#(someone happens to show interest in him and suddenly 'its all for thee and not for me')

[museguided]

Mouth opens. Mouth closes. Mouth opens again.

"For... Mitsuba?" Or Yoichi, Kimizuki, Narumi, or anyone else because Mikaela is a concept that ceases to exist at the moment.

Wiggling her brows suggestively, Shinoa smiles.

❛ Well if Guren's unavailable, I have a secret for you. ❜ Lifting both her hands, she shoves them his way. ❛ I have two hands still. ❜

[aio-rya]

Red Panda Headcanons

GN!Reader x Character

「Requested by: @kih-lux」

A/N: Kih~ you gave me the option and this was more focused to be a Male Reader but... It ended being more a Gender Neutral, I guess... I'll keep practicing.

・Floyd, Jade and Azul are ocean creatures, they know about hybrids and people like Ruggie, Leona and Jack, though they are aware there are other species, some of them are so rare and so unique it's far too difficult to have a chance of running into one of them. And, guess what? Yes, you were part of that category.

・"I've never seen one of your kind, why? Are you so rare? Are you from a far land? Wait, maybe you are... An endangered specie?". Be patient with the tweel, he has too many questions since his research hasn't been so long; you'll be pleased of helping him with that.

・Well, this couldn't result as you originally planned since Jade himself determined you were in nice shape, your body was as expected from a being half beast, half human. So, he decided you will be helping him on the Lounge too! So you could spend more time together, talking about you while working. Plus, he thought the contrast between your brune ears and tail made a nice contrast with the grey suit of Octavinelle.

・The curiosity soon transformed into interest, he started hanging out with you and even asked you to join his club! In fact, he thought you could enjoy it since your specie's homeland is a forest; you could help him learn from places he has never been before, though he would love to know if you remembered any sort of fungi of your homeland.

・Jade will be always respectful, asking before acting, having a special attraction for your tail and ears. He has seen things like those before, with Savanaclaw's dorm members, but you were specially cute for him. Since you had a special moment when you purred —because, yes, pandas actually purr.

・He loves the comparison you do about him being a bambu stick. His height is a bit far than yours so, when you hug him and tangle your tail on his legs it looks as if you were a red panda holding a bambu stick even though red pandas don't do that often.

・The Tweels are not used to cold, they prefer to stay on earth at winter, but that will not stop him from being warm with you. He loves your fur because of that, specially when you have sleepovers and you roll your tail against him to keep him warm.

・"What do we have here? A teddy bear?"; he will ask, mocking of you, looking at the cute red fur of your ears, caught by the white line on the side of them. You'd smile mischievously, sighing, not letting his height or his deep voice intimidate you, slowly approaching a couple of steps —instead of answering his provocation, you'll lift a hand, almost at the height of his face. "Ho... This herbivore has guts."

・"I'm no herbivore... Not at all", you'll answer, defending yourself as you show your retractile long, pointy claws to him. You'd swear everything you saw in his eyes at the moment was fear on its pure form, specially since you made this actually at his eyes' height. You'd dare to say you broke him but it'd be more accurate to tell you actually gained his respect.

・Well, your peculiar first meeting was just the beginning of what somehow became a love-hate friendship. Since he was the captain of your club and you shared more unexpected encounters than you'd have thought, you grew fond of each other; soon, going from one place to another together.

・Leona would question you a lot about your specie; he's used to carnivorous wild animals like Ruggie, like him or some cheetah or tiger hybrids, but you were a bit different. And even after you already explained him your situation, he would still mess around, giving you bambú sticks for snack between classes, just because he loves your upset expression and the way you wave your tail furiously and move your ears to the sides.

・You got to trust each other so far Leona sometimes dishevelled the fur of your cylindrical, thick tail; he was lot curious about it since it was far shorter than his very own. That meant, of course, you delighted yourself with payback; sometimes braiding the tip of his tail, or tangling his tie on a ribbon on it.

・Since you were both half animal, you knew exactly which points he'd like to be touched on. That was, somehow, cheating; specially when you found him angry and tried to make him relax, words wouldn't work so you'd stand behind him and caress his ears —of course you made him purr, you always do. That, suddenly, became an intimate thing only of you both.

・There's something Leona loves doing and not necessarily to bother you: paw your ears. For him, those are like marshmallows, the red fluff, more rigid and smaller than his own. He just melt for touching them, specially when you fall asleep because, yeah, pandas sleep as much as the Prince of Afterglow Savannah.

・He could not hide his surprise when he realised you were not completely human, you immediately caught his attention; furthermore, you were not a common specie, he deduced so by your smell. "Well, well... What do we have here? You look like Kingscholar but quite... Hm. Completely different."

・Malleus would come back to you often, some nights when he was trying to scape from his guards. But he will not arrive just like it; he will try to find some facts about you, ask you the less possible and make research by his own to know what you were, how to treat you? Until you became of more interest for him than your specie.

・Soon he discovered by your stories that you were alone too, still you had a family but your own specie was not very common, you made friends with another kind of hal-beasts and another species of pandas. That only made him to get attached to you, someone who could understand him!

・He got to hang out with you almost every night, reaching the point where he would go and look for you to your classrooms. Malleus thought at first you started fearing him too by the twitching of your ears, soon realising you just... Softened. The way you flattened your ears was signal of trust, you actually felt comfortable around him —you made the Heir of the Valley happy.

・As time passed by, you earned an inconditionnel friend, he would talk to you about almost anything you wanted to know while, in exchange, you taught him about your world, the "human" world. Soon, that became more physical, and now he pawed your ears when you leaned on his shoulder to listen at him and his tales.

・There were nights when he would take you to the castle's roof to talk more privately, or just to see the moon and the forest along the village in the distance. And many of those nights, you'd fall asleep, curled up against his legs with your tail swinging peacefully or just laying over your legs or hips; he would try to caress it, obviously not waking you up and, if you ever did, he will just blush and look away.

・You had your own tricks, sometimes when you went for a walk on the little forest around the castle, you climbed threes and hanged upside down trying to surprise him. Well... You even touched his horns. At first you were worried about him being mad but his laughter broke the tension on your shoulders. But of course, you had a tail and ears, so his payback was inevitable.

・"I have never seen someone liketh thee...", you heard the intrigue on his voice. He floated around you, upside down, analysing the visible characteristics that made you half an animal. When Lilia is curious, he's not very measured with his actions... Yeah, that means he will touch your fur.

・He'd love to study your reactions to many stimulus, so he will tease you in ways you can and cannot expect. Though you started being prepared, or at least a bit, you'd never anticipate when was he going to appear. You were basically on guard every time you were on the library or in the hallways until the final day came and he told you how interesting you were to him.

・You tried to do the same on him but the movement of your tail or even sometimes your little furry ears twitching will alert him of your presence. Since then, you both became almost inseparable; people could se him flying around you, upside down or just playfully, other times you just got to sit aside him but there were always laughter and smiles.

・Oh, true! He basically transformed you into a nocturnal creature. Once he introduced you into video-game's world, you started spending more time together, another fact reassuring him you were a panda: sleeping a lot on the evening, when classes or clubs were not taking place, and enjoying the night along him.

・That of course meant he must protect your ears from Sebek. His very own audition was sensible enough to be disturbed by the demi-fae loudness, but he was worried about you: since he knew you were a red panda and discovered pandas had developed very, very, very sensible ears due to not wanting to be hunted by predators, he would avoid having you and Sebek on the same room for too long.

・His protective instincts made their appearance. You seemed like a tender and lovely being for him, that was the reason why Lilia was concerned about you: even though you were half a human, most of your habits were of your animal part. He knew when you were sleepy and you tried to pretend you were not just to stay with him for a while, playing. He will, surprisingly, sing you a lullaby to make you sleep while he played one last round; keeping an eye on you, the way you curled up, the way your ears twitched.

・The way you met was... Amusing. Well, you see, one of your favourite spots for napping was the forest, the place where he usually made his patrols. Since his narcolepsy is always present, he tends to fall asleep in situations like this, what happened that day: he fell under your three and once you woke up together, you both got scared as hell.

・He started questioning you; why were you there? What were you doing? Who where you? You answered calmly, trying to calm him down since he was actually pointing at you with the sword. When he finished and put the blade down, you asked for him to answer the same question. And once you were aware of his condition, you understand everything and both bursted in laughter.

・There were to many incidental encounters with each other you ended up being friends. Sometimes you even went and looked for him deep in the forest, when you found him asleep you'll just sit by his side and read a book or play a bit with the animals surrounding him, usually birds. You cannot understand them, but when he woke up, he will always act as a translator for you.

・He had the opportunity of finding you asleep on the branch of a three or behind a rock, one of those times, curiosity took over him and he couldn't help but start petting you. Starting for your ears and your hair, getting startled when he heard you purring under his hand.

・Most of the time you surprised him at his night patrol, it was cold outside often, so you made a scarf for him. It matched with your tail and it was thick and furry too; your heart almost fell from your chest when you saw the happiness in his eyes. Now, when you were nap buddies, he will take it with him.

・He wanted to teach you something about him too so he used your free time to teach you fencing. Yes, he would usually bring another sword to the forest so you could kill time whenever you were not sleeping, reading or he was not on guard.

・Even Lilia cooked sometimes for Silver, he was aware of your existence. He was happy though about his little boy having a new friend... Well, deep inside himself, he was happy, just awaiting for Silver to know how love felt —in fact, he just wanted his child to go asking for advice.

[moosoobi]

Revelation

In the night: Chapter 1

T.Jeffy- Hamilton: the musical

Thomas’s interest in Y/N pulls him into a position he was previously blind to. They say every girl’s another mystery, but definitely not like this. Buckle your seatbelt Tommy, you’re in for a ride

Finally finished the first part of ITN (which is ironic since the moment I wrote this message I still haven’t finished it). I really hope I’m able to bring this story to life the way I want to and I hope y’all enjoy 😔💕. Here’s some stuff to expect:

Told from Thomas’s POV

Modern Au

College talk even though I’m literally in my second year of high school (so please bear with me) 

Ruh roh moments

Sorta weird POV/storytelling (I’m new to writing fics and stuff so this is definitely a learning opportunity) Also excuse my English errors: Though this is my only language, my school system seemed to fail in teaching me how to write

Word count: 6.7k (including separators) 

2 DISCLAIMERS:

TW: itty bitty angst, themes of injury/blood, etc. 

I’m not the best story writer, so after reading this chapter you may have many questions. Please keep in mind that this is one chapter out of (about) 10. Things that you may not understand in this chapter will most likely be explained in future chapters.

-Now Playing: In The Night by The Weeknd-

My God, she’s perfect 

     The way the sunlight reflects off of her glass skin. The sincerity in every word, every letter that she writes with her only pencil. To be that flawless, it’s a mystery to me. She takes a glance at me. Did she feel me staring? I duck down my head in embarrassment. 

“Jefferson, you oughta put that scholarship to good use”

     Professor Washington boomed to the entire class. I hear a fragment of her giggle. Her laugh is soft and naïve. I couldn't help but smile at the sound of her happiness.

     Washington is right, though. It's my first semester after I came back from my student exchange program over in France and I can already feel my sanity slipping. France was a beauty to visit, so many customs and cultures I wish I could be flourished in right now. 

     But there was one thing great about going to school in New York: I get to sit in a classroom with Y/N L/N. 

     I’ve never talked to her formally, at least not yet. She’s always sitting alone, never answers any questions, but Professor Washington makes the class acknowledge her perfect test scores and fascinating interpretations 

     As the bell rings I watch her stand swiftly. Is she in a rush? I can't help but watch as her hair is flung over her shoulder. She stuffs her notebooks and singular pencil into her burgundy-magenta backpack. Hey, at least she has good taste in color. 

I don’t think you understand

     She sits alone everyday during lunch, yet she never looks bothered. Her energy is so compelling to me. A feeling about her that I cannot comprehend, something that feels greater than my existence. I just got to know. 

“Thomas, you gotta work on staring at people less noticeable” James catches my attention by pointing his fork a little too close to my face. 

      I was staring? Again?

     I shake my head to snap back to reality

“The great Thomas Jefferson is interested in someone for longer than 30 seconds. I gonna be honest with you Thom, that’s impressing”

     I hear James laugh as he violently stabs a few pieces of pasta onto his fork. 

     James has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We went to the same middle and high school down in Virginia, and just coincidentally ended up going to the same college in New York. 

     We’re always there for each other. I remember cheering for him at a high school assembly after he won a story writing challenge, he’s such a nerd. Then again, he had to drive me home a couple of times after I failed multiple driving tests.

     Back in high school, James was the Chess Club Champion, a title he always shoved down my throat. It’s no secret why, though. He’s really good at thinking things through, While I on the other hand tend to dive headfirst into the abyss.

“Shut it James” I sarcastically retort, taking a sip of the expensive chocolate milk which my scholarship supposedly pays for 

Hey, can I sit here?

     I talked to her during class. Her voice is angelic: Now, I’m not one to be religious and all, but that voice could get me on my knees praying for forgiveness. My ego couldn’t get me anywhere at all, as if she already knew my tactics, she knew my flirts, and how? I guess it just adds to her mystery.

“C'mon! that one works every time!” I whine

“Don't be so full of yourself Jefferson, I’ve heard them all before” A smile danced across her face

     She did, however, laugh at some of my remarks. It's good to know that she has a sense of humor. My jokes of Professor Washington’s shiny, bald head. The jokes of Professor Washington’s assistant, John Adams, who’s suspiciously absent considering he signed up for this job.

     Heck, I would even make fun of myself if it meant I got to hear that graceful laugh one more time- actually, that might be a little too far.

     Many days of giggling in class came after that day. I can see her starting to open up to my friends and I, like she’s spreading her wings and showing us the greatness that lies behind the social wall that she put up years ago. Even when we got in trouble for a little too much giggling in the back of the class, I sacrificed my own pride so she didn’t have to. Yes, I, Thee Thomas Jefferson, did that. 

---

     Even though I could see the social wall she put up, I knew one day Y/n would fall for my charming pick up lines, or maybe I just happened to have a lucky day:

“Y/N I need some a some help with my math homework” 

     Y/N glances over to me in concern. I fake a scared expression.

“Quick!” I swiftly grab her shoulder and shake her “What’s your phone number?”

     She playfully smacks my arm

---

     Obtaining her number felt like a rite of passage, like I’m important to her, like she wants me in her life. I couldn’t stop smiling that day, and of course James just had to make a comment on it. 

“Thomas, if you keep smiling like that I’m going to start thinking that your sick or something”

      James said as he shut my laptop, tired of waiting for me to pack my things.

“Now that's REAL ironic coming from you, James” 

      I raised an eyebrow as my laugh begins to come up my throat. I take my closed laptop and shove it somewhere into my backpack.

“Okay, leaving for a month in sophomore year just because of a little fever doesn’t make ‘being sick’ as part of my trade mark” 

     James playfully smacked the back of my head. Thankfully, my curls serve as protection, not just to make me sinfully handsome. James and I walk out of the freezing lecture hall and were hit with the crisp-coldness of New York.

     To the right of me I catch a glimpse of that eye catching burgundy-magenta backpack as it’s thrown into the trunk of a shiny, expensive car. My feet keep its motion as my head turns to see Y/N standing at the door of the car. 

“Yo, is that Y/N?” I hear James whisper behind me “and who’s that?” 

     My attention is suddenly drawn to the tall man walking around the car to open her door. His curly hair is pulled into a small bun and the smile he had on his face broke apart the stubble on his jaw. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. 

“I’m just as clueless as you are”

     Keeping my glance on Y/N and the man, I watch as the man opens the door for her. My stomach turns as I watch Y/N smile back at him as she sits in the car. 

     For a split second, I swear I saw her shoot a soft glance at me. My feet almost stop in their tracks before I feel James’ hand yank me onto another pathway. 

“I’m all for you being head over heels, but we’re gonna be late to our study session with Angie” 

     Reality starts to set back into my head. 

“Right, lets dip.” 

---

“So little Tommy is Infatuated with this woman?”

     Angie’s eyes are piercing, and her luscious hair frames her face in a saintly manner. She slips off her baby pink coat to ease into her library seat. Her eyebrow raises as she takes a sip of her steaming coffee

     Of course James wouldn’t shut his mouth, especially around the notorious Angelica Schuyler.

     Angie’s pretty popular here, I find myself wondering why she has so many connections, yet it’s not just any reason(s) why she seems to be in the spotlight.

     1: She’s the oldest Schuyler. Her last name definitely got her places, not like I’m one to talk. Everyone seems to know her, not just at school, but all around New York City, and with her 5,000 Instagram followers, her first name’s starting to catch up with her last name in popularity

     2: Angie’s Daddy has money money. And that’s no secret when she decides to walk around campus with her designer handbags and shoes. I tend to think she always gets what she wants, but I know deep down, she’s never gonna be satisfied. Maybe it’s just a side effect of growing up with a silver spoon in your mouth

     And finally,

     3: Miss Schuyler here is Bold. She’s never afraid to put both me and James in our place. It’s almost as if she can’t be touched by anyone’s thoughts of her, then again the gossip in NYC is terribly insidious. With such grace and respect, Angelica is not afraid to throw your opinion into the ground.

“Yeah I swear, Jefferson would’ve gotten run over if I didn’t pull him onto the pathway” James attempted to tone down his laugh so the librarian wouldn’t stab him with those old, sharp eyes

“She-...”

For the first time, I didn’t know how to recoil

 “..Just caught me off guard.”. In an attempt to change the topic, I flipped through the pages of his textbook. 

Angelica and James shared an astonished glance at Thomas before looking at each other. I could hear James shrug and flipping open his textbook. I lift my head as I hear Angelica dig through her bag

“Alright let’s get started” Angie claps her hands together with determination

—-

     It’s been 2 hours of studying in the ghostly library. Unfortunately, I can’t avoid the talk forever.

“Hey Thomas, why don’t you invite her to our next study session?”

     Angelica smirked as she rudely shut my laptop. I desperately imagine the day where both James and Angelica leave me alone. I angrily glare up at her, but she has a good idea

“Actually, that’s not to bad of an idea” I ponder for a moment before retrieving my phone from my pocket

Thomas: Hey Y/N, u free this week?

     Hmm. Is this okay? Nah it’s too straight forward. I sigh as I deleted and retyped the message

Thomas: Greetings Ms. L/N, this is Mr. Jefferson from class. Would you delight me by partaking in a study session? 

What the heck Jefferson? I began to get frustrated from this nonsense. It’s just a text, why am I getting so anal over it?

Thomas: Hey Y/N, ds@insdas/19z7dnesdc-

     Angelica, who was watching me the entire time, snatched the phone from my hands. I attempted to protest, yet Angelica Schuyler knows how to hold her ground.

“Angie wh-” 

“I’ll do you a favor, Jefferson.” She said sternly. There was no way I was getting that phone back, heck, I would be lucky if I got it back in one piece

“Aaaaand sent!” I heard her squeal 

     Angelica suddenly tossed the phone to me and I fumbled it between my hands before I held it stably. I check to see the text that Angelica sent from my phone

Thomas: Hey this is Thomas from class, wanna come study with us at the library sometime?

Oh. It was that easy.

“Thanks Angie”

I shove my phone back in my pocket. Part of me was excited to have an excuse to text Y/N, yet I do wonder how awkward it would be if she rejected the offer. I mean, she already has the perfect grades, why would she need the extra help?

I start to rethink my decision.

—-

     It wasn’t until 11 pm at night until I got a reply from Y/N. Beforehand, I arrived at my apartment around 8 pm. As soon as my door shut, the room was filled with growls indicating my current problem: hunger. That could only be solved with one solution: microwavable mac and cheese. 

     My phone dinged while I was laying motionless on my bed. My apartment was right next to the street, and all I could hear was the busy streets of New York City.

     My eyes opened as I turned to my charging phone. 

Y/N: yeah I’m down :) just send a time and place and I’ll be on my way

     I was filled with joy, so much that I couldn’t wait another second to reply. 

Thomas: Alright, we meet at the library after our class. Can you make it? 

     Seeing the three dots jump melodically made my stomach feel as if two fairies were dancing throughout my body. Any second now, any second. ding!

Y/N: sounds good!

     I guess it’s settled, I get to hang out with the puzzling Y/N L/N, and maybe I’ll get to learn a bit more about her. But just because it’s a study session doesn’t mean I can’t show her what a southern gentleman looks like, and for the first time, I’m so excited to study

---

     James, Y/N, and I walk out of professor Washington’s class, laughing our asses off over some stupid joke. Everyone around us appears to be annoyed, especially with having to sit through almost two hours of my friends and I laughing in the back of the class, but it’s not like I care.

     Once we’re hit by the bitter cold of New York, my eyes are immediately drawn to that expensive car. So familiar and so faint in head, the memory of Y/N smiling as she hopped into his car replays in my brain.

“I’ll be back guys”

     Y/N excuses herself from the group before lightly jogging to the car. Her hair was graceful in the wind, and her burgundy-magenta backpack didn’t seem to weigh her down at all. For a split second, my brain acknowledges that mysterious man in the driver’s seat. There was a moment of awkward eye contact with him, his cold eyes pierced through me before my attention was drawn back to Y/N. She fixes her hair and jacket.

That was cute.

What?

     James and I watch Y/N before turning to each other. I suggest to James that we wait for her, show a little southern hospitality. Even though Y/N seems to be fond of this man, he gives off a mysterious vibe similar to Y/N’s, but I do not want to unravel that mystery at all.

     Seeing him throw a smirk at Y/N causes discomfort in my stomach. 

     Y/N comes prancing back to us, an embarrassed smile on her face. Behind her, that shiny, expensive car begins to drive away.

“My bad, I forgot to tell my roommate that I would be out late”

“That’s your roommate?” James asks, attempting to hide his curiosity and shock

“and he takes you home after class?” I interrupt briefly

Y/N nervously laughs before nodding “something like that, he just..”

     That pause was a little too long

“..doesn’t like me out of the house too late so he volunteers to drive me home all the time”

     I shrug it off before jumping at the feeling of James’ warm hands pulling Y/N and I to the direction of the library. Y/N and I look at him with confusion

“What? Angie doesn’t like when we’re late, remember?” James says, practically dragging us to the Library

—-

“Nice to meet you”

     Angelica and Y/N got along pretty well. I can tell Angie was happy to finally have a girl to hangout with rather than having to deal with me and James only. She’s already starting to resemble a sisterly figure to Y/N, then again, growing up with two sisters must’ve prepared Angie for this moment.

     I don’t hear much about the other Schuylers, but I am familiar with them. Angelica is the oldest, as we know. Her first sister, Eliza Sch- I’m pretty sure she got married, is the nicest person you’ll meet. Whoever won her surely must be worthy, because we all know people like me wouldn’t get anywhere near Eliza thanks to her older sister. Her youngest sister, Margarita Peggy Schuyler, is just like Angelica.

     Stubborn. As. Fuck.

     I’m confident that Angelica has taught her that philosophy since she was born. Anyway, Peggy is currently living her dreams in Southern California. Not sure what she does, but I’m sure she’s financially stable, she is a Schuyler after all.

     All of us struggle to not annoy the librarian, let alone the entire library. I watch as Y/N opens up, just a little more, to Angelica, James, and I.

     Hours pass as we clown around in the library. From actually completing class work to a small drawing competition between James and I, I was certainly having a good time, and so was everyone else.

     It was pleasing to see Y/N more laid back rather than how she acts in class. In front of Professor Washington she’s so ‘put together’ and organized, but surrounded by her friends she’s such an amazing person, her range in professionalism and humor is astounding.

     I can’t seem to ignore the fact that Angelica notices the way I look at Y/N. It’s definitely not in my strong suit to be ‘low key’, I’m known for dramatic entrances and stealing the spotlight. She smiles when I make eye contact with her, and I’m pretty sure it’s just her way of annoying me, but I can’t help the way I look at Y/N. She really is an angel sent down from heaven, disguised as a college student, and I’m just lucky enough to be her friend.

     I’m blind to her flaws. When I see her, I feel like a tourist glancing at the Mona Lisa, memorizing every curve of her face, the way her hair falls around her shoulders, and the way the library lighting reflects off of her glowing skin.

     What felt like a sledgehammer breaking a slab of fragile glass, I see Y/N’s phone light up. Even across the table I can read the word “Lafayette” off of her phone. I can’t lie, it surely sounds familiar.

     When she finally noticed her phone flash on, I feel her ease turn into worry, and it definitely didn’t go unnoticed by James, Angie, and I. She starts to pack away her books

“My bad guys, I really gotta go”

     Y/N said notably panicking. Her phone flashes once again, yet the only thing that seems to catch my eyes is the bold “7:30” spread across the top of her phone.

“Are you okay by yourself?” I asked, trying my best not to pry into her business

“Yeah, my roommates here to pick me up, I don’t want to make him wait” she tried to play it off, but I’m learning to see right through her

“Alright, see you next time Y/N” I shrug it off

     She sends my friends and I a quick smile before replying

“for sure”

     Angelica and James got back to work without saying a word, and I could tell they were waiting until she was gone to start teasing me. I eased back into my chair before flipping the pages of my notebook

     I watched as she shoved open the library door and disappeared into the darkness. She’s such a mystery, when I feel like she’s opening up, she just shuts the door and we’re back at square one. Though I do claim to love a good challenge, Y/N L/N, I will never understand you.

—-

     And that’s when it started. It wasn’t just one time where 7:30 was Y/N magic number, oh no, it was oddly consistent. I’m convinced that Y/N is some variation of Cinderella; her polite attitude and the beautiful little things she does without acknowledging it all vanish when the clock strikes 8:00, but that’s just one of many theories made by James.

     Another study session with James and Angelica, and Y/N’s flashing screen still compelled Y/N to leave the library without a trace. On some occasions we don’t even notice her escape, we just turn to see her seat empty and feel the faint wind from outside as the library door slowly closes.

     One day Angie bought us all tickets to see the preview to the newest, scariest movie I’ve ever watched. I was accompanied by Y/N, James, and Angie, yet their presences made it worse. Halfway through the bucket of popcorn and the movie, Y/N suddenly stood up and left after saying those 5 words. Before she left, I felt the warmth of her hands leave the place on my arm.

I never knew how addicting her warmth would be until it was already gone.

“Sorry guys, I gotta go” The weak smile on her face instantly resonated feelings of sympathy and understanding.

     From then on, Y/N and I grew closer as friends. We’d fool around at a local park before heading to campus, obviously sparking a few observations and remarks from James. I’d invite her to fancy dinners, or maybe even a small festival down the road from my apartment, yet her response would always be proven false at the moment she’d leave me and my thoughts at 7:30.

     But that hasn’t stopped me from attempting to hang out with her. Even on the days I wouldn’t have class with her we’d go out and get ice cream, study at the park, I guess you can say we’ve gone on a few ‘dates’ since our initial study session.

     Whenever we’re apart, I can feel every second expanding to its maximum capacity of time. I wouldn’t see her for a day and it will already feel like years since I’ve seen her. The days I do see her, time seems to maneuver a little too fast. When I recall hanging out with Y/N, all I can imagine is the feeling of floating above the clouds every time she and I made physical contact. Like a rock being dropped into still water, ever touch ripples throughout my body, sending shivers down my spine.

Truly incredible.

—-

     She doesn’t like to talk about her personal life, and I find that quite odd. I’m usually one to continue rambling every detail of every trait of mine, yet I find myself yearning to learn more about her. 

     We text every now and then when we’re outside of class, a little more to be considered ‘just friends’. There’s always a story which unravels just a little more of Y/N’s past, and she’s left me on my own to connect the dots. I must say, she’s definitely an interesting gal, but I know there’s more to discover. 

     She’s a native New Yorker, born and raised, surviving by splitting an intense rent with her mysterious room mate. Y/N doesn’t talk much of her family, other than faint memories of her mother single handedly raising her and her little brother, who I’m fairly unaware of.

     Going into college undecided, Y/N describes her want to learn more about herself before she’s able to make any life determining choices. I’ve noticed that her schedule seems like a labyrinth avoiding life problems and obstacles, so perhaps being placed in the same class coincidentally was just fate playing its part.

     Y/N loves to explain her dream for workless weekends, moments in the week where she just gets to sit back, close her eyes, and breathe a little. With finals starting to appear from thin air, I can’t blame her for a dream so far from reality.

     Even with the knowledge I hold of her, something never seems to change: her disappearances at 7:30.

It’s always that damn 7:30.

     7:30--the cliffhanger your favorite show leaves you desiring for more

     the end of a fun night of laughter and glee, wishing it lasted just a little longer 

     the off-set energy in a room when those around you know something you don’t. 

     As days, weeks, and months pass since my first text proposal to hang out at the library, Y/N and I become a little closer than just friends. It’s been obvious, especially to James and Angie, that Y/N is more than capable of holding my attention.

     Though James is worried that Y/N will just become ‘another girl’ to me, concerning my tomcat nature in the past, he can see the potential I see in her. I find myself wishing I did spend more time with her, maybe I just need to make a better effort.

     I’ll prove James and Angie wrong. 

     Filled with determination and confidence, in the midst of my silent room, I whip out my phone and direct my attention towards forming a text message for Y/N

Thomas: let’s get coffee sometime?

     Jefferson charm, don’t fail me now.

---

     Before I knew it, Y/N and I were feasting on exotic cheeses and aged wine in my New York apartment. I hit play on a random romcom which helps to fill the emptiness in my apartment and ironically the thin space between Y/N and I. 

     I have no idea how to make my move. Though I’m not aware of my competition, I imagine if Y/N could attract someone of My caliber, I should be well aware of the things she’s capable of. Originally I planned to court her-- I know, I know, I’m a man of tradition--yet after James caught on to my recognizable frustration, He suggested I go for it. 

