Be Wherever You Are

atticus // 150 // fae

[atticusofarborea]

oflark​:

“Researching is fun, so I don’t know how to answer your question. It’s important to me, and I think it could have an impact. And I want to. Don’t you want things that are difficult to get?” This was remarkably painful to talk about, but most of her existence was filled with a great deal of pain, it seemed. She could deal with a little wistfulness and conflicted feelings. It never got easy. “I wouldn’t be able to go into the sun like for a nice adventure, but it wouldn’t be the worst if someone opened a window when I was nearby. I got some exposure once- a while ago. I’d recently fed, which is the only reason why I survived, but… it’s worth it for my peace of mind to be careful. What would you do if you were in my position?”

Researching…fun?  Atticus didn’t know how to respond to that.  And he didn’t exactly like her tone, even though, if he was being honest with himself, no, he didn’t.  Things that were hard to get, which, in his position, wasn’t a lot of things—weren’t exactly worth it in his mind.  Yet he didn’t have anything to prove to Lark, and so he decided to admit as much.  “I don’t think I’ve wanted anything that was very difficult to get,” he shifted in his seat to a more formal position.  “The research—you’d probably have to find a smarter person to help you with that.  But obtaining the books you want…that I can help with.”  Atticus could imagine it was more difficult for Lark to talk about her past and her difficulties with vampire things, and so he said nothing in reply to her.  But he was more surprised at the last question directed towards him.  “I suppose I don’t know,” he answered quietly.  “I probably wouldn’t be as restrained as you are.  It’s always been hard for me to hold myself back.”

[atticusofarborea]

mikethompson​:

( Closed starter for @atticusofarborea )

Mike liked his job well enough, but it had been a little more stressful lately. With all the tension in town over domes and werewolves and council members and who knew what else, it wasn’t really a surprise that some tension had made its way into Traceless café. Still, just because the town was a little less chill now didn’t mean that Mike was going to stop being a chill, friendly dude at work. Which is why when he noticed that something had been left behind on a table Atticus had just vacated that was right next to he one he’d just been wiping down, Mike decided to help. “Oh hey, dude, looks like ya left this - “ he tapped Atticus’s shoulder to get the guy’s attention and hand the item back.

After a long day of doing nothing at the café, Atticus was ready to go back to the Ethereal Realm and recharge the old ‘magic batteries.’  He stood up and gave a small stretch after being hunched over his gameboy for so long, and got up to put his mug away.   His mind was preoccupied with the time, and getting back to the Realm, that he didn’t realize someone was trying to get his attention.  Atticus started to focus his energy on teleporting back, when at the last moment his mind registered that the “dude” was him.  He whipped around as the barista guy touched his shoulder, and everything went white as he and the guy--Mike, he remembered--went through the barrier into the realm. He couldn’t really think of anything to say at the moment.  “Oh, hey yeah,” he breathed, reaching for his gameboy.  “Have you--I should probably get you back.”  Atticus didn’t know how Mike would deal with being in the Ethereal Realm for the first time.  If it was his first time, that is.

[atticusofarborea]

devilsroast​:

Elaine spotted the book and raised a single eyebrow, but then shook her head and chose to ignore it. She let out a long sigh, rolling her head to one side to look at him again before letting her eyes close. “Daiquiris yes please.” she said in a happy sigh. “Eh, I don’t need to be drunk instantly, I just –” she fished the paper out of her pocket and showed it to him, “What do you see on that paper?” she asked. She knew what he’d say, he saw nothing, despite the fact she knew something was on it. That she had memorized every single word and could recite it without even thinking now. It played on repeat in her head. 

Atticus shoved the first thing he could reach, into his book as a bookmark.  In this case, a receipt from his pocket.  "Coming right up," he responded, sitting up and stretching slightly from his cramped position.  He paused as his twin shoved a piece of paper towards him.  He looked at his sister's expectant expression, and the paper, which seemed to be fairly worn.  Elaine must have kept this with her, maybe constantly examined it?  How did he not know about it, then?  Atticus took the paper from her, and peered at it.  "Uh.  Nothing?  Are you pranking me right now?"  He folded it up and handed it back to her.  "I'll be honest, I think you're running out of ideas."  He tuned into her thoughts automatically, getting up to make her a drink.  Atticus paused.  "What are you repeating?"

