#valentino bellerose

[carpe-astra]

The Eternal Companion

The recent explosion of his office coupled with the return of Dixie had brought a lot of things screaming back he'd thought well and put away.

War, in all its various forms, was an eternal companion of his.

Dirt splashed over his back like a crest of sea-spray against a coastal cliff as the ground behind him exploded with a shell, and shook violently. Heat lapped his spine, searing in through the threads of his uniform. Sweat dripped down his back and cheeks. He took Oliver's hand in his own, squeezing tightly as he gripped his brother's shoulder.

"Hang on Ollie. We'll get you to the med tent and get you patched up. Maybe that pretty nurse you've been mooning over will be there," Valentino spoke, managing a strained half grin that felt too wrong on his face. It was hard to keep his voice steady, feeling his throat constrict and burn. Stopping his words as he swallowed back sullen sorrow as Oliver's blood boiled from his mouth and down his chin.

Frankie's hand forced him to share a look with his best friend, cruel as it was. Valentino's head dropped, a bead of sweat dripping from his nose to soak into the ashy soil beneath his knees though he hardly saw it through the swimming shimmer. Then his throat bobbed forcefully and he slid a few inches closer to Oliver while jamming the heel of his palm against his helmet, like he wanted to rip at his hair.

After Frankie took Oliver's helmet off, Val was careful to avoid the large piece of shrapnel buried in Ollie's chest. Tightly gripping his big brother's hand, he spoke. "It's alright Oliver. I'm here..." His tone was deep and gruff with the emotion he couldn't let show.

It was the same nightmare he'd had for years. One that lingered even now, returned to him like a ghost he couldn't quite shake even with the soft glow of the lamps lighting the room.

Valentino lay on his back, his arm wrapped around Lulu, her head resting on his chest. The room smelled faintly of whiskey and ash, the kind of scent that had long since become part of his skin, a reminder of all the things he couldn’t wash away.

Lulu was silent for a while, tracing lazy circles on his chest, her breathing calm but heavy with unspoken thoughts. She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face. “Is Dixie doing any better?"

Valentino tensed, his jaw clenching as the weight of her words pressed down on him. “Some.”

Charlie, the godsblood child they were supposed to protect. The strange, otherworldly child. The one they’d lost. Taken. And Dixie, kidnapped with them. When she’d been returned, something in her had shattered. The loss was too much for her. It was more than just Charlie’s absence - it was the ghosts of the past stirring up old pain.

“She’s hurting, Val,” Lulu said softly, resting her hand over his heart.

“I thought we could have saved her back then,” Valentino muttered, his voice thick with old regret. “But we didn’t. I didn’t. I didn't even save her this time.”

Lulu tilted her head, her brow furrowing in concern. “Val… what are you talking about?”

“He couldn’t handle it,” Valentino whispered. “Frankie couldn’t handle the war, the memories. He didn’t even recognize her.”

Lulu’s expression softened, her hand sliding to his cheek. “Frankie… you don’t talk about him much.”

Valentino opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. The name was like a knife in his chest. “He was my best friend. We served together. The trenches, the mud, the blood… we saw everything. Did things I try not to remember. When we got back, neither of us was the same. But Frankie… he lost control.”

The night air was thick, humid, and heavy with the scent of wet earth. Frankie stumbled alongside Valentino, laughing louder than he had in years, the bottle in his hand sloshing whiskey over the rim. They’d been drinking for hours, retracing old haunts, smoke-filled pubs, dim alleys where they’d made their names with the Kingbreakers. It was almost like before, before the war.

Almost.

Frankie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shot Valentino a sideways grin, his eyes wild and bright beneath the moonlight. “You remember that time, Val? The one with Mickey and the safebox? Jesus, I swear that man never knew how to keep his head on straight.”

Valentino forced a smile, his heart a lead weight in his chest. "Yeah. He got us into that mess with the coppers, and we still came out clean. Dumb luck."

“Luck, yeah,” Frankie laughed, then tipped the bottle back for another swig. “Man, I miss those days. No worries. No fucking nightmares.” His voice trailed off, the laughter fading into something darker, something hollow.

Valentino kept his eyes forward, on the graveyard up ahead. He’d been dragging this moment out all night, savoring the last flickers of who Frankie used to be. The Frankie he remembered before the war shattered everything.

As the night wore on, the laughter had faded. Frankie knew. They both knew.

“You think we can go back?” Frankie had asked, his voice quieter, eyes glassy as he stared into the empty street ahead of them. “Back to before? Before the trenches. Before… all of it.”

Valentino had looked at him, at the shadow of the man he once was. “There’s no going back, Frankie. We’re not the same men anymore.”

