🐝  *  ―  𝑭𝑬𝑨𝑹 / 𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑹 𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺.

"You'll be the first person I tell." She promised. And the only. It wasn't as if she really had anyone else to ask for help. Bradley didn't dislike her life. It had intrigue; it had purpose. There was always something new to learn. She liked that, but it was still a rather solitary life. Everything went into looking after the objects in her care. Most of them didn't require that much tending to. Some of them required too much to be left alone for long. Time to make connections didn't come easily or often. Centuries ago, there had been three more of her kind. Sisters that she'd never known. They were long gone, faded into nothing before she'd ever gotten a chance to know them. Her parents had made one last of them to fill in the gap and left her to figure it out. She'd done a pretty good job thus far. It certainly could've been worse.

She laughed once, glad for his humor now more than ever. It cut through the weight of what had just happened. "Maybe a little bit of both," she grinned back at him. Whether he was the scariest thing in here or not, he was definitely one of the more likeable things. It wasn't just poltergeists that she kept in check. There were evils older than time locked away beneath the foundation of her shop, monsters that her parents knew needed to be kept away from the world. She climbed upstairs to her little apartment on the second floor and slept above them every night after checking that all of her safeguards were still in place. Then she checked them again in the morning before doing anything else.

This time, she did blush just a little as Dante went on. It was silly, really, how simply hearing that he enjoyed her company was enough to dust her cheeks in pink. She busied herself then, making her way to the front of the shop to turn the sign on the door to closed and then beginning to pick up some of the more manageable pieces of debris. The questions that followed made her pause. Her hand hovered over the remains of an old medical textbook. She stood from where she'd been crouching to reach it and set the pieces on a precarious bookshelf. When she looked back to Dante, her eyes caught the motion of him rolling up his sleeves. They lingered there long enough to take in his corded forearms before she forced them up. "Nothing like this, no," she replied quietly. "I have other beings in here, but they always come to me contained. It's just on me to make sure they stay that way..." Bradley trailed off. Her brows pulled together. "Why? What are you thinking?"

Dante let out a sigh as she mentioned being even with him and it hardly felt like that, honestly, just by looking at the ruined stuff around the shop. His blue eyes looked at her closely and carefully as she glanced at one specific reliquary, often he wondered what was going on through her head, even more so now. "Still --- if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know, Bradley, alright?"he insisted.

At her bringing up how he isn't the scariest thing in here his brows rose up and he chuckled. "Should I be offended or flattered?"he asked with a little smug grin on his features, showing her he was just joking. Even though the demon was beat, his senses were on alert - the attack couldn't have happened out of no where, that demon was after something. And the more he backtracked, the more it seemed like the demon wasn't after him at all, the element of surprise with Dante being present making him kill it faster.

Once Bradley spoke again he snapped out of his thoughts and offered her another grin. "I do. I mean, it made sense who you are, with the whole business you have in your little shop. Kinda put the two and two together."he admitted with a shrug. "You've got a lot of things of interest kept here. Things that some might use for something bad. So I was kinda swinging by, got some reliquaries from you that helped me in my own agenda. And I grew to enjoy your company, you're one very interesting young lady."he chuckled and procedeed with putting his sword to the side so he could take off his coat, it was already damaged from the demon fight and the bullet hole wasn't as pretty. "Bradley, did you experience demon coming after you before? Have you ever had any sort of encounter similar to this?"he asked and began rolling the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows, while his trusted guns ebony and ivory rested on each side of his ribs.

He laughed once and groaned at the realization of what help meant. "Dante's never gonna let me live that down, you know." It was still so strange to him- having people around. Having help. When he'd been tied to a criminal empire for decades, he'd been sent out to maim and kill by himself. Even when he'd still been with the fae, he'd always hunted on his own. That was how his kind worked. They brought death, and death was a solitary experience. He appreciated that Lady was the same way. She could handle herself. More than that though, she could apparently handle both of them along with the demon that they'd been dispatched to take out. She was something else.

