#the first one is still in his hometown which he got thrown out of

[puppmeo]

Have you ever been assumed to be romantically attracted to someone and even just the thought of that makes you want to throw up . Anybody

[brokenpieces-72]

Home for Holidays

Monster! 141 (mostly Soap) x Hybrid female Reader (jackalope/wendigo)

This is a continuation of the previous fanfic on my page. The only context you need it that the reader is teenager. Mentions @diejager reader character Hunter and is based on designs by @bluegiragi

CW/TW: Mentions of trauma, abuse, family trauma, punishment, origins of wendigo, crying, angst, let me know if I’ve missed anything.

Soon enough Holidays come around and there are no signs of your handler returning to base. Which means you’ll likely be alone on base on the holidays. It’s not the first time so that’s okay but you do get jealous when plans are brought up in conversation.

“So what’ll you be doin lass?” Johnny asks. His friendly face becomes a small frown when you shrug.

“Maybe I’ll just stay on base with Ghost…not sure what else there is. Nowhere to go really…” You say shrugging. Johnny’s brother side comes out in full swing, not just for you but for Simon as well. He knows Simon uses the holidays for his own needs, and doesn’t really stay on base the whole time. Leaving you behind didn’t feel fair to him. Not only that but it’s not fair to you, to have to sit in your room by yourself bored out of your mind.

Johnny makes some calls after that and soon learns there’ll be some paperwork but he doesn’t care. It’ll be worth it.

Nikolai comes to pick people up to take home, and Johnny has you already packed and it basically bouncing on your bed to get you to wake up.

“Come on wheels up lass!”

He’s carrying the duffel you had when you came and hands it to you.

“But-“ you’re half awake as you try to protest.

“No questions. Come on.” He says and you both get on the helicopter. Rudy and Alejandro say good bye to you before you leave and give you a gift to open on Christmas as does Gaz and Price. Ghost sees you off and you tell him you hope he enjoys the privacy.

Johnny takes you to his hometown, and when you land he explains that he made some calls home. And then to Laswell, and the program and few others to make sure everything was sorted.

“Ma didn wantya to be alone. Just know you’ll be put to work still…got dat?” You nod and he takes you to his house after you land, where you meet Soap’s mother and Soap’s older brother. His mother comments a bit on your appearance saying you look a little pale and could afford to put on a couple pounds. Soap gives her a look but you shake it off saying you have been. She gives you a warm smile and helps you find your room.

You have a good time on your leave and it feels a little odd to you. Your family was way different, but Johnny’s is cozy and kind and teasing. You join in on jabs at him, and help around the house as best you can, learning more basic skills like cooking and chopping wood. Johnny takes you to a few different places around, along with his brother, and you even meet a couple of his football buddies. They’re friendly and tell you some stories about Johnny. They ask about the ears and antlers. Johnny lets you answer how you choose, whether it’s as a jackalope or a wendigo. At some point he leaves you with his friends to take care of something and when he comes back, he sees you talking and having a good conversation with them. It’s hard to imagine you were once this simple, shy, apologetic kid and now you had grown into a friendly, healthy teenager.

One night you and Johnny take a minute to relax on a bench before continuing your walk home. The two of you had just left his friend and their partner at a store, and the walk home would be long. Johnny could handle walking in the dark but wanted you to be safe too. You both look out at the street lit up by garlands of lights and shop windows. It was good to finally take a break after all the walking around. You watch people go by and notice body language you didn’t often see on base. Couples holding hands, kids running and skipping, snowballs being thrown, parents swinging their kids. You lean against your knees, following Johnny’s sitting position.

“Are all families like this?” You ask. Johnny notices where you had been looking and shrugs.

“Nah all of em. The good ones are.” Johnny ponders for a moment before inquiring. “Take it you didn ave that.”

You shake your head.

“Wha were they like?” He asks. You go very quiet, and he pays closer attention. It’s not an easy subject, your parents were mean and obsessive over your hybrid features. You were outcasted and isolated. Christmas was a rough time, as you would see people happy outside but never felt the same way.

“…they…they used to yell at me. Sometimes hit me.” You confessed. Johnny looks at you. “It kept escalating… sometimes it was burns or no food for a day. Then one day they grounded me and put me in the basement.” You pause for a shaky breath feeling your throat tighten up. Johnny lets you continue at your own pace. “They gave me raw meat and told me there was nothing else…”

You’re shaking recalling the horrid memory of how you became a wendigo. Your family wasn’t normal and your parents weren’t sane. You only found out how insane they were when it was too late. How cultish they could be.

Johnny doesn’t need you to finish, and instead moves closer to you on the bench and holds you tight. The tears just come down and you nestle into his winter jacket. You feel a gloved hand on your head keeping you close.

“You didn do anythin wrong.” He tells you over and over, tucking your head under his chin. “You’re a good kid. Don’ forgae ‘at.”

You finally pull away after a while and he asks if you’re ready to keep going. You nod, he gives you his arm to cling to while you head home. There are still tears but your face is stinging from the cold, and you’d rather be inside. Johnny tries to change the subject or make some jokes with you. He gets a couple giggles for his dad jokes. When you finally get back, Johnny’s mother notices your tears and gets you some water. She doesn’t ask about it and lets her son handle everything while you curl up on the couch with him watching Die Hard.

You feel more and more comfortable snuggling up to Soap, and he you. He’s taken to calling you ‘pup’ and ‘whelp’. When you walk in to relax with him he offers to shift for you so you can have a soft pillow to rest against. It doesn’t take long before his brother and mother are friendly with you too, spending some alone time with them as well. His mother has taken a shine to you, often asking for some help in the kitchen or showing you cute videos she found online. There’s a couple of Facebook posts usually involving the Grinch or Peanuts cartoons that you find cute, and smile at.

His mom expresses concern multiple times about your wardrobe, noticing you wear the same items in a row.

“If ya wouldna mind me askin dear, didn ya wear that shirt yesterday?”

“Y-yes. Is that bad?” You ask.

“No no of curse not, it’s a nice shirt, but doncha ave other clothes?” She asks. When you shake your head she sets down whatever she is working on. It doesn’t take long for her to check if any of her sons’ old clothes will fit you. The clothes are a little baggy on you, even with the couple extra pounds you’ve gained while staying there but they’ll work. Especially since they’ll likely get torn anyways when you back to base. Honestly his mother is glad they’ll be put to use, and they’re some of the few clothes she has that are intact since Johnny’s form often rips his clothing.

Christmas Eve comes around and Soap is up early for his workout and his mother is up for her meal prep.

“Aye ma? Canna ask you somethin?” Soap asks quietly, not wanting to wake you or give you the chance to hear him.

“Yes?”

“Whatcha think of the lass?”

She takes a moment to think about it.

“Lovely child. Takes after ya a bit moore than I’d like.” She teases. Johnny smiles before unloading a bit on to his mother. “They don’t ave anywhere else to go after this, unless Price keeps em. So it got me thinkin uhh…” his tail twitches awkwardly as she takes note of his tone. His mom has seen how her sons’ tails react when they get a certain way. Before he can ask she answers the question.

“I think ya need to think this over some more. I wouldna mind it… but she’s got as much of a say as you do. Honestly she’s a lovely lass, and I know you’ve taken a shine to her. More than a shine, yer practically her brother. You’ve told me what she is, and I have no qualms but ya better be here for her too. I’m not dealin’ with a hybrid under my roof, alone and at my age.”

“I will ma, thank you.” Johnny decides to bring it up later when you guys head back to base.

Christmas comes and it’s overwhelming for someone unused to large close gatherings. Johnny and his brother make it a habit for at least one of them to stay close to you. Their relatives ask tou questions and get to know you. You don’t unload like you did with Johnny, but when your past comes up you do respond.

“Well my adoptive parents were pretty bad, so after that my social worker put me in the program for rehabilitation and relocation I guess.”

When you get the chance you slip away to take a breath, and relax a bit. The whole situation is crazy after being on a such an isolated family. The holidays weren’t exactly great for you, and sometimes you were alone to open gifts by yourself. The gifts were strange too, often in the form of weird books and strange toys. Looking back, to any normal person the gifts should have been red flags. Johnny finds you soon enough, and asks if you just want some time to yourself.

“This is normal? Spending holidays like this?” You ask. He nods.

“Never got ‘at back ‘ome.”

You shake your head. Johnny isn’t one to show vulnerability but damn you make it hard.

“Fairly normal. You open your gifts yet?” He asks. “Come on we’re about to start opening them.”

You get up and follow him, carrying the gifts you got from the 141 into the living room, and sit down. Anyone seeing the scene would know you were out of place, as everyone was either human or a werewolf. Johnny’s mom sits by you, and has a gift for you too. You open it and you laugh, finding a hoodie for Johnny’s favourite football team. Johnny looks over and basically cheers seeing the hoodie. The gifts from the team are a journal and some stationary and a sketchbook. They’re simple gifts sure but they’re better than anything you had gotten before. They were yours.

Next couple days you spend collecting and drawing around the area. You take the journal everywhere, writing about the things you see and draw your own ideas.

During a visit to a restaurant you notice some humans and draw them as hybrids, giving them tails and wings. Any common or ugly looks from other humans go ignored as you focus on the pencils and paper before you.

Your journal gets filled with cards, photos, stickers, scribbles and a couple of miscellaneous items you find like leaves, flowers and feathers. It’s not long before items are poking out from between the pages marking your progress. You write plenty of thoughts, and even a couple stories about the items you find.

[supernovafics]

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍

pairing: professor!steve harrington x professor!fem!reader

word count: 6.8k words

summary: in which it had been twelve years since you last saw steve harrington. and you never thought about him, mainly because you’d forced yourself not to. but, suddenly, it was hard to avoid thoughts or reminders of him when after all of those years, you finally saw him again. it was an abrupt moment that oh so quickly brought back memories and old feelings that managed to do a number of things; confuse, scare, and worry you. after everything that happened between you two, you fully believed that you would never want to talk to him again. but maybe that was the exact thing that needed to happen.

warnings: explicit language, mentions of cheating, a bit of fluff, implied smut, a shit ton of angst but with a happy ending

author’s note: this took forever and it's insanely long but i love the way it turned out<33 the rest of the trilogy will be out next, so "august" and then "betty" coming (very) soon!! (full "folklore" album series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“and when i felt like i was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said i was your favorite.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Fall Semester 1996

You rarely ever thought about your life pre-Rhode Island. Mainly because you never wanted to, but also because it felt so far in the past that there was never any reason to focus on what used to be. 

You segmented your life into two phases. One, before you left your hometown, and, two, the moment you drove past the “Leaving Hawkins” sign and never looked back, refraining to listen to the part of the sign that told you to “Come Again Soon.” 

It had been nearly twelve years since you left the small Indiana town, and there wasn’t one moment where you ran into anyone that you once knew from that “before” life, which, in turn, meant that you never had any reason to think about Hawkins.

Until you did run into someone. And it was probably the worst possible person you could’ve ever run into. 

Steve fucking Harrington.

You would’ve rather seen Simon Gardener— your crush from sixth grade who you’d thrown up in front of when the two of you got paired up on a Science project— than Steve. 

But, now here he was, standing barely twenty feet away from you. You’d nearly dropped the coffee you’d waited almost twenty minutes for from your favorite coffee shop. Instead, you spilled some on your hand and only inwardly winced at the feeling because you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself. 

You almost turned around and walked out of the building you just walked into, but your office was right down the hallway that Steve was currently standing in the middle of along with the head of the English Department, Dan. And now that there was spilled coffee on your hand you really needed to go in there and rummage through the drawer of your desk that contained a bunch of leftover napkins from random nights when you’d order takeout to your office.

Before you could contemplate further about what your next course of action should be, Dan spotted you and called your name, waving you over to where he and Steve were standing. 

“Hi, good morning,” You greeted him, expertly avoiding eye contact with Steve because you didn’t want to see his reaction to seeing you for the first time in what pretty much felt like forever.

“Let me introduce you to the new addition to the History department upstairs,” Dan said and then gestured to Steve, which forced you to finally look at him. “Steve Harrington.” 

You could tell he was surprised to see you, but he hid that surprise by smiling at you, and you hated that even after all of these years, his smile still managed to do something to you. 

Now that you were closer to him, you could see some minor differences about him. His hair was a bit shorter, nothing too crazy or dramatic, but you noticed how his “iconic” hair was a bit more tame compared to how it used to be. And somehow he managed to get a little taller, only a couple of inches, but still you noticed that too. 

He overall looked older, which obviously made sense because twelve years would do that to a person. However, there was still something all too familiar about him. That same boyish presence that you had gotten so used to seeing still lingered on him. Behind his eyes, you saw exactly that boy you fell in love with that one summer. 

The summer that you never really thought about; in fact, you’d forced yourself not to think about it. But, now with him right in front of you, random flashbacks to moments from that July and August, especially August, were the only things circling your mind. 

Your loud laughs and wide smiles as you swam in his pool and let your body wrap around his underneath the water, your drunken talks until the sun came up, the makeout sessions in his car that almost always led to doing other things in his bed since his parents were never home. 

You pushed those memories far away, just as quickly as they resurfaced. 

“Hi,” You said to him and forced a small smile. 

You could tell that he was studying you just as you had been studying him, taking note of what you looked like now and comparing that to the version of you that he used to know. Whatever differences you had, you felt like they were subtle like his were, and just came with the territory of aging twelve years, but maybe he saw something else. He was the only person who you felt was able to actually look inside of you; he had known the ins and outs of who you were.   

“She’s a Professor in the English department,” Dan told Steve, and you were insanely grateful for Dan’s presence at that moment because you knew that it would be hell if you had been alone with Steve right then. “Oh, what happened to your hand?”

You looked down at your hand, somehow you had actually forgotten about the spill that happened only moments ago. 

“Little coffee mishap,” You said with a small, awkward laugh. “I have some napkins in my office, though, so I’m just going to head in there.” You looked at Steve and directed another forced smile at him, you had a feeling you’d be doing that a lot now. “Nice to meet you.” 

You mentioned something to Dan about seeing him at a faculty meeting later and then headed to your office, which was only about ten feet away. 

When it was just you alone behind the shut door of your office, your brain could finally process everything that had just happened. 

Steve was here. Not Hawkins, not Indiana, Rhode Island. And not only was he simply in Rhode Island, but he now worked at the college you had been working at for the past two and a half years. 

The only word you could think of at that moment was “Fuck,” and then you couldn’t help but mutter it under your breath. You took a sip of your coffee and let the familiar sweet and slightly bitter taste soothe your nerves.

Barely thirty minutes later— after trying your hardest to finish up the planning for a lecture you had been working on for the past few days but failing miserably because your mind couldn’t help but wonder why Steve was here of all places— you were stepping out of your office and almost crashed right into him.

“Jesus Christ,” You yelped; once again so surprised to see him. 

“I swear I was about to knock and this is just freakishly weird timing,” He quickly told you. “I wasn’t being a creep and waiting for you to come out.”  

“Okay,” You said with a small nod. Somehow his nervousness at that moment made you feel less nervous. “Um, what’s up?”

“Can we talk, maybe?”

“I have a class in fifteen minutes, so I can’t now,” You told him as you glanced down at the watch on your wrist. “But, um, maybe soon, yeah?” 

You were completely lying, there was no way you were going to talk to him soon; at least not about what you assumed he wanted to talk about. You refused to do that.

Luckily Steve couldn’t see through your lie, or if he did, he didn’t call you out on it. Instead, he nodded at your words before you walked away.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“'cause i knew you. steppin' on the last train marked me like a bloodstain. i knew you. tried to change the ending peter losing wendy.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Somehow, and much to your grateful surprise, you rarely ever saw Steve. And when you did, because he was only just upstairs so it was sort of inevitable, there were only quick passing glances shared between you two along with tight-lipped smiles and small waves; both of you too busy to have any kind of actual conversation with one another.  

However, you did manage to learn a few things about him over the past month he’d been there. You heard through the grapevine— said grapevine being various faculty members that seemed to grow a quick liking to Steve— that he was taking over Tamara Wilson’s two Early European History classes for the rest of the Fall semester because she went on maternity leave, and in the Spring he’d be teaching it again along with a U.S. history course. 

None of that information answered the one question constantly running through your mind, though. 

What the hell was he doing here?

Because you had to admit, you were so curious to know about all of it. How he was here, why he was here, how this coincidence could’ve happened. 

But, you also really didn’t want to talk to him because you had the strongest feeling that the conversation would also involve the past, that summer, and how much you didn’t want that to happen outweighed your curiosity.

Therefore, on the night of the college’s annual Winter Gala, the first instance that could actually allow you two to talk to one another, you still tried your hardest to avoid him. 

You had always hated these kinds of events because they were solely used to schmooze alumni and other donors to get them to give the school money, and even though you understood the need for that, you still didn’t enjoy attending. However, you knew that you always had to show face, at least for an hour or two. 

And you made it nearly an hour and a half without having to see Steve and you were almost certain that you actually wouldn’t see him. But, moments before you were about to make your final rounds and say goodbye to people, mainly Dan so you could prove to him that you’d shown up, you felt a tap on your shoulder. 

It was almost too easy to know that it was Steve because it was only his touch that ever managed to send something equivalent to an electric shock through your body. And with the strapless black dress you were wearing, his hand making contact with your bare shoulder immediately made surprised goosebumps rise to your skin. 

“Hi,” He said, offering a small smile. Somehow the first thing you noticed about him was the bow tie he was wearing. He was also wearing a black suit with a white button-up shirt, but the bow tie caught your eye first. You were immediately reminded of a memory of him saying how much he hated bow ties, but you had told him how great he looked in one. In this moment, you hated how right you still were. 

“Hey,” You responded with a smile of your own, and you sincerely hoped he couldn’t see your nervousness through it. He opened his mouth to say something but you jumped in before he could. “How’s your first month here been so far?” 

“Good,” Steve answered with a nod. “A little weird just jumping in at the middle of the semester and trying to go along with what Wilson already set on the syllabus. A weekly quiz was on there, and I immediately told the students that we wouldn’t be doing that anymore.”

“They probably love you for that.”

“Yeah, I got a round of applause on my first day.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at that, you were only fifty percent sure that he was joking, but either way, the thought amused you.

You wanted to ask when he got into history and into teaching, but maybe that question would open a can of worms that would lead to other topics of conversation you wanted to stay away from. 

“I can guarantee that at least half of them will want to be in your class next semester,” You said instead of asking what you really wanted. “You’re gonna be doing U.S. History, right?”

“Yeah, and I’ll still be taking over for Wilson, so I’ll have three courses next semester, which should be interesting,” Steve nodded, and then a look crossed his face as if he just remembered something. “But, that probably sounds like nothing to you because I heard that you’re currently doing four American Lit courses and one British Lit course. Oh, and you’re the only person in the English department teaching that many courses, which sounds insane but that’s also pretty cool.” 

You pretended as if now knowing that he had asked about you didn’t affect you at least a tiny bit. And you also pretended that hearing the admiration in his voice didn’t affect you at all either.  

“Yeah, I’ve only been teaching here for a little over two years, so I still get stuck with most of the basic courses. Which isn’t horrible, but it’s pretty boring and easy, so I always do a lot,” You told him with a small shrug. All of the work that had been on your plate for the past few years sounded like a lot— maybe even too much— but in your mind, it actually wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. Because you liked drowning yourself in your job, it made you feel useful, and you’d spent so much time before and right after you left Hawkins feeling the exact opposite that you’d do almost anything to make sure you never felt that way again. “But, next semester I’m doing an advanced Creative Writing course for the first time, in addition to only two American Lit courses, so I’m pretty excited about that.”

Steve smiled at you. “That’s nice.”

This small talk felt okay to you, it was bearable. It was also mundane and a little trivial, but you’d rather that than talk about the past. Apparently, Steve had other plans, though.

“I had no idea you moved here.”

You pulled your eyes away from his and focused on your half-empty flute of champagne that you’d gotten when you arrived at the event and was probably disgustingly warm by now. You contemplated for a few moments whether or not you should avoid Steve’s question or allow the conversation to go in the direction that it was inevitably meant to go in. Maybe it was stupid to think that you’d be able to pretend as if your past, which Steve was quite involved in, never existed. 

“Yeah… I went to college in Massachusetts and then I went to grad school here in Rhode Island but in a different part of the state, a little more north. And I always just stayed here, always finding a reason to stay around, some small internship or job, and then I ended up at this college because a friend who was already working here recommended me. I had never done any teaching before, but I actually like it.”

You didn’t tell him that the main reason why you always found a reason— more so desperately searched for reasons— to stay in Rhode Island was so that you never had to go back to Hawkins. But, maybe that was obvious, at least to him, because he was a huge factor as to why you knew that you needed to leave that town and never look back. 

You silently wondered if he had been gone from Hawkins for a long time too, and then you realized that with the turn the conversation had taken, you could actually ask that question.

“When did you leave Hawkins?” 

“Almost ten years ago now,” Steve said, and you had to admit, you were kind of surprised by that answer. To you, he always seemed like the type of person that would want to stay in the small town. “Decided it was time for a scenery change and my parents, especially my dad, were more than happy to send me anywhere.” He let out a dry and slightly sad chuckle, and you were all too quickly reminded of why you had always despised his parents. “He pulled some strings at this small college in Ohio, so I went there and actually liked it a lot, and I haven’t been back to Hawkins since.”

You two were sitting at an empty table now, somehow silently agreeing to migrate to that spot as you continued your conversation. You placed the glass in your hand on the white tablecloth and turned to look at Steve. 

“When did you get into history?”

“My first semester I had this professor for a World History class and he was really great; Richard James. It was probably the first class ever that I actually cared about what was going on because of how he was teaching everything and I became pretty interested in history. I took a couple more history classes with him and some other professors too, and still really liked it so I changed my major to it. And after I graduated I started TA-ing for some of the advanced classes he was teaching.”

There was a smile on your face that you wanted to get rid of but couldn’t because it was just so nice to hear how happy Steve was as he talked about the past almost ten years of his life. You hated to admit it, and you’d probably never do so out loud, but there was still a part of you that cared about him so much, and you were glad that he was happy. 

“And then I ended up here because last month Richard was supposed to do a talk here, but he got sick last second and asked me to fill in for him. And for some reason, the head of the History department really liked me and offered me a job.”

You had never been the biggest fan of history so it wasn’t that surprising that you had missed the first time that Steve had been here, but your mind couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if your paths had accidentally crossed then.

“I want you to know, though, that if I would’ve known that you also worked here, I wouldn’t have taken the job,” Steve told you, somehow pretty much reading your mind and answering your unasked question. “Because I know you left Hawkins because of me. Because you never wanted to see me again, which I completely understand.”

His words right then surprised you and you had no idea what to say in response to that; your thoughts started running a million miles a second and you could only look down at your hands in your lap. But then you didn’t have to say anything because Steve kept talking. 

“I’m still really sorry about everything that happened.” 

You were so close to telling him to stop talking about it. You were fully ready to make up some lie about how the past was in the past, and how you were over everything that happened twelve years ago. 

But, right then you actually didn’t want to lie and pretend that none of it mattered. You didn’t want to avoid the past like a plague, as you’d been doing for the past decade, and like you especially had been doing for the past month since Steve showed up in Rhode Island. 

However, it couldn’t happen here. In the school’s basketball court that had been transformed for the evening into a ballroom-type of elegant space. No one was paying attention to either of you, but the potential for someone to come up at any moment while you were finally having this conversation with Steve worried you. 

You finally let your eyes meet his again. “Can we talk about this outside?” 

Steve nodded as you stood up and he followed you out the nearest door. 

It was dark outside, the time now nearing on ten o’clock, but the many lamp posts brightened up the emptiness of the quad. You found a bench and sat down, the cool metal against your back calmed your nerves a bit. 

You were suddenly reminded of the last time you and Steve talked to each other before you left Hawkins, which was about a month into Senior year at a random party at Rachel McKenna’s house. It was barely even a conversation because you refused to listen to him and his slew of apologies back then. And then you also refused to talk to him for the entirety of the school year. 

You were still unsure if you had any regrets about that. 

“I really don’t even know where to start,” You said now with a small sigh. “I always forced myself to never think about us; about that summer and the aftermath of it too. For the longest time I pretended as if none of it really mattered. Because I knew that we no longer mattered to each other.”

“You always mattered to me,” Steve told you and it was almost too easy to hear the honesty in his tone. 

Still, you were quick to shake your head at him. “Stop, you can’t say stuff like that.”

“But, it’s the truth.”

You bypassed that softly spoken statement because even though you could hear that he was being honest, you didn’t want to acknowledge it right then. So, instead, you focused on something else that he previously said. 

“You’re right. You were the main reason that I left Hawkins, not the only reason but definitely one of the big ones. But, it’s also funny because you were one of the reasons why I almost wanted to stay.” Your next words sat right on the tip of your tongue, but they were almost too hard to get out. You cleared your throat and took a quick breath before speaking. “Because I loved you, I literally loved you. So much. But, I knew that I couldn’t, or that I shouldn’t, because nothing could actually happen between us. That summer we were living in a dumb fairytale that could never become a reality. And it was so fucking stupid of me to ever think that we could actually be something real.”

“I wanted us to be something real,” Steve said and you had to bite back the scoff you wanted to let out in response. 

“Yeah, weeks after you told me that what we were doing would have to be over because it was the end of summer and Nancy was coming back to town,” You said, trying hard not to let yourself get thrust back into that memory because the exact words he had said to you that day were still etched in your mind. “But, when we abruptly ended, it finally put everything into perspective for me. I felt like such a shitty person because of what we did and how it was a fucked up thing to do. And then immediately having to pretend as if none of it ever happened made it all feel so much worse. I hated you, but I hated myself so much more for everything that happened. That’s why I never wanted to see you or talk to you again, especially at that stupid party.”

