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#i decided to lean more into the darker side of his lore
nsuyeula · 1 year
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- The Birth of a Cosmic Deity 🌌 💫 -
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timetoeatthebread-blog · 11 months
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Aphelios x Reader - Dreaming of You. (Part 2)
(yes the silver eye color is a plot device you'll see)
(Thanks to a redditor I was able to collect more information on the noctum flower. Here is a link: https://www.reddit.com/r/loreofruneterra/s/Y7rq8uEhmG)
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Oh, well. You could probably ask Alune later. You doubt that Aphelios would speak to you, even if the noctum poison wore off.  
Checking on the fish, you noticed that they were almost done. They were impaled on two sticks and the sticks were partially buried in the ground, so they didn't need to be constantly watched. As you crouched beside the fire, you enjoyed its warmth it provided. The flames were trying to lick at the fish, trying to burn them. But the attempts were futile, as the fish were too much out of reach of the flames. Soon, you deemed the fish done and you picked up the first stick.  
Deciding to pass the food to Aphelios first, you walked up to him as he was resting with his eyes closed, still leaning against the tree, arms crossed over his chest and head tilted ever so slightly to the side. His black hair fell to his left, where he tilted his head. His hair was slightly longer on the left compared to his right side. With the hair temporary out of the way, the crescent drawing of the moon was fully visible. He was partially hidden from the sun, the tree casting a shadow over him, but not fully.  
"You should eat, Aphelios, the fish is done." 
He opened his eyes, two black orbs stared back into your silver ones. His gloved hand reached out towards the stick you were passing him and all he offered was a nod as a thank you, not that you minded. Then, you took your own fish and started eating it and enjoying the fire, the slow cracking of the wood had a calming effect. Soon, after eating, you threw a quick glance towards Aphelios and thanked him for caching the fish and starting the fire. It was a good thing you knew the lore, otherwise you were pretty sure you would have become offended and thought that he is mute or ignores you.  
As you were getting ready to rest, you noticed something strange. It was almost like a soft current made out of pallid mist and it was showing you the way. You stood up and made a few steps in the direction, not noticing that Aphelios was keeping an eye on you as soon as he noticed you walking further and further away from the camp. The thinly veiled mist was gravitating towards the forest softly, almost as if showing you the way. You were deep in thought as you followed the mist and stumbled upon a cave.  
The darkness seemed almost welcoming as you stepped deeper into the cave. Soon, soft trickling of the water could be heard coming from somewhere, but you didn't pay much attention. Touching the side of the rough and sharp wall, you gradually made your way downwards the cave, vision becoming darker with each step. With each step as the cave became darker, the mist seemed to become more visible and thicker, almost as if leading you to something greater than you would have ever imagined.  
The trickling of the water became louder the closer you got to the source, which was located at the end of the cave. There were luminescent drawings on the wall, and you recognized the symbols to be drawn by a Lunari, there was no mistaking it. You brought your hand closer to the symbol of the moon and touched it, the hard surface of the wall so hard and sharp that you didn't notice it when it prickled your finger. As if in a trance, you ignored the pain and continued to touch the markings and tried to analyze them, not noticing your hand gathering more cuts the more you touched the wall. The pain was basically nonexistent at this point. Where you touched, blood could be found on the inscriptions, silver mixing with red.  
When you touched the last engraving, a hidden path has appeared to your right. Although you didn't understand much of the situation or the signs on the wall, the mist was telling you to go inside. It sounded like the source of the noise of the water was coming from the hidden path. As you ventured deeper, you finally noticed two streams, one on each side of the wall. Cyan flowers grew under the water, their buds closed off, but still gave off a delicate light. However, there was no sweet smell in the air. Instead, the air was cold and refreshing. 
At the end, the two streams connected and created a large pond, with more flowers pooling inside. What was the most interesting, however, was that on the flowerbed, in the water, lay two shuang yue blades, made out of moonstone and moonsilver.  
You carefully reached into the water with your hurt hand, water mixing with the leftover blood. Then, completely by mistake, your open palm brushed against one of the flowers, the mucus from the flower touching you. Your mind was screaming in pain as you reached for one of the blades, tears running down your cheeks from the agony. As if controlled by a higher power, you couldn't make a sound. But that didn't stop your body from being honest. Your hand trembled so much that you accidentally cut yourself again, this time with the blade. At that point, your hand was hurting so much that it felt numb. With the other hand, you reached for the second blade, inspecting both blades next to each other, now out of the water. Tears clouded your vision as you blinked rapidly, clearing your vision as a result.  
They looked exactly the same, they were twin blades. The engravings were the same as the ones on the wall in the cave and you didn't know what it all meant. But you stood up, your expression pained, with tears still gathering at the corners of your eyes. But you couldn't say anything, feeling dizzy as blood tenderly started to decorate the blade you were holding in your hurt hand. It piled together in one place before a blood drop was created, and then gingerly ran down the blade, before falling off and landing on the stone floor. 
You breathed heavily as you tried to get everything under control, trying to calm down and reclaim control over your own body. But it was hard, almost impossible. Lifting up your gaze, you finally noticed Aphelios, observing your form not too far away. "A-aphelios? What are you doing here?" You tried to say his name, but your voice cracked at the beginning, the pain stil existent. The numbing was wearing off and it seemed like now was the begining of true suffering.  
It took everything in your will not to scream at the pain you felt as you made your way towards Aphelios, your eyes looking into his. He looked at your face for a few seconds longer, his expression unreadable as he changed his focus to the blade in your hurt hand. Taking your hand, he glanced again at the wound, gaze focused as he took the blade out of your hand gently.  
Then, he traced his thumb starting from your wrist and over the palm of your hand, making you instinctively open your palm. After you opened your palm, he properly grabbed the underside of your hand and spread your hand some more, getting a good look at the cuts you have created in your trance. You held your breath as you stared at his face but were snapped out of it when he grabbed your wrist instead, holding it firmly as he dragged you out of the cave. 
No words came to your mind as you followed after him, observing his behavior. Although his hand was gloved, it still gave off warmth as he dragged you through the forest floor. It was eerily quiet, there were no animals and even the wind barely made any sound while gliding between the leaves of the trees.  
Aphelios continued to look ahead as he walked, sometimes glancing at your form to make sure you were alright. 
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lore-o-hoe · 2 years
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Lore Olympus Episode 191!!! (Spoilers!!!)
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Lore Olympian nation how y’all doing tonight?!!! I’m so excited for the new episodes that are out and the season is starting off with a BANG.
So without further ado here’s a recap/theory mashup!
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- So we start out with a diary/narration from our favorite dick-head god Zeus, as he discusses Persephone (once again blaming others for his own selfish shortsightedness).
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- And then we see… Hera? NOPE that’s Hebe! And she looks just like her mother🥹. And as per usual she has more awareness and wisdom than anyone is the room. She knows that this who situation has taken a toll on everyone and the consequences have fallen hard on her father as well.
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- And the court room post verdict aftermath was a SIGHT, beings are in disarray, some gods are questioning when they’ll be able to see family, it’s a mess.
- And Hera is of course pissed, and I’ve got a feeling it’s different this time, like at least permanent separation. The separation of the realms, the forced separation of Hades and Persephone, and yet another scandal gone public??? Either she’s moving out or he his because sis looks DONE.
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But god seeing Hades again, so broken kneeling really caught me, but god the power stance AFTER. Hecate, Hermes, and Hades make a fiery exit back to the Underworld and God there’s so many feelings. This isn’t like the other times they’ve disagreed and fought, no, ladies, theydies, and gents this is a scorched earth situation, of course the relations between realms are gonna suffer because of course the gods are gonna take sides on this issue. The consequences are just beginning and I’m sure that things are gonna get even darker as the rest of the season unfolds.
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- I already knew Hades and Hecate were firmly on the Persephone side of things and for the longest time Hermes was in the middle for me. But after the trial and especially that lingering glare Hermes gives Apollo I have no doubt where he stands. I mean look at the glare? It could be in general given the situation and Apollo’s roll in how the trial was hastily decided, but I have a strong feelings it’s even more than that.
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- THE TREES FACE OH LORD. It’s all so hilarious and yet sad. She obviously cares about Hades so much and his absence as well as her mothers must be taking a toll on her emotions.
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- OH GOD IS THAT DAPHNE??? Okay so I think Daphne is back! So it looks like Daphne was saved and able to come out of her hibernation? Oh god that’s a silver lining in this whole mess. Like I could be wrong but god I hope I’m not 😭
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The episode ends with a few of the gods still in the mortal realm including, Artemis, Thanatos and Eris surprisingly.
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Okay so here’s some side notes/theories I couldn’t help but jot down:
1. Hermes’ Glare: So Hermes glares at Apollo when the latter called his name when he joined Persephone and Hecate in their exit to the underworld. Now for a LONG while I’m sure that Hermes has had his suspicions about Apollo concerning Persephone but I think that glare has sealed that for me. Hermes has known Persephone for a long while and knows her well enough, her behavior towards Apollo and how her whole demeanor shifts when he comes around. While he doesn’t know all that happened, he knows something is up and he doesn’t like it.
2. Green hands?: So as we see, Persephone’s hands are now green and clawed…Why is that? In her dialogue for the scene, she says they are ‘A bit messed up now.’ I’m not sure which way to lean with this, part of me believes that her expanding power as the Goddess of the Harvest and Spring is contributing to these changes. Before we’ve seen her body change appearance/shape drastically, usually at times of high stress or releases of her power, maybe the extensive use of her power trying to keep up with her mothers duties/the stress and grief of separation from Demeter and Hades, is making her body gradually change.
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3. Eris and Persephone?: So . I always thought she existed/reside in some kind of closed off pocket dimension but maybe it was somewhere in the mortal realm all along. So why is she with Persephone here? Well my best guess is the events of the trial, especially her impalement courtesy of Apollo has her leaning more towards Persephone in an acquaintance sense.
It’s doubtful anyone has ever shown her such a kindness even if it was fleeting. Or on the flip end maybe Persephone asked her to teach her about wrath, or maybe a way to funnel her wrath towards something productive? And if anyone could teach her how to do that, why not the literal goddess of discord? Also she looks docile? Or at least calmer than we’ve ever seen her so far. Despite being the goddess of strife and discord maybe she’s not always in that mood/mindset.
4. Queens bring Balance?: Sooo while I know it was a throwaway line but it won’t leave me alone! The line below makes me feel like there’s something more here. I mean Hades (in this myth imagining) would be the last to find love and marry, and the Underworld under Hades’ rule obviously hasn’t had a queen in all the time it’s existed. Obviously I might be looking too far into this, but maybe the Queens of these realms can keep them stable and prosperous? I mean When we see Persephone’s graphics on how she would want to contribute to the underworld it’s obvious her presence there would be a prosperous. Maybe I’m just looking too far into nothing.
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So that’s it for Episode 191! The rest are fast pass episodes so to avoid spoilers, when those are officially released ill be back to comment!
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thespoonisvictory · 3 years
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i agree with how wilbur and tommy are currently the deciding factors in the smp! i do believe there's a very high chance for a wilbur lore boom during the summer as album stuff gets smoothed out (writing and recording a bunch an album will take way more time then processing and mastering it, for example) and i can also imagine a dip in content around july that swings back august-september, like what happened before the elections. i do feel like wilbur and tommy do really enjoy the smp story so far and will put in effort for it, and tommy could very easily bring back the daily semi-lore type content in the future months, once the initial vlogging hype dies down. i also think tubbo and ranboo have very good potential to rope people into semi-lore. there's some people i cannot imagine getting as involved with the lore anymore, and some who really depend (like if the syndicate manages to drag itself back, i can see niki rejoining the lore). and yeah technoblade is really a "if he wants to do this," since we don't really have a solid idea, but if a semi-lore wave comes back it opens a big spot for him and how he prefers to do light-hearted stuff. i feel like quackity is really going to be the lore "meat" for a bit, having a bunch of the heavier stuff. i feel like what's really dragging down the smp now is how spaced out everything is and where the semi-lore return would really benefit the server. i also agree with you that quackity very likely might burn himself out on content soon. i think he could really benefit from showing up on others streams to further lore (like on fundys) instead of shoving a bunch of things into a highly-produced stream, similar to other "villains" like schlatt and wilbur. i appreciate what quackity's doing rn a lot, but i think there needs to be another "threat for threats sake," like schlatt and the eggpire. a villain that's more traditionally lighthearted, with quackity being the darker side of "villainous" lore (see: schlatt and wilbur, to a degree, dream and the eggpire, etc) to balance things out. also, tommy was right with what he did with church prime! being afraid to change anything will get you nowhere! sapnap, start another pet war! i also think more smpearth fellas should be added to the dream smp who've shown interest, like wisp and sophietexas. spice things up!
just a solid agree on pretty much everything here.
in particular with your point about how the server is being dragged down by lore that's too spaced out, 100%. the server has had a problem since the end of s1 with oscillating between full throttle lore and... near radio silence (genuinely the l'manburg/ pogtopia arc was so perfectly paced imo ah but that's another topic). the issue with quackity's lore is that his tendency towards cliff hangers means that it 'freezes' certain characters, and they can't really have an impact when they're not in quackity's semi-movies. there's been a similar issue like that with the syndicate.
basically, the server went from feeling like an actual world we got daily peeks into, with a constantly moving timeline, very much an actual server that featured non-lore, shenanigans, chilling after tournaments or among us games, stage productions of macbeth, people just casually playing on it for fun, semi-lore, and lore, to just lore, with occasional streamers. you see- niki actually stocked her bakery for people to take from quite frequently, people would come on and grind to get stuff back after a battle, wilbur would mine in pogtopia, etc etc.
it was a living, breathing thing that I feel bad that some people didn't get to see live because it's hard to describe. people kept up the casual rivalry between the smp and l'manburg, wear their uniforms to tournaments: and that was what made it so unique. schlatt was a very real threat that could just pop into your vc at any moment, he felt like a proper villain in that sense. in the same stream that wilbur and tommy would be in pogtopia mourning the fact that they had no allies while two hours later we would see fundy writing in his spy diary and niki casually resisting. quackity's lore doesn't really allow for that, and it's good lore, but it's missing what makes live action rp so captivating.
how would I fix it?
1. don't end things on cliff hangers, for gods sake. let a plot resolve in your stream so that way people can react to an build off of it in between lore streams. quackity shot himself in the foot for any casual lore by leaving it on the fence whether people would join and not establishing any clear rules, meaning that all the streams we could be getting rn are blocked by that.
2. save high production value streams for big events, or flashbacks, or just anything that can't be done completely live or improv. that way, you can decrease the time in between any lore at all, take some pressure off quackity, and get back some of the organic, homespun charm. I was watching quackity's stream and thinking 'this is nice, but he could have done five short streams over the course of a week or two that accomplished the same goal but without so much energy and rushing. then, he could cut the footage together into a video if he wanted it condensed for viewing pleasure.' it would build hype and set some sort of much needed pacing
3. if it's not already being done, make the plan public so people can jump in if they want, leave open space for improv, at least a bit. if quackity let himself lean on other streamers half as much as wilbur did for both his arcs as c!wilbur and ghostbur, things could move at a more decent pace and feel like an actual server again. just- hop into foolish's streams my dude
I could elaborate more, but tldr: quackity's lore is good, but it severely lacks pacing, stifles organic chemistry between characters, and could very well burn him out. he should mix in casual lore and used formal lore as a supplement, not a base
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tomurasprincess · 4 years
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Fairy Ring (Kurogiri x Reader)
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Summary: You enter the realm of Faerie despite every instinct telling you not to, in order to save the life of your sick sister. But you make a mistake far greater than you can even imagine when you catch the attention of a truly powerful, dangerous Fae. Pairing: Fae Kurogiri x Reader Rating: Explicit+ Warnings: Fantasy AU. Noncon, dubcon, aphrodisiac, drugging, manipulation, coercion, stalking, yandere. Word Count: 5.5k Note: My entry for the BNHarem Discord collab! The theme this time around was fantasy AU, and I stepped out of my usual characters by trying Kurogiri. The full masterlist can be found here, so make sure you check out the fics from all of  Special Note: Thank you to @thewheezingwyvern for being my fae lore expert, I could not have done it without you. And also for talking me through 7AM induced sleep delirium.
✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧
This is a mistake, you know this. This is, in fact, one of the biggest mistakes you may ever make in your lifetime, assuming that you live past what you’re about to do. But you know that you have no choice. Your sister’s life depends on it. And for her, you would do anything.
And so with a deep breath, you step into the fairy circle. You feel a tugging at the core of your being before white hot agony lances through your bones. You think you scream, but you can’t be sure as you briefly lose consciousness.
✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧
It feels like hours before your eyes open again, but in all likelihood it was mere minutes. It doesn’t take long for you to realize that it worked.
You’re in the Realm of the Fae now.
There’s a sense of unreality, a haze that makes you feel like you’re dreaming. Everything seems too bright, colors that don’t seem like they should exist in the real world, and what looks to be a purple mist covering everything you can see.
You’re standing in an open clearing, right on the edge of a large forest. Behind you, there is a large lake that looks so inviting that you just know something is lurking below the surface, waiting to pull you under, never to be seen again.
The forest doesn’t look much better, trees so close together that it feels claustrophobic, making it very hard to see anything that would approach you. You have no idea what kinds of things might be lurking inside, but this might be your best bet to find the specific plant you need to cure your sister.
And then there is the swamp that you see in the distance. The mud looks thick and deep, as if it would suck you right down into it so that you can do nothing but wait to die. The fog is so dense that you doubt you’d be able to see much beyond the reach of your arm, and in the depths of it you see pretty, flashing lights.
Will-o'-the-wisps, spirits that deliberately lead travelers off the paths to their deaths. If you go into that swamp, you worry you’ll never leave, doomed to wander around without ever finding the path back out.
Before you can come to a decision of where to go, you hear a strange whooshing noise behind you. You turn around to see something totally unexpected. A purple opening rimmed with black around the edges appears in the air as someone steps out of it. A portal, you realize, and so this must be -
He’s a very tall, slender being wearing a well tailored and expensive looking suit. But where a human face and hands should be is a swirling purple mist instead, leaving you no idea of what he looks like underneath. He has piercing yellow eyes that seem to bore right into the very core of your being.
“Welcome, human. May I ask what brings you to Faerie? We have very few of your kind coming here, and even less who come willingly.” The Fae speaks in a perfectly polite tone, but you know that doesn’t mean you can let down your guard. Everything and everyone here needs to be treated as dangerous.
“Greetings,” you nod politely. “I am here for a certain plant that I need to find.”
“Hmm, I may be able to help you find such a plant. What’s your name, human?”
Ah, you think to yourself, the very first trap the Fae intend to set for you. You know what can happen when you give a Fae your true name, and you have no intention of falling for this one.
“You can call me the Seeker.”
The Fae’s eyes seem to glimmer with amusement.  “Cautious, are you? Very well then. I am called Kurogiri.”
He parrots your phrasing back at you, which means that it’s not his true name either, and nothing you can use against him.
“If you don’t wish to deal with me, then by all means, continue.” He takes a simple step away before motioning to the forest. “Were you intending to go into the forest? I wouldn't do that if I were you.”
The fact that he is deliberately leading you into a certain direction makes you reconsider where you intended to go. He notices your hesitance and gives a soft laugh. “I am not leading you astray, human. The forest is treacherous, and that you can be sure of.”
You ponder your options for a brief moment, before deciding to listen. At least with the swamp, you know one of the dangers you’ll face right off the bat. With the forest, there is no way to tell what you’ll stumble across. “I believe I will take the swamp, actually.” You give him a respectful nod as you take a few steps away from him.
“Please, be my guest.” He motions you in the direction of the swamp. You keep him in your sights as you walk past, worried that he’ll attempt something when your back is turned. But he makes no move to follow or stop you, and so you turn your back to him completely as you take your first steps into the swamp.
It’s very slow going, as the muck is so deep that you have to stop to pull your shoes out every few steps. The will o'wisps are hovering around everywhere, looking like delicate, beautiful lights showing you the way out. It’s a deception that you don’t let yourself be lulled into, deliberately choosing the paths where it is darker. Your world narrows down to simply taking a few steps, clawing your way out of the mud, looking for the plant you need, taking a few more steps, over and over. But nothing ever seems to change, and you seem to be getting no deeper into the swamp.
Finally, you can move no further, and so you stop to catch your breath. You’re exhausted, sweaty, and covered in mud and brackish water. You find a nearby tree to lean against and close your eyes for several seconds, trying to take deep breaths in and deep breaths out to calm your racing heart.
But when you open your eyes again, the wisps have surrounded you completely. There is no clear path anymore, the entire swamp cast with brilliant purple light as they fly around the area. You try to think back to the way things looked before you took a break, but everything is hazy in your mind.
You’re lost, with no idea which path to take to get out of this swamp, or even go back the way you came. Picking a random direction sounds like a horrible idea, but standing here and doing nothing sounds even worse. So with a deep breath, you pick a path and start to follow it.
Everything seems fine at first, passing through terrain not as difficult to traverse, but it quickly becomes apparent that this was not the correct way when you hit a patch of deep, thick mud and begin to sink in. You let out a startled shout, trying to claw for purchase, something to stop your head from being pulled under. But there is nothing, no way to get yourself out. Just as only your head and raised arms are visible, you feel something grab your wrist and begin to yank.
The strength behind it is unbelievable, and you’re out within seconds and looking at the face of your rescuer. The Fae Kurogiri is very hard to read, but you think he seems to be laughing at you.
