The truth's a killer

but I can't leave it alone.

[holyterrainn]

[leightonhaywood]

hanascng​:

      “But at least you tried. There usually is no perfect answer, and if you’re patient with her, maybe you will have time to get the chance to talk again.” Hana knew no one was perfect, even if many people were expected to be just that. They were all just human, they messed up, they said the wrong things. They just had to reflect on themselves, and try to do better. “Oh yes, I am. Especially for the supernaturals in this town who might need it.” And while Hana didn’t like flaunting it, she actually pulled a card out of her bag and held it out to the vampire. “My door’s always open. If you want to stop by, you can give me a call or send me an e-mail if that’s more your style.”

“I’d like to think she’ll come around.” Emma had her mother’s stubbornness though, she’d made that very apparent. Leighton lets out a sigh before he is smiling at the wolf who has most graciously grabbed a business card for him. He takes it, glances at the name Hana Song, it’s not one he recognizes. Nodding his thanks, he tucks it in the pocket of his jacket before he’s straightening and looking to her curiously. “Give me a week and I’ll take you up on that. But why psychology if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve given a bit of thought of heading into the field myself after the last year I’ve had.” Another doctorate, it was something to do with his time

[leightonhaywood]

mateoaguilars​:

One hand pressed into the sand, and he could feel the texture of the grains under his fingers— abrasive enough to make him feel tethered, as though such a thing was required when in Leighton’s presence. His cheek against the other’s shoulder made him feel like something that could easily float away, he was lighter, soothed by the stillness of the other’s chest and the rhythmic lap of waves against the shore. The question came without prompting and Mateo looked up through his lashes, catching blue eyes with his own hazel ones before his teeth sunk into the fullness of his lower lip, biting away a smile.

“I was never just interested,” the vampire admitted, and he tilted to press his chin against Leighton’s shoulder now, studying his features contentedly. “I like you,” he said easily, while the hand not coated in sand lifted to draw along the sharp angle of the other’s jaw. “But if you need to, I’ll wait for you.”

-

“I like you, too.” The response is so immediate that Leighton immediately chuckles and looks from Mateo to their hands in the sand. “I think I knew that. The last time we were out here.” After they’d left Styx while they’d just sat there. He thinks they’ve come a long ways since then and he has to admit he feels more...Confident? About himself at least, perhaps a little more in tune. It hadn’t ever been something he’d really addressed over the years, his sexuality. The first time he’d ever kissed a man, he’d been a vampire and he’d simply thought to himself ‘why not’ when the opportunity had presented itself. He had the same mindset when it came to this, whatever it was between them. He simply just liked Mateo. Liked being around him, liked talking to him, liked kissing him.

“We have all the time in the world, you know.” He muses, reaching for Mateo’s wrist with his free hand to kiss the inside of it. “Thank you though, for being patient. It’s new, I didn’t think I’d ever date again.” And he means it, but he’s also fishing just a little, throwing the word out there. They don’t need a label, he thinks that they’re both immortal creatures with decades before them, but he’d maybe like to know if that’s what this was, dating.

[emmaxdarling]

@leightonhaywood​

Fall had come to Corinth Bay, and a chill lingered in the Grecian air as a result. It was unseasonably cold, especially given the location. While it was not physically necessary, Emma enjoyed the aesthetic of the oversized sweater that she’d pulled on that morning. The leaves were changing and the birds were flying South, Emma was presently on the hunt for the perfect perch with which she could watch them migrate from. Only coming upon her father, Leighton before it was too late to turn around. She followed the man’s line of sight, going from eyes that mirrored her own to the birds overhead. “You too?” The vampire asked before leaning into the awkwardness and taking a seat on the same bench from him, not exactly close, but not as far away as she might have sat. Was this a mistake? The thought ran through her mind before she ever voiced her question to him, but some time had passed since their last conversation and her -very embarrassing- little outburst. He had nothing that she wanted, and he had nothing that she needed. But still, the man, however a stranger, was Emma’s father. She owed Leighton more than what she’d given him. “I’ve always loved bird watching,” Emma offered as she set her bag down and rifled through it before she produced a barely started scarf she’d been working on. A deep shade of emerald green and orange twined together in intricate and complicated patterns. “well, not always. I picked it up in the seventies.” 

