#I think it would be cool if vampires had that weird snake mouth thing

[hatoddity]

HAD TO DELETE TGE ORIGINAL POST BECAUSE I FORGOT TO ADD THE ACTUAL IMAGE IMA DUMBASS))

I thought I was free of this game, but that lasted maybe a day… anyways here’s a lill monsta au !! I’ll probably post more of this later if I have the motivation (hint! Alien & golem)

(Heavily inspired by @peachygos artwork of something jus like this because I’m very unoriginal and their art makes my brain explode in a good way)

#Ace attorney #Phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #monster au #I think it would be cool if vampires had that weird snake mouth thing #Give vampires cooler mouth’s #Tempted to post old fantasy au art #Fanart

[skullhaver]

It's 2021, and I'm watching Buffy for the first time.

The Virgil on my Buffy journey is my long-distance girlfriend, who has loved the show for years. We just finished season 4, and I wanted to write about my favorite episodes so far. I suspect some of my faves are beloved by most fans, but others are weird, personal picks. Buffy fandom, please don't come for me.

I thought this post would be short but I was wrong.

Hono(u)rable Mentions: "Band Candy" S3E6 and "Halloween" S2E6

Both these episodes have fun premises where the Scoobies run around Sunnydale after it was upended by zany, chaotic dark forces. "Band Candy" is fun for devil-may-care teen Giles. "Halloween" is fun for 18th-century-ditz Buffy. These are both very good, and are the sorts of episode I can imagine happily rewatching in the future. I just have more to pontificate upon for the other episodes on this list.

10. "Ted" S2E11

I can’t say I enjoyed this episode, but it did take me for a wild ride. Probably nobody else has strong feelings about this weird story where Buffy's mom dates a stereotypical cheesy family man, who turns out to be a controlling abuser, who turns out to be a robot. I remember shouting at the screen, "Did Buffy just kill a human man?? Is it okay in the moral logic of this show for Buffy to kill a human if he's a direct physical threat to her??" I knew Buffy would have deeper stories than the monster of the week formula we'd seen so far, but this early in season 2, I had no idea when or how that would happen. This was the episode that finally taught me that Buffy is largely not interested in moral ambiguity, or in exploring what it means to be good or bad. Except for season-defining exceptions like Faith and Angel, evil characters are simplistically, essentially evil. But it was wild to believe for a moment that Buffy murdered her mom's abusive boyfriend and would have to live with the consequences.

9. "Helpless" S3E12

When Buffy tries to be genuinely scary, it succeeds with aplomb. The premise of this episode is dumb and contrived ("Giles has to remove Buffy's powers without her knowledge for a seeeecret test by the Watcher's Council") but the chase and fight in this episode are some of the most tense and spooky scenes of the whole series so far. Buffy's vulnerability makes the stakes feel real in a way few other episodes manage. And Buffy's victory is all the more satisfying because she can't punch her way out of this problem, she has to be smart and creative. The fridge horror, of course, is that Giles would endanger her like this in the first place, but that gets sorted out over the emotional arc of the next few episodes.

8. "I Only Have Eyes For You." S2E19

Another spooky episode, this one a classic ghost story of forbidden love ending in murder - but with the twist that the ghosts possess people's bodies to have them reenact their final moments. I love stories about breaking a doomed-to-repeat cycle. I love weird shit like the snakes manifesting in the cafeteria. And I really loved the choice to have Buffy and Angel come to understand their feelings about their own relationship by embodying these ghosts - especially how they embodied different genders than their own to better fit the "roles" of the haunting story, thus subverting the expected pattern. I found this episode clever, poignant, and effective.

7. "Who Are You?" S4E16

"Faith and Buffy switch bodies" is a wild premise, but the real joy of "Who Are You?" is watching Sarah Michelle Geller being an extremely talented actress for 45 minutes, portraying a totally different character. Watching Faith confronted by kindness and love from Buffy's mom, Riley, and her friends, then getting launched into an existential crisis over it is so great. Also, I just dig a good church fight.

6. "Hush" S4E10

As stated above, love an episode that reminds me that these people are talented actors! Featuring demons that render all of Sunnydale unable to talk, we get to watch great physical comedy right next to tense, silent fight scenes. The visual creepiness of the Gentleman and their straight-jacketed weird little helpers is hard to beat. "Hush" is such a clever episode that it ascends monster of the week status to become almost Twilight Zone-esque. Also, for the first time, Buffy sees Riley doing his Initiative thing, and Riley sees Buffy being the Slayer, but they can't talk about it?? That's good shit.

5. "The Wish" S3E9

Both "Something Blue" and "The Wish" feel like the writers decided to use fanfic premises on their own show... so obviously I like them a lot. But getting to watch a dark timeline AU with interesting world-building and attention to detail, a hilarious and horrifying Cordelia POV, AND a smirking kinky vampire Willow? Hello?? And the fact that the Wishverse comes up again in "Doppelgänger" (another truly fun episode) only improves my opinion. I imagine this is the kind of episode fans simply love coming back to.

4. "Restless" S4E22

This David Lynch-ass dream sequence was a weird choice for a season finale, but an extremely ambitious and cool episode. I should say up front that I love David Lynch-ass dream shit. There were creative and well-executed scene transitions as characters moved seamlessly from one dream room into another. Several memorably neat shots - Willow running between endless curtains as she tries to get onstage, Buffy alone in a vast desert with a weirdly high camera angle. And I got myself all excited thinking that the First Slayer would maybe become a different kind of antagonist - maybe not even fully revealed in this episode, or maybe an Id-like aspect of Buffy herself. But I forgot Whedon gonna Whedon, so the First Slayer had to be someone Buffy could punch in the end. And the First Slayer is sadly yet another primitive-themed, emotionally-stunted character of color for this show. Most of her lines in this episode are literally voiced by a white woman speaking for her, and of all the dumb quips to make, Buffy had a line about her hair being unprofessional? Also, I'm a lesbian, so the fact that the most explicit act of intimacy between Willow and Tara this show has allowed us to see occurs in Xander's horny dream sequence... it’s unforgivable, Joss. This episode was one of my favorites ever, deeply marred by some bad writing choices.

3. "Lovers Walk" S3E8

Spike, perhaps the best non-Willow character in this show, is back in Sunnydale, a hilariously heartbroken mess of a man, hell-bent on getting his former girlfriend Drusilla back. (Drusilla left him for a fungus demon.) So Spike breaks into a magic shop to get ingredients for a love spell, where he runs into Willow, who is getting ingredients for a de-lusting spell, because she is worried she and Xander will be too thirsty to behave appropriately in public with their actual partners, Oz and Cordelia. This is a hilarious moment just to exist. This is all the episode needed to do to satisfy me. But the fact that Spike then kidnaps Willow, and it ends with tragic stakes of everyone's relationships coming apart, not to mention me genuinely thinking Cordelia was dead for a minute there - wow. Chef’s kiss. The episode is balanced shockingly well between Spike being an ominous villain, and being the sort of lovable semi-evil (more gremlin-like) side character he'll become in season 4. What a wild ride.

2. "Graduation Day" S3E21-22

I'm counting this two part season finale as one because it's my list and I'll do what I want. "Graduation Day" feels like a quintessential Buffy episode executed to perfection. It has Buffy reaffirming her position as a moral heroine, sacrificing her own blood to save Angel's life even when she thought she had to kill Faith to save him. It has Buffy and Faith (or Buffy/Faith, as I prefer to think of them) getting to square off in a dramatic, tough fight. It has a lot of Mayor Wilkins, a character I truly adore for some reason. Nothing like a public administrator who plays mini golf in his office, wants you to chew with your mouth closed, and will kill a graduating class of high schoolers to gain immortality. The catharsis of the whole school getting to fight back against evil, instead of just Buffy against the world - a real joy. This episode misses the top spot for two reasons. "A special vampire poison and the only cure is the blood of a Slayer" is too contrived for me to let slide, and also I had to see Cordelia and Wesley kiss.

1. "Becoming" S2E21-22

Buffy’s season finales really do have good stories and satisfying payoff. First off, Buffy starts this episode by punching a cop and fleeing from the law. Later, Spike also punches a cop. A.k.a., Buffy said blue lives don't matter. Second - I haven't gotten a chance to comment on this yet, but all throughout season 2, evil Angel is such a joy to watch. As regular Angel, David Boreanaz makes exactly one face ("I am a kicked, angsty puppy") and bless his heart, it gets so tiresome. As evil Angel, he is so expressive, dynamic and terrifyingly creative in his badness. And I love his weird threesome energy with Spike and Drusilla. But also, it's so hard to watch Buffy suffer as she deals with her evil boyfriend doing evil things. Her ultimate choice in this episode, to kill Angel even as Willow's spell restores his soul, gave me some real big feels! Also, this episode marks the first moment of Willow doing big, plot-shifting magic on her own, solidifying her transformation from computer nerd to witch! 

Also, shout-out to the many good smaller moments in this episode: Spike making awkward small talk with Buffy's mom, Buffy constantly dunking on Principle Snyder, and Giles being tortured by visions of Miss Calendar (RIP Miss Calendar, I was your biggest fan.)

"Becoming" is an excellent season finale and the kind of Buffy episode I imagine I will want to re-watch in the future just for nostalgia's sake.

#buffy the vampire slayer #guess i will tag this and just engage in pvp if it happens #buffy fandom in 2021 i don't know you but please be nice #this was fun to write #i guess i do like this show!

[concealeddarkness13]

I Have Embraced the Fact that I will Always Have a New Story Idea...

Yes, a new one. I’m having fun with it. I’ll see how long it will stick around. Tagging: @ratracechronicler and @merigreenleaf!

Of course, this is a new world, but this will be closely linked to my Isolation Story and Metalblood, so there will be characters from there showing up! 

Humans are a minority on this world, and the other species want to control them because humans are pretty scary to them (think the humans are weird Tumblr). There will be four main species I’ll be focusing on in this story, but there are more than that. The species hunt humans to pretty much have them as pets and feed on them if the species is predatory. Some individuals in the species also try to be romantic with their humans (kind of like paranormal romances, with the humans being considered as the paranormal ones). Mostly, they do not kill humans because they have learned that it is easier if they keep their prey alive. There is also a nefarious group that likes to experiment on humans on this planet and try to give them magic. I only know the name of two of the species, so please bear with me. 

The first species is partially based on snakes, so for a temporary name, I’ll be referring to them as Snakes. They have snake scales where their skin would be (all these species are humanoid, sorry), and the scales have the same kind of patterns that normal snakes have. The scales are really strong, so they are protected against a lot of attacks, except on their chest and belly because there are no scales there. They have retractable fangs, and they feed on human blood, but when they bite, they secrete something that causes the prey to secrete dopamine, so the prey actually views the act of the Snake sucking their blood as good. It can lead to addiction, similar to drug addiction. They do have venom they can release if they bite down twice in two seconds that will kill their prey, but they don’t want to kill them, so they rarely use it. The Snakes are cold blooded, but they grow hair that they keep long because they can secrete something that can warm them or cool them down, but it’s only activated when it comes in contact with air. So, the hair can keep them from getting overheated or too cold. They look pretty human-like in order to not intimidate their prey.

The next species is called Calyptra (based on the vampire moth), and they also eat their prey’s blood. They have colorful skin, like a butterfly’s wings, and their backs especially have a pattern like wings. They look delicate and probably fae-like. Their eyes are all one color, whichever color they are. Their tongues are like the vampire moth’s tongue, which drills into the skin of its victim to suck their blood. Calyptras’s saliva acts as an anesthetic, so the bite does not hurt, and they secrete some kind of scent that persuades the prey to feel the emotion the Calyptra wants them to feel. 

The next species is one that I have already come up with, but I wasn’t sure what planet they lived on. This species is the Kage aliens. I will explain about them again just in case. They look like living shadows, the darkness forming a vaguely human form. The only things visible in the darkness are their eyes and their teeth when they open their mouths. Their young are parasitic, while the adults just hunt their prey. They have evolved to be able to command their prey to do anything, and they have to obey if the prey is within a certain radius from the Kage. The Kage are cold to the touch, and they love to feel human warmth. 

The last species is a species that lives in the mountains and eat animals that are not humans. They aren’t predators to humans, but they are still wary of humans and want to control them. They have different colored skin (like purple or green, etc.), they are normally strong, and they have large, pointy teeth that stick out of their mouths when they are fully grown. Their society favors fighting, so they normally fight against the humans they have captured, and after a human proves to be strong, they are jovial and protective of that human. (I’m picturing them looking kind of like orcs, and they’re awesome!) They’re probably the group humans want to get captured by the most if they had a choice.

I am planning on having three POV characters (all humans): two women and one man. I’ll mention one of the women and the man now since I don’t know tons about them yet. The man is being held by the nefarious group and is being experimented on. He doesn’t know much about the outside world anymore, and the nefarious group has told him horrible things, so he doesn’t want to escape. One of the women has been captured by a Calyptra for years now and is resigned to her fate, but something happens, and she finds a reason to fight again.

I know more about the other POV woman. I don’t know her real name, but she is fond of being called Limina, so that’s mostly what she uses. But since she’s hiding from the people who are trying to capture her, she keeps changing her name, while still referring to herself as Limina in her head. She has had a surgery to make her teeth sharp, and she wears contacts to make her pupils into slits to make herself less recognizable as a human. She also changes looks every few hours as well. She’s kind of a dumbass, but she is smart about getting out of situations that seem impossible. She’s a flirt (probably pansexual), and she enjoys the thrill of getting away from people pursuing her. (Think Triel from Bring Me That Horizon but somehow even more chaotic.)

There is someone who has been pursuing her for years. So much so, that they have both gotten to know each other, and they even trust each other. He is a Snake, and his name is Creen. By the time the story starts, he’s actually given up on capturing her, but he has to make a show of it for his employer. They flirt while they fight, and they have all the antagonistic speeches. And they both know that if one of them was in danger, they could go to the other one and they’d be safe. So far, it’s a platonic friendship.

#blood tw #writeblr #I actually want to write a short scene or two with Limina #so you might be seeing more about her soon!

[bang-to-the-tan]

Moth to Flame

Chapter 14

Reader x OT7

► Vampire!AU

Smut/Porn With Some Plot

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Mentions of Anal Sex, Slight Stockholm Syndrome?, Possessiveness, Vampires (Biting, Blood-Sucking, Reference to Death), Language

↳ Summary: Robbed of your memories and intended as a birthday present for a deadly creature of the night, you unwittingly become the center of a territorial dispute between two covens of vampires. Tensions are rising and the brothers are getting hungry…

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“And how are we doing today?”

You hum into your coffee with a grimace, eyes not straying from the television. 

Hoseok somehow takes your grim silence as an invitation to get closer, vaulting himself over the edge of the couch and plopping down beside you with a deep noise of personal satisfaction. A sharp breath of pain leaves your throat when the bounce jostles you, your legs, your abused holes. 

“Sorry,” he adds, quick, and you almost believe him. When you throw a tired look his way, he’s got this weird half-smile on, lips stretched straight across his face. It pushes his cheeks up into his eyes. When your gazes meet, he waggles his brows at you. It’s so close to cute, but you aren’t in the mood. “How are you feeling?”

“Are you going to keep asking me that until I answer?” you mutter, turning back to the tv. 

“Yeah, probably.”

“I’m feeling shitty.” 

“How’s your ass?”

“Feels shitty.”

“Yoongi really gave it to you yesterday.”

“He did indeed.” You take another careless sip of your coffee. This morning, you managed to complain loud enough to Namjoon that he went and got you milk and sugar for it before he left to go and do his mysterious ‘vampire stuff’. It’s still way too strong, but at least palatable. You even had a croissant when you got up—real food. Not exactly a king’s breakfast, but something. He promised to fill the cupboards for you when he got back, and you intend to keep him to it.  

“When is it my turn?” 

“We aren’t taking turns.”

“Weird, that’s not what you said yesterday.”

“Can I help you Hoseok? I’m trying to watch my show.”

There’s a pause. 

“Animal planet?” 

“I like the little furry things.”

“Same.”

“I’m not talking about genitals.”

“Oh. Then I take it back.” 

Silence sinks back in and you go back to absently imagining throttling him, half-listening to the narrator talk ceaselessly about mongoose. Mongeese? The little guy on the screen takes down a snake and damn near bites its head off. Wouldn’t it be cool if you had sharp little teeth and quick reflexes like that? Not sure the ego trip is worth it, though. Present company very much included.

“You aren’t getting rid of me today.” Oh, good. He’s decided to continue talking. 

“Am I not?”

“No yoga studio today. Joon’s going looking for covens. Even Yoongi’s headed out. It’ll just be you and me.”

“Oh, good. Just what I wanted.”

Hoseok chuckles, the sound far too low in his chest. “I know it is.” 

“No fucking today, Hoseok,” you throw pleading, exasperated look at him, shoulders sagging. “Come on, I’m seriously hurting.”

He raises his hands, palms forward, in a sign of surrender. He makes an expression that’s all innocence, wrongfully accused. “I’m just teasing you, pretty girl. It’s okay. We won’t do anything. If you wanna chill and watch your boring animal planet, that is all you’ll do.” 

Uh-huh. Right. 

“I’ll tell Namjoon.” You threaten. 

“Ooooh. Wouldn’t wanna get in trouble with the boss.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“Hey.” Yoongi’s deep drawl comes from behind the sofa. You pay no mind to the shiver that slinks down your frame at just the sound of his voice. “I’m going out.”

“Hey.” you and Hoseok echo at the same time. 

“Did a good job on the couch,” Hoseok pipes up, cheerful. “Can’t even really tell there was a foursome on it 24 hours ago. Mostly.”

“Thanks.” 

You don’t hear him moving. Is he watching the show with you? You can’t tell. What do you suppose Yoongi’s opinion of mongoose is? Are?

“Hey,” he says again, quieter. 

“Hey?” you mumble, sensing that he might be addressing you.

“I...I’m sorry. For yesterday.”

“Sorry about fucking your ass like a maniac,” Hoseok clarifies helpfully. “Imagine that on a card.”

Yoongi ignores him. “I’m gonna go...try and get something to eat. I’m sorry...for what I said.” He draws a breath through his teeth. “Threatening.” 

“...it’s okay.” you say after a beat. 

“I’m sorry for the other things I said, too. Calling you stuff.”

“It’s fine, Yoongi.” It isn’t fine, not really. You aren’t sure how you feel about being called a slut when they’re no better, but the threatening to kill you feels like it should be crossing a very specific line. On the other hand...you can’t shake the sense that he’s being honest. Like he’s actually sorry. You won’t look at him, though. You know exactly what kind of look he has on his face. The kind of deeply hungry look etched into his very skin. And if he’s any worse off than he was yesterday, you aren’t sure either of you would survive if you made eye contact. 

Out of the corner of your vision, you catch movement. A long, veiny hand, hovering over the couch. You’re afraid for a moment that it might be reaching for you, but instead, he drifts towards Hoseok’s shoulder. It hesitates, as if waiting for a reprimand, but eventually touches down and curls faintly, familiarly. 

“Sorry for hazing you, Hope.”

Hoseok snorts. But his tone is genuine as you’ve ever heard him. “It’s alright. I know you aren’t okay.”

“I mean it.” He's oddly insistent. “I won’t do it again without permission.” 

Hoseok nods, pouting absently. “‘Kay.” 

Yoongi’s hand lingers before it slips off, and you aren’t sure what, exactly, sort of vibe is filling the atmosphere. 

“Good luck,” Hoseok adds, oddly gentle.  

“Thanks.” You can hear him travelling down the hallway to the front door. He has a habit of dragging his feet. The door is, by comparison, almost unbearably loud, and when it shuts, it shuts everything into a muted silence.

There’s a blissful quiet, but you can tell that Hoseok isn’t the kind of person to stay quiet for very long. He starts twitching, sniffing, scratching his neck, trying and failing to feign interest in your show.

“Heard you met Jackson.”

There it is. It’s begun. You resist the urge to sigh. “Yep.” 

“What did you think about Yugyeom?” 

“Who?”

“The baby of the coven. Sweet kid.”

“I didn’t meet any of the others.”

“Oh.”

Again, a silence settles between you. The mongoose on screen darts furiously, little legs spurring it over terrain with that kind of desperation that small animals are so good at. 

“Mark’s nice, too.”

“Do you really have nothing better to do?” You crane to peer at him in exasperation, brow furrowed. 

“I want to hang out with you.” Funny, considering he isn’t looking you in the eye. 

“We haven’t interacted at all unless it was for sex.”

“I know!” He throws up his hands, flopping backwards dramatically. “That’s the thing! But Namjoon seems to be really caught up in you. I’m curious, okay?” 

“I don’t know what to tell you but all you’re doing is making things awkward.”

“No.” There’s a weird tone in his voice that convinces you to look back to him. His grin has disappeared, and when he shrugs, it’s heavy, like the world is up there. “No, I don’t have anything better to do. And, I...honestly, not to be mean, but I can’t stand animal planet, alright?”

“What psycho doesn't like animals?”

“Animals are fine, it’s not the animals, just—like, okay, I get it!” He waves at the screen. “He’s really fast and he’s gonna eat smaller things and something bigger is probably gonna eat him. I get it. Once you’ve watched one, you’ve watched all of them.”

“What would you rather do, then, huh?”

“Anything! Let’s go out.”

“I’m not leaving this couch. I cannot walk.”

“We can do anything else. Anything.”

“What if I don’t want to do something with you?”

“Sheesh, I just want to get to know you.”

“I don’t know you!” you burst, throwing your own hands ceiling ward, rolling your eyes. “I don’t know any of you! I don’t know me! So sorry not sorry, it’s tough that you’re bored, but what I wanna do is sit here and watch animal planet until my taint stops fucking hurting!”

“Do you want to?” 

“Do I want to what.”

“Know me. I don’t mind talking about it.”

“You don’t seem to mind talking, full stop.”

“You aren’t wrong,” he adds, “Anything to distract from animal planet. Anything.”

“Alright, fine.” you lean back with a huff, rolling your eyes. “Tell me your story, Hoseok. Animal planet stays on during.”

“Poor family.” he starts off much less dramatically than you’d have thought he would, just diving right into it. “Really poor. Dirt poor. Ma and Pa worked triple, just to keep food on the table. Me and my sister worked too, soon as we could, delivering papers and stuff.”

“...You have a sister?” 

“Don’t interrupt.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah.” You can hear the shuffle of the fabric, feel the displacement as he moves to copy you, sinking further into the sofa’s cushions. “I did. I got really into music, too. Music, y’know, it doesn’t care, where you’re from. What you know, who you know. Started making it. Shitty stuff, really bad.” 

“How bad?”

“Incredibly bad.”

“I believe it.”

“Don’t be rude.”

You shrug, watching a mole dig a hole and wiggle into it with a faint feeling of jealousy. “Beginners are bad.”

“Yeah, well. I got better. Once Yoongi and I met...I mean—”

You crane your head, throwing him a surprised raise of your brows. “You knew each other? Like before?”

