Goodbye Summer! (tag Lilithfaith)

[Deleted]

Ben hummed as he buzzed around the café. Autumn was in less than a week. He loved Autumn! Everything about it was grand. The colors, the crisp air. And this relatively new holiday of Thanksgiving was rather grand too. Presently, Ben was unloading decorations around the place at the crack of dawn on a Saturday when most people were still in bed. There were a few sitting here and there talking and sipping coffee and Marissa was serving up lattes and American Breakfast Blend left and right. That was one thing he didn’t understand: “American” blend. It had just been introduced to the café thanks to the comments and suggestions mug he added to one of the side tables. Apparently the stuff had almost double the caffeine of English Breakfast. Crazy.

He shifted the table at the window (how coveted that one was) to get to the windowsill and do his magic. There was already a display of coffee mugs and other coffee-themed things. Now… he carefully placed one of those tiny pumpkins in each mug and a few colorful Indian Corn here and there and sprinkled the bottom with straw. Then he took a step back and admired the look. It was simple, yet elegant. He crossed to the other window and did the same thing.

He went to the glass display near the register and dropped a pumpkin on the top of the register on his way before addressing the display. It was a bit low because some of the things that would be displayed there were still baking. All the same, he decorated that too, though just the outside and top. Yes, Autumn was coming.

TAG: @ OPEN
WORDS: 278
NOTES:

[Deleted]

Temple Hill was silent, in peace. People were training, resting, working, everyone had a place and a job in the legion, everyone knew where to go, what to do, everyone but a young woman. At least she thought that she was the only one who didn’t know her place not only in the Legion, but in the world. She had been lost for a long time and in more than one way. Although she was always in such darkness of the mind and soul, she still had some hope in her heart. Same that made her go back to Camp Jupiter, to the very place where she found love and got a broken heart.

By the small temple dedicated to minor gods, a shadow started flickering, moving and expanding till a leg went through it and not just a leg but the whole package. A whole person went through. It was wearing black tight jeans, black combat boots and blood wine hoodie. The slim figure moved the head to the sides and then pulled the hoodie back revealing a brunette head with long, silky messy hair. “Well… move Eve… move…” the woman there spoke to no one but herself and start moving foot by foot, one after the other. It seemed as if it was difficult for her to walk, not by a physical deficiency, but a hole in the soul.

She put the hoodie back on her head so it could also partially hide her face. She looked around and saw how the people there were training, running in groups as if they were in an army, well… they were an army. Still she was amazed by how being kids, they all got aligned. She grunted something as a *hello, good day* to the statue of the God Terminus and he allowed her to pass to New Rome. She only wanted to go to her small apartment, her modest flower shop in beneath it, but two things distracted her. The first one was the delicious and appealing smell of fresh baked bread and the other one was the growl coming from her stomach.

The cozy coffee shop that used to be of a son of Bacchus, he left the legion and camp to live a peaceful life with his , now for sure wife. Eve stood at the door and sniffed the air, fresh bread… the memories coming to her mind were both nice and painful. How could she forget the kind man that baked that bread! “Ben…” she said and breathing deeply walked into the cafeteria. She looked around and part of her hoped for him not to be there, but her heart yearned for him to be there.

She walked directly to where the cupcakes used to be and there he was. She froze for a second, what could she possibly tell him?! “May I buy some?” Smiled shyly and softly, she was sure he would hate her for how she left him months ago. It wasn’t fair that she still felt love for him, it wasn’t fair for him more than for her, because she was selfish, she was so selfish that she wanted his warm heart knowing that she would hurt him just by being who she was.

---

TAG: Benjamin Pennington
WORDS: 545
NOTES: Hope you like it

[Deleted]

Ben hummed to himself, caught up in the time of year and the joy all around him. Dawn of Autumn was the beginning of his favorite time of year. Actually, he loved all times of year, but the colors this time were stunning. He would thoroughly enjoy this year. Then Christmas. Oh, Christmas! He stood at the baked goods display with a garland of plastic colorful maple leaves, carefully draping it across the top and holding it down by tucking it around a couple pumpkins here and there. His movements made the synthetic lights as well as the early light from the windows catch on the silver chain around his neck. The pendant at the bottom was his pride and joy. A necklace his mother had actually given him, to show him that she encouraged his beliefs: a cross. He didn’t tuck it away ever. He was proud of who he was, and who He was.

