sunlightreverie

[sunlightreverie]

#sunlightreverie  : an independent multimuse rp blog written by ange (30+, she/her) featuring characters from marvel comics, dc television, cwtv's the 100, and 1 oc gay. rules. active muses: lena luthor ~ natasha romanova ~ trish walker ~ claudia moreau ~ echo kom azgeda

[zimwy]

' it's not.. i know. but you being strong doesn't make me want to hurt you, 'tasha. ' penthrox whistle in the bottom of her bag. not an unfamiliar accoutrement--verdant tubing housing a full dose of methoxyflurane, trace oleic acid and ethanol to propel the delivery, suspended in gas propellents. concentrated morphine had been preferrable when used upon the winter soldier, paired with enough tranquilizer to knock out a rampaging elephant. james cinches the tourniquet in favor of freeing both extremities. the congruence of scent and sights and the livewire of passing urgency made bucky's skin crawl, yet here he was, dutifully attendant as he scoops up the proffered sling of nylon and polyesther.

the tourniquet will ache, but it was better than weeping blood.

seating himself at her feet as any good subject to monarch, or worshipper to bloody god, james quietly feels about her personal items--taking care not to linger, as if it was an invasion of privacy--until he traces the outline of the whistle, familiar plastic vertices ablated from the confines of the provisional bag.

he inserts the narrow brown cannister into the intake port, stretching up to hand natasha the primed mouthpiece. ' i never liked these. just be careful. covering the dilutor hole'll make it work quicker. ' and like that, he's back at work: the small pair of angled, titanium medical grade scissors slit through the tourniquet. a little bottle of povidone iodine scents the open air, liberally smoothed across the ragged trench. antiseptic, portably small, non-stinging. better than isopropyl alcohol, at least.

threading the surgical needle comes with only a glance at the curled hook to ensure the narrow piece of medical polymer had successfully entered the eye, some uncomfortable pinching of the flesh only when he hears the rip of the inhaler. ' you remember what i used to say? one way to get through the pain is to count down from one hundred. i'll keep track for you. девяносто девять. ' barnes' mouth wrinkles as he penetrates the broken flesh, needle curling quick and methodical from one edge of the rift to the other. ' девяносто восемь '

[sunlightreverie]

natasha bends over the rickety table, resting her elbows on the dusty, chipped veneer. she settles herself, letting the table take a bit of her weight while giving james access to the wound. whistle at her lips, natasha pulls in a long breath and holding it deep as the world starts to blur.

much like her beloved vodka, a standard dose isn't enough to touch her soviet super-soldier enhanced metabolism. a few breaths in, and she's no where near the funny videos of kid with a broken leg at the beach, giggling at paramedics. her jaw still twitches at the first dig of the needle, the pull of nylon through tender flesh. but there's a haziness to the pain now, a little less care at the edges of her consciousness.

it's james' rough baritone in familiar, repetitive syllables that catches attention. suddenly, she's not in a small safehouse on the michigan border, but another one in northern kazakhstan. james sews her together here, and there, natalia runs her fingers over metallic ones instead, the overbearing weight of department x hanging over them both.

"восемьдесят четыре," she says, tongue thick in her own mouth. "восемьдесят три..."

gnawing pain pulls her focus, shines a spotlight on the present and natasha grimaces. her lips pull another breath of the medication, body slowly relaxing against the table as it crests her up once more.

"----'is was a bad idea," she mumbles, words slurring at the start. "if you wanted to get me drunk, you coulda just asked."

[danviers]

" it isn't like that, " alex implored, her dismissal of that sentiment paired with an ardent shake of her head; a remorse - heavy breath that swelled painfully, staunchly in her chest.

" we didn't keep this from you because you were untrustworthy, or because of your name. it's just... it's dangerous, knowing everything. I mean, I have spent more than a decade keeping my sister's secret. " keeping her safe from the world's unending scrutiny and the likes of lex, of cadmus, or ruthless ben lockwood — it'd become second nature: as intrinsic as simply breathing, as hardwired into her as every minuscule nucleotide that comprised her dna. " and knowing that anyone could find out, and use that to get to her somehow... it still terrifies me. "

it always had. always would.

the instances in which alex had felt anything but faith in the woman before her had long since faded, every misgiving, every moment of inqeuitable doubt she'd ever had about lena's motives — lena's methods — having fallen away into a pastiche of memory and lessons learned.

