#chatzy: adam walker

[humanmoodring-retired]

Let the Right One In || Adam, Blanche, Connor, and Nadia(x2)

TIMING: Following this LOCATION: A clearing near Mooseventures PARTIES: @humanmoodring, @walker-journal, @connorspiracy, & @harlowhaunted SUMMARY: Adam, Connor, and Blanche have a final confrontation with Nadia and Cordelia. CONTENT: Emotional turmoil, non-con (forcefully tied up)

Sometimes, being alive was a bitch, Nadia was beginning to realize as the burly young man that had kidnapped her dragged her back to where she’d camped near that moose tour place. “Oh, you are on my shit list, motherfucker,” she snarled, attempting to struggle out of his grip. The strength just wasn’t quite there. “Do you hear me? My shit list. I will fuck you up.” Internally, she was panicking, not quite sure what was going on. She felt his determination, his resolve. She couldn’t tell where her panic ended and Nadia’s panic began, her host stirring at the corner of her mind as they were led to a clearing. Two other people waited for them, and Nadia struggled harder before she simply allowed her body to become a dead weight. Maybe she could slow him down, distract him. Hell, she’d take anything at this point. She just fucking needed to get away. Let her get away. “Please, stop. You’re hurting me.”

Adam held Nadia and the thing that was within her fast as he marched the possessed Empath into where he prayed Blanche and Connor had set up some kind of magic ghost-extractor wizard circle or whatever. “Alright uh...where do you guys want me to put her,” he said upon bursting in.  

Blanche had gotten everything Connor had asked, and more. Actually, it was probably a little overkill. She let Connor set up the circle, while she carefully took the ropes and the obnoxious amount of iron weapons she had. Blanche still felt like this was a horrible idea, and she hadn’t made it a secret that’s how she felt. But Adam and Connor were also right - what else were they going to do? What else could they do? Cordelia couldn’t be allowed to just run rampant with Nadia’s body, she was hurting people and sinking Nadia into deeper shit. Blanche felt her heart sink into her stomach when she heard Adam and Nadia enter the clearing, Cordelia screaming the whole way. Her senses lit up immediately, and her head snapped up, guiltily. “The circle, Adam.” Blanche nodded towards it. “We … have restraints. And I have some iron for you, in case things get out of hand.” She stood, wiping her hands on her jeans, avoiding looking at Nadia. “Do you need me to set anything else up, Connor?”

“This isn’t usually the way I prefer to tie a girl up,” Connor said with a forced chuckle, humor attempting to cover his nerves. They had set up a crudely drawn symbol on the floor in salt that was supposed to help keep her contained and placed a camping cot on top of it. Once Adam had placed her there, he and Blanche started fastening the shackles to hold her in place. Connor’s forehead was already coated in sweat. “Please don’t let her stab us, okay?” he said, handing Adam a shotgun filled with rock salt rounds.”Those should stop her in case she does get out of the restraints.” Even touching a gun gave him an unpleasant twisting feeling in his gut. “And everyone wear one of these.” He handed Adam and Blanche an anti-possession bracelet; a knotted leather band with a vial of salt in the middle. “They’re not a hundred per cent, but they help.”

Fighting and screaming the entire way, Nadia was dragged into the fucking salt circle. That’s when the panic started to set in, her eyes casting wildly at the people around this. “Fuck you. Fuck all of you. When I get out of here, I swear to fucking--” The shackles snapped around her wrist, the iron shooting pain through her body that wasn’t physical but still hurt. She remembered the way it felt to grab the iron rod to stab Kaden, the feeling of part of herself splitting and tearing while still being trapped. She couldn’t leave if she wanted to. It felt like the temperature was lowering around her as her head rolled forward.

Nadia snapped her head up, looking around in a haze of panic and pain. She could feel the shackles, see the three figures around her. This was-- This was a nightmare. This was one of her worst nightmares, to be back there with them and the pain and the overwhelming sense of fear. But this wasn’t the same. She tried to focus, her eyes stinging with tears, tried to look at the people in front of her, finally recognizing one. “Blanche?” Minutely, Nadia felt a bit of relief.

Adam watched Nadia bounce between personas faster more radically then a politician trying to justify their voting record and was struck with a profound sense of unease. The Hunter had been conditioned to face down hungry corpses and mind-bending tentacle things, but those were at least quantifiable and something he could punch in the mandibles. Just watching this invisible battle within an innocent woman’s body made his skin crawl.

He looked down at the shotgun armed with rock-salt payloads that Connor had given him. It’s weight and familiarity was reassuring his hands, but in a way that made Adam guiltily conscious that this was probably wasn’t a good thing.

Adam glanced at Blanche, fighting down the urge to apologize for pushing for this exorcism when he was the least qualified person in this room on things spiritualism-related. He could only guess how awful this whole experience must be after her own period of possession. Adam had been raised to fight past traumatic experiences through repeated exposure, but that was just necessary to make a Hunter. He really hated the thought that he was basically forcing all that on someone else, a friend at that, even if some cold bastard part of his brain acknowledged that it might be necessary here.  

His freehand itches at the salt-vial bracelet on his wrist, briefly wondering at the commonality between himself and Connor, in that they were both willing to risk themselves for people they didn’t know. The sinister difference being that Adam would be obligated to destroy or suppress Connor’s work if it actually threatened to expose the supernatural. What gave Adam of all the people the right to drag Connor into this?

‘Necessity,’ mom would have probably said. That always seemed to be the answer didn’t it?

“So what do we need to start this? Where do you want us Connor?”

Blanche winced at Cordelia screamed the whole way, frantically trying to snap the shackles into place, before grabbing the salt bracelet with trembling hands. She was thoroughly terrified, Blanche realized, as she shakily fiddled with the clasp around her wrist. How traumatic would this be for Nadia? The bad feeling gnawed at her insides, and she was struggling to figure out if it was just her fear and anxiety or if this was truly a horrible idea. Probably a mixture of both. Blanche glanced at Adam as the shotgun was passed off. She opened her mouth, as if to say something to him, but she realized she couldn't trust herself to speak. She had no words of encouragement, and the only thing Blanche could hold onto was the hope that Nadia could fight through this.

And then Nadia said her name. Blanche’s eyes snapped to her, truly looking at her for the first time since Adam dragged her in here. She couldn't even imagine what Nadia was going through. Lauren Langley has only taken possession of her for a short time, and thinking about that experience made her sick to her stomach. This was bad. Cordelia and Nadia faded in and out, and Blanche grimaced, remembering her own battle for control with Lauren. She dropped to her knees by Nadia’s side, reaching for her hand before stopping, thinking better of it. “Hi Nadia. It’s Blanche. It’s okay. It’s okay, I promise. This is Connor and Adam.” She spoke quickly and softly, unsure when Cordelia would take control again. “They’re here to help, okay? We’re going to help you.” Blanche glanced at Connor. “Do you need me to back up? Or can I stay with her?”

"Just, uh, stand so we're all evenly spread out around the clearing, just in case she manages to get out." She shouldn't be able to get out, Connor told himself, but bloody hell, it wasn't as if any of these methods were foolproof. Shit happened. Shit had already happened to this poor girl for far too long, and he wasn't exactly an expert at this. His bravado only went so far.

"Nadia," Connor said, trying to get her attention. "Hey, look at me. You don't know me, but I'm going to help you, okay? Just hold on for me. Just focus. Stay strong." He couldn't afford to let her see anything but confidence. He couldn't afford for Adam and Blanche to see it either. Hell, Adam had interviewed him for this bloody position. Their friend's life was in his hands. "You can stay close, but not too close, okay?" He said to Blanche. "If Cordelia is the dominant personality, we don't want to give her any chance of hurting you."

Connor. Adam. Blanche. Nadia said the names over and over again in her head until they blurred together. They wouldn’t hurt her. They wouldn’t hurt her. They wouldn’t. The shackles hurt, the exorcism was going to hurt, but if it freed her from this, this fractured, uncontrollable state where every time she tried to take control, it just seemed to make things worse. Whatever the cost, that would be worth it. “I trust you,” she whispered to Blanche, though she was focusing all of her energy on Connor’s confidence, however false it might be. He seemed far more confident than the last three exorcists she’d met, and they’d done quite a number on her. She had to trust that. She couldn’t panic or scream or focus on the storm that was raging inside of her, controlled by an angry vengeful spirit that, at the moment, only wanted out so that she could harm and take and--

Nadia screamed again, jerking at the shackles no matter how much it pained her to do so. Her lips curled up into a snarl. “You’re going to kill us,” she yelled. The wind was beginning to pick up around them. She laughed, more than a bit hysterical. “You’re going to kill her, and then I’m just going to have to find another fucking body because of how badly you’re all going to screw. This. Up! Let me go!” Another strong yank on the chains. She cried out in pain. That didn’t stop her from fighting. “Let me go!”

Adam stood as directed, wondering if these rock-salt bullets were really supposed to hurt a ghost. Though his face was stonily impassive as Nadia flipped against into the person of the thing inside of her, Adam’s stomach knotted from a profound sense of wrongness. He’d been able to feel the presence of monsters his whole life, experiencing sudden feelings of horror and revulsion towards random people on the street before his parents carefully explained why some people ‘felt like danger.’.Nothing about Nadia registered to his Hunter vibes even as it was clear something was tearing her apartment from the inside.

I trust you. The words hung heavily on Blanche’s shoulders as guilt gnawed at her - Nadia trusted her judgement, and Blanche still wasn’t sold that this was a good idea in the first place. But Connor hadn’t been wrong - they couldn’t let this go on… It just depended on what risk sucked less. Blanche flinched away from Nadia as Cordelia took the reins again. There was a part of her that wanted to soothe them both - as was her responsibility as a medium. But there was nothing soothing Cordelia. What was there to say to someone that couldn’t accept their own death? She just said that if Nadia died, she would find another body to inhabit. There was hypocrisy in her own thought process, considering Blanche had taken part in necromancy. She knew that, but… Well. Blanche certainly wasn’t willing to bring someone back that had caused her friend so much pain. Cordelia needed to move on while she still could - Blanche had told her the risk of becoming a poltergeist. She didn’t think that Cordelia fully understood that she would lose her sense of self, letting anger and resentment fester in her. Connor was outwardly more confident than Blanche felt as she quietly got back to her feet, stepping backward back to her bag where she could grab her iron rod. She hovered over Nadia, glancing towards Connor. “We’re ready to go,” she said, over Nadia’s screaming. It was now or never, anyway.

The way she changed on him, the way she screamed, it made Connor's throat dry, made his chest tighten and stomach twist unpleasantly. "Shut it," he said, firmly. "You'll say anything to keep your hold on her." He swallowed, looking to Blanche and Adam, making sure everyone was prepared. How could you really be prepared though when you didn't know what was going to happen? An exorcism was like stepping into a boxing ring. You could do all the training in the world, and your opponent could throw something at you that you weren't expecting, forcing you into a new strategy mid-fight. "We're ready," he repeated, clutching onto his totem to channel his energy as he started reciting the words.

“You’re a fucking child,” Nadia snarled at the boy as he began chanting, taking a special kind of glee in his emotions before she stopped feeling emotions entirely. Instead it was just pain, an awful ripping feeling as forces beyond her control tried to tear her soul from Nadia’s. She felt like she was unravelling thread. No. No. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t going to happen. Something in Nadia was howling like the wind around them as it picked up speed, as the chanting grew louder. All she could think about was her fury over this, even as she felt Nadia’s soul gaining more agency, more freedom. Their connection was dying. She felt like she was dying. “She screamed!” Nadia told Blanche desperately. “You heard that fucking banshee scream. You’re killing us!” And fuck, fuck, their body was choking on the pain of it all, their heart stopping and starting erratically as their souls fought. And she could feel it, the way Nadia was fighting desperately and likely without even realizing it, just like the first time. Except this wasn’t like the first time. It wasn’t going to be like the fucking first time ever again. Nadia closed her eyes and screamed.