The dark expression that flits across his face reminds you of who he is. Who he’s been to you, regardless of the person he’s talking about now. His grin isn’t friendly. “What did I say about interrupting?” he muses, low, but he cocks his head and returns his empty stare to the television. “It was like magic. He could write like the devil, make all these tracks that made you feel things...He was a music god and I prayed in his church every day I could.” 

“So the…” you make fangs on either side of your mouth with your fingers. He pretends he doesn’t see you. 

“I don’t know where he got it. He said he knew a way to the top. He said...we’d never die.” Here, he chuckles, but like the smile, there’s no warmth in it. “I thought he meant by being famous. Y’know, like a sane person.”

“Yoongi changed you?”

“Yeah. He did.”  

Hoseok shifts on the couch again, his gaze turning into thoughtful as he reminisces. The light of the television plays off his hair, his fine cheekbones and long eyelashes. You think briefly of how that must have looked. A different version of him. A hardworking boy promised a way up through the rungs of his passion. He’s kind of understandable when you think of him that way. Doesn’t excuse his behavior, in your opinion. But understandable.

“We fell out for a while. My family grew old without me. I went to my mom’s funeral in a disguise. My sister...I mean, by the end, she didn’t even recognize me.”

“...I’m sorry.”

He shrugs. “It’s how things are supposed to be. I’m just not...supposed to be stuck for them. I’m supposed to go through them too. But he was still there for me. And eventually I came back to him. Scared of being alone, I guess. Together, we met Jin and Namjoon. And that’s...I mean, that’s pretty much it.” 

The tv switches to a commercial break, and above the glare of super-powered objects that will surely change your life for the better, the shouting people telling you exactly what you’re missing, you finally enjoy a pause of real silence that lasts longer than two minutes. Hoseok seems to have fallen out of whatever chatty mood had spurred this impromptu baring of his soul, but you aren’t sure, now that you have it, whether you preferred it when he was talking. The commercial break turns to a news report and suddenly Jin’s face is appearing on the screen, handsome eyes dark and expression serious. Suit sharp, hands clasped businesslike on the table in front of him. He’s reporting on this and that, talking about celebrities you don’t know, people in offices of power that you don’t remember. None of it particularly interests either of you as far as you can tell. Neither of you really belongs here anyways.

Until a picture flashes on the screen that you immediately recognize. 

“Oh shit.” Hoseok exhales sharply next to you. You’re inclined to agree with him. 

It’s you. Standing next to Namjoon in his hoodie and Yoongi’s sweatpants, scarf wrapped carelessly about your shoulders. It’s a little blurry, but there’s no mistaking either of you, even with Namjoon halfway turned away from the camera. Ahead, the sharp lights of the store, and all around you the racks of reasonably priced outfits.

“In other news, we’ve received an anonymous tip about the whereabouts of a local wanted criminal—” Oops, you’re having a really hard time breathing. Local wanted criminal? Namjoon. Oh, fuck. “—posted on social media, with the comment, quote, ‘look at that guy—”

Hoseok moves, scrambling for his phone stashed away in his back pocket, brow furrowed. 

Those kids. Those teens. Oh, shit. 

“—do not try to engage, and instead call law enforcement with the street address—”

How can Jin stay so calm, ratting his brother out like that? You scrutinize his face in shock, looking for some indication, some way out. But he only continues on, steely, unmoved.

“—for her involvement in the riots that have been plaguing—”

Wait. 

Did he say “her”?...

“Namjoon,” Hoseok says from next to you. He must have gotten his phone out, punched in the numbers to connect him to the other man. “Yeah, uh, everything’s okay with us, but...” 

Another picture flashes on the screen. 

It’s you again. 

But this time, it’s a mugshot. Your hair’s wild. Your makeup is smeared. And there’s a look in your eyes you don’t remember ever wearing in your life. But it’s you. You see that face in the mirror as often as you can bear it. 

“—while authorities confirm, and continue the search for the suspect.” 

“Again, if you see this woman, do not engage. Report to your nearest law enforcement office as soon as you can. Stay safe.” Jin finishes.

“Namjoon, I think we have a problem.” 

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#moth to flame #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts vampire au #bts x reader #HI KENNA HOW ARE THINGS HOW ARE WE FEELING #congrats babey you got itttt #yeah this chap fuckin fought me idk #better luck next time champ lmao peaceee

[death-himself]

How I Met Your Father

Part of the Four Human-Eating Monsters and An Apathetic Florist AU!

Summary: Virgil's dad decides to come over to meet Virgil's soulmates. Who knew he'd have a story about his own run-in with a beautiful naga

Warnings: Talk of eating people

Word Count: 1,713

Previous Next (AO3 Link)

Virgil bit at his thumbnail as he mentally went through their plan. His dad was finally coming over and meeting his boyfriends. Virgil had realized that this would happen eventually, but he had never really planned for it. Patton rubbed gentle circles into his back.

“It’s gonna be alright, sweetheart. I’m sure he’ll understand.” Virgil wiped down the kitchen counters a second time, not taking his eyes away from his work.

“Everyone knows the plan, right?”

“Yup! I’m sure it’ll work out fine. The night’ll end with us all eating dinner around the table having a pleasant conversation, hopefully without him being scared of any of us.” Virgil took a deep breath.

“We’re not telling him about the cannibalism, right?”

“No human-eating talk!” Patton confirmed cheerily.

“Cool.” Virgil took a final glance around the kitchen, deeming it clean enough, before double-checking the fridge to make sure no one had crammed any body parts in there. Patton could still feel the anxiety in his stiff movements and slightly trembling hands. Once Virgil closed the fridge, Patton gently wrapped his arms around his shoulders, nuzzling into his back.

“If things don’t go well, I could wipe his memory of it and we could try again some other time. Only if you were okay with that, though.” Virgil hummed, enjoying the feeling of Patton’s cold arms wrapped around him. He didn’t like the idea of Patton mind-controlling anyone, much less his own dad. But in this case...

“We’ll keep that idea on hold.” Just in case he destroyed his relationship with this. Patton smiled, laying a kiss on Virgil’s back. He pulled away and checked the time.

“Your dad said four o’clock, right? He should be here soon.”

“Oh crap.” Virgil ran down the hall, nearly running into Logan as he swung the bedroom door open. Janus and Roman were already lying there, painting each other’s nails. Janus jumped slightly at Virgil’s entrance, looking him up and down for a moment before going back to what he was doing.

“Did you need to grab something before your father got here?”

“Just...wanted to check on you guys.” Virgil walked over to the bed, shoving a part of Janus’s tail out of the way before taking a seat. “You guys are gonna be quiet, right?”

“You act like that’s hard for us to do.” Roman spoke. Virgil stared at him until he noticed, causing him to huff in an annoyed fashion. “Okay, fair point. But we’ll try our best! We don’t want to ruin what you have.”

“You told your brother about this, right? He won’t be crashing through the window like he does pretty much every Friday night?”

“I told him, Emile’s keeping him distracted.” Virgil nodded to himself, trying to think of anything he might be missing. Janus put a hand on Virgil’s cheek.

“It’s going to be fine. This will work out. You, Logan, and I came up with the plan ourselves, so the chances of it going wrong aren’t very likely.”

“Well that’s optimistic.” Virgil mumbled. There was a knock on the door, causing Virgil to bolt up off the bed. “Alright, well...just stay quiet in here. I’ll call you guys in when he’s ready.” He practically ran out the door. Patton had already opened the front door, welcoming and introducing himself to Virgil’s father.

Virgil skidded to a stop once he got to the living room, giving his dad an awkward smile and wave, glancing quickly at Patton to make sure he had donned his human disguise.

“Pretty nice place you found here, Vee. Next to a forest too, huh?” Virgil’s dad spoke as he took a look around.

“Yeah. Good for photography and plants and stuff.” He didn’t want to mention the drider cave in walking distance from his home.

“Well, that suits you alright.” Logan came in in his human form, introducing himself to the father. They had all sat down around the coffee table, allowing Virgil’s dad to get to know them a bit before revealing anything to him. By the time he had been there for a full hour and Logan had begun making dinner, Virgil decided it was time to spill.

“So, uh...dad, about my soulmates—” He gestured awkwardly to Patton and Logan, “—they’re not exactly human.” Virgil’s father stared blankly, his mind seeming to have malfunctioned. Patton glanced at Virgil nervously, before shedding his human disguise.

“Mr. Sanders, I know this is probably really weird and scary, and maybe difficult to understand, but I’m a vampire, and Logan’s a ghoul.”

“We are not planning on eating your son if you have concerns about that.” Logan added. Virgil’s dad nodded slowly, glancing between the two.

“Huh.” He thought for a moment. “So are you two dead, or did you come to life or—”

“We were kinda born like this.” Patton answered. “Our parents and siblings are vampires and ghouls, too.”

“Okay...so what about your other soulmates? Where are they, actually?” Virgil furrowed his brow, confused at how calmly he was taking this.

“They’re in the bedroom. I could have them come out if you wanna meet them.” His dad nodded eagerly, only adding to Virgil’s confusion as he ran to the bedroom to call them out.

His father’s eyes passed right over Roman, only to land on Janus, staring with a somewhat nostalgic look in his eyes. “A naga, huh?” He chuckled to himself. “What, does seducing snakes run in the family?”

“I’m sorry, what?” His dad’s smile widened as he seemed to prepare himself to tell a story he had been waiting his whole life to tell.

“Son, did I ever tell you how I met your mother?”

“If you end this by saying I’m half naga or something, I swear to god.” Virgil returned to the couch, Roman and Janus taking their seats right next to him.

“Oh no, don’t worry, you’re completely human. You do technically have a couple adopted naga siblings, though.” The father seemed to relish in Virgil’s confusion, as he wouldn’t continue until Virgil demanded for him to explain what the hell he meant.

“You see, bud, back in college I stumbled into the woods and ran into this really beautiful naga named Medea. Long red hair, bright yellow eyes, blood dripping from her mouth, the works. And she was holding these four naga eggs and wasn’t really able to do anything while protecting them, so I just decided to try and help her out.” He sighed, his eyes glazed over as he reminisced.

“Yeah, I almost died, it was kinda hot. We got to talking after that and eventually she trusted me enough to watch her eggs while she went hunting for whatever she ate. We kinda hit it off and were a thing all throughout college, but then when college was over I had to move out of my dorm. I asked her and the kids to come with me to a new home, but she just didn’t want to.” He scanned over Janus for a moment, smirking to himself before continuing.

“She wanted me to live in her cave, and I wasn’t really comfortable with that. So, she got upset and started trying to kidnap me, and that was kind of the turn off. Had to sneak out at night to stay with a friend and her roommate a few miles away. And then when I got there, I introduced myself to her roommate, a simple “Hey I’m Toby, good to meet ya,” we shook hands, and that’s when we realized we were soulmates.”

He ended the story with a pat on Virgil’s knee and a proud smile. “And that’s how I met your mother. Well, one of your mothers; your other mom was a barista at a coffee shop.” They all stared at him with wide eyes, seeming to still be processing the whole “kidnapping” part.

“Dad, what the fuck?”

“Yeah.” His dad said with a sigh. “I try to stay out of Alabama just in case Medea’s still looking for me.” Janus took a deep breath, nodding and accepting that this was truly what he had just heard.

“Well, Mr. Sanders, I can assure you that I’m nothing like this Medea. I would never do that to Virgil.”

“You tried to make me stay in your cave when we first started dating.” Janus sent Virgil a glare before forcing on a calm face.

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t try to kidnap you.”

“Well...”

“Shut up, that was one time.” Janus hissed. Patton cleared his throat.

“So does this mean you’re okay with us dating?”

“Oh hell yeah, go ahead.”

“Wait, seriously?” Virgil asked. “I kept our relationship a secret for almost a whole year only to find out I could’ve told you about it right away?” His dad shrugged.

“And who’s fault is that really?”

“Dad, they kill people!”

“I’m fine with that, and it looks like you are, too.” The timer for the oven went off and Logan went to take care of it while Virgil tried to think of a comeback. Soon enough the six were having a casual discussion over dinner, and all was well.

That night as they all laid in bed, Virgil stared up at the ceiling blankly. “What do you think my moms are gonna think of this?”

“Wait, they aren’t dead?” Roman mumbled, already half-asleep.

“No, they were working tonight.”

“Well, your dad will probably tell them all about us, and that will confuse them quite a bit.” Logan answered.

“I wonder if he ever told them about Medea.” Patton questioned, running a hand across Janus’s tail.

“Probably not, so...your mothers are in for quite the confusing night, Virgil.” Janus smirked. Virgil couldn’t even imagine having to explain both his dad’s past relationship with a naga and his current relationship with four creatures his moms probably weren’t even aware existed at the same time.

He smirked, admittedly kind of pleased to imagine what his dad was probably going through right about now. “Good. Well, goodnight. Love you guys.” Patton hummed happily, curling up closer to him. With a chorus of various different love yous thrown around, the five drifted off slowly to sleep, Virgil feeling as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

#sanders sides #dlamp #virgil sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #toby sanders #ghoul!logan #drider!roman #vampire!patton #naga!janus

[werezmastarbucks]

Blunt hook

Kai Parker x fem!reader smut

gif not mine

that’s like the first and the last smut I ever write ugh yeet

also I wrote this very cool thing on psychological analysis of Kai’s head bugs. check it out, it’s on my main blog. I love it.

word count: 2788

choking (light), fingering, dom!Kai, female reader

The reader had helped Kai escape hell, so now he’s trying to get her to side with him in everything else, too. However, Y/N is too stubborn, and not afraid of physical pain. Thank f*ck Kai always has a plan B.

The sky was full of Perseids and sound. Kai was taking his time and never hurried himself, but still found it was rather curious how long it takes to get used to a new form of living. Every. Damn. Time. It’s been a couple of months since he got out of hell, and every single day now he was amazed, unmistakably, by the air. I mean, can you imagine? It actually flows right into your nose and then down your throat or whatever. And it tastes so good! Being a vampire sure enhanced all the sensations, too. He was practically happy every day, agitated, even. The only thing was…

He shrugged, distracting himself from the stars and the comets flying ahead in white blinding flashes. What a beauty, he thought, what an unexpected beauty he thought he could never appreciate.

Then he saw her. And the idea came to him. All he needed at this point of being out of hell was a tiny little detail for the ascendant. It was maddening to think that virtually everything he needed was in his hands, except for this teeny-tiny metal hook less than a pinky nail in size, shiny and blunt. Without it, he could not travel back to the prison world. Without it, he could not get the reaper out. Without it, the devil would not let go of him and let him be. And the Boring Faces took it away from him. How insensitive of them not to take his lust for life into consideration.

But her. She might be of use and help. She went out of her way to open the gates of hell to let him crawl out. She went through being tortured, which means he won’t get anything out of her by inflicting pain. Kai had something on his mind though; she was wearing a dress.

Y/N was standing with her head tilted back, almost falling, looking at the cluster of the burning comets shooting through the horizontal line.

A light gust of wind brushed her hair, and then a hand grabbed her by the forearm. Y/N swayed, but managed to stay on her feet, and then she was pulled aside. Kai shot her a mad glance and walked, casually but fast, and she had nothing else to do but follow him, trying to move her feet as quick as possible.

Stalling would take a considerable amount of wit, so she started thinking right away, clutching her purse out of nervousness. Nobody considered her feeling for this nut job. Nobody. N/Y, hold him off as long as you can, but no sweat. Forget what you’ve gone through for him and lie to his face while we betray him yet again. Just stay here between the two flames, nothing special.

She sighed, trying to wiggle out of Kai’s grab, because his fingers bit into her flesh like burning coals. Kai looked back at her, dropping speed a little bit, but his eyes said nothing.

“What?” she gasped, trying to loosen his fingers. Kai didn’t give in, dragging her on towards the shade of trees. People were stepping away politely as they walked, like none of this seemed strange to them. Y/N finally levelled with Kai, but he still didn’t let go of her arm, clutching on her like she could vanish in thin air.

“Talk”, he commanded, throwing her to the side of a tree. He looked out from the shadow, making sure all the lights and the babbling people were left aside, blind to their conversation here. Their noise was still nearly unbearable, but Kai was getting better at focusing every day.

She caught herself, pressing her back to the trunk of a birch tree, and held onto it. Kai’s face as white in the shade, silvered by the faint moonlight and the rare specks of golden light from the bonfires. His eyes seemed completely black, the pupils enlarged, like he was on the verge of screaming form all the smells, and sounds, and the most of all, impatience.

“Start talking, Y/N. Where is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re on about”, she tried to make her smile seem innocent and failed, unable to hide the slow excitement that was rising in her. That. That is why she’s completely useless in things like that. She already forgot where they hid the dam detail even if she knew.

Kai grabbed on her purse, pulling on the strap. She barely managed to bend her head to let it slide off her shoulders. One second later, and she would’ve been choked, or beheaded. The vampire opened her handbag, thrashing it with sharp movements. She let out a giggle as he threw it aside, half empty.

Blood ran to her face as the vampire stepped up, closing a shadow on her. His arm flew up and rested on the trunk just above her head, and she felt comfortably caged. Kai licked his lips, trying to hold from acting right away, trying to come up with the most gracious way to get it out.

“Damon and his brother, they hid the last detail from my ascendant”, Kai elaborated,

“Come on, Y/N you know well what I’m talking about. Don’t make me hurt you”, he stared deep into her eyes like a snake charmer.

“I don’t actually want to hurt you”.

“I don’t know where it is, Kai. They don’t tell me. They know…”

Y/N paused, wondering if he could hear her heartbeat. Of course, he could. Irregular, quick, like a little puppy jumping and twisting in her chest, sending bright sparkles to her eyes, because she just can’t hide how much fun this all is. When fear goes away, there’s just fun.

Kai felt, this was the moment she could say something. He shifted; stooping above her, cupping her face with his palms. Soft hair was brushing the backs of his hands as he held her, pleading:

“They know you don’t want me to go back. Right? You don’t want me to go back to hell, do you, Y/N?”

She smiled sheepishly, thinking, what a bastard. He is one manipulative bastard with his blackish eyes and his perfect American chin. He tilted his head like a robot, knowing that was his best angle. Nothing worked. Kai felt her warmth, the hot spasms coming out of her skin, her desire was so obvious it was ridiculous, and yet she stood there, immovable like he didn’t matter. She was good, this one, stamina like a real fighter. Well, he guessed, torture and being alone for some time does that to people. Their skin touched and yet nothing happened, although he could practically hear her insides warming up, he could see the pupils of her eyes widening hungrily, and it made him feel weird, like he was hungry, too.

Y/N kept silent, thinking that would drive him mad enough out of a simple reason. She didn’t really have a plan. After all this is done, she thought, I’m moving the hell out of this cursed hole. She was as tired of the Boring Faces as Kai was, she just hid it better.

“Well”, his face hardened as his hands let go of her face. Kai looked at her, familiar violent glimmering dancing in his eyes. It was hard to tell in the dark whether he was smiling or grimacing. Maybe it was time to run, she couldn’t tell. Before she could decide anything, his whisper cut her ears like a razor.

“Maybe you’re hiding it somewhere here. Under your dress”.

Then his hand slid down so quickly she only felt it when it already was on her left thigh. Warm finger caressed her skin lightly, tracing its way up, until his palm lurked under the skirt. Y/N’s brain screamed: that feels not bad at all. Evident attractiveness of this undead heretic was burning her eyes. She was torn between staying prideful and keeping him at her side – for whatever reasons.

“Why aren’t you fighting me?” his voice brushed her face, she could almost taste its timbre. She bit her lower lip from the inside not to blurt out anything. Let him entertain himself, she’s not going to do his work. This man, this crazy type in front of her, manipulative, always with a plan, awoke a feeling in her, a desire to stand up to him, even if in this weird, submissive way. Well, she’ll figure that out, she thought. It’ll all unfold by itself. Right now, she just knew, she wouldn’t brush his arms off, no matter what he does, or how hard he does it.

Kai gasped comically.

“Are you my distraction?”

A boyish, excited smile brightened his face. It lit with amusement and anticipation.

“What am I supposed to be distracting you from?” Y/N asked in a thin voice.

“Bae, everything”, he blurted readily.

His palm moved just as his eyes narrowed again. There was a shift in his mood. Like a kitten, that’s too young, he really did get distracted. The ascendant detail is important, sure. But there’s this one, propped up against a tree, and he’s curious as to why she’s not running, not giving in. She’s just smirking, almost brave enough to show him what she really wants. Fortunately, he can almost read her mind.

There was hunger inside of him, not only for blood, but an eerie sensation of dryness in is throat; the light-headedness when he realized he’s watching Y/N, but she doesn’t see him. When he’s just an invisible observer, and all she does is his by all means. Being in the crowd, really stop seeing people. Kai did the opposite, and he chose her. If you rid yourself of self a little bit – excuse the pun – you’re free to watch whoever you want. Kai’s seen way more than anybody else. The tip of her tongue snaking in the corner of her mouth, and the curves of her hips as she walked, the wild glimmering in the corners of her eyes. The slender fingers crooking on her cheeks, caressing her own neck. The softness of the earlobe pierced by the golden earring. The thin delicate skin on the inside of her elbow. Her cocky posture, ever-ironic grin letting out deep sigh of her tired, unamused voice.

The hidden soul of that girl was not pure. She was not pure. Kai was wondering if he’d contributed to that.

His hand touched the fabric of her underwear, and he felt comfortable. He pressed his thumb on her pubic bone, wondering, how hard would be too hard.

“Hands on the tree”, he ordered, and her palms were glued to the trunk in a second. Y/N pushed her back against it, trying to move as little as possible. Her thighs moved forward as she leaned backwards, the wings of her shoulder blades colliding with the tree. Kai towered over her like a leopard over a cheetah cub.

“Let’s see if it’s there, do you mind?” he murmured, and Y/N bumped the back of her head against the hard trunk. His fingers pulled her panties down and pressed on her clit persistently. Y/N neck went hot. Kai watched carefully as her nostrils flared a little, like he didn’t know what he’s doing, like it was something alien he was touching. He was trying to figure out the connection between the hunger he was experiencing, and the warm, welcoming wetness of the inside of her. Y/N was thinking about how smooth his skin was. It was so fucking smooth, seemingly perfect to touch. She opened her mouth to say something, but Kai’s other hand immediately pressed on her face, covering her mouth.

“Nah-uh. Keep quiet. Do as I say”.

He made himself horny saying that. He didn’t expect these words out of his own mouth, just as his fingers slid inside of her, and he felt Y/N sucking on the air from underneath his palm. She tried to bite the skin lightly, but swayed, obedient, never looking away. Kai’s eyes were dark and calm, like oceans of Malivore, hypnotizing, eyes with a trace of tragic smile deep inside.

