The Moon and Her Tides

[solarswell-blog]

silvercurrents·:

Relief passes over him when she stirs easily enough, eyes opening and voice cutting through the frigid January air. It’s a good sign at the very least, but he can’t imagine anyone who’s doing okay would fall asleep in the middle of nowhere. Especially not in the midst of winter, where a light layer is snow is melting beneath them. “No. You’re not dead.” Her voice rings a familiar tone with him, but he can’t place her. 

The more he studies her face, the more he thinks he should be able to. He casts it aside in favor of his concern, which has him pulling his jacket off and placing it over her upper body. “Are you okay? Did you fall?” He doesn’t want to overwhelm her with too many questions, but he also doesn’t want to call an ambulance unless he’s sure she needs one. Chances are she might, but he can’t tell how long she’s been here. Could have been hours, or just minutes. “Do you remember what happened?” 

Her eyes lazily open and close heavily, taking in the world for moments at a time. In every snapshot she explores his face a little more, a man on the move that she had met on a path before. She could place his face, although time seemed to fade together like the waves these days, moments crashing over others until they don’t appear all that different. “I know you,” she whispered, breath leaving her mouth like a fog. 

The jacket alarms her for a moment, eyes opening with more intention than before. She’s trying to place the scene before she lets herself completely sober up, the thought of an overdose being the least of her problems - not that something so simple could actually kill her. “I was walking,” she said slowly, “and now I’m here.” For her, specifics always seemed like a hinderance, opening a door to more questions, “I don’t want to remember.”

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·: 

She laughs, surprised, but at her brother’s burst of humor. “Fuck off, I’d totally get more tips than you.” The thought of Allistair becoming a stripper still lingers though and she can’thelp but giggle again. “Okay but that’s the real scandal. You dropping everything to become a stripper.”

“I guess. How’s that stuff all going anyway. You know I live near the one who’s house and wife burned in a fire? Rafael, he’s like my moody, quiet neighbor.”

He nodded slowly in response, “at least we can agree on that,” he responded slowly, “Maybe I’ll stick to my job, I like the security, but I’ll keep that door open in case I need any more excitement in my life.”

He knows the name, even the case, all too well. The thought of it still rested in his mind at night. “Yeah I’ve met him a few times,” he said slowly, “do me a favor and be careful around that guy, alright?”

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

“The ones with needles, maybe. But these ones need protection–everyone picks them up while they still need to get back to their homes.” Holly exhales a long sigh, disappointed that she can’t carry anything more. “Yep! It’ll take care of you.” She smiles at the shell one last time, looking back to the path toward the concrete. “Should we head back? This is all I can carry.”

Orion sighed in response, feeling an odd sense of kinship with the urchins for a moment, “some just need to be given the chance.” She rolled the shell over in her hand another time before slipping it into her pocket, hand still tightly secured around it, for a moment worried that without the reminder it was there she might leave it behind. Her head wobbled into a nobs slowly, “After you.”

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

He’s spent the first few months as a ghost desperate to have people look at him, talk with him, but something about her gaze had him restless. “No…” Attempting to follow this conversation left his head spinning. “Sorry, I just wandered in.” A pause, then on impulse, he added onto it. “I used to live here. A long time ago.” He’d made the mistake of leaving conversation open ended last time so now, he made sure to distract her further. “Did you just move in? The art is new. Is that yours?”

Although confused by his reasoning, she let it rest for the time being, giving the conversation a moment to breathe as she listened to him speak. She could understand the idea of wandering, drifting in and out of places as a moment demanded, but the conversation didn’t dwell on it for long, not that there was any sort of protest. her eyes drifted to the walls, dark art and sketches of demons and gods alike adorning surfaces out of frames. She exhaled slowly, “Was in a hotel room for a bit, here a little less than a month.” Orion had never been much for sharing, but the moment asked for it, “Just sketches for the gallery right now.”

[silvercurrents]

Rafael doesn’t know what time it is, just that it’s later than he realizes and that he doesn’t feel like going back to an empty home just yet. He keeps himself preoccupied instead, taking a walk to change up his environment in the hopes that it will spur some unique ideas for his ongoing projects. 

It’s left him distracted; he has to double take a sleeping figure at the foot of some bushes. Light snow dusts around her, and Rafael fears the worst before he gets to her side. She’s still breathing, but he can’t tell what her condition is. “Ma’am? Are you alright?” He touches her shoulder gently, hoping to stir her. 