" but you're not to blame for all of this, lena, " she pressed, softly, solemnly. " and I won't hold it against you if you don't believe what I have to say, but — you belong here. you always have. "

[sunlightreverie]

her crossed arms tighten their hold against her front. the ache behind her ribcage builds, burning up her throat at threatening to spill at the edges of her eyes.

she blinks furiously, thready breath escaping through her nose as she tries to stuff the sting back into its neatly labeled box in the back of her mind.

"i think---- i think a part of me always knew, you know?" she says, the question rhetoric as a pained grimace tugs at her lips. "she 'flew to my office on a bus,' or was conveniently there just after supergirl was..."

her arms uncross, one sliding underneath the other to hold her ribcage, hugging herself taut.

"i think i didn't want to know," she admits, eyes glued to the national city skyline out the window. "before he died, lex---- he said denial's a powerful drug. he was right."

which was worse: lying to a friend, or lying to oneself? lena's heart was in a tug-of-war between the two, uncertain if she was mad at kara, at alex, at all of them, or just angry at herself. how could she decide on a winner when both options left her split in two?

"i believe you, alex," she says, quiet as her vision runs blurry, drips down her cheek. "i just don't know how to box it all up this time."

[reignthem]

sam remains stuck in the middle of lena's push-pull. she is ... angry, hurt, the lancing pain of a pen scrawling signatures at the bottom of divorce papers still sharply pierced through her chest. that wound, too, is vulnerable ; she wants, never stopped wanting lena in spite of the chilly distance between metropolis & national city. it's in want of healing, of closure, of something simpler to mediate than the complexity of romantic entanglement among corporate ledgers & publicity stuns.

so, arms closes across her chest, sam pries both shoulders up in the uncertainty flashing hot & cold all over.

" i don't know, lena. " she sinks back into the corner of her sofa, thumb & forefinger bracketing her temples where they're busy buzzing with the endless, fine print scrawl of quarterly earnings stacked up next to ruby's soccer schedule, now cramming, too, up against the space where ex didn't used to be next to wife. " i don't know what you want me to say. you asked for a divorce & i gave it to you. you asked me to come here, so i did. "

the moment that passes after is so swollen-humid with the potential maelstrom of what else she could say & do, that sam closes her eyes for a moment, sagging under the expression of her sigh. she motions, lamely, at the wine glass perched on a coaster next to her elbow, then back toward lena.

" do you want to sit down & have a glass? i'm guessing that you're not going to plan on leaving any time soon. it feels like we have a lot to talk about. "

[sunlightreverie]

too much.

it's a descriptor that lena has been intimately acquainted with since her preschool years. too much noise, too much space, too much drama, too needy ----

even too much danger -- a half lie and a whole truth that lena proclaimed in front of a judge and her wife while driving this wedge right between them. and yet despite being here, asking for too much, lena can't manage to gather up all the too many pieces enough to leave.

sam holds out an opening and lena's nodding before any remaining rational part of her can speak up.

"that--- that would be great," she says, earnest. samantha always had great choice in wine, and lena can practically taste the tannins already. the heat of the dry liquid slipping into her empty belly in an attempt to warm the parts of herself that she's tried fruitlessly to freeze away, the woozy weight of the buzz as it softens of the edges of her sharp tongue....

she toes her heels off at the door, her feet aching in relief as they stretch against the polished hardwoods.

"i know i'm asking you for too much," she says, trying not to let her eyes wander as she slides onto one of the stools at the kitchen island. a scoff catches itself in her throat. "...i've always asked you for too much. i--- i know things are different now, but i can't help but worry about you. both of you. ruby's... she's doing okay with all of this?"

[graunblida]

@sunlightreverie echo wanted some toxic yuri teehee

wednesday nights are her favorite time of week. it's then she and her teammates get to refine their fighting techniques and train in mixed martial arts together. the icing on the cake is whenever she gets to spar with echo, as the other is one of the few people at their gym who poses a challenge for her. rivaling one another in power and speed, their matches are always a SPECTACLE.

" you're not slowing down on me, are you? " lexa teases, continuing to circle her opponent. there's a little bounce to her movements that accompanies the trash talk. arms drop to her sides in a cafe-free manner, almost as if she's baiting echo into attacking.

