#does anyone remember the scythe books?
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There’s nothing stronger than the bond between two girls who read the same semi-embarrassing ya series when they were in middle school
#ya books#i’ve read too much fanfic about this to ever be normal#reading#young readers#warrior cats#erin hunter warriors#romance#the selection series#arc of a scythe#does anyone remember the scythe books?#they were so good#land of stories#lunar chronicles#twilight
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Reaper! Ghost (Part 2 of ?)
Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4
You both agree that your being able to perceive him is impossible.
He shouldn’t be anything to you but a distant future, an errant possibility when you cross the street, or, at worst, someone to curse at when a loved one is taken away.
But, despite all of it, you see him. It should be impossible, but you can see him. So that’s what you work with.
And despite it all, he doesn’t struggle to convince you of who he is. He doesn’t need to. With the way he looks, with how he speaks…nothing about him is human or normal.
Most importantly, nothing is normal about the way the doctors and nurses walk through him. When you’re told about all your injuries, your surgery, the scars you’ll carry on your body from the accident, he averts his eyes, then walks to the window looking lost in thought.
What does Death think about, you wonder. And why is he here?
But you also have questions.
Whatever roils within him is kept suppressed, and when he answers you, it’s with gruffness and stoicism, barely speaking in full sentences. He clears his throat a lot and his voice sounds hoarse.
Disuse, you guess. Who befriends Death, after all?
He tells you that he wears dark jeans and a hoodie because he can, and that carrying a scythe is impractical. He tells you he doesn’t know what comes after you die—it’s not like he can ask anyone—and his job is only to reap, and that the kiss of Death is real.
That one makes you pause, then blush. You hope it escapes his attention.
In hushed, stilted tones, you tell him about yourself. He doesn’t say much, but his dark eyes are keen and sharp, and they hold your attention absolutely. He doesn’t look away from you, not once, and at some point during the hours you speak, he sits on the visitor’s chair beside you. An action so human, so normal, that it makes you falter mid-sentence.
You ask him, tentative and shy, if he’ll take his mask off. He refuses immediately. You’re not on his list, he insists. He doesn’t know what would happen if you were to see the face of Death. It’s safer this way.
You understand his hesitation, you suppose, but it doesn’t mean you like it.
Over the next few days while you’re in hospital, you develop a tentative…friendship? You’re not sure. He’s strange—he doesn’t speak much, seeming to prefer silence, but he tries to answer any question you can think of. And you think of a few.
Have you met any famous people?
What are the funniest last words you’ve heard?
Did you reap the first Homo Sapien?
That last question makes him jerk back in his seat. He goes quiet for a while, looking down at his hands in his lap. Having slowly become accustomed to what you affectionately refer to in your mind as Death’s Necessary Quiet Time, you pick up your discarded book. You’re only through a few pages before he clears his throat.
“I wasn’ always…this.” That's all he says for a moment, and you put your book down slowly. “Used to–used to be someone. A person.”
He doesn’t say anything else, but his shoulders drop and he leans back in his chair. You suspect that it’s all he’s going to say on the matter, and you nod absentmindedly. It’s as you’d guessed.
He has certain undeniably human mannerisms. He blinks when you say something he didn’t expect. He’d become unnaturally tense, jaw tight and a vein throbbing in his forehead when you’d hesitantly told him what you remembered from your accident. Most human of all, though, is how is with you. How his fingers twitch when he looks at your own. How intently he looks at your lips. How, despite being Death himself, the kind of force of nature that escapes comprehension with how absolute it is, he leaves the room to give you privacy when you need it.
“Simon,” he says, suddenly, looking as shocked as you do when the words leave him. “My name is Simon.”
“Simon,” you whisper back, and he closes his eyes at the sound.
#simon ghost riley#simon riley x reader#simon riley#ghost mw2#cod mw2#ghost x reader#ghost#ghost au#fantasy au#Simon Riley imagine#ghost fanfiction#Reaper! Ghost#lumi writes
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The One Where Emerald Finds Out
Oscar: (Knocks on door, Opens) Hi.
Sun/Neptune: Hey~!
Oscar: I have to go to Atlas.
Jaune: What?!
Sun: The kingdom?!
Oscar: No, there's this book with the map of the world in it. Yes, the kingdom! (Sighs) Is Mercury here?
Sun: Sun... Neptune... Nope, just us and Jaune.
Oscar: So he's out with Emerald, huh?
Neptune: Oh no! How could she do that when she's never shown any interest in you?!
Oscar: ...
Sun: FOR! GET! A! BOUT! HER!
Jaune: I hate to say it, but they're right, man. Eventually you gotta learn to let go and move on with your life. Go to Atlas, do your thing, and if you get the chance, punch Ozpin for me.
Neptune: I mean, don't punch yourself, obviously.
Sun: Unless he can feel it, too.
Oscar: Right, I... I don't know... Can you just give this to her? It's for her birthday.
Jaune: Sure thing, man.
Sun: And hey, we're just looking out for you. I might have a couple of beers in me, but... I love you, man. (Hugs)
Neptune: I'm still on my first, so I just think you're nice.
Jaune: (Chuckles)
---------------------------------------------
Yang: Who wants burgers? And who wants Ren's veggie burger?
Ren: (Smiles) I want my veggie burger, honey.
Ruby: Can we do presents first? I wanna give Emerald my present to her!
Weiss: It's her birthday, Ruby. She doesn't have to do them now if-
Emerald: Eh, sure. I wouldn't mind getting my presents before food.
Weiss: In that case, open mine first!
Ruby: No, mine!
Emerald: If it gets you two to stop, then I'll take them at the same time.
Ruby/Weiss: (Hand over lien)
Emerald: ...Oh, wow. I don't know who's present I like more. If only there was a way to tell how much their both worth in lien. (Group laughs)
Jaune: Alright, my turn! (Hands over gift)
Emerald: It's... (Opens gift) ...a green pen. Uh, thanks. (Hands back)
Jaune: (Slumps)
Nora: (Pats his back) Well, if she doesn't want it, can I have it? Anyway, my turn! (Hands gift)
Emerald: (Opens gift) "Pumpkin Pete Goes Home".
Nora: That book got me through some rough times.
Ren: It's true. It did.
Mercury: What kinda little kid are you?
Jaune: The kind who can break your legs. And yeah, even yours.
Emerald: Speaking of, where's your present?
Mercury: I'm right here, obviously!
Emerald: ...Can I get a receipt? (Group laughs) Wait, who's gift is that?
Neptune: Oh, that's from Oscar!
Emerald: Really? Didn't think he could afford a gift, since he just left on a last-minute trip. (Opens gift, Gasps) Oh... Oh my god...
Ruby: What is it?
Emerald: It's... It's a brooch. It's just like the one my mother had. I... I didn't think he would remember.
Mercury: Remember what?
Emerald: Couple months ago we were walking around Shade and we passed this jewelry shop and there was a brooch in there just like my mom had when I was a kid. I... I can't believe he remembered!
Jaune: Well, he does have a mental notebook to help him remember.
Nora: It looks so pretty~!
Weiss: And expensive. How did he afford this?
Jaune: Oh, you know how Oscar is. I mean, remember that time he and Ruby were dating, and when he fell in love with her, he bought her that scythe keychain?
Emerald: ...When he what?
Jaune: (All eyes on him, Gulps) Uh... S... Scythe keychain?
Emerald: No, no, no. What did you say about him loving me?
Jaune: Ah... Ammah guh...
Emerald: Oh... Oh my god...
Jaune: (Turns away) No, no, no, no, no, no...
Sun: Hey, uh, I don't know if you know this, but turning around doesn't undo screw-ups. Believe me, I tried.
Emerald: I... I can't believe Oscar loves me.
Nora: This is huge!
Jaune: No, no, it's not! It's small! It's tiny! It's wee!
Nora: No way, this is such a game-changer! I don't think anyone here is going to be the same after hearing that!
Jaune: Nora, I love you, but do you have a mute button?
Ren: She doesn't.
Ruby: This is so great! I mean, I dated him a while ago, so I can tell you he's a great guy!
Weiss: Did you have any idea?
Emerald: No! None! I mean, after you and your boyfriend started going out, he mentioned something about going out, but he didn't try anything after that. (Grabs Neptune) Hey! Tell me! Does he still want to go out with me?!
Neptune: Uh, well, considering how he's desperately in love with you, I don't think he'd say no to a cup of coffee sometime.
Emerald: I... I need to talk to him!
Jaune: You can't!
Neptune: He's in Atlas!
Sun: The kingdom!
Weiss: He's meeting with Whitley about some new Dust policies, and he needs Ozpin for council. I can call him right now.
Neptune: W-What about the towers? Aren't they down?
Ruby: Whitley's bullhead hasn't left yet. We can still call him right now!
Jaune: No, you can't!
Emerald: Why not?!
Mercury: Because he's probably not in love with you anymore.
Emerald: What do you mean?
Mercury: Because these idiots told him to get over you.
Emerald: ...
Jaune: Oh no...
Sun: Door?
Neptune: DOOR!
Sun: (Opens door, Runs into Blake clone)
Blake: Where do you think you're going?
Jaune: Oh no- Ack!
Nora: (Holding him up) WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MY LOVE~?!
Neptune: Help me, Mercury!
Mercury: I just sold you guys out. What makes you think I'll get between you and all of them? (Points to bloodthirsty RWBY)
Neptune: ...Yeah, that's fair.
Emerald: Hey, Princess. Can you take me to them? I... I need to talk to Oscar. Face-to-face.
Weiss: For the sake of love, I'll ignore the princess remark and help you. (Leaves with Emerald)
Neptune: EMERALD, WAIT! I LOVE YOU! DEAL WITH ME FIRST!
Ruby: You just keep digging yourself deeper, don't you?
#rwby#emerald city#emerald sustrai#oscar pine#sun wukong#neptune vasilias#mercury black#black sun#jaune arc#ruby rose#weiss schnee#yang xiao long#blake belladonna#nora valkyrie#lie ren#sunflowyr#nora's arc#whitley's rose#friends
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Kakuzu’s Daily Texts from the Akatsuki
From Tobi
I paid already!
I didn’t break it that was Senpai!
Please Kakuzu-san come look at it, that plant made my arms so itchy 😓
If Itachi can have one why can’t I ?!
How old do YOU think I am 🤪
Don’t worry I didn’t buy it I “borrowed” it
You don’t need to get so mad, I know how to fix it!
From Zetsu
Please inform your partner that it’s MY job to dispose of the bodies, and I don’t appreciate him interfering with my meals.
I did the scouting, he’s in that small village with the lake in the middle, house with a red roof.
You keep the money, I’m only interested in his head.
YOU try talking to her when she’s in one of her moods!
I truly appreciate your “finding” that artificial sun lamp for me. The winter should be much more bearable now.
From Konan
No more excuses. I made your favorite and you WILL come and eat.
Oh he did? Funny how this is the FOURTH time he’s made this “mistake” this month.