Frankie’s jaw tightened. His eyes flickered with something... regret, maybe. Or anger. Valentino couldn’t tell anymore. “I miss it, Val. I miss feeling… normal. Like I had control. But it’s gone, isn’t it? I’ve lost everything, haven’t I?”

Valentino swallowed hard, the image of Dixie’s broken body flashing behind his eyes, the way she had looked at him when he found her. Her face bruised, her hands trembling, and the baby… gone. “You didn’t lose everything, Frankie,” he said quietly. "You threw it away."

Frankie stopped, blinking, the words sinking in like stones. He looked at Valentino, and for a moment, the rage flared. Just like it had the day he beat Dixie. The day he didn’t even know her face, didn’t even know what he was doing.

"I didn't... I didn’t mean it, Val," Frankie whispered, his voice shaking. “I love her. You know that. You know I didn’t mean to hurt her, don’t you?”

Valentino’s chest had tightened, anger and sorrow warring inside him. “I know, Frankie. But it doesn’t matter. The baby… she lost the baby.”

Frankie’s face had crumpled, his body sagging under the weight of the guilt. “I love her, Val. I really do. I’d never… I wouldn’t hurt her like that on purpose.”

But the damage was done. There was no forgiveness for what he had done, not in Valentino’s eyes. Not in Dixie’s. They had made the decision together. Frankie couldn’t be allowed to spiral further.

Frankie took a step back, staring down at the bottle in his hand like it held all the answers. “So, what now, Val? What happens to me?”

Valentino’s heart pounded in his chest, the weight of what he was about to do pressing down like a vice. “We say goodbye,” he said, his voice almost steady.

So, they had walked to the graveyard. Frankie had known. There were no words for it, just the silent understanding between them.

“Do it, Val,” Frankie had said, almost relieved. “I deserve it.”

Valentino had raised the gun, the weight of it heavier than it should’ve been. “I’m sorry, Frankie.”

Frankie closed his eyes, tilting his head back toward the sky. “I get it. I’ve been a danger to everyone. To Dixie… to you. To myself.” He let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "Should’ve died in the trenches. Should’ve gone with the others."

“You were supposed to make it out,” Valentino said, his voice rough. “We both were.”

Frankie looked at him then, his eyes softer, like he was seeing Valentino - the real him - for the first time in years. “You did right by me, Val. By the gang. Even when everything went to hell, you always stood tall.”

Valentino gritted his teeth, the gun feeling heavier in his hand with every passing second. "You weren’t weak, Frankie. The war took too much from us. Too damn much."

Frankie smiled, sad and broken. “Yeah. Maybe. But this is right. You’re doing me a favor.”

Valentino raised the gun, the barrel steady, aimed right at Frankie’s head. His best friend. A brother.

Frankie nodded, his face calm, like he was finally at peace. “Do it, Val. Make it quick.”

Valentino squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed through the graveyard, shattering the stillness. Frankie’s body crumpled to the ground in silence, his lifeless eyes staring up at the stars above.

Valentino stood there for a long time, the gun still in his hand, his heart pounding in his chest. He kneeled beside the body and closed Frankie’s eyes.

Frankie had gone into an unmarked grave.

Lulu stroked his cheek, bringing him back to the present. “You did what you had to, Val. You always do. You’ll find Charlie. And Dixie… she’ll heal.”

“I’ve failed her before, Elizabeth,” he whispered, calling her by that old name. “I don’t want to fail her again.”

"You won’t," Lulu whispered, her voice filled with a certainty that he didn’t feel.

Valentino didn’t answer. He just held her close, staring up at the ceiling as the ghosts of his past refused to let him go.

[bubblepaints]

Promptober 28: "Ballet"

Saw a pose by @mellon-soup that I had to draw with these two. Mean girl ballerina and her not-so-mean yet intimidating-looking boyfriend.

[letsmakerpstuff]

Consequence by Night: 

Carpe Astra Coterie Pt. 2

[the-hedge-has-thorns]

[fairietale]

