vampire money | bainbridges

[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

A year ago, Diana had felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. Guilt and shame followed her around like some sad little rain cloud. Not to mention she’d gotten out of one vow only to end up in another. Though at least this one she could push to the back of her mind for the most part and was far less threatening. Nobody had put a target on her family, at least. But slowly, she was rebuilding. Relationships, her finances, everything. She was reconnecting with old friends and watching her younger siblings grow up and make their way into the world.

Diana worked the morning shift, so she’d gotten home in the early afternoon. Working at the museum over the past year, she was still hoping they would grant her full-time status at some point or even something working outside of reception. It was a fascinating place, and she enjoyed all the stories she was told and meeting people like the Cursebreakers who came through. The house sounded quiet, which was rare except for the middle of the night. But as she approached her room, she could hear the rapid pressing of keys. The flurry of activity made her wonder if Cara had solved the dilemma that Diana had been facing in trying to charm a computer keyboard to type.

”Hey, Cara.” She spoke as she walked into the room, dropping her bag on the end of her bed and then dramatically falling on it. Cara had stopped typing, however, and it felt uncomfortably quiet. She sat up on her elbows to prop herself up slightly and to look at her twin. ”What are you working on? I could hear you typing from the bottom of the stairs.” She commented, her hair shifting to a light blue as her curiosity grew. "Oh--I know." Diana's hair then shifted to an orange as she gave her twin a knowing look.

[ penelope raisa bainbridge we'll tag you in later ]

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[cara june bainbridge]

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Well things had certainly taken a strange turn over the last several months. The only reason she was still working at Fortescue's part-time was to keep up the illusion that she needed a job. Over the last year, it was like Cara had struck gold on the newly minted wizarding web. Writing magical smut, of course. She had no idea who her audience actually was, yet DarksideOfDiagon - her pen name for her short stories - was booming. The views didn't even make sense at first, but soon it had spiraled out of control and the readers wanted more. They were a voracious bunch, and she often wondered if she was feeding something monstrous without even realizing it. That was, until she found a way to make money off of it. At first it felt dirty, similar to the how she was making up fictitious trysts of historical magical figures. And then it got to a point where she stopped caring because it was more than enough money to not worry anymore. The fact that she couldn't do a damn real novel but could write this stuff was hilarious. The money said otherwise.

'Love At First Bite' was still her standout and received a new chapter biweekly. There was a whole cast of characters these days, and readers had their favorite 'ships' about what the final couples should be. Cara didn't fully understand all of the lingo - she merely wrote it. She was also constantly self-conscious about it because she knew for a fact that Penelope had read the first chapter at some point. There was no way to tell if her sister was still following along unfortunately.

And speaking of sister, Diana appeared out of nowhere in their shared room and scared the living pixies out of her, as she had been typing up the newest chapter of 'Bite'. "O-Oh just doing some writing," she said nervously, her fingers frozen in place above the keyboard. Diana wasn't stupid. She knew how laptops worked and would know if Cara suddenly tried to collapse all of her windows. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice still as unconvincing as it had been seconds earlier. A nervous sweat was already starting to play out across her palms and forehead. Diana didn't know...did she?

diana eoina bainbridge ● 383 ● Song by Artist

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[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

Diana kept her mischievous expression. She hadn’t mentioned much about meeting Calliope all those months ago, mainly because Diana wasn’t sure she could hide how awkward she felt about it. Not that she disproved of the girl in any way, she was nice, and Diana felt she’d been open with her. But she never wanted to let it slip out how they had really met. Unfortunately, Diana could do nothing about this unbreakable connection between her ability and feelings. The part-time work as a receptionist had helped in terms of building that comfort with people, strangers, and crowds. But she would hardly master that anytime soon.

On the other hand, Cara didn’t need colorful hair to express herself at this moment. Diana clearly had startled her. The pitch of her voice was different. She didn’t answer immediately, letting it linger in the air a moment longer. It wasn’t often she had any upper hand on Cara. Her more meek personality made the dynamic this way. ”I figured you were writing.” She let herself fall back on the bed, her eyes trained on the ceiling. ”But Merlin, you’d think you were writing a story or something.”

