FernStone

Recollections: Primal Sinister

@NoriWasHere when you come back gimme that Co-GM rule so I can slap this fucker down

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Hi! Nori (GM) is sick atm so they might not be around for a while, but the rp is definitely open to more joiners!!

Recollections: Primal Sinister

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Interactions: Paloma @Atrophy
South Side, Circle Neighbourhood, David Smith’s Home

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“Shit, I’m calling anyone who will come,” Malik nervously responded as he watched the crowd swarm the two. He eyed the strange girl with an apprehensive look as a strange itch began to present itself on his emotional field. He took a step back as the crowd fussed over the girl, tried to get her to safety and more. He then watched as the crowd dispersed a moment later. “The fuck, you some kind of cult leader-YES, we need backup,” Malik spoke into the phone, “Caleb is dead. Vin is holding it off but we’ll need a response unit…. Yeah, confirmed dead…. Yeah…okay get here quick.”

Malik placed his phone in his pocket as he looked back towards the girl. “If you don’t mind, we’d like you to stick around. We need to figure out what happened and all, and you got a really good look at the monster.” He motioned for the girl to follow him across the street as the sound of the fight continuing was still ever present outside. While this girl was not really his concern she was a local, and everyone had to look out for each other down here.

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VS
The Doppelgänger

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The doppelgänger roared as it saw that the girl did not take the bait and was escorted outside. He would be sure to track her down after the pain on its back was taken care of. The doppleganger shot forward at frightening speed, jumped up to the roof, before it grabbed hold of it. It held itself there for a second before it pushed off and sent the two crashing into the hallway below.

Fuck. Now this was a proper fight. Vin let out a grunt of pain as they once again were slammed into a solid surface. They shoved a clawed foot into the doppelgänger's back, detaching as they tried to roll to the side and away from it.

”That all you got? Hittin' me into walls?” they snarled, new wounds on their back ones again beginning to stitch up painfully. But they didn't show any sign of pain - instead there was only joy shining in their eyes.

The doppelganger just laughed, a sinister sound that echoed around the damaged house. It's arm twisted into a spear again that shot towards where Vin had been. Vin's strong arms came up, hitting the spear and redirecting it as they scrambled to the side. Ethereal black light coated them and the doppelganger as they magically defended against its attack. Their hand snapped out to grab the spear, sharp claws digging into it and yanking the Doppelganger towards them.

Now it was a proper fight. Facing each other, no hits to the back, no slamming into walls. The maw on its torso sneered at them. Vin sneered back, lips pulling back to reveal their sharp, bloodstained teeth.

They jumped forward, claws digging into the doppelganger’s shoulder as they tried to kick its legs out from underneath it again. With sickening crunches, its legs snapped to the side. The spear curled back around and stabbed into Vin’s shoulder.

Vin didn’t even flinch. They twisted their head to the side and bit down on the appendage- snapping the bone and further. Crunching it until they ripped it off. The sharp end remained in their shoulder, blood sluggishly leaking around it. They smiled, licking blood off their lips. Bitter.

The doppelganger’s lengthened appendage shortened. Its arms, now like strong tendrils, wrapped around Vin’s waist. They were thrown through the hall wall, leaving behind a tiger sized hole before slamming into the back wall. Plaster fell on them and they grimaced. More broken ribs, even as the others started to snap back into place-

Gnashing teeth and sharp claws fell on them as the doppelganger launched itself onto their slumped body. Claws like theirs, but different - shorter, more like thorns - ripped down their chest. They kicked where it’s dick would’ve been- part of them hoped it was still there.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t, but it succeeded in dislodging the doppelganger slightly. Vin flipped them, arching their back to avoid the chomping maw. Teeth and claws tore into flesh as they grappled. Each time the doppelganger hurt them there wasn’t pain- just thrill. To have something that could hurt them so much. The blood- its and their own- went to their head. A rush, grinning as they tasted iron on their tongue.

If only this could last forever.

Their back slammed into a wall again- ah, that was getting boring.

Snaps, cracks, bodies contorted in near tandem. Short and sharp bone spears stabbed through Vin’s stomach as their legs and tail morphed. Feet lengthened, claws become sharp enough to decapitate anyone lucky enough to be at the other end of them. The thick tail balanced them as they delivered a powerful kick to the doppelganger’s lower half.

Two.

Limbs went flying. Excitement filled Vin’s chest as they watched a twisted leg, bone completely broken, fall to the ground. Excitement turned to elation as the doppelganger completely replaced the limbs. It’s stronger. Oh fuck- finally!

Hoarse laughter bubbled up in their throat. The doppelganger’s arm shifted into something akin to a club, slamming into Vin’s arm like it was made of steel. The cracks that followed were like music to Vin’s ears. Intense pain, breaks so bad their regeneration could just barely knit the torn muscles together- It’s going to be so fun when I kill this thing.

Even with the broken bones they could still use their arm, muscles threading back together in a strange form of regeneration that aimed to keep them in animalistic fighting condition. They slammed another foot into the doppelganger and pushed it away, scrambling to the side.

A sharp coldness froze them.

Another mouth. What remained of David’s head, barely hanging on, teeth elongating into fangs that bit into Vin’s shoulder. Icy poison shot into their veins. They fell onto their stomach. They struggled to flip themselves over, chest heaving up and down. It was difficult to move. Venom like theirs.

Weaker than theirs. A mimicry of theirs.

Work work work work work- All the ribs that weren’t broken shoved through their back, spearing the doppelganger as it went for their throat. Sharp bone shoved into its body and poison enhanced with black lux caused enough pain that it reeled back.

Three. Ribs pulled into their back with a squelch, and kangaroo legs lengthened back into a tigers. They had to finish this soon. No more transformations. End it. It was hurt. Tear it apart.

Vin pushed themselves to their feet, swaying slightly as their vision went blurry. Pain and blood loss was starting to take its toll… But not enough. They refused to go down, and if they did, they’d go down fighting.

”Last chance to surrender,” Vin grunted, eyes narrowing at the doppelganger. It was a mess of flesh and blood, black smoke curling from all the places Vin had hit it. Its arms shifted into thick tendrils, spikes made of sharp bone shoving through. Its gaping maw formed a mocking grin and it laughed.

No answer, no surrender. Good. Beat it, bound it, serve it up to the girl for questioning-

Using the wall as leverage, they launched themselves at the doppelganger. Teeth tore through already damaged flesh, and their claws scratched whatever they could reach. Trying to find the most vulnerable spots- to reach its organs.

The spiked tendrils wrapped around their waist, slamming them into the ground before it followed. Their leg shot up to kick it away, going right into the gaping maw as it moved to catch them.

It snapped shut, jagged teeth ripping through fur and flesh. Grotesque snapping filled the air as Vin's leg shattered, bones fracturing into multiple pieces. The doppelganger chomped down again and again, trying to devour their leg as if it was a piece of chicken. A thorn covered tendril wrapped around their body, creeping around their throat. Stabbing, choking.

Agony. Dying. Fight. Survive. Kill.

For them.

Dark green and black mist curled out of their hands as they channeled all of their magic into one final spell. The Final Blow.. It was kill or be killed. No time for thoughts. Only fight. Kill. Survive.

”Die.” A savage hiss ripped itself from Vin's mouth as they bent at their torso, forcing their entire body up even as the doppelganger slammed them into a wall like a dog getting especially aggressive with a toy. Their claws ripped through its back and powerful black lux surged through their skin.

It tore the Doppelganger apart as much as Vin's claws did.

It gave one last dying bite before the blow killed it. The mutated body went limp on Vin, and they kicked it off with their other leg. It revealed what was left of the one it got to. A mutilated mess, skin and muscle ripped apart to reveal the cracked bone within. It was hanging together by thin threads of sticky, red flesh. Blood painted the floor red.

It was agony. Now that the adrenaline was gone it was even clearer. They were going to die without a healer… but that wasn't the only concern.

The final blow... No magic.

What little magic they had sustaining their beast form, regeneration pathetically cauterising the wounds so they wouldn't just die, was snuffed out. Fuck, fuck, fuck-

Vin bit into their good arm to suppress their scream. Claws pulled back into their fingertips, leaving bleeding holes. Bones snapped and twisted as they pulled back in, growing shorter and more human. It was agony. Their vision went black as their body was forced to transform back in its battered form. Their injured leg jerked, skin painfully shifting. It was worse than being a chewing toy of the creature- all the pain multiplied as their body tried to twist itself back into its normal shape, through broken bones and barely hanging together flesh.

They leaned to the side, throwing up the alcohol and bread they’d eaten earlier. The agony from the transformation subsided, leaving only the agony from all of their injuries. Fuck. They’d live. It was difficult to get back to their feet- well, single working foot. They leaned heavily against the wall and hopped towards the open door. They couldn’t get much further. Didn’t want to like this. They slumped back down, legs shoving out and into the path leading up to it.

They were a state. It was only made more obvious now that they were human again without the covering of their striped fur. Bruises bloomed across their tanned skin, sports bra and boxers combo hiding very little of their injuries. There were deep wounds all over them- a particularly nasty looking laceration where claws had ripped into their side still bleeding, and another across their cheek and dangerously close to their tired brown eyes. Their right arm hung limp at their side, shards of bone shoving through it.

Then there was their leg. It was torn apart, skin stripped apart to reveal the shattered bone beneath. The only thing connecting their upper thigh to their calf was a few stringy threads of sinew. What little muscle and skin remained was torn beyond recognition, and the white bone was coated in blood - even if the active bleeding was now sluggish. It looked bad, it was bad, and it hurt like a bitch.

But they still had the energy to shout.

”Malik! When the fuck is a doc gettin’ here?!”

Recollections: Under The Sycamore Tree Part. 1

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Interactions: Adora @Mixtape Ghost N, Sloane @Atrophy, Everyone
Artifact Team

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With the monster beheaded by Britney, Luca pressed himself back against the wall. The remaining flesh on his hands completely rotted away, leaving them as clean as they’d started. With a grimace he pulled his gloves back on. His chest heaved up and down, head tilting to the side and squinting against the fire still blocking their way out. He inched towards it has frost crept towards them - preferring the heat radiating off it to the gripping frost that could easily hurt someone as sick as him.

But it wasn’t over yet. What could he do? Adora said to run. To where? Back and out? No way. If he got closer-

Part of the roof caved in. Dirt stung his eyes, and dust filled his lungs. Luca took a heaving breath, before coughing. Rough, horrendous sounding coughs tore through him as he breathed in more and more dust. His knees buckled underneath him and hit the floor. He curled forward and into himself. Even as the dust began to clear, hacking coughs still ripped through his frail body. Rotten lungs barely functioned under the best circumstances… It was so difficult to breathe. But he had to. Deep breaths, slow breaths.

Dark coloured bile was forced past Luca’s lips, spat out onto the floor as he forcefully coughed up as much dust as he could. Eventually, breathing got easier. His limbs stopped shaking, and. It was just a short lived attack brought on by the dust. He’d be fine.

One hand grasped at the wall as he pushed himself back to his feet. His hand went into his backpack, pulling out an unlabelled tub of pills. He threw a couple in his mouth and washed them down with the small water bottle he’d brought with him.

That should relieve the agony in his limbs a little, at least. Either way he’d just push through like normal.

”A- Adora, are you alright?” he coughed out, squinting to try and find his friend. She… seemed to be alive. He wanted to stay behind and make sure she was alright, but what could he do? He’d just hurt her more if he got close. It was better to press forward, find the artifacts and get out of here.

”Let’s keep going. We still need to get past the guard dog… Gotta be quick since we’re lit up.”

Before he started moving forward Luca moved back towards Sloane, pausing a short distance away - long enough that she wouldn’t quite feel the prickling of his aura, but it was almost there. He looked at her with completely brown eyes - no hints of the rotten green that was a telltale for the rot taking over. Not that he knew she had the bronze needle on hand.

”I’m alright, in case you’re worried,” he said quietly - talking about the coughing like he was dying… which she knew he was. ”It was the dust, not the rot. It hasn’t progressed at all because I… well, I can tell when it does.”

His eyes creased slightly, reassuring smile hidden behind his black surgical mask. He held up a gloved hand. ”Let’s go- I’d offer you a hand, but that’ll end badly for us both.”

Recollections: Primal Sinister

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Interactions: Hopefully not the world’s biggest idiot @Atrophy, Not David @NoriWasHere
South Side, Circle Neighbourhood, David Smith’s Home

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Being slammed through two walls wasn’t fun. It was the opposite of fun. Vin managed to twist their body so their back took the brunt of the impact, teeth and claws still sunk into the Doppelganger. Blood matted the fur across their back - and it was the only thing hiding the bruises undoubtedly blooming across their skin. It started to painfully stitch together. At least another rib was broken.

But fuck it. They’d suffered worse.

Their teeth ripped into its shoulder, tearing out a whole chunk of flesh and spitting it out onto the wood floor. Blood stained their sharp canines, bared for another bite. Their sharp yellow eyes momentarily left the creature they were wrapped around to look at Paloma - still alive, still there.

And it was trying to convince her to talk them down.

”Are you fuckin’ serious- don’t listen to it. That ain’t David, it’s a fuckin’ Apparition - an evil fucking Ghost! Nothin’ like the one you got inside, lady,” Vin snarled. His legs dropped back to the ground with a thud, pawed feet pushing out into a wider stance. ”Go with Malik! Get outta here!”

There was a chaotic, joyful glint in their gaze that shifted back to the doppelganger. Their front teeth lengthened, forming sharp, viper like fangs. Their claws pulled out of skin only to grab it and dig in further. Then Vin pushed against it with all of their weight and strength, head shooting forward to bite down on the doppelganger again. There was two aims - get it on the floor, and shoot it full of enough venom to paralyse it for enough of a moment they could fuck it up more.

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Interactions: “Bill” & Elara @NoriWasHere, Varnan @Blizz
Bill’s Tattoo Shop

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At least one of the outsiders fucked off. The one still with them could handle himself - thankfully. They did need the help, as much as Bryn didn’t want to admit it. She turned her head towards Elara as she pulled out her phone, recognising Adam’s voice. Of course.

"Callin’ help in so soon?" Bryn snorted - though she was grateful for it. While she hadn't used her full abstraction yet, not wanting to burn the shop down, she had a limited supply of ash with her… and there were no dead bodies around.

"Only a couple? We got this, we ain’t fought during the Cataclysm for nothing." Her eyes narrowed. Watching, as Elara notched an ice arrow. Waiting. Her eyes lit up with an amber light, as if they were smouldering. Glowing amber lines spread out in her vision towards all the useable bones- none that she could actually see. Roadkill, probably. But she could get to them if she had to.

The ice arrow barely seemed to stop it as it burnt out. She didn’t expect it to. Maybe if she had a few bodies worth of ash… fuck, don’t think about that. Work with what she had. One hand went on the cold ground as she crouched in a position she could easily dodge in.

Then she shot hard balls of burning ashes at the Doppelganger - each one tightly packed and flaming hot, like magical bullets, aimed all over its body.

”Now would be a great time for some’a that freezin’ bullshit!"

Iron and Honey: A Love Story [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Home

Though she’d mostly enjoyed the time spent out, Trisha was relieved to get home. In the end they’d just done a quick stop in the Greenhouse - Trisha making sure all the bees were fine, a quick check of honey production while bathing them in her pheromones. It meant that they were pretty content to go about the rest of their evening without her around… leaving her beeless when they made their way inside their place.

It was just more convenient for cuddling…

“The den is still set up with pillows and blankets, so we can just go relax in there? Maybe put something on in the background?” Trisha paused mid step towards it after discarding her jacket, freezing for a minute. Wait, she hadn’t cleared all of the crumpled up balls of paper filled with scribbled out scrawls. At least she’d been quite aggressive in covering up her words but… they were still there.
“Or maybe bed will be comfier! We can watch the sunset- oh, also, can I put paper in the woodstove?”

Casey was already down the hall, bringing the bags of clothing up into the bedroom. In doing so, he met the den door and thought for a moment about the previous night. He knew she was hurt; and had a pretty clear idea of what she’d been doing. She was trying to do what he said… Think of what she actually wanted to say…
But looking into the den, there was an absolute pile of paper. Like she couldn’t get it out. A frown came over his face, and he shook his head. Not wanting to force her into what he wanted, or what he thought would be best, Casey simply accepted that she’d tried and failed. He wouldn’t rub her nose in it.

”What-uh… Whatever you want, my Baby-Bee. You can put paper into it, yeah. Just be careful, and don’t burn yourself doing it. I’m gonna put these clothes away and pick out what I wanna wear tomorrow…” he replied very simply, his thoughts lingering on all the things left unsaid. It made him supremely sad that she didn’t feel like any of it was worth bringing up to him, and he didn’t want to steal the thoughts out of her head. But what other choice did he have?

Apparently waiting forever… He turned promptly and ascended the stairs, pulling the door back to where she had it earlier.

“Okay- make sure to show me whatever you choose, so I can figure out something matching,” Trisha called up the stairs, before she scurried into the den. She crouched down beside the sizable pile of paper, just looking at it for a moment. She’d written a lot… but none of it had been right. Maybe it was just seeing it written down made it feel more real. More vulnerable.

A piece at the top had opened up enough to show the first few sentences, not so perfectly hidden.
I think I do love him and that means if I lose him I’ll-
She reached out, fist closing around the paper to cover it all back up. Then she scooped up the pile in her arms, hurrying with it over to the woodstove. It took a moment to get it actually going, then she started tossing paper after paper into it. She was careful, of course, but once it was all there she stayed… squatting in front of it watching the words go up in flames.

Like burning them up would get rid of her worries. It all came down to fear. Fear that she’d lose the bees, that she’d lose Casey, and that she’d be left all alone. Some of the notes had ended up with thoughts she’d buried so deep down written across them… And some had been so cold. None of it was right. All of it would just make him view her differently… worse…

So she hugged her legs to her chest, eyes fixated on the fire as she watched it all burn.
There was a moment that she was allowed to remain in that stupor… But Casey could feel it all washing off of her just like he could feel the heat from the stove as he got closer. It wasn’t hard to feel. She was hurting still, from whatever was written on those pages. He wondered what it was that had her so broken up… Did he do it? Was it because of the things he said? Ways to tell him that she actually didn’t feel comfortable?

He did his best to put it out of thought, taking things out of the bags and trying to figure out what went with what. He was so immediately drawn to something bee themed, but imagining that it would get stale quickly, he set that aside for something more eventful later on. For now, he… He just couldn’t really decide.
It wasn’t like her negative energy was sucking into him or anything. It wasn’t like he was feeling every little bit of it.

He wasn’t…

Slowly, quietly, Casey descended the stairs having not picked anything. He had to see what she’d do… His glove was tightly fixed to his hand, and he gripped his fist for a moment before making a step around the corner to end up behind her. He was openly reading her, and it was clearly brushing up against her emotional field like a piece of fine sandpaper, looking for rough spots and patches…
Not to buff them out, of course. Just to know that they’re there. To see if they got better or worse as he approached.

”Hey…” his voice quietly pushed out from his throat and into her ears.

She didn’t respond immediately. It was like she couldn’t immediately drag herself out of whatever had come over her. Trying to suppress it all again, watching it burn… but it didn’t work. She’d opened up the box last night and she couldn’t shut it back up. Destroying the evidence didn’t get rid of the thoughts.

“Oh… hey.” Trisha finally spoke, when all the words had burned away. She dragged her gaze away from the fire and tilted her head back so that she could half look at Casey. She didn’t even realise he was reading her… not because she didn’t feel the brushes against her emotional field. But she was used to constant signals coming in, learning to zone out anything that wasn’t pheromones immediately needing her attention. So she didn’t even think…

It did change as he got closer. The rough patches got rougher, but the parts of her emotional field that were smooth, warm, got brighter too. Intense love that led to fear of losing the love. An eternal cycle she always found herself stuck in. She wanted so badly to be able to finally open up, but she was also terrified of it. Because what if he decided the next argument was it? What if it was her inability to just accept that he wasn’t going to leave that would, ironically, make him leave? But she didn’t want that. She was already so far gone…
“I don’t like writing things down. It makes them real.”

Casey got closer, hoping that she’d experience a more intense warming sensation… That he could at least make her world brighter right now.
”It’s all real, Trisha… They’re your thoughts on paper.” he said rather conspicuously… As if he knew what they were. Of course he did.
His legs bent into a pretzel as he slipped down onto the floor beside her. His arms came up under hers, taking both hands into his and holding them gently.
”I’m sorry… For snapping at you and making assumptions. Can you forgive me?” he asked quietly, kissing the top of her head slowly and cutely, lips planted on her scalp.

Trisha nodded, fingers curling around his as she tried not to cry again. It was so stupid. It wasn’t even the negative thoughts, it was his warmth. She could handle so much - and had - but then for just a moment she didn’t have to carry it all herself and she broke. What would she do if she lost this?
“O-of course I can- I do. I just… was scared… it came out wrong,” she managed to admit, barely a whisper. It didn’t feel much better saying it.
“My bees are the only thing that hasn’t- hasn’t left. I only have them and you.”

He nodded. This is what she wanted to say but couldn’t… He felt it ripple off her Emotional Field… Knew that this is what he was here for. For her.
”Can I tell you a story? About me?” he asked her gently, holding her tight to his chest as he let his White Lux fade away into the background.

“Why wouldn’t you be able to?” Trisha asked back almost reflexively, before nodding. She leaned back against him, legs still pressed to herself in a tight ball. Her head pressed against him, tilting slightly so she could look up at him.
“Of course.”

He nodded. It was quiet for a moment.
”I have Orange Lux. The emotion I use to make my spells work is courage. White Lux needs nostalgia; and for the longest time I didn’t have the recollection for it… I couldn’t think of things that weren’t tainted by resentment or sadness. It’s still hard, but… Anyway, that’s not the point. The day I Kindled was a bad day. Probably the worst day of my life. See, I was in China. Part of the Foreign Legion, before I ever joined my own military… Because they were already fighting. I wanted to get away from here and run as far as I could, so I took whatever position I could get. Now, we were in a bad place. Fighting in the Jungle sucks; it’s never fun. It makes you crazy.”

He paused, trying to regather his thoughts. He knew what he wanted to convey, but he didn’t know how to get there without turning into a driveling mess.

”This hill… We needed it, they said. It was a decent defensible position. Good for artillery and mortars; they could shoot down into the nearby city without any sort of sightline issues. Taking it was… Awful. But, it wasn’t unexpected. That part wasn’t necessarily the hard part.
The hard part was keeping it. And we did for a long while. Long enough to have a supply change; refresh on food and clean water. Boards to fortify trenches, make a slightly nicer place to be so we weren’t living in mud and shit. I can only assume the enemy didn’t like that, because after that shit started getting worse. Mostly at night. It was their favorite thing, y’know? Get in through the foliage, quiet as hell… No noise. You’d never even know they were there until you heard the sentries in the foxholes around the perimeter just… Y’know… Start screaming. Dying. You’d know they were coming then, and the grenades would come out. We’d absolutely level the surrounding forest every time.”

She could feel his hands shaking already. Like he was there again, scared to death of what was out in the dark. But they gripped tightly into her shirt. Tight enough that she could feel him pushing through the moment.

”Command told us to hold tight! That we’d get reinforcements soon, and that they’d flood the area. They wanted it fortified more, so that we could effectively hold more troops there. More walls and guns meant they wouldn’t come in as much, or that they’d be less likely to try. We accepted that. But then shit got bad in the city, and they had to start pulling out. We were… trapped. Stuck on a ridgeline with the enemy bubble getting bigger and bigger near us. It was only a matter of time. So we radioed again! And we asked what the situation was, how we were going to get out! They said we couldn’t extract yet; that they needed us to keep shelling as we could to cover the main force’s escape!”

He let out a grunt of pissed off incredulity. Frustration and anger meeting somewhere in the center.

”Okay, fine! We stay, we keep shelling, we do what we’re supposed to, we keep dying more and more and more until there’s not so many of us left! By then, we can’t actually keep the area completely under wraps; we’re hungry. We’re eating fucking lizards and snakes that don’t know any better than to crawl into our trenches! We try to get the bodies out, but they’re our friends! So we try to bury them and-”

A full body shake. A deep breath through a snotty nose.
”I couldn’t let them rest like that… In their own blood and shit… I couldn’t. So, I did it. I buried them. Captain Fleuren kept screaming at me ’Get back! Get back!’ and I kept telling him I just don’t speak French. Obviously that was a fucking lie, like they knew, right? But I just… I was so done. So pissed off, so tired and angry that our lives were being thrown away over this non-tennible position. And as I was doing this digging, I kept thinking about how pissed off I was that they weren’t helping. That I was doing it on my own. And then I heard the screaming turn inward. Into the complex. The little fuckers tunneled under us. Undermined. Busted a hole through our line and were bayonetting everyone in the back! I had to stop what I was doing, and it only made me more pissed off and sad. Angry. That if they’d been digging with me, maybe they wouldn’t have been getting stabbed to death. It was stupid, I was stupid, I know that now, that I probably should’ve just died with them, but because I was outside…”

He thought about it for another moment. Remembered the feeling of his feet kicking against the ground. Of scooping the machine gun off its emplacement and tucking it up under his arm. Round after round. Screaming. Cover. Screaming. Cover. The gun eventually just… Shooting itself. And then another, and another. The more of them he touched, the more they just aimed and shot at whatever he was already looking at.

