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bumbleartz · 4 years

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So got inspired by @sondrawr and @gotham-mother-of-monsters and had this ramble pop into my head. Hadn't flipped through my Mercy books in a while so it was fun to go back and refresh. Covers from the first book up to Storm Cursed and has spoilers if you haven't gotten that far.

Jesse has heard the title Marrok on and off throughout her childhood. Usually the title is whispered between the wolves or her father in tones she isn't supposed to hear. These conversations always ended in her being hustled off to the care of her mother or after the divorce being sent off to her room. The first time it became more than a hushed precursor to her being shuffled off is after being taken hostage. Her father had pulled her into his office and given her a name to go with the title along with a number to enter into her phone. "He is the head of all the wolves. If something happens regarding pack business or you feel for some reason you can't get to any of us or Mercy you call that number." She'd dutifully filed the number away as instructed under Bran Cornick and promptly had the conversation fade to where she kept the rest of what was considered pack information.

The first time she sees the Marrok is in the entryway way to the house in the middle of the night. She's too distracted by the fact her father is home safe to pay much attention to the others in the room as she is carefully wrapped into his arms. He looks like crap and smells worse even to her normal human nose. She can't bring herself to care as the tears she's fought so hard not to shed wet her eyes. When she unburies her face from her father's chest long enough to take note of the others there she's honestly too tired from the stressful nights of waiting to register anything beyond them being in one piece and alive. Later, after the first good night's sleep she's had in days, there will have been too many new faces for her to register who was who. The only one she can place a name to with any certainty is Charles. Mercy laughs and tells her Charles has that effect on people when she goes to see her later.

The first time Jesse meets the Marrok is not long after on a midnight escapade to calm her nerves. Another nightmare has had her shooting awake and the images are still playing in full technicolor behind her lids each time she closes them. It's been almost a year since she was taken hostage and yet the blinding terror feels as fresh as ever. She'd turned down therapy when it was offered. What was she supposed to say? Yeah, some werewolf thought they could use me as leverage to make my dad behave so they could use him in some murder plot with a side of treason? She'd known how well that would have gone over. She'd thought they would fade over time. Maybe they would have if things had gone back to normal; a demon vampire threat, murder plotting psychos, and the attack on Mercy had happened instead. Jesse didn't bother adding the destruction of her social life and ongoing mom issues to the list since they just seemed to pale in comparison to the rest. Anymore Jesse found herself waiting for the next horror story. The most recent of which was currently causing all the wolves various fits. She currently wasn't clear which was bothering them more: one of their own being resurrected or Mercy being pulled into the pack. The kitchen light is on as she rounds the corner and she expects to see any number of people outside of the vaguely familiar stranger currently staring back at her. Somewhere between him asking her if she couldn't sleep and making the hot chocolate the same way Mercy does it dawns on her this person who looks barely older than her is the Marrok. Her tired brain tries to summon up the awe with a side of shock she should be feeling and fails miserably. Instead she finds herself nursing her mug of cocoa and making small talk while the Marrok takes drinks of his own. In the midst of the conversation he manages to get her to verbal vomit about her nightmares and the troubles she's been having at school. She manages to find out he has a deep dislike of Shakespeare, has a deep love for music, and possesses a terrifying wit. By the time she is making her way back to her room and he to the guest room she is feeling better then she has in months. He's already gone when she gets up leaving her without ever getting a chance to say thanks. While it isn't a big thing it bothers her just enough to pull her phone out and send a text to the number she'd all but forgotten. The simple thank you is accompanied with a YouTube link to her favorite Lindsey Stirling video. After all, Jesse views not knowing who she is and being a violinist as a crime. The little smiley face emoji she gets in reply makes her grin.

The next time they meet she's the one providing the hot chocolate. The pack has managed to get themselves entangled with a fairy queen and Mercy has yet again made the sacrifice play. Everyone is chasing their proverbial tails trying to find her while remaining outside of her father's war path. In the meantime, Jesse feels she's improved in her chaos handling as she's only broken down twice. Apparently having your boyfriend kidnapped and going on to a fairy queen's court doesn't have the same punch as other things she has dealt with lately. When she sets the mug on the coffee table it's the wee hours of the morning and the Marrok has been seated cross legged on their monstrosity of a couch for the better part of a day. If she hadn't gotten to know him a little better over the previous months she would have felt she was intruding. However, Bran was not against using all available resources and she'd been pulled in regarding the newest resident of Aspen Creek. Kara and Jesse had clicked right off the bat and become faithful texting pals ever since. Bran rubs the bridge of his nose and blinks hard a few times despite his eyes having been closed before reaching for the mug. He looks beyond exhausted and she knows not all of it has to do with the current situation. Kara has confided in her about his lack of sleep and the way he's been running himself ragged. Jesse does her best to lighten the mood with a joke about the fairies contacting them any moment begging them to take Mercy back. Her effort is rewarded with an amused smirk and a quiet chuckle. She ends up rambling about different ways Mercy is driving the fairies nuts and is encouraged when Bran joins in. Jesse wakes to the noise of people rushing around. Bran is smiling and gripping a walking stick with a white knuckled grip from his spot on the couch when he tells her Mercy has been found.

