still has the power to bite

WON'T do this often so don't ask. Tell/show me what you want from me daily that isn't obvious. There's always something. Stresses me the fuck out to wonder so let's not waste time.

He holds it up, tapping the first line HARD several times. He passes the notepad and pen back. It might be wise to leave around just in case, but he seems to have made himself clear. He won't communicate like this more than he absolutely has to, but he doesn't want to wait and wonder about training, or about what she wants from him daily outside of the basics. New place, new space- and minimal idea of how to act. If the boundaries can be made perfectly clear, he won't have to worry and wonder that he's going to overstep. Living on edge will make him snappier.

He lived like that in that kennel, and it was an excuse to hurt him when he stepped out of line- usually in ways he didn't even know were a problem to begin with. So it goes.

She paused, proving that she was in fact thinking. She had spent so much time telling him what she could give him that she hadn't explained what she wanted from him. Obviously, this was two halves of a coin, she wasn't just feeding and sheltering him for his winning personality.

She read his words on the paper and nodded. What wasn't obvious, so the rules of the house didn't need to be explained again. "Your job is guard dog, that will be your first duty, first and foremost. Once you get a little more familiar with the compound, you'll be in charge of security, which is a big task force right there, it's just you. In the morning and the evenings before we lock the house down, if you see something, either alert me, you'll have a pager system, or handle it." She shouldn't have smiled at the last suggestion, but grief could make her a little vicious. Had her vicious little smirk mimicked the ones Gabe had given her before? Yes, perhaps, definitely.

"If there is a different detail, then I'll inform you, and they'll be coming soon. If I need you to handle something, I will let you know. And that something is mostly intimidation, but sometimes you must get your hands dirty, very dirty. We cleaned, or we did. I did." She spoke a language she trusted Gabe would understand.

There is no more 'we,' Azin, and you'll be wise to remember that.

The thing was, no one had seen Azin since Jay's death. Everyone assumed she was a ghost now, and she was going to have to make a grand entrance again into this world, and it would be Gabe at her side.

She had some business to settle. She wasn't completely sure if it was Finlay who did it just because he could, or if someone had sent him.

her words hit him like shards of ice cutting right through his chest. guilt bubbling under the surface, slithering under his skin and nestling around his heart. though, despite him knowing part of it was true, he still let misunderstandings fuel his anger. "and did you ever think to let me know any of this?" he wondered, brows furrowed in a begging curl on his forehead. "we agreed together, and it was for leo. how was I supposed to know it hurt you this bad if you never-" he hesitated, knowing all too well he had no right over her, not even to ask for honesty. "you keep things from me. you think I don't see it? I know you are hiding something, and every time I get the feeling you aren't telling me the whole thing, I assume it is because I am asking too much."

when she started talking about being together, will dropped his arms to his sides, looking away, suddenly feeling his throat sealing. air was dense around him and thick in his lungs, making it hard to breathe. "mine?" he repeated, not entirely understanding. "why wouldn't you accept you are already the most important person in my life after leo, uh? why do things need to change? I can't..." he felt the need to draw near and put his arms around her, to pull her against him and never let go. he wanted to, he really did. but his big heart was still too sore from past aches and abuse. and leo? leo deserved to be loved and never left again. how could he ever ask such a massive commitment of her? "you never said anything about that before." he huffed, now defeated, eyes dropped to the floor. "I love you, az, I really do, but perhaps I just can't give you what you think you want."

"Will, six years together, living with you, plus Japan, I would expect my best friend to know I'm hurting, and I didn't even know I was hurting. It took a lot of therapy to get there. To realize that I was shouldering the blame for an accident that wasn't my fault." She said, shaking her head, "you could have gotten me to agree to anything and it felt like you were just getting rid of me because I was broken." But then he hit her with it, he knew, he knew when she was hiding things and not telling him everything, and her jaw went slack as she wanted to shove him, but as the tears threatened to well in her eyes, "so you knew? You always knew, and no, Will, you are allowed to ask, and I'll tell you when it's too much."

"Yours, Will, your girl, for real, your wife. Fuck, I would even settle for girlfriend, and not just for a match, not just to say the words that make you feel something. I wanted it for real." She wanted to argue more, but Will had effectively ended that, when he said he couldn't give her what she thought she wanted.

Now tears fell freely. "No." She backpedaled. "All I have ever wanted was you, and our boy. But if you can't give me that, if you don't think we can have that, then tell me, and tell me to leave you alone. Tell me to never reach out to you or Leo again, and I won't. But you need to say it so crystal clear there's no room for us to do what we always do."

