* SCREAMING INSIDE !!

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“Hey just thought that it would be better than subjecting you to terrible cooking that’s all.”She laughed holding her hands up in the air before clapping them together at his suggestion. “Alright that sounds like a better idea to me, got a song in mind in case you don’t win?”She asked in a teasing tone of voice.

&.

“cooking? i was just going to make you eat some of the cocktail olives from the bar covered in whipped cream with a maraschino cherry on top,” he pointed over to the bartender’s assortment of drink garnishes he’d been eyeing earlier. “hell yeah! this is gonna be a much better game now,” he clapped his hands together, avoiding spilling the shot still held in one of them. “oh, i’m absolutely winning. i have been told, however, that i’ve got pipes like an angel’s when it comes to ‘ice, ice, baby’ by vanilla ice.” he readies himself once more to start the drinking game. “once i win, i’m thinking i might encourage you to get up there and sing ‘come on, eileen.’ it is st. patrick’s day after all.”

Torin gets the impression that Reed wont give up until he gives in, so he nods as he agrees to a drink. “One drink.” he says firmly, moving over to the bar. “Just water. Maybe you could use a water too?” He’s aware of how much people like to drink on st patricks day and although he’s sure it’s good for business, no one wants to deal with the mess at the end of the night.

&.

“thank you for indulging me,” reed cracks a smile, knocking on the bar excitedly. “hey, bartender, can i get two waters, please. can one of ‘em be club soda, actually?” he asks, speaking over the clamor and chatter of the tavern. “why did ya’ come out to a tavern on st. patrick’s day if not to drink?” the bean nighe questions, a little stupefied by the idea that someone would spend a drinking holiday sober.

“Lucky for you,” says Percy. She’s continually distracted by the way he seems to zone in and out of focus. Unnerved, even. He doesn’t look too threatening, though, so she stays put. “In theory, yes. But it would take a lot of magic users to even equal the strength of whatever is keeping us in. And time, which we don’t have.” It’s as if a lightbulb goes off over her head, his idea sparking one of her own. “But on a smaller scale… I might have a plan.” Percy’s attention snaps back to the man. “What? You know what? Don’t worry about it. There are more important things to deal with right now.”

&.

“aren’t there a lot of magic users here?” he whispers, having had encountered plenty of witches who seemed to be working on the problem. if they all came together it might make a difference. “we don’t have time on our side, but doing something is better than doing nothing.” when she says she has an idea, he straightens up. “lay it on me? whaddya got?” reed’s out of ideas at this point, and the dead aren’t giving him anything more to work with than he’s already got.

“Why wouldn’t they help us?” Aslı asks, oblivious to what the true nature of a hunter is. “They help people, we’re people.” So what if one night out of the month Aslı wasn’t human, the rest of the time she was a normal person that had friends, family, a job, a life. Surely that would count for more than her turning into a werewolf for one night a month, or at least that was the way she thought. She nods her head, “okay then.”  

She looks to Reed with determination in her eyes. They could do this. As he walked away Aslı made her way over to the man, picking up a discarded glass of some alcohol on the way other. She had no idea exactly what her plan was to distract him but she did the first thing that came to mind and as she walked closer, she pretended to trip, the liquid in the glass sloshing over the side and spilling onto the man’s t-shirt.

“Oh I am so sorry! I am so clumsy; I’m always tripping up over my own feet. Oh, look at your t-shirt…” she reaches over the bar and grabs a few napkins, looking over at Reed as she does, her eyes telling him to get the girl. “Here let me help get you dry.” she goes back to the man and starts to quickly pat him dry with the napkins. A sideways glance thrown in Reed’s direction has a smug smile pulling up at the corner of Aslı’s lips, seeing that the woman is following. She gives Reed a sly thumbs up.

