn’t need to worry of feeling of belongingness as Freya gave her whole heart to them and loved them enough to allow themselves to never linger in the darkness of their damnation by feeding on blood. Her appearance may trick any person that she is the youngest of the Cullens but she is actually the eldest of all the foster siblings. She adapts to each of them in their first years of vampirism. Making sure to keep them bay and providing them the emotional help that they need. She had adapted her human form to almost match their skin tone that she would almost look like a vampire herself but when their eyes glowed in crimson, hers glowed in green as it mirrored her abilities in her other form.

In human, they are dull green but sparked the light in the family but when in tap with her lycanthrope, they are a yellow green that always glared at murderous intent. No one but her family can tame her monstrosity.

Her life with them is simple and quiet but that was until they transferred to small town called Forks. Where they encounter a Quileute tribe forming a treaty with them and showing them Freya’s true nature to show that they can live in piece with them. For years, from that they on she never showed her true form as she believes that this wolf nature of hers can only be called upon to only serious occasion like the Volturi, just in case as Freya didn’t like them at all. But she did manage to cloak her true self from their judging and immoral eyes. She knew that if they found out about her origin, it could mean danger for both humans and creatures.

And then came Bella Swan. Which brings us to this day.

- Midgard, Forks -

Newborns were threatening the lives in Forks and Bella’s that caused two mystical creatures to be gathered in the middle of a clearing. Freya had hung herself dangling from a thick branch with her legs out of boredom. Today was the day where she and family would meet the wolf pack to train under Jasper.

This would probably her first time encountering a pack as she had been a lone wolf all her life well before she met Cullens. They were her pack. Her home. And she will not stop at nothing to keep the safe. Bella included.

“Hey sweetie, can you come down for a bit?” Esme called to her. Freya looked down to meet her mother’s face before catapulting off the branch and landing smoothly in a crouch position.

Esme smiled a bit, ‘old habits die hard I guess’ she thought as her daughter stood straight. The girl may have been raised by them for a long while and tried to teach her human etiquettes as much as possible but they cannot change the fact that Freya is still a wolf and her k9 idiosyncrasies will always been intact as habit. But they all still love her anyway.

“What is it mom?” Esme caressed her head, “This is your first time meeting wolf pack. Any last minute comments?” her daughter retorted as they walked side by side towards where her other siblings were.

“Well I am curious since I’ve been a lone wolf for quite a while. Besides, I know I can handle them. I’m the Alpha of Alphas.” Freya grinned, “Yep, and I know big sis can show those whose the real boss.”

The green-eyed girl phased her head to meet her buff younger brothers and blonde sister. Smiling at them, she transferred herself from her mother’s embrace to the buff male. “Please don’t get to rowdy Em. You’re ass might end up on the floor of you keep being sassy.” With an eye-roll he replied with his wife sighing-ly smiled at her husband, “Yes sister, you know still don’t get why we let you be our elder sister when you are distinctively in a body of a sixteen year old. If you ever had a boyfriend, people might sue him for pedophilia.” Freya’s mouth shot open as her face contorted into disbelief as she was clearly offended. Rosalie and Esme stared at each other, eyes wide and awkward echoing the same thought in their minds.

‘Oohh he’s gonna get it.’

Carlisle and Edward stood in good approximate from where Sam Uley’s pack gathered. He was just in the middle of explaining about the difference of the New Borns when…

“*BLAGHH*”

Emmette’s figure flew above them and hitting a tree before falling to the ground. Everyone’s attention turned to his groaning figure trying to stand and then came a, “YOU LITTLE SHIT! I’LL PUT GARLIC OIL IN YOUR CESAR SALAD FOR A WEEK!!” from the clearing came an angry Freya, stomping her way to where Emmette stood.

Esme and Rosalie had arrived, the former being the making way beside her husband to report the sudden commotion while the latter stood from a few steps, trying to keep herself from bursting out laughing and feeling a tinge of guilt for laughing at her soulmate.

“Emmette called her little indirectly.” As much as Carlisle wanted to laugh, he held himself as he was in the middle of a serious meeting.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Come on Freya! I was just kidding! I’m sorry!” Not yet noticing her crowd, Freya grabbed his neck and had him on his feet. Her seemingly fragile and petite figure dragged him away from where landed.

