the sky was gold

Clearly the best quality grimoire one could find. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say that you are always right, but on this particular occasion you are. You know I don’t typically call people by their first names so flippantly. He’s simply Mr. Wolford to me. 

I love you too, you heartless shrewd, more than anything. 

I am always right. We can argue about it until the end of time but I mean, it’s right there in the statement - I am right, so why bother? His dad was Mr. Wolford. Giving him that kind of title...it makes him seem too adult. It’s weird. He’s just Jack. You don’t call Maya ‘Ms. Wolford’, do you? Because if you do, I’m gonna vomit. I can’t have you last naming people I’ve slept with before. 

I try not to think much about what you do in your own time of filling up your journals. I like to keep the contents of them private to you until you feel willing to share them. Otherwise it just feels a bit invasive and odd, spending my time wandering about what you scribble down. Oh? Well, I am glad that nothing more happened, if only for the sake of that guy. You’re not particularly someone that anyone should wish to get on the wrong side of. It’s good that Jack, Mr. Wolford I mean, took care of the matter. And you are alright?

Understandable. For all that you pretend to be, you have a caring heart, Emmy.

That’s fair - although it is half song lyrics and half magic that I suppose you could almost call a grimoire. Top shelf grimoire - a composition notebook I got for 99 cents at Walmart. Gonna be all the rage for the teenie bopper witches on the internet. Of course I’m alright - aren’t I always? Also, it’s weird to hear him referred to as ‘Mr. Wolford’. It’s Jack. But people try to get on my bad side all the time - especially at the bar. As if I’m not the one pouring their drinks. Idiots.

emmy had tried to disappear, once. she’d gone off to college, leaving behind a life that had been her ‘birthright’ since she was even concepted. she turned her back on witchcraft, on vampires and werewolves and things that went bump in the night. 

she’d turned her back on maya. 

it had been almost fifteen years now, really - they said it took you half as long to get over a breakup as you were dating, which meant that she should have been over maya by the time she hit 21 anyways - but they didn’t take into account the fact that emmy had ended up back in her hometown, back in the same crowd, joking around and seeing what maya had made of herself. 

they didn’t speak about it - how if anyone looked through their graduating class album, they’d see the two of them cheek to cheek labeled as ‘cutest couple’, how once upon a time they talked about how they were the price and wolford who were going to change the history back. it was easier that way. 

easier to show up at the house when the rest of the pack would be out, a hot cocoa in hand as she strolled into the wolford kitchen with a sheepish smile. “hey,” she greeted - holding out her offering, “i promise i got it from screamin’, so like, it should be edible,” she said with a small laugh, ignoring the flutter that still erupted in her chest when she saw her ex. “the roads were too snowy to go into the station today, so they told me to stay home, but i got bored. figured maybe you’d be bored too.” 

Does it help if we know it? If I can wrangle Theo over, we’ll at least have help making sure level heads prevail. Anything to keep Miles from thinking glitter bombing the tree is “speed decorating”.

And I really am sorry. More that I wasn’t there to hear your tried and true rating system on what disasters of costumes manage to come through the door.

Honestly, he’s not wrong. Carmen and I tried to decorate our apartment and ‘speed decorating’ would have been highly suggested if our place wasn’t already covered in glitter from all her crafting for the kids. Honestly, sometimes I feel like a stripper walking out of my place.

See, and that makes far more sense. I almost thought you were changing on me and turning into someone completely self-less, but knowing that there’s also the motivation of keeping your told on the family legacy makes sense. It’s been a while since you’ve fully dived into all of it though, hasn’t it? Do the magical senses dull when you haven’t used them actively in a while?

I will say, creating something that would assist in keeping those forced to change during the moon from doing so would be quite beneficial - for everyone. I’m certain many would appreciate it. Have you spoken to any of them about this?

