Your name is Aradia Megido and today is a lovely day.
The sun is shining brightly, colourful leaves crunch happily under your feet, and there's a light, cool breeze floating off the coast. Its simply an excellent day for a walk. The cheery chirp and twitter of bird song floats around, and the occasional whoosh of cars passing by is in the air- thank goodness there isn't a noisy motorcycle to break the peace.
Oh, but there are the voices of the dead.
Silly you, you almost forgot.
Perhaps you are far too used to their ever present murmurs, that they slip your mind.
Not that you mind the break.
You have always been a gifted medium, and the lost souls croon and cry out to you day and night- even when you close that link between your eyes and them.
The voices are why so many mediums are…a little odd to say the least.
They cannot bear it.
Your boyfriend Sollux Captor hears them as well- Mother says it is due to how much time he has spent with you closely- the wails of the dead tend to pass onto 'sensitive souls' if given exposure and the chance for them to notice others- through a medium's gifts. Its also why so many mediums' lovers can easily accept that is isn't a whole wad of nonsense, because most of the time, they can hear faint traces of them their selves.
Sollux is special however- he hears them almost twofold as to what you do. Mother, when questioned, guessed that perhaps he has some of the lineage in him- or it could relate to his Bi-Polar Disorder- spirits tend to flock to 'weaker minded mediums' in hopes of overwhelming or possessing them, or scaring them enough to persuade them to do an odd favor or such.
He wears a necklace around because of that, the medium sized pure silver locket containing salt, and ground herbs (trace amounts of each) such as betony, angelica, cinnamon, clove, ivy, rosemary, mullein, heather and rue- of which Mother refreshes its contents every month or so. Its contents and conflicting smells irritate you and Sollux at times, but you two agreed that it was probably worth it in the long run.
Because by now, even if you two were to break up and he was to avoid contact with you; its far too late. The spirits have awakened his inner eye and even should he try to close it they will still always be there, lurking, whispering, clamoring.
Sometimes, you are jealous of his gifts. Being such a strongly inclined medium would make your seances with Mother and your readings much, much more easier. Far less taxing on your mind and your body.
Other times, you regret ever feeling like that, jealous of the thing that causes him so much pain, both physical (manifesting in headaches and aches along his entire, thin frame) or mental, the crush of so many voices mumbling at once it all becomes a tangled heap of misery for the poor boy, until he's screaming your name and sobbing because he can't stand it anymore, he wants it to stop- he needs you to help him now please oh Aradia please why don't they stop-
You feel so, so guilty sometimes, its because of you he suffers like this, especially when he cries and presses his hands against his eyes as if trying to stamp out the voices, when he rocks back and forth sobbing or when he clings so tightly to you, eyes wide and bewildered- even after all this time the voices when they increase in volume and fervency still scare him, catch him off guard.
You can hardly blame him- your own ghosts are bad enough, you can only imagine the horror he experiences- their death forms, their cries, their desperate pleads and angry threats twofold.
However, you try to put those sort of scenes out of your mind, at least for the most part. Today, you are going to just enjoy the weather, have a nice walk with your boyfriend, hands clasped together, and try not to let memories get you two down.
Sollux is your world- and you are his.
You'll enjoy this while you can, savoring the moment.
You don't regret a single thing that led to this moment- or if you do, you put it out of mind for now.
Your name is Aradia Megido, and you could not be happier, not when you have everything you need to be happy at this very moment.