#Autumn Leaves 1856 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writtenonreceipts · 2 years

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Happy October!! 🎃 Very excited for spooktober, how about some Elorcan sass:

“We only have to make it until sunrise, which is… 7 hours away.”

Happy October nonny! thanks for sending this in!

My sick-adled brain wanted to keep drawing this out into further nonsense but nyquil finally had her say and we're backing away real carefully in the hopes that this is somewhat good...

warnings: none? ~4k words

...

Hauntings and Happenstance

Leaves skittered across the ground as the wind picked its way through the trees. Huge cedar trees towered overhead and blocked out the inky black sky. The past few days of rain and fog dominated the weather patterns, and that night was no different. The clouds barely broke enough to offer a window to the deep crescent of the moon. Pale silver light attempted to illuminate the forest, but the heavy bulk of the clouds ate whatever light they could.

The subtle scrape of the leaves and cool glow of light were soothing to Elide. She’d always loved autumn with its changing colors and weather. Especially when she had an active excuse to continue drinking hot apple cider or hot chocolate all day every day. Now, however, her hands were empty except for her flashlight. The stiff chill dug into her fingers making Elide plow one hand into her pocket and the other gripped the light. It really was a cool night, with the covered sky and promise of more rain.

Elide walked through the old Terrasen cemetery, she had a giant backpack on one shoulder and an even bigger duffel bag on the other. A girl needed her snacks and blankets if she were going to stay in a haunted house this close to Halloween.

She’d long had a fascination with the cemetery and had quite honestly jumped at the opportunity to explore it further. It had been abandoned back in 1856 on account of accidental double burials. Which had then amounted to a resurgence of omen watching for any and every bad deed. It also didn’t help that Terrasen had been known for a serial killer too—who supposedly was the caretaker of the cemetery back in ‘56.

Terrasen had far too many skeletons in its closet.

The flashlight she held did a poor job at lighting the narrow trail that curved along the back of the cemetery. Late autumn fog began to condense before her and shape into the shrubbery that was trying to take over any space it could find. Elide sipped her cider, which was growing cold. Maybe she should have brought another blanket. But her backpack had already been growing full and she thought snacks might be more important than—

The snap of a twig behind her had Elide spinning around. The beam of her flashlight intercepted a hulking shape coming towards her. A shape she instantly recognized.

“You asshat!” Elide yelled. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

In two long strides Lorcan Salvaterre leveled up with her, a smirk dancing on his mouth. He easily took her duffel bag from her despite her glares.

“Isn’t that the idea of this plan?” he asked. “Which by the way has to be the stupidest thing you’ve done.”

She scowled at him and turned around, doing her best to walk quickly. Lorcan of course kept stride.

“If you think it’s so stupid, why are you here?” she retorted. “Doesn’t Maeve have that party tonight?”

“You think I’d let you do this alone?” Lorcan brushed an errant branch out of his face. He was so tall that even the recently beaten back shrubs still got in his way.

She cut him a sharp smile. “Didn’t know you cared so much, Salvaterre.”

The night was quiet around them, save for a few skittering animals in the fallen leaves and other debris on the forest floor. The silence, of course, made it easier for her mind to wander. Because first and foremost, Lorcan was here. She hadn’t even realized he’d known what she was doing tonight.

Her crush was stupid, she knew. Lorcan was older with a brooding sort of attitude. He was the type of guy who didn’t care what others thought of him and made certain they knew it too.

Somehow over the last year and a half, Elide and Lorcan had formed a little friendship separate from everyone else. He’d been held back in high school for skipping so often that Elide had managed to, somehow, get to know him better than anyone else.

“I’m not going to let you get yourself killed, Elide,” Lorcan said.

Another twig snapped beneath their feet. Though, it was nearly drowned out by the low growl of thunder overhead. Hell. Hopefully that was just a little threat and not a promise of something to come.

“You do realize the house isn’t actually haunted, right?” she asked. “I’m just doing this for extra credit in my cultural anthropology course.”

