bakerstreet | quote me on this.

a. "I think you know how to love better than any of us. That's why you find it all so painful." --Fleabag
b. "When he died he would not end. The world would end." -DeLillo
c. "Grief is an amputation, but hope is incurable haemophilia: you bleed and bleed and bleed." --Mitchell

[Or bring your own]

( Some prompts: one, two, three. Feel free to link your own! )

1. "I take great care of myself by carefully shutting myself away." - Vincent Van Gogh

2. "It was good for a while, being empty. I didn’t hurt anymore. But as time went on, it was like I could hear myself from far away, begging for permission to come back." - Myra McEntire

3. "A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all embodied in a language." - Noam Chomsky

4. "Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning." — Elie Wiesel

5. "Sometimes it’s simple. You meet the wrong person at the right place at the right time." - Sel Dowdy

Edited 2021-02-20 20:32 (UTC)

1. haphazard views, anticipated abuse / we'll amuse ourselves / now that we are feeling so / numb, now that it's all been said and done / who told you you could right all my wrongs (The Honeymoon)
2. All the knives that rusted in my back I'll put into yours. (Phaedrus)
3. All parents damage their children. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair. (M. Alborn)
4. [wild card]

[I, II & III for potential prompts~]

Erik does so love their little visits. Just a few days where he can play house with his pretend wife. They can share their meals together, sing together, even go on little walks at dusk. For him, it's perfect.

Right now is a quiet time of day, with Erik doing some reading and Christine working on embroidery. And then -- oh and then she says that and his withered old heart stops in his chest.

"Christine... do you truly mean that?" His voice is soft, hopeful. Like a child being promised a gift.

She is careful with her words and her actions when it comes to her Erik. He has been hurt so deeply and she doesn't want to be part of that pain any longer. That is why she can't - won't - lie to him.

"I do." she sets the embroidery aside to join him - wherever he is, wherever he sits - smiling warmly, "I think we have always been part of one another. That's why it's so easy for us to spend time together."

Soulmates, in a way, bound together by song and circumstance. Christine has no regrets.

"I thought I was being so selfish, keeping you here. Even just these few days a month." She's sitting next to him. Close enough to touch, but he doesn't dare. Not quite. On occasion he'll hover his hand over hers before pulling away again, or brush his fingers against her cheek while she sleeps, but he dare not do more.

"But if you enjoy your time here, perhaps I am not the selfish creature I thought after all."

i. They say age brings wisdom, but it isn't true. All you ever get is a better sense of your own limitations. - Curtis Edmonds

ii. You are the one I'd let go the other loves for,
surrender my one-woman house.
Allow you red wine in bed,
even with my vintage lace linens.
Maybe. Maybe.
For you. - Sandra Cisneros

iii. Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it. - Ralph Ellison

iv. Are there not little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of history? - William Makepeace Thackeray

v. Bring your own!

[ ota AUs/crosscanon, gen + m/f for ships. ]

[ possible prompts: one, two, three, four or offer your own! ]

Edited 2021-02-20 21:19 (UTC)

1. And if there's a reason I'm still alive
When everyone who loves me has died -Hamilton's "Wait for It."

2. Anger is just love, left out, gone to vinegar -The Crow by Dessa

3. You taught me the courage of stars before you left - Saturn by Sleeping at Last

4. Am I in heaven here or
Am I in hell. the crossroads I am standing. -Hold On by The Rescues

5. “vast clouds and mists entwine the deep forest trees; autumn bathes in the clear river" -有寄by Du Mu

“I'll sleep when I'm dead.” - Warren Zevon
“I can’t look people in the eye and tell them that they’re going to die anymore.” ― Rebecca McNutt, Perfect Little Angel: A Short Story
“Death is permanent. There’s no coming back if you get off the ferryman’s boat.” ― Martha Sweeney, Killmore

1. “I’ll never forget the beginning of our falling apart.” - Tahereh Mafi

2. “The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That’s the way it will be with our love for each other.” – Paulo Coelho

3. “Thoughts are slow and deep and golden in the morning.” – John Steinbeck

4. “I can’t exactly describe how I feel but it’s not quite right. And it leaves me cold.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

5. [ byoq! ]

1. Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were - Marcel Proust
2. Getting lost is just another way of saying ‘going exploring’ - Justina Chen Headley
3. It’s strange how close love and fear live to each other. - Fredrik Backman

1. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces.
- Mitch Albom

2. Silence was just a quieter way to lie.
- Jodi Picoult

3. Things hurt, and don't hurt, and hurt again.
- Jodi Lynn Anderson

4. A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.
- Carlos Ruiz Zafon

5. Nothing but a dreamer, longing for something he does not even understand.
- Eric Morgenstern

6. I feel
empty
confused
hurt
numb
disoriented
mad
vulnerable
insignificant
blurry
tired
sweaty
overwhelmed
temporary
anxious

