Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
May 31, 2020 2:55 PM
In the middle of the night... (Brooding-Hawthorne quarters) by Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
CW: blood, death/murder~
Tabitha’s heart was pounding harder than it had ever done before, her lungs burning like they were on fire. Her legs carried her on and on, her feet crunching the forest floor beneath her but it wasn’t enough. She needed to go faster. She needed to catch up. Gripping her wand tighter, nails digging into the palm of her hand, she pushed herself onwards.
“Mary!” her normally composed voice came out as a scream, frantic and petrified. “Zeus!”
They were gone. She was sure they had only been just up ahead. Moments before, she’d seen a flash of Mary’s dress. Prior to that, a glimpse of Zeus’ blond curls. They hadn’t been far. They were never far away but every time Tabitha thought she’d caught up, they disappeared from sight, Tabitha chasing after them one more.
Eventually, there was a break in the trees and the forest opened out into a clearing and Tabitha slowed, looking around for any sign of her wife and their child. She turned to look behind her, just in case. Maybe she’d run past them. Maybe they’d be behind her.
When she turned back, Mary was in the middle of the clearing and a smile came to Tabitha’s face, relief flooding through her. She’d found her. Then, her eyes dropped to the unmoving boy in Mary’s arms, the body limp and her smile faded as her eyes widened with horror. Mary’s hands and dress were covered in blood.
“Mary, what’s going on?” Tabitha asked. She took a step forward but Mary’s eyes fixed her in place, eyes that normally reminded Tabitha of melted chocolate now filled with a hatred that Tabitha had never seen and it was all directed at her.
“You killed him, Tabitha,” Mary’s normally kind voice came out as a hiss and she seemed to clutch Zeus’ lifeless body closer. “You were supposed to protect him and you killed him!”
“W-what?” Tabitha’s voice was failing her, coming out in stammers. She didn’t understand. She hadn’t done anything. She had been running and running for miles just to catch up with them. How could she have done this? She hadn’t done anything. Even if she was to kill somebody, she’d have used the Killing Curse. Tabitha was methodical. Zeus’ body was... it looked like it had been savaged by a creature. “I-I didn’t do this...”
“You did,” Mary snapped and Tabitha felt her heart breaking in to pieces. Her son was dead, her wife despised her. “You did this. You tore him to shreds like a creature, like one of your precious monsters. Look at your hands, Tabitha, and then try and tell me you didn’t do this.”
Tabitha was confused. Her hands would be clean. She hadn’t done anything. But obediently, she looked at her hands and screamed in horror. Her normally clean hands were covered in blood. It was under her nails, in the lines off her palms, dripping off the ends of her fingertips. It was all over her clothes, her arms, all over her own wand.
“I-I don’t understand... I-I didn’t do this,” she whispered, transfixed by her hands.
“Yes, you did, Tabitha... You did it to me too...“ Mary’s voice was soft and Tabitha looked up before recoiling in horror and screaming as she saw blood seeping through Mary’s dress that was now in tatters and leaking from cuts on her face that hadn’t been there seconds before. Mary dropped Zeus as she collapsed and Tabitha ran forward, placing her bloody hands on Mary’s arms, tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes as Mary whispered, struggling for breath, “You were supposed to protect us...”
Tabitha woke up with a gasp, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. She felt wet, drenched in sweat from head to toe, strands of her hair sticking to her face. She sat bolt upright, quickly looking at her hands and turning them over, finding them clean. Next, she looked to her right and found Mary sleeping soundly next to her and let out a long, shaky breath. A nightmare. That’s all it had been. One of the scariest that Tabitha had ever had but a nightmare nonetheless.
It felt like there wasn’t enough air in the room so Tabitha threw off her covers and left the bedroom she shared with her wife (who was perfectly fine and alive and breathing). She walked across their living room to the nearest window and threw it open, taking in a long, deep breath of fresh air and trying to calm her racing heart. When fear slowly started to ebb away, annoyance replaced it. It was bad enough that she often struggled to sleep but now she was having nightmares when she could sleep? It was like the world was playing a nasty joke.
She turned her back on the window and enjoyed the breeze that blew on the back of her neck. She took another deep, calming breath before looking at the door that she knew opened into Zeus’ room. It was slightly ajar and Tabitha slowly padded her way over to it and gently pushed it open and thanks to the glow of his nightlight, immediately spotted his sleeping form. She watched him breathing for a moment, comforting herself with watching his chest rise and fall before turning and pulling the door almost closed again and making her way over to the sofa, sinking onto it with a heavy sigh.
“What on earth is the matter with you, Hawthorne?” she berated herself, dropping her sweaty head into her hands.