     This is surprising on multiple occasions, especially since James possesses the ‘brains’ between the both of us. Being the chess club champion, ‘talk’ won’t aid you when you're struggling in a chess match. Just like how he meticulously plays chess, he examines my situation and provides his Virginian insight, or so he prefers to call it, and they always proceed the way his scheme describes. 

     I’ve adhered his advice to my life ever since we were kids, and when I didn’t, he’d simply reply with: 

“I told you so” 

     His smug smirk accompanied with a finger pointing to his temple would soon transform from clever to annoying. 

     I feel a vibration come from my pocket. Well, of course it’s not Y/N texting so must I really answer it? I pull out my phone despite my doubts and I can’t help but roll my eyes.

James: 👍

Speak of the Devil.

     But enough about James. I understand that both Y/N and I are mature college students, yet I still fear the disruption in our friendship I can provoke just by making my move. I’ve gotten this far; If she wasn’t interesting I’m sure she would’ve rejected me sooner. 

     She’s different, she’s unique, something about her that I just can’t place, but also something missing. Anyway, this is probably my best chance at shooting my shot at Y/N, and it’s too late now to back down. 

     As my lips part in an attempt to speak and make a move, Y/N’s motionless phone (currently laying undisturbed on my coffee table) suddenly brightens with the most obnoxious ringtone I’ve ever heard. The words “It’s 7:30!” flash on her screen, almost as if it was warning her rather than reminding her. 

“Y/N—” my eyes follow her body as she swiftly stands up

“I gotta g—” I watch as she attempts to grab her purse, yet her body is limited when I firmly grab her arm. She looks back to me with tiredness in her eyes.

     Part of me thought maybe, just maybe, Cinderella here wouldn’t have a curfew. That I somehow would be the exemption to this consistent confusion . But you can only daydream so far into the day until you’re pulled back into your reality

     Her entire demeanor seems like it was reconstructed after her alarm went off. Moments ago she was just enjoying tasty cheese and cheesy movies, and the worst part is, I have no idea why.

“Let me speak, darlin’”

     I stand up to avoid the way her eyes look down on me. I can’t stand that pitiful glare; she looks at me as if I’m a child incapable of understanding her situation, but she’s too stubborn to let me know. I’d be wise to use this time to make a move on different circumstances.

“Now, you’re always leaving at seven thirty..”

     Her sigh is almost enough to interrupt me

“..why’s that? Talk to me.”

     I maintain my eye contact before it’s abruptly broken. She looks everywhere but my eyes, and I wonder where in my apartment she would find an excuse, yet still manages to dodge the question.

“..you wouldn’t understand..” she scoffs almost intentionally, honestly scratching a part of my ego. I hate to admit she’s right, I really don’t understand what’s going on.

     I cock my head to the side. Where’s this coming from?

“Darlin’, I’m sure I’m a very understanding person—”

“—I need to leave”

     I could tell by the look of her face that she wasn’t trying to argue, but it’s inevitable.

“Why can’t you just tell me?..” I put my hands up as a sign of defeat, but I’m not giving up yet. “We’ve been friends for a while and you’re always leavin’ at seven—”

“I know! I know..” she removes my hand from her arm, clearly refusing to look up at me.

“Let’s just say..I got a job..?”

     Oh. That’s what this is all about? A job? She couldn’t spare at least an explanation for a part time gig?

“See? That wasn’t so hard”

“It’s..really embarrassing..” The glance she takes around the room makes me wonder if she’s really telling the truth. it’s not really my place to speculate, there’s no going back from this.

“It’s alright, it’s just a job after all” I claim, trying to get this conversation back on track

“This is exactly what I meant but ‘you wouldn’t understand’”

Huh?

“You don’t know what it feels like to have your life rely on minimum wage—” she sounds like she’s holding something back.

“Y/N wher—”

“A-and here you are makin’ me late for work” her eyes appear on the verge of crying.

“darlin’ look..”

“God, you’ve never had to work for anything in your life!”

Silence.

     Both of us refuse to speak. Y/N phone, still on the table, chimes again. “7:35” it said on its bright screen.

“Is that really how you feel?..” I take a step back to give her space. She still refuses to look at me.

     There’s no way she’d cause all this chaos just because of a job. And even if she believes I’ve piggy backed off of my name for my entire life, why would it matter to her?

“I..I should leave” before I could process what just happened, she swiftly tosses her phone into her bag and heads for the door.

“Y’know, I had a nice time..” was all I heard before the harsh shutting of my apartment door.

     And that was the end of it.

     My first thought after the door shut wasn’t to whip out my phone and attempt to text her, it certainly wasn’t to call James and inform him of his miscalculation, but instead to attend to the matter at hand. This cheese and wine won’t clean itself.

     And the night continued normally, as if nothing had ever taken place. I couldn’t help but microwave another cup of Mac and cheese to cope with what Y/N said. Nothin’ like a good meal to divert your attention away from your problems. But even a good cup of cheese and pasta can’t stop me from thinking’: 

Is that all I am to her?

A southern snob incapable of functioning without their father’s last name?

     After an introspective shower, and a few episodes of a random Netflix show, I’m finally alone with my thoughts and feelings. I lie in darkness, tussling and turning at every occasion, unable to extract her words from my mind. 

     If there’s someone whose opinion I care about the most, it’s Y/N L/N. I consider texting her at this very moment, yet I’m sure that I’m the last person she wants to talk to. The weight of my actions falls heavily onto my shoulders every minute, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Give her space, Jefferson, and maybe you’ll be able to fix this tragedy. 

---

Knock! Knock! Knock!

     The knocks on my apartment door were enough to jerk my body back to consciousness. Sadly pulled from the warmth of my dreams, I’m hit with the cold, noisy reality of an average night here in New York.

Can my day get any worse?

     Coming straight from the depths of slumber, I take a few minutes to process reality. Maybe the knocks were in my head. Did I dream about someone knocking on my door? Perhaps it’s

The sun’s still not up yet, why am I?

     Groggily sitting up, I decide to check the time, yet it takes me multiple attempts to grab my phone in the dark before I catch a sight of the time.

2 am?!

     Who is so out of their minds so show up to my apartment at this time? Who do I know that would show up at this time?

James is too sensible for that,

Angie would never waste her time on me, for whatever reason,

And Y/N—

well.

I don’t know our circumstances right now.

     I debate whether or not I should answer the door. Perhaps it’s just rock that happened to hit the door of my apartment, and even if it is a person, I’m not aware of anyone so mad to show up in the middle of the night. it’s not worth my time.  

...

...

Knock! Knock! Knock!

     So much for ‘Not worth my time’. A groan is all my body can respond with while I gradually stand from the comfort of my bed. I grab the nearest shirt, which was draped over my desk chair, and scramble to put it on. Passing my cramped kitchen, my hands subconsciously flip on the nearest light switches, while my eyes struggle to comprehend the sudden light. 

     Before I reach the door, I couldn’t help but attempt to fix my hair. Just because someone happens to show up outside unannounced doesn’t mean I can’t present my best rendition of a southern gentleman. 

     And finally, through my fatigue and irritation, I’m finally urged to grab the doorknob and twist it open in one motion. 

“Uh, it’s two a.m. so I hope--” 

     I nervously scratch the back of my head, attempting to add spice to this awkward encounter. It wasn’t until my eyes caught sight of the blood dripping down her glass skin and the meeting of our eyes did I have any words

“Y/N?!?”  

     Her cold, pale, and hurt body would’ve hit the concrete floor if I had answered the door any later.

--- 

     And there she layed half colorless on my bed. Her smile was full of embarrassment and gratitude as I sat beside her, tending to the evident cuts and Injured areas of her body. “I hope I’m being a great house guest” she joked, causing her to laugh, yet hurting herself in the process. 

“Hey, Hey, Take it easy..” Y/N’s presence usually fills me with carefreeness, or perhaps stability, but for the first time I can’t help but react seriously. Her demeanor changed as she saw my retaliation to her joke. 

“I guess…” she looked down to her fragile body, a sigh released, seeming to be an attempt to calm down. “...I owe you an explanation for earlier. And especially for showing up at your place at 2 in the damn morning. ” 

     Thomas’ hands, full of wipes and hydrogen peroxide soaked cotton balls, froze in their tracks before he looked up at her, eager to listen and visibly confused. Y/N visibly winced as the cotton balls stuck to her cuts for longer than they should’ve, yet with Thomas’ reflexes at their all-time-max, he pulled them away with a worried expression.

“Explanation? You said you got a job, and I’m sorry for not respecting it..” I continued to clean her up, consensually of course, how could I call myself a gentleman if I were to act upon improper motives? 

“Again..” I utter quietly “..I didn’t know you felt that way, and I’m ashamed you feel that way” 

     I attach an ivory-colored band aid to her glass skin, careful not to damage it any further. I look up to her watching, pitiful eyes. “You were saying?” I reciprocate the attention to her, awaiting a so-called answer to come out of her mouth 

“I didn’t know where else to run to..” she attempted to sit up, lifting her weight off of my satin-covered sheets, yet quickly stopped when being hit with a wave of pain from her right shoulder 

     Though my first thought would’ve been ‘Damn it, my darn sheets are ruined’, it was quickly drawn to Y/N and her current problem 

“Y’know, I think an apology and explanation can wait, Y/N. you need a little sleep, it’s already three in the mornin’ for god’s sake” a small laugh erupts from her

    I sent her an assuring smile, trying to remind her that everything is always going to be okay in a Jefferson household. And surprisingly I received a smile in return, a smile of trust and security that I’ve never felt so glad to see. Of course, I wish I could’ve seen that smile under different circumstances, but I’ll work with what I got. 

     I stood from my beautiful satin sheets and reached for a hoodie on my swivel chair. (everything but your closet is a closet, change my mind) I braced for a cold night on my apartment couch while Y/N enjoys the warmth of my bed, but Y/N had other plans. 

“Wait- Thomas.” She said firmly 

     I turned tiredly to her direction, my arm already extended for the door, yet frozen in place as I awaited a response 

“Can you just..” she scoot herself over, as much as possible with her frail body “..hold me?” She watches me anxiously 

“I mean— you don’t have to b—” I didn’t hesitate at all to gently slide under the sheets of the bed. As soon as I turn to her direction, I can’t help but feel scared to touch her in fear of hurting her; my hands don’t know where to reside. “Where do I..” I’m truly perplexed 

     She giggled at my confusion and shyly grabbed my hand “I’m not so fragile you know” 

     She brought my hand up to the side of her head, and all I could process was the texture of the bandages under my fingertips. I don’t know what's going on, but I couldn’t just leave her out there. 

“..Right..” I wait for her eyes to close before I can even think about closing mine, and soon the texture of the bandages seem to melt onto my fingertips as I’m finally able to return to my slumber. 

“See you in the mornin’..” 

---

     I didn’t wake up until I felt the sun rays kissing my back through my so-called ‘blackout curtains’. Such a scam. The room seemed a little too quiet; I gently turned onto my other side just to find an empty bed. I consider the possibility of last night’s encounter with Y/N was all just some messed up dream, but when I saw the faint stains of blood on my sheets, I knew I was far from dreaming. 

     My body doesn’t want to move, and I’m stuck sitting up in my bed for another ten minutes. What the heck is going on? One minute she yells at me, then next thing I know she’s outside my apartment at 2 am. 

And that explanation. 

     I guess I was such a fool to think she wouldn’t continue to run away from this matter. My thoughts are interrupted by my buzzing phone. I know for sure that it’s not Y/N hittin up my phone right about now. 

James: Let’s try that new coffee place a few blocks from your apartment? 

     He really read my mind, or maybe it’s a response made from calculating my failure yesterday. But a distraction sounds tremendous. 

Thomas: bet. 

     I throw on a cleaner, more professional jacket, if such a thing exists, and swiftly get my feet out the door. Everything seems the same, as if nothing had taken place last night. The world still spins and I’m expected to spin with it. 

I don’t think I’m anywhere near capable of unraveling your mystery. 

Y/N L/N, I will never understand you.

[theyarebothgunshot]

ROSE I AM FREAKING OUT HAVE YOU SEEN THE PREQUEL STUFF???? WHAT IS GOING ON, my god... I was literally about to go to sleep, decided to check Tumblr one last time and see this.... what WHAT!! WHATTTT!!!!!! I don't even know if this is good bad or what but just JENSEN IS PRODUCING A SUPERNATURAL PREQUEL AND DEAN'S GONNA BE THE NARRATOR OR Sth LIKE???? -🐸

YEAH i am normal about this <3 (jk i am also freaking out) welcome to: people screaming to me in my inbox about prequelgate ft. j/2 fallout theory. let's goooo!

Another copypasta and suddenly chaos machine is full on gay I love this prophecy

you know whats funny i just checked the j/2 tag and i feel like for the first time in a long time they are starting to realise that maybe THEY should be the ones who are "gutted" *sips tea*

ROSE HOLY SHIT ROOOOOOOOSE ITS HAPPENING HOLY SHIIIIIT

YEAH

Nevermind just read prequel and well good luck I guess but just you know kind of bleh who wants to watch John Winchester well let’s have hope anyways

i know a lot of people are bummed out but i am kind of very excited actually?? i trust robbie and even though yeah j*hn winchester turned into a nasty abusive bastard, it can be interesting to explore how it all started (imo). it's just the first of many stories they can tell.

I can only accept this circus if it’s Dean telling the stories to his and Cas’ kids and then we have a revival to show that the whole finale was in fact the end Chuck wanted there Jensen I fixed it

i would not say no to this

heyloo bee anon here

um- wtf is happening?

jackles prequel series?? why? i want to be excited about this but sheesh im scared

because supernatural is never dead <3

okay, but, jensen... john winchester ≠ jdm, you don’t have to go /that/ hard for him 🙃

true true... though i am waiting for jdm to comment on this, please i need it

WAIT A SECOND J2 FALLOUT THEORY TRUE??

LMAO HELL YEAH BESTIE

Rose you really picked the worst time to sleep for real

bestie it was literally 4 in the morning, what do you expect from me sdfjsfhsf

I can’t literally can’t we were all right LMAO j2 fallout theory is real and cockles (Misha supporting Jensen) is [gunshots] I’m just laughing cause what the hell is this timeline we’re living LMAOOOOOOOOOO

we would always end up here <3

Do we have the copypaste anons to thank for JP basically confirming the J2 fallout? lol 🦚

yes, everybody say 'thanks annoying idiots!'

ROSE, WAKE UP, COME HERE,

THERE'S A LOT GOING ON FFS

YEAH I KNOW BUT I NEEDED SLEEP

Anticipating that there's going to be a lot of yelling about the prequel on here: I am cackling, but also, I mean, the first time Dean got a look into his parent's past, Cas was the catalyst: literally entered Dean's mind and catapulted him to the 70s. So idk, it's not completely unreasonable to expect some Cas cameos, maybe setting up a parallel timeline since Dean is narrating. What I'm saying is, this is Jackles, he's getting JDM and Misha in on this lmao -Honeymoon Anon

you were right lmfaooo also i fully agree. misha's tweet further cemented that thought for me. he knew about this prequel and i dont think he is cas-baiting us, i think he'll be involved. i'd also be obsessed to see jensen and jdm act together again (though idk who jdm could play seeing as it's a prequel and he is way too old to play young j*hn)

longlivethetribbles heeft gevraagd:

Heyyyyyy bestie, are you SEEING the absolute madness going on right now holy shit

well a little late but I SURE AM BESTIE

bestie wake up pls s16 finale just dropped.

- 🍯

and WHAT a great one it was

I love coming home from work to see all of the chaos unfolding on Tumblr and Twitter. I'm absolutely buzzing right now. I'll probably still be here by the time you wake up and check tumblr 😂 - 🐢

lmaooo and were you still awake?? did you see my freak out??

Oooh bestie wake the fuck up, I know you’re gonna be excited for this one jsnsjsj

god i had SUCH a morning like. it's 12:00 now and all i did since i woke up is check tumblr rip

short summary: jen and dee gain the rights, they post on ig/twitter about a prequel ft john and mary that no one asked for, the fandom loses its everloving shit as usual, they trend on twitter thanks to the beloved twt intern who missed us, misha qt’s jen about cas possibly benefiting from being in the prequel, then j*red qt’s jensen abt how his feelings got hurt by him not being told about a prequel his character as no involvement in & he initially throws a tantrum, and the rest is history - 🦋 anon (ps: i hope this helps a little, i’ve been scattered brained trying to keep up with it all night lmao so pls let me know if i missed anything, bug crew !!)

thank you so much darling i figured it out eventually but this is a helpful summary!!!

I hope you enjoyed waking up to all of this XD -🐢

i sure did!!! also that answers my question about you being awake lmao

I WILL NEVER EVER EVER FORGIVE MYSELF FOR SLEEPING THROUGH ALL OF THIS DRAMA AND NOT EXPERIENCING IT IN PERSON I DIDN'T NEED THIS SLEEP - tea anon

well the party was still going strong this morning so im not TOO "gutted" see what i did there lmaooo

Now that you are caught up with the news... So idk if you remember this but...didn't jarpad tell jackles he was up for a reboot in an online panel? And jackles answered that this was news to him??

-🍯

yeah i think you are right but he was clearly joking and didnt expect jackles to actually be working on something already

J2 anon spare more of those anons let's finish this - tea anon

please, we're having a ball in this bitch

I saw a post on tumblr where someone said now that Kripke gave J&D the rights, maybe they’re starting with a prequel just to end on a reboot in years time and honestly ? I wanna believe that so badly. This is tinhatty but what if this is all calculated in a way that makes it so that Jensen is slowly starting to fix everything that was wrong with spn - now that he has the rights and he’s slowly making spn his own story ?! I mean he did say in his ig post he wants to ‘fill in the rest’ - and maybe Mary and John’s story is only the beginning of spn related content from J&D to come ??? Maybe he wants to give spn the justice it deserves ?? Thoughts ??

i dont think this is tinhatty at all i think this is very possible and not that much of a reach. i could see this happening yeah for sure

want to hear something funny. I found out I had a ruptured blood vessel in my eye because I was sending my friend a video freaking out when the prequel news dropped and I noticed the corner of my eye was red af. and when I got back online jared had tweeted.

DJFHSJD ANON THE CHAOS OF IT ALL, HELP, are you okay? <3

rose.. bestie... how are you feeling about The News? nsfshsf being european is a curse </3 🐞

i feel GREAT im living for it i feel on top of the world tbh (and yeah it really is dsjfhs)

What am I waking up to I can't WHAT I rested my eyes for like 5 minutes help *hits reblog button* - anon anon

yep yep essentially djfhs

“Jensen and Misha are Co workers who barley talk”

I can’t be sure of course but I’m fairly certain that this is the copypasta that brought the j/2 fallout theory back to life. Who’s apparently ‘barely talking’ now? skansjsjsj. It’s almost prophetic, these j/2 anons have superpowers I’m telling ya.

-poker face anon

next time we get one of them we should be thanking them lmaooo

ok, but are we gonna talk about the "When Daneel and I formed Chaos Machine Productions, we knew that the first story we wanted to tell was the story of John and Mary Winchester [...]"-quote because the way this is phrased implies they formed CHAOS MACHINE Productions with the intent of telling this story (first), i haven't been in this dumpster long enough but the name just tickles me in that Misha way, isn't it so sus??? am i missing something???? i mean with this announcement they SURE lived up to that name... 🧩-anon

you are absolutely right, chaos machine SCREAMS misha and we are all here for it!!

hey hey hey. joining the clownverse, there's no way THEE cas girl danneel doesn't know just how much the fandom loves misha and cas. so 2 + 2 = misha in the spn prequel!

AGREED

So I think I finally managed to catch up on wtf happened while I was asleep and my brain melted. What a shit show to wake up to.

Anyway thoughts.

I don't hate the idea of a Mary&John sequel. I think it has the potential to be good (It has the potential to be really bad too, so I'm kind scared).

🕯️🕯️🕯️ manifesting Mary being badass and John being kinda useless🕯️🕯️🕯️

As for the Jensen and J*red thing.

I can see Jensen not telling J*red even if they are still friends, because J*red is kinda good at accidentally telling Secrets. He could have told him right before he announced it so, so that J*red didn't have to find out from twitter. He was on the show for 15 years, he is bound to get asked about it. The public twitter meltdown was really unprofessional so. Like you have Jensen's number J*red. You could have sorted that out in private like a normal person, but instead you choose to act like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Is it weird that I'm actually going to be kinda that for them if the actually had a falling out, even tho I don't like J*red all that much. They seemed to be really important to each other and while I thought before that the might have triefted apart a bit, I didn't think that the where actively fighting.

- 🐌 anon

the thing is, the polite/normal thing for jensen to do was text him before announcing it on twitter. it's weird he didn't, and that makes me believe that maybe yeah they did have a falling out. especially with the way j*red responded to it on twitter. if he had no other reason to be this upset (no prior beef or falling out) you'd think that he wouldn't be responding like this. on the other hand, the man is a mysterie to me so who the hell knows. i'm not gonna mourn about it if they did/do grow apart because j*red is just.... awful imo.

[xtrashmammalstefx]

Where My Demon’s Hide (A Zak Bagans x Nephilim Reader SMUT!)

WARNINGS: SMUT, LANGUAGE

SPECIAL THANKS TO: @xcazzax​ who not only gave me this idea but who has inspired me to maybe write Zak Bagans fics for each day of October (or at least try to). Thanks girly, for helping me get my mojo back. 😊

I arrived at the Asylum just as they were setting up the cameras. I've been with the GAC for a few years now and I have yet to have a boring day with them. They are and always will be my family. Aaron, was like a goofball older brother who smokes like a chimney, looks tough as shit but is actually chicken shit (not that that's a bad thing, lord knows I'm not brave when locked in a haunted room  on my lonesome). Billy is my punk rock brother who has also not grown out of the punk/emo phase of life. Jay is the responsible one of the group (aka the dad) who sometimes looks like he's ashamed of having raised such dumbass kids.  And there's Zak, the main man of GAC who is both crazy and beautiful. He wasn't afraid to get in an evil spirits face, and even opened up his home to those who were harming others in their old one's. It's that twisted generosity that has led to moments like these.

Aaron looked nervous and Billy seemed to not want to leave the van unless absolutely necessary. That only meant one thing.

“How is he?” I asked Aaron who was getting the equipment ready.

“Um, well...”

“ C'MON SHOW YOURSELF YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!” We heard Zak yell from inside the asylum.

“Oh,” I sighed. I swear it was like Zak attracted evil (and sometimes demonic) spirits like chocolate attracts a hoard of kids. Then again he was more than okay with investigating places with the most gruesome of histories. “I'll see if I can cool him down before the shoot. Just hang tight.”

“'Kay, good luck Y/N.” Aaron said.

I grabbed a flashlight from the van and walked in to the asylum. Zak was in the middle of reception area with a wild look in his eye. “Zak?”

He looked at me. “There's something here I-I know it!”

I looked around not seeing anything until my eyes landed on a shadowy figure hovering around Zak. Ah shit. “Zak it's not one of the residents,” I said. “One of your little friends is just being an asshole.”

The shadow looked up and snarled at me.

“Yeah I'm talking about you,” I rolled my eyes. “Now kindly fuck off before I hose your sorry ass down with holy water.”

It growled and vanished.

“Thanks,” Zak said calming down a bit.

“We really need to do something about this Zak,” I said. “You can't keep letting them get to you like that. It's how they win.”

“I know but...I don't know how else to keep them from hurting anyone,” he said. “From hurting you.”

“Well it's gone for now, and that's all that matters,” I said brushing his cheek with my hand. “Now are we just gonna chill in here or are we gonna investigate this bitch?”

He smirked. “C'mon my ghost whisperer let's get you a mic and a camera.” He threw his arm around my shoulders and escorted me back out of the asylum and to the GAC van.

Eventually the sun went down fully and the haunting hour was upon us. “Okay Y/N why don't you stay here by yourself for a bit and see what you can get.” Zak said when we reached the children's ward.. Sadistic fucker.

“Sure,” I said. He and the crew left and I sat down cross-legged on the ground and put my 'gift' to work. “Hello there. I was wondering if we could talk for a minute if that's okay.” I placed the spirit box on the floor in front of me. “You see this little box? Well if you talk into it I can hear you...er I mean the world will hear you. I for one don't really need it. So what do you say?”

“D-Do you know where my mommy is?” A small voice called out in the darkness.

I sighed. “No sweetie, I don't...what's your name?”

“H-Hazel,” she said.

“It's nice to meet you, Hazel, I'm Y/N,” I said. “Can you do me a favor and speak into this?” I motioned at the spirit box. “My friends really want to know you, and help you if we can.”

“R-Really? Wuh-What about Dr. Meanie?” she asked.

“Dr. Bronson can't hurt you anymore,” I said. “And if he tries, he'll have to deal with me.”

I suddenly felt a weight on my lap, like that of a small child snuggling up to mommy.

“I-Is this okay?” she asked.

“Yes, beautiful, it's fine.” I reached out and wrapped my arms around her. “God, how did such a sweet little angel like you end up here? This is no place for a child.”

“M-Mommy came here when I was still in her tummy,” she explained. “They took me away after I was born and I never saw her again.”

“Do you know how you ended up like this?” I asked. “You're awfully young to be as you are.”

“I-I got sick...Dr. Meanie wouldn't give me my medicine 'cause I slapped Tippy on the head for pulling my hair. One day I went to sleep, and...and suddenly I was invisible.”

“Have you tried to go into the light?” I asked. “I'm sure you'll find your mommy there, and someday I'll be there too.”

“I thought I saw it once but...I was afraid. Dr. Meanie tells us it's not safe.”

“It is safe,” I said. “I promise you it is a thousand times better than this place.” I wanted to say shit hole but I had a rule about cussing in front of kids, even the dead ones.

“It's in my room,” she whispered.

I sniffed back a tear and kissed the top of her head. “Go to it,” I urged her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, angels belong in heaven after all,” I said brushed her cheek and she giggled.

“Thank you, Ms. Y/M,” she said standing up and vanishing through the nearby doorway.

“Good bye sweet angel,” I said before turning off the spirit box and pausing my camera.

I left the ward and got Zak on the walkie. “Alright, I'm done.”

“'Kay I'm down in the basement if you wanna...WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Zak?” He didn't answer. “ZAK!?” Still nothing. I sighed. “Dammit.”

I took off running.

Down in the basement Zak was looking around and shouting like a madman. “Zak what happened?! What's going on?!”

“There was a shadowing standing right fucking next to me,” he said. I looked around and sure enough a tall shadowy figured hovered behind him.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” I snapped at it.

“My, my...” it said smugly. “Aren't you an interesting specimen.”

“Leave us alone, now!” I said. It laughed. “I'm not fucking around! Leave and never return to this sacred ground.” He flinched at the words I've said more times than I would like.

“Foolish woman,” he laughed. “This place is anything but sacred.”

“It wasn't in your time,” I said walking towards a nearby wall. “But now...” I took my bottle of holy water and dabbed some onto my hand. I then drew a cross on the wall.

“Is that all you got?” the demon scoffed.

I smirked. “Lesson number one in haunting,” I said taking out my small switchblade. I made a small cut on my fore finger  and drew a symbol on the wall above the cross. A symbol no demon could fight against. “Don't piss off a Nephilim.”

The empty pits where it's eyes once were widened and a loud roar erupted from its mouth.  

“I, Y/N, the daughter of Michael send thee to the house of thy uncle Lucifer...may he not have mercy on your soul.” The ground opened up and the shadow was swallowed by a wall of flames. “I hate fucking demons,” I muttered once it was gone.

Zak looked at me in shock. “Is there really never gonna be a time when this doesn't surprise you?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said snapping out of it.

“You feeling okay?” I asked placing my hand on his cheek.

“Yeah,” he said. “Thanks...”

“Anytime,” I said pecking him on the cheek.

We continued investigating and got plenty of evidence that made sleeping not an option for the next year.

That night we were hold up in a hotel. I couldn't sleep so once I was showered and jammied up I went for a walk. So many different things ran through my mind and I tried to sort them out as best I could. But then I heard the shouting...

“LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!” Zak damn near roared. “For fucks sake!” I heard him cry.

I went up to his door and knocked furiously. “Zak it's me, let me in!”

“Not now Y/N,” he begged.

“Yes now,” I snapped at him. “I know there's someone there with you and I'm the only one who can help, so let me fucking in!”

A moment later the door opened and Zak stood there looking exhausted and just done with life. It was terrifying and heartbreaking. ..but it was nothing compared to what his friend looked like. It was a snarling beast with skin resembling that of a dried date; brown and shiny. It's arm was around Zak's neck, holding him in a choke-hold. “He is mine.” It said, it's voice deep and chilling.

“No,” I said. “No he fucking isn't!”

I wrapped my arms around Zak and the demon let go as though it had burned. “A daughter of Michael...why am I not surprised?”

“In the name of my father leave this place!” I demanded.

“Brave like your father...” It said. “Unfortunately you're as foolish as he is as well. Watch your back daughter of Michael for I am not the only one in this world and my brethren aren't as friendly as I...” Friendly. My. Ass.

“IN THE NAME OF MY FATHER LEAVE THIS PLACE YOU COCKAROACH LOOKING SHIT!” I demanded once more...this time he listened.

With the demon gone I pulled back. “It's gone.”

Zak nodded. “Which one was it?”

“I think it was one of the pests you picked up at Bobby Mackey's.” I explained helping him to his bed.

“I thought we got rid of all of them?” he asked.