It felt like something was snapping, and then Nadia opened her eyes, looked around to the three figures around her as she had control over herself, for real this time. The sense of relief that she felt was overpowering. She couldn’t even feel the three other people around her. She couldn’t feel anything, actually, not their emotions or her heart beat or even the furious wind ruffling through her hair. In fact, the wind had no effect on her at all, even as she watched it tug at the hair and clothes of Adam, Blanche, and Connor. But it did tug at her hair. Just not in the way she hoped.

If Nadia had a stomach, it would be sinking as she stared into her own eyes. They glared passed her, filled with hate and then a sick sense of glee. Because something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. The exorcism had worked. There was only one soul still in her body. Too bad it was the wrong fucking soul.

Nadia began laughing wildly as soon as she realized what happened. These fucking children… they’d helped her win. She could see Nadia standing in front of her, a fucking mirror image. Except she’d never looked that horrified. Something in her had changed. She felt powerful, on top of the world. And yet her body felt pushed to the limits. Well, she was about to push it even more. With a burst of energy that she couldn’t explain, she pushed out a force of energy, snapping the shackles around her wrist and breaking the circle around her. She stood, wind blowing her hair around her madly, and she grinned at the kids, at the ghost of Nadia Diaz. “Looks like you killed her after all. Your move, kids.”

Adam, who couldn’t see ghosts, had watched the proceedings with uncomprehending eyes as this woman shrieked and convulved while Connor made it all windy with Latin.

No joke, it was definitely impressive and genuinely eerie in a way that brought on goosebumps, but it was pretty clear that he only saw half the story here. Ethereal energies seemed to tear at the physical space within the circle, Connor’s resonant chant bringing forces to bear in a world beyond Adam’s perception. The Hunter’s brown eyes darted between the two wills doing battle in this otherworldly gale, unsure if the shrieking and Twister vibes were a good sign.

It was only when the twisted remains of the shackles clattered to the concrete by his feet that Adam started to get some real bad vibes. “Killed her,” he shouted over the wind, “so the spirit’s out of her?”

Her stony expression didn’t at all as she watched the exorcism with a sort of morbid fascination - like watching a car crash, almost. Blanche had only seen one other exorcism before, but she had sort of been paying attention to other things - like the demented house that wanted to eat her and Morgan, while Cassie got rid of it. This was worse, though. Cordelia fought tooth and nail to keep Nadia’s body. She should feel more empathy for her, Blanche knew, but it was so hard when Cordelia had done such terrible things to the people she loved. Granny would chide her, probably. But as Cordelia’s (Nadia’s?) scream ripped through the air, she was jekred out of her thoughts, narrowing her eyes as she felt the shift of power.

Blanche’s stomach twisted into a cold terror, ice in her veins as she felt Cordelia cross the threshold. Her skin crawled with the same intensity Lauren Langley’s spirit form gave her, and Blanche realized that Cordelia had turned into a poltergeist. I told you. Blanche wanted to snarl. I told you what would happen if you didn’t listen to me! But the words were caught in her throat as the wind howled hardly hearing Adam’s words. She looked between Nadia and Nadia’s body. Her heart sank.

“He exorcised the wrong spirit…” Blanche said faintly. “He - He exorcised the wrong spirit!” Her voice rose in volume, matching Adam’s shout as she whirled on Connor, breaking the circle. “I told you! I told you she wasn’t strong enough!! - Put Nadia back in her body!” Blanche pointed at Nadia - her spirit, that is. “Put her back! You have to -” Oh shit. What the hell were they going to do with Nadia - er, Cordelia now?! Her head snapped to Cordelia, and Blanche took another step forward, practically seeing red. “Don’t move!” she snarled. She would fight her herself if she had to. Cordelia wasn’t making another fucking move.

Connor's blood was ice. He didn't know what Banshee she was talking about, or why she'd screamed, but the idea chilled him to the bone. What if she was right? What if he was killing her? No, he told himself. That was exactly what the ghost wanted them to think. She wanted to get into their heads, get them off-guard. 'Don't listen!' he wanted to say, but he just continued with the recital.

The scream tore through the clearing. Nobody was there to hear it but them, and still it seemed to bounce off the surrounding trees in a preternatural echo-chamber, making Connor's very bones vibrate. Then, just as quickly as it had got loud, it was quiet again, as if the micro-storm brewing around them had suddenly died. Then, he heard the ghost speak. 'You've killed her after all'. His eyes widened, and he threw a handful of salt at Not-Nadia's body in his anger. "Shut up! She's not dead. She's--" He stared at Blanche. "She's not. She can't be." And then, he saw her, floating there. "Oh, bloody hell." He held up his hands defensively. “It wasn’t my fault, okay? I did everything like I was supposed to!” But it wasn’t him Blanche was ready to fight. “Don’t! Nadia still needs a body to go back to.”

This, Nadia decided, was what it felt like to be all powerful. She felt like she was on top of the world. It was exhilarating. It was dizzying. It was… a child, throwing salt at her like she was a goddamn snail. “Wrong fucking answer.” God, though, she felt fucking amazing. There was nothing more than static where a host was supposed to be, she had full control. Shit, this was it. This was winning. “I think I’m done here. I appreciate all the help, really.” She shot Blanche a savage grin. “Couldn’t have done this one without you, Melinda.” With a burst of telekinetic energy at the three unsuspecting kids, Nadia walked through the broken circle and out to freedom. She walked through the ghost of Nadia Diaz, now nothing more than a mere presence. She should’ve learned not to fight her. She should have learned. Nadia always won, in the end.

Nadia gasped as her own body walked though her as if she was nothing. It didn’t feel like anything, but the sense of discomfort lingered. She couldn’t focus on it. “Just let-- fuck! Just let her go! Blanche, she’ll kill you! She’ll kill you!” And she would. Nadia wasn’t even in her body to put up a shred of resistance. The ghost, Cordelia, Janet, whatever she wanted to be called, something was wrong with her now, and Nadia feared what would happen to them if they tried to stop her. She was on a warpath, and Adam, Blanche, and Conner were just kids. There was no way they could take her on. “Please!”

While Adam figured he could kill this thing if he really had to, the Hunter didn’t raise up the shotgun. Killing a possessed person was honestly terrority he’d never thought about before. If this really was an empty vessel with a monster inside it...maybe? The actual exorcist here didn’t want them to harm the body though, which  stopped Adam from beginning to unload shotgun rounds into what was essentially stolen property.

If Adam had been along he might’ve totally gone for it, but the cold tactical logic the Hunter had been raised with figured that Blanche or Connor would probably die or close to it in that altercation. Their defensive magic was broken. Blanche was unfocused. Connor was probably tapped out. The Nadia-thing had crazy telekinetic powers in a warehouse with ample bits of rebar to impale people with. Adam wasn’t going to start trading lives here.

But uh, Blanche might make that decision for them in a second here.

“Harlow,” Adam pleaded, knowing he couldn’t actually stop Blanche if she went full Jedi mode here. “We can’t fight her here like this. We’ll figure out another way.”

Out of the three voices begging Blanche to stop, Nadia was the only one she had enough sense to listen too. Cordelia’s telekinetic blast had her disoriented, and now she was staring, eyes wide at the disembodied Nadia with new found horror. And then Blanche realized just how angry she actually was. It wasn’t entirely their fault, Blanche wasn’t being fair and she was angry at herself too. Not to mention the lingering feeling of anger from the Winn situation… She ripped her gaze from Nadia, a cold glare on her face as she looked between Adam and Connor, too angry to even speak for a second.

“I told you.” Blanche’s tone almost didn’t sound like her own, it was cold as ice and shaking with fury. “Both of you. I told you this was a bad idea. That we should have thought about this! And now Nadia is like that -” Blanche pointed at the empty spot where Nadia stood. “- and Cordelia has gone full poltergeist! Her spirit has to be destroyed! I'm supposed to prevent that!! She could have moved on. She could have -  And Nadia, she’s - She’s - And - And -” Her face turned red and splotchy in anger, her voice rising in pitch and volume, before she had to turn away because her eyes filled with tears. She was going to cry and she would be damned before she did that in front of them. Blanche looked at Nadia, her features softening.

“I’m taking the wards down from my apartment,” she announced, wiping her eyes in disgust. “Nadia, you can stay at my place until we get this sorted out - Until I figure out how to fix this, okay? It’s going to be okay. I'll figure it out, no matter what. I promise.”

Connor stood, staring at the poor ghost of a girl who wasn’t even dead. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. They remained on her, frozen and apologetic for what felt like minutes before Blanche’s exclamations drew him back in. He was replaying every syllable of the exorcism in his head, trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. “I’m sorry,” he said, almost desperately. He hadn’t been an exorcist long enough for anything to go this wrong before, which was all the more proof that he’d been in over his head.

“It shouldn’t have happened like this. It was her! Cordelia, she did something. She… she messed it up.” He turned back to Nadia. “We’ll fix it, okay? I’m so… so sorry.” He needed to make it right. That Kaden guy was going to kill him. Maybe Blanche was going to kill him too. He’d wanted to help, to make sure she got her friend back, make everything normal again. Now, everything was way, way worse.

“Blanche, please,” Nadia said, trying to stop the arguments before they fully began. She watched her body disappear into the distance, leaving the rest of her behind. This was, truly, a nightmare, but she didn’t think that blaming anybody for what happened was going to fix things. “No one could have known that,” she looked down at herself, “this-- I mean, you can’t plan for this. I was-- Fuck, I was too fucking weak to even-- And now--” She looked at Connor, and she could tell he meant what he said, even if she couldn’t feel it. That was the strangest part of this, the absence of feeling anything beyond herself. “You couldn’t have known, and you tried to help me. Thank you. I’m serious. Thank you. At least you tried.” She didn’t know how this could be fixed, she realized. This was a lot worse than exorcising someone who’d been in control of a body for six years. This was putting someone else back in while taking another out at the same time.

When Blanche mentioned the wards in her apartment, Nadia’s eyes widened. “Like hell. Those protect you. Absolutely not.” If it was possible, she knew a knot would be forming in her throat, choking her. As it was, she just felt an overwhelming sense of panic. “You’re not doing that just because-- No. Alright? No.”

Adam had been in the supernatural world long enough to not ask questions when his friends suddenly started talking to empty air.

He coughed, clicking the shotgun’s safety back on. “Gonna bring the car around, we can load things but up in there,” Adam said before vanishing out one of the side doors.

Blanche shot Connor an icy look at his desperate apologies, not wanting to hear it. Adam left to go pull the damn car around, and Blanche was just happy her jeep was parked nearby and she didn’t have to suffer through an awkward ride back. She looked back at Nadia, shaking her head. “I’m taking the wards down temporarily. Once this is fixed, I’ll put them back up. But you should have somewhere safe to stay when you’re like this.” God, what was she going to tell Kaden. A lump rose in her throat then, her eyes burning. She blinked back tears, the anger diffusing into anguish as she refused to look at Connor. “Nadia?” Blanche said, quietly. “I’ll do anything to fix this, okay? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I let this happen.” Nadia trusted her. Blanche looked at Nadia’s spirit, blurry from tears threatening to spill over. She cleared her throat, before going to gather her supplies. “You can come back with me, okay?” Blanche looked over her shoulder. “And I can… help you figure things out.” Blanche glanced over at Connor, her look softer than it had been before. She opened her mouth, perhaps to say something helpful… But then she thought better of it, not trusting herself. “We have to get out of here before she comes back to finish us off.” Blanche said finally. “Let’s go.”

Connor stood in quiet disbelief as Nadia thanked him. Man, this sucked. It'd suck either way, but he could tell she was a good person. She was just so bloody appreciative of his failed attempt. So bloody appreciative that it almost made him want to scream. No, it's not okay, I let you down! Instead, he just stood and looked at her as if unsure whether to open his mouth or not. Eventually, he broke eye contact, nodding and looking down to the mess of chalk outlines and candles. "I should get this cleaned up."