[sunlightreverie]

echo's cheeks burn with the flush of exertion, her body damp with a thin sheen of sweat. gloves shifting under the curl of her fists, echo's posture mimics lexa's own -- bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet while they travel across the padded floor, limbs loose and limber to react instantaneously to an attack from her opponent.

lexa is a fierece fighter. she's shorter than echo, and fast for it. echo's no slouch, but if she can't keep lexa out of arm's reach, she knows her ribs will take a bruising for it.

"i can do this all night," she returns, faint smirk at the edge of her lips. she doesn't take the bait; she feigns for a kick but backs out quickly, hoping to bait lexa to move in so she can respond with a jab. "but you could always forfeit now if you're feeling tired."

[sunlightreverie]

I started drafts but I did 2 hours of lawn work tonight and I'm shot x_x

Lunch replies tomorrow it is!

[pagefied]

giv her a man like that.

[zimwy]

were she unmarred, james might preen, no worse than a lecher. hunger was a subtle thing with a feathery affect; the striking veins of spilled crimson cutting through the palest parts of natasha's skin are what keep him grounded, rolling worry terse between his teeth.

it's all he can think about: the bullet snuffing her out, and the sort of subsequent blind rage that would've followed him. he loves her so much, it squeezes his stomach so intensely, if he'd been unoccupied, he might've succumbed to vertigo.

instead, he remains level, quick and obedient. in the mean time, he fields a strip of cloth from the sleeve of his shirt to tie a makeshift tourniquet about the wealth of her leg. he's gentle, prosthetic hand applying a firm, even pressure to the gap of the graze itself.

' i don't wanna do this without lidocaine. ' it's more of a plea on his end. please don't ask me to hurt you. from his knees where he crouches, her leg bent gently back for ease of access, james looks up at her, big brown eyes set upon hers. ' you have any in there? '

[sunlightreverie]

a muscle in her jaw twitches at the pressure of the tourniquet, the tight curl of his bionic fingers. if there was a medal for the pain olympics, natasha would be a world record holder at this point; she can almost smell the sterile scent of an old operating room, the copper twang of her own blood while she was cut open, paralyzed and awake. but there's no prize for hiding her discomfort, and she lets her lips grimace as her brain works to process the burning sear.

james has always had a soft spot, when it comes to her.

with the cleaner of her two hands, she reaches out, cups the side of his face and runs her thumb along the barely-there stubble at his jaw.

"i've had much worse. a couple of stitches aren't going to break me."

but natasha has always had a soft spot, too, when it comes to james and their star-crossed history.

"-----there's a penthrox whistle in the bottom of my bag," she admits, nodding to the open pack on the table. it's not lidocaine, she won't be numb, but... she also won't care. that's something. "i'll be pretty out of it for a good half-hour, though. are you okay to check the perimeter? maybe get the fireplace going?"

[castlle]

@sunlightreverie asked: ❛ i know you’re not right in the head. i mean, that’s pretty damn clear. but i’m not scared of you. ❜ - from natasha

"I'm gonna ignore the fact that you're equating my mental illness with violence and just ask you what the fuck do you want, Natasha?" Frank didn't even bother putting his hand on his holster. She's much faster than him anyway. It wouldn't be worth the time to bother with. He's more comfortable being a grizzled old dog.

[sunlightreverie]

"that'd just be the pot calling the kettle black, now wouldn't it? i'm equating it with your inability to see past the end of your own nose."

natasha stands, hand on her cocked hip with her brows raised as she looks at him. she knows more intimately than most what it means to have your head scrambled; it's his 'go in guns blazing' attitude that sets her on edge.

"i was hoping you might be up for a job. if you can manage to control your trigger finger."

[sunlightreverie]

it my birfday so i haven't really been here much! more replies tomorrow

[nightprompts]

&. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧 (𝐞𝐩𝐬. 𝟏-𝟒) 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬.

