#and make it so everything stays centered when the camera rotates instead of... whatever it does now lol. pls 🙏🙏🙏

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon zero dawn (remastered) | aloy 30/?

[pl-panda]

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 10

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 10

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Chloé felt that something was wrong. She knew that the drama would only start with the class kicked out. She tried to enjoy the evening and do what she did at all other galas: be a star. As the daughter of the mayor of Paris and a famous fashion icon, she attracted quite a bit of attention. Now that she was the only reliable source of information on Marinette and Hawkmoth-related stuff, she found herself in the center of attention. Someone even asked her about her time as Queen Bee. She loved it here!

She just finished a small talk with the wife of… someone important, when unmistakable sausage hair flashed in the crowd. She would recognize her anywhere. Lila was still at the gala. 

The blonde tried to find someone to tell it to, but she couldn’t do it fast enough. She saw her disappear into a corridor that led to the kitchen. Making a split-second decision, she followed her alone. On her way, she got a bright idea and sent the text to whoever she called last. There was no time to search through the contact list. It better be someone who can help. 

The doors to the kitchen were closed and inside buzzed with the work of several hired helpers. They were preparing for the midnight toast. There was no way Lie-la could hide there. The only other doors led to the servants’ staircase. 

“Ugh! The sacrifice I make for friendship.” She sighed before entering the tight passage. 

This led her to the second floor, where she found the doors already open. It led to a long corridor with several doors on the one side and large windows overlooking the back garden. She realized she was in the west wing, which was the second oldest part of the manor. 

“More creepy secret passageways…” She quickly checked her phone to see if somebody answered, but a crashing sound coming from one of the rooms got her attention. 

Slowly, she crept toward the only room with lights on. She managed to get a sneaky peek inside before something hit her in the back of her head and everything turned black. 

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“So… he really asked you out on the first day?” Allegra starred at Marinette in disbelief.

“Yeah. He was all shy and flustered, almost certain I would reject him.” She giggled. The two girls were standing on the sidelines while Jon got the boys to finally talk their differences out in a safe manner. 

“That guy? Flustered?” Allegra giggled. “I think not.”

“And you? I thought Damian had no friends? Well, Jon was more of a family friend from what I heard.” 

“My dad is the Gotham Mayor. Probably the only one who stayed in office longer than a week in the last decade.” 

“No way!” 

“Yes, way.” Allegra nodded. “I met Jon during the interview his mom was doing in Gotham for the Daily Planet. Then, we met at Gotham Academy. Damian was kinda just tagging along. And he still does. Well, I think he actually likes the occasional hanging out with us, but Claude disagrees.” She nodded toward the boys, who seemed to be coming their way. “It’s going to be nice to have a second girl in the pack.” 

“I should totally introduce you to Chloé.” Marinette giggled before walking to meet Damian half-way. 

“Tt. Felix is not his cousin.”

“And the floor is indeed made of floor.” Jon chuckled.

“I have the dusters…” He threatened, but his friend just laughed. 

“Can we dance?” Marinette asked fast. Truth to be told she was waiting for a chance for quite a while, but with the press and then the drama and all the people wishing them well. 

Nodding, he led them to the dancing floor and they joined many other couples. 

“I just hope I don’t fall over… Or step on…”

“If a man doesn’t come to this thing with reinforced shoes, it’s his fault.” Damian stopped her before she could spiral. Then, his voice softened. “There is nothing to worry about. The only important person today is already dancing with me and the rest can stuff it.” 

She blushed bright pink but didn’t respond. Instead, she hugged closer to his chest and allowed him to take the lead. The pair glided seamlessly through the dance floor, moving between other pairs and completely obvious to the stares they received. They melded in perfect harmony, losing the sense of time and space. 

Inside Marinette’s head, they were dancing between the stars, bathed in subtle light coming from nowhere and everywhere. In the distance, her imaginary eyes could’ve seen the comet passing by and the full moon glowing in the sky. The music seemed to be coming from everywhere and encompassing them in soothing tones. 

For Damian, they were the only constant in the sea of darkness. There was nothing to distract them from dancing. Even the music faded to the background when they moved in perfect harmony. The only source of light seemed to be Marinette. And even her glow was only an aura around her, not illuminating the rest of the place at first. In his imagination, everywhere they stepped, she would leave a small trail of light in the darkness. 

Finally, the music stopped. The couple didn’t notice at first until the applause finally broke to them. They both realized they were now in the center of the large circle where people watched. One old lady had a tear in her eye. Marinette blushed at the attention, but did her best not to appear shy. Damian shrugged. He was superior to them, so it was obvious their dance was the center of attention. He bowed slightly to the crowd while Marinette curtsied before rushing away from the prying eyes. 

“That was something…” Allegra smiled at her. “You two looked amazing. I really love how your dress reflected the light.” 

“Thanks. I ma… nevermind.” She stopped herself. She wanted to reveal she made it, but Allegra was still unknown to her and she wasn’t comfortable with revealing that she is MDC so soon. Even if Jon vouched for her. 

“Mari-bear!” Chloé rushed to the pair. “Quick! You need to come with me!” 

“What’s going on Chlo?” 

“It’s Lila!” The blonde motioned. The reaction was immediate. Marinette’s eyes narrowed and her whole body tensed. She nodded and followed the blonde, who led her toward the kitchen and servants’ staircase. 

A saner part of Marinette’s mind noted that Chloé had no problem with the tight passage used only by ‘peasants’ but the majority of her focused solely on stopping whatever evil scheme Lila concocted. 

On the second floor, the blonde led Marinette toward Bruce’s private office. Blood started to run cold in her veins. Did Rossi discover the entrance to the batcave? But no, Chloé would be calling the whole Batfam then. She was probably just scoping around and now awaits inside. Or maybe she just broke something in rage?

When they got close, Chloé opened the doors. Inside was in perfect order, except the chair was turned back. As it rotated slowly, Marinette managed to see disheveled blonde hair before pain exploded from the back of her head and she collapsed into the embrace of darkness. 

Nobody noticed one more person in the corridor when Marinette left the office alone.

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Damian was ‘enjoying’ the small talk with some rich snob, doing his best to appear as the perfect son and heir to Bruce Wayne. Inside, he was cursing Allegra for stealing his angel so close to midnight. He could see the waiters hired for the evening spreading the champagne already. 

“Hi. You’re Damian Wayne, right?” A girl asked him. Her blonde hair was let loose to form a large mane around her head. She looked maybe a year younger. What attracted attention were her eyes. One was bright pink and the other was brown to the point it was almost black. 

“Tt. I need to get a better mask.” 

“It’s the eyes. They give you away.” She smiled. 

“What is it?” He scoffed. “I’m looking for someone so if you excu…” 

She grabbed his wrist in a strong grip. “I’ve got a message for Damian Wayne. You will listen to what I have to say.” Her hand squeezed his wrist to the point it started to sting. “You’re far from victory yet.” 

She then let go of his hand and disappeared into the crowd. She was small enough for him not to be able to track her. He took a sip of his (non-alcoholic) champagne and returned to his search, promising to check on the cameras later. Finding his beloved was now even more important. 

Cursing under his breath, he turned. Marinette was just coming back from where Chloé dragged her. As soon as she saw him, she rushed toward him. A small smile ghosted his face when they met. Except something was wrong. She looked ashamed and scared. 

“Damian… I… I think… I must confess something…” She said loudly, attracting the crowd. “I’m so sorry. I really am! It… I never wanted to push it that far! I just wanted a bit of the fame…” Tears welled in her eyes.

“What are you…” He started. 

“They were right! I was just a filthy gold digger! But your family was so kind and you’re so precious and smart and I feel so bad for manipulating you! I can’t continue like that! It’s over between us. For your own good!” 

A sword was suddenly pressed into her neck to the point it drew blood. Nobody was sure where Damian got the sword , but by now the guests were used to the fact that he could get the sword at any point in the Manor.

“Who are you, harlot, and what did you do to my Angel?” He seethed. People around quickly made a space for them, not wanting to accidentally find themselves on the business end of the sword. 

“I’m sorry Damian. I know it must be hard but…” 

“You are definitely not Habibti and you can drop the act. She would not act like this. You don’t even know her well enough to realize that this gold digging crap is laughable,” he accused. His voice was full of cold fury. 

“You must let go. I… I really don’t want to hurt you.” 

“You can’t even tie someone correctly.” A new voice joined the discussion as another Marinette pushed her way through the crowd. “Or check if someone sees you change. You’re pretty amateurish for a villain.”

“But… but…! Impostor!” The Marinette at the end of the sword screamed. People were already too confused for that to have any real effect.

“Tt. You’re the only impostor.”

“She wants to get the hands on your fortune!” The girl tried. “I’m so sorry!” 

“For the love of god shut up. You sound like a broken record.” Marinette snapped. “And for your information, I don’t need to try and attach myself to someone. I have my own source of income.” Marinette hesitated. Even if the impostor, whoever they were, was dealt with, the media would still keep accusing her of trying to marry into wealth. And at school it would be even worse. She would not give Lila more lie material. “After all, I made my dress for today’s evening.”

Murmurs immediately broke. So far, everyone assumed that it was an MDC original. Very few smarter ones caught up on that, but the majority was scratching their heads. Slowly, the small intelligent percent explained to their oblivious colleagues what that meant. 

“Yes, I’m MDC. It used to stand for Marinette Dupain-Cheng before I switched to Marinette Désign et Création.” She gazed over the crowd. “You can ask uncle Jagged if you see him.” She grinned. “Or Tim Drake. He has a signed CD. In fact…” She pulled her phone and made a quick tweet about the Wayne Gala on her MDC account. 

“No…” The other Marinette starred in disbelief. 

“Yes. I wanted to keep it a secret until I graduate, but someone forced me to unmask a bit earlier…” She glared at the impostor. 

“No!” They screamed. Black bubbling energy covered them. Damian tried to stab with his sword and fell right through it, with his suit burning in several places. When it stabilized again, A teenager stood there. She looked mostly human, except her hair was fluorescent orange and her dress was torn in several places now. She had no accessories and her feet were bare. “You ruined everything! This was supposed to be my trip!” 

Marinette took a battle stance, mentally giving herself a pat on the back for making her dress combat-ready. She didn’t bring the rope dart this evening since it would clash with her look, but she did put a small, almost unnoticeable sheethe with a knife on her left thigh. She quickly drew the blade and got ready. 

“I will not be denied again!” The villain charged at Marinette. The girl tried to strike with her knife, but the blade broke on the first contact, shattering into small pieces that flew everywhere. Several cut her arm. In retaliation, the criminal delivered a punch that pushed all the air from her lungs and made her tumble. 

