#all the rest of her siblings are things like Mary and John

[bluerosefox]

Gray and Graysons

One of the Bats has a secret. Something they never told to the others.

They were so very young but they have memories of a sibling, so small and tiny. They remember the burst of warmth they had in their heart when they held the tiny baby for just a moment.

But they weren’t allowed to keep them, their family couldn’t raise them. Money was tight, just enough for three but not for four, despite their shows always bringing in a crowd it was getting harder and harder for the world to be wowed by them in the new age and their sibling was too small and tiny and needed to be cared in a single place than for them to be on the road. Their lifestyle was not good for his tiny sibling apparently.

They had to watch as their parents gave his sibling away to people in suits, them promising to give his baby brother to a loving family when they find a ‘home’ for him. He watched his parents try to be strong only for his mother to break down once the car left down the road, his father holding her and apologizing, the rest of the circus troupe all silently coming over to give the heartbroken family condolences.

Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson had tears running down his face when he last saw his baby brother.

A brother he got to name before he had to be given away.

Daniel ‘Danny’ Grayson.

-x-x-

Dick never told the others. If anyone dug deep into his past they might find his brother’s birth records maybe, if someone got around to digitizing the paperwork for him but given the fact he was placed in the US childcare systems just a few days after his birth and the fact that Dick was still pretty young they most likely believed he didn’t remember his baby brother now. Not after so many years.

But they were wrong, Dick remembers. And he kept the secret close to his heart and memories.

And the only physical evidence he had was a single picture of him holding his brother, a smile on his tiny face towards their father who had taken the photo of them together. When he had lost his parents, lost most of the things that connected him to them, to his past in the circus that had been his whole life, had been taken from him in Gotham’s ruthless childcare system, he held on tight to the picture in secret. Hid it away from anyone trying to rip it from him, hid it from Bruce when the man took him in days later, hid it from Alfred despite how gentle the butler was towards him. He couldn’t, wouldn’t risk losing his photo at the time, he hadn’t trusted anyone and by the time he did he didn’t have the heart to reveal it.

So yes, the existence of his baby brother Danny was his most guarded and best kept secret.

So that’s why Dick, as Nightwing, nearly died from a heart attack when leaving a Justice League meeting he spotted a familiar face among one of the new engineers working in the Watchtower.

It was like seeing a young version of himself. Only, Dick could see that the young man was more than a copy of him, so much more than a clone. He held many traces of John Grayson but also had a bit more of Mary Grayson than Dick did. Small details that Dick foggely remembers taking note when he had held his baby brother.

“Hey, hurry up with that report Gray!” Shouted the head engineer from down the hall, his hand beckoning the young adult to come over.

“Coming! And boss, I told you Danny is fine!” Danny shouted back before hurriedly leaving a stunned Nightwing.

[owengrose]

Blacknatural

I've been rewriting and recasting Blacknatural in my head so here's the updated cast + storylines. Some of these casting decisions have fundamental story changes, but some of them don't have to change at all (gee it's almost like Black people are just as capable of representing the human experience as white people..........)

Mary Campbell Winchester: Nicole Beharie

Mary comes from a long line of hunters who balance hunting and living a life by operating more as defenders than hunters. They never seek out threats, they only defend their community against monsters that do harm. She's good at what she does and loves doing it. When she announces she's marrying John Winchester, a white man her parents have never met who actively enlisted to fight in Iraq, they're understandably against it. She's constantly self-sabotaging the relationship bc "something" is telling her it's not right (it's her free will resisting the Cupid match with everything she's got). The night of the fire, she's finally gathered up the ability to leave them. Sam cries and she goes to comfort her one last time (she does love them even if she never wants them and can't be maternal) and that's when the fire strikes. When she comes back, it’s like no time has passed for her but suddenly her children are adults. She tries to be their mom again, thinking it might be easier since they’re grown, but they still want and expect things from her that she can’t give, so she strikes out on her own again.

When she learns she and John were a Cupid match, she’s both angry that she wasn’t given any agency in her life and relieved that she wasn’t the one who fucked up her life with bad choices.

Dean Winchester: Keiynan Lonsdale

His only frame of reference for masculinity is the middle-class white masculinity shown on motel cable TV and the movies they snuck into (man cave, cars, objectifying women, beer, physical strength, etc). His performance of this + skill at hunting attracted something close enough to approval from John, and raised no eyebrows from almost anyone else, so it let him fly under the radar. But he's cultivated this performance so thoroughly that he's not even sure there is an authentic self underneath it.

Sam Winchester: Storm Reid

Sam has struggled her whole life with other's perceptions of her. The siblings' upbringing is seen by others as very white trash, but she obviously doesn't neatly fit into that category. But being raised by John, who made no effort to celebrate or even recognize their Blackness, gave her no connection to her own Blackness to draw on. At Stanford, she double majors in pre-law and African-American Studies, joins the BSU, and does everything she can to make her narrative #BlackExcellence despite constantly feeling like an imposter. Her dating Jess, a white girl, doesn't make that much easier. She and Jess are a Cupid match, though we don't find this out until later.

Mirroring Mary, she doesn't have a maternal bone in her body. When she's suddenly left with Kevin when Dean and Cas get sent to Purgatory, she does her best but is struggling and resentful the whole time. When Kevin is taken by Crowley, she's secretly relieved and makes no effort to rescue him. The guilt of this haunts her for the rest of the show, even though she's fully aware that she would do it again if she had the chance to do it over. Because of this, she isn't resentful of resurrected Mary being unable/unwilling to be a mother to them the same way Dean is.

Rufus Turner: Steven Williams

Rather than leaving the kids with Bobby, John would instead leave them with Rufus, with Bobby instead being a fellow hunter that Rufus knows (essentially flipping their roles narratively). Rufus and John didn't get along, with John devaluing his years of experience and dismissing his approach to hunting as focusing on defending his town of Greenwood, Mississippi (similar to the Campbell family). With this ideology, he would take the kids hunting for animals rather than monsters, and did his best to plant the idea in them that the only supernatural beings that need to be hunted are the ones actively causing harm, encouraging them not to "chase trouble". While he would never send them out on hunts across the country, he would assist them with advice, resources, and fake FBI verification whenever asked. He also gave both of them The Talk about police, since John didn't know or care to.

Castiel: DeRon Horton

Compounding his difficulty in understanding and interacting with humans is the added layer of racism. White people are less forthcoming at best and outright hostile at worst. When interacting with Black people, he misses most if not all of the cultural references and understandings they expect him to have. (Someone tries to dap him up. This does not go well for him.) This also strains his relationship with Claire; he looks like her father but has no context for family in-jokes and stories, Black cultural references and understandings, or American references.

Because he has no context for these references, but recognizes that they seem to be important, he looks up every reference that someone makes that he misses. Sam is the only person who will explain a reference to him, having had to do the same thing to try and fit in at Stanford.

Eileen Leahy: Treshelle Edmond

Being a Black Deaf lesbian hunter has made her used to taking care of herself, being either infantilized or disregarded by most in whatever situation she finds herself in. Not only is she excellent at taking care of herself, she knows that even the most well-meaning people cannot take care of her as well as she can. Sam's instinct to respect her skill and defer to her understanding makes Eileen feel finally seen, and is why Sam's attempts at being protective feel so smothering to her. They're both independent people who come together by choice, not by necessity. She's thrown by the revelation of Chuck's interference because it calls into question whether she's done so well because of her own merit, or because of his interference. It also means that every fucked-up thing she's endured hasn't been from the random chaos of life, which she can understand and accept, but has instead been deliberate decisions caused by yet another person in a position of power who decided their narrative was more important than her own autonomy.

Rowena Mcleod: Dominique Jackson

Condemned to death by the British for practicing Obeah, which they called witchcraft and devilry, she was able to escape and survive through a mix of cunning and magic. She aimed to survive and thrive despite the colonizers running rampant through her country, and viewed Crowley as an obstacle to that and so abandoned him. As she and Sam bond, she helps her tap back into the abilities that were there that the demon blood enhanced. As Sam, still wrestling with ideas of purity regarding human and non-human, struggles with this, Rowena points out that ideas of purity like that are colonial philosophies. It is pure because it is innate to her, denying it is the real impurity.

Adam Milligan: Jaboukie Young-White

Azazel/Yellow Eyes: Lakeith Stanfield

@daalcuntynatural and I talked about this before. He just has an otherworldly and unsettling vibe that makes him absolutely perfect.

Mr. Tran: Osric Chau

Mr. Tran is a devoted single father to high school student Kevin Tran. Unlike John, Mr. Tran goes out of his way to celebrate Kevin's dual heritage. Kevin's mom passed away when Kevin was a baby due to complications from birth that the hospital staff didn't take seriously. Because of this, Mr. Tran is a bit overprotective because he is very aware that people will not always take Kevin's concerns and struggles as seriously as they deserve. Kevin, in turn, pushes himself very hard (too hard) because he doesn't want all of his father's hard work to be for nothing.

Osric was done so dirty on this show (killed off over and over), and deserves the opportunity to have some fucking dignity.

[unicornsaures]

Redcoat OC lore dump!!

By no means is this EVERYTHING about these guys, just the base layers. I also dont go into specifics for a lot of these just because if i did it probably wouldnt line up so..yeah!

------------

Right, starting off with Charles Gray! He was born in Maryland on April 14, 1753 to Eleanor Gray and John Gray with three sisters - Mary Gray(last name changed to Fields when she gets married), Eleanor Gray Jr, and Frances Gray. His family was originally from London but they moved to the colonies in 1750, 3 years before he was born. His parents were devout loyalists, so he and his siblings quickly picked up on their beliefs. He primarily lived on his parents' plantation, so he was pretty well off financially and he had no struggle with money his entire life. Come 1773 when Charles is 19, his sister Frances dies and they were pretty close, he struggles to cope with her desth while being in the area she died so, he decides to move out to Pennsylvania where he instead meets Henry and William who become his closest friends and help him through all of that.

Soon enough, April of 1774 comes around and he meets Charlotte Brewer(new character alert~!), who he begins courting soon after. In august of 1774 they begin dating, and in April of 1776 he gets married!! Yeah, he doesnt get happily ever after though. He joins the british army with William and Henry not but a few months later, leaving his newly wed wife behind and hes extra guilty about it. When they meet Hamilton though, he takes an instant liking towards him and tries to make him feel welcome to distract himself from the guilt he feels. Problem is, he never actually told Ham hes married. So, whoops. The rest of the story is whats already written so ah, Hamilton still doesnt know he's married.

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Okayyy, William Fletcher! William was born in Newcastle on August 12, 1754 to George & Mary Fletcher. He has 6 siblings(im not writing out names.) Though 2 die before William even reaches the age of 1. This hasnt been brought up in the story, but he also can't remember most of his childhood other than the fact his father was shit. It wasnt anything too out of the ordinary for the time period, but it was a borderline abusive dynamic that sparked fights and fucked up his trust, making it really hard to keep stable relationships with anyone in the future. Ever wonder why he 'dislikes' Hamilton so much? Yeah thats why.

Anyway, his family moved to New York in August of 1765, and to Pennsylvania just a few months later. Life is pretty uninteresting for a few years until 1770 comes up(William is 16) and he meets Henry Reed!! Its almost instantaneous how fast they become friends, and in the future William HEAVILY cherishes their friendship because of how rare it was for him to open up to people, moreso with the gender norms in their time period. They bond a lot while theyre in Pennsylvania together and honestly fuck around and get into trouble like normal teenagers until, come 1773, they meet Charles!! He keeps them in check kind of, and they create this little trio. For william, it takes a lot longer to consider him a friend but it does happen, in which he also helps Charles court Charlotte in 1774!!

William is the one who encouraged them all to join the army, and Henry was quick to follow his word. When Hamilton came along in 1777, William really disliked him. He did warm up to him, and they were friends, but then ah..the whole Laurens thing..That trust was INSTANTLY broken and so that leaves us with William as we have it in modern chapters where he comes off as bitchy and rude. Yes, he is bitchy to Hamilton, but thats not his whole character and there is genuine reasons he acts so cold towards Hamilton, and sometimes even Charles. Charles less so because he's known him for longer, but Hamilton is someone he deemed as 'untrustworthy,' and therefore he sets up walls around him.

------------

Right! Henry Reed! Out of the group, he's the most tragic. He was Born in South Carolina on January 5, 1757 to Oliver & Molly Reed. He was also raised with two siblings though one died during his childhood and the other was almost an adult when he was born, so he has little recollection of them. His family had originally been from Norwich, but they moved to the colonies in 1745. They moved again however when he was 6 to Pennsylvania, where his mother left him and his father when he was 12. His childhood is kind of shitty overall, and most of his recollection is working in a trading company with his father to support them both after his mother had left. Even before she had left she was emotionally absent though his father had done his best to make up for that loss to little avail.

After his mother had left, Henry and his father did their best to keep afloat and it worked pretty well, though Henry felt somewhat responsible for the reason his mother left. He met William when he was 13, and like i said, they became very close very fast during some of the worst years of their life. Henry became quickly attached not only because of their friendship itself, but because he looked up to William in a sense? Like i said william was 16 when they met and often did things himself and was overly confident, Henry stayed on the sidelines and tried to hide as often as possible.

Anyway, when Charles came along Henry almost saw him as a sort of 'big brother,' and also became attached to him though not nearly as quickly or as hard as he did with william. During the whole Charles-Charlotte thing he kind of stayed off to the side and watched it all happen. He didnt like getting involved with ladies and honestly, he thinks charlotte looked too similar to his own mother. I might as well add on that he ws also extremely jealous of Charles for 'taking williams attention,' but thats not too important other than the fact that he has unresolved attachment issues.

The reason he wants to join the army is mostly because life is boring and he wants purpose, but also he wouldnt have done it if william didnt offer to join first. When he meets hamilton he doesnt mind him, theyre buddies kind of. Though a small disdain grows when he realizes william doesnt like him, and again, he looks up to william so he usually listens to his judgement. This dislike only grows during the laurens fiasco, but like charles, he doesnt HATE hamilton.

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I could rant about william and henrys whole dynamic if i really wanted to, but in short theyre two guys with similar traumas who found comfort in talking to each other !!! Their friendship in general isnt the healthiest, they both are overly dependent on one another with william having unresolved trust issues and henry with unresolved attachment issues but for the most part they arent miserable so thats what matters the most ig?

[my-deer-history]

Do you think Laurens would have been a good dad if he met Frances?

"Good" is such a loaded term here, because what that meant back then and what it means now differ in a few significant ways. Overall, I think John Laurens would have done all of the things that were required of him as a parent, so in that way, my answer is yes - he would probably have been a good father by the standards of his day. But let’s explore a little more deeply what that would actually have meant.

The primary duties of a father in the 18th century included financially supporting his family, providing moral or spiritual guidance, educating his children, and instilling the proper virtues and values that would guarantee a successful life. While fathers generally focused more of their attention on their sons, especially where it came to education, this was not a firm rule, and it was not unheard of for daughters to be actively raised and educated by their fathers.

John would have had a good role model for single-fatherhood from his own father. After Eleanor Laurens died in 1770, Henry took on the responsibility of raising and educating his children himself. His focus, unsurprisingly, was on his sons. But although Martha and Mary Eleanor did not join their father and brothers on the 1771 journey to England to further the boys' education, Henry also arranged tutors for them and encouraged their focus on intellectual pursuits in tandem with learning the skills and crafts that women were expected to know. Martha especially was known to be intelligent and curious.

John also had plenty of first-hand experience in some of the practicalities of raising children, since he had been assigned to manage his brothers' education, finances and living arrangements while abroad - not to mention the supervisory role he played for his cousin, Molsy Bremar, and various other young South Carolinians in the Laurens's orbit, like Jackie Petrie. This responsibility came with plenty of instructions from Henry, but John carried out these duties well, and his judgement was trusted.

But what precisely might John have done if a six-year-old Frances was delivered to his doorstep in 1783?

