FernStone

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

& Henri Han

Friday, October 27th. 6:14pm. Portland International Airport -> Linqian’s Car

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Portland International Airport was as busy as could be expected on a Friday night. People milled around waiting for others to get off planes, while travellers quickly walked from A to B to get wherever they needed to. It was loud, constant tannoy announcements ringing through the overly bright arrivals area.

Linqian stood to the side, leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Sunglasses covered her eyes, to hide the dark bags underneath them, and watched the arrival exit doors intently. She'd driven hours to get here after finishing work at midnight the night before. She was exhausted and cranky and just wanted to get home. This was not how she'd wanted to spend her day off.

But of course, half an hour after the flight had landed and still no sign of Henri. She could've left later. She should've assumed that the luggage collection would take a fucking age! Hell, even if it didn't she could've made him wait. It wasn't like he had anything to do right now, while she had way too much.

Yet here she was, unnecessarily waiting.

She took a deep breath, pushing down her irritation. The last thing she wanted to do was take it out on Henri. It wasn't his fault. None of this was. He was coming back because he was struggling and she'd be supportive (but wasn't she struggling too?). He was the one person she really tried to control her temper around... Outside of situations where she was getting paid.

"Jie!"

Linqian’s gaze moved over to the source of the far too energetic voice. Henri was half jogging towards her, with two massive suitcases pulled behind him. His dark curls were an absolute mess, falling over his eyes. He was wearing a baggy hoodie and jeans. Not that she’d expected him to dress up, but he could at least wear a coat when it was so cold out.

"You been waiting long?"

"No," Linqian lied, easily slipping into Chinese. It had been frustrating having to only speak English recently - it had always been the case, but before she'd had Jinhai at home to talk in their mother tongue. It was much easier to express herself in it. "The traffic was bad so it worked out well."

"Oh, that's good. I thought you might be waiting a while. It took ages to get my bags."

Linqian shook her head before indicating for him to follow her. ”Come on, let's go.”

She grabbed one of his suitcases, grimacing at the weight of it. Her arm muscles strained to drag it along behind her as she led Henri out of the airport and to the carpark. They walked past rows of parked cars before reaching the car she'd gotten from Edict. It had been a bit of a dilemma this morning deciding which one to bring - she didn't particularly want her brother in one that almost definitely had dodgy origins, but she'd used it more the past week thanks to her plans to let Henri use the one from Leon. In the end she'd chosen her driving comfort over her slight worries. As long as she didn't get into an accident it should be fine. She unlocked it and popped open the trunk, lugging the suitcase up into it.

"Wow," Henri whistled. "Nice car. How did you afford that, Jie?"

"It was provided by work." Linqian shrugged. Technically not a lie. "That new job I said about, remember? And come on, it's just a car."

"It's amazing compared to the piece of crap you used to drive," Henri retorted, flashing her a shit eating grin.

”Shut it and get in,” Linqian rolled her eyes, but there was very little bite to her words. Henri wordlessly grinned, shoving his other suitcase in the trunk and getting into the passenger seat.

"Sooooo can we-"

”No.” Linqian didn't even let her brother finish as she pulled out of the parking space, making her way towards the barrier to exit the parking lot... And unwillingly digging out the fucking insane amount she had to pay for less than an hour there.

"You didn't even let me finish."

”I don't need to.”

"C'mon, Jie, I just wanted to ask if we could go to McDonalds or something on the way home."

”Are you paying?” Linqian side eyed him. ”We've got food at home. You saying you don't like my cooking?”

"Noooo. But it's late, are you really gonna cook when we get home? I'm hungry now."

”Here.” Linqian reached into the back and chucked a plastic bag onto Henri's lap while at a red light. She flipped off the car behind her that pressed down his horn like she'd done the worst shit by not starting as soon as the light turned green. ”That'll tide you over. Don't pretend you've been eating at reasonable times recently, anyway. I've seen all your purchases.”

"You're the best." Henri dug into one of the bao she'd packed. He practically devoured it before reaching for another.

Linqian rolled her eyes, even as the corner of her lips tugged up into a doting smile. There was nothing she loved more than feeding her brother. She remembered when he was younger and had eyes bigger than his stomach, devouring a whole plate of bao and then complaining about a bellyache for the rest of the day. It'd been so cute.

”While you can't escape, let's go over some ground rules.”

"Jie," Henri groaned around a mouthful of food. "Cmon, I'm an adult."

"An adult relying on my money," Linqian rolled her eyes. She gestured to the bao he was eating with one hand. "Eating my food. No rules, no food."

"Are you blackmailing me, Jie? Was this a trap?! Please, anything but that!" He gasped dramatically, clutching his chest. "I've barely survived without it... Fine, I'll follow your rules."

"Good. First, you need to help around the house. Cook for yourself when I'm working over dinner, help with cleaning and do your own laundry. Nothing much. Second, no having people round without asking me. Third, back home by midnight unless you let me know. Fourth, I know this is a break but... I don't want you just wasting it. Either you keep up your studies a bit or..." She trailed off, frowning. Should she really tell him to get a part time job? He was taking the time out of college because he was struggling. It wouldn't be fair to throw him into the world of work while dealing with grief. She just couldn't do that to him. She'd already been supporting him thus far, so why change things? He'd get one if he wanted to. "Get grief therapy. I'll pay for it."

Henri gulped down his good, before replying. "Alright. I'll do all of that... I mean, you think too little of me! I've been living independently the past few months!"

”Yeah, and when we visited your place was an absolute dump.”

"It wasn't," Henri whined, like the petulant child he no longer was. "You just came at the wrong time. I was gonna clean the next day, honest."

”Do you really think you can lie to me? I practically raised you, I can tell when you're lying... so don't even think about shirking your duties now you've moved back.”

"I won't, I won't."

Henri dug back into the food, and a comfortable silence settled between them. Linqian reached over to turn on the radio, putting it to a low volume so it was just background music. Her stomach lightly growled but she ignored it, and Henri didn't hear it. He was too busy eating all of the food she'd brought... For both of them. Ah well. That was on her for not making more. She should've remembered how big his appetite was.

"That was so good, I'm stuffed," Henri grunted, leaning back and holding his stomach. Linqian laughed lightly. Yeah, it was alright. Just seeing him content made her feel full. "Oh! Uncle Andre said to come round when we got in."

”I'll drop you off, then, and you can get the bus home.”

"He specified both of us."

”Is he paying me to be there?”

"No he's not gonna pay you, but c'mon, it's like seeing family!"

”It's really not, I work for him." Though she'd slept with her other boss so she wasn't exactly an example of stellar professionalism. "I'll pick you up after, take it or leave it.”

Henri pouted. "Alright."

There was a moment of blissful silence when Henri pulled out his phone and started texting. She concentrated on driving, the fervent tapping beside her less annoying than half the things that came out of her brother's mouth. She loved him, but he was an absolute pain sometimes. He either didn't think before he spoke, or said things to purposefully piss her off.

"Sooo," Henri put down his phone, grinning at Linqian and leaning in her direction. "You found anyone special now that you've seen your old friends?"

Case in point.

”No.” If Linqian didn't have to keep her eyes on the road she would've been shooting him her harshest glare right now. Instead she could only glare at the car in front of her, imagining it was her brother. ”Do you really think now is the time?”

"Well why not? It's been so long! You need to find someone, settle down, be happy."

”Oh, and why is my younger, barely an adult brother lecturing me on this? I don't think it's any of your business.”

"Because time is running out! Soon- ow! You shouldn't hit someone while driving!"

”I still had one hand on the steering wheel,” Linqian replied drily, having just slapped the back of his head. ”I'll hit you again if you keep talking like that. Do you think I'm old? I'm only twenty six."

"Nooo, but you said having kids is something you always wanted! Why aren't you just going for it?"

"Do you think I can't have children past thirty? I don't have the time or money... Are you going to babysit for me if I have some now?”

"Of course! I'll be the coolest uncle for your kid! I can't wait! I bet they'll be the cutest... Oh I hope they take after their father, rather than you. Then they'll be so cute and not angry."

”Shut up before I kick you out of the car. Don't start making up fantasies as if I'm about to have one.” Linqian rolled her eyes, tempted to smack him round the back of the head again. ”Anyway, I already have you, I don't have the energy for another kid... why are we even talking about this?”

"Hey, hey, I'm an adult. Don't let me influence your decision."

It was like everything she said went in one ear and out the other. ”Do you think I'm putting my whole life on hold for you?” She was, but she would never tell him that. ”I really regret telling you that I wanted children one day... anyway, why do you want to know if I found someone?”

"Cause you haven't been with anyone since Marcus... It's been three years! I'm just concerned! I thought when you met with your old friends, maybe sparks would fly... A flame would reignite! The way you and Ge always talked about them made it seem like a possibility."

Yeah, because they'd had to take out a lot of the details when discussing it around their Blind brother and they rarely discussed the bad around him. It had been much easier to explain as a group of friends who were there for each other than going through all the details with him. Of course, now that was coming back to bite her in the ass.

”You just want something to gossip with your friends about, don't you?”

"No... Well, one of them did ask if you're single."

”Not for him.”

"I already rejected it. But Jie, you're not still hung up on that scumbag, are you? Is that why you keep tryna change the subject?"

”Of course not.”

"Good. I swear you should've killed him back then."

”That would be exerting too much energy on him.”

"I could've done it for you! I'm real good with a gun, remember when we went to the shooting range and I did best out of all of us?"

”Sure, letting my fourteen year old brother murder my ex would have been a great look. I slapped him twice, anyway, that was satisfying enough.”

"I don't think it was! You should have slapped him for every girl he cheated on you with! How many was it? Six?"

