seven devils

i don't want your money, i don't want your crown. see, i've come to burn your kingdom down. Avery Sawyer, guard dog.

[aseventhdevil]

rebelwithacausesolveig​:

“But heaven forbid the little royals did not have them.” It was one of the few times the two seemed to agree. Or at least appeared to. “Yours too?” She was actually surprised to hear that, though she hadn’t put much effort into finding who all had lost their rooms. “I have to say,for as much effort they put into this place, the spare quarters are beyond disappointing. ”

.

“I’m just glad it’s not my job to make it stick,” Avery snorted. They wouldn’t have listened to her, even if she was. Royals lived as though the world revolved around their belly buttons. “They don’t think they need them. They’re for the help, don’t you know?” Avery’s tone was sarcastic, almost scathingly so, towards their situation. 

[aseventhdevil]

lillianaxcarlisle​:

She nodded as she started to walk down the street, tripping a bit over her heels before she cursed and just took off her shoes. “Bettterrrrr,” Lilli slurred as she kept following her. She took a very long sip of her tequila, letting out a little burp after. “I’ve forgotten…how much heels hurt after wearing them in a long time,” she muttered, mostly to herself as she heard the very familiar barks of her dog. “….oh fuck….he’s out digging, I bet…”

.

Good deeds wouldn’t go unpunished. Avery would likely receive a good tongue-lashing for being out later than necessary, even for helping the clearly intoxicated woman out of potential danger 

“You might want to take them off for a bit then, yeah?” she commented. Avery knew a little too well that many people crossing streets late at night often had unsavory intentions. “You might want to put the bottle down before you hurt yourself.”

[aseventhdevil]

fromdusk-toausra​:

It had been a long day already and it was only half way over. After checking her watch she frowned, realizing there was still so much more daylight to keep working. Still, she needed a moment, so she excused herself from assisting the rebuild effort in the west wing. Winding through the corridors she wasn’t sure where she was going until she spotted an empty room with a large open floor. With a grin she walked in, hesitating a moment before she lowered herself onto the floor. It did wonder for her back, and as a plus, she wasn’t tying up room on a sofa if someone wanted to sit.  With a relaxed sigh she let her eyes drift closed. That was, until she heard foot step approaching. Craning her head back she grinned at the approaching figure. “It’s actually very good for your spine, laying on the ground that is. Would you like to join me?”

.

It hadn’t been Avery’s intention to move towards one of the rooms until it happened. 

Apparently, a royal found a room where she liked to move and hide from her normal duties. Avery wasn’t altogether pleased with the realization, but they had more say in who took what area. 

“I wouldn’t. May be good for the spine, but you don’t know what’s been on those floors.”

[aseventhdevil]

lillianaxcarlisle​:

“Oh yes I-” she stopped as she started to sway a bit…and realize that she was right. She wasn’t, in any shape or form, have any shape to go home. “…mayyybe you’re right,” Lilliana said with a hum. “Well, come on then!” she started to walk again. “Let’s go, right ho, to my house. ‘S like a couple minutes from here. I should know-my dog would be barking like mad for me.”

.

It made no difference to Avery either way, but a need for good karma won out. Human decency won out. It would likely kick her in the ass over and over again. 

She felt a bit like a sheep dog as she gestured for the other woman to walk down the street towards her home. “Then lead the way. Come on, then. He’ll be missing you.”

[aseventhdevil]

james-brixton​:

“That’s a comparison I haven’t heard before.” James admitted, ending up laughing at the other’s comparison. She had a point, though; with how remote the castle was, he was genuinely surprised that there were no legends or stories written about it just yet.

Looking up as she spoke, James took in the view in the sky. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to stop and look up, actually enjoy his surroundings. His life was all work, and while he loved it, it could get exhausting. “I grew up in London, stars was only something we got to see if we went very, very far away from the city. And even then, it was rare.” He recalled, looking back at her. “Where did you grow up?”

.

“Really? I’m surprised more people haven’t come to the conclusion,” she quipped with a wry smile. Avery understood seclusion better than most; she could see the attraction. Privacy. The knowledge that no one could come and bother those she loved most. 

