All the world will be Pitch Black

Before there was hope and sweet dreams, there was only darkness, fear, and me

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish​:

“I’m good with those. Let’s give them both a try then. See what fits,” he agreed. It was weird to think of himself having a preference for a place. He wasn’t sure he would, but the fact that Pitch was giving him a say in the matter was a lot to take in. He hadn’t honestly expected the boogeyman to be such a team player. It was unnerving. Mostly in how he kind of… liked him. When they were on the same side, at least.

He chuckled because that was equally weird, and also not unwelcome. He curled a finger into the shadow and let it stay. “If I only knew what that was,” he noted, the observation more serious than he meant it to be in a mostly playful conversation. It was true his mind was all over the place right now, as evidenced by how quickly he’d backed off from making this something more. He didn’t really know what he wanted from Pitch, not yet, but he wasn’t going to forget that it was the nightmare man, of all people, who was giving him options. Nobody else had ever bothered to ask Jack what he wanted or care about the answer. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Pitch what he wanted, but maybe he wasn’t ready for that answer just yet. Whatever it was, he knew it would be honest.

“There must be some crossover, like now,” he pointed out. It was true that Jack didn’t enjoy frightening people or hurting them. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t even know he existed to believe in him. He’d probably have to get over that moving forward, but so far Pitch hadn’t asked him to do anything he didn’t want to do. He hadn’t really asked him to do anything at all besides stay with him. Every choice he’d made had been his own. If he didn’t want to, did it even really count?

Jack didn’t really know the limits of his own power because he’d never tested them. He’d never had a need to. There was never a time where he felt tapped out or like he needed to recharge. If he retreated, it was because he’d lost enthusiasm or interest, not because his power was low. It had always felt bottomless, and he let it well up now, pouring it into this mutual creation. The mare was at least twice the size she’d been, and it made him wonder what else they could make together. Building a fortress together suddenly sounded a lot more interesting. “Can you still control her?” he wondered as the horse reared back and pawed at the ground.

.

“Both a try it is, then,” he agreed easily. There was no reason to deny him anything, especially in what was really a small matter. When you had forever to live, did the where really matter? For a being that had lived alone for so long, he was sure that, eventually, having someone close was going to get to him. All of their options allowed for space, even from one another, if and when they needed it.

The shadowy tendril tightened gently where Jack curled his finger into it before it relaxed and simply rested where it was wrapped. He let those brilliant eclipse eyes of his drift over Jack slowly and hummed quietly. “Then it is a good thing you have time to figure that out,” he mused, his voice almost a lazy drawl. The intensity of his eyes belied that, however. He was glad when he wasn’t asked what he wanted, because he also knew that Jack wasn’t prepared for the truth and he had no intentions of lying to him. 

“Some,” he agreed with a slight tip of his head. “I’m sure we will find more in our time together.” There was no stopping the slight purr in his voice, but on some level it was nearly always there. The dark was always enticing, calling for what it wanted, after all. With time, more and more crossover would exist, that was simply the nature of beings living in tandem.

It had taken the birth of an entire group of beings to drown out Pitch’s power, and even then it hadn’t entirely diminished it. Power wasn’t always in strength, it was equally in intelligence, if not more. Watching the mare grow under their hands, his eyes lingered on Jack, cataloging him rather than their creation. “We can find out,” he murmured, turning his attention to the horse who turned to nudge at his shoulder before moving to do the same to Jack. 

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

Ah. Apparently, Pitch wasn’t the sharing and caring type. What a shock. He was a little surprised when he answered his question after all. “Not too far then. Canada. Greenland. Russia.” He shrugged. The first two didn’t sound like they would strike fear into hearts. That admittedly wasn’t Jack’s strength, at least not yet. “The South Pole’s a bit far, but it kinda highlights what we’re doing.” He drew in a breath, thoughtful, when Pitch turned the question back on him. He could see what he was trying to do, but he’d been making his decisions by himself forever. “I want something that works for both of us.”

