#bellefiancee

[xivu-arath]

one of my ocs that i haven't introduced to tumblr at large is a nercomancer named circe who works as an investigator for the police, calling forth spirits of murder victims to see if they can give her any leads on cases that would otherwise be labeled cold cases.

fIRST OF ALL THIS SOUNDS V COOL

isolde isn’t a necromancer herself, but she got trapped by her own hubris in a set of ruins, filled with bones - and because of the magic of the place, the memories of the dead were preserved along with the bones, and she eventually, for lack of anything else to do, began to absorb all the memories she could. now she’s freakishly wise and sort of renowned which is a p cool deal?

[rorykillmore]

“You can trust me.” but also do this for alana and margot

Enough time spent with Mason Verger, and it is not particularly difficult to discern -- at least the basic nature of -- what goes on behind closed doors. Or what has gone on. Margot always smoothly evades the subject of her brother unless they’re actively plotting against him, and Alana doesn’t push it, hardly even asks despite the scars her fingers inevitably brush on Margot’s body.

Mason himself makes any respect for privacy a little more difficult. He doesn’t quite torment Margot openly, whenever Alana is around, but he seems to enjoy seeing how far he can take his not-so-subtle prodding at her. Margot rarely gives him the satisfaction of a reaction, and Alana always has to bite her own words back. Has to appear indifferent, uninterested, or at least unwilling to get involved. It’s so violently against her nature that she sometimes hates herself for it.

It’s a small comfort, she thinks, that given his current state it would be very difficult for him to hurt Margot directly. Physically.

It’s only when she’s leaving one day after one of Mason’s sessions and she finds Margot in their rather elaborate kitchen, cradling her arm at a slightly awkward angle as she runs her fingers under cold water at the sink, that she realizes it doesn’t matter what Mason is directly, physically capable of. She remembers running into his attendant, Cordell, earlier that day -- how he stiffly greeted her at the door in Margot’s place and insisted that she’d better go in to see Mason right away. At the time, she’d read it as unease related to Mason’s own well-being. Now she realizes that she shouldn’t have.

“Margot.” Alana moves carefully into the room, and Margot tenses. “Let me see what happened.”

For a silent moment, Margot regards her. Glances back down at her hand. Seems to be unable to see any way of avoiding this.

Alana’s close enough now to get a better look at her hand. It’s still bleeding, already a little bruised and slightly swollen. It looks like Cordell tried breaking a few of her fingers -- unsuccessfully, but the damage is still evident.

Alana stares for a moment, swallows back anger and something that hurts too much to fit with how casual she’s tried to convince herself this relationship is, and moves to retrieve ice from the freezer.

“Cordell and I had a little disagreement over my brother’s treatment today.” Margot is sardonically conversational, almost even manages to sound bored - but there’s a hitch in her voice.

Alana doesn’t trust herself to respond to that, so she asks instead, “Do you have a first aid kit?”

They don’t speak for awhile as she carefully bandages Margot’s hand, apart from Alana telling her to keep applying ice for the next forty minutes as she finishes up. Margot is more detached than Alana has ever seen her -- except when Alana finally glances up to meet her gaze, she’s grimacing, almost seems to be bracing herself.

It’s not from the pain, Alana realizes. Margot’s waiting for the pity she sees as inevitable.

And Alana’s -- she can’t quite sort out her feelings for Margot, not just now, but between empathy and concern and affection and this attachment she didn’t quite realize the strength of until now (and yes, a slowly growing loathing for Mason), she doesn’t think there’s room for pity. Wouldn’t want there to be. Has learned to hate it, herself, over these past months.

Except that she can’t quite grasp for a way to put all of this into words, and just finds herself murmuring, still holding Margot’s hands, “You can trust me, you know.”

Margot holds her gaze and doesn’t pull away, but something uncertain wavers in her expression. “...I want to.”

But maybe they’re both beyond trusting anyone ever again, is the unspoken sentiment.

[rorykillmore]

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” you know what to do fucking destroy me

By nature of their relationship, Melanie and Lawrence are used to having some close calls, by the end -- but before that, when the first one happens, they’re both left a little rattled.

