think twice. because I won't.

With: @jmorrow​

Under the cover of the darkest hours of the morning, crickets and the crackling of gravel beneath tires were the only sounds he could hear as they pulled up to Martin's little slice of suburbia. Stray wasn't sure what they'd find, if anything at all by coming here, but he'd run out of patience in doing nothing. It was as if all those present at the table had decided to wait for the second shoe to drop before taking action - to just wait and see. To give whoever was responsible for their advisor's murder room to breathe, for the trail they'd left to go cold. 

That wasn't his style. If there wasn't a clear target to bloody his fists into, then he was left to figure it out who it was. He'd push forward, he'd dig and scratch and chase down the faintest of leads until someone stood before them, responsible and awaiting the Devil's justice. There would be no rest while an attack against the MC remained unanswered. He’d been kicking himself ever since that night for having ignored his gut feeling that something awful was bound to happen at the ball. Had he just listened to it, had he just been a little more vigilant, he wondered if Marin would still be alive tonight - waiting inside with a bottle of whiskey as they trudged up to his door, three chipped glasses on his table and a serving of wisdom to share with them.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty, though. There was nothing left he could do for the old man now besides play a role in figuring out who was pay for what happened to him. And there was no one he'd rather have at his back than Jasper, especially when it came to something like this, whose approval would be questionable at best by the MC's leadership.

Stray removed his helmet, and left it to sit against his seat, turning to look at his brother as he gestured to the house, "let's kill the circuit breaker first, then see what trail we can pick up inside. There's gotta be something t’ get us goin’ in the right direction with this bullshit."

With: @wickederis​

The events at the Masquerade Ball left Stray feeling as if in a stalemate. There was the obvious tension between the MC and the Wolves - but more troubling was the tension he felt within the club itself. A hesitation, a standstill - collectively holding their breaths and waiting for the gun to fire, signaling them to... what, even? Retaliate against the wolves? Or perhaps to cut out a traitor from within their own ranks? Stray didn't know what would shake out from Martin's killing, but the way things were just lingering was driving him crazy. A beast in a cage too small, circling and circling, around and around again in dizzying repetition, until someone would wander by a unlatch the door.

That didn't sit well with him. Waiting wasn't their way. It wasn't his way. Especially not with the responsibility he felt for what happened - the moment he stepped up to the ball with his face behind the mask, he felt sick with knowing. Knowing something bad was going to happen. He should have taken that more seriously. He should have patrolled instead of mingled. He should have kept his eyes on their people instead of.. well, having them tracing the motions of just one, in particular. 

..and that white dress of hers. 

It was the guilt that followed him from that evening that brought him to Rendezvous this night. He'd left his kutte at home, and dressed plainly, as any regular patron visting the club would - he wanted to avoid as much recognition and association tot he Devil's as he could. 

Because tonight he was casing the joint. 

He moved through the crowed on the dance floor beneath the flashing lights and pounding bass blasting from the DJ's booth, his eyes tracing the perimeter of the venue, mentally pinging doors and darkened hallways. He'd gotten a drink from the bartender - O'douls, some tasteless non-alcoholic swill to pass as a prop. As he acclimated to his surroundings, in the back of his head he wondered if he'd run into Eris again here... and the brief fluttering of hope was dulled with the dread of it. She was one of them, after all. As often as he woke up these days wondering if they'd cross each other's paths, this was the first time he prayed that they wouldn't.

Cut for triggers. Bloody, stabby-stabby murdery kinda triggers.

Since the events of the last few days she constantly had the voice of her mom in her head, her telling her to stop wandering places alone. Not that Gianna was really listening, hence the environment she found herself in now. In her own mind she was fine— not because she thought she was invincible, she didn’t, it was more her being content in the daylight. She recognised the other, it was hard not to for someone so interested in the MC. Couldn’t really blame her, though, with Cain and previously her dad being apart of it, she was naturally curious. Not that she thought her brother liked where her interests laid. 

As she relents to a minor defeat as both canine’s remain out of her reach, she rises from the ground, turning actually to look at Stray—- as well as his doggo beside him. Attention more so on his pet for longer than it was actually needed for with a smile that curved on the corner of her month. 

