I just want to feel alright

His cheeks burn when he sees her smile, though he tries to hide it by pressing his lips together. David shrugs sheepishly when she thanks him, one shoulder coming up slightly higher than the other. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he laughs when she slides forward the croissant. “I may use this information for blackmailing purposes,” he teases with a wink, knowing even if she didn’t pay for the croissant she deserved it.

When he looks over to the wheel, he vaguely remembers some Valentine’s day conversation involving a wheel. Before he can say anything, she speaks up again: “you could sit down?”

“You’ve been sitting all day,” he says, trying not to make it obvious that he’d been checking in on her a few times. “I was actually, uh, wondering if you’d want to go for a walk? After you eat, of course.”

David damn near rolls his eyes at himself; yeah, she needed to eat the food he got her. Hence the sitting. He carefully moves to the chair next to her, drumming his fingers on the armrest.

I was actually, uh, wondering if you’d want to go for a walk? Siren stood up immediately, which made it all the more awkward when David continued to say they could walk after she ate her fruit. “Right, yeah a walk sounds good. After,” Siren tilted the bowl in her hands, before sitting back down and wishing for a swift death. Being this nervous around people she was attracted to was not her norm. She was used to being able to flirt a lot more freely, test the waters, and if things went wrong, she could move on. That wasn’t as possible in Velia. She’d had more than her fair share of flings here, but each one that she crossed paths with on daily trips into Centria or any other floor had her a bit more careful where she burned her bridges. 

When he finally sat down next to her, she let out a relieved sigh and chose a raspberry to eat first, then handed the bowl to David. “Don’t make me eat alone,” she said before he could protest. She had a feeling he wouldn’t easily turn her down. “So what have you been up to today? Does Blood Oath have a booth up too? I haven’t really had a chance to see the rest of the place yet.”

David’s broken free of Hermia’s whole… Blood Oath Carnival pitch when he notices Siren has a booth of her own. Seeing her alone, wrapped up in a blanket, he couldn’t help but think of bringing her over something.

His eyes scan the area for something he could grab - his flower crown obviously would not suffice, Hermia would kill him. Gray eyes fall on a small vendor serving soups and salad, and it dawns on him that he has no idea what she likes. He tosses some gold over for a fruit salad, and carries it over to her booth.  “Oh. Hey. You uh, ready to give in to coffee yet or are you still sticking to tea?”

He hasn’t told her of his allergy, but probably won’t. “I actually, uh… I got you this,” he says, handing the bowl over. “Pastries don’t seem like a well balanced meal, plus eating the donations doesn’t seem like your style.”

Siren’s hand automatically reaches out for the bowl, her arm used to the motion of taking what’s handed to it before she fully processes what’s happening. “Oh. That’s-- thank you. That’s really thoughtful of you.” She couldn’t tamp down her smile if she tried, so she doesn’t make any attempt to hide it. “And if I do admit to possibly snacking on one of the pastries you’d keep a secret, right?” She asks as she slides half a croissant into view from where it hid behind the wheel. It was actually one she’d brought for herself, because he was right, she wouldn’t stick her hand in an orphan’s cookie jar. “Do you want to take a spin?” She gestures to the wheel she has set up and abruptly remembers a half drunk conversation she had with him about a fucking wheel so the Velia dating pool wouldn’t be so complicated. Hopefully the blood rushing to her face goes unnoticed, and in a perfect world he’ll have forgotten the conversation completely. “Or um, don’t, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. It’s-- you could sit down?” She waves to the empty chair next to her where one of her employees had kept her company until they decided to check out the rest of the carnival.

Send me “Smash or Pass” + a name and my muse will answer with 100% honesty.

Padme: “If she were single? Smash. Very gently.”

Fin: “I’m gonna have to pass on this one, even though he’s gorgeous because he’s just out of the age range I feel comfortable... smashing...?”

Bogman: “Smash if we go back to his place, pass if it’s at mine. He’s cute and all, but... I don’t exactly trust him around valuables. Yet?”

@padmeonline @dolfinluvr9 @thebogman

Being a player who shied away from guilds and any events they held, it might have been surprising to some that Siren had a booth for Unity's fundraiser. She couldn't exactly say no to helping the children in need. Of all the guilds she'd come across so far, she could at least say that Fiona tried to run hers for the right reasons. So here she was, serving free coffee and a one gold per spin prize wheel. One small sliver offered free coffee for a month while the others offered pastries and other goodies from her café, including a private game night to any group the winner wanted to host.