Not really. I mean, I never fully gave it up - what do you think my journals are full off, if not silly incantations and recipes for disaster as well as my original songs? - but because I surpress it, it tends to...burst out of me at inopportune times. A guy pissed me off at the bar a few weeks ago and because I haven’t...acted on any of it, a few bottles broke around us before Jack kicked him out for us. Whoops.

Oh yes, Kevin Greenburg, I know that kid. Add charming to that list, because who can resist a woman with such a good taste in music too? That’s a dangerously attractive combination, you know.

As someone who has learned most of the things I know now from the women in my family, and mostly from my mom, I totally encourage you to do it. It’s always good to know all of that stuff and that information will be carried on to future generations in ways books can’t do it. I know I will do that with my kids in the future… once I find the right person to have then with, of course.

I’m just glad these tweens have decided the 90s are coming back. I have an excuse to play ‘No Diggity’ and ‘Too Close’ and relish in all the memories of our own youths. Ah, singing about unintentional boners in a room full of boys who were trying to hide their unintentional bonders - middle school was fun, wasn’t it? 

tinsel talk // Emmy and Carmen

closed starter for @priceemmy

While Carmen wouldn’t say that Christmas was her favorite time of year, she was a big fan of the aesthetic. The opportunity to put up strange glowing lights and eat cookies shaped like snow persons never failed to cheer her up. Not that she had actually made the snowman cookies (this was good news), but baking was not nearly as fulfilling as simply having the cookies. Was it a little early in the year to start decorating? According to Hallmark, probably not. 

This seemed as a good a day as any to deck the halls with Emmy of their apartment. Between the cozy socks and yes, the puffy vest, she was in good spirits. Carmen still didn’t exactly understand tinsel as a popular product (and made a mental note to research this), but she was currently wrapped in several colors of the stuff while trying to figure out why the lights in one area weren’t working at all.

Scrunching up her nose, she turned toward Emmy, and gesticulated as wildly as her position permitted. “I swear, I thought I hooked up all of the light strands just like last year, but it’s not working at all. Can you try your hand at this before I start messing with individual bulbs?” Somewhat hampered in her movements by all of the tinsel (but not enough to be stopped), Carmen tried to foist the directions on her friend. Maybe if she was successful in handing off this light task, she could dig into those cookies. And maybe figure out how to move again. Or try to put on some ironically old-fashioned Christmas music. These were the kind of priorities that she was effective in trying to manage because the stakes really were so low. “Unless you have advice. I’ll accept that too.”

Decorating the apartment was a tradition Emmy had really only bothered with once she and Carmen moved in together. When she was on her own, she would - at most - maybe get one of those three foot trees for $5 at Walmart and call it a day. She wasn’t exactly a big holiday spirit kinda gal, but Carmen was enthusiastic, and it was hard to deny Carmen whatever she wanted. Emmy had a soft spot for her unlike any other - while, yes, Chace was her best friend, Carmen was kind of like her soulmate. There was no doubt in her mind that the two could live together with their significant others until they were 90, with Felix hissing at Carmen at every turn if she looked at him weird. 

“I told you, lights aren’t supposed to last from year to year,” she replied with an easy grin from her spot on the floor - the tree was real, which made it more difficult - she had suggested they buy a pre-lit tree, but apparently that wasn’t festive enough. And now Carmen looked like the abominable snowman on crack - Emmy was trying very hard not to laugh, though she knew if Carmen fell it was inevitable. 

I am intrigued at the idea of something to assist with the lack of transitions. Though, I am somewhat surprised that you are giving in to the will of your witchy ways. For some reason I expected that you would deny that until your dying breath in favor of pursuing your alternative careers. 

I love that being a radio DJ and a bartender is an ‘alternative career’ that’s kept me shunned from my family. Vaguely. But - Maya pointed it out before Halloween, how they can’t not shift during the full moon, and that’s gotta blow. I mean, if I can help those who want to never shift again achieve that, I might as well. It was my great-great-great-great grandmother or something that condemned them all, so I might as well try and help them. 

