#[I was thinking about doing a chatzy tonight though if that counts?]

[wickedsrest-rp-archive]

High Tide || Season 1 Finale Chatzy

TIMING: Current LOCATION: The beach PARTIES: @wardinasrani  @carbrakes-and-stakes @inconvenientsimonstrocity @hackysackace SUMMARY: Ritual at the beach

“Hey Bill.”

Bill Took looked from counting money behind the General Store’s cash register. He absently glanced across the counter to meet the unblinking stare of Sam Rainsbottom. A long silence passed as Bill waited for his teenage clerk to offer up some inane lacrosse trivia or give some hyperactive opinion of how ‘lit’ something was. But Sam just stood there absolutely still, only the slightless rise and fall of the short boy’s chest letting Bill know that he wasn’t having a staring contest with a statue.

“Um...yeah Sam?”

“They're calling me,” Sam said in a dull monotone. “I must go.”

“Sure Sammy, I can clock you out. Who is…” It was then that Bill bill noticed the bloody boxcutter on the store’s floor and shifted enough to see the designs cut into Sam’s palms, welling up like eyes crying red tears. “Oh my god, wait Sam! What..”

But Sam Rainsbottom was already out the door, each step matching a rhythm that sang through his veins. The chant filled Sam’s ears and rushed along his spine like ice, drowning out the words of friends and relatives that attempted to stop the boy, features transfixed in mounting concern. Sam apologized with a drugged smile and insisted in a soft far away voice that the stars Vanth and Orcus stood ready at the gate, and the great vaults of Amansinaya echoed with the cries of those who’d been born adrift from time. He mustn’t keep them waiting.

The cloud’s had congealed into the red-stained amber of evening by the time Sam’s slow steady steps carried him over Jericho Hill and through a small patch of woodlands suddenly devoid of bugs or birdsong. The wordless melody guided him past Dark Score Lake and beyond the habor’s docks where Sam’s father was probably anchoring his fishing boat for the night.

The waters of the ocean seemed to stretch out like a vast sacrificial slab, churning with strange whirls and ripples despite there being no wind. Hooded figures cavorted in a festival of antediluvian worship on the shore. Sounds of fire, lightless caverns, lightning turning sand into glass came from the congregations’ lips, bathing Sam’s ears in alien psalms that played havoc with his neurochemistry and instilled the air with a pressure that felt like the moon had drawn too close to the Earth.

Sam’s tennis shoes crunched on the sand as he approached the beach.

Simon didn’t normally find himself at the beach, especially after the last couple weeks he had. First the wolves, then the full moon and its… horrors, the past week with whatever illness he seemed to have contracted, the vision at the Morgue... All of it was worrying, almost so much so that he nearly didn’t even notice as he was walking to his car that he… wasn’t actually walking to his car, abandoning the things he had bought uh... Somewhere as he instead walked in the general direction of the ocean. He didn’t have a chance to go home as he was initially trying to head to his car with food for his dog nor did he have a choice for what he WANTED to do - there was a thought in his head, a new set of sounds that he couldn’t understand that felt like a string of ink being woven through his neurons, getting mixed up with the wires already crossed from his being a wolf and he wanted to stop walking but he couldn’t. He walked, feeling almost like a zombie that aimlessly shuffled though he did his best to make it look like he DID know where he was going and why and he didn’t let the facade drop until he found himself with a small collective of other people, two men and… Alain? What was he doing here? He glanced down and saw the things that he presumed one of the men had drawn, and though it didn’t look immediately recognisable to him, he deduced that it was magic of some kind. Another ritual? He noted the rock in the center and, not entirely sure what to do or why he was here other than some otherworldly compulsion, he rubbed an arm with his hand awkwardly and stood there, quiet and waiting for… HOPEFULLY some form of explanation, wondering if any of this had to do with the vision he saw from the supernatural eyeball that stuck to his hand.

Years of practice, hours of preparation, and yet Darwin's forehead was damp with sweat as he traced the lines of the Circle in the sand. It wasn't ideal, he'd have to make sure the waves wouldn't erase all his hard work, but the ritual had to happen at the beach. That's where everyone would be summoned, and where they'd stop the madness that's been plaguing the town. Or die trying, but Darwin tried not to dwell on that.

People started gathering, and Darwin finally decided to show himself. He walked toward the others, hands raised in an offer of peace. His movements were slow, calculated, and he used the shadows to mask his nervousness. When he spoke, his voice was calm and even. “Good evening. You might be wondering why you've been called here, or by whom.” He paused dramatically and turned to point at the area he'd prepared a little farther down the beach. A big rock had been placed at the center of the circle, forming a rudimental yet effective altar, and on it he placed his tools: a dagger, a bowl, and a small wooden box that somehow seemed to shake every now and then as if something inside was tossing and turning. “We're here to put an end to a great menace that could very well wipe this town out. We all have a role to play today, and it is imperative that we do it well, or we might be doomed. We'll only get one chance, so I expect everyone to follow my instructions carefully.”

Again, he paused. How did you explain to a bunch of strangers that you were a demon expert about to summon a monster in front of them and force them to fight each other in the hopes of channeling some mystical force and banishing a creature that they might not even have seen? Darwin pinched his nose and sighed. Tonight would be harder than expected. He let his eyes focus on each of the others, studying them, trying to figure out who everyone was supposed to be. “I know none of you have any reason to trust me... So trust yourselves. You all came here following an impulse, deep inside you know we must act now. I promise... And those of you well-versed in the supernatural know that's not a word that should be used lightly... I promise that everything I'll ask of you will be for the good of everyone. Now... One of you should be able to change their form. Now would be the time to do so. Their natural enemy should encourage them.”

The hunter still had patches of grey ash in his hair as he approached the sea shore. This was not his plan for the night, but he had left the cemetery with no complaints, crossed the road ignoring the sound of honks and ended up stepping on wet sand, toward the group of people who he knew he had to join. His true purpose was to be here, with these people, with that kid who worked at the store next to his garage, this guy with the really excellent barber, and Simon ? What the hell was Simon doing here? The last time the two had been near water, Alain had ended up in jail. Yep, he did not like how this was going.

The promise made by Barber guy did not convince him, but he was right about everything he had said. Something had brought them here, something bigger than them all, certainly. Completely ignoring whatever rules he had on discretion, the hunter drew his sword out and turned toward Simon. There was something in the way Simon had reacted to the news of a shifter being present that did not sit well with the hunter. Pointing his sword in his direction, Alain stepped forward. The look on his face was neither grim nor menacing yet, but the threat was very present. He spoke calmly, although his tone and attitude would change, should he not listen. “Simon, I have no idea what is going on, but, I think this guy is right?” He would not have been able to explain why, but the man was right. He had to be.

And so it was that Sam Rainsbottom found himself on a beach with a bunch of Metallica Fans, a guy who believed the lake was possessed by demons, a guy who looked as confused as Sam himself, and a last guy who apparently was a preacher trying to get the other guy change and accept Jesus into his heart...or be stabbed?

“W-woah woah,” the teenager said, trying to interpose himself between Alain and Simon. The chanting and growing sense of dread had taken Sam’s nerves to a feather pitch. But though Sam was visibly shaking in the face of horrors he didn’t understand and the lacrosse championships were about as “violent” as he was up for. However he wasn’t going to let some guy get stabbed because of this creepy lake jesus religious stuff.

“Stop!” It suddenly occurred to Sam that he was interposing his attractive yet very soft and slashable body in front of a dude with a sword. ...Regrets? Yes. “I don’t know what’s going on, but don’t hurt him!”

So in one moment, Simon had no idea what he was doing but in the next, the man with the fantastic facial hair had given a succinct, yet understandable explanation for why they were gathered - well, understandable as it could’ve been given that he was correct about this being a ritual. The part he was a little more concerned with, however, was how the man with the facial hair mentioned that one of them should be a shifter. He wasn’t referring to… Simon, was he? Maybe he was talking about the younger man… he didn’t peg Alain as a shifter either and he obviously wasn’t talking about himself. “Y-yeah, about that last part--” He didn’t get to finish his sentence when Alain suddenly pointed a… sword at him. Alain owned a sword? “Hey!” He held his hands up, taking a step away from Alain. “Alain, it’s… me? Simon?” He asked uncertainly. He wanted to mention that he was not, in fact, a shifter; just a normal person with other people and this was all some massive misunderstanding. Even if he was, he didn’t CHOOSE to shift - that was something only born wolves could do, right? Then the youth jumped in front of him and while he didn’t necessarily feel protected, it was slightly comforting to see someone so noble as to take a sword for him, if only for a couple seconds until the sword pierced through him and into Simon himself. “Uh… I think you have the wrong guy,” Simon mentioned, looking over at the ritual-performer despite something inside him knowing that something was wrong. Well, wrong-er.

“No, no, no!” Darwin blurted out, shaking his head. “First the shifter will change, then blood will be drawn, you're doing this all wrong!” Amateurs. He had to remind himself that these people didn't know what Darwin knew, and admittedly his explanation had been vague. At least they seemed the heroic, self-sacrificing types, that bode well for the ritual. With an exasperated sigh he took another couple of steps backward, moving closer to the circle. “Very well, let me be more clear. One of you is a shifter, one is a hunter, one is a human. And then there's me, I'm the magical one. And the sharpest dresser, clearly.” That last bit wasn't necessarily true, but it helped him: while the dark clothes, the many mystical symbols hanging from his neck and the eyeliner only made him look like one of the bad guys they gave him confidence, and he needed to project the aura of a man perfectly in control if he wanted to inspire trust. “Now, I don't care who's who. And if you're worried about your identity being discovered, there are spells we can do to make people forget. We're here as allies, not enemies. But,” he paused dramatically, his eyes focusing on each of the others. “Balance must be restored. Hunters hunt, and shifters shift, that's how it's always been, and how it must be tonight.” Of course, he kept it to himself the role the human would have to play. Somehow he figured it would be best to save certain revelations for the very last moment. “We don't have much time. The cultists might find us. So, you, with the sword...” He focused his attention on Alain. “I assume you're the hunter here. If a change won't happen in the next moments, it is your duty to make it happen. By force, if necessary.” Darwin took another long pause, this one clouded with genuine fear. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he opened his arms. “You can even attack me if it'll make the shifter change. Just... Not the face, please.”

Alain’s attention went back toward sharp beard, who looked exasperated, at best. Alain, who was far from impressed by the man’s accusations, did not comment, and instead listened, lowering his sword. It wasn’t like he had anything to fear from grocery boy and Simon. Yet. If anything, he was more worried about the man who claimed he was a magician. He reminded him of Felix in some aspects, and that was not really a good sign for the hunter. “So this is about bringing balance back to the force? Dude, that’s the plot of Star Wars.” If he shook his head with disapprovement, he did not leave. He would have left, maybe he should have left, but he had this feeling he couldn’t quite catch, that kept him here, with this group of seemingly normal people. He had to play his part, and if whatever this guy said was true, then maybe they would finally stop getting fish rain, eyeballs everywhere, endless nights, and other types of horrors. He was not the kind to get his hopes up, as he could not afford being disappointed again. And so he listened, and looked at Simon from over the kid’s shoulder. “Simon, you have to shift. You need to shift,” they did not have time to lose. Cultists were everywhere and they would find them if they did not get this over with, and that’s what brought him to get his free hand on Sam’s shoulder, pushing him aside as easily as if he were a toddler. “I don’t know why you’re here, kid, but let’s make sure you don’t get hurt.” And if Simon turned, then Alain would keep on making sure of that. “Now Simon, don’t make me do things I don’t want to do, and turn.”

Black waves lapped at the shore. Sam’s lived near the ocean all his life and been running around his father’s fishing boat since he’d been old enough to walk. Each wave usually had gradations of color that reflected the hues of the sky, topped by white froth as the tiniest particles of water reacted with friction against the air. Sometimes algae deepened  it with green or undercurrents dredged up bioluminescent creatures that made the sea look a starry tapestry unto itself.

But now the waves were just a cold stygian void, broken only by beach debris of eyes whose neve cords tangled together on the sand like some perverse nightmare version of kelp.

Sam Rainbottom did not believe in magic, demons, aliens, werewolves, superhumans, or wizards. Even God, karma, and the angels seemed like wishful thinking in a world where so many were hungry and hurting for seemingly no reason.

But as he looked at the grim travesty that afflicted nature and say cavorting cultists beseeching the chthonic depths of the sea and outest reaches of space with sounds no human tongue could utter, something instinctive in Sam knew that something was wrong. Not wrong in the sense that this preacher guy was going to stab this other guy, or weird as in whatever sexy Gandalf over there was talking about. There was a more profound wrongness in the air right now that Sam felt in his bones, but didn’t have the words to explain or deny.

Sam wasn’t thrilled about being pushed by sword-preacher guy, but had been manhandled so easily that even Sam was stupid enough try his luck on that front.

“S-so uh...what d-do you need me to do,” he asked Sexy Gandalf, glancing nervously at the clusters of hooded figures by the shore whose chanting was rising in sonorous urgency. Sam wasn’t really sure why he was actively volunteering for whatever Satanic ritual was going down here, save that Sexy Gandalf seemed to be the sole point of certainty in a world going increasingly mad.

Wait wait wait WHAT? What was going on right now, where did Simon make the wrong turn and how did he get off the ride? He still held his hands up in surrender and looked at the strange cast of characters he was around. “I don’t know what you’re thinking is going to happen,” Simon didn’t address anyone in particular but his quiet voice was taking a tone to it - fear, most likely. He didn’t think they knew what was going to happen because HE didn’t; up to this point, he had no memory of when he’d transform and was forced to put the pieces of the night together going by clues he was left the morning after. He wanted to protest that he wasn’t a shifter insomuch as an ‘involuntary curse-bearer'; when he thought ‘shifter’, he thought of someone like Nora who could control her form or even a Born wolf like Salva or Ariana. Simon not only didn’t have control, he didn’t have memory of those times. “I, uh… I can’t,” He decided to conclude lamely. “I have no idea what I’m doing or how I’m… doing.” This was awkward. He hated talking about himself and what he... Could or couldn’t do. “You sure you can’t find any actual shifters?” He was pushing the problem off and he wanted to help, almost more than anything at the moment given the evident peril but he had ACTUALLY no idea of how to help.

“I haven't seen Star Wars, but I can only assume it ripped off from other ancient stories, because this is the plot of many rituals older than the written word itself.” Darwin replied to the Hunter, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Comparing magic to some ridiculous sci-fi flick. Tsk. At the very least the Hunter seemed willing to go through with things, as was the human.

Darwin turned to the kid and put his arm around him, doing his best to sound reassuring and comforting. Not a role that fit him, but he tried. “Young man, you're going to have the biggest part in this. Aside from mine, obviously, I'm the main character in this play.” A wink, playful, meant to ease the tension and to buy some time. How could it break to him the news that he was going to be a sacrifice? Darwin hoped it wouldn't be fatal, they needed the human to survive, but with the cultists so close, a demon about to be freed and a shifter that was obviously as green as the lettuce he had earlier... Things were looking grim. He hid his concerns behind a practiced smile. “You, my dear, are going to make this whole ritual possible. Without you,” without your blood he mentally corrected himself, “We wouldn't be able to do what needs to be done. You'll make it vulnerable.” Darwin didn't elaborate on the 'it', deciding to turn to the shifter instead.

The very reluctant shifter. “You don't seem to grasp the situation here. Hear the chantings? That's a bunch of cultists. You know all the eyes? In the sky, in the sink, in people's flesh...” To further make his point, Darwin raised his palm, showing the empty eyelid still there, sleeping quietly in the center of his hand. “They're working to bring forth something even worse. The magic we'll perform here will stop them, will stop everything. But we need you to transform.” With every word he took a step closer to the shifter. The instructions were clear, the hunter was supposed to force the change. But things weren't going according to plan, he needed to improvise. Of all the hunters and shifters he could get, he had to be stuck with the peaceful ones... He had to push them, somehow. With a sudden movement, he raised a fist toward the Shifter's face. Darwin closed his own eyes as he swung his fist, hoping that an old-fashioned brawl would get the Hunter and the Shifter into the proper mood.

The hunter looked at the self proclaimed leader, who sure had a lot of wrong opinions, with all the disdain he could summon. He must have been the spitting image of his father right now, and his disdain grew bigger, but for himself this time. His wrinkled nose still there, Alain watched as Darwin wrapped an arm around the kid.

If there was something Darwin could do, it might be to make sure that Sam was kept from harm’s way. However, something the magician said brought another frown to his face. What could he possibly mean by this? Was Sam in danger? A bigger danger than this situation, being near those cultists, was? Pinching at the bridge of his nose, Alain gave Mr.Talkative a look. “And what part exactly does he play?” Although, instead of an answer, all he got was Darwin raising his hand on his friend.

He had to react, fastly, and that’s exactly what he did although, now that Darwin’s fist was out of the way, they still had to find a way to make Simon shift. Force him to shift. If he was close to dying, he would have no other choice, no matter how good a person he was. “I’m sorry, bud,” with no warning, he wrapped his hand around Simon’s throat, and started squeezing the life out of him. With his hand on him, whatever happened next, he would at least have some sort of control over the situation, right? Unless…

This whole situation seemed like a bunch of bad ideas rolled into one grandiose bad idea. Everything the snappy dresser said made the hair on the back of Simon’s neck stand up all over again. The more he talked, the more Simon was being put under the impression that this was another one of those blood rituals. GRANTED, the last time he participated in one, they only needed a couple drops so surely that might be the case here, right? But then the man turned to him and he tensed up instinctively. The cultists, the unnatural eye the man flashed on his palm, the recollection that there was possibly a supernatural eldritch squid in the lake and the sun being reduced to a giant eyeball… the werewolf took a step back for every step the supposed spellcaster took towards him to maintain that distance but stopped when the other man did. There was a soft exhale, maybe it was-- Aaaand it wasn’t over. While he didn’t flinch necessarily, Simon’s reaction time already prepared him for getting decked in the face but the impact never came, instead blocked by Alain’s hand. What was wrong with these people? If they could just talk things out, this could be solved, right? “Look, I’m sorry but I can’t just--” He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence when Alain went from blocking the mustachioed man's incoming punch to starting to strangle him. He was caught off-guard by it and at first, for just a split second thought that it was a ploy but he quickly realised that it wasn’t as superhuman strength dug fingers into his neck, rapidly blocking off his circulation. Without thinking, his hands went up to Alain’s, scrabbling at it to get him to let go but he felt like he was in the lockjaw of a crocodile. “Alain--” He gasped, managing to figure out what was happening in those few seconds and if he was permitted to remember this, he would be sure not to blame Alain in any way for his decision. It made perfect sense; neither of them knew what would spark a forced transformation and the thoughts refused to cross Simon’s mind. He was killing him, that much he could feel. The human kept struggling fruitlessly, trying with every fiber to regain control of the situation because in the bottom of his gut, this was not going to go how it was planned anyway. At this point, he could only hope for forgiveness for what he was about to do. “I’m-- sorry…” Then it began; unimaginable pain coursing through his body, ripping over and under and in between every cell of his being. Grunts morphed into yelling that one usually heard on a battlefield accompanied with a missing limb before the shock took them. The hands that grappled Alain’s sharpened, lengthened and mutated where the claws started to dig into the skin. Clothes were ripped as though they were made of paper mache as fur sprouted like grass in tufts; this was no partial transformation, not this time. The yells turned into snarls and growls as Simon was twisted around and subsequently unfurled like a blooming flower, a writhing mass of sharp bits and angled limbs, gangly and wiry. Though the process might’ve seemed like it took several hours, it was over in a matter of minutes; where the man stood before was now a lithe, deep brown beast with piercing blue eyes and a long, scraggly tail that hung behind him, swaying faintly and breathing heavily through its nose as if it just ran a marathon. And it was fast. Eyes dancing over Alain’s features for a few seconds, then the spellcaster’s, a thin snout took to the air briefly before it dropped onto its long front legs and turned sharply to find Sam. Weak link. First prey. It leapt for the human, hearing only the call to destroy something, someone.

Like most human residents of White Crest, Sam lived in a state of a pathological denial. On some level it was a defensive tactic that the mind employed to shelter itself from grim truths best left unknown. Since colonial antiquity, Sam’s ancestors had been born and raised on land that teetered on the liminal horizon between Earth and Non-Euclidean dimensions whose alien realites defied hominid understanding. The only way for a powerless mortal to cope was to censor their own perceptions. The blindfold had been handed down generations and placed over a child Sam’s eyes by parental admissions whenever he mentioned things half-seen in the night.

But now, as a man contorted and seemed to split open before him, there were no more safe lies that Sam could tell himself. There was no sanitized logical explanation for the cracking of bones as they forcefully elongated or the serpentine slithering of muscle cords beneath the skin as organs and fibers reshaped themselves in seconds. The familiar form of human being was punctured by claws and fangs before distending until a sickening skull-crunch followed a man’s visage vanishing into something elongated and lupine. This was impossible..wrong. Sam must be dreaming, crazy, or high maybe. But when that feral sapphire gaze met his own, the young man knew in his blood that he was fully lucid.

Sam’s pale blue eyes widened with the terror of revelation, as if rose-tinted glass had been finally shattered to let in true light for the first time.

The teenager staggered a few steps back as the hulking russet-furred predator charged at him, stumbling on the slick occipital nerve seaweed as his pale lips mouthed soundless words of panic.  

Darwin didn't fight back when the Hunter pushed him away from the shifter. That sort of quick reaction, when blood boils hot and instincts take over, that's exactly the sort of reaction he was hoping for. He didn't bother answering the other men's questions, he just hurried back to the circle. The sound of bones shifting and rearranging was disgusting, but to Darwin's ears it was music: it meant the transformation was underway. He checked the circle on the sand, still intact despite the waves lapping at it. This would work.

In the few seconds they had before the transformation was complete, Darwin shouted “The shifter needs to draw blood from the human! I know it's horrible, but it's what must happen.” Again, he regretted being the bearer of such bad news, but he had no time to reassure the group: he opened the box and picked up what looked like a glowing orb covered in runes. That was a family heirloom, or the closest to it Darwin had: a powerful artefact he'd stolen from the Asrani and had used to trap the demon with Nell's help. Without warning, Darwin grabbed the dagger and used it to stab the orb. The blade dug easily into what looked like stone, cutting it as if it was flesh, and demonic energy started flowing from it. It fell on the lines in the sand, and expanded, filling the circle and making it glow with an eerie light that mirrored the moon's. Darwin started chanting, ancient words of power he had committed to memory, and the light shone brighter, blinding even, as something started to take form in the center of the circle as the creature was being released by its magical bounds.

“In a moment, a demon will rise from this.” Again, Darwin made sure to raise his voice, making it loud enough to be heard over the growls and fighting. “It'll attack us. I need its blood. And the human’s blood. And time to perform another ritual. And no one must die!” Channeling his own energy into the circle to give the demon form was already draining him, truthfully Darwin wasn't sure they were going to make it, but he had to act confident. The creature in the circle was almost solid, drawing his magic and using it to feed its own appearance, and Darwin felt he could move his focus from the summoning to the fight behind him. He turned to watch the wolf, the hunter and the human. “Remember, I need blood, not death!” Reeeally helpful, Darwin.

The leap was the quick part but the Wolf was soon inches from Sam’s face, drained of colour and frozen with shock. He was on the ground, not as exciting for the kill. The wolf loomed over him, dark umber fur brushing against Sam’s pale skin as its nose took in the terrified scent of the boy, his face, his hair, his neck. As it absorbed the stench of its prey, pitch-black claws held Sam’s arms, digging into the soft flesh as though they were made of melting ice cream. It drew back its head, the mangy fur on its thin neck bristling with a snarl that rumbled in its throat and it pulled its claws out sharply, leaving eight deep, dark gashes on his arms, four for each. The smell of blood flowed through his senses and it panted with a cruel desire. With another deep, guttural growl it reached forward again to put a paw on Sam’s stomach when suddenly it yelped and recoiled, feeling something pierce its hide on its hind leg and it whipped around to see Alain with his sword puncturing its skin, deep and sure as it sliced past part of the bone and leaving it notched. The blood dripping from its claws, it abandoned its previous quarry and instead turned to regard the slayer, keeping low to the ground with a limp immediately noticeable.

Demon. Blood. No dying. Ritual. Motherfucking magic nonsense.

Simon did not leave Alain any chance to protest or actually do what he wanted to do. Punch Darwin in the face. This pretentious fuck. He couldn’t stop the wolf from lashing out at Sam. Far from the hunter the idea of killing his friend, but some silver would have been nice to have. He did not really think this through, and while he was not entirely sure that this would work, clearly he could still do some damage with his sword, and stop Simon from hurting the poor kid. And so, as the wolf lifted his paw to strike again, the hunter bolted forward. The sword went easily through the flesh. He barely had time to breathe out in relief, for the beast was turning toward him (which he expected), menacing as ever. He had no other choice but to keep the damn thing away from Darwin and Sam, and so, readjusting the weight of his sword in his hand, Alain stepped back, luring Simon away from the two. Although the more he stepped back, the more he got close to the cultists. Perhaps this would end up being a two birds one stone situation. If he was being honest, facing a werewolf was not something he often had the chance of doing (to say the least) and improvisation being what it was, the hunter could not help but have a bad feeling about this. He had no idea, whatsoever, of how he was going to get out of this situation. If anything else failed, perhaps he would have to go for his usual methods, but losing Simon would truly be heartbreaking, and he wondered, what if, if someone died, none of this would even work?

One of the few tangential benefits of overwhelming confusion and terror is that your brain is so chock full of white noise that pain has to wait its turn. Sam looked down at his arms, palms bearing dried cuts from a boxcutter in the shape of eye-like sigils and now cruelly symmetrical slashes that welled up in scarlet. The athlete had lived a rough and tumble life with plenty of hard knocks and pain during practice, but the gulf between that and what he was experiencing now was so wide that Sam felt like he was being swallowed.

He had tunnel vision, eyes rimmed with wet red and darkness as the huge beast and man with a blade gracefully danced like deadly shadows at the edge of his consciousness, their movements like flickering flames as everything else threatened to be swallowed in smoke. For a time Sam heard only the steady crash of ocean waves and the ragged sound of his increasingly shallow breaths.

But something in Sam fought against the descent from shock into unconsciousness. When rational thought failed, instinct took the wheel, and a stubborn neanderthal part of Sam didn’t give a damn about things making sense so long as he lived. The teenager’s breathing steadied, perhaps having his coaches to thank for years of being hollered at as he powered through the enervating weakness brought on by blood loss and overstimulation. He staggered back to his feet and made his way over to Darwin, the memory of being needed there managing to cut through the dark fog in his head.

Darwin watched the fight, secretly grateful that he was a few feet away from that monstrosity. He had no qualms against werewolves, but seeing the wild beast going on a rampage only fueled his convictions: demons were better. You could reason with demons, bargain for your life. There was no talking to that bundle of muscle, fur and fangs, and seeing it in action he realized the Hunter would be too busy dealing with it to help Darwin with patching the human up.

The human was soon becoming Darwin's favorite person: even with deep gashes on his arms, he still made his way toward Darwin and the circle, and for that Darwin was grateful. He stepped closer to the wounded human and helped him walk where he needed him, right at the edge of the still glowing circle. “You're doing wonderful, just a few more steps, a few drops of blood and then it'll be over.” Darwin paused and quickly added “In the good way, not that you'll die. I won't let it happen.” As he spoke Darwin moved Sam's arms gently, so that they were right above the circle, and then... “I'm sorry, kid.” With only that as a warning, Darwin squeezed one of Sam's arms, watching as the blood dripped onto the circle where the demon's blood still awaited with an ominous glow. “With this sacrifice, thou art free,” he murmured, fueling those words with his own magic.

The moment Sam's blood touched the magical energy on the sand, it quickly spread, painting the lines of the Circle a deep, rich red, glowing with the demon's life force. The human's blood mixed with it, swirling and bubbling as it anchored the demon to this world, and the glowing figure in the center of the circle grew more concrete. The light solidified in a humanoid shape, wearing a dark suit that would be more fitted in a fashion show rather than here, on a beach, next to a rampaging werewolf. The creature's head, though, was far from human: instead of a face, a giant round mouth filled with curved teeth, the sort that would leave their victim no chance to free themselves.

The demon hesitated, bringing his hands to his own throat, and Darwin let out a sigh of relief: the magic was working: Sam's blood not only anchored the demon to this dimension, it also made it breathe. The logistics of it were lost on Darwin, he wasn't a scientist, but seeing the demon gasp for air let him know one thing: it could be drowned. And so...

“Hunter, wolf! Over here, drown the Dator! In the water! When the moon is at its peak!” Which was right about now, and would probably only last a few more minutes. They had to act fast. Of course, wolves were not known for being able to follow specific instructions, and the hunter was probably too busy to really listen to Darwin, so he had to come up with a new plan, quick. He considered using mental magic on the werewolf, something that normally he hated: he'd sworn he wouldn't use his powers to bend someone else's will, he was better than his family, but did he have a choice here? He focused, and tried to tune his magic to the wolf, sending it images of the demon, hoping it would make the wolf focus its attention on a new target, but as soon as he started channeling his energy, the Dator Vitae sensed Darwin's magic and turned its head toward him. Still struggling for air, the creature jumped forward, and Darwin wasn't quick enough to dodge: the demon tackled him to the ground, and the two started struggling on the sand. “Little help, here!” Darwin grunted, doing his best to keep the demon's mouth away from him.

He could hear Darwin shouting from afar, although what disturbed him the most was what he could see in the darkness. What the fuck was this monstrosity? Thoughts of beheading and burning it crossed his head, and this sounded like a much more pleasant option than Darwin’s. “Fuck no, I don’t wanna spend the next week hiding my hands and legs,” he cursed in French, and then started cursing at Darwin, and his whole family while he was at it. Alain knew what would happen if he put his hands in the water. He had ended up swimming in it just two weeks ago, and what followed had not been pleasant. No matter how hard he scrubbed, the ink did not fade, and he had to wait, and wait, and wait.

Alain, however, knew that he did not have a choice, and instead of keeping on dancing around Simon with his sword still in hand, the hunter darted on the wet sand toward Darwin, Sam, and the demon. In the long term, he doubted that he could outrun a werewolf, but what mattered now was to keep Darwin alive. It turned out that his habit of wounding legs was really a good habit to have.  Taking advantage of his short advance, the hunter kicked into the demon’s side, sending it flying a few meters away, head falling into the water. Heh. Maybe they wouldn’t have to walk into the water, after all. “Don’t thank me,” he shot a sarcastic smile at the all too proud magician, who had lost a bit of his glow now. Walking past him, the hunter kicked against the demon who was trying to get up, shaking his head. Glancing over at Simon in worry, Alain pressed his foot to the demon’s back.

The Wolf kept its bright blue eyes on Alain, seeing the glisten of its own blood on the blade he held up and pointed at it but not acknowledging that the blood was its own. Sam's gore filled its senses but now Alain was the prey and it circled with the hunter in a staring contest, eyes boring through the slayer, waiting for an opportunity to lunge, a spot of weakness, a move to counteract. Other voices were heard but ignored, other sounds tilted an ear but the man with the sword was the target.

Then it shook its head briefly but fervently, as if hearing an acute noise that punctured its concentration, images of something it couldn't understand but didn't inherently fear flashing before its eyes and in its head. The images were short enough not to fully register but in those few moments of distraction, Alain had made a move. Teeth bared and dripping saliva, the Wolf started to give chase and staggered with the first bound as its leg gave out before it had a chance to send adrenaline through its system to keep it going, sending the beast skidding along the ground. Once it righted itself, steeling its muscles, the second push was enough and the Wolf pursued, seeing Alain occupied with something. Perfect. It leapt at Alain, mouth gaping and claws out like a cat about to catch a bird.

Sam had responded to the appearance of a lamprey faced monster from the tribute of his own blood at first with dumb incomprehension. However when the creature had summarily attacked Darwin, Sam had immediately attempted to football tackle the Demon. Sam’s body was quickly losing blood, life, and strength. Nonetheless he fought against the creeping feeling of numbness in his limbs and tried to wrestle the strange suited thing off Darwin, teeth gritted in a blind determination to make the madness stop. Unfortunately Sam’s strength was purely mortal and wouldn’t have likely budged a Demon even if Sam’d was bodily sound and four feet taller.

The fact that the dude with the sword then interrupted Sam’s fierce mortal struggle to simply punt the lamprey monster into the water and do a Captain Morgan pose on it might have been a bit emasculating if Sam had the mental space to think about anything other than pain and the enormous wolf-thing making another charge.

“Dude heads up!”

Darwin was thankful to the human: even with his wounds still fresh he tried. Granted, he only managed to get the Dator Vitae more upset and to bleed all over Darwin's clothes, but that was secondary to the fact his intervention kept the demon from latching its face to Darwin's body and sucking him dry of magic. When Alain arrived and kicked the creature away, Darwin crawled back, trying to put a few more feet between himself and the fight.

“I'll thank you all once this is over,” he replied to Alain, voice tinted with a hint of frustration: his part had been done, and now that brawns were what truly mattered he felt useless. The Wolf's growling drew Darwin's attention to the giant shifter charging at them, and he panicked. The wolf seemed out of control, and headed toward Alain. He doubted the hunter would be able to handle both a Dator and a werewolf, so Darwin gathered the few magical energy he had left and focused again on the wolf, trying to create a mental connection between himself and the creature.

Despite being a skilled magician, and having studied mental magic for years, it was difficult: a shifter's mind was always slippery. Ever changing, and working on instinct more than rational thoughts, it gave Darwin very little to work with... There would be no communication with the wolf, at least not with words. Instead, Darwin pictured the Dator Vitae, and sent that image to the wolf, along with visions of raw, succulent meat, the smell of a grill and the woodlands, and hoped that would be enough to lure the wolf into attacking the demon instead of Alain. Still on the ground, out of breath and almost magicked out, there was nothing more he could do, and he lacked the human's stamina (or maybe it was willpower, the human truly seemed to be a remarkable individual) to push his own limits. Not to mention, he needed to save his strength to conclude the ritual once the demon had been drowned.

The Dator Vitae, for its part, refused to just stay down quietly. Using its supernatural strength, it struggled against Alain's foot, grabbing it with both hands and pulling, trying to make the hunter lose his footing and drag him into the water instead. In the distance, the chanting grew louder and louder… There was a good chance the cultists were approaching. Darwin could only hope Bertrand had somehow managed to lure them away from the ritual and would be able to distract them long enough.

“Putain de…” Alain frowned and did what he should have done seconds ago. Chopping off both the Dator’s arms, he turned toward the whole coming right at him. Good luck getting yourself up with no arms, the hunter thought to himself, although he didn’t really have time to check whether this thing could regrow limbs fast, as he now had to worry about Simon, who was leaping at him. A glimpse to the left and he saw Darwin and Sam looking somewhat safe. While he doubted that the human would help (and he did not blame him for it, or expected him to), Darwin sounded both like someone he would detest, and like someone capable, who knew what he was doing. Maybe it was the comment about Star Wars being a rip off, but the hunter had a bad feeling about the magician.

He tried to grab the wolf’s front legs, but the claws dug into his arms as he did so, and his foot slipped from the demon’s back. Alain really hoped that having cut off the arms would play its part into keeping this thing drowning. Right now, this was not really his priority anyway, razor sharp teeth were inching closer to his face the more the claws dug into his arms, forcing him to give more room to the wolf. “Bordel de coui- Simon, tu fais chier,” there were more curses in French as the hunter struggled to get the damn beast off of him. “A little help here,” he called out. Alain had not noticed it yet, too focused on Simon, but the chanting of the robed cultists had gotten louder and louder, as they were getting closer.

Everything seemed to be going in a blur yet standing still in time and the Wolf was no exception, in one area for a moment then advancing on Alain in the next, static yet in motion. It struggled with the hunter, snapping wildly at his face as its claws pierced the skin on his arms, being held at just enough of a distance though it pushed with strength that certainly belonged to it and not the human it was forced to share a body with. As it lunged and growled and drooled, however, its mind was filled with something else, something familiar yet distant and it recalled the images it suddenly saw, having been from minutes before. The combination of the images coupled with the new stench of whatever was coming from the armless thing in the water overrode the wolf’s instincts; Alain wasn’t the target anymore. The sensation was roughly akin to seeing another predator threatening to take away its prey. The wolf, with no trace of care, tore its claws out of the hunter’s arms and twisted in a fluid motion until its bright blue eyes fell upon the demon. Threat, thief, enemy of what was the wolf’s. With a barking snarl, the wolf dropped onto all fours again and dug its claws into the ground to get an extra burst of thrust as it aimed for the armless creature in the water, sharp night vision seeing that it LOOKED like water but it was pitch black. It didn’t need to focus on the water though, it only had eyes for the creature and it landed on the demon with the many rows of teeth, taking its paws to the snappy suit it was wearing and clenching its teeth into the shoulder of the other as the two rolled into the water, falling beneath the surface and becoming invisible in the murky black depths save for bubbles and splashes of activity from a stray limb.

Sam sat exhausted on the bloodsoaked sand watching as both wolf and lamprey creature vanished beneath black waves. It was easy then, as blood poured over his arms, to imagine that this wasn’t anything more than a dream. The pain was real though, climbing up his spine and guts. He coughed in thick shuddering gasps. Wide blue eyes drifted from Alain to Darwin, but nothing about their bloodstained appearances and bearing offered up any alternative explanation to Sam’s mind.

They’d murdered a wolf that’d split open from a dude, and a fish thing in a suit that’d been lubricated with blood out of a rock.

“This isn’t...that doesn’t.” The sky, sand, and sea began to spin like a gyroscope, switching places with each other. The world somersaulted and Sam felt like he tumbled off its axis. Damp sand and slick eyeballs pressed against his cheek as Sam slumped down on the shore and the world went dark.