He was overall quite happy with life right now. Okay, so things were a bit crazy. He became single about a month ago, give or take. Not his choice, but oh well. He was moving on. He immersed himself in everything he had to do. Training, running this shop, oh, and sleeping sometimes. He heard the door chime, but Marissa beat him to the punch of welcoming them. Marissa was a good worker. He felt funny though. Marissa was 42. She was over double Ben’s age, yet he was her boss. He just thought it really awkward, but she had no problem with it. She was the first one Ben had hired as the new manager, so he was happy it worked out because it was reflecting on him too.

Then a familiar voice came up behind him and his heart stopped. He turned and came face to face with Evelyn McCloud. He hadn’t spoken to her since she broke his heart, the pieces of which had still wanted to be with her. It was weird standing here with her addressing him. So weird, he was unintentionally speechless for a very noticeable ten seconds. Then he snapped out of it, telling himself she was a customer. As her words indicated, she was here for cupcakes. He smiled and nodded. “Of course. There’s chocolate, vanilla, and the marble ones are just about out of the oven, so you may have any you like.” He prayed she didn’t notice the heat he recognized as a blush. Why did she still have this effect on him? He had given up on her a long time because sometimes hope was foolish. Yet it appeared that giving up had only happened in his mind. His heart still held out that there was a chance. He stomped it down as much as he could. She was just hear for cupcakes!

TAG: Evelyn McCloud
WORDS: 470
NOTES:

[Deleted]

Bump-Bump… Bump-Bump… Bump-Bump…

He heart was bumping loud in her ears, it was beating so hard and fast that she feared that it could break her chest bone and rip her best landing next to the cupcakes. But she thanked the gods it was just an idea out of the fear and excitement.

Bump-Bump… Bump-Bump… Bump-Bump…

She waited for him to look at her, it was something difficult for her, because she wanted to look into his eyes so desperately, but she waited, she waited because she knew she was the one to have to wait. Finally he looked at her…

Bump…

Her heart stopped for what she felt were ages, looking into his eyes was something that she wasn’t prepared for, he looked at her and she just froze, she didn’t know what to say anymore, she was going to apologize, to ask him for a second chance, or maybe only to ask how he had been… well, she could ask a single thing, her mind was a blank, only admiring those beautiful eyes, those eyes that brought so much peace to her troubles soul.

She didn’t know if it had passed a second or a millenia, she just knew that he spoke to her again, she slowly smiled a bit more. But it was a sad smile, almost no one would have known it, but it was a sad smile. He didn’t say anything but the cupcakes. She had dreamt of him telling her how much he had missed her, how much he still loved her, but no… instead of that he only talked about the cupcakes. She sighed and nodded at him forcing herself to get her eyes off of him and look at the cupcakes.

“Well… I’d love some… let’s see…” she couldn’t make her brain to work properly, she only thought of him, she wanted so much to just throw herself into his arms and hug him back. But would he receive her? Would he say yes to her in such way? “5 vanilla, 5 chocolate and 5 marble… I want to taste all of them.” smiles softly at him and then blushed deeply, dark pink stainning her usually pale cheeks.

---

TAG: Benjamin Pennington
WORDS: 373
NOTES:

[Deleted]

He hoped beyond hope that no one was looking, but he had a feeling at least one person was because he was never that lucky. Okay, change of thought. He hoped beyond hope that whomever was looking on did not notice how amazingly awkward he was right now and that, in fact, he could feel the edgy tingles of sweat starting to prickle. He was afraid his heart thumping would break something. Or worse, be heard. He put on his best smile, begging his own unsupportive body to – for once – work with him and not show his fear.