”You remember it far better than you should.”

"Cause that piece of shit hurt you so much, I'd never seen you cry before til he'd-"

”Can we not talk about this?” Linqian interrupted, feeling her stress levels rising. The last thing she wanted to talk about was her serial cheater ex. There was plenty that had happened in the lead up to her finding out he was cheating that she has kept from Henri, and some even from Jinhai, that made her feel sick just thinking about him. It was not a conversation she wanted to have with anyone, especially her younger brother. ”He's in the past. I'm over it. I just don't have time for a relationship right now.”

It wasn't true, of course it wasn't. He'd done too much to her for her to just be over it. Bianca had been the relationship she didn't want to lose, but he'd been the one to ruin relationships for her. How could she open herself up like that again?

She gritted her teeth. This was like she didn't like talking about it, or even thinking about it. Her chest tightened as she tried to suppress the ugly memories it brought back. Her hands clenched around the steering wheel. Fuck.

”Let's talk about you instead of me. How was the leaving thing your friends threw for you?”

Once he started, Henri didn't stop talking. Linqian was thankful for it - she just had to listen to him getting increasingly excited about increasingly random subjects, with the occasional agreement or snide comment. She could just concentrate on driving and listening. No thinking about anything else.

There was still discomfort squeezing her chest, but she could ignore it. Just like she did for everything without an immediate explosive or icy solution. She ignored it.

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Henri Han & Andre Makoumbou

Interactions: None
Tuesday, October 31st, 4:37pm. Le Tournesol

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Le Tournesol was unusually quiet for this time of the evening.

The lighting was dim, with the raucous laughter of two young men echoing around the place. Andre was sitting at the bar, going through the books, and Linqian was behind it tidying up. She kept glancing over at the two laughing - Henri and Andre's younger son, Louis - with a frown. Henri had followed her all the way to working that morning, disappearing with Louis for a while before hanging around for her entire shift. While she was thankful he was under Andre's extra watchful eye and she wouldn't need to worry about him tonight, she really didn't like him being there the whole time she was working. She loved him, but he was incredibly annoying when she was trying to work.

The bar was closing for most of the evening - there was no point staying open for the duration of the Halloween festival, when everyone would be on Cracker Island. Instead it would reopen afterwards to catch the drunken stragglers who were still out. Thankfully Linqian didn't have to work then. Working up until the early closing had been enough of a pain. At least she'd gotten a shit ton of tips today and yesterday thanks to all sorts of tourists coming to the city.

With another sigh, Linqian put down the last dirty glass to dry. Everything was tidied up for a short close, and put in order for those doing the later shift.

”I'm going to get changed,” she said offhandedly to Andre, putting down a dish towel and heading into the room at the back that served as a break room. It was small, with a table pushed up in one corner and chairs dotted about. There were shitty lockers on one wall for them to put their stuff while working. Linqian put in the key for hers and shoved her shoulder in it so that it would open.

There was a bunch of stuff in it that the coworker she shared it with had left, and her bag. Linqian took off her apron and dumped it in the back. She then slammed the locker back shut.

She didn't have all that long to get ready for the Halloween festival.

Thankfully her Halloween "costume" was mostly normal clothes she could get away with at work. She wore an off the shoulder, white ruffle blouse with long, loose sleeves. On the bottom half she wore a poofy, red skirt over a frilly white petticoat that fell midway down her calf. On top of it all was a black, underbust corset - which she tightened now to accentuate her figure rather than allowing her to breath while working. Low heeled, black boots finished the relatively normal look off.

Linqian squatted down and rummaged through her over the shoulder, plain black bag to pull out the final piece - a hooded, bright red cloak that fell to her knees. She'd never admit that it was made from an old bed sheet and a couple of hours of hand sewing that had resulted in multiple finger pricks and her nearly punching a hole in her wall. Her blood was definitely still on it somewhere.

Now that she was done with, she finally had time to think about last night… and the weird fucking dream she’d had right before waking up late. In the rush to get to work after she’d barely considered it, but now? Yeah, it was on her mind. She was used to strange dreams nowadays, barely going a night without something, but this one was beyond that. Some random girl she didn’t know, some kind of warning… And those fucking murals. She couldn’t get the one of a small snake bursting out of someone’s stomach out of her head. It was just disturbing. She really didn't want to think about it, but felt she had to. If it was a warning then she shouldn't just ignore it. But warning her of what? Some girl she'd never met? It had said she'd caused all her problems... She somehow doubted Raven Jones was the reason she was in a bunch of debt and barely making ends meet. But Jinhai's death, perhaps?

Linqian groaned. She didn't have the time to consider it too deeply right now. She had to finishing getting ready or she'd be late. She went into the staff bathroom to touch up her makeup, grimacing at the face staring back at her. It was difficult to hide the dark bags under her eyes even with concealer… But she put more on anyway, and an extra dash of red eyeshadow which she’d swept across her eyes. Her dark red lipstick was fixed. Her hair was tied into two low ponytails, just behind her ears, with the curls cascading down her shoulders - a bit messier than it had been that morning, but good enough.

There were a couple of faded marks across her neck and upper chest that weren't quite covered by the cloak. The guy she'd hooked up with on Saturday had gone way over the top with it, she'd needed it too much to just stop over a minor issue. She wasn't normally bothered by a couple, but this many brought up questions and that was just tiring as fuck. Thankfully a scarf had mostly covered them... And they were faded enough by today that she really didn't care enough to cover them. If someone paid attention to them, that was on them.

Satisfied, she grabbed her bag and went back out into the bar. She made her way over to her brother and Louis, preparing to give Henri a long winded speech about not being a little shit in public.

"Whoa, Jie," Henri exaggeratedly widened his eyes, mouth falling open. "You look almost exactly the same as before!"

Louis sniggered beside him. Linqian glared at them both, considering if she had time to give her brother a good beating before leaving. Probably not.

”Like you’ve put in much effort,” Linqian raised an eyebrow. Henri was dressed as Luigi, with a bought outfit and terrible stick on moustache, while the slightly shorter (at 6’) Louis was Mario, with an equally as terrible stick on moustache. ”At least I put in some.”

“But I look good, right?” Henri struck a silly pose with his hands on his hips. He looked ridiculous between the baggy overalls and the stuck on moustache.

Linqian bit back laughter. ”Good for an Italian plumber I suppose, but it’s really not flattering. Especially this,” she gestured to above her lip. ”It doesn’t suit you. Never grow one. And the outfit? Its-”

"Linqian, come over here for a moment," Andre interrupted before she could continue to rip into Henri, beckoning her over.

She rolled her eyes, but made her way over to the bar, leaning against it and raising an eyebrow at him. ”Yes? I'm off the clock, this better be good.”

Andre chuckled, entirely used to and unbothered by her attitude. He slid a stack of business cards over to her, and a fifty dollar bill. "If you agree to hand these out at the festival I'll give you 20 dollars now, and another 30 if you get rid of them all."

Linqian narrowed her eyes at the cards suspiciously, picking one up to read it. The bar's name was printed in delicate text in the middle, with an address underneath. On the back were the words '2 for 1 on the first drink.' It was a good deal, and one that would bring customers in and make them money as they bought more drinks beyond the deal. It would advertise them to tourists too. Linqian could already picture how busy it would be, and how fucking stressful her next few shifts were going to be.

And fifty dollars was pretty generous for just handing out cards.

"Let me take a couple of cans of beer with me and it's a deal."

Andre considered it, before nodding. "Fine. Nothing too expensive."

Having got a bit extra out of it, Linqian smiled and pocketed the cards. She then went behind the bar and pulled out six cans of assorted brand beer - Bud Light, Stella and Heineken. It wouldn't be missed, since the place was pretentious enough to have a couple of craft beers on offer and plenty of other mediocre ones on tap. She shoved them into her bag, on top of the tupperware already in there.

With that done, she walked back over to Henri and Louis, fixing her brother with her best warning glare. Beside him and Louis, both over six foot, she looked tiny - even with the slight heels boosting her height a bit. It made her frustratingly unintimidating.

”Don't cause any trouble,” Linqian craned her head back to look up at her brother with a frown. ”Stick with Louis, and let me know when you’re heading home. Don’t try doing anything dangerous. No loitering or affecting other people’s night. And don’t even fucking think about disturbing my night unless its something important, got it?”

”And you,” she turned to Louis, pointing a finger at him. ”Don't you dare buy him any drinks. I refuse to pick up my brother from the police station for underage drinking.”

“Yeah, yeah, got it, I’m not a kid!” Henri complained.

“I’ll keep him out of a jail cell,” Louis snorted. He then glanced between the two of them and made some excuse about having to talk to his dad, going over to Andre at the bar.

“Jiejie,” Henri started, in the whiny tone he used when he wanted something. It had worked when he was five, but not so much now that he was eighteen. "Can I go with you?"

"No way. You agreed to go with Louis and his friends."

“But I’ve never met them. I’d rather hang out with you… and meet your friends!”

Linqian frowned. Normally she'd give into every whim her brother had after a bit of grumbling, but she really didn't want him around the coven members. Ugh. They were the last people she wanted him to meet right now. She purposefully asked Edict if he’d go with her so she had an excuse to not go with Henri, and avoid the risk of him meeting any of them. She definitely couldn’t let Henri come along because of that. Getting into Henri’s mind, Blind as he was, would be child’s play for Edict. No way was she allowing that.

”The answer’s still no. You need to make friends here, and I need some time with mine without my little brother tagging along.” Not that she was meeting many friends. Just the one… if that even counted as a friendship? Eh, she wasn’t going to think too hard about it. She was sure they'd bump into others during the night.