The Dator Vitae had let out a terrible screech when its arms had been severed, but it didn't lose any of its fighting spirit, and only the weight of the werewolf kept it from lounging. Instead of attached to the spine of the hunter who'd hurt it, the Vitae found itself tackled by a wolf. Unable to fight back, it was dragged underwater, the black liquid filling its mouth. There was some sort of magic in the water, the demon could feel it, but it wasn't a magic it could feed on. Instead of strengthening it, it made it weaker. Its movements were sluggish as it tried fruitlessly to struggle against the beast keeping it underwater. The Dator's legs kicked, its teeth scratched, but the wolf was just too strong, and without its arms the demon couldn't get the upper hand, nor could it get free. And eventually, once the water was all it could taste, see and feel... The Dator Vitae stopped struggling.

“Good boy, keep it down!” Darwin mumbled to himself as he watched the wolf disappear under the pitch black water of the ocean. As the one who'd summoned the demon, he could somewhat sense its energy, and he smiled in feeling the way it faded with each passing second. He tentatively stood up and took a couple of steps toward the hunter, keeping a safe distance. “I think... Only a few more moments, and then it'll be over.” He sounded far more exhausted than panicked, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes of his concern. Gone was the façade of the confident magician, he was too tired, too drained to keep it up. He looked up and sighed. “Right on time... A few more minutes and it would've been too late.” As tired as he was, Darwin couldn’t keep a small smile off his face: the ritual had been completed, he could feel it. He gathered the last of his magical energy to send out a quick signal. A small flash in the sky above them, so that Nell would know they made it.

“Now we just need to find a way to calm the wolf and get out before the cultists arri” Darwin's voice was cut off by a sudden thump, and he turned to watch the human faint, his fall softened by the sand. “New plan. He needs a doctor, he lost a lot of blood.” Darwin silently vowed to keep watch on Sam's unconscious body once this was over, they owed it to him. Slowly, he reached the human, and did his best to lift him up, ready to carry him away, on his own if he had to. “Hey, Hunter...” Darwin frowned. They all worked together, risked their lives together, and he didn't know how else to call him. “We can’t do anything for the wolf, but he’s gonna be fine. He’s a wolf. And the cultists… They deserve an angry wolf.”

#wickedsevent #wickedswriting #chatzy

[arthurjdrake]

TIMING: Simultaneously with the finale chatzy. LOCATION: Arthur’s House PARTIES: Arthur & @humanmoodring SUMMARY: Nadia and Arthur finally have a heart to heart about the ghost that continues to haunt her memories and discuss the healing possibility that help from others might lend with ZERO interruptions.

TW: Vomit, Descriptions of injury & Blood

With Nadia coming over for a meal and general catch-up Arthur had taken the time to speak to Elena (as best as he could converse with the ghost) about staying upstairs if possible. She hadn’t seemed too happy if the message on his fridge was anything to go by, but judging by the lack of interference he had to his cooking he figured he’d convinced her well enough for the time being. The food was just in the oven - chicken parmigiana wrapped with parma ham, smothered in a homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella with a side of jersey salad and creamy mashed potatoes. He’d also gotten out a bottle of red to share, keenly aware of the fact they had also talked about discussing her mysterious history. Life had taught him one thing, and that was such talks were often helped along with the fortification of a good drink. He was just grabbing the plates out of the cupboard when the doorbell rang, hurrying through the house he pulled the door open with a smile. “Hey there, come in, come in” he ushered stepping back “not too tricky to find me I hope?”

The first thing Nadia noticed when she pulled up to Arthur’s house was that it was really fucking nice. Not in, like, an ostentatious way, but still impressive. She let out a low whistle as she got out of her truck and brushed off the front of her sweater a bit nervously, the material soft and comforting and nice even if the weather was getting pretty warm. Sweaters always seemed like an extra layer of protection to Nadia, and she felt like she needed it. Not because she thought Arthur was going to judge her harshly; she didn’t think that at all. But she’d never had this conversation in person. Not really. However, she wanted to tell Arthur in person. After everything he’d done for her, he deserved it. More than, really. In person was a bit more vulnerable, though, forcing her to deal with emotions, her own emotions, when writing allowed her to kind of distance herself from that. Still, she needed to do this. She smiled at Arthur as he let her in. “Not tricky at all. Nice house, by the way.” She looked around at the open space, relaxing a bit. It suited him, warm and inviting just as he’d been for as long as she’d known him. She shot him a look of concern. “How are you feeling, by the way? All healed up?”

Arthur could understand the use of clothes to help present the appearance and persona you wanted the world to believe and see you for. People, regardless of how good or non-judgemental they claimed to be, all formed first impressions by sight even if it was subconscious. Unlike the more formal appearance he presented at work, typically opting for suits and far more formal attire here in the space of his his home Arthur’s attire was by far more casual. A white tri-blend tee layered under a black and white flannel check shirt with the sleeves folded up above the elbow left intricately monochrome inked (and typically covered) arms free to play host. “Thanks,” he grinned warmly, “not bad isn’t it? Here, take your shoes off… I’ve got food on.” Though the moment of concern softened his grin to a smile, naturally inclined to settle other people’s concerns with words or general physical affection he reached out touching her elbow briefly though the heat of his skin always came as a shock to most people considering his body temperature averaged around 120°F. “All fixed and in working order, promise. Come on, wine and food that I hope you won’t judge too harshly considering your mum’s standards, yeah?”

It was nice to hang out with Arthur in a more laid back setting. Not that working stopped him and Nadia from teasing each other, but there was still always the added factor of them making sure to spend time researching. But the relaxing atmosphere was helping her considerably. It was cool to see Arthur’s tattoos, to see him as a young man and not just a wise, immortal being. This could almost be considered normal, if he wasn’t actually a wise, immortal being and she wasn’t here to tell him about her life. They were just two colleagues, two friends, eating dinner and catching up after a series of hectic weeks. “It’s fantastic, Arthur. And it suits you, too.” She unlaced her boots and sat them neatly near the front door before following him to the kitchen. Arthur’s touch was warm, hot, really, but she didn’t mind. She never felt warm anymore, hadn’t much since she woke up, so the heat was nice. “I’m glad you’re doing better.” Nadia followed him to the kitchen, where the food he’d prepared already smelled wonderful and, she had no doubt, would give her ma a run for her money. “Dude, I’m sure it’s gonna be fantastic. Especially if those cheesecakes were any indication.”

There were certain boundaries that had to be maintained at work, but it was nice to just step back and relax. “A part of me wonders if it’s too big… But in comparison to where I was it’s so much better,” Arthur explained as he wandered through to the kitchen while Nadia unlaced her boots. “It’s not really surprising, I patch up fast even from the worst of states,” there was mild humour in his tone even if the topic wasn’t the most cheery. By the time she joined him he was already pouring a couple of glasses of wine out, setting them on the counter as he went to plate up the salad. “Maybe, can’t say I’ve ever had to compete with someone’s mother when it comes to cooking though.” He grabbed a tea towel, folding it over and pulled open the oven to grab the baking tray out “where did you grow up? What was your life like before… All this supernatural shit? Can’t say I’ve ever asked.” After all, tonight was about getting to know one another.

It was a lot of space, probably too much for Nadia, but that didn’t make it any less homey. Touches of Arthur were all throughout the place as she looked around, eventually wandering to the kitchen. Even though she trusted his words, she looked him over closely. She couldn’t see any noticeable signs of damage. She gave a nod, pleased that he was better. “Those tears really do work wonders, huh?” She took a glass of wine and watched as he dealt with the food, wondering if she should help. “I mean, you stand a fighting chance. It’s been years since I’ve eaten my mom’s cooking.” God, could she even remember what it tasted like? “Do you need any help?” She could probably help him get plates and utensils if he showed her where everything was. As for her past… “I mean, the here and now’s always been more vital, dude.” She felt awkward; after months of giving the bear minimum, she was now having to figure out how to share about her life again. Like she’d ever done it before. Even back before White Crest, before the possession, she’d been shit at this kind of thing. “Uh, I’m from Phoenix, Arizona.” She smiled a bit. “Sometimes it’s kind of funny that I work for an actual phoenix. Can’t really lose my roots, I guess. But, uh, my dad’s Cuban. My mom’s Italian-American, from Chicago. How the fuck they ended up in the fucking desert of all places is anyone’s guess, but…” That was very little about her, about her life. “I mean,” she laughed drily, “my life kind of sucked before I woke up here. I was a lonely kid, a lonely teenager, only one real friend in college. Then, she left, and I went a little wild for awhile and,” and she got possessed, but the words were thick in her mouth. She took a drink. “Yeah. But what about you? What’s this life been like?”

“Bring you back from the brink of death more or less, last I heard they’re one of the rarest commodities on the black market… Not easy to get your hands on them. Phoenixes are rare to come upon and even harder to pick out of a crowd.” Arthur didn’t mind, it wasn’t the most complex meal but it tasted good and that was what mattered. “I think I’m alright here, could you grab the knives and forks out that draw there? Second one down,” he pointed out a drawer not far from where she was. “True, but it’s nice to know where people come from,” he countered lightly not in a prying sense but a simple sharing of opinion from someone that liked to get to know others. “Huh, go figure,” he laughed quietly at the irony but grew quiet as Nadia spoke.

Taking the plates over to the table nearby and setting them down he nodded along, but his expression grew sympathetic as she trailed off and he didn’t press for the time being. He settled in his chair, contemplating the answer “it’s been… I’ve been lucky, Mercy’s always tried her best whenever I’ve had to be rehomed… Always tried to put me with good people” it didn’t always work, but she tried and that’s what counted in his mind. “I was adopted by a couple from London, stayed there most of my life - school, the works. I was an only child which had its perks but I think I would’ve liked a sibling... My parents had… big expectations for me, and it was hard not to cave under the effort of trying to carry and live up to them.”

He took a sip of wine seeming to grow quieter, “I’m thankful for every opportunity they gave me but it was hard - coming to terms and trying to understand what I was without anyone there to help me understand…” he rested his chin on his hand “thought I was losing my mind when I started getting flashes of all these past lifetimes. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on. Did every scan under the sun… Eventually I knew better than to mention it… Until it eventually came back what I was.” It hadn’t been the easiest journey but he’d gotten there. “Anyway, how’s the food?”

“You need to keep safe, then.” Hearing that his tears were incredibly rare and valuable did nothing to help soothe Nadia. Worrying about Arthur getting attacked because of what he was added itself to her list of things to look out for when it came to her friends. She grabbed the silverware and helped him set the table before they sat down, a lot on her mind.

She smiled a bit as he mentioned how Mercy made sure he was well taken care of. “She’s a good friend, I can tell.” She remembered the older woman’s request, trying to think about how to best go about asking him what he wanted for his birthday. She’d figure out how to do that later. At the mention of him being an only child, she nodded. “I was an only kid, too. I was enough trouble on my own, and I was the kind of kid that wanted-- well, needed to be alone sometimes. Both my parents came from big families, though. I’m sure they wanted more kids, but I was a handful, I guess.”

She took a bite of food, savoring the flavor of it. She couldn’t remember her mother’s cooking. She couldn’t. It was a bit depressing to think about, but she figured that if Arthur’s cooking wasn’t just as good, it was a close fucking second. There were so many things from her life in Phoenix that she was beginning to realize that she was forgetting. The taste of her ma’s cooking, the type of beer her father drank, the color of Brooke’s eyes. She knew what it was like to get flashes of things that she didn’t understand, even if it was for different reasons that Arthur. “I think you’ve done a good job with getting from where you were to where you are now, for what it’s worth,” she told him. She took another bite of food. After she swallowed, she said, “It’s fucking fantastic.”

“I’m as safe as houses, barely anyone knows about me - besides you, Evelyn and Mercy… That’s it. And it’s how I’d prefer to keep it.” Arthur often got frustrated when people treated him with kid gloves because of his physicality, and it occasionally led to random acts of attempted heroics to try and prove them otherwise - which almost always ended up proving their point that he was extremely breakable. “Plus,” he added as an afterthought, “out of most supernaturals phoenixes are usually the ones that blend in the easiest… Except for the pinfeathers. But other than that we don’t have weird feeding habits, we don’t prey on people… We just… live.”

“She is. A pain in the ass at times, but I wouldn’t trade her for anything,” he admitted fondly. It was nice to be able to relate to someone in a way, “it’s weird, I get flashes of my first life - fragments really, but I had loads of siblings and I hated it… Yet now I hate not having them,” he supposed it just went to show what you took for granted at times. “Ah, yeah I was always too worried to act up as a kid… Felt like every moment had to count for something or else I’d somehow failed…” not the healthiest mentality for a child to have, but looking back he could recognise his faults. “But I get that - wanting to be alone, silence is good when you just need to recharge but sometimes you need people to balance that…”

He ate a few mouthfuls, a comfortable silence settling over the room between the clinks of cutlery and occasional sip of wine. Nadia’s remark broke the silence and he gave her a smile, “you too… You’re a long way from home,” it was an idle remark, made in passing contemplation of the little information she’d given “ life isn’t easy, but we all make the best of what we have don’t we? It’s what we do with it that truly counts for anything.” His smile broadened at the compliment, “if that’s the verdict on the dinner no clue what you’ll say about dessert.”

“That’s good,” Nadia said, glad she’d been cautious when talking to people about Arthur. If anyone guessed anything about him, it was probably that the man might be a spellcaster of some kind. She really had thought he was, like, a wizard or something after the way he’d healed after their first meeting, with his more bookish tendencies, and, as he’d mentioned, his mostly human facade. “You blend in pretty well. I don’t think I’d have guessed what you were if you hadn’t told me. I mean, I knew a bit about phoenixes in mythology, but I don’t know if I’d have figured you out.”

She smiled at the way he fondly talked of Mercy, reminding her of the way the woman referred to him online. They cared about each other, and it was nice to see. Nice to be able to feel, though it was muted and muddled. “I mean, you two have known each other for forever. Literally.” What was it like to know someone for that long? She couldn’t imagine. She also couldn’t imagine siblings. “I think it was for the best that I grew up alone.” Though, who knew? Maybe she’d be better at the emotions thing. Or, possibly, she’d be worse. “I didn’t act up too much. I kept my grades up and was usually quiet, even though I listened to the wrong kinds of music. My father and I got frustrated with each other a lot. He was always mad, and I always wanted to know why. When I couldn’t figure it out, I gave him reasons.” She took a drink, feeling like she was talking too much. She was talking too much, and about the wrong things. This wasn’t why she’d come here.

Nadia was a long way from home. She was as far away from home as she could be while still being in the same country. She missed home sometimes so much that it ached. But she knew she couldn’t go back. The few people that had she’d known and loved didn’t feel the same about her. “We’re both a long way from home,” she said quietly. She raised her glass to him. “You’re right. We’ve just got to make the best of it. Personally, I’m glad to be here. In spite of how I got here.” She grinned. “If deserts better than dinner, you might be stuck with me. Sorry, but you’ve provided me with a job, good conversation, and stellar food. I’d be a fool to leave.”

“That’s how I’d prefer it to be, most people make the mistake… I’m happy to let them believe it.” If not for certain other traits it was vaguely passable and Arthur would happily stick to that story because it meant keeping him off people’s radar for what he truly was.

“Yeah, kind of crazy when you think about it. She’s barely ever missed a birthday or like-- anything. Even though I can’t even remember my original one now.” It was part of what kept them both sane and in touch with the world around them. “Though doesn’t mean she doesn’t drive me mad at times,” he huffed, but regardless the words were spoken fondly. “You think?” who could say what anyone would be, circumstances and situations played a role in affecting how a person turned out. It didn’t do to dwell for long, but it was a curious thing to contemplate occasionally. Hearing Nadia explain her dynamic with her father caused him to cock his head a little, “it’s hard. Parents are just trying their best to stop kids falling into the same traps they did… But often I find in trying to avoid them they often help steer a path directly towards them anyway. Sometimes you just need to know when to be upfront.”

“True…” he raised his own cup marginally, “to finding new homes” and new families. Though that was left unsaid. “Yeah? I’m still not sure I’m sold - like on one hand it’s great to be in a place with so many other supernaturals but the risk of death or serious maiming is a big damper on truly enjoying it. You know?” He finished up his plate, looking humoured by the remark “well, offer’s always there if you need a place to crash and there’s always food to spare in my kitchen.” Gathering the plates up he headed back to the kitchen, dropping them in the dishwasher before returning with a plate of coconut and passion fruit slices. “Come on,” he waved her over from the dining table towards the lounge and the vivarium situated to one side of it where his tortoises roamed. “Get comfy.” Then they could sit down and talk.

“It’s certainly a good way to protect yourself,” Nadia said, still thinking about what Arthur mentioned about his tears being valuable on supernatural black markets. She dreaded to think what would happen to her friend if someone captured him to use just to make a few dollars.

“Birthdays are pretty important,” she said with a grin. “Speaking of birthdays, when’s yours?” She knew the answer thanks to Mercy, but it’d be best to hold off on that information. She still needed to figure out what he might possibly want, both for the valkyrie and for herself. She wanted to get him something nice, too. Even if she went with what she told Mercy and went the more homemade route. Time, effort, those were the kinds of gifts she’d appreciated when she actually gave a damn about that kind of thing. Birthdays hadn’t been a big deal for Nadia in years, though, even before the possession. These days, she’d appreciated being about to not think about it, drink a little by herself, and then not sleep. It’d been an average day of a birthday, and that had been what she wanted. She appreciated Arthur’s approach to talking about parents. It gave her a good out. “Yeah, everybody says they want better for their kids. Sometimes they just, like, go about it the wrong way, I guess.”

That was the kind of toast she could get behind. She took a drink and laughed, thinking about all the shit she’d been through during the last few months. “Oh, White Crest is hell. Like, probably literally? I was getting sent giant pallets of salt by a company run by demons. But I’ve felt more comfortable here than I have anywhere else, even back home. I have a job that I’ve always wanted and more friends than I’ve ever had in my life.” She grinned as they moved to the sitting area. “I might not crash on your couch, but don’t tempt me to come raid your fridge, Arthur.” She got situated, looking around for the tortoises she’d heard so much about. She was putting off the inevitable, really.

“It’s worked this long, though so far as the hunters I’ve met in town… Most don’t really seem all that good at their jobs, which… isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Arthur remarked thoughtfully. “But yeah, it’s worked so far so… I’ll keep on that track.”

“Mine? Depends, the original - I can’t remember but apparently it was sometime in winter but in this lifetime it’s around the twentieth of June… That’s the day I’ve celebrated though it might be out by a little bit.” Considering there was a period between him coming back and Mercy finding a family to place him with but more or less that was the way it had always been. It worked well enough so no point trying to fix what wasn’t broken. “How about you?” It’d be useful to know for himself, so he could try to arrange something for Nadia when hers did come around. It seemed like the right and good thing to do after all.

“It’s been referred to as a hellmouth in most of the texts I’ve read soooo… take that one how you will” he huffed, this truly was one of the most weird and interesting places he’d ever lived in his life. “By demons? You didn’t sign any contracts right?” He shifted as he settled on the sofa, folding a leg up comfortably. “You’re welcome to it, always spare food. I’ve got four spare rooms going upstairs as well if you ever do feel the need especially to escape those uh, screams…” But that was beside the point, he took a bite of the dessert square looking over at her. “So… You don’t like ghosts?” it was a gentle prod to hopefully lay the path for the true conversation this night was meant to be about.

Snorting a bit, Nadia thought about the hunters that she personally knew. Alain and Kaden were both good guys, even if she didn’t believe in the same things as them. She couldn’t imagine them hunting Arthur down just to sell his tears on the black market. But, then again, she didn’t really know them while they were hunting. Better safe than sorry. “Yeah, that’s smart.”

She nodded. “Twentieth’s pretty soon,” she said with a smile. “You know I’m gonna get you something, right? You could help a gal out, you know, give her a hint, maybe?” She twirled the stem of her wine glass slowly. “I mean, it was back in February. The twenty-third. I didn’t really celebrate.” She shrugged. “Wasn’t that big of a deal.” All things considered, it had been an alright birthday. It had just been a regular Sunday, which is exactly what she’d wanted.

“Hellmouth is fuckng right,” Nadia muttered. “No, no contract. Someone signed me up for a subscription. It’s been, like, cancelled now, though.” She relaxed a little, taking another drink of her wine. “I’ll definitely keep it in mind. My apartment’s mostly scream free… Mostly.” She grimaced a bit, thinking about the essential oils subscription and what a bitch that was going to be. “On second thought, I might be over here, like, once a month. Just when she gets a package delivered.” She picked up a desert square of her own, but, with his question, she wasn’t feeling too hungry. Nadia gave a slight laugh. “Not really ghosts so much as one in particular. But they,” she paused, “scare me.” She ran a hand through her hair. “One of them kind of, like, ruined my life, so.”

“It is,” Arthur agreed to the date being near, but really what did it matter? It was just another year and another birthday. “Honestly, I don’t have much I want. I’d be happy with anything you got me you know? The sentiment is more what matters… Really I’d be happier with like… people coming over, having a meal and just a nice ordinary night you know? Pizza and beers, maybe a barbecue - I haven’t had a good barbecue in ages.”

“Signed you up for a subscription? What are they? Fae? They love their deals, almost as much as spellcasters do” he groaned as he leaned back into the sofa pulling one leg up and tucking it comfortably under the other that still hung off the cushions. “Mostly? She hasn’t done anything recently has she?” he paused gauging Nadia’s reaction to his next question “I’m guessing you know about her… supernatural thing right?”

But talk turned to ghosts, and Arthur tried to be tactful in his line of conversation. Though there was no easy way to let a conversation like this come about. “Right… I got the impression… Do you… I know it’s hard for you,” he started sympathetically, “do you want to walk me through what happened?”

Well, that was absolutely no help to Nadia for Mercy, but it did solidify her thought that he’d probably enjoy something with thought and effort over something expensive. “You know, a barbecue doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I still have leftover fireworks from a thing,” she said. Which, she’d told Erin it’d be for a barbecue. This would certainly make it less of a lie.

She laughed a little bit. “She thought she was doing something nice. It’s the thought that counts. And, like, at least I can look back on it and laugh, now.” Of course, she wasn’t laughing any time Regan’s subscriptions came in and the screaming started, but still. “I mean, she can get a bit… loud sometimes,” she said, wincing a bit. “Yeah, I know about her thing. It’s the worst kept secret ever.” She couldn’t say what Regan’s thing was since she was still bound by Deirdre’s promise, but she figured, if Arthur was mentioning screaming, then he knew. Really, the fact that Arthur knew wasn’t even surprising. At the rate things were going, everyone was going to know about Regan before Regan even knew.

Nadia took a bite of her desert square. It was good, but it still stuck to her throat. She swallowed tightly. “Yeah, yeah, I can walk you-- I mean, there’s really not too much to tell.” She laughed breathlessly, humorlessly. “I was, like, a junior in college. Everything was shitty. We-- me, my parents, my single friend-- we thought I was depressed, which, I mean. But I was getting some bad blackouts, sometimes for days at a time. My friend, she-- I mean, she left. Whatever.” She took a long sip of wine. “It got worse, nothing was helping. I’d wake up and not know where I was, who I was, what I was doing.” She could see herself in a mirror, covered in blood. Whose blood? Whose? “Then, I don’t know. I woke up in White Crest in late December a few months ago,” she said quietly. “Some kids had helped me out. A human soul’s worth thirty thousand dollars, in case you were wondering.”

“A thing?” Arthur inquired curiously, though considering how often fireworks were used for things in America it wasn’t all that surprising of a thing to hear someone say. “Well, if you want to come along you’re more than welcome to.”

“I guess so, though salt seems like an interesting thing to be signed up for…” Useful for ghosts amongst other supernatural things he supposed but he could see how bulk orders could soon stack up to be infuriating. “It is, Kaden accidentally told me but I wasn’t planning on mentioning it to her considering how she gets whenever that sort of stuff comes up in conversation.” It wasn’t surprising how entrenched people could become when the foundations of their very reality of life seemed to be under threat. In a way, Arthur felt bad for her but equally it was important to recognise the danger her denial posed to those that were around her. “The issue is, the longer her denial goes on the more harm she poses to those around her - including you, which unfortunately doesn’t sit very well with me.”

As Nadia spoke, Arthur remained quiet occasionally taking a sip of wine but otherwise he left her to tell her tale not wishing to interrupt her already staccato rhythm. “Do you know anything about the ghost that possessed you?” from the fragments of an overall tale it was clear enough to him that was what had happened. He set his glass aside, sitting forwards and reaching for Nadia’s hand slowly. A quiet show of support and reminder that he would always stand in her corner no matter what. Though he knew in a town like White Crest it wasn’t easy to say she wasn’t at risk again? “Has anything else like that happened while you’ve been here?” he asked, rubbing his thumb in a small soothing arc over her hand.

“I ended up not using them in the way I thought,” Nadia said breezily, not bothering to explain what exactly her “thing” was. Probably best to not mention blowing up the mime restaurant only to end up with the town invaded by mimes for weeks. Especially when those mimes ended up landing him in the hospital.

“Yeah, you ask a neighbor to borrow some salt one time, and you’re stuck with a reputation.” Not an unjustifiable one, though. Nadia kept salt lines up around her house for months, even after the banishment had been put up. She laughed a bit, thinking about just how Arthur bringing up Regan’s banshee-ness would go in a conversation. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. But she’s really not dangerous. Not intentionally. And as long as I can predict when something might upset her,” she flinched a bit, “which, okay, not the easiest, but she’d only really hurt me in person, and I can-- I’m a-- I feel people’s emotions-- empath, so if she starts getting upset or whatever I can kind of prepare for things.”

This time, when Nadia laughed, it was sharp and insincere. “She was a fucking criminal,and she made me a criminal, and she ruined my life for six fucking years.” She sagged a bit under Arthur’s touch, one knee pulled up to her chest and her head resting on it. She didn’t know why it was both relieving and exhausting to tell him this. Maybe it was because it was in person, and his comfort felt real, and having him be here and listen to her meant so much. She should tell him the truth, that she was scared about getting possessed again, that it’d happened more than once, that she knew her ghost hadn’t given up quite yet. Instead, she gave him a watery smile. “It’s been a bit touch and go for a while, but I should be in the clear, ghost wise, now. Just lingering shit, you know? I’m sure your ghost is great.”

“Well, I love fireworks and anything fire related so you’re welcome to bring them along if you want. We can annoy the neighbours with them.”

Arthur laughed at the sentiment, it was kind of funny to hear her say that out loud and the idea of these ridiculously cursed subscriptions was a little bit funny. “Who else got one? I’m curious to know what hellish gifts people were getting from this company.” Nadia did her best to dissuade his concerns, unfortunately, he was schooled enough to know that glass wasn’t the only thing a sound that loud could damage. “Do you know how sound breaks things?” it was a question of genuine curiosity but he explained anyway slipping easily into his more studious nature “it makes things vibrate. The pitch influences how fast those things vibrate and if it’s high and sustained enough things break because of that….” He paused, Nadia might have faith in Regan’s control but Arthur wasn’t quite so certain on the topic “the control is what concerns me… From the stuff I’ve seen people posting online about damage and stuff she doesn’t have it. And depending on what kind of decibels those screams are hitting… If someone’s stood too close they could be seriously injured and they could potentially die. There’s not much that can prepare you for death - and that’s me speaking from experience.” Perhaps it was a solemn subject to touch on, but he wanted to make sure Nadia was truly prepared for the potential consequences of continuing to associate with Regan. Perhaps it was unfair, Arthur knew it wasn’t her fault but Nadia’s well-being was of more paramount concern to him presently.

As she sagged, Arthur continued to hold her hand rubbing the calming pattern into her skin. “What is it you’re afraid people will judge you for?” she’d mentioned it online before they’d arranged this, but Arthur wanted to try and help her work through some of her concerns regarding the things that ahd happened to her - which in his opinion were far beyond her own control. But admitting that was hard and scary in itself. In the kitchen his phone buzzed, but he ignored it. He’d call whoever was phoning back later. He didn’t prompt her to look up from where she’d rested her head, curling into herself in a protective fashion he’d seen countless times across his lifetimes. “Is that what haunts you at night?” the question was softly spoken, “or is it the fear of what this ghost would do if they did come back?” It could very well be both, despite their similarities they were distinctly separate. One concerned the past, and one the future. Her watery smile earned a sympathetic look, and he shifted to wrap his arms around her pulling her in for a tight embrace of comforting warmth that radiated from him. “I get that, but there’s no need to be ashamed of being scared… Possession is… it’s a violation of your person. Your very rights. Being scared of having your control taken away is one of the most valid fears anyone could ever experience - and I’m sure this is something you already know, but it takes time to adjust to life after experiencing something like that…” He pulled back a fraction looking at her with a steady and intense look, “but-- I want you to know if you ever need me. I’m here and I’ll always have your back, no matter the time or how bad you think things are. I’ll always be in your corner. Hm?”

“You know, I don’t know if it was a subscription, but a woman in town was getting sent mayo and bones.” Nadia shivered just thinking about sticking her hands in that fucking mayo, the demon with the goat eyes’ voice in her head. “And you probably saw that Kaden was getting sent large baguettes. That was fun.” She sighed, knowing that what Arthur said about the vibrations was true. Still, she had faith that Regan would figure it out. “I know that her denial is… concerning. But she doesn’t want to hurt people, and I think that’s almost enough to, if not stop the denial, then to at least put her in the frame of mind to accept help. I’m hoping she’ll talk to someone.” She paused, thinking it over. Hanging out with Regan was high risk, high reward. High risk because it could kill her. High reward because she was Nadia’s best friend, and she was easy to spend time with. Besides. Nadia was beginning to enjoy taking risks. “I know she could kill me, but it’s not going to happen. One because that would be such a shitty thing to do to her. Two because I’m going to be careful, I promise. I don’t have a death wish. I’ve got six years to make up for.”

Six years-- almost seven, really-- that she’d never get back. Her relationship with her parents was gone. Even if she could somehow get all the charges against her dropped, it didn’t matter. There was a stain on her now, one that would never go away. She felt it like a ghost, saw it in the mirror every time she passed by. What was she afraid people would judge her for? She was scared they’d see her the way she did late at night when she could do nothing but think. “I’m afraid they won’t-- I’m afraid they’ll just see a criminal or worse. They’ll just see someone to be pitied.” One day, someone was going to look too close and see that something was missing. Maybe the only reason she saw it was because she knew who she was supposed to be before all of this. “I dream about what I did while-- or what I might’ve done. What I could've done.” Everyone died, usually, in her dreams, and she’s left alone all over again. Arthur’s arms around her was the last strike against her resolve. She gripped him tightly, tears in her eyes. “I don’t know who I am, these days,” she said roughly. “But thank you for trusting me and being in my corner.”

“Bones in mayo? Or both separately?” Arthur questioned in mild concern, “see the bones I wouldn’t mind so much… The mayo, eugh” he contorted his face and stuck his tongue out. Definitely not a fan of condiments. The mention of the baguettes made him laugh, “I saw that… Didn’t realise it was Regan’s doing - that’s even better,” he couldn’t help the laugh it was unfortunate but it was kind of funny as a bystander to watch the torment. Even he wasn’t above a good laugh occasionally especially considering the baguettes really didn’t seem like that bad of a thing to receive.

His mood grew a tad more serious “doesn’t want to, doesn't equate to won’t Nadia.” Ultimately, it wasn’t his job nor his position to lecture her or anyone else, but he would advise caution where he felt it was needed. Not that this wasn’t something she had no doubt considered, but he had to at least give himself the peace of mind of saying it out loud. Making sure she heard him and understood his concern for her well-being. “Fine… But it doesn’t mean I don’t think that this isn’t something she needs to come to terms with. Is there no one that can help her with it?”

“Which is understandable,” he said softly, “but sometimes pity, sympathy, compassion - whatever you want to call it from other people isn’t the worst thing in the world. Sometimes it does us a world of good to let someone else feel sorry, step in and help take care of you…” That wasn’t to say it was easy, “taking down those walls that you’ve built if only for a little while will probably help you find some peace and time to recharge.” He squeezed her hands affectionately, “being vulnerable takes a great deal of strength and mental fortitude… To be open to letting other people listen and help and the fact you’re here, that you’re talking about it is a step in the right direction.”

Arthur kept Nadia hugged tight for a long while, pressing her face to his shoulder as he rubbed his other hand over the curve of her spine. “You will. With time, I’m sure you will,” he assured her quietly holding on for a little while longer before he eventually pulled back his hands resting on her shoulders. “I’m proud of you Nadia.”

“Separately,” Nadia said. She pause. “I think? The bones and the mayo were equally bad because they were apparently human bones and had to be examined.” Honestly, after putting her hands in the shit, she planned to never even look at mayo ever again. Laughing along with him, she said, “It’s funny now, and I know she was just being nice, but damn. It was the fucking worse.”

She sighed. “I know. I know. But I trust her not to hurt me. Not intentionally, and I’d never blame her for an accident.” Nadia pinched the bridge between her nose. She didn’t want to keep talking about this. She appreciated Arthur’s words and the fact that he obviously cared for her. It was touching. Still, she was a big girl, even if she didn’t remember six years’ worth of life experiences. She knew how to be cautious, and she could make her own decisions, even if they were fucking stupid sometimes. “It is, and she will, eventually. She’ll get help. It’ll be alright. I believe that.”

Taking in his words was hard, even if Nadia knew they were true. Because she felt all of it—pity, sympathy, compassion— so vividly from other people, and she knew when they were sincere about it, but that didn’t change the way she was. Part of it was the way she was raised: distant parents that wanted to help her but didn’t know how when time after time nothing they did seemed to help. Part of it was also experience: everyone she’d let into her life before left, sometimes cruelly. Countless arguments and phone calls and conversations that led to heartbreak and disappointment weren’t worth it, in the end. She didn’t see her walls as walls; it was more like a suit of armor, and once someone found the flaws and worked their way in, rust was more likely to set in. At that point, armor’s less of a protection and more of a hindrance. She laughed a bit, even though she was crying. She hated the weakness, though she wouldn’t say so. “Being vulnerable sucks major ass, bird boss, but if this is a step in the right direction, then I’m willing to work on it.” Even if it led to more hurt in the end.

They stayed there for a bit, and Nadia allowed the rust to set in. One day, maybe she’d lay her armor down, wouldn’t need it. Maybe in White Crest was different than Phoenix in that way. She was finding comfort and warmth here that she’d never felt before, and that meant something, despite the shit show the place seemed to be. As Arthur leaned back, she wiped her eyes a bit. “Thank you, Arthur.”

As Nadia chose to insist again Arthur fought against the urge to roll his eyes. “Fine,” but it didn’t mean the worry didn’t linger after the fact. But he didn’t want to push too far into that conversation tonight. It wasn’t worth delving into.

Arthur knew his words probably weren’t new. But the lesson of building walls or plating armour plate on top of plate could keep the world and new experiences from ever coming into your life. They could keep you safe and warm but when you waded into waters too deep armour would only weigh you down until you ended up being swept away by the currents. Not to mention their capacity for keeping people at a distance and protecting yourself from hurt was perhaps one of the oldest things he’d seen people do but in the end they had always been left wanting and lonely. That wasn’t something he wanted to see happen to Nadia and if it meant working to keep her safe, to see her through to those better times then he’d happily put the graft in to help where he could. “I know and it might mean down the line you’re opening yourself up to hurt… But you’re opening yourself up to love as well and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that love is always worth the pain.”

“Ah, least I could do…” he smiled at her fondly, before moving to take his near empty wine-glass. “I think we’re in need for a refill.” With that he got up and headed back to the kitchen but not before ruffling her hair affectionately.

It was mid-pour in the kitchen that it happened. A heat throbbing from the scar on his left palm, the searing pressure as if some invisible force had taken him by the throat as though intent on collapsing it in on itself. He gagged, choking as he felt his air supply cut off, as if it had suddenly been sucked out of the room. The glass and bottle fell, seemingly in slow-motion but in reality it was mere seconds, the crimson swirl glistening preceding the ringing crash of his glass smashing into hundreds of shards on the stone floor. His hands grasp his throat as he staggered, falling as black spots swam across his vision. There was a brief moment of respite, before the pain caused his body to lurch and the cry of pain was stifled into a weak gurgle.

Arthur could never claim to know what it felt like to drown, he’d never been in water for as long as he’d existed. But the shock of icy brackish liquid was instantly debilitating. Strangely, he supposed it was the nearest thing he could imagine to being set on fire, though this was not the familiar warmth but a blistering heat that felt like every one of his cells was being set alight. He gasped for air, but seemingly swallowed only water. Over and over he gasped and gulped greedily, for any hint of oxygen yet the act only served to allow more and more deadly water to be inhaled and swallowed. Hold your breath! He tried fighting for as long as he could until every cell screamed let me breath; his mouth was forced ajar once more gasping again as the phantom water forced its way into his mouth, up his nose and into his bursting lungs.

Tears burned like vinegar as they ran down his cheeks. It hurts. He thought. Why does it hurt so much? Please, please make it stop. Please, I beg of you.

In his last conscious moments, he tried to open his eyes, to see something familiar, but all he saw was the inky darkness of eternal night and a name upon his lips. “Freyja.”

As Nadia sat waiting for Arthur to come back with their wine, she thought about the night’s events, how they went better than she could have expected. Maybe she needed to stop expecting people to hate her for all of this. No one, not a single person she’d talked about this with, blamed her for what happened. She knew, deep down, that she was the victim in the scenario, as much as she hated it. She’d been the one to be possessed, she’d had her life taken from her. She didn’t remember any of the things she’d done, didn’t know how truly awful they were. Still, there was a part of her that expected to be stronger. She had always thought that she could fight off whatever problems came her way. Metaphorically, of course. She wasn’t a big fighter, otherwise. Obviously, the fight had been taken out of her for six years.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the sounds of glass shattering. Nadia jumped up from the couch and rushed into the kitchen, not sure what to expect. Certainly not Arthur, on the ground, water gurgling from his mouth, the corners of them burning from it. “No no no nonono,” she cried out as she ran to him, sliding on her knees a bit as she got close. She wiped away the water from his mouth, the tears from his cheeks. His pain, his fear and confusion, all of it was loud and awful in her head. She couldn’t imagine how bad it must be for him since she knew she didn’t feel everything. As he called out for Freyja, for Mercy, she pulled him into her lap, trying to make him comfortable. “It’s okay, Arthur, it’s okay.”