I highly doubt that John would have taken on the full scope of parental duties himself. For one, he would just not have had the time in between finishing his studies, getting involved in politics, securing an income stream in the wake of his family’s ruined finances, supporting his younger siblings and sick father, and so on. Additionally, he would not have felt he was equipped to provide the guidance Frances should get from her mother. So I suspect that Frances would have ended up precisely where she did - in the care of her aunt Martha - with John playing a guiding and supervisory role over critical points of her education and upbringing, while leaving the rest of the childcare to his sister. This arrangement would have been considered normal and sensible, and would have provided Frances with the stable home life she is unlikely to have found at her father’s side.

As for the emotional connection John would have felt, which certainly would have been part of the "good father" package, it's hard to speculate. John was considerate, loving and affectionate to his siblings, even to his youngest sister, whom he barely knew - but he did not always show compassion to his cousin Molsy, or to his wife. And Frances herself barely warrants a single mention in his surviving correspondence.

On balance, I do think he would have made an effort to show love and care to Frances, but whether it would have been a genuine feeling or just an expression of his duty and values is not something I think we will ever know.

[catyuy]

Bridgerton time travel to just before season one.

Anthony immediately breaks up with Sienna and starts arraigning things for Kate's family arrival. Before being reminded by his mother and Benedict that he is Viscount Bridgerton first and others can help the Sharma's get settled in England.

Kate tells Mary that they are going to England now and tells Edwina to forget all that she told her about marriage, and she'll help her find a love match. Once she gets married to Anthony, after a decent engagement period, she starts helping Daphne, Lady Danbury and Violet with items that require a lighter touch then her husband's.

Benedict finds Sophie and gets her out of Araminta's clutches. Then he helps Anthony with various legal/financial matters to support all of their family and friends in the future. He also continues his art because he loves it.

Daphne helps Sophie find employment in the meantime and works with her mother to set up other social matters that will help them in the future.

Sophie is using this opportunity to help Posy get away from her mother as well. Lady Danbury eventually offers her room and board as a Governess for her grandson Gareth.

Colin starts to publicly court Penelope. She insists that he still travel and start his journals, and they can have a long engagemnet. He of course brings back gifts for everyone, even people who aren't legally in his family yet. He also takes Albion and Harry under his wing and has them hang out with the rest of the Bridgerton men.

Penelope takes this chance to improve her spy network Whistledown sources. She also makes sure to set up her sister's with their future husbands and warns her mother that her father is in worse trouble then she suspects. She and Eloise bring Madame Delacroix into their spy network inner circle. She uses her new excess funds to help various friends that are or will be in need.

Simon immediately courts Daphne and secretly finances the Sharma's ship passage. Then he gets roped into helping Lady Danbury and her various "charity cases" (she swats him for that).

Lady Danbury does her best for her various family members. Improving her relationship with her brother, arraigning outings with Gareth and the younger Bridgerton siblings. While keeping an eye on her nephews James and Marcus. She also takes every chance to invite Posy but not Araminta or Rosamund over to her house. As do the Bridgertons and eventually the Featheringtons. She also takes an interest in a young Lucy Abernathy.

Eloise does her best to support all of her siblings and their soon to be spouses. Meanwhile she's helping Penelope with her spy network Whistledown. She's also subtly trying to get Cressida to be nicer and convince her to set her hat on Lord Debling when he returns. She also talks about her new penpal Mr. Crane and his love of plants.

Philip Crane makes it look like George and Marina got secretly married before he left for war. That way her children are legitimate, and they don't have to marry. He and Eloise start up a correspondence again.

Francesca Bridgerton worries about choosing between John and Michaela but they both reassure her that they love her and are fine with whatever she chooses. They all spend as much time together as they can knowing John's time is short.

Gregory and Hyacinth are frustrated by being children again but decide to use it to their advantage and get even more info for Whistledown. After, of course, making sure that they have regular outings with Gareth and Lucy. They might have to wait to be married but they are going to be around their loves as much is proper until they are all of age.

Lady Bridgerton is delighted all of her children are in love and working to better the lives of their friends. She works with Daphne on subtly bettering things in the Ton. And is open to meeting with Lord Anderson when he is in town. But she makes sure all of her children are being "proper" before marriage to avoid any scandals. She decides to make Portia an actual friend and help her with her husband wrangling. (she often assigns her sons or her sons in laws to keep an eye on him at various locations). Mary joins them when she comes to town. They all get tipsy at Agatha's on occasion to let off steam.

I'm sure they're all getting up too much more mischief, but I can't think of anything else to add. Or who else they are forcefully adopting helping.

If somehow Queen Charlotte traveled as well, she's getting her sons to marry their wives sooner and letting her children know she loves them. She is spending more time with her granddaughter. She hopes that things will be different but knows her death cannot be changed. She also engages Penelope in a long-distance chess match, with Agatha having go between to inform the other of their next moves. When he's having a good day she's having family meals with George and their family. She still picks her Diamonds but its not as fun when she knows the Bridgertons have the whole Ton rigged now. However, they do know how to get things done and she can appreciate that.

[pub-lius]

Goreg Washesaton for richie my beloved

so you may have noticed that this ongoing series of my research of "every historical figure" (/t) for @thereallvrb0y has been on pause for a few weeks and thats bc ive been STRUGGLING to find the rest of them, and i cant. so if anyone needs information on those people, i might just post the bullets from my notes bc im not doing all that work again FKSFKSH they still exist somewhere within my 3000 posts, but i cannot find them bc tumblr sucks <3 anyway, now for

George Washington (pt one)

Georgie was born at his family's plantation, Popes Creek, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732, a date that I have memorized for some reason when I don't even have my dad's birthday memorized (sorry dad). His parents were Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Augustine was a very prominent plantation owner in the area, and also a justice of the county court, so he was a big deal. His first wife, Jane Butler, died and left him with two sons, Lawrence and Augustine Jr., and their daughter Jane.

George was the eldest of the kids from the second marriage. His other siblings were Elizabeth, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles, and Mildred.

The family eventually moved to another one of their properties, Little Hunting Creek, which would become Mount Vernon. They moved again four years later to Ferry Farm.

Augustine Sr. died when George was 11, leaving most of his property to the eldest sons from the first marriage. The remaining income maintained Mary and her children, and George would have been responsible for helping manage their plantation.

George never received a formal education since the funds for that were used on his older brothers. He only received instruction from private tutors. He would have studied reading, writing, basic legal forms, geometry, trigonometry, manners, penmanship, and comportment. I already made a post about his rules of civility, which was a big part of his education.

Mount Vernon, where I got most of my sources from on Washington, of course, has a lot of information on slavery, but I'm not really qualified to talk about all of that since I think it deserves its own separate research, but here's the link for that.

The Washingtons were, however, deeply entangled in the global "institution" (that phrasing makes me uncomfy, it sounds like a business yk). Washington inherited 10 enslaved people from his father, and went on to "inherit/purchase/rent/gain control of" more than 500 enslaved people.

Washington expressed racist sentiments up until the Revolutionary War, which greatly changed his perspective on the definition of liberty and who it applies to. He expressed wanting to free the enslaved people he was responsible for, but couldn't because of the backlash it would cause from him being an international celebrity. He would end up freeing the 123 enslaved people he was able to in his will (that's a whole complicated legal system designed to keep people and their families enslaved for as long as possible and it's honestly exhausting).

Anyway, back to the white people history. Washington got his first job as a surveyor, and it was the only thing he got formal training in. In the mid-1740s he got two surveying jobs (one of which was for a They were going to lay out lots within a large tract along the western frontier of Virginia, and into indigenous territory. He learned more surveying and gained important knowledge of the frontier (*foreboding dramatic movie sound effect*). At the end of the first day, he was shown "a bed of straw with one Threat Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice Fleas etc. (sic)" He made a promise "not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to sleep in the open Air before a fire. (sic)" This experience ended up being very important to him and getting him out of that cushy rich kid life (*another foreboding dramatic movie sound effect*)

His professional career began in 1749, and recieved a commission for the new Culpepper County (*insert Turn: Washington's spies theme song*), which was probably by the recommendation of Fairfax, who was working on the Governor's council. By 1752, he had completed nearly 200 surveys, totaling more than 60,000 acres. Honestly, I think that if he lived his entire life as just a surveyor, he wouldn't have gone gray in his 40's.

in 1753, Governor Robert fucking Dinwiddie that was this man's NAME in REAL LIFE learned that French troops had moved south from Canada to construct forts in the region south of Lake Erie, which was declared British territory. The area had commercial potential, and Dinwiddie was concerned that the French would fortify the forks of the Ohio River. So, he sent Washington, who was a major in the Virginia militia, to deliver a diplomatic eviction notice to the French in 1753. If that date sounds familiar its bc Georgie is about to have a few major fuck ups that you learned about in middle school. This was known as the Allegheny Expedition, but I have never called it that. It is and will always be the Ohio Eviction.

The expedition was aided by Christopher Gist and local indigenous people. They were escorted by O-non-dowa-gah (also known as Seneca) chief Tanacharison, two Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), and one from the Lenape (Delaware Nation).

This trip was rough. During the trip, Washington hiked for days through snowy woods, fell off a raft into the icy Allegheny River, nearly drowned, and had to spend a freezing night on an island without shelter on the 900 mile journey. I hate to say it, but this dad could beat up your dad. They reached Fort Le Boeuf on December 11, thank fuck. Washington's account was published by Dinwiddie in Williamsburg and London, giving him a reputation at the age of 22.

Despite all that effort, the French just ignored them lmao, bc like what's this little freak gonna do??? So, Dinwiddie dispatched Washington, now a Lieutenant Colonel to assert Virginia's claims a few months later with around 150 men.

They ended up skirmishing with French soldiers on the way, and killed 10 men, including the French commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville. The English under Washington (that's fun to say) retreated to a makeshift fort called Fort Necessity. Washington was forced to surrender when the French surrounded the fort with their indigenous allies. In those surrender terms, Washington accidentally admitted to assassination. This was the start of the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War for my European fanbase (im so funny).

Washington resigned after that bc his dick was small and he was embarrassed. But, don't worry, his dick regrew and he returned to the frontier in 1755 to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp (foreshadowing) to General Edward Braddock, who was kind of serving. Braddock had been sent from the King to drive the French from the Ohio Country.

A battle started near the Monongahela River (none of these places have easy names). There was a lot of confusion and troops fled in confusion back to Virginia. Washington was attempting to rally the troops, and had two horses shot out from under him and four bullets shot through his coat. Also Braddock died whoops.

Washington was given command of Virginia's entire military force. He was ordered to protect the entire 350 mile long frontier with a few hundred men, bc everything that happens to this man is fair. This provided him with very necessary experience in commanding troops in stupid ass situations. Eventually, the British took the forks of Ohio in 1758 and Washington retired.

He married our iconic queen Martha on January 6, 1759 and they kissed a lot. He spent 1759-1775 overseeing the farms at Mount Vernon. He constantly worked to improve and expand the mansion and surrounding plantation.

During this time, he established himself as an innovated farmer. In the 1760s, he switched from tobacco to wheat as his main cash crop. He experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotation, tools, and livestock breeding. He actually had some hot takes, but I'm literally the only person who cares bc that shit is actually boring (in case you were wondering, chicken shit doesn't make good fertilizer).

He also expanded the planation to include flour milling and commercial fishing. THEN he built a gristmill, and then began making whiskey, producing over 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey at its peak. Mf slayed.

This era is referred to as the golden years, which I mentioned in Martha's post and everything is wonderful and fine and Washington is happily retired with his family :)....

SIKE time for part 2

[marzipanandminutiae]

slightly related to the “old vs modern names” topic: today I met someone named Judys. Like Judas from the Bible, with a Y. I am confused and delighted.

That is MARVELOUSLY unhinged

I, too, find this delightful

[witchy-writing]

1.1 Pilot

Dean x Sam x gn! Winchester reader

Summary: Ever want to be included in the show, as a Winchester? Wait no more. Follow y/a, Sam and Dean through 15 seasons of saving people, hunting things the family business.

A/n - I am going to attempt to do all 15 seasons, please be patient with me. This took two days to write. Eeeek, I hope it’s ok!

warnings: Follows the first episode of the first season. Death. Fire.

word count - 3119

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“Night Sammy, Night y/n” a young Dean states from his mother’s arm. Mary gently lowers her older son, allowing him to kiss his younger sibling’s goodnight. Mary smiles, her eyes lighting up with the love she holds for her three children, looking over her shoulder she spots her husband, John, and smiles. John flips of the light, whispering to his youngest children “If you two sleep through the night, you can have Dean’s room”, Mary chuckles overhearing her husband before tucking Dean into bed and placing a kiss on his temple, “Good night love” she softly whispers, a smile on her face.

A few hours later, Mary awakes with a start. The twins screaming coming through the baby monitor kept next to her on the bedside table next to her and John’s wedding photo. Mary sits up, sleep still embracing her, touching the mattress next to her she can’t find her husband, smiling when she realises her husband is looking after the youngest children. She pads her way down the corridor rubbing sleep out her eyes, pushing the twin’s door open. She smiles as she spots John’s figure over Sam’s crib. “John?” She questions “Are they hungry?”. There’s no response, apart from a quick and sudden shhh. Mary rolls her eyes at her husbands antics, taking a step back and turning around heading back to her warm bed. Reaching the bedroom, she soon realises that there is a light, a slight glimmer coming from downstairs. She’s cautious. Bare feet shuffling down the stairs, before turning the corner, a movie is playing out on the Tv lighting up the sitting room; and sat in front of the tv asleep, slumped over in his chair is John.

Fear! It’s all she can feel as Mary blurts out “Oh my god” before bolting up the stairs back up to the twin’s room. She bursts the door open, the door bouncing on its hinges swinging roughly, urgently flicking the switch, the brightness blinding her slightly before her eyes adjust. Whatever is in the room scares her, the colour drains out of Mary’s face. She starts panicking, hyperventilating.

“…Get away from them…” She all but whispers, before letting out a blood curdling scream which wakes up the rest of the house. John shoots up with a start, running to Sam and y/n’s room. “Mary?” he questions, his wife no longer in sight. The babies are crying, bawling struggling to calm down, but they’re ok, and he lets out a sigh of relief. Gently stroking y/n cheek, he checks them over before checking over Sam. They settle a little, and John smiles, turning to search for Mary. But something catches him. Somethings not right. John turns back into the room, a drop of blood now staining the bottom sheet of the crib the two siblings share.

Drip.

Another drop of blood, quickly followed by another. John realises that the droplets are falling from above, he angles his neck upwards, shear terror shivering its way down his spine. Mary. She’s splayed out, her eyes wide and staring, almost glass like.

“No… oh my god no…” He croaked. He stands frozen, as a sizzling noise overwhelms his senses, the smell of smoke as small black lines spiderweb across the ceiling. The lines connect, spelling out three words. Coming for you. Before suddenly igniting, engulfing the walls and Mary.

The fire alarms blare, beeping fast, high pitch. Y/n and Sam start to fuss again, the noise hurting their ears.

“Mummy? Daddy” a scared voice questions from the hallway, John snaps out of it, grabbing Sam and y/n, swinging the door open, he looks at Dean.

“No Dean, don’t look, okay? We gotta go.” He assured his young son, leading Dean down the stairs and out the front door, holding onto his youngest offspring. It’s not long until the fire fighters arrive. The family are sat on the hood of a car, Dean tucked up into his father’s side, he holds y/n tentatively, John holds Sam in one arm, slowly rocking his young son, while wrapping his arm around Dean. The house burns into the night, reds, yellows, and oranges fill the night sky. Dean turns and hides his face in his fathers’ side, John’s eyes harden, his jaw clenched. No more apple pie life.

---

23 years later.

Sam had moved to Stanford, you’d gone to visit him once or twice, though the distance between Kansas and California made it more difficult. Though you made sure to at least text your twin brother once a week. He had a girlfriend now, you had only met her once, but she was sweet.

About a week ago, Dean turned up at your front door. “Dad’s missing” he yelled as he strolled right through the front door. “Thanks for knocking” you reply, eyes rolling back at your older brothers’ antics. “Dad’s missing” he repeats.

