FernStone

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Interactions: Edict @AtomicEmperor, Britney @Punished GN, Vashti @Atrophy
The Halloween Festival

---

Linqian really regretted accepting getting Edicts family boat rather than just biting the bullet that was another possible Sloane encounter and getting the ferry. The whole journey was just fucking uncomfortable. Between the slight racism (overt in one case), the many introductions she really hadn’t been prepared for (discovering a hilarious nickname she'd save for later) and just the general feeling incredibly out of place for multiple reasons… Yeah. Never again. It was the drive by meet the family of her boss slash friend (?) that she hadn’t wanted. At least he’d very swiftly used his abstraction to deal with the worst offender, which left her just having to sit uncomfortably with him and his Uncle (who’d seemed pretty alright).

But once they got on the island, Linqian had been in a good mood! She was three cans of beer in, having knocked back another two to cope with the boat journey, and a little bit high. It had all gone a bit to her head since she’d last eaten before going to work... Once again drinking on an empty stomach, which was becoming a bad habit. She’d planned to eat on the ferry, but she wasn’t exactly going to pull out tupperwares of home cooked food on a mob boat.

The tipsiness wasn’t so good when faced with this situation. Her rare good mood instantly plummeted.

She wasn’t going to get her night of fun, was she?

The crocodile, who Linqian recognised as Vashti after squinting a bit, was all up in Britney’s face. She hadn’t heard any of what had been said, but it was pretty obvious why Vashti would be coming after her. Just, could she not have done it on another day?

She glanced over at Edict. His energy was noticeably different after spotting Britney. Calmer, less exaggerated. She’d already known this from the first meeting, but he was so not over her. It was even easier to see for her with the whole… Also not being over her ex thing. Which was delightful. But seriously, tonight?

There went the possibility of getting laid too. Not that it had been her main goal, would’ve just been a nice thing to round everything off. Well, actually, no need to write it off. It wouldn’t be too hard to find someone if she still felt like it later.

That wasn’t important. It was difficult to stay focused after the three beers on a near empty stomach, her thoughts flying to all sorts of unimportant places. Snap out of it. Edict was clearly planning to get involved - and already verbally doing so. She was sure Vashti would totally fuck off after being told to.

The thing was, Vashti was crazy. Linqian really didn’t want to get involved. It wasn’t like she was a target, why should she put her neck on the line… But Britney had helped her a week ago. She’d been close to Jinhai. And if she walked away right now she’d probably at best lose her second job, at worst be thrown into the sea by a vengeful Edict after she didn’t help protect the ex he clearly wasn’t over.

Weighing up the risks quickly, she decided to go with taking on a pissed off crocodile over a possible bullet to the head and less money.

”This is not how I wanted to spend my fucking night,” Linqian complained, mostly directed at Edict as if it was his fault (kind of was). Her hand went to her bag, before very quickly dropping. She was not going to pull out a gun in this situation. She didn’t even really know how to use a gun! She’d just do things the way she was used to. ”You owe me so much booze after this.”

The temperature in the area dropped to just below freezing. The rain turned into snow around Linqian. Everyone would feel the cold - Edict, Britney, Sabrina, Layla and Vashti. It didn’t discriminate. It wasn’t low enough to be dangerous, but it was uncomfortable. Especially if you were cold-blooded.

”Hey Britney, we keep meeting in these shitty situations when we should be having fun, huh?” Linqian’s words were drawn out as she closed the distance between her and the other group. She completely ignored Layla and got right up close to Britney and Vashti. Her body temperature plummeted to deadly levels, her warm brown skin paling. The tips of her fingers turned a more purplish tone. She suppressed a shiver herself, the combination of her own body temperature and the air temperature dropping not something she could completely resist.

Britney and Vashti would be able to feel the cold radiating off her close as she was to them, water droplets on her outfit turning to ice.

”Fucking back off, Vashti,” Linqian reached out to try and grab Vashti’s wrist. If she managed to, Vashti would first feel an intense pain and freezing cold. The longer Linqian holds on the more damage her freezing cold would do to Vashti's wrist. ”You try fuck with one of us, you gotta fuck all of us.”

Wait, that wasn’t quite right. Whatever.

”Fuck right off before I shove my knee up your fucking crocodile ass.”

---

Interactions: Emily @Punished GN, Lila / The Maiden / Jasper @NoriWasHere
The Halloween Festival

---

Luca winced as Emily misgendered Lila, which explained the whole situation. He’d totally understood punching someone over that.

And Lila started becoming more herself again. It helped him calm down, positivity creeping back in and starting to patch up the cracks in his mental walls. It would be fine. They could still have a good night. He only half paid attention to what Babylon was saying. They could still have a lovely night! They could-

"... They do as I say of their own accord! YOU are proof of that!"

Queen Bitch

Just like that, Emily’s words ripped off the tape that had barely covered the fractured barrier between his mind and the rot.

She was right. He’d left because of what she was doing, and the rest had stayed. They could have left like him. They had that choice. If he could do it, when he was literally dying with no other options to save him, they could too. They chose to stay. They chose to help Emily. No, no. They had no choice, people like Carol had no choice, she was stuck in that body- of course she’d go along with it. He’d accepted he was dying, but why should anyone else? And maybe what Emily said was right too - it was justified because there were others doing worse! They were just trying to protect everyone. But no, how did that work… He couldn’t…

Oh, poor Luca. You’re just a coward that can’t see beyond your clouded judgement. You give excuses for people so that you can pretend that they have no choice, so you can feel better about caring for them. You lie to yourself so that you can pretend everything you do is good… that you’re oh so moral...

No, shut up. I’m not lying to myself. I don’t think that way. I don’t. I just want everyone to be safe and happy. That’s all.

Ah, imposing yourself on them all, how valiant. Always has to be positive, doesn’t it, Luca? But you can’t hide yourself from me. You can hide all those feelings from everyone else, even yourself, but not me.

I’m not hiding anything-

You’re resentful. You don’t want to die. You hurt everyone around you, yet expect them to not. Ah, so hypocritical.

I’m not-

But Luca, Luca, you can’t ignore what you really are… deep down… you’re…

I’m not.

...truly rotten

---

Dust to Dust

_{Dust to dust our bones will rust / And we shall start again}

---

Luca’s emotional protection shattered, and the Rot pushed itself into his mind. It had always been inside of him, lurking and waiting and occasionally surfacing, but it had never been able to share control like this. Luca had been to mentally strong, too positive to give in to its constant prodding. But after ten years of corroding his mind, it had managed.