[solarswell-blog]

Her father always said bad things came in groups of three, she supposed it had been a family vendetta he held with him. The raven came first, then a broken mirror, she was waiting on the third. After the second sign, doses were usually too small to quell the usual. A new mix, a higher dosage, anything to hold her over until her vision slipped behind the clouds, mind buzzed with white noise, anything to slip further from the darkness. She didn’t care about the track marks anymore, the space sinking beneath her eyes, she wanted peace for a moment. 

She couldn’t tell what time it was, or how long she’d been here, but it had been long enough that the hum and smoke in her mind was beginning to creep over the horizon, cold laying a blanket on her arms that she couldn’t quite place. She wasn’t home, not that any place quite felt like it was any more. but there was a voice that coaxed her out of the darkness for a moment, waves running through her body, shivers following quickly as her eyes cracked open, lazily trying to focus on the image of a man in front of her, heat on a bare shoulder reminding her it was real. “Am I dead?” she responded in a hushed tone. 

[solarswell-blog]

Orion & Rafael || Moodboard 01

I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam 

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

“It means I wouldn’t have to compete with anyone. I’ve even got the stripper name figured out– Queen of Hearts. It’s brilliant isn’t it? Come on, give me this one.”

“Better than the first one.” She shrugs, her tone bleak, but then her brother’s words have her jaw dropping. “What? Come on, out of all of that, the ice cream is what you focus on? Maybe that’s why you’re stuck doing paperwork.”

“You have to know that I’m not going to congratulate your creativity on stripper names,” he responded, shaking his head. “And we both know I’d be the better stripper of the two of us,” he threw in uncharacteristically, yet with a calm demeanor.

He shook his head, “The others I focused on a bit too deeply when they were still in the news, kinda hard to see it as scandal at that point.” 

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

“Think it’d destroy us? Making me curious.” 

"Don’t want you starving.” He’s about done with his sketch, so Mateo folds the notepad up and stuffs it into his pocket. "Now’s as good a time as any for me to finish the rest of my list. Plus, I can always help you carry everything back. Don’t want to dirty those hands.” 

Allistair shakes his head slowly at the response, “I’ll leave you to your curiosity on this one.”

He shrugs into the movement, “Me? Dirty hands? Not a day of work on these dainty things,” he responds, peering down at his calloused hands for a moment, “but I’ll welcome the company.”

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

Home. It ignited something bitter inside him that he forced down. Not now, not here. 

It took a second to piece together the fact that she’s replying to him – in an odd, roundabout way but replying nonetheless. “Well… that’s nice, I guess.” He hesitated for a second, not sure whether he should bring his state into her attention, but decided not to. He’d linger in the conversation as long as he could. If she could see him, it was unlikely he’d be making his way back any time soon. And just like that, something else he’d barely been holding on to is slipping away.

She tried to find a thought in her mind, sifting through those that were swirling over the sediment weighing on her eyes before recognizing the peculiar situation, trying to recognize the man in her home as if she knew him. Did she? she exhaled slowly, peering out the window, though the raven had gone. “Did I invite you in?” she asked slowly, turning back to the man.

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

“No brains, either! It might not be so much fun after all.” But Orion offers some wisdom that has Holly tipping her head. “Who’s scared of urchins? But you’re right, that things we don’t get can end up things we’re afraid of.” Still, her pockets are getting heavier and heavier. When she finds a wide-spiraled, slightly spiked shell that shimmers against the light, she turns it over in her hand before offering it to Orion. “Why don’t you take this one? You could keep it by the sink, or on your nightstand for good luck.” 

Orion shrugged, her shoulder heavy in the wet air, she supposed if she had wings they might stick to her back. “People don’t like what they don’t understand I find, urchins have a shell to stay safe, and they are the ones feared.” She exhaled, pausing for a moment as she turned to the waves. Calm, just a moment. she perked up at the comment, peering over at the shell, hesitating for a moment before reaching out to grasp the shell, letting the light reflect on it. She could use some luck. “thank you,” she whispered in return.

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

“Let’s summarize this conversation so far. Your profession means you’re not allowed to have fun. It’s not as great as I think. There’s lots of paperwork. It’s like you want me to quit everything and just be a stripper.”