[leightonhaywood]

He thinks he’s a spring person, always has been. There’s something about it, the flowers sprouting back up even after months of cold. It’s optimistic, it’s a time of growth. Fall is it’s counterpart, everything seems to die and wither away. But it’s perhaps a bit of a calm before the storm that is rebirth. A moment to just shed things and wait. Each tree losing leaves is taking a pause, telling everyone to be patient. And it’s on the tail end of that thought that Emma sits down beside him on the park bench. Leighton could have bolted when he heard her footsteps along the path, when he’d first glimpsed her, but he’d been adamant to just remain calm. This was good if she was approaching him that meant maybe she wanted to talk more. That didn’t make him feel any less anxious though, surely she still has more to say to him. But it appears she’s trying, and therefore he will try too. “There’s a lot to see here. I imagine the orioles will be out more before they head off for the winter.” He casts a glance to her, feels something warm bloom in his chest at the sight of the knitting project. There’d been evenings on the porch like this with her mother, Marie cursing her needlework as he poured over a book.

[prinzenavarro]

closed starter for @leightonhaywood​

This was a big house and he couldn’t help but stare at it wide-eyed for a moment. The one he had grown up in had simply been big enough for his family to live in. Prinze had shared a room with a few of the foster children that had come into their home, but overall it was his. Nevertheless, this was certainly different. He had just passed by a very nicely decorated bedroom when he caught eye of someone tall. “I assume this is your house?”

[leightonhaywood]

It is incredibly new to be sort of staying around Mateo’s place. In fact, he almost feels a bit out of place, being there without the other, and then it just gets more awkward. Mateo had snuck out for the bar and he had figured he could lounge around a bit longer and apparently he’d tuned out the world a little too well, and hadn’t picked up the nearly silent footfalls in the hall. Hence why he was sitting up in bed, button up shirt from the night before unbuttoned, and hair tousled, staring at another vampire, smaller in stature, in the doorway to the room. The pause is pregnant between them and it’s not his house, he can’t very well dictate who comes and goes, and yet he’s filled with curious unease as he sits there frozen, jean clad legs swung over the side of the bed. “Not at all. Far bigger than anything I’d get for myself.” It’s bizarre, it’s awkward, it’s perhaps a little unnerving, but Leighton finds himself kind of amused by the odds of someone catching him in someone else’s bed. “I don’t mean to be rude but um, who the hell are you?”

[leightonhaywood]

calxlaskaris​:

“That’s right,” Cal says, nodding his head once. Though Leighton and Eli have never officially made each other’s acquaintance, he’s had no issue speaking of either with the other. Both are a part of his life, and Cal holds so many secrets already close to his chest, he sees no reason to unnecessarily add to them. “He’s here in the city with me, along with another of my progeny.” Perhaps it is time for them to meet, he thinks. There would likely be no more fitting of an opportunity, with everyone in such close proximity. His eyes linger on Leighton’s face, wondering what provoked such curiosity. “Why do you ask?”

-

It feels a little cliche to sort of dump anything on a sire, from what he knows anyways. Leighton had always prided himself on being easygoing and relatively low maintenance in both life and death. He thought he was always sort of the ear that listened, he normally didn’t have anything to complain about. Or at least nothing he wanted to share, lest he burden someone. “I uh, have met someone.” And he can’t say it without smiling just a little bit, even if the reality of the situation is sort of daunting. “At a rather inopportune time, and yet…” His shoulders raise in a shrug as if to say ‘what can you do’. “Another vampire, figured our situations might match up a bit.” Which was a polite way of hinting that, hilariously, he needed more love life advice from his sire than vampire advice.

[leightonhaywood]

kitxberker​:

“Yeah, the woods are nice,” he agreed with a nod and a little smile, the forest was currently his home. As embarrassing as that was to admit to himself. It was a lot more comforting in the denseness of the bush however, than the city streets. He had a lot of culture shock coming into Greece without a single thought of what he was going to do. The woods were familiar, whether it was the wolf inside him that liked it so much, or the fact that within the trees you couldn’t tell where you were. Kit gave the vampire an incredulous look, a little taken back by the tone he offered when the werewolf had admitted he didn’t know what he was. “No…” furrowing his eyebrows he shook his head. “Natural enemy?” Kit wasn’t one to watch movies, he used to be so busy. Working in the mines or on the farm. “You smell like death…” then a flash of realization hit his eyes and he immediately took a step back. “A vampire? No fuckin’ way.” 

