#choose your cakey fate

[orfisheus]

A year later... can Tumblr bake a cake this time?

Choose, fools.

[elevenharbor]

DDN CHALLENGE SUBMISSION - Senses

I can think clearly again! Did all 10 prompts too!! *high five* But, I got distracted and real life responsibilities called me away sooo...my 100-word count died around prompt 8. I also tried to make everything come around full-circle, so pay attention to details ;) I'll come back later to edit and make it all clean and pretty.

Many thanks to @shastuhh​ for hosting!

EDIT: These might contain triggering themes for some. I kept them vague on purpose; ergo, read at your own discretion.

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Prompt: Hindsight

Sesshōmaru examined Kagome’s face carefully, noting the apparent discoloration underneath the cakey layers of foundation. His normally perfect face crumpled with disappointment and quiet anger.

“It’s nothing.” Kagome mumbled, bitterness in her tone.

“These bruises state otherwise.”

Sesshōmaru knew Kagome was involved in some shady business, but since it didn’t concern him, he didn’t bother to investigate further. It wasn’t his prerogative to meddle in other people’s affairs, especially not his half-brother’s…friend—whatever their relationship was.

But one fated night changed all that. An accident.

Or perhaps, in hindsight, he was at the right place, at the wrong time.

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Prompt: Sight

Despite her best efforts to put on a façade to keep suspicions at bay, he knew better. He saw right through her little charade of ‘accidents’ and ‘it’s-just-a-scratch’ excuses. While many bought her lame stories, he saw them for what they were - the mistreatment, the sadness, the struggle, and the shame etched on her face as she told yet another lie to conceal the truth.

Kagome glared at him, tears threatening to spill. “What’s it to you? It’s not like you to care.”

Sesshōmaru said nothing, instead taking out a handkerchief from his front pocket and dabbed at her eyes, gently.

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Prompt: Blind

He saw it coming. She was in even worse shape than the last time he saw her.

And yet, he couldn’t do anything more than pick her up in pieces, after the damage had been done, just like last time.

“Don’t pity me,” she warned, wiping the blood from the gash on her temple.

“I don’t.”

Kagome whipped her head, nonplussed by his admission. She looked at him like she’d never seen him before.

“So…why? ” She whispered as he applied a cold compress to her face, handling her gently.

“Because everyone else chooses to be blind.” Sesshōmaru responded, meeting her gaze.

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Prompt:  Foresight

Once the bleeding on her head had stopped, Sesshōmaru felt reassured enough to take his leave.

A slim hand held his wrist hostage. “Wait!”

“T-thank you, for everything,” she stammered. “A-and I’m sorry…for being a bitch. You don’t deserve that.” She kept her gaze downward.

“It is of no consequence.”

She let go of him reluctantly, still refusing to look at him.

Sighing, he took her other hand and placed a folded piece of paper in her palm. “It’s my personal line. Call me, if you find yourself in another…precarious situation.”

He walked away before she could respond.

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Prompt: Hear

Sesshōmaru found it difficult to concentrate on anything. He repeatedly checked his phone with each buzz—subconsciously on the lookout for any word from her.

He catapulted himself back to their last encounter. He replayed their conversation in his mind like a broken record, taking note of each inflection in her voice, her frazzled state, and her sad blue eyes.

He also wondered whether it was wise to involve himself in her affairs by offering himself to her.

The ping from his phone brought him back to present time. A text.  

 ‘Hi, it’s me. I hope your offer still stands.’

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Prompt:  Deaf

 ‘I’m on my way.’

Kagome let the words repeat over and over in her head, clutching the phone tightly as she waited, in deafening silence.

It had been thirty minutes since she finally decided to take Sesshōmaru up on his offer, barely moving an inch from where she collapsed on the floor nearly an hour before that. Glassy eyes stared at nothing in particular. Dried tears streaked down her puffed cheeks.

Fishing out the crumpled piece of paper had been her last resort. She needed a lifeline—a buoy, to keep herself afloat.

She didn’t expect him to answer her SOS.

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Prompt: Taste

The knocking at her front door stirred Kagome out of her daze.

He came, like he said he would.

Biting her bottom lip out of nervous habit, she flinched as the metallic taste of dried blood reminded her why he was here in the first place.

Drained of energy to untangle her hair or make herself presentable, Kagome haphazardly wiped her face with her uninjured hand before hobbling to the door. She only had so much strength, and right now, all she could focus on was the person standing on the other side of the threshold.