Closing her eyes, she begged for it to be okay. Because, truthfully, she didn’t know. For several minutes, she did her best to calm him and herself down. Before he passed out, he was acting like he was drowning, but he didn’t keep showing the symptoms once he was asleep. All she could do was offer him comfort, trying to assure him that he was alright. She moved them away from the spilled wine and waited for him to wake up. “Please, please be okay.”

Arthur wasn’t sure how long he was out for, seconds? Minutes? Hours? Time seemed to crawl to a stop as the darkness clouded his vision and a fatal liquid spilled from his mouth; corrosive like acid turning his mouth into a frothing grey mess and cracked his lips until they blistered and bled. His body contorted before it grew still, eyes unseeing and for a moment there was nothing.

He returned to consciousness with a rasping gurgled gasp, flopping over onto his side as he hacked up inky brackish water streaked with blood and spittal. His mouth burned and blearily he could make out someone else in the room with him. But only one thought was on his mind. “Mo-” he tried to say, but the word was cut off by another hacking cough that splattered beads of blood over the floor leaning over on his hands that crunched into the shards of glass on the floor.

“I-- mobile now” he felt faint, as if the world were about to spin away from him again if he moved too fast. But the world hardly mattered if the hollow ache that radiated from the palm of his hand was anything to go by. The lack of familiar warmth and connection from the person invisibly tethered on the other end. He slipped, tripping and catching himself as he blindly searched on the counter for his phone with a trembling hand.

When his fingers latched on, the device was wrenched off the counter and Arthur sank once more to the ground his back pressed into the cabinets. Hands shaking as he saw the missed calls and set about playing the voicemail she’d left. Fresh tears tracked down his face, stabbing the redial button and holding the phone to his ear. “Pickup pickup pickup. Pleasepleaseplease,” there was a strange desperation in the words.

It went to voicemail.

“Fuck!” he spat, jabbing the button again and waiting. Again, and again, and again.

Eventually, on the seventh try Arthur let the dial go through lines of healed skin contrasting to the gruesome maw of his mouth from the connection to Mercy’s death. “Frey? Frey! FUCK Please pick up, pleasepleaseplease. I need you to pick up right now and tell me you’re okay. I felt– it can’t– You didn’t–” he thumped his hand on the ground, blind to the glinting shards that pricked his skin and bled fresh trails of crimson through his fingers. “PICK UP. DON’T YOU DARE! PICK UP RIGHT NOW!” Did it matter he was screaming into the receiver curling over it to make his voice heard wherever she’d gone? Would she hear him then? He pressed the phone harder to his ear, a sob that shook the very foundations of his person working its way up his throat, voice breaking when he spoke after the extended silence. “Please… We only just found each other. I can’t– I can’t lose you now. Please come back, come home. Just one more time… One more time. For me. We’ll make it work. It’ll be different. I promise this time it’ll be different. I’ll be different.” He exhaled, blinking past the tears “I never got to tell you I lo- No. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you when you come back. Please come back…”

By the end of the call he was left staring in anguish at the photo ID on the call his breath short and sharp, shaking as he ended the call. Too fast. Too much. It was all too much. A trembling hand pressed to his mouth, trying to stifle the pain that settled in his chest as he shook his head against the overwhelming realisation of what had happened.

Yelping as Arthur started coughing and leaned over, Nadia sat back to give the man some space. The blood was concerning, and she didn’t have any time at all to process what was happening as he scrambled for his phone. Mercy, something was wrong with Mercy. She could tell before he made the call, before he started screaming into his phone. When he leaned against the cabinets, she moved closer to him, hoping to comfort him with her presence. She didn’t know what else to do. She really didn’t. So Nadia did what she could. She sat with him. His pain was like nothing she’d ever really felt before, but so was the love that was causing it. God, it was miserable. It felt so miserable, and she could barely process it.

When Arthur started breathing too fast, his words tapering out, she grabbed his hands. “Hey, no, hey!” She made him look away from his phone and towards her. “Hey. I don’t-- I don’t know what’s happening, okay? But it’s-- Mercy can’t die, right? Not easily. Right? So it’s--” Fuck, she didn’t know how to do this. “It’ll be-- She’s gotta be okay. She’s going to be okay.” Nadia really, really hoped so. Mercy, in the short time that she’d known the woman, was probably one of the toughest people out there, and the only thing that could kill her was having her head cut off. There was a brief moment of fear, the thought of Arthur choking because of some weird connection with Mercy that made it to where he couldn’t breathe, but he had seemed like he was drowning, not just suffering from no air.

The tables had turned, and Nadia found herself wrapping Arthur in a hug instead of the other way around. She couldn’t affect other people’s emotions; only feel them. But she tried to put as much comfort out as she could, hoping that somehow it would help. Hoping that, somehow, Mercy was okay. “It’ll be alright, Arthur. It will. I promise.”

#p: nadia #para #potw #ever leering eye #falling to pieces #// simultaneous thread to the last chatzy #// NOTHING BAD HAPPENS #AT ALL

[royalbloodedbastards]

chatzy // rooftop rager

DATE: Saturday, April 4, 2020 CHARACTERS: Akira, Malia, Parker, Kieran, Jack, Alec, Ime, Blue, Casey, Rosie, Miranda, Graves, Jacob ABOUT: A birthday bash on Rat Cage rooftop turns into a series of scuffles and romantic rendezvous. TW: blood, mild violence

SATURDAY AFTERNOON 

 "Darling Gregory!" Akira clapped their hands together as they approached the manager of the warehouse above the Rat Cage. "Don't call me darling, Akira." "Sure thing, cutie. So," Akira leaned against a pallet of wood, "I was just wondering if the roof was structurally sound enough to support a small party of, say, thirty people?" "I don't want to answer that question." Gregory sighed. "Sounds like a fearful yes." Akira grinned wickedly.  

SATURDAY NIGHT 

"Welcome to the Rat Cage!" Akira held his hands out, at the first guests scaling the ladder to the roof of the Rat Cage. Akira had strung up a long rope of fairy lights that he had stolen from the rec room closet. Scattered on the floor and taped to the ducts were photocopied fliers that read:

AKIRA WAZ BORN: party at dark, rat cage. BYOB—BRING UR OWN BO(Y/I) TOY

Similar fliers were plastered all over the windows and doors of every building on the main promenade downtown. "Glad to see you got my message."(edited)

Parker stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked at his siblings and Jack. He bobbed his head from side to side respectfully despite not recognizing the loud music and smiled. To him, nothing wrong had ever happened at the rat cage and all he had there was a good time, so he was somewhat looking forward to this party. "Oh crap, do you think we were supposed to bring a present?" @spexile @ellis(edited)

“We are the present,” Malia replied with a shrug. She moved toward the ladder and made a face. “We have to climb this?” @caitlin @spexile(edited)

"Seems like it," Kieran responded. "This doesn't seem fire safety compliant." "Yeah, this is, like... Sketchy." Jack craned his neck looking up at the roof of the warehouse. "How did he even carry the speakers up there?" @caitlin @ellis

Parker didn't see too much of a problem until everyone else pointed it out. "Um, maybe it's a power or something? Or he strapped them to his back?" He shook his head, realizing that it was probably a rhetorical question. He watched their expressions. "Did you... not want to go up?" @spexile @ellis

Alec came to a stop behind the gathering of Aphrodite kids. "What's wrong? Oh, there's a ladder? Awesome!" They turned to Ime and gestured towards it. "S'just like home, eh? Knew all that practice would come in handy one day!" @caitlin

Ime grinned widely as they looked at the setup, tilting their head back to look up at the roof. They patted Alec on the back. "Oh, awesome, roof party. Let's scamper on up there. Unless this is a waiting line. You think they weren't on the list?" @brynnith

“Who are they a child of anyway?” Malia wondered out loud. She sighed. “No, lets go up. Let me go in front so one of you can catch me if I fall.” @caitlin @spexile

"Uh, can I go after?" Jack asked Parker. "Since my depth perception is... You know. In case I fall." @caitlin@ellis(edited)

Parker smiled and nodded, not looking behind him despite hearing more voices. "Yep! I can go after that. Catch you guys if you fall." He looked at Kieran. "Unless you're also doubting your climbing skills." @spexile @ellis

Kieran shook his head with a slight smirk, glancing back at Alec. "Alas, this is not my first roof climb." @caitlin @ellis @brynnith

Alec laughed at the ridiculous idea the Aphrodite kids weren't on any list. "Looks like a line, we'll have to wait our turn. I haven't been to a roof party in ages." They grinned at Kieran and gave him two thumbs up. "You're a master! Perfect technique!" @spexile @caitlin

Malia thought Kieran’s comment was cute and worth investigating later on. She put a pin on that thought, though, to focus on climbing. Carefully, she made her way up, hating every second of it. When she emerged on the roof, she wiped off her hands and found the guest of honor. “I see the devil is keeping us on our toes, huh?” @caitlin @spexile @brynnith

Ime wiggled their fingers in greeting to Kieran and sighed at Alec. "That's such a shame. I guess we know that we came here while the party's bumpin, though." @spexile @brynnith

"What's life without a little adventure?" Akira smiled as Malia crested over the edge of the roof. "Glad you could make it." Akira peered down to see who else was coming up. "No friends this time?" @ellis

Jack started ascending the ladder next. "Okay, if I fall off this ladder, please make sure they get me away from this warehouse before I die. I swear to god if I have to haunt this place..." Jack trailed off as he reached the top. @caitlin

"Oh, everyone is my friend," Malia replied, moving out of the way of the ladder. "I guess I'm just the most adventurous of them. Who knew?" @spexile

Parker exhaled a laugh at Kieran's comment, giving Alec a little nod of acknowledgement finally. He laughed at Jack and stood at the bottom as he began to climb. "I won't let you die." He waited until he was most of the way up the ladder and looked back at the rest of the group. "I think they're a bit dramatic about climbing a ladder." He shook his head before following Jack once he was fully on the roof. @spexile @brynnith

"I'm very impressed," Akira dipped his head. "Welcome," he added as Jack reached the roof. "Hi." Jack stepped forward a few paces to give some clearance to everyone climbing the ladder. Jack looked around at the measly decor. "Nice place." "Nice face." Jack grimaced. @ellis

Alec waited for the ladder to be free and then quickly scampered up. They waited at the top for Ime, gazing around at the new view. @caitlin

Malia's mouth opened in shock, and she covered her mouth so Jack wouldn't see her start to laugh. "Hey now, let's play nice on that one topic specifically." @spexile

Parker stood on the roof and looked around. "Uh, happy birthday." He smiled at Akira politely and then stood near Jack. "Hey, you managed to get up in one piece." @spexile

"Uh, yeah," Jack replied to Parker, turning away from Akira. "Let's hope it stays that way." As Kieran, Alec, and Ime stepped onto the roof, Akira welcomed the full group. "Make yourselves at home, everyone! It's an open floor plan, but if anyone's feeling particularly frisky, the air ducts toward the north side are a bit of a labyrinth." They winked. "I'm sure you'll get creative." @caitlin @ellis @brynnith

Ime managed to climb onto the roof rather quickly for someone in heels and smiled wickedly at Akira before nudging Alec's side. "Are you feeling creative? Want to figure out some air ducts?" They stretched their arms over and behind their head. @brynnith

Parker smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked around. "Some place," he said to nobody in particular.

Alec wiggled their fingers at Ime. "I gotta figure out my mood tonight first! Are you feeling creative?" They turned towards Akira and produced a root beer Dum Dum from the inside of their jacket. "Hey, happy birthday! You probably have a million of these already but I'm broke and know you like them and figured, thought that counts?" They offered it to them. @spexile @caitlin

Malia hooked her arm through Parker's. "I think it's.... versatile?" she offered, trying to not sound too judgemental. @caitlin

Parker nodded and exhaled. "Very different from the last rooftop we were on." He shrugged. "It's a nice idea for a birthday." @ellis

Ime flashed a smile. "I'm always feeling creative." They looked at Kieran, Parker, and Malia. "I like that you all match. Was that planned?" @brynnith @spexile @ellis

Akira pressed a hand to his heart as he took the lollipop. "The thought does, but this is also incredibly thoughtful," Akira winked. They pulled the wrapper off the Dum Dum and popped it in their mouth. Akira reached into their pocket and produced two more for Alec and Ime. "Care to join?" @caitlin @brynnith

Malia sighed. "They can't all be that nice," she said sadly. When Ime complimented them, Malia flashed a grin. "We're just naturally fabulous." @caitlin @spexile @brynnith​

Alec beamed when their gift was accepted. "I would love to! You're a right good host, eh? Party snacks." @spexile

Ime took the Dum Dum graciously, a hand over their heart. "Why thank you." They rummaged around their jacket pocket and produced a D20, and held it out in the center of their palm to Akira. "For you." @spexile

"Well now," Akira sang. "What is this?" They picked the D20 up off Ime's palm and held it up in the light. "Incredible. How does one use this?" @caitlin @brynnith

Blue wandered over to the famous rat cage, holding her phone out with the flashlight on to guide their way. "This is sketchy as fuck, I love it so much." She grinned back at Casey. "Did you talk to them about the fight club?" @spexile

Alec scoffed when Ime produced the die and nudged their shoulder. "That was mine." They didn't actually look offended and looked back at Akira. "You roll it and there's twenty different options! Great for making decisions." @spexile @caitlin

Ime winked at Alec. "Oh, well, I guess it was, then. It also was at my apartment, so I just assumed." They shrugged without finishing the sentence and looked back at Akira. "Yeah, more style than flipping a coin. If you have less than twenty options you can make it in intervals of fives, fours, tens, the like." @brynnith @spexile

Also Ime responded to Malia totally on time with a wink. @ellis​

Parker looked down at himself and then at Kieran and Malia. "I guess we do match." He looked at Jack again so he could be included in their conversation again. "Did you want any wine? Or are you afraid of not being able to climb down again?" @spexile @ellis

"Um, I'll be afraid whether or not I have wine." Jack snorted. "So wine would be great." Akira smiled at the little token. "Most of my decisions number far less than 20, so that's great information. Thank you," they smiled at Ime then looked to Alec. "And thank you again, indirectly." @caitlin @brynnith

"Ew, I didn't even think about climbing down," Malia groaned. "Oh my gods, wait, I meant to say it earlier but did you know that someone legit got like, punched at the last party here? I didn't even see it happen." She shook her head. "Um, also, I want more wine, too." @caitlin @spexile

"I heard that it happened, yes. I think I even noticed the fight developing, but I try my best to avoid fisticuffs in public settings, so I turned a blind eye," Kieran shrugged. Jack narrowed his eyes. "What... Why do you talk like that." @caitlin @ellis(edited)

Alec ran their fingers through their hair to mess it up. "No problem! Happy to be of assistance." They unwrapped the Dum Dum to start on it. "I love your roof. Something about being up high sparks joy, I feel like a cat sitting on the top of the wardrobe." @spexile @caitlin

Malia waved her hand. "Don't question it, Jack." @spexile @caitlin

Parker unhooked the reusable water bottle keychain from where it hung on his belt loop from when he was climbing up the ladder. He held the bottle out to Jack and frowned at Malia. "Really? I hadn't even noticed. Who was fighting?" He snorted a laugh at Jack. "I think it makes sentences more interesting." @ellis @spexile

"Oh my gods, it gets so much sketchier, you don't even fucking know, Blue!" Casey was almost galloping forward in excitement. "And yes! Oh my fucking gods—" He stopped in his track and grabbed Blue by the hands. "I went this morning. And one, Akira is actually really intense. Like, you'll notice it at this party probably, but holy shit—one on one? I thought I was gonna die and I have never been more turned on. Which brings me to number two—the fight club is on, baby." @ellis

Akira laughed. "Happy to provide you with a vantage point. I thought I'd shake up the elevation this go around, since the last party seemed to inspire... Chaos." @brynnith @caitlin

Blue whooped. "Fuck yes, Casey! I cannot wait to kick ass! Okay, you and I gotta fight, too. I swear one day I'm going to actually hit you." They were alternating pulling each other along to the warehouse. She looked at the ladder in confusion. "Up?" she asked, but already started climbing before getting an answer. @spexile​

Rosie spread her arms to present the ladder to her siblings. "Bueno, time to make like monkeys. I fucking knew I wore pants for a reason," she announced, as though she ever wears anything but pants. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Ime unwrapped the lollypop. "Of course. What kind of birthday would it be if I hadn't gotten you a present?" They winked at Alec and nodded at Akira. "I heard that quite a lot that happened last time, so I showed up today so as not to miss out again." @brynnith @spexile

Alec looked around as they heard more people start to arrive. "Ime was devastated to have missed the chaos! They'll never miss a party here again." @caitlin @spexile

Casey shrugged. "The flier said rooftop." He waited until she was all the way up before climbing up to the roof himself. @ellis

Malia sighed. "I think it was Ben? But also, he had it coming because he cheated on his girlfriend so..." She looked at Jack. "Pass that to me when you're done." @caitlin @spexile

"You're in luck. I've been working on a little something and I think you can expect to see a lot more happening here in the near future," Akira teased. @brynnith @caitlin

Miranda looked up at the ladder, then down at her white pants, then shrugged.  "Fuck it.  Not like I paid for these anyway."  She glanced between her two siblings, and when Rosie gestured to the ladder, she moved to climb up first.  "No need to fight children, I'll go first." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Jack took a big swig from Parker's wine bottle just as Kieran took a swig of his flask of whiskey. For a brief moment, their eyes connected and neither of them liked it. "Here," Jack offered, passing Malia the bottle. @ellis @caitlin

"That's so vague and exciting! Wow." Alec looked between the two of them, then spun around to head over to the main other group. They pointed to Kieran's flask. "Whatcha got there?" @spexile @ellis @caitlin

Blue scanned the crowd on the roof, immediately saw Parker and his company, and frowned. She felt a little flush of anger and unscrewed her flask. "Who's the birthday boy?" she asked loudly. @spexile

Ime raised their eyebrows. "Is it a secret little something?" @spexile

Graves glanced at the ladder and whistled. "Starting the night off right, oh-kay!" He patted his pockets, checking for his flask(s), then watched as Miranda started up the ladder. "Watch your step Mont- no promises I'll catch you if you fall!" he called to her. He nodded at Rosie, "You're up next, hermana." @brynnith @a general chris

"It might be—" Akira was interrupted by a loud question. Akira raised their hand and Casey quickly grabbed Blue's arm to bring her over to where Akira and Ime stood. Akira smiled as they approached. "You're looking for me?" @ellis @caitlin

Rosie snickered and bumped Graves' shoulder as she skipped over to the ladder. "Going last 'cause you're scared, tumbitas? You better catch me if I fall, I'll be aiming for you anyway." She started to scale the ladder after Miranda. @electriclightparade @a general chris

Jack flinched at the sound of Blue's voice, but he quickly caught himself and took a deep breath. "Whiskey." Kieran held the flask toward Alec. "If you'd like to try it." @brynnith @ellis @caitlin

"Yeah I am, I've heard a lot about you from the president of your fanclub," she replied, baring her teeth in a grin. She regarded Ime with a head nod. "What's up?" @spexile @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

Parker nodded. "I guess so." He frowned, wondering how he missed that. He heard Blue and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Um, pass that to me when you're done?" He asked Malia. @ellis(edited)

Ime was rapt by the suspense. They nodded at Blue and took the lollypop out of their mouth so they could speak. "Not much, learning about chaos." @ellis @spexile

"Sure, thanks." Alec took it and took a sip before passing it back. They only made a slight face at the taste. "That's pretty good! Is whiskey your favourite drink?" @spexile

Malia regarded both Jack and Parker with interest, and then Kieran and Alec, and wondered how in the world she became the fifth wheel. She took a large gulp of wine. "Here you go. I think I need to make out with someone. Sorry, is that weird to talk about with you? Do you think the guest of honor would be down?" @caitlin @spexile @brynnith

Casey turned his back toward Akira and muttered quickly to Blue, "Wow, I can't believe you just exposed me like that, not cool." Akira didn't seem to notice. "Well, I'm throwing this party, in case you missed it." They smiled. "Feel free to dance, make love, wreak havoc. Maybe even all at once if you can manage." @ellis @caitlin

Miranda paused to flip Graves off halfway up the ladder.  "Pendejo." She stepped off the ladder when she reached the top, she leaned her arm against the side of the ledge of the roof, acting like she had been waiting a century for the other two to finish climbing.  "You're so fucking slow!  Hurry up, I wanna drink." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Parker blinked at Malia and looked at Akira. "Um, kind of? I think they're talking to someone." He looked away so Blue wouldn't see him looking in her direction and sipped his wine. @ellis

"Um, robe guy?" Jack looked back at Akira. "I mean—their hands are literally on their hips holding open their robe. Like, that is definitely not accidental." Jack turned back toward Malia with a shrug. "I feel like your odds are pretty good." @ellis @caitlin

"It is," Kieran chuckled. "I suppose it's not one of yours?" Kieran took back the flask, screwing the lid on tight before pocketing it. @brynnith(edited)

Ime grinned. "I didn't know that you could separate the three." @spexile @ellis

Akira tapped his nose then pointed to Ime. "I love the way you think." @caitlin @ellis

Malia shrugged. "My odds are always good. I'll give it a few minutes." She glanced between Jack and Parker again and smiled, flipping into a more teasing tone. "Or do you want me to leave you two alone?" @spexile @caitlin

"Maybe I should've gone first so you could catch me," he laughed, pretending to rub his shoulder like it hurt. Once Rosie was climging the ladder, Graves unscrewed the flask he was holding and took a sip. He waved to Miranda, then flipped her off with a crooked grin, before screwing the top of his flask back on. Graves tried to stuff his flask in his already full pockets but quickly gave up. He held the flask between his teeth like a heathen as he started up the ladder. @a general chris @brynnith

Alec laughed. "It is one of my favourites! After wine. I just don't drink much." They gestured to themself. "Strictly 'no bring, only mooch'. Wow, that makes me sound like a terrible person to hang out with at parties." @spexile

Kieran laughed. "It does." @brynnith

Parker rubbed his cheek and shook his head. “Um, I don’t think it’s that easy to be alone here.” He took another sip of his drink before holding it out to both Malia and Jack @ellis @spexile

Rosie flipped Miranda off with one hand as she retrieved a small bottle of tequila from one of her many pants pockets with the other. "You could've started without us!" @electriclightparade @a general chris

Alec grinned at him. "Will you still hang out with me? @spexile

Jack took Parker's drink once again. "Yeah, you don't have to ditch us every time." He took a drink of the wine and held it out to Malia. "Unless you secretly hate us, then I guess go for it." @ellis @caitlin

Ime gave a small salute so they could do something cool back. “Fools hardly differ.” @spexile

Kieran smiled and shrugged. "I suppose we'll just be two terrible people to hang out with at parties." @brynnith

Miranda rolled her eyes, pushing off the ledge.  "I could've, last time I try to be at least somewhat gracious."  She opened her trusty bag of alcohol, pulling out a bottle of rum, already twisting off the cap as Graves reached the top of the ladder.  "I mean, I'm all up for the change of scenery, but I'm actually annoying I can't show you the fucking human sacrifice lair in the basement.  We barely got out alive last time."  She said dramatically, before taking a drink from her bottle. @electriclightparade @brynnith(edited)

Malia rolled her eyes. "It's very easy to be alone on an open floor plan! Just go to the corner and radiate big 'don't bother me' vibes. And I'm not ditching you, just, giving you some space." She sighed. "I guess I'll stay while there's wine." She moved so she was at Jack's other side. @spexile @caitlin

Graves laughed as he brushed some dirt off his jeans. He blinked for a second, taking in the scope of the rooftop party. It wasn't until Miranda said human sacrifice lair that he tuned back in. "I'm sorry, I didn't know we were here to witness a sacrifice. Who's the volunteer?" He snaked an arm around Miranda, swiping the rum from her grasp, "gracias sis." Graves took a big swig. "Let's get this par-tay started! Woo!" @a general chris @brynnith

Miranda rolled her eyes when Graves stole her bottle, in turn reaching into one of his pockets and stealing one of his flasks.  She scanned the roof, observing who else was there already.  "Hm, that depends.  Do you think we need a virgin sacrifice.  If yes? Nos chingamos."  @electriclightparade @brynnith

"Thank gods, I'm safe," he smiled another crooked smile and followed his sister's gaze. "See anyone fun? Who- uh who's hosting this anyway?" He traded her bottle for his flask, sniffing it to see which one she'd taken. "Fireball, sick - cheers!" He tapped the bottle with the edge of his flask, smiling when it clinked, and then took another sip. He wasn't pacing himself well, but hey, it was a party.

Miranda laughed, lifting her bottle to clink against his, taking a drink as she once again scanned the crowd.  "Fun? Sorry, there doesn't seem to be any mirrors here right now, so that's an overwhelming no.  As for host," She pointed out Akira from the crowd. "Them."  @electriclightparade

Alec laughed. "Hey, I don't think you're terrible to hang out with at parties! But I don't think that about myself either. Did my loft give you a good warmup for the ladder tonight?" @spexile

Parker turned so that he, his siblings, Jack, and Alec made a big circle, making it harder for people  Blue to jump in. "That's true, I guess." He smirked. "I knew you only liked my for my alcohol." @ellis @spexile

Rosie grinned at her siblings then held up her tequila. "Shots? I have enough to go around!" @electriclightparade @a general chris

"It did," Kieran nodded. "You know, as treacherous as a single construction ladder propped up against the side of a warehouse might seem, it's still an easier climb than maneuvering out of a window." @brynnithApril 5, 2020

Graves looked to the person Miranda pointed at and tilted his head, taking in the sight. "Now that is an outfit," he said to his sister. "YO! THAT'S A SWEET ROBE!" he shouted, waving an arm in Akira's direction. At Rosie's mention of shots, he nodded vigorously. "Fuck yeah, shots! Always shots! Monty, you ready? Shots city!" @brynnith @a general chris @spexile

Alec waved a hand. "So humble! I've never seen such roof-climbing talent!" They laughed. "And now it's becoming a habit." @spexile

Blue grinned at Ime, swatting Casey away. "I like you, too," she said. "Oh shit, name's Blue, by the way, shirtless guy. Happy birthday and all that." @caitlin @brynnith

Akira laughed at Graves's boisterous greeting. They gave a wave back before stepping away to some shadowy vantage point. @electriclightparade

"No, no," Kieran protested. "Twice is a coincidence. The next time I'm on your roof, you can call it a habit." @brynnith

Malia rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. I also like you for your spice cabinet." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda let out a laugh as Graves screamed across the roof, being jostled around slightly due to his arm around her.  She looked back at Rosie when she mentioned shots, and grinned.  "Do you know me at all?  I'm so in." @brynnith @electriclightparade

Jack snorted. In a laughing sense not the other way. @caitlin @ellis

"So you're going to go on my roof again?" Alec sounded incredibly pleased by that. "Or are you going to never go again so it doesn't become a habit?" @spexile

Ime smiled. "Amazing. I love the lewk. Classic egirl aesthetic." @ellis

Parker flipped Malia off and held his hand out for his bottle. "Go make out with robe guy somewhere I can't see." @spexile @ellis

Malia laughed. "Give me the wine one more time and I'll stop embarrassing you." @caitlin @spexile

Rosie passed the mini tequila bottle to Miranda and immediately produced another one from a different pocket. "To having a fucking blast tonight!" @a general chris @electriclightparade

"No. I'm not embarrassed. You're just mean and maybe I want to save my wine for me and Jack," he joked. @ellis

Blue did a little bow, her arms out dramatically to either side. "You look hot, too, and I love the shirt." She couldn't help but notice Parker again on her way up, then took another gulp from her flask. "Casey," she said, holding out the flask for him. @spexile @caitlin

"Blue," Casey accepted the flask and took a big gulp. "So is someone gonna fight at this one or what?" @caitlin @ellis

"Thanks. It's actually impossible for me to have FOMO because the party only happens when I'm there, but, y'know." Ime shrugged and smirked at Casey. "I hope so. I missed the last one." @ellis @spexile

Malia narrowed her eyes. She thought of a joke but knew Parker would have a stroke if she said it. So she just rolled her eyes again. "Fine, but only because I like Jack." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda gladly took the bottle Rosie offered up, twisting off the cap as she looked over at her brother.  "Do one of those have tequila in it? Or do you need a bottle from your amazing, wonderful, sisters?" She held her bottle out to Rosie.  "May we stumble home and not remember shit." @electriclightparade @brynnith

"I think I could make it happen," Blue said with a dark chuckle. "If you really want. People might cry, though, because it's me. Should we get Akira to watch?" @spexile @caitlin

"I'm so glad," Jack grinned. @ellis @caitlin

"Watch? They'd probably participate." Casey looked around for Akira, but they were nowhere to be found. "Or... Not. Uh," Casey turned to point at the Hermes kids, "I bet Graves would be down." @ellis @caitlin

Parker stuck his tongue out at her but held his bottle out to her anyway. "One more sip." @ellis @spexile

Ime raised their eyebrows and exhaled a laugh. "That'd be a great birthday present, I think." @ellis @spexile

Blue followed Casey's finger and saw her girlfriend standing next to Graves. "Hold that thought," she said, taking back her flask. "BRB." @spexile @caitlin

"To getting fuckin' blasted tonight!!" Graves grins and takes his tequila flask out of his pocket in response. "I brought my own to save more alcohol for my amazing, wonderful sisters." He raised his flask to their tiny bottles, laughing as Miranda spoke. "I know I climbed up that ladder, but the more we drink, the less likely it is that I'm getting back down. I'll audible it. Bottoms up bay-bee!" He winks at Rosie and drinks. @brynnith @a general chris

Blue walked over to the Hermes kids, sliding in next to Rosie and draping an arm over her shoulders. "Hi babe and babe's brother and sister," she chirped. "What's up?" @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

"To blacking out and falling off this roof!" Rosie finished with a laugh and took her shot. She pressed a kiss to Blue's cheek when she put her arm around her. "We're taking shots! Y'want?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia grinned and took the bottle back. She took more than a sip. "Kay, see y'all later!" She walked off in search of the host. @spexile @caitlin

Miranda took her shot, throwing the now empty mini-bottle in a random dark corner of the roof.  "Are we dooming ourselves to spending the night on this roof?  I mean, I'm down." She watched Blue walk over, and grinned in greeting.  "Hello, manita's babe." @ellis @brynnith @electriclightparade

Malia didn't see where Akira went, but she weaved her way around people until she made it back by the air ducts. They weren't kidding, it was a maze back here, especially in the dark, but she made her way through it and heard a faint muttering. "Are we doing a ritual back here? Should I turn back and pretend I didn't see anything?" @spexile

Parker gave Malia a little wave and stood a bit closer to Jack. He looked between him and Kieran and Alec. "So... Watch any good movies lately?" He cringed and took a sip of his wine. "I haven't watched much in French since I was uninvited to our family movie nights." @brynnith @spexile

"Hey!!! Blue!!!" Graves beamed when his sister's girlfriend joined their little group. "Those pants are sick. Want a drink? I have five flasks, pick a number." He raised an eyebrow at Blue, then looked at Miranda. "Roof would probably be as comfortable as the floor so....I'm in."  @ellis @brynnith @a general chris

"We'll just see," Kieran shrugged at Alec's question, way back when it was still timely. He turned to face Parker and Jack after Malia left. "Alec and I watched Cléo de 5 à 7 the other week, which I thought was pretty excellent." "Wait," Jack interjected. "Do you all speak French?" @caitlin @brynnith

"Aw, we'll make it." Rosie took another swig of her bottle. "Even if we gotta lower us by rope." @a general chris @ellis @electriclightparade

Blue gave Miranda a hang-ten sign from the hand draped over Rosie. "Three," she said automatically to Graves, tucking her own flask in her pocket and holding her now free hand out for Graves' offer. "Thanks, kiddo. Hey babe, I have two questions. Well, I guess one, now, since your brother just gave me more alcohol." @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Alec turned in towards the group as well. "It's one of my favourites!" They tilted their head at Jack. "I do 'cause my step-mom's from Québec." @spexile @caitlin

"Oh," Jack nodded. "My mom's from Milwaukee, so..." @brynnith @caitlin

Rosie wrapped an arm around Blue's waist. "Shoot." @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Cool!" Alec grinned at Jack. "Where's that?" @spexile @caitlin

"Good choice," he passed her the flask without comment. "Gotta guess what it is." @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Blue held the flask out for Graves. "Unscrew, please!" She turned her attention back to Rosie. "Would you encourage or discourage me from talking to Parker right now?" @electriclightparade @a general chris @brynnith

Parker shrugged and motioned and himself and Kieran. "Well, our mom's the goddess of resent and pettiness, so we get to speak French." @spexile @brynnith

"Hm, let's see." Rosie tapped her chin. "Are you pissed at him? In a serious way?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Kieran snorted. "That's not inaccurate." "That... Checks out," Jack snorted. He turned back to Alec. "Um, Milwaukee's in Wisconsin. I never lived there though, it's just where my mom grew up." @brynnith @caitlin​

Miranda took another sip from her bottle, her eyes bouncing from person to person as they spoke.  "Oh, is there drama incoming?" @brynnith @ellis @electriclightparade

"Oop, I gotcha." Graved unscrewed it quickly, sneaking an amused look at Miranda. Once Blue was set, he took another drink for himself from a different flask, listening to the gossip. @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Alec nodded their head along. "Wisconsin," they repeated, trying and failing to visualize where that was. "They have... cheese?" @spexile @caitlin

Akira emerged from behind a duct to approach Malia when they heard her calling. "No, no, not interrupting. I was just readying a little surprise for later." Akira stepped closer to the light so Malia could see him more clearly. "How are you enjoying yourself?" @ellis

Blue shrugged. "I might be a little annoyed, but I'm not planning on melting flesh, if that's your concern." She lifted the flask to her nose. "Smells like metal," she said, then took a sip. "Raspberry vodka?" @electriclightparade @a general chris @brynnith

"Nah, no concerns." Rosie waited for her to finish tasting the drink. "If you're just a bit annoyed, sure, why not?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia's brows lifted in interest, but she figured they'd want to keep the surprise a surprise. "So far it's been pretty dull for me, I won't lie," she said with a shrug. "But I have faith you can make it more interesting." @spexile

"I guess? I don't know, I've never been there," Jack repeated. "But they probably get cheese?" @brynnith @caitlin

Parker smirked at Alec, wanting to make fun of them but also not really sure what else they had in Wisconsin. "Cheese... like Colby Jack." He sucked his cheeks in. "Um, but that movie sounds cool. What was it about?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Unlike him, Miranda didn't bother to hide the amused look on her face.  She reached into her bag, and pulled out two more mini bottles of vodka. She reached up to rest her elbow on Graves' shoulder, looking only slighter ridiculous due to their height difference, and dangled them in front of his face.  "Wanna take another shot?  I'm bored." @electriclightparade @brynnith @ellis

"Probably," Alec agreed. Their eyebrows drew together for a moment as they tried to figure out what Parker was talking about, and then they realized the movie he was asking about was the film they had watched with Kieran, not one called 'Colby Jack'. "Oh! It's about a vain woman believing she has cancer and coming to terms with beauty being temporary."

"Well, he has a friend with him," she muttered before taking another shot from the flask. She eyed the crowd she was with. "Would you guys like to interrupt a conversation for me?" @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

Jack shut his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temple. He wasn't sure if he was meant to laugh or cry. Kieran, hoping to pretend like the moment hadn't occurred, added onto Alec's description. "It's also a nice study on existentialism." @brynnith @caitlin

Parker wondered briefly if he should jump off the roof. "That sounds like your kind of movie." He laughed and took another sip of his drink before holding it out to Jack again. @spexile @brynnith

Akira grinned. "There are always ways to make things more interesting. How dangerously would you like to live?"

