#jaded moth

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Shared Space || Jaded Moth

Megara grunted slightly, sweat on her brow beading up a little bit as her hair in a messy bun sat on top of her head. She hugged the box as forcefully as she could, hauling it up into Ly’s house. Well, now it was their house. 

She bent down, sliding the box and breathing out as she looked around the few boxes of possessions she had and chairs or shelves or pieces of furniture she hadn’t immediately sold off in the move. 

She stretched a bit and shot Ash a glare as the cat immediately meowed and jumped on top of the box, trying to chew at the tape. She shook her head and walked back out the front door to talk to Wendy.

The redhead grinned, “All set?” 

Meg gave a tired smile, “Yeah, I think that’s it.” She looked back to the house before turning to the tall woodworker again, “Listen, thanks again. You know you don’t--”

“Nah, just have my usual ready next time I see ya. This was your wedding gift from me to you guys anyways. It’s been nice to see you two grow and be all in love and everything when I’ve stopped by over the last year.” She honestly looked a little sad at that but Meg felt it wasn’t exactly her business to pry. 

“Well, if that’s all, I’ll get this truck back and you two go have fun.” Wendy winked at the bartender who just chuckled.

“Oh believe me, she’s more than enough fun.” 

She waved the other woman off before heading back into the house and starting to push some of her boxes that held appliances towards the kitchen where Ly was, “Still feel weird that she was so nice about helping us out, but hey, I’m not complaining if a Pixie regular wants to give us a present.” 

She snuck up behind her wife--her wife--and circled her arms around her, pressing her face into her back, “All my stuff is in your house--our house.”

[outfit vibes basically]

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

I Adorn You || Jaded Moth

Meg awoke as she always did when she slept over at Lymantria’s, well before her partner and recently to the very familiar feeling of Ash prodding her awake with jabby little kitty paws. Why she was the target, she had no idea. But essentially she glared at the cat and sighed, turning over and letting the cat purr loudly and jab her some more as she wrapped her arms around the sleeping woman more snugly, her face burying into dark hair. 

The paws kept on coming and the meows began and at this point, wanting Ly to sleep and rest longer she groaned a bit and pulled herself from the mass of limbs and sheets, tugging on an oversized sweatshirt to go feed the cat and start the tea and coffee for the morning. 

This morning, they aimed to get their festive decorations in order. They’d spotted a small little tree by the market being sold, only about 3-4ft tall that they brought home with them along with various bobbles and things they found at thrift stores and Whosits to decorate the tree with. Most of all, they’d bought one of those ready to go gingerbread house kits to practice their skills on so someone from Pixie’s would actually know what they were doing during the contest. 

She placed Ash’s food down on the floor, and rustled through the cupboard for Ly’s tea bags and the coffee she’d brought over last time and left because they never seemed to have any and she couldn’t always run off to Hatter’s. 

She heard the door open wider and looked back to the room to see her partner emerging from it and gave her own tired half-smile, voice still laced with sleep and lack of caffeine as she rasped out, “Morning.”

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

The Nightmare Fades || A Jaded Moth ~Flashback~

It had been a few hours since she woke up, eyes barely registering what Megara saw as the dark smog clouded and concealed a striking pale face before it all but vanished. She sat there, wondering if it was real. Feeling like the hunger was there, but not like it was constantly gnawing at her, constantly threatening her. She sat there, her head feeling clearer than it had in months without the wisps of dark smog crawling out of the dark corners. 

He was gone.

At least from her mind. That mara had done her job. Meg was still waiting for the catch on that one, but now that she’d processed things enough, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. 

After a quick shower, because she had basically woken up in a pool of her own sweat after the nightmare she’d pulled herself from, she tugged on whatever was closest, pulled her hair up into a still wet messy bun and set out towards Ly’s place. It was only a few hours since they last saw each other. Dreams were weird that way. You could have long moments, deep conversations and wake up to finding out you’d only closed your eyes for thirty minutes. 

