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writing-whump · 4 months

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Drunk at New Years

Arnie gets drunk on New Years after a fight with Hector. Angst, vomiting, comfort.

Hector was worried.

For the last couple of hours he alternated between angrily pacing the room and dialing Arnie's number. It was half three in the morning on New Years and Arnie was not picking up.

When he got back, Hector would tear him into two pieces.

It was the first New Years Hector and Arnie fought. Really, it was rather rare for them to fight at all.

Hector was acutely aware his brother was human since he was very small. You could simply not treat a human kid like you would a pup. Since that realization settled in, Hector couldn't help but feel Arnie was incredibly fragile. Wouldn't heal, couldn't jump, couldn't compete with his strength against a wolf even if he got combat training.

And Hector hated wolves from their pack didn't treat humans well. Heck, he himself didn't think much of them - useless, weak little things that ruled the world just because of their sheer numbers and fondness for explosive devices.

But Arnie was different. The kid was tough as nails underneath the frail human body. He used the clarity of his human mind, unburdened by aggressive shadow that would heighten every emotion and make it unignorable, to make long-term schemes, acute observations and was capable of incredible concentration.

Not to mention being able to use words like knifes. Hector had never met anyone who could shred even wolves to pieces with just a few words and precise observations.

Arnie was tough. But he was still human. And human kids of 18 didn't run around a city of almost 2 million people and countless wolf packs at night, at New Years, when everyone was drank and dangerously out of control.

He tried calling again, but although it rang, no one picked up.

That's when he heard the clittering of keys at the door.

Hector hurried over as it opened, his little brother stumbling inside.

His blond hair was tousled out of its styled form, his emerald green eyes feverishly glassy and he had that dumb smiley expression Hector had seen on many drunks.

The worry immediately replaced disgust as he frowned in disapproval.

"Oh, hey. You still up. What a bummer," Arnie said, swaying and closing the door behind him with a giggle.

"Where the hell have you been?" Hector said, crossing his arms on his chest.

"Here and there. Found a really tasty place and lots of happy people being willing to be happy with you. It was fuuuun."

Hector's nose scrunched as he breathed in the smell of beer clinging to his brother. "You know I don't approve of alcohol. You look pathetic as fuck."

Arnie's eyes widened before he grinned again, the arrogant prick. "Yeah, I know. What about you just...run along and go to sleep? Don't mess up your precious schedule. As you can see, I'm too intoxicated to properly enjoy your scolding," he laughed again, a little hysteric at the end. "Or maybe it's a good time, cause there is three of you so the lecture will-brrrrrrrp- multiply." He all but sang the last word, shaking off his boots.

"Fine. We'll talk in the morning."

Arnie threw his coat to the ground, muffling a burp against his fist. "Oh, he wants to talk all of sudden. That will be a milestone after two weeks of silent treatment."

Hector rolled his eyes, leaving Arnie to his drunken stumbling.

The comment stung, because it was true.

Arnie went behind his back and talked with Isaiah.

Okay, to be fair, it wasn't behind his back, but it was against his wishes. Surely Hector was justified in feeling angry?

Arnie accused him of not trying enough and that he should admit to missing Isaiah too and make minimal effort. That the meeting went well, that Isaiah was glad to see him.

Hector told him he was pathetic, annoying someone who was clearly not interested, abandoning them. He couldn't stand that Arnie had a good time with Isaiah, that their oldest brother welcomed him with open arms while he treated Hector with such coldness.

Arnie just grimaced at the words. "If you made any effort at all instead of your usual anger, pride and wolf posturing, we could have had him back years ago."

Hector said nothing, fighting down his shadow's immediate angry reaction. He was used to getting his way with his pack - he was the branch leader in Vienna after all. It was weird he could not react to dissent the way he wanted. But he wouldn't go so low as to pull his shadow at his human brother.

So he simply held his tongue and their silence at home began.

It was deserved. He would simply wait for an apology.

It was also way more unnerving than he expected.

Seemed Arnie was hellbent on proving that waiting for apologizes was futile.

Hector went to get a glass of water, skin on his arms tingling with relief and nerves. It wasn't like Arnie to be this irresponsible though. Hell, all human dangers in this city applied for him. What if he got mugged on the way? Or stumbled upon a drunken group of troublemakers who would hurt him? What if he got hit by a car?

Not to mention Arnie's vulnerability as a human to a wolf leader of a powerful pack branch - any pack could take the opportunity and kidnap him to have leverage over Hector. Arnie was normally watchful and knew how to hide, run, fight back or call for him - but not when he was so out of it.

Acting like a child, truly. What a stupid way to have a tantrum.

Could 18 years old be grounded? Arnie was still a teenager, right? Birthdays were stupid and didn't change someone's maturity anyway.

Hector switched the lights off in the kitchen, heading to his room to sleep as Arnie told him, when a loud moan stopped him in his tracks.

The little bathroom that just had a toilet and a sink was open and alight and he could hear Arnie's erratic breathing.

Yeah, Arnie didn't drink or get out of control or do any of those rebellious teenager stuff. He was too smart and mature for that. No way he would take the alcohol well with his fragile weak human constitution.

Hector wanted to leave him to it. Just desserts for being stupid and worrying the hell out of him for an argument they didn't have to have.

But he heard Arnie spitting into the water and another soft groan echoed against the tiles.

Before Hector made a conscious decision, his legs led him right to small bathroom. He braced against the doorframe.

Arnie was draped over the toilet, all drunken humor gone now. His arms were folded over the rim, cushioning his forehead, face turned towards the water. His legs hugged the porcelain from each side.

"Alcohol's not so fun going up, huh?" Hector gloated.

Arnie burped loudly, sound echoing in the toilet. "Go...go the -buuuurrgg- fuck away." His voice was strained, punctured by another belch.

Hector rolled his eyes, though Arnie didn't see it, face still turned inwards toward the bowl. His shoulders heaved heavily as he breathed in anticipation, sweat clinging to the back of his shirt and neck. His hair wasn't holding at all, too sweaty and greasy, falling into his face. It was long enough to brush against his cheeks and chin.

Hector stepped away to go into the big bathroom, opening Arnie's cupboard. There was the hair tie. Arnie had the weirdest collection of hair accessories and sprays and gels and whatnot.

He returned to the smaller bathroom, crouching down next to Arnie. His position didn't change, only his breathing picked up a little.

Hector gently gathered the hair from both sides of his face to tie it up in a tiny ball at the back of his head.

Arnie winced at the contact, another little moan escaping him.

"Stop fighting it," Hector said with a sigh, leaning back against the wall. The space was small, they were crowded like this in the small quarters.

"Go away," Arnie repeated, voice raspy and small, like he was about to cry. Hector's heart squeezed at the sound, despite how disgusting the situation was.

"Don't tell me what to do," Hector said, planing a hand in the middle of Arnie's back. "Just get it up already. It will happen anyway, better to get rid of it and go to sleep. It's the quickest cure ever."

"How...how would you know? You were never drunk before." Arnie spit some more into the bowl, eyes squeezing shut. He was red in the face, lips pressed tightly together.

"Sure was," Hector said, rubbing little circles into Arnie's sweaty back. "Isaiah made me drink at home when I was 14. Wanted me to know how my shadow would react and what it would feel like to have too much." It was a very educational move in hindsight. Hector drank his weight in wine and then spend the night and better part of the next day heaving over the toilet.

Alcohol was definitely not worth it in his book.

Isaiah sat beside him every damn minute, not complaining once. Making him drink lemon water, so Hector didn't even get a headache.

It pained him to remember that although he appreciated the memory. He could even laugh about it, if it wasn't so bitter.

No one had done the same thing for Arnie. Isaiah wasn't there anymore when Arnie reached that age. Maybe this was Hector's responsibility.

Arnie's breathing grew even faster and he burped, his shoulders tensing under Hector's hand. He nuzzled his head against his crossed hands over the rim, groaning pitifully. "I don't wanna throw up."

"You are too queasy to have a choice," Hector admonished. Jesus, this was taking long. They would be here all night at this pace.

"And you are a stubborn mule," he muttered, lifting his hand away. Instead of the rubbing, he patted Arnie on the upper back. Hard.

Arnie's shoulders hitched and he gagged, a mouthful of liquid hitting the water. He lifted his head a little in shock. "What-"

Hector patted him again and this time Arnie heaved up a bigger wave of yellow liquid. And then it seemed to be set off well.

Arnie groaned with each next wave, whole back arching. His body was too forceful about expelling the poison to let him protest anymore. Each wave was more violent, to the point Hector wondered how many beers he could have fitted in there.

When Arnie heaved for the fifth time, it got smaller again. He breathed heavily, hands gripping the rim of the toilet.

Hector went from patting to rubbing wide circles into his back.

When Arnie lifted his head in a slight break between vomiting he looked terrible. Drool all over his chin, tears streaming down his face and mixing with snot from his nose.

"That's disgusting," Hector said, rolling up some toilet paper to wipe the mess on his chin, before taking another and holding it against Arnie's nose. "Blow."

Arnie listened this time, loudly blowing his nose into the paper.

Hector flushed the toilet, not that it helped much against the pukey smell, even though they let the door open. "How are we doing? Any better?"

Arnie moaned, hands wrapping around his middle, forehead pressing against the rim. "You did that on purpose."

"Yeah, and it helped, so shut up. You feel like you are done?" Hector took some more toilet paper to mop Arnie's sweaty back.

Arnie burped, then scrambled back against the toilet as another gush flew out of his mouth. It was chunkier this time, like he finally reached the food part of his digestive system.

Hector grimaced, gripping one of Arnie's shoulders so he wouldn't smash his head against the toilet with the force of the heaves, while he went to rubbing his back with the other. "Okay, okay. Just get it up. You are okay."

The next round was more like projectile shooting, involuntary and powerful. Arnie just heaved and heaved, vomit more brown than before, tears streaming down his cheeks again, which Hector found the most excruciating part, beside the smell.

It was almost 4 am till Arnie's vomiting tempered off a bit and he leaned against the wall from the side, dozing off from exhaustion when he wasn't gulping down emptily. Hector decided that looked safe enough to change positions.

"Okay, champ. Come on, get up." Hector grabbed him under the armpits to lift him up. Arnie swayed in his hold, leaning against his chest but followed obediently.

Hector manoeuvred his arm around his neck and dragged him out, getting him into the guest bedroom, the closest one to the bathroom.

Arnie curled up on the bed, nuzzling his face and signing his relief at the touch of the mattress.

"Strip out of those clothes. Come on, pipsqueak, help me here."

Arnie just groaned, hands wrapping tightly around his middle, face against he matrass to block out the light.

Hector sighed, grabbing his sweaty shirt and pulling it off, continuing with the pants. He got Arnie's pyjamas from his room and helped him get in before throwing the covers over him, getting the trashcan to the side of his head. Last touch was getting the windows wide open to get some clean fresh air.

Hector settled next to Arnie on his back over the covers in exhaustion, not feeling like changing himself. What a way to spend the New Years.

"The trashcan is right next to you on the nightstand. Don't miss it," he told him.

Arnie squirmed, tugging the covers closer against the cold night air. He squinted his eyes at Hector in the dark, the green shining like a cat's.

"You still angry?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yeah. No. I don't know. Just get some sleep. You will feel better soon."

Arnie said nothing watching him further, a soft airy burp escaping him. He put a hand over his mouth, as if to muffle it.

Hector sighed, lifting himself up on his arms in anticipation to get the trashcan. "If you need to throw up-"

The next sound Arnie made sounded more like a sob though. That made him freeze.

Arnie's shoulders were shaking and he curled on on his side into a ball, tears streaming down his face.

"Hey, hey, hey. None of that. Hey. What's wrong?" Hector felt his voice lowering and softening immediately at the sight, reaching out his hand to plant it on the side of Arnie's face, combing his fingers through the greasy blond hair.

"Pipsqueak, come on. Talk to me. Everything is alright. You are fine, everything's fine. I'm not angry," he said quickly, feeling helpless.

Arnie just shook his head, crying harder, chest shaking with sobs and hiccups.

"Hey. I think you might be a whiny drunk, you know? It's okay. Not your fault. It will go away."

"Why....why can't I-" Arnie hiccuped, face glistening with tears as they run down his chin and dripped down his neck. "Why can't I have you both?"

Hector winced, reminded of the ball of gnarled hurt and anger and confusion he felt whenever Isaiah was mentioned.

It wasn't fair Arnie could forgive so easily. It wasn't fair Isaiah didn't care about him the same way as he did for Arnie. It wasn't fair Hector made it harder for both of them with how he felt.

"You are not losing me, pipsqueak. I'm not going anywhere," he promised in a rough voice, cupping Arnie's nape and tugging him forward against his chest.

Arnie cried and cried, snuggling deep into into his shirt as Hector wrapped his arms around his shaky frame.

They stayed like that until Arnie ran out of tears - most of them covering the front of Hector's shirt - and dozed off, breathing softly, the smell of cheap beer and puke breath still radiating off him like bad perfume.

@bellysoupset

#sickfic #emeto #vomiting #whump #emeto writing #drunk #hurt/comfort #brothers #werewolf wip #bromance #my writing #this one wasn't on my outline #but it felt fitting #Arnie

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beevean · 22 days

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Having Thought again about Hector (and this time I'm talking about the real Hector) being called a child, or implicitly called naive - and how this is an important trait of his character.

Under cut because it's image heavy. Because I cannot and will not shut up :P

The laundry hanging scene is mostly there for fluff after the harrowing Hector vs. Isaac fight, but you can infer a lot from it.

Hector? Oh, you're in the shade again. It's not healthy. Come on! I need your help with something. The clothesline has broken, and I need a man's help. Ahh, you're pulling too hard, Hector! The branch will break!

Rosaly asks for a "man's help", but discovers that Hector can't do so much as hang laundry. He pulls too hard: Hector is a former fighter, so his first instinct is to use a lot of his strength (and he may even be superhumanly strong due to his powers). He probably never had to calibrate it in his life.

Rosaly: You’ve never done laundry before, have you? Well, this should be fine, thank you. Hector: Let me help you… Rosaly: No! Stop! That’s my…!

Then he takes Rosaly's clothes without permission: he really wants to help after that first embarrassment, but he doesn't seem to think that maybe it's a bit rude to rummage through a woman's underwear :P

It's all played for laughs, but it's also sad. Hector didn't have the chance to live a normal life. No one taught him how to live in human society, and then he wasted half of his life under Dracula's service. It's all new to him.

Haha, you’re so funny, Hector. With such pretty silver hair and such a pretty face…

But Rosaly doesn't judge him, doesn't think he's weird: she's honestly endeared by his clumsiness. (get yourself a so that doesn't make you feel bad for being different in common things 🥺) As I said in an older post:

He's not naive in the "easily trusting" sense: he hasn't lived in the human world enough to learn about it, except for hatred and rejection, and even simple things like hanging laundry don't come easy to him. But he wants to learn and he wants to help, much like a child would. And well. Rosaly knows how to take care of children without a home :) Where Hector sees nothing but a curse and sin, Rosaly sees innocence. She's idealistic, perhaps to a fault, but perhaps believing in the inherent goodness of others can pay off.