Sighing, she opened the door, allowing him to see her at her most vulnerable state, yet.

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Prompt: Touch

“What time is it?”

Disoriented and at loss for words, Kagome mentally kicked herself for asking such a dumb question. Though in her defense, Inuyasha’s estranged older half-brother, of all people, stood before her at her vestibule. She barely spoke a word to him in all the years she’d been acquainted with her hanyou friend. What was she supposed to say to him now?

“It’s two thirty in the morning,” he replied, his expression blank.  

“I’m sorry to bother you.” she said, ashamed. “You should be sleeping, but instead you’re here.”

Clawed fingertips found its way under her chin, tilting it up to meet bright amber eyes. His thumb stroked the lacerations by her cupid’s bow, his warm touch leaving a burning trace against her battered lip.

She shriveled like a raisin under his intense gaze; his hold on her soft, yet unrelenting.

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Prompt: Numb

She felt naked and numb as he continued to dissect her with his eyes, stopping at every nick, and bruise that tattooed her body.

“I—“

“Your reasons are your own,” Sesshōmaru cut her off. “But do not lie to me.”

Kagome stilled at his quiet demand, forcing her to face the reality with which she had intricately woven with her web of lies. She had to do it out of necessity, in order to live another day. She desperately wanted to find a solution, a loophole—anything to get her out of her miserable existence. If only she could tell him the truth…

“Penance,” she muttered, barely above a whisper. “A life sentence, a debt to be paid.”

Confusion marred the tall demon’s handsomely stoic face.

“Someone died. Not by my hand, directly, but I was there when it happened. I...”

Voice cracking, she swallowed the growing lump that threatened to choke her, as fresh waves of tears cascaded down her cheeks. “I was young and dumb, and I didn’t do a damned thing because I was too scared.”

“Kagome.”

She couldn’t stop. Her speech on autopilot, her mind grappled with her outpouring confession.

“I took a dare. I took her with me. We were going to jump off the cliff together, but I hesitated at the last second. She…she went without question, and hit her head against a rock on her way down.”

“Kagome,” Sesshōmaru tried again, with more force.

“I screamed. God, did I scream. There was so much blood, and she just laid there, lifeless. I couldn’t get to her, and Inuyasha, he went mad—”

“Kagome!” The demon grabbed both her shoulders and crushed her against his torso, as violent sobs wracked her body. Lean, striped arms wrapped around her tiny frame, with one hand stroking her tangled hair. I know. It is not your fault, he wanted to say. But unlike her, his words failed him.

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Prompt: Smell  

The smell of Kagome’s tears saturated the expanse of the tiny vestibule.

Sesshōmaru continued his ministrations as he slid down to the floor, for what seemed like an eternity—cradling her in his arms, caressing her midnight tresses, brushing his thumb delicately over her cheeks—lost in his own contemplation.

Kagome thought she would have to live in silent agony until her dying days. Not even her family knew of her situation.

And yet….

Sesshōmaru’s words opened a fissure in the impenetrable dam that she built around herself and her secret, causing the barrage of emotions that broke her in every possible way.

And here he was, sprawled on her floor, limbs tangled, his shirt soaked with her tears, snot, and god-knows-what. He let her cry on him until she couldn’t anymore, rocked with her, assuaging her guilt, her fear, and her shame.

He was a stranger to her mere hours ago. Yet at this very moment, he single-handedly became the most important person in her orbit; trusting him fully with her vulnerability, holding on to him for dear life.

Kagome knew she’d already asked way too much from him, but she was also too physically, mentally, and emotionally spent to keep up with boundaries. To hell with it all.

Tomorrow, she would explain everything, clearing up misunderstandings during her shameless blabbering. Whether he would stick around to listen was a different beast altogether.

But tonight, he didn’t ask anything of her, nor did he seem to care about why she needed him, out of everyone in her inner circle. He just held her in silence, offering what little comfort he could, without anything in return. And she was glad for it.

Despite her tight-roping on the edge of consciousness and sleep, she felt him pull back slightly, rousing her once more.

“Stay,” she murmured, clutching on to his shirt as if her very life depended on it. “Please.”

Sesshōmaru’s languid strokes paused for a moment.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Seconds felt like hours before she felt him nod his head in acceptance.

But as heavy eyelids slid down to hide her battered soul from the rest of the world, he pulled her closer to his side and tucked her face into the crook of his neck, before placing a feather-light kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep, Kagome. Your secret’s safe. You’re safe, with me.”

