Only

Throwin' out the key

Just livin' in a dream

She didn’t really know how she felt. She was still in shock. Or at least she was calling it shock. Blake didn’t really know what to call it. She hadn’t known that she had had a dad. And that was… Not how she had expected to learn. She hadn’t expected to learn at all. Because it hadn’t mattered. She had thought that he was dead. That was what Thomas had told her. That was what she had known, nad so she hadn’t asked anyone else. There had been no need to. No one that had really known her mother had been around to ask except Minerva, and she hadn’t wanted to bother her with something like that. Not when it had been so easily accepted that he was just gone.

Gone. Dead. She didn’t honestly remember which term it was that had always been tossed around, but to Blake they had been the same. It didn’t matter to her one way or the other, he hadn’t been there, and that had been what had mattered. Only now he was here. Now he was coming into her office, and telling her that he was her father, and she didn’t know what to do with that information. Run to Meredith, obviously. That had been the first thing that she had done. The only stable adult figure that she had had in her life. Especially since Minerva had died. Blake had relied on the older witch a lot, but now? Now she relied on Meredith. Probably more than she should have.

She knew that she couldn’t be angry. Anger wasn’t going to do any good. But she was angry. And she didn’t know who she even wanted to be angry at? Because she couldn’t be angry at her mother. Charity had died before she had had a chance to tell her about Hiram Fitzgerald at all. She couldn’t be mad at Minerva, because she had no idea what Charity had told them all to tell her. She didn’t even know if Thomas knew who he was at all. He probably did. He had probably known all along, but he had been gone, and so he hadn’t worried about it. She was a Burbage. That wasn’t changing, it didn’t matter who her father was. Except that apparently it did.

It mattered enough that he had found her. Run into her in that shop, and then tracked her down. Blake didn’t know where to go, or really what to do, but she hadn’t wanted to sit back down at her desk and pretend that everything was fine. And so, she had set the phones to go to voicemail, and she had grabbed her coat, and headed out of the building. She didn’t even realize where her feet were taking her until she pulled the door of Wenlock Hall open and she found herself standing in the entry way. The Arithmancy building… Somehow, she wasn’t surprised by where her feet had taken her.

Normally he came to her, she only ever came over here when she brought lunch back. But it wasn’t hard to follow her feet towards Eden’s office. She hadn’t checked the clock. She had no idea where he was. If he was lecturing, she didn’t know what she was going to do. Sit outside of his door and wait for him? No. Probably not. But she just had to hope that he was in his office instead. Breathing a sigh of relief, she knocked on his door lightly as she pushed it open. “Hey you…” Her voice was different, even to her, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was that was different. Tense, maybe. Scared?

@eden • 615 • blake's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

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[attr="class","lyric2ootp"]Tell me the things that you want
I give you all that I've got
Open your eyes, then you will see

[attr="class","textbodootp"]Eden wasn't sure what to make of anything anymore, and he hated that feeling. But the epidemic had left them all a little worse for wear. As if he didn't already feel helpless enough where it concerned Kelila and David. Losing his magic had certainly made that worse, somehow. Because before, he could have apparated to wherever they needed him, and just handled whatever needed to be handled. People still took advantage of them, despite everything that had happened lately. But now that he didn't have his magic... things were different. They could still Floo to the house whenever they needed to, of course, but Eden felt like he wasn't as able to be there for them as he had been before. He felt like he was letting them down, somehow--which was so far from the truth. He knew that deep down, but it didn't change the fact that his initial thought was one of sadness that he couldn't be more present. That whatever it was that was going around had somehow gotten the better of him. It had gotten the better of everyone, though, and Eden knew he needed to break out of that mentality.

At least, he could be comfortable knowing that some things hadn't changed. Or they had changed, but for the better. Eden was glad that he still got to work at Bangor. Arithmancy could be taught and practiced with minimal to no magic, if needed, so Eden had tried not to be too concerned for his career during Bangor's suspension of classes. But he had still felt the sense of relief flood him when the news came out that things really would be fine, and as far as Arithmancy was concerned, not all that much had changed. Most of Eden's expertise when it came to the subject, anyways, was concerned on the theoretical. On observation. So a lot of his own lesson plans remained unchanged, which was also convenient. Things had certainly changed at Bangor, but not for the worse. And Eden knew it could have been worse. People at Lufkin had gotten fired. At the end of the day, the two-stream technique probably was more expensive for the school... but then again, he was fairly sure that if he ran the numbers, kicking out everyone that had lost their magic would just lead to the biggest economic crisis known to wizardkind.