Rosaly: You’re just like a child… Hector: Where are my armor and sword? Rosaly: No. You've been bedridden for a week and only woke up yesterday. Hector: But I can't stay here.

Yet, interesting that this is when Hector asks for his sword and armor. He explains that he's afraid of attracting monsters again like the werewolf, but I also read shame in his expression. Rosaly means well, but I can imagine Hector doesn't like being compared to a child (especially if he associated childhood with being weak and hated). Maybe part of him even resents that she is right, and his instinct is to wanting to go back, to hide, to fight.

(or maybe he's just hella embarrassed that he was called "pretty" out of nowhere lol rosaly has excellent tastes)

It's also worth mentioning that, while Rosaly is never explicitly called a "womanchild" or naive, she seems to be considered as such by the others. She is called "too nice", because she overworks herself for little, and most importantly because she is allowing a complete stranger inside her home without knowing anything about him, ignoring the danger.

(in fact, Ted here calls Rosaly お人好し, which means "good-natured person" but with connotations of being a fool. This is after she brushed off Ted's concerns about Hector because "he has pretty eyes and birds seem to like him" :P)

Even Hector is unnerved by her attitude.

Rosaly: You were worried about us. Thank you, you are such a kind person. Hector: You take everything as a good thing... No, I'm sorry. Why don't you ask me? Haven't you heard anything from that kid? What did I do, what did I escape from? How did I kill that werewolf? …Who am I and where did I come from?

Rosaly's lack of curiosity and tendency to always assume the best of Hector is terrifying for him. He's waiting for the other shoe to drop, so that she'll know him and then hate him like everyone else. Who does this? Who just allows anyone to help with chores, and then finds cute when they can't do it? Who just welcomes someone in their home without caring about where they came from? It's weird. Rosaly is weird. Just as weird as Hector, a grown man who can't stay with other people and hasn't learned basic matters.

Being in touch with the blessings of the earth, feeling the seasons in the cold water... Seeing everyone’s smiles, having a meal with someone, going to bed grateful that the day has ended safely... All of these are wonderful things that are hard to come by. I have received everything I want from everyone.

Of course, the difference is that Rosaly is not naive due to lack of experience. She chooses to be stubbornly optimistic. She will love everyone to death. You have no choice.

And her relentless optimism is what allows her to see past Hector's barriers and mistery. He's just a good person to her, nothing more and nothing less.

Your name is Hector, you have beautiful silver hair, you were injured, you never did laundry, and you helped me and Ted. That's enough for me.

Another thing is that, Rosaly doesn't need Hector for household chores. She seems to be living alone just fine, and in fact she is the one who always helps others. So this is not really for her benefit: it's for Hector's. It's to give him something to do instead of drowning in his own thoughts. It's to make him feel less alone. There is symbolism in how Hector is still standing in the shadow, not hiding but still not ready to face the human world, and Rosaly says it's not healthy and drags him out to enjoy the sunlight, which he eventually accepts.

Hector is a proud, competent, intelligent man and warrior, but he's also a stunted child who has cowered from the world for years. Rosaly, without knowing anything about him and his upbringing, but sensing that something is different about him, is happy to show him the world and let him grow. Not because Hector is needed, but because he is wanted and welcomed.

My adoptive parents died a long time ago, so now I'm the only one here. So yeah, I would really love it if you stayed here.

Rosaly is used to live alone... but what if two lonely people lived together and helped each other?

In case it wasn't clear, the parallels between the beloveds fill me with warmth and joy :)

PtR gives us a similar concept, but with different characterizations:

"The unspent ferry fare for the Nether Rivers... to make up for it…"

"Worn-out and shiny? Thank you for the thought, but they'll think I stole it... I wonder if you don't know the world..."

Interestingly, here Hector's naiveté is painted in a more traditional manner. Sure, there's the heartbreaking part of him paying Rosaly for her basic kindness, because he is that foreign to the idea that he can be cared for without giving anything in return; and there's the symbolic part where he refers to the belt as pretty much the Charon's obol he had failed to pay, because he had planned to die but Rosaly saved his life so she is the one who gets to be paid. But Rosaly can't accept the gift for sensible reasons: it's too ostentatious, and she can't go around with it without drawing unwanted attention. Remember that this is also a time of witch hunts, and people are growing angrier and more suspicious, secretly due to the Curse.

Hector wouldn't know it. He lived isolated in the castle for years, so isolated that he couldn't hear the scream inside the stone walls. So for him it's a very straightforward reasoning: this woman is showing kindness to me, so I'll pay her with the most precious thing I own. (and even then I have my own ideas about that belt and why he has it)

Btw, this naiveté is not completely gone by CoD. He's surprisingly earnest with Julia when he meets her, revealing his background to a stranger. Thankfully nothing bad comes from it, but she seems to be much more guarded than him. I like to see this as a sign that he mellowed out after Rosaly :) or maybe he's just a gentleman lol.

Anyway I love Hector so much and I find it a more complex, vulnerable and relatable character than most assume 💖

#castlevania #akumajou dracula #hector castlevania #rosaly castlevania #hectaly #curse of darkness manga #prelude to revenge #yeah turns out that “manchild” doesn't mean “trusts too much and is an idiot for that”#cough cough #i'm sorry for having to pull up the japanese pages #tumblr hates the english version of the mf manga

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blackjackkent · 3 months

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We do get some more chat with Jaheira and Minsc before sleepz though!

"I think you might have made a terrible, terrible mistake. Chasing rumor halfway around the city and back. Crossing the Guild, wading through filth, defying the one creature upon whom your very life depends. All for a madman and his rodent."

"The Absolute threatens thousands - the entire Coast - and still you risked much to help one man. I should berate you, but... I can only say thank you."

"Your reasons were your own, but whether you meant for it or not, your fight is our fight. Both of us. To the very end."

Aw. <3 Jaheira is so fkn great, and look at the big grin Hector gets when she says she's with him to the end:

He really likes both Jaheira and Minsc a LOT to be honest. Jaheira reminds him a little of some of some of the older monks at the monastery (well, older when he was a young man; he was just starting to become one of those older monks himself when the nautiloid hit); she's wise and experienced and does not wear her heart on her sleeve, but she's also very kind, clearly feels things deeply under the surface, and believes strongly in the work that they are doing. And Minsc is... well, Minsc. I think on some level he reminds Hector of Karlach - intense balls-to-the-wall fighter with tremendous energy and a kind heart - and he would clearly put himself between any of them and danger in a heartbeat.

No matter what Jaheira says... it was worth it to help them both.

Amusingly, one of the dialogue options here is "Hm. None of that was a thank you," but like. It literally was? She literally said the words "thank you" two lines ago. XD

Instead, Hector just teases her gently - as I've noticed he's now done several times; it's not entirely characteristic of him, and speaks to the fact that he feels very comfortable with her and the sort of person that she is.

"Don't go getting sentimental on me, Harper," he says with a slight smile.

She laughs, and to his surprise he does hear a hint of a catch in it, a slight tremble that hints of tears. It is honestly rather touching; all of a sudden there is nothing of the frustration that came out earlier in the conversations, none of the sardonic deprecation or fear for the road ahead. She is tired; they have reached the end of the day and Minsc is safe - for all that he should never have been in danger in the first place, she has been worried for him for so many months... and now it is done, and he is safe. He is not another friend she has had to see into the ground.

"Ah," she says ruefully. "Those misty eyes are just age. Yes, I feel myself growing older as we stand here. So... lead the way. We are yours to command."

The message is clear; whatever tangled cocktail of emotions she is feeling at present, it is none of his business and she does not want to talk about it. He can certainly relate to that. But the understanding is between them, all the same.

-----

"Fine lodgings you have found, my friend! Boo is already in negotiations with the guardian spirits of this place. In Baldur's Gate, they are likely to be rat-formed and eager to charge rent. But Boo shall secure safe slumber for all! Now - what do you need of Minsc?"

I love him, your honor.

I also love the mental image this conjures of Boo sitting up guard and judo-chopping any rats that try to crawl out of the sewers.

"I'd like to know a little more about you."

"There is more than a little to know, I think. I am huge!"

Lots of fun back-and-forth to be had here. Annoyingly it's one of those conversations where I can't ask all the questions at once, so I had to reload a number of times to get everything. I'm not going to write all of it out, but some highlights:

He told Hector about Rashemen, described the "telthors, guardian spirits of every root, rock, and tree. Here in the Sleeping Lands, they are silent, but in the far north, they know how to speak still."

Apparently he went back to Rashemen for a while after BG2 (yay, my fic was unintentionally correct XD ); the "Iron Lord" there told him that his dajemma was done and he should work for the lord, but Minsc disagreed because Dynaheir was dead and he felt his dajemma could never be over. The Iron Lord felt disrespected, challenged him to a fight, and lost (obviously), at which point the Council of Witches told him he should probably get out of Dodge.

He did mention Aerie too! Hector commented that he seemed to toss the Wychlaran title around pretty freely between Dynaheir and Jaheira, and he answered: "You suggest that Minsc uses the term lightly? Simply leaps from Dynaheir to Jaheira, with no caring for the custom itself? An unworthy thought - and WRONG! In between there was also Aerie, my second witch. She needed a protector, and Boo suggested that it might as well be Minsc. And when she went her own way, Minsc and Boo set to thinking - there is power in the wychlaran bond. Far too much to be wasted on weeping. To use that power to serve the living does not sully the dead - it honors them." The way this is phrased seems like it could be read to imply that Aerie is also dead, but she is definitely not. However, it does concur with the assumption I made in the previous post, that Aerie basically was doing her own thing with Caden and no longer needed a protector and set Minsc free, more or less.

Hector pointed out, very carefully, that when Minsc described why Jaheira should be his new witch, he seemed to be just describing... friendship. Minsc thought over that for a minute... "Hm. So. Duty, camaraderie, help in troubled times - what I call the bond of a wychlaran, you simply call... friendship? I think I understand your meaning. Then Jaheira is my wychlaran. And so are you! You are my wychlaran! And Wyll is my wychlaran. And Astarion is my wychlaran! And Gale is my wychlaran! And Shadowheart is my wychlaran! And Halsin is my wychlaran! And Karlach is my wychlaran-- or, no, Karlach is a berserker, so... perhaps Minsc is *her* wychlaran? My thanks to you, wychlaran. You have given me much to think on - and should some enemy blow knock it loose again, Boo shall remind me." LOL. Minsc is not a subtle man but I honestly think he's fucking with Hector just a smidge here. (Or at least, to be honest, I hope he is; Minsc knows what a friend is, and his relationships with Dynaheir and Aerie are significant to him on a different level. The BG3 writers are doing fantastic with Minsc for the most part but this line, while funny, doesn't really play well for me exactly.) That said, I think Hector has a point that Minsc latching onto Jaheira specifically this way is him taking her friendship and trying to make it into this other important thing that he is missing, because he doesn't know how to handle being without a witch entirely. (Probably also a BIT of coping mechanism for having been teleported forward in time a hundred years, even though he doesn't actively claim he's bothered by it.)

Hector asked if Minsc knew anything about what deal Roah was striking with the false Jaheira and the Stone Loard; Minsc had no clue, unsurprisingly. Boo then piped up with quite a lot of agitated squeaking, which Minsc interpreted to mean that Boo thought he should open his mind up via the tadpole so that Hector could view his memories and perhaps understand elements that Minsc didn't. Minsc was clearly uncomfortable with the idea, though, and Hector isn't keen to use the worm more than strictly necessary, so he just told Minsc they'd find another way.

Hector asked about Boo and Minsc told Boo to explain himself. Boo squeaked. "Clear enough?" asked Minsc. XD Hector asked a little further and Minsc told roughly the story I was already aware of; he received a head wound from bandits and Boo showed up as he recovered. It is neither clear nor, I think, meant to be whether or not Minsc actually understands him. (Though I'm curious to see whether we are able to Speak With Animals with Boo on my druid playthrough. XD )

He talked a little about his experience getting turned into a statue. (Hector mentioned that Jaheira had told him about it; not sure if I missed a dialogue somewhere or that was supposed to have happened off-screen). He doesn't seem to know much about why it happened; just that he was ambushed while doing "cleanup" work in the city's underbelly and then woke up in the Wide a hundred years later when someone cleared the petrification.

And finally, some longer bits actually worth writing out -

Caden references! He cheerfully told Hector about fighting alongside "the Bhaalspawn" ("Gorion's Ward," etc... he has a NAME, Minsc! XD ) and fighting off evil. Hector, whose only exposure to a Bhaalist is Orin, was kind of skeptical: "How did you come to trust the spawn of such an evil god?" Kind of fun to see how the dialogue dances around making any specific assertions about the past game player character. In this case, Minsc goes off on a tangent: "A curious question. Are a child and his father always alike? Take Minsc! He does not have a clear memory of the face of his father, but he does remember tugging on the thick, red whiskers that sprang from his chin. A beard for the ages! Boo could have nestled there happily through even the harshest of Rashemen winters. Now - look closely at Minsc, and what do you see?" Hector, patiently, grinning in spite of himself: "You don't have a beard." "Correct! There are more whiskers on Boo's tiny face than on the mighty chin of Minsc! If Minsc did not inherit the flaming red hair of his mother, or the bushy red beard of his father, why would the spawn of Bhaal inherit his wickedness." Hector looks kind of impressed. "That's... surprisingly insightful." Minsc grins brightly. "I have many more thoughts about beards to share! I did not know you cared to hear them!"

-----

"I'd like to know your thoughts on our companions."

"You hear that, Boo? Your keen skills of observation have not gone unnoticed! Our friend wishes to consult your wisdom."

Hector blinks a few times rapidly but rolls with it. (Yet again he is quite like Caden in some ways. XD ) "Yes, Boo, I'd love to hear your opinions."

"So small is Boo that he is often mistaken for a pinecone, and many secrets are spoken in h is hearing! He will tell what he knows - but Minsc of course will translate."

Astarion first: "Oh, the pale scoundrel has his charms, it cannot be denied. But my friend, it gives me no pleasure to tell you - Astarion is not what he claims to be. Just last night, Minsc was dressing one of his many heroic wounds in camp when Astarion stumbled upon the scene. I tell you, he grew pale as death itself. He licked his lips and trembled so violently that Minsc thought he might faint on the spot! The truth is painful but undeniable. Astarion... is a coward. How can he fight the battles to come when he grows soft at the first sight of blood?"

[LOUD SQUEAKING FROM BOO] "...Just one moment." [MORE SQUEAKING] "You are sure? And you could not have told me this before?" [SQUEAKING] "...Minsc may be mistaken. Boo presents compelling evidence that Astarion may in fact be a vampire."

Hector finds himself once again fighting the urge to grin; this seems to be his default state when dealing with Minsc. "I know. But don't worry, he largely gets by on rats."

"Minsc has met many vampires and never one whose smile did not hide treacherous teeth. But... as you say. It is good that we do not have any friends who could ever be mistaken for a rat, eh Boo? If the sun can bear to look upon Astarion's monstrous face, then so can Minsc and Boo! For now, at least."

(Wonder if he is thinking about Hexxat and their battle with her in the crypts of Athkatla, so many years ago...)