“Yeah well it seems this conniving little fucker did a good job of hiding during the clean up,”  I said. “You gonna be okay?”

“I think so,” he said. “But I'd still feel better if you stayed...if that's alright.”

“You don't even have to ask,” I said rubbing his back with my hand. “Jesus,” I gasped. “You're burning up!”

“I just had a hot shower...the tap might have been busted 'cause shit was that water scalding.” I rolled my eyes.

“It didn't burn you too bad did it?” I asked. He shrugged. “Alright off with the shirt.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Not like that...I just wanna check for burns.”

He pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it aside. I crawled behind him on the bed and inspected his back. His skin was smooth, without so much as a scar. Even the tattoo on top was left unscathed. I leaned in and brought my lips to it. “You're good,” I said.

He turned around and our faces were suddenly closer than they've ever been. “Z-Zak?”

He said nothing...just leaned in and brought his lips to mine. So far in this brief life I've had four unforgettable nights.

The first was when I first met my dad when I was five. The second was when I found out what I was when I was thirteen...I felt at peace knowing everything I'd experienced finally made sense. The third was when I used my power to help the spirit of my best friend move on after a drunken asshole took her life. The fourth was the first time I went to Zak's house and gave him answers about the entities there.

And now...I was experiencing my fifth.

After a while Zak and I leaned back on the bed. His pants wound up joining his shirt, and eventually my clothes followed. I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight as he pushed into me. I gasped. Like the rest of him, his length was pretty... thick.

I whimpered as he moved inside me. Our skin slapped together and he grunted with almost every thrust. I don't know how much time had passed but eventually I tightened around him, my toes curling up. “ZAAAK!!!” I moaned as my whole body tensed up.

Zak thrust a few more time, each time becoming more sloppy. “FUCK!” He groaned as he filled me up. He collapsed beside me and eventually sleep overcame us.

“I love you,” I whispered just before I fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up needing very badly to pee. I tiptoed to the bathroom (not wanting to wake Zak) and relieved myself. When I got back Zak was sitting up with a confused look on his face.

“Zak?” I said sitting back down next to him.

He looked at me and tightened the blanket around his hips. “Y/N? WHAT THE FUCK?”

“What? What's wrong?”

“What's wrong? Are you fucking serious?” he said freaking out. “You're naked! FUCK, I'M NAKED! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!”

“Y-You mean you don't remember?” I said suddenly feeling uneasy.

“I remember coming back to the room after the investigation. I-I remember the inhumanly hot shower...then I saw this..this thing...next thing I know I'm waking up naked and raw.” My unease grew.

“I-I don't under...” I suddenly saw a dark, leathery skinned figure standing beside Zak's side of the bed. It had a sickening smirk on it's face.

“My brother was right, daughter of Michael,” it snarled. “You really are foolish.”

Realization hit me like a truck.

“SON OF A-!”

[perphesone]

for your prompt thing- t'pura? (T'Pring and Uhura) anything t'pura

Behold! An idea of how T’Pring might contact Uhura in the aftermath of Amok Time. I feel like this is the beginning of a longer fic coming in the future...

When the communication arrived, Nyota was already in bed after the latest long alpha shift in a line of long alpha shifts. On days like this, it was all she could do to be grateful that no one had died – and on Mr. Spock’s home planet, of all places, someone really could have died. She’d hardly believed it when Christine told her afterwards what had happened; how the captain had been forced to feign death to avoid being killed by the commander in a strange vulcan ritual. Even knowing how little she knew about the mysteries of vulcan custom, she had never imagined that such arcane practices would be maintained that demanded bloodshed between friends and brothers.

(continued under the read more)

She wished that she could speak to Mr. Spock about it, but she wasn’t sure it would be wise to even tell him that she knew. She and Christine shared everything with each other, but only under strictest confidence.

Nyota couldn’t help laughing to herself when she remembered the most extraordinary thing Christine had told her – that Mr. Spock had smiled at the captain, pearly whites and everything, when he’d seen that the apparent fatality had only been a trick.

Like someone had overheard her giggling and wanted in on the joke, that was when her comm unit chirped. She furrowed her brow, sitting up with displeasure. She saw on the viewscreen that someone was requesting a video comm. The request came from an unidentified comm signature… located on Vulcan? Who on Vulcan would be calling her for a private comm?

Suspicious, but curious, she ordered the lights to 20% and pulled herself out of bed, wrapping herself in a robe along the way.

“This is Lieutenant Uhura,” she said, slipping easily into the pleasant voice she used while on duty, “putting you through to video now.”

She accepted the video request and began adjusting the dials to accept the right signal frequencies to show the clearest image. When she saw the picture flicker to life on the screen, she looked up to see who it could be and gasped.

“T’Pring!”

“Greetings, Lieutenant Uhura,” said the woman. “I require thy assistance.”

And it was T’Pring. Nyota recognized her with certainty now that the image had reached clarity. No longer dressed up in the silver clothes of the ceremony, with her black hair pulled into two thick braids worn over her shoulders, she nevertheless retained a stiff, formal quality. She held her back and her neck very straight, upright, and her deep brown eyes were completely solemn.

Nyota realized she’d been staring. She shook her head, rattling herself out of her thoughts. “What can I do?” she asked.

“I am in need of a tutor,” T’Pring said. Before Nyota could ask for clarification, she went on. “I have spent the last six of your hours in contemplation. I have decided that I am no longer interested in the life which I would have on Vulcan, would I remain here. This change has come to me quite suddenly, and so I am unprepared. It is not my custom to be unprepared. Excuse me, I digress. I intend to leave Vulcan, but I am not educated in the dealings of other beings. I do not know the ways of outworlders. Thee are a most accomplished scholar of the ways of many kinds of outworlders. I would have thee teach me, that I might prepare for my journey and select an optimal destination.”

Nyota felt her brows draw together. “Well, I want to help you, T’Pring, but I’m not sure…”

“We may conduct lessons through this medium,” T’Pring said quickly. “I am aware that thee are not a tutor by profession and I assure thee that my expectations are appropriate. I would only gain from thy experience some part of what I lack in foreknowledge before I embark.”

The Enterprise hummed all around them.

“Please, Lieutenant.”

T’Pring’s eyes were shining.

Before she knew it, Nyota found herself agreeing to the proposal. T’Pring informed her that she would contact her again at the same time the next evening, after Nyota’s shift had ended, and their first lesson would commence. She had no demands as to the subject matter or the scope. She said again that all she wanted was to learn from Nyota’s experience, of which she had read very much.

Just as abruptly as the comm had arrived, it had ended, and Nyota was left alone again in her quarters. Her eyes drifted from the video receiver to her bed, with its petal-pink satin cover pushed down invitingly and its plush, Plutonian-mineral-down-stuffed pillows still holding the vague imprint of her head and shoulders, reminding her that she belonged there for the next eight hours.

She clicked her tongue and turned instead to her personal computer. Feeling a little silly, she opened up her own mission reports. T’Pring had asked for lessons from her own experience, but what would be useful to her? Nyota scanned the logs to remind herself of what she’d done in the past two years since joining the crew of the Enterprise. All the places they’d been, all the species they’d encountered… but where to start?

It was after three in the morning, ship’s time, before she let her tired body carry her to bed. She shut her eyes, her mind still buzzing about alien planets and strange, new languages and customs. She fell asleep and she dreamed in Andorian.

TO BE CONTINUED...?

[keepeacer]

Let me collect dust.

more gyjo! a chaptered slow burn this time :)

Chapter 1 - Lady Grinning soul

Words: ~5673

Rating: M (for future chapters)

Content Warnings: drinking, getting hit in the head with shoes

Summary: It’s the summer of 1977, and Gyro Zeppeli is the bassist in a band. He does the singing, too. After getting a late start to a show day, he meets someone in a bar that he has the feeling he’ll be seeing a lot of in the future.

Ao3 Link

Full chapter under the cut

The Sunset Strip has been, historically, a breeding ground for talent. Some artists rose through the ranks of the clubs like Aphrodite from the froth of the Mediterranean, and others suffered a fate akin to Icarus— melting and collapsing under the weight of their own excess. It was, and still is, a veritable neon mausoleum.

Legions of would-be rock stars and pin-ups flocked to these musical establishments like flies to rotting meat, drowning themselves nightly in swathes of glitter and narcotic cocktails made up of ingredients they couldn’t begin to pronounce. It was a fairly common occurrence to see people dragged out on stretchers from a bad high, or simply knocked out cold on various surfaces and left there until some good Samaritan hauled them over their shoulder and took them home... wherever that was.

The overarching theme was that most of these lost souls didn’t exactly have a home to return to.

Diego Brando was not one of these lost souls.

No, Diego Brando had himself a stuffy little apartment in the Hollywood Hills, with a balcony on one side facing that horrid white lettered sign, to boot. In this apartment he had installed a rather large conversation pit with red upholstery, upon which was perched a grey miniature poodle with the name tag “Silver”. Silver was currently chewing happily on a pair of cherry red Doc Martens.

The owner of these boots lay splayed across one section of the couch with one arm covering his face and the other dangling towards the floor, a pea green sheet haphazardly thrown onto his otherwise nude form. His snores were thunderous and his sleep was deep, deep enough that he didn’t register the indignant shout from across the room, or the half-eaten boot that was flung at his head until it had been picked up and he had been slapped with it again, a bit more insistently this time.

He twitched as he stirred from his sleep, a long yawn escaping his lips, which he smacked after the fact. A wince; his breath tasted absolutely rancid.

It suddenly registered in his mind that he had been attacked in his sleep. He hoisted himself up on his elbows and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. His assailant had gathered Silver into robed arms, a violent expression raging in pointed turquoise eyes.

Despite his diminutive form, Diego Brando managed to be the exact kind of disheveled morning-after-terrifying that caused Gyro Zeppeli to physically recoil, pulling his sheet over more of his person as if it would serve as some sort of protection.

Gyro did not know what he did to warrant such venom, but it wasn’t like this was the first time he’d been woken up in such a way. He smiled sheepishly, hoping that he’d calm the other man down with his trademark disarming grin. “Good mornin’, sunshine.”

It did not work. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Uh… sleeping?”

Diego all but growled as he stomped into the pit, leaning over slightly and picking up the victimized boot with the hand that wasn’t cradling Silver. He advanced toward Gyro, waving the boot in the air. “Do you know what this is?”

“Yeah, that’s a bo— Huh?! ” Gyro spluttered, eyes widening at the realization that those were, in fact, his prized cherry Docs . His gaze shot from the boots to the poodle in Diego’s arms, a poodle that looked almost smug . It knew what it had done. “The fuck happened to my boots?!”

Diego threw Silver’s newest chew toy at Gyro, connecting with his chest with a dull thud and an “Ow!”. He ran his hand over the tuft of hair on Silver’s head, cooing down at his pet.

“I’m sorry this oaf tried to poison you, darling,” Diego purred, scratching under Silver’s chin.

Gyro looked at him incredulously. “How? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your boots.”

“And?”

“You left them where my sweet angel could have choked on them.”

Gyro scoffed in utter disbelief. He had half a mind to jump up and start yelling, but he remembered his physical state and decided that, what with the wide-open windows, Diego’s neighbors didn’t deserve that kind of performance this early in the morning. He instead contented himself with sitting upright completely and angrily gripping his boot. His poor, poor boot.

“Your angel?!” Gyro scoffed, pointing an accusatory finger at the doe-eyed Silver. “That little rat that chewed the absolute fuck out of my fucking boots? That’s real goddamn leather!”

This was met with an eye-roll. “Oh, please. They cost you what, 20 dollars at most?”

“20 dollars at most,” he mocked, putting on the most obnoxiously fake English accent he could muster. Gyro gestured around angrily to the opulent apartment he’d regrettably become a guest in for the night. “ Just 20 dollars . You know, you were so much nicer last night. Weren’t beating me with my own damn things, for one.”

“You endangered the life of my pet, you brute!”

“You owe me new boots.”

“I don’t owe you a bloody thing!”

Gyro threw his hands up into the air and dragged them down over his face in exasperation. He’d made several unwise decisions in his life and going home with a psychotic Englishman was proving to have been one of the worst. He drummed his fingers on his cheeks, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

The previous night had been spent on the Strip, because where else would it have been?

Club Asphodel was much like its namesake, in that its patrons tended to wander aimlessly around the venue indefinitely on any given night; at least, until something interesting pushed its way through the peeling velvet-lined doors. That night’s attraction had been a locally established outfit by the name of The Clergy; its members donned themselves in dark, cult-like attire and played gloomy tunes that dealt with occultism and blasphemy. As for what the actual genre was, it was up in the air, but the members described it as “an unholy cross between blues and plainchants”.

Gyro had taken his usual spot by the bar, leaning against the counter and tucking into a bottle of Hamm’s. The standard procedure for a night out.

Gyro was a very big fan of people-watching. Not for any sort of creepy purposes, but moreso because he simply got a kick out of observing people as they went about their lives. He liked seeing the desperate teenagers plead with the bouncer for passage into the club; he was intrigued by sudden breakups on the dancefloor when one lover noticed the other’s gaze lingering too long on someone else. Got a good laugh out of overzealous drunkards that had their beers slapped into their faces by the unlucky recipient of their harassment. If someone he saw interested him, he’d go over and talk to them. It was a simple enough game that had made him plenty of friends in the clubbing scene, as well as the inevitable enemy or two. Or three. He’d long lost count.

The Clergy had begun playing, and they were stellar, as usual. It was a wonder that they hadn’t been signed yet, though there were whispers in the crowd that night that scouts from Elektra were prowling the Strip, and that a couple could very well be in Asphodel.

Gyro loved The Clergy— he really did. It’s just that he found it incredibly hard to focus on their music while sticking his tongue down a pretty blond’s throat. All it had taken was a hand down his pants and the feeling of hot breath against his neck and he’d made his plans for the night. One speedy trip in a yellow Volkswagen Beetle and he’d found himself pushed into a conversation pit, only to awaken with that same pretty blond from the night before beating him over the head with the docs he’d slaved away an entire summer over a deep fryer for. Only now, they’d been chewed up by his shitheaded dog.

His boots. His fucking boots. Why did it have to be his boots?!

Diego had set down Silver and was now ambling around the pit and picking up Gyro’s clothing, throwing them at him as he went. Gyro held up his hands to shield himself, but to no avail; he was hit square in the face with his own underwear, as God would have it.

“Hey, c’mon, I can pick up my own clothes,” Gyro whined, grabbing his underwear off of his face and setting it down next to him. “You don’t h—”

“I want you out.” Diego was fuming, eyes alight with a fury that Gyro considered wholly unsuited for the situation. And especially in his eyes. If anything, he should be the angry one; that’s not to say that he wasn’t angry, but it was more of a ‘now I have to buy new fucking boots’ than an ‘I will unleash the gates of hell upon thee’ type of rage.

“I still want new—”

“Get dressed and piss off before I call building security on you.”

And that was how Gyro found himself wearing his shirt on backwards and missing his socks on the corner of Hollywood and Highland, waving down a cab. Diego had hardly given him enough time to dress himself before practically shoving him down the staircase, throwing a bag of coins after him (which he’d caught, thanks.)

He had intended on walking the entire way home before he’d noticed the time on a clock attached to a lamppost. It then dawned on him that it was in fact, Saturday, and he’d spent the better part of his morning ambling around the Hollywood Hills in an attempt to make his way out of the labyrinth of ostentatious housing and unnaturally green lawns.

Upon seeing the time he’d gone into panic mode—he had to get back to his apartment and he’d have to do it in record time. It was currently 11 AM, and he had to be somewhere by 11:30 AM.

But he’d have to get his bass first.

It wouldn’t have been so awful to miss practice for a day, if it weren’t for the fact that him and his motley crew of idiots had somehow managed to book themselves a gig. And of course, it was slated for that very night.

A two-toned green and cream Checker Taxicab pulled up next to him and unlocked the doors, Gyro smiling gratefully as he slid into the back seat. “Corner of Vine and Romaine, please.”

The driver grunted in acknowledgement, reaching into his glove compartment and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Newports. Fun guy. He held it towards Gyro, who muttered a small thanks and took a couple into his hands. Can save these for later , he thought as he deposited them into the pocket of his jacket. The driver then held out a lighter, shrugging when Gyro declined. He smacked the button on top of the taxi meter and shifted the gears out of park, the axles of the vehicle squeaking dangerously as it sped off down the street.

Anxiety and hunger bubbled in his stomach as he sunk into the leather seat, lazily observing the morning bustle of the Hollywood streets through the dusty window. His mouth watered at the sight of the first Burger King they drove past; it registered in Gyro’s mind that the last thing he’d ingested since the previous afternoon was alcohol. Copious amounts of alcohol. Alcohol that could do to be sponged up with a nice, gooey Yumbo.

He felt surprisingly put together for how much beer he’d consumed. It was possible that he’d simply developed an iron stomach and was thus immune to the adverse effects of intoxication. Maybe getting smacked with a saliva-covered boot was the ultimate hangover cure.

Gyro glanced at the clock installed in the car; 11:08 AM. He then looked to the street signs they were passing up; they were on Sunset, just about to pass Highland. Almost. He chewed on his lip anxiously; his bandmates wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he ended up being late on such a big day. Any other day, they wouldn’t have cared, but gig days were of the utmost importance.

The next few minutes stuck in morning traffic were absolutely agonizing, but ultimately they prevailed, with the driver depositing Gyro on Romaine at approximately 11:13 AM. Gyro gave a hurried thank you and tossed the man a couple dollars before hoofing it in the direction of his apartment.

He ignored the greetings of his neighbors as he ascended the stairs, fishing out his spare key from under the doormat. Gyro practically slammed the door open after rapidly turning the key in the lock, making a beeline towards the stand where he kept his bass. He stopped in front of it, smiling fondly as he knelt before the case.

The case itself was a simple, faux-leather thing, beaten and worn around the edges. A few stickers had been slapped onto the surface; some of bands that he hadn’t even heard of and others of silly teddy bear drawings. Just for peace of mind, he unhitched the clasps holding it closed and slowly opened the case, smile widening to a grin as he took in its contents.

His baby was a monochrome Gibson EB-3 that he’d affectionately dubbed Valkyrie. The neck was a sweet-smelling black mahogany that contrasted with the white walnut body. The pickups and pickguard were black as well, though in another life they’d  been a deep, wine-red color. While he’d slaved away over a grill for his Docs—as well as much of the rest of his clothing—Gyro actually won Valkyrie through a fistfight with the bassist of another local band, Wekapipo from Ataxia. Bastard got what he deserved.

Satisfied, Gyro closed the case and secured the latches, picking it up as he stood. He gave his apartment a quick once-over before shrugging and heading out the door, grabbing his keys before locking the door.

He gave an apologetic wave to his previously rebuffed neighbor as he headed down the stairs again, half-jogging on his way to his car. That was nothing special; it was simply a ’65 Mustang with chipped baby blue paint and fucked suspension that he couldn’t afford to fix yet. Sometimes the starter relay would straight up fail, and he’d have to play mechanic on the side of the road until he fixed it himself by some stroke of dumb luck. Either that, or until another driver took pity on him and gave him a hand.

Today was one of the Mustang’s good days, and so it started without a hitch. Didn’t even make a loud churning noise when he sped up on the 101 in an effort to make it to his bandmate’s place in time. In fact, it was so well-behaved that it didn’t start sputtering and dying until it pulled in front of the building, whining obnoxiously before Gyro shut the engine off.

Exhaling, he exited the car and grabbed his bass, nervously stepping through the gate to the house. He was definitely late, and he was definitely going to hear about it. Gyro was two seconds from knocking on the door before it swung open, a silently seething Sandman on the other side of the screen door.

“You’re late,” Sandman said simply, opening the screen and allowing Gyro to waddle in. Predictable .

Gyro smiled sheepishly, setting his case down next to the rest of the band’s equipment. He held his hands up innocently, trying not to falter under the intense gaze of the man before him. “I’m sorry! I got, uh, caught up…”

“Heads up!”

There was barely any time to react as a small styrofoam clamshell went flying at Gyro’s head. He managed to catch it between open palms, the container squeaking slightly as it bent inwards. Poco grinned from the doorway, a half-eaten cheeseburger in hand. “Glad you finally made it.”

He stuck his tongue out, opening the clamshell to reveal a slightly jostled Big Mac. His stomach gurgled in anticipation, though it proved to be in vain. Gyro had only taken a single bite before recoiling, making a face. “It’s cold.”

“Get here on time, then,” Sandman deadpanned, taking a long, obnoxiously loud slurp out of his cup of soda. Gyro scowled and took a seat on the couch.

“Not my fault you two live all the way in goddamn Echo Park.”

“It isn’t our fault you live in Hollywood.”

“Fuck you. Rent’s cheap on my street.”

“Sure. You owe me 65 cents for that, by the way.” Sandman pointed at his burger.

Poco held up a hand to silence the two, chewing thoughtfully on his cheeseburger before swallowing. “Who was it this time, Gyro?”

“Huh?” Gyro was mid-chew himself, trying his best to stomach this achingly cold pile of mushy bread and meat that they dared call a Big Mac.

Poco walked over and poked Gyro on the neck. His hands went up to cover his exposed skin, flushing in embarrassment at the knowledge of what decorated that particular stretch. He shot Poco a look, which dealt absolutely zero damage to the knowing grin plastered on his bandmate’s face.

“What was her name?”

“ His ,” Gyro grumbled, “name was Diego. Prissy rich ‘Hills type. Bottle blond. Nice ass.”

Gyro listed all of the above information willingly because Poco (and more subtly, Sandman) would hound him for it endlessly if he didn’t. The two were very preoccupied with who he slept with; they claimed it was because they were looking out for him, but he personally thought it was because they were both perverts.

It was Sandman who spoke first.

“…Diego? Diego who?”

“Uh… Brando. Why?”

Poco spluttered. “Did you just say Diego Brando?”

“…Yeah? What, you know ‘im?”

Poco and Sandman both stared at him like he was stupid. He even felt offended for a split second. Did he do something wrong? Was Diego Brando Poco’s long lost brother, or even Sandman’s? He spoke up again when neither of them answered his question. “Guys?”

Poco shook his head and walked away from Gyro, exiting the room. Gyro turned to face Sandman, who rolled his eyes and stood up. He, too, walked away and exited the room, but returned shortly after with a stack of what appeared to be tens of Star magazines. These were dropped unceremoniously at his feet, with Sandman sitting next to Gyro and scooping up the one at the top of the pile.

“Do you see this?” Sandman pointed to the cover of the magazine, which featured none other than… Diego. He was sitting on the floor against a rocking horse in classical jockey apparel, tongue sticking out of plump lips between two fingers. A bit risqué. The issue was relatively recent, too; April 1977.

Gyro blinked. He didn’t know Diego was famous. “Um, yeah. ‘BRITISH ROCK SENSATION TELLS ALL’…? He a singer?”

The corner of Sandman’s mouth twitched. “Do all Italian expats live under a rock?”

“What? I just know the metal and punk shit from there. Not any of that obscure crap.”

“It’s not obscure. Or ‘crap’. Be respectful.”

“Whatever…,” Gyro muttered, scanning over the other captions on the cover. “’What really happened to Joe Kid?’ Who? What?”

“Oh, that is unforgivable !” Poco yelled from the other room. Sandman shot Gyro a disapproving look, grabbing the magazine out of his hands and setting it back on the pile.

“You’re really so ignorant.”

“What the fuck? Why am I supposed to know all these people?! They’re obviously only big in uh... not-Italy.”

“Whatever. Get your stuff set up so we can practice. Hopefully you won’t be late to your own show, too.”

Sandman didn’t seem to notice Gyro flipping him off as he moved himself over to his drumkit. He twirled a stick around and tapped a cymbal, the crash echoing throughout the house. “Poco!”

There was a shuffling noise from the other room before Poco’s head emerged in the doorway. “On it!”

Gyro set down his burger, still muttering under his breath as he set up his bass and cab. He didn’t know why his bandmates expected him to know about everything that crawled out of the British Isles. Sure, Diego was very clearly loaded, but he figured that big time rockstars had better things to do than peruse seedy dive bars in the dark corners of Sunset. Like, go to stuffy wine tastings, or whatever.

It wasn’t like Gyro was totally ignorant of popular culture as a whole. It was just that growing up, his parents didn’t allow him to do anything fun. If it didn’t relate to preparing for medical school, he wasn’t permitted to participate. That included listening to fun music, watching television, hell, even playing outside with the local kids. As a result, Gyro didn’t get a taste of any type of music aside from jazz until he was late in his teens, and that was only for what was prevalent in Italy. He knew big names like AC/DC, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, sure; but anything that hadn’t made a considerable dent in the Italian musical market, he was unfamiliar with prior to arriving in Los Angeles.

It was a sensitive spot for him, but he knew enough local bands to earn him at least a little bit of respect in the LA scene. At least, as much respect as could possibly be afforded to a newcomer, and a foreigner, at that. People early on hadn’t really taken him very seriously, so it was by chance that Gyro bumped into Poco and Sandman, who’d been looking for a bass player to jam with. They’d all hit it off, and Vertigo had been formed practically overnight.

Their band was one of misfits, as was typical of any other non-glam band that popped up in the vicinity of the strip. They shared more traits with the burgeoning punk scene than anything else, yet they were finding that the sound shared by their peers just wasn’t… enough. Didn’t have the right crunch, wasn’t as intense, as demanding. Their music ached for something more.

He thumbed at the strings of his bass in thought. They needed more… gravel.

“Alright,” Poco chirped, plugging the amp chord into his guitar. “I think we oughtta, uh… practice the shit on the setlist.”

“What setlist? We agreed on a setlist ?”

“Christ,” Sandman sighed.

Poco pointed at a piece of paper taped to the floor before Gyro. He squinted below him. Sure enough, 8 of their songs were scribbled onto it in black marker. He winced at a few of the choices; Poco seemed to have gone out of his way to pick what’d make their fingers bleed the most. Which was pretty hardcore, so he couldn’t complain… much. Still, he’d have liked to have had some sort of say, since he’d be the one singing them. Or shouting, more like. More heavy that way.

Practice went as it normally did, which was to say that it was incredibly flawed, but charmingly so. Sandman’s snare only fell off of its stand twice, and the amp managed to not cut out at all. Hopefully, it’d be about the same for their set later that night. Gyro had mastered the technique of yelling without fucking his throat up too bad, so sucking on a lozenge would be more than enough in the hours between practice and the actual show.

It was funny, the anxiousness that festered within him. It wasn’t as if he’d never played at Señor Rosado’s. He’d had a slew of awful shows there, actually, but the audience (and the band) was often too drunk to really care; fast and loud music didn’t need to be good when combined with alcohol. The chaos of the pit was fun to watch from the stage, and it was even more fun when he got to set his bass down and dive into it at the conclusion of the show.

After lingering at Poco and Sandman’s house for a while longer after practice, he packed his stuff together and headed home for a quick shower. He still smelled like sweat and Hamm’s. And Diego, he thought with a wrinkle of his nose.

He didn’t spend too long in the shower and spent even less time on his outfit, throwing on a raggedy pair of jeans and an equally ratty old Stones shirt. He frowned at his chewed-up boots but decided to put them on in favor of his Chucks, deciding they added character. Saliva coated character.

The car ride to Señor Rosado’s wasn’t anything of note, and neither was the club itself from the outside. The inside? Also unremarkable.

The real appealing part of Rosado’s was not the interior decorations, nor was it the obnoxiously large neon sign with a racially insensitive vaquero displayed above the front entrance. It most definitely was not the restrooms, which, even when ‘clean’, had an odor akin to rotting pig shit on a sweltering July afternoon.

No, the thing that drew the local miscreants and rock n’ roll weirdoes to Rosado’s was something known as ‘The Carnage’. The Carnage was the utter chaos that drove the underground scene in Los Angeles. It was the way of being, the ideology, the look. It was a lot of things, and one way it could visualized was by a chick in a mullet snuffing out her cigarette on a bloodied bonehead’s chrome dome amidst a particularly disastrous barfight. The Carnage manifested only in certain spaces, and Señor Rosado’s was one of them… much to the chagrin of its owners.

One of whom was approaching Gyro as he lugged his bass cab towards the stage to set up.

The incredibly skeevy co-owner, Devo, sneered as he took in Gyro’s appearance, lighting a cigarette. “Peavey? Really, Zeppeli?”

“Good enough for Van Halen then it’s good enough for me.”

“Who?”

Now it was Gyro’s turn to scoff. He ignored Devo as he set down the cab, fumbling with the wires behind the rig. It was in that moment that he was endlessly grateful for gaff tape.

He waved in greeting to his bandmates, smirking when they realized that he’d actually arrived before they did. For once. Gyro looked to Sandman for any sort of emotion on his face and, of course, was given nothing but a resentful glare. But what was Sandman if not a little venomous?

It didn’t take too long for them to get completely set up. Their opener hadn’t even arrived yet; why would they? The bar wouldn’t permit its patrons to enter for another couple of hours.

Poco and Gyro took to entertaining themselves by playing darts in the green room, with Sandman acting as a half-hearted referee as he buried his nose in a thick textbook. Gyro understood partially; though he himself was a med-school dropout, he was no stranger to taking any possible moment to cram knowledge into his noggin in preparation for tests. He’d understand completely if it weren’t for the fact that Sandman didn’t go to college.

Eventually Gyro had grown bored of absolutely demolishing Poco in every aspect of the game, so he took to laying down on the hole-infested couch that Devo had deigned to plant in the room. He closed his eyes for what he thought was a little bit before peeking one open, trying to read out what the dusty clock on the opposite wall read. If it was right, it meant that the bar had already opened its doors for the evening.

