long live

"oh, lovely." he laughs a little bit, pouring out a tequila shot and passing it over to the other man with a grin. "happy to help."

"and this is why you're my favorite," eros grinned, taking the shot and downing it in one. "maybe I should bring my friend here, strong drinks are good for forgetting problems,"

"Never. I know you like it better with me around." Cassian replied confidently, winking at his mate. Truthfully, he couldn't be more happy to see her. After being stuck in this strange place for a few days, he was still completely lost. Nothing made sense to him here. "Yeah, I'm beginning to realize that. It seems like time and memories work differently here. I just saw you a few days ago, from what I remember."

"hm, only sometimes," she paused, smiling at him as she moved forwards to wrap an arm around his neck. "there's other times where I like having you around and after not seeing you for so long, I'm happy you're here," it had been years since she'd truly last seen cassian and she'd been keeping how much it was driving her insane at bay. "they do, I had completely different memories when I first came here, I didn't know anything about home, or you," she paused. "and there's some other developments as well, but I think one thing at a time right now,"

Ax shrugged, a gesture that both andalites and humans had in common. "I guess I just don't read... make-believe stuff?" Fiction was a concept almost entirely alien in his society. The arts were not valued when every available resource was being thrown into the intergalactic war machine, the result of a mistake his species had made. He didn't realize that war didn't exist here. "I don't get that... what's the point?"

nesta shrugged. "everyone has something they don't like," she liked to disappear into the pages of a book, it had helped her well while things were bad. she could ignore her own problems for a few hours and just escape into a book. "I like reading to escape from my own life, there was a time in my life when things were bad and reading was one of the only things that kept me going,"

"one of the modern inventions i appreciate the most, really." though her magic could do a decent amount to deal with the heat, at least for her personally. "cauldron, cassian will never get off that app. he'll try and get famous on it."

"tell me about it," nesta laughed. "it makes it so much easier in the summer," she smiled. "he really would." nesta paused. "I think it would be funny to mess with him if he ever appears,"

"we can try it, but if you drop me I won't be very happy," nesta shook her head, laughing slightly.

"well, hopefully that means that it's less effective, then." at least if it had only worked halfway, maybe it would wear off sooner rather than later. at least she could hope for that until they found a better solution.

"hopefully," they weren't so sure about that - this city was rather unfair when it came to memories and kirei hated it. "I just hate all of this, you don't remember me and it kriffing sucks ass, I wish whatever this is would just leave us alone,"

"don't know really. the only thing people have said is that you lose or gain memories from dying, but i don't think that i've died.. xaden would probably have mentioned that at the very least." she was positive, if nothing else, she would be told if she had died. but she woke up in their bed, perfectly safe. "jesinia has been researching as much as she can, but there just isn't much to find about how all of this works."

"let's be real, vi, if you had died, I don't think the city would still be standing." ridoc had only seen that side of xaden once, when vi had been taking for questioning and he was scary. "so it must be something else," they paused. "maybe jes can make some sense of whatever this is, I'm sure that if we all put our heads together and work on it as a squad we'll figure it out," he paused. "we're not iron squad for nothing,"

"well, I suppose even if it's small and it still does damage, then by that reasoning it still works," elio had never used a sword before - no one really did - he'd seen it in holo movies once or twice and saw children playing with wooden swords. "I have something similar, I think," they paused. "though I don't think it would be classed as a sword, we call them a lightsaber - I found my crystal and then built it myself," with some help. "I think it's good to be prepared, you never know what will be coming or what will happen,"

“elio? what in the stars are you doing here?” kaya ran to them, relieved as ever to see their friend. they didn’t know what happened to them, after the temple… they were only just starting to find people here. “i really worried i was going to be completely alone here, are you okay? what happened to you?”

"I don't know," their brow furrowed slightly. "I just woke up here one day, it's been a few weeks now," elio truly didn't know how he'd gotten here, he was supposed to be dead, but he was in this strange city. "I don't know, everything is still raw" they paused. "I got away, for a while before they found me," elio had only told echo, but kaya had been his friend for years and he trusted them. "did you escape off world?"