“So what? Dad disappears all the time. We have our own cases to be working on Dean.” You say, walking into the kitchen, setting about moving a couple of dirty dishes into the sink. “y/n!” Dean shouts, “Would I be here if I wasn’t worried?” He had a point, Dean and you were close, closer since Sammy had left for the apple pie life. The two of you staying as hunters, helping John out on a few cases here and there, but mainly soloing it. “Let’s go find dad” you respond, staring into the green eyes of your older brother. ‘Where are you dad?’

Baby’s engine purrs, before Dean turns the key, the headlights switching off. Its peaceful, yet eery. You and Dean climb out the car and gather a few things before walking towards the apartment building. “It’s that one” you whisper, pointing out the window of the apartment your twin lives in, Dean looks at you, “Are you sure?” He murmurs. “Positive” you nod your head back at him.

“Well here goes nothing” Dean says, wrapping a small piece of cloth around his knuckles, before punching the window. It doesn’t take much for the window to shatter. “Thought it would take more effort that that” Dean mentions, turning to look over his shoulder at you, before slowly climbing through to avoid the smashed glass, you slink in, following closely behind. The apartment is dark, but it doesn’t take long for Dean to find the kitchen. “Want a beer while we wait?” He questions, his face illuminated by the small fridge light. Before you get the opportunity to answer, the door swings open, Sam armed ready to attack, you and Dean dodging just in time.

“Easy tiger. Just looking for a beer” Dean jokes with his younger brother.

“Dean?” Sam questions, eyes widening. The both of them ignoring your presence.

“Heya Sammy” Dean smirks, “How are things? Enjoying law school?”

“You scared the crap out of me!” Sam barked, before suddenly spotting your figure. “y/n? You… I though better of you” he sighs dejectedly.

“Sam, we’ve gotta talk” you butt into the conversation, pointing at yourself and then the two boys.

Out of nowhere, a soft tired voice enters the conversation. “Sam?” Jessica asks, eyes adjusting to the two other figures in her kitchen. She’s dressed in a smurf t-shirt, and short shorts. You smile, she’s just as you remember. Dean smiles mischievously, “I love the smurfs”, you stare at your older brother, before sharply elbowing him in the ribs, he hisses taking in a deep breath.

“Jess, hey sorry to wake you” Sam mutters, turning around to look at his girlfriend. “This is… well this is y/n, but you already knew that” you smile and wave at her, the recognition flashes across her face, out of the corner of your eyes you can feel Dean staring at you. Sam continues “Ummm, and this is… well this is Dean”

“Your brother Dean?” Jess questions, a confused look on her face.

“Sammy” you interject “We’ve gotta talk”

“Well, whatever you two need to say, you can say in front of her.” You frown, last thing you had known, Sam had never told Jess anything about your lives, about the creatures that go bump in the dark.

“Dad hasn’t been home in a week” Dean explained, his face hardening with a seriousness.

“So, he’s working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He’ll stumble back sooner or later.” Sam answers quickly, his brain not fully processing the extent of Dean’s sentence.

“No Sam.” You added, “Dad’s on a hunting trip, and he hasn’t been home in a week.” Your twins eyes widen, the mutual understanding between the three siblings that this conversation has to be silent.

“Jess. Excuse us. I need to talk to these two outside” Sam mutters to his girlfriend, before turning around and walking to the door with Dean, Jess stands there, confused. You look at her and smile slightly, mouthing a quick ‘sorry’ before running of to catch up with the rest of your family.

You walk in silence, towards baby, Dean lifting the boot. “He left his journal?” Sam’s eyebrows scrunch up in concern, “Tell me everything.”

It takes awhile to explain what has happened, but soon Sam is caught up. The two of them getting into an argument not long after. “Shut up!” You shout, “Now is not the time.” The boys whip their heads round, staring at you. “They have a point” Dean says, nodding in your direction.

“Look. Dad will be okay. He’ll be home in a few days. You’ll see.” Sam sighs accepting that the argument has been lost.

“He’s in real trouble if he’s not dead already. I can feel it, and I know you can too.” Dean responses, Sam deflates, you can see the worry in your twins’ eyes. You know deep down he cares.

“So, the only question is: you coming with us or not?” You prod, Sam’s eyes fill with flickering emotions, before he finally gives in. “Fine, as long as I’m back by Monday. I have an interview for law school.”

After packing, and saying goodbye to Jess, the three of you head to baby, Sam throwing his duffle in the boot, before climbing into the passenger seat. “Oi! I sit there” You protested, “y/n” Sam growls “It’s 3am, you come into my apartment, convince me to leave my girlfriend for a few days. I don’t see your name on it; therefore, I’m sitting here!” He argued before climbing in and slamming the door, Dean getting behind the drivers’ seat not long after. “Hey! Get in!” Dean shouts, head hanging out of the window, rolling your eyes at the two boys, you huffily clamber into the back of the car.

You’d been in the car for a couple hours, baby’s engine producing a gentle purring, though it’s drowned out by the sound of Deans music blasting over the speakers. “What was he hunting?” Sam asks. “Not sure” You respond, passing a sign that reads ‘Welcome to Sanger, California, U.S.A. America’s Christmas Tree City.’ For such a happy sign, there was an ungodly number of missing posters stapled to the bottom of it, of course Dad chose a place like this you thought.

You zone back in, Sam explaining that there have been no reports of Dad at any hotels or bars. Leaning forward, in between the two front seats you pipe in “I think if we wanna find Dad, we gotta find out what the hell’s happening around here.”

Eventually, you find dad’s room, its covered in pins and string connecting newspaper articles and missing photos. Dean sniffs a burger, before pulling a disgusted face “Dad’s not been here in a few days” he looks over his shoulder, you and Sam are staring at a particular newspaper article. “Dean” you call out tentatively, reaching out and pulling the newspaper off the wall, the small pin ripping the paper where it had been attached. Dean walks over to get a better look at what you’ve been looking at. “He found the same news article” Sam confirms, “What are we dealing with then?” Dean questions, he’s getting agitated, you can tell from the way he’s moving around the room. “He answered that as well” Sam responds, pointing at a sticky note in the jumble of papers and string. “A woman in white” You whisper in recognition.

“All right, so if we’re dealing with a woman in white, Dead would have found the corpse and destroyed it” Dean questions, looking at you and Sam.

“Well, she could have other weaknesses” you suggest. The boys look at you and nod in agreement.

“Think we need to question the husband” Sam admits “That’s what dad would do.”

“If he’s still alive” Deans butts in. “Anyway, I’m starving! Want anything from down the street?” Sam and you just shake your heads no. “Oh well, your loss” Dean mutters turning around, and walking out the front door.

“We need to find the husbands address” you say to Sam, leaning over his shoulder and peering at his phone in his hand, you see that it’s on the voicemail screen, Jess’ name visible. “She’ll be ok, Sammy” His head turns slowly to look at you, brown eyes wide and innocent. He blinks slowly, snapping out of whatever thoughts were going through his head. “I’ll find the addre..” He starts answering your earlier statement, when suddenly your phone starts ringing, Deans name flashing across the screen.

“Dean?”

“Dude, five-oh, take-off” He responds quickly, words spilling out of his mouth like vomit.

“What about you?” you probe. “Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find Dad.” The line goes dead, eyes wide you turn to Sam, who has already started opening the bathroom window. “Come on y/n!” He snapped, you hurry over quickly, rolling out into the bushes behind the motel just as the front door is broken in.

Once you had escaped, you and Sam had decided to follow up on the only lead you have, Constance’s husband. The both of you trudge up to the rickety house, a chain link covering the grimy glass window. Sam knocks on the door, an old man opens it, a puzzled look crossing his face.

“Have you seen this man?” You hold up the photo of your father, recognitions flickers through the old man’s tired eyes. “Yeah, he was here three or four days, ago. Said he was a reporter” He’s hesitant, you can tell that he’s already suspicious. Sam decides to take control of the conversation, it doesn’t last long but you get all the information you need. Thanking the man, you turn around, walking back over to where baby was abandoned.

“So, Dad was here” you state, looking at your taller twin brother.

“And he” Sam moves his head back, directing your attention to the old man watching the two of you out the window “committed adultery.” He pauses, sighing before continuing “We’re definitely dealing with a woman in white. Though our main problem now is figuring out how to get Dean back”.

“Leave that to me” you pull out your phone, dialling 911. “H-hi” you fake stutter, pretending to be in distress. “There’s gunfire, I’m on Whiteford road.”

“There that should work” you smile, shutting your phone and stuffing it into your pocket, Sam is staring eyes wide.

“What?!” you glare at him.

“H-how?”

“You learn these things when your brother leaves, and Dad expects you to fill his place”

---

At Constance’s house

“Well, that was a job well done” you smile, walking backwards, your brothers walking behind you.

“Saved your lives” Dean chortled, throwing open Baby’s door, and climbing in.

---

You’d been on the road for about half an hour, Sam was looking up the message Dad had left Dean. Highway to hell playing over the speakers. It was peaceful. It felt nice, you had missed being the trio, you had missed your twin brother, but you knew he would be leaving soon. Dejectedly you let out a sign, breath steaming up the window.

“It’s called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado” Sam jabs his finger at the map, pointing out the area that was in the middle of nowhere.

“Sounds. Charming” You mutter, rolling your eyes. The boys ignore your sarcastic comment, Dean looks over at Sam, “How far?”

“Six hundred miles” Sam replies, you sink down further into the seat, the soft leather moulding around your body.

“Dean” Sam uttered.

“You’re not going?” Dean gruffly responds, turning Baby around, heading back to Stanford.

---

You swap seats, sitting back in the passenger seat, Sam leaning through the window. “Keep me updated, yeah?” He smiles sadly, stepping back away from the car, and Baby’s engine roars to life. You watch him through the wing mirror, he’s stood in the same place, watching as you and Dean disappear. A single tear dribbles down your face. Dean glances over at you, reaching out he places his hand on top of yours. Dean has always said ‘no chick flick moments’, but he’s always had a soft spot for you. He comforted you as a baby, after your first break up, when Dad hurt you, when Sam left. Sam might be your twin, but Deans always had a soft spot for you.

A chill goes down your spine.

“Dean?” you look at him, your eyes wide, silently asking all you needed to ask.

“You felt that too?” He stares at you, the same scared yet puzzled look across his face. Suddenly he throws Baby around, travelling back to Sam’s apartment. “Somethings not right”.

As you pull up to Sam’s building, the windows are glowing, orange and red. Flames starting to lick around the top of the windows. Nightmares from when you were little flashing through your eyes, you can remember when Dad had told you what had happened that night, and now it was happening all over again. Silent tears had started to pour down your face.

“Sam!!!” You wail, opening the car door, darting towards the building as fast as your legs allowed you, Dean already ahead of you, feet ponding kicking up dust and sand from the gravel. “Sam!” you continue bawling. Dean slams his way into the bedroom, yellow and oranges tongues of fire reaching down almost lapping at your skin. Dean grabs Sam, pushing him out of the room, his wails of anguish as Jess burns ripples through your body.

“Jess! NO! Jess!” Sam weeps, as Dean continues pushing him out of the burning building. Your heartaches, maybe its because you’re seeing your brother hurt, maybe it’s a twin thing, but you swear that you feel Sam’s hurt, the pangs of guilt that ricochet through his body affecting you too.

It doesn’t take long for the fire truck to arrive, you hug your brothers close to you, glad that they are ok. Dean separates from the hug, staring at the burnt building, before walking behind Baby, opening the boot. You hear the familiar click of the shotgun being loaded. Sam starts walking over to Dean, you trail behind. Sam’s face is dark, covered in desperate anger. Sam looks over at you then at Dean, you hear him exhale, as he tosses the shotgun in the boot “we’ve got work to do” he hisses before slamming the boot shut.

---

Main master list | Join the Hunt masterlist | Next

[evita-shelby]

Hello ❤️ I’m glad your feeling better! ❤️ I saw your post about requests being open and I was maybe wondering if I send request a fluffy Michael Grey x fem!reader for you maybet? There would be no smut though if that’s ok! The idea would be that the reader is Charlie’s nanny and both her and Mike like eachother but are oblivious. Then one day the kids are playing and get Michael all muddy (b/c I believe s2 and 3 Mike would love playing with kids like his foster brother!) and he has to take a bath so he goes upstairs and just assumes a maid had run one for him and goes behind like a folding curtain to undress, not realizing that the reader had just stepped out for a second to grab towels for HER bath. And then yeah, if your comfortable with it it would just be like the kinda funny/embarrassing trope of accidentally walking in on someone undressing and both being kinda frozen in shock and dying a little inside? And maybe like Michael ends up turning around so fast he like runs into a door and gives himself a bloody nose😂

maybe at the end after they both avoid each other for the rest of the day they end up admiring their feeling but idk?😂 you can do whatever you want with it if you’d like!❤️❤️ You don’t have to do it too if you don’t want to❤️❤️Have a great day!!❤️

The Bath

I had too much fun writing it, could be that i might be a it high from the cough medicine lol

Also reader dislikes Grace, is Danny Whizz Bang's niece and has a habit of stealing

Gif by @pennylanefics

You didn’t always get time for a relaxing bath. For fuck’s sake you were a nanny and when your stuck up rich lady boss died, you had to stay and take care of Charlie, the only good thing to come out of her.

That had been three months ago. Barely spring. You reckon you haven’t had a break since then.

Shelby was a good and fair boss, nice to look at, but too old for you. His wife had tried to fire you several times before she died because she was threatened by a pretty young thing like you who disliked her for all the shit she did in 1919.

Your uncle, Danny Owens, had died because of her. Not that she ever knew.

If anyone asked you, Mr. Shelby should’ve married that fancy rich lady with the horses John had told you about. At least that one could be trusted not to frame a man for their crimes.

But you adored little Charlie, reminded you so much of your own siblings and your cousins who depended on your wages and Shelby’s good nature.

He was two and just beginning to be trouble.

But he was playing with John’s kids and Michael Gray under Polly’s and Esme’s watchful eyes, so you had time for both a long hot bath and a nap. Been so long since you’ve napped during the day.

Nap and dream of Michael, a little voice in your head teased you.

You liked him from the moment you met him at Polly’s doorstep. You’ve wanted to fuck him since you saw him take off his shirt to help Curly with the horses.

But he, much like his cousin, liked rich girls. And you were too poor to be middle class let alone rich. So, the only Michael you’d have in your life is the one in your rather dirty dreams.

You just needed some towels and maybe that good bath scent you’ve been stealing from the late Mrs. Shelby’s bathroom supplies. It wasn’t like the dead woman needed them anyways.

---

Michael hadn’t had wholesome fun like this in what felt like years.

He’s still laughing, being careful not to get mud on things and doesn’t notice he went into the wrong room. His room was between his mother’s and Finn’s, but everything in this fucking house looks the same and the nanny had the room between Polly’s and the nursery.

His mother had likely ordered Mary to ready a bath for him, how sweet of her. Pol was always thoughtful like that, he smiled to himself as he closed the door to the bath.

He wonders if it was Y/N who drew him the bath. She liked the floral scents and the fancy soaps and making sure it was the right temperature.

Michael should man up and talk to her, but part of him is worried she’s going to say no.

Polly had told him that she wouldn’t, but he can’t help, but listen to the voice in his head that tells him he’s not good enough for her.

He’s too busy thinking about how pretty she looks in Grace’s stolen earrings this morning while he undresses that he doesn’t notice this is not his room.

----

You’re too busy humming some classical song you were told to play for Charlie to soothe him as you pushed the bath door open with your back.

You were sure you’d left it open, but maybe you closed it by accident.

You turn and you scream, dropping Mrs. Shelby’s fancy French soaps on the floor, and your turned back around with every intention of running out of the room.

Naked as the day your mother wrenched him out of Polly’s cunt, Michael Gray.

He shouts back and trips as he scrambled for his pants or the nearest towel.

“I am so sorry, Y/N, I assumed you were done readying the bath.” He grabs the towel and winced as he wrapped it around his waist.

“Mike, why the fuck would I let you use my bath?” you ask gesturing to all your things on the counter.

“Fuck, not again.” He muttered when he realized it wasn’t his room.

It wasn’t his fault. The lady of the house had purposely redecorated some rooms to look almost exactly the same as the others. After all, she was going to sack you the morning after her charity gala after she caught you gossiping with Polly and Ada about her.

