Home, at Another Time > Inner Sanctum > Chapel
Deep underground, Trisha slept in that stone-walled chamber without physical disturbance for some time. Hours passed, time stretched along its course, and as the Queen's natural magic aura saturated the room, there was another presence looming below.
Like a predator, or a curious dweller of fathoms untouched, its mindful and protective nature pushed up around the room. Slowly, surely, its essence collapsed around the woman, comforting and warm.
Trisha's eyes would've opened to Leon's apartment. Only, it was missing some things. The giant television, the collapsing wall. It was open to a large dining room area that, until now, hadn't been seen by Trisha. People were sitting around it, eating and talking.
Looking closer, Trisha could recognize a face or two, though it was probably obvious who it would be… But they weren't as they are today. Lynette, a child Leon, who couldn't have been over the age of twelve. Little Mia was still in her high chair, settled next to a massive frame whose back was turned to Trisha.
It had short hair, and sat shirtless while massive hands played aeroplane to spoon the food into his toddler's mouth.
Four children were present. Leon, Elise, Mia, and another boy. Obviously it couldn't be Casey, as his little six year old face was too scrunched up and evil to be Casey's. It was instinct that really drove it home.
Not that it took long for him to arrive. Eight years old, the small boy entered the frame from the side. Rather than sit, he prostrated himself upon the floor, tightly pressing his forehead against the tile. There were no voices loud enough for Trisha to hear, but the vibrations seemed to spell everything out.
”Don't beg at my fucking table, Caseau.””I didn't mean it…” Casey's tiny voice barely registered. The massive frame rose from the table, and just seemed to keep going until his whole figure consumed Trisha's vision. Everything returned to darkness, until she could see two figures in the short distance of nothingness.
Approaching, it was Casey now. Her Casey, and the same figure from before. It could be none other than their famous father, the Ultra-Heavyweight champion of the world: Gravity Richoux. He was still so impossibly large, so tall, that even with Casey's own height and length, the old pro kept him pinned and at bay with jab after jab.
The two of them were boxing, physically fighting with seemingly all of their might.
”Do more, God damn you! Lazy, lazy, lazy! You have to do more, Casey!”In a fit of rage, rather than continue the fruitless effort of trying to outjab his father, Casey raged, furiously diving for Gravity's knees. The two men toppled, and Casey scrambled up to his father's chest to press his arms down with his knees before raining elbow after elbow and fist into the flesh-covered watermelon that was the head and face.
Slowly, the body sunk into the ground until Casey was left punching dirt. A headstone replaced it, and all Casey could do was sob and wail as he held onto that headstone in total grief. His bellowing cries echoed through the dream.
Gravity stood behind him, but didn't look down at his son. He stared now, directly at Trisha, with one hand rising to point at her.
”Absolution!”
In the real world, it was just about four in the evening when the final book was passed along to Casey. It was his own to read through at his leisure, rather than a tome that needed to be transferred directly into his head.
He'd learned many secrets in those few hours, contributing now to an overall sense that he had once again jumped into something without fully considering the ramifications.
It was mostly Project Eden that disturbed him, and were it not for the emotional suppression wards forcing that little room into a state of pure logic, he probably would've had quite the problem. But now he'd practically grown in mental years, the process of intaking those tomes stretching his mental perception to the slowest kind of Hyperbolic Time Chamber he could imagine. A few hours had become weeks and months spent having things placed directly into his head by helpful spirits trapped within books.
Memories of people no longer living.
The entire thing finished with Furio officially passing the buck back to Lynette, who in turn symbolically handed the reins to her son. And just like that, they were free once more, expecting dinner for six at Port Saint. Casey waited for Lynette and Furio to take their leave with the tomes before he finally made way back down the hall. Theo had informed him that she hadn't once left.
He opened the door to see a mass of blackness crouched before Trisha, both of its ethereal hands gripping one of hers in desperate prayer.
Its mass shifted, as if it turned to see who came in before it took to rising up. It stood taller and taller, back brushed against the ceiling as it buckled to look down. Palms still pressed against the floor, and two great cyan eyes opened to stare down at Casey.
”C-a-s-eeeeeeau…”A hand slowly reached out, and the whole scene ended. Trisha would open her eyes to an empty room, and loud knocking at the door before it slid open a crack.
“Miss Trisha? It's Norm! Casey's almost done, he asked me to check and see if you were ready to leave, and to make sure that if you didn't want a bunch of attention from the crowds outside I got you to the car before he came out. You hadn't left yet, so… I figured I'd ask?”
Trisha was incredibly disoriented. She sat up, hands clenching in the fabric of the couch beneath her. She looked down at her hands, then up at the door. Was she actually awake this time? What… what was the dream? Had the last part been a dream? Or did it actually happen… no, that didn’t make sense. Norm just said that he was almost done, which meant he wasn’t out yet. Oh, right, Norm.
“I’m not ready, so I’ll just go out with Casey,” Trisha said, managing to keep her voice steady. She didn’t particularly want the attention, but she also wasn’t dressed and had no idea what her state was like. She didn’t want to be seen by
anyone like this, which meant taking a while to get ready. She’d rather go with Casey, anyway. Make sure there was still a real Casey.
That all of this hadn’t been some long dream.
“Uh, let him know that I’ll be ready by the time he’s out!”Trisha grimaced, forcing herself to stand up. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, and after that dream… she’d only woken up feeling worse. Confused. Had she seen memories? The younger Casey seemed to be… him crying at the grave? But then the last bit. Was it… well, it was obviously his father. Had he-
He was there. The Queen’s voice echoed in her head, louder than normal. More agitated. The bees felt it too, making themselves a nuisance as Trisha tried to get dressed.
He drew all over our Emotional Field while you were dreaming. Trisha wrinkled her nose, having a difficult time with all the pheromones. It didn’t help that her own body was giving off multiple, the Queen herself leaking out in her agitation.
What do you mean drawing on our Emotional Field? How does that work?Exactly as you’d expect. He drew on it. Some can draw protective symbols, or get through an Emotional Field in this way.Did he?No. He just drew a fish.Trisha snorted. Right. She was slowly managing to come out of the trance-like state she’d been in upon waking up, brain slowly becoming more functional. The Queen was unhappy and awake inside her, and she wasn’t really sure how to deal with it. So she ignored it for now, managing to pull back on her dress. She took a few moments to smooth out her skirts, before going over to the bathroom. Her makeup wasn’t… as much of a mess as she’d expected. Fixable in the time she had. So she set about doing that.
You should think about leaving. He was trying to protect you. This place is dangerous.You think I don’t know that? It’s a cult.Yes, but-”I don’t want to hear it,” Trisha said out loud, gesturing with her free hand. She knew that. She’d seen the same dream the Queen had, even if she couldn’t sense the apparition - presumably that was what Casey’s father now was - that had caused it. She suddenly knew so much, but she only felt more out of her depth because of it.
She didn’t want to let it come between something that felt like an
actual chance at happiness.
“Why don’t you just go back to sleep?” Trisha suggested, brandishing the makeup brush she was holding as she reapplied some contour along the side she’d slept on. The Queen grumbled inside of her, but seemed to be slowly calming down about it. With it, the pheromones in the air turned sweet and warm, a calming embrace over Trisha, the Queen herself, and the bees.
She had a lot to think about, but now wasn’t the time.
We’ll talk later. Figure it out. She was almost ready, makeup reapplied enough for her to be happy with how she looked. She took a deep breath, put her shoes on, then looked at the door. There was a moment where she considered going out, seeing if she could still sneak out and avoid the attention, but- she’d said to Norm that she’d wait for Casey. She didn’t want to disappoint him.
So she’d wait. Trisha sat back down, bees once again crowding her, pressing against her neck in an act of clinginess that she couldn’t bring herself to be annoyed about.
It wasn’t long after she’d finished getting dressed that Casey entered the room. He wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t happy; though seeing her still brightened him, and a subtle grin curved his lips ever so slightly upward. He leaned against the doorframe, one foot lifting to sit overtop of the other. Noteworthy, his eyes shimmered that same deep blue that Elise’s sometimes did, and the hand wearing his channeler was balled into a tight, gloved fist.
”Do you have many regrets in your life, Trisha?” he asked solemnly, trying to release the tension in his posture as best he could. He’d not developed his White Lux beyond simple life-detection, or the occasional use in an otherwise orange-heavy enchantment.
It wasn’t weak, of course, so much as it was underutilized. It had to be sharp, or things like remote manipulation would never be possible. He’d simply not had the impetus to develop things further.
So reading his Mother’s spellbook, having the chance to absorb what he could based off of the reading, had left him feeling strange. Like there’d been so much he was ignorant of. It was like opening a floodgate of shit he felt like he never should’ve known.
And that had nothing to do with all the secrets that now also lived in his head. All the Temple’s dirtiest laundry. Every fiber of his being wanted to draw battle plans and rip the place they were standing in out of the ground to show all the people what was underneath.
It was Casey’s single biggest regret, and leaped into the lead very quickly: The knowledge of his position. No wonder Furio was always so on edge.
Trisha looked up when Casey spoke, tilting her head. For a moment, she wasn’t sure if she actually was still in the dream. Between such a seriously asked question and him just standing there, it didn’t feel quite real. But she couldn’t be dreaming anymore.
“Not really,” Trisha lied, standing up and approaching him. She was strangely hesitant, stopping in front of him before reaching out to take his hands in her own.
Did she have many regrets? She did. There was so much she wished she’d done, so much she wished she hadn’t. All those years she’d spent inside studying, practically cutting herself off from the world, with nothing to show for it. Her dad dying before she even had a chance to repair their relationship, if she’d wanted to. Not being able to save the two friends she’d been with when she was saved by the Coven. Ma- No. Not thinking about that.
“Just small things. Stygian Snake aside, my lifes been boring enough there’s not much I regret.” Another lie. She believed her life had been boring, sure, but there were still plenty of regrets. But she was unaware there was even the possibility Casey could tell that she was lying, and they weren’t things she wanted to get into with anyone. Her regrets were just flaws. Things she could’ve done better. Like her whole life.
“Why?”Casey let Trisha’s hands go, only to wrap his arms tighter around her. He did the same kind of shaking she’d become familiar with, and when she could see his face again, they were runny with tears.
”I think I know mine… My biggest regret. That one day, you’re going to trust me. You’re going to trust me to the point where you’re not able to lie to me anymore… And I may have to break that trust to protect you. To keep you safe from all the things in my head… And I don’t know if you’ll forgive me.”His aura reading, the facial recognition, the patterns, the little motions that her vocal chords made when she was unsure of what she was saying: It was instantaneous. It was painful. Casey sunk to his knees in front of Trisha, hands gripping into her dress as the hat fell from his head.
”God, fuck… What have I fucking done, Trisha… What have I fucking done?!” he cracked up from below her. Theo stood just down the hall watching. Casey’s hand rose up into a fist, his face never leaving the bottom of Trisha’s dress.
”BE GONE.”Theo’s face became grim, and he only nodded at Trisha.
“O-of course, Sir! I’ll get the car, Your Grace!”
Trisha looked at Theo, then his disappearing back, then back down at Casey. He regretted something that hadn’t happened? But he already thought he might break her trust? For what? The Temple. She- yes, that could happen. But would her truly trusting him like that ever happen? It was something she’d never achieved with anyone. But would it really be breaking her trust if it kept her safe? She didn’t know.
“You don’t know that’ll happen. You can’t know that’ll happen.” Her voice came out hushed and hoarse, not quite sure what to say. Because she knew, somehow, that he’d learned things he didn’t want to. That he’d jumped into this without fully thinking it through. Because of the dream, she just knew.
