it feels like stealing hearts - - magdalena

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

There weren’t that many places for the ghosts to live in Empress. Some of the ghosts managed to convince the Shinigami in giving them a little house or a little flat, but when Alexei had tried the Shinigami had flat out refused, laughing in Alexei’s face. This resulted in Alexei trying to kill the Shinigami by strangling him, but there was no effect at all. Some people were lucky to get an empty space for themselves. He would have loved to be alone instead of having to go to the hostel every time and talk to Miss Rosa for a few hours before he went to a room. Now, don’t get it wrong, he did like talking to Miss Rosa, but sometimes he just wanted to be on his own. Actually he wanted to be on his own ALL the time, which was difficult because Miss Rosa treated Alexei like her son, so he couldn’t be mean to her and reject her could he? If he strangled the Shinigami once more, the Shinigami had told him something ‘terrible’ would happen and even though Alexei told him to ‘bring it on’ with a lot of swear words inserted between the words in that sentence, Alexei didn’t try anything else. See? Even he could follow rules, couldn’t he? It was just annoying about having to think about where he was going to sleep the next night, although Alexei didn’t really think about it until the night rolled along. But even when the darkness did roll by he wouldn’t have had an idea, he knew he would always end up straight back at the hostel with all those giggling girls and weird thirty something old men.

Alexei walked along the whispering woods slowly, not paying attention to anything that was happening. He wasn’t bothered at all right now. He had slept in the whispering woods for three days, that was because he didn’t want to go to Miss Rosa and spend hours with her talking about her grandsons whom she missed and how she thought Alexei should be nicer to people otherwise he would be hated and everything. He didn’t want to break it to her that he was already hated all over the ghost world and that he didn’t give a fuck about anyone really, but he couldn’t use words like ‘fuck’ in front of an old woman could he? Well he didn’t want to swear in front of Miss Rosa and grow angry, because otherwise she would have definitely probably given him a lecture and told him how anyone could hate a ‘sweet’ little boy like him? He shook his head; Miss Rosa always tried to find something sweet about him, no matter how many people told her to stay away from him because he was ‘crazy.’ No sir, she wouldn’t believe that Alexei was crazy and she wouldn’t believe that he was an ‘angry young man’ as she put it in her words.

It was already turning dark now, the stars were beginning to shine and the orange street lamps were going to turn on in a half hour or so. He didn't really care about going anywherewhere he was going, but he needed a good nights’ sleep and that meant he had to go back to the hostel. He realised with a groan that there would be another two and a half hour chat with Miss Rosa about where he had been for the past few days; waiting for him. He shook his head, maybe he’d find a nice little cottage somewhere along the way? There were always some nice cottages at the end of the whispering woods, and Alexei knew this because he had been there numerous amounts of times. He came to a stop just outside the edge of the whispering woods and looked at the little cottage kind of house thingy in front of him. There were a few lights on in the cottage but there was no sign of movement or life in there. Alexei shrugged and moved towards the cottage. There was a patio out back, with different sorts of sowing equipment strewn across it. Whoever lived there must have been a slob or hadn’t had time to tidy up. Alexei slid the glass door open to enter the living room. No one was there. He sat down on the little sofa, taking up two seats by himself and then groaned. This was definitely much better than the muddy floor. He laid his head on one arm of the sofa and let his legs dangle off of the other side. Alexei closed his eyes, he was already very tired. But he wasn't asleep yet, he just wanted to revel in the quite house for a bit.

TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 792
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// <3
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

Magda gave a sigh as she curled up under the duvet, her hands aching a little. She'd worked on one of Vale's dresses all day and was feeling the consequences. It was a really nice dress though, pale and pretty. Rouched and tailored well by her own hands. She'd left if lying amongst her other sowing things downstairs on the large table she used when she created her masterpieces. It was a mess down there, yes, and Mags wasn't a perfectionist. What was the point in tidying all the stuff up when she'd only have to take it out again tomorrow morning. If that day would ever come. It seemed like one of those days when she was too tired to sleep. She just stared up at the ceiling willing her eyelids to close and give her some rest. Damn frappuccinos. She'd had too many and clearly the caffeine was still acting on her. This was probably why Magdalena only usually enjoyed a couple of hours of sleep every night. But she wasn't that big on sleeping. Sleeping was just to get energy back for the next day and sleep gave her too much time to think. Magda didn't like thinking, then all sorts of important questions would crop up - like how could she be dead and still in this world? Was this her purgatory? It certainly wasn't heaven and hell was definetly not a place where the devil let you get on with your seamstressing or let you have friends and little joys. Thinking was too much for Magda. A dreamless sleep was what she liked best, not that she often got that.

Nope, no sleep to be found here. Maybe she'd read for a while, get her senses to gear down. Click, clink. Or maybe she'd check on her intruder. That clicking, clinking sound was the door out of the back of the house, opening up to the fields and the whispering woods. Letting someone in. Magda never bothered to lock that door, after all, who was going to come in? Hardly a soul dared to step into the whispering woods, they were scared of it. Personally, she couldn't see why; she only had one word association with the whispering woods and that was beautiful. She couldn't believe that the Shinigami (whatever that was) had got her this house iin such an idyllic setting. It was really too kind. Anyway, noone ever came round that way. Her friends came from the front of the house, not going through the woods, just coming in off the little road. So who was this wandering soul? Instead of her senses going down a notch, they sped up as Magda shrugged off her covers and threw on a light black cardigan over her scantily-clad body. She wore a pair of pyjama shorts and a lacy vest top. She was all kitted out for sleep though it seemed she wouldn't be getting any. Making her way down, her feet unavoidably caused each wooden stair to give a slight creak as she tiptoed on them. They were old stairs, just like the rest of the house. It was of parisian descent, like the rest of that part of town and very other-worldy, unlike the rest of Empress. It had a pale decor and was furnished the same, giving it a vintage feel, because that's essentially what it was. Vintage.