Jesse is biting her lip to keep from laughing too loud as she informs everyone the butterflies have succeeded where the dove idea failed. Marji is cackling on the video feed in victory while Bran seems too amused to care he has just lost a hundred bucks. Two days pass in a blur of emergency calls and group texts. Despite the short time frame the wedding goes off without a hitch. Mercy is surprised and Jesse can't remember the last time her father looked so blissfully happy. Once the two love birds are off Jesse spends the rest of the reception twirling around the dance floor with Gabriel. The raised eyebrow this gets her from Bran makes her stick out her tongue. The fact Mercy comes back from the honeymoon in a wheelchair shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Jesse can picture Bran doing his iconic bridge pinch when she sends him the picture.

Bran's text to Mercy makes Jesse's lips quirk in amusement. After the destruction of the Rabbit she could use the humor. That humor plummets when the number comes up disconnected when Mercy tries to reply. The knot of concern only tightens with each person Mercy tries and fails to reach. The pain of it becomes near unbearable when they find Ben and no one else. The pain doesn't start to ease until she recognizes the dark haired man fighting beside Tad. After months of having Asil tease her about her hair after seeing it during a video chat with Kara she'd know him anywhere. Seeing her father and the pack alive and well makes the knot come undone. At least it does until she realizes one is missing and hears of Peter's death. She knows how her father will take the loss and can't bring herself to add more weight to those already overburdened shoulders. So she turns her focus to looking after the younger Sandoval children and burying her feelings as deep as possible. This works until Asil catches up to her in the kitchen getting together snacks for the kids. All he has to do is ask if she's alright and she falls apart. Asil pulls her into a hug and gives reassurances in Spanish. Jesse doesn't understand a word but it soothes her all the same. He tells her everyone in Montana is safe and she sags in relief. When everything is over and she gets a new phone that has been programmed by Charles, Asil's number is listed in the contacts.

Her mother has only been living with them for a day and Jesse wants to scream. She loves her mother but watching the resulting train wreck her mere presence is causing makes her wish she'd just leave them all alone. Even though her talk with Mercy has eased some of the hurt and anger, it hasn't gotten rid of it. Mostly because despite what Mercy said she can see the way her mother has gotten under her skin and cut her to the quick. Anger and the need for a voice of reason has her contacting Bran. Bran gently reminds her Mercy is more than capable of holding her own in a dominance dance. He must know this isn't what she was looking to hear because the next message contains Charles' number and instructions to text him. Jesse has no idea why Bran would have her talking to Charles but she copies and pastes the message she previously sent like instructed. Bran must have warned his son because Charles doesn't seem surprised to get the message. Charles turns out to be an unexpected fount of wisdom when it comes to the difficulty of broken family dynamics. It's odd how hearing from someone else that she is allowed to love her mother and yet not like her makes it feel OK. By the time her mother's stalker has been dealt with Jesse thinks she might finally be finding the path between love and hate.

Jesse isn't a wolf, but she can still feel the moment Bran breaks ties with the Columbia Basin Pack. She doesn't wait for her father and Mercy to come out of the office. Tad seems to know something is up but doesn't say anything when she gives the excuse of homework and heads to her room. Her phone is a lead weight in her hand because what do you say to someone who just had to throw away someone they love? A part of her is angry too. Angry at the pain she knows this has caused Mercy and the difficulty it will cause her father. However, Jesse knows what it is like to be caught in a situation outside your control due to the actions of those you love. She types out a promise to do what she can for Mercy and to send a warning the instant something happens requiring help. She ends the text with a little heart emoji. Current circumstances might make it harder but family out ranked all else. Jesse already knew if something happened Bran would help. She's proven right when Baba Yaga saves her father in Underhill.