I need a bigger budget than that. Have you not seen how much these guys eat?? 😒
All three of them? Together? Are you sure that’s wise?
No more recruits unless absolutely necessary. Money aside I simply cannot “adjust” to one more person in this organization.
“Grandfather” is a bit exaggerated; you’re much too handsome for that, my friend 😏
Of course I appreciate the help but you did NOT have to kill him!
Please come and join us. It’s a documentary but I know you’ll like it.
I’ve tried to be patient but I’m done asking. My next warning will be paper-cuts to their jugulars. 😡
From Sasori
Overexertion and poor nutrition isn’t doing a man your age any favors.
He said *I* started it? Tell him to watch himself before I decide to END it as well.
Boyfriends or babysitters? 😂
I finished the first two volumes, I highlighted the parts I thought you’d find most useful.
He needed it tightened so I’ll be sending him to you when you have a moment.
If you truly wanted one I could work on building one for you. It would be a version of my Hiroku.
Why would I contribute to that? I don’t eat.
From Itachi
I think I need a new prescription, everything is blurry again.
Thank you, I appreciate the advice.
You were sleeping so I slid the money under your door.
If he does it again I’m using my eyes and tormenting him for 72 hours 😡
Borrow it any time you like. I think we have the same hair type so mine should work great for you.
What meowing? 👀
It wasn’t that much blood don’t worry.
Kisame’s carrying him, I have Deidara.
Not really. It’s a spectrum, right?
Honestly? No. He’ll probably shred it with that scythe of his.
From Nagato
Did you pay the electric bill?
Did you pay the heating bill?
Did you pay the water bill?
You didn’t kill the bill collector did you ?
If they caused the damage, it comes from their checks.
If he feeds it himself I don’t mind.
The eye drops help a lot, thanks.
No we’ve discussed this. Anyone else, fine. But Konan NEVER sees a single bill. Understood?
If the punishment is within reason, yes. Don’t go overboard; remember they’re not immortal like you.
From Deidara
That wasn’t my fault, it was Tobi!!
My clay is an important part of my job so you should pay for it.
Can’t you gag him? I’m legit having nightmares over the sounds he makes 😣
It was only once and I didn’t break anything!
Can I get the money to you next week?
Hidan broke that guys arms and made him scream! THAT’S what got us caught, NOT my bombs 😡
He’s lying I wasn’t even in the room!
Please can you tighten the stitching? Sasori won’t do it because he’s mad I was “reckless”.
Can you just come help me pick one out? I have no idea what kind of medical books he likes.
I swear I’ll fix it before she notices, pls don’t tell her she hits so hard 😢
From Kisame
You wanna do the weights or the jog first?
Please make him think it was your idea. If he knows I sent him to you he’ll get upset.
You can eat it. I don’t want to insult his cooking but I truly dislike liver.
No, Samehada is trained better than that.
We ate there last week. Itachi loved it but I’m not sure it’s Hidan’s type of place 🤔
From Hidan
Don’t overeat last time you got that cramp remember?
You sure didn’t seem to mind it last night …
There’s literally no point it just gets all bloody again at some point anyway right?
Wtf? No. That was completely blondie and the orange dumbass.
I’m not complaining but damn you’re a freaky old bastard aren’t you 😏🤤
Damn you just go rest. That fucking bounty can WAIT you asshole you’re gonna kill yourself 😡
Ffs Uchiha doesn’t need to come we don’t need a babysitter we’re both grown!!
Yeah but you never say No so what’s that say about YOU?
Stop fucking with me don’t think I won’t turn this entire house inside out until I get that necklace back 😒
If I say Yes am I in more trouble or less? 🤔
If I tell her the truth she’s just gonna tear my head off and really that’s just more work for YOU.
Gay. But same 🖤
#HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAKUZU!!!#kakuzu#texting#the akatsuki#kakuhida#kakuzu x hidan#🖤🖤#hidan#nagato#konan#deidara#tobi#zetsu#kisame hoshigaki#itachi uchiha#sasori#Akatsuki Daily Texts Series
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TDP fandom, help me out here, I’m having such a hard time understanding the logic of the magic system and the story telling around it. Like, we’ve got primal magic, and every non human creature has some affinity with the given primal they’re born to. Whether or not they can actively do something magical seems to depend on level of sapient intelligence since Stella can use portals but the adoraburrs have nothing going on in their heads. That’s all fine, that checks. Except, I’m still confused on why Callum has mastery over two arcanums. I have no idea why he thought he could learn more than one. There is no indication that any living being should be able to know more than one.
There’s dark magic, which I get like, conceptually. Kill a creature and essentially siphon its primal magic according to its arcanum. My issue with it is that I don’t understand what the limits of dark magic is supposed to be. I feel like with a sound, consistent magic system, it’s more important to know what you can’t do than showcase what you can do. My viewing experience feels hindered because I’m left going “they can do that??” when things like Claudia becoming a snake monster, Callum turns bindings in to snakes, or Soren’s paralysis is cured happens. At first I thought that sure, dark magic was initially used to help humans survive and they found more uses that existed outside the boundaries of primal magic and primal stones. But that just feels like bad story telling because then there’s no stakes if dark magic can be used as a cop out for any given situation. Also, the morality issue seems flawed. Like, if you were genuinely killing something for a dark magic spell as a means of survival, what’s the difference between that and hunting? Are the souls of that thing trapped? Does it desecrate their souls?
Also on means of survival, what can dark magic do on a practical level that primal stones can’t? That whole famine story that tried to explain the immorality of dark magic didn’t do its job because the whole time I was thinking that the problem could be dealt with just as effectively with the sky primal stone that we know Viren had, and an earth primal stone. Did nobody between these two kingdoms have an earth primal stone? Is there not a spell to bring the rain and quicken the crop growth? Why? Claudia says primal stones are rare but just how rare is “rare”? I shouldn’t have to do homework to understand the lore but supposedly the unicorns gave the humans multiple primal stones.
The crystals: why are they not talked about more? They’re evidently abundant and it looks like generally speaking, the elves have no use for them. Which seems weird to me because Callum being able to use a moonstone opal suggests you that literally anyone can use them, regardless of the primal of the user or the crystal. It just seems like they’re one time use primal stones. If the elves didn’t want humans to have magic, then talking about the crystals feels like it would’ve been relevant to that whole conversation. What’s the point of introducing this cave full of them if the only relevant ones are moonstone opals and the quasar diamonds that aren’t even there?
I don’t know what this falls under but whatever magic Kim’deal uses. What even is this blood magic? Like it looks sinister but I don’t remember anyone saying this is just a flavor of dark magic. What are the parameters of how this can be used? She can teleport, turn in to a mist cloud, have supernatural dexterity, and have scythe nails but why?
And I hate how I’m sure some of the answers to this are that it was in a book or an AMA but I still feel like I shouldn’t have to understand the magic system, the foundation of the storytelling, by looking outside the main material. I’ve just lost my trust in the soundness of the storytelling knowing there’s two required reading books and it’s so hard to get excited over season 6 when I don’t know what the actual level of the stakes are.
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So, I just finished the first "Scythe" book, and I'm left with one question
How is Faraday just cool with Rowan/Lucifer becoming a Mass Gleaner. Especially with fire, as that stands in the face of his policy of causing the least suffering
And what happens to his victims families. Does their immunity go away, do they get a free year, or are they fair game
I know we see Citra/Anastasia's journal entry, but I have to wonder if there's more to her thoughts. What about Curie? What would Goddard and Rand think of his spree, or the fact that they cause it? Most importantly, what about Volta, who did more than anyone to make Rowan into the avenging angel he is now? Reading through posts, I get the impression he's not talked about much. That has to be (remember, only read book one at this point) either because the Lucifer Arc goes nowhere, or because everyone overlooks how vital Volta was
And please, no spoilers. I'm on vacation, but my wife has the rest of the books at home, so it'll be a couple days until I can read them again. I just needed to get this out to tide me over
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Pardon my rambling, but I had an idea and made a silly little rant Ft. Cas
I’ve always loved the head-cannon of Cassidy being Mexican-American, always have always will, and recently the holiday Día de los Muertos popped into my head.
Long story short, my brain is currently fixated on the though “ What would an ofrenda look like at the overwatch base?”
Idk I think it’d be a fun! Maybe Cassie and Fareeha made it together and everyone else joined in? Who’s on the ofrenda? Who put them there? Why did they put them there? What little symbols of their life have been put there and why? how would Cassidy react to seeing Babe, Ana, or Jack up there?
( I like to think Cas, along with echo, put a photo of Dr. Liao and made her favorite food. I’m sure he did the same for some others but I can’t rlly think of anyone else rn😔)
Anyway, if you have any thought abt this I’d love to hear them? You always seem to have some really interesting ideas and thoughts abt the characters, they’re always a treat to read!!
I am a firm believer in Mexican-American Cassidy, I don't care what canon says.
I definitely think it would be a fun idea and I do agree that Cass and Echo would put Mina's photo there with her favorite food, I also think Cassidy would be the one to put Gabe's picture there with his beanie and a shot of the "Scythe" drink that Reaper has in the cook book.
As for Jack and Ana I think Lena would have put a picture of Jack there and Fareeha would put a picture of Ana (with Cassidy of cause). I think they would put some of Ana's favorite tea there, and for Jack Lena got Cassidy to cook some of Jack's favorite food. I think someone would have asked to place something that Jack wore as Strike Commander on the ofrenda but Cassidy and Lena argued against it.
I think Gerard would be placed there as well, specifically it's the picture of his and Amelie's wedding, I like to think Angela placed it there but it could also be from the other old guard. I don't know what they'd place for him though.
After everyone figures out that Ana, Jack and Gabe are alive they stop putting their pictures on the ofrenda, except for Cassidy, who still puts a picture of Gabe on the ofrenda despite what anyone says against it.
Something else I'd think Cassidy would do is place something there for the family he lost in the Crisis, I don't think he'd have anything like a photo but he does place specific things like bullets from his gun, an old family recipe he still remembers, and candles that remind him of home.
Some more ideas might come to me at some point but that's all I have for now!
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An Eden Overthrown
"I made a deal with Death, once", Hazel says, once every five minutes it feels like. She says it out loud, she says it in whispers, she says it to herself because saying it feels like believing in it.
"Did you mean, 'a deal with the Devil'?" A bemused teenage girl who'd been waiting at the check-out line had asked her.
The girl looks a little like Death. Sharp chin, impish grin.
Maybe there was a little bit of Death in every living thing. A little mark, staking her claim. But no, she wouldn't have done that, would she? Not her. Hazel had seen her eyes. Those weren't eyes that would dance with flames or show cold nothingness like pools of darkness or any of that exaggerated nonsense. That wasn't like her.
"No, I did not", Hazel sighs, "she wasn't one bit like a devil or a demon or anything. She was…seraphic"
Foxglove had gifted her a romance-themed word of the day calendar one Valentine's, a pretty one, bound in red with pink hearts all over its cover, with gold lettering in cursive. It had looked expensive when she'd first received it. Its cover was worn from use now, pages faded from being thumbed through.