“You seem to have lost your way, little Seeker,” he muses as he raises his arms up. You’re surprised when you feel a solid pressure against your cheek, running down along your jawline to cup your face. “Why not simply give in and make a deal with me? I could tell you where this plant is, easily.”
“And what would your price be?” You stare into those yellow eyes, a challenging tone in your voice.
“That would depend on exactly what you’re willing to give up, now wouldn’t it? Let us leave this swamp and we can discuss price and terms.”
Alarm bells ring in your head at his words. There is something very off about this Fae, something telling you that making a deal with him would be to your detriment. Maybe it’s his overly polite tone that seems to hide darkness underneath. Maybe it’s the fact that he is still gripping your face, pulling you tightly against him in a possessive hold that makes you feel like he never wants to let you go.
He must see your refusal in your expression, because his grip against you tightens imperceptibly before finally releasing you and stepping away. He makes a motion behind you, and you turn to see a portal opening up, with a view of the clearing that you came from on the other side.
You make a move to go through the portal before realizing something. Your backpack that you have been carrying with you this entire time is gone. You glance around quickly in all directions until you see the very top part of it sink completely within the muck that almost did the same to you. All of your supplies were in there, including the most important thing of all.
Your food and water.
Kurogiri lets out a deep chuckle at your panic. “Ahh, I see you lost your supplies. I could help you with that, as well.”
Your eyes meet his yellow ones as you narrow them. “You saw my backpack sinking, didn’t you?”
His silence is answer enough, and you shake your head and turn towards the still open portal. You go through it with him close behind and find yourself exactly where you expected to. Right at the beginning.
Remembering his words about the forest, you glance over at the massive lake and the faint sign of land on the other side. Your instincts scream at you that there is something horrific lurking within the forest, but you also really don’t want to swim.
“Before you go, you may want to hydrate yourself. The lake’s water is poisonous for humans such as yourself to drink.”
He holds a water bottle out towards you, and you simply cross your arms. “You must believe I’m incredibly stupid if you think I intend to drink that.”
“You will not believe me, but I am simply trying to help you. I don’t want to see you injured or wanting for a single thing.”
You glance back down at the bottle of water. It really does look good, you think to yourself. And you realize now how very thirsty you are. Would it be so bad if you took the water? You snap yourself back to reality before you can reach for the bottle, taking several steps back. “That is a kind gesture, but I must decline.”
You’re at the water’s edge now, glancing over to the land you see on the other side. You know of too many dangers that can lurk within bodies of water, and you have all but decided to skip the lake altogether when you see it. A beautiful looking flower on the other side, That could be it, you think to yourself, and it doesn’t look too far to attempt the long way around.
You begin to walk around the shore’s edge, not getting very far before your curiosity gets the better of you. You glance back at the clearing to see if Kurogiri is there or not. But he’s already gone, like he was never standing there at all
You turn back and continue to follow alongside the shoreline, setting a slow but steady pace so as not to wear yourself out. You’re not out of shape by any means, but you still don’t want to push yourself overmuch. As you walk, you try not to discourage yourself by staring at the land you’re heading for.
With the sun beating down on you and sweat pouring from your face, you truly begin to regret the choice of not taking the water Kurogiri offered. It could really be of use right now, with your tongue feeling like sandpaper in your mouth. Even worse, you’re starting to feel dizzy, occasionally stumbling forward before regaining your balance at the last second. Things are still fine, you try to reassure yourself, but you realize the extent of the trouble you’re in when you glance to the other side of the lake. You must have been walking for what feels like hours, and it’s not a single bit closer.
You turn back towards the direction you came from, only to have a moment of horror when you realize that you don’t see it. To that side is nothing but open shoreline as far as you can see. How could the land behind you have disappeared completely? You finally lose your calm, beginning to panic as you start to run, hoping that you’ll reach your destination soon. You only succeed in wearing yourself out even further, forced to stop as you pant for breath.
But that’s when you see the flower from earlier, looking even closer than you thought. That’s it, you think to yourself in elation, that has to be the plant you’re looking for. It isn’t so much farther, you could easily make it. But as you begin to walk again, your head swims even more, going completely hazy. You sway on your feet, barely keeping yourself up. When you open them again, there’s a horse standing by the side of the water.
It wouldn’t be so bad, would it? To ride the horse, get the plant, and then get back to the clearing where you started? It would be so quick, so easy. And then all of this would be over, your sister would be cursed, everything would be fine -
You come to your senses seconds too late to stop yourself from grabbing the horse. Well, not a horse anymore, at least not really.
It’s a Kelpie. Travelers have always been told to avoid Kelpie near the water, so as not to be pulled down into the depths. And you just grabbed onto the back of one.
You try and pull your hand off the creature, but it’s too late. Your hand won’t budge and you have a moment to curse your stupidity before you’re dragged into the water. Despite your best efforts not to panic, you still do, accidentally taking gulps of water into your burning lungs as you jerk and kick in an attempt to get away.
You’re going to drown, you think to yourself as you thrash about in the water, you’re going to drown and there is nothing that you can do about it, all because of your own stupidity -
Just when you think you’re going to drown, everything stops. You’re suddenly laying on solid ground, choking and sputtering as you take gasping breaths. You lay there for a few long minutes, simply gathering your bearings before you glance up at your rescuer. You know who it’s going to be, and you are proven correct as you see Kurogiri’s towering form lowering down beside you. He pets the back of your head, as if you were a dog that needs comforted, and coos soothing words at you.
“You’re okay, my little seeker.” He made a clicking noise with his tongue. “You truly should have known better than to try and ride a Kelpie. I can protect you, you know. Just talk to me for a bit, and I’m sure we can make a mutually beneficial agreement.”
You fly up from the ground, wrenching yourself a bit away from him. “No agreement,” you shake your head. “You want something from me, and I can’t figure out what.”
Kurogiri gives a long sigh. “I tire of this game. Things will go so much better for you if you let me help youl. But don’t misunderstand me. You will make the deal, one way or the other. So you may as well give in to me now, my little human.”
His demeanor has become different than before, more impatient and more annoyed. All of the alarm bells in your head are ringing, and you find yourself running towards the forest before he can say anything else. You are instantly surrounded by thick foliage, and as you glance back into the clearing to see if you’re being followed, the Fae and the portal are both gone.
You push through little by little, making your way deeper into the forest. Occasionally you have to make your way backwards to find another way forward, as the way is blocked by trees or thick vegetation that doesn’t quite look right.
You hope the instinct that you’re being led a particular way is wrong. But you have learned to trust your instincts, especially when it comes to the Fae. So when you emerge suddenly into another open clearing with Sluagh flying around, you’re not overly surprised.
You are, however, terrified.
The Sluagh are well known for their sadism, said to be feared by even Death itself. They are skeletal looking, so thin that there is barely any meat on their bones. What skin they have is dangling and loose, and their legs end in talons with razor sharp claws. Their mouths smile at you, filled with rows and rows of vicious, sharp teeth.
And right now, every single one of them is staring at you like you’re a delicious meal, waiting to be devoured. You know it’s useless to run, as they will find you even more enticing if they are able to chase you down. So you simply stay stock still, waiting to see what the creatures do and desperately hoping that they’ll get bored of you and fly away. But of course, that’s not in the cards for you.
In unison, they let out a shriek that sounds like nails down a chalkboard, causing you to cover your ears in agony. At least five of them rush you at once, and you brace yourself for the pain. But it doesn’t come, as the creatures lock their talons into your clothes instead and begin to lift you into the air.
Fuck, you hiss to yourself, you knew this may be suicidal to go into Faerie. You have faced so many of Faerie’s challenges and only survived by the help of one of them, and you knew it must only be a matter of time before your luck ran out. But you had no idea it would end this way, to be lifted up and dashed on the hard ground below. You squeeze your eyes closed when you feel them let you go, and you brace for an impact that never comes.  Instead, you hear the distinctive whooshing sound before and fall into the arms of Kurogiri.
“I did tell you not to go that way, didn’t I?” His voice has a dark amusement to it, and you realize instantly that he knew the Sluagh were there and didn’t think to warn you directly.
“Yes, you did. And your assistance is appreciated,” you say carefully, fully aware that this is yet another trap. You never tell one of the Fae thank you, as they can take that to mean any number of things you’re suddenly obligated to do for them.
“You are welcome, my little seeker,” he chuckles to himself, sounding every bit like he knows exactly what you’re doing. “Will you accept my deal now? I can help your sister if you would only allow me.”
You squirm a bit in his arms, fully hoping that he gets the hint and puts you down, but he squeezes down as if he never wants to let you go. The thought worries you, there is one thing that worries you even more.
He knows the plant is to cure your sister. And you never gave him that information.
“I - I will think about it, if you’ll kindly let me go - “
“Ah, of course.” He sets you down on your own feet, and you finally get a chance to look around. He teleported you back into the same clearing where you started from and keep managing to return to. “Now, about the deal -”
Before he can finish his sentence, you are running in the only direction that you have yet to try. It’s another smaller section of forest that you hadn’t considered because it looked impenetrable. But now you see a way to enter, and you flee there without glancing back. The trees there seem to suck you in, darkness enveloping you. You wonder if he’s still somehow watching you before shaking the idea from your head. That way lie madness, and right now you must run, must hide.
You don’t know how long you run, only that your legs almost like rubber, barely able to carry you anymore. Your breath comes out in gasping pants as your lungs struggle to take in more oxygen. And your head is spinning, most likely from your lack of food.
Just as you’re about to reach your limit, you spot a large, wrought iron gate and a large house beyond. You don’t have any time to consider the implications before you’re rushing through the gate, stopping only long enough to lock it before you reach for your last resort. You’re not sure why there’s an iron gate here, as iron is one of the things that the Fae are joined together in their hatred of. But right not, you don’t care as long as it can protect you.
Just as you suspected, Kurogiri portals to the location just outside of where you stand. But rather than be deterred by the iron, he lets out a loud chuckle as he continues to walk to the gate. Your eyes widen as he gets closer and closer, a sense of deep unease crawling up your spine.
The Fae hate iron, you tell yourself, he’s simply bluffing, he’s not going to be able to get past the gate. And then the lock simply drops away, as if it’s nothing. The gates slowly slide open as he walks through, and there seems to be a look of true admiration in his eyes.
“That was a very good try, my little human. But ultimately, you lose our game.”
It all clicks into place at once. “You - you’re a dullahan,” you whisper in fear. The dullahan are widely feared, and for good reason. They are harbingers of death, and it is said that when they stop, a mortal dies.
“Yes, I am. And now there is nowhere for you to run. Simply give in to me”
You realize you have one single card left to play, and if this doesn’t work, then you are done for. You reach into your back pocket where you stowed your ring before entering the swamp earlier. You hold it up to him to see, and smile when you see him recoil from the gold metal. You turn and begin running again while he’s distracted, only to run face first into a portal he opened back up.
When you fall out of this portal, you are no longer in Faerie. It looks like home, just as when you left it before. Nothing appears different, except for one big thing. Your sister is out of bed, looking like she’s never been sick a day in her life.
“Is that - sis, is that really you?” You whisper in shock at seeing your sister, healthy and happy before you.
Your sister gives you a warm smile as she holds her arms out for you, just like she always did when you were kids. You grin and run into them, giving her a tight hug that you don’t ever want to be let out of.
“I don’t understand, I didn’t actually make a deal.”
Your sister gives her characteristic shrug. “I don’t know either, I just know that I felt something really warm come over my body, and suddenly I felt better.”
It must be Kurogiri’s doing, you think to yourself. You have no idea what you did to earn this, or maybe it was just that he was impressed you beat him at his own game? Either way, you won’t take it for granted. “How long have I been gone?”
“Too long. I was so worried about you, I didn’t think you’d ever come back.” She pulls you into another hug, and you smile as you run your hand down the back of her head. The moment is ruined by the sound of your stomach growling, causing you both to laugh. “Bit hungry, there?” She teases you, and you simply grin.
“Yeah, I ran out of the supplies I took to Faerie and then I lost my whole backpack. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had anything, to be honest.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you something!” Your sister runs off the kitchen to grab you some food. “Um, I’m sorry that we don’t have much, but -”
“I know, you haven’t been able to go to the store without me. It’s okay!” You take the simple sandwich she offers you, wasting no time at all before you’re devouring it. You didn’t realize how truly hungry you were until right this second. And this is easily the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. You freeze, blood running cold as you hear an amused chuckle from beside you, where your sister was just standing. A decidedly male chuckle.
You look down at the mostly eaten sandwich as you begin to tremble, dawning horror hitting you like a freight train. Beside you, what you thought was your sister has turned into Kurogiri. What you thought was your home has turned into that same damnable clearing.
Despite your best efforts, you were tricked after all. You never truly left Faerie.
And you just ate fairy fruit.
He pulls your trembling body tightly into his as he runs a hand down the small of your back. “My little seeker, don’t feel too bad about this. You did a rather good job of avoiding my tricks. I had to resort to more extreme measures.”
A tear runs down your face as he strokes your body. Forcing you to eat fairy fruit means that you’re trapped here with him now, forever. Completely defeated, you numbly allow him to lead you through the newly open portal, taking you to the house with the large gates. The place where you believed you won this little game, only to realize that he was always one step ahead of you.
“But the gold -,” you whisper, “I had the gold, why didn’t that work?”
He laughs a bit as he kisses you. You’re surprised that he’s able to, but you assume he must have some form of human body underneath the mist. “Not all myths are true, little seeker.”
He takes you into the house, leading you down several corridors until you reach a bedroom. He leads you in, shutting the door behind him. You have only a second to worry before he’s on you. Lips run down your neck as hands come down to grip your ass. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you, how long I’ve planned this.”
He rips your clothes off easily, piece by piece, until you’re shivering and naked before him. He lays you down on the bed, sliding his tongue skillfully into your mouth and massaging yours with his own. His hands aren’t idle either, tracing up and down your body in featherlight touches that has you writhing.
Everything seems almost dreamy, and you feel very warm. Overly warm, in fact, and it only increases the more he touches you. Your body feels like it’s on fire, your head spinning. You wonder briefly what he did to you, if it was the faerie fruit you ate.
“What did you do to me,” you whine as you continue to squirm on the bed, fire raging through your veins. “I feel - god I feel so hot, make it stop.”
But when his tongue licks up your heated, dripping pussy, you realize that it really doesn’t matter what the answer to that question is. You throw your head back and moan as you try to grind down on his tongue, and you feel rather than hear his laughter as it sends pleasurable vibrations against your throbbing clit.
“Don’t you want me to make you feel good?” He slips two fingers inside of you, curling them upwards and grazing against a spot inside you that has you throwing your head back onto the pillow.
“Yes,” you whimper, sounding more needy than you ever have in your life, “please make me feel good.”
“Your name then, little human. I can’t very well pleasure someone whose name I do not know, wouldn’t you say?”
“But what about yours?”
“You give me yours first,” he sounds so imminently reasonable that you give him a blissed out smile as you nod your head. You make a come hither motion with your index finger and he leans in closer as you whisper your name in his ear, and he gives a contented laugh as he works his fingers inside of you again.
“You didn’t tell me yours,” you whine a bit in protest.
“Mmm, I am Kurogiri, remember?”
You do remember him saying that, but you also remember not believing that to be his true name. But that part seems less important than him working his fingers inside again, and you let out a small gasp as you clench down, only to be left feeling empty when he completely withdraws. You’re about to complain when you hear him unbuckling his belt.
“I would much rather feel you cum around this cock,” he whispers as he sinks into your aching pussy, filling you up completely when he bottoms out inside. You let out a deep groan at the stretch, and the burning sensation you’ve been feeling since you ate the fruit abates just a bit.
And then he begins to move, and desire flares back up inside you. It doesn’t take long for your muscles to tense up, toes curling as you squeal when your orgasm overtakes you. “So sensitive,” he whispers as he simply fucks you through it, groaning when he feels you clamp down around him. “And so needy for me. It makes me want to keep you like this all the time, my pet. Would you like that?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” you chant as you feel another orgasm building up, “Kurogiri, please keep fucking me, it feels so good.”
”My good little pet,” he grabs your hand and guides it to your throbbing clit. “Stroke that clit for me.”
You instantly obey, moaning loudly as you begin to rub tight circles on the swollen bead. You clench down around him as you cum again, liquid gushing out to soak the bed beneath you. His movements slow as he reaches his own end, filling you up with hot ropes of cum before instantly getting hard as he begins to fucki you again.
You lose all sense of time, only aware of the burning desire, and the twitching and thrusting of Kurogiri’s cock as he fills you up again and again. You can’t seem to stop cumming either, pushed beyond your limits and blissed out until finally all you can do is lay there and take it as he continues to ravage you.
Finally it’s over, and he collapses beside you as he pulls your back into his chest. “My precious little pet,” he whispers into the back of your neck. “I worked so hard to get you where you are now, into the realm of Fae where I could claim you.”
“And now you’re mine. Forever.”
✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧
Tags: @ichor-and-symbiosis, @thewheezingwyvern, @vixen-scribbles, @ttamaki, @lildreamer93, @kittygonyan, @bat-eclecticwolfbouquet-love, @daedaep69, @heyybrittannia, @groovydreamertrash, @hisoknen, @chou-maitresse, @shoutogepi, @togasknifes, @kingtamakimurder, @shigaraki-is-my-master, @kittycatkrissa, @dabilove27​, @fae-father, @anxietyplusultra​, @flutterfalla, @angmarwitch, @nereida19, @dabis-kitten, @bakugos-cumsock​, @yumeneji​, @reinawritesbnha​m @sawamooora​, @yanderart​
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quicksandblock · 3 years
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speaking of c!techno and losses, cus I thought about it a bit in the shower, you know what I would've liked for techno to lean into? the loss of his allyship and friendship with c!tommy.
even though the relationship between them was completely dysfunctional and doomed to fail due to conflicting goals, they still CLEARLY cared for each other while working together. and c!techno was clearly very hurt and felt betrayed when c!tommy switched sides. that could've been a major loss for him, or prompt him to question his ideals and whether it was worth the people he hurt and lost.
that's really why c!technos response to c!tommys death later was disappointing. sure, you could argue that 1. c!techno isn't the type to grieve publicly and maybe he grieved privately "off-camera" 2. cc!techno obviously prefers a lighthearted tone and isn't gonna lean into angst.
but his lack of response obviously gives the audience the impression that he doesn't care. and im not sure if that was the intent, but if it is, that's disappointing.
there could've been subtle ways to show grief and regret (he's good at the subtle stuff anyway). he couldve subtly implied that he was covering up grief with humor. techno is not a bad actor or writer, he excels at subtle storytelling. but that whole thing really made me just. dislike and distrust his character, lol
-cube-cumb3r (thank u for reblogging my crit post earlier btw)
it was a good post lol, like I said you put it all very well
and yes!! all of this!!! like it would have been weird if he’d grieved too obviously, but we wanted something, and we didn’t get it, and now Techno’s character is starting to feel kind of flat. he’s losing a lot of depth he had at the start. like it’s still an interesting character, but more and more we’re having to read that in from possibly-unintentional clues rather than being able to analyze obviously deliberate character choices.
unfortunately I think the root of the problem is that Techno isn’t having as much fun on the dsmp anymore. he came in to play a cartoon villain and promote his channel, and suddenly everyone’s storylines are fucking dark and everyone has 15 different kinds of ptsd and his funny anarchist pig doesn’t really have a place there anymore. not to say his character hasn’t always had its serious moments - but like the dream smp itself, they used to be the spice that added significance to a mostly lighthearted story, not the norm. nowadays it feels like you have to be able to cry on command to even participate.
there’s also the fact that he doesn’t really like collaborative storytelling. he’s said this on stream before - I can’t remember exactly when, but it was when half the fandom decided that Ranboo was his son (?? why????) and he had to come in and clear that up. he doesn’t like other people being able to decide things about his character, and he doesn’t really like “yes and”-ing as far as I can tell. he prefers to have tighter control over his own story. which is valid - but creates some problems in a story built entirely out of collaborative roleplay.
unfortunately both of these lead him to clash with Tommy’s storytelling style pretty severely - Tommy loves the dark stuff, and he’s also more than willing to play off of people and let improv and chance have a strong influence on his character’s path. and Tommy does a lot of highly emotional improv acting, which Technoblade just Doesn’t (unless the emotion is anger).
Ranboo and Tubbo have been talking about the older “semi-lore” style of the smp recently, and I think that a return to that style would allow Techno to come back to participate more in the story. but overall I think the conflict here is going to remain until the current arcs, especially the Tommy and Dream thing, have been wrapped up. which is unfortunate because Techno is kind of an integral part of some of those arcs.
coming back to specifically his response to Tommy’s death... I kind of feel like cc!Techno is trying to retroactively make that relationship less important to his character in an attempt to separate himself from the grimdark stuff. but I honestly can’t tell. it could just be a manifestation of his tsundere-ness. I hope it is, because while I get not being interested in a darker story, it would be kind of disappointing if he just noped out of any story that didn’t fall in his comfort zone. I just wish he would fucking stream so we could have anything at all to go off of lmao
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mickroryapologist · 3 years
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3, 15, 19, 30, 36, 48 for the salty asks!!!