“This town has had way more scandals than that, come on. I know of at least two devastating deaths, three abandoned puppies and that weird ice cream thing from the summer.” 

“Little sister you have a way with words,” he responded with a chuckle, “If you’re thinking about a career in stripping, you might want to consider a town with a livelier night life.”

“Well that’s a devastatingly bleak picture of our home,” he responded, shaking the death out of his head, “don’t remind me of the ice cream, threw me off my pint a night routine for a month.”

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

Mateo sputters a laugh at Allistair’s implication, glad to see him. “Always happy to have you feature in my figure practice. Clothing’s optional.” 

“But give it a little something. Loosen your collar, man.” He grins, tucking his sunglasses into the hem of his shirt. “You headed somewhere?”  

Allistair looks down with a smile, chuckling at the implication, “For the sake of this friendship, I’ll keep the clothing on.”

He rolls his eyes, looking back up at the man, “No where in particular, got off a few minutes ago so considered getting some groceries so I can eat.”

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

“All the jellyfish in the sea will thank you someday. They’ll make you their drifter queen!” Holly smiles, finally standing to take a look at the large sand dollar. “Oh, it’s perfect! These are so pretty, thank you. I’ll take care of it.” She’s glad to see it’s white, and not alive. “Usually, the ones that wash up need to go back into the sea. Urchins are always up to something.” 

orion nods slowly to the concept, “Hard bunch to rule without ears, may just stick to land for a little while.” Her eyes traced down to the sand dollar, her fingers tracing its pattern in the sand next to it slowly, “always up to something when they’re feared,” she responded, glancing down, “Just misunderstood little things.” 

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

 “No place for God, that’s pretty extreme,” he replied under his breath, not anticipating any real reaction from her. Most people these days dismissed him easily as a haze and he tried hard to pretend that that fact didn’t terrify him. “Is it always like this with you? Don’t make this place dark and depressing…”  It was going to be so much more. Sol’s smile was supposed to be lighting up this house. 

She furrowed her brow at his response, not expecting an understanding, rarely getting one. She had found words were hardly as simple as they were treated, not that she had ever held back. 

“Home is where the heart is,” she responded slowly, glancing around at sketches filling the walls, never questioning the presence consulting her, “an extension of the self.”

[solarswell-blog]

fulltimefloating·:

“Note to self, never get one of those.” It’s meant to be a joke, but there’s a truth hidden somewhere in it. Before her brother can say too much more about it, she takes his arm and leads him forward. “How’s work going, by the way? Catch any big baddies?” 

“So you’re just going to throw me under the bus when it comes down to it, huh? I see how it is but because I love you, I’ll fall on that sword.”

He shakes his head slowly to the response, allowing the topic to change without much of a protest. “None notable enough to make the paper unfortunately,” he responded slowly, “You know my job isn’t as fun as they make it out to be on T.V., a lot more paperwork.”

“Well happily, a detective breaking a law, that’d be the scandal of the decade in this town.”

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

Mateo’s got a small notepad of plain white paper propped up on one knee, working at some of the planted trees along the storefront. The decorative ones are easier than the pines in the forest, and he makes defined, long strokes to distinguish their leaves. 

When he realizes he’s not alone, he looks up with a smile. “Sorry, got distracted. Are you posing, or just passing by?” 

Allistair strode along the side walk with a long gate, often not taking the time to take in the scenery off work. There were times he would rather the world fade into the background. A hard habit to break when his eyes landed on a familiar face a few feet ahead, coming to stop beside him.

“And here I was thinking I could make a future in modeling, what? Would I be better in the nude?” 

[solarswell-blog]

wavebloom·:

It’s nice to hear Orion laugh. Holly knows it doesn’t happen all too often. 

“First times are the best!” Holly perks up, hands shuffling through the sands to dig up anything she hasn’t seen before. “Like, anything you haven’t seen before. I’ve lived here all my life, but I still find new ones whenever I come by. Spiral shells, cone shells. Just don’t pick up any jellyfish unless you want me to carry you to the hospital like a bride.” 

“I’ve always been in favor of letting them be,” she responded softly, her eyes floating between objects in the sand, “let drifters drift.” She strode forward a couple steps, dusting the sand off a sand dollar the size of her palm, still stained by the sea. “This count as interesting?”