Wyll next: "Ah, the great Blade of Frontiers! A fine name. Minsc has no idea what it means, but it suits young Wyll's air of mystery well. It is good to know the city did not go unprotected while I wore pigeon droppings on the Wide. Jaheira did her part, of course, but she prefers to scowl from the shadows. The city needs a name. A face! Preferably a furry companion, too!" [LOUD SQUEAK FROM BOO]

"He has a companion, all right," Hector says dryly. "Her name is Mizora."

"Mizora. This is... some manner of exotic bird?"

"Close. A cambion, bound to him by an infernal pact."

"What? Wyll, the Blade of Frontiers of whom I heard, is no man to deal with devils!" [SQUEAKING] "Ahhh, Boo speaks sense as ever. There is goodness in Wyll; we have seen it! If there be a devil on his shoulder, then Minsc and Boo will sit astride the other! He will not be long in coming back to himself, I think."

Gale: "I do not wish to speak of the wizard." [SQUEAK] "I could not have said it better myself."

"Gale's great - what's your problem with him?"

"He came to me one night with a little book of mischief, full of words and their meanings. 'Posterior,' he says. 'Can you say posterior?' I refused! Minsc does not need to know the language of wizards!"

Hector, swallowing yet another smile: "Posterior isn't wizard-talk. It's another word for butt."

"It is an inferior word! Far too long to use in a battle cry, which is where a butt belongs! Gale would do better to educate himself in the ways of sword and steel than to throw these pointy words at Minsc. Ah - yes, Gale also owns a cat! A cat with wings! That is most unnerving for poor Boo!"

"You should give him a break - he's only trying to help."

"Never! If he is not careful, Boo will shred his books and use them as bedding!"

And finally, Halsin: "Who is Halsin?"

"The elven druid."

"Oh, the tiny puny elf with leaves in his hair and dirt under his fingernails. His name is Halitosin? How very unfortunate."

"Halsin," says Hector patiently.

"That is what I said."

"You're both giant hulking do-gooders; I thought you'd get along."

"Pah. Minsc saw the druid chasing himself in circles and sniffing his own butt last night! He has spent too long as a wolf and not enough as a man." [LOUD SQUEAKING FROM BOO] "NO, BOO! THE DRUID DID NOT BEAT MINSC AT THE ARM-WRESTLING! IT WAS NOT A FAIR MATCH, AND HE TURNED INTO AN OWLBEAR HALFWAY THROUGH, AND THERE WAS GREASE ON THE TREE STUMP!"

-----

"When our minds mingled, I saw some... strange things."

"Oh? The mind of Minsc is a simple place. Of what strangeness do you speak?"

Narrator: The memories resurface, a lifetime of battles blurring into one. The single constant is Minsc, launching into the fray no matter the foe - be they god, monster, or man. It seems just the barest glimpse of what the man before you has ssen and done, but enough to know that he has no right to still be alive."

"Ah! Wait! That look in your eyes - I know exactly what visions of Minsc you have seen, to cause you such wonder..."

"My pants! Thrice-laced in the Rashemaar style, so that a berserker might split skulls without fear of splitting britches too. They *are* fiendishly complex, but fear not for Minsc! With training, he has learned to master the many little knots."

"Never mind your pants," Hector says firmly. "You've walked between planes, fought gods!"

"Well, as have you, no? Do not forget that when you gaze into Minsc, Minsc also gazes into you! We both fight evil, wherever it is found. The who and where are less important than the hamsters you meet along the way. On this matter of sharing memories - I see no reason for us to worry at one another's worms. If there is more we wish to know, we can simply... ask, no?"

Hector is very okay with this; he does not want to use the tadpole at all if he can help it. "Of course. A warrior speaks their mind, instead of reading others."

"Exactly so! If I must peer into the mind of my enemy, I use an axe. For friends, there is ale. No, my friend. If you fear you have a question that Minsc cannot answer, then you can simply ask Boo!"

I repeat: I love him, your honor.

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #holy shit i thought this was just gonna be a short camp convo but minsc had SO much to say!#and i was just gonna do highlights but then i realized it's minsc and it's ALL highlights #he doesn't miss #realistically this post is like 95% just for #springagainafter #so she can experience all the minsc and jaheira content vicariously XD #hector is really happy they're both in the party now though <3

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the-crow-binary · 9 months

Text

One day, I will post a fic who has full context, with an actualy beginning, and is accessible to anyone... today is not that day.

Have a little piece about Mathias trapped in CV3 Castlevania after living there for a while and having bond quite a lot with Hector :) (tbf, @beevean is the one writing the fic wich is the context to this piece, but has not yet finished it. Blame her not me <3)

The room was strangely pretty. A good bed, a table, a chair, a few books… If he had been led here blindfolded, Mathias could have never guess it was supposed to be a cell. It was all so neatly prepared, he suspected the Count always had the intention to lock him up at one point or another. All the suppose freedom he had given him was nothing but a big cage, in the end. But his freedom was the last of his worries. He couldn't tell how much time had passed since he has been led here by Dracula's minions, who were still guarding his door, but it didn't matter. The recent events were still playing in his head, haunting, torturing his mind. Hector getting impaled on large, demonic wings' fingers. The blood dripping from his mouth, his pained moans, the sound of shattered glass and the Count's clothes folding as he throws his general out of a window. There was no scream, except, maybe, his own. Sitting against a wall, his limbs were still shaking, but his cheeks were no longer wet. He was never going to see him again, he was never going to hear the sound of his voice, of his laugh, the sparkles in his eyes as he was swearing his life to him, kissing the back of his hand… He brushed over it with his fingers. Somehow, he could still feel the warmth of soft lips caressing his skin.

"Is somebody there?"

Mathias looked up, startled. Two men were standing in his cells. One, armed with a whip, standing with an elegance that painfully reminded him of Leon, and the other, much smaller and scrawny, wearing clothes he could only associate with bandits. How did they get in his cell?

"Looks like it," said the small man, "why aren't you saying anything, sir? Did they cut off your tongue?" "Don't rush him, Grant. We don't know what he has been through."

The taller one approached carefully. Mathias stayed still, observing.

"To be protected by such fierce beasts, and being offered such a nice room as a cell… You must be an important prisoner to the Count, are you not?"

The Lord wanted to snap, to scream all his hatred for the Count, all his despair for being trapped in more ways than one, to order these strange men to go away and leave him alone to brood. But he kept his composure and silenced his most stupid thoughts. He wasn't going to get anything from crying alone in his cell, waiting for death. He still needed to go back home… he still needed to go back to his wife and friend. That's what Hector would have wanted.

"Who are you?" he calmly asked. "My name is Trevor Belmont," the name made Mathias' heart skip a beat, "and this is my companion, Grant Danasty." "We're here to defeat Dracula and put an end to his reign of terror, once and for all!"

Mathias looked at both men, one after the other. He didn't have time to process the informations given to him that a hand reached to him.

"And your name, sir…?"

He looks into the eyes of the man, they were the same blue as his old friend… Something about him was magnetic. He couldn't say if it was naturally coming off from him, or if it was his mind playing tricks, knowing he's the descendant of Leon… but it was there. And it made him take the offered hand, without thinking about it.

"Mathias Cronqvist. I'm…" he paused, getting up on his feet with the hunter's help, "I am an important prisoner to the Count. You are right." "Oh? Are you going to help us defeat him then?" asked Grant. "I don't have much, except for my brain. But if you will have me… I'll gladly join your side." "We would never be too much to fight him, but are you sure…? I'm sure you already know how dangerous our mission is." "Trust me, I am most confident in the fact I won't get too harmed." "Alright… Welcome to the group, Mathias Cronqvist."

Trevor shook his hand and put the other on his shoulder. The gesture was comforting, and so was his friendly smile. He reminded him all too much of his ancestor… four hundred years into the future, and Leon's influence still lived on. He would marvel at the fact, if the situation wasn't so heartbreaking.

#castlevania writing #crow binary writes #mactor #mathias cronvist #trevor belmont #grant danasty #castlevania #dracula's curse

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deadly-poets · 8 months

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Baby, I'm Dangerous.

SUMMARY: Don (Y/N) is a well known cartel boss, her connections with Don Eladio became very well visible. She is a close family friend of the Salamanca family ever since she started to do business with Don Eladio, knowing Don Hector and various nieces. Especially the one that stands out the most, Lalo Salamanca, a bastard was his title from the woman. When Lalo comes back from Albuquerque with Nacho to see Don Eladio, he meets (Y/N) once again.

NOTE: This is a one shot! :) I was very much thinking of making this a fic but I'm not sure if others would enjoy it, but if you're interested, I would definitely make it a fic :)) or just one shot request <3. You may request a Don!Reader x Lalo one shots! Or even with other bcs characters :D. This is short because It's late at night and I'm tired 💪. Enjoy tho?

Word Count: 980

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Spanish Google Translate, Slightly OOC Lalo.

PAIRING: Lalo Salamanca X Don!Female!Reader.

✧˖°.(Y/N) FOUND HERSELF NEXT TO DON ELADIO, listening to him talk to Don Juan.

The woman did not seem interested, as they only started to talk about Gustavo Fring, a cartel affiliate of theirs.

What she heard had made a little mistake which made Lalo a little suspicious of the man.

With a big gulp of her drink in her hand, she felt her throat burn at the bittersweet taste of the alcoholic drink in her hand.

She had to drink something to keep herself from falling asleep from all the standing, hoping to god that the day would end faster than it would.

Silence merged between the two men when he heard a familiar voice come into the distance, Lalo Salamanca was greeting the people around him, flirting with every girl in a bikini he saw.

“¡Mira quien es!” (Look who it is!) Don Eladio exclaimed, watching as Lalo approached them.

(Y/N) wasn’t too happy to see Lalo, hell would you expect her to be.

Lalo had his usual shit-eating grin upon his lips, looking at Don Eladio.

“Don Eladio” was the words that escaped his lips, embracing Don Eladio in a hug like two siblings being reunited for a dinner party.

“Sabía que los americanos no podrían retenerte” (I knew the Americans couldn’t hold you) Eladio said as both males let out laughs, (Y/N) sighed, knowing she was going to need to get along with Lalo.

When the Salamanca noticed, he returned the charming smile of his.

“Don (Y/N)! Look at you, all dolled up for me?” Lalo teased, only making the female bite back her tongue from sending death threats to him.

Lalo lets out a chuckle, proud to get this reaction out of her, but he was hoping to get out of more than potential death threats.

Lalo had shaken Don Juan's hand, having a small talk about his arrival back home, thinking that he paid off the gringos to get him back here but Lalo had his ways.

He peeked at the stack of wrapped cash neatly placed on the table. He smacked one of them, feeling the plastic wrap.

“¿Qué es tado esto?”(What’s all this?) Lalo questioned, looking back at Elaido and Juan.

“Es lo que me trajo Bolsa de Fring”(it’s what Bolsa brought me from Fring) Eladio replied, Lalo raised his brows, nodding like he was impressed with what Fring had sent Eladio, Fring's men wrapping the money nicely like that, but Lalo knew his gift was going to be more impressive than Frings.

When the time came, they found themselves walking in front of Eladio’s house to see a brand new red car, it was impressive to see what Lalo had planned for the cartel boss like he was spoiling him with all his money.

(Y/N) watched Eladio trace his fingers across the smooth surface of the red car.

Her (E/C) eyes glazed at the car, It was a nice car indeed, she wouldn’t even imagine giving Eladio this kind of gift like the cartel boss might have deserved.

“Are you jealous?” Lalo queried, trying to examine her facial expressions but they were unreadable.

“Jealous? Why would I be jealous?” (Y/N) sneered at his question.

“Jealous that I’m not spoiling you like Don Eladio” He smirked, letting those words sink out of his teeth into her mind, Jealousy was not what a feeling that (Y/N) felt at all, she wouldn’t have cared less of what Eladio received.

“Like I need your money, Eduardo” The woman hissed at him, Lalo felt tense hearing her call him ‘Eduardo’ but he seemed to like it.

After what felt like hours, Eladio found the trunk of the car which in this newer car model was on the front of the car.

Eladio called it the 'Frunk', letting out a laugh, he opened it to see a yellow box with a red sparkling now on it.

He lifted the top of the box to see a bunch of cash stacked nicely like he liked it.

(Y/N) hates to admit to these things but she was impressed with this amount of ideal setting for him.

Like Lalo and Gustavo we're having some competition, who was best at giving gifts to Don Eladio.

"You're the man!" Eladio exclaimed in Spanish, pointing at Lalo, only making the cartel man have a smile plastered on his lips at the words that came out of Eladio's mouth.

"Did you hear that? I'm the man" Lalo said to (Y/N), making her chuckle at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't rub it in on me, Eduardo" She said, crossing her arms, watching Eladio admire the car and the money in awe.

Lalo knew that she hated when he would rub his victory in her face, that Eladio now would favor him over her.

But he just couldn't help it, teasing the cartel boss was always his skill, and it was fun to piss her off like this.

(Y/N) was a hard woman to please, Lalo knew that from the start, from the very beginning, he fell hard.

He fell in love with a woman who would break his heart to a million pieces, and he LOVED it.

#Spotify #lalo salamanca #x reader #lalo salamanca x reader #better call saul #eduardo lalo salamanca #female reader #don eladio #oneshot #bcs #imagine #better call saul oneshot #guys im going insane #help im tired

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colorcodedbeanies · 1 year

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S2E2-"Grilled"

Long pause between updates there. I've backlogged a bunch of episode notes that I'll hopefully be releasing in batches.

TW: Racism, elder abuse, ableism

Ok so I took these notes a few days ago and the first thing that greets me is "car looks like its fucking the sand", with the sub point "put that in the post". I hope this provides insight into the rigorous intellectual process I work with.

The cop scene is basically an endless series of hits, enough that its difficult to not just transcribe it fully. Tuco's head is mounted on a shooting target by Hank, who talks floridly about interrogating his meth-hag girlfriend and then does a whole routine about apologizing to hr for using the word "hard-on" in the presence of ladies, which is frankly only further fuel to the fire in terms of eroticism literally being criminal in Breaking Bad. He comments on Mexico, saying to general agreement "We all know what's going on down there. We sure as hell don't want it going on up here." which is just. Very interesting considering next episode is going to open with two men illegally crossing the border. Finally, when Gomez asks him if he really thinks they'll track him down, he laughs it off, commenting that its about "keeping up appearances". If he's implying that most of the DEA's work is about the appearance of stopping bad guys and saving good guys....well! He said it not me.

Skyler is hesitant about describing Walter as depressed, especially in front of his son. Even in front of the guy who (theoretically) is trying to find him and needs information, saving the face of the middle class white patriarch takes precedence. She softens it to simple stress. This is echoed again later when Marie blurts out Hank's knowledge about the second cellphone. Sure, Hank is very possibly trying not to add more emotional strain onto his sister-in-law. But he's also denying her information (and in his mind, possibly even covering for Walt's affair). They may be more comfortable possibly letting him die than they are ruining his image as a good family man.

I didn't expect to emerge out of this as a WaltTuco truther but literally what am I meant to take from Walt momentarily imagining Tuco as Skyler appearing to him and telling him that she understands.