3) Who is your most hated comics writer? GEOFF JOHNS! The Parallax retcon alone is enough for me to hate him, let alone the mess he made of the Flash lore. Add in the fact he's genuinely a shit person and he's on my hit list. I also would kill Scott Lobdell and Tom Taylor in a heartbeat. 15) Tell me about a plotline that could've been interesting if anyone else wrote it. If Geoff Johns hadn't written Mick Rory's return to crime after his second time going straight, we could've gotten to dig into the way our society doesn't allow true reform for felons and the way the prison system ultimately pushes people back into a life of crime once they're released. Between the work already established by Infantino back in Flash (1959) about how nobody trusts Mick when he's genuinely trying to reform and Kesel CLEARLY showing the kind of bullshit Mick gets from heroes when he's just trying to help, I think there's a lot to work with! The way Guardian in particular talks to and about Mick while they work together is just awful! For Geoff Johns to look at all the material there is here and then just handwave away Mick's decision to quit the Rogues as just Roscoe fucking around in his head literally fills me with rage. Like? Why not go into how the Rogues are the only family Mick has ever had after his family's death? Why not go into the financial struggles felons have to deal with? WHY NOT GO INTO HOW MICK WENT TO LITERAL HELL AND THAT'S WHY HE DECIDED TO QUIT?! LIKE HOW AWFUL DOES CIVILIAN LIFE HAVE TO BE FOR HIM TO DECIDE THAT THE THING THAT GOT HIM SENT TO HELL SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA?! THERE'S A LOT TO WORK WITH HERE ABOUT THE AMERICAN PRISON SYSTEM BUT JOHNS SUCKS SO WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE ANY OF IT! 19) Rant about a change they made to a character of your choice. Okay this is gonna be a long one sad;lfkdsasda I've got a lot to say about the Rogues in general Leonard: When they stopped making him a hot mess of a person and instead started leaning into "oh he's calm and collected and he's always got a plan" they lost a lot of what makes him so fun. Like this dude is a hot mess of a person. He's impulsive and selfish. He goes back and forth between pushing away the people he cares about or being so overbearing and controlling they leave on their own anyway. He drinks too much and blows all his money. He really is just a regular degular deeply traumatized person with a cool weapon and a knack for engineering. That's the fucking point. (Also the way they just keep making him darker and grittier is killing me. What happened to his no killing rule? In what world would he be okay with hundreds of civilians dying so he can take over Central City? Idk who this bitch in Rebirth is but it sure ain't Len) Mick: See previous question. Lisa: LET HER BE UNHINGED AND VIOLENT AGAIN!
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LIKE WHERE IS THIS ENERGY NOW?! Give me back the Lisa who kept giving her boyfriends cold gun technology and calling them by the same stupid name. I miss her so much. Stop making her the voice of reason or whatever, it's more fun when the Rogues don't have one. Digger: Free my man from the Suicide Squad and give him back to his team. He's alright with the Suicide Squad, but he's way more fun playing off the Rogues. Mark: They didn't need to change his name to Marco in order to racebend him, the fact that they did so is just weird. Also racebending him and then changing his entire backstory so his brother was a drug lord instead of a scientist is just blatantly racist. Sam: I love the guy but I think bringing him back to life was a cop out. Evan had a more interesting backstory and a more interesting dynamic with the team at large. 30) What side character do you hate? My opinion might change when I get around to reading New Gods (1989) but just based off of her first appearance in New Gods (1971) #9 I cannot STAND Eve Donner asfj;lksdsad The way she talked about Orion was so fucking weird. I know part of that is that Jack Kirby wasn't great with female side characters sometimes (at least based on what I've read of New Gods and The Demon) but like, this one was a doozy lmao 36) What's the most uninteresting fact you've learned about a character?
Barry Allen has been meta-aware at least twice. 48) [X] should've stayed dead, let me explain. I think this one is a tie for me between Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne. Barry should've stayed dead because it literally makes zero sense for him to come back. If he wasn't Geoff Johns' golden boy, they never would've revived him. Barry dying during Crisis on Infinite Earths made sense both in universe and metatextually. Earth One started with his introduction and ended with his death, you can't get any more poetic than that. And now that he's back they don't even know what to do with him! They just keep giving him Wally's powers, personality, and friends (Like? Why are Hartley and Barry friends?!)! Just use Wally then! And Bruce should've actually died during Final Crisis and stayed dead because I'm sick of him <3
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strangefable · 4 years
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OTP questions - #7!
Uh. This got a little long. Also, this basically is those spoilers I was worried about before, but hell with it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
The door opened and Lore flung herself through it, crying out in delight. “Nonie! I’m here! Oh, Nonie! At last!” She threw her arms around a woman with dark hair and a darker complexion than her own. She was taller and broader, but she carried it well. Max was surprised; they looked nothing alike. They were both beautiful, he supposed, though he found it hard to believe anyone compared with his captain.
The newly unfrozen woman squealed with delight of her own as she turned into the captain’s embrace. “Lore! Oh my God! Lore! Are we really in Halcyon? They keep telling me what happened, but I don’t want to hear it from anyone but you!” They danced about, shouting and talking over one another, all exuberance and joy. He didn’t think he’d seen Lore smiling that wide or laughing this loud ever before; she looked so damn happy, it made his heart ache. He smiled as he watched them. He leaned against the wall and let them have their long-awaited reunion uninterrupted.
It was at least twenty minutes before the captain seemed to recall anyone else was even in the room. She glanced over her sister’s shoulder and caught sight of Max; she looked slightly surprised to see him. She smiled at him and beckoned him as she turned her sister about. “Nonie! This is Max. He’s… he’s my vicar.” She bit her lip, chewing it in that nervous way she had. “Max, this is my sister, Leonora Jameson.”
The other woman stepped forward and held her hand out toward him. “Call me Nora.”
He blinked down at the proffered hand. He glanced at Lore questioningly. She groaned at him. “You shake it, Max. It’s an Earth thing. Nevermind. Just… I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without him, Nonie. He’s…” she trailed off, chewing her lip again. It seemed more than enough to tell her sister all she needed to know, however.
Nora narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to one side, studying him. “Hmm. Not bad.” She glanced at her sister, then back at Max. “Yeah, I see you, sis. Don’t even play! You better tell me the details later. And you,” she turned and pointed an accusing finger at Max. “You best be better than the last one, or I’ll turn you into a science experiment of my own design.” She leaned close and glared as hard as she could. She was much more formidable than Lore had made her sound. He decided he rather liked her. “I’m not going through any of this again. No one’s hurting her ever again, got me?”
Max blinked and leaned back slightly. He raised an eyebrow. “Are you implying that I would treat her the way that bastard did? Because I have a whole fucking list of words for that asshole, Miss Jameson, and none of them are pleasant. And they’d all come with my fists pummeling him into pulp, might I add.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m quite protective of my captain.”
Nora laughed. “Oh, you got you a real humdinger this time, didn’t you, Lore!?” She nudged her sister with an elbow, all grins and waggling eyebrows. Then she turned her megawatt grin on him. “I see you’ve done a real number on her, huh? Never seen her this quiet!”
Lore was blushing, though she was doing her best to hide it. Max stepped up beside her and wrapped his arm firmly around her waist. He kissed her cheek. “You’d best not get used to it, I’m afraid. I find I’ve to work rather hard to keep her quiet for longer than two moments at a time, myself.” Lore’s elbow slammed into his ribs right on cue. She glared at him, but the twinkle in his eye disarmed her immediately. She rolled her own eyes, then leaned more closely into him. “Ah, proving a point, are we? Ever the contrarian, Captain.”
Nora was grinning again. “Yeah, I think I like this one.”
Max gave her a haughty look. “Not as much as I like her, I assure you.” He tightened his arm about the captain’s waist so fiercely, she let out a small yelp, then slapped him, though it had no real sting to it.
Nora tossed back her head and laughed too loudly for Lore to have a chance at getting a word in edgewise in retaliation. He’d have to remember to thank her for the reprieve later. Though he knew he’d pay eventually. He always did. He pressed another kiss to Lore’s cheek, even as she scowled at him.
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atxlxs · 3 years
Text
Beyond The Veil: Chapter 8
There was one stupid stereotype that seemed consistent in vampire lore that humans have written.
They tended to paint Vampires as creatures with very minimal or muted emotions that only really show said emotions when in relation to amusement or anger, and depending on the novel; sadism. That was a load of bullcrap.
First of all, most vampires have normal emotional levels. After all, most of them were human at some point. It’s just as time passes, they get incredibly good at either hiding their emotions, or mellowing out under years of experiences and logic. Eras was born the way she is, so she just experienced emotion differently than most.
She just prefers to ruthlessly stomp the feeling out of existence in order to embrace logical processing. She still feels the emotion! Just hours later when she's ready to process it and it has shrunk into a minor inconvenience. The problem with that though is that when something does manage to get to her, it hits hard.
Currently, Eras was sitting in her car while calmly letting the tension that had been building leave her shoulders. After 4 meetings that could have, quite frankly, fucked off and been an email; she was tense and annoyed.
This was not at all improved by the insistent ringing of her phone.
Without checking the number, a rare occasion for her but she was stressed, Eras answered and placed the phone on her ear. She could barely hold back the snap that wanted to peek through as she kept her voice level and polite.
“Hello, may I inquire as to the purpose of this call?” Was she defaulting to formal speech to prevent her frustration from coating her words? Yes, yes she was.
A feeling of wrongness from that morning pricked under her skin when she was answered by the voice of Nedzu.
“Ah yes, Viridis-san correct?” a skeptical hum of agreement prompted Nedzu to continue, “Great! I’m calling to inform you of a serious matter and I must ask, are you able to listen at this specific moment?” The faux cheerfulness Nedzu presented was not thick enough to hide his notes of seriousness from her keen hearing.
The feeling started to boil.
“Yes, I am.” This time, some of her curtness leaked through. She has had enough with pleasantries at the moment.
“Alright, I’ll just be forward then. Currently, due to a training mishap during All Might's foundational heroics class Viridis Muska is currently on bedrest in the infirmary, healing burns from an explosive attack from one of our other students. She’ll make a full recovery without any scarring since it wasn’t too serious thanks to another teammate who dragged her out of the way, however she’ll be sleeping for a few hours considering she was on low energy before Recovery Girl healed her.”
Eras almost snapped the steering wheel off with how hard she was gripping it. A stillness impossible for those that breathe settled over her like a blanket as her blood burned its way through her veins. Its toxic properties popped in her head as it ran simulations for various scenarios she could act on. First, though, she had an idiot to check on.
“Thank you for informing me.” Her voice was cold, and deceptively calm, “I’ll be showing up in 10 minutes. I am meeting my ward first and then I’ll need some questions answered. None of this is optional. I’ll see you soon, Nedzu.”
There was 25 minutes between where Eras was currently and her destination.
She showed up in the promised 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Might stared at the phone on Nedzu’s desk like it had just signed off on his will and dug his grave.
To be fair though, it kind of did.
Shouta would grin his cheshire grin in sadistic glee at that if he wasn’t worried about what had just happened as well. Nedzu, surprisingly and hauntingly, was not smiling. His face is dark and serious. Shouta couldn’t blame him though. Viridis Eras could kill with her tone of voice alone.
He had never been so effectively threatened by words not even targeted at him before.
He sighed and got up from leaning against the wall. He turned towards Nedzu who had tracked the movement with his ears.
“I’ll go and head to the parking lot, She’ll need a guide.”
He was dismissed with a nod and he ignored the fearful stare that was pleading in his direction as he left. He shouldn’t have conducted fucking battle trials if he wanted a savior. Shouta was still pissed off about that. He also had tapes to watch and testimonies to get when deciding on future punishment. The Bakugo’s had been called and were heading in the school’s direction as well but considering Viridis would be their first? Hizashi had gotten off scot free when he stole his coffee this morning so he could deal with them. If they were anything like his student? Well...
Shouta Aizawa was not ashamed to admit he was a very petty man.
He sighed as he finally reached the parking lot gate. Leaning against the side and taking out a jelly pouch to pass the time while also getting some kind of nutrients, He had hoped that Viridis would take a bit longer so he could catch a break, but that’s definitely not happening.
He was proven right when in the next 5 minutes a black jeep pulled into the parking lot space closest to the gate where he was standing. Straightening his posture from the slouch it had been, he didn't want to make a worse impression, Shouta watched with hawk eyes as Viridis exited the vehicle and walked over to him.
She was around 171cm but that was probably due to the heels adding on some height. Hair, that was styled in a sleek bob cut, would blow in the wind occasionally. Revealing perfect snow white hair underneath black. As the distance rapidly closed between them, Shouta noticed the beauty mark that sat on the left of a smile that put Nedzu’s politely pissed one to shame. Eyes that were a darker black than his own, did not hide the angry cat like slits they held in them. He felt a shudder try to work up his spine the closer she got and he mercilessly pushed it down.
Once she was close enough, Shouta gave her a quick meaningful bow before talking.
“Hello Viridis-san, My name is Aizawa Shouta,” returning to full height he noticed the tattoo he had been trying to see from a distance turned out to be a snake wrapped around her neck and biting its own tail, “I’ll be your guide to the infirmary and then afterwards to Nedzu’s office. I’m also your ward’s homeroom teacher.“
Eyes seemed to pierce through him as they racked down his body with an assessing gaze.
“I see,” and wasn’t that voice the definition of syrupy sweet? “As you know the name is Viridis Eras, however just call me Eras. I’m not only used to it but with more than one Viridis, things will get confusing. Lead the way.”
With that command, Shouta turned around and immediately headed for the infirmary. He could only pray, despite not believing in such things, that they would all get through this alive.
Minus Yagi.
Shouta was pretty damn sure the man would be lucky to still walk after this.
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As Aizawa led her to the infirmary, Eras took the time to focus on calming down.
Thankfully, she hadn’t snapped the man's head off when he had introduced himself. He was nice, definitely has the voice of a god, and… She's getting off track.
Aizawa doesn’t deserve the snappish angry attitude she had at the moment. That was reserved for All Might, and possibly Nedzu, due to his involvement in the cause of whatever the fuck she was walking to go see.
They reached the infirmary relatively fast, and Aizawa knocked twice before opening the door and stepping aside to let her walk in first. Stepping over the entryway, she immediately snapped her head to where Muska was lying on a bed talking to a teen next to her with the greenest curls she had ever seen.
That however, was the least of her concerns.
“Oh, Hey Eras.”
Eras was at her side within seconds. She assessed any and all bandages she could see, which compared to greenie in front of her was relatively few. The skin that wasn’t covered was red but in the sensitive way skin is after coming in contact with something hot. Nothing was scarred. Releasing the tension in her shoulders, Eras slumped into the seat next to her best friend's infirmary bed.
“Hey Muska, you just had to give me a scare huh? I almost broke my steering wheel when I received the phone call.” Eras narrowed her eyes but the glare had no heat.
The little shit just cackled at the thought of her friend breaking a steering wheel, again, and gestured to Green boy as she calmed down. Said boy looked like a deer in headlights at the action.
“Meet Midoriya Izuku, he’s the one who pulled me away from PomPom boy's blast and honestly could use more of your fretting than me.” Muska said, a shit eating smirk on her face as said boy ‘eeped’ at that. He was also blushing fiercely and stuttering out reassurances along with trying to downplay the role he had in helping Muska. Oh, this is red flag boy.
Eras inclined her head slightly and smiled a more genuine smile, still not showing teeth though. The nervous teen relaxed slightly at it. Good.
“Thank you for that Midoriya. I appreciate you saving my friend like that. Are you alright as well?” she asked, eyeing the bandages wrapped around his arms and torso. Muska just muffled a snort at her wording. So what if the last thing she heard her say that morning was "dictator daddy's all have that condescending smile." She could be formal! It's called a customer service voice for a reason.
When he tried to brush off the damage they could both see, Muska sighed and turned to Eras. Gesturing to her mouth and then to her neck, she pretended to swipe it and played dead. Eras snorted and just sighed afterwards. Shaking her head to say no she was not about to murder a public figure. Maim though....
“As long as you’ll heal alright then I guess it was fine. Really though, Midoriya, I owe you. If you ever need anything, let me know." Muska's eyes widened at that and snapped to Eras who just shook her head once again, "Muska, I don’t plan on it but it’ll be close. I’m pissed and it’s not really leaving just yet. I’ll be entering a meeting after this visit and I have a feeling the Bakugo’s were already called in as well.”
Muska nodded along until the Bakugo part. Then she had a constipated look on her face before leaning in and whispering.
“He needs therapy, his emotions had run wild during the exercise and I don’t think this was a product of just anger. This feels conditioned.”
Eras gripped the chair at that. Gritting her teeth, she nodded. Giving a slight bow to a still sputtering Midoriya, Eras walked out the infirmary door and closed it quietly. Aizawa leaned against the wall to the left and she took a few seconds to appreciate the silence before nodding in his direction. Luckily for All Might. Seeing Muska had calmed some of the anger she was still feeling.
She had a rat to go meet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tags:
@baguettehead
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oh-sweet-mama · 4 years
Text
Leaving my side Pt.2 (Ben solo at the end)
T.W:Sex, talk of death, slight angst
TROS spoilers 
Tumblr media
3rd person
Awaking with a soft sound of an alarm ringing through the room, y/n stretched, only to be pulled into a warm embrace.
"Don't leave." Kylo mumbled against her neck.
"I have to go on your scouting mission." She retorted.
"Mhmm 5 more minuets. That girl can wait." Kylo mumbled back.
Y/n reached out and set the timer for 5 minutes. Sighing in content Kylo rests his head on her chest. Listening to her breathing and soft thud of her heartbeat.
Y/n played with Kylo's soft raven hair. It was fluffy in the morning and silky. Kylo's nimble fingers lazily danced along the smooth skin of y/n lower stomach.
The alarm went off in a blink of an eye.
"Don't go." Kylo mumbled. "I have the day off!"
"Well- you wanted me out there finding your girl." Y/n stated.
"Wha- you're my girl." Kylo mumbled sleepily.
"Sure Ren, I'll be back shortly, enjoy your day off." Y/n kissed Kylo's forehead before walking into the bathroom and starting her shower.
Her stomach twisted. There was something wrong.
Listen here child-
Y/n's heart beat quickened.
Your boy will die at the end of this day- so will that girl- and it will be your fault.
She shook the voice out of her ears. Quickly getting dressed and rushed to the door. Before exiting the shared room y/n looked over at Kylo. Fearing this is the last time she will see him.
She knows this is true deep down, but she decided to not accept the fact. She boarded the tie fighters and set out following the coordinates.
Kylo awoke feeling nauseous. He got up and got ready for the day.
Walking up the bridge of his command ship he announced his brief speech.
"I'm going on a mission, tell me at once when Y/n gets back with the girl at once." Kylo's voices modulator boomed.
Boarding his tie fighter Kylo set out for a planet, hoping to find a way finder he'd been looking for far to long.
——— (skip to the battle of exogol)
Kylo's heart races he never heard from his command ship weather or not y/n got back. Fighting off the knights of Ren. Rey appears.
Nodding in reassurance, Rey passed Luke's lightsaber to him. A new fire burned in Ben. Eradicating Kylo. He sprints to the throne room.
A force brings him to his knees. His life force being ripped out of him. Evil cackles fill the room as palpatine rises.
Ben motionless on the cold stone. His breathing was shallow.
Rise Kylo you've got this I love you.
Y/n's voice rings in his ear. Getting up onto his feet he swings his saber only to be flung back.
——
A orange x wing swings in knowing an exactly where to hit the star destroyers.
Her gut churred. Kylo? Ben?
She reached her mind out.
Rise Kylo you've got this I love you.
She sensed Rey.
"Shit!" Y/n slammed her fist down on her dash board. "Fuck!"
Her heart was shattering. Knowing Kylo had found the girl. She punched her X-wing in to advanced war mode. Taking out yet another star destroyer alone.
The rest of the X-wing fleet watched in awe as the rouge plane took down star destroyers.
"Some one radio that X- Wing!" Poe demanded.
Y/n opened her radio to all channels.
"Listen. Resistance. First order. Rebels. I don't give a fuck. I will take every singe one of these star destroyers down. One. By. One." ———-
Ben cradled Rey. She lay motionless.
Ben slowly passed his dwindling life force to her.
"Ben?" Rey whispered.
"Yea- yea it's me."
Rey cupped Ben's cheek and leaned into to gently kiss him.
"Shit shit shit-" y/n muttered. Time seemed to slow. Her X- Wing was out of fuel. She had to land. Y/n felt the connect between Ben and Rey complete "Goodbye Ben."
She took the landing to hot.
Ben felt the gaping hole in his chest. Tears poured.
"No!"
"Ben? Ben what's wrong?" Rey asked.
"Nothing- nothing- I've got to get you home." Ben felt lightheaded, before letting go he falls back as the world fades out. Rey catching his head.
Ben- my son- rise. Your fight is not over yet.
The noise is the cave was silent. Rey watched in anticipation.
Ben took a breath. Opening his eyes. His face was colorless. Rey stood Bens' arm over her shoulder. Most of his weight on her. Limping back to Reys X-wing Ben settles Rey on his lap, taking off glancing over for one last look at the dying planet before jumping into hyper space.
Rolling onto her back, y/n watched as the last X-wing jumped into hyperspace.
"Ben?" Y/n whispered. She felt his pull slowly fade away. She couldn't feel her legs. Where are my legs? Limbs felt like they were cemented to the rough planet.
"Hey! Kid!" A figure loomed over her. "Y/n! Kid! What happened?"
"Perit? My- my X-wing..." the world was getting darker, and the surrounding world started to fade.