As the sunrose in the sky, Meg approached Ly’s front door. The benefits of Ly not having replacement roommates yet was Megara could come and go as she pleased without having to worry about someone complaining. She unlocked the door and let herself in, closing it quietly, locking it and making her way through the livingroom (which she felt like she’d just been in) into Ly’s bedroom. The dim sunlight was enough for her to side step her little trinkets and found items without knocking into anything as she slipped off her shoes and slowly lowered herself onto the bed, heart pounding with what she was about to tell the sleeping woman.

She slowly wrapped her arms around Lymantria’s sleeping form from behind, not wanting to startle her but gently nudge her awake as she buried her face into her hair as she whispered softly and pressed a kiss to her cheek, “Ly...” She wrapped her arms around her a bit tighter, fingers drifting along her arms to interlace their fingers as she sighed softly, “Normally I’d let you sleep but I think you’re going to want to be awake for this.” 

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Once More, You Open the Door || Jaded Moth

This was probably a terrible idea.

That’s what she kept telling herself as she walked up the familiar path she’d taken several times a week those couple years ago. 

Hey, she offered her help. 

The dark voice crept up into her mind, tendrils circling around synapses as she shook off the feeling. If they hadn’t come to an agreement about the situation, she’d probably be attempting to make Ly her next meal so she didn’t trust the demon inside her at all in this situation.

She didn’t really know how to begin. She didn’t know what she was going to say or how they were going to do this. Hell, she could barely talk to the girl at work and they’d seen each other practically every day for the last month or so since their initial conversation. But Ly was her only connection in Swynlake near anything magical or mysterious so it was a lead.

Really, this reminded her of their post dream situation those years ago where they’d fantasy dated as teens and then once they woke up, avoided each other like the plague until they were locked in a closet and forced to pick their way out. This house was a closet with a door that was unlocked. Guess they’d just have to see how long it could keep them both inside. 

She walked up to the door and knocked, already wanting to immediately bolt, but she’d run once before and a big part of her didn’t want to back out on Lymantria again. 

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Old Flames || Jaded Moth

Meg had only been back in town for a little while, enough to secure herself a job at Pixie’s as a bartender. She tried to distance herself from the Court. There were too many memories of people she didn’t have or speak to anymore. 

She’d gotten locked in closets in there. Performed impromptu lapdances for birthdays. Fed off people in back alleys. Sung on Valentine’s Day. Punched the shit out of a little guy and almost drained him of everything. And she did drain someone, pretty badly, actually. Right there. And then she lost control completely.

So to say she never wanted to go near the Court again, would be an understatement. But most of all, she was avoiding someone. Someone she had no assurance was even still in town. Someone who’d ensnared her from the start and hurt her more than she thought she was capable of feeling anymore. Lymantria. Her little flame chaser moth and partner in crime. The girl she’d left here while she went on a succu-bender around the UK and Ireland. The wistful girl who traded her eyes for magic. For power. The girl she could’ve possibly--

Ahem. We’re a bit busy.

If you could picture someone rolling their eyes inside themselves, that’s what Megara was currently doing to the demon voice of Samael inside her head that poked right into her thoughts (although she might have to thank him just this once for that).

You’re not supposed to show up during the day, Sammy.

I am when you’re ruining the day. Also when things are gonna get good.

Before she could figure out what he meant her attention was caught by a patron. It was mid day at Pixie’s so it was a pretty slow crowd. Being new meant you got the less packed shifts so here she was pouring drinks for day drinkers before Happy Hour kicked in and she managed to get a little bit more in tips from the people just getting off from work. She smiled politely, her smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes but distracted people enough to make them think she was actually friendly and took the order, making the drink and sliding it over. 

As she was wiping down the counter, she heard the movement of equipment on the stage. They had to prepare for the next show. Her eyes moved to the stage and immediately her brows shot up, hand pressing down into the counter a little harder than before. 

Of fucking course.

She froze. The flowy figure of her ex sweeping across the stage and pulling at chords and audio equipment just brought her right back to the first time she’d seen her. She breathed in deeply through her nose, shaking her head. This had to be a joke, and Meg wasn’t laughing. She’d done everything in her power to avoid this, but again, Swynlake had its ways of doing just what she didn’t want it to do, didn’t it. They hadn’t spoken a single word in a year and a half, and she looked like she had her sight back? Either that or she became the Daredevil equivalent of a techie. 

