#spectacular silver wolf | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

razorblade180 · 5 days

Text

Safe Bet

[Swarm Disaster V]

Qingque:I heard you like to gamble?

Aventurine:You could call it the spice of my life. Let me guess, you’re betting I will do well?

Qingque:Oh that’s way too simple. We will have no healer.

Aventurine:…What?

Qingque:I tend to try to take things easy but after numerous failures here it’s only natural to form plans. I’m not betting on you doing well, I’m wagering your ability to protect us long enough for us to gather blessing I need plus curios.

Aventurine:And how long to you typically last in here?

Silver Wolf: The first elite. Sometimes we make it.

Sparkle:If we get resonance. Though your fellow gambler over here has gotten much more reliable since our last attempt.

Aventurine:..Alright. Let’s do it. Should be fun. Let’s see what’s about curio option number one!

Nullify attacks

QASS: (Oh shit this might actually be the run…)

Floor 2

Aventurine:Little lady, is there any reason why you refuse to keep a shield?

Silver Wolf: It’s not my fault these enemies understand who the real threat is. I’m alive aren’t I? Good job, but I recommend investing in speed.

Aventurine:Learn to take a hit.

Qingque:Don’t sweat it guys. It’s time for the easier part. *presses downloader*

Acheron:Hey. Oh, it’s you.

Aventurine:I think that’s my line. To think I’d get your aid in a place like this.

Acheron:I’m just here to cut through the fodder and potentially give you a chance to win it big. Consider me your guide.

Aventurine:We’re bound to get lost then.

Acheron:Heh, then I guess you’ll be getting enough blessings. Stay close.

xxxxx

Knight of beauty appears

Aventurine:Well would you look at that!

Sparkle:Okay, so I typically don’t care how far these runs go, but if you somehow ruin this I’m actually going to be disappointed.

Aventurine:Oh you know a situation is dire if I have a Fool acting serious. I was already planning on proving my value anyway.

Floor 3

Silver Wolf: Well it’s be real everyone. Don’t really need me for that oversized bug. It’s got every weakness you need.

Sparkle:What an interesting way of saying “I am a liability.”

Silver Wolf:It’s simple strategy. We didn’t come all this way to gain nothing. I’ll just cheer from the bench. Qingque, don’t miss your crits. *

Qingque:I literally can’t.

Silver Wolf:And don’t eat too many points. *leaves*

Qingque:…No promise. *hits downloader*

Ruan Mei: Shall we begin?

Aventurine:All this talent and you needed my help?

Ruan Mei:Have you ever felt the wind shear of a Swarm Disaster? Some people say it’s like a personal hurricane on your body.

Qingque:I’m “some people”

xxxxxx

20+ Propagation blessings. Various Curios, interplays achieved, and additional blessings gained. Danger level Eight

Swarm buzzing violently

Qingque:I’m gonna be honest guys, I don’t know if I’m trembling because I’m nervous, or because this is about to be pretty spectacular. Aventurine, if you would? *holds out tiles*

Aventurine:Heh, you really want all the luck possible huh? Alright then, strut yourself.

He leans over to his left and gently blows on the pieces.

“Let’s play a game!” Qingque tosses them into the air and twirls as metamorphosis begins; catching the pieces as they fell. Without stopping, she throws out a four of kind then immediately flicks her wrist like a slite of hand trick to reveal another set of tiles to throw.

The experienced gambler watches the girl pass the tiles between her hands twice before throwing another eight, killing a bug and keeping the pace by tossing a new set once before suddenly slamming down a tile that shakes everything and hands her another four of a kind she quickly turned into eight. It’s still her turn. Gambling is partly a numbers game, and Qingque has clearly crunched them.

Aventurine:(Oh shit…)

Sparkle:Wooooo! Don’t stop the fireworks!

Three more tosses before another hit! No worries! Qingque happily took a single tile and beamed it another insect before slamming down another that caused it to explode. She tossed her set to a corner bug as she took another break turn to eat up all four points before hearing Sparkle laughing as she topped off the difference.

Qingque: Can’t stop won’t stop!

Another eight tiles exploded and knocked the main bug down briefly. Aventurine was thinking he didn’t need to be here, until it got back up and tore through the shield like paper. Without hesitation he let his wealth pour down like rain and redeployed a shield. He confidently scoffed, but Ruan Mei could see his hand twitch in his pocket.

