Siwan sat on his knees on her lap, looking out the window at everything below. He pointed at different things, wanting to know what they are and she answered him every single time, even when he pointed at the same things two or three times. Lightning crackled over part of the island, clouds growing rapidly. She knew that wasn't normal. It was supposed to be clear today. Not a cloud in the sky and yet there's the makings of a storm? She could guess what that was about, but as long as it didn't affect her family, she didn't care what was going on.
The Ferris Wheel stopped near the top, the people down below being let off. Other than the magical storm brewing, everything was fine. They'd finished their food, Siwan had fun, and it was time for them to head home. It wasn't 5 yet, but she didn't want to stick around just to waste time. They were let off, Siwan in her arms, and they made the long trek from the ride towards the gate.
She kept her eyes peeled for anyone she recognized with the intent to ignore them. She didn't want any of them knowing about her family and she didn't want to accidentally stumble into something that's not her business. So far, the coast was clear. They did have to skirt around evidence of a fight. Good as any reason to leave now.
They left the festival, going to the docks and getting on her father's boat. They boarded it and set off for home.
It was not lost on Jack that Sloane wanted to quickly swerve away from the subject of her dating success. He kept quiet as Sloane deflected to Anya’s success with relationships, and of course that wasn’t going to happen. Anya wasn’t the type to enjoy dating. Which was fair, it was something too many people felt obligated to entertain the notion that oneself must be completed by another. That to be fulfilled was to intertwine with another person for life, and only then could one be considered “whole,” lest they die alone. Maybe it was because of Jack’s inter-dimensional antics, but he didn’t see the point in obsessing over such a thing.
Then again, he obsessed over something different for a decade.
But now, both of them seemed to have an interest in his love life. Which, admittedly, did not exist. Anya and Sloane might have had their own journeys through the pool, but Jack simply always stayed on shore. He had been single most of his life, and never met anyone who he felt he could enter a relationship with since Reza’s death. Anya was right, there weren’t many options in the void. But that was fine.
Jack laughed, weakly at that notion. ”Another time, perhaps,” he answered. ”I’m not concerned with that currently. Between traveling out of Shimmer as I do, and the fact that I’ve been gone so long, it would not be feasible.” Jack lived a life that made relationships somewhat difficult. He could maintain contact with friends no matter where he was in the All-Verse, with a bit of effort and magic work. He could always show up on time to a night out of drinks and Jack could always tell an interesting story at a gathering to keep boredom at bay. But traveling constantly didn’t allow for time to build up a romantic relationship. He wasn’t prone to staying in one place, where most people eventually decided to settle down and made their nest.
And there was also the fact that Jack hadn’t been here in a decade. He didn’t know anyone outside the coven’s remnants anymore, meaning he was nothing more than a stranger to St. Portwell’s current magic scene. ”I wouldn’t want to trouble you two with that. And besides, Father Wolf is more important to me right now. I am not in a good position to pursue a relationship.” And I find it hard to imagine anyone would be interested regardless.
”If it is meant to happen, then it will happen,” he said, cryptically. ”I’m in no hurry.”
It was a race to see if Adora could beat Trisha's face in before the bees became too much, but fortunately, Adora was one determined MF when motivated. And Trisha lit a fire inside her that not even God could extinguish. Punch after punch. Sting after sting. It seemed that nothing could stop Adora, as a crowd came to watch the ass whoopin' (or watch her ass, but that was something that just wasn't on her mind at the moment).
Someone wrapped their hands around her arms - it felt like a fucking bear was grabbing her.
That was enough to briefly knock her out of her focus as she whipped her head around to see this giant motherfucker grabbing her. It took her a second to recognize him (How many cornfed 6'8 motherfuckers are there?), and it was Leon Richoux. She grit her teeth at him and then winced in pain, as her legs were... not in the best shape. They were covered in bee stings, and it was a pulsating pain. However, Trisha got her shit pushed in.
It really was eye for an eye.
“I was just trying to have a nice chat with an old friend, bringing up other older friends, when out of nowhere she punched me. She just wouldn't stop, look at what she did. She... she... she ruined my face..."
"... Oh, you want to start crying NOW, motherfucker?!"
Adora shouted at Trisha, switching from physical assault to verbal as Leon pulled her away - while she wanted to continue beating Trisha's face in, she knew that she was, physically, no match for Leon at the moment. So, she was just content with just getting pulled away while saying something extremely scathing, "You know exactly what you fucking did, bitch! Don't you ever say some shit like that to me again! Or else I'll make you wish that whore you crawled out of aborted you when she had the chance! You're NOTHING!"
Once Trisha was out of sight, that fire that no one could extinguish... went out on its own. It was too raging and burnt itself out.
The second Leon let go of her, Adora sighed, shaking her head as she momentarily walked in a different direction. She let out a loud sigh... all the weight of her actions began weighing down on her, and the pain of her fucking legs being stung to all hell.
"When I saw it was you, I was gonna let you keep going. But I figured if it was good and right, we could both get some shots in together... Come on, let's not be near her now, and maybe we can get a beer. God damn look at that face... What the hell brought all that on, huh?"
"She..." Adora couldn't even choke out the words. "She was talking shit... then she started making fun of me because of... what happened to Lisa..."
She shook her head, she couldn't even finish her statement without getting triggered, as she heart started fluttering and she started feeling week as anxiety kept up her spine. Adora put a hand on her hip and firmly planted the other hand in her face.
"I... fuck. I didn't mean to fly off the handle like that... she's a fuckin' Vanburen. They own the damn city..." Adora sighed, keeping the hand against her face.
At least she can say she beat Trisha's face in before she gets arrested!
Shayton prepared to take up Tayla on her offer; after all, it was polite since he was interrupting them.
However, someone butted in.
Someone unexpected.
It was that "boy" from last night who nabbed Judas before the Feds could get him. The "boy" latched onto his sleeve, issuing a clear-cut threat. Tayla had the smarts to grab her son and clear the house, and Shayton couldn't blame her. You'd have to be blind to be unable to tell that this "boy" is no "boy." However, Shayton did not flinch or change expression at all as the boy held onto his suit with a death grip. Shayton could had easily had broken free from his grasp, but that would require destroying his suit.
And Shayton liked this suit.
Are you his Uncle? You should keep a closer eye on your nephew. This may be the kids' area, but there’s plenty of dangers for someone so young. Don’t let him lose you again. I’m glad you found your… family member. I’ll leave you two alone now.”
Shayton grinned.
"I will, I will... Sorry about that," Shayton began, "I'm going to call his parents. They're worried sick. They're curious about what he got up to last week. Heh."
It was true; Luis and Natalie were very curious about the kid, especially after he managed to nab Judas from the Fed's personal Superman. They were convinced he was no kid, possibly a shapeshifter or a puppet for another Apparition. However, they already decided that people like Clancy should not be left to run amok when money is to be made!
Shayton reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out his "phone." A dummy phone, as he didn't know what to expect from the brat and expected him to reach for it and run off. He kept one on his being...
... Just in case.
Shayton looked up at Lihn and said, "... You can go."
Mentions: Stormy Carson & Jack Hawthorne/@Blizz, Britney Williams/@Punished GN, Sloane Farris/@Atrophy, Leon Richoux, PRA/TCGI/STC NPCs | Direct Dialogue: In collaboration with @Estylwen | Location: Festival Grounds, Cracker Island Historic District
Edict stared down at her pale, innocent face from behind dark glasses. His intentions were cold and dark; nothing any worse than what normally surrounded the girl. Unintentionally, through his desire to manipulate, he’d found a target with whom he had no real past. Layla had been a little girl: She hadn’t had the chance to wrong him in a way that she understood. What did she deserve that people like Sully or Leon deserved? What Auri or Sloane or Ashley deserved?
But it had to be done; something had to give in the situation he was in now. She either had a grudge or something deeper, but he needed to know everything before he could make a judgment. He had no clue what he was actually walking into.
Edict’s smile curled up around his face, perfectly curated to mimic empathy and compassion. His hand extended in a friendly way, patting Layla on the shoulder with a directive motion toward the haunted house. As he did, he pulled out his phone and rattled the text message to Linqian he had intended to.
His phone clicked, and he moved his hand away from Layla as they began to walk. His first instinct was to give the same disclaimer he’d had the decency to give Linqian.
"A couple of things are going to happen at once, Layla. I’m gonna show you what happened at the Church, and at the same time I’m gonna give you a bit of a boost. Think of it like an energy drink: You’ll feel more alert, but also more relaxed… I know it sounds weird, but I promise it’s pretty cool.-"
Layla nodded along as they walked. ”O-okay.”
Edict gave the girl a smile and a reassuring nod as they began to walk through the crowds the further they got into the actual event space. Of course he wouldn’t tell her what the process entailed; about how he’d be learning every point of stress he could, about how he’d be scrubbing and combing her memories for information in order to form the perfect string of spells catered to give her the best kind of high she could ask for.
"Now, it’ll last about four hours. We’ll probably either be wrapping up or already departed by then, so if you like the feeling I’ll top you off again before we’re done. However, I’ll warn you that after you’re done, it’s gonna feel like hell. Worse than when you started, maybe. But, I’ve heard people say the four hours is enough time to experience some level of clarity where they were able to make changes in their lives. I think it’s worth it if you can push through the adverse ending.”
Bullshit. It was heroin, it was amphetamine, it was the poison one crams into their veins through the webbing in their toes because they can’t show the injection sight to the public. It was the little death, the pain of withdrawal that left you feeling empty and worthless without the glowing pink center to give you that second hit. If she wasn’t a naïve girl, she’d have sprinted away then and there. But he never framed it like it was the end of the world. For a strong person, someone like Linqian, it wasn’t. It was the weak and the desperate that clung to Edict like a piece of flotsam in the storm.
His eyes began to curl with pink smoke, Channeler intaking Pink Lux from his own mind. The Pink Lotus unfurled its waterbound roots, beginning to crawl across the space between them in bundles like wide arms that caressed Layla’s emotional field like a mother swaddling a newborn. Even the gentle uplifting pressure was enough to make him feel safe… And, he was asking permission. Nothing bad ever happened with someone’s permission, right?
"Are you ready?”
A brief hesitation. What was she signing away here?
Layla's bottom lip stiffened. No, no there was no time for hesitation. She felt cold, uncertain, yes. But Mr. Devola could be trusted. He could be trusted, right?
A shaky breath. She could feel pressures already. Not in a bad way. Poised, more like. Waiting to be let in.
“I'm ready.” She said softly, having no idea what she was walking into. Internally, she relaxed. It was like any resistance she held was released as she stood as still as possible.
Edict took a long, deep breath. The words didn’t ring through the air so much as echo through her very mind. ”Pink Lotus’ Guiding Principle: Power Word Assess.” The tendrils felt the flickering resistance as Layla released herself to him and his intentions.
And as Mr. Devola would begin his examination, several stress points would pop up, hazy in their numbers, but taking focus at a closer look.
The Void. What appeared to be kindness turned into ultimate betrayal as Layla watched Jack lure her and Void into a trap. The pain of having to fight friends - Stormy, Jack, Britney, Auri, in a desperate struggle for survival. The pain of being unheard and misunderstood when she said it would get worse, much worse, if they took Void from her.
The hot, biting sting of hatred in Layla as she pulled a knife on Jack. She hated seeing Void surrender. She didn't understand why a stupid sword meant anything, why Void was so scared of Britney. Why he surrendered all of a sudden. Her anger though, curiously, turned on Jack instead, and she felt the bloodlust necessary to drive it through his heart.
The pain of preferring death, of threatening her own life, to keep them away from Void.
The Temple. The false sense of security that was shattered like a China dish. This memory was twisted, thought on repeatedly instead of being first-hand experience. As if Layla could only imagine as Mr. Salamante drove the knife through a no longer breathing Void. Her raw disgust at Clarissa, the memory having an audible shriek to it as Layla gripped hands on the woman. How her disgust and shock turned into physical sickness. How she was told Void was dead. And she wished to be dead too.
The nights. Haunting shadows of figures morphing into reality, crooning over her as she sat there in the darkness, petrified with fear. Hands and face slicked with sweat. Trembling at even the slight gesture of them teasing her, mocking her. The fear of knowing what her entities wanted, and simply waiting for the pain. Waiting in dread for a thing she couldn't avoid.
As all of this swirled, as he peeled through each layer of her recent memories hunting and searching for a point where she’d decided that a hit was to be placed on Britney for her involvement, he regaled Layla with the full color full motion footage recorded in his mind.
”Pink Lotus’ Precious Recollection: Living in Color.”
It was a seamless experience filled in by the imagination of a man who spent his entire life lying to people in order to maintain his own position. He was happy to show her something that almost happened, as it was far easier to put together on the fly than something entirely fabricated. What Layla saw flash across her own mind as things began to settle in her was from Edict’s point of view.
The flash of Jack teleporting away outside the Church, with what she recognized as herself in tow. Entering the Church, Leon’s boisterous voice shouting about someone teleporting. ”Leon knew you were in trouble. I realize this now. He tried to save you.” It was like one of those old school moving pictures, where instead of a voice there was a flash of text quotes in the foreground. Followed by clever editing; Leon at the window, the canister hitting him in the head. It was easy to influence the mind to think that the cloud of vapor wasn’t there…
It hit the floor in front of him. Then, his hands came up, throwing the canister toward the ceiling as it exploded into a ball of fire. Never once did it show his hand in it, that he’d lit the fire from the leaking gas cloud. It also wasn’t hard to mimic consciousness fading in and out, and he did this to cover his failed escape attempt. Rather, in the vision he gave Layla a sense that he turned from the explosion and tried to dive away before being driven to the ground by the force. His eyes opened to the PRA, and he made sure to focus on their leader shouting and having an absolute shitfit.
”These people are dangerous enemies.”
Faces flashed in front of Layla, and Edict couldn’t help but transfer a bit of personal emotion to her. Pain that she was familiar with, that he was quickly learning behind the scenes as something they had in common. Sloane, Stormy, Jack and Auri who arrived wounded. It was explained far better to him through this context, knowing what he knew now. There’d been a fight. Those two from the Temple, and more. Salamente, even their Lady herself, Lynette.
But the picture show was over then. His work wasn’t. The two of them walked while this happened, with Edict guiding their steps slowly and carefully until they made it to a waiting area where they could sit near the Haunted House.
”Pink Lotus’ Guiding Principle: More Than a Feeling.” Complete and total pink saturation washed through Layla’s brain matter, brute forcing a solution that he’d searched and searched for: The crux of the problem. He was always listening, after all. ”Taking life is easy. You must just not be looking at things the right way. Don’t Worry.”
Picking through her memories, he began to feed them back to her. Images of past kills, of previous hunts that she’d been forced to watch. The Void Heart smiled in her memory, bloody hands lifting up her chin to witness his dark form. Alongside him, “friendly” faces: Edict himself, with Britney under his arm. Leon, the Temple, people who he wanted her to disassociate as threats. As if Void Heart was personally vouching for them contrary to what she had previously seen. "I’m so proud of you…” He pulled and ruffled the sparse but passionate moments that she’d spent with Void Heart, bringing it all together in the form of a seal that locked her mind into the final thought: Jack Hawthorne’s severed head, corpse a feast for the ethereal dogs of her torturers piled alongside the others who had betrayed her trust in the first place. ”People involve themselves in business that isn’t theirs. Busy bodies, enemies of your happiness. You have the tools to end their lives. Use it for yourself, and paint the canvas with their remains.”
As the crux and defining moment played out, one last memory surfaced. One that Mr. Devola had been searching for. The mental breakdown of Layla's as she sat across a recognized figure - Miss Vorpal. One other, Miss Blackthorn, was with them as well. The feeling of bliss from Miss Vorpal's ethereal eyes. How Miss Vorpal held Layla and promised her healing in the form of revenge. How Britney Williams had been implied as one that had to suffer.
This was how the connection between Britney's hit and Layla's involvement would be made.
And then reality came back around them, the tendrils pulling away all at once. Edict had his sunglasses in his hand now, looking at Layla as she came to. Consciousness was meant, in Edict’s method, to be a warm embrace that welcomed the girl back into its arms. The sting of Void Heart’s loss remained, but far louder was the lasting image of that “friendly” smirk he gave to his pets. What one may consider predatory was Layla’s happy place: The beast that gave her peace.
Edict waited for a long moment, letting reality set back in for her as sorrow was replaced with warm nostalgia and love that she’d been able to perceive as if it were real and in front of her.
As her awareness came back to her, a genuine smile graced her features. What had once been unhappy and grief-stricken were now replaced with happiness and peace. She was filled with understanding, as tangible as seeing Void's warm face in front of her.