According to local legend, the old caretaker house had fallen to shambles after a series of mysterious murders swept through the down. Murders that had been committed by the caretaker himself. Now, the old house and cemetery were left alone, to disappear into both memory and the once vibrant forest. For her class, Elide was going to write a paper on how the legend had been mixed and convoluted through the years.

“I know it’s not haunted,” Lorcan scoffed, “but there’s probably some dumbass who thinks it’s funny to play pranks on people like you—”

“Like me?”

“Who walk into situations they don’t belong in.” Lorcan cast her a dark look at that, only emphasized from the shadows of the night.

Elide let out a laugh and bumped his shoulder. Her heart thumped just a little faster, which she ignored.

“Are you worried about me now?” she teased. “It’s just a haunted house, Lorcan.”

“You’re impossible,” was all Lorcan said.

“I am impossibly delightful,” she corrected, waving her flashlight in his face.

And then to punctuate her words—it started to rain. Big, fat drops fells from the sky and startled her out of whatever bit of teasing he’d been about to embark on. Blinking rapidly, Elide looked up to the sky. The canopy of trees blocked most of the heavy onslaught of rain, but it would only be a matter of time before they got soaked.

“Son of a—” Lorcan muttered. He glanced at her, trails of rain already slipping down his face. “Seriously, Lochan?”

Elide grinned. “Scared of a little rain, Salvaterre?”

She adjusted the strap of her backpack and picked up her pace.

In a matter of minutes, they came to a small cobbled path that led through overgrown blackberry bushes and ferns. The house was slumped to one side, the roof curved with some unknown weight. Though, Elide imagined that in the light of day she would see heavy strings of moss hanging from the eaves of the house and the molded cross-beams sagging in age.

The porch, missing several sections of wood, wound around the perimeter of the house. Ivy curled around the railing until it nearly consumed any bit of wood left over. The rain only added to the ambiance of an abandoned home.

Elide picked her way to the front door, careful of any rotted-out pieces in the flooring. The front door had been replaced on more than one occasion, as was evidenced by the shiny new padlock and set of chains strapped to the framework.

Shrugging, Elide held her flashlight out to Lorcan who approached from behind. Despite his large form, he barely disturbed the porch.

“Hold this,” she said.

Lorcan took the light. “You got the key to this place?”

“Uh,” she said, digging around in her backpack. Elide pulled out the lock and pick Manon had given her for her birthday last year. “Not exactly.”

“Dammit, Lochan,” Lorcan said, “did you get permission to come out here?”

“Where would the fun in that be?”

Lorcan continued to mutter oaths under his breath, though he kept the flashlight trained on the padlock. Elide worked in that steady stream of light, sticking the pick and hook in the lock and finding the tumblers. The police department really needed to up their game if they wanted to keep trespassers out of the old home. In a matter of minutes, the lock popped open and the chains fell to the floor.

The door creaked open and a puff of stale air saturated with moss and age greeted them. Elide grinned triumphant. And Aelin had said she wouldn’t even make it in the front door.

Ha!

Elide grabbed the flashlight from Lorcan and stepped into the house. Immediately, the rain ceased and it felt a fraction drier.

Cobwebs draped from the ceiling in thick billows. Dust hung in the light lazily, only disturbed when Elide walked past. She swung the light around to every corner noting everything. The small chandelier overhead hardly seemed like enough to light the house. Sconces were set up along the walls, though they were long empty of any candlewick. One doorway led off into a tiny kitchen that held only a wood stove. The other room was full of old furniture and smelled like mice had taken over.

Elide spun in a slow circle around the living space. Outside there was the subtle thrum of rain pattering on the roof. It wasn’t as big a storm as they usually saw this time of year. As she moved around the cabin, her steps creaked beneath her and an owl gave a hoot from its perch in the trees.

“Is that it?” Lorcan asked. He hovered near the door. “Can we go now?”

“Are you scared?” Elide raised a brow. “The great Lorcan Salvaterre taken down by a haunted house?”

He rolled his eyes at her, unamused.

