you are magic ☾ ⋆*

"for a drink," imogen raised a brow at the other. "I think I did hate you at the start," she paused, turning to face vi. "your mother played a big part in getting most of the people I loved and cared about killed, but that wasn't your fault, but eventually you grew on me," they smiled. "come on, let's go get drunk and annoy your husband,"

"sorry, i'm just still not used to us being friends." violet couldn't fight the awkwardness she was feeling, looking back at imogen for a few moments as she explained. "no, i get it.. my mother wasn't exactly a hero to any of you. i'm sorry for what happened though, for my family's part in it." she added. "please, that i'm definitely not used to yet. being married to xaden of all people."

andarna's  brows  furrowed  as  she  looked  at  the  other.  her  would-be  rider.  her…  friend.  “why  do  you  look  confused?”  she  questioned.  she  didn't  realise  that  violet's  memories  were  scrambled  as  such.  “you  know  about  that.  you…  you  have  used  it.  i  have  seen  it.”  none  of  this  made  sense.  “why  are  you  speaking  as  though  you  don't  know,  violet?”  concern  washed  through  her  as  she  slowly  took  a  few  steps  closer  towards  the  other.  “what  is  happening  to  you?  do  you  have  problems  with  your  head?”

"i can explain.. kind of? i can try to explain." she didn't have much information, but seeing the concern in andarna definitely causes violet some more discomfort than she would have figured.. "technically, yes? xaden told me i'm missing a few years of memories.. we aren't sure what happened. one minute i went to bed myself, the one everyone else seems to know better than i do.. next thing i know i'm waking up in this city, next to him, but the last thing i remember is a few weeks before threshing." she pauses to let andarna absorb that bit of information. "i don't remember anything that happened after."

"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,"

"you're being hyperbolic." there was no way things with xaden were that intense, were they? sure, okay, they had clearly not been together all that long and had already gotten married, and he trusted her enough to rule his territory in his absence.. but still. "if anyone can find something through researching, it's jes. more so than me, even." her friend was probably one of the most skilled scribes she had ever met. "i'll just have to remember being iron squad."

"so, how are we handling the pack being alive and kicking again? and if you say anything along of the lines of 'i'm fine', i'll beat your ass." she adds on immediately, knowing how danika tends to compartmentalize everything rather than actually talking about it. they're both doing better with that, but she's got to be sure.

"i'm fine." it's said really before bryce finishes the question, a knee jerk reaction. it wasn't as if they wanted to talk much about it. not with connor having no memories, and just looking at zelda was a haunting reminder of what she'd done.. "really, bryce. i'm okay. i'd rather they all be here than just a few of them, or that connor wasn't stuck with fake memories. but i'm glad to have at least some of them."

dropping the body, bela sheathes the dagger against her thigh before turning and smiling at the observer. "don't judge, a girl's got to eat, doesn't she?" though she's already eyeing the other with interest, something clearly nonhuman about the redhead that she can't place.

victoria raises an eyebrow at the weapon more than the dead body, surprised to see someone eating in the same way as her, but needing a knife to do so? that was enough for her to pause. "i'm not judging, love, trust me. though, i'm confused why you don't just use your teeth or something.. a knife feels so.. impersonal."

"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?"

"i can't believe i didn't know, i've been here for so long now." kaya had at least gotten somewhat comfortable in the city, maybe she could at least help their friends settle in too. "i know. i get it." they paused, nodding along to the story. "i'm so sorry.." knowing that yet another friend hadn't lived? kaya wanted to cry. how could this happen to all of them. "i didn't." they said after a moment.. "i had made it to the temple before they told us it was a fake distress signal.. i was trying to find alek.. i had barely made it inside before i was surrounded."

"you're having either the oatiest oatmeal, or the worst oatmilk. definitely don't give me anything made with that oat milk." marley snorted, not wanting to find out what the hell he was doing wrong with oatmilk to make it taste like that. they were happier living in the mystery. "i dunno, maybe you're incredibly nosy and keep track of all the new people for the drama." she shrugged. "i just moved nearby, figured i'd see what coffee places were around."