Jacob had never seen this girl around the Cullens. Sam and his packed eyed in disbelief with this scene. But one thing came to their attention. Her scent, it didn’t match the Cullens not one bit.

“That’s the three hundred and twelveth time you called me out! I am older than you Emmette now you better respect me or I’ll ground you from watching any baseball game and dad won’t be able to—” “Um, Freya sweetheart.”

Her father’s smooth voice called her, breaking her plundering anger. She turned to meet his face to see him and her mother giving her an awkward smile, ‘you can kill him later sweetie.’ Their face said.

Like Rosalie. Alice, Jasper and Edward tried to hold themselves back from laughing as they were in really serious meeting. Bella was confused but had a ridiculous smile secretly etched on her lips with the way the eldest held the muscled man by the neck.

Freya turned to a swift to the pack of wolves across her. Staring at her.

“Oh..uh.. s-sorry. I’ll-I I’ll just go back here. Please continue.” Clearly embarassed she continued to scolded Emmette this time about confounding in the middle of a war meeting.

“Alright, returning back to topic. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months in this life.” Carlisle continued before turning to Jasper to continue.

The blonde male proceed his lecture about the Newborns. This time noticing Freya clearly attentive at this time of need. Not that he hadn’t told about her about the natures of Newborns before but because she knew when to take tings seriously. That’s was why she can substitute herself as head in their family, similar to an Alpha as Carlisle had entrusted her with keeping all of them safe since she is a force a lot stronger to be reckon with. The sparring began. All came in pairs showing their four-legged temporary allies how Newborns. Then came her turn.

Turning to Emmette, to Jasper and Edward. Indicating a quick nod.

“One more note, I believe this would be rather useful to all of you since you are a pack and share a connection with each other.” She trailed as they eyed her yet her eyes remained to the black wolf as if trying to emphasize something.

“Never.” Emmette appeared behind him and locked her in a headlock with no sense of holding back, “Ever. Try.” Edward and Jasper neared her immobilized figure, “To Be Alone. In a Swarm.”

Her eyes flashed the poison green glow. Making every fur in their bodies stand as if they were slashed by a blade like a samurai right before their eyes.

Her feet lifted from the ground as her momentum in a cartwheel bringing Emmette on her life causing him break his choke hold and for her hook her own arm around his neck to a choke hold and slamming him down to the dirt ground.

“Not unless your like me.” She smirked before turning with both her arms extended as she ran towards Jasper and Edward and grabbing their necks and swiftly slamming them down to the ground as well before they could even fight back.

“Remember this little Alpha.”

Recomposing herself, she turned back to Sam and began to eye all of the wolves. Making sure to meet her glowing green eyes. Staring up at her. Even the Alpha himself gazed upon her as if she was the highest being that ever existed. It was as if she was his leader, his sovereign and ruler.

“A lone wolf may die but a pack always survives.”

To the Cullens, it may sound like a reminder but to the wolves, it was more of warning especially to Sam.

It was almost like an instinct as after her warning, all of their heads lowered and whimpers dripped from their snouts. In their minds, it was if they were beneath the gaze of the beast with the fear that if they meet her glowing poisonous green orbs, it could be interpret as disrespect and cause them their damnation.

Peering to each tamed heads one by one, Freya stared down at them as she didn’t speak of the warning as a type of threat but as an advice if they want to last a night. She could sense their hatred and egotism towards their mortal enemies.

But a sound of growling caught her attention. Sam took notice of this as well and it take long before found out that its source is the grey wolf beside him.

‘Paul stop!!’

‘Paul Calm down!!!’

But the male didn’t budge. This bloodsucker had no right to order. She wasn’t his alpha and he doesn’t take orders from a girl.

Her feet crunch the forest floor with every step until it reached Paul’s lowered vision. It was moments like this that Freya liked her primordial hierarchy among the children of the moon. Her love on putting people to place gives her sense of satisfaction.

“Gaze upon me mortal creature.” Her hand hovered under his snout and my a unknown force, his head was lifted to meet her piercing eyes. But what came next was the last thing Paul Lahote would ever expect with a goddess.