🌸 / valeur

&   TO  PUT  A  FLOWER  IN  MY  MUSE’S  HAIR

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖,  protected  by  its  long,  dangling  branches.  fleur  raises  a  curious  brow  when  he  turns  away  from  her  to  pick  one  of  the  white  flower  blossoms  off  of  the  tree,  but  her  expression  is  a  smile  when  he  tucks  it  in  her  hair  before  leaning  down  to  kiss  her.     ❛   when  i  was  little,  my  mother  would  make  me  flower  crowns  and  sometimes  braid  flowers  into  my  hair.   ❜     she  says.     ❛   i  haven’t  thought  of  her  in  a  long  time.   ❜ 

blue  gaze  falls  to  the  ground  as  she’s  consumed  with  guilt  over  not  thinking  of  her  mother  more.  but…  it  hurts  to  think  of  her.  by  the  end  of  her  life,  she  was  so  sick  and  not  at  all  like  the  loving  mother  who’d  raised  fleur  and  braided  flowers  into  her  hair.  that  was  when  fleur  met  viviana.  she’d  heard  of  her  impossible  abilities,  and  sought  her  out  to  heal  her  mother.  but  she  died  before  viviana  could  get  to  them.  once  she  arrived  to  find  fleur  sobbing,  holding  onto  her  mother’s  body,  she  offered  her  an  escape  from  her  grief.  thus,  fleur  became  a  vampire.  next  came  the  dark  years. 

fleur  doesn’t  think  of  the  dark  years,  either.  but  for  different  reasons.

she  pushes  it  from  her  mind  now  as  she  beams  up  at  val.     ❛   you  make  me  feel  like  you  do  when  you’ve  just  spun  round  and  round  really  fast  and  you  fall  on  the  ground  and  the  world  is  spinning.  you  make  my  world  spin,  mon  chéri.   ❜     and  it  is  the  best  thing  she’s  ever  felt  in  her  life.

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍  𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄     »     𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆     »     @univurs

[cryptid-killjoy]

HC: Caim 

He will walk the earth in a partial true form with one of his vultures and his two raven Umberto and Valentino (the black and the white) soaring around.  Caim likes to have his whole family do this to expose their presence to the world doing demon things. 

HC: Jules 

Then there is Jules. As much as Jules loves to demon out and have a demon of a good time He has issues with following along. Everyone’s exposing their Hellbird side this year? Oh. Okay. Guess I’ll do something else. He’s not one for doing whatever’s trending. Sorry Caim, Julian dresses up as a wolfman. It’s his chance to be all theatrical for the night. It was going to happen. 

These two fine demon folks will pop in two visit their New Zealand kiwi Laveau friends. Infernal pals popping in on All Hallow’s Eve. Fun Fun. New traditions all around. They’ll get to meet the new sled team and anyone else who happens to be there. The dogs will go wild with all the feathers that end up floating around between the vulture and the ravens. 

HC: Uncle Sammy for the Laveaus & Belleroses

And who else will be there is who is everywhere and many places at once. This isn’t a demon, but an angel, a reaper, the only angel Caim still considers a brother since he also has been kicked from the heavens before despite being welcomed back. He tries not to hold it against Samael, still missing some wings from his back from the incident. Since Samael won’t hold the grudge against God Caim holds it for him. Death will become a guest in the Laveau home. They ended up leaving the dinner before a little early at Caim’s and never got to really talk about the Belleroses to him. They spent more time out in Venice instead of mingling. Now they’ll get their chance. So, the Belleroses might just get a surprise guest this Halloween too. 

Also, just for fun, the fact he’s Aragorn FC, and we’ve made our muses LOTR obsessed, and technically angels don’t have these human forms, might just be a little funny to think he paints his human avatar to be similar to Aragorn because he’s so damn cool. Like that’s how he manifests when the Laveaus see him. He’s supposed to be like an outdoorsy hunter type all masculine as he rules Mars so it all fits with the Strider look haha. But going full Aragorn on the nose just for shits and giggles as his manifestation while around them, like it’s a thing, yeah, I think that should be a thing. Valerie’s gonna be double taking and looking back and forth at Thomas like... wait... what? Normally you can’t see his face as a reaper. It’s fire or skull. But when he humans out... boom... Aragorn? Now they have Aragorn walking all hooded and cloaked on their land like what the fuck is happening in their life right now? Valerie doesn’t know but she’s so down with it. Samael does this to amuse them without ever saying anything about it. It’s his own sense of humor with the humans. Yes. 

[oliverfritze]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ___________________________________________________ Series “Vivre Livre” from @Milk_Magazine N° 67, shot @HotelHabituel with Parker Wales, Aponi, Olimpia, Marnie and Paul. Link in bio - don’t forget to read the interesting article from the second post, too! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Lieben Dank an @ParkerWales , @BeatriceAlemagna , @Piqpoqeditions , @ClementineDuPontavice , @AxelleDersin.MakeUpArtist und @MelanieHoepffner . ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Clothes by @MaisonValentino / @BelleroseOfficial / @APC_Paris // ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Interiordesign #Fashion #Architecture #Interior #Paris #France #Family #Design #Photography #Mode #Kids #Kidsphotography #Magazine #Deco #Fashionphotography #Style #Model #ParkerWales #Fashionshoot #Decor #HotelHabituel #Stylist #Moda #Valentino #Bellerose #APC #oliverfritze ___________________________________________________ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (at Hôtel Habituel) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAirHJjqJE8/?igshid=1n10pbgymltg9