Diana wondered how long did an email have to be? Or maybe it was too much to send over a text message? Despite her natural skill with these new technologies, the social aspect of it still boggled her mind. It was less academic, after all. In any case, Diana didn’t want to just come out and say anything about Calliope or ask if they were official yet or if she was even still in the picture. ”You know, I’m a little shocked. I never figured you as the romantic type.” Cara was the writer. Diana hadn’t thought about how expressive her communications might be. She was merely waiting for a ‘mind your business’, in which case Diana would show her hand.

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[cara june bainbridge]

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Merlin, she could already feel the nervous perspiration starting to bubble on her palms. Cara didn’t dare take her hand away from the keyboard though. She figured she could shut it all down in a matter of seconds, faster than it would take her twin to get close enough to see what was actually being written. Watching Diana carefully as she crossed over to her own bed and fell onto it, Cara took that opportunity to quickly fold her laptop down. Her chair spun around to face the beds. Now she was between her smut and her sister. She didn’t actually know how Diana would react if she found out about it, but Penelope could never know. It felt dirty. Probably because it was. “I was. Sort of,” she answered, her voice still at the same pitch it had been before. But she was telling the truth. Writing erotica for the masses still technically counted, as unconventional as it was. “Just trying to keep things fluid, y’know?” That had been the excuse whenever their parents had asked about why she was constantly clacking away but could never show her results. They seemed to have bought it for the last four years.

Diana was one-hundred percent harder to convince though. Maybe even impossible. The cold shiver that went down her spine as her sister stated that she’d never figured Cara was the romantic type was palpable. Had Diana snooped on her laptop and discovered all of the writings? She thought she’d been careful to log out and only use a private browser whenever she was uploading things. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Cara decided on. As if she hadn’t totally given it away already that she was writing something shady. Embarrassing? Absolutely. Romantic? She hardly called what she wrote an ideal romantic scenario. Most of it was based on her very limited dating experience, which included one person prior to Cal, and then everything else was from books she’d read herself. Diana was definitely going to wring it out of her though. It would only be a matter of time.

diana eoina bainbridge ● 352 ● Song by Artist

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[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

Fortunately, after Diana returned home, things began to feel normal again. Outside the four walls of the family home, there were still reminders for Diana of her past that haunted her. But it was a work in progress with a hopeful resolution one day. Between herself and her twin, Diana had her best friend again. Every once in a while, a reminder appeared. But that lost feeling faded away. It was similar to taking a step that didn’t exist on stairs or leaning against a wall you swore was there. Secrets. Secrets rarely had good consequences, as Diana had learned.

Cara’s voice sounded off. As that startled pitch lingered, Diana noted. She sat up, still sitting on the bed but scooted herself up to lean against the wall. There was only one chair, and Diana hardly sat at the desk to do anything since the computer had quickly become Cara’s thing rather than Diana’s. Her hair shifted to a light teal as she ran her fingers through it. ”Merlin, what’s with you today.” Much like Cara had known something was wrong with Diana for a few years, something felt slightly off. She’d expected some eye roll or smart comment, but Cara was acting cagey instead.

Considering her history, it wasn’t fun for Diana to hang something over someone’s head. Not that a secret not relationship was the same as a sociopathic terrorist hovering over your shoulder. ”I was waiting for you to tell me. I get not telling everybody else…” Diana figured she might as well bring it up, and if Cara didn’t want to talk about it, she wouldn’t force her. And Diana wanted to remind Cara that she was there for her, but the guilt of completely shutting her out still lingered. Diana shrugged, looking off to the other side of the room for a moment where Cara’s identical bed was. ”I wouldn’t have said anything, you know. Privacy always helps with these things, right?” She glanced over to Cara, who’d stopped writing her email or whatever. ”I’ve known since December…” Diana grinned sheepishly, her hair shifting to its natural blonde like her sisters. Like any sibling, she just wanted Cara to be happy. And aside from Calliope and Diana’s sordid dealings in the past, she was nice and friendly and just trying to survive like the rest of them. But sometimes, relationships needed that initial privacy before the invasion of six siblings.

