all roads lead to me.

#𝚂𝙿𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁𝙰𝙻  ;  an independent multimuse by bucku ( 30+, she/her ) featuring characters from yellowjackets, marvel comics, dc comics, dc television, the marvel cinematic universe, & more.  

#𝚂𝙿𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁𝙰𝙻  ;  an independent multimuse by bucku ( 30+, she/her ) featuring characters from yellowjackets, marvel comics, dc comics, dc television, the marvel cinematic universe, & more.  

AGATHA ROLLS HER EYES, but can't seem to fight the bow of a smile on her lips as she reaches for a cookie, holding it from the precarious edges where the abhorrent glob of green icing hasn't been smeared ― courtesy of their sweet nicky and her inability to say no to his pout, of course.

RIO PLUNKS THE CARROT & ITS GNAWED EDGES BACK ONTO THE PLATE. " yeah, but where's the fun in that? " she asks. agatha has a dollop of that lurid icing smudged at the corner of her mouth along with a smile that her play-acting sternness can't smother. rio reaches up a thumb to clear it away & follows it up with a quick, placating kiss.

" besides, you look good in green. " mischief plies the coy tuck of her tongue in her cheek while she finishes smoothing off the overly-saccharine frosting.

THERE IS A QUANDARY HERE, a cross-work of spider-webbed ideas that should rio set her fingers in to untangle could set off a cascade that changes the universe.

she considers, carefully, scrutiny hedging at the corners of her eyes. the balance is already in disrepair in the wake of his very existence ; anything she tells him can't further unseat it.

THERE IS A THRILL IN THE EPHEMERAL that she has never allowed herself to experience directly. as DEATH, she has seen it fleeting through the eyes of those she reaps with fondness & reticence both. but being in a body, in a family present enough to feel the forest floor kicking up underfoot & to see this world through a child's bright eyes, is a wonder that the cosmos has never offered before now.

the laugh that breaks from her chest is like a burst of flame cracking free from kindling as it catches fire.

& off they go, reeling through the woods toward nicky's friend at a full clip. the momentum of his excitement is infectious, pulling her to the balls of her feet. letting the wind whisk through her hair & nip at her cheeks is a friendship in & and of itself that she has crafted through millennia of overseeing the cycle that built it & all this around them.

( this is basically just a very self indulgent list of various fluff, angst, and suggestive themed dialogue sentence starters. )