"Shit- kid! Let's go." perit gently picked the frail girl up and set her down on a cot back on the ship. "Damn kid we need to stop the bleeding on this leg."
———
"Alright master Ben, here are your personal quarters, meal time is anonymous and you may join when you wish." The small aid instructed.
"Thank you." Ben said softly.
"No problem master Ben, have a wonderful evening." The aid Instructed.
He sat on his bed after he heard the aid leave and her boots recede down the hall. That's when he let it all go.
Sobs bounced off of the walls. Bens entire being trembled with pain.
"Y/n... please-" Ben sobbed. He curled up into his pillow, on top of the covers and let the tears flow. "You- can't leave me here alone." —— Ben spent days in his quarters alone. Often crying silently. Only wandering the halls late at night to find small packaged snacks.
"Shit- ow-" y/n grumbled rubbing the back of her head. "Wha- where am I?"
"You're back at the resistance base kid- ya' did it kid- that wars' over." Perit congratulates.
"You got me back here?"
"Yea- I uh saw your X- wing go down- so I went down to scoop you up- I'm sorry about the X- Wing kid- I got your droid out fine though. An your-"
"Shit my leg!" Y/n panicked.
"You're fine kid I made you a prosthetic. Just try to wear shorts or baggy clothing I'll make you a better one promise." Perit soothed.
"Yea- we can rebuild the X-wing too, I've had my eyes on an old one from the first war for a while." Y/n chewed her lip. "Want to go back to base? I need to speak to a few people, how long was I out?"
"About a good 4 weeks, I feed you and got an Iv in but that's about it. I'll stick around here and fix up your leg some more."
"I- wow. Thank you Perit." Y/n slowly rose to her feet, regaining her bearings. She slowly waded out of the ship, often stopping and leaning on a nearby tree. Y/n had rightened her posture, slowly making it through a small crowd of people.
Ben followed Poe, Rey, and Finn. Quietly observing. Feeling lingering stares. His mother had left them a small 'scavenger hunt' to help them meet some of the important places and people around the base.
"The girl you're looking for stays at a ship outside the boundaries of the base. I haven't seen or hear of her since the battle of exogol." Demi explained.
"Shit- fuck!" Y/n stumbled around her leg getting caught on random items on the ground. "Hey! Lore!"
"Oh my stars you're ok!" Another blonde girl embraced her.
"Oh- there she is- her is name is y/n," Ben's stomach dropped. Y/n? "you should follow her back to her ship- she doesn't look to good. Make sure Perits' around."
"Thank you Demi." Poe thanked. "Damn Leia really has us following a drunk girl back to a ship."
Ben noticed her leg. It seemed to be a piece of hollow metal with very basic joints, connected to the base of her knee.
After collecting supplies, y/n had better bearings. Now walking straight and seeing clearly. However her force connection was still off, unable to sense the party of people following.
"I'm back Perit-"
"Hey uh- y/n-" Poe reaches out.
"Yea? Fuck! I don't have anything for you!" Y/n turned around to be faced with Poe's confused one. Her features dropped. "Sorry for my tone Admiral. I- I thought someone else was following me."
Y/n bowed at the waist.
She turned around, but tripped on a spare part. Dropping all of the supplies she had bundled under her jacket.
"S-sorry- I'll go get the letter." She stumbled away. Picking up loose supplies.
Ben watched in awe as his nimble lover walked away, she seemed to be raised from the dead.
She dug through a small basket of journals. Drawings falling out occasionally. Y/n retrieved the lose artwork.
Beep boop trill?
"Yes the letter I'm looking for the letter from Admiral Leia." Y/n explained to her droid.
The droid opened the panel on the belly then a formally wrapped letter popped out.
"Here sorry for the delay." Y/n apologized "I'm Y/n y/m/n Kenobi, I assisted Admiral Leia, I am not at your service, however I was formally asked to assist master Ben."
Ben's heart skipped beats when his named rolled off of her tongue like honey.
"You! You're the one that is messing with me and Bens' bond!" Rey stormed up to y/n.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't act stupid! You know!"
"Rey sit!" Ben demands.
"I didn't do anything. 3 years ago, admiral Leia sent me on a spy mission straight into the lions den. The first order. I knew she wanted me to bring her son back, but that was never an order. When I first came into contact with Kylo Ren I felt a pull to him. The force wanted me and Ben together. Not Ben and Rey. However I would never get Ben back to The light if I told him this. The force bonds began to connect us. I sensed Reys power of a palpatine." Y/n paused, rubbing her palms together.
Poe, and Finn leaned into Y/n intrigued in her story.
Y/n continued, "I forced a connection between Rey and Ben. To get Ben back. I sacrificed my life for this. I wasn't even supposed to make it off of exogol. Leia knew that Rey was just a scavenger with a complicated past. I was once a scavenger too, on planet of Tatoonie. I'm sorry. I was think about the fate of the galaxy. Not feelings. If I wouldn't have eradicated Kylo Ren, the entire galaxy would be gone."
It was silent. Quiet. Even the droids were holding their breath.
"Oh Y/n" Ben rose to his feet walking over to her. And wrapping his arms around her, "I- I thought I lost you. I felt you go down- I felt the X- wing go down. I felt the bond too, but I didn't know if it was just me falling for you. Which I did anyways."
Light airy chuckles escaped Ben.
"Ben. Ben not here. We must get you back to base. Quickly before the creatures roam their native land." Y/n quickly taking Bens hand and a flashlight. Her prosthetic was uneven from the other real leg. Causing her to have a limp.
——
After wishing goodnight to Poe and Finn. Ben felt Rey's lingering stare. She had fallen for him. But Ben is confused and hurt. He needed someone he could trust.
Y/n had controlled the information passed between the force bond.
Ben punched in his code gently pulling Y/n into his quarters.
"I- I thought I lost you." Ben repeated.
"I know, I know." Y/n soothed. Ben sobbed softly before gently pulling Y/n into his lap. Gently caressing the cool metal of her prothetic, it reminded him of when she used to kiss his mask.
"Be careful of my leg I don't want to hurt you."
"You'll never hurt me."
Flipping positions, Ben gently kissed down her neck.
"I better mark you up." Ben growled lowly.
Pulling her shirt off over y/n's head he kissed a faint line of hickeys down her chest. Before unclasping her bra.
Ben attached his mouth to her right nipple while applying pressure to the other one.
"Shit Ben-"
He traveled down.
"Only shorts huh?"
"Oh shut up- I can't wear pants till I get a better prosthetic."
"Mhmm trying to temp me?"
"Hmm no."
Ripping her shorts and panties off in one slide, Ben crawled back up to kiss her lips hungrily. Y/n wrapped her arms gently around his neck pulling him deeper into their kiss.
Though he kissed down her jaw leaving light hickeys.
"I've missed you." He moans lightly against her collar bone.
"So have I Ben-"
Ben makes dark hickeys down her sternum and along the valley of her breasts. As he makes his way to her heat, gentle love bite shook pleasure through Y/n.
"Shit- Ben." Y/n moaned. Truth be told Ben loves her moans, even as Kylo. He's never heard something so sweet and innocent even when he was sinning between her thighs.
Ben continued down her stomach and onto her thighs. Passing her throbbing core.
"Ben please-" Y/n hated to beg, but she needed. The burning desire and passion she's held back so long was finally freed. She was Bens' and Ben was hers'.
Ben finally landed a simple kiss to her clit. Before launching his attack of love. Licking a long stripe up her core she clutches the sheets. Every whimper goes straight to Ben's cock.
His pants getting tighter by the second. Teasing her entrance with his finger he sucks harshly at her clit. Earning her Moans and whimpers of pleasure to bounce off the walls.
Y/n's nimble fingers rake through Ben's hair lightly tugging.
"Ben- please." She lightly tugged him up to her face. The tip of his nose and lips slick with arousal .
"Always so good for me baby girl." The praise goes straight to y/n's awaiting core.
"Please- fuck me Ben."
"As you wish." He slips his pants off followed by his shirt tossing them somewhere in the room. Ben laces his fingers into hers, before slowly pushing into her.
"F-fuck. Shit- princess- always taking this cock so good." Ben moans. The praises wet y/n further.
"Ben!" Y/n moans, feeling complete with his hips flush against hers. "Please go-" Y/n whimpers.
Ben starts a slow maddening rhythm before starting to pound into her. Releasing his grip on her hands, on hand flies to her to the other resting on the head board.
Stars dance in y/n's vision. Before she knew it her high was within reach.
"Ben I'm close." She moans.
"I know princess go ahead I'm almost there." Ben bucks his hips into hers before coating her walls with his seed. Gently pulling out her fishes a new pair of boxers out of his drawer and one of his tunics. Followed by a damp cloth to clean the arousal off of both of them.
After getting cleaned up. Ben hands y/n his tunic, relishing how small she appears in them. He pulls the Boxers up his strong legs, the. Retrieved a fresh warm blanket to wrap themselves in.
Slipped into the bed with the drowsy Y/n.
"Cuddles?"
"Of course princess."
Ben cradled her in his arms the blanket snuggled close to them. Ben felt- happy? His heart was warm, just like her. He was truly happy and in love, for the first time.
7 notes · View notes
goblincas · 3 years
Text
Entry Level Angel | Ch 3
On AO3
Saturday, October 10th:
Charlie tapped Cas's shoulder, urging him forward as another breeze stroked past his skin— his still very desensitized skin. He swallowed, unmoving, eyes drilling into the scene ahead. After waiting another moment, Charlie flicked Cas in the bicep. He flinched out of sheer habit.
“Y’know, this is super important,” Charlie reminded him, using her fingertips to soothe the site of assault. “Like, for your own well-being. Hell, for your life, even. Not to be melodramatic or anything, but it’s not like we have any clue of the severity we’re facing, here.”
She was right, of course— Cas needed help, and he needed it more and more desperately, each passing day. He had almost certainly been cursed. Although, that was right about where the reasonable conclusions slipped off into the abyss, never to be heard from again.
However, if Charlie’s plan was to succeed, Cas was going to have to take some initiative, first. There was nothing productive about standing in place, waiting for the asphalt to swallow both his body and his oh-so stubborn will to live.
Christ, how did Charlie convince herself that she was the “melodramatic” one?
The brick wall ahead was tinged by an earthy green plaster, offsetting the tubular neon lights spelling out “Magical Books ‘n’ Goods” across an otherwise cramped windowpane. Damp autumn leaves clung to the chipping windowsill and the base of an oval-capped doorway. Cas could hardly see inside the low-lit shop, aside from the unassuming profile of a retail bookshelf.
Sure, it wasn’t an especially threatening setup, but he wasn’t exactly coming at the situation from the calmest headspace. Thus, there was an almost menacing ambiance filtering through the shop’s walls, clamoring in Cas’s direction. It wasn’t his fault that he’d been rendered motionless by fear, much like a toddler off to their first day of preschool. Nope, no need for personal responsibility or self-initiative, here. Not today.
Again, Charlie nudged him, although with more pressure than earlier. “Dude, I’m serious. I just know that if anyone’s gonna be able to give us a clue, here, it’s gonna be her. Listen; I get the nerves, okay? And, like, I don’t even expect them to go away when you guys meet. She’s great, but she’s still an acquired taste… if it’s not totally insensitive to say that about another person. But this is important, Cas. I care about you too much to be lax, right now. Got it?”
Cas huffed, blinking slowly. Processing. “What a beautiful speech,” he quipped, continuing to gather his thoughts. Charlie flicked him again, this time on his shoulder. “Fine, okay, I understand. I do. I’m going in.”
Eyes lighting up against the muted autumn backdrop, Charlie thrust a celebratory fist into the air. “Great! Let’s get going, then.”
The inside of the witches’ specialty shop wasn’t too much unlike a run-of-the-mill small town bookstore, down to the effortless quirks of its layout. Mismatched shelves lined much of the back wall, creating a rich smattering of varying hues and grain around the secondhand spines. The air smelt faintly of chemical cinnamon, hardly able to overcome the musk of the place. Still, the witchy touches were anything but hidden; a line of tables ran down the center of the shop, covered in plastic-wrapped bundles of herbs, jars of unidentifiable glowing substances, and trendy rose gold altars. Wait, was that… an eyeball?
For his own sanity, Cas decided not to overthink it.
Before Cas had the opportunity to turn to Charlie for guidance, a voice jetted through the air, originating from god-knows-where. “Ah, hello there, dearie! Charlie, welcome back! And who is this you’ve brought along with you?” The thick, unmistakably Scottish sing-song seemed to reverberate out of the air, itself. Although hazy at the start, the sound was quick to crispen up.
Shifty eyed, Cas began to peer around the shop, only slightly disturbed by the disembodied words. Truly, it wasn’t as if he’d been expecting a day-to-day, streamlined retail experience. This was about in line with his expectations, so, whatever.
Charlie, bless her, managed to respond with near perfect nonchalance; this calmed Cas, yet somehow, also put him just a bit more on-edge. Well, then. “Hey, Ro! Where are you at? The back? I kinda, really need your help with something. Or, at least, my friend here sure does. Oh, Cas, introduce yourself!”
Cas side-eyed his friend, chewing his lip before replying slowly, seemingly to no one in particular, “Hi, I’m Cas. Um. Nice to meet… you? Yeah, sorry, who am I speaking to?” He was a human, for heaven’s sake; he wasn’t used to this, as expected as it might have been. Witches were certainly avant-garde, Cas could give them that.
Seconds later, a door was pushed open toward the back of the shop; it was encased on both sides by thinner, darker shelves, lined with stones and miscellaneous shiny and slimy tchotchkes. Cas swallowed, taking in the emerging figure.
The woman was surprisingly petite, yet carried herself as if she could crush Cas beneath her pinkie finger, alone. Red hair styled in fat curls poured over the shoulders of her simple black gown. Her eyes seemed to be faintly glowing, and Cas wasn’t certain he was comfortable with that fact, all things considered.
Nonetheless, Charlie was beaming in an instant, giving a short yet enthused wave of her hand. “Hey again, Ro. I know you’re probably busy, and I seriously don’t wanna waste any more of your time than I have to, so I’ll get right down to it. Oh, first— Cas, this is Rowena MacLeod, the spell-casting and lore dictionary, herself.”
Rowena let out a low giggle, the gleam in her emerald eyes only intensifying. Honestly, Cas was convinced that that “gleam” was more than simply a trick of the light.
“Yes, of course! Well, it’s very good to meet you, Cas, dearie,” Rowena said, her voice flowing over Cas like compound butter.
Cas gave a curt nod, unsure if he was meant to lead the conversation from there, but praying that he wasn’t.
To his luck, Charlie continued, “Like I said, I’ll get right down to… it. ‘Cause it’s kinda a lot. Unfortunately,” she said, planting her hands on her hips and entering an inadvertent power pose. “Cas here, just like the unlucky bastard that he is, managed to go and get himself mega cursed. And we have, like, no clue what’s goin’ on. So, first off, we’re gonna need a diagnosis, if you can give us one.”
Pursing her red-painted lips, Rowena hummed, squinting in Cas's direction. Cas fidgeted as the witch glided across the room, the floor creaking and whining beneath her leather heels. Moving in Cas's direction, she continued to scope the young man out.
“Hm? Ach, so… Cas, darling. Mind to expand in place of your friend? This is your tragic curse, after all. I’m sure your first-hand assessment will be more useful to me, here.”
Strangely enough, Cas wanted to contend. While Charlie hadn’t been the one experiencing the bizarro symptoms that past week, she was the witch. This was her specialty, her very domain as their backdrop.
Still, with trepidation, he replied. “It’s not anything bad, necessarily. At least, not painful. Just… very strange.” He sighed. Rowena leaned forward, tipping the weight of her body in Cas's direction. “I spilled hot coffee on myself and wasn’t burnt. No pain, either. I can’t sleep. I haven’t tasted food in a week. Oh, I haven’t slept in a week, either, so I definitely should mention that. Also, once, not too long after this all started, my entire abdomen glowed blue, before I was knocked unconscious for… a few hours, I believe?”
Cas held his breath, anticipating the sharp-eyed witch’s professional assessment. She continued to squint upward, claw-like hands finding their way to her hips.
“Well,” she hummed, after a moment of thought. “That’s certainly… concerning, to put things all too simply. Ah, and— you’re a human, correct?”
“Yeah, I am.” Although, frankly, Cas wasn’t so sure anymore. He certainly didn’t feel like a human, at that point. Surely, a “human” would have dropped dead of exhaustion by then, right?
(Although, it was more likely that Dean was going to be the one to kill him for neglecting his health and safety, if he ever found out. Assuming the curse didn’t get creative and take care of that first, of course.)
Rowena gave a delicate nod, loose curls bobbing with the movement. She straightened herself, leaning just slightly away, and Cas felt the concrete seeping from his own limbs. Wait, when had he gotten so tense?
“I see, I see. Hm…” She clucked her tongue, momentarily turning her gaze toward the tiled ceiling. “You are certainly correct, Charlie, dear. This isn’t a common ailment… how fascinating. That is certainly an unusual combination of, what sounds like, quite powerful and life-altering symptoms. Ach, well…” She trailed off, before reaching out a slender hand and attaching it to Cas's forearm. He lurched, but made sure not to pull away. As much as he loathed people touching him without a lick of permission, he reasoned that it was a sacrifice he’d apparently have to make.
God, he felt like a fucking lab rat, though. A genetic freak of a rodent, caged off from the rest of its whiskered brethren.
“I… have a bit of an inkling, certainly,” Rowena said, nails digging deeper into the flesh of Cas’s arm. She gazed directly into his eyes. “Infernal magic of some sort or another seems likely. Demonic in nature, maybe? Of course, draconic spellwork is still very much a consideration.”
Charlie drew in a breath between her teeth, reaching out from beside Cas and laying a hand on his shoulder. “Woah… not good. Why do you think that?”
To Cas's hardly containable irritation, Rowena let out another giggle, sleek as ever. “Well, you see, dearie, it’s really just a simple process of elimination. The more uncommon the spell or the curse, the more likely it’s outsourced from fringe magic. It’s as simple as that, really.” She drew back her hand, joining her palms together atop her heart. “Of course, we’ll have to do some further investigation to understand what, exactly, is the matter. Now, think of it like a fun little puzzle— in that light, your predicament will feel far less harrowing. Hm?”
As Rowena spoke and Charlie shifted her hand to clutch at the meat of Cas’s bicep, the front door to the shop was nudged open. Cas peaked over his shoulder, watching a golden-haired stranger hop on in— and promptly drift toward the corner shelves. There was no hesitation to his movements, his gait full of pep and bordering on enthusiastic. Still, he didn’t reach out to fiddle with any of the items; he simply stood in place, arms crossed over his chest, facing away from Rowena and company.
“Follow me to the back, now,” Rowena sung, re-seizing Cas's attention. “I’ll dash back out if I’m needed, but for now, privacy would be best.”
Charlie nodded. “Totally, I agree. Cas, you okay with heading back? Do you want me to come with? I can, if you want. Or not. Whatever you need, man.”
Throwing a final glance toward the apparent non-customer, Cas turned to Charlie, eyes pleading. Please. Please don’t leave me alone with her.
Thankfully, his friend got the message. Blessed be
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theshopislocal · 4 years
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corinth rains
New and improved Heaven may well be the Happiest Place (not) on Earth. But Dean, it turns out, is still Dean.
(also on AO3)
chapter eight
Funnily enough, the wings in Heaven aren’t anything to write home about. 
Dean glances down at his half-eaten lunch, licking Buffalo sauce off the side of his thumb. He’s pretty sure the plate - with its lopsided tower of wings, side of celery, and little cup of chunky bleu cheese - is meant to replicate one he’d had at a greasy spoon sixty odd years ago. To the naked eye, the place had looked like a shithole - just another offramp dive in B.F.E., Nebraska. But the wings - damn, the wings - had been out of this world; crunchy and greasy, sour and salty, and drenched in sauce hot enough to make his eyes water. 
Dean sucks his teeth and grimaces. He’s not sure what it is, but Heaven missed the mark on this one. He’s sure it’s the same recipe as the roadside joint, but there’s something not quite right. It certainly doesn’t help that his pint glass keeps automagically refilling with Stella Artois instead of El Sol. He grumbles with every sip and pretends like the mild flavor isn’t growing on him. No way in hell is he letting Charlie turn him onto her trendy lesbian beer.
“Hey.”
Dean’s head snaps up, shoulders going tense. They loosen a bit as Sam slides into the other side of the booth. He’s wearing a denim button-down that Dean’s pretty sure was one of his, and his stupid hair is extra floppy. He slides his dorky messenger bag off his shoulder, settling it at his side. 
Dean knocks back the rest of his beer in a thick swallow and sets his little cardboard coaster on the rim. “Heya.”
Sam gives him a smile, all white teeth and deep dimples. Dean tries to give him one back, but it feels more like a grimace on his face. 
Sam notices, of course. “You alright?” he asks, dipping his head to meet Dean’s lowered eyes. 
Dean shakes his head, then corrects it to a nod. “Yeah,” he grunts and nods toward his plate. “Ate too many wings.”
Sam’s eyebrows climb his forehead, smile going crooked. “Didn’t think that was possible for you.”
Dean splays his hands in a shrug. “I contain multitudes.”
His stomach chooses that moment to grumble ominously, and Dean hunches forward, pressing his forearm across his belly. 
Sam, the little shit, smirks wide. “I’m sure.”
