#agent chimera

[octobertomarch]

A simple fanart I've done which will also be part of a bigger fanart 🤩🤩😍

[the-roanoke-society]

i want to know more about a camping trip w/ devil bois tht you mentioned in the tags!!

well you’re in luck because there are s e v e r a l. however! in the interest of not stepping on other peoples’ canons—because, after all, i’d love best to hear those stories from the agents who were there themselves—the tale i’m about to tell you features our darling boys and our token exorcist.

seraphim is excellent with demonology, but she is absolutely susceptible to the charms of the fae folk—and creatures like them.

she’d been freshly granted the title of ‘senior’ the first time she went camping with xander and jd. it’d been lilith’s idea. between centralia and enoch, seraphim’s promotion hadn’t been entirely positive—more stressful than anything.

“you two are our best outdoorsmen,” lilith said quietly to jd, one quiet fall afternoon. “i think some time out in the wild will do her some good. xander said you were thinking of going out to one of the lakes this weekend? i know this is probably like asking you to take your little sister with you, but—“

but jd grinned. ever good-natured, ever understanding. “don’t worry about it. we ah, heard about what happened the last time she went camping. probably a good idea that she has someone out with her.” spoiler alert: it was Not Good. but that’s another story.

to their credit, everything actually went well for the first chunk of the trip! seraphim’s a little shy when she meets new people, but xander was the one that eventually had her singing along with him, “i’m so fancy, you already know—!” by the time they’d gotten to their reserved site by the edge of cloud lake, it felt like she’d known them for ages, the chill of pennsylvania forgotten for the moment.

the place where they set up camp (“what do i do with this?” “… morgan when’s the last time you put up a tent?” “… uh.” “here, let me have that—“) was a small clearing that jd had found on a hike, near where the mouth of the beargrass river met the lake. if they followed the river farther into the surrounding woods, they’d eventually find a small waterfall, flowing over the lip of a jagged, rocky outcrop.

jd’d—always thought it was a bit strange. the rest of the forest that he’d seen was either flat, or gently rolling. this was the only part of the land that had such an abrupt rise, and fall.

but landscapes were just landscapes and he knew that nature wasn’t exactly one to give a fuck.

jd had only a vague knowledge of centralia, knew that it aged people. but as he watched his boyfriend and seraphim walk along the river underneath the light of a bright afternoon sun—it was like watching the years fall off of her.

and xander, well—

“did you just check out my ass?”

“…”

“honestly, can’t blame you, let’s be honest here, it is pretty fantastic.”

the love of his life, a new friend, and perfect weather.

this was perfect.

“ohhhh my gosh look at the waterfall!” seraphim squealed as they rounded a bend in the trail, grinning broadly. “does it have a name, jd?”

“not one that i’ve ever heard spoken out loud.”

“cryptic answer, all right, i dig it. oh, have you ever been around to the back of it?”

jd frowned, looking towards the falls. had—had there always been a path of stones along the water’s edge, leading towards the cliff? did he just not notice before?

“uh—no. no i haven’t.”

“cool, i’mma go back there.”

“uh, morgan, wait a second—“ but jd was interrupted by xander’s lips on his, his eyes closing to the taste of his mouth. he didn’t see seraphim stepping carefully over each stone, finally disappearing behind the falling white of the water. his entire world filled with xander’s arms around his waist and the smell of his cologne.

“you can let her explore for one second,” xander murmured. jd could hear the smile curving over his words. “i’m a little surprised that she’d be up to heading right back into the unknown, y’know, considering.”

“she’s a senior agent now, xander.”

“i know that, but still.”

jd kissed him one more time before finally glancing over his shoulder. “… hmm.”

“what?”

“i just—i don’t remember there ever being a path like that to the waterfall.” jd shook his head, “i’ve been up here plenty, you’d think i’d remember coming across something like that. and i mean, i’ve brought you up here, too, do you remember seeing that the last time we were here?”

but xander’s eyes were wider than they were a second ago, his face a bit paler. “… like they just appeared when we brought morgan?”

it dawned on jd slowly. “… hey so let’s go back there.”