- Samantha Schutz

7. bring your own

[m/m for anything shippy, OTA otherwise]

Edited 2021-02-21 00:29 (UTC)

1) You were unsure which pain is worse---the shock of what happened or the ache of what never will. -- Simon Van Booy
2) I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all. -- Kurt Vonnegut
3) You know, things fall apart. You grieve. And then you sit around and wait for things to somehow get perfect again. But they don’t. They never can. There is no perfect. There’s just different. But different can be wonderful. -— Sarah Jio

(or toss your own at him)

1. "There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." - Henry Kissinger

2. “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” ― Emily Dickinson

3. "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Bernard Baruch

a. Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. --Shelley

b. You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again. --Nafísi

c. Once you pass a certain age, life becomes nothing more than a process of continual loss. Things that are important to your life begin to slip out of your grasp, one after another, like a comb losing teeth. [...] It's all very painful - as painful as actually being cut with a knife. --Murakami

d. prompt me

[ info & permissions. ]

( one )

i, shaking like an addict, from her eye,
black sky, spawner of hurricanes, drank in
sweetness that fascinates, pleasure that kills.
- charles baudelaire, to a woman passing by

( two )

the ability to suffer and endure,
that's nobility, friend.
the ability to suffer and endure
for an idea, a feeling, a way,
that's art, my friend.
the ability to suffer and endure
when love fails,
that's hell, old friend.
nobility, art and hell,
let's talk about art for a while.
- charles bukowski, the creation coffin

( three )

one thing smoke does is lower your voice.
sticks and stones will break your bones,
not everything will pass.
-fani papageorgiou, the purloined letter

( four )

no matter how long i live, i shall live longer than you will love me.
- alexandre dumas fils, the lady of the camellias

( five )

Bring your own!

[ It's past noon and some re-run of EastEnders, no idea which episode, is currently showing on the tv while they stay indoors, him and Madeleine, the footfalls and subdued voices of the gang resonating within the old factory walls. He's off work for now, mostly because they're currently stumped on a word puzzle that makes his brain want to combust, instantly - he's sent a couple of men for the necessary translations but they're stuck all the way down in Sussex which buys him at least a couple of hours in Madeleine's company. He's lying on his back with his head in her lap, watching some boring human overdose on the screen out the corner of his eyes. Riveting, truly. This show's never been his favourite, it just happens to be extremely preferable to Hollyoaks, his only current alternative.

He strokes Madeleine's thigh with one hand, sort of at an awkward angle but he's flexible and also inhuman, he'll do what he likes. She's wearing a shirt and a pair of boxer briefs, meaning her skin's quite naked and smooth beneath his fingertips. It's been... a few days, he thinks, since they last fucked. He could initiate, of course, if he'd been so inclined but right now, he's perfectly fine just lying here, on her, the sound of the tv running in the background. Little more than digital noise.

Relatively peaceful, isn't it, by their standards. ]

[ US broadcasting policies have deprived him of Passions, so they've been falling into the cesspool of human affairs that's EastEnders instead, because reruns show all day, all week, really, in time for him to catch a break from work every now and then, her brave little soldier, and for her to leave their bed longer than ten minutes at a time.

Currently, they're on the couch, his head in her lap and her legs stretched out languidly in front of her, crossed at the ankles, all nude skin on display. He's stroking her thigh and it's comfortable, easy, his flexibility its very own type of power demonstration, isn't it? Madeleine looks down at his face, relaxed, half-listening to someone retching on their own vomit in the background (either Spike or her could've provided them with a much more entertaining demise - at the very least, a tastier one), thinking that it's all white noise.

Just white noise.

Leaning down over him, hair falling loosely around her shoulders and obstructing any view he might have had of the screen, she licks his cheek and murmurs, her English always a tad murkier on these frequencies: ]

Who'd you eat first? Pick one. [ When she raises her head, it's only just enough to look over at the TV, a slight frown on her face. ] Preferably someone whose death would change up the plot somewhat.

[ She leans down over him until he's getting her hair in his face, his view of the screen - unenthused as he may have been about it - disappearing as a consequence. He breathes out deliberately, harshly, watching the strands dance in front of his eyes. She's built him a tiny shelter, almost, a little cave. Unlike Darla and Angelus by proxy, he's never cared overly much about the view if he's got what he wants within reach and look, she's right there, her elegant features criss-crossed by shadows. He smiles when she licks his cheek, kissing the tip of her chin before replying. His lips leave damp traces across her skin. ]

Like I could tell them apart. [ Scoff. ] Hell, I'd eat the lot of them.

