Alis Propriit Volat

Ah, finally. Minerva Locke, (Jessica Lowndes), a witch of the Church of Dark has come home. She is 29 years old, and brings her familiar, Thackery, a black Turkish angora cat with her. She is described as perfectionist, blunt, and with a powerful memory for details.

[minilocke-blog]

imogenhayes‌:

‘‘I promise.’‘ Imogen offered her another smile. She wouldn’t bring Carter back from the dead. He wouldn’t want that. And Imogen still wanted to live. She didn’t want to die yet. The act of bringing someone back from the dead – it cost too much. Imogen was foolish, but she was also smart. Happiness was something that she didn’t want to think about anymore, because it always came down to the same questions: would she ever be happy again? How could she ever be happy again?

‘‘Don’t place too much faith in gaining happiness from another person, Mini.’‘ Her smile tightened. ‘‘You don’t want to end up like me.’‘ It was meant to sound like a joke, but it didn’t quite come out right. ‘‘I mean –, you know what I mean. Make your happiness yourself, Mini.’‘

Mini found herself nodding in return to her words. It was all she needed to hear from the woman, and she wouldn’t press for anything other than that. It wasn’t appropriate, and, for the time being, it would have been something uncalled for. “Thank you, Imogen,” she stated, deciding to take a seat next to the woman. There had been a time when this would have been something she did without thinking too much about the consequences or how others might have seen it. A lot had changed in the valley due to the war.

What Imogen said made the brunette pat her hand a couple of times. It was a gesture that said she shouldn’t try to explain what she was saying, and Mini could understand where she was coming from. Her own experience with those wasn’t the greatest, and she would have been lying if she ever said people hadn’t let her down or turned out to be disappointments before. “I know,” she said softly. “I also know sometimes these things have a way of blindsiding you,” she disclosed, and, this time it was obvious it was something she was saying about herself.

[minilocke-blog]

zadie-maclain‌:

The woman’s hands were tiny, and she stared at them in some shock. She remembered what it was like to not have gloves, or a coat, or even shoes with their soles intact. Almost immediately, Zadie’s hands clamped over hers, shielding the delicate skin from the wind.

“Anyone else?”

Who else was there? Where were they? How had it–

Slowly, Zadie took in their surroundings, the snow whipping against her cheeks. The tombstones and the ferocious wind, beating against her shoulders just like it had at the north outpost. Her mouth went dry. “Sam, I’ve gotta find–”

Sam.

Shelter.

She stared at Minerva, wide-eyed.

“Where?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mini revealed with a few shakes of her head. “You’re the first person I’ve seen, but, considering we’re here, I believe there are others who might have been scattered in the vicinity as well. I will have a stroll around, see if I can find anybody else,” she had already come up with that part of the plan. The warmth that exuded from Zadie’s hands made it feel like her own were even colder than she’d initially assumed, and she allowed herself to rejoice in it for a little longer.

Biting her lip, Mini analyzed their surroundings. That was Circle of Nightfall territory, but she did not doubt someone was in charge of keeping it presentable, that might have been their best bet. “I don’t want us to end up having to take shelter in a mausoleum, for I have the feeling those would end up being colder and more vulnerable to the weather than if we stayed right here. So, I believe we must look for some sort of shed. There must be a place where people keep the tools for grooming these grounds. We should look for anything that might resemble it. And gather resources for the evening. Whatever we might be able to find,” she instructed.

“Come on, let’s see what they have over there,” she began leading the way to a place where she thought she could see a small flickering light.

[minilocke-blog]

severin-ealing‌:

Death is the only certainty of life. His mother said it often. “It is. But hopefully now that the war is over our paths will cross during happier occasions.”

Minerva lived on a large expanse of land. No other houses or signs of neighbors could be seen as he looked around. The woman evidently enjoyed the solitude and spoke with a respect for what surrounded her. Probably knew exactly what she was sitting on out there too. Five years of war drained all available resources to varying degrees. Ingredients for potions had been culled by all the covens. Where Severin found himself, he saw life thriving, variations he’d only seen bundled, dried, and dolled out for strategic use. 

“What do you do with all this? Potion maker?” He had to assume based on the give and take Mini talked about with her property. “Do you specialize in certain potions? I’d love to see the garden too. If it wouldn’t take up too much of your time.” He had absolutely intruded, however wasn’t this what they should be doing? Or what he should be doing? Establishing more.. positive relationships with other coven members? 