He figured it was as good a time as any to get a good soundcheck in. For the sake of the openers; testing acoustics and all that jazz. Gyro honestly had no clue who the people playing before them even were. Not that he hadn’t heard of them... it was just that Devo literally didn’t tell them. Likely to be some other local shitshow that was even more obscure than Vertigo. He supposed it didn’t matter, so long as they were loud.

Gyro pushed a dozing Poco off of his legs and stood up, grabbing his bass and mumbling to Sandman that he’d be back. He received a disinterested hum in response.

A few patrons milled about the club already, some sitting on the chairs provided closer to the bar. Gyro couldn’t say that he recognized many, if any of them, but they were all probably locals. He sincerely doubted anyone from like, Montana had flown in just to see his little band of talking mice.

He found that the openers had already set up their own equipment, but were currently absent from the stage. There’d probably be time to actually meet them sometime between sets. He picked up a stray cord from the floor and plugged it into Valkyrie, giving a test strum before going back to fiddle with the cab knobs.

Once he was satisfied he took his place by the front mic, adjusting it for his height. The current setting was a bit short, and it wasn’t really going to cut it for a lanky guy like him.

“Blegh!” he gurgled into the microphone, pleased to hear his voice echo through the room. A few giggles came from customers in the non-visible vicinity. With the way the lights glared in the direction of the stage, and the general dimness of Rosado’s itself, it was hard to really see anyone.

He experimentally strummed on his bass, a few isolated chords before they melded together in his standard soundcheck song. Gyro was aware that he was likely totally butchering the genius of Geezer Butler, but he bassically had it down.

Gyro leaned into the mic, laughing softly as a random man in the back of the bar whooped loudly.

“Some people say, that my love can’t be true…”

He grinned at the girl that sat on the stage near him a few more lines in, adding a wheezy rasp to his voice as he progressed. It had devolved into a straight shriek as he got to the “My name is Lucifer” line, cackling maniacally as he suddenly ended off the song there. The girl stayed even after he went back into the green room to drop off his bass and reemerged; perhaps she was expecting something out of him. She wouldn’t be getting it.

Gyro decided that he was absolutely parched, and that the swill Devo left a cooler of in the room wouldn’t cut it. He hopped off of the stage and into the pit, swaggering over to the bar.

And that was when he saw him.

Peeking out from under a red fiddler cap were a pair of azure eyes, eyes that stared him down as their owner took a sip from some syrupy green cocktail. They were the type that demanded the completely undivided attention of those around him. His face, framed by feathers of blond, was set in a pout, though it didn’t seem like a particularly affected one. It was the kind that rested.

He was dressed a bit stuffily for the location, though his outfit seemed worn around the edges. A white cotton button-up shirt was accented by a soft yellow tie that had seen better days, his crimson high-waisted pants hugging his hips a bit more snugly than was probably standard.

The barstool next to him was invitingly open. Gyro took it.

“You the one that was singing just now?”

His voice was quiet, tinged with a subtle splash of sadness and what sounded like those ‘Southern country’ accents Gyro heard on TV now and then.

Gyro nodded, a slight grimace on his features. “Yup. How bad is it, doc?”

The young man gave a huff through his nose that Gyro thought was supposed to be laughter, though his lips did not show any sign of curling upwards. In the dim bar light, he idly registered a dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

“Not bad’t all. Pretty damn good, actually.”

“Hey, thanks. Means a lot.”

“No problem. You the one from uh...Vertigo, right?”

Gyro’s eyes lit up. Being recognized was a relatively new thing, and it somehow felt even better coming from this person. “Yeah! Yeah, I am. Bassist and lead shrieker.”

There was a hum from his conversation partner, who took another sip of his cocktail. Gyro didn’t know what exactly was in it, but judging from the smell it was some pretty strong stuff. He flagged down the bartender and ordered a whiskey on the rocks, catching it as it slid across the table towards him.

“We’ve been trying to sound heavier lately,” Gyro found himself blurting out, earning a cocked eyebrow from the fellow across from him. “I dunno if I gotta start yelling about blood and guts, or play faster, or what, but—ah, fuck. Sorry, didn’t mean to start rambling at you.”

“You try downtuning? Pedals?” The young man didn’t seem bothered by Gyro’s verbal diarrhea at all, swirling around the cherry in his cocktail.

“Hm? No, I—”

“Try out E. No drop tuning. As for pedals, Boss’s Overdrive crap might work for what you’re talkin’ about.”

The way he delivered this information, he’d seemed almost bored, but there was a notable glint in his eye that wasn’t there before.

“I dunno why I didn’t think of that,” Gyro mused, taking a swig of his whiskey. He looked behind himself to the stage, where he noticed Poco trying to wave him over.

Gyro frowned. Figures, when he finally finds someone that was actually interesting to talk to he’d be summoned by his bandmates. They’d barely gotten any real words in; Gyro didn’t even get the chance to ask him his name yet. He groaned and finished off his whiskey, slamming it down onto the counter and earning a glare from the bartender.

Gyro swiveled around to face him again. “Hey, I got— oh?”

The boy in the red hat was gone.

[villainqueen]

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - Chapter 4

V X Fem!Reader fanfiction, set after the events of Devil may Cry 5.

Prologue /  Chapter 1 /  Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 // Chapter 5

Ao3 [Link]

Chapter 4

What is now proved was once only imagined

 You've reached into the rotting flesh of Gulganna to retrieve a glowing orb. It was small and to the untrained eye it could have been mistaken as a normal marble. As you took a few steps back away from the body of the demon, it slowly started to fade into nothing while you began to admire the orb that glinted in the sunlight.

"Yo, I think you've got some explaining to do! You're definitely not human and what the hell did you ripped out of that thing!" Nero stomped over to you while he turned back to his original human form.

"Oh, my! I am no human indeed. Yet I shall not tell more. It does not concern thee."

"An interesting ability you have there. I don't think I've ever seen this power in demons before…" V mused as he walked up to both of you. You decided to ignore his hidden remark about you being a demon and you turned your attention to him.

"I did promise a gift in return for thine help. So, let me grant thee strength. Please Sir V, let this soul become thine own!" You place the marble in both of your hands and pressed them at V's chest, pushing the small orb inside. Without leaving a wound or any indication that it went through his skin, it vanished inside him. At first V was confused by your sudden touch till the pain set in. It felt as if his heart was about to stop.

"W-what did you do to me!" he groaned as we went on his knee. Nero now alarmed put his gun to your head; "I should blow your head off, right here and now, demon!"

"Do not despair, Sir V, the pain will faint shortly and thine soul will take nourishment from it."

V could feel that his heartbeat was alarmingly fast but the pain, like you said, soon faded. He felt a strange sensation inside of him. It took a moment for him to regain his composure but there was no denying that suddenly he felt that he had more strength. Just like you promised him. As soon as V got on his feet again Griffon went to sit on his shoulder: "Hey, V, whatever that chick did, it feels really good. I feel like a million dollars. Hey missy, do it again!"

"Certainly, I can feel it too, I'm a step closer to my old strength." answered V to his feathered partner as he clenched his fist. Not only his soul felt stronger, so did his body. And if Griffon felt the difference, V might had no limit in summoning him anymore. Perhaps he could even call Shadow for aid again. Ever since his departure from Vergil a few days ago he hadn't felt this kind of powerful.

"V, you feel alright?" asked Nero in a concerned voice but not lowering his gun. His sight went over to you, who monitored V's movement intensely. "Care to explain what you did to him?"

"Exactly what I promised, I gave Gulgannas cleansed soul to him, for the kindness he provided me. Mine work is done and now I will bid you both farewell!"

"And what are you planning?" Nero felt that they've might made a mistake in getting whoever you were out of the prison. Not that you've done anything bad to them yet, but he couldn't shake the feeling that you were odd and more importantly dangerous, and his gut had never betrayed him.

"I, I need to find what belongs to me, I can feel its presence and would rather reclaim it before the misguided do so."

"We will escort you then." V said. If you had the ability to strengthen him by fusing demon souls into his, you could do it again. And he was a fool if he didn't take this opportunity. Also, he had to admit that you interested him. Your ability, the way your presence felt to him, it was so foreign, not like any demon he knew of.

You on the over hand were not fully sold on being accompanied by those two demon hunters. Not that you were ungrateful, but you couldn't help but notice that one of them is part demon and the other was a human that was controlling demons. Not the most trustworthy of all creations. However, if they had been normal everyday humans it wouldn't really made it any better. Needless to mention, their constant doubt of your intentions and threats against your person. But in the end, they were stronger than you, at least the one called Nero was. So, it was better to have them close by for now.

"Very well, I will welcome any assistance, yet I must beg of thee to not home this thing to mine head again."

"Thing? You mean my gun?" Nero couldn't help himself but laugh a bit, how could anyone not know what a gun was. However, without taking any more notice of Nero's mocking you lifted your dress a tiny bit to prevent it from dirtying as you navigated yourself around the acid puddles back to the main building of the castle.

"Hey, wait up missy!" Griffon screamed as he went after you. V let out a slight smirk at the sight of you leaving in such a dated yet ladylike manner while ignoring Nero nonchalantly. His gaze went around the inner courtyard again. They sure left it a mess, most statues destroyed, the stone walls of the castle damaged, puddles of acid everywhere and a few corpses of hunters left behind. Gulganna had also left a piece of his horns on the ground and with his cane he kicked it up right into Nero's hands.

"I guess that means we should follow her back inside."

"At least we don't have to babysit her now…" Nero sighed in annoyance as the trotted behind the three of you.

 August 1st 13:20 pm

The usual ominous wind went through hell, as a figure placed himself on a throne made of flesh and bones. This part of hell felt like it was made from intestines and the pulsing of its veins, gave this place a feeling that itself was alive. Hell, however was not one place but consisted of many different layers and this was one soaked in blood.

"Master, Gulganna has perished!" said a crouching demon, that was clothed in rags that obscured his body and face. The one addressed as Master was a demon with the appearance of a knight clad in an expensive golden armor and a helmet with a shape of a lion. On his side he had a twohanded sword that gave of a sinister aura. It was a slender sword, elegant and expensive looking, decorated with gold and with a blade that shined almost white. Even its handle had an elaborate decoration of a winged person at its end. The demon, who had placed himself on the throne, looked at the black sky as he spoke in a raspy voice; "How? I told him to get her. How could he fail such a simple task?" Again, crouching to the feed of his master, the demon dressed in rags struggled to find a pleasing answer:  "I-I don't know, master! I caught that demon hunters stormed the castle; he might have underestimated the intruders. Gulganna was never bright."

"True. I can't risk that mortals get their hands on my possession. The others better deliver her to me…" he growled while ripping bones out of his throne in anger. "It was supposed to be an easy task. I've waited so long for this chance. Failure is not an option!"

His servant quivered in fear as he tried to avoid the wrath of his master. Something had to be done and he had to make sure his fellow demons deliver, or else none of them would live another day.

 August 1st 13:30 pm

Arriving back in the main hall of the castle V and Nero made their way up to you, while you were wondering where to go next.

"What exactly are you looking for, (Y/N)?" V asked you, which pulled you out of your thoughts.

"I am in search of an old weapon of mine."

"And you're sure it’s still here?"

"Certainly, I feel it still remains here, somewhere. It is a spear with a very peculiar appearance. I know it must be difficult for you to comprehend but having it not at my side feels like.... I am missing a limb, or so to speak."

"Oh, believe me, I can relate to that!" Nero chimed in while wandering around the hall looking around to find something of interest. "V, you’re sure it's a good idea to give a her a weapon?"

"Sir Nero, if thou'rt are not my enemy, I am not thine. I do not harbor any bad intent, but I can not leave this only memento of home behind, in this cursed place!"

"Then I recommend we split up to find it and leave." V suggested which got you confused; "Do ye not have a mission to fulfill? There is no need to burden yourselves with my troubles."

After what Gulganna said under his dying breath. V was now certain that the sole reason why the demons attacked the castle was in fact you. And if his deductions proof to be right, the demons should leave once you do as well and might even follow you. They would have little reason to stick around if what they're looking for was gone. He couldn't help but wonder how all of it came together. Maybe Dante was useful for once and could provide answers and so it was the best if they made their way back to the Devil May Cry office as soon as possible or at least before demon reinforcements would show up.

"Don't worry, we are not the type who would let someone in need down. Nero, I'll go with (Y/N) and search the upper floor, you take this one."

"Sure, I've got to look for a spear? Got it, can’t be so hard to find. Hope I find some demons while I’m at it. I was hoping for more action and not a tour through the Addams family's home!"

And with that the group split in two in search for your weapon which you felt close by. It was certainly hidden somewhere in the castle, if only you could remember where. Yet you were somewhat glad that the demon hunters provided you with company even through you could not really say if they were on your side or would turn out to be an enemy like it happened so many times before. However, after such a long time in loneliness their presences felt strangely pleasant.

[belphegor1982]

Cue plot! And possibly a twist.

FAIRY TALES AND HOKUM

Summary: 1937: The O'Connells are required by the English Government to bring the Diamond taken from Ahm Shere from Cairo to London. Things get interesting when Jonathan bumps by chance into an old friend of his from Oxford, Tom Ferguson…

Chapter 6: Camels, Cars, and Cabals (on AO3 here)

There were many ways to begin an interview with a British Consulate official. One of them could be “Good afternoon to you, sir, what it is that you want from me?” Another one – depending upon your degree of familiarity with the person you addressed, of course – would be “What ho, old thing, heard you wanted a word!” But “Sorry I’m late, I was being savaged by a wild camel” was definitely not the smartest option.

Yet it was one that Jonathan was starting to consider seriously as the hairy – could he call it a snout, or a muzzle? – thing kept sending its foul breath into his face. Another minute and viscous drool was going to drip down on him. He resisted the urge to yelp for someone to get him the hell out of here. The beast would surely not react nicely to sudden noise and movement.

Urgh.

Nasty, smelly bugger.

“I am so very sorry, sir,” he heard the girl say, and from the corner of his eye he saw her pulling on the camel’s bit with all her might. “He’s normally very calm – my father trained him well, I think he’s only trying to play…”

“That’s all right,” Jonathan managed to say, trying to remain calm and sound offhand, however hard it was when you were being pinned down by a smelly camel’s snouty muzzle thing. “Stuff like this has happened before. I’m not quite fond of these beasts, and it appears it’s mutual.”

Trying to play… Right. He had just been walking down the street to the British Consulate, and as this blasted camel passed him by, it had escaped its owner’s grasp and nuzzled into his chest till he fell over. Not content with this victory, it had showed big chunks of yellow teeth each time Jonathan attempted to get up. Jonathan had found himself pinned to the ground, unable to move, as the Egyptian girl the camel belonged to pulled and pulled at the animal’s reins, all the while apologising profusely.

Finally, a sympathetic passer-by came to lend the girl a hand with the stubborn beast, and Jonathan was soon on his feet, dusting himself off energetically. Up close, the girl looked near tears.

“Really, sir, I’m so sorry – can I help you with anything? Just…”

“Don’t worry, miss, everything’s fine. I just hope that your camel doesn’t throw itself at everyone else in the street, that’s all.” The girl looked upset enough, and he didn’t have the heart to get angry. The blush on her cheeks took off the last remnants of his irritation. Besides, it had been directed at the camel, which now stood a few feet away, peacefully munching on something the Good Samaritan had stuffed into its mouth as a distraction.

The girl slowly pushed her tangled hair out of her face and he had the pleasure of seeing a tiny smile. It was timid, still a bit fearful, but a smile all the same. “Thank you, bāša1. Djem does that sometimes; it is his way to tell people he likes them. I try to stop him, because those he annoys get quite angry at us.”

“Well, although I’m flattered, I would certainly like – Djem – best if he stayed away from me,” answered Jonathan with a smile, finishing checking his clothes for traces of dust that would not do in front of Tommy’s boss. Then he raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘angry at us’?”

“I am responsible for my camel’s behaviour,” stated the girl. “So if Djem misbehaves, I am the one to blame.” She hesitated a bit before adding, “Last time, he went after a European woman. She hit him and slapped me.”

Jonathan shook his head in disgust. People who thought nothing of hitting a kid in the street were sadly too common, especially when they were white and the child was not. That blasted woman had absolutely no right to do that, but what could the girl do when everything conspired to push her and her camel to the bottom of the societal ladder?

“What’s your name?” he asked in almost decent Arabic. He’d been able to hold entire conversations with his mother as a boy, but his vocabulary and pronunciation had suffered from lack of practice since her death.

The girl’s dark eyebrows shot up behind her curtain of hair.

“Satiah, sir.”

“Satiah, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. She should never have done that.”

She blinked, and actually smiled. Whether that was in acknowledgement or because she found his attempt at Arabic funny, Jonathan couldn’t tell. Both suited him just fine, so he answered with a smile of his own.

“Anyway,” he added in English, noticing the time – good thing he had left home early! “I’m sorry to cut off, but I have an appointment I can’t afford to miss. Have a good day, and take good care of your Djem. He seems a good fellow, for all that he likes to kiss people without permission.” That said with a smile, to avoid misunderstandings.

“A good day to you as well, bāša,” said young Satiah in her lilting, fluty voice. “May Sopdet smile upon you!”

As Jonathan walked away, quickening his pace to make up for lost time, the Egyptian girl’s last words seemed to hang in the air for a few seconds. The encounter puzzled him. ‘Satiah’ was not an Egyptian name – or rather, it was, just three millennia out of date. And she had called upon the goddess Sopdet for her blessings. It had been a long time since he had heard someone call the star Sirius by its Ancient Egyptian name, and it was even more startling coming from an unassuming slip of a girl who didn’t look more than fifteen.

Undoubtedly, Egypt had been and would always remain a very strange place, Jonathan mused as he came near the British Consulate, the tune of a fast Django Reinhardt song making its way round his brain.

He had yet to remember its title when he knocked on Tommy’s office door.

“C’min!”

“Don’t you ever ask who’s behind that door before inviting people in?” Jonathan grinned as he crossed the threshold. “You could get some unpleasant surprises.”

“Who would bother to knock at that door if they didn’t have good intentions?” retorted Tommy, rising from behind his desk to shake his hand. The room looked tidier than it had done the other day. There were still a large number of boxes on the ground, but a spot had been cleared on the desk, the files piled up in heaps along the edges, making it look like a re-enactment of the Red Sea parting before Moses. This time he did not have a lot of time to gaze around as Tommy picked up his jacket and headed for the door.

“Hamilton’s office’s just round that corner, but he’s such a stickler for rules and manners that he doesn’t like it when people come to his office unannounced. Blimey, you’re actually on time!” the Liverpudlian remarked suddenly, sounding surprised, as his eyes caught the clock.

“You didn’t think I’d make it, did you?” Jonathan smirked. “O thee of little faith.”

Tommy only snorted at that as he stopped to knock on an imposing door. They waited a little, then a low-pitched voice answered from inside, “Come in.”

Tommy opened the door, and Jonathan had a view of a very neat, tidy room, with lots of files and books lying on shelves, which seemed to be classified a lot more methodically than in Tommy’s office. The light was dim, filtering from under the shutters pulled over the windows to shelter the room from the heat outside. It was rather successful, and the coolness in the office was very welcome.

However, as his gaze lowered from the windows to the desk, and the man behind it, Jonathan couldn’t help a peculiar sort of feeling, as if he had suddenly walked into something devoid of any warmth at all. And what was more peculiar, this feeling seemed to emanate from the occupant of the office. Everything appeared to be grey about this fellow: his hair, his skin – odd, considering that the bright Egyptian sun spared no one – and his eyes. Especially his eyes. Even the curator of the Museum of Antiquities had flashes of warmth in his eyes, at least when he looked at Evy, or one of his colleagues.

Otherwise, Charles Hamilton looked in every respect like the portrait Tommy had made of him – square jaw, square shoulders, back straight as if he’d had an umbrella stuck up his backside. Just a little boring. The only thing that stood out about him was the impression of a very clean man. His light grey suit was deceptively perfect, with absolutely no creases despite the heat. He stared very calmly at the newcomer from behind half-moon spectacles, his fingers crossed in front of him.

“Jonathan Carnahan, sir,” said Tommy from behind Jonathan, and Hamilton nodded.

“Thank you, Ferguson.”

A last encouraging glance, and Tommy closed the door, leaving his friend alone with the vampire.

“You are exactly on time, Mr Carnahan. Please, do take a seat.”

Jonathan did take a seat, unconsciously straightening his back as he would when, as a child, he’d have to sit somewhere and endure some lecture or other unpleasant stuff.

Unless the person who gave the lecture was Evy, of course. Then he’d make a point of slouching in the chair and looking foppish, offhand, and undeterred.

For the sake of his dignity, he tried to look a little more relaxed. But the steel in the bloke’s eyes and voice made it impossible. Unsettle the opponent while keeping on a mask. The perfect poker attitude.

“Listen to me well, Mr Carnahan,” Hamilton said, his armchair moaning slightly as he leant to put his elbows on the desk. “The reason you are here is very simple, and I’m sure you will understand why I required your presence.”

That was it – to think of him as an opponent at a poker game. Jonathan tried to imagine him behind a deck of cards, and his unease vanished as soon as the picture was precise enough. He was in his element.

“As you probably know, my name is Charles Hamilton, and I am one of the chief agents in the British Antique Research Department in Cairo. Although this city holds many priceless archaeological items, our main focus for two years has been one object in particular, which that you know very well. I think you can guess which treasure I am talking about.”

“The diamond taken from Ahm Shere.”

“Exactly.” He had a slight Essex accent, but that failed to add any life to his voice. Every word fell weirdly flat. “I believe you were incidental in this… taking. According to records, you were the one who sold it to the Museum.”

“Indeed.” That particular point seemed to be widely known, but good Lord, what didn’t they keep a record of?

“Would you be so kind as to tell me of the circumstances of this acquisition?”

Something tightened slightly in Jonathan’s stomach. What was exactly the extent of that Department’s knowledge about the events of Ahm Shere? There were so many secrets involved… What did they know about the Book of the Dead? The role of the Medjai, and the former curator of the British Museum? Did they know that Alex had been the one who’d led everyone there? Did they know that Rick had killed the Scorpion King?

Did this fellow, who sat calmly behind his desk, know that his baby sister had actually died, back there?

Years of poker playing and the – oh, occasional – lying served Jonathan well and he didn’t let any muscle of his face twitch. Instead, he gave a smile of his own, bordering on a smirk.

“By all means I will, although my memory’s not quite what it used to be. I think you should ask Dr Hakim for the details of the purchase –”

“No, no, Mr Carnahan, I appear to have expressed myself badly,” said Hamilton, his grey eyes still fixed on Jonathan’s face. “By ‘acquisition’, I meant how the diamond came to fall into your hands.”

“My mistake, sir.” Should he continue to stall, or come clean straight away? “Don’t you already know the story?”

A small smile stretched the thin lips. “What I am interested in is a short version of your story. The reports I have read shed definite light on these shady events, but hearing a person who was actually there can change one’s perception of such events.”

Hmm. Right. Let’s go for the abridged version, then.

Jonathan’s description of the events of Ahm Shere was definitely shorter; without knowing why, he did not feel like telling this man everything he had told Tommy – maybe it was a matter of trust. He told Hamilton of the Bracelet, the mad race across the desert to get Alex back, the reunion at Ahm Shere, about Rick’s slaying of the Scorpion King and how he had managed to grab the diamond before the pyramid sank into the sand. Of the Book of the Dead, the Medjai, Imhotep and his wench, and their murder of Evy, he said nothing. First, he didn’t feel like talking about something so fiercely private, let alone to this living tin man. Also, the Medjai were a wild card, one that he didn’t have any intention of laying down just yet. Finally, some things were just too important to just share with a total stranger.

After he had finished, Hamilton, who had been listening silently throughout the story, leaned back in his armchair, his hand resting thoughtfully against his mouth. “I see. That is indeed quite a story, Mr Carnahan. The taste for hazardous archaeological expeditions continues to run in the family, or so it would appear.”

The ambiguous phrasing surprised Jonathan, who narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth; but before he could say anything, Hamilton leant forward again to pick up a fountain pen and a piece of paper, and said, “Well, you probably imagine that I did not summon you to hear something I already know. My principal interest is, of course, your take on what happened last Wednesday – events of which you and my subordinate Thomas Ferguson were the unfortunate casualties.”

Still puzzled about the Department official’s previous remark, Jonathan told him about what had happened three days ago – this account was just as short as the one he’d given Alex, maybe even shorter. Hamilton occasionally scribbled something down on his paper as his guest talked.

“…And when I woke up, the diamond was stolen, and the assistant was no longer there. Dr Hakim seems to think that he was in fact a mole, and so far the events – or lack thereof – have proven him right.”

“He has not reappeared, has he?”

Jonathan shook his head. “No, and if I may venture an opinion… I don’t think he will.” Evy had also said as much, adding that Jamal Hassan’s job was done, and that it would probably be dangerous for him if he showed up again.

Hamilton nodded gravely and put his pen on the desk, before crossing his fingers in front of him again. “Well, thank you. This meeting has been very enlightening, and the information you gave me will be filed up and kept preciously.” He rose to make his guest know that the interview was over, and Jonathan stood up as well, despite the numerous questions that boggled his mind. “I’m afraid I’ll have to make this short, I have some appointments that cannot be delayed – I am a busy man. It has been a pleasure, Mr Carnahan. I look forward to our next encounter.”

“Pleasure meeting you as well, sir,” answered Jonathan, shaking the offered hand. Then Hamilton’s last words caught up with him and he paused, puzzled. “Not to be rude or anything, but… what makes you think there will be a next encounter?”

The grey-haired man gave a small smile. “As I take it, you are friends with Thomas Ferguson, aren’t you? I might have the luck of seeing you in the corridors some time.”

“Of course.” Jonathan nodded, and turned to walk to the door. Before going out, he threw a last glance at Hamilton, who was again sitting behind his desk, his pen back in his hand. The strange man caught his gaze and gave him that peculiar smile of his that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

It was not without a hint of relief that Jonathan closed the door behind him. Curiously enough, the temperature seemed to rise up again, as if he’d just walked out of a cold room.

“So…” said a laughing but quiet voice, and the cheerful tone in it was very welcome. “Nosferatu didn’ eat you alive, did he?”

Tommy was standing in the corridor, casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and a goofy grin on his face. He motioned Jonathan away from the door, and when they were far enough, the Southerner ran a hand through his hair, and grinned back at his friend.

“Didn’t try to, anyway. But don’t worry – I’ve teeth, too.”

“You stayed a long time in there,” said Tommy, almost seriously. “What’d he ask you?”

“Oh, stuff about Ahm Shere and my ‘account’ of what happened the day before yesterday, obviously. This bloke is creepier than some mummies I encountered.” Jonathan paused, then, ignoring the little voice in his head that called him a complete fool, asked a little uncertainly, “That fellow, he’s been working in here for a long time?”

“Yeah, I know, he doesn’t look like he sees the light of day that much,” Tommy laughed, then stopped as Jonathan shook his head.

“I mean – how long’s he been working here for – in the Department?”

“I dunno…” His friend looked thoughtful as he tapped his forefinger against his chin. “Ages. He was already working here when I arrived… Why d’you ask me that?”

“Because…” Jonathan hesitated a moment before finally answering, “He mentioned my family, and I thought he might’ve known my parents, you know?” Tommy gave him a peculiar look, something between surprise and sympathy. Jonathan waved it off, feeling his cheeks grow hot. “Bah, forget it. I’ll just ask him one of those days – it’s not like it’s important.”

“Jon, this is important,” Tommy protested, and Jonathan cursed himself for having brought up the subject in the first place. “This is about your parents, dammit – if you don’t want to ask him, I could –”

“No. Please. Forget it,” Jonathan interrupted him in a definite tone, not wanting his friend to get maudlin about it. “Besides, it’s more than likely that he’s just heard some story or other about them. In their time, they were quite famous in their line of work, after all.”

Tommy was silent for a minute, looking uncomfortable, and Jonathan had the time to feel his cheeks cool down to a more normal state. What had Alex said, the other time? ‘We’re lads, you know how it goes.’

Yes, he knew.

“C’mon,” Tommy finally said, clapping his friend’s shoulder energetically, “it’s all right – you’ve the right to be pig-headed about personal stuff. Now let’s get you someplace cheery. What about that Sultan’s Casbah?”

Jonathan couldn’t help a smile. After having recovered from the bear-like clap that had driven all air from his lungs, that is. “That’d be nice. But don’t you have work to do?”

Tommy gave him a milder version of the evil eye. “You might not have noticed, but it’s Saturday. Hence, no work for me today.”

“Then tell me what the hell you are doing here?” Jonathan asked, a good-natured smirk pulling at his mouth. Tommy’s evil eye improved a lot.

“‘That your way of thanking me for coming to work on a Saturday for you?”

Jonathan actually let out a laugh. “You – don’t tell me you were dumb enough to come just to introduce me to Hamilton!”

There was a beat. Then Tommy cleared his throat, and walked past his friend toward the building’s exit. “Let’s get started, now, shall we?”

Jonathan was still sniggering when they left the British Consulate, and Tommy had rarely looked closer to sulking.

.⅋.

Cairo was always changing.

When Rick used to live there, from 1912 to 1921, the city already had many faces: from Downtown Cairo with its imposing European-style buildings and gleaming cars to the little desert towns on the outskirts where the main means of transportation had been camels and horses – with a preference for the first, because of their never-ending endurance and resistance to the harsh conditions of the desert.