It’s a deceptively sunny afternoon (sunny, so witheringly hot), and Melanie has just had one of her awful fights with her father -- these are becoming more and more frequent, recently. Lawrence finds her after she’s fled the manor’s grounds, for once an open show of running away, and he’s all but instinctively taken her into his arms when a familiar voice calls out and makes both of their hearts leap into their throats.

Henry, Lawrence realizes almost a moment too late, has followed her into town.

Lawrence swerves away at the last moment, feigning interest in the vendor on the side of the street who is selling ointments and medicines instead, and tries not to listen or tense at Henry’s muffled, raised voice behind him.

Later that evening, when Melanie manages to slip away in earnest, they laugh about it for all of thirty seconds before Melanie’s laughter turns into tears.

“Hey --” Lawrence murmurs, a bit startled, holding her the way he wanted to earlier. “What is it, Mellie?”

“I’ve just --” Her voice comes after a moment, vaguely muffled against his shoulder. “I’ve only just now fully realized how much we stand to lose.”

Truth be told, Lawrence isn’t entirely sure what might happen if Henry Ravenswood ever found out about them - surely, he thinks, it wouldn’t be earth-shattering. But Henry has a a lot of wealth and influence in this town, and Lawrence knows he’d have a relatively easy time making things difficult for him, if he wanted to -- and even more important than that is the result that seems even more certain: he and Mel would lose each other. There’s not much he wouldn’t do to avoid that. Somewhere amidst these fleeting moments and stolen outings, he realizes, she has become his world.

He tucks away his own anxiety, pulls her closer.

“Listen to me,” he murmurs into her hair. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere -- there’s nothing in the world he could do to make me. I’d have to be more afraid of him than I am in love with you -- and frankly, that’s just not possible.”

Melanie gives a shaky sort of laugh, but it’s another moment before she pulls away to look at him. Pulls away to respond. “...Do you promise?”

“‘Course I do.” He flashes her a bright, reassuring grin. “I swear on --”

Suddenly aware of the weight in his pocket, which he’d forgotten until now, he fumbles for a moment to produce the beautiful locket he traded so many of his mother’s old possessions to obtain. “Well, I swear on this.”

Melanie’s eyes go wide in the moonlight. She lifts one of her hands, halting herself just before touching it. “This is...?”

“For you.” Lawrence confirms, still grinning. “Here, hold still. I’ll put it on.” He slips behind her, brushes her hair aside to fasten the locket, and the vow feels like it’s bound along with the clasp.

Over a year later, on the night before their wedding, one of the last thoughts to fade from his mind is about broken promises as his throat constricts.

[xivu-arath]

9 - judar, 18 - carnival, 19 - strength and 10 - magato

strength

19. Favorite photograph headcanon: mmmph there are a few! she has one that saya gave her when she took yuu’s place, Back in the Day, of saya and yuu together and smiling, and she treasures that. there’s also one of her and mato together, though for some reason the camera couldn’t quite focus and she’s kind of... blurry, but that’s to be expected.

on denny she has a few pictures of herself with shinji and she values those a lot too tbh. 

magato

10. Physical appearance headcanon: okay magato looks like a dumpster but he looks like a dumpster on purpose. no one really wants to get close enough to him to find out but he’s actually pretty clean and takes care of himself and shaves and his hair is clean and everything. half of his bad appearance is just radiated malevolence and lots of slouching and trashy expressions. he’s also waaaay stronger and faster than he looks, since he’s a skinny guy - he’s all wiry muscle tho. 

he also has like twenty million scars but he’s resilient and they tend to heal up and fade fast - you have to be really looking to find them and if you’re that close you’re probably about to die so uh.

