Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable of Teen Wolf or MTV. Interpretations of Japanese myths and folklore are my own, but not the myths and legends themselves.
The original characters and subplot pertaining to those characters are of my own making I claim ownership of nothing else.
Important Information:
Misaki: (Japanese, 御先, "Misaki") are a collective term for spirit-like existences in Japan like gods, demons, and spirits, among other supernatural entities. Their name comes from a kannushi's vanguard.
Baku: (獏or貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares. According to legend, they were created by the spare pieces that were left over when the gods finished creating all other animals.
They have a long history in Japanese folklore and art, and more recently have appeared in Japanese anime and manga. Legend has it, that a person who wakes up from a bad dream can call out to Baku.
For example, a child having a nightmare in Japan will wake up and repeat three times, "Baku-san, come eat my dream." Legends say that the Baku will come into the child's room and devour the bad dream, allowing the child to go back to sleep peacefully.
However, calling to the Baku must be done sparingly, because if he remains hungry after eating one's nightmare, he may also devour their hopes and desires as well, leaving them to live an empty life.
The Baku can also be summoned for protection from bad dreams prior to falling asleep at night. In the 1910s, it was common for Japanese children to keep a Baku talisman at their bedside.
(In this instance I use them as supernatural people with the ability to walk in peoples dreams and gain strength from devouring their nightmares, in other words, their heightened emotions.
There are also some that feed off the hopes and desires for an extra boost. The idea can be compared to a Vampire choosing to drink blood from humans [ergo killing them] and choosing to drink from animals [less filling, but more morally acceptable.)
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~.~
"I just wanna dive in the water with you
Baby, we can't see the bottom
It's so easy to fall for each other
I'm just hoping we catch one another."
~.~
-Cheat Codes "No Promises
(feat. Demi Lovato)
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This must be one of the most awkward car rides I have ever been on. It's been silent since I told him I needed to go to 'Ms. Kay's Diner' for an interview.
Ash was currently looking out the window, and Stiles was drumming his fingers on the steering wheel lost in thought.
Which was fine because so was she, the scenery of blurry greens flashing by was enough for her to get lost in.
Beacon Hills had a feel to it, one she hadn't felt since Japan truthfully. Her family had lived in a traditional house on the fringes of Yakushima Island. There were several different Kodama, Baku, and other Misaki residing in the gated community they lived in.
A Moidon offering protection owned the land of which the compound lay upon, in return for caretakers and festivals in its name. Her family had lived peacefully there until she was ten, and then Dad got an offer from some law firm opening in America. You could say it was the beginning of the end.
The car turned on to a different road, and the trees started thinning out to make room for houses and markets. The lack of monotonous green blurs broke Ash out of her musings.
It took her a while to realize she had started moving her head along to the beat his hands played. Wait, her brows furrowed, is this the Star Wars opening song? The thought struck her as Ash recognized the song, and she couldn't help herself. She snorted and started chuckling under her breath. Of all the things she thought could happen, listening to Stiles give a, very on beat, drum performance of the Main Title was not what she imagined.
Ash turned her head away from the window and stared at Stiles, looking at him as though this was the first time she's ever looked upon him.
Dad loved Star Wars.
"What?" He asks, looking a bit nervous, "Is there something on my face? Ohmygod, there's a spider on my face, isn't there?" he asked, panicked, turning the wheel to pull over, "where is it?! I knew I felt something!"
Don't laugh.
She laughed, grabbing the steering wheel lightly with her right hand laying over his; Ash gently pulls it back towards the road before he can get the car to the side of the street.
Thank god there's no one on the road right now. "Stiles," she says, laughing softly, interrupting his staring at her hand atop his, "There's no spiders on your face, just moles Stilinski, just moles."
His mouth dropped open, "Then why were you staring at me!?" he said exasperatedly, gently dislodging her hand from the wheel and pulling the car over anyway; he turned it off and looked at Ash expectantly.
Don't. He's human.
She ignores her more logical half; she's boring anyway.
"What?" She asks mock affronted, "I'm not allowed to stare at cute boys now?"
Don't forget; Dad was human too.
His mouth drops open for the second time today, and he was left speechless, staring at her. Ash wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
"You're shitting me right now, aren't you?" He asks as a flush slowly makes its way up his neck.
"A little," She brought up her index finger and thumb, "but not for the reasons you're thinking," Ash amends, knowing he probably thought she was joking when she called him cute. "You're still pretty cute, but that's not why I was staring."
He gulps and looks at her confused before his expression clears up, and he looks stunned when the first few notes of the Star Wars Main Title sounds from her throat.
