Can't Fight the Moonlight

He blinked when she questioned. "Didn't you just tell me it should be the perfect size?" he asked. "If you were confident it'll fit, I don't really need to prove it. You can tell my pretty brunette friend that it looked great on me." He shrugged. "Look... I do appreciate the work. You clearly put a lot of time into it but... this isn't really me?" Dhruv gestured vaguely toward the giant acronym stitched across the front and continued trying to stay polite. "I know it's meant to be funny. I get the joke, I do. I know neither of you were trying to make me feel awkward, but I just don't really want to be the joke." He offered her another faint, apologetic smile. "Maybe you would wear something just because someone else thought it'd be funny, I don't know. I'd rather be honest than pretend or lie that I love it and never wear it again. Feels worse. I'm sure your client will be fine."

"I have a keen eye, but even I can make mistakes sometimes, and while being able to lie has actually been quite wonderful, I don't lie about my work. Though you should really tell your pretty brunette friend yourself. I'm just the seamstress and messenger," They told him as they turned the jersey over in their hand before they moved to slip it on over their head, having no problem rocking the Jersey themselves. Zeina had taken the commission in part because the Jersey was hysterical. It was reverent, edgy, and hysterical in all the best ways. The commission had made them actually interested in sports for a change and wanted to be friends with the woman who'd commissioned them, but if the person it was intended for didn't want to accept the Jersey, Z would take it back and give it to the owner of the commission. They were getting paid either way. "Look, if it's not your thing. It's not your thing. But, if you ask me, people don't typically spend over a hundred dollars on a commission for a Jersey for someone else to have them be the butt of some joke. They were probably just trying to get you to smile, but what do I know? I think it's kick ass personally," They said, modeling the Jersey before they went to grab their bag. "But to each their own." Zeina personally didn't see why the cute brunette who commissioned them was wasting their time on this guy who didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. But they also weren't going to entirely judge someone who clearly needed to work on their self-esteem either. So, as they got up to go, they extended their card over to the man, "Here. My card. In case you want to find something that feels like you."

But the moment the word murdered left Gigi's mouth, he shot upright. "...Who got mur—" His brain caught up with a slow exhale. "...Right. The oven." He eased himself back onto the carpet with a shake of his head. "One day you're gonna say someone's been murdered and I'm not gonna believe you."

He let her continue uninterrupted, only offering the occasional sympathetic hum and "oof" as she lamented the state of her hair, her oven, and now her skin. By the end of it, he'd somehow circled back to lying flat on the floor again, hands folded over his stomach as he stared sideways at her. "For what it's worth," he said after a moment, squinting more to look at her, "I genuinely can't tell. I think you're the only person who'd notice."

When she nudged him with her foot, he reached up and gave it an absent-minded shove away. "Nah. Last I checked, my place was still out too." His gaze drifted back to the humming air conditioner. "How long do you think I can stay here? This place is slick. I forgot how nice air conditioning is. Missed this more than cable television."

"You take that back!" She nearly shrieked as he squinted back up at her. "Look again, but if I show you, this stays between us. I'm not about to have an image of me looking a mess all over Lunar Link," She reasoned as she took her hair out of the messy bun to show exactly how ridiculous it now looked thanks to her powerless hair straightener. One half of her hair was pin straight, while the other half was wavy and messy in its full untangled glory. "Told you. I'm practically a laughing stock," She whimpered as she moved to sweep her hair back up into the bun to hide the carnage of the heatwave.

"Until I go home?" She reasoned as she watched him scooting closer to the air conditioner like a deprived cat. Even Marie and Lady weren't as bad as him, having curled themselves up at the corner of her bed. "You know you could just invest in a place that has both air conditioning and cable TV, right? I do. It can't prevent a heatwave, but how much do you think a generator would cost, really?"

"No," he agreed. "I don't have the skills, I'm afraid. These masterpieces--" He gestured at the many, many shiny objects covering his truck's interior. "--are all Rose's handiwork. My sister," he added, realizing he hadn't told her the girl's name before.

"No doubt I do. It's just irresponsible to drive without 'em." Keeping one hand--and his eyes--on the wheel, Will pulled a binder of CDs out of the middle compartment. Because, yes, the truck was old enough to still have a CD player--and it only worked when he tapped it with his knuckles three times, causing the machinery inside to whir back to life. He handed the binder, which included No Doubt, to Gigi. "The Boathouse it is then," he agreed, turning the truck in that direction. "I've been wanting to go there." Technically, this was true of every place in town. His goal was to visit at least every establishment once before the end of the year.

