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Her first instinct was to wipe away any traces of blood that may have been a remnant of her last meal. "Howdy," Eira echoed once she made sure she was in the clear. "Do I have to call you officer right now or does Woody work?"

Woody didn't get out much not in uniform, it felt like. Some days it felt like that was all he ever was: Friendly Sheriff Woody. But it wasn't like he minded. He loved Walt's Landing, and had loved it his whole life. He wore his badge happily, feeling good about helping out his hometown.

"Howdy," he greeted when he saw someone walking toward him. Woody may not be from the south but he was a cowboy at heart. "How you doin' tonight?" He tilted his hat in the others' direction.

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"Ouch." It wasn't worse than anything Eira had heard Greta spit over the years, but it was still unpleasant. The tone alone was giving her unpleasant flashbacks. "Did someone fuck up, or are you just unpleasant in general? I know the type."

"What, like it's hard?" Deidre currently had her assistant on the phone. Which would explain why her brows were furrowed at the moment. She was never happy with the poor girl, you see. With a roll of her eyes as the girl on the other line babbled on, Deidre promptly held the phone receiver straight in front of her. "Figure it out!" she shouted before hanging up.

She sighed heavily. And then she realized people were staring. Squaring her shoulders, Deidre stood herself taller. "Well, some people nowadays."

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"Friday Night with Blue? Is this a regular thing?" There was something vaguely salty about Blue. Maybe even a little fishy. Eira took a second to look at the hand before she reached out to shake it. "Eira. You've got an interesting name, and that's coming from someone whose never been on the 100 most popular girl names list."

Blue was out tonight. What else was new? She was propped up at the bar and smiling as she sipped from her drink. When someone sat down next to her, she smiled wide and raised her glass as a greeting. "Welcome to Friday Night With Blue." She stuck out her hand, tilting her head. "And you are?"

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"Maybe. You would if I asked you to." It was a statement, not a question. Eira knew it was awful of her to assume that Henley would be there for her beck and call, but history had proven a pattern. She now had to get it into her head that her friend's loyalty was no longer to her above all else. It was to Greta. Her stepmother had put her stiletto claws into Henley's heart all because she had been denied Eira's. Had she known what Greta had planned, Eira would have surrendered. Henley deserved better than a complete loss of autonomy so that Eira could continue her vapid and shallow existence. For Henley, she would have given up her heart in an instance. It didn't mean much anyway.

"How long do I have before you turn and run off to pretend like you didn't see me?" It was quite literally tempting the wolf, but Eira couldn't stop herself from drawing closer. She wanted to feel her for a second, smell her. She craved a proximity that had grown up with that was now being denied. One hand toyed with brunette strands of Henley's hair. "You have split ends," she pointed out. "Being heartless is not an excuse to let yourself go." It was easier to be mean than to cave into her feelings. I love you? I miss you? She didn't deserve to say either of those things after causing all this trouble.

Even just hearing her voice made Henley's entire body freeze and tense up as she tried her best to not let all the air get sucked out of her lungs. She'd been undoubtedly avoiding Eira ever since the discovery that the other girl was turned. Aside from the fact that Greta was surely going to find a way to get Henley to kill her, she also had her own mixed feelings about the whole vampire thing. It was instinctual, really, but impossible to ignore. She somehow got her shit together so she could answer as she let out a deep sigh and shook her head. "Are you really gonna make me answer that?

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On paper, they didn't make sense. There were quite a few people that Eira could say that about, but it had never stopped her in the past. The desire to be loved was a powerful motivator and there had been a hole inside of Eira since the death of her father that longed to be filled. But it was more than just a longing. A craving? A desperation? She'd never let herself introspect enough to figure it out. Instead, she took it out on Henley. She took it out on anyone stupid enough to love her or give her the time of day. Henley, she reasoned, knew what she was getting into. Her lycanthropic friend had seen the worst of Greta. Zoey, on the other end, was an innocent. She had deserved better.

By this point, she should have been used to the strangeness of being able to identify another vampire. The dull silence of their no longer beating hearts were often dead (ha) giveaways. There was a flash of guilt when Eira realized that she didn't know when her former paramour had turned or why. Zoey had never seemed like the type to look for immortality or power like some others. She had been quiet, sweet. Everyone knew about her brother, but Jack and Zoey had more than their fair shares of differences. Her problems had felt all-encompassing when she was in the thick of them; they were serious, yes, but that didn't excuse her from knowing what was going on in the lives of others.

Despite the awkwardness that came from an extended period of no contact, one pale hand waved in greeting. "Fancy," she repeated. "You come here often? I haven't seen you in — well, honestly, I've lost all track of time recently. Must be a side effect of this immortality thing. You look good, though." A little less like she was on death's door now that she was actually dead.