#fenris #paul lahote x reader #paul lahote #twilight imagines #twilight quilette boys #twilight imagine #twilight #thorragnarok #alex meraz #x oc #fanfiction

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blog-sliverofjade · 3 years

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Of Doms & Subs 4: Bribery Will Get You Everywhere

Pairing: Angus Hopper x OFC

Summary: What's a submissive female to do when she fights her nature and goes on the run as a Lone wolf to avoid being assimilated into a pack?

Word count: 2315

Of Doms & Subs Master List

Sleeping in was something I used to enjoy. Nestled in warm sheets while the world outside continued to turn, safe in a cozy cocoon. After the Change, it was no longer so peaceful. Although the house was decently soundproofed for humans, I could hear water running as someone showered. The buzz of an electric razor. Clinking of dishes in the kitchen. After ten minutes of hiding with a pillow over my head, I gave up and burrowed out of the nest of blankets. I was just pulling my shirt on when Mickayla knocked. A thrill of pride ran through me for recognizing her scent. I was getting better at this!

“Mornin’,” I called out and she came in at the tone of invitation in my greeting.

“How was your little adventure last night?” she grinned.

“Mortifying,” I grumped while tugging a brush through my hair.

“So if I tell you that there’s a betting pool on when you’d make a break for it we can see if werewolves die of embarrassment?” Her grin deepened to flash a lot of pretty, white teeth.

“How about you give me a cut and I don’t throw my dirty, wet socks in your face?” I started to reach for the duffel full of dirty clothes. She laughed and handed me a couple of bills, which I stuffed into a pocket without counting. “Next time let me know, I’m not above taking a fall.”

“There’s going to be a next time?” A perfectly plucked eyebrow rose.

“Eugene and Seattle aren’t all that far.” I turned away to wrestle my hair into a ponytail. One look in the mirror confirmed that there was no hiding the marks from Angus’ bite, so might as well own it. “I’m sure I could get a babysitter to come with.” There, that barely had any bitterness to it.

“Don’t think of it that way,” she shook her head so that the blonde waves swayed back and forth. “Think of it more like sexy bodyguards.” I laughed in spite of myself. “Speaking of which.” There was a glint in her sea-blue eyes that suddenly made me very suspicious. “You’ll want to swear off humans for awhile until you get used to your new strength. Don’t want to break your toys.”

I stared at her in confusion until comprehension crashed over me, immediately followed by a furious blush. “That is certainly not an issue. Happily single since the divorce became final last year.”

“Ah,” said Mickayla knowingly, and I belatedly remembered with no small amount of chagrin that she was a therapist. “That’s why you’re so determined to not get involved with a pack. Too much commitment.”

“Ugh, it’s too early for psychoanalysis,” I groaned, rubbing at my face.

“Come on, cranky pants, let’s get you some breakfast. New wolves are kinda like kids. If they’re cranky, do they need food or sleep? Antsy? Then they need to go run off some energy.” She linked her arm and in mine as we set off for the kitchen.

“Gee, thanks for that glowing comparison,” I said snidely.

“And in your case, maybe caffeine.”

“Give me tea and nobody gets hurt,” I pronounced solemnly.

“Threatening bodily harm before nine am, are you sure she’s submissive?” asked a man who had come out of a room behind us, also evidently on the hunt for breakfast.

“Watch this.” Mickayla fixed me with a glare and before I even knew it my neck bent against my will till my throat was bared to her. And she hadn’t even drawn on any power. I glared at her from the corner of my eye and my face grew flaming hot.

“I wanna try,” he said. I met his dark brown eyes with no small amount of anger that he thought he could control me so easily. “How? I’m more dominant than you,” he sputtered at Mickayla in confusion. She laughed and wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders.

“She doesn’t know or respect you, Brian. Neither her or her wolf are gonna roll over for some stranger unless he seriously pulls rank. Do you think Alan would for just any old wolf?” she asked the somewhat forlorn wolf.

“Who’s Alan?” At the stairs, Mickayla released us and led the way down with Brian in back so that I was sandwiched between them. It seemed automatic, like their instincts to protect subtly guided their movements.