”I got in behind the people behind us. Swept ‘em out. Closed the hole. Started digging more graves. I was there for two weeks. Alone. Learning that the most natural power I could muster was concentrated multi-interaction. Enchanting things to do something simple under my personal direction. I learned that I could not only get a dozen guns to do what I wanted, but that I could tell the artillery pieces to shoot too. Eventually I turned them myself. Backwards. Into the forest. I painted that place with fire and phosphates until it was a fucking wasteland. At first I was scared, but… I found my stride. I found that I felt better just… Doing tasks. Keeping things as in-line as I could. That magic filled up the little empty part of me.”

He looked at Trisha directly now. His face was bright red and tears were streaming down his face.
”I didn’t fucking leave them Trisha… I stayed! I stayed so long that they managed to retake the area. Liberated the hill… Found me and six dozen graves… And a wall of dead and decaying bodies I threw into a shit heap at the front. To scare anyone who thought they were coming into a graveyard. I didn’t fucking leave. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you? The last time I ran from something was… Was when I enlisted. And then, I was too fucking young to do anything else. I don’t run from danger or pain, Trisha… I welcome it into my life now, because it’s necessary. A part of me. It gives me courage that I can overcome this kind of thing.”

Trisha was crying too. She couldn’t hold it back, hearing him talk about all of that suffering- his suffering. Her hands moved up from where they’d been covering his to gently caress his face. She did understand what he was saying. They were dead, and he still didn’t leave them. He stayed in a place where he’d suffered so much to protect people who weren’t even there anymore. It gave her a heavy, horrible feeling in her chest. Not because she thought he’d leave her, or because of her own fear, but because he’d gone through all of that. Because she lo-
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Because of what he’d been through, because she’d only make him suffer more if he wasn’t going to run away. She was too damaged to not, no matter how strong her feelings were. But- but-

“My own mother left me. I- I don’t know why anyone else would stay if she couldn’t. She loved me and then I disappointed her! M-maybe it won’t even be running. It’ll be throwing out the trash, like she did.” Her chest heaved up and down as it spilled out. She understood, but she also wanted him to understand why she struggled so much. She couldn’t hold it inside, not after everything he said.
“I don’t know how to trust anything. Even- even if I understand what you’re saying… You don’t leave, everyone leaves me- I- I could be the first. I just don’t- I want to trust it. I really do. But if she left me, my dad didn’t even want me in the first place… even them… how could anyone want to stay?”

”And I don’t know how you can take that story and… And not believe me… Trisha… When I say this next thing, it’s not going to be something you want to hear, but I need to say it. If your parents have really treated you that way? Then they don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve to see what a beautiful and smart woman you are; how you’re capable, and you’re smart and thoughtful. A parent should have to try to not love their child, not the opposite… Like, Lynette! Last time I spent an extended amount of time in St. Portwell, I told her I hated her; that I never wanted to see her again and that she ruined my childhood. Do you think she cared? No! She didn’t, besides that she was hurt. I didn't want to be a part of her life, and she couldn’t fathom it! Because deep down, she does love me… If your Mom doesn’t even care whether or not you’re around? If she left you? Then shes a shit mother. Worse than mine, and she doesn’t deserve you.”

His voice had become very adamant despite the gentle wavering. Of course it was hard to say, but he believed it. That nobody in their right mind would socially abandon their child. Even when he’d left, he received gift packages from the Temple, and then separately from his Mother. She never stopped doing little things that kept him strung just close enough.
”I… I don’t know, Trisha… I’m not going to leave you. I’ll die on our hill if I need to, and come back again as a ghost. I will, because I love what we have. Even if we’ve only just started, is it… Is it crazy to feel like we just have a connection? Like I feel comfortable around you instantly? That we fit like two pieces of the same puzzle?”

“I- I- I feel it too,” Trisha managed to get out. She was struggling after everything Casey had said. She did believe him, she did believe that he didn’t want to leave, she really did. But that belief was fighting against twenty four years of abandonment. It was so hard not to feel scared. Because she really hadn’t felt something like this before. And nobody had tried so hard to reassure her, or told her that it wasn’t her fault.

“M-my mom- she hasn’t- she-” She choked on her own words. It was like the floodgates to her emotions had opened, and she couldn’t hold it back as she started sobbing. She curled into Casey, pressing her face into his chest to muffle the sounds - the little hiccups, cries, mumbled sorries. Her hands gripped onto his shirt as she cried. It was years worth of suppressed feelings. Of always telling herself it wasn’t her fault, while secretly believing it was.
“N-nobody’s ever taken my s-side. Not like… like that. B-because I’m not good enough… I’m- I’m not smart, i-if I was she wouldn’t have… s-she… I’m sorry. Y-you’re right… B-but I’m so scared that- that it’s me. B-but I know. I know. I love you.”

She said it… Maybe it’s because she was extra emotional, or because she was vulnerable… He could imagine a world where she thought she was solidifying something by saying it for the sake of saying it. But he didn’t care. He just held her while she cried, hand running through her hair.
”I love you too, Trisha… I love you too…”

Time passed, the two of them wrapped up in one another exchanging breath and tender physical contact. Eventually, Casey found his knees in pain, and while he didn’t want the moment to end, he did want the avoidable physical irritation to. So, wordlessly and without letting go of the clinging barnacle, he picked her up and took her to a more comfortable place. To that big couch they both loved so much.
He was careful not to jostle her as he swung both legs up and onto it, knee-crawling to the corner where the back was highest and he could wedge himself upright. To cradle her… This had technically been their goal.

And there he’d let time pass until she was ready to breathe again. To be calm, and to simply be.

It took a while for Trisha to calm down. It was a lot. She hadn’t cried like that in a long time, and never with someone else there. But it was actually… nice, as she came back to herself. She felt safe in his arms. A little bit of the weight was taken off her. It wasn’t all of it, but it was a start. Eventually, she started to unfurl. Her legs moved from against her chest to stretched out, feet pressing into the couch. Her arms went loosely around Casey. She stopped completely hiding her face in his chest, tilting it up to look at him.

She was probably really ugly right now after all of the crying, but she didn’t really care. She felt safe and comfortable. The anxious thoughts that normally haunted her were quiet for once.

Trisha was content to just silently cuddle him even when she’d calmed down… but the peace didn’t quite last. Her phone buzzed in her pants pocket. She wriggled a little to pull it out, squinting at it. There was a message from Cass saying they were going to come up- then another one, confirming that was still alright.

Underneath that were about thirty messages from a group chat she’d never seen before named ‘Saving Cass from herself.’ Trisha ignored that for just now.

“That’s Cass- she wanted to check if they can come up. Kind of surprised she didn’t just… send a text and then come…” Trisha said softly, looking up at Casey.
“I think… I’m actually still alright with it if you are?”

Casey had been fairly relaxed after spilling the beans about his time in the Pacific. Supporting it was her, he found himself warm and safe with her just like she did with him. Taking a deep breath, rubbing her shoulder gently, he nodded and shifted his body forward.
”I’m ready for anything with you next to me. Have’em come up. D’yknow what you want to eat?”
As he slid her off of him, he was conscious of his positioning and made sure to keep her close and facing him… Not pulling away or running. He really understood now, and wanted to do everything he could to keep her steady and at ease.

“Chicken from the place we got it when we first met? If you think you’ll be alright with chicken?” Trisha asked, shuffling off the couch to stand up. She rubbed her eyes before quickly sending Cass a response saying it was alright to come up, before skimming through the messages from the new group chat… which she got the gist of. An annoying request. One she’d consider. She put her phone back in her pocket and looked up at Casey, smiling slightly.
“I need to wash my face first, don’t I?”

Casey’s face became supremely warm as he got closer to hers, until his hands wrapped around her cheeks. He began to kiss her, under her eyes and on her cheeks, each little peck directed at a spot where her makeup had caked up during her crying.
”I love your tears… But I’m sure you’ll feel better cleaning up. So go do that, and I’ll get the order started. What do you want?” he asked gently.

Trisha giggled, the kisses light enough that they felt ticklish. She smiled softly at him, eyes half closing even as she squirmed a little bit.
“Just some of those chicken tenders and curly fries again. Definitely not as much as last time cause I only have that appetite if I’m high.” Something she was reluctant to do again because of the effect on the bees. Hopefully since it would just be four of them she’d be able to eat a full meal anyway…

“I’ll be back in a moment.” She leaned forward to press her lips against his in a light kiss, before pulling back and scurrying off to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Casey’s eyes lit up, and he was buried in his pocket before pulling his phone up and looking at it. His fingers flew and eventually he was talking.
”Leeeeooooon… My baby big brother???? Can you pleeeeease bring up some funky stuff?”
There was a pause, and then he spoke again with a laugh.
”I can pay…”
Another pause.
”I mean if you don’t-... Okay, okay! Fine! Geeze, just trying to give you the option, you don’t haaaave to.”
He laughed again.
”Alright. See you in a minute… Yeah, send her up. And figure out what you wanna eat from Pearla’s.”

As he hung up the phone, he smiled and called into the bathroom as he entered the main part of the house.
”Hey!? I don’t know if you want any, but… Leon’s gonna sell me the pot he has. So, if you wanna smoke, you can! For your appetite!”

“I’ll see, I don’t want to mess up with the bees again,” Trisha called back, before there was the sound of the taps turning on.

Casey didn’t get much of an opportunity to respond anyway. As if by magic, Cass was knocking on the door and swinging right in. Of course, there had been a minute or so in the elevator… and then a little cheetah power to cross the not exactly large roofspace. But she just wanted to maximise the time. Maybe catch them by surprise.
”Hellloooo again my favourite couple- wait, where’s Trisha?!” Though Cass had knocked, she hadn’t actually waited for an answer before stepping in. She stared at Casey, head twisting all around as if Trisha might be hidden behind a couch somewhere.
”Did she run off to avoid me? Is it because I let slip to our other friends that I was spending time with her?! Wait- is she just hiding behind you in the perfect stance that I can’t see her?”

Casey grinned at Cass, happy to have all that warm energy roll into the apartment. Hopefully her lingering influence would ward the cats off for the night, especially after the two of them shared a negativity bomb earlier by accident.
”Ooooh, you’re good!”
He stepped to the side, swinging his arms to reveal absolutely nothing. On her reaction, he laughed aloud and shook his head.
”She’s in the bathroom, goofball. We wound up napping, so she’s freshening up.”

He had his phone in his hand and one of his new shirts on- It just had a big picture of a deer, and above it there were bubble letters that said “Oh,”. There was an exclamation point next to the deer as well. He pointed to it.
”I’m rockin’ it by the way, this was a great choice.” he smiled.
”Did Lee mention we’re going for some fried chicken? They do a bunch of stuff, so if you don’t want that specifically, there’s plenty of other stuff.”

”Fucking sick, it looks great on you!” Cass grinned, flashing him a thumbs up. She moved properly into the house, getting closer to Casey without actually intruding into his space.
”Hell yeah he did! I always love me some fried chicken- that’s the shit you guys just do better than us. Your chips- I mean fries- on the other hand… they’re alright. But what else is there? I’m gonna eat a ton- since I kindled my appetite shot up. I think it’s all the animal forms, cause my older brother says it ain’t the same for him… but whatever! Loads of chicken and other shit! I’ll cover my stuff though, I ain’t expecting you or Trisha or whoever to pay for it.”

Still smiling, Casey pulled his phone out and went for the delivery app. Pulling up the menu, he handed it off.
”Dude, seriously crazy options. They even sell pudding! Not, uh… Not like your guys’ pudding, I mean like, y’know, the smooth creamy stuff. Not the bread stuff. Though, I do like that stuff too.”
He wasn’t lying as she pulled it up. It was like a true scottish fryer shop with all sorts of stuff getting dunked in batter and oil that shouldn’t. Pizza slices, candy bars, twinkies, anything she could imagine in addition to every kind of fried and grilled form of chicken one could eat.

”I like their macaroni and cheese a lot; it’s pretty fucking good. Super creamy and cheesy, obviously, and you can get it crazy style… So they put whatever the fuck you want in it.”
He shrugged his shoulders, throwing an arm over her and looking at her with a wry grin.
”Don’t even worry about paying. If Leon doesn’t have you, which he absolutely will, we do. I don’t care if you’ve got your own money, I’m just happy to have you here.”

Really, she felt like a little sister already. He found himself caring about her being there, and wanted to make her feel just as comfortable as Trisha.

”Aw fuck, there’s so much shit! Damn, it’s like an actual chippy- well the chips ain’t quite it, but fuck. They got deep fried pizza! I ain’t had that since I visited Glasgow when I was, like, ten or some shit! Damn.” As Cass chatted away, she started to add things to the basket, figuring that’d be easiest. A deep fried pizza slice, a bunch of chicken, fries, some customised macaroni and cheese with bacon and a bunch of other random shit added in.
”Yeah, kinda expected you to say that, Leon ain’t let me pay for a thing since I got here. I ain’t gonna trample on his man paying pride or whatever- shit, they really do have deep fried chocolate bars. Ain’t quite the original deep fried mars bar, but that’s alright.”

“Oh, add one for me. I didn’t get to try it last time.” Trisha came out of the bathroom, no longer looking like she’d spent a long time crying. She’d taken off most of her makeup and just reapplied some concealer here and there, and a light lip gloss.
“I’m going to get a change of clothes… I’m glad you guys are getting along.” She gestured to their closeness, seeming to mean it genuinely as she went past and towards the stares.

”Ohhhh yeahhh, it’s almost like your two favourite people would get along swimmingly!” Cass called after her, grinning. Trisha just laughed. Cass leaned in towards Casey conspiratorially.
”You learn to read between the lines with her- well she seems to be more honest with you, but anyway- that laugh was basically a ‘yes Cass you’re my bestest friend in the world.’ And how do I know this? I am the only person in the whole world that’s managed to make Trisha join a platonic, friendly cuddle pile. Sure, she sat on the edge of the sofa and would only let me half hug her, but I did it!”

Casey laughed about Leon’s inability to let others pay, then about Cass gushing over a cuddle puddle.
”Well, she’s got no problem clinging onto me! Thankfully… I’d be sad if she wasn’t interested… I’ve gone a long time waiting for a woman to cuddle me like that, so honestly I’m excited. It’s been great; I can’t wait for it to keep getting better and better.”

As Cass finished up her order, he started putting more stuff in the cart, smiling as the total went up.
”And, as far as Leon not wanting you to pay? I don’t think it’s ever been a manhood thing in our neck of the woods. More like we just… Well… Dad left a boatload of money, right? And he’s only made more being so good at what he does. Not sure if he’s told you about his uh… Other work…” he offered to her a branch of knowledge, wondering whether or not she’d eat from the fruit.

”Nope! He hasn’t, and if it isn’t something he wants to tell me yet that’s all good. I ain’t gonna go sticking my nose where it don’t belong.” She shrugged, smiling at Casey. Sure, she was curious, and could often be pushy about things - but Cass was pretty good at knowing where the line was, and wasn’t really one for gossip.
”Oh, unless he’s a superhero or vigilante! Then I want to know right now.”

Casey’s eyes lit up.
”Did you just say… Vigilante?”
He give her a very wide and knowing look… The kind of look that one gives someone when they’ve found out something that they’re not supposed to.
”Are you… Are you sure you want to know something like that?”

Cass stared back up at him with a somewhat evil grin and determined glint in her eyes.
”Absolutely. Even if it means I have to flee the country to escape getting killed like in some action movie, I want to know. Tell me.”

Casey turned to look out the glass of the front door, seeing his brother still hadn’t shown up yet… He pulled up the internet application on his phone, letting the delivery slide into the background. Typing a bit, he turned the phone back over to an article from the St. Portwell Porter; a local news print that focused on crime and the situations of the day…
The headline read “Secret Hero?: Giant on the Loose in St. Portwell’s Dark Districts!”

Cass would be able to see the blurry, almost comically worthless picture of a figure in a dark cloak pulled up in a boxing stance and driving his fist into a local thug.
”I won’t say he supplements his income by taking hits on local gangs, but… Leon loves fighting.”

Cass leaned in to squint at the blurry photo. While it really wasn’t an amazing photo… she could tell. She recognised his stance. But-
”Is he wearing a fucking cloak?! Oh man, he really is like a vigilante- dead cool.” It was pretty hard to tell if she was being serious about calling it cool when she was absolutely cackling to the point of wiping tears from her eyes.
”Shit, surely beating up local gangs is pretty boring for a magically strong boxer?”

”It uh… It gets the Ghost off, y’know? A lot of Apparitions make a bad habit of feeding off of people. Literally. So, they compromise most of the time: Leon goes and gets beat up, then beats other people up, gets home and fucks something. He gets cash to blow, the voice in his head stays quiet, yadda yadda.”

He’d looked away, then looking back up at the door, Leon was absolutely staring in. Casey jumped a little bit.
”Oh! Holy fuck… Look at that, Dog Ears…”
He pointed back, showing Cass by turning her shoulder. When she looked at him, and he looked back at her, Leon melted down a bit. A much less aggressive look. He opened the door and gave a coy little shuffle.

"Casseeeeeeeyyyy… What the Hellllllll!? You’re exposing my secret identity…”
Casey only laughed in his face, nudging Cass forward slightly.
”Yeah, whatever, Peter Parker… You got the shit?”
He held up a little wooden box, gently shaking it.
"I threw in the pipe you said you like too… D’ja miss me, Pretty Kitty?” he held out his arms to beckon Cass into them.

”Ohhhh yeah, course I did, all I had was a grainy picture to tide me over,” Cass laughed as she bounced over to Leon. She practically jumped at him, her arms wrapping around his neck - she ended up hanging off it with her toes just touching the ground. She used a little bit of magical strength to pull herself up so that she could whisper in his ear.
”I think the secret identity is cute. Where d’you keep the cape? Do I get to see it now that I know?”

Leon shook his head, groaning. Casey only laughed as he took the box from Leon and it in his hands to feel the weight.
"I don’t know if I can deal with you getting hornier than you already are. I’ve got a lot of energy but holy fuck.”

Subtly, Casey replaced the box in Leon’s hand with his own phone, the delivery app already open.
”Peeeearlaaaaa’s…”
"Yeah, yeah yeah… You didn’t order it earlier? We could’ve been done and had it already-”
”You don’t wanna hang out?”
"I… Do. I do. Sorry.”
Casey just laughed.

”I’m shitting you, dude… Chill out.” Casey smiled, putting the box down and popping it open. The pipe was already packed, which he found cute… Imagining Leon’s chunky ass fingers setting it up before it arrived.
”Awwww… You do care! I fuckin’ need this shit after the last few days.”

”That’s sweet, really stepping up as a big brother one weed pipe at a time.” Cass grinned as she lowered herself back onto her feet, spinning around towards the stairs leading up to the Loft. It had been a while since Trisha went up there… Cass knew exactly what was going on. She raised her hands to her mouth to shout up.
”Trrriiisshhhhaaaa, just wear the comfy clothes! You’ve lived with two of us and d’you really think Leon will care? C’mon!”

There was a very muffled response, which sounded more like grumbling than anything, then a thud. Cass laughed.
”She’ll be down in a moment… if she ever says she’s getting changed then takes ages? It’s cause she’s tryna decide what to wear.” Cass said to Casey, tapping her nose.
”Two years of Trisha flatmate experience.”

“What’re you saying about living with me?” Trisha finally reappeared. She’d been doing exactly what Cass thought - trying to decide between just wearing home clothes or something nicer. She didn’t normally dress down so much unless it was someone she lived with, or really didn’t care about… but Cass was right. This time. So she was now in dark sweats, her hair pulled up into a simple ponytail. She immediately made her way to Casey’s side, nodding at Leon.

”Nothing bad! Y’think I’d do that to you? I looovvveee you too much! Was just giving Casey some sound advice. You’ll thank me later.” Cass winked at her friend, grinning smugly as if she’d offered some sage wisdom as opposed to some very basic information.

Trisha looked at her suspiciously, then decided to let it go. She looked up at Casey.
“How much food did you end up ordering? Just… trying to figure out appetite wise…”

Leon was also in baggy sweats, amazingly enough… The amount of cloth necessary to keep them like that over three and a half feet worth of legs was incomprehensible. And he was holding Casey's phone, scrolling through. Casey, one arm wrapping around Trisha while holding his pipe in the other, gesticulated with a closed hand to his elder brother.

”Big man's still ordering, but I just got you the eight piece with curly fries so you can eat a bunch or have leftovers tomorrow… And your fried candy bar, which you should eat first so it doesn't congeal.”
Leon, scrolling and stopping to read, laughed aloud.

"Holy shit, Cass… If he's telling the truth, then how much shit are you getting? The fuckin’ pizza? No way in Hell there's gonna be back door action tonight then, I wouldn't want to shake you up just to get painted.”

Casey's eyes widened, and he looked from Leon to Cass to Trisha, then back to Cass with an absolutely stunned look on his face.

Trisha was staring in equally stunned silence. She wasn't so surprised that Cass might be… into that… she just didn't expect to have to hear about it here.

"Awwww, you're not into that?" Cass jokingly pouted, before laughing. She was entirely unbothered by the stares from both Casey and Trisha - hey Leon had said it, and the biggest discomfort there was it being his brother! Trisha already knew plenty…
”Not like there ain't plenty other ways to fuck- a girl's gotta eat, y'know! Not my fault it's all greasy shit- You have any idea what kinda energy all my animal forms use?!"

“Really, Cass?" Trisha groaned, finally coming out of her stunned silence.

"What, what he said was alright but me talking bout changing into animals- could just be practice, Trish!- is too much?" Cass shot back, lips pulling up into a teasing grin. Trisha pursed her lips, though she didn't seem… upset? At least, her body language was still pretty relaxed.
"It's soooo cute that love's turned you into a bit of a prude. Adorable. I'll pretend we've totally nevvveerrrr talked about anything like this ever. Secrets safe with me, babe." Cass even blew her a kiss, grinning a little more evilly.

Perhaps unexpectedly, Trisha didn't react to the teasing in any kind of… irritated way. She didn't snap. Instead she went red, turning towards Casey to hide her face against him with a muffled groan.
“Don’t make it sound like I'm into…"
"I ain't sayin' that! Just that you ain't got any place to act like you're uncomfortable."
Trisha let out a light huff at that, but didn't say anything else. Cass looked at Casey and then Leon with a grin, seeming pretty happy in her ability to tease Trisha without making her grumpy.

Though he didn’t look up from the phone, Leon started smiling and laughing in a very gentle fashion.
"Y’know, she’s right Trisha; it’s a great way to practice her magic. I’d say Casey should give it a try, but-”

”-Yeah, yeah, ‘Haha Virgin’ and all that. Trust me, I remember being a teenager.” Casey commented, not really letting the topic at hand affect him any great deal. He was confident in what they’d discussed earlier, he and Trisha… That she wasn’t looking for this to be some sort of strong sexual relationship.
”I’m just… Astonished that you’d not be into shit, honestly.”

Then Leon looked up, forehead scrunching inward.
"There’s some limits a guy has to keep. Getting frosted like a chocolate cake is definitely up there as far as things I’m not looking to happen.”
Casey could only laugh.
”Are you done yet? Ordering, I mean?”

"Fuck no… You know how much of this shit I have to eat to meet my Micros.” he grunted, still scrolling.
Shaking his head, Casey pulled Trisha a little closer and kissed the top of her head before sliding a few feet away to the countertop. A lighter came out of the box, and he looked at Trisha.

”Are we a smoke-positive household? Or are we going to set the precedent of going outside from here on?” he asked with a genuine tone implying his desire to make an intentional joint decision.

“Inside is fine, I think, as long as neither of us becomes a chain smoker," Trisha replied after a little bit of thought. She wasn't particularly bothered about it even if she ended up not smoking - and she'd much rather just have Casey there than send him outside for something that barely bothered her in the first place.
“Though I think we maybe need to set a no bees while smoking rule… mainly while I'm smoking… I don't want a repeat of last time." Perhaps it was a bit unnecessary to bring it up when all it required was her not calling the bees, but… it felt like that was less of a risk if she verbalised it.

”We’ll uhh… Lock the windows and doors?” Casey chuckled for a moment, finally pulling the pipe up to his lips and lighting the flame. A short tug, and he released a cloud of smoke up into the air, holding the pipe out to the others.

Leon’s arm stretched out, holding the phone for Casey to swap back. It was a seamless transition, both of their massive hands being able to hold two things at once making the swap clean and easy. He took a little more time to scroll as Leon took a puff and handed it off to Cass.
”Holy shit… I love this. They must hate us every time they see an order from my account.”

Casey’s hand moved the phone toward Trisha as he walked back to her. The total said $387.85.

Trisha stared at the number. For someone with a rich upbringing like her it wasn’t actually that big - if it had been ordering from a fancy restaurant rather than a fried food place.
“They probably have to close their orders while making everything for us,” Trisha laughed lightly, before looking up from the phone to Cass. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“You definitely need to get a new job soon if you’re going to be eating like this.”

”My new job is being sexy as fuck, thank you very much,” Cass joked, holding the pipe she’d just taken a quick hit from out towards Trisha like some kind of peace offering.
”I can actually cook, so normally I ain’t ordering a shit ton of fried food- now, c’mon Trish, do some drugs, chill.”

Trisha was actually the most relaxed she’d been in a long time thanks to her talk with Casey. She did plan to smoke a little bit for her appetite but… there was something she should deal with first. Before getting high. Otherwise it would be a headache for her. She really couldn’t be bothered to deal with further pestering from their other friends, so…
“Uh, later. Leon, can we talk? In private. Just for a moment.” She put her hand on Casey’s arm, a light pat that she hoped conveyed that it wasn’t anything major. Or about them. Or even about her.
“It won’t involve any shouting.”