It was the stars, the bright dots in a midnight sky that always took her breath away. Avery was fortunate to have a father who loved to tell the stories of stars. “I grew up on a little island off Fiji.” It was a rare glimpse into her personal life that she offered. “My parents were very interested in making sure our knowledge exceeded normal schooling.”

[aseventhdevil]

james-brixton​:

“It’s a nice change for once, isn’t it?” James mused with a smile smile as he looked around. It was dark outside, but the place was nicely lit up, giving an odd charm to a place so far away from the rest of the civilisation. Years spent here- the longest he’d have in one place- and even James was starting to feel a little restless. “It’s peaceful out here so late at night. A nice change after a long day.” He didn’t like to complain, and he often didn’t- but even James needed a break, a change from the busy life.

.

“Looks a bit like Dracula’s castle, no?” she surmised with a wry smile. For once, Avery didn’t need to wrap her face to protect her lungs from pneumonia. Where she went, it seemed as though trouble followed, but it was her cross to bear. 

“The stars remind me of home,” she admitted. She wished she was home on the beach, listening to her parents bicker affectionately and her father teasing he would hide the ladders and stepstools in the home. All so her mother would talk to him because she wouldn’t have a choice. Every choice Avery made went to securing her parents’ futures and to ensure their efforts hadn’t been in vain all that time ago. 

[aseventhdevil]

princeromanov​:

“Or chooses to ignore it,” Ivan added, reaching to scratch his nose. He waited for her to light the cigarette before holding his hand out for the lighter. Even if she had pilfered it, it was engraved with his initials, but he was rather fond of it.

“Let me guess? You’re different and intend to make sure I’m not too distressed?” It was presumptuous of him, but then again she was already generalising people.

.

“That, too,” she responded. History had been one of Avery’s favorite subjects in school, something that delighted her parents. She pressed the lighter back into his hand and took a long drag. 

“Not at all. Your physical safety’s what’s important. I’m not your therapist and I’m not an inspirational poster,” she stated. “As long as you lot aren’t tearing each other limb from limb, this is just another day at the office.”

[aseventhdevil]

katrienmeijer​:

“That’s very wise,” Kat replied, after a moment of consideration. “I’ll try to keep it in mind.” Easier said than done, when things were so terribly uncertain, but the other woman had a point. “Enough about me and my problems. How are you tonight?”

.

Of course, it was a lesson Avery’s mother had yet to learn, but it was why she was prepared for any scenario. Rolling with the punches wasn’t part of her gig. Avery was willing to bet that if she knew about this news, she would be preparing for things to reach her island. 

“There’s only so much preparation you can do.”

Her tongue rolled over her teeth and Avery leaned back on her heels. “My problems are nonexistent. I’ve been better and I’ve been worse.”

[aseventhdevil]

lillianaxcarlisle​:

Lilliana got kicked out of the club…again. For the third time in a row. How, she didn’t know, but she did. Now she walking around, a bottle of what looks like tequila in her hands as she walked around. The fresh air was making her a bit sober, but she really didn’t want to go home. Her question made her stop and look up at her, blinking once. 

“And whatittooya?” she asked back, her words slurring a bit. “I was just about to go home-can a lady do that?”

.

Avery had dealt with many drunk people in her lifetime. After all, it was the nature of the beast in Fiji. Her parents, fortunately, had taught her well. While normally, it was leave it alone, her job prohibited such. 

“You don’t look like you’re in any shape to do that,” she remarked. Moving closer was the last thing she wanted to do, in case the other woman got sick. 

[aseventhdevil]

james-brixton​:

It was a bad habit, he knew that, but it didn’t mean that James was planning on giving up. His job was stressful, his days were long, and smoking seemed like a normal way to keep his stress levels down. Still, he smoked in solitude, keeping it to himself and trying to avoid others as much as possible.

Tonight, however, was not the night for it. He was finishing up a cigarette when Avery spoke up, and he hadn’t even realized that he had come across someone else. “That it is.” He agreed with a tired smile. “What’s keeping you up so late at night?”

