car-keys

[car-keys]

remuslxpns‌:

It had been a small taste of what Remus had missed the last time he went into a muggle shop and looked for more records and clothing to add. It seemed it had been much longer since Remus went to a bookshop that supplied comics as well. Usually Remus favored a book and hardly comic books but he craved something different and something just as interesting. 

There were several shops around but Remus browsed a bookstore he was already familiar with and rounded the shelves that supported the various comic books. There were some that Remus had read during school and some that were new with their glossy paper covers. His eyes glanced over a couple until he saw a sold out sign next to X-Men and Teen Titans, but his attention hovered when he saw a copy on the end. 

Remus was already opening it and before his eyes could even glance at the first page he felt himself collide with someone. “That’s alright-these are quite narrow aisles,” Remus said reassuringly, glancing down when they redirected the attention to the comic in his hands. “Oh-, I believe so, I don’t really know-could be the last one or the people who work here aren’t paid enough to correct that sign.”

“Yeah, but still.” Keys shook their head and puckered their lips in disappointment. They hated bumping into people, which seemed to be a quite often occurrence in their clumsy little life. 

Keelan blinked and took a step back from the stranger even though their attention was drawn to the comic book. If they had any less self-respect they would have screamed, or maybe even ripped the comic from his hands, but decided that it wouldn’t get them too far. Instead, they sighed heavily at the proposition that it may be the shop’s last copy. 

“I guess I could try the other side of town.”They gave the tiniest shrug. “I’ve been trying to get my hands on a copy but it seems like I’m always too late. Guess it doesn’t help that I always show up so late in the afternoon.”

Special Edition {Remus & Keelan} (closed)

[car-keys]

fawley-en-face‌:

Their quick admission made Henry raise his eyebrows. At least they were being honest, he supposed. They sounded entirely unperturbed about it too, could have been Henry’s mirror as they lit up their own cigarette and threw his own question back at him.

Are you. It was a good question. A year ago it would have offended Henry. No, he wasn’t- just because he was different from ordinary people didn’t mean he was crazy, that what he was strange or how he lived his life was inherently wrong. But now he wasn’t so sure. He took another drag on his cigarette, inhaling deeply. He blew the smoke from his nostrils. 

“Yeah, I think so,” he said at length. “But not for all the reasons people think, and not till recently, and I can’t tell yet if it’s permanent or not. What about you? Born crazy, or made?”

He wondered again what they were doing out here, what was with the candle and the bridge, but he supposed they had all night to throw questions back and forth. At the very least, he’d found a distraction from the craving in his blood.

“Good.” Keelan ashed the tip of the cigarette before taking another drag, folding one arm over their torso while the other clung closely to their chest. Exhaling, the buzz of nicotine at Key’s lips, they offered a tiny smirk as consolation to the stranger’s explaination. They wondered why people thought that of him, and what reasons they would give. 

“Born and raised. It doesn’t seem to be genetic, though, everyone else in my family seem to be adequately mundane.” Keelan rolled their shoulder blades back to crack them, sore from being awake for so long. “My dad encouraged it so it only got worse. Maybe you just need someone to edge you in the right direction.” 

Keelan saw him eyeing the candle, and thought that maybe they owed him a reasoning to their madness. “I like the idea of lighting a candle as an offering to whatever can help me sleep. Plus it wards away anyone that doesn’t want to ask me why.”

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}

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porcelainmads‌:

Madailein listened, absorbing Keys’s words as she sipped her tea. Though their family had land and had never hurt for money, Mads had always felt a bit like they didn’t quite fit into high wizarding society. Of course, this displacement was hardly what Keys seemed to be speaking of. Mads had to wonder what it felt like not to be comfortable in the role the world had assigned to you. She’d never bucked hers, and admired the courage of the person facing her.

Madailein’s eyes widened, understanding suddenly dawning. Oh. Oh. She blinked for a moment, and then smiled. “I can honestly say that that is not an experience I have had,” she began. It was true, Mads thrived on her charms, used her beauty to her advantage whenever she could. Men–and women, for that matter–often saw what they wanted to see, and she played into it like an actress in a role.

