#codes:open

[niicodemo-blog]

Small antique shops were always a mixed bag. Sometimes you’d walk in and it’d all be stuff even the most tasteless of grandmas wouldn’t want. Other times, there’d be curiosities from floor to ceiling. Usually, they were somewhere in the middle. The one Nic found himself in today, on a street a few blocks away from the center of town, had been mostly the former but just as he was about to give up, a small painting tucked away in a dusty corner caught his eyes. He didn’t recognize the signature in the corner but whoever had created it clearly had talent. “Nice, isn’t it?” he asked, hearing footsteps behind him.

[ilycs]

Ilyas folded the newspaper in half, letting it flop onto the table in front of him with little more than an annoyed sigh and rustle of paper. The coffee shop around him bustled with people. It was claustrophobic but after a thousand years of dealing with them, the mer had long since realized humans didn’t understand the concept. Still, the person who ended far too close to his table made his eyes narrow. “Don’t take this the wrong way--” every word dripped venom “--but you should stand a little more to the left.” Away from his table.

[yourfirstsnow-archive]

The thirst had been pulsing between his gums all evening, but even Snow had grown the slightest bit paranoid with the recent news. It was no time to find a dark spot behind the bar or take a willing participant home. Not one he couldn’t trust, anyway. Perhaps he’d clock in early and resort to uneventful plan b in the form of a crimson bag. At this hour, Snow was expected to be found at the local bar. One of many favorites. Dim lit and glistening from reflected glass. An excellent thinking spot where the bass from speakers drowned out the overpowering impulse. By now, Snow had control, but as always hungered more for a distraction than anything else. “Are you just here for the drink or could I be your excuse to dance?” It did not matter who he wound up asking.

[ofcvcrctt-blog]

Everett tore his gaze from the newspaper stand to roll his eyes, already tired of hearing about the latest death. It’d have been interesting had they been human, but the details of the deaths made it evident they were otherwise. This one seemed to have been another vampire. Hearing someone approach, his lips twitched into a smirk. “Natural selection at its finest,” he told them matter-of-factly, returning his gaze to the text, not once looking in their direction. “You’d think they’d be more careful. This makes... how many now?”

[avilesque-blog]

           “And yet another murder.” With a displeased expression, Diana dropped the newspaper back onto the coffee. Although she had been the doctor responsible for determining the cause of death and doing the required analysis of the body, her name had not featured in the newspaper, at her request, nearing the spotlight had her ill at ease. “This is getting depressing.” Her hand raised in the air, to signal the bartender over to refill her glass.

[ellasawyer]

A loud barking pulled Ella out of her trance, a squeak passing her lips as she stopped, seeing the dog poke his nose through the fence of someone’s garden. He was not happy. Carefully, sucking in a breath, she reached out her hand, wanting to comfort him. She’d always had a love for animals. “Hey, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” she said softly, a sad smile tugging at her features, tears in her eyes from being lost in her thoughts. As she got closer, the dog only seemed to become angrier. She leapt back, another squeal passing her lips as she stepped through someone with a shudder. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” She exclaimed, apologising out of habit, only realising after the words were spoken that the person likely didn’t even know she was there. 

[codeshq]

Please don’t forget to give these starters some love! One and two.

[lachaqelle]

A life of luxury had been the one thing Amaury had dreamed of since he was a child. Yet, in the pursuit of that very thing, he’d managed to find himself in Alaska, living in a fixer-upper cabin that was really just a dilapidated shack in the woods. It had an outhouse for crying out loud! And for that matter, it retained heat about as well a refrigerator -- which was real useful when the weather forecast couldn’t even get above 70F in August. There were a lot of things to complain about but at the end of the day, he was still alive and not in prison. If that meant having to stop at the store -- where he was now -- for more blankets and bundles of firewood, so be it. He was looking at said blankets when he grumbled to himself, “I shouldn’t just buy a damn sleeping bag.” Though said to himself, it was loud enough to be overheard.