Who could she see? Noone. Well it was dark. But her eyes were used to it, having been staring at her ceiling in said dark for the last fifteen or so minutes. She crept forwards, past the door to the little kitchen, spotting what she had been looking for. Someone was lying on her sofa. Someone was lying on her sofa... Why would someone be lying on her sofa? In the middle of the night? Her humble abode wasn't known for being a boarding house. Maybe it was someone she knew, thought Magda as she neared whoever it was, maybe it was someone a little drunk and confused. But even drunk people stayed away from the whispering woods. Noone came in from her back door. She peered over the back of the sofa (as it faced out towards the fields) in order to identify the culprit, then moved back, one hand still on the occupied couch, the other falling to her side. It was that man. That guy she'd met, what was it now, a good year and a half ago, down a road she didn't remember. She didn't remember his name either, but she was good at faces. She would remember a face and she remembered his. They'd told her he was a bad lot, someone with so much anger it was overbearing. When she'd met him he had been obnoxiously drunk, intoxicated to such a degree he seemed almost comatose. But he'd still had that spark of anger in his eyes when he'd looked at her. She didn't remember their conversation, just his face. She hadn't seen his eyes now, they were closed. Yes, he looked like he was sleeping. On her couch. The strange situation could be easily dealt with.

She'd just pick up her book from that armchair over there and go back up to her room. He was welcome to sleep on her couch, after all, it wasn't in use right now, was it? He'd probably be gone by morning, maybe he was just looking for a good night's sleep. If that was the case Magda could've even given him her own bed, it was comfier than the couch but she didn't want to wake him up. It was also less awkward just to let him stay on the couch, I mean, you wouldn't really say hey, you can sleep in my bed if you want, to someone who'd broken into your home and was practically a stranger. Magda quietly made her way around the sofa, she kept her eyes ahead of her, not straying towards the sofa to check up on her mysterious visitor. She'd just get her book and go. It was funny, almost like she was the one breaking into his house. He looked like he needed the sleep, there were dark circles around his eyes. She could be a boarding house for a night, he wouldn't even see her, he would be gone by the time she woke up.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 1064
notes: yey!
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

As Alexei opened the sliding door it made a few noises and he glared angrily at the door, even though his glares wouldn’t actually do much. He rolled his eyes as he stepped into the little living room; this person got exactly what he wanted actually. She or he had a really good house at the end of the cottage, at least this way no one would annoy them so much and they could get on with what they wanted. Now if only he could get a house somewhere here, then this life would be perfect. He would be alone, on his own, having fun by himself. Yes that sounded a bit sad, but to Alexei, it was his idea of heaven. No one would bother coming into the woods or his house and if they did, well then h would obviously be angry. Word would spread around that this was his house and no one would bother coming there anymore, so it would have all been perfect. But damn the stupid Shinigami, he wanted Alexei to suffer a lot, instead of living peacefully. Alexei rolled his eyes as he made himself comfortable on the couch, sure it wasn’t the best place to sleep but it was better than where he had been sleeping for the past three days. Alexei cursed as he felt something prick into his shoulder, he got up off the sofa and looked down, and it was one of those sowing pins. Damn this person loved to sow! He assumed it was a girl straight away, after all who wouldn’t assume it was a girl sowing first? Not many boys sowed really, so it was definitely a girls’ house he was in. He took the pin that was stuck tightly into his shoulder and threw it against the wall, where it stuck to it perfectly. He rolled his eyes, knowing that that would happen and lay back comfortably onto the sofa.

He heard the creaks of the old stairs as someone came down the stairs, but he didn’t bother opening his eye. The person knew there was someone in the house, and if they so happened to be alive then they wouldn’t see him. But if they were dead then they would see him. He really didn’t care why should he anyway? If they knew who he was they would leave him alone, and if they didn’t, he would make them leave him alone. He didn’t really care what this person thought about him, if they wanted to stab him then so be it, he would just go to sleep comfortably. He needed sleep; the dark circles under his eyes told him that. They were making him look older than he usually was, so he needed to catch up on his sleep, and maybe find some decent food around. The protein bars weren’t doing him much, he was a guy after all, he was supposed to hungry most of the time. The stairs were still creaking as the person made their way down to him in the living room. For a few seconds he just lay down, his eyes closed as he heard him or her making their way towards the living room. He took a deep breath in, wondering if she or he would say anything to him. He rolled a little over so he could see whether she, it was a girl because of the sowing to him; he opened his eyes a little and saw her looking down at him. She hadn’t seen his eyes open, since it was dark, but he could see her properly. She was…familiar. He had no idea where he met her or where he saw her, but there was something familiar about her, something very familiar. Did he have a one night stand with her or something? Was she one of his exes or something? He closed his eyes, wondering who the hell she was, she seemed so very familiar, but his memory was failing him.

Alexei sighed a little, not bothering if the girl heard. There was just something very familiar about that girl and it was weird. What was it? When did he meet her? What happened between the both of them? And why the hell was he thinking about all this so much? It wasn’t as if he cared? Actually he didn’t, but he just wanted to know who this girl was, he didn’t want the nagging voice in the back of his head to begin again. He heard the girl move about a little, as if she was on some kind of edge, but then again he wasn’t really good at hearing people or thinking what they were doing. But he could still feel her gaze on him, after a few seconds of feeling her gaze Alexei groaned. She was actually annoying him right now, why did she have to be alright about this? Why didn't she just shout at him to get out of her house or throw hot soup over him? (Trust me this happened many a times before to Alexei.) Alexei was going to speak, but French was going to come out first. He didn’t know many people who spoke French here, so he had to stop himself before he changed his tongue to English. “Do you want me gone or something?” Maybe she did, but Alexei didn't now if he was going to leave yet or not, it was comfortable in this chair and even if she did want him gone, Alexei didn't think he'd be able to move if he was going to oblige her. He cocked his head to where he could hear she was, but didn’t bother to open his eyes; he was just waiting for her response.

TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 961
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// I THINK GASPARD ULLIEL LOOKS HOT IN THAT PIC UP THERE ^^
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

Male. The intruder swore and Magda identified their sex. He swore in French, not a language that was often heard around this city. She barely knew any herself, the only french she knew was from her high school days and that certainly wasn't much. Besides she hadn't used it for a while so it wasn't like she was particularily fluent. It was a pretty tongue though, she'd visited Paris a couple of years prior to her death and was enchanted by it. And Paris, they said, was the capital of fashion, one of her loves. Personally Magda thought it was only a strict dstrict of Paris that was at all fashion concious (Milan was much more fashionable as a whole) but the corner that was dedicated to designers and all things beautiful was really like something out of a glossy magazine. Ah, earthly wonders. Still the same in, wherever this place was... She wondered vaguely what had made him swear. The creaking from the doors? Nah. He probably thought this was a living person's house and that he would be safe from anyone actually seeing him. Hence the volume of his cursing. He obviously didn't think he was in danger of being heard. Or maybe he just didn't give a toss.

Magdalena heard a short sigh come from the sofa and extracted the hand that remained over the back of it, placing it on her hip. Was he awake, was he asleep, was he in that middling state of unconsciousness that was hard to describe? Who knew. Magda wasn't going to take another peek to check because it was vaguely irrelevant. It didn't change the fact that there was some randomer asleep on her couch, and neither did it change her movements. What difference did it make what state of slumber he was in? She would still glide past him quietly, undisturbingly. Magda was a peacemaker and a pacifist. She didn't get into fights nor did she side with a team or bet against any. So he was on her couch, in her home, lying on her personal property. It was hardly hers, what was anyone's anyway? It could be taken away in an instant. Besides, since he was on it it was even being used at a time when it would not normally be used (unless a drunken friend was very drunk and passed out on it). Poor kid. He was welcome to it although it wasn't the comfiest place to sleep on (as said drunk friends had complained) and he'd probably be better off finding a room in the hostel that Miss Rosa had for the ghosts of this town and any passers by. Yes, Magda knew Miss Rosa. Miss Rosa and her parents had been good friends before the kind lady had died and Madga had eventually met her again in the afterlife. She sometimes passed by the hostel (she didn't really like going there, it was too noisy and some of the new ghosts were hot to handle) and if there was a newly deceased soul that was a little lost and needed a little comforting Magda would lend her bony shoulder and her hand to squeeze so that Miss Rosa could deal with the running of the place. She couldn't offer much. Magda hardly had any words of comfort or solice to offer them. It was stupid; she was so barely there herself that it was a wonder any of them ever felt better when she'd been there. But sometimes the world worked in strange ways and a simple gesture like holding a shaking hand or providing a thin body to lean on was all it took to lift some people's spirits.

The blonde turned around slowly as she heard the man's voice from his perch on her couch behind her. She'd picked up her book and was holding it against her leg as she looked at her mysterious stranger, his face turned towards her with his eyes unopened. He looked a little otherworldly, like he could see through those eyelids and was staring right into her own pupils. She tilted her head a little, trying to make out whether his eyes were actually open, without getting any closer. Yeah, she'd heard. The almost-sleeping angel on her couch was a bastardly handful. They said he beat uo anyone who got in his way, anyone who he didn't like. He'd killed people, he raped girls (she didn't think this seemed likely, judging by his features no girl would've protested to sex) and he was an all-round bad-ass mother fucker. Maybe they'd never seen him drifting off to sleep. He didn't look quite as harmful to her. She sort of just stayed standing on his left and slip the book into her right hand. "Oh no, be my guest. It's not too comfy though," she warned him, speaking quietly as though she didn't want to wake him up, though he clearly was still coherent. His accent was american, like hers and like hers, it had an underlying current of a different country. He had a french lilt like she had a slovenic one and it tied in nicely what with her hearing the french swearing before. She didn't say anything about meeting before, what was the point? She had told him he was welcome to stay the night and she had her book and that was that. She didn't want any trouble and she wasn't sure if she wouldn't get some if she started asking questions. Besides she wasn't like that, she could do without knowing everything. Ignorance was sometimes bliss. She lifted her head again and walked past him, her footsteps taking her to the stairs.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 950
notes: creeper on her couch (;
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

Alexei didn’t bother to keep his voice down; if the person was alive then they wouldn’t have heard him. His voice would probably just sound like the wind whispering and that’s about it, so t wouldn’t matter. Now if the person was someone like him, dead that was, then they would probably recognise his voice and leave him alone. After all, he was literally, kind of, the only person who spoke French in the world of the ghosts. Some people never really got in tune with their roots, it was as if they were ashamed of their mother language; Alexei was someone who was not. He would speak French as much as he wanted, people could just look at him as if he was some weird crazy person, but he didn’t care. After all, no would actually look at him like that, unless they wanted a punch in the face. Alexei loved his mother language, French. It was really beautiful, well to him it was. He didn’t care if anyone didn’t think that French was a beautiful language, he did and that was all that mattered; after all he did come from a French background. He didn’t care if the person heard him swore, it was just swearing and after all it was French, so he wouldn’t be offending he person that much with what he said, not that he even cared.