There was that smile of hers. It was different than-… no! Don’t think about that. If he let himself think of when she used to smile at him with her heart and not just her lips, it would be doomsday for him. Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes! he mentally shouted as loud as his mind could scream.

She placed her order and he nodded numbly. “Sure thing, Miss Eve. I’ll get those chocolate and vanilla ones for you and go check on the marble. That’ll be 6 denarii. Just head over to Marissa for that and find a seat. I’ll bring them out to you.” He automatically gave her a discount, making her only pay for a dozen of them instead of the full 15. It wasn’t much. Something that would not tip off Marissa that something was off, if she hadn’t clued in already. Marissa was a daughter of Cupid. She could probably sense the tension easily. But she was a good soul. She wouldn’t say anything. She’d actually been the one to unofficially help him through his most recent breakup in off hours. Invited him to dinner all the time with her family, where he discovered that – him even being European himself and having had the real deal – precious little beat homemade lasagna. Oh, and her two kids – 5 and 7 – taught him how to play Chutes and Ladders, and how it felt to lose to small giggly girls. It was nice though.

His mind duely distracted by Chutes and Ladders enough for him to function again, he went around the back of the display and grabbed a tray from below and carefully arranged the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes so they not just looked pretty individually, but as one entity. He took pride in his work, and in this terribly awkward moment, he felt it was all he had going for him. If he made the presentation pretty enough, maybe she wouldn’t think as poorly of him as his fears told him she already was. The timer clipped to his belt chimed. Just in time. He took the tray with him just because there was nowhere to put it down and he had told her he would deliver it himself. So he set it down on the cutting board and got the oven mitts and pulled out the marble cupcakes and set the hot tray on the marble countertop. The counter was the fanciest looking thing in here, but that wasn’t why he had it. Marble was an extraordinary substance. You could use it for cutting select things. You could get flour all over it. You could put hot things on it. Marble was virtually unstoppable in the culinary world. So the tray fresh from the oven didn’t faze it in the least, which meant he could have put it anywhere in this medium sized kitchen without worry of what it would burn. Very handy when you were juggling baking things. He stirred the pot on the range with the chocolate-looking concoction. It was a homemade – what was that brand name? – Nutella, perhaps. Either way, it was a hazelnut spread that would go into the crepes that would be served later in the day. Add some strawberries and the memories came swimming back. He couldn’t give those memories to his visitors, but he could help them make sweet new ones.

Right! The cupcakes! He held the back of his hand about an inch over the marble cupcakes and felt the waves of sugary heat. Of course they were still too hot to properly decorate. And a cupcake was nothing more than a sweet muffin without icing. So he took the tray of the other two types back out of the kitchen and scanned the room for her.

TAG: Evelyn McCloud
WORDS: 726
NOTES: I have no idea where that huge muse hit came from...

[Deleted]

Eve looked at Ben with that sweet smile of hers that she only used when he was around, but that sweet smile slowly vanished from her face when he replied to her in such cold way. In that moment she realized how much she had hurt him, how deeply she had stabbed his heart with her words and actions, even worse than if she had stabbed him with one of her favorite roses. She looked at him and then looked at the woman that was at the cashier, then she nodded and with a faint whisper she spoke again. “Ok, thank you…”

She walked to the cashier thinking on the many times his mere smile had made her heart flutter and be warm, same smile which lack of it was making her heart to fall into a deep abyss of loneliness and pain. Winter was coming, which for Eve was usually mental disease sentence, the past year it had been him who helped her live through the winter without killing someone or herself. Now, she was alone, no friends, her only family member was two gods that for obvious reasons weren’t able to be around as much as she would have needed. She had no ropes to stay.

When she stood by the cashier she looked up at the price of the cupcakes and noticed he had made a discount, but probably he did it only to make her buy them and leave fast, so she didn’t say anything about the price, maybe he didn’t even wanted her money, not her, not her money. Well then she would pay for them, all of them, why would she accept any kind of pity, or whatever pushed him to do it. She smiled at the woman, but this time her smile wasn’t warm at all, it was dry and cold, like the last days of Fall. “Hello, I’m gonna pay for 15 cupcakes, 6 chocolate, 6 vanilla and 3 marble.” She looked at the prices and she knew it would be more than 6 denarii.

