carved

vincenzo: sounds like you have a different recollection than i do.

vincenzo: i told you i'd get you a new one. only the best for the best, s.

vincenzo: as you should, that was hurtful that you really doubted me.

vincenzo: at you? never.

serafina: [voice message]: "uh-huh, if you say so.... thief, but the ring better be worth the wait enzo because it just feels weird to have my finger bare. i freak out every two seconds thinking i lost it and then i look down and– indeed, it's lost but /not by me/"

serafina: fine fine

HE DARES A GLANCE TOWARDS THE DOOR, and then directs it right back to the sister towering over his sitting figure. An incredulous look is visible in his eyes as he gives her a second of silence... and then, “NO”. Hands gesture to the pile of carefully crafted notes, “I have better things to do, Araceli”.

vincenzo: ???

vincenzo: it hurts me to think you'd think i'd steal from you, principessa.

serafina: um excuse me, do i need to remind you HOW we first met?

serafina: and i'm still waiting to hear back from that ring

serafina: 👀

serafina: but i'll apologize for today !!! my bad

status: closed for @fromivory​ ! location: an airport, summer of 2013

she wanted to say no , she really should have said no . going on a trip after the events that transpired during the quest seemed wrong. traveling without natalia seemed impossible considering the plans the two had made together. yet, when nicolai suggested they spend traveling together, leo found it hard to shoot the suggestion down. instead, she packed up her things and said goodbye to the home she’d reluctantly known for the past six years. flying halfway across to meet him once again after not seeing him in person for seven years. dark eyes searching for him as they finally fall on the boy she was knew now all grown up. a smile forming on her lips as he walks toward her. “wow, look at you. looks like you grew into your ears,” she teases.

♔

♡

finally, laurel had to admit defeat and laugh, just a little. a smile curved over her lips, though the stern set of her jaw remained the same. “don’t worry babe, neither of us are ending up in catholic heaven, i promise.” she tapped the menu in front of mitsuki impatiently. “i’m super jealous. seriously. can you hurry up and figure out what you want to eat already? the less people who see us together, the better.”

☾

MITSUKI CAN’T HELP BUT STAND A LITTLE TALLER, smile a little brighter at the sight of that oh so precious smile of Laurel. Even with a set jaw, she’ll take the small victories! She puts her hands together and vows her head in a rather mocking manner– thank you, she means with the gesture before sending both hands on hips and giving a dramatic sigh. “You can pretend you don’t love me all you want, Lo, but we both know the truth,” She gives a wink and then turns to the menu, “Hmmm you know I’m actually not that hungry but i’ll take a smoothie.”

♡

she was no stranger to rowdy crowds, but why he was willing to distance himself so thoroughly from the people he’d come with interested her. “one gin and tonic,” she agreed, returning his smile with the characteristic flutter of her eyelashes that always guaranteed a better tip. thanks, mom. she retrieved the turquoise bottle of rochelt gin from the top shelf as promised and began mixing. “you’re that willing to throw your friends under the bus, huh? we have bouncers for that, you know. and leo. what’d they do to you?”

♔

HIS GAZE SEEMS CASUAL TO THE UNSUSPECTING EYE, but Nicolai is watching– observing and taking in the way she flutters her pretty lashes, the way she reaches for the shelf and mixes the liquids. Small notes in the making for a rainy day. Amusement floods his gesture as she points out his disloyalty. Not a far-off conclusion, but also not one that can remain. So he laughs with a shake of his head– once more daring a glance back. “What haven’t they done?” He says with a playful tone, a teasing one. “No, I love them, which is why I’d rather deal with them myself than have Leo do it”. Another playful & lighthearted statement.

serafina: did

serafina: you

serafina: take

serafina: my

serafina: necklace?????

it’s not that soleil is a hardass about assignments , quite frankly she could care less about when her students turn things in. her teaching methods are questionable to say the least, she’s well aware though she’s also confident enough in what she teaches to know there’s an actual method to her madness. though it’s that same madness right now that’s causing her to make serafina sweat. chaotic enjoyment at the expense of her student as she watches her pout. “but? no, no, no. no asses here, m’a. tsk, tsk, tsk.” serafina’s reminder of how she’s struggling in the class causing her to ease up a little, features softening as she looks at her with a small bit of concern. “mayhaps .. perhaps ..” she trails off, trying to figure out how to actually help. “exactly what’s the trouble?“

♡

SHE’LL BE HONEST, HALF OF THE TIME, Serafina has no clue of what Soleil is going on about... She tries not to judge, she really does, but in the end she mostly just fails and ends up biting her lip with a split internal dialogue that goes: what on earth is she on?? & what does she mean??. With a confused expression on her pretty face, Serafina can only bite on the inside of her cheek as she attempts to make sense of the riddle of a woman before her. Hope gleams in her eyes as the other’s tone softens if only fo a second and she readies to take her change to BEG. “I– I’m just... scared. I don’t really know how to tell from the shapeshifting one to the sleeping one and.... well I don’t really want to take my chances with anyone for the assignment?”

the way he entertains her ridiculous antics never ceases to bring a smile to her lips. a grin from ear to ear as she playfully rolls her eyes at him, shaking her head. “demons?” she questions, “haunting demons through the happy house, dex? no, no! imagine the poor unsuspecting living dead souls mindlessly going out and about without a clue in the world? yikes! such a shame, what a shame, don’t you think?” she takes a moment to consider the latter, really wondering about the vampires. “the bloodsuckers,” she whispers, “but where o’ where is one to find count dracula? we must go to the source to get the fangs.”