&.

reed wasn’t the most brilliant person in the world, but he had good instincts. the name “hunter” in and of itself was enough to give him pause. “asli, they’re literally called ‘hunters.’ i don’t think their job is to give supernatural folks a chocolate chip cookie, a warm glass of milk, and a blanket,” rarely was he sarcastic, but the situation felt like it called for it. “if anything, they’re more likely to stick you through with a silver bullet than provide a safe place for you to shift.” he would ask with her, and if anything felt the slightest bit off, he would protect her from harm. “just... we have to be careful, okay?”

together they’ve managed to get one woman out of harms way. reed is able to inform the lady of the impending doom, and together they move more tables towards the back, preparing to set up the barricade from inside the bathroom. they invite other humans and vulnerable supernatural individuals to help their efforts to provide a space to hide. together, asli and reed had done some good on a night that had gone from bad to worse. once the clock ticks closer to the end of the hour long reprieve to prepare, reed meets back up with asli. even though he was hoping she would forget about the notion of asking a hunter, he can’t help but ask anyways, “ready to go talk to that o’riley?”

          “you sure about that?  maybe i got a gang of werewolves for friends.”  she tried to joke, though he was right.  she had never seen a werewolf actually, not after they shifted at the very least.  from what she knew, they tended to lose control during that time as well so she’d prefer if she never really did encounter one.  yet, here they were, probably about to see more than one when shit hit the fan.  “yeah, it seems.  but like, there must be some way to undo them, nothing is forever.”  she lifted her shoulders.  maybe it was not the wisest way to approach this but she didn’t really think there was no way to undo this.  how, she wouldn’t know of course.  that was the reason why she was at loss of what to do, though reed’s company was appreciated.  when he motioned her to follow she did so, jumping onto the bar stool to sit there.  “i thought you were gonna make mojito or something.”     she said with a soft chuckle, shaking her head.  “no, i mean i know the basics from games. alcohol plus cloth.  but let’s get one thing straight, i’m not ruining this dress for those.”

&.

in any other circumstances reed would laugh at lily’s joke, but his usual jovial chuckle sat dormant. “keep up the optimism, lil. it’s helping to keep my own alive and kicking,” reed was trying his best to stay positive, but it was hard when the spirits he often communed with were speaking in tones of doom and gloom. “i agree, there’s gotta be a way to get us out... but, in the case that we don’t get out, we have to protect each other, right?” the bean nighe had seen plenty old monster movies growing up: dracula, the creature from the black lagoon, and the wolf man with lon chaney. now, reed was living the wolf man and he wanted to avoid the fate of the villagers who got in the way of larry talbot, a newly turned wolf. he wasn’t sure if silver actually affected werewolves, but fire was a sure way to put off a creature of any type. “no mojitos. at least not yet. we can celebrate with them once we make it out of here by morning,” he says, uncapping the bottles one by one. “don’t worry, your dress will be perfectly fine! just throw it far enough from yourself to avoid lighting yourself on fire.” he demonstrates the process of rolling the cloths up enough to fit down into the neck of the bottle, leaving the rag half submerged in the alcohol. he tosses some of the cloths over to lily before continuing to work on a different bottle. “i used to make these bad boys in high school with some of my friends. some nights we’d go out to an abandoned warehouse and throw them at the concrete just to watch the flames disappear as the alcohol evaporated.” this wasn’t exactly the moment to be nostalgic, but it was better than sitting in a corner worrying.

“nah, i guess i don’t. just not used to not being the one pouring the shots, ya’ know?” puts his hand in his jeans, watching as they line up the shots in front of them. “bragging rights is okay with me, but – maybe i’ll order a custom trophy for whoever wins.” riz pauses, for dramatic effect. “st. patrick’s fireball shot champion.” fighting the grin due to the corny name. 

&.

“you’re a bartender?” reed asks, worried that the career might give his opponent a leg up on this game. “if i win can i get a free drink the next time i breeze through whichever bar you work at?” that might give the bean nighe an incentive to try harder with the competition. “i work as a lacrosse coach... i can, maybe, get you free tickets to our next game. or, a jersey from the team.” he laughs at the other man’s trophy suggestion, “i love it! what’s gonna be the model on top of the trophy? a shot glass that looks like its on fire? the bust of whoever wins?”

“no, i didn’t.” she was sure she would hear even a pin drop with her enhanced hearing, the expression on her face still quizzical. looking over her shoulder and then back over to reed, she tilts her head. “what… are you talking about?” seeing that he was talking in the future tense, like he knew the chaos that would ensue in a couple hours, with everyone locked in. “yeah .. of course, what do you need me to do?” 

&.