It was uncharitable to think it, but no one ever liked her anyways, so you think it: she died right on time.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Graveyard Siblings (3)

Some for revenge and some sibling bonding.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 2)

-------

Adrien was next to be visited. Plagg woke him up from his sleep.

-------

“Kit, wake up. I want camembert.”

“Plagg, silence. You are not getting any cheese if you do that.”

“Sorry, Adrien but you are not my ‘master’ anymore.”

“Plagg? Why are you here? Where’s the ring?”

“The ring is as far away as possible and kept safely away. I am here because someone wants to talk to you.”

“Who?”

A cloaked, hooded figure stepped out of the shadows to his room.

“Kitty. My Chaton. Did you miss me?” A sweet, familiar but yet so terrifying voice came from the figure.

She pulled down the hood to reveal Ladybug with a wicked-looking black mask with white lenses.

“What am I talking about? You do miss me. Your Bugaboo. Too bad I don’t feel the same, Adrien.”

Lightning flashed and it started to rain. The mask was gone, revealing his dead classmate, Marinette with chilling red eyes. The pigtails grew longer and curved upwards, giving the illusion of her having horns. Twin blades flashed and she leaped towards him. (Damian gave them to her with some lessons in exchange for spending time with, babysitting, the kwamis.)

Adrien scrambled away from the bed in the nick of time. A sword impaling the spot where he just was.

“Plagg, help. Where is the ring? I need to transform.”

“Sorry, kitten. I am not telling you. Even if you did have the ring, it’s not going to be much help.”

“Kitty, stay still. Then, we can be together. Just like you wanted.”

Adrien continued to dodge.

“What do you mean?” He all but screamed at Plagg.

“Pigtails, here, is a vengeful spirit. She’s not going to stop until she is satisfied. How about asking her what she wants?”

“Ladybug, what do you want?”

“What I wanted was a partner I could rely on, someone I can trust with my life, someone who wouldn’t stab me in the back for his own selfish gain. I wanted a friend who would have my back and not tell me to keep quiet at the price of my mental health and my relationships with people I care about. WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!”

She managed to get a cut on his left cheek.

Soon, he was on the ground, bleeding out on the round.

“Tell Hawkmoth that he better watch out. Because-” lightning struck and Plagg and Ladybug had disappeared, “his downfall is coming.” Her voice echoed through his room.

Adrien laid bleeding until Natalie opened the door after hearing a crash from the room and came to check on him. As she called an ambulance for Adrien, she wondered if it wasn’t too late to ask for redemption and be spared from Ladybug’s wrath for her part in her murder.

Adrien had the word ‘TRAITOR’ carved into his back. Forever reminding him of his crimes.

--------

He wasn’t in school for a week after the incident. They all were told that Adrien had an accident while fencing.

Gabriel was a little panicking now.

He hired an exorcist, (John Constantine got a hefty amount and did a few flashy magic tricks to appease Gabriel but he didn’t lift the curse Maria put on the place. She is not someone to be on the bad side of and he thinks that he can’t lift it even if he wanted to.)

Emilie gets a little sus at Gabriel when he brought this strange man with a British accent into their home after their son got attacked in his own room with security tighter than Fort Knox.

She doesn’t buy that ‘accident’ bullshit that her husband, son and even Natalie tries to sell her. She thinks it is connected to what happened while she was in a coma.

-----

Adrien has a curse too.

(Credit to @raeuberprinzessin for giving me an idea)

He couldn’t act like the ‘Perfect Adrien’ in public anymore. Acting more like Chat Noir at first then, later a spoiled brat. His friends thought that he was finally rebelling against his father and encouraged it a lot.

Adrien started criticizing other people, strangers at first then to the people working on the photoshoots to his fans to his other school mates, people in his class and his friends. (The curse planted ideas into his head about what he should say and he said them all without thinking about the effect it has on other people)

People started avoiding him not liking his attitude and his comments about how they should behave and change something about them because he doesn’t like it that way and guilt-tripping them when he doesn’t get his way. Even Nino started to distance himself after he saw how Adrien talked to a fan.

The public thought it was a phase but as he got progressively worse, people started despising him. Adrien doesn’t realize this of course so far, happy that his father let him get away with ‘ruining the Agreste image.’ (Gabriel was worried about a potential vengeful ghost and making sure his wife didn't know about his stint as a supervillain. There was also the fact that the Afterlife made more sales than him again and managed to get on the cover of Vogue when he should have, dammit.) He was finally able to say what he wanted to without repercussions. Until he realized when Nino and everyone else cancelled for a hangout for the third time that week that he was slowly losing his friends.

He panics and tries to fix the situation. He didn’t want to be alone again.

He talks to Nino about it and to his horror, he couldn’t stop himself from saying many things that were a little hurtful. (Second part. The moment he realizes he is going to be alone. He is going to find out that yes, lies can hurt people. He is going to see it happen firsthand.)

Nino moved seats and told Adrien that their friendship was on hold until he apologized.

Soon, nearly every time his mouth opened, lies and insults about his friends or their embarrassing secrets came spilling out. Everyone hated him now and Mme. Bustier tried to give him a reprimand about his behaviour, which when he tried to defend himself, he found himself unable to speak.

He managed to explain to his father what caused his unpopularity by writing what happened to him. Unfortunately due to his poor behaviour before the second part of the curse was activated, his fan base was dwindling and people didn’t like him anymore so there was a hit on the Gabriel brand.

He no longer has to do modeling, clearing his schedule. But no one would spend time with him.

The best solution he could do with his predicament was to keep quiet and endure the loneliness and the glares of his classmates at school. Adrien was relegated to the back and nearly everyone avoided him. He was now a social pariah.

Even Lila avoided him because of her own curse which made Adrien turn into one of her previous victims. (She also didn’t ponder why Marinette rarely appears compared to the others.)

If Adrien felt a tiny bit remorseful or guilty for making Marinette keep quiet or betraying Ladybug, he can gain a little control over what he says.

The curse can be broken if he apologizes to Maria herself or to her grave.

------

The first few months, while Marinette adapted to living with the Waynes, Jason stayed over at Wayne Manor because having Maria living with him at his apartment wasn’t a good idea and he had no clue how to take care of a teenage girl.

On paper she is adopted by Bruce because Jason can’t. (Some CPS reasons.)

Making Jason a little more salty towards Bruce. “I found her first. I called dibs.”

Brought Maria to meet the other Outlaws and they adopted her too. “Hey, guys. She’s my sister first.”

Jason was the one to teach her how to shoot a gun because he was ‘the most capable’ of teaching her.

The first few months were a little tense with Marinette not fully trusting them and the same with the rest of the Batfam.

Jason warmed her up a bit to him by telling a little of why he took her here.

He was also the one to book them flight to Paris with Bruce’s credit card so she can tell her friends that she wasn’t dead in person.

They bonded more after stopping some nefarious plot in Paris while they were there. Let’s say Gentleman Ghost and something involving the catacombs in Paris. (I watched some Batman: Brave and the Bold for childhood nostalgia.)

Kwamis were animal-shaped and they were interesting creatures to be around. And very very curious.

There was a stressful day for Maria when all the Kwamis decided to play hide and seek. Damian somehow got roped into helping her as the only available person in the Manor and he will deny that he enjoyed it.

Damian is the little brother she always wanted and she is more tolerable compared to his brothers. There is also the fact that she trusts him with the kwamis and deep down, he feels super-honoured. (I just love older sister!Mari)

Tim and her being insomniac/coffee buddies. There has been many many interventions to stop this.

I get that Marinette is this selfless person and loves making people happy but she has siblings now and them eating the stuff she made for herself to enjoy, should get on her nerves after a while.

She makes a box with booby-traps in which she puts in her cookies and food.

There are many different layers of traps because this is the Batfam and each of them is non-lethal and more ridiculous.

Okay, I once read a fic about Marinette making a bear-trap style box to hide the Miracle Box so this box is also like that but kept for food. (Traps and Sneaks by quicksilversquared)

Someone (I vote a hungry Dick or Jason, maybe a suspicious Bruce) made a mistake of putting their hand into the box and the first trap activated.

Screams filled the house.

Everyone came down including Marinette.

Bruce asked, “Who did this?”

“It was me.”

“Why?”

“They kept eating the cookies.”

“There are other ways to stop them from doing that you know like a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign not a death trap box.”

“They are non-lethal.”

Bruce locked it away but Tim later stole it to tweak it and store his coffee. ------ (Part 4)

[norahastuff]

penny for your thoughts on salmondean codependency ?

Sure. Fair warning it’s long (was longer but I stopped myself.)

I think it’s complicated in a show that’s had so many different showrunners because they’ve all handled Sam and Dean’s relationship very differently. In Kripke’s era (s1-5) there was a romanticization of the bond. Sure there was a lot of in-depth exploration of how they wound up at the place they were at, spoiler alert: it was all because of John and his obsessive crusade to find the demon that killed his wife. That’s all he cared about and as a result, Sam and Dean had to be everything to each other. But Kripke had no intention of dismantling that at any point because he was (and always had been) writing a tragedy. Gamble continued that too. There was no room for anyone else in their lives and it would always just be the two of them against the world. So Cas had to go. Bobby had to go.

(Actually, it's funny because Gamble didn't intend this at the time, her plan was to kill Cas off, but by Edlund creating the masterpiece that is The Man Who Would Be King, he not only saved Cas from being seen as a villain, but he also deepened Dean and Cas' relationship in such a profound way and inextricably linked the two of them emotionally. And since Cas was eventually brought back, that laid the foundation for a lot of what their relationship would become.)

Up until this point, there hadn’t really been any significant dismantling of perhaps the more unhealthy parts of Sam and Dean’s relationship. Enter Carver. He stripped things down and started to explore what drove these characters. What they wanted and why they couldn’t have it. It starts with Dean being mad at Sam for not looking for him in purgatory, which sets up the whole speech in the s8 finale of Sam’s guilt about letting Dean down, but the thing is, Dean was never honest with Sam about his year away either. He never told Sam he could have gotten out much sooner if he hadn’t stayed to find Cas. I mean Dean had assumed Sam was up there alone doing God knows what to try to bring him back, and yet still he stayed in Purgatory because things were clear there. He needed Cas. Anyway, I just find that interesting, but Cas isn’t a victim of Sam and Dean’s relationship in s8.

Who gets the honour of being cast aside? That would be Benny and Amelia, two characters they introduced in s8 specifically to highlight that Sam and Dean’s relationship doesn’t allow for anyone else to be a significant part of their life. I mean that’s nothing new, we’ve watched that happen many times before. Lisa even said as much to Dean. The thing is this time? It’s framed as a truly sad thing. That moment at the end of 8x10 when Dean has just ended things with Benny and Sam leaves Amelia, and they’re sitting alone drinking beer and watching tv is such a hollow empty moment. This is not what they want. But it’s the way things have to be.

I’m actually fascinated by Sam and Dean’s conversation in the church in the s8 finale. Not so much Dean’s assertion that there is no one else he would put before Sam, but more so what provokes it, which is Sam saying “who are you going to turn to instead of me. Another angel? Another vampire?” See the thing is Dean saying he would always put Sam first is not news. We know this and it’s not really an unhealthy statement in itself either. A lot of people would put their sibling above anything else, not less a sibling who you raised and is the most important person to you. But in this context? After what Sam said? It just highlights how unhealthy they are if Sam believes that Dean having other people in his life means he doesn’t love him enough. That he’s a disappointment to him. That’s so profoundly fucked up.

(Note, Dean tells Sam that he killed Benny for him but he doesn’t say anything about Cas. I think like I said before, this is because Cas and Dean’s relationship has largely existed out of the Sam and Dean stuff up to this point - Sam and Cas don’t even really have much of a relationship yet besides both of their connections to Dean.)

And then from here, things start getting steadily worse. But we also keep being shown how bad they are. Dean lying to Sam, taking away his free will by letting Gadreel possess him. Dean sending Cas away, Kevin dying. It’s all awful. The whole “there ain’t no me if there ain’t no you line” from 9x01 isn’t really said by Dean, it’s Gadreel, but that is how Dean feels. He does think that’s all he’s good for. And over the season we’re shown how much of himself and what he truly wants he’s had to give up because of his ingrained “Save Sammy” and “Sammy comes first” mentality. It’s always been this way for him. In 9x07 we see that he had found a happy home, a good father figure, and his first love, a first love might I add that he had to leave behind with no real explanation because Sam needed him, and Sam comes first.

I mean just one episode earlier we had him rushing out the door elated about seeing Cas and spending time with him, only for their time together to come to sad and melancholic end when Dean once again leaves Cas behind without any real explanation, because despite what he wants Sammy comes first. What he wants doesn’t matter.

See I think after the Gadreel stuff comes out is where the narrative starts to get a little wonky for me. You can clearly see that this was intended to be a shorter story that they ended up stretching out to a much longer one because of renewals. There’s also the fact that this is a formula show so they can’t necessarily be separated for longer than an episode or two. S10 is a rough one to get through at times, I think the themes still mostly hold up but it’s a rough one to get through.

S10 highlights all the connections that Dean has, Cas, Charlie, Crowley even, but Sam doesn’t really have those bonds in the same way.  For Sam it’s just Dean, so he goes down a reckless destructive “do anything to save Dean!” path and so many innocents pay the price, and ultimately with the release of The Darkness, the whole world.

They skirted right up to the edge of exploring just how toxic and dangerous their relationship had become in the season 10 finale.

DEAN: I let Rudy die. How was that not evil? I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul... Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? And to what end? A..a good end? A just end? To remove the Mark no matter what the consequences? Sam, how is that not evil? I have this thing on my arm, and you're willing to let the Darkness into the world.

I can’t say evil is the right word, they were never evil, but they were wilfully blind to everything and everyone else when it came to saving each other. S10 tested my love for the show because after watching it, because there was certainly a feeling that the two of them had become the villains of this story. And don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a problem with that, it’s just after 2 seasons of this I can’t say I had a lot of faith that this was going to be properly addressed or if we were going to keep going in circles around it. Keep being shown, it’s bad and then nothing much being done to fix it. Your mileage may vary on how it was handled, but I think s11 did a relatively ok job considering it wasn’t the end of the story, and the show needed to keep going.

See from Dean’s side a lot of the codependency rests on 1. His father’s orders to always save Sammy 2. His low self-esteem where he sees himself as nothing but a blunt instrument. 3. His guilt at not being able to perfectly fulfil every familial role in Sam’s life 4. His belief that no one could choose to love him but family has to love you. 5. The unhealthy example of what it should look like to love someone that he got from John. You give up everything but them.

For Sam (and honestly it’s not as clear for me as Dean’s side is so feel free to correct me/disagree on this) 1. Everytime he’s tried to leave and create his own life it’s never ended well. 2. His guilt over wanting freedom and a normal life when he was younger (I’m referring specifically to Stanford era here) 3. His guilt over everything Dean has given up for him. 4. John. 5. Jess.

Ultimately it all comes down to isolation. They both had to be everything to each other, and the deeper they got into this fight, the more people that they lost, the tighter they clung to this notion of family and brothers. I think s11 (and 11x23 in particular) was an important turning point, both for Sam and Dean’s relationship, as well as for them as individuals. Because they weren’t alone there anymore. Cas was there. Sam let Dean walk to his death. Of course, it would devastate him, but he knew it was what had to be done. And he didn’t walk out of that bar and go back to the bunker alone. He had Cas, he had someone who cared about him and wanted to help him and talk to him. Sure Dean asked Cas to take care of Sam for him (you know after Cas offered to walk to his death with him) but Sam let him. He let him be there for him. We didn’t get to see much before the BMOL showed up and blasted Cas away, but still, we saw enough.

I think that’s a significant difference to note why their relationship was different in the Dabb era. It wasn’t just them anymore. Cas was an important member of their family and given a level of importance he’d never been given before and couldn’t have been when the story they were telling was of the dangers of their codependency. Mary was back. Eventually, Jack would become a part of their unit too. Just the two of them wasn’t enough for them anymore. This is made abundantly clear with all of Dean’s desperate attempts to get Cas to stay in s12, followed by his inability to keep going when they lose Cas and Mary in s13. Similarly, Sam really struggles when they lose Jack and fail to get Mary back later in the season.

