It was still and quiet in the main entryway in the Manor as Caroline gazed upon the massive, decorated tree in the center of it. She would have let out a sigh, but a kiss to her cheek got her attention before she could.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at the Barn already?” She asked as Carter snaked his arms around her waist and snuggled in close. He only hummed and shrugged in response so she lovingly nudged him for an answer.
“I decided to put it off for a day because I knew you couldn’t get off duty.”
“I don’t want you to miss out on time with your mom just because I’m on call.” She began to protest, but he just squeezed tighter.
“It’s fine, this way Parker and mom can have a girl’s night, plus I get an opportunity to give you your present.” Caroline was confused at that, having distinctly remembered already exchanging gifts with him on the Solstice.
“What do you mean?”
“Yes… but also I kept seeing the way you look at this tree.”
“Oh! That’s just because I wish it were a bit more like the trees back home is all.”
“The Norns right? I know you’re used to your trees a little more ‘au natural’.” He raised her hand and planted a kiss upon it before leading her out the door into the snowy grounds outside.
“Not to say that I think it’s ugly or anything,” Caroline continued, knowing by now that Carter wouldn’t let them be out in the cold long enough to bother them. “In fact I think the whole house did an amazing job with the decorations.”
“That they did, but this,” he said gesturing dramatically to an empty clearing in the nearby forest. “Is just for you.”
She was about to ask what he was referring to when she saw it; movement. The snow on the ground stirred and shifted as a sapling broke through. Tiny and delicate it danced out from the blanket of white as it grew at an unnatural pace.
Within moments, that felt longer than they surely were, a large Fir was before her. Not native to the region, and larger than any she had seen before (or likely would again), its raw and untamed beauty put even the shiniest Christmas tree in the Manor to shame.
“Oh my god Carter,” she breathed, afraid that if her surprise was too loud then it would somehow go away. “This is gorgeous!”
“Like the ones from home?” He asked in his boyish and hopeful way. She could have smacked him because of course it was and more! But then he reached down to take a handful of snow and gently blew- scattering it towards the tree and alighting it with twinkling globes of light.
“I know we’re past Yule and the Solstice, but I wanted to give you just a bit of the magic that makes you feel at home that you give me everyday.”
And it was there, surrounded by snow, she melted into him with a kiss.
🚀 pt 2 (after some thinking I think Carter would also go for Murtagh. Something about his energy)
"Ever heard of look but don't touch?" The sudden sound of Murtagh's voice startled Carter. He spun around quickly to try to hide that he'd been touching the Recon Specialist's things.
"Hasn't everyone?" He responded.
Murtagh frowned at him. Carter was almost always around. The older twin was never not in his vicinity, sometimes he just hovered outside Murtagh's research terminal.
Murtagh snatched the rock sample that Carter was hiding behind his back.
"Perhaps you need to hear it a few hundred times more." Murtagh stated.
"Parker likes to touch things too, so don't go thinking she's the better twin."
"You both annoy me," Murtagh stated. "But I like her better."
That hurt him to hear, Murtagh could see it, but he left before Murtagh even thought to apologize. Not even an hour had passed when Carter came back. It made Murtagh wonder if the twin was just bored, or simply had nothing better to do.
"Do you do anything other than work?" Carter asked, coming to stand beside him.
"You do realize Recon Specialists don't analyze rocks?" Murtagh responded. "This is my hobby."
Carter was silent. He hadn't expected that information. Murtagh never really talked about himself, or his interests.
He looked at the collection of rocks before he reached out to grab one. It was small and dark, with some tiny veins of some kind of ore. It was shiny and he just wanted a closer look.
"Don't," Murtagh grabbed Carter's wrist. He stood as he twisted the arm behind Carter's back.
"That hurts, that hurts, ow, I'm sorry!"
Murtagh frowned. Carter always seemed to irk him to the point of violence. Maybe it was something more than that, something he just didn't have the skill to fully articulate.
"You always have to touch everything." Murtagh sighed. He loosened his grip before completely letting Carter go. That would have been the end of it, but Murtagh took step after step until he had Carter backed into a corner.
"I'm sorry. I won't-"
"You already said that." Murtagh commented. He didn't move from where he stood, effectively blocking Carter from leaving.