[rorykillmore]

alana - 1, sydney - 18, phoebe - 13 and rosa - 11!

alana - holiday headcanon

alana is used to crazy holidays. after her parents died, she and her brothers got shipped off to live with their aunt who was like. well-meaning and a bit sharp tongued and wacky but loveable in her own way. but also southern and very religious so like her thanksgivings and christmases were always spent with giant groups of southern belle housewives and she and her brothers would always have to sneak away at some point to avoid suffocating tbh.

buuut she has some fond memories liked to those, anyway, and holidays are important to her not so much for the sake of celebrating as instinctively wanting to be with people around that time of year, so. she’ll probably orchestrate some stuff on denny even if she can’t live up to aunt collette’s legendary wackiness.

sydney - favorite possession headcanon

sydney gets pretty sentimental about her possessions in general but um. she lost a lot of her stuff a couple of years ago when a fight with her fake doppleganger roommate almost killed her and this shitty organization set her apartment on fire to fake her death rip.

her favorite possession probably used to be the first edition alice in wonderland book her mom gave her as a child. a close friend of hers tracked down another one for her after she was upset about losing it in the fire, so she treasures that pretty closely - buuut beyond that all she really has of sentimental value are a few old pictures of her parents that her dad kept for her.

oh and uh. her engagement ring ahahaha.

phoebe - nickname headcanon

phoebe has been mispronouncing vivi’s name for the past four months -- okay no sorry

phoebe’s used to getting nicknamed often enough by her sisters (who often refer to her as “pheebs”), so when other people do it she kind of just tends to roll with it. she doesn’t have much of a natural tendency to nickname others beyond the lame joking ones she occasionally gives piper and paige (mama bear and sparkles, respectively), although she refers to vivi as just ‘viv’, sometimes.

rosa - wardrobe headcanon

rosa is actually not in victorian wear 100% of the time. she’s more comfortable in it, sure, and certainly tends to stick to it when she’s in the southwest (even with the stylistic differences, she doesn’t stick out as much as she would...everywhere else), but while on team trash business she actually generally prefers stuff that doesn’t make her stand out as much. she already feels uncomfortably distinctive enough just being in doflamingo and magato’s presences, tbh. so yeah, she’s done a bit of experimentation in modern clothing but she’s still very much figuring it out.

[xivu-arath]

“You’re not useless.” - carrie/carnival

Carnival stumbled upon her without meaning to - she had been looking for late-blooming flowers, trying to drink in colours before they succumbed to the change of seasons. She hadn’t expected to find a girl, let alone one she knew, and the scraps of a conversation veiled in barbs lingered in her ears. But Carrie looked up at her and she thought better of simply leaving, and crouched instead, wings furled and eyes on the ground.

There were things she could have said, and that she did not, because one of the few things Carnival did know was what she hated hearing, when she was trying not to cry. Instead, she dug her fingers into the dirt, and looked at the space between them, and studied the flowers she had come for until Carrie spoke.

“Nothing really... happened. I’m fine."

“Alright,” she said, trying not to be gruff - a futile effort.

“We were just... I’m sorry. I’m in your way.”

“Not really.” She examined her hands, scars hidden for a moment, and dared to look at her out of the corner of her eye. Carrie didn’t look better, but she also didn’t look worse. That was something. She hunted for something else to say, but her tongue had never had any grace, and kindness was new and uncomfortable and did not come easily to her. “You’re not useless.” It was one of several things the other girls had said, cloaked in pitying tones. Carnival had never been hurt by pity, false or real, but it angered her all the same.

Carrie looked up at her, startled, and she looked back, wings twitching. 

“I heard,” she said, an awkward and clumsy explanation. “You’re no more useless than I am.” And perhaps that was so very little, but it still meant something, as the girl straightened.

“Thank you,” she said, and Carnival listened to the rest of the words they didn’t quite dare speak.

[rorykillmore]

mel/alana - look at me -- just breathe, okay?

Alana’s not asleep when the screaming starts - but it startles her sharply none the less. Her blood runs cold and she thinks, feverishly, of her own nightmares - the most recurring one that doesn’t involve falling and breaking is the one with screams and trails of blood and more people taken from her.

Ironically, when she skids painfully into the doorway of Margot’s bedroom - which she’s given to Melanie to use, during her time here - she realizes within a moment that it is a nightmare, in fact, that has caused all of this.

“Melanie -- ” She approaches the bed quickly, perching stiffly on its edge and trying to still Mel’s scrambling hands, to catch her unfocused gaze. “Melanie. It’s alright. You’re alright. It was just a dream.”

With a sort of choked sound, Melanie goes quiet at the realization -- but it’s clear that she’s having trouble finding calm, hands clutching Alana’s until her knuckles whiten, almost hyperventilating.