20
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
In the middle of the night... (Brooding-Hawthorne quarters)
1417
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
1
5
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
May 31, 2020 3:24 PM
Time to wake up. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Zeus' nightmares had reduced significantly in number, leaving an exhausted Mary to finally sleep through the night the past several nights in a row. Despite that, she was ready. She was always ready. There were people in the world who needed Mary, and she wouldn't go a moment not being there for them if she could help it. This included her wife. Tabitha was not famous for sleeping well and Mary had long since learned to sleep through Tabitha waking up and stirring in the bed next to her. Tabitha outright leaving the room, however, was less common. This, coupled with Zeus' occasional tendencies to pad his way into their room at night if he woke up thirsty or in need of a hug meant that the sound of their bedroom door opening was enough to wake Mary instantly.She blinked blearily and looked around in time to find herself alone in bed and Tabitha disappearing through the door, closing it behind her. Had Zeus had a nightmare and Tabitha was going to take care of it? That was odd, but not impossible. Although . . . there was the definite smell of fear in the room. It lingered in the scent of sour sweat and cold chills, and the way the sheets had been tossed aside in favor of the open air of the rest of their shared quarters.
Mary waited a moment, listening. Often times, Tabitha needed to be alone. Or at least she thought she did. Mary was of the firm belief that hugging more often and occasionally even curling up into a heap and being smothered with affection would be good for the woman, but that was neither here nor there. Right now, perhaps she did need to be alone. Mary counted her own breaths, making it to five before she decided to go after her.
Pushing her feet into slippers next to the bed, Mary pushed aside the covers and stood up. The night air was chilly on her exposed legs and she wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm, although wearing only one of Tabitha's T-shirts over her underwear was not the most effective way to do so. She peeked quietly out of their room in time to find Tabitha peering in on Zeus, looking tense and wound up. The woman said something to herself and then went to sit down, and Mary took the opportunity to follow her. She sat in the armchair where she could see Tabitha and also give her some space.
"I love you," she whispered with a small smile. "Do you want to talk? Are you okay?" Mary knew Tabitha - both her protective instincts and her insistence that Mary was too good for her - well enough to know that that wasn't really what she would be worried about, so she added some reassurance: "I'm okay."
22
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Time to wake up.
1424
0
5
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
May 31, 2020 3:50 PM
Sorry to wake you. by Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
Tabitha sniffed and wiped the sweat away from her forehead and swept her hair back, looking up as Mary spoke to her. Unable to help herself, images from her nightmare flashing through her mind, her eyes looked her wife up and down. If it wasn’t for the worried look etched on her face, one might’ve thought that she was simply appreciating the sight of her wife in only a t-shirt and underwear. Satisfied that Mary wasn’t harmed in any way, Tabitha tore her eyes away and looked towards the open window.For a minute or two, she didn’t say anything. She didn’t really know what to say. It felt hard to try and explain the contents of her nightmare, the images in her head. Tabitha had never felt comfortable divulging her inner most thoughts and feelings, even to her wife. She liked to work things out beforehand, comb through everything piece by piece and make sense of it before saying her thoughts out loud. She knew she frustrated Mary at times for it but she also knew that Mary understood too.
Her hands trembled, a side effect of the adrenaline still coursing through her system and she took another deep breath, trying to push it away. Two more deep breaths followed before she turned her eyes back to Mary, looking her over once again before asking, “Do you feel safe with me? Do you trust me to protect you?”
It was probably an odd and scary question to ask and maybe even a confusing one but it was a question that Tabitha desperately wanted and needed an answer to. Her eyes flicked over to Zeus’ bedroom door and she nodded her head in that direction, adding another question, “Do you trust me to protect him?”
20
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
Sorry to wake you.
1417
0
5
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
June 01, 2020 12:08 PM
I'd rather be awake than sleeping for this. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Silence in these moments wasn't really very silent. It was filled up with a tense buzzing that stuck around in the heads of nervous people, and it was filled up with breathing and small little shifts in the way they were sitting. Outside, various birds and bugs were awake, singing their cacophony through the thick windows of the mansion. Amidst it all, fear felt very loud.Mary's immediate answer was a resounding 'yes', but she knew that Tabitha wouldn't count a reactive response as meaningful. She wasn't one to act without thinking, and if she acted quickly it was because she had already done a lot of thinking about it. So Mary thought. Her first realisation was that there wasn't a lot that she expected Tabitha to keep her safe from. The bigger threat to her physical safety was if Tabitha was careless and her creatures or adventures ever got to Mary, but she trusted Tabitha to be sensible and cautious. That wasn't the same thing anyway. She knew that Tabitha was afraid of things she knew about that Mary, thankfully, did not. Mary had seen enough of the world to know it was a scary, dangerous place, but she was usually caught up in the pretty little flowers she was harvesting.
That being said, was Mary really unaware? She'd lost family to grief and to merpeople, and she'd lost . . . whatevers . . . to portkeys. She wasn't scared of any of those things for herself, and she could attribute that to her wife's efforts, absolutely. "Yes, I do," she replied.