After paying she went to find a table far from the windows, far from the light, she wanted to feel the cold and well known comfort of the shadows that usually draw her into them. She sat down and produced a blue rose, she smiled at it and continued admiring it, tail and thorns, she was thinking on making it a sleeping rose, why to kill? She could make people sleep instead of killing them… right? Weird way to wait for cupcakes.

---

TAG: Benjamin Pennington
WORDS: 430
NOTES: finally!!! and sorry for the gloomy, weird one.

[Deleted]

The little radio in the kitchen area played one of Ben’s favorite stations, and when he walked into the kitchen to check on those cupcakes, he noticed what was playing. He stopped short and looked at the little radio and the Newsboys sang their classic hit Something Beautiful. The words sunk in as he stood there. Of course he was confused and conflicted at Eve’s presence here, but he felt like the little radio was trying to tell him something. That this was not random. He didn’t know Eve’s intentions, but he felt he should hear her out. Be friendly, assume she was more than a customer. Bring her back to when they were talking to each other. His hand went to his necklace and his fingers clasped the little cross. “Alright.” He smiled at took a deep breath, then set the already partially filled tray on the counter and got the oven mitt and peeked in the oven. They looked good so far. He pulled them out and grabbed a fresh toothpick, poking one of them and pulling out to confirm nothing attached to the toothpick, meaning they were done. They were still too hot for icing, though.

Though they were also a little too hot to serve, he carefully got six out and arranged them on the tray to make a flower shape with the rest. He pocketed the small bottle of pumpkin-shaped sprinkles and grabbed the icing tube gingerly, then balanced the tray on the spare hand and headed out of the kitchen, using his back to open the swinging door.

He looked around the decent sitting area and all the cozy couches and tables and everywhere and frowned. Had she left? Maybe she really didn’t want to see him. He felt his heart fall against his wishes. He doubted she was here for anything, he kept trying to tell himself. She had told him plain and clear they couldn’t work out together and he hadn’t seen her in so long. He gave her her space and she seemed to do the same for him. Now here she was. Or, was five minutes ago. Maybe the Newsboys were wrong. Maybe this wasn’t something beautiful.

Then his eye drifted to the darkest corner, caught by the odd sight of a blue rose. And he saw her. Well, she hadn’t left. Why she was so intently admiring her rose, he wasn’t sure, but he wouldn’t press it even if it made him nervous from the last time he’d met one of her roses. He took a deep breath and walked over. “I hope you don’t mind. The marble are still too hot to put icing on, so I brought the icing with me if you… would allow me to join you…” Why was he so nervous? It was not just the rose, he knew that. Well, it was partially the rose. But it was mostly just her.

TAG: Evelyn McCloud
WORDS: 488
NOTES:

[Deleted]

“Would it be ok to ask a Somnus son to prepare a good poison to make this flower the sleeping flower?...” Eve was thinking about it as she looked at the beautiful blue Rose, it was cotton flower blue, soft and full of life, the rose itself invited anyone to touch it, to hold it in hands and smell it… “Right, maybe the poison should be in the whole rose, not only in the thorns, just like my red roses, those kill this one would make people sleep… maybe forever…” she looked at it as a very good idea, maybe she wouldn’t use it in others, maybe she would only create one and use it in herself… no one would mind about it… no mortal at least, well maybe Liam, her brother, but he seemed to have found the right place for him in this world, so maybe it would help him cope with his loss… right?

Suddenly a known voice to her brought her back from her dark ideas. She forced her mind to stop looking at the flower and to look up and at the source of the voice. She looked into his eyes, sweet, tender eyes, again they showed some warmth, some of the life that had always kept her going. Then she looked at his hands and the cupcakes, she looked up at him again and nodded slowly as she held from the rose as if it was the power source of a shield or something. “Sure…” she barely pronounced that word, as if she had no air in her lungs to talk.