But that wasn’t Keys. Mads knew it never had been. She’d always admired that. As much as Keys had known that there wasn’t quite a place for them, it had always seemed like that was… okay. If not easy. But it would have made Mads nuts. She liked labels, she liked fitting into one space. It was easy for her. “But,” she continued, wanting to reassure Keelan as best she could. She understood that this was a conversation borne of a very deep trust, and the last thing she wanted was to endanger that. “I can understand why you might feel that way. And… if you’re worried, it doesn’t make you any less my family. Or my best friend.”

Keelan watched as her sister sipped on tea, as nonchalant as if the conversation wasn’t even happening. They hoped that their disregard was a good sign, and not that Madailein was freaking out on the inside. It would be fair if their sister was freaking out, and Keys might even have preferred it over Madailein’s perfect features and calm expressions. Just another reason why they’d wished they had even a bit of their mother’s charm. 

“Which is, like, so good for you. And it’s good for me, too. You’ve helped me out in so many situations just by being yourself. Calm and sure. You’re the constant, Mads, that keeps me grounded to this crazy life.” Keelan tried to use their words as best they could to thank Madailein instead of coming off as jealous or that they were trying to kiss Mad’s ass. “I mean it in a good way.”

Key’s heart jumped straight out of their chest as they heard their sister. But was always the kicker. It was the ‘I’m sorry I said that, but you deserved it’, it was the exception to a positive, and Keelan wasn’t ready to hear what Mads would say next until...it was reassurance. The weight of the world lifted from Keelan’s tiny shoulders and they sighed out loud, running their hand through their hair. Their other hand was clutching their chest, that was still not fully recovered. “Merlin, Mads, I didn’t know what to expect. I just, I knew I had to tell you, and I knew you’d be the only one to understand.”

Tell Me Something Good {Mads & Keys} closed

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Special Edition {Remus & Keelan} (closed)

Keelan was not a fan of reading. Having been dyslexic for all of their life had taken the luster out of cracking open a good book, cozying into a corner or even reading the newspapers. It her their most un-Ravenclaw quality, and it was something that Keelan couldn’t control. Though Keys had grown accustom to not getting their way nor controlling their life, they found that they could cheat their way through most of it.

So even though reading gave Keelan throbbing migraines, that didn’t mean that the mechanic didn’t like a good story. One of Keelan’s favorite thing to do growing up, while their mother was grocery shopping in town, was to sneak off into the local comic book store. They loved the vivid images and how the character’s emotions told the story almost better than the words could. 

A bit overzealous, Keelan burst into the glass door of her favorite muggle comic shop and inhaled deeply, closing their eyes and letting the warm light of the window his their face. It felt like coming home in her heart, and her brain raced to find a new graphic adventure. Once they opened their eyes, Keelan pivoted and knocked right into someone that already had a their face into a colorful comic book of their own. 

“Oh, shit, sorry.” Keelan apologized immediately. “Fuck. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention-holy shit is that the newest Teen Titans release?”

@remuslxpns

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nigel-twycross‌:

Nigel wasn’t surprised that she didn’t recognize him, as he was certain he had never tended to them before either, though he was frequently buzzing around St Mungo’s that it was hard to know who he had seen before and who was new. “Well we’re all pretty busy ‘round here, and I’ve never had you as a patient, so that isn’t so surprising,” he replied, light heartedly.  

Once they were in one of the hospital rooms, Nigel took a better look at their hands and realized that they were indeed, very much so broken. “Well, at least you’ve still got bones to mend. Regrowing them is quite the pain, but mending? Might hurt a bit, but it can be done.” He patted the counter and waved his wand so that a stool emerged for Keelan to use, rather than push their self up on broken hands. 

“Blimey… that doesn’t sound like much fun at all. I’d say you’re rather lucky their only broken. Right. Sit tight, I’m going to bandage them up first. Ferula.” With a wave of his wand, Nigel uttered a bandaging charm, and instantly bandages started to fold over their skin tenderly, splinting the broken bones and holding them together so that he could mend them. 