Tabitha's eyes went to the door, behind which a sleeping boy who was quickly becoming a son again had no idea he was the subject and object of so much anxiety. Her next question was harder, though, because the answer was more layered.
Mary trusted Tabitha to take care of her because the woman was both capable and motivated. While she was sure that the woman was quite capable of caring for Zeus, she seemed less motivated to do so than Mary was herself, and she was more . . . hesitant. Did that mean Mary didn't trust her to care for their little bundle? To protect him? Whatever Tabitha's hangups were in that regard, they seemed to be more emotional than anything else. She would work through that. They would work through it together. And really, at the end of the day, Mary had no doubt.
"Yes," Mary said again, her eyes blazing as she held Tabitha's gaze. "Absolutely I do." She pulled her feet up into her seat with her and looked down for a moment. "Actually," she began, looking up again. "I'm mostly worried you won't protect yourself."
22
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
I'd rather be awake than sleeping for this.
1424
0
5
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
June 03, 2020 1:36 PM
I’d rather be asleep but it seems to be another thing I’m failing at. by Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
Tabitha had asked Mary the questions with the hope that the answers would calm her nerves, put her at ease. While she didn’t believe that Mary was lying because this was too serious of a subject to tell fibs about, there was a lot that wasn’t being said because Tabitha knew the answers herself. It would be easy to trust her to protect Mary. She loved Mary more than anything and if she was in danger, Tabitha was confident that she wouldn’t hesitate to do everything she could to keep her precious wife alive. However, that was exactly the problem.Tabitha had no doubt in her wife’s capabilities. She was a powerful witch and did things with potions and spells that Tabitha could barely even imagine. She knew that Mary could protect herself. There was a little boy in their lives now who didn’t have the knowledge of either Mary or Tabitha to be able to look after himself. Despite knowing that, Tabitha knew that if it came down to a choice, the level of love she had for Mary would overrule her common sense and she would throw herself in front of Mary. So, while Mary said she trusted her to protect Zeus, that wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the full picture.
She waved a dismissive hand and pulled a face at Mary’s last comment. Protecting herself didn’t feel very important. Not right now. The two people sharing these quarters at the moment were far more important than herself. Besides, she knew she would fulfil the basic requirements for staying alive because being dead meant she wouldn’t be able to protect anybody. “I’m fine.”
She looked again at Zeus’ door, frowning at it before asking a different and completely unrelated question. “He’s started called me ‘daddy’. Did you know that? What... do I do with that?”
20
Tabitha Brooding-Hawthorne
I’d rather be asleep but it seems to be another thing I’m failing at.
1417
0
5
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
June 06, 2020 4:47 PM
Sleeping aside, I've never seen you fail at anything. by Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
"Yes, the fear-sweat in our bed makes me really believe you're fine," Mary said sarcastically, gesturing over her shoulder at their bedroom door and raising an eyebrow at Tabitha. "My love, you're not fine. It's okay that you're not fine. That's why you're not married to a child, you're married to a grown woman who can be there for you to love you and support you. I rather enjoy supporting you, if you'll let me."Mary took the opportunity to stand up and cross the room, taking a seat that was well within Tabitha's personal bubble and wrapping her arms around her. Usually, Tabitha was the one to hold on to Mary, to love her and protect her and keep her safe from the world. Mary thought it was fitting because her job had generally been to protect Tabitha from the inside, and from all the darkness and sadness there. She did her job most effectively when she was buried against Tabitha's chest. That being said, it wasn't always enough, and she held Tabitha with strong arms that left no room to be construed as an invitation to reverse their roles this go round.
She smirked, the expression stifled some by her cheek being pressed against Tabitha's hair. She'd pulled the woman part way into her lap because otherwise she was much too tall to be properly snuggled on, and the smell of her wife made Mary feel that much calmer. "I have heard him refer to you as such, yes," she said with a chuckle, although she knew it wasn't very funny to Tabitha. In a quieter voice, she continued: "He called me 'mommy' the other day. I'm . . . it sort of sucks, doesn't it?"
Silence drifted between them and Mary let it. There was space around them, and none between them, and it felt perfect. They could cry or laugh or be angry or be happy. And that was alright. "I think you let him," Mary finally said, her breath of a voice feeling loud in the hushed room. "If you don't mind. I think that maybe we didn't adopt him. He adopted us. All those papers that said we'd take care of him . . . he's going to take care of us. I think we let him grow into a beautiful young man who will love and cherish people who are hard to love and cherish sometimes, like a couple of odd witches who took him in and loved him even when they weren't sure what that meant."
Mary paused again, thinking of the way that Tabitha and Zeus laughed at the same silly jokes and that they both had the same dimples. "We can probably try for 'mum' if you'd rather though," she added with a soft smile.
22
Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Sleeping aside, I've never seen you fail at anything.
1424
0
5