(  dialogue  prompts  taken from episodes 1 - 4  of max's  the  penguin  (2024),  created  by  lauren  lefranc.  feel  free  to  edit  and  change  as  you  seem  fit.. )

❛ i see you've made yourself at home. ❜

❛ so this new deal you got going... maybe i can help. ❜

❛ you know what i like most about you? you are who you are. you couldn't change if you tried. ❜

❛ you got a girl? good looking guy like you... ❜

❛ can you imagine? to be remembered like that? revered? ❜

❛ you really think people’d make a float of your dumb face and march it down the street, chanting your goddamn name? ❜

❛ you messed with the wrong fucking guy on the wrong fucking night. ❜

❛ you’re gonna do everything i say. or else i’ll murder you and, uh... anyone you care about. ❜

❛ what do you think of this? it’s a little air freshener. aqua paradise. you smell it? ❜

❛ we used to go there every day in the summer. you know, we’d mix the flavors for a suicide. you ever mix the flavors? ❜

❛ i ain’t trying to get in your business, but... i need an alibi. ❜

❛ i asked for extra pickles, and they give me two? so what, a normal amount of pickles is one? makes no goddamn sense. ❜

❛ there’s a nice sunrise behind you. you should take a look. ❜

❛ i could help you with whatever it is. whatever you need, whatever it is, all right? ❜

❛ well, maybe it’d be useful, keeping you around. for now. ❜

❛ but if you step out of line just once, i swear to god, i’ll gut you like a fucking fish. do you understand? ❜

❛ all right, listen, if i don’t come out... nah, i’ll be fine. you’ll be fine. it’s gonna be fine. ❜

❛ you know, maybe you don’t like me. that’s fine. i’m an acquired taste. ❜

❛ i’ve been rehabilitated. ❜

❛ you’ve really moved up in the world, haven’t you? ❜

❛ are you nervous? i’d hate for you to feel nervous with me. ❜

❛ you know, people underestimate you, but not me. i’ve always known you were capable of more. ❜

❛ this city is meant to be yours, sweetheart. what are you gonna do to get it? ❜

❛ the world wasn’t built for guys like us. that’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours. ❜

❛ but i gotta know. no bullshit. can i count on you to pull through? ❜

❛ i know who you are. i know what you are. i don’t work with people whose loyalty is for sale. ❜

❛ i’m gonna run this goddamn city. and i want you in on it. ❜

❛ i'm not safe. i'm home. ❜

❛ very, very convenient that, all of a sudden, you’re on my side. ❜

❛ you are scrambling for whatever dignity you have left and you’re hoping i will save you. ❜

❛ rough night, detective? ❜

❛ i refuse to let these old fucking men push me aside again, like i’m nothing. so, i’m going to take from them now. ❜

❛ you in? ❜

❛ let's dance. ❜

❛ you act like wanting more is a bad thing, but, i mean, don’t you want a better life than this? ❜

❛ are we, uh, kinda... partners now? ❜

❛ i mean, you fucked up. huge. but you learned, right? ❜

❛ whaddaya think the new clothes are for? you’re my guy. can’t have you lookin’ like a schmuck. ❜

❛ and from now on, you want something, you ask for it. ❜

❛ how’s anyone supposed know your worth unless you tell ’em, huh? ❜

❛ man of the hour, i was just thinking about you... ❜

❛ you do anything stupid, i’ll sense it. ❜

❛ that’s why you’re here. you seem to know everybody’s business. so, now’s your time to shine. ❜

❛ you’ve got a good thing going here. i’m really happy for you. ❜

❛ i know you’re not right in the head. i mean, that’s pretty damn clear. but i’m not scared of you. ❜

❛ you think i’d come here empty-handed? come on, we both know that if i ever truly left you hanging, there'd be a bullet between my eyes. ❜

❛ i got a real opportunity for you here, but it’s kinda hard to focus with a gun pointed at my face. ❜

❛ you got fight in you. you gotta let it out. ❜

❛ you’re fun at a card game, or over drinks, i’ll give you that. but people don’t keep you around because they think you’re smart. and they sure as shit don’t trust you. ❜

❛ i wouldn’t ask you to do this if i didn’t know you could handle it. i believe in you, kid. ❜

❛ i can't tell who wants this move. me or you. ❜

❛ i want this for you. ❜

❛ what you did to me. was it worth it? did you get everything that you wanted? ❜

❛ you wanna go, what are you waiting for? fuckin’ go. ❜

❛ you coulda left whenever you wanted. but you chose to stay. how about you ask yourself why. ❜

❛ i fucked you over. that what you wanna hear? ❜

❛ i’m fuckin’ sorry for everything that’s happened to you. ❜

❛ you meant something to me. still do. ❜

❛ i don’t know where to go from here. i don’t know how to trust you. ❜

❛ you need a cigarette, take the edge off? ❜

❛ a lobotomy couldn’t take the edge off. ❜

❛ when the time comes, i want you to take my place. i want you to run this family... if that’s something that would interest you. ❜

