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Though she’d mostly enjoyed the time spent out, Trisha was relieved to get home. In the end they’d just done a quick stop in the Greenhouse - Trisha making sure all the bees were fine, a quick check of honey production while bathing them in her pheromones. It meant that they were pretty content to go about the rest of their evening without her around… leaving her beeless when they made their way inside their place.
It was just more convenient for cuddling…
“The den is still set up with pillows and blankets, so we can just go relax in there? Maybe put something on in the background?” Trisha paused mid step towards it after discarding her jacket, freezing for a minute. Wait, she hadn’t cleared all of the crumpled up balls of paper filled with scribbled out scrawls. At least she’d been quite aggressive in covering up her words but… they were still there.
“Or maybe bed will be comfier! We can watch the sunset- oh, also, can I put paper in the woodstove?”Casey was already down the hall, bringing the bags of clothing up into the bedroom. In doing so, he met the den door and thought for a moment about the previous night. He knew she was hurt; and had a pretty clear idea of what she’d been doing. She was trying to do what he said… Think of what she actually wanted to say…
But looking into the den, there was an absolute pile of paper. Like she couldn’t get it out. A frown came over his face, and he shook his head. Not wanting to force her into what he wanted, or what he thought would be best, Casey simply accepted that she’d tried and failed. He wouldn’t rub her nose in it.
”What-uh… Whatever you want, my Baby-Bee. You can put paper into it, yeah. Just be careful, and don’t burn yourself doing it. I’m gonna put these clothes away and pick out what I wanna wear tomorrow…” he replied very simply, his thoughts lingering on all the things left unsaid. It made him supremely sad that she didn’t feel like any of it was worth bringing up to him, and he didn’t want to steal the thoughts out of her head. But what other choice did he have?
Apparently waiting forever… He turned promptly and ascended the stairs, pulling the door back to where she had it earlier.
“Okay- make sure to show me whatever you choose, so I can figure out something matching,” Trisha called up the stairs, before she scurried into the den. She crouched down beside the sizable pile of paper, just looking at it for a moment. She’d written a lot… but none of it had been right. Maybe it was just seeing it written down made it feel more real. More vulnerable.
A piece at the top had opened up enough to show the first few sentences, not so perfectly hidden.
I think I do love him and that means if I lose him I’ll-She reached out, fist closing around the paper to cover it all back up. Then she scooped up the pile in her arms, hurrying with it over to the woodstove. It took a moment to get it actually going, then she started tossing paper after paper into it. She was careful, of course, but once it was all there she stayed… squatting in front of it watching the words go up in flames.
Like burning them up would get rid of her worries. It all came down to fear. Fear that she’d lose the bees, that she’d lose Casey, and that she’d be left all alone. Some of the notes had ended up with thoughts she’d buried so deep down written across them… And some had been so cold. None of it was right. All of it would just make him view her differently… worse…
So she hugged her legs to her chest, eyes fixated on the fire as she watched it all burn.
There was a moment that she was allowed to remain in that stupor… But Casey could feel it all washing off of her just like he could feel the heat from the stove as he got closer. It wasn’t hard to feel. She was hurting still, from whatever was written on those pages. He wondered what it was that had her so broken up… Did he do it? Was it because of the things he said? Ways to tell him that she actually didn’t feel comfortable?
He did his best to put it out of thought, taking things out of the bags and trying to figure out what went with what. He was so immediately drawn to something bee themed, but imagining that it would get stale quickly, he set that aside for something more eventful later on. For now, he… He just couldn’t really decide.
It wasn’t like her negative energy was sucking into him or anything. It wasn’t like he was feeling every little bit of it.
He wasn’t…
Slowly, quietly, Casey descended the stairs having not picked anything. He had to see what she’d do… His glove was tightly fixed to his hand, and he gripped his fist for a moment before making a step around the corner to end up behind her. He was openly reading her, and it was clearly brushing up against her emotional field like a piece of fine sandpaper, looking for rough spots and patches…
Not to buff them out, of course. Just to know that they’re there. To see if they got better or worse as he approached.
”Hey…” his voice quietly pushed out from his throat and into her ears.
She didn’t respond immediately. It was like she couldn’t immediately drag herself out of whatever had come over her. Trying to suppress it all again, watching it burn… but it didn’t work. She’d opened up the box last night and she couldn’t shut it back up. Destroying the evidence didn’t get rid of the thoughts.
“Oh… hey.” Trisha finally spoke, when all the words had burned away. She dragged her gaze away from the fire and tilted her head back so that she could half look at Casey. She didn’t even realise he was reading her… not because she didn’t feel the brushes against her emotional field. But she was used to constant signals coming in, learning to zone out anything that wasn’t pheromones immediately needing her attention. So she didn’t even think…
It did change as he got closer. The rough patches got rougher, but the parts of her emotional field that were smooth, warm, got
brighter too. Intense love that led to fear of losing the love. An eternal cycle she always found herself stuck in. She wanted so badly to be able to finally open up, but she was also terrified of it. Because what if he decided the next argument was it? What if it was her inability to just accept that he wasn’t going to leave that would, ironically, make him leave? But she didn’t want that. She was already so far gone…
“I don’t like writing things down. It makes them real.”Casey got closer, hoping that she’d experience a more intense warming sensation… That he could at least make her world brighter right now.
”It’s all real, Trisha… They’re your thoughts on paper.” he said rather conspicuously… As if he knew what they were. Of course he did.
His legs bent into a pretzel as he slipped down onto the floor beside her. His arms came up under hers, taking both hands into his and holding them gently.
”I’m sorry… For snapping at you and making assumptions. Can you forgive me?” he asked quietly, kissing the top of her head slowly and cutely, lips planted on her scalp.
Trisha nodded, fingers curling around his as she tried not to cry again. It was so
stupid. It wasn’t even the negative thoughts, it was his warmth. She could handle so much - and had - but then for just a moment she didn’t have to carry it all herself and she
broke. What would she do if she lost this?
“O-of course I can- I do. I just… was scared… it came out wrong,” she managed to admit, barely a whisper. It didn’t feel much better saying it.
“My bees are the only thing that hasn’t- hasn’t left. I only have them and you.” He nodded. This is what she wanted to say but couldn’t… He felt it ripple off her Emotional Field… Knew that this is what he was here for. For her.
”Can I tell you a story? About me?” he asked her gently, holding her tight to his chest as he let his White Lux fade away into the background.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to?” Trisha asked back almost reflexively, before nodding. She leaned back against him, legs still pressed to herself in a tight ball. Her head pressed against him, tilting slightly so she could look up at him.
“Of course.”He nodded. It was quiet for a moment.
”I have Orange Lux. The emotion I use to make my spells work is courage. White Lux needs nostalgia; and for the longest time I didn’t have the recollection for it… I couldn’t think of things that weren’t tainted by resentment or sadness. It’s still hard, but… Anyway, that’s not the point. The day I Kindled was a bad day. Probably the worst day of my life. See, I was in China. Part of the Foreign Legion, before I ever joined my own military… Because they were already fighting. I wanted to get away from here and run as far as I could, so I took whatever position I could get. Now, we were in a bad place. Fighting in the Jungle sucks; it’s never fun. It makes you crazy.”He paused, trying to regather his thoughts. He knew what he wanted to convey, but he didn’t know how to get there without turning into a driveling mess.
”This hill… We needed it, they said. It was a decent defensible position. Good for artillery and mortars; they could shoot down into the nearby city without any sort of sightline issues. Taking it was… Awful. But, it wasn’t unexpected. That part wasn’t necessarily the hard part.
The hard part was keeping it. And we did for a long while. Long enough to have a supply change; refresh on food and clean water. Boards to fortify trenches, make a slightly nicer place to be so we weren’t living in mud and shit. I can only assume the enemy didn’t like that, because after that shit started getting worse. Mostly at night. It was their favorite thing, y’know? Get in through the foliage, quiet as hell… No noise. You’d never even know they were there until you heard the sentries in the foxholes around the perimeter just… Y’know… Start screaming. Dying. You’d know they were coming then, and the grenades would come out. We’d absolutely level the surrounding forest every time.”She could feel his hands shaking already. Like he was there again, scared to death of what was out in the dark. But they gripped tightly into her shirt. Tight enough that she could feel him pushing through the moment.
”Command told us to hold tight! That we’d get reinforcements soon, and that they’d flood the area. They wanted it fortified more, so that we could effectively hold more troops there. More walls and guns meant they wouldn’t come in as much, or that they’d be less likely to try. We accepted that. But then shit got bad in the city, and they had to start pulling out. We were… trapped. Stuck on a ridgeline with the enemy bubble getting bigger and bigger near us. It was only a matter of time. So we radioed again! And we asked what the situation was, how we were going to get out! They said we couldn’t extract yet; that they needed us to keep shelling as we could to cover the main force’s escape!”He let out a grunt of pissed off incredulity. Frustration and anger meeting somewhere in the center.
”Okay, fine! We stay, we keep shelling, we do what we’re supposed to, we keep dying more and more and more until there’s not so many of us left! By then, we can’t actually keep the area completely under wraps; we’re hungry. We’re eating fucking lizards and snakes that don’t know any better than to crawl into our trenches! We try to get the bodies out, but they’re our friends! So we try to bury them and-”A full body shake. A deep breath through a snotty nose.
”I couldn’t let them rest like that… In their own blood and shit… I couldn’t. So, I did it. I buried them. Captain Fleuren kept screaming at me ’Get back! Get back!’ and I kept telling him I just don’t speak French. Obviously that was a fucking lie, like they knew, right? But I just… I was so done. So pissed off, so tired and angry that our lives were being thrown away over this non-tennible position. And as I was doing this digging, I kept thinking about how pissed off I was that they weren’t helping. That I was doing it on my own. And then I heard the screaming turn inward. Into the complex. The little fuckers tunneled under us. Undermined. Busted a hole through our line and were bayonetting everyone in the back! I had to stop what I was doing, and it only made me more pissed off and sad. Angry. That if they’d been digging with me, maybe they wouldn’t have been getting stabbed to death. It was stupid, I was stupid, I know that now, that I probably should’ve just died with them, but because I was outside…”He thought about it for another moment. Remembered the feeling of his feet kicking against the ground. Of scooping the machine gun off its emplacement and tucking it up under his arm. Round after round. Screaming. Cover. Screaming. Cover. The gun eventually just… Shooting itself. And then another, and another. The more of them he touched, the more they just aimed and shot at whatever he was already looking at.
”I got in behind the people behind us. Swept ‘em out. Closed the hole. Started digging more graves. I was there for two weeks. Alone. Learning that the most natural power I could muster was concentrated multi-interaction. Enchanting things to do something simple under my personal direction. I learned that I could not only get a dozen guns to do what I wanted, but that I could tell the artillery pieces to shoot too. Eventually I turned them myself. Backwards. Into the forest. I painted that place with fire and phosphates until it was a fucking wasteland. At first I was scared, but… I found my stride. I found that I felt better just… Doing tasks. Keeping things as in-line as I could. That magic filled up the little empty part of me.”He looked at Trisha directly now. His face was bright red and tears were streaming down his face.
”I didn’t fucking leave them Trisha… I stayed! I stayed so long that they managed to retake the area. Liberated the hill… Found me and six dozen graves… And a wall of dead and decaying bodies I threw into a shit heap at the front. To scare anyone who thought they were coming into a graveyard. I didn’t fucking leave. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you? The last time I ran from something was… Was when I enlisted. And then, I was too fucking young to do anything else. I don’t run from danger or pain, Trisha… I welcome it into my life now, because it’s necessary. A part of me. It gives me courage that I can overcome this kind of thing.”Trisha was crying too. She couldn’t hold it back, hearing him talk about all of that suffering-
his suffering. Her hands moved up from where they’d been covering his to gently caress his face. She did understand what he was saying. They were dead, and he still didn’t leave them. He stayed in a place where he’d suffered so much to protect people who weren’t even there anymore. It gave her a heavy, horrible feeling in her chest. Not because she thought he’d leave her, or because of her own fear, but because he’d gone through all of that. Because she lo-
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Because of what he’d been through, because she’d only make him suffer more if he wasn’t going to run away. She was too damaged to not, no matter how strong her feelings were. But- but-
“My own mother left me. I- I don’t know why anyone else would stay if she couldn’t. She loved me and then I disappointed her! M-maybe it won’t even be running. It’ll be throwing out the trash, like she did.” Her chest heaved up and down as it spilled out. She understood, but she also wanted him to understand
why she struggled so much. She couldn’t hold it inside, not after everything he said.