“Then can I have a bit of extra money for the festival?”

The corner of Linqian’s mouth twitched down. No. She should just say no. She’d already given him money, and it was only fair she had some to enjoy herself tonight. Surely she deserved that? But she’d already rejected Henri. It was difficult for him right now, the least she could do was give him a little extra to have fun.

Linqian held out the twenty dollar note she’d just received.

Grinning, Henri snatched it from her fingers. “Thanks, Jie, you’re the best.”

”Yeah yeah, whatever,” Linqian waved him away. ”Remember, keep out of trouble.”

She didn’t wait for his response, leaving the bar to head towards the port.

---

Interactions: Edict @AtomicEmperor
The Harbour

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The harbour was absolutely heaving.

Linqian had expected it, what with all the tourists and free ferries to the island, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. The thought of waiting over where it was absolutely packed did not appeal. Just looking at all the people made her want a smoke.

Maybe she could have one while waiting. She moved a little away from the waterfront itself, going down a few buildings and finding a wall to lean on. There was still plenty of time until the ferry they’d agreed to meet for, and if they had to get the next one she wouldn’t be all that bothered.

She pulled out her box of cigarettes and lighter from the handy pockets in her skirt. The packet opened to reveal there was only one cigarette left. Linqian sighed. After this, she’d try quit to save money. She’d been so close before, cutting down to only one or two a week, and then Jinhai had died. Just like that she was right back to it. Fuck, it would be a nightmare to do, but if she thought about it in terms of money saved… Yeah. She had to try.

Linqian felt more relaxed with a lit cigarette between her lips. It helped her to destress after work and turn off the customer service side of her brain. This was her time now… outside of handing out a few cards. Which would be annoying as fuck to do while going around with Edict. Ah well, if she didn’t manage it was only a loss of thirty bucks. Thirty bucks that she could use- fuck, relaxing! She wasn’t going to worry about that all tonight.

Linqian leaned against the wall with her foot up against it, cigarette in between her fingers. She shoved a hand in her other skirt pocket and pulled out her phone to text Edict about exactly where she was so he could find her easily.

---

---

Hopefully he wouldn’t pop up out of nowhere to snatch her cigarette and throw it away. She put her phone back away, staring out across the sea front and raising the cigarette back to her lips.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Interactions: Olivia’s Mom
Saturday, October 28th. 2:01pm.
Luca’s Apartment

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With nervous anticipation, Luca stared his phone.

He was sitting in his bedroom on the floor, cross legged and with his phone in front of him. It was the day that he and Olivia would normally call - and this week he'd hoped that she would. But there was still nothing. Maybe he should just call her himself? Maybe she was just busy? It was difficult to keep his thoughts from spiralling, even for someone as positive as him.

Not, it was fine! He should just call her.

Luca leaned forward and tapped the call button, easily finding Olivia's number. He leaned back as it started to ring.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Click- the person you are calling can't come to the phone right now. Please-

Luca shot out his hand to hang up before the full message played, dread pooling in his stomach.

Maybe she was just busy? No, it had been too long. He’d have to call her family again… With a frown, Luca dialed Olivia’s family home landline. After a few beeps it got through.

“Hello, Maria Ruiz speaking, who is this?”

”Hi, Mrs Ruiz? It's Luca.”

"Oh, Luca! What can I do for you?"

”It's about Olivia... she still isn't picking up my calls. ”

"Don't worry about that, Olivia came home a few days ago!"

Huh? Without telling him?

"She said she was very busy, and had to go somewhere with work. Didn't give much details, but don't worry too much. It's lovely how close you two still are, but she seemed to have a lot to do. I'm sure she'll call you when she's got time."

”That’s a relief. How is she, apart from being busy?”

"Perfectly fine! Well, she seemed a bit off, but she’s just stressed."

”Off how?”

“Oh just in a hurry, not wanting to talk to us on her way in… But as I said, she’s really busy. I’m sure she’ll be back to normal when she gets back home. No need for you to worry anymore.”

”Alright.” Something seemed… strange about it, but Luca tried to ignore that feeling. Why would it feel strange? Olivia was alive and fine, just acting a bit different because of stress. Nothing to worry about! ”Let her know I was asking after her.”

“Of course! She’s so lucky to have a friend like you. Was there anything else you called for?”

”No, just checking up on Olivia. I’ll let you go now.”

“Take care, Luca. Goodbye.”

”Bye.”

Luca reached over to hang up the call. He didn't have the energy to control his abstraction, phone disintegrating beneath his fingers as soon as he'd tapped the end call button. Ah well. He had another one, and was incredibly familiar with the process of getting his number swapped over.

He leaned back against the mattress that served as his bed, eyes half closed. It was strange for Olivia to be so busy without telling him. Not a single text, or even an email. It wasn't like her... But at least she was alright! That was a weight off his chest. His mind had been going to worse and worse places about what had happened to her, his positivity eroding away as the rot gleefully latched onto his worries. But Olivia was alive and safe, just busy. That was more than enough. He could concentrate on keeping everyone else alive.

With a yawn, Luca crawled into bed. It was only the middle of the day but he was exhausted after the last two nights, and the phone call had taken a lot out of him. Thankfully he'd gotten enough work done that morning... And Jasper wasn't around today, so he wouldn't be causing anyone worry by sleeping the day away. He'd been struggling a lot more physically, especially with some kind of skeleton creature constantly interrupting their nights. The mental load of pretending to not be falling apart was an added stress on top of the constant decay of his body. He was so tired, and everything ached.

Hopefully if he slept most of the day, he'd feel a bit better tomorrow when Jasper was back. That would work. Luca curled up on the threadbare mattress, pulling a holey blanket over him. The already straining threads began to come apart where it touched his bare skin, unravelling into new holes. It wouldn't be there when he woke up, but that was fine. He had plenty more.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, curling into a tight ball, and shoved his face into a lumpy pillow. It didn't take long for sleep to pull him in, exhaustion outweighing the constant burning sensation across his skin and the bed rotting around him.

---

Luca’s Place -> The Ferry -> The Festival
With @NoriWasHere

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Jasper put his car into park outside Lucas apartment complex. He had just got dressed back at his place, and was in costume. His body had visible cuts, bruises, and bandages. The past week was rough, but he and Luca had powered through it all the same. Today was a day that Jasper looked forward to, and it appeared that their Skelly foe had granted them at least a few days reprieve from the attacks. His costume fit well, and his legs were fully on display. His chest hair found an escape route through the top of the dress itself, and he had gone a few days without a shave to truly commit to the role (he still trimmed it into a clean look). As he opened the door and stepped outside, he and a random stranger locked eyes. The stranger looked at his costume, back to his eyes, and then they simply shook their head and walked away.

“Prick,” Jasper whispered as he entered Luca’s building.

Eventually he made his way to the elevator, up to Luca’s floor, and back out of the elevator. He looked down the hall and saw that the paint was finally cleared, and the broken window replaced. A smile crept across his face. Maybe things were returning to normal, maybe it was over. The smile faded. No. It wasn’t over. Skelly would be back. Skelly would try and kill then both again He had to be ready. He needed to protect Luca. Jasper walked forward with a frown before he got to Luca’s door and knocked. His smile returned and was genuine. He was genuinely happy to see Luca again, the two had grown closer over the past week. Was it because they were two awesome people? Was it because a weeklong fight against a four armed skeleton tends to make those engaged in the fighting closer? Who cared, all Jasper knew is that he was looking forward to the festival tonight, and looking forward to spending more time with Luca.

The door opened just a crack, with a single eye peeking out. When Luca realised it was Jasper he threw it open the rest of the day.

”Jasper! Phew, I was worried it was a delivery…” He grinned. Luca felt just… a little uncomfortable in the green dress he was wearing. He knew that he passed pretty well, but there were just some things he didn’t have! Like the chest hair he got a full sight of as soon as he opened the door- shit, he didn’t have that. At least his legs, short as they were, were hairy enough to work for the look. Just like Jasper he was covered in cuts and bruises. They had slowly started healing the last couple of days, but about half had reopened just from him existing. It was difficult having such fragile skin… but hey! At least the skeleton hadn’t appeared the last few days! And he got to spend time with Jasper… and Lila and Lynn.

”Come in, come in,” Luca stepped back into the halloween, before glancing over Jasper. A light blush dusted his cheeks as his gaze moved down to Jasper’s legs- nope! Just a totally cool dude checking out his totally cool dude friend’s legs. Normal friend behaviour. ”Damn, you look good, bro- I can’t believe how well these turned out.”

“I had faith,” Jasper sighed at the accidental joke, “and fuck yeah we do, I was never worried about you looking good but it really did work a miracle on my legs,” he paused as he flexed them, “Lynn wanted a photo of us in costume but I told her she would have to wait for perfection,” he paused as he looked at his phone. Lynn had already sent several photos of Lynn and Lila on the way to the festival. They were currently on the ferry and had run into Sypha. It seemed the 317 would be very much present at the festival today.

Though that did put an idea into guy his head. A photo would be nice. Today would be a good day, and he knew he would want that memory to pop back up again as time went on. Jasper looked up to Luca and smiled. The confidence that man had was something that Jasper aspired for. Jasper was confident enough in himself to pull off a look like this and it wasn’t his first time in a dress, but he was also tall and muscular so he knew that he’d be afforded more grace in this outfit than Luca would. Thus, the fact that he was so quick to agree to it and have the audacity to look as good as he did was enough to force Jasper’s smiles wider.

“Luca, let’s get a photo together. Something silly, something fun! Lila and Lynn are going to be all over us later for group photos, I want one with just you before we get that camera fatigue.”