If he was surprised when the boogeyman answered his question, it was nothing compared to him calling his bluff. His lips parted briefly in surprise, and he coughed a laugh into his fist. Maybe it was the love. It made Jack wonder if that was even on the table. He considered that like it was a real question (because all Pitch’s questions sounded like real questions), and clapped him on the shoulder. “Not too far out of it,” he decided. “But at least buy me a drink first, big guy.” That dangerous smile sent a thrill down his spine that had little to do with fear. He’d never been afraid of Pitch, but his heart kicked up a notch anyway.

“You’re not having fun?” He raised an eyebrow. Jack wasn’t sure he’d call this fun, but it was an interesting diversion, and that was enough right now. Normally, he rushed into conflict without pausing to think about it, but right now, he didn’t mind hanging back and learning the ropes together. His insides still felt raw from his last confrontation with the Guardians. He wasn’t mentally or emotionally prepared for another one. “Dude, yeah.” If Pitch wasn’t worried about blowing up his horses, Jack didn’t see why he should be. Ice flowed down his arm and hand and into the mare, swirling into the black and silver.

Pitch considered the options given to him, tipping his head slightly in thought. “Russia has its potential. The South Pole isn’t a terrible idea either,” he admitted with an abrupt nod of his head. “We could always go and stay, travel about and decide,” he pointed out. He had spent a lot of his lifetimes constantly traveling and changing, after all. 

The boogeyman watched most everything that occurred around him and he was slightly impressed at how quick Jack shifted gears to cover his surprise. The smile became a touch more smug because there was no reason he shouldn’t have some fun with it. “Noted,” he drawled out, a tendril of shadow twining itself around Jack with no malevolence, almost playful but with an edge to it that Pitch was incapable of shaking regardless of the circumstance. “You can have whatever you like,” he smirked easily. 

“I didn’t say that. But there’s a difference in fun for me and fun in the way I suppose you mean it,” Pitch pointed out. Fun for Pitch was frustrating and frightening for most other creatures of the world, after all. Beyond that, he was curious as to how Jack would settle into choosing to side with him over the Guardians and this was vital to that. “Very well then, let’s begin,” he nodded and slid around to the other side of the night mare and let shadows pour from him, directing them to match Jack’s ice. Slowly, the mare began to grow and he simply allowed it to continue, watching Jack as much as their magic. 

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

He tipped his head, thinking, and shrugged. “Do you want there to be people nearby?” Most of the Guardian strongholds were far from civilization and shielded by magic besides, but he didn’t really have a sense yet for how Pitch wanted to do things. Jack had never really concerned himself with power. To be honest, he didn’t care that much about it now either. He just wanted things to be different. He needed them to be different.

“Then you’re going to have to get a lot more in my space, or a lot more out of it.” He flashed white teeth in a grin that wasn’t quite feral but wasn’t quite nice either. He couldn’t quite believe he’d said that out loud, but sometimes Jack’s mouth engaged before his brain, and the best thing to do was just smile and own it. Like Pitch Black was going to judge him? He’d already seen him at rock bottom. He’d picked himself up with some help, but he still felt like he was staring up from the bottom of a well.

“No fun,” he muttered, mostly playfully. Probably nobody would be afraid of nightmare zebras, and the silver looked pretty cool. “How big can they get?” He’d noticed the slight change in size too, and his mind immediately jumped to, like, Clydesdales, or bigger. He didn’t really want to explode a horse though, not even one made of shadow and ice.

Pitch allowed silence to stretch for a moment after Jack’s question. “I can travel through the shadows of the world. I can always get to people if I choose. He paused again before continuing, “My powers are more... stable, I suppose, when there are people nearby,” he pointed out. The joys of a being that thrived on the fears of humanity, they needed humanity to continue existing as a whole. He shrugged, as though he didn’t have a genuine preference. “What do you want, Jack?” He put a particular emphasis on the ‘you’, as he knew it was imperative to continue to let Jack make decisions and feel heard and cared for to cement this new bond of theirs. 