Jesse's proven right again when Bran goes with her father to get Mercy back from the Lord of Night. He sends her a message promising her he will bring Mercy and her father back in one piece. She replies telling him she knows. She also tells him to come back in one piece too or she's going to have to go all Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At this point she's gone to battle to protect her new pyro of an adopted younger brother and managed to keep him from burning the house to the ground. She's pretty sure she can at least annoy a vampire lord. The fact she'd have backup from an Italian mercenary, a Dark Smith and more than one werewolf pack was completely irrelevant. After all the one thing she knew for certain was you always looked out for your pack, your family. Which is why as soon as she hears everyone is returning from Italy in one piece she sends a message to Tad for him to tell his dad. She also makes sure Warren passes on the message to Stefan though he doesn't need reminding. She snaps a picture of everyone getting out of the car when it pulls up and sends it to Charles and Asil because she knows hearing someone you care about is safe is not the same as seeing it. And because he is family in her eyes at this point, after she hugs her father and Mercy, she hugs Bran too.

#mercy thompson #patricia briggs #Bran Cornick #Jesse hauptman #writing

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connorspiracy · 4 years

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Amulet You Finish || Connor, Ariana & Agatha

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @connorspiracy @detective-keen @letsbenditlikebennett CONTENT: Death SUMMARY: Ariana and Connor are out for a walk in the woods looking for something to film when they stumble upon a crime scene.

Despite Connor’s affinity toward the supernatural and loving catching it on film, Ariana found she was able to just be a young adult around him. Like she didn’t have to think of the worries and planning that had been plaguing her for too long now. That would all come to an end soon enough, but for this afternoon, they were just a pair of friends enjoying walking through one of White Crest’s many trails in hopes of finding something cool for Connor to film. While it wasn’t necessarily the safest of hangouts, Ariana knew the woods well enough to be confident against anything they may come across. The path they walked today wasn’t one that could be found on the internet. She discovered it almost entirely by chance on a run one day and it had quickly become her favorite. There was a certain serenity that came with the less traveled trails. It allowed her to relax a bit more when her senses weren’t firing off at some new sound or smell quite so frequently. It was nice to be able to share it with Connor. “I’m sure there’s bound to be something out here. Since the full moon just passed, I think I can rely on brute strength alone without becoming furry if it comes to it. I’d rather not be werewolf public enemy number one on the internet and all.”

Connor had come to White Crest just looking for content. He'd expected to find it everywhere, and he hadn't been disappointed. There was always something happening, and his main problem seemed to be that most of it was too outlandish for anyone to believe could be anything but special effects. He hadn't expected to actually find friends. At least not like this. It was kind of strange having people he liked hanging out with, filming or not, but he was even luckier they didn't have objections to his video-camera shenanigans.

He had a chest mount with one of his lighter cameras attached so he'd be able to leave his hands free for balance, but even still, it was clear Ari was much more comfortable on the trails than he was. "You're like a proper woodsie person, right? I can tell. I suppose it comes with the wolf territory." Made sense to be familiar with the woods around here so you had a good place to transform away from everyone else. "What do you usually do on the full moon?" he asked, curious.

To say she was a woodsy person was a bit of an understatement. In more ways than not, Ariana was a wolf and the woods were where she felt most at ease though her own home was starting to rival that feeling. She laughed a bit as she leaped off one of the steeper parts of the trail with ease. “You could say that. I actually lived in a tent for a while. Wolf things don’t hurt with that either. I spend a lot of time here whether it’s the full moon or not. It just feels right.” She shrugged a bit. She supposed it would be hard for a human to totally understand, but it seemed like Connor wanted to understand which was nice. It didn’t seem like he had a judgmental bone in his body which was always refreshing. “Oh, I usually go very deep out into the forest where there aren’t trails or anything. No chance of anyone showing up. Just me and the forest animals… which are admittedly delicious.” She laughed a bit and hoped her answer sufficed. This full moon had been different, but that was not of her own design. “I wouldn’t recommend going into any part of the woods on a full moon though. There’s not much in the way of control to be found for myself and other wolves.” She scaled another dip in the trail and kept a close ear out for their surroundings. Nothing smelled off either. “Filmed anything good recently?”

The woods felt as if they were becoming darker, perhaps the canopy of leaves growing thicker as they made their way deeper into the forest. It was obvious just how at home Ari seemed. Sometimes it struck Connor just how different their worlds were. There were things about Ariana he'd probably never quite understand, but that just made her interesting company. "I've done plenty of filming campouts, but I can't imagine living in a tent," Connor murmured, shaking his head in disbelief with a good-natured little laugh. "The posh London boy in me is mortified at the idea."

He nodded with interest as she spoke about her full moon habits. The camera wasn't turned on yet, so nothing was being picked up, no risk of her being outed to the world. Connor wasn't opposed to taking advantage of a situation to get the shot, but there were some things that were off-limits, even to him. He shuddered slightly and laughed at the mention of the animals. "Rabbit and venison are great, but raw? You must have a fucking strong stomach." The conversation turned back to him, and he gave a noncommittal shrug. "Rio and I did a haunted cabin. We should be editing it soon. I kinda didn't film too much during the whole Bloody Mary shit." He ducked under a branch, using the trunk of the tree as leverage to help him balance as he made his way around a particularly nasty root, knotted like ropes. "Was there something in particular you were hoping to show me out here, or are you just looking to make a wilderness boy outta me?"