You hadn’t realized you were crying until a soft look took over Steve’s face and you suddenly felt the wetness on your cheeks. You haphazardly wiped them away and averted your eyes from his, feeling immensely embarrassed because you hated that talking about all of that, things from years and years ago, still made you cry like you were that seventeen-year-old girl all over again. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry you felt that way,” Steve told you. “But, it was all so much more my fault than it was yours. I was the one that cheated on her.” 

“But, I knew. I knew about Nancy, and I knew that what we were doing was wrong.” But, I still did it because I wanted you so bad, and I loved that you wanted me too. You didn’t say that part because you hated the way it would make you sound. 

“Still, it will always be more my fault. I was such an asshole back then. All of that ‘King Steve’ stuff really got to my head and I did a lot of shitty things,” He said, and you could tell that he wasn’t proud of that part of his past and he really did feel bad about it. “But, I don’t regret you, or us, or that summer, though. And maybe that still makes me somewhat of an asshole, but that’s okay because it’s true. I don’t regret you. Not at all.”

Somehow hearing him say those words made you realize that you didn’t regret any of it either, which was a thought that actually made you want to cry harder. Because even though you should’ve regretted everything because of every single thing that happened after— the hurt and shame you felt so strongly for months after— you knew that you’d let yourself do it all over again. 

You’d still stupidly talk to him for the first time ever outside “Ralph’s Sandwich Shop” after he mocked you on the fact that you liked to put potato chips inside your sandwich and then praised you once he tried it and realized how good it was. And you’d definitely still let him kiss you for the first while swimming in his pool in the middle of the night after whispering to him, “Are you sure?” and his answer being a small nod and his lips pressing against yours that led to the chain of events that brought you both to where you were now.  

You wholeheartedly knew that you’d do it all over again. And because of that, it made you say your next statement.  

“I don’t want to be angry and upset with you anymore, or pretend you don't exist. I want us to be okay with each other.”

“I want that too. I want us to be friends,” Steve said, and although being friends was a lot different from simply being okay with one another, it actually didn’t sound like too crazy of an idea to you. 

You nodded at him. “Okay. Yeah, me too.”

You held out your hand for Steve to take, which he did, and the two of you shook hands to seal this “deal.”

Your gaze broke from his and you glanced down a bit. “Nice bow tie, by the way.”

“I remember someone told me that I looked good in them and I believed her.”

“She’s still right.”

“Good to know.”

You both smiled at each other and then laughed, and it may have taken twelve years, but it finally felt like the past was really in the past.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“but i knew you. dancin' in your levi's, drunk under a streetlight. i knew you. hand under my sweatshirt, baby, kiss it better.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Spring Semester 1997 

It was during the most random of moments that you were startled by how close you were able to become with Steve again, and how almost too easily it was able to happen. 

Joking around with one another actually felt normal to do, and even talking to each other about anything and everything somehow felt like second nature all over again.  

Steve was the one person from your “before” life that you had wholeheartedly believed you never wanted to see again, and now you were glad that he was in your life again. Those stark lines between “before” and “after” that you had drawn twelve years ago were now completely smudged.

Sometimes when the two of you were in your or his office late at night simultaneously working on whatever you needed to while eating takeout from random places, you were hit with the thought, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m here with Steve fucking Harrington right now,” and when you would tell him that random thought, he’d laugh a bit and agree that this sudden turn of events did feel at least a little unexpected. 

But, he liked how things changed these past few months, and you really did too.  

Now it was you asking to use the shower in his hotel room that once again made you feel surprised by how comfortable you were with him. 

“Can I use your shower? The one in my room doesn’t get hot for some reason,” You had said and then immediately laughed because of how insane the request was, but of course, Steve didn’t mind. 

“Yeah, sure,” He answered with a nod of his head, opening his door further to fully let you in the room.

“Thank you,” You said, smiling at him as you walked in, a towel from your hotel room next door in hand along with a change of clothes. “I’m gonna tell the front desk about it tomorrow. I would do it now, but after the four-hour drive today, I actually feel disgusting and am in dire need of a shower.”

The two of you along with a handful of other faculty from the English, History, and Theology departments were in upstate New York for a small weekend-long conference. Things like that were definitely one of your favorite parts of your job. Hearing talks from the authors of books that you loved, and then being able to pick their brains afterward. It felt like you were a student all over again, but in a better way because you were only listening to the stuff you cared about. 

It was also pretty endearing seeing how excited Steve was about everything too. He’d gone on and on about a lecture on World War II that was scheduled for tomorrow for at least an hour during your car ride together, and his happy rambling somehow made you want to go to it too.  

“I haven’t taken a shower yet, so I actually don’t know if mine works either,” Steve told you as you headed toward the bathroom. 

“Oh God, please don’t say that,” You responded and went to turn on the shower. You sighed in relief when you felt the water get warm on your hand. “Okay, we’re good!” 

After your shower, you joined Steve where he was sitting at the foot of his bed. It probably would’ve made sense to head back to your room, both of you had to be up fairly early in the morning, but you didn’t necessarily want to leave just yet; even though the two of you had just spent the past four hours holed up in a car together. 

He was clicking through channels on the small television placed atop the dresser, trying to decide on something to put on, before settling on a movie that looked quite familiar to you; Footloose. It was the movie that the two of you watched the first time you went over to his house that summer.

“Do you remember this movie?” He smiled at you and it was hard not to laugh at his question.

You met his gaze. “I definitely remember, but do you? Because you fell asleep during it.”

“I eventually got around to watching it,” He responded and you smiled at that.

“Good,” You told him as you pulled your eyes away from his and turned your attention back toward the television, the movie was close to the end. 

When the credits started rolling ten minutes later, you were about to say goodnight to Steve and finally head back next door to your room, but he started speaking before you said anything. 

“Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?” He asked, and the vulnerability and genuine curiosity laced within the question made your heart constrict. “If I hadn’t been an idiot and gone back to Nancy at the end of the summer. If I realized earlier that I really wanted to be with you.” 

His words actually managed to surprise you because, over the last few months of you and Steve becoming friends again, that part of your deeply intertwined past was something that neither of you talked about. What the two of you used to be to each other, so deeply and utterly in love, hadn’t once come up in your conversations. Maybe it was the elephant in the room that had yet to be addressed. However, a part of you also felt that it was unnecessary to talk about it because, just like everything else, that was also in the past. 

“Things would’ve definitely been different,” You ultimately said, words feeling unsure because you now felt so confused. Your next statements came out rushed as you leaned back on the bed, your back hitting the comforter and your hands covering your face because you were purposefully avoiding eye contact with him. “Sorry, I don’t really know what to say right now. I didn’t expect you to say that, and now my mind is kinda spiraling a bit.” 

The question became a broken record in your mind. 

Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?

You actually had never wondered about that because, for the longest time, you had forced yourself not to think about Steve, or that summer, or even Hawkins in general. But now your brain was spiraling in a thousand different directions with potential answers to the simply stated but insanely loaded question. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was a stupid question. I don’t even know why I asked it, honestly,” Steve responded, words coming out rushed just as yours had. Something about his current sudden nervousness reminded you of the first encounter you two had in the hallway when you learned that he lived in Rhode Island. “Please forget I said anything.” 

You didn’t want to forget, though. 

“It would’ve been good, I think,” You said softly. You could feel Steve’s eyes on you, but you still didn’t want to meet his gaze. “I think we would’ve been really good together. I wouldn’t have spent almost every day working at the library, and instead, I would’ve gone to your basketball games and swim meets, and I’d actually enjoy it all because I was watching you. And we would’ve gotten drunk at parties on the weekends, and then the next morning you’d still drive me to my shift at the library and stay the entire time because there was nothing else that you wanted to spend your Sunday morning and afternoon doing. Maybe after graduating, we would’ve chosen colleges somewhere close to Hawkins, or even somewhere so far away from the small town. Probably someplace far away. But that part of it doesn’t really matter because we would’ve been together, and that’s all that would have mattered.” 

There was really no doubt in your mind that that would’ve happened, or a different but similar version occurring that also included you and Steve simply being happy and in love with one another.

You felt the bed shift a bit after a few moments of your previous words lingering in the air of the hotel room and settling heavily over Steve, and you finally pulled your hands away from your face to look at him. He was now also leaning back against the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“God, I was such a dumbass,” He muttered, and you could hear the sadness in his voice.

You turned on your side to face him. “We both were. I wish I let myself forgive you at that party.” 

“I didn’t deserve your forgiveness then,” He responded as he turned on his side as well and met your eyes. “Sometimes I feel like I barely deserve it now.” 

There was so much you could’ve said in response to that but words didn’t feel right in that moment. So, instead of saying something along the lines of, “Please stop beating yourself up about it. You’re a good person,” you shimmied yourself closer to him, closing the small gap of space between you two, and pulled him in for a hug. 

The position was awkward, one of your arms was sandwiched underneath him and you knew that it would almost immediately fall asleep and cause some discomfort. However, any and all awkwardness faded away when you felt Steve reciprocate and his arms circled around you. 

“It’s okay, okay? I promise everything is okay between us,” You whispered, almost certain that your words got lost in his neck, but when you felt him squeeze you tighter you knew that he was able to hear you clearly. And not only that, but he believed you. 

And then it felt like almost second nature for you to make a joke to make things feel light again. “Actually, I’m still offended that you fell asleep during Footloose the first time we ever hung out. I don’t forgive you for that.” 

You felt his body shake with laughter which made you smile, and after a few moments, you pulled back from the hug to find him smiling softly at you. 

“I’ll redeem myself when the sequel comes out,” He said. 

“It’s been twelve years, I think the sequel ship has sailed.”

He laughed again. “Okay, yeah, that’s true.”

You should’ve taken the newfound silence as your opportunity to say goodnight to him and head next door to your room. However, you couldn’t find the will to fully pull yourself away from him. His arms were still around you, like yours were, and your faces were dangerously close. But, the current proximity didn’t feel dangerous or worrisome to you. Instead, it simply felt right; which was an abrupt feeling that should’ve confused you, but somehow it didn’t. 

“I really missed you,” He told you, breaking the silence with a statement that only cemented that “rightness” you were feeling at that moment. 

“I missed you too.” Your four words somehow felt so effortlessly honest. Even though you had pretended that he and that summer never mattered by forcing your thoughts away from it all, Steve always still held a place in your heart. Deep down inside of you, something that resembled a yearning for him almost always lingered. “I constantly tried to tell myself that that wasn’t true, but I really did miss you… And I’m so glad we’re here right now.” 

“Me too.” He looked at you so softly that you felt yourself slowly melting under his gaze.

In your mind, which now suddenly felt so clear and the farthest thing from confused, the next thing you wanted to do seemed like the best thing to do. In fact, it was something that you felt like you needed to do. 

Your hand that was resting at the nape of Steve’s neck moved to his cheek as you dipped your head just a tiny bit closer to him. 

Steve closed the small gap some more and his lips ghosted over yours for what felt like a fraction of a second before he pulled back a little and looked at you. “Are you sure?”

“Now that sounds awfully familiar,” You joked, referring to that moment in his pool all those years ago, and although he cracked a smile at your statement, you knew his question was serious. 

You weren’t kids anymore. The two of you couldn’t just kiss and let it mean nothing in the end. 

But, you truly didn’t want it to mean nothing. 

You couldn’t have a good ending back then, but did that mean that you still couldn’t have one now? 

“I’m so sure about this,” You told him and before he could potentially respond with anything, you let your lips find his, and how quickly Steve kissed you back nonverbally told you how he felt about it all too.

You were completely done for, you knew that for certain. There was nothing that could compare to this and there would never be anything that could compare to this— Steve’s lips on yours for the first time in years, but it feeling like the last time it happened was only yesterday. It was all so innate and easy, probably the easiest thing you’d ever done. 

The way his hand found your waist to pull you even closer to him, which made you inwardly smile, and the way you let your fingers settle in his hair and lightly tug on the brown locks, which elicited a soft sigh in contentment from him— you still knew every part of each other so well. 

Two people that had been apart for so long finally coming back together. It was a statement that technically summed up you and Steve, but in your eyes, that felt too simple and didn’t accurately summarize the hurt, pain, and turmoil that had accompanied the past twelve years. And it especially didn’t correctly encompass the current part of it all, the “coming back together” part. 

Because that part felt indescribable. 

A part of it felt similar to watching a movie that ended just the way you wanted it to, or having someone right there to help you get back up and patch up your wounds after you’d fallen off your bike. A feeling that said that even though everything had once felt so uncertain and the complete opposite of perfect, it wasn’t that way anymore. 

Things quickly felt so good and right, and both of you were already making internal promises— promises that you’d later whisper to one another while wrapped up in the sheets of Steve’s bed— to never let each other go so easily again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“​​and i knew you'd come back to me. you’d come back.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

let me know ur thoughts<333

(read “august” here!)

[wavesmp3]

[wjh] taking chances

wen junhui (svt) x reader - wc. 2.1k - genre: angst ish, ex somethings to current somethings (you'll see) - warnings: some cursing i think

you know water. you know how it churns and groans into a storm. how it’s calm on a cool, spring day. how it calls one to it, to watch and be lost in the ebb and flow of the waves. you know water. and it’s because you know water that you know when it’s time to return to it.

jun watches you take your first steps into what used to be home. you watch your feet as they take each of the steps before the entryway, one by one. slowly. you pause before opening the door, hand hovering just above the doorknob that’s so familiar to you both. 

“you don’t have to do this, you know.” you tell him abruptly. it’s just a couple bags. i can take it from here.”

jun watches you closely as you say it. the way your lips turn down and voice gets breathier at the end of each sentence, as if the words are losing their steam halfway between your throat and your mouth. your hair looks the same as it did when you moved away. your eyes are a couple years older, but still hold the sunlight the way they did when you guys were 14. for a quiet, blissful moment, jun lets himself believe that you haven’t changed. that you’re still the you that left your sleepy hometown for university. still the you that told jun maybe the two of you could try again whenever you got back. the same you that said nothing when he asked if you even plan on coming back. he looks for the scar you got when you were younger, playing volleyball on the beach after school. he can’t find it.

he clears his throat. things have changed. 

“i don’t mind.” is all he says before you open the door home. 

—

he sees you again at the bonfire that night, a tradition in your hometown to signify the start of summer that always falls on the first friday in may. a small thing for locals to enjoy before the town is overrun with tourists and the beautiful beaches are filled with strangers at every turn. 

you’re talking to jihoon, catching up and showing him something on your phone. you look like an entirely different person than the one he left this morning. earlier, your entire face was tight and scrunched up, the way it always did during exams. but now, you look calmed, relaxed, jaw finally unclenched and shoulders down. jihoon says something to make you laugh, and jun can hear the sound all the way from the other side of the fire, over soonyoung’s yells at chan and over his own heart. the bonfire flashes in his face, chan yells back at soonyoung, and you’re left with a smile. jun feels a warm rush run from his head to his arms. he swallows it down with a gulp of his drink. 

you catch his eyes across the beach, eyebrows raising a tiny bit and drink lifted to him. a small hello thrown across the chaos of the bonfire and all your friends. his feet are leading him towards you before he can even think to stop them. 

“hey.” you smile, clinking your bottle against his cup. 

“hi.” he returns, taking another sip.

“i think i’ve officially said hi to everyone now.” you declare, staring out at the group. jun wonders what must be running through your mind right now. are you thinking of the friends you made at university? are you wishing it was them here with you right now instead of him? 

but then you watch jeonghan and wonwoo race across the beach followed by them arguing whether jeonghan cheated or not, and say, “i missed this.”

you wave away the smoke that drifts over from the fire and tap your index finger against the neck of your beer. jun says, “me too.”

the two of you stand there for a while. you watching the fire grow. jun watching you. he’s instantly transported back to your last bonfire here. the one right after graduation, during which you found out that you got into a university a thousand miles away. jun wishes he had the foresight to be happy for you, to recognize that you got into your dream program at your dream school. he wishes he had celebrated with you, with everyone, relished in the bittersweet knowledge that this would be your last bonfire together like this. but jun hadn’t. instead, jun took you aside and told you that school would be hard, too hard maybe. that maybe you should reconsider. maybe you should be like the ones before and go to a university close enough to home to visit every other weekend. and underneath the million reasons he gave you to not go was the confession that he had been holding back since the start of that year, a wildcard that maybe you saw coming or maybe you didn’t. either way, when he finally told you how much he liked you, how he had for so long, you didn’t say it back. you didn’t even acknowledge any of the bullshit reasons he gave before. instead, you kissed him softly, an overwhelmingly high school press of lips together, and told him, you’re sorry. not now, but maybe later.

you catch him staring. is it later now?

"what?" you ask with a laugh.

jun shakes his head quickly. “no, nothing. just…” he lets out a breath, averting his eyes from your questioning gaze. “we really missed you while you were gone.” 

you roll your eyes. “you act like i’m the only one that left home. seungkwan and minghao also moved away.”

“true.” he admits, at which you let out a small ‘thank you’ under your breath. “but you were the first.”

and there’s something in the way jun says it that makes your lips part, readying to say something in response, but nothing comes out. you gulp down whatever you really wanted to say and replace it with a quiet. “well, i’m back now.”

jun squints at you, remembering how badly you wanted to leave at the end of high school, remembering how upset you were this morning at the reality of being back. jun doesn’t stop to think of it another way. he doesn’t stop to conjure up some other reason for the way you were acting this morning versus how you seem to be now. instead, he gives it the same one he gave himself 4 years ago to answer why you left–”but you hate this place.”

your entire body is visibly taken aback by the question, or maybe the bluntness of it. and when jun sees the way your face contorts into something akin to offense, he finds himself wanting to chase after the reckless words and shove them back inside his stomach. 4 years later and jun still doesn’t know which words are the right ones to say. 4 years later and he still resents you for leaving.

you never get to answer the question. instead, joshua appears quoting a line from twilight and dragging you away complaining that you hadn’t come to say hi to him yet. 

you watch jun as you walk off, sourly muttering, “i guess i forgot one.”

the only thing jun can think of then is how selfishly he stole the smile from your face. 

—

jun doesn't really talk to anyone else for the rest of the bonfire. he teeters around the edge only conversing if someone else initiates it first and watching you converse happily with everyone else. he turns his gaze away from you and to the sea. he watches the water crumble against the sand and crawl back into the ocean, over and over again. there’s comfort in the image and in the sound. it’s why his family moved here . it’s why every summer tourists flock here and stay for months complaining of the day they must inevitably go back. all jun’s life, he’s only known people to enter. enter his life, his space, his routine. and when you left for university, it was the first time in his life that someone had left. 

“hey,” seokmin says, sitting down next to jun in the sand, “look at this.”

seokmin hands jun an old photograph. it was hardly a very sentimental photo, rather an old class picture from when jun was either 10 or 12. one of those forced smiles and terribly timed pictures every class was forced to take once a year. at the time of this picture, jun was friends with soonyoung and no one else. but on the other side of the class stands you and wonwoo. best friends at this age. that makes him smile. 

he looks up to thank seokmin, who is already gone, dancing with mingyu to some song blasting through the speakers. 

jun goes back to the picture, enraptured in a life that used to be his. when he does looks up, he finds himself face to face with you. 

“can i sit?” you ask casually. like you guys haven’t been in this weird stalemate for the past four years. he nods, and you do.  

you point to jihoon in the old school photograph, snickering, “god, look at his hair.” 

jun takes a good look at it, laughing at the bowl haircut, complete with a gravity defying cowlick in the back. “i don’t know how his parents let him leave the house like that.”

you point out some other classmates, asking what they’ve been up to. jun fills you in on all of them. but eventually, you run out of classmates, and the picture starts to feel like another reminder of what could have been instead of what is. jun chooses to look back at the water.

“do you still surf?” you ask him quietly. 

“not really.” he answers, biting back the memory of trying to teach you at 15. 

“jun.” you say with a voice that forces him to finally look your way. he does, and he feels as stupidly enamored as he did at 17. “i know you don’t understand why i left, but i don't hate this place. i never…” you gulp, looking for the words in the air between you and him. you find it in the photograph still nestled in his hands. “how could i hate it here?” you say, gesturing to 10 year old you, “this is my home.”

“tell me again then,” jun begins, wondering inwardly if he should even be speaking anymore, “why you had to leave it so bad?”

you shake your head. “i had a chance i had to take.”

jun doesn’t say anything back. you place a hand on his knee. 

“i hate that leaving made it so weird between us.”

jun stares at your hand on his knee silently. 

“i want us to go back to the way we were.”

you scoot closer to him. he shivers.

“don’t you?”

suddenly, he can feel your breath hitting the base of his neck. his entire body is frozen in place, watching your eyes flutter shut, watching his lips hover beside yours. 

finally, he gets the massive kick in the gut he needs to ask, “why’d you come back?”

you meet his eyes, and there’s a million subliminal messages in them when you say, “there was one more chance i wanted to take.”

the confession is a spell, compelling jun to let you kiss him and allowing himself to kiss you back. and this kiss, in stark contrast to the one you both shared at your last bonfire, has nothing high school about it. it’s four years of wanting and longing crushed into a tangle of tongue and lips. it’s biting and breathless. you pull at his knee. he grabs the back of your neck. 

when you do finally pull away, you’re smiling again. jun is too. you keep your face right next to his, breathing him in, taking him in for all his wrong words and bitterness. 

somewhere in the back of his mind, jun knows that he’d always let you have him like this. and beneath that, buried under the rush of the kiss, he knows that you won’t want him like this for long. he knows he’s only a blip of a hometown romance in a life that’s foreign to him and has been since the moment you left. 

but that doesn’t stop him from drinking you in, pulling your face back to his and letting his tongue run over your teeth. it doesn’t stop him from giving himself up to you over and over again. 

jun is just another chance for you to take. and as long as it’s there, he prays you take it. 

[wildemaven]

Sweet Creature: Chapter Three

Pairing: Dieter Bravo x F!Reader

WC: 3605

Summary: A washed up movie star with a failing career, fresh out of rehab and looking to turn his life around. He moves back to his small hometown to take a break from stardom and help his sister out with his niece- He's traded the high-life for school runs and crafting. What he doesn't except is to meet you, his niece's school teacher who couldn't care less about his extensive filmography or his dwindling fame.

Warnings: 18+ blog; swearing, mentioning of drugs, abandonment, arguing, food and alcohol, angst, feelings, mention of recovery/rehabilitating, absent parents, nail picking, Diem having to be a mother hen, one line from ‘The Bubble’— I think that’s it, as usual please let me know if I’ve forgotten anything.

A/N: This chapter totally became something I didn’t intend on, but in a good way. There’s a lot of feelings from everyone being thrown around and some hurt, but I think it was needed to be able to move forward— especially from that initial awareness in the kitchen. I’m excited to now get everyone in a somewhat good place with each other, so they can quit being knuckleheads. Thanks so much for all the love on the first two chapters, I am so excited to share more! Big thanks again to @gnpwdrnwhiskey for taking the time to beta for me— she’s been my wingwoman through this and I so appreciate her time and thoughts with each chapter!

Series Masterlist / Sweet Creature Playlist / Main Masterlist

Previous / Next

“Diem’s not home.”

“Oh fuck—”

This is literally one of those worst case scenario situations, and you’re not sure if you’ll ever come back from it. 

You feel sick, the pit in your stomach heavy with regret. A destructive aftershock hits your chest, rolling tremors of guilt crashing through every inch of you. 

“Dieter, I— I’m s-so sorry.” Your voice cracks as you force yourself to break the agonizing silence. 

“Sorry you said it or sorry you got caught?”

You’re not even sure which one is a better option, either way it doesn’t resolve the hurt you’ve caused him. 

His eyes lack that sparkle you saw earlier in the day, dimple no longer visible—his expression now reserved and opaque. 

“I-I didn’t mean for you to hear any of that— I.”

“Oh, so you meant it then?”

“No, I-“

“Like when we first met, a year ago. What was it you said? Ah, I think it was something to the effect of ‘a fucking deadbeat, washed up douchebag’. The memory is a bit hazy, but those words stuck with me this whole time, just didn’t have a face to put with them until now.”

“Dieter, I’m so—“ 

“Yeah, sorry. You mentioned that.”

Tears well up in your eyes, stinging as they threaten to burn trails of remorse down your face. You blink them away, keeping them at bay for the now. Right now is not their time, it’s not your moment to center yourself in misery— this catastrophe of a situation is at the fault of your own actions. 

The click of the front door grabs your attention— Diem’s home. 

Both you and Dieter are still standing in the kitchen, eyes locked onto each other, neither making the first move as you wait for Diem’s arrival into this botched run in. 

“Hey! Sorry I’m late, Wren’s appointment ran later than expected.” Diem’s arms full with take out boxes, completely oblivious to the gloom looming around in her kitchen. “Oh shit! I forgot we were getting together tonight.”

“Mama said a bad word!” Wren already settling herself on a barstool at the counter. 

“Sorry, baby. I should have text you! Wren had a doctors appointment and her booster was in Dieter’s car from this morning— it was a hot fuc— hot mess! But I’m glad you are getting to know each other without me!”

So much is happening around you, your body frozen as you watch Diem arrange the white foam containers about on the kitchen island, a small hand grabbing at the mound of salty rosemary seasoned fries. Dieter settling back against the nearest counter watching as his sister moves about with ease, something he hasn’t been witness to in a while. 

“I grabbed tacos from The Nest downtown. Since I screwed up our night, stay and eat with us.” She says to you as she’s putting plates and silverware out. 

