Ianthe-moreau‌:

Life with the jade and emerald tinted object had been torturous, yet Silas couldn’t manage to let it go. A week had gone by with him knowing there was something wrong with it, some curse that had been placed, and the cubi still couldn’t manage to keep his fingers from glazing over its sheen. Studying its ridges as it played with the dim lights inside the back of his shop. Even started carrying it around, terrified that someone else might take it. He continually told himself that if it wasn’t him taking the burden on, that it would be someone else but Silas knew it was just an act to keep it close to himself. Anyone that caught eye of the scale immediately induced panic within his being, so his pant pocket was the only logical place for it to stay until he understood more. It wasn’t as if he knew its origins completely, just some various lore from the library and anything Kasandra could explain given her similar condition. Sleep had been replaced with nightmares and late-night walks, muse for anything artistic all but lost when the hour was so late that he felt his shop walls closing in on him. That’s precisely where the cubi was now, feet patting up and down the sidewalks of town with eye bags that could be seen from at least a block away. ‘This cannot last,’ bubbled in his thoughts as the silhouette of a public bench came near and he instinctively headed towards it, ‘Go-saeng kkeut-e nag-i on-da*.’

@leightonhaywood​

opheliancano​:

This is new ground Ophelia finds herself on. She knows more of cubi by reputation and what the furies taught her than personal history, and Silas is nothing like she had been expecting. Perhaps that is why she finds him so fascinating. Green eyes watch for him, from behind the counter of the tea shop, where he had been a frequent patron before the pride festival. Perhaps she’s scared him off? Regrettable, to be sure, though she suspects not many of his species would willingly choose to spend time around her; that had been another point of her curiosity, how he never seemed to be particularly afraid, or even worried in her presence. Ophelia has just about written him off as a willing participant to their game, much to her disappointment, when she finally spies him reenter AnxieTea — and the smile that graces her face is not false, for once. Their song and dance is not quite finished. Good. Once she is certain to not leave her coworker swamped with customers, she steps out to take her break, making a beeline for Silas. “Rather well, I think. So many interesting things to see, and people to meet. I don’t think I’ll be bored.” The double entendre is there, clear as day for anyone who has the appropriate context. And then, because Ophelia has always been bold, she adds, “you were gone for quite awhile. I wondered if I’d seen the last of you.” 

A hardened swallow after a long drink from his tea, processing her words as they lingered in the space surrounding them and made a point to not allow his feelings to surface. The feelings of intrigue and wonderment on how she could have plucked the question from his brain— how she might have actually been concerned for him in some way. Not that an individual being endearing towards the incubus was foreign, his natural magnetism making it fairly simple in most settings, but that was obsolete here. With Ophelia, it was all genuine and that in itself was enough to shake up his perspective. “Hardly,” he finally mustered up in response, a light grin emerging as the tea cup found its place on the coaster in front of them, “Best tea blends in town, if you ask me.” Though they both knew that wasn’t the only reason Silas found himself roaming to its doors, even if his guts refused for him to admit that detail out-loud and tried to keep the subject on her versus himself, “I’m sure not. There always seems to be something exhilarating happening, especially in this town. I’m sure it will be quite effortless for you to find and keep your foothold.” Which was true, her aura calling attention to its daring and valorous nature.

Months had gone by without a single trace, causing Silas to wonder if the object existed in the first place. Rumors and hanging onto belief that his client was right in her pursuit grew difficult, but Safiye insisted on his continued search. The cubi listened without attaching too much thought. It was never any of his business why certain items needed to be obtained and simply accepted that if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else. Which led him down a path that he hadn’t quite expected this time and talking to individuals from many different walks of life. Originally the necklace was traced back to Gascony, a region in France that was ruled by the English Crown during the 14th century. Once the witch trials had started, however, many of the possessions in the area were lost or obliterated. Finding anything during that period of destruction was next to impossible, but not completely. “Hey, it’s Silas at Knick Knack. I think I found it,” he stated calmly on her voicemail as charcoal hues continued to examine the detail of the brass and condition of its embedded stones. It was as if it was brand new, glass still in perfect condition and hung by the original chain. Though the cubi knew after over fifty years of experience that items like this are not always what they seem.

