gideonbirley

[gideonbirley]

      location: met gala after party.       who: @aslikaya​       when: after the speech.

      ------HE’D SPENT MORE time than he’d like to admit rubbing elbow after giving the mandatory niceties to the crowd. it was the first time he’d been in front of so many people, for something so serious, since the incident. time, practice, patience had allowed him to barely remember the mark was there - until the occasional word was mentioned ... those condescending comments that came out sugary and sincere unless you knew how to decipher them. GIDEON KNEW. and he offered the same condescension back in thanks. weaving through the crowd he’d lost himself with the chit chat, greeting friendly faces, fetching himself something else to drink to calm his nerves just a little - even if he was nowhere near tipsy or even slightly buzzing.

      “ you look absolutely gorgeous. ” the words came out before he could think to stop them, attention and gaze falling onto aslı simultaneously. she she stood out amidst the crowd of fancy dressed and fitted tuxedos, but perhaps his eye was trained to her after the time they’d spent increasingly together. his brows had knitted themselves, higher on his face than usual, and it took a moment for gideon to collect himself back to pleasant neutrality. “ could i bother you to dance, maybe? ”

[gideonbirley]

iMessage: Noa

Noa: I'm hilarious

Noa: lol okay okay fine i'll support you. Phantom of the opera 💀

Noa: I mean, true. Does this mean you'll break out one of our tap dancing routines?

Noa: Oh, that suit is nice, I'll figure out what I'm wearing by tomorrow. Have a final draft due Friday so I can't be too precious about it

Gideon: In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came.

Gideon: AND DO I DREAM AGAIN BUT NOW I FIIIIIIIIIIIND.

Gideon: Anyway, if the song calls for a tap routine, I will tap dance.

Gideon: Brb, checking to see if my shoes clack on the floor at all.

Gideon: Ok so they don't but if I put tacks in the heels they might. But also ha-ha, you have homework.

[gideonbirley]

iMessage: Noa

Noa: Oh there's a gala? I hadn't realized

Noa: Mmm are you going to dance? I might need to gouge my eyes out ahead of time

Noa: Yeah yeah, send me a pic of what you're wearing. I'll try to match but no promises. Might show up in neon green

Gideon: Har har. You're a riot.

Gideon: I have to give a speech. Cut me some slack here. It's my first big outing since I decided to LARP the Phantom of the Opera.

Gideon: Sending it now. And for the record - you know I dance well. I made you take classes with me when mom insisted. (:

[gideonbirley]

iMessage: Noa

Gideon: I know you saw the invitation to the Met Gala.

Gideon: Since everyone in New York has seen it, basically.

Gideon: I am so pleased to inform you that you will be attending with me. Pick something nice. I'm wearing blue.

Gideon: Love you.~

[gideonbirley]

      gideon birley’s met gala outfit, 2022. @duskextra

      hosting, accompanied by @noaxbirley

[gideonbirley]

@noaxbirley

[gideonbirley]

leilanasx​:

closed starter II @gideonbirley // location II leilana’s home

having yet to see gideon since she was back, leilana was more than happy to have him over. ensuring that she was rested and doing .. better. the last time seeing him was when he was on the brink of death, her blood healing him with ease. their was a moment where she did think it was too late. still, saved or not – the guilt loomed over her head like a dark and stormy cloud. 

guilt seemed to be the most present emotion. everyone telling her it wasn’t her fault, none of this was. but it was. too trusting of everyone around her, it was like there was just darkness in every corner in this city. the darkness that took over people and inhabit them completely. 

 that darkness wasn’t in gideon, not by a long shot. which is why they got along so well. their friendship meant the world to her. when she heard the knock, she quickly opened the mahogany brown door. glancing up at him, noticing the faint scars from the attack – then engulfing him in a hug. “im so happy you’re okay.” physically, yes. unsure of how he was doing mentally. 

