alexanderharveywright

[alexanderharveywright]

[alexanderharveywright]

It was his own fault. There was no one else to blame for Alex's plight but himself. He knew better than to invite Reese to yoga, but he did it anyway. Why? Because he was a dumbass sometimes, and he'd admit it. Reese's comical retorts drew the leering eyes of fellow yogis, but worst of all the instructor. The teacher's expression alone told Alex they should be quiet, and while Reese Hawthorne was many things, quiet she was not. He should've just taken her to the bar.

"Well shit Reeses pieces, you're the one who made it for me." If they were getting kicked out of this class he'd presume have his part in it, too. "Did you forget I have a lactose allergy? Pft." Alex rolled his eyes as he easily rolled into the next yoga position. "Some friend." Sarcasm always seemed to be their usual. Where fuck you meant I like you alright, but also sometimes fuck you.

"For you?" Alex bellowed a laugh, the last disruption their instructor seemed keen to take as they were asked to leave with a cut of the teacher's eyes to the door. "I don't think it will. But I know a place doing bottomless brunch and that might."

Since the whole Ren Faire nightmare from hell situation, Reese hadn't been able to use her ability to control fire. Not even a little spark from her fingertips, a party trick she'd been pulling out since she was a preteen. One of the other witches in the coven said something about meditation and clearing her head and something about alignment, but by the time they'd gotten past the suggestion, her eyes had already glazed over. But after not being able to use her favorite freaking thing she decided it was worth a shot.

That's how she found herself on a borrowed mat next to the second biggest troublemaker she knew (the first being herself, of course) doing a doggy position or something. Plenty of people around town could testify to just how flexible Reese was, but she was still having a bit of trouble getting all the poses right. Just when she thought she had a handle on things, a not so silent toot sounded from the back of the room and Reese was on the ground laughing in a second. "Damn Alex, I thought I told you to skip the breakfast burrito today," she joked as she tried to contort herself into the pretzel their instructor was trying to put them into. "I don't know how they were even relaxed enough to let that out. I'm over here sweating more than that time I tried soul cycle." That ended with her soul cycling out of her body. "When does this start being relaxing?"

[alexanderharveywright]

An ember of something he remembered well glowed from within the depths of Aiyla's dark eyes. A reminder of the spark they shared since their first meeting. The memory of which lacked specifics as his mind recalled many more memorable nights after. Lost in a time since past, Alex didn't anticipate Aiyla coming in for a hug. As soft and sweet as a flower, her touch hit him like a freight train. Hands that moved instinctively ghosted the back of a body he'd know blindfolded. Curves of flesh he'd touched and tasted that lived so profoundly in his memory he swore, for a moment, she was palpable on his tongue. Her smell lingered even after she was gone. Stuck to his skin, his clothes, inside his nose like a stain one hoped wouldn't fade out in the wash.

"I appreciate your confidence." He was sure his words would come out choked, but Alex's voice never faltered in tune.

It felt like an eternity before their glasses clinked. Lifetimes passed between their eyes, like two corners of space ogling at each other across galaxies. With more stars in his eyes than all the heavens, Alex followed Aiyla's lead on her suggested walk. Would they leave a gallery where they were being celebrated? He didn't want to know all the placed he would go, following behind women he'd never quite deserve.

"It's a blue moon." He commented like Aiyla wouldn't know. "Second full moon this month." As if there hadn't been enough chaos in Lunar Cove that summer, there had to be two full months before the season drew to a close. "I haven't been creating much lately. What we made together.. it was the last time I felt right, artistically speaking. I've hit a bit of a block.." The art hadn't stopped entirely, he just didn't like what he'd been painting lately. A heaviness had overtaken him, and that darkness showed up in his work. No longer what relieved him, but what reminded him of how fucked up everything was.

"..and you?" Alex peeked through dark lashes, stealing a look at Aiyla's eyes but not for too long. He'd get stuck looking, like gravity took on a new, prevailing force, and he was likely to walk into a pole or worse with that sort of diverted attention. "Have you been.. working?"

She watched in a blink as he left nothing but a gust of wind where he stood. Her heart ricocheted a smile etching against her lips. She wondered if a part of her could ever grow tired of how he moved and how he existed. Before she could even contemplate the bubble of feelings that erupted within her, he was back, champagne in hand. She greeted with a smile, "I thought you'd never return." She teased with exaggerated exasperation at his quick departure. Her eyes landed on his. Everything she thought of saying over the past few weeks swelled in behind her dark hues. If she could not speak about how she missed him and thought endlessly of his safety over the last weeks, maybe she could convey it without the weight of tangled words. The thought brought a flush to her cheeks as she wondered how auras shifted or if they were still? She didn't ask outright and instead smothered her thoughts with a swallow of bubbling champagne.