"You kidding?" Connall reached up to grab the hand brushing through his hair and sat up. He didn't release her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze instead. "I'd've been fucked without you. You're the one who got both of us out of there. If you're blaming yourself, you better cut that shit out right now." He didn't want Lady to feel badly about what happened, and she couldn't be dragging guilt around. They'd be back to work in no time. Neither of them could bring anything into a fight that would make them hesitate. "Lady-" he let go of her hand only to grab her face when she started offering things. "Lady, stop. Relax. I'm okay. Are you?"

For someone who's been surrounded by both humans and demons her whole life, being around someone like Connall was refreshing. He was such a fascinating creature and the more Lady worked in this branch, the more she learned about what really is out there, it went beyond hell and demons she constantly battled. Once he stopped whittering around and actually lied down, her gaze took in his exposed torso, focusing on the wounds that were getting better with each passing minute. Lady wasn't phased with the way he healed, she's seen it before, and considered them with such ability lucky bastards.

As he asked her directly how did she pull it off, a small smirk graced her lips. "I had some help."the brunette admitted and she scooted a bit closer to him once he relaxed back onto the bed. Fingers carefully brushed through his thick locks. "Had to make sure we get you out of there safely, since it was basically my fault you got hurt in the first place."she murmured with a little sigh. While he was down, she gave it a thought, did a bit of a rewind - aside from the fact they were ambushed, Lady lost a moment of focus and nearly got pinned down. She's been in a lot of life threating situations, but having Connall with her today really saved her this time. "Tell me are you hungry? Thirsty? I could fix us something up. It's been long twenty-four hours."

Had her mind been more settled after the commotion, she would've blushed furiously when Dante called her 'a sweet little miss', but there was still some panic polluting her thoughts. He was talking, at least. He was breathing. He was alive. That was the only thing that she needed to know right now. She never would have forgiven herself if she killed anyone, least of all him. Dante always made the usually quiet days interesting when he came in, sure. More than that though, he made her smile. He made her laugh. A quieter creature herself, it had taken a while to adjust to the unending snark of him. It had been a bit jarring at first, but now she was always hoping that he would come in.

Thank the gods he had today.

Once she was satisfied that he was just as fine as he had been when he'd strode in earlier, Bradley finally began to survey the damage. Shelves and cases had crumbled to the floor in shattered bits. There were trinkets strewn out in every direction. Some had survived. Most hadn't. Luckily, she didn't keep anything particularly valuable out on the floor. Luckier still, she didn't keep anything with any kind of real power out here either. That was too risky. It wasn't as though she was going to sell those things anyway. They were safest in her care.

So she waved a hand when he offered to have other people come handle the damage. "Don't worry about it. You saved my life and I...shot you. I think we're even. Besides, it's a delicate ecosystem in here." Even if the items out here weren't particularly significant, they still needed to be placed thoughtfully, which was why the disaster was so odd. Bradley never put anything in proximity of another object that would agitate it. She couldn't understand why there was a reliquary holding the teeth of a saint still standing next to where the shattered pieces of the demon's vessel were lying. That was a rookie move, and she wasn't a rookie. She made a mental note to check up on the poltergeist she kept bound to a puppet in the basement.

She reached for the reliquary before turning to look at Dante as he began explaining himself. "Don't worry, you're hardly the scariest thing within these walls. I'm not freaked out. Well, I'm not freaked out now." She certainly had been a few moments ago. That hadn't necessarily been his fault though. With a small sigh, she set the divine item back on the remains of a shelf. "No, I'm not hurt. I'm just... Do you know about me then?"

The look on her face was genuinely horrified that she actually pulled the trigger. He didn't see her as a type to do that, anyway, even to own a gun for that matter. It seemed like his words didn't register as she rushed to his side and looked at what was left now just a hole in his clothes and a few stains of blood on the white shirt underneath the coat. Evidently she was in shock, but once Bradley is able to take a breath, she'll realize it all herself.

