cellophane

"Oh, we're not even talking an adults only cruise? Ew," Rhiannon grimaced, not down with that idea at all. Kids were definitely a no-go zone for her, she could barely handle being an aunt to little Gabby let alone being trapped at sea with hordes of them. "See, I bet you can't even read my thoughts right now," she raised an eyebrow, playing along because she thought that whole Lisbon coven thing was kind of cool, honestly, in the same way she loved being a Coyote. Some people may not have wanted to be on a pedestal but she loved being so out of reach and shrouded in tall tales. Mind you, her tall tales were more true tales if her multiple stints at anger management were anything to go by. "That's sweet of you, and I'll vouch for it. You can always come back to your comfort zone, you know? Mm, busy working mostly. My boyfriend was working abroad for a while and I did visit but I don't know if it's considered a holiday if all I saw was my hotel room... if you catch my drift... Well, Lisbon, if your sisters don't get their shit together come find me, yeah?"

"Like at that point i'd rather go to one of those theme park resorts. At least then we can go about our day on our own terms and I don't run the risk of ending up on someone's tiktok running the pier to not be left behind." Nova sighed, but had the sudden thought that maybe she needed to lower her standards a bit. It honestly didn't matter what they did or where they went, as long as her sisters were together and happy, that was enough for her. "Sure I can, for a price. Witch school didn't come free you know." As much as the whole Lisbon coven thing was kind of a joke to her it did also feel like a shield, as long as the stories kept going then no one could pin down specific truths. "Stills sounds better than being stuck at work. Though your work sounds so much more eventful than being stuck behind a desk all day. I'm trying to drag my boyfriend out of here with me. But we're together a lot so maybe I should give him some time to miss me." She nodded. "I'll keep you updated. But whether I do or don't you should still get out of here. Even if it's just a weekend. What is the point of working so much if you don't get to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Treat yourself more often. We might not get many moments to do it once more responsibilities start piling up on us."

"If I'm not there and someone is trying to share their door with you I'm swimming up like jaws then you'll have that door all to yourself because that dude wouldn't require it anymore." He shrugged, "I don't know, does my zombie girlfriend try to eat me like in a bad way? Eh, we'll just have to work on love bites vs. hunger bites." Benitez had maybe on accident agreed to something he hadn't meant to judging by the look on Nova's face, "Yeah, let's do both. I'm gonna call the private jet and tell them to get here at once. We're on a time limit people!"

Nova pursed her lips as she pretended to weigh her options. "Maybe just a nibble or two." She leaned in to playfully nip at his jaw. "It's only fair considering how you like to mark your territory." She gestured to a hickey on her collarbone that was just showing signs of fading. "I just want it on record that if you needed to eat me to survive for some reason I would let you." She shrugged. "Great. Let them know we might have to make a pit stop at the private island, all my good summer outfits are at the villa." She rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, content with their banter. How even if he thought her ideas were ridiculous he humored her. He was a realist and she was a dreamer, they balanced each other out in that sense. "I don't mean we have to do it all now, obviously. Venice beach sounds doable. And we could do Thailand down the line when one of us hits it big. I really just wanna get some time away, from here and the responsibilities and stress, but with you." She rested her chin on his shoulder so she could relax into him but still keep an eye on his face. "I would invite you on the Lisbon trip since you're an honorary member by now. But you know you're gonna be outnumbered the whole time. Or not. You'd probably sway Cecily to your side."

"If all eighteen of you can't come up with anything better than being stuck on a cruise ship with a bunch of swingers... Girl..." Not that Rhiannon had any skin in the Lisbon game, but she wasn't stupid, she knew who they all were. Vacation plans though, she could get down with. "Honestly I haven't been on vacation for a minute so I wouldn't know the trending destinations but I guess it depends what you're after. I'd go for unlimited cocktails on a beach and the kind of massage that feels like a hard spiritual reset, you know?"

"The swingers are the least of my concerns. I'm more concerned about all the kids with sticky fingers and wet coughs running around, touching everything and knocking me out with disease all summer because their parents would rather leave them with their ipads then watch them." Nova sighed disappointedly. "I guess this is why we were warned from straying from the coven. We start forming our own thoughts and the hive mind weakens." She flashed a smirk and winked at Rhiannon. The lore behind the Lisbons had always been ridiculous to her but it amused her enough to play along and see just how much more convoluted the stories became. "I'm just looking to get my sisters out of their normal routines. Up until a few years ago we were kinda homebodies. So anywhere we can broaden our horizons is good. How come you haven't gone on vacation? You seem to have a pretty concrete idea on your ideal vacation. Maybe it's something you've been lowkey needing."

"You're never gonna catch me on a cruise ship ever in life, fuck that. Benitez took a pull from Nova's milkshake straw. "Who says there's so little time? You act like you're 88 years old or something. I don't know if I was picking a place I don't know if I'd go out of the country maybe something like Venice beach or something. I've always wanted to see that, but if I had to choose somewhere outside of the country then I always liked the sound of Thailand."

