#FAULTYCONSCIENCE

[clawsextended]

the cat stands in the drive waiting for the sheriff’s approaching image. she watches emma’s shadow shrink and compact with her movements, stretch behind her and then settle in the night. it’s late. late. two in the morning late.

a cigarette dangles from ruby lips. leather wraps tight around her legs — comfortable, black, heels lined cherry red. her turtleneck bunches around her throat when she glances around and her thumb follows suit to tug it self-consciously. the sterling zippers on her leather jacket wink. she stuffs her hands into her pockets and jogs up quick, breath steaming just behind the cigarette’s draconian coil.

“i can’t believe you talked me into this. i feel like a fucking teenager.”

holly is quite aware she’s out, of course. no need for the poor kid to think she’s been kidnapped. but some nights she crashes hard and the kitten’s been out since 10 pm.

the loose little belt at the leather jacket jingles. she rubs her hands together and then pockets them again. always cold.

“do we have to break in or you wanna climb it? because i can climb it but a sane human being would take the stairs. this is a little too recreational for the suit.”

mixing business and pleasure, you know how it is.

@faultyconscience

[eraserisms]

Send 🌺 and i'll recommend a blog i've followed forever

@itsumoegao sent in a pretty flower from this garden!

I actually have like...4 blogs that I have to recommend actually. I couldn't just do one or wait for someone to send me a flower 3 more times; so you're gettin' all of 'em. I have known all of them for quite some time now, even if I stepped away from the RPC for a long time. When I came back to write again (Shota), they were still here and I was very glad to see that. I met them when I was writing Alastor Moody from HP like, 3 years ago. @dhampiravidi who writes amazing OCs and puts so much thought into the characters that she writes. They're always sending in amazing asks and questions that I haven't even thought about. It actually has really helped me develop Mr. Aizawa even further.

@wiccawcnder is another person that I've known for a long time, and I was so excited that they decided to come back to the RPC around the same time that I did! I'm also very glad that she is back from her vacation and that we get to party and write together again.

@proditeur Also a person who I've known forever! G. has done such a phenomenal job of world building for her OC and Reg is a doll. A shithead but we love him for it. But as far as the world building goes; the lore is deep here lads, and I think has an insane amount of thought put into it. Like y'all, I could never build something like that from the ground up. Good shit.

@faultyconscience / @radiaking is the first person to follow me on my new blog/eraserisms. I actually have been really happy to see her get so deep into playing Coop! Dani is very passionate about him and I love to see it. It's clear to me how much she loves him and even when I don't know exactly what she's posting about; I agree 😂. I can't wait to actually finish Fallout so I can develop a verse for ShoSho. I'm currently waiting on a friend to watch it together and I'm sure it'll be fun to explore.

[atomiqueen]

♔ — memes / accepting!

@faultyconscience (coop) said: "life sucks. get over it."

        “I refuse to accept that.” Lucy shrugs. “There is always, always something worthy and beautiful out there if you're willing to look for it.” A pause. “Something to hope for.”

[heartsdefine]

↪ memes — accepting!

@faultyconscience said: "I'm not a good man. Not anymore." - remus to wynonna

        Wynonna doesn't say anything at first, just looks at him sitting on the edge of her guest bed. He's clearly been through a great deal since their parting, yet she doesn't quite believe him when he says he isn't good anymore. She can't. “...I'm not asking you to be a good man.” She tosses him a small bag with some self-care supplies inside. “In case you want a shave.” A pause, then a shrug. “You look like a caveman.”

[heartlesshuntsman]

We cannot choose what we are born as, but we can choose who we want to be. - from Mr. Gold @faultyconscience

"And this would be the part where you offer me a deal." Graham had never trusted Gold, even cursed he knew that the pawn broker was not to be trusted, but with his memories returned he trusted him even less.

He had a sneaking suspicion that The Dark One had been awake longer than most realized.

"I'm awake, I think that's obvious enough, I'm still the sheriff though."

[thiefscant]

↪ memes / accepting!

@faultyconscience said: “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. I might as well be talking to myself. I surely listen more to myself than you do.” -from rum

        Pale peridot eyes slowly lift from the knife being carefully sharpened in Anais's hands. “...I'd happily start listening, if you ever said anything worth hearing.”

[enchantedxhearts]

@faultyconscience ( gold ) asked: ❛ you look like you've got something to say. ❜

His words, coupled with that infuriating tone of his, would've made her mouth fall open in indignation... but Emma is not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her riled up ( at least, not if that's how he chooses to go about it ) so she presses her lips together instead, so tight they turn bloodless. Her whole expression hardens, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring, and though that phrase is awfully overused, if looks could kill, the murderous glare she is burrowing into him would have dropped him dead.