The yard is littered with a lot of broken toys. While I'm not super thrilled with the way this visually suggests Hector as another "broken" thing in the house, I do think it lends itself into an understanding of Tuco as ultimately, a bit of an overgrown child. I don't say that to be infantilizing. Trauma, especially as a child, can freeze up your mental development a little bit. Tuco tends to approach his circumstances with a very simply and childlike logic. His paranoia (tragically unable to ever catch the actual threats) is his special powers, his visions of the future. While talking about No-Doze and Gonzo he's clearly seeking out some absolution, insisting "I was good to him! I was good!". None of this, of course, makes Tuco any less dangerous or unstable. But he's a lot more vulnerable than Walt (or arguably, the audience) gives him credit for. He takes personal betrayals of his love aso wildly personally, and seeks escape in drugs when he fails to threaten people into staying loyal to him.

So there's a clear disability horror going on with Hector. The first level of that is inherently ableism, implying that there's something unsettling about being in the proximity of someone with an atypical body and atypical means of expression. The second level (and I believe the unintentional one) is the horror movie happening inside Hector's own perspective, seeing a threat to someone who you, in your own fucked up way, love, and being unable to effectively communicate about it because Tuco is not intuitive with how he approaches Hector's communication needs. Regardless I think it is important that treating Hector like an object fucks over everyone, Walt, Jesse, Tuco, and Hank in the next episode.

Speaking of ableism, though, in a rare Jesse L he does briefly position his life as inherently more valuable than Walt's, because Walt's going to be dead soon anyways. Notably Walt does advocate for his life in a way that he did not when chemo was on the table. Still, Jesse, there are so many better reasons Walt should kill himself for your sake.

At this point I don't even need to do analysis, I can just tell you Skyler says "Marie, you don't get hooked on pot like that" and you can put the pieces together yourself. Post-War on Drugs American normalcy challenge Any% never passed never succeeded.

So I'm not going to quibble with Walt and Jesse trying to kill Tuco, or even (for once) Hank succeeding. The guy was an active threat to all parties involved and his life is taken in self-defense. But I want to highlight this line in particular: "We tried to poison you. Because you're an insane, degenerate piece of filth, and you deserve to die." Given how Walt's historically used the term I think its fair to read "degenerate" as interchangeable with "junkie". So of all the reasons Walt has decided to highlight that Tuco might need to die here....the ones he highlights are "junkie" and "mentally ill".

Jesse kicks Tuco into a hole hope this doesn't foreshadow anything in his future.

#breaking bad #brba #analysis tag #long post #walter white #tuco salamanca #hank schrader #jesse pinkman #hector salamanca #skyler white #marie schrader #brba s2 e2 #steve gomez

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four-loose-screws · 1 year

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FE7 Novelization Translation - Chapter 9 Section 2

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

If you are interested in donating to support my work, please check out my Ko-fi here. Thank you!

———————————

Chapter 9: Dragon's Gate (Section 2)

Eliwood and his allies landed on the Dread Isle and began their march towards their destination, the Dragon's Gate.

Fog had started to settle in.

The eerie atmosphere coming from the trees stretching out before them was overwhelming, but Lyn said to shake off their worries, "Let's go, everyone! Be careful not to get separated!!"

Hector nodded in response, then just had to take it one step too far. "Once you've taken a single step on this isle, you're done for. I have a feelin' we'll never return again." He muttered.

"Hector!! Don’t say anything that will jinx us!" Lyn screamed in anger at him. She was afraid of how eerie it felt inside the trees, and Hector’s words only made it worse.

Eliwood, standing beside them, was more concerned about Ninian.

"Ninian, are you alright?"

"...Y-Yes… I'm… fine." She said in a small voice.

He couldn't help but worry about her. She was being pursued by the Black Fang and their assassins, and had even lost her memory. She was scared due to the danger she was in and not knowing who she was. Her current situation was very unstable. It was as if she was standing on a giant mound of sand.

It was for those reasons that he wanted to do whatever it took to protect her.

The entire group clustered together and stepped foot within the woods. After about an hour had passed, Eliwood, who was marching in front as their vanguard, noticed that a person was close by.

"There’s someone there!"

"What? There's already someone here…? Hm?" When Eliwood said something, Hector noticed the person, too. Through the milky white fog, he could see them standing against a tree - it was Ostia's spy.

"Oh hey, Leila! You made it!" Hector said to her and waved.

But Leila did not respond at all.

That made Eliwood suspicious, and he got closer, then tried speaking to her again. "...She's acting strange. Leila? Lei…!!"

A single red thread dangled out from the corner of her mouth. Her skin was pale and her body lifeless. Her warmth was no more…

All those signs pointed to only one possible answer.

"...She's dead…?"

"...That can't be! Leila’s one of our best spies. Maybe even the best…" Hector muttered in utter shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.

ー

Invade enemy territory, gather information, then perform work that would subvert the enemy’s operations… In every one of those duties, Leila was lauded as the most skilled of all the spies that served Ostia, putting her on a completely different level than Matthew.

Her death…

No one was more saddened by the news than Matthew, and nothing could have a deeper effect on him than this. Both as a fellow retainer who served the same lord, and as her lover…

"...I'm sorry, Matthew." Hector felt personally responsible for what had happened.

"....What are you apologizing for, Young Lord? She made a mistake in her work. …That’s all there is to it." Matthew said.

Matthew picked up his beloved's now cold body.

"Matthew… Leila was your…"

"...After our work was done here, I was thinking we'd wash our hands of all this, but… I didn't make it in time. Ha ha ha." Matthew's laugh rang hollow.

Neither Eliwood, Hector, nor anyone else in their army could find the right words to say to Matthew.

"...Young Lord, may I step away for a moment? …I have to bury her…”

"...Of course."

"Ah…. Let us go with you…!"　 To Lyn, Leila was the person she had to thank for saving her grandfather's life. Though they had never fought in battle together, Leila was one of her allies.

And so, she wanted to help bury Leila, but Eliwood stopped her. "...Let them be alone. That's… That’s the only thing we can do for them right now…"

Lyn agreed.

ー

After Matthew took Leila and left, Hector slammed his fist into one of the trees next to him. “Dammit! They put Leila here on purpose so we would see her…!”

“I’ll never forgive them… This is the lowest of the low!!” Lyn was so angry that her entire body was shaking.

Eliwood shared their feelings. “...Let’s go! We need to stop them before anyone else falls victim to their schemes!”

The moment Eliwood declared his newfound determination, Ninian shouted, “Ah!! …Be careful! Something’s coming!!”

“What?!” Lyn reacted immediately.

Though Ninian had lost her memory, she still had her ability to sense danger.

However, before Lyn could survey their entire surroundings, the danger appeared like a gust of wind.

It took just a split second for Lyn’s arms to be twisted and pinned behind her back, leaving her unable to move.

“...If you value your lives, then you will hand over the girl.”

“You are a nomad of the plains?!” Lyn looked up at the man holding her arms, and shouted.

From the style of clothing he wore, it was clear that he was a man of Sacae, just as Lyn said. He was a rugged man with facial hair along his chin, glaring at them with sharp eyes, like those of a hawk targeting their prey. He wore a bandana wrapped around his head, and his clothing was all black. His physical appearance reflected perfectly the kind of person he was.

The man nodded at Lyn’s words, and said, “I am Uhai of the Black Fang. I have been ordered to take this girl… and end your lives. But… if you hand over the girl quietly and leave this isle, then I will let you live.”

“And… if we do not do as you say?”

“None of you know anything. Of Nergal’s terrifying might… Nor anything else, so you think that you can try to stand against him. No matter what any of you do, it will change nothing. You will speak not another bad word about him, and leave here at once!” Uhai's sharp voice shouted.

But Eliwood would not stand down. “...It may be true that we do not know anything… But if we flee here, then it is certain that nothing will change… And that is why we will struggle, even if that is all we can do until the end!”

“...Foolishness.” Uhai muttered a single word, then let go of Lyn’s arms and pushed her towards Eliwood and the rest of her allies.

“...Why did you let me go?” She asked.

“It is disgraceful to fight while holding a woman hostage. We are even now. I will show you some mercy, at least. …I will defeat you all here, so that you will die having not seen any further depths of this hell!” Uhai said, with pride befitting a nomad of Sacae, then disappeared into the forest.

Within the trees, his soldiers, a unit of the Black Fang, was lying in wait for them.

ー

#fire emblem #fe7 #fire emblem 7 #the blazing blade #the blazing sword #fe7 the blazing blade #lyn #lyndis #eliwood #hector #nintendo #gba #game boy advance #japan #japanese #translation #novel #light novel #fe7 novelization translation

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sardonicnihilism · 1 year

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Missing by Me

Chapter 8

Hector drove up to the construction site his cousin Roberto was working at. Hector and Roberto were like brothers growing up. Even when they had chosen different roads in their early adulthood (Hector wanted to become a businessman, and Roberto chose street life), they still remained close.

Roberto was an amiable guy, always loving to joke around and laugh. He was also one of the toughest and most dangerous criminals out there. Ostensibly, he owned his own construction company, and they actually did build houses, but his real income came from coordinating between the various street gangs and their mafia backers. He had ties to pretty much every single crime syndicate operating in California.

Hector saw Roberto and stopped his car. Roberto had a shaved head that was covered in scars. His frame was extremely lean and hid his true strength. He had on a white tank top, black, terrycloth shorts, and flip flops. Hector got out of the car and started shouting to his cousin. "Hey Bobby! How are you, you hijo de puta con cara de cabra?"

Roberto turned around and smiled. "Hector! I'm surprised you can still speak Spanish after schmoozing with all them nice white people you've been hanging with lately."

"Hey, their skin might be blanco, but their money is the perfect shade of verde!" Hector replied warmly.

The two hugged and slapped each other on the back.

"So what's going on, bro? How's the search for your little girl going?" Roberto asked with real concern. He had been praying every night that the police would find Lucia.

"That's what I've come to talk to you about," Hector said in a low, hushed tone.

Roberto understood immediately what Hector wanted. He quickly started calling out for his guys to take lunch. Once they had all gone to their vehicles and out of earshot, Roberto turned to Hector and said, "Sure bro, no problem. I ain't seen Lucia since she was this high, but she's still blood. Whatch you need?"

"I got a picture of the piece of shit that took her. I'm not asking you to do anything other than help me find him. I'll take care of the rest." Hector's voice cracked a bit, but his determination never wavered.

Roberto nodded. "Yeah, sure, whatever, man. Let's see the picture of this mutha fu . . ." Roberto stopped dead when he saw the picture. He suddenly started shaking his head and waving his arms in an X in front of his chest. "Naw man, huh-uh. No," he said over and over again.

Hector was shocked. How could Roberto be turning his back on him? On Lucia? "What? Why? What happened to all that talk of blood?" He demanded.

"Listen bro, I'm sorry. Any other creep, perv, whatever, I'm down with you, bro, but THAT? No, sorry. I can't help you," he said as he turned around and tried to walk off.

Hector grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. "You know who this is, don't you? Is that it?"

Roberto shook his head again. "Him? No. But I know of people like that. Listen, bro, I'm telling you because I love you, there are certain people, certain groups, you don't mess with. It doesn't matter if you're the biggest crime boss, billionaire tech guru, president of the United States, crown prince, whatever, it doesn't matter, certain people you just leave alone."

"You going soft?" Hector hoped his taunt against Roberto's masculinity would cause him to change his mind.

Bobby turned to the area where his men were sitting at. He shouted, "FELIPE! AQUI!" A large mountain of a man stood up and started running over. Bobby turned back to Hector. "If Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson had a Mexican baby, that'd be Felipe. I saw home boy face down a whole roomful of armed men before. There ain't no braver or badder."

When Felipe got to them, Bobby explained in Spanish that his cousin's daughter had been taken, and he was looking for help finding the man that did it and that his cousin had a picture of the guy. Felipe nodded in agreement and asked to see the picture. As soon as he saw it, he screamed, crossed himself frantically, and ran off, reciting every prayer he could remember.

"See?" Roberto said. "You're not gunna find a different answer from nobody here." Roberto then put his arm around Hector's shoulders. "Listen, I'm going to give you a little tough love here, bro. The best thing you can do is delete that picture, bury your girl, and walk away." He then walked off, leaving Hector all alone.

********************************************

Elana was getting ready to leave. Her entire life had boiled down to wrote repetition. Get up, shower, get dressed, go to work, come home, and sit alone in darkness until it was time to go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Her life, her heart, her soul were as empty as Lucia's bedroom. Nothing mattered anymore. Life was meaningless. She barely ate and had lost almost 60 pounds. She was so thin, even the hospital where she worked, had talked to her, concerned. It didn't matter, though; nothing did.

She opened the front door to go to her car and saw Hector standing there. He looked horrible. His hair was a mess; several days of beard growth clogged his face, his clothes looked like he'd been sleeping in them for about a week. It didn't matter, though; nothing did.

"What do you want?" Elana asked without emotion.

Hector, who had been leaning against the side of the door, looking down at the ground, slowly turned his head to face Elana; his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. "My daughter," he said, his voice, hoarse and tired.

Elana just looked at him. "She's not here, so please leave. I have to go to work now."

He just looked at her, not fully understanding what she said. He turned his head back down. "I tried to find him, the man who took our Luz. I tried every connection I had. I begged, I pleaded, I promised everything I had, but no one would help me."

"And?" Elana asked in a cold, dead voice. "What is that to me, Hector? The only way I could possibly care is if you would have brought her home. I don't care about your revenge fantasies. Why would I? Do you think if you would have killed that man but not bring Lucia home, that would have meant anything to me?"

Hector turned back to face Elana again. "No, it wouldn't have. I don't think it would have meant anything to me." He paused for a moment, then lowered his head, rolling it back and forth. "You were right; I failed. I failed as a husband. I failed as a father. I was supposed to look after my family, and I didn't. I wanted to kill him, make him suffer like I have. Thing is, I don't think, no, I know it wasn't for Lucia, but only to make me feel better, like I had done something."

"Yes, you were a failure, but you weren't the one that put her on that bus." Elena's voice was low and broken. "I want to hate you for the same reason you wanted to kill that man - guilt. I wasn't there for her. I sent her away. I didn't even think about therapy. You failed; I failed."

Hector slid down the wall to sit on the porch. "Go to work; I won't stay long. I'm just tired." He then looked back up at Elana. "For what it's worth, I was always proud of you. I might have hated you, but I was always proud. You were a good role model for Lucia."

Elana sat down beside him but didn't look at him. "When I found out you were cheating on me, I asked myself why. I felt ugly, unwanted, unloved. Why? Why did you do it?"

"Oddly enough, for most of the same reasons. You had stopped being intimate with me. I felt left out. That was my way of feeling wanted, desirable again." As he spoke, he remembered the pain and frustration he had felt back then, but now it seemed selfish and cruel.

"I was exhausted. I went to school, worked, took care of the house, and looked after Lucia. It felt like another pressure, another obligation I didn't want to have."

"I was busy too, working multiple jobs, trying to start a business, that was my release. It took the pressure away. I thought it did for you as well. " He tried to sound conciliatory but ended up sounding petty and childish.

"Maybe it would have if I thought you actually cared about my feelings and not just wanting to use my body for a little bit," she responded tearfully.

"I never did consider your feelings, did I? No, I didn't. I'm sorry. I was just too caught up in my own bullshit." He was done trying to find excuses or pretty words to make everything better; it was time to just own up to himself and admit everything."I never talked about my feelings. I yelled. I screamed. But I never talked."

