the juno

Person: @ashxgray Location: Fairgrounds "I am sore in places I did not know could be sore." And they hadn't even really started all, well everything just yet. He stretches out on his back in the grass anyways, dabbing at his forehead with the hem of his tshirt. He and Lucas had been training for what felt like weeks for the gladiator fights and he'd said yes to all of it because he needed to do something that wasn't focusing on the idea that his new pack life could wind up ass backwards. "I'm glad you're here. You're actually the only person keeping me from freaking out."

At one point, surrounded by lycans could've been just a bad idea all around. Now, he was willingly there again, sitting beside Damian and trying not to laugh, "Why are you freaking out this time?" He asked, his fingers running through the other's messy hair. Acts of affection like this were always done privately, and it wasn't because Asher was embarrassed, but because he wished to save small moments for them. "I promised I'd come watch. Even if I think it's ridiculous that everyone wants to fight for a position where people will hate them."

Only family; it was comical, given that they indeed had other family within the city of Rome. But it seemed Asher had no intention of meeting them, or even acknowledging them. That was fine by Niko, for he'd do the task for the both of them. "Of course I'm stuck with you, I've always been. You're my twin, remember?" He offered as a soft grin slipped onto his lips. Stuck had always been the wrong word, but he'd play along with it this time.

Asher looked at the other, reading the expression on his twin's face. They were never good at hiding it. "Don't tell me you've had contact with mom and dad, wherever the hell they are. Are they still alive? Druids are fucking annoying to get rid of." They didn't die, for centuries, then they just came back. "Don't look at me like that, I haven't talked to them since I got turned. I have no soul, remember?"

Damian opens his mouth to speak only to close it and offer a shake of his head because he wonders if that's maybe something Asher has been worried about. It'd been something last year, thinking about how he was going to throw Lupercalia regardless of who he was up against. It'd been Eric though who had ultimately made him realize that he couldn't go through with any of it. "I'll probably fight a bit, but that's not something I want." It's kind of bold, reaching to wrap an arm around the vampire's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. He can say it with confidence now, it's weight he can officially set down. "You gonna become a marshal now that you've got a new senator?"

Asher put his hand on Damian's jaw, closer now as he focused on the lycan. It was easy to block out everything else at the minute, focusing on the soul instead. Juno Vampires he felt were looked over far too often; soul eaters were nothing to take lightly. Right now, though, Asher didn't feel like anything but a vampire who didn't know what to do with his newfound freedom. "No. Fuck that. Rhiannon is bossy enough. I'm not dealing with that. I'm not cut out for any of that." He was sure the other could understand, and he finally pulled away, "Come on. Let's go back to my place."

Atticus kind of takes that as his cue to sit and so he does on the lounger beside Asher. This is going to be the hard part of all of this, talking about The Eye, talking about all of that and what Ephraim meant to him now. He's more than a little protective of the blonde, worries what people will think of him if he explains how they met, that he's staying with him. But there's freedom to talking about it, he's in charge of his own future now. "I am staying with a tall drink of water in his ranch home. I got a job at the brunch place, that's all I've got going on right now." Somehow he doesn't think Asher is going to think much of manual labor but Atticus needs something to occupy his time.

"You got a job?" Asher could already tell he had a lot to teach the other, but truly, a job was a job and that meant work. And that meant dealing with people. Asher could never. Once, he could. He'd been pushed to go to school, to maybe try out one of those colleges in New York, but that had ended quickly. He'd fallen into vampires, into everything else that would make him feel important. But now? Now he was living the life. Atticus would get there. "So do you have a room here?"

"Actually my fighting moves are top tier and you're just not living up to them. Give yourself at least a few thousand years more, maybe you'll grow into them." She puckered her lips affectionately and reached out to pinch his cheeks in true grandmother form. Asher was in a good mood and Rhiannon wasn't going to begrudge him that. It helped to see him enjoying himself - it lifted her own mood up significantly and provided a great distraction. "Anyway you're not dead now, are you? At least not extra dead. And look... alllll independent. Daddies have gone off to change the world. So now it's your turn, pipsqueak."

"Last I checked, we died, so – tough luck. Don't think your fighting moves did anything." All the old vampires struggled with the idea that they weren't as important as they all thought, it was a relief that Rhia was still the same. Pipsqueak? Dude, I'm old now, you can't say that." He waved his hand with a small smile, thinking about Theo and Elessar. "They're happy, and they're out of Rome. It's what they always wanted."