Yes he was a complete stranger, sleeping in another strangers’ house, he didn’t care. They could beat him up if they wanted to, he didn’t really care because Alexei had belief in his strength and it never hurt him in any way. He was happy with his strength, he wasn’t all that built, but he was built nonetheless and that made him seem scary. Scary to people that were weaker than him, and he liked that. He liked to install fear onto others, it made him want to laugh out loud and he was good at torturing them, and that was all good for him. He could hear the girl pass around him, as if she were scared of waking him up. He didn’t mind if she made a lot o f noise, when he slept in the woods all the animals made enough noise to make it seem as if there were about a dozen children playing with their little toys. It was annoying but even still, Alexei had managed to fall asleep through that entire racket. So he didn’t mind if she was going to have to fall asleep to the racket that this girl made. He knew it was a girl because her steps were cautious, they were light as well. They were not as heavy as a guy, no matter how light a guy was, his footsteps would always be heavier than a girls; it was something that Alexei had noticed. Alexei didn’t want to spend his night with Miss Rosa. It wasn’t because he didn’t like Miss Rosa of course, she was his second mother he loved the old woman. It was just her talking that got to him too much. She would make him stay with her; while he just laid his head on her lap and she would speak. She would speak as if she had been quietened in her previous life. The old woman really had a gob on her, but he still loved her. She was exactly like his mother, with a sparkling personality and a big voice; she reminded him a lot of his past. Alexei’s past wasn’t something that he liked thinking of, especially when it came to his early teenage years. It was just a lot that made him fell angry, the past for Alexei was nothing good, the only thing that made him feel happy when he thought about his past was the fight club and his mother, and that was it.

Alexei wondered what this girl had heard about him, she was quiet for a few moments when he questioned her. She probably knew the rumours that everyone spoke about. The fact that he beat up anyone who annoyed him; well that one was particularly true, it wasn’t anything untrue. He didn’t like people who annoyed him, he got pissed off easily. If he didn’t like someone he wouldn’t beat them up, he would just act hostile with them, and if the did piss him off the he would hurt them. Many people tried not to piss him off, they knew how he was when he got angry, it was just stupid to try and piss Alexei off, unless you actually wanted to die all over again. He only killed one person, so in a way the rumour that he killed people was true. But he killed a person, not a whole bunch of people. Some people said that he tortured them until they literally begged for death; he didn’t really disapprove of the idea. He actually liked it, he wouldn’t mind torturing someone, but he wouldn’t do it unless that person actually deserved it. He wasn’t that harsh when he was with other people, not unless they pissed him off of course. He didn’t rape girls; he only did it with them when they wanted him to do it. After all, no girl actually ever said no when it came to sex with Alexei; he was the best of the best. “Not comfy, I know. I got pins stuck to my shoulder.” Alexei told her bitterly, was this girl literally in love with sowing or something that she wanted it to be in every object of hers? It seemed like it. He let his head rest on the arm of the shoulder and then he said something, with his eyes closed again. Not bothering to look at the girl again. “Do I know you from somewhere?” He spoke out loud when he heard the girl get closer to the stairs, not bothering to lower his voice anymore. It didn’t matter did it? She was awake now, and he had been wondering this for some time.


TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 1012
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// HE'S NOT A CREEP!...ERM YES HE IS. LOL
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

That was funny. He was complaining, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do, breaking into someone's house and making yourself comfortable on their couch. But she would humour him, after all what would it profit her to attempt to throw him out? Attempt because it was highly unlikely she could command him about like that. The stranger didn't look like he would take to carrying out orders very well and she wasn't going to try. Besides it didn't bother her that her sofa was going to be helpful to him (though so far it wasn't proving to be, what with all the pins and things) and she'd have let any of her friends sleep on it so why not a stranger. She was dead already, she wasn't exactly going to be deprived of life if he decided to be a mad axe murderer. It was too late for that. She thought she had better warn him that the pins he'd found may not be the only ones there. "Ah. I ought to let you know there are probably a few more around then." There were either a lot of pins and needles or none, depending on whether she remembered they were there or whether she'd tidied up with a keen eye for anything that glimmered in the sharp light of her torch. She herself had got used to the sly pricks of her instruments working against her throughout the years and now when she felt the prick of a needle or something the pain was nothing more than a dull sort of blunted poke.

She left him, lying there with his eyes still closed, walking to the stairs to end this slightly awkward encounter. But then his voice rang out again when she'd reached the first step and Magda was halted in her tracks. "You could say that. We met a while ago," she told him, her feet back on the ground as she walked back towards him, stopping with her hands holding her book against the back of the couch. "I can't really remember much, we hardly spoke for a minute," she said. She just had a thing for remembering faces. Though to tell the truth his wasn't a face she'd have easily forgotten anyway. His features were defined and he had a foreign look about him that wasn't present in the majority of the Empress population. She craned her neck a little to look at his face again. The circles around his eyes were very dark. She leaned back, away from the couch, and tapped her book against her leg lightly and subconsciously. The couch wasn't going to get him much sleep. He looked as if he needed more sleep than her, besides she wasn't even able to get to sleep anyway was she? It was only practical that she asked. "You can sleep in my bed if you'd like. That couch is better for sitting on," she informed him calmly. He might as well. Alright so she did feel sort of tired now, but she could easily sleep on the couch, she'd had practise and it wasn't as uncomfortable for her because sometimes she spent days siitng or lying on it so it had kind of molded to her shape. But he looked majorly unhappy with his tired face and so she felt it was only right to oblige him with a proper place to sleep, since he was here already. He would be undisturbed up there, only maybe woken up in the morning if her dog returned from hunting. Well, she'd have to warn him of that either way since on the couch or in the bed he'd probably be licked into waking.

Magda's dog Cezar, hmmm dog, yeah, not really. He sort of could've passed as some of mixed alsatian (which he probably was) but the majority of him was actually wolf. But he was harmless as a kitten, Magda had found him lame in the woods very close to her little house one day and taken him in. He'd learnt to trust her and although he didn't take to strangers that well, she'd trained him up so that he wouldn't attack like his instincts told him to. Cezar was Polish for Caesar, like the emperor. It had been the name that suited him most. You could see that he was less like a dog and more like a wolf because he would wander about of his own accord (more like a cat than a dog) and she never put him on a leash. When they walked they did so side by side like equals instead of dog and mistress. Staying in position behind the couch, Magdalena murmured again, "One more thing, be prepared to be woken up with a lick." OK, that sounded a little like she was saying that she would be licking him awake so she rectified herself. "My dog," she said in explanation.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 825
notes: i didn't know i was going to give her a wolf (:
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

