desert rose

the newspaper in his hands wilted as jeremy’s focus drifted away from the present moment.  he thought about how he needed to get a job.  not that he was in dire need of money  (no, he’d done some odd jobs along his travels over the years, and jeremy had learned not to question when a grizzled old hunter was handing him a wad of cash)  but he assumed it looked suspicious that he was just moping around beacon hills with nothing to do.  something to cover his sleuthing, at least.  “what do you suppose is the least terrible job someone could get around here?”  he couldn’t come up with anything he was qualified for on paper that wasn’t outright terrible.  maybe he’d ask caroline to compel him a college degree the next time he saw her.  “hypothetically speaking, that is.”  //  @trappedreblogs​

Malia smiled at the young man waiting on his coffee at Cake a Diem. He smelled human - of curiosity and restlessness and questions. She liked it - how he smelled. He was also really cute. 

“Well,” she said, pushing his cup and saucer across the counter. “I work weekends at The Water Hole. Always need people to work security. It’s not a great job,” she admitted, “but it’s always entertaining out there, let me tell you. Last week, I saw a girl put a full-grown man through a wall. It was awesome.”

     Davina knew not to use magic so publicly but she knew her way around it to make it seem ACCIDENTAL. As the other came towards her, she stepped aside as he ended up punching the wall. Of course, a little spell made his bone crack as she grabbed him and twisted his arm backwards. If this is your approach to women, you’re not gonna get very far. “ She pushed him towards his friends who were also hurt and she gave them an innocent smile as she watched them leave. Turning over to sit at the bar. “ You know I’m all for free drinks  but shouldn’t there be someone to defuse the situation? Though they did deserve it.” 

Malia smelled the blood as the man shuffled out of the bar. “Good riddance,” she said as he left. The girl had a point. “DJ usually handles the dumbasses,” Malia said. “But she’s not coming in until a little bit later.” 

“Do you want anything to eat? Kitchen closes in an hour, and it’s not great food, but it’s food.” 

She concentrated on the other woman’s scent. She didn’t smell rusty or dead, so she wasn’t a vampire, but Malia just had a feeling she was something. “How long have you been here?”

“I mean, that’s way more help than my professor has been the whole semester,” Liam laughed, sweeping the hair out of his eyes before taking a bite of the biscotti. “I swear he only shows up to class so he can listen to himself talk.”  

He may have been a bit biased considering he hated the class in general, but somehow his professor managed to make it even more unbearable by being a huge asshole and refusing to use technology on principal. Not to mention he was like six hundred years old and physically unable to make himself sound interesting so Liam slept through his class half the time. 

He wanted to succeed, he really did, but he was only human. Well, mostly human. Half human? Liam would probably know if he had a teacher that didn’t sound like the parents in Charlie Brown and the man who does that unintelligable train announcements had a less articulate baby. 

“But seriously, thanks.” 

“You’re welcome,” Malia grinned. “Whatever you need while you’re here, okay? I got you.”

She walked back to the coffee bar and busied herself with wiping down the espresso machine. The radio behind the counter flicked on, which was kind of odd, seeing as she hadn’t turned it on earlier... Static rolled over the airwaves. 

“Sounds like the gossip’s back,” she hollered out to him. There wasn’t anyone else sitting out in the cafe, so she didn’t bother talking quietly. The static continued, fuzz crackling through the speakers. “Let’s hear what they have to say today, yeah?”

Alice looked up and smiled at Malia, amused by her definition of the bagel. Even though they weren’t that close, Alice like how the girl sound so unexpectedly authentic all the time. “Almost-everything bagel it is, then.” She ran a quick look over her options again, considering if she should get anything else. “Do you have any more recommendations? I’m feeling kinda bored today and I’d love to try something… Different.” She mused, still not completely sure if all she wanted was some food, but the part about being bored was unquestionably true.

Malia reached for the tongs and pulled the bagel out of the case. “Isaac made macaroons,” Malia said, crossing to a plate on the counter. “I’m not nuts about them but he got really good at making them in France.” She smiled up at Alice.

“Do you like coffee?” Malia asked. “Or hazlenut? I’d love to make you a hazlenut latte.” 