She hoped he had come in peace, that if he didn’t want to listen to her reasons to be back, at least didn’t attack her… well being honest, she knew he would never attack her, there wasn’t a mean bone in his body to do that. He was the ying to her yang, she knew she needed him to go on, to keep existing… but she knew that she didn’t deserve his kindness, his warmth… his love. She bit her lower lip and wet her dry lips with her tongue in a very subtle way. She wanted to say million things, but she was scared to let a single word free from her lips, she knew the moment they started coming from her mouth, they wouldn’t stop. She swallowed and then breathed deeply. “The place looks well…” she said only to say something, but she scolded herself mentally because of the selection of words, why couldn’t she just tell him that she missed him more than her own soul?!?!

---

TAG: Benjamin Pennington
WORDS: 443
NOTES: lol she is terrified now XD

[Deleted]

Ben hadn’t been this nervous in a long time. He really hoped it didn’t show. She said sure though. That was a start. He smiled and took a seat across from her. “Thanks.” He fidgeted with the tube of icing, carefully of course. Sitting across from the girl he tried so hard to get over, who pushed him away, was hard enough. Her holding a weapon made it worse. He tried to talk a couple times, but was utterly stupefied. Thank Heaven she said something first, even if it was small.

“Thanks. I, um, yeah, I haven’t done too much. Though I’m thinking about formally changing the name to something a little shorter. I like what Terry did, but it’s a mouthful.” He laughed slightly, but it died quickly, killed by his silly nerves. Back to fidgeting. He absently chewed on the inside of his cheek, which wasn’t normal for him, but this whole situation had that effect. He decided to try for a new string of conversation. “Good to see you, by the way. How’s the flower shop going?” He felt queasy. What on earth was going on with him!? He leaned back in his chair and nodded a couple times just slightly, not for any outward reason, but more the movement made him physically feel a little better. He was just so nervous! He really had wanted to see her again and now she was right here across the table from him! And he was more scared than the disciple who fled the Garden of Gethsemane naked! Okay, maybe not that bad, but he felt now that he could sympathize a bit more with the poor fellow.

“So what does the blue one do?” He blurted before he could catch himself. He couldn’t help it though, he’d honestly been stealing glances at the beautiful slice of some form of death right there. He knew firsthand what she was capable of. While he didn’t hold it against her, it was hard to erase the memory of that day and the fear associated with a rose in her hands anymore.

TAG: Evelyn McCloud
WORDS: 350
NOTES: He's so conflicted. He wants to be with her, but he is scared she will reject him again!

[Deleted]

Eve looked at him as he was taking the seat right in front of her, he really had that aura of peace, even after she hurt him so much… or maybe she didn’t hurt him that much… maybe he never cared that much for her to feel hurt when she did what she did to him in that past months. Otherway… how would he be so well now?! Or maybe that other girl… the owner of the farm, maybe she achieved to erase her from Ben’s heart and that is why now he acted at first as she was a stranger and now as if she was just a lost costumer that was back… or not? She only nodded at him when he thanked her for letting him have a seat with her.


Then as he was speaking about making some changes to the place, including the name, she slightly smiled. There there was the man she had fallen for, that smile, that laugh… it had been a pity he cut it off as soon as he let it free. She studied his features once more, outside he hadn’t changed a lot. Same eyes, same smile, maybe one or two more expression lines, but in a sum his face was the same as before she left. It was then his heart that changed?.. No maybe not, maybe only changed to her… and she deserved it, she knew it well. But when he laughed about the long name, she replied with a sweet soft smile that vanished when he stopped laughing. “Well… yeah, it was a mouthful. Maybe something more like you…” she said and nodded at the cupcakes.