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[cara june bainbridge]

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What was with her today? Full blown paranoia that was what. Cara had never had anyone get this close to figuring out what she was actually doing. She kept her mouth shut when Diana asked though, afraid that she was about to spill everything in one go. Ultimately, she wasn’t sure why she was keeping this from her twin. While embarrassing, Diana had confided loads of important things with her over the last year. Really she just didn’t want the rest of their siblings to find out. Even though the triplets were out of school now, Cara still viewed them as tiny children, a mental image that refused to go away. They absolutely didn’t need to know that she was writing smut about Bertie Bott, amongst other things. So Cara said nothing, hands still sweating as she watched her sister sit up on her bed and look like she was about to start the interrogation.

Merlin, she knew. That was the first thought that jumped into her head as Diana started to talk. And had apparently known since December. What had given it away? When the entire family was home, she specifically made sure that the computer was either locked up tightly or hidden away. Some of her work could be done from her phone after all, as much as she hated writing things on the tiny little screen. Now the real problem was before her: since Diana knew, did she admit it right here and now? Or would it be better to play coy for a little longer? Pulling out as much information as possible to see what her twin actually knew. If it was something as simple as writing stories on the internet, that was one thing. Jumping straight into magical fanfiction was something else altogether. DarksideOfDiagon was no joke in certain circles, after all.

“O-Oh…how’d you find out?” she asked quietly. Fishing for answers it was. Maybe it could save her a few minutes to figure out the best way to approach answering whatever came next. Hopefully it wasn’t one of the really explicit stories. There were definitely some that were worse than others.

diana eoina bainbridge ● 357 ● Song by Artist

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[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

When Diana glanced at Cara, she could’ve sworn her face was about to turn blue from lack of oxygen. Cara appeared to forget to breathe. Merlin, was this relationship really stressing her out? Diana began to feel guilty for teasing her twin this way. A sudden wave of guilt passed through her system, and Diana recalled all the secrets over the years. But working with a Vow was far different than this, right? Cara didn’t respond to Diana immediately, and as Diana sat up, her hair remained teal but darkened several shades despite her attempts to push away a little bit of that guilt.

Diana paused before answering, pushing herself further to lean against the wall. ”I was home alone, you weren’t working that day, but you’d stepped out for an errand.” She still recalled the following metamorphmagus appearing on her doorstep. To say it was one of the shocks of her life was an understatement. Calliope was a person of Diana’s past, a remnant of an unfortunate job she still kept for the moment for money. Diana paused again. She was fairly certain Calliope wouldn’t share any details of black market dealings with Cara, which meant Diana couldn’t really share either.

”You know, Cara, I’ve never been one to pry…” Again, her hair shifted another shade darker. ”And after everything…you know I’d never judge what you do in your free time.” Diana was done teasing because something was bugging her about all this in the end. ”I just feel like when you keep things from me that you don’t trust me. And it just sucks to feel that way after working so hard…” Diana admitted. It felt a little silly to say out loud, but it was all that rang through Diana’s head in these moments. Even over a year later, Diana still felt left out at times.

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[cara june bainbridge]

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Even though she knew she’d never be able to tell what day it was that she’d apparently become lax with her laptop – seeing as that was ten months ago – it was going to eat away at her trying to figure out. While Christmas shopping maybe? That seemed silly, because she distinctly remembered locking everything down around the holidays. With almost the entire family in the house, there was literally no privacy and she did not want her dirty little secret getting out just yet. Diana finding out was maybe the least of her worries though. It still didn’t make her feel all that good that it had to be this way and not telling her twin on her own like she had sort of planned to do.