-

“You really didn’t know?” It’s not something he’s really asked any of the wolves he’s met. It’s kind of just a natural thing for him, to be tuned into all of his senses. He sort of has to be, otherwise they become overwhelming. Leighton regards the man before him again and cants his head to the side just slightly. Definitely a wolf, the smell is borderline overwhelming, there’s no mistaking it. Aside from that, he smells like the woods. “How long have you been….?” He trails off and raises his brows. He’s got a bit more tact than to just say it out loud, but he doesn’t hold it against the other, the poor guy seems to have had a hard enough day already.

[leightonhaywood]

mateoaguilars​:

“Emma,” he tested it on his tongue. For a moment, he wondered if he would ever meet her— and if she would like him; as he was, someone involved with her father. It was his experience that most people either enjoyed his company or vehemently disliked it, there was no neutrality when it came to a vampire as obnoxious as he was. “You’ll figure it out,” Mateo promised, pressing another kiss to Leighton’s forearm as he reached for him. “If it matters, you’ll figure it out. Family is important, you know?”

He curved into Leighton’s grip, caring little for the attention it drew from staff and patrons. His own set was over and the rest knew well enough what to do when it was time to close up, there was nothing binding him to the Embassy now. “You like asking that, huh?” A crooked grin tugged at Mateo’s lips. “Yeah, let’s go. Somewhere quieter, maybe.”

-

It’s different this time, the way they sit together on the beach. They’re closer, sides pressed together as they look out at the water, the light from boardwalk yards behind them offering soft lighting. It’s beautiful, Mateo is beautiful, and Leighton thinks that there’s no way he can miss any signs now, not this time. He looks down to where their fingers are intertwined in the sand, actually leans just a little against the other vampire. It feels a bit like coming full circle now that he has a better idea of what they are to one another. Though he does wonder…

“Are we still just merely ‘interested’?” He asks, turning his head to look at Mateo and despite the slight smirk curling at the corners of his lips, he can’t help but feel a bit nervous. He doesn’t think either of them have shown signs of pulling away from the other. If anything, the fact that Mateo is willing to be with him knowing his baggage seems to show that he’s more than interested, that this is more of a long haul situation. It’s comforting, and yet, to hear the other’s thoughts on the matter would solidify a few things when his life felt a bit….He was trying his best to keep everything together again.

[leightonhaywood]

“You’ve been with the same person for centuries, right?” It’s a careful question over tea. The new place, the villa he and Hippolyta had settled into, he felt it was finally ready to have people over. Not like he thought Cal would care too much about the state of the place, it was Leighton’s own stuffiness, his need for things to be in order that had him hesitant over having anyone over yet. But a lot had happened and frankly, he was going to take advantage of the fact that his sire was in town, their meetings were too far and few between trips. They’d come a bit full circle now, he’d gone back to his family once upon a time, now part of that family had come back. He’d been looking to maybe create a new life with someone else and a part of the past had come to remind him of what he’d left. He wished she’d just show up on his doorstep, that they could just fix everything, but that didn’t seem feasible. @calxlaskaris​

[leightonhaywood]

mateoaguilars​:

This was bothering Leighton, he wasn’t too dense to realize that— but Mateo failed to see what it was that the problem was, until he voiced that his daughter was upset with him. While he didn’t understand the intricacies of parenthood, that much he knew intimately: what it was like when someone you cared for dearly could not stand to be near you, that hurt did not easily get a comparison to anything else. Still, he clung to the other vampire, unsure of how to comfort him, curving under his chin.

Later, he suspected that Tobias would have questions and that a smirk would settle upon Emory’s mouth for catching his boss that way, but he didn’t mind it too much, not when they were twined together under the lights like this. “If it counts for anything,” Mateo said, lifting hazel eyes to study the sharp line of Leighton’s jaw and the way that it tensed under stress, “I hope that she forgives you soon, if that’s what you want.” It made him think of his own parents, more than anything: if his mother waited for him to return to see her, if she thought that she had done something wrong to keep her only son from visiting. “What’s her name?”

-

They’re in a very public space intertwined in such a way that suggests intimacy, and yet, it’s Mateo’s establishment and he’d let him set the boundaries there. He’s not quite prepared for the question and he finds his fingers coming up to cup the back of the other vampire’s neck, ildy playing with the curls there. He’s not sure what has been done can even be fixed, it’s not on him. He’s said his piece, it is up to Emma to come to him if she’d like to do so.

