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[hollowly]

Normally, I would think what I'm about to ask is an odd question, but given the location and the circumstances, maybe not so much.

( this is gonna make for a good first poke at the network, innit, sammy? )

How many of you actually know about monsters? Spirits, things that go bump in the night, that sort of thing? Because where I'm from, they're pretty common, and I've noticed from meeting others here that it isn't that way for everyone.

( which is how it should be, if you ask him. nobody should know that the thing in their closet is real. )

Next question. Would anyone be interested in learning about things like that, and how to protect yourself against them?

( there. it's out there. he's doing a good thing. )

Comments

[krangke]

(See, they might just get along yet. Newt's still a little wary about the whole hunting monsters thing but hey. Sam seems kind and intelligent. Newt will trust that eventually.

Excuse you Newt is a grown baby man. He is at least seventeen or eighteen. Not everyone can have the natural skin and facial structure of a ten year old. With the billowing build of a giraffe whoops. The sass can't be tamed. It's like Miley warned us.) Oh have you now?

(He does not look impressed just to spite your joy, Sam. Although he actually is impressed and as much can be told depending on how observant Sam is. Newt's shoulders straighten out a bit and he leans forward ever so slightly, intrigued.)

I can certainly help if you ever need it. I've gotten good with sketching too so there can even be pictures.

[hollowly]

( sam tends to have an issue with making and keeping friends, if only by dint of everyone that has ever associated themselves with him for an extended period of time has ended up with something terrible happening to them. jess, sarah, madison - okay, so those were just romantic interests because he hasn't exactly made that many friends in the past years, but it's still a track record, and one that he wishes he didn't have to claim.

so. let's tread lightly, here. not get too far ahead of ourselves. pray to any god listening that sam can finally have one friend and keep it without something horrible happening.

but a grown baby man, you say? have fun being almost half his age, kid. ( sam, maybe you need to think about making friends a little bit closer to your own age? no? ok. ) but fear not, newt. this one had a baby face and the limbs of a giraffe until well into his late teens, so there's hope for you yet.

just don't grow anymore. you're going to look like someone put you in a taffy pulling machine and let it go.

sam is observant, and he very rarely takes something at face-value - so that blatant unimpressed look doesn't mean much. newt's posture is easy, laid back, something a little more relaxed than it had been previously. they're actually getting somewhere. )

Mhm. And you know, I didn't even think about visual aid - that would be pretty great. ( a pause, and a knowing little grin. ) Just don't expect to get paid.

[krangke]

(Newt was actually quite skilled at making friends. Then again, you wake up with amnesia with a bunch of other boys with amnesia and you will just kind of pick up on making friends real quick. He was stupidly loyal as well and no doubt would apply that same loyalty to Sam the close the two of them became. He already knew he liked the guy. Newt might be another tally to add to Sam's list of unfortunate friends but Newt was kind of an unfortunate human being. His brain was a ticking time bomb and it was only a matter of time before he got sick again. But hey. At least that wouldn't be Sam's fault.

Thankfully death isn't permanent here though, right? Right? Counts for something!

Excuse you but Newt is extremely mature for his age, thank you very much. Which actually is pretty true despite any teenage boy tendencies.

He'll try. Reaaaally hard.

Newt smirks a little bit at Sam's confession to not having thought about visual aid.)

Not much of a bestiary without some visuals now is it? I don't think you're a professional at all.

(Jeez, Newt. But he grins right back and then outright laughs, something light and short.)

Thankfully for you, I've got no bloody concept of paying someone for stuff. I'll just do it for free and you can take advantage of my incredibly generous heart.

[hollowly]

( now, that's one thing that can be said for sam, despite his social ineptitude; once you've managed to earn his trust, get inside the personal space bubble that is reserved for maybe a handful of people and little more, you're pretty much there for good. it takes a lot to break his loyalty, and even then – taking certain things from his past into consideration – he'll give countless attempts at earning it back, even once it's been broken. ( the very same could be said for how many times he's asked for the chance to do things over, to make amends, giving just as much as he gets.

but that's neither here nor there. ) another tally on the list of unfortunate friends or not, once they actually get to the friend stage of their interactions, he gets the feeling that here will be little that could break them apart, already feeling a tentative bond forming between them. and over something as simple as monsters.

who'd have known?

he tries to look offended, he really does! but the joking game is much too strong, and he simply laughs it off with a shake of his head. ) Hey, I'm no artist. When you don't have the knack for it, it tends to slip your mind. ( you should see some of the scribbles in john's journal. quite frankly, the winchesters can probably barely get away with trying for stick figures. )

Eh, I'm not in the habit of taking advantage of people. ( his grin turns into a smirk. ) I'll find a way to make us even. Somehow.

[krangke]

(Frankly, there's two types of loyalty Newt has. For the most part, all of the boys got the first brand of loyalty that he had. The kid was basically mother hen to all of them and they might as well be like his kids or little siblings for how he looked out after them. They were his responsibility. Point blank. Simple as that. But then there were his actual friends, the people he actively sought out and talked to and sat with. Now they....They were special.

