Day Three: Favorite Headcanon

Day Three: Favorite Headcanon

Carmen pauses in the middle of modeling a shoplifted necklace as she feels beady red eyes burning into her back. Something bestial is staring at her with alien intent.

The rabbit.

The fucking rabbit.

Ever since Rose brought that demonic little rodent back from the forest she’s felt its eyes on her. Why Scarlet didn’t throw the mangy thing out the second Rose brought it into the living room, Carmen has no idea.

Maybe Carmen really is the only sane one of the family.

It never sleeps and rarely eats. It makes no sound; not even its feet on the floor of its oversized, over-decorated cage. Sometimes, when Rose starts stroking it, it reaches up to her ear, like it's whispering something to her.

It's the only non-bird animal any of them have ever seen in the forest. It acts more like a phantom than a pet. And yet they always take it to a vet, and not an exorcist.

Lately, there’s been little changes in the apartment. Accidents. Disappearances. Sabotage. Some of her lipstick tubes will vanish, only to turn up days later with little tooth marks in the casing. Her homework will be partially chewed or trampled. The charging cord for her phone will be gnawed clean through.

Granted, both Robin and Ginger enjoy biting and trampling. And Ginger especially enjoys messing up Carmen’s entire life for a laugh. But Carmen’s no fool: the bite marks are too small, the footprints decidedly leporine.

Leporine. What a word. Sleek and menacing. Utterly unfitting for a rabbit. Carmen picks up the strangest little details in the rare moments she pays attention in biology.

And yet, leporine, that strange and dark sounding word, fits this calculating little monster far more than any cute or harmless word.

Carmen turns away from her position at the window and turns. The rabbit is on the table, staring. Its nose twitches.

“I’m onto you,” Carmen hisses.

The rabbit scratches its ear with its hind leg.

Carmen flips it the bird and leaves the room.

Beady red eyes follow her.

Scarlet fascinates me; she’s one of the ends that I can see either as a literal death or a metaphorical one. I’m convinced she’s trying to force herself to give up on her dreams to look after her siblings, but who’s Fae Wolf? A music teacher, luring her in the other direction? Her own vision of Art, irresistible, dragging her into what she sees as both heightened beauty and as unacceptable hedonism? The temptation to run away rather than resigning herself to playing mother? 

tw burning alive

day 2: favourite death

this is very self-indulgent but i thought of the car crash interpretation but with ruby dying not immediately but in a fire caused by the crash

(self-indulgent because i love drawings fires)

the path week 2023

day 4 • future

@lilmisssammy

The House With the Black Door by James Hutton Illustration

The Path Week 2023

Day 7: Free Day

There's something @occasionallythreeowls said to me a while ago when talking about Carmen. Namely, that when Carmen looks into the water she can't see her reflection. So I took that to its natural extreme. When Carmen looks into the water, all she can see is the man who ruined her life.