#muse: Anna Strong

[melpomeneprose]

( Just saying... )

[annastrxng]

The Culper Ring @ Washington

[vocesincaput]

[melpomeneprose]

Okay now kiss.

@setauketloyalties <3

Mary had plenty of reasons not to like Anna but I do think that Anna absolutely smoked Mary with that "Worry about your husband, not your good name." line.

[anoseforrottenapples]

i love you, but you have to go. (Abe @ Mary)

Mary’s eyebrows drew together, a perplexed expression contorting her delicate features. “What are you talking about, Abraham?” She resisted his attempts to direct her toward the door, her hand reaching out to take his wrist instead. She had not known Abraham for long, but then she had not been living in Setauket for long either. With the death of most of her family in a sailing accident, and the disappearance of her brother Andrew on the frontier, Mary found herself having to chose between moving in with her odious older sister and her tiresome husband, or with her cousin Anna Strong. She chose Anna, and had come to live in the village almost a year ago. As much as she might have wanted too, Mary knew she would not be able to stay in Oyster Bay alone, and her brother-in-law promptly sold the family farm as soon as she left. “Are you in some kind of trouble, Abraham? If you are, perhaps I can help in some way.” She urged gently. “Why do you not tell me what the matter is?”  

[flowercrowngods]

based on this post, because at this point i think it's safe to say @unclewaynemunson is actually my muse or something (hi anna i hope this is okay even though it’s, like, way angsty and way too long huh)

🤍 also on ao3

Two days after Starcourt, concussed and beaten, Steve has a seizure.

His ears are still ringing when the doctor gives him a stern glance over the rim of his glasses and pronounces him unfit to drive. No, in fact, he claims Steve poses a real danger to himself and others if he sat behind a wheel again.

Immediately, Dustin and Robin jump to promising that they won't let him do that, and in another life Steve is sure he would be grateful, or at least reasonable about it, but in this one he has a horrible second where the floor falls out from under him and he wishes, for just one second, that his head had been shaken a bit more, just enough to–

It makes him nauseous even thinking that. Everything does, lately. He closes his eyes against the offensive brightness of the hospital room and lets the sound of Dustin's and Robin's voices wash over him as he takes a moment to really take in what the doctor's orders entail.

He can't drive anymore. No more late night drives to watch the street lights pass and lull him into a safer state of mind than his bedroom walls could. No more driving the kids to their DnD sessions, no more taking Robin anywhere at the drop of a hat, no more bickering, no more reign over the music, no more stern glances through the rearview mirror, no more "Shut up, Wheeler, or you're leaving the car."

No more "Thanks, Steve!", no more "I'll bring some of mom's cookies if you drive us to the arcade", no more "You're the best" or "You're a lifesaver" or "I owe you one".

No more place for him in the group, no more use for him, no more...

No more. Nothing. Now he's just Steve, would-be lifesaver, 'has-been babysitter', 'could-have-been somebody until he lost his license to drive because he wasn't quick enough, wasn't good enough, wasn't strong enough'. Just Steve.

He doesn't know how to be that. Who is Steve Harrington without his car, without the one thing he was good for anymore?

The pit in his chest is deep enough, dark enough to pull him in, and for a moment the very thing he is good for is misery.

He waits until a nurse makes everyone leave for the night, and then he cries. It makes his head hurt, pressure building behind his eyes, but he's used to being in more pain than any teenager should be in, so he curls in on himself and hides underneath the blanket.

Here's to hoping the others won't notice just how useless he is now. Not too soon, anyway. He wants another month. A painless month filled with laughter and hugs, and then they're free to leave, to pull back slowly. Calls unanswered, radio channels changed so he won't reach them, sheepish apologies and rain checks, because now Nancy will drive them. Or Jonathan. Hell, maybe Max will take the risk just to avoid him.

---

He gets a week of daily visits in the hospital, the doctors and nurses insisting on keeping him here, a watchful eye on his vitals, scanning his head three times during his stay, insisting he has head trauma of a severely worrying degree.

Nancy picks him up from the hospital and it's awkward, tense, too much left unsaid between them but there's no one else to do it. Steve's hands are shaking, gripping the seatbelt the whole way home – and then his heart falls when he sees his Beemer in the driveway. The glorious, trusty, wonderful, best fucking car anyone could wish for. His baby. His.

He throw up into the brushes when he realises that he won't get to take it on one last ride. Maybe he shouldn't be so attached to a car. Maybe he's being pathetic about it. At least he can explain away the fat tears in his eyes now, and Nancy doesn't press.

The first thing he does when Nancy is gone is calling Robin, and she's excited when she says, "I'll come right over!" and Steve wants to ask, how, but he keeps his mouth shut, biting his lip. It's stupid, but the thought of someone else driving Robin over makes his skin crawl.

"Alright," he says instead, his voice raspy, and he hangs up before she can detect something in his voice.

After that, he goes outside again and runs his hand along his Beemer. It's shining in the sun; he had it cleaned the other week, the full program, every step in the book to celebrate four years since he got her.

"Four years, huh," Steve says, his nail catching on a minor scratch that isn't even visible but might be more familiar to him than even his home. "Damn good four years."

He's talking to his car. God, it's so stupid, it's so stupid, it's so stupid–

Steve's knees give out and he gives in to the desire that's burning under his skin sometimes, the desire to just sit down and ignore the world. Because everything is less real when you're sitting down somewhere you're not meant to be, and the ground is warm, and Steve just wants the world to go. His head is leaning back against the warm metal of the driver's door, and he closes his eyes for a while, his head still spinning, his ears still ringing, everything still awful.

After a while, there’s a shadow followed by a weight settling down between him, a head landing on his shoulder, a hand taking his.

"I'm so sorry, Stevie," Robin says. The lack of dingus makes it more real, somehow. More tragic. More pathetic.

"I'll live." And it feels a bit like a lie.

---

He gets his month. A month filled with barbecues in his backyard, the kids coming by after school to check on him, and Robin has practically moved in. Joyce picks him up on Friday nights for dinner at their house for a change of scenery.

It’s a good month, though Steve feels trapped. Caged. A bird without his wings, a boy without his car. Steve without his one purpose, the one thing he was good for. He has to be picked up because they don’t trust him walking, or they have to come to his place. And soon the worried glances that are thrown his way are too much, caging him further, reminding him of what this is. A pity party — quite literally. No one trusts him anymore, there’s always someone jumping to help him, not caring or listening to his protests.