There was a moment where Leon tensed up to the point that Cass would’ve felt it. He did his best to not look at Trisha skeptically, keeping his feelings of fear over being accosted over the same bullshit down inside. Casey wasn’t entirely sure what Trisha was trying to convey with her patting, but either way this situation was ultimately between the two individuals. He could only add a reassuring nod to both parties.

"Uh… Yeah. No shouting, please… I’m begging, honestly.” he nervously laughed.
"Where are we going?”

“I said there’d be no shouting- I guess in there. Not many rooms in this house.” She gestured towards the Den, not that she particularly wanted someone else in there - but it had a door, and all the other options involved going outside. And it was at least completely clear from any evidence of last night’s… situation.

”Play nice, or I ain’t gonna be happy,” Cass piped up, putting her hand over Leon’s to give it a comforting squeeze - not that she had any idea what this was about - before she moved away to let him and Trisha go into the other room.

Trisha closed the door behind them both before going all the way into the room, perching on the edge of the couch. She pulled her phone out and put it beside her, looking at it for a moment. Eventually she forced herself to look up at Leon.
“This isn’t about yesterday. It’s not even really about me… This is me talking to you as Cass’ friend rather than Casey’s girlfriend, or a former covenmate. Cass made the mistake of telling the rest of her friends that she was seeing me, and now they’re all telling me I need to do the whole asking loads of annoying questions thing they did to Casey last week. I tried to tell them it wasn’t a good idea because… we’re not exactly on good terms. But they insisted and they will start phoning both me and Cass if I don’t.”

Trisha, maybe noticeably, was talking as if it was all just their other friends' concerns, and none of her own. Like she was a middle man in the situation. That wasn’t exactly the case but… she didn’t actually share the concerns they had.
“Reyna and Nadiyah sent a whole bunch of questions, and Sal wrote a whole speech he wants me to read out. What do you want first?”

Leon, who had sat down on the edge of the couch, was staring off into space looking at the wall. He was really listening to something a few floors down; someone talking about their Aunt being missing. It wasn’t their fault… Running afoul of the Temple wasn’t good for the health.
He checked in when she was talking about a speech.
"Uh… W-w-.... Wait, what? I… I think they’ve really got it all wrong but…”
He looked at Trisha now, brow furrowing.
"Whatever, uh… Just… I guess top down. Whatever’s biggest priority.”

Trisha was silent for a moment, then she laughed.
“That’s what I told them, but there’s no stopping them- sure, I’ll just skip everything Sal said then.” She picked up her phone, opening up the group chat she’d been dragged into. What was the biggest priority? Probably this bit that Diyah was saying she was very concerned about. And Reyna agreed. Sure, start with that.

“Nadiyah wants to know what ‘your intentions seeing a fan are’ with a side note of ‘even if it’s mostly sex its still suspicious’ and ‘she’s worried about Cass hanging around someone she idolises and has a perfect picture of in her head’- oh wait, I wasn’t meant to read that one out. But they seem pretty concerned about that, so…” She looked at him expectantly.

Leon’s face didn’t move. Actually, he was having a conversation in his head as he thought about what the fuck was happening. There it was, pushed into his hands on a plate to confront him in a very open fashion. Intentions? Fun. Sex. Comfort. Humanity.
"Oh… At least I’m not the only person thinking about that kind of shit.”
Solemn, his head turned to look at Trisha calmly.
"I don’t have any intentions. It just so happens that she’s a fan and she’s… Having fun experiencing a fantasy. You can tell by talking to her. But I’m not planning on leading her into anything, or exploiting her. I agree with your friend, it’s still suspicious. But it’s not something I’m unconscious of either. But if we didn’t connect on what I think is a real front, I wouldn’t be so open to spending time with her.” he offered the explanation as best he could without showing any strong mental cracks.

Trisha let out a quiet hum, beginning to type something out. Then she stopped, locked her phone, and put it down.
“This might surprise you, but I actually care enough about Cass to put aside my feelings towards you- but I actually trust that. I also don't think it's just some ‘fantasy’ for Cass. Have you ever actually read the shit she's written? I mean I hope she hasn't been- well, whatever, but I've had to. A few times. It's all sex. Thankfully I didn't know some of it was about you then because it's all ‘Timberwolf’-" Trisha made a face, a little grossed out thinking back on what she'd tolerated being read out to her for the sake of a close friends happiness.
“Whatever. I was actually surprised to see her with you today because I assumed she'd get her one of a kind meeting then the sex she'd fantasised about and that'd be it. It means she actually likes your company- which I don't get- beyond just the idolising shit. Do something she doesn't like and I promise you she won't just let you get away with it."

Then Trisha shrugged. Maybe she wasn't so worried because she knew if Leon managed to hurt Cass it would upset her, and if she was upset Casey would go beat his ass.
“As long as there is some kind of real connection on both sides- that's what the others would agree with, I'm sure. Probably."

Leon shrugged, not sure whether or not to push anything that she’d said.
"Uh… I mean yeah, she showed me… Asked if I could make some of it happen. I figured it was a pretty innocent desire, and I aim to please. Do you think I should cut things off? Honestly, I don’t… I don’t see getting into anything crazy besides a good friendship. If you think she’ll want more than that, then… It’d be something that we’d have to talk a lot more about.”

It was easy to tell Leon wasn’t comfortable at the moment. Whether it was because he was lying, or because he was actually in conflict with himself over the situation, was unclear.

Trisha frowned, properly thinking about it. She knew that in the past Cass had been in all sorts of situations - one night stands that turned into friendships or relationships, friends with benefits, open relationships, one particularly messy situation in a throuple that turned into five before it fell apart… but it had always been a bit hard for Trisha to tell where Cass' feelings went from platonic to romantic. She was just really close with people.
”Honestly I don't know if she'll want more than that. We're close but very different when it comes to relationships so I never… entirely understood when it became that for her in the past. But I don't think you should cut things off. Especially if it's because you're worried about what might happen or having to talk about it. Cass is the most open person I know. What she said earlier about ‘seeing how things go' is probably how she feels- but she's one of those people who's almost annoyingly pro conversations in all relationships."

Trisha was obviously uncomfortable too - she hadn't really wanted to be put in this position talking to Leon. She wasn't good at it, nevermind who it was but… Cass was one of her closest friends and for once her care for someone else outweighed her discomfort.
“I think it would be more of a dick move to just cut things off now rather than have a talk with her about expectations."

Nodding to himself, Leon inhaled deeply and felt the gentle drifting feeling of being under the influence. A series of tingles down his spine told him that Lelou was listening, and that she was interested. Invested, even.
"You uh… Did… Did anyone ask Cass what she thinks? Or is this one of those things where like, friends decide they know best and just make decisions without the person in question having any say?”
It was a genuine question, not malicious so much as confused. After all, he didn’t really love the idea of people going behind others backs to make decisions that were “best” for them, but he was just as guilty: Hypocrisy didn’t pay in this circumstance.

“It’s one of those things,” Trisha admitted. She pointed to her phone.
“It's mostly Rey and Diyah. Rey’s just used to being able to tell with her aura reading. Diyah can be quick to judge and doesn’t entirely trust our decision making. It’s mostly because me and Cass have ended up in not great situations in the past- though Cass’ didn’t start like that.”

She rubbed the back of her neck, still uncomfortable but not seeming upset at his question or anything. Trisha hadn’t really wanted to do this in the first place. She loved her friends, but they could be intrusive sometimes - especially Reyna and Nadiyah. Whereas Cass had only ever intruded on Trisha’s relationships when it was clear they were unhealthy.
“She probably won’t be surprised if she finds out about this, but she will tell everyone to fuck off. Because you’re… right…” It was clearly very difficult for Trisha to say that, lips pressed together into a thin line.
“What she thinks is more important than any of their worries, because she won’t actually tolerate things she doesn’t like. She’s not-” me- “stupid.”

Shaking his head, Leon cleared his throat.
"I agree with you there… She’s not stupid at all. Surprisingly aware, honestly; I figured she was going to be a little ditzy and goofy, but she’s… Well, when we were watching that movie downstairs, she said some things that… Like I was thinking the same things. And she said them without me prompting. It’s impressive.”
He had a bit of a dreamy look in his eye.

"I don’t want you guys to worry. If anything bigger happened, or is supposed to happen… I’d like to wait until this whole Father Wolf shit is over with…” he explained.

Trisha suppressed a slight laugh - not about Father Wolf, of course, but about the way Leon looked while talking about Cass. A lot of people were surprised when she turned out to actually be incredibly smart. It was just that she didn’t bother to use her brain for stuff she didn’t care about.
“Definitely wait… But honestly? I’m not actually all that worried. I trust Cass, but… I’ll pass that on.” Trisha frowned a little bit. Thinking about Father Wolf…
“Have you told her about Father Wolf? I haven’t - I didn’t even tell her about Sycamore, but I assume she knows now.”

Leon nodded, standing up.
"She knows… She probably knows a lot more now than you’d be comfortable with, but we… I guess it’s just easy to confide in her. She doesn’t let things stick. It all slides off, it seems like. I really like that.”
Looking back at the massive couch, he shook his head and laughed.
"Y’know, when he showed me this thing is what you guys got, I got a little jealous. It’s a sweet couch set…”

He let the words linger for a moment before he turned his head back to Trisha.
"I’m… I’m sorry. Again. I keep fucking things up, and all I want is peace for my little Brother. Amazingly, I find it difficult to not be an asshole… I’m working on it, but I don’t expect any tremendous amount of empathy from you. I’ve done nothing but prove your perception right…” he said with a small, almost hurt voice.

Trisha took a deep breath, standing too just so she didn’t have to crane her neck back so much to look at him.
“I shouldn’t have shouted at you about the food.” She also admitted, head turning to the side to look down at the couch. Thinking about Casey… about how she also wanted to try be a bit better for him. Slowly. Especially after their talk earlier.
“We both fucked up there. You’re right, I’m not going to be sympathetic about it. But hopefully one day we’ll prove each other’s perceptions wrong.”

His massive hand extended across with the arm behind it, out for her to shake as a friend.
"Thank you for being good to my Brother.”

Trisha smiled slightly, reaching out to shake it.
“And I’m going to keep being good to him… so let’s go save him…”

She easily slipped around Leon, pushing the door open and going back out into the main part of the house. Just as she’d expected, as soon as she opened the door she could hear Cass talking.

”-so we were just tryna leave, right, cause clearly this guy wasn’t gonna leave us alone- but then this fucker is all like ‘oh if I beat your guy friend one of you has to go on a date with me’, like what the fuck? And he was looking at Sal all murderous like, and Sal ain’t a fighter. Honestly, Sal’s a fucking wimp. So I was like ‘alright let’s take this outside’ and then I absolutely beat his ass-” Not only was Cass completely talking Casey’s ear off, but she was re-enacting the scene, jumping to both sides to act out both her and this guy in the fight.
”Oh he was sooo pissed off to be beaten by a girl, sexist prick.”

“Are you really telling that story? We ended up banned from that bar…” Trisha commented, having let Cass finish because… it was just easier. She immediately moved towards Casey with a slight smile.

”That pub fucking sucked! They let a guy try intimidate a buncha tiny girls-”
“He was the same height as Diyah.”
”- and banned me when I kicked his ass over it. But, anyway, I was just telling Casey about some of our fun times in uni. I’m barely getting started! Butttt-” Cass bounced over to Trisha first, catching her before she managed to get right next to Casey, quickly looking her over with narrowed eyes. Then she went over to Leon and did the same.
”Looks like you guys didn’t fight!”

While Cass had been blabbing on, Casey had been politely sitting there listening. She was so much fun, he thought, and hearing about Trisha’s second-hand adventures and how passionate she was about them made him feel like they were connected in a way that he didn’t usually feel with others. Plus, her accent was warm. It was best for comforting, and he associated it fairly openly with the goofy Brits he’d met in North Africa.
They were gentlefolk, but… A certain pugnaciousness about them made them rather endearing.

Leon, a little tired looking, could only smile as he got closer. With the pipe in his hand, Casey passed it off to Leon again and let the big man take a drag.
"Contrary to how things usually go, I never really want to argue. We just rub one another the wrong way…”

”Yeeeah, you deserve it. Mister ‘Richie Rich’...”
Leon pushed air out from between his lips, and Casey laughed while rubbing Trisha’s shoulder. Giving her a kiss on the top of the head, he looked down and got a little close.
”Everything okay, Boo? All taken care of for now?”

“Yeah, all good, wasn’t even really about that… but it’s all sorted for now. No more fights until the next time we rub each other the wrong way.” Trisha leaned into Casey, looking up at him with a warm smile.
“Did you manage to survive story time with Cass?”

”Heyyyyy, he loved it! I bet you barely talk about that stuff, so I gotta be the one to fill him in- I’m only telling him the exciting shit! Ain’t like I’m going on and on about all the times we dragged ourselves into the living room for some hungover studying or anything.”
“I told them about the time we lost Sal, when we went out for that few months late birthday celebration for you and me? So it’s not like I don’t talk about anything. I just don’t constantly talk.”
”Yeah, yeah- oh, but now you’re back, we can tell them together! Anything you guys want to know? Like what kinda shit we did or didn’t do during our crazy uni adventures?”

Casey waved his hand as if he was warding Cass off from the current conversational topic.
”Ehhhh, unless it’s somethingTrisha wants to share herself, I won’t make her. We already had a few issues of privacy and shit like that… Though, that was pretty funny. If it's mundane stuff like you all getting into shenanigans at bars, I don’t see why not.”
The hand on the end of the arm wrapped around Trisha gently rubbed her shoulder again, and Casey looked down at her with a wink. Gentle, subtle White Lux crept across her Emotional Field, and for the first time, Trisha would be able to hear another voice inside her mind that wasn’t the Queen or her own.

”I’ve got your back, my Love.”

"Casey and I could probably tell you guys some fun Temple stories… Ones that don’t involve crazy bullshit, that is. We have had pretty good times despite the, well… Bullshit, right? That’s definitely the word for it.”

”True enough. I kind of wish that uh… I’d been older, y’know, to travel with Dad like how you did.”
"Oh, well… That wasn’t so fun. It was a lot of Dad not actually being there. Lord knows he had a million things going on.”
”I’ve got stories from overseas too… Believe it or not, not all of it turns me into a snivelling wreck.” Casey joked.

Leon’s hand extended the pipe to Trisha.
”Oh, I finished the order by the way… Got a call from them? We’re looking at like an hour and a half minimum, so I don’t know what you guys want to do in the meantime…”

Trisha wasn't able to hide her reaction from hearing Casey's voice in her mind, looking up at him with wide eyes. She should be used to things like that by now but… it'd always just been her and the Queen. She'd done her best to avoid Pink Luxers that could actually worm their way in there. But this was sweet. Really sweet. So once she got over the shock of it, she smiled sweetly at him. She relaxed a bit more, reaching out to take the pipe from Leon.

"Oh shit, an hour and a half- I mean I ain't surprised but damn… I suppose we'll all be hungry by the time it's here. I mean fuck, I'm already hungry, but y'know… suffering is strength or something like that." Cass nodded as if she was saying something wise.
"You really don't have any games, Trish? I guess we always used Sal's consoles or my amazing setup for multiplayer shit… well, I guess it's just sitting and chatting then! My second favourite thing."

“I could hook up my laptop but there's… not really much on there." Trisha shrugged, gently blowing smoke from between her lips and holding the pipe back up to Casey. She was just kind of content to just… chill. Talk.

"Ooo, then I definitely want to hear some of the Temple stories. Like that shit's so far out of what I'm used to… fucking tons of magic and shit. I want to hear all the cool stuff!" Cass grinned.
“Shouldn’t you tell something about yourself that isn't just the various people you beat up, or the places we got drunk?" Trisha pointed out, looking over at Cass with slightly raised eyebrows as she cuddled up to Casey.
"Well there ain't really anything about just-"
“The situation."

Cass' hands flew up into the air.
"Fuck! I almost forgot about that!"
“...How?"
"Too much in my brain… you guys wanna hear about the time I was in a throuple that absolutely exploded? It's a wild ride, lemme tell ya, so you gotta be truly alright to go on it." She grinned at both Leon and Casey.

Casey and Leon both shot one another a glance with a layer of understanding beneath. Casey nodded, and Leon spoke up with a slight chuckle.
"I’d say we know a thing about thruples… Y’know, downstairs-”
They had been home. At the very least, Cass was introduced to them as a group, though Leon hadn’t explicitly mentioned they were in a group relationship. He was just used to them always being together, so to explain it didn’t ever feel necessary; only that they were “The Girls”, and they were a package deal.

"-But also… I heard it wasn’t just a thruple? Confirm?” He asked, an eyebrow rising up over the other to dominate his forehead.

"It wasn't, it was a whole fucking thing!" Cass once again threw her hands up, this time in exasperation. The whole situation was very amusing to her now in retrospect but at the time it had been pretty stressful.
"It started as like an open throuple, right. Like me and my partners - Keisha and Oscar, you'll need their names cause shit'll get confusing otherwise- were dating, but also alright with having flints with others, y'know. So long as anything more than sex came to the group and was agreed on! It was all good. Great, really. Then Keisha and Oscar met this other couple, Natalie and Bryce, and they hit it off. Sorta. Like Keisha liked Natalie, Oscar liked Bryce, they talked about it and decided they wanted to start dating that way." Cass paused, drawing a square in the air, then a little triangle at the bottom to represent herself.

"This'd be easier with a whiteboard- whatever! So I meet ‘em, I like ‘em enough - but not like to date ‘em - so we sat down and did all the discussions you gotta do with this shit-"
“I accidentally walked in on it and it felt like a boardroom meeting," Trisha added.

”It wasn't quite that formal! But yeah, all good still, y'know! I was happy, they were happy, and I was like great. I don't wanna get romantic with them but fivesomes are cool!" Cass paused dramatically, before grimacing.
"Fivesomes like that ain't actually that cool. Like, too many people, and there just isn't-"
“Please don't go detailing the downsides of fivesomes."

"Oh, no… Please go into the downsides of a fivesome. I assume, like, there’s not enough tender time to go around?” Leon interrupted Trisha, clearly rapt with curiosity.

”Dude, you've never had a fivesome? I'm shocked!"

"Not like how you’re describing… My fivesomes usually take place in dark rooms on large beds, and nobody sees faces.”
”Temple parties do get freaky like that…” Casey added, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

Trisha also made a face at that, while Cass grinned.
"See, that sounds actually hot! This was like, yeah… not enough shared attention. And when not everyone's dating each other it'll always be unequal, right? I thought it'd be like ‘oh we're all banging each other' kinda thing but noooo, Natalie and Bryce would barely touch me. It was just fucking unsatisfying!"

“Sounded satisfying for the others," Trisha intoned, eyes looking a bit dead at that.
“Went on long enough me and Diyah came back from our hours of home avoidance to its still happening."
"Well yeah, five people, that happens! I did suggest we go somewhere else but our flat was just the nicest!"
“Unfortunately."

"Anyway, one month and unsatisfying fivesome later, shit went wrong. Well, Natalie and Bryce broke up. But Natalie was still dating Keisha, and Bryce was still dating Oscar, so it was like… some fucking awkward situation. It was a bad breakup too! Suddenly they're having fucking, like, couples therapy at my place. My fucking bedroom… cause it was ‘neutral’ ground or whatever. Like sure! I'm unbiased or whatever but what the fuck! The fivesome seemed pretty good at that point, like looking back, at least I got some shit out of it."
“We all told her to break up with them at this point," Trisha said.

"I considered it but when it was just me, Keisha and Oscar it was still great, y’know. I was never dating the other two. It was like a small price to pay. Then… God, this was so fucking embarrassing." Cass covered her face with her hands for a moment.
”During one of their weird sessions tryna make shit work between the four of them, Natalie and Bryce made up properly. Not to like… dating again but at least alright with each other. But then they fucking… started having… makeup sex. In my room. On my bed. For a moment I was like oh, maybe we're going back to the fivesomes, hurray I'd prefer this- but no! It was just them. And worse of all-" Cass stood back up at this point, arms flying up towards the ceiling in despair.
"It wasn't even good sex! It was so fucking boring! So I ended up turning on my computer and gaming while they just went at it, cause what else was I supposed to do?"
“Kick them out. Break up with them. You didn't do either."
Cass shrugged.
"I was young, naive. A boring couple having sex on my bed didn't seem so bad then."

Casey was laughing too hard to reply, but Leon looked genuinely sad.
"Listen… It’s free love among my people. The only commitments you make are the ones you want to, right? And the sex is never boring… I think this weekend there’s supposed to be something, but I can-”
Leon froze up now, brow turning downward and looking at Trisha.
"-I’m… This is me being genuine. If she likes a lot of people, I can get a lot of people. No sex magic involved, no crazy rituals, no stealing bodily fluids.”

He turned back to Cass.
"D’you think you’d want to try even more? Just kinda, y’know, get lost in the bodies?” he asked with a genuine sparkle in his eye.
Through belly laughter, Casey shook his head and tried to speak.
”You’re a genuine pest, Lee… I know you’d never do anything without some sort of consent, but I swear all that’s on your mind is-”

"Eat, fight, fuck! Eat, fight, fuck! There’s a literal barbarian queen in my brain Casey… The longer I go without doing the three things she loves, I suffer for it, and it’s harder to get her to do anything else.” he explained, trying to be desperate enough that it was believably genuine, but not so desperate that he sounded crazy.

Trisha didn't say anything, just slightly inclining her head when Leon looked at her. It wasn't shit she was interested in really hearing about, but Cass was… an adult who could make her own decisions. And had consistently made better ones than Trisha, the wild throuple aside. It was just the Temple she was worried about, but she did somewhat trust that Leon wouldn't drag Cass into anything properly Temple… he didn't seem enamoured enough with the cult to pull someone else into it.

"Hey, I ain't gotta ghost in my brain and that's like sixty percent of what's on my mind- other forty is computers and games!" Cass laughed, not seeming put off by it at all. She just bounced over to Leon from where she'd moved more towards the middle of the room, looking at him with shining eyes.
"Is it really that good when there ain't the relationship bullshit in the background? I always wanted to try but there was never a safe way, y’know? And then I thought it was finally gonna happen and it was so fucking lame! Cause yeah, I'd love that, so long as it's just ‘getting lost in the bodies' and none of the other magic shit, y’know. And it ain't boring, cause if it's boring I ain't sticking around for it."

"Anyone I would call would be safe, clean and more than capable. Usually it’s a theme-”

Casey was quickly tuning it out. He knew Leon’s people, and thinking about the fact that he recently lost a couple because of him wasn’t sitting well. Two good friends, who Leon knew very well… He wondered if the big guy took any of it personally, or if he even had the sense to mourn.
They’d gone through loss while he was still relatively young, so he understood that those sorts of things would be different… Or could be, at least. You did learn to shut it off in the moment, especially when there was work to be done.

Or maybe he just… Didn’t actually feel as strongly as he meant it to seem? He didn’t want to be wrapped up in the paranoia of it, turning to go to the fridge while still holding Trisha’s hand until the last possible moment. Inside, he pulled out a watermelon quarter and a few other fruits. A mango, a big blood orange, some papaya… And he started to cut away at them, the difference between their texture and human flesh comforting enough that he could ignore the sludgy redness of the deeper colored portions. Leon was still going.

"-ould do it somewhere that isn’t controlled by the Temple too, if you don’t want to go to the main facility… I doubt you wanna meet our Mom, unless… Like… You wanna bang her too or something, I wouldn’t tell you that you can’t. You’re grown, just don’t let her do crazy shit to your brain.”

"Dude, no way! I ain't gonna bang your Mom- I'm sure she's hot and all with kids like you guys-" Cass turned to look at Trisha for confirmation about that. Trisha just stared about, face as expressionless as she could muster. She hadn't really been judging her boyfriend's mother's hotness when they met, and absolutely never planned to.
"-aw, c'mon, nothing Trish? Well, whatever- either way, nope! From all you've told me… yeah, that ain't appealing. Also fucking family- well family of people you're also fucking- just makes things messy. Learned that one from experience!"

Trisha had pulled her knees up to her chest, letting out a slight sigh of relief. Not that she… wanted to know what Cass did with that stuff, just… she didn't want her to meet Lynette if possible. Or anywhere near the cult.
“That’s definitely the safer option here," she said quietly.

"Awwww, are you worried about me?" Cass spun around, shooting away from Leon and over to Trisha. After all, she was completely open… which allowed Cass to practically jump at her, pulling Trisha into a tight hug and shaking her a bit.
”You're so sweet, don't worry, I'll make sure all my future orgies are off Temple grounds! Only the one Richoux involved! So you aren't constantly worrying about me."
“I wouldn't be," Trisha grumbled. Cass laughed as she let her go, spinning back around to face Leon, shooting finger guns at him.
"Well now you've brought it up you've gotta make sure it happens."

Casey was still laughing to himself, dumping chunks of fruit into the bowl he’d gotten down.
”I’d say he’s the only Richoux you need to worry about, but Mom’s ravenous without the ghost in her brain. I think that’s where he really gets it from, and just him and Lelou wound up being a good pair.”
Leon laughed too, shaking his head.

"Mia and Ed think she’s cute, but you know how Hari is.” he vaguely explained to Casey.
There was a nod in return, as well as a smile.
”Thank God for that. One of them carries ninety-nine percent of the braincells collectively.”
"Y’know, I should’ve asked them if they wanted to come up…” Leon said with a bit of remorse.
”Well, we didn’t really invite them, big guy… This is kind of, y’know-”

Casey gestured toward Cass and Trisha with the knife in his hand, taking a chunk of mango and popping it into his mouth.
”-Oooh, very nice… Quality fruit.”