Diana was seemingly understanding about it though. Considering what the two of them had gone through over the last year and change, it was sort of hard to compare their circumstances. These were wildly different secrets. “I do trust you,” she blurted out immediately. “It’s just that…anonymity is sort of important to me too. I don’t want it to ruin what I already have.” Basically she didn’t want people to know she was the one writing all of these stories, and then have it reflect poorly back on her family or employers. That didn’t seem like too much of an ask to her. Ruining her brother’s Quidditch career by having their last name blasted across the wizarding web because she wrote some rather filthy smut about werewolves would be a horrifying experience.

But this was Diana, and she was right. She did deserve to know more. Hiding it wasn’t worth all of the stress it brought on, and constantly having to close her phone or laptop whenever her sister walked in was starting to get exhausting. At least if her twin knew, then she could relax a little bit while at home. “Which one did you see?” she asked, referring to her many stories. Any sort of digging would have brought up the whole list. Hopefully it wasn’t one of the more explicit ones…

diana eoina bainbridge ● 351 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

The shift from teasing sibling to slightly hurt was real. These things did take time, but Diana still felt impatient at times. Not to mention, Penelope had forgiven so easily, as was her nature. Cara was a harder nut to crack. Considering this was only about a girl, Diana could only imagine how heavy the weight of hearing about your twin’s unbreakable vow with Elaine Dupree would have been. But secrets were a double-edged sword. Diana paused before responding, considering her response. Her hair lightened slightly. But then Diana’s eyes snapped back to Cara. ”Which one?” Merlin, there were more than one? Did Calliope know this? Diana thought she was a lovely girl, also just trying to survive.

Or maybe they were no longer seeing one another? Diana blankly stared at Cara for a moment. Not that it was anything to be horrified about. After a few seconds, Diana chuckled and shook her head. ”Merlin Cara…you’ve been busy.” She fell back onto the bed, putting her hands behind her head. It was silly, but it also felt so normal. They were young women, after all. And all they were supposed to be worried about were who they dated, how to respond to a new person in their DMs, and where to get better-paying work. And they were sisters talking about normal things for their age, it was nice.

”And here I thought Dustin was the only one with a fan club.” Diana loved her older brother. He was as soft-hearted as the triplets but about as brazen as a Gryffindor at times. Perhaps the closest to being sorted as one in their whole family. And he did quite well for himself in the professional leagues. ”So what’s this latest one called?”

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[cara june bainbridge]

▲

Oh Merlin, Diana had seen more than one. That was the only explanation for her surprise and subsequent question. And who could blame her? Cara was very much aware of the effect her short stories had on people…and how they kept wanting to read more. Easily the most embarrassing part of all of this was knowing that her sister had perused these and had managed to piece it all together that she was the author. While most of her stories weren’t purely fictious, there were a number that utilized fantasies she wasn’t completely against. Now that stayed with her, and her alone.

She shrugged sheepishly as her twin said that she’d been busy. How couldn’t she be? Working at Fortescue’s was nice and all, but it didn’t really generate all that much money for her. Even with living at home, she still needed to make more so that she could eventually move out. The scary part was how much she ended up getting through the ‘click’s. Pure monopolization. The readers always wanted more too, and she could provide. ”It kind of just happened. I didn’t really mean for it to turn out like this…but can you blame me? It’s sort of nice being popular for once.”

If anything, Cara had learned how to navigate her fans by watching the way their older brother interacted with his. Obviously, the anonymous bit helped immensely. She couldn’t deny that at all. Still, she felt obligated to respond to questions and provide updates on her stories frequently, especially the longer form ones. She even did an ‘ask me anything’ recently, and that had gone over fairly well. ”Errm…Bertie…” Cara mumbled. She couldn’t bring herself to say the full title, referring to the infamous Bertie Bott and his sexual proclivities. Hopefully she didn’t get hit with a lawsuit over it.

diana eoina bainbridge ● 305 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

Even with eyes on the ceiling, Diana could sense Cara was sweating. For all their lives, the twins were like two halves of a whole. Diana, the eldest, but far more reserved than Cara. It was interesting to see Cara’s response when Diana asked the questions for once. ”I never thought you had a problem with popularity.” She admitted to her twin. ”You always had more people to talk to than I did.” Diana thought through her formative years. The few friends she spoke to, though siblings at the same school, helped in that regard. Even dating-wise, Diana had not been so lucky, though at least one boy had bothered to pay attention to her—even if mainly for answers to his Transfiguration assignment.

