Delilah Wells and Dallas Relo
Location; Demigod Apartment Building
Interacting With;Each other
@Plank Sinatra
Delilah slowly stirs and wakes up from her nap. She does not know how long she has been asleep, but her eyes feel gross and swollen. She began to remember what had happened earlier today and it made her head and chest hurt. Her best friend was gone and she did not know what to do. She forced herself out of bed; moping wasn't going to do her any good. She went over to the bathroom to wash her face, especially her eyes.
Once she was starting to feel more awake, she realized that there was someone who has the rights to know about what happened to Vivian; her brother, Dallas.
Maybe he already knows, but just in case, she should tell him, right? Was she the right person to tell him? Would it be okay if he found out through her? But that didn't matter right now. So she made up her mind to go find him.
She pulled out her phone and began to write him a text.
To Dallas
From Delilah
Hey Dallas, can you please meet me outside the apartment buildings, near the lampost. I need to talk to you ASAP. Thanks.
After she sent her text, she put on a jacket and made her way outside and waited for him at the previously stated meeting spot.
"Que pasa!?" the cheerful voice rang out a few minutes later. Dallas had thrown on a white t-shirt after Physical Education and ruffled his hair a little, and he toed the line between slightly, deliberately bedraggled and casually glamorous as he cut through the courtyard in the direction of the apartment buildings. No doubt some of that was the sun soaking up into his lightly bronzed skin, giving him a little bit of juice to keep his day going strong, but he walked so energetically and had such a wide smile on his face that you'd be hard-pressed to believe he was as lazy as his sister liked to complain while he needled her.
He aimed that smile Delilah's way and straightened out his hair - a rarity - by running his fingers through it, clamping them down, and pulling dark gold bangs over his forehead and dark eyebrows. He tossed the pullover slung over his shoulder over the back of his neck, wearing it much the way someone would wear a scarf. It was scarf weather. He'd need to talk to Vivian about who could wear what on what days. And about his sunglasses back. Every good devil wore Prada, and he couldn't let Vivian throw a kink in his accessory game no matter how much he loved teasing her.
He looked about to mention it to Delilah until he drew close enough to get a good look at the face of his little sister's hippie friend; deciding she was probably in a bad mood, he walked right over to the lampost she stood beside and stood with his spine to the ornament, arms wrapped around the back and one foot propped up behind him.
"What's up, Lilah?" he repeated in English, though from the way he sounded like he was testing the name on his tongue you might have thought Spanish was his first language after all. Nicknaming one of Viv's friends felt weird. Like a little bit of a betrayal. He'd have to nickname his sister twice as hard to get back at her.
"You look glum. Is it opposite day?"No fear on that count! Dal was a natural upper. A svelte, smiling anti-depressant so effective you'd swear he was sent from heaven! Which...he was, a little. But that little marketing spiel could wait.
Delilah was doing her best to stay strong, but when she saw Dallas coming towards her so cheerfully, she knew that he hadn't heard the news yet. He was quick to realize that she was not her usual happy self but she was not as quick to respond back to his question. She ducked her head, staring at the ground and her hands tucked into her jacket pockets.
"V-v...." she choked out. She could not even say her best friend's name without tears streaming down her face.
"V-v...V-v...V-v..." She kept repeating the same phoneme over and over again, trying to get it to come out from her mouth. She was starting to sound like a flailing bumblebee trying to fly. She began to lose her balance and leaned onto Dallas for support. She let her head rest on his chest as she finally managed to say,
"Vi is gone! Dallas had started out grinning impishly at her stuttering, but as Delilah's tears started to roll and the same consonant sound kept squeaking out of her mouth, the message came through, and by the time she'd exclaimed what she'd clearly brought out here for, his face had grown cool and still as marble. Clearly, the poor kid was freaked the hell out, but Dallas couldn't tell what for. Vivian had been in Power Management - Dallas had seen her, riled her up, dropped off his shades and then made his way to PE with Jonas. Come to think of it, he didn't remember seeing Delilah around there. This was probably just a case of fucked up timing.
So why was she sobbing?
"O-kay." Dallas, taking a deep breath and damning his recent propensity for being level-headed in a pinch, finally wrapped one arm around Delilah, tucking her neck into the crook of his elbow and letting her catch her breath.
"Let's rewind a second here, alright? Take it easy, I'm not going anywhere, catch your damn breath. Let's define gone, alright, Lilah? 'Cause I bumped into her just this morning, and there's only so far you can go in ninety minutes. What exactly happened?"Delilah did as she was told and tried to calm down. She took slow, deep breaths and eventually regained her composure. Wiping the last of her tears, she stepped back and began to tell him everything.
"Well, I saw her before I went to class and she was telling me about the instances of missing students. She was really freaked out and worried, but I told her that it was just rumors. Still, she was worried anyways so I told her to text or call me if anything came up and that we'll let each other know if anything was going on. And then after class, I noticed that she had called me, which is strange, because she knew I was in class and usually would wait until afterwards. So I tried to call her back, fearing the worst, and well... She never picked up but another guy happened to find her phone ringing on the ground near here."She hoped she wasn't talking too fast and that he got all of it. She then asked quickly,
"What do you think that means?"That you kids probably should have watched more horror movies while you had the chance. Not that it would have done any good. Delilah seemed like the kind of kid who spent so much of the movie hiding behind her pillow with her bowl of popcorn that she wouldn't be able to see the dangers of splitting the party.