[atticusofarborea]

nighttcrrors​:

As soon as the words ‘it’s me, Atti’ left this woman’s throat, Briar fully took in the woman before her. The posture, the words, it all sounded just like her best friend. Before she could even stop herself, Briar threw herself around him and hugged him tightly. “I’m so happy to have found you. Can you tell me where I can clean this body up at? I can smell my own stench which is alarming.” Did Briar want to know what was happening? Absolutely! Did that matter more than getting cleaned up? Nope, not at all. “No, I don’t know what they are but I can’t get back to the Ethereal Realm so definitely not a fae. What about you? Can you get us home?”

Atticus embraced his best friend, and in that moment he released most of the stress he didn’t realize was riding on his shoulders. Sure, their situation had no discernible solution, or any sort of reason as to why. But at least he wasn’t alone any more. “Thank fuck,” he said into her shoulder. He had no earthly idea whose body she was in...just that Briar had hit the mark on the head. This body needed a shower. Atticus had not known Briar to enjoy having any sort of grime on her, so he could imagine the discomfort she was feeling. “I don’t know,” he admitted, “We could go to Elaine’s? But I don’t know if it’s unlocked. And if it’s not, which body has the keys. And I can’t get into the Ethereal Realm either,” Atticus added gravely. “I think Ulani—this body—is a witch. I wasn’t able to talk to her since she’s walking around as a goat.”

[atticusofarborea]

devilsroast​:

Elaine was sitting on the floor in their little home, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared down at the letter she had received, she was livid. Every single time she had tried to talk about the letter it was like the words vanished from the tip of her tongue. It was driving her mad. She had tried to show Aurora the letter and the half fae - half witch looked at her like she was crazy because it was just a blank piece of paper. Her fingers ran down her face and she let out a long groan.  “Atticusssssss” she whined, flopping backwards. “Do we have any liquor? I need something to drink.”

@atticusofarborea​

Atticus was sprawled on his twin's couch, reading something random he'd pulled from his sister's shelves at the library—a romance novel about a woman falling in love with a cowboy.  It was interesting... it made it easy to forget he was a cowboy at one point, and regretful that obviously he didn't do it right.  Elaine came in the room in a huff, and on mostly calm nights like these they'd communicate mostly by thought, so they didn't have to go to the effort of talking.  But Elaine seemed very out of sorts, and maybe she wanted to rant out loud.  Atticus tipped his head as she sat down, not taking his eyes off the book,  "I think we have some rum still.  I could make us some daquiris?  Or," he actually looked up and squinted.  "Is it one of those drunk-instantly kind of nights?"

[atticusofarborea]

oflark​:

“It sounds like you don’t have a good reason to have a lot of plastic out there, so both of your perspectives are completely fair. In an ideal world, I think we would be without plastic, but unfortunately there is no ethical consumption without capitalism, and therefore no simple, ethical way for a vampire to continue living under the threat of the sun.” Very frustrating, overall. She wished that it would be easier to go through life (unlife?) without being uncomfortable and completely miss out on the sun, but that was not to be. “At this point so many books. I keep making the list longer.” She shook her head, wondering if she should get someone else to check out the books on her behalf instead. That might be easier. “Blood has different rules in terms of flavor that I don’t want to catalog. My experience might be different than others, but I just know that it tastes good and not like it is literally blood. Not delicious for normal people.”

He'd heard the line about capitalism before, but never really thought about how it pertained to his situation.  He could tell, though, that Lark had given this some thought before this conversation.  Atticus shrugged.  He wondered vaguely if vampires as a species were very ethical.  But he neither judged, nor cared.  It's not like humans were ethical, though.  "I can imagine," Atticus said instead.  "You do what you have to.  Being cooped up is no fun."  He raised an eyebrow.  "Enough that it would take multiple trips, and multiple library cards?  Are you researching, or just reading for fun?"  Atticus was more about the latter choice.  He nodded as she answered his question.  He knew Lark was reluctant to drink blood, and so he appreciated her answering his question.  "No," he agreed on the last part.  Atticus couldn't even imagine it.  "If you drank until you were full," he asked cautiously, "would you be able to go out in the sun?"