Baby steps, that's what it had been. Encouragement, a way for Hazel to gain more confidence.
'Seraphic' hadn't been in that one. She'd only learnt it later, when she'd bought more for herself, more and more and more, reading them in the hours before Alvie slept and awoke and took her single-minded devotion, collecting them on a little bookshelf in the living room of their Beverly Hills home. It was a place of display, of pride. A small victory that she'd have shown off if there had been anyone in the house to show off to. Still, she refuses to let the books collect dust, dusting them routinely.
"Did she have a scythe?" The woman at the beauty salon asks her as she smears conditioners and serums into her hair, remaining unimpressed with her work until Hazel's hair smelt like orange blossoms and lavender, a whole bouquet of flowers she didn't even like.
Hydrangeas were her favourite. Blue hydrangeas. They reminded her of Fox's eyes, so vivid and electric. There had been bushes of them growing untended in New York. She'd seen a few of them in the back of their apartment building, once. Back when they'd lived with Barbie and Wanda and Thessaly and they only slept when the Sun began to rise and their biggest fights had been over a green frog mug they'd long since lost.
There had been so many hydrangeas, blossoming wild even when they were uncared for. She'd cared sometimes, watering them if she remembered. Like she was tending to her relationship with Fox when she sprinkled water, like she was reminding herself to keep caring. And she had cared. She had. Until someone had cut them down so the grass would be level.
"No scythe", Hazel answers seriously, even though she knows her hairdresser thinks she's touched in the head, thinks follow-ups are a courtesy born from pity. But she needs someone to know. Fox doesn't really pick up her calls now, and it's like she's only half there when she does. No, the math on that is wrong. Having all of Fox meant having her in person. A distracted Foxglove on the phone meant Hazel barely got a quarter of her.
She needs someone to know, someone to understand. That when they finally met Death, they didn't have to shut their eyes or wince or scream or try and fail to keep their hearts from racing. That they didn't have to be so afraid, that they could reach their hands out and she would be sure to hold them.
"No scythe, huh?" Her hairdresser asks distractedly, pulling and tugging at her hair, combing it down and teasing it up even though she'd only asked for a little trim.
"No scythe. No horns, no hooves, no tail. That's not what Death looks like"
"Huh", the hairdresser mumbles, tilting her head this way and that, examining her in the mirror, and Hazel can tell that she's lost her, that she'll forget this conversation within the hour.
"That's not what she looks like", Hazel insists softly, "she's beautiful"
"Beautiful?" The postman scoffs, turning to leave, and Hazel wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him and point to her front porch where Alvie is scribbling enthusiastically on his drawing pad.
"Isn't that beautiful to you?!" She wants to scream, needs to know, "The fact that he's alive, the fact that I get all this time with him, isn't that beautiful to you? All those days, all those memories, do they mean nothing to you?"
But of course she doesn't say any of that. Of course she just watches as he walks away.
There are no hydrangeas in Beverly Hills, and all the tabloids keep talking about what hunk they think Foxglove is sleeping with, and the postman begins to smile at her with condescending sympathy, and Fox sometimes texts her instead of calling, and no one, absolutely no on at all, believes her when she says that Death can be kinder than life.
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Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 25
(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)
(Ninth House icon) In which Harrow cooks soup and spawns a fandom meme.
Harrow tattles to Teacher that she saw Ortus kissing Cytherea, she swears it by the Locked Tomb. He says she shouldn't swear by that in this particular instance.(1) She wants to say that he also broke her bone wards, that she hasn't slept in forty-eight hours, but she can't. John says the Saint of Duty is "legendarily unamorous". He suggests that Harrow do something normal. Learn to make a meal, read a book, take time to rest. In this moment, Harrow knows that he doesn't understand her.
Still, she can do something. She asks Ianthe how to make soup, and she practices several times.
On the third day post-confrontation, Ianthe is given an ultimatum by Augustine: five more days, and if she hasn't started using her sword arm properly by then, he's giving up on training her, because if he wanted pity-cases, he'd teach Harrow. Harrow doesn't even react, just looks at her knife, fork, and spoon, and tries to remember which one is for which purpose.(2)
After 126 hours without sleep, Harrow prepares supper for everyone. Everyone eats the soup, though Ianthe and August have complaints about the blandness(3) but Augustine is eager to try a different cook's perspectives after ten thousand years of the same. Mercy calls the soup mediocre, and Harrow says innocently that she followed a recipe. August asks if it was one of Cassiopeia's, and remembers a time early on when she accidentally removed part of a finger while cooking, and left it in, and didn't tell anyone. He tells Harrow to confess if something like that happens, before they eat. Harrow flinches, but tries to smile and play it off. When they finish, August asks what the meat is.
It takes Harrow a moment to find the word, as she works through the theorems in her head, but finally she comes to it.
"Marrow," you said.
The Saint of Duty exploded outward as your construct emerged from his abdomen. Your soup was watery and mediocre, as soup went, but as a delivery method for gelid explosives--marrow rendered through so much water as to not pass comment--it was perfect. Half a dozen arms shattered him in the soft electric light from the overhead panels. You let out your breath, and coalescing scythes destroyed intestines--lungs--heart. Then you fired upward, toward the brain.
And God said, "Stop."
The world slowed down.
Even August and Mercy stop halfway in the process of rising from their seats, but the shrapnel of the explosion of Ortus the First's torso does not.(4) God says it's been ten thousand years since he last ate human flesh and he didn't expect an encore. He asks for an explanation. Harrow says Ortus is trying to kill her, and here's God defending Ortus and not her. He asks how long since she slept. She admits to six days.
The Emperor of the Nine Houses stood.
The spell, whatever it had been, dropped like a white sun setting. Your body collapsed back into your chair. The construct [...] dwindled to a powder of pink dust. [...] The concatenation of Ortus the First's insides, laced and crocheted over the dinner table, sizzled away to a soft mist. Everyone's breath spewed from their lungs in one unholy gasp. Ortus's hands flew to his middle.
The Emperor dismisses everyone from supper except Mercy, and tells Ianthe to escort Harrow to bed. As they leave, Harrow decreasingly sure of reality, she overhears a snippet.
Behind you, the Kindly Prince was saying, in far more ominous tones than you had ever heard him use: "Six days. No sleep. She still manages a full skeleton commencement from diluted marrow. What else have you failed to see, Mercymorn-?"(5)
You were already at the door when her peevish response came: "But this is insane! She's only nine years old!"
The Saints of Duty and Patience stand in the corridor. If either wants to kill Harrow, she can't stop them. But, August just lights a cigarette, looking like he's seen a ghost, and passes it to Ortus, who raises it to Harrow in an unmistakable salute.(6)
=====
(1) Why shouldn't she swear by the Locked Tomb for this, in particular? Because it involves a corpse?
(2) Sleep deprivation setting in.
(3) The return of Harrow's dislike of strong flavours! I love this character trait, as I believe I've said before.
(4) This is a fascinating exertion and demonstration of his power as a God. We've seen necromancy do some big weird stuff, but nothing quite like this.
(5) So, Mercy wasn't exactly a willing supervisor to Harrow. She was asked, perhaps commanded, to examine and report.
(6) You gotta admit, you'd respect the hell out of someone who did what Harrow did. If only out of self-preservation.
#the locked tomb#tlt#harrow the ninth#htn#harrow the ninth spoilers#htn spoilers#harrowhark nonagesimus#emperor john gaius#ianthe tridentarius#augustine the first#mercymorn the first#ortus the first
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OC test:Confessional pt1
[Warning: It’s depressing]
In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, everyone shall confess a deeply personal thought to one other person not from their universe. It’ll just be those two people in the room.
Veronica:Crap…
xxxx
Mona:Yo.
Lucas:Uhh hey. Color me shocked. Why me?
Mona:I don’t know. Why not? Honestly not quite sure what to say. I’m pretty numb by most things or have aired out my baggage. I was groomed and sexually abused. Big whoop. That’s no secret.
Lucas:…That must’ve been a lot to deal with.
Mona:Not particularly. The only silver lining of it happening so young is most of what happened was too big to really comprehend entirely. It’s fucking awful for sure but better than…hmm. *sits down* …..Heh.
Lucas:*sits* Found something?
Mona:Not many know this but I’m not an only child. I have a little sister. Has to be twelve by now.
Lucas:Why isn’t she here?
Mona:If she was, Ahlai wouldn’t say anything. She’s broken. Like…shattered. Dear old mom just never let up for anything. By the time she turned seven, Ahlai was already gone. Hardly blinked let alone ate. I only remember that because it’s the reason I gave myself to leave her behind when I finally ran away. I was fourteen.
Lucas:…
Mona:…..
Mona:I’ve never pretended or acted like I’m a good person, but every time I think about that, I can’t shrug off how fucked up that was of me. Maybe that’s why I like sticking my neck out for street kids?
Lucas:Not sure how far a fourteen year old girl would’ve gotten if you had grabbed her. Sounds like an un-winnable situation. If it makes you feel better, escaping at all is a feat.
Mona:Heh, I knew I was right to pick you.
xxxxx
Sienna:Hey Frosty.
Summer:That’s…surprisingly a new one. Why me?
Sienna:You’re pretty gentle, like a snow rabbit.
Summer:Thank you? Well, I’m no stranger to therapy. I’ll listen to you.
Sienna:I can’t remember my real name, and that gets to me sometimes.
Summer:…..Sienna isn’t your real name?
Sienna:Hehe, no. It’s what Adam gave me, or…the name I gave myself? My memories are pretty hazy around that time and everything before. Not just my name, but family too. I remember the mines, bits and pieces anyways. I also know…I killed my brother. No face, voice, or even how, but I know it was me.
Summer:That’s…a lot to take in. I’m sorry you went through that.
Sienna:Anytime I try remembering, or even think about asking anyone who does know, my head starts feeling like it’ll split open. My heart races and I can’t stop shaking. Wearing jewelry freaks me out too; my body remembers those days vividly. Just not my brain.
Summer:Our minds can block out traumatic experiences as a way of protecting us. I only recently went back to the lake I nearly died. Immediately had a panic attack, my head remembering the moment I fell in. It was terrifying and I had to leave. There are times our body knows what’s best.
Sienna:Isn’t that just a nice way of saying we’re too weak to handle the truth?
Summer:…Sure feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?
xxxxx
Canary:I take it you’re no stranger to Ruby drama?
Carmine:I could write a book about it. Rant.
Canary:When I needed a hero, a person who truly understood my sorrow, Ruby Rose wasn’t there. Not only that but she took away other people with her! I didn’t have to be a girl with limited memories of her dad and no scythe knowledge. I don’t even blame her for the death. I just….it would’ve felt like he was still there if she stood by me. *rubs eyes*
Carmine:Mo- Ruby is never at her best when she’s highly emotional. Sadly, being a mother, daughter, niece, anything of the sort is ripe with emotion. Ironically, it makes her the best hero for everyone else because she understands the weight of those familial ties.