“It’s okay, I can go. I don’t want to intrude on your time together.” Your throat dry, pulse racing, you need to leave immediately. 

“Oh stop! You’re not intruding on us, I insist— the more the merrier, right Dieter.”

His name slices through you like a jagged knife, each syllable a tiny knick, the slow drag of its blade adding to your own downfall. 

“As long as she’s comfortable with it, the more the merrier.” His gaze bores intensely at you, his voice laced with bitterness. 

“Yeah— okay.” Your own words betraying you. 

“Perfect! I was hoping for all of us to have dinner together at some point anyways— no better time than now I guess. Everyone grab a plate and we can sit at the table. Wren, go wash your hands baby.”

“‘Kay, mama!”

*

“I also played on the swings— I showed my friends that trick Uncle Dude taught me!”

“What trick?!” Diem, unaware of any ‘swing tricks’, glances at Dieter with furrowed brows in a panic at the thought of Wren sharing something dangerous with her friends— he seems to be equally confused, shrugging as he waits for Wren to explain further. 

“I swing as higher and higher as I can, then jump so I can fly!” Her little arms stretched out in a flying motion and she continues to munch  away at her fries.

“Oh! Well, let’s save that for when we’re together and not at school where we can get hurt if we fly too high.”

“Okay mama!” 

You’ve barely touched the tacos in front of you, let alone heard much of the conversations being shared around the table. Your brain is so busy running through a list of excuses to leave, you don’t hear your name being called. 

“Hmm?” Refocusing back to the present moment. 

“I asked how things have been at school? We didn’t get our usual catch-up chat at drop off this morning since Dieter took Wren.” 

“Oh— good! Things are g-good!” You force a fake and hopefully believable smile, keeping your response minimal and to the point. 

“Have you made any progress on your upcoming art exhibition at the gallery?” 

“Umm, yeah— I mean kind of. Still trying to nail down a theme right now. Then paint everything before it’s time to prep for the install. Just haven’t found any inspiration just yet, typical artist procrastination.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure something out and get it all done in time.” Diem ever the optimist. “And, if you need any ideas, Dieter is well knowledgeable in the field, I already told you he’s an artist. I’m sure he can help you with any questions you might have. Right, Dieter?”

“Yeah— sure.” His response is flat, not even making an attempt to look up from his plate. 

“Thanks.” I think. 

“You okay? You’ve barely eaten.” Diem’s motherly concern not reserved to only Wren tonight. 

“Yeah— sorry, I’m good. Just been a long day, some— umm, things kind of came out of nowhere. A lot on my mind, that’s all.” 

“Hmmph.” Dieter lets out a brief huff of annoyance at your response as he settles back into his chair, pursed lips and arms crossed on his chest— he wants this to be over just as much as you do. 

“What was that Dieter?” 

“Mama, I’m full.” Wren’s sweet little voice breaks through the awkward tension that made itself comfortable at the table for the evening. 

“Wren, you barely ate your tacos— how can you be full?” 

“I’m full of French fries mama! May I be excused?” 

“Sure. Go wash up and brush your teeth. Then you can play for a bit before bath time.” 

Wren doesn’t even wait for the end of Diem’s directions before she’s launching her body out of her chair and heading for the bathroom. Maybe you could borrow a page from her book, you’d rather be full of fries instead of the uneasiness that has settled in your gut. 

Diem lets out a heavy sigh, face resting in her hands as her elbows support her on the table. “I swear, sometimes I feel like she’s testing me.”

“She’s a kid, it’s her job to keep you on your toes and not eat anything you want her to.” Dieter reaches over and gives Diem’s arm a light squeeze. 

“Yeah, he’s right.” Sneaking a glance towards Dieter as you agree with him, there’s a quick flick of his eyes over to you then back to Diem. “It’s developmentally on track for her to be picky or hate something she once enjoyed. It’s nothing you’re doing wrong at all. And if it makes you feel better, she ate all her lunch today— said she loves when you make those special circle cut sandwiches.” 

You catch the momentary smile on her face, hoping your words were enough to give her some relief. While you don’t know the weight that comes with being a parent, it’s  your job to know the ins and outs of kid’s behaviors and how they react to a multitude of situations. 

“Thank you. I’m so grateful— for both of you. This summer is going to be busy, but knowing I have the two of you in my life it seems less stressful. Speaking of which, I’m doing a re-grand opening for the Capri soon, it’s really a glorified pool party— music, drinks, hot guys, and a sweet little girl who might need some looking after while I make sure it all goes smoothly.” 

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it.” You agree immediately, you love helping Diem whenever she needs it. 

“Yeah. I already told you, any way I can help with Birdie, I’m there.”

Even with the prospect of being around Dieter regularly, you would rather see your friend happy and endure the already strained relationship you and Dieter have. 

It seems like the awkwardness has dissipated and you’re hoping to ease into a peaceful parting for the evening. 

“You both are the best! Gosh, to think it was roughly a year ago you were screaming at Dieter—“

So much for the peaceful part. 

You see Dieter’s shoulders tense as Diem starts to recount the incident you’ve already re-lived earlier this evening. 

“Diem, no—“ Your attempt to get her to stop talking goes unheeded. 

“Calling him a washed up actor, or whatever it was you said—“

“Diem, please don’t—“ Your heart-rate quickening, if you didn’t already feel like shit from your foot-in-mouth event earlier, you definitely do now. 

Dieter’s jaw ticking to the side, as Diem continues the retelling of the story. 

“And then you tried to convince me to not have him stay with me— to think we wouldn’t be able to hang out like this if that were the case!” 

There’s that proverbial bomb you were waiting to explode, a nuclear wave that was bound to destroy everything in its path. 

“You what?! You told my sister to not allow me here?”

“Dieter, I just— I thought you were the type of guy who—“ The tears have made their way back, this time there’s nothing you can do to stop them from falling. 

“What type is that? The annoying movie star whose ego has to be stroked on the regular so he can continue playing the role of ‘look how glamorous I am’? Or is it the washed up-deadbeat-douchebag type that you think so little of?”

“I’m sorry…” Your lungs are filled with the weight of his words, drowning in the thick air of your own words being thrown back at you. 

“Listen— I'm sorry. I'm trying to care, but it's hard— Fuck! I need some goddamn air!” 

“Dieter?!”

Dieter stands hastily, his chair scooting back with the force of his movements, not saying another word as he makes his way out the back door. 

There’s a beat of silence, save for the occasional sound of Wren playing as she was told to do. 

“Okay, what the fuck just happened?!” Diem looking back in the direction of where he had gone, then back to you. 

“I fucked up Diem— I-I fucked up really bad.”

“What do you mean you fucked up? What did you do?”

Diem looking at you with desperation, eyes pleading to clue her in on the reason for Dieter’s agitation. 

You let out a heavy sigh before you begin to recount the events that had unfolded between you and Dieter. 

“I was heading over for our usual weekly get together, saw your car in the driveway and figured it was just you home— “ You can’t bear to look at Diem, your nervous tick of picking at your nails keeping your focus. “I let myself in, like I always do— started talking about Dieter and how I thought he was attractive and healthy looking— But then I just kept going and started talking about what I said when I found him in the bathroom at Wren’s party— I thought I was talking to you, until I realized it wasn’t you, it was Dieter.”

Your gaze slowly lifts to meet Diem’s, her expression solemn as she takes in everything you’ve shared. 

“I’m so sorry, Diem. I know we chat and share things openly with each other, but I didn’t— I didn’t mean for him to ever hear that.”

She takes a deep breath. You don’t get the sense that she’s upset, she’s always been able to keep herself pretty calm even when she’s angry. 

“Look, Dieter will get over it— It might take a minute, but I promise it will blow over in time. But you gotta stop with your constant need to prejudge and criticize people based on their past. Was your first impression of Dieter the greatest? No, it wasn’t ideal— but you can’t keep bashing him forever. He’s put in the work, you’ve got to give him a chance to at least prove it.”

She’s right. Hearing her call you out on your flaws stings more than you thought, but you know she’s right and you accept her unyielding words. 

“You’re my best friend, and I’ve already told you how much I appreciate your loyalty— but he’s also my brother and I can’t just assume he’s going to fail without reason. I’m going to support him and love him through this next chapter of his life, until he shows me otherwise.”

You wipe the last few tears that have started to dry, nodding in agreement. 

“I mean— I love you, but you gotta quit doing this shit. I know your past has hurt you in so many ways, but you got to stop it from letting you move forward with the life you’re living now.”

“Yeah, you’re right— I’ve got to make peace with things. I’m sorry, for how I acted and for the way things went tonight. I’ll make a better effort moving forward.”

“It’s okay. I mean it’s not, but it is. Come on.” She stands and motions for you to follow her, grabbing your things, you both make your way to the front door. “I think we need to let things settle a bit, give everyone time to cool off. Go home, take a bath, relax— don’t let it eat you up though. I’ll talk to Dieter, smooth things over with him.”

“Mama!! I need you!” Wren’s timing always seems to be right on point. 

“That’s my cue— mom mode engaged! I love you! We’ll chat more soon.”

“I love you too.” She pulls you into a tight embrace, it feels like a warm blanket of love. You hug her back, hoping she can feel just how much you love her too. 

“Mama!”

“Coming! Night!”

“Night Diem!”

*

He doesn’t even know how long he’s been sitting, letting the irritation of the evening quiet down, enjoying the chilly air on the back patio. 

The moon starts to crest the evening sky and the stars slowly appear, blinking from their respective peaks. 

The sound of the sliding door opening catches Dieter’s attention from where he’s sitting at the outdoor dining table. 

“Hey, you okay?” Diem placing a glass of ice water for him on the table, then taking a seat next to him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Although, a heads up that you and Wren’s teacher were besties would have been nice.” 

“If I’d known you’d both be at each other's throats after your first meeting, I would have.”

He doesn’t really know what any warning would have done, but he wasn’t expecting to be front row to a vent session he wasn’t meant to hear. 

“Her and I talked— I let her know that what she said was not the nicest way of expressing her opinion—“

“Ya think?!” 

“Dieter let me finish. I told her she can’t let her past dictate her life or how she meets certain people.”

“Certain people? You mean people like me, you can say it— a former drug addicted, an actor. What kind of history is so bad that she’s put off by the idea of you letting your own brother live with you?”

“It’s not my place to share that with you. If and when she does decide to, that’s her choice.”

“But it was her place to talk freely about me with you? I’m assuming regularly too, being that you two have these little gossip nights every week.”

“That’s not fair, Dieter.”

“How so?”

“Look, I already told her that she was out of line with her comments. She needs to give you a chance and I’m going to ask you to do the same for her.”

He can feel his frustration bubbling up in his chest. 

“Fuck that! If she’s allowed to voice her opinion about me not coming around, then I’m going to have to do the same— I don’t want her here while I’m staying with you.”

“Well, that’s not an option Dieter, so you can just forget that!”

“Why? Because her friendship is more important than your own brother?”

“First of all, I never said that. Secondly, she’s all I had for a long time— she was here when I needed someone to talk to late at night when I couldn’t sleep, helped me with Wren when I needed it. She stepped up when I didn’t even ask her to.”

He hears the tremble in Diem’s voice, her usual level headed tone shifting towards anger the more she talks. 

“You could have just called and said you needed help, I would have been here.” The moment it leaves his mouth he knows how ridiculous it sounds, and knows whatever Diem is about to unleash on him is more than justified. 

“Are you fucking serious right now?! Called you? When could I have called you for your help?? Hmm?? When you were across the country shooting your big time movies for months on end?? How about when you and what’s his face were off gallivanting across Europe for a year? I should have called you then, right? Oh! I know— I should have called you every time you were strung out from doing fuck knows how many lines of Coke or whatever drug of the week it was.”

He feels gutted, every bit of him fileted open as Diem pours salt into every crevice of his undeserving body. 

This is all part of it though— the healing process. While there is bound to be plenty of excitement and joy around his recovery, there is an equal amount of uncertainty and ugliness that comes along with it. Raw, heavy emotions and animosity all have just as much of a place as the elated ones. 

“I didn’t have mom and dad— and I didn’t have you either.” She uses the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her tears as she brings her feet up onto the edge of the chair, arms pulling her legs close to her chest as she rests her head on her knees. 

“Diem, I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry I wasn’t available and I’m sorry for not being the brother you needed.” 

Reaching over he grabs the arm of her chair pulling it closer to his own, the metal of the legs scraping against the ground. 

He leans against Diem, head resting on hers 

as he wraps an arm around her shoulders. 

“I’m not asking you to be best friends, just to give her a chance, for me. Heck, you can even fake that you like her if you want to.” He laughs, but knows an actual effort is what Diem deserves. “I need you both more than you know. Can you promise that you’ll do that for me, Dieter?”

Her body shifts a bit, he leans back to allow her to bring her arm out from where it was tucked away. 

It’s as if they were transported back to their childhood, her pinky awaiting his to fully seal the agreement. 

“Promise.”

*

The rest of your evening went as Diem suggested— a warm bath with your favorite bath bomb and a small glass of wine to help relax even more. 

You hated how much you were the cause of the evening’s chaos, replaying every word of it on your walk home, as you soaked and now as you situate yourself in bed. 

The only remedy for your lackluster mood was a phone call away. Grabbing for your cellphone and scrolling through the recent call log until your thumb finds the contact you’re seeking. 

It’s ringing, the silence between each ring feels like minutes, but by the fifth ring you can hear the click of the call being accepted. 

“Hello?”

“Hi mom, it’s me.”

“Well hello there, this is a surprise!”

The way her voice is always soothing and warm, it feels as if she’s snuggled in bed next to you. 

“Sorry it’s so late, I just— needed to hear your voice.”

“Okay, what’s bothering you?” Her motherly senses already firing off.  

“How did you move on?”

“What do you mean?”

“With how dad was, is— how did you move on and feel okay to trust again?”

“Well, that’s a loaded question.”

Propping a few of your pillows behind you, nestling into them as you prepare to listen to what she has to say. 

“Time was a big factor. You were my main focus too. But eventually I had to realize that I can’t automatically assume that every guy I meet is going to be like your father, unless they show me otherwise. Once I figured that out, the fear of being let down was no longer keeping me from moving on. I hope that answers your question.”

“It does. Thank you mom.”

“So, who’s the guy?”

“I-I didn’t mention any guy.”

“You didn’t have to. But, he must be worth it though if you’re humble enough to seek out the opinion of your little ole mother.”

“Yeah— we’ll see.”

Next

[yukidragon]

Sunny Day Jack - Mafia AU - Family Business

After my last post about the Blouin family in the Mafia AU for Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack I wound up going on a little extra ramble over on my twitter (calling it X is too weird for me) about how the family business got started. I figured I'd post it here too to make it easier to read and reference later.

It all started with a small business run by the beautiful Alma Blouin and her husband ???

I'd call him [Redacted] but that alias is taken already, so let's stick with what was written in the family tree, shall we?

I was inspired by Makes me Smile, an engaging story written by Sauce that takes place in the SunnyTime Town AU, that it actually started as a family-run traveling carnival that was a cover for more shady business. The family name and business wound up taking up some permanent roots in St. Valens because of Marceau.

There were more opportunities in that crime-riddled city to do backrooms deals, score illicit substances, and other stuff like that. St. Valens was a city rife with crooked cops and people with dubious morals. Sadly, this hasn't changed in present day. If anything, it's only gotten worse. It just can hide behind a shiny new coat of paint and colorful smiles thanks to the Blouin family taking over so many local businesses under their brand name of SunnyTime LLC.

Lucy Connolly is actually responsible for the SunnyTime brand, which is one reason why she kept her last name even after marrying Marceau Blouin. Since she was young, she wanted to make it big in the city, really clean up the town. She succeeded in making it big, but somewhere along the way she got sucked into a world full of sin and vice where her formally black and white view of morality was blurred with many shades of gray. She's still trying to do the right thing, particularly for her family and people she wants to protect, but sometimes she found it was necessary to do morally questionable things to do it. It was a slow corruption of innocence in a sense.

In a way, Jack gets his more twisted view on right and wrong from Lucy, as Marceau is a bit more up front about how messed up the criminal underworld is and their involvement in it. Jack tries to keep things as "friendly" as possible if he can help it, so to speak.

Marceau started off the business in St. Valens with an entertainment club. You had to know the right signs to get access to the good stuff they didn't show on the menu, stuff that could get you thrown in jail if you didn't have the money to pay off the cops.

One night, Lucy stopped by the club that had suddenly got so popular, thinking it was entirely legitimate, and it led to that fateful first encounter between her and Marceau.

Marceau didn't think he'd be staying in St. Valens long, even if he was trying to take advantage of the place for as long as possible, but Lucy was invested in the city, as it was her hometown. She was friendly and outgoing, and she knew a lot of people there. She grew up with them.

Lucy had a good sense for business, which places would be good to snap up for a song. She knew about the issues with many local gangs and how they intimidated local businesses into giving them a cut of their earnings to not get roughed up. She wanted to stop that sort of thing from happening so that innocent people could live their lives without fear.

Which is why the Blouin family in the present does take care of the citizens of St. Valens and stomp out more unsavory practices like human trafficking. Essentially Lucy wanted justice and went vigilante. (Insert Joker reference/joke here.) When it became clear that not everyone she tried to save was good, well…

That led into her corrupted world view and a more "ends justify the means" approach.

Marceau had been taught to watch his back and stand on his own, not having the best home life. In a sense, Lucy taught him to care more about others, that he could have someone he could trust to watch her back, and he taught her how to not let others take advantage of her and those she cares for.

Really, in the present day, the Blouins own a lot of businesses in a variety of sectors, from entertainment to scientific research to home electronics to weapons manufacturing. They're spread out across not just the SunnyTime LLC brand, but plenty of sub-companies with different names that the average person might not realize is owned by them. The SunnyTime brand has become a known trustworthy across the country and are spreading out slowly internationally.

Well… technically the family business is known internationally, just not in any public circles, and not under any brand name. Marceau alone has committed quite a few international crimes, though no one has been able to pin anything on him publicly. Lucy does a good job of keeping their public facing image squeaky clean, and she won't anyone hurt or take away any of her family.

Now that Jack is in charge, it's his turn to take care of the family and the business. Despite his issues with human touch, both them, and his sunshine, are in good hands.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[golbrocklovely]

we went mad // sam and colby

A/N: let me tell you a story of how this came to be. i obviously got the idea from the scream franchise, in particular scream 2 which is set at a college. so originally i wrote this in second person, but i felt like i had already written pretty much everything up until now in that pov, so i had to switch ALL of the writing i had done (which was most of it) over to first person. and then… i had to finish writing it. and that for some reason just took so long for me. i think part of the issue was that when i originally came up with the idea of this fic, i saw the ending, and that was it. i wanted the famous kitchen scene with billy, stu, and syd, but god… getting there was no cake walk. thank christ i'm done with this fic. it's definitely one of my longer ones. let me know what you think ! hope you enjoy :)

prompt: someone on campus is killing all of your ex-classmates. and you fear you're next. || college!sam and colby x reader

trigger warning: murders, slightly gore and blood mentions, cursing, college setting, parties, drinking, douchy/emotionless bf, mentions of hs bullying, surprise/rollercoaster ending

word count: 6582

~~~~~~~~

How could you have missed the signs? How could you not have known all this time?

~~~

Sam and Colby had talked about moving away from our hometown for years. They had major plans to move to L.A. and become big. But instead, they decided to go to our local state college with me, and half of our graduating class. And while I was confused by their choice, I was happy nonetheless. They were my best friends, and I was upset thinking that I wouldn’t see them anymore after graduation. But I understood why they wanted to get away in the first place: everyone at our school bullied them. The number of times Sam and Colby had been shoved into lockers, or had food thrown at them in the cafeteria, or were just badmouthed... let's just say that high school was nothing short of hell for them.

Freshman year of college, while stressful, was fantastic. We all lived on campus, our dorms across the street from one another. Hell, I could even see their dorm from my window. We took a lot of the same core classes together, always making sure to work on projects and help each other out. We hadn’t decided our majors yet and knew that this would be the only time we could be in the same classes together.

Things were good for a long time, all the way through the end of sophomore year. I was so excited to start the next half of college. It felt like the home stretch, even if we weren’t close to graduating yet.

But our relationship changed, our friendship drifted apart. By the start of junior year, we were no longer friends. And the major reason for it? I started dating someone from our old high school. I had met him at the end of sophomore year and dated him secretly during the summer. His name was Davis, and back in high school, he was popular. He got into this university on a sports scholarship.  And you might be wondering, was Davis someone that bullied Sam and Colby? No, he wasn’t. But he was friends with those that did.

I didn’t know that until I was already dating Davis. It was hard to keep up with who did and didn’t bully Sam and Colby back in the day. I told Davis to apologize to Sam and Colby for what his friends did. At first he was a bit confused, but he did it regardless. Sure, it was at a party and he was kind of drunk. But it still counted… right? He later texted the guys about it and they said they accepted his apology.

However, they couldn’t forgive me for dating someone like that. So, our friendship just… died.

But even though I wasn’t their friend anymore, I still knew them pretty well. And the moment we were no longer friends, something felt… off about them. We still shared the occasional class, so I saw them every other day. They seemed darker, broodier. And only ever with one another. But that wasn't that unusual for them. They relied on one another a lot.

On a cool fall day, shocking news broke on campus: someone was killed right outside the dorms late last night. Classes were immediately cancelled. Everyone was on edge. The university did its best to calm the nerves of its students, siting that we were in a major city and cities tend to have random killings happen. Police stayed on campus for the next couple days, and partying was prohibited.

Of course, that didn't stop the frat houses from throwing "secret" keggers in their basements. I didn't really want to go, but Davis begged me to. That I should "live on the edge" since I was never really a go-getter. So I went, and I was surprised to see Colby at the party. I waved at him, but his eyes glared back, and then behind me. I turned to see Davis, my face immediately dropping. I didn't see Colby the rest of the night.

The next day, the police finally released the name of the person that was killed on campus. It was in fact a student, but that didn’t mean there was an issue on campus itself. Since we lived in the city, bad things were bound to happen to us too.

The name sounded familiar, and it finally clicked: it was someone from our graduating class. James Cooper. I didn’t know him all that well, but I was still sad to hear he was killed.

Davis sort of knew the guy too; he had been on the hockey team. They had gone to parties together before, but he wasn't close to him. It clicked for me even more when Davis mentioned the hockey team: that guy shoved Sam and Colby into lockers our freshman year to impress his friends. He was a major dick to them for a while, until finally getting onto the hockey team and just ignoring all classmates that were "underneath" him.

…Maybe karma actually did work.

Less than a week later, another person was killed. This time it was a girl. She was found just outside of the library in some bushes. I knew who she was, remembering her from high school. She was a cheerleader, both years ago and now. Lizzie Campbell.

This was all so weird to me. In the two years of being on campus, I had barely heard about any robberies or petty crimes happening, let alone two murders. And on top of that, two of my ex-classmates? Davis shrugged it off, saying it was just a coincidence. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of something not being right about all of this.

And as time went on, my suspicions became more of a premonition.

Two more students, back-to-back, were found. But what made it worse was this time one was in the dorms. And it was in my dorm too, two floors down. Security had everyone on that floor evacuate and go to other dorms for the time being. I, and many other students, didn’t feel safe in the building. I decided to stay over at Davis’ frat house.

They ended up throwing a last-minute party that weekend. I begged Davis to tell his brothers not to throw one, especially because of how insensitive it was and that they could be fined for it. He told me it was out of his hands, that he didn’t decide whether parties happened or not.

How could he be so blasé about these deaths, especially since he even knew these people?

This was a side to him I had never seen, and I didn’t like it one fucking bit. I couldn’t stay there that night, so I trudged back to my dorm room. On my way there, I ran into Sam.

It was awkward to say the least. We talked briefly, and I told him how I planned to stay in my dorm since I couldn’t stay at Davis’. Sam offered his and Colby’s dorm instead; that it was much safer than mine, especially since I would be alone.

Part of me didn’t want to go to their dorm, mostly because of everything going on between us. But he was right about it being safer, and I did miss them a lot.

I followed Sam back to his dorm. He informed me that Colby was out working on a project and wouldn’t be back until later. Their dorm was nice and spacious, the benefit of being an upperclassman. It was like a mini apartment in some ways. We relaxed in their living room area and chatted for a bit. Eventually, the topic of conversation fell onto the recent murders. Sam spoke of whispers around campus that the killer wore a mask shaped like a melted ghost’s face, that that was how he got in and out of the dorms. My skin crawled at the thought of seeing that mask and prayed that that wasn’t the case. The killer could be anyone on campus, just lurking in the shadows.

I had this urge inside of me to tell Sam my theory. I knew we weren’t close anymore, but I felt like he was the only one that would believe me.

I explained to him what I thought was happening: how all of the people that had been killed on campus were from our old high school. The killer was attacking those from our high school only, possibly hunting them down for some unknown reason. Sam questioned if that was true for the newer victims.

We looked up the email from the university, speaking on the recent victims. "The selfish murders of Christopher Smith and Sara Goodwin..." Chris was from my homeroom. He was on the swim team. He won tons of medals and was celebrated. And Sara… she had dated the quarterback sophomore year and was generally a popular person.

Oh god, I think I’m right.

Sam was surprised at how on point I seemed to be. It was a nice change of pace compared to being shrugged off by Davis. But he didn’t fully agree with my idea. He considered that maybe this was a huge coincidence, that maybe the killer wasn’t targeting our class, just the people that still hung out with one another. Maybe all the victims – Chris, Sara, Lizzie, and James – were all friends and the person that murdered them knew them all and was picking them off.

I snorted, "And what? They saw something they shouldn’t and now they're getting I Know What You Did Last Summer-ed?"