She blinked slowly, trying to get her bearings. She realized they were right outside the Haunted House, and a childish giggle escaped her lips.
She thought about what she saw, and spoke slowly, gaze shifting from the ground to Mr. Devola. “I think… the cops were wrong to attack everyone. I can't believe they set the church on fire…”
Her head hung a bit. “Perhaps… I was wrong about the Temple. They were just trying to help.”
She thought of Void, and her smile grew soft. “I miss my friend, but I'll be okay.”
A dark, detached look crossed her face. She didn't vocalize this, but already in her mind, strategies were being formed to take down the man who betrayed her and Void: Jack Hawthorne. He wouldn't see it coming…
“I… Thank you, Mr. Devola.”
Edict, looking around to see Linqian, Sabrina and Britney making their return through the crowd, leaned into Layla subtly as he stuffed his Channeler into his breast pocket.
"Don't mention it. Seriously, not to anyone else. It's our secret now. Revenge Buddies.” He patted her shoulder with warm comfort, something like a genuine smile forming over his face as his legs brought him back to a standing position. He hefted the guitar case over his shoulder, waving the returning ladies closer to them.
The Halloween Festival. The Drinkline. Cracker Island.
"Alright. Let’s find a table or two away from any Blinds. Then we can talk."
Before Meifeng could speak, Trevor had snuck over, wearing that ridiculous Red Power Ranger costume, and sniveled, "... Segregation at its finest."
Meifeng jammed her elbow into his side - well, the side of his arm since she was so much taller than him - and said, "Trevor, enough."
Then she turned to Stormy as Fiona walked over. She was dressed as the Pink Power Ranger, but it didn't take a genius to tell there was something off about the costume. It was very ill-fitting given her inhuman features, but Trevor at the very least, made some attempt... it didn't feel right to leave the poor girl by herself.
"These two are coming with us, but don't worry about paying for drinks," Meifeng said before she placed a hand on Fiona's head, then Trevor's. "She's not of age, and he's not allowed to drink."
"Aw, I'm surprised you didn't tell me to fuck off," Trevor said.
"So you don't cause any trouble," Meifeng rolled her eyes. "Now let's go..."
Meifeng followed Stormy, and her suborbinates followed her... though, Cindy was right by her side. She was led to an outdoor bar with a great ocean view, the waves crashing against the shore.
"The view... heh..." Cindy said as she grabbed Meifeng's hand.
"So those brochures weren't lying," Maximilian laughed.
"You won't get sights like these in Philly, y'know," Samson said.
"That's because Philly's a rathole," Trevor laughed.
"... Sure you can handle drinks for everyone?" Cindy asked Stormy. "I don't want to empty your bank account!"
Well, it didn't feel right using another man's dime, but Stormy was insistent on buying everyone drinks, why not? Meifeng was the first to order.
"I'll have a pineapple margarita," Meifeng said.
"That's a summer drink," Cindy laughed.
"Every day is summer if you make it,"
"I'll take what she's having,"
"Just share mine," Meifeng began, "I'm not getting plastered tonight. Neither of us should be trying to."
"Just some rum with a coke!" Samson ordered.
"I want..." Trevor tried to speak.
"Trevor..." Meifeng smiled at him as a gentle reminder.
"... A glass of water,"
"We'll have shots of vodka," Leon grinned from underneath his costume.
The bartender prepared their drinks... Meifeng just patiently waited like the disciplined woman she was. Her men were chatting, and so were the members of the Coven. She knew that some of them were apprehensive of her after her actions (and rightly so). However, she couldn't help but be curious about the sidebar conversation that Bianca and Lynn were having, especially hearing the "Mommy Meifeng" nickname and raised an eyebrow. Yet she kept silent.
Until...
”Now, let’s talk about what happened at the church,” he said, calmly. ”I wasn’t there, so why don’t you tell me what happened?”
... There came the elephant in the room.
Meifeng knew she was way out of line for her actions, as mad as she was about what Everleigh did to Bianca. The rest of the Coven shouldn't have to suffer for the actions of one person. She should have just arrested Eve and touched bases with the Coven. Well, from a certain point of view, she accomplished both but made the latter so much harder.
It's not too late to fix things.
Meifeng glanced at Maximilian, who nodded his head.
"... How about we just skip to the crux of it all? I'm sure your Coven sisters told you all about it," Meifeng sighed, hoping she didn't come off meaner than she intended. "Look, I made a bad call. I won't sit here and justify it or excuse it - but I'll come out and say that I was out of line when I made that decision and I promise that it won't happen again."
There was a part that Meifeng left out: Long as your Coven remains on the straight and narrow.
She let out another sigh as she said, "I apologize. I hope that from here on, the Coven and PRA can have a positive relationship."
"Awwww, how sweet of you," Trevor laughed, speaking in a thick Southern accent. He turned to Stormy and said, "You know Director Alcot reamed into her th-"
Cracker Island. The Halloween Festival. Drinkline to the tf outta there.
“Britney, what did you do?”
"... What did I do?"
Britney tilted her head, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Lila. It was clear that something had happened, but she was unsure what she had done. The Crow Maiden was sealed, unless it had broken free somehow, the threat was neutralized. However, that picture... there had to be more to this.
“I’m okay, I’m okay. We need to talk, in private, soon,”
"No, let's get to the bottom-" Britney tried to say before...
”Can't believe all it took was some sexy maid outfits for Stormy to fall in with the feds,”
"... Feds?"
What in the world was Linqian...
”Oh yeah the annoyingly hot maids are the ones that tear gassed us last week. That's the leader. An absolute fucking bitch- Bianca says she not normally like that, but I don't believe it... oh yeah, Bianca's part of the PRA too. Between us we've got exes in the worst groups possible - the mafia and the government. Lucky us.”
"Oh...?"
Britney looked at them, then back to Linqian...
Oh shit.
If the situation couldn't get bad enough...
"Nothing happened, Britney. Everything's alright. Text us if you need anything, we'll be around."
... Then that was when Britney noticed that Luca was here. She noticed that he didn't seem to be in great shape - and noticed her from her facial expression. Her eyes shot open as her mouth was agape - slightly curved into a smile. Her eyes drifted towards Stormy, then uncontrollably back to Luca as guilt overcame her. She awkwardly smiled, waving her hands left and right. As she took a step back, she said...
Then, she turned on her heel and peeled off with Linqian in tow. However, Sabrina stared at Luca before calmly following behind Britney.
Britney felt terrible about leaving so suddenly, but the situation was twenty pounds of nope in a five-pound bag, and she was not here for it. Not only was Luca there, but the people who attacked them were also there. If Stormy wanted to break bread with the people who teargassed them, that was his prerogative - Britney on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the PRA or their goons. It would only make things worse by trying to play nice with them, but maybe there was a card up Stormy's sleeve. However, Britney took the hint that she should probably abscond while she had the chance.
So, she ended up back with Edict and her fellow busy bee... something felt off about the situation, but Britney was not in the frame of mind to examine it. She just wanted to focus on this damned Halloween Festival because... isn't that why she ferried to Cracker Island? Not for Vashti. Not for the Feds. Not for Luca. Not to feel guilty again. But to, briefly, take her mind off the fact that someone was hunting them like game and any one of them could be the next target.
Britney sighed as she shook her head.
"Uh... sorry we came back empty-handed, had to check up on Lila..." Britney began, scratching the back of her neck. Glancing at Sabrina, then glancing at Linqian. "But the whole scene was a big bag of NOPE."
She clapped her hands together.
"I don't know what's up with this year's Halloween Festival - or St. Portwell for that matter - but you know what? Let's put all that behind us." Britney started. "Haunted House? Maybe get the hell off this island because it's clear Emily's goons are here, and lemme tell you something: that is NOT one tree I want to bark up."
"My house should be empty," Sabrina said, "My sisters are all out and are either out of town or won't be back until later." She sighed.
"Maybe Trisha hasn't drunk all the alcohol yet," she laughed.
The 8th Street Coven.
Interactions: None.
The Halloween Festival. Cracker Island.
"... Those SLUTS!"
Emily shouted as she slammed a foot on the ground, as they stood in an alley in the Historic District. She was a reasonable distance away from them and would prefer to be as far away from those sluts as possible. She could still taste the bird shit on her tongue, and it was the fuel for her fire. Those sluts! They invited her over to annoy her, acting all sly, then get mad when they don't get their way! It was like the old days of the Coven.
"Wow, they fuckin' painted you, boss," Carol laughed, "Maybe you should have fuckin' let them shit more on you so the outfit is even."
"Carol..." Emily growled.
"You were really out of line there, Emily," Miranda rolled her eyes. "That was... beyond the pale. Like the shit the Nazis would do."
Emily scoffed, putting a hand on her chest.
"Don't compare me to THEM! I just made a mistake, I didn't deserve to get punched in the face and shit on by birds! That was such an overreaction."
"Sure felt like it was on purpose," Jacqueline said, rolling her eyes.
Emily didn't respond, she just realized that her outfit was drenched in a mixture of tears, bird shit and wine - all they had to do was throw in semen and it would be like Linqian on a Saturday night! Emily was done with this stupid ass festival and wanted to go home already - but she was not going to walk around covered in bird shit. She would rather be... oh wait, she isn't wearing anything underneath this.
That was an abysmal choice.
"Carol!" Emily shouted. "Do your time reversal thing and fix me!"
"Ew! Nasty! I'm not touching-" Carol protested.
"Carol... don't you want to be fixed? Don't you want revenge on that bitch Britney?" Emily began, narrowing her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Then fix me."
Carol gagged as she grabbed onto Emily's costume and reverted it in time. It quickly returned to a state of being brand new in seconds! Emily was happy she didn't smell like cheap wine but shook her head as she said,
"I'm going to go find Vashti and tell her all-"
Then a fucking smoke bomb came out of nowhere and exploded in her face.
They left the situation almost as quickly as they left it and honestly, Linqian was unbothered by that.
Would’ve been nice to get drinks, but they were also way overpriced here. She couldn’t afford to just start spending cause Edict paid her a hefty amount tonight.
Layla looked way more cheerful than she had when Linqian left. Unnaturally so. Oh yeah, she’d let Edict inside her mind. Fucking idiot. Sure, hypocritical when she’d let him in herself - once. But she wasn’t some snivelling coward who went around calling him ‘Mr Devola’ like she was still in highschool. Anyone who knew what Edict was like wouldn’t be calling him anything vaguely respectful… She was in for a treat in four hours.
Linqian definitely wouldn’t be sticking around her long enough for that.
She looked at Edict and raised her eyebrows, though she didn’t say anything. Obviously. But still, he worked fast. They hadn’t been away that long.
"But the whole scene was a big bag of NOPE."
”A ‘big bag of nope’ is an understatement,” Linqian snorted. ”There was bird shit everywhere and Stormy was tryna get into some sexy PRA maid’s pants. You’d have to kill me before I’d drink with them, fucking hell. And the lines were like a mile long... for some booze you could get for half the price at literally any bar on the mainland.”
Linqian had absolutely no qualms about essentially throwing Stormy under the bus as someone trying to get friendly with the feds. That was on him. She didn’t even want to be associated with that. It was bad enough her ex was one… ugh.
”I’d rather go somewhere we can drink,” Linqian said. Then maybe she could finally eat the dinner she’d been lugging around with her all evening, without a decent chance to sit down for a moment and eat. She should’ve done it at work before leaving… Well, hindsight was a bitch. She did have a bunch of finger food too, though, so she could munch that in the haunted house if she needed to. ”After already running into Sloane and Vashti, I don’t want to risk running into more assholes… And a haunted house is kinda shit when you’ve fought a fuck ton worse looking than people dressed up as skeletons and ghosts. I’m not a good enough actor to fake being scared.”
She then carefully (because there was a fucking gun inside) lifted up her bag, giving it a slight shake. Her lips curved up into a joking smile. ”I do have another two cans with me… The highest bidder can have the second one! Since alcohol's in such short supply on this fucking island.”
Linqian wasn’t really bothered either way. If they stayed on the island then they’d eventually end up going towards activities she enjoyed… or she could jump ship and find someone fun like Sully. If they left, she could drink cheaper booze and would still spend most of the evening with people. Which was her main reason for even going to the festival.
”But hey, going to-” Linqian paused, trying to remember Britney’s friend’s name. After a moment it came to her. ”Sabrina’s place sounds fun.”
Though the name Trisha, combined with her surname being Vanburen, rang some very strong alarm bells in Linqian’s head… she lived with fucking Trisha Vanburen. Someone Linqian had absolutely hated ten years ago, and she highly doubted she’d changed.
”So long as it really is empty, uninvited siblings are real night ruiners,” Linqian half joked, deciding not to say that if she saw Trisha Vanburen she’d probably just straight up burn her face off. Best to keep that to herself when talking to a very rich near stranger. She then glanced at Layla, then Edict - lingering on him for a few moments before deciding to make this offer… Against her better sober judgement, but seeming good three drinks and one near death experience in. It probably wouldn't even be neccesary anyway. ”There’s also my place if needed. Definitely empty, my brother'll be out all night.”
Britney left, and Luca relaxed slightly. She’d panicked when she’d seen him… Which didn’t make Luca feel any better. Part of him was glad she didn’t even bother trying to talk to him, but another part that he’d tried to bury was pissed off about it. If she felt so guilty why didn’t she even try to make amends?
She was gone, so there was no point in dwelling on it. Luca forced himself not to. Normally he wouldn’t even care - he’d moved on! He could peacefully exist in the same place as her!
Just not tonight.
At least Lila seemed to be alright, now. The two of them would have to talk later… But not tonight for that as well. They all needed to relax now.
Luca really wanted to take up Jasper on his offer for going to get food, but they needed to follow Stormy. Honestly, Luca didn’t want to sit with the people who’d raided them last week. Not because he didn’t want to make peace, he was perfectly happy with that, he was just drained. He wanted to spend the rest of the night with his friends, with Jasper… And Lila and Lynn and Stormy! He blushed.
”Let’s follow before Stormy gets too far away,” Luca said to both Jasper and Lila. Last thing he wanted was for the Rot to slink back right now when he was dependent on Jasper for support. He could walk now, just he’d fall over if he did it without something to lean on. Though maybe Jasper wasn’t the best idea… he was getting all sorts of fluttery feelings in his chest with how close they were.
He looked up at Jasper with a grin, poor expression disappearing as if it had never been there. All the pain he’d let slip through was hidden back down underneath layers of optimism and bright smiles. It was still there, eating away at him, but he was no longer letting everyone else see it. He’d already worried them enough - and would continue to do so until he could move properly.
Leaning on Jasper for support, legs aching with each step, Luca followed after Stormy and the whole PRA entourage. He sat near to Stormy, making sure there was space beside him for Jasper and Lila, and ordered a water.
”We should get pictures while I’m still… rotless. Then we can do all sorts of fun, close-together poses. If you guys are still up for it… Maybe Stormy will take them for us?” Luca said softly, leaning in towards Jasper and Lila. Lynn was drinking with Bianca it seemed - which was nice, Bianca had always seemed like a good person… Incident last week aside.
Which their leader apologised for. Luca was taken aback, staring at her wide eyed for a moment… Before quickly looking away. He couldn’t look at her and Cindy for too long without feeling… weird. Definitely just embarrassment after the whole bottle feeding incident. Definitely.
Since they’d apologised, the slight hard feelings Luca had about the incident were gone. Sure, he’d almost died - but he almost died when he tripped over his own feet every other day! That wasn’t their fault. They made a misjudgement, they wouldn’t again, it was all good. He didn’t say anything, though, because he didn’t feel it was his place to accept it.
”Oh.” Luca turned to Trevor with an apologetic smile. ”Are your hands alright? Sorry about uh… the rotting. I can’t do anything about it without this guy,” he gestured to Stormy with his thumb, ”to keep it under control. I appreciate it, though, I’m okay cause you healed me… Well it was you guys fault I was like that, heh, but all good now.”
He grinned, taking a large gulp of his water. He then leaned back towards Jasper and Lila, though he was talking directly to Lila this time - voice lowered to a near whisper. ”You alright being here? We can go elsewhere if you want… I can handle the rot coming back.” If anyone looked close enough, they’d see a pair of glowing eyes staring out from underneath a nearby nachos stall. They were focused on a pair of men that were enjoying themselves a little too much…
Razgoy, Stealer of Joy, was good at biding their time. They had followed the two through the festival, hiding from stall to stall, waiting for a moment when they were alone. They were perfectly hidden, perfectly silent, waiting for the right time to strike. But the targets were on the move. Time to follow. Slowly Razgoy moved their skeletal head out from under the stalls fabric cover. With them so distracted, it would be easy to follow-
Something hot landed on Razgoy’s head, trickling down the white tendrils and covering their eyes. A bright yellow, sticky sauce. Cheese sauce dripping from a human’s nachos. They were clumsy, and now it was all over Razgoy.