Thankfully, Diana had not sat up as she forced herself not to blush at the thought of the older boy Jack and his pretty blue eyes and learning what the other girls had giggled about in the dorms. But Cara’s response had Diana sitting up, brow furrowed in surprise. ”Bertie?” What kind of name was that? Sounded like someone who sat behind a Ministry desk and regularly spoke about office supplies in daily conversation. But then Diana corrected herself, remembering she needed to be supportive. Clearing her throat, she calmed her tone. ”Like Bertie Bott’s?”

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[cara june bainbridge]

▲

Oh Merlin…if Diana thought that she had been popular in school, that was definitely something else. Sure, she had less of an issue talking to others than her twin did, but her way of going about that had been so wrong and counterproductive. Younger students had been afraid of her because she played a pseudo-prefect most of the time and had no problem barking at them if they were too loud in the library. Had she changed a lot since then? Absolutely. Three years and the pressure of studies behind her and Cara was fairly positive that she had learned to lighten up. Especially around customers at both of her jobs. Not to mention the things she was writing and who she was seeing now. They tended to help her break out of her shell slightly. To realize that not everything revolved around perfect, unattainable marks on exams. ”Okay…but I wasn’t popular Dee. More people actively avoided me because I was a bitch to them about one thing or another than they did try to be my friends.” That was some nice self-reflection. And what did this have to do with her writing? No one knew it was her. Anonymous popularity was so much better than the other option.

Cara could feel her heart beating in her ears now that they were on the topic of her recent ‘hit’ story. It was absolutely about Bertie Bott. She expected that once the magical community figured out copyright law, she’d get slapped with a cease and desist of some sort. Until then, she’d milk it as much as she could. ”That’s the one…” she responded awkwardly, her voice somewhat weak now that she was admitting the truth. What a weird way for her sister to find out about this. ”Listen I…I would have told you eventually. I don’t think I could have hidden it forever…” Cara took in a deep inhale. It sort of shook as she let it out before continuing, ”People like reading about historical figures, so I’ve started to head in that direction since that seems to work. I know that’s strange but it seems to work.” She wished she could go back to writing normal fiction again. But now she was in too deep. The ad revenue she was making per clicks on her stories was hard to look the other way from. Supplementing it with her part-time work meant that eventually she’d be able to move out. ”Sorry you found out how weird I am…”

diana eoina bainbridge ● 418 ● Song by Artist

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[diana eoina bainbridge]

sparkle like bowie

in the morning sun

October 13, 2027
cara june bainbridge
penelope raisa bainbridge

Diana stared blankly at Cara for a moment, blinking a few times. Was that how it had been back then? She had spent so much time caught up in her own little hell of a world to perhaps notice how her siblings really interacted with everybody else. Especially her twin, of all people. ”I mean—you still had friends.” Diana pointed out. Everybody’s definition of popularity seemed to differ, she supposed. ”Neither of us was Dustin.” Diana added, slightly rolling her eyes to drop the subject. For whatever reason, their big brother—the eldest had always been sociable and good-natured, which did well for him now that he had some fame to go along with it.

Honestly, Diana had not envied that. All that time socializing, she’d spent reading and learning instead, at least for the most part. Toward the end of her school years, she stuck her nose in a book to hide more than anything. Diana wasn’t sure why Cara seemed so nervous discussing Bertie. Maybe she should have left it alone until her twin was ready to share. Diana felt a little guilty pushing this all out into the open now. ”Listen, Cara, if you don’t want to talk about it—“ She began, guilt creeping into her gut at the weight clearly on her twin’s shoulders.