She stepped closer, her gaze never leaving his for more than a second to drift her attention to the art. She was sure there was something to say about her lingering gaze that always returned to him. Aiyla raised her flute, a breath of disbelief passing her lips, "We sold something-" Excitement wove its way through her tone, and Aiyla forwent the clink of a glass and threw slender arms around his neck.

"I never doubted you." She whispered her words against his skin as she pulled back, her cheeks flushed with excitement. It had been years since Aiyla had felt so seen by another. Perhaps it had to do with the walls she built around herself, the fear of loss that kept her guarded, but Alex had the ability to see people. Whether they wanted or not. It had never been such a question for Aiyla; the moment she met him, it was like she had known him in some other lifetime, just out of reach to her- like coming up for a breath of air, Alex inspired her. Become her muse, and by the fluttering of her heart, she considered that if she was honest with herself, he'd meant much more.

Aiyla clinked her glass against his, "Do you want to walk with me, search for inspiration for our next piece?" She asked her eyes drawing a map over his face, "It's beautiful out tonight." She said her wings unfurling at her back as if to stretch towards the possibility of escaping the crowded room.

[alexanderharveywright]

Alexander Wright is a witch that currently resides in Downtown and has been a Lunar Cove resident for on and off his entire life happy to lurk in the Supreme's shadow.

DON’T THEY KNOW IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD?

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis Male, He/Him

AGE: 35

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lunar Cove

OCCUPATION: Film Director

FACECLAIM: Casey Deidrick

IT ENDED WHEN YOU SAID GOODBYE

SPECIES: Witch

COVEN POSITION: Member

ABILITIES: Aura Reading, Healing, Teleportation, Telekinesis

WELCOME TO LUNAR COVE, ALEX WRIGHT

Trigger Warnings: Divorce, Drugs, Alcohol, Infidelity, Overdose, Death, Cancer

As Aphrodite announced her return from the underworld with the promising green of Spring, a baby boy was born in Lunar Cove, Rhode Island; Alexander Harvey Wright. When he was only three years old his parents divorced. Later in life, this would come as no surprise to Alex as his father had been married before and after his mother. He was an absentee parent at his best. Now, a grown man, he doesn't hate his father, but he certainly doesn't see much good in him aside from the checks he cuts. 

After his parents' divorce, Alex's mother and father both remarried and had more children. He was raised in Lunar Cove with his mother, step father, and three sisters. Alex saw his father and other half siblings on occasion, as they would visit Lunar Cove from time to time. Except for a brother who was human.

From a young age, he was a gifted witch and found the confines of the magically protected town reassuring as he stepped into his power.  Aura reading came first. A gift that served him well over the years, allowing him to see others in such a real and vulnerable way. Then came healing, an important skill for a boy who sometimes acted first and thought second. In a fight with one of his sisters, Alex discovered he was a telekinetic, too. His fourth and final gift came when he joined the town's coven. Ironically, it was the one that would later make him leave it. In a meditative state, a practice he had adapted in his early teens to learn to control his emotions (read: magic), Alex teleported. A gush of wind made him aware of his change in scenery, and when his eyes opened he no longer sat in his bedroom but atop Lunar Cove's water tower.  

With highschool and his hometown in the rear view, Alex studied film at a university in New York. It was just a few town hops from where he grew up, but a whole new world of discoveries. During his sophomore year he wrote a screenplay that, the following summer, he directed. For his work on the film, he was nominated for an oscar but lost. It didn't shake Alex's determination to keep creating, rather it inspired him to try again. His second nomination came shortly after he finished undergrad. It was an unexpected win. Alex never imagined, especially at a mere twenty-two, that he'd win an oscar. His elation somewhat short lived as his father's praise lasted all of one  second before he had to mention one of Alex's siblings who'd accomplished something else even more spectacular. 

Eventually, Alex stopped trying to prove himself to anyone but himself, and suddenly everything about his life seemed to get a whole lot easier. He gave into hedonism like never before, indulging his every whim and desire and allowing it to inspire him to create however and whatever he wished. It was the launching point for his career, and for many years Alex never stopped to rest. When he wasn't working as a director he was creating via some other medium, be that painting a new lover, or forging the curves of an old one from memory into clay. His productivity stopped only for darker debauchery; illicit drugs, alcohol, and potions fueled many a days on end benders. Experiences he used to keep his creative fuse lit.