And she felt that somehow, it might be her fault. A horrible guilt gnawing at her that she shoved down and down like she always did. It wasn’t her fault, couldn’t be.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay, Casey,” she whispered.
“We’ll get through this.” Her hands found his face, cupping his cheeks and trying to tilt it up towards her. Then she leaned down, kissing him gently, trying to comfort him, to express feelings she didn’t have words for. Things she couldn’t say.
Sorry. Her thumbs swiped at the tears on his cheeks as she kissed him.
He looked so devastated. Absolutely ripped asunder. But his eyes met hers, and the gentle glow visibly faded into dullness, just like Elise’s had when Trisha had first met her. But they still shimmered, and stared longingly into hers as he tried to find his footing.
”Trisha… I’m going to need you. You are the only person not wrapped up in all of this somehow… You’re my beacon. My light in the night. My North Star.” he muttered, doing his best to get ahold of himself as he tried to stand again. He was dizzy, and he couldn’t think without associating it back to a spell that gave him way more stimulation than he needed in the moment.
So he got hands on the door frame, pushing himself up until he was on one knee. His gaze turned to his cap, which he plucked from the ground with a whimper. Still, he could turn back and look up to see the brightest star. Her. So he had to rise himself, and to be the warrior he knew he was. To put on his bravest face again, and to lie to protect her.
”We have so much to talk about… Next time it’s quiet. I can tell now, Babe… When it’s not quiet. When the ears don’t surround us.”Up from the knee, his hands reached for hers and held them with one, the other then moving to wipe away the moisture from his face more fully.
”They’re gonna want me to say some things to the crowd outside. You’ll stand with me?”Trisha knew, from when Casey said she was the only person not wrapped up in this, that she couldn’t do what Elise had suggested earlier. She couldn’t lie her way deeper into the Temple. Not for the lying, but she couldn’t get deeper. Not if he didn’t want her to. One of them had to be out.
She had to be.
“I’ll stand with you,” she said, squeezing his hand with both of hers. She smiled at him, like there wasn’t a turbulent mess of emotions inside her. The dream, Casey’s words… all of it. But she was good at pushing her way through things as if they didn’t affect her.
“For all of it. For this, and anything you need me to in the future- well, maybe not anything. Most things. I’ll be there. For you.” The bees buzzed gently as she spoke, and a couple of them detached themselves from her neck to go to his shoulder. As if to confirm her words. The bees were an extension of herself, and understood her feelings far more than anyone else did. The subtle pheromones she gave out without even realising it.
“The bees too, I guess. They’re showing their support... Or maybe they just want to be higher up.” Casey leaned against her, nodding his head gently as the bees landed on him. They were so innocent… The very concept was a bastion to his psyche. That there were things in this world without ulterior motive, or malicious intent or hidden desire. They were bees: They wanted pollen for the hive. They just happened to have a strange Queen situation. It actually brightened his smile a little bit.
”My head’s so full… I don’t understand how they expect me to go out tonight.” he spoke, taking her hands to pull her just slightly forward. His arm swung behind her back, holding her close to him by the shoulder. He rubbed gently, lovingly.
”Nobody else is in a great mood either. Well, at least Mom and Mia. It’s probably got something to do with their Lux levels. You said earlier that Elise didn’t seem like she was too bad off, right? Maybe there’s fucking hope.” he giggled to himself.
”So? What’d you get up to?” he tried to start a casual conversation, taking as much time as possible to leave. On purpose, obviously. He couldn’t see every celebrating face out there without resetting a little bit.
“Elise seemed quite… spirited, I guess? So there is some hope, it won’t be a load of unhappy people at dinner,” Trisha laughed, shrugging.
“Though that’s the dinner situation I’m most used to! That, and constant fights.” She leaned into him, slotted in so perfectly to his side, and looked up with a smile. What did she get up to? Dreaming of his dad… but she couldn’t say that. What she’d seen was so strange and intimate. She wasn’t sure if she should’ve seen it.
“Literally nothing. I was planning to read, I even downloaded this book Rey recommended, but I just lay down and… fell asleep. Guess I was pretty tired. It did mean I didn’t have to suffer through all those hours without you.” Casey’s hand tensed a little bit. He knew the moment she said she slept. He’d felt it. He’d wanted to run into the room, not knowing what happened until it was too late. He wished he’d caught the thing.
”Did you dream about fishes?” he asked, voice kind of casual with a hint of something behind it.
Trisha’s eyes widened slightly - not because she’d dreamt about them, but she knew that it had been drawn across her emotional field. Could he… see that? He did have white lux, it made sense.
“No, I didn’t,” Trisha laughed as if it was a ridiculous ask. It wasn’t even a lie.
“That would’ve been nice, honestly. Sounds peaceful. I don’t think I dreamt, really. I certainly didn’t remember anything when I woke up.”Casey nodded to himself. His hand in his pocket gripped his glove, and he planted a kiss to her forehead. In an instant, the full shape of her emotional field was in full highlight. It was honeycombed, thanks to the Queen within providing it.
The Ichthus had been intricately carved into the outside, and as he captured the image in his brain, he could see the very tiny print within the line. It wasn’t solid, rather words written so thinly and in such frequency that it appeared as solid lines.
It all formed the fish.
It all repeated again and again.
PEACE. INNOCENCE. ABSOLUTION.
It was a quick kiss, but Trisha would’ve felt something. Something small ripple across her Emotional Field. His head brushed against hers gently as he leaned in for a little more affection.
”It’s funny. Today was supposed to be the first day where my Faith would be my life. Now I’ve never been less sure of it.” he offered the thought to Trisha as an olive branch.
Trisha’s brow furrowed slightly at the ripple she didn’t quite recognise. But the Queen was asleep again, and she didn’t have much experience with that stuff. She could recognise Greyson’s prodding, and Reyna’s when it got strong. Maybe it was just her being sensitive?
“Really?” Trisha tilted head up, nose rubbing against his as she smiled. She didn’t really understand why he was telling her, but she was certainly glad his Faith wasn’t becoming his life. Then where was her place?
She didn’t even realise it was an olive branch, or anything close to it.
“Because of what you read? Was it that bad? All those… secrets?”Casey simply nodded his head.
”Lots of things nobody warned me about. Things I wish I didn’t know.” He shook his head.
”Like, y’know, some cultures… Or like, other cults, you’ll raise a dog or something. Something you love, you’ll keep it alive and get to know it and keep it healthy and love it. Why? So you can sacrifice it. To step into adulthood. To put the childish toys away. Even the Bible says shit like that. I thought I already made enough sacrifices, y’know, going to war and shit. Leading troops. Killing others in the name of international peace. Kill one murderer, you replace him, but if you kill two murderers, you’re doing the world a favor.-”He was rambling. He knew he was. It was trauma unfurling inch by sacred inch within the folds of his mind. And it was all awful.
”-I’m fuckin’ cooked. Gotta go and fuckin’ stare at people through a screen. Figure out what they’re thinking without them saying. I gotta know everything now, y’know? Like, everything.”Trisha’s eyes narrowed slightly, her chest clenching. She… wasn’t surprised. Shouldn’t be, at least. Furio had said about it making him paranoid. She’d seen the screens when she went into the office. The spying from Lynette. The control she had over all the Temple members.
It was horrible, and it made her skin crawl. What else was he going to sacrifice? Himself?
Her? The discomfort across her body only increased.
But not enough to want out. Not enough to lose Casey, who she could already see a future with. Hope that would only hurt her but she couldn’t stop herself from having.
“Because everything and everyone could be a threat? You have to spy on people to keep them in line, and beat them up if they’re not?”Questions she already knew the answer to, really. She frowned, leaning her face even closer to his. There was one thing she didn’t know… hadn’t been able to ask. But she found herself able to know.
“Why did you take the job?” she whispered.
“Why when you didn’t have to?”Casey’s face turned, and he looked at her with a genuine smile. Like, the one she’d gotten used to. It was warm, it had the real feeling. He wanted so badly to give her everything he had.
”Well, the question is flawed. It assumes I didn’t have to.”His head looked around, and he sent a ripple to feel where the next bug was. It wasn’t active, but it was always recording, and just took her fishing for one night.
So he did what he never could have before. He squeezed the bug, summoning White Lux to crimp it’s magical supply and deactivate it temporarily.
”But, I knew it’d have certain perks. And it already does. Like her little tricks… She’ll never listen to me talk without me knowing again. She handed me the fucking keys, Trisha… I’m driving the car.” he gritted his teeth. At this point Trisha would certainly be able to feel the effort as he affected his Mother’s embedded listening ward.
”All that talk about trust between her and I. Y’know, I think I get why she’s acting so melancholy. She’s worried that I’m gonna call her on all her bullshit now, and that she’s gonna have to kill me. She’s worried I’m the threat. And I fucking beat Furio… But I don’t think I’d be able to beat him, and the rest of her loyalists. Not at the same time. So I’ll play ball, Trisha. We’ll play. But, she’s not gonna walk on me. And I won’t ever let her use you to get to me. I swear to you.”The bees buzzed in confusion, little bodies pressing close to Trisha’s shoulders. The magical fluctuations, the sheer effort, shifting the magical pheromones in the air to a degree they could all sense somewhat. They calmed down once it was done.
“I won’t let her use me either. I’m not someone that can be used. Not by her, not by anyone. I’m willing to play too so that she can’t.” She bit her lip, considering whether to bring this up now. But wasn’t it the perfect opportunity, if they weren’t being listened to? If he was already talking about it.
“It wouldn’t just be you, I don’t think. You’re not the only one who doesn’t believe in her bullshit, or whatever it is. Elise talked to me on the way here about possible… plans. I don’t know her well enough to trust her, but Leon too. He talked about getting us out, and working together for it.” It was all things she’d wanted to talk to him about, but been worried to. There was his Faith, and there was the listening. But not right now.
“But if she even thinks about killing you, I’ll kill her first.” Her tone turned cold, gaze hardening. She was deadly serious. Would it be possible? Probably not, but she didn’t care. Bees could get in places so easily.
“I’ll do it.”Casey’s face twisted up at the mention of his siblings, and became stern when she suggested that she’d have some kind of hand in his mother’s demise. He’d never let something like that happen either, but he’d let her have her flame. Her own confidence. She’d need it just as much as he would. He needed his own Emancipation, like his sister…
”Be careful talking to them. Duplicity, Trisha. Nobody has less than two plans. That’s why we’ll make two thousand.” he spoke confidently.
But the image of the fish. The presence.
”Like, now there’s things I don’t know if they know. And I have to try and figure out if they do before I can even talk to them about it. Even then, they could hand me over to her the moment that they get caught in their little scheme. Nobody wants to be spanked, Trisha.”The Sanctum had been cleared out, and so had the chapel as they ascended.
At least, until they got to the very top and looked out toward the door to the outside. There she was. The woman of the hour. She had a wide, glassy smile spread across her face as she tilted her head slightly. She was still dressed head to toe in that golden outfit she’d been wearing all day.
”You two look so fuckin’ cute together, Case. Trisha? How are you, Honey? You did fantastic earlier!” she spoke with warmth, and sounded like she had nothing going on besides what was in front of her.
She’d been standing by the door, looking out at the crowd. Walking forward, Lynette made her way to the edge of the stage.
”Very nice to bring him home after such a hard time. We had a few cries, didn’t we sweetheart?”It was easy to forget Casey was a Richoux.
The Smile cracked across his face, and widened until it was a warm grin at his mother. He didn’t feel her magic ebbing or flowing, but she wasn’t the master for nothing. Pure White Lux was nothing to play with.