Despite the fact that Blanche and Conner were the ones apologizing, Nadia felt like she should be saying sorry. She was the one that started all of this. It wasn’t on anyone but her that things went as sideways as they did. Somehow, once again, three people that should have never gotten involved in her problems were trying to clean up her mess, and it had failed spectacularly. That was on her. If Nadia had just been a bit stronger, if she’d fought a little harder. And now everything was fucked. “You shouldn’t be in the position to have to fix anything, Blanche,” she said quietly, bitterly, but she wasn’t going to push this. She looked at Adam’s retreating figure and then at Conner, “Please tell him I said thank you.” She moved to try and help pick something up before her hand simply passed through a candle. God, she was useless. She was dead, at least in a sense. Not a person with a body, just a bundle of feelings and thoughts and so many fucking feelings that couldn’t even pick up a candle. Unable to do anything, she just followed Blanche to her Jeep. She’d have to make sure that the younger girl put the wards back up if Nadia ever decided to leave. She wasn’t going to make a nuisance of herself, either. The last thing she wanted to do was end up haunting someone.

#let the right one in #chatzy: adam walker #chatzy: blanche harlow #chatzy: connor piers #not!nadia #:-----)

[divineluce]

A Trail of Fire || Adam & Luce

Timing: Late May 5th, 2021

Location: The Outskirts

Tagging: @walker-journal & @divineluce

Description: Adam spotted an out of control spellcaster raising hell. He enlists the help of Luce, but all isn’t quite as it seems.

TW: Brief mention of sibling death tw

Slamming the door of her Jeep shut, Luce slung her bag over her shoulder and waited for Adam to lead the way. He’d mentioned shit going down, seeing some kind of… out of control fire spellcaster. And, of all the people who could help in town, he’d asked her. While she’d normally have more than mixed feelings about this sort of thing, maybe helping protect the town would be the nudge in the right direction her magic needed. She was trying to be… fucking better. She’d been trying for months. But, it wasn’t working and she was running out of ideas. Maybe she’d be able to talk to thispellcaster-- granted that they weren’t part of the coven-- and get some answers on how she could get her spark back. If they were even able to talk. As they began to hike into the woods, Luce spoke up, “So… You said there’s an out of control fire witch out here?” She asked before wryly adding, “I thought I was the only one of those in town.”

As they walked, Luce reflected on the first time she and Adam had met in the woods. That was… huh. It’d nearly been a year. It had nearly been a year since Bea’s death and since she had raised 20, 30 foot tall flames in the clearing while sparring with Adam. Flexing her hand, Luce swallowed uncomfortably. She couldn’t even light a candle right now. She’d been without her magic for so long, been so vulnerable for so many months. She needed her magic, she needed to get it back.

“Yeah I thought it was just average Scorch Street stuff,” Adam allowed, referring to a particular thoroughfare where even snow was prone to spontaneous combustion. “But they melted their way through a car and didn’t respond to anything I said and fucked off into the woods.” The Hunter pushed his way through the brush and led the way down into a steep gulley.

The depression might've been filled with brush and played host to a stream once. However the river gulley was now just a furrow of blackened earth. Adam pointed to footprints in what’d once been a stream bed. Each print was like a miniature blast crater, surrounded by broken veins of obsidian and glass.

Scorch Street. Luce had hung out there more than a few times in her high school days, cutting class to hang out with some of her art class friends in the one place in town that seemed dangerous to even normies. Little did they know the entire fucking town was dangerous. Listening to Adam’s description, Luce frowned. “They melted through a car?” That wasn’t just out of control magic, that was strong magic. Power, don’t fuck with me magic. Even at her strongest, Luce couldn’t do create a flame that hot without significant effort and time. Whoever this way, they were a danger to everyone, including themselves.

Following after Adam, Luce let out a low whistle of astonishment as she took in the scene before her. There used to be a stream here, but this person, they’d changed the fucking landscape. Just like she’d done. Picking up a hunk of obsidian, Luce stared at the glossy, black surface. Who hurt this person? What had happened? “That looks like as good a lead as any.” She trailed after Adam, keeping her eyes and ears open for any movement in the brush. She didn’t know if her lack of magic also affected her fireproof situation, but she didn’t want to find out first hand. “Hey. That’s… that’s still burning.” She said, pointing to a patch on the ground that was smoldering, the dirt itself ignited with a bizarre, deep red flame. 

“Mhm, didn’t even really pause or anything just kinna walked through it.” Adam knelt on the ground and slipped off his backpack. In a few practiced movements the Hunter had retrieved and assembled a military folding shovel. He slipped on some gloves and approached the smoldering patch of pure scarlet flame, boots snapping on the gulley’s new layer of obsidian glass.

Adam scrutinized the blaze for a moment before lunging forward and lifting something up with the shovel. “Is this like…?”

On Adam’s shovel was the indanscent outline of a single feather, the pulsing vermillion core within red flame.

Or at least it was before the feather melted through a whole through Adam’s normally heat-resistant shovel and plopped back onto the ground. “Shit…”

“Jesus.” Luce muttered quietly, trying to imagine just how much magic would be needed for something like that. The strongest magic user she’d ever met couldn’t do something like that, not without significant help from someone else. Just who the fuck were they? And would she even be able to do anything to stop them, to reason with them? Watching as Adam pulled out some new prepper tool, Luce continued to stare at the chunk of shiny black rock in her hands. She’d done a lot of destructive shit, but she’d never done something like this. Could this have been her? If… if they hadn’t been able to bring Bea back, would this have been her? Would she have continued to set fire to the forest, would she have continued to kill anyone who could ever pose a threat to what remained of her broken family?

Adam’s curse shook Luce from her thoughts and she blinked in shock as she saw the pulsating glow within a single feather that had melted through the end of his shovel. “Holy shit.” Luce echoed, tossing aside the rock. A feather. A burning feather-- there was only one thing that could have left that. Flexing her fingers apprehensively, Luce hesitantly extended her fingers towards the feather. But, even before she could touch it, she could feel the power radiating from it in waves, the radiant heat starting to sear her skin. She jerked her fingers back before reaching for her water bottle. “That’s a phoenix feather, but it’s not. It’s… There’s something wrong with it.” She said, unscrewing the cap of the bottle. She unceremoniously dumped water onto the feather and was startled as a cloud of steam filled the space between her and Adam. Waving it away, she was startled to see that the feather was untouched. “That’s-- what the fuck. What the actual fuck,” She looked at Adam and at the still glowing feather that sat between them, “We need to find them.”

“Uh not to be that guy,” began Adam, “But what I saw was definitely a person not a magic bird.” In truth the only proof Adam even had Phoenix's even existed was those tears mom had given him as a college fund. They were allegedly among the rarest supernatural creatures and Adam’s training had focused on common threats to human settlements, not fairy tales and miracle cures.

But here were molten feathers along the trail of someone he’d seen burn through solid objects. Adam felt compelled to revise his understanding of the legendary fire chicken. “So uh...do they look like people sometimes?”

Glancing up from the feather to Adam, Luce frowned. “You do know that phoenixes have a human form, right?” She asked, a bit surprised that Adam “Hunter Bro” Walker didn’t know that. Of course, Luce had a feeling she knew more about phoenixes than your average spell caster, even in White Crest. Leave it to Bea to have made friends with the phoenix family in town all those years ago. An entire childhood of having her mom not only compare her fire to Bea’s but a literal incarnation of flame, thanks Leah. “I’ve never actually scene the full flame on situation, so I can’t actually say what that looks like. But they’re not full on fucking... fire chickens.” She said with a shake of her head.

“Like I said, they look human most of the time. But if they’re putting out this much fire, they might be in their true form. There’s no way they could just cut through a car without it.” She said, hoping she was right. “But why would they do that? Most phoenixes don’t go around torching things on purpose. And definitely not in public, that’s a good way to get yourself hunted down.” Which was only slightly different from what they were doing. They were hunting this person down to help them. Not to hurt them. Help.

Adam frowned in thought. “They’re some of the rarest supernaturals around,” he explained, “I only knew they were real because of some tears mom had.” He considered Luce’s words and took in the charred trail of obsidian and everburning feathers that been carved through the woodland ravine. He motioned for the sorceress to follow, now keeping a healthy distance away from those patches of blood scarlet fire.

“Kay so what you are saying is this Phoenix is probably like sick or cursed something,” Adam reasoned with the air of resignation from constantly encountering new things that fucked with peoples’ heads. “So question is if we catch up with them and they like don’t wanna talk, and we can’t like ...contain them or whatever, what’s the game plan? The Hunter’s question was spoken Adam’s usual aimable baritone, but couldn’t quite disguise the grim implication in how open ended it was.

Rarest around? Well, that was news to Luce, particularly when she’d been saddled with one since childhood. She had some kind of inkling that Leah and her family were different-- the idea of a reincarnating family that stayed together for years and years had always struck her as weird, but… after last summer, she couldn’t help but rethink that perspective. “Well, they’re human looking most of the time. Whatever happened to this person is definitely not normal.” She said with a shake of her head. Sick, cursed; either seemed likely. But, when Adam’s tone shifted, her head jerked up to stare at him

“We’re not hurting them.” Luce snapped, “I’m not killing someone again.” The words came out before she could stop them, but the similarities of the situation to Lydia stared back at her. A young Hunter who she was familiar with, maybe even respected, asking her for help. Asking her to deal with an out of control supernatural person, someone who was dangerous. Someone who could kill. She’d made that mistake before, she wasn’t going to do it again. Not for Adam, not for anyone. “We’re going to find them and if we can’t talk to them, we keep trying to help them.”

Adam turned his attention from the ravine of burning feathers and looked at Lucinda for a time, leaning on the ruined shovel. The Hunter’s brown eyes faintly reflected the scarlet flames all around them, but didn’t hold any surprise. This was the second time he and Luce had a conversation in the woods about doing whatever it took while surrounded by eldritch flame. Some things had changed before the blue and red fire.

Then again, maybe he wasn’t quite the same dude either.

“Kay, I respect that,” Adam assented eventually, “let’s see what we are dealing with.”

The trail of pinion bonfires led up the ridge, something passing through enormous boulders where the Phoenix had simply bored their way straight through solid rock, leaving a tunnel of cooling obsidian. The air was choked with acrid smoke and breathing became increasingly difficult as they gained on the traveler. Eventually the hikers cleared the treeline and got above the smoke. A small valley stretched out below them, and Adam raised a hand to his sweaty brow to see through the evening glare.

But the glare turned out to not be from the setting sun at all.

It was as if a meteor had struck the valley, still incandescent from the plumet. Even with his mutant eyesight, Adam could barely pick out the humanoid form at the heart of the roiling inferno. Scarlet fire roared out in a blastwaves from the figure, leaving a swath of ash and glass in their wake across the valley. Great red sheets of fire and sparks seemed to wrap around the Phoenix like enormous wings, flexing and spreading outward on thermal currents.

“Well shit.” 

#p: adam walker #chatzy #wickedswriting #p: atof #sibling death tw #//its mentioned verybriefly in passing but i thought i'd tag

[walker-journal]

Extreme Noodling (Dave+Adam)

Timing: Near Winter’s end, before Dave got bit

Summary: Dave and Adam wrassle some giant catfish (the google searches for this chatzy changed us as people I’m pretty sure. I know too much) 

Content Warning: lots of fish gore

The frost-flecked marsh water sloshed around Adam’s boots as he waded through the mire. Feathery moss hung in pale sheets from old maples and gnarled gum trees. Vertical clumps of reeds and cattails marked where the sparse islands of solid ground gave way to sluggish swamp water. This particularly frigid winter had touched the murk with thin sheets of ice, the fragile pristine white breaking under the slightest pressure for brackish mulch to pour through the cracks.

Adam was out in the frigid marshland today at the behest of David Herring, a sailor whom Nell has possibly summoned from hell as a birthday stunt. Adam was trying to take his return to Hunting gradually. His powers were slowly returning day by day, although resurgent strength and sharpening senses hadn’t brought any answers along with them.

Even more grueling training and keeping busy at work would have to suffice now, resolved  Adam as he held his rifle dry across his shoulders and waded towards where Herring was waiting.

Dave had braced himself against a nearby tree, his bag hooked over some higher up branches. Despite the frigid early spring weather, he stood in shorts and watershoes, already water and mud logged, but like this he could feel everyone and everything coming, no matter how big or small.