The part of town he’d called his was definitely the latter rather than the former. There had been no real streets, only more or less broad paths of earth, dotted with shit and detritus. The fort and the biggest buildings were already there as they were now, and some houses too, but they stood like white oases lost in swathes of dirty yellow sand. If you climbed onto a rooftop, you could see the heart of the city in the distance, with its light stone buildings, its tall bridges, and its broad streets well-lit with gas street lights.

Not so now.

In place of most of the once-familiar bumpy earth roads now lay tarred streets on which cars were slowly replacing camels. On the pavements, lit by a growing number of electric street lamps, walked almost as many Cairo residents as foreigners, tourists or adventure-seekers, and the contrast was stark between the flashy ladies’ suits, the colourful, but simpler djellabas of the men, and the darker, soberer clothes of the Egyptian women, most of whom wore veils.

And it wasn’t as if the Egyptian metropolis was the only place that was different from what he remembered. London was now officially the place where he had lived the longest, and he could actually witness the changes taking place day by day. On top of the usual smog, the city was growing darker with all the gas escaping from cars’ exhaust pipes. While a few years ago the wireless had been a luxury which only a handful of rich folks could afford, pretty much everybody owned a set these days, even if the news from the world they received through it did not always sound cheerful. There was war raging on in Spain, and rumour had it that Italy and Germany were about to get involved in the slaughter as well. Germany’s chancellor had annexed and rearmed the Rhineland, and though he did appear as a rather harmless eccentric, he was still an eccentric who had slowly but surely gotten a ragged post-war Germany back on its feet… according to his fans, anyway, which he had a lot of even in England. Since those were also the kind to foam at the mouth about Jewish people or Jesse Owens winning so much gold in the last Olympics, the last thing Rick wanted was to waste time talking to them.

The American stopped his musings to look up at the sky above him. It was about five in the afternoon, and it had turned from a wide, blinding stretch of white to a wide, blinding stretch of light blue. In a few hours, the blue would gradually deepen, before growing ink-black and sprinkled with small but bright stars. He had so often slept under them that he had found it unsettling to be unable to see them on his first nights in London, but they remained visible in Cairo, as long as you were in the right neighbourhood.

The stars were not his major concern right now. Evy had taken Alex to the Museum for the afternoon, and Rick, left to his own devices and facing the danger of dying from boredom, had decided to roam the town in search for a good time. A reasonable good time, of course, as Evelyn and her principles had somewhat changed definition of a ‘good time’.

It was good to be back on Cairo’s streets, just another face in the crowd, no matter how he might look. It was just not the same thing in London. You didn’t get the same faces – some people here had mugs you just couldn’t find anywhere else. Winston Havlock, for instance, or the warden who’d tagged along with them to Hamunaptra.

Rick turned round a corner and chuckled inwardly. He had been unconsciously heading for the Sultan’s Casbah. Maybe that was why Winston had seemed to pop up into his mind for no apparent reason. As for Warden Hassan, he had no idea why he had thought of that poor bastard.

The Casbah was still as dingy and dark as he had known it, but now thrill-seeking tourists could be seen mingling with the rougher, shadier regulars.

It looked like the whole world was definitely changing.

“Rick O’Connell, I presume.”

Rick gave a small laugh. He’d know that British accent anywhere.

He turned, and sure enough, was met with a pair of slightly slanted blue eyes and a smirk.

“Fancy seeing you here, old boy, of all places.”

“It’s five in the afternoon, Jonathan,” the American said, his voice quietly mocking. “Bit early to go looking for trouble in a bar, even for you.”

“Tut-tut, my good son. What makes you think I go looking for trouble?”

“’Cause trouble usually finds ya.” Rick looked from Jonathan to Ferguson. “Sorry, didn’t see you there. Ferguson, is it?”

“Yeah, Thomas Ferguson,” said the guy, holding out a hand which Rick shook. “I don’t know Cairo that much, so Jon here was showing me around – typical sights and all that.” He grinned, and Rick got the impression that he and Jonathan shared the same sense of humour. Lord have mercy.

“Come on, instead of talking nonsense, come and have a drink with us!” Jonathan suggested enthusiastically. “I could use a little bit of cheering up, to tell the truth – I’ve just met Nosferatu.”

“Nos who now?” The name was not entirely unfamiliar to Rick, who searched his memory. “Oh, right, that old creep from the moving pictures. Did you bump into the actor or something?”

“No, his boss –” Jonathan pointed to Tommy “– wanted to see me about what happened at the Museum. Seems that the Research Department was keeping an eye on the diamond.”

“And this guy looked like a vampire?”

“The closest to the real thing I’ve ever seen.” His brother-in-law’s eyes shifted from Rick to a large camel led by a small Egyptian girl. An amused smile replaced the previous smirk, and he gave a little friendly wave. Rick arched an eyebrow, surprised.

“You know that girl?”

“Her camel, mostly. Knowing you, I bet you’d find the story very funny.”

“I’m not sure I wanna know,” Rick said, before looking at Ferguson, who shrugged to show he didn’t know what his friend was talking about. After a second’s thinking, though, he turned back to Jonathan, frowning slightly.

“Actually I’d like to know. What did you –?”

“Gentlemen? Would you come with us, if you please?”

The voice was low-pitched and sharp, and as Rick turned round, he saw that it matched its owner perfectly. The guy who had just gotten out of the black Lincoln parked a few feet away wore a dark suit and felt hat, and small glasses; his face was, for the lack of a better word, blank. The two others standing on either side of him, wearing similar suits and fedoras completed a picture that was very odd, and not a little bit spooky.

Tommy’s blond eyebrow shot up as Jonathan’s blue eyes narrowed. “Uh, to where?” Rick asked, his instinct awakening in his guts. “You lost or something?”

“No, we’re not,” said Oddball Number Two, on the left of Middle Oddball. “Please be so kind as to follow us.”

“We didn’t do it, whatever it is,” Jonathan, his voice a little more high-pitched than ordinary – maybe it was the idea of these strange guys asking for him, or else Rick was perhaps not the only one with instincts. Unless it was just Jonathan being Jonathan. “What do you think we did, by the way?”

His question was met with a smile. It seemed like a term adequate enough to describe it, although Rick had once seen a rather similar expression flicker over Imhotep’s face. His regenerated face, of course.

“You will be informed in due time. Please follow us – now.”

“Rick…” muttered Jonathan, low enough to prevent the Oddball Gang from hearing the words, “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

“Think I do?” Rick retorted between clenched teeth, before willing his lips into a smile, which turned out to be just as grim as Oddball Number Three’s. “You know what? I don’t like it much when people order me around for absolutely no reason. So, you have two options. One, you tell us where the hell you want to take us, and why. Or you keep your mouth shut and you walk away from us. Pick one.”

Something changed very slightly on Middle Oddball’s face, and as the doors of the black Lincoln opened again, three more dark-clad men getting out, Rick realised that a real, intentional smirk was in fact pulling at his mouth. The rear guard Oddballs went to stand behind the original three, their hands in their trouser pockets so that the gun holsters showed under their jackets.

He heard Jonathan beside him gulp uneasily.

“Now listen here, fellows – we don’t want any sort of trouble,” the Englishman said, and Rick, who knew him well, could discern a rising note of fear in his voice. He wasn’t sure anyone else had spotted that as well, though. The man was a better actor than his sister when he wanted to. “So let’s stay calm, and converse like civilised people. I’m sure there’s got to be an error somewhere –”

Jonathan’s voice trailed off as Oddballs Two and Three took out their own guns and pointed them directly at him.

“There is no ‘error’, Mr Carnahan,” stated Middle Oddball – or Number One, as Rick was starting to call him – coolly, very calmly. “This is simply an invite for you to join us. We don’t want any trouble either.”

None of them moved, and the situation seemed to settle as a stalemate. Rick cursed himself every name he could think of for having gone out without a gun, even a small one. His gut feeling was now screaming at him not to follow these guys. And there had not been a single occasion when he had listened to his instinct and done the wrong thing.

Okay, maybe just once or twice.

To his left, he could see Jonathan’s face growing paler, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. Aside from these, he showed no other signs of fear, and stood firmly his ground. Were it not for the circumstances, Rick would have allowed a smile. The world was changing, but so were a few people around him, it seemed.

‘Yes, yes, it’s obviously very fine heroics, O’Connell,’ Jonathan had said on occasion when past events were discussed. Rick could easily recall the sarcastic look in his brother-in-law’s eyes and the matching note in the English-accented voice. ‘But there are times when backing down really is the smartest option, you know.’ Thinking back on it, Rick realised that it was one of the rare occurrences where Jonathan’s view had matched Ardeth Bay’s. Live today, fight tomorrow.

Where was that doggone Medjai when you needed him?

From the corner of his eye, Rick looked past Jonathan over to the streets, half-wishing Ardeth to materialise out of the blue to help them, like he sometimes did. Time was not stopping for them, as he saw that almost nobody had noticed what was going on in that shaded alley… Almost nobody.

For there was somebody. The young Egyptian girl he’d seen earlier, her right hand clutching at the reins of her camel, was standing near a wall, her eyes fixed on them. From where he stood, Rick couldn’t see her very well, but the expression on her face half-hidden by long, tangled hair was clearly fear. It slowly shifted to nervous determination as their eyes met, and she nodded.

The American couldn’t see what was coming, but he knew something was coming. He looked back towards Number One, who was saying, his voice grating like steel against steel, “…starting to become preposterous. This is not an invite, this is an order! We are armed, you are not, the wisest choice for you would be to come quietly, don’t you –”

Number One’s head snapped toward the main street at Rick’s left as a camel came galloping in their direction, bawling like he’d just escaped hell. The Egyptian girl was running behind the stray beast, appearing to try to catch it and not doing a very good job of it. As the camel tumbled into the Oddball rear guard, causing much confusion among the ranks, Rick lost no time and ran like a maniac, grabbing Ferguson, who had stood frozen the entire time, by the collar of his jacket, Jonathan on his heels.

A split second’s look behind them was enough to understand that the Oddball gang had no intention of abandoning the pursuit. In fact, three were getting back into the Lincoln, and the other three were already after them on foot.

The situation was getting a little desperate. This was almost the outskirts of the city, which meant a clear enough path for the car, and there was very little chance the Gang would not catch up with them.

That’s when Rick noticed that Jonathan wasn’t with them anymore.

“Shit!”

Before he could ask Ferguson about it, say anything at all, or even decide between fury or concern for his brother-in-law, a loud horn pierced the din, and both Ferguson and the American whirl to find a brown, curly-haired head emerging from a convertible idling nearby. The motor was roaring.

“C’mon, get in! We haven’t got all day, for cripes’ sake!”

Not sense wasting time in asking where this car came from, or even how Jonathan had managed to get it running without keys. Rick, followed by Ferguson, leapt over the door as the car shot off at top speed, its tyres screeching. Familiar with Jonathan’s ‘emergency’ driving, Rick clung at whatever he could grasp, and saw Ferguson, looking kind of pale, do the same as he yelled, “PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN, JON!”

Never a good adventure without a good scare on the road, thought Rick, looking behind to see the three remaining Oddballs rush into the Lincoln and after them. This was the third time he was forced to escape in a car, or at least a motored vehicle. At least, the two first times they’d had weapons to defend themselves, and Ardeth on their side, which had been a considerable advantage, to use one of those understatements Brits were so fond of. The first time, their opponents had been a large, crazed mob of zombies possessed by Imhotep. The second, it had been four decaying mummy warriors woken up by Imhotep.

Now, this time, they were being pursued by six men, all-human, non-mummy regular guys. But it looked as if the difference was slim, as these men seemed to be vying for their blood as well.

While every bump and pothole in the road brought the car closer to flying, Rick wondered whether their old mummy buddy had a part in all of this. If he did, then things didn’t look so bad – they were kind of used to the end of the world, after all, and Rick had at least the promise of some serious mummy ass kicking before the end. That was already something.

Ferguson glanced behind, and yelled, “They’re gettin’ closer, Jon! Where are you driving to exactly?”

“I have no bloody idea!” yelled back Jonathan, his hands clasping the wheel so tight that his knuckles were white. Rick had to carefully keep to his side of the car, as far as possible from the driver, who kept turning the wheel so sharply his elbows sometimes missed Rick’s face by inches. Alex would probably have found his uncle’s antics quite funny. Thank God he’s not here.

He turned from the black car still following them to the landscape ahead of them. A landscape which he knew quite well, for having followed Evy down there countless of times.

“Jonathan!” Rick shouted, trying to point to the direction without letting go too much – the car’s jerks would have thrown him out easily. “Next street to the left leads to Giza – take it!”

“What’s that you said?”

“GIZA! On your LEFT! Take the NEXT STREET to Giza!”

“Right-ho, partner!”

Just as he said those words, Jonathan gave a deadly turn of the wheel, and had Rick and Ferguson not been holding on for dear life, that would have been their last ride. It would be a sheer miracle if all of Rick’s organs were still in the right place, because his insides sure felt all mixed up.

Still, it worked.

The Lincoln roared past the street in a flash, and the three of them cheered as the road to Giza stretched ahead of them, across the Nile. The top of the Great Pyramid was already in sight, and it seldom had been such a welcome one. Sure, it would take the Gang little time to slow down and make a U-turn, but that little stunt had at least bought them some time. Rick allowed himself to relax slightly, and he saw Ferguson sag a bit in the back seat. The Englishman looked a little green around the edges. Hell, the American felt slightly sick to the stomach himself. At least, the other two times, he’d had something to get busy with, like zombies and mummies, and afterwards he couldn’t tell the bruises he’d got from them from the ones he’d got from Jonathan’s driving.

Now, being forced to actually pay attention to the road, Rick had to admit that he definitely wasn’t feeling quite comfortable when his brother-in-law was driving on such extreme occasions. Even if this was their only lifesaver.

A weird noise coming from the inside of the automobile interrupted his line of thought and he stared worriedly at a point somewhere near his ankle. “Something wrong?”

Jonathan opened his mouth to answer, but was cut by Ferguson’s cry of “Hey! They’re back!”

They were. The shiny black Lincoln was racing again behind them, the sight even stranger on this almost desert road, under that sun. It reminded Rick of a black bug in the middle of the desert.

And the noise in the engine wasn’t stopping. On the contrary.

“What’s the matter with this car?” yelled Rick, his guts churning. Jonathan shook his head, looking rather desperate, his face white under the sweat and the dust.

“I don’t know!” His eyes widened, and he stole a bemused, almost angry glance at the American. “How the hell would I know, anyway? This car isn’t mine!”

Rick rolled his eyes. They were doomed.

The Lincoln was now half a mile behind them, and to their horrified surprise, the motor gave a sputter and the car started to slow down.

Two voices rose in the same time.

“Step on the gas, Jon!”

“Do something, goddammit!”

Jonathan fumbled with the gearbox and the cords sticking out from under the glove compartment, but it didn’t seem to stop the car from slowing down. Looking at a complete loss, he looked up to the skies, his face ashen, his jaw clenched. “Our Lady of the Blessed Acceleration, don’t fail me now…2”

Rick fought back a fit of nervous laughter that threatened to burst out. He’d have to remember that one.

Either Jonathan’s bizarre prayer was heard or one of his attempts was successful. The engine started up again and the car picked up speed. Rick released the breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding.

But it was still a little bit early for rejoicing, it seemed. The Lincoln was now less than a quarter of a mile behind them and gaining more ground.

The Nile divided into two branches where they crossed it, so fast that the great river whooshed past them in the blink of an eye, at over sixty miles an hour. Now the bases of the three pyramids were visible, and the gigantic statue of the Sphinx stood seemingly right in front of them. The road was perfectly straight for two miles, and they were the only two cars, except for a big truck they could see miles away behind the Lincoln.

“Boy, are we in trouble,” he heard Ferguson mutter behind him.

We’re in big trouble, his mind echoed as two Oddballs leant out the windows, and pointed their guns at them.

“GET DOWN!” Rick shouted, as one, then two gunshots cracked through the roar of the engine. The three of them sank at once in their respective seats, Jonathan just peering from over the wheel.

“Maniacs!” he yelled, making Rick jump a little and look at him bemusedly. “Bloody bunch of completely cracked lunatics!”

His face looked halfway between equally intense terror and fury, and it seemed that the second had taken over the first. Rick actually grinned in spite of the gunshots. His brother-in-law was quite funny indeed when he let something like this happen, and the thought of Alex’s burst of laughter when he told him afterwards cheered him up consequently.

However, this feeling was short-lived. As they arrived at a fork in the road, the first camels, horses and tents of an archaeological party drawing into view, another shot cracked through the air, and the car gave a great swerve. Jonathan shouted something that made Rick himself wince. Evy would have undoubtedly either fainted right away had she heard that or, more likely, bitten his head off.

The car left the road, and the three men clung onto whatever they could to avoid being thrown out.

“Think they’ve hit a tyre!” cried Ferguson, looking down over the door to his left.

“Ya think!?” retorted Rick sarcastically as he turned briefly to him. “Now what?” he asked Jonathan, who struggled hard to keep the wheel from jerking violently.

“The car, it’s – I can’t – HANG ON!!” he shouted suddenly, his eyes wide with terror. Rick took one look ahead, and his heart seemed to stop beating for a second. The car had been zigzagging among the tents and was now heading at top speed toward an overhang that looked about six feet high.

No, not heading. They were already on it. Rick dived in his seat.

There was an eerie second during which the car seemed to fly in absolute silence and grace. Then, as all good things eventually come to an end, there was a mighty crashing noise and what felt like a violent earthquake to the occupants in the car, followed by various metallic sounds indicating that the brave, finally beaten car was falling apart. Finally, a high cloud of thick dust enveloped everything in brownish yellow silence.

Rick slowly opened one wary eye, then, as nothing happened, opened the other. He was still curled up in his seat, a bit bruised, sure, but alive. Just as slowly, he sat up, grasping the door of the car for support. Dust was everywhere, and he couldn’t see a damn thing. “Everyone all right?” he croaked, shaking sand off his hair.

“‘M right ‘ere,” mumbled a shaky voice behind him, and a hand grasped the back of his seat. “Jesus bloody Christ, what a ride… Can’t believe I survived Cambrai3 for this…”

So Ferguson was okay. Good.

“Jonathan?”

No reply.

“Jonathan, are you here?”

The dust was settling, and as the cloud dispersed, Rick could see that Jonathan was still sitting beside him, staring right in front of him with wide eyes, his back straight, stiff as a board. The wheel was still clutched in his hands, except that it was no longer attached to the car.

The picture would have been hilarious in other circumstances.

“Hey, Jonathan,” said Rick, somewhat concerned, “you okay?”

Still no reply. His brother-in-law looked like somebody struck by lightning, except that he was covered in dust and sand, not roasted on the spot. Puzzled, Rick reached out to poke his shoulder. “Hey, time to wake up n—whoa!” Jonathan had jumped a foot in the air, as if Rick’s hand had sent electricity through his body. He blinked once, very slowly, then turned blue eyes that had recovered most of their usual character to his brother-in-law.

“Don’t do that.”

Oh, yeah. That shoulder still gave him grief sometimes4. “Sorry,” said Rick with a grin, happier than he’d thought he’d be to have him back. “You almost had me worried for a minute. You sure you’re not hurt at all?”

“No, I’m fine. Just a little bit shaken, I guess. Tommy?”

“I’m all right, Jon,” answered Ferguson’s still shaken voice. “Just remind me not to get in a car when you’re driving next time, mate.”

“No problem.”

They scrambled out of the car, Rick kicking the mangled door open. It fell on the ground with a grim-sounding thud. “Jonathan, who was the owner of that car?”

“A very unfortunate person,” deadpanned Jonathan, leaning against the radiator grill, his knees wobbling. Rick rolled his eyes.

“Well, we’ll soon be far more ‘unfortunate’ than this guy if we don’t scram right now!” Peeking over the overhang, he saw that the Gang had left the Lincoln and was now searching for them among the tents. “We gotta get out of here.”

Jonathan didn’t move. He was staring at a tent a few feet away with a glint in his eyes. “I say, why don’t we just put on some of their large robes and wait till these guys are gone? No need for ugly confrontations, is there?”

Rick thought about it, rejected the idea, then looked over the promontory again.

Okay, so maybe they really had no other choice after all.

But as he turned from the cliff to the beaten, dusty car, he heard a quiet voice say, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Jon.”

Rick turned. What he saw made his heart leap in his throat. Ferguson was standing near the car, a sorrowful expression on his face, and a gun in his hand, aimed directly at Jonathan.

To say Rick was shocked was a little far from the truth. In fact, he couldn’t have said what he felt at that point. Shocked, yes, stunned, probably, furious, definitely – most likely a combination of the three, plus a few other feelings he didn’t bother to break down. For one second, he was tempted to be furious at Jonathan’s credulity and misguided trust… But his anger abated when he took one look at his brother-in-law’s face. Rick felt a nasty pang in the guts at his expression. It was pretty understated for a betrayal of this magnitude: just open-mouthed shock and the promise of a gut-wrenching pain when it settled.

Neither Englishman moved, and this silent stillness seemed to root Rick to the spot as well. His guts were screaming for him to run, and he could have, if he had wanted. But coming back to Evelyn to tell her that her brother had been taken by weirdos in black suits and hats after being backstabbed by a friend? Better face whatever was in store for them.

The Oddball gang caught up with them, the six guys in suits walking as silently as shadows. Each footstep lifted a tiny cloud of dust. Before it came down, the men were standing around them, each revolver pointed at them.

“Well, well, well,” said Number One, raising an eyebrow at the scene. “After all the trouble you have caused us and this entertaining chase, it would eventually seem that you have done all of this for nothing. How unfortunate.”

Rick had very rarely felt a stronger impulse to deck a guy. He suppressed a growl, and cast a deadly glare at the smaller man.

“Oh, you can stare at me, Mr O’Connell, for all the good it will do,” smirked Number One, his voice insufferably smug. “But look at the facts: the odds are against you, and there is no camel to save you this time.” One wave of his hand, and three guns were aimed at his chest from less than four feet away. “If you truly wish to try some heroics, you are welcome to do so. However, know that we have orders to take the two of you alive, if possible.”

Okay. So these guys didn’t give a damn if they died, but it’d be more convenient that they didn’t. Rick was sorely tempted to send them all to hell, but he had one reason not to. He’d never see Evy and Alex again if he did. This particular reason had far more weight than any other excuse to go nuts and do something stupid.

He willed his tense muscles into relaxing slightly, and even allowed himself the luxury of a smile. “I wouldn’t give you this pleasure, you little piece of shit.”

Number One’s eyes narrowed and he stuck up his nose. “Falling back on verbal violence when physical assault is impossible. This is so crass and so very American that I’m not in the least surprised, Mr O’Connell.”

The screeching noise of big tyres stopping on a rough road came from the trail, a little far behind, and Number One unveiled his eye-teeth in a smile again. “It seems our friends have arrived. Gentlemen, with your permission, we’ll be your escort.”

“So we don’t get lost? Great. Didn’t know we were so popular.” The sensation of one Oddball’s gun being pressed between his shoulder blades silenced Rick for a little while. He took the opportunity to look around.

He and Jonathan were being led to a truck, the very same truck he’d seen earlier behind the Lincoln. The back of the truck opened, and Rick was ordered to get in. As he climbed deftly onto the floor, he looked behind him to see Number One holding Jonathan back for a minute.

“If this is of any comfort to you, Mr Carnahan,” he said in that smug voice of his, “I’ll let you know that Mr Ferguson had very little choice.”

Rick couldn’t see Jonathan’s eyes. He kept his gaze to the ground. Behind the rest of the Gang, a few feet away, Ferguson’s face was downcast as well.

“That means he did have a choice, then, didn’t he.” It hardly sounded like a question at all. Something twisted Rick’s insides at the sound of Jonathan’s voice. In almost a dozen years, he had never heard his brother-in-law sound so thoroughly defeated.

Number One gave a very small smile, one not unlike Imhotep’s when he had advanced toward Rick for the killing blow. “I don’t deny that.”

This time, Rick all but leapt from his spot on the floor of the truck to punch the bastard into the ground.

Jonathan climbed into the truck in turn, and went to sit a few feet away from his brother-in-law, still looking down.

Rick was wondering whether or not he should try to catch his gaze when the Oddball standing near him seized his revolver by the barrel and brought it down.

Everything went black.

.⅋.

(Don't kill me. But I hope you had come to actually like Tom. I know, authors are cruel. And it’s not even the worst thing I planned since I begun taking notes because a plot mummy was gnawing at my toes.)

Notes:

1باشا (bāša): “sir”, “mister” in Egyptian Arabic.

2Quoth Elwood Blues.

3The Battle of Cambrai (also called the Second Battle of Cambrai), fought between English and German forces in October 1918.

4From the scarab Rick had to cut out of it. And may I state for the record “YEEEESH.”

See you next Friday!

[erikismybitch]

Snow Ball Part 3

Erik x Reader

Warnings: Smut, Cursing, Violence

Word Count: 2,869

Summary: A group of friends go on their annual couples trip but this time Y/N goes solo. Her ex shows up with his new girlfriend. What happens when old feelings and emotions come forward….

Part 1 https://erikismybitch.tumblr.com/post/172336070953/snow-ball

Part 2 https://erikismybitch.tumblr.com/post/172441686753/snow-ball-part-2

“Erik wake up” Y/N caressed his face, she knew he slept light and just the sound of her voice could wake him up. He responded with a slow “Huh?”  His eyes were still closed. “Lets go upstairs, somebody made breakfast”

“Just go without me, I’m still tired” his deep morning voice peaked out.

Unexpectedly they heard footsteps rushing downstairs towards the room. Y/N looked over at Erik, who was the least bit worried about someone catching them together . Y/N on the other hand, wasn’t quite ready to be exposed. Luckily for her, It was just Nicki. She didn’t knock, she just opened the door. Nicki was surprised to say the least. She knew Y/N and Erik messed around, but she didn’t know it had gone this far.

“Erik, you need to get out of here right now” Nicki whispered. Only it wasn’t demanding, It was a warning.

“Why?” Y/N asked Nicki.

Nicki’s brows curled in curiosity, she observed the room. “Does this have anything to do with why Jessica left last night?”

“What about Jessica, why does he need to leave. Whats going on Nicki?” Y/N was growing impatient now.

“Que just called me, he said you weren’t picking up your phone”

Erik sucked his teeth “That’s what the fuck you rushed in here for?” He asked.

“No idiot, he told me that he was close”

“Close to what?” Y/N and Erik both said at the same time.

“Close, as in he’s a couple minutes away from here!” Nicki yelled.

“Oh shit!” Y/N panicked. She grabbed her phone off the night stand. Que had called and messaged her numerous times. She powered her phone off. “If he ask’s, I’m just gonna tell him that my phone is broken”

“Fuck him” Erik mumbled. Nicki decided to wash her hands with the situation and go back upstairs. “You and I are back together, ain’t no more Que”

“Its not that simple Erik, I need to tell him in my own way. Not with you laying half naked in my bed”

Y/N told Erik that she wanted to finish this trip, and as soon as she and Que went home she would break up with him. Erik was not here for that plan. He wanted things to happen fast, but out of respect for Y/N he would wait. He left the room, but not before a quick kiss and some ass grabbing.

Breakfast was quiet, not purposely. It just that Nicki, Y/N and Erik were exceptionally quiet at the table. Noelle decided to break the silence, she was over it.

“So... What happened last night?”

Y/N started to choke on her pancakes. She took a sip of orange juice and responded “What are you talking about?” She questioned.

“Jessica left last night, she woke everybody up with all of her shuffling. She had a cab outside waiting; Said she was going to stay at a hotel”

“Oh... that” was all Y/N managed to let out. This was news to her.

“What would make her just leave like that?” Noelle questioned. Y/N looked to her beau for help.

“We got into an argument, she left on her own will”

Last night, before Erik and Jessica crept into Y/N’s bed, they had a conversation. One that Jessica wasn’t prepared for. Erik sincerely apologized about the situation he put her in. Then he told her that he couldn’t fight his feelings and was leaving her for Y/N. After she cried, he told her that he would pay for a hotel and her plane trip home. He knew that he seemed harsh, but it would have just gotten worse if he continued to lead her on. Besides, each time he looked at Y/N’s beautiful face, Jessica’s feelings weren’t worth it any longer.

There was a knock at the door.

“Thats Que, I’ll get it” Y/N briskly wiped her face and made her way to the door. As soon as the door opened, she saw the anger in his face. “Before you say anything, my phone is broken” Y/N said, she gave him a kiss and a hug.

“Why couldn’t you call me on somebody else’s phone?” He snapped at her, but she was too quick in her thinking.

“I know babe... I just... I was so mad about you not being here with me, so I didn’t want to talk to you”

“I’m sorry, but I’m here now” Que instantly felt guilty for letting his girlfriend take this trip alone. He had missed her terribly while she was away.

“I know baby” She kissed him again. He left his bags near the door, Y/N offered to show him their room after breakfast. She lead him to the table. As soon at Erik spotted Que he excused himself. He went up to his room with no interest in meeting Que. In His eyes, he was public enemy number one. Que took the empty seat next to Y/N, she made him a plate. He knew everyone around the table, so he needed no introduction.

“So what have you guys been doing here?” Que asked, taking a bite of his bacon.

“We drank, ate, yesterday we went skiing” Y/N answered.

“And Y/N has been walking around here missing you, all she kept talking about was how much she wished you were here” Nicki chimed in, gently kicking Y/N’s foot under the table.

“Ugh, Nicki don’t tell him that” She laughed and kicked her back.

“I know my baby missed me, I know it was hard” Que leaned over and kissed her on her cheek, she pretended to be smitten.