No matter. Nacho cheese sauce covered, Razgoy continued their hunt.
Interactions: Anya @Fernstone & Jack @Blizz Resort Bar. The Halloween Festival
Sloane edged forward as Anya was about to dish out her heart’s desires, her eyes darting to the waitstaff to throw a look that could read as annoyance their way instead of delivering the actual disappointed face to Anya. Although Sloane wasn’t actually disappointed: she was jealous. I’m quite happy being single and romance doesn’t appeal to me were the kind of things statements she wished she could deliver with such earnesty and sincerity as Anya did, but while Anya had told the truth for Sloane they would’ve been a lie. Perhaps she could say something like I’m certain I’ll end up alone and romance refuses to work with me with some kind of conviction given their basis in reality, but who would want to hear it?
A fourth drink magically appeared before her, or perhaps she had just looked the wrong way when the server dropped it off. Nevertheless, she had someone to whom she could whisper her secrets. She told her drink that she was jealous of Jack too. Leaving Shimmer wasn’t an option for her—she had locked herself inside of a gilded cage of her own design—but she imagined despite Jack’s insistence that there would be hundreds of handsome men just dying to go on not only a globetrotting but a dimension hopping adventure.
“It sounds like Jack doesn’t trust our taste in men, Anya,” said Sloane, with a hint of humor and a click of her tongue.
Then again maybe it was just a hint of a slur coming from a woman whose wildest nights typically consisted of a small glass of red wine and two and a half aspirin. She swirled her drink, the ice clinking against the sides of the glass. Why’d they have to make the cups so small? Not that she was close to finishing this one anyway. While the last glass had been way too easy, the task of finishing this one seemed daunting. She stuck to drinking it like one of those perpetual motion toy birds people would put on their desk to say that they weren’t just a loan officer but a fun loan officer, only her motion was reversed—picking up her glass, wetting her lips without hardly taking a sip, setting it down, and picking it back up again to repeat.
Anya had mentioned her parents. Bad parents were just another thing that the two women had bonded over. It was surprising that Anya had even brought them up. When it came to most people Sloane acted as if her parents were dead, often simply putting it as “they’re gone” and fixing anyone who pushed further with a stare so uncomfortable they had to fold on their line of questioning. However, with Anya and Jade she had shared everything: their crimes, their abandonment, their general awfulness. She glanced at Jack, curious to ask if he also resented his parents, but certain that she could guess the answer judging by how he’d spent the past decade outside of their world.
Plus, something else was weighing on her mind and for some three solid reasons (plus a few sips of the fourth) she found the heavily guarded gate and barbed wire fence that surrounded her personal thoughts suddenly manned only by a single sleeping guard with the door left ajar.
“I saw Drake,” she said cautiously. “On the ferry. That’s why I wanted to come here. I was worried that we’d run into one another and it’d be a thing. I know I shouldn’t have said what I said, but it doesn’t even come close to justifying what he did. And then he just went about his life, not once thinking to call or even text an apology, not even checking in to see if I was still alive. I don’t get it.“
Her right hand began to tremble. She placed her other hand over it and squeezed it to make it stop. Drake not apologizing for striking her wasn’t the only injustice that existed in the Coven. Britney was welcomed back with open arms while the splinter faction that her actions had created were kept out in the rain. Layla had been stripped of something that, as detestful as it was, could defend her while they were all being hunted, yet Luca was left to suffer with whatever he was dealing with—she didn’t know the full scope of the Rot, but she had seen the meds. Jinhai was a jar in a cabinet and his sister was still a bitch but a bitch with more love in her life than Sloane ever had and yet she was still an ice cold bitch. And, for some reason so stupid she couldn’t comprehend, as if he was only doing it just to do it, Jasper still hated her for some inconceivable reason.
“I don’t get it,” she repeated, the follow-up question only in her head: Am I that unlikable? It shouldn’t bother me.
But it does.
“Whatever!” Sloane found the will inside of her to finish her drink, practically slammed the table with her hands, and stood with only the slightest of stumbles. “Drake doesn’t deserve to occupy any of our thoughts just like these hoity-toity snobs here wouldn’t deserve either of you if you had been interested. Let’s go back to the festival and check out the stalls.”
Sloane looked at her watch and frowned, “I should probably check in on mine, actually…”
Layla nodded calmly at Mr. Devola. Of course she wouldn't say a word. She was the best secret keeper. She had kept her own curse a secret for so long, after all.
A secret that, uh, she was pretty sure Mr. Devola knew about now.
But it was fine. She could trust him.
A glint caught her eye. Layla looked into the crowd, feeling eyes. Different from the golden orbs she had seen for the briefest moment. No, these were more sinister. More… familiar.
A body slipped to the side, and Layla caught a glimpse. Three glaring pairs of eyes, one masked, the rest glinting red. The Riil siblings, watching from afar. Their combined stare was cruel and hateful, creeping over Layla before settling on Edict.
Then, another body passed by, and they disappeared.
Layla had forgotten to breathe, and took a large suck of air. The fear of seeing them hit less, far less. The smile was still genuine and glowing on her face. Mr. Devola was right, this was much better.
But… What got them so worked up, though?
Layla turned her face to the approaching ladies. Britney looked like she had seen a ghost. What had happened? And… where were the drinks?
"But the whole scene was a big bag of NOPE."
Layla stared in confusion, before Linqian filled in.
”There was bird shit everywhere and Stormy was tryna get into some sexy PRA maid’s pants. You’d have to kill me before I’d drink with them, fucking hell.
A giggle escaped Layla's lips. Wow, she was in a good mood. The scene as Linqian described it just sounded funny. It was just like Stormy to fraternize with the enemy. She wouldn't be surprised if he was selling out coven secrets to those blue-lined thugs.
“Well, uh. Sorry you didn't get the drinks you wanted.” She said, an apologetic smile on her face as her eyes passed from Britney, to Sabrina and Linqian.
“We were just… waiting. No one like Vashti came by again so…” Layla said, trying to hide her smirk.
"Haunted House? Maybe get the hell off this island because it's clear Emily's goons are here, and lemme tell you something: that is NOT one tree I want to bark up."
Layla’s lips pursed in the appearance of pained knowing. She really felt too mellowed out to care too much about some idiots. But Britney was right.
Britney was right.
Wow, it felt weird, but so natural to acknowledge Britney’s rightness.
The 8th Coven wanted beef with them, maybe even tonight. And that, that really wasn't good. No. Britney was hot on their list too. Layla made a face that looked empathetic. Britney was in danger the longer she stayed here.
That was no good. They were friends.
"My house should be empty. My sisters are all out and are either out of town or won't be back until later."
Layla shot up from the bench where her and Mr. Devola had been waiting, fist in the air. “Yeah, I wanna see Sabrina’s house!”
She stared wistfully over the bustle of the festival, before glancing up at Mr. Devola.
“I wanted to see more, but…”
Her eyes flicked to Britney. “You're right. It's actually too risky to be out right now, not with cops and Emily, Vashti, blaaah, on the loose.”
She shrugged, smiling. “Let's get out of here.”
Layla paused, before pulling a bill out of her pocket, offering it to Linqian. “Here's my bid for the second one. Why not~?”
While most of the young scene flocked to Cracker Island for the Halloween Festival, the downtown of St. Portwell held a different scene. Mainly the lit up Hearts Club Casino, and the costumed party-goers inside.
Sitting at one of the busy slot machines, a chubby man dressed as a masquerader, arm candy being his wife, thirty years his junior.
He pulled the handle again as his wife watched on with forced enthusiasm. DING! DING! DING! Casino coins started pouring out of the bottom of the machine as a golden 7-7-7 lit up his screen.
“Whoooo, did'ja see that?” He screamed, shoving his wife out of the way as he started scooping up coins. Then he wiggled his fingers at her.
“Bitch, go buy me another drink. I deserve it after this haul.”
The wife held a sigh, turned heel and melted into the growing crowd ogling his ringing slot machine.
Staff attendants and security started showing up on the scene, as one tapped the chubby man on his shoulder.
“Huh? Put my drink on the table, leave me alone.”
“Sir, we're here to cash you out.” The bodyguard, a built and tall man at over 6 feet, sunglasses over his eyes, stared down at the winner.
The chubby man seemed to sweat a bit, before puffing out his chest. “Thought you'r my wife. You say cash?”
“Yes, sir. If you'll follow-”
The chubby man snapped his fingers impatiently. “Well hurry up, I ain't got all day.”
The bodyguard merely maintained a placid face, and gestured for the winner to follow. He was escorted up the second floor, then the third, where the offices were located. The bodyguard opened a door for him, and a lady dressed in black, brim of her hat over black, curled tresses, stood from her desk.
“Mr. Arno? I'm Miss Blackthorn. Please have a seat.”
The man sat, a gleeful and greedy grin on his face. “So where's ma money?”
“You'll get what's due to you. You're our winner, after all.” The woman said, writing a quick note on her pad before passing it to the bodyguard who walked in. The bodyguard nodded before taking his station at the closed door.
“We take great pride in our patrons, Mr. Arno. Or should I say Bruno Arno.” Miss Blackthorn spoke, pulling up a file that had sat idly on her desk. She thumbed through it nonchalantly.
“Consistent patronage since we’ve re-opened, and patronage in the old casino before, with over an estimated $500,000 spent in the casino total. Mainly slots, but a few tables too.”
The chubby man, Bruno, slapped his belly loudly, that selfish grin still on his face. “What can I say, I'm a big-time spender!”
Miss Blackthorn merely tilted her head, an unamused look on her face as she flipped to the next place. “Now, let's look at your wife, shall we? Or, your fifth wife, to be exact.”
“What's wrong with that? My wives had weak hearts, er'body knows that.” Bruno said out of the side of his mouth.
“Mhmm.” Miss Blackthorn said, before she continued. “Your first wife died of a heart attack. Your second one, suicide. The third, a car accident. And the fourth, bad medication.”
The man seemed to sweat a bit at this. “You uh, seem to have done your research. Is this what you do with all winners?”
The woman gave Bruno a cold stare. “No, Mr. Arno. Just you.”
It was then the door clicked open, and two more men entered the room. They were dressed slightly different, in dark suits with splashes of red, staring at Bruno like he was prey.
Miss Blackthorn leaned forward. “What I've uncovered doesn't seem to add up, though, Mr. Arno. Maybe you can help me with this. You see, every time someone died, a huge life insurance would be paid out to the sole beneficiary - you. Money that would be gambled away here.”
She narrowed her eyes slyly as she watched the man tremble.
“Tell me, Mr. Arno.” She leaned forward. “What really happened to your wives?”
“Uh. I uh, I-... Uh-!”
Bruno lost it. “You can't prove nothin’. The cases are closed, done and done!”
Miss Blackthorn glanced at her men with a single finger on her cheek - a sign. They moved in, looming over Bruno.
“You seem to think I'm working with the law. Well. I am the law, but not in the way that you think.”
With that, Miss Blackthorn stood up and moved to the door. Just as she was about to leave, she turned back.
“Enjoy yourself while you can, Mr. Arno. I hope everything you've done was worth it.”
As the door closed behind her, there was the frantic shuffling of a desperate man fighting the hands that pinned him down, beat him a few times, cuffed him, put a bag over his head, and dragged him away…
"Funny," Clancy muttered at Shayton's comment about his 'parents', his gaze briefly flicking to the handset withdrawn from the latter's suit; unaware that it was indeed a dummy phone, "Is that another 'report' to your bosses?" He maintained his grip on the sleeve of "Uncle" Shayton's suit, but kept his voice low enough to avoid inviting anymore unwanted attention.
"Last time we spoke, you told me something: These days, everyone is a target. They don’t know it yet." Word for word, he repeated what Shayton had told him, the night of the brawl at the club.
"I remembered that, just like I'd guess you're not the kind of person I'd expect to see playing games with a bunch of Nazi assholes and some losers on bikes. I wasn't born yesterday." Ever so slightly, he tightened his grip as they walked past some half-drunken teen trying to impress their friends by recreating some retro tune on an ocarina. Clancy shook his head in a disapproving gesture.
"And I'm still old enough to know that people don't just appear with holes in their bodies, like your last boss did. Nice of you to let me take the fall for that with the G-Men." Clancy's expression was masked beneath the costume, but the tilting of his head and the creasing of the canvas gave some indication that the boy might've been offering a humourless grin.
"I still have questions, since you cut into that last conversation. Father Wolf. Dollhouse. Ashley Stone. You know enough. Who is coming after a bunch of washed up ex-high schoolers?" Those were the most firm queries he had.
"And your bosses, the real ones this time, what's their play in this? Because I'm sure you don't want that bit of information spreading around town, anymore than it may have gone already"
Clancy was skeptical he'd get answers, but it was a starting point,
"The sooner I have answers, the sooner you can go back to talking up women half your age and pretending you're safe. Or?" He felt at the dufflebag strapped to his back, subtly noting the outline ofnthe artifact within, "Your last boss and Nazi friends went with or."
Britney was here and she said it was time to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with The Maiden. Nothing would distract her, nothing would pull her away, and nothing would happen from here on out. The Maiden would get sealed again, Lila wouldn’t have to worry about turning into a fucking bird, and she’d no longer want to rip throats out of people. This was good. This proved that Britney was changing, and would be a good person to not just herself but everyone else she affected ten years ago.
Lila watched as Britney was informed about the Feds. Linqian was good at telling the details in a unique way that somehow gave a more or less correct portrayal of what had happened. Which was good, Britney deserved to know what happened in her absence and she deserved to know that it was these fucking Feds right here that did it. Lila smiled at Linqian as she described how big of a bitch Meifeng was.
And then Britney spotted Luca and her whole demeanor changed. Lila gasped as Britney took a step back, waved uncontrollably at Luca, before she spoke a series of words so fast that Lila could only hear the final ‘bye’ at the end and left. Britney just left her. She was ready to help and decided, in the blink of an eye, that it was no longer worth it because of the fucking Feds and her guilt. Lila snarled as she crossed her arms. A rage began to form in her mind, and it was only going to grow from here. Lila was scared, whatever Britney did had messed up the sealing and she was being subjected to a horror that she did not ever consider a possibility. And all Britney could do was not know what she did, and then run away? All good will Britney had been given by Lila dried up, and Lila knew that she would find it very difficult to get back on her good side again.
Lila shook her head and with it the thoughts. That rage wasn’t her own. Britney did not know what happened, yet, but that did not mean she wouldn’t help. Lila knew that she was just informed about Emily and the other whores from 8th street being here, a group that wanted her dead. She was also just introduced to the group who had attacked her friends just a week ago. It made sense that she did not want to stay around. Just because she ran today does not mean she ran from Lila, and Lila focused on the thoughts of reaching back out after this night was done. Lila shifted her focus to Luca. She hoped, above all, that Britney would help him too. Luca deserved some happiness after all. When the duo of Jasper and Luca began to follow Stormy, Lila did the same and took a seat next to them. She hated being here. Being near the agents that had hurt them last week. Breaking bread. Though Lila also hated the idea of walking off on her own, being away from the aura of Stormy, and away from her friends. She did not feel safe now with 8th street having ammunition to attack her. She ordered a tequila sunrise, and then she ordered a second moments later.
“Lynn would never forgive us if we didn’t take this opportunity for a group photo,” Lila whispered to Luca and Jasper to distract her from those thoughts, “especially if you’re rotless and I’m not a bird.”. Lila knew that she’d take a good photo of Luca and Jasper together just in case, but hopefully someone could help them take a nice group photo. Maybe she could use a few crows?
“I am fine here Luca, Stormy’s aura is helping and I don’t want you to have the rot come back quite yet,” Lila smiled, Luca was truly too kind.
Lila’s attention was pulled by Meifeng talking and it made her blood boil. On one hand Lila thanked the stars that Meifeng had the bare minimum self awareness to know that she fucked up least week. Like wow, congratulations Meifeng for stating the fucking obvious. At least the leader of the local PRA wasn’t a complete waste of air. On the other hand, how dare she try to make amends without taking action to make things better. Would there be someone there to check the bitch who had a clear problem with her anger? Would there be any accountability? Lila eyes shifted from Luca to Meifeng and immediately shifted them again to the PRA agent next to her. Lila still could not look at Meifeng while she wore that costume. And then Meifeng said that she hoped that the coven and the PRA would have a positive relationship going forward and Lila’s eyes finally allowed her to look Meifeng directly in the face.
