helpless

it'll take a lot more than rage and muscle

[bravetheforest-blog]

@imariism

“Somebody has been smelling weird lately and I don’t know who it is.”

It’s not something he recognizes, and it’s hard to single out scents in a group--Imari’s he can’t mistake, and Lia’s, too, but when everyone is together it can get overwhelming. 

Like a pheromone, if he had to guess, slightly primal and objectively seductive. It would be easier, as always, if he could see any subtle differences in the coven that would suggest who it might be.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re being targeted now.”

[imariism-blog]

     “ don’t know what you’re talking about, sunshine. ”

liar.  and lying to sunny is never worth the effort.  

                                “ – it’s complicated.  but everything’s fine. ”

[bravetheforest-blog]

If Sunny could do more than toss a deadpan expression in his general direction, he would. As it is, he sticks his nose close to the other’s shorn head and sniffs for dramatic effect, like he can actually lure out the truth that way.

“I don’t remember it being complicated before,” as in, you know, a century ago, “I think I’ll ask her about this. Am I gonna have to split my time between you?”

[bravetheforest-blog]

@imariism

“Why are you two acting so weird? I can smell weirdness and it doesn’t need to be there.”

He’s fine with a little weirdness as long as it doesn’t interfere with vital family things--like naptime and snowball fights.

[bravetheforest-blog]

@storhct

“Um. How come you didn’t ask me for help with this spell?”

Maybe she just hasn’t had a chance yet, is what he’s hoping for. Sunny has a hard time feeling useful on occasion, though, and that doesn’t help. It actually does the opposite of help. 

He also knows there are some things he just doesn’t grasp, and can’t remember because he wasn’t there. Imari was first and he doesn’t begrudge him that, but he can’t forget it, either. 

“Is it because I wasn’t around...then?”

[haveyouconfessedbro-deactivated]

[bravetheforest-blog]

They don’t hurt anymore, but he’s hesitant to let people see them, let alone touch them. It’s the skin he was never able to shed, and it’s hard not to feel ashamed. 

But he trusts his witch, and her touch is a comforting lull on his back; they look like a crude approximation of wings there, shiny dead scars spanning to his shoulder blades. 

He had a scary day today and she’s winding him down, after Imari had to talk him down from an anxious panic and then held him for an hour or two. 

Sunny leans into her, too relaxed, and tucks himself under her chin. It’s the only way he can fit there given that he’s nearly a foot taller than she is, but he feels safe.

“Goodnight, Lia. I love you.”

[storhct]

Wearing it to business meetings might be problematic but she thinks she can make it work. It can pass for a hipster thing like flower crowns, and she just doesn’t have it in her to say no to Sunny. “ Business meetings are how I get my money. And I will wear it. ”

[bravetheforest-blog]

He’s told her a million times that she doesn’t really need money, and barring that, he can just find her some. Simple as that.

But he also likes some of the things she buys with money, like her perfume and juice boxes, so he’s at an impasse with himself.

“Awesome,” he presses a quick kiss to the side of her head, sighing, “I wish I could see how pretty you look in it.”

[voiceofnature]

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[storhct]

She laughs at his comment about the fridge and takes the gifts with a smile on her face. Even in high heels, she has to stand on tiptoes and tug on his arm a little to reach him and be able to plant a kiss on his cheek. That’s what she would call unfair. “ Thanks, Sunny. I love them. ”

[bravetheforest-blog]

Sunny lets himself be tugged, gladly. It was a nice tug. 

“You’re welcome. Make sure you wear the wreath all the time, even in business meetings--whatever those are. Wasps might follow you there.”

She doesn’t really have to wear the necklace until Yule itself. But it is pretty, he thinks.

[agnelino]

         she can’t help but smile a little at the irony –          magic. her little secret from everyone else. 

                 ❝ weird things to smell like.. —- i would’a hoped i smelled like                   books or something. but yeah. probably. i’ve been to a lot of                   them. good sense of smell, you have. the only things potent                   enough for my nose to ever pick up on is cookies and blood. ❞

          her nose wrinkles a bit in recollections. 

[bravetheforest-blog]

“You smell like all of those things, too,” he decides, squinting in her direction, “and like a million different places. Do you move around a lot?”

She seems...trustworthy. But Imari taught him caution, and Imari isn’t here to fight for him now, besides. 

Aaron also stressed constantly that anyone who smelled weird in this area of Massachusetts was a person of interest.

“My name is Sunshine. Can I help you find anything?”

[malemodelfeet]

Lucky Blue Smith

[bravetheforest-blog]

@agnelino

“You smell like strawberries, but...drug store strawberries. Magic, a little.”

He’s usually preternaturally good at figuring people out. Not this one. Should he run?

“Oh, and funeral flowers. Were you at a funeral two years ago, give or take?”

[bravetheforest-blog]

“Lia, I made you things. Not for the fridge this time, okay? You have to wear these.”

[imariism-blog]

Imari snorts a little when Sunny takes to using him as an armrest once again.  He prods the other familiar lightly in his very prominent ribs.  

    “ She had to go to one of her meetings.               She should be back in a couple hours.  What’d you make her? ”

[bravetheforest-blog]

“That’s the most boring thing I’ve ever heard. What does she need business for, anyway?”

Maybe it’s just that he’s not quite sure what business even means; he just knows that it’s not fun. 

Sunny ties the necklace loosely around Imari’s neck to demonstrate it. It’s winterberry holly and red maple leaves held together by some dead roots, very festive. 

“This will make sure she has a very good Yule this year.”

[imariism-blog]

sunny’s always so good at finding just the right things, that the wreaths and trinkets and gods only knew what else that he made always seemed to come out looking nicer than anything imari could have done himself.  he gives sunny’s shoulder an appreciative squeeze once he gets the wreath sitting steadily on his head.

 “ good.  you know how much i hate mean bugs.                 — find anything good on your walk? ”

[bravetheforest-blog]

It’s a lucky thing Imari is shorter than he is, because otherwise he’d have nothing to use as an arm rest from up here. He’s a good friend.

“Not today,” he did try, but he has to know what to look for, “but I made something for Lia. Do you know where she is?”

He could sniff her out easily, but it’s best not to invade her privacy and incur her scary wrath–the same scary wrath that was definitely a genetic thing.

[bravetheforest-blog]

@imariism

Sunny made little wreaths from various flora he found on his walk, just for his friends. Goddess only knows what they look like.

“This is for you,” he steadies himself with a hand to Imari’s shoulder, placing one crookedly on his smooth head, “protects you from--mean bugs.”

[warchived-deactivated20230329]

Lucky Blue Smith