After breakfast Y/N showed que to their room. Just as she though, he complained about how old everything looked. She ignored his critiques and told him that she needed to shower. He took it upon himself to join her. Every time he tried to touch her, she would stiffen. He thought she was still mad at him for not being there, so he let it go. Little did he know, she just wanted to wash Erik and Jessica’s saliva and sweat off her body. When they were done, Que got dressed faster than her and decided to go upstairs. Y/N stayed behind and flat ironed her hair.

Que spotted the men outside on the deck engaging in conversation, so he joined them. He found himself in an empty chair right across from Erik. He held a blunt to his lips, inhaling and passing it to Brandon. “You smoke, bruh?” Erik asked him, blowing smoke in Que’s direction. He looked down towards Que’s shoes, Old ass shoes, she’s really dating this clown? He thought, then laughed a little.

“No, I don’t smoke” Que replied.

“Really? Cause I know Y/N smokes” Erik said. Brandon’s eyes shot towards Que, he couldn’t wait to see this unfold. Chad just pulled his phone out and pretended to be more interested in something else.

“I don’t believe she does”

“You sure about that? I know she did when she was with me” Erik said. Suddenly Chad wasn’t into his phone anymore.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Que asked, he didn’t appreciate Erik’s hostility towards him. He didn’t even know this man.

‘Wait, you don’t know Erik?” Brandon geared his question towards Que, to him, this just got even more interesting.

“Erik? Are you Erik the ex?” Que came to a realization.

“Nah, I’m Erik. Thee ex” He laughed and took the blunt from Brandon.

Que’s mind was spinning. Y/N had been there without him, but in the company of her ex boyfriend for three days. Que didn’t see anymore women around, so he obviously came alone. He had trust in Y/N, but he didn’t trust this Erik guy at all. Who knows the things he could have said or tried to do to Y/N while she was alone.

“You got a problem with me?” Que’s nostrils flared, he was not about to get punked by his girlfriends ex. Chad decided to bud in. He didn’t know Que too well, but he did know that Erik was crazy and loved to fight. Especially over Y/N.

“Chill out you guys, we only have one more day. After that, you guys will never see each other again” Chad pleaded

“You right, I apologize man” Que said, gearing the apology to Chad. Erik said nothing.

The men began to talk about sports, football to be exact. They were sharing their predictions for next years Super Bowl. Brandon was going of about his favorite team and why they had been loosing. Erik didn’t care about any of that. His focus drifted towards the house. He looked through the glass windows at Y/N. She had just joined the women in the kitchen. He noticed that her hair was different, it was straight. She brushed it behind her ears, exposing her beautiful face. Y/N caught him staring and winked. That was all the confirmation he needed. She was still in this with him.

“What do you think they’re talking about outside?” Y/N asked the girls.

“I don’t know, Erik is sort of single now. So he’s probably challenging Que to a duel so he can win you back” Noelle joked, they all laughed at her.

Y/N wanted so badly to tell Noelle everything, but she didn’t trust her with those kinds of secrets . The group lounged around the house that day. Until it was time for their last dinner . They all huddled inside of Chads Truck and drove to the restaurant . It was a fine dining restaurant with a specific menu and dress code. They all looked amazing. Especially Y/N who stood out in her fur coat and tight nude dress. Erik wanted to do nothing more but sneak her off into the bathroom, raise up her dress and fuck her senseless .

“This place is really nice”  Y/N said to herself . She was no stranger to fine dining, Que took her to places like this often . Y/N preferred big meals that could get her full. Places like this, served small courses . She’d probably be hungry again later tonight. Her eyes scanned the menu. The waitress came over and offered them red and white wine. Y/N chose red, it got her tipsy quicker . She ordered steak and Lobster and just like she expected, the portions were small .

“I hate places like this, we gotta stop at a McDonalds on the way back home” Erik said as he fiddled with his small plate of penne pasta.

“I know right!” Y/N agreed. The two laughed together. It made Que feel uneasy. He waited until every one was engaged with each other to ask her a question . One that had been burning in his mind.

“Babe ?” He said lowly . She looked to him, her mouth full of steak and red wine. “Do you smoke weed?”

She swallowed and laughed before she answered him. “Yes, I do”

Que was floored, Erik was right. It made him question just how much he didn’t know about his girl. “When do you do that?”

“I know you don’t like it, so I just find times to do it when you aren’t around” she thought his questions were weird , but she didn’t bother to ask him his reasoning .Pretty soon she’d be able to smoke freely, with the man she was destined to be with .

Erik’s phone had gotten a notification. It was the airline he booked Jessica’s flight with . They were informing him that the passenger missed the flight. “What the fuck” he mumbled and sent her a text .

Jess

Did you miss your flight?

When she didn’t text him back fast enough he gave her a call. It went straight to voicemail .

When they were all done eating , they headed back to the cabin. Not before stopping for some fast food for Y/N and Erik. When they got back, the women decided to get more wine and chill outside in the hot tub .

“What made us wait till the last night to come in here?” Noelle sunk into the hot water letting out a loud groan.

“Chad and I came down here last night” Nicki said .

Y/N and Noelle looked at each other with disgusted faces. “We didn’t have sex! I can’t stay in here too long because of the baby!” She defended herself.

“Well, Brandon and I would have”

“Que probably wouldn’t want to, but Erik, he and I would definitely do some damage up in here” Y/N admitted .

“So you still think about Erik?” Noelle questioned.

“Think!?” Nicki blurted out, Y/N splashed her with water , causing alert in Noelle

“Wait, you and Erik are still messing around ?” She asked.

“You think I’m about to let you leave me for that bitch!”

The girls heard Jessica’s voice booming loud and clear from inside the house.

“Well, that answered my question” Noelle said sarcastically. They rushed inside to see what the commotion was about. Jessica was at the front door, struggling to get inside of the house. Chad was holding her back. Brandon was standing in front of Erik, who looked pissed off.

“Whats going on?” Chad reverted his question towards both Erik and Jessica.

“I’ll tell you whats going on, Erik is trying to leave me for that bitch Y/N”

“She not gon’ be too many more bitches, aight” Erik warned.

Tears started to fall from Jessica’s eyes. She was standing here pouring her heart out to him and he had the nerve to defend another woman. She managed to slip from Chad’s grip and ran towards Erik. Once she seen the girls come onto the room, her rage was geared towards Y/N. She froze as she watched Jessica charge towards her. Quickly, Que came in to view and grabbed Jessica. “Who are you, let me go!” She screamed.

“Let you go so you could attack my girl, nah”

“Your girl!” Jessica screamed, then she let out an exasperated laugh. One of those laughs the evil witches do in movies. “ Well did you know that your girl is fucking Erik!”

Que felt like a fool, her words hit him like a ton of bricks. He looked to Y/N, praying that she would deny everything this woman said. She didn’t, she just watched him with sadness in her eyes. Then Que looked to Erik who stood there as if he had won. Roughly, he tossed Jessica on the floor. “I fucking knew it” He spat. Then charged at Erik like a football player going in for a tackle. Que was no match for Erik and his bone breaking hits to his back. Que dropped to the floor, defeated and broken. They all stared at Erik. Stunned.

“If I stay here, I’m gon’ kill this nigga!” He shouted. Y/N ran over to them, she attempted to touch Que, Erik grabbed her arm before she could.

“I’m so sorry Que” She said, barely above a whisper. Erik let her go and stormed off.

“Y/N, let’s fucking go!” He grabbed his car keys and rushed outside.

“Just go, I’ll drop your stuff off to you in the morning when we drive back” Nicki said. She tossed Y/N her long coat and her UGG’s. She was still in her swimsuit. With her eyes, she thanked her and left.

Erik sat outside in his car waiting for her, as soon as she hopped in, they took off. Erik sped down the highway, a little too fast for Y/N’s taste. She reached over with her left hand and grabbed his right. “Its okay” She assured him.

He exhaled and began to slow his speed, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I’m sorry that I grabbed you like that earlier” Erik told her.

“I love you, I know you wouldn’t hurt me”

“I love you too”

They were half way home now, Erik’s house to be exact, when they decided to stop at a rest stop. Y/N had to use the bathroom. He pulled into a parking spot and let her out. Within a matter of minutes she came back. “It was so clean in there, I thought it would be nasty because its on the side of the road” Y/N rambled on.

“You still got that swim suit on under that coat?” Erik asked.

“Yeah”

“Say less” he replied. He reversed the car out of the parking spot then drove to an area that was secluded. Since it was late, not many people were at the rest stop. “Come out of that coat”

“You want to have sex right now?” Y/N questioned, she knew he was serious.

“Yeah right now” He reclined his seat and began unbuckling his belt. Once his hard dick was exposed, she found herself more intrigued with his idea. She looked around one last time, trying to make sure nobody could see them. She took off her jacket.

“Lets make this quick, cause I’m ready to get the hell out of this snow”

[sweetpxsin]

Neighbor AU! Lai Guanlin [Requested]

Pairing: Lai Guanlin x Reader

Genre: Fluff// Neighbor! Au // Bulletpoint- scenarios

Requested:sorry i took too long to answer you back, i only saw your reply today. anyways, regarding the guanlin fluff, i was thinking about neighbor!au (can be idol!guanlin or not) hehe :”> thank you so much 💗💗💗💗💗

Summary/Extra:Guanlin moves into your neighborhood and is a lost puppy// I was debating whether to write it as a fic or a bulletpoint-scenario so it ended up kinda messy. I hope you enjoy tho!

•Alright so one day you were just minding your own business, ya know doing yo thang, scrolling through Instagram

•Till like noises from outside made you sit up in curiosity

•since your bed is like across the window you could kinda see some people were finally moving into the house to the left of yours

•but like ew neighbors and you laid back down cause that’s none of your business

•a couple minutes later your mom yells your name and you’re literally scrambling down the stairs

•”yes?”

•”say hi to our new neighbors.”

•you would have whined a little but she was making that face (you know the face where parents are like be normal or I will hit you and you will never hear the end of this type of face?)

•So you turned towards the family with your best smile and say ‘hi welcome to the neighborhood I hope you like it here. Oh and you can call me (y/n)’

•You should have seen how proud your mother was with your introduction but that’s not the point

•taking a quick glance at the family you spot a guy your age

•You mentally sigh because he is the most handsomest thing on planet earth you’ve ever seen  Well besides Jihoon who is your best friend but what he doesn’t know won't’ hurt him and your only interactions with him would probably be cringe neighbor stuff

•after the awkward introduction you sort of forgot about your new neighbors till you walked out of your house and noticed he wore a similar uniform to you

•You didn’t actually take a good look because you were more concerned in getting into class on time rather than being late

•and it didn’t cross your mind till you heard chatter about a new student being in your class

•you were actually interested in knowing if said student was your neighbor cause though he knew your name, you didn’t know his

•and before you knew it your mind was filled with questions about him

•soon  the bell rung signaling the beginning of school

•the teacher walked in and quieted the students to make some announcements before telling the student to enter the classroom

•once he entered the room he received loud response from the class

•he had a gummy smile the whole time

•”Hello, I’m Lai Guanlin from Taipei please take care of me.”

•The teacher thanked him and asked him to please take a seat

•as his eyes scanned the classroom for empty seats his eyes locked with yours before making his way to his desired seat

•You watched as he sat next to you and noticed how his smile got slightly wider and his first words to you were the cutest thing ever

•”Hi neighbor.”

• A little cringey but you still thought it was super cute just because of how happy he was

•However your interactions were cut short when the teacher called attention to the front board to start class

•You couldn’t help but pout a little wanting to know a little more about your neighbor whom you had just found out was from Taipei

•But the gesture didn’t go unnoticed by your one and only best friend

•He was quick to nudge you intrigued with the interactions exchanged from the both of you

•”You're totally into him.”

•”Be quiet Jihoon.” *elbows his tummy*

•”Deny it all you want (y/n)~”

•You rolled your eyes before sneaking a glance at Guanlin

•You were merely interested in all honesty not romantically but more in a friendly way  

•”Ohhohoho sneaking glances already?”

*Que another tummy elbow jab and Jihoon grunting in pain*

•ANYWAYS

•After homeroom you headed to your next class not really expecting to share any classes with Guanlin because you barely shared any classes with Jihoon

•But you were surprised to find the taller male by your side as you walked

•”Um (y/n) right?”

•”Yup!”

•He shot you another gummy smile before nervously scratching the back of his head

•”Do you know where classroom K307 is?”

•”...On the other side of the building…But I can walk you if you want,  I just have to tell the teacher ”

•”Please?”

•And that’s kinda how your day went, you walked Guanlin to his classes occasionally with a jealous Jihoon why ya’ll gonna make ma boy 3rd wheel

•By the end of the day both of you headed your separate ways… Well kind of Guanlin was picked up while you walked home

•Once you got home your mom instantly bombarded you with question

•”Did you know the neighbors son goes to your school?”

•”How is he? Is he nice? What’s his name?”

•You answered all her question before heading up to your room to do some homework

•after about a good amount of doing home working with a bit of getting side track you had finished your homework

•It was getting dark by now so you moved from your desk to your bed  and laid there, going through your phone lazily

•However you were soon interrupted with the sound of something hitting your window

•Getting up you walk to your window and find Guanlin smiling like a kid as he waved, halfway sticking out of his window

•You opened your window and mimicked his actions

•”What are you doing?”

•”I just wanted to say thanks for helping me get to my classes today!”

•You roll your eyes playfully unable to hide the smile playing on your lips

•”You couldn’t  have texted me?”

•”I-I don’t have your number!”

• You pulled your phone out of your pocket but was stopped mid way when your mom  suddenly called your name for dinner

•”Hey Guanlin I have to go right now I’ll talk to you later alright?”

•”W-wait can I-“

•”Bye Guanlin!”

•You quickly waved goodbye and shut the window before hurrying down the stairs

•once you got back to your room you glanced out your window and noticed the lights were off so you didn’t bother and went to bed

•the next day the idea completely slipped your mind till Guanlin had taken his seat next to yours

•”oh hey Guanlin about yesterday what were you going to ask me?”

•”oh that…*awkwardly clears throat* I was gonna ask if I could have your number… I-I MEaN OnLy iF YOu WAnT TO B-bUT yUO DoN’t HAve tO.”

•By the time he was done stumbling over his words you had already scribbled your digits on a piece of paper before handing it to him

•”Here.”

•”T-Thanks.”

•”But you can still talk to me via window it’s cute.”

•You shot Guanlin a smile in which he returned and your could've sworn you saw him blush a little

•but of course the cute moment was short lived before Jihoon’s voice creeped into your ear

•”Just date already.”

•*que you kicking his leg* bruh stop abusing this baby

•class soon started afterwards though so it’s not like Jihoon had really interrupted anything

•the day went on as normal with you occasionally helping Guanlin to his next class if he had forgotten and just so happened to see you along his way

•and this kind of carried on for a while till Guanlin has memorized his classrooms

•but that didn’t really stop the friendship from growing

•Guanlin and you still said hi when you passed each other in the halls

•had late night talks about stupid things whether it be over phone or via window

•if anything you could say he was becoming your second best friend

•One particular night Guanlin had hit your window multiple times with small pebbles till you finally opened your window

•”You know you could have texted instead of pelting little rocks at my window.”

•”I know but it’s fun!”

•He gave you his adorable gummy smile and of course you sighed in defeat

•”Of course it is. One day I hope it breaks.”

•”Hey!!”

•”I’m joking but whatsup?”

•”Your smart right?”

•”Decently why?”

•”Can you tutor me?”

•”oh omg is thee Lai Guanlin asking me to tutor thy?”

•”Yes. Now can you tutor me or naw????”

•”listen swaggy rapper keep the sass to yourself. But sure what do you need help in?”

•”everything”

•Your jaw literally dropped but you obliged and the studying session began the next day

•after class you and Guanlin had met up in the library to try and figure out where he needed help the most

•in all honesty he wasn’t bad he just took longer to grasp some concepts

•and this continued on for a while to the point studying at the school library went to studying in your room

•most of the time you guys would study but occasionally you two would mess around as in make jokes, poke fun at each other or watch videos

•every study session would usually end with your head on his shoulder with both of you laughing at dumb videos

•thought one day during study session you were a lot sleeper than  usual and ended up falling asleep

•Guanlin noticed and his face softened before he placed you in your bed and tucked you in before he quietly left

•when you woke up with Guanlin’s coat on the next day your guys friendship kinda deepened into something more for each of you

•I mean it was bound to happen you two basically spent every chance you had with each other js

•But of course both of you kept your feelings to yourself with subtle hits  

•like Guanlin would brush his hand against yours before holding it if you didn’t pull it away

•both of you would subtly complement each other and laugh even more at each other’s joke not matter how stupid they wer

•if someone didn’t know better they would have already thought both of you were dating

•ANYWAYS

•While Guanlin and you were hanging out Guanlin had told you he was going to be on a show called produce 101

•At first you thought he was joking because ITS FRiCkeN PRoDucE 101

•but when you realized he wasn’t you were really happy for him like genuinely happy for him

•okay maybe a little too excited for him like you were already imagining his audition and how he was going to do so amazing

•”okay but like your going to capture the hearts of the judges trust me.”

•”like their wigs will be snatched.”

•”okay but like you better still text me or I will kick you when you come back.

•anyways Guanlin was just happy how super supportive his best friend was

• When Guanlin finally left he felt confident asl But was still really nervous but kept thinking of you

•You were still so excited to see Guanlin on 101 so when the first episode dropped you literally stopped everything and told everyone to shut up

•OH AND YOU ALSO WERE ROOTING FOR JIHOON BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT YOUR GUANLIN- wait what

•But after watching the first episode you kinda felt bad for Guanlin but continued to support him *and Jihoon*

•throughout the show you swore you never cried and screamed so much

•But you had fallen in love with the other trainees and their hardwork and dedication especially with Guanlin

•so when the last episode was coming up you were a literally wreck

•you became even more of a wreck when Guanlin’s parents had invited you to come watch the last stage live with them

•of course you said yes and when the day came it was literally so surreal

•Especially when Boa had started to announce the final line up

•you literally so nervous like you didn’t even know why

•BUT BITCH WHEN YOUR TWO BEST FRIENDS HAD MADE IT INTO THE FINAL LINEUP YOU BEST BELIEVE YOU WERE A CRYING MESS BUT IT WAS OUT OF HAPPINESS

•You had first found Jihoon though and hugged the crap out of him and literally yelled congratulation at him and told him how proud you were of him

•when you found Guanlin you both literally yelled each other’s name and you ran into his arm

•y’all hugged each other so tightly awww lil cutie

•Guanlin was so excited and in the moment that when he pulled back he had kissed you in the moment and cause he liked you

•Honestly you were super shocked but kissed back because heck you liked this boy a lot that’s an understatement

•when he pulled back you both were smiling little blushy nerds

•and your faces only got redder when the boys cheered the both of you

•Guanlin ended up pulling you flush against his chest in a hug,giggling like a child

•”you have no idea how badly I wanted to do that.”

•”oh?so you liked me back for a while?”

•”shut up I caught you staring when you introduced yourself cutie. You were in love at first sight~”

•”shoot caught red handed.”

•”I love you, you little nerd.”

•”I love you too s-swaggy rapper.”

[the700clubasia]

I Don’t Need God

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13

“I don’t need God; I can handle things myself!”  Occasionally I am confronted with those words.  “Really?” I often say, giving me a moment to think before I respond.  Though I’ve never actually said it, “I’ve often wanted to respond: “You are a most unusual individual.  In fact, you are so rare a specimen that you should be the subject of study by the scientists of our day, and certainly, the theologians, who need to know how someone can be so secure, so confident of himself or herself, so absolute.  They need to know what makes you different from all the other creatures which fill the churches of the world, who pray to the Almighty, who christen babies and bury their dead with the hope of eternity.”

I would be particularly interested in knowing where and how you find strength when the doctor says, “I have to tell you we have done everything that medical science can do.  If you know how to pray, you’d better do it now.”  I’d like to know whom you turn to when you have laid the body of your mate in the cold ground and heard someone intone, “Dust to dust and ashes to ashes.”  How do you handle the difficulties of life, especially those which strike closest to your heart and home?

The person who boasts he or she has no need of God is not one to be studied but one to be pitied, because that person has a need—not much different from that of someone with an undiagnosed cancer—which is neither acknowledged nor confronted.  You who feel that way have a blind spot in your thinking.  The issue is not really whether you can get through life without God—many people do—but how much richer and fuller your life could be with God.

The fact is that you were made by God and for God.  Within every heart is a God-shaped vacuum, as Rene Pascal described it, which can only be filled by the Almighty.  Long ago, Augustine acknowledged this need, saying, “Thou has made us for thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

It is the God-connection which gives meaning and purpose to an otherwise often irrational existence.  It is the certainty that there is an Almighty who is not disinterested in what happens to His children, which allows us to face the disasters of life, and to stand before an open grave with the certainty that dust to dust and ashes to ashes was not spoken of the soul.

But belief in God is not a crutch which gets you by the tough times of life, like death and dying.  It involves a relationship with God which adds a third dimension to all of life—to marriage, to existence, to how you treat others—reflecting a value system that holds life itself.  It is sacred.

A faithful dog is a wonderful companion who may show affection and warmth, but an animal with no knowledge of God cannot express the comfort of one who can hold your hand and say, “We’ll be together for all eternity.”

Here is the bottom line: We have no need of God if there is no life after death—no heaven or no hell.  But if one has come back from the other side, and there is no question that he or she has been there, then suddenly, everything changes.  If the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a fraud, if no one has ever glimpsed the other side as he or she lay dying, then, perhaps, friend, it’s OK to live without God.  But if God exists on the other side, you can’t afford to live without Him on this side.  Think about it.

Resource reading: Jeremiah 29:10-14

[ladytimedramon]

Random Ramblings on Choices: The Royal Romance 1 and 2

I’ve been having a lot of random, rambling thoughts especially after the latest chapter of TRR.

Something bugs me about the whole MurderKing/MurderQueen scenario. With all the dedication towards the stability of the throne, and after watching too much stuff on the History channel, I’m wondering if there might be a third group sprung on us, either at the end of book two or at the probable beginning of a book thee.

What I’m picturing is some sort of “secret society” – sort of an Illuminati/Mafia cross – that so long as the ruling monarch lets them do what they need to do behind the scenes, all is peaceful but once certain “lines” are crossed, they send in their people.

Let’s look at Constantine’s 3 queens. Leo’s mother “couldn’t handle court pressure and left” (I don’t know why but I suspect or thought I read somewhere that she actually died – I can’t imagine Leo having no contact with her once she left for his entire life, if she was still alive – he seems to be the kind that would have looked for her during his wanderings). Liam’s mother, apparently a popular queen, was murdered. Then we have Regina, who steps in, doesn’t have to have children since there is an heir and a spare, just do queenly duties. She is apparently “perfectly groomed” to be the queen.

Now let’s look at the next generation. Leo is to be king, Liam is the spare. Madeline spends a lot of time with the royal family, apparently being groomed by Regina as future queen because Adelaide seems to be a bit of a “loose cannon” to raise the perfect future queen. Olivia is there but she is a wild card. She’s someone that Regina most likely can’t control other than teaching her “social graces”. Olivia is still allowed to be in the mix because Liam, at that point, isn’t heir. Madeline sails through Leo’s social season with the queen’s support, possibly aided by the fact that Leo doesn’t want to be king, and he isn’t interested in any of the other women enough to actually favor anyone himself (in the end letting Regina’s “choice” of Madeline sail through).

Then Leo abdicates, throwing a wrench in all of the plans. Madeline is “out” as fiancée. Liam then has to endure the social season and Olivia, as a childhood friend, is high placed for being his most likely choice. But Madeline could possibly still squeak through since there seems to have never been any romance between Olivia and Liam. The MC comes from absolutely nowhere, making all plans go awry. After what happens with Leo and the ROE MC, Regina decides (or is told) to approach this situation more cautiously, observe, and feel her out.

Suddenly Constantine decides to abdicate. The MC is still too unknown and Olivia too much of a wild card. Madeline has to be queen, hence the attempts at blackmail. As a member of the nobility, Olivia takes the threat seriously and backs out while the MC doesn’t take it seriously.

And then, here we are.

Bringing Drake into the mix, he is Liam’s best friend, but he’s also to a degree seeing Bastien as a father figure. Bastien very easily could have brought Drake into full on training to be a royal bodyguard and set him up to be Liam’s personal bodyguard. Instead he keeps him out of it. If there’s a background power pulling the strings behind the throne, Bastien is probably very aware of it and by not getting Drake into guard training leaves Drake free and out of the loop to really be by Liam’s side. Drake is free to act in Liam’s best interests and move as Liam’s best friend – he’s not subject to the whims of king, queen, or any possible secret society.

I wonder if the assassination attempt on Liam was actually a “warning message” to someone. “Keep in line and no one gets hurt.” It’s a very strong message. At the time Bastien is still assigned to Leo and needs someone he both he and Liam trust implicitly – that’s Drake.

The MC’s setup at the hands of Bastien would have come at the request of this society. It’s possible even that Olivia’s parents were part of the society, then murdered when they refused to take orders. The society could have/would have the blackmail material on them easily. Not so simple with the MC. It’s possible there was an “or else” involved with regards to Bastien’s orders to set up the MC. Bastien isn’t married and doesn’t have children (that we know of) but there could be a sibling or parent in danger if he doesn’t comply – or even possibly a threat towards Savannah (since he was a father figure to Drake and her after their father died and it’s possible he also knew where she went/what happened).

It’s even possible that Constantine’s retirement is coming about because of this “secret society”. Perhaps they “ordered” it so they could get a very early grip on Liam. Or perhaps he’s ill and trying to escape it, even if that leaves Liam at their mercy before he’s ready.

I know that for some the MurderKing/MurderQueen scenario seems most likely, but something just makes me feel that it’s too easy for that to be the situation. Even Madeline’s comment about women knowing their place makes me feel like there is some sort of group behind everything. It almost reminds me of “Dune”. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen the movie/read the books, but in the end the Bene Gesseret are the women behind the power, providing women who become queens and consorts while still being loyal to the society and its directives. Their main thing is the bloodlines, not the actual ruling, but setting up the queens to help maintain power in the kingdom seems like a secret society thing. I’m sure if the situation were flipped and Constantine had 2 daughters, the society would’ve provided a “prince consort” groomed by them instead.

Madeline’s only driving force is being queen. She doesn’t care about love. Her duty/job is to become the next queen. She’s so matter-of-fact about it that it’s creepy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Leo or Liam. She’s not interested in them, let alone a relationship. Which then makes me wonder about Regina’s relationship behind the scenes with Constantine. Were they in love? Did she even pretend to be in love with him or try to win his heart? Or was it a “business arrangement”? Leo shows her respect as his father’s queen but she’s obviously not a close stepmother. Liam doesn’t even really seem to be that “close” to her as if she always kept her stepsons at arm’s length. Like I said in another thread, I suspect that Madeline is fine having the MC as Liam’s lover because perhaps she also has no interest in sleeping with Liam or even having children. The MC’s presence could give her an excuse to say “Unfortunately I am unable to bear children but the MC has kindly offered to be a surrogate so the kingdom will have heirs,” and then later allow her to be ‘Nanny’ so Madeline doesn’t have to be involved in that part of the title ‘queen’. I wonder even if she prefers women or is asexual, but she knows her “duty” is to become queen so her personal preferences don’t even matter.

Anyhow, these are just my thoughts, random ramblings as they may be.

[isolationshepherd-blog]

CHAPTER ELEVEN - NEW BEGINNINGS

Duns House, Berwickshire

Harper had drawn a bath, which was a rare treat, and Abby was relaxing in it, steam rising from the water and her skin into the cold air of the room. The bath was close to the fire but there was still a chill in the air. November had arrived, and with it cold mornings, crisp days and long, dark nights. Since their conversation in the garden two days ago, Harper had fussed over Abby non-stop, plying her with herbal potions, massaging soothing oils into her skin, making sure the cook fed her as much fresh food as was available. It was all designed to lift Abby’s mood, and it was working, in its own way. She had resigned herself to her fate, realised that worrying herself sick over it would not change anything, and with that acceptance had come a strange contentment. What would be, would be. 

Harper poured more hot water into the bath, and Abby laid back, resting her head against the wooden side of the tub, and closed her eyes. She listened to the girl’s quiet breaths as she stirred the water, mixing the hot with the cool.

“Mistress?”

“Hmmm?”

“We have had word from Edinburgh.”

Abby opened her eyes, looked at Harper.

“Oh yes?”

“Aye. The Master is coming home the day after tomorrow.”

Abby sat up, her heart beating faster, her skin growing cold. “What exactly have you heard?”

“Just that. The cook got word to expect him, that is all.”

“Nothing more?”

“No. Try not to worry. If he knew anything, he would not delay.”

That thought was not as comforting to Abby as Harper probably intended it to be. Alasdair was coming home, and even if he didn’t know about Kane, Abby was still faced with the prospect of having to look at him, talk to him, breathe the same air as him, knowing what he had done. What if he wanted to lay with her? How could she refuse? She felt sick again, bile rising in her throat and she swallowed it down. She didn’t want Harper to see her like this again; the girl knew enough as it was.

“I should like to get out now, Harper.”

Harper held out her hand and Abby took it, stepping out of the tub onto the cold wooden floor. Harper picked up a blanket, and wrapped Abby in it.

“I will fetch your nightdress.”

Abby nodded, pulling the blanket more tightly around her as Harper returned with the simple white slip Abby liked to sleep in. She sat passively as the maid dried her and dressed her, too caught up in thoughts of what would happen in the next few days to be of help to the girl.