”Hell yeah!” Luca grinned, trying not to think too much about Jasper’s legs. Especially when he flexed them. Calm thoughts! Friendly thoughts! He glanced down at his own skinny legs with a slight sigh. If only it was possible for him to bulk up at all. Well, it was all good. He looked back up with a grin. ”We should do a cutesy fighting pose! You can probably prop your phone on something on the breakfast bar… Definitely gotta use yours, mine has a shit camera.”

Jasper quickly moved to the breakfast bar, careful to not kick up the skirt as he did. While he did have some compression shorts on to keep things.. contained, he still felt the need to do his part himself. He eventually found a way to prop it up, and started the fifteen second timer. He quickly moved back to the side of Luca, expertly keeping out of range of his rot, and struck a pose. He placed his hands on his hip, moved his feet out wide, and puffed out his chest. He took one look at Luca and smiled wide.

Luca put one hand on his hip and thrust it out to the side, while throwing up a fist in the air with his other arm. He smiled brightly, eyes creasing. His raised arm shook slightly, but he managed to hold the pose until the timer had finished counting down and a quiet click sounded.

”Oh, I bet we looked so good,” Luca dropped his arm, turning to Jasper with a grin. He really wanted to see the picture, but it would have to be at a distance or sent to his current phone.. He definitely didn’t want to destroy Jasper’s much nicer one. ”Will you send it to me?”

“Of course we did, we’re both hot,” Jasper said with a wink. He turned his phone showing the photo from a distance, waited a few seconds so Luca could look, before he turned the phone over and sent the photo directly. His eyes lingered on the chat. The two had been up late texting the night before. Jasper paused as her looked at the time. They were a short drive to the ferry, and he wanted to ensure that they made the crossing. “We should get going soon, you ready for tonight? I’ve needed this kind of escape.”

”Oh yeah, I can’t wait,” Luca grinned down at his phone, concentrating on not destroying it. The picture was good… on a whim he set it to his lockscreen. Not like his phone would last that long anyway. He then slipped it into his pocket. ”I haven’t been to the halloween festival since i was… fourteen I think. I’m so excited to get to hang out together and see all the stuff there is to do.”

He’d never expected he could again. He was still not 100% sure about it, because he’d have to be careful around any crowds - but at least Jasper, Lila and Lynn could block him off from other people and the risk of blinds getting close enough to be hurt. ”Lemme just grab my bag…” he scurried towards the couch, grabbing a drawstring sports bag. He’d shoved an extra set of underlayers and a few bottles of painkillers just in case. Today felt like a good day, but you never knew. ”Alright, I’m ready, vamos!”

---

Jasper led the way down to his car. He could not help but notice that he kept sneaking a look at Luca. If it was just one he’d not think too much about it, but it was a few times. It was totally straight to want to look at a handsome friend every chance you got, right? His car was once again clean, save for the two bags in the backseat. Both were filled to the brim with painting supplies, snacks, and a few claw hammers. A single sledgehammer sat next to the bags, though this one was painted up and decorated with doodles. The drive to the ferry was a short one, and they arrived just in time for the next ferry. It was crowded. Jasper did his best to keep the blind, and otherwise, away from Luca by using his body as a shield.

“Don’t worry bro” Jasper smiled, “I’ll keep them away from you.”

”Thanks dude,” Luca let out a soft sigh of relief. It was difficult being around so many people - thankfully it would take a while for his aura to damage people, even if they were blind, but it would cause instant, intense pain. He wanted to avoid that.

He was like a little kid getting on the ferry, looking around with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. He’d hardly left his apartment the past ten years, outside of time spent with 8th Street, nevermind getting on a boat! He’d forgotten what the sea breeze felt like. He practically ran to one of the railings when they set off, leaning against it and out - his clothes providing a protective layer between him and the metal, so he wasn’t actually going to fall over. The wind tousled his hair, messing up the middle parting he’d put it in.

”Hey, Jasper, look!” he pointed out into the water, where a round grey head could be seen. ”A seal! Lucky us!”

Jasper couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Luca as he had his titanic moment. The way the wind rustled through his hair, making a mess of what was once perfect, the way he had a look of awe about him as he experienced the wonder of the ocean, and the way.. Jasper pulled himself from the thoughts and smiled. He could’ve stayed in those thoughts for the rest of the day, in a totally straight way. This was nice. They had done nothing yet but it felt like they’d done everything together today already. In a totally straight way. “That’s too cool, I’ve been on this ferry many times and I’ve never seen one before. It seems you’re a good luck charm,” Jasper joked as he leaned over the railing next to Luca. “So, you haven’t been to this festival in a minute. What’s the first thing you want to do? Haunted mansion? Food? Both?”

The seal disappeared beneath the waves, and Luca turned his head towards Jasper. He let his arms dangle over the railing, careful not to touch it with his bare hands. ”Hmm, that’s a hard one… How bout we get food first, so we have fuel for the haunted mansion. Or maybe we should save that till last? Do the best thing at the end. And hey,” Luca grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously - he would’ve nudged Jasper if he could, ”try not to get too scared if any skeletons jump out at you.”

“Why would I be scared when my big strong protector is right beside me,” Jasper said as he winked.

”That’s true,” Luca laughed, blushing slightly… but quickly ignoring that. It was normal for his face to heat up! Beside the ocean! Somehow! ”Don’t worry, I’ll keep any skeletons away from you! Or anything else that tries to hurt you, like Sloane.”

Jasper laughed. He laughed hard. “I would never put you in that kind of danger. I wouldn’t want her to glare at you. Or say a snarky retort.”. Jasper looked down. Why did he dislike Sloane? The sudden mention of her made him laugh, but it also bright a raging fire of hate that the cute face of Luca barely kept down. Was it something she did, did she say something? There had to be a reason, somewhere in the past, that caused Jasper to feel this way. Jasper thought for a second and his mind drew a blank. Maybe this week of chaos had helped finally put some perspective into his life? Maybe as long as Sloane did not speak, or show her face, Jasper could put this hatred down.

“But thank you, I’ll try not to be too defenseless, especially when it comes to Sloane. That is my cross to bear.” Jasper paused. There was something.. nice about Luca fighting the fight for him. Something that Jasper did not want to dwell on for too long. Instead, he focused on the straight thought of their plans for the rest of the day. Maybe if they were lucky they could hold hands? No… no they would be totally straight ideas, just like Jasper. “I think Lynn will go straight to the drink stands, and Lila too. When we land I’ll check in with them, maybe we can grab food together and then meet up with everyone else!”. Mission accomplished, straight.

”Alright, but I can handle an occasional glare or snarky retort,” Luca laughed. Though honestly, Sloane had never been mean to him. He didn’t think she was so bad… Just a bit dull. She needed to lighten up a little, but thankfully he brought enough positivity for anyone! Not that he needed to provide it all when with Jasper. ”Sure, let’s grab food first then meet up with them… I don’t want to get dragged to loads of drink stands without food first!”

Not that he could drink at all. His liver would probably just stop working. He smiled and leaned over the railing, gaze shifting to the nearing island. ”Oh, we’re almost there! I can hear the overpriced halloween food calling for me!”

“Like a siren on the wind,” Jasper joked as he stood up. He looked towards the island, and back to Luca. “Let’s try and get off last to be safe,” Jasper suggested. Both to protect the blind, and to steal away a few more moments of alone time before the crazy tonight.

”Good idea,” Luca nodded. It was nice having Jasper look out for him and make sure he didn’t hurt anyone… He hadn’t had that since Olivia moved away. Though it was different than with Olivia… because Jasper was a great bro. It was the difference between manly friendship and non manly friendship! Definitely. ”The food can wait for me.”

As the ship docked, Luca hung back - thankfully not many people went past the area they were in. It was nice to have a little bit more time together, on the peaceful ferry as people unloaded. Luca subtly looked at Jasper, trying not to focus too much on how good he looked in a dress. The bubbly feelings in his stomach was definitely manliness jealousy. Definitely.

”Looks like most people are off, should we get going?”

Jasper thought for a second. He did not really want to go quite yet. He was enjoying the company, the conversation, and some more alone time with Luca. It wasn’t like they were not having alone time, they spent a few nights at Luca’s and hung out during the days, but it was still something that he was left wanting more. But he knew he could not stay here for long, and as such he turned to Luca. “Yeah, let’s get going. My guardian will need a full belly to protect me tonight.”

”Yeah, I don’t want to keel over at the first skeleton,” Luca laughed. He’d also have liked to spend more time on the boat - because it was safe and quiet. He wanted to see Lila and Lynn as much as he wanted to spend more time with Jasper, of course. He started to make his way off the ferry, glad to not have to avoid many people. Once they were off, he looked around with eyes wide with excitement. There were stalls as far as the eye could see, and people milling around in all sorts of outfits.

”I want to get candied apples!” Luca’s eyes honed in on a candied apple stall, with sickly looking apples covered in all sorts of designs. ”Wait, we should get something more filling first. Hmm… any suggestions?”

“Hmmmm….. candy apples do sound delicious,” Jasper paused as he looked around the area. “How about we grab a pair of apples first because they caught your fancy, and then eat them while in line for three more filling food?”

”Sounds like a plan,” Luca grinned. He expertly weaved through the crowds, avoiding getting too close to anyone as he did. The line for the candied apple stall wasn’t too big, thankfully. He glanced up at Jasper. ”What do you want? I’ll treat you to this one, since you’ll have to help shield me from crowds.”