Impostor was just preparing to deliver a final strike when suddenly a blade cut off her right hand before being stabbed through her calf, making her fall one one knee and pinning her to the ground. 

Sabine was there, with fury on her face that would make demons run for cover and saints pray to God. 

“No one.” She delivered a spin-kick at the downed enemy’s head. She tumbled down and spread like a run-over frog “Hurts.” Before the villain could catch the second wind, she pulled the sword from her calf and stabbed it deep into her left palm, pinning her into the ground. There was no blood whatsoever. “My daughter.” She spat on the impostor and stepped on her head with enough strength to knock out any normal human. 

Just as her leg was supposed to give the villain a concussion, she turned into purple bubbling energy and moved. Sabine’s leg passed through the energy and her leg started to smoke a bit and turn red. 

“That hurt!” The villain screamed once she reformed, all wounds gone like they were never there. A purple butterfly-shaped mask appeared over her face and the few people that knew what happened in Paris gasped. “Ugh! Fine!” She tried to lunge at Marinette, but a chair smashed into her head and batted her away like a baseball ball. 

“Run!” Tom screamed at her daughter and charged with the chair. Marinette looked at her mother and Damian and all three nodded at the same time. Using the panic and people running away, they ducked into an empty corridor and locked the door. 

“Tikki! Spots on!”

“Plagg! Claws out!”

“Roaar! Prowl!”

The light of three transformations was blinding. When it died, Sabine looked over the couple and noticed that she was the only one that had an unchanged outfit. 

Damian’s outfit consisted of what were dark gray linen pants, a linen shirt with long sleeves and a hood with two folds on the top of his head that resembled cat ears. Over the shirt, he wore a black vest with dark-green finishes. On his left breast was a cat symbol. His forearms were wrapped with gray straps, over which he wore green armguards that reached a bit over the back of his hand. His dark-gray gloves had sharp claws at the end of each finger. His feet were covered with soft shoes that would make no sound as he moved. Behind him, a loose sash of gray imitated cat’s tail. The final touch was the black mask almost identical to what he wore as Robin, except the white eyes were green in this case. His baton was safely attached to his right thigh for easy access.

Marinette now wore a much more stealthy outfit. The core of it was black with dark-red accents. The boots that reached beyond mid-thigh had a single black spot on each vamp, knee, and at the top. There were dark red spots on each of her hips that doubled as some protection. Over her shoulders she wore a dark-red bolero with a black spot near her neck. The sleeves of her bolero ended just below her elbot and on each end was another black spot. She had an additional, very large black spot, on her back. A simple red mask covered her eyes. Her dark hair, which she wore loose these days, was tied into low twin ponytails with red ribbons. On each hand, she wore a red fingerless glove with a single spot on the wrists.

Sabine looked over the two of them. She immediately noted that Damian’s outfit was much more assassin-esque than the leather tights Chat Noir wore. Her daughter also looked more mature now. 

“What happened to your outfit?” She asked, curious why the change happened now. 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are connected. Since I’ve got a new cat, I have a new outfit.” She smiled. 

“Black Cat. In the outfit, I’m Black Cat. Chat Noir was a bastard.”

“Um… Akuma?” Ladybug waved her hand toward the main room.

The three jumped out of the corridor to the pandemonium that was happening there.

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Masterlist // Next

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, vyxynheartssterek!

For @vyxynheartssterek. I hope you enjoy it!

Read On AO3

*****

Forward Motion

Claudia rocked back on her heels and brushed her hair out of her face. “Well, I think that was the last box.”

Stiles admired their shelves, the glossy dark wood lined with dusty tomes that they’d finally hauled from home. They’d been in the attic, the basement, the kitchen and the living room for longer than Stiles had been alive, and seeing them on display, all together and organized neatly instead of piled haphazardly on a box of old baby clothes was surreal and a little thrilling. “It looks great.”

She gave him a sideways look. “We still have stock to put out, pal. Don’t get comfortable.”

He laughed, knocking their elbows together. “Yeah yeah. It still looks good. I told you it would.”

She snorted. “Save the “I told you so”s until after opening day. Why don’t you go get us some caffeine to power us through until lunch, then we’ll get your dad to help us with some of this?”

“He said he’d help this morning, too.” Stiles stepped over a crate of crystals, around two stacks of boxes, and through a maze of shelves they’d yet to fill. “Usual order?”

“Yes, please. Oh, can you move that shelf to the window on your way out? It’s where I want to put the potted herbs.”

“Sure. Be right back.” He maneuvered the herb shelf—still empty for the moment—over to the window, adjusting it until it was lined up with the window, before he stepped outside. It was chilly out, just on the edge of cold, with a breeze that smelled like wood smoke. He turned and stepped to the edge of the sidewalk, balancing his sneakers on the curb so he could admire their sign.

It’d just arrived the day behavfore, and installation had only taken minutes. The Beacon’s Raven curled in the deep red Claudia and Stiles had chosen weeks ago. The window had a beautifully painted raven with its wings outspread on it, front and center, and off to the side, a neat list of their hours. A banner hung over the glass door: “Grand Opening: 2 Days!” It was satisfying to see people passing by, peering in the windows on tip toes to see deeper into the store, chatting about how soon they could go in and poke around.

Stiles headed for the coffee shop down the road. He’d finally talked his mom into opening a real, actual store after years of her (and, eventually, him once he’d gotten old enough to grind herbs and mix potions) operating out of their house. The supernatural community of Beacon Hills had known and trusted Claudia and her family for generations, trusted and knew their magic and quality of products. It only made sense to finally move from backdoor sales to a real shop, where people could browse and where they could store extra potions without accidentally mixing them in with the cooking spices.

Although Stiles still thought John was overreacting about accidentally putting a sleeping potion in the chili that one time.

The coffee shop on the corner, Mocha Latte Memories, was also relatively new—only two years old, which in Beacon Hills meant it’d be referred to as “the new place” for another thirteen years—but it was doing great. It also happened to be Claudia’s favorite, so she’d dragged Stiles there as soon as he’d come home from college; they’d both been going at least once a week ever since.

Stiles caught sight of his reflection in the big bay window of the café and paused. His hair was covered in dust bunnies and cobwebs. “Gee, thanks, Mom,” he grumbled, using the window as a mirror to bat the dust away. He spent a minute combing through his hair with his fingers so he looked less disheveled.

A shadow moved beyond the glass.

Stiles reared back. “Oh! Oh, gods.”

A man on the other side of the glass was grinning at him, apparently watching while he fixed his hair.

Heat rushed to his face. “Oh my god.” He turned on his heel.

Claudia laughed at him when he told her why they wouldn’t be having coffee and why they should promptly move to the next town over. She called John to ask him to bring lunch and coffee while still tearing up with laughter.

Stiles worked through his mortification by sweeping aggressively.

“You two,” John sighed when he arrived. He took a drink of his own coffee while they were digging into their lunch. “The place looks great already.”

Claudia smiled up at him, heels bouncing off the crate she’d perched on in lieu of a chair. “You should’ve seen Stiles with the books.”

“My organization skills are legend,” he muttered, biting into his sandwich.

John snorted. “I still can’t believe you’re putting them out like this.”

She shrugged. “Beacon Hills is our town. We’ve always shared the knowledge anyway, and this way, they can look for themselves.”

The family spellbooks weren’t for sale; they’d dragged them all out and to the shop with a different idea in mind: at the back of the shop, they’d created a little reading room filled with chairs, two-top tables, and jars of pens. Witches and starter spellcasters could come to research spells and potions from their collection if they wanted, copy down instructions, or just read a while, rather than asking Claudia for a copy of a spell they’d heard she had.

And as an extra bonus, whatever they needed for most of the spells, rituals, and potions could be purchased from the shop before they left, if they wanted.

Stiles couldn’t wait to get started.

John stayed to help until well into the evening, when he made them leave for the night. “Your boxes will still be here in the morning,” he sighed. “Let’s go get dinner.”

Claudia set out one last display container, waiting to be filled, and let her fingers trail over the shelf, smiling as John led her out.

Stiles hung back, watching them hold hands down the sidewalk. He and Claudia had come in the jeep this morning, but he figured she’d ride back with John. He brushed dust off his cheek and smiled to himself. He’d missed them while he was away at school, he’d missed Beacon Hills, and being back, opening the store…it felt right.

“Absolutely not.”

Claudia grinned, shaking a box of amethyst at him. “Stiles, don’t be a coward.”

“Mom, don’t be annoying.” He ducked when she swatted at his head. “Why don’t you go get the coffee, and I’ll finish putting the crystals out?”

“I have a plan in mind, I need to do it a certain way.” She arranged the amethyst in the display box she had on the shelf, then tilted her head, studying the effect. She bent to grab some jasper.

Stiles rolled his eyes. “You just want me to embarrass myself again.”

“You did that all on your own.” She set down the jasper next to the amethyst, then wrinkled her nose. She faced him, putting her hands on her hips. Her white POISON shirt was smudged with dirt and old paint stains, hair braided back with flyaways sticking up around her face. “What are the odds of seeing that same guy again? And,” she continued before he could reply, “what are the odds that he’d even recognize you? The man saw you for a total of ten seconds, kid.”

He made a face at her. “What if he works there?”

She smiled.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. But you’re getting the coffee next time.”

“Of course. Next time it’ll be my turn.” She shooed him and turned to the flat carts of planters, which were filling the shop with the heady scents of jasmine and lavender.

Stiles preferred to make potions with dried plants himself, but a lot of people were into growing their own lately. He didn’t stop outside this time—he didn’t want to give himself time to chicken out and go to Starbucks further up the road.

Mocha Latte Memories was right between the breakfast and lunch rushes when he got there; there were three girls at a table posing for a picture and an older man sipping from a mug and reading a book, but otherwise, the place was empty.

The walls were strung with photographs and every other table had an instant camera set up on a bolted tripod next to it. There were also disposable cameras set on the bookshelves, the counters, some tables, the window sills, and the console by the door, with a laminated sign on the wall explaining. The cameras confused Stiles until Claudia had dragged him and John to a table, set the timer on the instant camera, and took a photo of the three of them, waving it in his face.

Patrons were encouraged to take pictures with any of the cameras so they could be displayed on a rotation—they were also just allowed to take the instant photo home, if they wished. After a week on display, the pictures could be claimed by the person who took it or who was in it.

It was cute, Stiles thought. There was potential for creepy people to abuse it, but from what he’d seen, the staff kept a sharp eye on the cameras and who claimed which photos, and the owner was an old high school friend of Claudia’s and had gotten some witchy protections against that kind of thing. Photos taken of people without their consent would show up completely blank, as far as Stiles knew. There were other protections in place, but he hadn’t gotten any further details.

“Hey, Stilinski,” the barista, Cora, called out. “The usual for you and Miss Claudia?”