Maybe he should run the numbers on that. It would give him something to do, other than... worry. Eden knew he worried too much, not only when it came to his cousins, but also, recently, when it came to Blake. But it wasn't the same worry with her. That was more his own concern that he was misstepping, somehow. He forgot all about it when he was around her, though, and in the midst of what could only be called a crisis, they had grown a little closer. She had brought him soup, and then he had dropped by her place with wine. He liked being around Blake--a lot. She was smart and witty, and unafraid to just tell it like it is. To be straightforward and honest, which was something Eden truly admired. And ever since his visit to her place not too long ago, they had grown a lot closer, which he was happy about. It almost felt like it was about time, but Eden knew he only thought that because he had been treading so carefully for the last two years. He wasn't sure what had suddenly changed... but something had. Maybe crisis brought out the honesty in everyone.

Eden had been grading essays for most of the day, his lecture from the morning already finished. The knock on the door had been unexpected, and Eden knew there was a momentary look of surprise on his face as his eyes met Blake's. But his features easily softened into a small smile in the next moment, moving his work to the side and standing up from his chair. "Hey. This is a nice surprise," he greeted. But something felt off. He noticed it. Eden was observant, but then there was also the fact that he knew Blake. And she didn't sound like herself. "Something's wrong," Eden said, letting it hang in the air as a statement for a moment as he moved around to the other side of his desk and leaned on it lightly. "Are you okay?" That was what was important, at the end of the day. She could go into the details of it however she wanted--but he wanted to know that she was okay.

@ something with cinnamon | 767 words | outfit (minus shades)

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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ONLY

THROWIN' OUT THE KEY

JUST LIVIN' IN A DREAM

Did people really do that? Did they just show up, and tell you that they were your father? Apparently, hers did… Hiram Fitzgerald, of all people, had just walked into her office, carrying her birth certificate. And Blake didn’t know what to make of that. She didn’t know how she felt. She had a father? She didn’t think that she wanted a father. Did she? Didn’t people want their parents? Blake thought that people did. That there were plenty of people in her position that would have given anything for her parents to miraculously return, but she had gotten used to not having any. She hadn’t had any for her entire life.

None that were actually her parents anyway. She had Meredith, and for a while now, that had been enough. She had had someone that she knew that she could go to with problems that she would have once needed a mother for. And she had her uncle if things got that desperate. But she didn’t think that she had needed a father. And then to have one sprung on her out of nowhere? Who didn’t know that they had a kid with the woman that they supposedly loved?

Maybe she should have seen this coming. When she had run into him that day, maybe she should have put together that he had been surprised that she was Charity’s daughter. But she thought that that was just most people’s reaction. There weren’t a whole lot of people that had actually known her mother, and this seemed to make all the difference. At least to Hiram it had. Because he had gone and dug up her birth certificate. She thought that there were just going to be things that she couldn’t explain though. This was one of those things.

She couldn’t explain this. And she couldn’t make it make sense in her mind. She just, she didn’t know. And Meredith had been the first turn. She had needed a presence that was familiar. One that was safe. One that she didn’t have to be scared of. And she didn’t know if she was scared, exactly, but she wasn’t comfortable either. She had needed something steady, and someone that was going to know what to tell her, and how to help. Turning to the woman that she looked at as a mother had been necessary, but now that she had walked away from Meredith, she knew who else she wanted.

Heading for Eden’s office was instinct. She wanted to be around him. He was comforting, and he made her feel better. About everything. But she thought that he would know what to say about this too. She thought that he would know what to say that was going to make this easier. She had a father. And she didn’t know what to say or do about that. But she thought that he might. He had lost his parents. And his weren’t coming back… but she hadn’t thought that hers were either. Her mother was dead. Her father had been, at least to her, up until an hour ago… But now what? What was she supposed to do?

His words hung in the air between them for a moment before she shook her head, “I’m not sure. I… I just came from Mered- from Dean Powell’s office. But I…” She didn’t really know how she had gotten the words out the first time. She wasn’t sure how to do it again. “I think I just met my father.” She thought, she knew. He had had her birth certificate. There was really no question. She didn’t think that he would just show up here and tell her something like that unless he was sure. She had met her father, and it turned out, she had met him before…

@ safe and sound • 635 • blake's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0