“I suppose it’s something that will end up happening. Now that the town seems to be coming back to life, I believe we might find ourselves running into one another more often as well,” the brunette found herself nodding. Due to the nature of his family’s business, she wasn’t sure whether those would end up being happier occasions just yet, but she believed that it was something time would tell.

Mini’s house stood proudly in the horizon, a place that could have seen macabre to some as it was surrounded by tall trees that appeared lifeless in the winter. Tall windows currently showed dark interiors and depending on how one looked at it, it was as if the house was watching them. A path of cobblestones outlined by eucalyptus trees that were nearly even spaced perfumed the place. Upon one of those, a crow let out an ominous croak, but the brunette was far too used to the sound to even give it attention.

“Yes,” she stated, head moving in nods. “Sometimes cooking as well as several ingredients are interchangeable,” she explained. His question was something hard to answer. Mini did not see herself as someone who specialized in just certain positions. Concocting those had been a part of who she was almost ever since she could remember, and she always tried to be the best at anything she put herself into. “I guess you can say that,” she nodded. “And I can show it to you, as I’m not doing much at the moment,” she pointed out, beginning to lead the way to the back of the house.  “What about you? What’s your relationship with these herbs?”

[minilocke-blog]

stella-dawes‌:

“Hm.” Stella preened, all amusement and a wide smile. There was something more beneath it, she thought. Happiness? That first flush of infatuation? It was refreshing in the face of all else. The haunted faces that walked the streets, shopped the shops, congregated anywhere there was warmth and a bit of good whiskey. The valley needed life again.

“I think it’s nice.” She pronounced with a decisive nod as the two turned the corner, her pace slowing to a mosey. And she did; as somewhat of an onlooker to the valley, Stella liked when the stories ended well. “Good for you.”

Maddox was a good spirit, underneath his thorn-like exterior. A rose, if roses could come in black.

“And what’s he so curious about?”

Mini didn’t quite know what else to say about it. So far, everything she’d said about it was true. But they were reaching a point where the line was getting hazy, and finding the proper words to define and describe things was something that became trickier. Mini avoided rummaging through the subject because she was scared of what she might end up finding.

A small smile came to her lips before the brunette’s eyes went to the ground beneath. “It has been thus far,” she nodded a couple of times. Maybe it hadn’t started out quite like that. As a matter of fact, it had been something innocent, with the witch merely trying to figure the man out, trying to understand what was it about him that made him unlike anyone else. How things had changed.

“Oh, I wasn’t saying that he’s the one who’s curious. Just that he piques my curiosity,” Mini caved, her shoulders rising and falling with a shrug that seemed nearly apologetic, though she didn’t know why.

[samuelsharpe]

Samuel remembered the shop window smashing. He remembered because a large piece of jagged glass had almost blinded him. He had moved his face just on time, the glass instead slicing through the edge of his ear. He remembered briefly seeing the demon before the light blinded him and the next thing Samuel knew he was laying in the bottom of an empty, freshly dug grave in the dark.

Lucy swooped down from the air, a dark blur in the night that landed on his chest and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Are you alright? Sam sat up, a cough breaking free from his throat. He covered his mouth with his hand, the violent spasming coughing fit rendering him breathless for a moment. Samuel waved his hand wordlessly, silently asking for a moment before inhaling deeply when he could. 

‘’I’m fine.’’ Samuel murmured as he got up, climbing out of the grave and wiping his hands over his jeans. Lucy still flapped around him, concern growing in her at the dishevelled sight of him. You’re bleeding. Sam looked at her, a frown forming on her forehead. That was when he felt the thin trickle of blood dripping down his neck where the red was already drying in a dark stain on his skin. A memory of standing in the circle chose that moment to hit him hard, again leaving him breathless and his eyes widening.

‘‘Zadie!’‘ Sam spun in a circle, realising that they were in a graveyard. But not one he recognised himself, this wasn’t the Church’s territory. Samuel cupped his hands over his mouth, remembering how he had been looking at Zadie, and she had looked back at him when the glass had gone flying at his face. ‘‘Hey–’‘ The warlock caught sight of someone else looking just as confused as he felt. ‘‘Have you seen Zadie MacLain!? Yay high, white hair. She’s impossible to mis– ah, are you okay?’‘ Samuel’s worry for Zadie fading slightly as he got closer to them.

@rowanmaclain @witchxwendy @pickthelocke @minilocke (just take this and chuck it in a new thread!)