“A positive relationship, a positive-” Lila pulled the words back as she shot her arms up to the sky, turning her head to Stormy. She did not know if he would understand the look she was giving him but she hoped it read as ‘you fucking dick, how dare you fucking play nice with these fucking Feds after what they did to us’. Lila hated talking to the Feds, she hated that she was silencing herself because Stormy was trying to play diplomat, and this anger was uniquely her own. Lila shifted her eyes back to Meifeng as she leaned back into her chair, crossing her arms as she did. “It’s going to take more than words for some of us. We got gassed, I got tased, Jasper got tased twice, Luca nearly died, a fucking church burned down,” Lila paused as she shook her head. It was a mistake for her to come over here, it would’ve been a mistake to go anywhere else alone right now, and all Lila wanted to do was go home and take a shower to get the smell of beer out of her hair. This sucked. “I do appreciate the apology but you’re not forgiven.”
“I’ll have sex on the beach,” Lynn said to the bartender before she returned to her beer.
Lynn turned her attention to Bianca and her smile faded just a little. Thinking about her past with Kari was not something she expected when she started this day, but she would need to keep her mind off of the subject as much as possible if she was going to keep up the facade of being okay. “That’s rough, I’m sorry you were on the other end of all that. Maybe she was just not ready for a relationship at the time, you know?” Lynn knew that these words were originally used against her, and the memory made her smile fade even more.
Lynn looked around the table, at all the unfamiliar faces and waved. No one had listened to Bianca and introduced themselves but Lynn would not let that last. “I’m Lynn, I’m sure you all know who we are because you’re the Feds and are in our phones,” she smiled as she finished. She turned to Bianca and winked. It was nice catching up with Bianca, while the two were not exactly close back then it was still refreshing to actually be able to hold a conversation with someone that wasn’t Lila, Luca, or Jasper. Bianca was also a good drinking buddy thus far, proper etiquette and all. Lynn knew that she would want to hang out more after tonight, even if she was a fed.
Luca suggested the greatest thing in the world in that moment, however, and somehow Lynn’s phone had appeared in her hand with the camera ready to go before she even moved a muscle. She quickly took one photo of the group together and frowned at the results. Luca and Jasper looked cute, but Lila was just staring off into space. “Lila, come on! Smile,” Lynn said with a playful tone. Lila turned her attention to the camera, flipped it off, and then smiled a big smile. Lynn quickly snapped the photo and looked at the result and smiled. Perfection. “Now lean in close,” Lynn said and she watched as Jasper pulled Luca in from his shoulder, and Lila leaned over with an annoyed look on her face. Lynn clicked the camera several times before she looked at the photos. Not quite perfection but Jasper and Luca, once again, looked cute. “We will need a group photo though once we’re done here.”.
Lynn turned to Meifeng and smirked. “Yeah, it’s going to take a minute for us to really get over all that. I’m lucky that whoever shot at me was a bad shot,” Lynn’s smirk grew larger, “though I think I’d be more partial to forgive and forget if a certain wolf figure is found and the threat of a sudden death removed from my and my friends possible futures.”
Jasper made sure to support Luca by holding him as tightly as he could without crushing the smaller man. Jasper was beyond happy that Luca appeared back to normal more so than just before, and having him this close only made that happiness swell. Jasper followed Luca’s lead and helped walk them towards the new drinking area and even after they sat down he kept his arm across Luca’s shoulders. Jasper squeezed his friend as he leaned in. ”As soon as you want to go we’ll go,” Jasper paused as he watched Lynn begin to take some photos, posing for them as she requested, ” I’m on your schedule for the rest of the night.”. He pulled his hand off Luca’s shoulder but carried it gently across his back as he did. For some reason Jasper really liked having his hands on Luca.
Jasper listened to Lila and Lynn as they aired their grievances about the PRA raid but it appeared they were keeping themselves calm for this meeting. Jasper knew that Lila was only here for Luca, and for Stormys aura. Lynn was only here because there were free drinks. He also knew that he was here for Luca, and whatever that meant. He did not expect this meeting to last forever and he was ready for a long nights sleep. But he was not apart of the conversation, nor was it something he was particularly interested in joining in on. Maybe it was actually time to think about whatever he was feeling? It was in this somewhat calm meeting that Jasper took a deep breath, closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and looked inward for just a minute.
Despite him trying to clear it his mind refused to fully vacate. He felt like he was not doing enough to help this coven, that he was worthless if a fight broke out, and that his whole life had been turned upside down within a weeks time. There was so much he still needed to do with his art, so much expectations on the pieces he had not finished, and a constant worry that if he did not keep pushing himself artistically he’d be forgotten and worthless. But then he thought shot Luca, and his smile, and all that fear, doubt, and insecurity melted away. He opened his eyes and looked back to Luca with a smile. A warmth radiated from within once more. Jasper still did not want to question anything much further tonight, but he knew better than to not embrace the feeling he was feeling. It was a cozy place to be after all.
Jasper turned to Luca as he pulled out his phone. ”I know we got one earlier but let’s take another one,” Jasper said as he pulled out his camera app and pointed to the camera, ”a proper photo, just for us.”.
Following the coordinates that Ruby put out (that Naomi thought was a bad idea given the shitshow that was a week ago), Naomi and James pushed through the foliage until they made it to the clearing in the middle. A few members of Greenwood were already there… Jess was there wearing a cowboy outfit, with her grandfather’s little leather hat that she had as her channeler on her head. Kashmira was there wearing an orange Saree, hands together that were painted with henna. Pearl was dressed as a Jiangshi by painting her skin. Most notably… Autumn was dressed as Didi Pickles, pushing a large stroller with a blanket in front of it.
“Heh, nice costumes, ya’ll,” James said as he walked up… he and Naomi were dressed up in Adidas tracksuits with a black fedoras and comically large gold chains… but James had his axe in hand.
“Why, thank you,” Kashmira said, “It’s not much of a costume, but…”
“To the white people, it is,” James chuckled, then he turned to Autumn. “And oooh boy, fuckin’... Didi Pickles?” He laughed.
“It’s so we can put your axe and Sully’s cup in here,” Autumn answered.
“What do you think is gonna happen?” James raised Shango’s Axe in the air. “We gonna start another gang war?”
“Ruby thinks we should be prepared just in case… we did get outed, after all,” Autumn said.
“Good point, good point,” James said as he slung the axe over his shoulder. “Where is Ruby anyway?”
“She said “she had business” to attend to,” Jess said, finger-quoting. “She’ll catch up.”
“So, are we gonna hop on the Ferry, or is Amelia gonna teleport us there?” James asked.
“Amelia… when she gets here,” Pearl answered.
“Is Sully coming?” James asked,
“From what I heard, yes,” Autumn answered before she shrugged, “I guess we just wait.”
That was when Naomi pulled a blunt out of her pocket and grinned.
“Let’s spark up before the Ass-Eater gets here!”
“Too late! You’re busted, buddy!” bellowed a deep, disembodied voice.
The bushes shook violently as a silhouette moved behind them, the figure large enough to be the fabled sasquatch, accompanied by a quiet string of curses as they struggled to break through the natural barrier of the brush. The figure finally broke through and revealed himself not to be the world’s most outgoing bigfoot but rather just a large man wearing worn-in dress shoes, a pair of dark slacks, a loose-fitting suit jacket, and a white button-up shirt and a black tie that appeared to have been tied by a toddler. Lines of golden tape were wrapped around the wrists of the jacket. The man was sporting a neatly trimmed mustache, the razor burn still fresh on his neck, and he gave the group a shit-eating grin as he adjusted the nametag pinned to his jacket that read Sully.
The Chalice, of course, was accompanying him, although it was currently acting as a hat stand for his airline pilot cap. Sully snatched the cap and, with a needlessly theatrical flourish, donned it and put the final touches on his costume.
“Ta-da. Pretty good, huh?!” said Sully, rubbing his upper lip. “But….be real, the mustache doesn’t give off molesty vibes, does it?”
“Nice,” Naomi chuckled, as she tried to sneakily put the blunt back before Sully put ass on it.
“Y’know, I don’t think the mustache is bad,” James said as he slung his axe over both of his shoulders, “But, you look weird as fuck without a beard, y’know?”
James chuckled.
“Me? Beard or no beard, I’m a pretty boy, hehehehe!” James laughed.
“Oh, lord,” Naomi said with a roll of her eyes.
“You two, put your Agents in here,” Autumn said as she threw the blanket over the stroller.
“Two seconds,” said Sully as he took a chug from the Chalice before casually tossing it into the stroller. He wasn’t going to get fleeced out of fifteen dollars at the festival for a badly poured Miller Lite. “Don’t let that baby out of your sight.”
Then James put his axe in the stroller and Autumn threw the cover right back over it. She still had her necklace around her neck.
“Yeah, Rubes is real scared that a gang war is gonna break out the one time the cops are gonna be crawling all over something that’s not a donut shop or a minority,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head… then she chuckled.
“Okay, so if we see a group of people finger snapping and dancing around with knives we beat feet,” said Sully with a laugh, doubting that there would actually be any conflict at the Halloween Festival. What kind of assholes would want to ruin something like that?
His phone chimed as he got a text message. Sully had felt so guilty about ignoring Auri regarding his well-being, especially after she’d dropped the bombshell on him about their dead friends (he’d remembered the phone call, but not the night), that he made sure to keep his phone charged and to check in with her every morning—even if it meant having to come up with excuses for missing the funerals rather than admitting that they just made him too uncomfortable. However, ever since that dream the damn thing had been getting blown up. This time it was just spam. He swiped it away as a lightbulb turned on in his head.
“You know, I got a way we don’t have to worry about the police if shit does pop off. If you roll with one of theirs the others will leave you alone,” said Sully, rubbing his chin. Cops were essentially like a gang in that way. “Drake, an old high school slash Sycamore buddy of mine is on the force—but he’s cool, really!” Sully waved his hands frantically as if trying to preemptively slap off the accusations of being a narc. Unaware of the events from last week, Sully added, “He’s not the punch-a-minority type at all!”
“But honestly, he’s been texting me and I get the vibe that he needs to be around people. He’s had a real rough go at it lately,” said Sully. “I’d feel like a real dick if I didn’t hang out with him tonight. Cool if I invite him?”
Jess put her hands behind her head as she looked at Sully and shrugged, “I mean, if he’s a friend of yours, he’s a friend of ours!”
“He gotta pass the vibecheck first!” James clapped his hands together, a devious grin’s on his face.
“Yeah, we gotta see if he’s chill like us!” Naomi said.
“I mean,” Autumn began. “If the others are okay with it, I am.”
“Heck yeah!” Sully pumped his fist. He decided it was best to keep to himself that he wanted to keep Drake in his sights to make sure he wasn’t going to do something reckless. He was ninety-five percent sure that text had just been a joke, but just in case he wanted Drake to be under his responsible adult supervision. “Yeah, we can totally jump him in. Hold on, lemme give him a call.”
Sully stepped a couple feet away from the group and called Drake, “Hey bay-bay. I’m about to head to the festival with some folks. You wanna just roll together instead of trying to find each other in the crowd, man?”
”We can, but I’m on the ferry right now with Victoria, Amanda, and Nikki!" Drake began, "Wait, what costume are you rolling in? We could have been matching!"
“Shit dude maybe it ain’t too late. I’m going as Sully,” said Sully, not realizing that the bit didn’t land without the visual and even then it was milquetoast at best. Hearing that Drake was with people took a little of the edge off. “What are you going as?” he asked, putting his hand over the receiver as he loudly whispered to the Greenwood Coven. “He’s in. We’re coordinating.”
Naomi raised a thumb as Drake answered with an obnoxious yell:
”I’m goin as ZOOOOOOOOOS!”
Sully ripped the phone away from his ear in pain, only putting it back as Drake stopped yelling. “Like caged elephants and lions and shit? That sounds complicated.”
”Naw, I just got this toga, these sandals, a fake beard and white hair, and I’m Gucci!” Drake answered.
“Oh right. I could make that work,” said Sully, looking around at nothing but trees and shrubs. “Anyway, being the Chosen One I no longer take public transportation. Exclusively teleportation from here on out. Y’all choose a meeting place and my crew will swing by. See you soon, bro.”
Sully hung up the phone and turned to the members of Greenwood, “Anybody got a white sheet?”
“What? You’re going as a Klan Me-” James said with a shit-eating grin, before he got jabbed by Naomi’s elbow.
“Cut it out,” Naomi said.
“Oh, is that a bad idea?” said Sully, sharing the shit-eating grin. “I figured since it’s on Cracker Island…”
The bushes rustled, and everyone’s eyes were brought there as they hoped it wasn’t an intruder. However, it was none other than Amelia Taylor Dallon, wearing blue jeans tucked into cowboy boots and a black long-sleeve button-up shirt…
… With cat ears on.
“Yooooooooooo!” James shouted, “Don’t tell me that’s your fucking costume?”
Amelia nodded, “Yes.”
“Putting cat ears over regular ass clothes is not a costume,”
“Yes it is.”
“I mean, technically, I’m not wearing a costume,” Kashmira added.
“It’s different, tho,” Jessica said.
“How so?” Kashmira said.
“Because there’s nothing wrong with not wearing a costume,” said Sully. “But calling just cat ears a costume just feels…I dunno, man. It feels like a copout. Some people here shaved their beard for this—like Jess. What’s the actual costume supposed to be? Person who forgot it was Halloween until ten minutes before they were supposed to go to the party?”
That’s what I’m saying!” Jess said as she reached down for her fake revolvers, “I’m the last cowboy in this town, ya’ll!”
“I’m a lil’ kitty!” Amelia said, not realizing the full implication of what she just fucking said, “I mean, you two are no event wearing costumes either!” Amelia shot back.
“Hold on; I expected ya’ll not to get it!” Naomi laughed, “But ever hear of Run-DMC?” Then she gestured downwards.
“No,” Amelia responded.
“Of course you wouldn’t!” Naomi said, “Ain’t your girlfriend dressing up as a Mo-”
“Oh, hold on, everyone!” James raised his hands to accentuate his point, “We are getting off track here. We’re supposed to be teleporting to the island since, APPARENTLY hopping on a ferry is too good for us.”
He let the words hang in the air as he looked around, with his hands up.
“... So, let’s fucking get to the island already and get lit!”
Everyone cheered… and without further ado, a wind was summoned that carried leaves and the Greenwood Coven were teleported to Cracker Island.
Nikki Watanabe, Amanda, & Victoria Blackmore
The Halloween Festival, Docks to Festival Market.
Drake scratched his “beard”.
As part of this costume that Victoria made for him he had a wig and a fake beard that had that weird plant-crown thing. Drake had a toga on; naturally, Victoria wanted it to cover his whole chest, but Drake ain’t going to the gym for nothing! He let the left side hang and revealed his fucking dinner plate pecs! His costume.
He was Zeus.
Drake went over to the edge of the ferry and hung his head off it, getting barraged by the winds as he got closer and closer to Cracker Island! A funny ass name if he said so himself. However, he looked back at his sisters (and cousin), and the rest of them were dressed up as other Greek Gods. Victoria dressed up as Athena, Amanda dressed up as Artemis, Nikki dressed up as Hestia… and the Blackmore Triplets dressed up as Cerebus, one big dog costume. It was pretty goofy, but this was the first time Drake had attended the Halloween Festival in years since that was for kids! The boat docked and the Blackmores got off the boat, with Victoria pushing the stroller with her triplets.
“So…” Amanda said as she skipped. “Where are your friends at?”
“Shit, I gotta call Sully,” Drake said.
“While I do want to have that talk…” Victoria trailed off, “I’m not going to have the triplets around while you all drink.”
“It’s cool…” Drake went through his contacts until he found Sully’s, and hit call…
…and a phone rang from behind Drake as Sully struck, wrapping his arms around Drake’s chest from behind and began lifting him in a bear hug.
“ZOOOOOOOOOS MY BOY! HA HA!” yelled Sully, a pained grunt escaping from his mouth as he felt his muscles rebel against the deadlift. He spun Drake around and exchanged with him the classic handshake that gets pulled into a hug, the universal sign of true bros everywhere. “Goddamn Drake you committed to the costume. You’re sculpted out of solid fucking marble man!”
It was at that moment Sully noticed the rest of the Blackmores, including the children. He pulled at the color of his button up and grimaced, acting before he could get chastised, “Oh, sorry Vic. Good to see you and the kiddos.”
“Hold on, lemme introduce everybody. This is Drake, Amanda, Victoria, and Nikki. And this is,” Sully stumbled over his words as he turned as he realized introducing them all as Greenwood was a bad, stupid, dumb idea. He gestured broadly at whatever members of the Greenwood Coven had followed behind him, “Uhhhh, this is everybody!”