“Ah ah ah,” he chided, “You just pushed me out of your space, love. Which is it, much more in it, or far out of it? I’m quite alright with either, at the moment.” His own smile was slow and dangerous, enticing in a way that fear was for some people, like an adrenaline rush you just really wanted to try. 

“The fun can come later, once we know exactly how well this can work,” he pointed out. He would rather not find out just what they could do together in front of anyone else. The preference to already know, to be able to play to that strength, was something that Pitch didn’t want to give up. “Would you like to find out?” The question was posed with the confidence of someone who believed it would have no ill consequence. 

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

“Then let’s not. We can make our own place.” He shrugged. They’d already proven they could build something solid out of shadow and ice. If they started in a place that was already cold, he didn’t see why it shouldn’t stand there indefinitely. Most of the Guardians had their own strongholds. Thinking about them brought the anger back, coursing like ice water through his veins.

Pitch’s looming presence was… odd and distracting. He pressed a finger into his chest, pushing with magic as much as strength in an effort to get to him to straighten out of his bubble. “There’s also this thing called personal space.” There was a part of him that didn’t mind Pitch in his space at all, but he wasn’t looking too closely at that right now. He did as suggested, letting the ice flow easily from his other hand into the mare. She shuddered with the power as streaks of ice ran across her back and down her flanks, and Jack snorted in spite of himself. “Night zebras.”

“Wherever you would like,” Pitch agreed with a slight tip of his head. It was a simple thing to allow Jack the choice, knowing it would only further cement their agreement. He was giving Jack a place to call his home, of his choice, a companion, and a way to be however he chose to be. He knew the likelihood of any of that from the Guardians was slim to none.·

Raising an eyebrow, Pitch straightened and shifted just slightly to entirely remove himself from Jack’s space.·“There is, and I find that at times it’s highly overrated,” he mused with a lift of his shoulder. His own hand ran idly over the mare’s neck as he studied the effects, disliking the striping effect.·“No, it should be more blended,” he decided, sliding his hand forward to put it next to Jack’s and added his magic to it. He watched her grow slightly but the ice and shadow began to mix into a deep silver on her flanks.

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

Jack ambled around the main part of the room they’d been deposited in, taking in the general state of things. It was dark and rather depressing, unless you happened to be made of shadows. It was hard to imagine himself in a place like this for long, but maybe he could add some improvements of his own.

“You’ve gotta get a decorator in here, buddy.” He said it straightfaced, but there was a distant echo of Jack’s usual mischief in it. He hadn’t fully recovered from his meltdown–maybe parts of him would never fully recover, or maybe they would twist and change shape as he moved forward on this path, but he would always have a sense of humor.

He held his hand out to the nightmare, clicking his tongue like it was a real horse. He doubted she’d have much interest in him since he wasn’t afraid, but to his surprise, she came right to him. “Hey, girl.” Frost coated his fingertips as he stroked her mane, little lines of silvery ice flowing through it and mingling with the shadows. Pitch was right about their powers complementing one another, but it was still weird to see it in action.

Pitch quirked an eyebrow at the hint of mischief and lifted a shoulder. “We don’t have to stay here at all,” he pointed out. A part of him would prefer not to, as this was practically his place of banishment, though he wouldn’t admit to that particular weakness aloud. He’d admitted to enough when he’d drawn Jack in. 

He watches as his night mare went closer to Jack, knowing she would accept his presence as he had been the one to bring him. It put Jack firmly in the category of ally instead of in the foe camp. He tipped his head to study the ice that flowed from the man’s fingertips, curiosity kicking in.

Stepping closer, he loomed close and looked at Jack. His hand went to the neck of the mare, a silent command to stay in place. After all, if this went poorly, he could simply recreate her. “Add more ice, Jack,” he murmured, tipping his head at the slight interaction.

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

Jack doubted he’d ever get tired of hearing the words I believe in you, but he didn’t really need to hear anything more from Pitch after that. Their deal wasn’t based on words, just a mutual agreement to stay, and that would prove itself over time. If he hadn’t believed Pitch would keep his end of the bargain, he wouldn’t have agreed to it.