While Ariana did love the coziness of her warm bed, especially considering it had been warmer as of late, the comforts most considered necessities had never been so much so for her. She shrugged and said, “It was a bit out of necessity. We were on the run most of my life, but I never really minded. Out here feels like home in its own way.” She laughed a bit at the mention of being posh. “So you’re more of a glamping kind of guy?” If she hadn’t been leading the way and sniffing out what was ahead, she would have given him a playful nudge.

It was evident to her that Connor was curious about werewolf life. To her, it had never been that fascinating. It was just who she was. Ingrained in every cell of her body. “I wouldn’t recommend it for you. I mean, even when I look like this I cook them. When I look more like a wolf, well-- Wolves are kind of meant to hunt and eat fresh. Needless to say, all around I have a strong stomach.” She perked up at the mention of a haunted cabin. While she dreamed of a cabin, she could live without the haunted part, but she assumed it was no more. “That’s pretty dope. I can’t wait to see it. Probably a good idea though. Bloody Mary was kind of a nightmare and dangerous.” As soon as he asked the question, she raised a hand to quiet him. Something off in the distance caught her ear. While she didn’t smell anything that seemed like a beast, it sounded like there was some sort of struggle. She whispered, “I hear something. Didn’t have anything planned, but figured I’d sniff something out for you to film.” She motioned for him to stick close. “Move quietly and stay behind me.” She looped through the trees, following the sound of a fight ahead. They were still too far away to tell whether it was more of the supernatural or human variety.

“Give me a fancy RV any day of the week mate,” Connor said, pulling his vape out of his pocket as they walked because he had a feeling Ariana wouldn’t exactly be keen on him dumping cigarette butts in the woods. “At least have it parked nearby so I can get in there if I need to take a shower or something.” Something about washing his balls in a cold creek just didn’t really appeal to him. “It’s cool that it’s like a home to you, though. It is pretty nice out here. I just like my creature comforts too much,” he snickered. Slightly lower chance of being eaten by some kind of monster back at home, too. But only slightly.

He would have happily kept chatting away about the woods and hunting game all afternoon if not for the sudden change in Ariana’s entire body. Connor didn’t hear anything, but he practically felt the hairs on the back of her arms standing on end. He nodded, saying nothing as he made himself smaller, crouching and trying not to break an excessively loud twig under the weight of his boots as he moved through the golden and red carpet of autumn leaves on the forest floor. “What is it?” he finally whispered, quiet as he could muster. Everything seemed completely normal to him, but he supposed those were the perks of having a werewolf friend.

Ariana enjoyed the comforts her home offered her as much as the next person, but she found humans needed it far more than she did. She saw little issue with hopping into the creek the way she did the morning after the full moon to clean off. A patch of grass was just as much home as her bed was... Though maybe as of late that wasn’t entirely true. Her ideal would be a nice little secluded cabin in the woods. Those little daydreams quickly faded as she followed where her nose and ears led her. She was light on her feet and conscious of their surroundings. She paused briefly, picking the way to go and answering Connor’s question. “It sounds like there’s some sort of fight breaking out. You may want to stay a good deal back. You can still film. I’ll try not to get all ‘grr’,” she said with a little claw like hand motion.

“This way,” Ariana directed as they made their way to a small clearing. There were two men in ski masks beating up on an elderly man. The coppery smell of blood coated the air as she got close and her eyes settled on the knife. Shit. By the smell of it, it seemed everyone was human. Not that she could really discern other non-shifting species from humans all that easily. She quietly snuck through the brush and let out a low growl to distract the men. It was purposefully intimidating and she stayed out of their line of sight. One of the men’s heads shot up and looked terrified. “What the shit was that?” The other man scanned the area and responded, “I don’t know, but we’ll leave him to whatever it is. He’s bleeding out anyway.”

Another snarl resonated through the cleared area and the two men went running, not keen on seeing where the sound came from. Once Ariana could tell they were far enough away, she emerged from the brush, pulling her first aid kit out of her bag as she moved. “Where are you hurt? Who were those men?” She questioned the older man, who could only point to the stab wound on his torso.