“Yeah,” she nods, hues now looking up to the male, confirming exactly that was obvious. “Been trying to grab them to take to the shelter.” she didn’t mention Harley’s name because she didn’t know if he actually knew her or not. “Nearly had it..” both brows raise. Anyone would think she’s blaming him for her lack of capture due to how unreadable she actually was, but reality was, she was actually messing with him. Not that she was making that obvious right this second.

Vega, ever a hound for attention, noticed the woman's eyes lingering on him, and he wriggled excitedly where he sat, whining over the potential butt-scratches that look often led to. Stray looked down at him, and rolled his eyes, "yeah, alright, go on --" the words barely left his mouth before the lanky, silver adolescent got to his feet and loped over to her, mouth parted in a wide, friendly smile while his tongue dangled out from one side.

Stray approached as well while Vega attempted to charm her into giving him attention, their shared task making feel appropriate enough to do so, despite only vaguely recognizing the woman. Charming was a small town, after all - full of nameless, familiar faces you could pass a hundred times and never be introduced. "They're a skiddish pair," he reasoned, not at all feeling burdened that he'd caused them to flee - it's just what the did. For days now, the same song and dance. It was a distraction he looked forward to these days, though, a welcome deviation from the mess the masquerade ball had caused. 

Stray: WHERE? HOOPERS?

Stray: MISS U

Stray: FUK YA! U KIDDING?

not that rafael would even say it out loud he was only attending the masquerade for one reason. he wanted to see samantha and he knew that she would almost never miss a big party. if they were still together he knew that they would have gone together. she likely would have picked out his outfit and his mask. he would have been fine with that but nothing was normal. he felt like an idiot his suit but he didn’t care. it was something that he had put together last minute. 

it was a shock to him when he realized that she wasn’t there. most people were doing the smart thing and giving him space. he knew that he was giving off a certain vibe. the only one who had approached him was stray. if it had been anyone who wasn’t a member of the devils he knew that he wouldn’t have reacted the best. he hated the fact that he was feeling so conflicted the way that he was. 

he felt like he should have just possibly stayed up instead of wasting one hundred dollars. his head was turning as stray returned with glasses in hand. a chuckle came from him as he reached for one of them,” shit selection, what a surprise.” he noticed a woman nearby giving him a look which he opted to ignore,” thanks hermano.” he was going to take a swig from it and allowed himself to let out a deep breath. he was clearing his throat and shrugged, glancing around the crowded room. 

“who the fuck knows?” he asked, not even sure what the point was,” talk about high standards but you’re probably right.” 

Stray knew full well that the dim little flicker of hope in the other Devil's eye would be snuffed dead before the end of the night. It wasn't the general atmosphere of the ball that his eyes drifted over, across a sea of masks and extravagant formal gowns twisting to the hum of ambient music playing in the background, but in search of Samantha. Or, the ghost of her - whatever was left after what had happened between them. Stray honestly wasn't sure anymore - in his many long years of knowing the woman, this was the first time she'd ever been just... gone. Absolute radio silence. Unanswered texts and voicemails ignored. 

Once this nightmare of an evening was over, he wondered if he should just show up at her door with a case of liquor and a box of those cheap little convenience store cakes that had no right to be as good as they were. She could get wasted and make fun of his getup, and for a minute, he hoped, feel just a little less shitty.

But that meant surviving this, and with that in mind, he tipped back his glass to polish off the beer in three greedy gulps. He'd need to really buddy up with the bartender if he had any hopes of getting tipsy enough for this nonsense.. let alone to dim the nagging feeling in his gut that something shitty was just around the corner. "I hope it's that easy, but when the fuck is that ever the case in Charming, y'know? 'n y' see? This is why I fuckin' drink, too damn paranoid sober."