Y/N wanted so bad to raise her hands and weave them around his neck, to hang herself onto him, shifting all the weight, and ride his hand. Keeping still made all her muscles sing a tense melody of pain, making pleasure all the more even, sending it like sharp flashes of color all down her body. She begged to god that she wasn’t shaking, because she really couldn’t tell anymore; she was throwing all her might into not moaning as his three fingers were moving inside, rubbing the sensitive skin, sliding in and out, pinching and pulling. Her right knee gave in, and she swayed again, nails clawing into the bark; Kai took his palm off her mouth and wrapped it around the girl’s throat; her whole neck went into his fist like it was carved for it. He propped her up and squeezed her throat, lightly first, then tighter and tighter, until her mouth opened a little, and his own jaws separated as he looked inside. His tongue pressed against his canines violently, bursting the tip of it and bleeding into his mouth. The hot blood pumped into his face and nose, and he grabbed her by the clit, immersing his fingers inside down to the first knuckles. He was fucking her, they both realized, with his hand, and that was one way to do it. Y/N propelled her hips, giving in to her own screaming body, because that movement was the only one she could think of. The ultimate goal of that one moment was to string herself onto his hand, deeper, deeper, harder, so that he could destroy her, tear her apart.

Kai loosened his hand on her throat just a little, to hear her whimper as her eyes rolled. Biting shiver shot through Y/N’s body, but she was glad to see she stood; trunk of the birch tree was hurting her head, so she tilted it forward a little and gasped for air as Kai’s hand let go of her. Both his hands, to be precise. He rubbed his right hand on Y/N’s thigh, leaving a hot trace of cum on her skin in gentle touches. He couldn’t help tracing the sharp bone of her hip, drawing circles around the tip absent-mindedly. The only way he could now relieve himself was to grab and squeeze her hip possessively, making her groan softly. There was supposed to be hurt. He usually hurt someone as a result of… the process. The normal pattern of events was him standing with his hands covered in thick dark blood in the end of the picture, gratified deeply by the seizing screams, calming his beast down. Pain. Was it something like that? Kai looked deep into her face and read her. He saw that orgasm was pretty much like physical pain, only, it made her show her teeth in a smile.

It was over, Y/N figured; blood was pumping in her ears, and even if he said something, she couldn’t hear. She wrapped her hands around Kai’s neck and rested on him, locking her fingers on the short, soft hairs on the back of his head. Just for a moment, he’s going to belong to her, while he’s whispering his hot threats in her ear. His voice, the scent, the breadth of his shoulders – all hers, just for now, as he’s holding her against this very tree.

“Come on now, Y/N”.

Kai knew he had like three seconds to slither inside of her mind while she’s fragile. While she’s messed up, sweet smell of pleasure and indolence pouring out of her like a syrup; he could as well just lick it off her skin.

“Where is it? Where is it”, he pressed his face against hers, listening to her deep, erratic breathing. He was keeping up with his own noise, confused by the sudden outburst of eagerness and a boner. He had to be focused, but he couldn’t but admire a little this oily, feminine beauty. Her wrists pulsating with blood were so close to his face the smell flooded him.

The bravery of her, though, as she lifted her face and looked him in the eye. Pupils expanded, glistening with lust and mischief. She said:

“I really don’t know. Why don’t you try it with you mouth next?”

The smile curling her lips made the groan wake in the depths of his chest. Kai let the hot air out of his nose, clenching his jaws. He brushed off Y/N’s arms, pushing away, and stepped out of the shadows with an audible roar. The sound of her laughter was ringing in his ears.  

#kai parker #kai parker x reader #vampire diaries #kai parker imagine #legacies

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.39

Armed with fair sized stick, Keith headed upstairs to Lance’s room, hoping the stick would cheer his kind of boyfriend up. Letting himself back into Lance’s room, the sweet smell of Lance’s arousal smacked him in the face. The vampire had shed the blanket covering him, soft puffy pants falling from his lips as he slept. The idiot had worried himself so much that he’d brought a wave of heat on himself. Carrying the stick over to Lance’s bed, Keith propped it up against the nightstand before climbing onto the bed, Lance’s features pinched with pain. These heat things were no joke. Lance had tried to cover the best he could, when clearly he’d been in agony with each wave. He really should let Lance sleep it off, but he felt the need to try to help.

“Lance?”

Gently shaking Lance’s shoulder, dazed blue eyes opened slowly with a groan

“Keith?”

“I didn’t want to wake you, but you’re in pain”

“Hot...”

“I know. You worried yourself into heat”

Keith didn’t like the word “heat” Lance wasn’t a werewolf or animal, but neither of them had another name for it. Rolling on his side, Lance wrapped his arms around his stomach

“Hurts”

“I know... I know. How can I help?”

“It’ll... pass... just need to let it pass?”

And how much pain would Lance be in if he did?

“Can I stay? What do you need?”

“To be pinned down to the bed and fucked senseless”

Lance looked mortified, too out of it to keep coherent

“I’m not taking advantage of you when you’re like this”

It was hard not to. Lance’s scent had already gone straight to Keith’s crotch. He felt dizzy and high, like he really wanted to throw respect out the window and do just what Lance had said

“I’m sorry... can you... can you go? I... don’t want to hurt you”

Going wasn’t happening

“I’m not letting you suffer through this. Let me help you”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Keith”

Shit. Lance’s blue eyes flooded with tears, his bottom lip quivering as he sniffled

“You won’t. I’m staying here, with you, until this passes”

Moving to lay down facing his boyfriend, fuck Shiro, Keith held his arm out until Lance slowly curled into his hold. The vampire shaking as he kissed Lance’s sweaty hair

“Now, tell me what you actually need”

“It’s... embarrassing...”

“You need to come, don’t you?”

Lance groaned at him, Keith supposed he could have phrased it a bit better. Lance liked romance, he knew that from the vampires watch history

“I don’t know... maybe... it’s stronger than it was...”

“Let me get you off”

“What?”

“I don’t mean sex... we’re taking it slowly, but we can see if getting off helps”

“No... no... I’m not going to rush you...”

“I’m offering. Besides, how can I not help my boyfriend?”

“You... told Shiro?”

“Not yet... but I told him I like you. And I do”

“But...”

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t”

“I... should... be asking... ow... fucking ow...”

Lance whimpered, Keith’s heart hurting over how his boyfriend was hurting

“Lance, it’s okay. Neither of us know what we’re doing, but we’ll work it... right now, I want to touch you as much as you want to touch me”

“What if I lose control?”

Then he’d deal with it. He could afford to lose a little bit of blood, plus he was sure Lance wouldn’t hurt him intentionally

“You won’t. I know you won’t... lay back for me?”

Squeezing his eyes closed, Lance nodded his consent

“Just... not...”

“No sex. Just touching”

“Okay...”

Lance was shy about spreading his legs. Keith finding it kind of sweet how hard Lance was blushing before he’d even gotten his boyfriend’s pants undone. Shiro had told him not to do this, but his brother didn’t understand how being with Lance felt. He hadn’t seen what Lance was going through. He didn’t understand how hard he’d been trying to work out his feelings for Lance before Lance wound up confessing to him. He liked Lance. He wanted to be with him, or at least see where this thing between them went. That didn’t mean he wasn’t scared or nervous as fuck as his heart raced. And he knew he was probably going backwards about this whole thing when they’d barely kissed and now they were jumping to making out. Freed of his jeans, Lance was trying to hide his crotch, legs shaking as he stared up at Keith with those big blue eyes. The real Lance was so much better than a dream. The smell coming from him was stirring up inside. Unbuttoning his jeans, Keith shimmied them down, Lance blushing harder as he stared at Keith’s dick

“See something you like?”

Lance blinked at him, before nodding. Neither of them really knew what they were doing, being sober with someone he actually liked made this a whole new experience all over again

“Can I kiss you?”

Again, Lance nodded. He wasn’t one to find a lot of things cute, but Lance was being kind of cute.

Lance was hesitant with the kiss, Keith could feel how hard he was trying to restrain himself. The vampire’s teeth nicked his bottom lip, Lance immediately pulling back

“I’m sorry...”

Keith didn’t want to hear it. These things happened. Capturing Lance’s lips again, he tried to guide Lance, to show him that a little bit of blood was okay. Whether it was the blood or the fact Keith was still kissing him, Lance finally let him deepen the kiss. Rocking his body against the vampire’s, Lance moaned, throwing his head back as he did. Smirking to himself Keith rolled his hips again, drawing a more descriptive moan

“Shiiiiit...”

“Feel good?”

“Mhmm... kiss me again...”

Lance really seemed to like kissing him. And other than the blood, Keith seemed to also really like kissing his boyfriend back. Awkward fumbling kisses turned to Keith jerking them both off as Lance swapped to moaning in Spanish. Pent up from weeks of nearly, and foggy minded on Lance’s scent, the pair of them came so fast that Keith would have been embarrassed if it hadn’t happened with Lance. Lance covering his mouth as his fangs extended, Keith kissing his hand before flopping to lay on his side by his boyfriend

“Fuck...”

He felt like he’d come hard enough to fill Lance had he been in him, and now all Keith wanted to do was cuddle with Lance, who still had his fangs covered

“... I don’t mind your teeth”

Lance stared at him like he’d grown an extra head. Keith supposed he’d gone straight from bliss to over thinking things

“Seriously, you don’t need to hide them”

“They came out...”

“I already know you’re a vampire. You don’t have to hide them”

“But...”

Snaking his arm around Lance’s waist, Keith ignored the mess across Lance’s stomach and chest. The both had enough to trauma to sink a ship, and it’d take a lot of reassurances on both their parts to work through it together

“Nope. Don’t hide them...”

Lowering his hand, Lance’s fangs looked every bit as dangerous as they were. A shiver of fear ran through him, but at the same time, he knew Lance wasn’t about to tear his throat out with them

“They’re ugly”

“They’re fine. I know you’re not about to bite me”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I just gave you a great orgasm”

Lance finally smiled at him, wriggling closer to Keith

“It was pretty good”

“I know... I’m fucked”

Lance snorted at him, before his expression fell. His teeth piercing his bottom lip, Keith now not able to kiss him which was kind of annoying

“Not yet... but the cramping’s easing... I... hope I... I wasn’t...”

“You’re fine... we’re fine... you didn’t do anything wrong”

“I didn’t know what to do”

“Neither did I...”

Lance sighed at him

“I don’t know whether that makes me feel better or not”

“We both know we’re inexperienced in things like this”

Lance’s body temperature was starting to drop again, Keith realising that was another thing Lance would probably be self conscious over

“I didn’t want to be bad”

“You weren’t... fuck, do you reckon they’ll miss us if we stay like this?”

“I reckon Shiro might murder me...”

“He’ll be fine when he’s had a nap. He was all sangry”

Lance raised an eyebrow at him

“Sangry?”

“Sleepy angry”

That was what finally got Lance smiling again, Keith feeling his still racing heart gave that familiar funny beat

“You’re starting to sound like me”

“I know. Shiro had no idea what I meant”

“We should talk about him. He wasn’t keen on us being close, was he?”

“No, but that’s because he’s overprotective. He did help me out... apparently all these things going on with my heart are because I have crush on you”

“Did you tell him how long it’s been happening?”

“Yeah... I tried to tell him I like you. He said it’s because I’ve never had a crush before”

“He’s your brother, he only wants what’s best for you”

“That and he’s a moody arsehole when he’s been travelling... we should clean up”

Talking about his brother while pantsless with his boyfriend was kind of weird... Keith’s arm was starting to feel crusty now, as were other places now. He hadn’t used Lance’s bathroom before, but he didn’t want to creep around the house naked with three other guests out there somewhere

“Keith, if this is too much... If all that comes with me is too much, I’ll understand”

“We’re not having that talk again. I want to see where this goes. I know it’s not going to be easy, but it’s what I want... He was talking about us moving out, and all I could think about about was staying here. Garrison’s backwards and small, and kind of creepy, but you’re here. So are Pidge and Hunk... Platt’s... ugh. Plus, I’m not looking forward to the traffic”

“Oh, that’s right, you have a motorbike, don’t you?”

“It’s not so bad on my bike, but Shiro says I have a horrible sense of direction. Are you trying to change the topic?”

And everyone said he was clueless. He noticed that subtle topic change just fine

“Maybe? Or, maybe I really can’t be bothered moving?”

“Oh, my poor old man. Do I need to carry you?”

“It’s not that... and stop calling me old, I’ve got enough complexes as it is... It’s selfish, but I want to have you to myself a little longer. I know I have to get up, get organised and make an attempt with everyone, but right now I just... I don’t want to feel like we fooled around and now it’s time to split because the fun bit is over”

Oh... that made sense. They had to play it cool around everyone else... Well, they didn’t have to, but until Shiro woke up from his nap, and his brother was prepared to listen, they’d have to be friends without the boyfriend bit...

“I get it. You’re worried about everything that’ll happen once we leave your room”

“Yeah. Kind of. Matt and Rieva are going to smell you all over me... I don’t know him, I don’t know her, and Shiro’s not happy with me as it is. I don’t know how to start making things up with Matt, and I’ve barely been able to let Curtis in as it is. We all have to live here together, I don’t want to be lying through my teeth, nor do I want to cause any trouble”

“If you’re that worried, we can take a shower together. I’m already borrowing your clothes, and if they start asking questions I’ll say we sat on your bed and talked”

“But we didn’t... we did other things. You shouldn’t have to lie because of me... I knew this would happen. This is why... I don’t let people in. I don’t know what to do. I’m used to living alone, keeping me to myself so no one got hurt. I’ve never dated, I don’t know how to date. I don’t want you lying to your brother and fucking things up there. I don’t want to hurt you”

“Lance, you’re spiralling. We’re taking things slow, remember. Kissing and touching happens... I’ve never been sober and gone that far before... but it’s not like I’ve knocked you up so we’re suddenly having a shotgun wedding. We like each other, and after how long it took to work that out, I think I’m okay with taking things slow and without the complications of everyone’s opinions”

“But Shiro is your brother”

“Me dating you isn’t going to change that. I won’t let it change that. I’m old enough to know that for the first time in my life I want to see where this goes”

“Secrets hurt, Keith. You know that, I know you do”

Keith was starting to get angry

“And what? We give up?”

“I don’t know... I don’t know if we should have done that. Or if we only did that because my body is fucked up”

“I kissed you because I wanted to”

“Because I...”

“You confessed to me”

“I know”

“So stop worrying about it so much. You’re going to turn back into a bat at this rate”

“God. It’d be easier if I did... I could find myself a nice spot on the ceiling and hang out there until everything settled down”

“You do know you’re completely useless as a bat. You couldn’t even walk straight”

“Ha, jokes on you, apparently I’m not that straight as it is”

Keith had had enough of Lance dooming them before they’d given things a chance. Moving to sit up, he then crawled across the bed, before climbing off of it. Watching him with almost fearful eyes, Keith ignored the way Lance was looking at him as he walked around the bed and held his hand out

“What?”

“We’re going to take a shower, then you’re going to have something to eat while we figure out what we’re going to feed everyone”

“We are?”

“Yeah. And if you’ve got a problem with that, I’ll hit you with my stick”

Lance looked to the bedside table

“You actually went and got a stick?”

“I sure did. I thought it might make you smile”

“I don’t think I’ve ever found a stick so sweet before”

“You don’t need to make a big deal over it. I just wanted to do something for you”

Raising his hands, Lance scrubbed at his face

“I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”

“Yeah. You’re deciding all these things without talking to me. I told you I want to help, so let me help”

“I forgot how forceful you can be about getting your own way”

“You can blame Shiro for that. Now, enough wallowing. I’ve never used your bathroom, so you’re going to have to show me where everything is”

Taking his hand, Lance let himself be pull out of bed and to his feet, Keith using his momentum to pull him into a hug

“Smooth move”

“I know right. See, I met this guy who taught me all about how not to be smooth, and he doesn’t know it. He’s stubborn. He makes me talk and feel all these weird things. I’ve talked more in the last month than in the last decade. He hates himself so much that he’s worse than me. It makes me sad, because he’s pretty much the dorkiest person I’ve ever met and I thought we’d gotten closer. I really like him, and I’ve never liked anyone or wanted to let them close... He thinks I don’t get it, but I do. Because I’ve always felt I’m not worth people caring about me”

“I gotta admit, when I met you, I kind of hoped you’d be hit by truck... but you’re like this secret softy... I hate that people hurt you”

“It was a long time ago”

And not long enough at the same time

“That doesn’t matter. I like you enough to punch a truck if it tried to hit you”

“I kind of want to see that”

Would Lance be able to stop a truck? Would he be run over and flattened? Or, would he kind of bounce back up like one of those inflatable arm waving things?

“No you don’t, the next punch would be right in the dick for making me worry”

“Please don’t punch me in the dick”

“I reserved the right to make the judgement after the fact”

Lance would punch him and they both knew he would... whether it be the dick or hopefully elsewhere, he was going to have to do his very best not to be hurt during a hunt. Vampires and werewolves could be arseholes, but a broken hearted angry Lance... Keith never wanted to see that first hand.

#oncebittentwicestupid #once bitten twice stupid #idiotsinlove

[holycatsandrabbits]

“There is something in there with you!”

The white-haired man who’d come to the door of Mr. Fell’s Bookshop looked at Lela curiously. “I’m sorry?”

It was dark outside, but there were lights on in the bookshop and Lela could see a few other people inside, all of whom were looking at Lela like she’d lost her mind.

“I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but I saw something in your shop. Some—monster. Back in the shadows.”

The man at the door got an understanding look on his face. “Ah. Well. He’s actually—”

And then Lela saw it again. Well, saw him. Because now a man with red hair walked into the lighted area, and despite the fact that he no longer had huge black wings sprouting from his shoulders, despite the fact that his yellow eyes were now hidden behind dark glasses, Lela recognized him. She shrieked and backed away a few steps.

And then the red-haired man was at the door, looking at her, speaking to her. “You need to come in.”

That was the last thing Lela was going to do.

The white-haired man gave the man-monster an irritated look. “Really, Crowley—”

“What, you don’t feel that?” He made an exasperated noise. “No, right, of course you don’t. Angel, convince her to come in. Now.” 

What happened next was a little odd. The red-haired man—thing—Crowley—stepped away from the door and then the white-haired man extended his hand to Lela. And Lela took it, not knowing why it suddenly felt safe to do so, not entirely sure why she also now knew that this man was the owner of the bookshop, Mr. Fell. Then she was inside the shop, surrounded by the other people who’d been there, all of whom looked sympathetic. 

The lamps in the shop turned off, making the street beyond visible. Crowley said quietly, “Angel, your lights,” and that was when Lela realized that Mr. Fell, who was still holding her hand, was glowing slightly. The glow faded as she looked at him. He just smiled at her, as if that wasn’t just one more extremely weird thing.

Everything went quiet until a man in black walked past the shop, lingering, looking into the window.

“You know him?” Crowley asked.

“I passed him a few blocks back,” Lela answered.

“All right, don’t worry. Let a professional handle it,” Crowley said, as he stepped out onto the street in the direction that the man had gone.

And Lela couldn’t help but ask, “Professional what?”

There were five other people in the shop: two men, a woman, and two teenaged kids. Lela got five answers, all spoken at once: 

“Police officer.”

“Bouncer.”

“Bodyguard.”

“Private Eye.”

“Bookshop security.”

After this performance, all eyes trained themselves on Mr. Fell, who had raised his eyebrows in a bit of surprise. To everyone’s clear disappointment, the bookshop owner corrected no one.

The woman, who was a rather attractive brunette, put a hand on Lela’s shoulder, leading her back to a seating area. “Hey, my name’s Rylee. This is Eli, Sam, Audrey, and Lloyd. That was Mr. Fell’s husband, Mr. Crowley. It’s all right. He really is a nice guy.”

Noticing then that Mr. Fell was still standing at the window, the other people gathered close. “What did you see?” one of the teenagers asked Lela quietly.

Lela wondered if they’d all gone crazy. “I saw that Mr. Crowley’s got black wings and yellow eyes!”

The regulars fell into whispering with each other.

Anybody else seen wings? I thought I did once. No, not me, I just saw the snake version. Like the snake-eyes version? No, the full-on twelve-foot snake version. Oh, man, I haven’t seen that yet. Well, I still say he’s a vampire. Vampires don’t have wings! Sure, they do, they turn into bats. They don’t turn into snakes, though, do they? 

Finally Lela asked, “So what’s Mr. Fell?”

The answers on this were clear.

“Angel.”

“Angel.” 

“Literal angel.”

“Ah,” Lela said.

The whispers died off as Mr. Fell came into the seating area. Lela tried to ask the kind of question that one would normally ask a person, if that person weren’t an angel whose husband was a 12-foot snake. “So how long have you...been married?”

Mr. Fell sat down on the couch. “Six years. We’ve been together far longer than that, though.”

Lela noted how the regulars were trained on Mr. Fell, clearly hungry for information.

“How did you meet?” Lela asked.

This apparently was pay dirt. Mr. Fell smiled and started talking. “We met in a garden, actually. You know, I loved Crowley almost from the beginning. I wasn’t supposed to, of course. We’re star-crossed, you could say. Oh, but he was just so handsome and brave and clever and—well, you know, he took care of me. When things were bad, I could always count on him to cheer me up and talk me through my own worries.”

Mr. Fell’s gaze sharpened slightly, and Lela was suddenly sure that the bookshop owner was well aware of the regulars’ gossiping. “You have to understand,” Mr. Fell said, “that I love Crowley not in spite of what he is, but because of it. He’s been through so much, and that has really shaped him. The reason he’s so kind and loving is because he’s been denied that so often and he knows what it’s like to have to try to live without it. But of course, my side—ah, my family—can’t see any of that, they can only see that he’s a—”

“Angel, write a book, why don’t you?”

Everyone jumped as Mr. Crowley walked back into the seating area, and some of the regulars groaned at the ill-timed interruption.

Mr. Fell smiled. “Sorry, my dear. How did it go?”

“Nice and easy. Didn't even get blood on my claws.”

One of the teenagers—Lloyd—asked breathlessly, “You have claws?” and then immediately clapped his hand over his mouth.

A very amused and rather impressed look spread over Mr. Crowley’s face. He brought his hands up and wiggled his fingers, which were clearly not clawed or bloodstained. “It’s funny, though,” Mr. Crowley said, “the poor man did suddenly develop a terrible aversion to following women around.”

“Thank you,” Lela spoke up, and her voice sounded oddly loud. “And I’m sorry.”

Mr. Crowley smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Nonsense. You tried to protect my husband and our friends. We’re good.”

Lela stayed for tea, which was excellent. When the bookshop finally closed, Rylee stood with her on the sidewalk. “That was very brave of you,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really stop to think it through,” Lela admitted.

“Well, that’s even more impressive, honestly. Just rushing in to save us.”

Lela gave a little nervous laugh. “Okay, so while I’m being brave—would you like to go get coffee sometime?”

“Oh!” Rylee said. “I’d love to. I’ve gotten into the habit, though, of making sure people know I’m ace before I go on dates. That means—”

“Oh, I know what it means. That’s cool with me. I kind of had a feeling.”

“Ah.” Rylee’s face colored a bit and it was lovely. “Your radar’s better than mine, then. I guess you have a radar for lots of things.”

“Yeah, you know, vampires, angels, pretty ace women.” Lela cleared her throat. “My other hobbies include saying embarrassing things.”

But Rylee was laughing. “Oh, so this is coffee and entertainment, then. Sounds perfect.”

*******

Thank you to Need_To_Comment_Rising on Ao3 for encouraging me to add some series-canon ace characters to this fic, and for being my sensitivity reader. I so appreciate it!! My hope for this series is that Aziraphale and Crowley's own relationship can be read in a lot of different ways, just like in canon.

