FABLE

TRIGGERING THEMES CAN BE PRESENT   ...   including,   but not limited to,   war,   child abuse and neglect,   and canon - typical violence.        please note that my harry potter muses’ main verses are usually post - war and post - hogwarts     [       selective with my hogwarts verses as i believe the story to generally be tired        ].       this blog is selective with minors        --        but there won’t be any smut here.

*           RULES CAN BE FOUND HERE. 

*           MUSES CAN BE FOUND HERE.

“ This is why I built the Little Palace in the first place. There was desperate need for it, a beacon to remind all of Grisha that there was a safe place for us. “ 

@nofable  PRESSED THE TINY ♡ FOR A SHORT STARTER. / still accepting. 

it hits him how… naïve wylan is. those people liked each other for whatever they thought they could get out of each other. marriages, money, more power. it was always the same. it wasn’t unlike ketterdam, for the most part. but at least in kerch, people are honest about their wants.  “ i suppose some did, ”  he mutters, not wanting to ruin the glamour for him. he hums softly, getting to his feet and holding a hand out for him. it was a private enough area and no one would care if they saw them anyway.  “ and i only have one arm. ”  a pause.  “ kind of. you get what i’m saying. ”  a chuckle leaves him.  “ c’mon. it’ll be fun and then you can go dance with all the pretty people that fit your liking. it’s not like you have anything to lose. i promise once you get the hang of it, you’ll never want to stop. ”

   watching her, jesper’s… reminded, in an odd way, about the first time he had held a gun. their ma had worked them up from a child’s pellet gun to pistols, and then from pistols to rifles. she had positioned herself behind him, wrapped her sun - warmed hands over his tinier ones and had been there when the kick of the rifle had propelled him back. she had to be a few years younger than him, at least, and much, much, much, smaller than him. ( part of jesper always worried for people that young, around the barrel. he had only been maybe a few years older when he first came to it, but still. )

    at least he could hope on this protecting her, if there’s a chance. 

    jesper breaks out in a sharp burst of laughter that surprises even him. “ i happen to be one of a kind, ” they say. “ sure, i tend to swing towards the deadly, but i try to keep my hands from getting too dirty when there’s no need for it. ” now, jesper raises their eyes to the sign, searching for a bullet hole. he finds none, but he finds the scrape in the bricks a few feet away from it that marks a bullet. 

    “ oh, look at that! you got a bit closer. how’d that feel? ”

annika lowered the gun towards the ground,   feeling the thrum of its power...    weakness was deadly.    she has seen power in its truest form,   an aching triumph of savageness reclaiming the darkness,    and she has longed for it ever since:     she had loved that power.     she had hated that it would never be her own.    the gun was a poor facsimile of that outrageous strength,   but it was better than relying on her body.    that had always proven to be a traitor.     she is not as good as jesper   --   rumours are quick to fly in the barrel,    quicker even than fists,    and she has heard of his prowess.    able to shoot straight from miles away,   they said.    he could shoot the gum from out of your mouth without touching your teeth.    most of it was no doubt deluded fancy,    but every rumour came with a touch of truth.    she gripped her hand more tightly around the barrel.

    “ something nice! ” jesper crows. there’s no offense taken to the phrasing of it all; in fact, jesper looks even particularly delighted by it alone, even though he could’ve easily rolled over and played up some of the dramatics, pretend to gasp and look scandalized. he does now, shaking out a hand as they examine it and ensure that the color’s settled, then settles it over his heart. “ well, i’m at least better than just about everyone you’d pick up from around here, so you’re welcome for the break on your eyes. this face is perfectly fine without any tailoring; nina told me herself. ”

   now, finally, jesper uncoils from the chair. they seem happy to, finally given permission to move about now that genya’s moved on from having them sitting still in every way but physical. 

    “ didn’t think i’d be spending my evening doing this, but this is a turn from my every - day routine that i am accepting with very open arms. ”

      would  she  call  gabrielle  sweet?  the  blonde  ponders  for  a  moment,  cerulean  hues  drifting  in  her  younger  sister’s  bedroom  direction.  she  is  overwhelmed  with  memories  of  how  gabriella  had  almost  died.  she  remembers  seeing  her  sister  change,  close  herself  to  the  world  as  if  a  part  of  her  had  actually  died  that  day.  the  only  person  she  allowed  herself  to  be  vulnerable  with?  fleur,  for  their  souls  had  both  been  touched  by  death.  ❝  not  sweet,  no.  gabrielle  is  much  more  than  that.  she  is  strong  and  resilient  and  smart  and  charming.  but  she  is  much  like  coffee,  i  suppose.  bitter  if  you  do  not  know  how  to  appreciate  it  as  such,  ❞  fleur  admits,  wondering  if  her  words  are  too  harsh.  they  are  just  different,  the  delacour  sisters.  gabrielle  is  an  acquired  taste,  yet  there  is  nothing  she  would  not  do  for  her  soeur  and  vice  versa.  fleur  is  brought  back  to  the  present  once  he  mentions  the  ministry  and  the  tournament,  movements  coming  to  a  halt  as  if  she  is  petrified.  in  a  way,  she  is  /  much  like  she  had  been  in  the  labyrinth.  