It was always a smart idea to have your back braced against something when you weren’t sure exactly where you stood with the person you’d called for back up. Dave wasn’t the type to calculate who owed who after surviving something together, and you never knew exactly what flavour of hunter you were getting until they had their knife against your throat. Most of the time, it had been alright, but considering the blood that stained Dave’s hands, he wasn’t surprised when things went the other direction fast. But the water in the marshes was even more still than the lakes, so he felt the ripples of Adam wading through the water long before he saw the young hunter approaching, so he was ready and waiting by the time Adam had slogged close by.

“Walker,” he greeted, raising a hand in greeting. “You gone up against a prodigium catfish before?”

Adam had to give mad props to the titanium viking balls this dude must have to go all beachwear in an ice swamp. However, as Adam might still want to have kids someday, these waders were staying on. Manly bayou bonding would have to wait.

“Read about them, never hunted them before,” the young Hunter admitted, the hot hills of California and the holy land having been more alghoul country then noodling holes.  

Dave nodded, watching Adam intently - mostly to be able to read his lips to make sense of what he could hear. At least the swamp was quiet, in the harsh way that winters often were. He didn’t have any kind of teeth guards on this time, his long canines exposed as he talked.

“This’ll be my fourth,” he replied, “but most of the others were juveniles. Feels about… fifteen feet, at a guess. Right now it’s about sixty feet that way.” He pointed deeper into the marsh land. “Fortunately, they ain’t agile creatures at that size, but they’ll crush you if they can. If you’ve read about them, I'm figuring you know about the barbs and arms.” He shifted, unstrapping a machete from the bag he’d hung from some tree branches. “If you think you can land the perfect shot, take it. Otherwise I’m thinking it’ll be better to get it in shallow water and incapacitate its arms for an easier kill.”

“Gothya, watch out for the barbs and baby Kermit arms, we gotta beach it in the the shallows unless there's an opening,” Adam reiterated, looking out at the hushed landscape of frost and brackish silt.

“But before we start I gotta ask,” the Hunter insisted as he knelt on the soggy crust the snowy embankment. He leaned the nonessential gear against the grey trunk of a willow.

“So...are you like sensing the fish right now? Do aquaman powers come with the whole wereseal thing?”

“Selkie. Something like that,” Dave replied, with just one eyebrow raised at Adam, unsure if he was missing out on some youthful slang or that Adam was not as informed as some of the other hunters around. Wereseal. The damn nerve. Not that there was anything wrong with being a werewolf, but Dave didn’t lose control like he’d gotten rabies once a month. It was all this damn tv, now everyone thought that just because you could change forms you’d have to be some cheap knock off were-

Dave hmmphed. Tiny pulses of water against his skin warned him of the large, slow being stirring in its tunnel, its mouth resting nearby the surface, waiting for prey to come nearby. “Any other questions? Ain’t exactly your college classroom.”

Ok, wait...so like, could Dave sense fish? If he could, was that a Dave-Selkie thing or a Dave-Dave thing? A tinge of frigid heat flickered in the back of Adam’s skull as something grew near, farther and larger than the palpable “otherness” that radiated from Dave. The Hunter tensed, but wasn’t going to pass up his last chance here.

“One more question….did uh….a hot Turkish motorcycle chick call you from a Hell Dimension for her sister’s birthday?”

The frosty mire stirred with an upwelling of bubbles that brought the brackish scent of rotting things with them. The dirty ice cracked upwards as an enormous bulk  briefly surfaced fifty feet away.

“Its like..ok if its yes, just been bothering me.”

Dave just… stared at Adam.  Had he heard that right? The words were distinct on the lips, but the sentence made no sense, not even when Dave happened to know there was a Turkish spellcaster who summoned things from hell dimensions. He wasn’t sure if he should be offended or complimented by the idea. “A hell dimension?” Dave repeated, just to make sure he’d heard right.

“The fuck are they teaching hunters these days? No, Walker, unless you consider Texas a hell dimension.” He cocked his head, considering. “Guess that wouldn’t be too far from the truth.”

The turbulence of water under the surface against his ankle had Dave looking around suspiciously, but the giant catfish was just reasserting itself in the water bed much, much to the starting of many smaller fish nearby, that darted away, including in their direction. Whether or not Texas was a hell dimension would have to be debated another day, preferably over a chilled beer.  “If we steer it a little to the left, the water there’s pretty shallow, and lots of land for you to use.” Not sure he was prepared for whatever other questions Adam might have, Dave began to wade deeper into the water, looking to get much closer before he caught the catfish’s attention.

“Not gonna lie,” Adam began with cheerful candor as he parkored his way between the more solid clumps of sodden shallows. “Texas sounds like a rough time for anybody who likes water.”

Dark hazel eyes glanced again towards the breach of a large slick mass against the ice, glimpsing what might’ve been a piscine whisker, before they focused back to Dave, crinkling with suppressed mirth around the edges.

“Waaaaaait,” came the dire moment of revelation. “If you have magic skin...in Texas, did you like accessorize it?”

“Dave, my dude...did you wear sealskin chaps?”

Adam was just in the start of pantomiming the Dave sauntering around Huston in this deviant form of cowpoke asswear when bulky shape burst from the icy murk.

“Hell yeah!”

Dave’s eyebrows raised right into his hairline as he looked over  at Adam, deeply unimpressed at his realisation. For a brief second, he almost knocked Adam into the water to quiet the kid, before remembering what they were here for. Maybe later.

“You’re lucky that thing works better dry,” Dave retorted, looking down pointedly at Adam’s rifle, but the tiny quirk at the corners of his lips belied his grumpy demeanor.

It was one thing feeling it stirring in the muck, and another for the large form  to crash through the crackly thin layer of ice. Dave grinned, his canine teeth bared as the form surged through the water, its wide mouth gaping for prey, not realising that it was no longer the predator. In the water, Dave was the more obvious target, so he started backing into the shallower waters, letting it think it was hunting him.

Considering how big the damn thing was, Dave hadn’t really expected it to be able to grab a nearby tree and use that to propell itself at Dave, barely diving out of the way before its jaw shut around him. When it’s body crashed through the water again, it sent waves of water and mud flying, but in missing it had given Dave an opening to drive the machete into its back, hoping to slice through the spine. The catfish flailed in protest, grabbing Dave with an arm like a tree trunk and dragging him under water.

----

“Aw shit,” Adam laughed as he tried to get a hold on the slick flailing creature that was driving Dave down into the murk, “it's trying to send you back to Texas!”

The icey bog water stung Adam’s bare arms with a cold burn that was soon replaced with an oiliness that seeped between his fingers. Adam gritted his teeth and lips shut to try to to get any of the frigid brackishness in his mouth as the catfish bucked and flailed beneath him.

Adam plunged his combat knife into the creature’s side, grime mixing with pale blue blood and the sudden reek of raw damp chicken. Trying to keep hold, Adam yanked out the blade and brought it down again and again, attempting to get the catfish to favor its wounded side and hopefully roll Dave out of the water.

----

It was fortunate that Dave was both hard of hearing and currently being wrestled by an enormous catfish underwater, because if he had heard Adam’s comment, there might have been a sea creature versus hunter alliance. The heavy set slime on his skin kept the catfish’s hands sliding off him, but as he was knocked deeper and deeper into the dirt, the chance of dying from being crushed by catfish was increasingly looming.

Dave bared his teeth and bit into the scaled underside of the catfish with little success, unable to open his mouth enough to get any kind of hold, but the overhead action above the water seemed to have more of an effect. Dave kicked himself out from underneath the catfish as the catfish trashed and tried to reach for the human above it, more interested in a prey that it could actually drown.

It curled its other arm around Dave as it reached for Adam, distracted by the dagger slashing deeper and deeper into its side. It wasn’t watching as Dave opened his own maw and bit down on its arm, bone snapping under his canines.

When Dave emerged from the water, it was with one of the arms firmly between his teeth, torn off the body and dripping blood into the water, he grimaced, dropping it onto the roots of a nearby tree that had started to sink into the water as the soil beneath it had given way to watery mud.

----

“Holy shit,” Adam effused in admiration of such unmitigated badassery, a grin brightening the Hunter’s grime-covered face as he climbed up the side of the flailing catfish. He hoisted himself up with each deep stab of the knife into the catfish’s spongy flesh as if it were a rock-climber’s spike. “That was fucking ace….hey what’s it taste like? Bet you got like Marsh-Mono now or something…”

Adam’s preliminary diagnosis on what disease Dave had doubtless contracted was cut short as the Hunter accidentally stabbed too deeply and pierced an organ. Greenish black fluid hemorrhaged from the wound and Adam let out a stream of gagging curses as the slimy knife slipped from his fingers into the acrid effluvium.

That momentary loss of purchase was all the catfish needed. Adam plunged into the marshwater as the fish spun into a deathroll and opened its toothless maw wide.

Adam’s world became warm and damply dark.

----

“Ah, fucking hell,” Dave groaned, wading deeper into the water. He couldn’t see where Adam had gone, but he couldn’t feel anything human sized with flailing limbs moving around in the water. If he’d been knocked out, it was a matter of moments before the human risked drowning. You couldn’t heal an absence of oxygen in your lungs. Thick blue blood pumped out of the catfish’s side, murking up the water, but it was still kicking, moving towards him with its still remaining arm. This was going to be tough just by himself, and without Adam moving around in the water, Dave had no fucking idea how to find him.

The catfish swiped, and Dave dodged out of the way with a slash at its side, seeing where Adam had been hacking deep into it, where it was also bleeding and oozing viscous pus into the water, stinking up a storm. Still no sign of the wayward hunter. Shit, shit. Hoping that with its movement he might get a better feel of where Adam was. “WALKER!” He barked, watching the catfish and staying well away from its brutish arms.

Which was when he realised there was something else moving inside the catfish and he realised exactly where Walker was.

“Jesus Christ.” He drove his hand into the deep gash in the catfish’s side, causing it to spasm in pain, hoping he could distract the catfish long enough for one of them to think of a plan to get Adam out of the monsters without… risking killing him while fighting the catfish.

Adam’s silver knife appeared from the catfish’s belly, a brief protrusion of metal followed by an upwelling of dark blue ichor. The enormous fish thrashed as Dave’s hand in its wound exacerbated this new pain burrowing out from the inside. The catfish bucked in spine-twisting arcs on the frosty mire as it instinctively tried to get free of whatever invisible thing was tearing at it.

The knife blade surfaced again when the panicked  flailing no had briefly subsided, the incision growing into a long fleshly tear that spewed gummy stomach lining. Long strips of blue-tinged mucosa and yellowish subcutaneous tissue spurted from the wound each time the blade retreated, staining the marsh ice in a splots of organic dyes.

Adam’s gore-caked right arm snaked through the widened opening, trying to find some kind of grip outside as the fish’s frenzied motions turned his world into a dark barrel-roll hell of sloshing fluids and pythonic stomach muscles. It was a dicey business as the fish’s jostling and this cramped space made accidentally stabbing himself a real possibility. The Hunter had nearly opened up a vein when he’d had to fold into the fetal position to retrieve the spare silver knife.

It was times like these where being trained to abandon thought and focus only on each incremental steps of survival came in handy. The horrid smell, the acrid taste of bloody filth in his mouth, the vertigo of the fish’s thrashing, the burn on stomach acid in his skin and eyes, and the rip-popping compression of the catfish’s spasming stomach messes would’ve made it easy to just panic.

Luckily, Adam had spent enough time being taking  doses of ever-higher concentrations demonic Terevi venom as a teenager that being digested  was no longer an excuse to slack off. It’s really those salt of the earth family values that build character y’know?

Adam stuck out one leg through the widened opening and placed it again one fleshy end of the wound for leverage as he pressed the knife’s blade upward, sawing his way through sinews and fat as frigid marsh water poured in through the opening.

Something suddenly gave and the world spun. Adam hit the squishy sod with a groggy oof but convulsing to hack up catfish blood.