Ruan Mei:Fear is a healthy way of understanding your current situation as well providing alertness. Are you alert?

Aventurine: Vividly. *stacks shield*

Ruan Mei:Welcome to the Swarm Disaster.

Qingque:You get a front row seat to VICTORY!

1,500,000

#honkai star rail #hsr ruan mei #hsr aventurine #hsr acheron #hsr qingque #hsr sparkle #I won #hsr silver wolf #I am free from swarm and now trapped in golden gears

34 notes · View notes

duckprintspress · 2 years

Text

What’s that noise? Is it the caw of something out of sight high overhead? A who-who-who echoing out of the darkness? A grrrr coming from the rustling underbrush? The crash, crash of something large moving through the trees?

No! It’s the sound of our latest Kickstarter launching!

Celebrate Fall with our Eerie Animal Enamel Pins!

Fall is the season of spook. Get your Autumn on—literally!—by donning one (or more!) of our eerie animal enamel pins! These realistically rendered, gorgeous pins feature different animals indigenous to northern areas of North America and Europe surrounded by elements of their natural habitats.

For our first merchandise-only campaign, Duck Prints Press approached the spectacular artist Aceriee (Instagram | Tumblr @aceriee-art | Twitter) and asked her to let her imagination run wild. The results are gorgeous, unique, and perfect for the season: 7 animals at their spooky, creepy, scary best, depicted in the rich colors of fall. Seasonal enough to enhance any autumn outfit, classy enough for year-round wear.

All the pins for this campaign are 2 in x 2 in (5 cm x 5 cm) and feature black nickel metal with soft enamel color work coated by a clear epoxy finish. They have two attachment posts with silver butterfly closures and feature either 6 or 8 colors, one of which glows in the dark (which varies in each pin).

This is a tiered release pin campaign (and our first-ever art-only project!)

At our initial funding goal ($1,500), backers can pick the Crow and Wolf pins (buy one or both or multiples of either/both!)

If we exceed $3,500 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among four pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, and Bear.

If we exceed $6,000 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among six pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, Bear, Raccoon, and Owl.

If we exceed $9,000 in backing, all backers will be able to choose from among eight pins: Crow, Wolf, Moose, Bear, Raccoon, Owl, Fox, and the not-yet-revealed Deer.

At $10,000, we’ll offer another unrevealed option: Bobcat. And, if we reach $11,000, we’ll offer out tenth and last pin, which is—of course!—a Duck!

Mix and match, pick your favorites, buy enough for all your friends, or just get one—you’re not going to want to miss this one chance to get these spectacular fall-themed animal pins!

The campaign is live now, and will run through Sunday, November 27th, 2022.

Ready to learn more? Check out our campaign page NOW!

Also—want an exclusive extra pin? Back us on Patreon or ko-fi at the $10/month or $25/month level and get a backer-only bonus!

Love what we do? Want to help us spread the word? We love signal boosts, so please share this on the social media platform(s) of your choice!

#duck prints press #crowdfunding #kickstarter #aceriee #enamel pin #our projects #new release #aren't they cool omg

152 notes · View notes

romancomicsnews · 10 months

Text

Why it's the right time for a third season of The Spectacular Spider-Man

While Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: The Animated Series were my introduction to the character of Spidey, Spectacular Spider-Man was how I truly fell in love with the character.

I was obsessed with the show as a child. I had nearly every action figure, I'd rewatch episodes (shoutout "Group Therapy", it's my favorite), and even tried to make the theme song my ringtone.

As I went on in my years and consumed so much Spider-Man content, I always found myself comparing it to Spectacular Spider-Man.

Did the voice match as well as Keaton's, was the style of the character simple yet unique to what we've seen before, how are the quips?

I did this so much, that earlier this year I wondered if I was just wearing nostalgia glasses. That maybe I was misremembering as one does. So, I rewatched the entire show with my partner...

...and I was NOT.

It is concise, it is beautiful, and every episode at the very least is fun. There is no villain that doesn't get their due, there is no arc that isn't important, and there is not a moment where Josh Keaton is embodying the best voice for Peter Parker or Spider-Man.

