#old grandpa stabs a lot.

[werewolfoffeverswamp]

more springy doodles. i HATE this guy (lying)

[zepskies]

Smoke Eater - Part 13

Pairing: Firefighter!Dean Winchester x F. Reader 

Summary: Dean Winchester is the cocky, but well-respected Lieutenant at Firehouse 25. He leads by example, but he’s also known to break a few hearts. He’s starting to crave something he’s never had, though. Something stable. Something real. 

That’s when he meets you, on a truly terrible day, trapped in a rickety old elevator.   

AN: For those who didn't catch my announcement on Monday, I released Part 12 earlier this week! Now, on to a confrontation I think a lot of you have been waiting for...

🔥 Series Masterlist

Word Count: 7,200 Tags/Warnings: 18+ only. Attempted sexual assault. Protective Dean, angst, hurt/comfort.  

Part 13: “Boiling Point”

Usually, Christmas was your absolute favorite time of the year.

This holiday was a baker’s dream, and you and your grandmother used to volunteer at the church bake sale every Christmas Eve. Grandpa George had done his best to help you in the years after she died…but you just didn’t have it in you this year.

You considered it an accomplishment that you pulled down some of the decorations from the attic, putting them up around your house, and buying a little four-foot tree (also hauling it into the house yourself). However, you knew that you wouldn’t be alone on Christmas Day, at least.

Sam and Dean had already invited you over to spend it with them. You would have the chance to get to know Eileen better, and you would even get to meet the famous John Winchester…

But you still had one reason to dread the end of the month.

Nick Savage threw a Christmas party every year. It was equal parts celebration and networking, and as a top performer of the sales division, you were expected to come.

The problem was, this time the party was going to be held at his house.

“You can’t just not go?” Andréa asked, shortly before taking a massive bite of her burrito. The two of you were grabbing dinner together after another long day at the office, followed by a movie later.

You’d realized just how much you had missed your best friend.

“Yeah, that’ll be great for me. Josh will get to chat up the whole team and get them clamoring to kiss his dick. Nick will give him the Sales Manager position just to spite me,” you said, while picking at your taco salad. “He keeps pitting us against each other for his own enjoyment, but I swear to God he harps on me the most.”

Andréa frowned. “Are you sure Nick just doesn’t have a thing for you? It sounds like he’s a little boy, picking on a girl he likes.”

You pursed your lips. She still didn’t know the full extent on your boss’s thing with you. You hadn’t told her about the last time Nick cornered you in his office, dangled a promotion in front of you, and basically gave you an ultimatum: sleep with him, or don’t move up in the company.

You hadn’t told anyone, for that matter.

You were just trying to figure out how to not get fired, while still getting compensated for your hard work. Was that too much to ask? 

Apparently, it was.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what he thinks about me,” you said vehemently.

It earned your friend’s gaze, and her raised eyebrows. 

“Whoa,” she chuckled. “Easy there, Miss Congeniality. That’ll be sure to earn you the promotion.”

“No, really,” you said. You stabbed into your salad with a fork. “I’m so fucking sick and tired of having to tap dance my entire work life around him. He’s a goddamn child who thinks he can have whatever he wants just because Daddy gave him his own little kingdom!”

Andréa eyed you more with concern. Her hand reached for your arm. Meanwhile, you were forcing slower breaths through your nose.

“You okay?” she asked. “I don’t like the ‘crazy town’ look in your eyes right now.”

“I’m fine,” you grumbled. “Just hangry, I guess.”

You took another bite of your food. Andréa gave you a skeptical look, but she let it go for now, with a smirk.

“Yeah, well. Eat a Snickers, bitch. I don’t need you snapping on me again,” she teased.

You rolled your eyes, but you had to laugh a little. You shoved at her shoulder.

She gripped her own arm in fake panic. “Someone call the cops! This crazy woman just punched me out over a salad!”

You tried to shush her, even though you were giggling. Your head swiveled around in the restaurant, giving apologetic eyes to the people around you.

“Although, $20 for a few sprigs of romaine lettuce and a sliver of chicken? That’s worth punching somebody the fuck out,” she said, throwing down her napkin. “Let’s never come here again.”

“Agreed,” you nodded. “I don’t think they’ll let us back here anyway.”

A few days later, you didn’t want to admit you were stressing out over this night.

“Have I said thank you? Because I mean it. Thank you for taking time off for this,” you said, smoothing down the nonexistent wrinkles in Dean’s blazer.

He looked good in black. It was classic, and the new suit was smart without being “too much” for him. (Sam had taken him to his “suit guy,” as Dean called it.)

Dean grabbed your arms to stop your slightly flustered hands. He smirked down at you as his eyes once again took in your dark red dress. It was simple and sleeveless, but elegant, falling just above the knee. Of course, you had to be wearing the tallest pair of black heels he’d ever seen.

“It’s no sacrifice, believe me,” he replied.

You smiled, but he noticed something behind your eyes.

“You okay?” he asked. “Seems like you don’t really want to go to this thing.”

“I don’t,” you admitted on a sigh. “But my boss will know if I’m not there…I told you about the open Sales Manager position, right?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Dean nodded. His smile slid into a frown as he watched you bustle around your room, looking for your purse while you smoothed out the soft waves you’d managed to style your hair in, checking your eyeliner and lipstick too in the mirror.

“As usual, it’s down to me and Josh,” you said. “If I keep my numbers up and use tonight to network with my own team, get the rest of the guys on my side, maybe Nick will see that I’m the right choice.”

Dean came up behind you, resting a hand on your lower back.

“And this manager job…that’s what you want?” he asked.

You turned to him with a questioning look. “Well, yeah. I’ve been working here for five years, busting my ass.”

“And I got no doubt that you’re good at what you do,” Dean said. “But you do know, there hasn’t been a day since I met you that you didn’t have something crap to say about that job, and those people you work with.”

You frowned, and you thought about what he was saying. Sure, you complained about Nick, but did you really talk that much shit about your job?

“Everyone has things they don’t like about their work,” you reasoned. “Even you have your bad days.”

Though he tended to keep those days to himself, you knew when he’d had a tough call at the firehouse. You’d been trying your best to be a listening ear if he needed it, or if not, at least a soothing presence. It was more often the latter with Dean.

He acknowledged your point with a nod. “Okay, fair enough. I don’t know…I just think you’re wasting your talent.”

Your brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Sweetheart, you’re like…an artist. It’s nothing me, or Sam, or Andréa, or anybody in your life hasn’t told you before,” said Dean. “You went to school to do your dream. And I know life happened. But I also know that when I walk into the firehouse, it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. Can you say that when you walk into the Savage building?”

You took in a breath. You understood what he was saying, but as much as you wanted to indulge the fantasy of owning your own business, being your own boss, creating your own menu, and giving people quality baked goods…you had to live in reality here.

Opening a brick-and-mortar business was expensive. And most restaurants, even bakeries, weren’t profitable for at least one to three years. You still had plenty of bills, and not even a car since the accident.

“I’ve invested too much time here to quit, Dean,” you said.

The conversation died there, but it left something new and awkward between you two. You tried to put it out of your mind while he drove you both over to the “filthy fucking rich” side of town, through a massive gate, and into a wide parking lot that had a valet driver waiting. Nick’s ridiculous house was a monument to trust fund kids everywhere. 

Dean reluctantly handed over the keys to the Impala.

“No donuts in the parking lot.” He eyed the 20-something-year-old valet with all due scrutiny. “Trust me, I’ll know.”

You smirked and slipped your arm around his to tug him up the steps, toward the large double doors of the house.

“Come on, Rambo. Baby’ll be fine without you.”

“You don’t know that,” Dean quipped back. Still, he moved his arm out of yours, just to wrap it around your waist and pull you against his side. His lips pressed against your cheek.

“You look sexy as hell,” he said lowly near your ear. “Did I forget to mention that?”

“No.” Your smile deepened. “But doesn’t hurt to mention again. I might just have to reward my boyfriend for humoring me tonight, getting all dapper himself.”

You and Dean made it up to the porch and you knocked on the door. He shot you a raised brow as his lips tugged upwards.

“Oh, yeah? We talkin’ lace or satin?” he asked. His lips brushed your temple.

You pretended to think. “Little of both, actually. It’s new. And it’s red…and I might just be wearing it right now.”

Dean’s brows shot up in surprise. His gaze subtly dragged over your every curve, as if he had x-ray vision to spy through your dress. You maintained an enigmatic smile.

“Oh, you’re diabolical,” he muttered. His hand moved down to playfully squeeze your ass. You had to bite your lip to stifle the sound you made, as that’s when the doors finally began to swing open.

Dean’s hand moved up a respectable few inches, resting on your waist.

You both smiled and greeted the attendant who let you into the house.

A quick text let you know that Benny and Andréa were already here, each holding a flute of champagne. You and Dean met up with them in the huge living room space (which might has well have been a grand hall, for how large it was).

It held 50 people easily, but the party was already spanning the entire house, of at least two stories. It made your house look like a modest Barbie Dream home, without the pool attachment.

And Nick Savage was at the center of it all, greeting each guest and their “plus ones.”

When he spotted your group, he smoothly excused himself from the conversation with Josh and his wife, and headed over to you.

“Incomiiing,” Andréa quietly sing-songed. She sipped her champagne.

You steeled yourself, and you did your best to give a polite smile when Nick arrived with a pleasant “Merry Christmas.” You forced yourself to remain still when his hand fell on your arm, and he reached out to shake Dean’s hand in greeting, followed by Andréa and Benny. 

“Welcome, you guys,” he said, giving you a smile that hid just a hint of a smirk. “Justin let you know where everything is, right? Lotsa drinks, the good stuff, I promise. Plenty of food, hot chocolate and eggnog fountains, if that’s your thing. And a hell of a lot more out back by the pool.”  

“Great, thank you,” you nodded politely.

“All right! Let’s party,” Nick fist-pumped in the air. He pointed towards you and Dean. “You need a drink in your hand, stat.”

“I’m fine for now. Going to wait until I have something to eat first,” you replied. If you were going to get a glass of wine, it wouldn’t be one that Nick handed to you.

He pouted a little, but he looked at Dean next. “How about you, big guy? What you drinkin’?”

Dean shot you a glance, but before he could respond, Nick interrupted.

“You look like a whiskey guy. Am I right?” he asked.

Dean inclined his head. “Guilty.”

“Perfect. See? I’ve got an instinct for people,” Nick said, tossing you a wink as he headed for the nearby bar. “I’ll be back. You crazy kids relax and have fun.”

You had to admit, he knew how to turn on the charm when he had to. But who the hell said crazy kids under the age of 45?  

“He’s uh…got pep,” Benny remarked.

Andréa snorted and tapped her glass. “He’s a few shots in already.”

“You think?” Dean asked.

You nodded in agreement, rolling your eyes. If there was one thing you could count on, it was for Nick Savage to be drinking.

“He knows how to act when everyone’s watching,” you said. 

You looked up at the high-vaulted ceilings and expensive artwork on the walls, not noticing how Dean glanced at you with the edge of a frown.

At the very least, the food was excellent. It was served in a large back room that served as a banquet hall, meant for entertaining.

There you and Dean actually had a good time, with you sipping on red wine and Dean on a glass of the “good stuff,” all while playing cards with Andréa and Benny and a few of your coworkers on the sales team.

“I just can’t believe Adam quit, to join our main competitor, no less,” said Marv. “I had absolutely no idea he was thinking of leaving.”

He was the team gossip. He prided himself on knowing every coming and going on the sales floor, which confounded you, since Marv was also a bit of a hermit. He either kept to his office like it was a bomb shelter, or you could catch him in the break lounge grabbing yet another coffee, all the while keeping his ear perked up for scraps of conversation.

“Yeah, you did, Marv,” you replied with a smirk. “You’re the one who saw Adam’s resignation letter on his own desk.”

He hadn’t even handed said letter to Nick yet.

“Well, I knew it then, obviously,” Marv said, with his hands open wide. “It leaves us without a manager…which I think, not for long.”

His eyes met yours knowingly.

You smiled. “We’ll see. I think Josh is playing kiss-ass tonight.”

You turned your head and spotted Nick and Josh taking shots of tequila together at the bar, with the latter wincing at the burn with a lime peel in his mouth. Josh’s wife was sitting off to the side, rolling her eyes.

Your gaze focused on your boss for a moment. You shook your head at the state of him, with a loose tie and the top buttons undone on his shirt, laughing boisterously and egging Josh on.

Fucking frat bros.

“That’s your boss, huh?” Benny remarked.

“In all his Cuervo-stained glory,” Marv replied. He shook his head as well.    

It made you realize something.

As nice a time as you’d been having, for about an hour at most, your good mood soured the moment you were reminded of the office politics. Of Josh and Nick and everything in between. Was this really what you wanted for the rest of your career?

The rest of your life?

Maybe Dean was right, you thought. You knew you were good at your job. You knew you were fortunate to even have a job that paid your bills…but maybe “being good” wasn’t enough for you.

If there was one thing you’d learned from your grandfather’s death, it was that peace was precarious. And sacrificing too many parts of yourself, for money, wasn’t a fulfilling life or even a happy one.

You wanted to be happy. You also wanted peace.

So you leaned over and laid a hand on Dean’s, which rested on the round table.

“Hey,” you whispered.

His head bowed near yours. “Hmm?”

“Wanna get out of here?” you asked. He raised his brows at you.

“Really? I thought you needed to stay and schmooze with your people,” he replied.

You smiled and drew your thumb across the inside of his wrist. “I think I’m done.”

Dean looked a bit confused. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. And you brushed your lips against the corner of his mouth. “You were right. It’s not worth it.”

A flicker of a smile began to tug at his lips, but his brows drew together.

“Hey. Are you sure?” he asked. “Don’t bow out just because of me—”

Your hand tightened on his wrist.

“No, baby. It’s me. My choice,” you said. “Let me just use the restroom real quick, and we can go.”

Dean nodded, and you stood.  

“What, are you leaving?” Andréa asked. She was tucked into Benny’s side with a piece of red velvet cake poised on her fork. “You didn’t even finish your cake!”

You laughed. Turning down dessert was a big deal for you, but you’d live.

“It’s okay,” you said. “I just need to call it a night, but I’ll be back in a sec to say goodbye. Hold on.”

Andréa blew out a breath as you walked away from the table.

“She’s gonna miss the White Elephant gift exchange. Last year, someone got a 60” smart TV,” she said.

Benny whistled.

“I wouldn’t mind an upgrade,” he said. He shot Dean a glance. “What do you think the guys would do if we showed up with something like that to the station?”

Dean scoffed. “I think the Chief would have a damn conniption.”

Bobby was old-school. He thought they had enough distractions from the job as it was.

“Probably right,” Benny chuckled.

Andréa smiled in amusement. But her eyes clocked the way Nick glanced your way as you walked by, down the hall and to the right. She sipped at her glass of pinot grigio to wash down the rich cake.

Still, she discreetly watched the man down another shot before he took his leave of the bar. He laughed at something Josh said and waved him off.

She gave Nick credit for not stumbling on his feet, and only swaying slightly on the same path you took down the hall. It didn’t mean he was following you, necessarily. This house was like a small Smithsonian. And yet, something niggled in the back of her mind. 