-

      ------HE’D RUN HIMSELF emotionally ragged with worry over her. two weeks of sitting on his hands, unsure of her health, her safety, before she simply reappeared like an apparition snapped back to tangibility. questions could come after she had time to collect herself, after gideon could safely swallow the stone that resided in his throat the moment he stepped foot onto leilana beaufort’s property. it was a funny sort of thing where he wanted to tell her the very things that spilled from her lips - tell her about how he worried himself to exhaustion over her, how he couldn’t stop telling anyone who stopped by his own place how scared he was for her. AND SHE LOOKED FINE, even if she had been blood-starved and confused upon being discovered. it was better than being dead.

      he didn’t hesitate to wrap his own arms around her, to offer back her hug in as tight a squeeze as he could manage, with his face buried into the crook of her neck as if she were a sibling instead of a friend, like a lost sister rather than his closest connection in the council. “ you’ve got no idea. ” he lingered for a moment, giving a final squeeze before pulling away just-enough to see her. “ i was terrified for you. we had to conduct interrogations on a third of the residents of the city. every time i asked someone if they knew where you were, every time they had no idea, i felt my heart sink. you’re not allowed to go missing, leilana. not again. ”

      he owed her. his life, more prominently than anything else, but the series of thoughts that had played continuously through his mind like a sick stream had scared him. what had happened to her? where did she go? why did someone, some people want her? was it a person? did she simply leave on her own? things she had been grilled on upon her return when clearly she hadn’t been in the right mind to answer those questions. instead gideon gently clasped at her hand, tugged her toward one of the couches in her own living room and gestured for her to sit. she should be resting ---even if having a supply of blood could give her energy. it was hard for him to disconnect how human she was, after all.

      “ i’m not going to bother you with obvious questions, but it is killing me to know what happened. instead i’ll tell you that i’m happy you’re back, and well, and i think i’ll actually have a heart attack if you go missing again. ”

[gideonbirley]

aslikaya​:

She listens intently, as if she’s trying the take in every word with careful consideration, but she wants to absorb everything he’s saying and whilst she’d been drinking earlier, and was on her almost second glass of wine concentration wasn’t her best skill if she didn’t try. However, she most of all wanted to learn anything and everything that she could about the council, or anything else Gideon knew and was willing to share. She didn’t want to ask a million questions at once, so for the time being she kept them to a minimum and lapped up any bits of information he’d provide.

“So every horror film is pretty much real and I’ve been oblivious my entire life.” she nods to punctuate her summarisation and wonders how she’d been so in the dark for so long. Momentarily wondering if her parents have any idea – or her brother for that matter.

She wasn’t sure what to make of the situation with Leilana, and would rather choose to remain optimistic but she could see and hear how worried Gideon was. Again, she wished there was something she could do to help take that worry away, but was at a loss. “Two council members…” she stops herself from finishing the sentence that probably neither of them would want to hear. “Sorry,” she says quickly but quietly before taking another long drink from her glass of wine.

With the wine glass empty she rests it against her hip as she turns to side sideways facing him better, her other arm resting on the back of the sofa, bent at the elbow to rest her head against her hand. “I needed a change. And coming to New York was a big change. I lived in Queens initially when I came here and then I moved to Bedford Park because the apartment was nicer than the one I had here.” Her apartment was small, especially if it was being compared to his enormous home, but it was cosy and she’d made it her own.

As he explains his secret her eyes widen at the thought of a young Gideon drinking the liquid from a magic eight ball, and her smile slowly spreads until she covers her mouth with her hand and laughs.  “I’m sorry I really don’t mean to laugh, I’m sure getting your stomach pumped was awful, but the imagine in my mind of you with blue teeth is too funny not to.”