"Funny," A bright smile broke across Gigi's lips at the pun he'd just made. One that turned into a pure squeal of delight as he pulled out a binder of CDs and handed them over. "Oh my gosh! Ah! It's like Christmas! You have everything," She continued to gush as she flipped through the book, making note of all of her favorite CDs that she had thought had been lost, given that when she had returned from the dead, every shop she had visited in town had distinctly told her that CDs were out. She'd spent a whole weekend painstakingly learning how to use an iPhone and download some app called Spotify for her to be able to listen to her favorite tunes, but it never really hit the same. Yet, here they all were, preserved in all of their glory. "Oh, I know!" She giggled as she grabbed a The Cranberries CD and slipped it into the CD player. Taking a breath to get ready to sing along to the song 'Dreams', only to frown when it didn't instantly start playing. "Did I do something wrong?" She asked, glancing over at him with wide eyes. She could've sworn she knew how to use a CD player, but oh god, had she lost her touch?

"Are you sure? We could go anywhere. I'm half tempted to ask to hang back here with your CD player for a little longer, but the boathouse it is!" She beamed, reaching over to give his thigh a light squeeze, trying not to distract him from driving too badly, but in truth, she was excited.

"You of all people should know that you shouldn't try to tell me what I can and can't do," Vivek said after a moment's breath. The corner of his lips itched up ever so slightly into a grin that just as quickly fell, and one that had never fully reached his eyes to begin with. "I'm going to say this just once, okay?" His voice softened slightly as he told his friend point blank, "I am going to defend whoever the fuck I want, and if that person happens to be you, then it's not going to be out of any obligation or sense of responsibility, but because I genuinely believe in what I'm sticking my neck out for and in the person I'm defending. So, I don't really care if it's something you might not want me to. Sorry, but as long as I'm in your life, it's not going to be something you ever get a say in."

"I think a man and a woman can be friends just fine. I just don't think either of you treats each other like one," He told him as he took another drag from the joint before he relaxed back down against the bed. "You and that other werewolf, the standoffish one who works up at Holloway Farm- friends. But, your roommate who let you shoot her up with saliva after knowing her for how long and who you kissed during on New Years Eve? Yeah, you guys are totally platonic," He quipped as he handed the joint back over Dhruv's way. "That friend of yours may be a lot of things, but I'm not sure nice is one of them. Especially not from what you said seconds ago. And just because someone might care about you doesn't mean that they secretly want something from you, you dummy," He lolled his head back against the pillow as he peered over at him. "For fuck sake, I know people can suck, I do, and I know that most people don't actually give a damn about you, rather, they love how loving you makes them feel about themselves. But even I know that most people aren't out here with ulterior motives. Their worlds just... revolve around themselves, or they're all too caught up in their own shit to realize the impact of what they've been saying or projecting."

"Yeah, well, maybe Kiraz isn't the only one who wants to be a guinea pig. Ever think of that?" He posed, not actually volunteering to become some science experiment as much as being hyper aware that it was getting harder and harder each day to resist the urge to take ichor again. "See?" He whispered after a quiet breath. "It's ironic, really. Like some sick joke from the universe that neither of us can ever seem to get what we want," He muttered. His jaw clenched before he said, after another prolonged beat, "Yeah, well, logic doesn't always come into play there, mate." Not when he spent most of his days feeling as though he was wading through water rather than surfacing for air. Not when his skin practically itched at the thought of when he could get his hands on another vial as much as his head told him it would be a stupid ass idea.

"Got it," He grew quiet himself as he closed his own eyes, and he stayed sprawled back across the bed he never actually could fall asleep in. It was only when he started up again that Vivek cracked a peek open and told him, "Whose fault is that? I could've put on Treasure Fucking Planet, and we could've zoned out. You're the one who wanted to be all contrarian," He teased as he craned his neck so that his gaze drifted up toward the ceiling. "I gave you the right one. You're just high strung, and sometimes Mary Jane isn't good, which is why I'm not introducing you to Molly or god knows what might happen."

He accepted the joint back without immediately taking a drag, rolling it idly between his fingers instead. It gave him something to do while he searched for words that didn't feel like they were slipping further away the more he reached for them. "I wasn't saying you defend me out of obligation." A tired laugh escaped him, lacking much humour. "I know why you do it. I know you mean it. I just..." He hesitated before settling on the truth. "I don't like seeing you catch shit because of me. That's all it was." His shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug. "Fine. If you still choose to do it, I can't, nor was I going, to actually stop you. I'm just gonna continue to feel however I want to feel about it."