"That could be it." He replied.

I sassed. "You can't be serious, Sam."

But he was. He didn’t argue that he was right, just that if someone was attacking our graduating class, or our old high school, they would have to kill half the population of the university. So, it was unlikely that that was happening. Maybe Sam was right about that. Sure – there was definitely a connection. But it sounded more plausible that Sam was right on his part in some way.

Sam decided to call it night not too long after, stating he had early classes the next morning. I dozed off an hour after he went to bed, sleeping on their somewhat comfortable couch.

I jolted awake suddenly, the front door unlocking slowly. It opened, and Colby tip-toed in. His eyes locked with mine, and they widened.

“Hey…” He mumbled awkwardly.

He wondered what I was doing in their dorm, and I told him what happened with me and Sam. I asked him where he was all night, glancing at the neon red lights of the clock shining back 3:20 AM. Colby spoke of a crazy party at one of the frat houses.

But didn’t Sam say…? Whatever.

I nodded my head at him, yawning loudly. He smiled, said goodnight, and shuffled off to bed.

The news broke two hours later - another body was found. Michelle Robinson. And this time, it was right outside of Davis' frat. He even saw the killer, or who he thought it could have been. A guy dressed in all black with a cloak and a mask running away from the house. But no one saw the body until the morning.

The mask… just like Sam said.

Campus was immediately shut down, all classes resuming online. Absolutely NO parties. How could the university think people were going to be able to learn when there was a killer on the loose? It was insanity to me.

I was forced back into my dorm. Police raided every car and dorm on campus to find clues. They determined after a thorough search that the killer wasn’t a student, just someone that new the dorms well. No evidence was found linking a current student to the killings.

The day the police announced this, I got a very strange text.

UNKNOWN: if they only knew....

I didn’t know the number or what it possibly could have meant. I tried not to think about it, already too concerned with everything else going on. The next day, however, I got another text from the same number.

UNKNOWN: what's it like knowing that people are dying on campus but your bf is throwing another party??? it’s almost like he’s celebrating their deaths. you really know how to pick them

I responded with what the hell are you talking about? and who is this? but the number never replied back.

Were they telling the truth though? Was Davis really throwing another party? He couldn't be.

I went straight over to Davis’ frat house, and when I saw the brothers pulling a keg into the back of the house, I knew the unknown number was telling the truth.

I argued with Davis that night. How could he be throwing a party again after what just happened? He even saw the killer and he’s just… shrugging it off like it doesn’t matter. People he knew from school are dying and he doesn’t care. It was gross and concerning beyond belief.

He rolled his eyes, saying that he wasn’t close to any of the people that died, just that he knew them in passing. And they weren’t throwing a party, just a kick-back with the boys in the house.

“Oh okay, that makes it all better…” I spat sarcastically. “Even if that was just the case, how are you in a partying mood?”

He groaned, walking away from me. “Oh my God, Y/N, you’re such a buzzkill.”

That was enough to set me off. I broke up with him on spot, not listening to another word he had to say. I held back tears as I raced back to my dorm. That was the last night I saw Davis.

And it was also the last night of the murders. At least... for a while.

Three weeks went by. This had been the longest period without any murders. It seemed as if things might have been getting back to normal. Even the university was starting to act the same again. The university announced the soon-to-be-open dorm that was right down the street from mine. I was even excited to stay there next year; I was actually looking forward to it - to senior year. To the future.

After breaking up with Davis, I ended up becoming friends with Sam and Colby again. I told them what happened, and they graciously accepted me back with open arms. It was nice to be with them again, for life to feel somewhat normal once more. But I couldn’t lie: I missed Davis. I knew I shouldn’t have, his weird lack of empathy for what was happening was alarming, but maybe something was going on with him and that’s why he didn’t seem to care. Or maybe I was trying to give him brownie points when he didn’t deserve them. But I couldn’t help but miss him. Even if I knew what he did was fucked up to me, I still cared. I worried something could still happen to him.

The killings might have stopped, but that didn't mean I wasn’t still paying attention and on edge all the time. I think everyone on campus could feel there was still a chokehold in the air from the murderer.

I texted Davis after a month of nothing from him. I asked to meet up with him, but he never responded. My messages were going through, so he didn’t block me. Sam and Colby caught wind of my texting and were highly against it, especially when I said I planned to go to the frat and see him for myself. According to Colby, clearly Davis either needed space or just didn’t want to see me, so I should just stay away for a while. I considered what he said but decided to go anyway. I asked around at his frat house if anyone knew where he was, since I knew he wasn’t in class. His ‘brother’ Kevin replied that they hadn’t seen Davis in a long time. Like, almost a month.

...The last time I saw him as well.

My stomach twisted up in knots at the first thought I had.

Was he the killer?

There’s no way. I was with him when the first killings happened. Maybe he had an accomplice? No. No, Davis wouldn’t kill anybody, let alone people he knew from back in the day… right?

I can’t tell Sam and Colby, even though they know my theory about the killer hunting people from our graduating class. I don’t want to give them another reason to hate Davis. Not to mention, I must be wrong. There’s no way Davis killed all those people. It was just a coincidence that he left and the murders stopped.

Unless… the killer got him too.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Maybe Davis left because of the killings. Maybe it was too much for him to bear. Maybe a family emergency happened. Maybe he couldn’t handle the classes. There could be a laundry list of reasons why he left.

My heart skipped a beat when my phone buzzed on my way back to my dorm. The number wasn’t the one I was hoping to see, and all the text did was make my thoughts spiral deeper.

UNKNOWN: do you miss me?

~~~

Our campus was known for its Halloween parties, and while I definitely wasn’t in a spooky mood, Sam and Colby begged me to come with them to a random frat’s party. Sam wanted to introduce me to his girlfriend and Colby didn’t want to be left alone when they would eventually disappear off. I agreed begrudgingly. I dressed up in my costume from last year, a witch, and Sam and Colby dressed up as Batman and Robin; and by dressed up I mean they just threw on a t-shirt with the symbol. Walking into the party, I felt my skin tingle with anxiety. The music was loud and there were so many people around in an array of different costumes. I glanced around, hoping to maybe see Davis, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Stop trying to look for him. He clearly left because he couldn’t handle the pressure anymore, whether from the murders or the workload.” Sam stated, pulling my attention away from the crowd.

“Maybe he couldn’t live without you so he left.” Colby joked.

“Either way, don’t waste your night looking for someone that’s gone.” Sam stood up pointing at me, “I’ll be right back, let me go find my girl.”

“Let’s see how long it takes him this time.” Colby rolled his eyes.

I stayed with Colby for a while, watching a table of zombies play beer pong. After two games had finally played out, I started looking around for Sam.

“Don’t bother. Sam has a tendency to disappear off with his girlfriend and only come back around super late. I don’t know, but sometimes I swear she’s not real.”

I questioned, “You’ve met her before, right?”

He shrugged. “Sorta. It was quick, and honestly, I was super drunk so it could have just been some random girl.”

“Sam wouldn’t lie about having a girlfriend.” I argued.

“Yeah because if he did, I’m gonna make fun of him so fucking much,” Colby chuckled. “I’m gonna go step outside and call him, see if he’s around here. If you want, go… mingle, until I get back.”

“Tell him to hurry back, with or without his girlfriend please.” I laughed, watching Colby smirk as he stepped outside.

I wandered around the party, running into some people from my English Lit class. We started taking shots and bitching about the professors giving us so much work during the murders.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it felt like it had been at least an hour, if not longer. I pulled out my phone, ready to text Colby where he went off to, and suddenly an urgent email went through. Everyone’s phones around me started blowing up as well, gasps and screams being let out as people read the message.

Three students were just found dead on campus. Police advised everyone to stay indoors and if they were out on the street not to walk home alone.

“Fuck this, I’m getting the hell out of here!” Someone yelled deep from within the party.

A major rush of people started going for the front door, making it impossible to leave. Mayhem was breaking out, people were crying, screaming, and begging to get out of the house as soon as possible. I rushed to the basement, knowing there was an exit there since all the frat houses were built with the same layout.

Fuck! Where was Sam and Colby?

A huge group of us ran back towards our dorms. I stayed with the group as long as I could until I was alone, running to my dorm.

“Y/N!” I heard Colby’s voice shout from across the courtyard.

I spun towards him, running up to him hastily. I fell into his arms, pulling him close.

My voice quivered. “Thank Christ you’re okay! Where’s Sam?”

“He’s with his girlfriend in her dorm. McFranklin Hall.” Colby informed.

“Oh thank god. Okay, let’s just get back to mine since it’s closer.” I urged.

We got into my building quickly, jumping into the elevator. I finally was able to catch my breath for a moment, my heart still pounding. “Where the hell were you all night?”

Colby furrowed his brows, confused. “I wasn’t gone that long, Y/N.”

“You said you were only going to go make a phone call.” I responded.

“Yeah I did, and then I guess I lost track of time.” He answered.

We walked out of the elevator and down to my dorm. “How the hell did you lose track of time?”

He huffed. “Can we just talk about this later?”

I shook my head, pulling my key out. “No let’s talk about this right-”

“Y/N?” He interjected.

“What?” I breathed, still looking at him.

“Did you leave your dorm unlocked?” He pointed.

My gaze fell upon my dorm. The door was open, but only a little. Like someone rushed to get out of it.

“Maybe we should head back to my dorm…” Colby backed up.

I stepped inside, pushing the door open all the way. “No I need to know what happen-”

I flicked on the lights and choked out a gasp.

My room was torn up, everything knocked over and on the floor. Someone ransacked it, looking for God knows what.

I shuddered, “W-who… did this?”

Colby bit his lip nervously. “I don’t know.”

“How did they even get in here? I locked my door, I know I did.” I dissented.

His face twisted in disgust, covering his nose. “What is that smell? I think it’s coming from behind the door…”

Colby pushed the door shut, jumping back as it slammed.

“Oh my god is that… blood?” He whispered.

#9 was smeared onto the door, still fresh from whoever broke in.

My mouth watered as nauseous rushed through me. “Nine… that was Davis’ jersey number.”

“Or… like how many victims there’s been.” Colby deadpanned.

My breathing labored at his tone. “There hasn’t been nine victims. The three tonight make it eight.”

Colby’s eyes were cold as he turned to me, “Well, then maybe you’r-”

A dark figure lurched out of my closet, grabbing Colby from behind. I screamed out, staring into the melted ghost face mask.

“Run Y/N! R-” Colby yelled, his breath hitching as the figure’s knife stabbed into his chest.

Pure adrenaline kicked through my veins as I bolted out of the building. I ran to the stairs, rushing down them as fast as I could. I wasn’t sure if the figure was behind me, but I knew I just needed to run. As I finally made it to the street, there were no cars around. It was late, already one AM. The police sirens and glow of their cars were so far away, possibly on the other side of campus.

I rushed down the street, praying to find a lone car or business open so I could call for help. But everything down the street was dark, deserted.

The only building that seemed to be open or have lights on was the new dorm. I raced around it, trying to find a single unlocked door. I found one towards the back of the building, an emergency exit that hadn’t been installed yet.

I needed to find a space to hide, knowing that once I felt safe, I could call for help. I didn’t want to run through the open lobby, so I kept going up the stairs to the second floor.

From down below me, the emergency exit busted open, the dark figure staring up at me as it raced up the stairs. My screams echoed off the walls of the staircase as I rushed through the second story door. I ran down the hallway, trying to find any room that was unlocked. The hallway was dark, only the occasional work light.

I could hear the slamming of the emergency door behind me. It was near; and getting closer. Fuck! I need to find somewhere to go. I just kept running, not knowing what else to do.

The building was almost in a circle shape, everything looping back around to one another. As I sprinted to the other emergency exit, the figure popped out, stopping me dead in my tracks.

How the fuck did he get over here?

I turned around, running back the way I came. As I got to an open living room area, the figure came down the hallway I was running towards. I spun around, gasping at the now two dark figures in front of me.

I backed up against the wall, the figures closing in. Tears clouded my vision as I stared at them, ready to die.

Suddenly they stopped, glancing at one another, and chuckling. Their laughs sounded familiar as they pulled off their masks.

“Sam…? Colby?” I sputtered.

Sam smiled. “In the flesh.”

“Surprise.” Colby smirked.

“W-Wha? What the- What the fuck?!” I screeched.

“What? Oh shit, did we scare you? Didn’t mean to do that.” Sam feigned concern.

Colby held back a laugh. “…Yeah, we’re only sort of lying about that.”

My body was frozen against the wall, “Is this some joke? A prank?”

“A prank? I think killing eight people is far past the point of a prank.” Sam glared.

“Our sense of humor isn’t that fucked up. What do you think we are, monsters?” Colby scowled, pointing his knife at me.

My stomach dropped as my heart raced faster. I could feel the color drain out of my face.

They killed everyone.

“No. No, y-you guys can’t be serious.” I cried.

“Oh, we’re dead serious. Why don’t you show her her prize, Colby?” Sam gestured.

“Sure. I’ll be right back.” Colby winked, backing away.

I moved forward as Colby turned the corner. Sam shoved me back against the wall, pulling out a gun from behind his back.

He pointed the gun at my chest. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I whimpered. “Sam, why are you doing this?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn soon enough.” He grunted.

My eyes fell on Colby as he pulled Davis’ tied up body from around the corner. He was alive, but barely; blood soaked his clothes, and he looked dirty.

“Oh my God Davis!” I wailed, trying to run towards him.

Sam wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against him. “Tsk tsk, Y/N. I told you not to move.”

“You’ve probably been wondering where he’s been. He’s been in here, just… chilling.” Colby snickered.

I shook my head, tears streaming down my cheeks. “No, no, no. This can’t be real. You guys-!”

Sam growled in my ear. “What?! We can’t be killers? Oh trust me, Y/N… we are.”

“And you know, all this happened… because of you.” Colby spun the knife in a small circle, until he rested it underneath my chin.

“Because of me?” I uttered.

“Yes. You see, that night you made Davis ‘apologize’, he didn’t actually do that. Maybe to you that’s what he said. But to us, he said something totally different.” Sam explained.

Colby mimicked Davis’ voice, “‘I remember you two dorks. Can’t believe Y/N has put up with you two losers for so long. My friends did nothing wrong in high school. You guys deserved every single thing that happened to you. I ain’t apologizing for shit.’”

“‘Honestly the shit they did was fucking hilarious. And if you’re not over it by now, that’s your fucking problem.’” Sam chimed in, doing the same voice.

“Well… now it seems like your problem too, Davis!” Colby cackled, kicking Davis in the stomach.

“‘You’re not gonna tell Y/N about this. She’s never gonna believe you anyway. I have her wrapped around my finger. She’s in love with me, so you might as well accept this as my apology.’” Sam quoted directly into my ear.

“Do you know how upsetting it was knowing he was right? You would have never believed us. Especially when he sent that dumb poor excuse of a text the next day claiming he was sorry.” Colby hissed.

“We would look like the bitter nerds that just couldn’t get over their dumb bully.” Sam replied.

“So you thought murdering our old classmates would make it better?!” I exclaimed.

“Every single one of them deserved it! They weren’t just our old classmates; they were the ones that bullied us!” Colby lurched at me, getting into my face.

My eyes widen at Colby’s words. He was right.

“The first one, James. That was my doing. Total accident, B-T-W. It was right after we stopped being friends, I was upset and we bumped into each other,” Sam recounted nonchalantly. “He recognized me from high school, and he called me his favorite name – you know, the old one he used to call me all the time back then. I blacked out, and when I came to, I had strangled him to death.”

“I killed Lizzie after seeing you at the party with Davis. You know, she was always so desperate, even back in high school. And she tried to get with me, and when I shot her down, she all of sudden remembered me. Started calling me a loser, and all this other stuff. It didn’t bother me at first, but then she brought up Madison and how she told everyone in school how bad I was our first time. So… I killed her.” Colby shrugged.

“We didn’t even know we had done these crimes until we both confessed to one another. And then from there, we just couldn’t stop.” Sam revealed, tightening his hold on me. “We basically went back and forth, one for one. Except Colby went a little rogue and killed… what was her name? Michelle. That night you were at our dorms. That… that one almost got us caught. Especially since you basically had pieced together that the killer was going after old classmates.”

“I’m sorry. What can I say, Michelle actually surprised me,” Colby chuckled darkly. “I was working on a project with her, we went to a party and… well, it doesn’t matter. Just know it was fun leaving her body outside of Davis’ frat. Too bad he saw me leaving. But that was when we realized Davis might actually be useful after all.”

“We got a burner phone, texted you once or twice, and things just fell into place. You broke up with him – because let’s be honest, we didn’t force him to throw parties after everyone’s deaths. That was all him. And his lack of caring? Also all him. So again, you really do know how to pick them,” Sam joked.  “And once you guys were done-zo, we realized kidnapping him and making him disappear would make you question if he was the one who did it.”

“Plus, we had mid-terms.” Colby added.

“How did you keep him here for a month?” I questioned.

Sam scoffed. “A month? No, we only just kidnapped him. Who the hell told you he’s been gone for a month?”

“A brother at the frat.” I remarked.

“Yeah, no. He’s wrong. Prior to that, Davis was actually ignoring you though. He was pretty upset about you breaking up with him.” Sam related.

Colby stared down at Davis who shook with fear. “He didn’t expect it since you were so wrapped around his finger.”

“I just don’t get it. Why would you do this?” I choked.

“We wanted to forget high school, we really did. The plans we had for life outside of this state were just too big. So, we made them smaller, thought going to the same school as our best friend would be fine and sure, we’d have run ins with old high school assholes, but who cares? That was years ago. We’ve all moved on, right?” Colby huffed.

“The thing is, when you deal with people who peaked in high school… life doesn’t move on for them. Their glory days consisted of making our lives shit day in and day out. They get to go on and not have to relive the trauma. Hell, they didn’t even have to pay for what they did. And what about that is right?” Sam spun me around to face him, his eyes glaring into mine, “Why do they get to live when a part of me and him died back then?”

His cold stare left me speechless. “I-I –”

“And then… you go and date one of them?” Sam shook his head in disappointment. “Now that… that’s fucked up. Which is why you have to die too.”

“Wha? No, no. Sam, Colby, please!” I begged.

Colby grabbed my arm, both of them gripping onto me. “There’s no point in begging now. You chose your fate the moment you picked him over us!”

“Please don’t do this. Just let me go and I won’t tell anyone.” I pleaded, lying.

Sam cocked the gun. “Yeah, right. You have a good moral compass on you, I remember our philosophy class together.”

“Wait! Can I kill her?” Colby interrupted.

“What, no dude. I’m the one with the gun, let me do it.” Sam protested.

Colby frowned. “But that’s no fair, you killed more people than me.”

“No I didn’t. We killed the same amount. I made it even tonight.” Sam bickered.

“Yeah, well, if you kill her than it’s uneven.” Colby complained.

“Then you can kill Davis and that way it’s even.” Sam compromised.

Colby breathed. “Oh oka-”

I punched Colby right in the face, knocking him back into the wall. I kicked Sam hard in the dick. He groaned loudly, dropping to his knees. The gun flung away from him, next to Davis’ body. Colby’s hands were suddenly around my neck from behind, choking me. I fought against his hold, elbowing him hard in the chest. Sam recovered from my kick, jumping up and pushing me back into Colby’s hands. He held Colby’s knife up against my chest, ready to stab me.

A loud gunshot echoed off the walls of the dorm. I felt a sharp, agonizing pain in my side. My vision blurred from the pain and lack of oxygen, and suddenly all was dark. Quiet.

~~~

Y/N’s body dropped to the floor as Sam and Colby turned towards Davis, who somehow came loose from his binds.

The gun was in his hands, pointed at them.

“Holy fuck, you shot Y/N!” Colby boomed.

“No! No! Fuck! I meant to shoot you!” Davis stammered, pure shock coursing through him.

“Oh my god bro, you actually killed her?!” Sam laughed. “Wow… you made this so much easier for us.”

“Don’t you step any closer! I’ll fucking kill you too!” Davis turned towards Sam, his finger on the trigger.

“Gonna be hard to do that. There’s only one bullet in the chamber.” Sam stated.

Davis stared at the gun, trying to open it to see if Sam was telling the truth. Sam rushed up to him, stabbing him in the chest hard.

Sam blinked. “Just kidding.”

Davis’ body collapsed on the floor, and Sam bent down and stabbed him three more times, each with more fury than the next.

“Aw man… I thought I was gonna kill Davis.” Colby pouted.

“Shut up, Colby. Okay, we gotta make this look like we fought. Put your mask on him. I’ll take my cloak off and leave it next to him. Then we gotta make ourselves look… beaten.” Sam barked.

Colby nodded his head, taking his mask and placing it on Davis’ dead body. Sam tore his cloak off, leaving it next to Davis. The extra mask and cloak they discarded, leaving it in the room where Davis had been held captive. They made sure to clean up somewhat, wiping their fingerprints off of all weapons.

“Alright so… I think we should at least give each other a black eye. Maybe a couple slices too.” Sam dictated.

Colby agreed. “Okay, should I go-”

Sam punched Colby in the face, snorting after Colby winced and backed up.

“She already punched me bro! You didn’t have to do that!” Colby whined.

“Sorry. Go ahead, take it out on me.” Sam pulled his arms back, closing his eyes.

“Man, I don’t know. I’d hate to h-” Colby decked Sam across the face, his rings cutting up Sam’s bottom lip.

Sam winced. “Fuck! Okay! Shit. Alright, I’ll slice at you once, and you do the same.”

“Okay…” Colby mumbled.

Sam grabbed the knife, swiping at Colby’s abdomen.

“Ow! Fuck, that hurt.” Colby grimaced.

Sam rolled his eyes. “You’re such a baby.”

“Give me the knife. Tell me how it feels.” Colby yanked the knife out of his hand, jolting it into Sam’s side.

Sam grunted deeply, holding his wound. “Why don’t you cut a little deeper next time, Colby?”

“Sorry, are you okay?” Colby asked.

Sam pulled out his phone, “Yeah I’m fine. Alright, that’s enough. Time to call the police.”

“Dude…” Colby exhaled happily. “I can’t believe we’re getting away with this.”

“Justice is finally being served.” Sam grinned.

Sam called 911, giving an Oscar-worthy performance on the phone. He even shed real tears. The police were over in a flash. Sam and Colby limping down to the lobby of the empty dorm to meet them, for dramatic effect. They made sure to make themselves look exhausted from the crazy night they just endured.  They told the police what happened – they saw the figure murder Sam’s girlfriend, one of the three that were killed tonight, and they followed him over to this building where they saw him dragging Y/N in. It was Davis, Y/N ex. He kidnapped her and killed her and tried to kill them as well. But they were able to fight him off and stab him.

They were escorted to the ambulance, a crowd of students lining up outside the building as they were being checked out.

Sam and Colby smiled at one another as they were loaded into the ambulance, needing to be fully checked out at the hospital.

A loud yell rang out as Y/N’s body was brought down on a stretcher. EMT’s surrounded her as they pulled her into a different ambulance.

“WAIT! She’s got a pulse!”

[cherrylng]

Matt Bellamy Interview - Muse [ROCKIN'ON (September 2000)]

"The ideal is to keep pushing forward and go on and on and on and on and die in the end….. What I want to do is act out that ideal."

The new generation of guitar band supernovas, Muse, have finally broken through in their home country of the UK. We caught up with Matt Bellamy just before Summer Sonic to find out more about the hyper nuclear explosion he is about to cause on stage. Interview by Erika Yamashita

Matt Bellamy is 22 years old. On the day of the interview, he had not returned from Glastonbury for a long time. When he finally got back, he got into a big fight with his sweetheart, who had been with him since he was 15, over whether he was going to Wimbledon or not. After all that, a phone call came into our waiting mobile phone, saying "We've broken up", which was not even an excuse (Of course, after this interview, he went to Wimbledon in his girlfriend's car). A genius boy is still a boy.

If a genius is born of talent plus environment, he is a very good test case indeed. A boring hometown, a complicated family environment thrown in at the delicate age of mid-teens. He was placed in a situation where there was nothing else to do but music, and his special qualities, which he could master as soon as he was given a musical instrument, blossomed most fortunately. The problem is the ‘riskiness’ of Muse's live shows, which lightly involve the superhuman technique cultivated in this way.

Every time I saw them on stage, I started to wonder if they were okay. Unnormal hyper-energy, passion, adrenaline - there's just not enough to say. He looks like he has a ticking time bomb in his breast pocket and is running into unlimited chaos. There, an explosion of life is always waiting, willing to stab the world in the back and destroy itself.

However, within Matt Bellamy lives the will to objectify such extreme conditions of life. He becomes possessed by the role as he plays it, and yet there is no fail-safe on the bomb in his chest that he returns to in the end, leaving a shell behind. The chaos which he dives into is always a flashpoint. And then, with a bang, he rises in an unknown place, leaving behind a shadow that flutters over the cliff and disappears before our eyelids. Another one is gone. And here I am.

A strange, almost split-second, instinctive balance. Is it his character, his theatrical training, or the blood of his mother, a medium? Or perhaps we are looking at a 21st-century artist who is called upon to survive.

"It's not that we think we're the best or anything, but I just don't see any bands playing this kind of rock in the UK at the moment."