The first time the catfish tried to roll, Dave punched it in the eye. The second, he sliced off one of its barbs and it knocked him into the water with its remained arm. Dave’s head smacked into a tree branch and he briefly saw stars. He got out from under it, and saw a shape tearing through the scaled belly. A leg. Walker. He almost wanted to surge forward and grab him, but the bleeding hole wasn’t enough to fit a whole man through, and yanking Adam out of place might trap him and make him suffocate. Dave couldn’t let the catfish roll  again, or Adam’s leg would snap like a matchstick. Dave hacked at its back with the machete again, blood spewing his body with every swing, now he knew where the hunter was cutting his way out from, keeping the catfish from grabbing at Adam or rolling again. With a final hack and a burst of bloody flesh, its intestines spilled out into the water in large ropes and bobbing in the water like grotesque pool floats. Adam along with it. The catfish spasmed, and twitched, its gills trembling, before at last it became still.

“Jesus fuck,” Dave said, rushing over to Adam’s side. He paused, waiting for the worst of the convulsions to pass before bending down, picking up Adam’s arm and swinging it over his shoulder. If the kid passed out, Dave was worried he’d faceplant into the swamp and breathe water. “Easy does it. Easy does it now,” He muttered, lowering Adam to sit on some firmer ground. “Keep your eyes shut, I’m gonna get this crap off your off your face so you can breathe,” Dave said, not being precious as he wiped the acidic gunk from Adam’s face, pulling a flask of water out of his belt and using it to rinse Adam’s face. He held his hand so that the water wouldn’t go into Adam’s nose nor mouth. Wasn’t looking to waterboard the guy afterall, just make sure that the acid didn’t cause permanent injury to his eyes or anything.

Pressing the half-filled flask into Adam’s hand so that he could drink or wash himself as need be, Dave stepped back, giving Adam space to catch his breath and assess his own wounds. He leant against a worn out tree, feigning a casual demeanor so Adam didn’t feel as intensely scrutinised as he was being. The thick sludge of blood and grime covering Adam from head to toe was mixed with stomach acid, and the little skin that Dave could see was turning pink where it wasn’t battered blue. “Always thought hunters had a flair for the dramatic, but you really take the cake,” he joked with the hint of a smile on his features, but the worry was there. Adam’s injuries would heal faster, but Dave wasn’t the one who’d just been eaten. He just remembered the feeling. “When you’re ready, you’re gonna need to get back in the water to wash the rest of it off.”

He didn’t ask, are you alright. He didn’t ask whether it hurt. He didn’t need to. He knew how trauma was what each hunter collected by the armful, this just another harrowing near death experience out of dozens that Adam had walked away from. This one might not even leave a scar, just a story to tell over a beer. Tomorrow, Dave would feel like he’d been hit by a truck, and in a week his muscles would still give him hell. In a week, Walker would likely be right as rain. But healing hurt, both the mental and physical sort, so he waited for Adam’s cue before coming in to help him get on his feet again. His own legs began to protest under both their weights, his ribs creaking. For right now, the adrenaline rushing in his weathered veins made this just about bearable, but they needed to make a move before the tides turned against them.

“I’ll tell you what, Walker. Once we’re both patched up, I’ll buy you dinner and a beer just to celebrate you not being dinner.”

#extreme noodling #dave #adam #seizethecarpe

[seizethecarpe]

What does Dave think of the youths of White Crest?

Delicious meat

Uh, Versipellis plot aside... 

As a whole, Dave does not understand the youths of White Crest. With their talk of squidward funerals, emoji languages and strange tick tocks, at times it’s definitely like they’re on a different planet.  That said, as a whole, he’s very protective of young people, even though he would deny it. is it because of how he failed his own kids? Probably. Dave was a family man, and his life was and is defined by that loss. That old self peeks through in splinters (mostly in giving them nicknames or calling them “Kid”). But he does definitely also have get off my lawn vibes. 

As for specific youths, well. 

Dave doesn’t know much about Dani except that she’s strong and that there’s a really good chance he killed her by leaving her drowning and bleeding at the bottom of a river. So much guilt about that will be due in time, especially if he does not find out she’s alive. 

Mina is capable and brave and also he sees her as very, very young and in need of protection, despite knowing how intensely capable she is. They haven’t met much, mainly while killing the Sand Man and Bloody Mary. We have an ongoing chatzy atm (on hiatus) which will give Dave more insight on her kind nature, hard working self, and her nerves, but the obvious more relevant one was, uh, when he tried to eat her. So now maybe she also needs protecting from him. Dave feels guilt about that. I’m really really excited to have them interact more in future, both with both being water species related to hunting, but also to see how that attack affects how they interact with each other in future. 

Rio is another youth that Dave knows is very capable but also... a Child. He respects Rio’s hopes to be like a Scribe, but also sees that as a vision that... won’t pan out. He thinks it’s a little idealistic, much like he sees Rio. Their first meeting was defined by a fight with Cockatrices where Rio was definitely strong enough to do something physically, but had a breakdown about the idea of killing one. But, right now while Dave knows he’s a danger to others, Rio is the one he’s turning to, because his other options are hunters. The trust is there at least to ask for help without fear, and I’m very excited to see the consequences of that trust in the chatzies we’re due to post and plots thereafter, because I think Dave’s opinion of Rio will change again. Just #spoilers xoxo

Adam is a fun one because he definitely counts as a “youth” and there are moments where dave is like wow yeah this is a child, but because Dave is so familiar with how young hunters are trained into their duty, he really sees Adam as an equal in a way that he wouldn’t necessarily see other people Adam’s age. When they met, Bloody Mary tried to kill them both for being murderers, and they both very much kept each other alive by working together, despite finding out each other’s species and that they’re both prolific killers. This chatzy culminated in Adam confessing his remorse for killing Winn, which kind of established this really tenuous early respect and connection between the two of them. (As a whole, it’s been so fun to parallel Adam’s behaviour with Dave and his behaviour with Winn. We love to see this character growth and change). Dave’s respect only grew for Adam during the catfish hunt. But he is always aware that he’s walking a tightrope around hunters, because he is a supernatural being who has killed a lot of humans... and will continue to do so.  This is a dynamic very much in the early stages, but we’re currently writing a chatzy right now which in the long run is really going to affect how Dave sees Adam, but again #spoilers. Overall, he thinks Adam is a good hunter, a good man, and completely incomprehensible at times, and he is despite himself fond of Adam. 

And then we come to Nell. Their interactions so far have been Nell trolling Dave online, him almost drowning at Nell’s birthday party, Nell accidentally summoning a demon that killed two people, and an intense discussion of guilt. And it’s fun because Dave has really seen this young, petulant, almost vulnerable side of Nell, the brave side of Nell, and the terrifying side of Nell. He's wary of spellcasters because of the sheer amount of power they can wield, and how relatively little they seem to be held in check by hunters - indeed this is a gap Dave has filled at times for himself. He’s doubly wary of Nell because of how powerful and how dark he perceives her magic to be, which is why he threatened to kill her. But he also sees that very lost side of her where she tries to puff herself up and seem less vulnerable, using her magic as armour, and oh boy does that hit deep. Which is why they had that really, really gentle moment in discussions of guilt and dealing with it. But, you know, he has now also tried to eat her, which is something else that, well, it doesn’t affect his opinion on her, but it sure makes future interactions spicy. 

Honestly, I didn’t mean for the versipellis plot to mostly involve younger characters, and that was not how it was originally going to go, but I have been so grateful for the opportunity to pit Dave’s protective side against this internal monstrous drive, and have fun with his... instincts winning at times,and losing at times. And I’m excited to see him reconcile those two things in the aftermath.

You know. If he doesn’t become a versipellis first. :/

@surmamort @nelllraiser @walker-journal @3starsquinn @drowningisinevitable

#Anonymous #asks #meta #headcanons #uh #please have this essay

[theskyeandsea]

Snappy Birthday! || Group Chatzy

Timing: May 2nd, 2020

Location: Nicodemus and Skylar’s House

Description: Skylar and Nell threw an unfor-gator-able surprise party for Nic. No hunters, humans, or supernaturals were hurt in the making of this chatzy!

Tagging: @carbrakes-and-stakes​. @walker-journal​. @harlowhaunted​. @nelllraiser​. @theskyeandsea​. @corpse–diem​. @bountybossier​. @3starsquinn​. @chasseurdeloup​. @hunter-haywood​. @deepintheredwood​. @fairyjeff​.  

Skylar looked around at the small gathering of people, more than a little anxious. Nell had really outdone herself with the decorations-- the alligator inflatables she'd found shoved in a back closet were pumped up and scattered in different rooms, the large alligator cake was sitting on the table, there was a massive gator themed centerpiece on the gift table, and Dundee was walking around in his costume. Skye had helped set up most of the decorations, but she left putting Dundee in the costume to Nell, she was still a little skittish around the dog, even if he'd only ever barked at her once or twice. There were buckets full of ice and beers by the pool and in the kitchen, along with more than a few bottles of whiskey. Walking into the kitchen, she smiled nervously at some of the people who had gathered there. "Thanks so much for coming, I'm really glad you all could make it!"

Nell was anxiously watching her phone, wanting everything to be as perfect as possible when it came to this party. In honesty, she wasn't entirely sure when she'd become the type of person to help plan three parties withing a few months span, but she certainly wasn't mad about it when it was for friends and the people she cared about. Waiting for Erin's text, she readied herself to tell everyone to hide and quiet down, knowing that if they missed the crucial and initial 'surprise!' it would derail the biggest part of any surprise party. Already she'd sent numerous texts to Erin, checking in a possibly obnoxious amount to make sure everything was going to plan. "For sure," she echoed Skye's sentiment, glad she'd had such a good partner for this event. "I haven't heard from Erin yet, but they should be coming any moment so- everyone just get ready. Think about where you might want to hide." She'd also been sure to try and request that Erin make sure no weapons were on Nic, not wanting the surprise element of said party to result in injury when it came to his party guests.

Kaden didn't know Nic that well but he liked the guy well enough to go to his birthday party on the invite alone. Plus, it couldn't be worse than his own. No mimes in sight, a good sign already. His brow shot up at Nell's announcement. That sounded like a bad idea. "Are we really jumping out and yelling surprise at a hun--" He caught himself. "Guy. At the guy. That sounds like a bad fucking idea." He sighed and found a spot around the corner where he didn't have to crouch down or do anything ridiculous and could keep his beer on hand. Let someone else get knocked in the head for hiding in a hunter's house and jumping out and yelling surprise.

Adam arrived in thunder of whoops and hollering as he and several brawny fellows pilled out of pick up truck and began rolling up kegs to the door covered in various phallic puns incorporating Nic’s new age. When the truck eventually drove off, Adam burst in wheeling a keg will dressed in short sleeves and wearing a hideous bandanna in the shape of a well-endowed alligator.

Nell wasted no time in staring down each and every one of the assumed frat boys that approached the party, asserting dominance as quickly as she could to let them know that she would not hesitate to kick each one of their asses if they so much as ruined an inflatable alligator, or her and Skye's vision for the party. Of course...the beer was a welcome addition. One could never have too many kegs. "We'll just jump out not near him," she quickly supplied to Kaden. "And maybe Skye can be a little decoy when he walks in." Then she went to Adam, reaching out to prod the bandana on his face. "There are going to be children gators here," she joked, not actually planning on the young man taking it off.

Trying to be inconspicuous about keeping Nic out of the house was harder than Erin anticipated. That’d been her only real job for the day, and compared to the massive amount of work Nell and Skylar had put into it, she’d gotten off pretty easy. CHILL. Pulling up. Five minutes. She quickly texted Nell, giving what felt like the twelve status update that hour. “Thanks for, uh--carting me around all afternoon,” she glanced over at him, though she wasn’t able to entirely meet his eyes. Their last conversation hadn’t been entirely pleasant, and largely consisted of Erin telling him she should stay away while the murderous squid had a hold on him. And then here she was, out of the blue asking him to help her run menial little errands all day to keep him out of the house. Avoided any real conversations by popping in and out of the truck, and taking her good old time at each spot. Her eyes narrowed as they started to pull into the driveway. “Oh!” She piped up as she hopped out of the car, moving to the driver’s side and held out her hand. “Weapons. All of them,” she nodded at him, making a ‘gimme’ motion with her fingers. “You still owe me that tour of the pool, right?” She gave him a smile, trying to keep this light. This was a totally normal request. “We don’t need weapons to check out a pool.”