As you might've been able to tell by my Young Justice article, I am a huge fan of the storytelling ability of Greg Weismann. But I think it is really put on display in this show. Every beat feels important, most characters have solid arcs, and suspense and danger always feel real and earned.

With my rewatch, Spectacular Spider-Man's recent inclusion in Across the Spider-Verse, and the fanbase continuing to rage on, I thought I'd put my two cents in as to why it's time this show is brought back.

Clearly I'm biased but I don't care.

1. New Villains

Spectacular Spider-Man had a great way of bringing in classic villains and even B-list villains and making them iconic.

My favorite example of this was The Shocker, who in this version was also Montana, leader of the Enforcers.

By doing this, they made one of Spider-Man silliest enemies into a character who feels like the most qualified killer in every room he's in.

Because such time has passed since season 2, new and different Spider-Man villains have entered the zeitgeist. The Prowler, The Spot, and Mr Negative are great examples of villains who weren't well known when the show was originally going on.

There were also several different villains teased during the 1st and 2nd season. The promise of Carnage, Hydro Man, Man-Wolf, and Hobgoblin never came to be, and fans of the show remember!

Much like every character, several villains in the show were left on cliffhangers. Hammerhead and Silver Sable were left without any bosses. Harry was left fatherless. Black Cat hates Spider-Man for letting her father stay in prison. And New York was left without a Big Man.

It'd be very exciting to see who might take over after a situation like that.

2. New Heroes

Unlike other superhero shows, Spectacular Spider-Man lacks many if any team ups.

Since it's cancellation, we have had several Spider-Verse crossovers, and Spider-Gwen and Miles Morales have entered the main stream.

Making Gwen a Spider and introducing Miles into the friend group could add more tension to the Peter and Harry dynamic as he feels left out and an eerie feeling something is going on.

The potential for Spectacular Spider-Man to enter a wider Marvel universe is now possible, with Disney now owning the rights for television.

We could see Peter join the Avengers, fight alongside Ms. Marvel, even switch bodies with Wolverine.

I'm not saying this SHOULD happen, but we do know that Greg Weismann knows how to build out a universe.

3. Not Enough (Good) Animated Spidey Content

Since Spectacular Spider-Man, we've had two different animated Spider-Man shows. Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man.

While Ultimate Spider-Man had a silly interesting tone, and an overarching story that was interesting at times, it paled in comparison to what came before.

Many of the characters lacked depth, and the jokes just didn't hit the same. But at least that show had charm.

Marvel's Spider-Man did not.

The animation was boring, the characters lacked the fun and whimsy of both the others, and every character felt exaggerated. It was painful to watch.

The next Spider-Man show we are getting is entitled Spider-Man Freshman year, set within the MCU.

While it looks promising and different, due to the writers strike, the MCU constantly pushing projects back, and Marvel Studios constantly over working VFX and animation studios, I don't see this one coming out any time soon.

Which leaves a window for Spectacular Spider-Man to fill. We've gone too long without animated Spidey content on television!!

and most importanty:

4. Josh Keaton is just the Best Spider-Man

Holland. Maguire. Garfield. Johnson. Lowenthal. Moore. The question keeps coming up. Who is the best Spider-Man?

But oh they are all wrong.

So soon the public forget how perfect Keaton's acting is. He nails the quips like Garfield. The inner monologues like Maguire. The awkward nerdiness like Holland. And he nailed the blacksuit storyline.

He perfected it all.

Keaton's Spider-Man is on pair with Kevin Conroy's Batman. It is the voice I hear when I read the comics, and it works on every level.

At 44, Keaton still sounds like Peter Parker, and could continue doing the show now as if it never ended. But frankly, we don't know how long that will last, or how long Keaton would be interested in continuing this version of the character. Now is the time to give him that call!

In this era of oh so many Spider-Men, it's time the king took back his crown. There's a reason he's the animated Spider-Man that made it into Across the Spider-Verse.

Now is the time to bring it back. The fans want it. Keaton wants it. It would be a win for everyone.

Let's just hope Disney isn't stupid enough to miss that.

If you'd like to support me you can:

Follow me at www.facebook.com/romancomicsnews

Follow me on Twitter @diegoleonroman

Follow me on Threads @romanleondiego

Help me pay my student loans by donating!