Andréa remembered how you’d acted at dinner the other day when talking about Nick. And how drained you’d seemed lately when she saw you after work. She’d thought that was just about finding your way after George’s death…

Marv distracted her with a question as Dean and Benny continued to talk, and she answered him with her usual charm. But she kept one eye on the hallway, waiting for you to come back.

She made it about another minute before she turned to Benny and Dean, leaning in close.

“Hey, Dean,” she said. “Maybe you want to check on her? She’s taking a while.”

Dean didn’t look concerned as he checked his watch. It hadn’t been all that long, but he still pulled out his phone to text you.

“She left her purse here,” Andréa said. She started to get up out of her seat. “I’m just gonna go see if she’s okay.”

Benny grabbed her hand before she left the table.

“What’s wrong, babe?” he asked. 

“I’m not sure,” she said, but she met Dean’s confused gaze. “Okay, look. I’ve been noticing some things with her recently. I have no evidence except for how well I know that woman, but something’s off with her. It happens every time she talks about that asshole Nick.”

Dean’s brows furrowed as he tried to read between the lines.

“What’re you saying exactly?” he asked.

Andréa let out a breath. “I’m saying, I’ve got a bad feeling.”

You hummed as you washed your hands in the bathroom. Wine runs right through me. I should know better.

You’d also been trying to quell your anxieties and just get through the night. But you realized now that there was no kind of calm like the peace you had, now that you knew what you needed to do. Starting tomorrow, you were going to start looking for a new job.

A knock at the door made you jolt slightly.

“Someone’s in here!” you called without looking over your shoulder. You finished washing your hands and dried them on the hand towel hanging on a silver wall rack.

The door cracked open, but before you could protest, a man stumbled in.

Of fucking course it was Nick Savage.

“Excuse me?!” you breathed in shock. You watched with wide eyes as he pushed the door closed and seemed to take notice of you for the first time. He smirked.

“Oh, hey,” he said. Somehow, he was only slurring a little. He straightened his white blazer. The black satin shirt he wore was wrinkled and he smelled heavily of tequila, and that was with a couple of feet of distance between you two.

Your shock finally melted into a glare. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Gotta take a leak. It’s my house after all,” he shrugged, leaning a hand on the wall closest to the door for balance.

You shook your head, and with a huff, you tried to get by him.

His hand wrapped around your arm. “Hey, we didn’t get a chance to catch up tonight.”

You shoved his hand off of you.

“Don’t you ever in your life touch me again,” you warned him. Your eyes were as hard as your voice. “I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet—no. In the whole damn universe who sickens me more than you, Nick Savage.”

Nick straightened a little, frowning at you. Whatever he saw in your gaze, he didn’t seem to like the challenge. When you reached for the doorknob again, he grabbed your arm and shoved you hard into the nearest wall.

You gasped as the air rushed out of your lungs. Before you even realized what was happening, you felt his clammy hands on your bare shoulders, his hot alcoholic breath on your face. You raised your hands in defense, pushing against his chest.

He was taller and stronger and pinned you harder against the wall, with his knee shoving its way between your legs. You stared up with wide eyes of fear, and his hand clamped over your mouth to stifle your scream.

Your nails bit into his arm and wrist, trying to peel back his sweaty hand, just an inch to free your voice and let you breathe. To your left you heard the door bang open.

Please—

And the hand was peeled away entirely.

You could only blink and watch as Dean barreled through, grabbing Nick and bodily hurling him away. Nick opened his mouth to spout something angrily, but Dean continued to stalk forward and grab the man again.

Nick attempted a lazy swing at Dean’s head, but he bat it away. His fist connected roughly with Nick’s face, snapping his head back with a cry.

It was almost too fast for you to track what was happening right in front of you, but Dean dragged the drunkard the rest of the way across the bathroom, even over the tub, and slammed him against the beige tile so hard that it knocked a few of them loose. Nick’s head smacked audibly against them and he groaned at the impact.

The men were around the same height, but Dean was honed by years of firefighting and fueled by rage. One hand gripped high on Nick’s collar, while his arm pressed against the man’s chest. Then into his throat.

“Give me a reason,” Dean said, in a voice much calmer than he felt. Behind his eyes was wildfire.

“What?” Nick choked.

You finally broke through enough of your shock to know you had to do something.

“Dean!” you uttered. You cautiously went to him, but he glanced at you over his shoulder in warning.

“Stay there,” he told you firmly. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” you said, even though your voice shook. “Let’s just go.”

Despite the blood dripping down from his likely bruised nose, Nick chortled a laugh. It earned Dean’s slow head turn, returning his attention to the decision at hand. His fist tightened in Nick’s shirt.

“You heard me,” Dean said. His voice was laced with steel. “I said give me a reason not to break your miserable fucking neck.”

“Dean,” you gasped.

“Not sure that’s a good idea, fireman,” Nick slurred. “I clearly don’t have all my wits about me right now. Can’t be held lia…li-ble for my actions, now can I? I’ll have your badge by end of the week.”

You let out a harsh breath and finally went to Dean. You laid a hand on his back. Every muscle was tense and straining under his white dress shirt.

“Dean,” you pressed. “Let him go. He’s not worth it.”

Nick smirked lazily in Dean’s face. It was the look of a man who was used to getting his way.

“I’d listen to her,” he said, with a mocking glint in his eyes. “Or I could just fire her on Monday. Make it easy on myself.”

Dean seethed. His forearm slowly rolled harder into the man’s neck, pressing on his windpipe. The sounds of choked air were satisfying.

“Yeah, or I’ll have the police down here in ten minutes or less,” said Dean. “I’ll clue you in on a little something. My dad’s a cop. I’ll reckon he’ll be happy to put a fucking douchebag like you in the can with the real charmers.”

Dean gave a mocking glance to Nick’s silk shirt, his gold pinky ring and loafers.

“How long do you think it’ll take for one of ‘em to make you their little bitch?” Dean said.

Nick glared back at him, with a frisson of intimidation behind his eyes. He glanced at you over his shoulder. Dean noticed and tightened his hold.

“Don’t you look at her, you piece of shit!” he warned. His voice was low and dangerous. “Make your choice. You gonna come down to the station easy, or difficult? Please say difficult.”

Nick held up placating hands. He shifted uncomfortably against the wall; one foot was planted on the ground while the other was in the tub. The shower curtain was half off its hooks.

Dean eased up enough for Nick to take a breath.

“Okay, let’s say we do that,” he said, with a cough. “I’ll get bail. Then I’ll fucking walk, ‘cause I own this town.” 

“You mean your dad does,” you snapped.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Same name, same shit, sweetheart.”

Dean grit his teeth and tightened his grip again in warning. You wrapped your hand around his arm, but he didn’t budge.

Nick met his eyes.

“How about this. Get your greasy fucking hands off me, and we’ll call tonight a wash,” he proposed. “No foul, we all take our balls and go home.”

He then snorted at his own joke. “Balls…”

Dean tilted his head, but didn’t move a muscle. “Or?”

Once again, Nick smirked.

“I’ll report you to your boss for assaulting me in my own house. And uh, she’ll be fired, obviously.” He shrugged. “By the time my lawyers get done with her, she won’t be able to sling lattes at Starbucks.”

Dean’s face was stony, tight with outrage. His whole body was coiled like a spring as every cell in his body fought against ripping this man apart.

But he still felt your hands around his arm, trying to pull him back.

“Dean, don’t. He’s not worth your career. Please,” you begged.

The bathroom door pushed open again, and he heard Benny’s voice.

“Hey, brother.” He dropped a careful hand on Dean’s shoulder. “Come on, now. You got him. Ease up now.”

Dean’s teeth ground together. He looked down, and his stare bored into Nick’s. Dean pressed his forearm into the other man’s throat again, enough to almost feel the give as the man struggled for breath.

“Remember how that feels,” Dean said icily. “20579, Dean Winchester. The next time you want to threaten my badge, that’s my number.”

Nick’s eyes widened slightly. At the time, Dean took it as fear. But really, it was recognition.

Winchester, Nick thought.

Dean then leaned in closer, so only Nick would hear his next lowered words.

“First and last warning,” Dean said. “If you touch her again. If I hear anything more about you giving her a hard time, not a dime in the world is gonna save you from me.”

When Dean finally pulled his arm away and let go, Nick’s face was red and spluttering as he coughed and slumped into the bathtub.

Dean turned on his heel in anger and disgust. Andréa was supporting you with her arm around yours, but she released you to let Dean take over. You stared up at him with tearful eyes, and you reached for his hand.

He took it with his left, holding you steady. He then wrapped an arm around your shoulders and guided you out of the bathroom.

The air was tense and silent inside the Impala. It was a long drive back to your house, and Dean hadn’t looked at you once in 20 minutes. His gaze was firmly on the road. He hadn’t even turned on the radio.

You had his suit jacket draped around your frame, but your insides still felt cold. You glanced over at him and stared at his profile for a moment, wishing you knew what to say to break the silence. To reassure him that you were fine. (Even though it would've been a lie.)

He felt your stare and turned his head towards you.

“How long has this been going on?” he asked. His voice was gruff. “Andréa said she’s been noticing something off about you for a while.”

Your lips pressed together. “Can this part wait until we get home…please?”

Dean’s jaw ticked, but he turned back to the road ahead.

The car was silent for the rest of the hour.

It was a relief to turn the key into the door lock and step through the threshold of your house. Dean followed you inside and tossed his wallet and car keys on the side table by the door.

Somehow he always managed to miss the little basket you put there for exactly those things, but you weren’t about to remind him.

You slipped off your heels and went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, to steady yourself. Dean leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. He didn’t say anything, but you still felt his eyes on you.

With a sigh, you turned and met his gaze.

“Just tell me,” he said. “How long?”

You took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

“It started before I even met you, Dean.” 

His brows raised high. He tilted his head at you as incredulous anger tightened his face.

“What?” he said. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

You shook your head and grabbed his arm. “Okay, come here.”

You led him into the living room and sat beside him on the couch. You explained that it started small, with compliments on your clothes, your hair. Then it was lingering looks, “innocent” brushes of his hand, touching your arm, your shoulder.

When you’d tried to put distance between you and Nick, the drunken shenanigans began. The comments grew heinous and sickening, and so did his threats.

And nothing you did worked. Not distance and professionalism. Not refusing his advances outright. Not threatening to go to HR.

All while you spoke, Dean was quiet, but on edge. You saw it in how he gripped his knee, with his other hand fisted against his mouth, elbow resting on his thigh.

But the hardest part of the conversation came when you told Dean about the day of the car accident—how Nick had demanded you come to his office and gave you a sickening ultimatum.

At that, Dean could no longer remain still. He got up and started to pace across the living room. He was a man of action, you knew, and his reaction was almost everything you’d feared.

I should've told him, you thought. You knew.

Although you now felt relieved, even in your guilt, you also knew this next part wasn’t going to be fun either. Because Dean finally erupted.

“And you didn’t tell anyone?” he asked.

Briefly, you closed your eyes. “No.”

“Why? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” His hand buried itself in his hair as his jaw clenched. Even if your friend Andréa hadn’t known, she’d still seen enough to suspect something. It completely blew his mind, in the worst of ways.

“Jesus Christ!” he shook his head. “Why am I always the last one to know when something’s going on with you?”

Tears watered in your eyes as you looked up at him. You opened your mouth to speak, but he cut you off.

“I mean, really. What are we doing here, huh?” he exclaimed, his hands open wide. “Honestly, tell me. Because if you can’t trust me, then I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

Your eyes widened, a trill of panic lacing down your spine. You stood up and went to him. 

“Dean, please, it wasn’t about that,” you said. You implored him with your eyes to understand. “I wanted to tell someone…God, you don’t know how bad I wanted to tell you. But I knew how you’d react. Just like this. I didn’t want to make the situation worse!”

He frowned deeply. “You didn’t want help? You didn’t want me to protect you?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” you snapped. But then, you sucked in a shaking breath, trying to calm yourself. You got closer and rested a hand against his chest.

“Of course I’m grateful that you protected me. Dean, I love you for it.”

You grasped the ends of his jacket with both hands. All you really wanted to do was bury yourself in his warmth and sleep for the next ten years. You were still raw and frayed inside.

Dean looked down at you, and his heart clenched. He couldn’t help but hold you back. His arms wound around your lower back as he pulled you against him. His chin rested above your head, and you sighed in relief.

“I thought I could handle it,” you confessed, in a smaller voice. “I worked so damn hard…I wanted to fight for my job. But Nick knew I didn’t have the money or the resources to fight back for real if I reported him, or even if I sued him. And before tonight, I didn’t have enough to take to the police.”

Dean pulled away just enough to see your face. He grasped your arms, gentle but firm.

“I’ll take you to the station right now,” he said. “My dad can help you. Hell, Sam can help you.”

You bit your lip and shook your head.   

“You heard him, Dean. With his money and connections, he’ll get off. And then he’ll make both of our lives hell,” you said. “He’ll go after your badge—”

“He can fucking try,” he snapped.

“Stop, okay? I don’t want that,” you pleaded.

A sharp breath escaped through his nose, and he let you go.

“You’re fucking impossible, you know that?” he said. “How can I help you if you won’t let me?”

He was beside himself with frustration, and even hurt. You knew it in the way he tried to walk away from you, but you reached for his arm to stop him, with tears burning in your eyes. You didn’t want him to think that you didn’t want his support. That you didn’t trust him.

Because that couldn’t have been any farther from the truth.

“I’m sorry!” Your tears finally escaped, trailing down your cheeks. You tugged him back towards you, earning his furrowed glance. “I was…scared. I…I didn’t know what to do. Maybe I just didn’t want to deal with it at all.”

The longer Dean looked at your face, the more he crumbled.

Once again, he turned to gather you back into his arms. And there your tears fell in earnest. Your body trembled with quiet sobs, and he held you tighter. His heart broke a little more as his hand soothed over your hair. He shushed you more gently, pressing his lips to your forehead.

“Okay. It’s okay. Don’t apologize. You shouldn’t have had to deal with this, let alone for this damn long,” Dean said. His gaze raised heavenward for a moment as he mentally kicked himself. You didn’t deserve this, or his anger either. 

He just couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed any signs, like Andréa had. All these months… It threatened to drive him up a fucking wall.

“You’re safe, and I’ve got you,” he said, continuing to hold you securely against him. “We’ll handle this, like everything else.”

After a moment, you nodded, letting out another shaky breath. You squeezed your eyes shut and buried your face into his chest.

You already knew you must’ve looked a state, after the night you’d had, but you didn’t truly realize it until you were looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror. Mascara and lipstick smudged, hair disheveled, tears staining your cheeks.

Ugh. You hastily scrubbed your face clean with makeup wipes. Then you tamed your hair, brushing through the frizz and calming it back into relative normalcy.

You went for the zipper of your dress next, but you couldn’t get it down all the way. You turned to look over your shoulder.

“Dean,” you called. 

He was in your room, rifling through his bag to grab the clothes he’d brought to sleep in.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Come ‘ere a sec?”

He obliged you, drawing into the bathroom. His white dress shirt was only half unbuttoned, the sleeves rolled up. You met his eyes in the mirror.

“Can you unzip me?” you asked.

Dean looked down where your hands were holding both sides of the zipper on your dress. He took one side from you and unzipped it the rest of the way, stopping at the small of your back. He caught sight of the red, sheer lingerie underneath.