@safiyebasak​

cxnnxrmorgan‌:

The past few weeks had treated Connor to a rollercoaster he wasn’t adequately prepared for. The blade he’d found buried in Scylla’s chest still left him with no answers, and a whole lot of stress to add to his already tense shoulders. The biography he’d chosen revolved around the deceased Goddess. As Silas answered, he smiled softly and nodded, “I understand. I’d hate to trouble you,” he’d settled on the floor, face upturned toward the other man. He was making a feeble attempt at not outright staring but- it was hard. “My name is Connor,” he reached upward to offer a handshake, “and I feel like I’ve seen you around quite a bit. Could just be my mind playing tricks though.”

“It’s really no bother,” the cubi replied as he looked down at what the stranger was carrying. He recognized the scales immediately and felt his stomach turn slightly at the image, the very item still being carried in his pocket days after the fiasco. He had been more than obsessed with it, but hardly wanted to seem desperate at what exactly the brunette was researching. Silas had been doing some of his own digging, even if the book now within his grasp had nothing to do with the Goddess. “Silas,” free hand moving to shake his, “Could have seen me. I run a shop on the main street.” There weren’t many Korean’s running shops in downtown Corinth, so it was highly likely that he had been seen before. Connor had a familiarity as well and kept getting hits of freshly baked bread as he stood before the cubi.

antoniagrcgor‌:

“I’d love to see your travels. To see the world from a friend’s eyes is a rare perspective to have ” Her eyebrows lifted with excitement. “To be frank, I’m looking for something to remind me of Lachenwald. I missed ValiFest this year.” Her small hamlet has a jubilee of Feast of Vali. An old Germanic tradition that blended from the ancient Greek Eros Feast day. In her small pack, it’s the day for renewals of love and sharing your hearth + food with anyone who knocks on your threshold: treating strangers like family with love + care.

It was the little things she misses about home, like pack gatherings; yet there are times she longs to see the world.

“Ah,” he exclaimed softly and moved to his desk to rummage through some of his own works. Traveling had meant many different sketches, many different paintings, but Silas had always managed to keep track. Each location had their own section within his journaling and most times they still had the name or date. He pulled down many different books and binders before finally settling on a pale green sketchbook with broken binding. “A few of the pages got some rain damage while I moved, but I think a lot of them are still in really good shape,” fingers quickly turning pages as he spoke, “I think even from the first fest you took me to.”

So— he hadn’t seen her since the festival. Unusual given the fact that before that, Silas had spent much of his time wandering into the tea shop where she worked. Lately, however, he actively made the choice to go inside the doors of their competition and hadn’t fully pinned down exactly why. Maybe it was because it all felt too different, they had seen each other outside of a work setting and could no longer call Ophelia just an acquaintance. His mind drifting towards the curiosity of how she might be doing and if she had, at all, noticed his absence. Not exactly a thought that he wanted to be caught in, but their little game of chess was intriguing and Silas couldn’t ignore the allure of the rootless ground. That’s why he found himself inside again, sitting at an antique table that was probably older than he was now and nursing a lukewarm tea. “How are you settling in?” he asked, filling the air with something other than the lingering silence between them.

@opheliancano​

What are three things necessary to your happiness? Family, honesty and creativity.

giovannixrusso​:

Humanity came with a variety of weaknesses that supernatural beings intended to exploit, but it also provided what might be considered the greatest weapon of all: being mistakenly underestimated. What he lacked in witchy voodoo powers, he made up in precise intelligence, meticulous plotting, and his own brand of charm. “It most certainly has been. Hope you weren’t avoiding me after our little chat.” He did like the other man, for what it was worth. Call it an indescribable magnetism which drew Giovanni in, but he also had a job to be done. “I’m actually still curious about something. Has anyone come to show or sell you a candle lately? It wouldn’t be a mundane thing; kind of old and ostentatious.” 

