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 Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:48 pm
After things were settled, even if it was still just the night after, Melody felt uncomfortable sitting in her home alone. It hadn't been a weight off her shoulders for this to all be over, if anything she'd been stuck sitting up on the couch and warring with herself over things. Melody, there's no place for love in marriage.
Melody it's about the connections, not the man.
Melody don't get attached, you don't want to be like me with your father, do you?The words her mother had been firm with ever since the divorce had happened when she was young, over a decade of it, but now they felt like shards of glass digging in deeper as she tried to figure out how she wanted this to go. Gerard was convenient, was an Evans, and a professional at that. On paper, everything was perfect, outside looking in, everything was perfect, but to consider that the man wanted to marry her or would actually enjoy it? That had struck her. Then to be without them immediately after such a jarring confession, that had left her looking unbecoming if she was to take her mother's standards into account. It wasn't a look she'd wanted anyone to see; it was beneath her when it came to the social game she played. But after an entire day of it, she had grown tired of sitting alone with these thoughts and feelings. Doing makeup right now was beyond her, aside from a light gloss on her lips. Her clothing was rumpled as she got in her car to drive over there. The whole time, she kept thinking of her mother, of how things had fallen apart in the Sharp family after the divorce. Of those lies about Aloysius, even if they weren't completely unfounded. They were both bitter, she and her mother, but there was a difference, it seemed. The goal post she had set was far higher, had far more connections, and, unlike her mother, she had friends who were supportive of her. Liam was the key factor in all this, something she would never exactly admit, but it was good to have someone reliable as a friend and as an accountant. Melody wasted little time sitting in the car after she parked and hurried up to the door before knocking. Of course, it was late, and on an ordinary night they might be asleep for work, but the power was out in most places still, so very little would be happening in the courts or any sort of business that needed computers to function. It was hard to stand there, knowing she wasn't up to her usual standard of presentation when meeting them, but she couldn't wait. What he said could have been a bluff or a spur of the moment during a crisis. Reaching up to right her glasses and fix a loose strand of hair that was stubbornly hanging in her face, she shifted on her feet as she waited.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 7:27 pm
To say that it had been a chaotic night deeply understated the situation. Some foolish part of Gerard had not wished to be parted from Melody, when he found himself alive again--staring death in the face certainly changed how one approached one's priorities.
Perhaps it was silly, that Melody had moved so far up in his. And yet, if he was honest, the change had occurred long before the moment he'd told her he would have liked to be married to her. Words spoken in a moment of desperate loss, but meant no less for it.
He tried not to drink to excess. And yet he found himself sitting at his kitchen island, lit by a candle set on it because the power was still out, staring into a glass of wine and considering pouring a second, turning over the implications of the vastness he had glimpsed for only a moment.
Perhaps standing at the edge of the abyss made living in the moment feel much more...correct.
Gerard had not thought himself romantic, had not particularly cared for those types of things. He'd chased it when he was younger, and found that it constantly resulted in disappointment and hurt. But things with Melody were...different.
He had not looked to find this. And yet he had, when he had given up entirely on the possibility.
There was a knock at the door.
Somehow, it felt as if there was only one person who could be there, this late, on this particular night. So when he opened the door and found Melody, it was more relief than surprise.
"Melody. Come in," he said.
She was messy. Not nearly as put together as she usually looked. But he was too, hair let loose and dressed in a plain t-shirt and boxer shorts. And she was beautiful, still.
"I suppose we have much to discuss."
Again, a thorough understatement.
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Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2025 2:08 pm
The time it took for him to answer felt both like an eternity and an instant as she stood there, that small, creeping voice having her consider that she'd taken things wrong. It wasn't often that it happened, but she at least knew it could happen. The door opened to a sight that, in a way, relieved her. Someone who hadn't been affected by things might have been in a better state of dress, or might not have even answered the door after seeing how she looked through the peephole. There was the smallest hesitation as he spoke before she nodded and followed him inside after a quick hug. There was still a lot on her mind, enough that she wanted to be inside where it was less likely that people saw her like this. "I wasn't sure if you might still be up," she commented quietly before noticing the wine. It was a welcome sight, even if she barely drank. If anything, it might help this conversation. So she sat at the kitchen island and fiddled with her hair a little more to try to make it a bit more presentable. It wasn't so much for him as it was for her. "We do have things to discuss, but... may I have some wine?" It might not help, but it couldn't hurt. Looking him over, she was also glad that he was okay from what she could tell. Having his hair down was a newer occurrence, and if she wasn't stuck with the currently terrible reminders of her mother playing in the back of her mind, it might have gotten a comment. Part of her did want to stick closer, but right now she was still fighting with things as she looked between him and the wine bottle. Though after a moment, she focused just on him. "First, though, are you okay?" Magic might be magic, but she hadn't seen a pretty sight regarding things.