“... THE GANG!” Jessica shouted.
“I’m James,” He said with a shit-eating grin.
“Naomi,” She said as she hugged him.
“Pearl,”
“Autumn,”
“Kashmira Sarai!”
“I’m the rootinus tootinus Jessica Rosefey!” She hopped over and extended a hand to Drake. “It's great to meet ya’!”
Drake looked down at her hand, then grinned.
“... Colorful group of friends you got here, Sully,” Drake said as he shook her hand.
“We’re missing the “leader” of our friend group, Rubes,” Jess said.
“She probably forgot to come!” James shouted.
“She said she’ll be her-”
“...Are those cat ears?!” Drake shouted. “And are you two wearing fedoras!?”
“Run-DMC…” Naomi facepalmed, “Ever heard of ‘em?”
Sully had shifted over to Autumn and was quite obvious as attempted to quietly dig through her stroller, nearly cutting his hand on James’s axe. He shoved something under his jacket and rejoined Drake by his side, loudly whispering to his friend as he winked at Naomi, “They’re Aerosmith’s backup singers. Now we can wait for Ruby to join us if we want or leave her a trail of breadcrumbs if we don’t, but first we should be mature, fiscally responsible adults.”
Sully pulled his hand out of his jacket, revealing the Chalice of their dreams, and threw his other arm around Drake’s shoulder. “Let’s pregame! Just one drink, I swear.”
“TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!”
One drink had become many. Two clearly drunk men stumbled their way through crowds surrounding the vendors, unbothered by the continuing rain or how they had gotten separated from the rest of their group. Red wine splashed from Sully’s Chalice as he pumped it up and down in the air with their chanting. Drake was still dressed like Zeus but at some point Sully had traded out his pilot costume and ascended Mt. Olympus for a toga of his own, anointing himself as the avatar of Dionysus. However, this Dionysus had gotten his pilot’s license, because Sully still wore the cap. The two had the brilliant idea to turn the Halloween Festival into a toga party, partially inspired by everyone’s inability to lay off Amelia for not wearing an actual costume. They were now on an extremely important mission. Their goal? Secure more togas.
If there was anywhere to find an abundance of white sheets large enough to cover a body, it had to be on Cracker Island.
“TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!”
The parading Parthenon party proceeded to bless the various stalls with their presence, empowered by the hands and voices raised at them in prayer and most certainly not anger or annoyance. Blitzed and bumbling, the bros were blissfully unaware that they were about to cross their paths with a sister of Scylla and a worshiper of Artemis. Blending her way through the crowds and the stalls was a young woman in a black channeling the spirit of an executioner: hood up, face covered. She stalked, shifted, and shoved her way closer to her destination, her mind so focused on the onetrack ahead of her that everything around her darkened as she tunneled oneward. She was locked in; a storm cloud chasing a murder of crows.
“TOGA! TOGA! TO-GYAH!!”
Sully and Vashti collided together, their two very important missions pulled to a grinding halt by a chance and literal run-in outside of Auri’s shuttered stall that knocked both of them down. Vashti was the first up, back to her feet with a lightning fast kip-up, eyes wild, fingers tensed back and ready to strike down the sudden assailant. Sully was much slower, content to take the moment on his back as he caught his breath and stared in amazement at the Chalice he still held above him, shocked by how none of the wine had spilled, forgetting that Drake and him had already drank the last fill. Sully managed to sit himself up, hoping that he didn’t soil the back of his toga with any mud, and found the Unabomber burning a hole through his skull. He only recognized Vashti when she pulled her shawl down. From the rumors he’d heard, he would’ve preferred that it had been the Unabomber.
“Hey, bro,” said Vashti as she squatted down and got eye level. “You seen Lila?”
“Uh, hey, uh, no,” said Sully, noting her intenseness even through his own drunkenness. She looked like she was ready to rip his head off. In times like these, there was only one solution. A splash of blood red wine slopped over the rim of the Chalice as Sully’s hand shook. “Want a drink?”
A frenzied look crossed Vashti’s face as her lips cracked and peeled apart, tongue scraping against her teeth as it tasted the wet air, her hand slicing through the air with swiftness and precision. Sully closed his eyes tight, his breathing stilled and his knuckles white.
The world went dark.
The rain stopped.
The clouds dispersed.
The sun had set.
The stars aligned.
“Toga, toga, toga!”
A conga line had formed: Sully, Drake, and Vashti. The hoodie had been ditched for a fresh, crisp toga that revealed old scars, new bruises, and detailed tattoos on Vashti’s arms of sea monsters, storms, and witches burning at the stake. She took a swig of the Chalice, the warmth of the wine melting her ice cold blood, and passed it back up the line, taking the opportunity to “accidentally” press up against Drake. For now, what Lila had coming her way was nothing more than a thought struggling to swim in the cesspool of Vashti’s mind. Thirsty glances at Drake’s physique and the feel-good buzz of alcohol that counteracted whatever else had run its course in her system helped to hold down the thoughts of Lila’s doom until the bubbles stopped coming to the surface, free of the violent thoughts until they bloated and bobbed back up to the surface like they always did regardless of how many stones she put in their pockets or cement blocks she tied to their limbs.
Vashti smiled.
“Toga, toga, toga!”
In the blink of an eye, the conga line began to reek of marijuana as another guest added on, grabbing onto the back of Vashti’s shoulders was none other than Ruby White. Also drunk off her tits and high as a kite, she had a toga of her own on, but it was unknown if that was her costume or she saw the conga line and decided to change attire (though with Ruby it could be one or the other).
“Toga, toga, toga!”
It was all fun and games…
“... Vashti.”
… Until the party pooper came.
Emily G. Reed, in fresh dragon pajamas after getting literally shit on and bombed. She had her fists on her hip as the disappointment on her face could be sensed by a blind man!
“... Where the hell were you?” Emily asked, tilting her head. “Those sluts beat me up!”
Vashti broke free of the toga line.
“I said I’ll handle it, Emily. Look!” she jerked her head towards Drake. “I’m trying to get that slut over there to beat me up, too. You know what they say: when the goalie’s six feet under you’re basically guaranteed to score. So come on dude, don’t cockblock me okay, geez!”
Then Vashti grabbed Emily’s wrist and began pulling her to join the line as she shouted, “Sully!! TOGA!!!”
“Wha- no!” Emily shook her head, before she looked at Drake, baring teeth as she stomped on the ground. “... BLACKMORE!”
“... Drake,” he said, flipping his fake wig. “Drake Blackmore. You forget there are like five... No, like seven. Seven of us.”
“Your slutty frie-”
A shadow loomed over Emily as Sully tossed a balled-up blanket her way, and it hit her directly in the face - unfurling somewhat as it draped down both sides of her. She was awestruck as she took a moment to pull the cloth off her and hold it in both hands. As she looked up at Vashti,
“Okay, I got the fuckin’ dragon pajamas Miranda got me to wear, but there is no way I am…” Emily sighed. Wearing this stupid toga over her dragon costume, making her look even stupider.
“... Toga, toga… toga…” Emily muttered while in the conga line, doing this idiotic dance.
Interactions: A Gaggle of Dipshits, and his Friends
Isle of Cracks
”I apologize. I hope that from here on, the Coven and PRA can have a positive relationship."
I’ve seen conservative politicians lie better than that, Liao, he thought to himself. He was willing to believe that there existed such a reality in which Meifeng genuinely felt bad about what she did. But he was not born yesterday, and Lila, being the only one really staring Stormy down intensely right now, would be able to see the subtle expression of… Unamusement on his face that no one else could. It was easy for him to keep things from strangers, but his friends were always very good at reading him like a kindergarten-level book.
And he knew better than to believe that the PRA wanted a positive relationship with them. Police officers didn’t give a rat’s ass about having a positive relationship with the communities they regulated, prison guards couldn’t give a shit maintaining a positive relationship with inmates. It wasn’t in their job description to play nice with people, especially not when there wasn’t anyone around to hold them accountable. That was why Stormy decided to extend an olive branch to these people. Not to befriend them, but to know his enemy.
His drink came by, a dark and stormy. The man who ordered it did so as a joke, hoping someone would pick up on just how absolutely masterful his sense of humor was. He took a contemplative sip of it and measured his words carefully, and professionally.
”It is not my place to decide whether you should be forgiven. And I have no right to take you up on your offer. But, I’m glad you mention it… I was not present when you overstepped,” he explained factually, without any audible judgment. ”But my understanding of your command structure is that you have a superior you answer to. Director Alcott, I believe their name is? Do they allow you the freedom to maintain a positive relationship with us? With Greenwood? 8th Street?” It was taking a monumental effort to be calm right now. When he first heard about the raid, Stormy was tempted to hop into his car and hunt them all down for sport, like something out of a movie. But there were more important things to worry about at the time.
Similarly, there were things more important in the present moment than being outwardly hostile. Lila and Lynn were absolutely right. He could play nice with them, but under no circumstances was he going to be friendly with them.
”You were angry, because Kali Mahendra was killed. We were angry because he was killed. Now, my friends can tell you that I be irrational myself,” Stormy damn near tore Britney’s head clean off when he first saw her during the reunion... And when he learned about what she did a decade ago. ”But… Was there not a better way to prove we were innocent? You are a government agency, you likely knew exactly where we were at the time of his death, every last one of us. And more importantly, you had to have known that we were all returning here for a reason, including Kali; An agent who our leader contacted.”
He said all this as if he were presenting evidence in a court room. Not an accusation in sight, just cold, clinical observation. ”Would agent Mahendra not have reported that information to you? It stands to reason that, because you have- had two of our former members working under you, your department would have known about our reunion long before we arrived.”
There is something that goes unsaid, there: You have no excuse.
”So, I’m sure you can understand why your apology isn’t easy to believe.”
Interactions: Sloane @Atrophy & Jack @Blizz Resort Bar -> The Festival
“It sounds like Jack doesn’t trust our taste in men, Anya,”
”His loss,” Anya laughed lightly. It was fine that Jack rejected their very generous offer. She could understand his reasoning somewhat… Though she couldn’t really understand why anyone would want to be in a relationship in the first place. Ah well. She was the odd one out there, Anya mused as she finished the fourth drink she’d magically ordered.
The alcohol was beginning to go a bit to her head. Four cocktails stronger than the wine she normally drank over a whole night would do that. She was still very much aware, though. More than aware enough to look at Sloane in surprise when she spilled exactly what had been on her mind without any subtly prying questions on Anya’s part to wheedle it out of her.
”Of course he didn’t,” Anya said coldly, eyes narrowing. She’d never had good opinions of Drake, and wasn’t close enough to Jade like Sloane was to start to see him in anything but a negative light. ”Drake doesn’t have the ability to see beyond his own narrow point of view, or realise the harm he’s done.”
She scoffed, shaking her head. Out of nowhere Sloane slammed the table and Anya jumped, half falling out of her chair and very gracefully catching herself with a hand on the table. Her head swam slightly. Ah. Drinking while sitting down was always dangerous, it seemed, because it hit harder upon standing up. No matter. She could handle being lightly inebriated.
”But you’re right, he isn’t worthy of even a single thought. Instead, let’s enjoy the rest of the night.”
She stood up properly, smoothing out her skirts and quickly making sure her hair was still all in place. All good after a near fall. Perfectly saved, Anya.
”Shall we?” Anya smiled at both Jack and Sloane, taking the lead in leaving the resort bar to an empty area where Jack could teleport them. The trip back was more disorienting than the one there. Perhaps drinking pre teleportation wasn’t the smartest idea, nausea roiling unpleasantly in Anya’s stomach. She smoothed out her rather ugly expression before the other two could look at her.
They were just a short distance from the festival proper, hidden by the shadows of one of the few actual buildings in the area. It was a quick few steps to get to the stalls.
Anya nearly immediately wanted to leave and go back to the resort bar for another four drinks.
“Toga, toga, toga!”
”Oh. My. God.” Anya must be seeing things. Had those four drinks gone to her head more than she thought? She was slightly tipsy, but not drunk enough to start hallucinating.
Anya’s eyes were assaulted by haphazard togas that barely covered skin she had no interest in seeing. Even on the path to inebriation she’d rather men’s chests were kept well within clothing- But it was the people in the budget Greek God conga line that had her wanting to hit her head against a rock so she could forget all about it. Sully, Drake, some fake redhead, Vashti and… Emily G. Reed.
Slapping a hand over her mouth, Anya stifled a combination of laughter and gagging. At least Emily wasn’t bearing it all for the world to see - but the whole thing was ridiculous. And horrible. What an embarassment. A line of complete and utter fools. Worse, drunken fools. She wanted to get very very far away from it.
Ah! Sloane had already been upset once by seeing Drake! Witnessing this was even worse.
In a move very unlike Anya, who disliked most physical contact, she reached out with the intention of grasping Sloane’s shoulders. Assuming Sloane didn’t dodge it, Anya would try to spin her around to face the other way - didn’t matter how much, as long as Drake wasn’t in view.
”Didn’t you say you should check on your stall, Sloane? Let's go there now.” At the same time she looked at Jack, expression begging him to play along. Hopefully Sloane hadn’t seen them. Or heard them. It wasn’t like Anya had paused and stared for a good moment before reacting. ”Best to get work out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the night!”
“Maybe she wasn’t,” Bianca shrugged. She raised her glass with a smile. “Here’s to fresher pastures.”
Bianca’s suggestion they introduce themselves was ignored, but that didn’t really bother her. She waited for Lynn to be done with her photos
"Since nobody else wants to introduce themselves, I'll just take you through them," Bianca said to Lynn. "You already know Meifeng, and the maid next to her is Cindy. As for the power raaangersss." She pointed to Trevor first, finger moving along with each name. "Trevor, the HR violator. Fiona, our youngest. Samson, who asked if Stormy was my boyfriend during the shootout situation… as if. Leon... Yeah, I know, confusing when you have your own Leon. And Maximilian, who just got here."
Bianca then turned back to the main conversation, which was mostly Stormy and Lila ripping into Meifeng for her apology. Which was fair, after what had happened. Stormy talked a lot and… it did make sense.
"Hey, let me just jump in here," Bianca held up her hand as if that was needed to talk, before continuing. "Look, Stormy, it wasn't just about Kali. That was a part of it... But you're so mad because people, friends, got hurt. You'd go after anyone who attacked other coven members, right?"
She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to figure out a way to say this that would get through to Stormy without sounding like she was excusing an, admittedly, poor action. It wasn't like she could entirely distance herself from that either, since she'd had the option to sit it out.
"A big part of it was Everleigh beating me up in the Veni parking lot for absolutely no reason. It was my day off, I was trying to make sure the situation didn't get out of control... And Everleigh slammed me with a shadow fist for sending a text. If the situation was reversed, if I'd punched Everleigh multiple times while the rest of my group was starting a gang war, would you not go after me and my... Uh, friends, in that situation?" Bianca frowned, taking a sip of her drink. "Not justifying it, but it was more than just Kali... It was also one of her agents getting attacked unprovoked."
That whole situation had been a shitshow. She should've just stayed out of it... But her boosting had also helped keep people safe.
“Just wanted to fill in the missing details, y’know.”
The Halloween Festival. The Beach Bar. Cracker Island.
”Oh.” Luca turned to Trevor with an apologetic smile. ”Are your hands alright? Sorry about uh… the rotting. I can’t do anything about it without this guy,” he gestured to Stormy with his thumb, ”to keep it under control. I appreciate it, though, I’m okay cause you healed me… Well it was you guys fault I was like that, heh, but all good now.”
Trevor raised his now-bandage-free hands.
"Naw, it's all good now!" Trevor began with a grin from underneath this mask, "Had to get Maximilian to drive me to the Seattle Office so their healer can heal me."
He laughed.
"Who heals the healer, indeed!"
Though, the "Coven" were currently laying into Meifeng. Not that Trevor could blame 'im! That was none of his business, unfortunately!
”It is not my place to decide whether you should be forgiven. And I have no right to take you up on your offer. But, I’m glad you mention it… I was not present when you overstepped. But my understanding of your command structure is that you have a superior you answer to. Director Alcott, I believe their name is? Do they allow you the freedom to maintain a positive relationship with us? With Greenwood? 8th Street?”
Cindy laughed, almost snorting the margita out of her nostrils.
"Director Alcott is like so above this," Cindy answered, "They are concerned with the organization as a whole, not every little thing each office is doing."
"What she said," Meifeng answered. "Director Alcott wants the city under control by any means necessary. They do not mind if we work with benevolent groups such as Greenwood and you all..."