Golly, Hunter was so excited to be invited to Nic's birthday party! He hadn't gone to one since his daughter's Haylee's fifteenth and that had been awkward since his (ex) wife had been flirting with his best friend the whole time. He couldn't blame her he supposed, Frank was a really nice fellow and he was handsome to boot. He followed behind Adam, the younger man dressed strangely, but Hunter was sure it was just the popular fashion. Grinning he looked around the party,"Wowie, y'all. It looks great. Who decorated? I love the theme!"

Eventually Adam handed out monopoly money to his friends and sinewy friends departed, still sweaty from the keg rolling he took out yet more Caligula gator bandanas and offered some to Hunter and Nell "Don't pole him," he cautioned Nell regarding her prodding the bandana "You'll just make him more excited, here I have some for folks."

Skylar nodded at Kaden's advice. That was admittedly something she hadn't really thought about. The idea of jumping out at Nic was probably a bad idea, even if it was just for a party. Before she could respond, she blinked in surprise when a man burst through the door with... kegs? Face turning bright red as she realized what was on his bandana, Skylar turned to face Nell instead. "Mhm! I can do that!" She said, hurrying to take a seat on the couch next to one of the lamps. This was casual right? Just... sitting on the couch? Surrounded by inflatable alligators and beer? "I'm all set when everyone else is."

Why was Red going to another hunter birthday party? After Kaden's mess, they had almost sworn off going to anyone's birthday party. Still here they were, surrounded by a weirdly theme birthday party, but at least, Red supposed, it wasn't mimes. "Kaden's right. I don't want to be punched," or worse,"in the face today and I doubt anyone else does."

Orion stood awkwardly in the house. Skylar hadn’t been lying, this place was huge. He recognized a few people but felt weird approaching any of them at the moment. He had waved to a few people when he got in. This was supposed to be a surprise, but Rio wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of trying to surprise a hunter. He remembered trying to scare Athena as a kid and ended up flipped onto a coffee table. He hadn’t tried that ever again. So he tried picking a spot as far from the door as possible for when Nic got back. Out of the danger zone.

Jeff wasn't really in the mood for another party, especially since he hadn't even made it in the door for Kaden's. But considering there was no mime tomfoolery here, it was safe. Even if he still couldn't speak. He sulked over by Kaden, beer in one hand and a clumsily wrapped present with crocodile wrapping paper in the other. When the small child that babysat his dog ordered them to hide, he shuffled behind Kaden. But if Nic wanted to punch someone at his own birthday party, then that was his God Given Right. He drank his beer, opening his mouth to say something..... and then nothing came out. He drank more beer instead.

Nicodemus had stayed fairly quiet for the majority of the drive, unsure of what to say. He didn't mind running around mindlessly with Erin. Even if mindless was a bit of a tender term considering...everything. He frowned. Damn it. The hunter glanced overr at Erin and nodded, a slight furrow even as a slight smile showed. "Ain't a thing." He mumbled to himself as they pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck. At her sudden exclamation, his eyes darted over to her and he breathed easier when it was nothing. "My weapons?" He questioned but started anyway. Twenty minutes later, he was done pulling out every small knife, bullet, and even a fountain pen that he had kept on him. The unsharpened pencil was last. His eyes narrowed slightly as he started toward the door. "Y'wanna do that now?" He nodded to the door and started toward it. "Yeah, alright, guess I can do that now."

The silly little tripwire spell Nell had set up was triggered the moment Nic and Erin neared it, and soon enough she was shushing the rest of the crowd, trying to make sure no one was in punching distance of the door. "Okay, okay, they're here! Get ready!" she said in a hushed whisper, looking to Skye to give the girl a reassuring smile.

Blanche wasn't surprised that Nell had outdone herself again. She was, however, at the amount of Frat boys with Beer and gators that showed up. Once Nell gave the signal to get ready, she made a beeline for Rio. "Hide!" she said, excitedly.

Adam immediately fell into a commando-like sprawl, Hunter surprises perhaps having been more militaristic operations back home.

Hunter crouched down next to Adam, though his knees creaked as he did. He supposed it was probably time to go back to the doctor like his (ex) wife had wanted him to years ago. "You look like you're on a stakeout there, kiddo. Trying to make sure Nic doesn't see ya?" He hoped Nic wouldn't be able to see him like this. He wasn't sure he'd be able to get up anytime soon, much less hide.

Orion could have hugged Blanche, he was so excited to see her. “Oh thank god you’re here.” He was still a bit nervous about hiding but decided to go along with Blanche, just making sure to move them away from the door when they did.

“Jesus, are you like the Mary Poppins bag of deadly weapons?” Erin mumbled, unable to hold onto everything he’d just painstakingly pulled from every pocket and hiding spot on his body. She heaved them with some effort into the back of his truck, then ran back to cut him off at the door. “Ladies first!” She nearly chirped, hoping to God Skylar left the door unlocked. When it opened, she took a quick glance inside, could hear people shuffling and paused just in the doorway. “Wow!” She bellowed, not letting him step in immediately. “This place is amazing!” It was, and she’d get into that later, but that was probably enough of a warning, right? Still, she took long, careful steps and reached for his hand to keep him from moving too quickly into the doorway or past her, sharing the same thought the rest of the partygoers had. For the love of God, don’t spook the fucking hunter.

When the door swung open, Skylar smiled and waved from the couch as the two of them stepped into the room. "Surprise, Nic! Happy Birthday!" She said brightly. She really, really hoped that Erin had confiscated all of Nic's weapons, getting something thrown at her might put a damper on the whole... birthday celebration.

Being late was not something Alain had ever been comfortable with and yet this was exactly his situation right now. From the other side of the road he had waited for twenty minutes for Nic to be done with his fucking collection of weaponry. Well, at least, he was now the least likely to get shot by birthday boy. Watching Erin lead the way to the place, Alain sighed heavily and got out of the car, present under his arm. "About fucking time." Following behind, he arrived just in time to hear a familiar voice exclaim "Surprise!"

In tandem, everyone seemed to rise up at once, some more cautious than others as the exclamation of, "Surprise!" went up around the room. Hopefully, Nic would be pacified by the inflatable gators before punching anyone.

Nicodemus had never heard Erin so animated before. He followed behind her, heavily scrutinizing her moments, he listened. With her voice as loud as it was, he couldn't hear much over it. But something seemed off. What was that smell? Was it...gator? No way in fucking hell was it gator. Then, Skylar was shouting and he reflexively reached to grab a weapon. An inflatable gator. It popped and squeaked under his grip, whistling its way to a sad death. Wait, what had she said? He blinked. Squinted. Looked around. It wasn't just Skylar there. It was...a lot of people. More than he expected. She had said Happy Birthday. He looked over all of them and stood there. Like a dumbass. There were gators. Baby ones? Was that discount Steve Irwin? "...Howdy." Was all he could manage.

"Howdy, birthday boy!" Hunter said loudly as he pushed himself up (making dad grunts the entire way up). Seeing a lady next to Nic, Hunter grinned,"Who is this, bud? She's pretty," He said with a little wiggle of his eyebrows.

Skylar was startled when he grabbed an inflatable alligator, she flinched when it popped loudly, the sound making her hearing aids ring a bit. But, that was a lot better than him doing that to one of the people here! Walking up, she held out a pointy party hat and held it out to Nic. "I thought it'd be nice to have a little party for you-- Nell did a lot of the work, honestly. Happy Birthday!" She said, beaming.

Nell could handle the the casualty of one inflatable gator, seeing that as a success even as air continued to whine out of it. "Happy Birthday!" she echoed brightly stepping towards the man that this party was all about. "You're definitely old now." She waited somewhat anxiously, hoping to see some sign that he didn't completely hate the party Skylar and her had put together. "There's lots of food! And alcohol! And baby gators. Other animals, too."

Kaden shook his head as Nic killed the very dangerous inflatable gator. Better it than anyone else here. He'd go wish him a happy birthday later, he had plenty of people to talk to. And Kaden didn't really need to have another great run in with Erin just yet. He turned to Jeff and nodded. "How's it going?" His brow furrowed when it was clear the other guy couldn't talk. "You should get a dry erase board, man." He gave Alain a small wave as he saw him come in behind the birthday boy. "Want to go see the animals?" he asked the couple of hunters around him. He didn't really give a shit what they said, he was going to see those fucking baby gators before he left so help him.

Red could tell that there was a fae here, just not where. They tried to shake it off for the sake of Nic and the party, they didn't want to ruin it by causing a scene. At least there were animals here. Maybe he'd have to ask the bossy girl where she got these for Violet's next birthday. They bet that her birthday party would be the best if there were animals like this there. "You know what, yeah I do. Just let me grab a beer." They went grabbed their own beer and then moved over to the baby gators with Kaden. "Violet would have liked these," They said nodding to the small animals.

Orion couldn’t help but laugh when he heard the popping noise. Of course Nic stabbed the inflatable gator. But at least that was better than stabbing one of the party attendees. At least if he had stabbed a fellow hunter it would have healed pretty quickly. “That’s why I didn’t want to hide” Orion giggled, looking back at Blanche, “I didn't want to end up on the wrong side of his surprise.” Looking around, he recognized quite a few. It put him a little on edge, but the ones that he did recognize were alright, as far as hunters went. And was that… Erin with Nic? So his new boss knew Nic? Hmm, small town.

Nicodemus looked between Skylar and Nell. A party. He didn't remember ever having one before. The back of his neck felt warm. "It's nice," he finally said with a firm nod. "Just, uh, real fuckin' surprised." When had he started to know so many people? And they were all in his and Skylar's house. Holy fuck, he had a house and he had friends. Jumping Jesus Christ. He had even heard Alain sneaking up the door behind him. Nic offered Hunter a small but friendly smile. Right up until he blanched at the question. "Erin, that's her," he said quickly as he glanced over to the booze in the distance. Then to the baby gators. "Gonna get a drink there, bud. Enjoy yourself, huh?" Stepping carefully over Dundee, who looked just as perplexed as he did if not more so due to the lack of noticeable blinking, he power-walked to the watering station and cracked open a cold one as he turned around to survey the area. Goddamn, they had committed and committed hard.

“Wow,” was the only word that kept flashing in Erin’s mind when she saw the full scale of the party for the first time. They hadn’t been kidding even a little bit when they said there’d be gators. “Surprise?” Erin finally said when she turned to Nic, who seemed without a doubt surprised. “Holy crap, you guys. This is seriously amazing,” she smiled over at Skylar and Nell, stepping aside so the small crowd could fawn over him. As they should be, even if it was making him visibly uncomfortable. “That’s--yeah, that’s me. Erin. Nice to meet you…?” she chuckled at the older man who’d come up to greet them. Most of the faces she could pinpoint, some more of a surprise than others, but this was a new one to her. Wasted no time in plucking up one of the party hats and sat it squarely on her head. “Shut the front door--are those real gators?” She asked the second her eyes laid on them.

Hunter grinned at Erin. “Nice to meet ya, Miss. I’m Hunter. I meet Nic at a bar a while ago. He’s a real sweetheart, aint he?” He grinned wider, “I bet he’d make a great boyfriend. You know, if that interested you.”

Alain walked over to the pile of gifts to put down the box in which he had stuffed one crocodile plush, and a Laguiole knife with a handle that ressembled the skin of an alligator. This is when he heard someone speaking with Erin about Nic. Turning on his heels with the most neutral expression on his face, he raised his eyebrows at his friend and crossed his arms. "Well Erin, I think Hunter here might make a pretty good point."

Skylar beamed at the two of them, before nodding. "I'm glad that you like it! Have fun looking at the gators, I'm going to make sure Dundee doesn't poke his way over there." She said before walking off to find the little dog. It was huddled in a corner, a little overwhelmed by all the people who were in the home. Which was honestly fair, she kind of related. Reaching out gingerly to fix the dog's hood, she glanced up and saw Rio and Blanche, the two of them sporting matching pink hair. "Hi! I'm really glad you both could make it. Thanks so much for coming."