“yep, yes, please.”

xander led the way over the stones, his eyes cast downward as he went. they looked normal enough. sort of. how many times had he seen rocks cut like commercial garden stones just out and pressed into the dirt like this? they looked worn, old.

like they’d been here the whole time.

and it did get dark as they walked into the back of the falls, the cliff opening up into a kind of corridor into the side of the hill—but it didn’t stay that way. the rush of the water covered the sounds of their footsteps, but as soon as it dimmed, xander spoke.

“—honey?” he blinked, staring down into what looked like the soft glow of neon. “do you smell that?”

“yeah.” jd crinkled his nose, and their pace quickened, because it definitely didn’t smell like moss, or damp, or petrichor, it smelled like—

a bar.

they’d walked into a bar.

the rock of the cavern gave way to something that gleamed like polished marble. the long countertop itself was all black and chrome, lit by several neon signs bolted into the back wall; they all looked like brands of liquor, but none that either of them had ever heard of, or seen before at any of the bars in the city. there was no sound except for the faint sound of the falls, and it felt alien in a distinctly uncomfortable way.

the change was—jarring.

which meant that they didn’t immediately see seraphim sitting on a stool, facing away from them—or the bartender.

“… oh! well you didn’t tell me you brought friends, sweetheart!”

his hair was the same color as the lake water, piled up in tall, thick curls on top of his head. his skin was too pallid, his eyes were too big, too wide, and he was standing wiping a towel inside of glass over and over and over again. his teeth ended in delicate points, as did his ears.

“oh i think the fuck not,” xander muttered. but then seraphim turned around—“ohhhhh boy.”

her pupils were so wide that he couldn’t see any brown anymore. “oh hi guys!” her words weren’t slurred, not exactly, but she definitely didn’t sound sober. “this is my new friend, uh—i’m sorry what did you say your name was again?” she rested her chin on one hand, leaning forward over the counter, and looking desperately in love with the bartender. she had a tall, narrow glass at her elbow filled almost to the top with something frothy and smoky grey.

jd had already begun walking towards her.

“it’s just el, darling, just el. now,” and he had the audacity to pout, reaching out to push the glass further towards her hand, “you promised you’d try my new recipe. please, please, just take a tiny sip—“

“no, no, no, no, no, no,” that finally broke xander out of his mixture of awe and with every step he took, another “no” echoed through the bar. jd had his hands on seraphim’s shoulders and was trying to tug her away, but it wasn’t until on the sixteenth (seventeenth?) “no” when xander took the glass and sent it sliding all the way down  to the opposite end of the counter. (“heeeyyyy that was mine!” seraphim whined, but jd yanked her back as she reached for it.)

el didn’t even have the space to argue, because xander knew exactly what he was doing. “fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you dick, you absolute dick, no, no, fuck you—“

there were a few rules he’d learned in his time with roanoke. one was that with anything you thought was even a little bit fae, you never even gave them the chance to argue with you. you did not shut up. you were as obnoxious as possible. secondly, you absolutely never drank or ate anything they offered you.

and the third he remembered as he saw jd walking backwards towards the entrance, the exorcist stumbling along with him.

never turn your back on them.

not in situations like this.

el watched them leave, pissed off and very, very insistent on telling him off (although his eyes, jd noticed, lingered on seraphim’s face—or at least, he thought they were, it was hard to tell where exactly he was looking due to the lack of pupils). xander didn’t stop talking until he felt the water of the falls hitting the back of his head. “—fuck you, fuck youuuoohhh my god, okay, that was weird, that was super fucking weird, we have to tell lilith this guy is out here, and… oh.” jd had seraphim gently lowered to the ground at the base of a tree, her head lolling forward. “is she—“

“morgan. morgan. hey.” jd lifted up her face with his hands and the relief he felt when he saw her eyes flutter back open—irises back to their normal size—was acute. “oh, thank god—“

she blinked, looking around. “i—what happened? did i pass out or something? what’s wrong with you two? you look like someone walked over your grace.”

xander’s gaze kept flitting between xander’s back and the waterfall, but nobody—and nothing—came out. seraphim followed his eyes. “oh what a pretty waterfall! oh, hey, there’s a path, have you e—“

“NO.”

“i was just asking a question don’t yell at me!”