He slid the bowl into the middle of the kitchen island for anyone to take from. He was already scarfing down grapes and watermelon like they were practically his.
"I… Guess I don’t really think about it like that?”

”It’s definitely not how we were raised to think, I’ll give you that… But I mean, I know for a fact Trisha doesn’t want to drag all of her siblings around to everything she does… Cass? I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable, but you still understand what I mean, right?” he asked her openly.

“I don't want bring my siblings along to anything I do," Trisha commented. She got up and slipped over to the kitchen island, snatching up a few grapes around Casey's voracious eating. While she did like the trio, she was glad that there were less people tonight. It was more comfortable. Especially after last night… it could be awkward for her, Ed and Leon. It was already awkward enough there.

"Oh yeah, I get it! Like I'm sure it'd be fun, but sometimes it's nice for things to be a lil more chill. More quality time! Especially if it's a last minute thing- like next time? Yeah, sure, let's have a big gathering!" Cass smiled at Casey, energetically bouncing in to grab some watermelon and mango before hopping back out.
"Like, it ain't really the same, but me ‘n my brothers were close growing up - like we were always tussling, but we did a ton of shit together. But if they came along every time I went to see friends I would've kicked their asses- and if I'd invited them every time they would've laughed in my face. Though they did go through a period of tryna intimidate anyone I dated… when I was like fifteen, but I quickly beat that outta ‘em. Not that that's the situation here… just sometimes chill is nice!" As if she was ever actually chill…

Leon seemed content with the answer, nodding along as his arms wrapped around Cass.
"Hey, we were close. I think… Just some of us wanted to escape early, and some weren’t inclined to.”

”You. You and our pissant little brother.” Casey grinned from behind the counter.
”Maybe the poor baby downstairs, but… Y’know.”
Leon’s face scrunched up.
"Knowwwwwww…?”

Casey shrugged, waving him off.
”Point is, we’ve got five different perspectives. Were we close? Sure, when we were little. But we all drifted apart in our own ways. As opposed to Cass’ situation, where it seems like they’re all still relatively close. Like, y’know, buying funny shirts in a department store to send to them.”

"Oh… Well… I mean, that kind of distance sounds like it’d… Y’know… Affect that.” he looked down at Cass for confirmation.

"Yeah, it kinda does… more like that I left, y'know?" Cass replied honestly. She leaned against Leon, not wriggling about as much as she tended to. It wasn't that it was an uncomfortable topic - nothing was truly uncomfortable for her. But it wasn't all sunshine and roses like she'd like it to be.
"It was kind of like what Casey said, escape. My parents aren't so bad but there was always this pressure cause I was the only girl, so I had to fill in for our mum when she was busy. Then when my older brothers were drafted I was the oldest. When…"

Cass didn't quite frown but she glanced at Casey, then over at Trisha. Trisha had moved around the counter to be beside Casey again - she just found herself wanting to be close to him all the time, and when he was right there… She caught Cass' gaze, and nodded slightly.

"When Rowan- my oldest brother- died and then Jack was crippled just a few months later, it got worse. I was only seventeen, but there was all this pressure to help out cause my mum was really struggling. All this ‘you’ll stay in Manchester for uni, right?’ and ‘do you even need to go?’ So when I took a scholarship for uni in the states everyone was pissed. My little brothers weren't happy cause they suddenly had to deal with all this shit, and it was like they were losing me too. So… we've made up since. They went to uni in different parts of England too, and Jack never held it against any of us, but we just ain't as close as we were. I love ‘em a lot, but yeah, distance doesn't help." Cass didn't seem to have a hard time saying any of this - and maybe it was too much to just unload there. But she'd always been an open and honest person, and she didn't want to just… lie and say it was all perfect. And then if she didn't lie, she had to give the reasons, right?
"We all still get together for Christmas and suffer through our parents being absolute pains, and I send them shit and we call every now and then. So it really ain't too bad!"

Leon held the woman a bit closer now… A bit more tenderly.
"Ah… Drafted… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
”They did what was asked of them, Lee. We were close too. But, at least now you know, and you can hopefully understand other people’s perspectives a little more…”

Casey gave a knowing nod to Cass. He’d had a vague idea, they spoke of it at some point before Leon made his way into the picture, but he could only get it so clearly. It wasn’t easy to go through, and everyone he’d spoken to personally confirmed how much of a toll the drafting and fighting took. It was important to show solidarity without forgetting those who had given themselves to the cause of defending their liberty.

"Does… That ever make you feel bad about Junior? Or me?”
Casey waved his hand at his brother, warding off the question.
”Well, the Government won’t take all of a family’s sons. At most, by law only two of us could fight… If there’d been a draft, then all of us probably would’ve gotten in. But, I bet you’d have wound up in the USO doing morale shit like those singers. Boxing exhibitions and such. Maybe the OSS would’ve recognized you were a Paranormal and sent you to serve in my outfit. Same with June… The only thing I feel bad about is that it may have actually helped adjust our boy… Maybe he wouldn’t be such a rabid animal if he’d been beaten a few times by a drill sergeant.”

Nodding, Leon sighed gently. The air from his nose blew Cass’ hair around slightly.
"I’m worried about what’s gonna happen to him. If all this internal shit boils over.”
Casey’s face didn’t shift. He simply bit down and ripped apart a piece of fruit with one motion. Leon knew what that response was, and he could only shake his head further.

"Cass… What would you do if you knew your brother was into bad shit? Like uh… Get stabbed in prison type of shit? Do you just… Let him? Do you oust him to someone who will do something about it? Do you beat him until he can’t anymore?” Leon asked with an obvious concern in his voice.

Cass thought about it for a moment, tilting her head back a bit to look at Leon. She didn't seem all that torn up about what she'd talked about… it was never talking about it that was hard, anyway. It was moments where she would want to talk to her oldest brother, or when she really missed him. But she had a good handle on her grief anyway… easily able to swap topics without being affected by talking about it in the first place.
"Well, if it's bad enough to get him stabbed in prison… if he acted on it, I'd oust him. If he ain't, I'd beat him till he can't, then if he didn't change, I'd oust him. I love my brother's but if they did shit that hurt others - like proper bad shit, not just fighting or shit - I ain't gonna stand by and let ‘em do it. You can protect someone like that if they ain't changing." It was a pretty tough answer from Cass - not very much positivity in there. It wasn't that she didn't believe in second chances, there was just a certain point… if it was that bad and they knew? Then yeah, they couldn't just let it happen.

Trisha furrowed her brow, moving closer to Casey and taking the hand not holding food. She looked up at him. She knew Junior was an asshole, and he'd made her incredibly uncomfortable but… she hadn't realised it was like that.
“Is it that bad?"

Casey gritted his teeth slightly thinking about his younger brother. Was it? He honestly couldn’t know.
”Uhhh… Temple stuff. I don’t actually know. He’s probably the best among us at covering his own tracks. He does a lot of things that look charitable and good on the outside, but when you start to peel the first layer back, you realize there’s curtains. Steel curtains, with rivets and welds.”

"From when we were kids, we know he can be… Not human? The cats love him. From what they’ve told me, pain lingers around him. But they won’t say what, or how, or what he’s done to make it like that. But given how good he is with his White magic, and his aptitude for something we don’t know anything about-”
”-Computers…-”
"-We… Can’t really get to him or his bullshit to investigate further. It’s suspicious, and the way certain people react when he’s around doesn’t make it much better.”

The two brothers frowned in unison, shaking their heads.
”Since… I got the boost from Mom… I’ve had a much easier time telling when he’s fucked with something. The computer parts he enchants are pretty hot in a magical sense. They throw up huge flags in my senses.”

"And I know you’re both computer people, but… Like Casey said; it’s Temple shit. Granted, it could be worse than that, but he’s our brother. Dad didn’t teach us to run to outsiders for help. So, no pressure on either of you… Understood?”

“What do you think I would do-”
”Ohhh there is much more of a risk of me decking him if I meet him and he’s that much of a dick. Just cause I know computers don’t mean I know magical computer shit- unless it’s like, shit hidden by normal programs- but I will punch any asshole.” Cass was back to her normal inability to keep still, this time like she was gearing up for a fight that really wasn’t going to happen.

“Pretty sure Leon’s saying to not do anything,” Trisha frowned. If it was Temple stuff, it wasn’t something she wanted to go into. She’d just avoid him where possible. She trusted Casey to keep her safe anyway. She glanced up at him.
“If you can see the magical parts, that's more than either of us can do… I just write code. I don’t really know computers in that way.”

”I do- but unless you want me to, I ain’t gonna poke my nose in it… but I will beat him up if I’m ever around him and he so much as looks at me funny - no fucking stigma cause I ain’t a relative. And he sounds like a nerd, so how hard can it be?”

”Gin tells me he can’t code. That it’s all spaghetti he makes work with his powers… But his shit works the same as anything else. Like, the uh… Operating system? We don’t use big-box products, we use what’s called “Trample”. His language, his uh… Y’know, framework and stuff. He’s the supreme admin, the one who pushes out updates necessary and shit like that.” Casey explained, trying to find the words he remembered being used by people in the Government.

"And he isn’t a nerd… It’s not like he didn’t get all the same shit we did; he was just younger. He can still fight. Maybe not like us, but-”
Casey’s eyes lit up, and he nearly crushed the piece of fruit he was holding between his fingers.

”B-but… Do you think… They’re complicit?”
"You’re her favorite, but… Y’know-”
”They got a lot closer after Dad was gone…”

Leon nodded his head at the vagueness of the conversation. Casey’s tone shifted.
”I won’t ask you to get involved unless you want to, Cass… But maybe between you and I, we can find a way to push things a little further… You don’t know what a Joint-Cast is, do you?”

Cass tilted her head as she racked her brain for everything Reyna had told her about magic. Joint-Cast, Joint-Cast… Oh!
”That’s the shit where two Adepts do spells together through the power of friendship and shit, right? Rey said something about it, then she said no to all of my ideas!” Cass shook her head in mock exasperation, before looking at Casey a bit more seriously.
”If it’s gonna help keep Trisha safe and happy then I’ll get involved in anything. Well, nothing too illegal. Also to defend the sanctity of good fucking code… You suggesting we do a cool ass spell together?”

Trisha didn’t say anything, but she did turn towards Casey to press her face against him. She was hiding how red she’d turned at Cass’ declaration - maybe a little misty eyed too. It was stupid, especially when Cass had always been very… aggressive about protecting friends. But it was just… nice…

Casey’s hand came up and rubbed Trisha’s head, fingers passing through her hair gently.
”A bio-organic computer virus. We’d need to figure out how he’s using the same kind of magic I have access to, to do the shit he’s doing. The best way I figured is by including someone who knows what’s happening to help break it all open.”

"Wait, Casey… I thought we weren’t going to include them! You and Trisha, you both-”

”I know what we’ve said. But ultimately, we’re not being dishonest about the risk. Cass; if you do this, there’s a chance things could become dangerous for you. I don’t advise participation… If need be, we will get to the bottom of this without you. So, unless you’re extremely adamant about participating, I won’t seek your council. Strictly, you’ll be an outsider… But that’ll also mean you can’t punch him if you meet him; you’ll have to play nice and innocent like you don’t know.”

Leon nodded his head.
"Even though there’s a high chance he’ll know that you know something. White Lux is his stronger suit, after all.”

”I’ll do it.” Cass barely hesitated. Sure, Casey said it could be dangerous… but that just added an extra thrill to it. Everytime Cass chose to fight someone much bigger than her there was a real risk of injury, yet she still did it - because it was pretty fucking awesome when she won, and she cared more about keeping her friends safe. Plus, what better things did she have to do right now?

Trisha turned her head a bit to peer at Cass with one slightly narrowed eye.
“Can’t you think about it a little first? You’re just agreeing on a whim. Casey’s not joking about it maybe being dangerous.”
”I know. I ain’t gonna change my mind- even though it’ll fucking suck to have to hold back from punching him, fuck! But it’d be so worth it. Ooo, I can just think of all the shit I’d get to code. Y’know what they say - no risk no reward!” Cass had a glint in her eye as she spoke, and it was pretty easy to read that she was excited by it even though she held back from saying she thought it would be fun. It just wasn’t something she could hide from her expression or body language.

“Still think about it, please? I don’t know, talk it through with Leon a bit more, at least when you’ve sat on it a bit?” Trisha said, looking over at Leon. Though she knew if Cass had made her mind up there was no stopping her - and she couldn’t deny the spark of joy she felt from that. And she trusted Casey when he suggested it but then he also said he didn’t advise participation… So she was worried about it.

Leon was pretty instant with his response.
"This doesn’t change what we just talked about, by the way… Trisha…”
He hoped she’d get the message, but from the little time he’d spent with Cass, he knew she wasn’t going to miss that he was trying to hide something. Unfortunately, however, it’d already left his mouth. So it was either sink or swim.
"This was not an intended outcome… And you can blame Casey f-”

”That’s why I’m going to agree with Trisha, Cass… I recently did some work and, it- Well… I just… It’s fucking too late Leon! Cat’s out of the bag, I think she kind of seems to lock in on these things. All we can do now is keep her safe. For all of our sake.”
Casey’s hand running through Trisha’s hair stopped on top of her head, and he looked down at her.
”I’m sorry. I never should’ve said anything, my bad… It really isn’t something we wanted, it just… Came up.”

“I just don’t want someone else to get hurt,” Trisha said softly, clear worry in her gaze. Someone else she cared about…
“I know it isn’t something you wanted. I trust you, but-”

”Hey, stop talking about me like I ain’t an adult capable of making my own decisions,” Cass interrupted, hand sweeping out to point at every single one of them before her arms folded in front of her chest.
”Yeah, sure, shit’s dangerous. Probably not my business- but you are, Trisha. You may want to think you’re not involved, but you are. And you got involved for someone you barely knew- sorry, Rey outed that one. I think you’re both perfect for each other, but that doesn’t change it- it ain’t so unreasonable I would want to get involved in something that hardly scares me for someone I love and have known for years.” Though the almost harsh bluntness would probably surprise Leon and Casey, who’d mostly seen Cass’ near permanent positive energy, it didn’t shock Trisha. She had seen Cass like this before it was just… more rare. But she didn’t hold back.

“But I don’t want you to get hurt, Cass- and this hardly affects me, it’s not like…”
”Father Wolf? Yeah, a bit pissed you didn’t tell me about that one, but that’s fine- just means I need to not get hurt, right?” Cass cracked a grin.
”Get proper good with my magic so I can just shrug shit off… but since you asked, and Casey agreed, I’ll think about it a bit more. Unlikely to change my mind, but I’ll sleep on it- if I sleep.”

”Alright!” Casey said excitedly, pumping his fist before snagging up a piece of fruit.
”I would’ve loved having you in the Corps, Cass… That’s the kind of attitude we live for!” he said with exuberance.

Leon, tearing up a little bit, let himself bend over Cass, wrapping both arms around her tightly. Doing so, it was a scene that Trisha had just that day been a part of… The long, untied mass of black hair wrapping around Cass like a veil of privacy. An intimate world of two… He whispered in her ear.

"I’ll always love him, Cass… But I need to know for certain. I’ll keep you safe, and help you learn more. You’re not joining anything… But you’re a student of Gravity now, aren’t you? A disciple of the Cosmos.”

It was low enough that Casey and Trisha couldn’t hear…
”Hey, Itt Addams! No hair curtaining!”

Cass turned her face towards Leon’s, eyes squinting slightly as she grinned. By now Leon would be able to read the differences in her happy expressions - and this one was pretty fucking intense joy… with a bit of excitement in there.
”Fuck yeah I am- y’know how nice it is to hear that? You’re lucky I’ve already got strong discipline because otherwise I’d-”

She was quiet enough that Casey and Trisha couldn’t really hear either, but Trisha didn’t need to hear to get suspicious. The only reason she hadn’t immediately reacted was because it was Cass…
“If you even consider making out behind that I’m kicking you out.”

Cass laughed, one hand wriggling up to pat Leon’s cheek.
”C’mon, pull that hair back before Trisha gets properly mad.”

Leon smiled widely, planting a gentle kiss on Cass’ hand.
"Go ahead- Pull it up! You got it…”

”Whoa, so lazy, I gotta do everything around here,” Cass joked. She reached up with both hands to push his hair back and away from covering them as best as possible, awkwardly holding it together in the worlds worst hand twin ponytails.

Of course she was met with Trisha’s disapproving stare, her lips pursed and arms folded. Cass immediately started laughing.
”Ooo, maybe I should let it back down, go back to hiding.”
“Don’t you dare, I’m being very nice right now letting you flirt at all in my house.”
”Aw, like you could stop me, Trish- and I know you love me too much to do anything about it! I can read you like a book, you ain’t even upset.”

Trisha let out a light huff, but Cass was right - at least, her body wasn’t tense like it did when she started to get properly worked up.

”Anyway, we learnt it from you and your boyfriend,” Cass continued with a playful grin at them both.

”And we learned it from dear old Dad…”
Casey wasn’t above flirting. Watching Leon all those years meant he at least knew how the game was played… Especially now with all the… Extra memories…
But it was fine! Because today, he’d had his own memory made. With the dark came the light; with their pain, Trisha had finally opened up a little bit. And, she said it! He may have broken down and said it first, but she had actually reciprocated! And he was feeling confident.

”Besides, Cass is right! You can’t deny that it’s actually good to be around good moods and positivity toward one another. Clearly, in one way or another, we all love one another.”
Trisha would be able to feel Casey getting into position before being engulfed in a black veil of her own.

"Y’know, you’ve got a lot of nerve calling me Cousin Itt, you fucking Wookie…”

Casey’s forehead rested atop Trisha’s scalp, and he started to wiggle slightly from laughter.
”He called me a Wookie Trisha… He turns into a fucking werewolf and he’s calling me a Wookie…”
Oh… Right… He was high. It finally crammed itself into his brain, dull cannabinoid receptors chugging back into a groove as it served him humor on a silver platter.

Trisha giggled, lips curving into a warm and gentle smile.
“Don’t worry, I’d still love you if you ever turned into a Wookie- and he’s just jealous you’d make a hotter werewolf than him anyway.”

”Oy, you better not be making out behind there, cause then it just ain’t fair!” Cass’ laughing voice, of course, got through Casey’s not particularly soundproof hair.

“Different rules for the homeowners,” Trisha retorted with another giggle, as she leaned against Casey. Her head tilted upwards so she could actually sort of see him, still smiling cutely. She continued to speak quietly, just to him.
“Yeah, you and Cass are right. It is nice to be around each other like this… I don't even really mind them… it’s kind of cute. Nowhere near as cute as us, though. We win against everyone there.”

”But we’ll be nice and let ‘em compete, right?”
Casey laughed as he kissed her on the top of the head, then pulled his hair back up and away.
”Now enough of this! We’ll forget about it for tonight, and just enjoy…”

---

It wasn’t long before there was a notification that their food had been delivered. Casey had texted Theo to watch out for when it was coming and grab it, which was just part and parcel for the job. As it’d taken a while to arrive in the first place, the fruit bowl had been emptied out and relegated to the dishwasher, leaving plenty of room for plates and forks and spoons. Mostly concentrated on Leon’s end, the spread of boxes was like a full spectrum for the eyes and nose.

Even Casey was excited to dig into some chicken, and his big giant bowl of macaroni and cheese stared at him in the face. He made sure to put Trisha’s fried candy bar on top of her little stack, and found that it was still piping hot in the box.
”Ohhhh yeah, that’s the best part about a big order. Your guy is just sitting there waiting for it to finish, and they’ve gotta cook it to order…”

"Fuck yeah, this greasy shit is best fresh and hot as fuck! Fuck, it smells so good," Cass grinned as she popped open a couple of her boxes, leaning forward to properly smell the greasy goodness.
"This shit smells nostalgic, like I walked into a chippy down the street back home."

Trisha smiled at Casey as she opened up the deep fried candy bar that had been put on top for her. It looked… interesting.
“Smells more like university to me… All the times we'd get fried chicken or something on the way home from a night out. Even though the first few times Diyah turned her nose up at it."

Cass cackled at that, already digging into her own fried chocolate bar. She seemed entirely unbothered by clean eating, absolutely devouring half of it in massive bites with bits of melted chocolate sticking all around her lips.
"Oh yeah, we lured her into the Holy Church of Fried Chicken."

With a slight laugh at that, Trisha cautiously picked up her deep fried candy bar. It didn't look appealing. But she'd wanted to try it, so she had to try it… she took a small nibble of it, which mostly ended up as just the batter. So then she forced herself to take a bigger bite. Her mouth was immediately filled with sweet, gooey chocolate and heavy, savoury batter. It was incredibly sickly. Trisha made a face even as she tried a second bite. Nope. It was far too much. Trisha's whole face screwed up and she put it back down.
“That’s… not for me… it's too much…"

”I get'it, your weak ass American stomach can't handle it! I'll eat it if no one else will," Cass grinned. She licked her fingers to get the last bits of chocolate and grease that had escaped her absolutely inhaling her chocolate bar. When one hand was done she pointed to Trisha's, tilting her head over to Leon with a grin as a just cleaned finger was pulled out of her mouth.
"You should've been more worried ‘bout that than the pizza."

"Eugh! Look, there’s brown at the corners of your mouth, dude… I get squeamish just thinking about it.” Leon groaned, taking a paper towel and wiping her face himself.

Meanwhile, Casey had already cleaved Trisha’s chocolate between his teeth, swallowing it in two pieces without a great deal of ceremony.
”Too much… Oh well! Do you want something else? Norm keeps a stack of peanut butter cups frozen in the freezer downstairs, Theo will bring you one if you want it…” he offered to Trisha, popping the top on his mac and cheese and digging in with his spoon. There were french fries and chicken nuggets sticking out of it, all covered in ooey gooey cheese sauce.
Squeezing a pack of hot sauce out of its little container, he stirred it in and gave another taste. Then more hot sauce went on, again and again until he was satisfied with his bite.

”God, bury me in this shit if I die.” he said to nobody in particular.

“Gross, I'd rather be buried in the normal soil," Trisha wrinkled her nose, though she let out a little giggle at the thought of it. There was an implication underneath her words as well - shared graves…
“And I don't need anything else, this is plenty- if I really want something sweet later I'll have some of my honey on some bread." Though she probably wasn't going to have the appetite for more. She'd smoked enough to at least feel some amount of desire to eat, but she wasn't sure if it was even enough to eat all of the food in front of her.

Cass had been shooting a mock glare at Leon for wiping her face - a very cute gesture, but a waste of chocolate remnants she would've licked off in just a moment! No food wasted… she looked almost mournfully at the paper towel. But her attention snapped towards Trisha. ”All of that's so fucking cool by the way, Trish. With your bees… like I thought the honey you gave us was sweet but now I know they're magic… so awesome. Also explains why they never stung us."

“They didn't sting you because I didn't bring them with me when I was around you all. If they'd always been on me… you'd have been stung a million times whenever you hugged me out of nowhere." Trisha pointed a curly fry at Cass before popping it in her mouth.

"Hey I can't help the irresistible urge to hug whenever I see you're cute lil face- I'm sure Casey understands!" Cass grinned. She hadn't actually moved on from the chocolate bar to whatever she was next going to eat… stuck in indecision. Chicken, Mac and cheese, deep fried pizza… She wanted to eat it all at once.
"How's that work? The bees? Do they like you, or do they get all mad you're hogging her attention?" she asked Casey directly.

Casey laughed aloud thinking about their little quirks.
”Uhhh… They seem to like me on a baseline. I think it’s because Trisha projects the feeling. Maybe it’s because their first impression of me was around a big pile of fruit… Once Trisha told me about them, I was all about it though. I think it’s pretty cool too, and she’s super cute about them. Like a real mom.”
Casey’s hand reached up and pinched Trisha’s arm playfully.

”It was… A little unfortunate, the first night we hung out we got super high and… Like… I got stung pretty badly. Accidentally fell on a bunch of bees, we had a good cry… I think that’s when I knew that it was gonna be a good thing between us though, ‘cuz she kind of just dealt with it and comforted me. Right? Especially after I was trying to be cute, talking about getting stung a million times, something cringey.”

Leon laughed, shaking his head as he opened the box he had his own fried pizza in. Crunching into it, he pulled the saucy cheese away and smiled, offering it up to Cass to let her try it before she had her own.

"How many times have you been shot? And the bee stings got you?”
”We had a lot of buffers… Better armor… Getting raw stung by like five hundred bees just fucking hurts.” he shook his head at his brother.
”But, we did a great job getting through it, and I’m making it up to the bees. So, hopefully they don’t hold my accidental massacre too close to heart.”

“It was a thousand bees, even if a few attacked the TV instead of you,” Trisha pointed out, cheeks a little warm from all that Casey had said - wasn’t dealing with it the normal thing to do? She comforted him because she didn’t want him to leave but… she was a little glad of it if it meant he’d felt they were good together from then.
“They don’t remember. At least, they don’t remember it was you. They really like you now because you keep giving them loads of fruit and you… smell like me… to them. Pheromone wise, cause I like… just soak you in mine.”

”Oh shit really?” Cass pulled back a bit from taking a bite of Leon’s pizza - unnecessary, she knew she’d like it, but she wasn’t going to say no - and turned her head towards Trisha. Her words had been a bit muffled as she finished chewing on it with a little groan. It was fucking good.
”Lemme see.”