She'd been out there for a few hours now, nursing a cup of coffee that had long since gone cold. There was a knitted blanket around her shoulders as she sat cross-legged in the chair Fiona brought her once she'd seen Siren was planning on being her feet for the whole event. When someone approached the table, she put down the crossword she'd been working on and got ready to give her spiel, only to see David approaching. "Oh. Hey. You uh, ready to give in to coffee yet or are you still sticking to tea?"

“And I got the opportunity to try it for free, huh?” he asks, trying to distract from how flushed he assumed he looked after she winked at him. “I feel like I’m getting special treatment here.”

The idea that anyone could regrow limbs was a bit of a stretch, though - he’d seen firsthand what kind of recovery went into that. Radish was out of commission for quite some time after he was dropped off at the hospital. Granted, she was mostly being hyperbolic. He should know that better than anyone. 

Making a show of it, he blows on the tea lightly while looking Siren in the eyes. “I’m being careful this time,” he hums before bringing the mug to his lips again.

It’s still hot, so he places it down again. He drags his lower lip between his teeth, a nervous habit that, fortunately, only caused lip-tearing in real life.

“Special treatment? Never. Don’t you know the first one’s always free? That’s how you get hooked.” Siren gave him a shy smile, mostly talking about the potion. Only half hoping it would work in other ways.

Her smile grew when he blew on his tea, his movements slow and exaggerated. “Good. Wouldn’t want to put your mouth out of commission.” Her eyes lingering on his lip, caught between his teeth, before she remembered herself and drew them back down to the counter. “You know, since you spent some hard earned gold on that tea. We also have pastries. Which you wouldn’t be able to taste, with the burned mouth and all.”

“ Mob mentality?” the exacerbation evident but Syphon tried to real it in. He didn’t know Siren well but he knew that most solo players felt that way about the guilds. Some of them felt that they were above it all, but in actuality, they weren’t. “ I’m not a fan of the Revenants at all,  and not just because the wanker poached most of our players.” he added before continuing, “- what would you do? If a player was coming straight for you with murder in their eyes? Are you going to let them kill you because they’re a‘kid’? ” Syhpon had killed a few players in his day, and he had the orange cursor to prove it. He didn’t regret them either because when it came down to it he was fighting for his life. “ We aren’t mindless, heartless beast. We’re all just trying to survive this thing. Maybe the question you should be asking is what the Unity kid did that made that Rev member feel like the only way to survive was to kill him. That’s what I want to know.”  

“Is blaming the victim always the first place you go? A group of people from a guild went after one person and it has to be the fault of the person who got killed? What kind of logic is that?” Siren shook her head and took a sip of her drink before starting again. “What makes you so sure they had ‘murder in their eyes’? Unless you know something I don’t. Which, maybe you do. But from what I’ve heard, it was a group against one person. I’m not an idiot, I don’t believe that self-defense is impossible in this situation, but when you’re in a group of people, you’re a lot more likely to do things you wouldn’t do if you were alone.” Siren sighed and took a deep breath before pushing away from the bar. Siren was never one to start a confrontation, and bringing up guild politics after the death of a player that seemed to have been a kind unity member was a bit uncouth. “Maybe we should just table this. Clearly we’re both... affected by the situation at hand and I apologize for bringing it up during a time like this.”

“she is,” fiona agreed. is, because she was sure vanessa was still out there being amazing. sometimes she wondered if she would move on. if when she got out of this game (if she ever did), she’d return to find someone else in her spot in the bed, someone else getting home lifestyle magazines that they never read and saving recipes to things they’d never make. she thought about it a lot actually. and while she thought it was highly unlikely, she couldn’t find herself upset about it. life was about making the most of what you have. “you know what? i’ll let it slide. when we get out of here, sure. see if she can introduce you to a hemsworth. we’ll see just how far her networking skills go.” she bobbed her foot, knee crossed neatly over her leg. “what about you? any love story for me? i’ll even take a slight admiration story.”

“Hey, I believe in her. I also believe that she wants Hemsworth godchildren and will do what she needs to so she can get them.” Siren wasn’t cut out for motherhood. she was almost thirty and just barely capable of taking care of herself, but it was a nice little fantasy, even if it wasn’t one she was invested in. “Maybe we’ll let you babysit if you’re lucky. You know, when we’re out on glamorous work events.”