[agent-chimera]

1, 8, 10, 12

1. How do they handle heartbreak?

Not well. Xander will swear off relationships and dating. He gets very extra, he wallows and binges netflix and eats way too much ice cream

8. What is a bad habit of theirs?

his bad habit would be that he's impulsive. He has little to no impulse control and it often causes problems

10. Do they prefer hot or cold weather?

Cold, Xander likes wearing sweaters and wrapping himself up in lots of blankets

12. What song would they sing their heart out at karaoke?

Here I go again by Whitesnake

[agent-hood]

The start of something

“So when did you first notice something was strange?” The agent asked as he tapped his pen mindlessly against his notepad. He had hoped his last assignment before retiring would have been to finally train his replacement, but Lilith hadn’t chosen anyone on the grounds of all the potential recruits not being ‘suitable’. He would have questioned her judgement, but he didn’t get to be the longest serving ‘Hood’ in roster by doing foolish things like that.

“It started when he was about three months old.” The girl before him said, hesitant and anxious, but completely at ease with the fact that her puppy was a sort of grim reaper. He could barely get out his handle and purpose after she answered the door before her eyes hardened. Still, she was compliant and made him an excellent cup of tea (how she knew he preferred two lemon slices was beyond him).

“One day I came home from class and he just wasn’t there. And there was no way he could have gotten out, and there were no signs of a break in or anything. He came home a few hours later, right as I was about to head out to put up some ‘missing’ posters. And after a few more occurrences like that, I just... kind of accepted that he could.... I don’t know how to put it.”

“‘Come and go’?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Tell me about this most recent incident.”

“You mean Thursday? Well, it’s how I knew something was up. Hampton went ‘out’,” Agent Hood barely stifled a smile at the young woman’s use of exaggerated air quotations; he needed to treat this mission seriously even if it was his last one. “Only when he came back, he was whining and barking and wouldn’t calm down until I followed him.”

“And that’s when you found the body correct?”

“Well when you say ‘the body’ it makes it sound like the guy was dead, and he wasn’t. Close to it, but yeah- it was a homeless guy I had seen around the neighborhood for awhile. The EMTs said he had collapsed because of a lung infection but thankfully I found him when I did or else he could have died.”

“And you should be proud of what you did, especially considering that isn’t normal behavior for what your dog is.”

“...and what is he?”

“A psychopomp, a guide of dead spirits to their afterlife. More specifically, he’s a Bargheist, and Xander is going to have a hell of a time figuring out his behavior.”

“Why? Do I have to bring him in or something? Like an obedience class for Bargheists?” This was the part of the job he always hated. It was a real shame too, she seemed a nice enough girl who was taking this information surprisingly well. Apparently she was clever too, because she responded before he had a chance to phrase what was about to happen as delicately as possible.

“...please don’t take my dog. She pleaded, face wrenched tight in an effort to keep from crying.

“Please, he’s... he’s all I have right now.”

“Now now,” Agent Hood started the usual spiel of offering comfort, only to have her draw her shoulder away in an automatic act of defiance. ‘Quick reflexes’ he thought, adding to the catalogue of details about her. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. He’ll be well taken care of by people who know how.”

“But what about me? I... I know you probably don’t care but- he’s literally the only companionship I have in my life, and I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“You could get a roommate.”

“I’ve tried but, no body wants to live here since it’s so far from campus.”

“Join a school club.”

“I.... Ive tried that but it hard to stay in one when you’ve got classes and a full-time job.”

“Surely you’ve got some friends to reach out to.”

“I had one but he kind of went off the grid and it’s... difficult for me to make new ones. People generally find me unpleasant and forgettable as I’m sure you noticed.” Damn she was really selling her case. This kid could probably give Kieran a run for his money at having a way with words. Still... what he was considering wasn’t exactly protocol (and he didn’t feel like doing this the ‘hard’ way), so he had to make one more effort.

“I know you have family somewhere, maybe your brother-“

“You do not speak of him!” The sudden flare of command and aggression took him off guard, but she continued before he had a chance to respond. “Every time you ‘Roanoke’ people come around it’s always so obvious that all you really want is to get your hands on Carter! In fact- I bet there’s nothing about Hampton that needs your so-called ‘special care’. There is nothing you have to offer that I couldn’t do.”