”We did, Mumma. I was tellin’ Trisha about it, and now about how I’m just so exhausted I don’t really wanna go out and eat.” he played them off, smiling at Trisha.
”Well, y’know, we can get things started a little early. No need for you to show up early or anything, it’s… Not like it’s a party for you or anything, right?” Lynette chided, narrowing her eyes at Casey with the wide grin shrinking to a playful smirk.
”I damn well know Trisha wants to go out. Get some drinks? Have a free meal at a really nice restaurant? Get to know your boyfriend’s family more? That sounds like fun I’m sure.”She was very clearly playing tongue-in-cheek, but was that how honesty was supposed to go? Just acknowledging the duplicity of it all and letting it roll over? Casey knew for certain, and knew that if he wanted to protect Trisha, he couldn’t automatically get defensive in her stead. He could never know whether or not she was able to fully follow the second conversation happening beneath the first.
”You guys’ve all done a pretty good job introducing yourselves, I think. But, we’ll be there. Don’t worry. Right T?” he looked down at Trisha, nodding at her with his most genuine smile.
Trisha had been wearing a fake smile directed towards Lynette the whole time, just like Casey had. While she was someone who often didn’t care about covering up her true emotions, a grumpy scowl almost perpetual on her lips in the Vanburen manor, she was well able to do it. Well practiced from time spent with her own mom.
“Of course we will,” Trisha tilted her head up towards him, smile turning more warm.
Obviously, it was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to go home. But there was more to it than that - layers to Lynette’s words that she couldn’t quite understand. Places she felt she shouldn’t push.
“I wouldn’t want to miss out on trying the menu at Port Saint. My sister took me to Cantina Farrow just after it opened, and it was really nice. I can’t wait to see how they differ.” She spoke as if she was just telling a fond memory with a sibling, rather than making it clear she wasn’t dependent on them at all. Of course, it was the opposite of a fond memory, as anything involving
Tansy was. But it had its uses.
“I feel like I already know you all so well, as if you’ve been in my life the whole time, but I suppose can’t spend too much time together, right?”Lynette’s smile went from that still fake plastic kind of playful grin she’d been wearing to something completely different. This was, as far as Trisha had seen, the
same grin that Casey gave her when he was especially pleased.
It wasn’t fake. It wasn’t hollow. It was warm, and tender, and absolutely gushing with emotion that overflowed from the center of her. Her hands clasped together, as if she were about to faint, before her arms opened widely.
”There. It. Is! The spirit! The absolute spirit of it! The game is on! Trisha, seriously, you’ll love Port. Got really nice bar vibes, all homestyle meals, but you can definitely feel his influence. It’s obviously best when he’s in charge, but his sous chef Mario is great too.”She threw her hands up in a little celebration.
”We’re gettin’ drunk!” she cheered, heading toward the door.
”Get ready, babes! The adoring public. Casey, you’ve got fiiiiive minutes, then they’ll pull you.”Casey was a little stunned, but at this point all he could do was treat it like a boxing match and keep swinging. This is what life was going to be. Cheeky at the best of times. The door opened, the chapel flooded with people, and a few minutes later the two of them were whisked away to a waiting car and brought back to their home. The two of them spent the time practically wordless, letting their physical affection speak the volumes that the two of them simply couldn’t give.
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Two empty social batteries, one entirely drained of any emergency cache left in it and the other teased by forces beyond it’s control. They were interrupted by a small crowd of Richouxs waltzing up onto their roof and knocking on the door. Still out any sort of doorbell, they simply skipped it and opted for the direct approach.
Casey, not wanting to constantly channel White Lux to know where everyone was at all times, was scared out of his mind by the rapid knocking of five people at once. Mia, Hari, Ed, Elise, and another man who looked a bit like Casey were all standing around in fine clothes of black and gold.
Casey opened the door for them, letting them flood into the house. Hari and Elise both stuck around Casey, while Mia, Ed and the fabled Junior mingled a bit more toward Trisha. All three of the girls were still looking and smelling fresh, like they’d managed to avoid any recycling factories on the way back home.
”Hey Trishaaaaaa… How’s the dress treating you dude?””Yeah, dude, you’re really rockin’ it. You looked good at the ceremony, standin’ and talkin’ like us.””Oh, gee, thank’s Mia! Thanks for introducing me, that’s great.” Junior piped up, annoyed expression oozing from between his lips. He held out a hand to Trisha.
”Trisha, my name is Maxwell. You can just call me Junior, unless you want me flattered… Then, by all means, call me whatever you want.” he said slyly, a grin forming on his face.
”Did you like your halo during the ceremony? I made those, y’know, they’re totally independent drones. Well, usually, I can give them direct input.”He sounded utterly snide and self aggrandizing as he mentioned his mastery over balls that turned into hoops. As if he should be praised.
”Oh, Junie… Are you seriously trying to impress a girl by talking about your shiny gold balls again?” Elise prodded from across the room.
Junior’s face turned a little red.
”Hurr hurr, I’m Elise, I play with fleshy balls because the gold ones have too many moving parts.” he pushed back, making fake gagging sounds as he mimed out sucking on a pair of testicles.
”Is that really your technique, Cuz? I can show you some pointers…” Ed laughed.
Trisha gave Junior the briefest handshake she could - just like she had when meeting anyone, but just the brief touch made her uncomfortable. It was the feeling she’d got from the dream, and just how familiar the way he acted immediately was. Like so many of the men she’d dated before - full of themselves, and bragging about it to attractive women. She’d jumped on it so often without recognising the pattern but now that she was with someone else, she could see it. It only took a few sentences to see it.
“Nice to meet you, Junior,” Trisha flashed him a polite smile.
“The halos were pretty, but the way they moved was uncomfortable. It threw off my bees, so it wasn’t my favourite experience.” Her smile turned a bit more genuine as she turned towards Mia and Ed. She was quickly getting comfortable with them which was… both nice and scary.
“Eddy’s right, awful technique, you should take her up on her offer,” Trisha laughed slightly, hand coming up to cover her mouth as she smiled. At the same time, she stepped more towards Mia and Ed, and away from Junior.
“I don’t know much about orange lux, is it really that hard?” Considering what she’d seen Casey do, it didn’t seem like it would be…
”Hard how, like the moving parts thing?” Mia asked, but Elise stepped in to comment on Trisha’s question a bit more.
”It’s only hard if you’re less oriented toward it. There’s so many different ways to Artifice that any kind of specialization is impressive. One of the hallmark of Richoux Orange magic is Automation: The idea that you can get objects to move without you paying attention to them is pretty difficult.” she offered her vast knowledge up freely.
Casey grinned.
”Like when I played air hockey with Leon at the arcade…”Mia spun.
”Oh so fucking typical, you and Leon would go to the arcade and not invite me…” she responded, a bit of lemony tartness in her voice. Hard to tell if she was fake mad, or real mad.
Casey tossed his hands up.
”Hey, Leon only came because someone asked about him, and I think they were both satisfied with the arrangement.””Classic, Casey hug’s Leon’s taint and Leon gives him headpats like a good little Blind.”Casey’s eyes went cold and dead.
”Why are you here?” he asked simply, coldly to his younger brother.
Junior grinned, stretching with his arms a bit as he spoke, pushing air out to tighten his voice up into a sarcastic joking manner.
”Just to make you sufferrrrrrr.” he giggled to himself.
Ed wasn’t particularly fond of when Casey and Junior were together, and she usually made that known by letting a more nervous part of herself come out.
”Alright, come on now… Casey, Trisha? Mom said you guys were good for dinner, so we figured we’d come and get you…””Yeah, we actually still technically have reservations, so… Maybe we can not start a fight?” Hari’s voice cut between everyone, a little rougher and more hoarse than Mia or Elise. She sounded a bit like Janis Joplin, especially after having done so much talking earlier in the day.
Casey held out his hand.
”Yep, sounds great. C’mon Trisha…”Trisha was immediately at Casey’s side, taking the offering hand, fingers threading through his before she squeezed it comfortingly. Her eyes were also slightly cold as they moved towards Junior, narrowing.
Magical elitism. Just one of the many things that rubbed her the wrong way. But she lightened up, gaze softening as she tilted her head up towards Casey.
“Let’s go. I don’t want my promised free, fancy meal ruined, after all.”She swung their joined hand and stepped towards the door, at the same time as using her free one to gesture everyone out of their home.
“Also, Mia,” she turned to look at the younger woman, offering her own explanation.
“We went to the Arcade with my friends… one’s just a big boxing fan. Wasn’t really planned, I just never would’ve heard the end of it if I didn’t let him come along.”It didn’t really lighten the girl’s mood. The group shuffled out of the apartment and back into the cold November evening, making their way back down to the ground floor before splitting up into a couple of cars. Elise volunteered for Junior duty, taking him in her car. It left the back seat of Casey’s free for the trio, who piled their skinny asses into the back seat before Mia pulled a bottle of whiskey from seemingly nowhere.
”Fuckin’ horseshit…” Mia mumbled under her breath, popping the top and taking a swig from the neck.
”Mimi, what the fuck…” Hari chided, moving her hand up to grab the bottle. But Mia pulled it away, leaving it in Ed’s range. She opened her mouth around the bottle head and tilted it with her jaw, forcing it to spill into her mouth and down her throat.
”Haaaaa, Baby Cow stole the nipple.” she laughed, then took another swig before Mia pulled it away from her too.
”Heyyyyy! Fuckin’ don’t!” Mia whined back.
As they started driving, Casey looked supremely annoyed. His hand reached across the center console, just to rest on Trisha’s leg. Just a little more peace and comfort.
”Mia, what’s the problem… Why’s there an open bottle of booze in my car? You want me to get arrested.””Oh, you mean you don’t get police immunity now, Mister Blade Man?”Hari threw her head back in mental anguish.
”What the fuck has gotten into you these last twenty-four hours!?”“How long is the journey?” Trisha muttered, hand covering Casey’s on her leg. She could easily feel his tension, which made her tense. She twisted around in her seat to look at the three in the back, eyes narrowing at Mia specifically in what she hoped was a stern older sister look. She didn’t know, she’d never tried it.
“If you spill that- or worse, throw up- in the car, we’re kicking you to the curb, literally.””Oh, cool. Glad you’re fitting in well, Trisha. I’m happy you liked the dress, now you can just kick me out of your life.”Hari’s hands clapped together.
”Oh. My. God. Mia Renee… There’s no way.” Hari snapped, her hand lashing out and grabbing the bottle.
”How dare you act like that to her!” she continued.
”How dare I? The fucking loser Richoux?”Casey took a long, deep sigh.
”You’re not a loser Mia!” he pleaded.
”Oh, I mean, she kind of is being a loser right now. What the fuck, Mia!?”Ed had a stern look on her face as she lipped something in French to Hari, who shook her head.
”No, not happening.””I just can’t think of anything else.”Mia’s face twisted into anger.
”Oh, yeah, great. Two idiots no waiting, lets try and be vague about getting high in the Security chief’s car. Smart.”Casey tucked his face into his hands as they came to a stoplight.
”To answer your question, its literally right down the road. Only faster to drive because we won’t have to walk home or get a cab later.” he groaned, muffled but still trying to answer Trisha’s question.
“Oh,” was all Trisha said at first. Her expression was annoyed, hiding her confusion. Why the fuck would she want to kick Mia out of her life? Where had she said that- how would she, when she was dating Casey? Was Mia suggesting that they were going to break up? No, now she was jumping ahead.
“Then all three of them can walk?” She pointed a finger between each of them.
