Breadcrumbs

“I know I’m not old,” Gwen smiled proudly and chuckled. “I just don’t know if I’m strong like you seem to be. I tried this doing whatever I wanted once. It wasn’t the best idea. I mean, you still have to face the consequences.”

“Strength is subjective.” Sometimes she almost resented the word being aimed her way when it seemed to be synonymous with callous but then she reminded herself it was either to be blunt and aloof than risk ties that could be broken. “Most of the time you don’t though. Everyone here is too wrapped up in their own lives to pay much attention to anyone else. But I guess you just have to weigh up whether what you want is worth the consequences. If it is then damn them.”

“It’s still…something. Not much, but it gave a clearer picture as to what went down, “So, what if, and this is just a theory: Medev has his run in with her, she stumbles towards home and gets grabbed on the way?” We could try canvasing that area again. Maybe they dropped something?” She knows it’s too little too late, though. 

“Do you ever have that feeling that you might be too old to start something new?” Or too broken to deserve it? The queen didn’t say the last words, but they still kept swirling in her brain like a ghost looking for their soul. Gwen looked at the other and tried a smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get so nostalgic. There is something about today, though. It’s weird.”

“No such thing as too old.” In her mind the only obstacle someone ever faced was themselves and whatever impediment their mind put in their path. “If you want to do something just do it.” Slim shoulders shrug slightly as though what she’s said should be obvious enough before spotting the other woman’s smile and she makes herself soften slightly. “It’s fine.” There was no harm in remembering the past after all, as long as you chose to learn from it.

     knave is less than quiet as he’s walking into the police station. singing wanted dead or alive at the top of his lungs as he’s tugged along. the cuffs are familiar, cold against his skin but this time whoever put them in didn’t do them tight enough. he couldn’t easily slip out of them but he could twist his wrist’s in them without any friction. they’re getting soft on him. he’s half tempted to break his thumb and slip one hand free, he has done it before and caused a panic. but his healing sorted that out. but he has a hair pin slipped into the side of his mouth for when he gets to his cell to free himself anyway.

     seeing maggie approach he lets out a wolf whistle which morphs into a chuckle. the only cop he doesn’t disrespect in the entire station and he’ll deny it to his grave if anyone points it out. he shoots her a wink as he’s handed over, the holding cell up ahead and he knows for the next few hours he’s stuck here. but it is a hell of a lot nicer than his shitty falling apart apartment. when he rented when he didn’t realise the first five letters actually applied to it. ❝ but i know you love seeing me in cuffs more than anything else. i’m just doing you a favour. ❞

There’s a long established familiarity between the two of them which means that his antics no longer catch her off guard. Instead his whistle is greeted by an eye roll and his words with an amused smirk as she quips back without hesitation. “Only because it means I know exactly where your hands are.” She knows that she’s set herself up for him to take it up a notch and into a far more suggestive territory but that was all part of his charm. He was a good distraction and tame was almost the same thing as boring in her mind, might as well invite him to do his worst when she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt any real shame.

“If you really wanted to do me a favour you could abstain from crime for a day so I don’t have to keep locking you up.” It was never something she truly minded when time was easily spent in his presence and things had always been simple between the two of them due to how he seemed to never take life too seriously, Maggie had never stopped to ask if that was indeed the case or not and didn’t intend to start. They neared the cell and she opened the door up as though it was a five star hotel room as opposed to blank walls and cold bars. “I know you’re pretty and all but that doesn’t mean I want to see your face all the time. Absence makes the heart grow fonder after all.”

He sits, folding his hands on his lap. Medvjed twists the silver band on his finger. Clears his throat before he speaks, “Well, I guess the beginning is the best place.” a beat, “Goldilocks and I weren’t friends. We didn’t get along, as I’m sure you know. She’d often pick on my daughter. I got tired of it and … I hit her.” He can’t meet her eyes, shame radiating off of him. He slumps forward, resting his chin on his arms, “I mean…I didn’t like her. But I’d never kill her. I don’t kill. It’s not in my nature. I’ll take responsibility for punching her, give me whatever punishment you think necessary, but…”

A soft growl, “She used to mock us. Baby, my partner and I. I got fed up with her calling my daughter a monster, calling us freaks, so I punched her.”