"What are you doing?"
Asserting my dominance." Murtagh responded, as if it was a completely normal thing to say.
He suddenly smashed his lips against Carter's, pushing him up against the wall. The kiss was more intense than he meant and he pulled away awkwardly.
"If I touch more rocks, will you do that every time," Carter asked after catching his breath.
"You're frustrating." Murtagh replied and kissed him again.
about this guy you all know him, he had me scared as hell! / he comes to me at night after i crawl into bed / he's burnt up like a weenie and his name is fred!
horror aus part trois. part one can be found here, and two, here. all warnings and disclaimers still apply--as does the love.
do you dare dare journey below the cut...?
it’s a long way down, a long way down - a holy hell au inspired by the creep series
there are stories are stories on stories on stories about matches made in heaven. about two pure souls destined for the other, finally reaching a ‘happily ever after’ after going through trials and tribulations that, honestly, are played out and boring.
that’s exactly what fergus macleod would tell you, anway.
he’s been inhabiting his mortal coil for a few decades now, engaging in his favorite activity--serial murder.
but lately, something has--gone out.
he’s lost his light. his passion for killing.
so he gets an idea, and puts out an ad for a videographer.
he’ll make a documentary, he decides. a magnum opus to relight the blood and the violence that had brought him so much joy over the years.
what he didn’t expect was andi.
not her beauty. not her courage. not her wit, sharp enough to make a god bleed.
and not her fangs, and a thirst to rival his--even if her moral compass was a bit more lawful.
enough of stories about matches made in heaven.
talk to me about a match made in hell.
(these--particular films are not easy watches, though i personally enjoy them. the sequel is my favorite, but remember when i said ‘explicit sexuality’ in the first warning post? the especially applies to creep 2. when i imagined this au it was less in-line with the main narrative of the movies and more, say, a meet-cute story you’d overhear at an addams’ family function.)
mini soundtrack sampler includes: lovelytheband, ‘buzz cut’ + catfish & the bottlemen, ‘longshot’ + albert natural, ‘sara loves her juicy fruit’
red sun rises like an early warning - an ancient cares au inspired by sleepy hollow
sleepy hollow was often called a “sleepy” village, in the way that meant that nothing ever happened there. marie van tassel, daughter of the richest man in town--and immediately intrigued by the arrival of one police constable walter vaughn, sent all the way from new york city--would disagree. especially in recent years.
the headless horseman had returned.
and marie, for all the occult studying she’d done far from the gaze of her father’s watchful eyes, still so haunted after her mother’s brutal and untimely passing--couldn’t figure out why.
she knew exactly who he was. what he was. but why had he returned? what had woken him?
and could see really be that mournful, when it had sprung start the machinations of fate that brought walter right to her doorstep?
“i have shed my tears for boom... and yet my heart is not broken. do you think me wicked?”
“no... but perhaps there is a little bit of witch in you, marie.”
“walter, why do you say that?”
“because you have bewitched me.”
mini soundtrack sampler includes: frank sinatra, ‘witchcraft’ + creedence clearwater revival, ‘i put a spell on you’ + the rolling stones, ‘sympathy for the devil’
drunk and driven by a devil’s hunger - a safety nets au inspired by apostle, co-starring @agent-thorn
it was only five years into the birth of an entirely new century, and her twin brother had been taken; her father, lost in his grief, was utterly useless.
it was all up to parker jensen.
she found a fake pass easy enough, slyly dancing her way through conversations with began with “you know, i don’t remember seeing you at any of the prayer meetings...” until finally, finally, they reached that accursed island.
she’d never been to wales before.
she had no idea what to expect.
what are you supposed to expect, when you’re all alone on a solo rescue mission going toe-to-toe with what can only be described as a cult?
but ivar--son of the enigmatic priest of the island, malcolm--was a nice surprise.
the only nice surprise that she’d find.
it wasn’t until she caught jeremy, sneaking home after what she could only guess had something to do with ffion, that she got her first flash of what would be a more and more grisly truth.
this island had its own god.
and something much more sinister than genesis had happened on this soil.
mini soundtrack sampler includes: bakar, ‘hell n back’ + mumford & sons, ‘little lion man’ + neil reid, ‘mother of mine’
let that fever make the water rise - a grace & choice au inspired by the ritual
it was supposed to be like a vacation. diana hadn’t had one in at least fifteen years. vida, even longer.
so why not hiking? why not the kungsleden--the king’s trail--in northern sweden?
the first two days were bliss. nothing but rolling hills, clear skies. up until:
“ah fuck!”