“Emma. I doubt she kept my last name.” There was the chance she could be using Marie’s maiden name, but a lot of time had passed. “I’d like to fix it, if I could. I just don’t see it being all that feasible.” Leighton’s voice is still quiet over all the noise and he shifts his weight from one foot to another, rests his chin atop Mateo’s head. “Do you want to get out of here?”

[leightonhaywood]

hanascng​:

     “We’re not sitting in my office, so no.” Hana wasn’t officially doing her job right now, and she simply liked listening to others to empty her own mind of the pain that followed her everywhere these days. “Oh, that’s always intense.” It would be easier to judge if she knew who exactly this person was who had come to haunt him, but it was not her place to ask. Hana rested her chin in the palm of her hand and watched him with curious eyes. “I’m guessing you apologized, but she didn’t want to hear it?”

“I don’t think there was an answer I could give her that she’d have liked.” It feels far too honest and he almost didn’t want to admit such a thing out loud. As if to distract from it, Leighton perks up a bit at the office comment. “You’re actually a psychiatrist?” It was still at the back of his mind, the idea of going back to school yet again for such a thing. It’d started out as a joke, but with this stretch of time before him, with going back to school every few decades just because, he might as well. “Perhaps I will actually come stop in, I doubt this is going to stop plaguing me any time soon.” His smile is self deprecating at best, but he does feel a bit sheepish for his quip if this is what she actually does for a living.

[1038276637]

[leightonhaywood]

mateoaguilars​:

Mateo nipped at Leighton’s lip, hungry for more than just a firm kiss— his was a constant state of dissatisfaction, of hunger and of desire, but Leighton’s seriousness quelled what lay in the pit of his stomach and he instead focused on nuzzling at the other vampire’s neck, pressing his mouth to what would have been a pulse point had they both had hearts that beat. “I’m not mad,” he confirmed, pulling away to rest his cheek boyishly against Leighton’s shoulder. “It’s kind of hot, actually.”

Hazel eyes mirrored the blue and the red from the lights and he wondered if such things would have bothered someone else— if it would have been a reason to run. “Are you going to try and make things better with her?” He wasn’t sure what kind of choice he would’ve made in such a situation, but then again, he had never actually had children when he was alive, nor had he been interested in such a thing. They came from different lives, whole different worlds. “Did you know?” Curiosity made him ask, “That she was still alive?”

-

Under any other circumstances, Leighton might have basked in the attention he was being shown. It was still new, it was still exciting and it was something he was honestly a bit eager about. But even Mateo’s touch couldn’t really draw him out of his funk, the matter weighed too heavy. Though he’s still relieved that the other man isn’t bothered, but it feels...He has spent so much time brooding, he has already agonized over the loss of his family for well over a century. The shock of her alive, or well, undead before him had sort of robbed him of the joy of being in her presence again. She was there, she was there and he loved her and she was rightfully furious at him. “I didn’t know. She was maybe seven when I last saw her.”

He turns his head to press his lips to Mateo’s temple, eyes on the shelf of liquor behind the bar. “I don’t know if I can fix it. She has a right to be mad at me.” It’s not up to him, ultimately. The ball is in her court, he figures if he goes searching for her, he’s only going to make everything worse. “I wanted you to know though. I should have told you that day.” The words are practically mumbled against Mateo’s forehead, they’re still so close together.

[leightonhaywood]

hanascng​:

     “It always does. But fortunately it’s not.” Hana herself felt that way, ever since her daughters had been murdered. The world kept spinning while her shoulders were weighed down by an indescribable weight that made it hard to move forward. Her solution was to busy herself with the problems of other people, which was quite easy considering her profession. “Do you want to talk about it? I’m a certified listener.”

“Is it going to cost me?” It’s a dryly asked question, but he is a bit touched that someone would offer to lend him an ear. It’s not a position he is familiar with, normally he’s the one allowing people to talk to him. He’s a good listener, always has been. “Without getting too deep, someone from my past came back. Someone I didn’t think I’d ever see again.” Leighton looks to the wolf and rests his elbows on the table. “Bit hard to process, she’s mad at me and the worst part is she has every right to be.” He deserved every bit of Emma’s ire for what he did, she’d had a point, he could have gone back at any time.

[leightonhaywood]

kitxberker​:

Kit paused before a smile crossed his lips and he shook his head slowly, “no…no I do not,” he mused back. As much as the smell of the stranger bothered him, the stranger himself seemed pretty friendly. Was this one of the vampires Marshall had mentioned, or was this a witch? Or something worse. He couldn’t quite tell, not yet anyway. Was it rude to ask? “Oh yeah, I arrived just a couple weeks ago. I uh am living just up near the woods right now until I find somewhere more permanent but yeah. Pretty new.” he shoved his hands in his pockets a little nervously as he asked the question. “What. What are you exactly?” 

