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out of character. millie being the passive recipient of all of this random blood sacrifice and worship, just intermittently rolling her face off throughout the day with no explanation

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❝ i did this for you. no one else. ❞ from stalker

He's ... not taking this like she thought he would.

She wasn't even an unwieldy bitch about it.

Didn't snarl or assault, didn't mention that she was only at this pub for an acquaintance's wake, didn't even say the word no; in fact, she believes her exact words were, I've already had a couple, but maybe you want it?

Now here he goes, digging his heels in, insisting upon it — good fucking grief.

After the endless day she's had, she's certainly feeling the spurs.

Millie's hand closes around the highball and raises it to her lips. She takes a tentative sip. A synthetic bitterness instantly coats the inside of her mouth.

"It's, um — I don't know." Another sip, this one deeper. She swishes carefully and swallows. Makes a face. What is that? "Really strong, or something."

A TENDER GLIMPSE BENEATH THE SURFACE / ACCEPTING.

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❝ i did this for you. no one else. ❞ - Cillian (fae)

Millie grabs her shirt from the floor and slips it on over her head. Greenish-red plasma — a combination of chlorophyll and hemoglobin — suctions the fabric to various points on her back where once there were thorns, but now only remains angry, seeping craters.

She had summoned him sheepishly for the pustulent task of dethorning, and had only intended for him to get the ones she couldn't reach herself. But two became three became four, became Hold still, girl, and Almost there, and One more, until none remained and she was as unblemished and smooth as her first day alive.

So when his mind-voice slips into her head with a familiar refrain — I did this for you; no one else! — Millie can't help but grin. Suuure. She exits the bathroom to find him wiping the tip of a bespoke dagger with a cloth spun from spider’s silk.

"Because I'm your favorite, right? Still? Always? Forever?"

A TENDER GLIMPSE BENEATH THE SURFACE // ACCEPTING.

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"you're gonna have to take your shirt off." millie to merc, completely unsolicited LMAO

The abruptness of the direction was so startling that Mathias didn't stop to question it. His mind automatically filled the gap:

Spider.

He's not usually bothered by arachnids, but Millie wouldn't have said anything if it were a small, unthreatening thing. Besides, he's seen absolutely monstrous spiders in the funeral home's living quarters that he was sure could take on a New York subway rat if given the chance. The young funeral director abandoned his guitar on his bed, half registering that it started to teeter precariously off the mattress and went to work on loosening his collar. Once free, his hands balled up the hem of his shirt, and it was quickly tossed aside on his bedroom floor in one swift motion.

Wide, pale blue eyes scan the garment for movement. A hesitant kick of his foot turns over the fabric. There is a good minute that goes by before he realizes that he's been had; the breath he lets out is full of relief and annoyance.

"I've got to say, I'm not a fan of your prank era..." He shoots daggers at her and covers himself, suddenly self-conscious. "And you may quote me on that."

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millie + social media (1/?)

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• HUNTER SCHAFER for Harper's Bazaar (Dec 1, 2021)

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deadbeat daughter

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KINDS OF KINDNESS (2024) hunter schafer

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a tender glimpse beneath the surface

❝ i'll always protect you. ❞

❝ i never meant to get this close, but now that i have i can't let you go. ❞

❝ i live for the moments when you look at me. the rest of the time i'm just existing. ❞

❝ i don't like how you make me feel. but i like not being around you even less. ❞

❝ i wish you wouldn't look at me like that. when you look at me like that i...it makes me wanna do things i shouldn't ❞

❝ there's no line i wouldn't cross for you. don't you realize that? ❞

❝ i did this for you. no one else. ❞

❝ i don't like it, but i'll do it for you. ❞

❝ i wonder how much of myself i'll have to give to you—how much i have to lay bare—before you realize how much you're taking. ❞

❝ i'm not trying to fix you. i'm just trying to be your friend. ❞

❝ i'm not um, real good at thank yous. or sorry's. but if you ever need me, i'm there. i owe you one. ❞

❝ i've seen you at your worst and i'm still standing here. ❞

❝ you've seen me at my worst but you're still here... ❞

❝ you can be mad at me, i can take it. i'd rather you be angry than shut me out. ❞

❝ i'm not angry, i'm just scared. ❞

❝ i know you love me, but do you like me? ❞

❝ do you think i'm a good person? ❞

❝ do you think i care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference? of course i'm helping you. ❞

❝ tell me what i can do to show you how i love you. i will give you anything you ask for. ❞

❝ you don't have to keep apologizing. just be here. day in and day out and prove that you're gonna keep showing up. that's all you have to do. ❞

❝ i only sleep well when you're next to me. ❞

❝ i don't want an apology i just want to understand. ❞

❝ i could actually use a hug right now. ❞

❝ i want everyone else to go away, but you can stay. ❞

❝ i actually do care what you think about. you're probably one of the only people whose opinion matters to me. ❞

❝ you always seem to know what i need. ❞

❝ you always seem to know just what i need to hear. ❞

❝ i want you to call me when you need someone. i want to be here for you. ❞

❝ you're the one i wanna call when i need someone. ❞

❝ seems like i always want you around when everything feels all fucked up. guess that means something. ❞

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out of character. millie cannot be killed millie CAN BE KILLED, millie WON'T STAY DEAD

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"Leather, huh? Fancy." Certainly more mature than her dilapidated duct tape wallet. "I'm embarrassed to give you my gift now."

"It's just a little holder for your cards. A wallet. It's practical. I almost bought the purse in the same leather."

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😐 ........ (says nothing but the force of my emotion throws everyone backwards 20 feet)

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"came back wrong" what about Came Back Afraid. You used to be brave. Too brave maybe, defying the odds at every turn, a fighter, cocky, playing with fire, first to throw yourself at the enemy. Until one day it all caught up to you. You came back, somehow, but now you know all too intimately how it feels to lose, to die, to be destroyed. Now you flinch and freeze and cower at the slightest provocation. Who even are you now if you can't be brave? The grave may have let you go, but the mortal fear still grips you tighter than ever.

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"For me? Oh no, you shouldn't have."

She unwraps just part of the gift. Blanches.

"— I mean, you really, really shouldn't have."

open.

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Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - Saved!

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DON'T YOU WORRY, I'LL BE RETURNED TO YOU ALL SHINY AND NEW. ( tracking #tensleepshrike and #tensleepkite — follows back from former. )