Connor’s eyes widened at the mention of a fight. Keen as he might be to get some good footage, getting in the middle of a physical altercation was rarely his idea of a good time. “Wait, okay--I’m turning the camera on.” He didn’t want her to accidentally wolf out mid-frame, but he knew how important it might be to have the incident on film if something happened. The sounds of a scuffle were growing clearer as they grew closer, and Connor called to Ari in an urgent whisper. “Shit. Maybe you shouldn’t--just be careful.” Most of Connor’s confidence and charm went right out the window as soon as a fight became part of the equation, but he edged closer to the sounds, keeping his body low to the ground. He could see a gathering of what looked to be men, surrounding someone who was clearly in pain. The words ‘bleeding out’ stuck out like a sore thumb.

He ducked behind a bush, heart beating so loudly he was sure the camera would pick it up. He was certain they were going to come find them, to kill them just like they had killed the poor man who was lying prone on the ground, apparently, bleeding out. Once they were gone, he finally breathed again, following Ari out of the bush, the camera falling on the ground as he rushed to the man’s side. “Shit, there’s blood everywhere. Bloody hell--we’ve gotta call an ambulance.” But how the hell was an ambulance supposed to find them out here? It was no use. He’d be dead by the time anyone made it through the woods. Connor was holding his phone, hands trembling as he dialled anyway, but a pair of white hands, quickly growing colder, gripped his. “Keep it safe,” the man whispered, pushing an amulet that seemed to appear from nothingness into Connor’s sweaty palm, and then his eyes fell shut. “Ari-- Ari, I think he’s dead…” Without thinking he stuffed the amulet into his pocket, calling 911.

There was a certain panic that rose in Ariana when she saw just how bad his injuries were. Her hands gravitated toward the stab wound on his stomach and she grabbed a wad of gauze and pressed down on it to slow the bleeding. She could attempt to stitch it up here, but she had no concept of whether any of his internal organs were damaged. Would she just be doing more harm than good. There was no time for doubt, she applied pressure to the wound to help it clot, but her hands just ended up covered in more and more blood. “Focus on me,” she told the man, “We’re going to get you out of here, okay?” The more blood that soaked through the gauze as Connor spoke of calling 911, the less hope she had. This man was older and this was a lot of trauma for his body to go through. “I’m Ariana, and that’s Connor. We’re going to get you help, okay?” Her voice managed to sound much calmer than she felt and for a brief moment, she felt as if maybe she embraced some of Celeste’s essence. An alarmed look crossed her face when an amulet appeared out of seemingly nowhere and was placed in Connor’s hands. “Keep it safe? What is it?” Before she could get answers to her questions, she felt him sputter underneath her hands. “Wait, no!” She raised a hand up to quiet Connor for a moment as she tried to hear the elderly man’s heartbeat. Nothing. “He is- He’s dead. There’s no heartbeat. We need the police, not an ambulance.” At least Regan couldn’t give her shit for not reporting this one right away.

“I know, I know--” It was tough to say what was trembling more; Connor’s hands, or his voice. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop himself from crying. Jesus, was he in shock? He didn’t know what this was supposed to feel like, but it hadn’t been what he had in mind when Ari told him they could go look for something to film in the woods. When dispatch answered, he struggled to get the words out. “H-hello? I need-- police. They stabbed him. He’s dead. I--it’s in the woods, I don’t even know where we are…” After some back and forth questions, Connor struggling to explain what trails they’d been on and Ariana needing to stop in to help him, they finally hung up and told the two of them to wait right there and not to touch anything. Connor stepped back, hands and clothes covered in blood. “What… what do we do?”

Ariana stood there silently looking at the body with a look of horror on her face. Why had this happened and why was it that she always seemed to be too late when it came to saving others? The tremble in Connor’s voice as he spoke to law enforcement on the phone didn’t go unnoticed, so she stood a little taller and put on her brave face. She could do this though she needed to keep reminding herself of it. “We have to wait until they get here. Other things out here might smell the blood. I’ll be on lookout duty.” With the anxiety that was coursing through her, every sound picked up in a near grating way. As she remembered he handed Connor something, she turned to him and asked, “What was it that he wanted you to keep safe?”

Connor reached in his pocket, feeling for the amulet. He didn’t really want to touch it, and yet in the same vein, he never wanted to let it go. Something about it activated a sixth sense in him. It felt normal. It looked normal. But it wasn’t normal. He held it up for Ariana to see, almost reluctantly, but then his eyes caught sight of the black and silver object on the ground. “Fuck, my camera--” He tried to remember if they’d said anything incriminating, about Ari being a wolf. They hadn’t, right? They hadn’t talked about it on camera because he knew he wouldn’t be able to use any of that footage. “I don’t think I’m supposed to touch it.” He was normally all too happy to break the law, but trespassing and interfering in a murder investigation were on completely different levels. “How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?”