“Yes please.” He used his card to pay and found two fives in his wallet. Feeling cheerful—one day until opening and they were nearly done setting everything up—he dropped one into the tip jar, making Cora grin.

Behind him, the bells set above the door chimed as someone came in.

He set the five on the counter. “Put that toward their order?”

Her grin widened. “If you’re sure…”

“Yes, please.” He moved off to wait by the pick-up counter, looking at this week’s photos while he waited.

“Hey, thanks for the coffee.”

Stiles winced. He knew Cora was quick, so he’d kind of hoped his drinks would be done before the guy could notice him. He turned. His smile froze on his face.

The guy’s eyes lit up with mirth and recognition.

“Oh my god,” Stiles breathed. He looked down and wondered how hard his mom would laugh at him if he filled the place with smoke and fled.

“You do remember me. I’m Derek.”

“Stiles,” he managed, strangled. “I-I—we’re—there was dust,” he blurted. “There was dust and I was trying to get it out of my hair, okay, and I don’t think it was that big of a deal, okay?”

“Okay,” Derek said, still looking amused. “I didn’t say it was a big deal.”

“Right.” Stiles eased back, even more mortified. “I-I-”

“Stiles! Drinks are up,” Cora called.

“Bye,” he croaked. He snatched the drinks and left as fast as he could.

Claudia was waiting outside when he returned, a worried frown on her face. “I felt you panicking, what-”

He shook his head. “I bought,” he gasped, “the guy coffee.”

Her brows shot up. “Start at the beginning,” she said, so he did.

He was right: she laughed at him.

The Beacon’s Raven opened at nine sharp on Saturday morning, doors flung wide and a mixture of orange and lavender smoking gently, filling the place with Claudia and Stiles’s favorite scents. The shelves were full, neatly organized, and inviting, the floors gleaming clean, and there was a carafe of hot chocolate and individually wrapped cookies set up by the register. Claudia turned on lively violin music and Stiles kept himself busy straightening the shelves.

“Mrs. Stilinski,” a familiar voice called out. “It looks wonderful in here, doesn’t it, Mom?” Lydia and Natalie Martin came in, arm in arm, already holding two other shopping bags.

“It does! Good job, Claudia.” She grinned, crossing to give Claudia a quick squeeze. Like Lydia and Stiles, Natalie and Claudia had gone to school with each other. “I wanted one of those wind chimes you make for Lydia’s new house and we thought we could take a look at the tarot cards—I’ve never been much of a reader myself but we think Lydia’s a bit of a sensitive.”

Lydia rolled her eyes at Stiles, but followed their mothers into an aisle anyway.

Two more people, witches Stiles recognized as regulars for dream talismans and ritual potions, came in, chatting about the store. Dotty, dream talisman buyer, spotted Stiles and shot over to commend him on the choice of orange and lavender— “Peace and energy in one, what a good idea for the first day,” she said, catching his arm.

Melissa and Scott showed up after that, then Heather and her boyfriend, and a group of local witches and some shoppers who were non-magical but interested in the local-made jewelry they were also selling.

Stiles kept busy ringing people up, helping a man pick out the right set of rune stones, and bagging things, keeping up a steady chatter about the store, so he shouldn’t have noticed one more person entering the shop. He should’ve heard the bell and called out a greeting and let Claudia handle it. Something made his head snap up. His eyes narrowed.

Coffee Shop Derek waved at him.

A tall, dark haired woman stood next to him, reading from the back of a crumpled receipt.

Stiles blinked back to his customer and smiled. “Thank you, have a great day.”

Mavis smirked at him. “Oh, you too, Mischief.”

He grimaced.

Mavis had been buying ritual herb bundles from Claudia since Stiles was three. She knew too much.

Claudia crossed to Derek and the woman and, to his surprise, hugged the woman. She gave Derek a sober handshake, smiling and saying something Stiles couldn’t hear.

He didn’t really recognize them aside from some vague familiarity, but Claudia clearly did. He glanced around, but everyone was busy looking—they were crowded, which wasn’t surprising. Beacon Hills was small enough that everyone and their grandmother had heard that little Dee Gajos, no, Stilinski now, and her son were opening a shop finally, and they all had to check it out, witches or not.

Stiles flicked his fingers.

“-Mom wanted some new talismans for the house, and Aunt Nettie wanted some cleansing potions for the party we’re having,” the woman was saying. “Mom also wanted us to congratulate you and let you know she’ll be out to see the shop as soon as she can.”

“Thank you, that’s sweet. I know she’s busy. Oh, one moment.” Claudia turned. “Stiles!” Her voice boomed, making him clap his hands to his ears.

Crap. He’d definitely been caught eavesdropping.

Her smile was far too wide. “Sweetie, why don’t you help the Hales find the things on their list while I run the register for a while?” Her voice was still too loud—raised so he could hear her across the store, if he hadn’t been eavesdropping.

He had two options, and only one of them would preserve what little dignity he had left at this point. He sighed and rounded the counter.

“Hey, I’m Laura.” She smiled when he approached. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Stiles.”

“Oh, really?” He narrowed his eyes at Derek, cheeks going red. Two mildly embarrassing run ins and the guy goes blabbing to his family.

“Yeah! You’ve met my mom Talia Hale a few times when she was picking up talismans from Claudia.”

Stiles’s gaze snapped up to Laura, then skimmed over her. “Oh, you’re werewolves. And Hales. I’ve met some of your pack.”

She laughed. “Yeah, that’s us.” She passed the list to Derek. “I actually wanted to talk to you about some blessed candles, Claudia, if that’s alright? I’m sure Stiles and Derek can handle the list.”

“Oh, sure. Here, we can go up to the register and talk.” Claudia smirked over her shoulder.

Stiles turned his back on her. “So.”

Derek lifted a brow. “You aren’t going to run away this time?”

“I’ve got nowhere to run,” he muttered, making Derek laugh. “Besides, I didn’t run. I just—I had things to do.” He cleared his throat. “Your mom buys talismans from my mom. I’ve helped make them before,” he added with a grin, deciding that he could push past his embarrassment. “She likes her bases covered, huh?”

Derek chuckled. “You have no idea. She’s going crazy over having the whole family at the house for our winter gathering. That’s why she wants to replace the talismans now.” He checked the list. “Four talismans, a house cleansing potion for Aunt Nettie,” he yawned widely, “new bells for the windows and,” another half-stifled yawn, “my uncle wants bloodroot.” He made a face.

“For what?”

He lifted that brow again.

Stiles flicked a hand at the shelves behind them. “I just mean if he’s making something for protection, we can make a bundle that’ll help more than just one plant.”

He shook his head. “No idea. He just came in and scribbled down bloodroot when we told everyone where we were going.”

“Ah.” Stiles shrugged. Not his problem. “Well, if they’re all concerned about the house, we can get some herbs to help with that, too.” He glanced at Claudia, but she and Laura were still talking. “The talismans take three days to make—they’re specific, so we don’t typically have them ready-made.”

“Oh.”

“Everything else is ready though.” He led Derek down the prepared potions aisle; already-made potions were popular with werewolves, shifters, and regular humans who couldn’t make potions themselves. He handed him the teal-colored cleansing potion. “There’s a tag with instructions on the cap, but I know Annette Hale buys this every few months.”

“She does.” Derek yawned again as they made their way to the herb aisle, stifling it in his elbow and shaking his head, like he was annoyed.

Stiles scooped bloodroot into a bag, avoiding eye contact. “Did you have a…long night?” he asked, and cursed himself for being so awkward.

Derek shook his head. “I just keep having these weird, vivid dreams, and when I wake up, I feel like I haven’t slept. And then I can’t make sense of the dreams.” He shrugged self-consciously.

“Have you tried-?” Stiles paused and frowned at him. “Sleep potions don’t work for werewolves.”

“Nope.”

“Huh.” Stiles touched some vervain thoughtfully, then shook his head. “No. What about an herb bundle?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never tried any of this stuff,” he admitted. “I don’t usually have trouble sleeping, either.”

Stiles dropped his hand and wandered over to the bells. “Maybe you should put a bell on your bedroom window instead.” He examined the smallest bells they had on display and picked out a silver one with a raven carved into the side; some of the bells had symbols or animals carved in them for extra protection, and others had nothing, a blank slate, but Stiles thought Derek could use the raven for some clarity. He held it out with a smile. “If anything is causing bad dreams, the sound will ward it off, and it should help make the dreams clearer so you can figure out what’s going on.”

Derek held the tiny bell in his palm. “Thanks.”

Stiles nodded, then looked back at the others. They had sets and singles. “Did Talia say what colors she wanted?”

“Oh, uh, no. Just some basic, uh, bells for us to string above the windows this winter.”

“Hmm.” Stiles chose a brassy gold set and a few tiny yellow gold chimes, and added a coil of delicate, triple braided twine. “Your mom will know how to string them.” He helped Derek carry everything to the register. “We’ll get the talismans started today.”

Claudia smiled as they set everything on the counter. She was wrapping up a full set of candles for Laura already. “One of you can come back to get them on Tuesday,” she assured them. “Oh, bloodroot alone? But-”

“Uncle Peter only asked for bloodroot.” Laura shrugged. “Nettie tried to get him to explain but he wouldn’t.”

“Huh.” She shook her head. “Maybe he’s got something in mind.” She rang them up while Stiles carefully bagged the rest of their purchases.

“Maybe.” Laura poked at the silver bell.

Derek snatched it and put it in his pocket. “That’s mine.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh-kay. Thanks again, Claudia. We’ll be back on Tuesday for the talismans.”

“No problem, thank you guys for coming in!”

Derek turned back so he could wave and smile at Stiles one more time as they were leaving.

By the time they closed at seven, Stiles was dead on his feet; the plan was for them to open again the next morning at the same time, and be closed on Mondays and Thursdays, but he wasn’t sure they’d make it to Monday at this point. They needed to hire some more people.

Claudia was sprawled in a chair in the reading room, beaming and as exhausted as Stiles. “That was…better than I had hoped for.”

Stiles flopped into a chair across from her. “I told you people would come.”

She shrugged. “It’s different, selling little mixtures and plants from my kitchen and selling it in a store.” She flung her hands out over the arms of the chair. “I expected…well, you know how people here can be.”

“Assholes.”

“Fickle,” she shot back. “Supportive one second, and then the next saying I’m thinking too highly of my skills.”

He snorted. “I would love to see anyone from Beacon Hills claim that. They know you, Mom.”

She smiled. “They can be assholes, a little bit,” she admitted, and he laughed. “I was thinking of hiring some part timers, to cover us when we need breaks and a day off. Thoughts?”

“Yes, please.” He dropped his head over the back of the chair. “If we have more people here, we can close a little later, stay open most days without working everyone twenty-four seven, and be able to help more people. Also, we have to get the Hale talismans going.”

