[hr][center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi43NjY3NjcuVTJ4dllXNWxJRVpoY21sei4w/bachelorette.regular.webp[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/r7scdkh.png[/img]
[/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Anya [@Fernstone] Jack[@Blizz], Drake[@Shin Ghost Note]
[code]Kari’s House[/code][/right]
[hr]

[color=silver]“Anya…”[/color]

Sloane gave her a tiny smile offset by a sad, pitiful look as she pulled the jacket tightly around her body to cover her tattered clothes. It was just like Anya to be there exactly when Sloane needed her. Sloane’s mind was still a mess, having not fully come out of the shock that she had been in, finding it easier to focus on the mud on Anya’s shoes than on the people around her. She huffed a little air through her nose, the best she could muster for a laugh, to Anya’s dry retort to her question, before nodding her head gently at the suggestion that Anya take her home, her nod freezing as Anya suggested Drake join them. Her body tensed further as Jack appeared, offering to teleport them to wherever they wanted to go. She grimaced. Please god no, she already felt sick enough as it was. 

Another pair of shoes approached, [color=98FB98]“Stick with Sully for a minute Sloane, heal up.  Feel better, okay?”[/color]

Sloane’s mouth ran dry as her body completely turned to stone, the only sign of life being her fast-beating heart that had jumped up to the top of her throat. Besides Anya she was suspicious about all these people caring for her, and then of all people Jasper actually came over and said something to her that wasn’t absolutely awful? If she didn’t know any better she would’ve believed that she was still hallucinating. She felt like she should say something, anything really, an opportunity to prove that his preconceptions of her were misguided, the thought that she even cared about how he viewed her terrifying, the sudden sickness in her stomach misdiagnosed as anger. She remained like a statue until she caught sight of him turning and then subtly raised her head, watching him go.

The others were starting to depart now. Normally this would be the moment where Sloane would point out that they needed to formulate some kind of plan of action to handle 8th Street instead of immediately dissolving into their own cliques again, but she was pretty much fried and didn’t even consider the thought. She just wanted to go home, take a long, hot shower, and have a cup of tea. Sloane held onto Anya as she settled herself to her feet, staring after Drake as he moved to confront Luna. When had she returned? Sloane couldn’t believe that the woman had the nerve to even show her face. Unlike Sloane or even Greyson, Luna was guilty beyond a doubt for working against the Coven back in the day. Perhaps Sloane should’ve felt a kind of sympathy for her fellow reject, but there was nothing there but ice. She didn’t know whether to be proud of Drake for showing restraint and backing down from confronting her or disappointed that he didn’t give her the welcome she deserved.

[color=3874f4]”Know what? Let's just scram,”[/color] said Drake as he returned.

[color=silver]“Yeah, let’s go,”[/color] muttered Sloane. 

She moved to leave with the others, pausing momentarily to turn back and look at Auri. Sloane did need her. Or rather, she needed something of her’s. The next time 8th Street attacked them all she refused to be defenseless. Petty differences aside, she knew that Auri would be smart enough to do the right thing. However, it could wait. Sloane would contact her once she gathered herself. For now she just turned and stuck to Anya, hanging her head once more. 

[hr][center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi5kYWE1MjAuVTNWc2JIa2dUV05RYUdWeWMyOXUuMA,,/roughsketch.regular.webp[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/xHVRvPV.png[/img]
[img]https://imgur.com/IYihMs5.png[/img][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjg4LjdhYmJmZi5UR0Y1YkdFZ1NIbGhZMmx1ZEdoMWN3LjA/sabrina-destiny.regular.webp[/img]
[img]https://see.fontimg.com/api/renderfont4/z8xjG/eyJyIjoiZnMiLCJoIjoxODMsInciOjI4MTMsImZzIjo2NSwiZmdjIjoiI0ZFRkVGRSIsImJnYyI6IiMwMDAwMDAiLCJ0IjoxfQ/QWlzbGluIFJvc2U/darlington-demo.png[/img][img]https://imgur.com/LaKV12v.png[/img]

[b]In Collaboration w/ [@Estylwen][/b][/center]
[right][code]Kari’s House[/code][/right]
[hr]

The bar was going in full swing by now as Sully, hunched down in the mud, tried to uncrush paper cups and fill it up with the elixir. He hummed to himself a variant of “99 Bottles of Beer” as he passed out the cups, trying to ignore his shaking hands as well as the blood underneath his fingernails. It never got any easier seeing someone hurt as badly as Sloane had been. He could tell himself that he had saved her by being there, but really all he had done was bear the cup. Sully couldn’t think of himself as being the one who had saved her. If Anya hadn’t pulled Sully out of his hallucination then Sloane would’ve been on her way to having a closed casket funeral. 