During that time in his life, Alex did a lot of things he later would come to regret. His heart even less loyal than the body he put in bed next to a different body nearly every night. Not the kind of son any mother would be proud of, yet alone one like his with three daughters. His illicit affairs weren't his only shame, though no one knew the latter. During what he now just calls 'the lost years', a friend overdosed in front of him, and he couldn't just watch him die. So, Alex healed him; a human man. Unaware of his friend's gifts, even after he saved his life. 

The accident scared him enough to sober up some, and for a moment he considered returning home to Lunar Cove. It was never his intention to be away for so long, he was close to his family there, but it was hard to resist the lure of adventure. Eventually, Alex took up a semi-permanent residence in New York when he started dating an actress from one of his films. Their life was good there. He enjoyed himself just enough not to be his family's shame, but something was calling him home, and it refused to stop until he listened. 

It certainly wasn't the homecoming he'd imagined. His sisters and their mother gathered around the kitchen table of his childhood home. She was sick. The matriarch of their family; the glue. A wise woman with all the worlds answer who could sooth any care or worry with just a look. She had cancer, and the prognosis was terminal. A reality Alex struggled with for many reasons. A talented healer and absolutely useless to save his own mother. He despised himself for awhile. Loathed the limits of his magic, and the greediness of his wandering soul that kept him away for many years he could've had with his mom. Alex threw himself into his practice, focusing on magic to distract him from the inevitable. 

Before she passed he proposed to his girlfriend. His mother gave him her ring from her marriage to his father, but Alex chose to buy something instead. Even then, deep down, he knew she wasn't the one. After his mom died, Alex broke off the engagement. He didn't love her like he should. The dream of marriage, of a family, weren't dreams he had with her. She was devastated, and in his villainy he felt relieved.

The return of Poppy Reed to Lunar Cove occurred some months before the engagement formally ended. She haunted him like a petulant ghost until the moment his conscience relieved him of the guilt of infidelity. A reunion that did not sooth the ache of grief within him. Though, nothing would. He'd carry it with him every day until, in time, he grew used to its weight.

Art and magic, arguably a medium that was one in the same, had always been a welcome distraction. Alexander leaned into both as he stared into the future with no direction but an openness for what fate would allow. 

In downtown Lunar Cove, close to the coven headquarters, Alexander purchased a space where he could live and work. A studio for his passions downstairs, and a two bedroom apartment upstairs. The extra room for guests, siblings, or whoever needed it. He did what he could to support his community, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him when he was nominated to complete the trials for supreme. It was a title, a responsibility, a weight on his head that Alex didn't want. Yet, he accepted the challenge and gave his all. Only to be forgone at the end by the ancestors when they chose Poppy. A choice he supported from the very start, and not just because it meant he didn't have to be the supreme.

Reluctantly, he accepted his new Supreme's request to serve as advisor to the coven. A role that came with a weight and responsibility of its own, though he never envied the differences in the heaviness of their crowns.

[alexanderharveywright]

Unbothered by most things, save a few, Alex stared back dumbly at the woman's face as it glimmered with emotion. Had he offended? Perhaps, though he didn't see how. Vampires were always sensitive creatives. "Well, if you consider three and a half decades ago not too long ago..." Which he assumed she did. His human life span was the bat of an eye for many immortals. "...but I don't remember it.." His petulant tone reflected in Alex's eyeroll when Meena suddenly didn't want a juice. "...then why'd you invite me.." He grumbled under his breathe, assured that Meena would still hear him.

Ruby. A shiver shook the broad spans of Alex's shoulders. Ruby had been after him since his first day in class, and he'd done his best to kindly elude her. The cruel joke would make that impossible, so Alex did as Alex does when things got too complicated. He disappeared. In a blink, gone form the yoga studio to the sidewalk outside; awaiting Meena.

"That was cruel. Even for you, Meena. That girl has been stalking me for months. Sits behind me in classes and just... STARES! I thought I'd shook her when she started to think I was seeing someone... now I'll just have to tell her I am, and that it's you. Convince her my girlfriend was just making a BAD joke." That wasn't really what Alex was going to do. He didn't have the balls for that and would just find a new yoga class.