"Neither did I. Not until now." Elana said, also wanting to get everything out.

The two just sat there, staring into nothingnes, wondering why it had to take a tragedy like this to open up to each other.

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blairsanne · 2 years

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In the Cards (7)

Big Wolf on Campus fanfic. Merton x OC. [Tommy also gets some pairings.]

Chapter Summary: Tommy convinces Merton and Kalida to finally investigate whether or not the local movie store rental guy is a vampire. Kalida gets some unexpected visitors.

Also on FF & AO3.

Chapter 7: Company

"Merton doesn't believe me."

Tommy paced the floor in the Lair, pleading his case to Kalida. She sat cross-legged facing Merton on the couch, painting his nails a glossy black. "It's pretty hard to believe that there would be a vampire in town for so long and nobody would notice. Even you're an urban legend around here and you don't hurt anyone."

"Who better to believe than a werewolf on this!?" Tommy threw his hands up in the air. "Trevor is definitely a vampire." "Did you see him bite someone? Or bare his fangs?" "Well, no, but… I only ever see him on night shift, he's super pale-" "If he works nights, it's not like he's going to get a tan." "Don't bother," Merton snickered, shaking his head. "I've been having this argument with him for weeks." "I'm telling you, he's a friggin' vampire!"

Kalida capped the polish and put it on the coffee table. "Okay, let's say you're right. Is he a danger to anyone?" Merton blew lightly on his nails. "If you consider blood-sucking killers in the night dangerous, then, yeah, a vampire in the rental store would fit the bill." "But look at the facts." Kalida counted them out on her hand. "No instances of neck punctures in recent record. No rumours about a vampire in town. No concrete proof that he's a vampi-" "My wolf senses just know!"

Kali cleared her throat. "And finally," she held up four fingers. "We can't discount the possibility that even if he is a vampire, he might not be dangerous." Tommy huffed. "So, what, just ignore it?" She grinned crookedly. "Well, I didn't say that." Merton gawked. "Et tu, Brute?"

"Well, I…" She glanced to the side, smiling bashfully. "It would be the first thing we all investigated as a group since I got brought into the fold properly." Tommy pumped his fist victoriously. "Finally!" He pointed at Merton. "I'm going to prove that I'm right." Merton shrugged. "I guess we'll see." Tommy headed for the door. "Right now!?" Kalida gripped the back of the couch as she looked over it at the now half-open door. "My nails are still wet," Merton pouted.

Kali held the bottle up at Tommy. "I could paint yours next to pass the time?" He rolled his eyes, but closed the door. "Pass."

---

The next day after school, the trio gathered at their lockers. "Since you guys wussed out of checking out that Trevor guy last night, I think we should go tonight." "Awesome! I wanted to rent-" Kalida squealed as she was suddenly lifted into the air.

A teenage boy Tommy didn't recognize had come up behind her and picked her up, bridal style. "Found ya." He was taller than Tommy, with wavy blond hair that hit his shoulders.

Tommy swallowed hard, trying not to wolf out as his protective instincts kicked in. Kalida put her hands on either side of his face. "Steve-O!? Are you really here?" He rocked her in his arms. "It's not just me, baby girl. Whole gang came down to hector you." "Seriously?" She shook her head in disbelief. "You're joking."

Merton cleared his throat. Kalida looked over at him, excited. "This is my friend Steve! We've gone to school together since forever." She glanced back at Steve, then pointed. "That's my cousin Tommy, and our friend Merton."

Hugo ambled down the hallway and shouted at them. "Young man! There is no picking up fellow students in the hallway!" Steve grinned. "Better get out of here, I'm gonna get detention. Bye boys!" With that, he took off down the hallway, Kalida still in his arms. "Steve-O!" she laughed as they disappeared around the corner.

"I guess she's not free tonight anymore." Merton licked his lips. "Did she mention this guy to you at all?" "No, she's never talked about her friends in Canada." Merton bristled at the growl in Tommy's voice. "You okay? You're not going to, y'know," he made a gesture for alert ears. Tommy took a deep breath. "He just surprised me. I'll calm down in a sec." Merton put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Remember, deep, slow breaths." He demonstrated, gesturing with his free hand. Tommy pushed his hand away. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

---

Tommy and Merton entered the Factory, looking around for Kalida and her friends. "Tommy, isn't it a bit intrusive for us to be joining Kalida and her friends?" "Naw, man. She invited us." "I know, but she hasn't seen them in a while…" Tommy raised a brow at him. "C'mon, Merton. You're not just a little bit curious what her friends are like?" Merton laughed nervously. "Okay, well, maybe a little-" "Look, there they are." He pointed to the group of six, sitting around two tables pushed together.

The three guys sat on one side of the table; Steve-O sat on the end, followed by a guy with his hair in twists that was wearing a triforce t-shirt, and finally a guy with electric blue hair and a lip piercing. On the other side of the table were a scrawny, short girl with a bleached side-cut wearing punk clothing, a plump redhead wearing a retro-looking dress, and then Kalida.

"Ehhh, it's the dudes from earlier!" Steve-O pointed at Tommy and Merton when they approached. Kalida flashed them a cheery grin. "Hey, you made it!" She motioned at the two empty seats near her. "We got food." She held a chicken strip up. Merton slid into the seat next to her, stealing a bite. Tommy sat down across from him in the last chair and took a chicken strip from her plate. Kalida laughed at Merton, but rolled her eyes. "So I'm feeding you now?" She poked at his face with the partially-eaten strip as he tried playfully to chomp it.

The blue-haired kid beside Tommy held out a tattooed hand. "Isaac. You must be Tommy, the cousin." Tommy shook his hand, offering a smile. "I am the cousin." He nodded his head toward Merton. "That's my best friend Merton." Merton stopped messing around with Kalida and offered his hand across the table. "Nice to meet you. Hope you're enjoying America." Isaac nodded weakly, a lopsided smile glued to his face. "It's something."

Kalida started pointing at her friends, naming them all for Tommy and Merton. "So that's Margie and Bob, you met Steve-O, and finally Nate." Tommy pointed at the impish punk girl. "Bob?" "It's a nickname," she rolled her eyes. Margie giggled. "It's short for Roberta." Bob leveled a glare at the redhead. "I will cut you." "Sweetie, nobody believes that."

Steve pushed the plate of nachos toward them. "Go nuts on the appies, our treat." Tommy shrugged. "Don't mind if I do."

Kalida continued eating the chicken strip Merton had helped himself to, turning her attention back to Margie. "So, you have to tell me what happened with Connor's gig." The redhead lit up. "Right! So, the opening act didn't show, but there was this busker that he'd met earlier on Granville Island-"

Isaac nodded at Merton to get his attention. "Kali said you're the president of the Gothic Fantasy Guild?" Merton brightened. "Oh, yeah!" "You guys ever LARP or play table top?" "We don't really have the, uh, numbers for a LARP run, but I've run a few D&D campaigns here and there." "Niiice." Nate nodded approvingly at Merton. "Nerd club, represent!" He fist-bumped Isaac, who didn't even look at him, extending the fist instinctively.

Merton pointed at the two of them. "You guys play?" Isaac did a circular gesture with his finger. "I've run a few campaigns for the gang." He spoke a bit louder, interrupting the girls' conversation. "Kali, what was that pirate chick's name you played that had a negative to her wisdom check?" Kali blinked, furrowing her brow. "You mean Brash? She was a dex fighter, not a pirate." Nate laughed loudly. "She was a dang pirate in a dress." Bob leaned over. "In love with a kobold." Kali raised her hands defensively. "Hey, her and Raga never even kissed. He was an NPC."

Tommy rubbed the back of his neck, furrowing his brow. Merton stared at Kalida incredulously. "You never mentioned you played Dungeons and Dragons." "I don't."

Steve hit the table with his large hand. "We should run a campaign!" Kali shook her head. "No, no, no. Do not suck me into that right now. I have lost too many nights to role playing, and I really want to graduate high school." Merton elbowed her gently. "But you've never played with me…" He batted his lashes at her.

She pushed his face away with her hand and stood up abruptly. "I'm getting a drink." "Get a round!" Margie grinned. Isaac hopped up immediately. "I'll help you carry them."

Steve got up and stole Isaac's seat. "So Tommy, I hear you're the football team captain." "Yeah," Tommy nodded, grinning widely. "Starting quarterback." "Cool man, cool. I play rugby, but these nerds," he gestured briefly at the three remaining Canadians, "prefer the bleachers." Tommy glanced at Merton. "Yeah, I can relate." "I was briefly a cheerleader…" Merton offered, frowning as he realized how that sounded.

---

The group of eight talked and ate around the table for hours. Eventually they agreed that it was getting late and they should disband for the night.

"So what's the plan this weekend?" Steve rested his arms on Bob's head as he addressed the group. He fixed his eyes on Kalida. "Camping? Party at the Dawkins house?" Kalida held her hands up, eyes wide. "No, you guys can't crash my uncle's place. He'd kill me. Seriously." "Then why don't you show us around tomorrow?" Isaac passed her a business card. "That's the hotel we're booked at. Pop by in the morning." Steve nodded. "Yeah, tour guide!" Kali nodded, slipping the card in her pocket. "Okay, cool. I'll see you in the morning, then." She waved them off as they piled into Steve's mini-van, then headed over to Betsy.

Merton had parked right next to the camper, and he and Tommy were leaned up against the passenger side, talking excitedly to each other. "You're still here!" She stood before them, grinning. "So, what did you think of the gang?" "They were pretty cool," Tommy conceded. "It's awesome that they all came down to surprise you like this." Kali shrugged, looking away bashfully. "We're pretty tight, I guess."

Merton put his hands in his pockets. "You must have been lonely without them." "Not that lonely," she laughed, pushing his shoulder playfully. "So, movie store?"

"Oh," Kali blinked. "Is that why you waited for me?" "Yeah, you wanted to come along, right?" Merton rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course! I'll follow in Betsy."

---

When they walked into the rental store, Kalida leaned in close to Merton and whispered in his ear. "Is that the guy?" She pointed subtly to a pale brunette behind the counter signing VHS tapes back into the system. The lime green uniform shirt was unflattering to his skin tone, and he had bags under his eyes, but he was smiling softly to himself as he worked. Merton tried to hide the shiver down his spine at her proximity. "Yeah."

He strode across the floor to the counter and leaned on it casually. "Hey Trev. Any recommendations?" Trevor nodded, grinning. "Actually, yeah, I watched this cool vampire werewolf flick last night I thought you'd get a kick out of. Plus we just got a copy of Freddy Vs. Jason." Merton tapped the counter. "Great. I'll take both. Plus whatever my friends pick out." Trevor saluted. "You're the boss, Mr. Dingle."

Kalida glanced at Tommy with a raised brow, watching this from the new release section. "Yeah Tommy, he seems positively frightening." Tommy rolled his eyes. "I didn't say he was scary, just that he's a vampire." He browsed the movie cases, picking up Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. "Sweet, I didn't know there was a sequel." Merton breezed up and put his arm around Kalida. "Wanna pick something out? I have a gold card, so I get a discount." She giggled, but leaned into him. "You come here a lot, eh?" "Sure, they've got the best selection in town." "What did you get?" Merton passed her the two cases. "A horror movie and… a monster movie." Kali pouted slightly. "I don't think I can watch these."

Tommy pat the top of her head. "Aww, cuz, are you too much of a weenie, even with two guys protecting you?" "Yes." She smoothed her hair out. "I'm gonna pick something a little less scary."

When she wandered off, Merton took the Charlie's Angels case from Tommy, grimacing. "Really?" "Come on. Hot chicks, fighting…" Tommy raised a brow, grinning. "Well… When you put it that way." Merton grinned back, laughing. Tommy looked up and tensed slightly. He hit Merton and gestured toward Kalida, who had gotten into a conversation with Trevor.

"You know, we haven't really talked about it before, but you're pretty protective of Kalida." "What?" Tommy growled slightly. "You almost wolfed out when Steve grabbed her, and you're literally growling at me right now." "Of course, she's talking to a friggin vampire." Merton sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just go over there. And calm down." He led Tommy over to the counter and added Tommy's pick to the pile of cases on the counter.

"So that's four all together," Trevor said to Merton. Merton passed him his rental card and flipped through the pile. "Pirates of the Caribbean." "It's a good one." Kali said defensively. Merton nodded, raising his brows slightly. "Sure, it's great. I just expected something like Finding Nemo." She smacked his arm. "Just because I want to sleep at night, doesn't mean I'm a child." Trev snickered, scanning the movie cases.

"Oh, actually." Kalida leaned against the counter. "I was wondering what your hours are?" "We're open til three." "Three am?" Kalida mocked surprise. "They make you stay that late?" Trev shrugged. "Graveyard shift." "Doesn't that bother your girlfriend?" "Nah," He gestured over his shoulder. "She works closing shift at the Hungry Bucket and picks me up on her way home." "Aww, that's sweet." Kalida smiled brightly.

---

Back in the parking lot, Merton looked over at Kalida with a raised brow. "How did you know he had a girlfriend? He's never mentioned her before." "Oh," she shrugged. "I didn't." Tommy furrowed his brow. "So, what, then? You were trying to find out if he was single?" "I was trying to find out when he gets off work, and if anyone would be expecting him. He gets off at three, and his girlfriend picks him up. So if we want to follow him home, that complicates things a bit."

"I doubt he'd take a detour to drain someone's blood on his way home with his girlfriend in the car." Merton rolled his eyes. Kalida shrugged. "Unless they're both vampires." He held the bridge of his nose. "Come on. You said yourself, there's no evidence-" "Actually after getting a good look at him, I think Tommy might be on to something."

Tommy pumped his fist again. "YES! So then it's a stake-out. Heh, get it? Stake?" He held his hand up for a high-five. Kali leveled a glare at him. "I think he might be a vampire. But I'm still not convinced we need to dust him, even if he is." She rolled her shoulders. "Besides which, I have plans tomorrow with the Granville Gang so I don't want to stay up that late tonight." "Granville Gang?" "My friends from earlier. We used to hang out on Granville Island a lot." "But you're not like, a real gang, right?" Tommy narrowed his eyes at her. "Um, like with turf and weapons and stuff? No." She laughed. "I think you're overestimating us." Merton smirked. "Isaac does have tattoos." Tommy leaned on him, grinning. "And Bob did threaten to cut Margie." "And you're both total dweebs." Kali hopped into Betsy's driver seat. "See you at the Lair."

---

They settled on Merton's couch, Kalida in the middle seat. Merton pressed play on the Pirates movie, then leaned toward Kalida. She held a bowl they'd mixed various snacks into, picking things out one by one. "Don't steal all the good stuff." he teased. She held a gummy worm between her teeth and grinned at him, then slurped it into her mouth with raised eyebrows. "No promises."

Tommy grabbed a handful and spread out slightly into a relaxed position. "You've already seen this?" Kali nodded. "Yeah. We liked it so much we dressed up as pirates to go to a second screening," she laughed. "It's fun. You'll like it." "Arrr."

---

When the credits rolled, Kalida put the empty snack bowl on the coffee table. "I'm totally gonna be a pirate for Halloween this year." Tommy made a hook gesture with his hand. "Savvy?" "I heard they're gonna make a sequel." "Sweet!"

