i want you and your beautiful soul

Having arrived fashionably late to his own birthday party / 4th July celebrations at Sal's as one so often does, Robbie's mission was now twofold; pretend to be unbothered by the existence of Isabel Valentine for the rest of the day, and avoid Joey Salvatore at all costs, forever. Easy as pie. Speaking of, "I'm starving," he announced before practically lunging at the party food, adding a third layer to his mission involving fistfuls of beige food. "God bless America. God bless Sal."

"Robbie!" Keith grinned, bounding around the buffet table to pull Robbie and all his party food into a hug. "Happy birthday! How have you been? I feel like we've not seen you up here for five hundred years!" He understood why so many people were now living in the Underground, but he had missed seeing so many familiar faces around town.

"Oh!" Rhiannon jumped, turning with her small but mighty fists clenched before letting out a breath. "Sorry, you gave me a fright. Don't worry, I promise I won't be kicking your ass today." @havensdalestarters

Keith held up his hands, an apologetic smile on his lips. "I'm so sorry, Rhi. I should've coughed or something." His hands lowered, one of them rubbing the back of his neck. After everything she–and the rest of his friends–had been through, he should've had more tact than this. "My ass appreciates it." The word 'ass' honestly felt weird coming from him and he cringed a little before asking, "How are you doing?" They were all probably so over him checking up on them, but he couldn't help it; he had almost lost them all.

Joseph was totally freaking out. Seeing Samuel and Lee earlier had knocked him off his game and now his phone was buzzing - texts from Malia - and he was trying to be good tonight. Champagne wasn't gonna cut it though, was it? It was then he realised that there was a witness to his minor freaking out... Shit. "Uh, hey! How are you? Have you seen this selection of dips yet or what?" @havensdalestarters

"There you are! I–..." Mireya had been looking everywhere for Joseph, a little too overwhelmed by the crowd and the fact that her sister had decided to make an appearance. She hadn't expected to find him hiding out in a corner, seemingly having a meltdown. Ignoring his question, she rushed to his side. "Babe, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"That... is a lot of people." @havensdalestarters

"Were you expecting something different?"

"What a gorgeous party! Let me tell you, I know a few folks back in Manhattan who are seething that they aren't invited. I was telling Lee that. You've met Lee, right?" @havensdalestarters

"Oh, um... No? Sorry, should I have?" Mireya was stumbling over herself–drowning even–as she tried to keep up with who the most important people here were. She had never been to a party anywhere near as extravagant as this one, but she had been excited to attend with Joseph since he was able to get time off from touring for the holidays. "You're from Manhattan?"

"Yeah, that is turning a little bit dystopian." Joey let out a sigh, before adding, "Ravens driving miniature cars though? Would love to see it." There was totally no way of knowing whether you were walking past a bird or a shifter, that was the Havensdale way. The most important thing to remember was never to talk shit or reveal any deeply embarrassing secrets with woodland witnesses. He rolled his eyes affectionately at Keith's joke, knowing fine well he'd set him up for it. "Thank you."

"Well, if we're ever struggling for extra cash, we might be on to the next bestselling novel with that plot; raven dystopia." Keith could only hope that they weren't heading into a world like that. The current situation was bad enough, but he knew it could become so much worse. He was brought back from his thoughts at the sound of Joey's laughter and his whole face lit up; he loved seeing his brother happy. "Absolutely nothing! Although, it would be really cool to be able to turn into something that could swim in the ocean." Imagine being able to go diving and just keep going! "That's true. I'm amazed you can even handle her in human form without spontaneously combusting."

Joey had expected Keith to have an answer for this sorta thing. He had the imagination for it, something Joey'd never really been good at. Not that shapeshifting was beyond the realm of reality now. "Oh, fair point. Do you think you'd need a flying license for something like that?"

Keith's brow furrowed as he contemplated the implications of that. "Surely not. Unless all shifters are on some kind of register, with a list of all the animals they can turn into, how would they even police that? Who's going to ask a raven for their papers when it could just be an actual raven?" He thought a little longer on it, "That's gotta be an infringement of shifter rights."

"Keith? You...I don't want to see you right now." It stung to say it, but it was the safest option.

"What do you mean?" Keith's brow furrowed as he looked at them sadly, "Did I do something wrong?" He frantically tried to think back on any times they had interacted and if he could have said or done something to upset them. His mind was coming up blank.

"No. I'm not hungry. Go right ahead." It was a lie. They were starving.

"Woah, hey... Molly, are you alright? You don't look so good..."

"Yeah, you're right. It is pretty cool... You gotta watch out for ravens though. They're trouble," he joked, knowing fine well that was one of Is' favourite modes of transport. "What do you think you'd be? Y'know, if you could-," he waved his hand- "Around town?"

Keith laughed, well aware that Isabel was a fan of the raven form. A little buzzy feeling warmed his chest as he grinned at Joey. Isabel seemed to make him so happy and there was nothing he wanted more for his brother. He still couldn't believe that he could call him that and mean it. Impending doom really put things in perspective for you.

@k-eithsalvatore

"Are you saying that my date nights are getting... boring?" Keith feigned offence with a hand- his free hand, the one not holding his girlfriend's hand- over his heart. "You wound me, Rahsheda Gezer." There wasn't a single second that Keith could keep a straight face, though, and he was grinning from ear to ear by the time he finished speaking. He caught himself staring at her and briefly squeezed her hand as if to snap himself back to reality. Gosh, she was just so beautiful. He wished more than anything that he could fix this messed up world for her.

"You know, part of me wishes that weird shit like that still surprised me-," Joey sighed as a shifter flew by and turned back into themself just before hitting the ground. "Happy Friday."

Keith watched in awe as the shifter changed and carried on with their day. "I don't know... There's a lot I'd change about Domesdale, but that's still pretty cool."