Leaning back in the passenger's seat, Ash relaxes her body into the soft leather, still humming the tune.
It was silent in the car for a few seconds before the sound of the ignition starting shook the Jeep. It only took a few more seconds after, for Stiles to start back up with the rhythm, the drumming starting in tune with her quiet humming, filling the Jeep with a promising, unorthodox, duet.
It was a silent ride after that, but the awkwardness was gone, and something warm, something soft, simmered in the air between them.
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~.~
"Baby, I think about you, and I feel it
Deep in my heart
Maybe we just ain't meant to be something
Maybe we are?"
~.~
-Cheat Codes, "No Promises
(feat. Demi Lovato)
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Ms. Kay's Dinner was one of the few genuinely retro diners left in Beacon Hills. It was founded by Kathleen Richards or as her more common moniker Ms. Kay, in 1967.
She was 25 when her diner became an instant hit, opening night. It's been thriving ever since−or so Ash read on the laminated card standing on the table of their booth.
Stiles and Ash arrived at Ms. Kay's about twenty minutes ago. They ended up getting a spot to sit down while they waited for the owner to call her name for the interview. There were three other candidates for the position as a waitress.
The card wasn't lying, Ms. Kay's was really popular.
This is going to be a long wait.
She let out a sigh and tilted her head back to lie on the booth's headrest. She could feel Stiles' gaze boring into her as he fidgeted with everything he could find, even his own hands.
He's so bored waiting with me, he can't stay still.
"You don't have to wait with me, you know. I can hitch a ride on the bus to get home." Ash said, still looking at the ceiling. She can feel him shift ever so slightly in his seat, and the rapid tapping on the table stops abruptly. Ash drops her head back down to look at him, "if you're bored, you don't have to stay."
He opens his mouth to speak, "I, uh, have ADHD," he says, nodding his head along to some song from the '60s; it was playing on the old jukebox in the corner of the diner. "I can't really stay still that long."
"Yeah?" She asks, he nods. Ash notices that he's hands are still as they're talking, and his leg stopped bouncing. "Does talking stop your fidgeting?"
"Huh?" he looks down at his hands to watch them not move, "Huh, not really. I'm just trying to pick you apart seven ways 'til Sunday, and it's taking up a lot of my focus," he says honestly.
"Pick me apart?Like, analyze me?"
"Yeah. I mean, come on, who moves to Beacon Hills without reason? Nobody, okay, nobody moves to Beacon County without chasing something." He states vehemently, looking pretty sure of himself and his statement.
Well, he's not wrong, she thinks, as the Nemeton comes to mind. Ash nods her head, "You're right, I'm chasing a second chance at life," he looks confused but intrigued. He raises his eyebrows questioningly, a sign for more information.
Ash sighs and wets her bottom lip, "My parents died, and I've been trying to escape anything that reminds me of them—" and the hunters from discovering my continued survival.
Interesting how the lies that fall from her mouth are no longer lies. She may have started running because of the hunters, but she kept running 'cause it was so much easier than stopping and having to think over her family's demise.
"Hence, the new city," he finishes, a look passing over his face, one she couldn't identify.
"The new state," Ash corrects sardonically, "I'm an overachiever," She jokes wryly with a small fist pump and a shake of her head.
Or a trainwreck waiting to happen.
He snorts loudly enough to attract attention from the three other candidates sitting nearby, their heads snap in his direction.
Both Stiles and Ash duck down in their seats, his eyes are wide with embarrassment and hers with merriment.
"They have bat ears," he whispers accusingly, but his eyes are soft and amused.
She laughs softly, "No, you're just loud." He huffs out a chuckle and runs his hand through his short hair.
Looking at him, here in this moment, Ash feels light.
The soft washes of sunset hues splash like a watercolor painting across his face, highlighting the contours of his features, and caresses the smooth plains of his cheeks. It feels as though all the color in the world has gained new depth, a unique three dimensional quality to it.
Everything is somehow brighter.
It was listening to him babble about the science behind Molotov cocktails that Ash had a distant feeling that this was leading her somewhere, where? She wouldn't know, but in this frozen minute, she believes, was like the start of something indescribable.
Koi No Yokan, the premonition of falling in love.
It was with this thought that a feeling not unlike fear touched her heart.
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~.~
"oh, na na, just be careful, na na
Love ain't simple, na na
Promise me no promises."
~.~
- Cheat Codes "No Promises
(feat. Demi Lovato)
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Notes:
Koi no Yokan: n. The feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them.
Video to watch:
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180103-the-untranslatable-japanese-phrase-that-predicts-love