"is this your way of checking on me?" hunt really only had what he'd gathered from her files and everything bryce had told him. but getting to know danika on her own was an entirely different thing. he knew her in terms of the bigger picture but the smaller things weren't entirely something he was familiar with yet. and he had a feeling it might've been bryce or bax to coax her into talking with him.

"you'll get used to it. i love to just pop in on people." danika was good at figuring out where people were and when, and if her own schedule was free enough, she was known to stop by. "i just wanted to see how things were going with you and bax? i assume they filled you in on the whole mate situation between us, so you know.. gotta make sure he's making friends again with my best friend's mate."

oh, he was absolutely going to make her pull fucking rank.. "connor, seriously, knock it off." it wasn't exactly said with anything more than annoyance towards a friend. if he keeps it up though, her own tone would shift, eyebrow raising at hearing his voice change just enough. "connor holstrom, sound like a familiar name? maybe check your id. might look similar."

"funny. howl also said we were stuck here." while megan tried to play it off, she was also unsettled by the whole thing. the last thing she wanted to believe was that they were just stuck here. "how have you been doing?"

"they would be right.. we can't really leave. we've tried." sophie wasn't sure how much howl had filled megan in on the whole magic existence, but they weren't exactly comfortable being the one to explain it themself. "i'm good, i have a flower shop here that is doing pretty well. howl has his magic shop. we've settled in as best we can."

she laughs at the immediate excitement across the others face, and moves forward to meet her halfway, hugging the other tightly. it had been a weird few weeks getting used to this place, and from what angel had said, it had been longer for some of them than others. “sorry it took me a little longer, but i’m here now. you’re gonna have to fill me in on what the fuck i’ve missed, though.

"i missed you so much." charlie said as she pulled the other tighter against her, letting her shoulders sag just a bit more as she relaxed, leaning down even further to rest her head in vaggi's shoulder. "it's nothing good, actually. so, can i just have two seconds to be happy you're here before we get into everything."

"charlie, i don't have a fucking home. i have places that i stay until they don't work anymore or something better comes around." in this case it was the former, which just made him feel shittier. "i've got a rent free place at the vee tower too, and there's usually free drugs lying around there too." and honestly the fact that he was back to doing serious drugs felt like the least of his concerns. "i'm not just gonna sit in here holding hands when it's not like i can be redeemed anyway, and to top it all off i'm potentially spying on you the whole fucking time."

"i thought we were your home." charlie can't help the defeated tone in her voice, having always had it in her mind, maybe falsely so, that her friends in the hotel were her family. that the hotel had become a home for all of them, as much as it was for herself. especially angel. he had been with them for longer than anyone else. her closest friend, that wasn't just her girlfriend. "vee tower? you're.. you're not actually living with the vee's over your friends?" something had to be seriously wrong. something that he wasn't telling them. "of course you can be redeemed-- sorry pause, go back.. what do you mean spying?"

leia can't help the huff that leaves her lips as they barely brush against his lips, setting back down on her feet. "and i thought you wanted an excuse to skip." she pointed out, though, she knew he was right. they only had so much time before they needed to really be leaving, as much as she was considering skipping all together now.

she wants to continue to ask the other woman questions, but she can sense the other's sincerity through that far too strong connection, to the point where there's no doubt in her mind that leia is telling her the truth to the best of her ability. so she lets it drop, focusing in on who her and her twin's parents were instead, though she already has some suspicions, based simply on how familiar the other's presence in the force is. and then leia confirms it, and ahsoka's expression twists. "karking hell, your mother was padme amidala, wasn't she?" because that's easier to focus on, that confirmation that they really had been together the entire time, than to have to think about her father leading the clones to kill their people because palpatine had manipulated him under all of their noses. "so palpatine was the sith lord? the entire time, it was kriffing palpatine playing both sides?"

at least it seemed like ahsoka believed her enough that she didn't need to keep proving herself. it made this whole conversation that much easier, if there was at least some trust between them. having to tell ahsoka what happened to her father figure, of the history she once knew but now had forgotten? it wasn't easy. the sudden realization of who her birth parents were definitely lighten the mood for a split second, nodding at the question. "she was, yes." she was certain that ahsoka must've guessed that relationship was something that was happening a lot time ago, so the confirmation couldn't have been entirely surprising. "he was planning the destruction of the jedi under your noses the entire time, and he used vader to finish that plan off."