Noticing the way he paused, you smiled slightly. You turned toward him and tugged the dress down the rest of the way, so he could see the rest of the ensemble. It was a simple corset-style nightie, but true to your word, the lace was paired with satin trim lines.

Your hands ran up his sternum and undid the last buttons on his shirt. You grasped near his collar and leaned up on your toes for a slow kiss. Dean unconsciously held you to him by your shoulders, his eyes closing at the feel of you.

But when they next opened, he caught sight of the bruise on your shoulder. It was about the size of a thumbprint.

His throat tightened. After a moment, he parted from you, but he didn’t continue where you left off. You looked up at him in confusion.

“Baby?” you asked.

Dean shook his head. He couldn’t answer you; couldn’t even articulate what the hell was in his head. So he just turned and went back into the room for his change of clothes. It left you frowning, bereft, and worried.

You changed into an old shirt and some shorts before you got into bed. You slipped under the covers and watched Dean. He sat with his back to you as he unclipped his watch and set it down on the nightstand. By now he’d changed into his faded, gray Lawrence Fire Department shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

Your throat constricted with emotion, namely with anxiety.

“Are you still mad at me?” you asked.

Dean paused. He glanced back at you, saw you laying there with a hand gripped into the covers. His brows furrowed when he saw your shining tears.

He turned and got into bed with you. He slid his arm under your head and wordlessly encouraged you to come closer. His free hand soothed across your arm.

“I’m not mad at you,” he said at last. But he was still upset, and deeply unsettled. As the night replayed in his mind, he knew that at the root of his fury, there was fear. 

“I just keep thinking,” he said. “What would’ve happened if I hadn’t called out of work tonight.”

You looked down at that. You laid a hand on his chest.

“I wouldn’t have gone to the party,” you said. Though if you were honest with yourself, you probably would’ve thought yourself safe with Benny and Andréa. “I just…I really didn’t think he would try to—”

You tried to take a breath to steady yourself, but it was a tremulous release. The memory flashed behind your eyes, the remnants of panic and fear under your skin.

You didn’t realize you were crying until Dean’s hand was caressing your cheek, brushing away your tears.

“All right, shhh. I’m sorry, sweetheart. It’s over,” he said. Once again, he pulled you into his arms and held you close. Guilt hit him between the ribs for upsetting you all over again. “I promise you’re safe, and I’ve got you.”

You did your best to take in deep breaths, letting them out more steadily. Dean wanted to put the matter to bed for tonight. He really did…but he couldn’t help pressing one last thing.

“Just tell me you’re not going back there on Monday, unless it’s to HR,” he said. 

You paused, shook your head a little. You didn’t want to rev him up again, but you knew Nick. 

“He doesn’t make idle threats, Dean,” you reminded him. “But there’s a reason why he waited until tonight, at his house. He’s not going to try his luck at the office, where everyone’s watching.”

“You don’t know that,” Dean retorted.

You saw his point, but you almost didn’t want to acknowledge it. You couldn’t afford to quit.

“I still need my job, for now,” you said. “But I will start looking for something else, so I can get out as soon as possible. I promise.”

Dean wasn’t happy. Both of you knew it. You also sensed that he wanted to argue more, but was holding back for now. You appreciated that.

You truly didn’t want to get into it anymore with him. You just wanted to close your eyes and try to forget about tonight, knowing that you’d fail. 

Dean still held you, with his hands rubbing up and down your back. His touch and his heartbeat soothed you until you managed to fall asleep. 

AN: Dean knows, and it ain't pretty. What did you think of the confrontation? Unfortunately, I'm drawing from real events here (not myself).

Next Time:

The mystery of "Azazel" thickens, Dean deals with another tricky fire, and the reader has a realization of her own...

“Yeah, well. This one’s a rat bastard in human clothing,” you replied.

“Ooh, sounds like my old biology professor,” Jo chimed in. She was drying out some newly clean glasses behind the counter along with Ellen. “He had a reputation for scoping out freshman girls.”

You made a gagging sound as you reached for the delectable martini glass Ellen slid your way.

“Men are disgusting,” you said. Jo snorted.

“99.8% of them, yeah,” she said. But her gaze drew towards the door when Dean Winchester came in. And she added, “A few of ‘em are all right.”

Was it just you, or was there a softer look in her blue eyes when she noticed Dean?

Keep Reading: PART 14

Dean Winchester Masterlist

Main Masterlist

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[luluy33art]

I was thinking here about 2 things from Chloe Guardian AU that kind of have to do with each other

1 - When Master Fu gives the position of guardian of the box to Marinette, would he also forget about Chloe?

2 - In this AU, instead of telling Alya that she is Ladybug, would she tell Chloe? If so, how would Chloe react in this situation?

Oh no, spoilers.

1. Fu will not give it to Marinette, but to Chloe. And yes, he will forget her

2. Related to the first answer it would be very difficult for Marinette to tell Chloe, so she will probably still tell Alya

In the Canon, it is Marinette's fault that Hawkmoth caught the Guardian, because she had not destransformed before looking for him.

So you can imagine THE ANGST that Chloé will have to go through when she finds out that it is bc of her crush that she was left without a family.

She is abandoned (again)

She still has the kwamis but they can't be together all the time (they have to stay hidden)

Also, in the eyes of society, Chloe is an orphan. Fu has no legal adoption papers. Chloe couldn't force an amnesiac old man to take care of, what would now be, a stranger to him.

So she lets him go with Marianne (His gf in case you don't remember)

Now the question is, who will she stay with? Chloe is still a minor, she needs an adult to take care of her.

At this point in the story, Chloe already knows that André is her biological father but she did not agree to go with him (she realized that he only wants to take advantage of her and consolidate his reputation, adding "family man" and inventing some excuse to explain why she had never been mentioned before like that she was studying abroad or some $hit like that) Besides, she already had a REAL family.

But now she's forced to accept him, she has no choice.

This makes her get super cold with Ladybug now (she doesn't know that she is Marinette)

That would add more salt to the wound, which is why Marinette doesn't tell her. Her oldest friend doing something like that?? It would hurt. A lot. She knows that she is being selfish and a coward. The one who is suffering the most is Chloe, she feels very guilty and some time goes by, but in the end she tells her.

Needless to say, Chloe feels betrayed. Her best friend... It feels like she's been stabbed in the back. She is furious and leaves before she can do anything she regrets later, Marinette tries to stop her but Chloe just screams not to touch her, without even looking her.

She walks into her... new stay (she refuses to call it home) the biggest, most luxurious room she's ever seen but also the coldest, loneliest and lifeless.

Wayzz tries to calm her down, saying that it was an accident, that Marinette didn't want to do it. Chloe just says she knows, only seeing in her hands the last thing her grandpa Fu left her.

A letter.

The letter says that he already knew that one day he would have to leave her alone, but as it is written, he did not think it would be so soon. He wrote the letter wondering if she's already done with her training or school or if she found that special someone.

It seems that the recipient of the letter was a 20-year-old Chloe or at least a Chloe who has already come of age

Fate didn't want it that way, she's 13

It takes several weeks before she has the courage to visit Fu, he looks so... happy, he's painting a picture and she approaches him. He notices her and smiles at her, they chat a little, most of them trivial.

And then Fu says "I feel like I've known you for a long time, have we met before?" Chloé opens her eyes wide for a moment but then smiles, tears threatening to come out. She says "I have the same feeling" and they don't touch the topic anymore.

When Chloe returns, she reconciles with Marinette

[literaryfandomangel]

The Lost Boys The Promise

Chapter One

Moving to Santa Carla, California, had been too stressful for Mom. Following the curtails of her divorce, where Dad took everything, Mom had to uproot us back to her old home. Dad didn't want us; he had shouted when the divorce papers had been served. He didn't want to have to deal with a crazy, ill daughter or a son who read comics all day long. I remember feeling as if my heart had just stopped beating after being stabbed with a knife. 

My dad had some choice words for my mother, too. By the time my father had read through the divorce paperwork, my Mom had dissolved into tears. Sam had crept into my room, trying to appear older and rougher than breaking into his own tears. I had welcomed my brother into bed, flipping down the light coverlet for him to crawl under. 

Sam had hugged my stuffed animal, face buried in the soft fur until the screaming stopped. Usually, I would have sung to my little brother to help him sleep, but with the divorce, the fighting, and my own personal issues, I'd start withdrawing. Which meant not even speaking. 

The school had ended by the time the paperwork had been signed and settled. Sam gave Mom grief about moving to her hometown, but I said nothing. There wasn't anything left for me in Phoenix - my toxic relationship had ended badly. I touched the lightening bruise on the side of my face in memory. I didn't have any friends, and now Mom had divorced Dad. 

I felt hopeful that Santa Carla would be a better place. Something deep inside me yearned for the sandy beach, the hot summer sun, and the scent of saltwater in the air. I could faintly remember the summers spent in the town; Dad always griped about coming to Mom's hometown. Our summers spent in Santa Carla were few. 

Sam grumbled for most of the ride. I was content to let my brother sit in the front seat while my Mom tried to ease the growing tension rising with every mile closer to Santa Carla. I didn't bother to protest - not wanting to spend one more minute in Phoenix. I didn't want to be any closer to my paternal figure than I had to be. Sam was popular. He wore designer clothing and had a lot of friends in Phoenix, even though he was a comic nerd. 

"Honey, you need to eat something," My Mom's eyes found mine in the rearview mirror. I sighed granola bar in hand. I had picked each piece of oats off the bar for two hours. "Please just eat the granola bar."

"I'll eat it!" Sam reached back and snatched the granola bar from my hand. Before Mom could protest or reprimand my brother for taking my food, he had it half-crammed into his mouth. My stomach turned with disgust at seeing his bulging cheeks and flecks of chewed food on his lips. "Mmm!" 

I just sighed and returned to gazing out onto the landscape. I could hear the seagulls becoming louder, indicating we were closer to Santa Carla and the sea. Mom wanted to say something else about my food situation but turned her attention to my brother as they messed with the radio. 

For the past three years, my parents have struggled with my eating disorder. I didn't want to eat anything at all. My dad tried to ship me off to an inpatient facility, but they released me after I didn't gain any of the much-needed weight back. 

Nanook, my brother's husky, set her head on my lap, offering warmth and protection. I reached down and pulled a copy of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina out of my bag. I knew it would be at least another hour before we reached Grandpa's place in Santa Carla. 

"We are stopping!" Mom announced loudly, startling me. I was engrossed in the pages of Russian literature, the illicit affair between Anna and Vronsky. I jumped, the sharp tone of my mother's voice cutting through the scenes playing out in my head as I read. 

I grabbed the discarded ribbon across my thin thigh and pressed it between the book's pages. I always needed to find my bookmarks; therefore, I would use any material to track my progress. Mom pulled into a gas station parking lot, needing to fill the car's tank. 

"I'm taking Nanook to potty!" Sam yelled, jumping out of the front seat. He grabbed his dog's leash and then took her across the lot. I watched as my brother had no qualms about walking past all the people. 

I blinked as I took in the people milling about us. My Mom was busy putting gas in the tank, so I just gazed at those passing by. All the individuals were bright - and colorful. It differed from what I was used to in Phoenix, but it made sense with my Mom's aesthetic. She loved colorful clothing and gauzy skirts. 

Looking around, I saw that everyone was different but fit together. There were women clad in bikinis, roller skating down the sidewalks, and goth kids covered from head to toe in black. Homeless kids in worn layers, alongside surfer guys in wetsuits, carting around surfboards. It was astonishing to see all these individuals walking beside one another. 

They wouldn't be in the same vicinity as their counterparts in any other town. People of the same cliques and gangs would stick together, not daring to break into another group. 

However, as I stood there, gazing around at the people, I felt a seed of jealousy take root deep within my soul. It might have been the heat of the sun, but the hot feeling radiated from within my body as I looked around. These people felt comfortable enough to express themselves through their outfits and appearance. They weren't afraid to show their originality - some had numerous piercings, colored hair, and weird hairstyles. Even their tattoos and clothing - or lack thereof - demonstrated that they weren't shying away from their individuality. 

"Honey," my Mom's soft voice brought me out of my musing as I leaned against the back of the Range Rover. "Can you go give those two this money?" I looked to where my Mom was indicating, pulling my cardigan closer. I saw two teenagers around a dumpster, looking for food scraps in the trash bags. I took the proffered money from my mother's hand and walked towards them. The two gave me a slight, grateful grin before snatching the money and disappearing. 

Sam had finished letting Nanook stretch her legs and came across the parking lot towards us. I slid into the backseat, not bothering to fight Sam about the passenger seat. There was no use - I wouldn't argue or talk with him. Sam let Nanook climb in with me, unclipping the leash before shutting the back door. 

"Mom!" Sam was excited about something he had seen on his travels. "Did you know there's an amusement park on the beach?"

"That's called the boardwalk, sweetheart," Mom educated the both of us. I just raised an eyebrow in question. My Mom seemed to be more excited about the boardwalk than Sam. "We will go to the boardwalk tonight. Unless, Aria, do you want to go look?"

"That's not fair!" Sam crowed, spinning around to glare at me. "Why does she get to go?"

"Because she's older, Sam," Mom tried to allay his upset. I just shook my head, knowing Mom saw it in the rearview mirror. "Okay. Then we'll all go tonight."

I thought that Grandpa's house would be closer to town, but it was a few miles outside of the main attraction in Santa Carla. I didn't bother to pull out Anna Karenina again; I just gazed out the window. Mom eventually pulled off the city streets onto an unmarked and unpaved road. A cloud of dust, comprised of the dirt making the lane, billowed behind the car. Mom pulled into the driveway, which was lined with wood chips. Sam was looking in horror at the house. 

The decor and house were attractive. It looked like an old log cabin converted into a modern-sized dwelling. Grandpa obviously had a knack and talent for wood carving, as many of his projects littered the yard. There were several small trailers, and wind chimes around the lawn. I actually liked the feel of the house. 

Exiting the car, I noticed the paddock with at least three horses. They were grazing on the lush, green grass growing, tails lazily swishing in the wind. I could smell the scent of sharp manure and the salty breeze from the sea. 

"Grandpa has horses?" I asked, breaking my silent streak. My voice was husky from misuse. My Mom and brother looked at me, amazed that I had spoken. 

"Yes," my Mom smiled, happy I had spoken for the first time in several days. I nodded, not saying another word. I looked towards the house entrance that we would call home, noticing the figure of a man lying on the porch. 

My face paled, immediately assuming the worst. Sam and my Mom went to investigate the situation, but I stayed by the car. I didn't want to walk onto the scene to find my grandfather dead of a heart attack. 

"Honey, he's just a deep sleeper!" My Mom tried to settle my nerves with a gentle smile. She waved her hand to make me come over and join the trio on the porch. I sucked in a deep lungful of the salty air before walking across the yard towards the porch. 

"If he's dead, can we move back to Phoenix?" Sam asked, causing my Mom and I to glare at him. He shrunk back as Grandpa opened his eyes and moved. 

"Playin' dead!" Grandpa's innate masculine voice filled the air. It was a relief to hear his voice, knowing that he wasn't dead. I turned to look down at the man with whom we would live for the unforeseeable future. "And from what I heard, doin' a damn good job of it."

My Mom chuckled as she leaned down to hug her father. I can imagine it would be a relief to be comforted by one's parents, especially as Grandma had died when Mom was just a preteen. Her dad was her rock, someone Mom could depend upon in life. 

