1. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    He'd talk as they walked, allowing her to take his arm as she pleased. It took a bit of care to match their steps, being taller and all. "There's also some signs of a hid population of egg-laying creatures I've been keen to explore," he confessed, "But I would need a good few people to pull that...
  2. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    His eyelashes lowered, gaze turning from her and to the floor. Perhaps, with regret for asking. But perhaps, now that he'd dared her to think of it, she would think, and grow. Or - avoid the notion like the plague. If you want out of your shell, you will need to break it, dear friend. And while...
  3. Walter Thornley

    Private Tides of Woe

    Rain pelted his cloak and cowl, dripped in silver strands off the trimmed edge and streamed down the slick-furred legs of the grey drake he was sat on for the past hour. A reptilian, horse-like thing with paws for hooves and a narrow, triangle head - hissed and crooned, shifted weight...
  4. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    "Time..." Didn't stop his father from making certain that his and Laetitia's wedding was all but set from fourteen, Walter thought. Didn't allow for tomfoolery. Travelling the world was fine, a foreign wife? Goodness no, who wanted to get embroiled in the affairs of a foreign state? Thoughts of...
  5. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    Walter inclined his head with a half-chuckle and a little understanding 'uh-uh'. Indeed, one couldn't capture what has already been taken. And if so... "He is a good father - your reticence meets his caution. Another would try to rush his daughter out the door, so she may be secure by the time...
  6. Walter Thornley

    Private Winds of Wonder

    Perhaps, for the entirely wrong reasons, and with an entirely wrong attitude to the pain that ran deep through the years and caused so much trouble with every other love that came and went - he did not wish to burden a barely glimpsed sunshine promising a friendship, maybe warmth, with any more...
  7. Walter Thornley

    The Unburnt Journal

    Summer; 350 E.O.D. Had to leave before dawn after the daytime fiasco. Stalked to the beach. Went to those cliffs, sober as a glass shard. He was a sweet boy, he didn't deserve this. How did he end up all the way there, in the fissure? Erased the remnants of my weave from the rocks. The Ocean...
  8. Walter Thornley

    The Unburnt Journal

    To follow is a condensed version of my own notes and theories, collected from memory, later research, and all the journals I have burned. Much came to light since I've last mused on the topics such as the nature of the Weave, the source of Shroud and many others connected. Do gods exist? Does...
  9. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    "Would have been terrible, but together, yes. At least to console against harder hearts and sharper tongues, hm?" He wanted to dance with her. But when her moves have been precise and graceful, the turn of a swan's head, hands raised and lowered like a languid flourish of a butterfly at rest -...
  10. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    There she went, twirling like a bloom being carried in the wind, and he smiled, watching her. Something still remained of that girl he knew, something that wasn't art for her acquaintances to see - and feel at ease for recognizing her in it. Back at the estate, later years before departure, he...
  11. Walter Thornley

    Dare Blur

    "Bleeding? I wonder, actually." He wondered how much got ruined during the 'episodes'. It certainly hurt a lot. A few times he'd blacked out. A few times he'd found himself elsewhere as he stumbled in half-agonized stupor. He had to be careful about these things, but - how careful, exactly...
  12. Walter Thornley

    Collegial Curiosities

    Late Summer, 350 E.O.D. Venerable Professor Castille, Your last letter found me well, and I hope dearly that by the time the response reaches you, the tribulation by gremlinhand is successfully resolved. I am enjoying the rainy season in Bremen, presently, and while the embankments of the...
  13. Walter Thornley

    Private Summer Wine [M]

    As daylight slowly softened from the pale platinum into the bronze that streamed through the elm trees, he'd ridden off the main tract and down a narrow path into the woods. There, by the river, he'd built a small towerling of branches in a fire pit, dusted the drake blanket off and put his...
  14. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    "I think you could," he smiled. The mischief had dulled, somewhat, but there was something behind it, just a glimpse. Resolve. It tempered every bit of him, the childish bits included. "If you felt the whimsy to." Pain caused fear. Fear was potent, it sank deep. Sometimes, just getting hurt...
  15. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    "Naming things helps, I've found. Perhaps it's the bookworm in me talking, or an occultist, but it is easy to bring something where you want it if you can name it." As he walked in a straight line, Walter raised his eyes to the carvings on a section of the ceiling. Small bronze eight-pointed...
  16. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    He would let her think on it, ask her brother, sit with the weight for a little while. Sooner or later, she would have to commit to something, and sacrifice some other possibilities. Either way, it would be intriguing to watch, her decisions, or how her wit would try and rescue her from this...
  17. Walter Thornley

    Private The Damage Roots Can Do

    He could see the hesitation on her face. Not to worry. The logistics weren't too difficult - but he wouldn't be the only one inconvenienced, if so. If she wished to learn at leisure - it would be his leisure hours to be sacrificed, and as nothing was offered in return for that favor but a favor...
  18. Walter Thornley

    Private Winds of Wonder

    Shame closed around like armor. He waited until his throat could let sound through again, swallowed, and managed a faint smile. "Thank you. But I've been with this for seventeen years, and now I know. It all just came too suddenly. And you don't have to... you don't have to." Get the shards out...
  19. Walter Thornley

    Private Winds of Wonder

    The world returned from a kaleidoscopic blur, stopped swaying once he was on the sand. "No..." He pulled in a shaky inhale, tried to smile, failed, wiped his eyes. "No, no, nothing you said was wrong at all." His hand squeezed in return, in the grip, as if to reassure he wasn't about to fall...
  20. Walter Thornley

    Private Winds of Wonder

    His mouth was dry, and head full of cotton, all of a sudden. That wave was still a few ebbs and flows away while Malachai talked. "I think... I understand. There is satisfaction in just... making something worthwhile, with your own hands, something that would last a long time." The other beat...
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