Intense pain seized Luca as the rotting of his body intensified. It was like his skin was being peeled off bit by bit as burning torches were pressed into his sensitive flesh. His heartbeat slowed, thudding loudly in his ears as it struggled to function. Each breath felt like glass scraping down his throat. Spots of skin started to peel across his arms, blood sluggishly dripping down towards his hands. The edges of the wounds were a rotting yellow, slowly increasing in size. He felt so weak, but like he could take on anything. Destroy before he was destroyed. There was a freedom in actively dying, pain and decay so blinding he became almost numb.

Luca’s knees buckled underneath him as he struggled to keep control of his own body. He caught himself on one knee before he completely collapsed, fingers curling into the ground underneath him. Any plants that hadn’t already been trodden on disintegrated away.

”Stay away, I’m fine,” Luca gasped, holding up the hand he wasn’t supporting. It was directed towards everyone, but his gaze was on Jasper. Rotten yellow and green spilled into his eyes, writhing across it like mycelium. He struggled to stop the agony he was feeling from being written all across his face. But he- nobody could come near. If they tried to touch him... He couldn't control it. ”I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Ah, but you should be worried.

Luca winced, head twisting round to meet Lila’s pitch black eyes. His left iris turned completely yellow-green, blood red veins surrounding it. He was in agony, the pressure to his head intensifying. His expression grew more and more pained, yet more and more devoid of emotion. Both Luca and the Rot coexisted, and it hurt him much more than he did it.

"Ahhhh, how nice." Luca slowly, steadily stood up. He expressionlessly turned to Lila. "Yes, let's. It's been too long, Maiden, you're looking especially lovely- We need to remind them who's in control."

Luca’s hand shot out, grabbing a table for support. It instantly began to rot away beneath his fingers, cheap wood darkening and flaking away. The wood splintered into his fingers before it turned to dust. He struggled to regain a semblance of control before the Rot decided to use his body to destroy everything. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He wasn't going to destroy everything like the rot wanted to. It was still his body, this was still him. It would be fine, it would be fine, he wouldn't hurt anyone who hadn't already hurt him-

Like Emily. There was one thing they were aligned on. Emily was the source of the problems.

"You take George. We'll take her."

Luca unsteadily lunged towards Emily and Babylon, trying to get around the twin to grab either one of them with rotting hands.

---

Trisha Vanburen

Interactions: Adora @Punished GN
The Halloween Festival

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So far the Halloween Festival had been an absolute drag for Trisha so far.

She didn’t exactly have many friends in St Portwell. Most of her actual friends were from college, and they lived all over the country now. She’d invited them to the festival but no one had been able to come… Which fucking sucked. She wasn’t exactly going to go with anyone in her family either. She’d rather die.

So she was skulking around near the exit hoping to find someone she knew - it didn’t particularly matter how close they were, or whether it was someone she disliked. She just needed some entertainment. Ah. Wasn’t Sycamore Tree back in town? Perhaps she’d bump into a couple of them… that could be fun. Trisha had essentially burnt all bridges when it ended, lashing out when the thing closest to a home was destroyed. It still stung and she certainly wasn’t rejoining after Auri put out the call. After all, her brother’s money would be better at keeping her safe than any shitty coven.

Her narrowed eyes spotted a familiar face - shockingly. Dressed up in a cute little blue dress. Trisha had thought Adora had shut herself in a room and died there! Hah! Now this would be fun.

“Hey! Adora!” Trisha pushed her way through the crowd, shouting loud enough to be heard. She was wearing a somewhat stupid looking bee onesie, with the hood down and her hair tied back into a messy bun. A faint buzzing could be heard from underneath it to anyone who listened hard enough. “It’s been so long- wow! I did not expect to see you here. I can’t believe you’d come to something like this… You seemed like a complete loser ten years ago. Glad you’ve gotten better, really.”

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Interactions: Edict @AtomicEmperor, also her brother
The Harbour, Ferry Docks

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With Sloane out of sight, Linqian pulled the cigarette butt out of her mouth and dropped it on the ground. She stomped on it much more aggressively than normal. As she finished destroying what little remained of her cigarette she caught sight of Edict, immediately regretting it when her eyes were assaulted by some of the flashiest clothing she’d ever seen. Very funny, dressing up as an exaggerated gangster. She almost regretted suggesting they go together. Doubly so when she was assaulted by the most grating accent. Fuck.

”Huh?” Linqian narrowed her eyes and shifted right into Edict's personal space, practically leaning against him to look at his phone... And was assaulted by the image of Leon dressed like a fucking grandma werewolf. Had her eyes not suffered enough?! She wished she'd worn another outfit. Maybe she should just rip up her cloak, tie it around her head and pretend she’d been dressed as a pirate all along.

Unfortunately she didn’t get a chance to say she wasn’t purposefully matching Leon, because Edict noticed that something was up. Of course. She knew he hadn't poked, because she would've felt it, and she hadn't had enough time to collect herself after Sloane left. It wasn't like after an argument when she could just brush it aside, anger forgotten nearly as quickly as it had appeared.

”Had to talk to fucking Sloane,” Linqian scowled. She was tempted to snatch his cigar, just for a drag or two before giving it back. No, she was going to quit, and smoking something fancier wouldn't help with that. Her gaze lingered on his cigar (or it could have been his lips, it would be difficult to tell) for a few moments before sliding away and towards the harbour. There was also the temptation to suggest they just skip the festival and have a repeat of last week- but no. She'd gone through all this effort, and she was going to have a good fucking time. ”She was a condescending bitch like normal, and said some shitty stuff about my little brother.”

It was partly the truth - what Sloane had said about Henri having nobody left if Linqian was killed still played on her mind. She wasn't going to get into how she'd accepted money from Sloane for a funeral she couldn't afford herself. All the feelings that came with it were too much. Would it be nice to offload some of it onto Edict? Sure. Did she actually want to talk about this with anyone? No. She'd already shared the fact Jinhai wasn't buried yet it with too many people.

”She talked a whole bunch of shit about taking responsibility as if I haven't been doing that my entire life. Yeah I get it, Jinhai was perfect and everyone liked him, I'm not, as if he could've made it through his fucking degree without me working my ass off to keep a roof over his head. My lack of money is all my fault. I'd like to see her try to support a family of three without a high school degree.”