Kalida looked around for a clock. "What time is it? I should probably head home." "It's only like ten." Tommy elbowed her. "Stick around." Merton smiled sweetly at her. "Yeah, it's not as fun without you." She hummed, furrowing her brow. "I dunno." Tommy pouted and batted his lashes. "Come on, stay. Stayyyyy…"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, fine. But I need a blanket or something. And I'm not watching a horror movie." Merton got up, cheerily passing her a throw blanket. "Then Tommy's pick is up next. A tale of three strong young women who-" "It's a Charlie's Angels sequel, don't overhype it." Kalida wrapped herself in the black blanket, studying the skull pattern knit into it. "Did you make this?" "Bought it online." "Nice."

---

Tommy was immediately engrossed by the film. Not long into it, Kalida started yawning, pulling the blanket up around her neck. Merton tried not to actually look at her as he slowly inched toward her. A few minutes later, she laid her head on his shoulder, eyes half-open. He glanced over at Tommy, and upon noting that his friend was completely absorbed by the 'hot chicks fighting', he gently maneuvered his arm around Kalida. To his delight, she pulled her legs up onto the seat and snuggled right up against his chest, closing her eyes. He held her there for the rest of the film, feeling both satisfied and intensely nervous, despite her being asleep for the duration.

---

When the movie ended, Tommy clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess we-" He pointed at Merton and Kalida, lowering his voice to a loud whisper. "Is she… asleep?" "Uh, yeah, Tommy." Merton glanced down at the girl under his arm. "For like the last hour?" "Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. "Do you think she'll want to drive if I wake her up?" "Oh, please. No need. She can crash on the couch and we can share the bed." "Merton, uh, no offense little buddy, but I don't exactly want to share a bed with ya."

"Alternatively she could join me in the bed." He gave a nervous laugh, picturing it. Tommy gave him a dirty look. "Why don't Kali and I share the bed, since we're cousins." Merton narrowed his eyes, trying to think of an argument against it, but came up short. "Yeah… I guess that's fine."

---

When Kalida woke in the morning, she was completely disoriented. The sheets felt weird, and when she tried to roll over, she hit something big and warm. She sat up in a panic, then held her hand to her chest with relief when she saw that it was just Tommy. She took a better look around, thinking that the Lair had a peculiar quality in the grey morning light. She fingered the sheets on Merton's bed, cheeks growing hot.

Carefully, so as not to wake Tommy, she slipped from beneath the covers and checked herself in Merton's mirror. She thumbed her now-greasy hair and grimaced at her smudged make up. She could change into less wrinkled clothes thanks to having Betsy with her, but she needed to clean herself up.

She walked softly to the couch, then perched on the edge of the seat beside Merton's torso. "Hey, Merton..." She whispered, tentatively rubbing his shoulder. "Wake up a sec." His brows furrowed, but he blinked awake, taking a moment to process that Kalida was hovering over him. "Wha-?" "Is it okay if I take a shower?" He propped himself up and stifled a yawn. "Mm, yeah, sure. There's towels in the cupboard over the toilet." He pointed vaguely toward the bathroom. "Thanks." She kissed his forehead. "You should go back to sleep, it's early." He watched as she made her way to the bathroom, then laid back on the seats. He closed his eyes and sighed blissfully, trying not to imagine her undressing in the other room.

---

When she came out of the bathroom, redressed and hair dried, she couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Tommy and Merton on the couch, eating breakfast and watching cartoons. Merton perked up at the sound and held up a box of cereal, using it to gesture at the empty bowl and jug of milk on the table. "Count Chocula?" "Don't mind if I do." She served herself, then sandwiched between them on the couch.

Tommy sniffed and gave her a weird expression. "What?" "Uh, it's... Nothing." Tommy shook his head and went back to eating. Kalida laughed incredulously. "You literally just smelled me and pulled a face." "No, I-" He sighed, rolling his eyes. "It's just a wolf thing. You smell weird today. Like Merton." Merton mimed being stabbed in the chest. "I smell weird?" "No, you just…" Tommy felt his cheeks getting hot. "You guys just have certain smells, but today Kalida really smells like you."

Kalida nodded, thinking. "Probably 'cause I used his soap?" Merton squinted at Tommy. "Do you always smell people?" "You make it sound so creepy! I can't help it." "Relax, it's cool." Kalida pat Tommy's knee reassuringly. "Sorry I smell weird." Merton gawked. "I don't smell weird." She rolled her eyes. "Let me correct myself. Sorry I smell like Merton." She sniffed her arm. "I don't really mind it, though." "Thank you." Merton nodded pointedly.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Merton if I didn't like your scent, I wouldn't hang out in your room overnight." "R-right." He deflated a bit, relaxing. "Now that we've all established how great I smell, what's on the docket for for the day?" "I've gotta meet my crew when I'm done here." Kalida reminded him.

"What about Trevor the vampire?" Tommy raised a brow. "When are we doing our stake out?" "If I can take a nap, we could do it tonight. But I'm pretty sure his girlfriend is just going to drive him home." "Then we'll just watch his house to see if he leaves while the sun is up." "Yeah, that sounds thrilling," Merton sighed. "My friends are still in town? I don't really want to spend the whole day staring at a house." "Well, we can't do it during the week, or we'll get busted for skipping school." Kalida sighed. "Yeah, I definitely can't miss school." "Has to be tonight, then."

"Great." Merton huffed, rolling his eyes. "Stalking. Just how I always dreamed of spending my Saturday night and all of Sunday." "Right, like you had plans," Tommy rolled his eyes. "Speaking of plans, I have some. So I'll pop by here when I'm done for the night?"

---

Kalida hopped out of Betsy and skipped up to Merton's door. She was pleased to find it unlocked and called out as she let herself in. "Hey, I'm back!" Tommy waved from the couch, some kind of sports game on the television. Merton looked up from his desk and smiled. "Have fun with your gang?" She locked the door behind her and made her way over to Merton. "Yeah, I took them around town, and showed them that lookout spot we ate at." She squinted at the notebook he was writing in. "What are you working on?" "Just compiling some of my lycanthropy research." He gestured at Tommy with his pencil. "We took measurements again today."

She moved behind him and leaned her head over his shoulder to read the page. "You track all of that?" He swallowed, acutely aware of how close their faces were. "Yeah, just to make sure Tommy's doing okay… He can't really go to a doctor to ask about how long his fangs should be, or when it's time to trim his claws." She smiled and looked over at the back of Tommy's head. "Lucky he's got a friend who can help him out." Merton made a non-committal noise, shutting the notebook. "Anyway, you're back now, so what do you want to do?" He batted his lashes at her playfully. "Actually," she patted her messenger bag. "I have a bit of studying to do before we go to the rental place. Mind if I spread out on your bed?" "By all means."

She set out to make the bed, wondering if the sheets had been changed before she and Tommy had slept in it. She didn't remember anything between the movie starting and waking up beside Tommy. "YES!" Tommy cheered from the couch, making gestures at the TV. "I take it your team is winning?" Kalida laughed. "Oh man, Williams is a LEGEND!" "Okay, well, keep it down. I have some polynomials to deal with over here." "You got it, nerd girl." Tommy turned the volume down slightly on the tv set. She laid on her stomach to do her math homework, kicking her legs behind her absent-mindedly.

---

Kalida blinked awake, a metallic ringing making her head throb. "What the…" Once again she found herself waking up on Merton's bed. The ringing stopped and she heard a loud yawn. Merton's voice was surprisingly chipper. "Alright, friends. It's two-am. If we're stalking Trev, it's time to get ready." Tommy pulled himself off the couch and stretched, groaning loudly. "Let's hit a drive-thru on the way." Kalida pushed her math homework back into her bag, feeling slightly embarrassed. "What's even open this time of night?"

---

Tommy cradled the bucket of chicken they'd just picked up from Hungry Bucket. "You sure you don't want any?" Kalida snorted, wrapping Merton's skull throw around herself. "I'm not hungry. I guess I don't relate to always wanting fried chicken." She sipped at her coke. "The cold drink should help me stay awake though. Thanks." Merton dunked his nuggets into sweet and sour sauce. "A little midnight snack never hurt." "Midnight has long past."

As Tommy and Merton ate quietly, Kalida pulled out Merton's CD case and picked out a pop disc (to appease Tommy) to keep them all awake. "I can't help but notice a distinct lack of O-Town and B4-4 in your collection." Merton furrowed his brow. "I don't know them." She laughed. "Canadian boy bands. I was just joking. Tommy might like them, though." Tommy shrugged, still focused on his chicken. She sipped her cola and glanced over at Merton with raised brows. He shared a silent laugh with her, then tossed his bag of garbage into the back. He rubbed his hands together and tapped the clock on the dashboard. 2:55am. "Not long now."

Kalida sipped at her cola. "Y'know, I was thinking. Wouldn't it have been easier to invite Trevor to some event during the day? Just him showing up would be proof he's not a vamp." "What if he didn't show?" "Then we're back at square one I guess." She shrugged. "But it's a less creepy plan than following him home from work." "We're here now, we might as well see where he lives." "Yeah."

All three looked over as a beige sedan pulled into the parking lot. Kalida turned off the stereo and slunk down slightly to be less visible over the dashboard. "Trev's girlfriend's kinda cute out of her uniform." Tommy grinned. Kalida elbowed him. "So that's why you want to dust him." "Shh- here he comes." Merton clung to Kalida's arm, staring out the windshield as Trevor stepped out of the movie rental store in a deep blue hoodie.

They watched as Trevor's girlfriend greeted Trevor in the parking lot. They gave each other a tight hug, lingering near the driver's side door. Kalida couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were smiling and laughing and she could see the affection on both their faces. "Aww, look, they're so cute."

Merton squinted at them, then opened his eyes wide as Trevor leaned in close to the girl. "Yeah, it's real cute how he's biting her neck!" "I knew it!" Tommy wolfed out and rushed out of the passenger door. Kalida put her soda in the drink tray, then looked over to Merton, who was still staring out at the couple necking. "Merton. Weapons?"

He snapped back to reality. "Right." He passed the bag of stakes and holy water to Kalida, momentarily wondering if he should let her leave the car and be in danger. He didn't have time to argue though, because she pushed him toward the door. "We have to help Tommy, hurry up!"

Tommy and Trevor stood snarling at each other, fangs bared. Trevor's girlfriend held a bandage to her neck and cowered behind him. "L-leave us alone!" "I don't take kindly to vampires in my town!" Tommy pointed at Trevor. "I didn't ask to be a vampire, but I don't take kindly to being threatened!" Trev countered.

Kalida made eye contact with the other girl. "Are you okay!?" She nodded, eyes wide, glancing worriedly at Trevor. Tommy growled loudly and readied to attack, but Kalida suddenly ran between him and Trevor. "Wait!" She cowered as they each barely avoided hitting her.

"Kali, what the hell!?" Tommy's heart raced, thinking that he'd almost slashed her with his claws. Merton hesitantly approached her. "What are you-" "Not every situation needs to be shoot first ask questions later." She turned to Trevor's girlfriend. "You're okay, right?" She nodded meekly, clinging to Trevor's back. "I'd never hurt Amy." Trevor held his hand over his heart. "I love her!"

Tommy furrowed his brow, but dropped his fighting stance. "Wait, what?" Merton tilted his head. "We just saw you bite her."

"H-he has to feed," Amy explained. "So he bites me." "I'm really careful." Kalida nodded. "So you're a good vampire."

"Who's ever heard of a good vampire!?" Tommy cried. Merton scoffed. "Asks the good werewolf?" "Must be something in the water," Kalida laughed.

"Like I said, I never asked to get bitten." Trevor shook his head, fangs receding back to normal teeth. "We're not looking for any trouble." "I was hoping you weren't a threat. There wasn't a history of neck wounds in the area." Kalida tucked the stake into her back pocket. "Sorry we intruded." "So that's it?" Tommy threw his hands up. "We just have a vampire in town?"

Merton patted his shoulder. "Looks like you have competition for friendly neighbourhood monster, big guy." Trevor put his hand out toward Tommy. "Tommy, right? We won't tell if you won't tell." Tommy de-wolfed and shook Trevor's hand. "You've got a deal. But no funny business." "Same to you."

---

When they all piled back into the hearse, Merton turned to his friends. "Should I drop you at home? Or…" "I'm pretty sure Uncle Bob wouldn't want us walking in at three in the morning. We're gonna have to crash at your place again." She pulled the blanket around her again and leaned against Tommy. "Guess that means I've got the couch again," Merton sighed, but didn't really mind. Being around the Dawkins kids made him feel more at home than anything else.

"Is it really okay to just let him keep feeding on her?" Tommy murmured, staring out the window as they drove back to the lair. "Eventually he's either going to turn her, or they'll have to break up." Merton pointed out matter-of-factly. "What do you mean?" "Well, she's going to age, and he's not." "So there would be two vampires in town and nobody for them to feed on."

"They'll figure something out," Kalida interjected. "They're in love." Tommy snorted, but Merton smiled to himself, thinking it was cute that she was so sure it would work out. "Happy ending, right?"

---

Chapter 8 here.

Chapters: 1&2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

#bwoc #big wolf on campus #big wolf on campus fanfic #merton j dingle #merton x oc #merton dingle #tommy dawkins

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blackjackkent · 4 months

Text

Hey, Wyll. How you doing, buddy?

"Gods be damned. With that parasite in his brain, father could wreak untold havoc in the Absolute's name. Should Baldur's Gate fall to the Absolute, every one of the Coast's cities will be ripe for the plucking."

Poor guy.

I'm glad Hector and Wyll have been spending a little more time together during this arc. Wyll needs a friend, even if Hector is kind of drowning under everything he's having to carry right now.

I think Hector really respects Wyll a lot, actually. The Blade of Frontiers is supremely dedicated to his principles and willing to sacrifice himself for them, to put aside his own comfort for the benefit of others. Even now - when he would, frankly, have every right to be a little broken down, worrying for his father - he is all fire, worried for the greater good of the Sword Coast and ready to strike out against the threat.

"We're not just fighting for our cure. We're fighting for my father, we're fighting for the Gate, we're fighting for all of Faerun!"

Hector's certainly going to do his best for you, Wyll; I can promise you that.

"The Absolute's cult has Ravengard. Where will they take him?"

"Wyrm's Rock fortress. All travelers to Baldur's Gate flow through it. It serves as headquarters for the Flaming Fist, and their commander - my father. The Absolute's army's on the march. Gods forbid a tadpoled Grand Duke throw open the gates for them."

Well, that gives us a definite next destination at least. Hector is not familiar with Wyrm's Rock (or really much of the city beyond the path to the market where the monastery bought supplies), but we do have one quest whose next stop is at Wyrm's Crossing - the laughing amulet we got back at Grymforge - so that seems like a good sign also.

"What do you know about Gortash and Orin?"

"Orin, I'd never heard tell of. But Gortash I know. Or know *of*, more precisely. A self-styled 'strategic advisor' to Baldur's Gate's peers. A bit player with dreams of a leading role, the way father told it. He had no use for Gortash, and even less for his 'advice.' I don't remember much beyond that. But where these 'Chosen' are concerned, I have a suspicion we're about to know more than we'd like."

Unfortunately, that's probably true.