❛ they know you're mine. they'll do as i say. ❜

❛ why would you do this now? picking away at old wounds... you know how it upsets me. ❜

❛ you still haven’t told me what you want for your birthday. ❜

❛ i don’t need your advice. i don’t care what you think. no one does. you are my driver. that is all you are. so stop talking and drive. ❜

❛ listen, i get that you’re angry, you know. but i was just doing my job, looking out for you. ❜

❛ i’m not gonna make it in a place like that. i’m gonna die in there. ❜

❛ it’s okay to be scared. i was scared at first, too, but it’s not so bad here. you get used to the noises. ❜

❛ a woman beat the shit out of me while everyone stood around and watched. so, yeah, i had an incident. ❜

❛ i don’t know how to convince you i’m sane when you’ve already made up your mind about me. ❜

❛ i told you i’m fucking innocent. ❜

❛ i’m gonna get you something to eat. if you wanna get cleaned up, there’s a towel and a change of clothes in the guest bath upstairs. ❜

❛ i trusted him... when everything in my body told me not to. i should have killed him when i had the chance. ❜

❛ you abandoned me. ❜

❛ i left because i had to. because i could. i know you didn’t have that choice, but I’m here now. ❜

❛ you don’t have to pretend with me. ❜

❛ i haven’t forgotten, you know? the way you looked at me. so curious. ❜

❛ what did it feel like? to get to watch a person unravel? and now, you’re numbing yourself as punishment. ❜

❛ they think i'm broken. i'm not broken. ❜

❛ i'm not the one who's sick. and neither are you. the world is. ❜

❛ for the first time, i have hope. ❜

❛ to new beginnings. cent’anni. ❜

[sunlightreverie]

@awbro sent ❝ Don’t you understand? I would do anything for you. ❞

given a cup or two of coffee, clint can talk natasha's ear off about the silly things -- the latest shitty cop show he binge-watched, or the fact that the bogeda near his apartment stopped selling the sour skittles in favor of the gummy ones. but loquacious is not a word most people would assign to either of them. they speak more in the shared looks, the gentle touch as they drag themselves back from another exhausting mission.

so many things are easier left unsaid.

the fact that he says the out loud now leaves them violently ricocheting in natasha's chest.

she reaches for his hand, lets her fingers trail along the familiar callouses. the same ones she's watched unleash an innumerable amount of arrows, always flying true. she knows what his knuckles look like caked blood -- his, hers, any number of enemies or creatures sent out to attack them.

but it's like this, when they're both sharp edges trying their best to be soft, that she likes him best.

"...i know," she says, the words slow to come to her tongue. "i'm just... not always sure that you should."

[spaceshiprocket]

Black Widow by David Seguin

[sunlightreverie]

@zimwy gets a starter from natasha!

the chill bites her skin as she eases the torn cargos down off her legs. this safehouse hasn't had a fire running in months at best, and the sticky, half-dried blood down the back of her thigh sends a shiver up her spine as james shuts the door behind him.

her lungs heave with a sigh as she twists, trying to see the wound at the back of her leg.

" ---- just a graze," she tells him, hefting her backpack up onto the ramshackle table and steadying it with a hand before she starts to rifle through. her medkit is easily found, held in her (mostly) clean hand as she offers it to james.

"it'll be quicker if you do it. just a few stitches to stop the bleeding and it should be fine by morning. we shouldn't stay here long."

[marichive]

𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐌

A collection of prompts centered around love & desire, taken from various sources. Adjust gender / pronouns / wording / etc. as needed. Some prompts are highly suggestive in nature. Engage appropriately.

─── 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞

❝ It’s nothing, I just . . . I’m glad you’re here. ❞

❝ Could you stay with me? Just for a little while longer? ❞

❝ If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets. ❞

❝ I can feel your heart beating in your chest. ❞

❝ Just a kiss. That’s all I ask. ❞

❝ I will always be yours. ❞

❝ You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, ❞

❝ You make me feel safe. ❞

❝ You’ll always have a place here. ❞

❝ I’ve never felt like this before. ❞

❝ I’m afraid of what I feel. But . . . I think just that means it’s something worth feeling. ❞

❝ I have loved you from the moment I first heard my name fall from your lips. ❞

❝ Go back to sleep. I promise I will still be here when you wake. ❞

❝ Nothing and no one can hurt you. Not while I’m here. ❞

❝ I don’t want you in my life. You are my life. ❞

❝ I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to waste another moment I could spend with you. ❞