"What the fuck?" Meena asked breathlessly followed by a tilt of her brow in question. Her deep brown eyes taking the time to scan the man before her up and down as if to decide exactly how she should chew the other up before spitting him out. Meena was used to people like him. It's not like she didn't know what people said about her. Especially not, in a small town where gossip traveled faster than a vampire on full speed and, given her reputation for being intimidating, he was hardly the first babbling and awkward man to stand before her. But, he was the first to make a reference to her age in the first five seconds. You would think he would know better than to infer how old a woman was upon greeting them and, yet, here they were. Cocking her head slightly to the side, the curve of her lips tilted up as she told him, "And you were in diapers not too long ago, weren't you? How was it like to shit yourself?" Her voice was sweet and airy as she flashed her a knowing grin. "On second thought, I'm no longer feeling all that parched. But, you know who you should go to the Juice Bar with?" A spark of an idea flickered across her dark eyes, catching in the light as she turned on her heels called out to man that had just broken wind a few seconds before. "Oh Ronnie!" She sang out, giving their fellow classmate a wave of her hand. "What are you doing now? Alex was just telling me how much they would love to go Paradise Juice Bar and unfortunately I'm all tied up with work. But, we were just talking about how much he would love to get to know you more and how much the two of you have in common," She mused, turning back to look at Alex only once so that she shoot him a knowing wink. "So you must go. Honestly, you'd be doing me a world of favor. You two have fun now," She exclaimed as she picked up her bag. Tossing it lightly over her shoulder as she turned on her heels to go.

[alexanderharveywright]

[alexanderharveywright]

A brow raised in question. One that Alex would never ask. Murder wasn't the kind of conversation yoga should've inspired, but neither was eating rats. Yet, here they were. "Shit, yeah those fuckers are huge. Scared the hell out of me my first time in the city. Seemed as big as cats." Their conversation drew eyes from other classmates, so Alex continued quietly. "I wouldn't eat anything..." A line existed, but he was an adventurous eater. The food was one of Alex's favorite parts of traveling. "..but I've had those.." He laughed, louder than he'd been speaking, which earned them a sushing from the instructor. Which he ignored. "I know.. it's like they want you to get it everywhere."

Ralphie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, me too. Startin' talkin' to the wrong folks, so he had to go. Sleepin' with the fishes now." He extended his fangs as he said this, chomping a few times, the way a person would with plastic vampire variants. Still, he could not maintain his own seriousness, breaking into a snickering laugh. In truth, though, Ralph seemed to care less if he actually got reprimanded by anyone. "Maybe it was a New York rat. One a' those big ol' critters could look like a whole winner winner chicken dinner, ya dig it? But you just eat anythin' anyone gives you? Me too, bud. Hey, do you know about those spicy cheese potatah chips? You should try those. They got 'em at the bar at the country club. Which is stupid. There's so much white furniture there."

[alexanderharveywright]

Laughter shattered the silence. The soft and slow haze of the room splintered, as sharp as glass hitting the floor around him. It hurt to hear humor as a response to his vulnerability. Regret was palpable on his tongue before Poppy even finished. He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

He’d keep his mouth shut.

“Yeah..” Gruffly, his voice still thick with emotion that felt like shards in his throat, Alex answered honestly. “..I’m drunk.”

Which was the truth, albeit only part of it. He reasoned, the only part that Poppy needed to know.

It felt uncomfortable to continue to be affectionate in the face of what he perceived as rejection. He hadn’t confessed so plainly, but she had to know. Alex couldn’t understand how she couldn’t, unless Poppy didn’t reciprocate his feelings. Which was a possibility he had feared for as long as he’d held his silence.

He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

It hurt so much worse than he could’ve imagined. The wine was a contributing factor, but the weeks since her resurrection are what drove the knife deep. Sex wasn’t new to them, but whatever this was was. They felt different to Alex. Dark eyes closed, shedding the remaining salt water that shored up their rims. Heavy breath blew from his lips, about the same time as Poppy tried to kiss him. His head turned, not meaning to reject her, but to expel the heaviness in his chest. The hard exhale did little for the tightness in his lungs.

“I need some air.” He choked a little on his words before standing. Alex was gentle as he untangled their bodies, careful not to send the wrong message with his recoil. He felt dizzy, hot, and confused. Maybe he was just drunk, but on more than the wine.

In a blink he disappeared from the dining room to appear on the balcony, visible through the glass door at the back of the house, overlooking the backyard. He knew Poppy hated that. How he moved from place to place in a mere moment without her. It was just that he needed a moment before she inevitably joined him to make sense of his jumbled thoughts.

Shaky hands slid across the deck’s railing where Alex stood, peering out over the yard like the answer to all his problems could be found in the herb garden or cushion of his patio set.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Poppy kept one of her hands on either side of his face as she deepened the kiss between them. While her out her had her half full wine glass still in it. Even though things were getting hazy the more they drank the more fun she seemed to be having tonight. Finding a soft hmm on her lips as his hands explored the warm skin under her shirt, she didn’t stop him in the least instead she encouraged it more grinding her hips into his roughly as she sat on top of him with legs on either side of him. 

Giving a soft moan when pressed his fingers against her, but just as quickly as they’d been there they were gone. Pulling back from the kiss with a pout, she took another sip of her wine before putting the glass to his mouth for him to drink.