Jasper looked over the various options and put his hand on his chin. In truth he’d want to sample one of everything, but at same time he did not want to bankrupt Luca. “You can never go wrong with the classic,” Jasper said as he pointed to the simple caramel coated apple. “You know if you treat me to this one I’ll have to buy your dinner?” Jasper smirked at Luca as he finished.

”Oh no, you figured out my evil plan!” Luca laughed, winking at Jasper. ”I buy you a candied apple, and you have to buy me a full meal in return!”

Luca grinned teasingly. They’d reached the front of the line already, so he ordered two candied apples - a classic one for Jasper, and one absolutely coated in chocolate for himself. He took them both, concentrating hard on suppressing his rotting touch, and handed Jasper’s over to him.

”Oh, do you mind holding this for me for a moment?” He held out his candied apple, swinging his back round to the front and rummaging in it with his free hand. He’d brought a few pairs of gloves for stuff like this - didn’t quite go with the costume, but necessary so he didn’t have to worry while eating.

“Of course,” Jasper grabbed both apples and held them up while Luca grabbed his gloves. “I knew you were evil Luca, playing me for food like this. I am hurt,” Jasper chuckled as he paused, “I was going to buy you a full meal regardless, so the jokes on you for buying me this snack.”.

”Damn, foiled again,” Luca shook his head in fake despair. He pulled on a pair of lycra gloves and reached out for his apple. He wasn’t so worried about accidentally touching Jasper like this, so his gloved fingers gently brushed Jasper’s as he grabbed the apple. ”Well, guess it’s just a nice gesture then, rather than an evil scheme.”

He grinned, biting into his apple. Fuck. It was harder than he’d expected and his teeth weren’t as strong as they should be. He suppressed a wince, moving to nibbling rather than massive bites. ”Where to for something more filling? There’s too many options!”

“Well,” Jasper paused as he looked around. His face a slight more blush toned after the brushing of hands. There was a pierogi, pizza, burger, and some ox meat sandwich food stand in the immediate area. “You down for some pierogi’s?”

”Hell yeah I am!” Luca nodded, starting to make his way over to that stall, and joining the end of the queue. ”Well I’ve never actually had them, but always down to try something.”

---

Interactions: None
Anya’s Apartment

---

Anya woke up with a start.

Her alarm hadn’t gone off yet, with the late morning light gently spilling through her windows. She let out a soft sigh, covering her eyes with her arm.

What a strange dream.

It was rare for Anya to have a dream she couldn’t control, or to dream at all. Often she sacrificed her own dreams and sleep to physically enter others. But this one wasn’t like that. It was more like a movie that she was watching and couldn’t interact with. Something that had been, perhaps. It was a clear warning about the girl, Raven Jones, but why? The name didn’t ring any bells. And the images… it was clearly connected to the Stygian Snake.

Maybe finding the tree they’d sealed it in was a higher priority after all.

She’d have to discuss the dream with Sloane. She could make her own conjectures, but two minds were always better than one.

Anya rolled over to check her watch, squinting at the time. 11:30am. Ah. Perhaps her alarm had gone off, and she’d silenced it and gone back to sleep.

Last night was a long one. She had to wait until midnight until she went dream walking, so there was a better selection of dreams. The first she’d come across had been a hellscape that had almost injured her, teleporting into it in the midst of a volcanic eruption. She’d left just as quickly as she entered, moving to the next which was thankfully much less dangerous. She’d pushed herself to her limits for over two hours, moving quickly from dream to dream.

She was trying to develop a spell that would allow her to come out of the dream at the dreamer’s location - essentially allowing teleportation via the dream world. But everytime she stepped out of a dream, she always went back to where she’d entered it from. It was frustrating. Having so many types of lux was both a blessing and a curse. So many possibilities, but such great difficulty weaving them together.

Another thing to discuss with Sloane, perhaps. Or Jack now that he was back.

For now, she had to get out of bed. Thankfully her shop was closed mondays and tuesday, but she still had admin work to do before getting ready for the halloween festival. If she was quick, she’d be able to get it all done. If not, she’d do it afterwards.

---

Interactions: Sloane @Atrophy
Cracker Island. The Halloween Festival.

---

When Anya got off the ferry the first thing she did was look around to check if there was anyone she knew in the vicinity. It would be best to avoid other coven members if possible at first, but she would make polite smalltalk if necessary to keep up appearances.

Thankfully she didn’t see anyone she recognised.

Anya appeared to be dressed up like a half assed witch at first glance - in a long, black dress with multiple layers and petticoats underneath adding volumes to the skirt. But upon closer look, she was absolutely covered in fake bugs. Spiders of all shapes and sizes, cockroaches and beetles adorned her dress. Her hair was pulled into twin braids, with thin white ribbon threaded through it and spiders attached to it. She even had a small spider glued to her right cheek, spider webbing spiralling out from her eyeliner and a small line of ants painted across her other cheek.

She’d organised to meet up with Sloane at the entrance of Cracker Town itself, just a bit out of the way of the festival stalls. She made her way there quickly, just in case Sloane was early… which was possible, but hopefully not the case, considering Anya was also early.

There was no sign of Sloane in the area they’d organised to meet, so she hadn’t made her wait by only being ten minutes early. That was good.

She sent Sloane a quick text.
To Sloane: Here. Are you on your way?

It was best to let Sloane know that she was here, in case she’d arrived earlier and was wandering around - or had ended up dragged into inane conversations she needed an out from.

While she waited, Anya checked her sleek, black handbag to make sure she’d brought everything she planned to. Business cards, check, nightmare ward infused crystals, check, a couple of dream locator infused bracelets, check. Halloween was the perfect time for her business, between people who couldn’t handle the eeriness that came with it and those who enjoyed it too much. She wouldn’t be pushing it too hard, because she was primarily here to have a nice time with her friend, but if the opportunity arose? She wasn’t going to miss it.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Wasn't expecting to see James in this rp, especially not a young one. Oh goodie.

@silvermist1116

James causes literally every problem in this world... its all him

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Tayla and Father Wolf are gonna have a race to see who can kill everyone first

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@AtrophySweet Jesus. Guess we no longer have to worry about the PRAxCoven ships.

I dare you to put this in game. Sloane can hand out the sheet at the next meeting. Derail everything. Excluding Tayla having a kid or you'll have to justify why Sloane knows that. May also end up on her kill list after Edict.

@silvermist1116

Tayla's going to end up killing the whole cast at this rate... Shotgun Tayla more dangerous than Father Wolf

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

---

& Bianca Manalo

Wednesday, October 25th. 4pm.
The Anchor Diner

---

For the second day in a row, Linqian ended up in the Anchor Diner.

She could have chosen somewhere nicer, or just gone somewhere new. Hell, it could've been in her workplace. It was Bianca she was meeting, and they’d hung out at Andre’s bar with his kids plenty of time before. It would’ve been strange, but that was fine. It would make things less tight, too, seeing as she was here right before work.

Yet here she was, sipping a slightly overpriced diet coke while mindlessly swiping on a hookup app, feeling like shit. She wasn’t as badly hungover as she’d expected to be, but the combined with the lack of sleep and physical exhaustion made it feel like she was. She just wanted to crawl right back into bed and skip work completely. But she couldn’t. She’d already skipped out of the morning shift, citing police brutality leading to physical exhaustion… Both were true, but unconnected. Andre had grumbled about her poor work ethic but had covered for her anyway. She’d just need to ask for extra shifts next week to make up for the loss in money.

Or hopefully, get more from Edict after this. Exhausted as she was today, she didn’t regret last night. It had been very good… especially after what Evelynn had said, and what happened in the bar following. A fun night, and one she wouldn’t mind repeating if the opportunity arose. It had helped her completely forget about everything for a night.

Which she’d desperately needed.

"Heh, this sure does bring back memories."

Linqian looked up from her phone as Bianca slid into the booth opposite her. It practically matched up with her memories - a younger Bianca overlapping the older one, with her hair falling well past her shoulders and eyes shining with a joyful light Linqian had loved. The image only lasted moments before only the current Bianca was left, regarding Linqian with an aloof coolness.

"It's been a while, Linqian," Bianca smiled lightly. "I'm sorry about Jinhai."

"It's alright," Linqian shrugged - because what else could you say to condolences? Of course it wasn't alright, but people's sorrys wouldn't change that or bring him back. What else could she do, unload all her troubles? Maybe ten years ago, but now? Sadly not.

Bianca inclined her head, waving over a waiter and ordering a lemonade and some fries. The sleeve of her sweater slid down, revealing her wrist and the green nautical bracelet around it. Linqian's eyes narrowed. Memories played across her mind. Her and Bianca walking through Coastal Harbour Mall on a rainy day, hand in hand. They went from shop to shop, trying on ridiculous clothing and laughing over strange books. Then they’d come across a small shop, mostly selling sailing gear. Linqian had wanted to walk past but Bianca pulled her in. There, they’d bought each other subtly matching bracelets - Bianca’s green to Linqian’s red.

Linqian was surprised to see it... She'd considered throwing out her own right after they broke up, then in the years that followed, but never could. It was locked away in the depths of the drawers just like her feelings. But Bianca was the one to end things, why hadn't she thrown it out?

"You still have it," Linqian intoned quietly, indicating the nautical rope bracelet around Bianca's wrist.

"It's my channeller," Bianca shrugged.

"You need an emotional attachment to your-"

"An attachment doesn't mean there's still feelings," Bianca cut her off coolly. "It's important to me, but there's nothing more to it. Too much effort to move to another one."

Linqian couldn't argue with that. She didn't want to either. It would make her look like she was still hung up on her feelings for Bianca... Which she was, somewhat. But maybe that was just longing for the time she'd felt like she'd had somewhere she'd belonged, and had someone who loved her. Nothing had been as good since then. She didn't know. There was still that bundle of love deep down inside of her that she'd refused to deal with so she could move on. Maybe she'd always hoped, just a little bit, that she could bring those feelings back to the surface one day.