He couldn’t help but think of what would be if he had tripped, or been a little slower to come to, or if he’d lost the Chalice somewhere in the shuffle. There was a reason he had given it to her for “safekeeping” in the first place. Sully couldn’t handle the pressure anymore. He didn’t like bearing the weight of responsibility, knowing that one momentary choke on his end could determine if someone woke up in the morning or not. He might’ve joked about being the “Chosen One” after all those Recollections centered around the Chalice, but the idea of being the only one capable of saving his friends from dying didn’t make him feel special. It made him feel scared.

One of the crumpled little cups ended up being filled with some good ol’ fashioned brown instead of the healing elixir blood red. Sully downed the double of whiskey and then followed it with a second just to be sure, closing his eyes as the burn slid all the way down his throat. His hand was steadier for the next pour. 

Tayla’s arrival with Luna was a sudden reminder of the other problems going on in his world. Sully needed to talk to her about Dean. Specifically, he needed to convince her to swallow her pride and recruit the help of the others to beat his damn ass so bad that he’d leave both of them alone. While he would never sell Tayla out to Dean, there were only so many times Sully could get jumped by a guy before he would spill someone else’s tea. If not to Sycamore then at the very least to Greenwood, because while they likely didn’t even know who Tayla was they wouldn’t tolerate someone messing around with one of them. Sully stood up from where he had established his pop-up bar and started to saunter over to Luna and Tayla.

[color=goldenrod]“Hey, Tay—”[/color]

[color=bcbcbc][b]“We have an emergency at 7 o’clock!”[/b][/color]

[color=goldenrod]“—huh?”[/color] Sully blinked, pretty sure it was closer to six in the evening, as  his eyes looked over towards the bushes. [color=goldenrod]“Oh shit!”[/color]

Aislin and Layla had emerged from the bushes, appearing as if some had replaced their bong water with gasoline. Sully jogged over, his face heavy with concern that twisted into shock as he got close enough to see the severity of the burns, too worn out by all the excitement to remember his bedside manners. He didn’t recall seeing them in the melee, but then again he had been too busy trying to stay alive and not to shit himself. Had they been engulfed in one of Emily’s fireballs? 

[color=goldenrod]“Don’t worry, don’t worry, y’all don’t look too bad,”[/color] said Sully, breathing heavily through his mouth to avoid the stench of burnt flesh.

Aislin groaned as she crawled out of the bush on her hands and knees, [b]“Y-you’re a terrible liar, you know?”[/b]

He flicked the contents of his solo cup out into the grass and filled it with elixir, passing it to Aislin who of the two looked like she could manage to drink on her own. A little burn of the whiskey might still be present and if she was worried about getting Sully cooties then tough luck, but the elixir would be as potent as ever. Aislin took it, sitting back with a wince, before downing the contents. Cooties didn’t even cross her mind.

For Layla, who barely seemed to be with them, he moved to put the Chalice to her lips and to help lift her head so that she could drink. A bit dribbled to the sides before Layla managed to open her eyes and get her esophagus working, sipping like a child, weakly and messily. 

Luna could be seen watching carefully, before nodding to herself, spreading her wings, and taking off.

Bit by bit, the burns receded away from both Aislin and Layla. The elixir patched over the remainder of their high as well, bringing both back into their senses. Eventually, the skin had healed over completely, the only evidence that they had been blasted to kingdom come the burn holes evident on their charred clothes.

Aislin clapped Sully on the back, a grateful grin on her face. [b]“You’re a lifesaver, my friend. You get first dibs on my next run. You want the kush, you get it.”[/b] She said, trying to make light of a dark situation.

Sully’s eyes brightened. He was so used to being around Ruby and her bogarting ways that he had forgotten there were kind, caring people like Aislin who would happily give weed away. Sure, he could’ve just gone to the dispensary, but that meant waiting in line and having disposable income…or any income, come to think of it. 

Aislin’s eyes moved across the remains of Kari’s charred house, to the destroyed front lawn and foliage. [b]“It’s good they left when they did. We uh…”[/b] She grimaced. [b]“We didn’t really stand a chance, did we?”[/b]

[color=goldenrod]“Hey from where I’m standing we’re all still here and they all ran away. At worst that’s a draw!”[/color] Sully watched as a support beam gave out and collapsed another part of Kari’s burning house. [color=goldenrod]“Er, unless we’re counting property loss. Then yeah. They clowned us.”[/color]

Layla scowled, half-sitting up from Sully’s hold so she could better see Aislin. [color=7ABBFF][b]“Those losers cheated. I didn’t even get a chance.”[/b][/color]

[color=goldenrod]“Hey, you’ll get them next time, killer, now upsy daisy,”[/color] said Sully, hefting Layla up to her feet. 