But she stopped, staring a moment. ”Wait—what are you talking about?” Her brow furrowed in confusion. Reading about historical figures? Diana desperately tried to piece together what reading about historical figures had to do with dating.

[ penelope raisa bainbridge you can jump in now i think lolz ]

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[penelope raisa bainbridge]

October 13, 2027

Still living at home really wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be. It wasn't any different than life had been outside of Hogwarts, and it allowed Penelope to save the money she made at Forget-Me-Knot for when she eventually did move out. Once she got finished with work, she could come home and relax… to the extent possible in the Bainbridge family home. It wasn't anything new to her, though, so it was fine. Having Diana back at home was nice, and there was a lot less tension in the house ever since the fire at Hogwarts, paradoxically.

Penelope Apparated home from her shift and went to the kitchen to put a bouquet of flowers she'd bought from Forget-Me-Knot into a vase. She found a vessel that would suit the bouquet, which wasn't hard from working at a flower shop, and put the bouquet in water. At about the same time, she could hear a conversation coming from Cara and Diana's bedroom. Both of them must have been home, then.

With the flowers situated in their vase, Penelope headed for the twins' bedroom. She could have hollered through the house, as was typical of a lot of Bainbridge conversations, but she didn't want to interrupt them, either. The closer she got to their room, the better she could hear what Cara and Diana were saying.

"Listen, Cara, if you don’t want to talk about it—"

Cara followed up with something about historical figures, saying that she knew that it was strange but that it seemed to work for something. Trying to get a historical fiction book or some sort of biography published didn't make Cara any less of a writer, thought Penelope. She wasn't trying to eavesdrop; it just sort of happened that way.

Diana, too, asked Cara what she was talking about. Penelope hovered, trying to decide if it was the right time to make her presence known. Whatever was going on between her older sisters, she didn't want to make things worse. Unfortunately, speaking up and staying silent seemed equally bad. Maybe she could make noise and make it sound as though she hadn't meant to? That could work, Penelope felt, but maybe they had heard her already.

cara june bainbridge
diana eoina bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

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Whether or not she had 'friends' whilst at school was really up for debate. Earlier on in the school years maybe, but certainly not by the end of it. Running people off with her poor attitude was sort of her trademark after all. But that part of her conversation with Diana wasn't really important anymore. They had shifted towards the writing, and how Cara had needed to really flex her creative muscles in order to retain her audience. It had seemed like the two of them were on the same page throughout the entirety of their discussion. Now it was clearly apparent that they were not talking about the same thing.

Cara could feel her face start to flush, the realization that she had just spilled her deepest, darkest secret to her sister. Of course such a thing was embarrassing. There was no way it wouldn't be. She wrote smut for horny witches and wizards and laughed all the way to the bank with it (though if she made a little more, she could move out). Muggles had been doing the same thing for decades, and all she was lacking was an actual book and a publisher willing to risk it all. The other option was to go through the muggles, but that would remove a large portion of her current audience, which she did not want to do.

But now she was stuck in a position that she didn't think would happen so soon. It was going to eventually, but she always thought it would be because someone snooped on her computer or put it together and asked her. Not by her own admission. "...I'm talking about my writing. As DarksideOfDiagon? On the internet?" It came out almost at a whisper. She had finally said it. Her secret identity, now know to Diana. Which in her mind was like telling the whole world for some reason. And then Cara continued, her nervousness trapping her in a cycle of needing to say more, as if to explain herself. "Its all fictional. I don't use living people's names at all and none of it's true. Muggles call it fanfiction...and I don't know, it just got easier and easier to write and people were reading so I kept going." She hadn't even stopped to ask Diana the question back: what was she talking about?

diana eoina bainbridge & penelope raisa bainbridge ● 392 ● Song by Artist

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