And he can’t leave, because “What if you have a seizure in your room?”

It makes him want to scream.

Maybe it shows, or maybe everyone’s just fed up with him now that he can’t provide his taxi services anymore, but after summer the Byers dinners stop and the kids pull away.

“Told you that’s all I’m good for,” Steve says with a mean, pained huff as he hangs up the phone. Claudia said Dustin isn’t home, but he could hear the kids in the background. It hurts more than it should.

“What is?” Robin asks from her place on the floor with her back against the wall.

“Nothing.”

She frowns. “Come on, dingus, you can’t start and then—“

“No, I mean it. Nothing. That’s what I’m good for now that I can’t drive them anymore.”

“Bullshit!” she says, and it comes out so harsh that it makes Steve flinch. He swallows. Right. Robin isn’t hear to listen to him whine about how he feels like he has no place in this town, in this group, in this life anymore now that his head is so fucked up he can’t even be trusted to live alone.

That’s why Robin is here, right?

The babysitter becomes the babysitted… or something.

She doesn’t care, not really. She doesn’t listen. She doesn’t ask.

“Steve, they’re kids.”

“Yeah, well. So am I.”

He turns away from her and ignores the tears threatening to fall. The door to his room falls shut and he would love to lock it just to make a point to the world at large, a point that it can’t shut him out if he shuts himself in, but he knows it’s too risky. If he has a seizure, Robin needs to get in.

He can’t even stay in his room alone without supervision anymore. What kind of a fuck-up is he becoming, where does it end? He’s already managed to chase away the kids, even Dustin only checks on him sporadically anymore, and it hurts. He wants to know why, wants to know what he did, how to take it back, how to get them back.

But then he remembers how it all started. Dustin needed a ride and someone to take a beating. Both of which he can’t do anymore without risking life and death of himself and others. He’s a safety hazard. He’s useless. He’s Steve fucking Harrington, which doesn’t mean anything anymore.

---

And then it’s spring, and Chrissy Cunningham is found dead in Eddie Munson’s trailer. The group is back together again, the Party assembled once more. And Steve, for a just one second, hopes that he can get it right this time, that he can do this again. One last time. Because Vecna slash Henry slash One surely is it.

But then they turn on him — even Eddie looks confused, which is a rather adorable look on him — the moment Steve tries to get a word in.

“You’re not coming with us, Steve.” That’s Dustin, and Steve just rolls his eyes, but then Robin joins in.

“Yeah, no, I’m with the gremlin on this, dingus.”

“Hey!”

“Oh shut it, Henderson.” She turns to him, her eyes softer but no less burning another hole inside Steve. “We can’t risk it, Steve.”

“Risk what?” It’s a challenge. His shoulders squared, his jaw clenched, he’s challenging her, and it’s cruel.

She holds his eyes, her expression icy, like he’s stupid. “We can’t risk you dying. We can’t risk you getting a seizure mid-fight or just by being in the Upside Down.”

“Hey, woah,” Eddie tries to get a word in, but Steve won’t hear him as the desperation, the loneliness, the feeling of being caged like a bird and still the only human left on a desolate planet, all that breaks free.

“We all know that dying in a fight is the only thing I’m good for anyway.”

The silence among their war council, as Max dubbed it, is deafening.

“What?” Lucas sounds small when he asks that, and Steve closes his eyes. He hadn’t meant for him to hear that. Any of them, actually. They weren’t supposed to know.

“Steve, that’s not true.” Dustin’s words are filled with disbelief and worry, and Steve hates the worry, it makes his skin crawl, it makes his heart race, it makes his fists clenched and it makes him want to scream again.

“What else then, huh?” he asks weakly. “What else is there? None of you even talk to me anymore since Starcourt. Since summer.”

“Because you were pulling away,” Nancy explains, though her words are weak and her mouth clicks shut when Steve looks at her.

“Because we’re scared.” Max this time, and Steve doesn’t want to look at her, doesn’t want to tell a child that she’s not allowed to be scared for him— not more than he is, anyway. It doesn’t make sense for him to be hurt. They don’t want him to die. That’s a good thing, right? They didn’t want to see him hurt, so they looked away. It makes sense.

But it also hurts.

Steve shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose before all but running from the trailer. He doesn’t make it far (“Stay close so we won’t have to worry”), just needs some fresh air and to sit down somewhere the world will become a bit less real again.

The stairs it is. He tries to breathe through the lump in his throat, clenching and unclenching his hands to get rid of the anger and the hurt and all that excess energy.

He doesn’t want to die, is the thing. The very thought makes him nauseous and panicky. He wants his life back. His car. The freedom to just jump in there and get away. He doesn’t want the cage or the worry or the hovering or the loneliness when he isolates himself from all that.

Face buried in his hands, Steve almost misses it when someone comes to sit beside him. The thick smell of leather and cigarettes tells him who it is without looking up.

Eddie doesn’t speak for a while, just sits with him as Steve calms down.

And then, after a while, he lights a cigarette and asks, “You get seizures, Harrington?”

Steve nods. “Sometimes.”

Eddie hums. “That sucks.”

He nods again, and then that’s that. But even though it was a rhetorical question and Eddie didn’t even need an answer, it feels pathetically good to be asked about something. About himself. It only makes the pit inside his chest deeper, cutting into his soul with a sharp edge, this tiny little moment of normalcy. He wants to cling to it. He wants to talk to Eddie. God, he hasn’t really talked to anyone in so long.

“Before Starcourt — remember, the mall? The fire? Yeah that was, uhm. More monster shit. And Russians who thought I was a spy and then… yeah. Anyway. Uh. We used to be friends, I think. The kids and I. They used to care — or I like to think that they did. And then I got one too many head injuries, and the seizures started, and then they… It became too much. For them, for me. And the caring stopped. And, like, it’s fine or whatever, but I still care, and I can’t let them do all that alone. I know that all I was good for was taking them somewhere with my car, but I can’t drive anymore, so now I’m just… I’m just Steve. No titles attached, no use or function or point.”

Eddie just stares at him, puzzled and intrigued and even a little sad, and Steve wants to laugh it off when the silence stretches.