Alec understands the joke belatedly when wondering why everything became weird. "Oh! Colby Jack." They laughed. "I get it now." @spexile @caitlin

Parker covered his eyes with his hand and sighed. @spexile @brynnith

Jack clapped a hand over his face. "Oh my gods." Kieran just pressed his lips together and nodded. "Dairy humor." @brynnith @caitlin

"Bingo!" Graves answered Blue on time. He laughed when Miranda reached up to lean on his shoulder, and crouched a little to help her out. "A shot would be excellent," he elongated the word, for dramatic effect. "You are carrying me home tonight, right Monty?" @ellis @a general chris @brynnith

Malia tilted her head, appraising Akira. "Why don't you set the pace and I'll tell you if I want you to go further?" @spexile

Miranda laughed, shoving him off of her at his question.  "Oh definitely.  Look at all this muscle."  She flexed, and while she had some definition, she definitely wasn't gunning for 'brawniest camper' anytime soon.  "I'll get us down this roof in no time, Gravy."  She turned when she heard Blue, intrigued.  "I'm listening.  What do you need?" @ellis @electriclightparade @brynnith(edited)

Alec laughed again at what Kieran said, shaking their head. "You guys are hilarious." @spexile @caitlin

Blue glanced over her shoulder then leaned a little closer. "I wanna talk to Parker without the white-haired boy having a meltdown." @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Akira turned his head toward the light to get a glimpse of the crowd before stepping in toward Malia. "Just say the word." Akira brought a hand up to the back of her neck, tracing a finger down her shoulder blade, across the back of her arm, and down past her wrist until he found her hand. With a soft tug, he stepped back toward the darkness behind the ducts, urging her to follow. @ellis

Ime glanced at Casey after rebooting and raised their eyebrows at him. "Do you think anyone's gonna start a fight? Or should we spill some oil on the roof and make everything just slightly more exciting?" @spexile

Rosie looked over to Parker and Jack and made a face once she understood. "Y'wanna get Parker off to the side, or the guy away from the group?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Miranda pointed at Rosie when she asked her question.  "You beat me to it.  And I'm guessing just...sending a text is a no-go?" @brynnith @ellis @electriclightparade(edited)

Blue drank again. "Mmm, I think I'm finishing this," she informed Graves. "Parker aside." @a general chris @electriclightparade @brynnith

Jack snorted. "I mean... I like cheese." He shook his head quickly. "Nope. Sorry, shouldn't have—let's just move on. New topic." Kieran smirked and took another sip of whiskey. @brynnith @caitlin

"I could just go over and ask Parker to walk away with me," Rosie offered. "At this point nothing I do can come as a surprise, he's used to it!" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

Malia thought that was simultaneously so strange and so hot and absolutely followed Akira into the darkness. @spexile

"Ugh, babe, you're so smart." Blue kissed Rosie on the cheek. @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

Graves stood beside his sisters, listening to their conversation with Blue. He made a face as she finished his flask, but he just pulled another out of his pocket in response and winked at her. "Happy to be of service," he smirked, then drank. He wondered who else was here, but hadn't gotten a very good look at the group before doing shots with his sisters. @ellis @a general chris @brynnith(edited)

Parker didn't really know how to bounce back from this. He ran his hand down his face and groaned. "When's everyone's birthday?" He already knew Alec and Kieran's birthdays. @brynnith @spexile

Alec mouthed 'wow' silently, in awe, and was about to spring into action towards a new topic when Parker spoke. They gave him an odd look, but answered nonethless. "October third. Like, the Mean Girls day." @caitlin @spexile

Rosie kissed Blue before she leaned too far away. "Cool cool, now?" @ellis @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Fuck it, might as well." @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

"That's definitely the easiest option. Go for it, Manita." She then handed the mini bottle to Graves, before unscrewing her own and taking the shot.  @ellis

Akira led Mal through the darkness, the ducts buzzing deeply around them. They walked slowly, taking an almost grid-like route, each turn perpendicular, almost counted out. Then, without notice, Akira stopped and guided Mal slowly against the wall of a towering, silent duct before closing the distance between them. @ellis

Parker frowned at Alec's look. "Mean Girls day," he whispered after Alec, not really knowing what that meant. @spexile @brynnith

Alec squinted at Parker. "Why do you always repeat what I say under your breath?" @spexile @caitlin

Jack and Kieran pressed their lips together. They looked at each other in silence, once again sharing a moment of awkward solidarity. Kieran suppressed a small grin at the thought. "My birthday is the 18th of January," Kieran piped up. "In case you were wondering." @caitlin @brynnith

Rosie patted Blue's back then detangled herself from her girlfriend and headed over to Parker's little group. "'Scuse me girls and gays, I gotta grab Parker for a sec," she addressed to all of them. @spexile @caitlin

Graves grimaced as he unscrewed the mini bottle that was presented to him. "Okay, I- last one before I take a little breather." He quickly downed the shot and pocketed the bottle. "Sis, how do you feel about roaming the roof?" Graves moved to take a step forward and felt himself sway a bit. He laughed at his own drunkenness, his nose crinkling, then turned to look at Miranda, "Lead the way." @a general chris(edited)

Parker flushed and opened his mouth to respond, but then jumped on Rosie's opportunity to leave. "Oh, yeah. S'why I was asking, for the birthdays... Anyway yeah, bye." @brynnith @spexile

Casey has been drinking from a small water bottle of pure tequila that he brought and talking up some townies.

"Uh, bye." Jack was almost grinning in disbelief. "Wow." "When is your birthday, Jack?" Kieran asked. "Uh, it's August 11. '99." Kieran nodded. "Warm." "Uh-huh." @brynnith(edited)

Rosie laughed. "The fuck did I walk in on, Parks? C'mon." She lead him away from the group. "Heads up, I'm leading you to your doom. Yo, babe, I got him!" @caitlin @ellis

Parker followed along with Rosie and felt the sense of dread appear as his anxiety about his last situation faded. "Oh. Um, hey." He looked over Blue's shoulder so he could seem like he was looking her in the eye.@brynnith @ellis

"A Leo," Alec commented to themself. "Awesome. So Jack! I know like, nothing about you. Sick eye patch, you're like an intriguing pirate. Not drinking tonight?" @spexile

Miranda laughed as she watched her brother sway. He had beaten her on pre-game shots and it was definitely starting to show. “Okay, you drunk idiot. Let’s go.” She dropped her arm, from his shoulder and started walking in a random direction. “Anyone in particular you’re itching to talk to?” @electriclightparade

Blue turned around when Rosie hauled Parker over to her. She bared her teeth in a grin and then turned to Rosie, kissing her quickly. "Thank you, babe. I'll come find you." She took Parker's arm. "Lets go for a walk, Valentine." @brynnith @caitlin

Ime scampered up and rested their elbow on Alec's shoulder. "Hey, this shoulder still hurt?" They nodded at Kieran and Jack. "I like the 'fits." @brynnith @spexile

"Ugh." Jack folded an arm across his chest and pressed his fingers against his eyepatch. "I was—I mean, I was having a bit of Parker's wine. I don't—I'm not 21 yet soo I can't buy myself alcohol for these things." "Here." Kieran held out his flask. "It's whiskey." "Uh... Thanks." Jack took the flask hesitantly. He took a sniff, didn't like the smell, and took a sip anyway. He tried not to make a face. "Thanks. Um," Jack handed the flask back to Kieran. "Sorry, I think we've talked, like, twice. Remind me your name?" As Ime walked up to join them, Jack appended, "Thanks." @brynnith @caitlin

Rosie wiggled her fingers in a wave goodbye to her girlfriend and then headed back to Graves and Miranda. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Parker let Blue take his arm and followed along after Blue, tense. "sure thing, Byrne." He tried not to sound suspicious. @ellis

Alec laughed and wrapped an arm around Ime's shoulders. "A bit!" They gave Jack a sympathetic nod. "Not being legal here sucks." @spexile @caitlin

Graves leaned into Miranda just as she dropped her arm from his shoulder and almost tripped. He took a moment to steady himself and began to laugh. "I'm not drunk Mont- just a tiny bit tipsy." He held his fingers close together to demonstrate how much, still laughing. "I dunno, maybe Casey? I saw him talking to some randos. I gotta ask him about a uhhh about a thing." Graves steered them in Casey's general direction. @a general chris @spexile(edited)

"It's Bluebryn, you asshole," she said, but she said it casually so it was unclear if she was really angry about this. "Want some raspberry vodka? I also have tequila in my pocket." @caitlin

"Well, I turn 21 this summer, so..." Jack shrugged. "I'll get trashed, I guess." Kieran snorted. "Good to have goals." He turned to Ime. "Hi. I believe I neglected to shake your hand at some point." @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

“Right, cause that doesn’t sound sketchy as shit.” Regardless, she scanned the crowd, changing their direction when she stopped Casey in the crowd. Her attention was torn away for a second when Rosie appeared and grinned at her. “Welcome back. I think our brother is about to try and join a cult or some shit.” @electriclightparade @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Casey was in the middle of regaling some townies about the wonders of spicy noodles when he noticed a much more interesting group of people walking towards him. "If you'd just excuse me—" Pushing the strangers aside as if parting the sea, Casey made a beeline towards the Hermes kids. "Oh my gods, please save me from these white people. One of them just pronounced La Croix like a French word." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Ime nodded sympathetically. "I legally helped with an autopsy before I could legally drink." They smiled at Kieran and held a up an. "Yes, I remember that, as I always will, like an elephant." @spexile @brynnith

Rosie slung an arm around Miranda's shoulders. "Sweet! Can't wait to witness that." She grinned at Casey. "Yo, my guy. When am I gonna get to try and hit you again?" @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

Alec shook their head. "Twenty-one. That's some old drinking age." They looked between Ime and Kieran with a wide smile. @spexile @caitlin

Parker laughed. "Yeah." He looked at her and then at her pocket and shook his head. "I have wine." @ellis

"Cool, fine, I guess we'll just get straight to the point." Blue dragged Parker to a relatively empty part of the roof while she drained her flask, and then spun to face him. "So are you just going to fucking ignore me forever?" @caitlin

Miranda let out a laugh as Casey came running over. “Fucking idiots, all of them.” Her head tilted when she heard Rosie’s reply. “Whose fighting who? Now I’m interested in this conversation.” @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker rubbed his forehead and shook his head, giving her a small smile. "I'm not ignoring you." @ellis

Kieran chortled. "I've always wanted a pachyderm for a nemesis. Thank you for realizing a lifelong dream." Jack gave himself a tight squeeze and idly scanned the room, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. In the dim lighting, he couldn't see where Parker went. Jack exhaled and looked back toward the group. "Sorry, wait—did you tell me your name?" @brynnith @caitlin

"Cay-sey! Dude!" Graves punctuated each syllable with a finger gun because he's more drunk than he thinks. "We're fighting," he said, in response to Miranda. He gestured between himself and Casey, and then around the whole roof. "It's gonna be WILD." @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

"You literally pretend to not see me every time you see me, but okay." She angrily shoved the now empty flask into her other pocket and took her phone out so it would fit. Because she was drunk, and impulsive, and angry, actually, she turned her flashlight back on and shone it in Parker's face. "Please try that response again." @caitlin(edited)

Alec leaned against Ime as they laughed at Kieran's joke, despite having no clue what a pachyderm was. An elephant? It didn't matter. "That's Ime! My sibling, and best person on this earth." @spexile @caitlin

Casey cackled. "Oh my gods, you guys don't even know! Listen to this—" Casey held his hands out, as if to pause the conversation. "I talked to Akira... I think we're starting an actual fight club." @brynnith @electriclightparade @a general chris

"Fight CLUB!!" Graves yelled and punched the air. @spexile(edited)

Ime pressed a hand to their chest, not really understanding the word. "I'm known to make dreams come true." They flashed a smile and pointed at Alec. "And this is Alec. We're like those statues where one tells only lies and one only truths and you have to guess who is who." @spexile @brynnith Parker hadn't felt especially anxious until the light was shone in his face. He shook his head. "I wasn't, like, ignoring you. You just didn't come over to me." @ellis(edited)

Miranda almost face palmed when Graves spoke. “Holy shit, you’re so dumb and even more drunk.” She looked over at Rosie and Casey to roll her eyes but didn’t when she heard about the fight club. “Wait,” she turned to face Rosie. “Didn’t Akira mention that in the murder basement?” She now faced Casey again. “That shits actually happening?” @electriclightparade @spexile @brynnith

"No fucking way! I'm fucking impressed at that commitment. Here's to following through and shit." Rosie took another shot. "I'm so in." @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

"Because you always come over to me!" she snapped. "Or because now, when I'd come over to you, you're with," Blue lowered the light from his face so she could shove Parker, hard, surprising herself with how angry she actually was, "that fucking guy! You know, the one who almost killed my brother!" @caitlin

Jack snorted. "That's reassuring." Kieran stepped in towards Jack so the four of them were forming more of a circle. "Interesting dynamic. So who's the liar, then?" @brynnith @caitlin

Parker crossed his arms and frowned. Because he had drank a lot of his bottle very quickly due to being so awkward he felt somewhat more impulsive. "I'm sorry that I have to be the one to come over to you when I'm hanging out with the guy you maimed." @ellis

Casey looked around, but couldn't spot Akira. "You guys should fight me," he proposed to the Hermes trio. "You should all fight me right now and the first person who hits me, I'll take you out to hangover brunch tomorrow." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Alec grinned. "Ime, of course! Except they aren't. My name is Alec." They blinked at Jack as realization dawned. "Holy mackerel, were you asking me for my name the whole time? I'm sorry! I thought you were talking to Kieran for some reason!" @spexile @caitlin

"Uh, no," Jack shook his head. "We know each other." "We do. Jack is—" Kieran quickly caught his tongue as he remembered the present company. "Jack is a friend." Jack looked at Kieran then quickly down at the ground. @brynnith @caitlin

Ime raised their eyebrows. "Quite obvious that Alec is the liar, they can't stop talking in circles." Ime raised their eyebrows and looked between Kieran and Jack. "Are you lovers?" @brynnith @spexile

Alec threw back their head and laughed. "Ime! Oh my god." They recovered and tilted their head at Kieran and Jack. "Do you know each other through Parker?" @spexile @caitlinracheljones

"Ew." Kieran rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not." "Just ew. No offense," Jack turned to Kieran, who was already shaking his head dismissively. "Yeah, we know each other through Parker." @brynnith @caitlin​

Ime flashed their teeth in a smile. "Ah, okay. They were acting like Parker with you." They laughed a bit and then hummed at Jack and Kieran. "What were you talking about before I rudely interrupted?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

Jack tipped his head. "Um... What?" Kieran clapped a hand over his mouth. @caitlin @brynnith

Alec tipped their head back to look at the sky. "Oh my god," they repeated, under their breath as they shook their head. "Ime." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda assumed her previous position of resting her elbow on Graves’ shoulder. Partly because she had no desire to punch Casey, and also to force her brother to have to bend slightly and not do anything more stupid while fucking hammered. Last thing she needed was to explain to Chiron how her brother fell off a roof. “See, a hangover brunch implies we actually get a hangover. Which of course.” She gestures to herself and her siblings, though not as long at Graves. “We’re pros so that’s not a huge concern for us.” @spexile @brynnith @electriclightparade(edited)

Blue's face flushed as she ignited with instant rage. She wanted to hit him, and she grabbed his bottle in an impulsive urge to use it against him. But instead, she held herself back and shoved him again. "Fuck you." @caitlin

Rosie nodded along for an appropriate amount of time to what Miranda was saying, and then lunged towards Casey to try and hit him. @spexile @electriclightparade @a general chris

Ime tilted their head. "Were you just introducing yourselves, was I not interrupting?" They linked their hands behind their back. "Is somebody going to fight tonight? Or am I at the wrong party?" @brynnith @spexile(edited)

"Honestly," Graves said, trying to shrug off Miranda's arm, "brunch sounds delicious." He took another, long drink from his flask of tequila, just as Rosie lunged at Casey. Graves hooted in amusement. "Rosie YES! Get that brunch!!" He bounced on the balls of his feet, getting hyped up and taking one more drink before pocketing his flask. @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

Miranda knew she’d never be able to contain Rosie, so she didn’t even attempt to stop her. “If you hit him, I want French toast in the morning.” She looked at Graves. “This is why you don’t get drunk at the pregame. If you didn’t, I would let you punch him.”  @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker held his hands up and took a step back. "Blue, are you kidding me right now? Leave me alone." @ellis

Jack pressed his hands to his face, exhaling deeply. "Okay... Why do I always end up feeling like there's a big joke in the room that only I'm not a part of? Is it me? Am I the joke?" Kieran stayed silent, his lips pressed together. @caitlin @brynnith(edited)

Casey's vision blurred as suddenly he entered hyper-speed. Except this time, he had already been hit. "Fuck!" What felt like a minute later, Casey caught his balance from the impact and turned around. He touched his fingers to his lip and found blood. "Oh my fucking gods. You hit me." He looked up at Rosie, smiling ear to ear. "You fucking hit me!" @brynnith @a general chris @electriclightparade

"No, no, not at all!" Alec shook their head immediately, concerned now. They launched into an explanation. "Ime meant 'cause Parker's always really weird with me about being friends even though we hang out sometimes. 'Cause I annoy him. And you guys just had a weird, like, 'dot dot dot friends?' moment. So they were saying it was awkward?" @spexile @caitlin

"No, fuck you Parker. I'm allowed to be pissed about it! If you hadn't just avoided me like a fucking coward we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Blue shouted back, her voice getting steadily louder. "Dude, I don't even— I just— Ugh, fuck! So you get some good dick and now you think I meant to do that?"

Ime tilted their head at Jack, actually unsure about what he meant, for once. "I wasn't making a joke. I wanted to know if people were..." They spun as they heard a scuffle happening. "Fighting," they whispered. @brynnith @spexile

Rosie jumped up and down in excitement and fist pumped. "Fuck yes!" She held out her hand for fist bump from Casey. "You owe me brunch!" @spexile @a general chris @electriclightparade

Miranda couldn’t help but laugh when Rosie made contact. “Wow, I don’t think that could’ve backfired any harder for you.” She dropped her arm and released Graves, now crossing her arms over her chest. She liked to think that she provided a great distraction. @brynnith @spexile @electriclightparade

Parker balled his fists. "Fuck off, Blue, I haven't even fucking..." He took a quick breath. "Whatever. I haven't been ignoring you. Sorry that I didn't come over to you so you could make fun of me while I sit there like a clueless asshole." @ellis

"Oh shiiiet! Rosie, damn hermana!" Graves' face broke into a huge grin when his sister's fist made contact with Caseys' face. "Damn Case," he laughed. His vision swam for a sec and the world turned a little off kilter, but he shook his head and it cleared. He didn't realize he was so drunk, but he definitely felt more impulsive. "Case, Casey, man. My man. My turn. Hit me, " Graves gave Casey a super bro-y sup nod, and raised his hands. "I'm ready." @spexile @brynnith @a general chris

Jack shut his eyes, and pressed his fingers against his temples. Kieran, at a loss for words, gave Alec a look and nodded toward Jack with a shrug. @brynnith

Blue unscrewed the cap of Parker's bottle and threw the contents into Parker's face. Wine soaked his head and shirt. "You're an asshole, Parker. You and that freak are perfect for each other." She turned, and then turned right back. "Oh, by the way! I've been telling you to buy ugly clothes so you'd look ridiculous." @caitlin

Casey cackled. "Backfired?! That's exactly what I've wanted! Oh my gods—" Casey stepped in to fist bump Rosie. "Fuck it, brunch and mimosas, god damn!" He turned to Graves. "Wait—what? I'm not gonna hit you!" Casey laughed. "The point is that it's a fair fight, I don't wanna just hit you to hit you." @a general chris @brynnith @electriclightparade

Alec gave Ime a distressed look. "Are you okay?" they asked Jack, running a hand through their hair. "It was just a bad joke. Us Tyche kids are known for those." @spexile @caitlin

Miranda was distracted from Graves being an idiot again by Blue screaming. She looked over just in time to see her dump wine on Parker, and covered her mouth to hit a quick laugh that bubbled out of her. She glanced over at Rosie to see if she noticed what was going on, slapping her brother to get his attention. “Oh, shit. There’s the drama.”  @electriclightparade @spexile @brynnith(edited)

Akira led Malia back to the point where they met. "You can find your friends, I'll hang back." Akira squinted towards the crowd. "Though it looks like... There's fighting happening." Akira was caught somewhere between a grimace and a smirk. "Figures, right?" @ellis

Rosie threw her hands up in the air. "Fuck yes. Score." She laughed at Graves, but turned her head in time to see Blue cover Parker in wine. "Fuck." Her smile faded. "Shit. Fuck." She immediately started towards where Blue was headed. @a general chris @ellis @electriclightparade

Parker didn't process anything that happened until Blue had turned for the second time. He took a step forward. "If I'm an asshole then we're the perfect friends!" He was yelling now. He pushed his hair back. "You know what, fuck you for that. I look like a fucking jerk to my siblings who make me feel like a fucking idiot and I thought it was funny but you know what, it isn't! You're fucking mean, Blue." @ellis

Jack just shook his head, trying to ignore Alec's inquiry, but the sound of Blue and Parker's screaming had cut through the noise of the party. Or maybe it was that the noise had subsided to give them way. "What the fuck—" Jack stepped in their direction to get a better view. Kieran sighed, seeing what was happening in the distance. @brynnith @caitlin

After 20 minutes with Akria, Malia decided her hair was a lost cause. She was mid-tying it up into a ponytail as she glanced over her shoulder, following their stare. "Oh, shit," she muttered. "That's my brother." @spexile

Ime turned back when they realized that Alec was actually upset. "Oh. Yes, I did make a bad joke." They frowned, confused. "Did you want to hear a good joke?" They looked over when Parker started yelling and pulled out their phone. "I'm not on my game, missing everything." @spexile @brynnith(edited)

"Go," Akira suggested. "Before she spits on him." @ellis

Alec pressed their hands to their cheeks and turned towards Blue and Parker as well. "Oh my." @spexile @caitlin

"Better mean than a clueless douchebag and a terrible friend, you fucking prick." She spit at his feet, then spun on her heel to march away. She remembered that she still had his bottle in her hands. She turned back once again and threw first the bottle, and then the cap at him as hard as she could. @caitlin

Graves' grin only broadened at Casey's response. He nodded, trying to be solemn, "T'was a test. Y'passed. A fair and generous oppo-" He broke off in the middle of his sentence when he heard a scream. Seeing Rosie walk away, he put the pieces together, then looked at Miranda. "Should we uh, 'elp her?" He looked in Casey's direction, eyeing his face, to see what damage Rosie had done. His glance lingered a second too long over Casey's split lip, before he focused on the other fight brewing. @spexile @brynnith @a general chris(edited)

Rosie winced when Blue threw the bottle at Parker. "Fucking christ." She stopped a couple feet away from her girlfriend. "Y'wanna go?" @ellis

"Doesn't everyone want me to go?" she asked Rosie sharply. She headed toward the ladder. @brynnith

"Um..." As his attention shifted to the other fight, Casey stepped in toward Graves and Miranda. "Maybe we should let this one play out." @electriclightparade @a general chris

Rosie hurried after her. "I'll go with you." @ellis

Parker stepped out of the way of the bottle and spun to avoid the cap. His eyes stung. He wiped more wine off his face and pressed his palms into his eyes. "Fuck!" He sighed and tried not to notice anyone looking at him.

Miranda watched Rosie approach Blue, but didn’t immediately follow her. “Hang on a second.” She took a few steps forward, so she was closer just in case, but paused when Blue headed towards the ladder with her sister not far behind. “That’s a no.” She let out a sigh, first Macey, now Rosie. Thank god she wasn’t dating. “I’ll check up on her later, give Blue some time to cool off.” @spexile @electriclightparade

As soon as Blue stepped away, Jack made his way quickly to Parker. "What the fuck was that? Are you okay?" Jack spoke softly but quickly, trying not to sound harried. His eyes scanned over Parker's body for any cuts or bleeding. "I'll be right back," Kieran muttered to Alec before slowly heading over to his brother. @caitlin @brynnith

It was too late to stop him being spit at, and from blocking the things being thrown at him, but Malia hurried over anyway. She took her brother's hand and glanced at Jack, and Kieran approaching. @caitlin @spexile

Alec nodded at Kieran and looked back at Ime, eyebrows drawn together. @caitlin @spexile

"Um..." Casey looked between them. "Group decompression brunch?" Casey half-joked. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Blue shook her head without looking back at Rosie. She paused at the top of the ladder to blink away tears that were blurring her vision. "You shouldn't have to stop your night because of me." @brynnith

Ime kept recording and whispered to Alec. "Should I stop recording? Or should I get a tearful end?" @brynnith

Akira waited until Malia reached her brother before returning to the shadowy location where they had retreated to. He turned on his phone flashlight and swept the area, revealing several wooden crates packed full with small explosives. He sighed disappointedly before clicking the light off and starting back toward the main area.

Parker flicked wine from his hand and shook his head, grabbing his bottle. He crouched and occupied himself with looking for the cap. "Yeah, I'm fine." @spexile @ellis

Graves stopped mid-step when Miranda called for pause, like an obedient puppy. He looked over her shoulder at their sister, a worried look on his face. When it seemed like the fight was dissipating, he relaxed and turned to Casey. "Brunch! Even though I didn't punch you? I'd kill for some eggs and hash browns, honestly," he winked and raised his eyebrows at him. @spexile @a general chris

Rosie hesitated then touched Blue's back. "Duh, but I'm gonna anyway. Let's go smash some bottles or shit like that." @ellis

Alec frowned at Ime. "Stop recording. You should delete that." @caitlin

Malia quickly scanned the outfits of the two boys surrounding her, then glanced back to the party, then back to Parker. "Give me two minutes," she said to them. She gave Jack a look that he hoped he would understand to mean to keep him there. She then ran over to Alec. "Hey. Can I take your flannel? I'll buy you a new one." @brynnith @spexile @caitlin

Alec started pulling their flannel off as soon as Malia mentioned it. "Yeah, yeah! Don't worry about it." They handed it to her. @ellis @caitlin

Miranda wasn’t as quick to turn back to Casey as Graves was. She kept Rosie in her  peripheral vision, and her smile was wiped from her face. “I was serious when I said I wanted French toast.” She butted in, but not fully paying attention to the conversation.  @spexile @electriclightparade

Ime sighed and turned off their camera but didn't delete it. "I wish I got her throwing wine at him." @brynnith

"Aw, I'll take you out for brunch any time, baby, you don't have to kill for me," Casey winked back at Graves. "So group brunch it is, then!" Casey nodded at Miranda. @electriclightparade@a general chris(edited)

Jack wasn't entirely sure what Malia meant with her look, but he stepped in toward Parker after she left. "Are you hurt?" Kieran hovered right behind Jack, shooting dirty glances at anybody who came too close. @caitlin

Malia took the flannel and gave them a grateful look as she immediately rushed back to her brother's side. "There are air ducts over there, no one will see you, if you want to change. We can use the bottom of that shirt to dry your hair. Kieran or Jack, can one of you try to find some water to get this out of his face?" @spexile @caitlin

Blue pressed two fingers under her eyes, then shrugged. She smiled at Rosie a little. "Sounds fun." @brynnith

"Um, yeah, I can—" "Here." Kieran unzipped the small bag at his side and pulled out his hydroflask. "This is water, I swear." He handed it to Malia. @ellis @caitlin

"No." Parker said gruffly and frowned, but softened his expression when he remembered he was talking to Jack. "No, I'm fine. I'm okay." He sighed at Malia and shook his head. "It's not a big deal. I don't care, I'm just trying to find the bottle cap." @ellis @spexile

Rosie smiled back at her tightly. "Let's go. Your place or mine? Or somewhere else, I have glass bottles on me." @ellis

Graves' eyes widened for a second, before his face broke into a lopsided grin. He felt his cheeks warm as he replied, "Deal. No to the killing, yes to the brunch. You tell me when." He gave Casey a little salute, tapping two fingers to his temple. "Monty, I need...water, and sleep. Time to go home?" Graves started towards the ladder. Over his shoulder, he called to Casey. "You have my number." @spexile @a general chris

Malia took the hyroflask and cradled it along with the flannel. "You'll find it better when you get that out of your eyes." @caitlin @spexile

Miranda watched Graves make his way over to the ladder and low-key wanted to scream. “He’s gonna fucking fall off that thing, isn’t he?” She looked over at Casey. “But yeah, we’ll figure brunch out, especially since mimosas were mentioned earlier.  We’ll talk later.” She then went after her brother to start attempting to get him down safely, Macey’s speed dial ready to go if it got to that point. @electriclightparade @spexile

"I'll help—" Casey decided the drama had subsided and ran over to help steady the ladder as they both went down. @a general chris @electriclightparade

Blue shook her head again. "Wherever you wanna go. Somewhere else, I guess." @brynnith

Rosie nodded and hung back as she watched her siblings go down the ladder. "Looks like my cabin's gonna be full tonight. Wanna swing by, grab some empty bottles, start a campfire by the woods and break shit?" @ellis

Parker felt strangely like he might cry. "Ugh. It doesn't matter, I found it." He sighed and stood up as he held the cap in his hands. "I might just leave. He wiped his face. @ellis @spexile

Once Parker stood up again and seemed like he wasn't physically injured, the sting of hurt from Ime's joke returned to the surface and Jack took a step back. "The apartment?" Kieran asked, taking Jack's place beside Parker. @caitlin @ellis(edited)

Alec shook their head at Ime. "You don't need that." @caitlin

Akira hovered at the corner of the lit area, watching carefully to see if anybody looked physically injured, but otherwise said nothing.

Malia recognized her brother's expression and didn't try to push, lest he get more upset and then even more upset for getting so upset. She silently made him switch his empty bottle for the hydroflask. "I'm done here, too." @caitlin @spexile

Ime hummed and shrugged. "You're right. This was not the fight I came for. You seem stressed." @brynnith

Alec pressed a hand to their forehead and shook their head again. "I feel bad." They made a face before speaking. "I think I need to stop sleeping with Parker?" @caitlin

Parker opened the hydroflask and took a sip from it. He held it out to Jack, Kieran, and Malia. "Does anyone else want water? I know I just finished that bottle, but I feel fine." He exhaled a shaky laugh. @ellis @spexile

Ime frowned and tilted their head. "Do you? That's upsetting. Are you sure?" @brynnith

Kieran took the bottle from Parker and took a sip before passing it to Jack. Jack brought the hydroflask up to take a sip, but stopped short. "Why does it smell like—" "It's my kombucha bottle." Jack lowered the bottle and slowly passed it back to Kieran, grimacing. @caitlin @ellis

"It is, isn't it?" Alec pressed a hand to their forehead. "I dunno. Isn't it kinda weird? If Jack likes Parker? I don't wanna upset him." @caitlin

Malia smiled at her brother's joke. "I think I'm okay." She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Blue was gone. "Want to head back?" @spexile @caitlin

Ime shrugged. "Aren't you sleeping with Parker's sister?" @brynnith

Parker sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, I don't care." He looked at Jack. "Will you come with us?" @ellis @spexile

Jack looked up at Parker, a little stunned at the request. "Uh... Yeah." He glanced at Kieran, who was very decidedly looking away. "I'll come." @ellis @caitlin

"Well, yeah, but less often." Alec watched the scene with Aphrodite kids and Jack over Ime's shoulder. "But it's not the same," they sighed. "Who's gonna rail me now?" They shook their head once again after speaking and looked sheepish. "That's not what's important. I hope he's okay."@caitlin

Ime shrugged. "Just ask him to rail you some other time. I won't bring it up again. Or go out with a bang." @brynnith

Alec shrugged and looked back at Ime. "Eh, it'll work out." @caitlinNEW

Malia smiled to herself and lead the group to the exit. @caitlin @spexile

Parker lifted his lips in a bit of a smile and then shrugged again. "You don't have to. I just don't want you getting, you know, shanked by a raccoon or something on the way home." He followed after Malia. @ellis @spexile

Ime poked Alec's cheek. "I'm sure it will. You always get lucky, no?" @brynnith

The smile on Jack's face didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks." Jack let Parker and Malia start ahead. Kieran locked eyes with Jack for just a moment, but still didn't know what to say, so he gave a small nod and followed after his brother. Once they were a few paces ahead, Jack followed too. @caitlin @ellis

Alec brightened up at Ime's words. "You're right!" They glanced around and noticed Akira standing by the edge of the lit area. "I gotta try to expand, eh? See you later!" They patted Ime's shoulder and headed over to Akira. "Heya, guest of honour? How's lurking going?" @spexile @caitlin

Akira was smiling, but their brows were furrowed. "Swimmingly. Lots to observe." They leaned back against a duct to face Alec fully. "Something about this place just really gets people going, huh?" @brynnith

Ime nodded at Alec and then sighed when they saw them walk over to Akira. They moved to follow the Aphrodite kids out and took out their phone to text Jacob.

😩 It's April first! 😩That means it's April fools 😝 and it's time to 😜 FOOL 🍆 around!!!!💦👅 April SHOWERS 💦💦💦 bring May flowers!!!🌺🌸🌼🌷😩😈 TRICK bæ into 👉👌 and you'll have a wHOLE YEAR of 🙌🙌GOOD LUCK 🙌🙌 😵💦👅🍆 IGNORE THIS MESSAGE AND NO TRICKS 🍆💦👌👈 for 10 YEARS 😩😩😷 SEND to YOUR 10 😈😈 SLUTTIEST 😩😩friends and you'll 😵 SPRING into a SEASON of 😵💦😈👄Pleasure 🍆👌💦😩😈

Malia paused at the ladder. "You go down first, I'll make sure it stays steady. Are your eyes bothering you?" @caitlin @spexile

Parker went down the ladder easily. "I'm fine. I'm just upset that I washed my hair for this." @ellis @spexile

"I would agree but people seem down to fight anywhere." Alec smiled at Akira. "Not that your place doesn't get people going. This is awesome as fuck." @spexile

"Parker," Malia said, her voice falling back into a gently exasperated tone, "you should be washing your hair anyway. What kind of Virgo are you?" @caitlin @spexile​

Parker scoffed at Malia. "Of course I wash my hair anyway. I just meant that I washed it specifically before this, and now I have to wash it again. Stop calling me a Virgo." @ellis(edited)

"Glad you think so." There was a sparkle in Akira's eye as the smile on their face grew fuller. They stood up properly, taking a step toward Alec. "I take it you had a nice time then, despite the chaos?" @brynnith

She shook her head since it was too dark for him to see her rolling her eyes. "Hold the ladder steady," she said as she started to climb down. @caitlin

Jacob responds to the text once his ears recover.

Unsubscribe.

Alec grinned wider and lifted their chin. "I'm easy to impress." @spexile

Ime smiled at their phone.

No tricks for ten years 😩😩😷 so sad 4 u

Kieran did as he was told, holding the ladder and trying not to focus on the drop down. "Why always the roofs?" He muttered. @ellis Jack stayed a few feet back, waiting idly for his turn. He almost jumped when he noticed Ime standing nearby. Jack's immediate instinct was to look the other direction, but after a short moment, he turned back and walked in their direction. "So Alec and Parker are hooking up?" @caitlin

"Hmm." Akira furrowed a brow and crossed their arms, but a smirk still pulled at the corner of their lips. "I'm not sure how to take that. Are you saying I'm really not all that impressive?" @brynnith​

Ime raised their eyebrows at Jack and they tilted their head. Their lips curled as they acted as though this was the first time they were hearing this information. "Are they?" @spexile(edited)

Alec laughed and ran a hand through their hair. "Not in the slightest. I'm saying I'm still having a good time." They tipped their head to one side. "But it could always be better." @spexile

Parker held the ladder steady for both Malia and Kieran. @spexile @ellis

Jack scowled. "Don't fuck with me right now. I'm not gonna flip a shit, I'm just..." He sighed. "I just wanna be in on whatever this is." @caitlin

Ime shrugged. "I think so. My sibling doesn't kiss and tell. I was making a joke to my sibling. I think the awkward boy likes you." @spexile

Akira couldn't help but smirk. "Funny you say that. And your idea of a better time?" @brynnith

As Kieran descended the ladder, he noticed Jack talking to Ime, but had already committed to going down. "Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered to himself. @caitlin @ellis

Jacob texted back after a few minutes.

Trix are for kids.

Malia stood at the bottom of the ladder and waited for Kieran to follow, and then frowned at him while he descended. "What's wrong?" @spexile @caitlin

Alec rocked back and forth on their feet. "You live downstairs?" @spexile

"Ugh." Jack rolled his eyes. "No fucking duh, he likes me." He walked away from Ime without another word and started descending down the ladder, his heart sinking in his chest. @caitlin

Kieran glanced between Malia and Parker, then up at Jack as he descended the ladder. "Doesn't matter," Kieran lied. Jack's feet hit grass and he gave an awkward smile at the others, not really looking Parker in the eyes. "Ready?" @caitlin @ellis

Malia was frustrated with this weirdness but decided this was secondary to Parker right now. She nodded at Jack and settled back at Parker's side. "Let's go." @caitlin @spexile

"I live downstairs," Akira repeated. "But looks like almost nobody's left up here." They shrugged. "If you're into that."

Ime frowned a bit and shrugged.

Where do you live? Don't worry, I'm just trying to rob you.

They followed Jack down once he was the whole way down. @brynnith Parker frowned a bit and smiled at Jack. "Yeah. If you don't want to come back with us, I can just walk you back to yours." He looked down. @spexile @ellis

"Was I hoping you'd say that? Maybe." Alec raised their eyebrows at him. "In the shadows here, or you gonna lead the way?" @spexile

"Um." Trying hard to ignore Ime, coming down the ladder just behind him, Jack tried to make the best decision. He sighed. "Yeah. I'd appreciate that, if you'd be cool with it." Kieran was preoccupied with a moth fluttering by. @ellis @caitlin

Read 04/05/20

Jacob sent the message after he had to correct the speech-to-text multiple times, then added his address to the next text and sent it. @caitlin(edited)

Akira chuckled. "Not to overstep on a first encounter, but I set up some special birthday candles for the party." Akira shrugged. "Didn't really get the opportunity to light them, but I'd hate to see them go to waste. If you wouldn't mind a little ambience." @brynnith

Ime grinned, not really noticing Jack, and left, possibly going to Jacob's,,,,,, who could ever be sure.

Alec took a step forward to close most of the distance between them. "Special birthday candles? What does that even mean?" They laughed. "But yeah, ambience, let's go." @spexile

Parker smiled at Jack and dipped his head a bit before looking at Malia and Kieran, slightly flushed. "Um, we can walk home with you guys first, it's on the way." @spexile @ellis

Akira found Alec's hand and lead them back to where the bigger ducts were. Before stepping into the dark, Akira let go of Alec. "Wait here." They stepped into the dark for a few moments. Then suddenly, there was a loud hissing sound and a fountain of sparks started spewing from some point in the dark. Then another. Then another. Akira laid each sparkler down on the ground in a big triangle before returning to Alec and pulling them into the center. "Surprise." @brynnit

Malia assessed the situation then made eye contact with Kieran, unsure if he'd agree with her but doing it anyway. "Kieran and I can walk back together while you two go to Jack's place, it's no big deal." @caitlin @spexile

Kieran hopped onto Malia's instinct. "I'll be up when you get back." He nodded at Jack. "Take your time." Then, without waiting for Parker to respond, Kieran turned and gave Mal a look of let's go before walking away at a slightly brisker pace than usual. @caitlin @ellis

Alec followed and waited without issue. As soon as the sparks lit up, their eyes widened and they gazed around, pulled inside the lights easily. "Whoa," they breathed, grasping the front of Akira's robe. "Some birthday candles." They turned to kiss him but changed their mind at the last moment and returned to watching the sparklers so they didn't miss a moment of the light or effort of the display.  @spexile

Malia pressed the flannel into Parker's hands. "Call me tomorrow, okay?" she asked, then gave him and Jack a smile before turning and rushing to catch up with Kieran. @spexile @caitlin

Akira leaned in to kiss Alec before they turned away to watch the sparklers. Akira chuckled under their breath. "Don't worry about that. I've got a box of thirty." Akira wrapped a hand around Alec's lower back. "We can light them slow. One at a time."