Alexei didn’t really call this breaking and entering; he was just simply finding himself a place to stay. It wasn’t as if he was stealing anything, was he? He just entered the house and fell asleep on the couch, that was it, and it didn’t seem as if this girl minded either. She was completely alright with him staying on the couch; she obviously knew he was going to leave by morning. He didn’t know why she was alright with having him sleep on her couch, what if he raped her in the middle of the night or something? It didn’t seem as if she was afraid, she was alright with him staying so she obviously had a lot of faith in him not to do something like that. Well, not that many people had faith in Alexei, did they? So why did this girl? It was confusing, a lot of people in this life were confusing and Alexei wasn’t bothered to find out more about them. It required work, it required Alexei to get to know those people, but he didn’t want to get to know anyone. He hated making friends with people, it was just annoying and they always depended on you. It annoyed the shit out of him when people depended on others, couldn’t they just get by independently? “I can tell. There’s already one in my back.” Alexei moved off the couch slightly and pulled the pin out of his back with a grunt. It didn’t hurt much; in fact it felt good, kind of like those acupuncture things.

As she walked away, Alexei couldn’t help but to blurt his question out. How stupid of him to do so! He was tired but yet here he was making small talk with this girl. He didn’t hear the creaking of the stairs as the girl had stopped in her tracks when he questioned her. Alexei nodded slightly as she told him that they met a while ago, so he was right when he felt as if he had seen her before. A shadow fell over him as she moved near the couch and Alexei moved his face towards her, but he didn’t open his eyes yet. “We were probably drunk then, weren’t we?” Alexei piped up; if they both couldn’t remember much about each other then it was probably true that the both of them were drunk. Alexei didn’t drink much, but when he did he went for it all the way, getting himself hammered and drunk and finding himself in weird situations. Never dangerous though because people knew that they shouldn’t mess with him, so weird situation it was. He turned to his side a little trying to find a better position on the couch, true it wasn’t going to be all that comfortable, but this would be the best nights’ sleep he would have in a long time, so it was at least much better than nothing right? He scoffed at the girl as she offered her bed for him. Yeah, she was being nice alright but he wasn’t going to just get up and move to the bed was he? This was her home and no matter what people thought of Alexei, he wasn’t that cruel at all. “No, it’s your house, so you should sleep on the bed. I’ll have a good time on the couch.” Alexei patted the couch a little and lay flat out on it. His legs were dangling over the arm rests, but it felt alright. If the girl did really want him to sleep on the bed then he would take her with him. Not to do anything of course, what kind of guest would that makes him? And anyway, when he had opened his eyes a little to look at her, she seemed tired so she probably needed her bed more than him.

He looked at the girl questioningly as she spoke on about him being woken up with a lick. Was this girl going to lick him awake or something? Then she explained further on about her dog. Alexei nodded, he was good with dogs, and dogs were nice. He wasn’t that bad with animals although he never really had a pet himself, but he knew he was good with dogs. “That’s fine.” He nodded at her once more, before turning a little on the couch, but then he found himself on the floor; it seemed as if he had fallen from the couch. Alexei cursed in French, but then he found something unnatural. The floor was actually much better than the couch. Alexei reached towards the couch and grabbed a soft pillow from it, then put his head on top of that pillow. Now that was much better.


TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 793
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// LOL, A DOG IS FINE. I THINK ALEX WILL BE QUITE GOOD WITH MAG'S DOG/WOLF (:
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

Magda stifled a smile as Alexei complained of another needle, this time in his back. Well, she had warned him. But she was sure a little poke like a needle wouldn't detract him from wanting to sleep on her couch. If she could deal with sitting on them quite often it was hardly a problem for him. He looked not burly, but muscular enough in the moonlight, that he wasn't one of those weedy, hypochondriac guys who would need a plaster for such wounds. It being dark and all wasn't helping him to avoid the light pricking of the needles which were probably littering her couch though. She didn't feel particularily guilty, after all, he was the one who'd seated, or rather lay, himself on the couch of his own accord. She tapped her fingers lightly on the top of the couch as he asked whether they'd been drunk. "I suppose," Magda answered, later adding, "You certainly weren't walking in a straight line." He had been off his face. She couldn't remember what she'd been like, yes, probably a bit tipsy. Magda didn't get drunk easily and she tried not to anyway. Getting drunk was a sin, wasn't it? She was trying to be good. But it was true that she didn't get drunk easily. When most people were at the comatose stage, she was only just getting a little light in the head.

Magda heard the scoff from him and her lips twitched a little. "Alright," she replied calmly. The better for her and the worse for him but he was right, after all it was her house. But it hadn't hurt to offer, had it? She watched him get comfortable. Hmmm, it looked like he was comfy enough. Then finally his eyes opened and she realised that the anger that had been there the time she'd met him before wasn't in these eyes. They were just tired. Probably reflected hers at the moment. She yawned, her hand politely over her mouth and blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up a bit. She noted his confusion with slight amusement. What had he been thinking? Oh boys. One could never tell what was going on in their heads. Ah, so he was happy with animals. OK, happy was not exactly the right word to use, maybe 'alright' would've been better. She hoped he wouldn't suddenly change his mind in the morning and try and strangle the poor brute. Cezar knew how to bite back, no problems there, the only problem would be where to hide the boy's dead body. Magda nodded back at him sleepily. "He's friendly enough," she added nonchalantly and slipped past the couch, back towards the stairs. Then she was halted in her tracks again as she heard a thump behind her. Boy off the couch.

