man made monster ;;

We are the wolves in this fairy tale. We make kings scream for mercy, and use their blood as lipstick. Our names are spoken in hushed whispers, like we are the devil himself. Oh, but we are worse. So much worse.

[nathaliekclley]

natkelley miami baby 🌴

[natalyasankara]

                   Happy International Women’s Month!

“Before the moon I am, what a woman is, a woman of power, a woman’s power, deeper than the roots of trees, deeper than the roots of islands, older than the Making, older than the moon.”                                                                                                                                                                                                              —Ursula K. Le Guin

ft. @maetriarch,@sloanrivera, @gwendolyncaris, @who-killed-rayn-cooper, @sabinevolkova, @wyattnaomi, @annabellerhodes-x, @bcthgarrison, @jvnex, @isxdcrx, @taintedxpast, @bladepristine, @kennedytxllis, @cassie-the-necromancer, @estellamontgomery

[hamoonsooarchive]

a running gag

[sloanrivera]

hcrvx‌:

Eyes narrowed at the girl, Sloan was many things but he never expected clueless and delusional to be among them. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I already have.” He said gruffly, her growing concern quickly turned into overstepping when she began implying he wasn’t already dealing with the issue. “Anything you’ve seen, I’ve seen first, and more of. Don’t think for a second you know the dangers of this world more than I do. I started fighting the monsters in this city before you even got your hands on your first weapon.”

"No one here is doubting your ability to parent, Harvey. Quite the opposite. We’re both looking for the same thing: June’s safety. That’s all.” For once, Sloan hadn’t come here in search of a fight or to draw out ire from the man in front of her. Some flaw in her code created this unfathomable desire to ensure the well being of a younger huntress. “You asked where my concern was stemming from and I told you. But if you want to continue baiting me with your eons of knowledge, by all means... I’ll just remind you how irresistible I find a man with experience under his belt.”

[sloanrivera]

elisecoplen‌:

“Really? How?” It didn’t occur to Elise that she might be prying into the other woman’s life. The questions were asked with a friendly, interested manner. “Yeah, but you gave me the advice which is basically the same as changing my life.” 

Now they were broaching personal territory, subjects which Sloan avidly avoided speaking on even to those with whom she considered herself some semblance of close. “I lost everything.” The words rang with a finality, as if closing the door to any further prying simply through tone. “Careful, bonita. You don’t want to be indebted to strangers.”

[sloanrivera]

cj-rhodes‌:

“And you got these from where?” CJ asked, trace amounts of amusement in her tone as she picked up one of the weapons on the rack between her and Sloan, observant eyes inspecting every last detail of the blade in her head. @sloanrivera

"Various sources. Don’t ask unless you actually want to know.” Each one firmly attached to a particular memory, whether that be of a person who gifted it or someone she stole it from. “That one is from my father. A sweet sixteen present... Charming, no?”

[quoted-books]

Monsters are bad things, but monsters that do not walk and talk like monsters are the worst.

Matthew Dicks, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend (via quoted-books)

[sloanrivera]

galexdavenport‌:

“I have a feeling that giving you too much leeway is dangerous.” He liked a little danger, and he doubted she’d ever pose a threat to him, unless if that one day he’d unknowingly trust her too much only for her to stab him in the back. But unless she got possession over what killed Noah, his life wasn’t in too much danger. So that thought barely worried him at that point. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t died before. “Careful what you wish for.” It was all he said and for her to interpret, he faced the bottom of his empty glass, tapping the crystal with his fingertip. “Good old whiskey.” He answered before releasing it from his hand, turning his full attention to the woman. “What would you like?” 

"I suppose that depends on your definition of danger. Are you afraid to walk that line, Gale?” As it stood, Sloan possessed no capability to ever commit true harm to an Original, always measuring her footfalls around them and careful to maintain enough rapport to keep herself in good standing. Were she lauding a certain weapon over their heads, perhaps that would change on a dime; how fickle her loyalties became. “A little birdy told me that you had quite the night on New Years. Imagine, a Davenport coming entirely unhinged. Color me intrigued at the idea.” Not said to bait him, rather out of pure curiosity. “A classic for a classic,” the salacious nature of her smile existed for only a moment before she replied to his question. “Gin and tonic for me.”