[minilocke-blog]

Mist clung to the air of the graveyard, giving the scene an even more eerie atmosphere. It was so thick that Mini had to squint in order to see what was only a couple of feet away from her, and she had been avoiding colliding with any of the greyed tombstones in her path. The last thing she would have wanted was to disrupt anyone’s eternal rest. The sacred grounds of the cemetery had never been a place where the brunette felt at ease the most. There was something about it, the energy, maybe, that tend to make her even more restless than she usually was.

Taking a deep breath in, Mini decided to concentrate on the task at hands. She needed to see if there was anyone else in the vicinity. She needed to make sure everyone was safe, and she could occupy her brain with those notions as she continued to look around. The wind whipped through the leafless trees, wuthering in agony. A flurry white speckle of snow fell on the tip of her nose, an announcement that the storm was already upon them. Mini crossed her arms tightly over her chest, an attempt to keep herself a little bit warmer. It was time for her to give up on her quest and seek for refuge herself.

Turning around, the witch located the only possible shelter they had found in that location, and she began making her way there until she heard a voice in the distance. Her eyes scanned the place, finding a figure in the darkness. She couldn’t quite tell who it was, and, from that distance, it might as well have been a ghost, but, when they spoke, she suddenly relaxed a little. “She’s okay,” she found herself replying into the darkness, waiting for them to approach.

And, when they did, she realized she knew who they were. “Don’t worry, she’s already taken shelter, Samuel,” she announced. “We have to do the same. I’m afraid we won’t last all that much around here either,” Mini pointed out, ushering him forward so they could march to what would be their safe haven for the storm. His question, however, caught her off guard. Ever since she woke up in the graveyard, she had not taken the time to assess her plight. Her head throbbed some, but, she assumed aside from that and the slightly torn coat, she was fine. “I’m fine,” she stated, but looked up at him, her mind wondering whether it appeared otherwise. “Are you?” she asked, taking a step closer, finding the laceration on his flesh.

[minilocke-blog]

wildmansoul‌:

He chuckled, “Actually, I don’t usually cause trouble just for the sake of trouble, and never if I know I can’t talk my way out of it,” he could call it getting creative around the rules, but to do that, one needed to first learn them. That’s partly what this was about.

The facade melted the further they got from the church, his shoulders relaxed and the dark aura was replaced by his own gentle and calm one. “Oh yes, don’t mention it, make it a surprise, like all good murder plots are,” Ithamar ruffled her feathers and ground her beak on his shoulder, clearly not appreciating all the talk of murder. Eli reached a hand up to give her an apologetic scratch on the cheek.

He let the peaceful countryside shroud him in calm. They must have last seen each other before the war. A lot had happened, “Well I’m quite well now, the house was mostly alright and I’m glad to be working at the archives,” he worried his lower lip between his teeth, he supposed he was just skirting around the subject that would come up eventually one way or another, “I got discharged about three years into the war and left the valley.”

“I feel like trouble often has a way of finding you,” Mini mentioned, her shoulders moving in a shrug. “But, I have to convey… You’ve always had this outstanding ability to look at others with your big kind eyes, flashing them your long lashes, and, suddenly all is forgotten. If I try something like it, all I ever achieve is for others to look at me with dumbfounded expressions as if I had suddenly sprouted a second head or something.”

It was amazing to watch how much more at ease the two of them could be when they were not around other people. For Eli, it might have just been the Church’s folks. To Mini, it took more of a general approach, and she was relieved to be away from the humdrum of the bystanders. “Remind me again, why are we still discussing murder, Eli?” the brunette turned her gaze towards him as she wondered.

The walk through the woods would have been more pleasant during the spring. During the spring, the dense foliage of the trees provided them shelter from the weather, and the variety of herbs and flowers perfumed the path with delicate scents. Winter meant that they were traipsing among twisted branches of wood while grey skies promised heavy downpours.

“Have you kept away from the archives for that long?” Mini found herself querying. She couldn’t imagine herself staying away from hers like that, but, there was another question she felt compelled to ask during their journey. “What led you to be discharged?”

[minilocke-blog]

darkxkeyes‌:

As long as he had known the witch she had the ability to travel at light speed in a thousand directions at once. In her home there seemed to be an urgency to focus the energy here, there, everywhere. Maddox didn’t mind being pulled along. In a cozy lounge he held the glasses and looked around. Warm, inviting, immaculate but not so much that it would prevent someone from relaxing. 