She sighed out the breath she was holding and tossed the towel into a bucket behind the bar, again harder than she probably should have and the bin clanged up against a cabinet. 

Fuck. 

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Battling Demons || Jaded Moth

“Yes, god, okay I’ll switch with you. Groveling is so not a good look for you. Yes, stop thanking me. Cool, kay, you can have today and I’ll take your Friday.” Jesus Christ.

Megara hung up the phone with one of the bartenders at the Court. Apparently, they had some sort of life altering plan set up on a Friday night (which in their case would probably be that they finally had a chance to get laid by someone who couldn’t hear the bullshit coming from their mouths), and Meg who was now known as the obvious choice to cover Fridays, because what the fuck else was she doing when Ly wasn’t around, seemed like the best option. 

Luckily, the all too interesting girl that she’d been spending quite a bit of time with was also off today. So why not a little surprise?

Oh I’m sure everyone will be surprised...

The bartender sighed as she walked out her front door, muttering to herself, “I fed you yesterday, why are you here?”

I got the dinner, now I’d like the show

Megara didn’t answer that, figuring he was just fucking with her yet again, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the apartment Lymantria shared with a sickeningly cute redhead. She tried the door. 

Locked. 

However, the dark haired girl, of course, knew where the spare key was (these things happened when you kept a friend-lationship for over a year) and quickly unlocked the door.

“Oh Lymantria...” She called out into the apartment, smirk on her face as she walked back towards the girl’s room.

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Break the Chains || Jaded Moth

The Court had finally ushered its last customer of the night away and girls were packing up to go home and rest their sore bodies from the amount of cardio they’d endured for the night. Meg had called last call and got the usual drunkards that she had to make sure got a ride home and didn’t jingle their keys like they could drive. She definite stiff armed a whole lot of drunks determined to get out of the bar and into their car. 

Meg had thrown herself back into work after the “dream”, not even really bringing it up with Ly on you know the small little detail that she told the girl she loved her in it. Of course, it was a teenager puppy love sort of way and Meg knew she wasn’t into Ly like that. However, it did beg the question: did she want to be? Did she want to hold hands with the girl in public? Sneak off to kiss under stairways and in dark corners? Lay in bed as the sun rose and she could look upon that ethereal face? Was the part of her that’d died with the deal she’d made and the betrayal she’d witnessed crawling out from the ashes?

There were too many questions and not enough answers. 

And so Meg left it be. Ignored it. And it seemed as though they were both on that same wavelength because Lymantria didn’t bring up the dream once. However she couldn’t fully ignore the girl she worked with. They kept it a little more professional than normal when they spoke to each other, but as Meg always moved behind the bar and took her post, her eyes always wandered back to the girl setting up equipment in the corner. Half-naked dancers be damned, Meg was entranced by simple every day acts carried out by the person who know plagued her mind with memories that weren’t hers in this world. 

And so Meg ignored it, but continued to gaze and stare when she was sure she could get away with it. 

Meg heard her name being called out, pulling her from her thoughts as her hand had been absent-mindedly wiping down the bar. Esme. “Who needs help?” Meg asked, only getting part of that last sentence. The answer came back: Lymantria. She looked at the girl struggling with various pieces of equipment and she knew Esme was up to something making her go and help instead of someone else. Leaving her spot, Meg approached Ly with a certain all too familiar sway in her hips. “You seem to be in need of about two more arms.” She smirked, crossing her arms as she glanced over the struggling tech girl before taking something (she knew no technical terms for things really that was Ly’s department) off the pile she was struggling with. “Huh, well, would you look at that. Two more arms.”

@thelostillusionist

[itsbeenareal--slice]

Rings on Sticks || Jaded Moth

Meg was having quite a time trying to convince this teenage, pimple faced guy that the fact that she missed one singular ring on a technicality did not negate the fact that she still earned herself a stuffed animal. 

“Oh come on. You gave away that bear to that little kid and she missed two. Am I making up for your ring quota here? Calling the ring police on me? Cameras inside your booth?” Her voice wasn’t loud, it was just sassy and biting. She rolled her eyes, leaning against the support on the booth. She totally earned that bear over that little twerp.