[wishbzne-deactivated20210526]

Anne Carson, from Red Doc>

[by-winters-cold-hand]

ian-magic-son​:

`**☆ 

“Rain check,” he grinned, shaking his head as she brought up that old book of hers. Back when he was playing the perfect brother, the perfect witch, then he might have even been scandalized. It was hard to pretend to play ‘high horse’ when you’d come seconds away from the crossing the line yourself. That said- “You and that book, O. I’ll have to start pinning post-its to my cool jackets with spooky spells just to get this kind of attention, huh?” It was weird but nice to be able to joke around with her.

He let out a laugh when she mentioned Salem. “Hey now, since he re-discovered cologne he’s smelled a dream.” Ian held his hands out in mock surrender at her reaction to his excellent prom theme idea. Ian wondered what it might have been like if Olivia’s life had turned out differently. Maybe in some alternate world she’d been protected, loved properly from the start. Went to her own prom with its cheesy Cashino theme night. Of course he kept those thoughts to himself.

“Why? Do you want me to want you to come?” His grin was teasing and he definitely snuck a few more looks over at her. As fun as the teasing banter had become, he didn’t let the question linger too long before grinning again, meeting her eye. “Yeah, I want you to come with. You’d only have to play semi-nice and there’ll be free food. Plus, no theme.” He held off on adding something about how it’d be nice, together, as friends. Baby steps (after the giant leaps he’d tried to make). “And my beautiful face, totally free of charge.”

~

Olivia paused momentarily, watching Ian and his grin with a raised eyebrow. How strange it was that that book of hers had changed her life so completely. If she hadn’t found it, she wouldn’t be sat on a step right now with someone actually smiling at her, or joking with her, or asking her to go to a party. It wasn’t that she had ever wished for those things before -or maybe she had but had dejected herself to the fact that she would never have it- and she certainly hadn’t hoped for those things when she had to use the book for the first time. But she wasn’t mad about it.

Olivia blinked, quite aware that she had been staring at Ian’s face for way too long. Then she rolled her eyes. “I never pegged you as the jealous type.” She laughed very faintly at the thought.

It was better not to read too much into it. It might ruin the moment, or whatever this was. Or it might positively freak Olivia out and the little specks of light peeking through the cracks in the walls might go dark again. It was banter. It wasn’t that deep anyway.

“I’m not answering that,” she answered, knowing the answer was a solid yes. “Free food and no theme...” Olivia repeated, thoughtfully. Then she clicked her fingers, feigning some sort of gosh-darn-it disappointment. “You had me right up until beautiful face, Ian. I’m so sorry. You blew it.” She understood, though, that he was being genuine in his want for her to go to the after party, and just as Ian had done, didn’t let the joke linger too long, despite a growing smirk on the corner of her lips.

Olivia sighed in defeat, dusting herself off as she stood. She took Ian’s hand, placing her half-eaten apple in his palm. “Fine,” she nodded. “I’ll come with. But only to make sure I can see it if that free of charge face does anything stupid.”

[by-winters-cold-hand]

blakewith-astake​:

`**☆

“Cheap cologne? That has to be stinging someone’s ego in there,” he said, also gesturing towards the front door behind her. Blake had run into many people with all sorts of stories; that was a given when you lived on the road, saving people and hunting monsters. Knowing Olivia, meeting Ian, it was all just a part of his messy, supernatural life. He knew that she was a warlock and he knew that made her dangerous but still, Blake kept an easy smile. That was the way he’d always been: a little naive and a little too charming. 

Blake let out a laugh at her antics. Fair enough. Even though he knew that technically Olivia didn’t care, he still felt a pang of guilt over asking about Ian. Witches could be kind enough to help hunters, he knew that and he also knew that hunters took advantage of that kindness, of their magic. He and Ian wanted the same thing but it wasn’t Blake’s life on the line that night- it had been Ian’s. 

“Is the WiFi down?” He tapped his own temple, joking. “I could always just text, anyway,” he added, before letting the sentence linger, trying to ignore that guilt again. They’d been perfect strangers who met each other on their worst night. It left a mark. He wondered if Olivia cared about Ian. Or, well, whatever was closest. “And what about you? Everything okay? No missing books this time?” 

