#v : 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 ‚ arc iii.

[wickedslip]

❝  i think i just need to be quiet for a little bit.  ❞

Nausicaa pivoted toward him, and pulled out her ear buds, one at a time. She could understand about the need for quiet, for the deafening silence that was almost impossible to come by in such a fast-paced environment. But she found the more quiet it got, the more resolute she became in her resolve, and it was harder to dig herself up from the surface of the ground if she sank so far into it.

❛ If you look hard enough for it, the world can be quiet. ⸻ Even if it's seething with its voracious appetite and snapping teeth, just waiting to take its first bite. ❜

Sometimes quiet was the calm before the storm, and she felt one brewing through the onslaught of trees that all but bent to her sway.

[wickedslip]

❛ Wait, what do you mean, she asked nicely? ❜ Nausicaä's sweater-clad arms deliberately rose up to grasp one another, and somehow she couldn't seem to warm up with the terrible shaking that was making her body jerk in barely restrained violence. It had been a long time she felt such bone-jarring cacophonies, and vibrations of terror rose to the forefront.

❛ You are telling me that Ankhe, my ancestress, decided to so lovingly manipulate you, coercing you into giving yourself up to her, so she can what? Possess you? And you [ . . . ] let her? ❜ She was so heated, so livid, that all she could see was black. Swirls of crimson fluttered in like sharpened etchings across her eyelids, and for many a time now in the last few months, she flatly wanted to burn it to the ground. The entire thing. The grimoire, the Book of the Dead, all of the collected artifacts, the whole shebang. She didn't want anything more to do with curses and prophecies and creepy ancestral entities hovering around to infect the next willing OR unwilling person.

What in the fuck was going on in her house? The damn spirits must be having a field day, with all of this fuckery afoot.

@ofmcck

[wickedslip]

i can't see anything i don't like about you.

She couldn't help but to stop dead in her tracks, and she slowly pivoted on the silk of her ballerina heel, the dress twirling around her midsection in the sway of it. Poising one hand behind her to clasp it into a formed cage with the other, she always did this when she needed comfort⸻ often relying on herself to be the one to give it. When your whole life has been doctored with lies from your family, and you weren't even sure if you were human enough to deserve the niceties, it was just flat-out easier to believe in the bad things.

❛ That's because we are still getting to know each other, Z. Give it time, and I am sure that you'll wind up changing your way about me. I'm not an easy person to know or to like. ❜ But she hoped that she was wrong. She rarely was, but in this instance she truly hoped for it. She just didn't want to be anyone's disappointment any more than she already was to herself.

[wickedslip]

@lightcreators / continued from here.

If he were speaking of that Hades, she exchanged words with him recently. Nausicaä was sure that he could instill fear in the hearts of many. Not wanting to provoke the ire of any chthonic entity, she couldn’t help but slightly twist her head in the form of acquiescence, bowing mildly with it. ❛ Any witch would be pleased to have that kind of honorable duty bestowed on them. At least if they belong to that specific pantheon. Have you always been adept to the Greeks? ❜ She lamented, speaking with him casually as she sipped her juice that easily could have come from the bright, viridescent pages of a Swamp Thing comic.

She could almost believe that Hades was there, lurking in the shadows and cackling inwardly. He was probably the world’s best listener and secret keeper. After all, one’s deepest, darkest laments were kept in obscurity.  Hades had always been a deity that she looked up to. Why would anyone want to be around a sunshine man who symbolically steps out on his wife when you could align yourself with someone who was as dark as bittersweet nightshade and ever faithful? Not even that mint plant stood a chance to Persephone’s blooms. Those kinds of relationships she aspired to, and she would have nothing short of that for herself. Lucky for her, the Hades to her Persephone was just as faithful, but by the gods he had the most irritating mouth at times. If others knew of their own dark, twisted back history, only then would they understand her need to strangle him every so often. It was medicine for the psychosis.  

❛ You’ve never gotten to meet one of your fellow associates? You need to have a talk with your employer; this is not remote work, is it? ❜ She grinned, pushing her long tumble of noir-hued locks behind her, which positively gleamed from the overhead lights. ❛ I think all four of us, Hades, too, should play a deck of cards together. After all, Hades makes bank every day, having all those mined jewels in his possession. I know A CAT that could be interested in such baubles. ❜ She grinned, thinking of one of her best friends and how she and Selina were waaaaaay too much alike to even have the kind of friendship that they did.   ❛ I am sure this whole conversation is entertaining enough for El Hefe. ❜

[wickedslip]

@lightcreators / continuing from here.