“It’s alright, I know, it’s not the most comfortable. Are you okay for me to move on?”

Kellan nodded to the man’s words, not really sure what to say in return. It was stupid comment for them to make in the first place. Merlin, they wished Mads were here. She’s know exactly what small talk to make with someone who had no choice but to tend to her injuries. It was such an awkward position to be in as Keys despised asking for help. But there wasn’t much magic they could do with two broken hands. 

“Yeah.” Keelan gave another nod, and then mentally scolded themselves that perhaps they should use their words, rather than shaking their head at people all the time. “They had to regrow my pinkie last year. It was a trip.”

Keys bit their lower lip, knowing that there was pain to come and they knew exactly when to expect it. The painkillers that the shop guys gave Keys would wear off soon, they were well aware. As much as they could, Keelan did their best to help with the process and straightened what they could of their fingers as the bandages wove through the curves of Key’s knuckles. 

“I’m fine.” Keelan blinked and gave the tiniest smile to overcome the throbbing that her heated fingers were starting to produce. “Really. you can keep going.”

Busted Knuckles (Nigel & Keelan)

[car-keys]

advance-emmeline‌:

Emmeline had just started her shift for the day. It was rare to find her off the night shift, but she had a date with Maura tonight and so swapping around her schedule had been necessary. She hadn’t needed to play schedule hockey since Hestia and it was a little thrilling to have a reason to do so again.

No one in the Waiting Room appeared to be immediately dying or in need of transferring to Urgent Care, so Emmeline picked up the sign-in sheet and scanned it for who had been there longest. Usually the Welcome Wix did a simple triage questioning for them as well so they could help prioritize, and she double-checked the wait time with the issue as she went.

Ah, someone with burns. Best get them in fast, didn’t want anything to fester. Growing new skin was a pain for all involved.

“Keelan?” She called out, looking around the room for a spark of recognition in the crowd. “Keelan Brown?” That name sounded familiar. Something she’d heard around the Common Room at school, but not in her year… Not for the first time, Emm found herself wishing she had a better memory for names to faces. “Keelan, we’re ready for you.”

Keelan’s stomach twisted like a wrung-out towel as they waited, not in as much pain as they thought they’d be in. The burns weren’t even that bad, Keys thought to themselves, they shouldn’t be wasting some Healer’s time. They stood up quickly, grabbing for the jacket they had left on the chair next to them, and pivoted towards the exit. Keys only got two steps away before their name was called and their whole body stopped and turned. 

The Healer looked familiar, but not from Keelan’s many adventures into the emergency room. They were sure that the witch was a Ravenclaw; she looked a bit older than Keelan, and they’d already gotten a job at St. Mungo’s. Though Keys couldn’t remember the witch’s name, it made them feel a little more at ease to know  fellow Ravenclaw would be helping. 

“I-I’m Keelan.” They gave a soft nod and raised their hand, as their voice was usually too quiet for most to pick up, especially from the other side of the room. Keys began a quick-paced walk to the witch, not wanting to burden her too much with their problems. “I won’t take up too much of your time, I promise.”

Aspirin & Antidotes (Emmeline & Keelan)

[car-keys]

bazlestrange‌:

Bas considered what the person in front of him was saying, trying to visualise the world as they saw it. That was impossible though; that much wasn’t new to him. From growing up mostly around non-seers, he’d gotten the idea that they viewed the past and the future as completely separate things. That was ridiculous– to him, there was the now and the not-now. The placement of a memory didn’t matter as much as the existence of it.

“Isn’t there more to life than the knowing, though?” he asked, deciding he might as well take advantage of talking about the subject with someone whose opinions weren’t already tainted by proximity to him. “If you were to know one moment– even if you were to know how you get to that place, there’s so much time. Something like 525,600 minutes in a year. I couldn’t say what I’ll be doing this time six weeks from now, the same as probably couldn’t tell me where you were this time six weeks from now. No one can know all of it, because knowing’s not the point.”