“I don’t know how to trust anything. Even- even if I understand what you’re saying… You don’t leave, everyone leaves me- I- I could be the first. I just don’t- I want to trust it. I really do. But if she left me, my dad didn’t even want me in the first place… even them… how could anyone want to stay?””And I don’t know how you can take that story and… And not believe me… Trisha… When I say this next thing, it’s not going to be something you want to hear, but I need to say it. If your parents have really treated you that way? Then they don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve to see what a beautiful and smart woman you are; how you’re capable, and you’re smart and thoughtful. A parent should have to try to not love their child, not the opposite… Like, Lynette! Last time I spent an extended amount of time in St. Portwell, I told her I hated her; that I never wanted to see her again and that she ruined my childhood. Do you think she cared? No! She didn’t, besides that she was hurt. I didn't want to be a part of her life, and she couldn’t fathom it! Because deep down, she does love me… If your Mom doesn’t even care whether or not you’re around? If she left you? Then shes a shit mother. Worse than mine, and she doesn’t deserve you.”His voice had become very adamant despite the gentle wavering. Of course it was hard to say, but he believed it. That
nobody in their right mind would socially abandon their child. Even when he’d left, he received gift packages from the Temple, and then separately from his Mother. She never stopped doing
little things that kept him strung just close enough.
”I… I don’t know, Trisha… I’m not going to leave you. I’ll die on our hill if I need to, and come back again as a ghost. I will, because I love what we have. Even if we’ve only just started, is it… Is it crazy to feel like we just have a connection? Like I feel comfortable around you instantly? That we fit like two pieces of the same puzzle?”“I- I- I feel it too,” Trisha managed to get out. She was struggling after everything Casey had said. She did believe him, she did believe that he didn’t want to leave, she really did. But that belief was fighting against twenty four years of abandonment. It was so hard not to feel scared. Because she really hadn’t felt something like this before. And nobody had tried so hard to reassure her, or told her that it
wasn’t her fault. “M-my mom- she hasn’t- she-” She choked on her own words. It was like the floodgates to her emotions had opened, and she couldn’t hold it back as she started sobbing. She curled into Casey, pressing her face into his chest to muffle the sounds - the little hiccups, cries, mumbled sorries. Her hands gripped onto his shirt as she cried. It was years worth of suppressed feelings. Of always telling herself it wasn’t her fault, while secretly believing it was.
“N-nobody’s ever taken my s-side. Not like… like that. B-because I’m not good enough… I’m- I’m not smart, i-if I was she wouldn’t have… s-she… I’m sorry. Y-you’re right… B-but I’m so scared that- that it’s me. B-but I know. I know. I love you.”She said it… Maybe it’s because she was extra emotional, or because she was vulnerable… He could imagine a world where she thought she was solidifying something by saying it for the sake of saying it. But he didn’t care. He just held her while she cried, hand running through her hair.
”I love you too, Trisha… I love you too…”Time passed, the two of them wrapped up in one another exchanging breath and tender physical contact. Eventually, Casey found his knees in pain, and while he didn’t want the moment to end, he did want the avoidable physical irritation to. So, wordlessly and without letting go of the clinging barnacle, he picked her up and took her to a more comfortable place. To that big couch they both loved so much.
He was careful not to jostle her as he swung both legs up and onto it, knee-crawling to the corner where the back was highest and he could wedge himself upright. To cradle her… This had technically been their goal.
And there he’d let time pass until she was ready to breathe again. To be calm, and to simply
be.It took a while for Trisha to calm down. It was a lot. She hadn’t cried like that in a long time, and never with someone else there. But it was actually… nice, as she came back to herself. She felt safe in his arms. A little bit of the weight was taken off her. It wasn’t all of it, but it was a start. Eventually, she started to unfurl. Her legs moved from against her chest to stretched out, feet pressing into the couch. Her arms went loosely around Casey. She stopped completely hiding her face in his chest, tilting it up to look at him.
She was probably really ugly right now after all of the crying, but she didn’t really care. She felt safe and comfortable. The anxious thoughts that normally haunted her were quiet for once.
Trisha was content to just silently cuddle him even when she’d calmed down… but the peace didn’t quite last. Her phone buzzed in her pants pocket. She wriggled a little to pull it out, squinting at it. There was a message from Cass saying they were going to come up- then another one, confirming that was still alright.
Underneath that were about thirty messages from a group chat she’d never seen before named ‘Saving Cass from herself.’ Trisha ignored that for just now.
“That’s Cass- she wanted to check if they can come up. Kind of surprised she didn’t just… send a text and then come…” Trisha said softly, looking up at Casey.
“I think… I’m actually still alright with it if you are?”Casey had been fairly relaxed after spilling the beans about his time in the Pacific. Supporting it was her, he found himself warm and safe with her just like she did with him. Taking a deep breath, rubbing her shoulder gently, he nodded and shifted his body forward.
”I’m ready for anything with you next to me. Have’em come up. D’yknow what you want to eat?”As he slid her off of him, he was conscious of his positioning and made sure to keep her close and facing him… Not pulling away or running. He really understood now, and wanted to do everything he could to keep her steady and at ease.
“Chicken from the place we got it when we first met? If you think you’ll be alright with chicken?” Trisha asked, shuffling off the couch to stand up. She rubbed her eyes before quickly sending Cass a response saying it was alright to come up, before skimming through the messages from the new group chat… which she got the gist of. An annoying request. One she’d consider. She put her phone back in her pocket and looked up at Casey, smiling slightly.
“I need to wash my face first, don’t I?”Casey’s face became supremely warm as he got closer to hers, until his hands wrapped around her cheeks. He began to kiss her, under her eyes and on her cheeks, each little peck directed at a spot where her makeup had caked up during her crying.
”I love your tears… But I’m sure you’ll feel better cleaning up. So go do that, and I’ll get the order started. What do you want?” he asked gently.
Trisha giggled, the kisses light enough that they felt ticklish. She smiled softly at him, eyes half closing even as she squirmed a little bit.
“Just some of those chicken tenders and curly fries again. Definitely not as much as last time cause I only have that appetite if I’m high.” Something she was reluctant to do again because of the effect on the bees. Hopefully since it would just be four of them she’d be able to eat a full meal anyway…
“I’ll be back in a moment.” She leaned forward to press her lips against his in a light kiss, before pulling back and scurrying off to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
Casey’s eyes lit up, and he was buried in his pocket before pulling his phone up and looking at it. His fingers flew and eventually he was talking.
”Leeeeooooon… My baby big brother???? Can you pleeeeease bring up some funky stuff?”There was a pause, and then he spoke again with a laugh.
”I can pay…”Another pause.
”I mean if you don’t-... Okay, okay! Fine! Geeze, just trying to give you the option, you don’t haaaave to.”He laughed again.
”Alright. See you in a minute… Yeah, send her up. And figure out what you wanna eat from Pearla’s.”As he hung up the phone, he smiled and called into the bathroom as he entered the main part of the house.
”Hey!? I don’t know if you want any, but… Leon’s gonna sell me the pot he has. So, if you wanna smoke, you can! For your appetite!”“I’ll see, I don’t want to mess up with the bees again,” Trisha called back, before there was the sound of the taps turning on.
Casey didn’t get much of an opportunity to respond anyway. As if by magic, Cass was knocking on the door and swinging right in. Of course, there had been a minute or so in the elevator… and then a little cheetah power to cross the not exactly large roofspace. But she just wanted to maximise the time. Maybe catch them by surprise.
”Hellloooo again my favourite couple- wait, where’s Trisha?!” Though Cass had knocked, she hadn’t actually waited for an answer before stepping in. She stared at Casey, head twisting all around as if Trisha might be hidden behind a couch somewhere.
”Did she run off to avoid me? Is it because I let slip to our other friends that I was spending time with her?! Wait- is she just hiding behind you in the perfect stance that I can’t see her?”Casey grinned at Cass, happy to have all that warm energy roll into the apartment. Hopefully her lingering influence would ward the cats off for the night, especially after the two of them shared a negativity bomb earlier by accident.
”Ooooh, you’re good!”He stepped to the side, swinging his arms to reveal absolutely nothing. On her reaction, he laughed aloud and shook his head.
”She’s in the bathroom, goofball. We wound up napping, so she’s freshening up.”He had his phone in his hand and one of his new shirts on- It just had a big picture of a deer, and above it there were bubble letters that said “Oh,”. There was an exclamation point next to the deer as well. He pointed to it.
”I’m rockin’ it by the way, this was a great choice.” he smiled.
”Did Lee mention we’re going for some fried chicken? They do a bunch of stuff, so if you don’t want that specifically, there’s plenty of other stuff.””Fucking sick, it looks great on you!” Cass grinned, flashing him a thumbs up. She moved properly into the house, getting closer to Casey without actually intruding into his space.
”Hell yeah he did! I always love me some fried chicken- that’s the shit you guys just do better than us. Your chips- I mean fries- on the other hand… they’re alright. But what else is there? I’m gonna eat a ton- since I kindled my appetite shot up. I think it’s all the animal forms, cause my older brother says it ain’t the same for him… but whatever! Loads of chicken and other shit! I’ll cover my stuff though, I ain’t expecting you or Trisha or whoever to pay for it.” Still smiling, Casey pulled his phone out and went for the delivery app. Pulling up the menu, he handed it off.
”Dude, seriously crazy options. They even sell pudding! Not, uh… Not like your guys’ pudding, I mean like, y’know, the smooth creamy stuff. Not the bread stuff. Though, I do like that stuff too.”He wasn’t lying as she pulled it up. It was like a true scottish fryer shop with all sorts of stuff getting dunked in batter and oil that shouldn’t. Pizza slices, candy bars, twinkies, anything she could imagine in addition to every kind of fried and grilled form of chicken one could eat.
”I like their macaroni and cheese a lot; it’s pretty fucking good. Super creamy and cheesy, obviously, and you can get it crazy style… So they put whatever the fuck you want in it.”He shrugged his shoulders, throwing an arm over her and looking at her with a wry grin.
”Don’t even worry about paying. If Leon doesn’t have you, which he absolutely will, we do. I don’t care if you’ve got your own money, I’m just happy to have you here.”Really, she felt like a little sister already. He found himself caring about her being there, and wanted to make her feel just as comfortable as Trisha.
”Aw fuck, there’s so much shit! Damn, it’s like an actual chippy- well the chips ain’t quite it, but fuck. They got deep fried pizza! I ain’t had that since I visited Glasgow when I was, like, ten or some shit! Damn.” As Cass chatted away, she started to add things to the basket, figuring that’d be easiest. A deep fried pizza slice, a bunch of chicken, fries, some customised macaroni and cheese with bacon and a bunch of other random shit added in.
”Yeah, kinda expected you to say that, Leon ain’t let me pay for a thing since I got here. I ain’t gonna trample on his man paying pride or whatever- shit, they really do have deep fried chocolate bars. Ain’t quite the original deep fried mars bar, but that’s alright.”“Oh, add one for me. I didn’t get to try it last time.” Trisha came out of the bathroom, no longer looking like she’d spent a long time crying. She’d taken off most of her makeup and just reapplied some concealer here and there, and a light lip gloss.
“I’m going to get a change of clothes… I’m glad you guys are getting along.” She gestured to their closeness, seeming to mean it genuinely as she went past and towards the stares.
”Ohhhh yeahhh, it’s almost like your two favourite people would get along swimmingly!” Cass called after her, grinning. Trisha just laughed. Cass leaned in towards Casey conspiratorially.
”You learn to read between the lines with her- well she seems to be more honest with you, but anyway- that laugh was basically a ‘yes Cass you’re my bestest friend in the world.’ And how do I know this? I am the only person in the whole world that’s managed to make Trisha join a platonic, friendly cuddle pile. Sure, she sat on the edge of the sofa and would only let me half hug her, but I did it!”Casey laughed about Leon’s inability to let others pay, then about Cass gushing over a cuddle puddle.
”Well, she’s got no problem clinging onto me! Thankfully… I’d be sad if she wasn’t interested… I’ve gone a long time waiting for a woman to cuddle me like that, so honestly I’m excited. It’s been great; I can’t wait for it to keep getting better and better.”As Cass finished up her order, he started putting more stuff in the cart, smiling as the total went up.
”And, as far as Leon not wanting you to pay? I don’t think it’s ever been a manhood thing in our neck of the woods. More like we just… Well… Dad left a boatload of money, right? And he’s only made more being so good at what he does. Not sure if he’s told you about his uh… Other work…” he offered to her a branch of knowledge, wondering whether or not she’d eat from the fruit.
”Nope! He hasn’t, and if it isn’t something he wants to tell me yet that’s all good. I ain’t gonna go sticking my nose where it don’t belong.” She shrugged, smiling at Casey. Sure, she was curious, and could often be pushy about things - but Cass was pretty good at knowing where the line was, and wasn’t really one for
gossip.
”Oh, unless he’s a superhero or vigilante! Then I want to know right now.”Casey’s eyes lit up.
”Did you just say… Vigilante?”He give her a very wide and knowing look… The kind of look that one gives someone when they’ve found out something that they’re not supposed to.
”Are you… Are you sure you want to know something like that?”Cass stared back up at him with a somewhat evil grin and determined glint in her eyes.
”Absolutely. Even if it means I have to flee the country to escape getting killed like in some action movie, I want to know. Tell me.”Casey turned to look out the glass of the front door, seeing his brother still hadn’t shown up yet… He pulled up the internet application on his phone, letting the delivery slide into the background. Typing a bit, he turned the phone back over to an article from the St. Portwell Porter; a local news print that focused on crime and the situations of the day…
The headline read “Secret Hero?: Giant on the Loose in St. Portwell’s Dark Districts!”