“how do you make this worse?” asked lena, unable to hide the amusement in her tone,” i mean, seriously, what did you do?” 

she couldn’t help but find the situation a bit funny. mostly because she never imagined she would see stray all dressed up. she knew that it was likely out of his comfort zone. yet he had shown up and he was wearing a suit. she didn’t know how in the world he had managed to mess up his tie so badly. it had been next to impossible for her to miss stray as he practically wrestled with the thing. she had taken it upon herself to try to help him after tucking her purse under her arm. 

she was reaching to begin to undo the knot that he had managed to get the tie into it,” i’m trying!” all she could do was giggle even when he told her not to laugh,” i can’t help it!” she was relieved she managed to get it undone and she was going to redo it,” i don’t,” she promised,” but now you at least owe me a dance for doing this.” she was merely messing with him and she had the feeling he knew it,” you look nice by the way.” 

"I wish I knew, I tried t' follow this video I found, 'n next thing y'know I'm fuckin' turnin' blue," he groaned, not at all missing the tone of amusement to her voice. He was going to have a word with the woman at the store who shamed him into buying a real one instead of the safe little clip-on he'd brought up to the register in the first place. This is what happens when you don't follow your gut - you choke to death at a fancy party in front of everyone in town.

Stray couldn't even pretend to hold back his own laughter at the chime of her giggling. "God, I'm never livin' this down," he admitted with a chucking sigh- trying to stay still enough to not make the situation even worse than he had originally. At the fee of a dance, his eyes rolled playfully, "y'kiddn' me right? A dance - really? Aren't y' supposed t' save lives outta the goodness of your heart?" 

As she finished fixing up his tie into something that looked much more respectable and was no longer threatening to kill him, the compliment she snuck in pinkened his cheeks beneath the bizarre canine mask he'd found at the thrift store."Yeah? Y'think so? Well, shit. Thanks Lena. Y' pretty damn smokin' y'self in that dress."

location: town hall’s masquerade

status: open

tag: @charmingstarter

throughout the night she had namely kept herself near one thing; the buffet. her begrudgingly paying the entrance fee meant that she had all intentions of getting her hundred dollars back through food. which she could proudly say she was way on her way to meeting her target. “you don’t want that,” she comments, seeing another reaching for one of the many options of sweet treats that were on offer. “i’m pretty sure they used salt not sugar.” you’d think she was telling the truth, her tone unchangeable and her expressions somewhat sincere— a touch different to her usual unreadable features. reality was she was messing, colour her bored with an added splash of immaturity for those that didn’t hold a sense of humour.   

Stray had no idea why the fuck Jasper chose to drink what he did - sure beer took a bit longer to get to goal, but it was fucking delicious. The flask tucked into his suit, on the other hand, was full of some god awful moonshine he could probably use to fuel his damn bike on the ride home. Despite it burning the enamel from his teeth though, he couldn't fault the choice's efficiency - a few quick sips and Stray found that he needed to carefully maneuver his way over to the buffet to get something on his stomach, padding the nuclear effect the moonshine hit with.

The mini cupcakes drew him in immediately, but he hesitated at the other's warning, his hand hovering sadly above one that had a tiny chocolate mask on it. His head tilted in her direction, eyes narrowing with scrutiny, before plucking the cake up anyway, and popping it into his mouth. "Y' a real asshole, y'know that?" he stated as he chewed, teeth crunching into the garnish, "shouldn't fuck around with dessert. It's a real dick move."

With: @jmorrow​

Stray had made a valiant attempt at sipping piss-water beer and bubbly, just like all the other attendees seemed happy to do as they mingled about the ball. But after just a few hours of the charade, Stray was over it. If he had any hope of making it through the evening with his sanity in tact, with all of it's pinkey-up bullshit and uncomfortable, itchy clothes, he was going to need something a little bit stronger to get him by. Forethought wasn't one of his strongest qualities, but there must have been a guardian angel whispering in his ear when he'd been getting ready earlier that night, and it had inspired him to fill a flask with whatever it was that Jasper had left behind at his apartment last time they devoured a pizza and watched trash sci-fi - just in case things became critical.

And, as far as he was concerned, they’d already become critical. 