He shrugged at the question, thinking back twenty years to that stretch of time. “I was too young at the time for me to really say. I felt it when she died though; the promise that she wouldn’t be back.” Promise was a good word for the way the future spoke to him nowadays– not in specifics but in broad brushstrokes, surrounded by too much to focus on any one aspect. “When I was a kid, I didn’t so much look into the future as have it look for me. I couldn’t choose what I saw, but I saw it constantly. When I learned to use objects to focus it– tarot cards, mostly– I started seeing only what I looked for. Really though, I don’t think I could ever stop looking. That’s like asking if you would blind yourself just because you saw something you’d rather not have.”

“I don’t think so.” Keelan disagreed casually, walking lightly across the bridge to the other side. They didn’t want to make eye contact with the stranger, less they have to object to their perspective. “I think that life is about learning and knowing and that’s it. You go through something, you learn from it, and then you know better for next time. You learn what you like and what you don’t like, and when you grow up, you get a job, and you find out whether you like that or not. And you just-you keep doing that until you die.”

He did make a fetching argument though. “I think it’s maybe more important to know yourself than your future. Not that it’s not incredible that you can See the future. But that, I don’t know, knowing yourself and how you’ll react might be better than knowing what will come and trying to make yourself react differently to the situation.” 

Keelan was very sure in who they were as a wix, and didn’t see a point in trying to be somethign they weren’t. They knew that, if and when their father passed, they would be a mess. They would cry and scream and probably get into a fist fight at the funeral. But knowing the death, Keelan would try to compose themselves better, which would ultimately never work. 

“You make some very good points.” Keelan nodded, unsure of what else to say to his heart which he had place in front of them. They were not good at comforting others, verbally or physically, but perhaps wanted to get to know the stranger’s pain better. “I’m Keelan. Do you want to get a hot cuppa and talk more?”

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}

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fawley-en-face‌:

Henry had been desperate not to wake Sybill as he slipped out of bed. She didn’t deserve to have her sleep disturbed because her boyfriend was a menace who couldn’t sleep without chemical help, and whose hands still itched for more after half a pack of cigarettes. He knew when the craving got too bad he’d probably wind up on Han’s stoop, asking to be physically restrained and maybe sat on to keep him from winding up at one of his old haunts, popping pills like candy. 

When he caught sight of the odd wix during his late-night wanderings, desperate for something other than lying awake in the dark, filled with creeping dread despite Sybill’s warm body pressed against him, he paused.

Henry wondered idly if he was about to be killed and sacrificed some dark, ritualistic magic: the thought, which once would have made him turn tail in the name of self-preservation, didn’t touch him now, and the potential danger to his person didn’t light up any particular warning bells in his mind. Rather, he noted it with a sort of distant curiosity.

“Sleep has always laughed at me,” Henry said, blowing out a puff of smoke and making rings. “You sound like a total nutter. Are you?”

Keelan looked up and down the man. He had a very pretty face but there was something toxic behind his eyes. Maybe it was the cigarette in his hands, which made them remember their own deep in their enchanted jacket pocket, or maybe it was in the deepness of the purple underneath his eyes. There was something about broken people like him that electrified Keelan’s curiosity. Maybe it was the brokenness inside of them, reflected in someone else’s soul. 

“Yes.” Keys admitted without a second thought. They reached into their pocket and pulled out their pack, lighting the stick with the candle they had placed on the ledge. “Utterly and completely.” Keelan inhaled deeply and exhaled through their mouth, not even willing to attempt to blow smoke rings. 

“Are you?” Keelan blinked, demanding for the most part an answer, but more concerned with how than a simple yes or no. 

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}

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siriuslyxpadfoot‌:

“Sounds like a good nickname then,” Sirius commented. He could swap stories, but Padfoot wasn’t exactly one he could casually explain on the street to someone he’d just met. Instead he climbed on his bike as he waited for them to get the helmet on and climb on behind him. “All set?” he asked, glancing behind him with a smile.