Another big moment is Dean letting Sam go alone to lead the hunters against the BMOL in 12x22 while he stays back to try and reach Mary. Like he tells Mary, he’s had to be a brother, a father and a mother to Sam and he never stopped seeing him as his kid, but in that moment he makes a choice. He lets Sam take charge and he shows that he trusts him and believes in him. He knows he can handle it.

Sometimes it’s not even a character growth thing. Sometimes having other people there stops you from making destructive choices even though that’s still your first instinct. I’m thinking specifically of 13x21 after Sam was killed. Dean would have run headlong into that nest of vampires and got himself torn apart, but Cas was there to stop him. He was able to make him see reason.

Basically, I think that for a long time, they thought the only relationship they could have was each other, which then became a self-fulfilling prophecy because their desperate attempts to keep each other around led to them losing the people around them. They eventually started to learn that that wasn’t true, they could have more, they were allowed to want more, and that it wasn’t an either-or situation. Dean didn’t have to choose between Sam and Cas. They didn’t have to choose between each other or Jack. The same goes for Mary. Different relationships can coexist without threatening each other, and not say that their relationship in s12-15 was all smooth sailing, but it was certainly so very different from everything that came before.

(There’s maybe a point to be made about how they didn’t have anyone or anything in the finale and how that relates to the story we got, but honestly I have no idea what the intention was with any of the choices made in that episode so I’ll leave it at that for now.)

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Hellsing Commentary 4 Notes

This commentary is done by Taliesin Jaffe, the voice director and script adapter of Hellsing, Kari Wahlgren, the voice of Rip van Winkle, and Ralph Lister, the voice of Walter Dornez. Direct quotes may vary in accuracy, as these are written down from audio without transcripts. I also didn't write down every joke or piece of trivia because I feel like people who watch the commentaries should get to have some nice surprises for stuff that isn't covered here.

-Ralph calls the opening music of OVA 4 "beautiful, almost Wagnerian." Kari agrees, and Taliesin says that "this is my favorite music for any of the four volumes that we've had -actually, including the original series so far."

-Amidst a discussion about how all the blood in this episode is "totally ketchup," Kari comments that she heard they used to use Bosco in the old black-and-white movies, which makes Taliesin laugh. "I'm just imagining John Wayne covered in chocolate syrup, that image will haunt me until I get home."

-Kari has worked with Crispin multiple times, playing both siblings and love interests, before Hellsing and Crispin has gotten "some very strange emails about that relationship." She states for the record that they are neither of these things in real life.

-Taliesin asked Kari to give him "something kinda Hamill-y" (as in Mark Hamill) in the audition, and tells her "you took that so far beyond, uh..."

-OVA 4 was in production for the longest time that Taliesin had worked on anything, with several months between when Ralph and Kari recorded. The episode was also the most with reoccurring roles, so "wrangling everybody back" played a large part in that.

-Kari has to close her eyes when Heinkel kills the bishop, though she opens them in time to see the title logo.

-The queen was listed as "Queen" in the script, which they eventually had to go back and rename as "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II" because her VA said it felt really awkward just looking at "queen."

-During the corresponding scene, Ralph asks "Do you think, uh, Alucard is hitting on the queen? It's a bit fresh, isn't it?" and Taliesin answers that "I think- I actually get the feeling that they shagged. I get the feeling that they definitely shagged." Kari says "I'm going to second that." Taliesin jokes that "I think he's been hitting her once a decade for the last, like, seven decades. What would that be, a decadal booty call? Once every ten years...someone comes to call."

-Taliesin had "a couple little boys read for Schrodinger, we had a couple of young girls, and we finally- Laura Bailey kinda came in and sort of had the right...silly for the character." He also got "one of my favorite pieces of hate mail" about Schrodinger, with a fan angrily telling him (due to the commentary in OVA 1) that Schrodinger was a little boy and not a cat.

-Kari gets "very scared" by the scene where the Major has the defeatists eaten, despite having seen it before, and calls upon her happy place. "Little House on the Prairie! Mary and Laura, rolling down a hill!" Taliesin laughs and asks if that's her happy place. Kari says it is and "whenever I watch something really super violent, that is kinda what, uh, what I think about in the back of the brain."

-According to Taliesin, in Hellsing Ultimate Millennium has the actual SS ranks and not the normal military Nazi rankings. He goes on to say "I spent about three months meeting very questionable people to buy expensive books." when doing his research for the show.

-Ralph states that Alucard "has such groovy hair, its rockstar hair." Taliesin agrees and says it's very glam rock.

-Ralph says that he began voiceacting in Hong Kong for commercials, made a demo tape in New Orleans before he went to LA, and realized that he could "do all sorts of character work as well, using my stage skills."

-Taliesin very seriously asks Hellsing cosplayers to "leave the swastikas off of it. That's all I ask. Do the rest of it, just replace it- be creative, put a Mickey Mouse logo there, put a soup- you can be a soup Nazi, just not a real Nazi."

-Ralph says that he doesn't have "any kind of problem" with female fans cosplaying Walter and idly comments "he would look great in a dress."

-Kari says that the song (Das Engellandlied) that she sang while approaching the ship was very tricky to learn, because she had to learn the tune and get the words right in German, and "it's such a catchy song, and I would catch myself out in public kind of...humming or whistling this song, and you can't do that in public with a Nazi drinking song."

-Taliesin had a similar moment to Kari wherein he was at a coffeehouse calling one of the sound mixers, and he had to shout very loudly over the crowd "'No, no I know I gave you six “Sieg heil”s -just one “Sieg heil!” One “Sieg heil!” No, no, one “Sieg heil!” You did- no, five “Sieg heil”s, ju- just “Sieg heil,” one big “Sieg heil!” That's right! One! One “Sieg heil!”' And it went on for like two minutes, and then I hung up that phone and very quietly took my laptop and left the coffeehouse for the day."

-Taliesin comments that Kari is "very scary in this" as Rip van Winkle. Kari agrees and says that Rip is "so crazy," with one of her favorite moments being the "Dirty limey" line. Taliesin says "it's the little girl voice. Because I, we really tried -and I don't know if we made this clear enough when we were recording, but I really was trying to set you up as a sort've fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood character...fairy-tale children can be pretty evil and malicious. And downright cannibalistic, occasionally. So she sort've is a fairy-tale little girl."

-Kari agrees with Taliesin and says that the poetry (the tinker/tailor/soldier sailor stuff) that Rip said "added such a creepy element to the whole thing." Taliesin says it gives weight to Rip's later moments, when she isn't "screaming or freaking out, she's just whimpering, she's really- its like a little girl's reaction." Kari says that the "almost-voiceless whine" was what freaked her out the most.

-Taliesin layered a cannon sound into Rip van Winkle's gunshots that was not present in the original Japanese.

-Through laughter, Taliesin says that they "had a lot of fun recording this, as you can imagine" about the scene with Integra feeding Seras her blood. "Especially since this scene made Katie very uncomfortable and made Victoria laugh very very hard." Taliesin goes on to say that they had "Kiss it" and "Lick it" as alternative lines for when Integra encourages Seras, but chose "Kiss it" as "Lick it" seemed vulgar.

-Taliesin re-states, "Yeah, its vampires, vampires are all about -I'm sure I've said this on commentaries before: vampires are all about, uh, sexual repression. They are demons of sexual repression, because every vampire story we have usually involves whatever sexual taboo of the time...the very first, Dracula, the story was all about the fear of Eastern Europeans coming in and ravaging good English women, he was with the big mustache and (cartoonish Slavic accent) 'The sexual proudness of the East,' and then after that we had In a Glass Darkly, which was all lesbianism, and then we had Interview with a Vampire, which was, uh, homosexuality and pedophilia, and- yeah, they're always- whatever sexual deviance of the time is there, that's usually what they gravitate towards."

-Taliesin comments on the fan theory (current at the time of OVA 4) that the Major was actually the god Mars and that was why he didn't age, and intended to ask Hirano about it.

-Ralph asks what Walter uses to tie his hair back, and Taliesin guesses that it might be the same wires he uses to fight with.

-In regard to the Vatican groups that Maxwell lists off in his call to Anderson, the fear was that the line would run too fast, and so Taliesin actually came up with around six real Catholic militias/groups that would conceivably carry arms for the Pope throughout history.

-Kari comments that Walter is always smirking and seems to know everything. "I feel like if it was left up to his character, you know, the whole series would be wrapped up in one or two shots."

-Ralph and Taliesin both make Kari blush by complementing her singing, and Taliesin says that he has Rip's cover of Der Freischutz on his iPod.

-In response to a German language consultant/friend, Taliesin wanted to be "Indiana Jones" careful with his accents. "Just the suggestion that somewhere- that there's a Kraut somewhere in the room."

-Some of Rip's lines as Alucard approaches are loosely lifted from the opera. (Loosely because of the need to fit lip-flap.)

-Taliesin and Crispin talked a lot about what Alucard is in the scene where he hits the ship. "'Just give me fe-fie-fo-fum, guess what I just caught?' It's very storybook." Kari was also encouraged to "tap into" the fear of things going bump in the night, the big scary monster, etc. "coming to kick your butt."

-As previously discussed, all of Alucard's powers have different sound effects. The hellhounds have distorted screaming baby noises mixed into them, whereas the multiple arms involve "this huge audience of people screaming, and we just- mutilated it with our effects track. So whenever all the arms come out, you can actually- somewhere deep deep inside, you can hear a couple koalas, and a -'cause koalas are creepy- every time the arms sprout you'll hear a whole audience somewhere in the background, screaming."

-Kari comments appreciatively on how the SS lieutenant was saying "'Wait everybody, we've got to hold it off for a while,' and then once you see the big half-face comes on, he's just like 'Shoot.'" She also then returns to invoking Little House on the Prairie as Alucard rips through the Nazis.

-Of Rip's death, Kari also says that "this is the finest death scene I've ever done." Taliesin agrees, saying he is very proud of it. Kari says "It was pretty intense -very good directing, by the way, 'cause you just kept saying, 'Go as...wounded animal, as you wanna go.'" She also says she was drenched with sweat by the end of the session.

-Taliesin calls the moment when Alucard bites into Rip's bullet and destroys it as "our Big Bad Wolf moment." Kari agrees, saying "That's when you know you're screwed...That whole part where he catches the bullet in the teeth, is about, that's just -you know you're going down! And you know you're probably not gonna go down in a very...gentle way."

-Of Rip's death scene, Taliesin also comments that "It's difficult to watch this, honestly." Kari points out that "It was surprising- it made this surprisingly easy to record, though, because it's so intense, visually, that you can't help but just really be affected by it."

-Taliesin owns three recordings and one DVD of Der Freischutz.

-Alucard's cackling laughter after eating Rip van Winkle is "actually just Crispin going and going...and Crispin doesn't like to laugh very long. It's not kind to his- it's not kind to anybody's throat, and it's hard to do."

-Ralph comments that the Major's "I love war" speech is "quite an exquisite monologue."

-According to Taliesin, it took three days to record the Major's speech and five days to adapt. "I mean, trying to match body language, and trying to match the manga, and the intent of the speech in Japanese, and the flap, and not make it monotonous...Gildart was freaking out by day three, because he was like 'I don't remember where I came from anymore, am I getting repetitive?'"

-Kari says that Gildart did a really amazing job at it and it was "so disturbing."

-In Taliesin's opinion, adaptation is more important than the director, because you can throw a bad director in with good actors and good adaptation and still have it work, but if you give a good director and good actors a bad adaptation and they will struggle through and it will take twice as long.

-Ralph agrees and points out how much work they have to do in adding or removing words, changing phrases, etc. to make everything fit with lip flap and how fans don't seem to realize that. Taliesin agrees and says that he "over-writes" Ralph, who he always thinks speaks faster than Ralph actually does.

[fandom-imagines-stories]

A Bourbon Street Wedding

Enzo St. John x Mikaelson! Reader

Part 4 of 4: ( Part One, Part Two, Part Three)

Words: 3859

Summary: The big day has finally arrived.  You couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect. 

Notes: I can’t believe it’s been around 3ish years since I started this series. To anyone out there who is still reading, thank you! This is the final part in my Enzo and the Originals Series and I really hope you guys enjoyed. Thank you so much for reading! Warning: So much fluff ahead. Lovey dovey fluff, family fluff, just all kinds of fluff. 

-

The New Orleans’ sound did not wake you up. It was the feeling of someone looming over you as you slept that crept deep into your slumbering mind and forced you awake. Your eyes fluttered open and you screamed. Caroline stood over you, hands on her hips and rage in her eyes. 

“How are you still sleeping?” She shrieked yanking the covers off of you. You groaned and turned your head to look at the alarm clock. “The wedding is only seven hours away! We need to get ready!” Enzo rolled over, covering his ears with his pillow. Caroline grabbed your hand and Enzo’s arm and dragged you out of the bed.  

“Caroline, I appreciate how much you’ve done to help, but-” Enzo started groggily. Caroline shoved a bag of hair product at him and pushed him out into the hall. 

“Damon got here earlier, he’s waiting downstairs for you.” 

“But-”

“No, buts, we are already way behind schedule.” Caroline huffed. Her planner-face calmed and she smiled at both of you, stepping to the side so you could look at each other. “Alright, you two. This is it.” The last time you would see each other before the ceremony. You just stared at Enzo, speechless. Neither of you could even begin to know what to say, so you just laughed nervously. Caroline slammed the door. “Okay, let’s do this.” 

Bonnie, Rebekah, and Hayley all burst into the room. Hayley pushed play on the stereo and music blasted, mostly cheesy romance songs that Caroline had insisted upon. Bonnie popped a bottle of champagne and Rebekah toyed with your hair while Hayley and Caroline talked about their daughters. 

“Hope is staying with her grandmother this morning. Mary is bringing her later.” Hayley explained. 

“Ric’s staying with the girls. He sends his best.” Caroline announced. You nodded and smiled. Alaric was your friend, despite his complicated relationship with the rest of your family. Then again, most of your friends had a complicated relationship with your family. Caroline scowled. “Stefan has elected himself as the selfless martyr who will not be attending so he doesn’t ‘cause a scene’.” She rolled her eyes. You took her hand swinging it back and forth playfully. 

“You deserve better.” You noted. Bonnie raised a glass.

“Amen to that.” She handed out the drinks and the morning passed by with many giggles and indecisive arguments over what color lipstick you should wear. When all was settled, you were cast into a frenzy of makeup and hair curlers until Caroline declared your look to be ‘just right’. 

Meanwhile, downstairs, a reluctant vampire stood outside the gate, tempted to turn around and run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Of course, the first person to greet him didn’t exactly put his mind at ease. 

“Damon Salvatore…” Klaus chuckled darkly. “What a pleasure to see you again.” 

“Niklaus.” Elijah called from inside. “Do stop frightening the best man.” The oldest living Mikaelson came out and stood by his brother. “Hello Damon.” Damon gave the pair a reluctant wave. The magic witchy Mikaelson- one that Damon didn’t even know existed until now- invited him in and the three lead him to the room where Enzo was getting ready. Damon death-glared him as Freya went upstairs and the brothers stood on either side of him, like minions of death. 

“Please tell me you’ve got bourbon.” He grumbled, side-glancing the two originals, waiting for one to pounce. Enzo watched in irritation as Damon threw his stupid, trademarked leather jacket onto the chair. Kol glared from his spot on the sofa. 

“I thought we’d already gone over the guest list.” He sneered. “I would’ve made sure that this-”

“Behave yourself Kol.” Elijah warned. 

“It’s nice to know none of you have changed.” Damon snarked, snatching up the bottle of bourbon on the side-table. He poured himself a drink and downed it quickly. “And neither has your taste in liquor.” Enzo growled.

“You’re here for a reason, Damon.” He groaned. “You already missed the bachelor party, now please, do something helpful.” 

“You missed one hell of a night, Damon.” Kol smirked, licking his lips. 

“Yeah, I heard about those call girls going missing.” Damon noted. “I’m surprised at you, Elijah. I never took you for one of us miscreants.” Elijah kept up his stoic expression, his tone betraying his slight annoyance.