Dean rolls his eyes and reaches for his glass. He tips the little coaster off and watches as the glass refills itself. It’s a darker orange-ish color now, rather than light blonde. He takes an experimental sniff: El Sol, this time. He feigns relief in case anyone’s looking (no one is), and peers back up at Sam. 
He’s holding the little laminated sample menu, eying over it while his fingers drum a beat against the tabletop. He chews his lips, eyes a little wide, and Dean recognizes the expression in an instant: Sam is Up To Something.
Dean sighs and sets his beer down with a thunk. “What.”
Sam’s head pops up like a frickin’ meerkat, all innocence and feigned confusion. “What what?”
Dean arches an eyebrow in a glare. “You’ve got excited puppy face,” he grumbles and ignores Sam’s snort. “What is it.”
Sam huffs a fake laugh and shakes his head. “I don’t...” he starts, then cuts a considering look at Dean. Dean stares back, blank-faced and expectant, and Sam blows out a sigh, eyes downcast. “Yeah, okay. Look, I was—” he cuts himself off, pulling his lip through his teeth. “... I was thinking about Cas.”
Cas. 
Cas.
Dean probably should have seen that coming. 
Sam had been rather circumspect in those few months between Cas’ death and Dean’s own; no offhand utterances of his name, no needling questions about how exactly Cas had summoned the Empty, no mention whatsoever of the bedroom door he’d often found Dean stood in front of - unable to open, unable to turn away. 
Sam had been kind in his silence. 
But if Dean knows Sam at all - and he certainly does - the silence wouldn’t have lasted forever. Kid’s too smart, too curious, too empathetic by half; sooner or later, he would’ve broached the subject - for Dean’s sake, if not his own. 
And if Dean’s being entirely honest with himself - which, frankly, isn’t really his game - he can acknowledge the inherent unfairness of it. For all Dean prefers to bottle things up until they ferment in his belly, Sam is (somehow) a well-adjusted adult with proportionate emotional intelligence to boot. Sam had deserved to mourn Cas - whether or not Dean had allowed himself to do the same - and Dean hadn’t let him. 
So, of course Sam is thinking about Cas. After all, he’d loved him nearly as much as—
Dean winces hard, eyes squeezing shut for half a second. “Yeah?” he asks. His eyes flick back open, and he stares down at his plate. The wings have gone cold, the celery warm and floppy. 
Sam nods. “Yeah. I mean,” he gestures vaguely with the little menu, “Eileen says he does a lot of work for the Arch, but...” He trails off for a short moment then shrugs. “We’ve been here for a while. I sorta figured he would’ve... dropped in by now?”
I’ve been busy. 
I have responsibilities. 
I’m needed elsewhere. 
I’m sor—
Dean hunches forward, and his stomach grumbles again. “Yeah,” he murmurs, and he feels nauseated, hollow. Too many wings, indeed. 
Sam tilts his head in a crooked nod. “Yeah, it’s kinda weird that he hasn’t, right?” He doesn’t wait for a response, and Dean doesn’t interject. “So,” he goes on, leaning forward across the table, “I did a little digging.”
Dean’s head pops up, and he finally meets Sam’s eye. Sam’s brow is raised, the puppy expression back at full volume. Dean frowns, wary. “Digging?”
Sam nods excitedly and turns to his bag. He unzips it, sticking in a freakishly large hand to rummage about, and pulls out a thick book. 
A beige leather book. With gold insignia on the spine.
“I checked this out,” he says and sets the book on the table with a soft thunk, “from the Library.”
Wait. What? “You- the Library?” Is Charlie making magic plutonium bombs for everyone now? “How’d you get in?”
Sam gives him a funny look, squinty-eyed and confused. “I made an appointment.”
Of course he did. “Right,” Dean grunts, folding his arms on the edge of the table. 
Sam leans closer, and he smiles almost comically wide. “Dean, the Library? It’s awesome,” he gushes, and Dean chews on a smile. “They’ve got everything ever written ever,” Sam crows. “Literally every single—”
“Kevin sign you up for a library card?” Dean interjects with a crooked smile. 
Sam’s face freezes, eyes darting away in mild embarrassment, and Dean snorts a startled laugh. “You’re shittin’ me.”
Sam rolls his eyes around a tiny smile. “Shut up.”
Dean gives a bark of laughter. “Man, you’re a nerd.”
“Anyway,” Sam says and gives Dean a mild glare. “This,” he begins, smoothing a palm over the front of the book, “is the history of Heaven. Since Jack remade it.”
Dean cranes his neck to read the upside down lettering, and Sam turns the book toward him.
Recens Historia Caelorum Vol. I.
Dean frowns and gives a little shrug. “Okay.”
Sam nods and sucks in a breath, one hand coming up to tuck his hair behind his ear. Dean’s eyes soften at the gesture; for all he’d wanted to be a lawyer, or a hunter, or a freakin’ superhero, Sam had always been a Man of Letters at heart. 
Sam plants his hands flat on the table - the final step of his pre-lore ritual - and Dean suppresses a smile. “Okay, so,” Sam starts, and Dean settles in. “Basically, Jack arrives in heaven with the seraph Castiel.” Seraph? “Presumably, he—”
“Pulled him out of the Empty,” Dean offers. 
“And restored his Grace,” Sam nods. “So. They get here and start fixin’ the place up. Opening up all the personal heavens, getting rid of the whole greatest hits shtick, right?” Dean nods along; Bobby had told him this much. “Then, get this,” Sam continues, leaning ever further forward, “Jack leaves.”
Dean frowns, and his eyes flick up from where they’d been staring sightlessly at the book cover. He shakes his head, lips pursing. “He leaves?”
Sam quirks a brow and tips his chin down in a nod. “Yeah. Apparently he decided he wanted to rebuild all the universes Chuck destroyed. Not just ours.”
Dean’s eyebrows pop up, and he feels a sort of mild, obligatory guilt uncurl in his stomach. Frankly, he’d all but forgotten about the infinite other universes that Chuck - in his epic, cosmic bitch fit - had dusted just for kicks. 
Dean shakes his head. “Shit.”
Sam huffs a laugh. “Yeah. But,” he says and raises a forefinger, “Heaven’s not finished.” He makes a vague gesture towards the nearby window overlooking the forest. “Still isn’t.” 
And Dean’s noticed that, too. Spending hours (or minutes, or maybe decades) on the highway, Dean’s come across some odd spots: places where the grass is un-trampled and a little too green, the ground too flat, the trees too young. Whenever he passes one, he gets a strange feeling, like he’s watching a silent movie, or staring at a blank canvas. He feels it at his little bunker out in the greyscale marsh, and he felt it at the tiny forest in the endless yellow field. Like a song without a refrain, something is missing - unfinished. 
“So,” Sam goes on, and Dean glances back up at him, shaking off the odd sensation, “Jack’s gotta leave someone in charge of the place, right?” Sam pauses for a moment, brow raised, and Dean nods belatedly. “Right,” he continues. “But it’s gotta be someone who knows Heaven’s ins and outs. Someone who can defend its weak points. Someone who actually—” Sam tilts his head with a dry smile, “—cares about its inhabitants.” He gives Dean an expectant look, brow raised and lips sucked in. 
Dean frowns. Someone who understands Heaven and knows how to protect it; an angel, certainly - maybe a strategist or a soldier. But someone compassionate, too - someone devoted the people here, these wandering wayward souls. 
Because you cared, I cared. 
Dean blinks hard - once, twice - and something rattles in his chest. “Cas,” he whispers. 
Sam gives a slow nod. “Right,” he murmurs back, face going oddly soft. Dean frowns up at him, and Sam schools his expression back into business mode. “Right,” he repeats and licks his lip. “Problem is, Cas is just a seraph. He doesn’t have the juice to run this place. So, Jack—” He reaches across the table for the book and turns it towards himself, flipping it open to a page bookmarked with a gold ribbon. He smoothes his pointer finger over a line of text and reads, “—imbued the grace of Castiel with His divinity, in excess.”
Jack imbued... what?
Dean shakes his head. “The hell does that mean?”
Sam tilts his head in a crooked nod and flips to the next page. “I was confused too,” he offers, “until I read this.” He flips the book toward Dean and taps two fingers over a block of text near the top of the page. 
Dean frowns and looks down, squinting at the small font. The top left corner reads Chapter XV, the text near Sam’s finger marked with a tiny superscript, 21.
Dean hunches forward, eyes tracing over the words in the dim light. 
And the Lord God summoned into His hands four blades, twisted and golden, hilted in black. He cast His holy gaze upon them, and they were dissolved. Let all instruments return to dust, as all mortal flesh keeps silent.
Dean rereads the words, and rereads them again. Something is growing in the back of his mind, spreading against the inside of his skull like feathered shadows—
“Four knives with twisted gold blades,” Sam posits, leaning forward. “Sound familiar?”
I’m not just powerful now, Lucifer had said, beating Dean bloody, suspended in the air. I am power. And I don’t need a blade to end you, pal. 
Dean had clung to the last vestiges of consciousness, had felt his destiny - Chuck’s shitty Joseph Campbell knockoff - rising to meet him. Sam had called his name, all fear and desperation, and Dean had extended a bruise-knuckled hand to catch—
“The Archangel blade,” Dean whispers. 
Sam gives a solemn nod and taps his finger on the page. “Jack destroyed them - all of them - the same day he—” Sam angles the book towards himself and turns back a page, neck craning around, “—imbued Cas’ Grace.”
Dean feels his spine go stiff, brow furrowing low. 
“Dean,” Sam murmurs, “I don’t think Cas is a Seraph any more.” 
Jack has put a great deal of faith in me. Cas’ voice echoes through Dean’s head, and his jaw clenches tight, throat constricting. 
Sam continues, voice pitched low. “And I don’t think he just... works for the Arch.”
I have responsibilities, Cas had said, just before his wings had painted stark shadows on the walls. Massive and fluttering, they’d shifted Cas’ posture, like he wasn’t quite used to them, their heft a foreign weight at his back. 
Dean had known in that moment that something was different, had felt it in the buzzing electricity of Cas’ presence, the way the little hairs on Dean’s arms had stood up. 
Dean swallows, hard and dry, and says simply, “He is the Arch.”
Sam raises his eyebrows and hums. “Mm. The Arch...” he shrugs with bemused smile, “...angel.”
Dean blinks several times in succession, eyes falling back to the bookmarked page. Let all instruments return to dust, as all mortal flesh keeps silent. 
Cas is an archangel - the Archangel - immortal and adamantine, now that God himself has destroyed his only weakness. And Dean is an eternal soul, freed from the bonds of his mortal body - limitless and enduring in the endless expanse of Heaven. They’re stood now on evener ground than they’ve ever been before. 
Dean glances towards the window, casting his eyes out to the distant mountain - jutting up from the ground, imposing and unscalable like a border wall.
Sam huffs a short laugh. “Explains why he hasn’t stopped by for a beer.”
Dean turns back toward his brother, but Sam’s eyes are fixed on the little plastic menu. 
Dean harrumphs - sharper than intended from the tightness in his throat - and reaches for his beer. His stomach grumbles as he takes a gulping pull. It’s skunky and flat, bitter and watery, and he doesn’t taste anything at all.
chapter seven | chapter nine
table of contents
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changeling-rin · 5 years
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Random DL Thoughts
Physical Appearance Headcanons, here we go!  LOOOOOOONG post ahead.
For the record, Anon, I blame you for getting me started.  ;)
Gen - I am of the opinion that Skyloft is actually between the cloud layers, as opposed to above the clouds entirely.  This is because cirrus clouds (the highest ones) happen at 20,000 feet up, where it is consistently -12*F and that just seems ridiculous for a society in cotton shirts.  My headcanon is that there’s actually quite a lot of cloud cover, so Skyloft doesn’t get nearly as much sun as people might think.   That said, Gen’s a bit paler than most Links, and he also tends to move a bit slower.  High altitudes means varied air pressure, and when he goes down to the Surface there’s always a bit of an adjustment period where he has to get used to breathing air that’s suddenly twice as thick as what he’s used to.  This also contributes to his stature: higher altitude means lesser gravity, which means Gen is easily the tallest Link in the group since there was less gravity pulling on him during growth spurts.  He’s kinda lanky, actually, at least as far as Links go.  We all know they’re kinda short.  Sandy blond hair, and kinda dark blue eyes, almost approaching navy in the right light.  
Speck - He’s the shortest one, and he’s always going to be.  Poor boy’s in his formative growth stage and he spends it shrinking down to be smaller.  Magic accumulates, and he’ll top out at a flat 5 feet... on his tiptoes.  That said, he’s actually pretty strong and stocky for his size.  Regularly having to shove acorns out of the way during the annual Picori Village Fall Cleaning will do that, and of course from hiking up to people’s ears all the time.  He’s also on the paler spectrum; when you’re small, there’s a lot more stuff that can block the sunshine.  He’s a bottle-blond, or at least he would be if that weren’t his natural hair color, and he’s got the bluest eyes of the whole group.  If they glowed, they’d be neon.
The Four - When I say they could be quadruplets, I mean it.  They’re completely and utterly identical in every way possible, except for their clothing.  If for whatever reason they decided to swap colors with each other, absolutely nobody would be able to tell the difference.  Not really a problem since ‘individuality’ isn’t necessarily a concept that the Four ascribe to, but still slightly unnerving when you first see it, which is why the Four don’t always like to advertise their hive-mind qualities.  Bright blond, blue eyes, but a couple steps below Speck in both categories.  I’d say they get an average amount of sun, so they’re probably a little bit tan - but they’re on the paler end of the scale.
Ocarina - He shares his hair and eye color with Mask, this being a golden blond and water-blue eyes, but he has a completely different complexion.  Remember that whole ‘seven years in the Sacred Realm’ thing?  Yeah, that screwed up his skin big time.  The sun hates him, and he's happy to return the favor, because he burns within ten minutes.  This is why he happily adopted the habit of wearing sleeves and leggings, because the less skin he has to burn the better.  He’s also way too pale for his own good, especially the first few weeks after the time jump.  He’s doing better now, having accumulated a little color in between sunburns, but he’s still the whitest Link in the group.  (For now.  Once we get BotW Link in here... whoo gosh.  A hundred years without sunshine, that poor pasty boy.)
Mask - Conveniently having gone back in time to before the Sacred Realm screwed with his skin, he has none of the sunburn problems that Ocarina does and is very glad to have that issue over and done with.  He does, however, have an cumulative and semi-permanent mild tan from the Temina three day loop.  It was sunny for all three of those days, after all, and Mask was running around in the fields a lot.  He’s also got a few acquired traits from the soul masks that he uses, because there’s no such thing as a consequence-free soul merging.  Nothing noticeable, especially not to outside people, but he frequently finds a leaf or two growing in his hair from Creak that he has to pluck out, there’s a small patch of rocky skin on his left ankle from Darmani, and underneath his right elbow there’s the faint blue sheen of barely-there scales from Mikau.  If he keeps hosting for Oni it’s pretty likely that he might develop a white shock or some partial face markings, but as of now that particular relationship hasn’t gone that far yet.
Dusk - He’s pretty tanned, since being a goatherd means being outside all day, every day.  Dark wheatish blond and bright blue eyes, which are striking enough compared to the rest of his coloring that people comment on it all.  the.  time.  At this point, he’s trained himself to respond to ‘blue-eyed [insert noun here]’ because of how frequently it happens.  He’s also got quite a lot of carryovers from his wolf side, because again there’s no such thing as a consequence-free soul merge.  His hair’s a bit thicker and rougher than most people’s, he’s got a few pointed canines even when hylian, and his ears have a tendency to redirect towards sounds regardless of which form he’s in.  Some of the wolf’s markings are beginning to carry over too, as almost birthmark-looking things, but they’re so faint that nobody’s noticed.  (Not even Dusk, yet.) He’s also acquired the ability to growl as a hylian, which was one of the few things that managed to unnerve him the first time it happened before he shrugged and got used to it.  He’s also pretty stocky and muscular, because anyone who can take a charging goat, a charging Goron, and throw around a ball-and-chain the way he does in-game is at least a little bit built.  
Blue, Green, Vio, and Red - They’ve all got the same complexion (relatively pale) and hair color, (sunny blond) but their eyes are individually colored in direct correspondence to their names and clothes.  They also took individual traits from the original Link, so Blue took most of the muscle mass while Vio has most of the intellect - the book smarts, that is, and is overall almost wiry compared to the other three.  Red is the smallest one, muscle-wise, and also tends to be slimmer all the way around, but he’s got most of the magic; and Green is built more like a runner than anything else, and coincidentally is also the most agile.  He’s also got most of the tactics and common-sense-leader stuff.  They look more like ‘normal’ identical quadruplets than the Four do, in that, while they still look a whole lot alike, there’s tiny little differences here and there that make them distinctive from one another... at least, once you memorize them.
Lore - I refuse to believe his hair is pink.  I absolutely refuse.  He is violently red-headed in my headcanons and I like it that way.  He’s the only ‘true ginger’ of the group.  He’s also pretty brown, in a tannish sort of way, because he’s been to enough places that it’s impossible for him to not have gotten some sun exposure.  Also, Holodrum/Subrosia are very, very warm places.  He’s definitely accumulated some color.  Dark blue eyes, not navy, but more like deep water.  He’s got an accent of indeterminate origin because of all the foreign countries he’s been to, and he’s also kinda wiry in a traveller sort of way.  He’s got the kind of muscle that accumulates through constant use; not stocky or bulky or any of that, but more lean and corded.  He’s also got a lot of small battle scars, mostly on his hands, because he’s really bad at using his bow correctly and keeps stinging himself with the bowstring.  This is also, coincidentally, one of the reason why his long-range aim is so bad.  (The other is that he just genuinely sucks at aiming.)
Sketch - He’s sort of ginger, but it’s really more of a strawberry-blond/auburn color than anything else.  He’s got eyes that are more teal than blue, probably the closest to being green without actually being green.  There is, once again, no such thing as a consequence-free soul merge, and as a result the whole ‘painting’ thing has some odd carryovers.  For one, he doesn’t tan.  At all.  Instead, the sun makes him get lighter, almost exactly like paint getting bleached.  He's not the palest Link, but he’s also not the darkest; I’d place him in the happy middle.  
Realm - His legs are the envy of track runners everywhere.  There is no excess fat anywhere on his body, at all.  He's not a heavily built Link; he’s definitely over in the ‘wiry’ corner, but he is literally all muscle.  Thin muscle, but muscle nonetheless.  He's the only Link who can claim to be truly brunet, and he’s also one of the few who doesn’t have blue eyes (his are also brown.  More of a cream-in-coffee brown though.).  He’s more on the pale end of the complexion scale, seeing as he does spend a lot of time in caves, but he will tan if put in the sun long enough.
Wind - He’s dark.  This boy lives on a tropical island, there’s no way he isn’t.  I don’t care what the game graphics tell me.  Wind has the kind of skin color that could be from an accumulated tan, but also might just be his natural tone.  It makes his very bright blond hair stand out in comparison, because his hair decided to go the sun-bleached route instead of following his skin.  He’s also one of the few who doesn’t have blue eyes - his are actually gray.  They tend to look silver in the sunshine and black in shadow, which means he gets a neat aesthetic, but they never look blue.  He can never get his hair to behave, due to a lifetime of salt and sea breeze, and he’s stronger than he looks.  Wrestling the rigging of a sailboat into submission to cross an ocean is one of those things that requires a lot of upper body strength.
Steam - Probably the least physically inclined of all the Links, because he spends most of his time steering a Train.  He’s bright-yellow-blond, and is the last of the Links to not have blue eyes - like Wind, his are gray.  His gray is a lot darker than Wind’s though, and is much more likely to come off as black unless the light hits it exactly right.  He also doesn’t get a lot of sun, because he tends to stay in his Train or in a workshop, building things for his Train, so he’s definitely on the paler end of the scale.  And he’s got workman hands - calloused in every spot possible and all but immune to getting caught in something.  
Shadow - He’s gray.  Actually gray.  The ashy stuff that a fire leaves behind?  That’s his skin color.  His hair is black, and his eyes are red, but that might change if he feels like it.  He patterned himself to be one of the tallest Links, because of course he did, and he also took a fair bit of muscle mass.  He’s a good candidate for the Dorito Ratio meme.  He is a free shapeshifter though, and this means that literally all of these features are subject to change, especially in accordance with his mood.  If he gets upset enough, he’ll lose focus on his physical form and just sort of dissolve into a hazy mass of black.  He’s also not above shifting his facial features to be more intimidating, such as temporary fangs or opening up six extra eyes.  
Oni - Somehow, he’s managed to be six-foot-three and nobody knows how he did it.  If he were competing, he’d beat Ocarina for being the palest Link, but it’s not because he doesn’t get sun.  He’s actually albino.  He doesn’t have visible irises, or pupils, due to some sort of magic effect that he doesn’t feel like sharing, and the warpaint isn’t actually paint - at least, not anymore.  Again, magic accumulates, and at some point it just became part of his skin.  Also, he might be a god - there’s nothing that says deities have to look normal.  He has a lot of scar tissue, which shows up kinda shiny and silver since his skin is already so pale, and of course he’s ridiculously strong.  Body fat?  He’s never heard of it.  
I have clearly never heard of a ‘reasonable post length’.  And to think, I didn't even get into BotW, Triforce Heroes, Cadence of Hyrule, Hyrule Warriors, OR any of the CDI games-which-shall-not-be-named.  
...I have way too many headcanons.
