Jillessa Heronstair's characters: Clarisse, Emily, Shae

SilverJem5's characters: Draco, Percy

My characters: Cole, Quinn, Autumn

~~Clarisse~~

Seasons.

Clarisse had always loved spring.

People, she found, didn't really understand her. Well, some of them did, but there was always something that they would reprimand her about and it bothered her. So she took to the trees because no matter what she would say, they'd just be silent. They were sentient and didn't ever judge. Well... They were trees. And thus were quiet.

Everything had a cycle.

Seasons faded.

People left.

Emotions changed.

They had their moments and so did she. And though she found herself evergreen with youth, it wasn't immortality she wanted. It was something that defined her as more than just a faerie in the tide of leaves. And she wanted to love and be loved, but not in the way that everyone else did. She wanted to skip the drama, skip the fights, skip the cheesy love quotes that never made sense. She wanted to be special to someone and she wanted them to be her constant. It was this part of her that wasn't satisfied with just the trees, even though they were easy to talk to. But they never answered back.

So she supposed she wanted more of a best friend than a boyfriend.

Boyfriends were so overrated.

Love was overrated in general.

Because it came in seasons and as soon as it started to look pretty, it died and turned ugly and it was a constant reminder of what once was and what was never to be. It was always twisted in some cruel, beautiful way and she would miss the way the light would hit places in certain spots. And it no matter how much she wanted everything to resist the seasons, everything wilted under his palms. And although it could bloom again, it was never the same.

Even Clarisse found herself changed.

Everything changed.

So she kept the trees at her side and the wind in her blood and she ignored the missing part in her chest that never seemed to fill. Because no matter what she would do, it would always stay empty. Like a little part of her had stayed dead when she had been killed and ressurected. And a little part of her stayed forever in the winter.

Empty.

Cold.

~~Draco~~

Everyone had something to tell.

A secret.

A sin.

A confession.

So Draco gave a penny for their thoughts and would convince others to spill their drama on a silver platter that he would feast upon. And he was satisfied in his lone shop because he didn't need anyone and only wanted two things. Money and secrets. Other people- normal people- were interested in love, reputation, sex. But he was anything but normal. As an ifrit, no one trusted him. They doubted him. Despised him.

And he couldn't even make a stupid glamour. So he took his inability in magic and replaced it with power of word. Power of secrets.

It was the only good thing in his life.

Able to know everything about everyone, he could give them one look in the eye and unfold their secrets and personality and desires. Draco enjoyed having the upper hand and keeping an air of mystery around him. No one paid attention to him. It used to annoy him that no one ever believed his word and everyone shouldered him into the crowd, but now... He used it to his advantage.

He was no one.

Who became someone.

Through knowing everyone.

Humans were so stupid, thinking that he was lesser than them because of the colour of his eyes or the shadow of his wings. He wanted them to trust him. Because then he could crush them.

Exposing their secrets.

Their sins.

Their confessions.

And soon the map of their life unfolded before him. And all he had to do was tear it, tamper with it, and change it to break them.

~~Cole~~

It was the first night the nightmares started.

Cole had fallen asleep at his desk in the hotel after a few restless nights and he had crossed his arms over the table, resting his head in them. He hadn't meant to fall asleep- only take a break- but it was then that he noticed something wasn't right. His dreams had never scared him. Even when his demons had flooded them and it was suffocating with suffering, he welcomed it like it was normal. But these...things he were seeing...Those had scared him. At first it was a whisper in his head- a hiss of something he couldn't quite understand. And then he would wake up and they would be gone.

Until they followed him to reality.

He would hear noises so quiet he thought he imagined them. But then they grew louder and more frequent the longer he stayed in the Downworlder Towns. At first it was once a week. Then once a day. And then he knew there was something wrong. Whispers from the corners. Whispers in the dark. Whispers behind him that rang in his ears and chilled him to the bone.

And then there were the shadows.

Every single day, he'd see things. Having lived in and on the cusp of the Downworlder Towns for a few months, he was used to seeing people lurking in the dark. But whatever he saw in the crevices of the night weren't people. He didn't know what they were but even though he only rarely saw their silhouette, he could feel them following him. If only to silence the voices and get rid of the awful feeling of being followed, he'd steal off into the night as well.

And he'd mix up a little hell of his own.

Fear.

Pain.

And he enjoyed it because the whispers would hush and the shadows turned friendly because they had become his home. Despite his temporary fixes, it grew unbearable and he tried to get rid of them in other ways than sitting at his desk and clasping his hands over his ears in a pathetic way to deafen the world. He even visited mundane clinics in a desperate measure to find what the hell was wrong with him. They told him it was 'paranoia' and 'stress' that sparked such schizophrenic symptoms. They were so eager to give him a bottle of pills and send him off on his way.

They only helped a little, but that little relief was everything.

Cole always knew he was crazy. That there was something sick in his head that only a few could really see past. But it was the process of going a true kind of mental crazy that had him afraid because it wasn't as if he could cut out the problem and be done with it.

So when he did try to lash out and grab something to hook himself in reality, he found air beneath his fingers.

Caught in a limbo of the brink of insanity, he wanted time to freeze.

Because, for the first time in a long time, he found himself slipping.

~~Percy~~

Good judgement was like a phase for Percy.

Sometimes, it was there.

Sometimes, he lost it.

Like that one time he gave a very distraught Ash a sleeping potion that she used to almost kill Nick. As horrifying it had been for him when he realized he had given a ballistic teenager a weapon to use against her ex, it was something that they laughed about later. Despite almost being an accidental murder accomplice, he had managed to turn it into a small joke between him, Ash, and Nick because it wasn't as if anyone had truly been hurt by it. In fact, the exes soon got back together and got married. And Percy knew more than most people that they had to break things down before they could build things up.