Alana doesn’t ask about the dream itself. Knows it could have been plagued with any number of Mel’s old demons, but in light of recent events, she thinks she can probably narrow down which.

“Look at me,” she says - gently, firmly - instead. “Don’t think. Focus on me, and just...breathe. Okay?”

It’s a moment or two before Melanie can really comply, but eventually her grip loosens, and a little of the color in her cheeks comes back. Alana has taught her before, how to focus on her breathing. In. Out. She walks her through it now, all the same.

“There you go,” she soothes after a moment with a faint, encouraging smile. “See? Nothing to worry about. I’m right here.”

She still catches herself wondering, even now, whether that’s enough. She can be here -- she can even be much more of a protective presence than she was before, after the dungeon -- but underneath her gentle reassurances, uncertainty still lingers. She’s not cut out for this sort of thing, not any more. She wonders whether she was ever even very good at it in the first place, since hardened anger and protective ferocity seem to have been yielding her so many more productive results. When she’s soft and maternal, someone suffers for it. Abigail gets pushed into the hands of a serial killer, Will loses his mind. When she fights, at least, people like Mason end up floating lifelessly in their own eel tank, unable to ever hurt anyone else again -- for a little while, at least.

“...Thank you, Doctor Bloom.” Mel’s voice nearly startles her again. It’s quiet, a bit fractured, but inevitably sincere. She tightens her grip on Alana’s hands more intentionally this time, a brief expression of gratitude, and Alana reassures herself with the thought that however much it changes in the grand scheme of things - it matters to Melanie, at least.

Still, the instinct to retreat into herself is there, triggered, and she has to pull back on it so it’s not particularly noticeable.

“I’ll go get you some water.” She gives Mel another faint smile, and pulls back. “I’ll be right back, alright?”

A few moments, she thinks, should be long enough for her to steady herself too.

[xivu-arath]

psst hao/alice, mel/richard and the most legit of all: ethan/edgy!mel

hao/alice

things they do together in their spare time: monsterhunting tbh, though hao always swoops in to wreck whatever alice is fighting and expects gratitude and she’s just “god get your fire spirit away from me I had it handled anyways >____>” and he pretends to be mortally wounded by her words for all of about five seconds. they also walk around sometimes, in quiet places, and they talk

one photograph they’ve hypothetically or canonically taken together: there’s probably a shitty patch tribe smartphone and I’m not saying hao sometimes idly takes pictures of them as they fight things but no that’s exactly what I’m saying. 

one unspoken sentiment from my character to yours: “It’s a shame that we never met earlier. For both of us.”

ways my character shows affection for yours: he’s slightly less of an arrogant asshole??? but while he’s privy to her thoughts as he is to everyone else’s he goads her less on what she thinks and gives her space and remembers something outside of his own pain and hatred and that’s... a lot.

one relationship good end: they both become healthier people and hang out together without alice distancing herself or hao enacting genocide

one relationship bad end: hAO SETS FIRE TO THE WORLD WHOOPS

my character’s general thoughts on yours/a relationship ramble: tHESE TWO ARE REALLY IMPORTANT because while hao tended to be interested in people because they had similar powers, could understand him and his own burdens, just a little, alice... isn’t like that at all. and he was never in his usual self-centred “hey I think you’re cool I’ll just approach you whenever I feel like it” place with her, mostly because he fucked it up almost immediately and suddenly it was her situation that was terrifyingly relateable. so at first he was guilty and idly trying to make up for it but that grew into a more comfortable bond between them??? and she never lets him get away with being arrogant either, which actually... suits him tbh. they both put up so many barriers - they’re really guarded, intense people - but they’re willing to ease them down just a bit, but also respect each other’s limits.....

mel/richard

things they do together in their spare time: richard totally invites mel to just hang out with him and walk around because he wants to soak in the life of these different cities, where no one knows he’s a king or what he’s done, and mel’s still hesitant and uncertain about new places and they go just enjoy themselves and relax a little more in each other’s company. he also finds a place that does natto on toast and manages to somehow convince mel to try it after declaiming of How Amazing it is in his most regal, inspiring voice.