Leaning her forehead against his as she hair fell around the like a curtain. She was going in for another kiss until she noticed him crying, she pulled back slightly. “Alex?” Saying his name as she questioned him. Reaching over and she put her glass of wine on the end table before turning her attention back to him. Putting both hands on his face as she wiped away his tears. Giving him a what’s wrong look as she tried to give him a moment to speak. 

“Yes?” Answering to her name as she continued to hold his face between her hands. Letting her blue eyes wash over him as she looked for any reason as to what might be causing him stress. Staring back at him for god knows how long only for him to finally speak and it was the last thing she expected. Tilting her head slightly as she looked at him still, she finally gave a soft laugh. “What are you even talking about Alex?” She asked confused. “Are you wine drunk?” Asking with another laugh before she leaned in and kissed away his tears. “I’m cutting us both off.” She informed him as she leaned her head against his and pressed her lips against his once more. 

[alexanderharveywright]

A nod was the only you’re welcome he could muster. Alex wished he could say he’d always have her back, but that wasn’t true. Not that night at least. A moment in time he imagined playing on repeat behind Poppy’s lids, just like it did his own. His go-to distraction right about now would be more whiskey. In actual glass with ice this time instead of mixed in with his coffee, but she looked like she needed a meal, and he knew he did, too.

The pantry door opened about the same time Poppy offered to cook, and Alex couldn’t stop the incredulous look he gave her. He didn’t want to be an ass when she was like this, so he bit his tongue and gently assured her, “No.. that’s okay.” Ingredients and supplies flew from the cabinets with a few twists and turns of his fingers. It’d been awhile since he’d been to the grocery store, but Alex still had a few staples. Enough to make pancakes, which he thought Poppy would like. He recalled a time or two, after a night out, making breakfast for his friends. Simpler times with simpler labels when everything just was what it was, and Alex didn’t think too much.

“Why don’t I just cook for us?” Batter was already on the griddle by the time he asked. Cooking felt too easy as a telepath, and yet…

A soft grin formed on his face as he recalled the few times he’d let Poppy cook, and he’d been brave enough to eat it. It was almost comical how someone so powerful could be so awful at something so ordinary. Then again potions and charms weren’t her thing either, and they seemed similar to cooking. Which reminded Alex he needed to remake the charms he’d fashioned for Poppy, protection charms and the like that he made for all his loved ones, because he couldn’t be sure that her death and subsequent resurrection didn’t render them moot. Pancake after pancake piled onto plates set out on a bar that separated the kitchen and the living room. A smell that almost made Alex feel normal filled his home; Poppy in the mix making it just right. “Food’s ready!” Two words Aurora knew well, and he fed the dog to keep her busy while they ate.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Kyle. All she could see was his dark blue eyes and dark blonde hair looking at her in every stranger that passed by. Waiting for another shot to kill her once more, to strip everything that had once made Poppy her. Poppy had been so full of life before Kyle, now she couldn’t even force a duplicate out to pretend to be the happy cheery Poppy; everything inside just felt dark. Constantly she was wondering if she should have just stayed gone and listed to her better judgement when they asked if she wanted brought back. Now she was this and a shell of what she use to be. As the people passed her and her anxiety sat in everything around her started to disappear and she was welcomed into a black room with Alex holding her up. Taking in the silence and the scenery change helped her relax some, but as she closed her eyes she still saw Kyle. Standing across from her before everything went black and she was on the other side. Trying to blink away the memories as she leaned her head into Alex’s chest, tried to focus in on her breathing to stop her anxiety attack from worsening. Ten, Nine, Eight….counting down repeatedly until she got to zero, then she started one more until she was able to pull herself together.

Pulling back from his chest to find his dark eyes on her still and she gave him an I’m okay look to let him know that she was fine. It was then when she realized what was desperate to come out, she held her breath hoping that this didn’t turn into the confession he was clearly dying to get out. Right now she couldn’t take anyone else’s feelings in the least, she barely could handle her own anymore. Everyones feelings were why she was back in the first place and right now, well she couldn’t take anymore on. Staring back at him as she went to say his name and shake her head but Aurora interrupted them thankfully.

“Thanks for getting me out of there.” Poppy thanked as her feet hit the familiar wood floor, she got use to her legs once more. “Hey Aurora.” She greeted happily with a slight smile forming on her face as she bent down to the level of the husky. Letting them lick her in the face with a slight giggle while she put her hands in Aurora’s fur. Giving the dog a squeeze as a silent thank you for interrupting them, before she stood up to look at Alex once more. “So I kinda fucked up dinner tonight, sorry.” She apologized and looked down at her hands. Playing with the rings on her hands nervously, while she twisted and pulled at them. “Can I make you dinner instead?” Offering even though they both knew damn well she couldn’t cook to save her life. “Or well order us delivery on my card.” Looking up at him with a slight smirk. “I mean I have great fingers that know how to dial every delivery place in Lunar Cove.”

