A Mess

LOCATION: Fates’ ; OPENED to anyone ; @senatusstarters​

          THE SKY WAS DARK in Rome and today was a long day. Some Initiates stirred up trouble with a misused spell and with the only person of authority available, Nicholas was summoned to make sure they wouldn’t make a mess both for themselves and the coven. There are perks to living one street away from his favorite bar ( more like, favorite black market for all things ancient ), but after recent chaotic events the last of his thoughts were getting intoxicated. Nicholas ordered his usual: a double whiskey and a glass of water with lemon. As he reflected upon the days left behind he decided not to ponder over his fellow Sovereign’s new friends and their army of dead; but instead enjoy himself.

          “What are you drinking tonight?“ he inquired, an unusual warmth in his voice. “I have an occasion to celebrate so just name it.”

__

It appeared as though Val was doing everything in his power to avoid going to the Lycan bar he used to frequent and instead found himself at Fates, probably one of the more distinguished bars in the city and one where a Lycan might stand out like a sore thumb. But alas, there he was perched at the counter silently staring down the bartender who was blatantly trying to ignore him. So, when someone came in from outside; still fresh scent of the cold night on his shoulders, asked what he was drinking - the lycan was taken back. Shifting eyes between the new stranger and the dickhead behind the counter. “Whiskey, straight.” he didn’t particularly like the taste of whiskey without some kind of chaser or addition to it - but it got him drunk the fastest. It wasn’t cheap getting inebriated as a wolf but hell if this guy was paying. “What are you celebrating?” blue eyes shooting up and down his person trying to get a grasp on who this guy was and what his deal was. Maybe he could shmooze him into buying the rest of his drinks.

@senatusstarters​

The ominous feeling that something was going to happen kept following Agisa and she couldn’t help but wonder what it was exactly that kept making her think so. She had spent so much of her life in fear that something bad would happen she just assumed it would be something she’d get used to - yet here she was, still worrying. With the fact that there were other supernatural creatures, ones she had yet to even dream of, she found herself trying to keep calm and composed. 

Placing her bag on bench, she decided to people watch in hopes it would calm her down. The day was somewhat calm, the breeze peaceful, and she closed her eyes, trying to take everything in. That was until she felt a thud and looked over at the person besides her. “Graceful,” she joked, “you alright?”

++

Valeri hadn’t gotten out much since the Halloween party, for one he got drunk beyond belief, and because of the events afterwards. Without his rock Anton he felt a little lost. Nothing a walk and fresh air can’t fix, right? That was how his feet lead him down unfamiliar paths, and more paths...and a couple walkways - and suddenly he had no idea where he was. Since he was a Tiber Lycan he normally just stuck around their anointed area, but hell. He’d gotten himself lost. Plopping down on the closest bench, one side currently occupied - he must’ve let out pretty audible huff as he sat as the stranger made a comment on it. “Graceful is my middle name,” flashing a smile back at her before fishing his phone out of his pocket. “I reckon I’ll be alright - just a little turned around is all.” pulling up the google maps app, he hesitated - realizing now he didn’t know the address to where he was living. Clearing is throat he looked back to the girl, “nice day for a walk huh? what are you doing, just watching people?”

It’s not something he’s expecting, he’s busy thinking about tips and how stocked the fridge under the bar is on top of really wanting a smoke but all of that goes out the window when Val reaches out for him. It takes a second to really permeate, the growl, the words, and then Anton’s raising a brow and drawing himself up to his full height before glancing around. Enzo’s in the back, the few stragglers are packing up and moving out. Val’s been patient, it’s Friday, and yet….”Aw c’mon babygirl, you’re gonna start that here?” The pouting is fake, replaced quickly with a grin as he takes a chance to lean in and press his lips to the side of Val’s face and then he’s stepping away nonchalantly to wipe down the bar. “If you aren’t leaving here without me you’re going to sit and be patient. Because if I fuck something up, we’re here longer.” It’s authoritative but casual enough to not be an outright order. The hand that guides Val is firm but it’s gentle, he allows for some wiggle room, some expected acting out. “You good?” He pauses, looks up from the bar top to bright blues, brows still slightly raised in both question and a bit of a challenge. Wiggle room, the rest of the night is up to Val. 