#mus.akira #mus.casey #mus.jack #mus.kieran #rel.akira&malia #rel.akira&alec #rel.akira&casey #rel.akira&ime #rel.akira&blue #rel.casey&blue #rel.casey&ime #rel.casey&miranda #rel.casey&rosie #rel.casey&graves #rel.jack&malia #rel.jack&parker #rel.jack&kieran #rel.jack&alec #rel.jack&ime #rel.jack&blue #rel.kieran&malia #rel.kieran&parker #rel.kieran&alec #rel.kieran&ime #frm.chatzy

[absentisanima]

Do you still rp?

Barely.

#outofsoul #[I'm lazy] #[I have drafts I haven't looked at in forever I'm trash] #[I mostly dick around on not tumblr] #[In super casual IC oops OOC back IC things] #[I was thinking about doing a chatzy tonight though if that counts?] #answered

[isabellaflynns]

The Party | Chatzy

Summary: Isabella and Oswald see Edward and Stephen at Tony’s party. She decides to confront them Trigger warnings: Obsession, stalking, mentions of abuse, mentions of kidnap, mentions of violence Written by: @isabellaflynns, @matterandcells, @riddle-me-that and @stillpenguinking

Isabella: Isabella had been getting steadily drunk ever since she'd arrived. She had only gone to the party because she knew that Edward would be here – this party had been discussed at work, and she knew Edward well enough to realise that he probably idolised a genius like Tony Stark, and he would almost certainly be here.

It was surprisingly easy to get into – the security was practically non-existent – and now she was standing in a large room, watching Edward and Stephen together. She had to return to the bar every so often to get a new drink, and now she was standing by herself with a strawberry cocktail in her hand, staring silently at the two men. Seeing them so close, so happy, wasn't even shocking anymore. The initial surprise had worn off. She didn't even care when this had happened, or why. All she felt was a hole, which had at first been caused by sadness, but was now being filled with alcohol-fuelled anger.

Oswald: Oswald had no idea why he agreed to come with Isabella to this party every since they arrived all she wanted to do was watch Edward and Stephen. It made him sick to See Edward so sickly happy with another man. Sure he was good looking but wasn't he suppose to be with Isabella? Leave it to Ed to steal Isa's possible love interest for his own. He sighed following her around while keeping silent. He took another drink before looking at her " this isn't healthy I'm just letting you know now" 

Isabella: When she had invited Oswald, Isabella hadn't known that Edward would be with Stephen. She had hoped her friend could act as moral support, if she saw Edward alone, but as soon as she'd seen Edward with Stephen, she had completely ignored Oswald and just wanted to watch them. It seemed like Edward was nervous about something – she could tell from his hand gestures, and restlessness – and she wished she could hear them.

Oswald spoke, and Isabella turned to him. "I don't care," she said sharply. She turned back to look at Edward and Stephen. "They make an odd couple, don't they?" she said, rhetorically. "Edward is a man of science. Stephen's a magician. It's hardly fitting." It had been more painful to watch them happy together. Now they seemed to be in a more serious discussion, it was easier to focus on her anger. All she had wanted to do was love Edward, and he had thrown it back in her face, and paralysed her. And the alcohol was making her head swim alarmingly.

Oswald: Oswald hated how happy Edward looked mostly because it brought up the fun times they had in their relationship, Of course he didn't opening want to hate on anyone Ed dated heaven knows Isabella did it enough for the both of them. He couldn't help but down his whole drink listening to her before answering her. " Huh... Him being a magician didn't seem to bother you. A true Women of Science Isa" He said getting a refill to his drink. "Now I'll have you know you do anything crazy I have permission from Harley to stop you. Fume from a distance " He said taking her drink away " No more for you and let's do something else."

Isabella: It took Isabella a moment to think of a fitting response. "Yes, well," she replied coldly, "I'm much more accepting of the preternatural than Edward." She might have also been a woman of science, but she'd had to accept science fiction and horror because of what she was. When Oswald returned with a refilled glass, she gritted her teeth. "Anything crazy? That's ridiculous. I'm just watching him. I can keep my distance."

She was about to take another sip of her strawberry cocktail, when he took the drink right from her hands. The audacity was genuinely starling, and for a second, she just stared at him. "Oswald. I'm not going to do anything crazy. The last time I told Edward I loved him, he paralysed me." She hadn't meant to tell him that – it just slipped out – and she immediately cut herself off. "Please give me my drink." 

Oswald: Oswald couldn't help but smile following her line of sight straight towards Edward " Yes well, It seems Edward's handing Stephen just fine" He replied looking at her before attacking to move her away from the scene. but of course she wouldn't move if it meant she couldn't see Edward " Isa dear we both know you lose... clarity when Edward is involved. You are also not blinking, breathing or moving... Is this party going to turn into a horror movie?" He took a sip of her drink before freezing "HE DID WHAT?" He said before flicking her cheek. "You don't love him and what he did wasn't right but damn it Isa Let the man breath"

Isabella: "I don't –" Isabella began, before stopping. She knew Oswald was right. She lost clarity around Edward. But this wasn't like that. She was furious. Mingled in with the usual blinding obsession, this time there was anger. All she wanted to do was love him, and he had done that to her. Oswald's shock at what she'd accidentally admitted wasn't surprising, but when he flicked her on the cheek, she turned to him quickly. "Let the man breathe?" she repeated, disbelievingly. "Do you know what he did, Oswald? I told him I loved him, and he paralysed me. With some toxin he's been making."

She glanced back to see Edward staring right at her, straight into her eyes. She stared right back, not blinking, or moving an inch, her gaze burning into him. And then he said something to Stephen, and the two of them left the room hurriedly. "Oh no you don't," she murmured, and she took off after them without a word to Oswald, not caring if he followed or not. She walked into the busy hallway, weaving between the crowds, actually glad that Oswald had taken her drink, because if she was still holding it, she might have smashed it in her grip.

Oswald: Oswald watched her almost wishing Harley were here, she could just hug her or kiss Isabella to take her mind off Edward while he snuck away. But no as a favor he said he'd take care of Isa tonight, what a mistake this was. He wasn't sure if it was his own saltiness coming out to meet hers or just wished they'd move past this " Do you remember what you did????" He said sighing " Yes Paralyzing you were maybe wrong but I bet he got scared and that's why he did it" 

Before Oswald could even finish a through she was off again chasing him down like a bloodhound, sighing he grabbed her arm allowing her to drag him around "really? you know how stupid we look right now? I need more to drink if this is your activity of choice"

Isabella: "Of course I remember what I did," Isabella snapped. "I hardly think about anything else." How could Oswald think she didn't remember? It hardly warranted making a paralytic agent, did it? And the way he'd used it -- how he'd walked so close to her, and touched her face gently. He had betrayed her. He and Stephen both. She gritted her teeth. "Maybe he got scared," she said scathingly, dragging Oswald through the crowded hallway. "Did it ever occur to him that I was scared too? That I was scared when he stalked me, when he killed me, when he watched me in my own home? I've been terrified of Edward more times than I can count. But I still loved him. I loved him despite that." That was what love was. It was forgiveness and understanding.

Oswald said he needed more to drink, and she roughly shook her arm to make him let go. "Fine. Get yourself something to drink. I can speak to Edward by myself. I don't need a guard, Oswald."

Oswald: Oswald sighed of course they were just going in a circle with this fight, if it was the Paralytic agent it was farmhouse if it wasn't that it was their past. All over this signs yet they never seemed to see them. "Maybe those incidents should tell you that you two being together is nothing but pain, blood and fear and that anything good you had died out long ago."

He groaned as he got hit as they went through crowds. "You should love him, you should fear him... you should be running the other way and into Harley's arms if you want the truth. That's a woman that understands you. In fact let's call her huh?" He said looking at her before pulling her into a tight hug when they stopped. "I don't care what you need I'm not leaving your side. Deal."

Isabella: Isabella shouldered her way past a couple who she couldn't get around, heedless to their complaints. Oswald mentioned Harley, and she glanced back, irritated. "Oswald, we might be friends now, but that doesn't give you a right to comment on my relationship with Harley," she said. Edward had done the same, in the farmhouse. "We don't need to call her. She's busy." Why on earth would they bother Harls? Oswald was overreacting. Harley was busy. There was no need to get her involved. This was between her and Edward.

Oswald was looking at her like he was worried, and he pulled her into a hug before she could protest, or stop him. She hugged him back for a moment – only a second – and then pulled away. She looked him right into his eyes. "Okay. But I'm going to see Edward. I have to." She spun away and took off again, into the crowd, before he could stop her.

And then she saw him. He was alone. And, though she'd been following him, now she could actually see him, she stopped dead in her tracks. Fury was an unfamiliar emotion when it came to Edward – she'd been angry at him, in the farmhouse, but this was different. That had been hazy, cloudy, rage, propelled by madness. This was clear, righteous, anger for a wrong he'd committed against her. It felt refreshing.

Edward: Edward was waiting patiently for Stephen to come out so he could go in and change and get away from everyone in this house. So he could be alone with him and worry less about someone who probably wasn't even real. He sighed and leaned up against the wall. Closing his eyes for only a moment, trying to relax. When he felt calm enough the man opened his eyes and was greeted with an ungodly sight. Isabella, standing in front of him amongst all these people. Crap, that's really her... Rage flickered in her eyes and he immediately moved his hand to his pocket. "Isabella..." He said her name slowly, carefully. 

Oswald: Oswald looked at her as if she had a right to be offend, when she not even 6 months ago felt the need the comment on his relationship with Ed. " Isabella, Being your friend is what gives that right, You need to be reminded of something that might open your eyes" He knew he was fighting a losing battle maybe he'd have better luck with the other. When he saw Edward was alone maybe if he went the other way he could beat her there.

Using his phone to call Harley cursing when it just went to voicemail He thanked whatever luck he had he'd made it to Edward first. "Ed where is Stephen? You need to go be with Stephen I'll try and hold her."

Stephen: He changed his clothes, only slightly worried about Ed. He seemed to be fine, and plus he was right. It was only a few minutes. He put on his swimming trunks, combing through his hair in the mirror to make sure he looked fine. "Best you're gonna get, Strange." he mumbled, letting out a sigh before stepping out again. 

Isabella: Isabella didn't move a muscle. She just watched him, and mulled over her options. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, now he was right there. Her fury was like ice in her veins, cooling any irrational impulsivity she might have otherwise felt. He said her name slowly, and reached for something in his pocket. It was probably that godforsaken toxin. She met his gaze. "Hello Edward," she replied, though it seemed wildly inappropriate to greet him, under these circumstances. Oswald walked beside Edward – he must have found a quicker way through the crowd – and addressed Edward as if she wasn't even there. I'll try and hold her.

"Oh, for goodness sake," she said impatiently, walking closer to them, close enough that she could actually hear them over the crowd and music, but not within arm's length of Edward, in case he pulled out a syringe. "Nobody has to hold anybody, Oswald. Don't be ridiculous." She then pointedly ignored him, and focused all of her attention on Edward. "Please don't try to paralyse me again," she said. "I don't want things to escalate."

Edward: When Oswald addressed him, Ed glanced over to him. "No, Oswald. It's fine. As much as I appreciate you trying to help me. I have it under control." He alerted him, though his tone was nervous, he actively had to think about not moving his hands too much or Isabella would be able to tell that he wasn't as calm as he wanted her to think. "I won't use it." He said, "So long as you keep your distance from me." He offered. He didn't actually have the serum on him, he still had to make a few more doses now that he knew the test formula worked as well as he hoped it would. But she didn't need to know that.

When Stephen stepped out of the bathroom beside him, Ed glanced over to him with telling eyes. He hoped Stephen's presence wouldn't make Isabella angrier but he was also comforted by Stephen's presence.

Oswald: Oswald sighed leave it to Edward to be yet another crazy person, threats were not going to work here that much he was sure about. He wished that Strange was here to teleport one of them away from each other but I guess him standing there was enough. "Don't goodness sake me Isa, You've been staring at him for hours! its creepy I thought we were here to have fun not stalk someone" He allowed Edward to handle it while his eye landed on Strange telling him to come and help him. He wasn't suffering this alone.

Stephen: Stephen looked at Ed, then Isabella. He sort of acknowledged Oswald, but he was more worried about the other two. "Isabella." he looked at her, then listened. "Paralyzed?" He was honestly so confused at this point. But then, when was he not? All he knew right now, though, was that Ed probably wanted to get out of there. "Sorry, guys. We were just about to go for a swim." 

Isabella: For goodness sake. Why was everyone acting so tense? Isabella glared between Oswald and Edward, mostly focusing her attention on the latter. He said he wasn't going to use it as long as she kept her distance, and felt a wave of relief, which she tried to hide. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm keeping my distance. You're a liar, Edward. There's a high possibility that you will try to stick me with that needle again even if I stay away from you." Oswald snapped at her, and Isabella turned to him. "Don't exaggerate. It was hardly hours. And I told you to leave if you wanted to. You insisted on staying."

Stephen walked out of the bathroom, and she watched him assess the situation within a matter of seconds. As if it was any of his business. His attempt to lighten the mood was actually welcomed – Edward and Oswald were acting ridiculously melodramatic – but it was clear to see that he was trying to remove Edward. "Were you?" she asked, her gaze alighting on Stephen. He hadn't hurt her the way Edward had – not even close – but looking at him still made her chest ache. He said he'd wanted to help her, and he'd probably been with Edward the whole time. "Well, you should know that Edward is carrying a needle full of a barely-tested paralytic drug. I'm sure you're in no danger, Stephen, but it seems only right that you're warned. He has a terrible track record when it comes to murdering his dates."

As she said that final sentence, she turned back to Edward, and it was so unfamiliar to look at him with anger, but so novel too. She still loved him, of course, but right then, all she could feel was rage.

Edward: Edward shook his head. "I'm not lying. You know I don't lie, and I don't cheat." He told her, the words were sharp. "I won't inject you." Because I can't. It wasn't a lie. "But if you're so afraid that I will, why are you here? Why were you watching me? Can't you just... Can't you just move on like we talked about? That's all I want to do."

Edward glanced over to Stephen. All he wanted to do was go with him to swim, to be alone with Stephen but here Isabella was... ruining it. He sighed. Moving his hand nervously. "It's only for you, Isabella. It won't have the same effect on a regular human being. It will only effect you like that. Theoretically it might make someone sick, but it's targeted for you. So you can't hurt me anymore. Let's face it, Isabella. You're not exactly sane. You practically forced yourself on me. That's why I had to use it." He closed his eyes when she outed him.

"That's hardly fair, Isabella." He said quietly. "That's a misconception. I was sick when I... That was one time and it was an accident. It's not something I'm proud of."

Oswald: Oswald allowed their little fight to happened until Isabella turned her attack on him " It was hours, stop being a drama queen, and you know why I couldn't leave." He points the their conversation happening now. " Let's not go pointing fingers, I think Stephen and Edward going Swimming ALONE Isabella is a swell idea How about we go check out the game room. FAR always from either of them"

Even he could see the anger in her eyes and knew this would only get worse. "Edward don't provoke her go over to Stephen and go swimming."

Stephen: Stephen wasn't sure how to react. "Isabella. I thought you were trying to get better. You told me that." He tried not to make her too upset, but he just wanted to take Ed away from her. He reached behind Ed, touching his back encouragingly. He listened about the paralytic drug that he had, and that he had murdered his dates. Stephen felt a bit skeptical about it. "Ed has his own issues, just as you do Isabella. I'm trying to be supportive here, but you are doing exactly what he did. Telling me things that should be his to tell." Stephen felt a little angry, but he didn't need to focus on that. He took Ed by the arm. "We're here to have a good time and talk, so please just go back with your friend here and maybe we can schedule a time to meet up when you feel better." 

Isabella: That voice. The one Edward always used with her when she was angry. As if she was some hysterical housewife who needed reasoning with. As if he was trying to calm her down. The misogyny of it. She usually loved it when he was gentle with her, but right then, it was patronising. He asked her why she was there, why she was watching him, and she almost snapped back a reason, but she couldn't put it into words. Because he was happy with Stephen, and she hated it? Because he was happy with anyone? Because he had damaged her and terrified her when all she wanted was to love him? She closed her mouth and didn't say anything.

The toxin was only for her. Of course. He had targeted it for her. How very clever of him. There was something so disgusting about that, so personal, so deliberate and malicious. She glanced at the pocket he'd reached for, the pocket she knew had the syringe in. And she felt a flicker of fear, beneath the anger. Being frozen again, unable to move, at his mercy, helpless. Edward was speaking again, and she glanced back at him. "Hardly fair?" she repeated, in a shrill voice. "You're talking about fair? Oh my. That's rich!"

Oswald suggested they leave – which was such a pointless thing to say that she didn't even acknowledge it – but then he told Edward not to provoke her, as if she was a wild animal, and it felt like a betrayal. Oswald was siding with them. He was supposed to be her friend, and he was standing next to Edward, closer to Stephen, as if she was the enemy. She looked at him in silence for a few seconds, letting him see the hurt and betrayal.

But then Stephen spoke. I thought you were trying to get better. Isabella turned to him. He was using the same calm voice that Edward had – so much like Hugo Strange – and she felt, for a surreal moment, like she didn't know him. She just stared at him as he talked, accusing her of being a hypocrite when he didn't even understand the entire situation. When it had nothing to do with him. He was trying to be supportive? What a stupid thing to say. She looked pointedly at his hand on Edward's arm, as if Stephen was supporting him. As if he needed supporting.

"You think I don't feel perfectly fine right now?" she asked. She hated that phrase. Feel better. "He shouldn't be allowed to have a good time. He shouldn't be allowed to... fraternise! With you! Of all people! Have you told him you love him after a single date too?" She turned to Edward, her eyes burning with hatred. "And you. I love you. But how dare you trick me like that? Trick me, and lie to me, and paralyse me?" A sob rose in her throat – ugly and embarrassing and choking – and she tried to swallow it down. "I feel better than I have done in weeks, because I can finally hate you again, Edward."

Edward: He listened to her as she went off, it was the kind of angry she got at him during the farmhouse, when he didn't do what she said or when he complained so much. She'd snap at him like everything he was doing was wrong and she was always in the right. He felt a small bit of guilt when she said that she loved him. Currently, in the present. Even after he paralyzed her? Edward swallowed the lump in his throat and his eyes finally fell off of hers and instead focussed on anyone else. On Oswald, on Stephen. On anyone besides her. Just for a moment before he breathed out a long, deep sigh and glanced back up at her.

What she said about Stephen, saying he loved him on the first date struck a cord with him. Stephen did say it, and it made him wonder again if he even cared. He ignored it and focused on what she was saying. "I had to paralyze you. How else am I supposed to protect myself from you? You're- You're indestructible. You hurt me again and again and..." He took his hand away from his pocket and tried to move it up into his hair but it was stopped by Stephen's hand. Which was gently holding his arm. So instead he just nervously moved his fingers. "I can never defend myself from you... I don't care if you say you love me. When it really comes down to it, whether you mean it or not- you always hurt me." He said. "I'm sorry-" He whispered. "But what else am I supposed to do? You're not normal. I can't just hit you and get you to stop, can I?"

Oswald: Oswald took noticed of the almost look of betrayal Isabella seemed to sport looking at him, it was obvious the women hadn't paid attention to anything he'd said. He heard the things she was saying knowing it would only hurt Edward and make Stephen wary of dating him. He hated the thought of Edward dating another male but he'd never try and take his happiness away again. "Isabella Stop It! You are saying mean things just to hurt Edward and scare Stephen. His past is his own to tell" He said before listening to the other "And For the record Edward doesn't fall in love that fast, nor does he kill everyone he's dating in case you are still in that SICK mindset that Ed and I never dated?"

He turned towards Stephen " She is Sick you can tell, you know some of it...Just take Edward away or this will get worse she is already not listening to me. While I'm not condoning his use of that medicine Isabella can be very terrifying when coming at you. Please don't think badly of Edward of what he did..."

Stephen: He stared at Isabella, shocked by how ridiculous she was being. Obviously she wasn't fine. She was upset, and that was okay, but this was a public setting. This was not the time or place to do all of this. He had never seen her look so insane in his life. How could she think that any of this was okay? When she made the comment about confessing his love to Ed, he felt a sting, swallowing and clenching his fists, a few sparks of magic coming out of them. He tried to control himself, but even Stephen could only take so much. "I'm sorry, I obviously didn't know what I was doing when I said that I loved you. Because you don't love anyone, Isabella." he held onto Ed, "You don't love Ed. At least Ed was honest with me about having issues. At least he is considerate towards other people's feelings. That's why he's still standing here trying to reason with you right now." Stephen knew he was speaking out of anger at this point, but he was just so upset. "I have more reason to love Ed than you do."

Isabella: You're indestructible. Isabella had always hated what she was. She hated the fact that nothing would kill her – that even a freight train hadn't killed her. Hearing Edward state it in such a matter-of-fact way, in front of Stephen no less, was awful. But he didn't stop. He said it didn't matter that she loved him, that she still hurt him, and she couldn't look at him anymore, even in anger. She looked at the floor. He couldn't just hit her to make her stop? Was that...? No, it couldn't be a reference to Tom. Even Edward wouldn't stoop that low. But it felt like that was what he was referencing. It made her think of being weak, being vulnerable, being fragile. Isabella hated her strength and her invulnerability, but at least she could never be harmed again.

Oswald was addressing Stephen as if she wasn't even there – she is sick as you can tell – and she wanted to scream. She wanted to shout at him to stop talking about her like she wasn't even there. He was supposed to be her friend. He was supposed to be on her side. God, she wasn't even angry. She was just hurt, hurt that she could have fallen for Oswald's lies. He thought she was insane. He thought she was still sick. And then he told Stephen to not think badly of Edward for what he did, as if that was even remotely important, and she finally looked up and stared at Oswald. "Oh yes," she said, and she knew she sounded hysterical, but she couldn't help it. "Let's not think badly of Edward! God forbid! Let's forgive him no matter what and just forget about all the awful things he's done!"

She wouldn't have looked back at Stephen had it not been for sparks. She turned sharply to him. Besides the portal he'd made on their date, this was her first sight of something so blatantly magical. For a moment, she just blinked. But then he spoke, and he was angrier than she'd ever heard him. There was something perfectly terrible about hearing someone as kind and good as Stephen sound so angry. He didn't know what he was doing when he said he loved her. Because you don't love anyone, Isabella.

The anger went out of her then. Her shoulders lowered, and she just looked at Stephen. "Considerate," she repeated in disbelief. She was talking to lunatics. What were they saying? How could they see Edward as the good one here? In what world was Edward considerate? "Edward is considerate." Her tone was scathing, brimming with sarcasm.

She looked into Stephen's eyes. "You said you would help me," she said. "But you're taking his side." And then she took a deep breath, and shouted, "You don't know what he's done! You don't know the half of it!" How could she begin to explain? How could she reason with mad people? She blinked, because her vision was blurring now. People were looking at them, but Isabella didn't pay them any mind. She turned to Edward. "You know I'm right. You know it." She wasn't begging, or imploring. It was a fact. Oswald and Stephen didn't understand. But Edward did.

Edward: All of this felt like too much for Ed's sick mind to process. Oswald was defending him, talking directly to Stephen and telling him not to think badly of him and he expected for a second, Stephen to take all of this information and be angry at Ed for all of this. For what he's done to Isabella, for what she had implied but all of Stephen's attention seemed to be at Isabella. Of course what Isabella said about Stephen had been rude but she was right, wasn't she? Stephen had told them both that he loved them. That was a fact. It was also a fact that Ed wasn't entirely innocent in this and he had hurt her. The way she hurt him. Even if Ed knew in his heart that it was self defence. If it were anyone but Isabella, he wouldn't even be thinking of her side of things but it was Isabella... and Ed felt so sick and so confused around her. They had so, so much history. What was he supposed to do with that?

Stephen's fists began to shed sparks and Ed gave them the quickest of glances. The last thing he wanted was another fight... so he gently placed his hand on the man's shoulder. Just realizing then that he was shaking when his hand came into his sight. I have more reason to love Ed than you do. He didn't know what to do with all this information. So he brought his other hand to his head and gently pressed on his temple. Trying to ignore his own shakes.

Isabella was going off again, talking about how he was always forgiven despite what he had done and didn't know what to say to that. What he had done never mattered to Oswald because he was the same as Ed and Stephen not yet knew about everything that Edward had done. He swallowed and before he could find the words to say to that. Isabella went off again. There was so much emotion in her tone and he knew what it was from, because he was feeling it too. As well as so much stress within him. He took his hand off of Stephen when she said that Stephen was supposed to help her. They're eyes finally met again and Edward's heart dropped to his stomach. He was feeling it... an overwhelming guilt. His hands began to wring together, still shaking. His emotions and his stress was getting in the way of thinking straight and so much inside of him was screaming at Edward to agree with her. "Yes, you're right." But it didn't make him feel much better. "I've done terrible things but you... you've also done horrible things to me. I'm just trying to move on from you and you're the one who's stalking me and who can't see me happy." His hand moved down and gently cupped one of his wrists. "I can't forgive you... you need to accept that."

Oswald: Oswald knew he'd done the wrong thing the moment Isabella came at him with the knowledge that he'd taken Edward's side. He wasn't trying to take anyone's side, he just wanted to enjoy the party with his friend. He stayed quiet for a while thinking on how Harley might handle this situation when dealing with Isabella in her sicken state. It didn't take him long to Notice that all of this shouting was drawing attention and that Isa's sickness was starting to bring out Eds. Slowly Oswald moved from Edward's side to stand in front of Isabella gently taking his hands to put on her arms " Isa I'm not taking anyone's side...Nor do I think forgive and forget is the solutions here." He spoke to only her keeping his focus on calming her down. " All I want is for us to hang out and have fun, without worrying about him. I'll ask again, Would you please come with me? I just want to help" 

He wasn't sure any of his words were helping he wasn't Harley, and most definitely wasn't Edward or Stephen. At the moment he was sure she didn't even think him a friend. But Watching them talk only made him want everyone to go their separate ways. This discussion had escalated without even trying and he was hoping to bring back some of the calm. He heard' Edward's almost weaken voice slip through from behind, they both needed to let one another go, as he'd said they'd only would hurt each other again and again if this relationship was allowed to continue. " I think Edward has said his peace, its maybe something you don't want to hear or even think about but its how he feels and I'm sorry Isabella but you must respect that"

Stephen: Stephen saw how upset that Isabella looked after he spoke. He felt Ed's hand on his shoulder and he took in a breath, the magic stopping from his hands. He swallowed, staring at her. Why was he getting so mad? She was right. He wanted to apologize, but he couldn't get the words to leave his mouth for a while. He let Ed speak then, reaching up and touching his hand that was shaking. He looked at Isabella when everyone else had finished speaking. "I'm sorry." he murmured. "I didn't... I shouldn't have said those things." he licked his lips. "I didn't mean for Ed to happen but he did." he licked his lips. "I just wanted to go swimming."

He brought a hand up to his face, running it down. He just wanted to have some peace and talk to Edward and get to know him. Now who knows how he feels about what he said to Isabella. Everything was a total mess. "Ed hasn't lied to me, Isabella. He hasn't told me everything yet, but he hasn't hidden anything from me. I know that you're not going to understand, but I'm so sure of Ed. I didn't do this to hurt you... This entire time my feelings have been so confusing, and now I know for sure what I want. I'm sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth." he took in a breath. "I did want to help you, Isa. I did. My feelings were just hurt and I reacted badly."

Isabella: Edward was shivering. Isabella watched his hands as he wrung them together, shaking, and she swallowed thickly. She had wanted him to be afraid of her. She'd been so angry. But now he actually was – she could see his progress unravelling in front of her like threads – and she didn't know how to feel. This was all his fault. He had paralysed her, and thrown her love back in her face, and now he was treating her like she was insane for finally seeing clearly for the first time in so long. She Edward well enough to see that he was struggling – he put his hand to his forehead, as if he was trying to hold his thoughts inside his head – and she just watched him. And then he said she was right. He said he'd done terrible things to her. He admitted it. Was that what she'd wanted to happen? For him to agree with her? She had no allies here. But Edward was the only who really understood. And now he'd agreed.

I can't forgive you. You need to accept that. Isabella froze. She had asked, begged, for his forgiveness so many times. She had almost walked off a rooftop to make him happy. She had been emotionally manipulated, shot in the face, paralysed. When would it be enough? When would she have done enough to earn his forgiveness? God, she was so sick of chasing him. Of chasing his approval or his forgiveness or his love. He didn't want to give it. He said he wanted to move on, and Isabella just looked at him emptily. How could she move on? How could she move on from what she'd done, if he didn't forgive her? She wanted to shout at him again, but she was so tired. All of this was so tiring.

Oswald hobbled forwards, and, before she could stop him, he put his hands on her shoulders. Isabella tore her gaze away from Edward and looked at him. He called her Isa. He hadn't sided with them. He was still her friend. He wanted her to come with him. And that was enough to break her. Perhaps it was because it was such a simple gesture of kindness, or because she had thought he'd betrayed her and sided with Edward and Stephen, or maybe it was because she was so angry and full of hatred. Whatever the reason, Isabella felt a dam inside her break, and her eyes filled with tears. She closed them tightly, and pressed her lips together. No, no, no, no. She mustn't cry. Not in front of them. Not in front of Edward. God, why was she even crying? It was ridiculous.

After a few moments, she said, "Thank you, Oswald," in a tight voice. And she opened her eyes again to watch Stephen as he spoke. He said that he hadn't meant for Edward to happen, but he did. And she almost wanted to laugh at that. Edward had a habit of happening when people didn't want him to. Stephen argued that Edward hadn't lied to him – that he simply hadn't told him the whole truth – and if she hadn't been so worn out, Isabella would have been angry at that. She had kept the truth from Stephen too. She hadn't lied to him either, but she hadn't told him everything. Why was Edward allowed a free pass? Why was Stephen not holding that against Edward, but he'd seen it as enough to cut things off between them? But she was too tired. She didn't want to fight him. After a moment, she said, "You're right. You shouldn't have said those things, Stephen. And you did react badly. You're so upset that I kept my sickness from you. But I would have told you. If you'd given me a chance." She didn't really mourn their relationship. It was what it was, now.

She turned to Edward. "I'm tired of asking for your forgiveness. I'm not going to do it again. As you said, I can't see you happy. So I'm not going to see you. I'm quite finished with being treated like a villain." She put a hand on Oswald's shoulder to steady herself, and said to him softly, "I want to go home." She wanted to see Harley, to be with people who didn't treat her like she was insane, who didn't shake in her presence. In truth, she couldn't stand the sight of Edward and Stephen anymore.

Edward: Oswald stepped in front of Isabella and tried to defuse the situation. He had been trying this whole time and it was honestly very brave of him. He knew what Isabella could potentially do to him and yet he still put his hands on her anyway. Ed couldn't decide whether he loved him for it or thought his old best friend was being stupid for trying to touch her when she was this angry and upset. Isabella wasn't really a brute, but she had the tendency of accidentally harming people. She didn't know her own strength. He remembered once when she held him against a wall and he felt his sternum creak. He couldn't breathe and she was crushing his chest like a weight. Like torture. And here Oswald was, risking getting hurt for him. What a good friend. He thought to himself, but didn't dare to say anything about it out loud.

He listened to Stephen's confessions and glanced over at him as he spoke. He didn't mean for him to happen. Of course he didn't, but fate had other plans for them. It wasn't Edward's intentions to take Stephen away from Isabella either but that drunken night had stayed in his head and because of it, he began catching feelings for the other. It wasn't something that Ed or Stephen were able to resist. Stephen made him happy. Why would he ignore that in favour of Isabella? He sighed softly after listening to him apologize to her. It was the right thing to do. He was a good man, but Isabella was right. He didn't give her a chance. Ed was pretty sure that was his fault. He came in and disrupted their relationship like a wrecking ball but it really wasn't something he meant to keep doing. He was angry that once, when Stephen said he loved her and he let out something he shouldn't have, but continuing his relationship with Stephen- that was something that just happened.

Isabella said she wasn't going to see him anymore and Ed swallowed. It would be for the better. For both of them. To just move on. "A villain?" He whispered before sighing. He didn't want to start another argument so he let it go. "You're right. But you're being treated that way because you did something wrong... like I have." He told her before shaking his head. "Good. I'm glad. It will be safer for both of us if we just part ways."

Oswald: Oswald wasn’t sure him touching Isabella would be allowed but he was sure going to try. He’d been attack before and if he needed to be once again in order for Edward and Stephen to get away he would. He felt as strongly about Edward as Isabella did, but learned to push it down and hide it. Of course, he wanted at times to just pull the other aside and scream at him for ruining their friendship along with their mistake of a relationship. But there was always someone with more important problems in front of him.

He was glad that Stephen and Edward at least attempted to give him help in ensuring she could go away. He just needed to get her home, and soured by things that would calm her down. He couldn’t get ahold of Harley and knew Isa was in little shape to be alone. He keeps quite allowing everyone else to speak their peace before he gave her a small smile at the fact she placed her arm around him and said she wanted to go home. It was a start small if anything he’d broken through to Isa through the sickness. “Okay, I’ll take you home and we can hang out there together okay?” He whispered back softly. 

He almost tensed when he heard Edward almost pick another over her word use, he quickly turns his head and give a subtle shake to tell Edward it was not the time. They needed to be part, he needed to get Isabella out of here and away from her trigger. “Let’s go yeah?”

Stephen: Stephen watched Isabella. She was looking as if they were attacking her. Granted, Stephen did get mad and yell at her, but he had felt hurt. He took Ed's hand on his shoulder, moving it down so he could hold it. He decided it was best for him not to speak anymore. But he did listen. At least Isabella didn't seem so hostile. He was worried about Ed's safety. The sorcerer heard her comment about being the 'villain' and he sighed, but again said nothing.

#[watch out guys] #[this is a long one] #chatzy #edward #stephen #oswald

[thevioletquinn]

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS // VIOLET X NOAH

Who: Violet Quinn, Noah Fynn, Unnamed Staff What: Noah tricks Violet in to actually celebrating her birthday. Where: A Bowling Place When: Friday 23rd October 2020 Mentions: N/A Trigger Warnings: N/A Word Count: TBA (Ongoing Chatzy)

(Forenote: Laura is a dumbass and forgot to save the start of the chatzy and can no longer access anything before this point. I’ll write up what basically led up to this when I get chance but the basics are that Noah asked Violet if she could pick him up which she begrudgingly did and he surprised her by booking out a bowling alley just for the two of them. At first Violet’s annoyed because she literally hates her birthday)

---

Noah had assumed that Violet wasn't a huge fan of her birthday, having guessed that was probably the reason why she had only told him about the date at the very last minute the year before. Still, Violet was one of the most important people in his life and he just couldn't let the day slip away without doing something to celebrate, even if she was looking at him like she would happily set him on fire right now. "I know that you're annoyed right now but I don't think that I'm the worst. If I was, I would have thrown you a huge surprise party", Noah pointed out, a cheeky grin on his face as he was confident that he would be able to get her to enjoy herself. After all, if she was really angry, she would have stormed out already. "Come on, the bartender has been eagerly awaiting your arrival so that he can start pouring drinks and the cook is on standby so that you can have whatever you want. We've literally got the full run of the place, it's a very private way to celebrate".

Violet remained with her arms folded for a few moments longer, really trying not to let that cheeky grin of his make her break her front. He did have a point though - if he had thrown a huge surprise party, he wouldn't have been seen again. The second he mentioned a bartender, the brunette's eyes flicked to try and find the bar. "Fine, but just so you know I'm staying for the alcohol, not for you." She told him but at the end, there was a small smile looming on her lips as she walked over to him, spinning him around to guide them both in the direction of the bar. Her hands remaining on his shoulders as they walked.

Despite her protests, he could tell that there was a tiny part of her that didn't completely hate what he had planned; yet he knew that she wasn't likely to admit that until she had a lot of alcohol in her system. "Damn, I shouldn't have gone to such an effort then. Next year, I'll just put my credit card behind the bar at Mars Bar and we'll just drink in silence", Noah teased, allowing her to guide him towards the bar. "Considering we're the only customers here tonight, I'm making a rule: we cannot order anything boring to eat or drink. The bartender is going to be bored if we just order beers all night and I bet the cook doesn't want to make some fries and then sit on his ass all night. I'm talking cocktails and literally everything on the food menu, Big Quinn".

"Technically, I didn't want any effort so..." Violet told him and only shifted to his side when they were at the bar. "Hm, okay, that's fair. You're going to make me fat but okay." She joked and started to look over the drinks menu before she noticed something. A slush machine. God, she hadn't had one of those since she was a kid. Her eyes shifted to the bartender and leaned forward slightly. "You want something not boring? I want a mixed slush and I want..." She hummed in contemplation. "... two, possibly three, shots of vodka mixed in with it." Her arms folded like she couldn't be told no and looked to Noah to see if he'd join her on that or not.

"Technically you shouldn't have befriended me, then. I'm not exactly the type of person to let a special occasion slip by without any sort of celebration", Noah pointed out. It just wasn't in his nature -- he loved a good celebration. "I think that's a physical impossibility, Vi. After all, I help you work out very vigorously on a very regular basis", he laughed. He looked at her with an impressed expression on her face when she decided what she wanted to drink; glad that she was starting to get into the spirit of things. "Bartender, can I please have a large mixed slush with three shots of vodka for my beautiful friend here; and a large blue slush with three shots of tequila for myself?"

Violet considered his point. "Fair point. Next year I'm hiding in a foreign country so you can't trick me in to celebrating, you sneaky little shit." She half-joked. There was every chance - if she remembered - that she would just take a holiday around her birthday so she had an excuse not to answer anyone. "Yeah... I might need a couple of work outs tonight in that case." The brunette tried to hide the smirk on her lips. Though a smile soon grew when he decided to join her on her order and turned to look back at the bartender. As much as she still wanted to be grumpy and mad that he'd got her here, there was a good part of her that actually really liked his idea. There was a choice of what she could do next - bowling or head to the arcade - and she weighed up these actions until she had her drink in hand. Surprisingly, Violet hadn't actually been bowling much in her life so she knew she was probably going to fail miserably at it so she figured she'd start there so she could end on beating Noah at arcade games. The girl thanked the bartender for her drink before swirling her straw in the cup to mix the liquor. "Bowling first?" She suggested to Noah.