Once Sirius was sure Keys was securely on the bike and holding onto him tight enough, he started the bike. He revved the engine a couple times, mostly to show off and because he could. Then he started down the street, quickly giving it the slight nudge it needed for encouragement to go airborne. He took a deep breath, enjoying the air this high up, although he was mindful to stay low enough to not cause any sort of fright from Keys.

“Thoughts?” he yelled, mindful that depending on how the air was hitting, they may or may not be able to hear him. Sirius didn’t mind. They’d have plenty of time to explain once they were back on the ground.

Keelan, with their helmet on tight, threw their leg over the bike and hoisted themselves up. Their hands paused for a moment, and their heart skipped a few beats as they panicked on where to put their hands. Aside from the fact that they usually were the ones driving, Keelan didn’t want to just grab onto this man’s waist and fly away into the sky. Sirius kept saying that he’d had a girlfriend, so it was only fair an polite to grab onto the sides of the seat instead. 

And then they changed their minds immediately, terrified of the idea of flying away on a motorcycle, and wrapped themselves around him as tightly as they could and ducked their head down. A ride of the ground would have been just as fine, but Keelan was a terrible flier and almost never rode a broomstick. But as soon as the engine started revving, Keelan felt a sort of tranquility wash over them that overtook their whole body. It must have been the first waft of emissions that got to them.

Flying was, well, another story. As soon as they took off, Keelan felt their heart fall down into their boots. They hated flying, loved being on the bike, loved the smell of the fresh air mixed with the gasoline, looked down and almost had a heart attack. “I love it.” Keys decided on as they shouted towards Sirius. They loved being on the bike just slightly more than hating being in the air, and enjoyed the adrenaline that was rolling through their blood. 

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}

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porcelainmads‌:

car-keys‌:

porcelainmads‌:

car-keys‌:

A Few Months Ago

Brown Family Estate

The Tea Room

The differences better Madailein and Keelan had been obvious from quite early on, but they had never been particularly important in her eyes. Keys had always been her best friend, full stop. There had never been any “buts” or “even thoughs” or qualifications. It had gotten to a point at Hogwarts where, though she was the youngest, Mads had made it perfectly clear that to have a problem with the awkward, off kilter Ravenclaw was to have a problem with the dangerously socially apt Slytherin.

It had become second nature to protect Keelan. Mads had never even thought about it. But she knew Keys had, and here it was, right in front of her. Madailein reached out her hand across the table and put it on the calloused one across from her

“You’re the Keys to my heart, remember?” She said, making a very old, very silly joke. “I think you have always been more than fine. It’s just taken some longer to see it. The things you can do with tools… I never could follow all that stuff Dad was on about. But you took to it like a fish to water.” She squeezed the hand in her own. “Different doesn’t mean bad, Keys,” she said gently.

The next sentence confused her a bit. Who else would Keelan be? Her family, always, but… What else? She couldn’t figure out what it was she was missing. “Well,” Mads replied, pausing a moment, “Who do you want to be?”

“I remember.” Keelan smiled, heart glowing any time their sister used the catch phrase. It would always cheer them up, whether they scraped their knee or if someone called them stupid in school. It never mattered what anyone else thought, as long as Mads was still on their side. Keys sighed as Madailein took their hand in the same fashion that their mother usually did. 

“I-it’s not bad.” They agreed, biting at the chapped skin of their lips. Keelan never knew the right thing to say, or how to phrase things so that other people would understand where they were coming from. “I’ve accepted the fact that I’m not like anyone else. I kind of like that I don’t fit in like a puzzle piece, because it keeps me motivated to find where I do fit.”

Where did they fit in? Who did Keelan want to be? “I don’t want to be anyone but myself.” Keys looked into Mad’s eyes. “I know who I am. I don’t care how I look on the outside; I don’t think I ever have. I don’t have the feminine charm that you and mom have-but I do have the attitude that dad does. I have his hands; his chin, I think I want to be more like that.”

Keelan swallowed, as their voice warbled like paper in the rain. “I don’t want to change anything about myself. I just don’t want to try so hard to be a woman anymore when I’m really quite bad at it.” 