Although she was flesh and bone, she was hardly human. She wasn’t quite sure what she was or what her destiny entailed— but she did understand how it had been mapped out by Deucalion and Demetria Black since her fated birth aligned many a celestial body. She also knew, without quite knowing, that this person was far from what was deemed a human, corporeal form. He was shrouded in darkness, that in which he wore like a velvet cloak. The shadowy gloom crowned him, but she wouldn’t necessarily say with sin. Just because you were the darkness didn’t equate you to iniquity. Irony bestowed a person that would equate The Underworld to Hell, and Hades to the Devil, all because each ruled the abodes they were dealt. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of all of this, but unlike her father, this man, Hades, seemed not to be nefarious, even if he could pass it off.

❛ It’s good to know that you don’t hold me accountable for the sins of my father— even if those sins are wrought of the lines of manmade, biblical proportions and created long before I was even thought of. ❜ She grinned and slightly tilted her head to get a better look at him. He wasn’t as frightening as he appeared to be, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t hold his own if push came to shove. ❛ And it appears that we have the weight of our parental transgressions in common, down to the monstrosity of them. ❜

She still didn’t have all the pieces of her own intricate puzzle, and she would eventually get to the bottom of everything. He was lucky in the fact that his memories hadn’t been taken from him when the worst thing that can ever happen to a person is the loss of time. There were minutes that she could not account for, the first of those minutes being her brother Nikolai’s mysterious disappearance and eventual death— even if they hadn’t found the body. The river had claimed him, and there was no getting back what was lost forever. But— if he truly was the keeper of these souls, then perhaps he could at least let her know if he had made it across Styx safely.

❛ Would they be kind enough to garner some information? ❜ she turned to him fully, a renewed hope in her eyes that had been otherwise vacant for the last seven years. ❛ I have a brother that… is lost to me now. I was wondering if you might be able to find him and what I might do to see him again. However that might be achieved. ❜

[wickedslip]

" I could burn entirely of Hell with my anger" ( from Jason Teague. What happens when geek hero Jason reincarned into half blood on Pan but pulled in Hell & living decades of bad time. Can be interesting too)

❛ But what a lovely way to burn, ❜ she couldn't help but to admit aloud, and then wonder if she had spoken too soon. She knew what it was like to be one with the endowment of your own anger, until it gripped you like a noose, squeezing so tight that it might not ever release you. Even if you yearned for it, begged for it. Sometimes anger was all a person had to hold onto, and hold out for.

[wickedslip]

petite physique swiftly jumps above the sofa where she is resting ; her fur has taken on auburn reflexes now, abandoning the passionate golds of slumbering summer. it is easy to move in this form, to conquer spaces that are not meant for her. the fox is a playful little thing, all too sharp teeth and soft paws. a high - pitched song rumbles from the profundity of her tight ribcage, a mischievous laughter of sorts, before she plops down rather ungracefully right beside nausicaä in order to comfortably settle her head on the witch's lap. plush ears twitch, her cushion - like tails wag for a moment 'fore curling around her small frame as if to blanket her in their warmth.

it seems that nausicaä won't be able to get up from the couch for a while ( ... ) at least, until the vulpine on her lap peacefully slumbers. ♡

Such a lovely autumnal vixen! Her lovely coat only served the chestnut-reds that paid homage to the decay of mother earth in her natural subliminal space. But the vulpes was anything but deteriorating.

The chesterfield where Nausicaä Thorn was resting her eyes for but a moment, plagues of somnolence gripping her to pull under its oppressive sway. She couldn’t think any longer, and if she were giving into undulations of heightened veracity, she didn’t want to— compulsion lingering to pull her into the greedy maw of hibernation.

But that’s when she felt the paws encroach on the expanse she stood on. A small but lovely fur-covered head lay on her lap, and she couldn’t help but weave her fingers through the silky softness of it. Nestling in, she was one with this lovely beast. Was there but a mere fine line between beauty and that of the other side? Her heart swelled at this moment. Feeling more feral than gentle female, she loved what wanted to usurp the entire world, devouring it with one swift caress.

Closing her eyes once more, she was taken under by a wave of exhaustion, peace only came in bouts for the monstrous ones.

