slip through your hands

        the changeling merely raised their eyebrows at the witch’s reaction ,  as if inquiring whether or not he really needed them to repeat it .  perhaps this was one of those situations where izzy ,  threading the thin like between human and inhuman ,  didn’t know what was the correct thing to say ,  or how to word it properly .  maybe she shouldn’t have asked about his beliefs ,  yet at the same time ,  why not ?  when kaiden answered with words elise had already expected to hear ,  the tiniest of grins danced on the corner of her lips ,  shifting into a chuckle when he returned the question her way .  ❝  no …  no ,  i don’t .  but i pretended to ,  for some time .  ❞

          though she wouldn’t mention it ,  izzy deeply appreciated how kaiden seemed to care little for her little slip up  —  and how even thought he was probably frightened or unsettled by her eyes ,  he made no fuss about it .  certainly did help the changeling feel more comfortable ,  more as if they were a part of something ;  even if it was something as little as a relationship between two acquaintances .  they watched as the witch seemed to reflect upon their words ,  trying to take it in  &  think it over .  it was rather funny ,  to say the least .  when he put izzy’s request in such simple ,  easy to follow terms ,  another giggle escaped her .  ❝  yeah .  yeah !  you go it !  ❞  the excitement is clear in their voice ,  almost like a child who has shared some exciting news with a friend ,  or an exciting plan of sorts .  ❝  are you in ?  will you help me ?  name your price ,  i’ll have the money in no time .  ❞

     ── i pretended to, she said, and kaiden nodded like he understood. maybe he’d done something similar, growing up surrounded in hope to believe in something, acting as if all of it was meant to matter. his family, his neighbors, building up their faiths in their old witchcraft to stand as some distorted religion, and he’d followed the facade of it as was expected--- chased the promise of it, acted as though he had that same conviction, held the same fear. the performance had grown bitter with age, however, weary of being the body through which they’d find their beliefs, and he was happy not to fake it, here. coalyard was a pretty godless town. magic could be a utility instead of some saving grace. there was certainly nothing pious about what izzy was asking of him now, and it intrigued him. 

Born with prayer on her lips, and a halo adorning her head- the blonde with talons where a tongue should be was once something holy. Radiant. Glowing. Whispered into the dark of nights, with wooden boards cold against her bruised knees, she’d know her hands clasp together. And even though the door where her father’s shadow once stood now decaying, and the lights of the house all flickered off- the girl would still pray to the thing she feared.

God, make me holy.

Perhaps he listened, and cursed her the smile that cuts like sharp moonlight, and the barb-wired wings of an angel. Copper in her mouth, and gauzed holding those shattered pieces of her together. The ever burning light of a church candle, that flame consuming her insides. Flickering, leaving embers in her words. Those warning signs in her smile, those hungry sharp teeth- only angels could seem so grotesque.

She’s smile at his words, like sinking her own teeth into the plump flesh of a peach. Juice dripping down her chin, his words tastes sweet. Never would she expect him to know, not with the the charades he seems to play with those time wasters he sells. “The lost and the displaced,” Her words would trail the air, her feet carrying her to a gentle gliding stop besides Kaiden. “You act as if you know it all, doesn’t it grow tiring Kaiden?”

     ── the presence of her brought a chill along with it, a sudden ache of the cold that picked goosebumps up his arms ; kaiden set his jaw, hid his hands in his pockets. she was looking at him like he was something to toy with, a carnivorous type of smile on a seemingly innocuous frame. it was rare for him to find a ghost so visible, her movements ungrounded but real enough, approaching him as he stood in wait. her hazy sort of physicality was difficult to concentrate on, focus slipping past her, through her.  “ i know enough. ”

