Tales From The Feathery Void

Agatha Harkness and Rio Vidal have kept watch over the Westview Lighthouse for as long as Agatha could remember. Boredom was common, but it beats what life was like on the mainland---at least here they didn't have to worry about General Lee and his army of rebels storming the lighthouse at the farthest edge of the Union.

No, it was just Agatha, Rio, the lighthouse, and all the rain of New England concentrated on them as if the good lord himself deigned to turn Westview into his personal urinal.

Two souls who washed up on the craggy island off the coast of Maine somehow kept their sanity intact by following three simple rules:

Rule 1. Do not abandon your post. Rule 2. Do not abuse whiskey privileges. Rule 3. Do not leave the lighthouse at night.

For when night came.

So too did the terrors.

Should pale death with treble dread,

Make the ocean caves our bed,

God who hear'st the surges roll,

Deign to save our suppliant soul

He followed the Woman in Green across the bridge, and soon he could no longer see his mother. No longer were the woods, this once familiar home to him, surrounded by trees but by a thick impenetrable fog. The ground turned from mud to stone to finally brick. 

“Where are we going?” he asked her though deep down he already knew. 

She turned and from the light of the green torch she carried a smile formed on her face. 

“Wherever you want.” 

“Oh,” Nicholas said as he twidled his fingers together. “Can I make a request? Any request?”

“Of course mijo,” she said affectionately. 

“And when you say, ‘wherever I want’ does that place have to be real? Or can it be in a different time?”

The Woman in Green chuckled. 

“You can request whatever you so desire. I will do my best to deliver it.”

“Do I have your word that you will do your best to deliver it?”

“Am I not trustworthy young lord?” 

“Are you not Lady Death, my fair lady?”

“I am.” 

“Then I trust that you will honor what you say. My Mama always told me stories about you. She said that you worked miracles. She said that your word was good as gold. She said you would never betray a promise.” 

Death had looked him with sad and sallow eyes. If Nicholas didn’t know any better, he could have sword he…no. No it couldn’t be. 

Death did not weep. 

“In that case Nicholas,” Death said slowly. “Just for you. You may ask me anything—save for bringing you back to life or wishing some else’s demise—I will grant it.”

“Well then,” Nicholas cleared his throat. “Please kind miss, listen carefully.” 

Death knelt down, careful not to burn either her cloak or his hair. Nicholas whispered in her ear: 

“I want to be old.” Nicholas said confidently. “Like a green oak. I want to sit in a big comfy chair by a roaring fireplace in a cabin in the woods, maybe just like the one Mama and I have. I want to have as much peppermint tea and roasted nuts as possible by my side—a nice big dog too curled up by my feet. Heavens, I almost forgot something to wear. Well then, the finest silk robes, fit for a sultan. Most of all, I want to savor my long, long life. Leisurley walk down memory lane from the earliest memory to my last days. I want to live it all, I want to feel it all, every single second of every single day. Every wrinkle carved into my brow, every hair that grows and falls. Every tomorrow, and tomorrow, to the last tomorrow. At a petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of my story.” 

He stopped and grinned at her like a pleased Chesire Cat.   

I know it's wrestling and all so it's not that deep but I do hope creative works something out soon since I really want her to do well---as I do all the wrestlers in that locker room! Perhaps her winning streak will lead her to become cockier, to the point where she turns her sights on Becky's title. One part student respectfully challenging the master another part genuinely overconfident in a win. When she inevitably loses against Becky, that's what we can see either a heel turn or...she continues playing the long game. An Iago like figure who hides her knife behind a smile, waiting for the right moment to seize her prize.

In their Mania match (let me dream lol) mid-match, just as Lyra's about to hit her finisher, when confronting Tatum as to why, why do any of this at all after so many years...Tatum just says with a deranged smile behind tears:

"This is the only way I can be part of your life now..."

And it all makes sense. All this time if Tatum wanted to soar as high as Lyra's ambitions, she needed to be the one Lyra chased after. And the only way to do that was to hold all the gold.

For who would love her otherwise?

My champion. Then. Now. Forever.