The stage at Glastonbury was also incredible. The ending was like you, Chris and Dominic rolling around in a three-way and trying to smash a drum kit, what were you thinking at that moment? 「(laughs) No, I was struggling to get out of the way when they got on top of me. So I kicked the equipment over. I wasn't trying to break anything, I just decided not to break any more stuff. Well, that was the moment at the end of the show when the three of us got closer, or something like that.」

Closer, huh (laughs). Anyway, Muse went from being an unknown band at Glastonbury last year to becoming such a big name in the space of a few years. How do you feel about it? 「But I don't really feel that way. People don't stop us on the street and think we're famous. We're just starting out. People often talk about how well-known we are in interviews, but we don't see ourselves on TV or in magazines, so we don't really know.」

You guys originally got noticed at the CMJ festival in the US, which led to your signing with Maverick. Then came France, Germany, and Australia, followed by the very late recognition in your home country of the UK How did you feel about this? 「Yes, it's true that the British were late in that respect, and we were the last to be signed. But the record is the biggest seller in the UK. We were the first to have an album go gold. So we were slow to jump on board, but once we did, we were quick. We ended up being the most successful in the UK. I think the reason we didn't catch on right away is because it was a time in the UK when record companies weren't interested in guitar bands. They tended to focus on idols and R&B groups.」

The arrival of Muse has allowed British guitar rock to assert itself with pride, and has also created the ground for a revival in the young guitar band scene. In your eyes, do you see rivals to yourselves in the current scene? 「No, that's the problem. It's not that we think we're the best or anything, it's just that I don't see any bands doing this kind of rock. We seem to be the only ones in the Top 40 with this kind of music. Then there's Travis and Stereophonics, but they're not really new anymore, are they? They're on their second album. And then there's…… Coldplay are a great band, but they're not what you'd call rock! I wouldn't say they're our rivals because their music is completely different. I have no doubt they're going to be big, but I think it's a different audience.」

Do you feel like you're more in your element when you tour the US with bands like the Chilli Peppers and the Foo Fighters? 「UK bands have had a hard time in the States over the last couple of years. This is the downside of Britpop. Oasis and Blur sold really well in their home countries and then brought it to America, but they needed a slightly special audience in America. In other words, people who thought Britain was a really eccentric and cool place and would wear Union Jack T-shirts and stuff like that. We had a problem with people expecting that from a British band. But when we played with the Foo Fighters, I thought we had finally met a real American audience. Our music is more global than British, and that tour was really good for us. We got the chance to play to 20,000 people who only listen to American rock night after night. Other UK bands still don't get that chance.」

That's quite an energetic touring pace, isn't it? I saw your ‘room introduction’ in Select magazine, and it looked like a deserted room with a bunch of chairs and musical instruments placed in a corner, and it looked like the owner might not be coming back (laughs). 「Hahahaha…… I don't actually live there anymore. I lived there for a year until last January, but I was on tour a lot and rarely came back, so I decided to leave. I used to work as a decorator and painter before the band became famous, so when I had more time I thought I'd do some work on it and make it a better home. The bed was still there for now, so I thought I'd put a few more things in there, so I took this photo. That's the closest I can get to being at home now, but I'm never at home at all (laughs).」

How many days have you actually been at home this year? 「Hahahaha…… About two weeks in total.」

There is a lot of concern out there that you are on the verge of burnout. Not long ago, there was a news report in the British press of you saying that, "If we keep going at this pace, we're going to burn out". 「I'm sorry about that, but it's not true at all. I was on a student radio show in America and I jokingly blurted out that "touring is hell and I'm burnt out". I was exhausted from all the small venues and all the travelling from the tour at that time, and the interviewer said, "You look tired", so I just said it in response. We just happened to be in that situation at the time, we weren't burnt out. But the radio interview went on the internet and the NME printed it proudly in their papers. It was like we were issuing an official declaration to the British press.」

The UK press is doing a great job as usual. 「Hahaha. Well, it doesn't matter. We're fine over here and it's obvious when you see us keep playing like this.」

"The gig was over and I was lying on the floor, motionless behind the amps. I stayed like that until the lights came on and everyone left, and it felt really good."

It's been ten months since "Showbiz" was first released to the world, and in that time you've already come a long way. How do you feel about that album now, looking back on it yourself? 「Basically, I still like it. I think it shows what we were like back then. The only regret I have is that the mixing could have been a bit better in places. But it doesn't matter, I was a different person then and I'm a different person now. When the album first came out, we were compared to Radiohead a lot, but as people got to know our live sound and who we actually are and who we are as a band, that stopped happening.」

Yes. By the way, I've been wanting to ask you something for a while. Your father was also a band member, so you must have been familiar with the industry from a long time ago, and I thought that's why you were so determined to make it big at such a young age. But when you decided to become a professional musician, your father wasn't around at all, let alone being a confidant? 「That's right. That's one of the things I'm starting to see…… My parents divorced when I was 13, and that's when I started playing guitar. I've recently started to wonder if that might have something to do with my father's disappearance. Before that, I wasn't that into music. I was just doing it for fun. But then my father left and it was just me and my mother, and then my mother left too, so I lived with my grandmother, from 14 to…… to 18, I think. That's when I really started playing music.」

Why do you think that was? 「I don't know, but when I'm playing music…… For me, music makes me forget everything else - everything that I don't like. Living like this every day now, I don't feel like I went through something terrible in the past. I don't think it was hard, either. But I think the reason I've managed to get by is because of music. Especially when my parents split up and neither of them were around anymore, I was able to get through it because of music.」

About the power of music. At the London Astoria show on June 7th, you seemed to lose your temper completely and rolled over with your guitar in your hand, right under the tube-shaped lights at the back of the stage. How is it that the climaxes of your shows, like at Glastonbury, are so unusual? You get to an extreme orgasmic state while you're playing, and you're like, ‘Kill! Kill! Kill me!’? 「Hahahahaha…… Ahaha…… No, recently, I've been thinking about it. I don't know if it's possible to make it happen, but I'd like to do a gig with a curtain at the back of the stage. The three of us have been soaring to the top, and even though there's a limit to how high we can go (laughs), sometimes I feel like that when I'm playing a gig…… It's hard to describe, but when I'm playing music I'm totally liberated and almost become a different persona. I think it's really boring to just stand there and wave and leave after a gig. The ideal gig is one that goes on and on and on and on, and in the end you die hahaha. But I don't really want to die (laughs), so what I want to do is to act it out. You know, like a one-act play. I become the destruction of everything, and in the end I disappear. And only the curtain remains. That's the way I want to end it」

And like only silence remained? 「Yes, yes. If we release many albums, we will be able to do many different kinds of shows, but the music we are doing now always has a climax waiting for us. If we start playing more quiet songs, I think it would be possible to play those songs at the end of the show and have a mellow ending, but for now. The way we ended the second day in Astoria, that was the first time we've done something like that. I was lying on the floor under the light tube, behind the guitar amp, not moving. I stayed there until the lights came on and everyone left the building. It felt really good, you know. I was starting to feel like I was falling down little by little and that it was really over. A lot of times during a gig you get so high from all the noise that you just can't get it down. But when you're sitting on the floor like that, you gradually come out of it. I can leave it on the stage. When I wait until all the audience is gone too, I really feel like everything is leaving me and disappearing.」

I see. So you die and are reborn every time. 「(laughs) That's right. I want to do an ending that conveys that.」

By the way, Muse's music, especially your guitar and vocals, is full of a sense of urgency, as if you are squeezing the world to death. It's like a sense of ‘I want to somehow make this world the way I want it to be’. What do you think? 「Hmmm…… I can't say I know what to say. Sometimes it's hard for me to look at things objectively. I think it can be read in various ways, it could have something to do with the way I was brought up as a child, it could be something that comes out of my inner darkness and chaos, it could be something that touches my subconscious and triggers a reaction in my brain that leads me to some kind of creative activity. But…… I've noticed recently that after a few months of making an album, I'm really good at explaining things. Why did I make this album, why did I write these songs? But in the last couple of months I've started concentrating on writing songs again and I don't know why I'm doing it at all, again. I can't explain my motives when I talk about the songs, but a few months ago I could say it very clearly and precisely. I'm back to confusion now. I'm starting to doubt that even my old songs were really made for the reasons I thought they were. From February to May this year I was undeniably confident about why I was doing what I was doing. Writing music itself is the most simple thing ever, I can't explain it, but it's a certain ‘feeling’. It's just a very simple desire to get the ‘feeling’ inside me out there. It doesn't matter if someone else is listening or not, it just spreads and fills the room with that feeling, that's all. It's only when it takes the form of an album that I start thinking about this and that. But I can't do that now. Sorry.」

No, I think that's right, when you're making something. By the way, do you consider yourself a guitarist, singer, or songwriter first and foremost? 「…… (thinks for a moment)) …… I don't know, I think I'm a songwriter first and foremost. I mean, I'm more of a music maker or a composer. That's what I want to be. I've passed the best stage of playing every instrument I've ever picked up. When I first started piano lessons, I improved a lot and by the time I was about 13 I was a very good pianist. All I played were pieces I'd composed myself. Of course, it was based on something I heard by ear, but I didn't really know it, so I just pieced it together. I realised that as soon as I learnt one instrument, I tended to move on to another. That's why I started playing the guitar. By the time I was 16 or 17, I was probably technically a better classical guitarist than I am now. Well, I play differently now. Then, at around 17, I let go of the guitar and concentrated on getting better at singing. It's the same with other instruments, but I seem to learn the basics very quickly. Then I decide if I want to improve further or not. Maybe it doesn't matter what kind of instrument you play, the instrument itself is a way of venturing out.」

Great guitarists often put their inability to express themselves in words into their instruments. But you put an excessive amount of energy into your guitar and vocals, like 300% when you add them together. That's rather rare, isn't it? 「Ahahaha, yeah, well, I'd like to. Ideally, I'd like to be like Jimi Hendrix. He sang a lot, and at that level, I don't think you're aware of how you're playing anymore. When you sing and play, it's almost automatic because you can't focus on your fingertips, and it's more expressive. The emotions that come out when I'm singing just flow straight out of my fingers. When I play guitar on stage, it's not the notes or chords that come to my mind, it's the emotion of the song itself. I really forget what I'm playing.」

"I remember very clearly that when I was 14, I thought that music was all I had. Well, I feel like I'm slowly starting to understand why my life is the way it is."

That's something only you can say, of course. So, the highly anticipated second album. You've written a lot of new material, but is it going to be a very different type of material? 「Yes. In terms of the method, it's the same as the first album, and each song is polished based on a live performance. For example, ‘Muscle Museum’, ‘Sunburn’ and ‘Falling Down’, we practised them live and then changed the instruments and arrangements on the recordings, and they turned out completely different. In the same way, the new songs we're playing live at this stage might not sound so different from the old ones. We're playing the same instruments and using the same techniques as before. When we go into the studio, we listen back to them and try different ways of doing things. I mean, that's when the song is really finished. Anyway, I can say here and now that some of the songs will be heavier than before. I don't know if heavy is misleading…… There are a couple of numbers where the guitars feature more than on the first one. But if I say that, people will expect it to be another heavy guitar album, won't they? Yes, there are some powerful, heavy and hard guitar-driven songs. But on the other hand, I think there are a couple of acoustic-oriented numbers on there too. With very old instruments. You know, bone percussion like they use in voodoo. And some Spanish guitars. So some of the songs will be very organic, very raw and sad. It's like taking the piano out of ‘Sunburn’, if you know what I mean. ‘Sunburn’, ‘Showbiz’, ‘Hate This And I Love You’, those are the songs that came towards the end of the first album, and I think it shows that the trend of our songs is shifting.」

Oh, I see. So it's safe to assume that the material for the new record is already in place? 「Yeah, we've got most of the songs. We've just started thinking about what sound we want to make and what instruments we want to use. With the first album we wanted to have variety throughout, and to create development within the songs, and we're going in that direction again this time. There's a lot of variety, and the direction of the variety is all over the place. It's hard to explain (laughs)…… But I'm sure it's going to be something that's very Muse.」

So the question is, when do you start recording (laughs)? 「Hmm, after the summer festival tour is over. We'll make a demo in September. Then we'll decide on a producer.」

Do you have any idea who you're going to choose? 「John Leckie wants to do another one, but I think it will probably be someone else. He's a great producer and a pleasure to work with, but I'm afraid to work with the same producer twice. And then I'm afraid that I'll be afraid to leave that person next time. So I'd like to take this opportunity to try someone new. I'm thinking of having a producer from Boston do a couple of songs, but if it's really up to me, I'd like to use a different person for each song. I don't know if that's possible. It might cost too much money. Anyway, we'll record a full record in November. And the first single in January or February next year.」

That's a good pace. By the way, regarding the content of the songs, you've said for some time that you want to deal with themes that go beyond personal anguish in the future. How do you feel about that? 「Well, there are a few…… To be clear, two songs, that's what I've done. That's something you can do when you're with someone else and you feel really connected to them. For example, with my mother, I recently had a long talk and found out a lot of things. She showed me some old photos and I started to understand more about who she was when she was younger. She had a lot going on in her life, and I thought that she must have had a difficult time when she was young, so I wrote a song about that. The other song is from the point of view of a young girl. She's always flicking through fashion magazines, comparing herself to other women who look like models and lamenting that she's not like them*. And she thinks how empty that is. That's what I'm putting myself in her shoes to sing about.」

Wow, that's exciting. Is this a very conscious process? Do you still find yourself saying, ‘Oh, I'm talking about myself again’? 「(laughs) Yeah, quite a lot. But the really good songs just come out on their own, without me even thinking about it. Like, I don't even know what I'm talking about. But I made a conscious effort to write songs that don't just rant and rave like that (laughs). It's the first time I've made a song that wasn't random. I won't know if it's a success or a failure until it's finished.」

You mentioned your mother, was she a medium? 「Yes, she was. It was a long time ago though.」

I wonder if the reason you often talk about the separation of technology and spirituality has something to do with this background. For example, when you were a child, did it feel very natural for you to come into contact with the world through spirits and the like? 「Hmmm… I don't know. I don't really understand it myself, but I'm interested. These things are speculation and nothing is factual…… It's true that when I was a child, my mother was a medium. That means she speaks the language of the dead. That kind of thing was very close to me. I was around 8 or 9, and my brother was around 13, and he was really into it. But when I was 13 or 14, my mother stopped. My father left, and that's when my mother stopped doing it too. And I remember very clearly that when I was 14, I thought that music was the only thing for me. Well, I'm slowly starting to understand why my life is the way it is……」

Yeah. By the way, you just turned 22 the other day. How did you spend your birthday? 「Oh, I was in London and took a day off. An old friend who I hadn't seen for months came out to London and stayed at my place. I was about to go on tour the next day, so I had a day off. I bought a Go-Ped. You know, a scooter with an engine. We rode around London on it, it was fun.」

Matt on a scooter. I can picture it in my mind (laughs). Lastly, what does the word ‘hope’ remind you of now? 「Hope. Hope is, you know…… Hmmm…… First of all, you're trapped in a cave or something like that. That's fine. That's the normal state of affairs. But hope is when you see a little hole all the way up there, and you see the sky, and the sun, and there's light. It's just a ray of light shining on your face. But it doesn't reach there. That's my image of hope.」

It's not here now, but I know it's there. Is that what it feels like? 「Yeah, yeah.」

Translator's Note: The article perfectly describes Matt as it is. "A genius boy is still a boy" indeed LMAO

* The song that Matt referred to later came to be known as 'Screenager' and appeared on the second album, Origin of Symmetry. As for the song that Matt talked about wanting to write to be based on his mum, I don't know what that is. If anyone knows, do let me know!

Do support me on my Ko-fi!

[abarbaricyalp]

Wolf and Falcon

I had ten thousand fics started for Christmas and this is the only one I finished Did you know in "Baby, It's Cold Outside" the characters are called Wolf and Mouse? Just a fun little tidbit AO3 Link

It was among Bucky’s favorite things to tease Sam relentlessly when Sam complained about the winter weather of Louisiana. Despite having lived in DC for years and having spent a fair number of terrible winter days in New York with Steve, and a handful of other locales, Sam had not shaken the habit of complaining as soon as the temperatures dipped below 55 degrees.

He was doing it now, as he fiddled with his jacket, thrown over his arm instead of on his shoulders. It was just so damn cold outside and so damn warm in Bucky’s cozy little house. He’d bought it a little over a year ago, enough months after the Flagsmashers that it wasn’t so absurd he’d move to Sam’s hometown. He’d given it a trial run and decided he liked the place and moved down too. Nothing else to see there.

Now, Sam was staring at the decorative figurines that lined the mantle place of his fake chimney like he’d never seen the knick-knacks before, like most of them weren’t his or bought by him. Bucky had no sense of style or taste and he still had those old 30s sensibilities to buy things like they were rationed.

“Just stay,” Bucky offered after Sam had picked up a wise man and put it down three times. He took Sam’s coat and tossed it back over the couch.

“Nah, I can’t,” Sam insisted again. The back and forth had stretched into its first half hour, but the cold at the door gave it a good longevity. That…and the fact that Sam kind of did want to stay. “Sarah’s expecting me back.”

“Sarah knows you’re with me,” Bucky sighed. “She knows you’re fine. Come on.” He reached for Sam’s wrist, pulled him back from the wall and wrapped Sam in his arms loosely.

God, he was so warm. This was entirely unfair. Sam dropped his face down to Bucky’s shoulder and hugged Bucky back as Bucky picked up the easy slow dance they’d been sharing before Sam had said he should head out for the third or so time. He’d actually stepped away that time. Almost picked up his jacket.

And now they were back to dancing to Andy Williams or Dean Martin or Bing Crosby.

“Sarah knows I’m here,” Sam repeated. “She’ll get suspicious if I don’t come back. She’ll raise her eyebrows at me. Not even have to say a word.”

They hadn’t meant to hide it. Not really. Not at first. Was it even really hiding it if all they were doing wasn’t making a show of it? If you took out the white lies, they were being perfectly honest. It was just that, at first, it had happened really quickly. He and Bucky fell together like nothing had ever been more natural in the whole world. And Sam had dug his heels in in other places to try to fit some time in some other way. 

Then, the longer Bucky stuck around, the wilder the rumors got around each of them and both of them. Sam couldn’t stand the thought of proving any right or wrong, so they still hadn’t told anyone anything. The whole thing had just spiraled over the last year and a half. Sometimes it was fun. Sometimes it was stupid. Usually it was some mix of the two.

Like when he couldn't just give in to temptation and stay with Bucky.

“It’s freezing out there,” Bucky pointed out, a far cry from his usual teasing about northern winters. Funny how that worked. When he wanted something, he had the moral consistency of hot fudge.

But so did Sam, when the reward was Bucky sweeping them around the room and warming Sam down to the bone with all that super soldier body heat.

“This was a great night, Buck,” he murmured. Reluctantly, he stepped away from Bucky’s hold, causing them to stutter-step to a halt.

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. “Feel like we’ve hardly spent any time here together. Alone.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re always crashing at Sarah’s,” Sam pointed out. “Which is where I’ve gotta get back to.”

Bucky’s hands fell to Sam’s. He brought them up to his mouth, kissing Sam’s knuckles slowly and melting Sam’s heart right down through his ribs and into the warm pit of his stomach. “Your hands are already like ice. Stay here a while longer.”

“I told the boys I’d…” Sam trailed off, not quite sure what it was he’d said he’d spend all evening doing. It seemed like a million miles away. The boys had certainly forgotten too. There was gossip at school he hadn’t heard about, a new level in a game they’d won, those thousand things that preoccupied little minds.

“Just a while more,” Bucky tempted.

“Another drink,” Sam gave in.

Bucky grinned a megawatt movie star smile and kissed the corner of Sam’s mouth. “I’ll pour something new. Put on another record. Fitzgerald.”

“It’s always Fitzgerald with you,” Sam teased. He crossed to Bucky’s ancient record player and swapped out the Crosby album for a Fitzgerald one. All of his holiday albums were lined up neatly on the top of the entertainment system, the paper and board sleeves flaking and warping with use. He was very particular about getting albums as close to the original pressings as possible. He wanted nothing to do with the modern fad. He hunted down albums that were practically kept in lead boxes with five plastic sleeves on them, and then he instantly began to use them, leaving them out in the open to show off and enjoy. More than one collector had blanched in horror to see Bucky instantly pull the album from its sleeve and touch it, spin it between his fingers, put it right up to his nose to examine all of the grooves.

Ella Fitzgerald’s voice picked up a few scratchy seconds after Sam put the needle down. It took him a few seconds to recognize her Jingle Bells. By the time he did, Bucky had swept him into a fast pace swing dance. Sam hadn’t known how to dance like this before he met Bucky, but he’d had no choice but to learn. Not if he wanted to maintain his status as the prime dancer between the two of them.

Really, this whole affair had started with a dance, if he was being honest. And everything since then had been one too.

Sam missed a step, tripped over his own feet and then Bucky’s, but Bucky was there to catch him, swing him low in a dip. “Now look at you,” he breathed, still grinning like an advertisement. “Those are some starlight eyes.”

Sam dropped his head back, closing his eyes so he could roll them without Bucky seeing. He’d still know. He always knew. But still. “I’ve gotta go home, no matter how sweet you get.”

Bucky pulled Sam back upright only to drop him on the couch, dropping himself next to Sam and pressing in closer, his arm around Sam’s shoulders, their bodies pressed together down their sides. Bucky was turned in towards Sam, like he always sat when he had the chance. It was practically impossible that no one had figured them out yet.

Bucky hooked a knuckle under Sam’s chin and tilted his head up to kiss him gently. Every movement was a spell Sam was incapable of getting out from under. Not that he really wanted to anyway.

“At least I can say that I tried,” he offered softly.

“What’s the sense in hurting my pride?”

Sam laughed and pushed Bucky back into the couch, shifting to straddle his thighs. He pushed his fingers through Bucky’s hair. He’d been growing it out again and trying out a whole bathroom sink worth of new products, but after a night of cooking and drinking and dancing, it was just a damp swoop around his face. Sam pushed it back, tilted his head back at the same time. Bucky looked up at him with those wide, adoring winter blue eyes.

“I’ve got to go,” Sam tried again.

Bucky reached to the side and brought back a glass of whiskey. “Get warm first at least.”

And Sam was plenty warm. He was warm from the drinks and he was warm from Bucky’s body heat and he was warm from pure joy. It felt like a full fire in his chest and stomach, one he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, put out. 

“Every nosy auntie is already conspiring,” he warned.

Bucky’s hands trailed up Sam’s shirt, tracing along his spine softly. “It’s practically a blizzard,” he teased. It was not even windy. “You have to stay here. For your own safety. Imagine what they’d say if you got pneumonia and time.”

“That might be true,” Sam conceded. “How will you possibly survive all the old ladies talkin’ about something other than how handsome and sweet you are?”

“Think about how awful I’ll feel if I let you outta here into that and you die,” Bucky tried instead.

Sam shivered a little as Bucky’s fingers trailed over his shoulders, down his shoulder blades, his ribs, back to his hips.

“How awful would you feel?” Sam tempted. “Stroke my ego a little, Barnes.”

“Stay the night and I’ll stroke whatever you want, Wilson.”

“It is really cold,” Sam supposed, glancing to the window. The sun had set a while ago. The street lights were a warm glow, but only highlighted how cool the air must be, all the trees nothing more than naked reaching limbs.

“Your truck isn’t even gonna start,” Bucky agreed.

“It’s so much safer to just stay here.”

“I’m just thinking of your wellbeing.”

“And it’d be rude to leave this drink undrunk.”

“Always better to drink with friends.”

“Baby, it’s cold outside.” Sam grinned at Bucky and Bucky finally surged upwards to kiss him, pulling them both down onto the couch.

Outside, the weather was just frightful, but inside the fire was so delightful.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to leave a kudos or comment on AO3!

[hockeylovee12]

I’m Not Looking for Approval-Luke Hughes

Chapter One-House Party

Summary: After returning back from the world juniors tournament in Canada, Luke Hughes roommates decide to throw a house party where Luke meets a girl.

Warnings: underage drinking, use of nicotine device, throwing up

January 6th 2023

When Luke Hughes arrived back at his house in Michigan which he shared with his four roommates Mackie, Dylan, Ethan and Mark he walked straight into his room still contemplating the past few days.

Luke was happy they won the bronze medal he just really wished he could’ve brought home the gold. He was given the honor of being captain and he had felt like he let his team, his family and his country down.

Despite all the people close to him telling him he did his best and there is nothing else he could do. His brothers never won the gold it doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough except Luke wasn’t his brothers and he wanted to prove that he felt a need to prove that. It’s always been that way and when he took that bronze medal out of his bag and set it on his desk he couldn’t help but feeling a little aggravated.

Luke hears a knock on his door and walks over to open his bedroom door and sees his best friends Dylan Duke who was also a member of the bronze medal winning team standing there. “Hey” Dylan says

“hey what’s up?” Luke responds inviting Dylan into the room before taking a seat in his desk chair.

“I know you’re a little bit upset still but we tried our hardest we still won a medal you know and we got our Michigan team and we got the game tonight and it’s gonna be really fun getting to cheer the guys on also afterwards we’re hosting a little party” Dylan tells Luke

Tonight the Michigan wolverines play an exhibition game against a team from the National Teen Development Program a program Luke was apart of not too long ago.

Due to NCAA rules players who competed in the World Juniors Championship which ended on the 5th were required to take a maintenance day meaning they would be healthy scratches for tonights game.

Luke who is generally not into the whole party scene was definitely not looking forward to an after party especially not one being thrown in his house. However he knew he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Sounds fun” Luke replies Dylan gives Luke a slight smile and a pat on the back before exiting his room and walking downstairs to join the rest of his roommates.

Luke gets up from his seat to close his door which his roommate left open when he begins to overhear the conversation taking place downstairs.

