some boys don't know how to love;

GREG MULCIBER “Naked I felt as if my soul was exposed, my thoughts could be read. In the mask I felt protected. I eased the elastic strap over my head, adjusted the fascia to my cheekbones and glanced again at the mirror. The acid in my tummy had gone. Masked I am me. Masked I can do anything.”

[eletheaburke-blog]

“the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.” ~nicholas sparks

@gmulciber

[gmulciber]

wiitchcrvft‌:

she smiled, this was such a poor attempt and it was amusing to say the least. he’d floundered magnificently in their first conversation, if it could even be called that due to his flailing. and now he was very obviously terribly insecure about the whole thing that he felt the need to try and tear her down emotionally. it wouldn’t work, it never had and she’d been through very similar childish antics over the years to the point it only made her laugh now and she was laughing still, at greg. “you’re the only one afraid of that love, and for that lovely little bold faced threat you can enjoy detention every day until break.” no one would threaten her without suffering consequences, real or retribution. 

Greg smiled spitefully, despite knowing too well how that would look on his record. However, it seemed plain unjust, and he wasn’t going to shut up about it and let her do her witchcraft. ‘’One, I didn’t threaten, but state a known obvious. You don’t think you’re safe, do you, Head Girl? There’s a storm coming. Not from me. I’m hardly a danger. Mostly peaceful, actually. But from the position you’re standing, you’re not only exposed, but very big-mouthed. I’m just saying.’’ His tone became pretty matter-of-factly, albeit very engaged now in the argument, since she brought up his school situation. ‘’Second, I strongly advise you against doing that. Not only because it’s abuse of power and I will not, under any circumstances, drop it and leave it up to you or fate. Just because we’re in an argument and you don’t like me very much for whatever reason you’ve made up in your mind, it doesn’t mean you get to use the Head Girl super powers. It’s low. Solve your problems accordingly. Hex me, shout, tell Amycus to punch me and maybe he will - that’s fine by me. But you’re not the supreme power and I’m not, in fact, one bit afraid of you.’’

[gmulciber]

theoforestgrayson‌:

Theo felt his heart fall, saddened to know that Greg wasn’t finding their conversation interesting. He enjoyed learning about new people, he often forgot that excitement wasn’t shared by everyone. “I’m sorry…” He said again, ducking his head and turning his attention back to his canvas. He wasn’t sure what to say now. Potentially it wasn’t just the conversation Greg was bored by, it could very well be him as a person. “I… I wasn’t trying to meddle.” He focused on his paint, choosing a bright yellow, one he often associated with happiness, using his brush to carefully mix it with a deep gold. He watched as the colours merged, creating swirls he wished he could recreate on a canvas. “I only…” He sighed, biting down on his bottom lip as he applied it to the canvas before him, the first surreal choice he had made so far. The landscape before him was honest and plain, so he began to layer the lake, turning it a beautiful mixture of green, blue, and gold. He often painted what he wanted to see in that moment and right now he was seeking comfort, joy. He found that in surrealism. “Do you want me to stop talking to you?” He asked quietly. “Or… change the subject?” 

‘‘Well,’‘ Greg began, licking his lips as he looked over to the other boy and noticed a sudden wave of deep sadness overwhelm him into making himself small into the conversation. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared one bit - and he still wasn’t sure whether the empathy in his chest was just a slight amount of guilt, packed prettily into a shape. Only for a little, he understood or thought he did. ‘’I don’t want to switch roles and be the one to play the psychologist this time, but you get affected too deeply and you care too much about some stupid conversation. Who even cares what I say? No one does, I tell you. Not even my family. Don’t take it to heart. Just ignore me and find something better to do.’’

[gmulciber]

bellblack‌:

。·:✧:· HER EYES WIDENED as he spoke, those names echoing in her head, almost begging her to do something to ease her desire for a little bit too much torment. He was more than right and now, her hands itched to torture them, to show them that she was worth more than they ever could be. But the words that ate at her even more were the words blood traitor. She knew exactly who it was and knew it was a good idea, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. “Lily Evans. I’d have to wait for her to be alone. It seems the Gryffindors have a protective bubble around her. But she’d satisfy any desire for torture.” Pursing her lips, she tried to think of what spell she could possibly use, especially considering Lily knew most of them and could counter them if she heard what Bellatrix was doing. “Now to think of the perfect hex.”

‘‘Bombarda her shoes. I’ve always had the impression that you’d be one for explosive behavior. Maybe I am wrong,’‘ he smiled in an accomplice manner, still speaking fondly of Bellatrix, although he didn’t particularly agree with an overly violent mannerism just for the sake of it. Granted, he knew he could enjoy it at times, but it was nothing serious, nothing sadistic about it. There was just a hunger for power that Hogwarts provided well for those brave enough to ask. At the same time, Greg Mulciber prided himself on being civilized and elegant, making it difficult to split desire in two and be in two places at once, taking two stands. ‘’But she would be an easy target. I heard she does well in school, but most people that do well in school don’t know how to apply it anywhere. It might be boringly easy.’’