"I know, but I can't help but feel guilty that everything was ripped away before it even began," padme knew realistically the blame didn't fall on her, but she couldn't stop the guilt of knowing her children grew up away from one another. padme could feel tears forming in her eyes. "and that's all I could have ever hoped for, that you were loved and cared for," bail had been one of her oldest friends and if there was anyone who could have done it, it would have been him and breha. "I hate that you were separated, but I know that it was for the best," she sighed. "I wish things were different, that we could have all been together," and she would have gotten the chance to be a mother. padme would probably never get that - both of her children were grown now. her brow furrowed slightly at the switch in leia's tone. "would you tell me what happened? after I died?" she asked. padme was angry with anakin in her own right after everything that had happened. but she had a feeling that things weren't good. especially not with how leia had spoken about anakin. "I'm sorry for anything that happened to you leia, you didn't deserve whatever it was,"

"luke and i never blamed you. not before we knew better, nor after. it was never something you did." she hadn't known her birth mother, having nothing but a feeling left within the force from when she was born.. and stories from her father. but whatever feelings she had towards her birth family, none of it was really directed towards padme. not with how highly her father had spoken about her. "i wish we could have known each other in some way. but it was safest. i wish we met under better circumstances for the first time as well.." meeting her brother inside a prison cell, and not even learning about their relationship until years later? she was sure that was never how their reunion was meant to go.. but there was no changing their history. leia paused at the question, staring at padme for a moment. "are you certain you want to know? it does not exactly paint your husband in a good light."

"i don't know, you only started liking me again when the twins came around. maybe this is all just a scheme to get the grandkids." but there's no genuine accusation there, that anxiety that came with interacting with her mother in law so far in the past that she barely remembered what it had felt like. "so you're just further proving my point that you know better. i'm not at all shocked that ben was the worst in terms of insanity, actually, considering i'm pretty sure that still holds true."

"they were definitely a pretty good bonus.. but i guess you weren't too bad either. they have a lot of you in them." she teased. she knew that things were.. good now, between herself and ari.. even when it didn't seem like it would ever be possible. "he definitely gives his siblings a run for their money. anakin was a close second, though. being the youngest for as long as he was." the age gap now was definitely an adjustment. "has ben been training them at all?"

"your brother is most certainly weak. he couldn't defeat me without your father's help. if he'd given in, maybe he could have done more. maybe he wouldn't have driven your son right into my employ if he'd been stronger." sheev chuckles a bit, knowing that kylo ran had been driven to the dark by luke's actions more than anything he ever could have done. the skywalkers were all weak in their own way, it was why he always came out on top, despite their constant attempts to completely destroy him. "i don't hate him, princess. i don't respect him enough for that. he's far too pathetic to earn the amount of emotion that hate requires." but he's certain that that will end up under leia's skin, and that's what he really wants out of these little chats with her. "i disagree. we both were sired by men we don't claim, but who made us into who we are. we clearly are quite similar, considering how we ended up in this little partnership. you and i are quite alike, princess. the only true difference is that you're too weak to take the power that could make you something close to my equal."

"not falling to the dark side doesn't make my brother weak. he was strong enough to not need your mentorship." he had been stronger than she ever could be, to avoid that temptation, despite how loud it could be. "ben's choices were not luke's alone." she wouldn't blame her brother for the things ben did, not entirely. she carried more of that blame than she should, knowing that it was her family's curse that pushed ben to that path in the first place. "my brother is far from pathetic." she snaps, knowing that sheev was only doing this to simply get under her skin, and stars was it working. as much as she wished it wasn't.. she couldn't deny how easily he needled her. "keeping myself from becoming your equal, does not make me weak. i do not want to be like my father, so why would i allow you to teach me anything about power?"