Canary:I don’t hate her or anything. It just sucks. They say never meet your heroes. But when your hero is family…
Carmine:Disappointment comes with it. Yeah, it’s the worst. It’s ironic. You would think out of anyone it would be her family that sees her through rose tinted glasses.
xxxxx
Nick:Hi Yujin.
Yujin:What are the odds? I was gonna pick you too. Heh, same brain cell. *smiles*
Nick:Ha, guess so. Honestly I don’t have many things I haven’t aired out before. I’ve actually gone to therapy, so that helped. *lays on his back*
Yujin:I’m sensing a “but” is on its way.
Nick:Heh, but, I’ll admit I’m pretty upset with myself. I wish I could be rude. Like unapologetically rude. It’s annoying how many people look up to me or expect things. I’ve been surrounded by hundreds before but felt completely alone.
Yujin:I get that. *sits* I can’t count how many times someone said “Yang’s daughter” and I wanted to scream. Not our parents fault that they’re amazing, but it can blow.
Nick:How do you deal with it?
Yujin:It helps when my parents are there watching me do something. Yeah, I am Yang’s daughter, and she’s currently losing her mind over it. I love that.
Nick:Hmmm never looked at it quite like that. It is always nice seeing mom and dad cheer. Can’t undo blood. Guess it really is about changing perspective.
Yujin:Also I’m pretty sure anyone who actually cares about you would understand if you asked them to leave you alone. Anybody else are the actual rude people.
Nick:What’s your confession?
Yujin:Truthfully? I feel like a brat. Always have. People try consoling me and I’m aware bigger things in the world take priority, but I still get upset. I feel like I’m making things a hassle a times. What’s worse is when I’m ignorant about information so now I don’t know I’m making things rough. I want to be better than that.
Nick:Unfortunately…I’m just as lost as you are on that front.
Yujin:That’s okay. Thanks for listening to me. I appreciate it.
xxxxx
Aero:Of all the people to call…
Jael:You seem like a straightforward individual. Kinda like my sister.
Aero:Oh. *red* Thank you. Also I’m terrible at advice so…sorry in advance.
She leans forward until her forehead of his chest.
Jael:It’s alright. Neither is she. My sister lives a life of secrecy to the point she doesn’t actually exist, fake name and all. Mom is maiden and her family is gone, so she’s off the grid. Then there’s dear old dad, who officially dead more than two decades ago. The only person who really exists is me, and I’m basically on borrowed time.
Aero:….
Jael:*tearing up* If I don’t make something of myself, it’ll be like my family never existed. The name Taurus will remain infamous. *crying* It’s not fair. Not when so much more has happened.
Aero:*pats head* My mom believes things happen for a reason. If I were to guess, I’d say you’re on borrowed time because the world knows it’s still more than enough to leave your mark. So don’t sweat it. You’re ahead of schedule.
xxxxx
Tenzen:Helping people is hard.
Sparrow:Truer words have never been spoken. I take it you help a lot of people?
Tenzen:I try to, but I never really feel too good at it. I always feel like I don’t really understand their pain and it only makes things worse. I’m always outside looking in.
Sparrow:Kid, you have your entire life ahead of you. You’re not supposed to have all the answers and solve everyone’s problems. If it comes from a place of sincerity and love then you’re doing the best you can. I’m sure Yujin thinks you’re doing just fine.
Tenzen:I didn’t say it was-
Sparrow:Didn’t have to.
xxxxx
Jackie:What’s with the face?
Sparrow:I was just here. I must be popular.
Jackie:I can’t burden kids with my hang ups! You’re the obvious choice.
Sparrow:Do you have hang ups? You seem pretty put together.
Jackie:At my point in life, only one thing troubles me, my family. Each one of them as their own personal demons in one way or another. I’m doing my best to help them. Together we’re pretty happy. But…eventually we’ll all be apart. It scares me to think that if I were to get hurt and go away to soon, they wouldn’t handle it well. I made a home filled with love. What happens when I can’t give them it anymore?
Sparrow:…Well, did you forget your mother’s love?
Jackie:….*tearing up*
Sparrow: *smiles* That’s the thing about parents. Kids never forget them, for better or worse. You built a home with what you remembered love felt like.
Jackie:I’ve made so many mistakes. I wasn’t a good person for awhile. That love she gave didn’t stop the anger. My demons, they’ve done things.
Sparrow:So you’re just like my mom then and if your kids take after you, they’ll find their way eventually. Right back to the love.
Jackie:….Can I cry?
Sparrow:Heh, you need permission?
Jackie:No. Just giving you a heads up.
Sniffles turn into whimpering as Jacquelyn starts crying softly. Sparrow was kind enough to offer her a warm hug in her moment of stress. He really was raised well.
#rwbabies#oc test#lucas belladonna#mona paulo furem#carmine arc rose#yujin xiao long#nicholas schnee#summer schnee#jacquelyn frost#sienna frost#sparrow branwen#aero amitola#lie tenzen#I have a lot of characters lol
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I feel like my entire personality can accurately be described as taking every quirky interest anyone’s ever had/introduced to me and getting so into it that it ceases to be cool and starts being a problem.
#bbc merlin#merthur#ao3 fanfic#six of crows#helnik#kanej#kanej supremacy#wesper forever#wesper#lgbtq#crooked kingdom#leigh bardugo#pjo#percy jackson kid#rick riordan#does anyone remember the scythe books?#merlin bbc#merlin x arthur#arthur pendragon#merlin emrys#fandom#shadow and bone#marauders
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My literary inspirations!!!
Here are the books, shows, games, and other stuff that inspire me!!!!
Books:
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. These were the basis for Disney's "The Black Cauldron."
Every single Rick Riordan book. All of them.
The Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit.
Generic fantasy books. Gimme a fantasy book. It will inspire me.
My friends' writing.
The Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman.
Games:
The Elder Scrolls series. Especially Oblivion.
The Banner Saga trilogy. They're fantastic strategy RPGs with amazing soundtracks.
The Legend of Zelda series.
The Paper Mario series.
Final Fantasy VII.
The Phantasy Star series.
Castlevania.
RuneScape.
Shows/Media:
Dimension 20 and Critical Role.
Adventure Time.
Disney's 7D. Does anyone remember this show??
Steven Universe, kinda.
The Owl House.
Amphibia.
Star Wars.
He-Man and She-Ra.
Stranger Things.
The RuneScape soundtrack.
The Banner Saga soundtrack.
Lemon Demon's music.
Miracle Musical's music.
Hoodz n' the Woodz by Joe Hawley
A plethora of D&D and fantasy YouTube videos.
Other Things:
My friends' D&D campaigns.
Posts I see across the internet.
Random Pinterest Aesthetic posts.
Artists and art across the internet.
My own musical compositions and drawings.
This very post as I'm making it
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Quotes that I Loved
This is just a list of quotes or excerpts that I highlighted while reading the book- literally all of them and there are a lot. I’m going to go ahead and say spoilers below just because there are so many quotes and while I don’t think the quotes actually spoil anything, I don’t want to accidentally spoil something for someone.
Some of the quotes might seem a little weird out of context but these are quotes that hit close to home, made me say “Hell, yeah, Addie!!!", quotes that made me laugh, and then basically all of the other quotes that I loved while reading.
I know that I didn't completely fall in love with this book like so many other people did, but it was still so beautifully written and there were so many amazing quotes in this book.
And just a heads up, I read this on my kindle, just in case the page numbers I list don’t match with your copy of the book.
Spoilers Below:
Quotes that Hit Close to Home
“Three and twenty, a third of a life already buried.” Page 39
“The day passes like a sentence. The sun falls like a scythe.” Page 41
“[...] and when she dies it will be as though she never lived.” Page 42
“I am so tired of not having choices, so scared of the years rushing past beneath my feet. I do not want to die as I’ve lived, which is no life at all. I—” Page 46
“[...] she swears sometimes her memory runs forward as well as back, unspooling to show the roads she’ll never get to travel. But that way lies madness, and she has learned not to follow.” Page 61
“His parents meant well, of course, but they always told him things like Cheer up, or It will get better, or worse, It’s not that bad, which is easy to say when you’ve never had a day of rain.” Page 97
“But then a night would go long, and a day would start late, and now he feels like there’s no time at all. Like he is always late for something.” Page 119
““I see someone who cares,” she says slowly. “Perhaps too much. Who feels too much. I see someone lost, and hungry. The kind of person who feels like they’re wasting away in a world full of food, because they can’t decide what they want.”” Page 140
““Life is so brief, and every night in Rennes I’d go to bed, and lie awake, and think, there is another day behind me, and who knows how few ahead.”” Page 167
““I mean feeling like it’s surging by so fast, and you try to reach out and grab it, you try to hold on, but it just keeps rushing away. And every second, there’s a little less time, and a little less air, and sometimes when I’m sitting still, I start to think about it, and when I think about it, I can’t breathe. I have to get up. I have to move.”” Page 177
““Small places make for small lives. And some people are fine with that. They like knowing where to put their feet. But if you only walk in other people’s steps, you cannot make your own way. You cannot leave a mark.”” Page 179
“It was such a lovely jar she had kept them in. But the glass is cracking now. The water leaking through.” Page 215
“Moments of joy register as brief, but ecstatic. Moments of pain stretch long and unbearably loud.” Page 225
“[...] you’ve never felt called to any one thing. There is no violent push in one direction, but a softer nudge a hundred different ways, and now all of them feel out of reach. Page 226
“[...] in wanting to live, to learn, to find yourself, you’ve gotten lost.” Page 226
“He lets it ring, holds his breath until it stops. He tells himself that if they call again, he’ll answer. If they call again, he’ll tell them he is not okay. But the phone doesn’t ring a second time.” Page 229
“He misses the structure, misses the path, misses the purpose. And maybe it wasn’t a perfect fit, but nothing is.” Page 257
“That he’d blinked and somehow years had gone by, and everyone else had carved their trenches, paved their paths, and he was still standing in a field, uncertain where to dig.” Page 283
“And those first two years, he was happy. He had Bea, and Robbie, and all he had to do was learn. Build a foundation. It was the house, the one that he was supposed to build on top of that smooth surface, that was the problem. It was just so … permanent.” 283
“Choosing a class became choosing a discipline, and choosing a discipline became choosing a career, and choosing a career became choosing a life, and how was anyone supposed to do that, when you only had one?” Page 283
““The vexing thing about time,” he says, “is that it’s never enough. Perhaps a decade too short, perhaps a moment. But a life always ends too soon.”” Page 333
“He is all restless energy, and urgent need, and there isn’t enough time, and he knows of course that there will never be. That time always ends a second before you’re ready. That life is the minutes you want minus one.” Page 421
“The world is wide, and he’s seen so little of it with his own eyes. He wants to travel, to take photos, listen to other people’s stories, maybe make some of his own. After all, life seems very long sometimes, but he knows it will go so fast, and he doesn’t want to miss a moment.” Page 438
Quotes that Made Me Laugh
“Henry loves his sister, he does. But Muriel’s always been like strong perfume. Better in small doses. And at a distance.” Page 120
““Sorry, Book,” she mutters, lifting the cat gingerly onto the back of the old chair, where he does his best impression of an inconvenienced bread loaf.” Page 248
““It’s Halloween!” defends Robbie. “It’s the twenty-third,” says Henry, but Robbie treats holidays the way he treats birthdays, stretching them from days into weeks, and sometimes into seasons.” Page 274
Quotes that made me say “Hell, yeah, Addie!!!”