❛ i could keep you safe. they’re all afraid of me. ❜

❛ i’m trying to fix your hair, so hold still. ❜

❛ your heart is beating so fast right now. ❜

❛ promise me you’ll still be here when i wake up. ❜

❛ you’re not as bad as everyone says you are. ❜

❛ i thought you’d like some company. ❜ 

❛ clean yourself up. you're getting blood all over the place. ❜

❛ here, give this a try and tell me what you think. ❜

❛ you can kiss me, you know. ❜

❛ come back to bed. ❜

❛ you look good like this. ❜

❛ working together again, it’s just like old times. ❜

❛ how is it you always know what i need, huh? ❜

❛ you’re lucky you got away with only a scratch. ❜ 

❛ i can’t imagine losing someone like that. i’m sorry. ❜

❛ you know you can always talk to me. ❜

❛ the only one who gets to kill you, is me. ❜

❛ so, what do i owe this pleasure? ❜

❛ ah, so you aren’t heartless after all. ❜

❛ may i have this dance? ❜ 

❛ it’s okay, you can touch me. i won't break. ❜

❛ enemies make the best lovers, you know. ❜

❛ hold still. this might sting a little. ❜

❛ we can't keep doing this. ❜ 

❛ you look like you've got something to say. ❜

❛ just relax and let me take care of you. ❜

❛ thought you’d be lighter without all that blood. ❜

❛ i had it under control. you didn’t need to do that. ❜

❛ everything looks so beautiful from up here. ❜

❛ you treat all your ladies like this? ❜

❛ well? how do i look? ❜

❛ can’t sleep? ❜

❛ do you mind if i smoke? ❜

❛ i’m scared of ending up alone. ❜

❛ i don’t think i’ve ever seen you smile. ❜

❛ how long has it been since you've slept? ❜

❛ you are losing my interest, and that’s very dangerous. ❜

❛ i’d suffer hell if you’d tell me what you’d do to me tonight. ❜

❛ you look really pretty right now. ❜

❛ i’ve never cared for anyone the way i care for you. ❜

❛ i’m not wearing any underwear. thought you’d like to know. ❜

❛ just a few more stitches and you’ll be as good as new. ❜

❛ i’d say we make a pretty good team. ❜

❛ i want you to forget this ever happened. ❜

❛ i'm here for business — not pleasure. ❜

❛ if i didn't know any better, i'd say you were jealous. ❜

❛ you'd look better down on your knees. ❜

❛ fine, keep acting like you hate me. ❜

❛ kiss me again. ❜

❛ are you asking me out on a date? ❜

❛ just sit there and look pretty and let me handle this. ❜

❛ you okay? caught you staring off into space again. ❜

❛ well, i do feel better now that you're here. ❜

❛ i'm not drunk enough for this. ❜ 

❛ why is it whenever we see each other, you’re covered in blood? ❜

❛ i was wrong about you. ❜ 

❛ the first time i met you, i had no idea you'd mean this much. ❜

❛ you gonna be a good girl / boy for me? ❜

❛ i’m not afraid of you. ❜

❛ books mean more to me than people anyway. ❜

❛ i just wanted to say thank you for protecting me. ❜

❛ how about a kiss goodnight? ❜

❛ i don’t have time for distractions right now. ❜

❛ you shouldn’t be out here by yourself. ❜ 

𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆  𝐈𝐍  &  𝐎𝐅  𝐈𝐓𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅  𝐖𝐀𝐒  𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄,  looking  down  at  the  image  of  your  own  death   .  .  .   but  she'd  known  it  was  coming,  she'd  been  ready    —      she'd  𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝  it.  &  for  once  in  her  life,  she'd  stopped  running  from  it.  alas,  seeing  her  corporeal  form  laying  there,  pink  staining  crimson  where  it  had  met  with  the  silver  of  the  swords  blade,  it  was  peculiar  to  say  the  least.  rio's  question,  however,  tore  her  gaze  away  from  the  scene  splayed  before  her,  the  faintest  of  smiles  adorning  her  countenance,  a  saddened  expression,  but  currently  it  was  all  the  divination  witch  could  muster.

❛   because  i  couldn't  save  them  before,   ❜   she  answered  simply,  dark  gaze  rising  to  meet  death's  own,  𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓  laden  throughout  her  words.  nearly  𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞  𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝  years  later  &  the  guilt  of  surviving,  the  guilt  of  seeing  her  former  coven  die,  not  once,  but  𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐄,  had  never  left  her.  it  was  an  image  she  saw  every  time  she  closed  her  eyes,  she  couldn't  bear  that  burden  again.  ❛   i  had  the  chance  this  time,  so  i  took  it,   ❜   &  that  truly  was  all  there  was  to  it,  she  wouldn't  lose  another  coven  when  she  had  the  chance  to  save  them  &  her  𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇  had  been  a  price  she'd  happily  paid.

THERE IS A POETRY OF A SORT TO ALL ENDINGS, the dichotomy of life & death belonging in the same body, the concept that all things must end & then become new. but for most, the lyrical nature of it stops at the concept.

& for most, the cyclical nature is apparent only to those who can encounter the AFTER EFFECTS of it ( whether that be the reaper herself or those proposing a eulogy, memorializing the departed with an insight only afforded when looking backward ).

but for lilia, the END is the same as the beginning. " so you could see it, " rio's mouth pulls at either side, just a threading. to those who have the full benefit of viewing the cycle, it's practically pre-ordained. all of the loss from when lilia was young, her spine & spirit unbent with experience, had been unpreventable by her hand. rio would know. she'd been there, formed into the dark, shadowy scythe crafted of skull & bone just as she is now here in a different, softer shape.