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niftybottle · 5 years
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Hey @tulipsandsake, I’m your @bering-and-wells-exchange person. I saw you reblog D&D and Critical Role stuff, so I thought I’d do designs for Myka and Helena as D&D characters. Helena is a half-Drow multiclass Bard (College of Glamour)/Artificer (Battle Smith), while Myka is an old-school (2e/AD&D/Baldur’s Gate era) human dual Kensai->Mage. (I don’t have races/subclasses for everyone, but Artie is a college of lore bard, Claudia is an Artificer, Pete is a fighter, and I’m not sure what Leena is). Helena is very much a “seduce anything that moves” ~D&D Bard~, while Artie is very much not - he leans hard into the collection of lore/jack of all trades angle, and while he can play music very well he borders on anti-social. This is the source of some of the tension between them, with his distrust for her Drow parentage occupying most of the rest.
At this point I’m going interrupt to give a blanket apology if I explain something you already know - it’s hard to judge knowledge levels with a gift exchange without ruining the surprise, so I’m going to err on the side of explaining things just in case.
Helena is a bard to capture the importance of her novels, but novel-writing isn't the most practical in a fight or as a live performance, so I gave her an instrument. I chose the hurdy-gurdy, which is a (real) instrument with a very silly name. I picked it because it is very complex and mechanical, like something she might have invented or cobbled together. It’s kind of like an automatic violin or fiddle - rather than being plucked or bowed, a crank on the side is rotated, which moves a wheel across the strings. Rather than frets there are keys which hold the strings at certain points when pressed. There are also “drone” strings, which play a given note (that can be adjusted using a tuning peg) whenever the wheel is turned. You can technically “play” a drone string by holding a sting as if a guitar string as the wheel turns, but that isn’t traditional. Both drone and melody strings can be adjusted using tuning pegs, and apparently you can adjust the exact note the keys play. Some hurdy-gurdys (but not Helena's) also have additional strings not played by the wheel that can be played like a guitar. Hurdy-gurdys do not have much standardization, and the number/presence of all the different kinds of strings can vary.
Helena's bard college I went back and forth with - the college of glamour is about charming, as in the magic, which does suit her, but the college of lore would also be good. Ultimately I decided that college of lore would be better for Artie. Battle Smith, her artificer specialization, I kind of chose to make the character a little more practical to play - artillerist might have suited her character a touch more, but not too much more, and the battle smith's ability to use intelligence for (magic) weapon attacks/damage reduces the important stats to two (int and cha) rather than three (adding str or dex for weapon rolls). Helena's Steel Defender is Dickens the Mechanical Cat, and he can turn the crank for the hurdy-gurdy, letting her play it with one hand.
I don't have her backstory completely pinned down; I feel like her Drow parent escaped to the surface rather than being a functioning member of Drow society, if only to reduce the sketchiness of the alternative method of conception. Christina is definitely a valid "reason for adventuring", but Endless Wonder or fleeing the consequences of a lab accident or charm spell wearing off are also possibilities.
In terms of the illustration itself, I tried to balance bard flamboyance, artificer practicality with a touch of mad science, and Helena's canonical slightly Victorian elegance. I definitely needed the fancy bard hat, because I am of the firm belief that every bard needs a fancy hat. She's wearing a cute pair of overalls (and I now have "stylish overalls" in my google search history), but they got covered by Dickens :( . With the more muted browns inspired by the artificer half as well as her canon style, she was looking a little drab for a bard, so I added a little cape. In terms of skin/hair/eyes and being half-Drow my thoughts were kind of: leaning in to the purplish/blue/lavender skin thing some illustrations of Drow have, because between the inherent problems of the evil elves having black skin and wanting to stay fifty feet away from anything that might come close to being a race-bend I wasn't going to deal with having her skin be darker. I think it turned out OK? For some reason Helena's eye color is significant to me, so they stayed brown rather than Drow purple or something, though they wound up a bit brighter thanks to my attempts to add a little purple. Jaime Murray's hair is iconic, but more for its smoothness and luster than its color, so I was fine making it white as long as I kept the style. The hurdy-gurdy was a bit of a nightmare (twice over, since I had to ink it), which isn't surprising - I kind of cursed myself with that instrument choice, but it was so perfect ;_; . In general, and especially in comparison with Myka, Helena's illustration fought me the whole way down. If you watch the time-lapse, you can see some of the references I used, but far from all - I streamed so much hurdy-gurdy playing youtube is still confused, and the pose went through some shenanigans.
Now, to Myka. Thinking of her pre-med before pre-law before secret service vaguely remembered quote, I thought of the old Baldur's Gate fighter(kensai)->mage cheese build, and thought it might be a good way to capture that simultaneous indecision and discipline/intelligence.
Going very briefly into Baldur's Gate/2e: Kensai, in BG, is a Fighter kit. Kits, in BG and 2e both, are a little like specializations in 5e, in that they are a kind of further customization beyond the class itself. The difference is, not every character has a kit - there is a base class (fighter) and a kit is a set of trade-offs, taking away base class features in exchange for various benefits. So fighter, the base kit, is pretty similar to the fighter in other editions - good at using weapons and armor and attacking a lot. Can equip the best stuff, and use it well, but doesn't get a lot of bonuses apart from that of equipment. Kensai (in BG), on the other hand, trades the ability to wear armor (and use non-thrown ranged weapons) for scaling bonuses to to-hit and damage (abstracting some things for you), and a minor one-time bonus to natural armor, as well as the Kai ability, which temporarily maxes out damage on successful attacks, usable a few times a day, depending on class level. In short, they trade off the armor portions of the Fighter class for additional weapon bonuses.
In Baldur's Gate, if you want to build a dual fighter/wizard, kensai is a great pick for kit, since wizards can't cast in armor anyway, but they can cast spells to boost their AC, mitigating some of the disadvantage of the kit. Mage is a base class and basically what would be called a wizard in later editions. Mage kits, with the exception of wild mage (in BG), which is a whole thing I won't get into, are pretty much picking a school to specialize in - they get bonuses to spells of that school, but there is an "opposing" school which they can't use at all. I wouldn't be terribly interested in those specializations even if I could use them for Myka, but I couldn't, because of how dual-classing works.
Dual-classing in BG and 2e is one of two methods to have more than one class on a character. Which one you can do depends on your race (as does a lot of things in 2e). If you're human, you dual-class; if you're not, you multi-class. Multi-class characters are more what you'd expect from multi-classing in other editions - you have two classes, you gain levels in both. There are differences (exp is divided evenly between classes, rather than choosing what to level, class and combination restrictions), but most relevantly, you can't use any kits with multi-class characters. So, we want to dual-class, not multi-class, so that Myka can use the Kensai (BG) kit, which makes her human, which is fine.
Dual-classing, compared to multi-classing, is weird. Basically, you start off in one class, with a kit if you like, and level normally in that class/kit until you decide to switch, at which point you are done with the first class and can't level in it anymore. Then you *start over* in your new class (which cannot have a kit), as if you were a level one character in that class, without (effectively) the ability to use anything from the previous class (except hp). This continues until the number of levels in the second class exceeds that of the levels in the first class, at which point the character regains all the qualities and abilities of their first class. Dual classes can wind up quite powerful, but they require both planning and a willingness to be weaker for a time to be more powerful later (which I feel suit Myka well - she's a planner and has the patience and discipline to accept temporary weakness to be stronger later). So, given that we want to use the Kensai (BG) kit, Myka needs to start with it, and then switch to mage later, since the second class can't have a kit.
At this point I want to clarify why I keep specifying Baldur's Gate and/or D&D 2e for things. Turns out, Baldur's Gate does use D&D 2e as a base, but makes some modifications. One of the changes it makes, which I didn't know when I started this, is the Kensai kit itself. Kensai is not officially a 2e kit, and technically isn't in 2e at all. There is a (fighter-ish) class in the "Oriental Adventures" book for first edition, but it isn't quite the same, more it's own class that happens to share some tables with fighter. Since the end goal is character design, not creating a legal 2e character, I won't go too far into it, but I did create both a (cheated to level up) Baldur's Gate kensai -> mage and a (1e-ish)Kensai->(2e)Mage, using the rules from 2e for most things not directly in the Kensai class description (and ignoring the stat requirements for dual-classing since I didn't roll any 17s); screenshots of both should be in the supplemental reblog, in addition to a link to Helena's dndbeyond character sheet.
Fortunately for me and my lack of foresight, both BG Kensai and 1/2e Kensai have similar flavor: a heavily "eastern" inspired warrior with even more discipline and asceticism than standard fighters, focused on their weapons and unable to wear armor, with a restriction to either lawful (1/2e) or at least not chaotic (BG) alignments (if this sounds a little monk-ish WotC agrees - kensai is a monk specialization in 5e, being a monk that can use a not-monk weapon). Also fortunately for me, mage is wizard is mage, regardless of edition. Magic from book learning/intelligence. Not too complicated.
In terms of character narrative, in canon, I feel like coming to the Warehouse was a significant breakpoint in Myka's life and worldview. Not being a writer, this small essay notwithstanding, I'm going to sum it up as a break from tradition and from seeking the approval of her father. Where joining the Warehouse crew was for canon Myka, I want dualing from Kensai to Mage to be for DnD Myka, with reaching the point where she can use Kensai features again representing the peace with her past she eventually reaches at the warehouse in canon. What I'm picturing is: Myka is from an isolated and very traditional mountain village where the kensai tradition (and 2e mechanics) has been preserved. Myka is trained in this tradition, and has both the mental discipline and physical capabilities to excel. The people of this village are purists and don't believe in using magic, especially in conjunction with being a kensai. Somehow (at this point my having thought this through starts to fail) Myka gets ahold of some spellbooks, and with her love of books and curiosity, begins to read and reread them, until one day she casts some magic. This is against the rules, and she's kicked out of the village for "corrupting" their traditions, and now she has to make her way through the world with only her fledgling mage talent to rely on.
Talking about the illustration/design itself: given the heavily eastern vibe, I'm trying for a samurai/ronin style based on my recollections from my weeb phase. I wanted in particular with the robe/kimono to make something that would be in between the plain practicality of Myka's kensai kimono and the flashiness of wizard robes (if you watch the timelapse, you may spot the part where I accidentally took a left turn into fallout's vault boy coloration before tweaking it a bit). I also wanted to have her using magic, and I think the magic effect turned out well. Really, this illustration just came out really easy. I was just … drawing hands. If you watch the timelapse, I even saved a third hand for a while because it was so nice (but at the wrong angle). I don't know what happened. Really the only snags were the aforementioned Vault Boy Moment and coloring Myka's hair (although I did decide to leave her face as a sketch rather than try to ink it).
I think maybe I've babbled enough for now. I'll reblog this in a moment (since tumblr hates links) with character sheets, timelapses of the drawings, and a bonus doodle that came to me reading the artificer specializations.
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omnifalls-10 · 5 years
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Omni Falls Chapter 1: 10 and Up
Gravity Falls, Oregon. This place seems normal to average tourists, but in all honesty, they wouldn't be wrong. The town itself is surrounded by pine trees, where the forest is home to various wildlife and other….inhabitants, there is a town square with multiple buildings used for business across the various areas and town hall near the town square. Average town, average people, and average day-to-day life, right? Aside from this, there’s one place where an individual will see when they come to this sleepy town: the Mystery Shack.
The Mastery Shack is simply a tourist trap. This shop is able to attract many visitors with its absurd legends and lore, yet somehow this business is able to make a large profit each time a group of gullible tourists would come by to get souvenirs and knick-knacks. The one that leads this business was “Mr. Mystery” himself, Stan Pines. He is a skilled con artist who is able to keep this shack running through lucrative means and has no shame in it, so long as he managed to make some cash. Honestly, he is rather content with this lifestyle for 30 years. 
That is until his nephew and niece, Dipper and Mabel Pines arrived. The twins were bought by their parents believing they needed to be outside more and figured going to stay with their great uncle was a good idea.
The twins themselves see things differently in life: Mabel was a ball of sunshine and energy, Dipper was more critical thinking, Mabel was free-spirited while her twin brother was more self-conscious. Despite these polarities, their bond remains tightly-wound and has been ever since. The twins have different views of being in this town so far. For Mabel, she seems to have no problem with where she was; she took it in happiness and stride, whether it’s having splinters in her hands or a goat chomping on her sweater, she doesn’t let it bother. Dipper, on the other hand, felt on edge since he first got here. He couldn’t explain it in words but he just feels like the weirdness he felt for this town was like an itch. An itch that he can’t scratch. Despite this, Stan seemed to not care and was focused on his tourist trapping, to which he and Mabel work as an extra set of hands for his business.
As business is slow in the shop, one of the Pine Twins takes this as an opportunity to finally find a summer romance, as Mabel hides behind a row of Stan-bobbleheads. She peeks to see one boy reading her note aloud.
"Uh…..Do you like me? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely?", the boy reads, confused as he looks around to see who gave him the note.
"I rigged it!", Mabel whispers to herself, excited and proud her plan worked. She's on a roll. Dipper is wiping a jar as he looks at her congratulating herself.
"Mabel", Dipper states, finishing clean, "I get that you're in this "Boy Crazy" phase, but you're really overdoing it with the crazy part."
Mabel turns her head to her twin, incredulous to his claim. "What?", she scoffs, blowing a raspberry at her brother, "Come on, Dipper. This is our first summer away from home. It's my big chance to get an epic summer romance."
"I know”, Dipper replies, “But does this really mean you have to be attracted to every boy you see?”
Dipper isn’t really wrong about this. Since Mabel got her, she’s been constantly vying for the attention for every boy that came her into peripheral vision and most of them ended in either a.) the boys being more confused about what’s going on, b.) they would be uncomfortable by her presence, or c.) they would run away from her. Is she truly not self-aware about what she does that constantly, Dipper isn’t really sure. He really doesn’t understand why she’s doing this, it is the beginning of summer. She had time.
“Mock all you want, brother” Mabel pouts, not allowing her brother’s deter her from her goal “But I got a good feeling this summer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now.” To her disgust and to her twin’s humor, the man of dreams turns out to be her grunkle, who is choking on his own burp.
“Hey, I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest.”, Stan demands, holding up Mystery Shack direction signs. 
“Not it!”, the Pine twins reply quickly, expressing their reluctance to do something foolish.
“Uh, also not it.”, Soos, the Hispanic overweight handyman of the Mystery Shack, answers at the last minute. Stan stares at his employee with uninterested eyes. “I didn’t ask you, Soos”, he drones.
“I know’, Soos admits, as he pulls out a chocolate bar to eat. “And I’m okay with that.” Stan just facepalms in annoyance as no one is willing to take this task, so he turns to his other employee in hopes she would do it.
“Wendy!”, the boss calls out to his adolescent employee. “I need you to put signs in the forest for me!” Woefully, the young redhead is too invested in her magazine reading to do anything. “I mean, I would but” she grunts as she makes a pitiful attempt to reach, being too lazy to actually do it. “Too...far...to….reach...it”
“I’d fire all of you if I could.”, he grumbled, as nobody wanted to do this task. Well, it’s a good thing that you have family to help you out, right? The boss of the Mystery Shack to pick one of the Twins. “Okay, let’s make it……”, Stan starts to choose, swiping his finger between the Dipper and Mabel, “Eenie….meenie…..miney…..you.” His finger lands on Dipper, who is in disbelief at his grunkle’s choice.
“What? Grunkle Stan, whenever I’m in the woods, I feel like I’m being watched”, he explains, feeling unnerved doing this, much to his grunkle’s irritation.
“Ugh, this again”, Stan rolls his eyes.
“I’m serious.”, he insists, “Something is weird in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out ‘BEWARE’” He pulls up his sleeve to show his grunkle. Stan leans down and squints to read the marks.
“That says ‘BEWARB’’, Stan corrects his nephew, who scratches in either in embarrassment or because it itches a bit. He sighs and gets down on a knee, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Look, kid”, he explains to his nephew, “The whole "monsters in the forest" thing is just a local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that.” He points to a sweaty tourist, who was way too invested in a bobblehead in his hand. Having made his point across, he gives the signs to Dipper. “So quit being paranoid and put up the signs!”
__________________________________________________________________
Klunk-Klunk-Klunk!
Dipper couldn’t believe he’s doing this. Not only does his grunkle not believe what he was saying about the sensation that he got from being in this town, but he also forced him into putting up the signs up around the forest. Honestly, he just wants to get this done so he could head back because the forest is making him feel unnerved. He’s just finishing putting up another sign on a tree before grabs his minipack to put the remaining arrows and tools in before continuing to trek deeper in the eerie forest.
“Ugh, of all people, it had to be me going out to the scary parts of the forest”, he complains, as he looks across the various trees that sway with the wind, which doesn’t help in the slightest. He still couldn’t shake off the feeling, if anything, it started to slowly magnify. Honestly, what is up with this place? Why does it seem to be him who can feel this disturbance? Why was-
“Oof!”
He suddenly trips on something that scraped his knee as he lands face first. Dipper winces as he shifts onto his back as he looks at the scrape on his foot. “If I only had my first aid with me”, he complains to himself, forgetting the tool that might come in handy in case something like this happens. Just as he’s about to pull himself up, he notices a shining glare near his foot. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he starts digging with his hands to pull out the object and holds it up, with one hand on top, the other at the bottom.
“What is this?”, he asks himself, fascinated at the object he’s holding. Said object is silvery and smooth on the surface, it has the look of an oversized pearl if Dipper wants to make a comparison. It’s also very sturdy, due to him lightly knocking on the surface, and as far as he knows, there weren’t any lines anywhere it could be opened, same with having no buttons. Its size isn’t as big and as small to fit in both of his hands. “Hmm.”, he contemplates for a moment. Should he really be taking this with to the shack after this was done? He doesn’t know what this object is or what it could do, but at the same time, this can help figure what is up with this place. After a few minutes of hard thinking, he decides to carry the sphere under his armpit, continuing to do his work.
An hour passes, yet Dipper still had to put in a few more arrows. He hammers in an arrow in a tree, starting to feel exhausted from doing this. He stares at the sphere next to him, still in the same place he left before he looks at three more arrows. He started to get annoyed and remembers that he was still in the deeper parts of the forest. He looked up at the trees, which looked darker and more sinister. He grumbles before grabbing the sphere and the arrows, head to last trees. He puts down the sphere on the side of one of them, before heading to the first one, oblivious to the fact that he touched the sphere on the sides. The sphere starts to glow green on the points where his fingers touched it for a brief moment. It continues to do it until the sphere opens with a quiet hiss revealing something.
Dipper finished hammering the arrow in the tree. He walks over to the last tree, tired to the point that he wants to call it quits and head back. But he knows if he does that, Stan would chew him out. He sighs as he gets the hammer nail to put the arrow in place. “Ugh, Grunkle Stan. Nobody ever believes anything I say.”, he grumbles, clearly annoyed that his grunkle with everybody else not taking heed to his words and he hammered the arrow, hearing a clang in the process…..
…….
Wait.
“Huh?”, Dipper is stumped. He puts his ear near the tree trunk and taps his hammer again, hearing another clang. He wipes away some dust and finds a line that opens the trunk. It acts as a secret window, revealing a mechanical box with two control switches on the top. He tests one control switch but nothing happens. He does it again with the other one; he hears the ground shifting and Gompers the goat running away. “What the?”, he turns around to see a hole in the ground and in it was an old book. With the same curiosity he had for the sphere, he picks up the book and lays it on the ground, looking left and right for people to be around before opening it up. On the first page of the book, there is an eye-glass in it. He picks it up before putting it down and continues to flip through pages. Dipper goes to the next page to find some writing. “It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon.”, Dipper reads aloud, from the page confused by this. “What is all this?”, he asks, confused by the content he’s finding and what they mean. 
He keeps flipping through the pages seeing various creatures and phenomena. until he hits a particular page. He is intrigued by this page because of its content: On this page, is a picture of a being made entirely out of crystals, posing as if it is ready to battle something, with a blade of a right hand. But what catches his attention the most with this page is the name on top.
Petrosapian.
He stops at the next page, reading these words
TRUST NO ONE
“Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust”, Dipper finishes reading, before closing the book and digesting its word. “No one you can trust.”
Hummmmmmmm-Hummmmmmm
“Hu-?” Dipper turns around at the noise, only to see something green and glowing charging at him. “AAAAHHHH!!!!!!” He puts his left arm up in defense before the object tackles him to the ground hard, dropping the book. He groans in pain before getting up, rubbing his head to ease the throbbing he felt and slowly blinks to bring his vision back.
He felt something on his left arm. More specifically, his wrist.
He looks down to see a watch. Once his memory came back, he starts screaming frantically, trying his hardest to pull this thing off, using sticks and rocks to remove it somehow. But it was all moot. After trying multiple times to get this thing off him, he does his best to calm himself down, breathing very slowly and sits down on the ground. He takes this moment to look at this….”watch” on his wrist. It is slim and sleek, with a green wristband, and the face of the dial is black and green hourglass. He brings the watch close to his face, inspecting it. It doesn’t look like a bomb or anything. Could it be a parasite or a virus? It is too early to say but he feels normal. No pain except the dull throbbing in his head and he didn’t feel sick at all. He starts pulling on the watch itself until it started to hurt him. So it confirms that whatever this thing is, it’s attached to him. Okay, that’s the easy part. 
Now, what could this watch do?
Looking at the first time, he knows it can’t tell time. So what is it? He looks at the watch before getting the journal he found and looks through some pages. So far, there’s nothing in here that can explain to him what this thing is. He gets up, grabbing the journal and looks at the watch again, having no idea on what it can do. He looks at it slowly putting his finger to press the hourglass part of the watch. Maybe there was something he has to-
“HELLO!”