Sam looked weirded out by the situation, but I wordlessly motioned we should return to the car. We had little to move since Dad got everything in the settlement. Mom had wanted the divorce over and done with, so she took the lowest agreement with Dad. Even though Mom could have won more in the divorce since she was taking care of Dad’s two kids, she just signed the paperwork.  Chapter Two

[bengiyo]

Century of Love Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Vee decided that he wanted to steal the stone to heal his grandmother, and so pushed San to let him live in the house. Vee wanted to get into the locked room, and was eventually let in by San. Vee also learned that San has suffered every night for a century. Vee also tried to seduce that man, leading to another wet dream. Nephew came back to start shit again. Goons kidnapped grandpa, and then one of them snuck into the house, stole the stone, and stabbed Vee!

Ah, Grandpa wasn't kidnapped. They just wanted them all away from the house.

Watch enough Thai dramas and you start to recognize the hospital hallways.

I hope that was a decoy stone intended to be stolen to learn who their enemy was.

Nephew! I knew it was you!!

In typical drama fashion, we have to reveal exactly how we outsmarted the enemy.

Not only does Daou look great in this hoodie, it makes it easy for any stunt doubles.

Oooh a car chase.

WELP, DROWNING IN A CAR IS ONE OF MY PRIMAL FEARS.

Don't worry, Vee, they don't know you also tried to steal the stone.

I do like that Vee is having fun teasing San. I haven't forgotten his homelessness story from last week.

Oh that was a good cut from the bench back to the room.

POND PONLAWIT

It's interesting that Vee knows Third already. We're gonna flip multiple dynamics in this lifetime. Already thinking about the observation from I think @mysterygrl20 that this time around San pushed Vee into a loveless marriage.

San looks familiar to Third! The plot thickens.

Juu is my favorite. She will never give San a break.

Now, San, no one said anything mean about you; that was all you. Vee is also correct that he doesn't have to prioritize the lore about previous lifetimes, especially when San insists that he isn't Vad.

Honestly, I'm totally down to see what kind of romantic chemistry Pond and Offroad can build with these characters. They can play out this jealousy plot for a bit if I can get that.

LOL, Juu. She does not want to follow them.

I feel like the dino art reaction is a play on Daou's fandom thing.

I'm with Juu. He barks orders like an old man, and then he wants a friend.

A balloon arch! How fancy.

An upside down book. It's a common trope, but now I want to watch Goblin again.

Oh good. I was hoping Vee would catch them in the picture.

That's right, Vee, tell his old ass that he has no right to control you. You're allowed to entertain suitors!

OOF. Vee is taking this in stride, but it definitely hurts to be shunned.

Not this show getting me to root for Third! I am such a sucker for second chance romance for the gays.

WHY LIGHT THE FIREWORKS IF HE AIN'T ACTUALLY KISS THAT MAN?? SPARKS ARE NOT ENOUGH!!

I'm happy for Vee that he got a response out of San, but curious how he navigates more interactions with Third next week.

This show is so smart, and is having a lot of fun interrogating its own premise. I like the implication of Trai being reincarnated as Third, and having a genuine relationship with Vee that he wants to turn into romance, whereas San is being possessive of Vee in a way that's about someone else entirely. San has to also build a real relationship with Vee, and it's good that the show knows that. We noted that Vad and Vee have similar features, but I'm curious what the investigation into those relatives will turn up and if there is a female Vad doppelganger with the same birthday as Vee.

[mysticficti0n]

All my attention Part 6

warnings- swearing, drinking, flirting, dirty talk to the max, Degrading but not in a mean way?

words- 3.3k

If you'd like to read the previous parts → All my attention series

a/n- so if you're new here I am British and cannot speak any German, I speak a little French, Spanish and Italian but German- no. I also do not trust Google translate so this is gonna be like an avatar thing (if you've seen the newest one Jake says that their language just became normal or something along those lines) so in reality this is all in German, you as a reader know German but, its wrote in English... make sense? no... well

(also would you guys want me to do smut for this? I don't have to if you don't want it but... I could write some good pieces for the next few chapters?????)

┍━━━━━━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━━━━━━┑

backstory- you are the 5th member of Tokio Hotel and you always thought the love was equally platonic between you and a certain guitarist... but what if that all changed?

Everyone arrived by 8:50 and were all seated around a extremely large table, each family sat drinking and laughing over different things, on our side of the table (meaning me, Tom, Gustav, Gustav's grandpa, Georg and Bill) we all chatted about random ideas we had for the next shows

"good evening, could we get you all started on food?" a man around my mothers age smiled pulling a note pad out and a pen

"yes can we have-" Stefan schafer, Gustav's dad began pointing to things on the menu and pointing to the people who wanted it "-perfect thank you" the man nodded collecting all the menus in and the chatter began again, me and Tom sat across from our grandmas who were on about something they'd watched on tv

"I'm bored" Tom whispered in my ear causing me to roll my eyes

"we've been here 20 minuets" he sighed falling back into his chair and his grandma seemed to notice turning to him

"Tom- whats wrong darling?" the boy sat properly again and took a swig of his drink

"nothing just hungry" he spoke watching the old women tilt her head "...I'm bored" Catrina nodded looking to me

"you have Y/n/n for company, she's a lot of fun aren't you?" I nodded my head looking to the boy who just laughed "oh actually me and Josie were just saying- we watched your interview! with that hunky man Karter, you two looked delightful, well all of you did" she grinned rubbing my hand over the table

"yeah.." Tom trailed getting comfy again, reaching arm the back of my seat and playing with the ends of my hair "we wont be going back to him in a rush"

"why not?" my gran asked "he's a handsome man"

"nothing to worry about Nanna" I spoke smiling to her, she can become a very angry women if she found out someone did anything bad to us, she'd personally hunt them down if she could.

Time passed slowly but the smell of food only made us hungrier, Toms hand had moved from my hair to my shoulder drawing a circle over and over

"and here we are-" the same waiter came over with two others holding trays of food, there was 21 of us.. we all sat straight and the small laughter of my sister caused us all to laugh, I had the pesto tortellini with Parmesan, and many also copied me

"thank you" we all said starting our meal, I dug my fork in and bought the steamy pasta to my mouth "oh wow thats amazing" I hummed putting more onto the fork, Tom looked over then to the bowl and back to me "you chose to have the chicken Schnitzel, I said about this"

"oh please!" he moaned "one bite- you can have some chips" he quickly stabbed his fork into the fries and brought them to me "come on"

"fine" I gave into his ways and took the chips and past him my fork with the pasta on the end, he hummed a quick thank you and smiled tasting the food "good right?" Tom nodded swallowing the pasta, I turned back to eating and listening to the different conversations around the table

"you know I was thinking about something" Bill began looking down to us on the table "a tv show, like filming while in rehearsals and we could go round during tours and trying things... Felix said about it" The idea of being filmed 24/7 didn't sound fantastic, I enjoy my privacy but.. if that means we get to do fun stuff..

"who'd wanna watch us though, outside of music were just boring" Gustav added "you could do a documentary about every girl Toms fucked" Gustav's mom slammed his hand making us all laugh

"at least they'd say they came unlike the girls you've done" Tom hit back making the drummer huff "but I like the idea-" Georg nodded as well but I still sat undecided

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(okay I cba to write about the restaurant but lets say, lovely meal hugs kisses etc)

"Oh why don't we go to that bar" Simone pointed out, the bars name was naughty lad and music was booming through the walls, the boys seemed intrigued looking through the steamed windows

"I think we'll head back with the grandparents, Stella is nearly asleep so could you bring Y/n back?" my mom asked passing my sister to my dad

"sure, we'll keep her safe don't worry" David, Georg's dad spoke wrapping an arm around me "you get home and relax" with a quick hug my parents got into the car and drove away leaving me with the boys and their parents which wasn't unusual, having a younger sister makes life harder to always enjoy. Together we all walked into the bar and 'hot in here' by Nelly was blasting through the speakers

"drinks?" Bill asked pulling his wallet out "Guessing a vodka coke for you?" I laughed seeing Bill roll his eyes "you need to try more- I'm getting you something else"

"Get me whatever she has!" Tom shouted to his brother who nodded walking to the rest of the group who found themselves sat at a booth "wanna smoke quickly?" I agreed feeling his hand wrap around my wrist and pull me back out the door, he went into his pocket pulling his cigarets out and handing me one with his lighter

"thank you" I chirped lighting the end and then his "I can't get over you tonight" I spoke catching myself at the end

"its alright babe, you can take it off me later" his voice turned suggestive and a smirk plastered his face "aww turning red aren't you?" his free hand cupped my jaw and I felt my knees go weak at his touch- what was he doing

"shut up-" I groaned pushing him away jokingly "I was trying to be nice and say you look good" Toms face softened and nodded along to my words

"I know, but I just love making you all red for me" he cooed putting a hand on my waist "it makes you even more beautiful" Tom leaned in, my heart started pounding in my chest, is this what he meant by being 'worse' I knew I wanted to kiss him again as he closed the distance between us, our lips just inches apart, he hesitated. With a sly grin, he pulled back, leaving the me confused "don't want to be caught do we?" I narrowed my eyes seeing him chuckle "aw did you want me to kiss you Y/n?"

"its okay, I'll find someone in there who will" his face dropped and his grip on my only tightened "maybe I'll bring them home with us?"

"mhm... I don't think so-" The boy was cut by the long haired bassist peaking his head around the door "what?"

"drinks are here" he pulled the door open wider and the two let me in first, I pushed past people dancing along to the music and trying not to get any type of liquid on my dress, finally the booth came into view and Bill sat smiling reaching for my hand I took it and he pulled me next to him

"okay drink this first then I'll tell you what it is" he shouted over the music, I turned to the drink and saw it was a radioactive green with a yellow hue, I picked up the champagne coup and brought it to my lips taking a sip

"Ugh What the fuck is that!" I called nearly heaving at the taste of something like black liquorish

"Death In The Afternoon! I thought you'd like it!" a smile creeped onto his face as he took the glass and finished it "let me get you another one!" The boy pleaded

"come on Y/n don't be boring!" Gustav laughed swigging his arm around me

"fine but I don't want that shit ever again" soon I watched the tallest twin wonder to the bar and point to something on the menu clapping his hands as the bar man turned away "oh- whats that?" I asked seeing the black haired boy smirking holding a small glass fully yellow but with some red falling into the glass, speaking of the glass it had a slice of lemon and mint dotted on top

"this is a Mai Tai" Bill said handing me the drink and watched me as I sipped at the liquid, I hummed at the taste of Malibu and orange running down my throat

"wow this is good" I drank more seeing the singer do a small dance knowing he'd defeated my 'vodka coke' love

┍━━━━━━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━━━━━━┑

I sat in the booth wedged between Simone and Bill who were laughing about something stupid and I was on my 5th mai tai giggling when something funny was mentioned, I wasn't drunk but I was tipsy, I saw Simone leave the conversation and look to the dance floor "OH MY GOD!" She got up running to the floor pulling me along with her

"SIMO-" I began but then I herd it 'don't stop the music' by Rihanna start to play, ever since the song came out earlier in the year me and her loved it, we danced around with large smiles painted across our faces "I wanna take you away Let's escape into the music DJ, let it play I just can't refuse it" Simone grabbed my hand spinning me around while still belting out the lyrics "Please don't stop the music!" we finished laughing loudly and sweat running down our foreheads I looked to the booth to see them all clapping at our stupidness we took a bow and Simone went to sit down next to her boyfriend who she wrapped her arms around and kissed making her sons cringe and I decided id go sit next to Tom- we'd barley spoke since we had that smoke out side, he was sat holding a glass of clear liquid and rolling his eyes over at his brother

"hey!" I called sliding myself next to him in the booth

"hi- you okay?" I nodded my head grabbing my drink of the table and In a quick swig finishing It off "you might wanna slow down on them" the boy laughed pulling my empty glass from me but I couldn't understand a word as the music got louder around me

"what? I didn't hear you!" he rolled his eyes but quickly moved closer, the arm around my shoulder moved to hold my bare thigh as he leaned into my ear

"I said, you might wanna slow down on the mai tai" his fingers tapped on my skin causing a odd sensation I'd never felt before shiver up my body, they danced on my leg edging to go just slightly under my skirt but he stopped everytime

"oh-oh yeah... well wanna go to the bar and help me chose something different?" Tom nodded and the two of us stood back up, he grabbed my hand, closing his fingers tightly around mine and pulled me through the crowd, yanking me when I stopped, as we got to the bar he pulled me a bar stool out making me sit in front of him while he stood close behind, his stomach on my back and his one hand on my waist

"you like the fruitier cocktails right?" I nodded my head looking at the menu and something caught my eye- The Blue Hawaii, rum, vodka Blue curacao, pineapple juice and Lemon juice

"I think I want the blue Hawaii!" I looked back to the dreaded boy who nodded his head pulling his wallet out "no Tom, let me pay!" I hurried into my purse to grab the €10 I needed

"Y/n fuck off, I'm buying me and drink and you one- put the money away" he huffed grabbing my money and shoving it back into the bag "let me treat you babe" my heart ached at the words and so I let him do what he wanted and I just leaned back on him and waited to be served. The bartender finally turned to us and grabbed a bottle of something "erm can we have a blue Hawaii and a vodka cranberry, thanks" Tom handed the money over me, his chest pressing on me and his other hand back on my thighs for support

"be 5 mins" the man behind the counter said before walking off to the other side of the bar

"I need a piss, stay here don't move alright?" Tom commanded, quickly patting my head like I was some kind of dog and running to the bathroom, I sat kicking my legs watching others conversations and giggling to who ever they're with

"hey.. anyone sitting here?" I turned to a voice I'd never herd before and saw a man stood there holding a empty glass

"no! you can sit don't worry" a small laugh left him and he perched onto the chair and I finally got to see his face, He's very good looking, I couldn't help but admire his features. something about him that made him stand out from the rest, his black hair and brown eyes. His hair is perfectly styled in little waves along his head, and it shines in the light. I found myself staring to his smile. It's warm and inviting, i can't help but smile back. It's infectious.

"thanks, I'm Brandon- thought I'd introduce myself so I'm not creepy" I laugh at him as I turn to speak to him better

"oh I'm Y/n, my seat will be free soon once me and my mate have our drinks" I spoke still just admiring him, it might've been the alcohol but he was gorgeous

"shame, I'm enjoying this- little old me speaking to a beautiful girl.. I say old- I'm not I'm 19, you?"" I blushed to his words

"oh 17 but I get mixed up with being either 23 or 13 most days" he chuckled at my comment

"where you from anyways?"

"Leipzig, you?" he nodded his head

"Dresden" we kept speaking till mine and Tom's drinks arrived and I quickly grabbed them "so who are you here with?"

"just my friends and some family- celebrating coming home- actually my friend should be here soon" I looked back and I saw Tom staring at me with a scowl across his face "oh erm, he's over there so I might see you later?" I smiled grabbing the drinks off the table

"yeah sure, maybe I can get your number and we could go out for drinks?" he sounded so sweet and eyes bright with hope, but I knew I had to be careful giving my number out for security reasons and also I think Tom would kill me

"maybe yeah!" I laughed it off as I walked over to he boy who looked through me to Brandon, crossing his arms "how long were you stood watching me?" I asked passing him his drink

"long enough" his seriousness scared me, what was his issue "he really liked you didn't he? eyes wondered you like a fucking map" he spat gulping his drink basically in one

"Tom I think you're being a bit dramatic, he didn't even flirt with me" it was a partial lie as he did ask for my number...