“I’m too much a creature of habit to avoid anyone,” which was mostly true when in places that felt comfortable enough to not consistently be ready to run. That was a quality that Corinth had provided, even with the recent displays of unrest and painful occurrences, Silas had yet to think that he was time to move. On top of it all, he had worked diligently to get the brick and mortar operation functioning in the bay. “A candle—” eyebrows furrowing slightly. It wasn’t often that anyone actually sold him a candle on purpose. Typically they were found in old dresser drawers that hadn’t been cleaned up, locked wooden boxes that hadn’t been touched in years, and the incubus’s onyx irises locked onto Giovanni, “Got a little more detail than that? Maybe color, even what it could have been accompanied with?”

noraxzhao‌:

Every year, Nora intended to dress up for the carnivale, but every year she always showed up like this, in an outfit befitting the weather but otherwise not remotely on-theme as far as the locals were concerned. It didn’t matter, though–she spent the evening with her wife and a steady stream of alcohol that allowed her to maintain a pleasant buzz. And after a few tumultuous weeks, something fun and normal was definitely in order to blow off a little steam. 

“Hi,” she said brightly, then shook Silas’s hand with the one not currently holding a half-full pint of beer. As he lowered the mask, the smile faltered as concern immediately settled in its place. “I– yes, a lot–” She waved off the question about booths and the event itself. “Are you doing okay?”

There was nothing okay with the cubi besides the excitement he felt seeing his work dancing around the festivities on the rare occasion. Swarms of people were in attendance, making it hard to see every piece that was touched by his hand, but when the moment did occur— warmed filled him and for a moment Silas forgot the pure exhaustion that held onto him so firmly. “Yeah, yeah. Just been so busy with the shop, hard to sleep lately,” a bit of a white lie and it was misery inducing to do that to someone like Nora. She had been nothing but a good friend over the span of being in Corinth Bay, especially when it came to helping with the curated items in the shop. That was part of the reasons the cubi had a permanent area to feature her work, along with just being a good soul through and through, “I’m sure after a few drinks while watching the parade will have me falling asleep like a baby.” Or at least he hoped, sporting a friendly grin as he flagged down a woman carrying various wine’s in plastic cups.

atlasxrose‌:

@silaskyun​

Atlas sat pondering the vision he’d had the night of the murder, the woman with dark hair and dark eyes, the green scales that had trailed up and down her arms. The onslaught of spirits that had besieged the town, if there was no way of saving her that night, then why had the Gods sent him a vision of her entering the Temple? He wondered what use it all was, questioning things that he could quite clearly not control. The witch had wandered into a shop, doing what he could to distract himself when he saw the man standing not far from him now. 

Atlas wasn’t sure why his intuition had brought him here, but Scylla had been at the forefront of his thoughts so the witch just spat the question out. “Hey, this might seem like a weird question but you haven’t seen a woman come in here in the last few days have you? - Uh, dark hair, dark eyes?” This was Corinth, Atlas had just described probably the majority of the female population. “I don’t know… She was a bit unique.” Scaled, for instance. “You’d remember her.”

A single eyebrow arose on Silas’s face at the question. It wasn’t as if there were a lot of people that came into his shop, but the list had already risen up to at least a dozen and the cubi wasn’t sure how to respond. The man before him looked flustered, words sounding a bit desperate and all Silas could do was give him a shrug. “Yeah, I mean—” the right words needed to be chosen in order to get more information from the stranger, “A few, but maybe you can give me a little more detail? Was she wearing something specific?”

Though through all the chatting, he couldn’t keep his mind off the scale in his pocket as if it was burning a hole. The cubi wanted to touch it, place his calloused hands upon the smooth emerald finish just to ensure it was still resting there. But if he went for it now, there was no way he wouldn’t seem suspicious and he begged his mind to stop thinking about it. “Maybe even a specific piece of jewelry?” which would have been something Silas had actually noticed given his line of work. Unique pieces to the mass-market objects, he enjoyed seeing what was on trend and being purchased.