-

      ------“ I MEAN, I’M not going to confirm or deny the existence of the thing because i’ve never seen it exist personally, but it’s very possible. there’s ... vampire, werewolves, ” and he gestured in aslı’s direction with his mostly-empty wine glass, “ hunters - which are humans who take potions and train their bodies to be able to stand toe-to-toe with other species ... witches, fae, hybrids, phoenixes, hellhounds ... god what else. ” gideon smoothed his palm over his knee ---leg still tucked up onto the couch, while he tried to go through the roster of species he knew were registered into the city. “ gorgons? ghosts, cubus ... there’s a lot. ”

      “ but don’t beat yourself up about being oblivious. the veil is very thick and carefully set in place ... most humans ... are scared. they have other things to concern themselves with and they’d react poorly to the existence of other species in the city because it’s strange and unknown. i was raised with this knowledge ---sky’s blue, water’s wet, werewolves turn on the full moon, vampires need blood to survive, and never take a fae for their word. ” slowly his voice devolved into a change ... the mimic of his father, or perhaps mother, where gideon even turned his nose up slightly and felt himself scrunch it in that judgmental, knowing way his parents seemed to always speak. after a moment he paused and chuckled, letting everything go back to its usual place, letting his voice become it’s regular soothing rasp once more. “ i hated the idea of being a councilman when i was a little boy. i wanted to do normal things and just be a kid. but i’m not sorry i stepped into that position ... getting to meet the people i have, knowing what i know. it’s hard to see through the weeds of it, but the silver-lining is worth it. ”

      vaguely he remembered his desperate plea to convince aslı of the beauty in the city, the way this world was more miraculous and exciting than the one that humans lived in. and he understood the unsure footing she had, where the ground had been pulled right from under her feet, but he was still convinced that the good things in the world outweighed the bad ones. ---when she tallied the councilmembers he nodded, expression unreadable as his attention shifted to the floor-to-ceiling windows and their sparkling view of the city skyline. they could be fooled into stars, if he was tired enough, imaginative enough. “ i won’t be surprised when someone comes for the others, or me. if i had to choose them or me, though ... ” gideon let his words trail off, knowing full well he’d offer himself before he let anything happen to the other council heads ---despite his personal opinions of them individually.

      “ there’s nothing wrong with small. it’s better than needlessly large. ” his puckish grin returned, an obvious swipe at himself and the home they currently sat in, where their voices echoed just slightly against the spacious decor. “ i liked your apartment, for what i saw. it actually looked like someone lived in it, and enjoyed that space. sometimes ... sometimes my house feels foreign to me. i don’t think your apartment ever feels foreign to you. ” lonely was what he felt, but it was lost on his own lack of understanding. HE DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS LONELY AT TIMES, merely mistook it for other emotions that required less thought.

      he chuckled again at her own laughter, swallowing the last of his wine before leaning forward and setting the empty glass onto the coffee table. “ yeah, no it’s funny. i mean, i don’t really remember the whole stomach pumping thing but i remember how i looked after. there’s a lot of stories of me doing stupid shit when i was a kid just because i wanted to. more trips to the hospital than i should probably be proud of. i definitely kept my parents on their toes. ” fingers shuffled through his hair, pushing strands away from his eyes while he shifted to turn more conversationally in her direction. “ between you and me, i was a bit of a little shit. i had to find time to be a kid between all of those extracurriculars. blue teeth was a great connection to inner childhood, you know? ”

[gideonbirley]

[gideonbirley]

i'll face the sun again, as soon as this dreary night ends.

dreamy night - lilypichu

[gideonbirley]

[gideonbirley]

…I thought I was broken and I thought I was used up and I thought I had nothing left to give. I’d given everything and I didn’t really know what was left. But there’s a part of us that is unbreakable. You always find it again.

Emma Watson  (via thequotejournals)

[gideonbirley]

I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it – to be fed so much love I couldn’t take any more. Just once.

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (via quotes-shape-us)

[gideonbirley]

[gideonbirley]

so crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down. i'll never wear your broken crown. i took the road and i fucked it all away. now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace?

broken crown, mumford & sons.

[gideonbirley]

Michiel Huisman as Dylan Branson 2:22 (2017) dir. Paul Currie