❝ I want you, just as you are. ❞

❝ You love me. Real, or not real? ❞

❝ I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you. ❞

❝ You are, and always have been, my dream. ❞

─── 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

❝ I’ve always wanted you. Only you. ❞

❝ Can’t you see what you do to me? ❞

❝ Don’t you understand? I would do anything for you. ❞

❝ You are my undoing. I cannot tell if you will be my ruin or my salvation, and I’m no longer sure if I care which it will be. ❞

❝ When I look at you, I see something divine. Something holy. ❞

❝ It’s you I want to worship. I will make supplication to your lips and offer my prayers at the altar between your knees. ❞

❝ I was a monster and you made me a man. ❞

❝ For your sake, I am debased. For you alone, I am weak. ❞

❝ I would lay the whole earth at your feet if you asked it of me. The sun, the moon, and all the stars, I would make them yours. ❞

❝ What I feel for you is not gentle, nor meek. It is not beautiful. It wretched, it is dark and depraved with desire. And it is consuming me whole. ❞

❝ Break my heart if you wish, but the pieces will still be yours. ❞

❝ Tell me you do not feel it, and I will name you a liar. ❞

❝ You are far too good for unworthy hands like mine ❞

❝ To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves. ❞

❝ I fear if I let you touch me, I will fall apart. ❞

❝ There are certain things we must not want, yet I find myself wanting them nonetheless. ❞

❝ I need you. I need to have you. I need to make you mine. ❞

❝ You ruined me in my heart long before you ever touched my skin. ❞

❝ Must I beg? Must I fall to my knees and plead for the mercy of your touch? ❞

❝ I want it to be my name that you call in the dead of night, my name that rests upon your tongue when your body shivers. Mine alone. ❞

─── 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲

❝ I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. ❞

❝ You deserve better than that. ❞

❝ I lie awake at night in restless agony, wishing you were there beside me. ❞

❝ Do you not know how you haunt me? ❞

❝ In my dreams, I am yours. ❞

❝ I am to wed someone else. ❞

❝ Does he make you feel like this? ❞

❝ We both know who you’re truly thinking of when you’re with him. ❞

❝ You taste sweeter than she ever could. ❞

❝ She’s not the one I want. ❞

❝ Just because I know I can’t have you, it doesn't change what I feel for you. ❞

❝ He’s not good for you. ❞

❝ Every time I see you with him it kills me a little more inside. ❞

❝ Let me go. The more we hold on to this, the more it will hurt us both. ❞

❝ This is not allowed of us. We mustn’t – ❞

❝ Put aside your pride and admit that you want me. ❞

❝ Will I only ever be worthy of stolen moments in the shadows? ❞

❝ If he puts his hands on you again, I’ll cut them off. ❞

❝ When I’m with her, I pretend that it’s you. ❞

❝ Does he know? ❞

─── 𝐚𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐬

❝ Say you love me, and I know it will all be okay. ❞

❝ Do you know how long I have waited for this? For the day I could hold you in my arms and call you mine? ❞

❝ I fought for this. For you. ❞

❝ I never stopped loving you. I was only afraid of what you were becoming. ❞

❝ Come back. Even as a shadow. Even as a dream. ❞

❝ To feel anything deranges you. To be seen feeling anything strips you naked. ❞

❝ When I desire you a part of me is gone. ❞

❝ Desire doubled is love, and love doubled is madness. ❞

❝ I suppose you do love me, in your way. ❞

❝ Love does not make me gentle or kind. ❞

❝ I desire the things which will destroy me in the end. ❞

❝ There is a gentle thought that often springs to life in me, because it speaks of you. ❞

❝ The gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy. ❞

❝ I should not have waited so long. I should have kissed you every night and every day. You were made to be kissed, often and well. ❞

❝ I crossed a thousand leagues to come to you. Don’t tell me to leave. ❞

❝ Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same. ❞

❝ You're mine. Mine, as I'm yours. And if we die, we die. All men must die. But first, we'll live. ❞

❝ My sword is yours. My life is yours. My heart is yours. ❞

❝ We all dream of things we cannot have. ❞

❝ Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! ❞

[aliasinvestigate]

" if you just took a picture, know you've got about thirty seconds before that thing’s a pile of dust, " jessica warns, unsealing an eyelid.