"Hell no. I've seen Titanic enough times to know better than to see ships as a trustworthy mode of transportation. And if you're not there with me I don't trust that anyone's sharing their door as a life raft with me." She slid the milkshake his way, opting instead to take his hand now that she had a free one. "Or what if there's some zombie outbreak. What are you gonna do with a zombified girlfriend?" Nova narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose at him, knowing he would fair fine without her but not wanting him to even envision it. "Yeah, well, I always thought cruises were more for old people trying to check off destinations from their checklists before they were sent to retirement homes. So maybe the Lisbons have hit hag status. Unfortunately I do have to be back in time to start the last year of my classes so there are actual time limits." She sat up more attentive at his suggestions, obviously excited to hear his ideas. "Okay perfect. Let's do them both."

"Hmmm..." Marina still didn't think there was a point in the thought exercise, for her it was a so what if there were versions of her that lived a softer life and a harder life and the only difference is if she'd made a different choice. That just seemed cosmically unfair to Marina, but she wasn't interested in discouraging Nova, seeing value in the way her little sister saw the world as opposed to herself who'd closed off parts of it for her own sanity's sake - uniformity in thoughts of otherwise wasn't a requirement or desire for their bond.

"Just hypotheticals. I'm not longing for some life I never go to live. Unless there's a version of me out there that was born a nepo baby, who got every opportunity just handed to her and came out with like a skin or makeup brand. That sounds pretty cool." She tossed such a ridiculous idea out there to ease Marina's peace of mind, to show that Nova wasn't suddenly going through some emotional crisis. "As long as I got to keep my sisters anyways. I wouldn't choose any life where I don't have you guys by my side."

"Not funny. Why do you think it's something you're overthinking. We're in charge of what we do with our lives now, Nova. That was the whole point of...everything." Marina couldn't pretend that she hadn't had her philosophical moments, but for her at least those moments came when she wasn't in the greatest of headspaces, so she wanted to make sure that wasn't the case for Nova, "I do not. I did enough wondering inside of that house. Now I don't focus on what ifs, I find them useless." Recognizing she had a slight edge to her words, Marina took a beat internally, resolved to soften for her sister's sake, "Plus all of that butterfly effect stuff is just a lot, how do you parse through infinite possibilities?"

"Not any reason in particular. I guess when it got brought up I just started thinking if there was another Nova somewhere out there that I hope she got to live a softer, quieter life. That's all." She shrugged, not really seeing an issue with dwelling on the past. But this was where the two had always bumped heads, with how they dealt with their past and their trauma. Marina preferred to move forward and not dwell on things she couldn't change while Nova liked to dig to the root of the issue, sometimes too curious for her own good. "I don't regret any of my choices or where i'm at now. I'm pretty happy with where i'm at actually. I think there's just a novelty to thinking of other versions of you that could have been. Like there might be a Nova out there that may have actually become a mom and that's a wild concept. I can barely take care of myself most days." She said with a laugh, not taking Marina's words to heart. It had been an issue in the past considering how much she wanted to be liked by everyone, especially her sisters. But she had come to the conclusion that the two of them would probably never see eye to eye and that was okay. At the very least she didn't completely shut her down and that was progress in itself. "Yeah, you're right. You start to throw actual science into it and it hurts my head too much."

"Girl, are you high?" Was Marina's knee jerk response to her sister who after co-existing in relative and comfortable silence with her sister for who knows how long said that. Still, if Nova was asking, Marina was going to answer, "I have never thought about a different life in another universe, but I absolutely think the choices we make inform our lives. Pre-determination seems like bullshit to me."

"I wish. Maybe if I was I wouldn't be overthinking the question. It was just something that someone brought up in the support group and it's been in the back of my mind since." She stuck her tongue out at her sister, who was of course giving her shit for having her head in the clouds again. What she didn't expect was that the older Lisbon would actually humor her with a proper answer. Nova nodded at her response, practical as ever. But she respected that she was unwavering in her views. "Fair enough. Don't you ever wonder how different things would have turned out if you had made other choices though? Maybe something as simple as a haircut could have prevented you from becoming a millionaire for all you know."

"I mean you can always start a fight wherever you are," Amory suggested as he took off the hat he had been trying on. He was already pretty much done with his holiday shopping but there was time to kill and a few things he had wanted to get for himself. "But I mean yeah, that's the never ending stench of capitalism for you, so best you get is something new and immediate buyer's regret," he joked and pointed at the clearance section. "I looked there earlier and they tried to make a $70 item seem like it was a sale."

"Doesn't sound like such a bad idea right about now. People have no decorum now a days. I deadass saw someone shove a little kid to get their hands on a Hello Kitty plushie. It wasn't even the last one or anything. I believe some people just genuinely like watching people suffer." She shook her head before getting back on task, glancing at some scarves she was thinking about buying for some members of her family. "I just have so much family to buy gifts for. Too much, actually. I'm starting to consider having a fight with a few just long enough to cut them off for Christmas to cut some corners." She joked, mostly, though the thought did sound somewhat appealing when she remembered how many more stores she would have to hit up. "Well, until we find a way to take down capitalism, it's looking like everyone might just get ramen for Christmas." She shrugged. "Did you get all your shopping done?"