[atticusofarborea]

nighttcrrors​:

All she wanted was a hot shower and to find someone she knew. Would they believe her if she said who she was? This was clearly not the form that she took when in the human world and certainly did not have enough glitter. Never mind that, she would take care of that the moment she got this body clean. After all, she needed to know what she was dealing with her. Just as she made it to town, Briar found herself standing in front of another woman but what surprised her was the fact that this woman knew exactly who she was. “Wait, you know me? And you believe it’s me?”

Atticus softened his expression; in part because he was relieved that he was right, in part because he could see that Briar was frazzled and he didn't want to add to her stress, but mostly,  even though she didn't look like herself, she was a sight for sore eyes when he wasn't able to find anyone he knew.  He leaned back.  "I think I know you pretty well," he smiled.  "It's me.  Atti.  I'm sorry whatever happened got to you, too.  You didn't happen to switch with another fae, did you?"  He was starting to wonder how they were going to get to the other realm in this situation.

[atticusofarborea]

Atticus + Elaine // Growing Up

@devilsroast

[atticusofarborea]

devilsroast​:

Elaine was frustrated as hell being a vampire sucked. She had to wait till the dark came down for her to get to her own damn house. She wasn’t sure if she was going to stay there considering how many windows she had in the house. She ran her hand through her hair as she walked through the door – only to see a face she didn’t know. “Eaine-y look?” she asked frowning and slowly closing the door behind her. She felt the urge to call her vines – only to remember she wasn’t in her body. fuck she thought before she sucked in a breath realizing – “Atti.” she said hand going to her chest. “The fuck – who’s face are you?” she asked setting the keys down before walking in and wrapping her arms around him. “I wasn’t with my phone for a good portion of the day then I was in the library, no not mine, i can’t go through to the ethereal realm, but i was trying to do research on how the fuck I ended up in Steffi’s body.”

“Ulani? I think that was her name.” Atticus frowned, wrapping his arms around her. He and Steffi were never at a hugging relationship, so this was a little odd. He needed to get past that, since this whole situation was odd. “Crap,” he responded. “I guess I was hoping you were a fae so we could get to the realm, but I’m a witch and you’re a vampire. I guess we’re stuck here?” Atticus didn’t mind that, as long as this situation didn’t last very long. Any longer than a week at the most and his mother would have some words. “Are you okay, though? You seem very...not okay. I can’t read your thoughts and so now I have to guess.”

[atticusofarborea]

oflark​:

“What do you mean you don’t have trash? I s it the lack of plastics? I bet it’s the plastics. ” Lark did not know nearly enough about fae if the concept of trash was foreign to at least this one. Well, now she wanted to move somewhere that she couldn’t even get into or out of without an escort. That probably wasn’t the best dream living spot, was it? “I don’t mind breaking a law or two as long as I can bring the books back, but are you saying you know the librarian in Copenhagen? Because that’s where I’m going.” She scrunched up her expression, stressed out about blood as always. “It tastes satisfying and riddled with complications. I’m not a good person to ask.” Probably because she had basically never had enough.

"Yes, mostly that," Atticus answered Lark, "We don't have a lot of plastic manufacturing plants   But it's also more like...how do I word it...some fae are mean and most of them love nature so if I were to bring in plastic I would get yelled at.  And I mean, I am also a nature fae, so I get it?  But at the same time, I think it would be great if some of them chilled out, just a little."  He frowned.  "No, I don't know the librarian in Copenhagen.  What book is over there that you can't get here?"  From Atticus' limited knowledge of vampires, he knew that they needed to drink blood to live.  It flummoxed him that there were some like Lark that just starved herself all the time.  He understood the reason why—obviously there's a moral dilemma with drinking blood from someone—but wouldn't that sort of thing go out the window when you needed it? He narrowed his eyebrows at her answer in confusion.  "I don't know if satisfying is a taste."