[wickedslip]

One might chalk it up to being entirely hypervigilant; her lack of sleep had probably had her firing off on cylinders that she had yet to acquire, and the debt she owed a good night’s rest had yet to be achieved. The closer it came to one of the primary sabbats, especially with the full moon burgeoning, meant that she had even slighter rest than usual. Wanda’s appearance of timorousness was not lost on Nausicaä, and she wished she had ascertained a modicum of tranquility.

She was never the best at social cues, always going way over or way under, and it was usually the latter of the two that fit her like the casing of a second skin. The fact that she got her to bubble with slight effervescence was a good thing, meaning it wasn’t a flat-out no. She was almost certain she’d never heard those words in her entire life and was able to sway the most stolidness of five-star generals, and also drinking them under the table if that meant anything. If she were anyone other than herself, she’d probably be a lush, reprimanded to AA sessions, and about fifty pounds over her capacity due to it.

It took a witch to spot a witch, and her detecting Wanda had not been hard to ascertain. She had felt a kinship with her that she rarely, if ever, felt for any other person. She wasn’t even sure she had any normal, unmagical friendships. Not for lack of trying, but her kind had been persecuted far longer than they’d been accepted, and facts, unfortunately, were facts.

❛ Yes, you are the one! You happen to be not of my previous horror show of a coven, I happen to like you, and you aren’t one to go and betray me on command. I could probably sniff that one out. ❜ She laughed. Or Carlito. Or one of her other bodyguard human-Doberman hybrids could sniff them out, too. ❛ Oh honey, ❜ she chortled, allowing the mirth to reach her eyes. ❛ I don’t think there’s been an offer that I’ve extended that’s ever been rescinded. You can wear anything you like; I am going to wear a sparkly gold pantsuit. I have my eye on one and even when I want to ditch the blazer, I found this gorgeous black sleeveless shell that will look absolutely smashing. ❜ She winked and entwined her arm with her own. ❛ Whatever we can fill the Porsche frunk with, let’s go! ”

❛ Okay girlie, here's the sitch. We have a Winter Solstice party to plan, and shopping to be done. I just need to know one thing: are you in, are you out, or are you in? I said it twice because there's no way you aren't in. AH! Three times a charm! ❜

there was an immediate smile that formed the witch's OFTEN timid features , it was a challenge to make her even laugh on command , so in this situation it was , quite the sight to witness . but knowing it was because of her 'friend' it was impossible not to . " –shopping ? are you really sure I should be the one helping ? " in between chuckles , she turns to her , amused by @wickedslip 's excitement . " i mean you really didn't even give me a chance to REJECT the offer " a beat , her teasing voice already obviously present , "–okay but if you promise to not make me wear , a dress . "

[wickedslip]

“ You look like you’ve seen a ghost, is everything okay? “

Rounding from the side of the parlor and down the long corridor of mirrors and photographs on either side of the darkened gallery wall, Nausicaä had truly thought she was losing her mind. Or rather, well on her way to being committed to Mclean Hospital if she didn't make some lifestyle changes. She felt as though all color had been lost from her body, and her hands began to tremble. Even the air around her was akin to some unknown substance, its fragrance polluting the vicinity around her. The strangest notion was she hadn't smelled that particular perfume in over fifteen years, when she was eight years old and Niko had only been a year into the world. She knew without even the slightest of hindrances that it was the scent of her departed grandmother on the maternal side of her family, Gaia Thorn. So perhaps she had seen a ghost, and she was here to send her a message.

❛ Ready to do a séance, sun king? Because it's either that or I'm getting committed today. ❜

[wickedslip]

"Looking finer than red wine today~"

❛❛ You know these kinds of compliments get you everywhere , Kitty Kat . ❜❜ Nausi grinned so hard she practically glowed . Her lilac eyes radiated with the inner fire that contained a hint of mischief , a dash of charm , and a sprinkle of flattery . She was nothing if not utterly infectious .

[wickedslip]

“you sit there like you know me.” From Sean. Maybe a first meeting and conversation?

❛ 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐘. I'm sure you nobody knows you quite like you know yourself . —— ❜ The witch blinked once deliberately , followed by another for good measure . ❛ But if it's the absolute RBF that I have going , I can assure you it's just confidence and too much caffeine . ❜

[wickedslip]

❛ What if I told you that my cats, Sadist and Masochist, have decided to exact revenge on me because I've been staying at the dorm instead of Rosethorns, and they decided to spell more dander around the parlor to make it stick to every last article of black clothing that I own. ❜ She couldn't help but roll her eyes skyward as the cats came flitting about with their feather-duster tails twinned together to create a heart shape out of them.

