#meant in a completely literal sense he’s about to get flung off a cliff and his namesakes are compromised

[0vergrowngraveyard]

random tails angst prompt:

“you catch them when they fall, but who will catch you?”

[big-bad-ulf]

Accidents Happen || Solo

When Ulfric awoke he was so acutely aware of the wet grass pressing against his skin, he thought he might’ve been able to count the blades without even opening his eyes. His senses remained especially heightened after a full moon shift, a blessing he tried not to take for granted. The sting of coming down from the release of giving into the beast stung less with the strong scent newly turned dirt and pines to ground him. The sounds of the birds flitting between them, and subtle shifts of small creatures stirring in their burrows somewhere beneath his head surrounding him like downy blankets of white noise. The feeling of soft fingers intertwined with his—Wait. Fuck.

Ulfric jolted to his feet, and the severed hand dropped to the floor of the clearing with a dull, wet thud. Delicate fingers curled stiffly inwards, large grooves and jagged edges marking where the bone had been snapped just above the elbow and gnawed on by powerful jaws. The skin was pale, bluish and adorned on the inner wrist with a thin, meticulously neat outline of the phases of the moon in jet black ink.

“Fy faen.” He swore again, this time aloud in his native tongue, and spat a mouthful of hours old blood into the leaf litter. As he surveyed the ransacked clearing he found himself in, a bubble of panic bloomed in his chest. It wasn’t the first incident involving a seemingly non-threatening and unlucky human, though Ulfric took some pride in the fact that he had come to know the woods around White Crest well enough that such incidents were few and far between. But it was the first time he’d woken up smeared with the leftovers of a client.

Uselessly wiping his bloodied hands against his equally bloody chest, he inwardly cursed his habit of being chatty with customers. No doubt it was good for business, and provided helpful tips on the whereabouts of hunters on a few occasions, but he’d likely be finding it a lot easier to hurry up and dispose of this mess if he didn’t remember how it had smiled and laughed gamely at the lame jokes he’d made to get their mind off the pain of the needle. Stacy, 19, a student at UMWC who grew up in Bangor but chose to go to school in White Crest to ‘feel closer to nature’ and ‘get more fresh air’. He’d argued, in a firm yet friendly way, that the air stank of fish and she should get out of town as soon as she could, before it got its claws into her. It was an urging he gave all his clients that were too green to know that they’d stumbled into a town where war raged quietly. She asked if he meant it hooks rather than claws, but the saying made no sense that way. He didn’t know of any monsters that had to resort to using hooks to eviscerate their prey.

Snapping back to the present, Ulfric gathered up several of the snapped branches that lay strewn about the clearing and piled them on top of the goriest patch of ground. Then he began searching the surrounds for any scattered parts of Stacy. To his disappointment, but not surprise, they were flung far and wide, and by the time he was satisfied that he had found them all and heaped them on top the pyre, the sun had well and truly risen. Breaking into a run, he hastened towards a nearby stream and furiously washed the blood from his chest, his hands, his mouth, his beard. Time was slipping away and he’d soon have to find away to excuse himself from his plans for the morning, but couldn’t afford not to be thorough. Finally clean, he sprinted back towards the sheltered spot by a cliff where he’d parked his old Chevy the evening prior and concealed it with branches the before heading deeper into the woods on foot to heed the moon’s call. He gathered up the clothes he’d left in a heap on the front seat in one arm, while he popped the glove box open and grabbed his cell phone with his free hand. Placing the device on top the car, he dialled the first number in his frequent contacts, and quickly tapped on speaker phone before turning to hastily pull on his boxers and jeans.

“What’s up, Ulf?” a sleep-addled voice came through after first two tense rings. “Hey! Rory,” Ulfric returned the greeting with as much affected calmness as he could muster. “I need you to do me a favor and open up the shop by yourself this morning. No, I’m fine—” The werewolf assured his fellow artist (and himself), squinting into the morning sun as he fought with the sleeves of his worn flannel. “I just… ate something that didn’t agree with me.” He swallowed hard and grimaced at the lingering taste of co-ed in his mouth. “Thanks,” he grunted gratefully at Rory’s rapid acceptance of his request, shoving one foot forcefully into a tough leather boot. “I owe you an ale – or a keg.”