“Right.” She tapped her fingers on the edge of the chair. “What did Derek Hale need one bell for?”

Stiles lifted his head. “Hmm?”

She shot him a look. “Don’t play dumb. One silver bell.”

He rubbed his eyes. “Well, he kept yawning while we were finding the stuff his pack asked for, so I asked him if he was having trouble sleeping. He said he was having vivid dreams that were keeping him from resting, so I thought a bell would help, you know, in case it was something coming in.”

She frowned. “But they’re not nightmares?”

“Apparently not. Just vivid dreams.”

“That’s odd.”

“Maybe the bell will help.”

She nodded. “Okay! Let’s go straighten up, count the till, and get started on the talismans for the Hales.”

Because they’d known they would be brewing potions on-site, they’d picked this building in part because it had a kitchen already, so they wouldn’t have to have one built.

“We really need more people working here.” Stiles rocked to his feet.

“I’m working on it. Natalie Martin was interested already, but I’d like a few more witches on staff, too.”

“Dad can help out.”

She smiled as they headed for the kitchen. “He’s bored now that he’s retired.”

“He needs a hobby.”

“Please.” She handed him a broom. “Sprinkle some orange and violet ashes for luck first.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

It wasn’t quite as busy the next day, although they were making an almost equal amount of sales—fewer browsers, Stiles guessed. Around noon, Claudia left him alone to get some coffee and lunch, which was when Derek wandered in. Stiles straightened from the counter and smiled.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” he replied uneasily. “Um, your talismans are still soaking in the first potion.”

Derek looked blank. “Oh, no, that’s not why I’m here, but thanks. I actually—the bell didn’t help,” he blurted.

Stiles frowned.

The woman over in the reading room sneezed, making Derek jump.

“Alright…let’s try an herb bundle.” Stiles rounded the counter. “Something to promote deep sleep, good dreams, some peace….that could help.”

Derek followed him. “I’m willing to try, I’m exhausted and the dreams don’t even make sense.”

“Hmm.” Stiles picked up a mesh sachet and skimmed through the dry herbs, letting his magic pick for him. He sprinkled in lavender, which was an obvious first, a tiny bit of valerian followed by peppermint mostly to disguise the foul scent of the ashes, chamomile, a tiny bit of eryngo, and some gardenia to tie it together, then sealed the bag. “Okay, there’s enough in here for you to sprinkle a tiny bit around your room, and keep the rest in this bag under your pillow while you sleep.” He put the sachet in Derek’s hand.

“You didn’t look at a recipe,” he pointed out.

Stiles frowned, plucking at the hem of his shirt. “Well, I don’t need one for that. I was just…feeling out what seemed right for you.”

“Do you do that for all of your customers?” he asked, smirking. His hair was damp from the chilly rain turning everything gray outside, curling over his forehead.

Stiles focused on a drop forming just above his eye. “No, not really. But none of them have asked,” he added defensively. He crossed his arms. “I was trying-”

“Excuse me. How much is this journal, young man?”

Stiles held his finger up at Derek and went to help the guy in a patchy tweed jacket with the journals. To his surprise, Derek was still waiting when the guy had paid and left. “Yes?”

He lifted the sachet. “I haven’t paid.”

Stiles blinked. “Oh, I—I was giving that to you.” They stood, blinking at each other for a prolonged moment.

Slowly, Derek’s cheeks reddened. His eyes went wide. “Oh, I didn’t realize. Thank—you?”

“No problem.” He smiled. “Did you ever figure out what your uncle wanted the bloodroot for?”

He shook his head. “He just took it and left, didn’t even thank us. He’s been annoyed all day, too, which for Peter means he’s been insufferable.” He turned the sachet over in his hand, then lifted it closer to his face to sniff.

Stiles glanced around the store, but the only person there was the witch in the reading room still. “We have some cookies left from yesterday, want some?”

“Sure.”

Stiles went to get them from the kitchen and poked at the talismans that were gently simmering in a warding potion. The first of three; the next would be applied later that evening. He scooped up the cookies.

Claudia had returned when he got out to the front, asking Derek how his parents were. “The cookies are still good,” she added with a quick smile in Stiles’s direction. “Why don’t you two eat in the kitchen while I watch the store? I can eat after you’re done.” She smiled again. “I got an extra sandwich.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes.

She winked at him and looked at Derek again. “You have time, don’t you, Derek?”

“I…uh, sure.”

“Great!” She thrust the sandwiches at Stiles. “Derek, I hope you like roast beef on rye with mozzarella and onions?”

Derek looked between her and Stiles. “Yes…that’s…my favorite.”

“How lucky,” she chirped.

“Yeah,” Stiles muttered, “lucky.” He glanced at Derek, who looked surprised but not suspicious.

He clearly hadn’t spent enough time around witches.

Stiles took the sandwiches to the kitchen anyway. “You don’t have to stay,” he told Derek. “She’s just…” He didn’t know what she was doing. Teasing him for his two embarrassing encounters with Derek? Being overly friendly? Trying to help Stiles make friends like a shy five year old?

“It’s okay. I was just going to get lunch when I left anyway.” Derek looked around the kitchen, the glass front cabinets and the crockpot simmering on the counter. “I guess customers aren’t really meant to be back here.”

Stiles shrugged and set the sandwiches on the table. He grabbed some napkins, gesturing at the seat closest to Derek. “It’s only our second day open, we don’t have rules yet.”

Derek tucked the sachet into his pocket before he sat and unwrapped his sandwich. “You guys have been selling potions and talismans and stuff for a while though, right?”

“Yep.” Stiles licked mustard off his thumb. “Mom’s been doing it her whole life—before she and my dad got married, she and her parents sold supplies and stuff from their kitchen.” He rotated his wrist. “Beacon Hills is getting bigger and it was getting harder to run all this from our kitchen without overrunning the whole house with it.” Stiles took a minute to eat a few bites, watching with his head lowered as Derek did the same. “Your mom and your brother Sean, your dad Leo and your cousin, I think, Connie, I’ve met them all in passing. Annette, too. Amulets, talismans, potions, herbs, crystals—Connie bought a crystal when she was doing her midterms, more for a worry stone than anything, I think.”

“She still has it,” Derek said with a smile. “She wears it on a chain.”

Stiles smiled, too. “See, I’ve met several of your family members—your pack mates. But you’ve never come for anything.”

Derek shrugged. “Everyone else always had plenty and I never really needed anything.”

“Until now.” Stiles nodded at him, indicating the sachet in his pocket.

Derek flashed a grin. “Until now.”

After Derek left, thanking them for lunch and smiling at Stiles an extra time before he left, Claudia whirled on Stiles, beaming.

“What are you up to?”

“Absolutely nothing, how dare you accuse me of being up to something.” She wiped the counter with a damp rag, a smile playing on her lips.

Stiles wasn’t sure what he was accusing her of quite yet, so he fell quiet. He’d bide his time and get her back later. Three giggling high schoolers came in to ask about love potions and, having already been subjected to the Love Potion Lecture at age seven, and then twelve, Stiles made himself busy straightening the shelves and checking the plants for dry soil.

Claudia went into the back to eat after the girls left, so Stiles was left to deal with Mrs. Howard’s very particular taste in rose quartz for her daughter’s birthday. It wasn’t so bad, not nearly as bad as the PTA parents wanting “luck” potions for a bake sale.

John wandered in when things died down, while Stiles was drawing mindlessly on a legal pad. He leaned over. “Anything good?”

Stiles studied the shape. “Not sure yet.” He added another line. “I think it might need…copper. Amethyst.” He tilted the pad. “Some spirit quartz for an added layer, maybe, to clear things up.” He rubbed his finger over the top curve thoughtfully.

“Who’s it for?”

“Dunno. It just keeps coming to me.” He finally looked up and grinned. “What’re you all dressed up for? I thought you were strictly into jeans these days.”

John ran a hand down the neat button down shirt that he’d paired with a completely wrinkle-free pair of khakis. “I’m here for a job interview,” he said grimly. “Think I got a chance with the boss?”

Stiles grinned. “I dunno, she’s pretty strict.”

Claudia came out of the back wiping her hands on a towel. Her eyes widened. “Well, now, Sheriff, don’t you look handsome.”

Stiles, still grinning, shook his head and hopped off the stool behind the counter to hunt up some of the materials he needed for the amulet he was going to make. Chips of amethyst and flint were his first ingredients, and the rest, he figured, would come to him as needed. It wouldn’t be anything fancy, just copper wrapped around three very small stones in the shape he couldn’t get out of his head.

He rang himself up after he’d gathered a few more things, then put his supplies aside—his tools and the other things he needed were at home.

“What’re you making?” Claudia asked after watching him tuck his bagged purchases away.

“An amulet, I think.”

“Hmm.”

John was across the shop enthusiastically helping a witch select a chain for her new pendulum.

She looked amused despite the fact that John clearly had no idea what to direct her toward.

“He always was better with herbs,” Claudia mused. “I can’t believe he hasn’t picked up more from us after all these years.”

“Maybe he should just run the register.”

“He’s got it.”

Stiles shrugged and went back to his rough sketch, tracing the spirals with his finger.

He spent the evening coiling copper wire at the kitchen table, carefully wrapping it around the smallest piece of pearl dolomite he’d been able to find, then spirit quartz, and finally a tiny piece of flint. The amethyst chips went along the wire, and after that he sprinkled gardenia and lavender ash on it to sit for the night. He studied it; it wasn’t his best work, but not his worst, either. The amulet would need to be charged with his magic to bind it together, and he’d need a chain for it before it could be worn. The amulet itself was small, about the size of a silver dollar.

He left it overnight and took it to the shop the next morning. Stiles and John were handling the front while Claudia retreated, with a miserable growl, to do the accounting.

Her day job, after all, used to be the head of an accounting firm, and she had the most experience. Besides that, she wasn’t ready to hire someone else to take care of it.

“I’m still not sure, this one over here is really beautiful.” The customer indicated a hand painted tarot deck made by a local witch Claudia had grown up with.

“If you’re just starting, a basic deck is the best way to learn how to read the cards.” He smiled. “You can get fancy later, I promise.”

“Well…I suppose you’re right.” She sighed. “My mom said the same thing, and I definitely knew that was the right way to do it, but the hand painted deck is so…” She picked up the deck Stiles had pointed out to her. “Do you guys carry altar cloths? I would like to get a new one.”

Stiles grinned. “We do, actually. Dominic Birch embroidered them, his work is unbelievable.”

After she’d paid and left—with two new journals, an altar cloth, and her tarot deck—John helped a guy pick out a potted aloe plant and Stiles sold three necklaces and a ring.

