keep to the code

Rule No. 432: All research must be submitted in full to the head huntsman for review before setting off to complete the mission.

[codeskeeper]

xxblooded:

Violet hurt all over, but how could he see that? Stearne knew how to hide his marks. A shrill noise reaches her ears, and it takes her a moment to place it. She’s shrieking, right into his lap with her nails digging into his legs to keep him close.

Her own legs are thrashing out, kicking the blankets clear off the bed. She looks like a child again, hanging from their uncle’s hand as he held her suspended by her hair. Except it was Stearne gripping her hair just hours ago. Kissing her. Tearing her apart from the inside out.

Gabe held onto her as she trashed, he knew she need his presence and he did not shush her to tell her everything was okay. It was, in fact, not at all okay. What was he supposed to do for her? He wanted to kill John, but he couldn’t without others uncovering their secrets. He didn’t want anyone else to know what was happening to his sister and look at her differently. Somehow he knew people would vilify her.

He did try something earlier with John, right after Violet was clear of the hallway, he went into the office. The man just laughed and laughed when Gabriel hurled the accusations at him. Even threatened him about other personal matters if Gabe didn’t quit running his mouth. So naturally Gabe lost his temper and hit John right in the jaw. Several things happened after that, but none of it helped her feel better. None of it mattered compared to her pain. “I’m so sorry, my love.” He started rocking back and forth as he held onto her.

[codeskeeper]

xxblooded:

Realizing there’s no sense to this conversation, she gives him an easy smile. Though it is clearly hollow. It’s not like she had much energy these days to be convincing. “Right.”

Patting his chest reassuringly, she gestures with her chin at him. “They’ll be fine, we all will. I’m just being my morose self.” It was a running joke about her by their peers, one they weren’t aware she was well aware of. “Should pop a Paxil or something, hmm?”

Gabriel drew his brows together and walked closer to his sister slowly. He had before been accused of being too calculating and distant when it came to things he said, he had to think carefully before speaking or acting. It was an odd movement for a brother, he wasn’t as visibly emotional as the rest of his family and approaching her with such slowness made him seem afraid even though he was not.

“You are not morose, just as I am not uncaring.” He whispered as he took hold of her free hand. “Have I done something to upset you? Did I miss something?”

[codeskeeper]

tiptoelo:

Curt, he was being curt with her. Like they were colleagues instead of…whatever they were. Lourdes stares at him for a  moment before answering. Trying to decide how to. It wasn’t fair to tell him how much she missed him, and missed their girl. It wasn’t fair to tell him how much she wanted to be home. They both knew she wouldn’t stay very long.

“I’ve been well,” she finally responds. “Better than you, mi vida.” Familiarity, she thinks that’s what he needs. That she can provide. She’s glad that Nadia was with her cousins, they probably needed her desperately. Almost mechanically, she sets about tidying up his room. Fluffing a pillow here, and tucking a few stray items of clothes back into his drawers there. “I’ll be here til a couple days after the funeral. I’m staying in the guest house by Potter Lake.”

Gabe never really could express his emotions the way others could. Sometimes it was frustrating, his ability to understand everything except the simple things like what she meant to him. He tried to be open with her, but she ran away from him and their daughter. Maybe he’d never really understand why, or maybe he thought it was actually because he’s just too detached to hold someone’s heart.

“You know you can stay here.” he says in the same even tone he used while greeting her. Standing here now and watching her tidy up his room seems almost like a distant dream. None of it feels real, but even if he did go to sleep now he would still wake up and half of his siblings would still be dead. A moment of weakness has him being unfair, “I think I— Nadia needs you to stay in this house with her.”

[codeskeeper]

tiptoelo:

“You look well,” her smile is crooked, as it always had been. She’s not sure the left side of her mouth ever did know how to keep level with the right. 

The darkness of the room is only cut into by the muted light struggling to shine through the heavy drapes pulled across his bedroom window. She wonders if he pulled them closed himself. Stepping further into the room, she hesitates to say something else. Years, it’d been years since she’d come home. “Surprise,” she whispers, looking down at her feet. “Is Nadia home? Her room is empty.”