[gmulciber]

eletheaburke‌:

It was strange how after all this time he still felt familiar, even after these last few months. She wasn’t sure what to do, a large part of her was grateful he was here and was especially grateful he was willing to help. The larger part of her though, was incredibly nervous word might get back to her grandfather that they were speaking (and possibly even worst the terrible anxiety that he might hate her. she wasn’t sure she could bare it.) Her eyes found his as he spoke and she couldn’t help but frown slightly. “I highly doubt there is anyone better who is going to come along.” She stated. It wasn’t really a compliment to her it was simply true. A part of her felt like she should wait for someone else, it would be selfish of her to ask his help, especially after how things ended a few months ago. Perhaps she really is selfish or perhaps the pain in her ankle was severe enough to convince her but she took his hand. She couldn’t help the little ghost of a smile that drifted to her lips, she had missed being close to him and even if it was only for a short while she would cherish it for as long as she could. Slowly and carefully she got up with his help trying her best not to put any weight on that side but when she accidentally did the shooting pain from her ankle made her feel like she was about to fall again so without thinking she grabbed onto him to steady herself. There was a moment so close to him again she forgot it wasn’t the summer and it felt right but after a shaky breath trying to find a way to stand without causing any more harm she quickly reminded herself it wasn’t the summer. “I’m sorry.” 

‘‘I’m blushing,’‘ he deadpanned, not quite there, but trying to sneak in a small joke, mainly to test the field and see the stage they were in. It was odd, not talking to Thea, but what was the strangest feeling alongside her presence now was the fact that he no longer knew how to talk to her, although words were insisting on coming through the fluent, natural, characteristic way. Yet, he had to remind himself that summer froze under the cruel glance of winter and that none of it was what it felt like anymore. It was no tragedy. He could easily bury it under a pile of books. ‘’You’ll need to go to the infirmary,’’ he informed her upon witnessing the terrible attempt at walking. After just a sprinkle of excruciating blank silence, his hand secured her balance as he threw an arm over her shoulders. It felt both familiar and the strangest thing, which came with uncertainty. His other hand had grabbed his wand, and Greg waved it as to charm the books into picking themselves up and following them at a levitation pace. The apology ruined the nice, casual pretense that they didn’t truly know each other and that nothing had really changed, the illusion of a somewhat amiable interaction without it being deep. At the same time, it saved them in a way. ‘’Yeah, you should be sorry.’’ A dramatic pause he didn’t plan beforehand. ‘’For not knowing how to walk.’’

[nereiids]

As I cannot be the hero, let me be the monster, and lesson them in fear in place of love.

George R.R. Martin, The Winds of Winter (via slytherinwritess)

[gmulciber]

averykieren‌:

“Four sweaters, three heating charms and… How much to drink exactly?” Kieren asked, raising an eyebrow at the older boy’s dramatics. 

‘‘Maybe that’s where I was wrong all along. Care to join me? I hate to drink alone under daylight.’’ He had no particular opinion on Kieren, but despite all common assumptions, he wasn’t the one to be opposed to new or at least unfamiliar interactions.

[gmulciber]

narcissvblvck‌:

She should hope not, but she kept her little remark to herself. The Mulcibers were old friends of the Blacks and it had always been drilled into her that you don’t butt heads with family friends. Instead she smiled up at the Slytherin timidly, “Thank you Gregory, it’s working a charm.” She nodded at his suggestion, “You’re right, I’ve been deciding on what do get Trixie for Christmas and consequently which shop I should bother with.”   

‘‘If you need my humble opinion, I don’t think you should bother with trinkets and hair accessories. From my knowledge on the subject of your sister, you won’t go wrong with Borgin and Burke’s.’’ A knowing smile passed his lips at the thought of that shop. Granted, it was not in Hogsmeade, which must cause Narcissa an inconvenience. 

[eletheaburke-blog]

Thea had been waling back from the library and had a stack of books piled in her arms she wanted to read through over the winter holidays. She decided to cut through the court year to save time but she couldn’t see where she was walking around the books and of course with her luck she managed to slip on the ice and completely fall over twisting her ankle in the process. The books went flying everywhere and Thea huffed in frustration. “Bloody hell.” She muttered under her breath as she tried to push herself up but stopped when the pain in her ankle got to be too much. “Shit, of course I couldn’t just have an easy day.” She muttered as she noticed a shadow in the snow of someone coming up behind her she turned her head at first unable to see who it was with the sun behind them, “You are a life saver I’m so sorry to be an inconvenience would you mind giving me a hand up, my ankle-” She began to ramble though as her eyes adjusted to looking into the sun she realized she was talking to Greg and immediately a blush spread across her cheeks, she had never been so embarrassed, of course this would be their first interaction since the summer. 