Nell beamed under Nic's simple, but approving words, and couldn't help but also enjoy Erin's. "Good, good. You deserve it," was all she managed to say. She was glad she had Skye had managed to pull this off. Nic needed good things in his life, and now this could be one of them. Sticking with the funeral director for a moment, she nodded, paying no mind to Alain. She didn't like the man, but she wouldn't start anything when she wanted this party to go perfectly. Turning to Erin she said with renewed excitement, "Yeah! Real gators! Reptile Rick brought along his brood. They're cute, aren't they?"

Orion smiled brightly when Skylar made her way over to say hi to them. He eagerly waved back and perked up. “Hey! Of course, thanks for the invite.” It had a good turnout, with quite a few people showing up for it. “You weren’t joking about this house. It’s ginormous.” He glanced at the crowd around Nic, talking to him and Erin. He would make his way over there eventually to say happy birthday, once things had calmed down. “You and Nell did really good. This party is really cool.”

Adam took a tray of vials from among the kegs. Some of the folks at the Bullet had responded to his blood drive, allowing for enough Slayer Blood for vampire poison. Liquid silver in pressured regulated contains for werewolves. A poison that'd disrupt the air regulation within aquatic creatures like Selkie, causing them to burst from the inside. There was very fine cold iron grains to poison the ventilation systems of Fae communes, Adam carefully set these and other vials of deadly alchemy with the other gifts before returning to the kegs to get drinks really started.

The only sound that came out of Erin’s mouth was a nervous laugh, eyes wide. “He’s--uh, he’s--yeah. He’s great.” She cleared her throat, glaring daggers at Alain through the smile forced onto her lips when he needlessly chirped in. “Helpful as always, aren’t you? Why don’t you go say hi to Nic, yeah?” she said, patting Alain’s back extra hard, thankful Nell was there. “They’re adorable!” she answered eagerly. “I’m gonna go see them like--now. I can’t wait. You totally understand, right?” Even if they didn’t, she was already shuffling away. “Excuse me!” She bounced off towards the refreshment table first for some of what she hoped was alcoholic “Gator”-ade. A little surprised at the crowd that had gathered around the baby animals, but she supposed not even a big group of guys like this could resist. “Is this the designating hiding spot?” She teased and watched them scurry around, taking large sips of the mysterious green drink.

Skylar laughed a little at Rio's statement, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "Mhm, it's a really big place. I have no idea places like this even existed in White Crest, but I'm really lucky to have a place to stay." She said. "Thanks, it was mostly Nell. She really outdid herself. I like the hair, by the way. It looks really cool." She said with a thumbs up. With his pink hair, Rio almost looked like he'd stepped out of an anime or something. It honestly suited him-- and Blanche as well.

Lord, there were even presents. Cold beer in hand, Nicodemus grunted a greeting to those he passed by as he wandered over to the baby gators. He took a moment to raise his beer at Adam with a slight grin. Gingerly, Reptile Rick placed one in the palm of his hand, its small head resting on the hunter's wrist. Large reptilian eyes stared at him and he stared back. A true, blue genuine smile brightened his face for a hot second before he glanced over at the others. "They're, uh, real fuckin' gentle and shit," he said. Reptile Rick looked on in approval, the string of his fishing hat bobbing slightly. "...Thanks for comin', I 'spose. Didn't really know all this shit was happenin'."

Adam sees Rio being all pink with Blanche and Skylar and gives him a knowing wink and encouraging thumps up and highly evocative penetrative pantomime with his hands. Fellow Hunter dude thus no doubt encouraged and full of manly vitality, Adam return to drinks and watching Nic be Crocodile Dundee.

Nell nodded enthusiastically as Erin made her exit, not blaming her in the least for wanting to check out the little gators. She'd already spent some time with them before the party had started, and was letting everyone else get their fill, now. "I completely understand she offered with a chuckle before watching the other women head over. Adam's motion catching her eye, she wasted no time in heading his way to make herself a drink as well, glad that the party seemed to be going well enough. "You're going to make them match their pink hair," she said to the man with a little smirk, always amused by his antics.”

Alain forced a smile at Nell. It was not that he disliked her, but... Ok, it was exactly that, but it appeared that she had at last decided to be an adult. It would have been a shame if he ruined all her efforts. "Wait, Erin, you can't just..." He protested, and rather than sticking with Hunter, who would probably whine about his ex wife again, he followed after Erin to have a look at the baby alligators. If the question of how those things got here crossed his mind, he figured that the answer probably would be too shady for his liking. And... there was too much people here for his liking. Obviously. Who could blame them. Alright, then maybe he wouldn't bother Erin some more. Taking a deep breath, the hunter contemplated leaving. He had dropped the present, said Happy birthday. His job here was done, right? This was about then that he noticed Skylar on the other side of the room, with Orion, with... pink hair? Waving politely at them, he walked away from the alligator loving crowd to join them.

"Hey you know whatever gets that three-way rocking," Adam affirmed to Nell before drowning a drink like as if were a raindrop in a desert. "Maybe they like cotton-candy everywhere?" He blinked his way after the next drink slammed his brain. "So how do you know Bad Santa?"

Kaden was definitely not telling the baby alligator what a good boy it was in French when he realized Erin and Nic had joined them in the reptile corner. "Must be. Sorry, I said surprise once, that's all you get," he told Erin. "Happy birthday," he said as he watched the baby gator scuttle in Nic's hand. "I'd say you got a better theme than my party." It was nice, seeing a weirdly functioning just nice party for a hunter of all people in this hell hole town. Weird as hell, but nice.

"Thanks for inviting us, really. This place is great! I love Nic and he deserves a really good party," Blanche said brightly, brushing a piece of hair out of her face. She still couldn't believe the two of them dyed it pink. Wild. "And thanks. I think we mastered the art of impulsive twenty year old." If only it didn't end with the both of them killing something. She had caught Adam doing something out of the corner of her eye and made a face. "Anyway, I totally want to pet a gator and the dog at some point. Also, Skylar, you don't have an aversion to Little Debbie's Muffin's, do you?"

Nell snorted into her drink, not exactly discouraging Adam from his conception of the three-way. After all, what kind of best friend would she be if she didn't let Blanche get teased about sex? And she also wouldn't mind poking a small bit of good-natured fun at Skylar and Rio. In true mature fashion, she tucked her drink under her arm for a moment to bring her hands together in the shaped of a heart, capturing the three of them in the center of it. "I can smell it brewing now. If they don't serve cotton candy at the wedding...I'm not going." It took her a moment to figure out who Bad Santa might be, but it had to be the birthday boy...right? "Do you mean Nic? Because I'm here for that nickname, even without explanation."

Skylar nodded at Blanche, "For sure! He really does. I wanted to do something fun for him, you know? I feel like everyone could use a little fun right now." She said, not noticing the way her expression changed. She also didn't notice Adam's gesture, which was probably for the best. "Dundee should be around here somewhere-- I'm trying to keep him away from the baby gators. Hm? I mean... I'm allergic to gluten, so I'm kinda averse to most baked goods." She said with a little shrug before noticing that Alain had walked over. "Oh! Hi! Thanks for coming! I'm glad you were able to make it." Skylar said with a grin. "We've got games, there's plenty of beer, whiskey, and lots of food in the kitchen."

Adam sighed with a feigned dramatic wistfulness, "Well, Nic's Hunter powers activated when he was just a mall santa, down on his luck and scaring kids. But then vampires attacked some of the other Santas, and after a long investigation of Snow globes the kids watched in horror as Santa tore apart one of the elves, thus the Hunter known as Nicodemus was born." Adam nodded solemnly as before quaffing a drink.

Orion saw Adam wink at him and his cheeks immediately burst into flames. His face must be all sorts of shades of red at the moment, but he tried to ignore it and focus on the conversation instead. “Thanks! Blanche gets all the credit for the idea, but I’m surprised by how much I like the pink hair.” It was weird and fun and crazier than anything he had ever done, which was a welcome change. He waved at Alain and glanced over at the snacks and drinks that Skylar had mentioned, “Turns out, the Gatorade is in fact not gatorade and is alcoholic. I found out the hard way.” By that, he meant that he had taken a drink of it and immediately spit it back into the cup from the surprise. “But it tastes good.” Ish.

By now, Nell felt fairly adept at judging when Adam was going to launch into his ever-famous renditions of obviously very true and perfectly accurate stories, and a grin split over her lips as this one met her ears. "Please tell me there are pictures of this. I could put it on next year's cake. Does he still have the costume?" Against possibly all expectation, the thing that made her almost choke on her drink was the revelation of Nic's full name. She'd simply assumed it was...Nicholas or...something normal. "Nicodemus?? As in a wannabe Roman emperor?" She couldn't wait to hold that one over Nic's head.

Adam affirmed that he was sure Nic still had the costume, just in case it fell to him to defend Christmas from Dracula. "Was more goin for Pharisee from the Bible, or the leader of the Rats of Nim, but yup"

Alain smiled at the three of them, his eyes lingered on Blanche and Orion's hair color. "...That's... cheerful." He shook his head with amusement. Oh well, if it made them happy. "Did you name one of the alligators after Nick Dundee?" His eyebrows raised. Oh well, he knew people who had named their dog Orion. Looking in the direction of the drinks and food he grimaced. "Oh no, I'm fine I don't really drink alcohol anymore," apparently embarrassed, the hunter rubbed at the back of his head and shrugged. "Gatorade and taste good in the same sentence, I don't know," memories of a terrible night with Blanche and Nic was brought back to him and he laughed a little as he glanced at Blanche.

Erin didn’t know what he was saying, but Kaden was saying it soft enough that it seemed close enough to a ‘coo’ as a grown man could get. She didn’t interrupt, him or Nic as he held one and grinned like a kid. Just admired the way the baby gators had managed to melt the hearts of everyone almost instantly. She’d be lying if she wasn’t right there with them. “It’s gonna be a hard theme to beat, that’s for sure,” she nodded at Kaden. “I’ll leave you guys alone with your new friends,” she said with a grin, like she was in on their secret. A blast of pink was the first thing she spotted when she grabbed another drink. “Whoa. You’re going to wake the dead with that hair,” Erin smirked over at Rio. Boss-brain would’ve been scorning him right about now but she looked past it. It was a party and she was drinking green mystery juice. She didn’t have a lot of room to judge. After listening in a moment, she pointed towards Blanche mid-drink. “Wait, is this the infamous Blanche?”

Adam murmured to Nell, "Looks like word's gotten around about B.H."

Red took a few pictures of the animals to send to Artie, hoping their wife would show Violet. If they had known, maybe they would have brought the kid with them, but then again she was the perfect excuse to leave if Red needed a quick excuse. “Gotta day this birthday is a lot easier to handle than the last.”

Shaking her head, Nell quickly said, "I don't know what the hell a rat of Nimh is but— the Bible thing makes sense. I just feel like with a name like that, he could have definitely stabbed Caesar. She watched as Erin seemed to recognize Blanche, not exactly surprised. "What can we say she's a popular gal who with the hair of a a troll doll. Who wouldn't have heard about her? A very pretty troll doll."

Adam shook his head. "They make dolls of trolls? But they're too fucking hideous for kids. ...and Blanche is waaay hotter then a troll."

Skylar chewed the inside of her cheek when she realized that Alain didn't drink-- oh no. "Um, we also have water and soda in the fridge. And the food turned out great, I was out grilling earlier and the steak turned out really nice, if you ask me." She said hoping that the offering of non-alcoholic beverages and food would gloss over her little misstep there. Tilting her head, at the Dundee comment, she blinked. "Oh, no. Dundee is the name of Nic's dog. There he is right now." She said, pointing to the little chihuahua who had plonked down onto the couch and had curled up into a little ball for a nap.

Blanche almost snorted when Alain complained about the gatorade, biting back a comment about how if he didn't want to drink gatorade maybe he shouldn't have gotten so drunk that she and Nic had to baby him. "I'll take some of the jungle juice. Or beer." She said brightly. She was just about to go get some when someone pointed her out. WHat - "Infamous - wait. Oh! Erin!" Blanche recognized her from Regan's facetime. "Hey! You act like I'm a walking tornado." Blanche thought for a second and them sheepishly shrugged. ".... You got me."