Doing her best to stop herself from fidgeting in anyway (her usual habit of pen or foot tapping seeming inappropriate during an interview) Maggie gave Medvjed her full attention. Features were kept perfectly blank and neutral, doing her best to allow him to tell her his truth without seeming to judge. In truth, if she judged anyone it was Goldilocks. She knew better than to speak or think ill of the dead but she’d never had a lot of time for those who would make others feel less than for things that they could not help. Choices made were something to judge on, not just who they were. Sympathy had never been her strong point but there’s something softer and more genuine in her tone that she hopes might give some indication of what she’s thinking. “Thank you for coming forward.”

“I come bearing gifts”, Hilma opened with as she unceremoniously opened the door to her sister’s office and dropped a bag filled with beer bottles and tamales. Half of them were burned but it was the thought that counts, she figured. Hilma’s week hadn’t exactly been the easiest but she was certain whatever frustration she felt was probably multiplied ten folds for Maggie. They had barely seen each other this week as one was stuck working in the station and the other had taken shifts after shifts at Crusty’s. “Like it or not, you’re taking a break, Mags.” She declared sitting down opposite her sister. “We both need it.” She continued, plucking a tamale from the container and biting into it, face distorted in disgust but she still swallowed the offensive piece of food with a fakely sweet grin. “The beer is good, I swear.” A white lie. The bear was cheap at best but again, the thought counts.

When it came to bad habits Maggie knew fine well that she had her fair share of them and while it wasn’t usually her worst one the way that she had to always throw herself into work had been becoming increasingly more obvious. There had never been a time in her life that she had ever wanted to do anything by halves (with the exception of personal relationships, they would never get her all) and it was now turning into something of an obsession when almost every free moment she had was dedicated to the case. When her sister grabs her attention her first instinct is to say no but knowing that they’re both as stubborn as each other she concedes with a sigh. “Fine.” Eyeing the container she knew it wasn’t a bad idea when her last break had been an entirely different kind of refreshment. “Ten minutes but only because you brought food.” There’s a smirk aimed her sister’s way with a fondness reserved solely for her. “You said that last time.” And yet her hand still reached out for one anyway. 

Scarlet wasn’t particularly poisonous at the moment because she felt no need to but she wasn’t going to sit back and be threatened, or warned as she dressed it up to be, by someone she couldn’t care less for. She smiled in response to Maggie’s answer but shrugged shortly after. “You used plural — officers — but there is only one that I have ‘played my little games’ with,” she let out a content sigh, “and if you felt the need to warn me, then perhaps you should’ve let him warn you. Although I do like the compliment — your urgent need to visit me means that he’s falling apart. He didn’t want to confirm it earlier, so thank you.”

Her hazel eyes studied the other but it was rather lazy, she had already found what button to push for now and there was no need to find another today. “I never said you weren’t.” She was bored now, eyes falling to her hands where she studied her nails. It would’ve been both foolish and rude to underestimate another woman, she had no doubt Maggie was strong and capable. Perhaps even an equal match. “A team is only as strong as its leader and yours isn’t doing so well at the moment. Perhaps I’ll send him a ‘get better soon’ card tomorrow.”

Stubbornness had always been one of her strongest traits, for better or for worse. Most of the time it meant that she dug her heels in or people knew better than to try to advise or tell her not to d something when her will was stronger than most. Now it just meant that she had a strong resolve not to give Scarlet anything else to go off when she seemed to have so quickly drawn her own conclusions. Jaw clenched slightly before relaxing again, making sure that her tone held a certain lightness that she didn’t feel when she replied. “You make a lot of assumptions, don’t you?” There was pressure on this interaction now and Maggie had little interest in being the one who said too much.

“Unfortunately no.” Lance sighs, easing down into the chair beside her desk, typically reserved for suspects or victims. “Wish I did. It would make this much easier.” She runs a hand through her hair. Rubs her neck. Sighs softly. “This makes no sense. The note, the murder…all of it. It’s supposed to be safe here.”

The moments between his confession and whatever came next felt like they would never come to an end. His heartbeat had grown to be as loud as beating drums, threatening to drive him mad because of how loud it was. The walls were closing in and Wolf wanted to let himself be crushed by them; after all, it was something fitting, wasn’t it? He had chocked someone out when all he had heard from them was the truth. 