“Our submissive and resident quack,” Brian answered. I automatically started to bristle at labeling any healer with such an epithet. That thought was pushed out when it occurred to me that if they had both a submissive and a female, then they probably had no need of another.

“I’d like to see you call him that the next time he has to patch you up,” she said dryly.

The kitchen was sized and equipped to feed a small army. Come to think of it, was there any difference between that and a pack? People moved in vaguely organized chaos, piling plates with bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, and various baked goods before moving to the dining room on the far side. Mickayla reached around someone, who was busy wrestling the Danish that he wanted from the rest of the basket, grabbed two plates and handed one to me. Being small meant I could easily dart around and through people to get in and out quickly, but I had no idea what the protocol was for seating arrangements so I stuck close to Mickayla and Matt, who’d joined us.

I had never seen a dining table so big, at least a dozen people were already sitting and there was room for more. It was obviously custom made. The kitchen also had a table that was pushed up against the main one so that everyone could be seated. I gave Mickayla raised eyebrows in question.

“You get our fearless leader’s right hand side. Normally that’s Tom’s, Angus’ second, but since he’s not here you get it as our honoured guest,” she said with only a hint of teasing. I gave her a grateful look before taking the seat in question. I stifled my surprise when she and Matt sat to my left. Evidently they were high in the hierarchy to sit next to the second, which I thought was a silly term when Beta would have made much more sense.

“Shane and Matt will be ready to hit the road by 10:30,” Angus said casually after I’d made some headway into my meal, trying my best to ignore him. Why he thought I’d be safer with two strange werewolves than on my own, I would never understand. But Matt couldn’t be all bad if Mickayla had married him.

“So soon?” I asked just as casually as I liberally doused my hashbrowns with salt and pepper. “I thought I might stick around and get to know ya’ll better. If I have to give up my job, there’s not much of a reason to go back to Oregon right away. Unless that would be an issue?” Put two or more intelligent beings in a room together and politics could spontaneously erupt in a vacuum. Visiting a pack in another state before even meeting the one back home could potentially cause more than an eruption.

The room went eerily silent as the others waited to see what their Alpha would say. Most of them seemed to be mildly surprised and curious. I was pretty sure they had all noticed the mark on my neck, but no one had said anything nor given it a second glance. Despite the weird fluttery feeling of fear in my chest, I managed to actually look him in the face. Not the eye, of course, but his strong chin, which was one of his few physical aspects that said Alpha. Maybe that was because I always had trouble seeing men with weak chins as dominant.

“The Eugene Pack was hard-pressed to welcome you on such short notice, so no feathers will be ruffled. And despite what that crazy lone wolf might have put in your head, you are free to travel.” He gave a small smile that eased some of the tension that had somehow crept into my shoulders. I was no Helen of Troy, but the apparent rarity of submissive females and the territoriality of werewolves could create a powder keg waiting to go off. As much as I enjoyed yanking his chain, any fallout could affect both packs and they didn’t deserve that.

Mickayla made a “gimme” gesture at Brian, who sat a few seats down from her. He sighed and handed her a twenty-dollar bill. “Haven’t you learned not to bet against my mate yet?” Matt shook his head.

“Hey, didn’t she only go out with you because of a bet?” Brian retorted.

“Yeah, and even though I won, I still ended up losing,” Mickayla said with mock ruefulness. The banter and round of chuckles said that it was an old joke.

“Speaking of sore losers,” I said to her with a pointed look, “I have some wet, dirty socks in dire need of a wash if there’s a washing machine I could use?”

“I’ll show you where we keep our poor beleaguered beast chained up in the basement,” Shane offered as he stood up with his empty plate. I followed suit since I was done as well. Mickayla surreptitiously slipped me a tenner as I passed, which immediately went into my back pocket.

“Don’t scare the poor girl!” someone called out.

“Eh, she’s seen your face and it hasn’t run her off yet.” The teasing faded only slightly as I tagged along behind Shane.

“O captain, my captain,” Mickayla said without a trace of mockery. There never was with her. “If I may beg an audience?” I nodded with a small smile that conveyed exactly what I thought of her false formality.

“Since it’s our duty to woo the new girl, some of us were thinking of showing her around town,” Mickayla said once we were ensconced in my office. I had a suspicion that the others she was thinking of had no inkling of their implication in her plotting yet.