The same profane swear words that had issued from his mouth before were released again. Magda gave no sign that she'd heard, just continued walked until she reached the stairs. Then something clicked in her brain and she climbed the stairs, giving out one last sentence. "Goodnight, Alexei." Then her footsteps faded out as she reached the upper floor. Back in her room, the door closed but not locked behind her, Magda collapsed onto her bed, placing her book lightly on the bedside table and switching the small lamp off. She curled up under the covers and closed her eyes. There was a first time for everything. Always treat others like you would like to be treated yourself. Done. She shifted about a bit, trying to find a more comfortable position, then she gave up and turned the light back on, her book back in her hands. Soon enough she was deeply enthralled in the land of murder and mystery, nineteen-thirties- style. One of her favourite Agatha Christie masterpieces was all she needed and sure enough twenty minutes later her eyes were closed again and her mind at rest as she lay in her bed, ironically asleep like a dead woman.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 672
notes: bleurgh bleurgh bleurgh
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

Why was he complaining to this girl for? He never complained, especially not to a girl, and especially not to a girl that he had something with. He didn’t know what he ahd with her, but they knew each other right? And he never told anyone anything about himself if they knew each other; if he was a stranger it would’ve been better because Alexei would have been at more ease. Alexei didn’t feel at ease when he was with someone who knew him, even if it was one drunken night thing, he still wouldn’t have felt comfortable. Strangers were easier, because they heard the rumours, it was easy to pull their tails and make fun of them, because they didn’t know Alexei properly, and if they did it was only the rumours that they had heard about, so that would definitely make them act differently, just like everyone always did with him. Even some of the people who had managed to speak to him once or twice were scared of him and acted differently in front of him; it was amusing to watch their fear. He nodded as the girl spoke slowly after a while, it didn’t seem as if she wanted to talk to him. Well fuck her then, she should just go right now if she was all too bloody tired to speak to him. Ok, why was he angry? He wanted sleep but it was he who was preventing her form going to sleep, so why was he angry? Lack of sleep was making Alexei turn weird and loopy. “Ok then.” Alexei nodded again and the moved his hand forward to move the hair out of his face, it did sound like him. Whenever Alexei drunk alcohol he always managed to get drunk quite easily, that was why he didn’t drink too often; hangovers were just plain nasty and he hated it.

He could be a gentleman when he wanted to, and right now Alexei was being a gentleman. He knew that if his mother was there right now and Alexei had taken the offer of going to sleep in the girls’ bed, his mother would have probably gotten a walking stick out that used to be his grandmothers, and would have beaten him with it. He smirked to himself as he remembered how his mother always used to threaten to beat him with that, but she never really did, scared that Alexei would runaway because of the crazy teen that he was. He didn’t bother to reply to her and then closed his eyes. He heard her yawning and then looked over at her as she put her hand over her mouth and blinked a few times. He blinked too; it was as if sleeping dust had been thrown into his eyes and he was suddenly feeling very tired. He spoke slowly; making sure the girl could hear him, “Get to bed.” Alexei yawned a bit himself, put his mouth to his hand and then turned around in the couch before he fell off. God damnit, it seemed as if he was a bit too burly for this couch. He didn’t even hear the girl talking about her dog, or whatever it was.

He heard her call out goodnight to him as his eyes closed slowly, but he didn’t bother to reply at that very moment. He was just too tired. Then he felt something in his back. It was yet another bloody pin. Maybe he should have taken her offer of sleeping in her bed, hey he was dead so his mum couldn’t do anything could she? He waited for a few minutes in one position and then he got up off of the floor, he was feeling slightly cold then. He moved up the stairs slowly, and looked at the hallway in front of him. He tried the first door, hoping that it was her room and he got lucky. She was sleeping already, a book to the side. He stood at the doorway for a few seconds, wondering if he should even bother. He moved into the room slowly and then shut the door behind him. Slowly he picked Magdalena up, careful not to wake her and then fell onto the bed himself, with her on top of him. It was much better like this, than him pushing her off of the bed, wasn’t it? He reached for the covers, wrapping it around himself and Magdalena and then closed his eyes, finally falling into his much needed sleep.

TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 756
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// BLEURGH BLEURGH BLEURGH
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

He seemed a little uneasy. That was strange. If he had the guts to waltz into a stranger's house and take up residence on their couch and then to feel uneasy... it was hardly the guilt settling in. Maybe it was because it wasn't a complete stranger's house he'd decided to thrust him presence upon. But no, come on, in Magda;s eyes he was still a stranger to her: what were a few phrases thrown at each other in the early hours of the morning? He was a stranger to her, plain and simple, whatever she might be to him. It didn't sound like he had a clue about hat had happened when they'd met either so she must've still been a stranger. It was pleasant though, to have him a little out of sorts seeing as it was her house and all. Pleasant that breaking and entering was seemingly to have some sort of effect on him. She wondered whether he was homeless - the Shinigami didn't give every ghost a place of their own, in fact Mags didn't have a clue why she'd got one herself. She didn't really think into it that much, what mattered was that she had a home and she wanted to keep it that way. So it was only fair that she shared, like she was doing now. Trying to, anyhow.

His reply held anger for some reason, though she couldn't think why. Then she remembered that his usual character was a little different from what it was this evening. The boy she'd heard of was angry as hell twenty-four-seven. Maybe that was it, just his natural personality shining through, she thought. Fair enough, it wasn't like he'd started punching her or anything. Then she'd have the problem of turning the other cheek, or just running away like a frightened mare. It was in her nature to leave things, to run away rather than face anything she wasn't sure of. It wasn't fear exactly that drove her, just a strong urge to keep out of things, to not be needed to take a side or to make a decision. Magda held back the scoff that was practically bursting out of her. So now he was giving her orders? She'd 'get to bed' when she liked, thank you very much. Being told what to do was never on with Magda. She was going to bed because she wanted to not because the tramp who'd turned up at her door, wishing to be treated like a prince, demanded it. His arrogance was getting a little annoying. Did he think that because of his stupid reputation and 'dangerous' character he could do whatever he well pleased? Magda shook her head slightly and continued up the stairs, ignoring the urge to smack him round the head. It was only because she was tired and half-asleep that she was finding him so annoying. She usually dealt with other people's annoyances very well. She just ignored the things that made her want to give them a good slap. And so she would do now, just ignore his demeanour and go to sleep. With any luck he'd be gone in the morning. Maybe Cezar's lust for human flesh would be reawakened and the boy would be eaten. Magda chuckled under her breath. Yes, she remembered his name finally, not that she'd known she'd actually had it in the depths of her brain. Alexei. French like the cursing.

