#[awwwww raaaavennn]

[justicefanged]

"You idiot."

He hadn't thought, necessarily, that there would be anything to worry about. Altena was a grown woman, and had shown herself to be more than capable, but he had still approached her on instinct, preaching caution.

But he wasn't meddling. He was only here to...

What?

His olive branch to Linus had been well received, so he followed up the berate with a sigh - less aggravated than he might have otherwise, and his demeanor held little bite.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, continuing to tell himself the same lie that it was none of his business.

"Look. She. Enjoyed you. Tonight. A frown, disdainful of the words coming out of his mouth, but more the fact that he had to say them. "Just. Don't. Look," he repeated, rubbing the same hand over his face again, pinching the bridge of his nose, "they need a win, that family, okay? They need every ounce of a good time that they can get. Just. Don't fuck it up.

"And by all saints, if someone asks you your name, you have to give it to them, you idiot."

"You idiot."

Linus made a noise of mild outrage, having been partway through a drink and some kind of sweet something or other he'd yoinked off of a table. The two didn't really mix well in his mouth, but he'd had worse.

"What'd I even do?" he grumbled, sending Raven a confused look as he shoved the rest of the dessert into his mouth and set his empty glass on a table -- littered with things he'd been working his way through, a very frazzled mouse chittering as it made trips back and forth to try and keep the area clean to the best of its ability.

His confusion only deepened because...well...it seemed like the other wasn't exactly pissed off at him? Annoyed? Linus still didn't know what he'd done to win this sort of reaction after they'd had a little make up earlier, but -- for once -- he kept his mouth busy and let Raven get to his point without barging in.

Or maybe the alcohol was starting to mellow him out. Same difference, right?

"Uh....huh. Ya mean--" Linus frowned, trying to connect the dots between Raven's stilted words.

Was he talking about...? Oh. Oh, he had to be! There was no one else he'd really been hanging out with enough!

Linus swallowed, his gaze shifting away from Raven and out into the crowd of other people. He was pretty sure he'd been doing okay so far. Altena hadn't punched him in the face, or cursed him out or anything like that. Hell, even with some of the stupid shit they were doing -- some of which she initiated, by the way! -- she seemed like she was having a blast!

But he didn't want to fuck it up. He really, genuinely didn't. Altena was pretty cool, from what he'd seen so far of her, and...Yeah. He was trying. Trying to make it a good memory, if nothing else.

"She. Enjoyed you. Tonight."

Yeah, tonight...Maybe not before, or tomorrow. But he could give her tonight, right?

Linus huffed out a breath through his nose, mouth downturned. "Read ya loud and clear, Red. She's a good lass." Better than good by far, but he didn't want to fuck it up. "Promise. I'll make it a real good night. Cross my heart an' all that shit."

He knew she was way out of his league on so many levels, but a guy could delude himself for a night, right?

"Buh-- Wait, wuh-- Did she ask me?" Linus fumbled, brought out of his slight downward spiral by Raven's last comment. "No way, I would'a remembered not givin' my name!"

......

"Oh, fuck, wait--"

#toaball2023 #peerlessscowl #[awwwww raaaavennn] #[you care this fam]