“Cool off, bicker where we don’t have to hear it?”Hari looked very sad immediately.
”You fuckin’ see, Mia? Stop! Just stop. Save it for now, we’ll talk about it later, Baby…””How fucking noble, you just don’t want to get kicked out of the car. Lazy ass… Casey, let me out!” Mia barked.
”With a fucking open bottle? No. you’re just gonna run off into some fucking pit. Trisha, please… It’s just a little while longer, we’re not kicking anyone out. Nobody’s getting fuckin’ kicked out.” Casey’s voice was stern without being loud or rude.
Ed shook her head.
”I’m gonna tell ‘em, Mia.”Mia’s eyes went wide, and she immediately slapped the cork back into her booze before shutting her mouth. She simply pouted. But that didn’t stop Ed. She figured it was important.
”I… She’s sad. I guess yesterday, you said something like you didn’t want her as your sister, Trisha. Or something, she-””STOP! OH MY GOD, STOP, LET ME OOOOOOOUT!”Trisha, just like Mia, was grumpily pouting. She’d folded her arms and gone to looking out the window, prepared to suffer through the rest of the short car journey… but her head snapped back round when Ed started talking. Had she said that? She didn’t remember saying that… oh. The joke she’d made to Elise?
“What the fuck? I didn’t mean it like that… I mean fuck, I don’t want you as my sister, but not because of you. I hate most of my sisters. I don’t have a single good memory with any of them! I’d much rather- assumed we’d be- well, y’know, friends.”She let out a frustrated breath, hands scrunching in her dress. She hated talking about stuff like this, but she hated being misunderstood more.
“Casey’s seen how I am with someone I don’t want to be my sister. It’s very different. Family is very different for me, so… I really didn’t mean it like that.”By the time Trisha was done explaining herself, Mia had buried her face into her dress, pulling it up over her head so that nobody could see her shame anymore. Hari tenderly held onto one of her long, dainty hands, and played with it by running her free fingers across the back, tracing the veins along Mia’s knuckles.
Ed was paying attention, however, and nodded.
”And none of us expect you to be our… Our sister. Y’know? It’s not realistic. But she wants to be close to you. Just like everyone, she does her best.””Lil’ Mimi… Don’t you feel silly yet, girl? Overreading into things?”Hari chided, trying to get her dear partner back out of her shell.
”Elise said ’I fuckin’ guess she’s my sister.’ And then… You just joked back… I don’t know, of course I feel stupid, but like it never feels like a joke!””But it is Mia… It’s all just jokes, Miss Sensitive! God, do you really think-”No. He couldn’t. He knew too much. He knew that their Emancipation was all staged, and that they’d never been abandoned. He saw the plan, all the recordings in memory, it all flooded across him.
But they were also pulling into the parking lot of Port Saint’s. There was a big banner outside that said “Congratulations Casey!” in big gold letters on a black background. People were gathered in the parking lot from the Temple; mostly mundane Adepts or Blinds who often accompanied them.
They all wanted to taste a little greatness.
He stopped the car out front, knowing there was a valet service, turning his body to look at the girls.
”Mia Renee, if you think for one second any of us would abandon you, I think you should really consider how Junior and I treat each other first. Think about how nobody is ever actively aggressive toward you, or how everyone puts up with the fact that sometimes you guys let your hygiene slip. Nobody says anything. Because we love you, and we don’t want you hurt. Like this. So, let's put the cat back in the bag for now, and go eat dinner like adults. Come on.” “And,” Trisha looked directly at Mia, forcing her lips to twitch back up towards a smile.
“I like you better than basically all of my actual siblings, alright?”Ed pointed at Trisha excitedly.
”See!? See!?”Mia lifted her head, letting her dress cascade down to once more sit across her almost non-existent cleavage. Her face was still annoyed, though amazingly her makeup hadn’t faltered in spite of the tears.
Casey was already on Trisha’s side of the car, opening the door and taking her hand to help her out as he waved off his quickly mounting fan club of older women. A lot of the Temple’s Blind members were people Elise’s various healthy living clinics brought into the fold. Addicts, people looking to change their lives, often people who were convinced that God would be there for them. Their true nature was hidden under the many mundane layers, and left them so open and exposed on the face of the organization that people didn’t question what was inside.
It was the only way to make it as a Doomsday Cult: Letting people decide what their level of involvement was, and never giving them so much that they couldn’t be allowed to back out. Problems only arose when families of the disenfranchised membership began kicking stones over to look for their long lost loved ones.
So, the occasional untrained Adept, or non-kindled Potent, would find their way in, and the core would expand underneath the covered skin, and nobody would ever ask questions.
Ed helped Mia out, who helped Hari in turn. The three girls were familiar with a lot of the local members, and made it a point to chat about with them as if nothing had happened. It let Trisha and Casey escape to a small private moment.
”Mother of God, if it isn’t one thing, it's another…” Casey grunted as they shuffled into the entryway of the restaurant.
Immediately, the vibe was a cozy ocean-side cabin: the wood was warm, benches were roughly hewn logs lacquered to a shine stuffed into one another and bolted in with the most rustic looking accents. Casey took whatever coat Trisha had decided to wear, sliding it off of her like a gentleman would before hugging her from behind and kissing the top of her head.
”Thank you for not freaking out…”“I’m used to worse,” Trisha replied half jokingly, leaning back against him. She was used to siblings who purposefully misread things, who acted hurt, who got genuinely hurt… and to herself. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t lie to herself that she’d act any different. Pretend to others, sure, but not to herself.
“At least there’s only six- counting Hari and Ed- it’s practically child’s play!”As if she hadn’t been entirely ready to kick them all out of the car, or just get out herself. Like it didn’t just take one person to completely set her off.
“But no promises if we have to take them back later, and they’re more drunk.””I mean, if your performance the other night is any indicator of how you usually are when you’re drunk, I condone and encourage you to drink as much as you’d like tonight. I believe we’ve got a personal bar in the event space, so no waiting.” he smiled, opening the door into the restaurant.
The two of them were met by immediate cheers as the whole place erupted. Casey looked out and saw plenty of familiar faces, and smiled to himself as he thought of a reason why it
wouldn’t be some kind of Temple banquet. He figured a few tables, maybe they’d open up the patio and put a few space heaters for the Temple parties, but…
”Woah, holy shit! I guess Andrade’s breakin’ the bank tonight huh!?” he called across the crowded establishment. Not a single person spared a laugh.
It could’ve easily been one of those creepy cult things where they were forced to laugh, but… Was it so hard to imagine that on the surface, they all recognized the same sorts of qualities that Trisha did? That, more than his chiselled features as the most stark member of the Richoux siblings, he had a certain air about him. A tender charm, in the same way a friendly dog had a magnetic quality. You wanted to smile at it and pet it.
Trisha was a bit overwhelmed, holding onto Casey’s hand like it was a lifeline. It wasn’t the amount of people - she’d attended so many banquets and galas thrown by her family, or other rich families. It was the attention. While it was on Casey most of all, she was right by his side. She really wasn’t used to it and tried her best not to feel too uncomfortable. Too worried about fucking up as she straightened her spine and smiled.
“Where’s that personal bar, then, might as well get started with that?” she looked up at Casey, talking at a normal level - mostly to him, but loud enough others could hear her.
Clarissa, hair still pinned tightly to her head in neat little rows, bounded across the restaurant as Casey was shaking babies and kissing hands- Or, the opposite.
”There they aaaaaare! Casey, Baby, I’m so glad you made it. And you, Trisha, oh my LORD you were so cute today. I was so happy to come home and see your little face lookin’ back up at us.” she said just loudly enough for them both to hear under the drone of the bustling restaurant.
”C’mon! Lets get you guys comfy, gimmie those coats! And your hat, God damn you, it’s rude to keep it on inside, c’mon now!”She snatched the coats out of Casey’s arms and the hat off his head. As they were ushered into the function hall near the back of the facility, they were greeted by a great big table made of wood, which could easily sit at least twenty people. At the head were double seats; one with a C sign hanging on it, and one with a T. There were plates of fruits and bottles of champaign set out among the glassware, and a golden fountain in the middle that sprayed water into a basin below the top, and slowly froze the water into ice that gently fell into a bigger bottom basin.
Ultimately, the ice would melt and recirculate through the fountain, creating a constant three-tier liquid-to-solid gradient effect.
Lynette, Furio and Andrade all stood around the bar with drinks in their hands, as it flanked one side of the table where nobody in particular was meant to sit. Lynette was still dressed in that same crazy gold dress, her skin painted gold well into her ears and eyelids. She was laughing, mouth agape to show off the uncanny darkness of the flesh within.
She matched the theme color well, at least.
Seeing the two of them, she shouted incoherently, raising her arms and rushing to hug around the both of them. Amazingly, whatever gold she was painted in didn’t rub off on either of them. In fact, to the touch, it seemed like there was no paint at all… Whether or not it was magic, or just really well sealed, was still up for debate.
It didn’t take long to realize she was babbling away in French.
”Ma… Momma, please… English: I can’t follow you when you’re sloppy like this, and I damn well know Trisha doesn’t speak French.””I SAID… I’m so excited to HAVE YOU HERE CASEY!” she spoke loudly, laughing and leaning into Casey.
”And I’m happier that you’re here with someone you love.”Casey blushed.
”Oh yeah, you’ve been hittin’ the Screwdriver since you got here, haven’t you?”Lynette giggled, smiled, and threw her thumb backward toward the bar.
”I’ss Wendy. I swear. She’s… She’s a peddler!”Casey laughed again, doing his best to redirect as best he could from what his Mom had drunkenly said.
”Jesus, yeah… I’m sure. Trisha? Babe? How about you get yourself set up at the bar with what you want, get some fruit and stuff too if you’re a little hungry. I don’t want you drinkin’ on an empty stomach; I’m just gonna make sure Lady Grace here doesn’t make a fool of our group in front of the Blinds…”There was a moment before Trisha responded, staring at Lynette, then at Casey. It was difficult to just ignore the word
love being used. But it was just a drunken mother thing, right? Not that Trisha would know with that… but it was definitely the alcohol that had Lynette saying that, Who’d assume they were there after less than a week.
“Alright, I’ll do that… I’ll not start with shots so that I’m still sober by the time you get back.” She squeezed his hand before letting go, so that he could do whatever he needed to.
She went and straight up snatched one of the plates of fruit from the table, before going to the bar. She smiled at Furio and Andrade, but didn’t say anything, just quickly ordering a light beer after some internal back and forth about whether it was even appropriate for the function. But she wanted something with less alcohol to start… It was fine. Definitely fine, she forced herself to munch on a few pieces of fruit as the bottle was quickly obtained and poured into a glass placed in front of her.
Trisha immediately took a long drink, before turning to Furio and Andrade. She couldn’t exactly just ignore them now that she had her drink.
“How’re you, Furio? All… healed?”Furio was grinning ear to ear, lifting up his hand to show Trisha a bandage. It looked like it was fully encompassing his hand, though three fingers still jutted out from the bandage.
”Doin’ just fine, Honey. He got me just like I hoped he would, so I figured I’d keep the wound. Not like I’m gonna be workin’ as hard anymore, after all. Why not have the trophy?Two fingers and a thumb. That was all that remained of his right hand.
”How about you, no hard feelings? I know it’s probably not… Not something that is normal, right? For your Boyfriend’s uncle to try and kill him, then hug him a couple hours later?”Andrade couldn’t help but laugh, his black and gold chef’s jacket shimmering in the comfortable low light.
”Blunt doesn’t even begin to describe you, Fu.”Furio also laughed and shook his head.