++

The attentive and sultry way the words ‘baby girl’ rolled so casually off Anton’s tongue was like a snipe to every thought going on in the young Lycan’s head. Like all the wind had been knocked out of him, dumb founded and unable to pull together a coherent thought. Especially as Anton kissed his cheek, leaving Val breathing in the lingering scent of his aftershave. His heart raced and he felt those damned butterflies build up in his tummy as his partner continued to wipe down the bar counter as though nothing happened. His face felt hot. “Cheeky asshole.” was the only thing he could mutter out, as he waited for the blood to rush back out of his crotch so he could think clearly. He listened though, as well as he could - Anton was right, and he didn’t think he had it in him to wait around even longer if they had to stick around to fix a mistake. Turning his head around to look at the couple strangers still remaining, no doubt Tiber mates taking advantage of the pubs kindness to keeping them around after hours. “I’m good - I’ll be good.” Leaning his elbows on the counter and staring down those deep eyes that made his heart skip another beat, “you owe me.” 

+

Jaspers’ breath held when Val dropped into the seat beside him. Effie gripped the armrests as an ovular window burst open at high altitude, tanking the pressure and sucking all the air out of the cabin as yellow-muzzled bags and screams and square beverage napkins whipped around. Jas put on a breathy laugh in reply. “Don’t worry, no one’s gonna be looking at you, mate.” The dead man said, his palm sweating on the passenger headrest to maneuver out of the compact parking spot. 

The text slipped by without mention, and the built tension slowly seeped away. They tore out of the parking lot and onto a tree-lined road, where Jas slowly sunk his foot down on the gas. The purr of the engine all at once translated into a hum of foreboding that crept in to seize his joints. Jas ignored it.

The terror had nearly patched together Jasper’s unshakable wall of conventions and quips when a wrench was thrown in the mix, in the form of a little box in Val’s pocket. A flare of defensiveness ignited at the sound of jostling in the middle console, and a beat later Jasper put two and two together. “Hey, no no no,” Jas barked, snipping the cigarette out of his friend’s mouth between his middle and forefinger. The terror spared a sharp glance from the road at his friend, gesturing around the interior of the car with the smoke and adopting a lecturing tone. “This ol’ dame soaks up worse than my old man before mass, and the upholstery’s worth about a decade in tithings, alright? So just pin your devious, sodomizing, delinquent ways at the door until we get there.” Jas deadpanned, reaching for the sun visor at the next red light. He passed the drive in tickets, along with the unlit cigarette, over to Val.

“Prepare to feast your senses on the best vintage splatter mayhem this town has to offer,” He beamed.

++

Valeri didn’t have time to react as the cigarette was snatched from his mouth like a scolded toddler with something it shouldn’t have. Watching his old friend’s face contort from his usual carefree lopsided grin to a hardline and furrowed eyebrows. The wolf half expected to be yelled at, but instead got a lecture. Not sure which was worse. “Sorry sorry sorry,” the relaxed smile replaced the shocked slacked mouth he wore previously. Smacking Jasper lightly on the chest with the back of his hand, as he twisted back in his seat to look out the window, “Jesus my bad, man. I forgot how anal you got with your cars.” laughter hanging off his words. Taking back the cigarette, he tucked it behind his ear as he spread out the drive-in tickets to read out the event they were headed towards. 

There was a smile, genuine and warm that washed over his features, “No fuckin’ way you got these tickets.” reading them over as if he had the ability to tell if they were fake or not. “I didn’t even know we had a drive-in around here. This is dope, dude.” grinning brightly back to his friend. There was a moment where he thought he should bring up the whole ‘you died’ thing. It was strange, to see his old friend full of life and more or less exactly the same as he was before the accident.  There was a couple stuff he knew about the supernatural world, but it mostly topped off at lycans, vampires, and witches. Anything deeper than that and it was a totally different ball park. Deciding against ruining the mood with a ‘so you died’ conversation. He safely put the tickets back from where they had been retrieved from. “How have you been, man.” it was a simple question, hopefully not triggering enough to make Jasper have a panic attack mid drive and drive both of them straight back into the grave. “Are you, I don’t know. Coping?”

“The better to call me with,” she jokes lightly, and then shrugs. “Omaira is a bit of a mouthful, so I give people the option of nicknames so that they don’t have to struggle every time, you know?”

It had taken her a couple of times to realize the fact, but really, it is much easier to offer the nicknames for people. And it’s a good excuse for when she forgets to react to one of her nicknames. Still, she does realize that she complicated things for herself by choosing to follow the stupid “names have power” rule, but at this point it’s been to long to change how she introduced to strangers. She had gotten used to it.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to learn the name of my running buddy,” she tells him earnestly as she pulls back her hand and glances to the sky thoughtfully. “I run a bakery, actually. You might have heard of it? The name is Canal Cakes,” she says and turns to gesture to the direction they are coming from. “It’s somewhere in that direction, near the river.”

