The Lost Boy

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

Ray watched the boy, listening to him speak as she nodded along. She wasn’t a conventional hunter; she was good, but she chose who she hunted. Refusing to follow caravan norms to hunt anything and everything that moved supernatural-wise. She couldn’t help train someone who would just fall into their shoes. “Good, you passed the test,” she said simply, pushing her empty plate to the side, “I’m not a hunter that does the job for the killing. I have friends among the supernatural, they are assets and I refuse to be someone who ignores them. I can teach you how to survive, and if you wanted to fully be like me, then fine. But the moment that you go after just any supernatural for the sake of it, I’m done with you. Got it?”

Was he actually going to do this? Should he say no and walk away, find another solution on his own and forget the notion of picking up a gun to solve the problem? Any other day, any other time, any other place other than Killgrove and he would have changed his mind. Then he thought about Lukas and about Leon, about Harry, and the vision is clear. No different alternative but survival of the fittest and Dominic would be damned if he lost another family member to this shithole. “Okay.” He nodded once in finality, nodding several more times in the process to convince himself this was the right choice. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool, yeah. I get it, one wrong move and it’s game over.” Dominic picked at his half-eaten sandwich, “I told you, I don’t want to kill, I just don’t like bullies and the town’s full of them in one form or another.” Head lifting, his gaze locked with Raquel’s, “So, when do we start, Master Jedi?”

[dominic-neumann]

cleroux-madeline​:

Oh… Madeline.

Good – let’s see if we can’t turn this place into something fun while it still stands.

Madeline, that’s really pretty. Uh, I mean, it’s cool. Dominic.

Then we can make a foolproof pact while we’re at it-...what do you mean, while it still stands?

[dominic-neumann]

cleroux-madeline​:

Witch Bitch… Demon… Hybrid Trash… Monster… would you like me to go on?

Or can we drink and forget how wrong the world has become?

Oh, you’re-...I was more going for your name, but I catch your drift.

Bottling our emotions and avoiding problems, my specialty. I’ll have what you’re having.

[dominic-neumann]

miaxneumann​:

Then don’t look, dummy.

Do you seriously think I would watch porn? In a public library?

I can see it out of the corner of my eye. I can’t help it.

I would watch porn in a public library, so you see no judgement from me. You aren’t here for that, though, I know as much. 

[dominic-neumann]

harry-neumann​:

He watched his brother speak and it was as if right before his eyes, his little brother grew up. Maybe it was just due to the time, but a part of him knew it was because of the town– forcing him and his family to come face to face with too many nightmares and learn from it. Harry nodded after a time, knowing that his brother was right and that he would need to talk to his mother again, “I’ll talk to her about things, the way this town is going… maybe you all shouldn’t be here for this. Not if it means dying.” He looked at his brother for a pause, a small smile lifting on his face, “I’m proud of you, Dom. You’re a good kid, just make sure you take care of yourself.”

Killgrove affected each member of the Neumann family differently, Dominic hadn’t felt like he was the person he used to be. He was bolder, still a little on the sarcastic side, and willing to learn what he could on the supernatural for the sake of surviving another day without anyone else taken by the reaper. Or worse. “Come on, man, it’s like you haven’t met your own family. We aren’t packing up our shit and leaving you behind. Mom won’t, Mia won’t, and I certainly won’t. We’ll figure something out.” He hadn’t the single scrap of confidence if they would, but that does not mean he wouldn’t try. Dominic mirrored his brother’s smile, his gaze sheepishly dropping to his hands. “I am who I am today because of you, Harry. Don’t ever forget that.” The smile vanished from the younger Neumann’s lips after a pause, “There’s no guarantee of a promise, but I’ll make some effort.”

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

You get caught when you stay in the same place for too long, that’s why most of the time hunters move constantly. This place is one of a kind, though.

I’m assuming that’s a round about way of asking for yourself, but you don’t exactly know what you’re talking about. The hard decision isn’t becoming a hunter– that’s actually the easy part. The hard part is living with your decisions that you have to make once you take that journey because you can never turn back once you do. Are you ready to take a life? To kill humans and supernatural alike and have that blood on your hands? 

