I NEVER SAID I Don't Love You. The Baron Should Know By Now Exactly How Carlisle Feels For Him, & So

      ❝ I NEVER SAID i don't love you. ❞ the baron should know by now exactly how carlisle feels for him, & so his anger does not dissipate with the obvious ploy for pity. if anything, it only runs hotter. ❝ it's like you don't even listen to me when i speak. i may as well discuss moral philosophy with a brick wall. you think you know everything one could possibly ever know already & that no one could possibly have a valid argument if it's from a viewpoint you don't want to consider. it's infuriating. you infuriate me. ❞ & yet, when he considers taking the suggestion & leaving, the idea is repellant to him. something nameless keeps carlisle here, an unseen tether compelling him to continue arguing with this man who he knows will never agree with him. for yet another long night just seems more bearable if they are together — even if they find themselves once again at each other's throats.

100  —  the chain  by  fleetwood mac - from @musecraft​ (carlisle) for baron

“ Go back to hiding in the shadows with your rats. Damn your lies. If you don’t love me now you have never loved me.”

      LONG AGO,  she might have told him he looked dashing — even regal.  &  nadja could certainly admit that he was still handsome, especially now that he was returned to his former self by the djinn's magic.  but the fact remained that staten island was an entirely different world than the one they had met in all those centuries ago, back when the baron had wielded broad power  &  influence  —  &  he had very little of either now.  & nadja almost feels sorry for him.   ❝ that's just it, baron :  no one really wants to look like a noble anymore.  in twenty twenty-three, the hot look is more sporty peasant.  it’s much better to be relatable, you know. ❞  &   she pulls up her layers of skirts to reveal a pair of air jordans underneath.  ❝ like these.  i killed a man in the park for these.  i think they really boost my street cred. ❞

❝ why are you dressed like a sad silk trader? ❞  — for baron from nadja sent by @musecraft​

     IT HAD ONLY BEEN THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO when Baron had been setting the latest fashion trends. But now, it seemed, time had gotten away from him. The world was becoming an ever stranger place— the New World specifically was a very strange place. One where kings mingled with paupers and vampires assimilated rather than thrived. Baron shook his head incredulously, his fingers tracing tenderly over the finely embroidered silk. He already suspected the answer but felt compelled to ask anyway, “ Is this not what all the nobles are wearing? ”

    WHEN EDWARD SMILES,  he looks like the man he’d been when izzy first met him.  the silver streaking his hair  &  the creases that form when his lips curl make no difference ; he still has that same glint in his eyes that refuses to go out.  & regardless of all that has happened since then  — &  everything he might have said to the contrary — izzy did not regret his decision.  he would choose to save edward again, every time, no matter what the consequences might be.  &  when he playfully jostles their hands ( the idea that he might not talking about stede leaving him breathless ), izzy can only hope that ed knows how he feels.

          but in spite of all they've discussed recently, all the agreements they have come to in hopes of moving forward together, there is still a lingering sensation of guilt.  in the quiet moment where they sit with their fingers entwined, izzy hears the memory of his own voice returning to haunt him.  &  even when edward dismisses him from his post, izzy doesn't move, eyes downcast  &  shadowed.  hoping that he knows is no longer good enough ;  edward deserves to hear the truth.

        ❝ ed — ❞  he starts, voice soft  &  low.   ❝ you know, when i … when i said that i should've let the english — ❞  he breaks off.  he can't even bring himself to say it a second time, even now. &  after a beat he gives up  &  moves on.  ❝ i never should have said that. i'm sorry. ❞  &  slowly, as though it's a real challenge, izzy drags his eyes up from where their hands are still curled tightly together  &  back to ed's face.  ❝ i didn't mean it. you know that, right ? i didn't mean it. ❞

his gaze doesn't drop,   it holds fast to izzy's face,  nearly unblinking.  for years,  for two whole decades   (  un-fucking-believable!   ),  edward had looked at his first mate without really seeing the whole of him,  the answer that was nestled right there,  between unflinching devotion and fierce protection.  edward had suspected,  at the very least,  yet in the end failed to connect two very important dots:  this is not something he had clearly seen before,  on the deck of a ship or in more or less clean taverns,  a passing fancy.  this is a larger than life feeling,  almost,  and edward has finally learned to feel comfortable enough in his own skin to not bolt away from it in terror.  nah,  he runs towards it and doesn't let go.