Cass would be able to see the blurry, almost comically worthless picture of a figure in a dark cloak pulled up in a boxing stance and driving his fist into a local thug.
”I won’t say he supplements his income by taking hits on local gangs, but… Leon loves fighting.” Cass leaned in to squint at the blurry photo. While it really wasn’t an amazing photo… she could tell. She recognised his stance. But-
”Is he wearing a fucking cloak?! Oh man, he really is like a vigilante- dead cool.” It was pretty hard to tell if she was being serious about calling it
cool when she was absolutely cackling to the point of wiping tears from her eyes.
”Shit, surely beating up local gangs is pretty boring for a magically strong boxer?””It uh… It gets the Ghost off, y’know? A lot of Apparitions make a bad habit of feeding off of people. Literally. So, they compromise most of the time: Leon goes and gets beat up, then beats other people up, gets home and fucks something. He gets cash to blow, the voice in his head stays quiet, yadda yadda.”He’d looked away, then looking back up at the door, Leon was absolutely
staring in. Casey jumped a little bit.
”Oh! Holy fuck… Look at that, Dog Ears…”He pointed back, showing Cass by turning her shoulder. When she looked at him, and he looked back at her, Leon melted down a bit. A much less aggressive look. He opened the door and gave a coy little shuffle.
"Casseeeeeeeyyyy… What the Hellllllll!? You’re exposing my secret identity…”Casey only laughed in his face, nudging Cass forward slightly.
”Yeah, whatever, Peter Parker… You got the shit?”He held up a little wooden box, gently shaking it.
"I threw in the pipe you said you like too… D’ja miss me, Pretty Kitty?” he held out his arms to beckon Cass into them.
”Ohhhh yeah, course I did, all I had was a grainy picture to tide me over,” Cass laughed as she bounced over to Leon. She practically jumped at him, her arms wrapping around his neck - she ended up hanging off it with her toes just touching the ground. She used a little bit of magical strength to pull herself up so that she could whisper in his ear.
”I think the secret identity is cute. Where d’you keep the cape? Do I get to see it now that I know?”Leon shook his head, groaning. Casey only laughed as he took the box from Leon and it in his hands to feel the weight.
"I don’t know if I can deal with you getting hornier than you already are. I’ve got a lot of energy but holy fuck.”Subtly, Casey replaced the box in Leon’s hand with his own phone, the delivery app already open.
”Peeeearlaaaaa’s…”"Yeah, yeah yeah… You didn’t order it earlier? We could’ve been done and had it already-””You don’t wanna hang out?”"I… Do. I do. Sorry.”Casey just laughed.
”I’m shitting you, dude… Chill out.” Casey smiled, putting the box down and popping it open. The pipe was already packed, which he found cute… Imagining Leon’s chunky ass fingers setting it up before it arrived.
”Awwww… You do care! I fuckin’ need this shit after the last few days.””That’s sweet, really stepping up as a big brother one weed pipe at a time.” Cass grinned as she lowered herself back onto her feet, spinning around towards the stairs leading up to the Loft. It had been a while since Trisha went up there… Cass knew
exactly what was going on. She raised her hands to her mouth to shout up.
”Trrriiisshhhhaaaa, just wear the comfy clothes! You’ve lived with two of us and d’you really think Leon will care? C’mon!” There was a very muffled response, which sounded more like grumbling than anything, then a thud. Cass laughed.
”She’ll be down in a moment… if she ever says she’s getting changed then takes ages? It’s cause she’s tryna decide what to wear.” Cass said to Casey, tapping her nose.
”Two years of Trisha flatmate experience.”“What’re you saying about living with me?” Trisha
finally reappeared. She’d been doing exactly what Cass thought - trying to decide between just wearing home clothes or something nicer. She didn’t normally dress down so much unless it was someone she lived with, or really didn’t care about… but Cass was right. This time. So she was now in dark sweats, her hair pulled up into a simple ponytail. She immediately made her way to Casey’s side, nodding at Leon.
”Nothing bad! Y’think I’d do that to you? I looovvveee you too much! Was just giving Casey some sound advice. You’ll thank me later.” Cass winked at her friend, grinning smugly as if she’d offered some sage wisdom as opposed to some very basic information.
Trisha looked at her suspiciously, then decided to let it go. She looked up at Casey.
“How much food did you end up ordering? Just… trying to figure out appetite wise…”Leon was also in baggy sweats, amazingly enough… The amount of cloth necessary to keep them like that over three and a half feet worth of legs was incomprehensible. And he was holding Casey's phone, scrolling through. Casey, one arm wrapping around Trisha while holding his pipe in the other, gesticulated with a closed hand to his elder brother.
”Big man's still ordering, but I just got you the eight piece with curly fries so you can eat a bunch or have leftovers tomorrow… And your fried candy bar, which you should eat first so it doesn't congeal.”Leon, scrolling and stopping to read, laughed aloud.
"Holy shit, Cass… If he's telling the truth, then how much shit are you getting? The fuckin’ pizza? No way in Hell there's gonna be back door action tonight then, I wouldn't want to shake you up just to get painted.”Casey's eyes widened, and he looked from Leon to Cass to Trisha, then back to Cass with an absolutely stunned look on his face.
Trisha was staring in equally stunned silence. She wasn't so surprised that Cass might be… into that… she just didn't expect to have to hear about it
here.
"Awwww, you're not into that?" Cass jokingly pouted, before laughing. She was entirely unbothered by the stares from both Casey and Trisha - hey Leon had said it, and the biggest discomfort there was it being his brother! Trisha already knew plenty…
”Not like there ain't plenty other ways to fuck- a girl's gotta eat, y'know! Not my fault it's all greasy shit- You have any idea what kinda energy all my animal forms use?!"“Really, Cass?" Trisha groaned, finally coming out of her stunned silence.
"What, what he said was alright but me talking bout changing into animals- could just be practice, Trish!- is too much?" Cass shot back, lips pulling up into a teasing grin. Trisha pursed her lips, though she didn't seem… upset? At least, her body language was still pretty relaxed.
"It's soooo cute that love's turned you into a bit of a prude. Adorable. I'll pretend we've totally nevvveerrrr talked about anything like this ever. Secrets safe with me, babe." Cass even blew her a kiss, grinning a little more evilly.
Perhaps unexpectedly, Trisha didn't react to the teasing in any kind of… irritated way. She didn't snap. Instead she went red, turning towards Casey to hide her face against him with a muffled groan.
“Don’t make it sound like I'm into…""I ain't sayin' that! Just that you ain't got any place to act like you're uncomfortable."Trisha let out a light huff at that, but didn't say anything else. Cass looked at Casey and then Leon with a grin, seeming pretty happy in her ability to tease Trisha without making her grumpy.
Though he didn’t look up from the phone, Leon started smiling and laughing in a very gentle fashion.
"Y’know, she’s right Trisha; it’s a great way to practice her magic. I’d say Casey should give it a try, but-””-Yeah, yeah, ‘Haha Virgin’ and all that. Trust me, I remember being a teenager.” Casey commented, not really letting the topic at hand affect him any great deal. He was confident in what they’d discussed earlier, he and Trisha… That she wasn’t looking for this to be some sort of strong sexual relationship.
”I’m just… Astonished that you’d not be into shit, honestly.”Then Leon looked up, forehead scrunching inward.
"There’s some limits a guy has to keep. Getting frosted like a chocolate cake is definitely up there as far as things I’m not looking to happen.”Casey could only laugh.
”Are you done yet? Ordering, I mean?”"Fuck no… You know how much of this shit I have to eat to meet my Micros.” he grunted, still scrolling.
Shaking his head, Casey pulled Trisha a little closer and kissed the top of her head before sliding a few feet away to the countertop. A lighter came out of the box, and he looked at Trisha.
”Are we a smoke-positive household? Or are we going to set the precedent of going outside from here on?” he asked with a genuine tone implying his desire to make an intentional joint decision.
“Inside is fine, I think, as long as neither of us becomes a chain smoker," Trisha replied after a little bit of thought. She wasn't particularly bothered about it even if she ended up not smoking - and she'd much rather just have Casey there than send him outside for something that barely bothered her in the first place.
“Though I think we maybe need to set a no bees while smoking rule… mainly while I'm smoking… I don't want a repeat of last time." Perhaps it was a bit unnecessary to bring it up when all it required was her
not calling the bees, but… it felt like that was less of a risk if she verbalised it.
”We’ll uhh… Lock the windows and doors?” Casey chuckled for a moment, finally pulling the pipe up to his lips and lighting the flame. A short tug, and he released a cloud of smoke up into the air, holding the pipe out to the others.
Leon’s arm stretched out, holding the phone for Casey to swap back. It was a seamless transition, both of their massive hands being able to hold two things at once making the swap clean and easy. He took a little more time to scroll as Leon took a puff and handed it off to Cass.
”Holy shit… I love this. They must hate us every time they see an order from my account.”Casey’s hand moved the phone toward Trisha as he walked back to her. The total said $387.85.
Trisha stared at the number. For someone with a rich upbringing like her it wasn’t actually that big - if it had been ordering from a
fancy restaurant rather than a fried food place.
“They probably have to close their orders while making everything for us,” Trisha laughed lightly, before looking up from the phone to Cass. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“You definitely need to get a new job soon if you’re going to be eating like this.””My new job is being sexy as fuck, thank you very much,” Cass joked, holding the pipe she’d just taken a quick hit from out towards Trisha like some kind of peace offering.
”I can actually cook, so normally I ain’t ordering a shit ton of fried food- now, c’mon Trish, do some drugs, chill.”Trisha was actually the most relaxed she’d been in a long time thanks to her talk with Casey. She did plan to smoke a little bit for her appetite but… there was something she should deal with first. Before getting high. Otherwise it would be a headache for her. She really couldn’t be bothered to deal with further pestering from their other friends, so…
“Uh, later. Leon, can we talk? In private. Just for a moment.” She put her hand on Casey’s arm, a light pat that she
hoped conveyed that it wasn’t anything major. Or about them. Or even about her.
“It won’t involve any shouting.”There was a moment where Leon tensed up to the point that Cass would’ve felt it. He did his best to not look at Trisha skeptically, keeping his feelings of fear over being accosted over the same bullshit down inside. Casey wasn’t entirely sure what Trisha was trying to convey with her patting, but either way this situation was ultimately between the two individuals. He could only add a reassuring nod to both parties.
"Uh… Yeah. No shouting, please… I’m begging, honestly.” he nervously laughed.
"Where are we going?” “I said there’d be no shouting- I guess in there. Not many rooms in this house.” She gestured towards the Den, not that she particularly wanted someone else in there - but it had a door, and all the other options involved going
outside. And it was at least completely clear from any evidence of last night’s… situation.
”Play nice, or I ain’t gonna be happy,” Cass piped up, putting her hand over Leon’s to give it a comforting squeeze - not that she had any idea what this was about - before she moved away to let him and Trisha go into the other room.
Trisha closed the door behind them both before going all the way into the room, perching on the edge of the couch. She pulled her phone out and put it beside her, looking at it for a moment. Eventually she forced herself to look up at Leon.
“This isn’t about yesterday. It’s not even really about me… This is me talking to you as Cass’ friend rather than Casey’s girlfriend, or a former covenmate. Cass made the mistake of telling the rest of her friends that she was seeing me, and now they’re all telling me I need to do the whole asking loads of annoying questions thing they did to Casey last week. I tried to tell them it wasn’t a good idea because… we’re not exactly on good terms. But they insisted and they will start phoning both me and Cass if I don’t.” Trisha, maybe noticeably, was talking as if it was all just their other friends' concerns, and none of her own. Like she was a middle man in the situation. That wasn’t exactly the case but… she didn’t actually share the concerns they had.
“Reyna and Nadiyah sent a whole bunch of questions, and Sal wrote a whole speech he wants me to read out. What do you want first?”Leon, who had sat down on the edge of the couch, was staring off into space looking at the wall. He was really listening to something a few floors down; someone talking about their Aunt being missing. It wasn’t their fault… Running afoul of the Temple wasn’t good for the health.
He checked in when she was talking about a speech.
"Uh… W-w-.... Wait, what? I… I think they’ve really got it all wrong but…”He looked at Trisha now, brow furrowing.
"Whatever, uh… Just… I guess top down. Whatever’s biggest priority.” Trisha was silent for a moment, then she laughed.
“That’s what I told them, but there’s no stopping them- sure, I’ll just skip everything Sal said then.” She picked up her phone, opening up the group chat she’d been dragged into. What was the biggest priority? Probably this bit that Diyah was saying she was
very concerned about. And Reyna agreed. Sure, start with that.
“Nadiyah wants to know what ‘your intentions seeing a fan are’ with a side note of ‘even if it’s mostly sex its still suspicious’ and ‘she’s worried about Cass hanging around someone she idolises and has a perfect picture of in her head’- oh wait, I wasn’t meant to read that one out. But they seem pretty concerned about that, so…” She looked at him expectantly.
Leon’s face didn’t move. Actually, he was having a conversation in his head as he thought about what the fuck was happening. There it was, pushed into his hands on a plate to confront him in a very open fashion. Intentions? Fun. Sex. Comfort. Humanity.