AGATHA HAS ALWAYS KNOWN THE NATURE OF WHAT SHE TOYS WITH. that is precisely what makes it so invigorating. how despite their words of warning, that which is uncomprehendingly ancient and so much more than human contends with the very mortal nature of want a mere witch has awakened, clutching to their mask of cosmic indifference even as they lull closer.

hooked, snared. the means of untying the noose are left in agatha's hands. the sensation of a victory sits haughtily in her chest and her grin is untampered even as taloned nails press into tender skin, insolent and crooked as she is: the scrape of a low chuckle unwinds from her staccato breath, eyes flitting between rio's boundless expanse of darkness and the plush of her parted lips, inviting. it is a precipice of blades they toe so recklessly near, and the barest taste of death sends another arc of lightning down her spine that has her debating madness, such as tossing herself off of it.

that is exactly what i want from you, she intends to say, and yet, somehow ― she doesn't anticipate the kiss so soon. a gasp morphs into a throaty, needy sound, both swallowed the same by another pair of lips that taste of petrichor and the aroma of the tall grasses behind her childhood alcove. fingers coil into trails of golden embroidery woven through the collar of rio's dress, like agatha is grasping for balance despite having laid the very foundation between them. it ends far too soon for her liking, cheeks freshly pinkened and she shivers underneath the fresh wave of yearning that crests upon her, barely holding herself back from chasing rio's mouth with a searing hunger.

what she beholds instead almost makes it worth it. for such an untamable being, death could be mistaken for positively domestic under the right eye. kiss - bruised already, she awaits agatha's next move. the balance between them has finally slotted into place. she promptly releases the rest of her cards from where they're tucked close to her chest, lets them catch in the wind with the wild tangle of her hair as an eager zap of violet travels from her gaze to light the cavern behind her teeth.

“ oh, honey. i already have. ” you are already rooted within me. a bold hand snakes around to grasp the back of rio's neck and agatha pulls her in again, pressing impatience and greed into her lips, the bite of eve's teeth into the apple. this: this circle of safety conjured by a wasted coven, the dancing flames of their fire that reach higher in response to the pulse of her own magick, is their garden of eden. agatha may not be able to absorb rio's powers, but she can chase the heady flavor of them, willingly caught in the throes of something so old and intrinsic there may not even be a written name for it.

DEATH HAS EXPERIENCED SO MANY OF THE FIRSTS THAT THE COSMOS HAS TO OFFER. on this planet alone, they can recall the first brightening of the sun's warm bath along its curved precipice, the early stirrings of life crawling out of its primordial birthplace. for all of the EXTRAVAGANCE that comes along with creative cycles, they are wonder-weary. extinction & rebirth are ... commonplace by now. there is only so much sparking enthusiasm to muster for the mundanity of human souls begging for some form of recourse for their ending.

but AGATHA ...

death has been enraptured in a way they cannot explain or encapsulate into words. there is a voracious hunger for more & more than this world can offer. nothing stolen or otherwise seems to be enough to slake a boundless thirst.

& that is to say nothing of her beauty, her intentionality to lure death into her inner circle, the powerful disregard she has for any rule or boundary set out before her.

so, when their lips meet, despite death's own warnings, death ought to be unsurprised by the confounding sense of DOOM that accompanies it. this is a true first, an honest, earnestly unique reckoning in a millennia. they kiss with a mouth conjured from daydreams & nightmares alike, of shared attraction. they kiss a mortal, experience the flourishing bloom of something BRAND NEW in their chest unfurling like the entirety of the fledgling shoots in springtime all the way to full, petaled glory. it is so magnificent & unlike anything they have ever felt.

& yet, amidst the thundering rush of emotion swelling all around them like a rolling storm, is a sinister undercurrent of damnation.

whatever CONSEQUENCES might await their future in the balance, though, are not enough to shatter the heady binding enchantment that mingling their two magicks has sealed. & alongside this bewitching beginning, this first unfurling, death is already reeled in for another embrace. she finds herself claiming roots in the HUMANITY of this form, relishing the bite of nails nipping into the nape of her neck, of the crush of agatha's kiss moving against them, of the steady PULL & PUSH of breath from this woman's body & how ephemeral & incredible it all is.

rio pulls away, just long enough to take it all in, to see if agatha is as affected as they are.

lavender & aster still electric on her tongue, rio can't force herself to withdraw any further.