"that's unnecessary, thank you." there's no chance aelin will take any kind of appointment with him at the moment, but he'd like to speak to her in spite of that.

"are you sure?" he asked, raising a brow at the other. "i'd need to check, but she's free this afternoon, I'm sure,"

sam  shrugged  his  shoulders.  “hate  to  break  it  to  you…  but  i'm  not  the  only  one  who  appeared  here  without  memories  of  how.  this  place  snatches  people  up  from  different  times  and  places,  apparently.  don't  know  how  it  works  but  it  does.  messes  with  people's  heads  too.”  he  explained.  he  wasn't  sure  how  better  to  word  it.  “don't  know  anything  about  any  senators.  not  really  looked  into  all  of  that…”

"I've not heard anything about that," aedion's brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the other. "none of that sounds real, you do realise that, right?" he asked. "it sounds like the plot of a really bad movie if you ask me," though there was part of him that found truth in what the other was saying, but he didn't know why. "trust me, you don't want to look into them, most of them are all the same and complain about the same stuff over and over again, I need to listen to it almost daily,"

"i'm her advisor. you should get familiar." not that this face was the only one she could wear, she could turn into aelin herself and walk into the building entirely unquestioned if they so wanted. "she is, she texted me asking me to bring donuts about twenty minutes ago. you're aedion, yes?" better at least to figure out what, exactly, the story was here before they began talking, since this was solidly her problem.

aedion raised a brow at the other, a breath of a laugh leaving his lips. "after this, I'm sure I'll never forget your face," he paused. "especially not one as beautiful as yours," he wasn't normally this flirty, but something in him was feeling bold. "of course she asked you to bring her donuts," he shook his head. "the last time I checked, yes," aedion nodded, laughing softly.

Freya quirked an eyebrow. "I've always been interested in Salem. In all of my travels, I never managed to end up there. I would love to take a visit someday, if I'm ever permitted to leave this place."

"I always loved growing up there," until they hadn't. "I'm just hoping there is a way out of this city, I'd rather not be stuck in here - I wanted to travel the world," but ariella had never gotten the chance to do that. "where else have you visited?"

Colette exhaled a sigh, smirk forming on her lips, "You've got to be joking. Is there anybody he hasn't killed?" She asked, rhetorical, of course. "He killed me too. His brother, Elijah, made him do it." Colette shook her head. "I'm sorry that happened to your sister. Nasty business, messing around with Originals."

"he has been around for a while, so I'm assuming he's killed a lot of people," ariella sighed slightly. "I'm sorry," their brow furrowed slightly. "I've never met any of them other than klaus and after hearing stories I don't think I'd like to," she assumed they were all just as bad as each other.

"what the hell did you think was going to happen, then?" and she can believe that their parents had manipulated ariella into going along with that whole ridiculous plan, there was no chance it was ariella's idea to start with, but that doesn't mean that any of it is less infuriating to listen to. and she thinks that's justified, considering that plan had ended up in her death. "yes, obviously he's dangerous! but i had it handled until you all interfered! he had no reason to hurt any of us until you made him think there was a threat to him!" it wasn't that she'd thought he would have no desire to hurt a coven of witches that clearly disliked him, she wasn't that stupid, but his attention was elsewhere, and he hadn't seemed to have much inclination to do it. "and maybe i didn't want him to go off and find another witch. maybe i wanted to be the one to do it! as for falling in love with him... look, i know it's not smart, trust me, i do. but he's not as bad as the stories make him out to be, ari. he doesn't spend all his free time reminiscing on the people he's killed and bathing in blood, he's a real person." and she knows that sounds insane, because he does absolutely enjoy killing people, and they both know it. but she has to justify it somehow to her sister. "no, of course i don't think you jumped at the chance, but you could have told them exactly where to shove it. it's not actually that hard, i quite enjoy telling mom and dad to go fuck themselves." but she can admit that her and ariella are different people, she's never much cared about their parents opinions, whereas she knows that ariella did, and that is obviously going to drive their reactions to their parents. "you didn't think telling the guy known for murdering people he perceives as a threat that i was plotting his murder would result in me dying?" it's said in a deadpan tone, staring her sister down with a blank expression. but the apology does dampen some of her anger about the whole thing. she loves her little sisters, she can't make herself hold a grudge over one of them being manipulated into doing something terrible by their shitty parents. "okay, well you might have just put a massive target on your back. he knows the truth of what actually went down, ari." but despite her earlier threats, she knew if it came down to it, she would do what she could to stop klaus from taking out his anger on her. "who were you trying to protect, ariella?" she wanted to understand, to know what on earth was happening in her sisters head, and to get the full picture of what had actually happened back then. "i don't think any of us are ever going to be what they wanted, and the sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be." not that she thinks it'll be that easy for her sister, but it'd be a good start. "i'm still pissed, don't get me wrong. but i'm pissed at mom and dad more."