“Sorry, that’s kind of a sob story, you—“

“Wait here,” Eddie says, stubbing out his cigarette before disappearing back into the trailer. Steve watches him with a confused frown but stays put. A minute later, the door flies open and a scandalised looking Max appears, followed by the rest of the crew.

“You what?!”

“Uh,” Steve blinks. “I what?”

“Eddie told us you think you’re useless and that we don’t like you and that all you were ever good for is driving us from A to B with, like, no personal value whatsoever,” Dustin fills in, sounding no less bewildered. “Is that true, Steve?”

And God, the kid is so good at making all his questions sound like dares that Steve instinctively wants to swallow and negate it, tell them that Eddie misheard, that he’s fine, that everything fine.

But then Robin’s whispered little, “Steve” stops him from doing that. In fact, the sadness and confusion on their faces makes the dams break once more, confronted with months of spiralling and no one to drag him out, no one to listen.

Tears spring to his eyes and he gets up from the stairs to properly face them. He shrugs. It’s as much of a confirmation as anything.

And then Dustin sprints forward and tackle-hugs him, burying his face in Steve’s chest with no intention to let go anytime soon.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles into Steve’s shirt and Steve runs a hand through his hair immediately.

“It’s okay, Dustin.”

“No! It’s fucking not okay, Steve, stop saying that. You’re my big brother, you’re my best friend, you’re my hero! You’re the coolest guy I know and nothing’s gonna change that, okay?”

“Then why’d you leave?” His voice is so small, but Dustin only hugs him tighter.

“Because you were hurting and I was… I feel like all of that is my fault.”

“Why would it be your fault, Dustin?”

He shrugs, and it breaks Steve’s heart. Dustin thinks everything is his fault just like Steve thinks it’s his.

“It’s me who got you into the thing with the Russians. I insisted. And you were tortured for it, Steve! You… You told us to go, and we did, and then we came back and you were— you-“

“Hey,” Steve whispers, curling himself around and over Dustin. “Hey, no, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. None of that.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry I pulled away, Steve,” Dustin sniffles and looks up at him. “I swear it’s not because I think you’re useless. It’s just… I’m so scared.”

And it makes sense, somehow. The anger leaves Steve when he whispers, “Me too. And I don’t like it when you’re all scared and worried. I hate it.”

“I know. Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Shut up.”

And then they’re both laughing with tears in their eyes. Lucas and Max join them with their own promises that Steve isn’t worthless to them.

“Did you read my letter? You know, the one if…”

“No,” Steve says. “You told me not to.”

“Right. Anyway, read it. Whatever happens, I want you to read it. Because you’re my brother and you mean too much for me to, like, never let you know. But, uh. Billy died. And I hated him, but it fucked me up. And then you almost died, and then you almost died again; and then you just… collapsed. And I thought, I cant do this again, not with someone I actually like. Not with you. And I didn’t wanna watch. I watched Billy. I… I can’t watch you die, Steve.”

She’s crying by the end of it, and Steve pulls her against his chest. Shit, he hadn’t meant to make anyone cry like that.

“It’s okay, Max, I get it.”

“Not okay,” she shakes her head again. “I know it’s not. But—“

“I know.” He’s stroking through her hair. “I know.”

“Uh, guys? I hate to break up the heartfelt confession time,” Eddie chimes in. “But I think our window is closing.”

Right. The end of the world.

With one last squeeze to Max’s shoulders, he lets her go and they gather their things. Discussions about Steve’s joining their mission have been put on hold while their window is still open. They can continue this later.

Nancy drives while Max holds Steve’s hand in the back. They don’t talk and she has her headphones on, letting Kate Bush work her magic, but it’s fine. It feels a bit like healing.

He catches Eddie’s eyes on the other side and holds them for a while. Eddie smiles before looking away, and Steve does the same.

---

In the end, Steve doesn't climb the rope with them. He stays behind in Eddie's trailer even though every fibre of his being screams at him to join. But Nancy has a point when she explains to him that she and Robin got this. It's the first time he stays behind, and he hopes it will be the last.

They hug him before leaving, all of them. Promises are made to talk about this later, after, and he nods.

"Go save the world for me," he tells Robin, holding her tight, unwilling to let go.

"Only for you," she promises, and kisses his cheek before pulling away. "You better be right here when we come back."

He shrugs and gives her an encouraging smile. "I've got nowhere else to be, Buckley. Now go." The last words are whispered and it feels like goodbye. Steve should join them, he should be there! But his head is pulsing and he knows that one wrong move could leave him half blind with a migraine, and they don't need one more handicap.

The one thing he can do, though, is helping them climb the rope, and it makes him feel ridiculously proud, seeing them land safely on the other side, smiling up (or down?) at him. Robin and Nancy wave one last time before heading off.

That leaves him alone with Eddie and Dustin. The latter is already climbing the rope, itching to finally do something, preparing the trailer for their plan.

Only Eddie is left, and Steve looks over at him.

"Will you be okay, Steve?"

"Sure."

Eddie sighs and looks up at the gate, disbelief and resignation and even a hint of fascination in his eyes.

"It should be you," he says, and Steve frowns, confused. "You're the hero here."

"No," Steve huffs, smiling at the metalhead. "No, I'm no hero. The real heroes are already up there, and in California. The real hero died after Starcourt. I'm just the driver who lost his license, the boy with the bat. The protector who needs to be protected."

Eddie looks at him again, that kind of intense stare, the one that shows Steve that Eddie sees something in him. He wonders what it is, but isn't sure he wants to know.

"I think you're wrong, Steve." He says it with such gentle conviction that it takes Steve's breath away for a second, and something passes between them as they hold each other's eyes.

Eddie opens his mouth to say something, but then–

"Eddie!" Dustin is calling for him from the other side, and the boys snap out of their daze.

Steve steps into Eddie's personal space and pulls him to his chest. "Make him pay," he says. "But stay safe. Come back, okay? First sign of danger, you abort mission. Come back, Eddie. I'll be right here."

"Yeah," Eddie rasps, and he squeezes Steve once more. "Catch me when I fall through that gate in two hours?"

Steve laughs, a sad little thing, and he pushes Eddie away from him, hands steady on his shoulders. "Sure, big boy."

"Hey, that's my part."

"Say it when you come back, then."

This thing passes between them again, and then Eddie goes to climb the rope. Steve's hands find their way to his hips, steadying him, but Eddie is strong enough to pull himself up without problem. Huh.