”What, I’m not playin’ dumb. I don’t want the girl fuckin’ hatin’ me, I don’t know how I’d have lived with myself if I seriously hurt that boy.” he frowned.
”I told you, acknowledge you made a stupid decision, and move on. Don’t you think, Trisha? It would be better to forget it happened!”“Well, he wouldn’t have to live with himself if he’d seriously hurt him,” Trisha said, before laughing to play it off as a joke. It was hard to tell, really, and the bees blending in with her dress were so still there was no obvious aggression from them.
“You’d also know if I hated you, believe me, I can be blunt too. But yes, pretty stupid decision, let’s not dwell on it. I watched too many hot headed people fight each other to near death as a teen to be anything but bored with it.”It had certainly felt like coven members were trying to kill each other whenever they fought. Trisha was surprised none of the many casualties had been from infighting. She ate another bit of fruit, trying to force her appetite to appear in preparation for the meal. She then raised her glass with a slight smile.
“To no hard feelings and just forgetting it happened.”The two men looked between one another, both smiling widely as they began to giggle. Furio opened his arms.
”You’re a keeper, Trisha. C’mere.”His arms wrapped around her slightly, body bumping the plate of fruit just out of the way. Andrade rolled his eyes, giving a sarcastic grin. When he pulled back, Andrade figured he’d take over.
”That aside, I’ve been using your honey the last few days, Trisha! You’ve got some fantastic variety in between the different batches, it’s actually been pretty fascinating to try them out. Do you want to come see what we’ve been doing?” he asked, throwing a thumb back toward the door that led directly between the kitchen and the banquet room.
“Really? I’ve never really noticed the difference, but I wasn’t trying to.” She followed his thumb, one hand automatically going to one of the bees on her bodice, stroking its little body. She could sense the slight stir of the Queen inside of her, though she wasn’t quite awake. Casey had said to set herself up at the bar, but it wouldn’t be going far, and he’d probably notice, right? She did want to see what they were doing with
her honey. The bees’ honey.
“Yeah, I’d really like to see that, actually. After all that time it's been sitting around… I want to see it being used.”Andrade’s eyes lit up. If there was one true love in his life, it was his food.
”Shit, give me this then-” he plucked the beer from her hand, turning to the bartender.
”Wendy? A toddy for our dearest guest.” he grinned and pointed to direct Trisha’s attention. Even Furio turned his head to look at what was going on. Wendy smiled and nodded, making way for a little electric kettle and a jar that Trisha would recognize immediately as her own honey. She took an old fashioned comb-shaped dipper and spun it into the jar, pulling out a glob and letting the stick sit in the shaker for a moment.
Pouring hot tea over it loosened the honey, letting it slough away and dissolve into the warmth. Nutmeg, a splash of cognac, and finally a spritz of lemon. The dipper muddled it all together before she finally pulled it out to thoroughly mix the drink, then poured into a wide mouthed cup.
It was warm in Trisha’s hand, and the perfect thing to drink on a cold November night.
”It’s a traditional Hot Toddy, but if we put it on the menu with your honey, I’d love to call it a Hot Trisha. We’ll start branding it, we can get your name on a couple other menu items involving the honey. Once people start asking who you are and why you’re attached to the product, we can push your stuff more directly. They’ll want it in their homes.” he grinned widely, encouraging her to take a sip.
Trisha was glad she had gone for a drink immediately, choking out a mixture of a laugh and a sharp breath at the name suggestion. There was absolutely no way she was agreeing to that. The word combination… Hot Trisha… well it certainly wasn’t false, but she didn’t want it to be a drink.
Before she got into that, she raised the cup to her mouth, gently blowing on it before taking a sip. Her eyebrows raised slightly. It was nice… like tea, which she always drank with a lot of honey anyway. She’d never been that fond of the flavour of cognac either, but it was balanced here by the honey.
“It’s really nice.” She took another sip, smiling.
“Really, really nice. If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t believe it’s my honey… but you definitely can’t call it that. Literally anything but that. Do you know how many family members I have in St Portwell? Well, not that it’d be a good name anyway…”She awkwardly raised the glass to her lips for another long drink. At least give a better suggestion… but one didn’t come to mind.
“Maybe… Tee instead of Trisha. Like bee with a T. Still me, just not my actual name.”Andrade smiled, waving his hand in the air slightly. He looked like he was trying to conjure something out of thin air.
”Tea-Bee. One syllable doesn’t work for the drink, since it’s meant to have the same ring as the normal drink. So, a Hot Toddy becomes a Hot Tea-Bee. I hate to obfuscate it so much, since it just becomes more annoying for the servers to tell a snappy story about it. A name’s usually easier…” he paused, ruminating for a moment more.
”You and your fuckin’ marketing shit… Just call it a Honeydrop and be done with it… Fuckin’ Hot Toddy, Hot Trisha, I think they’re both stupid fuckin’ names.””And a Honeydrop gets dropped from your memory as quick as you drink it.””Then are you really give the ingredients any sort of respect?”Andrade sat stunned for a moment, and around the same time, Elise and Junior made their way in. Accompanied by the girls, who had found Gin and a few other members of Project Eden. Gin happily waved to Trisha, despite her facial expression never reading anything other than discomfort.
She did seem a little compelled to move toward Trisha, but her attending companions kept her where she was; right by Lynette and Casey.
She even clung to Lynette the way a little child does, and in turn the gilded woman patted Gin’s head and stroked her shoulders in the way one would caress and care for a pet.
”Anyway, come on…”Andrade waved Trisha on toward the kitchen, taking strides without looking back, only to disappear behind the swinging door.
Trisha made sure to wave back to Gin, before staring after Andrade’s quickly disappearing back, swiftly finishing her drink.
“Uh, if Casey comes over and didn’t notice where I went, can you let him know?” she asked Furio.
“So he doesn’t worry.”She didn’t really wait for an answer, assuming that he would… After all, duel to the death aside, Furio had been pretty reasonable. She put down her empty glass, grimacing at the telltale warmth settling in her chest. She drank too quickly… She’d have to pace herself. It was fine. She followed where Andrade had gone as quickly as her heels would allow her, pushing through it and into the kitchen. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect. She’d hardly been in a normal kitchen.
What came next was a full breakdown of all the things humanly possible with the natural sugar known as honey. An obvious sweetening agent, the tour began with desserts and things one would typically ascribe to the syrup’s wheelhouse. There were plenty of pastries, between challah breads and cookies, crackers almost caramelised with honey throughout.
Then a talk about textures, exploring the idea that honey with moisture could only be used for so much. There were a lot of little jars being infused with different herbs and spices, and under one of the metal cabinets was a jar of fermenting mead that obviously had to be made.
”Whatever batch it was that we chose for the mead? We’re looking at almost sixteen percent alcohol. You don’t usually touch numbers like that in the mead market.”He was clearly proud, and talked about different sauces they’d tried making with the honey before they settled on trying to mass infuse different flavors and see what came out best.
But what he was most impressed with was a trick he’d pulled from a different Chef, whom he admired and respected in the short time they worked together. She’d shown him that you could always caramelise the honey and dehydrate it like that, grinding down the candy into powder.
But the cooked honey never tasted the same; so they began to dehydrate it mechanically, using a constantly circulating ventilator to wick any bit of moisture out of the raw honey.
Pure granulated and processed honey sugar could be used in so many places that the liquid honey simply couldn’t, and he showed off a piece of steak that was dry-aging in a crust of the stuff an inch thick.
By the time he’d shown her everything, it was getting close to showtime.
”So, I mean… I know we can’t rush perfection, but I’d say we’ve got a lot that can be done and not a lot of raw product left to do it. Obviously, this experimentation has taken up a good chunk of what you had. We kept the grade three stuff out of the food, just storing it for stuff like your drink, or spreading directly.”Trisha’s head was practically spinning with everything she’d been shown and told. She hadn’t realised there was so much food that could include honey, or so many different uses outside of that. She’d never thought to try or look into it until now. She was impressed. If it was her working with her honey… she couldn’t have done any of it.
But of course, there was the matter of honey production. If they’d already gone through a couple years stockpiling… she would definitely need more bees. Which came with its own issues she didn’t want to think about tonight.
“Well, they’ve gotten set up in their new hive and started making honey again. It’s… not something that can be sped up without numbers. It’s already faster than a normal hive, because they don’t have any brood to tend. With the amount I have in a week they’ll have made enough for…” she frowned, quickly calculating it.
“Just over three jars of honey, assuming they adapt well to the new environment. When I checked yesterday they seemed to have.”She smiled, looking down at the fairly still bees dotted all over her dress.
“I know three a week doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a lot of work for them.””My dear, they live and breathe, do they not? We can’t rush what must come naturally; we can only get people addicted to it now so that by the time it comes around again, it sells out instantly.” he held out his hand to shake.
”Now, go enjoy your party: I promise, we’re not going to make you eat all honey tonight. Just dessert, and it's a surprise.” he grinned.
“I couldn’t rush them even if I wanted to,” Trisha laughed, smiling brightly as she shook his hand. She was genuinely excited about it in a way she hadn’t been for a long time. Excited about something that could build her future that wasn’t a partner.
“Good, I don’t want to get sick of something I have to work with… but I’ll look forward to dessert.”She raised her hand in a half wave before going back out the way she’d come.
”Oh, and Trisha!?” Andrade called to her, just before she managed to scramble off.
”Feel free to eat tonight… Our friends have made sure you’ve got nothing to worry about. Even if it leaves us all a bit more hungry.”Trisha paused in the door to look back at him, smile faltering, confusion clear across her eyes. Not at what he was saying - she understood it perfectly - but she hadn’t expected it.
“Alright, I’ll eat as much as I can then… Thanks, Andrade.” She’d try her hardest to not let their effort go to waste, even if eating at a large dinner was always a challenge for her.
She turned back around and through the kitchen door, back into the function hall. She immediately looked around for Casey, hoping he wasn’t surrounded by too many people. Even if he was, she’d probably still go over to him.
At that point, he was actually sat in his big chair at the head of the table. It almost made him look little despite his own stature. As Trisha came out, he lept up to his feet and moved to her, grabbing her hands.
”Hello my baby, hello my HONEY-” he laughed aloud, smiling at her and dancing a little bit.
”How was it, how’s the food look? Furio said you guys were talkin’ about the honey?” he asked curiously. It was hard to not notice Gin very quickly sneaking up on their flank.
While most of the room was now full of people talking and chatting, they seemed to congregate mostly around Lynette at the other end of the table. Whether it was just because that’s how important she was, or if they were somehow told to give Casey some space, wasn’t clear.
The clearest thing was that Gin either didn’t care enough, or cared too much about Trisha to care about anything else. She didn’t speak, but she did hover in their direct vicinity, enough that Casey wordlessly placed a hand on her head and pulled her in to a one armed embrace while he listened to Trisha.
Trisha was in a good mood after seeing all the honey products, even if it’d been a bit exhausting, and she smiled warmly at Casey. Her eyes creased cutely and shone in a way they normally only did when it was just the two of them. She even smiled genuinely at Gin, though it didn’t have that same gooey warmness to it.
“Honestly? No idea about the food for tonight. Andrade was showing me everything they’re doing with my honey… It's a lot. I didn’t know you could do so much with honey. Not even just in sweet things… They even had this steak dry aging with honey sugar around it. Also, the mead they’re making is looking like it’ll be much more alcoholic than normal. I’m a bit concerned that some of the girls have been going out drinking without me knowing for that to happen…” She laughed.