Stay tuned for the last 3 works in this series, one each Friday. #12 is actually not going to be a ficlet, it's about 8k because I needed room for shenanigans. But it's mostly centered around the fact that none of the regulars actually know what Mr. Crowley is, which was foreshadowed in this ficlet. It becomes a problem when Mr. Fell is absent and unreachable for a little while and Mr. Crowley gets injured, leaving the regulars to come to the rescue, if anybody can figure out how!

New ficlet every Friday! There will be 12 in the series. This is #9.

Mr. Fell’s Bookshop Ficlets Master Post

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#Mr. Fell's bookshop ficlets #Dannye writes #outsider POV #established relationship #Good Omens #protective Crowley #unconditional love

[clansayeed]

Bound by Destiny ― Chapter 19: The Eleventh Hour

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny ⥽

Nadya Al Jamil (MC) has been struggling from the day she moved to Manhattan, but her new job as assistant to the mysterious CEO of Raines Corp was supposed to turn her luck around. Until she finds herself caught in the middle of a war involving the Council of Vampires who secretly run the city. An evil from the birth of Vampire-kind stirs beneath, feeding on the conflict, and finds Nadya bound to a destiny she never asked for.

Bound by Destiny and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

With Adrian no longer on death row everyone is forced to go underground; literally. Everyone takes time in the Shadow Den to regroup. Nadya finally talks about her visions.

[READ IT ON AO3]

When Adrian turns around he’s straightening out the cuffs of his rolled-up sleeves; rolls his freshly healed wrists to get used to the movement again and then gestures widely to his audience of two for critique.

“How do I look?”

Nadya’s foot jiggles over her knee. “I dunno. Something’s just…”

“Just what?” Adrian’s never been one she’d take as vain but anything less than a perfect ten seems to worry him. He looks to Lily. “What’s wrong, will I not blend in?”

Lily’s present only in body — has to look up and push her reading glasses away from the tip of her nose to survey him. She nods and clicks her tongue, “Oh, I see what you mean.”

“Right?”

“Exactly.”

Adrian snaps to grab their attention. “Will one of you tell me what you’re seeing? Please?”

Nadya approaches him with a grin and pulls him down by the ratty collar of his borrowed shirt. The much stronger, much faster vampire actually squeezes his eyes shut when she reaches up and ruffles his hair; replaces his carefully maintained pressed comb with imperfect dishevelment.

“Much better.”

“Yeah,” Lily sets her computer aside for a proper view, “nobody here looks that put together. Not even my girl — and she spends an hour on her curls every night.”

With a scoff Adrian gives Nadya a playful push, mutters about his hair being just fine the way it is. But she doesn’t miss the quick turn he gives back to the cracked vanity mirror in the corner.

“Ready then? Let’s get going.”

The familiar smell of instant ramen makes Jax and Mari’s loft feel a little more homey; for Nadya anyway. Lily joins her girlfriend by the single stove and inhales with deep longing. They share a brief kiss before Maricruz gives Adrian her approval with a nod.

“‘Sex hair’ is a good look on you. For a dude.”

Jax and Kamilah look their way from where they sit across from one another at the small table. The sight reminds Nadya to make sure to check in on Brandon and Greer when this is all over.

Please let this all be over soon.

Nadya goes to sit on Kamilah’s side when Adrian pulls out a chair for her before first taking his own; wedges her in between the Council (well, former Council now) vampires like her personal bodyguards.

“We don’t know how long we’re going to be hiding out here, Kamilah. You should work to blend in.”

Adrian’s comment draws a slow roll of her eyes. The moment she saw him safe and sound in person was the moment things started to back to normal for the closed-up vampiress. Already Nadya’s found it practically impossible to get any sort of physical affection from her.

She gives him the same brush-off. “I see no point in a ruse no one will believe.”

Across the table Jax doesn’t look up from where he’s scrubbing ash out of his jacket but he does cough out a laugh. “At least someone’s honest.”

But Adrian disagrees. “There are over a hundred vampires — at least — scouring New York for us. That’s not even taking into account who from our own Clans may have decided to turn traitor…” His voice grows a sharp edge. “We already know of at least one.”

Nicole. Her name and presence lingers over them like a cold breath. Now that her hand is healed courtesy of Mari’s blood she wouldn’t mind sustaining a repeat injury.

He continues, “We may be safe down here for now but this isn’t a permanent solution.”

“You’re damn right it isn’t.”

Nadya stops mid-thanks at Lily for bringing her over a bowl of ramen to glare Jax’s way.

“Hey — come on, now. We’re in this together.”

“You will hold up your end of our bargain,” Kamilah adds.

As his deputy takes her seat and pulls Lily into her lap Jax makes a gesture of slamming his wooden brush against the table surface. Hot broth slips from Nadya’s spoon and narrowly misses her thigh.

He looks at Kamilah with the same challenge as he had earlier.

“As far as I’m concerned any bargain of ours is done,” he growls, “you needed help getting Abercrombie here out of the Baron’s cells and that’s what we did. Giving him safe harbor in the Shadow Den is pretty much where my generosity ends when it comes to the likes of you. Don’t think I’ve forgotten anything that the Clans have done to me and mine up until now.”

Nadya can feel Kamilah’s aura change beside her. It makes her stomach turn; makes her a little less starving than she was a moment ago.

But before she can reach out and try to take the woman’s hand Adrian takes them all by surprise — leans forward on his elbows with laced fingers in front of a grim frown.

“We’re not trying to cast any of that aside.”

“Good. Then we can start talking about your reparations.”

“Now?” Adrian can’t keep a cool face. He isn’t the only one, either.

Maricruz winds one of Lily’s locs around her wrist — playing with it like it’s alive; a pet snake of some sort. “Not that anyone asked for my advice but if your goal is to keep on living then staying in town isn’t the best idea.”

“By now I suspect all public and conventionally private ways off of the island are well-guarded by their Clans.” Kamilah points out.

“Not to mention with the influence Vega has alone?” It makes Nadya shudder. “I’m afraid to see tonight’s paper. My Raines Corp. ID photo isn’t exactly the most flattering.”

“Really,” Jax snaps, “that’s what you’re worried about?”

“No, but if you really want to know everything I’m worried about I’d get comfortable because we could be here a while.”

The hunger is definitely starting to make her crabby — she starts eating so there’s something stopping her from running her mouth. They need to come up with a plan but nothing will get done if they’re at each other’s throats like this.

Pun not intended — but appreciated. Even if it’s only appreciated by her.

His chair squeaks when Jax stands up; tugs his jacket on with jerking motions. “I’ll say this one more time just in case you weren’t paying attention,” he leers at Kamilah and Adrian, “Mari and I risked our skins to get you out of there. I know firsthand how terrible the Cellars can be. But don’t think I did it out of pity or a sense of justice — she-witch here says you care about my people? Prove it. Start fixing what you broke.”

And Adrian takes every punch like a champ — sits there with the same calm and collected face he uses for business meetings, conference calls. The moment Jax starts harping on Kamilah, though, he looks ready for a fight.

Whether it’s the vampire feud or the rush of testosterone Nadya can’t tell — either way something’s gonna give, and soon.

So she gives first.

“Okay, Jax. Cool. We’ll keep that in mind.” Do not. Do not. Do not dare start something…

Adrian doesn’t. Jax turns away. No resolution is still better than conflict in her book.

The silence that follows is just plain weird. Even Lily — a master in the art of distraction-by-small-talk — starts trying to teach herself to whistle.

Finally Mari taps her girlfriend off of her; says more with her eyes than her words and Lily gives a sheepish “well, we’ve got work to do so…” to signal their hasty departure.

“You guys aren’t really going to run, are you?” Nadya surprises herself by asking.

She wouldn’t blame them if they did. It’s the smart thing, the tactical thing to do; try and get as far from the Council’s influence as possible and regroup; gather their strength then return to kick butt ten-fold.

Adrian sighs. “Nadya, please understand —”

He falls silent when Kamilah holds up a hand. The woman wets her bottom lip and when she speaks her words are, as ever, carefully chosen.

“Only once in my life have I turned tail to fight another day. At the time it was better to lose the battle for the sake of the war. And such cowardice has haunted me ever since.

“This is not a war — this is a mad scramble for power by creatures who think they understand what power truly is. I—we—will show them what it means to hold real power; and what happens to those who dare cross it.”

And then there were two.

Whether Adrian takes in the room around them because of natural curiosity or because he can’t look Nadya in the eyes — it doesn’t matter. She’s suddenly entranced by the way her hands look in her lap anyway.

She wants to go after Kamilah so bad but loyalty to Adrian keeps her seated right where she is. Doesn’t stop her from yearning, fleeting looks in the direction of the hall.

“Go ahead.”

When Nadya looks Adrian is standing; messing with the supposedly ‘perfect’ look that she and Lily had given him earlier. Less pressed lines and seamless folds; like the real Adrian is being revealed by shedding skin.

She pushes her chair in — goes to follow but Adrian stops her with a gentle hand.

“No, not with me.” He jerks his head aside. “I think it’s best if I do some thinking alone, anyway.”

It makes Nadya scoff. “No way — I’m not letting you go out into the plaza alone.”

“What, do you think I can’t take care of myself or something?”

“Well if the last few days are any evidence…”

“Nadya.”

“What if you’re recognized? What if they try to attack you?”

She’s just making up excuses. They both know it. Just like they both know she wants to take the opportunity he’s giving her but lord she’s terrified.

“I can take care of myself.” With both hands firmly on her shoulders Adrian looks down into her eyes — just like he used to back at the office. Before she knew he was a vampire; before everything that’s happened. “Right now it looks to me like Kamilah’s the one who needs a little help being taken care of.”

There’s a twinkle in his eye as he says it; his approval. Not that she needed it but it definitely doesn’t hurt.

“Be careful, promise?”

“Of course.”

“No, you have to promise.”

She slips between his hands and wraps him in a tight hug. Not warm or cozy; he’s solid. And that’s what she’s grown to count on more than anything else. Because if he’s solid that means he’s there, and if he’s there that means he’s safe — that means she helped.

“Promise?” Nadya asks in a whisper.

“I promise.”

Kamilah’s stagnant figure in the middle of the hallway catches her off guard. Makes Nadya wonder if she made the wrong choice in trying now, of all times, to try and get the vampiress to talk.

She doesn’t have to clear her throat. Kamilah probably can’t hear anything over the thundering of her heartbeat.

“I…” Kamilah’s voice falters and doesn’t that set Nadya on edge, “I realized I have nowhere to…”

It’s not just Adrian who has lost everything in all this. Even if Kamilah chose to stay above ground the entire Council would be on her in an instant. Who else would break all the rules to rescue him if not for her?

She left to find some peace but there’s no peace to be found in a home that isn’t hers.

At her side Nadya gingerly takes Kamilah’s hand in hers — keeps it chaste; like a light at the end of a tunnel. “Here, this way.” And Kamilah follows.

She closes the door to Lily’s room behind them. Roommates again — until the end probably. But she knows her best friend wouldn’t mind sharing the space if only to help wash that lost look off of Kamilah’s normally confident features.

At least she looks a little bit like herself when her nose crinkles at the sight of Lily’s mess.

“It’s no penthouse condo, but…”

“No,” Kamilah contradicts, “no it… it is more than I have, and that is more than enough.”

Nadya rubs her hands over her bare arms quickly before common sense kicks in — brings her to the small and ancient space heater in the corner which comes to life with only a little fight.

Kamilah watches with unnerving focus. “Are you cold?”

“Yeah. Living underground must be great when you can’t feel the chill but some of us are still alive.” She tries to laugh — to make it a joke. Kamilah must not find it that funny.

The longer they stand the more the space between them feels less like a room and more like a chasm. One Nadya isn’t sure she can leap across.

Her dumb rambling mode kicks in in tandem with what Kamilah’s been holding back.

“So there’s this guy who sells —”

“We never discussed what happened —”

It’s so quiet a pin dropping could shatter someone’s eardrum.

“You—uh—You go first.” Nadya takes up the edge of the bed.

The woman in front of her isn’t the Kamilah she’s used to; still full of things unsaid as always but rather than picking them apart piece-by-piece and taking command she seems unsure. Hesitancy isn’t a good look on her.

“Very well.”

“‘Course.”

“We never discussed what happened in the Council chamber.” Not what she was hoping Kamilah wanted to talk about.

“I didn’t think we had to. We were both there.”

“You know it isn’t the trial I’m referring to.”

Yeah, she knows. She just doesn’t want to think about it. Thinks if she ignores it for long enough maybe it just never happened. That could be said about a lot of things that’ve gone down lately.

There’s a smooth finger under her chin and it brings her to look up; Kamilah suddenly closer than close. The overhead lightbulb hidden just behind her head casts her in a halo of light.

“Tell me what you know.”

“I… I can’t.” If I do you’ll pull away from me.

“It may be difficult to recall, but please try.”

“No, I physically can’t.” You’ll think there’s something wrong with me. I think there’s something wrong with me.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Kamilah…” Kamilah…

“Nadya, I beg of you.”

She’s so scared her mind doesn’t automatically slide into the gutter and that says everything. Makes Nadya swallow down the bile rising in the back of her throat. She closes her eyes.

It’s not like pulling up a dream — struggling to remember things beyond the strange details that make dreaming fun. No… it’s like unlocking a steel safe. It’s like opening a dam. No.

It’s breaking a dam.

And with nothing to hold them back the floodwaters rush forward in a churning mass of black water. Fill the room and seep into her lungs in their desperate attempt to consume every inch of her existence. The words burst from her. Tumble over one another giddy with freedom and eager to see the world beyond.

She tells Kamilah about the voices outside Marcel’s library. About the Painting within. Tries to conjure up some definition — old or new — to explain the emotion she felt when looking at it but it falls flat so she just moves on.

On to the nightmares that came after. The sticky, wet feeling of blood coating her body that she can’t scrub away no matter how hard she tries. Knowing the taste of Kamilah’s lips with the breath of a dying man still lingering on the tip of her tongue. Feeling victory and rage and the lust of the kill that she should never ever have to feel to begin with. Seeing Adrian as Soldier and Kamilah as Queen.

“And when you told Jax —” how Kamilah can understand her through her blubbering tears and pain she doesn’t know; is just thankful she’s not being asked to keep herself together, “— when you told him ‘never again’ I knew. I knew what you meant. I could see it.”

“Tell me what you saw.”

“The corpses and the ash. The blood on your faces but… but it wasn’t their blood. It was yours — your kind.”

“Other vampires.”

“Mm,” she nods, “and the… the pain of the fallen kingdom and the promise of the new one. His promise.” Please dear god don’t make me say his name.

Kamilah doesn’t; she’s not doing a lot of things which is the scary part. Hovers over her now more of a demon behind firelight than anything with a holy halo and at first Nadya was glad it shadowed the look in Kamilah’s eyes but now she’s afraid of what’s being hidden; the revulsion — the judgment.

“And the throne?”

Even the word ignites a white-hot pain in her skull. Makes Nadya press the heels of her palms against her temples and clench her teeth and beg for it to end. She knows how to make it stop — she just doesn’t want to do it. Because talking about it makes it real. More than that it hurts Kamilah.

Cool ice brushes beads of sweat aside; moves little wisps of hair out of her eyes. Kamilah’s touch is still soft. Kind.

“It was his. His throne, his empire, his kingdom and crown and… and you took it all away.”

Nadya watches her own trembling hand reach up and cup the curve of Kamilah’s cheek. “You took away everything he built. Threw it back in his face. He built you a dynasty and you drowned it in his blood.”

Even if everything else is a fever-dream; a hallucination brought on by god-knows-what to torture her and proven to be nothing more than the result of a lifetime of bad choices and a crazy imagination… she’s certain in that. Certain in the only steady words she’s managed so far.

She knows it. Kamilah knows it too.

The same cold covers Nadya’s hand; not ice but the vampire’s touch. Holds her there; holds them connected in an intimacy she isn’t sure she deserves.

“I’m scared —” an exhale, “— KamilahI’msoscared.”

If Kamilah pulls away Nadya isn’t sure what would become of her. She feels incorporeal — nonexistent. Like a voice on the wind narrating the story but without a place in it.

But she stays. She keeps Nadya grounded. Roots her to the earth until she has the energy to find her body on her own.

What happens now?

Her body screams loud enough for Kamilah to hear — thankful she doesn’t have to physically ask.

“The things you have endured alone… why did you not share them; not even with your friend? Did you think she wouldn’t believe you?”

“No, she would…”

“Then why?”

Nadya takes in a breath so deep her lungs strain against capacity. The pain calms her racing mind.

“Because saying it aloud made it real. And I didn’t want it to be real.”

Suddenly the overhead light blinds her and Nadya throws the back of her hand over her eyes. Feels the place where Kamilah and her meet move down until she can see the woman on bended knee.

“You know more about events long gone than anyone left alive. Not just of Adrian, of the Council, of… of myself…” She fights down her words — something exists she isn’t yet ready to say. “You know of things Adrian and I would never have you know for fear you would see our true monstrosity.”

“What? Kamilah—no—I—”

A finger presses to her lips. “I see your pain, Nadya. I see what this burden has done to you. And I’m sorry — I’ve failed you. I can’t give you your answers when there are none to give.”

“You don’t know what’s wrong with me?” Kamilah shakes her head. Nadya’s heart sinks — there goes the small grain of hope she had that in her centuries of life Kamilah might know something.

Kamilah’s rueful laugh takes them both by surprise. “Of all the vampires for you to endure the memories of, too. I knew him better than anyone and even I would not suffer what lurked around in his twisted mind.”

“… Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Their eyes meet sharply. Kamilah eases herself back onto the bed beside Nadya and, in a completely unprompted display of affection, coaxes her to lay on her side with her head in the woman’s lap.

“Forgive me. I spoke without thinking.”

“It’s okay,” if this is Kamilah’s idea of apologizing she’s so happy to forgive her. “There’s just one thing.”

“Hm?”

“If you think you see me blushing it’s — well I’m not. I know it looks like I am but it’s just the crying. Crying makes me blush.”

She looks up to an amused sparkle in the woman’s eyes. The feeling of sharp nails carding through her scalp is soothing — a constant motion that doesn’t require remembering or crying or trying to speak through the pain. She basks in it selfishly.

“Which is it,” muses Kamilah, “are you not blushing, or are you blushing but from the tears?”

While Nadya gapes like a trout the figure above her seizes advantage of the opportunity. Leans down and lets cold lips linger on her feverish brow.

“Initially I found your expressions overzealous and unnecessary,” comes a whisper in Nadya’s ear, “but now I think I’ve become fond of their dramatiquement.”

“Well I am a bit of an acquired taste.”

“Not by Adrian’s description.”

Every thought both good and bad flies out her ears at that — gives her brain less distraction and lets it focus on the dusting trail Kamilah creates down to the dip of her chin. Her throat just beyond.

Nadya holds her breath. Stares wide-eyed up at the uncovered light until she doesn’t have to blink to see spots and then some. Just waits.

And though her body tenses in the anticipation of pain Kamilah isn’t deterred — lands a kiss to the hollow near her chin before righting herself back above.

“Breathe, Nadya.”

She obeys a little too enthusiastically. At least one of them finds it funny.

“God, I’m such a soggy pancake.” Probably not the thing to say. Who explains that to someone who was alive before pancakes even existed? Not that it stops her rambling from trying. “It’s — uh — Lily and I, we —”

“Say no more.”

“Yup, good idea.”

But now the vampire’s interest is piqued. “Care to explain why you are… as you said?”

No, she’d really not care to in the slightest.

“Because this is definitely not when I had in mind when we came in here.”

The nails stop mid-stroke. It takes Nadya way too long to realize they won’t start again until she continues. If Kamilah knows her weak spots already she’s doomed — no question.

She squirms but complies; “I guess I just… we went into the trial but kissed before that and I thought, you know, with Adrian out of immediate danger we might take the time to — you know — just…”

“Sleep together again?”

“You’re laughing at me.”

“Not outwardly. Ah ah —” before Nadya can turn away in shame Kamilah’s grip tightens in her hair; keeps her right where she’s wanted, “— did I say you could move?”

How the hell does someone answer something like that? “N—o…?”

“Correct. Stay.”

She stays. Oh boy does she stay.

Over her head Kamilah looks thoughtful. Hums so low it’s a catlike purr while she loses herself in her thoughts and Nadya’s hair.

“Though we are out of the immediate danger, it would be best to wait until we can fully dedicate a time to discuss what happened before the trial.”

And because it isn’t the ‘making you quiver in orgasm was fun but doesn’t bear repeating’ she was expecting Nadya stops breathing again. This time, though, it’s a good thing.

“I’d like that.”

Kamilah drags a fingertip over the round of her cheek. “I would as well.”

She’s seen the kind of strength older vampires can have; seen Kamilah lift a stone slab like it was nothing and the power of the Council combined fighting off a wall of greying snarling Ferals.

But all of the vampires — at least the ones she’s met — in the Shadow Den seem pretty new to the life. Maricruz is the oldest around as far as she’s aware. And if older vampires somehow wander into the strange life of the outcasts they likely don’t stay long.

So it makes her wonder just how many of the Shadow Den’s loyal gathered together to help move the old and worn stone fountain from the surface down below to the center of the plaza. And did they know, heave-hoing together, what their teamwork was going to be used for?

When asked why the plaza’s community avoided even looking at the fountain and the shrine it had become, Lily had told her that it was a thing of respect; “Some of them don’t want to look at familiar faces,” she’s said, “and those who don’t know anyone just feel uncomfortable seeing the dead. They might not be human anymore but that… that stays with them — us.”

Which means Nadya isn’t surprised to find the end of the plaza occupied by the fountain’s importance mostly empty. She’s gotten used to it.

Adrian hasn’t.

It must be daytime up top; stalls unoccupied and vendors packed away for their hours of sleep. She’s struggling keeping a body clock these days but habit is habit.

The center piece of the fountain must once have been three or more people; their humanoid shapes remain but the rest has been chipped away or eroded from the seasons. Discolor and rust still runs freely where water used to pour. The base of the fountain is wide and still empty; sprawls outward to a short stone wall that acts as a rim.

It’s just as ramshackle as the rest of the Den but that doesn’t stop it from looking out of place. More like it belongs in a Roman ruin than underneath the old subway tunnels of Manhattan.

“Can I join you?”

Adrian doesn’t say anything — which isn’t a no — so Nadya steps over the rim and sets herself on the rim beside him.

The light of dozens of candles flicker in his eyes. It’s how he would look in a church, Nadya thinks. Can’t get the image out of her mind once she sees it. Adrian in the place of a traditional mourner in front of the rows of candles placed for the memories of the dead.

There’s no breeze to make the little flames whip on their wicks. They burn constant and bright. Illuminate the polaroids, drawings, names written in both delicate cursive and angry blocked marker.

These are the fallen.

And the longer Nadya looks at him the more he changes; the more Adrian takes on each and every name, face, and candle in their memory on as his own burden.

What does someone say to that?

“I recognize a few of these faces.”

Adrian starts for her. Starts in the worst way possible and it makes her heart sink because that’s exactly what she didn’t want to her. But he wants to talk about it. Maybe he needs to.