one photograph they’ve hypothetically or canonically taken together: there are probably some really wacky photos out there and I am 100% sure the mask of barona just suddenly swooped in at one point and took a selfie with her and mel tried so hard to not let on.

one unspoken sentiment from my character to yours: “It makes me happy to see you living, and reaching out.”

ways my character shows affection for yours: by being a huge fucking dork. it’s with melanie that richard makes all sorts of courtly, grandiose gestures, because they’re silly and familiar and make her feel at ease. he’s v much attuned to how other people are feeling, and is fully prepared to be absurd to keep her comfortable.

one relationship good end: iDK richard stayed on denny instead of just disappearing and they grew closer and became more open and he completely trusted her, and they just. leaned on each other in between having wacky move nights tbh

one relationship bad end: mel falls for the mask of barona and their relationship falls apart...! nah but richard returns, but with lambda within him, bitter and untrusting and afraid and it’s his own suspicion that drives mel away

my character’s general thoughts on yours/a relationship ramble: dorks???? richard honestly has a lot of quiet respect for mel, and admiration for how while she was in such a shitty situation, she’s so resolute and determined, and steadily growing outward and beyond the place that she was trapped in for so long. he honestly isn’t sure if he could have done the same, in her place, and he just genuinely wants to make her happy and do anything in his power to ensure her life is... easier now

ethan/edgy mel

things they do together in their spare time: visit shooting ranges and compete. go fucking bounty hunting or something.

one photograph they’ve hypothetically or canonically taken together: someone snapped a picture of them when they were in washington and they’re mildly internet famous for fighting a spectre

one unspoken sentiment from my character to yours: “not bad, kid” (unspoken because he doesn’t want to get snarked at)

ways my character shows affection for yours: not knocking her out and dragging her out of dumb situations

one relationship good end: ethan ditches kate and goes off to just handle this entire panfandom with edgy mel. nothing can stand in their way.

one relationship bad end: mel accidentally shoots ethan in the face with the shotgun, meanwhile, kate teams up with alice and steals lawrence away somehow

my character’s general thoughts on yours/a relationship ramble: the most perfect otp especially because they’re equally >___> and inclined to take down all their problems by force. 100% made for each other

carnival/carrie (requested later)

things they do together in their spare time: they probably visit the night circus a lot more after that first time. carnival occasionally even drops by the academy, just sort of lurking out of sight until carrie leaves and just ~suddenly~ being in the area to meet her idly. no one is fooled, partially because azazel is trying v hard to look nonchalant.

one photograph they’ve hypothetically or canonically taken together: carnival is entranced by the idea of photographs, of having a memory immortalized in such a real way, and eventually shyly asks carrie to take one of them both. she keeps a print of it on her, to remind her of who to trust.

one unspoken sentiment from my character to yours: “Whatever hurt you shouldn’t have happened. It won’t, again.”

ways my character shows affection for yours: carnival’s grumpy with glory and freddie, if a shared, tempered grumpiness, but she tries to rein that in around carrie, be gentler, not prod or ask tactless and blunt questions. it helps that carrie isn’t scared of her anymore, but she still tries to think of what she’s about to say, and make clear that she’s listening whenever carrie says anything.

one relationship good end: basically what’s slowly happening on denny??? they slowly grow closer and end up happy pls and thank

one relationship bad end: carnival does something threatening, or comes back from a fight or something, and carrie gets frightened for a moment - and that’s all it takes for carnival to decide that this can’t work and lashes out more to drive her away??? tbh I don’t even want anything bad to happen to these two ever so

my character’s general thoughts on yours/a relationship ramble: carnival honestly recognizes a lot of herself in carrie. and that scares her because here is someone who... went through something, who was hurt and is shy and retreats so easily instead of fighting everything, and she seems so young, for all of that. so while she’s uncomfortable in dwelling on what carrie might have been through, and whether they’re alike or not, she... tries to be careful around her, to not add to whatever’s weighing her down - and she really does appreciate that carrie is quiet and intelligent and just good to talk to, when carnival can relax enough for it. they could be friends, in her opinion - though she’s not looking close enough to realize they already almost are.