“If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else’s hearth.” Page 31
“[...]from this moment forward, her life will be her own.” Page 48
“There is a defiance in being a dreamer.” Page 117
““It has only been two years,” she says. “Think of all the time I have, and all the things I’ll see.”” Page 132
“It will take time, but time is the one thing Addie has plenty of. So she opens her eyes, and starts again.” Page 192
“But then Addie straightens, lifts her chin, smiles with an almost defiant kind of joy. “But isn’t it wonderful,” she says, “to be an idea?”” Page 261
Quotes that I Love
“[...] never pray to the gods that answer after dark.” Page 7
“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?” Page 15
“The things that last, even when memories don’t.” Page 16
“As if you couldn’t like one place and want to see another.” Page 23
“Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.” Page 35
“The kind of place where time slips and blurs, where a month, a year, a life can go missing.” Page 39
“[...] attraction can look an awful lot like recognition in the wrong light.” Page 56
“The rise isn’t worth the fall.” Page 56
“Being trapped, buried alive, these are the things that scare you when you cannot die.” Page 57
“Funny, how some people take an age to warm, and others simply walk into every room as if it’s home.” Page 58
“Déjà vu. Déjà su. Déjà vécu. Already seen. Already known. Already lived.” Page 66
“[...]a lifetime of knowing brushed away like a tear.” Page 73
“[...] and it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.” Page 77
“[...] ideas are so much wilder than memories, that they long and look for ways of taking root.” Page 77
““These days, everyone’s looking down,” muses Sam. “It’s nice to see someone looking up.”” Page 101
“Being forgotten, she thinks, is a bit like going mad. You begin to wonder what is real, if you are real. After all, how can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered?” Page 103
“If a person cannot leave a mark, do they exist?” Page 103
“Dreamer is too soft a word. It conjures thoughts of silken sleep, of lazy days in fields of tall grass, of charcoal smudges on soft parchment.” Page 11
“She considers the cut of their clothes, the absence of bone stays or bustled skirts, and thinks, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, how much simpler it would be to be a man, how easily they move through the world, and at such little cost.” Page 129
““I remember you.”” Page 135
“The darkness claimed he’d given her freedom, but really, there is no such thing for a woman, not in a world where they are bound up inside their clothes, and sealed inside their homes, a world where only men are given leave to roam.” Page 163
“She watches these men and wonders anew at how open the world is to them, how easy the thresholds.” Page 165
““I think there are many ways to matter.”” Page 179
“But ideas are so much wilder than memories, so much faster to take root.”” Page 210
“He is full of roots, while she has only branches.” Page 212
“Easy to stay on the path when the road is straight and the steps are numbered.” Page 229
“Outside the window, the day just carries on as if nothing’s changed, but it feels like everything has, because Addie LaRue is immortal, and Henry Strauss is damned.” Page 235
“[...]I didn’t want to live forever. I just wanted to live.”” Page 236
““There’s this family photo,” he says, “not the one in the hall, this other one, from back when I was six or seven. That day was awful. Muriel put gum in David’s book and I had a cold, and my parents were fighting right up until the flash went off. And in the photo, we all look so … happy. I remember seeing that picture and realizing that photographs weren’t real. There’s no context, just the illusion that you’re showing a snapshot of a life, but life isn’t snapshots, it’s fluid. So photos are like fictions. I loved that about them. Everyone thinks photography is truth, but it’s just a very convincing lie.”” Page 239
“God, it feels good to be wanted.” Page 256
“[...] And ideas are wilder than memories. They’re like weeds, always finding their way up.”” Page 261
“Homesick—Henry knows that one is supposed to mean sick for home, not from it, but it still feels right.” Page 262
“Dressing up, he thinks, is just like watching cartoons, something you enjoyed as a kid, before it passes through the no man’s land of teen angst, the ironic age of early twenties. And then somehow, miraculously, it crosses back into the realm of the genuine, the nostalgic. A place reserved for wonder.” Page 274
“Bea always says returning to campus is like coming home. But it doesn’t feel that way to Henry. Then again, he never felt at home at home, only a vague sense of dread, the eggshell-laden walk of someone constantly in danger of disappointing.” 282
“He doesn’t know what he believes, hasn’t for a long time, but it’s hard to entirely discount the presence of a higher power when he recently sold his soul to a lower one.” Page 284
““You can’t make people love you, Hen. If it’s not a choice, it isn’t real.”” Page 290
“He has asked the wrong god for the wrong thing, and now he is enough because he is nothing. He is perfect, because he isn’t there.” Page 290
“A life reduced to a block of stone, a patch of grass.” Page 299
“The present folding on top of the past instead of erasing it, replacing it.” Page 306
“She knows the paint will fade, rinsed off by a puddle, or simply wiped away by time, but that’s how memories are supposed to work. There—and then, little by little, gone.” Page 307
“Without the bells, the organ, the bodies crowding in for services, the church feels abandoned. Less a house of worship and more a tomb.” Page 311
“God is so large, why build walls to hold Him in?” Page 311
“Once you know about a thing, you start to see it everywhere. Someone says the words purple elephant, and all of a sudden, you catch sight of them in shop windows and on T-shirts, stuffed animals and billboards, and you wonder how you never noticed.” Page 314
“There is a freedom, after all, in being forgotten.” 325
“Memories are stiff, but thoughts are freer things. They throw out roots, they spread and tangle, and come untethered from their source. They are clever, and stubborn, and perhaps—perhaps—they are in reach.” Page 327
“They’ve been lucky, so lucky, but the trouble with luck is that it always ends.” 329
““You said it yourself, Luc. Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out. And I think you are glad of it. I think that’s why you’ve come, because you are lonely, too.”” Page 332
“She closes her eyes, reminds herself there are many ways to leave a mark, reminds herself that pictures lie.” Page 337
“She may not feel the years weakening her bones, her body going brittle with age, but the weariness is a physical thing, like rot, inside her soul. There are days when she mourns the prospect of another year, another decade, another century. There are nights when she cannot sleep, moments when she lies awake and dreams of dying. But then she wakes, and sees the pink and orange dawn against the clouds, or hears the lament of a lone fiddle, the music and the melody, and remembers there is such beauty in the world. And she does not want to miss it— any of it.” Page 342
“Luc’s smile darkens. “Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because vision weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades.” He leans close, twists a lock of her hair around one finger. “Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end,” he says, “everyone wants to be remembered.”” Page 351
“It is a sign, when even gods and devils dread a fight.” Page 367
“And this, he decides, is what a good-bye should be. Not a period, but an ellipsis, a statement trailing off, until someone is there to pick it up. It is a door left open. It is drifting off to sleep.” Page 419
#the invisible life of addie larue quotes#the invisible life of addie larue#the invisible life of addie larue by ve schwab#ve schwab#quotes#my favorite quotes#addie larue#henry strauss#luc#bookish quotes
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ask : Okay so I really like your LeviXhanahaki!reader one shot, I was wondering if there was any chance of your writing a follow up of maybe Levi finding out after MC has passed away.
ack - so i planned to post this along with the other ending version, but i figured it’s long overdue at this point and i should go with what i have!
warning: major angst, death, blood, hanahaki
“ too late “
It’s been centuries.
Well—it hasn’t, but that was what Levi felt like. He knows it’s maybe been a month, maybe two, but every second felt excruciating.
You weren’t joining the next exchange program. That much was found out when Diavolo called a meeting, saying that you declined his offer. He didn’t say that it was because you tore his letter and threw it away, but the concluded version was that you just would not come for another year.
Of course, it was met by questions and heartbroken glances between the brothers, but with time, they respected your wishes. No matter what it was, they’d come to terms with it. Besides, it’s not as if they’re not allowed to stay in contact with you.
Except for one.
The amount of anxiety that crushed Levi was astronomical when each time you left him on read. Well, that wasn’t that often, but you never did that before! Even so, your answers always came late, with a reply that. . .seem to lack your familiar flare.
The thoughts that came with him being the Avatar of Envy came, stronger now. And each time, he reminded himself that hey, you have a life of your own in the human world (but perhaps that was a tamer form of his spiraling mind).
Until you became more and more off.
Not only him, your response spread to each brother. Such topic was only brought up when they mentioned the differences in your texts during a groupchat talk. You’ve declined every phone call they made (well, more of that you let the phone ring and never pick up, despite you being online, but same thing), which was understandable to some.
Each thought it was an individual thing, and it wasn’t.
It has been brought to you for questioning, yes. They had their own talk of, “Hey, human, are you okay?” And even then, your answer would be a, “yeah, sorry, i just feel tired ^^;;”
Whether they bought it or not, is unknown to you. You hope they do, anyway.
Each day dragged on for the third-brother of them all. He knew he’d miss the human, they were his true friend after all, but. . .this feeling wasn’t one he liked. At all. In fact, he despised it to his very core. But why was he feeling like this for a normie. . .?
It didn’t matter, he thought as he turned off his D.D.D. Another text of his left on read. . .he hoped you were okay.
[ ✿ ]
You hate it, you despise it. Each day is harder, increasing in the amount of petals—hell, fully bloomed flowers appeared a lot more often—thrown out. You thought it’d decrease since your departure from Devildom, but unfortunately, it seems to be the opposite. You don’t know what it is, shouldn’t the effects be lessened once you’re not in the vicinity of the other party?
Or maybe it was the factor that he was a demon, and you were a human. The situation of a human getting Hanahaki from a creature of hell was very likely to not be documented in any books you’ve read.
Still, even so, you were going to die in the near future. The flowers tell you as much.
They were enough to make a bouquet, you notice. All the ones you’ve spat out were in perfect condition (minus the spit and blood), no tears at the petals, even, in some cases, the stamen and carpels seemed as if untouched, and not forced out your throat. And as a result, you’ve began to collect them and put them in pots you found around the house. Whether you’d like to admit it or otherwise, it was one of the only moments you left your room.
Each type of flower, you fitted in different pots and vases. The most prominent ones that you remember were hyacinths (purple, to be exact), gardenias, marigolds, and yarrows. You keep the other, lesser flowers, all huddled in one big vase. Perhaps they’ll be the secret pieces to your tragedy.
You wonder how long they’ll last after you die.
Such a waste of beauty, you ponder, gently plucking a gardenia from the rest. The white petal flutters as you twirl it aimlessly. The white canvas once red, now back to its purest colors, until it will inevitably wilt away.