"8th Street..." Cindy snorted. "Every morning, I tell Meifeng that today should be the day we end Emily G. Reed's reign of terror! Maybe taking out Vashti and Emily will put them on the straight and narrow." She laughed.
"We tolerate 8th St... for now," Meifeng flatly said. Again, she kept quiet about their little deal with 8th Street for obvious reasons. "As a little thank you for their contributions towards eliminating a certain group."
”You were angry, because Kali Mahendra was killed. We were angry because he was killed. Now, my friends can tell you that I be irrational myself. But… Was there not a better way to prove we were innocent? You are a government agency, you likely knew exactly where we were at the time of his death, every last one of us. And more importantly, you had to have known that we were all returning here for a reason, including Kali; An agent who our leader contacted.”
"I was the one tracking you all! Including your weird ass porn habits! I think I'm going to ne-" Trevor tried to butt in and got a sharp elbow from Meifeng.
Meifeng took a sip of her drink... which was halfway empty, and then shook her head as she answered, "You do know the field we are in, correct?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Supernatural crimes... while we did have all of your locations, Agent Mahendra was conveniently in a place where there were..." Meifeng raised a finger with each point. "... No cameras, witnesses, or traces of a killer. By my logic, one of you used magic to kill him and cover your tracks. Would that be too far out of reason?"
Meifeng sighed.
"While Agent Mahendra told me a lot, there was a lot of information he was... withholding. It was clear he wasn't the right person to send," Meifeng glanced at Bianca momentarily.
"Let me point out that I was against the whole plan for him to go undercover to begin with," Cindy laughed as she flicked the feather duster in the air. Meifeng was silent as Cindy continued, "Just look where it got us!"
"Hey, let me just jump in here. Look, Stormy, it wasn't just about Kali. That was a part of it... But you're so mad because people, friends, got hurt. You'd go after anyone who attacked other coven members, right? A big part of it was Everleigh beating me up in the Veni parking lot for absolutely no reason. It was my day off, I was trying to make sure the situation didn't get out of control... And Everleigh slammed me with a shadow fist for sending a text. If the situation was reversed, if I'd punched Everleigh multiple times while the rest of my group was starting a gang war, would you not go after me and my... Uh, friends, in that situation? Not justifying it, but it was more than just Kali... It was also one of her agents getting attacked unprovoked. Just wanted to fill in the missing details, y’know.”
"That was the major contributor," Meifeng began, shaking her head as she said, "Nobody hurts my agents."
Then Meifeng's mind was brought to the other thing, and she spoke to Stormy,
"... One of your members attempted to outright kidnap someone, as well. Then that all-out gang war..." Meifeng shook her head. "... Let me shut up."
“I do appreciate the apology but you’re not forgiven.”
”So, I’m sure you can understand why your apology isn’t easy to believe.”
Meifeng took a sip of the margarita she shared with Cindy and then lifted her head as she answered with a simple...
"... Then don't."
Meifeng knew that from here on in, action would speak louder than words, and honestly, she didn't want anything to do with any of the Coven groups. The only issue is that Director Alcott wanted that Stygian Snake... and it was clear that one of its keys was the Sycamore Tree Coven. Not that she was going to tell them that the PRA's goal in St. Portwell was anything but eliminating the radical factions such as the Wolfpack, Dollhouse, and the leftover Nazis.
Unlike a certain someone in their presence.
"I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you all to forgive me. I apologized, and you all chose not to accept it, as you have the choice to, as you are all adults. Only actions can fix things, yes?" Meifeng began her speech, then sighed. "It won't ever happen again; I can only promise that."
Cracker Island. Halloween Festival. Not-The-Kids’ Section. @Punished GN
The plan hadn’t worked, and so Shayton had slipped the dummy phone back inside its pocket, although he was aware eyes remained on it.
As he viewed it, the "Kid" was a lot smarter than a kid... Shayton's guess at the moment was that this bastard was a shapeshifter who’d assumed the form of a child to throw off suspicion.
Yet, that hadn’t explained why Maggy had jumped straight to shooting him. Shayton remained stony-faced; he had complete control of the situation, even if the ‘boy’ believed he was in control. There was that temptation to phone Luis so he could send a heavy hitter like The Pale Horse, but he knew the kid would snatch his actual or one of his burners... and he didn't need help, anyway..
Not now.
Not ever.
"Last time we spoke, you told me something: These days, everyone is a target. They don’t know it yet. I remembered that, just like I'd guess you're not the kind of person I'd expect to see playing games with a bunch of Nazi assholes and some losers on bikes. I wasn't born yesterday."
"Correct," Shayton answered. "On both accounts."
What is his angle...?
"And I'm still old enough to know that people don't just appear with holes in their bodies, like your last boss did. Nice of you to let me take the fall for that with the G-Men."
"Hmph... I killed Judas because, despite acting like he was the big man, he made it clear he was going to crack under pressure," Shayton calmly answered. "Someone like him doesn't belong in the business."
He was silent for a moment before he said,
"Sorry that it interfered with your investigation, but other hands are at play here."
"I still have questions since you cut into that last conversation. Father Wolf. Dollhouse. Ashley Stone. You know enough. Who is coming after a bunch of washed up ex-high schoolers? And your bosses, the real ones this time, what's their play in this? Because I'm sure, you don't want that bit of information spreading around town, any more than it may have gone already."
Shayton grinned, the kid’s expression crinkling further..
"... Just so you know, I can escape at any given moment; I just don't want to mess up my suit," Shayton laughed softly before he wiped that smile off his face and answered earnestly. "As far as Ashley Stone, Father Wolf, and the murders... You are getting ahead of yourself because I know nothing about that. I am hoping to eliminate whoever is behind it all as serial killers are... bad for business."
Shayton remained quiet for a moment before he continued, "As far as I am concerned, Dollhouse has nothing to do with the murders. But, even if they did, I would not tell you because I'd be setting myself for death."
Shayton let the words hang in the air; he didn't answer the question about his bosses as Clancy probably would have guessed his bosses are Dollhouse.
"Does that answer your questions? If not, that's unfortunate because I'm done with this discussion," Shayton adjusted his sunglasses as he narrowed his eyes at Clancy, "Let go of me before I break free and make sure you never get off this island..." Shayton narrowed his eyes at Clancy and punctuated his point with...
"... Kid."
Shayton was unblinking as he stared at Clancy, preparing to take other measures.
"You-" the boy growled, his voice slightly intoning to a faint, uncanny resonance beneath the canvas that made up his costume.
Clearly, he’d touch a nerve. ”Not the first-” He'd seen a phone; firing out his other hand into Shayton’s suit-pocket to snatch it away, only to be met with the man’s cane being driven into the boy’s face, boosted by the Cheetah Spirit.
To the outside observer, Shayton had disappeared for just a second, then briefly reappeared several paces away; foreshadowed by a gust of wind rippling over their corner of the festival.
Discretion was done. Clancy doubled back, the cane now speared through one eye and out the back of his hood.
The boy’s head turned, the entire length of the metal-tipped cane pivoting with him - unstained by blood or viscera as one might've expected but still somewhere it didn't belong. Realising too late that the stolen phone in his hand was no more than a worthless lump of plastic, Clancy crushed it in his grasp, catching one last glance at his assailant.
“Hmph,” Shayton shook his head, before disappearing in another gust of wind before anyone had the chance to notice he was there - leaving behind a grisly sight for anyone caught up in the local weather phenomena.
Mentions: Auri Auclair | Direct Dialogue: Linqian Han/@FernStone, Britney Williams/@Punished GN, Layla Hyacinthus/@Estylwen | Location: Festival Grounds, Cracker Island Historic District
Edict listened to Britney and Linqian, letting them go on about things as he watched Layla's reaction. It almost made him smile how much more chipper she was, and he wanted her to remember this feeling while she had it. Because when it left, it was going to hurt, he could tell by the amount of work that went into making it happen. Frankly he was a bit tired now, and skipping out on having to use his 'little friend' meant he wasn't going to need to explain why he'd been carrying a piece like it around all night. He'd had people get upset before, realizing he'd had a gun in some strange contraption that they'd never expect poised and ready to fire away. There was talk about the Feds, however, which did make him a bit sick. Irrationally, he hated them almost more than some of the Sycamore Leadership based on their sheer willingness to break an Omerta code he perceived between Adepts and Third-Eye Opens. That they were all in it together; that having associates outside of that bond was fine so long as you kept them in line, but when it came to one another it should be protect over detect. He definitely didn't want to stick around any longer than he had to if that meant dealing with them.
Suddenly, his new little buddy started to pop out of her shell. He instinctively grinned, recognizing the behavior from so many introverts and closed off people. People with fears and worries simply needed to be assuaged, their stresses often getting the better of them in strong, unmitigated ways. With a washing like what she'd been put through, fuck it was well within reach, and it seemed so simple to just reach out and take whatever they wanted once they were there. “Here's my bid for the second one. Why not~?” Edict's brow furrowed and he looked down at the twenty year-old woman. He had a vaguely father-like scowl on his face as his hand instantly wrenched two twenties from his pocket and nearly flung them forward. "Ayyy, out-fuckin'-bidded over here, Jesus... You ain't old enough, I know that one for a fact. At least wait until we ain't in public where someone's gonna arrest us before you go open fisting a can of Miller in the middle of Ol' Cracker. Fuckin' Feds everywhere, Sis!" Greyson asserted, his other hand extending to lower Layla's as he smirked at her. "But, sure. Sabrina's house it is. How's about we all hit the Ferry then. I'll have someone bring my car back into the city, and we'll wait at my Uncle's bar down the road from the docks while we wait."
Mentioning his Uncle's anything made him assume, after what had happened, that Linqian was going to be nervous. He'd stuffed the money into her bag and left the beer there for later, shrugging with the now empty hand. "Ah, nobody's gonna be there. It's closed for the day, but I have the back door key. We can just hang, it'll be cool. You remember the Brick, Britney? We got sick drinking there together one night, slept in a booth; my cousin Roland came in the next day to prep and woke us up?" he grinned, a fond memory coming back to him. He figured with the privacy, they could even let poor Layla unwind a bit more with a few off-the-clock drinks.
Edict's head moved in a strange way for a split second, neck craning to catch a look past Britney's head and out into the festival in front of him. He could, through a couple of booths, make out Auri Auclair sitting at a booth with a glass of wine. Two guests. A woman and some figure cloaked in black... Who the fuck? This night was getting weird, and he was starting to feel cagey; like no matter where they looked, they were just going to find more and more characters that weren't going to be particularly warm or friendly to him. His mind split for a moment, like it was a decade ago that he felt just like this, standing there with a feeling like he was the odd man out of a bunch of groups of friends. Like the few years before were nothing.
But her face was there. She was there. Just like she had been, when everyone else had turned their backs on him, she was the last to leave. Left to turn out the lights, because they were both cast out for their willingness to win a war that literally had to be won. He hated to think that was the only reason she had stuck around, but he couldn't be sure. Still, it was okay; she was back. Back in his life for a small period of time before she'd eventually see through him again and run far far away. Better you do, my Love. I won't chase you. Once we're safe... He felt his Lux welling up in his throat and eyes, the tendrils of his spell making themselves as if they were their own creatures. He was too slow to stop it from reaching them all, its influence meandering about rather than attempting to make some entry purchase. As soon as the burning started, however, he was shocked back into mindfulness. All present would feel the wandering tendrils dissipate instantly, like the clouds parting for the sun.
Love was a hard emotion to hide.
"Shit, fuck... Sorry, I... Wh-whatever, let's get the fuck out of here before someone gives us any trouble." he asserted, taking a step out of the gazebo and on toward the ferry docks, mumbling curses under his breath toward Auri Auclair and her poor decisions.
Kenshiro
Mentions: In Collaboration with @Punished GN | Direct Dialogue: Auri Auclair, Odessa Maxwell | Location: Auri's Flower Stand, Festival Grounds, Cracker Island Historic District
Auri ran to the scene, butterfly staff in hand, and watched as the crowd that came to watch the confrontation dispersed. There was (THANKFULLY) no sight of Emily, but Auri recognized the two PRA Agents who were in cutesy maid dresses and the rest of her people. She saw Britney walk up, and then Stormy talked to her. She got spooked, turned on her heel, and left with Linqian and Sabrina Vanburen. The situation seemed alright, but Auri didn't want to be around the people who teargassed them. However, Auri jumped when Odessa put her head underneath her arm, and smiled at her… Auri awkwardly laughed.
“These are your friends?” Odessa asked as she took a step forward, getting from underneath Auri’s arm. “The Sycamore Tree Coven?”
“Well, some of them,” Auri said.
“Heroes.”
“What?”
“They’re heroes!” Odessa said with a smile. “Not anyone could face the Stygian Snake, defeat it, and live to tell the tale!”
“Yeah…” Auri sighed as she looked around… and most curious, there was a little frog in her peripheral. She furrowed her brows in confusion as this was not the season for them. Then confusion was replaced by curiosity as it reminded her of someone… she summoned the butterfly apparitions within the butterfly staff and commanded them to grab the frog. Two glowing butterflies grabbed the frog and lifted it up, bringing it over to Auri so she could get a closer look…
“... Are you gonna dissect it?!” Odessa said with a laugh.
Auri shook her head.
The small frog was indignant at its quickly adjusting position. The butterflies were strong, and while the sticky pads on his toes kept him firmly planted for a moment, their constant dusting quickly dried out his skin. Now, landing in Auri's palm, the frog took a resting squat while staring up at her. This particular specimen was quite the robust mixture of colors; gold and purple seemed to swirl together underneath a tiny yukata robe, and on his little waist was a belt with a metal piece that had the tiniest kanji stamped into it.
As a poisonous tree frog, if he felt threatened he knew he could pressurize himself and ruin this person's day at the cost of his own time in this realm… But he'd recognized what the Master said: The Butterfly Priestess. He croaked, actually chirped as he was so tiny, which was followed by the most miniscule and incomprehensible Japanese rambling.
If Auri could understand Japanese at all, she'd recognize that whatever dialect he was using either didn't exist, or was so old that it was no longer in use. He stared upward, upward some more, gave one last burst of language from his throat, then threw his hands up in very clear frustration.
So the peeping started: even small frogs like him were capable of projecting their tiny barking across great distances. While he wasn't trained in hearing such subtle noises, Ken was joined by the Scout Leader, who began to direct him toward Auri by listening for his Brother's distant signal. The two parties were capable of wandering just a few more yards before Ken rounded a corner and was looking down range at Auri Auclair.
“Auri!?”
It only took a few seconds for the area that had once been devoid of Froggy influence to flood with the peeping and croaking of the dozens of scouts sent out to find the woman. Some of them came to rest on her shoulders, a couple others ended up in her hand with the one she had found. They were all kind of cute with their uniforms, some having little top knots or hats, but they all transferred back to Ken as he got close.
“Auri, I'm so fucking sorry…” He didn't hesitate wrapping his arms around her in a warm and friendly embrace. He remembered losing his family; all he wanted was a hug. “I had the worst nightmare and it made me come back. I should have sensed something was wrong earlier, I'm so sorry…”
“K-Kenshiro?!” Auri’s mouth was agape… and it wasn’t for the frogs all over her. She looked at Kenshiro. “It’s… not your fault. There is no need to be sorry. But it’s been so long, friend. How was your adventure?”
“Awful, I come back and people who I love are dead again. It’s like the past repeating itself, and despite my Batman costume surrounding me in its friendly warmth, I crave vengeance as I have for many years. But, it’s renewed.” He flicked his hand, arigato leaving his lips as the several dozen frogs vibrated into golden hazes before disappearing entirely. “I… I got your message just now. Not but a few hours ago when I arrived. I’m sorry about meeting you with such tragedy in such a happy place, but I await your orders!”
Auri briefly glanced at Odessa, who smiled at her, and then looked down at this stupid robot costume that she was wearing. Auri took a step forward as she said, “Well… ummm… right now we’re laying low, but tomorrow we’re going after a lead I gathered last week.”
Auri sighed, “I guess… I can fill you in on everything you missed in the meantime.”
Kenshiro grimaced beneath the mask and the eye makeup, bowing low in front of her as was traditional. “Forgive me, I understand now is not a good time. Also, I believe I saw and, as they say, fucked on Emily G. Reed as I arrived here at the island. Say the word and I shall make myself scarce until a time that you require my assistance.”
“No, no, no, don’t go!” Auri laughed, grabbing onto his sleeve. “Come to my stall, we can talk like… normal people. I got wine in my stall, I’m not sure if it’s your thing.”