“AH!”, Dipper screamed almost dropping the journal and instantly hid his left arm behind his back, turning to look at his twin sister. “What’cha got there, some nerd things?”, Mabel inquires, curious as to what her brother has on him. This is making him nervous. How is he going to tell his sister about this?
“Uh, uh, it’s nothing!”, he nervously chuckles, hoping his half-attempted lie would steer him clear.
“Uh, uh it’s nothing!”, Mabel playfully imitating her brother, laughing at her brother’s fidgety response. “Come on, are you not gonna show me?”
“Uh..”, Dipper wants to make a retort but he can’t find one. Honestly, Mabel is the only one he can trust with something this big. Whenever there was something that was going on with, she was the first person he would go to, so why is he afraid to tell her something like this? He was pulled out from his thoughts as he turned around to see Gompers nibbling on the journal.
He turns to his sister, “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
__________________________________________________________________
As Mabel sits on the recliner with her brother explaining what he found in the journal, she keeps taking a few glances at Dipper’s new watch. She was curious as to where he got it because she really liked how cool it looked. 
“It's amazing, Mabel!”, Dipper exclaims, finally proven right about the weirdness he felt in this town. “Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side.” He shows her various pages that he found. “And get this! After a certain point, the pages just stop, like the guy who was writing it... mysteriously disappeared.”
“Wow, that’s awesome”, she’s amazed by this, she really couldn’t believe there is something odd about this town. But now, she wants to know something else. “But where did you find the watch, bro? It looks nice.”
The air grows tense.
Dipper rubs his arm in nervousness, he really doesn’t know how to explain this to her: this obviously wasn’t a watch but he really doesn’t know what it is. And he really doesn’t wanna lie to her. He guesses he can figure it out later on. He inhales deeply before closing the journal looking at his sister.
“Mabel.”, he starts, already feeling uneasy as he holds up the ‘watch’. “When I was putting up the signs, I found this weird looking sphere. As I left next to put up the rest of the arrows, I was reading through the journal until this thing-”, He points to the ‘watch’. “-latched onto my wrist. I can guess that this was what was in the sphere the whole time.” Mabel takes in what he says and her eyes linger on the object latched to her brother’s wrist, curious as to what it is.
“Have you tried pulling it off?”, she asks.
“Yes”, he answers.
“Did you try pulling it off with a stick?”
“Yes.”
“Smash it with the rock?”
“Yes.”
“Did you try to-”
“Mabel, anything you’re about to say I tried”, he cuts off her questioning, “Whatever this thing is, it’s near indestructible. I smashed a hammer on it and it didn’t have a dent. That and, for whatever reason, it’s latched on deep in my skin. No matter what we do, this watch isn’t going to come off.” Mabel starts to understand what he’s saying, but she still looks at it. What could this thing do? She looks at her brother for a brief moment to see him looking deeply at this mysterious object, as it glows an ominous green…..
She tries to press it.
“Hey!”, Dipper is snapped out of his deep thought and quickly moves his left arm away from his sister. “Mabel, what are you doing?!” “Just wanted to see what it could do.”, she admits, looking at her brother’s astonished face.
“W-wha-? Mabel, we don’t know what this is!”, he protests, upset that his sister couldn’t understand the danger this watch can hold. “For all we know, this could be a bomb of sorts or a virus, or it could be a parasite, o-or-” He stops rambling and feels his sister holding his cheeks, with a pout etched on her face. 
“Dipper, calm down.”, she tells her brother, “Breathe.” He does what she says, feeling his heart slow and his mind clear up. “Thanks, but this still doesn’t change what I said.”
“How do you know it’s a bomb? Or a virus?”, she questions, “Has it ticked? Do you feel different?”
“I….”, Dipper didn’t really have a response for that. As far as he knows, the watch didn’t do anything aside from glow when it latched onto him. His body feels normal and the object didn’t give off any signs that it was gonna blow up. His sister’s right. 
Huh.
“I guess you’re right.”, he admits, staring at the watch, “But as of right now, let’s not touch it or do anything with it...just to be safe. And I really think we should keep this to ourselves. I don’t how Grinkle Stan would react to something like this.”
“Okay”, she agrees, respecting his decision, to which her brother thanks her. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, making  Dipper jump. “Huh? Who’s that?”, he asks, perturbed to who’s ringing the doorbell. 
“Well,  time to spill the beans.’, she confesses as she pushes a literal can of beans. “Boop. Beans. This girl's got a date! Woot woot!” She falls back on the recliner, giggling at the fact that she finally might have a chance at a summer romance. Dipper just looks at her like she’s grown a second head. How was she able to get a date so quickly, let alone actually find the boy that would agree to go on one?
“Let me get this straight”, Dipper recollects, repeating himself just in case he missed something, “In the hour I was gone, you already found a boyfriend?” He’s stumped when it comes to finding a logical explanation for this. There’s no possible way she was able to get a boyfriend like this. Something is off.
“What can I say, Dipper?”, Mabel asks rhetorically, pulling her arms into the shirt to flail her sleeves, “I guess I'm just IRRESISTIBLLLLE!” The doorbell rings again, twice. 
“Oh, coming!”, she runs to the door.
He sighs as his sister leaves, shaking his head at the idea of her getting a boyfriend in a day, an hour even. He sits on the recliner, reading the journal. He really is amazed by what he’s finding in the journal different monsters, various items, rare phenomena, heck, even aliens like the crystal man he found. But as he was enamored by the journal, he takes a moment to look at the watch on his wrist. Honestly, he wants to know more about it but right, he doesn’t wanna risk it. Maybe some other time, he’ll try to figure out what it can-
“What'cha reading there, slick?”
Dipper jumps before hiding the journal. “Oh, nothing”, he lies, trying to keep the journal hidden from his grunkle and immediately picks up a magazine. “I was just catching up on, uh….Gold Chains For Old Men Magazine?”
“That’s a good issue.” Stan guarantees, taking a sip from soda before looking at his nephew’s left wrist. “Where’d you get the watch?”
Dipper looks at the watch on his hand before looking at his grunkle. “Oh, uh, I found outside. I cleaned it off and polished it to make it look better than it did before.” That was a good enough lie, right?
Stan seems to buy it. “Hmm. Looks good.”
“Hey, family!” Dipper and Stan turn to look at Mabel and a stranger in a black hoodie. 
“Say hello to my new boyfriend!”, she introduces her date as he turns around to be a brunette in a hoodie with a mysterious red liquid on his, giving a casual “S’up?”
“Hey….”, Dipper greets, already feeling suspicious about this boy.
“How’s it hanging?”, Stan salutes with a finger pistol.
“We met in the cemetery. He’s really deep.”, Mabel clarifies, as she starts to feel up his bicep, “Oh, got a little muscle there.” She’s getting flustered by how strong he must be. Dipper doesn’t like this guy.
“What’s your name?”, Dipper inquires, ready to know more about this guy.
“Uh…”, the stranger hesitates, “Normal….MAN!”
“He means Norman’, Mabels says dreamily, hugging his arm.
Dipper looks at the red liquid on his face. “Are you bleeding, Norman?”
Norman looks at the red substance before looking at Dipper defensively, “It’s jam.” Mabel gasped at this. “I love jam!”, she cries out, swishing her hand between her and her boyfriend. “Look. At. This.”
“So, you wanna hold hands...or whatever?”, Norman suggests, delighting Mabel to no end. “Oh, oh, my goodness”, she giggles, clearly excited at the prospect of holding hands as she runs outside. “Don’t wait up!” Norman finger pistols Dipper and Stan before smacking his head on the wall several and leaving out. Dipper didn’t like this at all. This guy comes out of nowhere and asks Mabel out on a date but he looked suspicious. 
There’s something off about Norman and Dipper is gonna find out what.
__________________________________________________________________
He spent a large amount of time within the attic to find out what Norman is. So far, he’s got nothing at hand to give any inkling as what he truly is and what his motive maybe. He keeps flipping through pages until he finds something that may help him. 
“Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes these creatures are often mistaken for... teenagers?! Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious...” Dipper reads aloud, only to pause in fear of the page before him, showing a hooded undead figure. This means that Norman is a….
“ZOMBIE!”
__________________________________________________________________
Stan pauses what he’s doing in the bathroom to look in the mirror. “Somebody say "crombie"? What is that, crombie?”, Stan asks himself, confused by what he’s saying. “That's not even a word. You're losing your mind.” He just finished washing his hands, afterwards.
__________________________________________________________________
Dipper has to calm down. He has to calm down or else, he’s going to panic. And he doesn’t want that, so he breathes slowly and turns to look out the window to see his sister, Mabel sitting on a log outside, swinging her legs…..and Norman limping towards her, his hands outstretched and ready to eat her. “Oh, no! Mabel, watch out!”, Dipper calls out to his sister, scared for her safety. Norman inches closer towards her and wrapped his hands behind her neck……
Only to put on a necklace of daisies. Mabel gasps, at the sweet gesture and is smiling at him. 
Dipper sighs in relief before laying down on the windowsill, thinking. Was he wrong for assuming the worst out of Norman? As far as he knows, he hasn’t done anything to harm her. But at the same time, his behavior doesn’t seem to be normal at all. Dipper grumbles as he puts his hands on his. “Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?”, he asks himself, not even sure if he had the answer.
“It's a dilemma, to be sure.”
Dipper jumps up from his spot to see Soos putting up a lightbulb. Seriously, how many people are gonna keep sneaking up on him like this? He's surprised he hasn't got a heart attack. 
“I couldn’t help but overhear you talkin’ aloud to yourself in this empty room”, Soos clarifies, pulling out the screwdriver in his tool belt. “Soos, you’ve seen Mabel’s boyfriend, right?”, Dipper hesitates, trying to get a better answer from the handyman of the Mystery Shack. “He’s gotta be a zombie, right?”
“Hmm’, Soos thinks for a minute, twisting in the bulb. “How many brains didja see the guy eat?”
Dipper looks at Soos, before looking down embarrassed. “Zero.”
“Look, dude, I believe you.”, Soos reasons. Like Dipper, he has suspicion on what’s really going on in this town. “I’m always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like the mailman? I’m pretty sure he’s a werewolf, but you gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people will think you’re a major league cuckoo clock.” Dipper nods, understanding that he needs evidence in order to convince his sister that Norman isn’t what seems.
“As always, Soos, you’re right.”, Dipper acknowledges. 
“My wisdom is both a blessing and curse.”, Soos replies, solemnly. 
“SOOS! The portable toilets are clogged again!”
“I am needed elsewhere.”, Soos backs out from where he came. Dipper looks at the camera next to the journal. Looks like he’s got work to do.
__________________________________________________________________
Like Soos advised,  Dipper takes as much evidence as he can between Mabel and Norman. He heads to his and Mabel’s room, replaying the recorded material he had as said sister is brushing her hair. So far, Norman always seemed to stumble, like his body lacks any motor control and his sense of balance, like when he’s walking or when he failed to catch the frisbee Mabel throws at him. And when they’re running in a grassy field, he seemed to have the behavior of pulling himself out of a grave like an undead being. He also has no respect for using doors properly so that’s a clue also.
 “Mabel, we’ve got to talk about Norman”, Dipper insists, really wanting her to listen to the evidence he has. 
“Isn’t he the best?”, she asks wistfully, “Check out this big smooch mark he gave me!” She turns face to show a giant red cheek mark, making Dipper scream in horror. She laughs at his response.
“Gullible. It was an accident I had with the leaf blower.”, Mabel clarifies, remembering how she was trying to do kissing practice with it but instead had the machine stuck to her face. “That was fun”
“Mabel, listen to me. I’m telling you there’s Norman isn’t what he seems.”, Dipper explains, showing the journal to emphasize his point, to which his sister gasps.
“You think he could be a vampire”, she asks, enjoying the idea that her boyfriend is a handsome vampire. “That would be awesome!
“Guess again, sister….SHA-BAM!”, Dipper exclaims, opening a page in his journal making Mabel scream. Dipper checks the journal to realize he was on the page of gnomes. “Oh, sorry, wrong page...Sha-bam!” He shows her the page of the undead, making his sister roll her eyes.
“Ugh, a zombie? That’s not funny, Dipper.”, Mabel doesn’t appreciate the revelation, thinking her brother is trolling her. 
“I’m not joking, Mabel!”, Dipper persists, not allowing Mabel’s disbelief sway him in the slightest. “It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp. He never blinks! Have you noticed that?”
“Maybe he’s blinking when you’re blinking.”, Mabel suggests, not really getting why her brother is getting paranoid about this. 
“Mabel, have you forgotten what the journal said about Gravity Falls?”, Dipper reminds her, “Trust no one….”
“Well, what about me, huh? Why can’t you trust me?”, she asks, putting on her star earrings, “Beep. Bop.”
“Mabel!”, Dipper grabs his sister, shaking her in the hopes that she'll come to her senses, “He’s going to eat your brain!” Okay, Mabel has had enough of her brother’s paranoia. She firmly removes her brother’s hands from her shoulders, pushing him away.
“Dipper, listen to me.”, her voice being firm when she addresses Dipper, refusing to let him voice his concerns, “Norman and I are going out on a date. And I’m going to be ADORABLE”-she points her firmly on her brother’s chest-“And he’s going to be DREAMY” She does it again as she continues walking up to as he keeps walking until he walks out the room. “And I’m not gonna let you ruin it with your crazy CONSPIRACIES!” She slams her, leaving Dipper speechless. He took a moment to look at it from Mabel’s perspective: This is her chance at getting a date and she may not be able get another. But does this mean he’s wrong about Norman? Is he right? What is he missing?
He just sighs in defeat. “What am I gonna do?”
__________________________________________________________________
Dipper keeps looking through the videos but not with the determination he had earlier, no. He had the expression of forlorn permeate on his face. Maybe he is looking too deep into this and just allowed his paranoia to cloud his judgement. Maybe Norman is just eccentric. Maybe he just wants to look for love like Mabel does. And he is getting in their way.
The clock dings 5;00 and the doorbell rings. 
“Coming!” Dipper hears Mabel shouts, looking up from the camera to look at his sister running downstairs, fixing her sweater and making herself presentable before opening the door beau. He hears Norman saying how shiny her sweater is before he sees them leaving the house and head out to the forest. 
Dipper watches the video he collected from spying Mabel and her date.  “Soos was right. I don’t have any real evidence.”, Dipper laments, realizing his mistake. He watches as the video shows Mabel teaching Norman hopscotch, only to fall over. He unconsciously fast forwards to Mabel and Norman with Norman's arm around Mabel. “I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and— Wait, WHAT?!” Dipper watches Norman's hand fall off, giving a glance around reattaching it. He rewinds the tape and watches it again, just to be sure he wasn’t being crazy, which only confirmed what he saw. Shocked right now, he screams and accidentally tips the chair backwards. 
“I was right! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!”, Dipper freaks out, running outside to get his grunkle,  “Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!” He keeps trying to get his grunkle’s attention, but he’s too focused on showing tourists one of his attractions, so he looks around to see the mystery cart. He runs towards to see Wendy taking the key out of the ignition. 
“Wendy! Wendy! Wendy! I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my sister from a zombie!”, Dipper explains, hysterical at this point, to which she gives him the keys before heading off. “Try not to hit any pedestrians.” Dipper gets in the cart and starts the ignition. But before he can drive off, he sees Soos waiting for him.
Soos gives him a shovel. “This is for the zombies.” Dipper takes the shovel. “Thanks.” Just as he’s about to leave again, Soos gives him a bat. “And this is in case you find a pinata.”
“Uh...Thanks?”, Dipper takes the bat, weirded out before driving off.
“Better safe than sorry!” Dipper hears Soos yell out, but he hardly focuses on it as he only cares about saving his sister. 
Who knows what could be happening to her right now?
__________________________________________________________________
As Mabel and Norman stand in the forest by themselves, he turns away from her nervously, like he was hiding a dark truth. 
“Uh, Mabel”, Norman hesitates, holding his zipper, “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other, there’s…” he exhales “...there’s something I should tell you.” The passes by as the tensity rises in the area.
“Oh, Norman, you can tell me anything!”, Mabel says in mock concern. Please be a vampire, please be a vampire!, she thinks, excited by the prospect that her boyfriend might be what she always desired.
"All right, just... just don’t freak out, okay?", he insists, making sure she doesn't get appalled by what's going to happen. "Just... just keep an open mind, be cool! He unzips his coat and throws it off and what Mabel sees surprises her. Underneath, the coat…..
Are five gnomes standing on top of each other. 
“Is this weird? Is this too weird?”, the top gnome asks, concerned, “Do you need to sit down?” Mabel just stands there with her mouth hung open, completely in shock that her date is something else entirely than what she expected.
“R-r-right, I’ll explain. So! We’re gnomes.”, the gnome higher up makes clear, “First off. Get that one outta the way.” His response doesn’t really help as Mabel still fails to process what is transpiring in front of her.
“I’m Jeff”, the top gnome introduces himself before introducing his other colleagues, “And here we have Carson, Steve, Jason and... I’m sorry, I always forget your name.” 
“Shmebulock!”, the last gnome answers.
“ Yes!”, Jeff snaps his fingers before looking at the dumbfounded Mabel, “Anyways, long story short, us gnomes have been lookin' for a new queen! Right, guys?” To which, the other gnomes started to chant “Queen! Queen!”, really wanting to have her as their royal subject.
“So what do you say?”, Jeff asks her, before tapping his foot to cause the collective to make the body kneel and hold out an engagement ring. “Will you join us in holy matri-gnomey? Matri...matri-mo-ny! Blah! Can’t talk today!” 
Mabel is honestly dumbfounded by what is happening right now. She honestly never expected that her date would end up like this and now, it ends up like this: her being in the middle of the forest with her boyfriend, who was not human, not a vampire…..but a bunch of gnomes asking about for her hand in marriage. She thinks it would be better to let them off easy.
“Look... I'm sorry, guys.”, Mabel apologised, feeling awkward in explaining how she feels about the situation, “You're really sweet, but, I'm a girl, and you're gnomes, and it's like, ‘what?’ Yikes…” Mabel holds her arm, just explaining makes her feel uncomfortable.
“We understand.”, Jeff accepts sadly, seemingly understanding that Mabel didn’t want this “We'll never forget you, Mabel.” The gnomes look melancholy, Mabel smiles appreciating their decision. Maybe they weren’t so bad-
“Because we're gonna kidnap you.”
“Huh?”, Mabel takes double before Jeff leaps at her, screeching to, which she screams in terror.
__________________________________________________________________
Dipper drives as fast as he can to get to his sister and so far, he couldn’t find her. Where could she be? Regardless of what happens, he still had to find her no matter what happens. 
"Mabel, where are you?!", Dipper calls out. She's gotta be close, right?
"Help!", he hears his sister calling for help and heads to the sound of her voice, driving near a path that leads downwards. He stops the cart to grab the shovel and charges to the source of Mabel’s cries for help, leading him witnessing her being surrounded by gnomes as she punches some them away. 
Wait…..she wasn’t getting attacked by a zombie but rather gnomes?
“What the heck is going on here?!”, Dipper demands to which a gnome passes by him hissing.
“Dipper! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they’re total jerks!”, Mabel explains to him while trying to keep the gnomes away from here before a starts pulling on her hair. “Hair! Hair! Hair!”
“Gnomes? Huh, I was way off.”, Dipper feels awkward that he got the wrong creature at this moment. He takes the journal out of his vest and reads the relevant page. "Gnomes: little men of the Gravity Falls Forest. Weaknesses: unknown.". No weakness? That might be a problem. When Dipper lowers the book, he sees that the gnomes have managed to tie Mabel to the ground.
“Aw, come on!”, Mabel complains, not liking her situation at all. This makes Dipper walk towards Jeff with the shovel at hand. 
“Hey! Let go of my sister!”, Dipper commanded, holding the shovel close
“Oh! Ha ha, hey there!”, Jeff greets, weakly. “Um, you know, this is all really just a big misunderstanding. You see, your sister's not in danger. She's just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity!” He turns to the ensnared Mabel. “Isn't that right, honey?” 
“You guys are buttfaces!”, Mabel protests, only for a gnome to cover her mouth.
“Give her back right now, or else!, Dipper threatens, pointing the shovel at Jeff.
“You think you can stop us, boy?”, the gnomes warns, narrowing his eyes. “You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the—ah!” Dipper scoops him up and tosses him aside before he uses the shovel to cut Mabel free, to which she kicked the gnomes away and runs with her brother to the cart before driving off.
Jeff gets up, looking miffed. 
“You've messed with the wrong creatures, boy! Gnomes of the forest: ASSEMBLE!”
__________________________________________________________________
The cart drives as fast as it can across the forest. So far, it seems as if they managed to get away from the little men of the forest. 
“Hurry, before they come after us!”, Mabel begs her brother to speed up, worried that the gnomes will come after them. Dipper, on the other hand, was unapprehensive about that notion. 
“Mabel, I wouldn't worry about it. See their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!”, Dipper chuckles, finding the idea that the gnomes catching up to them impossible and hilarious.
He is wrong on both fronts.
Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump!
Dipper stops the cart and turns around to see a giant gnome, comprised of every gnome found in the forest. It roared in absolute fury. 
“Dipper, step on it!”, Mabel commands her brother. Dipper wastes no time and steps on the gas pedal. The cart drives as fast as it can before the Gnome Giant smashes its fist on the ground, causing some gnomes to fall the formation only to get back in. The giant gives chase and follows them.