Oh, good thing I spent my entire life getting shipped around from place to place, I’ll feel right at home.

First lesson you should learn about me, I do an awful lot of talking sometimes and don’t know what I’m talking about. Regardless, you don’t have to sit here and explain in simplest terms the price you pay as a hunter. I don’t want to kill anyone, but if the world has practically turned and left me here to my own devices, I’ll hold that gun and pull the trigger when my life depends on it. To ensure what happened to my siblings doesn’t happen to me. So, to answer your question, I need this.

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

You can be in a disaster and not know anything, or you can be in a disaster and at least know enough to not get killed. Ideally, none of you should be sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

I’ve never been asked that before but it’s not fun and it’s a thankless job. You have to make the hard decisions and do what’s necessary. It’s a job that you can’t quit once you start, and the price that’s paid is heavy for every person. Regardless if they were born into it or not.

Between the former and the latter, it’s better having the right preparations nine times out of ten. Obviously. We don’t exactly live in an ideal world, now do we? You only land in deep shit if you don’t get your ass caught.

I’m already paying the heavy price, or the rest of my family is. What if, despite the lack of gratitude and an extreme risk of losing your life by the time you’re forty, that someone would...want to do what you do? If that’s what it means making the hard decision when the person has no other alternative?

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

Everyone is a little obsessed about the supernatural if something happens to their family, you know.

You are correct, I’m a hunter. Been one for almost a decade.

It’s a recipe for disaster and more trouble than we were already in. I don’t want her sticking her nose where it shouldn’t belong, that’s my job.

You don’t become one without a price. I know that much. What’s it like?

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

Wow… you definitely have a complicated family life, but you know that already. Out of all of the people you listed, your sister that’s researching everything is on the right track. It never hurts to know what’s actually out there so you can somewhat prepare for it. Nothing is going to get better if everyone is sitting on their hands.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg, lady. Mia’s basically obsessing about digging up everything she can, I could barely get a word in to tell her slowing down might be a great idea. You talk from experience, either you know what’s what or you’re one of those folks I hear along the grapevine. A hunter.

[dominic-neumann]

cleroux-madeline​:

I’ve been called worse.

And what do they actually call you then?

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

One of these days you will and you’ll thank me.

That’s what tends to happen with most families when it comes to the supernatural. What differentiates families between fodder and survivors is what the ones who are left does with their life. What is your family doing about all of this?

I’m never one to say I told you so.

Depending on who you ask like my step-brother for example, it’s what we’re not doing. He’s on the total verge of a nervous breakdown as should he be, my other brother’s shacking up with a pack and trying not to turn full Hannibal Lecter, my sister’s researching the supernatural, while my step-sister can’t keep herself out of trouble and my poor mother is losing her shit. And then there’s me, floating in limbo.

[dominic-neumann]

cleroux-madeline​:

What? Isn’t ‘drinking your problems away’ a necessity for those who live in this town?

Unless you want to be labelled a raging alcoholic, we don’t care to play into stereotypes.

[dominic-neumann]

harry-neumann​:

Harry winced at Dom’s statement even thought it was true. Though he’d just been talking about his super-speed and strength, there was always a possibility for him to slip and do worse like he did when he was first changed. It was getting marginally better, but he always had to be careful. One slip up could be someone’s life on the line, and it wasn’t his. He slouched into his chair, rubbing a hand on his face as he moved past talking about what he was– they knew that he would stop at nothing to protect them, even if he didn’t really want to talk about what he was. “Yeah, I know. She didn’t bargain moving us all to a supernatural freakfest either,” Harry replied with a sigh, shaking his head, “I know I remind her of him. I’ve known since I was a kid and he dipped out– she couldn’t exactly look at me sometimes in the beginning. Now I’m stuck dipping out on my own family involuntarily. Like father, like son.”