"I don't know!" ariella snapped. truly she hadn't known what would have happened - part of them hoped that klaus would move on, just irritated by the situation. "I never thought that far forward, they just wanted me to do it!" all she'd ever wanted was for her parents to love her for who she was, not just for the fact that she'd done what they wanted. "I just wanted to be loved for once, for them to think that I was something other than their spare daughter!" ariella had never voiced these thoughts to anyone, not even to marshall - not fully anyway - he knew how inadequate she felt in her family, how she was always fighting to be better and to be loved. but they were never quite good enough. "sometimes we can't help who we fall in love with," ariella sighed. she knew this situation isn't ideal, but they knew from experience that love isn't always planned and you can't ever predict when it will happen. "I know he's a real person, but he's still a monster, bri - the things he's done are horrible - he's killed so many people, most of the time for no reason," she didn't understand why brielle had fallen in love with klaus, but she wasn't going to question it any more. "I tried to tell them, I really did but you never had to earn their love, you don't understand how I feel!" she snapped. "you had their love unconditionally!" it seemed that their parents had always loved bri without any complications, but with her? she was their spare child - that was at least how it felt. "I never felt like I was good enough, nothing I ever did was ever good enough and it broke my heart that there was limitations to their love!" it wasn't an excuse, but ariella couldn't help but want to make them proud. "I thought that I'd finally have their approval, that I'd finally matter, but it all backfired," they didn't think it would end like this, but it had and it was all her fault. while their parents had pressured her into doing it, it had been ariella who had done the spell - one that they'd never done before, but it had been her fault. "I'm not as brave as you, you were always the one who rebelled, but I just wanted to be loved," she sighed. "he can know the truth all he wants, I don't care," she did care - but ariella was too proud to think of how this would affect her. ariella hesitated for a few moments, their head dipping slightly, a sigh leaving their lips. "I was protecting marshall," brielle would be the first person who would know this, other than them. she pulled the ring out from under her dress, hanging on the chain she'd put it on to keep it safe after everything. "I was protecting marshall, I love him and I didn't want them to find out and hurt him and I wanted to be with him more than anything," that was part of her reasoning - maybe if they did this, she'd be allowed to marry marshall without any questions. but if they weren't she was prepared to leave everything. "I just wanted to be the good daughter but it just got you killed," they sighed. "I should have said no, but I was scared and desperate for their approval," it would be something she'd always regret. "I wish I was brave like you were, that I would have been able to tell them to fuck off - but I couldn't, I'm not brave, I'm a coward," she had wanted to be the good daughter, but nothing had ever happened the way they'd hoped it would - things had gone so badly. but now hopefully that they were in the city and away from their parents, things could be different. or they at least hoped. "I truly am sorry, I never thought things would happen like this, but I was stupid to believe it would go any other way,"

"there's a place just a few blocks here, I've had food there before," sansa smiled at the other. "they do the best lemon cakes that I've ever had before in my life, I'd go back there just for them."