“Give us back our queen”, Jeff shouts from atop the Gnome Giant, controlling like a robot.
“It’s getting closer”, Mabel shouts, making Dipper wish the cart can go faster than it already can. The Gnome Giant starts to shoot out gnomes at the cart, to which they start biting at, along with attacking Dipper and Mabel. Mabel punches off a gnome hanging on the side while Dipper slams Schmebulock’s face on the wheel, making him fall out. Dipper sighs in relief, only for another gnome that jumps out of the cart to scratch him.
“I’ll save you, Dipper!”, Mabel declares, punching the gnome while also hitting her twin brother’s face until it falls out with his hat. 
“Thanks, Mabel”, Dipper expresses his gratitude despite feeling dazed from the punches.
“Don’t mention it”, Mabel returns it, happy to help. 
The Gnome Giant roars in indignation. To slow down the cart, it pulls out a giant tree and throws akin to a javelin at the runaway vehicle.
“Lookout!”, Mabel points to the tree that’s flying through the air before crashing, blocking their path. Dipper and Mabel scream as he swerves the the avoid crashing into the tree but only causes the cart to crash onto the ground near the Mystery Shack. Dipper and Mabel themselves out the totaled cart only to see the Gnome Giant towering over them.
“Stay back, man!”, Dipper warns, showing fear towards the hulking beast before grabbing a shovel and tosses it, only for the Gnome Giant to crush it, the scared Pine Twins hold each other close.
“Where’s Stan?”, Dipper asks
__________________________________________________________________
“Behold!”, Stan shows a swirly pattern on a stick to the tourists, “The world's most distracting object!”
“Oooh”
“Just try to look away, you can't!”, Stan chuckles as he pulls the string making it spin. Eventually, everyone, Stan included, becomes distracted by the object. “I can't even remember what I was talking about.”
__________________________________________________________________
“This has gone far enough kids. We’re done playing games.”, Jeff declares, controlling the Gnome Giant into getting closer to the Dipper and Mabel. The Giant gets close enough to snatch her into its giant hand. “Mabel, it’s time for you to come back with us. This’ll be much easier if you accept being our queen.”
“Ah! Dipper!”, Mabel cries out, trying to break free from it’s hand, only to fail to do so once it starts to leave. 
“Mabel!”, Dipper exclaims as he tries to catch up to the “Let go of my sister!” The giant just keeps walking away, blatantly ignoring to his pleas of both Pine Twins. Dipper pulls out his journal to see if there’s something he missed on the gnomes, but finds nothing. He tries again, again, and again. Only to find nothing. His sister cries for help ever present in his ears. What can he do? There’s nothing he has on hand that can help him.
Except…..
Dipper looks at the mysterious watch and back at the Gnome Giant as it keeps walking away, having his sister in it’s hand as she kept trying to escape while also calling out to her brother. He looks back at the watch with a mix of nervousness and determination before pressing the hourglass symbol on it, making the watch spring up (much to his surprise) showing a hologram of something. Something he found in the journal earlier.
The crystal being. The Petrosapian,
Dipper hesitates before pressing the hourglass symbol down.
In a massive glow of green light, getting the Gnome Giant’s attention, Dipper’s entire anatomy starts to change. His body starts to harden as cyan crystals start to cover him entirely. He feels himself starting to get stronger. Stronger than he’s ever felt before and he started to become taller than he was previously. Dipper’s physiology is exponentially nonidentical: He’s 7 feet tall with his body, no longer skin and bones, entirely composed of cyan-colored diamond with a darkish blue jumpsuit-like uniform with a red-orange stripe down the center, black boots, two sharp crystal shards on his back with a sharp head and yellow eye And to top it off, there's an hourglass symbol on the center of his chest. And to top it off, there’s an hourglass symbol on the center of his chest.
Mabel is shocked to see what brother turned into. “D-Dipper?” 
The Gnome Giant was stumped. “What the? He can turn into a walking chandelier?”, Jeff asks, confused as to what just happened. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the gnomes, this “walking chandelier” is not interested in answering questions.
Dipper’s yellow eyes go to his sister before glaring at the colossal conglomerate of gnomes. He speaks, despite being full of bass, with determination and anger, “I’m going to say this once: Give me back my sister. Or you’re gonna regret it.” Mabel is blown back by how tough her brother sounds. 
The Gnome Giant, on the other hand, laughs. This walking chandelier is supposed to intimidate it? Jeff wipes a tear, laughing. “Yeah, right! There’s a thousand of us and only one of you. What are you gonna do? Reflect some light to make yourself shinier? Pull some of yourself off to trade for your sister?”
Dipper’s eyes narrow. “No.”, he simply answers, “I’m gonna do this.” He pushes his left arm out and shoots speeding crystals at the Gnome Giant, as it roars in pain. He runs forward, continuing to shoot at the colossal Gnome while turning his right hand into a blade and cuts the beast's left leg, breaking off some of the beast’s formation. The Gnome Giant struggles to keep itself together, while at the same time, blocking the crystals as Dipper keeps shooting at it. It tries to move away but sees that Dipper is now punching at its leg, causing some of the gnomes to fall out.
"Hey! Stop doing that!", Jeff yells out, trying to make sure Mabel stays in one hand while trying to crush this annoying gem with the other, who keeps rolling out the way and avoids getting stomped on, smashed with the other hand, and takes the shooting gnomes without even flinching.
I gotta find a way to get Mabel free, Dipper thinks as he continues to avoid all of the Giant Gnome's attacks while also continuing to attack the on the leg he damaged. There has to be a weak spot in the formation. If I can’t find one, I'll make one. With a boost in adrenaline, Dipper delivers a powerful hook to the left leg, causing the it to explode and by extension, the gnomes to fly off in different directions. The Gnome Giant falls on a knee, holding itself up with a hand that didn’t have Mabel in it. Dipper takes advantage of this and plants both hands on the ground, causing a giant diamond piller to uppercut the giant’s chin, causing the behemoth to fall to the ground letting Mabel go in the process.
“AH!”, Mabel screams as she keeps falling until she feels a pair of crystal hands catch her. She looks to see Dipper caught her by summoning a pillar underneath him. The pillar goes back into the ground and Dipper puts her down. “You ok?”, he asks her sister, wanting to make sure she’s alright. 
“Yeah.”, Mabel nods, impressed by what her brother is and what he can do. “At least we know what that watch can do.”
Dipper looks at his diamond hands and toward the hourglass symbol on his chest. “Yeah, at least we know.” Before Dipper can ask himself what this means for him, a roar is heard, causing the crystalized Pine and his twin sister to see the Giant Gnome, fully reformed and charging at them, or specifically, the transformed Dipper. He grits his teeth before pushing both hands out, shooting out speeding crystals at the behemoth’s face, making it slow down and cover it. “Mabel, get back inside!”
“But what about you?!”, Mabel doesn’t want to leave her brother behind, even if he is a rock monster.
Dipper turns toward his sister, not relenting in his barrage. “I’ll be fine! Just get outta here before-URK!!” Dipper isn’t paying attention, until the Giant Gnome comes in and punt kicks Dipper into a couple of trees.
“Dipper!”, Mabel shouts, appalled that her brother got sent flying from that attack.
“You know, we were going to let off easy, kid”, Jeff explains, his aggravation reaching its peak. “But you have been a thorn in us gnomes’ side one too many times! It’s time for you to-Ah!” Jeff is interrupted as diamond shard whizzes past him, leaving a scratch on his face. This gives Dipper the opportunity to charge at the behemoth and smash his hands, which are now spiked balls, on the right leg.
But the opportunity never came. The Gnome Giant is prepared and grabs him before smashing him into the ground hard to leave a crater. He tries to break free, only to be punched into the ground and gets more stuck. 
“Alright, that’s it! It’s time for this walking chandelier to be shattered!”, Jeff growls, controlling the conglomerate of gnomes into getting ready to punch Dipper into smithereens.
“Stop!” Giant Gnome stops what it’s doing to see Mabel standing in front of his transformed brother. She can’t take her brother getting beat up because of her mistake.
“Alright, Mabel! It’s time to make a choice: Either be our queen or watch your brother get crushed!”, Jeff makes her choose, having enough of these obstacles preventing him and his gnomes from having their queen. Mabel looks at the giant beast then her brother, who is struggling to get himself free, only for the hourglass symbol on his chest to beep, blinking red before he turns back to normal. She realizes what she needs to do.
“I’ll do it.”, Mabel hangs her head in defeat, she accepts her fate. Dipper looks at his sister in shock.
“Mabel, what are you doing?! Are you crazy?!”, Dipper exclaims in confusion and dismay. Why is she doing this? Mabel looks at her brother with a forlorn look on her face.
“Dipper. Trust me.”, she simply responds. Jeff takes a 180 and is ecstatic by her decision. 
“Hot dog!”, Jeff cheers. “Help me down there, Jason!” He climbs down from his gnome brothers and approaches Mabel, holding out a diamond ring. “Eh? Eh?” Mabel smiles and holds her hand out, to which he puts the ring on it. “Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now let's get you back into the forest, honey!” He walks away with a pep in his step.
“You may now kiss the bride!”, she announces, making Jeff stop and turn around.
“Well, don't mind if I do.”, he says, before using mouth spray, smiling at his bride-to-be, who gave one of her and eyes fluttering. They lean in to kiss, only then for Mabel to take out a leaf blower and aim it at the gnome.
“Ah! Hey, hey, wait a minute!”, Jeff is shocked by this. He gets sucked up in the leaf blower “Whoa, whoa! Wh-what's goin' on?!” Jeff struggles but just gets more sucked into the leaf-blower halfway. 
“That's for lying to me!”, Mabel yells, angry at the little man. She increases the sucking power. “THAT'S for breaking my heart!” 
 “Ow! My face!”, Jeff groans, painfully as he slowly gets sucked in further.
And THIS is for messing with my brother!”, Mabel declares aiming the leaf blower to the immobile Gnome Giant, before looking at Dipper. “Wanna do the honors?”
Dipper smiles at her. “On three!”
“One, two, three!”, they chant in unison as they blast Jeff towards the gnome monster, causing all the gnomes to fly out in multiple directions. After threatening them with the leaf blower, they all retreat within the forest. As they all left, Mabel looks at her brother remorsefully.
“Hey, Dipper? I, um...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice.”, Mabel apologizes, feeling sorry for not listening to her when she had the chance. ,“You really were just looking out for me.”
“Oh, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there.”, he encourages her.
“I guess I'm just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes.”, she says.
“Look on the bright side.”, Dipper proposes “Maybe the next one will be a vampire!”
“Oh, you're just saying that!”, Mabel smiles, valuing her brother’s gesture.
“Awkward sibling hug?”, Dipper asks, his arms out. Mabel smiles and accepts it. “Awkward sibling hug.”
“Pat-pat” “Pat-pat”
__________________________________________________________________
Stan is counting money when he sees the Pine Twins walk in, fatigue and untidiness . 
“Sheesh. You guys got hit by a bus or something?”, he laughs at the kids, who scowl at him before walking away. Seeing them like this, he decides to give them something to cheer them up.
“Hey.”, Stan calls out to them, getting their attention, “Wouldn't you know it? Um, I accidentally overstocked some inventory, so, uh... how's about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, y'know?”
“Really?”, Mabel asks, happy at getting something.
“What’s the catch”, Dipper questions, suspicious as he crosses his arms.
“The catch is do it before I changed my mind.”, Stan grumbles, really just wanting to do this simple gesture. Dipper and Mabel look across for different items on the shelves and grab what they wanted. 
Picks up a cap with a pine tree on it and puts it on, looking in the mirror impressed. “” 
“And I will have a…..”, Mabel says before grabbing something out the box. “Grappling Hook!”
Stan and Dipper look perplexed.
“Wouldn’t you want a doll or something”, Stan asks, not really why she wants the item picked. Mabel just shoots the grappling hook into the air, knocking down a shelf in the process. “Grappling Hook!”
“Fair enough”, Stan shrugs.
As Dipper sits in his bed reading the journal while his sister keeps jumping on hers, he starts to think about what happened earlier in the day. The journal said to not trust anyone but thanks to his sister, he would probably be dead despite turning into that crystal being. Speaking of the crystal being, he wonders what the watch can do and how it can do it? So far, he can assume the watch can do more than give him just one transformation but how many are there? Did the watch have aliens that can be found in the journal like the Petrosapian? These were another addition of questions he has for the town of Gravity Falls. Dipper takes a look at his sister using her grappling hook with glee to catch a stuffed animal. She really is the only one he can trust with the secrets they have. 
And he has no problem with it.
“Hey, Mabel. Can you get the light.”, Dipper asks.
“On it!”, she replies, aiming and shooting the grappling hook on the lamp, breaking it. “It works!” The Pine Twins get a laugh before heading to sleep. 
For these two, the mysteries and strangeness in this town were only beginning.
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ezilyamuzed · 6 years
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Everyone Needs a Sam : Chapter 2
Summary: Two Sam’s in the Winchester family is better than one. 
Warnings: Language. A little fluff and angst. 
A/N: So this Sam is crazy and decided to keep going with this. It’s going to be interesting as I figure this all out with you! P.S. I have been slowly falling down the Sam rabbit hole...
As always comments and feedback are welcomed (GIVE ME LOVE). Any errors are completely my own because I am human. If anyone would like a Tag in future chapters or all writings send me an ASK! Thank you for reading! Enjoy!
Series Masterlist
*Gifs not mine*
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A month had come and gone since that night in Albany and to be honest you still had no clue what exactly had happened. The rest of that hunt had gone pretty easily, finding the rugaru munching on long-pig in an abandoned warehouse, the most obvious place. Sam was the one to take it down with the blowtorch, while Dean and I distracted it. Another case had come up shortly after, but it was a simple salt ‘n burn haunting. It had become eerily quiet with no scent of any possible cases where you had actually decided to officially move into the bunker, making a room of your very own. Both Sam and Dean had been insisting for well over a month even before that night to actually make yourself at home. You would always tell them that you would when it was quiet, and now it finally was, your excuse ending.
Dean had not talked to you about that night and you sure as hell were not going to bring it up. Why mess things up over something that probably meant nothing? You would carefully watch him over the weeks to see if anything had changed in him towards you, but everything pretty much remained the same. You would still have your binge fests, but he would often stay quiet instead of adding his usual commentary to the screen. Actually, unless Sam was around he didn’t really say anything that wasn’t for a reason, asking what you wanted to watch or if you were feeling alright after eating that bad taco from the food truck. There wasn’t the usual bantering back and forth and you actually kind of missed it. 
You found yourself hanging around Sam a little more often than you had even beyond the lore books. He was a complete nerd like you, finding enjoyment in George Lucas marathons when he wasn’t rummaging through the news for anything suspect. Dean had even caught you braiding Sam’s hair out of boredom one night. It was so soft to play with and easily managed that you huffed how jealous you were. 
“Wow Sam,” Dean smiled. “You sure are looking sexy there.”
You knew he was just teasing his brother, Sam throwing up his middle finger in return, but the comment made your cheeks turn rosy. You had tried to hide your face from Dean, but he noticed while giving a wink. It was the little things like that that had you on edge about that kiss. What if it might have meant something? 
On a boring Friday night that not even Dr. Sexy reruns could entertain, you found yourself driving to the nearest bar. There was energy built up that needed to get out, and you knew the easiest way. While wearing your low-cut dark jeans, a bare mid-drift laced crop top, and heels you waltzed in with a swing in your hips. As you lowered yourself to the bar stool right in the center of the crowd, it had not taken long for a potential workout partner to introduce themselves. He had introduced himself, but honestly, you could have cared less. He was decently attractive and looked ready to go. As he talked you would let your tongue linger a little longer around the beer bottle while you took small sips while also finding opportune moments to casually let your hand flow down him softly. The lust was growing strong in his eyes, but he was too scared to speak the words you wanted to hear. You impatience shifting thinly, you bit your lower lip while moving in closer to his face.
“So what do you say we…”
“Hey little sister, there you are!” the deep voice that was all Dean exclaimed from behind you. 
“Son of a bitch,” you huffed quietly. 
You turned your face to him and gave him a tight-lipped smile while wishing you could smite him with your mind. “I’m kind of busy here…bro,” you growled. He walked up to place himself directly next to the man you were hoping to use and lose for the night with a large smile on his face. He stretched out his hand towards now a clearly frightened man as a tall wall of muscles came closer to him.
“Hi, I’m Sam’s big brother Dean.”
The man reluctantly shook his hand while stating his name. You could see Dean tightening his grasp in the handshake, the other guy's eyes growing darker now in fear. Dean smiled as he let go and looked over to you. 
“Sam, I’ve been trying to find you all night. Bobby-John got released from the pen today and he was looking for you.”
“Bobby-John?” the man asked.
As you opened your mouth to speak Dean was already answering for you. 
“Sam’s ex, or well boyfriend. Yeah he went upstate for a little while on attempted murder charges but they couldn’t find the evidence to prove him guilty,” he smiled widely.
The mans pupils widened in fear as he started to shift in his seat, looking for any indication in Dean’s face that he was kidding. Dean staying easily straight faced. 
“Well I am going to go,” the man said while quickly getting up from his seat. “No, really…” you started to protest, but he held up his hands to stop you. “No, really I am going. Busy day tomorrow and it seems like you have catching up to do of your own,” he said while almost falling over himself as he hightailed out of the bar.
“You son of a bitch,” you taking your time to annunciate each syllable slowly while you gritted your teeth. 
He laughed as he sat down next to you, waving for the bartender’s attention. 
“Seriously Dean? The Bobby-John story?”
“Works every time,” he nodding his head in satisfaction as the sly smile remained on his lips.
“I am getting really tired of this Dean,” you sneered as you went to stand up to leave. Dean grabbed you by the wrist tightly stopping you in your tracks.
“Where do you think you are going?” 
“Somewhere you aren’t,” you said while twisting your wrist loose from his grip. He tried to grab you again, but you pulled away too quickly and stormed off out the doors to the car you had commissioned from the bunker. As soon as you reached the end of the parking lot where it stood you screamed in frustration while also kicking the fender with the adrenaline pumping through you. 
“Sam?” 
You quickly turned your head to see Sam standing there alone with concern lingering on his face. You took in a deep breath before asking him what he was doing there.
“I’m here with Dean,” he said while pointing with his thumb back towards the bar. “I was just on the phone with Jody. Sam, what is going on?”
“Dean butting his nose where it doesn’t belong again,” you grumbled while not wanting to take any of your anger out on the youngest Winchester. 
He nodded his head slowly while scrunching in his eyebrows so much that the lines on his forehead stood apparent. His signature puppy dog look. The damn look that made you want to reveal your deepest emotions to while having him hold you close. He walked closer to you as you squeezed your eyes tightly shut while shaking your head.
“I don’t think I can do this forever Sam,” you whispered while his arms wrapped around you, pulling your head into his chest. 
“You want me to drive us back,” he asked while still in the embrace.
You slowly nodded in reply that he could feel against him. He grabbed your hand and walked you to the passenger door of the car, opening it for you to scoot yourself in. He slowly walked around the back of the car to the driver’s side, pulling out his phone to send a quick text to his brother. You laid your head on the top of your hand while leaning up against the open window. The wind tickling your face as he drove. When you arrived back at the bunker you immediately went for the little bar set up in the War room, pouring yourself the sweet amber liquid that would be your companion for the night. After shooting it back quickly, you refilled your glass while noticing Sam leaning in the doorway watching you. “You want to talk about it?” he asked with concern.
“Nope,” you stated abruptly, downing the contents of your glass again. While grabbing what remained of the amber liquid, you took it to your room and sat down on your bed. At this point, you stopped even trying to use a glass and opted right from the neck of the decanter. Gulp after gulp you started thinking about everything that irked you about how Dean had treated you over the last months. 
“Let the big boys handle this. Go ahead, flash him some cleavage so he’ll talk. That guy is no good for you. You are such a good girl,” you ranted aloud with sarcasm elongated in each word.
Apparently, you had been a little loud, because Sam was now in your doorway, crossing his arms with a grin on his face. You glared at his amusement and mockingly crossed your arms as well. 
“And you, Mister gorgeous hair and puppy dog eyes,” you slurred. “Don’t think you are so innocent. I know what you are thinking.”
“What am I thinking Sam?” he laughed.
“I’m just a little girl that needs to be protected,” you said while moving unsteadily to him and poking your finger into his hard chest. “Well I am not a little girl, I am a woman dammit. You both need to realize that I can do fine without you and your gorgeous faces.”
He laughed and shook his head while flashing his dimples in his cheeks, making you poke him again harder. He grabbed your hand and held it in his. 
“Sam, I think you are drunk.”
“No, I’m not,” you slurred. “You’re the Sam that’s drunk.”
”Come on,” he said while moving you back towards your bed. “Let’s get you to sleep.”
You bowed your head down in defeat as you sat down on the soft mattress, Sam sitting next to you while rubbing your back. Your mind shifted from the anger inside of you to the dreaded thoughts that had so often plagued you. 
“I can’t do this forever Sam,” you whispered as you laid your head down on his shoulder. 
“Do what?”
“Pretend,” you softly replied. Sam stayed silent, letting your head rest next to his while continuing his movements on your back to let you know you were safe with him. 
“Thank you,” you breathed.
“For what?”
“For being my Sam.”
Tags: @snffbeebee @curly-haired-disaster
Keep Reading Chapter 3 Here
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