Silence Lay Steadily

" ...silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

starter for @roguexwrites 

Ishaan loved his job but coming home to Charlie was the best part of the day. It was even better when he wasn’t on call. He wanted to do something a little sweet for his partner that evening. So, naturally, he stopped off at the grocery store to pick up dinner. He was still fairly full of energy, so it wouldn’t be too taxing. Going the extra mile, he picked out a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Who doesn’t love getting flowers? 

Opening the door, Ishaan let out a loud and exuberant greeting that accidentally scared the hell out of his long suffering cat. That animal had the misfortune of being owned by someone who was naturally loud. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

George raised an eyebrow, unsure if he had realized what she was doing but willing to be a little more forward. With a little bit of caution, she inched her hand back up his thigh. She’d be lying if his love for his daughter didn’t make her heart flutter some, though. “Sounds like something that needs to be fixed then.” She wasn’t a very patient woman, and she hoped her few tricks would show some results and not leave her a heap of embarrassment. 

Abel hadn’t turned on the charm in a while, but he had been very smooth in his younger days. College was much like a John Mulaney skit. A blur and graduating sweating ecstasy just because you could. Marrying and having a kid had him kissing those days good bye. Now he was single again, so he could definitely hook up again, but he wasn’t sure he’d survive doing hard drugs for fun anymore. “I wouldn’t mind it being fixed.” He dropped his voice in a low suggestive way.  

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

Pao looked over the new picture, nodding in approval. “Honestly, I think you need someone to challenge you, keep you on your toes and all that. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy, and if Iain has a tough time with this –” she scoffed and flicked her hand dismissively instead of finishing the statement. “I’m sure if won’t take long for him to come around.”

“I want to say that he won’t have issues with it, but who even knows?” Shiv was started to feel sick again. “Pao, what the hell is wrong with me? I’m so fucked up over this I want to puke...again.” She stood up and quickly made it to the bathroom without puking in the floor. She had wished someone had told her the whole being in love thing involved a lot of puke. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

George wasn’t as good at the flirting and dating scene as she had been when she was in college. She smiled patiently, countless reasons for her flirting going over his head. Maybe it didn’t come off as she had hoped. Maybe he wasn’t interested. She’d test it out. Her fingertips gingerly grazed the middle of his thigh before her hand came to rest on his knee. “Not a lot of people do, but she seems like a sweet kid.” She gave his knee a light squeeze. “So how do you spend your free time?”

Abel was a little impressed with how forward she was being now. He wasn’t sure if she was interested or just being friendly, but the subtle touch of his knee kind of drove her point home. “She is a sweet kid,” he said with a bit of a smile. “Not a lot really. It’s kind of terribly lonely.” He was being honest but also coy. He wanted to play this and see were it led him to. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

She wasn’t going to pretend she understood what he was experiencing, but she did find his love for his daughter endearing. “Sounds to me like you could use some company then,” she said offhandedly. She hoped there wasn’t too much a come hither air to her voice so as not to scare him off. Rest assured, though, she was definitely interested. “It’d make the time between visits a bit more bearable, don’t you think?”

“It’d make it a lot more bearable,” he admitted with a nod. “Kids are great at taking up time and stuff. Plus you know, I like spending time with my kid.” He shrugged. Even though the split had been amicable, a lot of his life had actually been much simpler when he was married. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

“Está como un queso, Loba,” Pao replied as she melodramatically fanned herself. She bit back a joke about him having any siblings and zoomed in a little more on the photo. They looked happy, and that’s all she really cared about. “So this guy is the real deal, huh?”

“I think that he most certainly is,” she said with a soft smile. Shiv reclaimed her phone and brought up another picture of him for Pao. “I mean he’s got that rough past and stuff, but he’s so gentle. I like that. There’s duality and depth. You don’t find people that can somewhat understand your own rough past too. Anyway, he’s just nervous to meet Iain because well, he’s detective Iain, my upright lawman brother.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

George propped an elbow on the counter and rested her chin on her palm. Her gaze drifted downward to study how he was dressed out of habit. “No and no,” she replied with a quiet laugh. “Di is the only one waiting for me at home after a busy day at work.” Her free hand twitched, and she quickly began fiddling with the hem of her top. She cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow. “I can’t help but notice you’re not with anyone.”