❛ —— Can you believe this? They think they can get away with this because they're trying to be cute. And I even brought them treats. ❜

hope you packed a lint roller.

PROMPTS FROM BRIDE

"Why.... wait, why. Nas why do I need a lint roller? Please tell me it's not dogs.... Nas. It's not dogs tell me it's not dogs."

Not that Katherine doesn't like dogs, she does.... but they get excited and jump and she doesn't want to deal with that in her brand new outfit that can and probably will get ruined by dog claws.

[wickedslip]

are you really here to cast me off? no but listen, him on his ass when she throw him out of his chair when they are in class. i'm.

❛ 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ? ❜ Nausicaä simpered and surveyed Kol with his long , ganging limbs sprawled out on the tiled floor in a heap. He was the epitome of a bull in a china shop. She slowly glanced toward the desk , and then her gaze fell once more upon him , eyes hooked and reeling him in like a prize - winning bass . She hadn't wanted to use her psionic abilities within school hours and not in the comforts of her own dorm at Hastings Hall . Such feral acts of behavior were reserved for the prying eyes of a select few .

❛ Or do we need to upgrade your hard drive ? I think I might have broken you . ❜

[wickedslip]

❛ bored with me already? ❜ dark academia au. uwu

𝐍𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐀 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇 , flat oak desk , and her optics were gleaming with amethyst - infused animation . She was : insane . She was : a raging tempest .

She steals his breath , for that of her own in which she could wage wars with . ❛ Are you here for amnesty , or do I need to unscrew your desk and drop you flat once more ? ❜ Her eyes then transformed to a blazing dark hue of oceanic lapis lazuli , and leaned in close to him , hoping that she would make him writhing and uncomfortable : a threat looming .

[wickedslip]

❛ what, you like to watch? you goddamn sicko. ❜

𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝑾𝑯𝒀 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐒. To her horror, she found herself completely engrossed with the task and realized if her destiny was set up any differently, she'd have made one hell of a detective. When the deep yet animated voice of her accomplice seized her ear, the darkened nuances of his voice almost rasping there, she couldn't help but to simper slightly. Her noir, sculpted eyebrows hiked up playfully, and Nausicaä swiftly turned her head to glance at him with the violet eyes of a shark circling.

❛ Are you saying that you don't like to watch? We know you are probably the world's biggest voyeur, especially with you being entrapped in the hell of your own making for so long. ❜ She grinned, rolling her eyes playfully. ❛ You get off on such things, and you damn well know it. ❜

[wickedslip]

There was a certain irrefutable evidence of scales evening, and somehow, they were so one with one another that they hadn’t collided into one another. It was an oddity, to meet someone perchance that you didn’t even have to have the awkward introduction, it was as if the planets aligned for their assembly. Perhaps it was the seasonable weather that attuned to the joviality, adding to its fairness. While they were magic handlers of that regard, she knew they were as different as night was to the day. But held in the same regard, il sole often would worship la luna, chasing one another for an endless terrain, never quite in the same passage but could feel their constant pull to one another— like gravity molting.

The last time she had been pulled to a source, it had led her down a most perilous path, and that was perhaps why she was always so weary around newcomers. But not with him. Zeev spoke her language, and it was a language that could be considered dead, even to those that stumbled their way into the magical arts. She yearned to learn more about him, cleave him apart to pull out the meat and sinew and bone of him. Only because it was rare she could have a friendship with a witch without it being for an ulterior motive. She didn’t feel one yet, and she’d prefer to not manifest such calamity.

Pulling his focus into the weight of her grasp, the magnetism flowed between them like water over the rocks of a surging river. She couldn’t look away from him, and yet the darkness that was rising to the forefront wanted to seep out of her pores, in a wanton sacrificial rite to drown them both in their bottomless depths.   Darkness would always rise, and light there to meet it. Shaking her head momentarily of the trace-like contemplation of her thoughts, she hadn’t realized she had been this drawn in. She might have even been borrowing him for divination practice; channeling him as though he would an obsidian mirror. When he moved slightly, or so she thought he had, she felt the full impact of the sun’s rays bathe over her visage. To feel the warmth upon her skin, where she might as well have spent an eternity of Rosethorn’s harrowing shade, in that moment she knew she was utterly alive. She was scintillating of the ray’s ethereal glow. Drawing Down the Sun.