~

“Someone needs their ego deflating anyway,” Olivia shrugged. She thought Blake could have done with a deflating too, but then again, she thought that about most people. She was still mighty suspicious about why he was lurking around, waiting for some tarnished penny to drop. A charming smile here and a quip there wasn’t going to ease the suspicion any time soon. Olivia had spent enough time around Ian to know not to fall for the trick.

“Something like that,” O replied, before taking a firm bite of her apple. It occurred to her that she was actually joking around, and she couldn’t have that. Heaven forbid she transformed into an approachable person! “Are you two, like, BFFs or something now?” she asked, half-chewing and highly unamused.

“What’s your deal? Like, do you want something or something?” It was a bit useless asking how Olivia was. She was never really anything outside a baseline of ‘whatever’. “Everything’s just peachy. I’d ask the same but I’m not all that interested.”

[by-winters-cold-hand]

ian-magic-son​:

Time must have passed, she must have paused because as soon as he’d almost reacted to her voice he had drifted off again. He really was exhausted. It felt as if the whole year had finally come crashing down on him, forcing him to really look at what had happened, what he’d done and what had been done to him. And all he wanted to do was sleep. It wasn’t until she moved, placing her arms on the bed and spoke that he stirred once more. While he really, truly did want to sleep it was as if something was urging him to open his eyes, please. That it was suddenly the most important thing in the world that he opened his eyes but he really didn’t want to. He wanted to…Ian…you start asking… —Then he did wake up.

Fortunately enough his eyes remained closed, a twitch crossing his features before he relaxed again. There was every chance he might drift off again but Olivia’s voice was so…small, forced, unsure. The waver in her words was enough for him to fight to focus on her voice although he offered no other sign that he was in fact listening. Not once had they talked, truly talked, about her. About why she had the nightmares, about why she turned off her humanity and before Ian had been trying so hard to take the moral high ground. He had been trying so hard. But he wasn’t that person and he couldn’t save anyone. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t care. He cared, he cared about Olivia even if hurt, even if it was for all the wrong reasons. So he waited— fighting against the safe, warm lull of sleep— for her to say it.

~

Olivia had almost been hoping that her whispering woke Ian up, so that she could pretend she didn’t have this idea and say it was a nightmare instead. But he didn’t stir. When she realised this might be her only chance she bit her lip harshly.

It should have been easy! There were no feelings of fear, or worry, guilt or anything that could have been stopping her. So why wasn’t it?

Well, because maybe she hadn’t done a very good job switching her humanity off in the first place. Or maybe Ian, even in sleep, managed to pull one brick out of the otherwise sturdy wall. Her humanity wavered. Just for a second, but she felt it. It shot up her spine, around her rib cage and stung.

Fear.

Olivia was scared. She hadn’t been scared for the longest time. But it felt different this time around, probably due to the humanity thing. It went from a sting to a dull ache and another moment passed when she buried her face in the mattress and mumbled a slew of profanities to herself. When the composure was back, she looked at Ian again and took a steadying breath. Just out with it, Olivia. Just say it.

“Ian, I--” Again, she wasn’t any more confident than her previous whisper. “I killed my parents...” There. The hard part was done. But she couldn’t wait for a reaction, because if she did then he might wildly over-react and get rid of her. “Well, dad. I killed my dad. He was a bastard, he would-- he-- It was the only thing that would stop him from hurting my mom and... me... Mom had magic, but she wouldn’t use it or do anything about it, so I took her book and I read it and I fixed it myself. I could hear him downstairs, and he was still fighting mom until he dropped. A-And mom, she-- she was sad about it and I don’t know why. I hate him. But no, she said she loved him, it was my fault he was gone and then...”

Olivia swallowed hard, taking another breath. She hadn’t realised, but by the time she wound up at this part of her story, she had founded Ian’s hand and was running her fingertips over his knuckles lightly.

“Well, I didn’t mean to kill mom. But I had switched everything off by then and I wasn’t sorry about.”

[by-winters-cold-hand]

declanmagicaltate​:

𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐫 -

𝐇𝐞 𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝. “𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥.” 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

“𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐈’𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭.”

~

“Damn. Then it’s not the cat I need. Which I guess is kinda lucky.”

Given that Olivia couldn’t feel an awful lot (or anything for that matter) she did like to cause a bit of trouble on occasion. The knowing feeling that Declan was a man of magic was rather obvious; it was an all too familiar feeling in this town, to know that a witch was nearby, and Olivia wondered if this witch was in too much of a hurry to notice the very obviously not witch presence.