“Considering how she navigated rush hour traffic to evade Tom, I’d say she knows the area pretty well.” Neither the wolf nor I liked the idea of Ellie leaving our sight. I propped one hip on my desk without a care that it put my head slightly lower than if I were standing. Like most of my wolves, she was taller than me anyway and she had never been anything other than proper. Oh sure, she would skirt the bounds of propriety when the situation allowed for it, but never in a manner that would call my authority into question.

“It might be good for her to get out and see that we’re not as draconian as that John made us out to be.” Translation: prove to her she’s not going to lose all of her freedom or she’ll bolt again.

“If you are going to manipulate me, you’re going to have to do a better job than that.” While her point was valid, I was not about to let her think I would cave so easily.

“You can talk at her until you’re blue in the face, but she won’t understand the benefits of a pack until she sees it,” said Mickayla. “She’s only staying because the evil that you know is better and partly to tweak your tail.” I raised an eyebrow at that observation. “Ellie’s a modern woman suddenly thrown into submissive wolf mentality and those instincts scare the daylight out of her. So she’s going to make us all work for it before she settles down.”

“Dominance is dictated by a person’s nature before the Change,” I shook my head. “She’s submissive because she was as a human.”

“I think her ex-husband did a number on her, or maybe John, or both,” she said with a small frown, which I mirrored at the thought of what might have happened to her. “That’s why she’s so prickly with any male who tries to play power games with her, like verbally bitch-slapping the guys last night. If she can relax where there aren’t so many wolves, she might tell me more.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked after regarding her thoughtfully for several beats. Part of that time was spent contemplating tearing apart Ellie’s ex.

“Hit Pike’s Place until she realizes she’s not ready for so much public. One or two of us should be able to help her keep control.” Mickayla’s smile was far too predatory to belong on the face of a therapist.

“One of the biggest tourist traps on a three-day weekend?” I asked in disbelief and gave her the look that idea deserved.

“She still thinks of herself as human and she’s likely to screw up pretty badly until she sees that. The sooner we get that out of the way, the sooner she might calm down,” she pointed out.

“Take Matt and Shane with you,” I sighed and waved at her to go. Not only were they good muscle, but they were both married, even if Shane’s wife was human.

“Technically this is pack business, especially since she would work well with Alan, both as a medic and a sub.” If she’d said anyone other than Alan, my hackles would’ve gone up. Their temperaments, although both being submissive, weren’t suited for mating. And I got the feeling that Ellie liked her men dominant, despite what she may say. I affected a much put-upon sigh, drew out my wallet, selected a credit card, and passed it to the blonde. She accepted it with both hands, kissed the simple ring on my middle finger, then flashed a smile and a wink before dashing off to find her charge.

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raevenlywrites · 3 years

Text

Raev’s Find The Word

@ashiiknees tagged me to find the words cough, narrow, hurt, and complicated. Been playing with How To Date A Jewish Werewolf, so lets pull from that

Cough

“How bout lunch?”

Aaron brightened. "You smell it?"

Chris laughed. "Of course I smell it. Your whole house smells amazing. Plus Bex told me lunch comes after service. ...How was it?"

Chris sounded tentative, and he had to wonder if that was just the not knowing anything about his religion part or the smelling his tension without realizing it part. Or maybe just the knowing this was something that had been stressing him out because she actually listened when he talked part.

"It was fine." He sat back up with an exhaled breath. "Nostalgic. Too early in the morning. Uplifting--aside from David and Dad "not fighting" about not fighting." His eyes flicked to the kitchen. Wolves would hear everything said in this house, at any volume, so there was no point in whispering.

"Hes still mad at me for quitting my life. Dad has misgivings too, but he's adamant about keeping his Shabbat. Tomorrow's troubles will still be there tomorrow. But I wont be, so David wanted to tell at me now and just--"

He shook his head.

Whatever he might have said after that was cut off by a cough from his father, standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen.

“Come, eat. We can talk and eat at the same time. Be with your family while you’re here. We miss you.”

Aaron nodded with a rueful smile, standing and offering his hand to Chris to take her to lunch.