Just ranting about the surface level irritations that covered the deeply buried issues helped to clear her mind. The emotionless veil across her eyes faded, fiery spark that was typical of her returning. The strange, numb state she'd gone into to deal with Sloane and everything to do with Jinhai's funeral was gone. She really didn't want to dwell on it.

”I'm fine. Not gonna let it ruin my night... It's just started, after all. I heard things get a lot more exciting after dark.” One corner of her lips twitched up towards a half smile, and her eyebrows rose up and down a couple of times. She hadn't actually been since she was younger, but the rumours were abundant. It was exactly what she needed. Hopefully Sully was around so she didn't have to buy any booze after she got through the cans she'd taken from work. Thinking about it, might as well crack open one now. She twisted round to access her bag, pulling out two random cans from inside.

”Want one?” she held out the Stella she’d luckily pulled out, remembering it was what he’d ordered at the bar last night. If he didn’t take it she’d put it back in her bag before opening her own can of bud light. ”I stole them from work.”

Her phone buzzed in her skirt pocket and she fished it out with one hand to check. She didn't seem all that bothered that she was close enough to Edict for him to see her phone screen if he so much as glanced over - she didn't have much to hide, and her phone language was set to Chinese anyway. Her lock screen revealed a picture of her and her brothers - Henri standing in the middle in a highschool graduation gown, laughing while Linqian rolled her eyes at him and Jinhai smirked over at her. The buzz was just a text from her brother asking if he could have one drink before he left, cause Andre wouldn't allow it unless she gave permission. She snorted, typing a quick yes in English. Then she swiped to her Chinese keyboard and typed out a bit more. As she replied another notification popped up on her phone - the guy she'd hooked up with on Saturday asking if she was going to the festival with an obnoxious winking emoji. She rolled her eyes and just straight up blocked him.

Her general rule was to never see the people she slept with again... With very few exceptions.

She shoved her phone back in her pocket, returning her attention to Edict. She pretended that she was only just getting a chance to properly look at his outfit, stepping back and looking him up and down. Once again she felt assaulted by... Everything. The fedora was the worst. It was a literal crime against humanity, and most importantly her eyes. Hopefully a gust of wind would mysteriously blow it off his head. And she didn't even want to consider what was in the guitar case. She highly doubted it was actually a guitar. She'd just ignore it.

"You look… incredibly gaudy. What the fuck? What made you think this was a good costume? Fuck, I thought with all your money you might dress up as something classier! You could’ve bought some kinda brand name costume or something, I don’t know.” Linqian said mockingly, lips curving up into a teasing smile. The clothes he was wearing probably were brand name, but that didn’t make it look any better. Let's get going so we look less fucking out of place."

She gestured towards the now docked ferry. As much as she didn't want to bump into Sloane on it, it was stupid to wait around another half an hour or so for the next one. ”We can probably make this one if we cut the queue.”

---

Interactions: Emily @Punished GN, Lila@NoriWasHere
Drink Line, The Halloween Festival

---

Emily started crying, and it was shocking enough for Luca to lose sight of the situation and just stare in shock for a moment. In that time Lila moved around him and... Shit. He had to get in between them again. He didn't have time to acknowledge Stormy with more than a nod.

Wincing, he pushed his way back in between Lila and Emily. He was close enough to them both now to feel the rotting aura, a lightly prickling pain that would grow the longer he was near them. He couldn’t keep the decaying touch of his skin under control, either, gloves on his hands starting to fray along with his socks where they touched his knees. Where he stood Lila would have to push him out of the way to get to Emily - he hoped she wouldn’t do that.

Emily wasn’t entirely lying. Lila had hit her. Was it unjustified? Probably not. Luca didn’t know what had led to this but he trusted Lila. And he couldn’t just ignore what Emily was saying.

”Do you think I can just forget?” Luca asked. Emily knew what the rot was doing to him. If she'd cared, she wouldn't have changed their direction from learning to plundering. At the start they'd been making progress, then it all stopped. ”I destroy everything I touch. Britney made my life a living hell. You know exactly what happened. I told you when I left.”

He grimaced. Every word she said stabbed into him, deeper and deeper, twisting guilt and anger into his heart. He did feel bad about leaving 8th Street. He’d cared about them. He still cared about them. But he was also angry that Emily had taken that away from him. 8th Street had been his home for years. He just couldn’t hurt people like that. His own twistedly positive morality had caused him to abandon them.

”People like us?” Luca's voice shook, growing hoarser. Flecks of rotting green swirling around his eyes as they focused on Emily. The normal Luca wouldn't react like this - he'd brush it off with a laugh, and say that it wasn't so bad for him. But the Rot had pushed its festering tendrils through the cracks, burrowing in and corroding his thoughts. His sanity was unravelling and he struggled to gather the loose strings held together by his crumbling optimism. ”You chose to stay attached to Babylon. Vashti sealed hers. Only Carol and I are still living with the consequences of it, and what have you done to help either of us? Why is Carol still living with that after ten years?! Why the fuck are you spending more time plundering than helping her?!”

If only you would stop being such a coward. Kill her, then the other one that hurt you. It would be easier.

”We were in this together! I didn't want to leave 8th Street! But you wouldn't listen when I asked you to stop making everyone go around stealing and hurting people.” Luca shook his head, arms trembling at his side. It was like all the rottenness inside of him was threatening to burst out and he could barely suppress it. Everything Emily said increased the guilt he’d pretended wasn’t there. He didn’t care about her, he couldn’t give less of a fuck about her, but the others? Carol, who he still saw as a friend? She was right. After everything Britney had done, why was he in a group that had allowed her back? Why? ”I loved 8th Street, and I'd still help most of them in a heartbeat. But not you- fuck, Lila’s my friend. She’s not Britney… And honestly, Emily? You’re just as bad as her.”

There was something unnatural in his eyes when he narrowed them at her, putrid yellow almost equal to dark brown. Emily had unknowingly struck his weak point, forming a crack in his already fragile walls. "I'm only holding back because of Carol and your sisters."

Over Emily’s shoulder he caught sight of Jasper, who’d caught up and pulled out his paintbrush. His heart jolted. It was enough to shake him out of whatever that had been and bring him a little bit closer to being himself. He turned back to look at Lila, yellow and green retreating from his eyes as tears pooled in the corner of them. His lips pulling up into a pleading smile. ”Please don’t hit her again, Lila. Let’s not take this any further.”