"still-" I saw the guitarist sulk a little sipping the last of his drink and staring into the distance and that when I realised it

"are... are you jealous?" his eyes shot up to me but he didn't fight my words, and I wanted to keep pushing him "come on, you can tell me" I fluttered my eyelashes at the boy who just looked away, without thinking my hand reached for his jaw and brought his gaze back to me, I was shocked with myself but I couldn't lose my control now "look at me when I'm talking to you" I spoke closer to him in a low whisper, his eyes seemed deeper and narrower, I was doing it "you don't like it when I speak to other guys hm? don't like them looking at me, thinking of me...touching me" I let the last words roll of my tongue and I could see behind his stare he was getting angrier "talk to me pretty boy"

My hand was swatted from his face as Tom pulled me by my wrist back into the cubicles, each small individual rooms with a crappy dim light glaring into the room, hurriedly we went to the first unlocked block and slammed the door closed and he locked it with a click, my back pressed against the cold tile wall and Tom stood over me I close my eyes as his lips press against mine. His hands moved around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I could feel the heat radiating off of his body as he wrapped his arms around me. His lips soft and perfect, his breath warm on my skin. I can feel my heart racing as we move together, our bodies intertwined. His hands move higher, caressing my back as we kiss. I can feel my skin tingling with anticipation as I move my hands up his chest, exploring his body. I can feel the electricity between us, the passion rising.

"You- you are a little cunt sometimes" I feel him smile into my cheek pressing kisses into my skin "but.. fuck we both know you'd never want them...as much as you want me" I hold my breath at the feeling of him humming into my ear, my arms tangle around his neck pulling him back to my lips "god you are so desperate for me" I pull back slightly opening my eyes and seeing a smirk plastering his face

"who's the one that dragged me into here?" he tilted his head in agreement but I could wait any longer, our lips smashed back together and our bodies collided once again, hungrily I moved down to his jaw peppering the line with kisses and edged down to his neck, my lips danced around until I reached just below his ear and his grip on me tightened and a noise threatened to escape his throat, I dove back into the spot sucking and pecking at it, hearing him struggle and try pry me off

"fuck Y/n- please" he begged "shit... I-I" his stuttering made my heart swell and I pulled away to see small beads of sweat forming, I looked to his eyes and they were full of glazed tears of lust

"aw- I'm sorry, didn't you like it?" I played with a strand of his hair as he shook his head no

"I fucking loved it" his lips landed back on me as he groaned into the kiss, I smiled feeling his hands go under my thighs and lift me onto his hips, my dress pushing up revealing the red panties I put on earlier "shit you are so hot" the boy whined kissing my chest, nibbling lightly at the skin

"ah- Tom" His eyes caught mine again and smile only spread further, my hands grabbed his shoulders pushing myself up and he only toyed with me more, licking my skin that was sore from being between his teeth and small noises seeped from my mouth only pushing him further "shit... Fuck Tommy- I..." his nickname came out so naturally but in the sluttiest moan I'd ever done

" God Y/n, I don't what the first place we fuck to be in a bathroom baby, so keep that pretty little mouth quiet because you're making it so hard to keep that from happening" my heart nearly exploded out my chest, I went like putty, foreheads knocking together at his words, Tom caught my lips In one last sweet kiss and put me back onto the floor "so beautiful-" Tom whispered into my ear one last time before pulling away still holding my waist

"only for you" I smiled kissing him once more again before we stood there holding each other panting and puffy lipped

[ghost-runner]

“Useless” and “Troubled” until the End: Pt. 1

Sully Family x “Useless” Fourth Child male reader

Summary: Y/N is the fourth child of the Sully family after Lo’ak and before Tuk, however, things don’t always seem to be great about being a Sully child when you are forgotten about a lot of the time. It doesn’t help when you also don’t get the normal training or bonds your siblings did so you tend to get into trouble a lot for trying to prove yourself doing the things your siblings can do.

Warnings: Gore, blood, cursing, family arguments….

Note: I’m not too well versed in the language of the Na’vi so I’m not going to try doing it, just in case I end up completely butchering it without meaning to.

— Y/N POV

I knew better than to be out by myself at these hours against my father’s orders. Even after already being grounded once for disobeying dad’s orders a few days ago for secretly following my brothers on a hunt, I don’t care if I get into more trouble for being out here right now. I’m the “black sheep” of the Sully family as some Sky-people would say from what I know of my dad’s home planet of Earth. I never had much training from my parents as I grew up so this caused me to learn from my siblings and train myself in secret behind everyone’s back. This has strained my relationship with my parents and it doesn’t help that dad has been harsh on Neteyam, Lo’ak, and I with raising us, further straining said relationship with him and mom.

Clearing my head, I let out a deep breath as I enjoy the very early morning Pandora air. I love how it’s always peaceful which is my favorite time of day to be by myself and where I can enjoy being me. Although, I’m not here to just enjoy the peace and quiet…i’m here to prove myself. I silently watch as a Thanator passes through the Pandora jungle brush while I slowly follow it from the treetops above the ground. The carnivorous beast stops for a moment as I ready my bow from my back and grab three arrows before readying them on the bow’s bowstring. The beast then jumps at a direhorse, killing it and began eating some of the meat from the direhorse. I readied the three arrow shot before I let the arrows fly. I grinned as they all met their target. The first two arrows went into the beasts legs, throwing it off balance before the third arrows pierced the side of the beast’s hide, throwing it to the ground on its side as it let out a roar of pain. I smile at the sight of my self-training paying off after needing to teach myself my skill set. I put my bow away onto my back as I approached the Thanator before drawing a knife I made years ago when I was 10 years old.

(The knife)

I came face to face with the beast and gave it a sign of respect before I grabbed its head to keep it still as I stabbed the Thonator in the top of the skull. I then used my knife to cut chunks of meat from the body of the dead carnivorous beast for food for my family and I also pulled out a few of the creature’s teeth to put on some bracelets I’m making for my siblings and parents. I love my family, even if they may not give me much attention. I only now realized that my family probably doesn’t even know that I’m out on my own without supervision or someone to watch my back. I sigh at the fact I’m so used to being in the background, I’m used to my family forgetting about me, not asking about me, or worrying about me too much unless I’m actually noticed. I’m usually the one babysitting Tuk while everyone else is busy, I sigh at knowing I’m just the one to be held back and not prepared. I quickly grab hold on the necklace my grandmother gave to me in secret that once belonged to my grandfather before he passed away and let a few tears roll down my face. Whenever I wear it, I always feel the presence of someone watching over me wherever I am which I like to believe is Grandpa watching over me with a smile on his face.

I wipe my face of my tears and shake my head to clear my mind as I finish up with the beast, leaving me with three full bags of meat and a pouch full of Thanator teeth. I’m happy with my work and I then whistle for my Ikran, Ro’nea or “Ghost” as I sometimes call her due to her fully pale white color. When I was young, Dad told me about things from when he was on Earth, these white things called “ghosts” were one of my favorite things he told me about and that’s where I gave her the nickname from. Ro’nea finds me and lands next to me as I attach the bags of meat to the harness I made for her. I rub her head and look at her left eye which still bears a red patchy scar going across it. I still remember the day when we crash landed after we bonded, resulting in that very scar on her eye and leaving me with a scar going from my right ear across my cheek to the side of my mouth. I still remember that day also because I had to tame my Ikran myself because my parents were too busy to help me at the time and I didn’t bond with her until only a few weeks ago which is why Ro’nea and I crash landed in the first place. I sigh when I realize that my family just doesn’t seem to care much for me. I get onto Ro’nea and we begin our journey home.

When I got back to the family Hometree, I saw my parents, Jake Sully and Neytiri; my brothers, Lo’ak and Neteyam; my sisters, Tuk and Kiri; were all still asleep. I looked out at the horizon and saw that the sun was halfway of coming up. I got to work on cooking breakfast for everyone using the meat I gathered earlier and put together a decent looking meal to me at least. I finished the preparations on the meals for everyone when I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me from everything in the last few hours. I’d rather get some sleep over facing the family questioning me about what I was doing up early and alone when I’m supposedly “inexperienced” and “incapable”. I went back outside the Hometree and I began to climb up the trunk to where I have a small area carved out that is a perfect secluded area for me to sleep. I got comfy in my spot and I drifted off to sleep. However, I failed to realize I still had drops of blood on my face and blood spots on my arms and torso from cutting the meat off the Thanator.

— 3rd Person POV

A few minutes after Y/N fell asleep, the rest of his family stirred awake from their night of sleep. Kiri and Neteyam were the first ones to wake up to the smelly aura of food in the home. After getting up from bed and reaching the table, the two oldest children were shocked at the spread of food of meat, fruit, soup, and drinks that were prepared to perfection in front of them. The noise of a crackle made them turn to outside where a small fire pit was smoldering after being used by Y/N to cook the meat. Out of the corner of their eyes, they spotted Y/N’s bloodied knife on a table to their left next to Y/N’s bow and the pouch of teeth. Lo’ak and Tuk were the next of the Sully family to wake up to the sweet smell of food, the two now excited to eat something delicious and yummy. Once they saw the food, the two looked to the oldest children to ask if they made the food.

Lo’ak: Morning Kiri. Morning, Nete. Who prepared breakfast?

Kiri and Neteyam both look at each other.

Kiri: I don’t know, however, I saw something over there.

Kiri gestures over to where the table with the bloody knife is. Lo’ak went over and spotted it immediately before grabbing it and inspecting it. He has never saw the knife before today and was amazed at the craftsmanship of said blade.

Lo’ak; Who’s knife is this? It’s still covered in blood.

Neteyam: I’ve only seen that blade one other time. I think it’s Y/N’s knife. So it was him that made breakfast. But…what was he doing up so early and why is his knife bloody? He knows he needs someone with him as he’s inexperienced and he doesn’t even have an Ikran yet!

Tuk: Where is Y/N?

The four siblings looked around the Hometree and didn’t find him. They looked towards their parents who were just waking up from their deep sleep. Jake was rubbing his eyes as he opened them and was greeted by the smell of food. Neytiri got up slowly and stretched her back before blinking a few times to clear her eyes.

Jake: What’s that smell? Who cooked breakfast?

Neytiri: -sniffs the aroma in the air- It smells like smoked Thanator meat, Yovo fruit, Fungus Soup, and milk. (I’m not sure what they have to drink in the Avatar universe so I’m going with milk as it seems like something they’d have.) Who made it?

Neteyam: We believe Y/N prepared it. However, there is something we need to talk about. Lo’ak, show Mom and Dad what we found.

Lo’ak turned around to reveal the bloodied knife was certainly a surprise to Jake and Neytiri. They quickly got up and rushed over to Lo’ak who still had the bloody knife in hand.

Jake: What the hell happened?! Is anyone hurt?!

Neytiri quickly checked all present children with zero results of finding injuries.

Kiri: Dad! Mom! We’re all fine. But that blade…That’s Y/N’s knife.

Jake and Neytiri both freeze at this revelation.

Neytiri: It’s Y/N’s!?! Where is he?!?

Neteyam says that he doesn’t know where the middle child of the Sully family is at. Both parents look at each other worriedly and ran out of the Hometree to find their missing son. Once outside, the children followed to find their brother. The family searches around when Tuk notices a small nook in the upper parts of the Hometree above them with what looked like a Na’vi tail poking out and she shows Kiri what she saw. Kiri sees what Tuk saw and climbed up to see what it was. She reached Y/N’s small carved out nook and frowned at the sight in front of her. It was her youngest brother alone in the nook as he was curled up in a ball and shaking. The fresh blood on his body that surprised Kiri a lot.

Kiri: I found him! He’s up here!

Y/N slowly stirs tiredly before rubbing his eye and blindly the sleepiness from his eyes only to be met with his older sister looking at him worriedly. He got up in shock which resulted in him banging his head on the roof of his small nook area.

Y/N: Ow.

Kiri: Y/N… Is everything all right?

Y/N: Yeah.. why do you ask?

Kiri: Well, Dad and Mom want to have a talk with you. I think it’s pretty serious considering we found your knife covered in blood and you still have blood on your body….

Y/N: Shit… I thought I washed it all off. -sighs- Let’s go see what they have in store for me.

The two siblings climb down from Y/N’s little nook in the upper branches and he is face to face with his mother and father. Jake is royally pissed at his son for disobeying orders for a second time while Neytiri is looking at her third oldest child with worry about what happened earlier in the morning. Jake turns around to the rest of Y/N’s siblings and tells them to go eat.

— Y/N POV

My siblings turned around to head back inside our home before Dad turned back to me with anger written all over his face. I honestly couldn’t give two shits about what he thinks when I barely get the time of day from him without needing to disobey his stupid orders to get his attention.

Jake: You got anything to say for yourself, soldier?

Y/N: What is there for me to say? I went out against your orders because I’m apparently “not experienced enough” to hunt or do anything besides help Kiri and watch Tuk when I need to. Apparently, I need to prove myself to you.

Jake: Watch your tone with me, Y/N! I am your father!!Why did you disobey direct orders?!

Y/N: Since have you even cared about how I feel with that shit?!? I’m practically fucking useless because of the limitations I’ve had throughout my life!! I have had zero training at all with hunting or being resourceful, the only experience I have that is being even remotely useful is helping as being a healer with Kiri when we go to learn from our grandmother! I’ve had to train myself how to handle my own shit which still is not good and is not enough around here at all!!!

I’m practically shaking with anger from my small outburst as my tail curled up im anger. Dad is taken aback at my outburst with how I felt. He then sighed at the sign that I had inherited his hot-headed temper and stubbornness as well at the fact that he knows I’m right. He hasn’t been there for me when I needed him most.

Jake: -sighs- I know, Y/N. But your time will come, I promise. In the mean time, you’re double-grounded because of your disobedience.

I roll my eyes angrily in annoyance at my father’s words of being grounded again even after already being grounded once and turn away from my parents as some tears form in my eyes. Mom hadn’t said a single word the whole time that Dad and I were arguing. She turned to Dad and squeezed his hand to signal to let her take over now and Jake nods to her. Mom then walks over to me as I now have a few tears going down my cheeks as she kneels down to my height. She pulls me into a hug as she shushed me to calm me down and whispers calming words into my ear. I let my tears fall for a few seconds before I turn around and hug her back as I silently lets the waterworks flow down. Dad looked absolutely heartbroken at the sight of me like this. He knows he messed up badly with how he brought me up, but he also knows that I am stronger than I look and better than what I let on. Mom is speechless at how broken I am from feeling practically useless.

Neytiri: Y/N, we love you and your brothers and sisters more than anything in life itself. We never meant for you to feel like this. We’re sorry.

Y/N: I-I know, Mom. I k-know.

Neytiri: Come on. Let’s just go eat the amazing breakfast you prepared.

Y/N: Alright, I just w-want to have a word with D-dad before I go in.

Neytiri: Of course, my son.

Mom let go of me and went inside our home before I look back up to Dad after I quickly composed myself.

Y/N: Dad.

Jake: Yes, son?

Y/N: You do know that I love you regardless of whatever happens, right?

Jake: I do, Y/N. I want you to know that no matter what I still love you too. I know I don’t say it enough.