“Are you alright, Mistress? Do you need anything else?”

“Yes. Thank you, Harper. I’ll be fine.”

“Good night, Mistress.”

The maid shut the door behind her as she left and Abby went to sit at her dressing table. She undid her braid, let her hair fall loose. She was so absorbed in brushing it, she didn’t sense that she wasn’t alone in the room until a hand touched her shoulder. She jumped up out of her seat and spun around. Kane was standing in front of her as large as life. Abby was stunned. It felt as though time stood still; her heart stopped mid-beat, breath mid-rise, brain mid-thought. Only her sight remained working, taking in the shape of him, his beard scruffier than ever, his hair stuck out in every direction. His face was dirty and sweat-streaked and he had a faded bruise on his cheek. He seemed thinner than when she had last seen him, his kilt hanging low off his hips, his shirt tucked in, emphasising his slim frame. He was as handsome as ever, though, brown eyes still smiling, even though his brow was furrowed, his lips thin and pursed.

“Kane?”

“Aye, it is me.”

“I don’t understand. What are you doing here? Someone will see you.” She looked around, fearful, as though guards would suddenly appear out of the gloom as well.

“No one is near, Abby. Have no fear.”

“How did you get in here? No, don’t tell me. Your spies helped you.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“Don’t be like that, Abby. I had to see thee. There was no other way.”

“I have no wish to see you.” Now that the longed-for moment was here, when he was standing before her, worry and fear etched on his face, she felt only anger, and disappointment. Whatever he wanted to say, it was too late. She was done with him.

Kane took a step closer and Abby moved backwards but bumped into her dresser. She could not get any further away from him.

“Ye did not give me a chance to explain, when last we met.”

“What is there to explain? You used me. You seduced me to get revenge on my husband, and I fell for it. I was so stupid.” Tears sprung to her eyes. She didn’t want Kane to see them, but they spilled down her cheeks, betraying her to him.

He put his hand out towards her. She didn’t think he would dare to touch her, but he did. His thumb brushed a tear away, then he slipped his hand round the back of her head and pulled her in towards him until her face was buried in his chest. Both his arms wrapped around her and there was nothing else she could do except cry into his shirt, silently, unwilling to let him hear the depth of her pain.

He kissed the top of her head. “Abby. Ye were never my revenge. I wanted ye from the moment I saw thee, when ye told me to mind my own business. Yer husband had nothing to do with it.”

She pulled away from him so that she could look up at him, look into his eyes. They were full of concern.

“You knew who he was, though. Knew what he had done.”

“Aye. But that was not the motive behind the raid. It was part of our plan. I was told to do it. I won’t deny I took some satisfaction from humiliating him.”

“And I was not part of the plan?”

“I didn’t know ye would be there. But ye were, and ye captivated me.”

Abby wanted to believe him so badly. He seemed so sincere, his eyes pleading for her understanding, her belief, her trust, but she had given that too easily before.

“You do not mean to betray me?”

Kane’s smile was painful, sad.

“Abby. Ye are all I’ve ever longed for.”

Abby couldn’t speak; his words ran through her body like a wildfire, setting her aflame.

Kane brushed strands of her hair away from her face, where they were sticking to the tracks of her tears.

“Please believe me, Abby.”

“Why didn’t you come? I wanted to believe you. Deep in my heart I felt it, but you didn’t come.”

“I wanted to, but I was sent away, to France.”

“France? Why?”

“As punishment. When ye left, I knew I couldn’t catch thee, couldn’t risk going to Arkholm, so I went back to camp. I was so angry, Abby. Not with thee, with Murphy. I beat him up and was sent to France because of it. Raven was with me. We returned today, and I rode straight here from Carlisle.”

Abby felt weak, her legs no longer capable of supporting her. She sank into her chair by the dressing table. She couldn’t look at Kane. Harper had been right, there had been a reason. She felt so many emotions at once it was overwhelming. Kane knelt on the floor in front of her, took her hands in his.

“Abby. I have asked ye to trust me before, and ye did. I know that trust is gone now, and I don’t blame thee. Of all the people involved in this mess, ye are the only one who is pure and true. Will ye at least hear me out, let me tell the whole story?”

Abby nodded, and he kissed her hand, before getting up to pull two chairs next to each other, in front of the fire. He led her to one, and then put a couple of logs on the fire before settling into the other. He stared at the flames for a while, and Abby waited, letting him come to the tale in his own way, his own time.

“I told ye before that my father did business with the Griffin family. At first it was with Jacob, but when Alasdair took over, my father didn’t like him, and left any dealings to James, my brother. I wasn’t involved with any of it, never met Jacob nor Alasdair. I was too busy enjoying myself as ye know.”

He glanced at her, and she nodded, to show she was listening, that she understood.

“James held a gathering at our house, about six years ago now, to celebrate a deal he had made with Alasdair, something he said was going to make our family wealthy. I didn’t pay attention to it at the time. I turned up to the gathering, of course, any excuse for a party, to meet women, and I ended up having a row with my father about my ways. He couldn’t understand why I didn’t have a wife by then, children.”

“Why didn’t you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“No, it is fine. Ye can ask anything ye want. I want ye to.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I did want those things, well a wife at least. I just never met the right woman. All the girls when I was young seemed frivolous, and then when I was older they were all married women who only wanted me for one thing. They didn’t want to talk, didn’t make me laugh. James had no choice, he had to marry as eldest son, but I had more freedom, and I used it.”

Abby thought back to what he had said earlier. “Ye are all I’ve ever longed for.” A shiver ran through her. Was she the right woman for him? Out of all the women he’d met? She found that hard to believe. He must have met more interesting people than her.

Kane was still talking and she dragged her attention back to him. “The night of the gathering, after the row with my father I went to look for Alice, my brother’s wife. She was the only one I liked in my family and she tolerated me.” Kane gave a small laugh, looked at Abby, and then back to the fire again. “I found her in her bedchamber. She was crying and when I went to her I saw there was blood on her skirts, on the covers. I didn’t know what it was, what had caused it.”

Abby let out a cry as she pictured the scene. Kane turned to her, took her hands.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Abby. ‘Tis painful, I know. I can stop if ye like.”

Abby shook her head. “No. You must go on. I want to know the truth. I have to know it.”

Kane continued, but he didn’t let go of her hands. He sat facing her, looking into her eyes as he spoke.

“She didn’t want to talk at first, but I managed to coax her into telling me. She said Lord Griffin had attacked her, forced himself on her, in a bad way, a painful way.” He squeezed Abby’s hands. Tears were sliding down both their faces. “I wanted to find him, kill him, but she begged me not to. I wasn’t going to listen, like I didn’t with thee when I saw yer scars, but she pleaded with me. She said Lord Griffin had threatened to kill her if she accused him, told her that James was involved in a deal to defraud the King and Alasdair knew all about it. He would ruin our family if she named him as her attacker. I didn’t know what to think, didn’t have time to consider my options because just then James and my father came in, and saw me sitting with her. I jumped up out of shock and they looked me up and down, horror on their faces and I saw I was covered in her blood. Alice was hysterical by now. James said, “what have you done?” and I looked at Alice and she looked at me, pleading with her eyes for me not to tell. I didn’t speak, couldn’t speak, and everyone took that as a sign of guilt. I didn’t want anyone else to be falsely accused, so I confessed to it. Nobody wanted what had happened to become common knowledge so they kept it quiet but clearly, I couldn’t stay in the family home and so my father banished me. That is the truth of it all.”

He took a deep breath when he finished, because he had spoken in a rush, all the words tumbling out like a waterfall.

Abby was stunned. She had known the bare bones of the tale from what Murphy had told her, but hearing it from Kane, his voice cracking with raw emotion as though he were living that night again, she finally knew the depth of the betrayal, and it was not Kane’s, it was Alasdair’s. Kane was truly innocent, as he had told her. He had made a great sacrifice, allowing his family to despise him, banish him, when it was all to save them, and they would never know it. He had told her that he had a good reason and she had trusted that, as he asked, until she let Murphy into her head, allowed him to poison her mind. Why had she done that? Why had she believed him over Kane when the only thing Kane had ever done was care for her, protect her.

“I am sorry I didn’t tell thee sooner, Abby.”

She reached across, put her hands on his head, brought him towards her so that their foreheads were touching. “How could you tell me that my husband was responsible for something as terrible as that? I am sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m sorry for everything.” She kissed his head. He took her hands in his, brought them to his lips.

“I don’t blame thee. It is natural to think that I would want revenge. I do, but not through thee. Ye are the only good thing to come out of this.”

“I know, I know. I always knew. It was just that I convinced myself, and when you didn’t come, I thought I was proved right.”

“Oh, Abby. What fools we have been.”

“Yes. We have.”

He kissed her, softly at first, and then with more passion, his fingers tangling in her hair, lips sucking on hers, hands pressing her to him.

“I’ve missed thee so,” he said, when they broke apart.

“And I have missed you.” She took his hand. “Come and lie down, rest with me.”

“I would, Abby, but I am filthy.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. What will yer maid think in the morning?”

“Well, there is water in the bath, although it will be cold by now.”

“I don’t mind the cold.”

“Then let me help you.”

Kane slipped off his boots and stood still as Abby untucked his shirt from his kilt, holding his arms up as she pulled it over his head. She went to unfasten his kilt, fumbling with the straps and buckles. Just when she thought she had the kilt undone there was another strap on the inside. She laughed. “I thought my dress was complicated.”

“It has to be strong, Abby. We don’t want it falling down at gatherings with nice old ladies around.”

“That would never do.”

“No.”

“Imagine their shock.”

“Their husbands would be jealous.”

“Do you think so?”

“Aye, don’t thee?”

The kilt at last came undone and she unwrapped the material from around him. He was a magnificent man, tall and lean, broad chest, slim hips, a line of dark hairs on his toned belly leading her eye down to his cock, which was full already, long and heavy.

Abby sighed. “Perhaps.” She was tempted to reach out and touch it, as he clearly wanted her to do, but if she did that there would be no going back and he was truly filthy from head to toe.

“I don’t think they would be jealous of the way you smell, though. Get in the bath.”

Kane stepped into the tub and slid beneath the water. He sighed. “It is cool, but wonderful.” He ducked his head under, washing the dirt from his face, rubbing his hair in the water to wet it thoroughly. When he surfaced, Abby had a cloth and soap ready. She held them out to Kane. “No. I’d like thee to do it,” he said.

He lay back against the tub and closed his eyes as Abby lifted his arm out of the water, ran the soapy cloth over it. The scar from the sword wound he got in Newcastle was long, stretching diagonally across his forearm from elbow to wrist. It had healed smoothly, a jagged purple line the only reminder now. Her touch was light as she cleaned it.

“It doesn’t hurt ye know,” Kane murmured.

“It has healed well.”

“Aye, thanks to thee. The medic said ye did a wonderful job.”

Abby beamed, pleased that she had helped him.

“I wonder where we’d be, if you hadn’t turned up that day?”

“We would still have found each other.”

“Yes.”

She leaned in further, washed his other arm. His breath was warm on the side of her face, tickling her. His lips were so close she wondered if he would kiss her there, but his eyes remained shut and he didn’t move. She sat back and washed his chest, then ran the cloth lower, over his stomach, to his groin. He was still hard, the cold water doing nothing to dampen his desire. She stroked the length of him with the cloth, rubbing it lightly up and down his cock, and Kane let out a shuddering sigh.

“Oh. Mmmm.”

“You like that?”

“Aye. ’Tis a pity you cannae fit in here with me.”

Abby smiled, moving down to the bottom of the tub to wash his legs. Kane sat up, reached down to stay her hand.

“I think I’m clean enough now. Come here.”

She moved back to the head of the tub and he brought her head towards his for a kiss. His hand strayed to her breast, squeezing it through the thin material of her slip. Desire for him was coursing through Abby.

“I think you should get out now,” she said.

“Aye, I think I should.” He stepped out of the tub, water dripping from his body onto the wooden floor, pooling at his feet. Abby wrapped the blanket round him, rubbed most of the moisture from his skin. He led her to the bed, and they climbed on top. Kane tried to lay her on her back but Abby flipped them over so it was he who was on his back and she who was straddling his thighs. She pulled her nightdress over her head, enjoying the sight of Kane’s eyes roaming over her body, his cock twitching as she stretched up, before discarding the slip on the floor

“You still need to rest,” she said. “Let me do the work.”

He was thinner than last time she had seen him naked like this, and she could see his heart beating beneath his chest. She kissed it, feeling the thrum of it under her lips. His nipples were standing out hard, from the cold, or desire she didn’t know which, and she bent her head to suck each one in turn, pinching them as he did to her, increasing the pressure until he was moaning. She went lower, kissing her way down the trail of dark hairs to where his cock was lying hard and long against his belly. She had never touched this part of him with her lips before, wasn’t sure if that was something people did, but he had kissed her sex, and it had been wonderful. She pressed her lips to his cock and it sprang up. Kane jumped.

“Oh, Abby.”

“Is this alright?”

“Aye. Do it again.”

So she trailed her lips down his cock, planting small kisses, letting her tongue slip out to lick him, taste him.

Kane groaned. “Oh, that is good, so good.”

Remembering what he had done to her, she gave one long lick of him, from bottom to top, and he gripped the covers, moaning. There was wetness spilling out of a slit in the head of his cock and she tasted it, warm and salty. She held him firmly at the base with one hand, and sucked at the head, letting it slide in and out of her mouth, and was rewarded with the longest groan she had ever heard coming from Kane.

“Abby! My love, my love! Ye have to stop before it is too late. I want to be inside thee.”

She let his cock fall from her mouth so she could answer him.

“We have all night.”

“Then use yer hand to finish me, as I showed thee. Please, I am close.”

She made a fist and massaged his cock with it, up and down the length. He thrust into her hand, matching her rhythm, and as his breaths grew faster and shorter she increased her speed, until he let out a guttural moan that she feared would wake the whole house, and his essence spurted out over her hand, warm and sticky. Kane lay back with his hands above his head, panting. Abby picked up the cloth and wiped them both clean with it.

She lay on the bed next to him, her head on his chest. He reached down to stroke her hair.

“Was that good?” She asked.

“It was. I have never… Abby, no one has ever done that to me before. No one has ever taken me in their mouth.”

Abby was surprised. “No one? None of the women you have been with?”

She could hear the ruffle of his hair against the pillow as Kane shook his head. “No. They were not interested in my pleasure, only their own.”

“Perhaps it is not something people do?”

Kane laughed. “Oh, I suspect there is nothing we can do that people haven’t done. We are not the first to be like this with each other, even if it feels that way.”

“You are the first for me.”

“And thee for me.” He hugged her to him. “Can I ask thee something?”

“Yes, of course.”

“What was it like? What did I taste like?”

Abby thought for a moment, unsure how to put such a thing into words. It was more than just how he tasted, it was how he smelled, the heaviness of him filling her mouth, the smoothness of the head, the thick veins, rough against her tongue. She could not say those things aloud to him.

“Ye taste like the earth when the sea rushes in over the plains. Salt-sprayed.”

“We are the same, then.”

“Similar, yes,” replied Abby, remembering the way she had tasted on his lips.

“Maybe I should familiarise myself, so I don’t forget.”

He slipped out from beneath her arm and she rolled onto her back, letting her legs fall open so he could position himself between them. How quickly she got over her fears when she was with this man. Kane lifted her legs up so they rested on his shoulders, and used his thumbs to spread her lips apart before putting his mouth on her, tasting every part of her with his tongue. He slipped a finger in her, and then another, stroking her on the inside and licking her on the outside and Abby had to swallow a cry it was so good. She lay back, her arm across her mouth to stop her from groaning too loud, and thought of nothing but Marcus and what he was doing to her. When she came, it was a release, not just of pleasure, but of all the tension that had built up within her over the last sevenday. She wanted to weep with the relief, but she held it back. There had been enough tears that night.

Kane crawled back up the bed to lie next to her and she turned so that she was on her side, facing him. His smile was soft, eyes dark, one side of his mouth lifted slightly as though he wasn’t certain of something. She caressed his cheek.

“What is the matter?”

“Nothing.”

“There is something, Marcus. No more secrets, no more half-truths. Tell me.”

“I don’t want to spoil this moment.”

“Oh, now you are making me fearful.”

He took her hand, held it against his face. “I do not mean to.”

“Then just say it. Please, Marcus.”

He sighed. “Why were ye so quick to believe that I was false with thee? What did I do to make ye think I was capable of that? I don’t blame thee, I just don’t understand it.”

“Oh.” Abby had expected this question to arise at some point, because she was asking it of herself all the time, but it still came as a shock. She didn’t want to answer, because it meant admitting things to him she did not want to admit to herself, but she had just told him not to keep secrets.

“Ye do not have to answer.”

“No. I do. I don’t know for certain, but I have always wondered why you wanted me, out of all the women you could have. I thought perhaps you had seen more in me than there is, and one day you would find out that I was a fraud. When Murphy said I was your revenge it made sense, everything seemed to fall into place, at the time at least.”

“Oh, Abby. Do ye remember when we first met?”

“Of course.”

“I saw thee sitting in yer carriage, in that pretty blue dress, and ye were a feast for the eyes, I’ll admit that, but there was more. Ye said it was none of my business whether ye looked at yerself, and I knew I was supposed to threaten thee and steal from thee but all I wanted to do was laugh. Then in the rushes, I was already admiring of yer defiance, and ye went and dirtied my knees and said what ye said and I think I was yers from that moment. Ye were all I thought about after that.”

“I was intriguing to you, then, something new?”

“At first, perhaps, it was that, but then I got to know ye better. Ye have a great spirit, Abby, a quick mind, a trusting, loving nature. I’ve wanted a woman like thee all my life, someone who is my equal, and there ye were. And ye are not my equal, ye are better than me in every way. He is not deserving of thee, and sometimes I think neither am I.”

Abby looked away, moved by his words, and embarrassed.

“Ye cannot take a compliment, can ye?”

“They have not been given to me often.”

“No.” Kane shook his head. “That will change.”

Abby smiled, but there was something else she wanted to unburden herself of, and find an answer from him.

“There was another reason though, why I didn’t trust you. When I asked you if what we did in the stable was revenge, you didn’t answer, and that confirmed it for me. My heart broke, and I couldn’t hear anything else you said.”

Kane nodded, a slight flush appearing across his forehead. “I knew it was that. I cursed myself as soon as it happened, but it was too late to take it back, to tell the truth.”

“What is the truth?”

“That ye were right. There was revenge in my mind when we were in the stable. Being with thee while he was stood outside, oh, it was sweet, Abby, I can’t deny it. I thought ye felt it too, ye were hot so quick.”

Abby swallowed. There was truth to what he was saying about her as well. They had the same feelings, and she should admit that to him, but he was still explaining.

“But it was just the moment. I was taken over by the sight of him, and I was nearly ruined again because of it. Oh!”

Abby shut him up with a kiss, a long, lingering kiss that set her heart racing.

“I felt it too. I did. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Kane stroked her cheek. “It is in the past now. We focus on what comes next. Trust takes time.”

Abby shook her head. “I don’t need time. I do trust you.”

“Ye are all I’ve ever longed for. Never forget that.”

Abby nodded and Kane pulled her into his arms, and she rested her head on his chest, the rhythm of his breathing lulling her to a much-needed sleep.

---

When Abby woke it was still dark and she could hear someone else breathing, feel the weight of them in the bed next to her. It was disorientating at first, until an arm draped over her, and a familiar voice whispered to her.

“Are ye awake?”

It was Marcus, of course. Marcus in her bed, lying behind her, his breath tickling her ear, his arm heavy atop her. It was strange to wake up to another person in bed with her, especially him. Strange, but wonderful. She burrowed under the furs some more, pressed back against him to gain warmth from his body.

“Not quite. Are you?”

“Aye. Very much so.”

He shifted his weight, put his arm under the covers, across her belly, and pulled her further back into him. She could feel how awake he was.

“So I see.”

“Hmmm.”

He rolled his hips lazily against her, his cock sliding between her cheeks, rubbing against her sex. Abby pulled her legs up in front of her and he slotted his behind so that they fit neatly together. She could feel his hand between them, stroking his cock, before pushing it into her so slowly she was aware of every part he touched coming to life. They both sighed. He lay quietly at first, not moving, just holding her tight to him, then he began that lazy roll of his hips again and she followed him, pushing back as he thrust forward, matching his rhythm. It was like the slow dance at the end of a gathering, relaxed, languid, like they had all the time in the world.

Neither of them spoke. Abby’s senses were heightened, every sound they made seeming so loud in the quiet, the steady creak of the bed, the slap of their bodies coming together, their slow, heavy breaths, which frosted the cool air. Marcus brought his hand round in front of her, grasping her breast, squeezing it, thumbing her nipple. Abby let her hand drift to her sex, and she touched herself slowly, making lazy circles in her flesh. They continued like that, building the speed, the intensity, the pleasure, until she could tell Marcus was getting close to his release from the change in his breathing, his soft moans becoming groans in her ear. She pushed back harder, forcing him as deep within her as she could and he followed her lead, thrusting harder, faster. The heat was building in Abby’s sex, her nerves tingling, pleasure starting to pulse within her.

“Marcus,” was all she had to say, and he was coming inside her as her own pleasure took her over.

Afterwards they lay together without moving, Marcus growing soft within her but both of them reluctant to lose the contact.

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” he said.

“As do I, but Harper will be here soon. She cannot find you here.”

“I know.” Kane moved Abby’s hair to one side and kissed the back of her neck. “But it is so hard to leave.”

“There is tonight. No one is due back until the next day. You can stay with me again.”

“I will, but we must talk, Abby. Where do we go from here? What do we do about yer husband?”

“Yes, we must talk.” Abby’s heart was beating fast. She was unprepared for such a conversation; only the day before she had thought their relationship over, and before that she had deliberately not looked towards the future. She wasn’t sure there was anything to be done about her husband, so what future could she and Marcus have? There was no way out she could see.

Kane withdrew from her, slipped out of the bed and padded over to the fire where his clothes lay in a heap on the floor. He dressed quickly, then laid a fire in the grate and lit it. He came around to Abby’s side of the bed.

“Harper will wonder how I did that.” said Abby.

Kane laughed. “Aye, well maybe it’s time ye learned a few things, just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“Ye leave him, and come be with me.”

“Marcus?” Abby was shocked at his response. Be with him? She had never considered that a possibility, although she knew they could not go on forever as they were.

“We’ll talk tonight. I will think of thee all day.” He bent down and kissed her, and then she watched as he slipped out of the door and out of sight.

[thehalfworld]

Fanfic MST: Forbiden Fruit: The Tempation of Edward Cullen, a Twilight fanfic [part 4]

I’m on a roll.

There’s more rape in this one; it’s not really described in detail, though. There are also references to what occurred in the last chapter, and an instance of mostly consensual sexual activity (although it stops short of actual sex).

Recap: Last chapter, Tiaa’s foster parents Dave and Marie left on a trip, leaving her in the care of “Uncle Larry” (Dave’s brother), who promptly began beating and raping Tiaa. After one such incident, she ran off into the woods and encountered a strange man who claimed to be her father before blacking out.

Chapter 1

Previous chapter

AN = No flames pls, theres no point!if u dnt like my story dnt read it, its as simple as that!

I never got the whole “don’t like, don’t read” thing. How can you know if you like it if you haven’t read it?

btw atlantiana is NOT marisue be cause look she is NOT perfect and not everyone in the stiry likes her! she has problems and she has flaws and shes UNHAPPY would u like her life?i no i wouldnt, its totally tragic and horible.u flamers arent even makin sense1

Having bad things happen to your character doesn’t make her less of a Mary Sue. Loads of Sues have tragic backstories. Look at Batman.

Chapter 4 - la push

I sat quitely on the la push beech apart form the party that was going on beside me. Mike Nooton was following me round like a pulpy and he was so borin! None of the things he had to say were interesting but I was nice to him because he wasnt a bad guy.

That’s actually pretty in-character for the guy, if I remember the Twilight Saga correctly. He’s nice, but not very interesting. I think Bella even made the puppy comparison at one point.

My thoughts were elsewhere - i could'nt stop thinking about the events of last night, when uncle larry had raped me and I had had my scary vision in the forest and a tall p[ale guy in my mind had cale me his daughter. I didnt understand any of I felt so so awful that I had been rapped by that hideous pervy SICKO when I had bin saving myself for the right guy and for marriage and my virginity was torn from my grasp by that twisted guy, it was so crule and unfair, it made me want to cry

So uh… what happened after she blacked out in the woods? Was her dad gone when she woke up? Did Uncle Larry do anything else to her after she returned home? Did she return home?

"omg MIKE watt are you doing talkin to HER?" I turned round and saw four nasty faces learing at us. It was the chearleaders I had seen in the cafetearia, and one of them was the girl dateing Ewdard Cullen, the brown hare girl who was standing at the back looking moody but not saying anything

You know her name! You’ve called her by name before!

"Stop being mean Jessica" mike said angerly "tiaas' awesome and if you can't see that its just you bein blind and shallow and stupid like your all ways are"

Think this is the author calling out her flamers or what?

"yah I mean look at her clothes, she looks like a stupid goth biaach with her slutty top and short skirt and fithnet tights is she a RAT HOOKER or what?" Jessica screamed.

Man, I love this fic. “RAT HOOKER” is a great insult.

She was realy ugly when she shouted even though she was technology a hot chick and was dressed in skimpy pink clothes.

I don’t remember Jessica that well from the books, but I think she was described as short and a chatterbox. I don't think she was a cheerleader or had a particular fondness for pink. Also she was dating Mike at one point after Bella set them up with each other.

"you no what Jess, you and YOur frends are SO shallow and YOU are the real slut! you and bella and angela and laruen may were short skirts and low cut tops an stuff but that doesnt maek u beautiful! Its watt underneath that counts!" mike shouted

Wait, so are they sluts because they wear revealing clothes or because of their behavior? Because right here it seems like Mike is criticizing them based on how they dress, which is a bit weird when we remember Tiaa also wears revealing clothing (“fishnet top” ring a bell?).

"yah, speakin of witch" said a sly blond girl in the gang who was called lauren, pointing at me "watts with her breasts, they are huge, I bet they are fake!- she laughed and her friends all laughed too even bella and angela who had been quiet until then.

I don’t remember a damn thing about Lauren or Angela but I remember they both existed. One of them was definitely shy but I don’t remember which.

I got up and pushed past them and ran away into the darkness. I cold hear them all laughing at me and i felt so embarrased I was relay sensitive about the waste I looked I hated the fact that it made all girls hate me and all guys stare at me, I would have given anything to be ugly or just inviable. I wasnt stuck up and didnt think I was beta than anyone else because of how I looked I just wanted people to treat me like a normal person! I could'nt help being slim and blond with relay big boobs it wasnt my fault I hadnt done anything wrong!

Remember in chapter 1 when Tiaa talked about how she used to be self-conscious about her appearance but got over it and now doesn’t care what people say about her?

-are u ok?" said someone from beside me

If you don’t have that MCR song playing in your head right now I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

"who arr you?" i asked. 3 realy pretty goth girls were standing there smilin at me and I smiled back

Oh, of course, the Sue’s backup choir.

-we are tyffani, abigaille and rochelle" they said smiling "you seem cool, do you want to be our freinds?"

I like the idea that Tiaa could be multiple friends.

Judging from the names, these three are children of that white mom whose baby name photo went viral on the internet. The one who named her kid Lakynn or something.

"ya of course, i'm just a bit meloncolly cause those horrible chearleaders were bein mean jerks and saying my boobs were fake" i said

"omg, u mean jessica and bellas gang? They hate us too because we dont care what they think" said tyfanni "they are just jealous cause youre the prettiest girl in the school now and theyre all plain next to you but we dont care about stuff like that, we only care about peoples personalities “

“That’s why we made sure to talk about how pretty we think you are.”

"cool" I said, and we talked for hours

I talked to tyfanni, rochelle and abigail for hours and they were so cool.

How long was that again?

I'd never had proper freinds before who didnt care watt i looked like or where I came from they just liked me for me, and I liked them cause they were uber cool and we had loads of stuff in common! But after a while they all went home and I stayed on the beech.

Glad we skipped the scene where Tiaa has fun with her friends so that we can get back to the part where Uncle Larry assaults her again. Nice to see the author prioritizing.

It was getting late but I didnt want to go home to uncle larry in case he raped me on his car again.

Phrasing seems to imply that if he raped her in a different location it would be alright.

Soddenly I heard a voice from behind me.

I hope “soddenly” is an intentional double entendre.

"well tiaa, thou seem to be causing quite a stir at school" his voice was smooth and sexoy and from another time.

Who could this be?

Edward.

Never would have guessed!

"what do you mean!" I demanded

"basically every gay at school wants to have sex with thee, and every girl wants to eat thee alive for it, hows that for causing a stir my lady?" he smiled and kissed my neck.

Wait, every gay at school? Including the gay boys? This girl is powerful.

"shut up jerk! Btw I met youre girlfriend before, bella I think her name is! I dont like her or anything, but how the hell can u cheat on her like that and kiss me how u did? Its sick ur a cheatin bastard and i should tell everyone. Tyfanni told me you and bella are like the schools golden couple or something, watt would happen if I told ppl how you had acted in that corridoor with me?"

Uh… the fic would go in a direction I don’t expect it to and it might be redeemed somewhat by at least being less predictable?