And then it all clicked into place. Of course no other candidates were suited for his handle, because she hadn’t been recruited yet. Of course this would happen on his last mission before retirement; there was no better way to leave. And of course he wouldn’t get the time to train her- she didn’t need it. the look in her eye told him that she could take whatever it was they had to throw at her. He had just found his replacement.

“You make a compelling argument Miss Jensen, now will you please excuse me while I make a quick call. And then we can discuss further plans.” She swallowed thickly, face still tight and red from her outburst and being upset, but she nodded politely and made to go sit on the couch next to her pet, who seemed to exist in a world of bliss when she came over. This was the right course of action, he was sure of it- because who knows what kind of catastrophe would happen if he separated them.

“Hey patch me through to Lilith, let her know I think we found our new Agent Hood.”

[agents-of-virtue]

More Relationships

Since Roanoke is ever expanding, I added some of our new agents (plus some older ones I missed. Enjoy!

Jersey Devil (JD): Another person that is missing a chunk of their life? Annabelle would get along reasonably well with him. They could help each other with techniques for what to do when they remember something (Annabelle totally started keeping track of what she remembered in a journal, just like he does.) Come to think of it, JD, Nova, and Annabelle could start a club for people with missing chunks of personal history.

Phoenix: Annabelle is not very fond of immortals. She tends to keep away from him but when she can’t, she settles for staying at least out of reach. Immortals always hold so much emotional history/trauma that sometimes never get dealt with properly and she can’t handle being in the same room with all of that energy. She doesn’t know if he has a lot of emotional baggage, but she doesn’t really want to get close enough to find out.

Judas: Something about Judas intrigues her so much. (cough demon cough) She can feel that he’s suffering and that he’s try to repress it and she wants to help him. He probably doesn’t want her to get to close because I mean come on, Annabelle is such a cutie. So they both want to be around each other, but they kind of can’t be. Judas doesn’t want his demon coming out and Drake is very... Protective (read: territorial) of Annabelle. Though people being protective over her has never stopped her from doing things in the past.

Drake: Annabelle was very nervous around Drake at first. I mean, he was a cute boy, who was nice to her for like no reason, always tried to make her laugh, and always brought her coffee or candy. She wasn’t used to that! It took Succubus sitting her down and telling her that he likes her and explaining what it means to like a person (cue Anna modeling her relationship/romantic wants off of Rae and Harry) But once they finally get past their nerves, they are the cutest things. Although Drake is a bit territorial over her since he’s maybe payed a bit too much attention to Houdini’s drunken ramblings about how she has ‘wandering eyes’.

Mothman: Despite her close relationship with Specter, she’s not that close to Mothman. Maybe it’s because he looks intimidating to her? I mean, she’s not all that fond of people, guys specifically, that are really buff. Sentinel was a special case, but Mothman, even though he is an absolute sweetheart, just can’t seem to get close to her. Specter is trying to fix that though.

Chimera: Why must so many people in the manor like dogs? Why can’t more be sensible and like cats or turtles or something. Annabelle tends to stay far away from him, normally because wherever he is, dogs are sure to follow. Especially since The Incident. (Let’s just say that having an over excitable dog and a person who is deathly afraid of them in the same vicinity is not a good idea.) She thinks he’s okay, I mean, he’s nice to be around! It’s just... dogs.

[agent-seance]

Devil Bois Valentine’s Day 💚

@agent-jd

@agentondine requested it!

[the-roanoke-society]

Where are the trust building, bonding, getting to know each other, agency camping trip/survival trial headcanons? 🌲🛶⛺

in the interest of not stepping on others’ canons, i tried to keep these somewhat brief, fairly vague (and easily contestable, just in case). i love hearing canon from the agents’ themselves best, but before you go, there are a few things i like to think about…

- survival skills outside of relying on tech is a part of every agents’ training. with how often we’re tasked with tramping around deserts, mountains, coasts, it’s important to learn how to adapt and improvise with whatever materials you’ve got on hand. that is, everyone except iuniore, whom wendigo’s pretty insistent is not sent on missions into super rural areas, especially not alone. (“lil’ are you serious? she’s like barely four-eleven, what are you thinking? look, i could punt her across the yard right now, okay, she needs to stay close to home.”)

