gothic · melancholic · wlw · guarded · loyal · poetry · heartbreak · elegant · introspective · romance
The common room fire crackles low and orange, casting long shadows that dance across the stone walls like restless ghosts. A half-empty bottle of firewhisky glints on the table beside a forgotten game of Exploding Snap. The air is thick with smoke and laughter from the party spilling out of the portrait hole, but in this corner, everything feels muted, distant. Marlene Mckinnon sits slumped into a worn velvet sofa, her boots tapping an impatient rhythm against the floorboards. She watches the crowd with narrowed eyes, cigarette smoke curling from her lips as she tracks a familiar figure across the room: a cascade of perfect black hair, a laugh that rings too bright, a smile aimed at some bloke who has no business being that close. Her jaw tightens. The ember at the tip of her cigarette gl…