In the last two years of knowing him—Elide had become very aware of who Lorcan was. She’d gotten to know him in detention, because even if he had been held back to repeat senior year, he still preferred getting into trouble. And then during football games, parties, and random sneak outs—he’d always been there. Somehow, they’d become friends. And somehow, she’d let her little crush take root in her chest.

All of this was very unhelpful, because they were friends. At least, she considered him one. He’d been the only one to express real interest in this plan of hers to explore the old caretaker's house. They were friends and he didn’t see anything beyond that.

Elide cleared her throat and kept talking.

“Legend says, I have to stay the night if I’m going to have any chance of meeting a spirit,” Elide said. She gestured to the duffel bag he’d taken from her. “Hence the blankets and snacks.”

Sighing, Lorcan finally entered the house and wedged the door shut behind him. Without the padlock and chains to keep it in place, the door slanted open near the top. Lorcan frowned up at it.

Elide blinked at him. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m not leaving you in the middle of nowhere alone, Lochan,” he said. “I already said that. Now, please tell me you have something other than a Ouija board to keep us occupied tonight.”

“You’re impossible,” she said. She dropped down and pulled her down sleeping bag from the backpack along with a few sealed Tupperware of veggies. The duffel had the chocolate.

Lorcan scoffed. “I’m not the one who decided to have a slumber party on death row.”

He cast another dark look around the room, stooping to avoid running into a bean that ran across the cabin. He came to sit beside her in the middle of the floor and offered the duffel up for her.

“Its research thank-you very much,” she replied. “Go ahead and unload that, it’s just got more blankets and water. Don’t touch my chocolate stash.”

Lorcan did as he was told, pulling out two blankets and the giant two-gallon jug of water. He stared between her and the contents.

“How did you carry all this up here?”

“What just because I’m a woman?”

“You’re five-foot nothing with even less meat on your bones than a rabbit.”

Elide stared at him. “I’m going to choose not to take offense to that as long as you hand over the chocolate now.”

“I’m just saying,” Lorcan began, holding the grocery sack of candy out, “I wouldn’t have expected you to handle all that.”

“Yeah right,” Elide muttered. She was grateful for the shadows cast by the flashlight and that hopefully the flush rising in her cheeks was unnoticeable. She tore into one of the chocolate bars and tossed him the veggies. “There, you can be the healthy one.”

And if she wasn’t mistaken, she could have sworn there was a flash of a smile on his lips.

They sat in silence for a few minutes with only the flashlight to illuminate the room. The poor light was hardly helpful however and against her will, Elide found herself glancing off to the far corners of the cabin. She knew it was silly. The house wasn’t drafty and it seemed well enough intact that there shouldn’t be anything sneaking in. Hopefully.

“What kind of extra credit assignment calls for all this?” Lorcan asked. He nibbled on a carrot slice un-enthusiastically as he looked around the cabin.

“Anthro exists on a whole other plain,” Elide said. “The professor doesn’t really care what we do as long as we don’t give him any grief. And no one else seemed interested in this, so I figured why not.”

“Why not indeed,” Lorcan mused. “You just choose chaos at any chance you get.”

Elide threw her half-eaten candy bar at him, which Lorcan caught with ease. Damn him. He only grinned and took a bite of the chocolate before leaning back on an elbow to stare up at the darkened ceiling.

“Y’know,” he began, but a soft snuffling cut him off followed by a series of creaks and groans from the porch outside.

Elide sat up straighter and went for her phone. She’d planned on getting a few recordings or pictures to show for her efforts. And she knew, of course, that it was probably an animal out there but--

“Let’s go see,” she said.

“What?” Lorcan snatched out a hand and snagged her wrist. “We are not going to do that.”

“Oh come on,” Elide insisted. She tried shaking him off, but his grip was tight. “It’s probably a mouse or something.”

The snuffling got louder and the aged wood outside squeaked with the distinct hint of splinters. Perhaps it was not a mouse. By now the rain had lightened up a bit, so it wouldn’t be surprising if there were other animals coming out of their hovels. But she wanted to make this little adventure worthwhile and just catching images of Lorcan—no matter how satisfying—wouldn’t really help her in her search for extra credit.