As Cass leaned back properly, two antennas popped out of the top of her head. Her eyes glazed over a bit as she turned her head towards Casey and Trisha. It was… pretty cool. She could sense all the signals Trisha was giving off, even though there were no bees about - just constant pheromones that none of them could sense normally. And there were similar all over Casey - like he’d taken a bath in them and they’d permeated his skin. Lighter, non active, but there.
”Oh that is so fucking cool - it’s like pheromonal scent marking all over you dude. And Trish, you’re always giving that shit off, even without the bees around? Damn.”
“It’s just natural, I don’t do it on purpose…”

Cass shrugged as she opened up her own fried pizza box, picking it up.
”It ain’t a problem, Trish - it’s cool. Like you’re marking your territory or something!”
“It is not like that,” Trisha whispered.

”It could be… I thought about it for keeping the Cats away, but I think the two of you need a bit more time being in sync before you can do too much with it… I can kind of see the signals with my Lux, but they’re subtle in terms of their magical energy so,-”
Casey shrugged, taking a big spoonful of mac into his mouth. Barely chewing, he swallowed it down and grinned.
”Oh, she’s gonna let me put guns on them…” he brightly explained.

”I’m gonna make full sized guns, have them work off of her signals, then find someone to shrink them. I’ve got an ammo spell that shrinks the ammunition until it passes through a certain rune? So when the little bullets hit, they expand into full sized ones.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed.
"Why are we… Arming… The bees?” he questioned between bites of chicken sandwiches.
”Because… There’s a killer on the loose? And a city full of batshit crazy people who could try and take advantage of my Girlfriend and her family’s wealth? She should be able to defend herself from anything. And I’ll make that happen. Did she even tell you she got into a fight?”

"Like… With Adora?”
”Lila Blackwood!”
"Oh, dude… That’s birdshit insane, not batshit.”

Cass almost choked on her pizza as she started laughing at that, leaning forward and coughing a few times.
“I didn't tell him because I know who's side he'd be on," Trisha said quietly, intently looking down at her food. When would there have been a chance, anyway? In between the two times they yelled at each other last night?

Cass' eyes narrowed too, turning to stare at Trisha but unable to speak until she swallowed the massive chunk of fried pizza still in her mouth.
"Wait, you got into a fight?! When?! Where is she, I'll-"
“It's sorted, Cass. And we both… suffered for it. She lost a lot of crows, I lost a lot of bees. Nobody won because Casey arrived before things got worse."

Cass paused midway to standing. Now she was picturing the armed bees… with their little guns absolutely mowing down the much bigger crows. It was an amazing, if hilarious, image.
"I think the guns are a great idea! It means Trisha's bees can attack from a distance- lower risk! I bet that killer won't be able to get close. And you can also take revenge on this crow lady!"

“I’m not doing anything like that unless I see her again. I wasn't even trying to fight…" Sure, Trisha felt resentment towards Lila for all the bees she'd killed. Her crow ate a bee first. She'd escalated. But she wasn't going to go out of her way for any kind of revenge… as long as they stayed away from each other. She managed to look up, glancing over at Leon.
“I do need to be able to defend myself better. I'm not going to go massacre Sycamore or anything when I have armed bees."

"Hey, wait! On whose side!? That’s not fair, Trisha…”
Leon did, in fact, sound a bit hurt.
"I’d be on your side, obviously… If you got hurt, that would mean Casey’s hurt! So, I’m on your side… Besides, Lelou doesn’t like the Maiden!”
A memory flashed through his head that wasn’t his. A black sky, a wretched pain. Lelou’s Emotional Field wavered for a moment.

”Well, either way… Cass is absolutely right. We’ll have bee squadrons, patrols… Thinking about a thousand bees with full-scale munitions is… Horrifying. If I could get my hands on a shipment of M134s? The kinds they put on the transport choppers? Ooooh, Babe…” he reached a hand out, bumping Trisha playfully.

Leon shook his head.
"Did you just suggest putting actual factual miniguns on bees?”
”In literally every sense of the word. Trisha’s gonna be a fucking gunwitch.” he grinned widely, almost evilly.

Trisha leaned towards Casey a bit, smiling at him.
“It wouldn't really be me, it'd be the-"
”C'mon, just accept it Trisha, you'd be a cool as fuck gunwitch! I dunno shit about guns but if they're on choppers? Must be real strong- I'm getting excited just thinking about it! That'll be some movie ass shit."

“It would be cool… especially if I don't have to worry so much about them getting squashed. And I guess it'd all be under my control if it's working off my pheromones. So, yeah, gunwitch." Trisha nodded, reaching out for Casey's hand before it could be completely pulled back. She tangled her fingers in his… just for a moment.
“When I suggested it I didn't think it'd be actually possible. So thank you for taking it seriously, Babe."

"Thank fuck you got a boyfriend that specialises in bee munitions, then," Cass giggled. As Trisha looked over at her she raised her eyebrows, head inclining towards Leon. Trisha's smile dropped a little bit as her eyes followed Cass' gesture.

“I shouldn't have assumed you'd take Lila's side, Leon. I just thought because… you're back at Sycamore… you'd believe one of them over me." Trisha's hold on Casey's hands tightened as she forced herself to say something she normally wouldn't bother with. Cass gave a proud like nod, grinning.

Leon shook his head, hair fluttering about.
"Vibes are so different at this point, Trisha… We had a meeting today, and like… Blackmore, uh… Like, Sully and Stormy? Everyone that used to hang out together, we’re just distant. And, uh… Well, the whole thing with Layla and Void Heart, now everyone’s looking at me differently. Obviously.”
Not to mention that all the girls who would hang out between them like glue were dead now…

"Oh… Uh, Auri? Auclair? Dead. Wolf got her, and a few other people at the same time. I’m hoping that whoever or whatever this stupid fucking thing is won’t assault a building full of Adepts and Abberrations, but you should both be a bit more careful.”
Of course, this is what Trisha got for not going to the meetings: Third-hand information whenever it came up.
Casey tensed up visibly, furrowing his brow.

”Oh, dude… Were you close? Is it-”
"-No, no… It’s alright. Like I said, I’m… I’m not exactly worried about the other Sycamore. You guys are my priority.”

Casey’s head nodded, and he looked at Trisha.
”I guess project Bee Brigade needs a quicker timetable.” he said calmly, a little quiet and thoughtful.
”Though, you could hopefully get that kind of info out a little bit faster, Lee?”
"Then you should know we’re planning to assault Elysium Island tomorrow. And we could use your help. Resources, if I can pull my requisition for the month?”
Casey nodded emphatically.

”Of course. Get Theo a list, I’ll make sure it gets priority and packaged for tomorrow. Need bodies?”
Leon shook his head.
"No, no… It’s alright. We’ve got Greenwood and uh… The arthaus.”
”Oh, 317? Got it…”

At the mention of Elysium Island, Trisha flinched slightly, frowning. The Elite's stronghold. That would explain the cryptic bulletin sent out by Blake demanding they all go there tomorrow, which she'd completely ignored after reading the first sentence. Multiple Covens assaulting the island? That was going to go awfully… for the Elite.
“Why are you assaulting the island Blake Schmidt owns? It's used for orgies and insane drug filled parties. It's not because everyone wants to join in, is it?"

She shook her head.
“If everyone's distant now- which I'm not surprised about, it's been ten years- I suppose it's the only fight they might win… Is there something on the island? Or did Blake just piss someone off?" Of course she knew a bit of why - but her Elite membership was the one thing she really didn't want to be open about yet.

"You remember Kari Wilson? She’s got a bunch of notes that could help us, but… She’s supposedly MIA? At first we thought she was dead, but some other evidence says otherwise… I don’t know. It’s hard to follow when everyone gives you a cold shoulder. But either way, we know that the Elite has the notes, and they’re working with people to translate them. We’re gonna get ‘em back.”

Casey felt coiled interest building in himself. The need for war that was justified. A good war. But then he remembered Trisha, and the promise of a date he gave to her. His body moved on instinct, but his lips locked up.
”Uhh… Ehhh… Shit! Shit… I wish I could fucking kill some rich people. Fuckers, stealing shit that ain’t theirs.”

Casey unfurled a sandwich from its tin foil covering, ripping a chunk out with his teeth.
"Don’t you worry about it… Just get my stuff to where I need it, and you’re helping more than I could ask. And, honestly, probably more than most people would trust you to.”
Casey looked a little sad. They didn’t trust him? Because of Clarissa and Furio, and what had happened with Layla… He knew. But it wasn’t their show anymore.

Nodding, he leaned into Trisha, swallowing before planting a kiss on her head.
”Then our date is still on!” he grinned.

“Good, I wouldn't want our date cancelled over Blake Schmidt and his friends," Trisha smiled back at him, tilting her head towards him. She was a little worried… her sisters were part of the Elite- oh, no, they were out of town. They wouldn't be in danger. That was fine. And while the Elite were a chaotic group, they did have some strong abstractions. At least plenty that would let them escape. Then, she would get some entertainment out of their loss too.
“I’m sure as soon as you get on the island they'll just hand them over. Most rich people are… cowards. It won't be an interesting fight. Sycamore’s not worth it either." She was saying this more to Casey, since he clearly wanted to join… even if he'd accepted he wasn't going to. There would be a fight, because Blake was too stubborn to back down.

"Wait!" Cass ceased shoving Mac and cheese in her mouth, just as messily as she'd eaten the chocolate bar. She'd been listening along, not contributing to something she knew very little about, but…
"That mean you're gonna be kicking ass tomorrow? Damn, I wish I could watch. Bet you'll absolutely destroy them, though."

Casey whistled to himself a little bit, wagging his brow toward Cass.
”See, that’s where he gets crazy! I may be able to give him the punch-out when we’re both just living, but Leo-Lou has some seriously crazy abilities. Y’know, if he goes too far one way, he grows boobs…”
Leon laughed aloud, thinking about his more animalistic wolf form. The werewolf aspect was Lelou’s, and thus she was always trying to turn the vessel into something more comfortable when she took control.

"Yeah… We can’t bang like that, Cass. I’d almost definitely kill you, and then go on an absolute tear afterward. Luckily, Lelou likes you; she said so. So, you get the best of me.”
He had a box of nuggets for himself, and Leon’s hand scooped under it to dump the fried bits into his gullet. Chewing, he swallowed a big lump of chicken and breading.

”You should give her a little exhibition though! Maybe Lena will want to fight.”
Leon made a grave face.
"Oh, God no… She’s… Not someone I’m interested in sparring with. I don’t think she knows what an exhibition is.”
Casey laughed.
”Deeeefinitely not, she doesn’t pull punches.”

”You could spar with me! Though that wouldn’t really work for me watching… and we’d definitely just end up fucking midway through…” Cass grinned, waving a piece of chicken around before stuffing it in her mouth. She chewed through it incredibly quickly.
”Fucking high compliments that the Queen of fight, fuck, eat likes me! I get a pretty sweet deal outta it- I like you plenty even without the boobs. But y’think if I got good enough with the magical durability and healing, I could survive it?”

“You really want something that could kill you? When you clearly enjoy-” Trisha grimaced, glaring down at her food. She’d gone from smiling to a sour expression, like she’d just eaten a lemon rather than fries. It wasn’t because of what they were talking about. It was the mention of Lena. Just hearing her name upset her. Especially after what she’d said the last time, and hearing it from Casey’s lips… It made her tense up.
“That’s just stupid.”

”Hey hypotheticals, Trish, hypotheticals! Always looking to try out different things- but I’m more of an ass gal anyway, so it ain’t a big thing. Way more interested in seeing the fighting! Or experiencing it properly.”

Leon shook his head.
"It’s really a different thing, Cass… Uh… See, the way it works, I’m not exactly using Lelou’s powers with permission all the time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, sometimes we agree. But if you see me looking like a big ol’ wolf woman? Things are bad. It means that she’s upset, and anyone’s liable to get hurt after that, no matter how strong they are.”

Casey felt Trisha’s tension in her muscles. Instantly, he was trying to think of what was said that pushed her into that coiled state… Talking about fighting? Or-
Clearing his throat, Casey realized quickly that it wasn’t fighting. It was a namedrop. It was just the first Aberration he thought of that he figured would put up a fight. Oops… He quickly cleaned his fingers off with a napkin and kissed Trisha, getting a little close.
”Do you want a drink or something, Baby?” he asked her quietly.

Meanwhile, Leon kept explaining his situation to Cass.
"We have… Had? A cousin. She had my leash, right? It’s this thing, a leash and collar- Kinky, I know. -that I can wear. It strengthens the locks keeping Lelou in, so long as the leash holder has a strong enough Emotional Field. She could actually kind of blend them better than Lelou and I can do on our own, but also… She hates it. Lelou, I mean. Because none of it is part of her will, y’know?”

”I gettit, I’d be pissed if I was stuck inside someone else and then being made to do shit- ain’t to say it's easy on you either. Kinda sounds like a lose-lose situation you got there, the both of you. Chained together and shit- also kinda kinky if you think about it. She wants your body, right? Ain’t happy to just live in there and get her fighting, fucking, and eating?” Cass was, of course, both curious and empathic - somehow managing empathy towards both Leon and the Ghost.
”Glad I ain’t gotta deal with another voice in my head, my own’s enough!”

“It’s not always bad.” Trisha said without much emotion. She still hadn’t responded to Casey’s question, because she was thinking too hard about it. Did she want a drink? Not really. She wasn’t thirsty, and she really wasn’t hungry anymore either. But did she want something else? Well, probably… She shuffled closer to Casey, so she was right next to him. She leaned against him and tried to untense. It wasn’t like Lena was here. She knew Casey didn’t like her. It was just… especially with what she’d said…
But Trisha shook her head, leaning into Casey more, speaking softly.
“Just this is fine.”

Casey melted into Trisha’s hug, and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Rubbing her shoulder, he took gentle breaths and tried to match himself with her.
”Awww, you’re getting tired or something? It’s alright… Just chill.”
His free hand slid down and snagged some of her curly fries, but one was still hanging out of his mouth when he looked down at her and waggled it in his mouth.

”Uh oh… Fumfin’ ftuk immy feef!” he giggled.
”Heeeeerp” he grinned.

Trisha’s protests about not being tired died on her lips. She stared at him for a moment, then at the fry. Her body relaxed slightly in his arms and her lips tugged up into a slight smile. She just couldn’t stay upset when he was acting so… cute. For her. It just made her feel so warm… warm, loved and wanted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get it for you.”

She tilted her head back and pushed up, biting the curly fry right where it stuck out of his mouth. It was chewed and swallowed before she softly kissed him too.

Casey’s smiling and friendly face was beaming as she pulled the fry away. When she kissed him, he felt a warmth flush across his body until he was outwardly blushing everywhere besides his palms. Frankly, he couldn’t help but wrap both arms around her, spinning them both in place with a quick pirouette.

”UGGGH! Thank you so much, I thought I was gonna choke! I thought it was trying to crawl down my throat, I didn’t know what was gonna happen.”

Leon was watching with a gentle expression on his face. It reminded him so much of the good old days… Of seeing Mom and Dad just be Mom and Dad. Not the Herald and the Fist. Not Gravity and the Lady Night. Just a couple of young star-crossed lovers who could barely stand to be apart. It made him ache for those days. He wanted them back. Fixed.
"Damn, my Man… Every trick in the book tonight, huh?” he giggled, turning to Cass.
"You’d think our Dad was back with how he’s acting…” he said with a wide smile on his face.

”Well maybe he is in spirit! Y’know, that whole they never really leave thing?” Cass had a pretty hard time dragging her eyes away from the couple, watching them with wide, shining eyes and her hands pressed against her own cheeks, squishing them upwards. But she eventually turned towards Leon with a grin, otherwise not changing her also cute watching posture.
”It’s cute! Not that Casey needs to use any tricks, Trisha’s clearly already head over heels for him, so completely in looooovvvveeee.”

“Cass, please,” Trisha softly grumbled, blushing too. But she was too comfortable hugging Casey right now to actually get annoyed about Cass just saying it. She did love him, but she’d just said it, she wasn’t comfortable with it just being thrown around like that… but it was also Cass. She said stuff like that all the time. And she was content now. Happy.
“You’ve gone all red, was it from the near death experience?” she asked Casey, giggling as her hands came up to hold his face.

”You’re red too, Trisha!”
“Caaassssss, stoppp.”

Casey had what Cass said in his mind… About him being there in spirit. He was, and she didn’t realize how right she actually was. What was more concerning to him was that the little marking he’d left behind simply wasn’t fading… Absolution… The formal release from guilt, punishment and obligation. A cleansing of Sin. The ghost probably didn’t know who it was originally, but now it was just… Strange. Strange to know what his Mother was actually doing.

”Cass, that’s actually crazy. I bet he is here, and that you’re totally right. He’s probably happy that Leon and I are together, and that he’s got such a big fan in his corner as well… That we’re all just… Being happy for once. Thank you guys for coming up, seriously. It’s really nice to know you’ll be around more. I think Trisha and I are gonna steal you pretty often.”

Leon grinned. He raised his soda up with a free hand.
"To Gravity’s Legacy, the Richoux name, and the love of those close to us. Santé!”
He didn’t have a drink, so Casey took Trisha’s hand with her heirloom ring on it and playfully pulled it up.

”Santéééééé!” he smiled down at Trisha.

Trisha smiled back at Casey, eyes filled with softness even as she wriggled her fingers around in joking protest. “Santé.”

Cass looked at Leon, then Casey, then Trisha. She let out an exasperated sigh, before grinning and raising her mostly finished soda too.
”Yeah, I ain’t gonna try pronounce that, so… cheers to all that!”

Recollections: Primal Sinister

---

Interactions: Elena @Qia, ‘James’ @NoriWasHere
The Cozy Bakery

---

The man didn't apologise.

It wasn't a man at all.

"S-stay away."

Loni’s eyes widened in horror as its neck contorted and fingers elongated. Her arms tightened around Luciana, holding her close against her chest. Even though Luciana couldn’t see the creature, she could hear it. Her cries grew more frightened and her little body trembled. She was quieter - much quieter.

That told Loni just how scared she was.

Loni’s heart thudded in her chest as every breath she took felt ice cold. What did she do? What could she do? What even was it? It was going to kill all of them. She had to get them out-

The lights went out. The door locked.

No, there was no escape. Shit, shit, no calm down. Stay calm. For her. She had to find out what it was.

For a brief moment Loni's eyes darkened, completely devoid of any emotion. The monster lit up like a bright white star in her vision. An Apparition. That... That meant she could defend against it. She could weaken it- but it seemed strong. She wasn't like Vin, she couldn't fight them like that. But she had to protect her daughter.

She needed salt. If she had salt she could keep them safe for hours - the circle of black lux was strong enough to repel all but the strongest Apparitions. It was the only thing she could do. She had to do that. What else could she do? But she didn’t have salt! Why didn’t she carry it around with her?! Wait, there must be some in the back.

The creature moved again. It was behind the counter. She’d have to get closer to it. Her breath caught in her throat, and she looked down at her daughter trembling in her arms. It felt like her fast beating heart stalled for a moment. She couldn’t. She had to.

Loni turned to Elena.

"P-p-please hold her for me," Loni managed to whisper, even though it was clear she was terrified. She carefully detached her daughter from her even as she struggled, practically shoving her at Elena. Her hands shook, then her whole body when she didn’t have to suppress to not scare Luciana. She didn't want to do this, but she couldn't put her baby in more danger and she... Had to get past that thing to get in the back. If she went past with Luciana it might try to hurt her. She couldn't let it hurt her. "I c-can shield a-against it, but I g-gotta get salt. Keep her safe- away from it."

"Mammaaaa, noooo! Nooooo!" Luciana sobbed, chubby hands reaching out and grasping for Loni even as she pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Mijita, Mamá's gotta keep you safe."

Of course, Luciana didn't understand - because to her there was a terrifying monster and now her mom wasn't holding her anymore. It hurt Loni more than anything to let her go. She was terrified to not have Luciana there cradled in her arms, and she hated seeing her little girl in pain... But she had to. She had to try keep her safe. Right now she couldn't do anything.

She needed salt to create the protective circle. She needed to get into the back.

Ignoring the all consuming panic, Loni spun around and went for the counter. Her hands shook even as her steps were sure. I have to, I have to, I have to. This was the only way, she had to keep Luciana safe, nothing else mattered, but how did she get-

The Doppelganger went for Elijah. Loni used this moment to run - behind the counter, and then pushing through the door into the back. Salt, salt, salt, where the fuck would salt be kept?! Loni had spent some time helping cook and clean in the Sin Sisters kitchens when she was too pregnant to dance, but this place wasn’t laid out the same at all! Of course it wasn’t, it was a fucking bakery- what did she do. Where was it- Oh, salt! Grab it quick.

Every second without her daughter felt like a knife digging deeper into her chest. Icy fear clutched her. What if it got her? No, no, she would be protected. She just had to get back. With the salt. Make a shield and everything would be fine. It would be fine.

She grabbed the large container of salt, easily picking it up and holding it against her chest like it was her child. It was her child’s protection… Mamá's coming, Luciana.

Loni pushed back through from the back room into the main cafe, going to run for her daughter with little care of what was in her way.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Nori's been busy & slowly working on a post... think we're all waiting for that :')

Paragraphs: Agents of Death [FernStone & Mixtape Ghost Note]

---

---

For the first time in a long time, Ella felt despair.

She ran as fast as she could with Lisa’s broken body in her arms. Exhausted as she was, her healing was slow - keeping her alive, at least. Constant downpour made it difficult to see. She was soaked to the bone, freezing cold, and felt empty. They’d had to abandon Yoko. Ella had never abandoned anyone before.

It made her feel useless.

"We need to find shelter," Saskia grunted, panting heavily as they leaned on Ella. She winced, pain searing from her acid eaten arm. "Heal Lisa properly."

Ella nodded. It was difficult to see - where they were going, where there might be safety. Was anywhere safe here? She didn’t think so.

"I healed her enough she should wake up soon," she said, the healing light connecting her arm and Lisa’s body the only light in their otherwise dull and grey surroundings. It was draining her too, but she didn’t let it show. She had to be the strong one. Saskia was suffering from blood loss, and Lisa wasn’t even conscious… she had to stay strong for them. She had to protect them.

She couldn’t falter here.

They were far enough away from the Samurai that Ella could drop her pace from a run to a walk. Just keep going. Walk until Lisa was healed enough to wake up, until they found shelter to rest for just a moment. Then they could go back for Yoko.

If she was still alive.

"Stop, just a moment," Saskia coughed. Ella paused as they bent over, hands on their knees and swaying slightly. They were so pale… and it wasn’t just the rain and cold. Ella knelt down to more comfortably cradle Lisa in her arms, increasing the healing going to her while they were still.

She’d wake up soon. She had to. They all had to survive this.

A metallic clanking pierced through the downpour. It was faint at first—almost drowned out by the rain—but it grew closer. Then, almost surprised, they could hear the metallic figures leveling their muskets at the three. One of the Autoknights spoke, its voice mechanical and devoid of emotion. "Surrender. Resistance will result in termination. Comply or face execution."

Ella squinted up at the Autoknights, holding Lisa close to her, face wet from the rain (and definitely not tears). "We surrender."

Saskia just silently put their arms up.

“Now come with-”

Through the rain, a blue light slowly emerged… Yoko dragged herself into view, a defiant sneer on her face as she raised the Yokai Killer.

”... I’ve come to save you, friends!” Yoko shouted…

… Then collapsed, falling directly onto her face as the Yokai Killer clattered against the ground.

"Yoko!" Ella felt her heart sink as Yoko collapsed. She was alive, but barely… and Ella couldn't carry another person! She did sort of shuffle on her knees towards Yoko's prone body.

Saskia looked at Yoko, then at the Autoknights, intoning, "she surrenders too."

The Autoknights paused momentarily as the rain continued to strike all of them…

“All individuals have surrendered,” One Autoknight casually noted. “Detain them.”

The other Autoknight stepped forward; its heavy frame made its footsteps as it approached Yoko and knelt, grabbing her and lifting her over its shoulder. Another Autoknight advanced toward Ella and Saskia. "Surrender all weapons, artifacts, and magical instruments."

He paused, “Do not resist, compliance ensures survival.”

Ella looked over at Yoko, eyes wide. What if she died from the way they were carrying her? But was there anything she could do about it? Not right now. She felt helpless.

"Here." Saskia pulled her knife out, handing it over to the Autoknight. "My Channeler. Want my bag too?"

Ella handed over the Ice Scepter with trembling hands, before taking off a silver bracelet with a heart charm that had her name engraved on it. Hopefully they'd assume that was her Channeler… did they even know what that was? She wasn't sure, but it was better to be safe. She then awkwardly shifted her backpack to the side, pulling out the strange magic orb they'd gotten.

After all of her magical items where handed over, she put her hand into Lisa's pocket and pulled out a roughly carved out wooden statue of Adora holding her. It was oddly sticky.

"That's everything."

The Autoknight grabbed them, before going from the left to the right.

“Let’s go,” The Autoknight said with a nod. “The King will judge you.”

---

The red sky loomed over them like an oppressive, all-seeing eye. They were loaded up into one of the Autoknight Airships, and brought to the Kingdom as planned. However, they were handcuffed and chained together, stripped of all weapons and artifacts. They were marched through the streets of the Kingdom, a chaotic amalgamation of different eras and styles. Gothic spires lined the skyline, while the neighborhoods were lined with monolithic stone blocks that leaned at impossible angles. Buildings were stacked on top of each other, some of which were completely different styles and sizes yet somehow fit perfectly. The people were misshapen, either some sort of Aberration or soul long broken by the Pit.