---

Interactions: Jack @Blizz & Sloane @Atrophy
Cracker Island, Halloween Festival

---

Anya wasn’t too bothered by having to wait. In the time she’d been standing around she managed to sell good dream stones to unwitting tourists who seemed terrified at the most basic of ghost costumes. She’d talked up the local legends to them before selling her wares and business. Another few cards had been given out to people more into the whole halloween thing - blinds with a bit too much of an interest in the occult. It would only end badly for them, but Anya didn’t care as long as she made some money from it.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she checked it. A text from Jack. She gave it a cursory scan and didn’t bother replying. He would be back in a few minutes anyway.

Just like he said, he was back after doing the rounds to make sure no one was killing each other or themselves.

”They are? Colour me surprised.” Anya raised an eyebrow, surprised that Sloane and Linqian could be near each other without devolving into attempted murder, nevermind a conversation. Of course, Jinhai’s parasite often came for her too but Anya rarely gave her the pleasure of a response. She wondered what they could be talking about to not be fighting. Were her talks with Sloane about how cold politeness was another weapon working?

She quite frankly didn't care if Emily and Lila were fighting. It was on them if they caused a mess and she wasn't inclined to clean it up. But she had to keep up the pretence that she did, in fact, care. Her lips twitching up into a pretend smile as if she too was pleased with what Jack had done. She actually didn’t think it was all that impressive, in fact she thought it was incredibly childish, but she did a very good job at faking it. Jack would have to be a pink lux user to know otherwise. ”If you think the situation is under control, I’m sure it will be fine. If there’s one thing Emily dislikes, it’s looking bad in front of other people.”

She was about to say they should wait for Sloane when the woman herself appeared - in an incredible rush. It didn’t take a Sloane expression reading genius like Anya to tell that she’d been upset by something. Linqian? Someone else she’d seen? Anya wasn’t going to press until they were a safe distance away from whatever it was.

”Yes, let’s get a drink,” Anya smiled, quickly glancing over Sloane’s face to make sure there was no burn mark on it. Thankfully not. ”Somewhere with higher quality alcohol sounds perfect. We won’t have to risk running into our peers while discussing anything we might not want them to know.”

And there were things she wanted to discuss with them both after her meeting with the worst PRA agent to ever exist. Though tonight might not be the right time, and she certainly couldn’t do it sober. A few drinks were in order before she considered sharing a single detail of that harrowing night.

”Well, if you’re offering to get the first round, I won’t decline.” Anya’s lips curved up into a more genuine smile, though there was a hint of concern in her gaze as she glanced over Sloane. Still, no sense asking now. Sloane would tell them if she wanted to when they got to the private party. Anya turned to Jack. ”Let’s get somewhere more hidden, and you can teleport us there. It’s easier than making our way through the crowd.”

Anya didn’t wait for Jack’s response, assuming he would be happy to offer his teleportation services again, before leading them both over to a slightly more secluded, shadowed spot.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Lihn Phan

Interactions: Tayla @silvermist1116
The Halloween Festival, Kids Section

---

"Nice to meet you, Tayla." Lihn followed Tayla's finger to the older man and the young child who looked much less out of place during the storytime. It was cute how engrossed he was, and the involvement of Tayla's father brought Lihn joy. There was a hint of jealousy in her heart too, but something she could easily suppress nowadays. She smiled brightly. An unconventional family it seemed, unless the child's father was just busy with work. Lihn wasn't one to make assumptions either way. "His first time? Well he's in for a treat. It's nice your dad came with you both, must be fun for your little boy getting time with you both. Good of you to make sure he can still have a nice time without being exposed to all the late night problems... I do wish it could stay kid friendly later, but you can't control adults that want to go wild."

She sighed, offering Tayla rueful smile. That had been her once, when she lost her parents and almost lost herself to alcohol and all sorts she didn't remember taking. It had led to the blessing that was her daughter, but it didn't mean she found it comfortable to be around. Just sad. She was a therapist now to help people who felt the need to turn to things like that to help. "I'm lucky my brother can come pick up the kiddo before it gets too late, since I'm on call for a few clients at the festival. Precautionary measures. Wish I could just go home with her and avoid all that."

Tayla asked about the play, and Lihn shrugged. "Probably, but last year she came away complaining about how bad it was. I don't understand her taste sometimes. We'll go if she wants to and if not, there's plenty else to do." She gestured to all the activities. "I imagine she'll want to watch it even if it's just to criticise how it's written and tell me how she'd do it. Can't blame her, I'd rather not sit through it for the seventh year in a row... But it's her day, so if she wants to I will. That's how it is as a mom, right?"

There was no bitterness in her voice at that, a soft smile still on her face. She loved her daughter more than anything, and already didn't spend enough time with her because of work. Sitting through an hour of an awful kids play was a small sacrifice to make for her.

"What about you three? Will your son want to watch the play, or are you going to enjoy some of the more hands on activities? When Thanh- my daughter- was that age she could barely sit through anything longer than fifteen minutes. It was cute, though, how much she wanted to run around." Lihn laughed. "Enjoy it while it lasts, before he gets older and more rebellious. Suddenly they don't want you to sit with them for toddler story time."

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

---

Interactions: Emily/Miranda/Jacqueline @Punished GN, Lila/Lynn/Jasper @NoriWasHere
Food Line -> Drink Line

---

They were getting closer to the front of the queue for pierogies.

Luca was practically vibrating in excitement about trying something new, nibbling away at his candy apple. He wasn't talking much thanks to it - he had to eat slowly so as not to hurt his teeth, and chew it up a lot so it didn't scrape his throat. But it was good! And he couldn't wait for some proper food-

Thunderous caws filled Luca's ears, interrupting something he was about to say to Jasper.

It was loud and distressed. He froze, head snapping towards wherever it had come from. He couldn't see the source but the crows... He could see plenty of them. They were almost at the front of the line now, but there was only one person that many crows would gather for.

Lila.

Shit.

Was she in danger? Was she hurt? It didn't matter. Crows didn't just get aggressive like that. Food wasn't important compared to his friend. His breathing quickened, uncomfortable fluttering clutching his chest.

”Jasper, we need to go!”