So, when he ran off in his hurry, she swiped a subtle hand, so that a nearby tree branch, gnarled and heavy, mysteriously blew along under hit feet in order to trip him up. “Might wanna watch your step if you’re in a hurry,” Olivia crawled, no look of sympathy on her features.

[by-winters-cold-hand]

ian-magic-son​:

“Oh, so harsh,” Ian winced in exaggerated pain, his hand over his heart as she told him he’d be banished to the front step. “It’d probably start raining on me and everything… I’d be cold, lonely, drowning in sequenced regret. Basically starring in my very own Adele music video and you really wouldn’t let me back in? My heart’s broken.” For once, it really all was in good fun. Ian had stopped pretending to be someone he wasn’t- so self righteous, so perfect- and they’d both confessed things to each other that put them on even ground. It was better this way. It felt more real. He liked that.                                                                 

“Chillin’. You’re so hip these days, maybe you could have saved the prom from such an uncreative theme, huh? Personally I woulda plugged like, a Cashino night but that’s just me. You got me, I can’t pass up the op to sneak wine and be doted on by the Havensdale moms,” he winked, leaning against the wall beside her, sneaking a very casual glance-, “Why, you wanna come with?” 

~

“I can try to make that happen if you like,” Olivia replied, almost teasingly so. She wasn’t going to show fake sympathy for his amateur dramatics, but she could certainly make it worse. “I’m pretty sure there’s a spell in that ol’ book of mine actually. And no, I wouldn’t let you in even after that. You’d be all wet, and smell like Samson.” She pulled a face of disgust, and then finally took a loud bite of her apple.

“I mean I could have, obviously, but saving prom doesn’t actually sound like my speed, does it? But Cashino night?” Olivia repeated through a mouthful of apple, actually disgusted this time. Ian could be cheesy but gawd, he was ridiculous sometimes. Despite the disgust, and apparent nonchalance at being involved in anything Havensdale Community related, Olivia was maybe a little tempted to agree to go along. She glanced up on time to catch the wink.

Maybe she actually did want to go. The best part of feeling absolutely nothing was that, well, sometimes it felt an awful lot like boredom. Or maybe she actually was bored. But, of course, she could admit nothing of the sort, and wouldn’t admit to maybe, possibly wanting to go if Ian was going. And absolutely for the love of God would she not admit that it sounded kind of nice to spend time with him now that things were less... Y’know. So she shrugged, played it cool, and threw in a nonchalant pout for good measure. “Didn’t say that. Why? D’you want me to come with?”

[by-winters-cold-hand]

blakewith-astake​:

Blake hadn’t seen Olivia Winters since she’d called in that favour in return for her nonchalantly saving his life during a bad hunt (he’d been blocking her exit, the vamp was trying to eat him- tale as old as time). Man… That seemed like a lifetime ago. Then he’d met Ian Morrison because of her and that damned book she’d wanted back. Then he and Ian— Well, they’d made a mess, hadn’t they? Trying to bring the dead back to life. That definitely did not feel like a lifetime ago. The point was, he and Olivia had settled their debt and he really had no reason to be stopping when he saw her and yet…

“Better the smell of fake tan than cheap cologne. Prom can be a tough time on everyone, even if you’re not on the guest list. How—,” he hesitated knowing fine well asking how she was would be a stupid move-, “Is Ian?”

~

It wasn’t that she was feeling chatty. Actually, she just felt like complaining. She obviously didn’t do that often enough, and getting that sort of stuff out of your system is good for you, don’t you know. The last interaction with Blake had almost been wiped from her memory by now, unimportant now that she had her beloved book back under her care. Granted, O was also well aware of the wonderful time he and Ian had playing with magic and wasn’t too sure how she actually felt about it. (Y’know, because of the whole no feeling thing.) She certainly wasn’t expecting Blake wandering near her house, and was suspicious that he might be looking for more of that magic.

“I smell enough of that in here,” Olivia replied flatly, pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the front door. (Now that Samson had two legs and not four, the distinct cheap cologne smell in the house was almost unbearable.) Her eyebrow quirked when he asked how... Ian was.

“How is Ian? Lemme check,” Olivia replied, pressing two fingers two her temples and closing her eyes. She opened them after a moment and shook her head. “Nope. Sorry, no idea. He’s out of reach of the radar at the moment.” (It was easier being a smart ass than admitting she wasn’t actually sure, and it wasn’t any of Blake’s business anyway.)

