WHY ARE YOU HAUNTED?

“i thought.. celebration may be in order.” the words felt awkward in his mouth, rigid, sharp. he went so far as to pause and run his tongue around his gums to check that they hadn’t actually been torn up. arthur held the bouquet of flowers out unsure if mal would take them--if she’d even noticed them. he knew that today was a very big day and for better or worse things were going to be different now that mal was working so closely with julian santiago. what he didn’t know, was why he suddenly felt so unsure of his footing. claudia marshall and julian santiago had been the center of their shared universe for some time, so why could he speak about it with ease some days and not others? 

arthur sucked in a breath, unable to stop himself from directing the conversation to claudia. “did you see her?” and more importantly... did mal not see her? was she finally able to play witness to arthur’s accusations? did she notice how everything was wrong? she would’ve--of course, mal would’ve noticed. mal was observant.