#☾ ⟶ ❝ v : an unending unchanging midnight ❞

[divescustos]

@mvndrvke / starter call.

I LEANT GENTLY IN THE DOORWAY of his office, rapping my knuckles against the frame. Given the flames licking at the inside of my throat, I felt surprisingly pleasant. Esme was out with Rosalie and Alice for the weekend, Emmett and Jasper were engaged in another of their intense chess sessions and likely would be for another three days if Alice's vision stayed true. Which left my father and I the only two without plans.

"Come on a hunting trip with me?" I asked softly, my head tilting to one side with an easy smile. It had been quite some time since we last spent time together, just the two of us.

[divescustos]

@roshale / starter call.

I WIPED SOME OF THE GREASE off my hands on a nearby rag, looking over the hunk of metal I'd been inspecting. With its age and condition, it hadn't cost me much, but the real joy was not in the owning. It was in the giving. And I knew exactly the right person to give it to.

"Rose?" I called, only slightly louder than conversational level, tossing the rag onto the countertop. "I got you a gift. Meet me in the garage."

An old rust bucket to anyone else, I knew my sister could make something special out of the car now parked amongst other shining examples of her work. And, if she were in a good enough mood, she may well let me work on it with her. If there was one thing my sister and I could agree on, it was our love of cars.

[divescustos]

“Please just…don’t.” / @feltferal.

I TOOK A SEAT, THE RUSE become habit. The entire house was in turmoil at the need for our sudden departure, hardly any thoughts truly coherent, even with our innate ability to compartmentalise. The distance did nothing for the volume, my gift too attuned to my family to fade as easily as I could with human minds, but it gave me breathing space at least. I didn’t want to go too far, Esme was panicking enough as it was. But that was more of an excuse, wanting space. In reality, Alice had asked me to come out here. To check on Jasper.

There had been sudden moves before, the need to just uproot and go. A human who had a fleeting thought that, for once, was on the mark. That had happened two decades ago. A loss of control requiring an escape. But even in those situations, we had had days to plan. Weeks. Not now. Now it was down to hours.

I had already packed all that I could not bare to part with. The piano in the living room was to be a sacrifice, but there were always more instruments. Rose was already mourning the cars. It would be faster, easier, to leave anything that could link us to this place behind. I had to admit I would miss my Shelby Cobra, which Rosalie and I had been working on together. But the cars, much like the piano, could be replaced. They were toys. There were more important things.

The tone of Jasper’s voice was not unexpected to me. It was hard to see my brother in pain.

“Okay,” I responded at last. Words of platitude died on my tongue. What good would telling him it wasn’t his fault do? Of course this mess Maria had left us in wasn’t Jasper’s fault. But it wasn’t like saying it would help.

“What can I do?” I asked softly. If anything at all.

[divescustos]

@feltferal | starter call.

HE FELL INTO A CROUCH, DIGGING his toes into the dirt, a low rumble of a growl emminating from his chest. The forest was still around them, the animals having better sense than to stick around when superior predators were among them. His muscles coiled to spring, Edward searched his brother's mind for the slightest hint of what his next move might be.

To an outsider, this all may have appeared quite alarming. Esme would probably have a fit. But there was a fierce grin plastered on his face, and his eyebrow quirked as he waited.

"I know we're immortal," he said at last, "but you don't have to put that to the test by making me wait for all eternity."