Narrow

“Tell you what,” she said, rolling her head to look up at him. “You order, I’ll eat. So long as there’s cheese on my burger, I’m good.”

He gave her a side eye. “Anything?”

She nodded.

“Sweet?” Nod. “Spice?” Nod. His eyes narrowed on her, then he scanned the menu more thoroughly, just sure there was something she wouldn’t like, and just as sure he’d accidentally order it.

Chris laughed and sat up. “I promise, I didn’t see anything on the menu that I didn’t like. That’s part of the problem, I can’t narrow it down. So long as you don’t prank me with anchovies, I’m good.”

He snorted, nose wrinkling in distaste. “I can’t trust anyone who doesn’t like anchovies. They’re like, nature’s flavor bombs. Great on burgers.”

“Flavor bombs?” She laughed, partially just at the face he was making. “Salty, fishy flavor maybe.”

Chris tapped the menu. “You can prove me wrong another time. No anchovy burgers.”

He raised his hands in defeat. “Fine, fine—I’ll just make you buy me pizza for dinner tomorrow after class. You’ll be too tired to argue, and then the noble little fishies can plead their own case with their awesome flavorosity.”

Hurt

He snickered. “A fake to-do list huh? Trying to throw Mr. Won’t Take the Hint off your scent?”

Chris groaned, head falling back dramatically. Then she had to quickly look down as her balance wobbled on the cracked sidewalk.

“He’s such an ass. I know you were joking, but I legit had to lie about what I was doing Friday because he has a company party this week and he thinks us breaking up is going to hurt his chances at a promotion for some reason.”

He thought about asking “So what are you doing Friday?” but thought that maybe angling for a third not-date before they’d even been on the first one was pushing it. Especially on the tails of a bad break up. Just because he was ready to move on from his didn’t mean she was from hers.

Complicated

Which reminded her of Lyndsey and food. "Is there any wolf things I should know about food stuff? I know I opted out of the wolf stuff at wing night, but uh, I think that ship sailed."

His fingers drummed the wheel as he thought. “Okay. So wolf stuff. With the family, it won’t apply, because familial relationship beats out any wolfy politics, but the short version is this: Mom and Dad are the top dogs in the group, and will be giving us all food because they are top dogs. We will accept the food and thank them, because we want to keep receiving food. If you were a ranked wolf, you would be bringing them some kind of food, and what you brought and how they prepared it would make all kinds of social statement. But again, since it’s just family dinner—and since you’re coming to mom for help as a new wolf—it doesn’t apply.”

She blinked at all that and sighed, letting her head rest against the seat. "God, it sounds... complicated. I mean, when I don't have the excuse of being new."

He reached over and patted her knee. “I doubt it’ll ever come up. Unless you suddenly decide you want to devote all your time and energy to being a ranked wolf, you’ll just be able to ride on your alpha’s coattails.” He sighed, a little ruefully. “And if you decide you want to stay with Lyndsey and us, no one will expect anything from you anyway. We are the weird kids’ table in the lunchroom of life.”

She rested her hand over his, enjoying letting her fingers explore his hand. "Lyndsey's a little weird, but I don't think you're that weird."

He rewarded her with a warm smile. “I am the least weird of the weirdos. And I’m Jewish and braid cosplay wigs for fun.”

"Yeah, but the way you swing your sword makes up for the hair stuff, according to Mel." Chris ran her hand up his to squeeze his wrist. "I like that you like braiding hair."

He snickered at the mention of Mel, who he found more delightful now that he’d had time to process her. Then he went all soft inside again at the tone in Chris’s voice when she talked about braiding hair.

“I’d be happy to braid your hair for you any time you like. All you have to do is ask.”

Tagging back @my-liminal-spaces @faesongwrites @quillwritten and anyone else who’d like to do it. Your words are: Comfort, Morning, Classic, and Challenge

How To Date a Jewish Werewolf Tag

@rainy-rose @write-the-stars-and-shadows @therecouldbecolorsandlove @souliloquyyy @indecentpause @theramwrites @adventuresofacreesty

#tag games #writeblr tag games #tag you're it #find the word #how to date a jewish werewolf #oc aaron #my writing tag

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