"Oh… At least I’m not the only person thinking about that kind of shit.”Solemn, his head turned to look at Trisha calmly.
"I don’t have any intentions. It just so happens that she’s a fan and she’s… Having fun experiencing a fantasy. You can tell by talking to her. But I’m not planning on leading her into anything, or exploiting her. I agree with your friend, it’s still suspicious. But it’s not something I’m unconscious of either. But if we didn’t connect on what I think is a real front, I wouldn’t be so open to spending time with her.” he offered the explanation as best he could without showing any strong mental cracks.
Trisha let out a quiet hum, beginning to type something out. Then she stopped, locked her phone, and put it down.
“This might surprise you, but I actually care enough about Cass to put aside my feelings towards you- but I actually trust that. I also don't think it's just some ‘fantasy’ for Cass. Have you ever actually read the shit she's written? I mean I hope she hasn't been- well, whatever, but I've had to. A few times. It's all sex. Thankfully I didn't know some of it was about you then because it's all ‘Timberwolf’-" Trisha made a face, a little grossed out thinking back on what she'd tolerated being read out to her for the sake of a close friends happiness.
“Whatever. I was actually surprised to see her with you today because I assumed she'd get her one of a kind meeting then the sex she'd fantasised about and that'd be it. It means she actually likes your company- which I don't get- beyond just the idolising shit. Do something she doesn't like and I promise you she won't just let you get away with it."Then Trisha shrugged. Maybe she wasn't so worried because she knew if Leon managed to hurt Cass it would upset
her, and if she was upset Casey would go beat his ass.
“As long as there is some kind of real connection on both sides- that's what the others would agree with, I'm sure. Probably."Leon shrugged, not sure whether or not to push anything that she’d said.
"Uh… I mean yeah, she showed me… Asked if I could make some of it happen. I figured it was a pretty innocent desire, and I aim to please. Do you think I should cut things off? Honestly, I don’t… I don’t see getting into anything crazy besides a good friendship. If you think she’ll want more than that, then… It’d be something that we’d have to talk a lot more about.”It was easy to tell Leon wasn’t comfortable at the moment. Whether it was because he was lying, or because he was actually in conflict with himself over the situation, was unclear.
Trisha frowned, properly thinking about it. She knew that in the past Cass had been in all sorts of situations - one night stands that turned into friendships or relationships, friends with benefits, open relationships, one particularly messy situation in a throuple that turned into five before it fell apart… but it had always been a bit hard for Trisha to tell where Cass' feelings went from platonic to romantic. She was just really close with people.
”Honestly I don't know if she'll want more than that. We're close but very different when it comes to relationships so I never… entirely understood when it became that for her in the past. But I don't think you should cut things off. Especially if it's because you're worried about what might happen or having to talk about it. Cass is the most open person I know. What she said earlier about ‘seeing how things go' is probably how she feels- but she's one of those people who's almost annoyingly pro conversations in all relationships."Trisha was obviously uncomfortable too - she hadn't really wanted to be put in this position talking to Leon. She wasn't good at it, nevermind who it was but… Cass was one of her closest friends and for once her care for someone else outweighed her discomfort.
“I think it would be more of a dick move to just cut things off now rather than have a talk with her about expectations."Nodding to himself, Leon inhaled deeply and felt the gentle drifting feeling of being under the influence. A series of tingles down his spine told him that Lelou was listening, and that she was interested. Invested, even.
"You uh… Did… Did anyone ask Cass what she thinks? Or is this one of those things where like, friends decide they know best and just make decisions without the person in question having any say?”It was a genuine question, not malicious so much as confused. After all, he didn’t really love the idea of people going behind others backs to make decisions that were “best” for them, but he was just as guilty: Hypocrisy didn’t pay in this circumstance.
“It’s one of those things,” Trisha admitted. She pointed to her phone.
“It's mostly Rey and Diyah. Rey’s just used to being able to tell with her aura reading. Diyah can be quick to judge and doesn’t entirely trust our decision making. It’s mostly because me and Cass have ended up in not great situations in the past- though Cass’ didn’t start like that.”She rubbed the back of her neck, still uncomfortable but not seeming upset at his question or anything. Trisha hadn’t really wanted to do this in the first place. She loved her friends, but they could be intrusive sometimes - especially Reyna and Nadiyah. Whereas Cass had only ever intruded on Trisha’s relationships when it was clear they were unhealthy.
“She probably won’t be surprised if she finds out about this, but she will tell everyone to fuck off. Because you’re… right…” It was clearly very difficult for Trisha to say that, lips pressed together into a thin line.
“What she thinks is more important than any of their worries, because she won’t actually tolerate things she doesn’t like. She’s not-” me- “stupid.”Shaking his head, Leon cleared his throat.
"I agree with you there… She’s not stupid at all. Surprisingly aware, honestly; I figured she was going to be a little ditzy and goofy, but she’s… Well, when we were watching that movie downstairs, she said some things that… Like I was thinking the same things. And she said them without me prompting. It’s impressive.”He had a bit of a dreamy look in his eye.
"I don’t want you guys to worry. If anything bigger happened, or is supposed to happen… I’d like to wait until this whole Father Wolf shit is over with…” he explained.
Trisha suppressed a slight laugh - not about Father Wolf, of course, but about the way Leon looked while talking about Cass. A lot of people were surprised when she turned out to actually be
incredibly smart. It was just that she didn’t bother to use her brain for stuff she didn’t care about.
“Definitely wait… But honestly? I’m not actually all that worried. I trust Cass, but… I’ll pass that on.” Trisha frowned a little bit. Thinking about Father Wolf…
“Have you told her about Father Wolf? I haven’t - I didn’t even tell her about Sycamore, but I assume she knows now.”Leon nodded, standing up.
"She knows… She probably knows a lot more now than you’d be comfortable with, but we… I guess it’s just easy to confide in her. She doesn’t let things stick. It all slides off, it seems like. I really like that.”Looking back at the massive couch, he shook his head and laughed.
"Y’know, when he showed me this thing is what you guys got, I got a little jealous. It’s a sweet couch set…”He let the words linger for a moment before he turned his head back to Trisha.
"I’m… I’m sorry. Again. I keep fucking things up, and all I want is peace for my little Brother. Amazingly, I find it difficult to not be an asshole… I’m working on it, but I don’t expect any tremendous amount of empathy from you. I’ve done nothing but prove your perception right…” he said with a small, almost hurt voice.
Trisha took a deep breath, standing too just so she didn’t have to crane her neck back so much to look at him.
“I shouldn’t have shouted at you about the food.” She also admitted, head turning to the side to look down at the couch. Thinking about Casey… about how she also wanted to try be a bit better for him. Slowly. Especially after their talk earlier.
“We both fucked up there. You’re right, I’m not going to be sympathetic about it. But hopefully one day we’ll prove each other’s perceptions wrong.”His massive hand extended across with the arm behind it, out for her to shake as a friend.
"Thank you for being good to my Brother.”Trisha smiled slightly, reaching out to shake it.
“And I’m going to keep being good to him… so let’s go save him…”She easily slipped around Leon, pushing the door open and going back out into the main part of the house. Just as she’d expected, as soon as she opened the door she could hear Cass talking.
”-so we were just tryna leave, right, cause clearly this guy wasn’t gonna leave us alone- but then this fucker is all like ‘oh if I beat your guy friend one of you has to go on a date with me’, like what the fuck? And he was looking at Sal all murderous like, and Sal ain’t a fighter. Honestly, Sal’s a fucking wimp. So I was like ‘alright let’s take this outside’ and then I absolutely beat his ass-” Not only was Cass completely talking Casey’s ear off, but she was re-enacting the scene, jumping to both sides to act out both her and this guy in the fight.
”Oh he was sooo pissed off to be beaten by a girl, sexist prick.”“Are you really telling that story? We ended up banned from that bar…” Trisha commented, having let Cass finish because… it was just easier. She immediately moved towards Casey with a slight smile.
”That pub fucking sucked! They let a guy try intimidate a buncha tiny girls-”“He was the same height as Diyah.” ”- and banned me when I kicked his ass over it. But, anyway, I was just telling Casey about some of our fun times in uni. I’m barely getting started! Butttt-” Cass bounced over to Trisha first, catching her before she managed to get right next to Casey, quickly looking her over with narrowed eyes. Then she went over to Leon and did the same.
”Looks like you guys didn’t fight!” While Cass had been blabbing on, Casey had been politely sitting there listening. She was so much fun, he thought, and hearing about Trisha’s second-hand adventures and how passionate she was about them made him feel like they were connected in a way that he didn’t usually feel with others. Plus, her accent was warm. It was best for comforting, and he associated it fairly openly with the goofy Brits he’d met in North Africa.
They were gentlefolk, but… A certain pugnaciousness about them made them rather endearing.
Leon, a little tired looking, could only smile as he got closer. With the pipe in his hand, Casey passed it off to Leon again and let the big man take a drag.
"Contrary to how things usually go, I never really want to argue. We just rub one another the wrong way…””Yeeeah, you deserve it. Mister ‘Richie Rich’...”Leon pushed air out from between his lips, and Casey laughed while rubbing Trisha’s shoulder. Giving her a kiss on the top of the head, he looked down and got a little close.
”Everything okay, Boo? All taken care of for now?”“Yeah, all good, wasn’t even really about that… but it’s all sorted for now. No more fights until the next time we rub each other the wrong way.” Trisha leaned into Casey, looking up at him with a warm smile.
“Did you manage to survive story time with Cass?””Heyyyyy, he loved it! I bet you barely talk about that stuff, so I gotta be the one to fill him in- I’m only telling him the exciting shit! Ain’t like I’m going on and on about all the times we dragged ourselves into the living room for some hungover studying or anything.”“I told them about the time we lost Sal, when we went out for that few months late birthday celebration for you and me? So it’s not like I don’t talk about anything. I just don’t constantly talk.””Yeah, yeah- oh, but now you’re back, we can tell them together! Anything you guys want to know? Like what kinda shit we did or didn’t do during our crazy uni adventures?”Casey waved his hand as if he was warding Cass off from the current conversational topic.
”Ehhhh, unless it’s somethingTrisha wants to share herself, I won’t make her. We already had a few issues of privacy and shit like that… Though, that was pretty funny. If it's mundane stuff like you all getting into shenanigans at bars, I don’t see why not.”The hand on the end of the arm wrapped around Trisha gently rubbed her shoulder again, and Casey looked down at her with a wink. Gentle, subtle White Lux crept across her Emotional Field, and for the first time, Trisha would be able to hear another voice inside her mind that wasn’t the Queen or her own.
”I’ve got your back, my Love.”"Casey and I could probably tell you guys some fun Temple stories… Ones that don’t involve crazy bullshit, that is. We have had pretty good times despite the, well… Bullshit, right? That’s definitely the word for it.””True enough. I kind of wish that uh… I’d been older, y’know, to travel with Dad like how you did.”"Oh, well… That wasn’t so fun. It was a lot of Dad not actually being there. Lord knows he had a million things going on.””I’ve got stories from overseas too… Believe it or not, not all of it turns me into a snivelling wreck.” Casey joked.
Leon’s hand extended the pipe to Trisha.
”Oh, I finished the order by the way… Got a call from them? We’re looking at like an hour and a half minimum, so I don’t know what you guys want to do in the meantime…”Trisha wasn't able to hide her reaction from hearing Casey's voice in her mind, looking up at him with wide eyes. She should be used to things like that by now but… it'd always just been her and the Queen. She'd done her best to avoid Pink Luxers that could actually worm their way in there. But this was sweet. Really sweet. So once she got over the shock of it, she smiled sweetly at him. She relaxed a bit more, reaching out to take the pipe from Leon.
"Oh shit, an hour and a half- I mean I ain't surprised but damn… I suppose we'll all be hungry by the time it's here. I mean fuck, I'm already hungry, but y'know… suffering is strength or something like that." Cass nodded as if she was saying something wise.
"You really don't have any games, Trish? I guess we always used Sal's consoles or my amazing setup for multiplayer shit… well, I guess it's just sitting and chatting then! My second favourite thing."“I could hook up my laptop but there's… not really much on there." Trisha shrugged, gently blowing smoke from between her lips and holding the pipe back up to Casey. She was just kind of content to just… chill. Talk.
"Ooo, then I definitely want to hear some of the Temple stories. Like that shit's so far out of what I'm used to… fucking tons of magic and shit. I want to hear all the cool stuff!" Cass grinned.
“Shouldn’t you tell something about yourself that isn't just the various people you beat up, or the places we got drunk?" Trisha pointed out, looking over at Cass with slightly raised eyebrows as she cuddled up to Casey.
"Well there ain't really anything about just-"“The situation."Cass' hands flew up into the air.
"Fuck! I almost forgot about that!"“...How?""Too much in my brain… you guys wanna hear about the time I was in a throuple that absolutely exploded? It's a wild ride, lemme tell ya, so you gotta be truly alright to go on it." She grinned at both Leon and Casey.
Casey and Leon both shot one another a glance with a layer of understanding beneath. Casey nodded, and Leon spoke up with a slight chuckle.