And that only made her resent Bianca more.

"Why did you want to see me?"

"I was back in town and..." Linqian frowned. She wanted information out of Bianca, with the promise of so much money from Edict for it, but maybe that was just an excuse to reconnect. She needed that reason to clamp down on the anger she still felt even after all these years... But it was primarily for the money. That was what she needed most right now. Definitely for the money. It was easier to tell herself that, rather than think about why she'd want to see Bianca again around all the resentment she'd held onto for years. "You reached out a couple of times before, but I wasn't in the place to respond."

"And you are now?" Bianca tilted her head, concern flashing across her eyes - before disappearing as if it had never been there in the first place. "Aren't things worse now? Honestly, I'm surprised you even turned up after yesterday-"

"Don't talk about that," Linqian cut her off, holding up a hand. Worst ex reunion ever. If the PRA raid last night hadn't confirmed that Bianca could be an information source then she wouldn't even be here. She hesitated, face twisting into various frustrated expressions before settling on a more neutral one. "I'm sorry. For what I said. I was coming down from a Greyson induced calm, then the tear gas, it all hit-" Linqian cut herself off, letting out an exasperated groan. "I didn't mean it."

"It's alright," Bianca laughed, lips twitching up into a genuine smile. "I know what you're like... Never thought I'd get an apology from you. Wow, imagine if I told everyone, they wouldn't believe me."

"I don't think any would be willing to talk to you," Linqian retorted.

"Fair," Bianca laughed, holding up her hands... Before frowning and going back to something else Linqian had said. "Wait, you let Devola inside your head?"

"There's a lot going on right now," Linqian shrugged. It was enough of an answer. It wasn't like she had to explain herself to Bianca - or anyone, anymore. She wasn't here for small talk, anyway, or even just catching up... As much as she wanted it to be that. She wanted it to be more- fuck, no. Here for the money. ”Anyway, you’re-”

“Hey, no,” Bianca interrupted, leaning forward with a slight smile. “You can’t just avoid talking about it. You seriously let Devola into your brain and, what, mind fuck your problems away?”

Linqian nearly spat out her drink. Fuck, that was a little too close to reality. Not so much mind fucking, but actual fucking? They’d done a lot of that last night. Guilt crept into her heart at the thought… but it wasn’t like she had anything to feel guilty over. She and Bianca broke up ten years ago. It was completely over. Just because she still had that twisted ball of feelings buried inside didn’t mean she should feel any guilt over a hookup, even if it was someone they both knew. It was completely ridiculous, but the feeling gnawed at her. ”No. He just got rid of some of my issues for a while… And why not? I’ve lost Jinhai and everything’s absolute shit right now, so I think I deserve a break for it. I just didn’t expect the crash to be so fucking bad.”

“Right,” Bianca raised an eyebrow, eyes flashing with a teasing light. “So you would’ve been delighted to see me if it weren’t for that?”

“... I might not’ve thrown a bible at you.” Linqian looked away. Yeah, she still would’ve been incredibly pissed to see Bianca, just perhaps less reckless. But it was much easier to blame it on Edict getting in her mind than admitting it was just her.

“Yeah, that was pretty reckless.” Bianca tapped her fingers on the table, seeming to be thinking about something. “Speaking of reckless… I can’t believe Devola burned down the church to try and get away. Well, I can, because if anyone needs to run it's him…”

”How did you know it was him?” Linqian narrowed her eyes.

“Apart from it being obvious that it’d be him? He played the whole thing in my mind. Must’ve been in a rush and projected it to everyone familiar… Which included me.”

Shit. Linqian’s jaw tensed, fingers going to play with the wedding rings she wore. They’d said they’d leave them alone, but what if they decided to come after him for burning down the church? Or report him to normal authorities? Sure, he could probably get out of it, but what if he didn’t? That was her main money source! She fucking needed him out of jail.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone.”

”I wasn’t worrying,” Linqian snapped. She thought she’d hidden it well. ”I couldn’t care less.”

“You haven’t changed much.” The corner of Bianca’s lips twitched up, and she gestured towards Linqian’s hands. “You’d always play with your ring when you were nervous.”

Linqian couldn’t deny that. Of course Bianca would know her tells… But why did she still remember it after ten years? Surely you’d naturally forget such small details, or choose to after an explosive breakup like there’s. She tried to suppress the hope flaring in her chest.

“Why are you worried about me telling my boss about Devola burning down the church? I know you were always friendly with him, but seriously, Linqian, why?”

”Because it’ll be a pain in the ass if he gets arrested.” Technically true, and she wasn’t going into anymore details. She was going to make sure to tell Edict to be more careful about who he projected information to. If the PRA had a former member in it, other groups could too.

“Hmm, sure,” Bianca raised an eyebrow. She clearly didn’t quite believe it, but she didn’t push. There was a hint of concern in her gaze again, gone as soon as it appeared.

”Whatever,” Linqian rolled her eyes. "So you’re a fucking fed now? With the... What was it, PRA?"

"FBI," Bianca said, though it was a clear lie. Whatever. "Surprised? I always thought I fitted in with the sexy cop aesthetic."

"That isn't a thing," Linqian snorted. Sure, being handcuffed by Bianca and then- no. Absolutely not. She was not thinking about something like that. "Yeah, I am surprised. You were always so against the rules... Fuck, you fought Leon so much when he tried to force us all into line."

"I seem to remember you being the one fighting him while I boosted you."

"Same thing... He was basically the closest to a cop we had back then! Well. Maybe more like a club bouncer."

"People change," Bianca smiled. "Well, most do. Are you still working in bars?"

"Yeah. I'd hoped to finally change things up, since Jinhai had passed the bar exam... Course that was fucked up. It's not bad, shitty customers aside." Linqian rolled her eyes. "At least I ain't teargassing innocents."

"C'mon, you said you didn't want to talk about that."

"I don't," Linqian held up her hands. "It was fucking shitty. Your boss is a right bitch, you know. I thought I'd deal with all the shitty people I could in service, but she's another level."

"Hey, she's not that bad... When she's not pissed off." Bianca's lips twitched up into a teasing smile. "Just like someone else I know, who does all sorts of crazy shit when mad."

"I didn't taser a bunch of people when Jinhai died," Linqian rolled her eyes. Sure, she sometimes tried to burn people who pissed her off, but that wasn't the same scale. She could only do one person at a time, maybe two. There was no power abuse in that! "Damn, how often do you get to taser people? Like daily? How much magical crime even is there?"

"More than you'd think," Bianca laughed lightly. "But no, I don't tase people daily. I do paperwork daily."

"Oh, so there's more to being a magical cop than unnecessary violence? What're you even doing here... That was a big force for somewhere like St Portwell."

"I've worked here for years... And it's just like any other police force! We're always here, there isn't any special reason for it."

Sure. Of course there was always a large number of magical cops in St Portwell, ready to drop down on whatever coven pissed them off. Even if they were just here, they had to have a goal. Their boss had made it clear that she viewed the city as hers. Maybe they wanted to neutralise all the covens... Or reduce the magical population of St Portwell. Whatever feds enjoyed doing. They probably weren't 'just there.'

But how did she get that information out of Bianca? She hadn't tried very hard yet but... It wasn't like they had a close relationship anymore. This wasn't someone who'd tell her any of her secrets anymore. Maybe she could get her to slip up but... She wasn't sure how. Jinhai would've known how to do it. He would've masterfully manipulated her into telling him everything he needed to know without even realising she had.

But she wasn't Jinhai. And she wouldn't even be here if he was alive.

She'd just have to gain Bianca's trust again. This information wasn't her only source of income - there were other things she could find out for Edict. This could be taken slowly... It would have to be. If she jumped the gun she'd have no chance.

Especially when she already had to reign in her temper.

”Oh, so that boss of yours has been trying to run the city for years?”

“Oh, no, she-” Bianca paused when the waiter came back, putting down her fries and lemonade. She handed over enough to cover both her and Linqian’s orders before continuing. Linqian narrowed her eyes, but held her tongue about Bianca paying for her. Try to be nice. Keep calm. Don’t lose her temper. “She took over recently. With a new boss comes a bit of personnel change, most haven’t been here as long as me. But we’ve always been here.”

”Are you in every city?”

Bianca shrugged on shoulder. Alright, she didn’t want to answer that. Well, it wasn’t particularly important information anyway.

”Did your boss seriously only order an attack on us because Everleigh punched you and whatshisface was found dead?”

“Just about,” Bianca’s lips quirked upwards. “Look, the situation at Veni was a shitshow. Everleigh punching me just really pushed things over the edge. All I was doing was texting! You shouldn’t punch anyone for texting!”

”Maybe you’ve just got this extra punchable, definitely a cop look to you.”

“Oh yeah, the typical undercover cop at a seedy stripclub.”

“... Does that mean you were there before the gunfight?” Linqian narrowed her eyes, leaning forward. ”Did you get to see the strippers?”

“Of course. Why else would I be at a stripclub?”

”Fuck!” Linqian scowled. So Bianca got to see the strippers and drink, but all Linqian got was shot?! And then tear gassed and tased because Bianca had been there looking at strippers and Everleigh decided to start a fight with her? Shit wasn’t fair. ”We didn’t even get past the parking lot. I was hoping for a fun night filled with drinks and strippers, then I got shot.”

“That’s funny, cause so was I,” Bianca laughed, grabbing a fry and stuffing it in her mouth. She indicated for Linqian to help herself. “Do you know how hard it is for me to get a day off? And then I got beaten up and shot and ended up on duty… Fuck, worst day.”