“I refrained from last night's activities.” 

“He was absolutely no fun.” Klaus whined. “Lovesick fool. Hayley’s practically got him on a leash.” Kol and Klaus both snickered. Elijah shook his head, but couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He really was a lovesick fool, not that he was ashamed to admit it. And with Davina and Cami both gone, he didn’t reprimand his brothers for their partying. 

“I believe that I was not the only so-called ‘buzzkill’ at the party.” He pointed out, his eyes on the groom. Damon’s jaw dropped. 

“Enzo?” He fake-gasped. “Has our blood-thirsty party man finally turned into a hopeless romantic?” Enzo rolled his eyes and shrugged. 

“Just because I’m not a brute, doesn’t mean I’m a hopeless romantic.” He smirked. “Undeniably in love, yes. But not hopeless.” 

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Kol pretended to gag. “You remember you’re speaking of my twin? I know a couple secrets about her you would not find so romantic.” 

“Kol.” Elijah scolded. “We wouldn’t want Lorenzo getting cold feet now would we?”

“Yes because then I would have to remove them.” Klaus threatened, casting a dark look to the groom. Enzo gulped and began to tie his tie over his pristine white shirt. Elijah had picked it out, which meant that it was the best money could buy. 

You both looked perfect. After all, this was the biggest moment in all your centuries of living. The girls gathered around you and let out a collective sigh of awe. This was it. 

The guests were beginning to arrive and you felt your heart pounding, wishing that you could be with him to calm your nerves. But of course, it’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony and with your shared history of weddings, you needed all the luck you could get.  And so you waited, tapping your foot at an alarming speed and trying to take deep breaths. 

“Everything alright dear sister?” Kol wondered with a smirk, leaning against your doorway. Caroline, Rebekah, Bonnie and Hayley were all getting ready to be the perfect bridesmaids and Freya was preparing to officiate the wedding. She had been so excited when you asked her and you couldn’t think of anyone else you wanted to say the words ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’. 

“What could go wrong?” You looked at your twin and smiled nervously. Kol’s face suddenly darkened. 

“Well I can think of something.” He growled. You turned to see who he was looking at and gasped. Kol stepped towards Marcel.  “I don’t recall sending your invitation.” 

“I just came to tell Y/N congratulations.” He held up his hands a sign of peace. “I don’t want to cause any problems. Not today.” Kol continued to loom ferociously over Marcel until you stepped in between them. 

“Kol, why don’t you go make sure that Klaus hasn’t killed any of the guests? I don’t want a single speck of blood on him when he and Elijah walk me down the aisle.” You were able to shoo him away before he could object, turning back to Marcel with fiery eyes. “Of all the days you decide to make amends…”

“I’m not asking for your forgiveness for not telling you I was alive all those years.” He started. “I’m asking you not to hate me. All I want is for things to go back to the way they were before everything happened. We were pretty close friends, you and me.” 

Thick as thieves, more like it. While Marcel was like a son to your older brother and a lover to Rebekah, he was always one of your dearest friends. You were devastated when you believed your father had killed him. When you discovered he was really alive, you were both relieved and furious. All those years and never once had he reached out to find you. Seeing him stand before you now erased all of your anger. 

“You say it like I’ve forgotten.” You cried, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you for coming, Marcel. You don’t know how much it means to me.” You pushed away with a small smile on your face and tears in your eyes. 

“Hey,” He comforted, placing a hand on your cheek. “We can’t have you crying before the wedding.” 

“Would you stay?” You pleaded. “Please, Marcel. It would make this day even more perfect.” He gave you a look. 

“Can you promise none of your siblings are going to try to kill me?”

“You know I can’t.” You both laughed and he agreed to stay, sneaking down into the courtyard where the ceremony was taking place. With him gone, you were alone again and the unstoppable nerves returned. “Come on, Y/N. You have faced centuries of trials and vicious enemies. You’re just-”

“Pledging to spend the rest of eternity with someone with probably as much emotional baggage as yourself?” Klaus finished, stepping into the room. Elijah had managed to get him into a suit and he completed it with his famous mischievous grin. 

“Shouldn’t you be downstairs with Elijah?” You put your hands on your hips. 

“Oh come now, don’t be so cross. It is, after all, the happiest day of your life.” He replied smugly. “I simply wanted a word with you before the festivities begin.” He led you to sit on one of the sofas, taking your hand in his own. 

“What’s this about, Nik?”

“I know that I have been… difficult these past centuries.” He smirked and you couldn’t help but laugh in agreement. “The truth is, Y/N, that I am completely afraid of losing your love to someone else. But I have seen the way you are with Enzo and I simply cannot bring myself to take it away from you. I may be a selfish bastard, but even I do not wish to see you unhappy. I wish you the most joyous life, Y/N.” 

“Klaus,” You placed a kiss on your brother’s shoulder. “My love for you will never falter or diminish, no matter how much of a thorn in my side you are.” He gave you the loving smile that you often wished to see more of. Klaus was troubled and all you hoped for was that one day he would find the kind of happiness you had found with Enzo. 

“You look stunning.” Elijah noted from the doorway. He held out his arm. “Shall we?” Klaus and you stood and the three of you walked down to where you would be entering. Caroline and Bonnie would be first, then Rebekah with Damon, and Kol insisted on announcing you like some kind of queen. You were pretty sure he just wanted to get a laugh out of the crowd before you walked down the aisle. Of course, it was just nice to have your twin want to take part. 

You could feel yourself trembling as Caroline and Bonnie started walking. Rebekah and Damon were bickering even as they began down the aisle. You took shaky breaths and felt Elijah chuckle. 

“Everything is going to be fine.” He assured you. 

“You know, it’s never too late for me to kill him.” Klaus whispered and you elbowed his side. Kol gave you one final smirk before heading out to the front of the space. 

“Ladies and gentlemen!” He greeted. “You are all here to celebrate the union between Enzo St. John and my beautiful sister, Y/N Mikaelson. Us being twins, I could share a great deal of stories about Y/N…” He looked back towards you and you glared at him. “But that will have to wait until the reception. Now, without further adieu,” He had an exceptionally smug smile on his face now and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at his final words. “Here comes the bride.” 

Enzo finally was allowed to turn around as the music began to play. His heart leapt and his breath hitched. You were the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. In fact, gorgeous wasn’t even the right word for it. Nothing could describe how you looked as you walked towards him.  As if his eyes alone had calmed you, you felt your nerves wash away and the brightest smile spread across your face as you took the first step down the aisle. The faces of your closest friends turned towards you and with each step, you felt emotions bubbling up inside. As you reached the end, Klaus gave you a wink before taking his place beside Damon, removing a stake for his pocket. 

“Klaus!” You hissed. He gave you a mischievous grin.

“Couldn’t resist.” He said, Damon taking the stake from him.  Elijah lifted your veil and you felt a tear roll down your cheek. He smiled and wiped it away, placing a kiss on your forehead. 

Freya beamed at you as she greeted the crowd and thanked them for coming to witness your union. Enzo couldn’t take his eyes off of you. The ceremony itself was simple and you and Enzo stared into each other’s eyes the entire time.

“May I have the rings?” Your oldest sister asked. Damon handed Enzo your ring and Rebekah handed you his. “The couple has prepared their own vows.” Freya nodded for you to begin and you took a deep breath, taking both of his hands in yours.

“The first day we met, you were trying to kill my best friend. However, just a few years previous so had I.” You laughed through the tears now freely falling down your face. “I thought that the only promise I would make was to my family. Our code of always being there for each other, and although it has been tested- multiple times-” You shot Klaus a look. “I want to extend that to you. I promise to love you and to protect you and cherish you. Always and forever.” You slid the ring onto his finger and laughed to yourself, wiping away the tears. You looked into his eyes to see that he was crying too.

“I didn’t know what it was like to be loved.” He began and for a moment you thought he’d blubber more than you had. He always was a romantic. But he composed himself as best he could. “Until I met you. You saw past all of the bloodshed in my past. All of my pain and anger. You had had your fair share of hurt over the years and you decided to take a broken soul and mend it. You saved me.” He took a deep breath, feeling a tear roll down his cheek. “And I plan to spend the rest of our lives trying to repay you for the love that you’ve shown me. Always and forever.” He put the ring on your finger and you both laughed at how emotional you both were. Freya smiled. 

“What are you waiting for? Kiss her.” The crowd erupted in applause as Enzo dramatically pulled you into his arms and lowered you into a dip before kissing you for the first time as your husband. 

-

The reception was held at Rousseau’s, which was heavily decorated with roses and lights to the point that it no longer looked like a bar, but something from a fairy tale. Again, the handy work of Caroline. Klaus watched Caroline from his seat at the head table as everyone waited for you and Enzo to arrive. 

“Now that Lorenzo is officially family, I recommend you don’t give him the same treatment that you gave us for the past few centuries.” Elijah straightened his cufflinks with a smile, giving Klaus a side glance. 

“Of course not, Elijah. The daggers don't work on him.” Klaus grinned mischievously. “Although, there’s always the crypt in the basement.” 

“Don’t even think about it.” Rebecca chimed in. Elijah looked across the table to Hayley, feeling a deep desire to one day have this with her. To have the happiness that his sister was now experiencing. Hayley saw him and smiled, her eyes lighting up his soul, or whatever was left of it. Perhaps one day...

The doors opened and the newlyweds entered. You still couldn’t quite believe it. In all your years of living, you couldn’t think of a moment when you were half as happy as you were now. Enzo’s fingers were laced with yours as you walked towards the main table, seeing the smiles on your friends and family’s faces. The guests cheered as you took your seats. Dinner was quickly served and it wasn’t long before Rebecca stood, tapping her glass with her spoon to get the room’s attention. 

“Ah yes, it is time for the dreaded speeches.” She announced with a smile. “Being the maid of honor, I am obligated to speak for my dear older sister. And since I have over a thousand years of stories, it was difficult to pick just one. I succeeded however, in finding a memory that I believe best describes my sister.

“She and Elijah were the only two to escape Klaus without being daggered and shoved into a box.” She gave Klaus a brief glare before continuing. “In the late 1800’s, when I awoke, many things had changed. People I loved turned their back on me.” Her eyes came across Marcel, but didn’t linger for long. “Elijah reintroduced me back into society, but it was Y/N who helped me nurse a broken heart. She made me believe in my own strength again. Y/N showed me the love that only an older sister could. I am beyond delighted that her heart has finally found its equal.” She looked at Enzo happily and feigned a scowl. “But know that should anything happen to her, you will not only have my brothers to worry about.” 

“Duly noted.” Enzo nodded, his hand having never left yours. All eyes were now on the best man. Damon took a long drink from his glass and stood reluctantly. 

“There isn’t a lot I can say about Enzo before him and Y/N met. When Enzo and I first knew each other we were prisoners. We were trapped together, tortured together, and experimented on.” You felt Enzo’s grip on your hand tighten at the memory. “When I got my chance to escape, I took it. I betrayed him. Decades later, he swore revenge on me and tried to kill my girlfriend.” Reading the confusion in the crowd, he smirked. “Don’t worry, this bromance has a happy ending.” 

“Of sorts.” Enzo whispered to you and you both laughed quietly. 

“My point is that Enzo hated my guts until Y/N got him to forgive me. I believe her words were ‘There are better ways to spend an eternity than seeking revenge. Especially against an old friend.’ Anyway, here I am and here they are, so I guess we all know the end of that story.” Damon glanced at you and despite his usual smirk, you could see the sincerity in his eyes. “Elena was always rooting for the two of you to end up together, so that meant I have to too.” The crowd chuckled at his last comment, but you stood up from your chair and pulled the snarky vampire into a hug. 

“Thank you, Damon.” You whispered. “I miss her too.” You felt him return the embrace and smile sadly against your cheek. 

“She would have loved this, you know. All the gushy romance and twinkling lights.” He said, fixing a hair that had fallen out of place and tucking it behind your ear. You nodded.

“You’ll have this with her someday, Damon. And when you do, I will be the one giving the speech.” 

“Over my dead body, Mikaelson.” He snarked. “But I guess is Mikaelson St. John now. Jeez, that’s a mouthful.”

“Sit down, Salvatore.” You shook your head in amusement. As you went back to your seat beside your husband, you noticed a member of the wedding party’s chair was empty. A rush of panic shot through you. “Elijah, where’s Klaus?” 

All of your siblings turned to the vacant seat and their eyes widened. Everyone started to split up to go find him before he could cause any trouble. 

“I’ll go get Caroline, she went to the bathroom.” Bonnie said, taking off in the direction of the restrooms. You and Enzo decided to check the kitchen but were not at all prepared for what you would find. Sure enough, there was Klaus. And Caroline. On the counter. You quickly shut the door, trying to contain your laughter. You took Enzo’s hand and headed back to the table, grinning like an idiot.

“Well it’s about time.”

-

As the night slowly died down, Enzo clinked his glass to acquire the crowd’s attention. Everyone focused on him as he stood, shooting you a bright smile. 

“May I have everyone’s attention? First and foremost I would like to thank each of you for coming out to celebrate this wondrous occasion. Some of you are from this beautiful city, and some came all the way from a small town called Mystic Falls.” He turned to Damon and smirked before returning his loving gaze to you. “But to end the night, I wanted to say a few words to my new wife, Y/N.”  You felt the blush rise to your cheeks and the warmth rush over you. 

“A few months ago, I discovered who my family was. As it turns out, after a century of searching and hoping, they turned out to be a bunch of thieves and betrayers. No resemblance to me, I’m sure.” The room laughed. “I’ll admit that I was crushed. But now, the Mikaelsons have accepted me into their family, some more willing than others.” Klaus shrugged with a smirk, still flushed from his little rondevu earlier. 

“I almost had you.” He teased. Enzo continued, holding his hand out for you, lifting you to stand beside him.

“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for the brilliant, caring, incredibly sexy-” he winked and you giggled, “most wonderful girl that came into my life when I thought I had no reason left to live.” You laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling tears start to well up in your eyes as they started to in his. “She made me see that maybe there was a slight shred of hope in this eternity we were both stuck with. Y/N became my world. A world I would do anything to protect.” His hand slipped into yours. “Now we may have our disagreements, and I’m sure we have a long road of bickering and evading certain doom.” He held up his glass in one last toast for the night. “So here’s to one hell of a forever.”

-

General Tag: @rae-gar-targaryen; @takemepedropascal; @childhood-imagination;  @mylovegoesto; @yellowbadgergirl; @itmejado; @suckmyapplejacks

[astermacguffin]

Okay. I warn y'all that this is very much a Poast™. This is another one of Those Poasts™. You have been warned.

I very much blame (affectionate) @autisticandroids for this, since this is pretty much me trying to combine as many concepts as possible from the #mpregpocalypse tag.

In this au, Cas is pretty much just collecting babies left and right. The following stuff are all simultaneously true in this spn mpreg rewrite:

- Cas absorbs the deanlisa baby and carries the child himself. This is his first pregnancy. This is also the most "monstrous" of his children because of the godstiel stuff and the leviathans.

- For maximum effect, I don't want Cas to give birth just yet. I want Benny to see Cas with the baby bump and put the dots together in his head. I want Cas to give birth alone, after Dean and Benny already went through the rift. I want Naomi to take Cas out of purgatory and leave his child alone there. I want Cas to grieve for the loss of his child when he remembers. (We'll go back to this in the future.)

- Dean fucks Casifer at one point and impregnates Cas' body. (I mean, with Casifer peeling off his layers and thotting up the place while in the bunker? Not surprising tbh.) NOTE. I wanna be clear with something: this baby is Dean and Lucifer's nephil. I mean, biologically it's a Destiel baby, but with Cas' grace growing weaker and him being possessed by Lucifer, in terms of grace this is pretty much Lucifer's nephil. (But also not??? Because what allowed the conception to happen in the first place is Cas wanting it SO BAD.)

- No one else notices the conception of this baby because Cas hides it within himself (the same way he did with the deanlisa baby) and pauses the pregnancy at will.