☻

“I DON’T THINK” DEXTER STATES, LETTING OUT a yawn– a product not of the company or the conversation, but of the pile of papers that had kept him up last night. The man shakes his head, “There’s hardly anything mindless about demons, Sol”. His brows furrow, a bit, but the lazy smile on his lips doesn’t falter as his head tilts on the other direction, still resting on the chair’s edge. “That, on the other hand cane be managed. Count Dracula my bet is... Miami, but doesn’t your mom command some sort of... vampire predecessors?”

he’s only that much more amused as she leans closer , vincenzo mimicking her actions as he leans into to meet her gaze. “mon belle,” he chuckles softly, “for having such a brilliant photographic memory, you clearly need to brush up one intention. yes, you are correct, i did say that. though, if you allow me to point out, i never said i don’t enjoy picking up the one exception to the rule, every now and then. i can read, after all.” he gives her a small shrug, as he continues to smirk. “what can i say? i have a weakness for pretty blonde’s who tend to stick to novels and like ripping me a new one.”

♥

AMELIA KEEPS THOSE JUDGING EYES ON HIM for a second, considering his words as brows furrow. The snort that follows is testament of her ruling. Weak weak argument, but one worth debating over? Amelia does not know. She muses on the possibility as she gives him a SHOW of her rolling eyes. “That was cute. It’s a shame you won’t share these... exceptions in fear of my judgement”. Lashes bat a second time, gaze softening if only a bit– same as her posture, still leaning against propped elbows. She knows she’s pretty, butt here’s something about something about that being stated as a sort of accomplishment rubs her the wrong way. “Oh? Is that so?”

            SHE COULD READ NIC fairly well, growing up with him and learning all his little nico-isms, so whenever she saw the way his long fingers tapped against the steering wheel…she knew she was only making things worse. shiloh had never been good at talking about her feelings, even with her being an emotional mess most days, admitting her insecurities made her feel almost sick to her stomach. so she curls into herself a bit, teeth sinking into her bottom lip to nibble at the flesh in an act of nerves. they had been dancing around the issue, around the hurt and pain that was ultimately caused by her hands, and now she was left with the wreckage as she pleaded silently to avoid it. his laugh was hollow, lacking any warmth as it filled the thick air between them, his words like a knife as he says something that she knows he truly doesn’t mean, “nic, please don’t be like that, you know this isn’t exactly an easy subject…” she murmured under her breath, glancing down now at her hands while she shook her head, “i don’t want it to be this way at all, but it’s a little too late for that, isn’t it?”

♔

AND HE KNOWS. HE KNOWS HOW DIFFICULT this subject is for her. But the topic is out, the band-aid is ripped off revealing months-long injury that clearly needed stitches instead of a flimsy band and a couple of pain killers to mask it. He’s never cared about the health of his relationships, never had an issue with them given how SUPERFICIAL they tended to be in the end... but this... It’s not even a matter of letting out what they’d both kept locked away somewhere, it’s a matter of his damn temper. She’d lost it, somehow, a part of that softness in his gaze he’d always reserved for Shiloh when it fell upon her sleeping silhouette, her soft hair, her plush smiling lips... it’d been ripped off and shot dead by his hand or hers he doesn’t know. Because as much as there’s a tenderness still tying them together, still pulling as they sit here inside his car, there’s also a new sharpness that had never been before. “Then what do you want?” There’s a hint of the pain in his voice, but the words come out with a roughness to them. The mix of feelings is for once shown in his eyes as he looks her way and stares... and stares until the light flashes green and he gives a sigh, pressing down on the accelerator.

a dramatic scoff leaves her lips as she glances at serafina with feigned shock. “i will not!” she giggles, knowing well that the amount of sugar she consumes on a daily basis is one that mirrors a child left unsupervised at a candy shop. “fine,” she agrees, walking over to one of the drawers and grabbing a pair of spoons. “but you have to try it with me, even a little bite.” she walks back to her, handing her one of the spoons. “and you have to try it like this—” ines uses the spoon to grab a piece of the cake before dipping it into the bowl of frosting and popping it into her mouth. green eyes widen in glee as she grins at serafina. “this is truly amazing.”

♡

“MHMM” HER LIPS CURL INTO A KNOWING SMILE. So often she falls into the motherly role despite her LACK of qualifications for the part. “Too bad our skills do not actually control the sugar in our blood”. Serafina takes a sit by the kitchen’s counter, pressing down on her pretty white skirt as her aunt had taught her– prim & proper... and yet she can’t help but hold in a breath as her sister takes the spoon into her mouth. True relief and GLEE emerge as the girl’s eyes widen. “Really?!”, she asks with a pretty grin. “It’s safe to eat then?”

             IT WASN’T THE FIRST time someone was trying to get dax into trouble, certainly wouldn’t be the last, and he eyed the statue with laser focus, “that thing is probably worth five grand, easy money. we can either pawn it off on someone else or hunt down who did it, and….i don’t even know what we would do.” shrugging his shoulders, he crossed his arms over his chest with a bit of annoyance washing over his features, “but no, i don’t like stupid hermes kids get away with bullshit like this. we just have to figure out a plan to screw them over, they think they have the upper hand here.”

♔

AT THE SIGHT OF ANNOYANCE CLEARLY WRITTEN on the other’s face, Nicolai smiles, the corner of his lips tugs upwards as she contemplates the boy... and the situation. “Well then, let’s make them regret it”. A game, this is what this is, and one he hasn’t had the pleasure to play in a while. “Where did you keep it?” Nicolai asks, his mind already structuring the chess board in his mind, considering the careful movements they could do– just so they could come out VICTORIOUS. He debates on letting Dax figure out a plan of his own... it’s not his problem, anyway. But oh the chase’s allure beckoned him to pry and to move the pieces around.