[alexanderharveywright]

Meena wasn't the kind of woman anyone refused, so despite his reservations Alex agreed to go to Paradise Juice. He didn't dislike the vampire. On the contrary, he found her brilliant and witty. A formidable member of the council. A good leader to her people. It was just that he'd been trying to avoid thinking about work. Hence the yoga. A way to relax when responsibilities weighed heavy on his shoulders. Maybe she wouldn't want to talk about the summer's events, but just to make sure Alex steered the conversation. "You were around for the moon landing, right? What do you think about that? Totally faked or...?"

"Something was most definitely let go," She mumbled back, keeping her voice low so that only Alex could hear him as she glanced over her shoulder. Her nose scrunching up at the repugnant smell that filled the air, before the corner of her lips tilted up. Offering a smile over to the advisor as the class came to an end. "Oh thank god," She hummed out followed by a sigh of relief. "You want to head over to Paradise Juice Counter? Save us from having to inhale any more of, well, that?"

[alexanderharveywright]

Advisor to the coven wasn't a role Alexander ever imagined himself in, but it beat being the supreme. A fate he narrowly avoided as he made it all the way to the end of the trials, only to be overlooked by the ancestors. Alex sometimes wondered if they knew how he felt. The crown was never a weight he'd wanted to bear. Yet, he was put to use anyway. In a support role that made him slightly less uncomfortable. Over the span of a year Alex found his footing and became serious about his commitment to the coven; to all witches in Lunar Cove. See, he'd always believed in the power of community. Growing up in Lunar Cove made it impossible not to. "I am and.. you are.. Azra." He made it a point to know the witches in town who weren't apart of the coven, too. Recruitment's star performer with an agenda to boot. He considered it wise to know who in town had power, especially should those persons ever align against them.

Their conversation seemed to draw a few side eyes from other yogis preferring a quiet class, so he leaned a little closer to the young witch and lowered his voice. "How's it been going? You adjusting to town?" She couldn't have moved to town at a worse time. Summer had brought chaos and tragedy to Lunar Cove, unlike any Alex had ever known. "I know emotions are high right now, but you have friends. If you want them." A pitch as casual as he could make it.

Azra had never exactly had a health relationship with her magic. She had grown up in a human family, a family that had exiled the changeling living in their home, and so the very concept of the unnatural and the inhuman was shunned and silenced. This meant that Azra got very used to internalizing her magic, keeping it quiet. She talked to ghosts, and to stray cats, and to plants, and she generally struggled to make real, human, friends. But over the years--and especially since she'd left her stifling home--she had learned different strategies to help her focus, to tune out ghosts she didn't want to talk to, for example, and taught herself not to hear the screams of terror as roses were picked from their stems every time she passed by a flower shop.

Yoga was one of those strategies, and after the events in town, she was sure she needed it now more than ever. Anyone that could see her aura would see that she was a mess--though most other people could probably see that too, as she had not yet found a waterproof mascara that truly hid just how much she'd been crying lately. She had, however, managed to keep it together for the last half hour, and when the person next to her--someone she recognized as part of the coven--made a joke, she laughed maybe a bit more than was warranted. But it was nice to laugh, nice to feel any spark of joy when she was so deep in her own head and her grief. "Alex, right?" she asked. She had still not joined the coven, but she had spoken to the advisor not long after she'd gotten to town.

[alexanderharveywright]

[alexanderharveywright]

Alex's eyes cut across the night sky at Nico's casual 'you know'. He was grateful his friend broke the silence for them, yet still wish he'd never spoken. "I wish it had been me." A truth uttered before he understood how much he meant it. Death was not something that Alexander feared. For a witch, death was not the end. Rather, the beginning of eternity with their community; living and departed. "I would've just stayed dead, then.." Alex had already said too much, even if it was true. Then there wouldn't be discord amongst the coven and their community. "Not to say.. I didn't fully support bringing her back because I did, I absolutely did, but I..." He couldn't say he didn't still think necromancy was wrong, or worse that he didn't care if it was wrong because for her he'd break all the rules. She who led their coven, who haunted Alex waking and asleep.

"I never read that book." He admitted to bring something else into the conversation. Any excuse not to elaborate on where his head or his heart was. "I paid for the test results. Which... I would've given to you, but I thought it'd be suspicious if we both passed."