[atticusofarborea]

wishuponanoutcast​:

“I’m this close to killing her in the street, to rid the world of cretins like her.” Max hadn’t expected anyone to reply to him, but as he heard the male voice, he felt a need to vent. Seeing the cigarette packet offered out to him, the vampire paused for a moment before taking one, with a nod of his head in thanks. “It’s vile. Someone throwing themselves like that with bite marks all over their body, not knowing where they’ve been, wanting you to sink your teeth into them. Why would I want to touch that?”

The way the man spit out every syllable coated with malice to Atticus let him know this wasn't a one-time occurrence for him, nor was it the first time he had thoughts about the matter.  He wondered, in his head and not out loud, why it mattered so much that someone was begging to be a vampire?  Was the fact that he was a vampire a touchy subject?  Atticus gave a small smile in sympathy as he pocketed the pack, held out a lighter, and turned on the lighter for the man to light his cigarette.  "Is it gross for you to get blood from someone who wants it?  It sounds like it would be a lot easier."

[atticusofarborea]

itsfaedrian​:

“Well, there’s that,” he said with a shrug. “What can I say? You’re a decent fuck. I at least want to come back for more,” he said teasingly, running a finger down Atticus’ chest. “It’s an added bonus that you’re devilishly handsome and at least know what you’re doing, for the most part. Should I keep going? I’m afraid your head might swell to the size of the moon,” he said with a chuckle. He wasn’t as concerned with their predicament as Atticus probably was. He didn’t to keep up pretenses, and no one in his court probably cared about who he fucked, anyway. “Since when have I ever cared about being your dirty little secret?” He teased. “My apologies, your highness. Did you want a hot cappuccino or an iced latte, for this fine morning?”

Atticus smiled smugly as Adrian listed off the compliments, thinking there was going to be a trick at the end, and was genuinely surprised that there wasn’t.  “No, by all means keep going, my head hasn’t gotten there yet. What were you saying about how handsome I am?” He should have known his joke about taking Adrian was bound to be one-sided.  While Atticus wished he didn’t care that much about appearances or what his parents thought, it was something he couldn’t seem to escape from mentally or physically.  “I’m thinking an iced latte, your highness.  You get a drink, and then you get the ice as a snack afterwards,” he explained as he pulled himself off the bed, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head.

[atticusofarborea]

nighttcrrors​:

briar feat. atticus

( closed starter for @atticusofarborea​ )

When she was bored, Briar needed someone to entertain her. She had never been great at entertaining herself. No, when she wanted something to do she always bugged one of her friends in the ethereal realm. So when she noticed Atticus walking into Traceless Cafe, Briar was on his back quicker than even she could react to. “Atti!” She grinned as she clung to his back like a monkey. “I have the best idea! We need to grab as much caffeine as we can handle and then go through all the different doors and find the worst tourist attractions and take terrible pictures there.”

Atticus whistled a tune as he walked into the Traceless Cafe, like he did most mornings.  He was a little out of sorts and a bit tired, even though he didn’t do anything except stay up late the night before, but he was ready for a couple shots of espresso.  Only, he didn’t need coffee to wake him up anymore; Briar could do that for him.  He was used to Briar jumping on him...but not when she was almost as tall as he was.  “Oof--I mean, hey Bri” Atticus tried not to sound too winded.  “You’re a fucking genius,” he answered, walking to the line while gaining a few inches to accommodate.  “Maybe you can show me how to use my camera function on my phone,” he pulled out his flip phone out of his pocket.  “Since you wanted terrible pictures.”

[atticusofarborea]

closed starter for @devilsroast​

This day was exhausting, and Atticus decided he was going to just bunk in his sister’s house until things got back to normal.  Assuming things went back to normal by tomorrow.  He hadn’t seen or heard Elaine in his head all day, and when it got to night time he was starting to worry about her, when he heard the door open and Steffi walk through it with Elaine’s keys in hand.  Atticus turned around and examined her for a second, noticing the way his sister somehow made Steffi look like her.  “I’m going to assume you’re Elaine, based on that very Elaine-y look on your face.  Okay but seriously, I’ve been trying to contact you all day, and I know you sometimes ignore my messages, but not for this long.”