“Is he ok?” Ethan Edwards asks

“I don’t know he’s still upset not mad just down I’m sure it’ll just take a few days for him to get over it” Dylan explains

“I hope so because we do kinda need him to win our games” Mark says

Luke still standing by his open bedroom door on the second floor shakes his head before gently shutting his door and making his way to his bed deciding to take a little nap before he has to get ready to meet the guys at the ice rink.

———————————————————————

College sophomore Jade Brooks was arriving back in Michigan after spending the past three weeks in her home town Lexington, South Carolina.

Being the only child of a set of divorced parents always comes with some problems but when one of them remarries when you are 14 years old and suddenly you have two new siblings and a new step mom who you don’t get along with going home isn’t always your definition of a relaxing break. Which is why Jade decided to book her flight home the Friday before school started back up instead of spending the weekend in South Carolina.

After spending her first year in the dorms Jade opted to rent a four bedroom apartment with her previous roommate and two of their really close friends.

So far the experience has been amazing. All three of her current roommates are from out of state just like her and they all chose to stay in their hometowns until the Sunday before classes started meaning Jade would be arriving home to an empty apartment for the next two days which she was fine with she could use the peace and quite.

That was until her next door neighbor a girl who has become quite close with the four girls decided to make it her mission to take Jade to a party tonight.

A party being hosted by the hockey team.

———————————————————————

The Michigan Wolverines ended up wining 7-6 against the programs team and Luke along with his five other teammates who participated in the world juniors tournament watched their team play from the press box in Yost arena.

After the game the boys met up with the other players in the locker room to congratulate them.

Luke enjoyed seeing his teammates having to leave in the middle of December Luke hadn’t seen some of them since before the start of winter break.

After chatting with a few of them the majority of the team dressed out and took showers.

Luke talked with his teammate Dylan Duke as they waited for their three other roommates to finish getting ready.

The majority of the team was coming to the party tonight except a few players who opted out.

Their team captain Nolan Moyle was tasked with buying the liquor being of age and having a in with the guy at the local liquor store who provided him with a pretty decent discount.

Around 10:30 a handful of the team had joined Luke and his roommates at his house and Moyle came shortly after bringing a very large amount of liquor.

“How many people are coming tonight?” Luke questions his roommates

“um I don’t know maybe like 70 or something Mark estimates.

Around 11:30 is when the party really starts going and soon the house inhibited by the sophomores of the university of Michigan hockey team was filled with around 60 people, drinking and dancing.

“Come on Jade hurry up the party started an hour ago!” Kelsey the next door neighbor and good friend of Jade complains

“I’m coming you’re the one who didn’t like my outfit” Jade defends walking out of her bedroom wearing a pair of black leather pants and a blue corset top.

“Ooo remind me to borrow that top from you next time you look great! Now come on let’s go!” Kelsey says

“ok ok just let me put my shoes on” Jade says reaching for her white platform converse. Kelsey waits impatiently as Jade takes her time double knotting the laces and finally Jade stands up.

“Finally let’s go!” Kelsey exclaims the two girls start walking in the direction of the hockey house and after a ten minute walk which consisted of Kelsey listing off and describing all of the boys on the UMich hockey team the two blondes arrive at the house.

They are invited in.

“Make sure you leave your location on tonight” Jade requests the second the two enter seeing the amount of drunk shenanigans happening in the house.

“ok ok I will do you want a drink?” Kelsey asks

“no I’m not drinking tonight” Jade says

“come on Jade it’s a party let loose” Kelsey encourages

“I have a essay I have to do for a summer internship tomorrow so I’m not gonna drink tonight” Jade lies just not really feeling like drinking tonight

Kelsey rolls her eyes and mumbles buzzkill as she makes her way towards the drink table leaving Jade alone in the crowded room.

Jade starts walking getting pushed left and right in the crowd and eventually makes her way over to the staircase which has been taped off at the top to prevent people from going into the boys rooms.

She takes a seat on the first few steps and pulls out an elf bar and her phone.

She spends a few minutes scrolling through her Instagram and taking occasional hits of her vape allowing her a somewhat buzzed feeling that unfortunately goes away in under five minutes.

Jade stands up and takes another hit then turns her head to release the mango flavored vapor from her lips and accidentally blows it directly into the face of a 6’2 tall brunette standing next to her.

He does a slight cough

“sorry I didn’t mean to blow that into your face” She says assuming he’s just as drunk as the rest of the crowd and will just laugh it off moving past her however she is a little surprised to see the half drinking water bottle in his hand

“no you’re all good” he replies

“are you drunk?” Jade asks without thinking.

The boy lets out a slight chuckle before replying “no I’m actually one of the few people in this room who is still sober? What about you?”

“I’m not drinking tonight” she tells him

“cool I’m Luke by the way” He introduces

“I’m Jade” She responds

“do you want a water” Luke offers

“ya thanks” Jade says and the two begin the normally easy journey of making there way to the kitchen which has became increasingly harder due to the amount of underaged drunk people in the way.

Getting about three steps in and already being pushed around Jade feels a hand on her waist guiding her forward and realizes it’s Luke helping her.

Eventually the two make their way over to the kitchen where the music is coming from and Luke opens the fridge and hands Jade a water.

“Do you live here?” Jade asks seeing a very blurry photo of what appears to be Luke and a few guys hanging on the fridge.

“What?” Luke asks unable to hear over the music

“I asked if you live here?” Jade repeats louder “oh ya” he confirms

“so you play hockey I’m assuming?” Jade says loudly

Luke still unable to hear her completely points to the door assuming they are about to start a conversation and willing to do it in a quieter place. Jade shrugs unsure of the meaning

“I can’t hear you that well so do you wanna go outside?” Luke says Jade understands part of it and nods yes.

With Luke guiding her again to ensure she doesn’t get pushed and pulled in a million other directions the two make their way to the back door which has a do not enter sign on it and step outside into the much quieter backyard.

“Sorry I couldn’t hear a single thing in there” Luke says taking a seat on the steps.

“No worries it’s crazy loud” Jade says taking a seat next to him

“where are you from?” Luke asks

“Lexington, South Carolina” Jade answers

“oh nice my grandparents have a house in Myrtle beach there I use to visit every summer when i was a kid I remember they had this festival sea of something every year it was my favorite thing!” Luke says

“ya the sea of stars festival I went that all the time it’s my favorite too do you still go?” Jade asks

“nah not anymore I typically have hockey stuff going on so I’m not able to make it out in time” Luke explains

“So you’re a hockey player?” Jade asks

“ya I uh play for the wolverines and I got drafted a few years ago to play for the New Jersey Devils” Luke says

“really that’s awesome! I don’t know too much about hockey but I know a few of my friends like to watch it” Jade says

“ya I got two brothers playing in the NHL right now one of them is in Jersey the others in Vancouver” Luke says

“oh so you’re a big hockey family” Jade says

“ha ya ya kinda in my blood I guess” Luke says

“that sounds nice you always have people in the game your close with” Jade says

“ya ya it’s nice I’m probably gonna go play with my brother at the end of my season” Luke says his smile breaking a little

“are you not excited?” Jade asks getting a surprised look from Luke

“I’m sorry that wasn’t a great question” Jade says

“no no it’s fine it’s just people don’t usually ask if I’m excited because they assume I am”

“well are you?” Jade asks

“I think I am I think you know it’s every kids dream to play at that level and to get there is amazing but at the same time im gonna miss my friends and playing on a team with my brother where he’s already achieved so much and is constantly getting better I just I don’t know im not at the same level and being at Michigan I get to play as me but in jersey it’s him and I and ya I just I don’t know” Luke explains

“you don’t like getting compared to him” Jade spells it out

“ya ya that’s pretty much it” Luke chuckles “I’m different from my brothers and I just wanna make sure that’s known and I don’t wanna be in his shadow for my whole career” Luke continues

“I get it I mean I don’t get it completely but I do get it a little” Jade says

“what about you do you have any siblings?” Luke asks

“uh I have two step brothers” Jade answers

“ya that’s cool” Luke replies “are you guys close?”

“not really one is 27 and the other one is 23 and our parents got married when I was 14 so I never really lived with them but they are nice they both went to school in South Carolina” Jade says

“oh cool so why’d you choose Michigan instead of South Carolina?”

“I’m not that close with my parents I grew up mainly with my dad and he worked a lot and my mom was busy a lot and I don’t get along too much with my step mom and my friends were all going out of state so there was nothing really tying me down there and Michigan gave me a pretty good scholarship”

“ya that’s cool” Luke says

“So do you just not drink or just not tonight?” Luke asks

“just not tonight I wasn’t feeling it but my friend dragged me out so how about you?” Jade replies

“ya just not feeling it but couldn’t really escape the party being thrown downstairs so” Luke says

Jade laughs then she reaches into her back pocket and takes out her elf bar taking a hit and blowing it in the opposite direction of Luke before turning back to him.

“Do you want a hit?” She offers

“nah I’m good we get tested for drugs so I can’t” Luke explains Jade nods and puts the vape back in her pocket

The pair continue talking for an hour talking about hockey, growing up, family stuff and everything. Until the back door swings open.

“Hey sorry uh there’s a girl who’s really drunk I think she needs some help her names uh Kelsey says she knows you” a somewhat drunk Mark Estapa says

“oh shit” Jade says starting to get up Luke stands up as well and the pair walk inside to the almost empty space.

There were only about 20 people left and most of them were from the hockey team and almost all of them were drunk.

Mark escorts the pair to a hallway where the bathroom is and Jade sees her friend hunched over the toilet close to but not yet throwing up.

“I’m gonna go grab her a water” Luke says rushing to the kitchen

“thank you” Jade says walking towards her friend and pulling her hair back.

Kelsey begins throwing up and after a few minutes Luke comes back just in time with a bottle of water and a clean towel.

Kelsey flushes the vomit down the toilet and leans up against the wall accepting the towel and bottle

“water?” Kelsey asks

“ya it’s just water don’t worry” Luke says

Jade helps her friend twist off the cap and encourages her to drink the bottle.

“Where do you guys live?” Luke asks

“in the apartments about two streets over I’m gonna walk her home once she finishes the water” Jade says

“no look I haven’t had a sip of anything other than water all night let me grab my keys and I’ll drive you both home” Luke offers

“no no it’s ok I can’t ask that” Jade says

“you’re not asking I’m offering and it’s 2 in the morning you shouldn’t be walking home” Luke says

Jade flashes a slight smile at Luke and thanks him Luke returns the smile and walks out of the bathroom and upstairs to grab his keys.

Once he returns back down he shuts off the music still playing and checks on a few of his teammates all of them had been drinking except two sober ones who were watching over the rest of them.

Luke sighed knowing probably most of them were going to sleepover and he’d wake up in a house full of hungover people.

Once he got the all good signal from Jackson Hallum and Eric Ciccolini the two sober players Luke headed back to the bathroom where Jade was helping Kelsey onto her feet.

Luke took over and easily got her up and helped walk her to the door with Jade following.

The trio made it to Lukes car which was parked on the street and Jade sat in the back with Kelsey while Luke got in the drivers seat.

It was a short 5 minute drive. Jade thanked Luke again for driving them and Kelsey was falling in and out of sleep.

When they arrived at the apartment complex Jade swiped them in and Luke helps Kelsey get to Jades apartment.

Jade unlocks the door.

“You can just put her on the couch” Jade says

Luke helps Kelsey to the couch and she puts her legs up and cuddling into the couch

“you know you’re kinda cute” a drunk Kelsey says Luke and Jade laugh

“how did you manage to find a nice cute sober guy that’s like rare findings or something” Kelsey continues

“don’t let this one go” she says before finally resting her head down and falling asleep

Jade shakes her head and then places a glass of water on the coffee table in front of her.

“Thank you again so much” Jade says

“ya of course I’m glad she got home safe and she’s lucky to have a good friend to take care of her” Jade blushes a little bit which Luke notices

“um let me walk you out” Jade says

The two start walking towards the front door when a drunk Kelsey wakes up and says “don’t forget to get her number” clearly directed at Luke Jade shakes her head and laughs

“well it’s not a bad idea” Luke says Jade smiles and pulls out her phone and hands it to Luke having him type his number in she saves the contact and the two walk out of her apartment and back down to the lobby.

Luke flashes one last smile at Jade before exiting the building and getting back into his car driving back to his house.

A few of the guys were getting into Jackson and Eric’s cars with help from them and Luke called out to them to be safe before entering his house and seeing two of his roommates asleep on the couch and three of his freshman teammates asleep on the floor.

Luke shakes his head and heads upstairs into his own bedroom and lays down pulling out his phone and seeing a new message from an unknown number.

Thanks again for all your help and I had a really good time talking to you tonight :)

A/N I do intend for this to be a series I really hope you enjoyed reading it! I did write this in one sitting which is how I typically write meaning I do not always go back and proofread so I apologize for any errors! I would also like to state this is completely fiction not based on any true facts or stories! My requests are open if you have any blurbs you would like me to write!

All photos are from Pinterest

[lilitblaukatz]

Librarygate addition from the time-unrelated side

Richie's joking. But I'm not.

We know that the Duffers are huge Stephen King fans.

There are three significant library arcs in Stephen King's works which I can remember (add if you can, please): the novella "The Library Policeman" (1990, one of the FOUR HOUR STRIKES (the third) in "FOUR past midnight" collection); and two belong to "It": Mike Hanlon was a librarian, but also Ben Hanscom has a big arc with the Derry Library.

I will start with Ben (he is a part of our love triangle parallel after all). Ben's ties to the Derry Library are shown both in miniseries and in recent movies, but to know the full story you of course need to read the book. I've read it two times and the last one was about 15 years ago, so forgive me for any wrong memories (pun intended).

1.. Ben loved the Derry Library. Not only because he was lonely and it was a place he could spend time. He liked to learn, he had good relationship with the librarian. But most of all he liked the bridge part between the two library buildings (idk how to call it in English, that part joins the children library and the grown'ups one with well-lit warm hall with glass sides and roof, probably?). When Ben grew up, he built a building based on that hall and got an architect award for it. He liked the hall because you could use it to go from one library to another even in the winter and be warm and dry and look at all the cold and snow outside. It is probably a metaphor for that tween period of life King loves so much that most of his kid characters end up being eaten by monsters about 11-12.

Ben had bad things happen to him there as well. I don't really remember the accident with the boy and easter eggs in the book, but Ben was really scared of that photograph and the story of Kitcheners' blow up and killing a hundred of kids. Also when he was staying late helping the librarian one winter night, he saw Pennywise on the ice when Ben was crossing the river by the bridge. Yeah, that same bridge Adrian Mellon was thrown from years after Ben's encounter.

But also Ben wrote that poem about Beverly's hair in the library :)

2.. Mike Hanlon. Mike was a fellow loser to Ben. He was interested in Derry history as a kid and figured out that awful things happen in Derry every 27 years for centuries. He grew up and became a librarian in Derry Library. He was the one with his memories intact and called all the Losers when It came back 27 years later.

3.. Library Policeman. It is a hard story. I've read it when I was a kid myself, maybe 12, 13? Years later I remembered the chill and re-read it. It was still years from now so yeah, I'll do what I can with Wikipedia not helping much.

The protagonist of the novella is Sam. When Sam was a child, he was r*ped in the bushes outside of his hometown library by a man who called himself the Library Policeman who punish children who don't return their books on time. At another place, where grown-up Sam lives, he needs some books from the local library for the first time since his childhood. He accidentaly destroys the books after he uses them and then supernatural stuff start to happen. The entity calling itself the Library Policeman is terrorizing him, and the old librarian who gave him the books is long dead. That woman was not human. It is a monster who is feeding on childrens' fear.

Sam, his friend with whom he falls in love with, and a former lover of the librarian are on the mission to defeat the monster, who wants a NEW HOST to attach itself to, like a parasite. The former lover DIES while helping Sam and his friend, the monster manages to attach itself to the friend's neck and Sam saves her by pulling it off of HER NECK and throwing it under the wheels of upcoming train where it is smashed out of existence. It is a heartbreaking moment: he makes her to look forward and recite a poem or count, I don't remember, while standing behind her he lifts her hair and sees this thing on her neck (which causes some personality changes in her or just a headache I don't remember sorry), and he takes it off when the train is almost there and throws... This monster was compared to a spider too (the flesh form of It was a spider). I like the idea that it is a soteria in Will's neck, but I'm afraid it can be a part of the Mind Flayer.

So we have Hopper and Joyce go into the Upside Down through the Lab gate to find Will. S01 was heavily influenced by Alien and the Duffers don't just do an homage, they use easter eggs and parallels in the plot.

The first thing Hopper finds in the UD (the first thing Ben Hanscom had found in the sewers… was an orange Pennywise pom-pom when he was a child and red Audra Denbrough's purse as an adult) is a busted-out-of egg which is of course an egg a facehugger is grown in.

Who was born from that egg in the Stranger Things is unclear. Could be a demogorgon. Dragons lay eggs btw.

Then Joyce and Hopper inspect the Castle Byers remnants, go to Byers' house where amazed Jonathan recognizes his mother in the lights and Joyce hear him calling her gently. It is irrelevant here but fascinating. Then they follow the trace of blood into the Hawkins Public Library.

There is some kind of lair. It is similar to both the egg lair in the Alien and in the Aliens.

The difference is that in Aliens Momma is still around. Also we have cocooned corpses in the Aliens too:

Stranger things s01e08:

It's all of course from the Aliens and It: Hopper and Joyce parallel the couple from Aliens who found the ship with the eggs, the death of the father points to Hopper's future death.

Joyce finds Will like Ripley finds Newt in the lair, cocooned:

Bill Denbrough finds his wife Audra in the lair, cocooned.

But whose lair is it?!

Vecna had his lair in his old house, where he was being charged in a dock like an electronic toy...

Flesh form of It (the Spider) layed eggs in its lair which Losers destroyed (sadly, not on screen in both the miniseries and the movies) by stepping on them.

Alien Queen layed eggs in its lair which Ripley destroyed (by fire!)

Who lays those eggs (we saw one) in the UD? Whose lair is in the library???

And just what else I have on the place: Will was FOUND in the library on Nov 12th, but the sign says (Vote here) Nov. 6th when he was taken walked willingly disappeared. So can library be a part of his dissapearance too? Or even in the first place.

Dragons steal princesses and keep them in their lairs too...

King's prototype of It was a troll from a fairytale, who lives under the bridge and eats children. Do trolls eat princesses? I'm not that familiar with foreign folklore...

And the last but not least:

Team Tigers vs team Falcons:

(the shots of the library with pigeons and then pigeons were followed by shots of Joyce in her car arriving at Melvalds s01e02)

Many noticed the stalker shots and Vecna's parallels to birds.

Birds were absolutely the spies in the Duma Key by Stephen King.

[silvfyre-writings]

Snapshots Pt. 4 (BSD Fanfic)

Hello, and welcome back to the next chapter of Snapshots! I'm glad that so many of you seem to be enjoying these fun little stories, and I happen to enjoy writing them a lot!!!

This time it's clothing because Ranpo looks good in anything and nothing will change my mind about that.

So, enjoy!

One thing that had always been a sore spot for Ranpo growing up was clothing.

As a child, he’d never truly understood what society had meant by girl and boy clothes; they were just clothes, so why did it matter who wore them? To him, clothes were all about comfort, but as a child, that wasn’t something he’d really been allowed to do, since his parents had bought of his clothes for him—boy clothes, to be exact. And while Ranpo had no issue wearing such clothes, he couldn’t deny that he was curious about the clothing that the opposite gender to him wore. Every time his mother had taken him out to the shops with her, he’d always found himself browsing the girl’s section, curious, and wanting. The only downside was that whenever his mother saw what he was looking at, she’d gain a look on her face and drag him away, distracting him with the first thing that came to mind, which was easy to do, because as a child, Ranpo was interested in everything.

As a teenager, his fascination with clothing was pushed to the back of his mind on account of losing both his parents and his home, but it was still there, just waiting to return to the surface again when the time was right. It took months for that time to come, because after arriving in Yokohama, life just got harder for Ranpo, and with limited money—if he had any at all—clothes were the last thing on his mind. But things got better when he met Fukuzawa, and found himself in the man’s care after they’d worked together to solve the murder of the theatre; sure, he’d almost died, but he’d in the process he’d learnt he was gifted, and gained a home and legal guardian, so really, almost dying wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to him.

At first, Ranpo hadn’t been sure of his place in Fukuzawa’s life, because whilst he had offered up his home to Ranpo, Fukuzawa’s past was filled with loneliness and bloodshed. So, it’d taken a while for the two of them to figure out their dynamic with each other, both of them taking tentative steps to try and figure out the do’s and don’ts of it all. Eventually, they’d figured it out, with Fukuzawa accepting that he was now responsible for guiding and protecting Ranpo where his parents no longer could, and Ranpo learning that Fukuzawa wasn’t going to treat him the same as all the other adults in his life.

Apparently that also included his parents, because when they’d gone shopping to get some extra clothes for him, Ranpo hadn’t been able to stop himself from eyeing the girl’s section. There’d been more variety than there had been in his hometown, with various different styles and options that had aroused Ranpo’s curiosity, bringing back that fascination he’d begun to think was lost forever. It’d only taken him a second to panic though, remembering that his fascination wasn’t shared by others, only to have Fukuzawa place a hand on his shoulder and ask him if he wanted to look. Ranpo had stared at Fukuzawa in shock before nodding and they’d looked at all kinds of clothing before buying more outfits than Ranpo had ever owned in his life.

And it was because of Fukuzawa and his lack of judgement, that Ranpo had been allowed to experiment and discover himself, leading him to become comfortable with who he was, and who he wanted to be by the time that he was an adult; even if that comfort and confidence didn’t often show itself in public. Because apparently the adults of the world weren’t too fond of seeing men wear clothing that wasn’t tailored to them specifically, and whenever Ranpo made the decision to wear a skirt, or a dress, in public, he couldn’t help but notice the stares thrown at him.

Ranpo tried his best not to care though, because what he chose to wear was his business and his alone, and if what he wore upset people, then that was their problem, not his. He was comfortable in his clothing choices, and the people closest to him, supported him, and that was all that mattered to him.

And then the fighting started.

By the time he was twenty-six, Ranpo was comfortable as ever, but with everything that’d been going on, Ranpo had chosen to wear the clothes that brought him the most comfort; the detective clothes that Fukuzawa had brought for him when it’d become clear that Ranpo wasn’t going to grow any taller. And with everything that’d been going on, it’d been all anyone had seen him in for months, so by the time that the conflict ended, people seemed to have forgotten that he enjoyed wearing clothing that wasn’t entirely masculine.

And because of that, the confidence that Ranpo had spent years building up, was gone, and he’d resorted to only wearing those clothes in the comfort of his own home, where the only people that were likely to see him were Fukuzawa and Yosano, who knew about Ranpo’s preferences. It was fine though, because Ranpo knew it wouldn’t take long for him to rebuild that confidence, so long as nothing threw a wrench in the works.

So of course, the metaphorical wrench was thrown, when Ranpo ran into Poe on the street, the writer choosing to stay in Yokohama, and Ranpo, suddenly filled with a desire to befriend the man, forced Poe into giving him his number. Poe had anxiously, and reluctantly, handed it over before running away; yet the writer still responded when Ranpo texted him later that day.

And the wrench was thrown again, when Ranpo began to have romantic feelings for Poe and vice versa, because while Poe was more than content to throw his feelings about and tell Ranpo just how he felt, Ranpo was more reserved about it; he’d spent his entire teenage years trying to figure himself out, and in return, he’d neglected to even delve into the world that was romance. Ranpo felt a little bad for Fukuzawa during that period, since his guardian had to listen to him rant about how he felt and how he didn’t understand what it was that he was feeling.

The final wrench was when he and Poe started dating, and Ranpo wound up spending more time at Poe’s place than his own, because while he and Poe had talked a lot over the past few months, Ranpo had never opened up to the writer about how he sometimes preferred to wear clothing different to what Poe had seen him in before, and Ranpo was just a little scared that Poe might think less of him if he found out.

“I’ll be back in a week.”

Those were the words that Poe had left him with, along with a kiss and a hug, before leaving for America on a short business trip; apparently, one of Poe’s old clients from when he’d been the Guild’s architect had requested his assistance on a project, and apparently they hadn’t been willing to adjust to the time zone difference in order to communicate. Not that Ranpo minded, because Poe had looked so happy at being asked to do the job he’d chosen for himself to pursue—Poe may have been a master writer and published author, but writing had always been a hobby to him, while architecture had been an interest—so Ranpo had supported his partner in his decision, a promised to call whenever he had time.

And since Poe had chosen to take Karl with him, that left Ranpo alone in the mansion that he called home now, which also meant that he could wear whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without fear of being seen. The skirts and dresses that he’d brought with him when Poe had asked him to move in, were pulled out of the corner of the closet they’d been shoved into, and for that first day, Ranpo had pulled each and every one of them out of the box just so he could look at them and remind himself of what he owned.

The second day that Poe was gone, he’d worn a cute skirt and an oversized long-sleeved shirt.

The third day he’d worn one of his summer dresses, despite it not quite being the weather for it.

The fourth day he’d chosen to wear his favorite outfit, not because it was the comfiest, but because it was the one he felt the best dressed in. The outfit was simple, really; leggings—something he only wore with this outfit in particular—a black skirt, and a long-sleeved crop top. It was the first outfit he’d picked on his own and paid for with his own money, so it was quite important to him.

It was the fourth day, when he was wearing this outfit and lounging on the couch, watching a movie, that Poe came home early from his trip.

Ranpo had been so focused on the movie he’d been watching, that he hadn’t even realized that Poe was home until the furry ball that was Karl, flew into his lap, chattering and pawing at him in excitement. “Karl!” Ranpo lifted the raccoon into the air, a grin on his face before he brought into a hug. “Did you miss me?”