·✥·

There wasn't any need to push—he knew that Alex wouldn't have asked to come up here if it wasn't for this. The tower was a place he deeply associated with talking about things you couldn't talk about. They were a long way from the pain of parental expectations and first relationships gone wrong, though. Nico toyed with his beer bottle more than drinking it, torso propped up on his elbows with his legs hanging off the edge of the water tower. He'd already counted the windows that were liting up across the town, and now was flipping the bottle cap up into the air and catching it, leisurely. When Alex finally spoke, Nico snorted half a laugh. "It sure is," he agreed, with a slow nod. He glanced at the witch beside him, and hesitated. This was going to hurt, but he might as well shatter any semblance of small talk before Alex had to take the plunge himself. "You know," he said, too casually, "I always figured it'd be me first. Or you. Had this recurring nightmare that you'd end up in a wall, like in that story Ms. Francis made us read. Casket Armadillo."

[alexanderharveywright]

Casey’s smile. Yep, that’s it.

[alexanderharveywright]

closed starter for @moonglowmagic (Poppy)

location; Alex's house in Downtown Lunar Cove

Wide, warm hands pushed beneath the hem of a shirt he’d see in his bedroom floor later, and sprawled across the soft skin of Poppy’s back. They were both a little wine drunk with the remnants of a dinner Alex had made them left on the table. She was in his lap and their glasses clinked every time they leaned in to each other for a kiss. The room itself turned hazy, reality slipping far away into some forgotten nightmare as his thoughts found a new home between Poppy’s lips. 

While a hand remained on her back to keep her steady atop him, his other wandered down the stretch of her body. Fingertips, hungry for more than the meal on the table could feed, cascaded across the curve of her lithe figure, giving her ass a squeeze as he passed it but not stopping there. At her knee his hand slipped around to the inside of her thigh and began its ascent back up. He wasn’t shy about pressing harder against the heat of her body, though his touch did not linger there any longer than anywhere else. Eager to explore every inch of Poppy that he could reach, Alex’s hand swept the length of her over and over again. The heavy petting a prelude to what lingered in his chest.

A break in the dance of their lips to gasp for air gave Alex the perspective to see her face. Opulent eyes of blue as glossy as he imagined his own gleaming chestnut. The air around them thick with tension, lust, and love. It welled up in his glimmering dark hues. The feelings he had held back for months now, as Alex cared more for Poppy’s emotional state than his own. To hold within himself such a deep feeling was excruciating. Every night that they shared a bed and he’d watch her drift into sleep he had to swallow it. The symphony of i love yous he’d spent decades composing. They ate away at him on the inside, gnawing at the bones of his ribcage like a wild thing begging to be released. Tonight, it raged harder than any night before, suffocating Alex even as he felt air coming through his nose.

This was everything he’d ever wanted. The looming darkness and general uncertainty aside, quiet nights with the women he loved was a long dreamed dream realized. Something he had sought with others but to no avail.

I love you lingered behind lips that drew in uneven breath, still unsteady from their frenzy of kisses. I’ve loved you for a very long time beamed brightly and apparent from dark eyes, wild with the light of sincerity. An unwelcome wetness began to cloud his vision. The harder Alex held his feelings in, the more salt water swelled. He imagined what he’d say, what it would feel like to confess. To hear himself say the words aloud, Poppy, I love you. I’ve loved you for a very long time. Since that night, our first night. You touched me, and I was never the same after. I’ve thought about you constantly, in one way or another, subconsciously and at the forefront of my mind. A prevailing force in my art. My home; made of bones, flesh, teeth, and hair. The latter a color he admired in sunsets and tapestries but that possessed no real meaning for Alex beyond the strands he often had the privilege of winding his fingers through.

I love you. I love you. I love you. His eyes betrayed him with their conveyance and the release of that salt water down his wine flushed cheeks. Droplets that disappeared into his beard but made obvious what truth his teeth held back. 

“Poppy.” The crack in his voice, raw in its gruffness, authentic despite his unyielding commitment to keep from her what Alex thought was selfish. He loved her and couldn’t hide it, but until his teeth broke he’d hold it in. For her own sanity, and a little for his. Rejection wasn’t something Alex ever took well, and from her? He imagined it’d destroy him, and he’d rather endure pain than risk losing what his hands now held. 

Dark, wet eyes held her blue for how long Alex didn’t know, allowing Poppy to see him without a modicum of composure. “I have held in my hands the riches of this world in measures most men will never know, and yet…” Outright, he wouldn’t allow himself to burden her with those three words, but Alex allowed himself this. “...you are the most precious thing I have ever touched.”