The sound of a knock flooded you ears, breaking down your thoughts and pulling you back to earth. You shoved the flower back to its place and hurried up to the door. Who could it be? You haven’t had a visitor in a while now.
Whoever came to mind while you made your way, it certainly wasn’t correct. Instead, you were greeted with a tuft of white hair that you didn’t exactly expect at all. “Solomon!” Your surprise was very much evident both in your voice, and facial expression, “It’s. . .nice to see you here.”
“Hello,” he greets you with an easy smile of his own, “It’s quite the surprise visit, isn’t it? I apologize for that.”
“It’s fine, really!” You force a laugh, sounding a lot hoarse than you thought it would. Even so, “Please, come in!”
You ushered him inside and you close the door behind you. The sight of him looking around your abode doesn’t escape your gaze, it just leaves you a bit flustered, “I’m so sorry it isn’t. . .that presentable, I wasn’t expecting a guest. I can go make some tea, or anything.”
“It’s fine, really.” He gives you yet another small smile, but it quickly turns into a rather sympathetic gaze. He’s noticed your weary expression, your tired tone. “But I think you should go grab a drink for yourself.”
“. . .Yeah, I will. The living room’s down the hall, make yourself at home.”
You don’t raise an objection—the two of you know how much you need it. Well, more you than him, but that’s to be expected.
You get yourself a glass of water, and the cold water punches at your sore throat. A choked up feeling remains, but it’s been there for a while, and you pay no mind to it. You just hope you don’t start coughing up near your guest.
You push any thoughts left to the back of your mind and leave your kitchen. You arrive at your living room to find Solomon situating himself on your couch comfortably. You do the same across from him, “So, Solomon, I thought you were going back for a next year in the program?”
“Likewise to you,” his words left a cold metal press against your body, “but I told Diavolo I’d join next year.”
“I see.”
“And I was surprised when I heard you weren’t coming also. I thought you would’ve been ecstatic to go back.” His eyebrows arched at you, his head tilting slightly.
A sigh, “Well, yes, but—“ your eyes involuntarily glance at a vase positioned near a window, filled with the flowers from your lungs, “. . .it’s complicated.”
A silence hung itself in the air for a good few while, until the other hummed. “I see.” A mumble, nearly inaudible as his lips barely parted. And the silence continued. He’s staring at you, you feel it, and you refuse to stare back.
A cough threatens to break itself out from you. You beg for it to have mercy, please, just for now.
And a plead never stops a tragedy. Even if you fall to your knees, and beg and beg and beg, the scythe will strike you either way. Because, does Death hesitate when it sees someone in such a state? To not rip open the wound, for the reason that it’s time for the wound to be seen?
In the end, blood and secrets spill like a broken mess.
“You’re going to die, aren’t you?”
His question was a whisper, leaving your body cold and alone. Your eyes, while not even looking at him, wavered and roamed. Another flower blooms.
“. . .How. . .?” And, such is the only thing you could say. The petals inside you stroke your organs, and air feels impossible. Shocked, you are, and the world crashes down all at once.
Solomon’s gaze doesn’t give away the answer. And it looks like his lips won’t either; at least not a clear one. “. . .I have my ways.”
A fond smile touches your lips, now tracing over your eyes. “S. . Shady-ass.” Slowly, the world becomes fuzzy dots and continuously blurry. The wound you’ve so desperately tried to stitch close is ripping away, thread by thread. Another flower blooms.
“. . .And you haven’t told them, have you?”
Another question, and another stab to your soul. The wound is third-fourth of spilling its stained secrets, all in courtesy of you. “. . .Is this the purpose of your visit?” The world fades in and out, clear then muddy— “You’re. . .cruel, y’know?” Another flower blooms.
And not a word comes from him next. The silence was enough to rip at your open gash.
The world fades out of your vision as the flowers spill, coughing and clawing its way out of your throat. You don’t feel your body collapsing to the floor, your knees giving up on you, your body writhing itself to keep a stance. You don’t feel the widened gaze Solomon has on you.
Your focus is on your pain; and it slowly becomes your world. The blood that’s spilt, the scratches denting your lungs, the flood of colors sprayed mercilessly, the tears holding no stops or ends as it mixes with the others.
For a moment, you wonder if your blood and spit and tears are the only thing the flowers’ve felt.
[ ✿ ]
“I don’t get it! I know they’ve left me on read for a long time now, but they don’t even come online anymore!”
Levi’s exasperated words fill through the room without a problem. The other brothers in the room would’ve told him to calm down, had they not been on the same level of worry as he was. After all, it wasn’t only him that noticed you’ve not came online and even read any messages they sent for what—a week now?
They’ve all tried to contact you through various means, from the surface leveled texts and phone calls, to even using your pact to send messages by igniting your nerves through pain or the sorts.
None of them worked.
“Please, Lucifer, you have to let someone go up and check on them! Anyone!” Levi’s pleads added the weight of the burden said brother felt on his shoulders. He, too, felt the strong urge to go up and see you, but workload has inconveniently increased against his favors.
Even so, Lucifer sent no reply to his brother and looked away with a hesitant and equally pained gaze. However, after so many requests from his brothers, all those he shared, he relented, “. . .I will talk to Lord Diavolo about this.”
Glances were exchanged between all seven demons, and Levi huffed, sitting up from his chair in the dining room. The rest watched as he stormed into the hallway, and most likely, into his room.
Immediately, he made a beeline to his chair, throwing his body onto it and opening his D.D.D. as if it were a reflex. With his other hand, he reached to his mouse and logged onto something on his computer, not even bothering to spare a look. His fingers tap away into his Chats, and into yours and his. A week you’ve been gone.
His other hand glided away from his mouse, and onto his pact mark, situated on the left side of his stomach. A small wave of magic flows, and reaching to said mark, trying to fish out a response. Nothing. Not a pulse, not a shock, not anything to tell him you were there.
He’d try, and try, and try. But no answer came.
A buzz from his D.D.D. prevents his thoughts from spiraling. The brothers’ groupchat had a notification. His eyes lingered momentarily to the clock at the corner of his device, half an hour has already passed. Was it really that long he spent. . .? But the question was disregarded as he checked who it was.
Lucifer: I’ve talked with Lord Diavolo.
His heart leaps, and so does his anxiety.
Lucifer: He’s been worried as well, and so, one of you is permitted to go.
And with that one message, everyone started typing up at once, like a fire. Levi didn’t falter behind.
Leviathan: I’ll go.
And after it was sent, his thoughts melted to a puddle. All the texts that came after, most likely all the others wanting to go, became muddled visions to him. He can’t feel his arms, his legs, and lastly, the way his heart churns and squeezes so tightly in him.
It hurts, but reality pulled him back.
Levi blinked once, twice, then refocused on the screen bellow him. The words in the white box said by Lucifer shocked him, but sent a slight wave of relief, and also a shaking anxiety.
Lucifer: You’ll be going then, Levi.
Hurriedly, his trembling fingers struggle to get a response. A whirlwind spawns inside his heart and mind.
Leviathan: Huh?!
Leviathan: Uhm, when?
He considered asking why, but he didn’t want the decision to be backtracked.
Lucifer: You may go to the castle now to be transported.
And with that, Leviathan hurries out.
He doesn’t pay attention to what the Demon King in front of him say. Nor does he at the beatings of his own heart. Only a nod, and an occasional hum, and the portal flickers in front of him.
A portal to you.
He takes fast steps to the glimmering light, and his body warps to another world around him.
Despite wearing casual human clothes, his hand still wanders and threads over the pact mark hidden underneath the fabrics. Once again, magic flows from his fingertips, and his legs carry him where it leads to. You, hopefully.
He reaches a house. His magic says you’re here, but you yourself say you aren’t here. Instead of a solid presence around him, you were more of dust, sprinkling the air with a sense of. . .cold.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.
His steps pick up as he walks to the door, and knocks. Silence, for a few, and then it opens, revealing someone—someone that isn’t you.
“Excuse me, sir, who are you?” It was a woman, mid-thirty’s he took a guess. Her tone was soft, ever so slightly broken, and her gaze was such as well.
“Uhm—“ A choked up feeling made itself home in Levi’s throat so suddenly. He wavered in every parts of his body, “I was. . .wondering if there’s someone named. . .”
He utters your name, gentle with such fragility. A looming hesitance and fear was evident as well, so none of his tone was positive by any means. The woman in front of him tensed, and gave a look of heart break.
No, it can’t be. It just can’t—
“. . .It’s. . .very unfortunate of me to say this, but. . .”
No, no no—
“. . .they’ve passed away.”
His world broke.
Sentences came after that. Leviathan knew, he just wouldn’t acknowledge. A sharp, excruciating pain imbedded deep in his heart, his mind, his body—his pact mark shattered, and so did he.
Even so, he reached—reached deeply inside of the shards of the broken him to utter out a sentence, and stay stable, if for a moment.
“. . .How. . . d-did—“
He cut himself off. He can’t go any further, he just can’t. Fortunately, the lady picked up and answered.
“. . .It’s from a rare disease.” Her voice was wavering, hesitant, but it was an answer nonetheless, “Hanahaki. A person sprouts flowers from their lungs due to unrequited love and it slowly kills them.”
She didn’t want to say any further, and he didn’t want to hear any further.
His legs were numb, his body hurt to exist, his heart ached to keep beating. A thud sounded as his knees collided with the concrete—his feet didn’t work. None of his. . .anything, did. The screams of agony were a vocalization of his tears, his pain. A hand clutched the mark—your mark—and a cold darkness bit back.
His hand would bleed, but he wouldn’t care. You were dead. You were dead you were dead you were dead you were—
Could he have stopped this? Maybe, if he wasn’t so ignorant, and checked up on you like an actual friend would—could he have stopped this? Maybe, maybe, you’d be there by his side, smiling cheekily and exclaiming it was a joke—or a nightmare, just—anything but reality.
Were you hurting? No, of course you were. And not uttering a word, to anyone, to him?
And for a moment, he wonders if your tears and blood were the only thing you felt when you died.
#obey me leviathan#obey me levi#shall we date obey me#obey me#obey me scenario#hanahaki#angst#tw death
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Buffy Season 8 - Episode 1 Pt. 1
Buffy has just awakened all the potential slayers. How will the gang, and the world, cope with the sudden changes? And what secret is Willow keeping about Tara?
TL;DR I refuse to accept Tara is dead so I’m bringing her back! Get over it!
EXT. HOUSE - DAY
It looks like a nice, normal quiet house on a quiet street.
INT. HOUSE - DAY
Classical music plays.
Spike is sitting on the couch beside Giles. Dawn is on the floor on her computer. It's all quiet and calm as Spike flips through the channels. Suddenly-
SPIKE
(yells loudly)
Hey. Who recorded over passions?! Dawn?!
DAWN
It wasn't me!
Spike turns to Giles, who says nothing for a few moments.
GILES
...There happened to be a very fascinating documentary on Ebola on!
DAWN & SPIKE
Ew.
SPIKE
Great! Now what are we gonna watch?