Dallas was fighting to keep his heartbeat level, but he could feel himself simmering with frustration - at his sister, at these apparent rumors that he'd had no idea existed (thanks for the heads up, sis!) and at whatever was snatching kids in the first place. Could be some neckbearded demigod creep who was mad that he hadn't snagged an invite to a beer bash that, really, wasn't even that great as far as Dal's beer bashes went anyway. Could be something more sinster. Dal wasn't a detective, but Delilah probably hadn't texted him wanting one anyway.
"I don't know what it means," he admitted, voice rock steady with a small sigh at the end.
"I'll ask around. See if I can charm some kind of answers outta somebody on faculty." He smiled widely at the daughter of Demeter, just to prove that he could probably use the expression for something besides mischievous gains if he had to.
"If this is a thing that's been happening to a lot of kids, they have to be looking into it. I won't let go of this, alright, Lilah? She's my sister. And she has my fucking sunglasses. They're Prada. Gift from Dad when I started at Olympus. If I gotta go to hell to get 'em back, I gotta go to hell to get 'em back."Dallas sighed again after a second and wiped the few wet spots on the demigod's cheeks off with the sleeves of his pullover-scarf-hybrid-thing.
"Hey, look at me. This is gonna blow over, alright? They'll get the kids back. Or, someone will. Even if it's gotta be some of us. As for me...if anything wants to snatch my ass, it had better have packed for a street fight." Hey, no one had ever said he was a
peaceful kind of guardian angel.
"I'm not going anywhere any time soon, kid. Not without a good scrap. So if you ever feel paranoid, or scared, or want to talk about anything in the world until you get her back, just buzz me."Delilah nodded her head, managing to smile back at the son of Apollo. She did not regret talking to him. As it turned out, he really did have a way of cheering people up in what seemed to be the darkest of times. Even if she didn't understand him half the time.
"Thanks Dallas," she said, starting to sound like her old self again.
"Sor-... I'm grateful that you took the time to talk to me. I thought that you would be the one who would need comforting, but it turns out I needed it more than you did. Even though Vi may complain about you to me all the time, you really are her older brother."She chuckled softly and tilted her head up towards the sky.
"I'll do my best too," she added thoughtfully.
"Anyone who messes with my best friend does not get away with it without any consequences." She then put her two fist up jokingly as if she was a boxer, jabbing the air.
Dallas Relo, who had been dirty boxing in public schools since the age of ten, snorted at the display and gripped Delilah's forearms. It only took a second of readjusting her arms to get her into a proper stance; left after right, right after left, he gently pulled her arms forward to punch him in the chest lightly, twice with each hand.
"Attagirl. Consequences is my second middle name." He grinned and wrapped one arm around the lampost, looking up towards the morning sun. Casually, Dallas blew hair out of his eye and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"Now, your boxing could use more than a little work. But you've got the right hustle.""Wow, teach me your ways, master," Delilah said, smiling and admittedly impressed. While she was not a fighter, she could feel that the motion was a lot smoother as Dallas was guiding her. Perhaps she should take combat practice more seriously, just for self defense.
It was hard to believe that she was just crying a few minutes ago. Granted, she was still worried about Vi, but she felt more confident that things will be okay. And she was going to find her best friend if it was the last thing she did.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, realizing for the first time since they have started talking that she probably looked like a mess. Her hair was messy from just waking up, her eyes and nose were red from crying, and her jacket didn't even match what she was wearing as she just took out whatever was the first thing she could reach from her closet. Especially when standing in front of a guy who naturally looks good no matter how little effort he puts into it.
"T-thanks again for everything. I better go... do... something...yeah," she said, suddenly feeling shy.
"Don't worry 'bout it. I should, too. Kidnappers don't usually kick their own asses." Dallas tapped the bottom of Delilah's chin with index and middle finger, clicking his tongue to emphasize the motion.
"Keep your head up, kid. We'll get her back so fast that she won't even have had time to stop being pissed at me.""Ah...okay," she stammered nervously as he tapped her chin. She felt so conscious of him all of a sudden, and it felt weird. She hoped that he didn't notice her acting strange or anything.
"I-i'll let you know if I hear anything so uh talk to you later?" "Yeah, for sure. I'll do the same. You got the Batphone's number--" Dallas tapped his iPhone through the pocket of his jeans
"--so getting a hold of me shouldn't be a problem. I'll start schmoozing some teachers. Shiiiiit. Most of them will probably be so surprised I'm awake and sitting up in class that I could probably schmooze 'em for their firstborn sons."Dallas bit the back of his lip and thought that over for a second, finger combing his hair.
"There's a thought...might see if I can do that when Viv gets back. That'll really get under her skin." The son of the sun laughed mischievously and gave Delilah a two finger salute as he released his embrace of the lampost and landed on the soft grass of the courtyard.
"Take care of yourself, ki-Delilah. See ya 'round."Delilah couldn't help but smile at her best friend's older brother.
"Yeah... see ya," she sighed quietly as he walked away. As she made her way back to her apartment, she felt her face was getting warm.
"...I think...No, I must just be imagining things."
