if she'd been covered with glitter

[maleficum]

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[imnot_likeyou]

[He nods as he leans back in his seat.]

And it's not your fault. We have dangerous jobs - I've never not known that it would be a risk and I chose to do this anyway because I want to be with you.

[He'd make the same choice every time, because being with her is worth it.]

Just twice in a short period of time is freaking me out a little.

[matriarchate]

( She wishes she could say it's freaking her out, too, but she's been doing it so long she's become desensitized. She's still reeling from having to lie to her friends. That hurts more than actually dying. She knows it was the right thing. It being the right thing doesn't make any of it easier. It's the opposite. )

You didn't just choose this because of me. You grew up with it. With Dean, with - your dad. I love - ( she pauses ) that you want to do this with me, that you and Dean are both here and letting me be. I do. ( She takes his hand. ) What can I do to help?

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam takes a deep breath. He's not sure there's anything she can do beyond staying out of the front lines for a little bit, and he knows he can't ask that of her. Not with what David is asking them to do.]

Just ... be patient with me, if I start getting squirrelly?

[No promises he won't freak out, but a little leeway goes a long way.]

[matriarchate]

Be honest with me and I'll be patient. We're in this together.

( All of them, including Dean and Elena, and pretty soon Caroline and Ryan when they return. Whether they like it or not, they're in the middle of it. )

Remember when our primary directive was shielding and ferrying the supernatural. Now we're waging war against a circle of ancient witches. Remind me to tell you about the first time I cheated death.

( The Oni, the Nogitsune, Stiles. )

[imnot_likeyou]

You're not the only one.

[Sam's cheated it a time or two himself - or ten, let's be honest.]

Maybe when Dean and Elena come back to take over the research end, we can swap stories over a couple beers.

[matriarchate]

I will take you up on that offer.

( She covers his hand with hers again. )

Thank you for telling me.

[imnot_likeyou]

Thanks for listening.

[Because honestly it does feel good that he can explain something like this and not have it scare them off. It's not going to have him rushing to unload all his trauma anytime soon, but at least it's good to know that if it's brought up it'll be taken seriously.]

I think I need an eye break. Want a coffee refill?

[matriarchate]

Maybe tea?

( The coffee's really surging through her system hiding out here. And it's good coffee, but at a certain point, it's all she drinks in a day. It's Mary who put out and then refills a pitcher of water when it gets low.

It's only another hour or two before Allison and Sam can go cross-eyed and Elena takes the next shift.

Allison at first, politely accepts a beer handed to her from the fridge, but as Sam grabs a bottle opener she stops him. She likes the bunker and all, but maybe it would be good to get some fresh air? Does he know a bar he and Dean go to? Somewhere with people and music. She wouldn't say no to a dance, either, but how cheesy is that in a small town bar. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Yeah, he's feeling the need to get out of the bunker for a bit himself. There's a bar not too far, and it's easy enough to take his brother's keys and drive them over for non-bunker beers and non-bunker company.

It's a fairly simple set up, but there is a small dance floor area with a jukebox and a couple tables scattered around.]

Bar or booth?

[matriarchate]

Drinks at the bar and then we'll find a booth?

( If there's a booth open at least. Seems like a good plan. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods, using his tallness to help cut through the crowd, before finding two stools together and sliding onto one of them. He holds up a hand to flag down the bartender for beers, and once those arrive, he picks his up with a curious look.]

So...how do you want to do this?

[Especially considering most of his near death experiences were ... actual death experiences.]

[matriarchate]

How do we have a conversation about our shared pasts? I was thinking a little give and take, one at a time. Much like the flow of natural conversation.

( She teases, bringing the beer to her lips. )

I was run through with a sword junior year of high school.

[imnot_likeyou]

[He winces at the injury because that's not an easy one to recover from.]

Ouch. I'd ask who was running around with a sword in Beacon Hills, but I think I remember that your grandfather used to carry one.

[Because he was unhinged, in a not good way.]

[matriarchate]

It was not my grandfather. It was a Japanese spirit called an Oni. A chaos demon had been unleashed, had possessed Stiles, and kidnapped Lydia.

( His plan to this day was convoluted and began and ended with - chaos. )

[imnot_likeyou]

Oni and a chaos demon?

[He makes a face.]

I forget how crazy places like Beacon Hills can be. Usually we're just doing these one-and-done jobs and heading out of town again. It's easy to forget how things can collect over time.

[matriarchate]

The demon summoned and controlled the Oni. They were a packaged deal at he time.

( But, they also felt more like coincidence as well, as the fireflies led separate chaos-spreading efforts. )

Beacon Hills could've given Sunnydale or Mystic Falls a run for their money. In our case, we had an ancient Druidic tree that drew the supernatural there. The Nematon. Sunnydale had their Hellmouth and Mystic Falls had - ( she shrugs, nothing ancient came up as a sort of Beacon ) interpersonal relations? Did you ever come across a town with recurring incidents?

[imnot_likeyou]

Sioux Falls? But that was probably more our fault. We had friends there and we visited a lot.

[Mystic Falls is a strange outlier. For a place that doesn't have a supernatural magnet drawing everyone in, a lot of big magic was cast there. Part of him wonders if there is a nematon somewhere in those woods, but no one's managed to find it.

Maybe, perhaps, that white oak that Esther channeled to make vampires? Thoughts for another time.]

Naturally, trouble decided to follow us, usually because someone was trying to prove a point.

[matriarchate]

Naturally. Paving the way for you and Dean to make your own point and save the day.

( Days. )

[imnot_likeyou]

Yeah, our points never seemed to get driven home quite as hard, because they'd just come back and try to do it again.

[Sam rubs his eyes a bit.]

There was this big push for a while to get us to submit to the apocalypse. They mostly took it out on other people because they needed us intact.

[matriarchate]

That's what people say, that the Winchesters get mixed up in the apocalypses. Plural.

( There's an entire faction of hunters that says the Winchesters saved them from their own Apocalypse world. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[He holds up a finger as he winces.]

Buffy gives us a run for our money. She does like an apocalypse a year or something nuts like that. Dean and I only have the two.

[And yes, it is two. That time he threw Lucifer into Hell, and that time they killed God.]

[matriarchate]

Buffy's reputation is less textual. She's more like a myth or an idea. You two... Is there really a book series based on you?

( Buffy is like Allison's family's bestiary. She's not common knowledge. You know she and the others exist, but they're not on the tips of other hunter's tongues...

Sam and Dean have a reputation. )

[imnot_likeyou]

Yeah.

[It's not Sam's favorite thing and you can tell by the look on his face.]

The fans are a little ... intense.

[matriarchate]

Do they know you're real or just think your parents were fans? Or, worse, the authors?

( But, this is fascinating and amusing. Learning about one another. )

its rare that i have a chance to use this icon

[imnot_likeyou]

[Does he tell this story or not tell this story? Well. Well they were kind of talking about his exes.]

Most of them, no. But there was one super fan who did find out that we were real and she kind of ... kidnapped me, drugged me and tried to force me to marry her and a shotgun Vegas wedding?