"OMG SWEET LADY! THY MUST NOT TELL ANYONE! " he screamed "it was a moment of madness thats all! Im so so sorry for watt happened,i hope thine can forgive me, but ive promised myself to bella and thats just how it is, no matter how much thou intrests me"

Use of OMG may seem anachronistic, but that abbreviation has actually been in use since the early 1900s, so it’s totally reasonable that Edward might use it. Although probably not out loud.

"fine, then stay away from me " I shouted as I left to go home but he followed me and grabbed me and pushed me down on the grind.

I think he’s sending mixed signals.

I was burning with anger and fury but I wanted him so deafly i didnt even try to resist him.

So deafly?

He new how much i wanted him and it drove me mad. He put his hands inside my panties and i gasped. I was soddenly desperate to sex with him and i tore my clothes off and i was in my underwear.

Again, I hope that’s innuendo, but in this fic it’s actually possible the author thinks “suddenly” is spelled like that.

I took off my bra and showed him my naked heaving beasts.

Nothing turns a guy on like naked heaving beasts!

"have sex with me now edward " I whispered

" i cant " he said, although his body was on top of mine and his fingers touched my nipples

"please, i'm begging you" I said, hating myself for being such a dirty hore but unable to control my burning desire

No one in this fic has any self-control whatsoever, huh?

-NOOOO!" he shouted and ran away crying.

I put my clothes back on slowly feeling so ashamed and embarased i could hardly move. I could'nt beleive i had begged him to do sex on me and even worse he had said no!

Okay, I guess Edward has a tiny bit of self-control. Which is good, as he is a vampire and would probably be eating people left and right if he was totally unable to control himself.

I went home and uncle larry made me cook his dinner and suck his cock while he ate his food and then he raped me and hit me with a shoe all night and i didnt even complain cos i felt like i deserved it for being such a horrible slut even though it made me want to die inside.

Bread, eggs, milk, squick. Uncle Larry seems more interested in hitting Tiaa than raping her, incidentally.

Uncle larry finally left me alone and I thought about killing myself as i cryed and cryed as i fell slowly into a dreamless sleep.

Aw.

Next chapter

[foulfurywombat-blog]

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Cheapest car insurance in St.Cloud, MN?""

Why does my car insurance quotes do this.....?

when I first passed my test 3 years ago at age 17 my insurance was almost 6000 for third party only on a ford fiesta. this was the rough price for this make/model on all insurance companies i got a quote from. Two weeks ago i did a quote for a fiesta hoping its reduced in price (three years later, havent drove since i passed my test ) and third party only was roughly 2000 with all companies i tried and FULLY COMP has been roughly 900-1000 with all companies i have recently tried. so why is fully comp alot more cheaper than third party only? I Have tried quotes with lots of different companies and gocompare and they all came up really cheap. However, today I done another quote on a fiesta I was hoping to buy today, and the quotes have come up at between 1800 and 3000. All details have always been the same- all quotes i have done have been on a 1.2 ford fiesta. so firstly why is FULLY COMP cheaper than THIRD PARY and why has my insrunce suddenly gone from cheap to expensive within the last few days? thanks""

Do i need insurance to buy a car?

I have been put in a crisis and am being forced to buy my first car tommorrow. My dad has bought cars for me, but I've never owned one. I am buying my friends truck, which is past due on registration. Basically, I pay the late fees and the truck is mine. I however do not have insurance right now. I will get it ASAP but don't as of right now. I've been reading online and they all say, No dealer will let you drive off the lot without insurance. But none of them say if you're buying the car from a person, not a dealer. What do i do??""

""If father adds his home care worker to his car insurance so she can drive him in his car, will that raise his?""

insurance rates? Do they look at her driving record to determine that? If it would increase his annual premium, by about how much would it increase? THANKS""

How do you get proof of car insurance without a car?

I had my brother listed as a driver on my insurance policy and he is moving so will no longer be using my car. The insurance company is requiring that I show proof of insurance before removing him from the policy. They are telling me there is no other way to remove him from the policy due to a DUI charge. Is it even possible to get car insurance without a car? What should I do?

How do i get my insurance quotes lower for driving?

im 17 and i want to insure a car but every quote i get is allways about 4000 - 10000, is the any way i could get them lower on my quotes? like having another person as a driver and things like that?""

What is deal with the new obamacare insurance plans?

Is it really mandatory for one to purchase an insurance plan? And does it really cost about 20k? I read an article from a website that has some interesting articles... http://www.naturalnews.com/038905_Obamacare_health_insurance_mandate.html There are a lot of things I dislike about this country and this just really set me off... Not specially things you would expect... More like what is allowed on food, in food, medical prescriptions taking over preventive care, the idiotic media like honey boo boo, ignorance and how people explain our government needs to change in a way to be like a backwards theocracy and such and I could go on for quite a while... I would like to move away from this country if not I'll seriously live in isolation somewhere away from this society... I really need opinions and your comments my just prove or disprove my thoughts even more.""

The cheapest insurance band car my 17 year old son can buy?

My son is going to have driving lessons soon and I'd like to know the type of car to buy which will be the cheapest on insurance for him. Also will it be better for me to buy it and him be the named driver or the other way aound? Thanks

New york car insurance?

Fyi i have liberty mutual coverage. So my son will be receiving his license soon, and i want to know what the best option for him would be. My household has two policies, one that my daughter holds and one that i hold. I have two pretty expensive cars on my policy, and my daughter has my old car (clunker) and her own separate policy. When my son gets his license i want him to drive my daughters old car, while she is at college, and when she is back they can share. So if I were to list my son on her insurance, would he be able to drive my cars? ( like when his is in the shop). Or would it make more sense to put him on my policy? Thank you!""

Motorcycle cost monthly?

Hey guys, I have some questions for you. I am 17 years old, and want to buy my first motorcycle (supermoto). I think I have a good idea on what it costs, but i'm just unsure. First off, i'll need to get my license. What'll that cost me? (California). I do have a car license, so getting the motorcycle license should be short and sweet, but i dont know. secondly, i'm going to get some motorcycle gear. I figure I'll be in 500$ with both license and gear (nice used leathers probably). Then i am going to get the bike which costs $4000. Being a supermoto, the insurance should be cheaper right? DRZ400sm if that helps. So between monthly payments and insurance, I should be in... 200$ a month? then gas, social life, blah blah. What do you think I need to be making monthly to make this happen. I bring in 500$ a month, and have 600$ in the bank as of now.""

How much does a hyundai sonata usually cost to insure in MA?

My sister is trying to buy a used 2006 hyundai sonata and we were wondering how much a month it usually costs to insure it? She's only 21 and has had her license for four years without an accident? She tried to get a quote from gieco but they only showed the six month plan. Any helpful information about the car or insurance would be greatly appreciated!

Car Insurance quotes madness--------?

I am 26 and looking to buy a car. I am a new driver who has only just passed my test. Can I get a reasonable insurance quote? and if so where? I personally hate the idea of handing over 1000+ to a company who in all honesty will sell on my details to a multitude of companies, and not pay-out anyway. i am getting really annoyed by qoutes of 1000, 2000 and in one case 4000 for an 800 1.2L hatchback. I know it is wrong to be thinking this, but is looks cheaper to be an uninsured driver. as I will only have to pay a 300 fine if caught.""

What's the best way to get a lower rate when it's time to renew my auto insurance?

my insurance is due next month, but I think I deserve a lower rate, and shouldn't just renew""

""Car insurance in the USA, for foreigners / tourists?""

im 18years old, and hopefully after my exams in may, i hope to go to america to visit a couple of friends. My mates have put forward the idea of a possible roadtrip in his car. Its his car, and im assuming its insured. However since its a roadtrip, i will also probably need to drive, in which case how do i sort this out?? can i drive on his insurance, as long as i tell his insurance company or is it more complicated than that. I've been told than unlike car insurance in the UK, Americans insure the DRIVER, rather than the car. i have a full UK license, and dont mind if i have to get a international driving permit, but how do i figure out this insurance problem.""

Can I drive my friends car without insurance?

I don't own a car. I don't have auto insurance. If I borrow a friends car, am I covered under his insurance? is there a special type of insurance for people like me?""

Can you sue a car insurance policy holder?

On christmas day my boyfriend had a car accident where he hit his house. He did a total of over $5,500 worth of damages to it. When he went to his mother's house that day he was told by his parents ,that his step dad had removed him from the insurance in October after his birthday (they did so without telling him until the accident ). He had been paying them insurance money each month thinking he was on the insurance. Now the lady that owns the house has informed us that her insurance is suing the title holders (my boyfriend) for insurance fraud. After my boyfriend is sued can he then turn around and sue his step dad for him removing him from the insurance/ insurance fraud?""

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

Why is it a better idea to chose a higher deductible health insurance plan?

How do you feel about the rising costs of healthcare?

How much would car insurance be for a 17 year old girl?

i have a 1999 honda accord. im 17 years old, and i live in california. how much would my insurance be? please help me out?""

""I m under 18 and my parents are divorced, so how do i do my car insurance?""

My parents are divorced, and eac have different car insurance plans. if i go under one of their car insurance plans to use their car, can i still use the other parents car all the time of do i have to get separate insurance?""

How much does car insurance cost?

if you can't give me an exact amount or something that's fine, just give me some kind of ball park.""

Can Cancer patients have the life insurance? ?

Is it possible cancer patients getting life insurance...

Where can I find affordable but good coverage for health insurance?

My bf is currently paying out of his check $70 a week for ins and dental, Blue Cross. This includes him and our son. But we barely are making our bills right now. There has got to be another health ins company that Drs will take that is affordable. Please help ;)""

What is the Best Health Insurance For Pregnant women?

My husband and I are TTC. He just got laid off and he had Amazing health insurance...We had the Blue care network which had a Zero Deductible and only a 10 co pay. Pre Natal, ...show more""

Can I insure a car that is already insured?

I am a new driver and want to insure a car, the problem is that car is already insured by my mom with AAA. I currently don't have the money to use AAA as insurance so I was planning to get some cheap insurance right now. Is that possible? Or what would you recommend?""

Where can i find cheap but affordable insurance?

where can i find it, basic health in my state is kicking me out?""

Car insurance victim?

last year i had the police turn up at my door saying that i had hit a car roof with a claw hammer i didn't no what they was going on about i did not get arrested and they left, few days later i got a insurance letter thur the post saying that i had collided with a bmw and drove off leaving the seen, there insurance paid him out 5000, i spoke to my insurances and said i don't no what is going on they asked for pictures off my car i sent them, i phoned the police and asked them they said there is no further action is to be taken as the person as dropped the chargers, so i phoned there insurance and they said we are waiting for police reports, i said the police are not taking it any further as the person as he had dropped the chargers, they did not believe me and wanted me to pay 3500 in 14 days i said no, i lost 3 years no claims and my premiums went up, i just had to wait for months :( i got a letter today off there insurance saying we have had the police reports and there is no further action against me or my insurances... ok what will happen to the person what made up this lie to his insurance as he told the police one thing and his insurance another??????""

How much will it cost to up my car insurance to use car for work?

How much will it cost to up my car insurance to use car for work?

I want a baby but don't have insurance?

My husband and I just got a new apartment and then got married courthouse style. We have both decided that we want a baby soon but right now we don't have insurance. Is there any cheap option that would cover the entire pregnancy?

I'm on a fixed income with 3 cats. Does any cat owner know of a good affordable cat insurance plan?

*I purr..fer to hear from people that already have a good affordable cat insurance plan.

How much will insurance go up with PLPD as a teen driver involved in fender bender?

I have a plpd insurance and am a teen driver..got into a fender bender yesterday and was at fault ..how much should my insurance go up?

Does anyone know what insurance company in NJ has there policy start with the letter F ?

the policy number is F183941-4

Car insurance cost for a 17 year old?

I'm going to start driving next year and will probably be driving something like a p reg civic (1.4) does anyone have an average insurance price for a car around this size (1.0-1.6) and around this age (m-51 reg)

Where can i get cheap insurance for a 1.8 16v VW coraddo im 17 years old?

Where can i get cheap insurance for a 1.8 16v VW coraddo im 17 years old?I have tried getting a qoute under my dads name who have about 20 years no claims but still coming up as 6000 and i have tell them about my 6 points for no insurance its 8000 HELP!!!!!

At what percentage of a car's value does an insurance company total the car?

My car got wrecked and it was my fault. No other cars were involved. I can't afford to have car payments if my insurance company totals the car. It is fully paid for and I have full coverage. If I make the claim to them, at what percentage of the car's value would the insurance company consider it totaled?""

Is there one day motorcycle insurance?

I'm planning on buying a motorcycle in Philadelphia tomorrow or this weekend, but I still haven't seen it yet. If I test ride it, like it, and decide to buy it, I'm gonna have to ride it home. I figured out the registration part of it, where I can acquire temporary tags for the ride home, but for insurance, I don't want to insure something I haven't seen yet. Is there any way or company that does like one day insurance just for the ride home, then I can and will officially register and insure it. Thank you""

If the address on the car insurance doesn't match the registration certificate can the car still b taxed?

because i stay at both addresses the insurance and the registration certificate dont match but can i still get my car taxed?

If requiring people to have car insurance is the same as requiring them to have health insurance then why?

Wont the US government help you pay your car insurance if you cant afford it? Isn't car insurance a basic human right?

No health insurance?

I don't have health insurance anymore because my COBRA coverage is over now. Because I have a pre-existing condition other health care companies won't take me. I have tried to find a job that offer health insurance, but seems very difficult right now. Because I own half of the house where I live. I been told that I cant qualify for any low income health care services. I don't know what to do? I dont even have a job, and Im considered well off to qualify for something. Have anybody out had this problem? I live in California.""

Cheapest car insurance for young male drivers What would you like to ask?

My 17 yr old son has passed his test we want to add him to our insurance anyone aware of any good deals at the moment, prepared to pay 2000. but would like the best deal for my money. our car is a Renault megane 54 plate 1600 cc.""

How much will insurance cost for a 2009 kawasaki 250 ninja for a 16 year old?

i would just like to get an idea....i live in northern Ontario

How much is required down to open a homeowners insurance policy?

I am getting ready to buy a house and I am getting ready to switch my car insurance into my own name from my parents. I have to add homeowner insurance on to the policy. If I stay with the same company will I have to pay money down like for a deposit?

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

""Car accident, no insurance?!!!!?""

A high school kid hit my car today, I was at a stop sign and he turned too early and hit my car. I do not have insurance(welp I know, I'm a single mother we can't afford it all). Anyway, he did have insurance and he was at fault. Will his insurance cover the cost to fix my car or no? Since I didn't have insurance and all that is?""

How much would car insurance go up if...?

My family and I are just trying to get a ballpark idea of how much my sister's car insurance would go up if we made a claim on an accident she had. She was in a mall parking lot and pulled out to make a left turn. I think she didn't really see a car coming, but I also think the car was zipping around the lot at a too-fast speed. My sister got hit in her driver's door and needs a new door and the frame of the car needs pulled out. There are no witnesses to really show who's fault it is, and I think it's a little of both judging by how much damage there is on her car (the other driver had to be going fast). There is no damage on the other person's car. It costs about $1500 to get it fixed (just the bare minimum - a new door from a junkyard and fixing the frame, just to make it safe and sealed, there will still be some dents). We're debating on claiming it or not because there is a $500 deductible. She is 25 years old and hasn't had an accident before. How much do you think the insurance would go up and how long would it stay up? Would it be worth it to claim it or should she just pay cash for the damages? Thanks!""

""A drunk driver just hit my house last friday. What should I do, call driver insurance or my home insurance?""

A drunk driver just hit my house last friday. No one got hurt but my sun room (patio) is all damaged. My famlity also got scared to stay in the bedroom since the car hit some part of our bedroom also. What should I do, call driver insurance or my home insurance, or consult a lawyer?""

""Someone reversed into my car, is it better to go through maaco instead of insurance? its jus ta minor scratch?""

i was at a stop sign and i was abou tthe 4th car, well the 3rd car decided to reverse to leave and backed up and hit the front of my car. its not really that bad but its still a big scratch. is it best to just have her pay my estimate at maaco? or deal with insurance? i don't want to get jacked up insurance rates because someone doesn't know how to reverse.""

Why is my car insurance the same price?

My car insurance is due up next month and I have been shopping around. I've used all the compare sites like go compare and money supermarket and I m basically the exact same price as I was last year. For the same car. I've been driving 8 years nd have 6 years no claims. I'm 25 and female. Every year it used to go down but now I'm being quotes the same and sometimes more?!

Auto Insurance in California?

I'm a new driver, all I have is my Permit right now. I'm trying to find insurance that isn't going to ream me financially. Also, don't you need insurance to get registration/new tags....or do you need the registration to get insurance? GAH, SOMEONE HELP!!! (And, if you're going to be a smartass, don't bother. K? Thanks!""

Need Advise On Car Insurance?

On Friday Fed. 12th I bought Me a good Used car. I had to park on the side of the street cause my neighbors from downstairs had company and were in my spot. when I woke up on Saturday morning my car was wrecked in the front and the other vehicle no where in site well except for the trail of car fluids that led to his car three blocks away. the police came got his info and mine, towed his vehicle, advised me what I needed to do and left. I found out on my own that the insurance that the police had was false info. I was pissed. Well low and behold the owner of the car came to my house that same evening and was like my car was stolen and all this other bs. He gave me his correct insurance papers and said he would report it to claims. He never did I had to on Tuesday. His insurance knew nothing of the matter. I filed my claim with them and they said it would be 24 to 48 hours and they would get in contact with me. Nothing yet.. Im still waiting for them to call me. What should I do now???????????""

Polk County Auto Insurance?

Hi, is it true that come this October no auto insurance will be required or is it just another rumor?""

What is the cheapest insurance for a teenager?

I'm currently 18 looking for the cheapest possible insurance on my car

Where do i get the best deal on car insurance?

i`ve just finnished a six year ban and i`m looking too get back on the road legal...but i`m finding it difficult too get affordable insurance

I need cheap insurance for saxo 1.6 vtr?

ive just passed my test and already had a car which is a citreon saxo 1.6 vtr, ime 26 and getting quotes for 5000. i only paid 600 for the car. does anyone know where i can get cheaper insurance on that car. thnks""

Who do you trust more? An Insurance company? or Obama?

The right wingers will chose blindly! But think about this! Prior to the Affordable Healthcare Act, how many times in a row, year after year, did your health insurance coverage go up. For me, it was every year for as long as I remember. Never did my insurance premium go down. But for some reason, everyone is up in arms because a few people, a small percentage have rate increases. But they also get more coverage, better policies, and some can get insurance for the first time.""

Newer the car the more expensive the insurance is?

Btw. Is it ok if i use my dads car *with his permission of course* and god forbid theres a small accident, would his insurance cover the damage? We dont live under the same household. I live with my mother.""

17 year old car insurance?

Ive got a car and should (hopefully!) be passing my test soon but for reasons to complicated to list here lol I will only be able to drive it 2 weeks in easter time, 2 weeks in christmas time, 5 weeks around august and 4 days every 5 weeks, so by my bad maths thats just over 100 days. Are there any insurance companies for a 17 year old that you can get a fixed amount of days insurance, it seems such a waste to pay for 365 days if im only going to be able to use it for just under a third of the time. I read about some companies doing 60 or 90 days for young drivers but that might have been me mis-reading it, anyone hear about anything like that? Ive tried lowering the amount of miles on quotes but that hasnt reduced the price by much at all. I was hoping for quite a substantial saving. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.""

What is the easiest and most profitable insurance to sell?

Is life and health a harder sell than p&c? Also what company is best to work for, Aflac, Farmers, Allstate, etc.?""

Progressive will our insurance go up?

So my Dad has Progressive insurance. I drive one of his cars that is under his name on both the title and the insurance. I got my license revoked. I'm curious if his insurance will find out about it if my name is not on the insurance card. I'm not sure if he has me listed anywhere else on the insurance if that is even possible, all I have is the card and my name is nowhere on it. Basically I want to know if his insurance rates are going to go up because of me.""

Why is my car insurance so expensive? Can someone who knows the facts please explain?

I am 19 I drive an old 1997 Nissan I've only been in one wreck but that was over 3 years ago. I've been driving since I was 16. My mom is now making me pay my own insurance, and she said it would be around $600. This is insane to me. I don't understand why insurance is so expensive especially if you have been a safe driver for years. I feel like you are just throwing away money for nothing. Could someone explain why car insurance is so expensive and why do you think mine is so high?""

Do you need social security number to purchase car insurance?

Im a student under student visa here in california, I want to purchase car insurance but dont have a ssn. If you can, which companies will and which will not?""

I could be pregnant... with no health insurance!!! what I do????

I am not sure, But maybe I am Pregnant... I do not have health insurance... I was thinking on buying a policy but would they accept me pregnant??? Someone knows about a cheap health insurance??? I believe it will be cheaper than paying like 9,000 for the hospital right???""

How much will insurance co pay us?

i was 35 wks preg and had a car accident that was other drivers fault. had to stay overnight at hospital for pre term contractions and plancental tear from seatbelt injury. out of work for about a week befor being released from scrict bed rest. had to have someone else keep kids and all. im 37wks now and just got the ok to get chiropratic care. we both have geico and they have been really nice about everything. husband doesnt want to get a laywer yet wants to see what they offer first. just wanted to know a ballpark number to look or ask for if anyone knows.also suffered chest injury which cause me to loose my voice due to sudden onset of Gerds from seatbelt injury.still in pain and not back at work had plans on working till i had the baby but cant now.already suffer pregnancy now have pain from accident just feel terrible. help.

Car insurance help.first to answer gets best answer.?

I want to get a 2003 Nissan 350z. im worried about insurance cost though. for a 17 year old with no tickets and no wrecks how much do you think car insurance would be? first to answer gets best answer.

Home owners insurance?

Are there any company's that offer home owners insurance with monthly payments instead of one lump sum?

Will I loose my parents health insurance if I fail one of my college courses?

All too soon I'm going under the knife and I'm worried to death that me failing my online english will cause me to loose my parent's health insurance. Does anyone know if I will or not?

Can I buy a new car in my name and put the insurance in someone elses name?

I live with my fiance (both males) and I am buying a smartcar. We are planning to finance it and put the insurance in his name since I am 23 and he is 25 it will be cheaper for him. Will we be fine to do this? We live in South Carolina.

Who offers the best and most affordable medical insurance?

i am a 19 year old female from southern california. I work full time and not currently going to school. my job does not offer medical benefits i would like coverage asap. please help me out!

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

What are the costs of an older used car?

I'm not talking too old here, but something about five for six years old used for around $9000 i am looking into. There seem to be quite a few used cars in this price range around here. Now from someone with no experience in buying a vehicle from a dealership, and having average credit, what kind of costs am i looking at if i were to go ahead with this? Is it common for the dealership to provide financing, and what would be my options? I know i'd need a down payment and that there are other fees included, but i was interested in more of my monthly payment options. I could afford roughly 200 a month plus insurance, but is something like this possible? Or would a dealer just laugh at me and tell me to get lost?""

Allstate Insurance? Pricing?

I have a question, If there's 2 people registered under one car, does Allstate bump up the insurance price? Thanks""

Does medical insurance cover circumcision surgery 18 years and over? whats the average cost?

location Corona, Ca. A Friend needs a partial circumcision. as an infant doctor did not do a complete job and partially left bottom portion. Low on cash and on medical insurance.""

Is there a cheap insurance company for teen driver?

My mom cant drive... so she doesnt know much about insurance. Im about to get my license and I was wondering if there's a type of insurance that is cheap and not too pricey... specially with a mom who doesn't have a high paying job?!?! I live in Texas if that helps

How much will insurance try to offer for a stolen 1985 El Camino.?

I had my camino stolen. Show quality, special interest car. How much will an adjuster generally offer since it cant be found in Kelly's Blue Book. Also, whats the process of getting more for it as Im almost positive they wont offer what the car was actually worth?""

Insurance on this car?

Ok so I was looking on Craigs list, I'm thinking of buying my first car in a few months. I have a lot of money saved up. Theres a 1996 Taurus LX for sale for $1800. It has 119,000 miles on it, and it gets 25mpg. I'll only have this car until I go to college, because I can't take it up to Boulder with me. College is two years away. However, if I do go to Boulder, I'll only be two hours away from home, so when I come home I might want to have the car. What would you say the insurance would be on this car, so basically how much would I have to pay per year for insurance. We are not thinking about repairs or gas here, just insurance.""

Which car insurance companies have you found to be cheapest for a teen?

Im 17 years-old and plan to be added to my parent's car insurance. I have good grades, took drivers ed, will be driving an older car and live in Idaho. Which company will work best for my situation? All help is appreciated.""

Home insurance wants to raise dwelling coverege?

I purchased a townhome in March of 2013 for $183k in Florida. It is in a 200-unit subdivision that just completed all construction and sold out all last remaining units a few months ago. When I signed up for home insurance, the insurance company set my dwelling coverage to $183k. I told them that it isn't accurate for them to base dwelling coverage on market price because the replacement cost must be lower since market price includes land and profits the builder makes. Long story short, they convinced me to stay at $183 because they said costs were rising and so forth. I decided not to fight it. Fast forward to this year, and now they are proposing to increase the dwelling coverage to $203k (11% increase). Funny thing is that for my exact townhome model, about 20 units were sold in the last year with prices averaging in the upper $180s (slightly above what I paid). I called the insurance company to let them have a piece of my mind, and they told me they use an independent 3rd party company to price the replacement costs. I told them it's BS because it's way above average market price and replacement costs is always below market price. They asked me to send them documents from when I purchased the home that details the construction materials used and upgrades so that they can reevaluate the dwelling coverage. My question is, why is the burden of proof on me to prove to the insurance company that dwelling coverage should be lowered? Why can't they just reduce it to what I tell them to reduce it to? After all, I am the customer who pays for the insurance. If my house is ever destroyed and I underinsured, that's my problem not theirs. I just find it strange that I'm paying for an insurance service and the insurance company decides what the replacement cost is, not me. Even though it doesn't affect them.""

Can i get a california health access card if my mom has me under her insurance?

I want to get it so i can get on birth control but my mom has me under her insurance and i cannot let her know. I am 19, a college student and part time worker.""

Which to get first insurance or a car?

Alright so I'm living on my own going to college in a different state then my parents. I really dont have the best relationship with them either so i know they wouldn't add me on theirs. Which do you get first your insurance or car? What order do you go about doing things? License first then insurance, and then car?""

Why does car insurance go up if you have a 4-wheel drive?

I am thinking about getting a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4. My car recently broke down and it was a 2000 Chevy Suburban. My parents don't really want to get me the Jeep with 4x4 because they said the price of insurance would go way up. I want to know why is this and about how much would it go up?

Why does my car insurance go up when I add on an Immobilizer?

I got a quote for 610 WITHOUT an immobilizer. Just found out I do infact have an immobilizer on my car so amended the car insurance quote and it went up 20 to 630... I thought an Immobilizer would take down the price!

Affordable Care Act: The Health Insurance Exchange concept seems to do the trick... so why complaints?

The Health Insurance Exchange idea allows individuals to come together and have the purchasing power of a large corporation. In this manner these uninsured people can get insurance at ...show more

My license suspended cause of insurance payment were can i get a very cheap car insurance?

please help

Can i find out someones car insurance company?

a lady hit my car back in march of this year. she agreed to pay for the damage but then moved out and skipped town. well the police finaly found her but the problem is i dont know her insurance company. i have her full name, and her vehicle vin number. i dont want to claim it on my insurance so my rates go up, thats nuts. so i need to find her insurance company so i can file it with hers! anyway i can do this?""

How much will I get off insurance ?

Ok so my Subaru liberty gx 1995 manual car was stolen and Un found, I have claimed on it and insurance company said I will get the market value for the car, the car value is $4,800 - $7,150 so I was wondering what I would get ? The minimum, the max or just right in the middle ?""

Best New York Health Insurance?

i got married 2 months ago, I m waiting to start the process for green card! at this time I wanted to get a good health insurance, my husband doesn t know aythin about it so please help me!!!""

What is the average insurance for a 11 hyundai elantra for 18 year old?

What is the average insurance for a 11 hyundai elantra for 18 year old?

Please Find me good quote for car insurance for young drivers?

Car Insurance for Young Drivers Quotes

Test drive a car? no insurance..?

I've found a car i wish to test drive. As it's my first car, I am currently not insured. How would i go about getting temporary insurance in order to drive this car for about 15-30 minutes? thanks.""

FIRST CAR INSURANCE in London UK?

I am 18 years old will be 19 this month I want to by a car i have 1500 saved for it and now need to save for insurance road tax etc. my main worry is the insurance ive recieved quotes of 3500 i can not afford this I WOULD ONLY LIKE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION CAN YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT QUOTES YOU RECIEVED OR HOW MUCH YOU ARE PAYING

""How much do you pay for car insurance in dorchester,ma ?

2006 Nissan Murano SL AWD or similar car.

Insurance and rental cars.?

If you are involved in an accident and it was not your fault, who is responsible for the insurance on the rental car? If your own auto insurance does not transfer to a rental and the rental car place is requiring you to pay out of pocket for the insurance, is it your responsibility to pay this or the person who was at faults responsibility to pay this?""

Which Car Insurance is good - any advice?

I need a car insurance very soon. But i am not sure which insurance i should take. Whats your advice? Thanks.

How long does it take for car insurances to determine fault?

I got into an accident a few days ago. It's pretty cut and dry that it was the other persons fault, however the police don't determine fault and leave it up to the insurance companies to figure out. Those who have been in a similair situation, how long from the time of the accident did it take for your insurance company to find fault in the accident. I'm curious because I'm having to pay a $1000 deductible and car rental fees. I want to make sure I get it back if its the other persons fault.""

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

Sutter Creek California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95685

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