Nadya places her hand over his; silent permission that he takes.

“When we first began the Council we knew there would be difficulty making things just; making them… amenable for all those involved. Not just because we were demanding those who followed us to change their entire way of life — but because we were still on the heels of… of the worst possible scenario. I won’t deny that on some level we were being led by our fear to force change. Or at least I was…”

She squeezes his hand. “You don’t have to talk about it.”

“I want to, Nadya.”

“But to me?”

He tears himself away from the memorial; fixes his watery eyes on her with determination.

“I think you’re the only person who might really understand.”

“Why?”

“You’ve seen both sides. You have loved ones on both sides.”

“So, what,” she snorts, “I’m Switzerland for vampires?” Bad timing for any joke. He doesn’t laugh — but doesn’t pull away.

Adrian just goes back to torturing himself with every addition to the fountain of the lost.

“We had bigger Clans at first. New York was booming, you know? It still is. But they became too hard to manage. Too many people kept toeing the line and there comes a time when ‘making an example’ becomes just pure punishment for punishment’s sake.

“So we went down, and down… to the number we have now. It was enough. Small; strict in the eyes of some like Marcel or the Families in the South, but enough. And we made it clear that if our laws weren’t to your liking then you could leave and find a living somewhere else.”

“But —” She stops herself; literally bites her tongue. It’s not her place to argue. She doesn’t know what it must have been like to make those choices.

Only Adrian’s feeling a little masochistic at the moment so he urges her to continue with a look.

She sighs — tries again; “But… well, think about how that sounds, Adrian. You’re telling people to agree to your terms or leave what might be the only lives they’ve ever known; the only place they’ve ever lived.”

“If they wanted to Turn that badly then they would have to live with the risks and consequences.”

“But you’re acting like everyone has that choice.” It was a naive way of thinking and maybe something she would still think if not for Lily — having to make that choice for someone was the hardest in the world. It makes her think of Liv, and the little girl Jax doted on named Lulu, and Jeremy who sells the roasted nuts. None of them had a choice.

And those were only the ones she’d met.

“I’m sorry — I shouldn’t have —”

“No, you’re right. And maybe that kind of thinking would have helped things change earlier… when they needed to. Not now when it feels like it’s too late.”

Both of Nadya’s hands on his forces Adrian to drag himself away from his self-imposed punishment of witness again. She feels for him — feels with him — but refuses to let him wallow here in self-pity.

“I refuse to let you wallow here in self-pity,” says Nadya because sometimes she just can’t not speak her mind, “because it’s not too late. You can make changes.”

“But all the casualties…”

“You can’t bring them back; no. But you can make sure they don’t need to bring down another one of these things when they run out of space.”

It gets the barest quirk at the corner of his lips. Better than nothing. Nadya reaches up and brushes a strand of hair out of his eyes — anything less than Wall Street is not his look and that’s just the fact of the matter.

She continues; “You want to help, Adrian. That’s so important. And you will help, too, trust me on that. Only when your name is cleared and you’re safe, though.”

His glance is harrowed with a worry he works hard to keep below the surface. “You make it sound simple. It won’t be — please know that.”

“Oh trust me — I do,” god she does, “but at this point if I don’t try to lighten the mood then no one will, and imagining you all trying to get this done with a big dark cloud over your heads is honestly giving me massive anxiety.”

Because he’s Adrian he turns a simple hand-hold in solidarity into putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her in close against him. She snakes her arm around his waist and does the same — lets the world know there shouldn’t even be an atom of space between them.

When things are better — when things are right again — this is how it should be. How it will be.

“There are days when I regret ever bringing you into my world Nadya,” whispers Adrian against her hair, “because you’re human — so wonderfully human — and you shouldn’t have to see the ugly parts of the world like this. You shouldn’t be in danger like this.”

It takes her a second to find something to grab onto but she manages to pinch his side as hard as she can. He doesn’t even flinch.

“Shut up and stop thinking like that. I chose this — remember? I chose to know.”

“And I thank whatever gods there are that you did.”

They pull back and exchange familiar smiles. “Really?”

“I don’t think I would have made it this far without you; so yes.”

“Just consider me your lucky charm.” It might not be the biggest smile in the world but it’s not as hard to muster this time around.

Nadya stands and pulls him up by his hand; makes sure he doesn’t trip over the fountain rim and tugs even harder so he doesn’t look back one last time. “Come on — we have a game plan to get to.”

“Wait, don’t we have to actually plan first?”

“Yeah yeah, that too.”

It’s hard for Nadya to give her presentation with even a percentage of her usual flair without the proper materials. But Lily could only find her markers in three different colors and while she’d rather make use of the Raines Corp. brilliant smartboard she makes do with a flattened cardboard box and extra imagination.

With everything scribbled down, bullet-pointed, and circled for extra emphasis she caps her marker for a final time and rounds on the balls of her feet to face the captive audience.

“So… what do we think?”

Jax scoffs and slips lower into his chair. “I know what I think.” He has to quickly duck a punch from Lily, who reaches over Maricruz to do it, and while Nadya’s thankful for the support she has to shake her head.

“No no, we need to be honest about this or it’ll never work. Go ahead, Jax.”

He straightens. “It’s a crazy, dumb plan. And it doesn’t even get us to the people we need to get to.”

“Yeah, I dunno chica — I think he has a point,” Mari shrugs beside him, “why would we go after these small fish instead of the big catch? Sure we’re not enough numbers to take on their whole Clans but, I dunno, get them all in one room and we’d probably hold our own pretty well.”

She gets it, she does, but Nadya’s already gone over everything three times; a feat to be memorialized taking into account her lack of coffee the last few nights.

“One more time — I’m only saying this one more time!” She goes to smack a marker against her makeshift board and instead it goes flying into the corner of the room.

“At the trial everything was going pretty decent — barring, uh, Adrian being in a torture chair — until two key things happened. One: using Nicole as his key witness. Both of them lied about having documents and evidence and whatever they needed to make Adrian look bad, which means they’re in it together. Vega knew Nicole’s testimony would be taken seriously because of her status in the company —”

“— and because of our longstanding history together.” Adrian finishes for her; grits his teeth and she can hear the crack and grind of his knuckles as he keeps himself in check.

“Exactly. And if they’re in cahoots — Lily stop laughing — then that means Vega’s promised Nicole something. We need to find out what that is.”

“Probably something to dislodge the stick from her…”

“Lily!”

She holds up her hands in a dramatic claim of innocence; doesn’t stop from high-fiving Mari.

After a sigh Nadya continues; “Then there’s the Trinity. I’m sorry, but you vanish for almost a century and then just so happen to reappear at the same party that gets attacked, and come forward as witnesses against a guy you don’t even know for no obvious reason because — what — you’re good-hearted people? Nope; I’m not buying it.

“They’re in league with Vega somehow. I don’t even want to start thinking about how, or why, or whatever, but they lied about Adrian’s alibi and that’s what made Vega’s case in the end. So if we find out why they lied and what they’re getting out of it we might be able to… I dunno; re-negotiate? Or change their minds, or something.”

“But we’re not doing that for Nicole, right?”

“Not a chance.”

Kamilah switches her crossed legs and stares at the board with a pensive frown. “While a sound theory — it operates under a great deal many assumptions. And they will not take lightly to accusations without proof.”

“Well we may be a little short on proof, but I’ve got plenty of enthusiasm and I find that usually makes up for most things.” For example: the fact that she’s utterly terrified to see Valdas and Isseya again; yet still continues on with enthusiasm despite the fear.

Mari raises her hand — humoring her only just since she doesn’t wait before speaking. “So who do we pin down first?”

“Ah, yes, see, that’s the problem. One’s gonna alert the other no matter what — Vega and the Council too no doubt — so…”

“So we divide and conquer.”

All eyes on Adrian gravely rubbing his chin. “It isn’t an ideal plan but this isn’t an ideal situation. At least if we get at both on separate fronts we can buy ourselves just enough time to skip town should things go badly.”

Kamilah nods. “Agreed.”

“So who goes where?” asks Nadya.

“As much as I’d like to confront Nicole about what she’s done I don’t want to risk being seen entering the building. She knows the ins and outs of that place just as well as I do — any underground entrance will be covered during the day and at night I’ve no doubt she’s got Clan backup. Kamilah, Nadya — you two would be in the same danger.”

“Well that solves it quickly —” Lily starts pointing fingers, “— Team Clanless gets to B-and-E Raines Corp. again and Team Partycrashers go after the rich bitches.”

Out of all the stunned faces it’s Adrian who recovers first. “Team… what?”

“It was spur of the moment. I’ll think of something better.”

But it’s a sound idea — makes the most sense. There’s no way she’s letting Adrian confront the Trinity alone; even if she has to swallow down the memory of Isseya’s clawed hand around her throat.

“We have a plan then.” Nadya tries not to sound so hesitant — either shares the feeling with everyone else or they’re content to ignore it for her.

Jax glances at Lily’s watch. “Four in the afternoon — we’ve got three hours to prepare what we can. We meet at the van and split once we’re above ground…” He trails off, seems unsure if he should keep going — does anyway. “Should we make a plan for after; set up a rendezvous point?”

Nobody answers. They’re all thinking the same thing: there’s being optimistic and then there’s being foolish — and trying to plan that far ahead is definitely foolish.

They go their separate ways yet again. Nadya watches turned backs wade through the tension all the way up to their waists.

Three hours to overthink everything. That’s what her brain says; screams it actually.

Then there’s a soft hand on her hip and the familiar smell of Kamilah’s perfume behind her. A thumb stroking under her shirt makes her thoughts fade to whispers. Lips on her neck make her weak in the knees.

Her chin is tilted aside in a kiss and her mind goes blissfully blank.

#bloodbound #playchoices #choices bb #kamilah x mc #kamilah sayeed #adrian raines #jax matsuo #lily spencer #bloodbound mc #mc: nadya al jamil #oc: maricruz espinoza #oblv: bound by destiny #oblv: new chapter #; my fics

[deansmyapplepie]

Trick or Treat!

As promised, here’s one more before the month is over! I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you think! Happy Halloween!

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Tags: husband!Dean, father!Dean, mother!reader, sweet!Dean, Halloween, trick or treating

Word Count: 1,404

(Gif not mine)

"Mommy, look what I got!" Your little girl ran down the sidewalk from your neighbor's front porch, and you crouched down to be at eye-level with her. She tilted the rim of her jack o lantern candy bucket in your direction, revealing a king-sized candy bar on the top of her haul. You gasped in exaggerated surprise.

"A king-sized Crunch bar? That's awesome, Charlie!" She bounced with excitement.

"Mr. Wallace said he saved it just for me!" You glanced up at the large house to see your neighbor standing in the doorway, smiling at the two of you. You gave him a grateful wave, which he returned, before turning back to your daughter.

"That was sweet of him. Did you say thank you?" Charlie nodded, beaming with pride. Ruffling her hair, you gave her a kiss on the forehead. "All right, are you ready to go home?"

"Can we do one more?" You stood and nodded.

"Sure." Not needing any more encouragement, Charlie bounded up the walkway of another house she hadn't been to yet. Spending time with her was one of your favorite things to do. She shared her father's traits of sandy brown hair, bright green eyes, and although she was only five, you could already tell she would grow to have the same lean figure. You followed her up to the front porch of the house decorated with fake spider webs on the railings. Only a moment after she knocked on the door, it swung open, and an older woman holding a plastic cauldron filled with candy stepped out.

"Trick or treat!" The woman smiled warmly.

"Well, don't you look just adorable! What are you dressed up as?" Unease settled in your stomach.

"I'm a hunter!" Charlie exclaimed happily. "I hunt bad guys like werewolves and vampires and-" You rubbed Charlie's back, chuckling nervously.

"Okay, sweetheart, I think she gets it." The woman put a small handful of candy into the plastic jack o lantern, giving you a puzzled look.

"Thank you!" Charlie ran back down the walkway, long hair bouncing up and down, and you trailed after her, giving the woman an awkward wave. By the time you caught up, Charlie was digging through her plastic tote filled to the brim with candy.

"Anything good?" you asked. She picked up a Kit-Kat and tore the bright red plastic from the chocolate.

"Kit-Kats!" she said happily, shoving the mini chocolate bar in her mouth. You chuckled. Charlie had also apparently developed some of her father's eating habits. You reached down for her hand, small and warm in your own. "Did daddy get to see your costume before we left?" She shook her head.

"Nuh-uh."

"Well, he can see it when we get home." The two of you continued down the sidewalk, the bright sound of other children laughing with their families filling the air. When you finally arrived at your home, the Impala was in the driveway, your husband leaning over the trunk.

"Daddy!" Charlie called out excitedly. Dean whirled around in surprise before breaking into a grin. He crouched down and held open his arms, which Charlie ran into without hesitation.

"Hey, princess!" Dean greeted. "Your costume looks great!" You discreetly shut the trunk so your daughter wouldn't see the stored weapons on display.

"Mommy helped me with it," Charlie declared. Dean folded down the collar on her red flannel, which was sticking up slightly.

"Well, you wanna go show your Uncle Sam?" Her eyes widened with glee.

"Uncle Sam's here?" The front door opened and closed with a small squeak, and Sam strolled out onto the porch.

"There's my girl!" Charlie squealed eagerly, leaping into his arms. Sam kissed the top of her head affectionately as she wrapped her tiny arms tightly around his neck.

"Hey, Sammy," you greeted, smiling warmly at him. "Dean didn't tell me you were coming back with him." Sam nodded.

"Yeah, I was thinking I'd stay and help you make dinner or something so we could catch up." Dean snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Jeez, Sam, you make it sound like you live two states away. Your apartment is literally down the freaking street."

"Oh, stop," you chided playfully. "Sam, you know you're always welcome over here."

"Thanks, Y/N," Sam said, shooting you a wink. "So, Charlie, did you get some good candy?" You sidled up to your husband, lowering your voice.

"How was the case?" Dean sighed, snaking an arm around your waist.

"It wasn't one," he answered. "Just pre-Halloween antics. The damn kid wasn't missing, just passed out drunk in his friend's basement." You sighed, feeling only somewhat at ease, and leaned your head on his shoulder.

"I know I should be grateful we could finally retire," you muttered. "I mean, for Christ's sake, we have a daughter to protect. But is it weird that I still feel kind of... disappointed?" Dean squeezed you lightly and pecked your cheek.

"No," he answered. "Not at all. Hell, we hunted for years, Y/N. It's pretty weird that out of the blue, there's nothing for us to kill anymore, and we can just live a normal life with Sammy and our girl." You sighed, relieved Dean felt the same way you were feeling.

"It's just, after never getting a break for years on end, I feel absolutely useless with all this free time on my hands." He took your hand, rubbing comforting circles over the back of it with his thumb.

"Hey, I get it, believe me, I do. But you're not useless, all right? You could never be useless." Dean looked over his shoulder at Charlie, smiling broadly. Within his smile, you could tell just how much he loved her. "You've done a hell of a job raising our kid. She's more perfect than I could've ever imagined." You smiled, squeezing him in a side hug.

"You've done a pretty bang-up job yourself, Mr. Winchester," you reminded. "Don't give me all the credit here."

"This is a nice shirt, Charlie!" You tuned back into Sam talking to your daughter. "Do you think it would fit me?" She giggled loudly, shaking her head.

"No!" You stifled a laugh, biting your lip to hold back a smile.

"Charlie, didn't you tell your Uncle Sam who you dressed up as?" Sam nodded.

"She sure did. You're a hunter, right?" You had to press the back of your hand to your mouth to hold back a fit of giggles.

"Right, but which hunter did you dress up as, Charlie?" Dean asked, also fighting a smile. Sam gave a slight frown, apparently confused. Your daughter grinned at her uncle.

"I'm Uncle Sam because he has pretty, long hair, too!" When Sam's eyes widened in surprise, you snorted loudly, and Dean burst into laughter.

"Um, right," Sam said, evidently unsure how to react. "How about we go get started on dinner?" He turned, still carrying Charlie, and headed inside, leaving you in the driveway giggling with his older brother. You reached down and interlaced Dean's fingers with yours, smiling brightly. When the laughter subsided, you looked at him seriously. You were worried. Without hustling people at pool in local bars, you weren't sure how you were going to keep a steady flow of income going. After all, you couldn't exactly put "monster hunter" on a resume.

"We're gonna be all right, aren't we?" Dean gave you a sweet smile before pressing a chaste kiss to your lips. The adoration for you in his bright green eyes tugged on your heartstrings and had all of your troubles washing away.

"Yeah, babe. We're gonna be just fine." He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in close for another kiss. Dean was right. It was a cheesy thought, but you knew with him by your side you could pull through any hardship that would come your way. After all, the difficulty of getting a job paled in comparison to saving the world from notoriously dangerous monsters. "But God," he voiced softly. "What are we gonna do in our free time?" You shrugged.

"We could always take up knitting as a hobby," you suggested. Dean chuckled at your side.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a shooting range, so we don't get too rusty." You grinned over at your husband, shaking your head with amusement. Once a hunter, always a hunter.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Happy Halloween, Y/N."

Thanks so much for reading! I really hope you liked it!

Like I said, I feel a little nervous about this one. Please leave me feedback and let me know what you thought!

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#Supernatural #Supernatural Fanfiction #One Shot #One Shot Fanfiction #Supernatural One Shot #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #Reader #Original Female Character #Dean Winchester x Reader #Dean Winchester x Original Female Character #Father!Dean #Dad!Dean #Mother!Reader #Mom!Reader #Uncle!Sam #Reference to Charlie Bradbury

[sunset-wishes-upon-hill]

Pandora ch. 3 (RE-WRITTEN)

Pandora (1st/2nd of re written ver uploaded): FF l Wattpad l Quotev

Rewritten and updated on 15/10/2016

A/N: I’m sick - been sick for few weeks and got worse this week. Hopefully I’ll get better so I can focus on my stories.

Her morning started at five am. She would call her mum, speak about how she was doing and how they were doing and briefly reply to Bella’s texts, then leave by bus toward Pontedera where Jessica boarded a seven am train to Florence. Then she would head back to Volterra and arrive at her inn around midnight. Before she came to Volterra, she already visited the mainland and other tourist places. Florence had been the last of her list to visit.

The next day, she headed to the main street and toward the castle. The castle was always bustling with tourists and locals passing through to their work. In few days, she had taken up a habit of hanging out on the top where she could see the surrounding nature of Volterra. She had not seen Alec since the incident with the drunken man and he had made it clear that he hoped this would be the last that they meet. Everything about him – his posture, appearance and clothes – exuded indifferent detachment. Just like the Cullens’. But while the distance she felt from the Cullens’ were the kind people from well-to-do circles sometimes projected, from the designer clothes they wore, the expensive house they lived in and the fancy cars they drove, Alec appeared to be made to linger on a rainy day in grey November weather without being noticed.

Some locals said the vampires still live here. As in this castle.” A girl, few feet away from her, said to her boyfriend.

Jessica’s ears perked up, the Volterra’s past history with vampires were so embedded within its identity that, to this day, was still a subject of fascination to the locals just as it was for the tourists. Finding herself curious about the local legend, she tuned in to the conversation.

“Too bad vampires don’t exist. At least in real life anyway.” Her boyfriend mused as he took a snap of the picture of the scenery with his phone.

“But it’s really interesting though. The old lady at our villa said that vampires had red eyes and beautiful appearances. Some even had supernatural gifts. She told me that her great ancestors even met some of them! This group of vampires came to Volterra long time ago and promised to not harm anyone living here. It was said there was three leaders and guards that were gifted. One of the ancestors said there were even young vampires who looked like they were thirteen or fourteen!”

“Please don’t tell me you believe it those stuff!”

“Still, it’s so interesting!” She reasoned, “Do you know how to tell if they are those Volterra vampires?”

Although skeptical, the boyfriend was equally curious, “How?”

Jessica tipped the water bottle back, welcoming the cooling and satiating sensation down her dry throat.

“She said they all wore a unique golden V pendent necklace and a hood to shield their skin from the sun because they sparkle like diamonds.”

The water jetted out from her mouth and into evaporating bubbles as it floated down the tower. She broke out into a coughing fit as her throat chocked with the regurgitating liquid and her chest tightened as if she was drowning and were resuscitated back to life.

The girl and her boyfriend jerked toward her, startled for a second before the boyfriend returned his gaze to the girl with an absurd look in his face.

“Oh come on! Sparkle? Like diamonds? Even the girl over there thinks it’s so ridiculous she spat out her water. Sarah, I think you had too many wine yesterday.”

“It was vodka, you king kong!” The girl retorted, “The only reason why I drank so much was because you couldn’t!”

“I just didn’t feel so well yesterday. I usually have a much higher tolerance.”

The girl simply rolled her eyes, blew her paper cup and took a small sip of what it seemed to be a black, bitter coffee.

It can’t be that V necklace I saw few days ago right…? Jessica thought before she shook herself out of absurd thought that was forming in her mind, Come on, vampires? What is this? Vampire Diaries? Maybe I should cut back on alcohol…

As her cough resided, she took a careful nip of water again. Another thought snaked its way through her head. But why would he wear those winter coats in summer heat like this? And not get sweaty? Few times he touched me, his skin felt so cold…almost like a..corpse…

“Oh my god, Jessica, what the hell are you thinking?” She muttered, eyes widening at her own ridiculous speculation. Her mind seemed to be writing its own dramatic novel transcending rational and logical thinking.

Come on; think about it…the Cullens’ are ridiculously pale, even for people that live in a town where sun avoids to shine…maybe it’s just a family trait…they’re freakin adopted..maybe they’re a family of vampires…oh Jessica, what the fuck are you thinking? Are you that stupid? Wearing a hood and a V-necklace must mean they must be a vampire pfft, better get my tinfoil hat on.

The couple turned to leave and Jessica repeated to herself not to follow and ask them more about the vampire stories they heard from some old woman. It was a laughable notion to her and more so to them when they realise someone seemed convinced by what could have been said as jest.

Don’t follow. Don’t follow. Just leave it be. Leave it be!

“Excuse me!” Jessica called after and her legs were already moving, DAMN IT JESSICA!

The couple stopped mid-stairs and glanced over their shoulders as Jessica hurried to catch up to the pair.

“So sorry..um but can I ask from who you heard the vampire stories about?” Her cheeks heated red with embarrassment as the couple shared a look with each other before looking back. ‘Someone actually believes it?’ their eyes seemed to accuse.

“I’m really sorry for listening in on your conversation but..I’ve heard people saying this castle used to belong to the vampires and I really want to know more about it.” She babbled nervously, unable to meet their eyes.

“Oh..um..” The girl started then paused then spoke again, “Well, this old lady that owns the villa we’re staying at told me during the dinner. I can tell you the name of it and you can go and try to ask her about it..”

“Um, yeah, that would be great. Thank you so much.” Jessica mustered a smile.

“It’s called Villa Porta all'Arco. It’s literally like ten minutes’ walk from here.” She revealed with arm pointing behind her.

“Thank you so much again!” Jessica said as she made it down the flight of stairs. The girl and the boy looked at each other once again, thinking to themselves ‘Someone’s been watching too much vampire shows’.