Tell Me Something Good {Mads & Keys} closed

[car-keys]

nigel-twycross‌:

Despite the buzz at St Mungos increasing more and more lately, Nigel found himself surprisingly more relaxed than normal. Perhaps it was because he had been getting used to the commotion at last, or the fact that he had been making more relationships with people, despite meeting them through his job. He had become friends with Henry, and had met several other people recently whom he hoped that he would see again. Though he was still well aware of the war going on, he figured he might as well try and enjoy what he could, when life allowed him to. 

Heading back to the urgent care center, Nigel came face to face with a rather anxious looking patient, giving them a friendly smile. Their overall body language confirmed his suspicions that this individual seemed rather anxious, though he hoped that he could assure them that there was no reason to be. “Of course. Come with me. You’re Keelan, right?” He had heard that they frequently found themselves at the facility, for a variety of reasons, though this time it seemed a bit more serious. Nigel led Keelan to a room, opening the door for them and following after. 

“Are they broken? How did this happen?” It was important to know the details of course before he went about healing their hands, so that he knew exactly what he was healing for. 

“I am.” Keelan gave a very small nod as they pressed their arms tighter to their body, trying to release them and the stress that rattled in their bones. The man was giving them just about all the comfort they could take in, but Keys couldn’t shake the nerves. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” They admitted slowly as they followed the man around the wing. 

“I’m pretty positive they’re broken.” Keelan brought their hands out to show the healer, not wanting to bend them too much, but rotating them to show the wholeness of the bruising. They’d had plenty of broken fingers, but never so extensive. “They might just be very-shit, no, they’re broken.” Throbbing began to take over Keelan’s hands as the potion began to wear off. 

“My jack-guy dropped a car jack on my hands. I was kind of in the way, so it’s kind of my fault.” Keys sighed and held their hands out to the Healer. 

Busted Knuckles (Nigel & Keelan)

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Aspirin & Antidotes (Emmeline & Keelan)

ad(A tiny twist back in time)

Keelan had done it again. Injuries were as common as grocery store trips for the accident-prone witch. This time it was at the Blacksmith shop, which added a new degree of severity. They had been the victim of a backfired fire-proofing charm, which as one can imagine would send sparks flying. Though Keys wasn’t even sure who would need to request an extra-large pliers to be fire-retardant, they were very sure not to cast the spell while trying to simultaneously trying to to eat half a pizza. 

Even though they’d been wearing the heat-resistant clothing and goggles for the gig, the part of Key’s shirt that was peeking through managed to catch fire and burn their neck at the collar bone. The lead blacksmith at the shop had never seen anyone burn themselves while wearing all the protective gear, but none the less applied burn cream to the wound and sent Keelan to the hospital. 

It was the first time Keelan had been to St. Mungo’s since moving back into town, and they were nervous that none of their favorite healers would be in. The idea of having to talk to an entirely new staff was all to intimidating, almost enough to make them turn back home and try to mend themselves. Keys sat in their regular seat and waited to be called, biting at their lower lip.

@advance-emmeline

[car-keys]

Busted Knuckles (Nigel & Keelan)

Keelan was no stranger to pain. As a child, they broken their leg after being forced into dance lessons with their little sister. They’d broken their jaw at a dance, once, after falling face-first into a table. The nurse said it was a miracle that they didn’t have a scar lining from their bottom jaw all the way to the bridge of their nose. Consistently, Keys was busting their knuckles against machinery inside of car engines, and against blacksmithing tools.

Despite all of their practice in unintentionally harming themselves, they’d never learned to heal themselves properly. Which was probably for the best, seeing that if they set their bones wrong they’d be screwed. So when one of key’s coworkers accidentally dropped the carjack on both their hands while trying to lift the machine onto a large jack, Keys knew exactly what to do. 

Keelan ingested a numbing potion that they’d brewed regularly for such occasions, leaving just a casual feeling of heat over their deeply bruised and bleeding knuckles. They’d been dropped off by the coworker, unable to use their hands, at St. Mungo’s, and walked in. Even though they’d only been in town a few weeks, the welcome witch greeted them by name and directed them towards the urgent care section. Keys walked a few feet before encountering a soft-blonde with a steel jawline, folding their hands protectively while approaching the healer. 