At the heart of the Kingdom was the King’s castle - less of a structure and more like an abomination spawned from this hell. Its jagged towers stretched unnaturally upwards, constructed from a chaotic mess of black stone, eroded metal, and hunks of stone…

Ella looked around with slightly widened eyes. This place was… strange. Horrible, with the way the people seemed. But they were in the Kingdom. Chained, but there… and Lisa and Yoko were awake. That was the plan. Get inside.

Now they just needed to get out of the chains.

She carefully moved her arms close to her body, hands twisting around. Her fingers curled inwards, a hot beam of light coming out of one and starting to cut through the chains linking the handcuffs. It was covered by her hands and body… as she did that she looked behind her at her friends - namely Lisa and Yoko. Trying to see if they were prepared to break free - and Yoko nodded back, the chains around her arms and legs began to stretch and extend.

Lisa just shrugged.

Ella looked back forward, light cutting through the chains on her arms. The ones on her legs were more of a problem… she could probably just crush them, but then she’d need to light up her eyes. But… It was now or never! Her and Yoko could totally take these Autoknights out even if Lisa and Saskia weren’t immediately free.

Her legs lit up with a rainbow light, strengthening immediately. She stomped on the chain with an enhanced foot, easily crushing it. At the same time there was a sickening crack as Saskia completely broke her wrists.

Then Ella spun around.

"Lisa, above your head!" A beam of heated light came out of her finger, aimed just above Lisa. She raised her hands and the beam burnt through the chains.

Yoko slammed the expanded chains on the ground and they shattered. An Autoknight attempted to stab her with a spear but Yoko put her handcuffs up and blocked the strike. She quickly swung the remnants of the chains at the Autoknight and it struck with an ear-piercing sound and the Autoknight hit the ground seconds later.

Yoko pointed at one up ahead, ”He has the Yokai Killer!”

"I’ll retrieve it for you!" Ella shouted back. She ran forward, launching into a jump kick at the Autoknight, hard as steel rainbow foot slamming into his side.

The Yokai Killer clattered against the ground, and Yoko appeared right over it in a burst of speed. She grinned as she grabbed it and firmly grasped it.

”They might have the rest of our artifacts! Take them out!” Yoko commanded.

"Yes Sensei!" Ella shouted. She spun around, moving onto the next nearby Autoknight - another strong kick at it, followed up by a heated beam of light slicing across its body.

Saskia just watched, holding up her hands to show them painful cracking back into place. The ground shook as spiders burst out of the ground like a geyser and went in all directions. Meanwhile Yoko was slicing them to pieces with the Yokai Killer. She paused and glanced over her shoulder at Ella,

”Lightning Rush!”

Ella nodded, eyes locking with Yoko as she said it. It was enough for them to synchronize their breathing and energy. Ella jumped forward first in a burst of speed, kicking and punching so fast it left afterimages, before she swapped out for Yoko. Who swung the Yokai Killer so fast it temporarily left before a blue blur with every swing, and Autoknights crumbled to rusted messes in seconds. Ella then swapped places with her with another series of punches and kicks, a sort of swan-like dance they replicated for a few moments before Yoko stood by Ella’s side for the finale. A final group of Autoknights hunkered together, placing their shields in front of their with their spears and swords poised to stab.

Ella locked eyes with Yoko, complete understanding between them. It was the finishing blow… the strongest attack. They launched forward together, swift enough to avoid the spears and sword and with enough power to blast through the shields. Launching them away and utterly decimating their formation. Yoko grasped the Yokai Killer…

She glanced over her shoulder, ”Find your artifacts!” Before looking up at the looking castle in the center of the Kingdom.

”... Because we are going to need them!”

Iron and Honey: A Love Story [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

St Portwell Department Store

After they'd polished off their breakfast, the couple headed to their next location.

St Portwell Department Store. Boringly named but it made it clear it was homegrown, rather than any kind of chain store. It had been around for as long as Trisha could remember... Though parts were destroyed during the Stygian Snake's rampage, it had just been rebuilt better. She was fairly certain her brother had some hand in the rebuilding... The Vanburen Family Business (or Ezra, at least) probably had some shares in it.

It'd been a long time since she'd been here. Last time was… highschool, probably, just before the Snake with her friends. It was fun going to somewhere that wasn't just a clothing store - they could buy anything they wanted, and did. It was a nice memory…

Of course, while the exterior hadn't changed, the interior had. Things shifted, products were changed to replace old with new. Even the layout was different - the escalators all the way at the back were replaced by ones in the very centre, going up and up the seven floors it spanned across. It was all tastefully cream and gold, lending it an elegant appearance without being so much that it alienated its mixed clientele.

The ground floor started out as a large section for makeup, various makeup artists trying to catch the unsuspecting customer browsing the wares or whatever company had hired them. Trisha expertly weaved around this, gripping onto Casey's hand as she managed to avoid every single staff member between them and the escalators.

Thankfully there was a list of what was on each floor. Trisha quickly scanned it to find men's clothing - just a few floors up. She turned towards Casey with a warm grin as she tugged him on and upwards.

“So what're you looking for?" Trisha asked him, swinging their joined hands. She smiled at him playfully. “Maybe something with colour? Or is that too out of your comfort zone?"

Casey too remembered being in this place as a little boy. Back in those days, Boxing was actually a more popular sport; being out with Max was something like a nightmare in itself. Every ten feet someone wanted a picture or an autograph, but he seemed to eat it up every time.
People like Clarissa actually got things done. Dragging him through the store much like Trisha was doing now, her excitement and pleasure wholly focused on the mass exchange of currency. Four people, six children, and carts of shit between them while Max and Lynette played the local celebrity game.

The escalator seemed so much scarier back then.
”I was already thinking that. I've never had much control over my clothes; it was Temple into the Military… Whenever I managed to come home on leave, I had a closet full of the same shit, y'know? I guess now my only concern is space… We could use one of the downstairs apartments to store stuff we only occasionally wear, but stuff that's easily accessible is limited.” he thought aloud, only really half answering her question.

”What I mean is, uh… Yeah. Color. I don't entirely hate the punk aesthetic, but I also envy those people who dress in really sharp business attire. Dad always told us to avoid clothes like that, because they're not flattering to the warrior frame we were gifted with.” he shrugged his shoulders, feeling silly as he said it aloud.

Trisha let out a thoughtful hum, stepping up onto the next step on the escalator and spinning around to look at him discerningly.
“You know it’s all about the cut, right? You just need something that’s the right fit… Though you wouldn’t get that here. You shouldn’t buy business attire from a store that doesn’t specialise in it, really. You could definitely get tailored suits that look good on you. We probably even have a tailor- sorry, you probably wouldn’t want that, and I’d have to go through Ezra. But some of my brothers are pretty muscular themselves.”

She smiled brightly at him. She hadn’t been properly clothes shopping with someone else for a while. Her and Nadiyah used to do it occasionally, and before that some friends… but normally she ended up going alone. So this was nice.
“But that’s not for today, or here at least. Storage wise… so long as there’s home clothes upstairs, I don’t mind storing a lot of mine in a downstairs apartment? I’m already taking up most of the space which isn’t really fair. It’s our home after all, we should be sharing the space. And you need more clothes… the more variety you get the more easily we’ll match.” She giggled a little at that as they got to the right floor.
“Do you know where you want to start?”

He wasn't usually sheepish or nervous about things, but shopping? It was only their second time out, and the kinds of clothes he really wanted to wear weren't here… She said so herself! Having someone cater to him, using years and years of in-profession experience, put him at ease in a way that raw-dogging a department store just didn't.

At least she sounded like she knew things.

”Where are we supposed to start? There's nobody here who can take my measurements like that, right? I mean, when you said come here I thought maybe it was different, but…”
He looked around, a little overwhelmed by all the racks without any clear direction.
”I don't know… This isn't what I know. I know that the last order of uniforms I ordered for the Temple had an extra layer of waterproofing inside the lining as a practical improvement. But they're still black jumpsuits.”

He almost twiddled his thumbs like an indecisive child.
”What'd you mean by the cut? Like… If we won't find that here, how're we gonna find anything that works?”
The tonal shifting was rather noticeable… He wasn't good at hiding his general nerves in a place where he already felt a little queasy.

Trisha stopped looking around the shop, craning her neck and going up on her tiptoes to try get a general gist of the layout. She turned back around to Casey, taking both of his hands in hers.
“That’s only important for something like a suit, where you want it to fit perfectly. It’s why made to measure suits look best - but it's unnecessary for almost everything else. We just need to make sure it’s not too small, especially if the material isn’t stretchy. Things like t-shirts are easy…” She tried to explain as best as she could, not entirely understanding where his nerves were coming from. It was just a store? Would he really be more comfortable in one of those stuffy places where someone makes all the decisions for you?

“You don’t need exact measurements either. I can probably guess your sizes - and you try them on. That’s part of the fun of it. We should probably start at shirts…” she trailed off, squeezing his hands and trying not to let his lack of enthusiasm get to her. She’d just have to teach him how to enjoy it, right? If that was even possible. Maybe…
“We can go somewhere else if you really want. One of the places that takes your measurements and does everything for you and forces you to buy clothes you don’t really like but they think look good on you.”

Casey tried his best to think about how to explain himself without sounding too crazy, as he probably already seemed crazy enough without explaining… Maybe that was part of the problem.

”I just… I guess I trust professionals. People who put all their lives into what they do, I just kind of assume they know what they're talking about. I don't need to worry when it comes to fighting, because I learned from the best. I don't worry about magic, because I learned from the best. I… I guess I figured we'd be in the rich people stores getting pampered, not… Not in the local Kohl's equivalent.”

Sure. Don't talk about what's really bothering you… Getting smacked for hiding in the racks, grabbed by the hair-
”I'm sorry. This is fine, it's just that I'm not in my element. Starting with shirts makes sense, I just… I know I'm gonna wind up looking like a suburban Dad if I pick shit…”
He gripped her hand tightly, frowning a little.

“Well there’s two things you can do to prevent that- don’t buy polo shirts, and don’t tuck your shirt fully into your pants,” Trisha said, forcing herself to still smile and not get antsy about it all. She didn’t like rich people stores. To her the ‘pampering’ there was just overwhelming and intrusive. Plus, every single one of those stores came with the risk of bumping into one of her family members. All the memories she had in places like that too… she’d always been jealous of kids whose parents picked out clothes for them.
“Most people don’t have ‘the best’ to learn from, and just have to learn by doing. But luckily for you, you have me. I can pick clothes for you- I mean, I’ll help you. Come on.”

Her thumb comfortingly rubbed across the back of his hand, before she gently tugged him into those aisles of racks. Most of these stores had similar layouts, so it didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for: the shirt section. Of course, there was a great variety there. She’d already mentally narrowed it down to start.

“Let’s start simple… I assume you don’t want to have to think hard about matching, right? So you want clothes that go together. Like…” She rummaged through one of the racks, pulling out a light blue button down shirt. It was made of a more casual fabric - cotton based probably, soft… It very obviously wasn’t his size…
“Very versatile. You can style it in a lot of ways, and it goes with anything. It’s a good start. Look.”

She shrugged off her coat, hanging it over the top of the racks. Bees visible on her shoulders fled to her hair, since there wasn’t much space to hide under the crop top she was wearing. Then she pulled on the shirt she’d grabbed. It was pretty big on her, but that didn’t matter.
“You can just wear it open like this over a t-shirt… or you do up most of the buttons. Unless you’re going full formal, never bother with the top few. Then you can tuck it in if you want… but you gotta pull it out a bit. You can even unbutton it more… roll up the sleeves. Loads.” She demonstrated each style as she spoke. She then turned around and rummaged a bit more to find their largest sizes. Thankfully there was quite the range here.
“You want to go a little oversized, so it’s not, like… bulging.”

She held up the button down she’d pulled out that was more his size, holding it up towards him. She glanced at it, then him, then shook her head and put it back.
“It’s too light, kind of washes you out, what about…” she went back to hunting and found a similar style shirt, quite plain, but this time it was more of a slate blue shade. She held it out to him with a smile. She really was trying her best to keep her energy up, hoping he’d at least start to enjoy himself if she did.
“I think this'll look nice. What do you think? It’s all about just trying things on and finding what you like… I can pick out a bunch I think will suit you and then you could try them on?”

Casey was doing his best to think about things in a logistical fashion. If they just took one of everything and bought it, they could do all that at home…
Wrinkling his nose, he listened to her talk about how to fit things and how they were colored. At least his military uniform was designed by someone who knew what they were doing… there was no guessing. No questions. Just a nice, sleek frame in a wonderful looking pristine olive drab.

You suggested this. You wanted this. Doesn't it look good in the movies? Isn't it something you crave? Don't sour her mood over a location. Play. Have fun.
”Does it have to be so dark? I thought color was like…-”
He gesticulated an explosion with his hands.
”Like bright and flashy. Like, a Hawaiian shirt. Are those fashionable?”

“Uhhh…” It was Trisha’s turn to wrinkle her nose, though she was still smiling.
“Some, but not the brightly coloured ones you’re thinking about. We can go brighter, just we’re, y’know-” she gestured to the clothes around them- “- in the boring blue section. There are colours between black and blinding, you know?”

She spoke jokingly and shrugged, putting the shirt back. Her head tilted back, squinting at Casey. She knew the basics of what colours suited people- though she mostly remembered for herself, and they were pretty different there. Warm versus cold… but that was fine.
“I think if you want bright, you’d suit purples or brighter blue- maybe some mint green too, kind of maroon? I guess we can even try to find a nice hawaiian shirt… so long as it isn’t one of those ones with beers on it.” She laughed, going to move on towards one of the colours she’d said, before pausing. They were shopping together, she should really slow down…

“If we’re lucky we’ll find something that suits both of us. Properly matching.” She held her hand back out for his.

The menacing hand.
”Stop fucking wandering off!”
Her bloody face… Last night. The sound of her fist cracking and splitting a skull like a coconut husk. He slowly took the hand.
”Uhh… Bee, can… Can…”
He found his throat dry as he tried to say that he was suddenly not doing so hot. Breakfast was coming back.
”M-maybe just… A new store? One neither of us have been to? I-”
”CASEAU L’DEL!?”
His head spun. She wasn’t there. They weren’t there. It was the same feeling as a creeping shadow, not knowing if something was going to magically materialize out of nothingness. She could.

And then he gagged.

Trisha had frozen with her hand held out, utterly confused about what was going on. Was it her? Was she too pushy? No, she hadn’t done anything that bad, had she- she really didn’t understand. And when she didn’t understand it was hard not to assume it was her.

“O-okay.” Her hand dropped and she reflexively took a step back. Was clothes shopping so bad that he felt sick? How was going to another shop going to help? She tried not to look upset, even though she was. Upset and confused.
“I don’t really know any I haven’t been to- it’s fine, we’ll figure it out, should we go outside?”

Without a second thought, Casey reached for Trisha’s hand and got real close to her. His breathing was heavy and erratic, and he was suddenly very sweaty. He wasn’t used to just taking comfort in her. It wasn’t normal for him to take comfort in anyone. And he didn’t exactly feel any safer around her. Of course, that wasn’t Trisha’s fault. It was all associative.

He could only do what his therapist had taught him. Get somewhere safe, take a moment, and come back to life. He couldn’t let things like this effect his whole world; so Casey’s arms simply wrapped around her. Like he would’ve done with his Mother if she’d given any lick of a damn.
So he held her close and tight, and found that it did feel safe. So he took a breath and moved out of the way of a few people passing by as he did what he had to do.
”Associative panic attack…” he said quietly to her. So quietly it almost didn’t sound like words, but being so close to her made it so it was clear enough. He didn’t explain further, just holding her close and breathing rather than letting the darkness consume him.

She frowned a bit more, her arms slipping under his to hug him back. Her hands rested on his back, rubbing in a gentle circular motion. She hoped that would help… she didn’t really know. Sure, she got panicked sometimes, but it wasn’t really like this? She didn’t think it’d ever really been a full blown panic attack. Nothing this bad at least. But he was holding her, so that must be helping. At least his breathing seemed a bit more steady?

“It’s okay, I’m here,” she said softly, those nagging upset feelings pushed back down now that she kind of knew what was happening. She didn’t entirely understand it but… it wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t her fault. Probably.
“Just whatever you need, however much time you need, it’s fine.” She was certainly trying her best to comfort him, thinking of what she’d want if she theoretically had a panic attack.

He was taking deep breaths still, and the shaking was gone.
”It’s not e-even… War shit… Fuck!”
It was his fault. He didn’t express how he felt when she told him to come here, he didn’t even… He wasn’t thinking about it. Didn’t realize it’d be like this.
”I’ve just… Been here a lot. And it was never good. Lots of crying and being scared. Feeling abandoned. I thought I was over it, then… You started tugging me, and it started to take me back and I thought I could just get over it and-”

Casey looked down at Trisha with full eyes and a wet face.
”-I wasn’t. And I’m sorry. I’ll g-get over it in a second, and we’ll keep going. I’m sorry, I’m-”
So broken? So worthless that you can’t walk through a store?
Those weren’t his normal thoughts, of course… Just self conscious ranting.

So it was because of her.

Trisha couldn’t stop the thought. It was difficult not to get caught up in it, when she shouldn’t. Not right now, not when Casey was struggling like this. Just push it down like everything else, forget about it, add it to the large pile of things she did wrong.
“It’s fine, you don’t have to apologise.” Trisha’s hands moved up to his face, just like they had earlier. Her voice was a bit… off, but that could just be because she wasn’t used to dealing with something like this. That was definitely it. She never got set off and panicked by things…

“It’s not your fault, is it? You can’t help those feelings… I don’t really understand, I don’t have strong memories like that-” what did they say about lying to each other? But it wasn’t a lie-
“-But I know it’s not just something you get over. It’s fine, it’s really fine, nobody’s fault.” Well it was a bit hers. Or a lot. No, she was suppressing that thought.

“We can go somewhere else if it’ll be easier, really. I don’t mind. I just suggested here because I know it. That’s not easy to just overwrite, right? And I won’t tug you again.”

It took a few more moments before Casey spoke again, drawing air and snot through his nose.
”One day… I’ll take all of it back, I think. My therapist always said it wasn’t healthy for me to attack what hurts me. I used to do that a lot more. To feel control. Confidence. But, I think… Knowing that the monster is gone because you’re the one to slay it? It’s something that eases the mind. Closure. Confirmation.”
Pulling away slightly, he looked around again.
”Last night put me on edge. Not you, not our tiff. Work. A lot of people are dead who shouldn’t be, and it’s on my hands. Innocence. All because I trust her. The woman who raised me… Not my Mother.”

His hands gripped together behind Trisha, clenching and releasing.

”I would never hurt you. And I would never abandon you. I don’t want this to be our life, and I know it won’t be… But now… I’m afraid of the monster in the closet, and nowhere feels safe except here in your arms. I don’t think I would’ve taken this job if you weren’t here. So now I think… I think I have to kill the monsters.”
Wiping the tears away, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
”Exposure therapy worked when we tried it before. I know I’m capable.”
Still slightly choked up, he cleared his throat and shook his head.
”I just don’t want you to be… Afraid of me… Or us… And leave. If I don’t have someone else to do all of this for, then I really don’t… I don’t know if I actually can. I don’t feel like I’m enough.”

Trisha trembled a little bit. Not because of the talk of killing. He’d said he killed last night… maybe it should scare her, but he clearly didn’t want to. It was the fact that he’d taken the job because of her. Why? Why would you do something that meant he was even more stuck with the Temple… and he had to kill for them? Felt that he had to kill again… she assumed he was talking about Clarissa. Furio too. Probably.

But she just didn’t understand how she was enough. Was she really worth it? Wouldn’t he just end up regretting it? But alongside her insecurities was selfishness - knowing that she was the only person who made him feel safe. But she should want him to always feel safe… And there was also that was actually doing everything for her. Not for them. But if what he was doing made him struggle so much…
“I’m not afraid of you. You’ve never even gone to hurt me- why would I be scared? I’ve seen people lash out for less.” She was confident enough in that. He hadn’t hurt her, and she couldn’t imagine him doing it on purpose.

“And I said this morning I’m not going to leave. You’d- you’d have to try to kill me to get me to leave. So you don’t need to worry about that. But-” Her head tilted down, voice getting even quieter.
“I don’t understand why. My situation wasn’t so bad you needed to take the job- or do all this for me. I understand doing things for someone else, but if it’s hurting you…” Was it worth it?

”Have you ever wondered what the fuck is the point? Living? If you’ve never been suicidal, it sounds stupid. But after the war ended, I… I felt alone again. Like I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t stay with the people who I came to love. OSS disbanded our unit; scattered us to advisory positions where we were needed. The only people I felt knew who I really was were gone without my control.”
Casey’s eyes closed. A few more tears slipped from the corners as he remembered that feeling again. Loneliness.

”I don’t know what the fuck it is about you. I don’t know why I felt like I came home for the first time when I saw you… Holding your nose. Runny makeup. Bee onesie. Maybe I felt like you needed some kind of protection. Maybe it was the White Lux and I didn’t realize it. I don’t know, Trisha, I really don’t! All I know is that every single time I look at you, I get that same feeling. That you’re worth it. Worth me making the improvement, worth me taking back the life that I thought I wasn’t ever going to have.”

His forehead slowly but surely crept down until it pressed against hers. His long hair came around them, practically cutting them off from the world.
”I… I knew the second that I felt something like that, that I was going to have to smash through the walls between myself and freedom. Freedom to just be. Everyone wants it… But they won’t suffer the consequences. I will. I’ve suffered already. I’ll take the weight. Carry it until there’s a place I can lay it to absolute rest.”

Trisha didn’t know what it was like to not want to live, because there’d always been something to keep her going - resentment, hope, spite… But she did know what it was like to be lonely. So lonely. Everyone left eventually. There’d never been anyone who stuck around in the way she needed - giving her the love and attention she didn’t have growing up. She’d spent so many years alone that she’d forgotten how to let people in.

“Nowhere’s felt like home for me either, until you,” she admitted softly. It was true. It wasn’t like what Casey said for him- and unknown, or instant feeling. Sure, it hadn’t been long, but in that time he’d been there. With her, for her. It wasn’t enough for her to feel like it wouldn’t all disappear, but… she felt comfortable. Like maybe she’d finally found her place and person. Such strong feelings.

Which was scary too.

”I- I don’t completely understand.” Because she didn’t feel like she was worth it. Not that much. She tilted her head up slightly to rub her nose against his.
“But I want to just be with you. Even if it means that you- we have to push through so much to get there. Together, because even if I can’t really help, I’ll always be there for you. Whether it’s hard or easy. Because I-” love you.

She wasn’t ready to say it- or even truly admit it to herself, but he could probably tell… and it was hard to not feel it after everything he’d just said. That he thought she was worth it, that she made him feel like he’d come home… Each thing was a slight confidence boost. A little bit more stability and acceptance.
“I don’t want you to suffer, but if it’s to get to a better place… I understand.”

His arms pulled her close, and there the moment rested. But it was only a moment.
"That all sounded a little gay didn’t it?”
Casey almost immediately deflated. Hearing that voice drove him up a wall, and every little bit of Trisha’s aggravation at the previous evening came welling back up through a new vessel. He didn’t respond, didn’t even turn his head to look.

But the look on his face told Trisha all she’d need to know.
”For fucks- Come on. Just walk.”
Casey’s hand moved down to grab Trisha’s, but as he moved, she’d get a good glance down the little throughway they were stood on. And, of course, there he was. All his glory, black on black with a black jacket and sunglasses indoors. He even had a hood on, like people who were going to recognize him would simply suspend their belief like he’s Clark Kent.

Leon Richoux was stopped there, staring. But, someone else was with him…

”Oy, that ain’t nice- I thought it was cute!”

Trisha stopped from trying to immediately flee, also staring. Her hand gripped Casey’s tightly and the immediate tension from hearing Leon’s voice didn’t go anywhere at the sight of her friend. Cass stood beside Leon, slapping his arm a couple of times. Her mostly black outfit was less egregious - at least there was some red here and there, and chains hanging from her ripped, baggy pants adding a little bit of… light.

“... Cass? Why are you here?” Trisha’s lips pressed together, and she didn’t even acknowledge Leon. She didn’t want to. She was still pissed at him even if she’d talked everything through with Casey. She wasn’t someone to just forgive and forget. So she glared at him, holding Casey’s hand enough that it would’ve hurt if she actually had any strength.

”In the flesh! You’d’ve known if you ever checked the chat! Nice to see you again, Casey!” Cass bounced forward a few steps, ending up standing in between the couple and Leon. She then glanced between them, whistling.
”I’m sensing a bit of tension here… Do I need to defend your honour again, Trish? I’ll do it. Bros before hoes and all that- Sorry Leon.” She spun back around towards him with a grin, cracking her neck and swinging her arms around as if preparing for a fight. Then she winked.

”Guess it’s more like foreplay, eh?”
Trisha groaned, free hand pressing against her face. But the tension in her shoulders did ease a bit.

Leon looked at his younger brother, then his date, then Trisha… He didn’t get any smarter, pulling the hood and glasses off. His eyes were closed slightly, and he had a regretful look on his face.
"I guess that was probably the wrong thing to say.”
Trisha would feel Casey’s hand tense up as he answered.
”If there weren’t people here, we wouldn’t be talking.”
Leon brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose, wincing in frustration.
"This can’t be every one of our interactions, Man.”
”It sure can if you keep dropping the ball…-”
Casey did his best to smile weakly at Cass.
”-Sorry, Cass. If I knew you were here, I would’ve given you the courtesy instead of trying to run… You having fun in our lovely St. Portwell?”

Leon’s face turned down further until he looked genuinely hurt. But he didn’t make a stink out of it.