Agatha, along with two police officers strode through the woods. It had been 10 minutes already since she responded to the call on her radio. With only a rough idea of where to find these people, they moved carefully. Here was their dilemma. Whoever had done this was still around, and if they were noisy, they would miss them, but if they did not hurry, they would miss them too. On top of that, they had to take into account this very simple fact: the woods were a dangerous place. Agatha, of all people knew this much, having lost her father to the woods. Looking at the two other police officers, she wondered if they felt anguish, being stuck with a Keen in the woods. The detective took a deep breath, stopping to gain her composure and calm back. She did not need those insecurities now, or ever, and yet, after all these years, all the good work she had done, she still asked herself if she was doing enough, good enough. Minutes passed, silent, lonely. No wind, no deer, nothing. “Well, I hope that kid didn’t get his trails wrong,” she checked her map and took out her compass, sighing. “What would you say? We must be around here?” She pointed to a spot on the map and scratched at her ear. “We have to split to find them,” she didn’t like that idea, but what choice did they have? They nodded in agreement, and each one went their separate way, circling around the same spot.

Each minute felt entirely too long as the pair sat in silence waiting for the police to arrive. Ariana couldn’t stop staring at her blood covered hands that had tried so hard to stop the man’s bleeding. Just like Sammy, she couldn’t save him despite her efforts. It left her limbs feeling numb as she slumped against a tree. Moments ago, she’d wanted to be brave for Connor and the old man, but she found it was quickly fading now that there was no longer an action for her to take. There had to be something to do here, but they weren’t supposed to touch anything. Even if she started pacing, she’d risk covering the track the murderers left behind. She heard the police approaching and trying to find their spot. For a moment, she stayed quiet knowing they were too far away to hear her even if she were to call out. Once the light patter of footsteps was closer, she called out, “We’re over here.” She stood up and started to wave them over.

It was rarely a good thing when Connor was exposed to the police. He’d been lucky most of the time, not getting in too much trouble over his trespassing and filming, his white privilege and family money certainly not hurting the situation. This was different though. He’d witnessed a fucking murder, and though they had the murder on film, no reason for either himself or Ariana to be suspected, he couldn’t help but be afraid. “Hey,” he called, joining in with Ariana. “This way! The body’s over here.”

“The body’s over here,” Agatha muttered to herself, blinking and shaking her head in surprise. If only it were usually so easy. Approaching the voices, she kept her weapon in her hand, wondering who she might land on. The sight of those two college kids did seem to ease her tension, and she approached the pair, and the deceased man with caution. “Did you see what happened?” She squatted down. Her hand went to the man’s wrist, trying and failing to catch a pulse. By the state of the wounds, there was not much she could have done to help him anyway. Looking up at the pair, she frowned, and her expression did not soften as she caught sight of the camera, “you wouldn’t have happened to film this, would you?” If they did, then this might have been her easiest case for this whole year.

A detective she didn’t recognize approached them, but this was a seemingly normal crime. Minus the weird amulet at least. There was nothing to hide here. By all indication, everything was incredibly human. Ariana finally took her eyes off the body and looked at the cop that was speaking to them. “There were two men in masks, I don’t know why they--” she couldn’t think of what could possibly drive this. She looked down at her own bloody hands and mumbled, “I tried to help-- I know a decent amount of first aid and how to do-- He was dead before I could do anything.” Now that she didn’t have to be the one on guard, she felt her composure slipping. She wanted to go home and pretend like none of this had ever happened. Her eyes glazed over as she found herself staring at the body, Agatha’s next question not quite registering.

Connor tried to keep his cool, reminding himself that he hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Ari was covered in blood. So was he, but less so. His eyes fell on the camera that had caught the entire thing, pointing to it, his hand trembling ever so slightly. “We were just filming the woods, and each other, making a video for YouTube. I dropped the camera when we saw them. I don’t know how much it caught.” But given the position compared to the body, he figured it had caught a fair amount. Too much to risk lying. “He gave me this,” Connor said, holding out the amulet. “I don’t know why. I don’t think he wanted whoever killed him to take it.”

“That’s alright, you did the best you could. You could have never saved him,” Agatha assured the young woman, wiping her hands clean. With a pen, she pushed open the dead man’s jacket, to check for a wallet, a phone, anything that might help identifying him, and reaching his relatives. “You did your best,” she repeated, her expression softer. The boy started speaking, and she gave him a look. He did not seem too comfortable, and while she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else behind it, witnessing a murder did tend to do this to people, and she decided to drop that thought for now. “I’ll need to take your camera. We’ll give it back to you, don’t worry,” she added before he could try protesting. “He wanted you to take it, then? Did he say something?” She reached out to Connor with a plastic pouch. “Drop it in there, please,” whatever this thing was, it had to be the key.