"I’d say we know a thing about thruples… Y’know, downstairs-”They
had been home. At the very least, Cass was introduced to them as a group, though Leon hadn’t explicitly mentioned they were in a group relationship. He was just used to them always being together, so to explain it didn’t ever feel necessary; only that they were “The Girls”, and they were a package deal.
"-But also… I heard it wasn’t just a thruple? Confirm?” He asked, an eyebrow rising up over the other to dominate his forehead.
"It wasn't, it was a whole fucking thing!" Cass once again threw her hands up, this time in exasperation. The whole situation was very amusing to her now in retrospect but at the time it had been pretty stressful.
"It started as like an open throuple, right. Like me and my partners - Keisha and Oscar, you'll need their names cause shit'll get confusing otherwise- were dating, but also alright with having flints with others, y'know. So long as anything more than sex came to the group and was agreed on! It was all good. Great, really. Then Keisha and Oscar met this other couple, Natalie and Bryce, and they hit it off. Sorta. Like Keisha liked Natalie, Oscar liked Bryce, they talked about it and decided they wanted to start dating that way." Cass paused, drawing a square in the air, then a little triangle at the bottom to represent herself.
"This'd be easier with a whiteboard- whatever! So I meet ‘em, I like ‘em enough - but not like to date ‘em - so we sat down and did all the discussions you gotta do with this shit-"“I accidentally walked in on it and it felt like a boardroom meeting," Trisha added.
”It wasn't quite that formal! But yeah, all good still, y'know! I was happy, they were happy, and I was like great. I don't wanna get romantic with them but fivesomes are cool!" Cass paused dramatically, before grimacing.
"Fivesomes like that ain't actually that cool. Like, too many people, and there just isn't-"“Please don't go detailing the downsides of fivesomes.""Oh, no… Please go into the downsides of a fivesome. I assume, like, there’s not enough tender time to go around?” Leon interrupted Trisha, clearly rapt with curiosity.
”Dude, you've never had a fivesome? I'm shocked!""Not like how you’re describing… My fivesomes usually take place in dark rooms on large beds, and nobody sees faces.””Temple parties do get freaky like that…” Casey added, sticking his tongue out in disgust.
Trisha also made a face at that, while Cass grinned.
"See, that sounds actually hot! This was like, yeah… not enough shared attention. And when not everyone's dating each other it'll always be unequal, right? I thought it'd be like ‘oh we're all banging each other' kinda thing but noooo, Natalie and Bryce would barely touch me. It was just fucking unsatisfying!"“Sounded satisfying for the others," Trisha intoned, eyes looking a bit dead at that.
“Went on long enough me and Diyah came back from our hours of home avoidance to its still happening.""Well yeah, five people, that happens! I did suggest we go somewhere else but our flat was just the nicest!"“Unfortunately.""Anyway, one month and unsatisfying fivesome later, shit went wrong. Well, Natalie and Bryce broke up. But Natalie was still dating Keisha, and Bryce was still dating Oscar, so it was like… some fucking awkward situation. It was a bad breakup too! Suddenly they're having fucking, like, couples therapy at my place. My fucking bedroom… cause it was ‘neutral’ ground or whatever. Like sure! I'm unbiased or whatever but what the fuck! The fivesome seemed pretty good at that point, like looking back, at least I got some shit out of it."“We all told her to break up with them at this point," Trisha said.
"I considered it but when it was just me, Keisha and Oscar it was still great, y’know. I was never dating the other two. It was like a small price to pay. Then… God, this was so fucking embarrassing." Cass covered her face with her hands for a moment.
”During one of their weird sessions tryna make shit work between the four of them, Natalie and Bryce made up properly. Not to like… dating again but at least alright with each other. But then they fucking… started having… makeup sex. In my room. On my bed. For a moment I was like oh, maybe we're going back to the fivesomes, hurray I'd prefer this- but no! It was just them. And worse of all-" Cass stood back up at this point, arms flying up towards the ceiling in despair.
"It wasn't even good sex! It was so fucking boring! So I ended up turning on my computer and gaming while they just went at it, cause what else was I supposed to do?"“Kick them out. Break up with them. You didn't do either."Cass shrugged.
"I was young, naive. A boring couple having sex on my bed didn't seem so bad then."Casey was laughing too hard to reply, but Leon looked genuinely sad.
"Listen… It’s free love among my people. The only commitments you make are the ones you want to, right? And the sex is never boring… I think this weekend there’s supposed to be something, but I can-”Leon froze up now, brow turning downward and looking at Trisha.
"-I’m… This is me being genuine. If she likes a lot of people, I can get a lot of people. No sex magic involved, no crazy rituals, no stealing bodily fluids.”He turned back to Cass.
"D’you think you’d want to try even more? Just kinda, y’know, get lost in the bodies?” he asked with a genuine sparkle in his eye.
Through belly laughter, Casey shook his head and tried to speak.
”You’re a genuine pest, Lee… I know you’d never do anything without some sort of consent, but I swear all that’s on your mind is-”"Eat, fight, fuck! Eat, fight, fuck! There’s a literal barbarian queen in my brain Casey… The longer I go without doing the three things she loves, I suffer for it, and it’s harder to get her to do anything else.” he explained, trying to be desperate enough that it was believably genuine, but not so desperate that he sounded crazy.
Trisha didn't say anything, just slightly inclining her head when Leon looked at her. It wasn't shit she was interested in really hearing about, but Cass was… an adult who could make her own decisions. And had consistently made better ones than Trisha, the wild throuple aside. It was just the Temple she was worried about, but she did somewhat trust that Leon wouldn't drag Cass into anything properly Temple… he didn't seem enamoured enough with the cult to pull someone else into it.
"Hey, I ain't gotta ghost in my brain and that's like sixty percent of what's on my mind- other forty is computers and games!" Cass laughed, not seeming put off by it at all. She just bounced over to Leon from where she'd moved more towards the middle of the room, looking at him with shining eyes.
"Is it really that good when there ain't the relationship bullshit in the background? I always wanted to try but there was never a safe way, y’know? And then I thought it was finally gonna happen and it was so fucking lame! Cause yeah, I'd love that, so long as it's just ‘getting lost in the bodies' and none of the other magic shit, y’know. And it ain't boring, cause if it's boring I ain't sticking around for it.""Anyone I would call would be safe, clean and more than capable. Usually it’s a theme-”Casey was quickly tuning it out. He knew Leon’s
people, and thinking about the fact that he recently lost a couple because of him wasn’t sitting well. Two good friends, who Leon knew very well… He wondered if the big guy took any of it personally, or if he even had the sense to mourn.
They’d gone through loss while he was still relatively young, so he understood that those sorts of things would be different… Or could be, at least. You did learn to shut it off in the moment, especially when there was work to be done.
Or maybe he just… Didn’t actually feel as strongly as he meant it to seem? He didn’t want to be wrapped up in the paranoia of it, turning to go to the fridge while still holding Trisha’s hand until the last possible moment. Inside, he pulled out a watermelon quarter and a few other fruits. A mango, a big blood orange, some papaya… And he started to cut away at them, the difference between their texture and human flesh comforting enough that he could ignore the sludgy redness of the deeper colored portions. Leon was still going.
"-ould do it somewhere that isn’t controlled by the Temple too, if you don’t want to go to the main facility… I doubt you wanna meet our Mom, unless… Like… You wanna bang her too or something, I wouldn’t tell you that you can’t. You’re grown, just don’t let her do crazy shit to your brain.”"Dude, no way! I ain't gonna bang your Mom- I'm sure she's hot and all with kids like you guys-" Cass turned to look at Trisha for confirmation about that. Trisha just stared about, face as expressionless as she could muster. She hadn't really been judging her
boyfriend's mother's hotness when they met, and absolutely never planned to.
"-aw, c'mon, nothing Trish? Well, whatever- either way, nope! From all you've told me… yeah, that ain't appealing. Also fucking family- well family of people you're also fucking- just makes things messy. Learned that one from experience!"Trisha had pulled her knees up to her chest, letting out a slight sigh of relief. Not that she… wanted to know what Cass did with that stuff, just… she didn't want her to meet Lynette if possible. Or anywhere near the cult.
“That’s definitely the safer option here," she said quietly.
"Awwww, are you worried about me?" Cass spun around, shooting away from Leon and over to Trisha. After all, she was completely open… which allowed Cass to practically jump at her, pulling Trisha into a tight hug and shaking her a bit.
”You're so sweet, don't worry, I'll make sure all my future orgies are off Temple grounds! Only the one Richoux involved! So you aren't constantly worrying about me."“I wouldn't be," Trisha grumbled. Cass laughed as she let her go, spinning back around to face Leon, shooting finger guns at him.
"Well now you've brought it up you've gotta make sure it happens."Casey was still laughing to himself, dumping chunks of fruit into the bowl he’d gotten down.
”I’d say he’s the only Richoux you need to worry about, but Mom’s ravenous without the ghost in her brain. I think that’s where he really gets it from, and just him and Lelou wound up being a good pair.”Leon laughed too, shaking his head.
"Mia and Ed think she’s cute, but you know how Hari is.” he vaguely explained to Casey.
There was a nod in return, as well as a smile.
”Thank God for that. One of them carries ninety-nine percent of the braincells collectively.”"Y’know, I should’ve asked them if they wanted to come up…” Leon said with a bit of remorse.
”Well, we didn’t really invite them, big guy… This is kind of, y’know-”Casey gestured toward Cass and Trisha with the knife in his hand, taking a chunk of mango and popping it into his mouth.
”-Oooh, very nice… Quality fruit.”He slid the bowl into the middle of the kitchen island for anyone to take from. He was already scarfing down grapes and watermelon like they were practically his.
"I… Guess I don’t really think about it like that?””It’s definitely not how we were raised to think, I’ll give you that… But I mean, I know for a fact Trisha doesn’t want to drag all of her siblings around to everything she does… Cass? I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable, but you still understand what I mean, right?” he asked her openly.
“I don't want bring my siblings along to anything I do," Trisha commented. She got up and slipped over to the kitchen island, snatching up a few grapes around Casey's voracious eating. While she did like the trio, she was glad that there were less people tonight. It was more comfortable. Especially after last night… it could be awkward for her, Ed and Leon. It was already awkward enough there.
"Oh yeah, I get it! Like I'm sure it'd be fun, but sometimes it's nice for things to be a lil more chill. More quality time! Especially if it's a last minute thing- like next time? Yeah, sure, let's have a big gathering!" Cass smiled at Casey, energetically bouncing in to grab some watermelon and mango before hopping back out.
"Like, it ain't really the same, but me ‘n my brothers were close growing up - like we were always tussling, but we did a ton of shit together. But if they came along every time I went to see friends I would've kicked their asses- and if I'd invited them every time they would've laughed in my face. Though they did go through a period of tryna intimidate anyone I dated… when I was like fifteen, but I quickly beat that outta ‘em. Not that that's the situation here… just sometimes chill is nice!" As if she was ever actually chill…
Leon seemed content with the answer, nodding along as his arms wrapped around Cass.
"Hey, we were close. I think… Just some of us wanted to escape early, and some weren’t inclined to.””You. You and our pissant little brother.” Casey grinned from behind the counter.
”Maybe the poor baby downstairs, but… Y’know.”Leon’s face scrunched up.
"Knowwwwwww…?”Casey shrugged, waving him off.
”Point is, we’ve got five different perspectives. Were we close? Sure, when we were little. But we all drifted apart in our own ways. As opposed to Cass’ situation, where it seems like they’re all still relatively close. Like, y’know, buying funny shirts in a department store to send to them.”"Oh… Well… I mean, that kind of distance sounds like it’d… Y’know… Affect that.” he looked down at Cass for confirmation.
"Yeah, it kinda does… more like that I left, y'know?" Cass replied honestly. She leaned against Leon, not wriggling about as much as she tended to. It wasn't that it was an uncomfortable topic - nothing was truly uncomfortable for her. But it wasn't all sunshine and roses like she'd like it to be.
"It was kind of like what Casey said, escape. My parents aren't so bad but there was always this pressure cause I was the only girl, so I had to fill in for our mum when she was busy. Then when my older brothers were drafted I was the oldest. When…" Cass didn't quite frown but she glanced at Casey, then over at Trisha. Trisha had moved around the counter to be beside Casey again - she just found herself wanting to be close to him all the time, and when he was right there… She caught Cass' gaze, and nodded slightly.
"When Rowan- my oldest brother- died and then Jack was crippled just a few months later, it got worse. I was only seventeen, but there was all this pressure to help out cause my mum was really struggling. All this ‘you’ll stay in Manchester for uni, right?’ and ‘do you even need to go?’ So when I took a scholarship for uni in the states everyone was pissed. My little brothers weren't happy cause they suddenly had to deal with all this shit, and it was like they were losing me too. So… we've made up since. They went to uni in different parts of England too, and Jack never held it against any of us, but we just ain't as close as we were. I love ‘em a lot, but yeah, distance doesn't help." Cass didn't seem to have a hard time saying any of this - and maybe it was too much to just unload there. But she'd always been an open and honest person, and she didn't want to just… lie and say it was all perfect. And then if she didn't lie, she had to give the reasons, right?