The bells chimed as he was restocking with more jewelry. “Hi,” he called out, turning.

Derek waved awkwardly and held up a piece of paper. “Peter wants some more stuff.”

“Ah. Did he say what it was for this time?”

“Nope. He’s just as irritated today, too.” He passed the list to Stiles, thumb brushing the back of his hand. He was wearing a blue sweater in concession to the chill hanging in the air, and the fact that the sleeves were just a little too long for him was too much for Stiles. “Oh, hey, I think those herbs you gave me worked, last night I barely had any dreams at all.”

Stiles smiled at him. “That’s great.” He flipped the list over. Buchu, rose, dandelion—dried and ground. Huh. “Did he say how much of this stuff he wants?”

Derek shook his head. “But he did send his debit card, so feel free to ring up as much as you’d like.”

Stiles snickered. “I’d love to, but I think we should try to keep our reputation good, you know, since we’re so new and all.”

Derek snorted. “If he noticed, I doubt he’d say anything anyway. There’s so much going on at home, though, I don’t think he would notice.”

Stiles bagged the herbs as they talked. “What’s going on?”

“Just the usual holiday madness. For our winter celebration, our extended pack—that’s everyone who’s moved away and joined or formed other packs—comes to visit. All three houses are overrun for days.”

Stiles laughed as he tipped a scoop of dried dandelion into a bag. “That sounds awesome.”

“I guess it is, sometimes. That’s why everyone is freaking out, though. It takes a lot to prepare for all those werewolves.” He rubbed the back of his head, sighing. “I’m gonna have to share my room with a couple of my cousins.”

“Aw, didn’t you miss your cousins?”

“No.” He scowled, then sighed. “Yeah, a little bit. There’s just a lot of them—we all end up completely sleep deprived by the end.” He took the bags Stiles held out. “But it is fun. You guys should stop by. The festivities start on the twentieth.”

“You make it sound like a carnival,” Stiles laughed as he walked him to the counter.

“More like a circus,” he muttered. “But I swear it’s fun, and there’s enough food to feed at least three armies.”

“Won’t your family mind if we crash a family gathering?”

“No, I’m pretty sure my mom invites Claudia every year, only she always had plans.”

“Yeah, we usually do year end rituals and stuff, but I can probably, uh, stop by. If you wanted.” He studiously avoided the way John was looking at him while he rang up Derek’s purchases.

Derek beamed at him. “That’d be great.”

Stiles smiled. In his pocket, the amulet grew warm, then hot. His hand jumped to it, closing around the wire, and his eyes widened. “Should—should I bring…anything?”

“Just yourself. Maybe some earplugs. Aunt Nettie’s sister-in-law just had triplets.” Derek grinned at John. “Sheriff, you and Mrs. Stilinski are more than welcome, too. My mom will probably be calling sometime tomorrow or the next day to invite you herself.”

John smiled. “Maybe we’ll stop by this year.” His gaze inched over to Stiles and his smile stretched into a grin. “Just to make sure Stiles stays out of trouble.”

“Very funny,” Stiles muttered. “I’m an angel.”

“Lying is a sin, angel.”

Stiles, unable to flip him off, stuck his tongue out, and got a pitying look in response. He remembered Derek a second later and flushed, whipping around so his back was to John. “Uh, uh—let me know how—if the weird dreams come back,” he stammered. “We can try something else.” He cast around for something else to say as they inched away from the counter and noticed Derek’s bag. “Your uncle isn’t…trying to see the future, is he?”

“No idea.” Derek peered into the bag. “Why, is that what this stuff is for?”

Stiles tilted his hand side to side. “They can be used for a few different things, but yeah, divination and visions are some of the more popular things.” He shook his head. “Not that it matters, it’s not a big deal. Plenty of people use herbs for prophetic visions,” he assured him. “Us, we prefer crystals if we’re trying to see something.”

“Do you look into the future often?”

Stiles shook his head and met Derek’s gaze. “I prefer to be surprised. The future can change, so what’s the point in worrying about one vision you saw once, by chance, that might not even happen?”

Derek’s lips quirked. “Speaking from experience?”

He glanced back at his dad automatically; Claudia had joined him at the counter, their heads tipped together as they spoke. “Yeah, I peeked and I didn’t…” He shook his head again. “Doesn’t matter, it’s already changed.” He smiled at Derek.

“What kind of magic do you use, if you don’t try to see the future?”

He lifted his shoulders. “All kinds, I guess.”

“What are you good at?”

He laughed. “You want me to brag about my skills?” He waggled his fingers.

“Yeah.”

Stiles laughed again, he couldn’t help it. “Well, I’m pretty good with water-based magic, and my telekinetic prowess is, if I do say so myself, pretty awesome.”

“You’ll have to give me a demonstration sometime.”

Stiles nodded and lifted his hand, palm up. Water formed on his fingers and slid down, gathering into a ball. He flexed his fingers. It froze solid.

“Okay, that was impressive.”

“A Stilinski, flirting by showing off, why am I not surprised.” Mavis’s voice made Stiles jump, the ice ball flying out of his grasp. “How utterly predictable.”

Derek snatched the ball before it could hit the ground and shatter.

“Mischief, you are just like your mother, I swear. You can do better than that to impress the man. Claudia,” she called in her croaking voice, “did you see what Mischief was doing?” She shuffled away from them.

Stiles covered his eyes. “Good gods.”

Derek mouthed, “Mischief?” but dropped it when Stiles shook his head. “Well, I thought it was impressive.” He held out the ice.

Stiles closed his hands over it. “There’s no reason to do big spells indoors, Mavis.”

“Balls of ice aren’t impressive, Mischief.”

He rolled his eyes at Derek. “I’ll see you later, I have to go chase an old lady with a broom.”

He laughed. “Good luck.”

Stiles finished the amulet on his break, holding his hand over it and binding the ingredients together, all the pieces, the copper, the flint, the quartz, the dolomite and amethyst, with his magic. He found a black chain he thought went well with the copper triskelion and attached it, then stared at the completed piece. It’d come to him for a reason, amulets usually did, but he just couldn’t figure out who it was meant for.

Claudia put the Hales talismans in the last potion while he was still staring at it. “Looks good. What made you use a triskelion?”

“I’m not sure, it just…came to me.” He shrugged. While Claudia had always had an instinct for talismans, Stiles had the same instinct for amulets, the shapes and materials often coming to him and hovering in his mind, behind his eyes, like he’d stared at a light too long. She’d found him making them enough throughout his life to know he hadn’t made it for himself.

“Have you figured out who it’s for?”

Her tone made him look up, eyes narrowed. “No…why?”

She poked at the talismans, then covered them again. “Well, the triskelion is the Hale pack’s symbol. They use it to identify their pack.”

Stiles looked at the amulet. “Huh.”

“Maybe you made it for Derek,” she teased.

“Mother, are you implying something?”

“Just that he keeps coming here…daily…and that he invited you to his family gathering.” She shrugged. She had an ivy leaf caught in her hair from that morning.

“He’s just being friendly.”

She snorted. “Laura, maybe, Nettie absolutely, but from what I’ve noticed, friendly is an optional trait in the Hales and they don’t bother unless they think you’re worth it.” She held her hands up. “Could be he just likes you as a friend, that’s true.” Her eyes gleamed. “But I say you take that amulet over on the twentieth and see if he says no when you ask him out.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“If he turns you down, I will admit I was wrong, somehow.”

“Not good enough.”

She tapped her fingers on the table. “If I’m wrong, what would you like?”

“Grandpa’s book of charms.”

“Oh, Stiles.” She shook her head. “They’re messy.”

“Blood?”

She held her fingers a half inch apart. “But it’s more in the mud and clay and wet ashes way. Trust me. Messy.”

“I want them.”

She put her hands up. “Fine, since I’m sure I’m right, if Derek shoots you down, I will dig out your grandfather’s book of charms. Only if I’m wrong. If he accepts, you do Laura Hale’s interview. She wants to work here,” she added with a smile.

“That’s absolutely not on the same level.”

“Those are my conditions.”

“Ugh, fine. Are you and Dad going?”

She smoothed the wrinkles out of her black and pink dress, smiling serenely at him. “We have to be there, dear, it’s only polite.” She turned on her heel, ponytail swishing as she left.

“You’ve got ivy in your hair!” he shouted after her. He looked down at the amulet. “Damn it.” He needed to find a box for it now.

The twentieth arrived before Stiles was fully prepared. They’d been busy with people coming for ritual kits, herbs, potions, and gifts, enough that they could consider their first two weeks of being open a resounding success. Stiles found a decorative cherry wood box with a small raven carved into the side to put the amulet in, on a bed of gardenia and lavender, and dressed casually for the party.

Cora at Mocha Latte Memories turned out to be another Hale that Stiles hadn’t met and had told him to just show up whenever. “The dress code?” she’d repeated blankly when he’d asked. “Uh…casual. We’re a mess, don’t worry about it. Some of the littler kids probably won’t even be dressed.” She’d shrugged. “Shifters, you know.”

So Stiles wasn’t sure what to expect as he headed to the Hale property. It used to be just one house, but they’d added two more to accommodate their growing pack. Stiles hadn’t seen it in a while—not since he was a teenager, wandering the preserve at night with Scott and Heather, being stupid—so the sight of about twenty extra cars and a camper clogging the long driveway and part of the yard, plus about six people on the wrap around porch just chatting, was something of a surprise.

Stiles parked behind a blue SUV and turned the jeep off deliberately slow. He stared at the little box on his passenger seat and sighed.

John and Claudia had come over earlier, just after noon, but Stiles had managed to procrastinate so long that he now had to arrive alone. Maybe he could just sit here until he spotted Derek and act like he’d just arrived.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

‘Coming in at any point, son?’

Stiles scowled. He figured blocking her wouldn’t work, so he just shoved it back in his pocket, swiped the box, and got out. He had to weave through several cars to get to the yard, where he could see a flattened path from everyone walking the same route.

Behind him, someone shouted, “Quit it!”

He turned.

Fifteen feet away, Derek got tackled by a tall, skinny werewolf with short dark hair.

Stiles tensed, but it wasn’t until another werewolf, shorter, partially shifted and snarling through long fangs, joined in that he started running. “Hey!”

Derek snarled and rolled, but the shifted werewolf bit his ear, making him yelp, while the other sat on his legs to pin him down.

“Hey!” Stiles shouted again. He stopped before any of those flailing claws or fangs could hit him and studied the ball of werewolves.

Someone up on the porch noticed them and snickered.

Stiles flinched when blood spattered the grass, a yelp coming from the bottom of the pile. He rolled his eyes and put his free hand out, then swept it aside.

The taller werewolf tumbled aside, landing on his butt a couple feet away.