The opposite of most properties on the Keyes property, packed tight with decaying buildings, dust piled thick, dishes piled high. A permanent scuff of years of handprints on a light switch. Rifts in the ceiling, rats in the attic. Unloved, unkempt. The small shack Maddox moved into as a teenager to rebel against the main house was relatively clean but mostly empty. 

Maddox paused to look over her head to scan the shelf as she chose a vinyl from a collection meticulously kept and organized. The music selected complimented her lived-in home. Soft, moody, preserved in amber from another era. 

The warlock handed over the glass of red wine and watched her sway quietly. Maddox’s hardships during the war were held like a breath in his chest. He didn’t speak about it. He desperately wanted to return to life in the valley again but stepping back wasn’t as easy as falling into the melody of an old song. 

“You were always a bit better with words than I was at the Academy.” His school record was abysmal, attributed to boredom and generally fucking around. “Hm, let me think.” He paused and then lifted his glass. “How about a toast to every star that falls on the valley tonight? How’s that? I do expect some criticism back from you. Which is fine, I can handle it.” 

In a way, Mini believed the house she lived in reflected who she was. It was an isolated place in the middle of the woods. A place most people would not dare coming close to. Inside, it was a warm and cozy environment, meant to be somewhere comfortable where the brunette could hide away from the world. Most people were kept right out the door, never having the chance to peek inside. Never having the opportunity to know what it was really like.

Mini kept everything there neatly organized. Everything had a place and there was a place for everything. Books and grimoires were alphabetically organized on the reddened wood of their shelves. Vinyl discs had their own special section, each one enveloped and dusted to perfection. The bookcase, by itself, was a work of art. Delicate grooves had been carved to each side of the structure where one could see runes.

Picking up her glass from the warlock, Mini’s turquoise eyes moved up to meet his. It was as if she could forget all the hardships of those war years to get lost in him. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, however, somewhere between them attending the Academy together and the days before Maddox went to war, something had changed between them. Mini spent her days thinking about him and his wellbeing, whether or not she would see him again, and, overall, wishing he would return home. He frequented her dreams, made a living in her fantasies, and it didn’t matter what she did, but she could never forget about the way he smiled.

Mini took a few steps closer. “I’ve known you to be skillful with your words, Maddox,” or, at the very least, he had always known exactly what to say to her. The brunette offered him a smile. “Should no star fall, there would be no toast,” she shook her head. “So, how about we toast to climaxes and crescendos and how they compliment one another harmonically to create beautiful melody?”

[minilocke-blog]

stella-dawes‌:

Stella liked people. Most of them, anyway. There were a few of the Circle that seemed too cerebral for her own uses, and she didn’t like most children, squeaky as they were. But Mini smelled like gardenias, and she didn’t flinch as Stella took her arm. Good enough for her.

“Oh nothing, nothing.” A flash of white teeth and bright blue eyes as they strolled down the sidewalk. It wasn’t much of a secret that Stella was fond of the quiet, odd man in the Church of Dark, and had been for years. But her wedding ring glittered, a cluster of sapphires, on her finger, and anything between Maddox and she had long-since past.

This was pure nosiness, and she wasn’t ashamed of that.

“Just saw you two together, the other night.” Through a window, maybe, but who was to say? There were loads of windows all over the valley, some more private than others. Maybe she’d been there. Maybe someone had told her. Maybe she’d been projecting, and nosying about.

“Seemed a little cozy.”

Mini still wasn’t sure what to think of what was happening there, but, she accepted the words, trying not to think too much of it, even though her mind swirled with unanswered questions. The brunette had to admit, those were not things she tended to fancy, because she had always loved to know things. She needed to know things. Whenever she didn’t, well, she felt a bit useless.

Running a hand through raven colored hair, Mini brushed a few stray tendrils away from turquoise eyes before she turned her face to the other woman. Locke’s and Keyes’ rarely ever appeared in the same sentence together. On a first glance, those two families had nothing in common aside from belonging to the same coven. The proximity between the duo seemed to defy all that was logical.

Mini cleared her throat and patted the woman’s hand on her arm. “Maddox and I have known each other for a lifetime,” without ever really knowing one another until recently, the sentence unfolded inside her head. He intrigued her more than anyone else had ever been capable. “And, as of lately, I suppose I can say there are things he’s been aiding me with,” the witch’s words were careful as if not to convey what truly went inside her mind at that moment.

“He’s one curious man,” she admitted.

[rowanmaclain]

“Aw, geez.”