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[incandescent-eden]

Stay (A Medb Story)

Desc: “Can I convince you to stay?” It wasn’t supposed to be this way. They were supposed to go together, away from the citadel. Medb wishes more than anything she could change things when her siblings are torn from her one by one.

Word Count: 3596

TW/CW: Lots of mentions of war

Additional Notes: The character of Warren Sutherland belongs to my amazing friend @boffinsandbeasties, who has so graciously allowed me to co-opt and butcher her truthful, angry boy!  Alternately titled, “The passage of time f*cking sucks”, possible prologue for All The Kingdom For A Song (working concept title), RAW/UNEDITED  

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It had started with a game.

There was a tree on the inside of the gate that separated their state home from the road into town. Virgil had been the first to climb it, but then Virgil was always the most courageous. Maybe they were just the most daring. Or the stupidest. The most reckless.

Warren had climbed up after, feigning rivalry with Virgil, but he could never quite hide the adoring tone of his voice. Then, after much teasing, Chrissy followed them up, crying all the while because the squirrels wouldn’t come near, and she wanted to pet them.

Medb would have been content with sitting at the base of the tree. It was cool underneath the tree’s branches, and the day was hot. She was wearing a new dress, and she would hate to ruin it already. There were creatures that called the tree their home, and she didn’t want to bother them. Her friends’ whooping and hollering was simply too annoying and immature, and at fourteen, Medb was too old to climb trees anyway, thank you very much.

But Virgil insisted. “There’s a cool breeze up here,” they said. “The sun on your face is different when you’re high above. The view -”

Medb groaned.

“Sorry,” Virgil said sheepishly. “I can guide you up! Come up! Chrissy’s eight, and she came up. You’re not more chicken than an eight year old, are you?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Medb huffed.

“Please?” Virgil’s voice squeaked. As of late, Virgil’s voice was changing, trapped somewhere in between that scraping squeal of a fork dragged across a fine plate and the deep roar of the river crashing against the rocks.

Medb fiddled with her dress, smoothing it over her knees. “Okay.”

She got up slowly, placing her palm against the tree. The bark was warm and rough under her hand. “Do I just? Jump? Or what?”

“Jump and then tuck the tree between your knees!” Virgil called down.

“Right,” Medb muttered. Because hugging a tree with your knees is so easy when you’re wearing a new dress.

It took several failed attempts, and a bit of bruising, and a lot of shouted encouragement, before Medb managed to catch hold of the tree and shimmy her way up.

“Reach out to your left!” Virgil called down, though their voice was closer now. “No, my left! Wait, no, yours!” A beat later. “Your other left!”

Medb grimaced. “I’m not sure I trust you to guide me up!”

“You’re doing fine, I can take over if Virgil sucks at giving directions,” came the response. It was Warren’s voice.

“Neither are you!” Virgil replied in indignation.

“Guys.” Medb’s arms were cramped up. Her fingers shook as the ridges of the bark dug into her skin.

“Reach out to your right,” was Warren’s answer. “No, a bit higher!”

Medb’s fingers grazed against a branch. She leaned further until she could wrap her hand on the corner where the branch met the tree and hoisted herself up from there.

The quartet stayed in the tree for a while, Medb comforting the crying Chrissy about squirrels and heights and getting in trouble from her branch far below the others’, and Virgil and Warren laughing and joking and trying to outclimb each other.

“I can see the whole world from here!” Virgil exclaimed, their voice faint so high up in the tree that Medb wondered whether they had flown instead of climbing. “I can see past the gate and past the river, even! I can see above No Man’s Land!”

Medb chuckled as Warren boasted of seeing past No Man’s Land, seeing the ocean, seeing the edge of the sky. As they called each other liars, braggarts, losers. She leaned against the trunk of the tree, letting the soft sunlight tickle her cheeks.

At last, however, she shivered. It was getting colder.

“What color is the sky right now?” Medb called upward.

“The taste of berries and cream and the way oranges explode in your mouth!” Warren called back.

“We better get back down, then,” Medb reminded the kids. “We’ve been out all day, and supper will be soon. We have to freshen up.”

There was some grumbling, but even Virgil was getting tired and hungry, and they eagerly leapt from branch to branch to get back to the ground, followed by Warren, then Chrissy until Medb was the only one left in the tree.

“Jump, Maevie!” Virgil said excitedly. “We’ll catch you!”

But Medb laughed and shimmied down the way she came, carefully. The tree bark was cool now, and her palms felt cakey from dirt. She didn’t want to think how badly her dress was ruined.