[imogenpootsdaily]

[by-winters-cold-hand]

.

[by-winters-cold-hand]

hello my name is gemma and i have never read a tag ever in my life before replying lol

but fuck it i don’t care

o is not at prom but maybe she felt like wiping out whoever had the bad fake tan and is lurking nearby idk

[declanmagicaltate]

Too late

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐈’𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫!”

[by-winters-cold-hand]

Olivia was minding her own business nearby, five hundred percent not listening to anybody. There was some dude nearby (a witch, she could tell) seemingly trying to talk himself out of being late or something. Her ears did catch on to the mention of a kitten in a tree though, and a sudden thought occurred to her. She butted into the conversation to voice it.

“Did the cat happen to have a tail?” She asked flatly. It seemed like an innocuous enough question, but she realised that she hadn’t seem Samson for a hot second, and hey, she couldn’t predict how that curse of his might work! He may well have been turned back into Salem the cat. The curse might not have accounted for his tail being re-attached after she gave it a good chop.

[by-winters-cold-hand]

oh-roxy‌:

Olivia Winters was one of those warlocks that didn’t care to pick a side. Of course since Roxy had been confined to this town for a while now, it hadn’t taken too long to see that she’d also had no problem with shacking up with a witch. It raised more than a few eyebrows and while Roxy was busy with her own tormenting of a certain pretty little witch, D-Day was looming. Choices would have to be made. In any case, she had no problem interrupting.

“Let me guess, you weren’t the prom queen?”

Quite frankly, Olivia didn’t give a shit. About prom, or the whos-and-whatsits of this stupid war. She didn’t care who these so-called ‘big bads’ were, nor could she care less about what they had planned for this shitty little town. She didn’t think herself important enough to even be on the radar (not that she would necessarily choose to fly under it). There were names she heard in passing, but could she really be bothered to remember them? Nope. Roxy Cane was one of them. There was a vague name, but no face. Though there was a vibe when she approached, y’know?

“I don’t think they could have handled it,” Olivia replied with a shrug, pulling the stalk off the apple and shining it on her knee.

[by-winters-cold-hand]

ian-magic-son‌:

Freed up from making Dexter look certified fresh by even his own standards, Ian was heading back to the apartment to dig out a bottle or two to bring to Lyndsy Moore’s after prom soiree. He was excited. Not only was this a big night for his boy- his son, basically- but Ian had loved his own prom. The air of nostalgia was nice if he didn’t think too hard about it. It figured of course that Olivia didn’t share the same sentiment.

“I think I can hear the hurt feelings from here, O,” he joked, flashing her and the uneaten apple a grin. “At least it wasn’t an Under The Sea theme, right? Mermaids everywhere. I’d still be covered in glitter glue now because there’s no way I’d be letting Dex go to his senior prom without adhering to the theme. Hollywood night won out in the end, BTW, if that wasn’t clear through the thick scents in the air. Anyways… What’re you doing?”

“Good, that’s what I’m here for,” Olivia replied with the hint of a smile on her lips. She turned the apple over in her hands, rolling her eyes. “You’re right, though. Under the Sea would have been worse. There’s no greater curse than glitter. You would have had to have slept out here on the step if that was the case.” The very idea of poofy dresses, and glitter, and partaking in such a vapid excuse of an event was enough to make Olivia’s skin crawl. She had never understood the hype. “Can’t say Hollywood night is the most original thing I’ve ever heard of though. They clearly aren’t a very creative bunch over there at the school.”

At the question, she shrugged her shoulders. What was she doing? Well, sitting on the front step, sniffing an apple and being a cynic, that’s what. “Oh, you know, just chillin’. What’re you doing? Going to that after party thing?”

[nvr4vr-deactivated20260119]

Imogen Poots as Jess Crichton in A Long Way Down (2014)

[by-winters-cold-hand]

Olivia sat on the front step, an un-bitten apple in her hand. She rested her elbow on her knees, in turn resting said apple on her lips. It was prom, but she hadn’t been particularly phased by the idea of it until a group of girls clip-clopped passed in ridiculously expensive dresses, in shoes they couldn’t walk in, giggling among themselves on the way to their car. 

“I have never smelled so much fucking fake tan in my entire life... And I’m not even anywhere near the school.“

[cbcruk]

AGE OUT (2019)

[by-winters-cold-hand]

s’happenin bitches???????????????????

i’m bACK