Villa Porta all'Arco.. Jessica repeated the name over and over in her head. With the help of street vendor, she was able to find the place at the outskirt of the ancient city walls. The three-story townhouse stood in the middle of the surrounding forests, curtained by the large fronds in each side like nature’s columns.

She stepped forward then stepped back. Would she think I’m..a weirdo? What do I say? ‘Hey I overheard from couple staying at your house about your ancestors meeting the Volterra’s vampires, can I hear more about it?’ Jessica inhaled, trying to muster up the courage.

Why would I even think of vampires being real in the first place?! Jessica asked herself. Her mind answered with series of flashbacks with what was just a simple casual observations of Cullens’ weird behaviours and later, Bella.

They’re beautiful. Inhumanely so. No one can be that perfectly looking or sounding. Their hair was always soft and voluptuous as if every morning they had the professionals take care of their styling, their skin was flawless like a blank canvas waiting to be painted and their voice had such an alluring proponent that she often wondered how all of them were able to attain them. Was there a surgery for it? Heck she Googled them and turns out such procedure actually exist. It couldn’t be a passed on trait from parents, they were all adopted, so how were they all so perfect and beautiful?

They never ate. Ever. She always thought that the cheap, mass produced, over-processed cafeteria food was below their cultured taste. Their school foods weren’t the best, that she agreed wholeheartedly. But she had never seen them eat anything, even things they probably could have packed from home.

They never drank. Anything. Na-dah. How they can go eight hours without drinking was beyond her. Even if they did drink something away from prying eyes, they never did try to disappear from the centre of the attentions. The only time they did was when they went to hiking with their parents. In the rare time the sun did shine in Forks.

Sun. They always disappeared when there was a sun. Ergo sunshine was a rare occurrence in Forks; she tried to think of the time when they did made an appearance to school when the sun was up and she couldn’t.

Oh no... Jessica groaned, for all she know it could have been some gross, misled imaginations her mind decided to make while a sixth sense of sort in her said otherwise. Shaking her head, this isn’t right. Let’s just go back.

She turned to leave when a door opened and a soft, low voice spoke, “Are you going to come in, piccolo?”

Jessica slightly jumped and twirled to see a perennial woman. She saw that she was much older than she originally thought. Perhaps in her late 70s given wizened lines in her face, deep and saggy–– like the skin slipping down the skull underneath and her loosely tied powder-white hair was thinning and her smile showed that her teeth were rather yellow. Along with this, it could be seen that the lips, once beautifully full, were dry and cracked. Her eyes appeared milky in certain light and angle but they were gleaming with energy and while her face appeared world weary at times, she was active and alert.

“Uh…hello, I’m Jessica Stanley.”

“Ciao, you can call me Giada. Would you like to come in?”

“Oh, uh, nah, I was just looking around…” Jessica shook her head apologetically, “I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

“You look like you have something you want to ask.” She sharply noticed and opened the door further, “Come in, child.”

Jessica was startled by her insight before approaching the villa and entered the house as Giada closed the door.

“Would you like any drink?” The old lady asked as she guided her into the drawing room.

“No, thank you, it’s fine.” Jessica smiled as took a seat in the sofa across Giada.

Once settled, Giada looked at Jessica expectedly, “How can I help you?”

“Um, well, I was wondering if you could tell me more about the…um, Volterra’s vampires.” Jessica started and quickly added, “I overheard the conversation from this couple that was staying here that you told them about the legend of vampires and umm…”

Giada stilled and stared into Jessica’s eyes as if searching for something in her.

“People may believe it’s a mere legend but they are real.” She revealed as she carefully studied the change of expressions in Jessica’s countenance, “My ancestor have met them. Very civilized and adhered to strict laws they have created. It was said their beauty was so god-like that human men and women who saw them would fall in love with them.”

“I heard that they also had guards that were gifted?”

“Yes. Very gifted. Very powerful that one should not judge them by appearances.” Then she stood up to retrieve something from the locked glass cupboard. When she came back, in her hands were thickly bounded tattered book covered with dust and mites.

“My ancestors wrote accounts of their arrivals and of their chasings by St. Marcus. Although they suspected they were not chased away but went into hiding underground for the fear of the local’s reprisals.” She gently pushed the diary toward Jessica and she picked it up with great care.

It was written in cursive Italian, which she did not understand and she perused the pages when something loose fell out and onto the marble floor. Picking up, she realised it was various sketches of portraits. The first one was of two young children, about fourteen or fifteen, and they were angelically beautiful. The boy, whose lip was not as full as the girl but just as lovely, was significantly taller than the girl. Although it was hard to make out, they shared similarities one would see in biologically related siblings or twins.

“Ah yes, the youngest vampires in the coterie.” She said, noticing Jessica’s fascination with them. Something about the boy was familiar. His piercing, cold eyes were a stranger but his nose and lips sparked a forgotten memory.  

“Do you know their names?” She asked without looking up, still fascinated by the drawing.

“No. Only the leaders.”

“Can I ask how your ancestors knew them so..well?” Jessica’s hand hovered above the boy’s face and as Giada spoke, “One of my ancestors, a woman named Valeria, was a lover of Francesco Solimena, the painter who drew these.” Jessica horizontally twisted her wrist so that her hand covered the top part of his face. Shiver sparked down her spine as she took in the newly formed picture and realised why she seemed to think she saw him before. It was Alec.

Jessica sweep to the next page and almost dropped the old, frail parchments. Had she been standing, her knees would have gave out and collapse on the ground. The familiar and unique crest stared back at her mockingly as it gleefully confirmed her greatest fear. It was the same V crest that was hung on Alec’s neck.

“W..what is the leaders name…?” Jessica whispered weakly. The third and final parchment showed three men sat on the thrones as equal rulers. The one in the centre and on the right could not be any older than in their mid-twenties while the man on the left, looking utterly depressed, seemed to be in his forties. What shocked her was how beautiful they all were. God-like, Giada said and Jessica agreed. It was unnerving to see such perfections when the nature despised perfections.

“Aro, Caius and Marcus…and their friend,” Giada closed her eyes as if she was searching for the final name in her mind.

The fourth man, dressed just as aristocratic as the leaders, was standing nearer to them than anyone by the side. Rather than as their right hand man and confidante, it seemed to convey favour and friendship this man was bestowed. The parchment in her hand seemed to move and appear in two dimensions like seeing through a kaleidoscope tube and realised it was her own hand that were shaking uncontrollably.

“Carlisle I believe his name was. A doctor, he said he was.”

Giada studied the fear and dread on Jessica’s face wordlessly, even when her tan skin became pale as a paper, stood up and rushed out of the house.

Her legs continued running, ignoring the stares from the people she had pushed past unintentionally and the burnings she felt spreading through her body from below. Closing the door behind her loudly, she slid down to the floor in shock.

It can’t be. The old lady must be senile and she must be crazier to even believe her. There was no such thing as vampires. They could have been Carlisle’s ancestor. A great-great-great grandfather that just had scary resemblance to Dr. Cullen she knew. Vampires only existed in TVs and movies and fictions and the necklace she saw Alec wearing must have been some sort of homage to the legend. She let out a breathy, empty laugh and shook her head, “Yeah that must be it. Gosh what was I thinking. Vampires. Yeah right.”

Her phone that had escaped her pocket when she ran inside, tinged as a text popped up on screen.

Bella: What are you doing? :)

With shaking hand, she picked up the phone. She gulped. Then deep breathe then out. Sliding the text, she pressed the call button and heard the dialing tones.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Bella.” Jessica greeted, voice slightly wavering.

“What’s up? You okay?”

“Yeah, guess what I found out about today?”

“What?”

“Did you know there’s this local legend about these vampires of Volterra?”

A dead silent. Then stutter, “U-uh, n-no, really? Woah, that’s so interesting!”

Jessica imagined Bella biting her lips from the other side of the phone. She had always been bad at hiding and lying. Not that she was better, but she was more efficient and aware.

“Yeah, apparently there were these three vampire leaders.” Jessica continued and when Bella said nothing she added, “Their names were apparently Aro, Caius and Marcus. It’s crazy…but I saw a painting of them and there was a man who looked a lot like Dr. Cullen.”

The pause was heavy and palpable. The whole world seemed to have died. If one were to drop a pin in the next door, she’d hear it.

Please laugh and say ‘I’m crazy’ and that it’s all just a weird coincidence, Jessica prayed.

“That sounds cool.” Bella managed at last.

“Edward might know, you know probably heard it from Heidi or something. Or Dr. Cullen, that might be his great-great grandpa or something.” Jessica let out a vain chuckle.

Another pause. Shorter this time.

“Yeah, he might have.” She said.

“Hey, Bella, I gotta go.”

“Jess––“

She hung up and the phone cluttered on the floor. Jessica stood and limply fell on to the bed. She didn’t want to think anything else. After hours of tossing and turning, she finally fell into a restless sleep.

In her dream, she imagined the angelically beautiful vampires and the leaders coming to life and their crimson eyes boring into her blue ones. Behind them, stood Carlisle; melancholy look in his eyes.

The next day, she had been spending all her mornings on Googling what probably was the most bizarre and comical questions. On her phone, popped up a message saying she had seven missed calls from Bella.

‘help, I found out someone I know is a vampire’

‘what to do when you know a vampire’

‘vampires real?’

‘vampire history’

‘how to tell if they’re a vampire’

‘vampire weakness’

‘vampire’

There were so many myths and legends about vampires, each positing different weakness, strengths, characteristics and its origin. But most seemed to agree that vampires were unnaturally beautiful, pale, drank blood and had heightened strength and senses beyond human capabilities. And undead.

It was said that they could be killed or harmed by garlic, holy items, wooden stakes, silver and sunlight. Which sounded a bit silly. Because if, and if, Cullens and Alec and Heidi were vampires, which Jessica had her doubt, most of weakness written here didn’t seemed to affect them at all.

She knew Alice and Rosalie loved to wear gold and silver jewelries and Alec didn’t seem too bothered by the sunlight. And Dr. Cullen worked in a hospital as a doctor for heaven sake ––which was not a wise career to take if your diet consisted of only blood. Jessica was beginning to think they were as reliable as child’s fairytale. But Giada said that the Carlisle in the painting was also a doctor. Either Dr. Cullen was lying or he had an impeccable control over his..uh, hunger?

She’s been treated by Dr. Cullens ever since he and his family arrived in town. The first time they met was when she nearly died after slipping on a dog biscuit in the kitchen, did a somersault in the air and fell face flat on the marble floor, broke her nose and busted a lip bad that by the time she arrived in the hospital her hair, face, legs and white PJ dress were covered in blood like she had just came out from the murder scene. Dr. Cullen simply laughed and treated her. She never gotten the feeling he wanted to eat her then.

But would her finding out that the Cullens’ were vampires change her views toward them? They were weird and unjustly perfect but would that make her go and buy herself a cross, silver and a stake to protect herself if they did turned out to be vampires? Turn her back on them and be scared and afraid when she hadn’t before? If they were a vampire, they had so many chances to kill her and others but they didn’t. In fact, other than the weird serial killings of people by some wild animals or something, the Forks didn’t have any fresh bodies turning up at the morgue weeks after weeks. If they were responsible for those deaths, why then, why wait few years to start killing?

Does the fact that they were vampires mean everything they were before meant nothing? Can she let it defined them? ‘They’re vampires, so that mean they kill people and are dangerous and are monsters’? When they drank human blood, did they kill them or do some memory wiping magic and let them go their own way?

Jessica massaged her aching temples, groaning as her phone buzzed once again. If Alec were a vampire, why didn’t he kill her before?

Because they don’t kill those within these walls. She remembered the lady’s words. The last thing they want was vampires going around recklessly killing people in sight and flaming people’s ire. Because humans, no matter how powerless they may be against vampires, won’t just idly stand around and wait for their turn. They’re gonna die trying.

So did that mean as long as she stayed within these walls, Alec can’t do anything? Or Heidi? Would she be fucking stupid enough to try? Test out her little crazy, wacky theory of hers’? Sometimes she wondered where she gets this confidence from while sober. They say that there’s no confidence utterly foolish and inane than the drunks’ but she might have topped that level of insanity.

What if Alec isn’t a vampire and when he hears what she tried to do, he’d laugh at her? Call her crazy and a fool, as he liked to say. But as she glanced at the phone vibrating on her bed and the notification showing she now had ten missed calls from Bella, why was it that everything seemed to be pointing to this absurd, ridiculous notion of hers’?

Please let this be not true.

Grabbing her phone, the bag and closing her laptop screen, she left her room.

Her footsteps were languid and burdened with mix of emotions; trepidation, apprehension, nervousness with a touch of foreboding sense of catharsis. Her heart palpitated painfully against her ribcage as she arrived in front of the gate that would presumably lead to the castle.

‘Hey, it might sound crazy but I still gotta ask: are you a vampire?’ She repeated the script over and over in her head. Then a quick yes or no would be more than enough.

She waited for him to come. Like a prey waiting for its predator’s arrival to face the inevitable. He always seemed to know she was here and there doesn’t seem to be any CCTV around for someone to tell Alec, ‘Alec, the crazy girl is here, again. Kick her out would you?’

“Was my previous warning not enough?” The musical voice said from behind her.

She turned, slowly, to face the mystery boy in dark hood in a Midsummer Day. The boiling heat doesn’t seem to affect him and she could almost feel coolness emitting from him.

Okay, Jessica, start with ‘Hey, it might sound crazy…’ Her mind calmly began.

She opened her mouth and asked, “Are you a vampire?”

JESSICA STANLEY, I SAID TO BEGIN WITH ‘HEY, IT MIGHT SOUND CRAZY’, YOU DON’T GO HARDCORE STRAIGHT!

But the water has been spilt. The boy was still like a statue, and then glided toward her, closing the gap in two long strides. His movements segued smoothly that she could not call it a walk.

“What make you think I’m a vampire?”

“Well, they say vampires have different coloured eyes or something, right?” Jessica ventured.

He did not answer her.

“You always have your face covered.” Jessica reasoned wearily, “Show me your face.”

He was close enough for her to see the corner of his lip twitch upward, “You’re treading on a dangerous line here.”

Final warning, he was telling her. Turn around and walk away before you have a chance, it was saying. She had a chance to go back to her usual musing of him being a mafia or a cult member or an assassin. She might be happy and glad deluding herself with these theories instead of supernatural ones.

Jessica wanted to run, quickly mutter out ‘sorry, I’m drunk!’ and go on about her life in Volterra and leave quietly, treasuring her meeting with Alec and Heidi as one of those nice but insignificant people that’ll have little impact on her in the future as she lived. They could be those forgotten memories. The forgotten faces of the strangers she had walked past in a random, foreign street.

Her arm reached up, hesitant whether he’ll let her do what she wanted to do. When he made no move to stop her, she grabbed the edge of the hood.

“It’s your very last chance.” He said in a low voice that was too unfamiliar to her. It was strange hearing him speak like that. She was so used to his friendly tone.

Gulping down her fears, she slowly pulled down the hood until it rested on his neck.

Jessica blinked against the still ones.

Blue met red.

Jessica wished it was coloured contacts. A very expensive, realistic contacts. Heidi had her purples ones and Alec had red ones. Just a unique individual’s taste. She wished.

The face that stared back at her was the very same one in the drawing that she had seen next to the girl. Even after all these years and times, his delicate face remained unchanging and forever lovely than the finished painting in the Vatican. One would think he was an ordinary young boy were it not for the sharpness in his eyes that could only come with time. His eyes were striking colour of crimson glided with long, thick dark lashes. She thought the drawing did not do him justice because he was so much more complete and deeper than the elaborate strokes on a paper.

“…Am I going to die now?” It came out in a hoarse whisper.

“I can’t let you live now that you know who I am.” His arm reached out toward her. The same arm that saved her from the drunken man now bore out its claws to kill.

“W-wait!” She stepped back, “You can’t kill me. Not at least when I’m still in these walls.”

He stilled and tilted his head, “Where did you obtain that information?”

He might try to kill Giada.

“..B-Bella!” She lied, “She said you don’t kill people here.”

“That law doesn’t apply to those that know our identity.” He stepped forward and she stepped back until she could feel the solidness of the wood on her shoulders and rear.

She felt the tear gathering in the corner of her eyes. You’re such a suicidal idiot, her mind told her. It was all her fault. She could have walked away when he gave her the chance but she needed to know. She was so tired of wondering, wondering what the Cullens’ were hiding, wondering why Bella was acting so weird ever since she got involved with Edward, wondering why the cycle started again with Alec and Heidi.

And she got her answers that she sought out. With a price. Her life. Was she satisfied now? Happy? Or is it the ‘I told you so’ case?

“Is Alec even your real name?” She asked for what was probably her last.

“Yes.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“Vampire age.” She clarified.

He smiled and although she had seen him smile before with half of his face hidden, her breath hitched at the sight.

“I don’t keep count.”

“You’re not gonna believe me even if I say I’m not gonna tell anyone that you’re a vampire.”

“We don’t take any risk.”

We. That meant he wasn’t alone. There were others. Other vampires. In Volterra. The vampires of Volterra.

“Give me a chance. Please...please.”

“We do not give any chances.” His arm grabbed her neck, the other her shoulder. Tear slipped down her cheek in silent mourn as she felt his breath hover above the crook of her neck.

“Do you think…you can have my body sent to my parents?” She asked, staring at the large, mature tree over his shoulder.

“Your body will be destroyed.”

She felt the strength leaving her body as she surrendered to her inevitable death. Closing her eyes, imagining her parents’ reaction to the daughter that vanished and will never be found gripped her heart painfully.

“It was nice meeting you, Alec.” She said before becoming limp in his arm. The phone buzzed frantically in her pocket.

#pandora story #pandora rewritten

[tyrantisterror]

Slightly More Detailed Character Nonsense for Baron Skeleton

It is weird how I’ve made more progress on this story concept in the last couple of days than I have in rest of the couple of years since I came up with it.

This builds off of/refines the rambling brainstorm stuff I did in this post, just in case you missed it.

Baron Skeleton Character List

Size Classes from Smallest to Largest: Scout, Basic, Deluxe, Mega

Villain Team

Baron Skeleton

Character Role: Big Bad

Motifs: Skeleton, Cobra Commander, Skeletor

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: Snap on Chest Armor

Personality: Manic and almost perpetually annoyed, Baron Skeleton is prone to spiteful rants and loud tantrums.  While anger and frustration are basically his default emotions, he rarely directs these feelings at the people around him, being more likely to rant about bad luck or society being rigged instead.  Despite his volatile temper, he’s actually far more patient with his henchmen’s quirks that you’d expect, and genuinely likes the people he works with.  Unlike the villains he’s based off of, Baron Skeleton is never abusive to his underlings and generally tries his best to accommodate their needs and desires in his schemes, even if doing so often results in failure.  Though he talks as though his worlview is bleak and cynical, Baron Skeleton notably refuses to ever give up the fight – he always has another scheme for victory after each defeat, and rarely dwells on his failures for long before moving on to the next plan.

Meta Stuff: As the show’s protagonist, he’d get a lot of toy variants with different gimmicks, like “dragon blast armor” and the like.  The show would work these in as clumsily as possible.

Snakeman

Character Role: Big Bad’s Wacky Sidekick

Motifs: Snake, Barbarian

Size Class: Deluxe

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Though technically Baron Skeleton’s number two, Snakeman’s real function is as Baron Skeleton’s best friend.  As the second in command, Snakeman is terrible – he can never keep Baron Skeleton’s plans straight even on the rare occasions where he actually listens to them, and always ends up derailing things by “winging it.”  As a best friend, though, he’s marvelous – he’s always there to listen to Baron Skeleton’s problems, and he’s always doing his best to cheer Baron Skeleton up.  One could say that Snakeman gives Baron Skeleton what he needs instead of what he wants.  Snakeman is also a very chill boss to the other underlings, rarely dolling out punishments and always willing to hear them out.  Like most of the bad guys, he can actually be a competent fighter when he applies himself – he just rarely ever does so.

Meta Stuff: Snakeman’s design should be as He-Man-y as we dare to get.

Newbie/Edgelord

Character Role: Fish Out of Water, Eviler Than Thou

Motifs: Grimdark villain

Size Class: Scout as Newbie, Deluxe as Edgelord

Toy Gimmicks: Clip On Spike Armor (Edgelord only)

Personality: Newbie’s role in the first season is to be the fish out of water character who triggers exposition from the pre-established characters, but overall his real purpose is to contrast the bad guy’s outdated style of supervillainy with a more modern Grim & Gritty take.  Newbie is the only bad guy who is legitimately evil rather than just weird and antisocial.  He views murder as the best solution, and all of his suggestions for plans essentially boil down to “kill as many people as possible.”  He’s sadistic and cruel, and the other bad guys are ultimately unsettled by him (though many, Baron Skeleton included, still try to turn him around to their way of thinking).  Once he becomes Edgelord, he dives straight into the most Grimdark of villainy, doing his best to put every face-removing Joker to shame.  Edgelord is the one character on the show that the audience is invited to hate without any regret.

Meta Stuff: While Newbie’s action figure should just be a variant of the Henchskull figure (with a different head and color scheme), Edgelord’s should be a 100% new mold to better make him stand out as a character from a very different take on the superhero genre.

Gargruel

Character Role: Starscream

Motifs: Demon/Gargoyle, Gaudiness

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: Clip On Armor (more elaborate than Baron Skeleton’s)

Personality: Gargruel is a perpetual traitor, trying to usurp Baron Skeleton’s leadership at every opportunity.  It is literally a pathological tendency of his, and one of the rest of the bad guys have just learned to deal with.  Perhaps the hammiest of the villains, almost every word out of his mouth is a loud, theatrical declaration of his superior mind and strength.  Of course, Gargruel is nowhere near as clever or strong as he thinks he is, and always ends up overreaching.  Despite his superiority complex, the others consider him a friend, and he is always quickly forgiven for his repeated betrayals (especially since they tend to implode on him almost immediately).  It helps that he can actually be a pretty nice guy on the rare occasions where he isn’t talking himself up.

Meta Stuff: Gargruel’s outfit should look like a much flashier/gaudier take on Baron Skeleton’s. His toy would probably even be a retool of Baron Skeleton’s toy, with different gloves, boots, and clip on armor as well as a new head.

Galvanstein

Character Role: Fanatical Loyalist

Motifs: Frankenstien, Executioner

Size Class: Deluxe

Toy Gimmicks: Spring-loaded Extendo-Fists

Personality: An utter sycophant, Galvanstein is a yes man and Baron Skeleton’s greatest enabler. Galvanstein is utterly devoted to his boss and believes every idea Baron Skeleton has ever had is absolute genius. The only reason they fail, he reasons, is that the other henchmen aren’t pulling their weight, which is why Galvanstein is overly critical of his peers.  He’s not a complete dick to them though – after all, Baron Skeleton clearly saw potential in them, so they must have some good sides.  Galvanstein’s loyalty is his greatest weakness, as he can never bring himself to admit that his boss is flawed.  Likewise, he has no improvisational skills – while he will gleefully carry out Baron Skeleton’s orders to the letter, he is at an absolute loss whenever a plan gets derailed and forces him to think for himself.