The ground squished beneath her feet, cold and damp. The moment Rowan woke up, she knew something was wrong. The ritual had built up around the gathering of witches and warlocks in such a way that it was unbelievable to think they’d been killing each other for the past five years. It was almost–hopeful. But the feeling was replaced with a sense of emptiness, a different kind of company. Because Rowan realized she was at the cemetery.

She shivered and fumbled with the zipper of her leather jacket to finally zip it up, stuffing her grey scarf under the layers to guard from the cold. The temperature continued to drop. Regaining her sense of direction, she started walking, figuring she needed to make good time back to the village to make herself useful.

The first person she saw was a witch she knew had been at the circle. So maybe she wasn’t the only one that had been flung out of the ritual? “Hey, uh, Minerva, is it?” Rowe asked her. She chuckled weakly. “Weren’t we just at the square, or am I having a weird dream?”

@minilocke

[minilocke-blog]

Despite the throbbing of her head, Mini hadn’t given up trying to understand what had happened, or given up the idea of finding others that might have been scattered nearby. They needed to take measures, and they needed to do that soon in order to ensure their welfare during the storm.

The wind was merciless over the unsheltered grounds of the graveyard. Mini had never liked being there.

Snow began gathering in her hair, in her garments, until her eyes spotted a figure moving in the darkness. A heavy mist shrouded the place, making it nearly impossible for the brunette to tell who was coming. From a distance, it might as well have been a ghost. So, she found herself squinting, attempting to distinguish the living from the dead. Joining her palms, Mini rubbed them together trying to generate some warmth. Her fingers had become numb, and although she was aware she needed to find a place inside, her mind kept telling her that she needed to make sure no one was left outside.

Her eyes finally connected with Rowan’s familiar face, and she nodded in response. “Yes. Minerva Locke. “I don’t believe it’s a weird dream. Collective hallucination isn’t entirely impossible though,” she considered, shoulders drawing up and down with a shrug. “How are you feeling?”

[minilocke-blog]

zadie-maclain‌:

They were in a graveyard.

Zadie’s head whipped around as quick as the wind, light eyes taking it in. She felt breathless, not out of shock or the sort of cold breath that came after a hard run, but as though there was no breath in her body. She felt hollow.

Her hands reached for something, something solid, and landed upon an old gravestone. Fingertips dug into the craggled rock as the wind soared, snow on the red wool of her coat, speckled in her hair. She couldn’t remember how they’d gotten there, or if that had even been the intent. Only the poltergeist, and the square, and holding Severin’s hand until–

“Oh, hey there,” she breathed, the words falling off her tongue out of habit. Zadie blinked, and more snow cluttered her lashes. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m–”

What happened? How did you get here? Where is everyone else?

“That’s your coat?”

The two of them were surrounded by greyed tombstones. The wind was wuthering, howling like a wolf to the moon, bringing the snow to them. White speckles began dotting the landscape, stretching as far as the eye could see. They needed to get away from there. Now.

“Good,” Mini found herself taking Zadie’s hands in hers, giving them a squeeze. For a moment there, she had forgotten she didn’t have her gloves on. She’d left them inside the pocket of her coat right before she took her place in the circle. Maybe, if she were lucky, they would still be there. “We need to get out of here,” she ushered, her eyes scanning the grounds for anywhere they might have been able to use since it was evident they wouldn’t be able to make it a lot further. “Have you seen anyone else?”

It was only as Zadie’s question reached her ears that Mini lowered her gaze towards herself. Damn it. She didn’t know what had happened, but, amidst the chaos, her coat might have gotten caught in something, causing it to tear.

Shrugging it off, Mini began prioritizing things inside her head. “It’s okay, I’m sure it won’t be all that important. But we need to find shelter,” she dismissed, aware that her coat was the last thing they should be worrying about.

[minilocke-blog]

wildmansoul‌:

His frown just deepened, not at all comforted by what she was saying. There seemed to be definite loss of sensibility, willingness to interpret intent as malicious no matter how trivial it might have been. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, still he certainly was not happy about it.

“Oh nothing too destructive or reckless, at this point at least,” he assured, “There are just some events and figures I’d like to know more about,” from the last two years of the war namely. He hadn’t been around.

“If it’s not full of people who stare at me rudely, I’m sure I’ll be comfortable plenty,” distrusting her hadn’t really even crossed his mind, “But if you do plan on killing me, at least make it romantic,” drowned into a crystal clear bond near a misty grotto, surrounded by mossy rocks and age old trees reached towards the sky. Maybe she knew. “And do remember to write a dark ballad about it afterwards,” he had always had a morbid sense of humor.