he smiles a bit to himself,  then,  but it gets comically dispelled by izzy's words.  he opens his mouth in protest   (   you little—   ),  in fact,  only to begrudgingly close it shut on the basis that izzy hands is,  unquestionably,  right.  as he often is.   '  yeah,  alright.  stayed out of trouble this time,  though,  didn't I?  '   his smile returns,  shifting into a grin with no small amount of mirth to it.   '  knew there was someone important waitin' for me here.  '   he gives their still joined hands a little shake,  as if to say yeah it's you,  feeling absolutely mad with giddiness under the moonlight and loving every second of it.  which is why it takes him a couple more minutes to actually get to what got him climbing up to the nest in the first place.   '  hey,  you should get some rest.  i'll take the watch.  '

MAKE YOURSELF A MYTH AND LIVE WITHIN IT, SO YOU BELONG TO NO ONE BUT YOURSELF. 

independent captain jack sparrow. adored by lottie. established august 2014, rebooted february 2020. promo credit

Absolution. A clean slate for all those willing to accept it.

      HUMANS WERE ALWAYS dim, slow creatures, but they were especially pathetic at night when they could barely see. convenient, considering that venturing out of her coffin & onto the deck during the daylight hours would quickly cook her alive. but after the caribbean sun had slipped beneath the horizon, it was a simple matter for nadja & laszlo to turn into bats & fly over to their targeted ship before returning to their human bodies & feeding upon the crewmen. once their thirst had been sated, it was much easier to plunder whatever they pleased from the cargo. & between the two of them, they often left the cabins & the hold alike picked clean.          this crew had put up a particularly heartfelt fight, but nadja still cut through them without much difficulty, their dedication to protecting whatever the vessel carried only encouraging her to move faster. when the spanish soldiers had all been felled, nadja left laszlo to feed & pressed on below, eager to discover what cargo the humans seemed so ready to give their lives defending. a locked door awaited, but it barely delayed her as she crashed through, tearing the iron padlocks from one chest after another & flinging their lids open. & when each one had its contents revealed, she squealed in delight, calling for her husband to come & see the spoils for himself.        she was untangling a long strand of pearls from a cache overflowing with gold chains & jeweled pendants when laszlo appeared behind her, sweeping her into his arms & drawing out another adoring squeal. ❝ look, my love, look ! it's the most gold i've ever seen in one place — & it's all ours ! ❞ his compliment earned him a kiss, nadja pausing in her celebration long enough to to lick a few lingering droplets of the captain's blood from his lips before she found her feet again. ❝ but must we really tell the rest of crew ? we did all the work of taking the ship after all — is seems fair that we should get all the reward. ❞ she mused, returning to the pile of jewelry & freeing the pearls from the chest at last before draping them loosely around her pale neck. ❝ i think we deserve to keep the finest things for ourselves for once, don't you my dear ? ❞

     THE DRAINED CORPSE OF THE FINAL SPANISH FOE dropped unceremoniously to the ground. The sound of his wife’s voice beckoned him down the hull until he found his way to a door halfway ajar. “ What have you found, my darl-? ” His words were cut short as he stepped into the room, the sight before him truly being one to behold. Several chests all opened to reveal an array of glistening jewels and coins. However, it was the sight of Nadja standing there, the light of her lantern flickering against her skink, which would have made his heart skip a beat was he not already dead. “ Look at that! ” Laszlo wrapped his arms around Nadja’s waist, momentarily lifting her in his excitement. “ Were you not here those jewels would be the most gorgeous thing I’ve seen today.” He let her go, although one hand lingered on the small of her back as the other scooped out a handful of the gold doubloons. “ We should probably let the rest of the crew know… ”

‘wait ‘til you see what’s down here. we’re going to be… um, rich.’ — for laszlo from nadja sent by @musecraft