"Here," he jabbed the flask into his brother's ribs after navigating his way through the crowd to make it to his side - he hadn't exactly been hard to find, it would take more than a dinky little mask to provide Jasper with any hope of anonymity. "I swear t' fuckin' God, I'm down for a lot of shit, but this is really pushin' it? What happened t' guns 'n fires n’ dodgin' sirens? How'd we end up.. here? With fuckin' ties on?"

FEATURING  —  @strayxdevil​

STATUS  —  Closed

LOCATION  —  Outside Town Hall during the masquerade ball

          Damian wasn’t much for town functions, especially not one as large as the masquerade ball currently being held. Not that he would’ve been able to afford it, had he wanted to attend. But those weren’t excuses good enough to stay away from club business. With some of the Devil’s Disciples attending the ball, Damian had been asked to show up and stay outside the venue, just to keep an eye out for things. Grunt work, since there was little chance that something might happen, but he didn’t mind that much. Hadn’t he been there, he would’ve been at home in his shoe box of an apartment, watching crappy television. Damian was dressed in a pair of jeans, with a Rolling Stones t-shirt underneath his kutte which proudly presented his prospect patch. Popping a piece of gum in his mouth he looked around as he begun chomping away. When his eyes reached the stairs to the Town Hall, Damian’s lips curled in a smile at the sight of Stray. Struggling to keep his laughter subdued, he cleared his throat “Y’know, that suit shows off how much you’ve been slacking in the gym” He joked as he put both fists up, pretending to start sparring with the other. 

Stray came to stop at Damian's side, his eyes rolling beneath the mask they were required to wear. This whole thing was too damn much. Too formal, too gimmicky, too... fucking annoying. But who was he to argue with the decision of the table? It was good for the MC’s image to make a positive showing at this thing, even if none of it made any goddamn sense. So he'd do his part, even if he'd preferred the prospect's task for the evening - wandering the perimeter and keeping an eye out for the kind of bullshit Charming was becoming famous for (in jeans and a t-shirt, no less... fuck if he didn't envy that right now). 

With: @wickederis​

She made white look dangerous, and he couldn't look away. From his perch sitting at the top of the staircase, he caught a glance of her moving effortlessly through the crowd - the dark waves of her hair tumbling down her back and between the blades of her shoulders, eyes like razors beneath the mask she wore, scanning back and forth across across the venue. He wondered what she was thinking as she moved about - what scathing opinion she had of the event, and what calculating reasons she had for attending herself. In the few short weeks he'd come to know her in their peculiar way of running into each other, she didn't strike him as the kind of woman who spared her time needlessly. There was no wasted effort, not even in the steps she took, as accentuated by the dress she wore and the way it swayed to the almost hypnotic cadence of her hips. 

Breathe, stupid. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath, and let out a sigh of air to break the near-trance he'd gotten stuck in. Head shaking, he took a sip of the champagne in his glass, the bubbles all but flat by now. 

When he looked back down into the sea of people, she was still there - but now, she was looking upwards in his direction. He raised his class, and a grin cut across his face beneath his own ridiculous mask, his voice raised to tumble over the ambient chattering, "cheers, t' never seein' me again, 'n how good that's been workin' out for ya, yeah?"

Can we go home yet?

With: @sidmillervp​

Part of him questioned the logic of holding a masquerade ball just a few months following the shooting. You invite the entire town into one location and require anonymity upon entry. Stray didn't know much about politics or running a city, but he did know security, and were he in charge who ever came up with this idea would be fucking fired. While he figured they powers that be assumed that the chances of another shoot out in town were extremely low so soon after the last one... well, Stray was well aware that in Charming the chances were never zero. 

Sure there was security, gliding through the masked attendees, fiddling with their ear pieces and eyes scanning from one side to another, and back and forth again. He followed the paths they made through the venue, and watched them repeat the course again an hour later. Stray wasn't impressed, and found himself pressed up against one of the widows watching the people mingle, nursing a glass of fucking champagne of all things. He was bored, uncomfortable and on edge. A combination that Stray usually found resolved after a bit of mischief. 

Stray nudged the the VP standing at his side with his elbow, gesturing to one of the security guys, looking particularly frazzled behind his mask, trying to explain to a couple of women that the upper floor was closed to guests, "y'know, I heard there's a bottle of scotch up there worth about 15k. More of a beer guy myself, but... y'down t' try 'n get us a taste of it?"