She briefly glanced at Odessa, who was smiling,
“... This is Odessa Maxwell,” She began, “A friend of mine.“
Odessa stuck her hand out, still smiling,
“It is great to meet you, friend!” Odessa began.
Ken smiled back at the two women, taking Odessa’s hand and bowing in front of her before pulling his mask from his face. The two dark black makeup circles made him look like a japanese raccoon with his hair tied up in a little bun.
“Odessa is a place in the land of Texas, correct? Coincidentally, I visited there within the last few months. The tacos are to die for!”
He was sure to hug Auri again, elated that she wasn’t rejecting him for another time slot. He wasn’t sure what he was liable to do without proper guidance in this time of crisis, but it was going to be drastic.
“You are not one of our people, Odessa Texas Maxwell. You are… Like us, yes?” He turned, falling to Auri’s side like a loyal dog would do.
“I am not one of you, but if I had known what was going on ten years ago, I would have been there by your side! Better late than never, as they say!” Odessa was still smiling, tilting her head. “However, I consider myself a loyal ally to old Sycamore, even if most of you are not aware of me yet!”
She then shrugged.
“Though, maybe not Texas, it is great to meet you!” She laughed.
Auri awkwardly laughed; if she had a collar, she would have tugged it, but alas.
“I’m convinced it was a Texas close to our own reality. But people seemed tolerant and that’s not what I’m aware of our Texas being like…”
As they walked through the fair grounds, Ken pulled a small pack of seeds and flowers from underneath his cape. “As usual, I’ve brought you back some things. Some of it may already be rotted: The land of Owrang is a place that I was lost in for a few of their years… I don’t know how well some of them were preserved, but I did remove the best I saw from the pile of junk and brought it here for you.”
The little sack opened up in his hand, held aloft by his most basic control over his Phantom Hand technique. Within were petals of flowers and stalks of some cactus-like things as well as at least a dozen baggies of assorted seeds and other things. “I hope you can make some use of these. The blue petals seem to taste good, and offer some uplifting effects… I uh… I definitely got lost in those mountains for a few weeks.”
“Oooooooh….” Auri said as she grabbed the flowers, mouth agape with wonder, before she looked at Ken and giggled. “... I’ll have to save these for later.”
Odessa laughed.
It wasn’t long before the trio returned to Auri’s stand… and she did not yet notice the alterations that the 317 did to her paintings. However, she did not move the closed sign as she leaned against one of the tables.
“So… maybe I should start from the beginning…” Auri glanced over to Odessa, who was staring at the 317. Unblinking. With a smile on her face. Auri shook her head, “... Oh!”
That was when Auri reached underneath the foldable table and pulled out a glass of red wine… and thankfully, she had brought two glasses. One for her and one for Ken… Auri glanced at Odessa again and figured that she probably does’t want any. She poured them both a glass, and then smiled as she said,
“Cheers!”
“Kanpai!”
One short conversation later, and Kenshiro was all caught up…
“... So, that’s why we’ve been laying low for the last week, but I feel like we’re on a race against time!” Auri awkwardly laughed as she ran a soft hand through her hair. “But, I think, with the help of Alyssa, we finally made a breakthrough.”
Ken looked like a war veteran at the other end of the table. His hand gripped the stem of his wine glass like the end of a club, the glass itself shimmering with a small amount of his natural energy as it arced through the material.
“This is a lucky break, Auri. Not all souls have the capacity to speak their truth.” He remembered the Brothers of Honored Dead, taking them back to his village after the devastation and the Hellfires were diminished. “It’s encouraging to know that we can make some headway soon: What do you feel I should be spending my energy on then? Keeping tabs on others? Or should our enemies feel the sting of my precision?”
“Relaxing,” Auri said with a smile. “At the moment…”
She paused as she carefully tried to pick her words.
“... We have no enemies, I would like you to keep an eye on the others because Father Wolf always attacks people who are alone.“ She sighed. “But, you can take a breather. There is no need to rush….”
Ken grimaced a bit more. There was a moment where Auri could’ve seen the gears in Ken’s head turning tightly, wound up like a tense clockwork that didn’t seem to understand it’s own mechanisms. His eyes went wide in his head like he was experiencing a war all over again, and it was a deep cut that he was traveling to in his memories. Vivid Recollections of the Stygian’s wrath.
““We… Have enemies. If our blood is spilled, our enemies lurk in the City. Heavens forbid, the Beast’s allies are back! Or, worse, Leon’s gone off the deep end, I couldn’t take it!” His face was pure panic: Fear of the loss to come consumed him, and he was having a hard time thinking about Auri’s plan for “laying low”. But he was trained just as much in scouting as he was in combat: He could stake anyone out that she wanted him to.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and finally nodded his head in agreement. “Okay. I shall… I will watch! Them, everyone. You say Jack is around, so I will approach him about establishing a proper network. I suggest we press certain people to test their loyalty to our cause; that we may avoid saboteurs! Though, no doubt we will be able to establish suspicions more directly by quiet observation.” His expression changed to one of expectation, with the hope that she would approve of his plans like a toddler would look for approval.
Auri’s mouth was agape as she stared at Kenshiro in abstract horror.
“... Relax,” Auri tried to smile; she did but couldn’t hide the concern from her face. She had one final card up her sleeve as she desperately poured Kenshiro another glass of wine. “Here! Have some more!” She thrust it out.
Ken may have always seemed somewhat childlike in nature: It’s true he was somehow sheltered from the way that the “real” world works, but that didn’t degrade his ability to perceive. He felt the shock in her expression, the reaction to push alcohol onto him as if that would somehow dull his nerves. Maybe it would. His grimace turned into a simple frown, turning into a slight pout as he took another drink from his glass and nodded. “Then, that’s how it will be. Relaxed. They would’ve trusted your judgment, and so will I.” He couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened; that she was so willing to just play the back field when such things were happening around them.
“Before I came home, I was in such a strange place. The trees, they weren’t trees. They were, like, giant dicks. Flesh and wood. One day when things are less dangerous, I wish to bring people through the paths… To see the other Realms.” He very quickly went from looking scared to looking reminiscent. Almost longingly, he thought about the chance for adventures that would maybe never come. “Kari won’t see it now. Neither will Kali. I… Some may crave the same action that I do. It will make them restless. Vengeance.”
“I am certain that they are watching over you from wherever they are, Kenshiro,” Auri began, attempting to reassure Kenshiro, “They will have a front-row seat, you can say.”
She nodded her head.
“You are doing honor to their memory by returning, you know? You could have simply left and never come back to save yourself. Yet. Here you are. Ready for action. You’re going to save everyone, I promise you that.”
Ken shifted in his seat, his heart rate slowing down as he sipped on his drink and looked out across the festival grounds as the rain started to lighten up. It was getting closer to dark now, the time where things began to get strange. He recognized the slowly shifting feeling as the alcohol warmed his blood in the cool autumn air. He held his tongue for a long while, thinking about what he wanted to say. But implying that he was suspicious of her and her behavior wouldn’t do him any favors. It was a dangerous game throwing accusations around without any sort of actual proof. There was a shift in his demeanor, his intensity dipping with the sunlight below the horizon.
“Right. Then we shouldn’t languish here in the rain. What kind of honor to the living is it to populate the waking world with the memory of the dead?” He stood up, stretching and putting his mask back on. “Trick or Treating! We should find some of the others, and go out into the city for the Trick or Treating! I still have several smoke bombs, soft boiled eggs I keep for rations, some…-” Reaching into his utility belt, he produced a small sheath of close to ten shuriken stars. “-Some throwing stars, I think I have a tomato?”
He reached back to the furthest point on the belt where there was a pouch with his smoke bombs. What he pulled out was a half squashed potato; clearly a mixup in his vocabulary. Despite his perfect American accent implanted into him, the words were not all wired correctly, and he often either sounded far too formal or too silly to be taken seriously.
Auri just laughed. “... That’s a potato!”
When she finished laughing, she said,
“But, you know, that doesn’t sound half bad, but…” She looked at the CLOSED sign on her stand… then Odessa staring at those weirdos. “I have to tend after my stand, I can’t really leave the stand again… but don’t let me hold you up!”
He narrowed his eyes as deeply as he could at Auri, taking in the inventory that she’d brought. It was the fall season, and while she had plenty of perennial flowers for sale grown in a greenhouse, there were seasonal flowers as well. The thought about his abilities, and about Kai’s many paths. He’d be here in St. Portwell for the foreseeable future, so…
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a few small rectangular gold pieces that clacked together as he placed them on the counter and slid them toward Auri. “I refuse to leave you alone like this.-” he started, then stopped and looked at Odessa. ”-Well, not alone certainly, but out like this. It’s the perfect venue for a murder, and I worry a single friend won’t be enough of a deterrent. So, I will buy your stock; and as we’re leaving we will hand every single beautiful flower out to the people who have gathered here on glorious Crackerland!”
Auri grabbed the pieces, staring at them with wide eyes.
“... What are these?”
He pulled a third one out and put it on his forehead, right in the center with it sticking upright. He smiled widely. “Meowth! Meowth!” he began to laugh. “These are Koban. Gold from the Empire which we used as a stipend for our yearly operations. The clan treasury would supply us with a few boxes of them every year, and we would return with different artifacts and materials you can’t find in this realm.”
He held out the third one to Auri, letting her take it as well. “They were still in the village the night I returned to it burning; it’s how I can tell it wasn’t one of our rival clans that did the deed. If they had, they would’ve pillaged our coffers as well.” There was a wide grin on his face, and he wasn’t about to tell her how many were back on his boat, or how many were buried on the property outside. “These are, I believe, from the early seventeen-hundreds. Get them appraised, they become too high profile to sell. But, I met a fence willing to go for around sixty percent, which means today each coin is worth about a thousand or so of your American Greens.”
“I… uh…” Auri was completely awestruck as she stared at them. “I can’t take these Kenshiro! It won’t feel right!” She looked over to him.
“I believe I am a paying customer. Put the rest of it on my tab for gardening supplies and dogwood bark bags for my summons, and you will be perfectly capable of taking them as payment for an evening worth of your time without my being so glum and harmed!” And there he was, back to being intensive in a bright and cheerful kind of way that he was mostly known for. Kenshiro was generally always wearing his heart on his sleeve, but these moments made it somewhat endearing as he provided warm and friendly energy to the situation. Maybe too much…
Auri smiled.
“... Well, could you help me get my stuff back to the mainland, then?”
A wide grin formed across his face. “Of course. What else is all this good for?” he asked, his right hand slipping into the formation of half of a somatic sigil. Every flower and bundle or bouquet rose from the table like a ghost hoisted them from their spot. He slid them back onto open ground, giving Auri room to take care of her things which he moved to help with as well.
He’d purchased friendship for the night, it seemed, and he was satisfied for now despite the lingering fear and anxiety over what was to come next.
Luca easily posed for the photos, folding his arms and grinning while leaning closer to Jasper. ”Hey, it’s in character if Lila doesn’t smile, it’s alright!”
He laughed, smile becoming even brighter as he nodded enthusiastically to Lila saying they needed a group photo. Definitely! The might may not have gone how they wanted it to so far, but it would from now on. They’d all cheer up and have a nice time. Then after they could-
Luca’s thoughts ground to a halt at the feeling of Jasper’s fingers running across his back. He froze, lips still in a wide smile even as his gaze went vacant. It had been nice, he could still feel their gentle warmth, but he wasn’t sure what to think about it. He liked being close to Jasper, being able to actually touch- but it was just as friends, right? It couldn’t be anything else?
Was it a straight guy thing? Was Jasper so confident in his straightness that he could just casually touch Luca, running a hand over his back, like it was nothing? Or maybe he wasn’t and Luca was mistaken… No! That was a dangerous place for his thoughts to go. While Luca was an optimist, he liked to be realistic about it. Just like he’d accepted that he was dying, he’d also accept it would never happen.
Would it?
His attention half drifted to the conversation going on between his friends and the PRA, but he couldn’t quite process it. Logically, he should be one of the ones most upset by what happened. It could have killed him. But perhaps that was why he didn’t hold onto any hard feelings. What was the point, with such limited time?
”Oh yeah, let’s,” Luca snapped out of it, smiling brightly again at Jasper. His eyes creased slightly, joy radiating from their depths. There was no point thinking too hard about it. He’d just enjoy Jasper’s company right now and the fact he could be so close to him - and the others! - without hurting them. ”Alright, let’s do this.”
He shifted closer to Jasper, moving himself to be slightly in front of him - practically half in his lap while leaning his head back against his shoulder. Getting so close was a bit unnecessary but… he wanted to, and it made it easier to take the photos! Because of the height difference! It also made him feel safe and happy… Luca threw up a peace sign and grinned brightly for the photos, throwing a different pose for each one.
Luca then turned his head towards Trevor, not moving away from Jasper, and flashed the power ranger a relieved smile at the sight of his unrotted hands. ”Phew, I’m glad! I dunno how long decay like that takes to heal naturally… Good things healers can get healed, yeah.” He laughed.
”Sorry, Layla, but the money has spoken,” Linqian laughed, rolling her eyes at Edict's weirdly fatherly frown. Did he see himself as some kind of Layla protector after messing with her mind? Well whatever. She leaned in and winked jokingly at Layla. ”Don't worry, I'll get you some booze when we're off fed island."
She tilted her head to smile coyly at Edict when he slipped the money into her bag. He didn't take the beer yet, which was fine… she'd somehow made more on a single can of beer than she would've by actually handing out the business cards the beer had partly paid for. Happy with that, Linqian pulled out the other Heineken she had, leaving the last Stella for Edict. She cracked it open and took a long drink. The drink and money combo was enough to stop her from swearing at Edict for his suggestion they go to his Uncle’s bar first.
”So long as there really isn’t anyone there,” Linqian shot Edict a hard look, pointing a finger at him. She’d already dealt with far too much of his family today - while his Uncle seemed the most tolerable, she got the idea that plenty of the rest would normally hang around that spot. Just the looks alone she’d gotten had been annoying. ”I met way more family members of yours than I ever wanted to today, I need at least a fucking week before I see a single one again. Preferably years, or never again, actually.”
She rolled her eyes again, but followed his look into the festival. Just Auri with two people she didn’t recognise, eh, whatever.
But something incredibly interesting past that caught her attention - well, more a recognisable booming voice dragged her eyes over to a toga clad conga line. Even in the distance she recognised Sully and Drake’s ugly mugs (though Sully’s lack of beard was shocking). They were clearly pissed and behind them… was an equally drunk and toga wearing Vashti, along with fucking Emily! Hah! Even without those two additions Linqian wanted a picture to taunt the front two with… but with them, it would be even better material. She chugged half her beer in one go.
”Hold my beer,” Linqian shoved her nearly empty can at Layla (who seemed least likely to just throw it away, magically cheerful as she was). She completely ignored the tendrils of Edict’s magic sliding off her emotional field. She didn’t give a fuck about what he was doing when she had a goal set in her tipsy mind. She pointed to the chaotic pantheon conga line. ”I gotta go get a picture of this. I’ll be back in a moment. The ferry won’t set off for a bit anyway, if its even there now.”
Linqian pulled out her phone and walked a bit away from the group (but still in their sight) - closer to the conga line, but hopefully still far enough away to not be spotted by them and dragged into it. With a malicious grin, she held up her phone and spammed the camera button.
Perfect. She couldn’t wait to send this to Sully and Drake when they woke up hungover tomorrow.
While Sloane and Anya had somehow managed to inhale four drinks individually, as if they were Drake and Sully, Jack had only gotten halfway through a single drink. As someone who frequently teleported, he tried not to get too drunk- Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and teleport. Jack listened intently as Sloane explained that she almost ran into Drake, and how she didn’t understand why things were allowed to be so shitty without intervention. Truly, Drake hadn’t changed, and he was always an ass.
Though, perhaps there was a world in which the same old Drake from years past was not a bad thing. It certainly wasn’t the one where his wife was dead, however.
”Nothing is permanent, my drunken friend,” he said, cryptically, before Sloane stood up deciding not to think about a damn thing other than their own amusement for the night. Jack grinned behind the veil of his magic and cheap costume.
”Yes, of course. Let’s go.”
They teleported out, and Jack was conveniently the only one that didn’t feel heavily nauseous upon arrival. When they walked out into the open, a small part of him died. Sully, Drake, Vashti and Emily fucking Reed were dancing in a conga line. The Greek gods of yesteryear were making merry with a dinosaur and some redheaded person.
Jack was speechless. And not in a good way. It was so foolish, and it was just like Drake and Sully to act like total dumbasses. But… That was not the same man that he saw at Dairy Queen a week ago. Not the man who almost cut Jack’s head off when he reappeared in Shimmer.