Cass looked between the two brothers with slightly raised eyebrows, then at Trisha to try and read a little bit what she wanted. Except Trisha had twisted herself to half hide her face against Casey’s arm, trying to reduce her annoyance enough to not end up glaring at her friend too. Because there was some frustration there too - why was Cass here, seeing Leon, without telling her? Why was she even still in the area?

”It’s fine, dude, I ain’t upset! I’m having a great time, y’know, loads to do, good company, and all that. Even if it looks like we’ll be having a ‘shit you don’t say’ lesson after this.” Cass threw up a thumbs up towards Casey and Trisha, head tilting backwards to grin at Leon. There was a hint of sharpened teeth there…

She then hopped forward until she was right next to Trisha, leaning in.
”Y’know I can beat some sense into him later, just like-”
“It isn’t like that, and you can’t.”
”Yeah, yeah, it ain’t, I know, less’a problem and it’d be more like a bit of fun, y’know last time-”
“Please stop there. Why are you even here?”

”Oh!” Cass stepped back from what had been an unnecessarily hushed conversation, grinning. ”Aside from the date? I’m stickin’ around Portland a bit longer. In fact, I’ll be around a lot more. I quit my job!”
“What?!”

Leon did his best not to look a little pleased about it.
"Why not, y’know? We’re all still young enough. I asked her if she wanted to spend some time, so that’s what we’re doing. She’s closer up North than where she was before, an hour versus a few.”
Casey stared at his older brother in abject silence and disbelief. He was trying desperately to process what was happening.

”That’s probably for the best… I expect to see you at our place too then? I’m sure Trisha isn’t going to say no to some quality time.”
His grip was lightening. The tension was flowing away.
”We were just talking about a rebellion! You can sign on, we have these fun uniforms and shit?”

Leon’s face went from somber to shocked and angry.
"Casey…”
”Oh, and any food he hands you that sounds like its screaming to get out? Don’t eat it… Or do. I guess you’re a grown woman.”
"Qu'est-ce que tu fais, Putain?” What the fuck are you doing?
”You can say cryptic shit to scare my girlfriend, but I can’t do the same? Classic, Leon.”
"I don’t think it’s right Casey…”

”Address me properly…”

The command hung in the air like a damp cloth on the whole moment. Casey’s eyes were intensely blue, shimmering, and he was standing as stiff and tall as he could. Leon’s face changed once again, taking on new qualities of embarrassment and pleading.

"Don’t do this…”
”Y’know Cass, I really wish you could beat some sense into my Older Brother… I love him to death, but he can’t seem to stop treating me like shit. Like he’s above me… No matter how many times I outbox him.”

Cass was, of course, a little confused about the situation. She was pretty good at reading people - especially Trisha and all her subtleties. Obviously some shit had happened between Leon and the two of them… but when rebellions and screaming food came into it? Or proper addresses? Was this actually the army? She was fucking lost. Not scared, just fucking lost.

Trisha wasn’t, but she was uncomfortable. She shuffled closer to Casey, moving to be slightly behind him while still holding onto his hand. While she liked that Casey was defending himself and her, she didn’t like the audience - that audience being Cass. Like she was being dragged into a situation that revealed parts of Trisha she didn’t like revealing…

”Well I dunno what you’re saying ‘bout a lotta that shit- if food screams at me Ima just throw it outta window- but…” Cass looked at Casey, eyes squinting slightly, then back at Leon.
”You beat a boxer and they just wanna beat you back- not that that’s an excuse to treat anyone like shit.” Her eyes narrowed just a little bit at Leon. The arrogance was part of it, but really it shouldn’t come outside of the ring too much.

”That’s just all some toxic masculinity shit. You can’t beat him in a way that’ll work- I can. Well, will be able to. Gotta work on the magic first!” Cass winked at Casey, before her lips curved into an almost evil grin towards Leon.
”You’ll enjoy it.”

Casey’s eyes narrowed… But he cracked a smile.
”I’ll be sure to miss that recording.”
His voice became a rumbling giggle, and it seemed that whatever tension was there was starting to dissipate. Cass would be able to feel Leon equally break tension.
"I love you…”

It wasn’t to Cass, of course… He was looking at Casey.
”I love you too… If you know yesterday was up and down, and you know I’ll hear about it, the least you could do is not be like… How you are.”
The elder brother nodded, taking a deep breath.
"You’re right, I know… And I’m sorry.”
Casey’s eyes went bright, and he raised his hands slightly.
”Thank you! That’s all! Just fucking lead with that shit instead!”
"I know, I knowwwwwww… Christ, fucking… I thought Cass was going to make you both smile.”

”You using me as some kinda peace offering? Y’know I aint cheap!” Cass elbowed Leon in the side pretty hard - because she knew both with and without magic she could barely hurt him. No need to hold back.
“You should’ve brought someone quieter.” Trisha relaxed a little bit as Casey did, shuffling back around to his side rather than a bit behind him. She still stuck close, not quite looking at Leon. But she was clearly more… alright with his presence.

”Aw, c’mon, you love me! You missed me! And now you’re stuck with meeeeee!” Cass skipped forward, practically launching herself at Trisha - and accidentally slapping Casey as she wrapped her arms around her friend. She practically smothered Trisha - and herself, since there was practically no height difference between them.

“Get off me,” Trisha grumbled - but she was smiling… what little of her face was visible around Cass’s all encompassing hug. It remained there, just a little smile, as Cass let go.
“You could’ve said you were going to be in St Portwell.”
”That’d ruin the surprise! But I did say - like ten times in the group chat. You just don’t check it! And that’s on you, babe.” Cass grinned teasingly, bouncing back into the middle of all of them. She gestured between Casey and Leon.
”But I’m real glad you two made up from whatever that was- you gotta hold onto that relationship, cause you dunno when it’ll be gone.”

Casey stuck his tongue out and blew it jokingly as he got slapped by accident.
”Oh, it’s not up by a long shot, but there’s enough mutual respect to not dog-ass one another in front of two people who deserve better energy.”
Leon seemed to agree with the sentiment, nodding his head.
"We’ve had it out before. We’ll do it again later. But he’s right, it’s… You two. Every story you’ve told me makes me understand how much love you two share, so… All shit aside.”

Casey nodded, taking a breath and looking at Trisha and Cass.
”What brings you two here anyway?”

Cass looked between the two brothers again, nodding. She got it. She had four brothers of her own, after all, and there were tensions there… and she missed fighting with her oldest brother. For just a moment a sad look crossed her eyes. But just like that it was gone, right back to the normal Cass energy.
”What else would we be here for? To spice things up in a different location!”
“Oh my God Cass, you-”

”I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Cass laughed, waving a hand in front of her before Trisha had the chance to continue. Trisha just rolled her eyes, but it was good natured enough. She was still smiling.
”Shopping, of course. I ain’t actually gone back to San Fran yet to get my stuff, and I ain’t got all that many clothes with me. Rey’s real anal about me borrowing her shit too, I’ve been having to cycle between like three shirts… So Leon suggested we go shopping! Course I agreed. We’re on this floor cause the women’s section sucks. I can’t be bothered with tryna find the tiny amount I like and then dealing with those sizes- the fuck do the numbers mean? Nothing! It changes at every shop! You ain’t got any idea how lucky you guys are to have fuckin’ waist sizes and all that shit.”

“You could just try it on. It’s not that bad.” Trisha tilted her head.
”Who’s got time for that shit?”
“Well, you. You’re unemployed.”
”Damn!” Cass clutched her chest, grinning.
”Just hit me right where it hurts, why dontcha? Just cause I got the time doesn’t mean I want to. There’s better things to be doin’.” She looked up at Leon with a grin.
Credit where it was due, the giant man was trying his absolute best to not react to the provocation coming from Cass. She was relentless; just his type, and absolutely unapologetic about it.
"We’ve got an appointment with Balthazar as well. I wanted to get her a dress made because I think that man makes the sexiest dresses in the city.”

Casey knew that Balthazar was a shop run by a premier French designer. It was a place their Father used to bring Lynette whenever he won, or whenever there was some official banquet run by the boxing leagues. It took months to get those kinds of things commissioned and sewn up.
Which meant he was actually fairly serious about this. The sex had to be good, Casey figured. He laughed.

”I should rat you out to Wendy.” he said simply, a chuckle leaving his lungs.
"Oh God, I’ll never hear the end of it at Christmas.” Leon joked back, scratching the back of his head and smiling.
”Wendy’s a cousin of ours. On our Dad’s side… Bigwig fashion designer out in New York.” Casey explained.
"Pretty impressive too! In an industry where she could’ve just used her magic to outcompete everyone, she’s done it all legitimately. No fancy Orange Lux tricks or anything.”

Casey’s head nodded as he thought about his family out East. The people who they never saw; most of whom hated his Mother and rightfully believed she was deceptive and duplicitous.
"You guys already eat?”
”Andrade’s… We got there before he sent Mom’s breakfast muffins off.”
Leon knew what that meant, and grimaced slightly.
"Jesus… You two must’ve had quite the talk about things.”

Casey smiled as big and wide as he could.
”Yessir… Get why I’m pissy yet?”
Leon just nodded, taking a deep breath.
”Which reminds me, Cass… Did you meet Leon’s cat yet?”

Once again, Cass didn’t get half of what was being said after the fashion talk - but she could tell that Trisha and Casey had a fight. It was pretty obvious by the look on Trisha’s face as Casey and Leon talked, lips pressed together and looking down at the ground. Which also meant they’d made up pretty quickly… that was good! Boded well for the future! So she grinned at Trisha, flashing her another thumbs up.
”Y’mean the massive fuckin’ fluffy ones that talk? Yeah, like, briefly. I don’t think they liked me- I thought it was cute how they talked and they gave me this evil look when I tried to pet ‘em. Now that I think about it, maybe it was the wolf ears…”

Trisha shuddered just thinking about the cats, looking up at Casey. Her hand reached out for his again, just for a bit of reassurance. But she was also concerned… Cass could take a lot, Trisha knew that. She’d witnessed her beat up a fair few guys bigger than her. But the cats were different.
“They haven’t tried to do anything to you?”
”The fuck could they do, they’re cats - talking cats, sure, but still cats. What’re they gonna do, bore me to death?”

“They’re dangerous, Cass. Really dangerous. Leon will tell you-” Trisha finally properly looked at Leon again, frowning.
“If it hurts Cass I won’t forgive you.”

”Hey, hey, hey, let’s not get all up in arms again!” Cass once again put herself in the middle, reaching out to grab Trisha’s free hand, and then also one of Leon’s. Like a strange connecting human chain…
”I dunno the fuck’s up with these cats, but they ain’t gonna hurt me on Leon’s watch, I’m sure. Plus, I can defend myself. I ain’t exactly round there doing cat friendly shit anyway- if anyone’s gonna be scarred by that encounter, it’ll be them.”

Trisha rolled her eyes at that, but seemed to relax a little bit. She still didn’t like it. The Wampus scared her a lot. What if it started targeting Cass as well because of her? Especially if she was going to be visiting St Portwell more… she looked up at Casey with a slight frown, not sure what to say. If Cass decided something was fine or she wanted to do something it was pretty difficult to change her mind…

Casey was silent for a moment before he shook his head.
”Y’know, I could’ve guessed they’d have a hard time with you. They don’t like you because there’s only fun in that noggin of yours. You don’t get scared, you don’t get mad or depressed much… The positivity is like a black hole.”

Despite her aggressive prodding toward him, Leon nodded in agreement before turning to Trisha.
"It’s honestly… Pretty funny. I’m pretty sure they skipped the next night she was around.”
Which gave Casey an idea of why they’d not bothered testing his warding until recently. It…
”Can we… Get rid of it?”
Leon gave him a half-smile.
"Do you know what they know?” he asked. Casey didn’t reply with speech, only nodding his head slowly.

Leon looked serious, if a little hurt.
"Ah… That’s not funny.”
”It’s not a joke.”
Confusion, a furrowed brow and dull eyes causing the other three individuals to blur in his vision. He felt slightly sick.
"Then we probably need to talk privately about it.”
”Save it then. Can we… Y’know, try and just-”
"You asked. But, yeah. Lets-”

Casey’s hand reached out for Trisha’s, grabbing it and pulling it up.
”If you’re both looking for Men’s clothes, then come on… I was doing some shopping too; we’re going on a date tomorrow and I wanted something that wasn’t black or olive.” Casey offered, flashing a more genuine smile at Cass.

”Awwww, that’s so cute! You gonna match? Trish has plenty of clothes, I bet whatever you get she can match you- that’ll be cute… I want pictures!” Cass grinned, easily moving past whatever had happened about the clearly magical cat that couldn’t get into her head. No point dwelling on something like that after all. She reached out to slap Trisha’s arm a few times excitedly.
”Seriously, you guys are so fucking cute!”

“Can you please hit the overly muscular guy next to you instead,” Trisha said, squeezing Casey’s hand. While the talk of the Wampus wasn’t comfortable for her, she relaxed a bit knowing it couldn’t get Cass at least. Probably. And whatever Casey and Leon were getting at, well… if it was private it was private. She trusted Casey.
“If you’re coming along, no hitting.”

”Got it, got it, I’ll try my best.” Cass shrugged, before shooting finger guns at Casey.
”What kinda thing you looking for? Aside from a bit of colour- I wanna few plaid shirts, some tank tops, another pair of trousers- pants, fuckin’ Americans. But it’s whatever I can find, really! I like a good mosey around, y’know.” Even as she spoke she’d already started moving forwards, normal bounce in her step.

"Hawaiian shirts."

Leon’s arms snapped upward like he was calling a field goal.
"You’re so fucking easy, Caseau!”
Casey wasn’t the least bit shameful. The fact that he was enamored with them was common knowledge among his close family… And besides, Trisha had seemed somewhat receptive to them previously.
”Listen, I’m an adult! I was denied my love for their pretty flower patterns and bright colors for too many years! I will be liberated by my prodigious collection of high quality flower and tiki prints, mark my words!”

Looking at Trisha, he could feel her concern about the choice in shirts for their incoming date.
”Except, y’know… Not now. I guess it’d be up to you if we match, since you know what you own and I don’t.”

“I do have some floral print dresses and skirts,” Trisha looked up at Casey with a soft, but thoughtful, smile. While Hawaiian shirts were maybe not the most fashionable thing she… really didn’t mind it if wearing them would make him happy. As long as certain designs were avoided.
“They’re more for summer, though. It’s probably too cold for them. I would like to match…”

”Trisha has so many clothes you could get anything and I bet she could match it!” Cass grinned, spinning around and walking backwards. She’d already managed to bounce quite a bit ahead… though not so far she couldn’t hear everything they were saying.
”It was a right pain when we lived together! Her and Diyah were both fucking fighting for wardrobe space, I had to put my clothes under my bed… I couldn’t use the wardrobe in my own fucking room! It was like a fucking warzone, I swear, I’m surprised you’re letting Casey buy any clothes, cause I bet there ain’t room for them!”

“First off, you offered up your wardrobe-”
”Only cause you two wouldn’t stop bickering!”
“- Second, I’d quite like my boyfriend to expand his wardrobe… and I’m not some kind of wardrobe controlling asshole like you’re making out. It’s our home after all.”

”Awww, love really does change a person- ooo!” Cass’s already shit eating grin only turned more devious as she reached out, pulling out a shirt. It had a pretty nice floral pattern, and had been practically hidden among the plain shirts… except it was also eye-searingly orange. Like someone had made orange high-vis jacket into a floral shirt.
”What about this one?”

”Flamethrower…”
Casey’s cryptic answer was strange enough until you understood where he was coming from. That big orange jet of fire splashing across the ground like a pool of fire. The screams. The danger of the machine overheating and blasting the user to bits…
”It looks like a catastrophic failure.”
His hand reached out and took the hangar. A morbid smirk opened up on his face, and he started to giggle before looking at Trisha. The flowers, at least, were white lilies that made him feel somewhat safe and secure… So he took the shirt.

”Cass picked the first one, Babe… Your turn. Then Leon.”
Leon blew air through his lips, scoffing.
"Dude, you know I’m not the type.”
”Sure you are. Just be ready… Uhhh… Do you even have anything that goes with this, Babe?”

“Oh yeah, it goes with my collection of fashionable high-vis clothing," Trisha snorted sarcastically, staring at the shirt for a moment with squinted eyes as if it was blinding her. Then she looked over at Cass. Cass just held up her hands with a grin.
“If you get that one you're saving it for special, not wanting people to look at you occasions."

She craned her neck, trying to look across the rows and rows of clothing. It was all densely packed together and, honestly, poorly organised. From what she remembered it wasn't like this years ago. Who put something so orange among otherwise dull blues and blacks? But- oh. She spotted a section of greens just a little bit away. Rather than tugging Casey again, and upsetting him, she squeezed his hand before letting go.
“I’ll just be a moment, babe." Then she scurried off, on a very specific mission.

"While she's doing that- hold this for me." Cass practically threw the mostly black, with hint of red, plaid shirt she'd been wearing at Leon. It revealed what was basically just a harness bra, with multiple straps that went diagonally across her chest and up to her shoulders, underneath - the fishnet top over it didn't exactly cover much. Tattooed leaves came over her shoulder, turning into delicate birds across her shoulder bones. She pulled out what was very similar to what she'd been wearing, except the main colour was the dark red. It was thrown on without bothering to button it up, big enough she had to roll up the sleeves and it fell to her upper thighs. Her arms went out to the side.
"Thoughts? Too baggy? Not bright enough?"

"Not as cute as what you were wearing last night.” Leon grinned, shaking his head as he really gave the shirt a look.
"I don’t think I’ve ever said something was too dark though, so probably the wrong metric.”
”That’s not true, you remember that dude Elise dated when she first moved to New York?”

Leon’s face cringed, eyes turning down at his brother.
"HIS ABSTRACTION TURNED HIM INTO A BLACK HOLE.”
Casey’s lips turned into a duck face.
”Why’s he gotta be a black hole?” Casey smugly replied, pulling the bright orange shirt off the hangar and pulling his sweater off to try this monstrosity on. It felt good around the shoulders, and he did a little dance as he made sure the whole thing fit well without restriction.

Cass laughed, putting her hands on her hips as she watched. It really was bright - which was exactly why she'd picked it out.
”Well I ain't really expecting you to say it ain't bright enough - you're clearly the all black kinda goth whereas I like to throw in a lil red and blue to spice things up… and you ain't getting last night's kinda spicy looks here. Just in comparison, y’know-" she gestured to Casey and his abomination of an orange shirt with a playful grin towards Leon.
"But seriously, a fuckin' black hole? That seems real inconvenient - did he just destroy shit if he turned into it accidentally? How do you even date someone like that?"

“Black hole what?" Trisha reappeared, looking at Cass in confusion. She was carrying two identical shirts - because she hadn't been entirely sure of what size would be right. Her gaze trailed over to Casey, squinting against the bright orange even as she smiled… the dance was cute.
“The fit is nice," she commented softly as she got close to him again, deciding not to say anything about the… colour. Honestly, if it was any other colour the design would've been quite nice too. Her head tilted back, smiling up at him, and she held out what she'd brought over. It was a lighter cool green, with outlined in a darker green and orchids outlined in blues and purples across it.
“I can definitely match these colours. I think it'll look really nice on you too."

”Oh, I do like my greens…” Casey cooed, taking the shirt and looking at it with a gentle nod.
"Yeah, uh… Well, he was good with his Abstraction. We didn’t realize at first, but he was a pretty well-adjusted Abcised, so… Elise cut it off.” Leon commented offhandedly, thinking back to finding out that his sister was technically dating a skinwalker. He still managed to toss Cass a suggestive look despite any lack of clarity as to how it could even be suggestive.

But Casey had only brought it up to tease Leon. In reality, he was far away from the thought already.
”I assume a shirt like this just goes with everything?” he asked, looking across the department at the racks of pants.
”But I don’t know how I feel about blue jeans. I wish they came in more neutral tones. Like greys and shit.” he explained to Trisha, sliding off the high-vis shirt to try this new one.

“... They do come in greys," Trisha said in an almost helpless tone. Like she was realising just how little he knew about clothes. She looked over at Cass hoping to share a despairing gaze… except Cass was smirking at Leon with her eyes narrowed playfully. Did she have any idea what was the cause of the suggestive look? Nope. Was she gonna go along with it? Hell yeah.

“You can get jeans in all shades of blues, greys and black," Trisha continued, going from scrunching up her face at Cass to smiling softly up at Casey.
“This shirt would go with anything, but I think grey would probably be nicest? But it doesn't really matter so you wouldn't have to think about it much… whereas the other one…"

"Would go with black!" Cass interrupted, stopping looking like she wanted to jump Leon there and then to incredibly swiftly screech back to friendly over energy.
”Really it's perfect to spice up an otherwise dark wardrobe."
“... Would you wear it?"
"Nah but I ain't the Hawaiian shirt guy!"

”Uhh… Yeah, I could see this one going with black jeans, but I’d… I guess I’ll buy grey ones too. Kind of trying to avoid the darkest stuff, Cass. That’s the point of this.”
"You should invest in the Dad look too, Bud… He always looked super clean in a white shirt and blue jeans.” Leon offered, a warmth bubbling up from within.

For a moment, Casey stood thinking about him. About Max. About those days without worrying about being magical or anything. When they were just a family. It was rare, but he did have memories like that.

”Remember he bought those jackets for us?” Casey smiled, looking at his older brother with a reactive pulse of White Lux emanating from him.
Leon laughed in turn.
"Totally impulsive, but we looked great for being little kids.”
”We did, we did… Mom’s probably still got the pictures somewhere. Can you look for them next time you’re home?”
"You’re welcome to go down and look for yourself too…” he offered in turn.

But Casey wouldn’t be doing that. He was trying to broker a peaceful existence with those cats, at least setting a precedent that if they don’t invade his space, he won’t invade theirs.
”We’ll see about that… For now, a couple Hawaiian shirts for the start of my collection. And then, I guess… I would wear them open? So, I need undershirts and stuff, right Babe?”

Trisha nodded. She'd taken a few steps back to properly look at him trying on the shirt she'd picked out, her smile only growing warmer. It was nice. Both in looks, but also having him wear something she'd picked… it was a similar feeling of safety she got whenever she stole his sweaters.
“Yeah, but you can really just use the t-shirts you have already for that? Or if that'll be too warm get some thinner ones… that's probably a good idea? Just neutral colours. White is probably best." As she spoke she moved back to his side, taking his hand and squeezing it. She was curious about the jackets and the picture but… maybe she'd ask another time.
“You look really good in that one."

"I gotta agree. Trish you've got great taste," Cass grinned. She looked about ready to sprint over to where the pants were, having somehow managed to grab a couple of shirts herself… but wait. The hand not holding shirts flew up into the air, only avoiding smacking Leon fully on the chin because of the insane height difference.
"Ain't we moving on too fast? You said Leon got to pick you a shirt too."

Casey laughed.
”He made his suggestion! I won’t torture him b-”
"Mighty presumptuous. Come on, we’ll find one.”
Casey put his hands up in a jokingly defensive manner, air pushing from between his lips dismissively. In turn, Leon giggled and slipped his arm around Cass’ waist. He slapped her thigh before resting his massive palm somewhere half between her leg and ass. As they walked, he shoved his free hand into his pocket.

”Now I’m just worried what he has in mind…”

“It can't be that bad, can it?" Trisha looked up at Casey, before narrowing her eyes at Leon and Cass as they followed them. Somehow Cass still managed to bounce rather than walk, even with Leon's arm around her and having slotted her body in right against his. It was almost impressive.
“It’ll probably be… the blackest black to have ever existed. I bet it'll suck in all the light around it." Trisha laughed lightly.
“And if it's somehow worse than what Cass picked out, I'll veto it."

"Jesus, you guys… Can’t I just get him some nice clothes?”
They wound up in the designer section; dozens and dozens of different dress shirts and slacks packaged up in individual plastic sleeves to keep them from getting dirty. He grabbed a white and gray striped shirt, checking the size on the package and nodding before going for some of the accompanying vests.
He held the shirt over Casey’s chest, then the vest. It looked like he was going for some sort of cowboy influenced vibe with gold vines crawling across the vest.

"Trisha? Yee-haw?” he joked.

Trisha stared at the clothes, then at Leon. It was pretty obvious that she was trying her best not to react badly. What he said was a joke, but were the clothes? Probably not. She took a deep breath.
“Haha... The shirt is nice. I actually like the shirt. The vest…" she trailed off trying not to bluntly say what she was thinking. It was bad. She'd almost prefer the blinding orange over the cowboy look.
“It’s more important that Casey likes it…"

"Hey, I think it looks great!" Cass grinned. She held up one hand to the side of her face to hide it from Leon while winking at Trisha in an overly goofy, conspiratorial way.
"Y'know what, why don't you get one too, Leon? Then you guys can match, and go shoot up some old style bars together… Ooo, or have some duels in a dusty street!"

The brothers exchanged a look that went from conspiratorial into completely different directions. Casey’s smugness radiated, and Leon slowly sunk into a pained expression.
"I… Already…-”
”Ooooh, yeah… One of Leon’s favorite aesthetics is the Johnny Cash. Gold on black, cowboy boots, tassels, the whole nine yards. The Outlaw.”
Leon only looked more devastated.
"I’ss not my fault you can’t see it for what it is…”

Casey just laughed, shaking his head.
”Blew your load pretty fast on that one, big guy… Should’ve been a bit more subtle about it.”
Handing the vest back, he kept the shirt.
”But Trisha says this part’s fine, so…” he winked at her with a smile.