[ He curls his fingers against the back of her neck. It's a hold, not quite a grip and of course, she'll know the difference. Like that, she's almost impossibly close and he could've felt crowded by most others except with Madeleine... it's hard to get close enough, you know? Even when they have sex, he always wants to sink in deeper and it feels like a physical ache sometimes, feeling the limits of their bodies, reaching the finish line without truly reaching... that. Whatever it is. Not that he minds the little death, obviously, he's all about death in any and all shapes and sizes, but there's just something...

Hard to explain. ]

Edited 2021-02-22 17:47 (UTC)

[ He reaches up and curls his fingers against the back of her neck, holding her still against him, more so than forcing her closer and the difference is tangible, important, very. He isn't looking to cross borders, he's simply looking, yes. Looking his fill. Cocking her head a bit, Madeleine feels his lips slipping over her chin in damp traces, drawing patterns on her skin, symbols that must be decoded, interpreted. If there's one thing life taught her, before she left it behind to follow him, it was how you need to keep the key to yourself, leave them guessing, leave them gasping - or they're going to move on, like everyone does in the end, of course.

Really, she's just postponing the inevitable, but with him, oh, she'll postpone for as long as she can, won't she? Forever, if possible. ]

So greedy.

[ A slight laugh as she angles her head and bites his lower lip, briefly, on the harsher side, teeth, before straightening up again and catching a glimpse of ambulances on TV, don't they know, they're saving cardboard cut-outs? Don't they care? Absentmindedly, she reaches up with her left hand, feeling for the fast drying remnants of him on her lips. Truly, she can't decide which one of them she's talking about. Could be either, could be both - in that respect as well, they're completely compatible. Reflective.

Except, her reflection has abandoned her already. Everything comes at a price, after all. ]

01.
“i was alone (…), practicing some familiar grief, my old heart’s sacrament.”
(olivia gatwood)

02.
"I am light now, or on the side of light—:

light-head, light-trophied.
Light-wracked and light-gone."
(natalie diaz)

03.
"sometimes
faith feels too far away to be of any use a distant moon built
from the prophets’ holy bones other times it’s so near
I can hold it between my teeth"
(kaveh akbar)

04.
"I want to believe, walking those aimless nights, that I was praying. For what I’m still not sure. But I always felt it was just ahead of me. That if I walked far enough, long enough, I would find it—perhaps even hold it up, like a tongue at the end of its word."
(ocean vuong)

( gen, f/f, crosscanon, assumed cr welcome. )

a. "You are beautiful but you are empty. One cannot die for you." ( x )

b. "When I was little, I would avoid the cracks in the sidewalk and step over them, convinced it would keep me safe. But now I know it was useless. The cracks were everywhere, and there was no escaping them." ( x )

c. "They tell you you'll forget how it used to be. You'll get used to it, that it's better to move on. They don't realize you can't. You're not the same person anymore." ( x )

d. "And didn't it always go like that - body parts not quite lining up the way you wanted them to, all of it a little bit off, as if the world itself were an animated sequence of longing and envy and self-hatred and grandiosity and failure and success, a strange and endless cartoon loop that you couldn't stop watching, because, despite all you knew by now, it was still so interesting." ( x )

e. wildcard her.

I. I'll walk forever with stories inside me that the people I love most can never hear.

II. I remember too much; I am like the air on a calm day as it holds itself still, letting nothing escape. As the world holds its breath, I keep memory in.

III. Who has not asked himself at some time or another: am I a monster, or is this what it means to be a person?

IV. [bring your own!]

[ possible prompt ideas, I | II | III | IV | V | VI ]

quote me on this.

Tony Stark | Marvel

Raven | Teen Titans | OTA

Dr. Yinsen || MCU || OTA

Brock Rumlow ☠️ MCU

Christine Daaé | The Phantom of the Opera

II

no subject

no subject

margaery tyrell | got

lucifer morningstar | lucifer

Jiang Cheng/Wanyin | The Untamed | ota

Anubis | Egyptian Myth | M/M

rhaegar targaryen | asoiaf

Cobb Vanth | The Mandalorian

Soubi Agatsuma | Loveless | OTA

Swan | trc

Mazaki Anzu | Yu-Gi-Oh! | OTA

Steve Rogers ● MCU

madeleine gautier | original | ota

3

no subject

no subject

no subject

shotgun mary | warrior nun | ota

widowmaker | overwatch | ota

River Tam | Firefly

Number Five | The Umbrella Academy | OTA