“Oh, I tried a drink first with it, a Hot Toddy? But y’know what Andrade wanted to call it…” she trailed off, grinning playfully, voice lowering.
“A Hot Trisha… can you imagine?”Casey grinned, Gin grinned. But he caught his counterpart in his periphery and turned to face her fully. He didn’t stop smiling, but he did wait quite a bit longer than he had to before he shook her.
”What’s so funny!?” he laughed playfully.
She looked back at him, and didn’t really understand if he was mad or not, since he was still laughing. She decided she’d just keep laughing too.
”It’s a fuckin’ pun…”In turn, Casey cracked up. His free hand lifted up to smack his own face, resting in his eyes.
”Y’know, Babe? You are a pretty hot Trisha.” he laughed again, eventually letting himself calm enough to redirect Gin’s energy off of it.
”But, yeah… I hope you guys work on it a bit more; I know how he gets about shit like that.”And then he looked back down at the still lightly giggling Ginara.
”Now, what brings the Director of Eden to this side of the table?””Ooh, T-trisha mostly. Pretty good, the alarm works… I mean, for the bees. Did you know that fifteen thousand of them swarmed out at one point all in one go?”She was dressed in something that at least wasn’t her usual lab coat and sweatpants; opting for a formally masculine suit complete with a long coat and haptic finger gloves to be able to touch her screen without actually touching her screen.
She pulled up a little application that showed some vital data about the bees in real time, holding it up for Trisha to look at.
”The Hive-House is full of sensors too, so we can see how the comb is developing between the sections.”Trisha had to laugh along with them. It was pretty funny all around.
Still, she couldn’t resist moving to Casey’s other side, going up on her tiptoes to get as close as possible to his ear.
“Hot Trisha is a one of a kind, completely exclusive, only for you, Babe. I wouldn’t want any others to exist.”She lowered herself back to her heels, wobbling a bit when she forgot they were higher than normal. She then leaned a bit forward to look at the application Gin was showing her, eyes narrowing in concentration as she deciphered what it was telling her. It was… impressive. All things that she could glean off her bees made much easier to access. Really, it made her redundant… no, that wasn’t the case. Without her there weren’t any bees at all.
“Swarmed out… today? Without me calling them? Do you get an alarm when any of them leave?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wouldn’t be able to call the bees without someone in the Temple knowing. There was a cold anxiety in her chest that she tried to ignore thinking about that. Instead, she concentrated on the data.
“Is there any way for me to get something like this?” Trisha asked as she looked at it.
“I can read their pheromones, but I need to be around enough bees who were in the hive recently. Something like this would make things much easier for me.”Gin nodded, sliding to another screen to show Trisha the influx of bees moving out of the hive. The time: two forty-nine that morning. The wakeup call.
”White Lux sensors indicate a high-level magical current that starts the event. There's a rapid surge of apparitional Lux after that, and within five seconds the massive chunk of the hive uproots to go on the warpath. I get notifications for every little dude coming and going…”She grinned, pushing her glasses tighter to her face with a smugness.
”I'll send you the QR code for the download later on. Do you want me to pre-make your login creds?” she asked very seriously.
Trisha grimaced when she saw when it was. This morning, of course. When she’d called all the bees in panic. It was embarrassing how that happened, the pheromones she’d given off in panic too…
“Every single one? Won’t that get annoying? I swap out the ones with me multiple times a day. Sometimes they just come over because they want to…”Well, it wasn’t like she was the one getting the notifications. She could see its use if her life was in danger… but it was also a type of tracking. That made her uncomfortable. Something to talk with Casey about later.
“Yeah, please do. I’d just like access to the Hive sensors, really. I know when they come and go, obviously.” She was still looking at the screen, clearly impressed.
“Did you guys also make this whole application in a few days?””Junior and I made it in a few hours. You can skip a lot of steps when it's held together by magic; don't worry.”Junior had a sensor of his own: Some considered it a magical power, that he could hear his name mentioned anytime, anywhere.
”Oooh, shit yeah. The bees…"Looming over Trisha’s shoulder, Junior looked down at the application screen before looking up at his big brother and grinning.
”It’s pretty great, isn’t it? It’s like I’m always in your hands. Flattering, really.”Gin laughed at what was an innocuous comment to her.
”Oh, me too. You’re carrying us around, Trisha… And it's like you’re carrying the bees, but twice.”But of course, Casey wasn’t about to make a point out of admonishing Junior for the current creeping. Not with Gin there; not with them all gathered to be happy. Trisha had, intentionally or not, ended up pumping his confidence a bit. Thanks to the “Hot Trisha” comment, he felt like he could at least take on the challenge without feeling like he was less than.
”Oh, so there’s nut in the code?” he asked casually.
Junior was about to answer, but Gin laughed and spoke first.
”Bees don’t do nuts, dude. Maybe there’s flowers in the code?””Definitely pollen… Lots of… Pollen… Speaking of sticky reproductive proteins; Casey, are you gonna get the bull balls again?”Casey grinned.
”I know it scares you, but they’ve still got more texture than that shar pei you call a brain.”Trisha flinched slightly as Junior just appeared over her shoulder, something she played off as stumbling in her heels with a step closer to Casey. She didn’t like the sudden appearance right behind her, and a few bees crawled out from hiding spots in the braid along the top of her head in reaction.
She tilted her head, trying to keep up with the conversation and all of the hidden shit underneath it. Sure, she was used to it when it came to certain members of her family, but it meant it wasn’t just as easy as listening and understanding.
“Oh, well, I planned to put it on my tablet rather than my phone. I only need it when I’m at home.” She didn’t particularly want to carry around a Temple created app, and the idea was even less appealing after what Junior had said. Something she decided to just ignore otherwise.
“Like you ate them, Case? Is that what he means?” Trisha tilted her head up to Casey, before laughing.
“Like Lanciao- The one time my mom took me back to the Philippines with her my cousins gave me it without telling me what it was. It’s kind of worse, though, it’s got everything. I’ll take you there one day and you can try it.” She grinned, before her gaze moved to Junior, smile getting a lot less genuine.
“It’s not bad, really. But I’m sure your brain is plenty textured - when I tried tuslob buwa, that’s pig’s brains, it had something of a texture to it.”Junior’s face twisted into the most evil kind of grin he could give Casey. In turn, there was a shift in his own demeanor as he furrowed his brow to look at Junior.
”Don’t do it…” Casey asserted.
”It?” Junior questioned, practically rolling his shoulders with it like the Cheshire Cat.
”Whatever you thought. Don’t say it.””Casey…” Junior still grinned, hands slipping into the pockets of his slacks.
”Be disrespectful in your own head, or you won’t be eating here.” Casey growled. His gaze turned down slightly to Gin, who was messing about on her phone with nary a clue as to the tensions mounting.
”You’re assuming, right? Like, assuming I’m being… Disrespectful? The only thing that passed through my head is-””Maaaaaax…” Casey growled again.
”-is that I’m so happy the both of you are adventurous eaters! That’s all! I think it’s great that you’ll both just…-”Casey patted Gin’s shoulder, letting her go before launching at his brother with both hands. He gripped him by the collar, one hand flicked up and smacked him across the face, and the other spun him before shoving the wiry Junior back toward the wall.
”Ough! Dude! I didn’t even say anything!””I. Don’t. Care. Go bother other people if you really feel like you need to be here.””I saw you guys talking about something I worked hard on, the least I can do is fuckin’ joke around a little bit!”“Casey, calm down.” Trisha jumped forward, hands going up to grip his bicep. Her thumbs rubbed circles against it, and she looked around, worried that people were going to start looking over, and it would become a massive thing. She didn’t know anyone here well enough to know how that would go, but she knew when it was her own family it just made things worse. More annoying to deal with. She stopped looking around to look up at Casey pleadingly.
“Just let him go, it’s not worth it.” It was true that he hadn’t really said anything, but she wasn’t going to say that, because she got it.
”Oh, actually, I’d like another drink, why don’t we go over to the bar? Just the two of us.” She looked past Casey at Junior.
“Jokes are supposed to be funny, by the way. I get it, you’re in Tech, but learn to read the room.”Funnily enough, nobody paid it much attention; save for Furio who was apparently glued to the bar. But he really only laughed, and as Casey turned to see him doing so, he started to laugh too. It was ridiculous, and if anyone knew, it was Furio.
”I get it, you’re in Tech? What’s that supposed to mean?” Junior asked before blowing air out from between his lips and swinging his arm as if to wipe it all away.
”Never mind, forget I asked. I’ll go hang out with people who like me: Gin, good luck keepin’ that app held together with shoestring.”Being acclimated enough to this scenario, Gin was easily able to keep her own anxiety low by simply dissociating. She didn’t even hear Junior say anything when he left. She didn’t even really see Casey getting physical. By the time she looked up, Casey and Trisha had already moved off to the bar, and she was standing by nothing… So she found a comfortable seat near the head, where Trisha would be sitting, and planted herself down.
Casey didn’t bother looking to see if Junior left or not, and was still laughing as Furio cleared away for the two of them. He patted Casey on the shoulder as he slipped off.
”He knows just how far to push, the little fuck…” he groaned at Trisha.
”And I’m not dealing with it anymore. I swear!”“And you shouldn’t,” Trisha said. She turned around towards Casey rather than the bar, arms slipping around him and leaning into his body.
“All that stuff people say about putting up with family is bullshit, anyway. Next time properly beat him up… I just didn’t want my appetite ruined tonight.”She looked over at the bar, then back up at Casey, deciding to move on from that shitshow… She didn’t want to think about Junior, or the discomfort she felt just by being in his presence. There wasn’t even a reason for it.
“Hey, want to try a Hot Trisha?” she asked, trying to use a flirty tone but breaking down into laughter half way through it.
Even Wendy, the bartender, started laughing.
“Fucking
Hot Trisha coming up, Your Grace!”
Casey gave a genuine smile to Trisha, quickly wrapping her around his side and cuddling her tightly.
”You’re so cool… Thanks. And thank you, Wendy… Do you have any clue about how we can fix that?”Wendy snorted as she tried to muddle the honey into the warm tea.
“Oh, God… Nah, honestly I’m not that creative. Give me the booze, I get it. But, words? Fuck that.”
He shrugged as he finally received his drink, taking a sip and nodding.
”Why not a Queen Tea? Like Green Tea, or Queen Bee…” he offered, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh, see? You always do that… I’m so glad you’re back for good, C-L… Lord Grace!”
“I suggested Tee instead of using my name, and Andrade started going on about marketing and it being a snappy story, so… you’re welcome to suggest that and listen to the same rant? I like it, but he’s the fussy one.” Trisha said, looking at Wendy with a smile, then back up at Casey.
“Does everyone have to call you that? Bit awkward… I’m not going to get shit for using your name, am I?”Casey looked a bit dazed and confused at the second part of what Trisha said. His brow narrowed, and his lips turned down into a considerate frown. The young woman was probably close to the same age as them, blonde, and dressed in a black and gold uniform that matched Andrade’s. It was clearly for the event tonight, special for one night only.
As she washed away at a glass, she simply smiled.
“Well, no… We don’t have to, so you won’t have a problem. It’s… Well, we were asked to for tonight, but honestly? I think I like it. When we were kids, nobody really thought Casey was gonna do much. So, him doing this now? Pretty cool to me.”
Casey’s confusion turned into surprise. He knew that a lot of the other kids in the Coven at his age didn’t think much of him. But, hearing her say that he was welcome in his position made him happy.
”Well shit… I mean I won’t argue with that; thanks, Wendy!” She smiled back.
“Of course… Now, should I keep ‘em comin’? Do you want another, Miss Trisha? Or something stronger?”