Mini could sense the change in Eli’s mood, and it made the brunette wonder whether that would’ve been something the warlock would’ve forgotten about her: the fact that she would often have an analytical approach to something that had originally been devised as a joke. Whichever the scenario, Mini decided it would be best to simply let it go.

“I might actually be a little surprised at the fact that what you currently have in mind does not involve getting in trouble. Perhaps we’re getting old, my friend,” she considered, though not for long. “Well, if I can be of assistance, I’ll gladly share my knowledge,” Mini nodded, looping an arm through his as she began leading them through a narrowing pathway that projected through the side of the Church, leading them away from those grounds.

“It’s definitely far away from prying eyes. And if I’m able to feel comfortable there, I trust you’ll do the same,” she stated, then shook her head a few times at his ominous words. “Mental note: never mention to Eli the possibility of him being murdered again,” she said the words in equal mirth. The clearing was about forty minutes away from there on foot, though Mini had always loved the walks, and once they were far enough from anyone who might have been curious about what this interaction could have been all about, the two of them would likely be more at ease. “So, tell me, Eli, how have you been since we’ve last seen one another?” She questioned, moving a branch of a nearby tree out of the way, and soon the Church was behind them, and they gaited through an open field before the woods that would eventually lead to her place.

[minilocke-blog]

@zadie-maclain

Winds moved with increasing speed, blowing past Minerva’s dark hair, whipping it furiously around. Out of all possible times for the storm to be upon them, this had to be the worst. If only they could be done with getting rid of that poltergeist, they could all leave the streets in search for shelter.

Energy coursed through each one of them, their hands linked, following the Captain’s orders to maintain their formation. The air current tormented them, like an unrelenting child begging for a treat, until it became too strong for them to be able to withstand. Like a deck of cards, the wind scattered them all away.

The events all happened so fast that the brunette was a little disoriented. Glancing at her surroundings, she wondered how she’d ended up there. Her head seemed to throb, and she wasn’t sure why. Still, as she spotted a familiar face, she rushed over to the woman.

“Zadie, are you all right?” She wondered, eyes scanning over her figure before offering her a hand.

[stella-dawes]

gossip hour. → @minilocke

“Minerva Locke.”

A small hand reached toward the woman’s elbow, slipping her arm against hers. Stella sidled up to her right side and gave a smile and a pat to Mini’s forearm. Her skirts were green, that day, emerald and deep, and her blue eyes glittered with excitement as she began to walk with the woman down Peach Street.

The day was cold, but Stella was bright, a basket on her other arm filled with shopping. She loved seeing the town come back to life, familiar faces filtering back. So many more were missing. She didn’t like to think about that too much.

Instead, she nodded, tilting her chin a little at the woman. “Rumor has it, you’ve been hanging around Maddox Keyes.”

Stella was, at her heart, a gossip. She smiled.

“What’s that about?”

[minilocke-blog]

Mini heard her name being called in a tone that often implied the interlocutor wanted something out of her. She didn’t have time to turn around and face the woman who was coming to join her and soon found herself walking arm in arm with Stella Dawes.

To her, this felt like an unusual occurrence. Most people would prefer to keep their distance from her, save for rare exceptions. “Stella,” she greeted, bowing her head in acknowledgment. The other woman’s excitement was nearly tangible, and, Mini could feel herself picking it up and tuning some of it in for herself. Stella and her outgoing personality could have that effect on the brunette, and she found herself offering her a smile in return.

The question, however, took Mini off guard and she nearly tripped on her own shoes. Maddox and her. What were they? Truthfully, not even Mini possessed the answer to such question, so, instead of dwelling on those thoughts, on the possibilities, she merely shrugged her shoulders.

“Maddox and I have known one another ever since the academy,” a smile, perhaps a little brighter than a simple polite smile would have been, graced her features, her cheeks gaining a slightly flustered tint. “We’re a part of the same coven,” she added, her mind coming up with random factoids she could factor in to explain why they might have been hanging. “Why? Have you heard anything?” She questioned, unable to stop her curiosity from flaring.

[minilocke-blog]

darkxkeyes‌:

“No, I wouldn’t say unsettling. Not even slightly. Not at all. Sounds a bit drastic to me actually. The word. Unsettling.” A scoff. First of all he had just witnessed a very nosy cat float away. In a bubble. Brilliant was what he thought of the prank. But it seemed to be only that: someone playing obnoxious and fairly harmless tricks on unsuspecting people via mail. “However, I find you a lot more interesting than a box. Consider it a high compliment.” He was two seconds away from making said box disappear too, however that might not end well for Thack if he did. 