( It's a good thing they can't, though )

At times like this, Emma's hands are itching to punch him in the face. Just once, just to snap him out of that damn cocky omniscience... but then again, he would probably see it coming, the bastard.

So take a deep breath and focus, Swan.

Words are what he's good at. If she wants to take him down a peg, she needs to use them.

“ I know that you are not helping Regina... or me... out of the generosity of your heart, ” Emma says, tempering down her anger and trying ( and not exactly succeeding, the tone sliding a bit to the mix of anger that she can't quite fully get rid of and desperation that becomes too, uncomfortably familiar a feeling for her these days, but she hopes she makes up for it with how thick she lays the sarcasm on the word generosity, clearly indicating her doubt he has any ) for the same cocky omniscient tone he is so fond of, trying to establish she is in charge here, “ You have some hidden agenda, and I don't expect you to share it with me. But I do expect you to tell me if you're on my side or her side in this case. ”

Emma swallows, blinking rapidly to not let the tears she convinces herself are of frustration fall, for a moment seeing not Gold in front of herself but Mary Margaret, too out of place in her school teacher outfit behind the bars, a resigned, hopeless look on her face.

She cannot afford to place her trust in the wrong person, now more than ever, because it's not just her on the line, it's her friend, one of the closest and dearest friends she has... Hell, practically family.

She cannot possibly let her down.

Acutely, painfully aware of that fact, Emma swallows her pride and does the one thing that she promised herself she would never do and pleads.

“ Please, Gold. I cannot let my friend down. I need to know if you're on my side... or I have to look for help elsewhere. ”

There he has it. If he wants her to plead, she will, for her friend.

But she won't let him entertain the idea he's the only one who can help her, who she can rely on.

( Even though he is the most clever and influential out of the whole lot. )

[flashbacksech0es]

@faultyconscience liked for a starter with Emma

Emma glanced around the shop, she'd been in Gold's shop hundreds of times, but she'd never really looked at what was there.

Swords and quivers, miscellaneous furniture, oddities.

Emma paused studying what looked like a mobile, tiny glass unicorns, suspended on nearly invisible strings.

Emma felt drawn to it, and tentatively reached out to touch a blue unicorn.

[drkroots]

@faultyconscience said: “ well, the stories are obviously all fake. right? ” - for Jewel perhaps? From Mr. Gold (does not have to be ouat-i'm flexible)

          prompts with those with a reputation

               Question he'd asked was very much the story of her life; mundanes calling her a washed up celebrity desperate to hold onto the limelight, while the supernaturals knew of her skillset and how powerful her visions tended to be.

Brow was risen as witch rested hands on hips, Jewel very ready to get on the defensive. "And what reasons do you think I would I have to lie?"

[marblecarved]

@faultyconscience sent a letter to nymphadora tonks: ‘‘ you’ve got quite a reputation. ’’

prompt: dusty toybox.

Whatever Tonks expected to hear when she noticed Remus approach ( a simple hello, or even a meeting is about to start ) this was not it, it seems, seeing how her brows rise upward in a quick, surprised movement, then fall in a furrow, a line forming between them. ❝ I do ? ❞ she asks him, carefully adjusting her hold 'round her warm cup of coffee. ❝ That's… ❞ a grimace. ❝ Not really reassuring to hear, is it ? ❞ there is a note in her voice that, though hidden under a clearer, surprised tone, sounds slightly amused. Nervously, that is - nervously amused. Who knows what he heard, and from who ! Mind you, it could have all come from her mentor, which is far more reassuring to think about than the more worrying thought of a stranger talking about her. ❝ Can I, uhm… ❞ her voice falters, but then straightens quickly. ❝ What kind of reputation do I have, exactly ? ❞

[allevilsarc]

"you're the prettiest thing i've ever seen." - from verna (also hi lol)

there's a twinkle in lucy's eyes, her mouth turned up into a grin. it's not easy to set a trap with fate-- they're both quite aware of what could happen (or more specifically, what will happen). still, lucy can't help but nearly preen at the compliment. it's nice to be appreciated, of course, even if the person being complemented is all bad and evil.