“A delivery boy?” She asks, interested in learning more of Val. “That sounds pretty interesting, actually. Do you meet any interesting people in your deliveries?”

++

“Oh, Oh shit no way you own Canel Cakes? That’s wild, I used to go there all the time.” A bright grin crossed his features at the familiarity, pinching the front of his shirt and using it to wipe sweat from the heat/run from his forehead. If there was one thing he noticed about becoming a Lycan was that he got hot a lot faster than he used too - after this he would no doubt jump into the river to cool off. “It’s pretty close, huh? Maybe I’ll drop by sometime and you can give me a sick deal or something.” A playful jest but, he was sure Lain and Anton would enjoy him bringing home some treats from time to time. 

Val holds back a laugh that turns into a snort, “It’s not that interesting, trust me,” grinning back as a hand went through his hair again to push it back, looking off towards the river before letting his gaze fall back down to his new friend. “Really I find more interesting people at the bars or clubs.” unsure if he should mention that the city was literally crawling with supernatural creatures every place you’d look. It was more likely you would bump into a vampire or lycan than an actual human. Again, he looked her up and down - she seemed human enough - she didn’t smell strange or act strange. “I don’t like, deliver pizza or whatever if that’s what you’re thinking. I deliver whatever people need or want from stores and stuff. So most of the people are just old and can’t get out by themselves. Though… I guess they can be weird. A lot of grandmas objectify me but it’s fine. I don’t mind.”

Lain could not recall why exactly he was currently letting himself into Anton’s apartment, stress and lack of sleep were really starting to fuck with his memory. So many hours of the day were blacked out, his body running on autopilot until he would spontaneously snap out his dissociation. He startled when Val came running around the corner, but quickly recovered. “Jeez, is this how you act every time Anton comes home?”  The disappointment in Val’s voice was palpable, of course it hurt but Lain kept his reaction to it subtle. Although he couldn’t really fault Val for having his expectations crushed when he was expecting someone else to walk through that door, the feeling was mutual. He wanted so badly to retreat back to his own place, curl up in a dark corner like a wounded animal, but he remembered the importance of maintaining relationships that his therapist had stressed to him. So he forced himself to stay, ignoring the sick feeling he got when he remembered his most recent breakdown that Anton and Val had to witness. 

"Sure,” Lain replied, following Val into the living room, starting to relax a little as he took in familiar surroundings. “Here, I got some new shit you should try,” He produced a pill bottle from his pocket, a couple of nugs crammed inside the orange vessel. He handed it off to Val before reaching for the remote to turn the TV on. “What kind of garbage are you watching these days?” He teased, flopping down on the couch. 

++

Without Anton there with them to mediate, Val really wasn’t sure how the night would go should Lain stay at the apartment instead of heading back to his own. There were times (sober times) where Valeri absolutely couldn’t stand Lain. The hurt from being led on and lied to for so long was still present; however it was easier to push that anger down when he was distracted with something else like booze or sex. Right now though, things felt - calm? If he had to put a word to it. After the faerie massacre that traumatized the group of wolves, Val didn’t want to fight Lain. Or at least, he wouldn’t be starting the fights anytime soon (we’ll see about that.) “What the hell are you talking about? Is this how you act every time you waltz in here uninvited?” he sneered back, heading back to the living room where he watched Lain retrieve a bottle from his pocket. Val took it tentatively. “This isn’t going to fuck me up is it?” If there was one thing Val didn’t trust, it was Lain’s taste in drugs.

Grabbing his grinder he sat down on the floor, putting the strange new nuggets in and crushing them up. Looking up from what he was doing his gaze flickered from the t.v back to the wolf on the couch. “Stupid shit. Like cringe comps or those doc’s about people marrying weird things.” Leaning over to grab his bong and filling up the bowl with the ground up bits. “There’s nothing good to watch – I mean there is but I’m not committing myself to a tv show.” Standing up, the wolf took the first long pull until the chamber was smoking. Putting a flat hand over the top to keep the smoke from escaping he passed it off with some minor coughing. “Jesus. That smells strong.” covering his mouth again as he coughed some more, leaving to go open a window as he doubted Anton would want to come home to his place smelling like that.