Antarctica suited him fine and didn’t seem to bother Pitch much either, but he didn’t argue. It was easier than he expected to let the wind and shadows take him where they were going. It wasn’t unlike earlier when he’d been spoiling for a fight and trying to follow him, but simpler now that they were trying to stay together. Maybe he had a point about dark and cold working in tandem. They landed… Jack wasn’t exactly sure where, and he straightened, his grip tightening on his staff as he looked around. “What is this place?”

There was a large amount of built in trust in Jack’s agreement. The trust that Pitch would stay, would believe, and wasn’t that something. Finding Jack in Antarctica had given them a mutually agreeable location to establish themselves in if they chose. Pitch didn’t have a particular attachment to any place, never had. 

He let Jack go so the other man could wander and look for himself at the place he’d been brought. “This is where I’ve been forced to stay, where I’ve worked and toiled at what I need to be believed in again,” he said, shrugging a single shoulder. A nightmare stepped forward out of the deepest shadows, stepping close to Pitch and he ran a hand over its inky black semi-corporeal mane before sending it over to Jack. “You remember my night mares.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

He didn’t really mean to lean back into Pitch’s chest, but his body betrayed him. It wanted to stay exactly where it was. It wanted that oh-so-reasonable croon in his ear even if it was whispering dark things because at least it was a voice. Pitch was right. He was the only one talking to him. He was the only one who’d bothered to follow. Maybe it wasn’t to see if he was okay, maybe he had motives of his own, but he was still here. And no one else was.

His breath caught at the promise, and the rest of his resolve shattered under it. He knew it came with strings attached, but at the moment, it didn’t matter that match. The alternatives were to stay here alone with his misery or to fight the only person who seemed to want him around. His expression hardened as he let go of the old Jack, the unbelieved-in Jack, the failed guardian, and said the words that meant more to both of them than probably anyone else realized. “I believe you.” He gripped Pitch’s hand knowing full well what he promised in return: no going back. They were in this together now, whatever that meant. “What do you want me to do?”

Pitch felt the moment that Jack gave in and smiled slowly. He would continue to talk to him and give him the reassurances if he needed, but something told him that actions would work just as well if not better when  it came to Jack. It just required patience because he knew that the words were needed for this first step. 

He watched the change take over Jack’s face, the normally playful visage hardening into lines far more similar to his own. He curled his hand around the one put in his and squeezed it easily. “I have no reason to lie to you,” he admitted. “Come with me. We’ll settle somewhere that suits us both and get to work.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

A sigh slipped past his lips when Pitch pressed a hand against his back. It was more contact than he’d had maybe ever in his second life, and he didn’t need his original memories to know that he was missing something vital from it. Was he just supposed to carry on like this forever? Alone and unbelieved in, with no one at his back, no one to hear his stories or care what happened to him? He’d lived with it this long, but suddenly it seemed like too much. His shoulders sagged under the weight of facing more centuries alone. He glared up at the moon, angry and guilty and sad. You ask for too much, he told it silently.

By comparison, Pitch was asking for very little. He didn’t fool himself that it was nothing like he said. Everyone wanted something. Jack didn’t hold that against him. But they were reasonable things. Companionship, understanding, belief. Jack ached for those things, to have them and to give them back to someone else. He lifted his gaze to the tower. It was impressive. He’d never known what cold and dark could do together. On their own, all Jack’s efforts melted away in time, but the tower still stood like it would stand there for a thousand years. Maybe it would.

He turned where Pitch led him, his breath hitching at the contact. He didn’t know the term touch-starved, but he knew the hollow ache in his gut that didn’t want it to stop. It was a jolt to realize that he wanted Pitch to stay, to keep talking to him, to keep touching him, to keep that emptiness at bay a little longer. “They’ll fear us,” he said, but his voice was uncertain now. He didn’t know if that was such a bad thing, a single string attached to everything he needed to survive.