With: @lenamartiinez

"I DID try to fix it, but I think I made it worse 'n I swear t' fuckin' god if y'don't help me I'm gonna suffocate. " 

Stray wasn't cut out for these kinds of things. Although, he didn't think getting dressed up in a suit for a night might actually kill him. Ties were basically a high-stakes rubics cube for the throat, and he'd found a way to fuck it up - the knot was definitely wrong and it wasn't coming undone, and the more he'd pulled at it, the tighter it had gotten. He just couldn't see the fucking thing well enough to fix it, and doubted his fingers had the dexterity to figure it out on feeling alone.

It had been with some luck on his side that Lena noticed his struggle underneath one of the winding staircases, and had come over to investigate. "Seriously, help me - 'n don't laugh, okay? Last thing the town needs is another body at one of their events. Y' don't wanna be responsible for that, do ya?"

With: @gravesrafael​

His suit was itchy and pinched when he moved his shoulders. The tie was too tight, and he hated the way the cuffs buttoned around his wrist. Don't even get him started about the mask and the way the elastic bands were constantly trying to fold his ears over, making him look like one of Santa's dapper fucking elves. 

The whole ordeal was making him feel claustrophobic and out of place. Stuffy and pretentious. It was as far from his comfort zone as he could have imagined. On top of that, it cost him a hundred damn dollars and the bar wasn't even free.

"Here," he said, returning to where he'd found Rafael among the crowd, handing him one of the glasses he carried, "all she had back there was Stella. And all it cost was my firstborn child." He hadn't been hard to spot, sulking and a mood so thick around him not many others seemed to venture near. It had been a few days since he heard what'd happened between them, and he knew the guy wasn't okay. But he showed up regardless. If he needed anything other than a drink and some shit talk, Stray would be around. Until then? It was beer. 

where: edge of town.

who: @strayxdevil​

status: closed.

It’s quiet and as far as she’s aware she’s alone—- not including the two flurry abandoned canines she had been trying for the last week  (  after she’d finish work or when she was off  ),  to try and entice them out of the small run down building they were always underneath, to try and allow them to become familiar with her. Her hope was really for them to actually come up close enough to her so one day she could put a collar and leash and them and take them to Harley. She had told herself that if she couldn’t get them to the shelter in the next few days she’d actually go and ask for help, but Gianna was the sort to want to do something herself and ask for help at the last minute. 

Putting fresh food in the two bowls she had laid out for them that were always empty when she showed up, she’s edging it closer to where the pairs of beady eyes were latching onto her. Her actions pause as one of the two actually step out of the shadow, its body shivering as she put her hand out for it to smell and just as the dog was about to, there’s a noise— a disturbance on the rubble spread across the ground and the canine darts back with its friend. Gianna wipes her head into the direction of the noise, getting up on her feet in a matter of seconds as her eyes lock onto the other. “Are you lost?” her tone’s blunt, she doesn’t mean to be, it just happens. It’s really just her asking why he was here

Vega was the one who deserved the credit on finding the two abandoned dogs. They'd been on an evening run when Vega uncharacteristically broke from his heel and veered off towards the edge of town where the old industrial buildings sat boarded up and vandalized, having long since been forgotten. When Stray caught up, the three were very cautiously sniffing at each other, but the slightest sound had startled them and ultimately the pair had run off before Stray could figure out how to get them to Harley. Over the last few nights, he and his companion had added that detour to their run, to see if repetition would gain their trust. 

Apparently, they weren't the only ones. 

Stray's jog came to a slow halt as he saw the woman standing in front of the building that he assumed the dogs were hiding in, and the bowls of food before her, freshly filled. 

"Shit, sorry," he finally said, realizing he must have interrupted her attempt to ease them closer. Vega was at his side, adolescent ears half-flopped over tilting in confusion, but sitting obediently nonetheless when Stray came to a stop. "Lost? Yeah, nah.. been comin' by over the last few days, lookin' to get those pups somewhere safe. You too, it looks like?"