31 notes · View notes

whumpacabra · 4 months

Text

25. And now?

Medical treatment, referenced gunshot wound, stitches, and blood loss, internalized dehumanization, amnesia, memory loss, angst, implied past torture and captivity, briefly implied past noncon

AU Masterpost / Previous / Next

The man - Dan - had gentle hands. Nothing like the medics in the bunker. The Wolf wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Is this alright?” Dan was always asking him about his comfort, about where he could touch him. It was almost enough to make him burst into tears and beg for the Box, for something familiar.

But the Wolf just nodded, jaw set and expression grim as Dan lifted the oversized t-shirt sleeve to change the bandages around his bicep. He was resolved to play the part of a real person as long as he could. He wouldn’t shatter like the others. He wasn’t made with the same fault lines.

(He would break differently - spectacular and vibrant and so very useless in the end. Neither sharp teeth nor silver tongue to save him.)

“How’s your pain? Think you’ll be able to sleep some more?”

The Wolf could still feel the dragging exhaustion of blood loss and hunger, but it was a dull pang compared to the vibrant sting of stitches in flesh. He shrugged, nodding along to Dan’s question. He could sleep with the pain. He had slept with worse.

“It’s going to need a sling for a bit.” Dan was talking to him without looking at him, focused on unwrapping pink stained gauze from around his aching arm. The sound of water running behind the bathroom door was a good reminder that Harrison was still here.

Whatever that meant for the Wolf.

“On which side of the wall did you grow up?” Dan’s eyes didn’t look up from his work to see the dread creeping across the Wolf’s face. “Merrill said you spoke German earlier.”

The Wolf tried. He tried to think about where he was from, when he was small and doorknobs were at his chest. His world only went as far back as four concrete walls and a flickering yellow light, caged and undying like a trapped angel.

“I don’t remember.” He whispered, a confession and a prayer. “I don’t remember…anything really, from before.”

“Harrison said your favorite gelato was vanilla.” Dan’s eyes smiled up at the Wolf, and he found a smile twitching at his lips as well. Dizzy with blood loss and giddy with the fresh air from the outside, he had kept talking as long as Harrison did, hardly hearing the words he spoke.

“Apparently. Guess I’m more myself when I’m drugged or bleeding out.” The facade felt threadbare as he tried to work humor into his voice. How had it been easier in the bunker? How had he effortlessly fit the mold his handler wanted him to fit?

“You’d be surprised how many people are the same.” Dan sighed, adjusting the pressure of the freshly wrapped bandages. “Harrison on the other hand seemed to clam up the more his painkillers kicked in. That or Tommy wasn’t asking the right questions.”

(The Wolf was not thinking of those military boots and that crisp uniform and Harrison alone being interrogated being questioned and refusing to break to betray to - to - He was stronger than the Wolf ever could be. Braver. Better.

The Wolf wasn’t thinking about it.)

“How much did he tell you?” His English rumbled, voice low as though Harrison had the same hearing implants as him. Did he? The Wolf didn’t know what his handler had done to the three volunteers before he became their demon.

(He didn’t want to know, but he did - had the handler been worse than the Wolf? Did that make his own actions forgivable?)

“Enough to properly treat your wounds.” Dan leaned back, responding in his odd American English accent and letting the Wolf’s sleeve fall back to cover his freshly bandaged arm. There was pity in his eyes. “Merrill got some numbing gel, if you’d like it.”

The Wolf felt his stomach clench, something between betrayal and disgust. He should have realized his more intimate injuries had been treated, but he had long since honed his ability to ignore those wounds. He blinked dumbly at Dan before looking at the ground, a harsh breath heaved from heavy lungs.

If Harrison told them about that…what else had he told them?

(“Same bitch, new collar.”)

“I’m not going to touch you. Not without your permission.” Dan’s voice was soft, eyes soft - the Wolf didn’t know what to do with softness he didn’t deserve, with mercy he didn’t deserve. “I’ll leave it in the bathroom medicine cabinet after Harrison gets out, alright?”

“Alright.” The Wolf echoed him, trying to pull together the tattered scraps of his mind. Did Harrison tell them about the Wolf: a monster, a devil, a hell-sent sadist who tortured, who nearly drowned him? Or did Harrison tell them about the Wolf: a handler’s broken in, second-hand bitch of an asset that couldn’t remember his own name?