Siren winced, trying to think of a relationship that ended amicably. They always started well, had an interesting middle, and then the end would either be a slow petering out she’d calculated, or a sharp end when she left the country she was in without much of a goodbye. “Well I’ve got more than a few of those. But the year before Velia--” before her parents’ death, before the involuntary move to France with her brother to settle their affairs-- “I knew a couple in New York. It started out as a casual thing, you know? They were both writers, we’d met at a party that my agent threw and before we knew I ended up in their bed. It was fun, and then it got... serious.” A sad smile tugged at Siren’s lips and she started to inspect her nails. “Turns out they wanted more than fun, you know? But we had a few months where things were really good.” And then they asked her to move in. Which was when she decided she needed to travel for work. Pick up again, move to a new city whose roads were still unfamiliar, rinse, repeat. “So clearly I just need to wait for my Hemsworth and then I’ll be able to give you a proper love story. You know, starcrossed lovers who met through their mutual friend that he met at a buffet.” 

“I’d say bitter and hot is my type, but,” he says, his voice drifting off a bit once he realized she called him honey.

He presses his lips together again before she offers him the spoon, taking it and feeling the sickly sweet liquid bring his tastebuds back. Grimacing, he returns the spoon. “Is that just pure sugar with a spell cast on it?” he asks.

Bitter and hot is my type. Siren almost wants to laugh, because well, it’s her type too isn’t it? But she... doesn’t exactly fit that category herself. Normally that would be something she’d be proud of, how well she’s carried tragedy, how positive she can be in the face of problems that turn others into hurtful people, but-- no, best not to carry on that train of thought.

Siren took the spoon back and gave him a quick wink anyway, “That’s for me to know, and you to never find out. That’s one of my best selling potions, you know. Anyone can heal cuts, regrow limbs, or fix a bone. It’s the smaller things people don’t pay attention to, that’s my sweet spot. Real money maker,” she carried on, as though she cared about that.

even with the disappointed look on siren’s face, he had a grin on his own. what can he say? he was a sucker for saying and doing some pretty dumb things – and he’s certain that this was a good one considering that the disappointment disappeared from siren’s face. “ the fact that you don’t believe me is kind of hurtful. i’m nothing if not trustworthy. ” he gave a slight nod at the refill, happy to not have to ask. “ i will do my best to refrain from actual fireworks, i promise. but alright, alright. i won’t do anything dramatic. or at all. but only because i don’t want to have a lifetime ban here. now that would be the real disappointment. you convinced me! ”   

“I’m glad my skills of persuasion have managed to make you consider not lighting my cafe on fire. And it’s not even one of my higher stats.” Siren smiled to herself and took a seat next to Mercutio to keep watching the couple. “But they do need an intervention. I could accidentally spill water on his lap, give her a chance to run.”

Of course, she was right. It’d been nearly three years since they were all trapped in here and the cursor above his head (now green) was a constant reminder that he couldn’t escape. Not yet.

He wanted to counter her, and tell her that, at the very least, they’ve all made some sort of meaningful connections. But who was he to assume that? He wasn’t sure of what (or who) she may have lost here. The only upside to Velia was that walking was so much easier now. He wasn’t limping and he figured that made him look much less of a creep than he used to feel like in his every day life outside of here. 

He finally resolves on a reply that would, he hoped, lighten the mood; at the very least, he wanted to bring her real smile back. “I don’t mind bitter,” he says, gesturing toward his tea.

Blowing on the steaming mug in front of him, he takes a light test sip, making sure he wouldn’t burn himself. Fuck it was still hot. He pressed his lips together and shook his head, “and that was too soon.”

Siren ducked her head down, hiding a bit of her laugh, “Don’t mind bitter and hot? Oh honey, I told you to be careful.” She grabbed a potion from under the counter and the spoon next to his tea. After filling it halfway she offered it to David, “Here, it’ll take care of the burn. It might be a little cold, but at least you’ll be able to taste the rest of your cup.” Siren was almost grateful for the distraction, glad that she had a burn she could actually soothe.

“ yes, sparks! you know, fireworks but not fireworks because i would never want to light fireworks inside your shop. never. not once. not at all. ” does it matter that the thought crossed his mind once or twice? absolutely not. “ exactly, that’s exactly what they ne – oh wait, that was sarcasm. that hurts because i very much believe that us saving them from the worst date in history being exactly what they need! ” mer taps on the table as though to help prove that point. “ that is the absolute most disappointing thing you could have ever told me, siren. i thought we were friends here! ”