“we have time,” he vaguely responds to her question. “i think i know a few of the people who are at the highest risk of dying tonight, if we can get them to safe spots then maybe we can avoid their deaths.” he looks back at the woman that he had heard scream, snapping his fingers to come up with an idea. “do you know of any spots in the tavern that can be locked from the inside? if you find a safe spot, i’ll try to sense out those at risk.”

“the runes did trap us in, but it isn’t just that – it’s whatever or whomever that casted them as well.” saying aloud, glancing over at him and then back at the runes. “it’s worth a try. we can possibly cast the life rune – it is similar to this one, it’s just flipped the other way.” thinking of how she can attempt to cast it next to the other one or try to make the other one disappear. a spell she’s never attempted. 

&.

“do you have any idea who or what wanted to keep us in?” his eyes roam suspiciously over the patrons of the o’riley tavern. “do you think they’re still here?” he asks carefully, hoping to avoid any sort of confrontation with the offender. “what if we didn’t have to flip the symbol itself to give it the new meaning, what if it could be read with the intention of ‘life’...” reed didn’t know how to exactly put it into words himself. “what if we, like, flipped ourselves around.” this was all his own, foolish thinking. he had pure intentions, but it definitely wasn’t the sharpest thought he’d ever had. however, there may have been something useful hidden within it.

WHERE: O’Riley’s POST plot drop

WITH: Open to anyone ( @duskstarts​ )

Sabine looked on in both curiosity, and horror, as ferocity bloomed across the bar. Intangible. That was the word that best described her now; unable to be harmed by mere threats of the mortal plane. She knew it to be true and yet somehow, as glasses and bottles shattered between the nervous shouts of patrons, Sab almost convinced herself otherwise. Like there was no way among all of this anger, this rage, this tension, she could walk out of here… safely.

Like death itself had been her little secret.

Burnished pools flickered back and forth between each doorway and entry point in the bar room she was in, soft growls and slamming doors echoing in her ears all around her. “Hey!” Sabine called after a figure shrouded in darkness, the lights up above either switched off, or shattered. “Get out of here–” she’d gasped, surprised by the sheer mass of a looming body closing in on whomever was standing there. “Dear god, MOVE!”

-

reed had been waiting for this his whole life. he wasn’t going to stand by idly anymore and let his powers control him, he would control his powers. he heard a warning, and knew this was his chance. “i’ve got it under control!” he shouted back, before forcing out his deathly scream.

the wolf that was barreling towards him, its teeth shiny with fresh blood and eyes gleaming at the prospect of prey, yelped as the scream emitted from reed’s lips and hit its canine ears. the bean nighe’s call had physically knocked the creature back and off its feet, subduing it for the moment. “see, i told you i had it under control,” he repeated, his chest heaving at the effort it took to let out that scream. “now, mind helping me chain this one up?” he asked, unaware that she was intangible, a spirit a part of the world of the dead that reed so often connected with.

She couldn’t help but laugh, the party here was exciting, it seemed like mostly everyone was having some fun. She could see that Reed was. Reed was full of life, and she wondered just how many drinks he had already had. “ah.” she looks over to where he had pointed to. “I came with a couple of friends as well, but mostly mingling. I like coming to events.” she nods. “so what have you been drinking?”

&.

“are your friends having fun, too?” he asked, continuing to do his dance. the song was coming to an end, though, and the bean nighe groaned in response. luckily, another party favorite came on - “c’est la vie” by b*witched. “i haven’t heard this song since, like, the late nineties! i think it played at my middle school dance.” reed always followed the liquor before beer, you’re in the clear mantra when he went out drinking. earlier in the night he’d gone hard on some shots and different mixed drinks, now he was onto drinking beers sparingly to keep his buzz going. “a little bit of everything: shots, cocktails, pints of beer! you name it i’ve been drinking it!” he answered, cheerfully. “what about you?”

If they made it out of this, Asli was going to make sure next time she was prepared. She didn’t want to ever find herself in a situation where she could possibly hurt someone ever again. “They’re hunters.” she said - she’d over heard a few people mention about how dangerous it was for them to be in a place owned by hunters. It worried her that they would do something to wolves like Asli but right now her concern was keeping as many people safe as possible, even if that meant putting herself at the mercy of a hunter. “Let’s just hope they have somewhere, anywhere.”