Meta Stuff:

Nosferoi

Character Role: TFP Soundwave

Motifs: Vampire, Boba Fett/Samus/Cool Helmeted Space Warrior

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: Grappling Hook Claw, Removable helmet

Personality: Quiet and thoughtful, Nosferoi is the most competent villain in Baron Skeleton’s organization by a long shot.  She has the highest success rate of any henchmen, pulling off her tasks efficiently and with a great deal of style.  When she contributes to a plot, her suggestions are always cunning and well-reasoned.  If she was the gang’s leader, they would have won ages ago – but she doesn’t want to be a leader.  In fact, Nosferoi is much happier as a henchman.  She likes following orders more than giving them, and thinks Baron Skeleton’s schemes are far more fun to carry out than anything she could come up with, even if they’re doomed to fail.  Unlike most of the other villains, she doesn’t really want to win so much as she just wants to hang out with her friends, and is content to just do her part of the job well instead of trying to fix their operation.

Meta Stuff: Nosferoi should look rad as hell.

Spinestra

Character Role: PG Seductress

Motifs: Spider, PG Rated Dominatrix

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Supposedly a master manipulator, Spinestra’s role tends to focus on finding ways to play mind games with the heroes that Baron Skeleton’s forces oppose.  She’s not quite as good at this as the others think she is, but she does her best to come up with dastardly schemes to set the heroes against each other.  Her real skill lies in trap making, and many of the defense systems in the villain team’s fortress are of her design.  Spinestra also often helps with the team’s plans, though she’s sort of a double edged sword – her contributions are so complex that the heroes can’t follow them, but, sadly, also end up confusing the other henchmen more often than not, resulting in a bungled operation.  While she tries to act cold and aloof like Nosferoi, she has a ferocious temper and cannot take criticism well.

Meta Stuff: in the vein of villains like Evil-Lyn and Baroness, Spinestra has a vague dominatrix vibe that’s intensely watered down so as not to anger parents (ignoring the fact that they could have just not made her look like a dominatrix in the first place).

Swampstomp

Character Role: Bumbling Brute

Motifs: Swamp Monster, Gill Man

Size Class: Mega

Toy Gimmicks: Tummy Prison

Personality: The muscle of the villain team, Swampstomp knows she’s valued for her brawn and not her brains, and is totally fine with that.  She’s the largest of the core henchmen and hits the hardest by far. Swampstomp revels in her role as a dumb brute, cheerfully taking orders from anyone who acts even the slightest bit authoritative.  When Gangruel initiates a coup, Swampstomp is generally the first to fall in line, and likewise she’s one of the first to switch back to Baron Skeleton when the old boss reasserts himself.  While Swampstomp gleefully embraces her dumb muscle persona, she’s actually more perceptive and intelligent than anyone gives her credit for, herself included. Likewise, while she generally plays up her love of beating people up, she really isn’t the sadist she thinks she is, and is utterly revolted at people who are genuinely vicious.

Meta Stuff: Swampstomp’s gimmick is that she can swallow smaller figures and store them in her tummy. Because this is a pretty intricate gimmick, Swampstomp’s mold would be entirely unique, so her design has more leeway to be strange than most of the others.

Dr. Strategerm

Character Role: Straw Vulcan

Motifs: Mad Scientist, Chess, Mathletes

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: Swappable hands

Personality: Dr. Strategerm claims to value logic and rationality, and tries to reduce all problems to mathematic equations that come to one objective solution.  Ironically, he is utterly irrational in his devotion to this philosophy, and will passionately argue about how emotions are distractions that keep people from being run by pure, perfected logic.  Strategerm creates all the high tech weaponry and gadgets that the group uses and is prone to sesquipedalian loquaciousness.  He has a notable rivalry with Hexadeth, being her foil.

Meta Stuff: Dr. Strategerm’s hands can be switched out with multiple different tools, like a claw, a hammer, a drill, etc.  His toy would use Baron Skeleton’s body mold, but with a cloth labcoat draped over its torso and legs to disguise the mold reuse.  His arms and head would be entirely new pieces.

Hexadeth

Character Role: Sorceress

Motifs: D&D, mummy

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: Dice of Doom Accessory

Personality: Superstitious and traditional, Hexadeth is a master of magic who insists on doing things the “old way” and hates technology.  Though her magic is extremely powerful, her resistance to catch up with the times often bites her in the butt, as her enemies often use technology that she is not prepared to deal with.  She has great skill in dealing with emotional and spiritual matters, but has nothing but disdain for logic and science.  She often butts heads with Dr. Strategerm despite the fact that she essentially does the same thing as him – i.e. create new weapons and equipment for the others.  Her dialogue is also similarly hard to parse, as she loves purple prose and antiquated linguistics.

Meta Stuff: Hexadeth’s toy uses the same body tooling as Spinestra, though it is disgused by her cloth robe and cowl.  Her head, hands, feet, and shins all uses new pieces that are sculpted to look like they’re covered in bandages.  Her gimmick/accessory is a set of dice – 1d20, 1d10, 1d6, and 1d4 – with different magic symbols on them, which in the show she uses to cast her magic spells.  She might also come with a cup that automatically rolls them or something – we can have fun with it.

Oddserver

Character Role: Wild Card

Motifs: Eyeball, strangeness

Size Class: Mega

Toy Gimmicks: Removable Parasites

Personality: Considered weird by the other villains, which says something considering their own quirks, Oddserver is an alien juggernaut that marches to the beat of its own drummer.  The enigmatic monster is unpredictable – sometimes it will follow the team’s plot to the letter, and other times it will break off and do its own thing.  Oddserver’s actions always serve a purpose, one that always benefits Oddserver even if it does little if anything to help the others.  While Oddserver’s nature and motives are mysterious, there are some moments where it shows clear affection for the other villains, and they consider it to be part of the team all the same.

Meta Stuff: Like Swampstomp, Oddserver’s toy is an entirely new sculpt, so it can go a little wild. I like the idea of it working sort of like some of Kenner’s Aliens toys, with lots of little parasitive creatures that can pop off the main body and work as their own monsters, but look like just a normal body part when attached to the main figure.

Griftermister

Character Role: Prankster

Motifs: Goblin, Pranks

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: Bug-Out Eyes

Personality: Griftermister has a deep seated inferiority complex that drives him to drag everyone around him through the mud to feel good about himself.  He is always looking for new ways to humiliate and mock others, devoting his life to practical jokes and mean spirited teasing.  A dick to friend and foe alike, the other villains rarely if ever incorporate him into their schemes, and instead try to steer him towards the heroes hoping they’ll distract each other.  Like many of the other villains, he’s somewhat aware of his flaw, but has no idea how to fight it.  The others accept him because he has no one else to turn to, and deep down he does value their friendship – even if he can almost never bring himself to admit it.

Meta Stuff: Griftermister’s goblin head would have a lever disguised as a horn that makes his eyes (and maybe his tongue) extend out ala Rat Fink.

Wailwolf

Character Role: Defeatist

Motifs: Wolf Man, emo kid

Size Class: Deluxe

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Wailwolf is more acutely aware of how often the villain team fails than anyone else, and dwells on this constantly.  For her, every battle is lost before its begun, and she only trudges on because she knows the others would be hurt if she didn’t join in with them.  While her pessimism can be a bit grating, the others accept her for who she is, and sometimes inspire her with their resolute (if somewhat naïve) optimism.  Or, in short, she’s basically Eeyore.

Meta Stuff: Wailwolf would reuse some of Snakeman’s sculpt, though she might require a different torso in addition to new head, hand, and feet sculpts.

Jinxlinx

Character Role: Silver Age Villain

Motifs: Black Cat, Theme Obsession

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Jinxlinx is basically every Silver Age Batman villain, having an all-consuming obsession with sticking to a particular theme for his crimes.  This presents several problems, as Jinxlinx never keeps to one theme for very long, and the themes he does choose are almost always terrible and difficult to integrate into crime.  The other villains try to accommodate this obsession, but it’s very hard for the aforementioned reasons.  Jinxlinx is a very enthusiastic henchmen when things go his way, but panics once things fall apart.

Meta Stuff: Jinxlinx would have his own sculpt, though he may reuse arms and legs from Baron Skeleton’s toy.

Ratfang and Batfang

Character Role: Those Two Henchmen

Motifs: Rats, Bats, evil twins

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Ratfang and Batfang are less defined by their own quirks and more by their shared dynamic. The two are never seen apart and spend most of their screentime making snarky comments, essentially being the Statler and Waldorf of the show.  They’re the lowest ranking of the named henchmen, but can be pretty competent despite their lack of special powers.  They prefer to just crack jokes though, and their main contribution to the show is their banter.  They cannot stand to be separated.

Meta Stuff: Ratfang and Batfang would have very similar head designs, and both would wear re-colored versions of the standard Henchskull uniform.  Like Newbie, they were only recently promoted from Faceless Goon to Named Henchmen.

Henchskulls

Character Role: Faceless Goons

Motifs: Cobra Troopers

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: As a legion of incompetent soldiers, the Henchskulls are technically varied in personality, but we generally only get hints of it.  Normally they’re just go-fers and minions, though most of the villains know their names and treat them like the individual people they are (which is slightly humorous since their uniforms make them all look identical). The Henchskulls are terrible at villainy, but to be fair, their leadership isn’t much better.

Meta Stuff: The henchskulls’ outfits would be similar to Baron Skeleton’s, but less elaborate. Their masks would conceal their faces and look vaguely skull like.  More than a few characters are retools/redecos of the Henchskull sculpt.

Hero Team

Captain Touchdown

Character role: The Hero

Motifs: Football, Superhero

Size Class: Deluxe

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: As the leader of the heroes, Captain Touchdown comes the closest to embodying the ideals they’re supposed to stand for.  In D&D terms, he is every bad stereotype about Lawful Good characters: a goody two-shoes who insists on playing by the book and insists that everyone do things his way because it’s “right.”  While many of Captain Touchdown’s beliefs are noble, he’s hampered by his completely lack of empathy – he cannot understand the idea that people think differently than him, or that anyone would be dissatisfied with the status quo.  “The complainer is always wrong” is practically his motto, and most of the conflicts between his team and Baron Skeleton’s is rooted in his inability to accept different points of view.  While never explicitly malicious, there is a smarmy air of condescension in how Captain Touchdown interacts with others, and he treats all of his peers as if they’re ignorant children who need to be told how the world works rather than, y’know, his equals.

Meta Stuff: though Captain Touchdown’s overall design should feel very Superman-ish, like Baron Skeleton, he should also have a few slightly medieval/fantasy touches.  The Football theme could be used a bit here – maybe finding some middle ground between football shoulder pads and armor?

Cheerally

Character role: The Girl

Motifs: Cheerleader, Ultra-Femininity

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Cheerally is basically the anthropomorphic personification of what toy companies think girls act like and desire.  She dresses in pink and pastels, she loves ponies and cute things, and her role on the team is essentially to provide moral support and act as a sort of surrogate mother. None of these traits are negative, of course, but Cheerally doesn’t get a great deal of respect in the group because of her perceived role, and rarely feels comfortable voicing her opinions. She’s somewhat aware of the fact that she’s not quite getting a fair deal, but she doesn’t know how to get the others to listen to her concerns.

Meta Stuff: If we were going super meta, Cheerally probably wouldn’t even HAVE a toy in the toyline, as the token girls of these shows often weren’t expected to sell merchandise well.  But let’s be nice and give her a toyetic deisgn anyway – albeit one that’s unique, since she probably wouldn’t be likely to get many retools.

Hooper Trooper

Character role: The Lancer

Motifs: Basketball, Future Warrior

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Hooper Trooper is the second in command of the Hero Team, though that doesn’t mean a whole lot.  In a more complex take on hero team dynamics, he’d be a foil to Captain Touchdown, but since 80’s hero teams hated interpersonal strife, he’s basically little more than a slightly more lax copy of his leader, and generally just acts as a yes-man.

Meta Stuff: His head is a giant basketball, and maybe removable?

Basebarian

Character role: The Big Guy

Motifs: Baseball, Barbarian, Caveman

Size Class: Mega

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: The big guy to the hero team, Basebarian isn’t particularly smart, but he’s got a lot of muscle.  His ignorance will often be treated as a joke by the other heroes, and often people laugh at him without him truly understanding why.  Thankfully, he’s not aware enough to realize just how poorly he’s being treated, and takes it all in stride.

Meta Stuff: Though he lacks an overt gimmick like the other mega figures, Basebarian does have multiple trick baseball accessories – including one that’s on fire, one covered in buzzsaws, etc.

Rockem Soccer

Character role: The Smart Guy

Motifs: Soccer, Cyborg

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Explicitly part robot and part man, Rockem Soccer is the smartest of the core five members of the hero team, although that doesn’t extend beyond memorizing a lot of facts and trivia – none of the team are very big on creative problem solving.  Though his intellectualism is sometimes a boon, more often the not it just annoys his team-mates, who often tell him to stop rattling off his useless trivia.

Meta Stuff: Rockem Soccer would probably reuse some parts from Hooper Trooper, though his legs would have to be entirely new pieces.

Pukamok

Character role: The Loose Canon

Motifs: Hockey, Mad Max

Size Class: Deluxe

Toy Gimmicks: Puck-Canons

Personality: An aloof ally, Pukamok is sarcastic and far less “goodie goodie” than the other heroes, almost fitting better with the villain team.  There is constant tension when he does work with the heroes, as his personality does not mesh well with their high standards of how heroes should act. He tends to struggle to win against the villains a lot more too – some would say it’s because of his independent streak, though others might note that the other heroes do little to include him or look out for his safety.

Meta Stuff: Pukamok’s toy would probably reuse parts from both the hero AND villain figures, as well as some new pieces.

Wrekracket

Character role: The Tomboy

Motifs: Tennis, Rock & Roll, Amazon Warrior

Size Class: Basic

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Aggressive, masculine, and itching for a fight, Wrekracket is the obligatory tomboy to Cheerally’s girly girl.  As per tradition, those two do not get along well, and also as per tradition, the other team members tend to take Cheerally’s side.  Like Pukamok, Wrekracket is one of the least content heroes, and one the others fear may switch sides.

Meta Stuff: Wrekracket would use some parts from Spinestra’s mold, to further emphasize how she’s straddling the line between “hero” and “villain.”

Fortempo

Character role: Aquaman

Motifs: Marching Band

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: Projectile-Launching Tuba

Personality: While technically a part of the hero team, Fortempo is generally shunted to the side under the assumption that his powers aren’t terrible useful – after all, how useful can music really be in the fight against evil?  Fortempo desperately wants to prove he’s just a good a hero as the others, but he is rarely given the opportunity.

Meta Stuff: Fortempo’s toy would be a heavily altered version of the Henchskull sculpt, and might even have the tassle-y shoulder bits from Baron Skeleton’s toy.  Again, this would be foreshadowing that he’s one of the heroes that’s on the margins.

The Council

Character role: Ineffectual Higher Power

Motifs: Student Council, the Guardians of Oa

Size Class: Scout

Toy Gimmicks: N/A

Personality: Presented as a sort of ultimate force of good that the heroes ostensibly answer to, the Council never uses their supposed power and does little more than occasionally give orders and evaluations of the Heroes.  Though they demand that their authority should be respected, they do little to show they deserve that authority, and yet few of the heroes ever question them.

Meta Stuff: If these guys get a toy, it would probably be an add on with another character – no one really wants to play with the vague council of supposed goodness.

#Baron Skeleton #I am proud of how shitty all these names are

[iheartfictionalboys]

Shadowhunters Season 2, Episode 1 Review- This Guilty Blood

So Season 2 of Shadowhunters is finally out and I can get back to doing my reviews on each episode like I did with the first season. To be honest I wasn’t sure if this show would even get a second season but now that it has I’m expecting great things. I assume that the second season will be portraying the story arcs that happen in the second book, City of Ashes so I’m judging based off that material. So without further ado let’s get started. And like with last season these do contain spoilers so make sure you watch the episode first.

Things I liked:

- Valentine making pasta sauce will forever be iconic.

- One thing I’m kinda surprised I liked was the fact Magnus confronted Alec about the kiss. He basically said Alec didn’t do him but for himself and I kinda liked that. I don’t really know why but I think it’ll make their relationship more complex and that’s what’s kinda great about Malec in the books is they have a complex relationship so I’m glad they’re not just gonna be a cutesy gay couple cuz what I loved, and I think a lot of people loved, about Malec was that they were real and got into arguments and worked through tough times and seemed possible. So yeah, couples arguing for the win :P

- K izzy’s snake turning into a staff was awesome. And can I just say Emeraude Toubia in Izzy workout clothes is just goals. Actually Emeruade Toubia in general is goals and she’s my favourite part of the show.

- I know I’m focusing on this scene a lot but I just like Izzy kinda training Clary like a little I know there were ulterior motives in the training session but still. 

- Matthew Daddario really portrays Alec’s personality and inability to express his feelings a lot of the time well and that makes me happy.

- That brief Clary and Simon moment where they’re talking about hangovers and laughing. I love that Katherine and Alberto really have such great friendship chemistry and make these two characters genuinely seem like best friends.

- “I’m a vampire I’m running slow for you.” - classic Simon

Things I didn’t like:

- Some of the camerawork was really weird. Like kinda shaky in some places i don’t know if that was intentional or not but it just seemed out of place.

- Who is Victor Aldertree? Is this a character I forgot? Wait isn’t he the crazy leader of the Clave who like locks Simon up in jail in City of Glass? What? Why would they make such a change like this? I mean the boy is fine but I don’t understand why they didn’t bring the inquisitor in because she was an awesome villainish character who could have been interesting particularly because of her connection to Jace.

- There is some cringy dialogue I’m sorry but there is like it doesn’t sound like something that would come out of a teenager’s mouth.

- I never really liked Jocelyn that much in the books to begin with so waking her up early from the comma is not something I liked. I don’t really get why they woke her up early because the best thing about the City of Ashes book is you get to see Clary come into her own and become stronger because she doesn’t really have anyone to protect her in the same ways as before. With Jocelyn around in the show I worry that development won’t get to happen.  

- WHY. WHY DOES THIS SHOW LIKE TO JUMP AROUND WITH PLOT SO MUCH. WHY ARE THEY REVEALING ALL THE VALENTINE EXPERIMENTING STUFF NOW. THAT DOESN’T COME UP TIL LATE END OF BOOK 2 STRETCHING INTO LIKE BOOK 3 I THINK. IT IS UNNECESSARY AND CREATES AN UNNATURAL PROGRESSION FOR THE CHARACTERS AND THE STORY.

- ALSO I AM SORRY BUT ANY WOMAN WHO IS PREGNANT OR REALLY JUST ANYONE HAVE A NEEDLE INJECTED INTO THEIR STOMACH WOULD WAKE THE FUCK UP AND NOT JUST SLEEP THROUGH IT. AND SIDE NOTE, VALENTINE NEVER INJECTED JOCELYN HE GAVE HER DRINKS JUST SAYING.

- I’m sure I said this at some point during last season’s reviews but I’ll say it again. I do not like Valentine. Nothing personal against the actor but it’s just not a believable performance in my eyes and he doesn’t suit the personality or style of Valentine. One thing I liked about when Jonathan Rhys Meyers played Valentine in the movie was that I genuinely believed he could be Valentine. I don’t believe this guy is Valentine or has Valentine’s personality and that’s a problem for me.

- K apparently I hate moms in this series but let me just explain this: in City of Ashes Maryse had difficulty in believing Jace was innocent or believing he was working with Valentine and I hated that but she never seemed to completely stop loving him or thinking it was a mistake to take him in or tell Alec Jace wasn’t his brother. TV Maryse, WOW IS SHE A BITCH. HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH TERRIBLE THINGS ABOUT JACE. HE WAS YOUR SON FOR 10 YEARS YOU CARED FOR HIM AND SUDDENLY HE’S TRASH?!?! LIKE WTF?!?! They’ve made the character a bitch and i recognize she was kinda bitchy in the beginning but WOW THEY BUMPED IT UP AND I AM NOT PLEASED. SHE’S LIKE NOT EVEN A MOM TO HER KIDS ANYMORE OR REALLY EVER.

- So for those who care to know I write these review points as I watch the show. Remember that Jocelyn note a couple notes back? Prediction came true within about 30 minutes. WOW JOCELYN I DO NOT LIKE YOU. YOU STOLE YOUR DAUGHTER’S PHONE AND STELE AND LOCKED HER IN A PIER. YOU ARE HOLDING HER BACK I GET YOU WANT TO PROTECT HER BUT YOU ARE NOT HELPING HER.

- This one isn’t really a dislike it just makes me laugh but like cuz its awkward. Why is it every time Magnus does magic it looks like he’s doing tai chi. If memory serves (which it may not it’s been a while since I read the books) book Magnus could like do stuff by snapping his fingers and waving not getting ready to do like crouching tiger hidden dragon stuff. It just looks kinda silly but like not in a way that’s intolerable.

- EWWW. VALENTINE TALKING TO JACE ABOUT INCEST FEELINGS EWWWW. THAT IS NEVER A CONVERSATION I NEEDED OR WANTED.

- OK WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS FUCKER OF AN ENDING, A) JACE DOESN’T BREAK THE ACCORDS. B) JOCELYN WOULD NEVER TRY TO KILL HER SON WITH A CROSSBOW LIKE WTF WAS THAT. C) VALENTINE NEVER GETS SHOT IN THE CHEST. WHAT IN ALL THAT IS HOLY WERE MY EYES FORCED TO WITNESS?!?!?!

Alrighty so clearly I wasn’t a fan of this first episode. On an objective scale though it isn’t bad it’s following the world it has set up and is naturally progressing in terms of that. If you’ve never read the books this would probably have been really enthralling. And I gotta say they do the secondary characters so much justice I really respect that. But as someone who has read and loves the books it breaks my heart to see such straying from the source material. I know it’s its own thing and isn’t trying to be the books but it’s making changes that don’t benefit the storytelling and that is really upsetting. City of Ashes is in my top 3 favourite Mortal Instrument Books it’s one of my favourites so I’m gonna be harder on this season (as you can see through my like/dislike ratio already). All in all, I gotta see where they take it before I make any judgments I mean they may do something really cool I’m just going to say that I’m weary right now. Hope you come back next week to see my opinions on episode 2. And next week I’ll make sure to set up like a link to this stuff so spoilers aren’t out in the open I just kinda rushed to make this week’s :P

#shadowhunters #season 2 #episode 1 #this guilty blood #review #my opinion #kat mcnamara #emeraude toubia #matthew daddario #alberto rosende #dominic sherwood #so many emotions

[werezmastarbucks]

Can you believe it, the Whitmore Guy knew all along

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

word count: 1160 

warnings: i need to make a masterlist for this

music: blink 182 - snake charmer

“Here’s what I don’t understand”, Y/N said, as they were walking back to the main building. “If they’re newly turned. And they’re no less than fifteen. Well, fourteen now, how come they haven’t killed a single person yet?”

“That’s the only thing that bugs you about all that?” Ric held the door for her, and they found themselves in the cool, shady hall. A couple of freshmen were walking down the stairs.