“I’ll just be sticking to your name, but it doesn’t mean I think you’re any less cool,” Trisha smiled, one hand moving away from hugging Casey to wave in front of her.
“Another of the beer I had earlier, please. I don’t want to drink too much before eating… and I didn’t get to finish it. Andrade stole it from me.” She pouted slightly, but wasn’t all that upset about it, obviously.
“Do you like it?” she then asked Casey, gesturing to the drink.
“Pretty nice, right? I was surprised… I think they’re using my honey in the dessert tonight too? It’s really…” she trailed off, head moving from side to side in an embarrassed motion.
“Weird. Something I helped make being used.”Casey absolutely slurped the warm tea beverage down until there wasn’t a single drop left in the cup. It was like watching someone pour it directly into a can. His lid tilted shut, and he had a smile on his face.
”Oh, that’s fuckin’ great. Definitely not something to drink with dinner though… Vodka and tonic?”“Mint?” she asked him, swiping everything up.
”Why not?”He grinned back down at Trisha.
”So you said… The dessert? I wonder how, because he promised me he was making… Well… I guess there’s a bunch of ways? Are you flattered by it? Or is it weird in a bad way?” he asked Trisha directly, not so much concerned as he was curious.
Wendy handed over the beer and the V/T, and Casey nodded them off as he turned Trisha back toward the table.
“Flattered, I think,” Trisha nodded with a smile, taking a sip of the beer. Maybe not the type of drink for a fancy meal, but she’d never been fond of the drinks that did go with something like that.
“I’m just not used to it. I have a large family, so there was always someone doing something that everyone else paid attention to… Even if it wasn’t actually impressive. I didn’t really experience that.” She said it all so nonchalantly, shrugging one shoulder, as if it was just a novel new experience and that past lack of attention had never bothered her. Her voice got much, much quieter.
“Now I have something to show for it all.” She shook her head, not sure why she’d actually given that answer rather than the various half truths she could’ve gone with. So stupid. She awkwardly tried to move the conversation on before he could actually say anything about it.
“Does everyone else have assigned seats, or is it just us?” Casey heard what Trisha said about being lost in the crowd and internalized it. He’d felt the same thing in a smaller setting; but it was hard to ignore what sorts of feelings that conjured up in him. But he felt her redirection actively, like a ripple in his White Lux that was so ready and active now around him. It was hard for it not to talk to the reality around one, and he imagined this is how his mother and sister always knew whatever he was thinking… It wasn’t just for remote viewing.
”Just us. Kinda funny, right? My day, my event, I can’t pick my seat! ‘Cuz they want all eyes forward. Mom’ll be at the other end, and an empty seat for my…”A little light left his eyes.
”That's… So… Fucked up…” he muttered to himself, eyes now glanced down the table toward the other large seat. Maxwell…
“So we could be sitting next to anyone. No choice? That's a bit unfair.” Trisha said, before her eyes followed his towards the other end of the table. For his dad. She could practically see that black, ghostly outline… but it wasn’t there, of course. She visibly tensed. It was fucked up. Her lips pressed together into a thin line as she remembered the dream again. She still didn’t understand it, and she hated that. She leaned more into Casey.
“Let’s make sure to die at the same time,” she whispered, so quietly it would be difficult even for Casey to hear.
“At least we get to sit together,” she continued as if she hadn’t even said anything. It was a thought that had just slipped out accidentally, and she was going to pretend it hadn’t. She should've eaten more of that fruit before she had a drink…
“I’m very good at ignoring everyone else at large dinner parties if I have to. Or just pretending to listen, the old routine of nodding and smiling. When we were younger it pissed Tansy off more than me actually getting annoyed at her.””I’ll leave your decision to you, of course… But I’d love it if you chose to listen. Someday, what you hear could come in handy.” Casey replied, either ignoring or not hearing Trisha’s comment about dying.
In truth, he had missed it for the echoing of a hundred voices. Inside and outside, they were talking about each and every little thing going on in their lives. He was acutely aware of things he’d never been aware of before… Like how warm the room was, or how everyone’s voices sounded just a little sharper than they should at a place like this.
And then he was still thinking about Junior, and about his Father. Max was on his mind, and he hated that particularly. But the drink was good, and Trisha was good, and he turned his head to look across that long table at his Mother. She was being spoken to, and replying, but still managed to convey some emotion in his direction. Her hand was resting on the armrest of his Father’s reserved seat, and her thumb rolled down in a particular fashion.
He knew instantly that it was knowing, and that it was purposeful. As if to tell him that Maxwell the Forth would be proud of him. As if he didn’t know, and didn’t hate every bit.
Casey didn’t let his gaze linter on his Mother long, passing her off a sullen smile before snagging an apple off the table. As he did so, wait staff were beginning to pull those fruity offerings from the table. It was clearly some sort of que, some visual notification to let the engaged party know that mingling was safe to be done at the table.
Andrade slinked out from the rear, holding up his hands and clapping to capture everyone’s attention in the room.
”Alright, get comfortable now! Get sat, come on, we’ve got food coming, first course in fifteen minutes! Understand? Get your drinks, get your seats, get your appetites ready like I know they are…””Hungry Temple stomachs!” Lynette shouted, raising her wine to the air and hearing the entirety of the open dining room cheer in unison for the prospect of food.
”Eat, drink, and be merry under the protection of the Lord of Blades!”More cheers, even from the attending patrons of the private area. As people began taking their seats, it became clear as to what the night had for company. Something like a protective barrier between the more Temple-oriented individuals and the Couple of the Hour formed.
With Gin having claimed a spot early, she remained near the head closest to Trisha, and she wound up flanked by Ed. Naturally, across from her, Mia settled in closest to Casey, with Hari on her side. It was about as far as conversation would go without things getting uncomfortable, however, and beyond them were the likes of some of Project Eden’s finest, close staff, and then more of the family before ending off with Lynette.
Another cheer rose up from the dining room as Casey and Trisha sat, with Leon making it into the dining room with an incredibly gaudy, almost vampire count-like outfit on. He took his seat on the end, but not before coming to the head and leaning over Casey’s chair to plant a solid kiss atop his head.
As he pulled away, he came up with two Jewellery boxes which were handed off to Trisha and Casey.
”These are from Dear Nonnat, Casey. I asked if she could spare something to match for Trisha.”The boxes were unmarked, and opening them revealed two pendants with massive center gemstones cut from what appeared to be some kind of crystal grown in a golden striped pattern. The fixtures were pure gold, and heavy as could be, with little black and yellow stones surrounding the centerpieces.
Casey gave his brother a wide-eyed look, then looked back at Trisha.
”Jesus, Man!? You… She…”His gaze turned again, and locked on Trisha.
”Our Nonnat! Our Grandmother in New York, she… Is very sick, and I haven’t even thought to go visit her.”Trisha stared at the pendants with wide eyes. She was used to opulence, but this was really on another level. It honestly looked like it would hurt her neck to wear.
“I’d look like a gold digger if I wasn't already rich…" she half joked, gesturing to the silver ring on her right hand. She honestly wasn't sure how to react. It clearly had some meaning. She just didn't know what, and she didn't
understand family in that way. A gift from family for her was a poor apology for not giving her the time of day. That clearly wasn't the case here.
She turned her body towards Casey, smiling at him.
“Then we'll just have to go visit and thank her when you have time. Maybe go to a few places along the East coast? But primarily go and visit her." She then looked back down at the pendant, towards Leon, then at Casey again.
“Should we… put them on now?" Her voice lowered enough that only those close enough to her could hear.
“I don't really know what they mean."Leon laughed and shook his head, patting Trisha gently on the shoulder.
”They don’t really mean anything. Just a congratulation, and she was honestly thrilled to hear that he’s dating someone so I don’t think she was troubled by a two-for-one.”Casey laughed aloud.
”Nonnat’s an Artificer, she makes magical artifacts. Or, used to. I assume the Casket made these.”Leon nodded.
”Yeah, the components were a few pieces of her older works. I’m fairly certain it was the Caden collection.”Nodding, Casey held the pendant up again, bringing it closer to Trisha’s. His had a thicker necklace and a bulkier centerpiece, while Trisha’s certainly looked a bit more fragile. The metal of the pendant was slimmer, creating the illusion that her center stone was even bigger like a wide open eye.
”She’s got this machine; it’s a recycler, basically. Dump shit into it, feed intent through magic, and it’ll spit out what you want. Like artificial intelligence-shit.” Leon kissed his brother’s head again, patting both of them gently.
”Enjoy ‘em. And don’t worry, they’re not bugged or anything.”Casey half grinned up at Leon, neck almost creaking.
”Oh, I’d know…”The wolfman could only nod his head and accept his brother’s ominous statement, retreating to the bar before making way for a seat near his Mother at the other end of the table.
Casey’s attention returned to Trisha.
”We putting them away?”“Yes, as nice as they are…" she touched the back of her neck and laughed.
“I’m not sure my neck is prepared for something so heavy. Especially if it's magical."She closed the box hers had come in, looking towards the bag she'd brought. It was small, just enough to fit her phone and purse, so she turned to Casey and held it out to him.
“I assume you have somewhere to put them?" She was relieved it was just a gift, though a genuine one it seemed - something that still made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Now we have something else that matches. These outfits, the pendants… soon we'll have a whole matching collection. What should we get next? Halloween is a while away, so not costumes… watches? Earrings? Rings-" oh shit not rings, matching rings normally imply marriage, shit- “Oh, maybe matching outfits for a date?”
Saved. Perfectly played off.”Probably start with matching outfits. Save the rings for when we’re married.”Casey said it with such smooth casualness that it probably didn’t even sound like anything. He imagined the joke coming out like Charlie Brown’s parents’ voices.
”Hari’s purse.” Mia commented, holding out her hand across the table toward Trisha and Casey.
”We keep everything in there, and it’s always safe.””So fuckin’ true, like anything we need? Goes in her bag.” Ed piped up, laughing a bit as the both of them looked at Hari.
Sighing, the young woman reached down.
”What the hell am I getting?” she asked, coming up with her purse.
For when they were married… like it was a definite. Like with all of these things, it made Trisha feel conflicted. All she wanted was to be with Casey forever, but there was also that ever present fear that it would be pulled away from her when she was in too deep. Was she already in too deep? No, no, just surface level. And really, he said it like it was nothing, it wasn't even serious. But then did that mean he wasn't thinking about it seriously?
“I like the sound of matching outfits first, let's do that," she laughed lightly, also playing it off.
She then handed the pendant over to Mia, looking at Hari with a smile.
“Thanks, Hari. Some really elaborate, magical-?" She glanced at Casey for that,
“pendants."She shuffled slightly in her seat so she was closer to Casey, one leg moving towards him to press against his. She was glad with who’d ended up at their end of the table, but she still wasn't comfortable with the whole large meal scenario.
“So, I have to ask, what are the portions like here? Is it normal portions with three courses, or is it fancy restaurant eight tiny portions?"”Not magic, Babe! Just uh… Magically made.””We’re doing Family style, I’m pretty sure. We’ll have a few serving dishes of whatever’s brought out, so you can take as much or as little as you want.” Mia practically spoke over Casey, slipping the two pendants to Hari.
The searingly red haired girl popped one of the boxes open, ogling at the contents before snapping it shut and tossing them gently into her purse. She gave Trisha some eye contact and a playful salute.
”Ugh, God please no…” Gin quietly protested, still mostly fixed to her phone. She was fiddling with something before swinging it around to show to Trisha.