Pitch’s hand curled around Jack’s arm once he had given their tower the attention it deserved. It was a thing of dark, frozen beauty and he was rather mesmerized by it himself. He leaned forward, pressing his chest to Jack’s back so he could see at least half of his face. “People always fear what’s new, Jack,” he pointed out, “But it’s still belief.” Pitch was alright and thrived on being feared, and he figured that with time, Jack could too.

He slid around to stand in front of Jack, eclipse eyes fixed on his face with all the seriousness the situation required.”I won’t leave you,” he said firmly. “All you have to do is stay with me.” He held a hand between them, an offer and a promise all rolled into a single gesture. 

The admission of loneliness was honest and easy to make because he understood that it was his best shot at getting Jack on his side to stay. It meant nothing without some sort of permanence. Pitch didn’t like the idea of him deciding it wasn’t for him anymore.

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

Jack used to think of the Man in the Moon as company, but right now it wasn’t comforting. The silence felt cold and indifferent, and it wasn’t the kind of cold he could get used to. “They don’t care about me,” he filled in bitterly. That was nothing new. They never had until they thought they needed something from him, and they wouldn’t hear him when he said he wasn’t the right guy for the job. He flinched at the word, even though it been exactly what he was thinking. The softness in Pitch’s voice almost made it hurt more. It sounded too much like pity.

The words tugged at his heart, at the part of him that was just begging to be understood. Pitch was describing his life. His shoulders shook on another breath as he tried not to break down any further. In spite of himself, he leaned slightly into the touch. Nobody could even see him, much less touch him, and he hadn’t felt anything but wind and cold in a long time. “What– what do you want from me?” His voice cracked. Two more traitorous tears slipped out and froze, but he ignored them this time.

“You don’t need me to win. I won’t help them against you. This wasn’t even my fight.” His anger at the other Guardians burned in his chest and iced over his fingers, and it felt better than feeling sorry for himself. He wouldn’t help them now even if they wanted him to. If Pitch was after his power, then he was no better than the other Guardians. But he’d been doing fine without it. He crushed Tooth and Bunnymund with no help from Jack. That logic and Pitch’s words crept into the crack in his defenses and lingered. He had no idea what it would cost him, that single moment of doubt. That single moment of wondering whether Pitch Black didn’t actually sound reasonable. I believe in you, Jack. He quaked under the words. How badly he wanted them to be true.

Pitch watched Jack’s shoulders, all of his struggle showed there, his pain and loneliness, the singular ache it all brought. He could almost hear the whirling thoughts like a snowstorm in his head. The single fingertip slowly spread until the whole of Pitch’s hand was pressed against the same spot. There was something to be said for a physical connection when you hadn’t had one in the entirety of your second life. “From you? Nothing. I’m tired of being alone too, you know.” For all that he caused problems for people, he spoke the truth almost always. 

“No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to stand with me anyway. I don’t want you to be alone anymore.” His other hand lifted to draw Jack’s attention to the towering spire they had created with their magic. “Look at what we can do together, cold and dark in perfect company, each aiding the other always. Imagine what else we could do, if this was done in anger and protection.” 

He turned Jack entirely to look at the twisting black and silver meld of magic, of cold and dark coexisting. He left his hand in the middle of Jack’s back, the other reaching forward to tap the tip of his staff, wrapping darkness around it. “I believe in you, and I will help you make other people believe in you too.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

jackbeimpish·:

Jack was hurt and furious when he left the other Guardians and blasted his way to Antarctica. It was the best place to be alone without the reminder that he was, in fact, totally alone, since he’d have to go a long way to find a person who would just look right through him. He’d failed to help the Guardians protect Easter from Pitch’s attack, and they’d failed him right back by letting his memories be destroyed, so there was a lot of animosity on either side right now. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been counting on knowing who he used to be until he’d been given the opportunity and had it snatched away. Accepting the fact that he would never know was a bitter pill.