Neither was particularly flattering. But at least the facade he had put on for the volunteers was never looked at with pity.

“It seems Harrison grabbed this before you left.” Dan pulled a manila folder from his bag. The Wolf’s eyes glazed over stamps he had seen on dozens of documents, focused solely on the tab label:

‘The Wolf.’

He swallowed hard, throat bobbing. He told Harrison he didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to remember what had been done to him. He didn’t want to remember what he had done. He didn’t want to remember what he had been before, what he could never be again.

“From what I’ve seen it’s heavily redacted, aside from a few photographs.” He ran a hand over the face of the folder, keeping it closed. “Just had a look at the first page, confirmed it was official and all. Won’t read anymore if you’d prefer, but…it may have some answers that could help you get home. Wherever that is.”

Home. Was the dark, cramped, almost-safe cold room he once called his own a home?

“I…don’t know. I didn’t know if I want - if I can…” The Wolf sighed, frustrated how his voice faltered. His handler had trained him too well, any intense emotion coupled with stifling silence. But Dan nodded, as if he could understand the Wolf’s fragmented sentences.

“If you change your mind, let me know. Merrill’s got a knack for these kinda things.” Dan left the heavy folder on the bed beside the Wolf, and he was almost tempted to open it.

Almost.

When Dan left the room, the Wolf slid it under the mattress, hidden and safe and out of sight, out of mind.

AU Masterpost / Previous / Next

(An AU of my Freelancers series)

Taglist: @i-eat-worlds

#whump #angst #gunshot wound #stitches #blood loss #medical treatment #internalized dehumanization #amnesia #memory loss #past torture #past captivity #past noncon #freelancers au #it’s. a weird holiday in my house. bereavement feast kinda vibe bc of [redacted]#sorry for not posting earlier but. eh I’ve been busy <- playing video games w my bros to take the edge off

10 notes · View notes

ladylilithprime · 2 months

Text

History Never Repeats

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel), past Dean/Lydia, past Sam/Jess

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Half-Fae Dean Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Sentient Baby/Impala, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, Baby's Backstory Is Really Tragic Y'all, Protective Dean Winchester, Faerie Name Conventions, Allosexual Dean Winchester, Minor Acephobia/Virgin-Shaming

Summary: Ceridmael had perfectly valid reasons for going off on his brother's little human pets after they nearly got him killed in an alicorn attack. He may have been lacking all of the facts when he did, though.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 24: Apology

Read on AO3

THE WORST THING about apologies when you were a faerie was that you actually had to mean them.

Granted, being a faerie also meant that you got very good at playing by the exact letter of your agreements and not a bit more, something for which Ceridmael, the Iron Prince of the Summer Court, was well known. Unfortunately for him, his younger brother Serendderch also knew it and tended to account for it whenever making bargains with Cer growing up, and he had taught their youngest brother Arianwaladr. For all Cer had a silver tongue, Seren and Ari were absolute rules lawyers well before the term came into common parlance.

The thing was, Cer was a Seelie prince, albeit a half-human one. He was used to putting on a strong front and proving himself over and over and over again. As a prince, he didn't apologize, because he had to be very, very careful to never be in the wrong, and if he ever was? He had to make the other person believe he wasn't, or make a quick getaway until tempers coolled and the other person either forgot about how bad it was or just stopped being angry enough for him to distract them with a gift and a funny story that swept the whole thing under the rug. It worked on his mother and brothers nineteen times out of twenty, and the outlier was usually something spectacular that even Cer had to admit he had messed up.

He was also very used to being the one who had to take care of his little brothers, especially Seren, from the moment they were laid in his arms as pink and squalling newborns with delicate leaf-pointed ears just like his. His number one foundational touchstone, as charged by his father: "Take care of your brother." So when something happened that he couldn't protect one of them from, it always felt like a rip in the core of his being and, like a wounded wolf, he lashed out. He had lashed out at that creepy fucker styling himself as a demon king that had made an appearance during Seren's time away that he hated to think about, and Seren had mostly forgiven him for it, at least enough to let him pretend the horned asshole didn't exist. And he had lashed out at the little human pets whose literally virgin asses had made them tasty beacons for the alicorns and gotten Seren run through by one of those damned cloven-hooved, flesh-eating ponies from the abyss.