He didn't actually wait for Jasper's response, and just assumed he'd follow. Luca darted his way through the crowds, weaving through small gaps that he could fit in without touching people. At his size it was much easier to slip through the throngs of people. He left a trail of pain behind him, quick enough to not be damaging, and a candy apple that slipped out of his fingers and dropped to the floor, ignored. All he was thinking about was getting to his friends and making sure they were alright.

He arrived as Emily fell on her ass, thankful the drinks stands were close to the food ones. There were crows everywhere, Lila looked more pissed than he'd ever seen him - he could guess what had happened, just about. He didn't stop moving, sprinting towards them.

”Lila!” Luca jumped in between the two, physically putting his body in the way of Emily's kick. Thankfully for her it hit the long, white socks covering his calf rather than any bare skin, sending pain shooting through his leg. He winced but stayed standing, holding out a hand towards both of them as if he was fending off two wild beasts. His chest heaved up and down in heavy pants as he struggled to breath. He struggled to get enough air into his lungs, completely winded, but ignored it in favour of stopping whatever was happening here.

He twisted his head to look pleadingly at Lila - only to be met by a bottomless black gaze that wasn't quite hers. There was a familiarity, like the flickers of rot that he caught in his own eyes every time he looked in a mirror. The maiden, whatever she was, wasn't gone. Luca's heart jolted in his chest, breathing running even more ragged. What did he do? He didn't know how to handle this. He'd spent the last ten years barely retaining his sanity, pushing down his own apparition, how did he help someone else suppress theirs? The Rot's laughter rang in his ears, the apparition stirring from its slumber within him to press up tauntingly against his mind. He ignored it.

First, he needed to de-escalate the situation.

”Miranda, Jacqueline, lovely to see you again, can you please take Emily away?!” he looked over to the twins with a forced smile. A cursory scan told him there were no other 8th Street members there right now... Thankfully. The situation would only be made worse if someone like Vashti was there too. He then looked down at Emily, eyes narrowing. There was a swirling chaos in his gaze unlike the pure joy that normally filled them, anger at his friend being possibly hurt and wrestling with the eroding of his own mind as he was thrown into a stressful situation. ”Try to touch her again and I'll rot your hand off."

Luca turned to face Lila, showing Emily his back in the hope her sisters would stop her from doing anything... And if not, he'd follow through on his threat. He could take a hit. It would only hurt her more. While he didn't trust her, he trusted them. He reached out to try and grab Lila's hands. He suppressed the rotting of his skin as he did, even with his gloves offering a protective layer between them. Just turning it off hurt him, his arms beginning to shake and his mind filling with static as the rot started to slither through the forming cracks. But he didn't want her to touch any of his bare skin and begin to rot. His aura filled the air around them, slowly but surely stabbing against Lila's skin in an invisible attack he couldn't control. But he couldn't risk moving further away and having her attack Emily again, or vice versa. He needed to calm her down somehow.

She's let her in now. It's too late. It isn't. She can force her out. Do you think it'll be that easy? Let me take over and I'll talk to her. No. I won't fall for that. I'm not that stupid... I can do it myself. Can you really reject my help? To make things worse? I won't listen to you. I know what you want to do. Oh but wouldn't it be so nice to let go? Let me out, rot away the one that hurt her, protect your friends. I just want her to be alright. I don't want to hurt anyone. You will. I won't.

Luca shook his head, ignoring the rot, even as it continued to laugh in his head. He had to concentrate on Lila. He stepped closer to her.

”Lila, please, you have to calm down.” He hoped that she'd recognise him even like this - and if not, perhaps the maiden would recognise the Rot where it lingered at the edge of his consciousness. He tried to take up her entire vision, difficult when he was so slight, and hold her gaze with his own. Erratic energy danced across his eyes while flecks of rotten green and yellow infected their normal dark brown. ”Emily isn't worth it. Force the maiden out of your head.”

He glanced over at Lynn, mouthing at her, 'stay back.' He also signalled behind his back towards Miranda and Jacqueline for them to leave, if they hadn't dragged Emily away already.

Luca didn't know how unstable Lila was right now - how much she'd let the maiden in, how much of this was her. He'd never fully let the rot in but there had been times when it hadn't entirely been him, or when they'd shared his body for a short period of time before Luca had been able to suppress it again. Each time the rot pushed itself in longer and decayed his mind further. It was always dangerous, and no matter how much of the maiden was in control, this situation was too. He could take it - maybe not physically, but his body was already so damaged what was a little more? But Lynn with her bad luck should keep a safe distance away.

”Hey, come on, Lila. Let's just ignore her and go have some fun, yeah?”

---

Lihn Phan

Interactions: Tayla @silvermist1116
The Halloween Festival, Kids Section

---

Just under half an hour into storytime, an unassuming, Asian woman sat down at the other end of the bench Tayla was on. She was dressed up as a low effort witch, with an oversized black hat, a layered black dress and her dark hair tied up in a low bun. She couldn't be much older than thirty, with a youthful face but a tired, gentle gaze that moved from all the children gathered for story time to Tayla. The empathy she was automatically spreading around her lightly brushed up against Tayla's emotional field. Her eyes widened slightly and her eyebrows raised, raising further when a hint of emotion was read upon Tayla lowering the headphones over her ears. The emotion reading was subtle enough that Tayla wouldn't necessarily notice it unless she paid attention, and Lihn pulled it back once she realised she'd been doing it in the first place.

It was difficult to turn off sometimes. She naturally read the emotions of those around her like it was a sixth sense.

"Sorry," she turned to Tayla with an apologetic smile, gesturing to the bench they were both sitting on. She was apologising for the accidental emotion reading as well, if Tayla had noticed it. "I should have asked before sitting here."

She sat in silence for a short while, fingers gently tapping against her thighs. After a few minutes she shifted in her seat so she was angled slightly more towards Tayla.

"Do you have a kid here?" Lihn asked. She wasn't normally so social outside of work, using all of her energy on her clients during long hours, but something about Tayla drew her in. Her therapist's intuition was telling her this was some with... Issues. And assuming she had a child, which she must do to be at the Halloween festival during the children's events, then that was another reason for Lihn to want to talk to her. She looked young, and Lihn knew what it was like to be a young mom. She'd had Thanh when she was only twenty three, after all. "Silly question, you wouldn't be here this early if you didn't... That's mine over there."

