#gloriaque

He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLONEL EV.E BA.IRD!!

Once A Soldier

He felt his lungs constrict again. Like she’d left him in that box to suffocate. Even the Library corridor felt tight around him. Jenkins pinned Eve against the wall before she knew he was there, knocking the back of her head hard against the wooden panels.

Cassandra moved to stop him but Jacob held her back, frightened by Jenkins’ sudden break to violence. He’d only ever seen him use physical force once, and that time, he’d killed every vampire in his path. He couldn’t be sure what Jenkins was capable of, but he didn’t want Cassandra anywhere near the receiving end.

“Jenkins, no! Let her go!” Cassandra cried out from behind him.

Though he could hear her, he didn’t register her terror. He only barely understood what he was doing. Only in a faint, cold, and clinical way.

There were his hands. One was tight around her throat, the other pinning her arm to the wall. Rather than loosen his grip, he tightened it, pinning Eve’s airway closed. She couldn’t speak for herself. Jenkins didn’t realize exactly how deliberate that truly was on his part.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t squeeze the life out of her right now!”

No one spoke. Each of the Librarians had been silenced by panic.

There was a soft sort of crunch. Eve’s windpipe. Jenkins could finally breathe again. Stiffly, he stepped back. Realization ran like a chill down his back. 

oz  could  still  see  the  SHARP  red  hair  of  his  fiance  peaking  around  the  corner  of  the  shelves  ,  but  he  didn’t  mind  .  he  had  been  to  the  library  approximately  three  times  before  -  mostly  to  help  cassie  with  any  sort  of  research  she  had  to  do  .  &&  he  was  willing  to  come  ANY  time  that  she  asked  .  but  today’s  was  a  little  ...  it  was  an  odd  excuse  for  him  to  be  there  .  if  anything  ,  he  thought  the  particular  legend  that  she  needed  help  with  would  be  something  she  knew  but  he  wasn’t  going  to  argue  .  he  SUMMED  up  from  the  fact  that  cassie  made  a  very  brief  introduction  to  eve  then  a  scurried  excuse  about  a  book  that  she  had  just  thought  of  ,  before  running  in  the  opposite  direction  ,  that  she  wanted  to  introduce  eve  to  oz  &&  oz  to  eve  .  

stroking  his  chin  for  a  MOMENT  before  moving  over  towards  the  table  &&  picking  up  different  books  &&  at  the  shelves  ,  seeing  cassie  move  between  them  .  then  turned  his  attention  towards  eve  ,  reaching  forward  &&  offering  his  hand  towards  her  .  

“  better  make  with  the  pleasantries  i  SUPPOSE  .  ”  he  said  with  a  slight  smile  across  his  face  .  

“Eve.” he drawled, quickly standing up from the table, running his hands through his face. “Don’t you think you are being just a little bit dramatic?”

All of his childish tantrums about the things he heard and saw, the restless spirit that seemed to cling to him everytime he stepped foot into this place, he eventually came to the idea that it had all been his imagination. But the chatty redhead said something about magical lines. “This is -- a very old place. A very dear place, you understand what I mean?” it was his connection to his father, to childish dreams and delights.

“Sweetheart.” Rapunzel was a girl of many nicknames -- Punz, Princess, the ever famous blondie, but the most precious and most rare of those nicknames was sweetheart, always spoken in a warm loving tone, as soft as a kiss on her brow, though, he did that too. Gathering her into his arms, Eugene pressed a kiss on her brow, and another one on her forehead for good measure. “It’s going to be okay, don’t you worry. Please, don’t cry.”