Location: all fours It’s a Friday, it’s late, they’re close to closing time and as per usual, closing time and normally he wouldn’t care all that much. There’s always those few regulars, a few stragglers that are just hanging around waiting for cabs or their friend to get out of the bathroom, it just happens. The difference is that it’s Friday and Val got in maybe an hour ago, had perched himself at the end of the bar and they hadn’t even really gotten to talk. Anton had given him his usual and then had been promptly called back to the other end of the bar and it’d been that kind of back and forth all evening. But there was that look, the one that suggested they should get out of there as quickly as possible and he’s patient because he’s gotta be. And yet. “You want to get out of here or you want to wait?” It’s too casual a question as he wipes down the bar a couple inches from Val’s seat, gaze flickering to him over his shoulder. “Shouldn’t take too much longer.” @ouchval​

++

When Val had entered the bar he had been expecting it to be near empty, last call had to have been announced but there were still so many people nursing their brews. If there was one thing that Valeri was known for; it was not his patience. A leg bounced furiously on the ground, antsy and ready to go as the young wolf watched his partner finish up his shift. This was stupid - they’d practically pavlov-d him into having all this energy on Friday nights (especially), and here he was waiting like a trained dog to be given his treat. But. As Anton approaches him, whatever petty or irritated feelings he felt were pushed to the side. Albeit briefly, as that was not the thing he wanted to hear.

Leaning over, he grabbed Anton by the arm and pulled him closer, so that only he could hear the low growl that emitted from the back of the other wolfs throat. “If I keep waiting so patiently - will you let me do you this time?” god he didn’t want to keep waiting, it took everything in him not to yell at everyone to get the fuck out of there, and slam Anton against the wall. But he had to be good, “I'm not leaving here without you.”

Loud bass pulsed life into the club, flashing lights of reds and violets made the dancing crowd look like they were moving in slow motion. Val could smell the alcohol that runs off everyone’s breath, and the electricity in their smiles. No one can see the dance floor, it’s wall to wall with people dancing against one another, grinding and bumping with strangers with no care in the world. There’s seemingly no room for any more bodies, but as the Lycan makes his way onto the floor, drink in hand - space magically opens up for him. The nightclub was a heartbeat on loudspeaker, grinding against whatever body was closest, and being pulled further into the mass like it was a living thing trying to eat him whole.

It was only a matter of time before space no longer opened up for him, colliding with some force with someone else. Whatever liquid that had been in his cup now rested on the front attire of the victim he’d just smashed into. Impossible to simply speak over the thrumming music; Val leaned close to yell over the music closer to their ear. “I’m sorry! I can wash it out!” Now this person smelled entirely like beer, he couldn’t tell what species they were over everything else overwhelming his senses. motioning over to the washroom doors, “If you want.”

☾  - Valeri’s birthday is April 26th, which makes him a Taurus. He somewhat fits the stereotype, he’s not very hard working but he’s pretty fucking stubborn. A quick google search however, shows that the Romantic aspect to Taurus is very accurate to Valeri’s behaviour.  He wants sincere affection even from casual acquaintances, which helps to explain why his true friends are so devoted to them. In love, his feelings run deep; however, he is unlikely to become involved in a relationship that has too much emotional stress or is too demanding. 

☾ - His biggest fear, in a horror aspect would be, being buried alive. However, in a more realistic sense, it’s not hard to tell that his biggest fear is being abandoned or ostracized by his friends or people that he cares about.

           a gift for @ouchval​,

          “You’re Anton’s boyfriend, right?” Well, it wasn’t as if the other wolf had explicitly stated that was their relationship but Eric was no fool, catching on to the nuanced subtleties of how Anton seemed to sit up a bit straighter whenever he mentioned the wolf. And, well, they were just as animated as the other had described, Eric raising a brow in mild amusement. They were sure they were never mentioned in return, but he was awful at making any attempt to befriend the wolves of Rome and figured this was as innate a starting point as any. 

The question somewhat caught him off guard, not that it wasn’t true - but they never called each other that - or at least not to one another. Raising his eyebrows he gave the stranger Lycan a once over. It wasn’t uncommon for Anton to make friends, no doubt this must’ve been one of many. “Suppose I am,” the wolf grinned back, toothy and wide. Making good impressions was never his forte, but it seemed like Anton had sold him enough to this guy already to have him reaching out. “I’m Val - though you might already know that. Who the hell’re you? Can I get you a drink?”