Pain

Coraline had been standing outside on the balcony for a few minutes now. She was a little bored, even though she thought that was a little stupid since she was in an actual castle like from a fairytale or some shit like that. She should be trying to explore the off-limits areas, but instead she was stargazing. She felt like the stars had it so easy; they were high in the sky, doing them, looking down at everyone but not dealing with anyone. It sounded perfect. Her ghostface mask was on the floor next to her as she leaned forward to get a better look to gaze. She would have just done this all night had she not heard someone join her. “Hmm?” she asked, fully missing whatever was being said to her. “You should join me. The stars are extra bright tonight. Fitting, huh?”

“fitting why?” pierson asked, brow raised in mild confusion. he hadn’t expected anyone to be out here, and now being forced into small talk just made him even more anxious than he already had been all night. “what are you doing?” he asks, eyeing the scene before him. 

gogo: he's trying to make me talk about feelings so fuck you. mine's worse.

gogo: how the hell did you end up there?

pierson: fuck off there's no way it's worse. phoenix and barrel are both in their feelings and it's my worst nightmare.

gogo: help i'm stuck at fred's.

gogo: gonna need you to brave the storm and come get me. thanks 🖤

pierson: isn't that the rich kid?

@piersonpanice·

Hades held onto the back of Pierson’s shirt, dragging him along towards the outskirts of the festival. “Come along buddy. Chop chop,” he replied, taking longer steps to reach his destination. Pushing him back against the fence, patting his head head before he began to pace in front of him. “We aren’t seen as the nicest people around, are we?” 

“i mean, i guess not.” pierson shrugged, confused by the question and unsure if he even knew the right answer. most of his conversations with hades had him second guessing himself, say one wrong thing and hades lost it. big time. he hated when that happened. “do we want to be seen as nice?” he asks hesitantly. he had a brief moment of panic that he'd somehow found out about pierson's involvement with the lost boys fight. but that was impossible, no one had even known who he was. in fact, it seemed like barrel had taken the brunt of the blame for that one. he was fine. hopefully.

“that’d be stupid as fuck, but if they want another ass whoopin they know where to find me.”

with the news spreading of people disappearing, shock hadn’t been certain what exactly to make of it all. which was why she’d returned to the festival grounds to stroll around and try to gain any information she could on what was actually happening. lock hadn’t been any help so far, and really she hadn’t learned anything new yet either, when suddenly she’s being pulled into someone’s arms. instinctively she tenses before the familiar scent and voice tells her who it is and she instantly relaxes. grabbing ahold of his arms, she gives them a small squeeze as she picks up on the fact that something is obviously wrong in this moment. “we’re fine. confused, but here,” she answers, looking up at him as her stomach sinks with the realization that only one person going missing could have pierson this upset. “was it phoenix? where have you already looked?”

“everywhere.” he sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. “fucking everywhere. he went home with this girl last night. she says he just disappeared in thin air.” he laughed, though there was no humor behind it, only frustration and anger. “i checked out her apartment. there’s no sign of anything.” he sighed, leaning his head against hers as he allowed himself, for the first time since he’d heard about the disappearances, to breathe. “i should’ve been with him. he wasn’t even at the festival, i should’ve been looking out for him.”

“my apartment,” she answered, a spark of annoyance starting to show itself as he questioned her. as if he didn’t believe that phoenix had really just disappeared - like tink was making this up for shits and giggles right now. “i already searched it too. he’s not there anymore.”

“where is your apartment?” he asked, ignoring her assurance that she’d already checked. this was the only lead he had and he was going to exhaust it. either this girl was going to help him or she was going to get out of his way, those were the only two options, he wasn’t going to lose his brother. he couldn’t.

normally being addressed in such a way would be a surefire start to sparking tink’s infamous temper - but for once she doesn’t actually care. because she had been searching for pierson for the exact same reason. “you’re brother’s gone,” she blurted out, also not bothering with pleasantries or beating around the bush. she assumed that was what he wanted to know anyway. “i don’t know where. he was there one moment and then just disappeared the next.”

“where?” pierson had a hard time believing that his brother just vanished into thin air, but given what had already been happening on the island he couldn’t rule it out either. he wanted there to be another explanation, something with a face that he could punch, some way that he could get his brother back. but a magical disappearing act made that difficult and therefore more frustrating for the eldest panice. “where were you when he disappeared.”

letting herself be dragged closer, shock let out a huff of a laugh. “i suppose a good murder hunt sweat would look good on you,” she gives him as a smirk twists on her lips. “oh, it absolutely should. my intentions are far from pure here.”

“oh i know all about your intentions. and i love them.” he returns her smirk with one of his own. taking her hand in his, he spun her around, twisting his arm over shoulders. “so, m’lady, where’s are first victim?”

“Sure it does,” Phoenix replied with a laugh, taking a sip of his own drink as his brother did the same. He knew Pierson would get pressed by him not understanding his costume, which was exactly why he wanted to mess with him. “I know, I know, I’m just fucking with you, man. You and Shock look great,” he admitted with a smile, putting a hand on his shoulder as he got sappy for a moment. “I just wanna say … I’m happy that you’re happy, bro. You deserve it.”

Pierson fought the smile that curved his lips, but ultimately lost the battle. “Thanks, kid. Are you happy?” He asked, curiously. He was happy, admittedly, in his current situation, but none of that mattered if his brother wasn’t as well. He knew he hadn’t always been the best brother to Phoenix, but he always cared more about his well being than his own.

Phoenix laughed as he listened to his brother practically insult him and compliment him at the same time. It was definitely much funnier to him than it would be to any sober person, considering the amount of alcohol he’d already consumed for the night. “Wow, that’s the best compliment you can come up with for your own brother? You know, to be fair, I-I barely even know what you’re supposed to be.”

“You got a hot bride. Does that count?” He laughed, dropping his arm and taking a swig of the drink in his hand. “Bruh, really? I’m only the best character from Ready or Not. What sort of heathen are you?” He continued to tease, he was always fairly lighthearted, but the alcohol in his system only made it easier.