“Don’t you trust us?” Virgil asked when Medb rejoined the group. Their voice was heavy and small at the same time, dense with disappointment.

“Of course I do, Virgil,” Medb replied, patting them gently on the shoulder. “But I don’t trust myself.”

Virgil shrugged, placated. They broke into a sprint back toward the dorms. “Last one back is a rotten egg!”

And another day ended like that.

  Warren was the first one to go. For once, for maybe the first time, it was Warren who came in first.

They didn’t want Virgil. The war had gone on for years, but the war needed more soldiers, and good soldiers follow orders and obey without question, and Virgil never could.

Medb heard them arguing from the other side of the wall.

“You don’t have to go! Damn it, Warren! You don’t have to do anything that they tell you to do!” The wall was thin, but it muffled their voice. Medb turned over in her bed, tucking her pillow above her ear. She could still hear them.

“You know, not all of us have the advantage of being you, Virgil. You’ll wake Medb up, please shut up.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that you can do whatever the fuck you want, you can go rogue all you want, you can always run ahead and be the best at fighting games and athletics and battle strategy and not have a single care for what anyone around you thinks, and you can get in so much fucking trouble that you get your head chopped off, and you still wouldn’t care.” A pause and a sigh. “But I care. It’s my responsibility. It’s what we’ve trained for.”

“Warren, you can’t just feed into the corporate war machine! No one from the citadel or from the dorms has ever come back from No Man’s Land. And they’re recruiting younger and younger. It’s not right!” The room shook as a thud came from Virgil’s side of the wall. They must have punched it. Medb pushed the pillow against her ear harder.

“Is it more right to let other people die in the war in my place while I run away and hide?”

“Yes,” Virgil answered without hesitation. “Listen to me, Warren. People die all the time. People get killed all the time. And that’s on them and on fate. But they don’t choose to die. Don’t be a fucking martyr just because some man in a uniform came in and told you to.”

A long silence. Medb held her breath. It was a tense silence.

“That’s horrible.” And then, louder, and with horror, “That’s horrible! How can you say that? How can you say someone else’s life is worth less because they go to war? They died for a cause!”

“What’s the cause, Warren?” Virgil screamed.

Medb shut her eyes tighter.

No answer.

“I set out at dawn tomorrow. Good night, Virgil.” There was a slam, as of a door. Warren’s suitcase, perhaps.

“I thought we were brothers.” Warren Sutherland. Virgil Sunderland. Even their names sounded similar. It was what brought them together when Warren came to the dorms, a year after Virgil and Medb arrived.

But now Warren was leaving them.

“And I thought you’d be proud of me. You’re always going on about glory, the glory of war, how you’ll bring glory to your patron and to the citadel.” Every single glory out of his mouth was a sword strike, quick and stinging and forceful. “Is it too much when I get to be first?”

“It’s too much when you might die,” Virgil snarled. The thuds falling against Medb’s wall came more frequently now, erratic and desperate as the heartbeat of a frightened rabbit. Surely, it could not have mirrored Virgil’s heartbeat, because when was Virgil ever frightened?

Medb tucked her knees up to her chest, one hand still holding the pillow in place over her head.

“Good night, Virgil.” And no more talking came after, only Virgil’s frustrated cry, and a loud crash, like glass breaking. Warren’s exasperated “By the gods, Virgil!”

The next morning at breakfast, Warren was gone, and Chrissy asked Virgil what happened to their hand.

  Virgil was much more composed when Chris left. Maybe it was that she wasn’t going to war. She was going to find her way home, she said.

She went to find Medb before she left. Medb could hear her fidgeting at the doorway to the kitchen where she was kneading dough. “If you have something to say, Chris, you should say it before you go.”

“I wasn’t…” Chris’s voice cracked. She sniffled. Medb wiped a spot of flour off her cheek.

“Is it Virgil?”

“Yeah.”

“What did they say?”

Chris paused. “They um, they said I should just go. Like Warren did. Not make it hard for everyone else.” She sniffled again. “I… this is my home. I don’t want to leave it, but… I was contacted.”

Medb carefully wiped her hands on her apron, gesturing in the direction of the doorway for Chris to come over. She heard the shuffling of well broken in shoes across the kitchen tiles.

“But your patron contacted you, didn’t they? To have the blessing of a patron, isn’t that all we’ve dreamed about since we arrived?” Medb asked when Chris stopped a little away from her. She held out her arm, inviting the younger girl to come closer still, to stand shoulder to shoulder. Chris did as she was bade, and rested her head against Medb’s, shaking slightly. Medb squeezed her shoulder. “When did you get taller than me, Chris? I still think you’re eight years old and crying because the squirrels in the tree won’t play with you sometimes.”