Monsters were always worth bonding over in Newt's humble opinion. The kid had pretty mixed ideas about monsters. He partly loved them and partly was frightened of them. It depended on the monster.

So hey don't be so shocked there mister. When Sam breaks the game with a laugh, Newt laughs too, his nose crinkling up and his shoulders shaking.) Okay, okay. That's fine. I'll go out and ask one of the giant bats if I can draw their picture.

(Actually he didn't have to. He already had a drawn picture of some of the monsters. Kid was ten steps ahead. But then again this is someone who had detailed maps of the tunnels too so yanno.)

Well in that case I'll be sure to remember you said that. Don't think I'm not above putting you to work. You look strong. Maybe I'll force you to help me in the garden sometime.

[hollowly]

( that second sort of loyalty is the sort of thing that comes so infrequently to sam that he sometimes forgets that it's a thing. the people he can trust that deeply he can count on one hand, even if he's getting the feeling that there might be something budding here with this one – but he doesn't dare to hope, not really, because things never quite work out that well for him and if he lets himself get his hopes up, he's left wanting for the things he can never keep and it weighs on him more heavily than he would care to admit.

but, hey. bonding over monsters can't be all that bad, especially when they seem to have already fabricated the sort of rapport that makes it easy to banter back and forth like they are right now. he isn't quite sure what he's been expecting from the start of this conversation, but it's morphed into something else entirely, and he can't very well say that he isn't glad newt had decided to chime in with his two cents. )

Make sure you get its good side. I don't want any less-than-stellar sketches to go into this thing. ( a beat, and with the utmost sincerity – even if he's still being a little shit: ) I have my standards.

( sam winchester!!

he tries his best to look a little miffed at what comes next, because he'll never be anyone's moose mule, but he has to admit that the sound of working in a garden sounds strangely cathartic. )

I'm never above manual labor. ( another beat. ) But you have a garden? You're actually growing stuff down here?

[krangke]

(Hope was destructive but hope also kept people going. Newt could never blame someone for trying not to hope too much though. He'd had enough of his own days where he'd chosen the dismal path above and beyond the more hopeful, inspiring one. Newt had met incredible people in this place though. He had formed bonds he had never, ever imagined that he would ever have the chance to form. Anything was possible as far as he was concerned.

Sam, Newt has now discovered, is one of those rare breeds that is an absolute delight to tease because Sam dishes it right back. Newt feeds off that kind of intellectualism. He adores any time someone can give it back to him because he's on the serving end enough times that after a while, it gets quite bland always being the only smartass in a room.)

That's incredibly rude of you, Sam. All of its sides are good sides. These monsters are beautiful creatures.

(Newt gives a very exaggerated sniff. He crosses his arms pointedly over his chest and turns his face away and yup- lifts his chin in the slightest little show of defiance.)

Please. I am the standard.

(Newt. Newt.

Please. Everyone is Newt's mule.)

Yes. I have a garden. I've had a garden for a while. It's not very big but it's down by the lake. I built an irrigation system and all. You sound so surprised. I am a man of many talents, you know. And...also, the gods were courteous enough to provide seeds.

[hollowly]

( there is one thing that he has to say about this place – he's also met people in this place that he can't possibly think he would have had the chance to anywhere else, and it's not exactly something that he can't be grateful for. he's already learned so much, about both the people themselves and the apparent different worlds that exist beyond his own, and he will never be able to say that walking away from any situation with more knowledge than he went in with is a bad thing.

and there's also the fact that he's made some friends – real friends – that he would not have had the luxury of anywhere else. so there's a reason for the hope he clings to without fail, and even though it's pulled him through some twists and turns, he's held on through it all, and won't be letting go anytime soon.

oh, and this one right here? the teasing? growing up as someone's baby brother has made him the target and subject of such levels of teasing, and he's more than learned how he can flip it back around on the other person without coming across as … well, anything but. he means it good-naturedly, of course, and the fact that newt can take it just as well as he gives it is something that he hadn't been expecting.

honestly, he's thrilled to know the kid. they're kindred spirits in a sense, and he can't say that he isn't grateful for this tentative bond they're forging, even if the conversation had started out about monsters. ) Right, of course they are. How insensitive of me. ( imagine him rolling his eyes, but not. because that's the kind of look he's giving you right now, sir.

and well. he's already been lilith's and emily's mule, in a sense, so … god. it's true, isn't it. ) You're the standard? Okay. ( and that's all he says about that, but the light in his eyes is shining with real amusement, and it's a wonder he's not flat-out laughing right now.

not at him, of course. with him. because that's totally what's going on here. )

I wasn't gonna ask about that, but. ( his grin sharpens. ) I was wondering where the seeds came from. I haven't exactly seen much farmland around here. ( being: none. he's seen none at all. so allow him to both look and sound a little bit surprised, eh? )

What have you grown?