"I can't believe that you would go overseas for a vacation and not invite me. I don't think I did anything to deserve such a cruel and unusual punishment from you", Noah said with a dramatic sigh. He was already mentally planning for how he could still do something to celebrate Violet's birthday next year if she was going to insist on going to such lengths to avoid said celebrations. "I think that can be arranged, although that really all depends on how tonight unfolds. I'm a pretty sore loser so I might not be in the mood later", he joked. "Good choice on the drink front, Vi", he told her once he had taken a sip of his drink, before nodding his head and leading them over to the front desk so that they could get bowling shoes. He ordered shoes for both himself and Violet; and as they were donning them, he looked at her curiously. "Have you bowled before?"

"It's not a punishment to you. I just really hate my birthday and maybe I'll hate it a little less from a foreign poolside with a constant flow of cocktails." Violet told him with a shrug. She rolled her eyes playfully at his joke. "Nice try but I'm not going to just let you win so I get sex, Fynn." She said - playing along with his joke - as she sipped from her drink. The cold feeling slipping down her throat feeling more than refreshing to her. "Thanks. I've not had one of these since I was a kid... minus the vodka obviously." The brunette swirled the straw around and followed him to the front desk to get their shoes. His question made her glance up at him briefly before continuing to tie her shoes. "Once or twice. It depended if a friend's parent was paying for everyone or not. If not, 'oh sorry, got school work to do'." Violet explained as she finished tying her shoes and drank a bit more of her slushie. "So, no, you're not allowed to laugh when I'm not good at something for once."

"I think you would enjoy it a lot more if I happened to be sitting next to you around the side of the pool", Noah was quick to counter. Violet had made the mistake of admitting her date of birth to him and it would now be very hard to stop him from celebrating entirely, although he was willing to dilute the celebrations slightly so that she wasn't too overwhelmed. "That definitely wasn't my intention, I want you to bring your A-game! I'm just warning you that I won't be feeling very sexy if I lose at literally everything tonight", he laughed. "Really? All my slushs had alcohol content, even from a young age", he teased; although he was only half-joking. He and his friends had probably started experimenting by adding alcohol in their early teenage years. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that because bowling is literally one of my favourite activities. If I had known that you had only played once or twice, I would have dragged you to the bowling alley ages ago". Without overthinking it, he leaned over and kissed her cheek; like that would help to alleviate the memory of her childhood. "I can't promise that I won't laugh but I will offer you some insider tips and tricks to help you improve".

"Maybe... I'd enjoy it more if I could push you in to the pool. Ruin that hair of yours that you probably spent way too long prepping for the pool." Violet joked. "I don't believe that for a second. Mainly because you look sexy all the time so how could you not feel sexy?" She complimented but rolled her eyes at the same time. A laugh leaving her thinking he was entirely joking about the slush thing. The brunette did make a mental note of bowling being one of his favourite activities in case she ever needed to pull him out of a bad mood. "Good luck dragging me. Mainly because I know I'm going to be absolutely terrible at this and strangely enough the idea of being worse than some kids around me sounds like hell. Luckily though, we have the whole place to ourselves." Violet explained why she probably would have tried to get out of it prior to today. She did appreciate the kiss on her cheek with a small smile on her lips. She'd gotten used to this action from Noah at this point but if anyone else tried kissing her cheek, she'd probably have backed away. "I can't promise I won't hit your arm for laughing but I definitely want the tips and tricks."

"What is your obsession with ruining my hair? What did it ever do to you?" Noah jokingly challenged. Over the last couple of months, Violet had certainly taken advantage of every opportunity to mess up his hair, despite his protests. "Even people as gorgeous as me don't feel sexy 100% of the time. Personally, I'm not really up for performing when I'm hungover or when my pride has been severely affected by repeated losses", he laughed, aware that she would ridicule him for that. "Even if you suck, I'm pretty confident that you're still going to look cute as hell whilst doing it", he assured her. "If it makes you feel any better, I can put up those bumpers and break out the ramp that they use for kids", he offered, only half-joking. "The first tip that you need to know is that kissing your very attractive bowling companion brings you good luck".

"It annoys you and you're adorable when you're annoyed." Violet answered honestly with a smirk on her lips. "Nah, the hangover one I get. The losses? I don't know, I think that would spur me on to do an even better job." The brunette responded with her view on that matter. She exhaled a laugh at him calling her cute while losing and ended up shrugging. "Okay, I'm not going to suck enough to use a ramp but the bumpers... I might need the bumpers or else I'm going to get gutterball every time." Violet considered the offer seriously before flicking her eyes back to him when he was giving her his first 'pro-tip'. A smile grew with a roll of her eyes and leaned in to give him a way more passionate kiss than he was probably expecting and only pulling back a couple of seconds later. "I need all the luck I can get."

"I'm always adorable, Quinn", Noah insisted. "That's because I'm clearly the sore loser in this relationship. It's not surprising that you'd be able to push through to redeem yourself whilst I'm still sulking in the corner", he laughed. "Bumpers it is". He quickly passed that information to the attendant that was working tonight so that they could set up the bumpers for Violet. He had been expecting Violet to just roll her eyes and dismiss the comment but instead, she rolled her eyes and quickly pulled him into a passionate kiss. He easily kissed her back, grinning at her when she pulled away. "Are you feeling lucky now? Are you ready for your first bowl of the night, birthday girl?"

"I can't argue with that." Violet agreed. "You know I won't be able to stand for you sulking in a corner. I'd probably have to kiss you until you stop pouting." She threatened like it was an actual threat. The girl appreciated how Noah wouldn't judge her for using bumpers. He never had judged her which is something she adored about Noah. Their connection was unconditional from both parties. "Very lucky." Violet told him, smiling brightly up to him. The brunette gave him a look when he called her the birthday girl but settled in to it. "I'm ready." She agreed and took his hand to guide them over to the lane set up for them. Violet initially went to the bowling ball rack to find a ball she could easily carry and use to bowl with.

"If you even tried to argue, I would know that you were lying", Noah was quick to retort. "... I suppose that might be a successful way to stop me from sulking but I don't that it would nurse my ego enough to make me put out", he joked before laughing at his own comment. "If you manage to get a spare or a strike, we'll know that my kisses basically have magic powers", he told her as the two made their way over to the lane. Whilst Violet was selecting her bowling ball, he programmed their names into the system (Fynn and Quinn) before selecting a ball of his own. "Alright, game on. Do you want me to go first so you can try and mimic my impressive moves?"

"I can't argue it but I can say that I'm more adorable." Violet teased back. "I never said you had to put out. I just don't like seeing you sulk or be grumpy. Last time you were grumpy, we had a threesome to get you out of it." She reminded him with a grin. "Oh, Oh! So what you're saying is: if I actually do good, you get all the credit for it?" The brunette questioned with a joking scoff for effect. The names didn't surprise her. They probably called each other by their last names more than their first names at this point. "You're going to be insufferable if I let you go first..." Violet pointed out but a small moment of hesitation later, she took a seat and looked to him. "Well, your name's first. You might as well go first." The girl was very good at pretending like she was good at everything but there was still a side of her that didn't want to show herself up and maybe - as he suggested - if she watched him go first, she might get an idea for the best way for her to play this

"I hate to break it to you but you're absolutely delusional. No one is more adorable than me", Noah retorted. Although Violet was one of the most adorable people that he had met in his life, he refused to admit that to her; knowing that she would never let him live it down. "I wasn't grumpy, I was sad because I had just been dumped... again. That being said, that threesome was a damn good way to cheer me up. You basically became the best wing woman I've ever had that night", he said with a grin, having very fond memories of that night. "I obviously expect 50% of the credit", he laughed, acting like it was a pretty fair request on his part. "Smart choice", he told her before walking up to the lane and taking his first bowl; loudly exclaiming when he knocked down all the pins bar two.

"I'm delusional? You're the one that thinks you're more adorable than a drunk me." Violet argued with a grin. Although she didn't always appreciate her drunken self, there were definitely times that she could be 'adorable'. "I don't see what the difference is. Sad. Grumpy." Her hands motioned like a weighing scale that was balancing out. "Either way, I at least know a trick to get you out of that mood and in to another mood now." The brunette responded with a smirk on her lips. Her eyes rolled at him taking the credit. "You're making me want to do bad just so you have to take credit for me being terrible at this." She retorted, mostly to cover that she might actually be bad at this and can then act like it was all on purpose. Violet took note of how Noah bowled so she could try to mimic it when it was her go. "Aw and here I was expecting you to get a strike on the first try, oh pro-ly one." The girl teased.

"That's not delusion, Quinn. That's a keen sense of self-awareness", Noah retorted, adamant that he was right. That wasn't to say that Violet wasn't also adorable, he was just in the mood to brag about his own achievements. "Do you really not know the difference between sad and grumpy? If so, I'm a little worried about you. That's something that they teach in primary school", he teased. "Something tells me that you're going to keep storing tricks in your mind until you have a full arsenal of strategies that you can use when I'm in those moods". Thankfully, said moods didn't actually happen that often; otherwise Violet would likely find him too draining and exhausting to spend time with. "We both know that my ego won't allow me to take responsibility for that", he laughed. "Easy there, tiger. You get two bowls per goal -- watch me get a spare with my second bowl", he told her. He focused intensely before taking his second bowl, cheering when he achieved just that.

"That's not to say that you aren't adorable... just that I'm more adorable. That's where the delusion is. Maybe we should just agree to disagree?" Violet teased. "Noah, you know I'm not good with emotions at all. Grumpy and sad fall under the same umbrella when it comes to me." She gave him a look as she said this. He knew that emotions weren't her strong suit so he shouldn't be all that surprised that she can't overly tell the difference. "I already have plenty of tricks on how to get you out of those moods. Sex is high on that list. Boosting your ego being another. Sometimes that means both." The brunette considered aloud. "No but I can still blame you and your kiss for making me bad at bowling." Violet countered with a big grin on her face. "But a spare isn't a strike. I'm still so disappointed in you." She exaggerated before laughing as he got the spare he claimed he was going to get. Hopping up from her seat to take her turn, she wandered over to him, stepping close. "You're such a show off, you know that?" The girl told him before giving him a quick peck that she would claim was for good luck if she was questioned before she bowled her ball. She attempted to do as she watched Noah do but somehow still managed to slip the ball out of her hand too early and watched it slowly make it's way down the alley at snail pace. "Erm..." Violet blinked as it knocked down two pins.

"I will agree to disagree on this occasion, purely because it's your birthday and I don't want us to spend the whole night arguing about who is more adorable", Noah conceded. "Do I need to make you a feelings chart to help you distinguish between basic emotions?" he teased, knowing that the comment would elicit some sort of reaction from her. "What would you do if sex or boosting my ego doesn't work?" he asked curiously, wondering what other tricks she had up her sleeve. He was always a little surprised when he remembered how well Violet knew him, mainly because she always made it clear that emotional connections weren't her strong suit. "I think the blame for your lack of bowling skills rests firmly on your lack of experience, not my kiss", he laughed. "Don't you worry, I'll get three strikes before the night is over", he said confidently. He just laughed when she called him a show off and kissed him quickly before stepping up to take her first shot, finding it very sweet that she had stopped protesting about the birthday celebrations and seemed to be enjoying herself. "Okay, silver lining here - it's very impressive that you still knocked down two pins when you didn't actually bowl properly. That was clearly a slip up", he pointed out, trying to bolster her confidence. He quickly made his way over to her and stood behind her, gently taking her arm so that he could properly demonstrate the movement she needed to make. "Try it like that", he encouraged.

"Ah, ah. No using the b-word." Violet reminded him. Her eyes rolled at his teasing. "Don't you dare make me a feelings chart. I don't want to offend you when I throw it away." She told him - though she probably wouldn't do this. The brunette paused for a minute to think. Usually those two options were enough to work. "Alcohol and weed is always a good back up. If all else fails, I might give in and play with your hair - not in a mess it up kinda way - because when you were ill you said it was comforting." The brunette recalled. "... Or I'd just mess it up so you'd focus on that instead of whatever got you down." She joked. He definitely wasn't wrong when he told her that her failure would be through lack of experience but it didn't stop her sticking her tongue out at him. "Yeah yeah, I'll believe it when I see it." The girl waved off his confidence. Violet quietly watched him come over to her and move behind her. She followed his guided motion and nodded slowly after. "Okay. I can give it a try." Violet got her ball back from the rack and copied the movement he showed her, this time the ball goes much smoother and knocking down a few more pins.

"You're acting like I just called you a bitch", Noah laughed. "Would you really throw away something that I worked hard on? What if I made you a deal? You have to display the feelings chart but in return, you can choose something that I have to display on my bedroom wall", he offered. "Those are good strategies, actually. I didn't realise that you paid so much attention to me". Honestly, he was kind of flattered that Violet cared about him enough to commit such strategies to memory, just in case she needed to use them in future. "You'll be eating your words before the night is over", he said confidently. He watched carefully as Violet bowled again, clearly trying her best to implement the technique he had demonstrated. He cheered when she knocked down a few pins, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head. "That was much better! You'll be a pro before the night is over".

"You might as well have. You don't want to remind me how you tricked me here, Fynn." She told him, giving him a look but turning it in to a smile after. Violet hummed in contemplation on whether she actually would throw it out but his proposal intrigued her. "Even if I say it has to be one of your own nudes and you'd have to explain to hook ups why you have a picture of your own nude on your wall?" The brunette asked entirely straight faced so he couldn't read if she would actually go that far or not. Maybe a few months back she would just to keep her 'evil' streak alive but nowadays probably not. When Noah pointed out that he didn't realise she paid that much attention to him, she shrugged in initial response. "Yeah, well... you pay me attention all the time so I can return the favour by paying a little attention to you." The girl acting like it really wasn't a big deal. Her eyes rolled at his confidence but a smile pressed on her lips. A squeak of an eep left her as he suddenly cheered and wrapped his arms around her. "If I don't get a strike by the end of the night, I'm blaming my tutor." She teased, leaning up to kiss his lips since he kissed the top of her head.

[gracevilliers]

Grace & Alia’s Birthday Party || Chatzy

People were arriving, milling about in the lounge/bar of the Stonefruit. Iann knew most of them of course, and was happy to greet them while Freddie did bartending duties. Everything was pretty much arranged; Grace and Alia were remarkably undemanding clients, over all. So their first major event had, so far, gone off without a hitch. He gravitated towards Tuah, nudging his old man. "Look how good you look. I know I already told you that, but I figure I'll tell you again." Iann kissed Tuah's high cheekbone. What'd you think of my attic hm? Cozy, right? You should stay the night with me."

"I just might," Tuah said, letting his lips curl into a small smirk. "Perhaps we can retire to your attic once the party is over, hm?" He wrapped his arm around Iann's waist and pulled him closer, giving the man a playful kiss on the lips. "You look rather ravishing tonight. Well, more so than usual."

"Good it's settled," Iann said, snickering at the idea of being 'ravishing'. Only Tuah would think a thing like that, and Iann loved it. He looked around for the birthday gals, pitching an eyebrow. "Alia and Grace better not have ditched their own party to do some retiring of their own already...those two rabbits. Still in the honeymoon phase," Iann jibed, then looked at Tuah. "Are we still in the honeymoon phase thing?"

"I don't know, I'm always going to be wanting to have you. Does that count as a honeymoon phase?" Tuah asked, his smirk still painted on his lips. Tuah let his eyes roamed across the room, searching for the two celebrated birthday girls. "I think I can see Grace approaching, so they haven't left yet." He then looked at Iann, "You remember to order the cake, yes?"

Grace was used to being the center of attention and used to having extravagant parties. What she wasn't used to was actually being friends with the people who were there. Making her rounds of hellos, she spotted Iann and his partner. "I hope I'm not interrupting too much," she said with a knowing grin. She knew those looks. She and Alia looked at one another like that all the time. Grace leaned in to give each of them a half hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I hope there won't be any unwelcome guests tonight, hm?"

"I'm one-hundred percent almost sure this is Tuah and not a doppleganger," Iann grinned at Tuah, then made the slightly surprised 'oh' noise again when he got a kiss from Grace. He was going to have to get used to that sort of greeting with her, Iann supposed. Not that he minded; her hair smelled good. "Tuah was just being a worrywart and making sure if I remembered the cake. And of course I did, honey. You and Alia can let me know when you're ready for it; or if you're too busy having fun, then I've timed it for about two hours into the party. Unless the party's flagging in which case I'll haul it out earlier." Iann had no idea how long parties were supposed to run; he figured as long as everyone was still having fun, then it was fair game. "Oh! The party and free shit is your gifts, of course. So Happy Birthday, Gracie. Alia said you're...what? Turning 142 or something? You don't look a day over 100."

Grace chuckled, rolling her eyes. She was used to Iann and his humor by now. "A hundred and sixty four. But it's all the same after a while."

Alia loved a reason to celebrate - and her birthday was as good as any. Though she was used to going out to a bar with a small group of close friends, and not this large party at the Stonefruit Inn. Not that she was complaining; she enjoyed mixing and mingling, and it was made better by the fact that she knew most of the people here. She was trying to give tips to Freddie, who was behind the bar, but he was now shooing her off - actually, both he and Ollie were shooing her off, and pouting slightly, she turned to find better entertainment elsewhere. It didn’t take long for her eyes to alight on Iann and Tuah, and Grace who was conversing with them. “Hello,” she beamed at the three of them, pulling Iann and Tuah into separate hugs before leaning in to press a kiss to Grace’s cheek - even if it hadn’t been more than an hour since she’d last spoken to her girlfriend. “What are you three gossiping about?”

"And I'm one hundred percent Iann isn't a doppelganger either," Tuah chimed in, receiving the kiss and hug from Grace. "Happy birthday to both you and Miss Oren," he said once he pulled away slightly, looking at both of them with a smile. "Iann was saying that how stunning your partner is looking tonight, which I agree wholeheartedly. And so are you, Miss Oren." He returned the other's hug with his own, beaming at the naga.

Oh shit, yeah! You both look great. Goddamn I love a woman in a suit," Iann said, taking a step back to admire Alia's sleekness. "I keep telling the old man here to put on a tulle gown, but he insists he doesn't have the shoulders to pull it off." Iann pats Tuah's shoulders. "So beefy."

Grace melted comfortably into Alia's arms as she arrived, enjoying the fact her girlfriend was so tall that she could scoop her up in her arms easily if given the chance. Grace squeezed Alia's hand, draping her arm around her shoulder and placing her own arm around Alia's back. "She always looks lovely," she grinned, planting a kiss on Alia's jawline. She gave Tuah a long look, cocking her head. "I would say he has excellent shoulders."

Alia grinned at both Iann and Tuah, pleased at the compliment as she snaked her arm around Grace’s waist, allowing her girlfriend’s own complimentary words to wash over her. “Thank you. You both clean up quite well yourselves,” she told them, reaching forward to tug at Iann’s collar playfully. “What is a tulle gown?”

Tuah rolled his eyes at Iann's comment, and a slight chuckle escaped his lips at Grace's. "Yes, well. I'm hardly built to wear delicate things, I think. I'll most probably tear the dress in pieces." Tuah then directed his attention towards Alia's question, though his eyes was distracted at the playful tugging at Iann's collar. "Ah, to be honest, I have no idea. I'm not very well versed in these sort of things, really. A dress that shows off your shoulders, perhaps?"

"It's like one of those gowns that have all that big fluffy shit underneath the cloth, you know. Puffs it up, like a quinceañera - ahhhh, like a princess dress?" Iann motioned with his hands, puffing around his own hips to try and emulate tulle. He grinned at Tuah though, tugging Tuah's waist. "He's got excellent everything." Because Iann really did like showing Tuah off to everyone, even if Tuah did his best to be very modest about it, try not to draw attention to himself, etc. "Oh - I've made sure no one sings that birthday song. I mean, unless you all want people to sing you the birthday song."

Grace rolled her eyes with a laugh. She supposed these ridiculous men were her social circle now. "Tulle is the fabric. It's netting. And I'm still convinced most people wouldn't mind seeing Tuah's shoulders, torn fabric or not."

"Right?! Gracie, you feel me." Iann motioned at one of the servers, to bring over drinks - blood-cocktails for the vampires, and something special for the naga as well. "I concocted a special drink for you, Alia. It's got a kick of jackalope blood in it - you know what those are? They're mythical - bunny rabbits with antlers. I think you'll like it..." The drinks came around and Iann sorted it out for them. "The vamps get O-negative werewolf blood in their drink. And I'm having a bloody mary, ah ha!"

“But that would ruin the dress," Tuah tried to argue, unable to see why would he want to waste a perfectly good looking gown just to show off his everything, as Iann so eloquently put it. "Besides, I think both of you would be rather suited for such thing than myself, no?" Tuah took the offered drink. "Shall we make a toast before we drink?"

Alia shrugged. “It is okay. If Grace were to loan you a gown for the good of the people, I am sure she has plenty more.” She frowned slightly, glancing at her girlfriend. “Right?” And when drinks were brought over, she regarded hers curiously. “Jackalope?” she repeated. “I have not heard of it, but I cannot wait to try it. Let’s toast to… birthdays and no doppelgängers!”

"You could argue they're all Bloody Marys, Grace gave a shrug, her voice deadpan, although her humour was evident to anyone who knew her. "You managed to get Jackalope blood? That's very impressive." Grace took the drink with a little grin, still settled into Alia's arms contently. "I'm not toasting to any doppelgangers."

Iann's eyes gleamed suddenly as he tapped his glass, and he looked over at Alia for a moment. "Yeah, there was a whole swarm of jackalopes out at the springs...incredible..." Iann replied absently, then blinked at Tuah and Grace, his grin wide and winning. "You know there's...ah..." Iann took a gulp of his bloody mary. "There's that old birthday tradition that the birthday person in question gets a big ol' kiss from their well-wishers. You know - to wish them well for the next year to come and all that corny jazz. But on the other hand, what if it's not corny jazz? I'm a superstitious kind of guy, after all..."

Tuah "I've not heard of such tradition," Tuah narrowed his eyes at his kasih, his drink untouched in his hand. 'What are you trying to play here, kasih,' he wanted to ask, but dared not so not to cause any trouble with Grace.

Grace raised an eyebrow, positioning herself so she was in front of Alia with her arms draped around her shoulders. She took another sip of her drink and eyed Iann with a penetrating gaze. "If you're trying to kiss my girlfriend again, the next thing I drink will be you."

Iann boggled. "Again! I've never kissed her, or you for that matter, Grace. That scummy doppleganger and his wretched moustache did. And I'll bet he - it - wasn't even that good," Iann harrumphed, lifting his nose to emulate a pettish snootiness.

It seemed that everyone was quite familiar with jackalopes and their blood, and it only made Alia all the more eager to try it. “We are not toasting to the doppelgängers,” she told Grace with a sly grin, “we are toasting to the lack thereof.” At Iann’s mention of the birthday tradition, she raised both brows. “I have not heard of that.” To Grace, she added, “It is all right, Iann only wants to prove that his moustache is ten times better than the doppelganger’s.” She paused, raising her glass. “I do wish to thank you for this jackalope drink, Iann.” She leaned forward, slipping out of Grace’s embrace, and pressed a kiss to the very corner of Iann’s mouth before pulling back and doing the same to Tuah. To Tuah, Alia said, “Thank you for coming to the party.”

Grace snickered. "If I didn't know any better I might be starting to get the impression that Iann was some sort of wanna-be Lothario." She was trying to keep her sense of humor about this. Alia didn't seem to mind, after all. She loosened up as Alia let go of her, taking another swig of her drink before giving both Grace and Tuah a small peck on the lips. "Anything more and you couldn't handle it," she joked.

Tuah accepted the kiss from Grace. "I believe the so-called tradition said that the celebrated receives a kiss from the well-wishers, not the other way around. But I think this will suffice, no?" Tuah arched his brow at Iann, wondering how far his kasih was willing to push this shenanigans forward

 Alia tried to catch Iann’s eye as Grace planted a quick kiss on Tuah’s lips - as though to say I told you so! She took a sip of her drink, humming thoughtfully as the taste of the alcohol hit her first, slowly giving way to the richer tones of the jackalope blood underneath. “This is very nice, Iann. Do you have any left? I might want to purchase some for the The Fainting Goat…”

Grace gave her girlfriend a look, extending a hand to lightly touch her shoulder. "You know, darling, we've never gone hunting together before. It might be fun."

Iann gave a melodramatic sigh, as if from Alia's kiss it was a signal that that was as far as it would go. "'Wanna-be' being the keyword there, Gracie," Iann said with a snort, accepting the delivered peck-kisses with a passivity. He smiled when Alia enjoyed the taste. "I can go get more, there are tonnes of them now out in the Newes..." But then Grace mentioned hunting -together! - and Iann's eyes lit up. "Hunting? For jackalopes?" Likely to Tuah's relief, Iann's interest had shifted quickly away from any possibility of further kisses, and towards the idea he had of Grace racing through the forest, Alia slithering along at her side. How cool would that be.

Maya had heard about the party from someone. They had said that the whole town was welcome and she was never one to turn down a party. She dressed in the best clothes she had. As she walked in though she couldn't help but notice how underdressed she was. She moved through the party quietly, going first to the bar to get a drink.

Alia had never considered going hunting with Grace - which was silly, considering how good her girlfriend was at it. Of course, Grace had previously used to hunt supernatural creatures… “Let’s go,” she told Grace, taking another sip of her drink and finishing the last of it. “I would like to see an expert at work. And I am sure Iann would too. —I am going to get us another round. Would anyone like something else?”

"I would love to," Iann gushed, gleeful that Alia was trying to include him. But he held himself back and (tried to) politely add, "Whenever you're ready to take on a third wheel. I think Tuah's hunting days are over." Iann pat Tuah's chest and shook his head when Alia asked if he needed a fresh drink.

Tuah seemed a little uncomfortable with the talk of hunting, preferring to keep this hunting business far behind him, and only when necessary. He was about to excuse himself from such activity, but the look on Iann's face made him second-guessing a little. "Well, I'll come with you if you allow us to go along, even if it's just to keep Iann from doing anything far too dangerous." He gave them a smile before shaking his head at the offer of another drink. "I prefer to observe than to actually hunt these creatures."

Alia excused herself and headed over to the bar, her mind still mulling over hunting with Grace (and Iann and Tuah—what fun it would be, to have them all along!). It was then she recognized, out of the corner of her eye, the woman who had come to The Fainting Goat the other day—“Maya?” she called out, cocking her head to the side.

Maya looked up surprised at the sound of her name. After a moment she recognized the bartender from The Fainting Goat who had helped her get a shift at a bakery. She smiled, "In the flesh. And Happy Birthday, this is quite the party."

As Grace stepped away to greet some other guests (Iann realized he was bogarting the birthday ladies, after all) he watched the pair leave and then looked at Tuah. "I like having an observation buddy," he said, reaching up to hold Tuah's chin, look in the vampire's eyes. "As if I know how to hunt. I just want to watch them hunt, hm?" Did Tuah know that Grace was a Hunter once upon a time? Likely not. And it wasn't something Iann was going to mention to his fella right now. Instead he grinned mischievously. "You know if you did kiss Grace or Alia, it would be pretty hot. I'm just saying. Watching you kiss someone else would be...boy oh boy oh boy."

Grace stepped away briefly to greet a few other people as they came in, but returned and continuied chatting to Iann and Tuah while Alia went to the bar. "Sorry about that. Trying to make sure I get to speak to everyone. It’s what being a hostess is all about, I suppose.” She said with a smirk and a shrug. She still loved being the center of attention, even now. “I don't do much hunting any more either. I'm pampered. I get my blood from the bottle or from donors, but if there really are that many Jackalopes out there at the Springs, it might make a nice little trip.

Alia smiled at Maya. “Thank you for coming. I am not used to such… elaborate parties, if I am to be honest.” She laughed. “What are you having?”

Maya laughed. "Yeah, clearly neither am I," she replied in a self deprecating tone, referring to her outfit. It would bother her less the more everyone else had to drink. "Oh just rum and coke," she said, "Although if they made you like signature cocktails or something I'd be happy to switch to that."

Tuah arched his brow at the other's words. "You want to watch me make out with them? That's the term young people used these days, yes?" Tuah had done a little bit of research about Grace in his spare time, but he didn't feel the need to share with anyone about what he knew since he didn't see the point of it all. Besides, Iann did mention Grace had cut her ties with her hunter family, so he figured he shouldn't be too wary of her. Not to mention she's a surprisingly good company, too. “Well, I never pegged you to be a voyeur, Mr. Cardero.” Which was untrue, seeing that he did perform sybaritism for his kasih awhile back, when Iann was travelling overseas with Freddie. "If it's alright with you, Miss Villiers, then perhaps we can set up another double date for this? I'll make sure there will be no doppelganger this time."

Alia raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? You look right at home.” She was a firm believer in the simple drinks - they were a classic for a reason, after all, and it was usually because you couldn’t go wrong with them. “Well, there is this drink with jackalope blood, but I do not think that would be to your tastes.” And when the bartender asked for her order, she ordered the drink that Iann had prepared for her. “So, when do you start at the bakery?”

Grace gave a nod, having completely missed the part about Tuah kissing her while she was away greeting the other guests. "That would be wonderful. Iann has my number." She looked around for Alia, finding her at the bar with someone she didn't know. "I should go and check on those drinks. Thank you again." She extended a hand to lightly rub Iann's shoulder then went to find Alia and Maya. "Hi. I don't believe we met. I'm Grace, Alia's partner."

Iann grinned at Tuah. "Tuah Arjuna, making out," he lightly teased, highly amused by the idea of blending someone so old fashioned with something so 1960's teenagers. He wasn't sure what Tuah suggested as a second double-date, but Iann would agree to anything at this point. He loved Tuah, he adored Alia and he was strangely fond of Grace Villiers. Iann nodde,d wathcing Grace move off to delicately place herself (verbally or otherwise) between Maya and Alia. "She's really possessive, isn't she? Or...over-protective? How would you describe it?"

Maya laughed, but didn't say anything. If one of the hosts didn't mind how she was dressed it would be alright. She had to agree with Alia's assessment that a drink with jackalope blood wasn't her style. The fact it was so normal to mention made her feel light. Despite her money problems Maya felt light these days. It had to be the weight of living in secret lifted off her shoulders. "Next week hopefully," she replied. When a blonde woman approached and introduced herself Maya turned and replied, "Hi, I'm Maya. Nice to meet you and this is an awesome shindig. Happy Birthday."

Grace smiled, ordering another drink from the bartender. "I can't take the credit. Mostly it was Iann who did the planning. He said it was his gift to us. He's very sweet." She ran a hand over Alia's forearm before gently taking her hand. "It's not officially my birthday until tomorrow, but thank you. These things are always better at the weekend." She stiffened instinctively as she caught the scene of someone's perfume. Ruby. Unless someone else happened to wear her brand. Grace would remember that smell anywhere. She had woken up with it clinging to her skin and to her pillows.

Tuah looked over where Grace was, watching interestedly as she planted herself between Alia and the newcomer. Maya, he believed her name was. "I think she's only overly possessive of Miss Oren whenever you're around, kasih. You are very friendly with her." Tuah looked at Iann with a slight smirk on his lips. "I would be too. In fact I am quite possessive of you whenever you decide to be overly friendly with just about anyone." He slithered his arm around Iann's waist and pulled him close. "I know you can't help it, but do try to behave, hm." He grazed his teeth against Iann's earlobe, couldn't help himself from having a taste of his kasih despite the fact that they were in the middle of a large crowd. "Now why don't we say hi to everybody else, hm."

"Me! What'd I do. Nothing, I'm totally innocent," Iann laughed, knowing he was being wicked but he couldn't help it. He was stupidly delighted whenever Tuah reacted, finding it both endearing and exciting. "I'm /pretty/ sure Grace's last relationship was like...a century ago," Iann said airily. "Whereas you've been a player all you life. Go on then - " Iann nudged Tuah towards the other guests with a smack of his knuckles on Tuah's ass. "Go mingle. I'll join you in a sec, just have to go be party host dude for a second."

Alia smiled as Grace introduced herself, leaning into the other woman. “Maya is a baker,” she told Grace. And then to Maya, she added, “I will have to come by when you officially start. Perhaps we should have asked you to bake us a birthday cake!” She noticed the subtle shift in Grace’s demeanour, the way she stiffened against her, but didn’t think much of it as she reached over for the new drink Freddie was handing her.

Grace nodded, intrigued. "Well, maybe next year you can bake it for us. Iann took care of it this time, and he assured me he did actually remember."

"I am no such thing," Tuah pulled his lips into a pout at the accusation, though he didn't deny it per se. After planting a kiss on Iann's lips he made his way around the crowd, greeting those he knew before his eyes noticed Ruby among the crowd. "Ruby!" he greeted the other, a beaming smile on his lips as he hugged her.

"Well I don't have my own kitchen at the moment, so you probably would've gotten a very adventurous microwave cake, very avant garde," she replied with a smile. Maya noticed too the subtle shift in the other woman and had to worry for a moment it was about how she was dressed. But no one said anything so she just took another sip of her drink.

Grace was trying not to come across as rude. It wasn't Maya's fault the woman she had slept with during her fight with alia had just entered the room. "Well, maybe next year. I plan on holding onto this one for a very long time," Grace said with a smile, kissing Alia's cheek. "Is that Ruby over there?" she ventured, glancing across the room. "Do you know her, darling?"

Ruby almost hadn't come. But the text from Alia, asking her to come out and celebrate her birthday (and Grace's... odd, but not something Ruby worried over too much) was something Ruby couldn't turn down. She liked Alia. And she couldn't stay at home just because of whoever else might be at the Inn. So she'd gotten dressed in something nice and taken a cab to Stonefruit, letting the man at the door take her coat and purse. It was a beautiful place, but Ruby had little time to take it all in before a familiar voice called her name. "Tuah," she smiled, turning to greet her friend as he came up to her. "How are you?"

Alia grinned at the thought of a microwave cake. “That sounds like an adventure for another day. You could even start a new business selling microwave cakes.” She smiled at Grace’s remark, and at the mention of Ruby, brightened. “Of course I know Ruby! I invited her. Have you met Ruby, Maya?”

Maya just smiled and nodded. It all seemed a long way off to her at the moment. She wasn't entirely sure what she would be doing next week let alone next year. And starting a buisness seemed entirely out of her reach. She had noticed the subtle shift in Grace, but couldn't venture so much as a guess to its cause. "No, I haven't," she replied.

"I'm good. How about yourself, my dear?" Tuah took a good look at his friend, resting both his hands on Ruby's shoulders. "I'm glad you could make it. Perhaps the good atmosphere will do you good, hm?" He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Come, let's meet the ones we're celebrating. You've met Miss Oren and Miss Villiers before, I assume?" He wrapped her arm around her shoulder, keeping her close as he directed her towards where the birthday girls were.

"I'm alright," Ruby said, and meant it. "And I'm glad to be here." She was, and wrapped her arm around Tuah's waist as he led her towards the two women she had met before. Separetely, of course. "I have," Ruby said as they approached. Though she had no idea the two were - or ever had been - involved. "Happy Birthday, Alia," she greeted as her friend came into view. "Happy Birthday, Grace." Ruby gave them both a warm smile, still under the circle of Tuah's arm.

Alia turned to Tuah and Ruby as they approached, moving forward to give Ruby a hug. “Ruby! Thank you. Did you just get here? Would you like a drink? Tuah, would you like a refill?” She paused, gesturing to Maya. “This is Maya, by the way. She bakes.”

Grace had slept with Ruby because she hadn't thought Alia was coming back. She hadn't heard from her girlfriend in days at that point, and their last interaction had been a fight. And there had been Ruby, beautiful, charming, sensual... She had smelled and tasted wonderful. And she had been excellent in bed. But Grace had a feeling that Alia wouldn't want to hear about those things. "Ruby," Grace greeted, trying to be normal but probably coming off a bit stiffer than she intended. "I'm glad you could make it. I had no idea you knew my girlfriend." She slipped a hand onto Alia's lap. "What a small world..."

Maya had the undeniable feeling that she'd ended up in the middle of something. It was a by-product of growing up in foster care. She took another sip of her drink. When introduced she gave a little wave, "That's me." She then took another sip deciding that whatever was going to happen there was no way she was tipsy enough for it.

Iann was glad for this sort of thing, he quickly realized. He was generally crud at huge social situations (inevitably making things awkward) so at least running the show meant he had a purpose outside of having to be charming and conversational. Gyah. He talked to the servers, making sure the bistro was still keeping up, the bar was still stocked, and the bathrooms were clean. He glanced over to where Grace and Alia were, and found their group had expanded as Tuah and Ruby(? Yes, that was Ruby) joined them. Eventually, Iann returned, slapping a hand on the back of Tuah's shoulder to announce his arrival. "So! Hey! Hey," Iann nodded at both Maya and Ruby. "So who wants a tour of the inn?"

Alia glanced at Grace, the stiffness in her tone and body language not going unnoticed (despite the hand that had found its way onto her thigh), though she had no explanation for it. Certainly, Ruby hadn’t tried to kiss her the way Iann had. “Ruby and I rescued a unicorn together,” she informed the other three. At Iann's request, she grinned. "Freddie already gave me a tour the other day. It really is very beautiful."

Tuah let his hand dropped to his side when Alia reached out to hug Ruby. "Ah, I still have the drink from the drink Iann gave me." He only then took a sip of the concoction that Iann had prepared for them, tongue dragging across his lips to catch the remnant of the werewolves blood on his lips. "I've met Miss Parker before at my cafe, though it's only briefly." To Maya, he said, "settling well, I hope?" When Tuah felt Iann's touch on his shoulder he made some space for his kasih, wrapping his arm around Iann's waist.