The door bursts open as Buffy bursts through the door. Spike Giles and Dawn all stand up.
SPIKE
Thank god. Is there any news?
BUFFY
No.
SPIKE
Dammit.
DAWN
Aww.
BUFFY
Hey, I'm doing the best I can here. Does anyone else want to go out there and try and do better?
2.
It's quiet. Spike shakes his head. Dawn shrugs and Giles laughs sardonically.
BUFFY
Alright. Well, we just have to wait. The internet guy should be coming in the morning and hopefully everything will be back up then-
SPIKE
The morning?
DAWN
You're kidding!
BUFFY
Hey, it wasn't my idea to have us move out into the boonies!
(glaring at Giles)
GILES
(sighs)
It was necessary! When Willow activated all those new slayers-
BUFFY
We know the drill, Giles. When Willow activated all the slayers, a ton of mystical forces went kabloo-y-
DAWN
Unbalancing the forces of nature-
SPIKE
Making all those shrouded in mystical whats-it a giant target for evil, uh... forces.
GILES
(sighs)
Right.
BUFFY
Which I still don't think translates into "hide out until things blow over." I should be out there, Giles. Helping the new slayers.
GILES
You and Willow. When evil comes knocking, it's going to be after you two. Which is why we need to keep you safe. Until this all blows over and all the forces-We've got Kennedy and the others to do that. You're the one that started all this Buffy.
3.
Buffy Dawn and Spike look between each other.
GILES
Rebalance themselves.
BUFFY
Which will be...?
Giles frowns.
BUFFY
Guys can you give us a minute?
SPIKE
Sure. Me and little sis need to have a talk anyway. About something I call "unreasonable bathroom time."
He shoves her out of the room with a laugh. Dawn rolls her eyes.
GILES
(sighs, sits down and shrugs)
Willow's plan to activate all the slayers with the scythe, while being an ingenious one, effected the very nature of the slayer line.
BUFFY
It didn't just effect it. It unleashed it, Giles. Every girl who could be -
GILES
Now is, I know. But who knows how many other mythical beings it effected? How many different dimensions it rippled into? We have no idea what she's done-
CUT TO:
4.
INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY
Cut to Willow coming down the stairs, stopping in the hall as she overhears them.
GILES
Our world is irrevocably changed now. We don't know how much, how many things are different now.
BUFFY
But it's good, right?
GILES
The coven says that there are more hot spots now than ever.
BUFFY
Hot spots? Meaning-
GILES
Hellmouths. Possibly. I'm afraid activating all the slayers has shifted the scales, yes, but maybe not how we intended.
Willow sighs, looking guilty. This is not the first time she's hearing this, and she knows what's been going on.
BUFFY
It's bad out there Giles. Even here, in the middle of nowhere. Vampires, demons, all the forces out in full force.
Giles seems to notice her for the first time.
GILES
Buffy, are you hurt?
He touches her face where there's a bruise.
BUFFY
I won, but it's getting a little too close for comfort. They're angry. I feel it. They didn't like our little magic spell.
GILES
You need to rest. With all the other slayers, I don't see why you have to-
5.
BUFFY
Just because everyone got activated doesn't mean I got de-activated... I still have to do my part.
GILES
I know, you just seem so...
BUFFY
(looks up in shock)
Don't say old.
GILES
(laughs)
I was going to say tired. I was hoping by bringing us here, you'd get a chance to finally rest. Without, being you know-
BUFFY
Dead?
GILES
(sighs)
Spike, he's been patrolling with you... He's helping?
BUFFY
(she smiles, a soft spot for Spike)
Yeah. He helps.
CUT TO:
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
Dawn is sitting on the toilet across from Spike, who sits on the bathtub edge.
SPIKE
And that's why bathroom time is very important, even for vampires.
DAWN
I get it, jeeze, will you -
They turn to see Willow walking by the bathroom.
DAWN
Oh hey! Look, it's Willow!
Willow smiles half-heartedly. She seems drained and depressed.
6.
WILLOW
You showing Dawnie how to flush the toilet again?
DAWN
Hey, I so don't need help with that... Anymore. It's very old fashioned ok!?
(huffs)
Anyway. Think Giles & Buffy are done with their "forces of evil?" talk? I still have a ton of homework to do. Too bad saving the world didn't save me from homework, huh?
She laughs nervously.
WILLOW
(mutters)
Or actually save the world.
She sighs and crosses the hall, goes into her room and sits on the bed. Spike follows her, knocks on the side of the door.
WILLOW
You don't have to knock, you live here, remember?
SPIKE
Yes, well, my new soul comes with all kinds of news manners, turns out.
Willow flips a page in her book, ignoring him.
SPIKE
You alright there, Red? You're looking bluer than usual.
(he smiles at his joke)
You uh, hear all that down there, did you?
WILLOW
How did you? Oh, yeah, vampire. I keep forgetting.
SPIKE
Hey!
7.
WILLOW
Sorry. Don't take it personal. I keep forgetting I'm a powerful witch, what with every spell I do blowing up in my face and all that.
SPIKE
They're just worried, that's all. That don't mean your spell didn't help or nothin, Red.
WILLOW
Really, because it seems like it just made it all a whole lot worse.
SPIKE
It didn't-
WILLOW
It's just, one second you're all white hair and goddessy- connected to everything. And the next you're...
SPIKE
You again?
Willow nods.
SPIKE
If this is about Kennedy, I can go find her, rip her heart out for you. Soul might hurt a little bit, but hell. you know I never really liked her for you anyway. Not like-
He bites his lip, cursing himself.
SPIKE
Well, you know.
WILLOW
Thanks. But it's not all Kennedy's fault. I think she knew something was off... after that spell.
SPIKE
What's that?
WILLOW
When I did the spell, I felt something... I think I felt...
(lowly, almost ashamed)
Tara.
8.
Spike frowns.
WILLOW
Just for a moment... She was there with me...
(starts to cry, coming back to herself)
Anyway, things were never the same after that. Think that's why she decided to become "Sargent General." Give her time away, from me. I don't know. Or maybe she was just scared...
SPIKE
You know you're the reason any of us are even alive right now?
WILLOW
The spell- it went wrong.
SPIKE
Not that spell. The spell you did. Bringing Buffy back.
Cut to Buffy coming up the stairs. She stops in the hall, listening.
SPIKE
You saved her. Saved me that day too. Never properly thanked you for that... But um, you know, if you ever need- If there's anyway I can help you-
WILLOW
You can't. Thank you. But that's the thing about the slayer, about Buffy.
SPIKE
What?
WILLOW
She got to come back.
Buffy looks down sadly.
CUT TO:
9.
INT. HALLWAY STAIRCASE - NIGT
BUFFY
(calling up the stairs)
Guys! Get down here!
We follow her into the kitchen just as everyone comes down the stairs, Dawn, Willow, Spike. Giles comes in from the living room.
WILLOW
What is it?
GILES
Did something happen?
SPIKE
Where's the demon!? I'll kill him!
BUFFY
Oh, uh, sorry to disappoint. It's just dinner!
She points to the pasta she's straining in the sink. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
DAWN
Wow, you actually cooked?
BUFFY
(starting to put the pasta into bowls)
Excuse me, I used to cook all the time...
(to their confused glances)
at the doublemeat palace, remember?!
SPIKE
Sorry love, but I don't really eat past-
Buffy opens and shoves a packet of blood at him. She continues to dish out pasta into bowls.
BUFFY
Now I want everyone to sit down at the table. We're going to have a nice family dinner, without any talk of demons or danger or the forces of evil - for once. Think we can handle that?
They all look at Giles.
10.
GILES
Well, it's not my fault - ! There *Are* mystical forces at wor-
BUFFY
*Giles*
GILES
Fine. But if we die, I'm blaming all of you.
BUFFY
One family dinner isn't going to kill us.
CUT TO:
INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT
They all sit eating their dinner quietly. It's almost awkward, with Spike slurping his blood.
WILLOW
So uh - Buffy - any word from Xander?
BUFFY
No.
(they all look nervous)
Which is probably good, right? It means his retreat thing is going well... probably.
DAWN
Or it means his retreat thing is going horrible and he met a bunch of demons who want to kill him for helping us activate all the slayers and he's - well, you know.
Buffy's eyes go wide.
DAWN
What!
(crosses her arms)
Everyone else was thinking it.
BUFFY
(smiling dismissively)
No, we weren't. Xander can take care of himself.
(they all look confused about that)
That's what he said anyway. Not like he was listening to reason. After Anya -
11.
(she shakes her head)
It was brutal. I don't think he realized how much...
She looks at Willow and breaks off. Spike smiles sadly at Buffy and squeezes her hand under the table.
GILES
(clearing his throat)
Well, this is delicious Buffy.
DAWN
Yeah. Much better than your doublemeat burgers.
BUFFY
Thank you, I think. So, Dawnie, tell us about your schoolwork. How's online classes going?
DAWN
Oh, you know. A little boring after researching how to kill an unkillable demon for weeks. But I'm getting through the slog.
GILES
(smiles encouragingly)
Well it's great you're getting on with it, Dawn. You know I always say that an educated mind is a-
BUFFY
That's great, Giles. And Will. How, um, are you doing?
Spike raises an eyebrow at Buffy. Willow doesn't look like she heard, just moving the pasta around on a plate. After a few moments of staring, she finally realizes and looks up.
WILLOW
(looking alive)
Hm? Ohhh, me! I'm good. We activated the slayers and we uh - we won the good fight against- Well, I'm not supposed to bring up the forces of evil, but you know! We did it! Horray!
Giles takes his glasses off and wipes them, examining Willow. She takes a sip of her wine.
12.
GILES
If you need to talk Willow-
WILLOW
I don't. Wha - what could there be to talk about?
BUFFY
You don't have to-
WILLOW
Well and what's with the sudden interest in me anyway?! Since when has this been the Willow show, huh?
The wine in her glass starts to shake.
BUFFY
(laughs under her breath)
I mean, it's definitely not "The Willow Show"
SPIKE
I think the Spike show sounds pretty cool actually.
DAWN
Ha, you wish!
BUFFY
All those sound ridiculous.
WILLOW
Thank you for concern. But I'm fine, really. I'm just very thirsty all of a sudden.
(she picks up her glass and drains it)
And now I'm going to go sleep off my inevitable drunk. So...
(still cheery)
Goodnight!
She gets up and leaves. Her glass shatters. Dawn screams.
BUFFY
(sighs)
Well, that went well.
DAWN
I think there's glass in my pasta...
13.
THEME SONG.
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
Buffy knocks on Willow's door. She finds Willow sitting on her bed reading.
BUFFY
You ok?
WILLOW
Yes, I told you, I'm fine, Buffy.
BUFFY
You sure cause-
WILLOW
Mhmm. Thanks for dinner.
INT. BUFFY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Buffy and Spike are unmaking their bed.
BUFFY
I just don't get why she won't talk to me about it. She talked to you about it!