        ❝  godliness …  i didn’t even think about that one ,  ❞  which was funny now that izzy thought about it .  there were so many other things one could associate with the color white ;  godliness ,  cleanliness ,  innocence ,  purity  —  the list when on  &  on ,  yet she doubted any of those reasons explained why it was all kaiden ever seemed to wear .  curiouser  &  curiouser ,  the changeling tilted their head to the side .  ❝  do you  believe  in god ,  kaiden ?  ❞

         granted the question had nothing to do with the reason why she scheduled this meeting ,  but who could blame them for wanting to know ?   the witch struck her as someone with secrets ,  someone who knew too much about too many things .  a trait izzy found interesting in people .  nevertheless ,  when she noticed how he seemed to be purposefully avoiding to look at her ,  their brows furrowed in confusion .  did she have something on her face ?  yet it was then that izzy realized …  shit .

          all it took was shutting her gaze for a second for a pair of brown eyes to replace her clear ,  pale stare .  hopefully he was the only one who’d noticed .  ❝  sorry ,  ❞  she apologized quietly ,  that ever present hatred towards her natural form evident in the sound .  ❝  anyway ,  that’s correct ,  ❞  straightening their posture ,  the changeling lowered their voice .  ❝  i’m not sure how much you know bout …  me ,  ❞  a pause ,  eyes rolling at her own choice of words ,  ❝  but the thing is ,  i’m looking for  something .  something better than the crap humans smoke  &  shoot up  —  that doesn’t even make  fuzzy  on the inside .  so i was thinking ,  who is the one person i know in the entirety of coalyard who has knowledge in this business ?  ❞  she raises a brow ,  gaze lifting towards kaiden .  ❝  that’s you .  i need your help ,  kaiden .  ❞

     ── “ do i what ? ”  the question was surprisingly direct for what he’d assumed to just be odd banter, seemingly a genuine ask as she looked to him in interest. it caught him off-guard and he nearly laughed at the incongruity of it, them with their apparent inhumanity and him with his, sitting there trying to chat about god. it felt far too bleak to answer honestly, admit something about not believing in much of anything--- kaiden had lived and died enough to have found nothing higher than themselves, no greater strings being pulled. he didn’t care to go putting his faith places it didn’t belong. he tempered his response, however, smiled slightly when he shrugged.  “ no, i guess i don’t. but it sounds nice to say. why, do you ? ”

♡  — a diner in coalyard had originally been an odd sight for gabriel; a classic symbol of American values served on a plate of burgers and fries seemed ill-fitting in a town like this. gabriel had been so enamored with it, that he had gone every day for a week. after a while ( he’s not sure when ), it had blended in among the rest of the town, but never wavering in the sense of comfort it offered him. which is what he was hoping to get right now, with kaiden. it’s what always kept gabriel coming back to him  — comfort in his psychic readings, in his analysis. more than anything, gabriel was interested in a little more direction. coming to coalyard had only gotten him so far, and now that he’d been here for a while, he didn’t know where to start. 

when kaiden leaned back, gabriel faltered for a moment, unsure of himself or his strength in being able to handle the “truth.” and he knows kaiden’s right, it’s awfully philosophical and complicated in nature; gabriel wants to mention that he’s been posing questions like this for as long as he can remember, but there’s no time for any of that. their waitress arrives. “how’s it going tonight, cindy?” gabriel looks up and reassures her with a grin and a wink before ordering in addition to kaiden’s coffee: two double cheeseburgers with fries and onion rings, a stack of pancakes, loaded hash browns with extra bacon, two of the diner’s finest ales ( he’s reminded there’s only beer ), “and a scoop of ice cream to go on the thickest slice of chocolate cake you can carry.” 

when she walks away, gabriel turns his attention back to kaiden and doesn’t hesitate to take off his jacket and pull up the sleeve on his right arm. gabriel lays his palm across the table in front of kaiden and wiggles his fingers, “fair warning, i’m very ticklish in my palm. don’t be afraid to be rough.” 