The question wasn’t whether Dominic remembered his father, it’s if he bothered suppressing every memory he might have of him from his mind. He was too young to understand what really happened between his parents, all he knew was his mother protecting her children by refusing to speak his name in their household and Harry shielding his two younger siblings. Dominic meant what he said a while back, his brother had been more of a father to him and Mia than their actual parental figure. “You know that she’s always going to be blaming herself for that. For your change and now for Leon’s brush with a fucking vampire.” Dominic placed his arms on the table and leaned forward slowly in a slouch that would have been corrected by their mom if she were around. “Dad was a self-serving prick who couldn’t bother himself sticking by long enough to watch his children grow. You’re still here, Harry. Mom understands why you have to keep your distance, alright, we know it’s what’s right for you.”

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

But have you tried it, though? 

God has no mercy on us, kiddo.

No, and I’m point ninety nine percent positive I can’t bring myself to. 

Of course if he did, my family wouldn’t be flushed down the shitter with the fish right about now.

[dominic-neumann]

raquelxflores​:

Don’t knock a grilled cheese sandwich with mayo until you try it. You act like this is the weirdest thing in this place.

I’m a food slut to the highest degree, but mayo on a grilled cheese is a fucking travesty and sin against human nature. May god have mercy on your soul.

[dominic-neumann]

harry-neumann​:

He watched his brother place the lid on the box in silence, thinking about the words that Dom spoke in truth. Saying something to the wrong person was definitely a thing to watch out for; especially when almost everyone in the town had some sort of pull over humans. “You know that I would protect you, right? If anyone tried to hurt you, I would be there. Otherwise, what use are these fucking powers, you know?” Harry plucked at the frayed edges of his sweater as the topic of conversation drifted to their mother. He knew he asked for it, but it still hurt to hear how she was hurting because of the town, because of him. “I know I have to talk to her but it isn’t easy. Not just because of this,” he said while gesturing to himself with a shrug, “but because she looks at me like she failed has a mother. How do you expect me to have conversations with her when just the mere sight of me makes her upset?”

He picked at a loose flap at the edge of the box wearily, imagining what would happen to anyone his brother could get his hands on if they ever hurt his family. More than punches, more than a night spent in jail, no, just lasting possible consequences. Dominic hadn’t known the extend of Harry’s abilities and despite the love for his older brother, he rather not care to see for himself. “Sure, anybody threatens my life and all I have to say is my big brother’s going to eat them, yeah, that’s going to teach the assholes.” The younger male mumbled, appreciating Harry’s overprotective nature that sure ran deep in their family. That was his sibling, cleaning the messes and taking care of his twins. “Look at what has happened to her family since the decision to move here was made, Harry, you’d think you had failed too.” Dominic released a long sigh, “You were the golden child, the first born. Mom loves her children to death, but you...you remind her of Dad.”

[dominic-neumann]

harry-neumann​:

Harry hummed lightly as he took one of the bishops in his hand, rotating it as he listened to his brother. It still bewildered him that his family still sought him out, wanted him to be a part of their lives despite what he had become. He knew he wouldn’t shake them that easy, so he had to make sure that he did everything he could to keep that side suppressed. “I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing for you don’t care about holding back on anything. There’s a lot worse things to worry about than some language, anyway,” Harry said with a sigh as he tossed the piece he’d been holding back into its box. Dom was right, chess wasn’t working and he was running out of things to do. He’s tried every hobby. “Is mom holding up okay?” he asked hesitantly, as if he didn’t have a right to ask since he was a good portion of her worry, “with Leon back, that’s one less thing for her to worry about.”

A great majority of the time even when he was younger, he never listened to what others wanted from him. Dominic wouldn’t consider himself the problem child necessarily, but there were days he just could not make the lives of his brother and mother any easier. And Mia, she saw past his bullshit instantly. “There is a fine line getting my ass handed to me and landing in a shit storm of trouble if I don’t hold back. I say the wrong thing and it’s like life or death.” He reached over and placed the lid of the container holding the game back on the box, freezing slightly at the mention of their mom. “You know how she is, Harry. She plays the strong soldier for the rest of us and then cries into her pillow at the end of the night. Doesn’t think the rest of us notice, but I notice more than they assume.” His eyes landed on his older brother, “Go talk to her. I get it’s hard with your control, but she’s this close to hysterics.”