Queen of Swords

Digital (Procreate), 2025

he bent into a servile, subdued, affectionate being, now. warmth and comfort pouring out of him, straight into her, as soft concern bent his usual roughness into something much more welcoming. when she hinted to move closer, he didn't need to be told twice and scooped her up off her nightmares and into the safety of his embrace, squeezing her full figure against large, strong chest. he let her nest into him, giving whatever it was she needed. sure, he was worried sick. his only job was to keep her safe, and it destroyed him that he couldn't. not entirely.

"tell me what to do, love," strong notts accent stretched across whispers. "tell me what you need. I'll do anything." run her a hot bath. brew her a hot tea to calm the nerves. watch over her while she slept for the rest of the night. run out hunting for blood... anything she would have asked, he would have given. and more. anything for david. anything for her.

"Just hold me," she tells him softly, her hand already gripping at the material of his clothes. She halfway wanted to say just take me to the airport, but the little voice in her head said that Gabe was far too agitated to handle that right now. She needed to get a hold of herself, and sleep would help that. "I just need to sleep." Her tone sounding like reassurance to the both of them. "If I can get a few hours, it'll be enough to get to the airport and get home, and this will be all over."

He called her love. It was common enough from him, the accent making it ordinary, but this time it landed somewhere different and it made her settle. Her heart in her ears seemed to slow down ever so slightly. "Hold me and then take me home." That was truly all she wanted. Sure, there would be other steps Gabe could go through, which included feeding her and reminding her of time. Her brain was teetering on a crisis and she was just trying to hold on.

A new thing crept on the horizon though, how much she was comforted by Gabe and how much she was liking the words that he was saying and what he could bring to her. But this was a totally innocent thing, she knew David wouldn't get upset. How many times had he told her that the dogs were there for her as much as him.

hook wasn't a talker. he was not a smiler either. he wasn't many things that, unfortunately, despite the appearance he liked so much to hold around everyone else, he couldn't hold around her. it was easy, as easy as she just pulled it all out of him: the softness, the caring... and still, he was frugal with it, almost selfish, showing it little by little or not enough at all. after all, they were not exactly friends, but he still respected her enough because joe respected her. this was one of the times when his softer side melted on his features a little easier, perhaps because he expected an argument that never really came.

he squeezed himself between his shoulders, appearing innocent. "I dunno," he said vaguely, "guess we are much too busy to play around in the ring, aren't we? thought you had many hoops for me to jump through."

"Well, we aren't busy anymore." She tells him, speaking in a tone that could almost curl him around her finger. She saw his features soften and she knew she had him, her own face brightening up, a smile painted on her lips. Despite her tenure in the ring she was still excited to get in there.

"I got your match and we're good to go, so come on, roll around with me in the ring."

What was that, a small hint of feminine wiles coming his way? She was of course only teasing, joking of course. Completely unaware that Hook would ever think anything other than it was just a friendly competition between them.

bálor was not happy with her implication. worse than that, he was offended. the moment she tried to move away, he was on her, eliminating the distance between them with a swift pull, grabbing her and forcing her close to his face, gripping claws, sinking into the soft flesh of her shoulder and arm. "nightmare?" he snarled, dangerously. "you humans never fail to disappoint me." his hold got tighter, hurting her and searching avidly the traces of pain on her face. he would have left bruises. "when you'll wake up, next to him, you'll have the marks of my fingers left on your skin. the same as him... I cannot wait to watch you develop doubts and then fear." he smiled, dangerously, sharp teeth showing. "because you will... you will see me when you look at him." a twisted smile rose on his lips.

he then made her look around, forcing her attention on the vast arid valley of dust and death. there was nothing there. nothing grew. nothing lived. only ashes and sand at times moved by wind and storms, growing and retreating like tidal deserts did. "this, dear, is the land where finn biggest, deepest nightmare rolled out of. this is where I was born, where I withered and where my bloodline ceased. this is the underground: not quite hell, but my reign all the same, like hell is for demons. you understand, right? are you following?"

Good, you're making him mad, the voice told her, don't let up. He can't hurt you. Whether that was true or not Azin didn't know, but she trusted the voice, because as his grip got tighter she felt the sharp pain from his claws. "You think there's anything you can do to make me hate Finn? I have given up my family for this man." It was a bold declaration, one Azin would back up if it was the last thing she would do.

"Serves you right, look at what you're the king of." She barely understood what she was saying, she didn't know where this confidence came from, why she wasn't scared. But she stood there insulting this demon. "You don't deserve a bloodline if this is the land you rule."

Her brain was telling her though, this is a dream, wake up, and her mind was lucid, but no matter how hard she tried to escape she couldn't, even as she was mentally screaming this is a dream, wake up.