He hadn’t changed in any way at all, had he? Not for better, not for worse.
The only reason he didn’t stop and lament about the future of the coven for the second time in his life was because Anya had gotten his attention.
”Yes, of course. Both of you, close your eyes. It will help with the jump.” He waited a second for them to do as instructed, and whisked them away again.
Once they were near Sloane’s stall, Jack let them both go about their business. ”Here we are. I suggest waiting before asking for another teleport, unless you want to experience tomorrow’s hangover tonight,” He said, right before falling silent… Something told him he’d need to talk some sense into Drake personally.
Members: Everyone but Ruby! | Direct Dialogue: Leon, Elise and Mia Richoux, Adora Phoenix-Prescott/@Punished GN | Location: Festival Grounds, Cracker Island Historic District
The Greenwood Coven, sans Ruby and Sully, marched through the grounds of the Historic District… choosing to part ways with the Blackmores, Sully, and Drake after whatever you would call that conga line. They decided to look for Ruby, whose phone suddenly went quiet after confirming that she was on the island. She was on the island all day but neglected to tell them that.
Classic ruby.
“... RUBY!”
Autumn shouted, cupping her hands together as she called again.
“... RUBY!”
One last time.
“... RUBY!”
“... Why are you tryna’ call Ruby like she’s some dog, girl?” James asked with a raised eyebrow, laughing.
“Yeah, we’d have better luck sparking up!” Naomi laughed.
“Sorry, don’t have any ass-flavored blunts on me,” Jess said, laughing her ass off.
“Let’s take this seriously,” Pearl said with a flat expression. “Ruby could be in trouble, we-”
“... Got outed,” Naomi and James said simultaneously, rolling their eyes. Then Naomi spoke,
“We know, we know…” Naomi shook her head.
“You’re acting as if everyone in this city would listen to a bunch of crazy bikers if they told them that a bunch of twenty-somethings are the Greenwood Coven,” James rolled his eyes, then laughed.
“Word spreads fast in St. Portwell; you all been in Greenwood long enough to know that,” Pearl said, shaking her head, “And I do not want-”
"... YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
The vociferous scream made all of Greenwood turn its head towards the scene, and saw some curvy black girl putting the whoopin on another.
“... Heh,” James chuckled before he patted Naomi on the shoulder, “It didn’t take long for people to start acting a fool!”
Naomi shook her head, “Girl needs to relax. They’re killin’ black folk out here like its nothing.” Then she sighed.
Greenwood watched the scene unfold… before two big motherfuckers came and broke up the fight. Separating the two girls like it was nothing, but the issue was not in the fact they broke up the scene - it was the fact they recognized Leon when he raised his little wolf mask.
“... It’s the Werewolf!” Jessica said.
“Ssssssh!” Naomi put a finger to her lips. “Let’s just...”
“Nah,” James grinned, “I think we should have a lil’ talk with Wolfman….”
“We are not starting a fight here, James,” Naomi narrowed her eyes.
James scoffed.
“... And who said anything about starting a fight?!” James laughed. “Let’s just… have a little friendly chit-chat.”
“It would behoove us to make amends,” Pearl answered. “Or attempt to get his… No, their side of the story.”
“Well, I’m chatting with him, ya’ll don’t gotta come,” James laughed as he watched Leon pull the gal away… and James grinned as he was the first to approach with his hands in his pockets. It seemed like the gal was explaining why she decided to go crazy and brain that poor gal. Not that James was listening, as it was simply none of his business. James stepped over and clapped his hands together as he said,
“Hey, Wolfman!” James started, “Wassup! We didn’t get to introduce ourselves, y’know!?”
He grinned, letting his words hang in the air.
“Better late than never, but never late is better!”
Leon was so distracted, he probably wouldn't notice someone trying to kill them until it was too late; someone would absolutely be dead by then. His nose and ears, his keenest senses, were full of smells and sounds from the festival.
Adora's complaints were serious enough that he was ready to go and start a problem with some Vanburens. Speaking ill of their dead Covenmates was unacceptable in his eyes, believing in the tradition of the Honored Dead. They earned their rest, and having people dig them up to throw their death in someone's face, metaphorically or otherwise, put you on Leon's shitlist as a disrespectful cockmuncher.
“Huh!?” He spun, hearing Wolfman said. “That's Granny to you, Mis-” His head and body turned, he looked across the green and saw six, maybe eight faces. With their scents so close and his newfound focus, he instantly sussed their smells out. Ruby came home. Amend yourself with her toy soldiers and follow the Philosophy.
Ruby was a pot smell to him, with certain unique characteristics that he could smell on every single one of them. It was definitely her pack. There was even the buff redhead that Alizee had started everything over in the first place. Instinctively, Leon placed his massive body between Adora and the group.
“Oh, Greenwood, don't desert me now!” He yapped - with the Greenwood members attempting to shush him - not exactly squaring up for a fight so much as squaring up to receive some sort of thrashing from a parent. He pointed at Jess, looking at James as he spoke. “Y'know the other night, I was drunk when everything started, I didn't recognize her. SunnyMuscleMommy, right?”
His eyes crossed each of them, and slowly he gave them a smile. His eyes met Jess’ specifically. “I should've been quicker. Because of my state, you got hurt by a person I considered a sister. Now she's gone, so… I guess I'm the right man to take grievances with. So, what? Pound of flesh? Or can I make it up to you all some other way?”
His eyes became sad talking about Alizee. He'd always imagined they'd move past that stage, that if he could learn to live with Void Heart, maybe he'd be able to protect Alizee from the world outside as her man. The shot was gone now. All he had left was repentance.
Jess walked over with her hands on her hips, and a smile on her face. “... Yep, that’s me.”
James couldn’t respond as he was getting stared down by Pearl, who rolled her eyes.
Jess reached into her holsters and pulled out her toy revolvers, each with an orange tip. She gave them a little twirl, “It’s all good… That whole thing was a giant shitshow, but you know what?” Jess shrugged.
“... It’s in the past now, pardner,”
“... Look, while it may be that deep, we ain’t that crazy,” Naomi stepped up, shaking her head. “I just wanna ask you why? Why did she attack Jess? That’s it.”
“Then we’re putting this behind us!” Jess shouted before she put her hands on her hips, “Agreed?”
Leon was somewhat eased by their claims. And if his Mother had been right, Ruby must've given them the same shit about reconciliation. In his mind, chances were good that despite the group gathering, there wasn't going to be any vicious jumping.
“Alright, agreed. But I don't think you'll like my answer anymore than I do, y'know?” He took a deep breath thinking about her funeral, about dying for something so stupid. “Frankly? Alizée, God rest her, was attached to a hungry fucking monster. The purple ballsack with the big hands?” He questioned, reaffirming their recognition of the players involved.
“That Apparition could've convinced her to hunt anyone; but that night she seemed fixated on some kind of lead. She was totally mistaken, and essentially acting out alone for some fucking reason.” He grimaced, thinking about how stupid it all was. “I'm glad you're still here though, uh… Jess, was it? I really didn't want you getting hurt, you didn't do anything. None of you did anything wrong. It was our fuckup. She was our fuckup.”
“It was a weird ass situation, I admit,” Jess said, throwing her arms behind her head. She then shrugged, saying, “But, I’m… just a little bit sorry for the gal.”
“Sounds like the Apparition was the one pulling the strings,” Naomi answered, shrugging, rolling her eyes. “Maybe I was too much of an asshole to ya’ll back then… That’s not much of an excuse tho’ because I’m attached to an Apparition. But he doesn’t tell me to hurt people!” She laughed.
“Regardless,” Pearl finally spoke after being done staring down James. “We agreed to put things behind us after his explanation. So we shall.”
“No hard feelings right, Granny…? Wolfman…? Whatever!” James asked with a shit-eating grin, “You gotta understand from our perspective, we weren’t tryna’ hurt you or interfere with your investigation… Right?”
“What was the lead… if you don’t mind me asking? She seemed to want to know what we were doing with the Wolfpack?” Autumn asked.
Leon grinned at the reactions, satisfied knowing that it was all a mistake, and in true Charming and Graceful style it could all be forgotten about.
“Honestly, fuck if I know at this point. I have some texts telling me that she was there because they all jumped to the conclusion that Judas was involved with a situation having to do with our Covenmates safety. My opinion is she was hungry, and figured the open season situation meant that she could get a free meal while being helpful by finding info.”
Leon's face really said it all; that he thought the whole thing was a pile of bullshit, and that nobody could possibly know what was going through Alizée's head at that point.
He looked around a bit more, deeply inhaling with his nose to search out a scent. Ruby's scent. That nose clogging pot smell. There was a gentle breeze that pulled it from the distance into his direction. “Ruby's on her own? She probably never told you guys, but we know one another. Come on, come to my Family's booth. We'll get you all fed by the one and only Andrade Salamente.”
He turned to face Adora, stepping fully out of her way. “You gonna come too? By now my brother is probably walking away with your pal…”
”... I’ll come,” Adora lowly said, placing her hands in her face.
Leon turned his head to Greenwood. “Oh, guys, this is Adora. Adora Phoenix-Prescott, Covensister of the Sycamore Tree, holder of the Trinity Ring-” Briefly causing Adora to shake her head. “-And I'm Leon Richoux: Heir to the New Light, I box under the name Timberwolf…” he smiled, waving them along.
“Ooooh, you’re also in Sycamore?” Naomi asked, chuckling. “You need to chill the fuck out! They killin’ black people out here!” She laughed.
”Y-yeah, I know…” Adora rubbed her opposite arm as she faced these people.
“I’m James! Don’t get a fancy title like Wolfman here!”
“Autumn,” She said, flicking her necklace.
“Naomi! Wielder of Anansi’s Gift!” She started with a smile, which turned flat after a moment. “... That was corny, wasn’t it?”
“Amelia…” She began. “Our fearless leader’s girlfriend.”
“Pearl,” She flatly answered. “The one that prevents our fearless leader from giving in to her intrusive thoughts… most of the time.”
“Kashmira Sarai! It is great to make friends with Sully’s friends!” She did a twirl in her saree.
“And I’m Jess! And we’re…” She said before she looked back at her people. “... The Greenwood Coven, we popped up sometime after you all did your little thing with the Danger Noodle.”
”Just how many Covens are there?” Adora raised an eyebrow.
“Well, other than Sycamore and us, there’s 8th Street!” Jess said, then laughed. “But there’s a new group of assholes calling themselves a Coven popping up each week in St. Portwell!”
“They’re assholes, so we don’t fuck with them!” Naomi said she laughed. “But let’s get to this booth already! Maybe our kooky leader will finally pop up!”
Leon nodded at Adora’s question. “Jess’s right, there’s a lot of posers. Posturing and trying to find openings they’re not gonna find. We should check that shit out though; could be some upstart with delusions in their heads and magic on their cocks, killing us for the cred.” He shuddered at the thought, a slight scowl on his face. “But fuck that, it’s the Holy Harvest! Big Temple holiday, let's get this food. Maybe we can pull your fearless leader and that goofball Sully: Hit the Temple grounds and dance naked until sunup.”
He laughed, but he wasn’t joking. The tradition of circling under the harvest moon was very real, practiced since the times before when the New Light was an entirely Pagan affair. Never-the-less, he began to wave the group along, directing them toward the booth that was actually slowing down thankfully. He hated seeing his little sisters working that hard.
“Hey-ooooooo!” Leon’s booming voice stopped the motion in the booth, Andrade spinning over his shoulder to see the big crowd now clumped up at the front with Leon at the head. His youngest sister Mia, looking haggard already, immediately turned to him and grabbed his costume by the collar. “Oh, Lee-Lee, save me PLEASE!” She was trying to climb up and over the counter, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and put her back where she belonged. “Sssssstop that. No. Food, please, for our friends.” Elise, the elder sister, looked up from her chopping. “Oh, shit, those are Ruby’s friends, right?” Leon’s face formed a scowl. “Are you tracking me!?” Elise just smiled at him, unwilling to tell him where their Mother had hid the note that she was spying on him through. “Don’t think about it too hard. Here, menus!” the younger Mia exclaimed, taking a small stack of paper menus and handing it out while pointing above her at the boards that also had the menu on them. Leon turned his head. “It’s on us, by the way. Whatever you guys want.”
It was definitely fair food: kebabs and jollof rice, veggie wraps with mushroom and balsamic vinegar sauce, roasted chicken leg and sweet potato salad… Wait, this wasn’t fair food at all! Looking at the pickup line, the quality of food was definitely restaurant despite being served up on extra thick paper plates.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” James said with a grin, raising his fist up into the air.
“And here I was looking forward to some shitty carnival food…” Autumn laughed.
“Oh! What are your vegetarian options…?” Kashmira asked. “I don’t eat meat.”
Afterward, the group got some food. James got an entire roasted turkey leg. Naomi, Jess, and Autumn got some kebabs with rice - though Naomi got more rice. Pearl was happy to get some sweet potato salad. In contrast, Kashmira and Amelia got the veggie wraps.
“Thank you!” Kashmira said with a smile. “We appreciate your generosity and your willingness to resolve things peacefully.”
“And this goofball thought I was tryna’ start a fight!” James laughed as he jammed a thumb in Pearl’s direction - who rolled her eyes.
Adora didn’t order anything… simply stood there staring at the ground.
“She good?” James asked Leon, food in his mouth and jamming a thumb in Adora's direction.
Leon looked toward Adora and gave a small frown. “I… I think she's worried? She beat up a Vanburen, she's probably worried about the consequences. Or, maybe, she's thinking about the dead and gone. I try not to bother people like Adora: She's a loyal Covenmate. In my opinion, she definitely earned her peace.”
“That was a Vanburen…?” Naomi awkwardly laughed.
“Yee-yikes!” Jess laughed.
This didn't, however, stop Leon from doing exactly what he said he wasn't going to. He, politely excusing himself from between happily eating members of Greenwood and standing in front of Adora. “What's up? Not hungry?” He asked her simply, and as gently as he could muster
“I…” Adora tried to speak.
“... Oh my goodness, friend!” Kashmira shouted as she walked over. Then gestured to the bee stings up and down her legs. “What happened to your legs?!”
Leon’s eyes went wide, never even thinking about the idea that she had, in fact, been in a fight with a hive of bees on top of a rude woman. “Oh, fuck, Adora!?”
“I-” Adora didn't get a chance to speak before Kashmira grabbed her wrist and she was wrapped in a green aura. All the stingers left in her flesh fell out as the stings, and their poison, disappeared.
Kashmira released her, smiling, before she said,
“That should be better, friend,”
“Yeah… Yeah, that feels so much better,” Adora said, “Thank you.”
Leon nearly squeezed Kashmira to death with a quick hug. “Oh my stars, thank you! Adora, I’m sorry! I… I don’t even feel bee stings, I didn’t even think about them!”
“Oh you’r- gah! Welcome!” Kashmira barely choked out. “Please don’t squeeze any harder! I can feel my ribs touching my lungs!”
Leon let her go quickly, patting her on the head with a massive hand. As he did so, he was still sniffing around trying to find the owner for these lost children; Ruby was close enough that he could smell her, and releasing a small level of his Wind seal painted the air with scents that he could track on an individual basis. There were deep subtleties in the process of sussing out what scents tracked and trailed and belonged to whom, but being among the group of Greenwood members gave him the chance to pinpoint things more accurately.
Slowly, surely, the air became full of colors that swept back and forth with the wind, each smell painted and correlated to the individual origin. From there, he found a common scent that they all seemed to carry that had nothing to do with their individual pheromone scents, and tracing it back and over the different booths, he was able to get a good idea of Ruby’s location. He focused his magically enhanced hearing, following the scent trail until the cacophonous background faded, leaving him with a focused picture of what was happening.
People, at least ten, chanting Toga! like a bunch of goobers. He turned to James and pointed off into the distance.
“Ruby is uh… Somewhere near the midway, I can hear her having fun. You all want to go get her?” he asked simply to the bigger group, looking around to gauge reactions.
“I mean…” Naomi trailed off, “No one is talking about eating ass. For once it's peaceful!”
“Yeah, let’s make sure she’s alright… She sounds like she’s already high off her ass,” James mused.
Leon's towering frame waved his hand forward, ushering those who would follow onward, his other hand successfully stripping the top half of his costume down so his shirt was visible and his wolf mask no longer flopping around on his head. His massive arms were pale, almost clammy looking and hairless, but built with muscle so thick you'd think they were legs. His veins were like roadmaps, the energy of Lelou pumping through his blood to turn it a sickly black as the pressure rose and caused them to bulge.
“Onward and upward, Extended Family! Let's go see the trouble!"