Y/N: But…..you need to think about how you treat your children. You treat Neteyam, Lo’ak, and I like we’re soldiers in a military squad. I can’t do anything like in a squad and I don’t deserve the stupid treatment you give me. The same goes for the shitty way you go with Neteyam and Lo’ak. This is a family, not a squad. And you’re our father, not our drill instructor. This will end up with consequences that you won’t want to happen if it continues. You could end up driving one of us away from the family.

Dad gives me a look of shock and a bit of fear from what I just said to him. I know how much he cares about all of us and he doesn’t want to lose any of us. I really didn’t want to have to say something like that, but things have gotten to the breaking point that I just let it slip without any thought. I just stare at my father while he sees that I’m serious about what I said and I walk past him without a second thought back into our home. I walk towards the table where the rest of my family is sitting down and talking about whatever when I feel something grab my leg making me look down. I look down and see Tuk giving me a hug around my right leg.

Tuk: Thank you for the breakfast, Y/N.

I laugh at her cuteness and rub her head.

Y/N: Of course, Tuk.

She pulls away from my leg and opens her arms which makes me laugh. I nod to what she wants me to do. and get down on one knee to give her a full hug. I continue to hug her as i pick her up and jokingly spin around with Tuk still in my in my arms as she giggles at my antics. This is one of her favorite things to do with me. I always treasure the bond I share with my youngest sibling, Tuk. She’s a ray of sunshine in my dark times while I’m her rock in her troublesome times. I put her down with both of us laughing and she runs back to the table of food. I get up from my knee and see the rest of my family smiling at me. I smile back at them and go to sit at the table with them. I grab the lone empty seat that was between Kiri and Neteyam and grabbed a plate of meat and fruit as well as a bowl of the soup. My three older siblings give me different looks written on their faces because they heard what I said to Dad, with Lo’ak looking at me with face of surprise at what I said to Dad, Kiri giving me a look saying “I’m here for you if you need someone to talk with, little brother.” and Neteyam gave me a look of understanding as he understood how I felt from Dad being harsh on us. I shrug it off as I know things will probably just stay the same and I’m at my point where I just don’t give a single fuck about it anymore. I start to eat some Yovo fruit as I quietly look around at the family talking with one another without anyone paying me any mind while we all are and talked.

I roll my eyes at the usual occurrence that I’ve become accustomed to and shake my head dismissively with my ears going flat against my head. I stop eating as I lost my appetite at the shitshow that happened last between me and Dad before I get up and leave the table without anyone noticing. I head to the hammocks that all of the family members sleep in before I climb into the one that’s mine and pull out a small journal out of my pillow where I hide said journal. I found this old journal while I was out scavenging alone one day and stumbled upon an old Sky-people base that had not been raided. Anyways, I open my journal and grab the pencil I keep with it before I start writing into my journal. I write down how well my training is going to myself and what I can improve on. I fail to notice Lo’ak look over to see me in my hammock when he was going to ask me how I learned to expertly make the food when he saw I was no longer at the table.

— 3RD PERSON POV

Neteyam went to ask Lo’ak something when he saw his younger brother looking away from the table. Neteyam then looks over to where Lo’ak is looking to see Y/N writing in a small journal before the alone Na’vi boy closed the journal and put it back into his pillow. Y/N then fluffed the pillow before rolling over and trying to go to back to sleep due to being very tired and overwhelmed from what happened earlier. The two Na’vi boys at the table just frown at the sight of their brother looking sad and miserable. Kiri had tried asking Neteyam about something when she saw her brother looking away from the table. Kiri then saw her younger brother in his hammock. She frowns at the sight and just looks down at the table sadly at the sight of her brother being broken. Jake and Neytiri silently watched the whole thing that happened with their son going to his hammock. Jake knows that he fucked up big time with Y/N while Neytiri just wondered where they went wrong with their son.

To be continued…

This is my first time posting onto Tumblr so I hope people enjoyed this small post I created with the thought I came up with for it. I plan on making more parts, but this is part one. Like I said, I hope whoever read this enjoyed the post.

[cosplayinamerica]

Susumu Kodai from Space Battleship Yamato Cosplayer: @the.yamato.boy Photo : @m_padron15

Funny enough at anime cons, not a lot of people recognize it as the Space Battleship Yamato, they usually just get hyped over seeing a massive ship at a con or war buffs notice the resemblance. Only a couple of people have recognized it. The ones that do though go nuts. The fanbase is fiercely loyal and even at Katsucon, the official Hotel Liason let me store the Yamato in his executive suite! Alas sadly barely anyone in my age group knows what Space Battleship Yamato is.

C2E2 was the first time I ever brought Yamato to a regular comic convention. The amount of people that recognized it there was actually comical. The cherry on top was that most people recognized it as the Argo or Intrepido.

What I'm most appreciative is that it's a way to bond the current generation of anime fans with the old and offers an opportunity to explore anime history.

Yamato started out as a binding point with my dad and I. He’s always been there for me but was a mystery at the same time. When I was like 2-3~ish my family still had an old Quasar TV with a built in VHS tape player. This was the kind of TV where you could feel your eyeballs melting out from the TV static. Anyway we had a singular VHS tape of Star Blazers- specifically the episodes where Argo uses the asteroid ring and then says goodbye to your families. As a certified Scooby-Doo fan, seeing #1 a cartoon with actual camera angles and cinema techniques was mind blowing to me and really stuck out, #2 there was a journey. The episodic countdown made me so mad because I knew I was only watching a piece of something bigger. My dad realized this and for my 5th birthday he bought me a full DVD set of all the episodes from Season 1. Afterward I drew little Yamato’s everywhere.

Eventually the spark that was Star Blazers would erupt into a burning flame that has become my love for Yamato. A couple of years ago my Grandpa was fighting with terminal lung cancer. We lived in America and he lived in South Korea so commute was tough and I didn’t get to see him all the time. During this time I was also getting bullied a lot and my mom thought it’d be good if I finished my elementary school years in Korea with my cousins so we moved there for a bit. I was a total fish out of water but a lot of my friends built Gunpla. I had no idea what a gundam was so I decided to research and went to Gundam Base Side 3 which is in Downtown Daegu. Remember the remake just came out at this time so there was a huge display dedicated to Yamato 2199. I really wanted a Yamato and had a meltdown in the store, like a full tantrum. I remember coming back to my apartment with my mom and just thinking non stop about it.

The week following, my grandpa took me instead and I’m guessing my mom told me how badly I wanted it because he got me not only a 1/1000 Yamato 2199 kit, but also the Garmilus 3 ship model pack. I was absolutely overjoyed and would not stop playing with that. The kit was later destroyed after a smaller big shelf collapse. He also died about a year afterward. It serves as a core memory and a reminder of him. As I shifted more into model building I dived more into gunpla until I was about 15. Highschool sucked. A lot.

The transition into being a freshman took a lot on my mental health. I got assaulted and the stress of everything caved in and I tried to take my own life. It’s a lot to Unpack and I’m not super comfortable talking about it, but it’s nessacary because of what happened.

Basically I got sent to outpatient which is like full time therapy sessions but school length. As cliche as it sounds, I brought a small Yamato with me. In order for it to fit comfortably in my pocket I froze super glue all over the fins and sharp bits so I would stab myself in the thigh on accident, iykyk. 

One of the things they told us in outpatient as a coping mechanism was that if we ever felt as bad as we did previously, think about the small things, and try on focus things that we would want to stay for. Well oh boy let me tell you, Yamato 2202 was coming out at this time and because of the format they were doing the movie part releases so 4 episodes every 4 months I think and I kept convincing myself that if I was gone, I would not see the end. 

The ending of 2202 not only brought around the end of that purpose but also wholly changed my outlook on my life. “The planets only stay in their places, only we have the power to give them beauty.” – Teresa of Telezart 

To say the ship had an impact on my life is an understatement. It was a reason to live at one point. On March 2nd/3rd when the announcement of Matsumoto’s passing came out I was absolutely devasted. I didn’t eat or sleep the following couple of days.

not a lot of people still know Yamato so in order to make conversation with other anime fans I picked up other shows but Yamato largely was my heart and soul. Matsumoto’s passing was what urged me to finally start. I wanted to build something that would not only bring me closer to Matsumoto but would hopefully give Yamato what it had given me- another life- sort of- maybe a little too dramatic, interpret that as you do idk. 

I want more people to watch Yamato and understand its message. We live in a day and age of constant bickering and isolation. We are all cogs in an economic machine. While we get blinded by work and debate, Yamato exists to teach people that it’s important to have dreams, to chase love and that maybe we can break out of our predicament – To truly know that you’re not alone is the meaning of Love, and that we must meet the challenge and the impossible will become possible – And finally, there is no one right-way to live – are all things that Yamato teaches.

[clockworkreapers]

Can you give a brief description of what the 16 emissaries are like?

In personality no (cuz not all of them are my characters, as with all AN things other people are invited into the universe or invited to make offshoots of it). Blanket description of the position is that they are part of the royal “family”, all fuchsia bloods who did not fight for the position of ruler and instead become emissaries of the empire. All emissaries are one step below The Luminary (the current empress) in rank of power. They are the ones who oversee colony planets that are gifted to them by the empress. Think of them as similar to governors or old world lords but the area they oversee are entier planet colonies that house billions of Alternians each.

The emissary that I can 100% speak for on a more personal level is Valitn aka Val. Val is on the younger side, like around 900 sweeps (like 2000 years old) and he kinda shows it cuz he’s very free spirited and kinda disregards his job. He’s known for handing a lot of stuff off to advisors while he instead goes off and kinda just enjoys himself going out to dinners/galas/parties/celeb meet ups/ anything that’s fun and flashy. Sure he has the knowledge to regulate his colonies but he just thinks it’s a hassle and boring. He does participate in more formal imperial gatherings and meetings still however, he just has other people in govornment under him do the majority of the work and he gets to know the gist of what’s going on. (Why he only has 3 colonies cuz Luminary doesn’t want to give him more cuz he’s not responsible enough yet).

There are also 4 elder emissaries that are owned by my significant other who I can moderately speak for (though he’d know the most).

Blalip, The Emissary Warlord and the head of the military, as well as Luminaries right hand and the oldest living troll in the empire as of now. Hes the grandpa fuchsia, gruff, serious, very intimidating and also very physically imposing, he is a scary old man. Of course being the face and overseer of the entire Alternian military he’s very very important.

Harlan, The Emissary Droneforger (my trolls live on one of his colonies) He is the second eldest fuchsia very reserved, kinda the quiet engeneer who likes to be left to his work. He’s on the side of industrializing and physical machinery manufacturing side of the empire. He’s not as hands on with his colonies but he’s the one you want to be under if your looking to be a big name inventor or manufacturer of machinery and non-cybernetic tech.

Yrskma, The Emissary Vivisectionist, her focus is on cybernetics manufacturing and improvements. She is at the top of bioengineering research and implementation. Mad sciency lady but more contained/ less insane, very smart and put together, also very into her research but is more likely to collaborate and talk with other trolls rather than keep to herself like Harlan.

Quelia, The Emissary Oracle. She is the youngest of the elder fuchsias (those older than Luminary) and she issssss… interesting? She is brilliant mind you, an incredibly talented and knowledgeable programmer, in turn she kinda oversees a lot of cyberspace and internet regulation. She made a lot of the base stuff for what keeps the web running along with useful A.I. and imperial programing she’s kinda the god and mother of cyberspace. However in person she is flirty, nutty, and kinda crazy, she is the most likely to stab you due to an intrusive thought.

[xatsperesso]

I've had an idea that i really like but probably won't write for a while (or maybe never) where iruma is very observant and slightly manipulative but like as a survival method

Like he find out his parents sold him and he doesn't really care about that part. They weren't that great anyways, but he needed a legal gaurdian and didn't know anyone who could forge an identity for him anyways

He sees that he's been sold to a demon, and he feels conflicted. On one hand that is a very bad idea and would be completely reckless of him to agree with this, but on the other hand he's curious. Curious about demons and hell and are there any other creatures there? Do demons have tails and wings and horns? Which mythology was right about hell?

And maybe, maybe this could be another chance? At living a nice life? Maybe he doesn't need to wait until he's an adult to finally start living, maybe he doesn't need to stay in this world that turned it's back on him the minute he started walking. Maybe life could be better there, in hell

And it's not like he has anything to lose anyways. Except maybe for his life, but he's been gambling with it since the tender age of 1, so what's new in that?

And so he agrees, with the very stupid plan of attacking Sullivan and booking it the second they arrive at hell. He can't be that much stronger than a grizzly bear, right?

But then sullivan took him by surprise when he proposed to him that he becomes his, grandson? And oh how convenient is that? He wont have to hunt and build a shelter, or hide and defend against hell creatures. He sees this as an absolute win! (And he pushes down the memory of a gentle smile and graying hair on a nice spring day) (yes i want drama i want the word grandpa to be bitter sweet in this fic i dont want him to just accept sullivan as family i want him to overcome and let go of the things he left behind)

And so he acts nice, he acts sweet and bubbly and just the right character that old people love seeing, and he doesn't expect sullivan to be fooled, but he seems to be playing along with him so iruma will act right. He'll act nice until he finds a safer place to be.

Opera is suspicious of him, but they're just a bodygaurd so as long as sullivan wants him around, they won't do anything about him

And then iruma finds out he's going to school, and he feels both excited and annoyed. Excited because school is the perfect place to learn about this world, and annoyed because kids his age are annoying. They never understood him, never felt comfortable around him. Always whispered behind his back about how he was weird and would sometimes go feral and attack other students (they took his hard earned money and said it's no big deal and we'll pay you back later~)

So, school. The uniform looked interesting, it was different. There is a lot of diversity among demons. No one looked at him for too long, he blended in just fine, everything was going alright

Until his new grandpa put the spotlight on him

And made him say the speech instead of another student (favoritism is never a good thing)

And gave a very dangerous spell to cast without telling him how dangerous it was

And got him into trouble with his new teachers

And the freshmen representative came to fight him

What a wonderful first day

And so they fight, iruma dodges because that's a whole new species who could be extremely durable, too hot for his touch especially qith the fire floating around him, so best not test his luck

He keeps dodging, azz gets nad and iruma saves the girl who i can't remember her name, he german suplex azz and gains azz's loyalty

But Iruma doesn't trust this. No one changes so quickly. Azz is definitely scheming something, lowering his gaurd only to stab him in the back

But calling him out is dangerous, and with azz being so close it'd be dangerous, but easier to keep his eyes on him

And so he doesn't shy from azz's approaches (except he disappears into thin air whenever anyone attempts to put him in the spotlight) he'll play along with azz until he can safely cut him out of his life

He's just playing along

[b1adie]

Hi there Adri, I hope you have a good day!

So I saw that total cutie Blade on tiktok and looked up his lore on Wikipedia but it's completely confusing to me, I know basics of hsr lore like mara or aeons cause my roommate rambles about it 24/7 but I don't play this game yet and roommate doesn't care about Blade so they ignore all his voicelines etc...

Came to tumblr to find out more and I saw your blog in tag + in your faq you stated you don't mind lore questions...

So please ignore it if you don't want to answear but could you explain to me Blade's lore more or less?

I'm so sorry if I came out as pushy, I know it's probably a complicated lore and a lot to write about but even watching cutscenes on yt didn't make anything clearer while I feel like this guy could make me play hsr... Sorry for anon, I'm a bit shy.

no prob, i’ll try and explain his story as simply as possible!! and.. add a tldr cuz i know im gonna yap

im sorry the tldr got long too. here.

