mari & liam

this week we had a 5 hour power outage during a storm, and during that i grabbed a three wick candle and my notebook and wrote the bulk of this story. it's unfinished, but i started writing it as a way to reacquaint myself with my characters i made in 2011 (when i was 10). this focuses on two of my characters, mari and liam, in something i refer to as the witch verse, which is my world i created in response to jk rowling's transphobia back in 2019, and am still working on today. these characters and this world are very near and dear to me, so from the bottom of my heart, enjoy <3

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December 31st 2003
Wednesday
11:17 PM

The Circinus family’s New Year’s Eve parties were the stuff of legend, and this year was no exception. The ballroom of their massive house was packed with the who’s who of the magical community. The other seventy-nine constellation families received invitations, though only twenty had members actually show up. Which was, in all honesty, more than Liam expected.

To say Liam Just was a fish out of water would be a gross understatement. He was as far away from his natural habitat as possible. Looking around, he guessed that just one of the undershirts one of the men were dressed in was more expensive than his entire outfit, which still cost enough to hurt Liam’s pockets. It was almost nauseating, the amount of money on display. Liam took a sip from his second glass of champagne.

Liam was well aware that he was being a wallflower, quite literally. He was clinging to the gold and pink wallpaper like he could somehow disappear into it and become one with the roses depicted in the design. Mari would’ve scolded him for this, if she hadn’t disappeared after greeting him with her parents when he arrived. He couldn’t even pick her out from the crowd of expensive, drunk bodies, if she was still in it at all.

Liam’s phone in his pocket felt like it was burning him, his deep brown hand itching to fish it out, though this was mostly out of habit. He’d asked someone to come with him tonight, and hadn’t given up hope that she’d respond, or now apologize. A simple “sorry, I didn’t see this!” message would’ve made Liam feel significantly less anxious. This wasn’t her scene even remotely, but at least it would’ve been nice to have company. So much for staying friends.

Before that train of thought could continue, Liam felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned in a way that could be considered a fearful jump, covering the top of his champagne flute to keep it from spilling. He was met with the face of Ji-Woo Circinus.

Mari had always been the spitting image of her mom, but Ji-Woo’s advancing age made the resemblance less stark than it was when Mari was a preteen. Though, all things considered, Ji-Woo had aged very well. The only real obvious sign were the laugh lines that perfectly framed her smiling mouth.

Ji-Woo said Liam’s name with the same genuine warmness that he had been greeted with when he’d first arrived, and held his arm with a stern grip.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” she asked. Liam nodded awkwardly in response, and Ji-Woo’s smile didn’t feel forced anymore.

“I have a task for you, would you mind?”

“Of course. Anything.” Especially considering Liam knew she didn’t explicitly want him here.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that my daughter has disappeared into her bedroom, would you mind bringing her back for me?”

Despite the cheeriness in Ji-Woo’s voice, Liam knew very well that she was asking him to walk into a lion’s den so she didn’t have to. Mari liked parties, but only when she was in control of them. She was always a host and very, very rarely an attendee. There was a very good chance that when Liam opened Mari’s bedroom door he’d find nothing but an open window and footsteps leading anywhere but here.

Ji-Woo narrowed her small, black eyes at Liam. “I’d hate for her to miss the clock chiming midnight.”

“Yeah,” Liam choked out, “Yes, I mean. Of course.”

Ji-Woo squeezed Liam’s arm. “Good. You remember which room is hers?”

“Yes, I do.”

Ji-Woo tilted her head in a way that suggested fondness for Liam, and then disappeared into the crowd as swiftly as she appeared in the first place. Liam took a quick breath, then made his way to the stairs.

The hallway that led to Mari’s bedroom felt as familiar to Liam as his own childhood home. Even if the decor completely changed, he’d always know the structure in his bones. The muscle memory would never let him go. A completely new family could’ve moved in and Liam would still know where to put his hand on the wall to avoid knocking down the school pictures of Mari as he walked.

He knocked lightly on Mari’s door, the one with an old “keep out” sign still hanging from it. Her parents never listened to it. Liam wondered why she still kept it up.

“Come in!”

Even though the evidence seemed to have been disposed of, Liam still smelled the stench of cigarettes.

Mari stood on her balcony wearing the same shimmering, dark blue dress she was in when Liam had seen her at the beginning of the night. It was backless, revealing more of her tan skin than Liam suspected Ji-Woo was comfortable with. She was even still in her heels.

Mari turned to him and sighed, her face somewhere between amused and annoyed. This was the Mari Liam was familiar with, not the fake flash of a smile she’d given him earlier.

“Fuck you, you owe me a cigarette.”

Liam couldn’t hide the smile that crossed his face. He looked down at the floor to hide it, but he knew Mari had seen it.

“Don’t look at me like that unless you’re hiding a pack in your pocket.”

Liam finally began crossing the room toward the balcony, shaking his head.

“I’m afraid I’m not.”

Mari scoffed, a fond noise. She herself was hiding a smile now.

“Then what are you good for?”

Liam shrugged. “Getting you to come back to the party before midnight, I hope.”

“Ah,” Mari replied, “so my mother sent you.”

She didn’t sound particularly upset, but Liam knew well that she had mastered the art of masking her emotions a long, long time ago.

“She did,” Liam confirmed, opting for honesty rather than pretending he’d come to see her of his own accord. He watched as Mari’s frustrated hands gripped the railing.

“Where’s your plus one?” Mari finally asked, looking at Liam.

“I didn’t bring one.”

“You could’ve, it said you could on the invite.”

“I know,” Liam said, “She said no.”

Mari’s fidgeting stopped, and she slowly turned to face Liam properly.

“You didn’t.”

“I didn’t what?” Playing dumb wasn’t exactly what he’d intended, but the words were out of his mouth before his brain could catch up.

Mari rolled her eyes that looked so much like her mother’s. “You really haven’t met any girls in the last few months?”

“I have!” Liam’s voice cracked on the second word, and internally he damned his testosterone injections.

Mari couldn’t help but laugh, which somehow dampened the blow to Liam’s ego. He still tried to look pissed, or at least somewhat unreadable, but soon he was laughing, too.

Once they had settled into a comfortable quiet, Mari asked, “Did you at least find out how she’s doing?”

Liam felt his face grow warm. “No. She, um, actually didn’t respond at all, actually.”

Mari made a sympathetic noise, her black eyebrows furrowing. She leaned against the railing. “Brutal.”