He hung up and let out a small huff of relief, though that relief was short-lived as there was still work to be done before he could consider his hands clean of the situation. Hoisting the spare gas can out of the trunk of his car, he hurried back towards the clearing, leaving the vehicle uncovered as he silently swore he’d make a break for town as soon as this grim task was completed. With a healthy dousing of gasoline and match from a book he’d picked up a few weeks ago at Dell’s Tavern, the makeshift pyre went up in a flash, almost literally. Despite the promise Ulfric had made to himself not to draw things out, he found himself lingering, staring into flames until the stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils. Until the ink he’d laid in tender pink skin bubbled and warped out of recognition.

[newwavelover-blog]

The Beginning

Because I never felt like there was a enough books out there to really describe what was happening in my life. I decided to write my own. New pages every week!

I don’t remember the first time I saw her.

 In fact, I don’t remember the day that much at all. All I remember was her smile. And she wasn’t smiling at me if that’s what you think. I was running up the library steps, probably because I was late. I’m always late. It’s actually a really bad habit. But not that day, that day was fate.

 I flung the library door open and it nearly smacked her in the face. I wouldn’t have even noticed she was behind me but the shock of the door made her shout in surprise. I jumped a little; it’s scary hearing someone behind you when you think you’re alone. But before I could apologize she let out a small laugh and this huge smile came over her face, as she literally looked right through me to the girl waving at her from the lobby. She didn’t pause for a second before she ran over to her friend. Actually I’m pretty positive she didn’t see me at all. But I saw her. That smile was mesmerizing. I stood there alone in the lobby for a minute in a trance as her laugh eventually left with her, echoing in the space she left me in.

 Okay so maybe I remember that day a little more than I let on. The truth is I’ve been trying my best to forget that day. People like to say they “fall” in love. As if love were so kind to gently push you off a cliff and catch you in an ocean of clouds. That’s stupid. Love is brutal. It doesn’t do anything gently. It kidnaps you in the dead of night, blindfolds you, ties your hands and feet together, throws you off the cliff into the REAL ocean and watches you drown. Sorry for the vivid imagery but if you have ever been in love you know what I’m talking about. And you if you haven’t, well that’s a quick summary of what’s waiting for you.

 Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against love. It’s just really rude when the universe gives you a glimpse of somebody who made your heart burst out of your chest and then makes them vanish within seconds. And if you think this is some great love story with a happy ending, I am very sorry to disappoint you. And if you think this is one of those heart-wrenching tragedies then you are also wrong. I guess you can say this is somewhere in between. Because I think life is a little in between or maybe that’s just me.

--

 So I guess the only thing left to do at this point is to start from the beginning. Not the beginning of me because that’s terribly boring and honestly I don’t think you would want to read it anyway, but the beginning of her. I was a freshman at the time, 19 years old, still new to life and all the things it had waiting for me. I got into a private university in California, which was about 3,000 miles away from everything I wanted to escape. My mom was devastated that I would leave but hey that’s life and I was going to leave at some point anyway right? So long story short, I packed up my room into a suitcase and from one day to the next, I went from living with my mother to living with some girl named “Kristina with K” (that’s literally how she introduces herself).

 The weekend before classes started I had to attend a presentation on under age drinking and see a video with some poor kid’s family talk about how their child died at a frat party. Don’t get me wrong I’m all about prevention education but it’s not exactly the way you want to start the semester.

 And as usual I was late. Well I don’t know if it’s late as much as I sat at my desk for 15 minutes debating on whether I should go or not. On the one hand, it sounded like such a downer but on the other hand, Kristina with a K said if you didn’t show they make you take some online course about alcoholism. I wasn’t really sure which was worse. Needless to say I eventually decided to go and of course I was late. The lecture was in the library but like I said it was my first weekend here and I had only been inside the library one other time. By the time I pulled up the campus map on my phone I realized that not only was the library on the other side of campus but I was now 10 minutes late and it had already started. When I finally made it through my journey to Narnia, I sprinted up the library steps and since you read the first page you know what happens next.