And sometimes he felt like the only smart person in the Institute. He knew never to get into anything he couldn't get out of and to avoid saying things he would regret later. And he knew that no matter how much he hated someone, he would always be the better person in the equation if he didn't lash out as well and instead retained his calm, thoughtful personality.

Then again, however, he didn't have experience in everything and he supposed that was his weakness.

He was used to being known as 'the potion guy' or 'the warlock with the potions', but it had never really bothered him. Potions, after all, were practically his life and came before a great deal many things- except, of course, his friends. And everyday, he tried to break through more barriers that set themselves up in his lab because the only way to accomplish more was to work harder, faster and make something new.

He always wanted to make a love potion.

But he hadn't ever really been in love, had he?

Surely, he loved Aria, but he found, through time, that he loved her in a friendly way and she had helped him see that.

Even so, he still worked on a simple love potion. It was the most difficult project he had ever done, as capturing an emotion was simply defying the laws of human nature. But with a bit of magic, he thought he made it happen. McKenna had tried it. She swore it didn't work on her after she said how much she liked him and he almost believed her. He was too busy embarrassed at her declaration to think about the potion.

So he said he liked her back.

But he didn't know if he had judged his feelings correctly.

It seemed almost too good to be true- two warlocks in love, forever young with each other. But his good judgement was lost and useless around such emotions because he simply had never been in love before. He liked her, he knew, and he liked her a lot but there was something off. Like they both knew they weren't for each other but tried too hard anyway. They planned for the future but it had all been a quick session of teenage love.

He hardly saw her.

So he started to doubt what he felt was real.

He wondered if she felt the same.

Because through everything, he could never really picture himself spending the rest of his life- the rest of eternity with her.

But he didn't know whether to continue with the relationship or not.

After all, his judgement on relationships had never been clean-cut.

And the last thing he wanted was to make a mistake.

~~Emily~~

Falling back in love with Khoi was startling.

At first, Emily had been drawn to him secretly.

Then she fell all at once.

It was like jumping off a moving train into a pit that never seemed to stop and though she knew she loved him more than anything, something felt wrong. Everything was too fast. Too much. Too perfect in the oddest ways. It felt like something had changed her like she was caught in a mist of fog and no matter which direction she ran in, she still was ensnared by him in ways that she couldn't describe.

She didn't want to love him.

She had to.

Like it was her mandate or her commandments but she was driven by some force that kept them together, like she could forgive him for anything.

And everyday, she jumped off that moving train into that pit and he would catch her over and over and over until it was a repeating cycle.

He was irresistible.

She felt weak.

He was charming.

She was entranced.

And yet something was wrong.

Emily wanted to wake up and find everything clearer but the fog stayed. And soon, she felt safe. She didn't know if something was wrong with her or if everything was going exactly the way it was supposed to, but she knew that no matter what she did, he would be there for her.

Even though he had left her before.

Because people could change.

(Couldn't they?)

~~Quinn and Autumn~~

His eyes are dark.

So dark that they look black even though they're green. There's a sinister smirk on his face. A delighted smirk. Malevolent. But she can't see it. She's blind; easy prey. And she trusts him even though his breathing is ragged and he's as high as the empire state because she's like that. She wants to help even if she can't.

And he's whispering things in her ear.

She tells him to stop. That he's scaring her. But he isn't himself.

And he isn't himself when he grabs her and pushes her against the wall. He's angry- she can hear it in his voice. She tells him to stop but he doesn't and he doesn't even acknowledge that he hears her when he pins her hands at her sides. He's against her and she's choking and she realizes that no one can hear her. That the door to her room is closed and he's muffling her cries with his hand.

He doesn't even sound like Quinn when he talks. It's like he's a whole new person. A terrible one. And she doesn't even know who he is anymore. He had never hurt her- not intentionally. But he doesn't even seem to care anymore. And all she feels is her face pressed against the wall and his hands against her and teeth at her neck.

And again and again, she tells him to stop.

And that he's making a mistake.

And to go away.

But he doesn't.

Not until he finishes with her and leaves.

And even though she tries so hard to blame it on the drugs and the alcohol, she can't.

And after everything, she can't help but hate him.

~~Shae~~

All Shae's focused on is the crowd.

Her hair is stuck to her forehead with sweat, but to her audience, that only adds to the appeal. She enjoys the way their eyes light up when she catches theirs and gives them a sultry smile before working herself back up the pole in the center of the stage.

She's wearing something that can hardly be considered clothing and it glitters in the light, highlighting her skin and everything she does when she sways her hips at the crowd, tossing her head back and sliding down the pole. Someone in the crowd tosses her money and she steps over it- she picks it up later- and bends down, taking the person's tie in her fingertips, lowering herself to brush her lips sensually against his before pushing him back lightly and continuing her show.

She enjoys the way the crowd's eyes are only on her and that they're under her control.

She did always like having the control.

And when she repeats the cycle a few more times, she swears everyone in the room is all about her. After the show, however, is her favourite part. They all fight over who gets her and she only picks selectively who she wants. Mostly it's who pays the most and is the least intoxicated, but she isn't picky.

It's a normal thing for her.

And even when she takes the one lucky person to the back rooms, she continues her little show for them, but always makes sure that she remains in control. Because it's the only thing she has.

Commitment has never been a subject of conversation for her, though she does wonder about it sometimes.

She never considers it though.

She enjoys the fleeting moments of wild power too much.