"We all still get together for Christmas and suffer through our parents being absolute pains, and I send them shit and we call every now and then. So it really ain't too bad!"Leon held the woman a bit closer now… A bit more tenderly.
"Ah… Drafted… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.””They did what was asked of them, Lee. We were close too. But, at least now you know, and you can hopefully understand other people’s perspectives a little more…”Casey gave a knowing nod to Cass. He’d had a vague idea, they spoke of it at some point before Leon made his way into the picture, but he could only get it so clearly. It wasn’t easy to go through, and everyone he’d spoken to personally confirmed how much of a toll the drafting and fighting took. It was important to show solidarity without forgetting those who had given themselves to the cause of defending their liberty.
"Does… That ever make you feel bad about Junior? Or me?”Casey waved his hand at his brother, warding off the question.
”Well, the Government won’t take all of a family’s sons. At most, by law only two of us could fight… If there’d been a draft, then all of us probably would’ve gotten in. But, I bet you’d have wound up in the USO doing morale shit like those singers. Boxing exhibitions and such. Maybe the OSS would’ve recognized you were a Paranormal and sent you to serve in my outfit. Same with June… The only thing I feel bad about is that it may have actually helped adjust our boy… Maybe he wouldn’t be such a rabid animal if he’d been beaten a few times by a drill sergeant.”Nodding, Leon sighed gently. The air from his nose blew Cass’ hair around slightly.
"I’m worried about what’s gonna happen to him. If all this internal shit boils over.”Casey’s face didn’t shift. He simply bit down and ripped apart a piece of fruit with one motion. Leon knew what that response was, and he could only shake his head further.
"Cass… What would you do if you knew your brother was into bad shit? Like uh… Get stabbed in prison type of shit? Do you just… Let him? Do you oust him to someone who will do something about it? Do you beat him until he can’t anymore?” Leon asked with an obvious concern in his voice.
Cass thought about it for a moment, tilting her head back a bit to look at Leon. She didn't seem all that torn up about what she'd talked about… it was never talking about it that was hard, anyway. It was moments where she would want to talk to her oldest brother, or when she really missed him. But she had a good handle on her grief anyway… easily able to swap topics without being affected by talking about it in the first place.
"Well, if it's bad enough to get him stabbed in prison… if he acted on it, I'd oust him. If he ain't, I'd beat him till he can't, then if he didn't change, I'd oust him. I love my brother's but if they did shit that hurt others - like proper bad shit, not just fighting or shit - I ain't gonna stand by and let ‘em do it. You can protect someone like that if they ain't changing." It was a pretty tough answer from Cass - not very much positivity in there. It wasn't that she didn't believe in second chances, there was just a certain point… if it was that bad and they knew? Then yeah, they couldn't just let it happen.
Trisha furrowed her brow, moving closer to Casey and taking the hand not holding food. She looked up at him. She knew Junior was an asshole, and he'd made her incredibly uncomfortable but… she hadn't realised it was like that.
“Is it that bad?"Casey gritted his teeth slightly thinking about his younger brother. Was it? He honestly couldn’t know.
”Uhhh… Temple stuff. I don’t actually know. He’s probably the best among us at covering his own tracks. He does a lot of things that look charitable and good on the outside, but when you start to peel the first layer back, you realize there’s curtains. Steel curtains, with rivets and welds.”"From when we were kids, we know he can be… Not human? The cats love him. From what they’ve told me, pain lingers around him. But they won’t say what, or how, or what he’s done to make it like that. But given how good he is with his White magic, and his aptitude for something we don’t know anything about-””-Computers…-”"-We… Can’t really get to him or his bullshit to investigate further. It’s suspicious, and the way certain people react when he’s around doesn’t make it much better.”The two brothers frowned in unison, shaking their heads.
”Since… I got the boost from Mom… I’ve had a much easier time telling when he’s fucked with something. The computer parts he enchants are pretty hot in a magical sense. They throw up huge flags in my senses.”"And I know you’re both computer people, but… Like Casey said; it’s Temple shit. Granted, it could be worse than that, but he’s our brother. Dad didn’t teach us to run to outsiders for help. So, no pressure on either of you… Understood?”“What do you think I would do-””Ohhh there is much more of a risk of me decking him if I meet him and he’s that much of a dick. Just cause I know computers don’t mean I know magical computer shit- unless it’s like, shit hidden by normal programs- but I will punch any asshole.” Cass was back to her normal inability to keep still, this time like she was gearing up for a fight that really wasn’t going to happen.
“Pretty sure Leon’s saying to not do anything,” Trisha frowned. If it was Temple stuff, it wasn’t something she wanted to go into. She’d just avoid him where possible. She trusted Casey to keep her safe anyway. She glanced up at him.
“If you can see the magical parts, that's more than either of us can do… I just write code. I don’t really know computers in that way.””I do- but unless you want me to, I ain’t gonna poke my nose in it… but I will beat him up if I’m ever around him and he so much as looks at me funny - no fucking stigma cause I ain’t a relative. And he sounds like a nerd, so how hard can it be?””Gin tells me he can’t code. That it’s all spaghetti he makes work with his powers… But his shit works the same as anything else. Like, the uh… Operating system? We don’t use big-box products, we use what’s called “Trample”. His language, his uh… Y’know, framework and stuff. He’s the supreme admin, the one who pushes out updates necessary and shit like that.” Casey explained, trying to find the words he remembered being used by people in the Government.
"And he isn’t a nerd… It’s not like he didn’t get all the same shit we did; he was just younger. He can still fight. Maybe not like us, but-” Casey’s eyes lit up, and he nearly crushed the piece of fruit he was holding between his fingers.
”B-but… Do you think… They’re complicit?”"You’re her favorite, but… Y’know-””They got a lot closer after Dad was gone…”Leon nodded his head at the vagueness of the conversation. Casey’s tone shifted.
”I won’t ask you to get involved unless you want to, Cass… But maybe between you and I, we can find a way to push things a little further… You don’t know what a Joint-Cast is, do you?”Cass tilted her head as she racked her brain for everything Reyna had told her about magic.
Joint-Cast, Joint-Cast… Oh!”That’s the shit where two Adepts do spells together through the power of friendship and shit, right? Rey said something about it, then she said no to all of my ideas!” Cass shook her head in mock exasperation, before looking at Casey a bit more seriously.
”If it’s gonna help keep Trisha safe and happy then I’ll get involved in anything. Well, nothing too illegal. Also to defend the sanctity of good fucking code… You suggesting we do a cool ass spell together?”Trisha didn’t say anything, but she did turn towards Casey to press her face against him. She was hiding how red she’d turned at Cass’ declaration - maybe a little misty eyed too. It was stupid, especially when Cass had always been very… aggressive about protecting friends. But it was just… nice…
Casey’s hand came up and rubbed Trisha’s head, fingers passing through her hair gently.
”A bio-organic computer virus. We’d need to figure out how he’s using the same kind of magic I have access to, to do the shit he’s doing. The best way I figured is by including someone who knows what’s happening to help break it all open.”"Wait, Casey… I thought we weren’t going to include them! You and Trisha, you both-””I know what we’ve said. But ultimately, we’re not being dishonest about the risk. Cass; if you do this, there’s a chance things could become dangerous for you. I don’t advise participation… If need be, we will get to the bottom of this without you. So, unless you’re extremely adamant about participating, I won’t seek your council. Strictly, you’ll be an outsider… But that’ll also mean you can’t punch him if you meet him; you’ll have to play nice and innocent like you don’t know.”Leon nodded his head.
"Even though there’s a high chance he’ll know that you know something. White Lux is his stronger suit, after all.””I’ll do it.” Cass barely hesitated. Sure, Casey said it could be dangerous… but that just added an extra thrill to it. Everytime Cass chose to fight someone much bigger than her there was a real risk of injury, yet she still did it - because it was pretty fucking awesome when she won, and she cared more about keeping her friends safe. Plus, what better things did she have to do right now?
Trisha turned her head a bit to peer at Cass with one slightly narrowed eye.
“Can’t you think about it a little first? You’re just agreeing on a whim. Casey’s not joking about it maybe being dangerous.””I know. I ain’t gonna change my mind- even though it’ll fucking suck to have to hold back from punching him, fuck! But it’d be so worth it. Ooo, I can just think of all the shit I’d get to code. Y’know what they say - no risk no reward!” Cass had a glint in her eye as she spoke, and it was pretty easy to read that she was
excited by it even though she held back from saying she thought it would be fun. It just wasn’t something she could hide from her expression or body language.
“Still think about it, please? I don’t know, talk it through with Leon a bit more, at least when you’ve sat on it a bit?” Trisha said, looking over at Leon. Though she knew if Cass had made her mind up there was no stopping her - and she couldn’t deny the spark of joy she felt from that. And she
trusted Casey when he suggested it but then he also said he didn’t advise participation… So she was worried about it.
Leon was pretty instant with his response.
"This doesn’t change what we just talked about, by the way… Trisha…”He hoped she’d get the message, but from the little time he’d spent with Cass, he knew she wasn’t going to miss that he was trying to hide something. Unfortunately, however, it’d already left his mouth. So it was either sink or swim.
"This was not an intended outcome… And you can blame Casey f-””That’s why I’m going to agree with Trisha, Cass… I recently did some work and, it- Well… I just… It’s fucking too late Leon! Cat’s out of the bag, I think she kind of seems to lock in on these things. All we can do now is keep her safe. For all of our sake.”Casey’s hand running through Trisha’s hair stopped on top of her head, and he looked down at her.
”I’m sorry. I never should’ve said anything, my bad… It really isn’t something we wanted, it just… Came up.”“I just don’t want someone else to get hurt,” Trisha said softly, clear worry in her gaze. Someone else she cared about…
“I know it isn’t something you wanted. I trust you, but-””Hey, stop talking about me like I ain’t an adult capable of making my own decisions,” Cass interrupted, hand sweeping out to point at every single one of them before her arms folded in front of her chest.
”Yeah, sure, shit’s dangerous. Probably not my business- but you are, Trisha. You may want to think you’re not involved, but you are. And you got involved for someone you barely knew- sorry, Rey outed that one. I think you’re both perfect for each other, but that doesn’t change it- it ain’t so unreasonable I would want to get involved in something that hardly scares me for someone I love and have known for years.” Though the almost harsh bluntness would probably surprise Leon and Casey, who’d mostly seen Cass’ near permanent positive energy, it didn’t shock Trisha. She had seen Cass like this before it was just… more rare. But she didn’t hold back.
“But I don’t want you to get hurt, Cass- and this hardly affects me, it’s not like…””Father Wolf? Yeah, a bit pissed you didn’t tell me about that one, but that’s fine- just means I need to not get hurt, right?” Cass cracked a grin.
”Get proper good with my magic so I can just shrug shit off… but since you asked, and Casey agreed, I’ll think about it a bit more. Unlikely to change my mind, but I’ll sleep on it- if I sleep.””Alright!” Casey said excitedly, pumping his fist before snagging up a piece of fruit.
”I would’ve loved having you in the Corps, Cass… That’s the kind of attitude we live for!” he said with exuberance.
Leon, tearing up a little bit, let himself bend over Cass, wrapping both arms around her tightly. Doing so, it was a scene that Trisha had just that day been a part of… The long, untied mass of black hair wrapping around Cass like a veil of privacy. An intimate world of two… He whispered in her ear.
"I’ll always love him, Cass… But I need to know for certain. I’ll keep you safe, and help you learn more. You’re not joining anything… But you’re a student of Gravity now, aren’t you? A disciple of the Cosmos.”It was low enough that Casey and Trisha couldn’t hear…
”Hey, Itt Addams! No hair curtaining!”Cass turned her face towards Leon’s, eyes squinting slightly as she grinned. By now Leon would be able to read the differences in her happy expressions - and this one was pretty fucking intense joy… with a bit of excitement in there.
”Fuck yeah I am- y’know how nice it is to hear that? You’re lucky I’ve already got strong discipline because otherwise I’d-”She was quiet enough that Casey and Trisha couldn’t really hear either, but Trisha didn’t need to hear to get suspicious. The only reason she hadn’t immediately reacted was because it was Cass…
“If you even consider making out behind that I’m kicking you out.”Cass laughed, one hand wriggling up to pat Leon’s cheek.
”C’mon, pull that hair back before Trisha gets properly mad.”Leon smiled widely, planting a gentle kiss on Cass’ hand.
"Go ahead- Pull it up! You got it…””Whoa, so lazy, I gotta do everything around here,” Cass joked. She reached up with both hands to push his hair back and away from covering them as best as possible, awkwardly holding it together in the worlds worst hand twin ponytails.
Of course she was met with Trisha’s disapproving stare, her lips pursed and arms folded. Cass immediately started laughing.
”Ooo, maybe I should let it back down, go back to hiding.”“Don’t you dare, I’m being very nice right now letting you flirt at all in my house.””Aw, like you could stop me, Trish- and I know you love me too much to do anything about it! I can read you like a book, you ain’t even upset.”Trisha let out a light huff, but Cass was right - at least, her body wasn’t tense like it did when she started to get properly worked up.