“He wasn’t the only one that did.” A hand came to rest on one of his shoulders while lips were pressed against his temple.

Ranpo hummed and turned his head to capture Poe’s lips into a proper kiss. “Well, I missed you too. You’re back early.”

“My client is rather easy to please.” Poe said, kissing Ranpo once more before he pulled away and stepped around the couch in order to join Ranpo in sitting on it. “It’s not my first time working with them either, so I already knew what I was—wait, what are you wearing?”

Ranpo froze, his hands pausing where they’d been running through Karl’s fur. In his joy in seeing both Karl and Poe again, he’d forgotten that what he was currently wearing wasn’t what he normally wore. He opened his mouth to respond, only for his words to fail and clog up his throat.

Poe was quick to spot his growing panic, because he was so observant when it came to Ranpo’s emotions, and grabbed one of Ranpo’s hands in his own, threading their fingers together and squeezing gently to soothe him. “Hey, don’t panic, take a breath for me. You’re fine.”

Ranpo nodded, and squeezed Poe’s hand in return, taking in a single shuddering breath. He repeated the motion again, and again, until he felt the panic easing, although he was still tense as he waited for Poe to speak again, to judge him, to call him a freak.

Only, it never came. Once he’d calmed down, Poe smiled softly and brought their linked hands up to his lips in order to press a kiss to the back of Ranpo’s hand, the gesture enough to chase away the last vestiges of panic. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Poe murmured, lowering their hands back down. “I only asked because your outfit makes you look cute.”

“Really?” Ranpo’s face began to heat up, the blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears like it always did whenever Poe gave him a compliment.

“Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you. I was just surprised because I’ve never seen you wear clothes like this before.”

“I haven’t worn clothes like this since Atsushi joined the Agency, because in the middle of a conflict, my usual clothing was easier and more convenient, but I’ve always enjoyed wearing skirts and—” Ranpo cut himself off, turning his face away from Poe before he said too much. He felt his hand be squeezed, and took a breath to continue. “—and dresses on the odd occasion. They’re comfortable.”

Poe’s lips twitched into a frown. “But the Agency isn’t in the middle of a conflict right now, so how come you haven’t worn what you feel comfortable in until now?”

“Ah, that’s…” Ranpo didn’t want to admit it was because he was scared, but he didn’t have to, because Poe was just as smart as him and could easily put together the pieces of the puzzle based upon everything that Ranpo had said. And before he knew it, Ranpo found himself being pulled into an embrace, Poe’s arms wrapped around him firmly.

“I’m sorry if I made you feel as if you couldn’t be yourself around me.” Poe murmured into his hair. Ranpo made a noise of protest, because it wasn’t Poe’s fault at all, only to be shushed by the man. “Ranpo, I love you for you, and that includes all parts of you, so if you want to wear the skirts and dresses that you own, then you are more than welcome to do so. And if you fear my judging you, then you don’t need to, because I don’t care if you prefer feminine clothing over masculine; if it’s what makes you comfortable, then just wear it, okay?”

Ranpo’s blush grew even more, and he hid his face against Poe’s shoulder. He heard Poe chuckle, and whined. “Laughing is forbidden.”

“Sorry, but you look even more adorable when you’re embarrassed like this.”

Karl let out a loud chatter then, eyes flicking between Ranpo and Poe from where he still sat in Ranpo’s lap.

“See, even Karl agrees with me.”

“I hate you both.” Ranpo grumbled, although there was a smile on his face, one of relief at how easily Poe had just accepted him. Then again, why had he even worried in the first place? This was Poe, who wore Victorian era clothing like it was still in fashion—heeled boots and all—so it made sense that he would never judge Ranpo for what he chose to wear.

“What are you thinking about, Ranpo?” Poe asked, letting Ranpo go just so he could tuck some stray hair behind his ear.

“Nothing.” Ranpo said and stood from the couch, Karl in his arms. “But would you perhaps like to see the rest of my wardrobe?”

Poe’s own smile was soft as he stood up as well, and began to follow Ranpo to their room. “It would be my pleasure.”

[agent-darkfest]

So I haven’t posted something in a while, but I read this lovely story by @laurzzz and it just absolutely inspired me. Check out their page, it’s really awesome!

Anyways, without further ado, let’s do a quick intro to this character. His name is Ivan Kovski, he is 24 years old and he is partially blind (due to an accident). He grew up with his mother and 3 baby sisters in a small house after they had immigrated from their country.

Ivan had been juggling since he was 12 years old as a way to distract his baby sisters when his mom was out of the house working. He would also help with the cleaning, food prep, and overall maintenance of the house. But after seeing the toll work had on his mother, he went out to look for work himself to ease her burden. He found work in an Iron Factory, which allowed him to provide for his family for some time. Unfortunately, he had to move away to be closer to the factory, but he never stopped juggling, especially since he knew his sisters loved it. He would come visit them as much as he was able, bearing gifts and toys. But after an “accident” with a faulty boiler he was trying to fix, he lost his eye sight. The factory refused to take responsibility and blamed him for his carelessness. So, he got thrown out.

He tried looking for work elsewhere, but no respectable place wanted to hire a blind man with a half burnt face, especially an immigrant. Eventually, he made his way back to his hometown and he overheard some people talking about some fliers put up by a circus. A circus looking for “Unique Persons and Curiosities”. With nothing else to lose, he figured he’d give it a shot.

Fun Facts:

-Before he worked at the factory, he liked playing keep away with his sisters by grabbing what they had in their hands and juggling off with it. His sister often tried to catch him, but he kept out of their reach by climbing over furniture. One time he even managed to climb and balance on top of the clothes line while juggling… buuut… it snapped under his weight and he fell face first to the ground. He sisters couldn’t hold their laughter after they made sure he was ok.

-He likes to practice juggling things that people would consider too difficult or dangerous to juggle. A little hard-headed in that regard.

-Since he cannot see very well, he rather just have his eyes cover (whether by his hair, a blindfold, or a half-mask).

-He is very spatially aware and has excellent memory. When he first comes into a new space, he wanders around with a walking stick to get used to the space. But after a week, he already has the layout committed to memory. (He will trip over something new if he isn’t paying attention).

-His senses are very good. But he is still human, so he can hurt himself if he is not careful.

-After the accident, he developed a fear of heat near his face. For example, he can juggle things on fire, but if it gets too close to his face, he tends to freeze up. He is also self-conscious about the way he looks.

-He has a tendency to be a big brother to everyone without meaning to, especially if they exhibit mannerisms similar to his siblings. He is patient, kind, and understanding; if not a little mischievous sometimes.

-His family does not know about the accident. He has someone at the post write his letter for him every week, but he cannot bring himself to tell them what happened. They know he changed jobs, but they are not sure what he does. They very much wish to see him, but he tends to find an excuse to avoid to subject.

And that’s it! I had a lot of fun coming up with the character, but these are all preliminary ideas that can be changed. @laurzzz Thank you for such a fun prompt! Also, I had never watched The Greatest Showman until after reading your story. Now I just wanna read it again!

[wickedsrest-rp]

Name: Owen Lundkvist Species: Hunter (Slayer) Occupation: Employee at Fable Blades Age: 30 Years Old Played By: Hera Face Claim: Bill Skarsgård

“Do we have a problem? Please say yes, you look extremely punchable.” 

TW: Infidelity

A classic love story - boy meets girl, girl turns out to be a vampire, boy comes from a long lineage of those born and bred to kill vampires. But what are your teenage years without a little rebellion? 

The Lundkvists were considered fairly prestigious around their hometown of Uppsala, both amongst those in the know about their more violent heritage and those not. They offered protection for those who were weaker and therefore, warranted respect, which they basked in. Perhaps not surprising then that their only child, Owen, would grow up to harbor both an innate lack of respect as well as a streak of rebellion. What he did respect was the mission, the grueling training that was meant to prepare him to carry on his family’s fight. Owen yearned for the fight. 

The first mission had been exhilarating and everything he’d been taught was put to good use. At the ripe age of sixteen, Owen was now the proud owner of his first stake, gifted to every young Lundkvist after their first vampire kill. It was all laid out beautifully - Owen excelled at the hunt, made his parents proud and even started looking forward to one day creating his own assortment of little slayers. Too bad that perfect plans weren’t made for the restless and reckless at heart. 

Like most nineteen year olds do, they met at a bar. Owen had gotten used to ignoring the scratching feeling of vampires in the vicinity while “off duty” so to speak but the blond haired girl with the infectious laugh had caught everyone’s attention, vampire sense or not. It had started out as morbid curiosity, striking up a conversation with a vampire for the hell of it, but she was… smart. Funny, charming, beautiful. Didn’t attempt to kill anyone and spoke so kindly of human life that Owen had to wonder if his senses were lying to him. No way could this perfect human share anything with the monsters he’d been taught to kill. The heartless creatures he’d been raised to loathe since birth. 

His senses had been right, of course. His dedication to hundreds of years of legacy momentarily put to the side, Owen persisted. On the third date, he confessed to knowing her secret. After their first night together, he confessed his own. They both found that their secrets didn’t matter so much in the grand scheme of things. In the face of love, what did centuries of tradition really mean? Their families, both having suffered losses due to attacks from the other side, were not as happy as the young couple. So they ran. 

America was thrilling, truly the land of opportunities and the perfect place for a dysfunctional couple like a slayer and a vampire. For a while, everything was perfect. Close to perfect, at least, as Rosel still needed to feed and what kind of boyfriend wouldn’t help his partner stay alive? They avoided casualties… at first. Crossing that line, for her, didn’t seem like much. They got into other trouble too, leaving a small trail of vampire dust and blood wherever they went. When you were in love, and loved, you would do anything. Because he was loved. Right?

She’d pulled away slowly at first, started a job even though they were doing fine on Owen’s salary. Stayed out later or brought some new fanged friends back to their cramped apartment. And then, almost unceremoniously, she’d left. It was months before he saw her again, passing her on the busy streets of Boston, golden hair thrown back as she laughed with her new partner. She never knew what happened to her new lover, only that one day he vanished without a trace - once Owen had washed the blood off his hands, of course. 

Staying in Boston after that was too painful. Too void of vampires to kill and take his boiling anger out on. That’s what he was, wasn’t it? Someone who killed monsters. It had been stupid to think they were anything other than heartless creatures that took what they needed and left the corpse bleeding. His training needed some dusting off, sure, but what better place to let his true colors shine than a town supposedly crawling with these selfish, wretched creatures? Wicked’s Rest was truly a goldmine for those looking to take their issues out on unsuspecting undead. The thing about just running from your mistakes though, as opposed to grinding them into dust, only means that those mistakes can one day hunt you down again. 

Things were good, as good as they could be amongst the town’s weekly horrors and Owen should have known the false sense of security was something to be wary of. Rosel tracked him down and, knowing exactly which buttons to push, once again had the slayer strung up like a marionette. Will the knowledge that he’s being manipulated this time around help with cutting the strings, maybe for good this time around?

Character Facts:

Personality: Snarky, closed off, hot tempered, manipulative, ruthless, charismatic, clever, goading, loyal

Despite living in the US for over ten years, a Swedish accent does tend to slip out on occasion. Alcohol makes it more noticeable.

Is permanently banned from The 3 Daggers. You can try asking why but a different answer is provided every time someone asks. 

Amateur drum player from his short stint with a band back in Boston. They really only played in crappy dive bars. 

Owen is a very skilled fighter who usually goes for 90/10 when it comes to offense/defense, which explains the expansive array of scars. 

[solasan]

band name + album + songwriting + change + tattoo + voice + seven for Marnie? 👀

infamous MC questions

TYSM amber

Band name: How did they and the others come up with the band name? Has the name changed since it was founded?

they definitely went through a few iterations. rowan fought hard for rowan & the hartettes but was quickly vetoed. they threw around the idea of making some seven-based number joke but couldnt come up w anything they liked LOL. jazzy and iris played around with a few flower-based names, but that didn't Fit The Vibe (bc the vibe is a lil less flowers, a lil more everything on fire).

i think hornet's nest itself was a seven-marnie joint effort? they were playing around with the idea of it for a song n then figured it actually worked better as a name. marnie Very Seriously Considered changing the name after he left, but they'd been established as hornet's nest for two EPs already and had a growing fanbase, so she didnt think the disruption was worth it.

Albums: What are some of the albums the band has released? Are they a consistent style? What themes did they explore?

so gasping was their first EP (the one maya has on vinyl that marnie's super embarrassed about) and that was when they were kind of figuring out their style. probably more punk than grunge rock? kind of them just trying to find their groove. there's a few ethel cain southern gothic style references lyrically and a lot of angsty horrific references to bodies in the marshes outside their hometown (It's Symbolic For Seven & Marnie's Buried Trauma) LOL

i think possibly they released another EP after that but i dont have clear Thoughts on that yet?

then was take cover, which is their final release with seven LOL. leaning more into grunge rock now (heavy guitar & bass sounds, more refined but still intense vocals). this one's pure anarchy bc marnie's fully rejected (and been rejected by) her parents and seven has fewer songs where he's centre-stage so there's a kind of? tension? in some of his songs. lots of rage against the machine type shit. also some more gothic americana, since that's just Their Thing Now

under the bus is next and it's a hate-letter to seven lol no it isn't. there's a couple angry songs abt nebulous betrayal/getting thrown under the bus by circumstance that r juuust vague enough that marnie can feasibly get away with saying theyre not about him, tho 🤥. it's kind of more an album abt growing up than anything, n they definitely have a more mature sound. probably there's smth abt liminal spaces as a metaphor for the Ephemeral Nature Of Youth (And Love) or smth

and then finally there's their most recent album glass houses :) so named bc a few of the songs are rewritten versions of stuff she wrote when she was still living w her parents, n the whole album kind of... deals w the isolation she felt during that time? but from her pov as an adult now? we got references to breaking windows, we got references to being cut off from the world by glass, we got it all. (also forecast fires is on there bc it's a heavily reworked once-sweet love song she wrote abt seven when she was pining years ago, but this time it's abt the inevitability of catastrophe and how knowing what's coming can be like... soul destroying)

Songwriting: What’s their process? Is it different than it was when they used to write songs with Seven?

i'm not sure that she has a specific Process tbh. i think she probably comes up with lines in the shower/bath quite a bit, if only bc she's a shower singer and she likes to experiment. she's gotten into the habit of keeping her phone nearby when she showers so she can peek out of the curtains and write stuff down in the notes app lol. uhh i think tunes come to her before words do; she finds patterns she likes chord-wise and then goes from there?

writing songs w seven was a lot more collaborative obv so yeah it's different!! but also i think she was a lot less critical abt her songs n ideas when they worked on stuff together bc she kind of... always trusted seven to tell her if something didnt work or could be improved??? n now she has to do that herself LOL. it takes her longer to come up w songs without him than it did with him, but i think they're a bit more streamlined and perfected than they were before??

Change: How has their personality changed since Seven left the band? Are those changes related to Seven leaving?

she's still got her humour, which is good, but she's a lot more serious abt the band/their music/their future. she tries to take more responsibility for them now, bc seven's not around to kind of split that with her, and she's stepped into the role of leader bc no one else will? so there's a lot of pressure there, both from herself, orion, and (less intentionally) the band, who have kind of gotten into the habit of turning to marnie for help n advice.

she's also a lot more spiteful LOL. she's generally angrier, if only bc (since she voted to keep seven as a lead singer n not a backup) she rly feels like she didnt do anything wrong to him and it's fucked up that he left. uhhh more trust and abandonment issues than ever <3 which means more self-destructive behaviours!!! party drugs r a big one (she didnt used to rly touch much beyond weed before he left) but also hypersexuality since as someone else who deals w my issues thru vacillating wildly between hypo and hypersexuality i like 2 drop my trauma in there she finds it's a good way to get out of her head (shes always found sex was good for that, even when it was happy n healthy w seven), but then she has some issues around feeling dirty/regretting it, so. :shrug:

Tattoo: Did they keep the tattoo with Seven’s initials? Why/why not? What was that decision/execution process like? (Bonus: What do they think of Seven keeping their tattoo?)

amber look at me look me in the eyes. thank u so much for askin this one, this one is the one i've been MOST excited for. wuv u.

anyway LOL NO SHE DOESNT. the day she got the news that he'd joined a new band, she went to the nearest studio that took walk-ins and asked them to cover it up. it was very much an unplanned thing; she was angry and hurt and sad and she just... couldnt keep it. having his initials on her — like a brand, like ownership, and she hadnt minded that when he was hers too, but now he's gone and she's still his and she feels pathetic about that — was too difficult. when she walked into the studio she said "i need this covered up" and they said "ok, with what?" and she said

um eventually she settled on getting a big spider tattoo that kind of curls around her wrist and onto the back of her hand??? its butt is what covers the S.D. specifically. funny thing is that marnie hates spiders and always fucking has, but it was one of the first things she saw the studio offering, and she would literally rather have that on her body than seven. liar. seven also knows she hates spiders lol so he's probably definitely hurt abt that :)

seven keeping his tattoo feels like a mockery to her LOL. there's no part of her that's like oh he kept it bc he loves me, there's hope~ it is ALLLL "he's trying to freak me out". that doesnt mean that a possessive part of her doesnt like seeing it on him, tho, even if she'll deny that to the day she dies.

Voice: What does their singing voice sound like? Do you have voiceclaims(s) for them?

answered here xx

Seven: Do you have headcanons about their friendship and/or romantic relationship (past or future)? What do you imagine some of their best memories are? What do you think some of Seven’s favourite things about your MC were/are?

answered here

[deerhavenhqcharacters]

Under the cut

Name: Diana Jones Gender pronouns: she/her Age: 38 Birthday: May 17th Occupation: Mortician and Grief Counselor at Hollow Hill Mortuary Species: Human Neighborhood: Shimmering Oaks Face Claim: Anne Hathaway

Bio: (tw: near death experience, prejudice)

Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt. For the Jones family, they could not have poised their daughter for greater success in their beliefs than in bestowing such a name to her. Had thing turned out the way they’d have wanted, Diana might have become a fearsome hunter of all sorts of creatures, supernatural or otherwise. However, Diana quickly fell in line with Ferdinand the Bull more than any sort of fearsome hunter. Being the eldest, much was expected of Diana and she did her best to follow her family’s expectations to the letter. She was an exceptional student, a beloved volunteer, and a hard-working employee at her town’s florist.

Despite her passive nature, Diana was not immune to the prejudice of her parents. Instead of it manifesting in her becoming a hunter, it grew into an almost irrational fear, one that threatened to keep her from attending college after high school. She’d grown so safe and complacent in her little hometown life that the thought of her going out into the big world full of literal monsters was downright traumatic for her. However, her parents wouldn’t hear of her not going off, and soon enough she found herself kissing her brothers goodbye and heading off to college.

Being away from home on a full ride changed Diana greatly, in more ways than one. The most notable of these changes was that she had her first real encounter with a supernatural creature. Being the eternal momma bear she was, she’d agreed to go as her friend’s plus one to a bonfire and act as a DD, as well as wingwoman. Her friend had stumbled off into the woods with their paramour and after a while, Diana had begun to get extremely nervous. Swallowing her fears, she ventured into the woods in an attempt to find her friend. Following what her naïve brain registered as potentially noises of carnal pleasure, she instead found herself within pouncing distance of about three coyotes that were currently gorging themselves on a deer. Upon her attempt to backtrack, Diana somehow managed to get their attention, and all three animals turned on her on a dime. She swears that her life flashed before her eyes in that moment and she reckoned for sure she was a goner. But their yips and snarls were deafened by something far larger…and deadlier.

Diana still isn’t clear what she saw that night. She can only clearly recall two things: the sound of the coyotes being ripped to shreds and the eyes that stared back at her from the lumbering figure of her savior. Those eyes…That damned, haunting gaze. Even nearly twenty years later, Diana still wakes up in a sweat dreaming about the savage eyes of her savior. While she wasn’t certain about who saved her, she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was some sort of supernatural being. That right then and there changed her entire outlook on much of her life.

Not only did her view on the supernatural change, but her little brush with death also triggered something in Diana, a hyperfixation of sorts. One thing lead to another and she graduated with her associate’s degree in mortuary science and found herself a job as a mortician in a town far away from her family. She started seeing a therapist, which had a profound effect on her. This would soon blossom into her receiving her Master’s in Counseling to also work as a grief counselor for her little funeral home. She puddled along for a little while in this position until she got the call from her folks. Luka had been bitten…by a werewolf.

Diana’s perspective was once again thrown into whack. While she’d been saved by some creature, could they really be so bad as to turn her brother? Was it with his consent or was he truly the victim his parents were screeching about on the other end of the line? Regardless, she knew she had to be there for her baby brother. The idea that her brother could be one of them was something that Diana was entirely unsure if she was able to stomach, but she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to try. Furthermore, knowing that their brother Auggie (Augustus) would be there too made her realize more than ever that she had the chance to make things right for all three of them. How she was going to do that, though, was yet to be seen.

PERSONALITY:

+ Fun-loving, Compassionate, Good-Humored

- Worrywart, Obsessive, Anxious

Diana is played by Laura

-----

Name: Paloma “Lomi” Desjardins Gender pronouns: she/her Age: 42, appears 27 Birthday: January 17th Occupation: Speakeasy Owner, The Black Rabbit Species: Vampire, Council Member Neighborhood: Shimmering Oaks Face Claim: Camila Mendes

Bio: (TW: death, crime)

Paloma Desjardins had always been described as intelligent; even as a young child. It was hard not to notice, especially when she began to excel in things she shouldn’t. Everyone in her small hometown had known her for monthly newspaper articles that detailed the sheer shock when she began to win competitions aimed at older childern, surpassing children in her year and showing a maturity that was unseen and unheard of.

Paloma was born to Marie and Juan Desjardins in the small town of Great Malvern, just a thirty minute drive from Worcestershire;her parents had met on travels in Russia fourteen years prior. Her father worked as an intelligence officer for a small company known as Beautech. While her mother, worked for the United Nations. Her mother, an American, had always loved that her husband Juan, was British. The connection had been instant and fourteen years later they were married, living in Juan’s home town and welcoming their baby girl into the world.

From the moment she was born, Marie knew that their child would be special, she’d already planned on making sure that they gave Paloma everything they could do she’d excel in everything. Juan knew he’d always be the laid back parent compared to his loving wife, he liked the idea of doing fun things with his daughter like taking her out for ice cream and spoiling her. As soon as Paloma was three years old, Marie had her in piano lessons teaching her every possible thing she could, by the time she was five she was in Russian, Korean and French lessons. Most people thought Marie to be mad but she knew what she was doing — preparing her daughter way before the other kids had even began to think for themselves.

She wanted her to have every chance to be anything she wanted.

It was no doubt that Juan was Paloma’s down time where he’d sneak her away early from lessons, treat her to things her mother said she couldn’t have. But even though Juan was the one most children would classify as their favourite, Paloma always found herself wanting her mother when it came down to things.

Paloma for a six year old child was adult-like in her choices, decisions, and thinking. She liked to think that she was preparing for the world that most of her friends were shielded from, the fact that things were being handed to them instead of them doing things that could help their career. It was then that Paloma became goal-orientated, assertive and extremely intelligent.

However, her intelligence didn’t stop with languages and music, as she grew so did her capability to learn. Books became Paloma’s best friends, sports became her hobby, and knowledge became her everything. If Paloma wasn’t reading, at the gym, or learning something new then she was either sick or tired.

As soon as high school rolled around, things slowly began to change. Everything that Paloma had been learning seemed to become too much, focusing on certain things and tuning others out became a problem. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on one thing without asking a billion questions around something simple, she quickly brought up the problem to her mother; concerned, her mother took her to see a doctor.

After many tests, physical and psychological, it came back that she suffered with two things: Eidetic memory and Low Latent inhibition.

Low Latent Inhibition, a psychological condition in which one sees the world as pieces, rather than mere objects. This allows Paloma to create plans and make thorough decisions rapidly but also when seeing something, she’d notice all the things that go with it instead of just a stand-still object. With her having a high IQ, it aided towards her ability; and after getting it under control, was deemed that the world would likely refer to her as a technical “genius.”

After her parents found out about this they decided that maybe a change of scenery would do the family good, and to their luck Juan was offered a job in the states; where he was originally from. Taking the opportunity straight away, with Paloma just being eligible for High School they knew it was the right thing to do- so they moved. High school became her sole priority after this always wanting to use her mind to learn more, posses more information, and be able to create things that others thought impossible. Still completely in love with music and languages, Paloma began to fall more and more into music; taking as many chances as she could to get local gigs when she wasn’t studying.

Her parents, however, were not the most supportive of that line of work. They’d often end in arguments around the dinner table; they believed she was more suited to a job in languages, as it was guaranteed money. This only drove them further apart, slowly causing a rift.

For the first time in her life, Paloma was not close with either parents.

Senior year came around quickly and when that happened everything in Paloma’s life fell apart. While out with a few of her friends, to which she’d decided to sneak out to attend a local gig at the firefly, she received a phone call stating that she needed to come down to the local hospital. Upon arrival it was announced that both her parents had been in a car collision and both passed away. In that moment everything in her life died.

After her parent’s untimely death, Paloma dropped out of school in order to look after herself, but when she met Harrison Kemp everything once again changed. Harrison, a wanted criminal known for Art theft, bond forgery, racketeering, money laundering, Identity theft and a list that only continued when you got to know him, took a poor beautiful girl under his arm. Paloma became his protégé with her quick silver like mind and intellect she was a perfect candidate to train and use in his game. And Paloma succeeded as she relished in the life of different names, hotels, scams and living the high life. Now she’d parted ways with Harrison, a man who popped up from time to time, she had to look for something, a protection, until he came back

That was when she found her way into that place; a speakeasy playing her favorite kind of music; jazz — and even better that it was an open stage night. Her life had changed since she’d last graced the stage of a place like this. Felt that old feeling trickle through her being. It made her miss her parents, even if she knew they’d roll over in their graves at the turn her life had taken and what she’d become.