[atticusofarborea]

ulani-majusaka​:

Ulani scowled at him but figured he had a point. It seemed like their powers stayed with their bodies, but the knowledge on how to use said powers didn’t. This was just fantastic. Maybe this was just how it had to be. Being a goat came with less responsibilities anyway. Though, if she was right, that would mean that he probably had her necromancy powers too, and she could understand why that might be terrifying at first. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm down her heart rate as a few of the workers peaked about their hiding places. She looked at him expectantly as if he might have any brighter ideas. 

The goat didn’t seem very happy to listen to his instructions, based on the angry expression on its face.  But she was trying, and that was more than Atticus expected.  He looked around, noticing real people that weren’t fading away watching him argue with a goat.  He wasn’t embarrassed, but he turned back to the goat and said, “Do you want to go someplace that isn’t a morgue to try and get over it?  We could take a walk, or go to your place?  Maybe you’ll be more comfortable in your own space?”  Atticus now had nothing else going on for the day, and maybe if she stopped being a goat she could explain what happened and how to fix it.

[atticusofarborea]

ulani-majusaka​:

Ulani wasn’t very familiar with the Seelie fae, just how to recognize them enough to stay the hell away from them. The elders have always taught her that the fae couldn’t really be trusted, and she had spent most of her life keeping her distance, but she wasn’t aware that they had shapeshifting powers like this. She nodded vigorously, not entirely sure if she could convey her throughs in bleats. “The hell do I know? I woke up, freaked out and now I’m a goat!” She bleated loudly. 

Atticus couldn’t decipher words, but at least the person was understanding his words as he watched the goat nod its head.  Then more angry bleats.  “I can’t help you if you’re freaking out,” he exhaled impatiently.  “You’re acting like you’re the only one with the problem, but not only am I not me, but I’m also seeing shit, and it’s very stressful.”  He didn’t like the way she seemed to find it a problem they were a goat.  That was a little rude.  “Look, I mean it,” Atticus shook his head.  “You have to calm down first, and then maybe I can help you find the magic to turn back.”

[atticusofarborea]

nighttcrrors​:

( open starter with Briar during body swap)

Where the hell was she? One moment she was sleeping in her cushy bed, surrounded by the blanket that felt like a cloud and the next she was waking up in a secluded part of the woods. Was this some sort of sick joke that Luca was playing on her? As she stumbled out from where she had been sleeping (was that a tarp? This had bad horror movie vibes written all over it), Briar made her way towards the first spot of water she could find. Yep, she was going to kill Luca for this when she found him. What kind of practical joke was this? Was Atticus involved? He was supposed to be her partner in crime, not his. When she finally reached the water and moved down to splash some of the flowing liquid on her face, Briar was struck by the face staring back at her. This was not the human form she typically put on. Officially freaked out, Briar made her way from the stream and started fumbling her way through town to find the first sign of civilization she could. 

Atticus was very overwhelmed, and the worst part of it all was he couldn’t exactly escape his problem by leaving to the fae world.  For one, this body wasn’t fae, and so he couldn’t get into his home.  And other, his problem was himself.  And so he wandered aimlessly around Traceless, hoping whatever spell the town was under would wear off soon.  Atticus walked towards the edge of town, spying some ghosts darting amongst the trees.  That was another thing; all his powers were gone except for this woman’s--Ulani’s--who could see spirits.  It was a little unnerving and yet, he found he didn’t mind them so much.  He sat down on the curb of a small street and watched them, wondering where his friends and family were when he spotted a figure who looked a lot more solid walking down the road. He looked away, then back at the person again, thinking. Atticus wouldn’t have thought anything of them, just another person... except for their expression. His eyes narrowed.  If it wasn’t her, he’d just apologize and move on, but he gave it a shot. “...Briar?”