The corner he had been sitting in wasn’t comfortable anymore and even though his eyes were adjusted to the darkness, he turned to yank open the curtains for her benefit. When he turned to face her again he tried to smile too, but it was too obviously false. Gabe hadn’t really slept, but it only showed in his eyes. He knew he needed more, but the nights blurred into mornings before he could stop the progress of time.

“It’s lovely to see you.” his mind was busy plucking out everything different about her starting with the length of her hair all the way to the tiny eye crinkles that were barely there years ago. “Nadia is with her cousins at the moment, they love each other’s company I think. Or need it...” He’s lips twitched up, not long enough to even be considered a smile again, and his hands are now folded behind his back, “How have you been?”

[ahopkinsprincess]

“Family before all else,” she says firmly, setting down the sword she just finished cleaning. “Family before glory, before…” She stutters before looking up at her dad.

Nadia should really know this. She’d been studying all night, the family history and the Hopkins creeds. Huffing, she tosses her rag onto the table and sits with her arms crossed. “Sorry Dad..”

[codeskeeper]

   The little hitch didn’t disappoint him, not everyone could read a book once and remember everything down to the last footnote. Gabriel knew how much time she spent studying this because he passed by her room twice and her nose was in the book.

“You’ll get it, sweetheart.” he placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed hoping his reassurance would make her feel better. “...Before society and self. We rise together or fall apart. Next. Name the very first Hopkins to hunt witches.”

[xxblooded]

It would seem that there was no place, Violet realizes, that a Hopkins could be safe. Not even in the arms of another Hopkins.

She backs away quickly, straightening her dress before heading to the door. Maybe he hadn’t meant it the way she’d taken it, maybe he didn’t mean for her to survive this on her own. But it’s not like he’d put a stop to it, had he? She looks over her shoulder when she reaches the door and gives him a smile. “We’re Hopkins, Gabe. We’ll survive.”

[codeskeeper]

Something was wrong, he did something and he wasn’t sure what. There would be no backtracking, so he frowned and walked to her side quickly. “We always do, but Violet... I’m sorry, but we can’t force them to make up.”

Gabriel definitely missed something because unaware she was no longer talking about the twins. Had he known she was talking about herself, he still wouldn’t have told her what he planned on doing and what he had already done.

[xxblooded]

Violet tries not to melt into him, but she never could resist her Gabe.

The black hole in her chest has grown, swallowing everything that made her Vi. She wonders why he still loves her. “Some things are beyond helping.” She tries to pull away but her body doesn’t abide, her heat picking up by several degrees. “I just need you.” A breath. “All of you.”

[codeskeeper]

Their family must have been cursed, every few years it seemed like something had to break. Like they needed to test their love for each other, test the lengths they would go to in order to make their family safe again. Unfortunately, they couldn’t always help each other; they could only be there for one another.

"Sometimes we have to let the ones suffering try to handle it themselves no matter how badly we wish we could help.” Gabriel squeezed her one more time before letting her go.

[xxblooded]

She chose to do it. It was her choice, right? How disgusting was she, to choose this and to feel like this.

“You…” She remembers the way he’d looked at her, her dress barely buttoned and her hair coming free of her braid. The wetness of her eyes, round like when she crawled to him for comfort. “You don’t understand.” When she looks at him, she feels her heart break. “I chose this.”

[codeskeeper]

Gabe was always patient; he was always kind and caring when it came to his family or students. As the eldest sibling in the family, he felt like he had a responsibility to take care of their issues big or small.

This situation reminded him of when he’d lost Vi and his mother for a short time, and he didn’t like this feeling one bit. “No.” he said quietly, searching for the right words so as to stay gentle, “Darling, I know you didn’t choose to... it was written in your bones.”