"In the meantime, wrap your head around the fact that you're the one I'm coming back for, pretty boy."

And then Eddie is gone. Steve watches as he falls through the gate, landing on the mattress with more elegance this time, and then he, too, grins down (or up?) at Steve.

He gives a little wave, and then he is alone.

Plenty of room to think when your friends have gone on a suicide mission and you're the one who has to stay behind. The one who will have to do the explaining when things go south. The one who will have to watch and listen, helpless.

It makes him regret the past few months, the self isolation, all the times he pulled back, all the times he didn't push for an explanation or a conversation, all the times he hadn't asked the kids if they're alright because he was too caught up in all the ways that he wasn't.

God, he wants them to be okay. He wants to talk about this, wants them to tell him he's more than the driver without a license, more than the protector who needs protecting. He wants Eddie to come back and explain what he meant, say what he wanted to say. He wants...

He wants his old life back. But more than that, he wants them in his new life just as much. He wants to be brave enough for this new life and find a new purpose. Create one if he can't find it.

But he can't do it alone. He refuses to do it alone even one day more.

"Come back to me," he whispers, looking up at the gate from where he's sitting on the floor, back against the wall. "Come on guys, you've got this. Please work. Please, make the plan work."

And then, miraculously, it does. Eddie falls into his arms with an undignified squeal and the rest of the Party soon follow. They're unscathed, miraculously, and Steve cries as he holds them, all of them, in a group hug that makes the trailer smell like relief and grief and a new life ahead of them. Slowly, with an unnatural sound, the gate above them closes, and then silence reigns.

They cling to him now. Refuse to let go. Good thing he has nowhere to go as Lucas gasps and sobs into his chest, explaining what happened, that Jason almost destroyed the walkman, that Max could have died. And Steve runs shaky hands through his hair, pulling in Max, too, so the three of them can just hold each other for a second.

Dustin and Eddie are hugging beside them, and Nancy and Robin hold hands, a different kind of horror in their eyes, but they smile wetly at Steve as their eyes meet.

It's over. It's done.

They did it. They really did it.

Steve closes his eyes and holds Lucas and Max tighter. They don't complain.

---

Three days later, Steve's house is brimming with life again like it hasn't in months. Turns out, Hopper survived, and he hugged Steve for a whole five minutes, telling him he did good, he did great, he's a hero. Again with that shit that Steve doesn't believe, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Hop, so he just buries deeper into their embrace.

"It's good you're alive," he tells him, and the Chief sobs out a laugh.

"You too, kid. This town would be lost without you."

"Yeah, right," Steve laughs back, and then that is that.

Except, it isn't, because when he returns to the living room with Hop, Joyce and El in tow, everyone's standing, looking at him with timid expressions. Robin and Eddie are holding hands this time, and so are all the kids. They all look like they have something to say, and the only thing missing is a large banner that says INTERVENTION.

"Uh, what's going on?"

Dustin is the first to clear his throat, but only after Erica kicks him. "We wanted to apologise. For leaving you when you needed us the most."

Oh. Steve's shaking his head, placating words already on the tip of his tongue, ready to explain to them how that's not their fault, how that was all him, he could have said something, he could have asked, he could have–

"Steve," Nancy says, effectively cutting off any protest he could have voiced. "Just listen, okay? Don't say anything."

He looks at Joyce, who nods, and Hopper who looks about as lost as he feels.

Dustin continues then. "You deserved better, Steve, you really, really did. We all did, I think, but you... You put yourself in harm's way from the get-go."

"Yeah, you came to protect me when you didn't even like me." Jonathan this time. "No thoughts, just protection. I owe my life to you. Every single one in this room does, y'know."

"And what you got for it is severe head trauma and... us abandoning you." Nancy.

"You're not just the driver, Steve. You never were just a driver to us." Hell, even Mike is in on this? "You're annoying, you suck, and you don't even try not to act like you're everyone's big brother."

"You're family, Steve." Oh, baby Byers. That's what gets his eyes stinging and his lip trembling, so he bites down on it so they won't have to see. It's futile with the way they're smiling.

"Yeah. You're so much more than our babysitter," Lucas explains. "You're the best basketball coach."

"You actually listen to my music and read comics with me," Max continues with a smile. "You suck just a little less than everyone else in this town."

"Hey!"

"No, she has a point."

Steve's not keeping up with the who's who anymore, he's trying too hard to keep it together.

"You teach me new words," El says, smiling. "You give me your clothes, you take me shopping, you teach me how to deal with meanies."

And the list goes on. Everyone has something to say to him, something beyond the ways he can be useful. Something that he is to them, something meaningful, something that sounds a lot like purpose and family.

"And we were so scared, because you were hurt. Because of us. You were protecting us, and look where it got you. You're a hero, Steve. As real as they get, you are one."

"More than Wonder Woman," Max agrees. "More than Superman. You're Steve! And that's... He’s our hero."

"He’s our brother," Dustin says.

"He’s my son," Joyce adds, taking his hand.

"He’s our friend," Erica, Mike and El say in unison.

“He’s the one we stay for.” Robin’s eyes shine as she smiles.

“And the one we come back for.” Eddie’s smile is gentle, confident, and captivating. Steve can’t look away, even through his own tears.

---

In the following months, Robin gets her license and Eddie develops a sixth sense for whenever Steve needs to just sit in a car and ride around town, watching the street lamps pass and letting them lull him to sleep. There’s an upside to being a passenger, he finds, because he falls asleep like this a few times, always waking when Eddie kills the engine. He drives for hours sometimes, admitting with a blush high on his cheeks that he didn’t want to wake Steve.

Somewhere on the highway to Indianapolis, between three and four in the morning, Steve looks at Eddie in the soft glow of the night, and finds that he’s fallen in love.

And in the weeks and months and years that follow, he realises that that’s something new he’s good at.

[melpomeneprose]

Just girlie things!

This us? @curseconsumed, @annastrxng, @keptflame, @setauketloyalties, @pagetreader, @sharp-teeth-and-wide-grins, @anoseforrottenapples & @turnwashingtonsbaddies.

(This came up in my Pinterest and y’all were the first to come to mind. 🤷‍♀️ )

[melpomeneprose]

♫— I come over, quarter past two, love in my eyes. Blinded by you, just to get a taste of heaven, I'm on my knees…

[annastrxng]

@audaciiae continued

What in the world just happened?

