#veilvhet

he lingers by the studio door, posted up beneath the singular awning. heat kicks up from every direction, bouncing from the pavement below up and against the cement side of the building. he might believe the rumors to be true, that this whole town is built on demon deals. hell's second campus, all the starry-eyed virgin sacrifices a devil could ask for in one sleazy hotspot. there's more than enough correlating evidence.

or maybe he's just not that keen on the sun.

he loosens his tie, flicks the sweat off his brow. even if his back can't straighten up too good anymore, the rest of him remembers how to carry a uniform. reserved, professional. plastic badge hung neat in place. he recognizes her easy on the approach — her's is the only other car in the lot, and her billboard's still up and faded on the I-5.

       ⁽      VIA INSTAGRAM.      ⸻      ﹫MACABREMAMA,      @veilvhet.      ₎

NATE: do u like my muscles NATE: im feeling kinda sad rn so i need some cheering up NATE: help me

clara you are the most loveliest human being that has ever set foot on this planet. i wish i could write you a love letter like the ones you read about in your romance noves but i don't know how so i promise to instead tell you how beautiful you are every day forever and ever and ever until i run out of breath, which is very hard by the way because i am in great shape so that means you will get to hear it a lot and that is what you deserve.

N8

Everyone told him that he should have replaced that lock a long time ago. It was rusted over, threatening to crumble, just a headache waiting to happen.

So he did replace it. With a nice shiny new one. And look where that's gotten him now. He's been nodding at the door ever since the wind blowing in from the cracked open garage door downstairs shut the door on them, lock snapping into place as a final fuck you from Mother Nature.

Truman lets out a grunt when the door doesn't budge—honestly, he didn't know what he was expecting. The snow had already made it up to the windows of the upper wing, it's not exactly rocket science to think that it had formed a hard, icy barricade in front of the back doors as well.

And yes, he could understand why having all the maintenance closets in the basement was thought to be a wise move. Hardly anyone comes down here anymore but him and the rest of the maintenance crew, but what with the holidays and all, it's really just him on call and now it seems he's stuck down here.

And her too, as she's taken one too many wrong turns. "It's easy to do," He murmurs, sniffling as he gives up on forcing the door open. "It's like a, uh, maze down here if you don't know where you're goin'." He knows it all by now. He's like a lab rat, having learned all the dead ends and trick hallways, none of which is helping him as the cold outside's seeped in and made all the old joints of the place freeze up.