Stiles caught the other one and flicked him away, too, leaving Derek disheveled and a little bloody. Stiles turned to the two that’d tackled him and shook his head. “Two on one is shameful,” he scolded. He could see now that they were teenagers; their partial shifts had made them look older, but as the fangs and tufted ears melted away, they looked young.

The taller one looked petulant while the other simply looked mortified.

“He drank our hot chocolate!” the tall one snapped.

“Uh—what?”

Derek sat up. “You can’t prove that.” Blood trailed down his cheek, but the cut had, thankfully, already healed.

“It’s always you,” the embarrassed one piped up. “Uncle Peter says you keep stealing his coffee, too.”

Derek’s ears went red. “He’s exaggerating.” He looked up at Stiles sheepishly. “I always refill the cups after. I’m just useless in the morning.”

“You’re always useless.”

“Markus,” a man on the porch snapped.

He rolled his eyes. “Sorry.” He looked at Stiles. “How’d you do that?”

“He’s a witch, dummy.”

“Todd,” the man scolded.

Todd held his hands up. “But he is.” He squinted at Stiles. “Right?”

“Right.”

Todd smirked at Marcus.

Stiles held his hand out to help Derek up. “Brawling with teenagers?”

“They hit me first.” He smiled. “I thought you’d decided not to come when your parents showed up without you.”

Stiles shook his head. “Just running behind.”

Derek nodded, fighting a huge yawn that nearly wrenched his jaw apart.

He lifted his brows. “Dreams again?”

He nodded. “They came back a couple days ago.” He looked toward the house, ears going red. “You were in them this time, even though they still don’t make sense.”

Todd rolled his eyes and pulled Markus to his feet. “Stop stealing everyone’s drinks!”

“I thought it was Peter’s coffee,” he admitted. “I didn’t mean to steal your hot chocolate.”

Markus rolled his eyes. “Make your own coffee, jeeze, Uncle Peter’s right. You are nose blind.”

“I am not!”

Stiles prodded Derek’s shoulder. “Excuse me, did you just say you’ve been drinking your uncle’s coffee?”

Todd nodded, aggrieved. “Derek steals everyone’s drinks, every year.”

He looked guilty. “Only when it’s really early, and I always refill the mug, brats.” That last bit was directed at his cousins, who were clearly unconvinced.

“You do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“You can sleep in Cora’s room tonight,” Derek hissed.

Stiles shared an exasperated look with Todd, though he was sure Todd was more bothered by the hot chocolate theft than he was. He had a bigger problem. “Derek.”

“Yeah.”

He tried to think of a nice way to phrase it, but… “Are you, possibly, nose blind?”

Todd and Markus cackled.

Derek looked insulted. “No!”

Stiles pinched the bridge of his nose. “Uncle Peter is the uncle who’s been sending you to get potion ingredients from my shop, right?”

“Yea—ah, fuck.”

Markus’s mouth opened in a wide, wide grin. “I’m telling Aunt Talia.”

Todd’s hand shot out, catching his shirt. “Derek can buy our silence.”

Markus’s eyes went even brighter, delighted.

He glared at them. “What do you want?”

“Take us to the potion place.”

“Excuse me?”

“We never get to go to witch stores, we want to buy magic potions.” The boys looked excited by the mere idea, breathless at the power that was just in their reach.

Stiles leaned around Derek. “If you go find Miss Claudia in the house, she’ll tell you all about magic potions. That way when Derek takes you, you know which one to pick.”

They looked at each other, smirking, then ran for the house.

He straightened up. “That lecture should keep them busy for at least twenty minutes.” He swung back around to Derek. “You’ve been drinking coffee laced with potions.”

“Apparently.”

“Potions for prophetic dreams.”

“Yep.”

“Then refilling the cup before anyone noticed the coffee was gone.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Which means your uncle has been drinking regular coffee thinking it was laced with potions, and probably getting annoyed that it’s not working—stop laughing!” But Stiles was laughing, too. “This is serious, you could’ve poisoned yourself.”

He shook his head as he wheezed. “Peter’s been so pissed lately, and it turns out it’s because his experiments aren’t working—because I’ve been drinking them.” He shook his head, overcome.

“Didn’t he—no, you said he didn’t tell you guys what it was for.” Stiles rolled his eyes. The cold was starting to seep under his jacket finally, chilling him.

“No, he didn’t. Serves him right for not telling us what he was making us run errands for.”

Stiles lifted a brow at him.

“Hey, I got my payback by losing sleep.”

“Somehow that doesn’t seem to compare.” Stiles looked at the box in his hand and sighed. “When was the last time you drank his coffee?”

“Yesterday morning,” he admitted sheepishly, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and shuffling his feet. They were barely an arms’ length apart, over the muddy disturbed grass where he’d been wrestling with his cousins. He scratched drying blood off his temple.

“You’ve probably got another couple nights before the dreams wear off.”

He nodded. “Hey, I’m—I’m glad you came over.” He smiled shyly.

Stiles smiled back. “Me too. Now I know why none of my usual tricks worked for your weird dreams.” He tapped his finger on the box. “You don’t remember any of them?”

“Nothing that makes sense.” He shrugged.

Too bad. He shook it off and held the box out. “I brought this for you.”

“Thank you.” He took it carefully, tilting it so he could see the carving on the side. He traced it gently with one fingertip. “You guys are fond of ravens, I guess.”

“They’re a thing with my mom’s family. And they’re good friends.” He shrugged. “You don’t have to wait ’til sundown to open it, you know.”

Derek made a show of examining every inch of the box before he pried it open. His lashes fluttered. “You made this.” Not a question, no surprise. A fact.

“How’d you guess?”

He lifted his gaze. “I can feel it. You weren’t kidding about your magic being powerful. Can I wear it now?”

“Of course, I made it for you to wear.” Stiles had to look away, his neck prickling. He normally didn’t make a big deal of his amulets and the receivers of them typically followed his lead. He didn’t know what to do with such gravity. When he looked up, Derek was wearing the amulet around his neck, the triskelion resting just beneath his collar bones.

“How’s it look?”

Stiles nodded. “Pretty good,” he squeaked. He looked over his shoulder, but everyone who’d been on the porch was gone. He took a deep breath. “Well, now that I’ve given you fancy jewelry…”

“A protective amulet,” Derek corrected, cupping his hand over it as if he was shielding it.

“Right. I was—I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out on a date. Maybe get coffee from somewhere your sister doesn’t work.” He caught his breath and reminded himself that either way this went, he would get something he wanted.

He just, maybe, wanted to date Derek more than he wanted that book of charms.

Derek smiled. “Sure, that sounds great.” He lifted his gaze and winced. “But, uh, first we have to survive this.” He pointed.

Claudia and Talia were watching from the door, both grinning, while noses pressed against nearly every window around them.

“We could make a run for it,” Stiles said out of the corner of his mouth. “I think I can hold the door closed from here and we can make it to the jeep.”

“You can’t run from every problem.”

“I am fast enough to out run most of them,” he pointed out.

Derek caught his hand, twined their fingers together, and tugged him up toward the house. “There’s not that many of them in this house—most of them are out in the backyard.”

“Your mom is in there,” he whined.

Claudia winked.

“My mom is in there,” he added under his breath.

They laughed together and moved out of the doorway, linking arms and heading toward the kitchen, by the looks of it.

Stiles squeezed Derek’s hand. “Because you didn’t shoot me down, I have to give your sister a job interview.”

“If you can survive this, interviewing Laura will be nothing.” Derek kissed the back of his hand, making him flush all over, before he went into the house.

“Derek!” a man growled, followed by a yelp and a thud.

Stiles shook his head and went inside to save him from Peter’s wrath.

[rewoundcircuit]

Monotheatre 2 | The High Priestess’s Final Duel

tw: heights

Everything must come to an end.

With the press of a button, a robotic arm launches out and comes to whisk the convicted party away back into the recess it had come from. It's done with an even faster rate and velocity than it seemed to have been done the last time, though maybe you're imagining that difference. It's been a couple of days since you last saw this agent of death; could a few days alone make memories seem that much more cloudy?

With the absence of Ikuko comes a swift replacement in the form of the screens in the center of the room lighting up. They at first show only a blank white flash before you see a dark, grey room. Could this be another warehouse space?

Nothing seems to be happening for a couple of minutes, staying at a constant frame. It's hard to even tell it's video footage with how still it is. However, a large electrical noise comes from the above and the camera shifts, rotating swiftly to the source.

Out of the ceiling comes out a platform. It looks like it came straight out of a sci-fi film; it's a metal open elevator with a light-up blue tiling floor that is small, barely enough to fit a single person. It smoothly descends on its supports at the corners, a chain moving behind it. On the platform itself you can see Ikuko as she rises to her feet, using the fencing around her platform to help herself up. It also appears as if on her arm is some kind of toy? Oh, a duel disk.

The camera takes the opportunity to look around a bit, though it's clearly fixed in whatever location it is, only rotating. There's a large square hole beneath Ikuko's platform which has now suspended about three-fourths the room's height above said hole. Between the hole and wherever this camera is is a light-up grid composed of tiling similar to flooring of Ikuko's elevator.

Bizarrely enough, that's not where it finishes as the viewpoint goes a complete 180 away from your so-called "murderer." There's a large, red button low on a wall behind where this camera had initially been looking at but more noteworthy is the sight of a pale hand reaching down to take a duel disk almost identical to the one Ikuko had been fashioned with. The mystery person picks it up off the railing of their own platform and after a bit turns back around.

When the camera returns to its original angle, it's just in time to show you Ikuko's expression turn into one of surprise. Perhaps the music playing deafens her, but one can imagine that she might have been gasping or maybe that guess in itself is completely wrong but it doesn't matter.

Numbers flicker until they are hologrammed clearly for you all. '8000' it displays next to Ikuko and backwards next to your mystery player's. This number also matches the one depicted on your cameraperson's duel disk.

And with that the game begins.

The screens flicker a bit and when it stabilizes, you realize you're no longer bound to the perspective of the mystery person you had once been. You're closer to Ikuko, aimed more at her than at the scenery around. If you believed this would give you a glimpse of her opponent, that turns out false when it's revealed a hologram of a large monster is in front of their lift, obscuring them from view.

It's a bit hard to follow the game without a commentator or even worse if you don't have an understanding of the rules, but by the scowl growing on your classmate's face, you gather this isn't a fair one. Any card drawn from her deck seems to be not Yu-Gi-Oh! cards but rather the same tarot cards that have been displayed by your two chaperones.

Placing them on her disk either portrait or landscape style doesn't seem to produce any holograms the same way her opponent's do. The projection of the creature moves and draws its sword down on your peer. Of course, as artificial as it is, its blade doesn't cause her to flinch but the next thing you know, the 8000 next to her drops down to 5500.