Coming back to reality had both been equally sharp and stiff, and she had to resist the urge for it to overwhelm her entirely. Standing of her own two feet, she gasped the balustrade of her wrought balcony, and eased into a gentle smile for him, catching his eye if only briefly. Catching the golden filaments of his mind, as she brushed his with her own, she wanted him to know that he was safe in her resonating energy.

She had always feared the unknown, seeing it like she would an obstruction of her thought processes. She knew that eventually she had to view everything on an opposite axis. There was nothing out to get her, nothing to fear. If anything, she could instill fear into others. She had allowed those around her, including her sentient ancestral homestead, to push her around for far too long. It was time she took her power back. And perhaps with the sun god himself standing so close in proximity this Apollo in the flesh could help her remedy the actions of her forebears. Pulling thoughts from him like the shifting of a grimoire’s ancient pages stained with time and oppression, she was able to glide through them even if just on the horizon’s edge.

❛ I am made of blood, and sinew, and the magic bestowed on me from my countless ancestors. Just like you, I’m sure. ❜ But if the anecdotes were true, she had many an ancestor above, and below. And she didn’t know what was a figment, and what was truth. But if she judged it from parental nurturing, it was definitely the latter of the two.

❛ Sun-damned, huh? ❜ she grinned, allowing the light to fully illuminate her violet irises, a ring of pure silver outlining their mysterious depths as it played on the brightness of the hour. She dropped her eyes as though in a furtive manner, and carefully watched his finger trail loosely on the fine china cup. As he moved to place his hand upon her own, all inner thoughts crashed around them as she instantly felt a nuance of understanding dawn between them, just from the mere brush of his fingers. ❛ Not anymore, ❜ she whispered unabashedly, honestly, and without delay.

Each syllable that rolled from her lips like liquid sunlight reflected on the pale surface of the moon filled Zeev with an understanding he had rarely experienced in another individual. It was not impossible that his honesty was due to the influence her closeness and her heritage had on him. He didn't complain though, because it felt good. She didn't look past him, but she didn't look at the surface of his appearance either. She looked inside him like a wondrous vessel, the contents of which she did not shy away from, but looked at with caution and judged based on her own experiences. Without mocking him for it. Nausicaä seemed to want to read and understand him, like a tome whose undamaged binding belied the age of the writing, the pages yellowed and brittle, covered with words that begged to be read between the lines. Her eyes felt like an ancient library of its own.

For a fleeting moment, it seemed to Zeev that in the darkness of her iris lay the obscurity that sought his light. A desire so fundamental Zeev, broke out in him, to give the sun of his being the opportunity to illuminate her too, even if it would only be for his understanding of her person, instead of an enlightenment on her part. 

The witch spoke with a wisdom that was both inspiring and reassuring, though it didn't contain the clear, path-breaking guidance sought by anyone struggling with the consequences of their own decisions and outside influences. Nevertheless, an order returned, weaving the tangle of his mind into its membrane. Loose threads whose ends were frayed, but could no doubt be worked through with the right care. It conveyed that he was not alone.

Change left traces that Zeev was not immune to, no matter what blood ran through both their veins. He, too, was fundamentally only human, created from the same atoms in which the inexplicability of fate rested. He wondered what Nausicaä was made of. The interplay of her ethereal lights suggested facets that would require an angle that challenged Zeev's own perception. And he would be sun-damned if he would let the casting shadows reign. 

“That is a very rational way of putting it,” he smiled at her, keeping his eyes fixed on her. “I should have known that answers are not as clear as I would like them to be, not even for people like us. Sometimes I believe it is even more challenging, considering our heritage. The constant search in a world we know has more to offer and more to tell than anyone cares to see. Perhaps I have forgotten what it is like to cherish the uncertainty, thus dwelling on what has been done and can not be changed.” He grinned wickedly, his pointer once more running evenly clockwise over the warm rim of his teacup. “But that does not mean I will not try. Things can not be as they were, but being different is our nature. Always moving with the flow of the arts, listening in on the ways of the wind.” The sun never shone as it did the day before. He gently placed his hand on hers, which had been resting on his arm, and treated her with equal compassion. “Are you intimidated by change?”