     ── gabriel seemed much more suited to the setting than kaiden felt, greeting the waitress as if they were old friends, a familiarity that he himself was unsure how to match--- as if none of it were strange, the place they were in, the things gabriel was asking for. to an outsider it might have seen mundane, the two of them out for food and conversation. gabriel had that way about him sometimes, he’d noticed, all warmth and joviality at first glance, and then those quick shifts of something just past it. something colder, or maybe just less alluring ; those were the dangerous types, kaiden thought. he knew he’d come to assume the worst in people, however, and it was a habit he’d been working to break recently, so he tried to relax into things.

with: @sacrifcial​ location: diner

           it might have seemed a bit silly ,  but the one thing elise still hated after all these years was realizing how dependent she was ,  how she  needed  others .  it must be a curse of sorts ,  something that comes along with the white eyes / pointy years ,  the frightfully sweet nature of her being .  ugh .   but maybe that was all part of the  ‘ living in a society ’  experience ,  wasn’t it ?  human beings ,  codependent in every way .  they’re nothing without each other ,  &  maybe she’s pretended for too long .

            either way ,  izzy’s reason for asking kaiden to meet her at a local diner wasn’t so much out of necessity as it was of greed .  craving ,  wanting .  one might call it desperation even ,  but that word would make them feel weak  ( another feeling despised by the creature ) .  so she waited ,  big eyes staring intently at the now empty bottle of  soda .  whiskey would have been much better ,  but this wasn’t a bar  &  it was still far too early  —   then again ,  did it even matter ?

          when she noticed the establishment’s door open from the corner of her eye ,  it didn’t take more than a second for the changeling to know it was him .  for some reason ,  that made her nervous ;  what if he said no to her request ?   ❝  kaiden .  ❞  they greeted ,  fiddling with the piece of jewelry around her neck .  stolen jewelry ,  of course .  

          ❝  did you know white is the color of cleanliness ?  ❞  izzy pointed out while examining his clothes ,  the shadow of a childish grin on her lips .  ❝  you’re  daisy fresh .  ❞

     ── he was running late. he usually was. kaiden’s business was an informal sort, showing up for under-the-table sort of rendezvous, he couldn’t imagine that anyone expected professionalism from their local witchery. and regardless, he was so unwatched here--- a solitary sort of contrast to how he’d grown up, eyes always on him ---that it was difficult to care if he kept up punctuality. by the time he entered izzy had seemingly already settled in, spotting them as he approached, noting their fidgeting as he sat. bored, or nervous, restless.

in greeting he nodded, exhaled a dry laugh at her comment.  “ cleanliness, sure. next to godliness, and all that. ”  as if to make a point, kaiden pulled at the front of his own shirt, showing off the color like some proof of piety--- plainly sarcasm. he wasn’t sure what to expect from their meeting ; izzy had seemed a little desperate in her request to talk with him. often that was a good sign for him, needy people making great customers, those he could make off-balance deals with if their determination overpowered their better judgement. their meeting place was very public, however, bright and common, so clearly she wasn’t in terrific danger. usually those more hunted wanted to see him in places they could hide, not ask to share a drink at some city-center hangout.

The instincts kick in, and he has barely enough time to tamp it down. He hadn’t drank anything for a few days, and perhaps this was the sign that said he needed to go and hunt for something small and non-offensive to drain. Perhaps a bird, though feathers were always hard to deal with. It beat having to go back to the nearest blood bank and ask for a few bags of type O, and God only knows how awkward that conversation would be.

It still smelled like burning, lingering fire on the air and Dimitri swore that it almost grew stronger. He sniffed once, twice and his eyes drifted towards the man, looking white as a winter’s day, a furrow in his brow. “It—I’m not sure. It smells like a…” His tongue caught on the word witch, though the word hung in the air. It was madness, of course, to suggest it to what he assumed was a bystander, but he didn’t have anything else to call it. Magic was in the air and he didn’t know what to say, only looking like a fool for standing there silently.