Medb realized with uneasiness that she couldn’t remember the last time she had held Chris or dried her tears or told her a story. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had referred to Chris as Chrissy, and though it was Chris’s preference to be called thus, it made Medb think back.

Chris laughed, the back end of a sob caught on. “I think I’ve been taller than you since I was fourteen, Medb.”

“Well,” Medb said in mock indignation, “I cannot believe not a one of you told me!” She smiled, hugging Chris. “But… you’ve really grown, haven’t you? I’m sure your patron will be pleased when they meet you at last. Write often, will you?”

“Can you read my writing, Medb?” Chris asked teasingly, her voice thick from holding back tears, no doubt.

“I’ll have Virgil read it to me.”

“Can Virgil read?”

Medb laughed, shoving Chris away playfully. Chris giggled as Medb returned to her dough on the countertop. “Of course, they can, they’re not a complete twit. But I expect you to tell me everything, do you understand? Tell me of everyone you meet, your living conditions, the cadence of your patron’s voice, every song you play and hear and sing, the color of the sky each day. Every person you fall even a little bit in love with, and the color of their eyes. I want to know it all.”

“I wish you could go with me, Maevie,” Chris said quietly, taking Medb’s hands.

Medb reached her hand upward, felt Chris place her cheek in Medb’s palm. “That’s why you need to write me. So I can be with you, too.”

Chris shook her head, throwing off Medb’s hand. She drew back. “It’s not the same. Maybe I should just leave. Maybe I really am a coward for… for wanting to,” she hiccuped, “for, to, to stay.”

Medb reached out again, beckoning for Chris to return. “You’re not a coward for not wanting to leave home,” she promised. “Who knows what’s beyond the gate, after all?” When Chris complied and put her cheek, Medb felt wetness on her thumb. “When do you leave?”

“Tonight at sundown.”

Medb balked. “But, well, sundown? Are you sure?”

“Yes. My patron will send a shining golden stag, and I am to follow until I reach the end of the world.”

Medb’s stomach lurched. The room was cold, as if night had fallen suddenly, and she was caught outside. “The end of the…? You don’t mean to say - ?”

“I’m sorry, Medb,” Chris whispered. Her voice was high. “They say no one shall harm me in No Man’s Land, so long as I follow the stag.”

First Warren two years ago, and now Chris. No Man’s Land seemed to follow Medb, hanging around her like a bad omen. A curse upon her. “And you will write to me? When you are out?”

Not if, she forced herself to remember, when. When Chris had passed through safely, she would write a letter, and all would be well.

“Yes,” Chris promised, but she hesitated before she did so. Then, “The sky is the color of tart tangerines exploding in your mouth as you bite into them in the summer. I have to go. Tell Virgil I said goodbye?”

Medb’s voice caught in her throat. “I will.”

“Goodbye, Maevie. Until I arrive,” said Chris softly as she walked away, the shuffling of her worn shoes moving away from Medb.

And then only Virgil and Medb remained.

Chris’s letter never arrived.

  “No,” Medb said hurriedly, panic rising in her throat. She pushed it down, steeled herself against Virgil’s dresser, the worn wood smooth under her fingertips from years of Medb’s anxious rubbing against it.

“It’ll only be for a few weeks. The war’s gone on for years now. They’re running out of options.”

“You hate the war,” Medb said plainly. “They didn’t want you four years ago, why should they want you now? In fact, why should you want to go now? It’s not like you.”

“I want to bring glory to the citadel.” It was a standard Virgil answer. But that wasn’t the truth.

“It’s Warren and Chris, isn’t it?”

Virgil’s silence was enough to answer. “You can’t go, Virgil. They’ll never let you out to look for them. And what if you get lost in No Man’s Land?” I can’t lose you, too.

“I’ll be fine,” they replied, brushing off her concern. Medb heard the soft thumping of clothing hitting the bottom of a suitcase as Virgil haphazardly threw their spare clothes in.

“Don’t go.”

“Maevie, I’ll be back in a year or so. I’ll write you letters whenever I can. But I have to go; can’t you hear the call?”

Medb shook her head. “What do you mean, the call?”

“There’s something pulsing, Medb. Something coming from No Man’s Land, and it keeps calling me. I thought at first, maybe I could ignore it.” They paused, and their suitcase creaked and thudded shut. “But nothing to do about it now. When your patron makes contact, you have to.” They breathed shakily. “They promised… Warren.”