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2026 12:42 pm
That moment of a hug felt more steadying than Gerard might have previously expected. Such brief contact normally wouldn't have made him feel somehow both grounded and fluttery at once, and yet...
Well. Much had turned on its head in a very short period of time.
"I don't know if I'll sleep at all tonight," Gerard admitted. "I am exhausted, but after everything...I couldn't quite settle, so I thought I might try another way." He didn't usually drink to forget, or to sleep, but desperate times.
"Please, sit down," he gestured, and he went to grab her a glass, returning swiftly and setting it on the table. He poured her a glass and refilled his own, and then sat down, and for a moment, the weight of the experience truly showed in his posture and his eyes.
"I am...alive," he said, and he smiled, wryly and tiredly. "But so are you, which means we might get to have that wedding after all."
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2026 6:19 pm
"I'm not sure if I will either," she said quietly after hesitating for a moment because it was hard to admit things like that aloud. Even if there wasn't exactly a precedent for this with how she was raised, a world-ending monster and people vanishing out of thin air, some habits were hard to work around. Taking a seat, pulling her feet up to rest on one of the spindles so they didn't hover off the ground, she settled her hands around the wine glass. With it full, she took a moment to look at it again before looking up and seeing how they seemed different. Weighed down, tired, all things that she felt but was still having a hard time showing. Exhaling, she took a sip and let herself sag slightly back in the chair. It wasn't proper, far from it, but she was tired. Swirling the glass before her next sip, she watched that tired smile, and after everything, it did bring a small smile to her face as well. "I am and... oh, the wedding..." Rubbing at her eye slightly, she couldn't focus on the next step just yet. "We survived this but..."All the passing talks of a wedding, mostly done out of the initial plans and without all the complicated feelings she had now, had finally settled in. "You can't scare me like that again, you can't..." she trailed off as she pressed against her eyes to keep things at bay. "You just... can't leave me like that again." Pulling her hand away, she reached for his hand across the table.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2026 7:20 pm
"Perhaps we can stay up together." It was a simple offer, casually made, but for Gerard, it felt like something almost...fragile.
Melody could say no, of course. But he hoped she didn't. Now that she had come to him, he was loathe to let her go, after what they had just been through. After what he had, somewhat unintentionally, put her through.
It had been so easy to idly reference the wedding they were supposed to have. But it felt weightier, the way she repeated it.
"I don't intend to," he said, and when she reached for his hand, he took hers. "As long as it is in my power, I will not let anything take me from you. I promise."
This was not supposed to be that kind of arrangement. And yet, the heart often disagreed with the head about what was "supposed" to happen.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:36 am
A simple enough offer, and she found herself relieved by it. The fact that there wasn't anything else being drawn to attention, no pointing out how silly it might have been that she was in a state like she was. No, Gerard was better than that, and she needed that right now. Squeezing his hand, feeling that he was still here, still the man she was going to marry, even if the reasons had subtly changed without her notice until the thought of him being gone had hit in a way she'd never felt about anyone else before. "Good," she paused, taking a sip of her wine before continuing. He hadn't heard her say what she had as he vanished; she knew that Alexandre and potentially Lorcan had been the only ones to hear things. Even now, she danced around the idea of saying it, maybe soon, but for now, just knowing he was going to make an effort to not disappear was enough to make her aware that it might not need to be said; it was understood already. "Thank you... for coming back." Even if she wasn't sure if he had any active part in it, she wanted to think that maybe she'd been a good enough reason for him to pull himself back from wherever he'd gone. Magic had brought so much harm over the years, actively as well as passively, and she wanted to believe that maybe it worked as it did in the fairytales, just this once.
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2026 11:27 pm
It really was unfair, how thoroughly Melody had enchanted him. How she'd woven her way into his heart with barely any effort, just...a directness that he valued and a determination he found admirable.
What a thing to feel.
Her hand in his felt like an anchor and a promise, keeping him tethered when he had so recently been sent adrift.
"There was no other option," he said, simply. As long as he had anything to say about it, at least. There might come a day when it was out of his hands, but he was determined to prevent that from ever being the case.
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