The sun is on my side.

Take me for a ride.
I smile up to the sky.
I know I'll be all right.

Something had been up with Z for a while now and today it all came crashing down. He wasn't the type to pry, and that was necessary when it came to her. Forcing her to talk about her feelings was just about as effective as slamming your diggler in a screen door. It would only end up with someone getting hurt and feeling stupid. So he had left her be. Part of him had assumed it was something to do with Cheyenne or Indy coming so soon. Merlin knew that she had been stressing over that, and he didn't think the house could get any cleaner. When she had gotten a phone call in the morning he knew then that it wasn't something to do with him and his drama at all. She spent most of the morning drinking wine in the bathtub and crying in Swahili. He had tried to go to her, but she wanted her space and that was fine.

For the first time in Chey's whole pregnancy he had told her that, unless it was an emergency, not to count on him today. Typically he'd be rushing through the floo whenever she needed anything, that was just the type of guy he was choosing to be through all of this, but today Zora needed him more. That didn't happen very often. She was a strong woman, the type of shit queens were made out of, but he knew that even queens cracked from time to time. So he had waited it out until she had finally let him into her little world. Once in it he did the only shit he knew how to do and that was to cuddle her and try to make her laugh. It had worked just enough to get her to admit what she thought she needed right now. She wanted to get away. She wanted him, she wanted Graci, and she wanted something to burn.

Let's go had been the very first thing out of his mouth. She knew he was always down for whatever and he knew that whatever she wanted he would always give to her. Fuck man, if she said she wanted Emilio her pedicurist to drive her to Scotland he'd have found a way to make it happen. This, of course, was much easier. He had gotten Graci to come, gotten a place out in the country where no one could fuck with them. And you bet your sweet fucking biscuits he made sure they had some shit to blow up. For most of the day they had burned out as much stress as they possibly could, using the amulet he had bought her for Valentine's day to throw fireballs at whatever they felt like. The chance they were going to burn down all of England was pretty fucking high but by some miracle they managed not to piss off Smokey the Bear.

Fireballs turned into a fire pit, a stary night sky, and the smoke of a wacky kind. For the first time all day things just felt...relaxed. He had a drink in his hand, smoke in his lungs, a fire going in front of him, and a comfy spot to snuggle up on the patio furniture that managed to skirt by unscathed. Shit didn't get much better than that. "This was a good idea babe," he nodded peacefully before taking a drink from his beer. "I mean, like, the circumstances are shit but... I'm glad we all got to do this." He knew Lide was gone and that Z was hurting. It was important to be able to take a step back from that and process. It was good for her. Hell, it was probably good for all of them in some way. And it gave her the chance to think about the one she had lost. The memories that she held of her. Justin was pretty sure that whenever he croaked he wanted people to do this shit. Call it processing emotion, call it a celebration of life, call it whatever-- so long as people blew shit up in his memory.

Graciela De la Vega @zora | Outfit | Words: 688

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0

Take me away

In the darkness, there's light.

And nobody cries.  There's only butterflies.

It was complicated being like she was. She knew things that she was never told. There could be no secrets. Not really. If someone knew what she could do, they could sometimes force themselves to think of things and not of other things in her presence. But that required knowing. No one here in the UK that did not share her last name knew what Graci was. Her mother liked it that way. As long as Graciela kept her natural gifts secret, she could be used to glean all sorts of juicy gossip for the pages of Vexed. In theory... Not that Val needed a source. The gossip-in-chief was happy to print whatever whenever. Nothing needed to be verified. It just needed to be shocking or at the very least interesting enough to get people to buy the magazine.

Graci could not judge her mother too much for her wanting to use the legilimency to glean stories for the magazine. She used it to get ahead at the theater. It was how she got the leading roles. She knew just what the director wanted and adjusted her performances even without verbal direction. Directors swore she was perfectly attuned to their vision... They just didn't know how she achieved this.

She was not going to use what she could do to get a story on Luxx or Z, though. Because she was hooking up and hanging out. The witch was not about mixing business and pleasure that way. And besides, Z was already going through enough shit. Bullshit heat from the tabloids was not needed on top of that. Graciela had come to know a lot about Zora in the brief time they had been acquainted. Way, way, way more than Z knew she knew--and in some ways more than even Justin knew. Of course, Luxx had history with Z and knew things she didn't know, but he didn't know the details of the darkness that Zora's past held. It was heartbreaking. Graci had been doing what she could to brighten those dark moments... and not criticizing or questioning when Z wanted to get way more than just white girl wasted. 

The drugs helped her, too. If Graci got high enough, she didn't care about all the voices all the time... and when it was just her, Z, and Luxx, all high as fuck, it was practically peaceful. The witch was not an empath; she could not literally feel what someone else was feeling, but having their thoughts in her head still birthed emotion in the Latina. That was why she liked being around Luxx so much. Even with him being nervous and excited for Indy, he was still so chill. It was great. 

She gave a dreamy smile back over her shoulder to the pair as she shifted cross legged on the ground. A blanket was underneath her and a little tray sat in front of her, illuminated by the fire light. The shining metal of the grinder glinted and winked at her as delicate fingers drew bits of greenery from the reservoir and into a rolling paper. She was taking her time with this. There was no need to rush. She was rolling more to roll than to actually smoke. It was low-key and relaxing. Even when she had her magic, she had liked to roll by hand. There was something intimate about it.