We’re not even in December and you’ve already started, I’m kinda proud of you, not gonna lie. Let’s hope you get all those gigs next year, they seem like so much fun! Do you have more in store before the year ends?

Your grandma would be really proud of you if she could read all of this. I mean, you’re going to carry her legacy and everything, so you might as well get her help while you can. I’m honored you’re keeping us in mind for one of your first spells, keep us all updated if you find something useful.

I’ve got one last gig at another bar mitzvah - Kevin Greenburg, the snotty faced kid who stares at me when I see him at the grocery store from behind his mother. I’m telling you, I’m becoming the bar/bat mitzvah DJ to go to. They love my 90s rap mixes, what can I say? 

But that takes all the fun out of it! Or, well, I say that now, but soon I’m going to find old chocolate bars when looking for the candy canes, I just know it.

And, well, look, if people are going to leave bowls out on their porch… It’s like the barest of Halloween effort, they have to know what’s coming.

From one food centered holiday to the next. When’s the tree going up at the farm? I’m sure it’ll be oversized again, and Maya will decorate most of it. I’m telling you, y’all don’t deserve her. 

Is anyone still edging off the last of all that discounted Halloween candy? Because the battles for possible “stashes” around the farm are getting fierce. Not that I have one, of course.

Are you hiding candy from your roommates? I think Carmen took all our leftover Halloween goodies to the school, but also, you can just like...buy a bag of Reese’s for like 2.49 at Walmart. 

but i’ve already started making my resolutions for 2021. number one, of course, is to eat more french fries. that’s always a must. number two is to book more gigs as a dj - i’ve done a couple weddings and a bar mitzvah this past year, and it was honestly kinda fun. those teenage boys really think i’m hot so like, nice boost to my ego too. 

Are you sure you want to do that? Because a loose and drunk Maya Wolford can be too much for you… but deal. I can’t wait for it.

Better late than never, right? I’m so proud of you, Emmy. Not everyone has what it takes to do it, so I’m pretty sure it’ll be amazing. As for the cover, have you thought of doing any Fleetwood Mac song? Or if you’re looking for something more actual, I think Heather by Conan Gray would be a good choice if you want to make everyone cry, but I’m pretty sure you’ll come up with something better than that.

Oh, three drinks of whiskey brings out loose Maya? I’m definitely buying you that third one, then. Maybe this was all a part of my master plan to seduce you all along.

Please, you make me sound as if I’m some shut-in, closed off from anyone’s touch ever. 

Listen, if I’m in the middle of a dry spell, then yours is....legendary. It’s getting to the point where I’m seriously considering stalking the single dads of Carmen’s kids - some of them have to be decent enough to have let a woman touch them roughly 12 years ago. Some may not have been touched since. Enter Emmy.

[PRIVATE]

I would sincerely hope that your integrity lies with doing what is right and just. I am confident that I know you well enough to feel comfortable in my thoughts of you, but you know I will never presume to know everything about you and your stances.

[ PRIVATE ] 

I wouldn’t let them hurt anyone. Most of them are in control of themselves enough not to hulk out and kill just because someone’s provoking them. I’m sure there are exceptions, and I’m definitely sure there are wolves out there in the world who would, but our Pack is better than that. They want lives, families. They want to be a part of the community, not ostracized from it. 

Precious few men aren’t trash, but I’m still not into them. However, the last thing I want in life is to see Noah H’s dad walking out of your room because I sent him there. It’s one thing if you found him elsewhere, though. (Noah H’s dad is the most okay out of the ones that have been giving me signals, but I’m not going to invite him over for you)

I may have tried to grill macaroni, actually… College was a real low for me because I used the grill to boil water for my Easy Mac.

I think you inviting a guy over for me to bang would be....strange, to say the least. He’d probably think he was getting a threesome and honestly, any guy that thinks he’s getting a planned threesome probably isn’t someone I want to touch me. Organic ones, however, I’m not opposed to.