”Anyway, we learnt it from you and your boyfriend,” Cass continued with a playful grin at them both.
”And we learned it from dear old Dad…”Casey wasn’t above flirting. Watching Leon all those years meant he at least knew how the game was played… Especially now with all the… Extra memories…
But it was fine! Because today, he’d had his own memory made. With the dark came the light; with their pain, Trisha had finally opened up a little bit.
And, she said it! He may have broken down and said it first, but she had actually reciprocated! And he was feeling confident.
”Besides, Cass is right! You can’t deny that it’s actually good to be around good moods and positivity toward one another. Clearly, in one way or another, we all love one another.”Trisha would be able to feel Casey getting into position before being engulfed in a black veil of her own.
"Y’know, you’ve got a lot of nerve calling me Cousin Itt, you fucking Wookie…”Casey’s forehead rested atop Trisha’s scalp, and he started to wiggle slightly from laughter.
”He called me a Wookie Trisha… He turns into a fucking werewolf and he’s calling me a Wookie…” Oh… Right… He was high. It finally crammed itself into his brain, dull cannabinoid receptors chugging back into a groove as it served him humor on a silver platter.
Trisha giggled, lips curving into a warm and gentle smile.
“Don’t worry, I’d still love you if you ever turned into a Wookie- and he’s just jealous you’d make a hotter werewolf than him anyway.””Oy, you better not be making out behind there, cause then it just ain’t fair!” Cass’ laughing voice, of course, got through Casey’s not particularly soundproof hair.
“Different rules for the homeowners,” Trisha retorted with another giggle, as she leaned against Casey. Her head tilted upwards so she could actually sort of see him, still smiling cutely. She continued to speak quietly, just to him.
“Yeah, you and Cass are right. It is nice to be around each other like this… I don't even really mind them… it’s kind of cute. Nowhere near as cute as us, though. We win against everyone there.””But we’ll be nice and let ‘em compete, right?”Casey laughed as he kissed her on the top of the head, then pulled his hair back up and away.
”Now enough of this! We’ll forget about it for tonight, and just enjoy…”
It wasn’t long before there was a notification that their food had been delivered. Casey had texted Theo to watch out for when it was coming and grab it, which was just part and parcel for the job. As it’d taken a while to arrive in the first place, the fruit bowl had been emptied out and relegated to the dishwasher, leaving plenty of room for plates and forks and spoons. Mostly concentrated on Leon’s end, the spread of boxes was like a full spectrum for the eyes and nose.
Even Casey was excited to dig into some chicken, and his big giant bowl of macaroni and cheese stared at him in the face. He made sure to put Trisha’s fried candy bar on top of her little stack, and found that it was still piping hot in the box.
”Ohhhh yeah, that’s the best part about a big order. Your guy is just sitting there waiting for it to finish, and they’ve gotta cook it to order…”"Fuck yeah, this greasy shit is best fresh and hot as fuck! Fuck, it smells so good," Cass grinned as she popped open a couple of her boxes, leaning forward to properly smell the greasy goodness.
"This shit smells nostalgic, like I walked into a chippy down the street back home."Trisha smiled at Casey as she opened up the deep fried candy bar that had been put on top for her. It looked… interesting.
“Smells more like university to me… All the times we'd get fried chicken or something on the way home from a night out. Even though the first few times Diyah turned her nose up at it."Cass cackled at that, already digging into her own fried chocolate bar. She seemed entirely unbothered by clean eating, absolutely devouring half of it in massive bites with bits of melted chocolate sticking all around her lips.
"Oh yeah, we lured her into the Holy Church of Fried Chicken."With a slight laugh at that, Trisha cautiously picked up her deep fried candy bar. It didn't look appealing. But she'd wanted to try it, so she had to try it… she took a small nibble of it, which mostly ended up as just the batter. So then she forced herself to take a bigger bite. Her mouth was immediately filled with sweet, gooey chocolate and heavy, savoury batter. It was incredibly sickly. Trisha made a face even as she tried a second bite. Nope. It was far too much. Trisha's whole face screwed up and she put it back down.
“That’s… not for me… it's too much…"”I get'it, your weak ass American stomach can't handle it! I'll eat it if no one else will," Cass grinned. She licked her fingers to get the last bits of chocolate and grease that had escaped her absolutely inhaling her chocolate bar. When one hand was done she pointed to Trisha's, tilting her head over to Leon with a grin as a just cleaned finger was pulled out of her mouth.
"You should've been more worried ‘bout that than the pizza." "Eugh! Look, there’s brown at the corners of your mouth, dude… I get squeamish just thinking about it.” Leon groaned, taking a paper towel and wiping her face himself.
Meanwhile, Casey had already cleaved Trisha’s chocolate between his teeth, swallowing it in two pieces without a great deal of ceremony.
”Too much… Oh well! Do you want something else? Norm keeps a stack of peanut butter cups frozen in the freezer downstairs, Theo will bring you one if you want it…” he offered to Trisha, popping the top on his mac and cheese and digging in with his spoon. There were french fries and chicken nuggets sticking out of it, all covered in ooey gooey cheese sauce.
Squeezing a pack of hot sauce out of its little container, he stirred it in and gave another taste. Then more hot sauce went on, again and again until he was satisfied with his bite.
”God, bury me in this shit if I die.” he said to nobody in particular.
“Gross, I'd rather be buried in the normal soil," Trisha wrinkled her nose, though she let out a little giggle at the thought of it. There was an implication underneath her words as well - shared graves…
“And I don't need anything else, this is plenty- if I really want something sweet later I'll have some of my honey on some bread." Though she probably wasn't going to have the appetite for more. She'd smoked enough to at least feel some amount of desire to eat, but she wasn't sure if it was even enough to eat all of the food in front of her.
Cass had been shooting a mock glare at Leon for wiping her face - a very cute gesture, but a waste of chocolate remnants she would've licked off in just a moment! No food wasted… she looked almost mournfully at the paper towel. But her attention snapped towards Trisha.
”All of that's so fucking cool by the way, Trish. With your bees… like I thought the honey you gave us was sweet but now I know they're magic… so awesome. Also explains why they never stung us."“They didn't sting you because I didn't bring them with me when I was around you all. If they'd always been on me… you'd have been stung a million times whenever you hugged me out of nowhere." Trisha pointed a curly fry at Cass before popping it in her mouth.
"Hey I can't help the irresistible urge to hug whenever I see you're cute lil face- I'm sure Casey understands!" Cass grinned. She hadn't actually moved on from the chocolate bar to whatever she was next going to eat… stuck in indecision. Chicken, Mac and cheese, deep fried pizza… She wanted to eat it all at once.
"How's that work? The bees? Do they like you, or do they get all mad you're hogging her attention?" she asked Casey directly.
Casey laughed aloud thinking about their little quirks.
”Uhhh… They seem to like me on a baseline. I think it’s because Trisha projects the feeling. Maybe it’s because their first impression of me was around a big pile of fruit… Once Trisha told me about them, I was all about it though. I think it’s pretty cool too, and she’s super cute about them. Like a real mom.”Casey’s hand reached up and pinched Trisha’s arm playfully.
”It was… A little unfortunate, the first night we hung out we got super high and… Like… I got stung pretty badly. Accidentally fell on a bunch of bees, we had a good cry… I think that’s when I knew that it was gonna be a good thing between us though, ‘cuz she kind of just dealt with it and comforted me. Right? Especially after I was trying to be cute, talking about getting stung a million times, something cringey.”Leon laughed, shaking his head as he opened the box he had his own fried pizza in. Crunching into it, he pulled the saucy cheese away and smiled, offering it up to Cass to let her try it before she had her own.
"How many times have you been shot? And the bee stings got you?””We had a lot of buffers… Better armor… Getting raw stung by like five hundred bees just fucking hurts.” he shook his head at his brother.
”But, we did a great job getting through it, and I’m making it up to the bees. So, hopefully they don’t hold my accidental massacre too close to heart.”“It was a thousand bees, even if a few attacked the TV instead of you,” Trisha pointed out, cheeks a little warm from all that Casey had said - wasn’t dealing with it the normal thing to do? She comforted him because she didn’t want him to leave but… she was a little glad of it if it meant he’d felt
they were good together from then.
“They don’t remember. At least, they don’t remember it was you. They really like you now because you keep giving them loads of fruit and you… smell like me… to them. Pheromone wise, cause I like… just soak you in mine.””Oh shit really?” Cass pulled back a bit from taking a bite of Leon’s pizza - unnecessary, she knew she’d like it, but she wasn’t going to say no - and turned her head towards Trisha. Her words had been a bit muffled as she finished chewing on it with a little groan. It was fucking good.
”Lemme see.”As Cass leaned back properly, two antennas popped out of the top of her head. Her eyes glazed over a bit as she turned her head towards Casey and Trisha. It was… pretty cool. She could sense all the signals Trisha was giving off, even though there were no bees about - just constant pheromones that none of them could sense normally. And there were similar all over Casey - like he’d taken a bath in them and they’d permeated his skin. Lighter, non active, but there.
”Oh that is so fucking cool - it’s like pheromonal scent marking all over you dude. And Trish, you’re always giving that shit off, even without the bees around? Damn.”“It’s just natural, I don’t do it on purpose…”Cass shrugged as she opened up her own fried pizza box, picking it up.
”It ain’t a problem, Trish - it’s cool. Like you’re marking your territory or something!”“It is not like that,” Trisha whispered.
”It could be… I thought about it for keeping the Cats away, but I think the two of you need a bit more time being in sync before you can do too much with it… I can kind of see the signals with my Lux, but they’re subtle in terms of their magical energy so,-”Casey shrugged, taking a big spoonful of mac into his mouth. Barely chewing, he swallowed it down and grinned.
”Oh, she’s gonna let me put guns on them…” he brightly explained.
”I’m gonna make full sized guns, have them work off of her signals, then find someone to shrink them. I’ve got an ammo spell that shrinks the ammunition until it passes through a certain rune? So when the little bullets hit, they expand into full sized ones.”Leon’s eyes narrowed.
"Why are we… Arming… The bees?” he questioned between bites of chicken sandwiches.
”Because… There’s a killer on the loose? And a city full of batshit crazy people who could try and take advantage of my Girlfriend and her family’s wealth? She should be able to defend herself from anything. And I’ll make that happen. Did she even tell you she got into a fight?”"Like… With Adora?””Lila Blackwood!”"Oh, dude… That’s birdshit insane, not batshit.”Cass almost choked on her pizza as she started laughing at that, leaning forward and coughing a few times.
“I didn't tell him because I know who's side he'd be on," Trisha said quietly, intently looking down at her food. When would there have been a chance, anyway? In between the two times they yelled at each other last night?
Cass' eyes narrowed too, turning to stare at Trisha but unable to speak until she swallowed the massive chunk of fried pizza still in her mouth.
"Wait, you got into a fight?! When?! Where is she, I'll-"“It's sorted, Cass. And we both… suffered for it. She lost a lot of crows, I lost a lot of bees. Nobody won because Casey arrived before things got worse."Cass paused midway to standing. Now she was picturing the armed bees… with their little guns absolutely mowing down the much bigger crows. It was an amazing, if hilarious, image.
"I think the guns are a great idea! It means Trisha's bees can attack from a distance- lower risk! I bet that killer won't be able to get close. And you can also take revenge on this crow lady!"“I’m not doing anything like that unless I see her again. I wasn't even trying to fight…" Sure, Trisha felt resentment towards Lila for all the bees she'd killed. Her crow ate a bee first. She'd escalated. But she wasn't going to go out of her way for any kind of revenge… as long as they stayed away from each other. She managed to look up, glancing over at Leon.
“I do need to be able to defend myself better. I'm not going to go massacre Sycamore or anything when I have armed bees.""Hey, wait! On whose side!? That’s not fair, Trisha…”Leon did, in fact, sound a bit hurt.
"I’d be on your side, obviously… If you got hurt, that would mean Casey’s hurt! So, I’m on your side… Besides, Lelou doesn’t like the Maiden!”A memory flashed through his head that wasn’t his. A black sky, a wretched pain. Lelou’s Emotional Field wavered for a moment.
”Well, either way… Cass is absolutely right. We’ll have bee squadrons, patrols… Thinking about a thousand bees with full-scale munitions is… Horrifying. If I could get my hands on a shipment of M134s? The kinds they put on the transport choppers? Ooooh, Babe…” he reached a hand out, bumping Trisha playfully.
Leon shook his head.
"Did you just suggest putting actual factual miniguns on bees?””In literally every sense of the word. Trisha’s gonna be a fucking gunwitch.” he grinned widely, almost evilly.
Trisha leaned towards Casey a bit, smiling at him.
“It wouldn't really be me, it'd be the-"”C'mon, just accept it Trisha, you'd be a cool as fuck gunwitch! I dunno shit about guns but if they're on choppers? Must be real strong- I'm getting excited just thinking about it! That'll be some movie ass shit." “It would be cool… especially if I don't have to worry so much about them getting squashed. And I guess it'd all be under my control if it's working off my pheromones. So, yeah, gunwitch." Trisha nodded, reaching out for Casey's hand before it could be completely pulled back. She tangled her fingers in his… just for a moment.