.

“Possibly the same as you. I couldn’t sleep and the weather’s finally above freezing,” she responded. Avery didn’t often sneak out. She preferred her solitude on most nights. And those nights are when that wanderlust her parents retained snuck up on her. The nights the stars looked like glass in a perfect velvet sky dotted with the stars. She knew how to navigate a ship with nothing but the stars as her guide, thanks to her father. 

Your mother’s hopeless with directions and you won’t ever need a GPS. 

Part of Avery wondered if her mother’s lack of direction was simply to let her father feel needed. 

“What about you?”

[aseventhdevil]

[aseventhdevil]

Late night walks seemed to be the only thing keeping Avery out of trouble; if she was alone, she couldn’t mouth off. If she couldn’t mouth off, she kept her sanity intact. There were times she was just a little too much of her mother’s child and so was her current predicament. 

Unfortunately, it seemed, she was never alone, even while walking around outside in the gardens. In her training, she was taught how to listen for different sounds, even something imperceptible. Avery doubted they even meant to sneak up on her. “A bit late to be out for us both to be out, isn’t it?”

[aseventhdevil]

rebelwithacausesolveig​:

Solveig rolled her eyes as she turned to face Avery. Something about the two personalities had caused the girls to never quite get along. Solveig was cautious to never be outright hostile, but their encounters were usually littered with taunting and thinly veiled insults. “Mmm, I am pretty sure it is not, and I have been around. Not all of us were so lucky to come out of the avalanche entirely unscathed.” 

.

“Marble floors and lots of windows makes shitty insulation.” Avery saw no need to one-up someone based on their locations, yet it came out anyways. Rebels needed to get along, yet she couldn’t bring herself to stop sassing Solveig long enough to get anything done. “And I can agree with it. I kept my appendages, but my quarters went to shit.”

[aseventhdevil]

katrienmeijer​:

Kat blinked in surprise, shocked by how cavalier the woman had been. And though she was a bit offended by the (fairly accurate) implication that she didn’t know what was going on, she laughed in spite of herself. “Wise choice,” she admitted. Her words made Kat smile. “Thank you. Feels as though the sky may fall any moment, if my country and this one go to war. But no use in worrying about it until there’s definitively something to worry about, I suppose.”

.

It felt less than what her father had commented on. Royals were selfish and spoiled but many of them knew little of the goings-on. The heads were the problem, not the stalks. “Then you take those problems as they come. No use in worrying about things you can’t control. Can’t worry about events next week if they haven’t happened.”

[flowflow24]

[aseventhdevil]

huntercrawfcrd​:

On a normal basis, people refrained from such straightforward comments around the prince. It came with the title. Not that Hunter ever deemed himself sensitive enough to bother with them. Slowly, he brought his gaze up to the woman, moving his shoulders in a small shrug. “Can’t be sure. Why do you ask?” Truthfully, Hunter believed he did a decent job whenever it came to heavy lifting. If it was something he felt like doing. If not, he would end up complaining a great deal.

.

“Well, do you mind helping me lug this stuff then? Or do you have servants to do it for you?” she retorted. Normally she would get a thorough tongue-lashing from her superior, but Avery now (thankfully) no longer worked for the Canadian crown. 

[aseventhdevil]

princeromanov​:

Ivan glanced up at the figure, not a royal and brave enough to walk straight up to him of all people and assume generosity of a cigarette. She certainly had some balls on her.

After a few seconds he decided to play along, for now at least, and drew another cigarette and his lighter from his pocket, holding it out to her. “That’s because we’ve all been taught how little it takes to start a war. People have every right to be concerned.”

.

“History has this annoying way of repeating itself when no one learns from it,” Avery responded as she accepted the cigarette and tapped it against the palm of her hand for a moment. She leaned to light it and gave it a few moments before taking a long drag. “Thanks for the cigarette. I s’pose not many ask how others are feeling, rather than demanding information.”

The nicotine had the calming effect she craved. Her grandfather smoked. Her uncles smoked. A single one wouldn’t kill her, despite her father’s hatred of them.