CarthagePlate_210

CarthagePlate_210 t1_ixx9hik wrote

Sister Selene Dormund was not in the mood for tricks this night. When no obvious source of the package on the coven's doorstep materialized, she looked down at the foreign object again. It had the proper mailing address, the shape a simple cardboard box. And the receiver was... her?

Who would send a package to the doors of a coven when just about every sister was away? Who would send mail here if they knew that was the case? Why was the package addressed to her and only her?

Common sense told Selene to abandon the package where it lay. But Selene was a sister of the faith, and the faith ascribed all acts in one's life to hold purpose. She glanced all around the coven's entrance one final time, hands shaking as she slowly extended them from beneath the folds of her robes. Then she plucked the package like a forbidden sweet and swept back inside the walls of her darkened home.

Be calm. Selene quickly stepped down the main corridor, towards the sparse room she usually shared with three other sisters. They were off on missions, like everyone else save her. She had been given a different mission: to protect the home and heart of the faith for everyone else's return.

She had kept to her duty for two weeks. The sisters were expected to return at the beginning of the third. They would either be gallivant and celebratory at a successful journey, or silent and grim against rejection and expulsion. Not everyone believed as they did: not everyone welcomed the sisters' presence.

Presence. Presents. Is this a present? Did someone really know...?

She had never spoken about her birthday, never publicized it beyond a simple date in the coven's records. It had come and gone in the past without recognition by others, and she had been fine with that. The faith she believed in was a greater source of joy than the recognition of another year gone by. And she had seen so many years go by within these walls.

Selene immediately moved to her bed, a simple structure with white sheets over a white mattress. Sitting down, she forced her hands to stop shaking before she moved to open the package in her hands. The shadows on the walls danced as the light outside faded into night, echoing the motions of her fingers as they tore cardboard and pulled out wrapping paper.

It's getting dark. I need to light the candles at the altar. But Selene didn't get up from her current task. As she saw what lay inside this package, this object sent specifically to her, her eyes grew wide.

What... is this?

She held the hidden treasure in her hands. It was a candle. A single, white candle the length of her forearm. The wick was midnight-black, the wax smooth and clean. Her nostrils twitched as she smelled vanilla in the air, her fingers and thumb rubbing against the candle's surface to entice more of the aroma.

Vanilla. She sniffed deeper. A vanilla-scented candle. My favorite. But I never said-

She stopped as something fluttered down to the cold floor by her covered feet. Brushing her robe aside in her haste, she gripped the candle tightly with one hand to grab this new curio with the other. Squinting, she recognized it as a white card, blank save for a few words.

Be the flame

And be the light

On this, your

Birthday night.

Selene blinked rapidly, clearing her eyes. A smile slowly bloomed on her face, the surprise and shock turning into a heartfelt happiness. Someone, somewhere, had the faith and courage to send her this treasure. This was no trick, not in her eyes or the eyes of the faith she believed in.

To Selene, this was a sign her unspoken prayers had been answered.

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CarthagePlate_210 t1_ixajf57 wrote

"The Heavy is Dead" is a Team Fortress 2 YTP/comedy video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiuyhxp4w9I
People try to figure out why "The Heavy" is dead... and they keep getting shocked that he is, well, dead.

Hope that helps you figure it out.

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