She was ready to do something, sooner rather than later, knowing that her body could start the process of shifting at any moment, there was no time to lose. “I can do that.” she said, most people seemed to already be aware of the situation, so she wouldn’t need to waste much time explaining.

Despite his explanation it still meant nothing to Asli. She knew very little about any supernatural creatures, even her own. She was still learning everything and although she was keen to absorb as much information as she could there just wasn’t time for that right now. “Okay. I’ll distract him. You get her to safety, then we’ll get as many people into the bathrooms as possible and block the doors with the tables.”  

&.

“h-hunters?” reed gulped as comically as shaggy freaking out in a usual run of a scooby-doo episode. except, he was genuinely scared. he hadn’t heard of hunters being real, and did that mean that he was a target? “why would they want to help people like us?” he asked, worried that asli’s safety was in greater danger if she asked for help from them, rather than getting help from other werewolves, supernaturals, or humans. “at least let me ask with you, i want to make sure that you’re okay.” reed figured that part of the plan could come into play later, for now he would do his best to keep as many people from harm as possible.

he clapped her on the shoulder, looking directly into her eyes. “we’re going to keep people safe, asli,” he stated, in a serious voice unprecedented for reed. “if it’s up to us, let’s try and save as many lives as possible.” he took his hand back from her shoulder with a gentle smile on his lips. reed lifted the first table and walked away from asli to bring it just outside of the bathrooms. once he had placed it there, he waited for asli to distract the man in the group.

reed didn’t know what to say to the woman he had seen in his strange premonition. hi, my name is reed loren, bean nighe, and i just saw you die. come with me if you want to live. that didn’t sound right at all. instead, he tapped her on the shoulder and in a low voice asked if she knew what was happening. when she said that she had no idea, reed had no idea what to do from there. it would be completely inappropriate to ask a stranger to come with him to the bathroom, so... he asked if she wanted to help a group of people trying to escape through the bathroom windows. she said yes, and began following him back.

“Foul play? That’s something only a loser would blame.” the blonde which teases, knowing full well that it was her doing that his glass broke, but the windows and everything else was still a bit of a mystery to her. After moving over to the dart board and taking half the darts from Reed she stands back whilst watching. Would she use magic to win this time? Is the sky blue? The witch smirked watching his first turn to see how good he really was. “Okay, okay.” she mused. “Beginners luck. You’re. Going. Down.” she said with a challenging glimmer in her. She stepped up to take her position, her actions mirrored his as she moved her arm back and forth to line up her aim before the dart left her hand, sailing across the gap between her and dartboard. The dart stuck just outside of the ring near number 13. “Damn.” she curses angrily with a little stomp of her foot.

&.

“i lost on a technicality, but you didn’t win because your glass was broken, too,” reed shook his head vigorously. he wasn’t sure how the crack in his glass had appeared in the first place, but he hadn’t intended to rig the game for both of them by using his banshee scream. reed was glad that the riverdale diner wasn’t asking him to pay damages for the shattered glass around the place. it was all being called a freak accident, from what he’d heard. “this time, there will be no foul play, no technicalities, it’s a game of pure chance!”

reed puffed out his chest, then asked, “beginner’s luck, or expert’s skill?” he watched as she shot her dart, and his mouth hung open for a bit. “why are you saying ‘damn?’ you’re now two points ahead of me! that’s a twenty-six, dude!” he was a team player, even if he lost he would celebrate a friend’s win, which led to him holding up his hand for a high-five before throwing his next dart at the board. “did we settle on how many points we’re trying to reach? is this, like, a first to one hundred dealio?” he asked, looking at the board and his dart, calculating where he wanted it to end up. with a little flare, his next dart struck the board on the black space of the seven, resulting in a frown from him. “uh, i guess i’m up to thirty-one, now. it’s okay, it’s okay, i’ll make a comeback. don’t you worry.”

“oh … right.” she adds, though still not convinced. he was acting a little different, but everyone was. “it means death, it’s upside down …  the one that was painted on all the doors meant warning.” while leaning against the wall, she looks at how all the windows had one on them. “i mean, do you have any ideas then?” snapping, but not at him, just out of pure annoyance towards the whole situation. 