@gmulciber​

[gmulciber]

He witnessed the scene from afar, without recognizing Thea from the back, and decided in a heartbeat that it was none of his business to help out the unfortunate child - although even a child had the potential of a few centimeters over Thea. Yet, it all changed with the first syllable spelled out by her voice. His eyes didn’t widen in shock or roll in frustration over a situation with great potential for awkwardness. Even now, even with all the scratches unhealed from the end of the summer, he felt comfortable enough around the other girl. Bruised pride spoke its word, but it wasn’t the entire sentence for sure. Her reaction was the opposite of his. His body relaxed, muscles unstrained, while she seemed frozen, embarrassed, small. He didn’t like the look on her. To diffuse the tension, his voice was at a friendly level of warmth, albeit trying to keep a decent coldness. They weren’t even friends anymore. Friends didn’t ignore each other for months. ‘’I could still help you, if I’m welcome to. Not too much of a life saver, however. I’m sorry. I’m sure that if you do wait a bit longer, someone better will come along this corridor.’’ He hated self-pity, despite delivering a smile that said just that. Yet, he had to save it with the next line. ‘’But you shouldn’t wait. You should get that looked at,’’ he nodded towards her ankle and offered a hand, while his hand searched clumsily for his wand inside his pockets.

[caesurabywriting]

“You do not know / How little I loved / Before I loved you.”

— Joan Naviyuk Kane, from “Love Poem,” Hyperboreal (via lifeinpoetry)

[gmulciber]

macmcry‌:

            there  was  something  thoroughly  off  about  the  situation  but  mary  couldn’t  quite  put  her  finger  on  it .  admittedly  she’d  been  on  edge  ever  since  coming  back  to  hogwarts ,  there  was  every  chance  this  was  all  in  her  head …  but  then  again ,  there  was  just  as  much  chance  it  wasn’t .  stop  it .  all  this  paranoia ,  all  this  over  thinking ,  it  was  going  to  ruin  her  life  if  she  didn’t  get  a  hold  on  herself .  so  she  smiled ,  softer  than  she  had  in  a  while  and  took  the  drink  he’d  summoned  from  him ,  sipping  as  he  spoke .  she’d  always  had  a  mind  for  names  but  she  appreciated  the  effort  he  went  to  to  make  a  proper  introduction .  “  well  it’s   nice  to  be  formally  introduced ,  greg .  even  if  it  is  a  few  years  late ,  ”  she  laughed .  “  i  suppose  you  don’t  really  need  to  hear  my  name ,  the  rumour  mill  probably  told  you  it  a  long  time  ago  but  ‘a  trust  you  won’t  bregrudge  me  the  formality ?  ‘am  mary ,  mary  macdonald ,  ”

‘‘Excuse my delay,’‘ he said a second after freezing, when her sentence sounded just an inch more knowing than it actually was. He knew Mary and her reactions well enough, even if she didn’t know it, and that wasn’t how she would’ve reacted if she knew and could harm a hair on his head. So his eyes lightened a little at the relaxation of the thought, determined to put that aside for the sake of the conversation. ‘’It’s bold of you to imagine everybody already knows your name, but anyway, nice to meet you too, Mary. I did, in fact, already know your name. You’re right. It’s an easy one.’’ It was incredibly strange, actually talking to her, but there was deep interest to see where a casual, civilized conversation would take them. The setting was unfamiliar to say the least. He was used to Mary glaring or staring blankly. The life in her eyes was a surprising change, for once. ‘’Pretty eyes,’’ he noted matter-of-factly, not trying to flatter or to pick her up. The comment simply passed through his lips, as an echo of his thoughts.

[gmulciber]

ofalicess‌:

            ‘  i’ll  keep  that  in  mind ’  somehow  alice  doubted  he  meant  that  in  earnest  but  it  was  more  effort  to  question  than  it  was  to  shrug  and  move  on .  “  sure ,  a  hole  isn’t  but  a  big  one ,  such  as  not  knowing  shakespeare ?  i’d  say  that  is .  even  frog  choir  has  taken  something  from  his  works —  ”  she  was  ready  to  continue  on ,  to  make  a  point  about  how  somethings  transcend  the  wizard / muggle  divide  when  he  said  it .  a  different  species .  “  a  different  what ?  ”  she  asked ,  not  quite  trusting  her  ears  or  that  someone  would  really  say  that  in  front  of  her .  