"Ahh," Magdalena murmured, feeling a wet tongue slide over her face repeatedly. "OK, OK, dziendobry kochany."* She threw a hand over her hound's furry face and scratched him lazily. Time to get up. She'd had some weird dreams last night. Weird in itself was the fact that Mags hardly ever had dreams and none that she ever remembered after she woke up. Her pale hand groped over the bed, trying to find the cardigan she remembered flinging next to her the night before and instead found something rather warm and soft. She turned around, complete confusion on her face only to find Alexei's face, and the rest of him of course. She jumped up like a bullet, grabbing her cardigan from under him. What the hell?! When, what, where- What?! She ran a hand through her tousled hair and held her wolf by the hair on his neck tightly, as if to protect herself. But what from? He looked distinctly angelic lying there, harmless as a kitten. He was in her bed. Since when? And why? She rolled her eyes to noone in particular. Because she had offered it to him, right. But, damn it, had he not thought to wake her up and get her out of there - clearly, it was a single bed. She would've taken the couch, no problem! Ugh, she sighed and shrugged on her cardigan, ruffled the wolf's coat and went down to the kitchen with him following her like a trained bloodhound. She automatically turned on the kettle and took out the coffee. Really, was the boy clueless? Her hands took down two mugs from the cupboard, two black coffees were made in an instant, Magda still unnerved from finding herself atop a man first thing in the morning.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 873
notes: bleurgh bleurgh bleurgh
* OK, OK, good morning lovely
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

It felt good to be on the floor, really it did, and it wasn’t as if there were going to be many pins on the floor, were there? Oh how he was wrong, when he got up to take the pin out of his back he looked down to see dozens of pins thrown randomly. Didn’t these get stuck into her feet or something? Did she like walking around with bloody toes? Then Alexei shook his head, why did she have so many pins anyway, it was as if she loved sowing. Alexei rolled his eyes at being s stupid, well that was what three uncomfortable nights of sleep did to him; it rendered him stupid. The girl must love to sow, what did she make anyway? Alexei looked around the room properly this time, not really having had the chance to inspect it before since he was so tired. He opened his eyes huge, hoping to rub some sleep off of them; it didn’t work though. He yawned again, and saw what must have been all the sowing equipment on side of the room. There were some sort of dresses there too, all frilly and girly. It seemed that the girl loved to make clothes since there were about a dozen of them, one on top of another on the table. He rolled his eyes; this girl had a lot of spare time on her hands.

The Shinigami wasn’t a nice…thing. He didn’t give every ghost that was here a home, he only gave it to the people who he thought deserved it, who he thought were cute and just others. He never gave it to Alexei though; oh how much Alexei hated that thing. It was oh so very annoying to try and find a place to sleep. Although Alexei shouldn’t have had to complain since he did have the hostel to go to, but the Shinigami built the hostel for others, he knew Alexei wouldn’t like being in a place filled with people and knew that Alexei would have to go there if he wanted a good nights’ sleep, so he did all of that to piss Alexei off. It was frustrating, Alexei just wanted to punch him. Sometimes, when Alexei really needed a good night’s sleep, like absolutely needed one, he would enter a living person’s body. He would enter their body and then he would go sleep when they slept. Hey, he knew it wasn’t allowed, but why did he actually care? He didn’t really. Those were amazingly, terrific nights, but Alexei didn’t do it much, because he got tired out easily. He knew the girl didn’t really like it that he ordered her to get to bed, not that many girls did really, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t even really saying it as an order, he said it because she was tired, but she could take it in which ever way she wanted; it wasn’t as if he cared really. He heard her move up the stairs and off into her room. When he had gone to her room he felt awkward but carried on with his mission and before he fell asleep he had remembered something about her; her name started with an ‘M.’

Alexei kept his eyes clothes in the morning, he felt refreshed but still so very tired. He opened his eyes slightly, thank god the curtains were shut, and Alexei didn’t know if he could handle the sun so bright and early in the morning. He didn’t even know what time it was, he turned his head around, careful not to wake the girl on top of him up and could see a little clock on the side. It was about seven in the morning. Alexei groaned and then closed his eyes a few more good hours of sleep would do. But he couldn’t fall asleep; it felt weird to have this girl on top of him this morning then when he had put her there last night. He moved a little under her, a bit suffocated by the hair that was covering most of her face. He moved his hand and moved the hair away quickly and then sighed. It was tiring. He could hear her stirring, waking up and he kept his eyes closed. Then a few seconds later, just like he had predicted, she shot back from his body. He wanted to laugh out loud at her reaction or smirk, or give any type of reaction at all, but he didn’t. It was funny, was this girl like a virgin or something? It would explain it if she was. The cardigan underneath him was pulled out and Alexei slightly grumbled a little, it seemed as if he was still asleep even though he wasn’t. She was probably angry at him, if he had wanted the bed he could have told her instead of pulling this. As he heard her go down the stairs, Alexei smiled and then turned onto his side. He wasn’t bothered to get up right then.


TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 843
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// CRAP CRAP CRAP POST!
CREDITS// ME

[magdalena]

you like snow but only if it's warm
YOU LIKE RAIN BUT ONLY IF IT'S DRY

Magdalena stared at the mugs of coffee she'd just made. She had made him coffee even though she didn't exactly know when he was going to wake up. Meh, it didn't matter. If he wasn't down by the time she'd finished one cup then she'd drain his too. Waste not, want not, wasn't that the saying? She'd make him another when he came down. If he came down. What did she know, he might just hit the door after legging it down the stairs. At least she wouldn't have to bother making another cup of coffee. Cezar was staring up at her, who was in turn still staring at the coffees suspiciously. Magda turned her head to face her hound and shrugged. "Co sie na mnie tak patrzysz?"* She chided him, her hand reaching out to scratch him under his large chin. Then she picked up her coffee, took a swig and walked over to her table of wonders, setting it down once she'd cleared off various swabs of material and whatnot. Time to de-needle the floor, the sofa and whatever else needed it. Another swig of coffee and she was at work on all fours, her eagle eyes discovering needles a plentiful.