[xxblooded]

Violet nods, keeping her expression cold and unemotional. He didn’t need her to be freaking out too. Before she leaves though, she makes sure to lean up against his side and give him a brief kiss on the cheek. When she pulls back though, her expression is still tight.

She rubs a hand up his back, trying to be comforting. It’s quite a stretch for her short arms. “It’ll be alright Gabe, you… I can help you.”

[codeskeeper]

His lips curled up at the corners and he tugged his sister into his arms. Sometimes they just needed a hug, at least he needed one. He stayed holding her for a few moments as if he’d lose her if he let her go.

Finally, he whispered, “We should help each other, Vi.”

[xxblooded]

Peeling the sheets from her sticky skin is a relief, why hadn’t she thought about this earlier? She presses her face into the pillow, taking deep gasping breaths as she tries to cool down.

“I keep dreaming about him.” Their mother’s uncle, the way he’d put his hands on her. Nearly ripped her hair from her head when she was just a little girl. “He’s dead.” She thinks, she doesn’t remember. “Isn’t he?”

[codeskeeper]

Gabriel scooted closer to her and tried to comfort her as best he could, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. He only knew that she needed him right now, so he’d stay here.

“He will never cause you pain again.” Yes, that bastard was dead but something else was bothering him. Something he’d witnessed only hours ago. Gabriel leaned down and pressed a small, dry kiss to her forehead, “But someone else has been, am I right?”

[xxblooded]

Violet didn’t like all this fighting in house. Well, she loved when they were fighting over silly things. Like when she put shaving cream on Dan’s hands while he slept or when Noah shaved that strip of her hair a couple of years ago.

“How much time?” Her voice is small in the library, and she knows she sounds like a little girl all over again. It must be annoying for Jon, to put up with the twins and at the end of the day comfort her. She straightens up, her eyes going cold. “It doesn’t matter, however much they need.”

[codeskeeper]

Jonathan was tired of the boys, it was getting difficult picking jobs for them since they insisted on working alone. He’d have to start giving Violet and Dan some of the weight, luckily they were ready for it. At least they couldn’t have picked a better time.

As he thought over an answer to give her, she managed to come up with one herself. The way she looked when she said it though, it shattered him even though he agreed. “You’re right, but hopefully sometime this year we’ll be able to talk them into it. The bloody fools.”

[xxblooded]

The sweet girl’s forehead is burning up, she’s remembering the heat. The stifling heat her mother showed her that day. The heat she is to keep a secret.

“It burns, Jon,” she whines, turning her face into his hand. His skin feels so cool, compared to the fire raging inside of her.

[codeskeeper]

Jon kissed her forehead and snapped with his freehand to turn the fan above them on. She was burning up despite the already freezing temperature in her room.

   “I'm so sorry. Let’s take the covers off, shall we?”

[xxblooded]

Violet had always worshipped Noah, he excelled at everything. He could do anything he put his mind to, and did it above all others. She wished she could be that confident, but now… Now, she was just disappointed.

    "What do we do? Can we fix it?“

She leans into Jon’s touch, naturally and instinctively. Everything about him was comforting.

[codeskeeper]

Sighing heavily, he shook his head in reply. He wasn’t sure this was something that could be fixed so soon, especially since Elijah left any room Noah entered. Both of them were being ridiculous, but Jon understood Elijah’s frustrations.

      “Anything we try to do right now won’t be taken seriously, the twins need time...”

For once, he wasn’t so sure time could help. They’d always been somewhat inseparable, they’d never fought like this before.

[xxblooded]

     "It’s just a dream… Just a dream…“

[codeskeeper]

Jon kneeled next to her bed and put his hand on her forehead to push her hair out of her face, “I’m here, darling. Your brother is here.”

[xxblooded]

    "Why did he do it, Jon? Elijah is….“

[codeskeeper]

Jon had no idea why Noah had done such an awful thing, he could not give his darling sister a good reason. Petting her hair, he replied with the only real answer he could give.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.         I gue--- well yes. He's an idiot sometimes.”

[melanoradrood]

Sherlock ’totally modest’ Holmes