" well, aren't you just a sweetheart? " his blink is slow, almost pleased. lucy can't miss anything. " you're quite a pretty thing, too, if we're being nice to each other. " she extends a hand, red nails catching the light. " -- lucy. i'd bet someone as pretty as you has a name just as gorgeous. "

@faultyconscience

[clawsextended]

sleep always eludes her. it’s been that way since she was a child, when sleep was an impossibility interrupted by the banging thunder of her father’s bellow. she’d begin to nod off or worse, always worse — how the dark would swallow her up when she couldn’t keep awake long enough to listen, to hear for the deafening boom before the thunderclap of a palm.

as an adult, horrors conglomerate in ways she can’t run from no matter how fast her feet hit the floor. no matter how fast selina becomes, how high she can jump, how dire the force with which she can strike — she can’t get away from herself. it’s the one thing that’s always there, the constancy she can’t kill.

(no one understands what it’s like to live two lives all the time, for that second life to ooze, insidious, into your waking moments. what it’s like to be trapped alongside your own brain with frothing extremity, watching you operate always through glass. the only you is never you.)

it’s her third cup of coffee of the morning. she’s been puttering around the house trying to hang a chandelier, bouncing between that and trying to assess the electrical wiring. she figures houses made by magic have a pretty complicated infrastructure. she doesn’t assume regina knows anything about the difference between a wall that’s load-bearing and isn’t.

which is certainly an unnecessary thought process to have while doing three different things, but she’s selina so of course she’s having it. the studfinder beeps against the wall in a few continuous, shrill sounds until it stops. she pockets it and hums like it makes complete sense to her.

and then a weird sense of something tired tugs for her attention. she’s stifling a yawn, suddenly, blinking and blinking. when did she get so… tired?

tired enough to wander to the couch, curl up in the corner like a kitten, drifting. the ladder stands in the center of the room, the chandelier forgotten alongside, the whole process half-done, a strange sentinel to this moment. selina leaves nothing half-done, not ever.

she loses herself finally, swallowed by that chasmic abyss she’s always fought against.

@faultyconscience

[eraserisms]

" i would rather die than suffer indignity. "

Sent in by @proditeur

Curling his right hand into a fist, Shota rubbed into his own eye trying to will it to produce some tears. Upon hearing Regulus' words, his hand opened to rub over his face completely in a downward motion.

He let out a soft huff that could almost pass for a laugh but still, he gave the other man a shake of his head. Aizawa couldn't say that he was surprised to hear such a statement from Regulus. "Well, I hate to break it to you but, there is no such thing as dignity in death," Shota retorted. "It's always ugly, always. So, you might as well get used to enduring indignity in life, it might prepare you for the future, the end, the inevitable."

[atomiqueen]

@faultyconscience — cont'd.

        “You do seem like the type to expect the worst in people...” Lucy trails off as she stands back up, capping her canteen and tucking it back into her pack. She looks to the Ghoul with an arched brow. “No. Of course not. She's a dog.” She gives Four one last pat on the head before moving on. “But if any giant roaches get too close for comfort, I've seen what she can do to them.” 

[heartsdefine]

↪ memes — accepting!

@faultyconscience said: for what it's worth, i like who you are now. - remus to wynonna

        Wynonna watches him for a long moment over the beer resting on her knee (no whiskey, these days; the hard stuff only ever made her harder). Then she exhales a sigh, lips buzzing together. “You mean you don't miss when I was a huge hot mess?” she quips finally, gaze drifting as she lifts her beer for a sip. “She was a lot more fun.”

[lockedtowers]

❝ I have been generous up ‘til now; I can be cruel. ❞ - for Cassie from rum

like an ever flowing phantom in the pits of despair, yet the thoughts struggle to falter against the realities. it’s always how it turns. one way or the other, no one ever wanted her to win. a never-ending cycle, no matter how long shes desired snapping it.

his words, though unsurprising, do little to rouse her from her clambering thoughts. the tether so fragile to her stability, but as unmatched hues turn upwards, the saddening glint seems to turn.

“you would not be the first.” she finally registers, deep inhale as her spine straightens up. “that does not scare me.” gleam fades entirely from her eyes as head tilts, the relic in her palms held betwixt her her now enclosed hands. she knows of his power. jefferson’s told her plenty alone, and the rumors alone spoke volumes. yet still, she continues. “and you are not the only person many consider a monster.”

her father was the monster; he wasn’t named such, but she could see the signs. why else would a knight care so much for her safety, or risk death to contradict a queen? but a knight wasn’t never his single title, many still only saw him as the beast. and she’s his eldest born blood. was she meant to be a monster too?

based on how little she saw before hiding it away, a beast may truly be the answer. a faerie definitely was.

“i doubt you’d have the capacity to use the magic imbued; it belongs to my people— can you even read the language inscribed? this goes beyond any familiarity to power, rumplestiltskin. you could hold more power than any other and still prove unable to enter this fray. this relates to the jabberwock. and i am his daughter. be as cruel as you like. you’ll have no access without me. and i am not so easily broken.”