Edmund blinks, his brow furrowing as he stares down at the body of the man Anna just shot. She didn't need to do that. It would've been fine. Right? His head is spinning, going a million miles a minute, and it takes him a few moments to calm down, taking a deep breath and slowly nodding.

"I'm fine." He is no stranger to the horrors of this sort of thing. Even if he's never faced battle, he's seen enough of Simcoe and gone through his own hell to not be so shaken. "...Anna, why did you do that?"

____________________________________

Raucous is the sound that batters her eardrums. The gun wavers, suddenly heavy within usually steadied hands that had adopted a vehement tremor. There's a breath drawn in, a futile attempt to conceal the faintest inklings of satisfaction that came from pulling the trigger on a man as VILE as Easton. Doleful maple orbs, etched now with endless adrenaline flick over the fallen form slowly before turning back to Major Hewlett. The pistol is lowered begrudgingly despite the man being well and truly dead.

The relief caused by Edmund's declaration of safety allows her tense shoulders to sag a degree, though they are NEVER entirely free of being stiff these days (thanks to Dejong, Simcoe, Abe, Caleb, and Ben.)

"He--" Anna's powdery voice quavers. She swallows against the forceful rattling of the muscle trapped between her ribs. "He--- he was going to stab you in the back--" The brunette reveals. She turns away from Edmund to reveal the Corporal's knife. It was tucked well within his clenched hands.

"I-- I could not, for the life of me, allow that to happen. Y-you have protected me from Simcoe, and I would be remiss to not come to your assistance now." Of course, with Major Hewlett dead, it would leave her more prone to untoward advances. Advances she heavily declined.

Disbelief wars upon Strong's countenance. She pallors further upon making another striking realization. "I-- I had thought, quite clearly, that he was one of your men?" The statement is framed more like an inquiry. Turning back to Edmund, she inquires. "What cause could he have possibly had against you?" Bringing a quaking hand to her lip, she muses. "Do you suppose Simcoe had s---something to do with this?" It wasn't beyond him to poison the Major's men against him. He so avidly tried already during the Battle of Setauket. There had been much talk about Simcoe being bound and gagged.

A quick glance is cast about. "Now that he is gone, I-- I must do something wit-- with the body. At least before we are discovered--" She can not wallow in her own SHOCK. Killing a King's soldier was tantamount to treason. And despite Brewster's petulant (but very much appreciated) attitude, ""that treason isn't treason if done with good reason,"" this act could still see her HANGED.

[vocesincaput]

[ CHECK ] ( caleb & abe — maybe he got the signal but found out abe was injured or smth )

even more injury memes

Abraham was always careful. Did his best to keep to himself and work on his farm but always listening out for anything. Interjecting with his father (and other things) when the need would arise whilst keeping an ear out for anything that was going on.

He hadn't done anything to raise anyone's suspicion that he wasn't loyal to the crown.

Or so he had thought.

Late one night, Abraham was walking back from the inn when a group of 4 British soldiers approached him. Cornering him out of the way behind a building and beginning to hurl accusations of treachery and betrayal to the crown. Despite Abe's protests, the men became more vocal before they began to physically attack him. Assaulting him for some time until one of the men pulled out a gun and shot him in the abdomen. The sound of the gun firing alerting multiple people nearby who came rushing with their own weapons.

Once the soldiers were restrained and taken away, Abe had been taken straight to the doctor, his father being alerted. Whilst Abe was being see to by the doctor and surgeon, his father went to Hewlett. Demanding justice for the accusations and assault on his son. As the soldiers could give no evidence to support why they had done what they had, Hewlett ordered them to be court martialled and held prisoner until it could be done.

Once the doctor and surgeon had done what they could, Abraham was taken to his home so that Mary could keep watch and look after him. Both the doctor and surgeon to pay frequent visits.

Because of the assault and the suspicions of the men, Hewlett ordered that Setauket be held in an almost lockdown. No one was allowed to leave or go anywhere unaccompanied. People were questioned and the entire town was under constant watch and scrutiny.

Several weeks passed and Anna hadn't been able to make contact with Caleb at all. Having to stay constantly appeasing the soldiers at the inn and those within her home.

It was almost a month later, with Abe still being in bed at his home, not having woken properly even once, that Anna was able to hang the black petticoat one night. Having left something in the barn purposely earlier that day so that she would have an excuse to go there to retrieve it when she remembered at night.

After the sun had long gone down, Anna made her way to the barn. Convincing the soldier that had been ordered to accompany her that she would only be a few moments, thanking him for being so concerned for her safety, she slipped inside. Looking around for Caleb for a few moments before seeing him.

"I don't have long..." She began in a whisper, glancing to the barn door and then back to Caleb. "All of Setauket is under constant watch. Abraham, he... he was attacked. I... I don't know his condition," she had to pause for a moment as her voice wavered briefly. "But he hasn't been seen outside his home in almost a month. I've invited Mary up to the house for an hour, to see how he and she are. To give her supplies for Abe's care. I don't know how under watch his house might be, but you..." Anna inhaled sharply and stopped speaking when she heard the soldiers voice from outside the door.

"I'm alright, just look.... found it! I just needed your words of encouragement to help me think clearly." She stated, reaching over to pick up the item she had hidden behind a barrel in the day. Looking back to Caleb again. "I have to go..." Anna tried to give a smile but it wavered as she made her way to the barn door and slipped out.

At Abrahams house, Mary was sat beside their bed and wiping his forehead with a damp cloth to sooth her husbands slumber. Telling herself that he was only sleeping. Having not long changed the bandages around his abdomen, Mary pulled the blanket up from his waist to cover him properly. Running a gentle hand over his still slightly bruised chest and over his cheek.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she stood and leant forward to kiss his lips before stepping away from the bed to ease their sleeping son up from his cot and quietly leaving the house to make her way up to Anna's.

Abraham now all alone in his home.

[annastrxng]

Anna's narrowed eyes TURN from Abraham hastily. "Face it," she insists bitterly. "It's over." A crushed sob drowns somewhere between the corridor of her throat and quivering lips.

If you're hurt....