“Or it could be something not so friendly,” Lorcan said. He didn’t loosen his hold on her, but his voice was softer than it usually ever was.

Elide scowled. “I could be missing my chance to catch footage of a ghost, you know.”

“Or missing the chance to get rabies.”

Lorcan held her gaze for long enough that the noise outside faded. Huffing, Elide settled back down and finally managed to pull her arm away from him.

“You never did answer my question,” she said. She pulled a deck of playing cards from the backpack and began shuffling the deck. She’d been content to play a one woman round of solitaire, but if he was going to insist on staying they could play poker. It had been a while since she’d kicked his ass at it.

“What question?” he asked, tucking the now empty candy wrapper in the duffle bag.

“Why you’re here,” Elide said. “You didn’t have to come. I just texted the group so you’d stop bothering me about going to Maeve’s party.”

Maeve had been a miserable part of Elide’s life ever since starting college that September. The older girl was relentlessly inserting herself into situations and inviting Lorcan out on “study dates.” She used to have her claws latched onto Aelin, until the blonde nearly bit Maeve's head off a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the girl did know how to throw a party and given how midterms had sucked the life out of everyone it had seemed like a good idea to go.

But Elide still clung to one thread of sanity to know that being anywhere near Maeve while harboring a crush against Lorcan was the stupidest thing she could do.

“I didn’t want to go to Maeve’s party either,” Lorcan said. He was leaning back on his elbows again and the shadows cast from the flashlight illuminated angles of his face she’d never noticed before.

“You didn’t want to go to Maeve’s party?” Elide asked in disbelief. “Her family owns the country club and has enough fancy booze to keep the entire city sated. She may be a bitch, but she knows how to have a good time.”

Lorcan barked out a laugh. “I didn’t know you felt so strongly, Lochan.”

Ignoring the blush that rose to her cheeks, Elide kept shuffling the cards. She couldn’t bring herself to deal them out and invite him to play another little game with her.

Games with the likes of Lorcan were easy enough—don’t back down, keep a sharp tongue, and never apologize. But it was moments like this when she kept making eye contact and kept fighting a blush that she had trouble remembering those little rules. She wasn’t going to survive the night.

Lorcan held her gaze now, though, firm and steady.

“I don’t like Maeve,” Elide finally said. “She’s never bothered to talk to me, so why should I seek out her approval?”

That got her another smile.

“Makes sense,” he replied, “why waste time on something that’s not worth it in the end?”

“Exactly.”

Outside, a gust of wind howled and rain slanted against the side of the cabin. Something heavy thudded against the far wall sending a shudder through each of the beams and floor.

Elide couldn’t help but shudder. She wasn’t scared, of course, but sometimes she didn’t do too well during storms.

“Did the caretaker murder men or women?” Lorcan asked as dust spun in the glow of the flashlight. “Just so I know if I need to start running yet.”

“There’s no ghost,” Elide told him.

“You’re shaking,” he pointed out.

Indeed, she was. Elide ignored it and began dealing out the cards to distract herself.

“Seven card draw,” she said, “jokers are wild.”

“Weird way to play go-fish,” Lorcan muttered as he arranged his card.

“We’re playing poker,” she corrected.

Lorcan stared at her over his card. “Hell no, I’m not stupid enough to play poker against you. And don’t give me that innocent I don’t know what you’re talking about look, it won’t work.”

He’d pitched his voice an octave in clear mockery of her. Elide threw another candy bar at him. “I don’t sound like that!”

Lorcan only laughed, letting the candy bar bounce off his chest.

The wind continued. And with the way Elide and Lorcan played—ruthless with no holding back—go-fish turned into a near bloody battle. They ultimately called a truce after six rounds, three each.

“Tie-breaker!” Elide ordered, gathering the cards back up.

Lorcan groaned and fell on his back. “You said that last time. How long are we staying here?”

“We only have to make it until sunrise,” she said and glanced at her watch, “which is seven hours away.”

“Seriously, woman?” Lorcan sat up enough to glare at her and Elide only smirked.

“Worried about missing your beauty sleep?”