“vida--shit, vida, are you okay?”
“yeah, i’m--urk!”
“all right, that was not a reassuring noise, let’s have a look at that--”
vida’s left knee went from pink to a swollen blue to an agonized, deep purple tinged with green over the course of next day. diana couldn’t bear to watch her struggle to keep up, especially when this was supposed to be a romantic break, nothing as taxing as the fieldwork happening back home.
by the light of a campfire, diana studied their map, humming. “what if we just cut through the forest?” she asked. “if we just went as the crow flies... it cuts the time in half. and you need medical attention, vida, we can’t keep going on like this.”
“has the battalion cleared this area?” vida returned her question with one of her own, eyes shining. the reflection of the fire made them look like stones polished by a river. “we wouldn’t run into anything, would we?”
diana smiled. “nothing we couldn’t handle, love, i’m sure.”
and diana didn’t change her mind when they set off the next morning... up until they found the disembowled carcass of an elk, placed up high in a tree like a religious icon.
she thought of morgan.
“diana, what--what put that up there? something had to have put that up there!”
mini soundtrack sampler includes: billie eilish, ‘bury a friend’ + two feet, ‘i feel like i’m drowning’ + coldplay, ‘paradise’
you can hear the river from my burial bed - a secret gardens au inspired by the legends of slenderman & mercy black, co-starring @agent-hood
she wouldn’t say she wouldn’t remember. she did.
it was just that caroline janson had been in therapy for so long... she was no longer sure what of shards of her memories were real, and what would be, as dr. ward would say, hallucinations.
but she knew one thing: she was glad to be coming home.
“i hope chicken’s okay for your first night back,” parker began gently. “i’m just now realizing i forgot to ask--”
caroline smiled at her, “chicken would be great.”
she watched parker’s profile, as she opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. finally, she inhaled, then began, “you know... carter’s missed you since you’ve been gone...”
caroline rolled her eyes. “parker. it’s been a decade and a half. i seriously doubt it.”
“hey, who knows my brother better right now, me or you?”
that earned a huff... and a grin. subdued, but still there. “... okay. fine. but... maybe not tonight.” parker glanced at her once, and nodded.
“i understand. besides, maybe i want you all to myself for the first few days, anybody think about that?”
and caroline laughed.
and she wished that it felt like she wasn’t still being haunted.
mini soundtrack sampler includes: oingo boingo, ‘dead man’s party’ + shaed, ‘trampoline’ + corrina repp, ‘only a beat’
don’t let it shake your steady thread-cutting hand - a royals & robots au inspired by kristy
it was hardly tilde’s idea to spend thanksgiving alone harvard. but between the pandemic, the weather, and her own growing agitation at her father’s behavior...
it just seemed easier.
and it wasn’t all bad. she still had prudence, who opted to stay with her out of love (and perhaps a lack of family--but she didn’t ask). and they had run of essentially the entire campus--there were several buildings that stayed opened, even over the holiday. the library being one.
but it wasn’t until one night, when they made a late night trip to a convenience store not far from tilde’s housing that things became... strange.
“pru. ... pru!” she whispered, snacks in one hand, the other on pru’s elbow. “... i think she’s following us.”
“she?” pru asked, lowly, careful to keep her eyes down, as if they were just having a very, very difficult time decided on what kind of poptarts they wanted.
tilde, face oddly blanched, couldn’t find her voice, so she just nodded.
at the end of the aisle, a figure in dark hoodie and skinny jeans passed out of view.
one of pru’s arms went around tilde’s waist. “don’t worry. i’m sure she’s just here at the same time as us. it’s a small store.”
tilde would remember that when she got home in time to find a snuff film loaded onto her laptop.
“oh shit--oh shit, oh god--!”
this is why she preferred halloween.
mini soundtrack sampler includes: yeah yeah yeahs, ‘heads will roll’ + rihanna, ‘disturbia’ + nonono, ‘pumpin’ blood’