That rolling number seems to trigger something with Ikuko's platform. It plummets, the sudden movement of it seeming to knock the champ off her balance briefly but she saves herself by grasping onto the support rail around her. Still, although she saved herself from that first surprise, that doesn't stop it from coming back as with no usable cards in her hand, Ikuko cannot defend herself against the onslaught of attacks in the turns that follow.

5500.

3000.

500.

Her number drops and drops, closer and closer to an uncertain fate but whatever it is, it can't be good news. After all, you had all seen what had happened to ZenZen. If she were to be given a punishment just like him, then even if the presentation wasn't the same, surely that still meant the same end result.

The aura of futility begins to cloud and dawn and with the rate that the math is going, it would only take one more attack against a defenseless Ikuko to take that number down to below zero.

Maybe it's a desperation born out of knowing she's about to lose if she can't figure out something and fast, but whatever motivates her, you watch as the champion removes the duel disk attached to her arm and chucks it forward with a tremendous force and speed. She's no SHSL athlete of any kind but fate might as well have made her one in that moment. It's a stroke of luck no different from a miracle but the contraption hits the big red button from before with enough accuracy and force to actually press it. It could be a sweet turn, a last-ditch attempt at breaking out of this fate...!

Instead, the floor beneath Ikuko's feet collapses to hang at the sides of the platform, leaving nothing for her to stand on, and she plummets down into the hole below. It's deep but you soon see a spray of blood coming up, indicating her fall.

Though you can't see her, you're left with the knowledge that her gamble made upon intuition, made upon hope, would be her last-- that no matter how anything worked, she was doomed from the start to the grave they had made her.

Ikuko Ueno, the Super High-School Level Yu-Gi-Oh! Champion, has been executed.

[aventurasdeunatortuga]

Alona Beach Okay, picking up where we left off last time, I had been posting but I realized none of them went through so here is a mega post. We've been in Alona Beach for 4 days, here is what has happened Day 1 -Much to our shock and amazement we were woken up at 6am to find a police officer and our cab driver from the previous night at our door, and lo and behold the cab driver had my phone and returned it! He apologized for not having 'reported it'? I have noooo idea what transpired there or why a cop was there but I was just beyond shocked that the phone had made its way back to us. Faith in humanity restored. -So this place is a little confusing. We are staying in the "town" and I say that very loosely of Alona Beach, which is on the teeny tiny island of Panglao. This island is connected via bridge to the slightly larger island of Bohol, whose city is Tagbilaran. We had to get to Tagbilaran to go to the visa place so we got on the back of a motorbike (me, Emily, and the driver on one bike) to take us there. It started completely POURING down rain while we were going and it was a crazy ride to say the least. -We spent the morning in the town of Tagbilaran figuring out our visa extension, and we got it all done in about an hour. It did not take THREE DAYS like the office in Cebu City had told us. After that we went to the mall and then back to Alona Beach where we spent the afternoon on the beach watching the sunset, we had dinner along the beach after that. Day 2 -The next day we spent all day at the beach. It was a lot sunnier than the day before and the water was crystal clear it was amazing, I've never seen water that clear before. We saw lots of giant starfish. We also got badly sunburned, even though we were in the shade most of the time. Oh well. We had dinner at an Italian Asian fusion restaurant which was interesting. Day 3 - On this day we initially were going to rent a motorbike for the day to drive around Bohol but then it quickly became clear that we did not know how to drive one and it wasn't one of those fake it til you make it type things. So instead we hired a tricycle to take us around for the day. Here tricycles are essentially tuk-tuks, a motorbike with a big sidecar attached and a roof and windshield. -We drove first to the Tarsier Sanctuary in the village of Corella. Tarsier are teeny tiny primates that only live on Bohol and they are known for their gigantic eyes and very cute appearance. They kinda look like a bushbaby. There are very few of them left, because unfortunately due to their extremely acute hearing and vision they are horribly sensitive to external stimuli. In the wild they sleep all day and hunt insects at night but tourists now constantly wake them up and make loud noises and flash cameras in their eyes. This causes them enormous distress and it becomes so unbearable for them that they bang their very fragile, thin skulls into walls of the cages people put them in until they die; essentially committing suicide. The sanctuary we visited is the only place which tries to conserve the tarsiers in captivity and keep them from becoming overstimulated but protected from predators. They only have 6 tarsiers there. They live in a fenced off wood without cages where everyone has to be dead silent the entire time and not get too close to them or put stuff if their face. They were very cute animals but gosh I was worried about those poor things. After seeing the tarsiers we rode across Bohol to see the Chocolate Hills. They are called this because in dry season they turn dark brown and are such strange, unnatural looking shapes they look like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but they are completely natural and no one really knows how or why they are there. The road was very steep and twisty and it downpoured again and again. We drove through rice paddies and villages and through a "man made forest" (whatever that means?) which looked exactly like a forest in Oregon. When we got to the hills we climbed to the top of one of the hills to look out and it was so surreal looking; it was like we were on another planet. Hundreds of these comically round mounds sticking straight up out of the ground just went on and on. After we made it back to our hotel we got in about 30 minutes of relaxing before the power went out. We had no idea what had happened until the next day because everything was cut off. No internet or lights or AC or anything. Restaurants had to shut down, the only lights were those from motorbikes. We thought it would just last an hour or so but its lasted over two days now. We found out later through a series of alert texts to our thankfully returned Filipino phone that there had been a 6.7 earthquake about 300 miles northwest of here in Northwest Visayas. (Visayas is the collection of over a thousand islands that make up the center of the country, Alona Beach is in South Central Visayas). Anyway it was a big earthquake and the power supply for all of Visayas was located on the island where it happened and so those are shut down until further notice. They apparently got 1 out of 3 of the power supplies back up and are doing rotational brown/blackouts throughout Visayas for the time being (so we get 2ish hours of power, then it goes off for 4 hours, then back on, etc..). Apparently this happens a lot so most buildings have big scary sounding backup generators that sometimes but not always work. So we've been on and off the grid for the past 2 days, it's been a minor inconvenience but fine. We went and got dinner at the dark beach and everyone was still in a pretty good mood. There was candlelight and some places had generators and gas stoves so they could still serve food. We watched a huge lightening storm over the ocean while we ate. It was a nice evening. Day 4: The power was off all last night and it was like 100 degrees in our room, we couldn't open anything to let in air because mosquitoes. We slept on and off. At like 10am we got some breakfast, slept again because the power was back on for a bit, then went to go get lunch. At lunch a cloud of mosquitoes attacked me (I got like 7 bites in about 5 minutes) and I had an allergic reaction to it. Usually when I get bit by mosquitoes I swell up a bit at the site of the bite and it is fairly swollen for a few hours at least and will go away on its own but I think because I got so many at once it was too much and my whole entire foot started swelling up really big and painful and I couldnt fit in my sandals anymore. So we left our lunch half eaten and limped to a pharmacy and bought a single antihistamine pill (apparently they are sold by the pill here?) for 8 cents. We decided to go to the movies to get some AC and escape from the bugs, so not five minutes after getting the antihistamine we hopped on the back of another motorbike to take us to Tagbilaran to the mall. The wind and sitting on the bike and the pill made my foot calm down. We were going so fast my hat blew off! I had assumed it was gone but before I knew it, someone on another motorbike had found it on the road, somehow knew it was mine, caught up to us, honked and then handed it back to us as they drove by waving and smiling. I was so flabbergasted. People really do go out of their way to be so nice here. When we got to town we got stuck in the most insane traffic jam of hundreds of motorbike, tricycles, the occasional cars and some random pedestrians walking down the middle of the road. Literally the craziest traffic of my life including Mexico City. We realized after the fact that we had been dropped at the wrong mall and had to wander around the crazy streets and traffic for two blocks until we found it. It was like that scene in Mulan when the grandmother is crossing the road. There was just absolute chaos in the streets but for pedestrians the rule is to just close your eyes, put your hand up, and go and people will go around you (its crazy traffic but everyone is going at like 3mph) If you hesitate thats actually worse because it clogs up the flow. We got there and fought through five stories of karaoke singers and zumba dancers and shops to get to the movie theater. We got our ticket and watched the new Spiderman movie. After the experience of getting there, an action movie was pretty relaxing honestly. We got back pretty uneventfully and have been in our powerless hotel ever since. We're leaving Alona Beach first thing in the morning. While it has been beautiful here I do think it is time for us to move on. It certainly has been anything but dull. We are going to the biggest Filipino island (there are over 7,100 islands in the Philippines total) tomorrow, Luzon, where we will be for the next 2.5 weeks. It is where Manila is although we aren't going to stay there. We are going to be in the mountains mostly, first going to stay next to a lake/volcano in Tagaytay and then after that at some rice terraces in Bananue. Yesterday while the power was out I was reading my book about the Philippines and just man, this country has been through A LOT. I won't go through it all but it has not caught a break since the 1500's. They were colonized by the Spanish for 350 years and treated brutally by them (kept in essentially medieval serfdom by the monks and forbidden from education), became independent from the Spanish in a violent revolution only to be immediately taken over by the Americans. While the Americans treated the Filipinos better than the Spanish and installed basic infrastructure and schools; they manipulated the Filipinos to their advantage in just about every way they could think of. They granted them independence in the early 20th century, but continued to occupy it. In WWII they were forced by the Americans into conflict with the Japanese and were absolutely crushed. Manila was practically obliterated and the Philippines was forced to surrender to Japan and the Japanese did like death marches and horrible stuff to them. The city of Manila has been compared to Hiroshima and Warsaw as far as level of destruction caused by WWII. Then after that, a brutal dictatorship until 1989-ish. Now the dictatorship has been overthrown but there is a corrupt government, rampant poverty, limited infrastructure and education, and constant economic and political manipulation by the US and China. Not to mention volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. So through all of that the Filipinos have every right to be angry and bitter; but all of that hardship has just made them kind. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and time and again they have shown that they will go beyond out of their way to take care of us and of each other and make the best of whatever is going on. Like our minor island wide power outage today. Sure businesses shut down and there was no electricity or internet for a couple days but they made it work and took care of each other and didn't let it get them down. It was just a minor inconvenience and people figured it out. Everyone has been happy and singing karaoke and there to lend a helping hand to their neighbors. Because while the government may not have their back, they will always no matter what have each other's backs. Until tomorrow,

[2traveldads-blog]

It’s rare that just one of us dads gets to escape for a trip with just one of the kids. It happened though!! It really did! Oliver (our oldest) and I (Rob) got to take an adventure down to Tempe, Arizona and it was the perfect bonding trip that we needed. Tempe was the ideal spot for us with nonstop outdoors and kid-focused activities. Tempe with kids = best idea ever.  Tempe engaged us to go explore and share our experience and huzzah we loved it!