“No, I’m worried about what this floor will do to my back.” He sat up if only to glare at the offending matter.

“C’mon,” she said, “let's spread the blankets out.”

In a matter of seconds, they had the first two blankets spread out as a mat. It would be a little better than laying on the bare floor. Another gust of wind from outside, this one managing to ease through the nooks and crannies of the cabin.

Elide shivered. “I forgot how cold it gets out here.”

“You take the sleeping bag,” Lorcan said.

“I’m not letting you freeze to death.”

“Do you suggest we snuggle then?”

“Are you that touch starved that even the thought of snuggling has you sneering?”

They glared at each other from across the stretch of blankets. Elide broke first and began to fully unzip the sleeping bag so it spread out completely.

“You get one side, I get the other,” she said, “and remember, you’re the one who decided to join me out here.”

Lorcan rolled his eyes, toeing off his boots. “The ghost killed men and you’re just biding your time, aren’t you?”

“Please, if I wanted to get rid of you, I would have by now.” The words were out before she could really process them herself, but Lorcan, it seemed, missed the implication hidden behind them. Good. She wouldn’t make it through the rest of the night if he started teasing her.

They settled down beneath the sleeping back with a good six inches between them. There was a draft on Elide’s outer side, but she didn’t want to risk snuggling into Lorcan. So she kept ramrod straight and clicked off the flashlight.

It was perfectly silent now. Not even the little gusts of wind outside seemed to register anything in Elide. She could hear the wood of the cabin settling and the occasional scuttle of a mouse off in one corner. She tried not to think about that too closely. Everything had settled into a lull that she almost thought Lorcan had fallen asleep beside her.

“I don’t like Maeve either,” he said into the darkness. “Don’t like that party scene, too. It’s what got me into a mess in High School and I just managed to get all that behind me.”

Elide knew--mostly--what his high school years had been like. Too many parties, not enough studying. He would either flunk tests for not knowing the material or flunk because he was suspended. For a while, Elide had thought there was nothing more to Lorcan Salvaterre than drunken nights and wasted DNA.

And boy, how she was wrong.

“So coming out to a haunted house behind a cemetery is how you decide to change your ways?” she turned toward him, just enough to catch the shake of his head.

“Well I’d like to think I helped prevent you from doing anything stupid,” he said.

“You failed on that when you let me pick the lock to the front door.”

Lorcan shifted closer to her and Elide could just make out the glint in his eyes.

“You are full of surprises, you know?”

Elide shrugged, finally feeling herself relax a little. “It’s what keeps things interesting.”

“Menace,” Lorcan muttered.

Elide reached out beneath the blanket to poke his side, earning a curse.

…

Somewhere along the way of their scattered conversations—they fell asleep. Elide would never be able to explain how—considering the wind outside, the surety of mice and spiders crawling on the floor, and the guarantee of haunting of some sort happening—but sleep did fall over them.

And when she woke up to the pale streams of dawn, Elide found that she wasn’t freezing or covered in rodent bites. Rather, she was tucked against Lorcan’s side, snug against his chest. One of his arms fell around her waist, the other stretched over head. She was nestled in so close that she could smell his cologne mingling with his natural scent. She might have only gotten six hours of sleep, but it was the best damn rest she’d had in a long time.

Not good. Not good. Not even remotely good. Elide shifted, ready to roll back to her side of the makeshift bed. Lorcan’s arm tightened around her keeping her firmly in place. Which, sure wasn’t the worst thing in the world. But this was also Lorcan.

She paused for a minute thinking about how her extra credit assignment was going to go if she admitted to a night of snuggling up beside one of her closest friends.

Oh hell. Her friend who she had a crush on.

Elide squinted up at Lorcan, his usually harsh face softening in his sleep. How different he looked like this, more open and relaxed. Closing her eyes, she let herself drift back off to sleep. She would let her self worry about the ramifications of this later.

...

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#elorcan #elide lochan #lorcan salvaterre #elide x lorcan #elorcan au #lorcan x elide #modern au #halloween au #tog #throne of glass #tog fic #throne of glass fanfiction

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