Only this time Seren wasn't inclined to forgive him without an apology. Cer had left when his injured and pale brother had yelled at him to get out before he got up off his sickbed and threw him out, not wanting to risk Seren reopening his wounds, and he had figured that he'd give it a few months for Seren to calm down and realize he was right, that the little human pets who'd got him hurt weren't worth the hassle and the estrangement, and they could go back to normal.

But he hadn't.

And then Seren had gotten their mother involved. Cer could have gotten around a territory ban from Seren because, skilled mage or not, he was still Cer's younger brother. But their mother was a full-blooded faerie princess with four more millennia under her belt than either of them, and for some reason she had decided to take Seren's side. Her ban from his little brother's territory was much stronger, and had resulted in Baby stalling out when they had hit the bridge to get onto Seven Mile Island. Seren had driven out with that other human he had hired, the redheaded lesbian their cousin Gilda had had a fling with, and Seren had laid down the conditions while the girl had gotten Baby back up and running, talking to her the whole time. Apparently she had told Baby what was going on, because his darling girl had spun her radio dial to Metallica's "Unforgiven" for seventy-six miles before switching to dubstep.

Cer had missed spending Midsummer with his brother because Seren expected him to genuinely apologize to those pathetic pieces of monster bait, and he wasn't welcome in Seren's territory until he did.

The other thing was, Cer had actually kind of liked the twins when he had first met them. Jimmy was personable enough and a decent cook to boot, and anybody who made cookies that looked and tasted like mini pies the way Cas could was usually guaranteed to be golden in Cer's book. He had actually thought Seren had been trying to hook him up with Cas after tasting those cookies, and it had been a bit of a shock to find out that no, it was his little brother making time with not just one twin but both. Except that "making time" seemed to be missing a few key steps if they were throwing up the all you can eat signal for a carnivorous quadruped that was drawn to virgins for the taste. Not that Cer got that, either, but still! What was the point of saving those two fine asses at the risk of his own if Seren wasn't even going to tap 'em?

The question, when he voiced it to Catrin while borrowing her liquor cabinet, earned him a smack upside the head.

"Pull your head out of your hormones and ask yourself that question again, genius," she told him tartly. "Absent sex and the fact that Sam probably would have done the same damn thing if it had been that kid of his at risk, what reason would he have to put their lives above his own?"

"Oh come on, Cadi," Cer rolled his eyes. "They're human! Sure, they're a bit more accepting of the magical population than most, but Seren's not that stupid!"

"Watch it," Cadi growled, waving her wooden spoon at him. "Don't forget my husband is a human, as is your own father!"

"Yeah, well, they're exceptions that prove the rule," Cer muttered. "Most humans are cowardly magiphobes who can't handle the idea of hooking up long term with another species. Hell, a lot of them get weird about hooking up with someone who's got more or less melanin than them! Seren's known these two bozos, what, since this February?"

"And he commissioned my help in making them a pair of matching jackets out of the hide of the alicorns he killed defending them with a lining of alpaca and silk that he knit himself," Cadi said, leaning back against the counter. "He gifted those jackets to them last month, and they proposed to him in return."

"So?" Cer scoffed. "He spends six or seven decades playing house with them if he's lucky and then I have to pick up the pieces after he buries them, so what?"

"Idunn gave them two of her apples last week," Cadi told him flatly, grabbing for the paper towels to clean up the spray of whiskey. "That's what. So you had better think real hard and real fast about that apology if you want to get to see Sammy get married."

"Shit," Cer muttered, and poured himself another drink.

The thing about apologies as a faerie was that you had to actually mean them to even get out the words because, half-human or not, an outright lie was still impossible to force across your tongue and past your lips. And damn it, Cer was having a really hard time mustering up honest regret for how he had reacted. Seren had been impaled and could have been killed, and it would have been their fault for being out in the middle of the street during an alicorn incursion! That wasn't "casting blame on innocent people" or whatever Seren had said; that was fact!

"And what the hell kind of example is this setting for that kid of his anyway?" Cer muttered under his breath. "You don't jump into a relationship with someone you just fucking met!"

The radio clicked off. Cer only had a moment to really be thankful for the reprieve from dubstep before it clicked back on again. "...There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how..."

"You know you can talk to me about anything, babygirl," Cer protested, frowning. Limitations of her physical form aside, Baby never had a problem with making herself understood. Case in point, her habit of taking over the radio for her own purposes, even overriding his attempts to use the tape deck.