”Tell me about it.” Linqian rolled her eyes.

They both looked at each other, before bursting out in laughter. Shit. In some ways, it felt like nothing had changed. They were back ten years ago when they’d moan and chat shit.

But everything had changed, and the realisation that she still liked Bianca’s company hurt. It would’ve been better if she’d become boring or awful. Then she could throw away the feelings and keep the hate, and seeing her would only be a job. Instead she couldn’t get rid of either of the feelings, and they tangled into an ugly mess inside her chest. Fuck.

“Here’s to us both getting to enjoy the strip club next time,” Bianca smiled, eyes gently creasing. She raised her lemonade towards Linqian.

”I better,” Linqian snorted, slightly raising her coke, before finishing it. Her phone lit up with a reminder, telling her she had to get to work in fifteen minutes. It was just down the road, but she needed to grab various things from her car first. It was better to be early than late when she’d basically already skipped her morning shift. With a sigh, she stood up. ”I have to go. Work calls.”

“Alright,” Bianca nodded, standing up too. She smiled - a seemingly genuine one that had Linqian’s heart fluttering. “It was nice to see you again. We should meet up again, when we’re both off.”

”I’d like that.” Linqian smiled slightly in return, pushing down the feeling of guilt that crept up on her. There was no need to feel guilty about having ulterior motives for meeting her. Bianca had hurt her, no matter the lingering feelings she had and the comfort in her company. She was only able to get over the seething resentment because of the promise of money she wouldn’t even get after this meeting. ”Well, see you another time.”

Linqian turned around and walked away, shoving down all the feelings the meeting had brought up. She hadn’t gotten any information out of it, but she couldn’t help but feel slightly better coming out of it.

---

In collaboration with @Blizz

Background Music

Thursday, October 26th. 12:53am.
Le Tournesol

---

It had been a long day.

Linqian was the only one closing at the bar - the other person working till late had left half an hour earlier. She couldn't really complain (well she could) since she was the one who'd called out of work last minute the day before. Thankfully, there'd only been a customer or two left to kick out. She turned her attention to the pile of dirty glasses that needed washed with a sigh.

At least it had been quiet, and she’d been able to tidy up as she went. There wasn’t much to be done. Best to just get on with it… Half zoning out, Linqian got to work cleaning up the place. Dishes were washed, tables were wiped, and caps were put back on all the open bottles. By the time she was done it was nearing 1am. She turned off most of the lights, just leaving a few near the bar on for now.

She really wanted a drink before she left.

She should really go home and get some sleep, seeing as she'd agreed to go to a funeral tomorrow with Andre… but the thought of going back to that empty house, devoid of all the people that had made it home, was much worse than that of not getting any sleep. How likely was she to get a good night's rest anyway? Even as physically exhausted as she was, there was too much on her mind to easily fall asleep.

One drink wouldn't hurt.

She went back behind the bar, opening a half full bottle of rum and pouring herself a sizable amount, filling the rest of the glass up with coke. Her boss wouldn’t notice a few shots missing from any of the spirits… and if he did, he could just take it out of her paycheck. No big deal.

Linqian went back around to the outside of the bar, slipping onto one of the stools and pulling her drink over. She slowly slipped it, eyes half closing. She’d leave once she was done.

”A long day?”

Neither a sight, nor a sound announced Jack’s arrival. One moment, Linqian was alone. The next, Jack was simply there, behind the counter, fixing himself a drink. He seemed a bit more put together than when the church was burning down.

Where the fuck did he come from?

”What the fuck?!” Linqian shot onto her feet, temperature plummeting and sending spirals of frost across the bar. She raised it back to normal when she realised it was just Jack, letting out a sigh of relief before sitting down again.

”Can you get a fucking alarm for your arrival or something,” Linqian complained. ”Or I don’t know, come through the front door?” Oh yeah, that was locked. She gestured to the drink he was fixing himself. ”If my boss notices any alcohol missing, you're paying for it.”

Jack was unbothered, in part because he expected this from Linqian when he appeared and just happened to notice her presence, and partly because he was still dressed in the warm clothes he had on before getting shot.

He took a contemplative sip from his drink, a 50-50 mix of Black Seal rum and Ron Zacapa ‘23. ”I’ll take that as a yes,” he mused, walking around and taking a seat by her. ”If I knew you were here, I would have walked through the front and let myself in.” That was his way of apologising for scaring the shit out of her.

"What, you were just going to rob my workplace of all its alcohol?” Linqian rolled her eyes - but the fact she didn't try kick Jack's seat from under him showed that she was actually alright with him being there. Though she wouldn't admit it, she really needed the company. She glanced at his drink with a light laugh. "Or just the dark rum, I suppose… fitting.”

She took another sip of her now ice cold drink, shifting to face Jack more. "That last meeting was an absolute shitshow, right? I can't believe we got raided by what was it… the PRA? And fuck, Bianca's part of them too.” Just the thought of that made her want to knock back her whole drink and have another. "It's been years, but I thought we were all solidly anti government."

”The Paranormal Response Authority,” Jack answered. ”A branch of the federal government that has existed for a very long time. They prefer secrecy, and prevent most of the world from learning of the existence of magic. They often shoot to kill, or use underhanded tactics to arrest “dangerous” paranormal people when they can, if they deem it necessary.”

”I never imagined someone so easygoing as Bianca would work for them. They are, ultimately, paranormal police- Underfunded, and too comfortable in their position. It was tempting to get rid of them all for what they did at the church.”

”I see.” Linqian frowned, tapping her fingers against the bar. The name did ring a bell now that Jack explained it… Perhaps Jinhai had mentioned it before and she’d ignored him, as she often had when he went on about smart sounding things that she probably wouldn’t understand. ”No wonder they attacked us first before asking any questions… Y’know, when I met Bianca during my lunch break today- we organised it before she fucking raided the coven yesterday, anyway- I pointed that out. She said that people change. Seriously? Most people don’t change so much they become feds.”

She rolled her eyes. ”I, for one, wouldn’t have blamed you if you had got rid of them.”

”Mm, they aren’t typically a threat unless someone disturbs the hornet’s nest. Sloane told me they believed we were responsible for Kali’s death, and resorted to an overreach to prove a point. That the city belongs to them.” The words came out of Jack’s mouth, and he almost couldn’t believe it was true. For a moment, he seemed genuinely amused, as if he were about to laugh.

And then, to avoid cackling at their foolishness, he took another sip of his drink.

”My understanding of their methods is that, ordinarily, they would never do something that foolish. They chose to handle it with a raid in broad daylight, to charge in like a wild beast. If they value their lives, then they’ll make themselves as harmless as possible the next time they cross paths with any of us.” Jack was many things, and humble was not one of them. He would not hesitate to banish every last one of them straight into the maw of an eldritch horror if they dared try something like that when he was around.

”They did, their boss was real pissed off about that. Supposedly Eve punched Bianca while a whole bunch of us were getting shot at, so I think they were pissed about that too,” Linqian snorted. She wasn’t so sure that they could actually destroy the PRA, not when the one who’d pulled her away from Lynn hadn’t been affected by her high temperature at all… But Jack was a lot stronger than her (and more confident). Maybe he was right that in an actual fight, without them being tear gassed to shit, they’d win. ”Hopefully we never see them again. I’m still getting the tear gas out of my jacket. Fucking sucked. I would’ve appreciated it if they went with their normal methods.”

Annoyed just thinking about it, and what had happened with Lynn, Linqian downed her drink and headed behind the bar to get another one. As she poured herself another rum and coke, she shot Jack a questioning look. ”What were you doing that meant you got to avoid that whole shitshow? Sure would’ve been nice to have a teleporter when the whole place went up in flames.”

”Sealing Alizee’s pitiful excuse for a companion in the Void with Auri, Britney and Stormy,” he answered, without missing a beat.

”The plan was simple. I gained his and Layla’s trust, by taking them somewhere that no one in their right mind would dare to go. Unfortunately for them, I spent roughly a decade there. I hid the others there while they laid traps to seal him. But the Temple sent very specific people to follow my portal, so I was shot, and Auri suffered a concussion. The others went with the Temple to “politely” deal with the sealing together.”

”Good fucking riddance,” Linqian’s lips twitched up into what was almost a smile at the thought of never having to see the void again. She hadn’t particularly liked Alizee, but she’d been a lot more tolerable in the early days of the coven… before his influence got worse. ”Wait, the temple like Leon’s fucking cult? They go after people, with guns, now too?”

Linqian grimaced, deciding to just knock back the drink she’d poured herself and getting another. She’d been rude as shit when she visited the temple… Hopefully she didn’t wake up with a gun to her head. ”I thought it was just a bunch of weirdos wearing robes and preaching about a fake religion. I didn’t know they had a teleporting hit squad. Fuck. They tried to get me and Britney to sign up after Alizee died… I may have had a few choice words for them. If they can even shoot you…”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling slightly tipsy, and moving back round to sit next to Jack with her third drink.

”How the fuck did it go from shooting to polite joint sealing?”

”Apparently, the Void Heart was a member of their cult. For a group that worships apparitions, they certainly had no trouble laying into him. They spoke like he had an obligation to them, after he surrendered during the fight. We did not trust it for a moment, but the Temple wanted to witness the sealing, for their own… Ceremonious reasons, I believe. They’re a cult, that’s how cults function.” He took another drink from his glass, getting halfway through it.

”They are very fortunate that they could show themselves out. I would have left them there so their minds could wither away for eternity. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to repair broken windows in a place where time doesn’t exist? And the walls. I’ll be digging bullets out for a month.”

