#leavyes

PUMPKIN // @leavyes​

Alright, so picture this: It’s the Institute’s yearly Halloween party. The Archival drones are definitely not feeling up to it this year, but it’s an excuse to have something more than takeout or whatever the nearby pubs offer, so they drag themselves out of their ongoing nightmare to mingle with more normal Institute 9-to-5′ers. Levi, being the good lad he is, started preparing a while in advance, wanting to make sure his beloved Uncle Beeper’s first year as Head goes along smoothly. He’s even dressed up for the occasion -- Beeper and Mini-Beeper. He has drawn on a beard. Peter is losing his mind just looking at him. Good lad, Talbot!

And then Leah stumbles in. Well, not really stumbling, she makes those heels work and she hasn’t pre-gamed too badly at her mate’s in Barking. It still stands she took the train from Barking out to Westminster dressed in... Well. Jonah, But Make Him A Thot. 

@leavyes​ asked: “Just  because  it’s  a  myth  doesn’t  mean  it’s  not  true.”  /  leavyes  +  tim

“okay,  that’s  true.”  tim  is  pacing  in  front  of  levi’s  desk,  a  delighted  light  in  his  eyes.  his  hands  move  when  he  talks  and  he  pauses  every  few  steps  to  bounce  on  his  toes.  “but  you  can’t  deny  that  mythologizing  these  subjects  makes  it  hard  to  tell  truth  from  fiction.  muddies  the  waters.  because  a  good  potion  of  them  aren’t  true.  and  that’s  not  even  getting  into  the  details  that  get  added  with  each  pass  around  of  the  myth.  each  time  it  gets  harder  to  pick  out  the  threads.  i’m  not  saying  we  should  discount  myth  entirely,  just  that  we  shouldn’t  jump  to  them  first.  both  because  there’s  less  chance  and  because  they  take  longer  to  sort  out.

@leavyes​ asked: ❛  some  people  have  swimming  pools,  other  people  have  private  cemeteries.  ❜  /  evan  +  leavyes

“person  one  being  your  boyfriend’s  dad  and  person  two  being  your  dad.”  evan  stares  at  the  slightly  staggered  rows  of  weathered  graves.  they  all  look  like  they’ve  been  here  for  decades  but  not  ten  minutes  ago  he  found  one  from  2014.  “though,  i  suppose  we  also  had  a  family  cemetery  growing  up.  i  used  to  spend  a  lot  of  time  there.  some  interesting  flowers  tend  to  grow  around  graves,  you  know.”

@leavyes​ asked: ❛  did  that  ghost  just  spell  ‘get  out’  wrong?  ❜  /  leavyes  +  jon

jon  arches  one  eyebrow,  glancing  at  the  writing  and  then  at  levi.  “ghosts?  really?”  deep  down  he’s  always  known  the  supernatural  was  real.  ever  since  he  opened  that  book.  since  he  watched  his  bully  get  pulled  into  the  darkness  by  long,  spindly  legs.  but  ghosts  seems  a  step  too  far.  

“i’m  just  saying  we  could  cover  more  ground  that  way!”  tim  has  a  camera  of  his  own  that  he  waves  around  as  he  speaks.  “it’s  a  big  building.  i  can  take  the  stuff  in  the  bag  and  then  you’re  basically  a  recording  unit  all  on  your  own.  we  both  know  what  we’re  doing.  it  isn’t  our  first  rodeo,  as  you  americans  say.  it’ll  be  fine,  babe.”  he  nudges  levi  gently,  leans  into  him.  

@leavyes | ​❝ i’ve never seen you before. ❞

She sits behind the desk, setting her cane against the arm of her chair. It feels right, this backdrop for their little tete-a-tete. Mr. Talbot can have the seat opposite her, small and low-set. No doubt the Lukas’ pet solicitor got a rise out of his clients discomfort, small and insignificant and desperate for help before him. She feels sorry for her imminent guest, really, but this is, after all, a business transaction. Folding her hands together, she reclines her head against the heels of her palms, considering what is to be done. For so long, it’s only been Jon and Elias creeping into her life, trying to see through, with Talbot mere window dressing. His texts have caught her all off-guard.

If only there were any joy to be gleaned from this, a kernel of self-satisfactory irony in a servant of the Beholding begging her time and help. It’s Talbot, though. The only thing she feels is pity for all that’s at hand.

The unlocked door is feather-light when opened, but it brings the roar of the city into the tomb. “Here,” she calls, hearing the cityscape fade away. “At the back.” A pause.

@leavyes​

“ I was just going to leave this here. You know , for next time. ”

Home is a tricky thing. The Archives are the closest thing to constant she has in terms of it. The Institute felt more like a fall back : a place to come back to when she needed to come back to something. In truth , the concept was held so long ago that she remains unsure of the feeling. But watching Levi place her nightshirt in the drawer of his dresser stirs something in her chest that makes it difficult to speak. Her silent question is answered and she finds her eyes drift downward.