Everyone's stories are certainly lining up, if nothing else. The consistent image we've gotten about Gortash is that he's an upstart who is climbing into the upper class by any means necessary; he sounds thoroughly unpleasant and quite dangerous. But no one seems to know what the deal is with Orin, the Bhaal worshipper.

This is a shame because I really want to know what her deal is. Throne of Bhaal (the final expansion of BG2) ends with Bhaal dead and all his children obliterated for good, with the protag either choosing to renounce their blood and live as a mortal or become a god in their own right. There's not a lot of room there for the worship of Bhaal as he previously existed to still be going on.

(Given Hector's sage knowledge of history and the fact that he knew the historical name of Balthazar suggests to me that he knows all of this, too, and is equally perplexed by it.)

Some twist is still coming.

"Mizora said you can say what led to your pact and exile. It's time I know the whole truth."

"Yes. But first a question. If your home was under siege, what would you sacrifice to save it?"

Hector blinks. The sudden pointed reversal of questioning is not what he was expecting, and he has to consider the question for quite a long time.

Interestingly, the first point on which he becomes stuck is - what is his home? Once he would have answered Silverlight Monastery without question, but he has been through so much, for so many months... he cannot picture himself settling back into the life of the monastery so easily anymore. He has new ties binding him more strongly - to his friends, to Karlach. And in the end it is that which he considers instead, in trying to answer Wyll's question.

If your friends, if the woman you love, were under siege, what would you sacrifice to save them?

"I'd give my life if it meant keeping them safe,"* he answers softly.

"As would I," Wyll says bluntly. "And more." He straightens, looks past Hector into the middle distance with a grim expression. "I was seventeen. Father - Ulder Ravengard - had just been named a grand duke, and was called away to Elturel to help settle a dispute. That's when the Cult of the Dragon made its move."

Narrator: [RELIGION] The Cult of the Dragon - a fractured religion. Some believers hold that undead dragons will inherit the world. Others worship the dragon goddess Tiamat and intend to summon her to Faerun.

Hector nods slowly, remembering dusty pages in the monastery library speaking of the cult and its dark rituals. But one thing has already struck him more than anything else about Wyll's story. Wyll was seventeen when this happened.

"The Grand Duke left a mere boy in charge?" he asks, bewildered. "That can't have gone well."

"Not just a boy," Wyll says, his jaw clenching with determination, with a half-forgotten family pride. "A Ravengard, schooled in the four pillars - courage, insight, strategy, justice."

He pauses, and his shoulders sag a little as the memory presses forward. "A tenday after father left, I heard a whisper as I slept. 'Dusthawk Hill. The Queen of Chaos awakens. Go alone.' I grabbed a rapier and set out. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, yet not a single star was shining. There they were... gathered at the foot of the hill."

Narrator: Your head tingles. Wyll wants to show you what happened.

Allow Wyll to share his memory with you.

Narrator: In the looming shadow of the mount, five groups of five figures each encircle a lofty totem. Atop each totem, a dragon's head is carved, and a massive orb held in its mouth. The cultists chant, first softly, then crying to the starless sky. [RELIGION] There is a crack of thunder, a gust of wind - and a dragon's white head appears in the storm, the first of Tiamat's five heads. As the maelstrom howls, Mizora's lips press to your ear. 'She will destroy Baldur's Gate. Grant me your soul - and I will give you the power to save it,' she whispers.

Hector can feel the cold sharpness of the memory - of the teenage Wyll's fear and pride and determination, and the desperation that led to his answer.

His vision clears to look at Wyll as he is today; there is sadness in the Blade's face, but no regret. "She read the terms while two devils stood witness," he says. "And I said yes. One soul for one city."

Hector frowns. "Surely Mizora doesn't care about Baldur's Gate," he says, puzzled. "Why would she want to save it?"

"She didn't," Will says, somewhat bitterly. "She came on order of her mistress Zariel."

At Hector's side, Karlach flinches instinctively at the name, and her expression twists with grief on Wyll's behalf. "She never stops, does she?" she mutters. Hector can hear her voice crack. "Not for a second."

"Tiamat made a play for power. Zariel had other plans," Wyll goes on flatly. "That's the most Mizora's ever said - all that mattered was that she got her prize - another pet added to her warlock menagerie."

Hector looks at the younger man with a new respect, and more than a little pity. Seventeen years old, to be forced into such a choice, and to accept it on behalf of so many innocents without any hesitation... the courage that must have taken. He does not think that he himself would have such bravery, and certainly not when he was so young.

"Sacrificing your soul to save the city was a brave thing to do," he says gently.

Wyll tips his head to one side and looks at Hector thoughtfully for a moment. There's a slight tug to his lips in an almost-smile, suggesting that he's touched, even gratified, by the compliment. But all he says is, "I don't know that it was brave. I just know that it was right."

There's a long pause before he goes on. "The moment I agreed, I burned with the fires of Avernus and oozed the rot of Dis. The cultists choked on our poisons and burned from our flames. When we were done, all that remained were five greyed orbs atop a pile of ash."

"Is that how you lost your eye?" Hector asks. "In the battle with the Cult of the Dragon?"

"It is," Wyll says with a slight nod. "The one scar I ever bore of it. Mizora replaced it with a sending stone. She uses it to track my location and speak from a distance." His lips twitch in tight frustration. "I could flee to the Spine of the World or the depths of the Lowerdark, and still never shake her."

Hector frowns. "And what about your father, the Grand Duke?"

Wyll's face goes very still. "He returned to an unsuspecting city and a wayward son with a smirking devil at his side. I tried to tell him the truth, but my mouth couldn't form the words. I led him to the battlefield, but Mizora had swept it clean." A long silence. "After, he said only one word. 'Go.' So I did."

Hector's heart twists with regret and sympathy for the boy that Wyll was. He himself has no parents that he can remember, but he can picture the pain that would have come with being turned from his home by those he cared about.

When they find Duke Ravengard again... he hopes he has the chance to tell him of his son's bravery, and make him understand it.

* Slight artistic license; in-game line is "I'd give my life if it meant keeping the residents safe", but that didn't track with the thought process I had Hector going through. XD

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #ok hugs for wyll as well please #stat #poor guy :(

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babygirlkiki1016 · 4 years

Text

The Hunt Begins

When we got to Stanford Dean told me just to wait outside by the Impala. About twenty minutes later I hear voices coming from the building. I see Dean take a glance at me to see if I was still there. Sam was saying something but Dean just rolls his eyes.

"The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors." I heard Sam say as they cross the parking lot to the Impala.

"So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" Dean growls.

"No. Not normal. Safe."

"And that's why you ran away." Dean looks away.

"I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it." Sam is silent.

"I can't do this alone."

"Yes you can." I joke, making both of the boys look at me.

"Yeah, well, as Y/n pointed out earlier which you weren't here for, I don't want to."

"Wait, that's Y/n? Y/D/N's kid?" Sam asked surprised. "You brought his kid here?! Do you know what he's going to do to us when he realizes she's missing!?"

"Uh I believe he already knows." I interrupt.

"Look, she wanted to come so I didn't stop her besides she's eighteen." Dean points out. Sam sighs and looks down, thinking, then up.

"What was he hunting?" Sam asked as Dean opens the trunk of the Impala, then the spare-tire compartment, it's an arsenal.

"Holy crap this is cool!" I exclaimed as Dean props the compartment open with a shotgun and digs through the clutter.

"I know right? All right, let's see, where the hell did I put that thing?"

"So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asks.

"I was working my own gig. This, uh, voodoo thing, down in New Orleans."

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Dean looks over at Sam.

"I'm twenty-six, dude."

"And then you went to Y/D/N for help?"

"That's about right, she offered to help cause her father wouldn't." Dean pulls some papers out of a folder. "All right, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy." Dean hands one of the papers to Sam, I look over his shoulder to see. "They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA. The paper is a printout of an article from the Jericho Herald, headlined Centennial Highway Disappearance and dated Sept. 19th 2005; it has a man's picture, captioned Andrew Carey MISSING." Sam reads it and glances up.

"So maybe he was kidnapped."

"Yeah. Well, here's another one in April." Dean hands me a Jericho Herald article for each date he mentions. "Another one in December 'oh-four, 'oh-three, 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two, ten of them over the past twenty years." Dean takes the article's back from us and picks up the rest of the stack, putting them back in the folder. "All men, all the Same five-mile stretch of road." Dean pulls a bag out of another part of the arsenal. "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." He grabs a handheld tape recorder. "Then I get this voicemail yesterday." He presses play, the recording is staticky and the signal was clearly breaking up.

"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger...and if you can...Y/D/N's kid." Dean presses stop.

"Wait...he mentioned me." I say silently.

"What does dad want with Y/n?" Sam asks.

"I don't know that's why I went to your dad. So whatever is going on, obviously your part of it."

"Well other than the creepy message involving me, you know there's EVP on that?" I said.

"Not bad, Y/n. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" Sam shakes his head. "All right. I slowed the message down, I ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got." He presses play again.

"I can never go home..." Was the voice that was heard, Dean presses stop.

"Never go home." Sam comments, trying to think what it could mean. Dean drops the recorder, puts down the shotgun, stands straight, and shuts the trunk, then leans on it. "You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing." Sam looks away and sighs, then looks back. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him." Sam submits, Dean nods. "But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Sam turns to go back to the apartment but turns back when Dean speaks.

"What's first thing Monday?"

"I have this...I have an interview."

"What, a job interview? Skip it."

"It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean smirks.

"So we got a deal or not?" Dean says nothing, Sam turns back around and heads back into the building.

"Your brother is certainly...not happy." I look over at Dean who shrugs.

"Eh he'll get over it." Dean smirks and gets back in the car, Dean maybe be smiling but I have a bad feeling about this.

Dean comes out of the convenience mart carrying junk food. Sam is sitting in the shotgun seat with the door open, rifling through a box of tapes as I was sitting in the back with the window down. I don't know what he's looking for but it must be important.

"Hey!" Dean says with a smile on his face. Sam leans out and looks at him. "You want breakfast?"

"No, thanks."

"Y/n? I got you coffee, along with some biscuits." He hands me the food.

"Thanks...." I say and take the food from him. "So how'd you pay for that stuff?" Sam asks. "You and Dad still running credit card scams?"

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career." Dean puts the nozzle that he left running while he went inside back on the pump. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards."

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?" Sam swings his legs back inside the car and closes the door.

"Uh, Burt Aframian." Dean gets into the driver seat and puts his soda and chips down.

"And his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal."

"That's pretty smart, man I wish I thought of that. Then I wouldn't have had to get a job." I joke as Dean closes the door, Sam looks back at me then at Dean.

"Only a few days and your already a bad influence on her." Sam chuckles. "I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection." From what I could see there are at least a dozen cassettes in the box on Sam's lap; some have album art, others are hand-labeled.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two." Sam holds up a tape for every band he names. "Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?" Dean takes the box labeled Metallica from Sam. "It's the greatest hits of mullet rock."

"And that's probably why he has them." I interrupt while sipping my coffee.

"Well, house rules, Sammy." Dean pops the tape in the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Dean drops the Metallica box back in the box of tapes and starts the engine.

"Wait." Sammy looks back at me as Dean drives off. "Why does she get coffee?"

"Well I asked her what she wanted and she told me."

"You didn't ask me...."

"Suck it up Sammy." Sam made a pouty face, I look down at my coffee then back at him. I reach forward and politely offer him some which Dean notices.

"Aw look at that she's willing to share."

"Shut up." Sam said with a blush on his face as he slowly took my cup.

Sam is talking on his cell phone. "Thank you." He says then closes his phone. "All right. So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue."

"Well at least we know he's ok." I said, making Sam nod in agreement.

"That's something, I guess." Dean glances over at us, then back at the road. At a bridge ahead of them, there are two police cars and several officers.

"Woah, I wonder what happened." I wondered as Sam leans forward for a closer look, Dean pulls over. We take a long look before Dean turns off the engine. Dean opens the glove compartment and pulls out a box full of ID cards with his and John's faces. Visible ones include FBI and DEA. He picks one out and grins at Sam, who stares.

"Let's go." Dean gets out of the car and me and Sam follow pursuit. On the bridge, the lead Deputy, leans over the railing to yell down to two men in wetsuits who were poking around the river.

"You guys find anything?" He yells.

"No! Nothing!" The other man who was below us replied. The deputy turns back to the car in the middle of the bridge. Another Deputy, is at the driver's side looking around inside the car. The three of us walk into the crime scene, I felt out of place but the brothers acted like they belong there.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean asks as the first Deputy looks up when he starts talking and straightens up to talk to him.

"And who are you?" Dean flashes his badge. "Federal marshals."

"You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you? Especially the girl." Dean laughs. "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." Dean goes over to the car. "You did have another one just like this, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Sam questioned, Jaffe, as it says on his name tag, nods.

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody." Dean circles the car, looking around.

"...And that is why I hate small towns." I state. "Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?"

"Uh N-No. Not so far as we can uh tell."

"So what's the theory? I'm thinking insane hitchhiker." Sam goes over to Dean as I keep the deputy busy.

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Dean insults, Sam stomps on his foot.

"Thank you for your time." I say and the three of us head back to the Impala. Jaffe watches us go but I could the two talking.

"She's a pretty one ain't she?" Jaffe mentions, I ignored him, pervert I thought. Dean smacks Sam on the head, catching my attention.

"Ow! What was that for?" Sam grumbled.

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?"

"Why do you have to talk to the police like that?" Dean looks at Sam and moves in front of him, forcing Sam to stop walking.

"Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." Sam clears his throat and looks over Dean's shoulder. Dean turns to see a Sheriff and two FBI agents.

"Can I help you boys?" The sheriff asks.

"No, sir, we were just leaving." I smile at them, giving them some reassurance and walk past the three men. Dean and Sam head past the Sheriff, who turns to watch us go.

Later we decided to go talk to this young woman, the second deputy's daughter I believe. As we walk up the street the marquee on the Highland Movie Theater reads in big bold letters: EMERGENCY TOWN HALL MEETING SUNDAY 8 PM BE SAFE OUT THERE. Below that a young woman is tacking up posters with Troy, the missing boy's face and the caption "Missing Troy Squire". The three of us approach.

"I'll bet you that's her." Dean says

"Well no shit sherlock, if course it's her." I joke, the boys turn towards me.

"Listen sweetheart you may be helping us, but that doesn't give you the right to curse."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say shit, fuck, crap. Sorry!" I giggle, making Sam smirk. Dean ignores me and walks up to the young woman.

"You must be Amy." Dean points out.

"Yeah." She says as she looks towards us. "Yeah, Troy told us about you. We're his uncles. I'm Dean, this is Sammy and that's-" Dean was saying, trying to think on what I should be. "-my girlfriend Y/n." I give him a weird look and so does Sam, girlfriend? I thought. He couldn't have gone with sister or something?

"He never mentioned you to me." Amy walks away as the three of us tag along.

"Well, that's Troy, I guess. We're not around much, we're up in Modesto."

"We never really talk to Troy much, teenager's these days. Never wanna hang out with the adults." I chimes in as another young woman, comes up to Amy and puts a hand on her arm.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks, while eyeing the three of us.

"Yeah." Amy replies.

"Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?" I asked. "You probably know my nephew to be better then I do."