“Shut up! You were wrong!” He yelled at the moon, even though the moon hadn’t spoken to him in centuries. That was part of the problem. He hadn’t even told him he wanted him to be a Guardian–he’d used the others for that. Still, he could almost feel its judgment in his abandoning the other Guardians, and he couldn’t take it on top of everything else. “Try to understand–” he pleaded, his voice cracking. His self-pity was interrupted by a voice, not the one he’d been hoping for but still familiar. He whirled, furious, and threw a blast of ice at Pitch before he’d even had time to think it through. It was pure temper. He wasn’t afraid of hurting Pitch. He wasn’t sure it was even possible. He was the one force who could stand up to all of Jack’s power, the one thing he’d never accidentally break.

“Leave me alone! Nobody asked you to be here! You already won!” he shouted, throwing a ball of ice with each step. “You didn’t want me to be a Guardian, and I’m not! You didn’t want me to have my memories, and I don’t! I’m–” Alone. He broke off, his breath dragging on a sob. He was alone, and he was going to stay alone, and he couldn’t even blame it on Pitch. He had no idea what he was doing wrong, but he’d tried everything to make people see him. Tears stung his eyes and immediately froze on his face, and he swiped them away angrily. He turned away, his hands clenching into fists like he was ready to fight something, but his shoulders sagged in defeat. There was nothing to fight. “Just go.”

Pitch had expected some form of anger out of Jack, would have disappointed if he had been met with resignation anyway. To hear him yelling at the Man in the Moon made him smile because it was understandable. Not everyone was okay with the distance and separation there, while others should be used to it. Lifting his hand, shadows blocked off the blast of ice as he walked closer to its source. 

“No, but then, you didn’t have to ask me and I came anyway. It’s more than you can say for any of the Guardians. They just let you go, alone and invisible to the world. What does that say about them, Jack?” His hands shot shadows, blocking the balls of ice and wrapping them up tight. “You’re what? Alone?” The last word was soft, almost sympathetic if Jack would have. believed it from him. 

“All those years I spent alone in the shadows, I thought no one would ever understand. How could they?” When Jack turned his back on him, he stepped up close behind him. “But now,I know I was wrong. You do,” he placed a fingertip lightly between Jack’s shoulder blades. “You don’t have to be alone. Neither of us do.” He paused and let the silence hang. “I believe in you, Jack. Exactly as you are.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

When No One Else Does

@jackbeimpish​

The tangle at Tooth’s lair had certainly been enlightening, and he was glad of the foreknowledge his shadows had brought him. Staying a step ahead with the Guardians was no small feat, but in this case it was necessary. Learning about the Jack, his lack of memory, the need to be believed in, it all gave Pitch an idea. So now, Jack’s memories from his old life were no more, which was all the better for the supposed Guardian-to-be. The memories would do nothing to help him, not really, so why would they even matter. There was no reason to care about something that was literally a different life with different struggles. 

The destruction of Easter had been shockingly easy. He’d expected more unity than he’d run into so far, but then, they were always a particular bunch. It had been easy to help raise Jack’s doubts and fears, with the unwitting aid of the Guardians. Trailing Jack, he was hardly surprised to find them in Antarctica. Where else would Jack Frost go to wallow in his loneliness?

Waiting, he stepped from the shadows with a heavy sigh and gave Jack a solemn look. “I thought this might happen, Jack. I just wanted you to see that they don’t really believe in you,” he spread his hands in front of him in peace and entreaty. “But I understand,” he stepped closer, “what it’s like to be cast out, to not be believed in, to want... to want to not be alone.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

takemehighermaia·:

Maia can feel her smile faltering just a bit before she smiled even harder. His words weren’t anything striking but the idea of dancing and singing in safe locations reminded her of the toads, as well as all the other times. Will she ever stop thinking about that? She hated the memories that she had now. At least those ones. Focusing on memories of her mother, Jacquimo, and Cornelius she stayed cheerful at Pitch. “You are probably right” She nodded, “I just had a really good day so I thought… Anyways. I didn’t disturb you right? Were you about to head somewhere important before stopping?” 