His words STING like salt being rubbed relentlessly into an opened and gaping wound. That was quite RICH. Wasn't it? "Oh, so -- NOW--- you're concerned?" The brunette SHARKISHLY asks. "Where were you when your father decided to take EVERYTHING from me? Strong Manor has been ripped from my fingers. I'll no longer get credit for all my labor this spring-- for Selah's Cauliflower. A-- and the Tavern-- I have to work in it, just to stay out of PRISON." She KNOWS it's not fair to lay the fault for this at his feet. YET---he is the closest person to her. The closest person she can LASH out at.

"Worse..." She begins, feeling sick to her stomach. "I have to move into the TAVERN. The same tavern where SIMCOE is billeted. Tell me, how is that PROTECTING ME?!!" She accusingly sobs, shoulders crumbling and shaking under the weight of even her OWN revelation. Sodden lashes faulter downwards in begrudging acceptance of her FATE.

Bile singes her throat. "Should have-" Anna laughs. "Does neither of us any good. Now, does it?" She hates the cruelty in her own ragged voice. "We all FAILED to get rid of him. This--" Her voice grits, "This is to be my comeuppance."

The hated officer follows her, lurking in unsuspecting shadows. He waits on her, taking note of her arrivals and departures.

"Tell Ben that I'm sorry. But I mustn't write nor meet. Not with you or with him---" She moves, abruptly attempting to brush passed him.

        ❝ Of course, it matters. If you’re hurt- ❞ Abe stopped himself before his voice could rise any higher, eager to cut in between her words until he realized exactly what he was saying. Of course, it mattered because if she was hurt, Abraham wouldn’t be able to live with himself. 

        But no, it shouldn’t matter. He was her friend, he wasn’t her lover anymore and while he would be there in her time of need, he had responsibilities (his farm, his wife, and his son). Yet, she had no one. Selah was gone. She had Strong Manor, and responsibilities there. He had Whitehall and his father. When Simcoe was mentioned, Abe’s body tensed. He stood up straight, tension pinched his shoulders up.

        He was her friend, not her lover, yet he cared about her as any good man would.

        ❝ I should’ve killed him in the cellar, ❞ he admits, his eyes flickering down to the moist grass beneath their feet. ❝ Simcoe. I should’ve killed him when I had the chance. ❞ At his core, he wasn’t a killer, but  Simco wasn’t deserving of mercy, not when justice was needed. Anna’s words echo back at him and it makes his stomach twist. Nothing, neither you or I do, is capable of making any difference. 

[gremlinmodetweeker]

A Mysterious Culprit

A very short fluffy story, I promise.

A Mysterious Culprit

SFW

“Tell me. Where is he?” König snarled as he leaned in close to his captive.

“I’m not telling you anything,” the poor victim sniffed and turned away defiantly.

“Do not hide for him, girl,” König sneered, “it will make things worse for both of you.”

She shivered, but held strong against the giant man before her.

“We didn’t do anything! This is just a big mistake” the captive whined as she struggled against his hold on her.

“Oh it's a mistake alright,” König rolled his eyes before locking eyes on his prey.

“Let me go!”

“I will when you tell me why the kitchen floor is covered in flour and chocolate milk.”

König’s daughter looked up into her father’s eyes, blue matching blue for a painstakingly long moment before she huffed and turned her head away.

“I didn’t do it,” she snipped.

“I didn’t think so,” König nodded along, “there were no stools.”

“So you know it wasn’t me,” Holly relaxed in her father’s hold.

“Of course,” König reassured her gently, “I know it was your brothers. I saw their footprints in the flour.”

“I told them they should’ve covered their tracks,” Holly mused, squeaking when she realized what she said.

“So you were helping them?” König’s eyes sharpened, “kleine Rotznase!”

“I just told them to clean it! I didn’t try to make the cookies!”

“So you were making cookies, ja?” König chuckled darkly, “and you thought you were going to try and sneak this by me?”

Holly winced, but she stood strong under her father’s withering glare.

“Kinda?” she shrugged helplessly.

König sighed and let his daughter go. He ruffled her hair softly as he muttered a curse under his breath before turning back to the war zone that had made its way into the kitchen. Holly scurried away as fast as she could, most likely warning her brothers, the little snitch. König listened to her feet pitter-patter up the stairs before predictably hurrying over to her brothers’ rooms. He’d need to deal with her later.

He sighed and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen when you came up to him.

“What happened here?” you asked as you took in the utter state of your kitchen.

“Apparently die Kinder wanted to make some cookies,” König grumbled bitterly.

“Couldn’t they have waited until I got home?” you sighed as you put the groceries on the only clean spot on the counter.

König walked up behind you and hung his body over you, making you stumble a bit under the sudden weight.

“You’re so heavy,” you huffed, “have you been to the gym lately?”

König huffed , "That's why I'm heavy."

Thankfully, he relented with a tender kiss to your cheek and dragged himself off of you to give you some space to relax and take in just what you’d stumbled into. You let yourself rest back in his arms with a hum.

“So, should we get to cleaning?” you asked tiredly.

“Nein,” König growled, “they will clean it.”

“Have you figured out the culprit?” you looked up at your husband.

“Somewhat,” König spat, “they’re colluding against me. Me! Their father!”

“You’re also the one who’s trying to deal out a punishment,” you pointed out.

König grumbled as he pulled away to get a better look at the mayhem your children had let loose upon the kitchen. Wordlessly, he threw up his hands before looking back at you.

“How’d they even get the time to do this?” you asked.

“I was reading a story to the baby,” König explained.

You nodded and walked up beside him, taking care to avoid stepping on a puddle of milk.

“I love you,” you muttered, “but no more.”

“No more?” König asked.

“No more kids,” you laughed dryly, “Anna is the last.”

König looked between you and the kitchen, then crossed his arms over his chest. He snorted, and agreed, “No more.”

Story Masterlist

[lex-loudestwoman]

Kaylor Swiftgron: Which Muse Inspired Which Songs on Red & 1989

On the precipice of 1989 TV's release and amidst the Kaylorification of 1989 TV's rollout, I thought it'd be a good time to figure out which muses aligned to which songs. I did my research, which includes: lyrical analysis & music video analysis, the timing of when songs were written, which producers and co-writers were credited to each song, social media posts, and where the girls were in real time. Shout out to @sophietv for her incredible work on the Kaylor timelines and evidence, and to @swiftgronmasterpost and @swiftgronmasterpost for their work to outline everything from Achele to Rivergron to Swiftgron. Round of applause to you both!!