Being with Mini was similar to wandering in a garden maze. Reaching dead ends in her attention, trying to find a new path to get back to her or move forward. Occasionally wishing to chop down a hedge altogether and leap ahead. Sometimes he wished to be completely annoyed, entirely infuriated, to make leaving easy.

A maze was intriguing because quite by accident a corner could be rounded revealing just enough to keep one entertained, which he’d seemed to have done as she led him to a small room with wine stored. As she spoke his eyes scanned rows of bottles. He reached high for one covered in a fine layer of dust. “Hate to disappoint but when it comes to drinking I’m fairly predictable.” His gaze lifted from the bottle cradled in his hands with a smile. 

“So: I’d say we’d share a toast and a drink together. I’d want to kiss you after the first sip to see what it tasted like, but you would’ve been thinking about some silly box that was sent here five years in the future. I’d hope to have forgotten why your brain works like that, but sadly I had not. Instead I’d ask to see where you work on your potions. All the while a little sad you’d not put on some music.”

Magic could lead the way in setting them up with drinks but it wasn’t as satisfying as moving to search for glasses in her cupboards, in cutting away the wax seal of valley born red wine, twisting into the cork and hearing soft pop of it pulling out. Maddox glanced over. “And no, music isn’t meant for background noise but I’m confident we can pause at all the right places to fully enjoy it. You’re killing me slowly by the way. This vinyl collection has been bragged about and all I hear is the sleet outside.”

Maddox’s comment was repaid with a smile. She, indeed, considered the words to be one of the highest of appraisals. That seemed the thing about them, they didn’t always work or acted in conventional ways, and the fact that Mini was willing to leave the conundrum of the package aside so that she could give him attention was probably a gesture far more eloquent than her words might have been. For the time being, the disappointment of her bubbly box would be forgotten, and the intensity of her turquoise irises would focus on what they might be doing for the evening. So much was new to her in that situation, and there was much to be explored.

Throughout life and the disappointments the witch had faced, Mini had learned to expect the worst out of people. She spent a lot of her time analyzing people and their behavior, and she could often be one step ahead of them. Most people worked in predictable patterns. After a while, it was easy to tell what their next move was going to be. She thought she’d been content with the life she led until the warlock came along. Suddenly, the things Mini had been used to didn’t seem like enough anymore. She had been playing a game her entire life, then he showed up and changed the rules.

With Maddox, there was never a dull moment. They never ran out of things to talk about, and, in moments when words were no longer necessary, they could still understand one another. “You’re anything but predictable,” she mentioned, watching as he uncorked the bottle and talked about what had been inside his head. The brunette was used to always moving around. To always finding something to do. However, that sort of restless energy had never taken over her because of someone else.

Mini shifted her weight from one leg to the other. The gears of her brain seemed to be moving in all possible directions. She wanted to show him all the places, to share little parts of her world with the one person she could imagine doing that with.

She barely didn’t wait for him to pour them the wine. There were far too many things to do, and he was just taking too long at that menial task. Linking her arm with his, Mini dragged him further into the residence, through a long and narrow hallway that was illuminated by soft yellow lights that hung on both sides of the wall. An oak double door stood impressively to a side, and through their glass panels, one could have a glimpse of the inside. Sliding the doors open, Mini stepped inside a small lounge. A gramophone was placed near a wall and the brunette made her way to it, picking a record from a neatly organized shelf and putting it on.

A needle scratched the vinyl surface and, soon, Ella Fitzgerald’s voice filled the room in a rendition of ‘Stars fell on Alabama’. It was a soft ballad, and soon her body began swinging from side to side. She made her way back to Maddox. “We’d been speaking of a toast?” She recalled, wrapping her fingers around her glass again, while her free hand traveled over to her lips, thinking.

[minilocke-blog]

imogenhayes‌:

“I know.” Immy sighed, her shoulders falling as she seemed to just cave in on herself. Her lips pressed together, she could feel the heat of tears threatening in the back of her eyes but she had no more to cry, and so she didn’t. “I know it’s dangerous. Don’t worry, I’m not going to pull a stunt like that.”

Happiness.

“Everyone wants to be happy.” Immy mused. “No one seems to think content is good enough for them.” Her eyes fell on Mini. “And what is happiness for you?”