“When I suggested it I didn't think it'd be actually possible. So thank you for taking it seriously, Babe.""Thank fuck you got a boyfriend that specialises in bee munitions, then," Cass giggled. As Trisha looked over at her she raised her eyebrows, head inclining towards Leon. Trisha's smile dropped a little bit as her eyes followed Cass' gesture.
“I shouldn't have assumed you'd take Lila's side, Leon. I just thought because… you're back at Sycamore… you'd believe one of them over me." Trisha's hold on Casey's hands tightened as she forced herself to say something she normally wouldn't bother with. Cass gave a proud like nod, grinning.
Leon shook his head, hair fluttering about.
"Vibes are so different at this point, Trisha… We had a meeting today, and like… Blackmore, uh… Like, Sully and Stormy? Everyone that used to hang out together, we’re just distant. And, uh… Well, the whole thing with Layla and Void Heart, now everyone’s looking at me differently. Obviously.”Not to mention that all the girls who would hang out between them like glue were
dead now…
"Oh… Uh, Auri? Auclair? Dead. Wolf got her, and a few other people at the same time. I’m hoping that whoever or whatever this stupid fucking thing is won’t assault a building full of Adepts and Abberrations, but you should both be a bit more careful.”Of course, this is what Trisha got for not going to the meetings: Third-hand information whenever it came up.
Casey tensed up visibly, furrowing his brow.
”Oh, dude… Were you close? Is it-”"-No, no… It’s alright. Like I said, I’m… I’m not exactly worried about the other Sycamore. You guys are my priority.”Casey’s head nodded, and he looked at Trisha.
”I guess project Bee Brigade needs a quicker timetable.” he said calmly, a little quiet and thoughtful.
”Though, you could hopefully get that kind of info out a little bit faster, Lee?”"Then you should know we’re planning to assault Elysium Island tomorrow. And we could use your help. Resources, if I can pull my requisition for the month?”Casey nodded emphatically.
”Of course. Get Theo a list, I’ll make sure it gets priority and packaged for tomorrow. Need bodies?”Leon shook his head.
"No, no… It’s alright. We’ve got Greenwood and uh… The arthaus.””Oh, 317? Got it…”At the mention of Elysium Island, Trisha flinched slightly, frowning. The Elite's stronghold. That would explain the cryptic bulletin sent out by Blake demanding they all go there tomorrow, which she'd completely ignored after reading the first sentence. Multiple Covens assaulting the island? That was going to go awfully… for the Elite.
“Why are you assaulting the island Blake Schmidt owns? It's used for orgies and insane drug filled parties. It's not because everyone wants to join in, is it?"She shook her head.
“If everyone's distant now- which I'm not surprised about, it's been ten years- I suppose it's the only fight they might win… Is there something on the island? Or did Blake just piss someone off?" Of course she knew a bit of
why - but her Elite membership was the one thing she really didn't want to be open about yet.
"You remember Kari Wilson? She’s got a bunch of notes that could help us, but… She’s supposedly MIA? At first we thought she was dead, but some other evidence says otherwise… I don’t know. It’s hard to follow when everyone gives you a cold shoulder. But either way, we know that the Elite has the notes, and they’re working with people to translate them. We’re gonna get ‘em back.”Casey felt coiled interest building in himself. The need for war that was justified. A good war. But then he remembered Trisha, and the promise of a date he gave to her. His body moved on instinct, but his lips locked up.
”Uhh… Ehhh… Shit! Shit… I wish I could fucking kill some rich people. Fuckers, stealing shit that ain’t theirs.”Casey unfurled a sandwich from its tin foil covering, ripping a chunk out with his teeth.
"Don’t you worry about it… Just get my stuff to where I need it, and you’re helping more than I could ask. And, honestly, probably more than most people would trust you to.”Casey looked a little sad. They didn’t trust him? Because of Clarissa and Furio, and what had happened with Layla… He knew. But it wasn’t their show anymore.
Nodding, he leaned into Trisha, swallowing before planting a kiss on her head.
”Then our date is still on!” he grinned.
“Good, I wouldn't want our date cancelled over Blake Schmidt and his friends," Trisha smiled back at him, tilting her head towards him. She was a little worried… her sisters were part of the Elite- oh, no, they were out of town. They wouldn't be in danger. That was fine. And while the Elite were a chaotic group, they did have some strong abstractions. At least plenty that would let them escape. Then, she would get some entertainment out of their loss too.
“I’m sure as soon as you get on the island they'll just hand them over. Most rich people are… cowards. It won't be an interesting fight. Sycamore’s not worth it either." She was saying this more to Casey, since he clearly wanted to join… even if he'd accepted he wasn't going to. There would be a fight, because Blake was too stubborn to back down.
"Wait!" Cass ceased shoving Mac and cheese in her mouth, just as messily as she'd eaten the chocolate bar. She'd been listening along, not contributing to something she knew very little about, but…
"That mean you're gonna be kicking ass tomorrow? Damn, I wish I could watch. Bet you'll absolutely destroy them, though."Casey whistled to himself a little bit, wagging his brow toward Cass.
”See, that’s where he gets crazy! I may be able to give him the punch-out when we’re both just living, but Leo-Lou has some seriously crazy abilities. Y’know, if he goes too far one way, he grows boobs…”Leon laughed aloud, thinking about his more animalistic wolf form. The werewolf aspect was Lelou’s, and thus she was always trying to turn the vessel into something more comfortable when she took control.
"Yeah… We can’t bang like that, Cass. I’d almost definitely kill you, and then go on an absolute tear afterward. Luckily, Lelou likes you; she said so. So, you get the best of me.”He had a box of nuggets for himself, and Leon’s hand scooped under it to dump the fried bits into his gullet. Chewing, he swallowed a big lump of chicken and breading.
”You should give her a little exhibition though! Maybe Lena will want to fight.”Leon made a grave face.
"Oh, God no… She’s… Not someone I’m interested in sparring with. I don’t think she knows what an exhibition is.”Casey laughed.
”Deeeefinitely not, she doesn’t pull punches.””You could spar with me! Though that wouldn’t really work for me watching… and we’d definitely just end up fucking midway through…” Cass grinned, waving a piece of chicken around before stuffing it in her mouth. She chewed through it incredibly quickly.
”Fucking high compliments that the Queen of fight, fuck, eat likes me! I get a pretty sweet deal outta it- I like you plenty even without the boobs. But y’think if I got good enough with the magical durability and healing, I could survive it?”“You really want something that could kill you? When you clearly enjoy-” Trisha grimaced, glaring down at her food. She’d gone from smiling to a sour expression, like she’d just eaten a lemon rather than fries. It wasn’t because of what they were talking about. It was the mention of
Lena. Just hearing her name upset her. Especially after what she’d said the last time, and hearing it from Casey’s lips… It made her tense up.
“That’s just stupid.””Hey hypotheticals, Trish, hypotheticals! Always looking to try out different things- but I’m more of an ass gal anyway, so it ain’t a big thing. Way more interested in seeing the fighting! Or experiencing it properly.”Leon shook his head.
"It’s really a different thing, Cass… Uh… See, the way it works, I’m not exactly using Lelou’s powers with permission all the time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, sometimes we agree. But if you see me looking like a big ol’ wolf woman? Things are bad. It means that she’s upset, and anyone’s liable to get hurt after that, no matter how strong they are.”Casey felt Trisha’s tension in her muscles. Instantly, he was trying to think of what was said that pushed her into that coiled state… Talking about fighting? Or-
Clearing his throat, Casey realized quickly that it wasn’t fighting. It was a namedrop. It was just the first Aberration he thought of that he figured would put up a fight. Oops… He quickly cleaned his fingers off with a napkin and kissed Trisha, getting a little close.
”Do you want a drink or something, Baby?” he asked her quietly.
Meanwhile, Leon kept explaining his situation to Cass.
"We have… Had? A cousin. She had my leash, right? It’s this thing, a leash and collar- Kinky, I know. -that I can wear. It strengthens the locks keeping Lelou in, so long as the leash holder has a strong enough Emotional Field. She could actually kind of blend them better than Lelou and I can do on our own, but also… She hates it. Lelou, I mean. Because none of it is part of her will, y’know?””I gettit, I’d be pissed if I was stuck inside someone else and then being made to do shit- ain’t to say it's easy on you either. Kinda sounds like a lose-lose situation you got there, the both of you. Chained together and shit- also kinda kinky if you think about it. She wants your body, right? Ain’t happy to just live in there and get her fighting, fucking, and eating?” Cass was, of course, both curious and empathic - somehow managing empathy towards both Leon
and the Ghost.
”Glad I ain’t gotta deal with another voice in my head, my own’s enough!”“It’s not always bad.” Trisha said without much emotion. She still hadn’t responded to Casey’s question, because she was thinking too hard about it. Did she want a drink? Not really. She wasn’t thirsty, and she really wasn’t hungry anymore either. But did she want something else? Well, probably… She shuffled closer to Casey, so she was right next to him. She leaned against him and tried to untense. It wasn’t like Lena was here. She
knew Casey didn’t like her. It was just… especially with what she’d said…
But Trisha shook her head, leaning into Casey more, speaking softly.
“Just this is fine.” Casey melted into Trisha’s hug, and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Rubbing her shoulder, he took gentle breaths and tried to match himself with her.
”Awww, you’re getting tired or something? It’s alright… Just chill.”His free hand slid down and snagged some of her curly fries, but one was still hanging out of his mouth when he looked down at her and waggled it in his mouth.
”Uh oh… Fumfin’ ftuk immy feef!” he giggled.
”Heeeeerp” he grinned.
Trisha’s protests about not being tired died on her lips. She stared at him for a moment, then at the fry. Her body relaxed slightly in his arms and her lips tugged up into a slight smile. She just couldn’t stay upset when he was acting so… cute. For her. It just made her feel so warm… warm, loved and wanted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get it for you.”She tilted her head back and pushed up, biting the curly fry right where it stuck out of his mouth. It was chewed and swallowed before she softly kissed him too.
Casey’s smiling and friendly face was beaming as she pulled the fry away. When she kissed him, he felt a warmth flush across his body until he was outwardly blushing everywhere besides his palms. Frankly, he couldn’t help but wrap both arms around her, spinning them both in place with a quick pirouette.
”UGGGH! Thank you so much, I thought I was gonna choke! I thought it was trying to crawl down my throat, I didn’t know what was gonna happen.”Leon was watching with a gentle expression on his face. It reminded him so much of the good old days… Of seeing Mom and Dad just
be Mom and Dad. Not the Herald and the Fist. Not Gravity and the Lady Night. Just a couple of young star-crossed lovers who could barely stand to be apart. It made him ache for those days. He wanted them back. Fixed.
"Damn, my Man… Every trick in the book tonight, huh?” he giggled, turning to Cass.
"You’d think our Dad was back with how he’s acting…” he said with a wide smile on his face.
”Well maybe he is in spirit! Y’know, that whole they never really leave thing?” Cass had a pretty hard time dragging her eyes away from the couple, watching them with wide, shining eyes and her hands pressed against her own cheeks, squishing them upwards. But she eventually turned towards Leon with a grin, otherwise not changing her also cute watching posture.
”It’s cute! Not that Casey needs to use any tricks, Trisha’s clearly already head over heels for him, so completely in looooovvvveeee.”“Cass, please,” Trisha softly grumbled, blushing too. But she was too comfortable hugging Casey right now to actually get annoyed about Cass just
saying it. She did love him, but she’d just said it, she wasn’t comfortable with it just being thrown around like that… but it was also Cass. She said stuff like that all the time. And she was content now. Happy.
“You’ve gone all red, was it from the near death experience?” she asked Casey, giggling as her hands came up to hold his face.
”You’re red too, Trisha!”“Caaassssss, stoppp.”Casey had what Cass said in his mind… About him being there in spirit. He was, and she didn’t realize how right she actually was. What was more concerning to him was that the little marking he’d left behind simply wasn’t fading… Absolution… The formal release from guilt, punishment and obligation. A cleansing of Sin. The ghost probably didn’t know who it was originally, but now it was just… Strange. Strange to know what his Mother was
actually doing.”Cass, that’s actually crazy. I bet he is here, and that you’re totally right. He’s probably happy that Leon and I are together, and that he’s got such a big fan in his corner as well… That we’re all just… Being happy for once. Thank you guys for coming up, seriously. It’s really nice to know you’ll be around more. I think Trisha and I are gonna steal you pretty often.”Leon grinned. He raised his soda up with a free hand.
"To Gravity’s Legacy, the Richoux name, and the love of those close to us. Santé!”He didn’t have a drink, so Casey took Trisha’s hand with her heirloom ring on it and playfully pulled it up.
”Santéééééé!” he smiled down at Trisha.
Trisha smiled back at Casey, eyes filled with softness even as she wriggled her fingers around in joking protest.
“Santé.”Cass looked at Leon, then Casey, then Trisha. She let out an exasperated sigh, before grinning and raising her mostly finished soda too.
”Yeah, I ain’t gonna try pronounce that, so… cheers to all that!”
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