Let's get into it!! (and if you want to just see my conclusions for which songs are about which muse, scroooolllll to the bottom)

The Red Muses

2011

Red was written in two phases. First, she worked with her producer from Speak Now & Fearless, Nathan Chapman. They wrote 25 songs together between February and October 2011. She took these songs to Scott Borchetta and he congratulated her on a finished album, but she wanted to experiment with other producers and writers to play with new sounds. So, after October 2011 she started working with a handful of other producers to write more tracks for Red. Here's a breakdown of Red songs by producer.

Nathan Chapman:

State of Grace

Red

All Too Well

I Almost Do

Stay, Stay, Stay

Sad Beautiful Tragic

Starlight

Begin Again

The Moment I Knew

Girl At Home

Martin & Shellback:

I Knew You Were Trouble

22

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Message in a Bottle

Bhasker: Holy Ground

Wilson: Treacherous, Come Back...Be Here

Walker: Everything Has Changed

Lind & Bjorkland: The Very First Night

McKenna: I Bet You Think About Me

The first time we know for sure Dianna and Taylor interacted was on September 4th, 2011 at the Fairfax Flea Market, which implied that the songs Taylor wrote with Chapman weren't about Dianna.

Karlie and Taylor dated (I think) starting in the summer or early fall of 2011. I think they weren't expecting anything super serious, but it was one of those flirtations that starts out strong and feels good with them and all of the sudden you're in love and you barely believe it and feel ridiculous for knowing but you have a feeling this person is for you, maybe forever... It sounds right for Taylor who has admitted how fast & hard she tends to fall for people when she's in love.

Taylor attended the Rodarte Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show during NYFW and sat front row next to Anna Wintour on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. Karlie walked in the show (slay). This was also the day that Taylor spent with a Vogue interviewer for her iconic January 2012 Vogue Cover and Article where she is quoted as saying "I love Karlie Kloss! I want to bake cookies with her!" She said this straight after leaving the Rodarte Fashion Show.

Interestingly, Karlie was quoted in a magazine as having been introduced to Taylor Swift at the Met Gala and they joked about baking cookies together! They both attended the Met Gala in May 2011, just four months before the Rodarte Fashion Show/Vogue Interview day! So it's pretty weird that Taylor would say the exact same thing, unprompted, when she saw a photo of Karlie Kloss at a fashion designer's studio on the exact same day she sat front row for a fashion show Karlie walked in!!

I imagine that Taylor and Karlie fell into something new and beautiful and sweet by accident. The Rodarte Show was on a Tuesday, maybe they met up for coffee the next day on Wednesday, September 14th in NYC? Who's to say!

All that said, I think Begin Again is about Karlie. It was written sometime between February and October 2011, which would've been a really, really fast turnaround for it to be about Dianna. Between the music video and the lyrical connections, it's very Kaylor coded. Starlight also could plausibly be about Karlie because they attended the Met together in 2010 and 2011, and their 2011 dresses were sparkly and tbh Karlie looked hot AF.

But, let's also remember that Taylor is on tour and just got herself out of two on-again-off-again, fairly toxic relationships, and as she said herself in Begin Again that the last 8 months she's been heartbroken and scared to get hurt from love (earliest would've been June 2010-February 2011 and latest would've been February-October 2011). Plus she's not even 22 years old, so she's not necessarily good at being in relationships yet. She's in a messy place, and she falls in love like a ton of bricks.

I think that this delicate, precious new thing with Karlie didn't work out (not for malice or hurting each other, just life) and over the winter they were distant but were still in contact.

2012

On January 17, 2012 we get tweets from BOTH Karlie and Dianna about the *iconic* Vogue article. This makes me think:

1. Karlie is still interested in exploring this new relationship with Taylor

2. Dianna and Taylor have kept in touch and have a lil something something going on, a little curiosity they might want to explore

3. Taylor likes public attention, and she likes feeling wanted, and she's got two hot ass women who want her. Do you blame the girl for being messy!?!

Dianna and Taylor attend the same pre-Oscars party on February 24th, 2012, and this is where I think Swiftgron starts to take off. Dianna is all happy and heart eyes online for the next three weeks until the Speak Now Tour ends. They're spotted together frequently in March and April. The Shirley MacLaine birthday party thing happens April 25th, Dianna's circus birthday party is April 28th, and I would bet anything they started hooking up sometime these first two months. I think Holy Ground was written about Dianna's birthday party, with the note on the door with the joke we made, and that was the first day.

Taylor writes Everything Has Changed and Run on May 15th, 2012, with Ed Sheeran, and records both EHC and The Last Time on May 28th, 2012. Everything Has Changed seems Swiftgron (thanks Gaylor twt for helping me figure out that the freckles are IN Dianna's green eyes bc girl bye I was full of questions). The Last Time is almost certainly about Liz.

But Run is very Kaylor coded! The pale blue eyes, use of darling, the laugh like a child (Begin Again), locket, picture frame...

On May 31st, 2012, Dianna is bearding hard with Henry Joost to distract from her appearance with GLAAD. I have a working hypothesis that Taylor Swift hates beards and is not a fan of having to use them or be with people who have them. I just don't think it works for her with how insanely famous she is, the guys are hyperscrutinized and she's honestly not very good at being a convincing heterosexual woman. I think there's some conflict between Taylor and Dianna because of the beard.

By June 10th, 2012, Taylor has written 22, WANEGBT, and IKYWT. I am inclined to believe that WANEGBT is about Emily or Liz. Same thing with IKYWT. 22 is about her besties and living life and being carefree and embracing all of the beauty and pain of falling in and out of love and everything that is your early 20s.

We get the whole Hyannis Port x Kennedys summer week of pap walks featuring Swiftgron all over the place! But it seems like they probably break up later in July. This was a hot and cold relationship for real.

WANEGBT is released on 8/13 and Dianna tweets at Taylor (like never ever?). On September 29, 2012 Dianna and Naya Rivera are on a cheeky, lil sexy vacation in Paris. Taylor goes to Paris that same weekend to film Begin Again at the Love Lock bridge (Karlie is also in Paris but there's no evidence to show that they saw each other at all).

However, I wouldn't put it past Taylor and Karlie to have seen each other while Swiftgron was cold. Perhaps in September 2012 right around when she filmed Begin Again?