“That’s the magic of divorce,” he said with a shrug. “You start doing things alone. Stella’s with her mom, and well, I don’t know what to do with myself most of the time without her.” Abel was brutally honest to a fault most days. He was sure that it annoyed Melissa because she was the person he spent the most time with outside of his daughter and ex wife. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

Work had been hectic, exhausting really, with fashion weeks. George was dead on her feet most days and had resorted to swinging by restaurants on her way home at night. It wasn’t ideal, but so it goes. She opted to stop at one of her favorite spots was a diner a few blocks from her apartment. It was a cute little place, full of charm and regulars.

When she walked in, she scanned the room for a place to sit, and while it wasn’t busy per se, her interest piqued when she noticed a familiar figure seated on one of the bar stools. She’d planned on grabbing her food to go or not bothering him, but clearly fate – or something at least – had different plans. She soon found herself hopping onto the stool beside him. “Fancy seeing you here, stranger,” she chirped, smiling lazily.

“Well, I’ll be,” he said, looking up into her newly familiar face. “Did you ditch the dog with your boyfriend for a solo date with yourself or are you stalking me?” Abel couldn’t properly rein in his oddball sense of humor most of the times, but as soon as the words had come out of his mouth, he realized that this was his casual fishing to see if she were single.

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

“We’ve been through so much, Loba,” Pao said quietly. “I don’t want to see you get hurt or be a part of something you might regret.“ She was sure Ryan was charming, handsome, what have you; she wanted to make sure he was good enough for one of her oldest friends, one of the few people who understood what it was like to be an immigrant. She didn’t want this to get sappy, but she wasn’t going to be a bystander to disaster. As Shiv passed her phone over, Pao raised an eyebrow before she looked at the selfie on the screen. “He – wow.” She zoomed in a little on the photo. “You met him at one of your shows?”

“I know,” she replied. She really did appreciate that everyone worried about her. Sometimes she was convinced that Iain and Pao consulted about these things behind her back. The thought didn’t bother her, and in fact was a little comforting that she had people who worried about her in her life. Shiv smiled and nodded. “Yep. Hot as fuck, right?” She couldn’t help but beam a little bit. She’d managed to reel in that man all by herself. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

starter for @mannerofglitterandgold

Stella was with her mother that day and with Stella was BB-8, so Abel was alone. Not that he minded being alone, but he would much rather have his daughter around. It was one of the more disappointing facets of co-parenting. When Stella wasn’t there it was mostly Abel up to his own devices. Life with Stella was just easier. Mariel had thrived after the split in more way than one, and he was genuinely happy that she had. He loved her deeply. She made it all look effortless, where he was having trouble with simply trying to function. Making new routines was not as simple as it seemed. 

He wasn’t feeling much like cooking for himself, so going out to dinner alone it was. 

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

“Me meeting him isn’t negotiable at this point in our friendship,” she teased. Of course, she wasn’t joking, but she did mean well. Was this guy who he said he was? Was his role really as small as Shiv believed? What were his intentions? Typical things a best friend need to know. “Maybe he loves a mess,” she said with a smile. “Besides, you’re a catch. Don’t sell yourself short.” 

“Damn. Alright. I know it’s not negotiable, but he’s nervous about it all,” Shiv said. She wanted to make him as comfortable around the people in her life as she possibly could. “You’ll like him. I met him at one of my shows actually accidentally. It wasn’t something that I had planned at all, but here I am.” There wasn’t a lot that she did consciously plan. “I’m sure that I’m some grand trout or something, but that’s beside the point. I am still a hot fucking mess. Stuff usually doesn’t go this well for me, so I’m kind of in awe of it all.” She fished her phone out of her pocket, keyed in the code, and pulled up a cute selfie of Ryan and her before sliding the phone over to Pao.