-

“The woods are nice around here. I do a fair bit of hiking.” He’d always been a fan of lush forests but Corinth was something else. Everything felt a bit ethereal in nature and he wondered if that was partially what had kept him around in the first place. Flippant compliment about the bay’s foliage aside, Leighton finds himself a bit off put by the wolf’s question. “You don’t know?” His brow furrows but he can’t help but be a little amused by the naivety. Or maybe it’s bravery, to just outright ask someone what they are. “Bit of a natural enemy of your lot, I think.” His eyes glance to the people around them on the street. “Or at least modern media would like to think so.”

[leightonhaywood]

emmaxdarling​:

She said no. Emma’s dead heart froze in her chest, cold blood ran frigid as the words felt like an olive stake through her chest. So in the end they both had a choice, and they had both chosen to leave her. Leave her as opposed to be what Emma eventually became herself: a vampire. “No,” she shook her head but everything had started spinning. “you don’t-” When the vampire had finally grounded herself there were tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. The dam was breaking and Emma wasn’t sure for how much longer she could hold back the river. “I lost her too.” She reiterated. “You don’t get to use her death for your justification.”

Would that Marie had simply died, was it any easier to learn that she’d been left by choice as opposed to circumstance? Unfortunately no, it felt even heavier to burden. She’d sought out Leighton for answers, because she wanted to look into his eyes of the man she’d long believed dead so she could hear for herself what his excuse was. The vampire didn’t have a bitter bone in her body, but she wanted him to know how happy she’d been despite him, how great her life had been. She wanted him to know that she’d had a family, and she didn’t abandon them as he did her. Emma wanted her father’s approval, but now she didn’t want anything from him. 

She didn’t know this man, and every word that fell from his lips somehow only made her burden feel heavier. It wasn’t enough that they grieved the same person, that her loss wounded him. She’d been the child, and she lost both of them. The tears that had threatened to spill did not betray her, and instead Emma smoothed her features into one of assured disappointment. “I listened, and somehow you made me feel even worse.” Emma shook her head, “I moved to this city to find answers and now that I have them I want you to know that I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving, and I don’t want anything to do with you.” She turned away from Leighton, settling definitively on the fact that she would call him that as opposed to her biological relevance to the centuries old vampire.

-

“Emma!” He calls after her, takes a couple of steps towards her even, and then he stops. There’s more, he thinks, there’s more to his justification, but is there really? Grief had driven him away from his family, that’s what he’d always thought. The fear that he could hurt her, hurt the Halleway family altogether, whatever friends he had in town. Marie’s death was something that still haunted him, that he still hadn’t come to terms with. He could have saved her, and yet he couldn’t save her, not as a doctor, not as a vampire. Helplessly he’d watched her slip away from them. Marie had gone on her own terms, that’s what she’d wanted. Leighton understood that part, but he didn’t understand her choice to leave.

Emma didn’t want him to follow. Emma didn’t want him to follow and he stood there on the street looking after her and felt tears welling at the corners of his eyes and he moves too fast to the alley beside the bar. He had always prided himself on being cool and collected, he was level headed. But this was something he’d never thought would happen, something that should never have happened and he didn’t deserve the chance to chase after her.

[deactivated-blog]

@leightonhaywood​

     “You’re going to get wrinkles. If that’s a possibility for you, that is.” Hana sipped on her coffee, her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the stranger. A vampire, but she had made it her mission not to judge anyone. It sort of came with the job. As did the fact that she often read too much into everyone around her. “You also look like you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, and I can assure you no one does. Or are you just trying to look like the main character in a movie who stares longingly into the distance while a voiceover is heard?”

[leightonhaywood]

Leighton’s drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of the...Werewolf’s voice and he looks up from the newspaper in front of him on the little cafe table to look at her and then he offers a humorless scoff. It’s nearly a laugh, he’s doing a lot of that lately, mostly in disbelief. He straightens in his seat and plasters on a smile that’s borderline sardonic. “Sort of feels like that, the weight of the world.” It was dramatic, his world was small, but it’d expanded to encompass Emma now. “I wish that second one thought, never quite thought of myself as main character material.”