 She wasn’t beautiful. She was breath taking. I know how that reads and before you completely disregard the rest of this, just hear me out. She was subtle. There was nothing over the top about her appearance and if you saw her in a crowd you probably wouldn’t remember her. But if you just took a second to look at her, you would catch yourself staring. Her skin had a slight olive glow, probably from being outside in this California sun. She even had a handful of freckles scattered on her nose to prove it. Her eyes were green but not from far away, you really had to be up close to see that green shade. Her hair was a soft brown, definitely all natural there’s no way that comes in a box, and was swept up in a messy bun. All these things are very pleasing to the eye but it was her smile that took my breath away. Standing there in the lobby as she walked away with her friend, I actually forgot to breathe for a second.

 Once she disappeared around the corner I came back to reality and darted towards the elevator. Finally I found the room where the presentation was being held and I scrambled to find an open seat. Although I was late, it was clear this thing wasn’t starting promptly and people were still scattered around chatting. I spotted Kristina towards the front and before she could see me I plopped down in the closest chair to me.

 “Oh I’m sorry, I’m saving this seat” I head a voice next to me say.

 Now see, if this were a movie this would have been a perfect opportunity for a meet cute. And if you don’t know what a meet cute is, it’s basically the point in the movie when boy meets girl and it’s usually clever or witty. And with that being said let me assure you that I am neither. So there she was. Sitting next to me, informing me that someone else should be sitting here. I wish I could tell you that I made some funny comment and started a small conversation. In fact I wish I could tell you I said anything at all. But seeing her again, sitting this close to her, was just like seeing her downstairs in the entrance. I could feel the blood rushing to my face and before I could get any words out of mouth I stood straight up and practically collided with a guy who was trying pass by.

 Before I could apologize (or embarrass myself more) Kristina spotted me and called me over.

“Case! Over here! I saved you a spot!” she sang out to me from the front rows. I really wanted to crawl into a hole and die but a seat next to Kristina with a K would have to do. I slumped into the chair next to her and the guy sitting on the other side of me said “Case?” with a questioning look. Because I guess rooming with Kristina meant I had to explain my name upon introduction as well.

 “It’s Cassandra but a lot of people call me Case”, I said.

 “Oh okay, cool, I’m Richard”, he said as he held out his hand.

 “Richard is the freshman representative for the student body”, Kristina chimed in. I could practically see her eyes forming heart shapes. I shook Richard’s hand and before we could say anything else the lights in the room dimmed to show the presentation was about to start.

 Just as I imagined, the presentation was a real downer. They showed images of fatal car accidents as a result of drunk driving and photos of young students like myself who never got to graduate because they died of alcohol poisoning. As depressing as it was though I couldn’t help but sneak some casual glances at the mystery girl. Every time I turned though she was on her phone and in case you were wondering, the seat she was saving never showed up. I couldn’t help but wonder who was supposed to be there and why they would miss an opportunity to sit next to her. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the lights came back on and the presentation was over. Everyone began to stand and mingle but you could definitely sense a depressing cloud looming over the room.

 Kristina, Richard, and myself started to make our way out of the room and I couldn’t help but look to see if the mystery girl was still in her seat. She had already left. I did a quick scan around the room but she was gone.

 “Are you looking for someone?” Kristina asked.

 “No I’m just looking”, I mumbled as we got into the elevator. I sensed that maybe Kristina wanted to further her passion of politics with Richard so when the elevator came to the lobby I made sure to mention I was going back to the room to take a nap.

 “Oh really? Well we were going to grab some lunch if you want to come?” Richard said as he held the front door of the library open for me.

 “Maybe next time?” I said. “I’m just really tired, the room down the hall was blasting music until four in the morning.”