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

She opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it, unsure of how to respond right away. Pao was happy for Shiv, of course, and she knew she could trust her judgment when it came to others. She was just apprehensive of a how quickly she got serious romantically. That could have been her own problem to work out later, though. Pao sighed and then took Shiv’s hands in hers, squeezing them gently out of reassurance. “I can try to withhold judgment for now,” she said with a smile. “I’ve got to meet him, though.”

“It’s just he was literally left holding the bag during a robbery. He’s like really good at locks and cracking safes and all of that stuff,” she said, trying to make it sound really matter of fact. “Besides that’s not even the worst thing that people we know have done.” Pao and Shiv had been there and seen a lot of stuff and if they hadn’t done it they knew people who had. “Oh, you can definitely meet him. He’s fucking hot, Pao. Like otherworldly. Don’t know what he sees in my hot mess ass, but he’s sweet and he’s genuine.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

George laughed quietly. His cool introduction may have been odd, but it was charming all the same. “Dogs tend to grow into their names, don’t they? Di is  just a nickname for Diamond. She can be high maintenance but also, well, tough. I guess that’s the right word.” She pursed her lips and looked over to the little girl and the two dogs. “C-3PO seems like it’d be a better fit for an Iggy, though. What with the anxiety and all.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” he said with a small nod. “BB-8 looks more anxious than he actually is, but he’s pretty anxious. However, he’s a nice dog. He and Stella are crazy about one another.” Abel’s ex wife had handpicked BB-8 for Stella and Stella had given the dog one look and named him after a droid. “Most dogs are high maintenance in their own ways.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

She was amused at how nonchalant he seemed to be while she had been rattled by the unlikely possibility of her dog knocking over a child. “Well, if it’s all right with you, Stella and BB-8 are more than welcome to entertain Di. She’s a boundless cloud of energy.” She smiled at him. “I’m George by the way.”

Abel nodded. “Abel like the Bible but with less murder.” Well, maybe not less murder because he was a medical examiner, but it probably wasn’t the place or time to bring that up detail. “And well, as I said before the kid one is Stella and the dog one is BB-8. Stella named him, not me. If I’d named him he’d at least have been an Obi-Wan.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

mannerofglitterandgold​:

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. “I wouldn’t have assumed it had you not said anything, but now that you have,” she said, pausing for effect, “I’m not so sure.” She grinned. “What could possibly be more elaborate than that? You’d be responsible for another life in this crazy world.”

“Well, I puked this morning, but I’m nervous and that’s nothing new. Sometimes I puke before a show. It’s not out of the ordinary.” She shrugged. She also wasn’t unfamiliar with drinking too much and puking either. This wasn’t that type of case at least. “I love him, Pao. I love him, and I feel stupid about it because of course everything with me goes fast and hard and I crash and burn. Then there’s the fact...well, he’s been to prison. It’s nothing serious, but he’s terrified of meeting Iain now because of that.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

lcwistanmumu​:

“I wouldn’t know,” Malachi offered even though he knew it was unhelpful. “I won’t ever say no to a dog, so this conversation was nearly pointless.” 

“I do a lot of things that are nearly pointless, but that’s beside the point. I figured persuading you on this matter would be a lot easier than any matter involving human offspring anyway. I mean I’m pretty sure I would probably definitely ruin a child of my own.”

[withlilliesandwithlaurel]

lcwistanmumu​:

“Ill fated would be in keeping with the trajectory of our lives,” Iain deadpanned. In their nearly forty years on the Earth, the Fitzpatrick twins had seen and experienced more misfortune and death than most people experienced in a lifetime. It was almost as if that children’s series had been inspired by them. Still, Iain liked to know that their history hadn’t made his twin jaded when it came to matters of the heart. “No promises made, but tell me anyway.”

“Please don’t say that,” Shiv said with another nervous laugh. Iain was perhaps the one person she felt like knew and understood her despite how different they were. “I think that after all the shit that has happened we deserve a little reprieve from the onslaught of fucked up malaise.” She wanted to believe that there could have a better life. She could be stupidly optimistic like that. “Well, here goes, Iain, my brother, my twin, my wombmate, my boyfriend is an ex-con and he did some jail time. He’s on the straight and narrow and all that and what not.”