TLDR was TL, DR: craftsman/blacksmith human named yingxing that became cursed with immortality while participating in a fucked up resurrection ritual for one of his friends. was killed thousands of times til he became mara struck and forgot his past human life. got picked up by the stellaron hunters cuz their leader apparently knows a way to permanently kill him and he wants to die so bad. he didnt know his name but he has a cool sword so they call him bladie. he’s old and he apparently has a valid drivers license and obeys traffic laws but he cant play video games because he keeps stabbing himself in the hand.

iffff you have any further questions you can ask ^_^

TLDR; he was. regular human who was taken to the xianzhou as a child after abominations of abundance destroyed his home world. he picked the name yingxing there. he grew up to be a master craftsman and was incredibly skilled and confident, even considered arrogant. since he was a short life species on a ship of people who would live like 700 years longer than him on avg, they found him lame and annoying, but he was better than all of them at making shit so they had to give him the title of Furnace Master cuz he won it. then at some point he became a member of the high cloud quintet, made up of him and 4 friends (jing yuan, jingliu, dan heng’s past incarnation dan feng, and a foxian girl named baiheng). they fought abominations together and were considered legendary and told about in stories. but, baiheng was killed in battle, and dan feng wanted to revive her. he asked yingxing to help him. the revival went wrong and turned baiheng’s remains into a fucked up beast and also cursed yingxing with immortality. jingliu had to put the baiheng monster down, but she loved baiheng so much and having to be the one to kill her mutated corpse like this drove her to become mara struck. she killed yingxing with the sword he made for her, and then again, and again, killing him thousands of times, until he too became mara struck and forgot his life as yingxing entirely. then the stellaron hunters found his miserable ass in the woods somewhwre and said hey grandpa come with us and we’ll kill you for good. and he was like damn okay if you promise. he didnt know his own name and said he would be more use to them as a weapon than a Person, so kafka started calling him bladie and he didnt object so now he’s called blade. he doesn’t think of that as his name though, he still refers to himself as “the unnamed.” but like, he’ll answer to it out of convenience i guess.

OKAY NOT SHORTENED VERSON.

he was born a regular human on a planet that was soon taken over by the borisin (basically immortal space wolves that brutally kill humans). he was the only survivor of his family and sitll a child. he was taken to the xianzhou zhuming and taken under the wing of their arbiter general, huaiyan. (so like, basically the jing yuan of that ship). he took on the name Yingxing there. he became an apprentice craftsman because the xianzhou is very well known for its forging and craftsmanship. he was always generally overlooked or sneered at due to being a short-life species, which of course meant he could never accomplish as much as any of the long-lived xianzhou people. he was wildly ambitious, though, often described as proud and arrogant, mentioned to have stayed awake for days at a time engrossed in his work. xianzhou natives attempted to sabotage his work by deliberately giving him defective or poor-quality material, but it never held him back. despite all the adversity, he became the Furnace Master, the highest title a craftsman can hold on a xianzhou ship.

when he was still a young kid, he’d met a foxian girl named baiheng. they met again some years later, along with jingliu, the champion swordmaster on the luofu, jing yuan, a young cloud knight and her apprentice, and dan feng, the high elder of the luofu vidyadhada. they all hit it off and became very close friends. yingxing forged special weapons for each of them, and the five fought against the abominations of abundance. they became known as the high cloud quintet.

they had a great time for many years, but the rest of them were all going to outlive him by centuries. they Should have, at least. baiheng was killed in battle, having done so protecting them in some way (distracting the enemy or interrupting them i believe?). dan feng decided they should take her remains along with some cursed abundance flesh and try to resurrect her. he convinced yingxing to join him in his wacky little plan. yingxing was like 70 by then hauling his old ass to go do some scary ritual.

they tried to resurrect her and did bad. instead of baiheng, they created a cursed dragon beast that started wreaking havoc and killing people. jingliu arrived in time to put the beast down. but. she was very, very close with baiheng. like obviously its not outright spoken canon, but they were basically married. so killing the mutated beast made from her wife’s corpse caused her to become mara struck. she killed yingxing as he stood in front of dan feng.

but! due to him fucking with that cursed abundance flesh during the resurrection, he came back to life. (and also got like 40 years younger apparently). jingliu took him with her somewhere and used the sword he made for her to kill him thousands of times, until he too became mara struck and forgot all memories of his life as yingxing.

then she kind of just dumped him in the wilderness somewhere or he escaped and went to the wilderness somewhere. he didnt know his name or anything, just that every part of him was constantly in agonizing pain and he could not die, despite badly wanting to die so the pain would end.

one day while he was out there, kafka and samfly showed up and tried to get him to join the stellaron hunters. he was mara stricken and batshit crazy thought so kafka had to shoot him to death and have samfly hold him down while she used her ability to calm his mara. she told him their leader knew a way to kill him permanently, and would help him reach this goal if he joined them. and he was like oh well in that case sure. she asked him his name, and he said he didn’t have one. (even in his internal monologue, he only ever refers to himself as ‘the unnamed.’) he told her he was more of a weapon than a person, so she was like. ummm.. okay. i’m calling you bladie. and he just let her do that and now everyone calls him blade

[fangsandfeels]

Honestly, I can imagine Jerra being more concerned about Withers than a vampire spawn in their midst. In her opinion, Astarion became a lot less unsettling once his true nature got revealed; it was also the first time she saw a vampire who, after being caught red-fanged, would trip over his feet trying to get away from her instead of going for her jugular before she can wake up fully or alert the others. She could have stabbed him at least three times when he was feeding on her. It's not that Astarion wasn't dangerous. He certainly was. But at the same time, he was manageable, and as long as he stayed true to his promise to feed on enemies only, she had no problem with him.

But Withers though? A powerful undead being connected to divinity? An entity who would come and go as it pleased, who found their camp without any problem? What is his deal? She didn't even try to tell him to leave their camp because she knew it was a task in futility. If he rose from his tomb and spoke to her as if he knew her, if he kept following them regardless of where they went, then it was not like her words would dissuade him. He may not have been with the Absolute, but they found him in the temple dedicated to forgotten gods, so who knows what deity had plans for them? She doesn't even know who started calling him Withers? Who came up with the nickname? Was it her? Was it Astarion? Gale?

And she could swear, sometimes the old lich was messing with her specifically.

Like, she is minding her own business, sipping coffee from her mug, trying to wake herself up for the morning (at least, her biological rhythms tell her it should be morning in these Shadow-Cursed lands). And then, out of nowhere, she hears "Thou hast now a bosom-companion...", turns around, sees Withers just standing there and telling her not to get distracted by the comforts of the flesh while waving his bony finger at her like he is her well-meaning grandpa and it then it hits her that he is talking about her and Astarion and it almost makes her spit her drink because what the actual fuck.

How would he know? Was he eavesdropping? Did he watch them? How long has he been watching them? What have you been writing down in that scroll of yours, Bone Man?

[thewidowsghost]

Seeing The Beauty (Piper Mclean x Fem!Reader) - Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Here I am, actually posting something :0

I know it's something a lot of people won't read, but this is a fic I'm passionate about, and what I decided to work on :)

The storm churns into a miniature hurricane. Funnel clouds snakes towards the skywalk like the tendrils of a monster jellyfish.

Students scream and run for the building. The wind snatches away their notebooks, jackets - including (Y/n)'s black bomber, revealing heavily scarred arms - hats, and backpacks. Both Jason and (Y/n) skid across the slick floor.

Leo loses his balance and almost topples over the railing, but (Y/n) grabs his jacket, pulling him back.

"Thanks, man," Leo yells.

"Go, go, go!" orders Coach Hedge.

Piper and Dylan are holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket is flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Jason thinks that she must've been freezing, but Piper looks calm and confident - telling the others it would be okay, encouraging them to keep moving.

Jason, Leo, (Y/n), and Coach Hedge runs towards them, but it is like running through quicksand. The wind seems to fight them, pushing them back.

Dylan and Piper push one more kid inside, then lose their grip on the doors. They slam shut, closing off the skywalk.

Piper tugs at the handles. Inside, the kids pound on the glass, but the door seems to be stuck.

"Dylan, help!" Piper shouts over the roar of the wind.

Dylan just stands there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wind, like he is suddenly enjoying the storm.

"Sorry, Piper," he says. "I'm done helping." He flicks his wrist, and Piper flies backwards, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.

"Piper!" Jason and (Y/n) try to charge forward, but the wind is against them, and Coach Hedge pulls them back.

"Coach," Jason protests, "let me go!"

"Jason, (Y/n), Leo, stay behind me," the coach orders. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."

"What?" Leo demands. A rogue worksheet slaps him in the face, but he swats it away. "What monster?"

The coach's cap blows off and sticking up above his curly hair are two bumps - like the knots cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifts his baseball bat - but it isn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow, it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.

Dylan gives  him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, Coach. Let the boy attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose, grandpa."

The coach makes an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down!"

"You think you can protect four half-bloods at once, old man?" Dylan cackles. "Good luck." Dylan points at Leo, and a funnel cloud materializes around him. Leo flies off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow, he manages to wrist in midair, and slams slideways into the canyon wall. He skids, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally, he grabs a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk, and hangs there by his fingertips.

"Help!" he yells up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

Coach Hedge curses and tosses Jason his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hop you're good. Keep that thing busy" - he stabs a thumb at Dylan - "while I get Leo."

"Get him how?" (Y/n) demands. "You going to fly?"

"Not fly. Climb," Hedge kicks off his shoes, and (Y/n) almost has a coronary. The coach didn't have any feet. He has hooves - goat's hooves. Which means those things on his head, (Y/n) realizes, weren't bumps. They were horns.

"You're a faun," Jason exclaims.

"Satyr!" Hedge snaps. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."

Hedge leaps over the railing. He sails towards the canyon wall and hits hooves first. He bounds down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds - Hoofholds? (Y/n) wonders - no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that try to attack him as he picks his way towards Leo.

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turns toward Jason. "Now it's your turn, boy." Dylan ignores (Y/n) for the time being, and (Y/n) uses the moment to pull the pen from her pocket again.

Jason throws the Coach's club. It seems useless with the winds so strong, but the club flies right at Dylan, even curving when he tries to dodge, and smacks him on the head so hard he falls to his knees.

Piper isn't as dazed as she appears. Her fingers close around the club when it rolls next to her, but before she can use it, Dylan rises. Blood - golden blood - tickles from his forehead. "Nice try, boy." He glares at Jason. "But you'll have to do better."

The skywalk shudders. Hairline fractures appear in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stop banging on the doors. They back away, watching in terror.

Dylan's body dissolves into smoke, as if his molecules are coming unglued. He has the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his whole form is suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouts black smoky wings and rises above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Jason decides, they would look exactly like this.

"You're a ventus," Jason says, though he had no idea how he knew that word. "A storm spirit!"

Dylan's laugh sounds like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said two more were coming - something special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"

Two  more  funnel  clouds  touch  down  on  either  side  of  Dylan  and turn  into venti - ghostly  young  men  with  smoky  wings  and  eyes  that flicker with lightning.

Piper stays down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club.  Her  face  is  pale,  but  she  gives  Jason and (Y/n) determined  looks,  and  he understands the message: Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind.

Smart and violent, Jason wishes he remembered having Piper as a girlfriend.

Jason clenches his fists and gets ready to charge, but he never gets a chance.

Dylan raises his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasts Jason in the chest.

Jason finds himself flat on his back. His mouth tastes like burning aluminum foil. He lifts his head and sees that his clothes are smoking. The lightning bolt had gone straight through his body and blasts off his left shoe; his toes are black with soot.

The storm spirits are laughing. The wind rages. Piper is screaming defiantly, but it all sounds tinny and far away.

Instinctually, she uncaps the pen still in her hand, and suddenly (Y/n) is holding a sword - a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.

(Y/n) tests the weight of the sword in her hand. (Y/n) can't tell who's more surprised, herself, or the storm spirits.

Dylan snarls and backs up. He looks at his two comrades and yells, "Well? Kill her!"

The other storm spirits don't look happy with that order, by they fly at (Y/n), their fingers crackling with electricity.

(Y/n) jabs at the first spirit; her blade passes through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrates into golden powder.

The second spirit lets loose a bolt of lightning, and (Y/n) is blasted back into the glass doors.

(Y/n) slides down the doors beside Piper, her sword sliding out of her hand and skittering off the side of the skywalk and into the canyon.

"Shit," (Y/n) curses, staggering to her feet.

Then Coach Hedge leaps back onto the skywalk and dumps Leo like a sack of flour. "Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellows, flexing his short arms. Then he looks around and realizes that Dylan was the only spirit left - Jason dispelled the other. "Curse it, boy!" he snaps at Jason. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"

Leo gets to his feet, breathing hard. He looks completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks. "Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are - I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"

Dylan hisses at them, but Jason can see fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."

Above them, the storm explodes into a full-force gale. Cracks expand in the skywalk. Sheets of rain pour down, and Jason has to crouch to keep his balance.

A hole opens in the clouds - a swirling vortex of black and silver.

"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouts with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"

He lunges at Jason, but Piper tackles the monster from behind. Even though he is made of smoke, Piper somehow manages to make contact; both of them go sprawling. Leo, Jason, (Y/n), and the coach surge forward to help, but the spirit screams with rage. Dylan lets loose a torrent that knocks the four onto their buts. Jason's sword skids across the glass. Leo hits the back of his head and curls up on his side, dazed and groaning.

Piper gets the worst of it. She is thrown off Dylan's back and hits the railing, tumbling over the side until she is hanging by one hand over the abyss.

(Y/n) gets to her feet, sprinting and vaulting over the side of the railing, grabbing the railing - and Piper's wrist.

Piper stares at (Y/n).

Are you insane?! Piper's gaze seems to say.

Probably, (Y/n) reads Piper's expression. (Y/n) didn't remember Piper, but Piper clearly trusted her, and (Y/n) would not let her die.

(Y/n)'s grip tightens on the railing, and she tries to pull Piper up.

"Hey!" Piper yells, seeing the sweat beading on (Y/n)'s forehead. "We could use some help over here!"

Jason starts towards them, but Dylan screams, "I'll settle for this one!" He grabs Leo's arm and begins to rise, towing a half-concious Leo below him. The storm spins faster, pulling them upwards like a vacuum cleaner.

"Help! Somebody!" Piper yells. And then, her hands slick with sweat, Piper slips out of (Y/n)'s grip, screaming as she falls.

"Jason, go!" Hedge yells. "Save her."

(Y/n) hauls herself up and over the railing, staring down at Piper's figure plummeting towards the little river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The coach launches himself at the spirit, lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit's grasp. Leo drops safely to the floor, but Dylan grapples the coach's arms instead. Hedge tries to head-butt him, then kicks him and calls him a cupcake. They rise into the air, gaining speed.

Coach Hedge shouts down once more, "Save her! I got this!" Then the satyr and the storm spirit spiral into the clouds and disappear.

Save her? Jason thinks. She's gone! But again, his instincts win. He runs to the railing, thinking I'm a lunatic, and jumps over the side.

. . .