     ── “ you alright ? ”  the interaction was an unexpected one, and kaiden looked the man over, wondering. it’d been a tired and lonely few days and this was at least interesting, a curiosity while he waited for his coffee. the man seemed unsettled, or maybe just thrown off, and kaiden didn’t know what to do with it. he wondered if the comment was his fault, somehow. neighbors had complained of plenty of disruptions before, all aftershocks and side effects of his magic--- cold spots, broken electronics, sudden fires ---but never something so vague as a scent. that was new.

❛ Of course! ❜ Peridot exclaims, now making her way into the kitchen. Her tone lightly suggests as if he were foolish enough to think anything else would happen other than letting him in. Kaiden was always going to be welcomed her at the hotel and she has told him this many times before. Peridot doesn’t know much about Kaiden. All she knows is that he’s a young kid who clearly doesn’t always have the best place to sleep at night and the motel was his next best option. Perrie peaks around one corner curiously to see Kaiden still standing in the hallway, hiding his hands with his sweater, making him seem much younger than he probably was. She doesn’t know how old he is, but hell, if he’s old enough to drink, she would be happy to take him out for a beer and see him outside of the motel. Baby steps, though. Or … As baby as Peridot could make them. She did say that Kaiden was allowed to make his own tea, but she knows how polite he is. And shy. So, she takes out the turquoise tea kettle, fills it up with water and plugs it in. ❛ Don’t worry about it, Bright. ❜ She tells Kaiden as he says his apologize from seemingly intruding on her night. ❛ I always love a good and unexpected company. ❜ Peridot means what she says while bringing down two mugs and a box of animal crackers from a messy cupboard filled to the shelf edge of anything from pouches of cinnamon, several syrups, and boxes of Kraft Dinner. ❛ It’s a nice turn of events, it keeps the night young, you know what I mean? ❜  With the water heating up, she leaves the kitchen and beckons Kaiden to follow her into the warmth of the living room. Picking her own armchair to curl up on, the couch is all his to get comfortable on. ❛ Alright, now time for the good stuff! What have you been up to? How’s life been treating you? ❜ 

      ── kaiden followed peridot dutifully, watched as she went through the motions of getting their tea ready. he was glad for her apparent patience, her following through on the offer when he failed to pick up on it himself--- she was good at that, he’d realized, bridging over some of the holes in his sociability.  “ thanks. ”  he repeated, unsure if he was thanking her for the tea or the welcome, shifting where he stood. “ guess you’re in the right business, then. motel’s nothing but unexpected company. ”  he’d automatically settled back to quiet but brought himself back out of it quickly, smiling as he continued, joking to keep up with her easy conversation.  “ maybe not always good, though, huh ? ”

the water started to heat and for a moment he considered going over to it, urge it to boil faster with a quick touch to the kettle’s side--- though that wasn’t something he was in much of a mood to explain at the moment. he’d sold her a few charms and trinkets to leave as wards around the hotel, though kaiden often assumed she was humoring him more than much else. it was never clear how much the humans of coalyard knew about the oddities that ran around here.  “ things have been alright. ”  he followed her back to the living room, sat back onto the couch, settling best he could as he thought of a good answer.

—  gabriel peered at kaiden and the rest of the diner from over the menu, even though he’d become one of the regulars and had memorized every item from front to back. there wasn’t any shame in that; food was a beautiful art form that most people took for granted, which is why he had no problem taking a little more for himself when he could and spreading the gospel to whoever was willing to lend an ear. when he placed the menu back on the table, gabriel shrugged under kaiden’s gaze, “…honestly? i could go for a big, delicious slice of that chocolate fudge cake.” gabriel motioned to the display up on the counter behind kaiden, raising an eyebrow at him as if to offer a piece of the slice they both knew he was definitely about to order. gabriel knew he hadn’t answered the question, and unfortunately he didn’t have the luxury of stalling for too long. time was money with kaiden, and that always managed to get gabriel to focus long enough to pull out and expose another one of his little secrets, fears, or desires. 

with a clearing of his throat, gabriel tries again, “to be honest, i’m not…really sure. sometimes i think i’m doing okay and other days, like today, i don’t feel like myself. i get these urges for…things i haven’t done in a long, long time. and that scares me. it makes me doubt if i’ll ever be in control for whe — if — that time comes again.” gabriel looks over and sees their waitress coming their way and his voice drops even lower, “it’s what i’ve always been looking for, more than anything else. the truth.”