”You’re exaggerating gravely. It’s one writer out of very many,” he breathed out in exasperation, absolutely certain that she hadn’t read everything he had in his library, but not wanting to turn it into a competition or, worse, a conflict. They had schoolwork to work on, which he cared about infinitely more than Shakespeare. ”A different species. Muggles, wizards, vampires, merpeople, werewolves, fucking giants. So on. Do you care for a further elaboration or shall we actually do what we’re supposed to do?”

[gmulciber]

narcissvblvck‌:

Narcissa clutched her coat about her a little more firmly as the Mulciber boy held his wand aloft in question. “Please,” She chattered out, not caring about just how desperate she must have sounded. “Just don’t burn off my eyebrows or anything,” She warned with a light laugh, her breath swirling out of her mouth. 

‘‘I’m not the worst wizard who can perform this charm. Relax,’‘ he simpered kindly and waved, with brief and small gestures, his wand. ‘’It’s still too cold, but hopefully I made it a little more bearable. Perhaps you shouldn’t be outside.’’

[gmulciber]

wiitchcrvft‌:

“even if you ever deigned to ask me to join you in anything it’d be met with a firm and immediate no. you’re a bore greg, and a delusional one apparently.” now she was actually being rude but with good reason, that he’d gone to this extra effort to make it clear he didn’t want her company, she was far from wounded. “but that was a hilarious attempt at a dig, try harder next time.” she flashed a smile, he hadn’t even gotten a nick at her very thick skin.

‘‘Because childish snowman making is so entertaining. I mean, it should be on your level,’’ he smiled caustically, albeit not furious. It was a rare state of his, though annoyed was a deep understatement, too. ‘’I’m only afraid you didn’t understand and you’re out of your depth,’‘ he shook his head. ‘’Watch your skin. Something bad might happen if you’re not careful.’’ 

[gmulciber]

rvbvstn‌:

rabastan began laughing, a hollow sound that to more trained ears would be a warning. but greg mulciber was an idiot, hardly worth bas’s time or energy. it was why he suddenly felt quite calm, because greg was a waste of anything worthwhile, his whole family was and his intelligence would never make up for the shortcomings that were so clear. “you believe what you want.” he said with a grin. on the outside, on the surface that might look true but for such a smart guy how was it he couldn’t see the truth beneath those political and public machinations. bas would leave him in the dark, where he belonged. “you’re barely better than those muggleborns you speak of, how funny you say our home like you think you’re a welcome guest.” 

If there was one weak spot that threw him into hell right away, that was being stepped on, and he felt Rabastan’s heel against his spine sharply, so much that he could quite literally feel the blood in his cheeks run. Yet, the best he could do was stand proud and with no bothered, despite the ugly words. All he had in his defense was a much brighter mind and a future to change all prior injustices in his favor. He knew he was right. ‘’I don’t believe. I notice. The temperature of our government is nothing less than that, despite inner intentions. They don’t matter now. Facts do.’’ The rest was a lot more delicate to address, and he didn’t have a broad answer himself, suddenly feeling small. ‘’I’m not going to argue my status. You too know you’re wrong and it’s enough to spare a long yet utterly useless conversation.’’

[gmulciber]

narcissvblvck‌:

“At least you’re old enough to use a heating charm outside of Hogwarts, mine’s just about worn out,” Cissy muttered, “I’ll have to rely on my fur lined coat for any hope of warmth.”

Albeit not being a ladies’ man, he was brought up to be at least an occasional gentleman. The youngest Black girl seemed to have the effect of pulling out the most of courtesy from most people, looking so conventionally pretty and so helpless. Greg stood no chance. ‘’May I?’’ he inquired, nodding to his wand, genuinely wanting to help.

[gmulciber]

rvbvstn‌:

he saw the other roll his eyes and it was ironic because he was so very wrong and thought himself on some high horse of fact. “i see no evidence of that statement mulciber.” but he wasn’t about to reveal any inner knowledge, of the ministry and those in power, to someone like greg mulciber. the old families held so much power, and poor little greg had no idea, no idea what was coming or how wrong he was, it was almost enough to nearly pity him, but not quite. 

Greg was generally a peaceful figure, but if there was one thing he couldn’t sit back from, that was debating politics, which was one of his favorite activities. In the middle of the street, it was fairly dumb to, but he was fired up already. ‘’You must not see very well, then. The entire world is at least pretending to be fighting for inclusion and a better and swifter introduction of the newbies to our society. The Ministry itself is all stirred up trying to appear socially correct and unbiased and this entire mask we’re all carrying around is making it insufferably easy for every damned muggleborn in the world to take a seat at the table, expect equality in our home and - even more - wrongly believe that they’re more special the way they are. Or even better than the purebloods.’’