”Of course he was… That really doesn’t surprise me. Fucking cult needing to make a big show of everything. Maybe he didn’t pay his dues in time, so they’re extra pissed at him,” Linqian laughed scathingly. She’d made up with Leon now after the whole car incident, but the Temple was just fucking creepy. She didn’t want to think about it too much. She then tried to wrap her head around whatever the fuck Jack was talking about house wise… Was his house in the void? Could there be houses there? What little she knew about it pointed towards no. But she really didn’t want to ask, but she couldn’t handle a ton of void information being dumped on her. ”Maybe the bullets can be a bit of extra decoration, a badge of honour from fighting cults. Hopefully they don’t come visiting any other houses… can they do that? Can they just teleport wherever they fucking like, silently, like you?”

”Someone else likely could, but that one in particular? No, she can only follow where other adepts teleport to. She was the perfect member in their ranks to send after me.”

Linqian let out a sigh of relief. Her house was safe, at least. Her workplace not so much. Half teasing, she said, ”well I’ll know who to blame if she turns up here.”

”Well, thank fuck they didn’t succeed in killing the few tolerable members left. Fuck, everything’s a shitshow.” She took another, large gulp of her drink, lips twisting into a sneer - directed partly at herself. Tipsy as it was, it was enough to get her to be a bit more honest, especially after the last three days she’d had. ”I know I’m part of the problem but fuck, they don’t get how hard it is to lose your brother and your whole future at the same time.”

”They’ve forgotten how it feels to watch people die,” he corrected. ”Ten years ago, death was our reality. Searching for survivors, afraid to grow attached to people newly exposed to the paranormal who might die the next day, being the only living things on Shimmer capable of stopping the Stygian Snake. We survived because we refused to let our differences drive us apart. It was life or death.”

In one motion, he inhaled the remaining half of his drink, setting the glass down with a sad look on his face. [color=6644ff]”We could point all of our magic, our weapons, and our apparitions are the origin of it all. The demigod that threatened to destroy everything we ever knew. The danger was tangible. But nothing lasts forever. Nothing,” he looked out the windows across the floor, into the darkness that reminded him of where he had foolishly wasted years of life. He wasn’t as deep in the alcohol as Linqian was, yet he was still getting into it.

In the corners of the bar, the shadows started to dance, flickering and stretching slightly longer when they shouldn’t have.

”Time wanders on, lives join together. Families are formed, people decide the paranormal isn’t in their future, and they change. Kali was a federal agent, Bianca is a federal agent. Adora is a shadow of her former self- We’re nothing like the Sycamore Tree Coven anymore. The coven died with the Snake.”

The lights above the bar were getting dimmer.

”In the Void, time doesn’t move. When someone re-enters Shimmer from there, a day turns out to be several… I remember everything that happened… so much clearer than everyone else as a result. I remember how we clung together by sheer will. How nothing on this godforsaken plane of reality could tear us apart because we were stronger than that. ”We need that now, if we want to corner Father Wolf, drag him into a demise from which there is no return, and tear him limb from limb.”

With each passing word, Jack’s tone grew more and more tense until he practically growled out their killer’s name. He let go of a breath he didn’t know he had, and everything subtly went back to normal.

”...It’s frustrating,” he finished. It made him feel so tired, thinking about it all.

Jack was right, about all of it. Just like many of the former coven members, Linqian had moved on. She put her paranormal abilities to the side - something useful when fighting the Stygian Snake, but not so much when trying to make ends meet. Jinhai always kept it up, developing new spells, but she didn’t have the time. It hadn’t been the priority. And she had forgotten what it was like to live each day worried it might be your last. But she’d always thought it would be her that died, right up until she found Jinhai’s body.

”It is frustrating,” Linqian grit her teeth. She was glad that the lights were dimming, so Jack couldn’t see the tears she was forcefully holding back. The alcohol’s fault. ”Sometimes I miss those days. Maybe because it was so long ago for me, but I remember the good just as much as the bad. We were all fighting for our lives but we fucking did it together. Sure, I hated so many of them, but there were so many more I didn’t. We lived each day like it could be our last- and fuck, it was a support system I haven’t had since. We were so much fucking stronger.”

But there was also no way to go back to that. Jinhai wasn’t there to be a buffer for her, and her emotions were more uncontrollable than ever. She didn’t even really care about her survival.

”I just want that fucker dead. That’s why I came back, to make sure he feels all the pain he’s made us suffer. Even if I have to do it myself.”

”We all want him dead. I know we do, because we all came home to see it through,” Linqian wasn’t the only one struggling to contain the grief that came with this nonsense, and she was the drunk one. ”I should have come home sooner. If I had been in Shimmer more often, Auri could’ve found me before now.”

”I could have done something to make this right. I never forgot about all of you,” he said as he stepped around the bar to fix up another rum mix. ”I never forgot how I finally found somewhere that I could call home. The coven, and everyone in it, was family to me. I thought things could be different now that we’ve moved on from fighting for our lives. I thought we’d all be happy to see one another for the first time in years.”

He sat back down and immediately went through a third of his glass. ”And instead, we hate each other. We want nothing to do with each other, and every time I try to see my old friends in them, all I can see are memories. Bygone, intangible memories.” It weighed on Jack’s spirit so much that coming home was easier for him than most of the coven. He couldn’t help but smile when he first appeared in Auri’s shop.

And yet, the first thing his childhood friend did as he arrived was point a weapon at him.

”That’s where we haven’t changed,” Linqian laughed bitterly. ”We all said we moved on, but clearly none of us let go of our issues with each other. I mean, we didn’t fucking talk it through like adults in the first place… But you’re right, those good times are all memories. But I don’t think we all hate each other.” Linqian smiled just slightly, finishing her drink. ”Sure I hate plenty - like fucking Sloane, Anya and Lynn… But everyone else? Nah. I don’t hate them. I don't hate you, either… I wouldn’t blame yourself for what happened. Hell, they still got Jinhai even when we spent most of our time together.”

”I could never hate any of you. Even Drake was tolerable, when he wanted to be,” Jack said, with a tired smile on his face.

”Still, they’re the people that are left, after everything we went through together. We risked everything we had for each other,” Jack lifted up his shadowy arm that he created after the Stygian Snake took the real one. ”Personally, I don’t care if they’ve changed. I owe it to us all, and I will not leave until I know for a fact that we are all safe.”

”Mm, I’m not leaving till that murderous piece of shit’s dead, and we’re not dying anymore,” Linqian half smile, raising up her glass to that. ”I’ve already moved back here, might as well stay a while… And y’know, I do feel safer knowing you’re back. As much as everything’s an absolute shitshow, we’ll pull through again.”

She finished off her drink, and decided not to pour another. She still had work the next day. ”Jinhai did always say that we’d all made sacrifices for each other, and he was sure we’d all do it again if we needed to. Hopefully he was right.”

”Anything is possible.” Jack flipped his glass up and finished it off quickly, setting it down and leaving it there. ”I’m going to make a plan to keep my eyes on some of you. That means appearing when you may not expect me, possibly without announcing my presence in case someone isn’t alone. I said this at the church before I left, but I’m going to use magic for everyone’s benefit, so they can have an easy way of being moved around and checked on if they need to.”

Minimizing their isolation from one another minimized the window Father Wolf had to kill them. It also exposed them to one another more, which would hopefully open an opportunity for trust to grow.

”Alright,” Linqian nodded, agreeing to that. She was alright with Jack being the one to check up on her to make sure she was still alive… and it was preferable to Auri’s suggested ‘buddy system.’ That’d massively disrupt her life. She then flashed him a teasing smile. ”Just don’t teleport into my house while I’m showering, yeah? I don’t think either of us would enjoy that.”

”That isn’t entirely possible, fortunately.” The smile was returned, ”I’ve wrote down a few names already, with a different time for each of them, so I don’t completely catch them off guard. I’ve made a habit of doing that lately, after all.” Jack literally pulled open a hole in reality to arrive at Auri’s shop, so he had already scared many of them shitless.

”I’ll try to be discreet, if you’re ever not alone when I come.”

”Yeah, like tonight,” Linqian snorted. ”Discreet is good, thanks. My little brother’s coming home this week, and he’s blind so… Would rather not have to explain how a random guy just appeared in our house.”

”That would certainly be a terrifying way to be exposed to the paranormal. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then silence fell over the bar, how late was it getting?
Linqian nodded. She stood up with a sigh. ”You mind giving me a ‘lift’ home? I’ve drunk too much to drive.”

”Certainly. It’s almost unfair, just how much easier purple Lux makes things.” Jack placed a hand on the counter and pulled out his phone… Which he hadn’t plugged a charger into in roughly 3 years, but still had about 47% of its battery intact. It didn’t even have a fucking case. Why would he need one in the Void where gravity didn’t exist?

He remembered where Linqian and Jinhai lived, having been there a time or two. He looked up the address on Google Maps to make sure, and stood up as he put the phone away.

And then, he held his hand out for Linqian.

Linqian flashed Jack a slight smile, and took his hand.

And then, they were gone. Left behind on the counter was a $20 for the drinks.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

<Snipped quote by FernStone>

I didn't know where put it but Britney threw that card in the trash the second she left. lol

@Punished GN

Oh thank god

See this is why lihns so overworked though, the only other option is affiliated with a cult

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Layla should go to the handy unaffiliated therapist rather than the cult temple recommended one....

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@silvermist1116 I've helped a masterpiece be created is what I've done

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Would be pretty iconic if Edict doesn't die to Father Wolf, other crime lords or the police, but instead Tayla with a shotgun