“Hey, I uh, I was directed over here.” Keys cleared their throat and looked down at their feet for a moment. “Can you fix my hands?”

@nigel-twycross

[car-keys]

Task 012: Going Home

Keelan feels most at home in their dad’s garage. While most of the family’s actual house feels foreign, despite their family’s open-mindedness, the garage is full of good, familiar smells, like motor oil and sweat. It’s where the children can always rely to find their father when he’s not at work, where Keelan snuck away to smoke cigarettes in the middle of the night before they moved away, where Keelan went after their first heartbreak. It’s where Keelan first felt the spark of belonging, or something equivalent to their sister’s impeccable grace. 

When they’re not bothering their father in the family garage, Keelan finds home wherever their Sphinx cat Sekkie is. Currently, that’s above Blue’s Auto Shop, while they hope to find somewhere more permanent. Maybe with a garage of their own. 

[car-keys]

siriuslyxpadfoot‌:

Sirius couldn’t help laughing at just how eager and excited they seemed by the idea of a motorcycle ride with him. Sirius couldn’t really blame them. His bike was pretty awesome. And in his pick up days, “Want a ride on my flying motorbike?” did tend to go over well. This wasn’t that kind of situation in the slightest, though. From how pleased they were by the bike and how little time they’d spent looking at him, Sirius could tell they were on the same page.

“In that case, it’s nice to meet you, Key,” he said. It was a good nickname for someone interested in machines, he had to admit. “Are you a mechanic then?” Shop didn’t have to mean that they were, but Sirius felt it was a safe bet with a name like Keys. Sirius didn’t know cars nearly as well as he did motorcycles, but the name sounded impressive, and it wasn’t that old either. It sounded like a car with promise.

“You didn’t die,” Sirius promised as he turned around. He gestured for them to follow. “I only have the one helmet unfortunately. My girlfriend’s is back at her place.” As it usually did, the word gave him a twist of not-quite-right with the glow of having someone to use it for. “Here. Why don’t you use mine? I’ll be fine without it for one ride.” Once Sirius was sure they were paying enough attention to catch it, Sirius tossed the helmet for them to catch. 

“The pleasure is mine.” Keelan nodded furiously as they looked over the bike a few times. The paint job was immaculate; the engine, they were sure, even without hearing it run, would be enough to give Keys the chills. They would kill to have a bike in this condition, Bonneville or not. 

“Oh, absolutely.” Keelan looked back at Sirius, with his long hair and amused grin. Keys, who breathed in the scent of oil and gasoline like it were afield of fresh daisies, whose nails were short to accommodate having their hands constantly crushed by machinery, whose own personal form of mediation was by cleaning air filters and rebuilding transmissions. “My dad nicknamed me Keys because I’d follow him to his garage whenever I heard the sound of his key chain clanking. I work over at Blue’s now, if you know where it is.”

They followed Sirius eagerly, perhaps too eagerly, holding their hands clasped together in front of their chest. Key’s hands separated as soon as the helmet was thrown at them; most other objects they would have certainly dropped, but Keys knew the price of a decent helmet and did their best. It was a little off to Keelan that Sirius kept saying the word girlfriend an awful lot, but instead of asking was more than willing to strap the helmet on and climb aboard. “Thank you so much.” It was all Keelan could muster, in one quick breath as they buckled the helmet’s straps. 

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}

[car-keys]

porcelainmads‌:

car-keys‌:

A Few Months Ago

Brown Family Estate

The Tea Room

As Mads moved into her family’s home, she was relieved to catch sight of Keelan. Though their parents had been thrilled about Lavender, Madailein never could quite shake the feeling that she had let them all down with her foolish behavior. They had accepted her excuses about making a better match, but Keelan was the only one who knew the truth about Lavender’s father. It was nice, Mads knew, to have someone she could trust with anything. Not everyone did.