&.

an idea he had spoken aloud earlier, but had no idea how to execute, came back into his mind. “runes trapped us in, right?” he didn’t mean to repeat what she already knew, it was more for his own understanding. “why can’t we use them to get us out, too?” he looks carefully at the symbol, its meaning resonating deeply with him. there’s a comradery between reed and death. “can it be changed? is there another rune that uses it as a base that we could transform it into?”

The brunette offers him another sad smile, appreciating his willingness to help her no matter the cost. The suggestions are sweet and whilst Aslı would normally give anything a try she doesn’t feel like it would be of any use. She knows too well that once she has shifted the women is pushed to the darker corners of the mind whilst the beast takes full control. Her only concern right now is to keep everyone else safe and that includes Reed. “I wish it was as simple as that.” she sighs. “Right now, I just need to make everyone else here as safe as possible, then I’ll ask one of those O'Rileys if they have somewhere I can be caged in.” she says with a firm nod of her head, convincing herself that this was a plausible plan. “I think that might work,” she says looking at one of the tables he’s referring to. “It’s worth trying at least.”

As soon as Reed said she wasn’t the only one who isn’t human alarm spreads over her face quicker than wildfire. She has no idea what he’s going to say next and she wouldn’t judge, because how could she? But she was a little scared he was going to say he was a vampire or something terrifyingly dangerous. But again how could SHE judge?  "I have no idea what a banshee is.“ she says quickly, and of course she was worried about the bloodshed comment. "Do you know exactly what will happen?” she asks.

&.

“okay, scratch the control thing, then,” he nodded, finally understanding just how foolish the idea sounded. he would do anything to help a friend, though, no matter how heinous or far-fetched the feat was. “what... why would the o’riley’s have a place to cage someone in?” confusion flooded his expression, but it might be worth a try. “they might have a liquor storage room, or even an indoor freezer. that could be a place to keep you locked up until sunrise.” 

reed was confident that this could work, or it was at least better than sitting around and waiting to see what happened when all the wolves had changed into their beastly forms ready to attack. “we need to start moving people into the bathrooms without alarming them. do you think you’d be able to do that?” he asked, already walking towards the table he had referenced. “while you get people to the bathrooms, i’ll move some of the tables back there so we’ll have them ready to barricade the doors. does that sound okay?”

reed knew of his bean nighe heritage, he knew the bare minimum about what being a bean nighe meant, but even he wasn’t entirely sure of all that he possessed. he had been trying to gain a better grip on his powers lately, but they still overtook him most of the time. “you... you don’t know what a banshee is?” reed paused, expecting his big admission to be quick. ”it’s irish gaelic for washerwoman... they, you know, like, scream and then have premonitions of death,” he attempted to act out what it looked like when they screamed, without actually screaming himself. “it doesn’t really matter what a banshee is, right now. what does matter is the fact that i know that if she keeps standing there, he transforms into a wolf and gobbles her quicker than granny and red riding hood combined.” he tilted his head, “can we move her first?”

𝑺𝑯𝑬   𝑨𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺   𝑨   𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑭   𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑬𝑫   𝑺𝑴𝑰𝑳𝑬 ,      𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑬   𝑭𝑶𝑹   𝑯𝑰𝑺   𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑼𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑪𝑬   𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑵   𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺 .      ❝      i’m   good ,      just   a   scratch .     ❞      she   waves   it   off   nonchalantly ,      it   was   easier   to   focus   on   others   rather   than   herself .      ❝      what’s   your   name ?      i’m   katherine ,      everyone   just   calls   me   kat ,      i   could   use   some   help   with   medical   if   you’re   up   for   it ?     ❞

&.

"how’d you get it?” he asks, but its a stupid question when its almost certainly from the fight between the werewolves and the other patrons of the tavern that’s been taking up the entire night. “it’s good to meet you katherine,” he wipes his eyes, doing his best to stay present in the conversation. “i’m reed, and i would love to help where i can. what can i do?” reed had to have basic first aid training as the coach of a lacrosse team, he could be useful in that capacity. “first off, do you need help carrying that first aid kit?” he points to the bag of supplies that she had brought over.