“Can I convince you to stay?” the indent in the top of the dresser was tiny, it just barely fit the tip of her pinky. She used to put her thumb over it, letting the little indent suck in the plump pads. It felt like there was a hole in her thumb, and she would imagine herself a little doll made of sand and burlap slowly draining out onto Virgil’s dresser. She used to wonder if she might drain out completely, and no one would notice until she was gone, and it was too late to restuff her.

It was only she who remained now. She could hear it in the way Virgil drummed their fingers against the top of their suitcase, the agitated da-dum like horses galloping away from her, carrying Virgil with them.

“I don’t know,” they said at last, so softly that Medb’s heart shattered.

She crossed the room, the room she had crossed a million times before, and sat down quickly on the bed, her hip colliding with the heavy suitcase. Virgil had always kept a space for her before.

“Sorry,” they mumbled, but Medb heard the guilt in their voice, and she knew they knew what she was thinking. The bed beside Medb sprang up as the suitcase was removed.

“It’s alright. Come sit with me,” she patted the bed. Virgil’s bed, she reminded herself.

They hesitated, but soon Medb felt the dip in the mattress to her side. “Remember when we used to hide out here? You and me and Warren and Chris? You used to put on play fights with Warren. Chris loved them.”

“They always turned into real fights,” Virgil chuckled. “I always said I’d be like an older sibling to Warren, but some sibling I was, huh?” their voice got quiet again at the end of the sentence. Warren’s absence hung in the room even after four years. It was like he was a ghost, hanging around and haunting them, begging them not to forget him.

Medb shook her head. She couldn’t think things like that. No use thinking the worst. “Siblings fight,” she reassured Virgil. “It’s what they do.”

“Yeah,” they said softly. “You and Chris never fought the way sisters do.”

Medb laughed. “Over what? Which boys are cute?” She waved her hand over her eyes. “I would have to just defer to her opinion. Besides, Chris was six years younger than me, worlds apart as kids, what was there to fight about?”

Virgil laughed raucously, and Medb was pleased, until she realized she referred to Chris in the past tense.

“Maevie. Don’t.” Virgil took her hand, squeezing it gently. “It’s been two years. That’s not so long.”

She took her hand away, patting Virgil on the back of their hand. “Silly Virgil, I know that. Come, stay with me. Reminisce with me, so I might convince you not to go.”

“There is no convincing me.”

Medb clicked her tongue, tutting disapprovingly. “You were always so stubborn, Virgil. But I’m stubborner still, you know. Stay with me.” She laid back in the bed, letting Virgil’s bunched up blankets nestle under her neck. “It will be too lonely without you here.”

“The children adore you. You’re going to become a matron at the citadel one day, it’s what all the authorities are saying.”

Medb snorted. “I will do no such thing. I’m simply waiting for Warren and Chris to return, and then we will leave, the four of us together, off for a new adventure. Still,” she continued, sighing. “I will miss the citadel.”

“Good riddance to this place,” Virgil harrumphed. Medb felt them shift beside her. Their elbow grazed her ear as they lay down as well. “But I’ll miss climbing the big tree out by the gate.”

Medb nodded sagely. At some point, the tree had become so familiar to even her that she could climb it in seconds. “We haven’t climbed the tree in a long time.”

“We got too big for it.”

“We got too big for a lot of things, didn’t we?”

Virgil breathed steadily, their chest moving the bed with them. Everything Virgil touched got infected with, well, Virgil-ness. Medb held her breath, letting Virgil breathe for the both of them. She pretended, at least, that she was letting them breathe for both of them, as though hearing the ups and downs of their chest might trick her own lungs into breathing and her heart’s aching into dulling. “I think you’ve grown too big for me, Medb.”

Medb exhaled, shocked. She turned to the direction of Virgil’s voice on their bed. “Nonsense. You could never outgrow me. Don’t say unreasonable things.”

She felt a hand briefly brush against her cheek. Not a hand, she realized. Virgil’s lips. So tenderly she thought instantly of a butterfly that landed on her last summer. Virgil was never so tender.

“I’m sorry, Maevie,” they whispered.

She didn’t have time to react. A cool breeze blew in.

The window.

Seconds later, she heard a low grunt and the soft thump of something heavy hitting grass.

She ran to the window. “Virgil!”