Ariana had heard the sentiment too many times to really let it resonate. Sure, it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t kill the man. There wasn’t much she could have done to save him either, but the fact didn’t change that she and death were becoming far too closely acquainted. She nodded her head and mumbled, “I know, I just… I don’t know.” There was a spaced out look on her face as Agatha continued to speak and ask questions. She remembered the man dropping the amulet into Connor’s hand and wanting them to keep it safe. But why? What was so important about a necklace that it needed to be kept safe. It’d be safe with the police at least. The idea of helping guard some amulet on top of everything else made her head spin. It was good the cops would have it. At least she hoped. She could ask Jane to make sure it didn’t do anything sketchy to the other cops. “He said to keep it safe, I think. Right, Connor?” She rubbed her hands on her arms to warm herself and became acutely aware of just how much blood was on her. Her hands dropped back to her side and she asked, “Do we need to come with you?” Everything in her hoped it was a no. She wanted to jump in the creek and rid herself of the old man’s blood that was now fogging up her senses.

Connor really didn't want to hand over either his camera or the amulet, but this bloody mess (literally and figuratively) of a situation hadn't left him with much of a choice. He swallowed, nodding. "I know. Just be careful with it, yeah? It's an expensive model." He didn't want it to go missing in police custody. "He just said to keep it safe? I think whoever killed him was looking for it, but they didn't find it on him. I..." It had been hidden in some way, by supernatural means, but he couldn't exactly say that. "I don't know why he gave it to us. I suppose because we tried to help him. He trusted us." And the question he doubted the police could ever answer was what was it, and what did those people want with it? Connor reluctantly handed everything over. They headed to the station to have his clothes taken for evidence and give a statement, and on the car ride, he looked at Ariana, silently communicating. We need to get that thing back.

#paras #with: ari #with: agatha

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isa-ghost · 5 years

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Fuck I don't have any good questions so please just tell me e v e r y t h i n g about their relationship. I have a mighty need for some cute brothers.

*inhALES*

This is actually super fucking long so I’m putting a read more LMAO

@septic-dr-schneep, this is actually the bunker!SD timeline as of now (I’ma date this for myself- 1/20/19) if you want to read it too. :3c

@a-septic-mind pls read this you little shit, this is the entire timeline of Shit We’ve Put Jackie And Henrik Through™ so far.

Jackie has made sure to go through anything and everything ever with Henrik since the time he came into existence. There’s very few things he hasn’t been around for and the biggest one of course was August but let’s save that part for a second–

Jackie was extremely relieved when Marvin came into the picture because he wouldn’t be lonely anymore but when Henrik came around? He bawled for hours on and off because he was so happy to have a second little brother. He was hugging Jack constantly and thanking him (Henrik was the first ego Jack made on purpose) and wouldn’t let Henrik go. xD Henrik was super overwhelmed by it of course, because existence was a completely new/very confusing thing to him and on top of this, here’s this giant ball of loud, bouncy, cuddly muscle and energy clinging to him like crazy and crying a lot. After getting used to it though, Jackie’s constant affection made it a ton less stressful to adjust to being an ego and all the trouble that came with that.

Jackie learned German for him, Henrik would draw suit designs for Jackie, and the two would talk about things all day long- mostly Jackie answering whatever questions Henrik had about their souls, their abilities, Jack, other ego-related stuff, etc. They got extremely close extremely fast and the things they’d experience in the future only made that stronger.

Unfortunately they only had roughly a month of happiness after Henrik’s creation before Anti came to be and started the war. They had to move from Ireland (Jack never got the chance to move to Brighton in this AU xD) to Axel Creek in the US and were kept in the Safehouse they live in now to be protected from Anti. As if losing Jack and getting thrown across an entire ocean into a random small town in the middle of a different country wasn’t enough, headcanons finally started growing popular enough to take effect on Henrik… Including the insane doctor ones. His “snapping” fits started up, and he just about almost killed Jackie during the first one.

After going through the initial shock of being attacked by his baby brother, Jackie got Henrik semi-under control and that’s when the two of them had their first dark experience together– Whenever Henrik would snap and go temporarily insane, Jackie would allow him to perform spontaneous surgeries on him. They kept it secret from Marvin (and in the future, from Chase), and although it’s a really twisted way for them to handle something so serious, it actually let them learn almost everything there is to know about Jackie’s body, powers, and how the two effect each other. The only things they haven’t been able to study about Jackie is how his eye-related powers work and how his negativity kryptonite works. From the time they started these snapped surgeries and onward, they grew a trust bond stronger than anything you could imagine.