“You just thought?” He prompted her with a slight quirk of his eyebrow, finding himself feeling nearly dismal at the sheer amount of happy people in Fableton. “Disturbed? Not particularly  over your tumble, no. And no, there is nowhere important in Fableton to be as of yet.”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

takemehighermaia‌:

Maia smiled, “That’s a positive approach to it. But I agree, it makes you unique and memorable to be the only one with that kind of name.” It was like her true name, Thumbelina, though she still found herself not wanting to use that name here. “I mean, I was singing and dancing” She sighed, “It probably wasn’t the best idea in the streets. Especially when there is a potential for something like this to happen. But I am close to home so I can fix it all right away.” 

“Precisely,” he nodded once. Pitch Black was something that he knew was whispered in fear, even by people that he was the personification of it, or that one even existed. “Perhaps not,” he agreed, “You should keep it contained to more safe locations.” He watched her, wondering if more lurked in her depths than sheer sunshine.

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

takemehighermaia‌:

“Pitch? What an odd name” Maia blurted out in thought before covering her mouth, “I’m sorry. It’s a lovely name. Just not one that I have heard someone having before around here.” She smiled sheepishly, hoping she didn’t completely offend the man that was helping her, “My name is Maia. Again, I really do appreciate you helping me. I should have paid more attention to where I was going.” 

He allowed amusement to show on his face and shrugged, “It’s quite alright. It simply means that I remain the only one, which I prefer.” He pulled his hand back to himself after she was entirely righted and didn’t seem like she would fall over. “Did something distract you?”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

takemehighermaia‌:

“Oh” Maia looked up at the man, smiling and taking his hand, “Of course. I think it is just a scrap though.” Standing up, she winced as she put weight on her leg, looking down at the injury. “Perhaps not. I appreciate the help though” She gently touched where the rip was, “That might be fixed with some stitching… I think I can do that.” The comment was mostly to herself, knowing that she used to have to fix her own clothes when she was small. Glancing back up at the man, she gave him another bright smile, “Thank you so much for your help. What’s your name, if I might ask?” 

“Are you sure about that?” His eyebrow lifted at her as he helped her up, watching her carefully as she strained lightly. The brightness of the young woman was enough to have him internally groaning in annoyance even while he maintained a pleasant facade. “Pitch,” he offered with a slight lift of the corner of his lips. “And you are?”

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

guardianofdreamssanderson‌:

Sanderson glared at Pitch, ‘Is that what you think this is? Why even approach me?’ He waved his hands around before signing, ‘You are in a new world and yet we are still doing this nonsense. What we have been doing for centuries. You could be better but you refuse. And this is all you have.’ Huffing, he turned around and walk away, his heart sinking that he doesn’t have his dream sand here. Not at its full power. He doesn’t have anything. But at least he can still move forward and hope. 

Pitch watched Sanderson turn away from him, “Why should I be better? I’ve been given no reason to be.” He slid back into the shadows with a shake of his head, feeling the cold comfort take root.

[alltheworldwillbepitch]

takemehighermaia‌:

Maia hummed a little tune to herself as she began her walk home from work, skipping a little along the way. She had a relatively good day today, and her mood was getting better each day while she was in Fableton. As she began to actually sing, she closed her eyes and danced along, giving a small twirl. Unfortunately she didn’t notice someone else was there and nearly ran into them. Stepping away, she tripped on the curb, falling down. “Oh ow” She winced as she began to sit up, brushing the dirt off her dress as she looked at her torn stocking and scrapped knee, “Well that’s not good.” 

Pitch sneered as he watched people walk past him from inside the shadows. One particularly bright, shining creature caught his attention as she danced along the sidewalk. A quick tug with a shadow on a random passerby had the young woman tumbling into the street. Solidifying, he stepped out and straightened his black suit jacket, walking over to her. Stopping next to her, he peered down to study her injury. “Perhaps I can be of assistance?” He held his hand for her.