[nathaliekclley]

[sloanrivera]

hxndrcx‌:

“Exactly.” The resonance of the single word emanating every ounce of anger he had left in him as if the reasons he’d done what he had, hadn’t become entirely obvious the longer this went on. Unable to see beyond her own pain, granted – he’d never expected her to. The heartbreak of a woman who’d never learnt it as a child, never known it until he’d walked out was something that he’d put his money on to keep her away from him. To hold the distance he’d hammered into the ground beneath their feet as if in some hope she’d let it fester into an abhorrent inability to even look at him. “Are you so fucking..—-” He groaned in frustration, finally tearing darkened hues from hers to trace the cracks in the road beneath them as if it somehow filled him with a reminder for why he’d done what he had. “Because losing you like this sounded a hell of a lot better than losing you in any other capacity if we’d gone through with it!” Tethering himself to Sloan in any other way than the concave gesture of simply loving her was a hellish notion that he’d only realized they’d been headed towards all too late to stop it in any other way. “Tell me you would have rather that? Tell me you would have rather feel all of this and everything that comes with losing me if I’d died. We’re not..— you’ve seen it. We’ve both seen it. People who lose their pairs are never the same and if losing you was already going to destroy me then..– why the fuck would we so willingly walk into that? — at least I can breathe this way,” Surely, a notion much easier with her not standing inches from him, but on a good day — on a good day, he could at least pretend he hadn’t so willingly crushed the organ in his chest with the palm of his own hand. It swelled in his throat, the feeling almost too sharp for him to simply ignore this time around. Walking out had felt silken with ease in comparison to having her tell him she never wanted to see him again..– but it’d been what he’d wanted, how he might have preferred this to end the first go around. How much easier he could have made this had he just outright pushed her that night instead of leaving in the dead of night. “— If this is all it took, clearly I should have done this a long time ago.” He muttered beneath his breath, soon digging into his back pocket to fish his keys from the depths.

Already poised to leave, utterly filled to the boiling point with contempt and exhaustion over their riff, and somehow he managed to lock her in place with the second largest bombshell in their tumultuous history together. It ricocheted throughout the caverns of her mind, attempting to find purchase amongst the knowledge she had possessed until this moment and finding nowhere to land. A constant reverberation as Sloan remained in silence, features betraying her as a blanket of unfettered shock covered every inch of her face whilst he continued his verbal barrage. Truths spilling from the seams, more information than she had ever been privy to before suddenly overflowing between them until finally the words clawed their way up her throat to join his in the open air. “You left me because you were afraid to lose me?” Not shouted, barely whispered atop a breath which she hadn’t realized was being held. “You should have told me. You should have---” A hundred alternate solutions could have been found in comparison to the heart wrenching option that he chose for his own self preservation. “Walking away to protect yourself at the expense of us...” Somehow this ached more unbearably than any false confirmation that she was disposable, or unloveable. The notion that he had so willingly torn them apart to avoid a hypothetical outcome concocted by his own mind-- endured heartbreak and forced her to suffer through her own all this time. The weight of his words finally began to seep into her cognition, the implications behind his decision ripping her apart from the inside out. “Oh, I’m so glad you can breathe because I’ve felt like I was underwater for two fucking years. And you just-- you let me exist like this. You were never going to tell me the truth, were you?” Just as quickly as he made his revelation, already she noted his attempts to reach for another escape from facing the aftermath. “And now you’re going to leave. Again. You coward.”

[sloanrivera]

jvnex‌:

        “I’ll accept that as your answer.” She pointed while simultaneously gathering the rest of her things and making sure everything was in order before she could step forward to meet the door. “And I’ll believe that when I see it.” First aid as a hunter was a no brainer, although most anything past that could be a mystery. “Good. So, you don’t share much about your life. Not lately, anyway. Come on, get it rolling. I’ll jump in when I have a point to make.” She nodded playfully at the older woman.

"There isn’t much to tell, I’m afraid.” An utter lie, but one she spun with expertise. “I spent the past year or so in and out of the city, occasionally stopping into my usual hunting grounds, but exploring other places outside of New York as well.” She hoped it would be enough of a hint for June to branch out elsewhere, too. “Lost my gig at the jazz club, of course, but the Vales let me keep my job. I suppose I have Addison to thank for that.” “

[sloanrivera]

elisecoplen‌:

“So you’re saying you were complacent once too?” Elise couldn’t imagine the woman standing in front of her as being anything than who she was now. “Thank you so much. You might have just changed my life.” 

"Not complacent, no... But comfortable. Too comfortable. And it cost me dearly in the end.” It was a level of honesty not typically achieved by Sloan Rivera, but she granted it to this girl. “I wouldn’t say that, the only person capable of doing so is you.”