     ── kaiden liked the diner. it was rarely crowded but always moving, and when he missed being around others it was a good place to find some distant company among the other patrons. besides, no one there had ever bothered him over the business deals he’s occasionally invite to the place--- he supposed most establishments in coalyard had seen stranger, especially ones open so late. gabriel gestured to the counter and kaiden followed the motion to the cake, nodded slightly ; ordering one for himself would be distracting, but he wasn’t so hesitant about stealing a bite or two of gabriel’s if it were front of him.  “ i think the waitress can be more help to you there than i would be. ”  gabriel often tried to make their encounters more amiable, whether the attempts were genuine or not, and kaiden smiled slightly in response.

it surprised him, then, to hear his tone go dark, voice dropping lower as if were imparting some secret. gabriel had always appeared to take their sessions seriously, though kaiden usually found him to be upbeat, curious. then again, isn’t that the way it always was with the fae of the records he’s read--- the charming type up front, or at least unassuming, their intensity all under the surface. the reminder had him bristle, slightly, leaning back in his seat and picking at the edge of his menu, regarding him a bit more purposefully.  “ the truth ?  sounds awfully philosophical. ”  he matched his hushed tone before raising it again for the approaching waitress, breaking out of the moment to order a coffee. 

The line was alright, and the windows were far enough away so that he could actually get a decent cup of coffee. It wasn’t for anything nice; he wasn’t going to spike it with blood this time, but the bitter taste of a good cup was always something that he could appreciate. This century was, at the very least, good for that. Coalyard’s coffee place wasn’t exactly bustling with people, and most of them knew not to stare at the odd man in heavy clothing, so Dimitri had some peace of mind.

But the scent of something was in the back of his mind; smoke and ozone in the air where there had been nothing a few moments ago. It was on his mind when he had bumped into, what he could only describe as an exhausted candle. “I—yes. I mean, it’s… do you smell that? Odd, don’t you think? I can’t—” he looked sheepish, the instinct taking over before propriety. Funny how it does that. Also mortifying, but he’ll scream about it later. “I can’t quite place it. Like old fire, like lingering… something.”

     ── “ sorry ? ”  he’d mostly expected to be brushed off, both of them returning to ignoring each other and leaving kaiden in his unfocused fog, so he was only half-listening when the man continued. he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with such a conversation starter, looking to the windows and partially expecting some lit fire outside to explain the question, but found nothing. kaiden turned back to the other, taking better note of him this time around.

The boy apologised, but did not do anything about it. Morag’s gaze darted down to the ring he twisted around his finger, and she gritted her teeth at its presence. She took a small step back, out of the gentle heat of the iron, and looked back at him. He didn’t seem alarmed at the sight of her home, or her knowledge of the iron. Pure iron was rarer among human civilisations these days – thankfully, over the century she had been alive, it had grown less common. When she was young, Morag and the brood had been able to sense its burning presence drifting out of the towns in Yorkshire, but, as the century moved on, they’d used it less and less, diluting it with other things. It was strange that this boy was wearing it so overtly.

He asked why she was out here, and she considered not telling him. It was none of his business, and the fact that he was wearing iron immediately made her distrust him more than she would anyone else. But he hadn’t made any hostile move towards her, and he wasn’t armed, besides the small ring, which wasn’t causing her terrible distress. So, after a moment, she said, “Because I live here,” in her flat, matter-of-fact, tone.