- naturally, some agents take this all on a bit better than others. seraphim and succubus are two of those agents, but they have the absolute worst luck out of the entire cast. if anything can go wrong, it’s going to go wrong when they’re the ones out camping. (“oh shut the f—oh, forget it, you’re right.”)

- on the flip side, the dynamic duo of the #devil bois, that is, jd and chimera? things fall into place for them so well on their missions outdoors that even lilith is impressed.

- whiskey may not be able to change appearance like houdini can, but he’s exceptionally adaptable when it comes to urban vs. rural environments. houdini—from what i recall—didn’t have the usual rough-and-tumble roanoke trial because she was with statesman, initially. but she’s still capable, still knowledgeable—whiskey taught her everything he could.

- lycan, similarly, didn’t really need a lot of survival training, having experience with taking care of herself out in the wilds of the world (obviously). it’s a well-known fact (“do you mean rumor or something?” “absolutely not.”) that she’s a good luck charm if you’re going out into the boonies. she can smell and see everything a lot of things you can’t, after all.

- everyone also knows that if you’re heading out more to relax and less for work, you always always go to the scribe downstairs. she knows all of the classic campfire stories, even ones not belonging to this century. she credits lilith with half.

- sprite’s main specialty is weaponry and defense, but she invented a laser pointer essentially for starting fires wherever you aim it. this is a fantastic invention, but the downside is that they’re roughly the length of a nail polish bottle and nearly impossible to keep track of. we started off with like ten and we’re down to six. where the other four went, who the fuck knows.

- specter’s been on enough trips with seance and crowley that she can safely tell you “i don’t—i don’t think they process temperature quite like mundane beings do.” cold? what’s that? hot? never met her! it’s hella convenient when shit happens way up north but it can be a little—unsettling to newer recruits.

- ondine’s been trying to figure out a way to, somehow, have a campout on the ocean floor. underwater. she hasn’t quite fit the mechanics together but damnit, there’s got to be a way!

- i wouldn’t say that agency camping trips are really a thing across the organization, since we’ve got to keep so many agents and officers around (you never know what could happen). but i will whole-heartedly endorse the idea of ‘family’ trips in the context of groups of people collectively asking for a long weekend to go into the mountains, or down to the beach, or into the dunes. rougarou, elfin, annabelle, hood and thorn take the absolute best group pictures on those trips, and seraphim knows because she sees them framed on desks, hung on walls. cherished.

- arizona and phoenix are also fans of getting out of dodge for a bit, but their activities to venture towards the uh—explicit. (oh, you two adventurous devils!)

- cherub’s one of the medical officers that tends to stay back around the estate, mostly out of a sharp loyalty to the people in the bay who she needs to watch over. but zed and roxy always bring her back a flower crown. turns out roxy’s an expert on flower weaving, who knew? she always insists on making them for zed (“you—make it feel like the sun’s in my chest, when i see you wear them, z.”). cherub magically preserves them so they stay just as fresh as when she got them.

- sentinel’s another agent that likes to bring back gifts. pressed flowers, crystals, herbs—his presents are all over archivist’s quarters. they help her pull through when he’s got to be out for weeks at a time.

- nova and charlie honestly have the most bizarre camping stories that i’ve ever heard. what do you mean there was a sandworm? you mean like in beetlejuice? wait were you somewhere like where beetlejuice is? is anyone surprised? anyone? no? okay, moving on.

- princess tilde’s not… a huge outdoors person. and pru is physically sturdy enough to withstand a lot of natural forces. but her visual feeds are full of flower gardens, white-painted gazebos and images that judas would easily describe as ‘aesthetically idyllic’—along with tilde’s unabashed grin. and pru decides that yes. this is just as wonderful. just as important. just as good.

[agent-chimera]

2, 6, 16!

2. Do they believe in luck?

Yes, he does. Xander believes in good luck, bad luck, fate, and destiny.

He also believes that he has/is bad luck.

6. When they have to dress up, what do they wear?

Xander likes wearing dress pants and button ups with colorful waistcoats. He will only wear a suit jacket if he absolutely has to.

16. What would their causal day clothes look like?

He likes being comfortable. So hoodies and sweat pants. He likes soft t-shirts and jogging shorts. He also likes hiking attire for when he goes out in the woods.