SPIKE
(taking a pillow off his side of the bed)
Knew I smelled you eavesdropping.
BUFFY
Well, duh. You think I make dinner just for fun or something?
(snorts)
It just doesn't make any sense. I'm her best friend! Why would she pick you over me?
SPIKE
You're jealous! Jealous of me and Red.
(snarkily)
We have a connection.
14.
BUFFY
(glares)
That better be a spiritual connection.
SPIKE
(rolls his eyes)
I'm good Buffy, but I don't think I'm that good.
BUFFY
(flirty)
Don't be so sure
SPIKE
Oh yeah?
She shrugs.
SPIKE
Well, maybe it makes more sense than you think, Buffy.
BUFFY
You & Willow!?
SPIKE
(rolls his eyes)
Her talking to me. Confiding in a neutral party and all? Vampire- I do walk between worlds you know?
BUFFY
You walk between worlds? Hello, I died - twice!
SPIKE
Yeah, and do you remember deeply traumatic that was? How you kept it from all of your friends, seeing as it was kind of their fault to begin with?
BUFFY
Ok, now I don't even know where you're going with this.
SPIKE
Did you hear what she said? She must've connected to some mystical whats-it Heaven dimension when she did that All-Mighty Slayer spell, connected to Tara.
15.
BUFFY
(sits on the bed)
Well she didn't do it for me! I mean - I didn't ask her - it's not my fault-
SPIKE
I'm just saying, it seems familiar, that's all.
BUFFY
All the more reason that she should be able to talk to me about it!
SPIKE
(sighs and lays on the bed)
Just give her time.
He pulls Buffy into his arms. She sighs, resting his head on his chest. He kisses her cheek.
SPIKE
Speaking of time?
BUFFY
Oh, I knew you were gonna bring that back around.
SPIKE
It's just- I know what I did to hurt you Buffy. And you know I'd never do that again. And I respect you needing all the time in the world, of course. Hey, all I've got is time.
BUFFY
Yeah, yeah - but?
SPIKE
(planting kisses on her neck and shoulder)
Just seems like this, being here. All disconnected from the world, away from Sunnyhell. Kind of romantic. A chance to start over, that's all.
Buffy smirks and looks up at him, placing her hands on his chest.
BUFFY
Well, it's not like I haven't thought-
16.
Dawn pounds on the wall.
DAWN
Are you guys gonna have sex or what? Cause I swear it's quieter than you talking right now!
BUFFY
(mutters and blushes)
Oh my god.
(looking at Spike)
You were saying something about romance?
He sighs.
BUFFY
And it is so not quieter.
Spike laughs.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
Willow is sleeping, dreaming of Tara.
TARA
Find me, Willow.
WILLOW
I'll always find you-
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
Willow wakes up in her bed. She feels the pillow beside her and starts to smile.
WILLOW
Tara-
She opens her eyes and she's alone. She wipes tears off her eyes. She gets angry. Willow, without thinking, mutters something in Latin and a book flies at her. She opens it.
There's a knock at her door. Quickly, Willow hides the book under her covers.
BUFFY
Willow, breakfast.
17.
WILLOW
Be right there.
She looks down at the book, hardly believing what she was doing. She gets up and puts it back in the shelf.
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
Willow comes downstairs to a packed kitchen. Spike's even up, sitting next to Buffy his arm around her waist, well away from the window. Dawn and Giles are chatting happily together.
Buffy, spotting Willow, sits up and brushes Spike's hand off her.
BUFFY
Hey - Willow! Honey - get off!
(she playfully swats Spike's hand away)
WILLOW
It's ok - you guys don't have to-
Buffy sighs defeatedly.
BUFFY
It's just, we don't want you to feel-
WILLOW
It's ok. I'm ok, really. And sorry about last night, you guys. I guess my powers are still a little-
BUFFY
No, don't even worry about it.
DAWN
Yeah, the glass added some much needed crunchiness to the salad!
Willow smiles sheepishly. She feels awkward.
WILLOW
You know, I was actually thinking of getting out a little today. Exploring the town a little.
BUFFY
Oh really? You want some company?
18.
DAWN
Yeah, I'm going a little stir crazy myself.
WILLOW
Uh, actually, I kind of need-
BUFFY
Space, of course! Right.
WILLOW
Yeah. But maybe we could all do something tonight? After you patrol, maybe?
BUFFY
(sighs)
I dunno, all this fighting is kind of wearing me out. I thought Sunnydale was bad. This town is like on crack. Demon crack. Much sore-ness.
SPIKE
(petting her back)
You should take a night off, love. One night off isn't going to end the world.
BUFFY
Tell that to those demons that tried ending the world last week.
GILES
Yes, there's definitely some kind of energy upset now that-
Buffy glares at Giles, who breaks off. Willow frowns.
WILLOW
You're right. We should all do something together today.
BUFFY
Really? What about needing-
WILLOW
Space. Overrated. Who knows what kind of trouble I'll get into on my own anyway?
DAWN
Yeah, you might go evil again and try ending the world or something.
19.
They all look at each other nervously.
DAWN
What? Come on! Too soon!?
Willow sighs shakily and smiles.
INT. BASEMENT - DAY
Some people are gathered around a pentagram holding candles, chanting.
INT. MOVIE THEATER - CONCESSION STAND - DAY
The gang - Giles, Buffy, Willow and Dawn - have their popcorn and candy.
DAWN
Kind of funny Spike couldn't come, but we decided to do the one thing that involved a completely dark windowless room.
BUFFY
Oh yeah.
GILES
Well, if you ask me, it's a good thing. You don't want to become too dependent, Buffy, you are still the
(lowly)
slayer
(regular voice)
after all.
BUFFY
(frowns)
Well, luckily nobody asked you.
DAWN
You guys are spending a lot of time together.
(to Buffy's look)
It's uh, cuteeee!
BUFFY
What, you think we're co-dependent or something?
WILLOW
Careful, Buff. Co-dependence. That's a killer-
20.
She stops dead in her tracks. A woman that looks disturbingly like Tara from behind is examining a poster. Willow's heart skips a beat, until she turns when a guy touches her shoulder and she turns, revealing it's not her. Willow sighs.
BUFFY
This'll be fun! I can't even remember the last time we all hung out and did something fun together.
INT. MOVIE THEATER - DAY
They all sit stunned in the movie theater. Buffy has her hand covered over Dawn's eyes.
GILES
Good lord, did he just -
BUFFY
Ah huh.
WILLOW
I think I'm going barf.
BUFFY
When did movies get so bloody?
DAWN
Let me see!
She moves Buffy's hand away and gasps and brings it back.
BUFFY
Should we leave?
WILLOW
Maybe, let's just give it -
TARA
(O.S.)
Willow?
Willow looks at the screen, where Tara is. She's wearing the outfit she wore when she died. When we cut back to Tara, Buffy and all the others are gone, it's just her alone in the darkness.
WILLOW
T-Tara? Tara? Is that you baby?
TARA
It's me.
21.
WILLOW
N-no, it's a trick. They tricked me, made me believe you -
TARA
Willow, listen carefully. I don't have a lot of time. I'm trapped. I need your help.
Willow stands up.
WILLOW
T-trapped? Trapped where?!
TARA
I don't know. I tried - i tried to get back to you - after- But they wouldn't let me leave.
WILLOW
They? Who?
TARA
The spell. Remember the spell we used to bring Buffy back?
WILLOW
Of course, but-
TARA
That's why this is happening, why all this is all happening. It created s-some kind of divergence, a rift in the timeline-
WILLOW
S- so what does that mean? We have to go back, all Back to the Future style?
TARA
It's too late for that. We've already created a new timeline. Wh- what you did - awakening all the slayers. It also woke up something else. Something very powerful, and dangerous.
WILLOW
I- I did that?
TARA
I was with you. Protecting you. You felt me, didn't you?
22.
WILLOW
Where are you?!
TARA
I have to go. They want me back.
WILLOW
Who? Where are you!?
TARA
Where does all mystical energy go when it's trapped, Will? Think.
WILLOW
Think? I - I can't - Y - you're supposed to give it to the earth - but, your grave, it's back in Sunnydale - I can't get to it, all of that's gone-
TARA
Forget about the body, Will. That it's me. I'm right here.
(she starts to disappear, but her voice echoes)
Come find me.
She disappears, leaving Willow alone and sobbing. Suddenly, the lights come on. Buffy and Giles who were all talking, obviously in a separate dimension from Willow and Tara, all look at Willow. She stops crying and looks angry, determined.
BUFFY
Will? You ok? Will?
She gets up.
EXT. MOVIE THEATER - DAY
Willow is walking out. Buffy following her.
BUFFY
Willow? Where are you going?
Willow doesn't answer. Buffy grabs her arm, stepping in front of her.
BUFFY
Willow, what is going on?! You're scaring me.
23.
WILLOW
She's trapped, Buffy. I have to save her.
BUFFY
Wait - Who? Who's trapped?
WILLOW
Tara.
BUFFY
Tara? You saw Tara.
WILLOW
She spoke to me. Something's wrong, Buffy, I can feel it. She's trapped somewhere, trying to reach me - in some kind of mystical dimension. She said where does mystical energy go when it's trapped - she said-
BUFFY
Willow, think. This could be some kind of trick, you remember what the first did.
WILLOW
It's not the first. It's her, Buffy.
BUFFY
(grabs her arm)
Will-
WILLOW
If you try to stop me -
(she breaks off, not knowing what she's gonna do, probably go evil again)
BUFFY
I'm not gonna stop you. I wanna help. What do we need?
WILLOW
Supplies.
EXT. DOWNTOWN - DAY
Buffy and Willow are walking together. Buffy snaps her cell phone shut.
24.
BUFFY
Giles is gonna take Dawn home. He said to be careful.
WILLOW
That's the problem, isn't it?
BUFFY
What do you mean?
WILLOW
After - what happened... I've been too careful. You were right what you said before, Buffy. About not using my power, about being afraid. I've been so scared this whole time of what might happen... It's stopped me.
BUFFY
(thinking about her and Spike)
Right... I get that.
(swallows)
But we still don't know-
WILLOW
There's no way to. But I already messed everything up, Buffy. The slayers being activated- Giles is right. It's caused some sort of shift. Things that were bad before are just gonna get worse. The playing field is always gonna keep leveling, against us.
BUFFY
You did a thing, Will. Think about how many girls you saved.
WILLOW
Did I? They're still gonna die - And if they don't? What kind of life do they get, Buffy? Brutal. Bloody. You should know better than anyone. I don't know, sometimes I think it would've been better-
BUFFY
What? If we just let everything get sucked into hell? You made a hard choice, Will. We both did.
25.
WILLOW
And the consequences are still coming. Tara - she said she protected me. From something I - we woke up, with the scythe. And now she's trapped, because of me. But I'm gonna get her out.
BUFFY
We both are.
#buffy#btvs#buffy the vampire slayer#buffy season 8#ao3 fanfic#writers of tumblr#fanfic#writeblr#my writing
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