- When Cas meets Kelly, they are very much BOTH pregnant with Lucifer's kid. Remember that screenshot where they both look pregnant and bonding about their babies? Yeah, this is inspired by that. When Cas touches Kelly's baby bump and they like soulbond or whatever, Kelly looks at him and goes "oh you're pregnant too?"

- Cas tells him that it's Dean's child, but leaves out the Lucifer part. They already have one Lucifer nephil in danger, he doesn't need anyone else knowing this secret (especially since he hid the nature of this child so well for so long). Kelly thinks he's hiding it because of the Dean part.

- They both know Kelly's not gonna survive giving birth, so they already have a plan: Cas will transfer the pregnancy to himself when it's almost time for Jack to come out (the same way he did with the deanlisa baby). Cas is confident that he'll survive what Kelly cannot. (His hubris, of course, always tend to bite him back.) Dean, Mary, and Sam arrive just in time to see Cas pregnant and about to give birth. Kelly catches them up on the plot.

- Cas dies of childbirth due to an unexpected complication: the pregnancy transfer triggers the birth of the other child inside him, which makes him give birth to TWO children. The strength of the explosion unfortunately kills both him and Kelly, rendering Cas' sacrifice as pointless. (As much as I wanna keep Kelly alive, the point of this au is to inflict as much damage as possible)

- Lucifer and Mary still get stuck in Apocalypse world, and now Dean and Sam have to care for TWO children, one of which is Jack (who still grows quickly) and...another baby? They have no idea who the fuck this baby is until they find two videos: one made by Kelly and one by Cas (a backup plan they made just in case one or both of them don't survive).

- In the video, Cas reveals that the child is his and Dean's nephil (again, removing the Lucifer part). Dean just takes it in stride (since they had enough sex in the later seasons for it to be a genuine possibility) and takes Cas's word.

- In any other scenario, Sam would definitely be teasing Dean for impregnating Cas. But since Cas is dead and they're still grieving, he shelves this conversation for a future time. (With so much plot happening, Sam never finds the right chance and eventually just forgets it. He's just happy that he was right all along.)

- They agree to never let anyone else learn about the baby's nature, which the baby seems to understand as well, choosing to not manifest any angelic abilities. In fact, the baby internalized Cas' instructions to keep all their secrets under wraps that the kid goes selectively mute throughout the series. (I wanna see Eileen teaching ASL to the kid.)

- The two babies scenario works great for two reasons: it satisfies my "give Dean a baby" instinct (that pretty much drives my baby jack truthing) while still keeping Jack the way that he is in canon.

- Dean lets the baby rest on Cas' chest for a short while before wrapping Cas up with the curtains. Both Dean and the baby cry over the body.

- I want to give Jack as many Problems Disorders in this au. I want him to be jealous of the way Dean treats his twin (because they're pretty much twins, right? They have the same grace-father, they got birthed by the same body, so yeah).

- Dean treats the baby with as much care and love while still treating Jack like shit. Sam once calls him out on it and says "Dean, they're both Cas' children." Dean throws out an "I can hardly look at the freak" rant. Jack wakes up Cas from the Empty, yada yada.

More fucked up shit below the cut:

- I wanna keep this as close to canon as I can, so Dean would still exhibit suicidality before Tombstone. You would think that the baby would at least hinder this instinct, but he genuinely believes that he's poison and that everyone he touches dies. (And besides, Sam is good with both Jack and the baby so they won't need me anymore, right?)

- Cas comes back, and things mostly stay the same as in canon (except there's now a baby there, who honestly won't influence much of the plot until later). Dean never really apologized that much to Jack in canon (and I still hate it) but in this au, it would work perfectly. I want Jack to believe that Dean still sees him as a freak, even if he's a bit nicer now that Cas is back. (I can and will put my entire pussy into the Dean-as-John, Jack-as-Sam parallels.)

- When Jack kills Mary, Cas hides it from Dean and Sam. We're going full Torturewife on this one, folks.

- Jack's truth spell forces Cas to confess that (1) Cas hid the fact about Jack's soullessness; (2) Cas lied about Jack killing Mary, and; (3) the Destiel baby is technically a Dean/Lucifer nephil. Chaos fucking ensues.

- Dean has to confront the fact that both of the kids (HIS kids) are Lucifer's spawn.

- Chuck doesn't really care about the baby since it never manifested any powers (yet), unlike Jack (who is a genuine threat to him).

- Moriah happens, Jack dies. (And it's even more fucked up now because despite being soulless, Jack remembers all the insecurities he got from Dean. The "It's okay, I understand" line Jack says to Dean while having a gun pointed to him is sooooooo.) Rupture happens, their divorce is finalized and Cas takes custody of the baby.

- Cas having some father-child bonding with the baby as a breather between all this fucked up stuff.

- The Trap happens, they make up, and oh? Who's this person who helped Cas escape and get the flower? It's the deanlisa baby, but now grown! Together with Emma! She was thankfully found by her big sister, Emma, when she was a baby in purgatory. She had to grow up fast and now they survive together.

- After eating Eve in order to save Cas, the deanlisa child is now technically the new Mother of monsters. Dean explains the Chuck problem, so the two choose to come with them to help.

- Cas never really explained the deanlisa baby, huh? When they get back with their now grown child (and Emma, who doesn't really hold a grudge over the entire Sam killing her thing) and Cas explains, Dean is baffled but takes it in stride. I mean, they just made up! He doesn't wanna fight with him anymore and he wants the family together again!

- They make the two stay with the baby so they'll be safe in the bunker while they try to trap Chuck with the Mark of Cain spell. It fails, of course. (But hey, at least there was sibling bonding time in the bunker.)

- Billie brings back Jack and they formulate a plan (Billie doesn't go evil in this one btw.) They strengthen Jack, Jack knows that he'll be a bomb and is totally fine with it. "Maybe if I do this one good thing, Dean won't see me as a freak anymore." Remember, Jack internalized a lot of the shit Dean said.

- Cas attempts to call out the self-sacrificial bullshit and that Dean actually loves him, but Jack insists. "You would do the same! In fact, you have done the same! (In reference to the Empty deal, which still happens here btw.) I'm just learning from all of you." If there's one thing I'm obsessed about in fics, it's when Jack calls them out for learning martyrdom from team free will.

- Dean finds out about the plan and tries to talk Jack out of it. They have a heart-to-heart, Dean finally fucking apologizes for all the complexes that he's given Jack, and Jack (for the first time) finally believes that Dean doesn't see him as a monster anymore. Jack stops the process so he doesn't become a bomb (but at least he's stronger than he was before).

- They call Billie to come up with an alternative plan. She considers the options, and says an alternative plan would be harder and would require more players in the field. "As long as we don't have to sacrifice any of our loved ones anymore, we're good," Dean says. "I don't think that's an easy request, but we'll try," Billie says, giving a pointed look at Cas. (Hmmmm, wonder how this would come to play later?)

- Billie points out that the destiel baby is in fact not powerless, but is instead choosing to supress their own power. If the child can be convinced to unlock their own capabilities, then perhaps they might stand a better chance at winning.

- They spread out to gather more allies: Sam goes to Rowena, Dean goes to Michael, Billie goes to Gabriel (yes, he's alive here), and the kids stay in the bunker with Cas to try and explore each other's abilities. (Since I hated the Michael-Lucifer nonsense of 15x19, none of that happens here. Lucifer doesn't go back and Michael doesn't betray them.)

- Jack finds out that he can push out all the energy he gathered for the bomb into a one-time-use blast. They find out that the baby can apparently enhance the power of whoever they're holding. And the new Eve apparently has traces of Godstiel/Leviathan still in her after being in the womb with them. (She also spends the time catching up with Cas because they've not seen each other for years.) Emma is just vibing there, adoring her powerful younger siblings and interrogating her father's...husband? Boyfriend? Ex? (She's still confused about their status.)

- This goes just like in S11, and they go all out and attack Chuck together until he's weak enough for Death's scythe. There's one shot where the kids are just holding hands to power each other for Jack to deliver a fatal blow. Billie is just around the corner, ready for the final blow, when Cas turns to Dean.

- "Dean, I need to say something." Cue the 15x18 confession scene, except this time Dean knows about the deal now. So the moment Dean realizes what Cas is doing, he tries to stop him.

- "Stop, please stop. Don't say it, you don't have to say it." Because of course, happiness is in just being, it's in just saying it. And Dean knows what true happiness would do.

- But unfortunately, Cas has to do it. (Billie talked to him about it, and her scythe won't exactly do a clean job with something as powerful as a Chuck-Amara hybrid. I don't know when or why they fused together since the bomb plan was cancelled, but it happened here okay? Yeah. So they need something that is guaranteed to be older and greater than God or the Darkness—the Empty. Billie can only go there, but she can't summon it to be on Earth. Enter Cas' deal.)

- Cas says "I love you," Dean reciprocates, they share a final kiss, and then Billie finally reaps God. The Empty arrives to take Chuck, and Cas shares one final moment with his kids before accepting his fate.

- Billie goes to the Empty to make sure the job was done, and she finally gives the Shadow the sleep that she promised. She uses her scythe on the Shadow, because death is the final slumber. (Of course, you can't exactly kill nothingness; she only destroyed an embodiment/personification of the Empty.)

- Post-fight. They're happy because Chuck is finally defeated but also...Cas. Before they even have the chance to process what the fuck just happened, Billie is back and she has Cas with her. "I just put the Shadow into sleep, so it's not like anyone would notice," she says. The problem is that Cas is still very much asleep. (He still has some grace here btw. Maybe he's not at full angel anymore, but he's not fully human either. There wasn't a need to cut out his grace without warning.)

- Dean and the kids crowd Cas' body. The baby's touch on Cas's shoulder (which burns a mark that parallels Dean's) is what wakes him up. Reunion kiss!

- Happy ending! Michael (with Adam) goes back to heaven to fix things, and they are very much implied to be a couple. Midam rights babyyyyyy! Gabriel goes back to roaming the world and occasionally visits the kids.

- Sam and Eileen organizes a hunter's network and organizes a bunch of safety protocols and rehabilitation projects with the help of the new Eve (which most monsters obey, key word most). Oh, and Saileen definitely swings regularly with Rowena (and occasionally with Gabriel when he's around).

- Emma decides that she likes hanging out with the Wayward Sisters better (and you know what? Good for her). The new Eve decides to hang out there often as well (whenever she isn't busy with monster diplomacy or something).

- When Jack finally feels safe and peaceful enough, he reverts back to his child form. The baby, who has been selectively mute this entire time, holds their brother's face in recognition and utters their first word, which is "JACK!" Dean and Cas cry in joy over this entire exchange. (That's his twin! He missed his twin!)

- They move out of the bunker to get their own house by a lake or something. Whenever the topic of pregnancy comes up again ("Dean, when do you want another baby again?"), they can now playfully joke about it and Dean says something like "Don't steal someone else's baby again, okay? The next baby to be inside you needs to be mine." They're both stupidly horny about the subject, I hate them so much.

- Whenever there's an important event, they all celebrate it in the bunker for the extra space (because their family is, indeed, very large). END.

There's something poetic to me about the Empty being the one that beats Chuck in this mpreg rewrite because technically, the Empty is the Original Womb that gave birth to God. It it the nothingness of potential, the dark water of pregnant beginnings.

All this talk about the Empty and stuff also made me stop and think about the metaphysics of spn. The fact that the Darkness and the Empty are two distinct entities says something interesting about the metaphysical reality of spn. It doesn't treat darkness as a mere absence of light, a mere nothingness, but rather a thing/substance of its own. It's a very Manichean kind of metaphysics as opposed to a Platonic/Neoplatonic one. (Oh, St. Augustine would probably have a blast trying to unravel whatever the fuck is happening with spn.)

The fact that it's also Cas' free will that brought upon God's demise? Delicious.

(If you're still reading, congratulations for finishing my very long spn mpreg rewrite. Why did you do this to yourself tho.)

(also apologies if I didn't give a name to Jack's siblings. I haven't thought of a good name for them just yet)

[writingwithacupoftea]

Poison

Summary: When Y/N Shelby arrives back from a meeting with some potential business partners, her brothers, Tommy, notices that something isn’t quite right with her.  Hours later, the family are crowded around her bedside, while she lies on the brink of death.

Word Count: 3350 (ooh, that’s satisfying)

Trigger Warnings: vomiting and just generally being ill

A/N: My stubborn arse finally managed to finish this fic (even though I edited as little as possible so it’s quite long)!! Hope you like it 💜💜

The Shelby and Gray families were not ones for quiet - they brought chaos and noise with them wherever they went. But now, not a single member of the family could bring themselves to speak, the doctor's parting words circling around in their heads:

"It's not looking good, I'm afraid. If she wakes in the morning, then I think we can say that things are looking up. But I can't promise you that she will."

Tommy couldn't decide if the silence was a blessing or curse. He was beyond grateful not to have his younger sister's screams of agony echoing down the halls of Arrow House any more, but it seemed so unnatural: Y/N wasn't the loudest of the Shelby clan, but she was always there with a sarcastic quip, witty comeback, or words of comfort that none of her other siblings could ever quite get right.

Her brothers often said that she was the future of Shelby Company Limited - Y/N had a vision and was determined to see it through with Tommy's help, for even though they disagreed frequently, he couldn't deny that her ideas could be the making of the business in the modern world. Tommy was beyond proud of the woman that he raised after their bastard of a father left them. Yes, Arthur, John and Ada had helped him and Polly with raising their sister – but no one could deny that Tommy loved Y/N in a way that none of the others ever could.

Now, he and his brother were crowded around her bedside, helpless, wondering how they could have let this happen.  

The doctor suspected poison, and although he couldn't be sure which poison it was, Tommy knew exactly who had given it to his sister and let the guilt consume him.

***

Earlier that day...

"Tommy, do I seriously have to meet them by myself?" Y/N asked as she marched into her brother's office (without knocking, of course).

"I've told you, Y/N/N, I've got a meeting of my own to go to and I don't trust Arthur and John not to fuck things up even if you are there."  

She was meant to be having lunch with some potential business partners from America, but despite Tommy's reassurances that this deal would be of benefit for their future plans for the company, Y/N had a feeling that something wasn't right about them. When she'd mentioned her suspicions that the associates may not be as friendly as they appear, Tommy brushed her concerns aside as Polly raged on at him ("Thomas you're a fool if you don't listen to your sister now – it's her gypsy instinct and it's never wrong.")  

But still, Tommy insisted on going through with it. He wasn't backing down now.

~ ~ ~

When Y/N returned later that afternoon, Tommy watched in silence as she slumped down at her desk and put her head in her hands.

"That bad was it, eh?" Tommy questioned, jokingly.

"My head's pounding, Tom, don't fucking wind me up."

Arthur, who had heard the exchange, walked up to her, slamming a pile of work onto her desk. "Is our little Y/N becoming a lightweight?"

"Oh, piss off Arthur," the firmness in her voice surprising him, considering that she didn't lift her head up.

Luckily, Arthur took that as his cue to leave, but not before sending an amused look at Tommy, one that was not reciprocated. Instead, the second eldest brother furrowed his brows, all of his attention focused on his little sister, concern beginning to bubble inside of him. Not wanting to start any arguments, however, he simply settled with saying "We'll leave at about five o'clock if you're still feeling like shit, yeah? I just need to finish this first."

Y/N laughed, humourlessly, and gestured towards her newly acquired work. "I've got plenty to keep me busy, Tommy, don't worry."

"You know if you're really feeling -"

"No, Thomas." His sister cut him off abruptly. "I'm fine to work, it's just a headache. It'll go before I know it."

With that, she began reading the first document that Arthur had given to her, actively avoiding Tommy's eye.

~ ~ ~

A couple of hours later and Tommy, having been so consumed with his work, realised that he hadn't heard a peep from Y/N since she started working.  

Looking up, he immediately became aware that Y/N still wasn't back to her usual self. To anyone else, she simply looked hard at work, furiously making notes as she waded through her paperwork; but Tommy could see her discomfort from a mile off. The hand subconsciously rubbing her stomach, the occasional wince in pain, the fingers on her other hand massaging her temples.

Y/N didn't seem to notice anything as Tommy made his way past her desk to speak to John and Arthur. "Has she said anything to either of you?"