”Yo, check it out. Sensors can lidar the fuckin’ hive… They’re building a new section, see?”Trisha was relieved to hear that the food was a self serve style thing, probably, so she didn't have to worry about being rude when she couldn't eat a whole plate put in front of her. She could probably force herself through it but… it wouldn't be enjoyable. But she still smiled back at Hari before her attention was taken by Gin.
“Really? Huh, you're right," she leaned over to look at Gin's phone screen, looking at the grainy, laser created images of the bees. It wasn't something she normally got to see - she could sense it, but she only looked inside the hive when she was pulling out sections to collect the honey. She nudged Casey, bringing his attention to the phone.
“Look at that, babe, the girls are hard at work… We'll need to go in and give them loads of fruit later."She reached down to gently stroke one of the bees on her bodice, and it gently buzzed before crawling on her finger.
“That’s really cool, Gin. I can keep up with them without having to call a whole swarm… which nobody wants."Looking over, Casey’s face turned into a wide grin.
”Oh, no shit! I’ll have Andrade bag up a bunch of that fruit and we’ll give ‘em a nice feast for all their effort.” he exclaimed, looking down the table toward one of the other Project Eden members.
”Fuckin’ bees, dude! Lookin’ great, man!””Oooh, let’s see!” Mia went to stand, but Gin wholesale shoved herself halfway across the table.
”Ginara!?” Lynette’s stern face stared down the table at her. Pretty hard to take her seriously when she was literally golden, but it seemed to work on Gin. Sheepishly, the girl slumped back into her seat. Mia laughed, pushing up and standing to come around and look as their manners dictated.
”Oooh, wow… I… Don’t know what I’m looking at.” Mia finally admitted in a flat, almost disappointed tone.
”Like a million little lasers making a picture of a dark place.” Gin explained. Mia’s face made an o-shape before she began nodding.
”Oh, so, like… The comb, and then where they’re building?” her long fingers prodded at the screen, causing it to change to another screen which Gin gasped at.
”Oops…” Mia shrugged, spinning finally and without much ceremony to hit the bar. Long island iced tea, as tall of a glass as Wendy would give her, and she hit her seat with renewed enthusiasm.
”So, what do you think, Trisha? You’ve got pretty much everyone who's anyone in the Temple at a table with you. Shit’s like the Last Supper except you’re like a guest…” she laughed, joking just low enough that they maintained volume with the din of the table.
Trisha tilted her head, smiling even when there was some confusion in her eyes, a dull brown in the current lighting. Was she supposed to feel anything special over that? Intimidated, honoured? If anything, she just felt how she always did in any large dining situations - a constant, niggling want to flee.
“I think I could run St Portwell if I really wanted to," she joked back, also quiet enough to keep it among people at their end of the table.
“Mundane scene with my family, magical from the Temple… haha, the city’s at my fingertips."It was a joke, of course. She'd very purposefully never gone for anything using her family name… membership of a certain, barely functioning group aside. She shrugged.
“With how I grew up I learned not to think about how important someone sitting at a table with me was. Dad always had someone round… Some of the people he married were famous, and my sister now too. But it'd be pretty exciting and new if it did turn out like the Last Supper. Haven't experienced that. There isn't any special, magical Temple table manners I need to know, are there?"”Oh, nah. We’re such apostates, the table comes pre-blessed so we don’t even bother with saying Grace.” Hari responded, happy to give any bit of info she could.
”Carved right into the bitch.” Gin let her leg swing up under the table, kicking it and making the cups rattle from below.
”Please don’t kick the hand-carved blessing?” Mia asked, despite her tone very clearly being a commanding one.
Gin frowned, tilting her head back again.
”Stiff, stiff… Killing meeeeee-””Listen, we’re all stuck here. Don’t be rude, Ginara.” Mia did her best to hide how frustrated she was, but in the end it only served to make her lash out in other areas.
”Mimi…” Ed frowned, looking at Mia across the table. The response was a long sigh and hands being tossed into the air.
”Okay, sure. Just let her kick the table, but when she tries to stand on the table-”Gin turned her head to Trisha, a frown on her face.
”Can we talk about games or something, Trisha?”Mia scoffed, snagged her drink and took it down entirely before shoving off to get another.
”And I’m the jerk…-” her voice trailed off.
Trisha was doing her best to stay cool about everything. Her hands dropped to her lap, clenching and unclenching in her skirts, scrunching up the fabric in them. She looked from Gin, to Mia, to Gin as they went back and forth, trying not to frown about it. Just about maintaining that same, not quite genuine smile. It wasn't the company. It wasn't even the clashing, really. It was just too like all those family dinners she has to suffer through, and she was just waiting for it to turn on her. It always did.
Normally this was the point where she'd leave and lock herself in her room. Once she hit a certain age she stopped suffering through it, and later on didn't even show up in the first place. But she couldn't leave. There was nowhere to go, and it would just upset Casey.
She wasn't normally a mediator. Wasn't good at it. One hand came up from her lap just to grab her beer, and she quickly downed the whole bottle.
“Alright, we can talk about games, but Mia's right, Gin. You shouldn't kick or stand on the table… it'll disturb everyone else. It might disturb the bees." She gestured to the ones that were visible. A couple had even crawled onto the glass in front of her. Hopefully she'd put it in a way that would get through to Gin.
“I’m quite boring with games, though. I've mostly just been playing… Left for Dead Two with some friends. Really, I play whatever they want to. One is really good at them, but the other two of us who always play too… aren't. I just can't get aiming with a mouse and by the time I shoot it's too late and there's a zombie in my face. But maybe you can recommend something to me so I can branch out more?"”Oh, dude you need something slower right? If you’re casually gaming, you don’t wanna keep up with some asshole bunnyhopping through your map. Do you like having stuff to kill and fight? Or do you think that it doesn’t matter and you could be cool like… Looking at spreadsheets or something?”Hari had gotten up with Mia, but Ed was keyed in and listening to the conversation at hand.
”I play phone games… You guys use your computers?” she asked, looking at Gin.
”Eddy’s what you call a “whale” in the game she plays.” Gin laughed, nodding at Ed’s question.
“I definitely need something slower," Trisha laughed, managing to relax slightly now that Mia wasn't there going at Gin, thinking about what she actually liked. What did she like? Probably much slower games. She wasn't much bothered about the killing things, that was just what Sal and Cass enjoyed (even if Cass was bad at it).
“I think I'd prefer games without the stress of killing or being killed. When I play alone I normally just spin up stardew valley, honestly… relaxing stuff. I'm happy to do spreadsheets, but I don't really see what they have to do with games? Like the spreadsheets are the game, or games where you use spreadsheets to keep track of stuff?"Trisha then looked at Ed with a smile.
“Only on the computer for me. A friend tried to get me to play some mobile game with her, but I just couldn't enjoy it…" She wasn't entirely sure what Gin meant by a whale, but it would be too embarrassing to ask, so didn't bother, just nodding as if she understood.
“I’m actually on my phone a lot less than people expect me to be… and I figured when I have a proper desktop why not use it?"Ed nodded, a thoughtful look on her face that turned to Gin. She felt the look, and her head turned to look at Ed with a grin.
”I mean, it’s still there for you.”Ed’s head tilted back and she groaned.
”I’m gonna be so lost though, and like, it’ll take me away from the girls…””Bros before hoes, Slaaaaag… Trisha’s gonna fuckin’ love when we mod the fuck out of Minecraft and go on a peaceful adventure of science and technology.”“Oh, I never actually got to play Minecraft," Trisha's eyes lit up slightly at the prospect. The gamers in her friend group played it growing up and had grown out of it by the time they got to university - or had stranger things to take up their time, like emulating an entire new console.
“I’ll be lost too but Gin's right, that sounds pretty great. Why can't Mia and Hari play too? I'm up for it and I've got Casey to think about too."Ed shrugged.
”The Polycule gets what the Polycule wants, y’know? I’m pretty in-demand for cuddle puddle time.”Gin gagged. Ed laughed.
”But, they’re not really gamers like that. I’m mostly not, but… I’ve kind of always wanted to be.””You spend like three grand a month pulling PNG files on your phone. We all know you’re just worried you’ll get sucked into a new life that you’ll never get out of.” Gin wasn’t stupid. Sometimes her acuity, however, managed to be surprising regardless. It was that terse, snappy kind of observation that cut through Ed’s barrier of good humor. She didn’t voice it, but Trisha would be able to see Ed’s despair as it flashed across her face.
”How do you do this every time, Gin?” Ed grunted, a slightly defeated tone in her voice.
”Do what? Cut the crap? That’s why I’m the Project Director, and why Auntie L trusts me.” she nodded along, looking back at Trisha.
”This gumbo-dumbo had me build her a legitimate gaming PC, paid for it, then never picked it up. Still hasn’t. There’s not even any crazy Junior-type Lux Board in it… It’s nice, all Japanese parts. We paid a fuckin’ mint ‘cuz of the Sanction Tax.”Trisha narrowed her eyes, once again thrown into a situation she'd rather avoid. They weren't her problems, and as soon as she put her foot in it there was someone else to blame. But she was stuck here, for now.
“Gin… Don't-" she grimaced, waving a hand in front of her face, really struggling to not snap. She didn't want to look bad. She didn't want to set off things more, but she really couldn't just let it go…
“You can't just say shit like that. 'Cut the crap' or whatever, most people don't like it." she wouldn't like it, but she wasn't pushed enough to bring that into it. But if it had been her instead of Ed, and Gin just bluntly said some harsh truth, Trisha would've snapped. She was close to it anyway. The whole situation, the location, was getting to her. She had a short fuse at the best of times.
“But if there's already a gaming PC for you…" she turned towards Ed, forcing a slight smile.
“Maybe you could try playing with us, just a bit, when you have time?"Then she thought of something else, furrowing her eyebrows and lowering her voice.
“That computer I was provided doesn't have a Junior-Type lux board in it, does it?"Casey, who had been silent in his judgement in order to observe the interaction as it went, finally cleared his throat.
”Uh, no… And if it did, I’d be very upset. Now, Gin-”The woman had her head in her hand.
”Please, don’t…”Casey frowned, taking a slightly deeper breath.
”Just hear me out: You’re okay, and we’re okay. Alright? You know damn well what to say and what not to, and sometimes the brain just can’t stop itself. Own it, don’t cower, but recognize that it’s wrong and apologize when you do. Don’t hide, we’re not kids anymore.”Gin looked vaguely displeased, especially having her talk about games derailed. She was still facing Trisha with most of her body, but leaned back and allower Ed to grab around her shoulders as she slowly tilted backward. It wasn’t a vocal apology, but a physical one: A kind of communication that many of the Temple Members seemed to share with one another.
Lynette was well trained in the art of listening to everything at once, and while she didn’t openly say anything, she did shoot a glance between Trisha and Casey, eyes warm and almost cat-like in their satisfied narrowing.
”I will… Thanks, Trisha. Maybe you guys can help me regulate it too…””Regulate my baaaaaaaalls… What are we regulating?””Mount up, Bitcheeeeees!”"It was a clear black night, a clear light moon! Warren G was on the streets, try'n to consume-"The three girls, sans Gin, began to rap in unison like they’d done it a billion times before. They had, and loved it.
There was a long moment where they were all absolutely vibing together, with Gin still in Ed’s arms as she bobbed them both side to side with the music. Mia must’ve sucked down a few drinks in the time her and Hari were at the bar, because she’d switched to something clear and was very openly starting to wobble.
And the first course hadn’t even come yet.
Zombiedude101
Estylwen
FernStone
Mixtape Ghost N
Atrophy
NoriWasHere
Sky Blue
TokyoPewPew
Framing A Moose
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