But when she stepped onto that stage and opened her mouth; the room silenced. She’d never felt such pure contentment and everyone in the room was experiencing it with her. Fingers moved over the keys of the piano as she belted a classic; Billie Holiday’s rendition of ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ and when the house band began to play along with her, the room erupted.

What she hadn’t expected was to meet Desmond Byrne that night, and that was the night her entire world changed forever.

She’d been a lost and lonely soul; it hadn’t been hard to see if people had bothered to look close enough, really look. She often felt that her life as con artist allowed her to move like a ghost, and slowly but surely she’d allowed it to become part of her personality. Like it’d stolen the light from within her, but she wasn’t sure if it’d even been there in the first place; only when she’d played music and allowed that bit of happiness to come home. She’d often wondered if Desmond had changed her for that reason; to try and give her something to live for, or if it really was just for her talent. After her turning, Paloma had spent time with Desmond to hone herself; she didn’t want to be a feral beast like the stories she’d heard, and Desmond had seemed anything but that. She wasn’t sure why she’d agreed to become a vampire; she’d often find herself awake wondering this. She was a classic over-thinker, and it was something she’d never been able to turn off.

Now in Wolford, Paloma had taken residence here. After purchasing a run down building with an underground area, she’d decided to create ‘The Black Rabbit’ - A jazz speakeasy with a house band every night of the week. It was the first time in years, even since turning, that she’d found that thrill again. She was happy, she was alive.

And maybe she wasn’t so lost anymore. But could all that change in the drop of a hat?

Paloma Desjardins, also nicknamed Lomi, was sophisticated, charming, abrupt and seductive, with a wide range of knowledge from music, art, foreign languages, and culture. All of which was self-taught, a beautiful face occupied the intelligent mind. Paloma was very good at talking her way in and out of things, her beauty something she used often to get her the things she wanted.

Including bank cards and the best of the best in luxuries. Paloma was first and foremost a musician, stating that it ran through her very being; but deep to her core, she was a scam artist. She was good at covering her tracks, very much into the high life, her refined tastes fit more to the likes of fine bars, underground casinos and clubs where she could find her next target. Paloma isn’t trustworthy but she’ll make you trust you with a bat of her eye lashes and her perfect smile.

PERSONALITY:

+ Hopeless romantic, Intuitive

- Explosive, Sly & Aloof

Paloma is played by Angie

-----

Name: Caspian Taliesin Dragoumis Gender pronouns: he/him Age: 24 Birthday: September 23rd Occupation: Potioneer/Apothecary Species: Warlock, Order of Nyx Neighborhood: Outskirts of town Face Claim: Froy Gutierrez

Bio: (TW: trauma, death)

Cas was brilliant, in the way that small children were after never speaking a word then suddenly spewing a fully formed sentence to politely ask their parents for breakfast, brain like a sponge, nothing and no one could get between him and the pursuit of knowledge. He soaked up everything his parents taught him about the Dragoumis name and the importance of legacy. The second youngest of four with health that wasn’t the best, content to be left in a corner with a book while he darted looks around the room.

The oldest, his brother, was the golden child and said to one day play a pivotal part in an old prophecy of the elders of the Order of Nyx. His sister had her own life and they respected their distance as Cas stole select tomes from the family library and she escaped out of the nearest window. There was nothing the boy enjoyed more than experimenting with a cauldron and a pestle and mortar, content with ink smudged fingers and reading by candlelight.

Caspian’s magic whilst undeniable had always been equally unpredictable, almost tempestuous in nature. The decision to do something about Cas’ little problem was made once he turned fourteen, the instability was a danger to the Coven no matter how hard he worked or how much he studied. A consultant was brought on, a friend of Nyx who suggested a binding ritual that would stabilize the excessive volatile power, allowing him to play his part with the rest of the witches and warlocks. Unbeknownst to him the secret illegitimate circumstances of his birth would change everything.

The binding failed, very nearly killing him, the collective vortex of destructive magic struck out at all present and left Cas in a coma for two weeks. Runic chains are scored into his left wrist as a testament to the failed ritual; wounds that will never fully heal through mundane nor magical means, each time he uses any magic the binding causes him severe pain whilst taking a physical toll depending on the size of the spell.

The following summer spelt more tragedy for the family. It happened on their mom’s birthday in June, they don’t think his eldest brother ever felt the sting but he died in minutes. No grand destiny, just a bee and bad luck. Two black marks in as many years for the Dragoumis’ and home never quite felt the same again.

Once he became an adult the real world beckoned with sun-warmed hands, the narrow world view he’d been forcibly sheltered by shattered in all directions, suddenly he was exposed to scores of new people rather than the handful his family selected. Sick to the teeth of being a damaged chess piece in a murderous game he’d never asked to play, at a snail’s pace he began pulling free millimetre by millimetre. Slowly enough his family hardly noticed. Adagio.

Though Ian is still technically part of the Coven to save face, he is almost never called upon due to the unfortunate nature of his condition. He likes it that way.

On the outskirts of town by an old A-Frame cabin amongst the trees, a garden spills over almost everything in sight, huge barrels of climbers burst forth to drape down from the deck and create a curtain below where vegetables, herbs, flowers and all kinds of flora extend in all directions. This is where you’ll find Cas, if you know who to ask you can find all manner of ingredients, poultices, powders, embrocations and tinctures.

PERSONALITY:

+ Attentive, resourceful, inquisitive

- Captious, dramatic, insecure

Caspian is played by Morrigan

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Name: Seth Hollis Jansen Gender pronouns: he/him Age: 40 Birthday: May 5th Occupation: Professional Photographer Species: Human Neighborhood: Downtown Face Claim: Jesse Spencer

Bio: (TW: car accident, death)

Seth Hollis Jansen was born and raised in Wolford, Tennessee; the son of a pig farmer and a Sunday school teacher.  He and his older brother grew up working the fourth generation family swine farm; hauling feed buckets and shoveling hog pens from the time they were old enough to walk. There was a clear expectation that the two of them would follow in their father’s footsteps–marry good Christian girls, build homes on the property, and raise the next generation of hard working farmers just like they had been brought up–barely scraping by on the simple man’s American Dream.  While his brother seemed content enough to do just that, Seth struggled to reconcile such a future for himself.  The life of a small-time pig farmer isn’t a glorious one; full of grueling labor, early mornings, long days, longer nights, and the kinds of things most people prefer not to think about as they shove a strip of bacon into their mouth.  Seth wanted more.  With talent, wit, a good head on his shoulders, and the determination to make something better for himself than what he’d been born into, he seemed poised to find it.

From the very first time someone handed him a camera, he’d fallen in love with photography.  Seth learned early on that he had an eye for composition, and a passion for capturing the beauty of Wolford’s small town charm in timeless images.  It began as a hobby; hours spent ducking around the town snapping photos left and right, or getting lost in the untamed wilderness on the outskirts.  Searching for the perfect shot offered a sense of escape, if only for a little while, from what awaited him back home on the family farm.  A particularly supportive teacher spotted the young man’s burgeoning talent, and before long Seth Jansen’s work made its way into the hands of a local magazine editor…and eventually onto the pages of several nationwide publications.  Only then did it occur to the farm boy from Wolford that his camera might be his ticket out of the pigpen.

The young self-taught photographer started his own business straight out of High School, specializing in lifestyle portrait photography and local landscapes.  His success eventually allowed him to open a small studio in downtown Wolford, though most of his work is shot with attention to the various on-location backdrops the town has to offer.  For years now Seth has captured priceless memories for the residents of Wolford; weddings, celebrations, families, newborns, first birthdays, and so much more.  His photographs adorn the walls of many a living room across the neighborhoods in town, and some of his more iconic images of Wolford can even be found hanging in the town hall.

While Seth had found professional success, however, his personal life has not taken such a charmed path.  He married his High School sweetheart, Grace, shortly after they graduated, and the two of them settled in town.  They eventually welcomed two children; Ezra, and then three years later, Sophie.  Seth was a devoted family man, and his two young children were his whole world.  Ten years ago, both were fast asleep in their car-seats as he drove his family down one of Wolford’s winding country roads late one evening.  They’d spent the day at the Jansen family farm, and were heading home.  The full moon was bright overhead, eerily illuminating the night sky, and yet to this day Seth swears he never saw the thing that jumped out of the trees in front of his vehicle.  The SUV rolled halfway down the mountainside.  Grace and Sophie died instantly, while Ezra lived for a few days on life support before his small body succumbed to his injuries.  Seth walked away with only a concussion, a few broken bones; and a gaping hole in his heart that has oozed and festered with spite for every day since.  The EMTs said it was a miracle, but after burying his whole family, that outlook was hardly enough to make a difference to him.  Only with the support of his family has he managed to navigate a few well-earned mental breakdowns and a mountain of medical bills.  Still, every day is an uphill battle and at times he’s found himself sinking into depression; often turning to alcohol as a balm and otherwise engaging in reckless behavior.  With his focus on his work and a camera in hand, Seth is struggling to rebuild some of the life he’d had before the accident.

Seth was as shocked as any other human when the whole world was shook with the revelation of the supernatural’s existence.  At least, until he began to look a little deeper into what he’d always taken for granted about his hometown.  Mysterious deaths, unexplained memory loss, strange animal sightings, even the livestock on his family’s farm that had a way of going missing on a full moon; so many things began to make sense, raising as many questions as answered.  Wolford, as it turns out, has long been something of a haven for non-humans.  A year ago the photographer received an invitation to participate in the Wolford Historical Society’s efforts to catalogue vintage photographs of local vampires, with the aim of creating an exhibition to showcase these historical photos alongside current portraits.  Seth has met several vampires around town since the onset of the project, researched their histories in Wolford and beyond, and taken their photographs.      

PERSONALITY:

+ Talented, hardworking, patient

- Headstrong, jaded, reckless

Seth is played by Chell

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Name: Cersei Mahin Gender pronouns: she/her Age: 29 Birthday: June 24 Occupation: Lawyer Species: Witch, Coven of the Raven Neighborhood: Downtown Face Claim: Diane Guerrero

Bio: (TW: drugs, child abandonment)

Born to a normal mom and a warlock father, she was one of three siblings. The middle child, she was always either the center of attention, or ignored. She didn’t care, growing up she was always one of those people who liked to be alone but she still had friends.

When she turned 12 is when she came into her witchy powers, it seemed to have skipped her brother and sister. Her mother was proud of her growing into her magic, as she grew so did her magic. She could cast spells, potions and other things.

At the age of 23, she met and fell for Cassidy, completely forgetting about her goals and aspirations of becoming a lawyer. They both went into drugs, soon after she found herself pregnant. The drug abuse had to stop, after giving birth she was both afraid and inexperienced in being a mother. So she left their daughter with Cassidy.   Now she’s back in Wolford, hoping to open or start her law career after going through the many challenges of getting her degree.

PERSONALITY:

+ caring, funny, calm

- crass, bully in the courtroom, sassy

Cersei is played by Cam/Ash

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Name: Colman Vincent Dragoumis Gender pronouns: he/him Age: 35 Birthday: July 1 Occupation: Owner of Carnelian Night Cottages Species: Warlock, Order of Nyx Neighborhood: Downtown Face Claim: Ben Barnes

Bio:

The eldest and first born son of Vasileios’ line of Dragoumis, Colman was treated very much like the heir and prince his father considered him to be. He grew to see himself, as well as his younger sister, as superior. After all, who could live up to a Dragoumis?

At fourteen, his parents separated. Col considered who he’d live with, and ultimately chose to stay with his father. He could tell, even at a young age, that he had some of the same characteristics as his father, and those characteristics would hamper his sister’s ability to have a normal life, away from their father and away from him.

Col would take trips to visit his mother and sister in Los Angeles when he could, missing that half of his family. But as he grew older, he recognised that it had been right to separate himself. Rory was having as normal of a life as a witch could. And he… well, he grew to live up to the expectations of the Dragoumis name, becoming an accomplished warlock, using dark magic to his own benefit.

In his late twenties, Col bought a collection of abandoned cabins just outside the Whispering Pines. He remodeled them, turning them into luxury cabins for tourists, or even locals just looking for a little getaway.

PERSONALITY:

+ Ambitious, clever, tenacious

- Artificial, detached, ruthless

Colman is played by Brittany

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Name: Aurora “Rory” Dragoumis Gender pronouns: she/they Age: 34 Birthday: February 22nd Occupation: Songwriter & aspiring Music Producer Species: Witch, covenless Neighborhood: Downtown Face Claim: Phoebe Tonkin

Bio:

Rory was the second and last child to be born carrying the Dragoumis last name in her branch of her family. Granted, in terms of Wolford, said last name was not exactly unknown, and everyone made sure she and her siblings (as well as cousins) knew how important it was to be a Dragoumis. It gave Rory some confidence growing up, which, as a child with their head in the clouds, they definitely needed.

Things weren’t always bright and shiny on her side of the family, and when she was fourteen and about to start her first year of high school, her parents had a finally decided to put an end to their marriage, thus beginning a nasty divorce process that resulted in her being taken as far away from Wolford as possible and settling down in Los Angeles alongside her mother, while her older brother remained with her father. Despite having had a saying on who she would like to be with, Rory didn’t think she wanted for things to have ended that badly.

At least, she was able to keep her last name, but unlike her childhood home, no one knew who the Dragoumis were in LA, and so, she also lost her privileges as well as her friends, her family, her coven and the access she had to studying magic along with them. Col visited whenever he could, so that eased her mind in terms of losing him, too.

The years were a little rough on her, but Rory was able to rediscover herself as her own person. New school, new friends, new everything. They became lonely, sheltering themselves in the castle they had began to built with the words they were putting on paper. Magic, Rory learned, could also happen as far away from home, just with the bare touch of their pen on an empty page; and magic and music also walked hand in hand.

She started investing in that side of herself, diving deep into the music industry by pretending to know producers, hanging out with rising stars at parties she’d successfully crashed along with a friend, all in the name of her own truth. She wasn’t as charismatic as these pop stars were on stage, but she could write songs that would get them awards if they let her. And for quite some time, they did.

But, after her 30th birthday life started getting dull for Rory. The people were too fake, the parties were too loud, the artists were too annoying… and she couldn’t get the inspiration she once had for Grammy Award winning songs anymore. That, mixed with an old calling coming from Wolford, brought her back to the small town one year ago, in hopes that coming home an getting in touch with her old self, she will be able to rekindle that flame of inspiration that has been burning low for the last few years.

PERSONALITY:

+ Determined, Caring, Loyal

- Unapologetic, Blunt, Stubborn

Rory is played by Bru

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Name: Eloise Dougherty Gender pronouns: she/her Age: 31 Birthday: August 31st Occupation: Casual staff, Twilight Apocathecary Species: Witch Neighborhood: Sycamore Heights Face Claim: Elizabeth Olsen

Bio: (TW: parental neglect, mental health struggles)

Eloise didn’t have an idealistic childhood, with her father in and out of the pictures, a mother who wasn’t super interested in raising her. For a while, she found solace in school, where she made friends, had some stability, pretended like she had a semi-normal life.

However, that fell apart when she entered her late teens, when troubling symptoms began arising. She couldn’t hold onto her relationships any more, her behaviours became more dramatic, impulsive and even self-destructive. Feelings of worthlessness and anger that she’d always had just beneath the surface weren’t as easily pushed down any more, bubbling to the surface in ways she couldn’t control. Despite a recommendation from the school psychologist to seek the help of a psychiatrist for a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, Elle wasn’t in the position to do so, still a minor with a mother who didn’t approve so such things, nor wanted to waste money on them.

Barely graduating, Elle was all too happy to leave home, taking jobs where she could get them, though she rarely lasted anywhere for long. She got by selling her magic where she could, making questionable things for whoever requested them, having little regard for how they were used. She got hooked on being a feeder for vampires, taking a fix wherever she could get it, and often took things too far, ending up in hospital on several occasions.

It was someone from her high school who finally found Elle, finally recognised what was going on with her, and made her seek help. Medications helped a bit, and she was able to mellow herself out a bit, find a job and actually keep it. It was during this time that she met Salim, and he was nice. He was stable. It was foreign to her, a feeling she hadn’t felt since she was in high school.

They dated on and off for several years, though it wasn’t all smooth sailing, Eloise’s mental health always a struggle for her. There was a relapse here and there, but for the most part, Elle wanted to get better, wanted to be better.

The pregnancy wasn’t expected, and honestly, Elle wasn’t sure she was even going to tell Salim about it, tempted to terminate without ever mentioning it to him. But she couldn’t do that. And she wouldn’t have kept it, except for the fact that she knew he would be a great father. Pregnancy wasn’t easy, and the extra hormones made things even harder, but Elle pushed through, for the innocent child’s sake.

On the day of the birth, Salim wasn’t there. It all happened so fast, but it traumatised Elle in a way she couldn’t put into words. As soon as the baby was taken to the nursery, she ran, leaving nothing but her admission bracelet in the bed.

And then she relapsed. Relapsed hard.

The next year was a blur, but there was underground feeding clubs, some close call hospital visits, and a bunch of stuff that Elle would rather not remember. She went back to selling magic, got in with some bad people, but she thought they’d take care of her. That, of course, wasn’t the case.

It was a mandatory psych hold that finally got her back on her meds, got her stable again for the most part. She started group therapy, which helped, and she talked about her daughter for the first time. A daughter she hadn’t seen since the day she was born. Even now, Elle wasn’t sure she wanted to be a mother, or would be any good at it. But eventually, Elle decided she wanted to see Sal, wanted to see their daughter.

So she tracked them to Wolford. And saw her daughter for the first time, playing with her father in the park. She was so big. How long had Elle been lost to herself?

She still hasn’t had the courage to face either of them, but it’s only a matter of time.

PERSONALITY:

+ Self-reliant, generous, observant

- Obsessive. unstable, erratic

Eloise is played by Kaylen

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Name: Kang Taeyeon Gender pronouns: cis woman, she/her Age: 28 Birthday: June 12th Occupation: Bartender, Red Moon Species: Werewolf, packless Neighborhood: Sycamore Heights Face Claim: Bae Suzy

Bio: (TW: death, manipulation, psychological abuse)

Taeyeon was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea to working-class parents, although she doesn’t have many recollections of them. After losing them in a car accident back when she was only six years old, Taeyeon was sent to live in an orphanage, which is where most of her memories come from… both good and bad.

She didn’t have much growing up and a lot of what she did have, came from this patron’s donations to the institution. Min Ko Ryeong was perceived as an extremely private man, who’s son was almost of the same age as hers and happened to take a liking to Taeyeon. She didn’t mind it though, and actually welcomed the attention that was given her. In a way, it felt like having a family again… although they never gave any signs of wanting to adopt her, they’d always take her to their house in the mountains every full moon.

Once she hit puberty, Taeyeon finally found out why the patron and his son Woo Young cared so much about her: they were both werewolves like her.

After the discovery, the Mins took her under their wing. She received the best education, she was taught how to control her wolf, how to behave near the full moon, how to be part of a pack and still be part of a society that wanted nothing to do with her kind (in every way). Growing up, she also got close to the patron’s son, who’s attention towards her grew more into feelings as they moved through adolescence into adulthood. Even though she didn’t quite know how to reciprocate them, Taeyeon accepted those feelings because it was nice to feel cared for. To be wanted.

It wasn’t until she met Seung Jin a few years down the road, that she actually began feeling something for someone. Things were nice with him… easy, even. Dare she say, she was happy.

But her past didn’t leave her alone, and Woo Young kept finding ways to reel her back in whenever Taeyeon tried breaking things off with him. Woo Young would often make her feel like he was the one responsible for taking her out of the orphanage and so she owed his family her loyalty, he would often tell her that Jin would never accept her, that he would never understand her, and by doing so, it clouded her mind and her judgement, keeping her both by his side and Jin’s.

When the marriage proposal was made by Jin, Taeyeon was determined to cut ties with Woo Young for once and for all. She wanted to be able to reciprocate Jin’s feelings fully, but the rich man had other plans in mind. Unable to take his loss in all of this, he told Jin about Taeyeon’s secret relationship to him and ruined the woman’s chances of being happy with a loud fight. Looking back, Taeyeon didn’t realize then that Jin’s anger was towards her infidelity, but Woo Young made it look like it was because she was a werewolf.

Angry and heartbroken for what had happened, Taeyeon refused to take Woo Young’s side after the break up, which only ended up infuriating him even further and, the rich man driven mad by his jealousy and hurt pride, took as far as causing an accident to put an end to Jin’s life and prevent Taeyeon from ever going back to him. By some sort of miracle, Jin was able to survive.

Taeyeon spent the following year sorting things out to leave South Korea quietly and to leave her life behind. She did everything she could to leave no trace behind and fled to the US, hoping to find herself a new life away from the claws these rich people had on her. She ended up going to Wolford, a place she’d heard welcomed supernaturals, and to her, it felt like a good place to start a new life. Little did she know that her ex had also chosen said town to settle down.

PERSONALITY:

+ Adaptive, warm, hard-working

- Hard on herself, insecure, vain

Taeyeon is played by Bru

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Name: Andrea Cromwell Gender pronouns: she/her & they/them Age: 170, appears 30 Birthday: February 14th Occupation: Security, Stoker Species: Vampire Neighborhood: Silver Meadows Face Claim: Rose Leslie

Bio: (TW death)

Andrea was born into a Seelie Fae family, the beloved younger daughter. She had an older brother, and the pair got on really well, always teasing and joking with each other. It was a pretty normal Fae childhood, Andrea spending her time between the supernatural world and the human world. Her parents were very accepting, and knew that the supernatural and human worlds couldn’t stay separated forever, and wanted their children to be ready for whatever came their way.

No one could have expected, however, that Andrea would be turned. Barely past her thirtieth birthday and while Andrea knew she wasn’t drunk, she has no memory of that night. She just remembers stumbling home, covered in dirt, a desperate hunger in her stomach.  

Her family helped her as best they could at first, but she knew she didn’t belong with them any more, and knew that eventually she would outlive them. And she didn’t think she could bare to watch that. So she had to find her own way.

The redhead trailed a few other vampires at first, learning the ropes of her new life, learning how to feed safely. And eventually, just like her parents predicted, the supernatural world was exposed, vampires dominating every headline.

Andrea had never had any prejudices against other species, but now she had a new understanding, a new perspective. And with the human and supernatural worlds colliding, that led her into activism. It wasn’t exactly a safe job, making herself a target from human vigilantes and hunters alike, but Andrea wasn’t one to just sit back and do nothing.

During this time, Andrea met Tatiana, and the two hit it off immediately. It wasn’t long before they were dating, which surprised some people. But as the saying goes, opposites attract, and Andrea enjoyed every minute with Tatiana, whether they were putting their heads together on the political front, or debating one topic or another.

But then the truth came out about Tatiana’s parents, and she was practically outed from the community. Andrea stuck by the other woman at first, but the threats just kept rolling in, and eventually the pair parted ways, Tatiana going home to confront her parents.

Andrea stayed in the UK, the only home she’d ever known, but people didn’t seem to forget her association with the other woman, accused of leading the undercover hunter to more vampires. A target for hunters and ostracized from the vampire community, Andrea had to go underground, something that she hated. Eventually, Tatiana reached out to her again, telling her the Wolford was a safe place, and so Andrea left everything behind to relocate there.

She took a job working security at Stoker, somewhere she felt safe, being among vampires once again, having easy access to blood donors, and doing her part to keep other vampires safe. It wasn’t the world changing career she’d hoped for, but she was making a small difference, and that was enough for now.

PERSONALITY:

+ capable, compassionate, patient

- reactive, blunt, skeptical

Andrea is played by Kaylen

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Name: Genesis Gannon Gender pronouns: she/her Age: 30 Birthday: May 30th Occupation: child care and education/ baker. Species: Werewolf (Gannon family pack) Neighborhood: Silver Meadows Face Claim: Emily Ellen Rudd

Bio:

Born on one of the craziest days of her parents life, Genesis entered this world on May 30th to the love of her parents. When she first opened her eyes, they knew she was special.

Her parents weren’t the richest but they were seemingly well off. As their pack dealt with a few things: Logging, Horses and hotels. They loved what they did, being the only daughter amongst two brothers ( Virgil & Mack ). It was hard, especially when people feared what they didn’t know.

At the age of sixteen, was when she first experienced her first shift. When it happened the entire pack gasped at the color of her fur, it was a mix between a light blond and black color. To them it was a myth and here she was with the fur no one has ever seen before.

She  was more outgoing than her brothers, but that was just the kind of person she was. Always helping out at her parents businesses, especially at the ranch when needed. A few years in, they sold the business to a neighboring pack. So they could solely focus on their logging and hotel business.

Being a wolf helped her in her athletic career in high school, she loved sports, softball, volleyball and track. Those were her top three, during her sophomore year, she met a neighboring pack male and they hit it off but nothing ever came of it because they had to move. She graduated top of her class, then went on to college.

Fast forward to her college years, she met and fell in love with someone but it ended amicably. Hearing about a town that welcomed supernatural, that’s where she went once she finished her degree in child care and education. Moving to Wolford, Tennessee in hopes of finding and or owning her own business that is near and dear to her heart.

PERSONALITY:

+ Caring, funny, charismatic and  outgoing.

- feisty, sarcastic and quick tempered.

Genesis is played by Cammie/Ash