She turned around quickly, bringing the bagel with her to toast it. Malia didn’t say things like I’d love to make you a latte at work. She didn’t love to make drinks for people. But she really did want to make Alice a hazlenut latte, or any latte, or anything she asked for. 

Alice was kind of a mystery to Malia. She wanted to know more about her. She knew she was a vampire, but she didn’t seem like all of the other ones Malia knew. And not just because they smelled worse than Alice did... Alice was just different. “Are you staying for a while?”

Derek was in the living room area, reading through the ever growing pile of books he was searching through in hopes of figuring out what exactly was happening in Beacon Hills, a sigh escaping his nostrils when yet again another book provided no answers and no solutions. He’d been researching for a year, the whole pack had been, and still none of them were any closer to figuring out what happened or how they could reverse it. The wolf was starting to wonder if his family’s collection could actually prove to be helpful, but with how large it was, and with how little options they actually had, he felt inclined to continue looking.

There had to be something in the books, his family had to have documented something about binding spells and resurrec–

His concentration was interrupted when he sensed someone approaching the loft building, his muscles relaxing slightly as he recognized the scent. Though things had been difficult and Derek would have greatly preferred different circumstances, one of the few pros of being stuck in Beacon Hills was getting to know Malia. He had given her space at first, not wanting to push her, well aware it was possible the werecoyote had no interest in getting to know him. Even if they were related, it didn’t mean she was forced to form a relationship with him, Derek understanding if she decided it was best to keep her distance.

Malia however surprised Derek, the two spending a lot of time together through the twelve months they’d been stuck in town for. It seemed there was still hope for both of them to connect with the little family they had left.

Derek opened the door when Malia knocked, stepping aside so she could walk in. “Thanks,” he said, grabbing the cup with his name written on it. “Did you just get off work?”

“Yeah, I did,” she said, setting her own coffee down next to all of the open books and manuscripts scattered all over his living room table. She sat down and took all of it in, inhaling deeply - the dusty covers, parchment paper, the threadbare journals and leatherbound tomes all splayed about the surface of the table. Some of the books seemed positively ancient. She loved the way they smelled, and she loved that Derek had so many, and she really loved that he was happy to share them with her.

It’s not something a lot of people knew about her, because she’d been such a shit student, but Malia loved reading, and she really loved reading things Talia Hale had written. Derek’s mother had not only been a good woman - she’d been a good alpha and a good mother, too. “I wish I could have known her,” Malia found herself saying as she picked up one of Talia’s journals, sitting down next to Derek on the couch. 

“Uh, no.” Malia could not believe Liam right now. He was very obviously fucked up about something, and Malia wasn’t going to let him drop it. 

“You’re the one that called me and was rambling about voices and the radio and then tried to say it was nothing sooooo... no. I’m not leaving you alone.” She’d tracked him down using his scent and found him out wandering around the preserve. “Get in the car.”

itsmaliatatetbh​:

The wolfsbane-laced whiskey didn’t take long to work its way into Malia’s system. Already, things felt a little fuzzier, and she felt a little warmer. She kicked of her shoes and put her elbows up on the back of the chair. 

“It’s a lot nicer,” she said. “You haven’t strapped me to a table, there aren’t any stabby eye goggles.” She gave him a close-lipped grin when he set her glass back down, refilled already. She let a beat pass. That had all been so long ago.

That was all before he’d taken her to her mother, before he’d shot her. Before he’d died and gone to hell and been resurrected. 

That all was too much work to talk about, and it was so long ago now, it didn’t really matter anymore, did it?I n that time, she’d trusted him more than Scott, who was her Alpha, and more than Stiles, who’d been her boyfriend. Theo had always seen her, always known her. 

She could feel the flush rising in her cheeks. Maybe it was the wolfsbane maybe it was him. She shrugged her cardigan off and tossed it onto the couch.

She lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drink, ice clinking as she set it back down. “I remember that day, in the locker room. With the needle.” He’d told her she’d have to come closer, and she’d made the steps in his direction. She took another drink. “It was pretty hot.”