Wolf pressed his lips together, eyes still focused on the old wood beneath his feet. He had become hyperaware of every part of his body, from the way his eyebrows rested on his forehead, furrowed and afraid, how his fingers curled inwards and left a mark on his palm to how his feet ached at the end of a long day. Wolf was bracing himself for the worst. 

But it never came. 

His eyes shot up in surprise, taken back by her words. He was in a state of pure disbelief, rushing down through his back and almost making his knees give out. His expression was subtle, but his eyes screamed at the uncomplicated acceptance that befell him and still felt alien to him. It was Maggie, maybe he should have known better. 

Wolf kept his eyes on his partner, lips parted and throat closing with the lump forming in it. For a moment, he wondered just how real everything was or if he was just stuck in a dream that should’ve turned into a nightmare but it didn’t. He also wondered just how possible it would be to feel like he was in any nightmare when Maggie was the only one in a room with him. At that moment, it felt impossible. 

He watched her as she took a few steps closer and he found himself wishing she would never stop. He found himself wishing they were completely and utterly alone in the office, like so many other times before. He got the sudden urge to grab Maggie and kiss her, say everything he couldn’t through what they did best. Go to her and stand as close as he could. What was this inside of his chest, burning at the mere thought of that? He didn’t do any of it, though, and maybe he’d regret it later. 

Wolf gulped at Maggie’s words. Part of him wished she had never thought of it, wanting to keep her away from Scarlet for as long as he could. Another part of him felt the urge to kiss her grown beneath his chest. 

He shook his head, sighing as the moment kept getting heavier. “Maggie, don’t.” Please. Wolf knew it wasn’t his place to say anything, but he wasn’t ordering her to stay away from the Queen —- he was pleading. “I just proved her right.” What was he supposed to say when all he wanted was to have her instead? “I shouldn’t have.” His words were clean cut, but his voice felt like it burned his throat on the way out. Wolf doesn’t know who was speaking: him, or his fear of himself. 

His silence has her doubting her own words, whether her acceptance of such a thing had damned her in his mind and making her wondering if it had been the reaction he’d wanted from her. Perhaps some part of him had thought he’d deserved some sort of admonishment for his supposed trespasses, for her to look at him with disappointment or disgust that she knew she would never be able to summon in his presence. 

Slowly though, she realises that his reaction is almost identical to what she could only imagine hers would have been had she been the one to bare a portion of her soul: disbelief. 

That was something she could handle when there was enough new territory being covered now that she was struggling to wrap her head around what was taking place between them. Any other time and any other person she wouldn’t have been able to make herself stay in the room when there was so much vulnerability on show and yet now it was all reverse and instead of fighting to leave she finds herself fighting to stay.

Any sense of preservation that usually made her so much of a flight risk around emotions was overwhelmed by the need to at least try to be the antidote to whatever poison that woman had caused to seep into his mind. There was a part of her crying out that she was only setting herself up for a fall by investing in anyone at all but at that moment in time she couldn’t bring herself to listen to it.

A frown finds its way back on her features at his words and even if she understands the meaning behind them she can’t help but question them, issuing a soft challenge when she had never done well with being advised in anyway. It meant any mistakes she made were solely her own. “Don’t what?” 

There’s a little shake of her head in some sort of admission that she had heard him loud and clear but there words she spoke next perhaps wouldn’t fill him with confidence. “You know I can take care of myself.” Empty promises had never been something that she had given and she didn’t intend to start now when she hadn’t quite decided how her anger at the queen would choose to express itself. 

The one certainty that she did have was that this would not go unchallenged and if she had any power over the former monarch she would use it to ensure it never happened again.

Feet carry her forward without thinking much about it, steps smooth, confident and completely lacking in any of the hesitancy she was now feeling. They always communicated best by not really speaking at all, all done through eyes and body language but despite how familiar they were with each other this felt all the more naked than they ever had been.

The distance between them isn’t quite closed, the last step hovering between them as she looks up at him in earnest and there’s no mistaking the determination in her eyes as she speaks. “I don’t know what she said to you and I don’t care because she doesn’t know you.” The firmness in her tone suggests that she doesn’t expect there to be any arguments and there’s a conviction to it that she isn’t quite sure where it came from. 