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The words swirled around the witch’s head. There were moments when all rational thought was out the proverbial window and things one would have stayed away from had a way of suddenly seeming sensible. Those were always dangerous circumstances that others didn’t appear to catch soon enough in order to avert a crisis. Mini’s gaze was hard on the other woman. “Promise?” She requested. The war might have put a halt to their friendship, and Mini wasn’t the sort who would delude herself with the thought that they could pick up where they’d left off, but there were things one didn’t just forget.

Then, came the tricky question, something Mini had avoided considering or giving leeway to because no good ever stemmed from it. Yet, she couldn’t help but think happiness had a name and surname, and that’s where danger lived.

“Happiness is many things. My archives, my grimoires, and books, discovering something new that fills me with enthusiasm, having someone to share those with,” she stated, shoulders traveling with a shrug. She had only mildly skirted that question after all.

[minilocke-blog]

stella-dawes‌:

“Oh, hurry up.”

Imogen had surprisingly short legs for how well she carried herself, and Stella couldn’t be bothered to wait for the surly widow. She strode along the main street, cobblestones cold beneath her little heels, and arrived at the town square with an abrupt halt.

The square was empty, save for the good Captain Hayes standing in the center along with a few cloaked figures. Stella looked around, noting faces appearing from alleys and streets, buildings and the nearby storefronts. She took a step back, and then another, until her feet were planted squarely on the inlaid band of slate forming the outer circle of the pentagram.  Facing the square – and the elders – she impatiently reached for the person next to her.

“Quickly now,” she chided. “Give me your hand.”

@minilocke

Very little time had passed since the announcement. Mini was already gaiting to the square where she would meet the others under the assumption that she would find herself there waiting for anyone to arrive. The brunette took such matters seriously, so, she was surprised to realize there were some already there.

Striding through the pavement that led to the pentagram, Mini could already feel the energy that flowed from the people, the way it slowly started increasing with each new arrival. The town needed that. For everyone to come together in order to fight a common enemy. They needed this sense of unity that they hadn’t been able to experience since the war.

Pulling onto the sleeve of her sweater, Mini took Stella’s hand in a firm hold before glancing over her shoulder and spotting the next person coming to join their circle. A partner in crime, how suiting. Mini offered him a smile.

“How fortuitous. Come over here. What are you waiting for?” she ushered.

@wildmansoul​

[minilocke-blog]

wildmansoul‌:

The corners of his mouth turned down, brow knitting together. She was thinking of this way too hard for his liking, “Both of those outcomes imply these people actually do want to kill me,” he had hoped unwelcoming manners were as bad as it would get.

“A witness?” he asked with a quirk of his brow, “I was thinking more of an accomplice, just like old times,” he grinned. Mini had been one of the people in the academy Eli could count on not to shy away from an experiment, no matter how absurd or dangerous it might have looked at first glance.

“But perhaps I’m not looking to get slaughtered today,” a playful tug of his lip, “Maybe next week. So how about a walk? Take me to your favorite spot, I’m sure you know all the places worth seeing around here,” he let his gaze sweep over the farmland, the massive church in the middle of it, iconic, ominous, out of place. They had not really met there before, mostly saw each other in the academy or in town. But she was of the Church, and he imagined she had spent quite a lot of time around here.

If there was something anyone might be able to expect from Mini, was a thorough analysis of the most trivial matters. She was a factual person who took everything entirely too literally. Picking up on the nuances of what might not have been that way wasn’t really her forte. “Don’t take it as something personal or something that has to do with the Church alone. I reckon that given the right circumstances and the wounds left by the war, most people from all the covens would be capable of doing something of the sorts. I believe what separates sensible from reckless people is whether or not they would end up taking that plunge or not,” Mini’s shoulders traveled up and down with a shrug as a hand moved to pat his.

The pat was also meant as reassuring. She wished him to know that while he was with her, no harm would come his way. Mini wasn’t going to let it. A smile surpassed her lips as he talked about her as an accomplice. “Well, you still haven’t told me why you’ve come searching for me,” she added, aware that she was likely to participate on whatever it was that he might have in mind.

“My favorite spot?” Mini echoed the words, eyebrows furrowing. Her favorite spot wouldn’t, by no means, reassure him he wasn’t going to be slaughtered, she was positive of that. Her favorite spot happened to be a clearing buried so deep within the woods that she doubted anyone but herself would ever find themselves at. Glancing at her friend, Mini sighed. “Are you sure that’s where you’d like to go? It’s far away, and I’m not sure you trust me enough to be comfortable there,” she mentioned, her last words were more of a test than they were actually true.