Graciela nodded her agreement to Justin's word. This had seemed to help Zora-- and it felt special to be included. She had met a lot of people since coming to the UK, but even at the Palace, she had not really bonded with anyone. But this last month or so had been different. Luxx and Z were different. She felt like she had a place in their little circle... and she liked that. She leaned back against Zora's legs, touching her cheek to the woman's knee. She hoped the beauty would start playing her hair again. Graci loved that so much. She always had. 

Zora & Justin • 665 • outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

one day you'll hear this song

and understand that all along there's something more that i'm trying to say. oh, harry. oh, harry. why can't you see what you're doing to me.

You never really think that bad things will happen to you until you get a phone call in the middle of the night telling you that your mom is dead. Even if your middle of the night is nine in the morning, nothing prepares you for that. Nothing cuts deep like having to say goodbye to someone who was your person, having to acknowledge that they were alone because you made a choice to move so far away. She had punched walls until she had felt like her hand was going to break and then got wine, the corkscrew and turned on the TV and had sat there for hours watching baking shows, because that was what Lide liked. To bake. Her fondest memories were of watching the elder woman bake was the best thing in her opinion and nothing else brought her joy like that did.

She had felt better after a while but she knew it would come back and she needed to get away. Zora needed to burn things, to see things turn to ash and so they had gone away. Justin had found them a great place to go and she had sobbed while burning things to the ground, but now she felt so much better and having a bonfire with these two amazing and beautiful people with her made it all better. She could put this all behind her after today and when the ban was lifted she would go home and make sure the stone was what she wanted it to be, that things were like they should be and take care of the house. It had been left to her.

She sat in the large chair with Luxx and had her head in his lap, her legs hanging over the edge and her empty beer bottle sat on the ground. She didn't want any more she didn't want to numb this. She needed to feel this pain, at least for a little while longer. Graci leaned against her and she smiled softly and looked from Luxx to Graci. "I'm glad we did this too. Not much longer than we can do shit like this, Mtoto." She said with a small smile before reaching her hand down to run it through the Latina's hair with a smiled. "Thank you for coming with us Malaika. It means a lot."

tag: @justin & Graciela De la Vega words:397 template by eliza @ tb & thq

THE SUN IS ON MY SIDE.

TAKE ME FOR A RIDE.
I SMILE UP TO THE SKY.
I KNOW I'LL BE ALL RIGHT.

Justin was a the simplest person who always found themselves in the most complex situations. And somehow that was a good thing. There were a lot of instances that he thought wouldn't have gone over so well if he were anyone else. He was the chill type. He was the deal with it as it comes type. Some people got thrown into fame and completely crumbled, but he was rolling with it the best he could. As far as his trek in the industry was concerned he was new, but he wasn't new to all the bullshit that came with it. When Chey had gotten her big break he saw first hand how cold the industry was and how ruthless gossip magazines could be. It was the main reason he wasn't with her anymore, although he was forever going to be stuck with her.

Graci worked for some of those magazines but he wasn't worried about her. He trusted her, honestly. He didn't think she was going to run off and spout their shit for a story. Even if she did he didn't think there was anything she could say that he wasn't openly ready to admit. Yeah, he was a pot head. Nothing new. Yeah, he had fallen into the baby daddy roll. There wasn't any hiding Chey's bump these days. And everyone who was anyone knew how he felt about Zora. He was never one to hide his feelings and when it came to her he fucking couldn't. When they were on stage together it just poured out and with their recent tour their fans were well aware of their situation.

What people might not have been aware of was just how open their situation was, but he wasn't shy about it. They were just people who did things a little differently. Some people thought that was weird and fucked up, but some people didn't. Some people like Graci. It felt like forever ago that they had sucked her into their little whirlwind and she had been one of the few-- shit, no, the only one to ever stick. There was something different and special about her that drove them both the good kind of crazy. More than just between the sheets, there was something else there. Something that told Justin that if she hadn't been there for this it would have just felt wrong.

Justin smiled as he ran his fingers through Zora's hair watching her do the same to Graci. The witch in his laps words rang true and he chuckled even with his heart feelings heavy. It was one of those moments that didn't happen very often. The kind of moment that you knew you would look back on and miss when it was over. "Naw, we're gonna do this forever. We're just gonna have to do it with a kidege* right here--" he said circling his chest. It wouldn't be long before Indy was here. It was like some fucked up version of that circle of life saying but he thought he'd give most anything to have both Indy and Lide around happy and healthy right now. 

His focus fell to Graci as she sat quietly rolling. He could honestly watch it all day. It was something they agreed on, the intimacy of doing this kind of shit by hand. Though he didn't think he would be able to ever agree about no-maj cookin. That's why God made t-bell, man. Justin ran his foot gently against the side of Graci's leg as she worked, a soft smile working across his face. "For real, I'm so glad you got to come with us." It was short notice, deaths often were, but he was truly happy they were all together in such a shitty time. 

*kidege - swahili endearment meaning "little bird" or "little one"

Graciela De la Vega @zora | Outfit | Words:629

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0