It might seem strange to go to a small city, such as Tempe, but it’s actually smart travel. When you hit up a spot like San Francisco or Miami you’re going to be faced with lots of skyscrapers and fancy food. Tempe with kids fit us just right for keeping things mellow and fun (and still great food). Check it out!

Locale of Tempe, Arizona

A lot of people fly through Phoenix (PHX) for work or as a general travel hub, and if you’ve got a long layover or want to add an easy adventure to a work trip, Tempe is super easy for that. Located about fifteen minutes east of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport you are really close to whatever else you’ve got planned.

Tempe is in that spot that’s kind of Phoenix and kind of Chandler, so making it a home base just makes sense. Also, Tempe is on the light rail line that connects the communities of Downtown and ASU with the east and west sides, and actually all the way into Phoenix. Easy breezy.

Tempe with Kids: exploring the desert

We do a lot of hiking no matter where we go, and doing Tempe with kids was going to be no exception. Thank goodness Tempe is set right between a bunch of mountains. Actually, they’re hills but people in Arizona don’t have Mt Rainier or Olympic National Parks in their backyards so they don’t understand what mountains are. I say that in love. 😉

Desert Botanical Garden

Visiting botanical gardens is kind of our thing. Madison, Wisconsin has an amazing one at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, and then there’s the Bloedel Reserve right by our house, and then also Buchart Gardens in Victoria just north of us. But none of them are comparable to the Desert Botanical Garden. Wow, just wow.

We love cactus, and its allure and beautiful flowers are one of the reasons we love the desert. The Desert Botanical Garden are a must when you do Tempe with kids for the sheer thrill of spikes and flowers all around. In addition to the cactus varieties from around the world (and Arizona) there’s an impressive collection of art (rotating), a beautiful butterfly pavilion, and tours and education programs to up your game when it comes to desert flora. We could’ve spent hours wandering the maze of amazing desert beauty.

Tip: there is a restaurant, Gertrude’s Restaurant, at the Desert Botanical Gardens, so if you want to make a day of it, you can easily do so.

Hiking Papago Park

Desert hiking couldn’t have been more perfect if I had designed this awesome park myself. Papago Park is part of the City of Phoenix Parks, but it’s right next to Tempe so the ten minute drive from our hotel was a no-brainer and had to be a part of our visit. The red rocks that rise up out of the desert are truly unique. Sandstone wears in such an interesting way depending on the elements, and the combination of wind and rain in the Tempe/Papago area has really done a number on the red rocks.

We did two hikes in Papago Park: Hole in the Rock and Double Butte Loop. Hole in the rock was really easy and is kind of a must if you’re doing Tempe with kids. The short half mile loop takes you around some rocky outcroppings and up the backside of the formation. Erosion has left several large holes and caves in the face and it’s really cool (for adults and kids).

The second hike, Double Butte Loop, was very different as we moved through dry creek beds and mounds of cactus. Ultimately we could’ve headed up around the larger formation but opted for the valley instead. We had views of the red rocks all around us, cactus silhouetted in the sun, and the perfect picnic spot at the end. Next time we’ll hike higher to explore some of the caves.

Tip: when you’re hiking on rocky terrain, particularly when it’s dry, the paths can be quite slippery with loose rock. Just be careful that you don’t get hurt going up or down a hill.

More hikes around Tempe

We didn’t get to do all of the hiking we wanted to, but it just makes it onto our list for next time. Other cool hikes to do in Tempe with kids include hiking A Mountain (with the big ASU “A” on it), hiking South Mountain (a cool preserve area) and Camelback just outside of Tempe. A great app to have on your phone if you’re looking for more cool hikes is All Trails. It’s available on iPhone and Android and helps us out quite often when we’re in new places.

Reminders for hiking safety in the desert

Desert hiking is different from being in the rainforest. When you’re hiking in the desert you need to be prepared for the heat. Even if you don’t realize it, your body is drying out with every moment and you need to be hydrating constantly. Also, healthy snacks are more important than ever when you’re hiking through the rocks. Keeping up the electrolytes for both yourself and the kids is super important.

Last little safety tip: stay on the trail and watch for wildlife that might ruin your hike. There are many varieties of rattlesnakes and scorpions in the Arizona desert, so keeping your eyes peeled both on and off the trail is extra important.

Tip: check out our article on hiking safety tips for other things to keep in mind for a safe and awesome hike.

A non-desert experience: kayaking

Believe it or not there is actually a river that flows through Tempe. The Salt River, or Rio Salado, is nearly dry for most of the year. There are portions of the river that are dammed so there are some lakes, such as Tempe Town Lake. We rented a tandem kayak from Tempe Boat Rentals on the south shore of the lake, just off the main drag of downtown.

The sights were really cool and totally different for us. We do a lot of kayaking on rivers and lakes in the middle of nowhere, so doing urban kayaking was new! We got to go under four different bridges and enjoyed watching the town’s crew teams practicing. If you’re doing Tempe with kids this is a great activity either in the early morning or late afternoon. Getting on the water is such a great addition to any trip.

Tempe with Kids: fun and learning!

It can be difficult to find kid-focused activities when you’re so used to just hitting up a city and rolling with the punches, but Tempe made that so easy. We didn’t have a moment of boredom in our three days of fun.

Legoland Discovery Center Arizona

Anybody who’s met our kids knows that Legos are basically their purpose in life. We visited the Legoland Discovery Center and having to leave was heartbreaking. You enter and immediately get to learn about Lego design and how they create the incredible brick structures you can build at home… and then it’s Lego-mania.

From really impressive Lego scenes of the Arizona desert to bins and bins of Legos, it was Oliver’s dream destination. We built rockets in the Space Shuttle area and raced cars on the test tracks. We even rode an attraction similar to Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblasters in Disneyland. The Legoland Discovery Center was everything we hoped it would be.

Tip: if you’re not going to make it to the Legoland Discovery Center (or another Legoland location), keep your eye out for BrickCon or similar Lego events. It’s a convention of Lego enthusiasts who create remarkable Lego structures and designs. Is there one in your city?

SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium

We’ve become pretty picky about aquariums since we’ve visited so many over the years. I don’t know if anything will be as cool as the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, but there are some great ones doing important work. At SEA LIFE Arizona there are some wonderful educational exhibits as well as a focus on rehabilitation and recovery. We saw two green sea turtles who are a part of their recovery program and they were looking great! While an aquarium in Arizona seemed strange at first, it’s actually a great addition to your plans if you’re doing Tempe with kids.

Because it is a smaller aquarium, SEA LIFE Arizona doesn’t have all the fancy bells and whistles the Georgia Aquarium or others might, but it’s actually in many respects easier to visit with kids. Being lesser-known visitors have very easy access to exhibits like the touch tanks or undersea tubes. You can actually take your time to enjoy the animals and learn something instead of being rushed through. Can you tell we visit a lot of aquariums?

Tip: plan your day to include both SEA LIFE Arizona and the Legoland Discovery Center. They are directly next to one another and doing one without the other may seem like torture for kids.

The Phoenix Zoo

We don’t write much about zoos because it’s rare that we find one we enjoy or genuinely approve of. The Phoenix Zoo is worth sharing though. With much larger exhibits than many zoos we’ve been to, the animals seemed to be more active and relaxed in comparison to some others. Also, the animals that are part of rescue and rehabilitation programs are clearly noted and there is staff on hand to answer any questions about their programs.

Note: the Phoenix Zoo also is home to a threatened species breeding program where they actively work to preserve and bolster certain animal populations in the wild.

We ended up having a science lesson at the zoo…

And it may not be a permanent installation at the Phoenix Zoo, but the Dinosaurs in the Desert exhibit was awesome. Winding your way through the hilly desert zone, all kinds of robotic dinosaurs greet you, growling and gnarling… and moving. We really enjoyed meeting a baby triceratops (a puppet) and getting to be so close to the life-sized dinosaur replicas. It was an A+ exhibit in our book.

Tip: the Phoenix Zoo has several different ticket price structures, so take a moment to consider how much time you want to spend there and what activities in addition to the general animal exhibits you’ll want to do.

Dining around Tempe with kids

Our dudes are pretty easy when it comes to food, but we know that’s not the case for everybody. We found a wide variety of restaurants around Tempe.  You know that we went to a brewery (cuz it’s us), so Pedal Haus was a fun spot to relax for dinner. We also sought our some authentic Mexican food at Restaurant Mexico (just like what we get in Mexico vs the Americanized version). We did the spectacle of dining at the Rustler’s Rooste where we ate rattlesnake and cactus fries. We found some great, modern fusions at the Perfect Pear Bistro. And then the hit was really breakfast at Snooze AM Eatery.

Snooze was our favorite for a few reasons, but the vintage 60s decor added to the fun. A big selection of benedicts, some that were very unusual (like chili or balsalmic), and lots of morning (adult) beverage options made it our top choice of breakfasts we’ve had in our travels as of late. Oliver particularly enjoyed the pancake of the day: chocolate chip with mint and cream cheese toppings. And then there was another pancake too with cinnamon butter and white chocolate and yum.

Tip: get the Bloody Mary with jalepeno vodka. Cuz why not.

Where to stay in Tempe, Arizona

We stayed in two different hotels in Tempe. The Residence Inn Tempe Downtown University right in the heart of ASU was our first homebase. We also love getting to have the space to function in a hotel room, so having suite style accommodations with kids made a busy travel schedule less stressful. We also took advantage of their daily breakfast and rooftop pool (because you must cool off in Arizona). And our room looked right at the “A” on A Mountain!

The second hotel we stayed at in Tempe was the AC Hotel by Marriott Tempe/Downtown. Located on the opposite side of A Mountain just off Tempe Town Lake, the AC Hotel was much more a business hotel with a very modern feel than the Residence Inn. While it was great and worked fine with kids, it’s more of what I’d book for a Dads getaway. We did enjoy the rooftop pool here (of course) and the easy walk over to Mill Ave downtown. Booking.com (function(d, sc, u) { var s = d.createElement(sc), p = d.getElementsByTagName(sc)[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = u + '?v=' + (+new Date()); p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js');

Tempe turned out to be a totally fun father/son getaway. It would’ve been great with all of us or just a Dads getaway. I’m sure we’ll be back. We have a lot more of Arizona and the Phoenix area to explore, but for now we know that Tempe with kids was a hit and we’d return in a heartbeat.

Need to pin this to add to your upcoming Arizona/Southwest travels? Go for it!

As we said, Tempe Tourism engaged us to share our thoughts. Everything you see here is our own opinion and you know we wouldn’t lead you astray.

Tempe with Kids: a super easy Arizona getaway It's rare that just one of us dads gets to escape for a trip with just one of the kids.