Vivek's certainty about Kiraz earned little more than a weary exhale. Dhruv stared at the floor for a long moment before speaking again. "See, this is what I mean." There wasn't any bite in his voice anymore, only fatigue. "You've already decided what we are. Anything I say now is just going to sound like denial or like an argument to you." He rubbed absentmindedly at the back of his neck. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say so another pause stretched between them before he spoke again. "I'm not saying people can't care about me. I'm saying that trusting people doesn't come easily anymore." His fingers tightened briefly around the joint. "Those aren't the same thing either." A faint scoff escaped him. "I know most people aren't sitting around plotting against me. I know they're wrapped up in their own lives. Doesn't really stop the impact when they say something that sticks, though. I can't exactly stop feeling." Maybe that was the main problem. That he felt too much. He wished he knew how to avoid it.

He finally took a drag, blowing the smoke toward the ceiling. "And yeah," he said, glancing sideways at Vivek, "of course I've thought about it. Do you know me?" The corner of his mouth twitched, though it never quite became a smile. "I wasn't trying to tell you how to live your life. I was asking you to be careful. I know addiction isn't something you solve because someone tells you to stop. I know that. I just..." His voice faltered for the first time all evening. "I don't want to lose you too, that's all."

Silence was starting to settle before Vivek's teasing finally pulled an actual laugh out of him, sharp around the edges but genuine all the same. "Fucker," he muttered, shaking his head, "if either of us is a contrarian, it's definitely you." He pointed at him with the joint. "Don't feed me bullshit, yeah? I'm not high or drunk enough. You asked. I answered. That's all I was doing." The warmth faded into something quieter as he leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment. "Yeah, put it on. I don't think I've ever seen it."

If Yasin was looking for a place pulled from the pages of Alice in Wonderland, he found it.

The Pie Hole was unlike any other bakery he knew. While others leaned in opposite directions—some as soulless as warehouses, and more as cluttered as an antiques shops—this one managed to strike a perfect balance. Gazing at the menu, he ordered and soon found a seat where he could review his emails in peace. It wasn't long, however, until Yasin began to feel very strange. He stood and approached the person at the counter.

"Excuse me," he greeted, reluctant to draw much attention, "I think there is something wrong with my tea." Yasin considered. "Not to be rude, but it may also be—the food?"

The heat was unbearable. Daniel couldn't believe temperatures could rise this high. It was uncomfortable, but still manageable. The still of it all was going a lot of heavy lifting. Daniel hadn't realized he was in the way until he heard a voice behind him. "You're willingly sunbathing in this weather?" he asked, completely bewildered.

Rangi swatted playfully at Kiraz as she poked her cheek. "Seriously? I guess that's what he gets up to in that lab all day..." Not that Rangi had ever asked. The two of them had a rather tumultuous relationship, despite both of them mourning two of the same people deeply. "Saliva, huh? That checks out. There's a lot of diseases and bacteria that can be transmitted through humanoid saliva." It made sense, too, how Dhruv would come to that conclusion. Still, it was impressive. "So people can really become a wolf without even being bitten? That's...a little disconcerting." Truthfully, Rangi had never really feared changing until she'd met Lara. It had never been an option in her mind and now it was seeming more and more likely.

"I wouldn't say feeble," Rangi shrugged, "more...delicate. I mean, the brain is encased in bone for a reason, right?" She tapped the side of her head with a grin.

"Oh. Well, I mean, that's an admirable thing to have done. I'd say maybe you could go back, but I don't know if the URI campus here has a pre-med track." Rangi shook off the notion. "I'm glad your sister is okay, though. Vampirism aside." A pause. "Not that being a vampire is a bad thing! Or that vampires are bad! Just-- you know. The dying part probably sucks." She chuckled. "That's cute, that you rescued a lab rat. Frankenrat is a good name, too. I'm not nearly as creative. The cats are just Tapu and Mana." She pursed her lips again. "I guess that's why I went into mortuary science and not liberal arts."

"Fair. Delicate is probably a better word for it," She nodded, not having any contradictions there. She was a scientist at heart after all. Not a linguist, and at the end of the day, English wasn't even her first language. So whatever word Rangi settled on seemed about right to her.

"I could, but," She trailed off. Her gaze dipped as her shoulders lifted and fell once more. "I don't know if I want to? Sometimes, things happen, and it feels like the opportunity just passed, and sure, you can try to go back, but I feel like then it would sort of feel like some consolation prize, in a way. It's not like I'd be able to get those years back, so I think I'd rather pursue something else entirely than be constantly reminded of what I gave up, I guess," She explained. There was also the fact that she no longer really felt fit to be a doctor, given she had hardly lived her life by any code to not do harm these days. "Thanks. Me too. And yeah. It definitely seems like it does suck. The whole dying part, but I'm starting to think maybe every species has their own sucky parts and disadvantages," She admitted. "Thanks! It is a good name, isn't it?! And what does Tapu and Mana mean? I could say the same about me. But, now I'm out here being a photographer part-time, so I guess I'm just one of those rare right-and-left-brain people."