She pointed to a nine year old girl sitting among all of the toddlers and parents at the story time. The young girl was short with her long black hair tied back into two cute pigtails. On her head were a pair of cat ears and she was in all black, completing the outfit with a tail and full painted face with a cat nose and whiskers. She was animatedly listening along, leaning forward as if she couldn't get enough of it.

"She pretended to be sick to get out of school and come here earlier. Almost had me cancel all of my appointments... She wants to be a writer when she's older so supposedly this story time is 'imperative' to attend. I think if she knows the word imperative at nine she shouldn't be going along to toddlers events, but who am I to ruin her fun? She also insisted it wasn't cool to sit with her mum during toddler storytime."

Lihn laughed lightly. She looked back over at her daughter, who seemed to feel her gaze. Thanh turned around and grinned, before seeming to wave her away. Lihn laughed again and waved back.

"Ah, I should introduce myself. My name's Lihn," she smiled gently as she turned back to Tayla, eyes curving up to make it look soft and genuine - though it also highlighted the dark circles beneath her eyes that she could never seem to get rid of. The price of working long days while having a child. "Don't feel you have to tell me your name if you don't want to, I understand, I'm just a stranger. I don't get a chance to talk to other moms often because of work so I got a bit ahead of myself."

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

With @Atrophy

Harbour

---

Linqian could feel someone’s gaze on her.

It was probably just some guy who’d walked past and was checking her out, understandably. She took another drag of her cigarette, smoke blowing away with the sea breeze, and looked up to tell whoever it was to fuck off-

The words died on her lips as she caught sight of Sloane… actually dressed for halloween. For a moment she was speechless. It was completely (discordant) with her image of Sloane. Who even was she? Linqian squinted. It wasn’t some kind of spooky, generic costume… Something from a show or book? Linqian hadn’t watched television properly since she was a kid.

Wait, why did she even care?

Linqian’s lips twisted down into a scowl, and her dark eyes narrowed into a glare.

”What the fuck do you want, Sloane?”

Sloane had already begun to turn away, anticipating the outcome of any conversation with Linqian, yet she couldn’t stop herself from rearing back towards the woman as Linqian called out to her. Sloane glared at Linqian, the harbor becoming nothing more than a backdrop as the boardwalk shifted and became a fencing strip with Linqian squaring off across the piste from her en garde. A phantom referee called for the match to start and as predicted Linqian had opened the attack with a lunge of vulgarity. Sloane was quick to answer with a harsh parry and a wry riposte.

“With you? Absolutely nothing. Ever,” said Sloane, her eyes vacant and dull like those of a fish from this morning’s catch. Her tongue flicked out a puff of air—a scoff, maybe, or perhaps Sloane’s best attempt at scathing laugh. “I was just checking to make sure that I wasn’t about to be blindsided by the Quran or a copy of Dianetics. This area is rampant with violent nutjobs assaulting people with scripture.”

She coughed into her glove as if Linqian’s cigarette was bothering her despite being upwind and moved, ready to score her point and abandon her imaginary epee in the water as it once again became part of a harbor. However, Sloane’s feet wouldn’t budge as if they were encased in concrete, and nowhere near were they as heavy as the thing that was weighing upon her heart. She shifted the tilt of her head ever so slightly, her chin lowering by a handful of millimeters. Perhaps Anya would’ve been able to determine what the look meant, but to Linqian it might as well have been an imperceptible shift in demeanor.

“No, there is one more thing,” said Sloane, sounding like a courtroom stenographer reading back the record over a heated property line dispute between two neighbors who happened to be insurance agents. She slipped her hands into her coat pockets. The ink must’ve not dried on the transcript and gotten blurred as her words became staccato. “She’s wrong. Lynn is, I mean. You don’t deserve it. Nobody does.”

How earnest Sloane was could only be guessed, but Linqian would know immediately that she was talking about Jinhai.

Linqian rolled her eyes, preparing to deflect Sloane's riposte and lunge back in for a vicious strike of her own- when Sloane completely shocked her. Her eyes widened, her jaw went slack and her eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. Was Sloane dying? Had she finally seen a doctor about the massive stick stuck up her ass?

”Wow, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me,” Linqian laughed in disbelief. She was going to take it as being genuine - not because she thought Sloane had stopped being an uptight bitch, but because she hoped the relationship Jinhai had built with her was worth enough for Sloane to believe it wasn't deserved. She took another drag of her cigarette just to cope with Sloane being 'nice', turning her head away from her to blow out the smoke. She wasn't so much of an asshole to force second hand smoke on a non smoker. ”You're right, for once. I don't deserve it, and nor did he. As if he deserved to die just to make my life shit… Fuck, people are quick to forget what Jinhai did for everyone here- at least you haven't. Nice to know some of his friends don't forget him as soon as he's gone.”

It was obvious Linqian was being genuine with what she said, with a completely neutral expression - compared to the harsh scowl that never left her lips around Sloane. She may hate her, but she could also appreciate that she hadn't just abandoned Jinhai like most of his other friends had… friends that hadn't had the same problems with her. It was a single point in Sloane's favour.

“I never will. Jinhai was special,” said Sloane, looking out across the harbor. Linqian was right: people were quick to forget about everything you did for them. When Sloane had been kicked out of the Coven, Jinhai was one of the few people who had treated her like she wasn’t dead. Even before all of that he had seen that she wanted only to help and had appreciated her dedication. Jinhai had made Sloane feel accepted. It didn’t matter now what people thought of her, or at least that’s what she told herself, but when she was a teenage girl it was the only thing. She had wanted nothing more than to be around someone like that, but Linqian had made that impossible.

“He was my friend. One of my few friends. I cared more about him then you would ever know,” she said, turning back towards Linqian and closing the distance between the two by just a couple of steps. The air was still chilly, but Sloane felt uncomfortably warm in her jacket. “So I am sorry for your loss.”

After Jinhai had been murdered there had been no phone call, no funeral invitation, not even a publicly listed gravesite to visit. Sloane didn’t need any proof when she had a decade of circumstantial evidence that said it was Linqian’s fault Sloane never had a chance to mourn.

“But you say that Jinhai’s death made your life shit and I just can’t agree with that,” said Sloane. “Jinhai’s death was a tragedy. Your life is a comedy of errors. Start taking some responsibility.”