“It’s not that I’ve outgrown you,” they called back, their voice getting fainter by the second. Virgil and Warren and Chris and Medb, and Virgil was always the fastest, running and whooping alongside the wind on a fall morning, racing to reach the biggest piles of leaves under the big tree by the gate before the others could. “It’s that you’ve outgrown me.”

“Virgil!”

But it was too late. She sat down, her back against the wall, her knees to her chin. A few minutes later, and she heard the creak of the big iron gate at the front of the citadel opening. She wondered if Virgil would look back. Not that she could see them. Not that she would even stand so they could see her. But she wondered nonetheless.

The sound of wind rustling through tall grasses in the afternoon, she realized, was the loneliest sound in the world.

[estradaestrada93-blog]

Mary McCarthy On Love And Hannah Arendt's Advice To Her On The Dangerous Delusion That

You can't claim to love your spouse if you don't say or show it - in fact, you may even say it and he/she won't believe because you don't show it. Love http://sanatoasecombinatii.info picks up right where it left off in Like A Boss, with a whopper of a cliffhanger. Apparently, I still love it when the princess gets her king, nipple clamps and all. It started off well and I was enjoying this take on the Beauty and the Beast story. This is a story of fate, and destiny and how sometimes you can't choose who you fall in love with. As glycerol enters skin cells, some of the water that is normally found in the cells is forced out. Love and intelligence, it turned out, were far more strongly correlated than genetics and intelligence. Freedom Make-Up Pro Correct Palette, £6 , will help you get flawless, not cakey, skin. I love how in this book history is mixed with the supernatural to create an engaging story. Having the word beauty in the title of this was perfect because it was a beautiful book.

He's was few years older than her, was her brother Pike's best friend and the love of her life. have a peek at these guys is a fantastic book that is easy to read, addictive and difficult to put down. The experience of beauty is one component in a whole series of Darwinian adaptations.

[erza-shidae]

Do you want everything? You want everything! ^_^ 1-55! Ready, steady, GO!!! XD

What’s the point of these numbers again? lol I’ll answer @machiwabiteitayoake​ numbers on these post as well so here goes! I’ll try not to Cakey everything for my answers *sobs*

1) First Kalafina song?To the beginning, was starting on Fate series since people have been saying that I’ll like Saber (which ended up being true only on the zero storyline)

2) First Kalafina album?I actually had to look up my files for this lol, I mostly dl-ed singles that I like and ignore the whole album for bands that I started to like, anyhow, my first full album was The best blue (both IRL and digital I guess, I had to buy the album from AFATH for the signs) 3) Favorite Kalafina song?Alleluia, without this song I wouldn’t care for the band as much (as in I won’t bother listen to the rest of the B-sides trying to find songs like this one lol)4) Favorite Kalafina album?Winter Acoustic :P I’m just trash for pianos5) Favorite Kalafina single?To the beginning I supposed…6) Favorite Kalafina B-side?屋根の向こうに wish they’ll perform more of this7) Tough question: Favorite member?Not so tough considering it’s me but yup Keiko. I didn’t know her name (and not bothered to look it up haha, I’m just that bad) and calls her the manly-onee san from Kalafina before, although she is the one who caught my attention with just her vocals back then too, then my friend was like, watch Aldnoah.Zero she’s singing for it too! Then I started watching the MVs, follow you people on tumblr, read her interviews because I’m so free and bamph, look who’s a Cakey trash now :/ All this doesn’t mean that I don’t like the other two though, I love Hikaru, especially her talk session and Wakana’s heavenly voice, it’s just that I’ll get more hyped (and annoyed for many reasons) when it comes to Cakey8) Favorite Kalafina look/attire?The recent black-gold x’mas live looks so good (especially on Keiko…) but overall with all three members it would be their Blue day outfit?Do you…9) Own any piece of merch?T-shirts, parka, pamphlets, yeah those kind of stuffs10) Own any physical albums/singles?All the full albums, will buy the singles soon but I’m not in a hurry since I’ll have to buy 3000 yen at every concert I attend for their special posters or whatever they’re givingHave you ever…11) Attended a Kalafina live? (If so, how many?)ahaha here goes01.23 8th anni01.30 FOTW special final day 101.31FOTW special final day 209.15 Arena live day 109.16 Arena live day 211.19 Acoustic Album release event11.30 X’mas special for FJC12.03 X’mas live12.23 X’mas live12.24 X’mas liveBought tix already list :01.23 9th anni01.27 LisaniSent my name for the ballot listKalafina 9+104.16-17, 05.13, 06.03-04