Once she was done she whisked all her gatherings into the safety of a tin which held said needles and pins and other various little pointy things that were apt at wandering off and being found in unsuitable places. She then picked up one of the dresses that she'd pushed further down the table to make room for her coffee and gave it a once over. Still so much to be done, she thought as she hung it over one arm of the couch and settled herself down next to it, coffee in one hand, measurements and markings on a few sheets of paper in the other, long legs crossed leisurely. The coffee she placed down by her feet as Cezar leapt up onto her lap, his giant form taking up half the sofa at least. Magda nuzzled her chin into his warm head and continued to scan the pages so that she could see what she was going to do next. With the dress that was, not with her guest upstairs; she had a feeling that she would not be needed for him to process what to do next. Yes, she did feel strange having him around. It wasn't like when she had a friend round, because they were usually awake and there was a feeling of familiarity even when they were asleep. Alexei was a mystery to her. There wasn't really any knowing what he might do. Well, there was only one thing for her to do and that was get on with life, or death, whatever it was, and not let his dark presence above her bother her. Not that it was, it was just... weird. He was weird. Not at all like she would've imagined from all the stories. Sure there was some truth in them, he looked like he had a temper when he wanted to, but really all that stuff about being incredibly aggressive and really nasty? She couldn't help but feel he was a little misjudged.

That didn't mean she was going to hug him and tell him how he was a golden boy and how he must excuse everyone making such bad judgements of him. No. Besides, he still had time to prove them right. Why did she care? He was just another ghost, and not one that she was interested in making friends with in particular. Magda felt best in her own company. Other people tended to get her into situations she never wanted to be in. That didn't mean she didn't have friends and good ones at that, but she was independent and she liked it that way. Just Magdalena and Cezar, that was all they were. Just a girl and her dog. She heaved the wolf off of her and drank the rest of her coffee, putting it back on the floor when she was done. Her hand reached out to turn on the little radio by her table and then she settled herself down on the floor, laying the dress out in front of her and deciding what was to be done first. Maybe the little pearly beads that were going to cover the front neckline? Or the lacy hem? No, the beads, most definetly. Happy with this conclusion Mags snatched some things from the table and got to work on the stitching of the beads, giving Cezar a hard look when he attempted to cross paths with the dress to reach her. "Nie,"** she ordered smoothly, waving him back a little. The harsh sounds of Metallica blared quietly out of the radio as Magda threaded, intent on the dress and nothing else.

tagged: alexei
lyrics: alanis morissette - wake up
words: 808
notes: please feel free to chuck alex in like when she's sitting on the couch, my lavly (:
* Why are you looking at me like that?
** No
credit: stefi

[ALEXEI HAYDEN GERRARD]

There's a story at the bottom

of this bottle and I'm the pen - - -

Alexei heard Magdalena go down the stairs, they were creaking along they way. He groaned slightly, just needing a few more minutes of sleep. Just a few more minutes and he’d be better, just better. He heard her moving around in the kitchen, two clanks and then some boiling happening. She was probably making something. It smelled like coffee, Alexei groaned at the smell of coffee, oh how he would like some right now, but he didn’t want to move out of the comfortable place he was at. He didn’t want to move at all, it just felt all too good; this was the best sleep he had ever had, even if he had Magdalena sleeping on him for most of the hours. His back hurt though, this time not because of the pins, but because o her cardigan buttons, from the cardigan that had been underneath him all through the night. But it was better than the pins being stuck there, and after all it was actually the best nights’ sleep he ever had. He heard barking from the downstairs, that must have been the ‘licker’ that Magdalena had warned him about. Then Magdalena began to speak and her voice moved upwards, reaching Alexei, he had no idea what language she was speaking; it was different, much different than French.

He opened his eyes and took in the room that he was in, it was small; quite small but it probably fit Magdalena perfectly. Everything was small, delicate and flimsy just like the girl herself. There was a table near the bed, just straight away next to it, and a book was on top of the table. He looked at it, but didn’t bother to interpret the words that were printed on the front cover; he was always groggy in the morning. He removed the cover from himself and sat down on the bed, his legs hanging off from the side of it and moved his hands backwards, resting on the palms. Alexei groaned at the sunlight that tried to make its way through the curtains. He opened them fully and groaned again; it was a beautiful day and it was hurting his eyes. The dog downstairs was barking a little and Alexei groaned again, maybe he should just go back to sleep. Much better for him, but no he had to get out of here already. It was too much to stay in this girls’ house. His stomach rumbled loudly though, stopping him in his tracks. Ergh, he was hungry. He got off the bed and took his shirt off, he felt blisteringly hot in this heat. It seemed as if the heat in Empress was reaching an all time high. He groaned and slightly stretched himself and then opened the door of the bedroom. He moved down the steps and then their was something bounding towards him. It wasn’t a dog, well it was but it looked like a wolf too. Alexei grinned as the dog slash wolf thing came bounding towards him and bent down, scratching it behind the ears. “That’s a good boy.” Alexei ruffled the fur of the dogs’ skin and looked at the dog. He got up from his bent position and the dog started to lick his trousers, Alexei raised his eyebrows at the dog and moved back into the living room to see Magdalena working on something. All the pins were removed from the floor and everything was much neater than last night. He watched her working for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say, but then her dog began to bark, leaving Alexei just standing there.


TAGGED// MAGDALENA
WORD COUNT// 608
LYRICS// ALL TIME LOW – DEAR MARIA COUNT ME IN
NOTES// SUCKS, I KNOW.
CREDITS// ME