Once Henrik got the hang of controlling the effects of headcanons, Jackie taught him how to fuse their souls and their fusion Life Saver was first created. LS didn’t handle Henrik’s iffy sanity well, and, well… He’s a handful for the two, but they love their fusion like a semi-murderous, problematic son. xD However, they’d just barely figured out how to control him/keep him stable mentally long enough before they needed to use him in a rescue mission- Anti was trying to take Marvin. In the end, luck wasn’t on their side and Marvin was taken as they were ripped out of their fusion (which left near-deadly damage on their souls and internals). They barely made it home alive and Chase had to rush to save them just in time.

They recovered slowly, but then Summer 2017 crawled around… The community was starting to question Henrik and whether or not he was good. The doubt in his alignment/intentions began to weaken him and he grew sickly and his powers started to fade.

He was severely deteriorated by the time KJSE happened it and there was no way he could’ve possibly fended Anti off and saved Jack at the same time. He was taken by Anti along with Jack and this shattered Jackie and Henrik’s relationship for a while.

Jackie was left to spiral into extreme guilt after it happened because even though he could feel Henrik in serious danger and knew he was weak due to lacking community faith, he didn’t bother racing to the rescue until it was far too late. Not knowing where Henrik was or if he was even alive, he assumed the worst and his mental state crumbled. He isolated himself, stopped hero work for a long time and made himself deathly ill with his negativity kryptonite. Eventually it got so bad, he’d hallucinate Henrik screaming at him for not coming to save him and all sorts of other awful things. It destroyed Jackie’s confidence and triggered his severe sensitivity to failure. Henrik’s first birthday was one of the worst days for him of all…

He spent the next six months driving himself insane with grief to the point where it was hard for Marvin, Chase, or Henrik’s former nurse Dawn to recognize him. Nothing they did helped him or got him to stop all of the habits he’d developed. Eventually he tried looking for Henrik and ended up getting captured by Anti in the process. He was missing for a few days before being found. Little did he know, the person who found him was Dawn’s daughter Isa; and she’d also saved Henrik about a week prior to saving Jackie.

After recovering from the torture Anti had subjected him to over those few days, he and Henrik finally reunited (which did not go smoothly at first because Jackie was 100% convinced Henrik hated him for not coming to his rescue). Things were okay after that… For maybe a month, sadly.

It wasn’t long before Jackie got taken again, this time with Marvin (he escaped Anti after being taken btw xD). The two were missing a long time before Jackie broke out and ran to the bunker for help to save Marvin. They got him home, but in the end, Jackie ended up getting corrupted. The duration of his corruption was an utter nightmare for him and Henrik. Just to name a few things that happened–

Jackie once ran away from the bunker to the Safehouse. Henrik tracked him down and tried to talk him out of his room. The conversation ended up turning into a really sad string of cliff-related metaphors. Said metaphors have stuck with them from this moment all the way to the present.

Henrik had to use Jackie’s trigger of needles to properly activate his power to sonic scream (Anti had given him the power, he didn’t always have it).

Jackie tried making a deal with Anti to guarantee the protection of his brothers and when Henrik found out, he actually tried to outbid him by offering better deals. In the end, they almost royally screwed up and barely go out of it alright.

During a fight after this deal debate, Jackie almost fell off a literal cliff and Henrik caught him before he fell. Sweet, sweet irony…

Henrik detoxed Jackie by faking his death after that fight (at the end of the fight, Anti took control of Jackie and made him hurt Henrik). When Jackie was dragged back to the bunker to be quarantined, Henrik revealed he wasn’t dead and then stabbed himself where Jackie had wounded him and almost bled out. This finished Jackie’s detox.

They barely got a break before Jackie was downed by Anti’s bullshit AGAIN. This time, Anti posted a video of the ONW HQ being blown up and blamed Jackie. The community lost faith in him so rapidly that he deteriorated and fell into a coma. He almost faded and returned to Jack before Chase narrowly managed to save him. Through all of this, Henrik never left his side. Despite being shut down, Jackie could hear everything Henrik was saying… It was Very Upsetting™ to hear, especially since he couldn’t reply or at least comfort Henrik.

For a very long time after waking up and recovering, Jackie refused to sleep or close his eyes at all for that matter and it’s basically been that way since. They haven’t suffered any extreme traumas since Jackie shut down (which happened in March). They just sorta have ups and downs here and there and they spend every night staying up and doing things together be it talking, working, both, or something else. Whenever they’ve had downs, they’ve vented and supported each other through it no matter how long it takes. Recently they’ve actually been the happiest they’ve been in ages. xD

But yeah, I think that’s about every huge important bunker!SuperDrug moment that’s ever happened in the bunker roleplay as of 1/20/19. XD So there ya have it.

#jacksepticeye #bunker 88720 #jackieboy man #dr schneeplestein #henrik von schneeplestein #Superdrug

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