"Woah trying to get married already babe" Dean jokes as he puts an arm around my shoulder. "I thought the man asks the woman?"

"Well, 'darling' technically I am the one who is the man in this relationship." Sam and the two girls try not to giggle.

The five of us are sitting in a booth, Dean and Sam opposite Amy and Rachel while I'm sitting at the end of the table with a normal chair. The chair was turned away from the table as I was facing the four if them.

"So...Amy." I start. "What happened the night Troy disappeared?"

"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and...he never did."

"He didn't say anything strange?" Sam asks, Amy shakes her head.

"No. Nothing I can remember."

"I like your necklace." I state, Amy holds the pendant she's wearing, a pentagram in a circle, and looks down at it.

"Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents-" Amy laughs. "-with all that devil stuff.

"Do you know where he got it?"

"Um...no actually."

Sam laughs a little and looks down, then up.

"Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing." Sam says.

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries."

Dean jokes, takes his arm off the back of Sam's seat and leans forward. "Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything..." Amy and Rachel look at each other. "What is it?"

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk." Rachel, the other girl says. Dean and Sam speak in chorus. "What do they talk about?"

"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago." Dean looks at Sam, who watches Rachel attentively, nodding. "Well, supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever."

"So let me guess you believe in this so called legend?" I ask.

"It's a possibility, you never know." Sam and Dean look at each other.

Considering that Rachel mentioned this legend, we made a trip to the library. Dean was in the computer with a web browser open to the archive search page for the Jericho Herald. The words "Female Murder Hitchhiking" are typed into the search box. Dean clicks go; the screen tells him there are "(0) Result". Dean replaces "Hitchhiking" with "Centennial Highway" with the same response.

"Your not gonna find anything in the internet. You gotta go old school." I point out.

Sam sighs, who is sitting next to him, watching.

"Let me try." He offered, Dean smacks Sam's hand.

"I got it." Sam shoves Dean's chair out of the way and takes over. "Dude!" Dean hits Sam in the shoulder. "You're such a control freak."

"You two are definitely brothers." I giggle, the boys just shake there heads. I push both of them out of the way "If you want to find a spirit, you gotta go dark. Angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?"

"Yeah." Dean agrees.

"Well, it's not murder." I replace "Murder" with "Suicide" and find an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial". Both if the boys seemed surprised. I open the article, dated April 25, 1981, I read what the article had to say. "A local woman's drowning death was ruled a suicide, the county Sheriff's Department said earlier today. Constance Welch, 24, of 4636 Breckenridge Road, leapt off Sylvania Bridge, at mile 33 of Centennial Highway, and subsequently drowned last night. Deputy J. Pierce told reporters that, hours before her death, Ms. Welch logged a call with 911 emergency services. In a panicked tone, Ms. Welch described how she found her two young children, 5 and 6, in the bathtub, after leaving them alone for several minutes. I continued to skim the article. " Here this is what the husband said, What happened to my children was a terrible accident. And it must have been too much for my wife. Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it. Now I ask that you all please respect my privacy during this trying time."

"So she committed suicide." Sam says. "Good job Y/n."

"Quiet there's more. At the time of the children's death and Ms. Welch's subsequent suicide, Mr. Welch was at the Frontier auto salvage yard, where he works the graveyard shift as associate manager. Connie might have been quiet, but she was the sweetest, most caring girl I ever knew, said Deanna Kripke, a neighbor. She just doted on those children."

Dean raises his eyebrows.

"Hm. The bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asks.

The three of us walk along the bridge, then stop to lean on the railing and look down at the river.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean states.

"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam asks.

"If your dad was here then he would've stopped the spirit right?" I wondered.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him."

"Okay, so now what?"

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while." Sam stops and looks at Dean.

"Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday-" Dean turns around.

"Monday. Right. The interview."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some Lawyer? Marry your girl?"

"Maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?" Sam steps closer, I could tell a fight was about to break out.

"No, and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."

Dean turns around and keeps walking, Sam follows.

"Guys c'mon we got more important things to do." I state.

"Stay out of this Y/n!" Both of them say at the same time.

"Who am I really Dean?" Sam says.

"You're one of us." Sam hurries to get in front of Dean.

"No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"You have a responsibility to-"

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back." Dean grabs Sam by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. Instantly I push Dean back, he begins to protest.

"Y/n-"

"No enough out of both of you. Focus, look if San wants out if this life then so be it. You can't change that, I may not know much about what you guys do for a living but I know damn well I wouldn't want to be hunting monsters all the time."

"What do you mean don't know much about what we do?" Sam questioned, clearly aggravated. "You brought her into this!"

"She decided this not me! I gave her the offer to walk away!"

"That wasn't her decision to make! If Y/D/N kept her out if this then you shouldn't have brought her with you!"

"She's eighteen! She can do whatever the hell she wants!"

"No Dean she's not eighteen! She's seventeen! She doesn't turn eighteen till (your birthday)." Dean looks at me, clearly surprised that I lied. However I wasn't paying attention, the spirit of Constance was standing at the edge of the bridge.

"Uh guys." The boys forget there argument and stand infront of me, like I'm something to be protected. Consance looks over at them, then steps forward off the edge. We run to the railing and look over.

"Where'd she go?" I asked.

"I don't know." Sam said, then behind us, the Impala's engine starts and its headlights come on, catching our attention.

"What the-who the fuck is driving your car!?" Dean pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them.

"Run!" I yell. The car is moving faster than we are, when it gets too close, the boys dive over the railing but it was to late for me.

The New Hunter Masterlist

#dean supernatural #dean winchester #dean winchester imagines #sam winchester #sam winchester imagines #dean x y/n #dean x reader #sam x y/n #sam x you #sam x reader

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remushisahoshi · 5 years

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🖤💜Henry Is Better Than Your Fave and Here's Why🖤💜

I can make any argument on why Henry is better than your fave. I'm gonna make a few examples and I can add more to fight your fave.

1.) Hector

So people like Hector a lot because he is a big swole man who can protect you and he is freakishly handsome and confident about himself, right? Literally Henry is all that (minus the swole but he doesn't need to be swol bean to be best bean)

Henry can defend you with his insanely powerful magical abilities. He knows pretty much everything about curses and could kill anyone who even does so much as to look at you wrong. If you want a man to protect you, Henry is your guy.

And you want a handsome boi who is confident about himself? Henry is the most handsome jou of them all! He knows how good his magic is and pretty confident about his abilities as a dark mage and as a hexer. He never doubts his magic and never doubts his ability to kill. Yet Again, Henry is your guy.

You know what Henry has that Hector doesn't? Forced and restrained marraige. You cant marry Hector in his game, but you can marry Henry. Sure, none of the possible S rank pairs Hector has are canon, but none of them are you.

Henry is better than your fave.

2.) Marth

So Marth is a fan favorite because he is the OG protagonist, right? He is also charming, strong, modest, regal, and a pretty boy. Guess what? Henry is Charming, Strong, and a Pretty Boy too. He may not be regal nor royal, but he never is too overbearing about his abilities and accomplishments.

Henry is heckin charming. Like, he would be more than happy to takw a crow feather and weave it in your hair, compliment your smile and eyes, compliment your valor on the battlefield, comment how gorgeous you look when you jave the blood of your wnemies splattered all over you, exetera. He is more than happy to compliment you, help you out with literally any task, and make you feel special. If you want a charming fella, Henry is your guy.

Henry is like sooooo pretty. Like his white hair and pale skin is such a nice contrast to his deep purple and peweter gray garments lined with gold designs. He doesnt use unbearable colors (using a base of maybe three or four colors) and he is a skinny yet tol boi. He's just really pretty a f his smile is pretty and when he opens his eyes they are pretty. Henry is a really pretty boi.

You know what Marth has? A canon wife. He and Caeda are canon and in love. Marth already had the love of his life. You know what Marth doesnt have? Free time for you. He is busy running a kingdom and fighting there is no time for romance and he would be stressed. Henry doesnt deal with either of those.

Henry is better than your fave.

3.) Niles

Niles is a flirtatious bisexual tan man who is ruggedly handsome and very feline-like. He is also a bad boy~ He works as a retainer to Leo and has a tragic past. Guess what? Henry is handsome, kinda cat-like if yoh stretch it, a bad boy, and has an even more tragic past than Niles. His sexuality is also uncertain but that doesn't exactly matter...

So the tragic backstory part! Yeah, Henry' parents neglected him alot so he used to spend time in the woods where a white wolf basically became hos surrogate (right word?) Mother, but a hunter shot her before his eyes so he had a magical awakening and unleashed unheard of black magic that was more powerful than anyone had ever seen, so the parents sent him away. Depending on the localization, it was either to an Orphanage or Wizard School where nobody liked him and he had no friends because he was too weird. That's where he started making friends with the crows that always hung around the school and diving into the dark arts on his own. He learned to smile to make everyone believe he was fine and stay away because he knew they wanted to. So if you're into boys with a tragic backstory, Henry is your man.

You want a bad boy? I can give you a bad boy, and his name is Henry. Dark Mage? Evil magic and always tampering with the dead and laughing in the face of danger? He is a MEGA bad boy! But yoy are probably thinking the rebellious and sexy kind of bad boy. Henry's american localization could easily go yandere so he could be a bad boy if you really wanted him to be. He also countless times in supports he offers to kill Chrom: Leader of the Shepards. That's pretty bad and rebellious to me just saying. Henry could be a bad boy.

You know what Henry has that Niles doesn't have? Magic. Niles can't cast awesome spells, summon risen, or turn people into toads. He can't kill a person without having a single scratch on their body. You know what else Niles doesn't have? The ability to be a good Dad. Nina hates her father, but in every single ending of Awakening if Henry is married it says he was a surprisingly good father. No daddy issues whatsoever.

Henry is better than your fave.

4.) Claude

So I actually haven't played three houses yet so I am going off heroes and the spoilers I read but trust me Henry is better than Claude.

Claude is a very tricky boy. He likes to set traps and do a sneak and he is heckin bisexual. He is an EXTREMELY pretty boy and, let's face it, a better Niles and he's on horseback! But wanna know a secret? Henry is a tricky boy too. He is very pretty, like said before, and I am having a sudden blank on the mind because it's eleven at night but HERE WE GO!

Henry is a tricky little bastard, just like Claude. Henry literay did go behind everyone's back and learn how to summon risen after all. He also has all his crow friends he can have fetch stuff and steal stuff for him. He is also a playful little bastard if you couldn't tell from his, for a lack of better words, immature personality. He scares Ricken for fun and traded bodies with Sumia just for fun and went on a joyride in her body in his supports with them respectively. He is a fun, tricky little shit and I love him.

Guess what Henry has that Claude doesn't have? Burdens of being a royal and insecurities about it. Insecurities aren't cute. They are little hatreds people have to face and overcome to have a good self image. If people think that's cute then they are messed up. Claude needs to go on that journey with himself while Henry went on that journey and overcame it now. Henry doesn't have repression issues. It's okay to want to help out with someone's issues, but it ain't okay to fetishize it like I know a lot of people do with characters like Claude. Just a PSA. But that doesn't make Henry a better character, just a more internally developed one. And because od his self-development....

Henry is better than your fave.

I know that last one was sloppy but it still stands. Who wants to fight next? I am ready.

#henry #fire emblem awakening henry #fire emblem awakening #fire emblem henry #fire emblem #fire emblem waifu #fire emblem husbando #better than your fave #henry is better than your fave #best fire emblem waifu #best fire emblem husbando #best husbando #henry is best husbando #henry is best waifu #way better than your fave #fight me #husbando war #waifu war #fire emblem heroes husbando

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leakedinlondon · 7 years

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Hey Courtney I'm going on my first over seas flight in 5 days time (like 20 hours or something with a brief lay over???) and I'm in desperate need of book recs. 21 year old female I like Harry Potter, dystopian future stuff, gay stuff especially wlw and also really love shitty cheesey light hearted stuff like Janet Evanovich. Would love your opinion!

tragically, i hav not read a lot of wlw books bc i’m a picky bitch about genres and a lot of the ones i know about are realistic fiction which i ain’t big on but i do recommend checking out Malinda Lo i rly like Adaptation which features a bi love triangle and aliens and has a part where some dude is talking about aliens and just starts humming the x files theme and that dude is me also i have heard v good things about Ash and Huntress but my bookstore doesn’t sell them and i’m like???? why

ok SO i hav a v v long dystopian masterpost if ur down to go through it but i’ll give u my faves from it here!!!!

Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

these books!!!! are everything!!!!! if you haven’t read them u 100% should i swear they’re so fkn good

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

i would die for Lev literally die for him at any given second this is also a very good series

The Passage by Justin Cronin

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

haven’t gotten around to reading the last book in this series yet but they are seriously epic like i swear this series is something else entirely

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers." So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big...One hundred very short chapters, told in an utterly original first-person voice, propel readers through a narrative that is by turns gripping and darkly humorous, bleak and chilling, tender and transporting.

this book broke my damn heart and ruined my life but oh my god it’s so good also a lil gay but like i said sad but it’s more 2 do with the setting like.... it doens’t have a happy ending but it felt right like that?????

More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

this is my favorite book!!!!!! i would die for it!!!! i want to buy enough copies to fill an entire room of my house so i can just sit in it and cry!!!! this book is literally everything!!!! also gay!!!! she’s also sad but like...... i cannot express in words how much u need to read this damn book

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

another one of my all time faves!!!!!! i don’t even know what to say this is a masterpiece

ok so here we move on to the more fantasy and gay stuff these are less sad

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...A convict with a thirst for revengeA sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wagerA runaway with a privileged pastA spy known as the WraithA Heartrender using her magic to survive the slumsA thief with a gift for unlikely escapes Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

this is.... so good.... also a little gay... hav heard the second book in the series is gayer but i haven’t read her yet

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here - it's their last year at Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up. Carry On is a love letter to love stories and the power of words - to every 'chosen one' who ever had more on their mind than saving the world...

this book is literally just harry potter but gay and i’m still laughing i love it

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.It wants the truth.

can u tell i’m a fan of patrick ness i’m going to fucking fist fight him for this piece of shit like.... this book.... is about a little kid..... whose mother has cancer....... like u know it’s gonna be a fucking bad time but u read it anyway and u cry like a fucking baby but u enjoy the whole damn thing because u hate urself.... it’s a beautiful read but it hurts (((also yes there is a Literal Monster hanging around))

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.But Gansey is different. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.For as long as she can remember, Blue has been told by her psychic family that she will kill her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

the description of this book doesn’t do it justice and i hate it i love these books i love my stupid raven kids i mainly love adam parrish who i would die for in a second ((also gay)) ((please read them if u haven’t i love adam so much he’s worth it)) ((the other characters are also amazing and i lov them too))

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.Until one day, he does…As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

Hazel is literally me okay there is a scene in this book where she’s at a fairy party and u kno how ur not meant to eat or drink anything fairies give u or ur fucked???? hazel ingests fucking fairy wine bc it was in the mouth of some fairy girl she was making out with and if that isn’t me i don’t know what is (((also that’s the only scene that she shows any interest in girls i am very sorry i don’t want to get ur hopes up))) ((ben on the other hand he is very gay and is also me they are both me i love these two idiots this book just makes me really happy))

#Anonymous #asks

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