12) Watched any of the shows/movies they have performed for?Fate/Zero, Aldnoah.Zero, Kara no Kyoukai 1-5, Eve no Jikan and of course Starlight with Keiko, she’s such a brat :P13) Met them (in a greet-and-meet)?NOPE T___T14) Gotten their autograph?Not personally, but yes, I asked my friend to go for the AFATH signing session for me, and now she’s loving Wakana :P and oh that TGU sign t-shirt15) Traveled out of your country for a Kalafina concert?Yup, for the 8th anni and FOTW lives, regretted it half way through since SNSD ended up coming to Thailand on the exact day of the FOTW live….but hey, second row from the front :316) Talked about Kalafina with someone else (other than the fans)?Teachers, by now my sensei would be like, Kalafina concert AGAIN? haha and some of my friends since I have no one to talk to *sob*Random Kalafina questions:17) What’s your favorite fact about Kalafina?They’re dorks :/ especially Hikaru during her sales corner, I wish they wouldn’t edit it out cause people will definitely love her more if they see it18) Do you have any ships? (Which one if so)Not really19) Is there any random, non-Kalafina related thing that for some reason reminds you of Kalafina?More or less everything in life is now related to Kalafina, I mean I see shark and that’s wakana, cats then Hikaru, snakes and its Keiko even their colour scheme reminds me of them so yeah20) Is there any food that remind you of Kalafina?Obviously Karaage = Hikaru, Gyoza = Wakana, Meat+ Chocolate = KeikoName a Kalafina song that… 21) You love - Red Moon22) You never get tired of - RYB (in the silence)23) Makes you cry - Alleluia24) Makes your day a whole lot better - Yasashii Uta25) You used to dislike but now love to death - Ongaku (concert reasons)26) You listened to over and over until you got fed up :p - I removed musundehiraku from my on-the-go playlist, but I can listen to it if it randomly pops up back at home, so it’s not that ‘fed-up’ lol27) Can transport you to another different world with its beauty - Red Moon (I have such a dark world :P) or Kimi no gin no niwa28) Inspires you to be creativeTTBWhat Kalafina member would you choose to: I’d do everything with Keiko29) Go shopping? Not a fan of shopping, but I’ll gladly hold any of the three shopping bags for them :330) Make pizza? Keiko 31) Show her around your hometown? All three, although I don’t know about home that well haha32) Go to the movie theater? Considering Wakana loves love story, not her… Hikaru or Keiko movie tastes would go along with me more I think33) Play videogames? Probably Keiko, I just love winning at video game and it’s more fun playing with someone who’s competitive and not like, ‘I’ll give up’34) Go karaoke? All three 35) Go bungee jumping? I’m scared of heights so the only person who could drag me out for this would be Keiko…all the things I’ll do for her if she ask :/36) Go fishing? Wakana or Hikaru, the two seems more like a relaxed person and could sit down for days, not so sure about Keiko on this lol, she’s just so energetic at times.37) Go to a museum? Probably Wakana or Hikaru, depends on the museum38) Rob a bank? Why are we doing this anyway lol, well if it’s something that I’ll never do then it’s gotta be ‘with Keiko’39) Do a prank call? on friends? anyone to be honest :P40) Make a garage band? All three 41) Go to a picnic? All three again, the more the merrier42) Bake a cake? Kubota Keikooo 43) Go to Disneyland/world? Keiko 44) Backpacking another country? again Keiko 45) Re-design your home? Assuming Keiko has a very flowery taste and my house wouldn’t look so different with the current one with her help, Hikaru please lol, she seems like a person who likes minimalism.46) Go to a library? Hikaru, don’t think Keiko’ll make it through an hour without getting up and moving about47) Help you with homework/tests? mmm, Hikaru I guess, she seems like the most reliable one when it comes to stuff like this48) Vandalize a building? Again with the I won’t do it if you wouldn’t ask, so Keiko49) Go to a concert? Keiko 50) Go jogging? obviously Keiko, but maybe Hikaru since we’ll both be like jogging? let’s go back to sleep51) Kill that hideous spider in your room? (Before you blow up your house :p)? ANY HUMAN CAN HELP ME WITH THIS52) Go to a zoo? Keiko53) Hide a corpse? Hikaru? she’s the calculative one I mean54) Use a ouija board? (Lol wtf is wrong with me?) considering I’m someone with 6th sense, I wouldn’t play it, even if Keiko’s asking me to, just no, I can watch though55) Go to a party? Hate parties so the one who can get me there is Keiko…