”Are you fucking with me?” Linqian's lips twisted back down into a harsh smile, eyes glinting with cold rage. There was the Sloane she knew and hated. All the good words she'd said about Jinhai were blown away just like that. How dare she? ”Do you think you fucking know me? All you have is a twisted idea of what I'm like based of your initial fucking judgement. Do you have any idea what I've been doing for the last ten years?”

Linqian pushed herself off the wall and closed the remaining distance between them, smoldering cigarette hanging at her side. She didn't push into Sloane's personal space, but she was close - glaring down at her with a near murderous gaze.

”I dropped out of highschool to support my family. I've worked non stop for ten years, paying to keep a roof over our fucking heads, to keep my brothers fed, and for Jinhai's education. I sacrificed everything for him. I would do it every single fucking time, no matter what, but don't fucking come at me about taking responsibility! I've been responsible my whole fucking life. All I wanted was someone to share the bills. A fucking break.” She bared her teeth, suppressing the hot tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. Fuck. She was not going to cry, even out of anger. She wanted to punch her, but suppressed it by dropping her hand to a trembling fist at her side. "You don't fucking know me or what I've had to do for my brothers, and continue to do for the one left to have the fucking life I'd hoped he would without Jinhai's help.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand what it was like.” Sloane didn’t step back as Linqian approached, her hands still buried in her pockets. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a family worth sacrificing my life for or to have brothers I want to protect and choose to take care of. I wish my life was so simple. It sounds nice. All I have are obligations. You think I want to spend every single hour of my life worried about what’s happening to this city? You think I want to invest all of my energy in protecting you people from a serial killer when you people wouldn’t give a shit if something bad happened to me? I don’t want to. I have to. I have to because nobody else will.”

“But when I say you need to start taking responsibility, I’m not talking about taking responsibility for other people. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about your behavior. I’m talking about that.” Sloane’s eyes flicked down to Linqian’s shaking fist. “What? You want to hit me like you did Lynn? To what end? Because you missed your chance in the church? Because it’ll make you feel better? Because I can’t relate to your tragic history? Or is it just because you’re selfish and violent and pointlessly bitter?”

“Take your best swing, but before you do it ask yourself: when everyone in this Coven is wiped out because people like you made it impossible to work together, will you take responsibility for your brother having nobody left?” asked Sloane, her lips parting in a sneer.

Linqian wanted to. She wanted to slap Sloane so badly. Her fist clenched in a ball so tight her nail started to dig painfully into her palm, her temperature slowly ticking downwards. It radiated out from her, a creeping chill that would have Sloane shivering as close together as they were. She thought Linqian's life was simple? That hers was so much harder because of her ridiculous want to be the city's saviour? Fuck.

”I won't give you the satisfaction,” Linqian spat, keeping her shaking hands at her side. What would happen after she hit Sloane? She'd just be proving her right. Fuck, she wanted to prove her right. And what would Henri think if he somehow found out? ”Nobody needs your protection. Nobody's making you worry about the city when you could live a great fucking life, sad and alone. Fuck off.”

Linqian took a step back, chest heaving up and down. Sloane had taken a knife and stabbed it right in her weak point before twisting it viciously. She didn't want to die. Not because she cares for her own life, but because she didn't want Henri to be left with no one. ”Fine. I won't have my brother lose someone else just because you're a stuck up bitch who can't keep her mouth fucking shut. But you think I'm pointlessly bitter? I have plenty to be fucking bitter about. Jinhai died fucking three weeks ago and I'm saddled with fucking debts,” shit stop talking, ”while dealing with bitches like you so I don't fucking die, while barely sleeping in a house with,” no, no, shut the fuck up, ”Jinhai's ashes in a fucking cupboard because I can't afford to fucking bury him! But I'm just selfish, violent and pointlessly bitter.”

“What?” The sneer wiped itself from Sloane’s face as her eyes widened, a light of real emotion flickering in their darkness. In that moment Sloane realized that there existed a reality where Linqian had been correct in her accusation and that Sloane had profoundly misjudged Linqian. Her voice shook as she spoke, “I thought you just didn’t invite me to his funeral. I didn’t know.”

Sloane’s eyes broke away from Linqian in a panic, darting to and fro like a frightened rabbit as she felt her pulse quicken. The thought of Jinhai being stashed away in a cupboard with the tupperware because Linqian couldn’t afford a burial service shot a wind of reality through Sloane that was so strong it was able to momentarily lift the veil of privilege that often blinded her. Desperately a part of her jumped out and tried to pull the veil back down, saying that it was a lie put on by Linqian for some pathetic angle that was beneath Sloane’s understanding, but Sloane knew it wasn’t. A strange thing happened at that moment: Linqian’s behavior suddenly became understandable. Sloane still didn’t believe that it was right—driving the already divided Coven further apart had its repercussions—but it was understandable. The idea of Jinhai being in a cabinet was unbearable and Sloane hadn’t even dealt with it for more than a couple of seconds. Linqian had to carry that for weeks.

“Linqian, I…I…” Nothing Sloane said would matter. Her words had no value to Linqian and she knew it, having been the one running her mouth as their stock tanked. Her vision blurred, tears threatening at the border of her eyes. She felt powerless. Useless. She made up her mind and blinked away the tears.

“How much?” asked Sloane after she system rebooted. “For a funeral, for a tombstone, whatever. How much do you need?”

”I'm not such a terrible person that I wouldn't invite people who cared about Jinhai to his funeral, even you,” Linqian snorted, looking away. There was no satisfaction in seeing Sloane show some true emotion. Like always her explosive rage left as quickly as it arrived, and she was just left feeling defeated. This was something she was ashamed of and it ate away at her every day. Her brother deserved better in death and she couldn't give it to him. She kept failing him over and over again. She'd already let it slip to Leon and Britney, and now she'd let it slip to Sloane too. Fuck. ”I don't want-”

She cut herself off with a frustrated groan. Her hands were still shaking, cigarette ash dropping to the floor from the almost burnt out stub, but it was no longer because she wanted to punch Sloane. For the first time she was considering taking the money. Why shouldn't she? But then she'd be in Sloane's debt. She hated the thought, and had been too stubborn to accept any help up until this point. She still didn't want to. But she thought about Jinhai, in a cupboard she couldn't bear to open, and Henri, who kept asking when they'd be able to bury him.