Nell wasn't entirely surprised that Adam hadn't heard of troll dolls. Most likely his toys growing up had all been outfitted with flamethrowers or something. The only flamethrowers she'd had growing up were her sisters. "No it's like- they're little pudgy baby dolls with funny colored hair. Blanche is definitely hotter than either though. Can confirm that." Nell took the opportunity to wave over at the other pink-haired person...Rio. "Hey! What'd you guys use to dye your hair anyway?"

Adam nodded, "Heya guys, digging the K-pop look."

Orion picked up on Blanche’s name and laughed when he heard what Adam and Nell said. “This just in, Blanche is hotter than a troll” Rio leaned close to Blanche and repeated, smiling as he said it. It was nice hearing with Blanche knowing about him being a hunter. He didn’t have to shy away from explaining his super hearing to her. But he immediately slunk away when he realized that Nell and Adam were joining the group. His boss and now Adam too? Oh boy. “I uh- we uh- I” Rio stammered, trying to form a coherent sentence, “Hey there.” He settled on, greeting his boss and Nell and Adam that had joined the group. “Uh thank you! I don’t know actually, Blanche bought the dye.”

Alain scratched at his cheek. The last thing he wanted was to make Skylar uncomfortable over something she couldn't have known. "Hey, it's fine. It's okay. I look forward to that," he reassured her, carefully patting her shoulder. Glancing over his shoulder to have a look at the dog, he froze when he realized what it was she was referring to. He wrinkled his nose and searched for Nic in the crowd. What the fuck kind of dog was that ? "Well now I have something to roast him about. Thanks Skylar, I will be right back." You bet that he was now making his way to birthday boy. "You didn't tell me you had a ..." Rat? "Dog."

Nicodemus parted from the gators, as hard as it was, and started to head toward the pool. How the hell they got the ambiance going the way it did, he didn't understand. He looked over at Alain and raised a brow. Looked at Dundee who didn't seem at all bothered. "Yeah, came with the fuckin' apartment. Believe that shit," he said, a lot less bothered by it than he had been a week ago. "Wouldn't leave, so fuck it, why not, right?" The last conversation he had with Alain hadn't been pleasant. What he asked hadn't been pleasant, but still, Alain showed. "Thanks for comin'. You knew about this?"

Blanche had definitely been blonde the last time Erin had seen her--brief as it was--but here she was. In the flesh. “No! You’re just--you’re here. I wasn’t sure this day was going to come,” Erin laughed, recalling their almost exclusive online interactions. It suddenly dawned on Erin she was surrounded by almost all of the youths of the crowd, especially when Nell and the other younger kid joined. This felt weird. Time to retreat. She nodded at Rio, “Hair looks good,” she said simply. Nodding at Blanche again as she backpedaled. “Glad to finally meet you, too,” she smiled, then turned to go back and adore the baby gators again with what seemed like the rest of the older party attendees.

Noticing Rio's stammering, Skylar blinked in confusion as the other three approached. Why was he so nervous about them? Was it because the awful bandana? In that case, she couldn't really blame him, it was pretty bad. But, the guy who walked up didn't seem all that strange. With a smile, she waved at him. "I'm Skylar, by the way. Nic's roommate. Nice to meet you." She said. There was quite a bit of conversation going on, so she didn't totally register Alain's words, but the small pat on her shoulder caught her attention. "Oh, bye!" She said with a nod in his direction, and offering a wave when Erin also turned away. People coming and going, all the talking... parties were exhausting.

Adam gave Skylar a once over, and then another look over, neither of which were granted any subtly by the drinks in his system. "I'm Adam, looking good, Skylar," he said walking up. "Heya Oreo, how’s it hanging?"

Skylar didn't like the way that Adam looked at her, nope, nope, no. With a slightly panicked smile, she tilted her head towards the pool of baby alligators. "Mhm... I need to go." She said, adding quickly, "Check on the alligators. Yup. They... need to be watched." They were just little alligators, they wouldn't eat her, right? Walking quickly away, she let out a sigh. All things considered, that had gone well. And Nic seemed like he liked it too, which was all that mattered in her book.

Nicodemus's ears weren't ringing from wolf howls or vampire screaming or some other kinda nonsense. No, it was just people talking. Enjoying themselves. It wasn't...terrible and that was a terrifying thought on its own. There'd be time for the rest of the shit later, unless it came sooner. Town like White Crest, it just might. Being the center of attention was the last thing he wanted but he swallowed it down to try and find a decent place to stand. Idling picking at the soggy label on his beer, he cleared his throat some. A banjo played quietly in the background and he shook his head with a snort. "Uh, thanks for comin'...and shit," he started as he looked around the room. All relatively new faces in his life, but now, familiar. Like Dundee, that didn’t seem to bother him as much anymore. His brow furrowed some. "...Appreciate it. It's, uh--Yeah. Stay as long as you want or at least 'till Dundee or Skye kicks your ass out." A dry laugh sneaked out of him. He glanced at the cutout of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. They glanced back. The shooting gallery lay beyond. He raised his beer and headed over. “Meanwhile, my ass'll be out on the open range.”

#p: sb #p: nicodemus bossier #p: penelope vural #p: adam walker #p: blanche harlow #p: alain babineaux #p: orion quinn #p: kaden langley #p: erin nichols #p: red ward #p: jeff mulloy #p: hunter haywood #wickedswriting

[omgrpplease]

January Event!

This month we’re going to be doing an event that I couldn’t come up with a good name for! It consists on pairing up (there’s a group of three because of the number of members) characters and then putting them in a random situation. The pairs were chosen randomly as will be the situation we’ll have to put them in. 

This event lasts all month, you can either do chatzy, para or face to face but it has to be a face to face interaction please! It doesn’t have to be in the current timeline either, if it doesn’t fit the current plot, so it can be a flashback or something happening in the future!

Under the cut you’ll get to see how the teams turned out and what situations were assigned! 

Group 1 - PIE BAKING

Kent Parson

Alexei Mashkov

Ransom Oluransi

Group 2- GOING ON A RUN

Derek Nurse

Eric Bittle

Group 3- RUNNING INTO EACH OTHER AT A BOOKSTORE

William Poindexter

Jack Zimmermann

Group 4 - MAKE-UP BUYING

Adam Birkholtz

Rafael Walker

Group 5 - MATTRESS SHOPPING

Larissa Duan

March Anderson

Group 6 - VISITING AN ANIMAL SHELTER

Tony Steel.

B. Knight

Be sure to contact your partner so you can plot together! We hope everyone has a lot of fun with this and we can’t wait to see the final results!

#omgrpevent #check please rp #guys this turned out even better than i wasexpECTING #im dying

[humanmoodring-retired]

Bushwhack and Bodysnatch || Adam & Nadia(2x)

TIMING: October 4, evening  LOCATION: Lake houses near Dark Score Lake PARTIES: @walker-journal, @humanmoodring SUMMARY: Adam goes looking for Nadia to take her to experts on these ghostly shenanigans. Nadia is less than pleased.

Camping, Nadia was beginning to discover, was not really her jam. It kind of even sucked, actually. Squatting was better, breaking into some of the houses that people refused to stay in all year round, treating Motherfucking White Crest, Maine, like it was some sort of resort town. It wasn’t. It was fucking trash. But it gave her options to stay when the weather was bad. She hated staying at the shittier motels in the area, not wanting to get recognized by any of Nadia’s ragtag group of friends, and she didn’t want to buy a new apartment for the same fucking reason. So, squatting and camping it was. In Nadia’s Bronco parked in a little lot by the beach, as was the case of the night before.

She opened the door and shook her hair out, the curls limp and greasy. She needed a shower. Her back ached. Still, she felt more than a little self satisfied. She had a bit more cash on her, there was a cute and ironic ghost bobblehead now mounted to the dash, and she’d sent that nosy little exorcist a lovely gift. Maybe she’d finally back off. Nadia walked around to the trunk, opening it and pilfering through one of the bags inside. She needed to go to a house or a truck stop to take a shower, or she needed to give in and just go to a sleazy motel. She was wreaking havoc on her body.

Adam supposed one grim comfort of living in town where the barriers between dimensions were swiss cheese was that you never had to linger on one shitshow for too long. Adam was a guy who thrived on focus. As horrible as this thing with Nadia was, some tiny part of him was thankful for something to channel his thoughts towards other than the irrevocable fact that he'd just gunned down a friend in a mall parking lot.

To his end he’d tracked Nadia, or her body at least, across a series of break-ins through summer properties. Human crime wasn’t really Adam’s forte. But statistically most supposed incidents were actually just regular people being shitty to each other, so a Hunter had to learn how to survey and process a crime scene to at least see if the perp had any extra limbs.

The mist that inundated White Crest lately formed a knee-high tide of pale vapor, seeming to eddy around the lakeside trees. Adam cautiously waded through this ephemeral undertow, taking his time on closing the distance between himself and the hijacked Empath. Given that Nadia and himself had never met before, Adam decided to try to talk his way into bludgeoning range.

“Oh heya!” Adam walked into view, unarmed except for a roving gaze that left no ambiguity about what he appreciated most of Nadia's silhouette but found her eyes eventually. “You visiting the Coopers?” Adam made a meaningful nod towards the nearby lakehouse. “Didn’t know they were home. Anyway I’m Adam,” the Hunter beamed and offered his hand. “Sorry I was just curious if we had a new neighbor.”

“Want help carrying anything in?”

A bit startled by the sound of another person, Nadia did her best not to jump before quickly schooling her features into a soft smile. “Hi,” she said calmly. She looked to the house nearby, where she’d decided to break in, before she looked back to the young man in front of her. He… was horny. Of course. There was nothing to worry about here. “I’m Nadia. Nice to meet you, Adam.  

She shook his hand and turned back to her car. “No, no, not visiting. Mrs. Cooper just asked me to drop some things off. She’s throwing a party when they get back, and I’m just helping out.” She grabbed her duffle bag and closed the trunk. “Nah, no help needed. It’s just this bag. I appreciate the offer.” She gave him a bright smile.

“Cool,” Adam said in that absent tone and apathetically agreeable nod some men engage in when they are really enjoying talking to a woman but not the least bit interested in what they are actually saying. “Great to meet you Nadia, say uh...if you are into parties then…”

But while Adam was outwardly in a beach-flirt mode, his thoughts were gauging angles and movement to trying to find some way he could end this quickly without risking hurting Nadia by accident.. This wasn’t a vamp or wolf he was westling here. She was human and had a spirit inside of her that probably didn’t give a shit if their vessel was hurt. Adam needed Nadia to stand freeze for just a second to get her safely into a subdual hold.

“...oh shit! Wait!” Adam said excitedly, eyes widening as if some revelation had just struct him. “I think you know a buddy of mine. Joey Turner, works at a tourist trap on Amity?”

On the last syllable Adam lunged towards Nadia, hoping the name drop and surprise would be enough.

Eyes widening, Nadia felt that Adam was going to jump her just before he did. However in the split second that she was about to move away, panic seized her, and she couldn’t move. She wasn’t in control.

Nadia stopped moving as soon as the boy lunged at her. She even stopped breathing, her heart pounding in her chest rapidly. As he grabbed her, she just stood there, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she said, over and over again, her eyes shut tightly.

Struggling and snapping her eyes open, Nadia looked at the young man in front of her. Voice low and deadly, she said, “Let me go. Now. If you don’t want me to do to you what I did to Joey motherfucking Turner.”

Adam hauled the woman towards his own car, skin crawling as she seemed to switch rapidly between personalities. While Adam had faced down demons before, their bizarre alien forms honestly unsettled him less then a human being with ….something...inside of them. Trying to be both forceful enough to drag her while also not breaking human bones, the Hunter felt uncomfortably more serial killer then usual as he hefted Nadia into the trunk.

#chatzy: adam walker #not!nadia #bushwhack and bodysnatch #:------)