“To be honest, none of it bugs me even half the way it should. Now it suddenly is about me for some reason, and I don’t even feel scared”, Y/N revealed, “this is all complete bullshit. I’m annoyed, that’s what I am. I’ll call Caroline and tell her to gather everybody in Craze tonight, and I don’t want to work today anymore”.

Maybe she was being silly, walking away from him, and heading for the basement. But then again, Y/N’s always been an escapist. And lately, she’s been holding the punch like a real warrior.

 _____________________________________________________________

She knocked on the door twice, and went in. Mal’s space/basement/mancave was a hollow place, organized only in the middle of the big, half-empty room. It reminded her of all the zombie apocalypse movies, where the dark floors were thrashed, and the pieces of furniture stood in random places, left there seemingly by hurricanes. Mal gathered all the necessary chairs and desks in the center, leaving feet of empty space around, and sat there, in a comfortable gamer chair like a king. Sometimes he left random lights and lamps around, but never opened the windows. In fact, he kept them all safely shut, covered with pieces of curtains and paper. His den looked scary at first. But to a criminalist, Y/N was sure, it would say a lot of things. Every time she came down here, she couldn’t help analyze things. Why would he place a bookcase, one just like her own, in her office, like that, in the middle of nowhere? A piece of furniture positioned like that, not propping the wall, looks empty and makes humans feel awkward, unsafe. Mal felt great around it. Why did he choose to reside in such darkness? It was like he was pretending to be a comic book villain. Well, he very well might wish to be one.

“Hey”, he threw Y/N a bag of chewy bears.

“You wanted to tell me something important”, Y/N took a chair and pulled it closer to his desk, sitting next to him.

“Yeah, no, I wanted to do it after work”.

“Do it now”.

His lean face looked infernal in the blue light of the screen. Mal looked at her with a smile that quickly faded.

“What happened?”

“Mhm?” she threw a couple of bears into her mouth and started chewing.

His eyes were completely dark in the twilight of the basement. He looked very handsome, the fine bone structure outlined by the fluorescent shining. He looked like a picture.

“You look completely pissed”.

“It’s Damon’s birthday”, she blurted out, “and there’s going to be a party. And I have to be there”.

Tell me, she thought. Tell me it’s my paranoia, my imagination. Tell me you’re just a nice boy with no empathy in your brain who just happens to have the weirdest look about you, and come round exactly when suspicious shit starts happening.

“I’m sorry. You want me to come with? I’ll ruin the whole thing. Then we can run away laughing like maniacs, and steal his car. I’m good at stealing cars”.

“No, I actually came to tell you that you should stay away tonight”.

His eyes widened, and he got that bitter look about him again.

“Something bad’s going to go down tonight, and you should be at home”.

He was completely confused.

“Bad like… he’s gonna sing in karaoke? Because I bet I can do it worse than him”.

“A little badder. Can you go home after work and not ask me any questions about it, ever? And if something really does happen, and it’s like… in papers, can you just ignore it?”

“Nope”, he said simply. At least he was being honest.

“Don’t pull the conspiratorial shit on me, Y/N. Are you in trouble?”

His voice went really gentle. Y/N was chewing on four bears. She shook her head.

“I’m the last person who should be concerned. You know, one day I’ll tell you all about it, and we will laugh. But I can’t do it now because it’s not only my secret”.

Mal exhaled slowly, heavily, like he was a very exhausted babysitter worn out by an extremely irritating baby.

“The secret about vampires?”

She stopped chewing.

They sat, knees almost touching, and his computer was producing weird, barely audible ringing noise. It was all the more eerie as Mal kept silent for several seconds, as she stared into him.

“Vampires”.

“Yeah. Damon’s a vampire, right? And his brother, too. And, I guess, the slow blonde girl, Caroline”.

He sneaked two fingers into the open pack in her hand and stole a couple of bears.

“How do you know?”

Mal snorted, mincing almost in pain,

“Please. It’s like three steps from Mystic Falls, the vampire capital of America here. Come on, Y/N, you’re all so wrapped up in your tiny world you fail to see how simply obvious it is. This Salvatore guys didn’t even bother to erase like, the Full History of Mystic Falls from the database and the library. You go there, you choose the first book, and you see their boring faces in the pictures taken in the nineteenth century. You should get out more often”, he added, “or else you’re going to go nuts, and become just like them. Bloodsucking idiots who never change outfit and think they’re indistinguishable from other people. You know, if I was a vampire, I would try to fit in with people around. I would, like, sleep less to look tired, like normal people. Buy two or three shirts, eat sometimes. Try not to look old”.

He got back to his computer, chewing.

“You’re the weirdo here, not them”, Y/N said before she could snap her mouth closed.

“That’s not the first time you’re telling me that”, he chanted quietly. “So, can I come then? I wanna see if Damon kills somebody tonight. Actually, you know, the one thing I still can’t crack is, why do you hang out with them?”

Y/N scratched the tiny bite on her wrist, pressed it with finger and wiped the blood with her thumb. Mal looked at it but didn’t say anything.

“I remember half of them as humans. My classmates, Mal. They’re my friends”.

His mouth twisted into an upside-down smile.

“I never had any friends before you. Wasn’t a problem. Definitely didn’t waste my time on a bunch of awkward vampires who are still worried about some college parties”. And then he said,

“LOL”.

He had that amazing ability to vocalize written things.

#kai parker #kai parker imagine #vampire diaries #vampire diaries imagine #legacies #whitmore guy

[ninjakitty15]

Chapter 4: Like Death Warmed Over (Loki x OFC Pairing)

"Supernatural ended?! What the actual fuck?! Why?!" I exclaimed while catching up on the shows I missed in the five year absence. "That show was supposed to go till I die...again! My life is over!" I curled up on the couch, hugging my knees to my chest and burying my head in my arms.

"It was quite an entertaining show," Loki agreed, having grown curious early on in my catching up what I was bitching about missing so much. "Is any of it true? The monsters and the ways to kill them?"

"I only know about ghosts and spirits and most kinds of salt does act as a ward against them, rock salt especially. As I don't get rid them by force but by coercion if anything, I don't know if burning the bodies or pieces of the body left would send them away. Not about to try either."

"And the other monsters of legends in there, do they exist?"

"Almost every culture has their monsters on this planet, some overlapping between werewolves and vampires, I wouldn't be surprised if they do but I've not personally seen any beyond my area of expertise. Not my problem."

"What about angels and demons?"

"Those two are a bit different as they were primarily created by only one such religion, and a shady one at that, people somehow have different ideas of what those are. There have been cases of demonic possession in the past but its not like in the show where they're black smoke forcing themselves into your mouth, you don't see it happening, it just happens. Angels on the other hand...bit more complicated, ancient literature depicts them as benevolent  guardians of God to carry out his will and guide us lowly humans. Modern media however depicts the majority of them as dicks with an agenda of their own that doesn't involve helping us at all."

"What do you believe then?"

"I have no one religion to believe considering I'm talking to a god right now and was given more power from beings that claim they're gods as well, everyone  wants to be king of the mountain."

"And what do you want?"

"A cottage by the shores of Salem, where death and dark magic is strong but not shunned and the weird are welcomed more than the mundane."

"That place sounds intriguing, tell me more about it."

"Centuries ago when my ancestors first settled, people were even more religious nuts than they are now and they were crazy superstitious. They were also just plain crazy and got the idea of obtaining other people's land and property by accusing the owners of being evil witches after watching their daughters dabble in a bit of voodoo magic with their slaves. That's when the infamous Salem Witch Trials started which was a horrific dark mark in this country's history. Hundreds of innocent lives were ended as women and children and even the occasional man was accused, tortured, and locked away for life or executed horrifically."

"And you wish to live there?" he asked incredulously.

"There might be some unrest still from the victims and I want them to be at peace. Also, while the history of the place was terrible to say the least, it has become a bit more whimsical and touristy which I usually hate but they make it so fun there. You might even like it yourself if you ever wanna visit, assuming Tony lets me off the leash and I'm not stuck living here forever. Nowadays its a place that celebrates and capitalizes on magic."

"What if I were to convince Tony to let us have a day trip to there?"

"You'd do that?"

"Why not?"

I shrugged but smiled at the idea. "I'd say you're living up to the nickname Silvertongue."

"Oh that's not the only reason I'm called that," he purred into my ear.

I'm pretty sure if I could still bring color to my skin, I'd have the slightest blush of excitement from his voice alone let alone the suggestion. "Promises promises."

"Tell me something, you say you're dead inside and only the necromancy itself keeps you going, but do you still feel or are your nerves dead too."

"I don't think I'd wanna be alive if I couldn't feel or taste things so yes intense pain and strong levels of pleasure, kinda like a succubus I guess, pleasure keeps me alive, reminds me I'm still kicking." I paused then, trying to read if he was just gonna dump naughty images in my head or actually follow through. I do something totally impulsive then and rest my head on his lap, reaching up and touching the razorsharp jawbones of a god. Though he's cool to the touch, the second I come in contact with him I feel alive again.

"Do you miss being completely alive?" he asked, seeing the sudden but fleeting change from my touch.

"I'm not sure, the life I had before the change was almost complete hell from what I remember and I'm not one of those protagonists that wishes they could just be normal again, I like being what I am. I'd probably have died for real at Hydra, always finding new methods to get the same result of me not doing anything, I think a normal human would've died from the pain or blood loss then."

"That would make you an immortal, staying alive when you should be long dead, unaffected."

I shrugged. "I am what I am. Doubt I'm immortal though, a blade through the heart might not work but most creatures are killed by beheading including zombies which apparently Stark thinks I am. Jokes on him though, I don't eat brains, that's the least appetizing part of the body."

"You know from experience, do you?" he asked in bemusement. "Is it the heart then?"

I wrinkled my nose at this, recalling a certain show where a horse heart was devoured raw. "Have you ever eaten a muscle? It's like eating a wet squishy piece of leather, your jaw starts to ache after a few bites of a chewy chunk. Everyone assumes its the heart or brains thats best because we think since thats our best quality alive, it should be that in a meal." My hand slid from his face to his heart then though was blocked by his green asgardian leisure robes so the feeling of being alive was a bit lost though I still wanted to feel his heart, so many people seemed to think he didn't have one. I wondered if I could survive pulling his lifeforce from him, not that I'd want to of course when just touching him gave me a taste of life, but an immortal with immense power meant he wouldn't be dead for a while and that meant he was a potential atomic bomb in my hands. I was quiet for once, feeling his heartbeat, his power under my hand, so many different thoughts between naughty and dangerous running through my head then. I could feel him watch me just as quiet as I was, ever the curious god observing his new catch.

"What are you thinking that's stayed your tongue suddenly?" he asked me then.

I smirked. "I'm wondering what true power tastes like."

"Lean up and find out," he challenged smoothly.

Both my eyebrows popped up then, usually when people find out I'm a walking magical corpse they're instantly turned off due to that pesky little thing called necrophilia. I didn't need to be told twice though and did just that, our lips connecting softly. The second it did, my entire body warmed and tingled back to life, causing me to moan into the kiss in the rush of long missed feeling I didn't want to end. What started out as a tasting, testing the waters kiss quickly became one of lust and hunger he was matching just as greedily. I pushed myself up to get even closer to him and his hands snaked around my hips without breaking the kiss. Of course something had to at least give Loki some air to breathe and it was a soft thump coming outside the room followed closely by, "Mr. Stark, are you here?"

We pulled away reluctantly, allowing Loki to catch his breath and me to lose mine returning to my current corpse form. "You'll be the life of me, Loki," I mused. "Did a kid just interrupt this?"

"That must be the Spiderling then," loki replied, waiting for me to get off him before getting off the couch and offering me his hand once more.

I took it curiously and followed him out of the living to where a teenager was looking around wearing a high tech spider themed suit that looked like an offshoot of Deadpool's suit though the mask part was pulled off. He's cute though a bit young. "That has Stark written all over it."

The kid whirled around as his back had been turned to us watching him look for his sugar daddy. "Hi Loki, who are you?"

"Who am I? Who are you?" I countered. "I was here first."

"I'm Spider Parker- I mean Peter Man," he stumbled in answer. "Dammit."

I couldn't hide the laughter at his failed attempt to cover one if not both identities and looked over at Loki who was smirking just the same. "Isn't he just precious?"

"I think you caught him by surprise, not an easy feat as he claims he has a sixth sense for that sort of thing," Loki commented.

I shrugged. "Occupational hazard. Tony's not here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message you can do so elsewhere."

Peter as I guessed his actual name was scowled at me and appeared to get in a defensive stance but once more we were interrupted by something entering the building followed by. "Loki, you guys here?"

"Maybe," I called back.

Tony walked into the room we were all standing in and grinned seeing Peter there as well. "Hey kid, what brings you here?"

"Mr. Stark, I heard rumors theres a horde of zombies at the hydra base and wanted to help," Peter replied quickly.

It was my turn to frown then. "So much for keeping that under wraps, I'm blaming you on this, Stark. You just had to know, didn't you?"

"Me? I'm pretty sure you volunteered as you hate them as much as we do."

"I was hoping you'd handle most of it, you're the Avengers after all, but once more a woman has to clean up a mess made by lousy men."

"You know her, Mr. Stark?" squeaked Peter between the bickering.

"We found her in the second to last base we raided, well Loki did anyway," explained Tony. "I let you into my compound as a guest I know almost nothing about and this is how you thank me."

"You could've just let me go back to where I was before I got caught but noooo, you had to know why I was there."

"She's got a point there, Stark," Loki noted.

"Who's side are you on?" he demanded.

"Hers, clearly. I thought that much was obvious as I'm standing right next to her this whole time."

Tony rolled his eyes but returned his attention to Peter. "Don't worry about it, kid. The zombies don't work for Hydra."

"They don't?" he asked in disbelief.

"They work for me," I chirped. "Well not worked so much as follow since its free of charge and labor."

"You? What are you, the Night Queen?" Peter asked.

Tony chuckled at the reference. My eyes went snow white then and I gave him a look that matched the lead wight walker. "Winter is coming," I told him in a hollow voice.

"M-Mr. Stark, I don't think it's a good idea to have her on the team," Peter told him quietly.

"Are you questioning my judgment, kid?"

"No, sir."

"Good, because she's staying here."

"Actually," I interjected. "I have a request on that note."

Tony turned back to me then with an arched eyebrow. "You're not moving out till I can fully trust you."

"She wants to go on a field trip with me somewhere, just for a day," Loki spoke up.

Tony crossed his arms and looked expectantly at the god. "Where?"

"Only the most magical place in the east coast," I answered.

"Disneyworld?" Peter asked hopefully.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Hell no, that's the most nauseating place in the east coast. So full of families with kids they can't hope to control, and all that noise noise noise. That place ain't magical, it's mechanical and made of money and memories. No, this place isn't in the south and doesn't require commercial airlines to get there."

"Hm, well you proved you can handle yourself on the battlefield and Loki will be with you on this trip but as I still don't trust him completely we'll have someone else with you two to make sure you don't get into too much trouble," Tony stated. "Clint will go with you as he's the only one free at the moment and wasn't fighting off hydra like the rest of us did. Family outting or whatever at his farm."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yup, don't make me regret it either or you'll be on a tighter leash than Loki is."

"Oooh a leash, kinky, what's the safe word?"

"Bananas," he quipped right back, making me cackle before I thanked him for letting have some fun on my own.

#lokifanfiction #lokifanfic #lokixoc #lokixNell #loki x original female character #necromancer #nell the necromancer #necromancy #avengers

[marieserena4-blog]

hairy pussy daily - What Everybody Else Does When It Comes To Porn Hairy Photos And What You Should.

This naked old lady hiding in the bushes looks like the beginning of a storyline I don't want to go down. I consider saying my safe word to stop the narrative, but I don't feel like going through the loading process again. The old lady's boney arm snakes out of the bush, and she grabs my ankle. I should have loaded my feed splits, but I rushed through the set-up. Is he already using the same animation? The crazy old lady comes stumbling out of the bush, her saggy old boobs flopping around. I pick up a nearby potted plant and smash it on her head. It breaks apart pretty nice, full of high-def dirt. What kind of narrative is this? The lady falls on the ground and starts moaning. I back away to watch how the scene develops between Corey and her. Corey is looking at her with the same confused animation he used a moment ago. I really wish I had looked at the summary closer. Who knew something called 80s Turbo Ascension would have artisanal porn in it? He turns to me and shrugs and says, "Hey, babe. It looks like her leg isn't quite attached to the rest of her. I yank my leg away and curse at her. He runs his hand through his hair and says, "Cute skirt. It's an old hand-drive with a fixed wheel. Corey just stands there, cycling through different animations. This narrative is bugged up. "You want me to drive? " Corey asks, coming over. You can see the meat inside her hip. The scenery looks cool, with the blue freeway lights passing by and an old-fashioned neon metro in the background. " A minute later, we're cruising down the freeway, listening to some oldie about a girl named Jessie. Is this how the storyline is supposed to go? I'm just ten minutes into my first direct sense feed narrative, and I'm already a little bored. "Yeah, maybe you better. I can't ignore the fact that I feel a little bored. Corey is running through his back-story, talking about that Ferrari or whatever. I slip my hand into my skirt again and touch my pussy. But I can't just go back to feed-fucking all the time, every day. I don't even want to think about what it cost. Was the surgery really worth all that money? Why am I bored with everything after 10 minutes? A line of gleaming black limos snakes through a colorful crowd out front. We pull up in front of Club Heatwave, a big glittering building with a neon sun shining above it. Everything is super sharp. "Let's go," I say, going to Corey's car and opening the door. I think about fucking Corey again. Music thumps from within. The singer tells me to get out of his dreams and into his car. The inside is filled with shadowy bodies dancing through strobe lights and lasers and artificial fog. People are waiting in line, but Corey says something to the bouncer, and we slip past. The entrance hall is all mirrors and neon. We park in the player spot across the street and head to the grand entrance, Corey leading me by the hand. Why am I always bored with narratives after 10 minutes? Cheesy but kind of fun. " Corey asks, giving my bum a little squeeze. Corey's dancing is terrible. We head out on the dance floor and start to cut it up. "Wanna get some practice in? It looks like a motion glitch. It even has that fake fog smell. Oh, this one is naughty. I guess they had to give him some old moves, but did they have to make it this bad? I lean over to Corey and ask, "Who is that? This is kind of ruining the storyline. I look across the dance floor and see a tall man in a black suit with black hair standing perfectly still among the dancing crowd. " What the fuck, Corey. The dark man crosses the dance floor, coming toward me. There is a sort of glow around him so that I can tell he's going to be part of a storyline. Now he stands in front of me, looking down at me with his gleaming black eyes. He is watching me with dark eyes. " Corey stares at the man for a moment, then runs his hand through his hair and says, "Cute skirt. The other dancers don't move out of the way, and he passes right through them without breaking his stride. The skin is paper white, and underneath run thousands of tiny branching veins that seem to throb with his pulse. Say what you will about the game's production, they really know how to build hot guys. The man has the face of a gorgeous, forlorn angel, just inhumanly beautiful. I lean toward him for a kiss. Such obsessive definition. I mean, this is outright art. Wow, this guy can kiss. The I can feel the beat of the music passing through my entire body. I think this is what real kissing feels like. What an incredible render this guy is. I can see the dark blood throbbing in his neck veins. A smell comes off of him, something I can't quite place, sweet and rich, and we are kissing, and I can taste what I am smelling, sweet but metallic. The flesh is very nice. Then I notice Corey standing right there, looking at us all confused. He looks like a cheap plastic doll compared this new guy. Corey gets this really heartbroken look on his face and says, "Listen to me, Zhenzhen Sobakin. " I can't really get into the speech because it's too early in the narrative for that kind of stuff, plus he pronounced my name wrong. You'll break my heart if you go with any other guy. His lips are perfectly soft and fleshy-looking, like nothing I've ever seen in a feed before. I pull my head back and touch his face. You are the most special, most beautiful girl I've ever met. I guess this is a horror narrative. Literally, he just sinks his fingers into the face and tears a huge, bloody hunk out. The new guy reaches out and grabs a handful of Corey's face. The new guy squeezes the hunk of flesh like a sponge and lets the blood run down over my face, then starts licking it off. This must be some kind of art-porn sampler narrative. But the new guy's tongue feels good on my face and neck and I start licking him back and we start kissing and undressing right there. Faceless Corey keeps standing there, spurting blood out of his head hole. I need to fuck this guy. He strips off the black suit he's wearing to reveal a perfect white body and a huge, beautiful cock. I wonder what my real pussy and my real heart are doing while I'm lying there in the hygiene bed. Is this guy like a vampire or something? This is going to be good. Blood sprays everywhere. My pussy feels superreal. I hold onto him and close my eyes and let him fuck me. I've really, really got to start reading those summaries. My pussy is absolutely tingling, and I can feel my heart beating fast. God, this narrative really combines a lot of different kinks. He lifts me up with ease, and I grip his powerful, muscled arms as he slides his cock into me. I can taste Corey's blood on my lips. I open my eyes and see that everybody in the club has stopped dancing. Now I'm feeling like a thousand different things in my pussy, most of them incredibly good, some of them new, some of them way beyond anything I've felt offline. Pretty soon, they're packed around women nude hairy pussy us like the paparazzi in a fame simulation. The other people in the club are all slowly walking towards us, surrounding us. The man kisses and sucks on my neck. Despite the fact that I'm on the verge of cumming, I can't help but notice that the light in the club has changed. Some of the people reach out and touch my tits and my hair and my face. I feel like I'm looking at the man's face from two angles, seeing four of his eyes. It's a weird effect, and I wonder if there's something wrong with my visual line. With this guy's cock in me, it all feels good, so I don't stop it. The man's eyes are on me, and I'm mesmerized. Beside her, a man separates into a dozen slices. This is definitely a fatal glitch. They are all standing still as the music plays in the strobe-flashing darkness, watching this guy fuck me. It seems like it is coming from two angles, making everything seem doubled. But I'm so close to cumming. Her head floats off of her neck. All around us, the people begin to break apart, becoming floating parts. This is hurting my brain. Next to me, a woman in a pink dress opens her mouth, and her jaw floats away from her face. I feel my stomach drop in terror, except it drops at four different places all around the room. I wonder if the narrative can hang together for just 10 more seconds before it crashes. Oh, god, am I stuck in a crashing narrative? The weird lighting effect becomes more intense, and the man's seems to be made of four sections, except each section is his entire face from a different angle, and they're all crossing each other but staying in place at the same time, and eight eyes are watching me. One of my hands feels like it is way off on the horizon. Public fucking isn't really my fetish, but I don't want to have to stop everything and set up a new scene. The narrative should have already crashed back into safety mode. And it's going to be fucking fabulous. How are they so awful? They say it can fuck you up. Everything has too many sides. Another is ten stories below me. I feel myself falling and expanding. The man is staring down at me with his awful eyes. His face is as giant as a mountain range. Body parts are swirling around us, showing all sides at once. If you have any sort of questions pertaining to where and how you can use amateur hairy galleries, you can contact us at our internet site. Thousands and millions and millions of eyes. He has dozens of eyes. /u/_9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9