There was a rustle of static, and then the music came back with, "...by now, you should've somehow realised what you're not to do...."

Cer sighed. "You know why, Baby." Hell, Baby was a pretty big part of why Cer thought Seren should know better than to get so attached to a couple of humans he barely knew that he'd marry them, especially if they'd gone and somehow gotten ahold of two of Idunn's big time guarded super special Apples of Immortality! It had been devastating enough when Lydia had turned out to be the kind of woman who would throw her own baby across the room against a wall when she saw pointed ears because the damn nurses hadn't let Cer into the delivery room in time to glamour her to look human like he did himself, and they'd been together for two years at that point!

"...Papa I know you're... upset..."

"C'mon, Baby, Madonna?" Cer rolled his eyes. He had thought he'd managed to teach his daughter an appreciation for proper music.

There was a burst of static like a sigh, then, "...'Cause I was always your little girl/But you should know by now/I'm not a baby..."

Cer grimaced. "Fine, Emma, you know why I have good reason to think Seren's being stupid about this."

"...You always taught me right from wrong... daddy please be strong/I may be young at heart/But I know what I'm saying..."

"You've got a few more decades before you know more than me about love, young lady," Cer huffed, tapping the steering wheel pointedly.

The radio dial swiveled dramatically, and then burst out, "...Mama, ooh... I don't wanna die/I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all..."

"No, no, Baby, Emma, please don't even think that!" Cer shouted, clutching at the steering wheel desperately. "Please, kiddo, you being conceived and born was a treasured gift, and your mom never should've tried to take it away from us. Her being scared and stupid is not your fault!"

The radio clicked off sharply. Silence reigned, just the sound of Baby's engine and the road beneath her wheels for a long moment. Then the radio clicked back on. "...My life's a spectacle, a sad story... I know you had your dreams of a better life/This time we ain't making it through..."

"That's not your burden to bear, sweetheart," Cer murmured, stroking the steering wheel with his thumb. "Stars and supernovas, kiddo, that shouldn't ever weigh you down, and I wish I could spare you that... I wish I'd been faster...."

"....If I'm laden at all/I'm laden with sadness/That everyone's heart/Isn't filled with the gladness/Of love for one another/It's a long, long road/From which there is no return/While we're on the way..."

Yeah... his baby girl never liked it when her family was fighting. Cer had done his best to keep her from being exposed to more violence than the occasionally unavoidable road rage, but he and Seren were both stubborn, opinionated immortals and arguments happened. For Baby's sake, they usually cleared it up quickly, and the fact that Seren was actually putting his foot down and getting their mom involved was honestly a very clear sign of how strongly he felt about it this time.

"...Maybe we can try it if you let me/Take you by the hand... who understands... it's time... I'll admit that I'm scared/'Cause I've never really cared as much as this/It's worth the risk..."

Cer snorted. "A little disjointed there, kiddo. You trying to say I should just go talk to Seren's humans and see if they're really gonna be a good fit for him in spite of evidence to the contrary?"

"...You got a fast car/Is it fast enough so we can fly away?/We gotta make a decision/Leave tonight or live and die this way..."

One little problem with that plan. "You know what's gonna happen the moment we set foot or wheel on the bridge," he warned her. His mother's mojo was no joke, after all.

"....Call me, beep me/If you wanna reach me..."

"Who the hell is playing Kim Possible on the radio?" Cer huffed, rolling his eyes. Still, point taken. He pulled out his cell phone and, after a moment's hesitation, dialed the number for Lighthouse CommodiTeas.

The phone rang twice before clicking with the connection as someone picked up. "Lighthouse CommodiTeas, how can I help you?"

Well, that was easy. It was one of the twins, though without seeing them he couldn't tell which one. "Is your brother nearby?"

"Ye-es? Did you wanna talk to him, or...?" came the hesitant answer, sounding rather bewildered. Jimmy, then. Cas tended to sound more like a deadpan robot for some reason.

"Can you get him so you're both on the line?" Cer asked, absently drumming his fingers against the steering wheel before a crackle of static from the radio made him stop. "I only wanna say this once, and since I can't set foot over there until I do it's gotta be like this."