Jason isn't scared of heights. He is scared of being smashed against the canyon floor five hundred feet below. He figures he hadn't accomplished anything other than dying along with Piper, but he tucks in his arms and plummets headfirst. The sides of the canyon race past like a film on fast-forward; his face feels like it is peeling off.

In a heartbeat, he catches up with Piper, who is flailing wildly. He tackles her waist and closes his eyes, waiting for death.

Piper screams.

The wind whistles in Jason's ears.

He wonders what dying would feel like. He is thinking, Probably not so good. He wishes somehow they could never hit the bottom.

Suddenly, the wind dies. Piper's scream turns into a strangled gasp. Jason thinks that they must be dead, but he hadn't felt any impact.

"J-j-jason," Piper manages.

Jason opens his eyes; they aren't falling. They are floating in midair, a hundred feet above the river. Jason hugs Piper tight, and she repositions herself so she is hugging him too. They are nose to nose. Her heart beats so hard, Jason can feel it through her clothes.

Piper's breath smells like cinnamon. She says, "How did you -"

"I didn't," Jason says . "I think I would know if I could fly..." But then he thinks, I don't even know who I am.

Jason imagines going up; Piper yelps as they shoot a few feet higher. We aren't exactly floating, Jason decides. He can feel pressure under his feet, like they are balancing at the top of a geyser.

"The air is supporting us," Jason says.

"Well, tell it to support us more! Get us out of here!"

Jason looks down. The easiest thing would be to sink gently to the canyon floor. Then he looks up. The rain had stopped. The storm clouds don't seem as bad, but they are still rumbling and flashing. There was no guarantee the spirits were gone for good. He had no idea what had happened to Coach Hedge. And he'd left Leo up there, barely conscious, with a most likely guilty (Y/n).

"We have to help them," Piper says, as if reading Jason's thoughts. "Can you -"

"Let's see." Jason thinks, Up!, and instantly, they shoot skyward.

The fact he is riding the winds might've been cool under different circumstances, but Jason is too much in shock. As soon as they land on the skywalk, they run to Leo, (Y/n) sitting beside him, looking dazed and guilty - just as Jason had guessed.

Piper turns Leo over, and he groans. Leo's army coat is soaked from the rain. His curly hair glitters gold from rolling around in monster dust. But at least he isn't dead.

"Stupid . . . ugly . . . goat," Leo mutters.

"Where'd he go?" Piper questions.

Leo points straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."

"Twice," (Y/n) replies, studying the - possibly hundreds - of scars lacing her arms.

Leo groans even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the bronze and gold swords . . . I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"

Jason had forgotten about his sword. He walks over to where it was lying and picks it up. The blade is well balanced. On a hunch he flips it; midspin, the sword shrinks back into a coin and lands in his palm.

(Y/n) reaches into her pocket, studying her pen before uncapping it, the ballpoint lengthening to the three and a half foot long bronze sword.

"Yep," Leo says. "Definitely hallucinating."

Piper shivers in her rain-soaked clothes. "Jason, those things -"

"Venti," Jason interrupts. "Storm spirits."

"Okay," Piper stares at Jason. "You acted like . . . like you'd seen them before. Who are you?"

Jason shakes his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."

The storm dissipates. The other kids from the Wilderness School are staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards are working on the locks, but they don't seem to be having any luck."

"Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people," (Y/n) thinks aloud, touching the tip of her sword with a finger and watching it shrink back into a pen. "I'm ninety-five percent sure he meant us."

"And that thing Dylan turned into . . ." Piper shudders. "God, I can't believe it was hitting on me. He called us . . . what, demigods?"

Leo lies on his back, staring at the sky. He doesn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he replies. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"

(Y/n) lets out a snort of laughter, but then there is brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk begin to widen.

"We need to get off this thing," Jason says.

"Maybe if we -"

"Ohh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses."

At first Jason thinks Leo had hit his head too hard. Then he sees a dark shape descending from the east - too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer he can see a pair of winged animals - one black and one gray, four-legged, exactly like horses - except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. The horses are pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements," (Y/n) says. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggles to his feet. "That sounds painful."

Jason watches as the chariot lands on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tuck in their wings and canter nervously across the glass, as if they sense it was near breaking. Two teenagers stand in the chariot - a tall blond girl maybe a little older than Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wear jeans and orange T-shirts like (Y/n)'s, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaps off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulls a knife and runs toward the group while the bulky dude is reining in the horses.

"I'm going to kill you," the blonde girl steps up to (Y/n), whose eyes widen with shock.

"What?" (Y/n) asks, looking so utterly confused that the blonde lowers her knife. "Did I do something to hurt you?" (Y/n)'s eyebrows knit with confusion.

The blonde stares at (Y/n) for a moment, her gray eyes are fierce and a little startling.

"What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?" she asks.

The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?

Leo clears his throat. "He got taken by some . . . tornado things."

"Venti," Jason clarifies. "Storm spirits."

The blonde girl arches an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Jason does his best to explain, though it is hard to meet those intense gray eyes. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot comes over. He stands there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He has a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seems a little unusual to Jason.

"Annabeth," the bald guy grunts. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he is still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot feels okay, but it looks like a lump of charcoal.

"The guy with one shoe," says the bald dude. "He's the answer."

"No, Butch," the girl insists. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glares at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screams. "What have you done?"

"Hey there, Boss," (Y/n) hears in her head and she turns to one of the horses, a jet black pegasus.

"Uh, hey," (Y/n) says aloud, stepping over to the horse. She reaches out, and the pegasus nuzzles her hand.

"You got any sugar cubes?" he whinnies.

"No, sorry, bud," (Y/n) pats the pegasus's head.

Leo, Jason, and Piper stare at (Y/n), their eyebrows raised, but both Annabeth and Butch look unfazed.

The skywalk shudders , and the pegasi whinnies urgently. "We'd better hurry, Boss. The glass is crackin'!" the black pegasus says.

"Annabeth," says the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these four to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

Annabeth fumes for a moment. "Fine." She fixes Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later." She turns on her heel and marches towards the chariot.

Piper shakes her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"

"Seriously," Leo agrees.

(Y/n) stares after Annabeth for a moment before following. She places a gentle hand on Annabeth's arm, and the blonde turns to her.

"I'm sorry," (Y/n) says and Annabeth's expression softens. "I don't remember who I am, or what I've done, but I'm sorry if I've hurt you."

Annabeth nods.

"Come on," Annabeth says. "Let's go home. I'll even ask Chiron to get you a new shirt. For now," Annabeth swings a backpack off her shoulders and pulls out a navy blue and white lettermen jacket, "put this on."

(Y/n) studies the jacket, noticing the last name - Jackson - before sliding it on. "Is this mine?" (Y/n) asks.

Annabeth nods. "You were on the swim team," Annabeth's eyes glow with what (Y/n) guesses is sisterly - pride.

Word Count: 3521 words

Taglist:

@camaddison​​

@steinfellds​​

@p-taryn-dactyl​​

@oculusalien​​

@pink-widows

[soldierofadown]

Wanted to write more for my Hammertooth swap au since some of the lore differs a lot from the Canon

Hammertooth Swap Lore

(I guess idk what else to call)

Dethklok

Originally had no Rhythm Guitarist when first signed

Ended up needing one after everyone agreed the guitar section needed more 'zazz' (much to Skwisgaar's disapproval)

Held auditions, where they met both Toki and Magnus

Magnus ended up impressing them enough to land the spot (despite not doing better than Toki)

This enraged Toki who ended up attacking the band

Still all have their og personalities intact

Magnus

Past

His dad was an abusive asshole, Magnus ended up running away because of this

Loves clowns because of an old cartoon he watched

Didn't meet Dethklok until that audition

Was homeless for a while before that

Only owned a car he slept in and a guitar

Auditioned out of pure desperation (didn't even think he'd get in the band)

Wasn't nearly as close to beating Skwisgaar as Toki was, but the band saw his potential

Forever grateful for Dethklok

Current

Still the oldest of the band

Seen as sort of a sweet grandpa by fans (leading to his large child fanbase like Toki in the Canon)

Isn't graying nearly as much because he isn't as stressed

Not muscular, but still incredibly thin which makes the other members slightly jealous

Bickers with Skwisgaar and Murderface constantly

Has positive mixed feelings for Nathan and Pickles (like he loves the two but he isn't sure in what way)

Toki

Past

Traveled to America, explicitly to audition with Dethklok

Was practically in love with the band up until his audition

Outperformed everyone, except Skwisgaar himself

Became enraged when Magnus landed the spot in the band instead of him

Tried attacking Skwisgaar with a knife, but was beaten by Nathan before he could stab Skwisgaar

Lost a tooth and eventually partial eyesight from this

Carved 'Revenge is Comings' into the side of Magnus's car after the fact

Current

Still obsesses over Dethklok in an unhealthy way

Joined the Revengencers (initially with reluctance but eventually got really into it)

Tolerates MMA at best

Doesn't want to kill anyone, especially Dethklok

You would be able to see him at most of Dethklok's public appearances

Figured out Magnus was going to fantasy camp that way

Wasn't recognized by Magnus due to how much his appearance changed (gold tooth, white eye, longer hair, and added wrinkles)

Was tempted to just let Magnus go into diabetic shock, but reluctantly saved him

Overall most the stuff is still the same, just with Magnus and Toki swapped around

[waffliesinyoface]

The Akatsuki, Ranked by How Normal (and/or insane) They Are

Now, listen. I love the akatsuki. You, dear reader, presumably love the akatsuki.　They’re great. They are also, however, the biggest collection of walking buckwild basket cases to ever exist. So. Lets rank them.

Kisame - he is literally a shark. He is literally a giant blue shark man with face gills and a semi-sentient sword that can eat things. This is our barometer for “normal person” here.

Sasori - i hear you protesting but, hold on. Yes, he has literally turned himself into a puppet man. Not a deal breaker! He’s just. Dedicated. You could have a reasonable conversation with him. Provided you don’t annoy him in some way, and/or don’t qualify for his internal standard of “artistic”, he is no more likely to kill you than any other S-rank criminal ninja. 

Kakuzu - Similar to Sasori in that you could probably survive a conversation with him, but also, he has a lot of anger issues and not a lot of self restraint. “Normal”, but only relative to other ninja.

Deidara - We are now at the point that other ninja are giving you the side eye. Excitable, loud, obnoxious, a little mean, and passionate about art. That by itself would not be out of place on like, any college campus. However he also has mouth hands, a penchant for arson, and the ability & desire to explode anything that looks slightly artistic.

Konan - Not even normal from a distance because no one looks that put together all the time. Flies around with giant paper wings and calls herself god’s angel with a straight face. Genuinely means it. Enters and exits rooms/conversations by turning into paper and fluttering away on the breeze. If you’re not a citizen of Rain Country, your life is of less consequence to her than an ant. Absolutely fucking inscrutable woman.

Zetsu - “isnt zetsu literally a fucking alien plant dude or something?” yeah “doesnt he literally shlorp out of the ground all the time?” yeah “isn’t he actually two people, and frequently talks to himself” yeah “how the fuck is he not the LAST person on this list?” listen to me. the rest are worse.

Itachi - You think he’s normal but then he opens his mouth and oh no,  he’s so not. His plans have plans. None of these plans are good plans, but he will genjutsu you into going along with them anyways. Stabs people in the face while calling himself a pacifist. Logic is a distant relative and he killed all of those. You do Not want to be a target of his affection by any means.

Hidan - He’s an asshole and god loves him for it. Will ritualistically disembowel himself and then complain about the rain five minutes later. Even when viewed through the lens of Jashinist ideology, he is an outlier and should not be counted.

Obito - His plans make no sense and he is basically losing his shit throughout the entire series. Good times. Has weird hangups about kakashi. Got kidnapped by an evil grandpa and was convinced that using the moon to reflect a super genjutsu onto the entire world was Necessary for the Greater Good. Decided to pretend to be Tobi for months, if not years, for ??? reasons, instead of actually advancing his plans. Despite being obviously in his early twenties he decided to tell Pein & Konan (& Itachi) that his true identity was Madara Uchiha, century-old-grandpa, and they fucking bought it.

Pein - Named himself Pein. Because he was in so much pain, you see. His best friend died so he decided the clear and logical thing to do was to pilot his corpse around and call himself god, and also grab like 5 other corpses and dye their hair the same color. That’s a lovely coping mechanism, Pein. You do you, buddy!!

Honorary Mention: Orochimaru - there are not enough words to describe this man adequately. What the fuck, sir.

[takaraphoenix]

PJO Episode 1 Thoughts

Spoilers ahead, huh.

Positive things first:

I love that Percy draws, and draws pretty well (for a 12 year old). I don't remember him being an artist in the book series? But the idea of him coping with his strange monster visions by drawing them is a nice addition.

Sally is a treasure, the actress brings such a motherly warmth to the role.

I loved Sally sitting in the rain with that expression on her face, you could feel the yearning for Poseidon. Never really got the "still hung up on Poseidon"-vibes in the books, but I still loved that moment for how well it was conveyed.

I do think that Grover is perfectly cast. That kid embodies the anxious and nervous energy I want from my Grover.

For very obvious personal reasons, I will be cherishing and including the fact that Percy plays Mythomagic from hereon out.

And, on that same note, I wonder what's up with the di Angelo name-drop. Maria is dead, her kids are in a magic casino, so is this just completely unrelated to our di Angelos and a bit of a wink wink nudge nudge, or is this actually going to pay off once we get to the di Angelos...?

I did love the "Why is there half a goat in your pants?" line and enjoyed the whole "getting to camp/expositioning" scene. It had the needed dramatic gravity. And Sally making Grover swear an oath. I liked how it was all played, enacted and written, it bodes well for the dramatic moments in the future.

Also the credits are stunning. The art, the designs. Honestly made me feel a lot of disappointment that we didn't get a cartoon adaptation of PJO, because I do still think that would have been a more fitting medium for this.

Now here's the things that bothered me:

Considering that this was episode one, titled "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher", the vaporizing was... not very central to be quite frank? She jumps him in broad daylight, one stab later she's gone. A little bit of a chase, more of a confrontation, to make this seem a bit more significant, would have been nice.

Also damn, the gaslighting of a 12 year old hits way harder when it's live action and with actual kids, than when it's written in a book.

My biggest problem so far: I hate, hate, hate what they've done with Gabe. I hate it. They neutered him so hard.

It's been a couple years since I read the first book, but I remember how utterly uncomfortable Gabe made me. I know this man abused Sally, and it was always implied also Percy.

But this man? Is... just a pathetic loser. He lets Percy completely walk all over him, he gets pushed around by Sally. I remember the "I'm borrowing your car"-scene from the book, because it was a tense scene, because it didn't feel like a given, but this...? This was just... pathetic. That's the only word I have for it.

The character of Gabe Ugliano is so formative to Percy pre-series, and the way they changed him to make him look silly and non-threatening is... frustrating.

I honestly had no idea who got cast for Chiron, that one somehow went fully past me. I think the actor is... a little old. He has the warmth that Chiron needs, but with his 76 years he brings it more in a grandpa way than in a mentor way. Chiron should have been in his 50s, if pushing it in his 60s.

And while I did like the dramatic weight of the parting scene, I also do think that... Sally's sacrifice is... less heavy than in the books? Like, they stand there and yap for minutes, while they could have just gone ahead and been safe at camp in that time, and then Sally dies and Percy and Grover still just stand there and watch instead of going to the safety of camp. It felt very avoidable...