      after  a  minute  too  long,  a  sigh  slips  past  rosy  lips,  slender  figure  turning  to  look  at  him  as  her  hand  reaches  out  to  squeeze  his.  ❝  you  don’t  ever  have  to  apologize.  i  am  here  for  you,  whatever  you  need.  washing  dishes,  cooking,  offering  you  a  place  to  stay  or  holding  your  hand  while  you  relive  one  of  the  worst  nights  of  our  lives.  ❞  a  beat,  blue  hues  seeking  his.  ❝  of  course  i’ll  go  with  you.  i’m  just…  i’m  not  sure  the  ministry  will  allow  it.  they  do  not  seem  too  pleased  about  our  version  of  what  happened.  but  i’ll  be  there  however  i  can.  i’d  never  let  you  go  through  this  alone,  ❞   she  mumbles,  soft  smile  gracing  delicate  features.  ❝  because  you’re  not  alone,  cedric.  not  anymore.  you  know  that,  oui?  ❞

cedric has never put as much thought into her family as fleur has her own...    it’s admirable to know that she cares enough to knit together little stories.   cedric loves his father,   but the two of them feel quite ordinary when compared with the other champions   [   they have a small home,   they don’t cause a lot of fuss,   they wake up every morning with a spring in their step that doesn’t fade by afternoon   ].    he knows that he is exactly like his father.   and though the thought should come to others as a horrifying one,    he is comforted by it.   his father is a good man.    he’s always been sure of that.       ‘       you have a beautiful way of speaking,        ’       he says,   quietly.    she does:   he could listen to her talk about her sister all day,   crafting sweet comparisons from the air.        ‘     a lot of people must misunderstand her.   if she can come across as bitter.      ’       cedric is lucky   --   he has always been perfectly understood.    maybe he just wasn’t a complicated person,    maybe he was just good at coming across the way he wanted to.     people liked him.    and he liked being liked...     he wasn’t one of those people who could get along without others.

    “ it’s possible they’re not just staring ‘cause of your height, ”  he’s not sure how to class matthias’ looks, personally — he was a mite too rough to be called classically handsome, but he was also just handsome in a rugged way? — but even jesper had to admit the combination of height and shoulder width and brooding scowl certainly worked to helvar’s advantage in a crowd.  he imagined plenty of dregs considered being in nina’s shoes and cuddling up to the fjerdan, but he also couldn’t imagine that it felt like anything but hugging a tree.  

“ but you’re not ready for that conversation just yet, i don’t think.  we’ll come back to it later.  my dog’s name was fíonntan — fíonn for short.  da got him to keep me out of trouble, so this, ”  jesper pauses to gesture between them, smiling indulgently and with real amusement twinkling in his eyes.  “ you having a dog called troublemaker is especially serendipitous.  i take it trassel was a handful?  did he bite? ”

matthias’ brows raised at the comment...     it seemed like jesper was hinting at something,   but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was.    he was quite like nina when he wanted to be   [   which meant that he could make outrageous comments at the drop of a hat,   ones that scandalized matthias right to his very bones   --   he had no idea what made the dregs so open with their words,    but he hopes it doesn’t happen to him   ].     he waited for the dirty comment to drop,   but jesper thankfully spares him.    though he might be curious,   prying further would absolutely be bad for him...      he’ll try to ask nina later what jesper could be hinting at.    and he’ll hope that he gets more than a devious giggle.

    “ my bad; excuse me, let me just conjure silk pillows out of the air. ” jesper makes a show of twisting his torso back around to his working area, then holding up a finger in the air and waggling it. “ oh, right, small science doesn’t work like that. so i think that you’ll have to deal with this spare fabric, miss mild - mannered lady. ” genya accepts the fabric, anyway - jesper would rather her use that instead of focusing on the bony knobs of his knees that her feet rest of. “ could always take it back, if you’re going to be like that - ”

   jesper’s still fiddling with the bullet, spinning it around in their palm. it nearly flies off their knuckles, but they grab ahold of it with closing their other fist; the bullet halts in the air. now that he focuses it, he can sense an impurity on one of the sides that he makes a mental note to fix later if he doesn’t forget. “oh? this being palace drama i get the chance to hear about? ” they give the bullet a spin in the air before they set it back on the table. “ i’d at least call that drama more interesting than hearing me talk about bullets. ”

she pauses, as if waiting for these silk pillows to appear...     and a pout crests over her lips when they’re not suddenly laid out in front of her   [   she can still keep up appearances well:    the spoiled child who wants nothing more than silk pillows and hands petting her   --   diversion of the self is a learned trait...    and it has been learned well   ].     they make a good show together.    they both know the power of a well - timed performance.     ‘     small sciences don’t work like that yet.     i have hope that someone great will one day discover how to get me my silk pillows.        ’        she won’t say that in front of david,  though,   because he might set himself off on a wild goose chase over it.     ‘      well,   if you take it back,   i’ll have no choice but to collapse into hysterics.   this is your warning.         ’

lexa completely understands the way her friend studies the weapon on her back. like most LEGENDARY items, used by deities and otherwise powerful creatures, it’s a bit much. for one thing, the size of the spear alone would cause the average person to assume someone of lexa’s build ( or really anyone who wasn’t a body builder or powerlifter ) could not possibly wield it. even in her grandfather’s grasp, the pole-arm is a sight to behold, yet it matched his godly presence. “ hey, i was a reading rainbow kid, myself. it’s all good. ” she quirks her brow when it’s apparent that amelia may not be familiar with this particular NOSTALGIC piece of pop culture. “ the squirttle squad. you know, pokemon…gotta catch em all? pika pi? ” if other doesn’t think she has a screw loose, that’s probably changed about now. chuckling to herself, lexa shakes her head. “ okay we’re downloading the game later. i got my uncle hooked on it, but he’s kind of an oaf and busted his smartphone trying to catch a sandshrew one time. ” next time they will have to enchant the device to ensure it would withstand his might. soon, another figure comes into view, and lexa assumes this must be amelia’s mother, so she waves and prepares to make a good first impression.