"Of course I do." It's one thing to get something that's kind of a gag from someone, it's another to know that Asher totally sat there cackling to himself wrapping it. He doesn't think that part is ever going to change about the two of them, the vampire giving him shit. Sometimes he doesn't know what he's so nervous about, they send memes and terrible good morning texts to one another just like usual, even after the whole feelings discussion. But Damian doesn't entirely think they're out of the woods yet and he almost wants to sit Flora and Lucas down and ask how the hell to be a good boyfriend. Because he really wants to be, it's what Asher deserves. Maybe he'd ask Anders, that felt like some wisdom he could impart. "You got any new years resolutions?"

Damian was closer now, and Asher felt like if he had a heart that worked, it'd be sinking to his stomach or beating out of his chest. He cared about the lycan, which is why he was starting to feel like he was kidding himself about this whole thing. His gaze dipped to Damian, then it flickered away as a witch passed, their blood just as loud as his hypothetical heart. "Uh – cut back on stuff, really. Like do I need lots of candles? Probably not. Do I need to eat so much? Could probably do without. You? You going to stick your twink ass in for Alpha?"

"I didn't either. Seems kind of unlikely." He's trying to be a good sport about all of it because this way he at least got a shot at a life. Maybe one he could actually do something with aside from just college and then whatever his parents wanted him to do. In a very morbid way with terrible circumstances, this guy had done him a favor. "I'm not um, I'm not quite sure what I want out of this." He'd seen how sires and their progenies were a thing here now but that wasn't everything. Rhia had taken Zeke under her wing, there was more to this than just sire to progeny bonding. "I'm not askin' for you for anythin', but I would like to get to know you, I think."

Asher made a face into his drink, though it was only because this meant growing some attachment. Theo had done that for him, feeling their deaths? That was such an unfortunate side effect. Caring about multiple people wasn't something Asher did great at, but he figured getting to know the other couldn't be that bad. Besides, he was learning not to block his sun, anyway. "Yeah, okay. So you've been...you were, the Eye's bitch for a long time. Now what are you doing, dude? Rome? Because you had to or what?"

Memories had been mixed up, jumbled from the life he had lived within New York. Of when he had first gone to the Pyramid. There had been blank spots, grey areas that he couldn't make heads or tails of. But in all of that, memories of Asher had always remained. Of the memories he had offered to his twin, under the safety of their makeshift fort. To ensure that Asher was always included, so that he did not feel left out when a life led before did not spark in his own head. "Asher, you're my brother. Nothing could ever, or would ever change how much I love you," he wanted to assure the other. "I didn't have a chance to tell you, to tell anyone. I meddled with the wrong witch, and she didn't give me much of a chance to."

The tables were starting to turn, Asher feeling more and more like a shitty brother. Niko had showed up anyway, ready to talk about it all, and Asher had bared his teeth. Now, though, he looked down at his hands, drumming his fingers against the drink in his hand, "Well we're here now, yeah? And you're the only family I have left in this place. And I'm not dyin, and you'll always reincarnate, so....I guess you're stuck with me, yeah?" His hatred for druids had only waned slightly, but not too much – Niko was helping him along.

Normally, he would have reveled in the fact that Asher had come up to him to actually talk. Considering how much the other just loved to avoid him, Hakan had taken to doing exactly the same. The back and forth was something he really did not have time for these days so he had simply decided to leave the Juno vampire alone. It was best for the younger vampire after all. He had been a good thrall once. Now he was just a vampire of no real use to him. "Of course he would. He damn near planned it." The words had fallen from his lips as he let his fangs leave the neck they had been buried within when Asher had shown up. "Did you have to interrupt me?"

He knew how Hakan looked at him. There'd been a brief moment of weakness, months ago, where he'd found himself face first into Hakan's bed, and since then, he'd felt like he'd been once again deigned as useless. And he hated it. Hated the way the Pluto vampire thought he was better than those he left behind. Zeke's death was karma, or perhaps the necessary thing to make Hakan snap out of his shackles. Hakan's cool exterior slipped at times; telling him to be careful, all of that nonesense. Either way, his hunger was hardly sated. It wasn't even a desire, just a need at this point, "You going to share or what?"