Seeing the flush in Malia’s cheeks made him grin as he finished his drink. He slid it away as he looked at Malia. “We always got under each others skin in the best way.” He admitted, licking his lips as he swallowed. He poured another glass of whiskey, without the wolfsbane this time. “By the way, after a while, you won’t need the wolfsbane. It’ll just hurt you if you drink too much.” He murmured as he took a sip of his drink.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “We do.” No use denying it, it was absolutely true that they did get under each other’s skin. 

The other painful truth was that the human skin Malia wore was still pretty thin, even on her best days. There were parts of her that were always going to be more wild than most people were comfortable with  - more than maybe even her packmates were okay with. Most of them couldn’t fully shift, most of them hadn’t killed a sibling, hadn’t killed a mother. Or two mothers, in her case... 

There were a lot of dead bodies in Malia’s wake. It was a fact that was mostly avoided. It wasn’t something she’d ever had to avoid with Theo. He’d always accepted her wildness. 

She’d always vibed with Theo. That’s what people on the internet were calling it these days. Back then, when he’d first shown up in Beacon Hills, she’d just thought of it as a connection, an understanding, a knowing. A seeing the other without judgement, just fact. She still saw him that way. And the way he was looking at her right now, well... it looked like he still saw her like that, too.

“I’m done drinking,” she announced as she rose from the chair, running her hand through her hair. The flush was continuing to rise in her cheeks. “I’m already feeling pretty fucked up.” 

Her human composure was slipping. She flipped the chair around and pulled it right in front of him, plopping back into it unceremoniously, her knees knocking into his as she did. “We’re pretty fucked up, aren’t we?” she said, narrowing her gaze straight into his face. She made no attempt to hide her chemosignals or slow her heartbeat. 

“Do not get me started. I can practically feel their fangs on my neck every time one looks at me.” He shuddered, taking a sip of his milkshake and wincing at the slight brain freeze. “Like, I get it, they can’t help wanting to drain me of every drop of blood… probably… but geez would it kill them to be less creepy about it?” The irony of his sentence was lost on Stiles as he shovelled his fries into his mouth, his stomach grumbling loudly. He hadn’t eaten all day, too caught up in his theories. “They probably smell bad because they are legitimate walking corpses.”

“Did one of them try to drain you of your blood?” Malia’s eyes widened as she pictured it... how squirmy he probably was, the “ahahahahaaa” sound he’d probably make while trying to get away. He was always a little ticklish, especially around the neck. “You do smell delicious. Like a human.” She didn’t mean it to be creepy or weird, it was just the truth. He did smell good. She’d always thought so. 

“There’s one of them I don’t mind so much,” she found herself saying. “Who doesn’t smell so bad, I mean.” She couldn’t help it, she wanted to tell someone, and Stiles was someone she trusted.

Since I got more than one of these - it’s not a secret and it’s not a crush, but Theo’s pretty hot. (cc: @hellschimera)

“Of course I’m not,” Malia said, swerving onto the shoulder. “This traffic is ridiculous, this is a perfectly good stretch of road, so yeah, I’m gonna drive on it.”

“Ice cream is ice cream.” Malia said to the other young woman. “You said you wanted ice cream, so this is what I got. It’s more expensive to buy flavors separated, it’s basically just paying for packaging. Fuck that, I say.” She grinned up at Alice, digging her spoon into the large carton. “This was $3.” She took a big bite from the chocolate stripe and handed the spoon over. “You can have the other two flavors, I don’t give a shit about strawberry and vanilla.” 

For (another) weird habit or tic that no one knows about: I don’t ever completely towel off after a shower. Au naturale, baby.

For a talent I like to keep hidden from others: Maybe it’s not a talent, but I’m actually a pretty quick reader. Math is whatever, but I like reading. English was my favorite class in school - I still read a lot of novels.

Since I got more than one of these - ranch dressing. It’s horrible.

For something I secretly wish didn’t exist: Lane lines on roads. They’re totally pointless. 

For a “weird” habit or tic that no one knows about: I mean, I don’t think it’s weird, but I don’t cut my food before eat it. 

For a secret crush - I think Alice is really pretty. She’s a vampire and all, but...