devil's nightmare

Azar gave a wry smile. “The dark is the best place to be. A lot can be accomplished there.” 

alternatively send ‘ + ‘ after the symbol for the roles to be reversed where possible !

Walking through the woods, EJ found, calmed her down more often than not when she found that she she just needed some time to herself. However, she also discovered rather quickly that getting out of the woods was harder than she had originally anticipated. This time, walking on her way out to the woods, she had seen someone else. Typically on her walks there was no one around, but in her attempts to turn back around, EJ managed to snap a very large twig underfoot, causing her to wince at the misfortune.

Piper watched as EJ’s face fell and winced. “Indeed” she spoke softly though wished to not speak at all. She had no excuse and anything she told EJ would make her sound more insane than usual. She had the sudden flashback to the times Piper had been so cruel to her for leaving before and shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head. “I-” Piper started put closed her mouth again, anything she would say at this point couldn’t help her case. She was a dead man. 

“Oh, sorry to hear your not here for more leisurely purposes. I guess no ones able to come back without some baggage.” Piper seemed to be a bit flustered but Stephen wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the caffeine. “Sure” he responded with a smile to the coffee. “Initially i lef for school, and who said Delaney didnt go out for my head?” Apparently Piper hadn’t been there for the breakup theatrics. 

Piper snorted and rolled her eyes, “You and I didn’t have time to become that close, granted that was also Delaney’s fault..” she trailed off and laughed, “..but I don’t wish to be involved in Delaney’s relationship issues. She had far too many of them.. There are too many things going on for me to be sucked back into high school drama” she shrugged and stared at him, hoping he hadn’t been offended, “Though, you’re back now, is there any telling if the two of you would get back together?” she asked as she slightly cleared her throat, knowing the answer she was hoping for but preparing for the one she would more than likely get. 

“I’m almost afraid to ask. How have things been?” Azar remembered her last encounter with the younger woman and was hoping to avoid a repeat.

Piper laughed and shrugged, “I don’t know honestly, I got afraid and ran” she spoke truthfully. This was one of the only girls here that she trusted. “You and I are both in the dark as far as I’m concerned” 

He comes out of the treeline with his palms splayed; a universal gesture of ‘I come in peace’. He hadn’t meant to sneak up on her. He’d just been taking a shortcut home from a client’s place, enjoying the breeze of the day, the fact that it wasn’t bloody raining (one brill thing about not being in England anymore; the rain is one thing he really doesn’t miss), and he’d spotted the girl staring off into space only a few moments before she’d heard him. 

“Oh” Piper felt her face blush and she nodded slightly, “I-sorry” she laughed softly and looked up at the man slightly. “Yeah I-ah I’m fine” she nodded quickly and looked away, “It’s been a long few months, you know” she shook her head and laughed, “Nice accent by the way, where is it from?” she asked, turning to face him fully and sticking her hand out, “I’m Piper, by the way, pleasure to meet you” she spoke, mimicking his accent slightly. 

The Return | Open

Piper recognized the women as soon as she came into view, she hadn’t seen her since her panic attack in the very open public and felt almost happy to see her. “Well, welcome back” she gave the girl a small smile

SEND ME A SYMBOL FOR ANGST;

Stephen let out a soft grunt at the impact of Piper wrapping her arms around him. He returned the hug but not as tight as she had. “Hey Piper, its good to see you. Wasn’t sure who would still be roaming around Antioch.” They had never spoke a whole lot, but he would occasionally see Piper around Delaney though he wasn’t sure what kind of relationship those two had.

Piper could sense the awkward tone in his voice and quickly released him, taking a few steps back and clearing her throat. “Yeah that’s the thing” she laughed slightly looking down at her shaky hands, “I haven’t been here..well I just got back...I- you know- shit with my moms side of the family, I guess” she hated how she was being so recluse towards him. They had just began getting closer and then he left. Piper never expected to miss him as much as she had but seeing him now was nice regardless. She took a deep breath and then looked back up at him, “Care for a coffee?” she asked with a slight smile, “I also would like to hear why you disappeared in the first place, I’m surprised Delaney didn’t go out for your head” she laughed slightly. 

“I barely recognize anyone in this town anymore, kinda feel like like a stranger.”

Piper was sitting alone at the coffee shop, writing her life away it seemed. She hadn’t been home long at all but this was her place to be zen. That all changed when she heard the familiar voice. As she saw him walk in her heart nearly collapsed into itself, she quickly stood up, nearly knocking her chair over, “Stephan?” she spoke shakily as the boy turned to her, in no time at all she ran up to him and wrapped him into a long over due bear hug, “I can’t believe you’re back” she tried to laugh out rather than cry. 

Piper hadn’t been home for long when she saw the girl shaking on the ground in pain. She noticed it was Calia short after and her anxiety suddenly spiked, the last time she had seen this girl they nearly fought. Piper couldn’t help but feel bad though, the poor thing was nearly screaming in pain. In a spur of the moment decision, Piper ran to the girl as fast as she could. “Calia!” she shouted as she got closer, trying to get the girls attention. Piper slid onto the ground and helped the girl sit up, “What happened?” she gasped trying hard to support her seemingly broken body. 

Cali was on the verge of growling right now. “I don’t fucking now anything about your mom, Piper,” Cali, exclaimed, pissed off and frustrated by the girl’s accusations. When it came to her next words though, Cali had to let her clas dig into her palms to keep herself from going for the girl’s throat. “I don’t have to fucking imagine it, bitch,” she spat. “They were murdered four months ago. Bet your precious little newspaper didn’t have too much to say about that, huh?” She shoved the girl away from her by the shoulders, hard enough to send her stumbling backward. 

“Like I fucking believe that” she snapped back at her aggressively. Now she was really angry and not just putting on some show. She got what she wanted and now it was time for her to leave before things got bad and Cali really did hurt her. “My mother was the fucking sheriff who probably knew about all of this, which made her a liability. There was no way any convict could have done to her body what had been done, it was unholy” she hissed, feeling her eyes turning red around the rims. 

His interest is thoroughly peaked by the time she’s done talking. He’s not the type to turn down a fun night, especially with the promise of a pretty girl on his arm. He takes the paper she slides to him, glances at it before tucking it into his pocket. “If I were to call this number right now it wouldn’t happen to go to one of those silly ‘you’ve been duped’ call centers, would it?”

Piper frowned slightly and sighed, “Unfortunately it’s not, I’m not clever enough for that” she winked slightly. She was intrigued by him which wasn’t something that happened often. She began to stand up to leave, “But if you call it in say, a few hours, a sweet little blonde will answer and she’ll even have you go and get a few drinks with her” she said with sarcastic excitement, “Just let me know if you want to go” she said with a slight wave as she headed out the door. 

He sidestepped her and walked over to the green transformer box along the sidewalk and perched himself on-top of it. “I got into a fight with someone I shouldn’t have.” He muttered, staring at the girl as she joined him.

Piper raised an eyebrow, she couldn’t help the small amount of humor that surfaced, “Well, too bad I wasn’t there” she said sarcastically. With a slight roll of her eyes she stepped forward. “Will you at least help me clean you up? I have a first aid kit in my car” she asked softly.