There was a long moment of silence, and then Jimmy said in a carefully neutral tone, "Please hold."

There was an odd click like the phone receiver being set down on a flat surface, and Cer could hear the background bustle and murmur of customers and drinks being ordered and made for several long seconds that he tried not to count. He had reached seven four times before there was a clatter of the receiver being picked up again and Jimmy's voice was back.

"Alright, Dean," he said in that same controlled neutral tone. "We're both listening."

"I need to tell you both a little story first," he said, leaning back into the warm, supportive embrace of the driver's seat and closing his eyes, trusting his baby girl to keep them steady on the road. "About a faerie in hiding and the woman he wanted to marry."

"Sam told us about Jessica," came the more flat tones he knew belonged to Cas.

That was actually very interesting that Seren had been willing to open up about his almost wife from three hundred years ago, and good to know, but... "Her name was Lydia," he said, bypassing the topic of Jess for a moment. "And about a year into our relationship she got pregnant with my child."

There was a sharp inhale of breath, but whichever twin had done so, the one who spoke next was calm. "We're listening."

"Everything was fine up until the day our child was gonna be born," Cer went on, reaching up to scrub at his eyes. "This was back before things like ultrasound were really taking off, so up until then I had just been using an illusion on the image, same way I had a glamour hiding the fact I wasn't human. Didn't want the docs and nurses freaking out, right? And it wasn't gonna matter since I'd be right there in the delivery room when our kid was born... but then she went into labor while I was at work and the nurse wouldn't let me in 'cause we weren't married. So I wasn't there when the screaming started.

"Her family was Lutheran," he added, a little inanely. "That's not an excuse for what she did, but you two were raised Catholic so you can probably guess what must've happened when our kid came out with pointed ears where everyone could see. The nurses couldn't stop me busting in the door at that point, and... well, long story short, I only had a few seconds to rescue my baby girl's soul before her body died, and a 1967 Chevy Impala with enough personal connection to tie her to. And a lot of rage to work out." He swallowed. The radio was silent. "That was only forty six years ago, and I'd been with Lydia for nearly two years when she tried to kill our baby girl. If you know about Jess, you know how long Sammy mourned her after being with her for three years. You've only known him seven months."

There was silence from the other end of the line, and Cer wondered if he had finally cracked those stubborn human twins. Then Cas spoke up softly. "Jimmy and I have met Geth. He told us his full name without hesitation, and permitted us to hug him when we said goodnight after our meeting. That meeting was what convinced Sam to show us his true form beneath his own glamour for the first time."

"You know we only exist because our mother thought we were a changeling?" Jimmy said, almost conversationally. Cer blinked his eyes open and frowned. Had he heard that right? "She went to church every night for weeks praying for an angel to come take the changeling monster away and bring back her real, normal son. She didn't know about the enchanted blocks of wood, and autism didn't look very normal to her twenty-two years ago. And thanks to your brother, the only ones who actually remember we weren't born twins are the two of us, our mom, and the angel who split us apart. We get being judged for something we can't help. It happens every day, and we're human."

"Mostly," Cas added. "Did you know normal apple seeds have cyanide in them? That was the most daunting part to eat."

So they had already eaten the apples. Seren wouldn't be losing them to old age or disease, and only something really determined to kill them would even stand a chance... assuming Seren didn't kill it first, or train them to do it themselves. And they apparently had the guts to literally embrace Cer's brother's more dickish other half and not get vivisected for it. "Okay. For whatever it's worth to you, while I'm not sorry for trying to protect my brother, I am sorry for letting my issues keep me from getting to know you well enough before as more than just two more humans with the power to hurt him." At the burst of static from the radio, he huffed, "Look, that's the best I can do right now, okay? I can't get to know them if I can't get near them!"

"It'll do," Jimmy said, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

"For now," Cas added, more flatly. "We will expect to see the accompanying change in behavior when you arrive. Which will be?"

"...walk five hun-dred miles..."

"'Bout eight hours or so," Cer translated for Baby. "Assuming this was good enough for Mom's curse, anyway."

"Guess you'll find out when you get here," Jimmy said.

And really, Cer supposed that was fair enough.

Notes:

The songs Baby uses to communicate with Dean are, in order:

"Wonderwall" by Oasis

"Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

"Hold Me Down" by Daniel Ceasar