October 17, 2012 Taylor writes This Love in LA according to her diary entries. So I think This Love is about the Swiftgron reconciliation for whatever happened this summer. Things are good for a bit, they go to the Ripple of Hope gala together on December 3rd, 2012. They're pictured together on December 6th, 2012 and Dianna's all cryptic online about her secret love.

Quick Aside: Karlie and Josh have been "officially together" ever since June 2012, but they were first seen together in November 2012 when they both attended the VS Fashion Show. I'm under the impression that these gay celebrities in their early twenties only needed a beard when they were in another relationship they were distracting away from. They didn't need a beard, they could just say they were focused on friends and their career (aka 1989 era). So who was Karlie dating in mid 2012 that needed to be covered up with plausible deniability? This would've been in the works for a bit before they launched it in November 2012.

Also, super interesting that Karlie also met Taylor for the "first time" at the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, hmm? Anywayssss.

2013

I think everything Swiftgron blew up on February 14th, 2013 with the 'I Do' episode of Glee where Dianna Agron and Naya Rivera hook up on screen. Taylor made a whole big deal about this episode containing one of her songs and encouraged her fans to watch, but her song wasn't in the show (tweet was later deleted). But picture this: Happy Valentine's Day, watch your girlfriend hook up with the girl she told you not to worry about!! And then learn that they actually did hookup when y'all were on a break, like two weeks before y'all got back together!! Oooh boy!! I'm pretty sure this was what inspired Babe (in the music video Taylor was the mistress, but IRL Taylor was the main character who got cheated on instead of the mistress!!).

Dianna is a mess on Twitter after that and there might have been about two months of back & forth, maybe some breakup sex, but I think Swiftgron died dead by the time the article about them secretly dating dropped on April 16th, 2013.

The Red tour started on March 18th, 2013 and I can't imagine that made things any easier for Swiftgron. Meanwhile... I think Karlie and Taylor re-reconnected in this time period.

The 1989 Muses

2013

Taylor wrote 1989 while on tour for Red (except for This Love, according to the diary entry it was written on 10/17/2012). I think the breakup songs are about Dianna and the love songs (excluding This Love) are allllll Karlie.

If Taylor and Karlie did reconnect in Fall 2012, then Spring 2013 would be a long six months later...

Taylor and Karlie "meet for the first time" (which we have so much proof that it's not but like, okay, fine) on November 13, 2013 at the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. We know this isn't their first meeting or flirtationship, but it certainly is their first public outing to test what people say about their friendship.

Then, I'd wager Taylor plays "cat & mouse for a month or two or three" until they officially are girlfriends on March 6, 2014. Yay!!!

Songs About Dianna:

Red: Holy Ground, Everything Has Changed, Come Back...Be Here, Better Man, Babe

1989: Clean, Wonderland, All You Had To Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would

Songs About Karlie:

Red: State of Grace, Treacherous, Stay, Stay, Stay, Starlight, Begin Again, Message in a Bottle, Run, The Very First Night

1989: Welcome to New York, Blank Space, Style, OOTW, Wildest Dreams, How You Get the Girl, I Know Places, You Are in Love, New Romantics

[talesofalethrion]

Spotlight: Mik!

Will Mik choose to accept the dark gifts from the demon Greed or be strong enough to keep it at bay?

If we reach the next stretch goal of our Kickstarter campaign for Tales of Alethrion - Season 3 you'll be able to find out:

We only have 3 days left of this campaign, so it is the last chance to support our campaign 🪕

But back to Mik - a happy-go-lucky bard who travels from town to town, enjoying a good tale that he can put into lyrics and melodies and inspire heroes and crowds all over the realm. His muse, Ken, was a trusted friend who did the damage, while Mik did the singing.

Mik's adventure started in Tohan when he and Ken received a treasure map from the OG iconic duo, Wilhelm and Vito. They then traveled the realm thin before finally finding the X on the map. They found a huge treasure and a mysterious chest. This chest was unfortunately opened and a great evil called Greed was released. This became the end of Ken and the beginning of what could be a dark pact between Mik and Greed...

Art by: Anna Fischer-Larsen, Natasha Sallustio, Nadine Van Baarsen, Mikkel Mainz

[melpomeneprose]

Seconded, unfortunately.

Happy birthday Abraham Woodhull (October 7, 1750)!

[dragonskxn]

Draconic Harvest Festival — The Menu!

You can't have a fall festival without good eating!Anna's made a full menu for party goers.

Muses are encouraged to bring their own dishes as well for everyone to enjoy! You're visiting a 500+ year old dragon lady with grandma hobbies; you're definitely gonna leave with a stuffed belly AND leftovers to take home.

Vegan options are available in place of the meat dishes!

Appetizers/Snacks

Acorn Bread Rolls

Honey Buns

Cheesy garlic bread

Grilled eggplant

Escargot

Spicy salmon bites

Dragon's eggs (artichoke stuffed with soft boiled egg)

Corn on the cob

Fried onions

Soups and Salads

Pumpkin soup (served in mini carved out pumpkin)

Potato venison stew

Carrot soup

Cabbage and leek soup

Mushroom stew

Rabbit stew

Autumn harvest salad (dandelion greens, raisins, sunflower seeds, golden tomatoes, garlic croutons, and drizzled with herb vinaigrette) 

Radish and turnip salad

Main Course

Roasted turkey legs

Spit roasted wild boar

Spiced venison ribs

Vegetable risotto

Rosemary lemon chicken

Beef (or grilled vegetable) stuffed pumpkin

Gourd casserole

Roasted rabbit haunches with peppercorn and cloves

Steak and vegetable skewers

Dessert

Caramel apples

Candied apples

Pumpkin pie

Sweet potato souffle with marshmallows 

Baked Alaska (set on fire by Anna herself)

Blackberry cobbler

Cinnamon apple pie

Blueberry cheesecake

Cotton candy 

Drinks

Kettle corn

Cranberry Buns (shaped like pigs!)

Rose tarts

Baked and Honeyed apples

Smores

(Alcohol is served in special wood tankards carved with dragon and pastoral motifs, and can be taken home as souvenirs!)

Dragon's Blood Wine (VERY strong and has quite the kick to it)

Wyvern Whiskey

Ale

Beer

Honeyed Mead

Spiced Wine

Lavender Lemonade

Chamomile Lemon Tea

Spring Water

Apple Cider