"Nah," Arthur replied, casually. "I didn't think I pissed her off that badly earlier though, so I don't know why. She just keeps ignoring everyone and won't fucking sit still."

This did absolutely nothing to qualm Tommy's worries.

John piped up, tentatively: "You don't think it's...you know?"

"No, I don't, John. So spit it out."

John lowered his voice to a whisper, glancing slightly over his shoulder to make sure that Y/N wasn't listening. "You don't think it's that time of the month, do you? She always get a bit cranky, doesn't she."

Tommy cleared his throat as Arthur looked at the ground awkwardly. "Yeah, he's got a point, Tom. Best not to ask any questions."

"Right." Tommy paused, before making his way back to his office.  

He mulled over his brothers' words. It was a reasonable explanation for her behaviour, but something just didn't sit right with it for Tommy. Y/N had always lived with him and over time he had developed an instinct for when that time of the month was meant to be, and this didn't fit the usual pattern.

Lost in his thoughts as he packed up his things, Tommy was taken by surprise when Y/N appeared in the doorway, a smile plastered on her face. "You ready to go, Tom?"

If Tommy had looked a bit closer, he would've seen that the smile was just a bit too bright to be genuine. He would've seen that it didn't quite reach her eyes, which looked tired and pained in themselves. But, in an unusual move for Thomas Shelby, his shock at seeing such a drastic change in his sister overtook everything else.

As they drove back to Arrow House, the sun beginning to set in the distance, Tommy thought to himself 'Maybe John and Arthur were right, for once. I'm just worrying too much.'

Upon their arrival home, the siblings' usual routine began: Y/N made her way up to her room, whilst Tommy headed straight for his study to carry on working after greeting Grace and Charlie.  

And so, the evening began as a fairly typical one...but Tommy would never forget that night for the rest of his life.

~ ~ ~

At 7 o'clock each night, either Y/N or Grace would barge into Tommy's study to drag him to dinner (otherwise they thought that he'd never eat). In actual fact, Tommy always knew when dinner was going to be, but he enjoyed their visits to come and fetch him – for once, Thomas Shelby enjoyed being looked after.  

Grace had left for the weekend to spend some time with friends, and so when 7 o'clock came and went without Tommy being disturbed by his sister, he began to worry. Remembering her headaches and discomfort in the office, he came to the quick conclusion that she must have fallen asleep and made his way upstairs to go and wake her.

Call it his instinct as her older brother, but Tommy just knew that something was off as he stood outside Y/N's bedroom. Opening the door and peering around it, he froze at the sight before him: his sister, collapsed on her bed, sweating profusely and mumbling incoherently to herself. Tommy rushed over, panic eclipsing him, "Y/N?"

As he brushed the loose strands of hair away from her face, Tommy felt the heat radiating from her. Having nursed his sister through many an illness during her lifetime, and therefore knowing exactly what to do (or so he hoped, for Tommy had never seen her quite this bad before), he jogged down the hallway to fetch a bowl of lukewarm water and a cloth from the bathroom.

But Tommy's plans to nurse his sister through the night himself were put to an abrupt end upon his return. Y/N was curled up in a tight ball, arms wrapped around her stomach as she groaned and grunted in pain, vomiting violently over the side of her bed.

"Mary, call the doctor NOW!" Tommy yelled over his shoulder before dashing to sit next to his sister on the bed, dampening the cloth and dabbing it to her forehead. "Y/N? Y/N, speak to me, love, what's wrong?"

Still he got no response. Y/N didn't even give any indication that she knew that he was there. Her moans of pain simply got louder and more agitated and Tommy couldn't bear it. He had always done everything that he could (and more) to keep any pain far, far away from his sister, and when it couldn't be prevented Tommy would stop at nothing to make things better for her. Even when she was a baby, and their mother was still alive, no one could separate Tommy from Y/N's side when she was sick or injured – he didn't trust that others wouldn't cause her to suffer further, and so Y/N remained under his watchful eye until she was back to full strength (and even then he was wary for a week or so afterwards).

So, for Tommy, seeing his beloved sister writhing in pain, not knowing what was wrong or how he could help, was complete and utter torture for him.

~ ~ ~

When Mary arrived upstairs to inform her employer that the doctor would arrive within ten minutes, she barely recognised him: hair messy, hands shaking and muttering tender words of comfort, the Thomas Shelby in front of her was far from the controlled man that she had become accustomed to dealing with. But the thing that shocked her the most came when the man looked up at her. Whilst the blue of his eyes had become less icy since his marriage and the birth of his son, these eyes were wild, frantic and displayed a boyish vulnerability that Mary had never even imagined. They were glazed with unshed tears, and yet this barrier did nothing to hide the whirlwind of emotions that were communicated through them. The overarching message that they conveyed was as clear as day: Thomas Shelby was frightened.

The man's voice, thick with emotion despite his attempts to compose himself, snapped her away from her thoughts. "Call the rest of the family. Explain what's happening. Tell them that they need get here as quickly as possible. Then see to it that Charlie's looked after for the night. I'll be staying here."

"Yes, Mr Shelby. Shall I send everyone straight up here?"

Tommy simply nodded, his attention already devoted to his sister once more.

~ ~ ~

The minutes that followed this interaction would forever haunt Tommy's memory.

Whilst Y/N appeared to have stopped being sick, her cries of pain continued to escalate, both in frequency and in volume. Each one pierced through Tommy like a dagger straight to his heart. He knew that nothing he was doing was helping her, and that the situation was completely out of his control, and Tommy hated it. His brain became like a cage, trapping him in his tormenting thoughts: 'You should have done something sooner...you've failed her...how can you ever claim to be a good brother again when you can't even ease her pain...this is your punishment...it's your fault...it's all your fault.'

Tommy clutched onto Y/N's hand like a lifeline, mopping her brow as sweat continued to spill from every pore and her groans became screams tearing from her throat.  

Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, the convulsions began

Sheer terror consumed Tommy as he watched Y/N's body jerk violently on the bed. Silent tears cascaded down his face as he sat there, completely helpless, trying not to breakdown himself. That was the last thing that Y/N needed. He knew that he should call Mary or one of the maids, but he couldn't bear to leave Y/N's side to do so. He felt almost paralysed with fear, the only movement he made being the kisses that he placed repeatedly to her knuckles in between his pleas of "You're going to be alright, sweetheart...I'm here...I love you..."

The doctor came rushing in just as the convulsions were dying down, and immediately shooed Tommy away. Had the circumstances been any different, Tommy would have questioned the tone that the doctor took with Tommy – no one dismissed Tommy Shelby like that (except for Aunt Polly). But the Shelby man didn't even register it in his desperation for his sister to be looked at, so that he knew what to do to help her. He just needed to do something to make things better for her.

Standing outside Y/N's bedroom door, he heard the low rumble of his family's voices. Going against every one of his instincts to stay in position outside of Y/N's room, he ran down the stairs to see his family.

John, Arthur, Ada, Finn, Michael and Polly, like Mary, were shocked by the version of Tommy that appeared before them. From this alone, they knew that things were bad. Despite Tommy's explanations, the sight of Y/N lying weakly in her bed took them by surprise. Y/N always seemed so strong and full of life, the light of the family, and the realisation struck everyone that they may be plunged into darkness in the next few hours.

***

"It's not looking good, I'm afraid. If she wakes in the morning, then I think we can say that things are looking up. But I can't promise you that she will."

The silence left behind in the room after the doctor's departure was deafening. He had given Y/N some injections of fuck knows what to stop the convulsions and ease her pain, but he didn't know what else to do. He'd never dealt with anything like this before.  

All the family could do was wait.

After some time to process the doctor's warning, each member slowly began to unfreeze, or so it seemed. Polly disappeared to the kitchen to make tea and sort out some food, although no one felt like eating. John called Esme, and afterwards Arthur rang Linda, informing their wives that they wouldn't be back at home until at least tomorrow – they couldn't leave their sister. Michael ventured down the corridor to fetch some more chairs. Ada went to tend to Charlie, and Finn went with her, sent with the task of updating Mary and telling her to go to bed.

That left Tommy. Tommy, who couldn't believe what was happening. Tommy, who knew that, despite his new family with Grace, he couldn't cope without Y/N.  

Tiredly, the second eldest of the Shelby clan moved to reposition himself next to Y/N on her bed, holding her small hand in his and observing the baby hairs which fell delicately in front of her face. She would always be his little girl, no matter how old and grey and feisty she became, and nothing would change that. He refused to let anything take her away from him before they reached that point, not even poison.

As he mulled this all over in his head, remarking to himself how much she'd grown up yet how little she'd changed, Finn came back into the room. Breaking the silence, the youngest brother tentatively asked "Will she be alright?"

When Tommy looked up at his younger brother, he realised that he wasn't the only one who was scared. Truthfully, Tommy hated not being able to give a straight answer, and simply replied "She's a fighter, Finn."

God knows, they all hoped that she wouldn't stop fighting now.

***

Hours dragged on like days. The slow rising of the early morning sun taunted Tommy. The brighter it became in that room, the more the chance of Y/N waking up again slipped through his fingers.

He was the only one who stayed awake for the entire night, despite Ada's pleas for him to rest and Polly's snaps of "You're going to be no use to her if you're dead on your feet." Even the occasional drooping of his eyelids couldn't persuade him to relent. Because he knew that the minute he gave into that temptation, something would happen and Tommy couldn't risk missing anything.  

Part of him had stayed awake in case Y/N needed anything or got worse; part of him stayed awake in case she herself woke up (he didn't want her being alone); and the final part of him, the part of Tommy that was shit scared of what was going to happen, wanted to spend every single moment with his little sister. Because he didn't know if one of them was going to be her last on this Earth.

Arthur and John woke up in the chairs next to Y/N's bed, and gradually the rest of the family came to join them.

Polly was the first to speak. "Has there been any change?"

Tommy didn't trust himself to say the words out loud, so responded by shaking his head and placing a kiss to the back of Y/N's hand, which he hadn't relinquished his hold on.

Whilst her skin was clammy to the touch, she was no longer sweating like before. Her breathing had evened out and the expression of discomfort that had marred her face had melted away: Y/N looked peaceful. To Polly and the rest of the family, this was a good sign, an indication that she was getting better. However, the thought lingered that this would make it easier for her to slip away undetected.

This was the most terrifying idea.

The morning continued to pass by: 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock...still nothing.

Everyone was becoming more and more agitated, the ticking of the clock doing nothing to ease the tension. Tommy had finally moved, deciding to pace up and down the limited space left in the room instead. Occasionally, someone would walk over to the window or run downstairs to get a new book. But still they waited, each member of the family united in their hope that Y/N would wake soon.

When the clock struck midday, that hope began to fade, even though no one would say it out loud; it could just be felt in the atmosphere.

However, when no one was looking, Y/N's eyes slowly crept open, squinting as the bright sunlight beamed through the window. Once her eyes had adjusted, she observed her family positioned around her room and noted the peace and quiet, even if Y/N could tell that it was tense. Internally, she sighed to herself 'No fucking fighting, at last.'

Her voice was croaky as she said quietly "How long are you guys gonna hover round my bed like a bunch of creepers, eh?"

The relief was immediate. As Arthur and John roared in excitement, shouting "SHE'S ONLY GONE AND FUCKING DONE IT," Tommy raced over and rested a hand on her cheek tenderly, their tired eyes meeting for the first time in hours. His eyes spoke of admiration and disbelief, whilst hers held only adoration for her big brother. Tommy placed a kiss to her forehead, and let a couple more tears fall.

"I love you, sweetheart."

"Love you, Tom." Y/N smiled softly. "Thank you for staying with me, I knew you were there the entire time."

"As if I could ever leave you, eh."

"Or I you, Tom."

And that was the simple and honest truth.

[emixion]

Speed Force - Day 20 Maribat MArch 2021

Loosely following the prompt today. But, hey, this counts right? Based on the final scene from Justice League: Apokolips War. @maribatmarch-2k21 ao3 link The world was broken, that much was clear.

The war with Apokolips had taken its toll on Earth. The planet once filled with life was reduced to rubble and ruin, the few and far between survivors despaired and broken.

The Justice League had lost half its members.

Team Miraculous had been wiped except for Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Carapace.

The Teen Titans were obliterated, leaving only Starfire, Raven and Robin.

The was nothing left of the Suicide Squad.

Superman had lost his entire family and Batman had lost all but two of his sons.

The shattered remains of Earth’s heroes sat solemnly together in front of what was left of the old Titan tower, looking out on the coast. There were too many people who weren’t there with them.

Aquaman.

Green Lantern.

Cyborg.

Zatanna.

Batwoman.

Lois Lane.

Catwoman.

Harley Quinn.

Superboy.

Beast Boy.

Wondergirl.

Batgirl.

Orphan.

Spoiler.

Signal.

Red Hood.

Red Robin.

Blue Beetle.

Shazam.

Ryuuko.

Viperion.

King Monkey.

Pegasus.

Chat Noir.

The list went on and on.

Ladybug sniffled, her head on Robin’s shoulder. She thought about her fallen teammates, watching Rena comfort a distraught Carapace out of the corner of her eye. They’d lost so much during this war, she could hardly fathom that there used to be a time when they weren’t surrounded by tragedy.

Robin stayed mostly stoic, his arm wrapped tightly around Ladybug’s shoulders, but there was a sad look in his eyes. It was obvious to Ladybug that he was in mourning. Who wouldn’t be? He’d lost all of his siblings except one, who wasn’t even himself anymore.

He glanced guiltily at Starfire and Raven, who were trying to soothe a restrained and exhausted Nightwing.

He knew he promised Marinette that he would never go near a Lazarus pit again, he just couldn’t stand the thought of losing another sibling.

Starfire was hushing the restless Dick Grayson, who seemed to have exhausted himself in his struggle. Raven sat quietly with them, her white hood covering her expression. Her hand carded idly through Nightwing’s hair. Dick was the closest thing she had to a brother.

Damian’s attention shifted to Titus, who’s chin was rested on Mari’s leg. He gave the dog a gentle scratch behind the ear with his free hand.

The silence of the group was broken when Batman returned, approaching Superman and Wonder Woman.

“Any news?” Diana asked.

“The planet’s rotation is compromised.” Bruce announced grimly.

“How bad?” Asked Clark.

“We lost thirty-one percent of the Earth’s core.”

The air over the group grew even more heavy.

Batman announced there would likely be millions upon millions of more deaths before there would be any sort of normalcy.

Marinette stifled a sob, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. Damian pulled her closer.

Superman was desperately trying to rile the crowd, stating that they could still fix everything if they pulled together. That heroes never quit. It didn’t seem very convincing.

At the edge of the group, The Flash sat alone, bouncing his knee anxiously. John Constantine approached him, a cigarette between his lips.

“You know what you have to do, mate.” John said lowly to the other man, tossing his cigarette to the ground and stomping it. They both looked like hell.

Barry looked at the ground, his shoulders slumping.

“I can’t.” he shook his head. “I promised Iris before she…” He trailed off, pausing to compose himself. “Everything would change again. Again.”

Constantine laid a hand on his shoulder. “And some of those changes may be shit, but we could be a lot better off than we are right now.” He said as the two men looked over the small group of survivors.

After another moment of hesitation, Barry looked back to Constantine and gave him a nod.

His face grew determined and he stood up shakily, crouching down into a sprinting position. He was off in a split second, a streak of speed over the water in front of them.

The group watched as a blinding light emerged from the direction Barry ran to.

“Run, Barry, Run.” Constantine muttered, as the light grew bigger and brighter.

A silent understanding washed over the group as they watched the light approach them. They braced themselves, those in pairs or groups clutching tightly to each other.

Clark placed either hand on Diana and Bruce’s shoulders. Alya held tightly onto Nino. Raven and Kori hunched protectively over Dick. Mera, Martian Manhunter and Hawkman stood up to get a better look.

Marinette’s eyes shined with unshed tears as she watched the light come closer. She knew what this meant, and so turned to Damian, who was already looking at her. His expression said everything he wanted to say, there was no need for words.

She leaned in and kissed him with everything in her. Damian kissed her back just as intensely, wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her as close as possible as the light enveloped the shore.

Hopefully it brought a better tomorrow.