He brushed a bit of ash off of her shoulder, which turned out to be the bit of ash that had held the sleeve to the rest of her shirt, and frowned as the charred sleeve slipped down to her wrist like a bracelet. Layla made a face, picking at the fallen sleeve before shrugging it off entirely.

[color=7ABBFF][b]“Good thing this is last year’s fashion…”[/b][/color] She said awkwardly. 

He glanced between Aislin and Layla. He would’ve offered one of them his jacket to cover up with but he’d already given that to the kid (and frankly he needed it a little more). Fortunately, there were still plenty of Sycamore left behind who could keep them from catching a cold. 

[color=goldenrod]“Hey, anybody got an extra jacket?”[/color] He turned around to see that almost the entire Coven had already bailed. [color=goldenrod]“Oh, cool. Later then, I guess. Fuck.”[/color] 

He rubbed the back of his head and turned to Aislin and Layla, [color=goldenrod]“Well, looks like we’re scooting before the police show up and bust us for arson. Did either of you need a ride? I got room in [b]MY TRUCK!!![/b][/color] Sully slapped his forehead so hard that it sounded like a crack of thunder, echoing around the clearing so loudly that for a moment it seemed as if Vashti had returned and restarted her storm. [color=goldenrod]“I left my windows down! They’re cloth seats, Aislin! [i]Cloth! Seats![/i]”[/color]

He pulled his beanie down over his face to muffle a scream. 

Aislin's jaw dropped before horror overtook her face, “Don’t panic! Uh, fans! lots of fans and wet towels - Do you need to borrow some towels?!”

Layla just stared at the two of them with mild disdain, before she walked in between them pointedly, heading towards her motorbike. “I think it’s time to leave, then.”

She half-turned towards Sully, [color=7ABBFF][b]“I owe you one. You need a favour done, just let me know.”[/b][/color]

Before she hopped on her bike, slid on a helmet, and drove off.

That just left Aislin and Sully. Aislin checked her clothes, or what was left of them, before sighing and turning to Sully.

[b]“Uh, listen… I got a few spare fans and towels I can lend out.”[/b] Her head perked up a bit. [b]“Could see who else is free and hang out a bit, what do you say?”[/b]

[color=goldenrod]“I say we’re gonna have to bum a lot of towels, but fuck it, we’re already soaked anyway. Some buddies of mine had invited me to hit up this local taco truck a little bit, some joint called Los Agavez. I told them I was gonna be busy but if we leave now I think we’ll have enough time to catch them there. And, I dunno, if that bong survived, maybe we could…”[/color] 

Sully’s voice trailed off as he reached into his pocket. A look of confusion crossed his face as he gave himself a quick pocket patdown: phone, check, wallet, check, keys? His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his jaw dropped, remembering throwing his keys towards a non-present Tayla and then getting too distracted by the bunch of jolly assholes trying to murder them to pick them back up. The beanie came fully off his head now as he stuffed it in his mouth, packing it in with his fist, gagging the followup string of curses. He spat the beanie out and gave Aislin a sad look, his shoulders dropping. 

[color=goldenrod]“Maybe we could rain check it,”[/color] he sighed, kicking the ground. [color=goldenrod]“You go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up once I figure out where I left my keys. Plus, the storm might’ve put out a lot of the fire, but somebody should probably make sure it’s died down enough that it doesn’t spread…”[/color]

Aislin gave a sympathetic look, [b]“A rain check it is... If everyone in Sycamore was as thoughtful as you, we’d have progressed by leaps and bounds by now, just saying.”[/b]

Sully smiled sheepishly. He wasn’t so sure about that. 

Aislin sighed, giving a little stretch to her arms as she spied her car parked down the way. Unlike Sully, she had triple-checked the windows and doors were closed and locked. It wasted precious minutes, but it was her artistic OCD, she supposed.

She offered a smile, tapping her bag, [b]“I got a hoot with your name on it, don’t forget.”[/b]

With one last glance, Aislin headed to her car, set her bag on the passenger seat, revved the engine once, before peeling out of the vicinity.

Sully watched the red taillights disappear around the bend and then slunk his way back into the woods. He pulled out his phone to use it as a flashlight and laughed miserably to himself as he saw the massive spider web of a crack in the screen, crunched by his own body when he’d dived to take the shots for a kid who’d turned out to not even need his help. Sully shook his head and put the broken phone back in his pocket. He got down on his knees, squinted his eyes, and began the long, tedious rummage through the tall grass where he was pretty sure he had thrown his keys, blissfully unaware of the crow looking down on him from a branch up above, cocking its head as if in confusion, the set of shiny car keys held in its beak jangling too softly for the man below to hear.