Then looked at him shyly and then her turquoise eyes lowered her sight and looked at the cupcakes for a bit, or maybe a bit longer than she had thought. He asked about the flower shop which made her look at him again She slightly got a pale pink stain of blush over her usual pale cheeks and sighed, then considered the ways of replying, she could lie, she could tell him that everything was going perfectly, so she didn’t know how bad it was, but what good would be brought from that? “It is going… I have two costumers… Ishihara and a pirate… “ she chuckled and then looked at the blue rose in her hand, yes… it would be ok if she just let the poison of that Rose got her heart, she would only sleep… she would only stay away from all of them and would never hurt them, she would never hurt Ben again, at least when the ceres kids helped her with the venom.


Suddenly his words made her look at him once more, this time she was afraid, or ashamed? Of course he knew about her roses, she had used them against him last time he had seen him. She breathed deeply then opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again, what could she tell him about it?! “It is a… work in progress…” she just said before she could even think of a lie. “I guess I can’t full forget my old habits.” she said knowing he would never be close to her after that. She was still a killer, someone that was paid to kill others, and she was very good at it, he was a man of his God of love… he would never forgive someone like her.


She closed her hand around the rose and it got crashed and vanished inside her hand. Only some slight points of blood showed up in her palm after the now non existent thorns pierced her hand. “But don’t worry… non of them are for you…” well… not the best to say, but at least he knew that they weren’t for him. “I’m sorry I hurt you…” she said in a tremble voice, hoping he really believe her.

---

TAG: Benjamin Pennington
WORDS: 661
NOTES: o.O muse...

[Deleted]

Ben set the tray down to make it easier to sit down himself. This was horribly awkward. He wanted to be himself and go back to how it once was, but how could he do that? He didn’t know if it was possible or not, even. He really did want to be with her. He missed her so badly! He could feel his heart dropping into his stomach slowly, like a balloon filled with lead instead of helium. What if she turned away again? What if she still hated him? Had she ever hated him, or was that something else? He really didn’t know. His mind had made up all sorts of horrible things in her absence about why she left. Nothing horrible about her of course. He didn’t dare think she might have returned to her old ways. No, she was good. He couldn’t breathe without believing that. Heavens above, he was practically having a nervous breakdown right here! He squeezed a little of the icing out onto his pointer finger and rolled it gently. The feeling of such a delicate substance calmed him. It was only a tiny bit, but it worked its magic. Just like how his father used to get him to help in the kitchen when he was sad. Nothing like his dad and him both sneaking fingerfuls of chocolate chips to bring on the smiles. Ben was staring at his hands when that little smile came back, thinking of his father. Yes, he would be strong for him. He looked back up and continued business as normal.

He nodded, glad she didn’t hate his idea of changing the name. “Thanks. Yeah, current top bet is Coffee Couch. I mean. There’s coffee, there’s couches, and it has two of the same sound and sounds catchy.” He focused on the picture of his kitchen back in Colmar. It kept him grounded. So she wasn’t getting good business. He sighed. “I’m so sorry. I would have come too, but I didn’t want to force my presence upon you.” He wanted to go there right now. See the exquisite works of art and nature she did. They were always lovely. He sighed, even though it was for his thoughts and nothing she said, so surely it seemed odd.

Then he looked up and at the rose. And it came bursting out. He immediately regretted mentioning it. Maybe he didn’t want to know what the blue ones did. Thankfully, they did not seem to have an assigned purpose yet. He nodded slightly. “I see.” He nodded sadly. “Something we are all guilty of.” He could not meet her eyes when he said it. Not because he was afraid anymore, but more sad. Because, for him, that unforgettable old habit was loving her.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the feint sound of petals crushing and he looked up to see the last piece of the rose disappear in her grasp. Then she hit him by saying none of them were for him. He felt horrible. “I know. I know you’re good.” He waved his hand inn dismissal. “There’s a reason there are whole books on old wisdom of forgetting the past. Because we must. The present is all we have. All we can do something about.” He took one of the bare cupcakes and got to work with the icing tube. In his mind, he had just told her she was forgiven. It didn’t even occur to him that his odd way of speaking could be read any other way, so he was settled down into cupcake decorating.

TAG: Evelyn McCloud
WORDS: 601
NOTES: