Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, there's reference to child abduction and Deaton's overall shadiness. Oh, and a small child says a cuss word. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: While I was writing this one, I wanted Stiles to, like, bite Deaton or kick him. Sadly, that did not work out. (On a completely separate topic, did you know that character archetypes exist in the inverse? As a random example, where the Sage character exists to provide advice & information to the protagonist, the False Sage would either give bad advice/information, withhold crucial information, or be cryptic to the point of causing confusion.)
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Quidditch League (Post S10); Hogwarts 2.0 (Term 01); RAVEN (2023); MC4A (Wi-Y6)
Individual Challenges: Red Instead; Straight Outta Myth; Condiment Shelf; Missing Link; Pet Food; Vegetable Broth; Coupons; Gift Wrapped; Fruit Stand; Quaffles; Bludgers; Purple Scholar; Feather Head; Polygon; Magical MC; No School MC; New Fandom Smell (Y); Cinematic; Binger; Alpha & Omega; Feathers & Such; Small Fry (Y); Tossed Chum (Y); Elder Berries (Y); Shifter MC; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Bucket Listing; The Story Goes On; Eating Cake (Y); Exchange (Y); Greatest Gift (Y); Green Ribbon; Two Cakes (Y); Crack Addict; Salt Wrench; Ship Sails; Shoppe; Lunar Era; Rainbow Connection; Hold the Mayo
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Term 01-08
Subject [Task (Prompt)]: Film Studies [Task#2 (a battle of some sort)]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Gather [Bonus (Barbarian)](having a thick skin);
Post Season QL Challenges: Bingo [D5](Receiving a Gift)
RAVEN Challenges: Colors [143](Tangerine); Items [142](Ukulele); Settings [132](Synagogue)
Other MC4A Challenges: Chim [Bugwort]("The Anonymous Ones" – Dear Evan Hansen; Turned Left Instead AU; Race Bend); Hunt [Wi WD (Judaism); Wi Set (Tense); Wi Items (Crystal/Stone)]; Fire [x3](All New World); Garden [Service Sector (Arguing/Debating); Pot Garden (Quiet); Remember (Small Town); Web of Life (Strangers); Moar Tropes (Mama Bear); Aya's Quartern Blend (Autistic)]; Harvest [A&B (Arguing/Debating; Playing an Instrument); AUs (Omegaverse); C&CTs (Jewish; Talkative); Fandoms (Fantasy Genre); Items (Jacket/Coat); R&E (Stranger); Settings (Store/Shop); Tropes (Pre-Canon Divergence)]; Hang [Phrase1](n/a); Soup [Q (Quartz); U (Ukulele); E (Enemies); E (Energetic); N (Nurturing)]; Swap [Accessories (Lime Green Scarf); Outerwear (Brown Coat); Tops (White Dress Shirt); Bottoms (Khaki Slacks; Gray Maxi Skirt)]; Shop [ND (Autism); ReCu (Judaism; Paganism); R&E (Black); GSRM (Bi/Pan)]
Representation(s): Claudia Stilinski & Mieczylaw "Stiles" Stilinski; Alan Deaton; Jewish Stilinskis; Witch Shop; AuDHD Child vs Shady Druid
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Hot Stuff; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; Unwated Advice; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Trickster's Union; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Rock of Ages; Dog Star; Uncivil Obedience; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Surprise!; Seven Gates; Sitting Hummingbird; Getting On; Not Mozart)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Negate); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Orator; Oust); HoSE (Schooner; Sanctuary); SHoE (n/a); War (Monomania; Orator; Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Enfant); Mea (Ennui; Rampant); Wings (n/a); SHare (Passacaglia; Ameliorate; Dragoman; Augur); DP (Yearn)
Space Address (Prompt): FaB [1E](Brown); Set [3C](Synagogue); WiB [3B](Heart); Vocab [1A](Tangent)
Word Count: 1182 words
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Shady Shades
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Beacon Hills was on the cusp between large town and small city. It only had its own fire brigade because that was not something that really could be shared among the other townships in the county. Ambulance services were tied directly to Beacon Hills Memorial and did serve the entirety of Beacon County, because it was the closest hospital until halfway through the next county. The sheriff department covered all of Beacon County, even if nearby Beacon Valley and Redding had their own police departments.
It was not large enough to have any formal religious facility. Beacon Valley had both a synagogue and a Buddhist temple while Redding had a wider range of churches and a single mosque. The need to drive to Beacon Valley for Shabbat service meant that Saturdays in the Stilinski household were not for sleeping in like they were at the McCalls. Noah tried to have the day off, but most of the time, it just wasn't possible. So oftentimes, the trip was just for Claudia and Mischief. Claudia would often choose her tichel to match whichever kippah Mischief picked to wear that week. Today's choices were both lime green with tangerine betta fish embroidered on them.
After Kiddush had wrapped up, Claudia would often take advantage of being in the larger township to shop for things not readily available in the shops in Beacon Hills. Mischief especially liked exploring the less familiar places. The little boy would never stray far enough that she couldn't summon him by saying his name. He did have a tendency to touch everything in order to examine it. Mischief was as tactile as he was clever.
There was a particular shop that Claudia visited a few times a month, though rarely on Saturdays when she had Mischief with her. It was not the type of shop that would be safe for curious little fingers. But Etienne Reynard was the best at what he did, and Claudia had a feeling that she shouldn't worry Noah about what she suspected before she knew for certain. She left Mischief in the front of the store sorting the tumbled stones while she got examined. Reynard's assistant, strumming off-key on a guitar at the register, knew to keep an eye on the boy.
"Do you like crystals?"
Mischief glanced up at the speaker. His gaze swept over the man, filing away the bland details in case he needed them, before dismissing him in favor of the irregularly shaped pebbles in the bin. He sorted out fire agates from moss agates and aventurine from both. Green was his current favorite color. Too many things were red right now, and green reminded him of Mama's garden. Green was a good color.
"You know, it's rude to ignore someone who is speaking to you."
"You know, it's suspicious for an adult to talk to a child they don't know." Mischief didn't bother raising his gaze from the bin of stones as he continued on his tangent. "Stranger danger is the phrase in the manuals, even if that isn't statistically accurate. Most child abductions are actually perpetuated by a person known to the child. Either way, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"Well, my name is Alan Deaton. If you tell me your name, then we won't be strangers."
Mischief did glance up then, just to reaffirm what he had previously filed away. The man looked so earnest that it was almost painful. There was not anything about him which made him distinctively memorable. He was neither old nor young; neither handsome nor ugly; and his skin was that shade where it could easily pass for any ethnicity but definitely one that most would label as Black. He was almost perfectly forgettable. Even his dark brown coat over a white dress shirt and khaki slacks were unremarkable. Unfortunately for this man, Mischief was particularly good at noticing and memorizing oddities, especially ones that wanted to stay hidden.
"There's more to identity than a name," Mischief said as he focused back on his sorting. "Not to mention that people can have many names with many purposes. Mama has several for me; Daddy only has two. I could call you Mr. Shady McShady, and it would mean as much as the name you just gave me. Probably more actually." He looked over the stones in the bin. "They're not really crystals, you know. Most of what's in here are types of chalcedony. They are non-crystalline mineraloids, not crystals. If you're going to suspiciously talk to kids, you should probably go with the more traditional ruse of lost pet or free candy. You might be more successful."
"I'm not trying to abduct you."
"Good," Mischief said with a sharp nod. He sorted out a particularly large fire agate. It was a deep emerald with a streak of crimson down the center that looked like the pupil of a cat's eye. He set it on the rim of the bin on the side away from the man. Maybe Mama would be willing to get it for him. "Daddy says that my elbows and knees are lethal weapons. Also, I'm a little shit."
"I'm sure that you're not that bad," Deaton rushed to reassure him. Mischief gave him the same blank look that he had seen his father give the old deputy who made the comments about what he'd like to do to Talia Hale that Mischief wasn't supposed to hear. The man twitched as the silence stretched out.
"Mr. McShady—"
"Deaton," he corrected with fake gentleness. Mischief rolled his eyes.
"Mr. McShady, who would knows me better: the adult who just met me? Or me and my parents?" Mischief scoffed. The answer should be obvious even to someone who couldn't identify amorphous rocks when they were clearly labeled. He turned back to sorting the stones. "I'm a little shit."
"Language, mały lis," scolded his mother as she came up the aisle behind Deaton. She stepped around the man in a tidy maneuver that Mischief barely looked up in time to catch. He wanted learn how to do that. He probably would have knocked into either Deaton or one of the shelves that made up the aisle. "You know better than to repeat those kinds of words."
"But it's true!" Mischief protested. "Daddy says so!"
"I know, kitling," she said. She ruffled his dark curls before running her hand down to his nape. "But that doesn't mean that you should repeat it. Now, did you find anything you wanted?"
"This one," he announced, quickly holding up the fire agate he had set aside. She smiled down at him. Her smile grew both wider and colder as she turned it towards Deaton. It was so big that her front teeth were showing.
"You'll have to excuse us, Alan," she said mildly. She brushed imaginary lint off of her long smoky gray skirt. "We have other places to be. I'm sure you understand."
After they checked out and were headed out the door, Mischief turned back and waved at Deaton.
"Bye, Mr. McShady. Don't forget: lost pet or free candy. Much better ruses!"