With a wide smile, she sat down opposite Keys. The look on her sibling’s face was a bit apprehensive, and Madailein found herself quite concerned. Had something happened? Their parents and Lavender seemed to be out for the time being, but they often took trips out to parks and things. Her brows furrowed, Mads reached for the teapot.

“Seems like an incredibly pleasant ambush, if you ask me,” she quipped. She’d always tried her best to put Keelan at ease. Only one of them had been graced with the family charm, and neither of them were under any delusions about which it had been. But Madailein would argue for days that Keelan had been given the talent, the brain, the real drive to get somewhere. “Is everything okay, Keelan?”

“As you’re well aware, pleasantries are my specialty.” Keys gave a snort as they poured themselves a cup of blooming jasmine tea, adding a tiny bit of rock sugar. Tea was calming, otherwise Keelan would have invited Madailein out for coffee at their favorite place. Being home was an intimate setting for Mads, too, even if it wasn’t so cozy anymore to Keelan. And even if their conversation was mostly about them, they wanted their sister to feel as comfortable as possible for the given situation. 

“I’m fine.” The dark-haired witch gave a nod before sipping on their steaming cup of tea. It was so hard to find the words to say. Their hands tightened around the small cup as their brows furrowed slightly. “That’s it; I’m just fine. I’ve never been more than fine. I’ve never been good at anything unless it had a motor or moving parts; and that’s fine.”

Keys took a deep breath and let their frustrations slide out of their nostrils like the steam off of the tea. “You’ve been exceptional all your life, Mads; I don’t mean it in a way to degrade myself. I’m just saying; what if I’m just fine because I’m not where I’m supposed to be? Or that I’m not doing what I’m actually good at?” Keelan looked straight into their sister’s eyes and frowned a little bit as they spoke the last bit in a smaller voice. “What if I’m not who I’m supposed to be?”

Tell Me Something Good {Mads & Keys} closed

[car-keys]

bazlestrange‌:

Bas chuckled at the other’s remark, though he found himself being caught more by the idea of not seeing things that hadn’t yet come to pass. “Is that what it’s like for you?” he asked, not particularly concerned with how that language separated him as something else. “I’ve always imagined that life without Sight would be like having blinders on, never being able to see anything unless you looked directly at it.” But that couldn’t be quite right, could it?

“My mother had far more talent in that area than I do,” he continued, though he wasn’t quite sure how much the difference would make sense to someone with none at all. “And I suppose I don’t mourn the absence of what she could see that I can’t. She could have told you how you’ll die, and I’m sure she knew when her time was limited. But when you’ve spent your entire life with the future sometimes as tangible as the past, you start to learn that it’s not something that you can change.”

“When I was eight years old, I said that I wouldn’t marry because the person I loved would die before it became an option.” Bas made sure not to look away, keeping his shoulders set the same way they’d been before, pretending like the death was something more in the past than it actually was. “When I saw that it wasn’t a possibility of what was to come. It was a certainty. Of course I loved him, and of course he died. So no, I don’t think knowing keeps anyone from being who they would be anyways.”

“More or less.” Keelan gave a simple shrug as they leaned more lazily against the railing of the bridge. “I’m a knowledge seeker, so I like to know things, and how  it all would end. But that would take the ‘life’ part out of living.” The conversation was becoming more interesting, and Keelan found themselves becoming more comfortable with the situation as the man kept talking. And then it occurred to them what the other person was saying. 

“A Seer?” Keys blinked rapidly, partially to clear their sleepy vision, but also to verify the man’s words. He was a Seer. His mother was too, though it seemed she had passed. They had never known loss like that, and wondered what the man was thinking, and found themselves asking. “Did you...did you see that she was living on numbered days?”

Keelan tilted their head at the man, at their cavalier nature on the subject of their lover dying. The man in front of them couldn’t be much older than they were, and had suffered and lost so much that Keys couldn’t wrap their head around the idea. “I guess it only makes sense, that if you can’t change the past you also can’t change the future.” It was the only tangible thought that Keys could verbalize after the silence. “How can someone who’s experienced so much loss still look into the future?”

A Simple Eulogy {Open Starter}