She'd do it for Jinhai. It wasn't like everything else. Sloane, and other coven members, had known him. It was fair to accept contributions. She wasn't going to do it for anything else. Just the funeral and burial. It wasn't the same as getting a handout, it was a donation for someone they'd cared about. Yes, she could tell herself that and ignore that disgust twisting deep in her gut.

”Around five thousand for everything. Just burying is one thousand five hundred. But I'm not just going to accept your money.” She finally looked back over at Sloane, but there was very little emotion in her gaze. No anger, no sadness, just emptiness. She hated herself for this, and she was still pissed about everything Sloane had said, but above it all she just felt numb. None of those emotions would bring Jinhai back. Her stubbornness wouldn't see him buried. ”I'll let everyone else know, and anyone that wants to can contribute. With my new job I can cover some. Britney already knows, anyway. It's only fair to everyone, so they can attend something for him. Otherwise I would just have him buried with family present.”

Sloane had fully anticipated Linqian to just outright refuse her and had readied herself to explain to the woman that it wasn’t an offer. She showed no hint of satisfaction as she nodded her head at the price point. It was less than what she imagined. Perhaps Linqian was lowballing her, but she wasn’t going to push. Sloane was less happy about the idea of getting the others involved. She could just imagine someone calling for a vote regarding what kind of food would be served at Jinhai’s wake. What she couldn’t imagine was Linqian going around asking for contributions to a funeral fund, although it was quite clear to Sloane now that she couldn’t imagine much of anything about Linqian accurately.

“Don’t be stu—” Sloane stopped herself and shook her head.

“Are you sure? I can just take care of it.” Sloane knew Linqian was sure. She had never seen the woman act so clinical and objective before. It was clear that she was only even toying with the idea out of love for her brother. “I mean, let me help. Are you sure you want to talk to everyone about this? I can let them know. I can take care of setting up the collection.”

Linqian really didn't want to talk to everyone. She didn't want to talk to anyone about it. But she'd already told the worst person she could… no, second worst. The worst would hear it from Sloane no matter what. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to take it all back… but she couldn't. For Jinhai. He deserved the funeral she couldn't afford.

”You know what, sure. You let them know. Doesn't even need to be everyone. Britney, Jack, Stormy, Anya.” It was difficult to hide the disdain in her voice when she said that name. But she was part of the list that had been friendly to Jinhai, and Linqian had already forced him to cut her off in life. It wasn't fair to do the same in death. ”I can't see anyone else contributing. Definitely don't tell Leon, or his cult might get involved.”

She took another step back, head turning to the side and laughing bitterly. She couldn't believe she was having such a civil conversation with Sloane. Jinhai would be amazed. Was this maturing? No, it was just a necessity for him. ”If you take care of the collection nobody can accuse me of using my brother's death for money.”

Because she was sure people would.

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll fabricate some horrible ulterior motive to be the reason why I’m doing it,” said Sloane with a huff.

Sloane allowed her hand in her pocket to finally release her Channeler that she had been holding since the start of a conversation. Sloane wasn’t naive enough to believe that having one conversation with Linqian that didn’t end in a violent eruption meant they would suddenly resolve any of their past problems. At the end of the day, Sloane was bleach and Linqian was ammonia—on their own neither were very palatable and when forced to mix together they could wipe out an entire room with their toxicity. However, Sloane hoped that the next time that Jinhai’s recycled pile of recessive traits went to beat her outside the head with a book she’d pass by King James and grab a brochure instead.

She caught sight of the ferry approaching out of her periphery. As illuminating as speaking with Linqian had been, Sloane had come to the Halloween festival with the intention of enjoying it, which required being around someone who at the very least had a GED.

“Don’t go hunting the Big Bad Wolf without the rest of us, Red. There are plenty of other people who want him to pay for what he did to Jinhai. Try and enjoy the festival,” said Sloane, turning away and heading towards the dock. She had gotten to the spot she had originally stopped upon and paused again to look back at Linqian. There was something else extremely important that she had to say and she had nearly forgotten.

“Also, you should really quit smoking,” said Sloane, waving her hand in front of her face. “It’s awful for you.”

Linqian was so close to being the nicest she'd ever been to Sloane and telling her to enjoy the festival too, however someone without the ability to have fun enjoyed it. She choked on her words when Sloane went and completely ruined the civil moment they'd had. Linqian didn't have the energy to get back up to aggressively pissed again - instead she just wanted Sloane out of her sight as quickly as possible.

”Oh fuck right off.” Linqian flipped Sloane off, half wasted cigarette held beside her middle finger. If she had another packet on her she would have lit another purely out of spite. She fucking needed it. ”I don't need your approval to smoke myself into an early grave.”

Rolling her eyes, Linqian stepped back to the wall she'd been beside before. She twisted her body to lean her shoulder against it so that she didn't have to look at Sloane, effectively cutting off any further conversation. One hand agitatedly went to her lips, shoving her remaining cigarette in between them - as if there was anything more than the butt left. She sucked on it aggressively, lips twisted back into a scowl but dark eyes still devoid of much emotion. She was making it clear that she wasn't willing to listen to anything else Sloane had to say, beyond the conversation they'd just had about Jinhai. Hopefully she'd quickly fuck off so Linqian could have a moment to collect herself before Edict appeared… which would hopefully be too late to catch this ferry, so they didn't have to get the same one as Sloane.

Sloane held her gaze steady on Linqian, her hand slowly rising to her mouth as if to cover another fake cough. Beyond her fingertips the corners of her lips turned up and were pulled tight by rarely exercised muscles as Linqian made Sloane not only smile but laugh, the sound like the sudden loud screech of untuned violin strings used to provoke a cheap jumpscare. It was drowned out by the sounding of the ferry’s horn as it pulled into port. She called out to Linqian over her shoulder as she turned away, “Fine, but I’m not going to pass around a second collection plate.”

Sloane gingerly raised her hand in a half-hearted farewell as she walked away, her fingers dropping until there was just one left.

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Trisha's an ex-Sycamore Tree member so I'm sure she definitly isn't gonna pop up and be a dick at some point

Shes using Ezras money on a security detail rn

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

@Punished GN Y'all really gonna make me pull Georgie out of retirement.

@silvermist1116

YES THEN TRISHA CAN SET THE BEES ON HER!!!

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

Why is everyone fucking called Malik this is the third

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

& Henri Han

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

---

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.

---

Henri Han & Andre Makoumbou

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

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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.