"Just got my ego bruised a little that such a sweet miss like yourself shot me."Dante said with a half smirk and a chuckle. "I'm alright, Bradley. Just peachy - another demon has been put in a shithole it crawled out of. I'm sorry for the, uh... mess."he then hummed and pursed his lips as blue hues scanned her cute little shop. "I know people who know people who can take care of it. It'll be like I was never here, swear my heart and hope to die."he said a bit too dramatically with the hand over his left side of the chest.

Dante cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "So, assume I have some explaining to do. Hopefully I didn't freak you too much when I, you know, took onto that other form. I know it looks freaky, the wings, horns, all that shenanigans. But I need you to know I'm fully in control and it's still me - I don't always change like that but I had to, in order to protect you and react quickly."he elaborated before looking her over. "You're not hurt or anything, right?"

MADISON BEER Red Carpet Fashion Cam 2025 GRAMMYs

closed for: @sarawritesx

continued from: here

Guilt burned in the back of his throat as she apologized. She thought that she'd hurt him and apologized for it, but he was the one who'd done something wrong. He was lying to her. That never usually bothered him. He didn't put himself in a position when it would. Asphodel didn't interact with their fans. He wasn't out there talking to anyone as Skotos, and he didn't talk to fans as Zack either. The beauty of their anonymity was the ability to keep to himself, to not be gawked at and to simply be able to exist when he was up in the world above.

But then came Maggie. She was so open with him. She shone so brightly and was unafraid to be vulnerable and trust a stranger. Maggie was just so...good. And he was lying to her. About something that she loved. And she was apologizing to him? She thought she was in the wrong? She was giving him the option to leave their little bubble? "No, you- Maggie-" he moved closer to her again and captured her lovely face in his hands, the face that had enchanted him when he'd been on stage and watched her through his mask. As he looked down at her, he was tempted to just tell her. If he was the only one who'd be affected, he knew that he would. He was so tempted to show her every piece of him. Zack, Skotos, Zagreus- he wanted her to know all of them in that moment, but his choices could affect the rest of the band. He couldn't do that to them.

A part of him wished she would just figure it out.

"You didn't hurt me. Don't apologize. You- Maggie, you did nothing wrong." He shook his head and dropped one hand to her waist to guide her nearer to him again. "We're not going anywhere." This was the closest he'd been able to get to her answer to his question in such a short amount of time. He wanted to get closer though. Maybe he could. "What's your life like? I want to know everything about you."

MEGHANN FAHY via Instagram

I was running around today, but I’ll be here tomorrow to write properly. Send in some memes or scream about our muses in messages.

@thelcwless said: ❛ i never realized how much i needed you until you weren't there. ❜

from: pining/yearning starters (accepting)

Raven's words warmed that lonely little corner of his heart that so desperately longed to be needed. He filled it as often as he could by being everything for everyone. It helped to feel relied upon. There was something about hearing the words spoken so plainly though, that fulfilled him in a way that all of his good deeds never could. Especially after she'd run. She'd come back, and she needed him, and Malcolm swore that everything was right with the world in that moment.

He sighed at the sight of her, the sound heavy with relief. Once he welcomed someone in, they became a part of the pack. When Raven left after he'd done that, he'd cycled through the sting of loss, of rejection, of worry. Stopping himself from going after her, going after one of his own, had been a struggle, but chasing someone oftentimes only made them run faster and further. She was used to running, he knew. Setting her off would've been too easy. The choice to return was made sweeter by the fact that it had been hers.

The wolf smiled. He approached her without fear that he'd spook her now. "It's admirable that you've survived alone all this time." Malcolm commended her, reaching out to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "But I'm glad you've realized that you don't have to anymore. Welcome home, Raven."

Ohhey.

god    damn    !