[cindymmfan]

blushing mint by stephanie-frakes featuring a perfume fragrance ❤ liked on Polyvore

[judediamonds]

costume di sveta93 contenente tin signs

Yves Saint Laurent silk shirt, €950 / Lee long sleeve t shirt, €25 / Nina Ricci slim fitted pants, €200 / RED Valentino canvas shoes / Versace mens jersey pants, €630 / BELLEROSE men s casual shirt, €125 / Mens cotton shirt, €23 / Converse mens high top, €38 / Tin sign, €11

[didesi]

Vintage Fall

Vintage Fall by joy2thahworld featuring a white handbag ❤ liked on Polyvore

Anrealage woolen sweater / BELLEROSE a line skirt / Børn born boots / Valentino white handbag / Givenchy beaded necklace / Brigid Blanco gold jewellery

[hheelsandhflashes]

Senza titolo #6445 by doradabrowska featuring a vegan leather tote ❤ liked on Polyvore

Frilly top / BELLEROSE beige top, $150 / R13 frayed jean shorts, $380 / M&Co beaded flip flops, $29 / Bella Taylor vegan leather tote / Curvy Chic hammered necklace / Justine Hats summer beach hat / Valentino eyewear

[carpe-astra]

Valentino Darling & Lulu "And after all this time, it's still you."

[bubblepaints]

High school era Victory and his ex, before she left him to avoid hurting him (and ended up hurting him by doing so). Go girl give us nothing 😔

[letsmakerpstuff]

“If you’ve got the balls to take one of us, you’ve got the balls to be one of us” - Isaac Solomons

[the-hedge-has-thorns]

A Wyrd Disturbance

The Scarlet Mirror Freehold was established 10 years ago by a Changeling known as Evensong, The Frost Queen when in Winter. Little is known of her or her fellow monarchs, but the Freehold has been a silent sentinel in the Red Light District, albeit a flourishing and busy ecosystem in its own right. 

Until now, that is.

We were unable to reach the recently recrowned Frost Queen for comment, but the recent influx of missing person’s reports at the Marshall and New Order offices are highly disconcerting. This, coupled with the uptick in Changeling deaths have caused the Wyrd blessed community to batten down the hatches, it seems.

Investigators had little to say as it is still in the beginning stages, but one did comment that they are exploring the possibility of a connection with Fairy Dust. This drug is a fresh addition to the Changeling scene with a big impact. It is slowly permeating in other circles, most prominently Vampires as it seems to affect them and Changelings the most. Fairy Dust comes in two forms: a flaky powder that can be sprinkled into the eyes, or a rock candy like form that can be ingested via the mouth.

In other Changeling news, Vampires have been seen in increasing Frenzies, attacking most anything in sight all over the city; though the death toll for Changelings are numbering higher than other species. Most recently, there was an attack in the Northern Slums, though most notably Vaughn Bellerose had rampaged in the streets of the Red Light District. He fled from Embraced Nightclub when several members of the Consequence community stepped in to stop him. Valentino Bellerose, owner of Embraced said, “Embraced is incredibly important to me and Vaughn was a cherished guest who visited often with his girlfriend, Willow. So it was surprising to see him attacking. But he may have gotten news of Willow’s passing, so it is difficult to judge him. I merely hope that he is found and helped before he hurts anyone else.”

Be safe on the streets out there, Consequencians. 

- By: Peyton Danvers, January 19, 2018

Petyon is a dabbler in the art of haikus and a lover of all things tea. The proud owner of two felines and several papers with coffee stains, she can most often be found avoiding sunlight wherever it might be.

[fairietale]

❛  𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐃𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒.  ❜   she  says  as  he  tucks  a  flower  from  viviana’s  expansive  garden  into  her  hair.     ❛   viviana’s  gonna  notice  a  flower’s  missing,   ❜     she’s  teasing,  but  she’s  also  not  lying.  viviana  has  a  strong  eye  for  detail.  so,  if  a  flower  goes  missing  and  the  garden  isn’t  perfect. . .  well,  then  the  gardener  goes  missing.  but  she’s  not  gonna  tell  him  that  he,  essentially,  just  got  a  gardener  killed  because  that  would  ruin  the  mood.  big  time.  and  she  likes  his  happiness.  likes  seeing  it  on  his  face,  likes  feeling  it  in  her  heart  as  if  it  were  her  own.     ❛   but  it’s  beautiful.   ❜

@univurs