Ash had seen the prep work going on for the party. He'd been staying in one of the suite's ever since Iann had rescued him from being attacked by a swarm of Jackalopes. He was glad their blood had gone to good use in the drinks behind the bar and ordered himself one moments after entering the room, catching the scents of all the other creatures in the room, but knowing at least one of them was a naga. "I heard something about someone's birthday?" he said, approaching the group with his usual loftiness. "I didn't have time to get a gift, but I can write you a cheque, if you like."

Maya's brow furrowed. A unicorn? Were those real? Part of her didn't want to ask, didn't want to get too involved in the conversation with people who clearly knew each other better. She was grateful therefore for Iann's interruption. "Depends," she said to him, "Will you look the other way when I try to steal your mini shampoos." She cracked a grin, "What did I say when? I meant if." To Tuah she smiled and nodded, "Yeah, pretty well. Alia helped me get a job at a bakery around the corner from her bar."

Ruby was a bit surprised that Alia was Grace's girlfriend. Not in a way that made her uncomfortable really. Grace being a grown woman and making it perfectly clear to Ruby on the night of their dalliance that she was all up for spending time with her. And Ruby didn't delve too deeply after that, only wanting the distraction herself. "Alia and I are acquanited, yes," she smiled at Grace. "She helped me out a while back. But it is a small world, you're right."

Grace wet her lips. "Saving unicorns, hm? Sometimes I think this one is right out of a story book." She gave Alia a stiff smile. "Ruby and I met. A few weeks back, wasn't it? At the karaoke bar."

Alia tried to catch Freddie’s attention - the poor fairy was quite busy - and placed an order for Ruby, something strong she thought the other woman would like. “You know, Tuah, I still have to come by to your cafe.” And talk about Iann’s birthday surprise, she did not say. She frowned slightly at the newcomer - recognizing him to be a naga instantly, which was exciting, but frowning at his offer to write a cheque. “No cheques necessary,” she told him, still intrigued by his naga-ness. Before she could greet him properly, however, Grace was pulling her back into conversation, and she frowned slightly, not sure how she should take the storybook remark in combination with Grace’s colder tone. “We have a karaoke bar in Soapberry? Were you singing?” She smiled, tone teasing as she wrapped an arm around Grace’s waist.

"I always thought mini shampoos were for taking," Iann replied and winked. "Just don't try to steal the mattress and we'll be good." Which was something Iann had tried at a hotel once - he needed furniture for his apartment in NYC, and a motel had everything he'd needed, so why not. But Iann was distracted by Ash's arrival, and he motioned to both Maya and Ash. He checked his phone and sent off a quick text. "You two can come with me if you like. I need help with something, hm?" He started heading towards one of the side doors, checking to see if either Maya or Ash followed.

"Yep," Ruby nodded. "Unicorns. Who woulda thought? And yeah. Open mic night," she said to Grace, noticing the subtle undertones of... something... in the vampire's voice. Well. It wasn't Ruby's business. She turned as Iann's voice clamored above all the rest, but didn't necessarily want to be the only one going on what would be a strange - and most likely awkward - tour with the man. But Maya spoke up, and Ruby grinned, the idea of mischief making her feel a bit lighter.

Ash could practically taste the drama in the air, and it was delicious. "I like to sing," he interjected. "And dance. And party." He extended a hand to the general group, but his eyes never left the naga. "Would any of you care to join me?" He lifted his eyes toward Iann. "I was just getting acquainted with these lovely ladies." He withdrew his hand, giving an eye roll. "Alright, alright. My darlings," he said in his charming Southern accent. "I'll be back momentarily." And with that, Ash followed Iann out of the room.

Maya laughed, "See now I have to try and steal a mattress. I don't make the rules," she replied as she followed Iann. She liked him and was glad that she had rescued him from his stuck upside down in a field while attempting to catch a mole-man debacle. Maya was also glad to have a reasonable excuse to slip away from whatever trouble was brewing.

Alia laughed at Grace’s remark. “No, but a girl can always dream.” She was tempted to join the newcomer - there was something about him… something about a fellow naga. It had been so long since she had met one of her own kind! But she turned back to Grace and Ruby. “I would love to hear you sing one day,” she told Ruby. “When is the next open mic night?” She nudged Grace gently. “Shall we go and watch Ruby sing?”

Ruby recognized the newcomer's southern accent, thick and drawling as it was. They weren't common up this way. Her, Ephram, and Faye being the only southerners she knew. But her attention was drawn again by Grace. "I sing well enough for karaoke," she said, sipping her drink that Alia handed her.

“It's every Wednesday night," Ruby told Alia. "At 8. You should come. Both of you."

Iann Really wanted to tell Maya to try, just to see if she could, because it would be hilarious if she did. But he had to remind himself that the Inn wasn't just his; and in truth if it was, it would likely be out of business in two months. Freddie kept Iann's more spontaneous (read un-financial) ideas in line, thank god. Instead, he just grinned as he saw the naga and the witch following. "It's nothing exciting. Well, not for us anyway. But if you help with this then you'll be remembered as heros of this soiree." Taking them out to the back alley, there was a woman waiting with her white van back doors open, and a giant cake sitting there. Iann greeted her and paid, saying 'We'll take it from here." They got the cake onto a wheeling cart, and Iann flourished his hands. "It's their shared birthday cake! I need help getting it into the bar."

Grace couldn't think of anything worse than going on a date with her girlfriend to watch the person she'd slept with when they were fighting sing, but she nodded politely. She'd have to explain the situation to Alia later, in private. "I think that would be lovely," she said, hoping Iann, Maya and the strange newcomer would be back shortly and save her from this situation.

Maya followed Iann to a back alley, an odd place to start a tour, but to be fair he was sort of an odd guy. It became clear pretty quickly though that in fact they would be helping him with the cake. At the sight of the actual cake though Maya had to paused, "Uh dude, that's a wedding cake. Like full on read Corinthians 13, doing the conga with your weird uncle wedding cake"

Ash eyed the cake, rubbing his hands together. "Delicious! This is up for grabs once the bride and bride have their fill, yes?" He situated himself behind the cart, ready to wheel it in. "I thought this was a birthday party, not a reception. Do both of those come with the possibility of strippers?"

Alia was surprised it had taken so little to convince Grace to go back to the karaoke bar - then again, if it was someplace she had been before, perhaps she simply liked it and no convincing was necessary; it wasn’t somewhere she’d have expected for Grace to willingly go to, though. “Let’s do a toast!” she proclaimed, raising her glass to clink against Ruby’s and Grace’s. “To karaoke!”

Iann stared at the cake. "It's a wedding cake?" He looked at the two brides in the cake topper. "This isn't just two ladies in nice white gowns?" Iann was pleased at Ash's enthusiasm to wheel the cake in. "Hey pal, if you want to do the stripping honours, then be my guest. I'll just switch the music, hm? Just make sure to strip with your tail on, because that would be glorious."

"Okay, first thing yes its obviously a wedding cake. And second the whole cake stripper thing is the bachelorette party not the reception. I mean you would give grandma a heart attack," Maya replied. Honestly she would've been on board if it had obviously been a prank, but it seemed that Iann had done it unintentionally. Although it might still be funny.

Grace lifted her glass cautiously. "To open mic night," she corrected. "It's a little bit classier."

Ruby could only laugh and clink her glass with Alia's before taking a long... long... sip.

It was definitely a prank; but what was more fun than one prank? Two pranks. Maya seemed to believe that Iann was clueless, and Iann gleefully played it up. "Why stick to convention? If the stripper wants to come for the birthday party, then let him show up for the birthday party, Maya. Shake things up a bit, hm? Now c'mon. And remember: no one is singing Happy Birthday. You two wheel it in and I'll get everyone's attention." Although the cake was gigantic, it wouldn't take long for it to get everyone's attention.

Alia had been about to ask Ruby if she liked her drink, but she had to do a double-take as the cake - large, white cake, much larger than any birthday cake had any right to be - was wheeled in. “Is that a wedding cake?”

Maya only had to consider for a half a moment before deciding fuck it. Whatever happened it was probably going pretty funny. What she didn't find funny though was Ash clapping at her like she was a child or a dog. "Okay, clap at me again and your face is going in this cake," she replied. She did start pushing though. She also couldn't help but start humming Here Comes the Bride under her breath.

Ruby turned around to look at the enormous cake being wheeled in, raising her eyebrows over the rim of her glass. "Looks like it..."

Ash cocked his head to the side with a smirk. "Yes ma'am, my apologies." He liked when people were assertive. It was amusing. As the cake entered the room, it garnered the attention of the guests, and the ladies whose honour this celebration was in, and they looked less then pleased. "Congratulations to the happy couple!" Ash called, leading the guests in a confused round of applause. "And I'm not clapping at you this time, sweetheart, calm down."

Iann looked between Ash and Maya, making a teasing "Awwww, looks like there's gonna be more than one wedding tonight..." comment to the two kids, before he headed in, holding doors open. Maya and Ash did their part magnificently - the moment the cake came in, everyone's eyes were on it. "Happy birthday, Alia! Happy unlife birthday, Grace!" Iann called out, clapping loudly enough that everyone at the party felt slowly obliged to clap as well, despite the obvious weddingness of the cake. Iann grinned at Alia though, and gave her a cheeky wink.

Grace buried her head in the crook of Alia's arm, exhaling. "Please tell me he didn't just do that," she groaned, peeking out to get a look at the cake. It looked delicious, but also definitely not like a birthday cake. "Iann Cardero is going to die very, very shortly," she whispered into her girlfriend's ear before smiling for their guests, as fake a smile as anyone could ask for, and clapping along with the joke. "Remind me never to ask you to supply me with any kind of cake ever again," she called in Iann's direction.

Maya The whole room had turned to look at them, something which usually would've made Maya uncomfortable, but it was pretty obvious that they were focused on the cake. She joined in on the clapping. At Ash's comment though she rolled her eyes. Under her breath she replied, "Wait really? Are you sure because I'm pretty sure everything's about me."

Alia was at a loss for words, though luckily, Grace was there to distract her, and she laughed. “I cannot tell you that. I might kill him before you do,” she said sweetly, rolling her eyes in Iann’s direction as her friend winked at her. “Next time, we will ask Maya to bake the cake,” she said, loud enough so that the general crowd could hear it. “Are there even candles on this thing, Iann?”

Iann made an 'awww' noise as if Grace was saying super-sweet things about him, and he leaned in to give Grace a hug. "You know I couldn't resist. You two are too perfect, hm? Perfect together as well. Who would've known that moving to Soapberry would bring you here, Gracie?" Iann said, but he kept his tone only for Grace. He nodded about the candles, which had been pre-arranged by the bakery in advance. "Someone dim the lights!" Iann said, and once a server did, Iann made a little whistle tune, and the cake lit up almost like a Christmas tree. All magically, of course. As if Iann would just get a normal wedding cake. "You can each cut the cake."

Grace kissed Alia's shoulder, relieved. "That makes a change. You're usually the one holding me back from the killing." She was glad, at least, that this had distracted both her and Alia from Ruby for the time being. "He needed a cake this big because he needed to fit a hundred and ninety six candles on it, obviously," Grace commended with a mild sarcasm.

Ruby clapped along with everyone else, moving slowly off to the side so that the birthday girls could be the center of attention. The atmosphere was a happy one, and it made Ruby smile. She looked around as the lights dimmed, making a noise of approval as the cake llit up. Sometimes she really loved magic.

Maya had to laugh. All things considered it was sort of a sweet moment. She missed sweet moments. And it seemed that if she was still here in a year she would have a job. Although with a little convincing she could get up to hijinks too. For instance she'd baked a cake which had turned her best friend's first boy-girl party into basically a make out party. She would say that she wasn't proud of it, but it had made the mean girls stop harassing her best friend for being "lame."

Grace stood straighter, gesturing to them to cut the cake, and some of the wait-staff began handing it out. "I'll be right back," she whispered to Alia, kissing her girlfriend's cheek before slipping over to Ruby, finding her in the crowd. "I need you to know," she said under her breath, "I never would have slept with you if I knew you and Alia were friends. The last thing I need is for anything to be awkward."

Ash wasn't really concerned with anyone else's drama. Mostly, what he was concerned about was cake. He took a huge piece, beginning to feed it to himself while everyone else got their share. He gave Maya a small wink. "You're just lucky I didn't strip," he teased, before gracefully sauntering toward Alia. "Well well. We finally meet. I've heard a lot about you."

Ruby looked up as Grace came over. "I met her after that night, down at the docks. So we hadn't met yet, if that makes a difference." She took a sip of her drink, running the glass along her bottom lip, a strange expression crossing her face. "And that's the last thing I /want./ I'm not here to cause trouble, I promise." She looked across the crowd at Alia. "That's not the kinda person I am."

Maya smirked. "Am I though?" she asked. So there was a little bit of a challenge in her voice, sue her. To be fair it wasn't really a party until someone started taking their clothes off. When he sauntered off though she let him go and instead got herself a piece of cake to do with her drink.

Grace nodded stiffly. "If I thought you were here to cause trouble, I'd have already asked you to leave. Alia and I are exclusive now, but we weren't at the time. I never lied to you."

Alia watched as the lights were dimmed, and the candles - all magically lit - brightened the room. “Obviously,” she murmured with a quiet laugh, leaning into Grace even as she made the first cut into the cake. When Grace excused herself, she only nodded, cutting a few slices to hand out before stealing one for herself, and leaving the rest of the slicing to the staff with a ‘thank you’. She blinked at the other naga, pleased to finally have a moment to meet him. “You have heard of me? Though the party, you mean.”

"That's fair," Ruby said. "And I don't make it my business to wreck relationships." Other than her own. "I don't go home with people who're lookin' to make someone jealous, or to start drama. I got enough. So... thank you. For bein' honest."

Grace continued sipping her drink. "Lies cause more trouble than anything else." She watched Alia across the room with an affectionate eye. "I'll talk to her later, when we're alone."

Ash gave a little shrug, continuing to smile at her. "I heard there was another naga in town. The one at the Fainting Goat, right, that's you?" He grinned. "Excellent drinks there."

 Alia circled the other naga before coming to a stop in front of him: the start of their elaborate greeting ceremony. “That is me,” she affirmed, smiling slightly at the compliment - something a bartender always loved to hear. “I am Alia. And you are?”

Ash circled the other naga in return. "I'm Ash. Of New Orleans." He cocked his head to the side. It had been a long time since he had done this. Naga were so few, or at least they seemed that way to him.

Fane was late. Not often was that the case but today it was and what could be done to help it? He'd been debating doing a no show as had Faye but ultimately the pair decided to say fuck it and go. Partially explaining their late arrival. Finding a parking spot outside Fane glanced up at the inn feeling a little uncertain but deciding that it would simply be best to plough ahead with what might turn out to be a wonderful or terrible decision. Pushing through the doors he wandered in the direction he heard some familiar voices coming from and stepped into the throng knowing Faye wouldn't be far behind him.

Ash: brb

Maya: yelp the first person thought they were supposed to be here at 12:30 when apparently another person will also be here #yolo

Alia: whoops

Fane: [ lmao I misunderstood the 15+ minute remark i'm an idiot XD ]

Fane: [ I thought you meant the party hahaha ]

Maya: no worries! haha

Faye: good lord Fane just leave her in the car why don't you XD ))

Alia regarded her fellow naga curiously, now starting to walk in a counter-clockwise direction around the man. It was difficult to take her eyes off him, so excited was she to have another naga in front of her. “I am of Tiberias, Israel. What brings you to Soapberry, Ash of New Orleans?” The question was pure curiosity and had nothing to do with formality. Her attention was so focused on Ash that she didn’t notice Fane arrive.

Maya looked up from her cake to see Fane walking into the party. She was reminded again how underdressed she was. When they made eye contact she waved at Fane with a half smile.

Faye came in a few beats behind Fane, having a dress malfunction that she'd thought she'd already fixed. He'd gone on ahead with her order of 'something straight, brown, and strong,' and a few minutes later she followed inside, knowing the way from her earlier visit with Iann.

Fane had his attention caught by a wave over by the bar, and it took a beat for him to recognise the individual. He paused glancing over at Faye to indicate where he was going before he neatly weaved through the crowds until he came up by her with a smile though he kept a wary eye out for Freddie. "Hey Maya."

Ash nodded, following the other naga's lead with the ritual. He couldn't do it properly without revealing his tail, and he would have to remove several items of clothing before that was possible, so this would have to do. "That explains the charming accent. I come looking for people of my own kind, nagas, but other supernaturals as well."

River had spent way too long trying to figure out what to wear to this party. She hadn't expected to be invited to something like...ever. She didn't exactly have party corlothes to spare. Once during her years looking for her siblings, she'd needed to go to a fancy event to gather information, but all she could afford was a secondhand suit from a thrift store. A suit made of tweed. It was itchy and very ugly, complete with a corduroy bow tie. As she walked into the party, feeling extremely underdressed and overdressed all at once, she noticed a few people she recognized besides Alia. She saw they were all engaged in conversation, though, so she stuck to the wall by the entrance.

Faye stopped to say hello to a few people before making her way towards where Fane was standing. "Hi, there," she said to the new face.

Ash spent a few minutes engaging in the lengthy greeting ritual with the other naga. Once that was done, he allowed himself to roam the party. Spotting the selkie from the bar wearing the ugliest outfit imaginable, he rushed to her side. "Oh, no, darling, we can't possibly let this do." He gestured for her to come with him. "Come along. I have plenty of clothes in my suite upstairs. I'm sorry, I can't let you walk around looking like this.”

Maya took another sip of her drink. "Hi," she had to paused to remember, "Fane right?" She'd met a lot of new people in the last few weeks and occasionally had to take a moment to get them straight.

River was honestly relieved when Ash rushed to her side. Not only did she not have to inject herself into a conversation by her own volition, but he was going to get her out of this godawful suit. "Thank god," she sighed, starting to follow him. "This was all I had."

Ash shook his head. This poor girl. "Come, we'll make a star of you yet." He crept out of the party with her, rushing up to his suite, one of the nicest in the whole place, and throwing open the closet doors. "What do you need? Something to make you look attractive and butch? I have lots of lovely suits." He gave her a quick once over. "It may not fit perfectly, but we're similar size."

Fane shifted to prop his elbow on the bar nodding his head at the clarification of his name "that's me." He felt more than saw Faye's presence arrive nearby glancing in her direction his features softening a bit when he looked at her but his attention returned to Maya promptly. "So how's town treating you so far? Settling in I hope?"

River looked down at herself, holding her arms out at her sides and noting how the sleeves of her tweed suit hung past her fingertips if she let them lay naturally. How the hem of the slacks slumped heavily around her unpolished loafers. "I think anything's going to fit better than this thing." Without shame, she started to undress. She felt weirdly comfortable with Ash in that regard, not that she was getting naked or anything. She stripped down to her tank top and briefs. "Something simple I guess. You've got a better style than me anyway. You pick."

Maya nodded, "Yeah so far. Alia helped me get a job, so you know, things are looking up." Of course it would take some time for paychecks to start coming in which was going to be a problem for her. But that was hardly his problem.

Fane seemed pleased by her answer. "Good, I'm glad to hear that-- are you working with her or somewhere else in town?" He'd been to the Fainting Goat a few times but it wasn't a regular habitation of his, it might become one though.

River immediately started putting on items as Ash picked them out. So quickly, in fact, she wasn't really taking in how everything fit together. Not until it was all on and she caught a look at herself in the mirror. She look...really good. As a finishing touch, she took her mop of hair on her head and used the tie on her wrist to bring it into a ponytail. "Thanks Ash," she said, still staring at herself.

Ash admired his handiwork, helping River smooth out the edges and brushing back her hair. "There. Now aren't you stunning? Come, alcohol is waiting. It would be rude to keep it."

 "At a bakery around the corner," Maya replied, "They needed someone to cover an opening shift and the rest as they say is history."

River chuckled. "Alcohol might be waiting for you..." Right. She was here for a party. Which meant she had to talk to people. And social. Oh man, there were the nerves again. As they walked down the stairs she felt butterflies trying to rip through her stomach. What if she looked stupid in this suit? What if everyone could tell she'd never be able to afford something like this and she looked like a huge imposter. She breathing picked up the pace as they got down to the main floor again. "I don't know if I can do this," she admitted to Ash.

The bakery, "huh really?" But a smile did edge its way onto Fane’s lips "well fancy that, have you started yet? I feel like a congratulations is in order. What are you drinking tonight?"

Ash eyed her curiously. "You're not looking to get drunk again? Tsk tsk, I'm shocked. I have this lovely suite up here for you to crash in and everything." Selkies couldn't hold their liquor, and he'd tested that theory personally. He could practically feel her nerves. He could hardly imagine what it was like to not be so confident. He'd never been in that position. Confidence that bordered on arrogance had been bred into him. "You can. It's merely a party. The cake is excellent."

Maya shook her head, "Next week." She felt a little nervous, having not baked properly in awhile. But it was like riding a bicycle. Probably. "Plus apperently I've been hired to make next year's birthday cake after Iann got a wedding cake instead, so I have that to look forward to," she added with a gesture towards the monstrosity. She took another sip of her drink which was already almost empty. No one could really blame her for that though considering she'd been apart of an awkward conversation already this evening and didn't really know anyone involved. "Rum and coke," she replied.

River tried to take some deep breaths, but they were shaky and ragged. "I barely know anybody. And this suit...I look like a fraud." She paced in front of the doorway back into the party, wiping her sweaty palms on her new slacks.

Ash shook his head, tsking her again. "You look fabulous, and the sooner you start believing it, the sooner you will feel it."

River found herself finally able to take some deep breaths, her lungs thanking her by relaxing a bit. "Okay...." she breathed. "Okay." She faced the door to the party, tightening her tie a little. Just have to believe it. Easy, right? She pushed forward and once again she was in the large hall. This time though, it did feel different. She didn't feel like a frumpy schoolboy in a too-big suit. She felt...hot. Attractive. Ash had been right.

Ash clapped her on the shoulder, a little too enthusiastic, a little exaggerated, but well-meaning. He gave her a broad grin and plucked a piece of cake from the table at the head of the room. "Excellent, now eat this. Apparently they're not really married. It was a joke. But it's delicious just the same."

Faye leaned against the bar as well, listening idly to the conversations going on around her. Content, for now, to people watch. The young girl Fane was talking to seemed nice enough, and Faye could feel the hum of magic around her.

River eagerly took the cake from Ash's hand, digging in but being more careful than usual to not make a complete mess of herself. "The cake is pretty damn excellent," she confirmed to him. She surveyed the room. She spotted Maya across the way, locked in conversation. She wanted to go up and talk to her, but instead just shoved more cake in her mouth.

Grace had been talking to Ruby, mingling with the other guests, and all around trying not to look suspicious. She had only just noticed that Fane had arrived, alongside Faye. The smiliarities of their names would never fail to amuse her. She approached Faye first, given that the other woman was alone. "Hello darling," she greeted with a small smirk. "Long time since we spoke. How are you and Stefan doing?"

Fane brightened at the news, happy for Maya's success so far in managing to secure herself a job. "I'm sure you'll do splendidly, so what else have you gotten up to since I last saw you? You've clearly met Alia." He looked over at the cake in question having somehow missed it on his entrance and letting out a low whistle. "What the bloody fu--" but then hearing it was Iann's doing Fane ended up snorting "typical Iann..." he glanced over at Faye his next comment directed at her "do you think that was deliberate or he didn't know it was a birthday celebration?" Waving down the bartender to get a rum and coke for Maya "oh and this is Faye, my partner."

Grace arched a brow. Speaking of Stefan... "Oh, there you are," he said with a smile as Fane and Maya approached. "The cake was but a joke. Alia and I won't be getting married any time soon."

"Deliberate," Faye said without hesitation. She gave Maya a wave before turning around as she heard a familiar voice. "Grace," Faye greeted. "Happy Birthday. And it has been, hasn't it? Housewarming was it?" She gave the vampire a smile that was genuine but that held all the reminders of their last chat. "We're doin' well. I'm sorry we were late. We had... car trouble."

"Just trying to stay out of trouble mostly," Maya replied with a shrug. She'd met a few people, but nothing really all that exciting. She'd helped Iann out of a mole man situation, but she suspected that was a typical Tuesday for Iann. "I think it was on purpose based on his shit eating grin after presenting it," she replied. Her statement was shortly confirmed by Grace who had come over to greet the two newcomers. She gave Faye a wave, but nothing more as the other woman seemed distracted by Grace. Instead she picked up the rum and coke with a thanks to Fane.

"Was it really though?" Fane questioned unable to help the slight slant of a grin that crossed his features looking at Grace. He stepped over quickly enough to kiss her cheeks lightly oblivious to the other conversation going on between Faye and her. “Happy birthday, darling.” Though hearing Faye mention car trouble he arched a brow as he withdrew "no need to make excuses... Faye was a tad tied up with work, she couldn't get out of it..." Returning back to stand near Maya he looked at her curiously "is that to say trouble finds you then?"

River became acutely aware of how weird she looked standing by a cake table shoving it in her mouth alone, seeing as Ash had walked away to get a drink. She set her almost finished plate down and bit the bullet, walking up to Maya and those around her. "Hey," she spat out. "You look nice."

Grace kissed Fane's cheek in return. "Thank you. You've still got several more years on me," she replied with a smirk. "Yes, Iann was kind enough to loan us the room, help arrange all the drinks and all the food, but I suppose this was his payback," she said with a snicker. Gorgeous seemed like a huge understatement to use in reference to Alia, but Grace nodded in agreement. "She's very special. I wasn't expecting someone like her to walk into my life, but I'm glad she did. You might say she domesticated me."

Maya looked up a little surprised when Fane returned to talk to her. She'd assumed that he would be more interested in his partner and the host. As far as his question Maya let out something between a sigh and a laugh, "Yeah, you could say that." She was about to make a joke about it when someone spoke beside her. Turning to find River Maya smiled, "I think what you mean is that I'm wildly underdressed, but its sweet of you to say anyway." It was true too. Having not even owned a dress in two years she'd opted for black jeans, her only pair of shoes, her leather jacket which at this point was almost like armor to her, and the nicest shirt she owned which definitely had a hole in one of the armpits. "You, on the other hand," she replied, "Clean up nice."

Faye tipped an eyebrow at Fane - which he pointedly ignored - as he brushed off her excuses with one of his own, though a bit more towards the truth. She had been tied up with work. But well... not the kind that came with red pens and comments in the margins. "Anyway..." she said with a touch of fondness as she turned back to Grace. "We never do, do we?" Her gaze drifted back towards her own partner. Faye wasn't the type of person who needed to be with her significant other for the entirety of an event like this. Fane was a social person, and she felt no qualms about being left to her own devices. She was a big girl. She could take care of herself. And entertain herself too, if needs be.

Ruby wandered off a bit as Grace moved to say hello to a few more guests. She didn't care to talk to Faye or Fane at the moment, so she found a nice, quiet corner and sat down, watching the party from afar for the moment.

River chuckled. "You look great," she reiterated. "You should see what I showed up in. I looked like I'd been dressed by a drunk history professor." Why was she admitting that? The whole point of putting on this suit was to forget the tweed ever happened. "This is my friend Ash's suit," she said, gesturing over to where he was standing. "But, you know, thanks." She blushed a little, rubbing her sweaty palms on the inside of her pockets in an attempt to keep them dry.

 Maya grinned, "A drunk history teacher? Now that's a look I'd like to see." Her smile softened, remembering how nervous River had been the first time they had met and guessing that she was probably pretty nervous now. "Well, it looks like Ash didn't steer you wrong," she said. Faye leaned both elbows back against the bar, looking around at all the people chatting quietly and at the very chic decor. It was beautiful, that much was true, but the atmosphere was a tad too... stuffy. But this wasn't her party. "You know what you need?" Faye said to Grace. "Tequila."

River smiled. "Yeah. He's got more style in his pinky than I have in my whole body," she said, bringing a hand up to rub the back of her neck. "So, uh, I know like almost nobody at this party. So I'm glad you're here."

Fane had temporarily wandered off to get a drink but lingered on the edge of the various conversations. Though Maya seemed taken in conversation with a face he couldn't place and Faye was... Well, Faye was mingling with his ex. So all in all people seemed more or less alright he supposed even if things felt a little slow for now. Eyeing the other figures it was hard to miss the one sat aside minding her own and after a slight debate he meandered over to sit down nearby. "You know, suddenly I'm getting flashes of that dancing film where Swayze declares you never leave a lady in the corner" he said by way of greeting, friendly and hoping to engage Ruby in conversation if he could.

Grace gave Faye a smile. She would have been lying if she had claimed not to like the other woman at first. She'd been fond of her from the moment she met her, but she had maintained a little jealous streak over her relationship with Fane. That was mostly gone now. "I couldn't agree more. Alcohol is always a good choice."

Maya it wasn't until it was too late that Maya realized she hadn't asked if Fane and River knew each other. She was new enough to town that she assumed everyone knew more people than her. When River mentioned not knowing anyone it finally occurred to her. "Oh well this," she turned to see Fane walking away, "That was Fane. Anyway just give it like three more rounds of shots and you'll have more friends than you know what to do with."

Iann returned from somewhere, surprised to see new people, but at least most of them seemed to have cake in hand. Iann was determined to get rid of as much of the cake as possible tonight - after all, the damn thing was huge, and paid out of his pocket (Freddie refused to pitch in to such a random prank, but wished Iann well nevertheless). "Cake? Does everyone have cake? Do you want more cake?" Iann paused near Maya and a tidy-looking young woman in a snazzy suit standing with the witch. "Hello, who are you?" Not that Iann knew everyone in town, but...well he knew most people, anyway. And she was not someone Iann recognized.

Ruby wasn't feeling particularly inclined towards any emotion in general, content to sit and watch the crowd and be social (ish) instead of staying at home or working. She smiled around the rim of her glass as she watched the antics of some of the people floating around. It wasn't until he spoke that Ruby noticed Mr. Savin sitting down nearby. "Mmm," she said as she swallowed her drink. "I think you mean' nobody puts Baby in the corner.' Dirty Dancing."

Maya brightened when Iann appeared almost magically at her elbow, "Like Iann. This is River and this is Iann." She shook her head at his question, "And no I don't need more cake. It's hard to steal a mattress on a full stomach."

Iann looked at Maya, slightly worried. "Which room are you going to steal it from?" he asked, pulling out his cell phone. "And around what time? I'll have to make arrangements to get a new one delivered..." Iann poked at his phone for a moment, then looked up at River. "That's a nice name. River, like an otter."

River watched the man Maya gestured to walk away. "Fane. Okay." She made a mental note. If they ever met later she'd at least know his name. "I hope you mean everyone else is doing the shots. Selkies famously can't hold their liquor, apparently. Something I found out the hard way when I got to town." She smiled. Suddenly someone was talking to them, and thankfully Maya introduced her before she had to do it herself. "H-hi Ian," she stammered. "Oh, I'll take more cake. I'll always take more cake." When it came to food, it was one area where River was shameless. "Close," River chuckled. "More like a seal."

Maya laughed, "You don't really think I'm going to fall for that do you?" She was teasing, mostly. Even if she did steal it the theft would only be temporary. Pranks were their most fun when they were also mostly harmless aka not costing a new buisness hundreds of dollars. "Also yes shots for everyone including you because the only way to build up tolerance is to drink more."

River shook her head, smiling. "I uh...I don't think that's how it works," she said to Maya. But she'd be honest, if Maya put a shot in her hand, she probably wasn't going to refuse.

Fane perched not having sat deliberately too close in case it made her or anyone else uncomfortable. Fane was still very keenly aware of the fact of just who ran this hotel and in a slight way felt like he was intruding into a place he didn't very well belong. Suffice to say, it didn't put him in an overly jovial mood at least whilst he was still sober that was. Of course he'd known what he meant to say but it had been an effort to at least break the ice "that's the one, not sure whether I prefer that, Grease or Footloose though."

Iann grinned widely at River, eyes widening in delight as he forgot about his phone for a moment. "A selkie!! A nattily-dressed selkie to boot," Iann said, motioning to a server to get River a huge hunk of the cake. It was swiftly delivered to her hands. "Don't fret, River. We have drinks designed specifically for selkie constitutions, hm? Give it a try, see what you think?" In truth, Iann knew full well there was no chance in hell that a mattress that made its way outside of the inn, only to be returned for a laugh, would ever be allowed back into the room. That was just plain unhygienic and not the rep the inn wanted. It would be destroyed, and a new one would be purchased. So Iann just chewed at his lip. "Well the last thing I need is some guest showing up and we don't have a bed there. Just tell me when," he pleaded. "Then I can get a bed delivered in time."

"Pfft, Dirty Dancing. Hands down. Kevin Bacon creeps me out and Grease was just..." Ruby waved a hand, dismissing the movie entirely. "Don't even get me started on the second one with Michelle Pfeifer. Good Lord."

Maya smiled, "Its settled then." She turned to the bartender, "Shots all round." When Iann asked again about the mattress she shook her head and grew serious, "I'm not really going to steal a mattress Iann. They're huge and there are way to many witnesses. Your mattresses are safe from me." He seemed a little actually worried about it, so she let the idea go easily.

River was smiling so much she thought her cheeks would fall off. A huge chunk of cake? Drinks made for selkies? Had she died and gone to heaven? No, there'd be more mac and cheese here if she had. "Thanks Ian," she said, her mouth already full of the first bite of cake.

"Shots all around! This one's a selkie," Iann noted to his bartender. Freddie had some art-business or something to take care of, but that was probably just an excuse to get out of bartending once the actual bartender arrived for his shift. Iann didn't mind though - Alia and Grace were technically people Iann knew better. So the bartender got the shots sorted - tequila for Maya and Iann, and something slightly green for River. "Erm...it might not taste good with cake," Iann warned River, and tapped on the bar. "Yum that up, and I'll pack you some before you leave, hm?" He looked at Maya, squinting at her. "I mean, I don't mind if you really want to steal it. If you need it and all. Just let me know when so I'll be prepared, kiddo."

Faye had done her set of shots along with Grace, the tequila burning a line down her throat in an old familiar fashion. More people were showing up, and Faye heard Iann's voice calling for shots. This might turn out to be a good party after all.

Grace always appreciated someone who bought her drinks. She could afford her own, of course, but it was the thought that counted, and she remained close to Faye, draping an arm around her shoulder. "Will any of these even work on me?" She questioned playfully, downing one after the other.

 Fane hummed slightly but Ruby's dismissal over Grease made him tilt his head slightly. "Awh, Grease wasn't that bad... There are worse musicals out there. Carrie for example, was a shambles 'n' a half. At least the eighties gave us something worthwhile right? Besides the extreme shoulder pads 'n' waterbeds." Fane grew quiet taking a sip of his drink, glancing aside at her after a moment. Fane had noticed the fact that Ruby had been visiting the estate a fair bit, to hang out with Dani mostly but it was hard not to notice her being around so often. Plus, considering her husband owned the hotel he had to wonder why Ruby wasn't off with them. Despite everything he liked her, and it led to him wondering whether was wrong. "Is something up?" he eventually asked a touch tentatively unsure whether she'd want to talk about it or leave it be.

River easily smashed the rest of the cake in front of her, probably looking a little embarrassing as she did. The shot was placed in front of her just as she finished it, so to take Ian's warning, she swallowed a few times to clear her palate. Giving a wary glance back at Ian and Maya, she picked up the shot and held it out. "Cheers," she said, before downing it. It tasted pretty good, honestly. Fishy, but she loved it.

Maya grinned. This party was turning out to be pretty fun after all. She took her shot and was about to start at count-off when Iann told her that if she really wanted to steal a mattress he wouldn't mind. Just as long as she properly prepared him for it. The truth was she might soon need a mattress. But this was a party. She smiled, even though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I won't steal your mattress Iann. Scout's honor. Now, shots on three?" She licked her hand and applied salt before picking up her shot. After counting down she licked the salt, downed the shot and bit into the lime like an expert.

Faye stuck her hand over the last shot before Grace could drink it. With a swirl of her fingers, Faye set the liquid inside spinning until it turned a deep, smokey blue. "Now try..." she grinned, the spell one she'd learned while working at Morgana's all those years. Increased the potency of the alcohol for vampires and wolves. Faye wished she had some of the /actual/ drink that was a Morgana's specialty. It had gotten Fane drunk on their trip after only a glass or two.

Iann watched River closely as she took the shot. It was something he'd designed with Elena's help; and though Elena was a merm, Iann figured the taste palette of seafolk was a little similar. Her face didn't screw up in disgust, so Iann took that as a good thing. "What's it feel like, River?" he asked eagerly. "Do you feel anything? It's made from a special type of seaweed, fermented of course. You're the first selkie to try it." Mostly because other selkies were far too suspicious of some concoction made but a human. He still squinted at Maya but didn't say anything just yet. Instead he downed his shot, biting into the lime wedge. "I don't trust those Scouts. With their badges and campers pampers."

Ruby gave him a small smile. "The eighties wasn't too bad. I mean... it gave us Journey and Blondie and Star Wars." Ruby /had/ been out to see Dani a bit more often lately. But it was nothing she wanted to bring up with Fane. She didn't dislike the man, but she didn't know him either, other than the two times they'd met previously. So her personal life - though she appreciated the offer - was her business. "Hm? Oh... no. I'm fine. Just been feelin' a bit under the weather lately. Think I might be gettin' a cold or somethin'."

Fane dipped his head "ooh don't even get me started on Star Wars-- we'll be here for an age and a half and I'll probably bore you to death." He had figured Ruby wouldn't talk to him, but he'd just wanted to check up on her really considering she seemed a bit lonely over here. "Ah-- It is the season for stuff like that... But, since you're here-- Fancy coming to join in?" he nodded towards the bar where people were starting to get their buzz on.

River nodded enthusiastically. "It tastes hella good," she said, licking her lips. It was like she'd had a fish-infused smoothie with a hint of kick. "I feel...fine. Tiny buzz, but usually one shot's got the room spinning so it's definitely an improvement."

"So another round?" Maya asked. If either of them said no she wouldn't push it. Turning to Iann she added, "Does it make a difference if its Girl Scouts and not Boy Scouts? Or that I stopped after the age of eight and that's before they really start indoctrinating you?"