( her own phone, with its charge on a red-barred lifeline, characteristic cracks spidering across the screen, has approximately fifty photos taken between the wee hours of this morning & the seconds before trish slipped through the door. the tiny rosebud lips, the little curling fingers, are so much more captivating a subject than anything she's ever taken dangling from a fire escape with her long lens )

the transition to hand dani off is a gentle one. never before has jessica taken so much care to soften the razor points of her sharp edges, from the pin-point bone of her elbow to the sawed off, ragged rage that all but consumes her from the inside. her strength makes her feel fumbling, bambi-legged in the way she has to be so cautious with the most precious thing she's ever held.

" fuck off, " jessica calls over her shoulder, peeling out of the t-shirt dappled with spit-up & rife with exhaustion. " you try looking presentable after two hours of sleep & a crying baby. " a tousled, dark ruff of hair pushes back into the hallway. " no makeup team, either. "

[sunlightreverie]

the threat is empty and they both know it; the words tug a smile against trish's lips. trish and jess have shared much more incriminating photos throughout the years, and even if jess did pulverize her phone into its most basic parts, trish would have another one in her hand, backed up from the cloud by the end of the day.

"-----if you want a spa day, all you need to do is ask," she calls back, laughing softly. her hips sway, rocking gently as she holds little dani close to her chest. she smiles down at the big, dark eyes and the tiny curls just turned under at the top of her head.

trish didn't spend her childhood with baby dolls and playing house. the only dolls in her room were the it's patsy! ones, all stored in perfect acrylic boxes in perfect rows on her perfect bedroom shelf. but this? this warm, wiggling bundle of soft rolls and chubby cheeks cracks open a part of trish that she never even paused to consider if it existed.

she loves her. for every bit that trish would do anything to protect jess, she'd do that and more for this little girl. even when the splintered edges of her heart threaten to stab, armed with the reminders that jess is with luke now, trish would do anything to give danielle the world.

"you're one lucky little girl, you know," she coos at her softly, taking a seat on the soft plush of jess' couch. "not only do your parents like to save the world, you've also got an auntie willing to buy it for you. and i will."

she grins, well aware that jess can hear her in just the next room over."

[teschmacher]

eve teschmacher has this innate desire, you see. it's where she wants, so, so goddamn desperately, for people to give love to her. does it matter if they love her for who she truly is? not at all, or at least, not really. as long as they offer her this she can package together any story she needs to believe it's the real deal. she can play the part of many different girls, anyone you want. just tell her which one you'll love the most and consider her that girl.

it's a simple thing that lena does. she observes the two dresses, as analytical as only a luthor can be, and correctly picks which option eve herself would like best. it brings out this glorious smile from eve, and makes her wonder if she does want to be seen for who she really, truly is, after all.

❛ okay! ❜ it sounds a whole lot like thank you.

she clutches the pink dress to her chest, smoothing out a barely noticeable wrinkle that threatens its perfection. her perfectly white teeth bite at her bottmlip, a strange insider look at the confidence she lacks.

the truth is it's not lena's mother she wants to like her.

❛ but which one would impress you? ❜ some habits really do die screaming, after all.

[sunlightreverie]

throwing the question back makes lena pause. she blinks, looking between the two beautiful gowns with a practice calm slipping over her features.

which dress would impress her? standing up to lillian, even in small, unremarkable ways, impresses her. maintaining some semblance of whismy and personality in an old-money manor so polished and pressed that lena's damn socks come back from the launderers starched -- that impresses her.

but she doesn't want to sew seeds of discord for eve, either. lena knows too well how hot lillian's wrath can burn, and for that all that lena and eve are different, she doesn't want to put a mark on her back just to keep one off her own.

"the pink," she answers, only a moment's pause between her rushing thoughts and the words that slip through her lips.

"---it's spring. i'll wear a yellow dress. we can coordinate."

she offers eve a smile, warmer than before. even with the bright pink of eve's gown, the washed out pastel of lena's yellow dress with the small embroidered bluebells at the hem -- picked up from a small boutique the last time she was allowed to go shopping alone in paris -- will draw lillian's ire more. that color washes you out, lena, she can hear already. you're sallow enough as it is, wear something warm so you at least look alive.

eve tying herself to lex may mean she also has to bear the weight of lillian's presence, but that doesn't mean lena has to knowingly send her to slaughter.