She looked around at the piles of rags, the bones, the makeshift roof, made of a piece of cloth, and felt nothing for the place. From the turn of the twentieth century, humans had grown less nomadic, and the brood had noticed them staying put in their small villages and houses, not venturing across the moors as they once had. But the banshees had never understood that, and Morag was still not used to staying in one place . It wasn’t her nature. She followed death, as animals followed prey. But now death came here, and there was enough death, and other strange things, to keep her occupied for a while.

Morag looked again at the boy. “Why are you out here?” she asked, distantly curious, in that same vague way she felt everything. “You’re far from the town.”

     ── “ doesn’t seem like much of a place to live. ”  kaiden spoke matter-of-factly, neither judgmental nor particularly sympathetic ; she seemed content with her surroundings, and there was much about the other inhuman sorts that he didn’t know. perhaps such a home was commonplace for somebody like her. still, he couldn’t help but pick at it a bit, considering the cold--- and besides, he didn’t care for the idea of someone unfamiliar traipsing the woods around him. kaiden knew he was rarely the only one out in the trees, though usually they’d be skittish or reclusive enough to avoid him. she was something new altogether.  “ there’s a motel in town, you know. pretty cheap too. bet the owner would cut you a deal. ”

at her question he shrugged, a sort of static electricity feeling following the movement, echoes of the magic he’d shed.  “ yeah, well. ”  kaiden had never been asked to explain himself out here, and he’d figured if he’d been caught by some human he’d just claim to be out on a hike or perhaps lost on his way. a white lie seemed like something she might see through, however, clearly unafraid to call him on his oddities with her comment about his ring. so instead he kept it vague, and mostly true.  “ needed to--- clear my head. ”

location — peridot’s apartment. when — february 25th. evening. closed starter for kaiden sael-bright !

Resting for the night, Peridot slouches comfortably on the old emerald green couch, her toes tapped against her floor . With eyes closed she let the lyrics flood her like an early summer breeze. They weren’t always upbeat ( que i know it’s over by jeff buckley ), but they soothed her just the same. In her pajamas, with Sidney curled on her lap, she watches a random romantic comedy. The little fireplace that burns bright easily warms up the lost comfortably.

With a sudden and rather unexpected knock at her door, the ginger cat is quick to perk it’s ears up. Peridot lifts her head to look at the door. ❛ You don’t have any company coming over, do you? ❜ The woman asks, now turning her sights back to the ginger cat that is now staring back at her, only to give her a chipper meow before hoping off of her lap to stretch himself out on the floor. 

Pushing herself up lazily, she makes way to the door and doesn’t bother looking through the door viewer to see who is on the other side. ❛ Oh! Hello, you, ❜ Peridot greets the young man with nothing short of pure, honest glee. This visit makes much more sense now. ❛ Come in, come in. You know the drill, ❜ Peridot opens the door wider as she backs away to give Kaiden room to enter her home. ❛ Shoes on the mat, sling your coat wherever you’d like, and feel free to make yourself a cup of tea. ❜

     ── “ thanks. ” he responded. peridot was cheerful in a way that he’d found to be rare in a place like this, a brightness he didn’t always know what to do with. he smiled as he entered in way of greeting but still looked away, watched her cat stretched out on the floor. kaiden did as instructed, left his shoes by the door and shrugged his coat off to drop on a nearby chair, tugging the sleeves of his sweatshirt down to his hands as a ward against the cold. his apartment had gone frigid over the past few hours, an aftershock in its recovery from some of his latest magic, and he’d weathered it as long as he cared to. the motel was always warm, at least, more alive--- peridot’s apartment especially, a fire in the fireplace and her glowing at him as if it wasn’t strange he’d appeared.

     ── while the establishment was more active than he’d usually prefer, kaiden figured a bit of liveliness couldn’t really hurt. it’d been a long and reclusive few days, withdrawing to pore over old spell books on the floor of his room, useless as it may have been ; he was sick of feeling like this. his apartment was too cold, his body too magic-worn sore, and he hadn’t slept well in the past few nights. he wanted something hot to drink, bitter and horribly strong. the company would just have to come with it.