[alexanderharveywright]

Several others in the room made quiet comments in response to the flatulence. Another's voice, close to Alex, spoke up in defense and with a story that made the burly witch chuckle. He recalled aloud a time when he, too, had eaten a rat. "I ate a rat once." His dark eyes expanded as he mentally recalled the memory. "Total accident. " The man went on to explain. "The guy told me it was chicken on a stick." His story earned Alex a few sideways glances from the other yogis, and a eventually a shhhhh from the instructor. So, he lowered his voice to a whisper just for the other when he added, "It wasn't bad. You know. For rat. Kind of tasted like... well, chicken."

This session was not Ralphie's first at Bliss Yoga, but it was perhaps the first in which he was making a genuine effort to center himself. Previously, he had come only to play wingman to a friend, but in truth, the first date that Ralph had helped the guy score went disastrously. And so, he had not actually come back, not until now. Right now, after the events of the past month, the vampire felt a particular need for some focus.

He did not need to sleep, and so, most often, he did not. But that reality meant there was no reprieve of unconsciousness from the lingering nightmare in which he had been trapped. Ralph's thoughts turned to it often, to the insatiable thirst for magic, for power, to his own unquenchable hunger. He did not actually want to be defenseless to his own whims, and maybe, with some practice, he could learn to will them away. But he was not actually feeling optimistic about that.

His energy was still as frantic and buzzing as ever as he tried to follow the instructor's motions. He too seemed to snicker at the noise, though, but cut it back very seriously. "Aye, everybody fuckin' poops," he chided at the others, maybe to win some sycophant points. "There are literally folks in this room who I saw eat rats a few weeks ago. Whatta we all got to be so precious about?"

[alexanderharveywright]

The icy exterior Alex had formed in anticipation for their meeting melted the moment she said hello. Voice like honey to his ears, sweet and sticky inside his head. He'd missed it, and all its little sounds. The recall of her adorable, sunshine laugh echoed in his memory, and his frame relaxed. "I'd love some." A beat of silence passed before Alex flashed a soft grin and added. "Allow me."

In the blink of an eye Alex was gone. He'd teleported clear across the room to the bar. Flutes in hand he blipped back in a blink. "I'd say we have a reason to toast.." Alex reasoned it didn't have to be awkward if he kept it professional. "..our painting sold before the gallery even opened to the public. The broker told me the collector is requesting another." Except, how could he keep work professional when they made art together how they made art together?

The reminder of how this particular piece before them came to be brought heat into his cheeks. A long weekend spent in his studio consuming nothing but vino and each other. Things were much less complicated then. In both his head and his heart, Alexander was confused now. Conflicted by his thoughts and emotions to the point of paralysis, unable to decide what decision fucked him less. The answer seemed to be that, no option was really a good option, as no option didn't leave someone hurt.

"To.. making something beautiful, together."

A large part of Aiyla hadn't allowed herself to address the hope that he would be there. The better part of a tragic month had been spent with little to no communication. Something she couldn't quite untangle had lodged itself between her ribs where Alex was concerned. Most days, she found comfort in the feeling, of knowing he had a lasting impact on her life in some way that was in no manned insignificant. Then in others, she wished to shake herself free of it, dislodge that feeling that had a penchant for aching at the wrong moment. She knew it as hopeful longing but smothered it under polite conversation and champagne. Arriving only when she knew the room would be full, perhaps to save herself the embarrassment of the involuntary sweep of her gaze that would undoubtedly pull her in his direction.

Aiyla felt a wave of anticipation when she noticed him- July had been nothing short of hell. She'd watched the horror unfold, and even as the danger at present was gone, she knew better than to think things would easily go back to normal. She was unsure if anything or anyone could ever be considered normal again. She politely excused herself from small talk that was already forgotten to move toward him without considering what she would say. Before reaching him, she notices the shift in his body language, creating a barrier around him.

Her own posture shifts, curiosity and concern shadowing her face. With heavy silence, she feels the word hi like a thread of fragile hope connecting them. She understands to some extent, his responsibilities. However, knowing does little to untangle the longing and confusion. She stands quietly beside him, her gaze shifting between him and the art. She shifts, her smile a mix of reassurance for the unsaid and personal vulnerability. "Hi." She offers a gentle and warm tone, a tug on the thread between them. For a moment, it feels like it's only them, the hum of those in the room fading into white noise. Aiyla wants to ask about his well-being, to reach out and touch his arm in a gesture of comfort, but cautious not to breach the invisible wall he's built around himself. Instead, she lets her eyes convey the things she hasn't said. A plea for understanding, a chance to bridge this gap before it's gone too far. "Champagne?" She asks in a silent hope to prolong this moment to perhaps step away from expectation.