“It- it is."
Trisha couldn't hold back her laughter, looking between Casey and Leon. Each time she looked at Leon it welled back up uncontrollably. Just imagining him in the whole get up… fuck, it was just too funny. Cowboy boots… tassels… it was so ridiculous. She moved over to Casey, pressing her face into his arm just to stop looking at Leon. Eventually, her laughter subsided.
“I’m never going to take him seriously again," Trisha half whispered, slightly out of breath from how much she laughed.

Cass looked Leon up, then she looked him down.
"Why ain't you worn that around me yet?! Or were you saving it for a special occasion?"
"’Cuz you’re just gonna bully me………”
Leon’s best pouting face was plastered so wide across his head that even Lelou felt herself totally drying out. A gentle wisp of fog curled up and out of his ear, wafting toward Cass and whispering something gently into her ear. It was so faint, she’d only be able to hear it after getting used to these intrusions during their prior sessions.

”He wants it anyway…”
Leon was turning a hundred shades of red, then finally buried his face in his hands.
"For fuck’s sake…” he gently groaned.

”It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s got our Dad’s old pair of chaps.”
Casey could only smile wider, bearing social pressure down upon Leon as he pushed the issue.
”You’ll really love those, Cass. They’ve got generational stains.” he finished, making a mock gagging noise.

“Gross, Casey," Trisha grumbled, hiding her face against him again - trying to muffle laughter that was coming back up again. Sure the stains sounded gross, but the thought of Leon owning chaps. Wearing them? It was too much again.

"Seriously? Do you actually have them?" Cass bounced right up to Leon, leaning into him a bit as she tilted her head up with a wicked grin. Not that she needed Lelou's whisper to bolster her confidence, but it sure was a nice extra boost. There was some genuine excitement in her eyes - not so much at the generational stains, funky as that sound, but something the Gravity had owned? Worn?!
"Well now you gotta show me! The whole fucking thing! You're really worried about a little bullying? Like it won't be the best bullying of your life- c'mon, you can bully me but I can't bully you?" Of course she probably wasn't talking about verbal bullying…

"We can make some new st-"
“Oh my god Cass please," Trisha paused trying to become one with Casey's arm to cut off her friend from saying anything worse. Not that Cass seemed put off by it…
"C'mon, Trish, you've heard me say way worse. Do way worse too."
“... Because that apartment had thin walls and I didn't have proper headphones when we moved in!"

Cass just smirked, looking back up at Leon.
"Sooooo… do I get to see them?"

Leon was looking a little more uncomfortable than before. It wasn’t the joking kind of uncomfortable, rather it was turning to something real.
"Dude… Really?”
Casey knew what this was. It only made his grin deeper and more… Evil.
”Awwww… Too real when she starts fetishising him over you, huh? Ego can’t take it?” he asked, smugness undying.

Leon just put his hand up, looking at Cass.
"Just please don’t call me ‘Gravity Baby’ again…” he whined.

"Of course, of course, don't worry, I wouldn't go doing something you've asked me not to!" Cass grinned, patting Leon's bicep a couple of times - there was maybe a squeeze in there too, she couldn't resist.

“I actually think… I'm glad whatever is going on here is happening," Trisha whispered to Casey, meaning Leon and Cass - and not really thinking about Leon's extra sensitive hearing. While she still wasn't comfortable around Leon, especially after everything last night, he was at least… a little more tolerable when Cass was around to do her thing. It'd always been the case with Cass, really. A great buffer between people with tensions.

"Also no need to get jealous or anything! Sure, Gravity’s awesome and his legacy, damn… But I've always been your number one fan too! Literally can't fuckin' beat me in the stats, if the stats were purely online shit- tweets, fanpages, GIFs, fanfic… I've made the most! Especially the fic, the shit I write is the most accurate too- even before we met! Nobody's doing it like I am." Cass pointed a thumb at herself with a wide grin as she continued with her normal trend of being far too open about certain things.

Trisha didn't even look annoyed this time. Honestly, she'd heard it all. There'd been one time when Cass had trapped her in their kitchen and gone on and on about something she'd written. If anything she was glad it wasn't just at her this time.

Casey felt his body slow down as the joke formed. He had every opportunity to avoid disaster by simply keeping his mouth shut and not bringing up their night last night. Not bringing up the meeting. Not bringing up the little piece of paper stuffed into Layla’s purse that let him hear everything.
”Holy shit, Cass… You write fan fics? About, what, the PBL? Or is it just Leon?”
He knew of plenty of people who fetishized the Professional Boxer’s League. It was only natural that people would treat it like some kind of sideshow wrestling event, writing their fantasies of steamy backroom lockers and muscled up men rubbing-
”We’ve got plenty of people who do stuff like that too in the Temple. My and Trisha’s friend Ginara writes that stuff too; we should hook you guys up.”

Crisis averted. Casey looked at Trisha and waggled his eyebrows.

"You probably would like her. She’s got the same energy as you most of the time. Very coiled and excited for pretty much everything she loves.”
”She’s even got Trisha addicted to Minecraft.”

“I’m not addicted," Trisha grumbled, though now that Casey mentioned it she remembered they never finished the new roof… they didn't even start it…

"Someone finally played Minecraft with you, Trisha? I'm happy- me and Sal played the death of it, so we didn't want to by the time we met Trish… Oh, wait, like, she writes PBL fic too? Cause I do write a lot, not just Leon- just wrote the most about him, heh. Hell yeah hook me up! So long as she ain't part of the weird part of the fandom with wrong opinions that keep telling me that the shit I write is inaccurate like they'd know, fucking assholes…" Cass trailed off in some surprisingly aggressive muttering, before brightening right back up. Once again going a mile a minute.
"But nobody ever talks to me about this shit! Some of my friends- not naming any names- started trackin' when matches were just to avoid me. Can you believe it?"

“You used to trap us and talk at us for hours," Trisha commented, with a light laugh. She smiled at Casey.
“I'm actually kind of scared about what it'll be like if Gin and Cass meet. Maybe we should just put them in a room and let them talk for most of a day?"

Casey nodded at Trisha, a goofy smile crossing his face.
”We could. She will probably be a big help with some projects. Gin’s been looking for a programmer for a fangame she wants to make about Sycamore.”
If Trisha was going to get annoyed about Sycamore being brought up, Leon beat her to the punch.
"Please don’t exile my girl here into the code mines because of Sycamore shit. I’ll never see her again.”

”Well, not never. She seems to like you, right Cass? You like him? Like… You’re dating, right?”
Leon didn’t confirm this. There was nothing exclusive about it per-se, so he wasn’t going to try and lock Cass down like that. Especially considering the dynamic between them… She was a friend, sure. Friendly, sure. But also a fan. And Leon didn’t exactly love the prospect of being in love with a fan.

Cass looked at Casey like he'd said the cutest, most innocent thing ever. Then she turned to Trisha. One hand offered a thumbs up while the other wiped away an imaginary tear. He really was so pure… luck for Trisha. She deserved someone like that. Trisha's reaction was, of course, an eye roll.
"Well yeah, I like him plenty. More than enough to not get stuck in some code hole and never come back." Cass said after the weird theatrics.
"But it's been like… three dates? Less than a week? I ain't in a rush to label it like that, we'll just see where it goes, yeah?" she looked up at Leon, one shoulder pushing up into a shrug.

While Leon didn’t offer more than a cursory nod, Casey made a cute but mocking pout.
”Awwww, he’s so embarrassed! Leon Richoux, does our Mother know?”
"Our Mother knows everything, Casey… I just don’t feel like exposing Cass to that kind of thing so quickly. Y’know, courtesy.”

”Hey, she’s totally fine! Handled it like a champ, right Trisha-Bee?”
Casey’s hand came up and playfully pinched Trisha’s cheek, a swift kiss following it.
”Come on… I still need new pants! And I want to get some regular shirts that are just different colors… Trisha, can I get some of those dumb ass dad-print shirts? The ones that have slogans like ‘Wishin’ I was fishin’ or something?”

“Handling it like a champ isn't how I'd describe it, but sure," Trisha mumbled, but it was impossible to dwell on it with Casey's kiss and swift moving on. Her lips pursed at the thought of dad-print shirts, looking at Casey as she considered it. It was… embarrassing. Goofy. But also she wanted him to… wear clothes he liked, even if they were goofy and embarrassing. There was a line somewhere, and some dad-print shirts she just wouldn't accept, but it was fine…
“You can, but you're not wearing them on dates. And I get to veto really awful ones. And we're cuddling tonight." She looked up at him with a cute smile, taking his hand and letting him lead the way - no more tugging on her part.

”You want to hug while he's wearing a dad-print shirt?! You've sure got interesting taste, Trisha!" Cass interrupted the cute moment with a joke, deftly ducking under Trisha's free hand that lashed out to hit her shoulder.
“Don’t you have your own clothes to go buy?"

Cass held up the shirts she'd been carrying slung over her arm, shaking them a little bit.
"This is plenty, just need to find some pants that fit me and I'm sorted. I gotta go back to San Fran in like a week or something anyway, move all my shit into Rey's- my landlord gave me, like, two weeks after I broke the lease. Stingy bastard."
“Maybe it wouldn't be such a problem if you'd, I don't know, pre-planned things? Not just quit your job on a whim?"
"Hey now, I've been thinking about it for a while! That job's pay was fucking sound but it was so fucking boring. And it's just all perfectly timed- Rey's flatmate moved out, plenty of people to visit here, I just handed over a project anyway… I'm more relaxed than I've felt in years!"

Trisha looked at Cass. She looked… about as energetic as she always did. Maybe more energetic. Had her job really been that bad? Maybe she… hadn't been paying enough attention to her friends. She was always wrapped up in her own problems.
“Well… I suppose that's good… I'm glad you're happy about it."

Cass looked at Leon, smirked, then looked back at Trisha.
"Sure am- oh! Maybe I can grab some fucking awful- I mean hilarious printed shirts too. Not for me, of course, but Christmas is coming up and Jack's an absolute fiend for them- that's my older brother. Literally all he wears. So you better not take all the good ones." Cass shot finger guns at Casey, grinning.
"Though I suppose it don't matter since there's an ocean between you."

Casey grinned back at Cass, holding Trisha’s hand tightly and rubbing the top of it with his thumb.
”You should absolutely ask Leon to get him some of the Temple shirts we have left over. They’re not even culty, they’re just pure humor. Mia’s made a bunch in the last few years; there’s this one of an Angel throwing up in a toilet with like a bunch of bottles around it. Caption is ‘Can’t spell Heaven without HEAVE’... It was for some Beerfest they did.”
Leon laughed and nodded his head.

"There’s better ones. I’ll make sure she sends ‘em off.”

With that, the small group proceeded on into the deeper parts of the store for what felt like hours. Casey and Cass happily bonded over their enthusiasm for stupid clothing, while Leon had the ultimate run of not being an asshole… Whether or not it was enough to make up for what happened prior was a completely different question.
The longer they spent, however, the bigger the piles of clothes got. Casey found the jeans in various shades, and found a great deal of in-between colors and styles that had nothing to do with black. In turn, his view of clothes expanded further, forcing a great deal of backtracking in order to put together outfits that previously hadn’t been explored.

By the time it was time to go, they’d spent well over a thousand dollars on clothing between them… Laden with bags, Casey felt right at home hauling what was necessary out of the store and off into the parking lot. While he still wasn’t incredibly enthused by his brother’s behavior, he couldn’t deny how much he cherished moments where he felt like a family. And if having Cass there meant Trisha would be comfortable in the future, then he was happy to have her close by… It meant she could experience it all with them!

"I for one am not looking forward to that shit… Any time they make a new movie it ends up being the same bullshit where they just take something we already liked and try to make it ‘better.’ Like, it’s not better, you just like your version more.”
They’d been talking about movies and the prospect of going to catch one together, but Leon wasn’t being very receptive.

”Aw c’mon, do you just not enjoy fun? It doesn’t gotta be better - sometimes it is, sometimes it ain’t! But it’s fun to experience!” Cass, unsurprisingly, was not backing down. It was somewhat comedic, her hands balled into fists on her hips and staring up at Leon as if she was about to start an actual fist fight over movie watching. Of course, it would be a fun, good natured fist fight!
”But if you don’t wanna come, you don’t gotta. I’ll just go with my best bud and her super cool boyfriend.”

Trisha just laughed as she listened - not one to have strong opinions on movies… or at least if Cass dragged her to something she tended to just go along with it. And having Cass around was nice, even if it meant spending a bit more time with Leon. For once she tried not to say anything… too shit to him.
”Movies are the one time Cass actually manages to stay still. It’s actually kind of incredible,” Trisha offered.

"Listen, I’m not saying I won’t go. I’m just saying… Let’s pick a different movie. I just feel like it’s gonna be the same movie that came out twenty years ago, just overall less charming.”
Casey laughed, adjusting the cluster of bags in one hand.
”Well I’m not watching a horror movie, so… Our options are growing more and more limited.”

"I mean, there’s that romantic comedy? I’ll watch it even if it’s dumb, just… Not something that we’ve already SEEN, you know? Like, I’m not asking a lot.” Leon shrugged, holding his hands up in a confused, slightly defensive posture.

Cass pouted. It really wasn’t a normal look for her. She even slightly hung her head. She looked a little like a kicked puppy. Like, a super cheerful puppy that had been kicked.
”Alright, fine… if you really don’t want to see it. I really like the original, I’ve watched it like… ten times… but I’ll just see the remake myself sometime. Let’s go see that one, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Trisha pressed a hand to her mouth to suppress a snicker. It wasn’t that she was finding it funny, it was just… someone else having to deal with Cass’ fixation on doing a specific thing.
“I’ll watch anything.” Trisha’s expression was practically screaming ‘not so difficult now, am I?’

Leon was silent for a moment, looking down at Cass as Trisha managed to be smug about not having an opinion. He found himself remembering why he didn’t like her to begin with, but as Casey seemed to enjoy it, he didn’t bother lashing out. Rather, his concern laid with Cass and her absolutely unseen brand new expression.
He’d not seen her make a face besides one of pleasure in the week they’d known one another, so this was a new and guttural reaction that was being driven into him.

He could only stammer out a response.
"W-well… Y’know… F-fine! Fine. We’ll go see it, Cass. It’s okay, really. I won’t even say anything. We’ll just go, you can enjoy your movie, and it is what it is!”
Casey’s head turned to Trisha.
”Do you even want to go to a movie? We were kind of planning on cuddling…” he explained aloud.

“We can cuddle at the movies,” Trisha replied after a moment of weighing it up. Just going back home and cuddling up on their massive couch was nice, but there was also something appealing about… going on what was kind of a chill date. Plus she could sense Cass’ pleading gaze.
“It’s pretty dark… and maybe we can go to one of the ones with couches instead of those uncomfy chairs?”

”Ooo, that’s a great idea!” Cass perked up pretty quickly after getting Leon’s agreement, grabbing his hand and practically beaming up at him. Of course she was pretty much always smiling, but there was an extra little something in there.
”And the movie’ll be great! I’m sure of it!”

---

”Oh my fucking God, that was absolute ass. They ruined it! They’ve ruined my comfort movie- they ruined my favourite character! She was barely fucking there!”
Cass came out of the movie with all of her hopes and dreams shattered. She was a shell of her former self… even though her intense energy didn’t match that. While she was clearly pissed off about it, and ranting, she didn’t look sad. But she did look like she was unlikely to stop ranting about it anytime soon.

“Even to someone who hasn’t seen the original it was bad,” Trisha managed to say around Cass’ rant. Though she hadn’t not enjoyed the experience - namely because it had been a couple of hours cuddling Casey while only half paying attention to it. That was nice.

”Right?! How could they do that?! Who let that happen?! It was so fucking shit! I can’t believe we paid money to see that!” Cass’ hands reached up to grab her hair, yanking as if she was going to rip it out in frustration.
”I’m never watching a remake again.”

Casey had totally checked out of the movie; hated it as a kid and didn’t know why Leon ever liked it so much. It was just a dumb movie about a bunch of kids who didn’t have their shit together when the movie started, but weren’t any better by the time it ended. They just had magical powers after that…
”I thought it was an improvement. At least they didn’t have that whole scene where they were stuck in the dream world just crying until the wizard came and saved them. The main character realizing they could just wake everyone up with their powers was at least more realistic.”

"The whole fucking point of that scene was because the main character and his little brother didnt have a DAD! The fucking Wizard saves them and after that they start to actually trust the rest of the group!”
Leon was probably just as hurt as Cass was. All the subtext and secondary plots about the group dynamic were pretty much washed away by asserting that they were all friends to begin with. Even if they still had their personal stories intact, there was no friction. No spark.

”But the dude still ends up being evil, like he gives them that sense of trust and they, what? Hold onto it after it’s basically proven wrong?”
"WHEN IS IT PROVEN WRONG!?”
Leon’s hands gripped in front of him with a vague crushing motion, as if he was trying to squash whatever was in his mind between his hands.
”He betrays them at the end!”
"BUT THEY STILL TRUST THEIR FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY DON’T BETRAY ONE ANOTHER!”
”Easy, big guy… You’re gonna blow a gasket.”

"But he's right! That's what makes it so fucking good… even though they're betrayed by someone they trusted they don't lose trust in everyone!" Cass jumped right back in. She wasn't quite shouting like Leon was, but the way she bounced about now with her hands curled up into fists was like she was ready to punch something. It was a completely erratic, aggressive energy.
”And my girl… they made her a fucking barely there love interest! She was an integral part of the group! Sure, there were hints, but they're kids, it ain't the main thing. It's the friendship! But they took that away for her just to have some fucking save the girl scene that was. Fucking. Unnecessary! She was so badass in the original! I was so fucking excited cause I love the actress they cast as her, but then they ruined it!"

Trisha didn't really get it. She hadn't particularly enjoyed the movie, and she assumed she probably wouldn't enjoy the original… and what Casey said made sense to her. If she was betrayed like that, she wouldn't be so trusting anymore. But the thing that was on her mind more than anything, seeing the two of them get so heated…
“Isn’t it just a movie?"

Cass screeched to a halt. She spun around so she was right in front of Trisha, putting her hands on her shoulders. It wasn’t aggressive so much as it was her trying to stare into her friend’s soul.
”No, it’s not just a movie, Trisha. Do you know how much I related to her growing up?! Everyone always like ‘you gotta be more girly’ or ‘a girl wouldn’t punch someone’ or ‘nobody’ll ever like a girl that acts like that’, like it was fucking endless! Just cause I was the only girl of five doesn’t mean I gotta fill that role! But then I watched this movie with my brothers and it was like wow, it doesn’t matter! She’s got all these friends and can just be herself cause that’s the message! And we all loved it- we watched it all the time. It was like our thing. It’s way more than a movie to me.”

Trisha didn’t entirely understand. She didn’t have that - both the bond with siblings, or the attachment to media. There was no opportunity to while growing up - all she did was study, and then the Snake… She somewhat awkwardly raised a hand to pat Cass’ back. At the same time she looked over at Casey, clearly a little lost.
“I- I see. I guess it is… more than a movie… it’d suck to have something ruined like that.”

"And this is why I didn't wanna SEE IT!”
Leon's hands wound up on Cass's shoulders and almost around her neck due to their size. But he was gentle, slowly pushing his fingers into the muscles to massage her. It was colder out at this point, and the sun was fading off the coast before it would inevitably fade away.

"It's alright, Spitfire… We'll go back to my place, we'll pull out the VHS… We can get lost in the actual movie together. Eh?”

Casey couldn't do anything but smile. He wasn't sure if Leon felt some sort of connection to Cass, or if he was just being super polite… He never considered his older brother to be an empath, so he assumed they were both just mutually suffering. It was kind of funny…

Revenge was so close.

”That box of tapes is gone, Lee…”
Casey's voice held tight to its place in the air, forcing an expression of pain to wash across Leon's face.

"W-what?”
”Like a month ago? You told me to bring those tapes off to McGuigan's? The black plastic bin?”
"I never sorted them, Caseeeeeey!!! I didn't get the chance to!”
”Well, you told me to ta-”
"AFTER I SORTED IT OUT!”
”Which was like two weeks before I did it! I figured it was done!”

Casey was nervously giggling at his elder brother's reaction. The box of tapes in question was stacked into one of the storage rooms in the apartment building, not in the hands of an orphanage… He knew Leon hadn't bothered doing what he said, and rather than do what he was asked, Casey simply put it in a safe and out of the way place.

"Dad bought us that fucking movie as kids!” Leon whined, hands digging into Cass’ shoulders nervously.

”Hey, loosen up a lil, big guy,” Cass patted one of the hands on her shoulders, though she wasn’t actually all that bothered by it. Wasn’t like it really hurt… She tilted her head backwards to look at him, feeling actual empathy. If it was bought by their dad, who was now gone… that really sucked. Not that she thought it was Casey’s fault! Just the whole situation. Man, this remake really was the worst thing ever!
”I’ve got two copies! When I was a kid we all saved and saved to each buy one, cause we thought it’d be cool to each have our own… just dumb kid things. But I got my own and my oldest brother’s. You could have mine! I’d just have to go back to-”

“You’d go back to England for a movie?” Trisha had escaped from Cass’ hold and gone back beside Casey, slotting into his side and leaning in slightly. It was cold…
”No, I ain’t rich! San Fran, I brought ‘em over with me… I know it wouldn’t replace something your dad got, but it’s the original VHS! Pristine! More fucking pristine than my bother’s copy, cause I fucking took care of it…”

Casey found himself surrounded by empathy, dropping his act immediately.

”Oh Christ, they're still at home! Jesus, you don't actually-”
He stopped himself before he could start an argument about something that bothered him in front of these people who didn't need that kind of energy in their lives.
”-think… That… I'd get rid of your shit like that, do you? I'm a little more thoughtful than that, Leon. The box is in storage 104: I hope you go through it soon and bring the rest to those kids, because there's some actual good movies they could do with watching over there.”

His smugness radiated, but Leon's hands immediately softened, as did his face.
"You are such a dick, Casey…
He waved it off in turn, exchanging a glance with Trisha that let her feel every ounce of smug satisfaction he could produce.
”Yeah, whatever… Babe, do we have anything else to do out here? Or are we nest-bound?”

Trisha looked up at Casey, smiling. It was cute how smug he was over this. And even better that person at the other end of it was Leon… because if anyone deserved to be fucked around a bit it was Leon.
“No, I think we’re done here… let’s go home. I want to just relax together. Oh, I should check on the bees, though. Guess we can do that before we go cuddle up for the evening… maybe we could do what you suggested last night…” Trisha trailed off, voice getting quieter, but she was still smiling at him.

”I was gonna ask what your dinner plans were, Trish, but I guess we got a movie to watch.” Cass’ head tilted back to grin at Leon.
”I’m probably going back like tomorrow or Friday- to San Francisco. Gotta pack all my shit and move. But maybe I can swing ‘round before I leave depending on your plans… I ain’t gonna interrupt your date, don’t worry.”

“You better not… but yeah, that’d be nice if we’re free.” Trisha paused smiling warmly at Casey for just a moment to nod to her friend, before going right back to staring at him.
“I guess we need to setup a meeting with Gin sometime too.”

”Just come up after your movie!” Casey was surprisingly warm and inviting with his offer, turning to Trisha slightly.
”We’re night owls anyway; we can spend a few hours decompressing while you guys enjoy yourselves, and if you don’t come up, it’s no harm no foul.”

Leon’s lips pursed. He wasn’t sure if this was bait just like the video tape thing was, but he looked at Cass with a skeptical look.
"I mean… If we’re not too tied up?”

”Literally!” Cass joked. Well, Trisha hoped it was a joke. It might not be…
”But that’d be real nice, we’ll be there!” She didn’t share any of Leon’s scepticism, arm twisting back to nudge him with her elbow.
”I doubt we’ll be getting much sleep anyway, so what’s a couple of hours hanging out.”

Trisha glanced at Leon, then looked at Cass. She leaned into Casey before nodding. She would actually… like that. Spending time with Cass was one of the things she really missed from college… And if it helped her learn to tolerate Leon a little more, that was an added benefit.
“So long as all your movie ranting stays downstairs.”

”Course, I’ll get it all out before intruding- oh, do you have any games at your place. What about Mario-”
“I am never playing Mario Party with you again and no, we don’t.”
”Well that’s alright, I’ll just have to keep everyone entertained with my wonderful company,” Cass grinned at them all.

Casey nodded at Trisha’s lean, rubbing her shoulder.
”Then it’s a double-double date! Just text one of us when you’re about to come up, we’ll figure out what's for dinner…”
Leon took a deep breath, then blew air out from between his lips.
"Ugh, fine… But you gotta be real nice to me.”
”Don’t worry, Prince Leon. I’ll make sure the carpets are down so your pristine feet don’t touch the filthy organic wood-”

Leon, exasperated, simply turned on his heel and groaned, his hands leaving Cass as he made his way toward his car. Casey couldn’t help but laugh, shaking his head and smiling at Cass.
”Can you calm him the fuck down, please? He’s such a big baby sometimes…” he joked.

Cass laughed, hand raising to her forehead and moving forward in a mock salute.
”You got it! I’ll boost his ego so much he won’t be able to see anything past it, then you can say anything and it’ll just bounce off!”

“I’m not sure it can get any bigger…” Trisha commented quietly.
Cass smirked, waggling her eyebrows.
”It can always get bigger.”
“... Go deal with him and leave us in peace for a little while.”

Cass just grinned.
”Yeah, yeah, go enjoy your ‘decompressing’, don’t miss me too muchhhh,” she laughed, before spinning around and running (unnecessarily) to catch up with Leon.

Trisha shook her head, looking back up at Casey with a smile.
“Let’s go home?”