"Fan, are you?" she asked as he mentioned Star Wars. Internally, Ruby gave a sigh of relief that Mr. Savin didn't push. She really was trying to have a good time instead of just being a boring wallflower, so his suggestion to head back to the bar was - eventually - met with a nod. "Sure. Why not. My drinks gone anyway."

Grace eyed Faye with a smirk. She wondered how Alia was getting along, hoping she was having half as much fun as Grace was. The two of them didn't need to be glued to one another's sides, no matter how jealous or over protective Grace came across sometimes. "Oooh, I do love witches," Grace whispered with a smirk, leaning in a little closer to watch the magic at work, then she drank it, sighing as the pleasant sensation made its way through her body. "Mmm...magic."

"No room-spinning! Let's just get your cheeks all pink, hm?" Iann flicked his fingers for a second round. He didn't really drink often anymore, after some...bad times in his late 20s with booze. But recently, Iann had been imbibing more, assuring himself he could totally handle it. It had been over ten years after all, what was the harm? Iann snapped his fingers and pointed at Maya. "Girl Scouts are great. But I refuse to say anymore because a childless dude my age saying something like 'girl scouts are great' is kind of fucking creepy, ha ha," Iann grinned, letting the shots in a line. "Allez-oop, ladies."

"We do have our uses," Faye said as she watched Grace down the now ten times more potent alcohol. She would never do such a spell for anyone but a vamp, and maybe a wolf, because it would probably give them alcohol poisoning. "Tastes like a dream, don't it?" Faye drawled.

Ephram sidled up next to Faye and Grace, wrapping an arm around his sister's waist and kissing the side of her head before asking, "What sorter magic-touched liquor are you feedin' folks now, Faye?" He grinned at Grace, holding out his hand. "Don't think we've met. I'm Ephram, good to meet you."

Grace smirked, wetting her lips with her tongue. "Plenty of uses." She lightly tapped a finger on the bar. "Is there more where that came from?" Before Faye could answer her question, a handsome blonde gentleman approached them. "I don't believe we have." She shook his hand. "Grace Villiers. And that magic liquor is going to keep me happy for many, many hours."

Faye was a bit surprised as Ephram came up beside her, and coughed a little on the liquor she'd just downed. "Mmm..." she coughed, "Hey you... and it's a spell made for vamps and wolves. Makes this-" she held up another tequila shot. "- ten times stronger."

"Am I?" Fane laughed slightly "oh lord you have no idea. C'mon, what are you drinking?" he waved for her to come along not liking the idea of leaving her sat alone on the sidelines whilst everyone else had fun. He wandered to the bar glancing at Iann, Maya and the new figure he didn't quite recognise. "Invented anything special for vamps?"

Maya laughed, "You make a good point." With the shots all lined up she counted down again before doing the salt-shot-lime sequence. It was a little messier this time. "You know," she said, relishing the burn in her throat, "Before I was born my dad used to brew magical beer. He stopped because apparently boiling beer next to your two year old seems like asking for a disaster."

Ephram rubbed his hand against Faye's back to soothe her cough and said, "Good thing I brought this, then, for the birthday darlin's." He plunked a mason jar full of a scarlet liquid down and said, "Now, I'd bet my left lung you ain't never had this before, since I'm the only 'un makes it. Blood moonshine." Ephram was practically bouncing on his toes, wanting Grace to try his new invention.

Iann was half leaning against the bar and he looked from Fane, to Ruby, then back to Fane. "Why re-invent the wheel? We serve blood here - have you ever tried a pixie blood cocktail? I've heard it's..." Iann grinned slowly. "Potent. Fun. Fantasical." He looked at Maya, exuding heat off his skin, due to the crowd and the alcohol. He blurted before recalling the context of Maya: "So why didn't your dad just pick up brewing again once you were old enough?"

Grace arched a brow. "Blood moonshine?" she repeated, eyes alight with curioisity. "Those are two of my favorite words." She couldn't say very much about the container it came in. It was rather crude, if she did say so herself, but that would be easily forgiven if the substance inside was as good as she anticipated. "I think I just made two new friends," she said with a grin, helping herself to the concoction, swallowing it hungrily.

Faye let out a soft 'ooohhhh' as Ephram plunked down the jar of what could only be moonshine, coughing once more as Ephram confirmed. She gave a slightly tickled laugh, mock whispering to Ephram, "You tryin' to get her drunker than a skunk?"

Maya paused. It wasn't something that she liked to talk about. And it was always complicated to talk about, how to reveal and how much to keep to herself as not to make anyone uncomfortable. Maya was so tired of secrets though, of pretending to be only half of herself. She took a long sip from her drink before replying with a faux easiness to her tone, "He died, which made it kind of difficult."

Ephram was more comfortable in the Stonefruit by virtue of it belonging to Freddie than he normally would be somewhere this fancy, and for that reason he wasn't in agony inside wondering if he was showing himself to be a backwoods rube. He watched Grace drink, pleased, and said to Faye, "Tipsy, not drunk! Party tipsy. Just enough to be fun."

River followed suit and downed her second shot as well. She was starting to feel it, and assumed this is how people usually felt after a second shot. Still not slurring their words and tripping over themselves, just feeling a nice, happy buzz in their head. She felt her cheeks starting to flush and she started to sweat a little, not being helped by the stuffy suit she was in. There were a lot more people at the bar, she was now noticing. A lot of voices. A lot of body heat. "Can I have some water, please? With ice?" she asked the bartender, who quickly handed it over. She gulped it down greedily, feeling it cool her from the center out. Much better. She'd been so wrapped up in slightly overheating that when she turned back to Maya, she realized the conversation had gotten slightly uncomfortable, only catching the tail end.

Ruby followed behind Fane, her glass hanging from her hand, but found herself in no immediate rush to push between the crowd to the bar. "Whiskey on the rocks," she told Fane. The crowd seemed to be having a good time. She saw Iann - looking at her - and she saw Grace standing with Faye and Ephram, both grinning, and a few others she didn't know. All in all it was a happy mood, and Ruby felt her own lighten.

Iann realized belatedly - right. He remembered when Maya used past tense before for her folks, and noted it then, but forgot completely now. "Well shit," Iann said abruptly. He reached over the bar, grabbing a regular tumbler and pouring three fingers of tequila into it. "There you go kid - on the house. The rest of it you had to pay for but you know. For the old man and all." Iann turned and looked at River, downing her iced water. "Do you want food? There's seafood. Shrimp! There's raw shrimp, you can have as much as you like."

Grace continued drinking the concoction, probably more of it than she should have, lowering the mason jar with a grin before handing it back to Ephram. "Oh, darling. Party tipsy sounds perfect. We're gonna have a hell of a time!"

#chatzy #with: group

[hqtbells-blog]

plot bunnies masterlist. ✍🐰

Hey guys! So one of my goals for 2017 was to make my year in Scandalous as enriching and inclusive as possible. Come August, I will have been a member of this group for four years - that’s insane. I’ve never been part of a role play group for that long and it’s all due to the fellow writers that surround me here. It’s been so much fun playing Troian here and getting the chance to interact and write and plot with as many of you as possible. Sometimes I wonder how I haven’t run out of muse for her just yet since with other characters, I lasted only months feeling creative on them but I know that the biggest reason is all her connections. From gif chats to paras to chatzies to text threads - I love all of it and I’m so thankful you guys seem to care about my fictional queen. As much as I love real life Troian and hope that I’m playing at least all of her best qualities as true to life as possible, I also feel like I’ve made her my own completely with her own backstory and her own history that’s mine entirely. I’m probably never going to actually meet Troian (but hey, just standing next to her and hearing her voice in my ear was enough), so my characterization of her comes from interviews and articles and just..me, I guess. So thank you for indulging me in playing her because she’s honestly my true escape.

And that goes for Ian and now Lili as well! I took on Ian after several portrayals of him so I was lucky enough to get plots and connections instantly, but Ian’s friendships and the ship of Ian x Lucy has been so much fun to play as well. I’m not quite as educated on him as I am with Troian, or even Keegan for that matter, but I still love that adult man child so much so I’m happy you guys are always willing to interact with me on him as well. As for Lili, well - there’s literally not even a Wikipedia page dedicated to her yet. I’m going with scraps here so Lili’s also going to be a character I basically create from scratch. I can’t wait.

I rambled enough, and the whole point of this post is that I want plots. I need plots. On all of my characters. I want to write with as many of you as I can and I want my previous connections to thrive and new connections to grow. I know how nerve wracking it can be approaching players for plots and there’s always that “uhh..I really wanna write with you but I don’t know what to do..” since most of it is based on chemistry, yeah? You can’t just jump into a ship plot or a fwb plot or any sort of relationship plot without seeing if your chemistry meshes together first. So these ideas are more based on settings, and if any of them interest you, please message me and we’ll get more into detail! Like I said, this can be with Troian, Ian, or Lili. I don’t want to do repeat plots so please don’t ask me to do the same plot on more than one character, because we’ll both just get bored. We want variety, right? We want it all. So take a look over, see if any catch your eye and I can’t wait to write with you!

001. My character and yours decide to spend the night in a “supposedly haunted” house. It can actually be haunted, it can just be aesthetically creepy, but they’re spending a whole night in there with nothing but flashlights, their cellphones, a sleeping bag, snacks and maybe a video recorder.

002. My character or your character comes onto the scene to see m/y getting arrested or pulled over. Is it all a big misunderstanding? Is alcohol involved? Are charges pressed? The severity of it is up for negotiation! (Please keep in mind your character’s criminal history, the affects it would have on their life e.g. children, partner, work, and how any charges would impact their reputation.)

003. My character and yours are handcuffed to each other..and one of them has lost the key. Please note I did this plot on Ian with him and Lucy, and it took a more humorous route. It doesn’t have to be funny! Our characters can be pissed about having to spend the day together - it’s even better if your character is involved with another person or has to be on set that day. They have to spend a whole day together, a span of at least seven hours but the key eventually has to be found.

004. Somebody’s won the lottery - it’s the character of your choosing! The prize amount can range from one hundred dollars to five hundred. Our characters decide to have a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Adventure with these winnings and cross items off their bucket list together. Keep in mind they have to stay in one state and obviously items checked off can’t be too big - no traveling to Europe or finding your long lost mother.

005. OPEN PROMPT - Troian will write a letter to her future self and your character can read it and respond to it. Note: We can also make this a plot! The letter can be left on her kitchen table, tucked into a book at the book store, etc.

(With open prompts, the post will obviously be locked so only your character can reply to it!)

006. M/Y character just got the crushing news that they didn’t make the dream audition they’ve been working so hard for - screw ‘em! They don’t know how good they could’ve had it. Alcohol (or something else if your character is a recovering addict) is the obvious cure and now the goal for tonight is to cheer you up and find you a new project.

007. This one will be pretty basic - think of something your character has always wanted to cross off their bucket list and ask my character to join you. They don’t have to be close, the whole point is that they do this together.

008. It’s late at night and m/y character is sitting down on the curb, looking sad and alone. They’re approached and pretty soon, they’re spilling their guts about their hopes and wants. They’re obviously in a pretty vulnerable spot, so maybe alcohol is involved. Maybe they’ve just been rejected. Maybe they’re having a bad night. This plot idea is pretty basic too - I just want our characters to have a deep chat. R E S E R V E D for; Lili + Keegan. @supitskeegs

009. OPEN PROMPT - It’s a game of truth or dare with Ian. No question is off limits, no dare too risky. (Please do not attempt to murder my adult baby tho.) R E S E R V E D for; Ian + Zendaya. @iaamz

010. OPEN PROMPT - Lili will write about her biggest regret, and your character will read it and be able to reply.

011. Last night is a blur - neither my character or yours remember it. It started out with a few tequila shots and then..just blackness. What’s even scarier is that our characters wake up in the same bed together the next morning. Note: Only with Lili will this plot extend to the possibility of our characters having slept together.

012. M/Y character can’t sleep. Tossing and turning, turning and tossing, and even counting sheep just won’t suffice tonight. Giving up the fight, they roll over and grab their phone. With eyes closed, they point to a contact in their address book and decide to text/call/FaceTime them to see if they’re up. Somebody’s got to lull you to sleep. R E S E R V E D for; Troian + Zoe. @hyfzoe

013. M/Y character has just gotten stood up. They worked really hard on looking nice too, even if they were a little reluctant about the date. Do our characters come across each other on the night out? Does someone call for a getaway car? Oh no - they can’t stop crying and now it’s up to the knight (or lady knight!) in shining armor to save the day! R E S E R V E D for; Lili + Grant. @theflashgrant

014. AU PROMPT - Zombie apocalypse! What do our characters do when the unthinkable happens? How do they fight off the zombies? Where do they hide? Note: This will probably be just a one shot but it could go into multiple threads if the story gets interesting!

015. AU PROMPT - Y/M character is homeless and has been that way for a while. Limited to stealing from the grocery store, sympathetic dollars from passersby, and soup kitchens, the other character comes across them one cold night. They’re trying to stay warm near and y/m takes pity on them and invites them back home. 

016. AU PROMPT - Y/M character is the king/queen of their kingdom and the opposite is the new handmaiden/stable boy/whatever other title we can think of. How do our characters get along? Is it a forbidden friendship? Are they plotting something evil? Do our characters fall in love and plan to run away together?

017. OPEN PROMPT - Troian writes about the most unforgettable moment of her life and your character will be able to read it and reply.

018. AU PROMPT - The world is ending in exactly one week. How do our characters prepare for it? How do those last seven days go for us, together and apart?

019. Y/M character comes across the opposite getting very publicly reprimanded/insulted/jeered at/harassed and it’s unclear whether they deserve it (though if it’s sexual harassment - you know they don’t.). Regardless, they’re embarrassed. Tears are streaming down their face, cheeks are turning red, and now a whole crowd has gathered. What do you do to stop it? R E S E R V E D for; Troian + Grant. @theflashgrant

020. OPEN PROMPT - Ian writes about who he would most like to switch bodies with for a day and your character will be able to read and reply to it. Note: This can also be a Freaky Friday AU prompt for any character!

021. OPEN PROMPT - Lili writes about the bravest thing she’s ever done and your character will be able to read and reply to it. 

022. Y/M character is getting hit on by a very intoxicated individual and they’re not impressed. Or maybe they’re amused. Or maybe they’re ready to grab that drink off the nearest table and throw it in this person’s face. Do you step in and try to get them out of it? Do you pretend to be their significant other? Do you distract them by adding yourself into the equation? What follows after is up to us! R E S E R V E D for; Troian + Keegan. @supitskeegs

023. OPEN PROMPT - Troian writes about the scariest moment of her life and the person who helped her though it. Your character is able to read and respond. Note: Depending on which moment I choose, I might also extend this open to the character she mentions if they are playable.

024. OPEN PROMPT - Ian writes about his biggest fear and your character is able to read and reply. R E S E R V E D for; Ian + JoAnna. @joannagrcia

025. Our characters go on a trip together. They don’t have to be close. They can be total strangers with each other, or they can be the best of friends. The point is that they’re spending a maximum of five days together in somewhere other the state/country they reside. How the trip comes about, where they go, what happens on it is entirely up to us and can be discussed! R E S E R V E D for; Troian + Nina. @nina--dobrev

026. Y/M character comes across the other writing/reading fan fiction. How embarrassing! Or not, if the character genuinely enjoys it. Our characters can talk about the fanfiction, can act it out (bonus points if they film it and share it with fans), or they can just be mortified and beg and plead to do anything so that the other person won’t tell their guilty little pleasure..

027. AU PROMPT - Ten years have passed for our characters and this is the first time they are seeing each other. What’s the relationship like? What happened in the past that they went years without contact? What’s been going on in their lives? Note: This plot works better for already tight-knit connections but we can make up histories! It is alternate universe, after all. :)

028. OPEN PROMPT - Lili writes about her biggest flaws and her biggest weaknesses. Your character is able to read and reply.

029. OPEN PROMPT - Troian writes about a huge event in her life that changed her world forever. Your character is able to read and reply.

030. Y/M character has just received a gift from the other, and it’s very unexpected. It’s something they’ve been wanting for a while! Why did the character do this? What’s the gift? The only thing that has to be certain about this plot is that it’s positive. No negative gifts. No prank gifts. Just a simple, fluffy plot about the kindness of a character.

031. AU PROMPT - Our characters get thrown into a fictional universe for a day and have to live in that world. Where are they? Do they get thrown into a plot? How the heck do they get out?!

032. Y/M character is baby-sitting and oh shit, they’re baby sitting an actual demon spawn. They call the other character for help! Just how messy of a situation are they in? (I’d very much like to do this plot because Lord knows I have personal stories to back this up..) R E S E R V E D for; Troian + Sophie. @sophieteex

033. The weather is crazy outside. It’s practically hurricaneing/tornadoeing/snowing/earthquaking/whatever weather condition you can think of. The only thing that can’t be changed is that our characters are stuck together until it’s over.

034. OPEN PROMPT - Ian writes about his favorite book. Your character is able to read and reply.

035. Everything is going wrong today for y/m character. And now the opposite is dragged into it. Are they able to turn the day around? Why is the day going so bad? Did somebody break a mirror? Cheer up squad to the rescue. R E S E R V E D for; Ian + Grant. @theflashgrant

036. OPEN PROMPT - Lili writes about a time she was generous/somebody was generous towards her. Your character is able to read and reply.

037. OPEN PROMPT - Troian writes about the one thing she’d like to change about herself. Your character is able to read and reply.

So there you go! Plenty of options and I tried to make none of them require admin approval so that we have free reign to plot to our heart’s content. The AU prompts will be strictly chatzies since they have nothing to do with the present verse, and the open prompts will be more chat threads on the dash. I had so much fun compiling these together and if I’m lucky enough to get volunteers, I’ll be making a part two. Thanks for looking over and I hope some interest you!

#plot masterlist #i will most likely be reblogging this post at least for the next three? maybe two days so that it's not missed on the dash #again this is open for ALL of my characters #<33 #{ you know what they say about hope. it breeds eternal queueing. }

[royalbloodedbastards]

chatzy // campfire camaraderie

DATE: Friday, May 15, 2020 CHARACTERS: Cleo, JTT, Sefa, Tai, Jordan, Malia, Graves ABOUT: An impromptu hangout at the campfire.

Cleo took a seat at the campfire, set her tote bag beside her, and added a piece of wood. She stoked the fire with a stick and opened her wine, wondered if it was sad to drink alone, and then took a sip, figuring she could just pretend that she wasn't drinking if someone asked.

There were times when JTT wondered if being dyslexic affected his hearing too. Constantly having to ask people to repeat themselves, even JTT got tired of his asking. Eventually he just learned to nod if he didn't catch what they said on the first, second, or third go around, and usually they would just move on. He sometimes wondered if maybe English wasn't really his first language, but JTT also didn't speak anything else.

"Yeah, nah, we just had a good yarn about it and we were good as gold," Sefa explained as they approached the campfire. JTT just nodded. "Ah, hey," Sefa called out to Cleo with a wave as they took a seat across the fire. "How's it going?"

Cleo placed her growler down beside her and waved at Sefa and JTT with the hand that wasn't holding the stick she was using to stoke the fire. "Great." She smiled a bit, tilting her head around the fire to see them a bit better. "Just getting the fire started, I guess. How about you guys?"

"I'm great! A bit knackered, my buddy and I just had a little pickup game." Sefa slapped a hand on JTT's back. "But feeling great. Sefa, by the way. You are?" Cleo nodded a bit and scooted so that she was a bit closer to them. "Ah, Cleo!" She smiled. "Sefa." She tilted her head more so that she could she JTT as well. "And you?"

JTT sup nodded Cleo. "JTT, Junior Travis Taylor, JT Taylor. You can call me JTT."

"I dunno, I guess I like scruff? And I see guys with full beards and they look super handsome, buuuuut I dunno.... Kissing all that? It might not be worth it." Malia sighed, looking up at the stars as she and Tai approached the campfire. There were already people there; she checked quickly and decided she liked the people she knew and— Malia stopped in her tracks and slapped Tai's chest. "Tai," she whispered, "is that the Scarlet Surfer?"

"I dunno, I feel like clean-shaven is so hot. 'Special when..." Tai trailed off as they came into sight of the other campers. He laughed at the question and stepped forward, holding his hand out for a bro shake to Sefa instead of replying. "Ey, mate, how's it hangin'?"

Malia's mouth fell open, and she followed Tai over to the group, finding her composure again on the way. She smiled at Sefa and waved, wiggling her fingers, then regarded JTT with a different, slightly brighter smile.

Sefa turned toward the newcomers with a smile. "Hey mate! An Aussie?" He stood and pulled Tai in for a bro hug then offered his hand out to Malia. "You too?"

JTT just returned Mal's smile and waved back.

Cleo gave a small thumbs-up to JTT. "JTT." She said in acknowledgement as she nodded. She gave a little wave to Tai and Malia.

Her attention snapped back to Sefa and she sighed, taking his hand. "Nope, American."

Tai grinned as he stepped back to give Sefa and Malia space. "Yeah, man! Love an ol' kiwi." He took a seat beside Cleo and held out his hand towards her. "Not t'be rude to you. I'm Tai."

"Respecting your superiors, smart man," Sefa joked as Tai stepped away. He turned to Malia. "Sorry, an American you said? No worries, can't all be perfect." He extended a hand out toward her. "I'm Sefa."

Cleo took Tai's hand and shook it. "I'm Cleo. I think we tan together."

Tai laughed at Sefa and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, clearly amused. He turned back to Cleo. "Yes! But we haven't spoken." Looking over her shoulder, he smiled at JTT. "And you are?"

JTT pointed at himself, brows raised to confirm he was the one being asked a question. "JTT," he responded, guessing at what Tai asked and hoping he was right.

Tai stretched an arm out towards JTT for a shake. He used his other hand to adjust his prosthetic so he could sit more with more comfort on the ground. "Bonzer 'nitials," he commented. "Real awesome." The last word was said in an odd approximation of an American accent.

"I know. Do you like hearing that or does getting recognized get old? I'm Malia," she replied, smiling.

JTT lost 3/4 of Tai's sentence but caught 'awesome' and smiled. He shook Tai's hand and muttered, "Awesome."

"I think so!" Cleo nodded, somewhat excited. "I'm Cleo." She smiled as she nodded at him. "I don't know if it counts as tanning with how much sunscreen I use. Maybe it's more... sunning."

Sefa laughed. "Nah, not old. Malia, you said? Nice to meet you."

Tai grinned at JTT and grasped his shoulder in a friendly way before he looked back at Cleo. "Sunning. That's funny. You guys enjoyin' the fire?"

"I am." Cleo bobbed her head. "Are you?" She took her growler from where it was sitting on the log near her feet and held it out to Tai. "Did you want any wine?"

Tai waved his hand to decline the offer. "Nah, good for now." He lifted his head to look at Malia. "Hey, Mal, you want any wine?"

Cleo smiled and held the wine out to Malia as if she was the one offering at first instead of Tai.

"Nice to meet you!" When the wine was offered, Malia beamed and moved over to Tai and Cleo, taking the bottle. "Thanks! Is this your homemade stuff?"

“Of course.” Cleo smiled and stuck her legs out. “I only ever have homemade wine. When it comes to tequila though, I’m not as sustainable.”

Malia nodded as if she understood and tipped the bottle back, taking a few gulps. "Ooooh," she said to the group, wiping a small spot of wine from her lip, "should we play a drinking game?" Tai ran a hand through his hair. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

"I'm keen!" Sefa took his seat beside JTT, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm down."

Cleo nodded. “I have enough wine for us to share.” She shrugged one shoulder. “If everyone wants to drink.” She pulled another bottle from her bag, poured a bit out into the edge of the fire, and then passed it down.

"Ah, chur mate!" Sefa exclaimed as he reached across JTT for the bottle. "Pouring one out for the homies?" He asked, indicating to where Cleo poured some wine into the fire.

"Gotta do it or our parents get pissy," Malia said with a sigh.

“Pour one out for the old man.” Cleo formed both her hands into the hang loose symbol and shook them.

"Ah." Sefa took a big swig of the wine before handing it off to JTT. "The old man. Or woman. Who's yours?"

JTT took a drink of the wine as well before handing it off.

Tai ran his tongue over his teeth. "Pass it here?" he asked JTT just to pour a drop out for his mom. "Don't wanna risk anything."

"Oh, are we all meant to pour a bit out? Are they gonna smite me?" Sefa asked.

"I don't know my parent," JTT shrugged, passing the bottle to Tai.

"Mom for me," Malia said dropping a little out into the fire. "Aphrodite." She looked over to Sefa and shrugged. "I guess it depends on your parent?"

Cleo shook her head. “I just pour one out per bottle for my dad. I guess it couldn’t hurt to all just... tip some out though.” She shrugged one shoulder.

Tai sized JTT up with curiosity. "Unclaimed?"

"Yeah," JTT confirmed. "Mom's still out picking up milk."

Cleo snorted and pressed and hand to her mouth as she held a hand out for a bottle.

"Alright, I'll pour one out for the old man my next go around," Sefa conceded. "Don't want him flooding the place."

Tai laughed. "I feel it. Took me years to get claimed." He looked around for a bottle, deciding that tonight would be a drinking night.

Cleo smiled at Sefa. “Poseidon kid?” She tilted her head. “Are you new?” She crossed her ankles. “What game are we playing? Never have I ever?”

"Yeah, just got here a few weeks ago," Sefa confirmed. "Heard Poseidon's kind of a big deal, though."

Cleo bobbed her head. “It’s the best cabin, honestly. Besides Dionysus.”

"Um, no, sorry, don't listen to her, Sefa. Aphrodite is the best cabin." Malia interjected, giggling. "I'm down for never have I ever, but instead of counting down from ten we should just drink every time we've done something."

"Alright, yeah, let's do it. I'm keen as," Sefa exclaimed. "Here's one, never have I ever broken a bone."

Cleo shook her head at Sefa and smiled at Malia. “I think the drinking version is way better.”

JTT held his hand out for a bottle and gave a little wave.

Malia passed the bottle off to JTT. "Same," she said to Sefa.

JTT took a drink of wine.

"Are we playing it where if you're the only loser, you gotta tell the story?" Sefa asked the group.

Tai also did not have a drink. “If we’re drinkin’, any of you have more alcohol?”

Cleo grinned and looked at Sefa, then JTT. “Absolutely. You should tell the story.”

JTT shrugged. "I'm a motocross racer. I was eleven or twelve? Lost control on the woops, fell off the bike and landed on my arm." He held up his arm and pointed to a faint scar running up and down his forearm.

Malia shook her head at Tai. "Should we get more?" She didn't wait for a response and tuned in to JTT's story. She winced, feeling a small sympathy pang in her arm. "Ow.”

Tai held up a hand. “I broke a bone too,” he commented belatedly, having been too caught up in not having alcohol to bring it up previously. “But yeah, ouch. Sucks, dude.”

Cleo patted Tai’s arm. “I have another bottle, if we’re short, but those other two bottles are mine, and they’re strong.” She nodded a bit before looking at JTT. “Ouch. Did you even have a license then?”

"It was just a dirt bike," JTT shrugged. "Wasn't that bad."

"I can go grab another bottle from my cabin if you want," Sefa offered. "Got some 42 Below."

“Never have I ever known what 42 Below was.” Cleo smiled at Sefa and then snapped and pointed at JTT. “A dirt bike at eleven or twelve is... Badass,” she decided on.

Malia laughed and looked over to JTT again. "Can I have the wine? I knew what that was."

"Vodka," Sefa explained, shaking his head. He took a sip of the wine from JTT before passing the bottle to Malia.

JTT sat back and let Sefa lean over him. He looked over at Cleo and explained, "My dad's a pro racer so I picked it up young."

Cleo rested her hands on her chin and her elbows on her knees. “Hm. So you just... pro race?”

"Semi-pro," JTT explained.

"Nah, this guy's being modest," Sefa interrupted, clapping a hand against JTT's back. "His dad's a legend. He and his brother are the real deal."

Tai leaned forward with interest. "For real? That's sick as hell."

"Uh, yeah," JTT confirmed less than enthusiastically. "My dad's Travis Taylor. He was a four-time Supercross champ. My brother and I race the 250 Class, which is like the smaller league."

Cleo didn’t really know what any of those words meant, but nodded along. “That’s neat. Do you have a bike, then?”

Jordan materialized behind Tai and took a seat next to him.

JTT nodded. "Yeah, I brought my bike." He gestured over toward the Hermes cabin.

Tai startled then slapped a hand on Jordan's shoulder when he sat down. "Hey buddy! You gave me a jump, I didn't hear you walk up."

Cleo looked back at the Hermes cabin and bobbed her head. “Oh! That’s way cool. I don’t think anyone else here owns a motorcycle.”

Jordan smiled at Tai. “Quiet steps. It’s my talent.”

Sefa jumped in his seat when Jordan materialized. He clapped a hand over his heart and exclaimed, "Bloody christ, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

JTT seemed unfazed. He just smiled and shrugged at Cleo.

Jordan tilted his head at Sefa as if he didn’t know what he was so excited about. “Sorry, I can be very quiet. I should wear a bell.”

Malia looked over to Jordan when he materialized beside Tai. Her smile faded but she made no other indication of her displeasure and took another drink from the bottle.

Graves strolled up to the bonfire, handle of Kraken in hand. He spotted Tai and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey man."

Tai lifted a hand to tap knuckles with Graves. “Hey! Pull up, mate.” He nodded towards the space next to him.

"Ace." Graves straddled the bench, holding the Kraken out to Tai. "Y'want some? Ever had it?"

Tai grinned at Graves and took the bottle. “Yeah, man. Love some ol’ sea monster.” He took a swig and held it back out to him, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Come to hang?”

Malia moved away from Tai and Jordan and settled somewhere closer to Sefa, offering him the bottle once again. "How do you like it here so far?"

Cleo gave a little wave™️ to Graves from across the circle when she noticed him.

Sefa accepted the bottle from Malia. "It's great. Nice little place," Sefa offered with a shrug. "Can't stay long though. Gotta get back to work."

"Of course, man. It's not a party til the Hermes kids show up." He grinned, accepting the bottle and taking a sip. "You want some?" Graves nodded at Jordan, holding the bottle out. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and caught Cleo's wave, flashing her a wink and a bright smile.

Jordan smirked at Graves and took the bottle. "Cheers." He took a swig and then made a face as he held the bottle back out to him.

Malia nodded like she understood. "Are you just like, between projects right now and wanted to check it out?"

Tai looked between the two of them, smiling widely. "Know each other?"

"A bit." Jordan nodded. "I'm a bastard with his sister, mostly."

"That, and he shot me once. With a cupcake." Graves laughed, taking another swig out of the handle before setting it on the ground so Tai and Jordan could both reach it. "How are y'all doin'?"

Sefa tipped his head back and forth. "You could say that. Just finished a bunch of shoots before I came so I'm good for a bit, but fashion weeks for next season start in June , so I gotta leave for that."

Jordan gave Graves a thumbs up and stretched his legs out.

"Oh yeah!" Tai laughed. "He used me as a shield." He bumped Jordan's shoulder. "Funny guy. I'm full aces! How's it with you?"

"You're too pretty to be a human shield. I'm doin' alright, nothin' to complain about." Graves looked between Tai and Jordan. "How do you know him again, I forget," he directed his inquiry at Tai.

Tai ran a hand over his hair and grinned at Graves with the compliment. "He's my roomie."

Jordan gave another two thumbs. "We're also in witness protection together, but we're not supposed to mention that." He clapped a hand over his mouth. "Fuck."

"Ugh," Malia put her head in one of her hands. "That's so cool. Sorry, I don't want to be a total dork in front of you but, ugh, I follow Fashion Week religiously."

"Nah, no worries." Sefa waved the thought away with his hand. "You trying to become a model or designer or something?"

Graves arched an eyebrow at Jordan. "Witness protection, huh? No worries, I'll keep your secret."

Jordan sighed and shook his head sadly at Graves. "We have to kill you now. I'm sorry. My condolences to Rosie."

"Ah shit. I guess my luck finally ran out." Graves hung his head, sighing dramatically. "Do your worst."

Malia sighed. "Yeah, I'd love to model. I'm getting there on Insta, have some small brands that want me to like, try their tea, but," she shrugged.

Tai laughed and slung an arm around Jordan's shoulders. "I bet he can keep a secret, you can let him alone."

Jordan narrowed his eyes at Graves and then pointed his fingers from his own eyes to Graves's. "Okay, but you're on thin fuckin' ice." He looked at the bottle between them. "Can I have more?"

Sefa shrugged. "Did you take the deals?" He took a swig of the wine then passed it to JTT.

Graves put a hand to his heart. "Tai, lookin' out for me. Thanks, man." He nodded, unsing his foot to nudge the handle closer to Jordan. "Yeah, y'can have as much as you want. Release the kraken."

Jordan took the bottle and opened it, taking a long swig before he held it out to Tai. "I like that. You sound like fucking Davey Jones." He blinked. "...Gravey Jones."

"I mean," Malia laughed. "Duh." She looked past Sefa to JTT, smiling at him. "Hi, sorry, I totally didn't mean to edge you out of the conversation. I guess we aren't playing anymore..." She looked disapprovingly at Jordan.

Tai laughed along and looked between the two of them, taking a swig from the bottle before he spoke. “Who’s that?”

Graves cackled, "Gravey Jones! Fuck, dude. I love that." He grinned at Tai, "Y'ever see Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"It's cool." JTT shrugged.

"We should go for a swim," Sefa suggested. "Anyone ever go skinny dipping in that lake?"

Jordan grinned at Graves and then looked at Sefa. "Well... One person did... once." He shook his head gravely. "His name was Kevin, and... he was never heard from again."

Sefa shrugged. "Kevin should've learned how to swim."

"Skinny dippin'..." Graves raised an eyebrow. "I could be convinced." He picked up the bottle of liquor and took a sip.

Jordan sniffled and buried his face in his hands.

"I have," Tai volunteered after no one else did. "A bloody age ago."

Graves reached around Tai to pat Jordan on the back. "There, there. Kevin is missed."

JTT furrowed his brows at Jordan's weeping.

"What do you say, mates?" Sefa asked the group. "Are we keen for a dip?"

Cleo looked around at the group and smiled as she sipped her wine. "I think it's the perfect night to go swimming."

"Me too," Tai agreed with Cleo brightly. He raised a hand to point towards the moon. "Not too light, not too dark."

Malia breathed out slowly and eventually nodded. "I'm in."

JTT shook his head. "What happened to Kevin?"

Graves looked across the circle, raising his eyebrows at Cleo before looking away. He took another swig from his bottle. "Yeah Jordy, what happened?"

Jordan raised his head and took in a shuddering breath. "He.... he..." He dropped his head into his hands again and tried to disguise his laughter as sobbing.

Cleo grinned at Graves and winked at him, raising her wine bottle in a long distance cheers.

Tai looked alarmed and put a hand on Jordan's back. "You okay there, mate? Was he a friend of yours?"

Malia rolled her eyes and leaned over Sefa to look at JTT. "He's fucking with you," she told him.

JTT still looked confused but just nodded. "Yeah..." He watched Jordan have a fit across the fire and shook his head.

Sefa stood. "Then let's go, eh?"

Jordan sat up, seemingly composing himself in a matter of seconds. He stayed where he was and looked around to see if others were going to do the same.

Tai stood up after Sefa and stretched his arms behind his back. “Yeah, dude.” He grinned down at Jordan. “You comin’?”

Cleo smiled and stood with Sefa and Tai.

JTT looked over at Malia. "You going?"

Jordan shook his head. "As if I wanna end up like Kevin."

“Oh.” Tai hesitated, glancing between the water and Jordan. “Y’sure?”

"Go, Tai." Graves waved towards the water. "I'll stay here and make sure Jordan doesn't get too sad remembering Kevin. Drink?" He held the bottle out to Jordan.

Jordan gave a short nod, bristling slightly. "Yeah." He rolled his eyes at Graves and took the bottle. "Yeah, I can drink to forget."

Malia looked at the group that seemed to be going, noting that Jordan was not among them. "Yeah, I guess so," she said with a smile.

"Cool." JTT stood and looked at the bottle of wine in his hand. "Can I finish this?"

Graves watched everyone get up and head toward the water. He gave them a wave before turning to Jordan. "Whatever works, Nightcrawler. What's your deal with the lake?"

"Let me have it one more time, and then yes," Malia said, holding her hand out for the bottle.

JTT passed Malia the bottle.

Jordan looked at Graves. “Nightcrawler,” he repeated back with a smile. “Nothing. I’m just not gonna get naked in front of a bunch of strangers.” He took another sip from the bottle and then held it back out to Graves. “Do you have one? Or are you taking pity on a poor, lonely boy? Because you can go strip if you want.”

"Fair enough. No deal either, just don't really feel like swimmin' tonight." Graves shrugged, smiling. "Plus, I like drinking. And once y'unleash the kraken, you've gotta finish the bottle. Or so it goes," he said, accepting the bottle from Jordan and taking a longer sip.

Once he was sure it was okay to go, Tai broke into another grin and headed over to Malia. "Good for a splash?"

Malia took one final gulp of wine and then handed the bottle back to JTT. When Tai approached her, she shrugged. "I think so!"

JTT took back the bottle and downed the rest in one go. "Cool."

"Don't litter," Sefa warned as he started off toward the lake.

Jordan smiled wider at Graves. “I guess so. Does that mean we have to finish the whole bottle?”

“Sure as shit does.” Graves held the bottle out to Jordan. “We got a lot left, yikes.”

Jordan snorted. “If I finish this with you, you’re gonna be scraping me up off the pavement later.”

Tai glanced back once at Graves and Jordan, then smiled at Malia and held out his arm for her. "To the lake?"

“We can save some for your roommate. When he gets back. Or, I’ll get a shovel. Make scrap in’ y’off the pavement a helluva lot easier.” Graves laughed.

Malia returned the smile and took Tai's arm. "To the lake!"

#mus.sefa #mus.jtt #rel.jtt&sefa #rel.jtt&malia #rel.sefa&malia #rel.jtt&cleo #rel.sefa&tai #rel.sefa&cleo #rel.jtt&jordan #frm.chatzy