 “Ah so you’re not a party person then?” he asked.

 “Not at four in the morning I’m not!” I laughed as I walked down the steps.

 The truth is I’m not really good at making friends and I didn’t want every person I know here to be an extension of Kristina with a K. She was great at making friends. Seriously if there were a section in the Olympics for friend-making, Kristina would win gold every time. We should really consider adding that in, maybe then we could beat China or Germany. Or whomever we’re always trying to beat. But to be frank, Kristina was beautiful. She had long black hair, which always seemed to have perfect waves. Her makeup was always perfect and it was never too much. She was someone you would definitely remember in a crowd. Or at least the boys would anyway. She had a laugh that made you want to laugh with her. She was perfect. Not that annoying perfect that makes you want to hate her, but the kind of perfect that makes you want to take notes because this perfection is doable. She already knew everyone in our hall and everyone knew her. I think my official name at this point is Kristina with a K’s roommate. But I was okay with that because I wasn’t really trying to be memorable. And to be honest I’m not really the kind of girl you remember.

 Now before we jump to conclusions, I’m not trying to play the “plain-Jane” card. I just know who I am and I’m totally okay with it. I’m not tall but I’m not really short. My hair isn’t long but it’s passed my shoulders and that’s the standard length right? My skin isn’t pale or olive; I guess it’s somewhat close to a fading tan. I would say the only striking feature about me is my eyes. From far away they look brown, just boring brown. But when you get up close you can see the flecks of gold in them and suddenly they have a honey color. If I ever get a compliment (which isn’t all that often) it’s usually about my eyes. So I would have to say that I’m pretty average looking especially compared to someone like Kristina, so it was no surprise when I found a boy sitting outside our room with a flower in hand when I came home that day.

 As I began to take my keys out of my pocket, the boy looked up at me, looked back at our door, and back at me again confused. I would probably do the same if I was waiting for Kristina and I showed up instead so I wasn’t offended.

 “Um do you live with Kristina?” he asked as he scrambled up from the floor. He was wearing a black plain t-shirt that was probably a size too small because his chest and biceps seemed to fit a little too snug. I didn’t know if Kristina had a type but I was going to take a wild guess that muscles definitely helped.

“Nope I’m just here to change the sheets”, I said as I opened the door. The silence let me know he didn’t quite catch the sarcasm.

 “But yeah I also live here, I’m Case”, I added quickly. I probably should get used to awkward conversations with guys who randomly show up looking for my roommate.

 “Oh right, my name is Greg. Do you know where Kristina is? I thought we were going to lunch today but maybe she forgot”, he said as he looked down at the flower still clutched in his hand.

This was probably not the best time to mention that Kristina was already at lunch with Richard and they were probably pulling a Lady and the Tramp scene with a bowl of spaghetti. After all this guy was probably sitting outside our door for half an hour and I think this situation falls under girl code, or something to that effect. Besides, Kristina may be beautiful but I’m guessing she’s also a heart breaker and it won’t be the last time I find a boy sitting outside our room.

“You know, I think she mentioned some club meeting she had to go to? It was last minute and she probably rushed off and totally forgot you guys had made plans”, I said as I tossed my keys on my desk. This excuse seemed to work for him because he didn’t look quite as disappointed as when I first showed up.

“Oh okay, well could you give this to her? I wanted to text her but I didn’t want to be that guy you know. Just tell her to give me a call if she wants to hangout this week”, he said as he handed me the flower.

“Great! I will let her know you stopped by”, and with that I took the flower and he went on his way. I closed the door and looked for something to put the flower in. After all I wasn’t sure when Kristina would be back and I didn’t want Greg’s flower to be dead and withered. Then he really wouldn’t have a chance. Eventually I settled on a half empty water bottle and I placed it on her dresser. I laid down on my bed and as I curled up under my blanket I could feel the drowsiness kick in almost immediately. As my eyes became heavy I couldn’t help but think about the mystery girl. I wondered if she liked flowers.