A breath is sucked in slightly, preparing herself for perhaps the riskiest thing she could put on the line when she had no idea where his esteem for her lay. It could be that she was vastly overestimating her importance in his life. “Do you think I’d be here if you were someone who could prove her right?”

With a nod, Snow listened to the woman’s words. “I’ve just never understand the mindset of ‘hey, let’s go ruin someone’s day’ just because you can. People can be so cruel sometimes. I suppose it’s probably less of an issue for you, since you can catch them and make sure they’re punished… but it’s frustrating as someone who just has to watch these people doing whatever they please.” She wasn’t sure where that rant had come from, but after living a life filled with people doing whatever they wanted - hurting people, stealing, killing - it made her feel unsafe and frustrated because she couldn’t do anything to stop these people without causing more problems.

“I think if we understood it we would be like them. It takes something truly dark.” She knew there were a number of Fables who seemed to live in an eternal grey area and she supposed that even she was one of them. Not completely pure and sometimes slipping into a darker area but still not so firmly in the abyss that she could fathom the motivation behind such an attack. While Maggie was no stranger to violence or inflicting it, causing someone’s death in such a brutal manner had even her skin crawling. Something in the other woman’s voice resonates with her when she’s never liked feeling helpless and a sympathetic smile flickers to her lips again as she tried to give something that could help. “I know it’s maybe not much consolation or comfort but you can still help us. Just try and stay safe the best you can and if you see anything at all you think could be useful to the case just let us know.”

SOFT ANGST STARTERS.

‘stay for me.’

‘what’s this between us?’

‘i don’t want your apology.’

‘you know i have feelings for you.’

‘yeah, i remember the drill.’

‘you’ve never hurt me. ever.’

‘then leave her/him/them. at home.’

‘i don’t believe it.’

‘this is breaking my heart.’

‘you met me at a very strange time in my life.’

‘what keeps you up at night?’

‘i wish you were here.’

‘i let you down.’

‘something strange happened here.’

‘you’re not safe here.’

‘i wasn’t ready to say goodbye.’

‘we are not the same, and never will be.’

‘don’t touch me.’

‘is it my fault?’

‘i’m not like them.’

‘i forgot my name again.’

‘i don’t know who i am.’

‘your fear of looking stupid is holding you back.’

‘are you still alive?’

‘i don’t like being told what to do.’

‘am i making you uncomfortable?’

‘nobody cares if you don’t go to the party.’

‘it was supposed to be fun, and you ruined it.’

‘where the hell are my friends?’

It was sad that this is what Fabletown had to put their trust in, their safety. They were all so full of emotions and no one ever seemed to be able to compartmentalise any of them. So easy to push over the edge. They were children with ranks they didn’t deserve. Scarlet’s brows rose as she listened to Maggie, a smile barely noticeable at the corners of her lips. There was only one officer that she was playing a game with. If someone was willing to go out of their way and throw professionalism aside, it only meant one thing. She had a new toy. 

“He doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” She asked, head tilting to the side as hazel eyes studied Maggie. “Of course not, he would have told you that it isn’t wise. He would have attempted to keep you safe.” Unlike Maggie, Scarlet didn’t have to tell anyone that she would make their life difficult. It was already there, vowed into her words. “He would protect you like you’re trying to protect him right now.”

While the two of them had never properly be introduced before Maggie wasn’t naive or ignorant enough to believe that the supposed queen wouldn’t try to play her games with her. There was no special treatment to be afforded. So it didn’t surprise her that she’s made a target but rather the subject that Scarlet is trying to wield as a weapon. The best defence seemed to be denial, feigned misunderstanding even though there was only one person whose image had jumped to mind as soon as the woman had uttered her words. “Who doesn’t?” The words come out light and neutral, hiding the way it sent her thoughts spiralling.

There was little interest from her in giving Scarlet any sort of satisfaction so while she desperately wanted to put her relationship with Wolf under the microscope for a better chance at self preservation, instead she found herself only offering up clipped words. It was easier to focus on the implication that she couldn’t keep herself safe instead of the light that had been shone into her private life. “I’m perfectly capable of that myself.” Settling her stance slightly to seem more at ease, she couldn’t quite help the way her jaw tightened before she answered. “I protect everyone I work with and they’d do the same. We’re a team.”