It had been a little while now since Zoey had been turned. She felt more functional nowadays, even though it was still an adjustment. What really got her though, wasn't how she was doing with the adjustment... It was Eira was doing with hers. Eira had been turned, too, and seemed to doing well, all things considered. She had been beautiful before, but now she seemed constantly aglow. It made Zoey's heart ache. Her precious life had been taken. Had she had a choice? Would she have chosen this? Zoey wouldn't have chosen this. But she was sort of stuck with it, now. If Eira did choose this, why? The question became too much, until one day, Zoey finally found herself approaching Eira, rather than falling back to observe her like usual. Still, getting the words out wasn't exactly easy. So instead she uttered a simple "Hello," eyes shifting away awkwardly as she realized all at once that beautiful, interesting, vampire Eira Queen was still also her ex. Her ex who hadn't seen her since Zoey herself had been turned into a vampire. "Fancy meeting you here," she blurted.

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"Look, it's a long story. If you knew it, you'd probably actually be sorry. I'm feeling self pitying today."

"... I'm... sorry?"

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"Boy troubles. Girl troubles. I'm apparently open to conflicts of all kinds." Eira's own drink had been abandoned up until that point, but she reluctantly picked it up and swallowed the entirety of the glass in one burning swallow. Her blood intake was low as she could possibly maintain it without starting to feel like she was going to shrivel away. Hunger had long been a friend that gnawed at her insides. The only positive was that it made the effects of the alcohol all the more prominent. "I could always maim myself or something, but I'm too attached to it at this point." Eira wasn't smart or cunning or even particularly resourceful. She was pretty. That was what she had, and she clung to it as pathetic as it was.

"Boy troubles?" Nico mused with a sarcastic smile as he threw back his drink and shrugged. "It's too bad you're stuck with your pretty face for all of eternity."

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"Which part? The having an easier life if I was ugly bit? I promise you, it's true. For starters, I'd still be alive."

"I don’t understand. That seems contradictory.”

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"You can call me vain if you want, but my life would be so much easier if I was ugly."

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It never got any less painful — or awkward. They'd run into a few times ever since the initial reunion, but each time Eira had found herself growing more and more tired. Love didn't last. She knew that. Her stepmother's love had faded. Why couldn't her love for Henley? It would have been easier if she could bury herself in James and forget all about the shivering wolf who had once stood in her yard, vulnerable and bare. "We both know it's not the woods that are dangerous for me." It was Henley. "I'm surprised you're off your leash tonight. Or is it a perpetual metaphorical one?"

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

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our followers’ top 10 classic disney films

6. snow white and the seven dwarfs (1937) dir. david hand

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ANA DE ARMAS for L’Officiel photographed by Thomas Whiteside

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That was a new one. Eira really had thought that she had heard them all; at least this surprise wasn't entirely unpleasant. "That's really flattering," she shifted from one foot to the other. "But I think my face being anywhere probably isn't the best."

Alice was in the park with a portable easel all set up and paint scattered everywhere, including on her own face and hands and clothes. She was working on the background of her current piece when someone went to walk past her and she shouted in alarm, hoping to get them to stop.

 “Ahh! Wait! Yes! Right there, you’re absolutely perfect. Mind if I paint you?”

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"Being pretty doesn't actually get you anything around here." Nothing but stress and heartbreak, that was. Eira knew that better than anyone. She felt like carrying around little warning pamphlets that exclaimed don't get too pretty or you may get your heart eaten! but that made her sound like a crazy person. "I hate to break it to you."

Seated at the bar, Blue sipped from her cocktail until it was empty. Then she sipped harder, until it made that obnoxious bubbly sound that foretold of its emptiness. She grinned as she spun in the barstool, looking over at someone as they walked up to the bar. Blue knew a siren could use their voice to get most anything, so she smiled sweetly at them. 

“Buy a pretty girl a refill? I’ll make it worth your while.”

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"That's very kind of you. I won't tell anyone. We wouldn't want anyone to know you acted out of character." Eira leaned back, arms crossing over her chest. "Spot on. We haven't. Unfortunately for introduction's sake, the less my name gets out, the better. Though, I doubt you're going to rat me out to the casters."

"I guess I can overlook it, just this once." There was a playful edge to Nico's tone as he grinned at her next statement. Nico made a point to make sure everyone knew who he was, especially barely-fledgling vampires. "I lean into it. It's my entire schtick. I can't be big bad Nico Dios if people know where I am all the time. I've gotta say, I don't think we've met yet. You clearly know who I am, but who are you?"

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"I'd say that I could write a book on it, but I hate writing. And reading. Either way, you're right. It's not your problem and I wouldn't want it to be."

"Oh, dear me! Do I happen to detect a hint of mommy issues? Or stepmommy issues, I should say- either way, not my problem, now is it?"