Day: July 20, 2018

mythsandmonsters:

“Sorry,” Laney muttered, pouting until Casper sprawled across him.

“It’s not that bad, Cas. Stop making such a big deal out of it or you’re gonna start sounding like my mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mom to bits, but people fussing and getting crazy overprotective over me drives me insane, okay? So just chill. I got this.”

“I just said I’m going to bring a fire extinguisher, not wrap you in fireproof everything,” he laughed, holding his hand up in the Boy Scouts salute. “Always be prepared, rah, rah, rah.”

Characters::Avalon and Henry
Word Count:: 564

She knew there was no real reason for her to keep with tradition anymore. Henry’s spirit had passed on years ago. She knew because she had spoken to him that day. She knew because she had given her brother the coins to ferry him across the river. But it still hadn’t stopped her from sitting around Jackson Square with his old dog tags around her neck. 

“You’re an idiot,” she muttered to herself, dark eyes scanning the small gathering of people milling about it. It was mostly locals, tourists seldom wandered this late at night, so it was pleasantly quiet. 

Even still, she couldn’t shake the weird feeling of being watched.

He had noticed her pretty quickly. The leather jacket in the sweltering summer heat was just too out of place. But there was something about her that he couldn’t quite place at first. Like he knew her or something. A faded dream verging on a nearly lost memory, he supposed. He had been overwhelmed by a sense of deja vu since he had gotten to New Orleans a couple months before.

But then she spoke and something clicked. The girl from his dreams. The ones that took place even further from his hometown than this place. Memories of black wings and a promise. 

“You’re real…”

It wasn’t a proper greeting, not by a long shot, but he was too unsettled to come up with anything more polite.

His voice was different but she knew the feel of his spirit far too well. How could she ever possibly forget? But he wasn’t supposed to remember, that wasn’t how any of this was supposed to work. 

“Henry.”

He didn’t look the same, but he was young again. Maybe a little younger than he had been when he had died. The last time she had seen him he had been a spirit, a ghost that should have long since passed along. She hadn’t expected him to be reborn so quickly after finally crossing over.

“I thought you were just a dream.” He had had a fair few dreams of her over the years, but the idea of an actual immortal had seemed more far fetched than the way he knew this city from the moment he had set foot in it. 

“Katja…no, you changed it. I remember. I remember talking to you here but you said you were called something else now. I can’t remember what it was.”

“Avalon,” she answered softly, unable to wipe the shock from her face. 

“That’s right. Avalon. We were…friends? Once? Before I died.” It was fuzzy, but it was there. She had promised not to let him linger between living and dying, to pull his soul so he didn’t feel his death. He remembered that she had cried. 

“Yeah, we were friends.” Not that she had been the best of friends at the time.

“You punched a nazi in the face once.”

She snorted at that, eyes rolling. “More than once.”

“You taught me to smoke.”

“I was a bad influence and you shouldn’t still be smoking,” she sighed, leaning over and plucking the unlit cigarette from his lips. “These things will kill you.”

That made him laugh, the sound easy but a little bitter. “Can’t be worse than gettin’ shot.”

“It’s slower.”

“You wouldn’t let me suffer like that.”

He was right, but she didn’t want to admit that.

Character::Chance, Tassos, Arcadia
Word Count::1,166

It bothered Tassos more than he wanted to let on that even Chance had been gone from the family for a shorter span of time than himself. The fact that anyone had agreed to allow his hateful son to stay free in the first place had been weighing heavily on him. He could not, for the life of him, understand why Brittia had made a deal with the boy. Not after he had tried murdering her. But the facts remained and they left Tass standing on the porch in an almost seething rage. 

This was the house his best friend had nearly died in and the person responsible was happily living there. Worse even was the fact that people had entrusted children to his son. Truth be told, Tass wouldn’t have trusted Chance to keep even a plant alive. The fact that the children that were basically given to him and Sera had suffered unspeakable abuse made it worse.

Lyri had tried telling him, repeatedly, that Sera kept Chance in line and that the “pups” were safer with Chance and Sera than nearly anyone else. She had tried to tell him that Chance wasn’t the exact same, but he didn’t believe it. His son had always been great at playing games when they suited him and this couldn’t be any different. 

“Just got and see your son. Meet your other grandchildren. You’ll see, they’re fine,” Lyri had pressed, all but pushing him out the door. 