[sloanrivera]

areschevalicr‌:

The very foundation of his being was built on secrets and lies, carefully created so that his presence in the city seemed nothing more than a tourist enjoying the splendors that America had to offer. So when delicate fingers caught hold of his shirt, Ares hardly resisted as he was brought forward until soft lips pressed against his own. Eager for more, his hands fell to her hips, drawing her ever closer to him as he tasted the secret on her tongue.

Experience informed Sloan that he was something, the species hardly mattered, but people only held their cards close when they possessed knowledge worth hiding. In Ares’ case, his ability to counter every wicked tongue lashing with one of his own, all whilst dancing the huntress’s carefully structured game, meant he was protecting his own motives and secrets... And she could relate. “Outside.” Parting them just long enough to slip her fingers between his own, she escorted their little tryst out the back door of the bar only to press him against the expansive brick side of the building mere seconds later.

[sloanrivera]

nixonreynolds‌:

“That’s great. I’ll be the best damn looking vampire for the next century or so. Or whenever I get killed. Can’t be picky now and days.” Nixon gave Sloan an amused look, shaking his head, “I’ll drink anything, honestly. Nothing really has a kick anymore unless I’m downing fireball. Talk about a bad idea. I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth for days. Everyone’s blood tasted like cinnamon.”

"You make a compelling case for yourself and I must admit, I can’t find a rebuttal. Are you planning to die within the next hundred years? Awfully bold of you to assume it won’t happen right here, tonight.” The taunting glimmer within her hues twinged at the edges, hinting towards her own nefarious nature. “Those hundred year old taste buds are worn down, hm? Or are you just so immune to a good time?”

[sloanrivera]

hcrvx‌:

“Again, do you honestly think I don’t know that? Her and I have discussed her leaving. I appreciate your concern, if it is indeed genuine, but I can handle this.” Harvey still didn’t completely believe Sloan was worried about June’s well being, though she appeared to be speaking from a place of care. “Where is this coming from?”

"Then handle it,” she retorted firmly. At the inquiry as to where he concern stemmed from, the brunette finally sighed and offered him an ounce of honesty. “I’ve lived in New York a long, long time. I’ve seen how this city can swallow up a person and spit them back out just as quickly. Some people deserve it in the end, but others... They’re just unfortunate casualties.” Then, a little softer, “Don’t let June be one.”

[sloanrivera]

hxndrcx‌:

Like the brightest burning fire had scored his flesh, Hendrix’s hands snapped back in the hushed venomous taunt that lingered in why he’d grabbed her in the first place. A rough sigh filled his lungs in frustration for the woman not an inch from him; because he’d certainly not made much of an attempt to move from her war path. “Do you feel better now?” The slight crick of his jaw forced him to roll it a little, grinding his teeth as hues bore down into hers with a relentless anger that he was almost sure was projected solely off of the fiery gaze she already held. “Or was that not fucking satisfying enough for you since I’m not six feet fucking under?”

It should have resonated within her, his reluctance to engage the huntress in combat, but all Sloan could derive from her own interpretation was that he truly was finished with her. Without the familiar grasp against her wrists, she nearly erupted again only to drop both appendages to her sides in a universal symbol of defeat. Declaring without words that he had won; the only person who ever could. "No.” The concept of feeling better in any capacity after his betrayal simply resonated as laughable, were she in such a mood to cackle openly in his face. Truth be told, exhaustion overtook the brunette. Both from the evening’s events and emotionally, she had been stripped to the core by his words and careless disdain--- raw in all the ways she feared. “You were supposed to be my person.” For the first time, her words were not shouted in his face nor tossed about with accusations lacing every syllable. “You shared my bed for five years, met my parents, hunted by my side, and I told you more than I’ve dared to tell anyone. I let you into my world. How could you do that to me?” Easily, it seemed. After all, she had been the prime instructor on how to warp a situation to one’s advantage, to leech resources from another, and then disappear without notice. Her greatest pupil and her biggest downfall. “I don’t ever want to see you again after tonight.” No more rides. No more showing up where she hunted. Whatever organ resided within her chest, it fractured and splintered each time they reconnected... And she couldn’t swallow the pain anymore.

[sloanrivera]

nixonreynolds‌:

“I’m one hundred and twenty six. Soon to be twenty seven. Forever stuck at twenty five.” He managed a smile, raising an eyebrow at Sloan as she mentioned the alcohol. He almost wished he could feel the burn for her sake, “Like your blood? Or something else, doll?”

"Funny, you don’t look a day over twenty-nine.” Fingertips drummed along the curvature of her glass. “Like I told you the night of our first meeting, we’re a one and done in that department. I was thinking something on the rocks, unless that doesn’t quite match your palette.”