So there he was, trying to talking himself into knocking on that damned door and wanting to actually put his fist through it. A habit he never realized Chance had gotten from him. 

The pups had alerted Chance to anyone being around long before Tassos had even made it up the steps. Genesis especially asking questions faster than Chance could answer. It was an annoying habit, but he tried to answer them as best as he could before telling Cadi to take the younger pups into another room. He was always relieved that the eldest of the mutts never argued or questioned when he told her to do something. It made her the easiest to deal with.

Without giving him the opportunity to knock or flee, Chance opened the door and stared at him, eyes hollow and the same old smirk touching the edges of his lips.

“Chance.” 

One word and even that was filled with resentment. It was exhausting to deal with and already making Chance’s palms itch. Truthfully, he would rather deal with Azrael over his own father.

“What do you want?”

The near

blasé tone had Tass clenching his jaw, his rage only thinly contained.

“You have some nerve coming back here after everything you did,” he snarled, taking a step forward. Lyri had warned him that Chance was allowed to strike back in self defense, so he could only hope to goading his son into throwing the first punch. 

The smirk faded, his expression growing more bored than anything. “Yes, yes, the nerve of the serial killer to come back and take up residence in the house he nearly murdered his mother in. Blah, blah, blah. That hardly explains why the coward that ran after delivering his son to chains is here. Does mother know you finally resurfaced?”

“Do not talk about her,” the elder hissed, taking another forced step closer. 

Chance glanced over his shoulder to see Arcadia standing in the doorway, her posture rigid and eyes canine. It was enough to make him sigh heavily.

“Must you do this now? You’re upsetting others that live here,” he warned, the first hint of a threat creeping into his voice as he moved just enough to Tass to catch a glimpse of the young blonde girl. 

The sight of her was near startling. For one, she matched Chance’s victim type but, aside from so clearly old scars, the girl looked unharmed. The second thing he noticed was the sheer dislike in her eyes as she stared at him. There was nothing in her posture to suggest Chance was the issue in the present scene and he hadn’t banked on trying to convince any kids that they were better off not staying there.

“Really? Using a fucking child as an excuse to not be held accountable for your shitty existence? That’s fucking low, even for you.”

The girl let out a growl and was moving forward rather quickly when Chance held up a hand and signaled for her to stop. “Cadi, this is my, well, I guess you could call him a father. He hardly earned the title though,” Chance introduced, hoping to keep things from getting bad for the pup. “Tassos, please do not further upset my charge. I would hate to have to resort to violence to get her off of you should you continue and end up provoking her.”

“You’re using a child as an attack dog and have the balls to say anything about anyone else? Are you that fucking deluded? Little one, you should not be here.”

Cadi snarled again but pressed herself closer to Chance. He had made her feel safe and the fact that this man, whomever he was, seemed to think otherwise made her immediately dislike him.

“She’s not an attack dog, you’re just making her feel…” he paused and glanced over at the teen, a confused frown touching his lips. “Unsafe?”

The pup nodded before baring her teeth at Tass again, not at all bothered that Chance had to ask what she was feeling. While she didn’t really trust Sera, she had explained pretty well that Chance didn’t really understand the emotions of others because he didn’t feel things the same way everyone else did. 

“Make him leave,” she demanded, an undercurrent of anxiety cutting through her growling. 

“You heard the girl, Tassos. No one wishes you to be here. I doubt even Seraphine would be too thrilled to see you.”

“You sonofa-” Tass stared only to be cut off.

“Careful. In calling me that, you are, effectively, calling mother a bitch. Even I hardly cross that line.”

Tass exhaled heavily, fighting every urge to hit the smug look off of his son’s face. “Mark my fucking words, Chance, I will see you back in those damn chains where you belong. You might have everyone else fooled, but I’m not buying this shit.”

“Yes, whatever you say. And you wonder why mother chose Azrael over you,” he muttered, knowing full well that his father still harbored feelings for his mother. “Why don’t you just run away again like the coward you are, hmm? We hardly have time to deal with you,” was his parting comment as he closed the door, a little relieved that Tassos didn’t try to put his fist through it afterwards. 

“Go see to the little ones, pup,” he urged Cadi once he was sure his father had left. The last thing he needed was for her to have a melt down on top of things.